Either you... (Lectures, SB cantos 2 - 5)

Expressions researched:
"either you"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 2.1.2-5 -- Montreal, October 23, 1968:

The jñānīs are trying to merge into the effulgence of īśvara, or the yogis are trying to find out the īśvara, the supreme controller. And the jñānīs are trying to find out the impersonal Brahman. And Hari, and Bhagavān, the Personality of Godhead, Hari, or Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, the devotees, persons who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are trying to find out.

So either of them, their aim is how to get out of this fearful material existence. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says, concludes, that icchatā abhayam. Abhayam means fearful. If you actually want to be free from fear, then you should concentrate your mind, discussing, hearing, remembering, either of the impersonal Brahman... Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti (SB 1.2.11). Either you think of Brahman or Paramātmā or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but your subject matter should be this: hearing, chanting, discussing, talking, knowing. Don't divert your attention to this flimsy, I mean to say, so-called subject matter which will end. Because everything, whatever we are discussing in the material world, everything will end, nothing will exist, we should concentrate our mind on the subject matter which will exist. Because I am soul, I am ever-existing, eternal, my business is, therefore, "What is my eternal engagement?" This subject matter is proposed by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and we shall discuss later on, in the next meeting. Thank you very much. Any question?

Lecture on SB 2.1.3 -- Vrndavana, March 18, 1974:

This should be the question. They are trying to get out of the suffering, but they do not know the ways, how to get out of it. That is ātma-tattvam. He does not know what is the nature of ātmā, what the ātmā wants, and how the ātmā will be comfortable. That he does not know. That information is given by Kṛṣṇa, by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). The, every living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore unless he comes to the platform of serving Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of happiness. There is no question of happiness. And Kṛṣṇa also says the same thing: duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). "This place is simply full of miseries, and if you come to Me..." Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6).

So whole world is missing the point that he is not this body, the body is his encagement, and we are accepting sometimes golden encagement and sometimes iron encagement, and sometimes silver encagement and wooden encagement. He's thinking by changing the encagement, he will be happy. But he does not know this is encagement, or cages. So either you are put in the golden cage or iron cage or wooden cage or any cage-cage is cage. And so... So long you are not free... Just like the bird is kept into the cage. He's unhappy. He's unhappy. It may be golden cage. It doesn't matter. Similarly, we cannot be happy with this encagement. We must be free from the encagement. Freedom. That is called liberty, mukti. That is required. So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they do no know that "Suppose, even I get free, so where shall I go?" He thinks, "I shall be free in the sky." Just like impersonalism. Sky is impersonal. So if suppose a bird is given freedom, but he flies in the sky, will he be happy? No. That also he'll not be happy. Then he'll again think of that "It was better to remain in the cage. Now what is the value of my, this freedom? I'm not happy." And again go back to the cage. You will see in India.

Lecture on SB 2.1.5 -- Delhi, November 8, 1973:

Actually, human form of life is meant for preparing for the next body. Sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). If we actually serious about our life, to get free from all the problems of life, then this is the only medicine. What is that? Tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ, śrotavyaḥ (SB 2.1.5). One has to hear. It is not very difficult. But people have become so rascal, so foolish, they will not hear. They will not hear. We are requesting. We have not manufactured anything. It is all authorized, authorized books. Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata, Vedic literature. We are simply inviting them. Now where is there, I mean to say, sectarianism? If we say to you, either you are Hindu or Muslim or Christian, if we say that "Please hear about God," where is sectarianism? Where is sectarianism, "Your life is meant for...," if we preach that "Your life is meant for hearing"?

Lecture on SB 2.1.6 -- Paris, June 14, 1974:

And the five, five, ten. And five elements, fifteen. Then five principles of enjoyment. They are called talk, touching, smelling, like that. Anyway, there are twenty-four elements, and mind, intelligence, ego, and the principal, soul. In this way there are twenty-four elements. The sāṅkhya yogis, they very much analyze this study. They are of the opinion that besides these twenty-four elements, there is nothing more. No. There is. The twenty-four elements, one who is combining and annihilating, that is the Supreme Lord, pradhāna, Viṣṇu.

So sāṅkhya-yoga, either you take this Kapiladeva's philosophical principle or that Kapiladeva, that's all right. But after analyzing, if you do not find out Nārāyaṇa, the creator of this material atmosphere, material elements, then it is useless laboring so much, hard, for analyzing. Just like the chemist or physicist, they are also analyzing the material elements within the laboratory. But that does not mean they are going to all be liberated at the end of life. No. Or if you want to be liberated... Because after all, you are spirit soul. You are entangled with these twenty-four elements. So your real business is how to get out of it. That is wanted. Suppose if you are a diseased fellow, or you analyze the disease. Just like in the, what is called, pathology. It is called pathology. The doctor examine your blood and he finds out, "This is infection, that is infection, this is this, this is this." That's all right. But simply by understanding the blood analysis, pathology, does not mean it is cured. The cure is different. Similarly, these sāṅkhya-yogī philosophers, they may analyze very critically. Even they can count the atoms which is composing this whole material atmosphere. But that does not mean you have understood the original force which has created all these things. That is discussed here. Etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyām. So you become a very big scientist, very big physicist, chemist. That is all right. But you must know how to remember Nārāyaṇa at the time of your death.

Lecture on SB 2.1.6 -- Paris, June 14, 1974:

Otherwise... Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām. Janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām ante.

This janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ. Janma-lābhaḥ. Janma-lābhaḥ means getting a type of births. So there are different types of birth. The so-called scientists, physicists, they do not know why there are so many varieties of life. Why not only human being? Why there is cat, there is dog, there is rat, there is fly, and there is serpent, there is tree, there is creeper, there is fish, there is so many, 8,400,000 species of life? So they are also taking their birth by father and mother. The insect or the cats and dog or human being, the process of birth is the same, father and mother, anywhere you go. Therefore one Vaiṣṇava poet has sung, janame janame sabe pitā mātā pāya, kṛṣṇa guru nahi mile bhaja hari ei. Everywhere, either you take birth as man or cat or dog or insect, there is father, mother. Father, mother you will get in any type of birth, but not guru and Kṛṣṇa. 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.

Lecture on SB 2.1.11 -- Los Angeles, August 1, 1970:

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that for all of them, either he is karmī or he is jñānī or he is yogi or he is bhakta. Karmī means fruitive worker, and jñānīs means empiric philosophers, and yogis, mystic, I mean to say, yogis, and bhaktas, and the devotees. Generally, these four classes of men.

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives his judgement. Nṛpa, "My dear king, for all these classes of men," nirṇītam, "it is already decided." This is Vedic conclusion. You haven't got to search out. You have to take information from the authority. So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī is authority, that "For all these classes of men this is decided conclusively." What is that? Harer nāmānukīrtanam. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Either you are jñānī, either you are yogi, either you are karmī, you desiring something or not desiring something, but you have got your objective, perfection of life. So if you want that, then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Thank you very much.

Lecture on SB 2.2.5 -- New York, March 5, 1975:

You can live anywhere, but the spiritual practices should be going on. Kṛṣṇa never says that you live in the temple or you go to the jungle or Himalaya. Never say. You'll never find in the Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that "You give up this fighting and go to the jungle or to the Himalaya and become perfect person." No. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). You follow this... "Always think of Me," man-manāḥ, mad-bhaktaḥ, "you become My devotee." Man-manā bhava mad..., mad-yājī, "Worship Me and offer your obeisances unto Me." These four things. You can do anywhere. It doesn't matter. But you do all these things. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, gṛhe vā vanete thāko hā gaurāṅga bole ḍāko. Either you remain as a gṛhastha with family, wife, children—it doesn't matter—or either you live in the forest like sannyāsī, renounced. In which ever position you prefer, you can remain. But do these things. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).

So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī advises, this is very important work, kim ajito na avati upasannān. Ajita the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, He's maintaining everyone: yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). And He'll not maintain a person who has fully surrendered to Him? No. How it can be. Suppose a gentleman is maintaining so many other children. And he does not maintain his own children? Surely he does. Therefore our principle should be we should not think about our personal maintenance. We should dedicate our life for Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will take care. That should be the principle. Don't be harassed, thinking always "How I shall be maintained?" That is not the problem. Maintenance is no problem. Real problem is "How we shall be fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa?" That is wanted. Upasannān. (break) (end)

Lecture on SB 2.3.9 -- Los Angeles, May 26, 1972:

So the next question should (be), "Why it is restricted?" Restricted means so long you'll be addicted to this habit, you'll have to accept a body. So one who cannot stop it immediately, he's restricted. "All right, you want to do it. All right. Go to this demigod." That is the list. If you want this, all right, go to this demigod." Means somehow or other, this lusty person is being brought before a demigod to understand that this is not good. This is implicating. Therefore it is said akāma. If you become completely free from all material desires, or if you want that position, then come to Kṛṣṇa. No other demigod. If you actually want freedom from this material bondage, then Kṛṣṇa...

Kṛṣṇa also assures, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. These are all pāpa, sinful. Either you take the body of a Brahmā or an ant or cat or dog. All sinful. Only the person who has taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, he's pious. Akāma. The next verse will be akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā (SB 2.3.10). Thank you very much. (devotees offer obeisances.) Kīrtana. (end)

Lecture on SB 2.3.10 -- Los Angeles, May 28, 1972:

You go to Kṛṣṇa. Puruṣaṁ param. Who is puruṣaṁ param? Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna accepted: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). All paramam, Supreme. Puruṣam, "You are the Supreme Person." The same thing. Puruṣaṁ param. The Brahma-saṁhitā: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). This param, supreme, superlative, is Kṛṣṇa, in every respect. He's the supreme power, puruṣottamam. Uttamam. Nobody greater than Kṛṣṇa. So here it is recommended that "Even if you have got desire..." All kinds of desire. There are varieties of desire. Even you want jñāna-siddhi, yoga-siddhi, karma-siddhi, or dhyāna-siddhi, simply go to Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Yat karoṣi, yaj juhoṣi.

Kṛṣṇa also says. Yat karoṣi. You want to do something. This is all activities. Either you are karmī, jñānī, or yogi, there are activities. The meditation, so-called meditation, that is also another activity, mental activity. So why it is recommended like that, that how...? They are not devotees. They are sarva-kāmaḥ. If they go to worship Kṛṣṇa, that is, there is facility. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja. Dhruva Mahārāja, he was sarva-kāmaḥ. He wanted material happiness. He was insulted by his step-mother. He determined that "I shall have such kingdom which even my father also did not enjoy. My father's wife has insulted me. I shall show him." This kind of determination was there, that "I shall show him." So it was sarva-kāmaḥ. When Nārada approached Dhruva Mahārāja and informed him, "My dear boy, you are a prince, you are so delicate. You cannot accept these troubles of living in the jungle. It is very, very difficult. Great, great sages, they could not. You better go home. And when you get old, when time will be ripe, you can come. Now you go home."

Lecture on SB 2.3.15 -- Los Angeles, June 1, 1972:

If we follow these regulations, then after initiation, all my sins are washed off. And if I keep myself in that washed—off position, then where is the question of becoming sinful again?

But once washed off... You take your bath and again take the dust and throw on your body—that process will not help. If you say, "I take again wash and again throw," then what is the use of washing? Wash off. Once washed off, now keep yourself in that washed-off condition. That is required. So that will be possible if you keep yourself constantly in touch with Kṛṣṇa by hearing about Him. That's all. You have to remain uncontaminated. And that is puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then puṇya, you will be always in pious position. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Either you chant or... Therefore our recommendation is always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So we should be careful about our slipping down again into the sinful activity. Everyone should be careful and keep oneself in the chanting process. Then he's all right. So śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). And gradually, as you go on hearing about Kṛṣṇa, the all the dirty things within the heart will be cleansed.

The dirty things are that "I am a material body; I am American; I am Indian; I am Hindu; I am Muslim; I am this; I am that." These are all different types of covering of the soul. The uncovered soul is fully conscious that "I am eternal servant of God." That's all. One has no other identification. That is called mukti. When one comes to the understanding that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, God, and my only business is to serve Him," that is called mukti. Mukti does not mean that you will have another two hands, another two legs. No. The same thing, simply it is cleansed. Just like a man is suffering from fever. The symptoms are so many, but as soon as the fever is not there, then all the symptoms gone. So our, this fever in this material world is sense gratification. Sense gratification. This is the fever. So when we become engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this sense gratification business ceases. That is the difference. That is the test how you are becoming advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972:

Yes. This is the secret. We have got the ears, and we have got the sound also. Just like we are reading this book. So if we don't fill up our ears with this transcendental sound, then it will be filled up with some rubbish things. It cannot remain empty. Either you fill up with transcendental message, or you fill up with rubbish nonsense. Two ways. So if you take care that your earholes are always filled up with the transcendental message of Kṛṣṇa, so there is no scope for rubbish things to enter into it. So therefore our attempt should be twenty-four hours hearing. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Twenty-four hours. As soon as you get time, read books, discuss amongst yourselves, partial closing.(?) Don't fill up the ears with rubbish things. Then advance will be choked up. Go on.

Lecture on SB 2.3.21 -- Los Angeles, June 18, 1972:

So we should be very much careful, not become puffed up by a princely order, turban, but we must know that this opulence, this kingdom, this power... Everyone. Anyone who has got some power, he must know that "This power is given by Kṛṣṇa unto me, and to execute His will, not my sense gratification." Otherwise, it will be burden, and he will be finished. This is laws of God. Nobody can become the enjoyer. The only enjoyer is God. And if we want to enjoy falsely, then we will be in trouble. Similarly, those who are rich, have got ornaments, bangles, if the hand is not engaged in the service of the Lord... Therefore we should always engage our hands. Not only hands. Hands, legs, eyes—everything should be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Either you wipe the floor of the temple, or you type, or anything, or you do something... hands must be engaged for the service of the Lord. Similarly, legs should be engaged also for the service of the Lord.

The legs can be engaged... If you are living in a distant place, engage your legs to come here. That is the engagement of the legs. Eyes should be engaged to see very beautiful Deity, well decorated. Then you'll feel satisfaction. Otherwise, your eyes will draw you to see something nonsense beautiful. So all our senses should be engaged. Then there is no māyā. If you have got good engagement, then there is no scope for wrong engagement. The wrong engagement is māyā, and good engagement is Kṛṣṇa. So try to engage yourself always in Kṛṣṇa's service, and māyā will not be able to touch you. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18). If you engage your tongue for talking about Kṛṣṇa, to taste kṛṣṇa-prasādam, then there will be no scope of your tongue for being engaged in nonsense talking, for going to restaurant and take nonsense food. You may... The Māyāvādī philosophy is to stop by force, to make it zero. "My senses are giving me trouble. To... So put out, pluck out the eyeballs."

Lecture on SB 2.3.22 -- Los Angeles, June 19, 1972:

That is Kṛṣṇa. Yogeśvara. Kṛṣṇa, the oldest of all, still He appears nava-yauvana. Nava-yauvana, just youthful life is beginning. That is called nava-yauvana. So according to our human society, the youthful life begins at sixteen years. So Kṛṣṇa is like that. He'll look always sixteen to twenty years old, not more than that. We have never seen Kṛṣṇa has become old. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33). Liṅgāni. Liṅgāni means form. So Kṛṣṇa has many forms.

As Kṛṣṇa, as Viṣṇu, as Nārāyaṇa, as Baladeva, as Jagannātha. So many. Govinda. There are thousands and thousands of forms. So we must see at least one of such forms. Either you see Kṛṣṇa form or Rāma form or Viṣṇu form or Nārāyaṇa form or Baladeva form, or His incarnation, Nṛsiṁha-deva form, Matsyāvatāra, Mīnāvatāra... So many. If we do not increase our anxiety or inclination to see one of the forms of Viṣṇu... Here it is specifically mentioned, Viṣṇu. Not others. Liṅgāni viṣṇor na nirīkṣato ye. If we do not see, then our eyes are exactly like the painted eyes on the plumes of the feathers, or plumes of the peacock. It looks very nice, but it has no value. No, it has no seeing power. So our, these eyes are also painted, because it is material. These eyes will remain when I shall give up this body, but it will have no more seeing power. The seeing power is gone when the spirit soul gives up this body. So in spite of the beautiful eyes, it is unable to see. Similarly, so long we have got this instrument... This is an instrument to work. Māyayā...

Lecture on SB 2.3.22 -- Los Angeles, June 19, 1972:

When you live in a city, in a town, then you live in passion. And when you live in a liquor shop, in a brothel or Bowery street, then it is living in ignorance. There are three kinds of living. Everything, three kinds. Sattva, rajas, tamas, goodness, passion ... But if you live in temple, you live in Vaikuṇṭha. Above goodness. So all of you should be very careful that you may not fall down again from the Vaikuṇṭha place. That should be your first business, that you have been given opportunity to live in Vaikuṇṭha, but don't fall down again. Either you fall down on goodness, passion... That is material. They go to forest for meditation, but that is goodness, material goodness. But one who lives in temple, he's not concerned with material goodness, passion, or ignorance. He lives in Vaikuṇṭha. In this age it is not possible. You can imagine that "Now I shall go to Himalaya and forest and practice meditation." They're all bogus; you cannot do that. That is not possible.

Because the age is different. We are not trained in that way. Formerly, the brahmacārīs, they used to go to the forest, to the teacher, to the spiritual master, and they acclimatized with the atmosphere. But here, from the very beginning, in school, college, dormitories mixing freely, doing all nonsense. How it can go? That's not possible. That is not possible. Therefore, take advantage of this temple, the centers we are opening, and live in Vaikuṇṭha. And the authorities of the temple should be so careful that it does not turn into something else besides temple. Then you are safe. The māyā cannot touch you. What is this? Hm. Then? Read.

Lecture on SB 2.3.24 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1972:

Anything, any spiritual process, is meant for cleansing the heart. Either you take karma-yoga or jñāna-yoga or dhyāna-yoga or bhakti-yoga, the ultimate goal is that cleansing the heart. At the present moment I am under misconception, dirty things accumulated on my heart, that "I am this body," and therefore I do not try to realize that I am soul, and under bodily concept of life... As the animals they are also in bodily concept of life, they are busy eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. Similarly, human civilization has become like animals. They are interested only in eating, sleeping, mating, and defense. That's all. But that is not our position. It is a chance to get out of the entanglement of birth, death, old age, and disease.

This is our real business. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). We are misguided. Our so-called leaders are mis-leaders. They do not know what is the aim of life. That is the difficulty at the present moment. Not at the present moment. In the material world this problem is always existing, but due to this Kali age, that problem is more acute. That's all. So this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, without offenses, ten kinds of offenses, will cleanse the heart, and then you will be liberated. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvā... Because we know the path how we can get out of these clutches of birth and death. There are so many big, big scientists, philosophers. They don't talk of this important subject matter, how to get out of birth and death. They have no solution. Neither they can think of. But our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving us the knowledge that "You can get out of these clutches of birth and death, old age and disease." That is our desire.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

A saintly person, they, everyone expects some blessings. So there was a king's son. So he blessed him, rāja-putra rāja-putra ciraṁ jīva. "My dear king's son, you live forever." And there was another's son, he was muni's son, saintly person's son, and he blessed him, muni-putra muni-putra mā jīva. "You muni-putra, son of a saintly person, you don't live. You die." Rāja-putra rāja-putra ciraṁ jīva. "The king's son, you live forever," and muni-putra, ma jīva, "You don't live." Muni-putra muni-putra mā jīva. And there was a hunter also, and there was a saintly person also. The saintly person he blessed, mā jīva, jīva vā māra vā. "Either you die or live, it is all the same." And there was a hunter.

He blessed him, mā jīva mā māra, "Don't die don't live." This is very instructive. "You don't die, you don't live." One was blessed that "You don't die," the rāja-putra, "Don't die." And the muni-putra, he was blessed, "You die." And the saintly person was blessed, "Either you die or you live." And the hunter was blessed, "You don't live, don't die." So this was a puzzle. So the king, he invited his ministers, that "What is the meaning of this?" The ministers were very intelligent, so he explained that "Your son has been blessed"ciraṁ jīva " Because your son is so licentious that as soon as he dies he is going to hell. So therefore he has blessed 'You better live forever; otherwise you are going to hell. (laughter) Your life is so sinful that next life is hellish. So better you live forever.' " Then, the next, muni-putra. Muni-putra means... Just like our disciples. They have to undergo austerities: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxication, so many no's.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

So from materialistic point of view, this is a miserable condition of life. So he was blessed that "You have sufficiently undergone austerities. Now your next life is in Vaikuṇṭha. So better you die and go to Vaikuṇṭha. Why you should suffer any more?" So therefore he was blessed that muni-putra muni-putra mā jīva. And the saintly person, he was blessed by the words jīva vā māra vā. "Either you die or live, the same thing." Because, a saintly person is engaged in the service of the Lord so his life is so blissful. So either he lives or when he dies, he goes back to home, back to Godhead. He'll do the same business. So there is no difference. Just like you are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. You are getting the same service, eternally. This is a progressional period only.

Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaun... (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says, anyone who can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is, then after leaving this body he comes to home, back to home, back to Godhead. Mām eva. So saintly persons, their life is so pure that in this living condition, they are in Vaikuṇṭha, and after leaving this body, they are going to Vaikuṇṭha. So jīva vā māra vā. Both ways they are benefited. And the hunter was said, mā jīva mā māra, "You don't live, don't die." What is that? "Now you are hunter, butcher. So nasty life you are living. It was better death. Better for you to death, die. But if you die, then you go to hell. Therefore don't die, don't live." So... (aside:) Don't close your eyes. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja's... This was blessing. Parīkṣit Mahārāja... Don't think that Parīkṣit Mahārāja lost everything. Because he has understood Kṛṣṇa, so according to the statement of Bhagavad-gītā, it is fact that he is going back to home, back to Godhead.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1972:

Either you are materially desirous, anxious to get so many things, karmī... Akāma means devotee. Sarva-kāma means karmī. Karmīs, they are simply wanting, "Give me this, give me that, give me this, give me that." So many things. There is no end of their demands. That is called karmī. And jñānīs means they also want...

They want salvation, to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Lord. And yogis, they also want some mystic power. So karmī, jñānī, yogi—everyone wants something, but a devotee does not want anything. That is devotion. They know, "What shall I do with all these things?" They have no attraction for anything material. These are all material. Some, a better position, and in some lower position. That's all. Karmīs are entangled in this materialistic way of life, and the jñānīs, they are also some or less entangled. Because they have no idea what is God, they think God is impersonal. God is impersonal means there is no God. So if they have no idea of God, how to go back to kingdom of God? So they are also materialistic. Negation of material, negation. Because they are very much frustrated. Just like in your country, the hippies. The hippies means negation of a positive materialistic life. That's all. Negation. They are simply denying that "I, we don't want the way of life as our father and grandfathers are going on."

Lecture on SB 2.4.3-4 -- Los Angeles, June 27, 1972:

Every one of us rendering some service to others. That is dharma. Every one of us. Jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives us immediate information what is a living entity. He immediately gives the definition that a living entity means who is rendering service to the Lord. So we are rendering service. Somebody's rendering service to the countries, society, family, and at least, to dog, to cat. That is our general inclination, because we want to give service to the Supreme. But because we have forgotten the Supreme, our service attitude is now distributed in so many ways. But I am serving. That's a fact. Either you serve dog or either you serve God; the service is there. That you cannot avoid.

You cannot say, nobody can say that "I am not serving anyone." Even becoming God, so-called God... As there are so many rascals, say, they say that "We are God" or "I am God, everyone God." God is never servant. God is enjoyer; God is master. God does not serve anyone. Just like you see, we have God here, Kṛṣṇa. He's not serving, He's enjoying. That is God. You'll always find God enjoying. God is not servant. Master. Kṛṣṇa says bhoktā. Bhoktā means enjoyer. Everyone should be engaged for His service, and He's the only enjoyer. Ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa (CC Adi 5.142). The only enjoyer, only master, is Kṛṣṇa, and all others, they are servants. Now, there may be gradation of servant, just like in your country, President Nixon is also a servant. And ordinary constable, he is also a servant. Everyone is servant; nobody is master. So there is gradation of service. That's all. Somebody is serving as President, somebody is serving as constable, somebody is serving as dog, somebody is serving as cat. And similarly, somebody is loving reciprocally.

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

So we should try to learn, get it by heart, at least one śloka, two ślokas in a week. And if we chant that... Just like you are chanting so many songs, similarly, if we chant one or two verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that will make you very quickly advanced for spiritual realization. We are therefore taking so much trouble to get this transliteration, the meaning, so that the reader may take advanced step, full advantage of the mantra. It is not that to show some scholarship, that "I know so much Sanskrit." No. It is just offered with humility to learn the mantra because one who will chant the mantra... They are all transcendental vibration. Just Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra... This is mahā-mantra, but they are also mantras, all the verses from Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, spoken by Kṛṣṇa, spoken by... Bhāgavata also, spoken by Kṛṣṇa. Vyāsadeva is incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. They're also mantras, infallible instructions. So try to get it by heart, chanting. Either you chant by seeing the book or get it by heart, it is all the same. But try to chant one, two ślokas daily. Chant.

Lecture on SB 3.25.1 -- Bombay, November 1, 1974:

Therefore they are advancing. See practically. Why they are advancing? Because they are not misled. They have been given the right information, and they have taken it seriously, and they are trying their best to do, to render service. That is the reason. People are surprised how these Americans and Europeans have become such great devotees and dancing in ecstasy. They are surprised. Yes, it is surprising. Even in their country the priests are surprised. But what is the reason they are advanced? Because they have taken the right thing, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). That they have taken. Either you say blindly... Blindly or knowingly, if you touch fire, it will act. Fire is fire. It is not that because a child takes fire, it will not burn. It will burn. So why these Western young men, they are taking this movement seriously? Because it is acting as fire. It is acting as fire. They have taken fire, and it is acting as fire.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

Everywhere, not only human society. Even in bird society, dog society, cat society, or demigods' society—everywhere you'll see the sex attraction. Puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ. And... They are seeking, and as soon as they are joined together to satisfy the sex desire, their the, I mean to say, attraction becomes more and more tight. Then ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So as soon as they are combined, they require one house or apartment or cottage or nest. Something must be private. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra. Then to work, to earn livelihood, one must have some land. Either you construct skyscraper building or till it for get some food grain. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra, suta. Then without children, married life is frustrated. Putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. Married life without children is void. Avidyaṁ jīvanaṁ śūnyam. If one is not educated, his life is vacate, or vacant. Avidyaṁ jīvanaṁ śūnyaṁ diśaḥ śūnyā abāndhavāḥ. And if you go to some foreign country, if there is no deva, temple, God's temple, or friend, that is also useless. And putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam. And if you have no children, the so-called married life is also void. And sarva-śūnyā daridratā. And if you are poor, in poverty, then everything is zero. Even if you have got a wife, or even if you have got education, even you have got friend, everything is... That is Cāṇakya Paṇḍita's advice.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

So Devahūti, in the previous verse, accepted her son, Kapiladeva: puṁsām īśvaro vai bhavān kila lokasya tamasāndhasya..., lokasya tamasāndhasya

cakṣuḥ sūrya ivoditaḥ. "You are just like the sun. Sun, when the morning the sun is arisen, then all darkness immediately gone. Similarly, You have arisen..." God, Kṛṣṇa, or His incarnation, when They come, the darkness of this material world, illusion, is dissipated. Just like Kṛṣṇa. When Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, came, the darkness, illusion, Arjuna's illusion, was counteracted. He was also thinking ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). "Why shall I fight with my relatives, the other side?" So this was darkness, aham mameti (SB 5.5.8). Because either you maintain or..., or you love this illusory position, that is sammoham. This very word is used here: atha me deva sammoham apākraṣṭuṁ tvam arhasi. Sammoha. Samyag-rūpeṇa moham. Sammoha. The, the material life, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), we have created some situation, "my" and "mine," all this is false, illusion. "Although it is false, we are so much attached to it. So You require to dissipate that." Apākraṣṭum. This misconception.

Lecture on SB 3.25.18 -- Bombay, November 18, 1974:

The characteristic of chili means to become hot. If sugar becomes hot and chili becomes sweet, then nobody cares for it. Similarly, our characteristic is to serve Kṛṣṇa. And when we serve anything other than Kṛṣṇa, that is our diseased condition of life. Just like this hand is meant for picking up something eatable and put it into the mouth. If it is unable to do it, then it is diseased. If the fingers and hands cannot pick up nice foodstuff and put into the mouth, then it is diseased condition. Similarly, when we are unable to serve Kṛṣṇa, or we do not serve Kṛṣṇa, we serve... Serving we are. That is a fact. We cannot become master. Nobody... Can anyone say that he is master? He's not serving anyone? Everyone is serving. That's a fact. Either you are serving your family or society or country or office or so many service. If anyone hasn't got to serve anything, then he picks up a master, a cat and dog, and serves him. Because service is my nature. But we are missing where to put the service. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is, that is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.25.18 -- Bombay, November 18, 1974:

He says everything. Now, "I come from My Vaikuṇṭha, or spiritual world." Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). "At that time I come. And I teach. And what do I teach? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66)." This is dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Dharma means the law given by God. That is dharma. You cannot make Hindu dharma, just like you cannot make any law. This is... Suppose the government is there. Now, you cannot say that "We Hindus, we have made this law," "We Muslim, we have made this law," "We Parsees, we have made this law." No. What all law is given by the government you have to accept, either you are Hindu, Muslim, or Christian and Hin... It doesn't matter. Therefore dharma means to accept the law of God. Not that you manufacture something. Therefore in the Bhāgavata it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). All cheating type of dharma is rejected, kicked out. Because real dharma is what is given by God. And what God says? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). This is real dharma. This is real dharma.

So we have to learn this, what Kṛṣṇa says. We have to understand Kṛṣṇa by tattva, by truth. Then we become liberated. That is called jñāna-vairāgya. And as soon as you become learned scholar about Kṛṣṇa, then you become immediately detached to this material world, and... Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktena bhakti-yuktena (SB 3.25.18). Then real bhakti begins. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā:

Lecture on SB 3.25.21 -- Bombay, November 21, 1974:

The brāhmaṇas, the learned ṛṣis, sages, they're especially engaged for punar-janma-jayāya, to conquer over the process of repetition of birth and death. That is the highest occupational... So every man is meant for that, punar-janma-jayāya. Unless we conquer this process of punar janma, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), and if we simply waste our time like animals—eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defense—then it is animal life. So especially in this age they cannot distinguish that what is the animal life and what is human life. They think, "The dog, animal, he is sleeping on the street, and I am sleeping on the twentieth floor of a nice apartment. Therefore I am civilized." The śāstra says no. Either you sleep on the street or on the twenty-fourth story of apartment, you are sleeping. You are not doing any other thing. Simply the dog is eating without any plate, and suppose if you are eating in a golden plate. That does not mean the taste of the foodstuff has changed. No. The foodstuff given to the dog on the street, without any plate, and the foodstuff given to me in a golden plate, the taste is the same. And the value, food value, is the same. So we have to see in that way, that to improve the quality of eating, sleeping, mating... The dog is having sexual intercourse in the open street, and if we have sexual intercourse in a very secluded place and very nice bedstead, that does not change the quality. Therefore we should know it that simply by eating, sleeping, defending and sex life, that is animal life. Human life is meant for how to become free from this process of repetition of birth and death. That is liberation.

Lecture on SB 3.25.27 -- Bombay, November 27, 1974:

That is the basic principle of bhakti. So here the same thing is explained, jñānena vairāgya-vijṛmbhitena. Jñānena. Therefore this class is held to awaken jñāna. Either you read these books, you hear from realized soul—that will awaken your jñāna, knowledge. Or otherwise if you cannot do this... Both things should be done. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Very simply.

So in the previous verse we have discussed ṛjubhir yoga-mārgaiḥ (SB 3.25.26). Ṛju, very simple method. Ṛju means very simple. Everyone can perform it. Susukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). In the Bhagavad-gītā, very happy. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance, it is very happy thing. And by dancing, dancing, as soon as you become hungry, take prasādam, ready. So where is the trouble? Therefore it is ṛjubhir yoga-mārgaiḥ. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice there is no trouble only. And another thing is that that is great hope. Everything you are doing under the spell of māyā we do not know where you are going, what is the ultimate aim. We do not know. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni. We are under the spell of māyā given by the guṇas. You must accept. If you don't take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and give it ourselves on the waves of māyā, then we do not know where we are going. The Caitanya Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says māyār bośe, jāccho bhese', Khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Just like a straw in the waves of the ocean or the river. It is fully under the control of the waves. Sometimes diving, sometimes coming out, sometimes going this way, going that. Our position is like that. We do not know that, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). Under the material nature we are being carried by the waves of material nature, and you do not know where you are going because you have no control.

Lecture on SB 3.25.29 -- Bombay, November 29, 1974:

The Kṛṣṇa's activities, they are not ordinary thing. They are divine. And if we actually understand, then immediately you become liberated. Janma karma ca divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ.

Therefore here it is said, kīdṛśaḥ kati cāṅgāni. How that bhakti-yoga is situated and how many processes or branches are there? Kīdṛśaḥ kati ca aṅgāni yatas tattvāvabodhanam. Then we can understand Kṛṣṇa in tattva, in truth. That is required. That is bhakti-yoga. And that aṅgāni, aṅgāni means they are all the same. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam (SB 7.5.23). There are nine aṅgas, nine... Aṅga means different varieties. They are the same. Spiritually they are the same, spiritually absolute. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Either you hear or you chant or you memorize or you offer worship, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam, or you simply work under the direction of your spiritual master or Kṛṣṇa. Just like Hanumān: he dāsyam. He simply carried out Lord Rāmacandra's order. He was supposed to be animal. He's not animal. But he was looking like a monkey animal. But having no education, no. He had everything. But superficially he..., he is not teaching Vedānta. He is simply carrying order of Lord Rāmacandra, that's all. He appears to be very foolish. Not foolish, but superficially animal. He was simply carrying out, dāsyam. Arjuna, simply he took Kṛṣṇa as his most intimate friend, that's all. He was not a Vedantist; he was a fighter, he was a kṣatriya. He had to deal with politics. No time to become Vedantist. But still he's the greatest devotee. Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me (BG 4.3). Kṛṣṇa says, "My dear Arjuna, you are My very dear friend and devotee." So people may say, "Oh, he is not a Vedantist, he is not even brāhmaṇa, he is not a sannyāsī. How Kṛṣṇa accepts him as bhakto 'si?" That is called bhakti. Bhakti is ahaituky apratihatā. If you become a devotee there is no impediment. No material condition can check your progress of bhakti, if you are a bhakta.

Lecture on SB 3.25.30 -- Bombay, November 30, 1974:

If we... This is the process. If we hear about Kṛṣṇa...Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You remain in your position. Don't change. Either you are brāhmaṇa or śūdra or gṛhastha or sannyāsī, it doesn't matter. But you hear about Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. This is the first-class process.

So we are opening hundreds and thousands... Not thousands, we have opened about 102 centers all over the world. But we want to open thousands. But we are in need of assistance. But nobody is coming. Anyway, the Europeans, Americans, some of them have joined. Still, we required many thousands because Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission is pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma: He wants to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement not in this city or that city but nagarādi grāma. Just like here we have opened a center in Gandhigram. But in Bombay such hundreds and thousands centers can be opened. It is so big city. Similarly, there are other cities. It is required. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission.

Lecture on SB 3.25.37 -- Bombay, December 6, 1974:

There Kṛṣṇa and the devotees become His friend, cowherd boy. They play with Kṛṣṇa. They want that thing. They do not want to go to the Brahmaloka or the Candraloka or this loka or that loka, because that will be finished. That will be finished. Because that is māyāvinas tām. Māyā will finish. It may be... Just like here we see. A germ lives for a few seconds, or a worm at night... There is clogging together, so many millions and millions, and by the morning, they are all dead. So their duration of life comparative. Similarly, Brahmā also. It may be millions of year, but he'll die. Kṛṣṇa has said in the Bhagavad-gītā that ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). The birth and death, old age and disease, they are everywhere. Either you go to the Brahmā planet or this lower planet or this Brahmā life or human life or cat's life, dog's life, tree's life—everything is finishable.

Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34). Kṛṣṇa is ultimately present Himself to the atheist as mṛtyu, as He appeared before Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu was declining. His son was asking his father, "My dear father, why you are disbelieving God?" And he was becoming angry: "No, I am God. Who is else God? I am God. You see? All the demigods, they are afraid of me. I am so powerful." But Prahlāda will not agree. He will say, "No, no. You are not God. God is Nārāyaṇa." This was the father and son. So he did not believe in God. He was thinking, "I am God." Therefore, as Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham. Those who are atheists, who do not believe in God, the God comes before them as death and takes away everything, all his power, all his opulence, all his money, all his..., everything taken away. Mṛtyuḥ sarva...

Lecture on SB 3.25.38 -- Bombay, December 7, 1974:

Then he again dropped it; again it is full. He dropped it; again it is full. Then he could understand it is spiritual. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). You take the whole thing; still, the whole thing is there. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not that because you have taken something, one minus one equal to zero. No. In the spiritual world, one minus one equal to one. And one plus one equal to one. That is called advaya-jñāna. There is no duality. Plus and minus, they are two things. But in the spiritual world, either plus or minus, the same. That is to be understood. That is called Absolute, advaya-jñāna.

So if you love Kṛṣṇa, there will be no destruction like the material things. Either you love Him as your master... Here master, so long you are serving, the master is pleased. And the servant is pleased so long you are paying. But in the spiritual world there is no such thing. If I cannot serve under certain condition, then master is pleased. And the servant also—the master does not pay—he is also pleased. That is called oneness, Absolute. That is... This example is here. There are so many students in this institution. We are not paying anything, but they will do everything for me. This is spiritual relationship. That paṇḍita Jawaharlal Nehru, when he was in London, his father gave him, the Motilal Nehru, three hundred rupees for keeping a servant. Then once he went to London, so he saw that the servant is not there. The paṇḍita says, "Where is your servant?" He says, "What is the use of servant? I have no, nothing to do. I do it personally." "No, no. I wanted that an Englishman should be your servant." So he has to pay for it. This is an example. I have got hundreds and thousands of servants who I haven't got to pay. This is spiritual relationship. This is spiritual relationship. They are serving not for being paid. What I have got? I am poor Indian. What can I pay? But the servant is out of love, spiritual love. And I am also teaching them without any salary. This is spiritual. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya (Īśo Invocation). Everything is full.

Lecture on SB 3.25.43 -- Bombay, December 11, 1974:

You practice this āsana. You sit down like this. You see like this. You think like this." In this way there is a mechanical process to control the mind and senses. That is gymnastic part of the yoga system. But real process is to concentrate the mind upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogi's business is, by controlling the mind, focus it toward Kṛṣṇa or Lord Viṣṇu. That is real yoga system.

So as soon as you focus your mind upon Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, that is bhakti-yoga. Either you do it by meditation or do it twenty-four hours by practical application of your activities for Kṛṣṇa, that is called bhakti-yoga. And that is called samādhi. Even if you are going to some place for Kṛṣṇa's business, to see the police commissioner or going to the court for some degree or..., because you are doing—you are concentrating your mind on Kṛṣṇa—that is called yoga, bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is so, so easy. Yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi yad aśnāsi, yat tapasyasi kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam (BG 9.27). The result should be given to Kṛṣṇa. After working so hard day and night... People are working so hard day and night, but the result, they are enjoying. And a bhakti-yogī, the same thing—they are also working day and night, but the result is for Kṛṣṇa. This is the difference between bhakti-yogī and ordinary karmīs. Therefore ordinary karmīs, they cannot understand that the bhaktas are on the transcendental platform. They think, "They are like us. By sentiment, they are chanting and dancing." No. That is not. It is bhakti-yoga. And that is based on jñāna and vairāgya.

Lecture on SB 3.25.43 -- Bombay, December 11, 1974:

So by situated, being situated on the spiritual platform, automatically you achieve your original status, constitutional position, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Then you are able to enter into the kingdom of God, or the spiritual world. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā. Here also it is said, praviśanty akuto-bhayam. Praviśanti. You have to enter. You are not destroyed. Just like we are praviśanti in different types of body in material existence, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13), so when you are free from this material contamination, then you praviśanti in the spiritual world. The praviśanti is there. In the material world you are praviśanti from one body to another, and you are suffering.

So long you get this body, you must suffer. Either you get the king's body or the cobbler's body or ant's body or dog's body, to accept material body means suffering. There cannot be akuto-bhayam. Unless you enter in the spiritual world with your spiritual body, there is no question of akuto-bhayam. So that akuto-bhayam is possible when you are practiced to bhakti-yogam.

Lecture on SB 3.25.44 -- Bombay, December 12, 1974:

"Oh, He is Viṣṇu. All right, namaskāra." Because they wanted to see Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu, but every devotee has got some inclination, love Kṛṣṇa. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan (Bs. 5.39). So therefore Kṛṣṇa is all-pervading in different mūrtis. Therefore in the Vaiṣṇava-sampradāya some of them, they worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and some of them worship Sītā-Rāma. And some of them worship Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Some of them worship Rukmiṇī-Kṛṣṇa. There are so many devotees. But all of them are the same, Vaiṣṇava. All of them are the... But not demigods. Viṣṇu. So chanting, bhakti-yoga means to chant Viṣṇu. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). And Viṣṇu has got so many forms. So either you chant Hare Rāma or you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is the same. There is no difference. Sometimes they first of all place "Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." And sometimes they place "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa..." There is no difference. Sometimes they say, "No, it should be Hare Rāma first." Sometimes they..., "No, Hare Kṛṣṇa." But that is not very important, childish. Any, either you say Hare Rāma or Hare Kṛṣṇa, the same. So this is to be done. Tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena.

Lecture on SB 3.26.2 -- Bombay, December 14, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa's name are different. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29). There Kṛṣṇa is tending this surabhī. Surabhī cow means, that is also wonderful, spiritual. You can milk cow, milk from the cows, as many times as you like. Just like here in the, we have got experience, we can take milk from the cows morning and evening, not more than that. But there you can milk the cows whenever you like, and you can draw milk as much as you like. That is called surabhī cow. The trees are like that, the cows are like that, but there are houses, there are forests, jungle trees, cows, water, everything, but they are all spiritual. All spiritual, therefore there is one. Here is also one, because everything material. Whatever, either you take cow's body or your body, or tree's body, or any body, what it is made of? Kṣitir ap teja marut vyoma, the earth, water, air, fire, and sky, that's all. Here it is all one, but, and there also it is one, but there it is all spiritual, and here it is all material. That is the difference.

Lecture on SB 3.26.3 -- Bombay, December 15, 1974:

Guṇān, these guṇa, samatītya, samyag-rūpeṇa atītya perfectly overcoming. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Immediately he is situated in the Brahman platform. So ātmā is nirguṇa. Nirguṇa stage means when you are engaged in devotional service, that is your nirguṇa stage. Devotional service is nirguṇa. All other services or activities... We are rendering service. Either you are rendering service in office, or to your family, or to your cat, or to your dog, or to your government, or to your society—you must be giving some service. There is no escape. But that is saguṇa service, under these material laws. So you have to give nirguṇa service. If you give nirguṇa, then you become nirguṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.26.5 -- Bombay, December 17, 1974:

So we shall be very much careful about the senses. The whole yogic process means to control the senses. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Indriyas are so powerful that it drags us to the hellish condition of life. It is very difficult. So this material world means all crazy, mad fellow after sense gratification. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Why they are acting unlawful things, either stately unlawful or according to scripture unlawful? Yad indriya-prītaye, only for sense gratification. Yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti.

So śāstra says... It is the statement of Ṛṣabhadeva. He says, na sādhu manye: "No, no. It is not good." Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam. Ātmanaḥ, the soul. Asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). The ātmā is covered by this material body, although it is temporary. Sometimes it is for ten years or sometimes twenty years, sometimes hundred years, sometimes millions of years, but it is limited. Either you get the body of Lord Brahmā or the body of the poor ant, they are all temporary. It will be finished. So although it is finishable...

Lecture on SB 3.26.6 -- Bombay, December 18, 1974:

We shall continue forever. Nitya-baddha. Forever. "Forever" means we cannot calculate how long we shall continue. That is... It is not nitya actually, but because I do not know from whence it has begun, neither I know when it will end, therefore it is called nitya-baddha. Nitya-baddha.

So we are nitya-baddha, eternally bound up, by these laws of material nature, and we are wandering throughout the universe according to karma. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18). If we work on the sattva-guṇa... Guṇaiḥ karmāṇi... We... Vicitra: there are so many varieties. So we may go sometimes up to Brahmaloka. That is not very difficult. But ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16). Either you go to Brahmaloka or Pātālaloka or any loka, this form or that body, you will have to go through these four principles of material condition: birth, death, old age and disease. That is not possible to overcome. That you can overcome only—mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Therefore the conclusion is that instead of serving under the spell of material nature, let us immediately transfer our position to become the original. Original means eternal servant of God, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). That is our constitutional position. We are eternal servant of God, Kṛṣṇa. So if we take to it immediately... Kṛṣṇa says also, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). The spell of māyā we can overcome if we immediately take the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, that He says, "You surrender unto Me, and I shall give you all protection from the sinful reaction of your life."

Lecture on SB 3.26.7 -- Bombay, December 19, 1974:

Therefore our position is in between the spiritual nature and the material nature, taṭastha. Taṭastha means in between.

So because we have selected this pāra-tantrya, to be conditioned by the material nature, in any condition we are dependent, either dependent on spiritual nature or on material nature. So if we prefer to be under the control of material nature, then it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). And if we are under spiritual nature, then... Asaṅgo 'yaṁ puruṣaḥ. Raso vai saḥ, labdhānandī. Then we get blissful life, eternal blissful life. That is our selection. Either you be under spiritual nature or you be under material nature. That we have got, little independence, as you like. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa said. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. If you want to remain in the material nature and enjoy so-called material sense gratification, then you can have it.

Lecture on SB 3.26.8 -- Bombay, December 20, 1974:

So the Kaṁsa was thinking of killing Kṛṣṇa always. He was also Kṛṣṇa conscious, always thinking of, but how to kill Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between the demon and the devotee. The demons are also Kṛṣṇa conscious, but they are Kṛṣṇa conscious in the opposite way, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. And devotees, they are Kṛṣṇa conscious, but not like the demon. They are always thinking how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Both of them are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Therefore, this is... Because these demons are also Kṛṣṇa conscious, they cannot be called devotee. They cannot be called devotee. But they get the good result of Kṛṣṇa consciousness because by thinking of Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa..." And when they are killed by Kṛṣṇa, they get immediately liberation. That is the absolute position of Kṛṣṇa. Either you go to Him as enemy or you go to Him as friend, your result is the same. So somehow or other, come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the demonic Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not bhakti. That is not bhakti.

So liberation is achievable even by the nondevotees because these demons... They are nondevotees. They are getting also liberation because thinking of Kṛṣṇa always. So why the devotees also get the same type of liberation? No, for them, better type of liberation. Sāyujya, sārūpya, sārṣṭi... (CC Madhya 6.266). There are five kinds of liberations, and the sāyujya-mukti, to become one with the Supreme, that is obtainable even by the enemies, demons. The devotees, they do not want that kind of liberation. They want to keep their identity eternally and serve Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect. So ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Therefore bhakti is described, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Anuśīlanam means cultivating the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa. The demons are also cultivating, but that is not ānukūlyena. That is prātikūlyena, how to kill Kṛṣṇa. So that is not bhakti. When we cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness ānukūlyena-anukūla means favorable—that is called bhakti.

Lecture on SB 3.26.8 -- Bombay, December 20, 1974:

"By Your causeless mercy, because I am servant... I have somehow or other fallen." Kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya: "Kindly fix me again as one of the dust particle in Your lotus feet." This prayer has been tak...

So we cannot be happy in this puruṣa mentality to enjoy this material world. We can never be happy. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ. Even if you are... Now, just like they are trying to go to the moon planet... But what this moon planet? It is very near. Even if you go to the topmost planet, ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna (BG 8.16), the struggle will go on. You cannot be happy. Either you go to the heavenly planet or the moon planet or the Brahmā planet, anywhere in this material world, the four things—birth, death, old age, and disease—will go on. You cannot stop it. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't try to be elevated to the higher planetary system, to the moon planet or sun planet or heavenly planet. Try to come to Me." Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6).

This should be our endeavor. Don't try to elevate yourself materially. That will not make you happy. Just try to get out of these material clutches and begin your spiritual life. That will make you happy. That is the only source of happiness. Otherwise it is not. The same example, that if you are put into the ocean, you may be very good swimmer—it will be great struggle. You can keep yourself floating, but that is not happiness. Happiness is different thing. If you want happiness, then you have to give up the association of prakṛti. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya (BG 13.22). Because as so long you will be in the material world, you will have to associate with some of the modes of material nature, sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. By association with the sattva-guṇa material modes of nature, ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ (BG 14.18), you can be elevated to the higher planetary system, or by jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ, by associate in the tamo-guṇa, you will be put downwards either in the animal forms of life or lower planetary system. In this way you are wandering up and down. Give up this business. Kṛṣṇa says, "Surrender unto Me." You surrender to Kṛṣṇa and be happy.

Lecture on SB 3.26.10 -- Bombay, December 22, 1974:

He is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. So Kṛṣṇa is not nirviśeṣa; He is saviśeṣa. But this material world is actually nirviśeṣa, but it appears something like varieties. The same thing, the example, I have already given: a lump of matter—either you take earth or water or gold or silver—and you can make varieties of things, cause and effect. But that is nirviśeṣa. But the spiritual world, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), as it is said in the Vedānta-sūtra, the origin of everything, the cause of all causes, that is full of spiritual varieties. That is not nirviśeṣa. Here in this material world we are seeing these varieties. We have got these planets. On the planets there are so many mountains, so many trees, so many plants, so many houses, in each and every planet. Don't think the other planets, that is void. No. They are also full of varieties. Full of varieties.

We get information: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). Vibhūti-bhinnam, different varieties. Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's creation, they are full of varieties, anywhere you go. Vibhūti-bhinnam. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi (Bs. 5.40). Vasudhā means planet. Vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam. In every vasudhā, in every planet, there are different atmosphere. Just like we get information from here by the scientists that the moon planet, the temperature is two hundred degrees below zero. So that is another variety. Similarly, on the sun planet many thousand times temperature, thousand times the temperature is very, very high. Fire, it is almost fire. So vibhūti-bhinnam. Different planets, different.

Lecture on SB 3.26.21 -- Bombay, December 30, 1974:

And siddhi, yogis, they want many perfection: aṇimā, laghimā, mahimā, prāpti-siddhi, prākāmya, īśitā, vaśitā. There are eight kinds of yogic siddhi. You can become smaller than the smallest, you can become bigger than the biggest, you can become lighter than the lightest, you can get anything you like immediately. These are some of the yoga-siddhis. But this is also hankering. This is also hankering, not śānta. Either karmī... What to speak of ordinary being? They are simply hankering. Even the so-called perfect karmīs, jñānīs, yogis, they are also not śānta. They are hankering.

Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaṛacā says, bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī-sakali 'aśānta.' Kāmī. Kāmī means one who desires. So either you desire comforts of this material body in different standard of life, either in this planet or other planet... Just like they are trying to go to the moon planet for getting higher standard of life. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to stay there. They come back. So you cannot go in the higher planets in that way. You must be fit for going there. I have several times discussed this matter. Just like American standard of life is better than our Indian standard of life, but you cannot enter America or the Americans cannot enter India without required visa permission; similarly, it is not that by your whims you can enter into the higher planetary system. That is not possible. Anyway, these are the field of activities of the karmīs, those who want to become happy by their active execution. "I shall be happy in this way. I shall be happy in this way, and make my plan like that." These are karmīs. They are making simply plans to become happy, but they forget that this is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This material world is the place for suffering. They forget that. The scientists, the physists, they are all trying to make this life very comfortable. They are called durāśayā. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum... (SB 7.5.31). What is that? Durāśayā. They are thinking that "By material adjustment, we can be happy." Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. These karmīs, they have got a hope which will never be fulfilled. That is called durāśā. Āśā means hope, and durāśā means which will never be successful.

Lecture on SB 3.26.21 -- Bombay, December 30, 1974:

So they cannot be śānta. By material activities you cannot be happy or peaceful. That is not possible. That is being explained here, that yat tat sattva-guṇaṁ svacchaṁ śāntam. Sattva-guṇa. You have to come to the platform of the mode of goodness, and still it is to be purified. That is called vasudeva platform, or transcendental platform. As it is explained in the Bhagava..., vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19). That time, when you come to that platform, you will see everything godly. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything God conscious. That is the platform of śānti. Beyond that or before that, you cannot have. Either you become karmī, or you become jñānī, or you become yogi, there is no question of śānti. That is not possible. Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaṛacā says that kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta' (CC Madhya 19.149). "A kṛṣṇa-bhakta, a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, a person who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, he has no such desire." He has no such desire. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu says in His prayer, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). This is the position of devotee. Generally karmīs, they want something from God. They go to temple, they go to church, for begging something: "I am distressed. I have no money. Kindly give me some money." "I am hungry, give me my daily bread." "Give me," something "give me." So this so long we are on the platform of "give me," you will never be happy. You will get it. If you go to God and ask Him, "God, give me my daily bread," so it is not very difficult for God to give you bread. He is giving bread to everyone. Why not to you? He is giving bread to the elephants, He is giving bread to the ants, and what you can eat? That is not very difficult thing. But you should go to God not for begging something but for giving something. That is Vāsudeva stage. Then you will get śānti, when you will go to God not for begging material happiness or material liberation, mukti, bhukti-mukti, and not for any jugglery, magic things, just like yogis show some magic.

Lecture on SB 3.26.26 -- Bombay, January 3, 1975:

Either you become śānta or ghora or mūḍha, three kinds of position in this material world... śānta. Śānta means in the brahminical qualification, and ghora means activities, material activities, fruitive activities, and mūḍha, just like animal, neither śānta nor ghora, simply animal. Udaram bharitaḥ. Svārtham udaraṁ bharitaḥ. Svārtham, interest, means if one somehow or other fulfills his belly, then he thinks, "Now all my mission is fulfilled." This is called mūḍhatvam. Svārtham udaraṁ bharitaḥ. Dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. Generally in this age, people will be interested to fulfill his own belly. Because that is also very difficult task nowadays. To get sufficient food daily, that is also a problem. And if one can maintain his family in these hard days—family means husband, wife, and a few children—then dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam, then he is just like Mahārāja Dakṣa. Dakṣa, dakṣa means very expert. Those who are maintaining big family, working very nicely, many business, they are called dakṣa. So in the Kali-yuga, if one can maintain a family, small family, then he will be considered dakṣa. Dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. Otherwise, if one can fulfill his belly only, his all interest is fulfilled. This will be the condition of this age. That means mūḍhatvam, mostly mūḍhatvam. They do not know. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31).

Lecture on SB 3.26.35-36 -- Bombay, January 12, 1975:

These are all according to Vedic injunction. This Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is not a manufactured way. This is actually following the Vedic principle. This is Agni-Purāṇa, Brahmāṇḍa-Purāṇa, Brahma-vaivarta-Purāṇa, and Kali-santaraṇa-Upaniṣad. There are many Vedic literatures, they are recommended, this Hare Kṛṣṇa. Sometime it is said, "Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare"; sometime it is "Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare." So people become puzzled, which one should be first vibrated. So any one you can vibrate. Either you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or Hare Rāma in the beginning, it doesn't matter. There is no difference between the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. But still, there is some distinction. In the śāstra it is said that "If you chant one thousand times Lord Viṣṇu's name, that is equal to chanting one name of Lord Rāma." Sahasra, sahasra, Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma. And if you chant three times Lord Rāma's name, it is equal to one time chanting Kṛṣṇa's name. This is the shastric injunction.

Lecture on SB 3.26.35-36 -- Bombay, January 12, 1975:

So either you chant Viṣṇu name or Lord Rāma name or Lord Kṛṣṇa's name, there is no difference, as you are, because different people become devotee to different forms. Sometimes they are devotee of Lord Rāmacandra; they want to worship Sītā-Rāma. That is also good. Sometimes they want to worship Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. That is also good. And sometimes they want to worship Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That is also the same. There is no difference. Rāmādi-mūrtiṣu kalā-niyamena tiṣṭhan nānāvatāram akarod bhuvaneṣu kintu, kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ samabhavat (Bs. 5.39). There are many manifestation of Viṣṇu-advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam (Bs. 5.33)—but the original manifestation or original Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Really, when we speak of Bhagavān, that is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa's expansion, they are also Bhagavān. And those who are very, very powerful like Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, Nārada, and many other devotees and sages, they are also sometimes addressed as Bhagavān in the śāstra, but not ordinary men. Ordinary men cannot become Bhagavān. That is not possible. But everyone can become exalted devotee. Just like Nārada Muni. In his previous birth he was a maidservant's son, not even born in the brāhmaṇa family. But by good association of devotees he became next birth Nārada Muni, the spiritual master of so many exalted devotees. Nārada Muni's name we hear in connection with Prahlāda Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja, and many other devotees. And so everyone has the potency, just like Nārada Muni. So it doesn't matter where you were born. Nārada Muni was born as a maidservant's son, but by good association... Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvidaḥ. By good association, next life he became Nārada.

Lecture on SB 3.26.43 -- Bombay, January 18, 1975:

Now, the position is how to know God. How to know God. So God know, it is very easy. If you don't chant... Suppose if I say that "By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra you will know God," you may think that "Why shall I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra? I belong to different religion. Why shall I chant this Hindus' Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra?" Then all right, you do not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, but you try to understand God in your daily life. What is that? That satisfaction by drinking water. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). Everyone drinks water. Either you become Hindu, Muslim, Christian, you have to drink water. And after drinking water, when you feel satisfaction, as it is said, tāpa apanodaḥ, the tiresomeness immediately annihilated, immediately diminished, satisfies, so that satisfaction is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Kṛṣṇa says. So you haven't got to search out Kṛṣṇa anywhere. Kṛṣṇa is within you, God is within you, but still if you are doubtful, then God says, Kṛṣṇa says, "You try to understand Me in this way, tāpa apanodaḥ, the water." Everyone drinks water, very easy. So raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. Then the beginning, if you do not do anything... Just I am trying to convince you about the easy process of bhakti-yoga. Anyone, everyone, at any place, any condition of life, he can become a bhakta. Ahaituky apratihatā. This is first-class religion, to become devotee of God. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). Bhakti... When you... Bhakti means loving service. When you develop your dormant love for Kṛṣṇa and you begin to serve Him, that is called bhakti.

Lecture on SB 3.26.44 -- Bombay, January 19, 1975:

So further analytical study of water is mentioned here by Kapiladeva. So the rasa, taste. Taste changes into gandha, smell. So the taste is created by daiva-coditāt. Taste of everything... Everything is being done, daiva-coditāt, the beginning. But the taste creates the different kinds of fragrance, gandha, smell, within the earth. There is water, there is taste, and taste and formation—either you say chemical or physical changes—it becomes smell. So different kinds of smell there are already within the earth. Simply it brings out by different methods. The scientist does not know. That we have already explained several times, that the different gandha, or smell, or fragrance, or aroma, whatever you call, there are already within the earth. Puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, puṇyo gandhaḥ and pāpo gandhaḥ. In the material world, everywhere, there are two things: pious and impious. So the pāpo gandhaḥ, bad smell, when it passes, so you close your nose, nostrils, not to accept it. But when there is puṇyo gandhaḥ, you feel fresh: "Oh, it is very nice."

So Kṛṣṇa says, puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. When you smell something very fragrant... Just like in the flower. There are different varieties of flower, and they are exacting different varieties of aroma from the earth. So the good smell of the flower... In some other place it is said in the Bhāgavatam that the..., when you see flower, you see Kṛṣṇa smiling. That is the seeing of Kṛṣṇa smiling. Therefore the flower should be utilized for Kṛṣṇa's service. Because these flowers, everything, is Kṛṣṇa's energy. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). So specifically good fragrance of flower, Kṛṣṇa says that "I am that." Kṛṣṇa's particular presence is there. So we can remember Kṛṣṇa immediately. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that you remember always Kṛṣṇa. Always Kṛṣṇa. Just like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa did. Sa vai manaḥ

Lecture on SB 3.26.47 -- Bombay, January 22, 1975:

Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has described this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, "not of this material sky." Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, this is not a material sound. And in the Vedānta it is stated, śabdād anāvṛtti. By chanting the spiritual sound... The impersonalists, they chant oṁkāra. Praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu. All Vedic mantras are preceded by the spiritual oṁkāra. That oṁkāra... Kṛṣṇa says, akṣarāṇām akāro 'smi. Vedeṣu, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, A, U, M, These are described in the Bhagavad-gītā. So either you vibrate oṁkāra or Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, they belong to the spiritual world. This sound does not belong to this material. Material sound, if you chant once, twice, thrice, you will feel disgusted. But spiritual sound, if you chant twenty-four hours, you will never feel disgusted, but you will feel more and more spiritual bliss. That is the difference. Actually, you see these boys and girls and others, they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa practically from early in the morning, 5:00 till 10:00, daily, but nobody is feeling any disgust. They like to chant. That is the difference between material sound and spiritual sound.

Lecture on SB 3.28.1 -- Honolulu, June 1, 1975:

The first step is given there, that sva-dharmācaraṇam. Sva-dharmācaraṇaṁ śaktyā. As far as possible, be situated in your natural life. Natural life means there are three modes of material nature. So somebody is affected or infected by some modes of material nature—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So the śāstra has made the path so clear that in either of these infection, either sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa, you can make progress spiritual life. Because we must be in either of these. Just like a train is going on: there is first class, second class, third class. So because the train is going, either you place yourself in the first-class compartment or second class, you will go. You will go. It is not that because you are situated in the third-class compartment the your train is not going. No, you can go. Similarly, Bhagavad-gītā has taught that one can go back to home, back to Godhead, in any position, provided he knows how to tackle the situation.

Sva-dharma. Sva-dharma will be explained, and it is explained in the Bhagavad... Sva-dharma means one may be in goodness, one may be in passion, one may be in darkness, and one may be in mixture. So that is divided into four classes of men: the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and śūdra. So Bhagavad-gītā teaches us that anyone, if he worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead by sva-dharma, by his occupational duty, he also becomes perfect. For example, just like Arjuna. He was a military man, and his sva-dharma, his occupational duty, was to fight. So that fighting capacity he engaged himself in the service of Kṛṣṇa, and he became a devotee. Kṛṣṇa certified, bhakto 'si. What did he do? He did not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Of course, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra constantly because he was thinking of Kṛṣṇa. He had no other business than to think of Kṛṣṇa. But by formality he did not become a Vaiṣṇava or chanting. But he was always thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he is certified as the foremost yogi. Yoginām api sarveṣām (BG 6.47).

Lecture on SB 3.28.17 -- Nairobi, October 26, 1975:

Just like these European, American or African boys. They have joined this Kṛṣṇa con... They have not come here for some material progress. No. They have not come here. Others may come. You can say, "The Africans are poor. They have come." No. Nobody has come for material profit. What about the Europeans, Americans? They are not poor. They have got enough money. Why they are after Kṛṣṇa consciousness, after me? I am not rich man. No. That is called ahaituki, without any motive. Nobody. "Kṛṣṇa is my lovable, worshipable. I shall worship Kṛṣṇa." This is wanted. Ahaituky apratihatā. And if you have got this intention, that "Kṛṣṇa is my Lord. I must love Kṛṣṇa. I must learn how to love Him," then apratihatā—no material condition can check it. Either you become American or African, black and white or this or that, nothing can check you. You can go on—if it is motiveless. This is wanted.

So I am very glad that you are trying to capture what is real Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this is the only process. Think always... Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī mām (BG 18.65). Think always, "Kṛṣṇa is my Lord." That is thinking. This thinking should be always. It doesn't cost anything. If you think, "Here is Kṛṣṇa. He is my Lord," what does it cost? And where is the loss? There is no loss, but the gain is enormous if you simply think of Kṛṣṇa. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. And who will engage his mind in Kṛṣṇa unless he is a devotee? How you become devotee? Śravanaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda... (SB 7.5.23). This śravanaṁ kīrtanam. Simply hear about Kṛṣṇa, chant about Kṛṣṇa. Then you become automatically. You don't require any education. Simply sit down and hear about Kṛṣṇa. Śravanaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. Not other subject matter. Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). If you do not understand, if you simply hear the chanting, you become pious. You become pious.

Lecture on SB 3.28.19 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

This is meditation. These haṭha-yogis, they meditate in their impersonal feature, but our meditation, Vaiṣṇava, devotees' meditation is very easy. For the haṭha-yogis, they have to select place, āsana. Dhyāna, dhāraṅā, āsana... Āsana is also one of the activities. But here, in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, you are seeing the Deity always, at least daily, so you have got some impression that "Our temple Deity is like this." That impression, either you are sitting in one place without any activities, sthitaṁ vrajantam... While walking on the street also, you can think of this Deity. There is no difficulty, either you are sitting or you are walking or you are standing, any way. Because the mind is there in Kṛṣṇa, in Kṛṣṇa's form. Therefore Deity worship is so essential for the neophyte. He can have always the opportunity to think of the Supreme Lord by the impression of the Deity within the mind. Śayānam. Even in lying down, even talking.

Lecture on SB 3.28.19 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

So this is our process. This is the perfect process. You don't require any artificial method to think of God. It is natural. If you simply come to the temple daily, chant in the front of the Deity, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, then you become advanced immediately. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). Now there are books. Either you chant, sit down in the Deity room in front of the Deity, see how āratrika is going on, how Deity is nicely dressed with flower, ornaments, so if you constantly be engaged in thinking of the Deity, that is first-class meditation, not artificially going to That is not possible at the present moment, that, as it is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, you have to select a very solitary place and you have to sit down under certain posture, looking half-opened eyes on the tip of the nose so that you may not sleep in the name of meditation. There are so many. And you have to follow brahmacārya. All these rules and regulations are there: dhyāna, dhāraṅā, āsana, prāṇāyāma. Prāṇāyāma. Then? What is called? Pratyāhāra. Pratyāhāra means you have to completely withdraw the senses from sense gratification. That is called pratyāhāra. Then there is samādhi. So this yoga system is recommended, but that it is very, very difficult. Five thousand years ago, when Kṛṣṇa explained this haṭha-yoga system in the Sixth Chapter to Arjuna Arjuna was honest man. He flatly denied, "Kṛṣṇa, these things cannot be done by me." Because in those days, especially a person like Arjuna, why he should speak lies? This meditation is not possible. It was only possible in the Satya-yuga when people were very peaceful, long duration of life, there was no artificial necessities of life. Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇum. At that time, to meditate upon Viṣṇu and for years Just like Vālmīki Muni. He practiced meditation for sixty thousands of years. Then he got perfection. At that time people used to live for 100,000.

Lecture on SB 3.28.19 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

The meditation which was possible in the kṛte, in the Satya-yuga... Satya-yuga continued for twelve lakhs of years; then Treta-yuga, eight lakhs of years... No, Satya-yuga, eighteen lakhs; then Treta-yuga, twelve lakhs; then Dvāpara-yuga, eight lakhs; and Kali-yuga, four lakhs. Altogether forty-three. So bhakti-yoga includes everything. So this process, this arcanā process. If we... Everyone alternately they should learn how to worship. That will give the impression of the Lord within the heart, and then, either you are walking or you are sitting or you are lying or you are eating or you are talking, you'll always think of Kṛṣṇa. This is the process. It will be automatically done. Sthitaṁ vrajantam āsīnaṁ śayānaṁ vā guhāśayam. Generally the yogis, they try to find out the Viṣṇu mūrti within the core of the heart, but this is as good. When you are walking on the street, then, if you are thinking, there will be no hindrance to your activities, but you can think of Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Just like Mahārāja Ambarish. He was emperor. He had many responsibilities, but he practiced how to think of Kṛṣṇa always.

Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). You engage your senses. So this is practice. First of all think of the Deity. First of all think of the lotus feet, then the knees, then the eyes, then the belly, then the chest. In this way, as you become practiced, then go further, advance. In this way, when you become fully practiced, then automatically, in whatever condition you are, you will be able to meditate upon Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām (BG 9.14). Satataṁ cintayanto mām. If you always think of Kṛṣṇa, always chant... Chanting is also meditation. As soon as you chant, you immediately remember Kṛṣṇa, His form, His name, His quality, His pastimes. So where is difficulty? The Gosvāmīs practiced it.

Lecture on SB 3.28.19 -- Nairobi, October 29, 1975:

"The process of meditating on the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within oneself and the process of chanting the glories or pastimes of the Lord are the same." There is no difference. This is called advaya-jñāna: no difference, absolute. Either you chant, hear, or you try to see within your heart the Supreme Lord—the same thing. "The only difference is that hearing and fixing the mind on the pastimes of the Lord is easier than visualizing the form of the Lord within one's heart, because as soon as one begins to think of the Lord, especially in this age, the mind becomes disturbed, and due to so much agitation, the process of seeing the Lord within the mind is interrupted." Suppose one is big businessman. He is always thinking of his business, how to sell this, how to purchase this. This is... His mind is absorbed with these things. So if he sits down to meditate upon the Lord, it will not be possible. It will not be possible. His mind will be disturbed, and he will think of his business transaction. So that is natural. But if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa loudly, you will be forced to hear "Kṛṣṇa," and that Kṛṣṇa immediately comes within your mind by force. So it is better process than sit down and think of Kṛṣṇa.

"When there is sound vibrated passing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, however, one is forced to hear. That hearing process enters into the mind, and the practice of yoga is automatically performed. For example, even a child can hear and derive the benefit of meditating on the pastimes of the Lord simply..." Now, just like these children. They do not understand English, they do not understand language, but when there will be chanting, they will stand up and dance. See how this process is easy. There is no question of language understanding, no question of being young or child. Anyone who will hear the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa Mantra, he will be enthused immediately, and that is natural.

Lecture on SB 3.28.21 -- Nairobi, November 1, 1975:

Here every man, even the richest man is full of anxiety. Your president, he is the richest person in this country, and he is the third richest man in the world, somebody. But do you think he is without anxiety? No. That is not possible. That is not possible. He is full of anxiety: "The other party may not take." (aside:) You sit down properly. Other party may not take his position. This is all politicians' anxiety. Even the king of heaven, Indra, he is also full of anxiety. There are Hiraṇyakaśipus. So sometimes they drive away that Indra, King Indra, and he enjoys there. This is going on, not only in this planet. In all planet, wherever you go, the same condition prevails. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokān punar āvartino 'rjuna. Don't think that by going to the heavenly planet you'll be happy there. No. There is no possibility. Either you go to the heavenly planet or you go to the hell, you will have to undergo the threefold miserable conditions.

Therefore inviting. Kṛṣṇa is coming, inviting. We are also, on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, inviting. Na yatra bhāsayate sūryaḥ. So you come to that spiritual life. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). And what is? How you can go there? Very simple. Very simple. Kṛṣṇa has given you the simple program. What is that? Manmanā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru mām evaiṣyasi asaṁśayaḥ (BG 18.68). If you simply follow these four principles without arguing foolishly and rascally, manmanā bhava mad-bhakto (BG 18.65), these four principles. "Always think of Me," Kṛṣṇa says. Not I am saying, but Kṛṣṇa personally saying, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto: "Just become My devotee," and māṁ namaskuru, "worship Me." So it doesn't require any M.A., Ph.D. degrees. It doesn't require that Apratihatā. Bhakti is apratihatā, without any hindrance. Nobody can say that "Because I am poor," "Because I am uneducated," "Because I am black," "Because I am white"—no "because." Any condition of life, you can become a devotee and go back to home, back to This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. No material condition can check you. This is our movement.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969:

And if Kṛṣṇa is unpleased, even in your family life you'll not be comfortable. Therefore, according to the Vedic system, at a certain age, it is indicated that one should retire from family life. So this Ṛṣabhadeva Mahārāja, He was retired. Although He had one hundred sons, all obedient sons, He was emperor, anything was at His command—still, He was retiring. That is the Vedic system. He had no disadvantage. He was personally the incarnation of Godhead, an emperor, very obedient sons, and opulence, everything complete. There are many instances. His son, Bharata Mahārāja, he also retired. You have seen Parīkṣit Mahārāja. After his retirement, this Bhāgavata was recited before him. His grandfather, Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, they voluntarily retired. So that is the system. In the early age, either you become a son of a king or you are son of an ordinary man, you must go to the āśrama of spiritual master and live there as servant. That is called brahmacārī. Brahmacārī's life means to serve the spiritual master as menial servant. Whatever he will ask, the brahmacārī will do. It is so much strict that brahmacārī, whatever he collects, he gives to the spiritual master, the spiritual master's property. It is not his property. And the spiritual master, if he forgets to call one disciple, "My dear son, come and take your prasādam," then he will not take prasādam even, without being called. He will starve. Of course, spiritual master does not forget, but these are the injunctions, that if he does not ask you, "Come and take your prasādam," then you should not touch, yourself. There are so many strictures.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Tittenhurst, London, September 12, 1969:

This is called tapasya. Even at his inconvenience, he abides by the order of the spiritual master, regulative principle. That is called tapasya. He feels some inconvenience, but what can be done? He has accepted one spiritual master. A spiritual master means voluntarily accepting a great personality whose rules and regulations he must abide by. This is accepting of spiritual master, voluntarily accepting somebody, "Yes, sir. Whatever you say, I'll accept." Śiṣya. Śiṣya means who abides by the rules. That is called śiṣya. Or English, "discipline." From discipline, disciplic, disciplic succession. From the discipline. So either you take English or Sanskrit, the same meaning. Śiṣya means who accepts the ruling of his spiritual master; and disciple means also the same thing, who becomes disciplined by the spiritual master.

So tapasya means even at the inconvenience of my personal comforts, I must abide by the orders of my spiritual master. This is called tapasya. And who is spiritual master? He does not manufacture any rules and regulation. He refers to the śāstra. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, tinete kariyā aikya. If you want to know who is a spiritual master, if you know who is a saintly person, then you should keep in the middle the śāstra, the scriptures, and you will corroborate. The saintly person, the spiritual master, and the śāstra corroborate if they are abiding one another. Yes. If spiritual master says something which is not in śāstra or scripture, that is not good. Of course, sometimes we do not..., we cannot understand, but that is the principle. Similarly, a saintly person also, a mahātmā also, cannot disregard the regulative principles of śāstra. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya: "A person who gives up obedience to the ruling of the scriptures," vartate kāma-kārataḥ, "and he acts in his own way, by his whims," na siddhiṁ sāvāpnoti, "he cannot attain perfection." These are the versions of Bhagavad-gītā. Na siddhiṁ sāvāp..., na sukham: "And at the same time, he cannot be happy." Na parāṁ gatim: "And what to speak of liberation?"

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

That is not possible. It is not possible. So if a beggar goes somebody's house, "Mother, give me some alms," so it is not that one is awarding some hundred thousands of rupees or dollars. So naturally, they have minimized their... Only little luxury or, I mean to say, high standard of life is allowed to the gṛhasthas, according to Vedic system, and the three other sections of the society, they should minimize. Why minimize? Because the idea is not to waste time unnecessarily. Unnecessarily.

After all, either you live very high standard of life or low standard of life... There is no question of low standard of life. The proper upkeep of health is cleanliness. If you keep yourself clean, then your, I mean to say, problem of health is solved. Simply cleanliness. "Cleanliness is next to godliness." That is also an English proverb. And in Sanskrit literature also, bāhyābhyantara-śuciḥ: "One should be cleansed within and without." So without, you can clean yourself simply by water. By the laws of nature you have got enough water so you can cleanse yourself outside by water. There is no necessity of soap. There is no necessity of anything. Simply if you wash your body with water sufficiently. Of course, in your country it is cold country. In India, common people they go to the river and take bath very nicely because it is a tropical climate. There is no trouble. So you can cleanse your body. There are many saintly persons residing on the bank of the river Ganges. Early in the morning they cleanse the body. They go to evacuate on the field. After evacuating they come to the river, cleanse the body very nicely, and smear the body with the clay received from the river, and they sit down at a place and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa—whole day.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

That girl is nice," "This man is not good. That man is good," then the whole thing is spoiled. Whole thing is spoiled. Because these demands are there, sense gratification. On the basis of sense gratification, "I don't like this girl. I like that girl." "I don't like this boy. I like that boy." That means sense gratification. Otherwise, the sense gratification... As I have already cited the example, the prostitute gave two pots of vegetables, that "You are thinking that you shall enjoy this woman who is charging one million dollars, or like that, the sense pleasure from this woman will be greater than the other woman. It is mistake." The sense pleasure is the same either you derive it from this man or that man or this woman or that man.

So if our Kṛṣṇa consciousness improves, then we may be satisfied whatever is kṛṣṇa-prasāda. That's Kṛṣṇa cons... Whatever Kṛṣṇa has offered me, that is sufficient. No more. Then our problem of sense gratification is solved. Similarly, your bread problem is solved, your apartment problem is solved. If you make your life very simple and shortcut, then the balance time you can utilize for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the program. This is the program of Vedic civilization. You'll find great scholars, Vyāsadeva... There is no comparison of his scholarship, how many... Now, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he has written eighteen thousand verses. And not only Śrīmad-... He has written eighteen Purāṇas. Out of eighteen Purāṇas the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is one Purāṇa. And in one Purāṇa you find eighteen thousand verses, and each and every word is so meaningful that you study throughout your whole life, oh, still you'll find refreshed. Why this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? There is Mahābhārata. And out of the Mahābhārata the Bhagavad-gītā is only one chapter, seven hundred verses. Such a great scholar was living in a cottage. You see. Not only that. He was, of course, brāhmaṇa, he was saintly... But he was family man. He had his wife, he had his children.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

And that interest must be there in human life; otherwise it is spoiling. That is the problem, that no more transmigration from one body to another. That problem can be solved in this human form of life. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva advises His sons, "My dear sons, to work very, very hard simply for sense gratification is not the business of human form of life." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke.

Then what it is meant for? The next line He says that tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means austerity. Austerity. What is that austerity? The austerity is to follow the rules and regulations by which one can elevate himself to the spiritual platform. That is required. In human... Either you practice yoga or haṭha-yoga or jñāna-yoga or dhyāna-yoga or karma-yoga or... Everything is yoga. As I explained last night in the meeting in the church, that yoga is one staircase to reach to the perfection of spiritual realization, and there are many steps. Just like haṭha-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, jñāna-yoga, there are many steps. But the perfectional stage is bhakti-yoga. The perfectional stage is bhakti-yoga. That should be the aim of life. But people do not know it that what is the aim of life. The aim of life is self-realization and to understand and to know and to reestablish our lost relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That should be the aim of life. Therefore it requires tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means voluntarily accepting some penances. Just like I am inclined for sense gratification, and tapasya means voluntarily avoid too much sense gratification. The śāstra does not stop sense gratification. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna. If the nature law allows sense gratification to the lower animals, birds and beast, why not to the man? But it should be controlled. Tapasya.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

We should request you, we have opened this branch of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement just to give chance to everyone to come here and associate with the saintly devotees, and make your life very successful. I shall finish this lecture by reading one line only. The symptoms of saintly person is given, mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavo ye. Who is saintly personality? That is given here, mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ. Sama-cittāḥ means they are equipoised, means they're not agitated by the worldly activities. That means, it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). This, one of the qualification is sama-cittāḥ, not disturbed by worldly activities, because in the worldly activities either you make some profit or you make some loss. So our position is when we get some profit we are very jubilant, but when we are losing something we are very morose, unhappy. But a mahānta is equipoised. He is neither very happy when he makes profit, neither at all sorry when he makes losses. This is the first sign. Mahat-sevam, mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā. Praśāntā means very peaceful. This is another qualification. Mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ praśāntā, vimanyavaḥ, he is never angry. Suhṛdaḥ, and he's a well-wisher. He's well-wisher not only for the human beings, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29), for all living entities. Like this person just, who are very friendly to the human being, but they sell the poor animals to the slaughter-house. Saintly person. Saintly person is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām, for all living entities he's friend. Suhṛdaḥ and sādhavaḥ. Sādhavaḥ means well-behaved. Sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣanāḥ, well-behaved. The well-behavior is described in the śāstra, to become a devotee of the Lord. (break) ...of saintly person is to become devotee of the Lord. (break) ...finish this now. You can ask if you have got any questions.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-8 -- Stockholm, September 8, 1973:

"It is My energy, it is My energy. The earth, water, air, fire, sky, mind, intelligence, they are My separated energy." So it is emanation from Kṛṣṇa. Either you take the earth, water, fire, air, anything. It has come from Kṛṣṇa. So they are not different. The energy and energetic are not different: identical. And Kṛṣṇa, being omnipotent, He can do anything by His energy. That is the meaning of omnipotent. Even in ordinary things also. Just like a man has got enough money. That money is energy of the man, we can understand. So with that money he can do so many things. Although the money is in the bank and he's at home, by his order, so many things can be done. He can start a big factory, business, everything, although he's in the home. It is very easy to understand—because the energy is there. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa may be far away from us, even we think... Kṛṣṇa is not far away. Kṛṣṇa is within our heart. But even if we think that Kṛṣṇa is living in Goloka Vṛndāvana, which is unlimitedly far away from here...

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 12, 1975:

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṇa says praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, "I am the oṁkāra in all Vedic mantras." Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti. Oṁkāra is as good. That is also Kṛṣṇa. So either you chant oṁkāra or "Kṛṣṇa," there is no difference. But in the śāstras it is recommended that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, not oṁkāra. So you have to accept śāstra. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu practically demonstrated. He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇam, kṛṣṇaṁ varṇayati, Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we have to follow the śāstra and the great saintly person. Otherwise there is no difference between oṁkāra and Kṛṣṇa. But because śāstra recommends harer nāma harer nāma (CC Adi 17.21), we have to accept it.

Mahāṁsa: There is a question here: please give brief resume of Swami A.C. Bhaktivedanta's life. I would just like to make a note that we have printed our recent Hare Kṛṣṇa Explosion fortnightly. It is available at the book stall (indistinct). This issue had been dedicated to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Śrīla Prabhupāda, how he started the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and other achievements, books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. So if you would like to know, you can take one of these issues.

Acyutānanda: According to your observation, godlessness is responsible for scarcity. Then what about Communist countries compared with India?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Hyderabad, April 13, 1975:

So if you have got determination that "We shall continue this life of birth, death, old age and disease and let loose our senses, do whatever you like," then there is no question of liberation. There is no lib... Therefore it is said, tamo-dvāram yoṣitaṁ saṅgi-saṅgam. Yoṣitaṁ saṅgi-saṅgam, yoṣit means woman, generally. Woman is supposed to be the representative of māyā. So either you directly keep relation or you keep relation with persons who are very much fond of yoṣit, in both ways you have to go directly to the darkest region of hellish conditions. Tamo-dvāram. Therefore our Vedic civilization is... The first teaching is brahmacārī. First teaching, how to become brahmacārī. There are many saintly persons, they are akhanda brahmacārī, or avala (?) brahmacārī. They avoid. It is not only for men; it is meant for woman also, because here we are dressed like men and women. Otherwise the mentality is manly, to enjoy, puruṣa. Puruṣa means who wants to enjoy, and yoṣit means enjoy. So our relationship in this material world, that either in the dress of woman or man, the mentality is puruṣa, how to enjoy. The mentality is puruṣa.

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Johannesburg, October 22, 1975:

So this process can be practiced even at home. There is no necessity that you have to change your place, you have to give up your business, you have to..., occupation, or you have to give up your family relationship. No. You remain in your... But practice this śravanam. Just like you are hearing here in this hall, you can do it at home. These books are there. I am speaking from the book. You can speak also from the book, and sit down amongst your family members and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

So the aim should be how to become friend of God. It doesn't matter whether you remain at home or out of home. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, gṛhe bā vanete thāke, 'hā gaurāṅga' bale ḍāke. Either you remain at home or outside home, you chant śrī kṛṣṇa caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. This is the process, very simple process. And Hare Kṛṣṇa. And if you want Of course, knowledge will come automatically. If your heart is purified by this śravanaṁ kīrtanam method, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), then the heart will be purified. And God is situated within your heart. Then, as soon as your heart is purified, you'll be able to see God within yourself, within your heart. That is called meditation. You see God within yourself and see constantly: "Here is God. Here is Kṛṣṇa." That is meditation.

So premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38).

Lecture on SB 5.5.2 -- Vrndavana, October 24, 1976:

Therefore it is recommended, mahat-sevām. You do not approach Kṛṣṇa or His representative to order him or to make him your servant: "Sir, give me this, give me that." "Yes, you can take it, you can..." Flattering. So that is not the position. Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur. If you want to know First of all, you know what you are. Then the question is vimukti. The same thing, same proposal. In the Vedic instruction there is no difference. Everywhere we'll find the same thing. That is standard knowledge. Not that I am saying something, you are saying something. 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.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Boston, May 4, 1968:

"I enjoy or not enjoy, I love you." That is love. Just like Cowper said, "England, with all thy faults, I love you." That is love. There is no return. Just like Rādhārāṇī's love to Kṛṣṇa. She does not require any return. You see? Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana, Rādhārāṇī, and their whole life remained simply crying for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa never returned. But still, they loved Kṛṣṇa. That is love. That love is being shown by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: "Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is Kṛṣṇa?" That's Rādhārāṇī's separation, love in separation. So love means without any return, without any sense gratification, without any consideration. That is love. Āśliṣya. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's... Āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām adarśanān marma-hatāṁ karotu vā (CC Antya 20.47). The lover is saying to the beloved, "Either You embrace me with love or you kick me, trample me down under Your feet. And if You make me brokenhearted without meeting me, so whatever You like, You can do. Still I love You." That is love. That is only possible to love Kṛṣṇa. That is not materially possible. Here the so-called love means he or she wants some return for sense gratification. So there the so-called love is lust. It is going in the market in the name of love. There is no love.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

And in the morning, if you see big cloud assembly and thundering sound, but you rest assured. There will be no rain in the morning. So these things are bahvārambhe laghu kriyā. Ārambha, beginning is very gorgeous. But end is nothing. So that is not good, bahvārambhe laghu kriyā.

So here, it is suggested that in this human form of life, you have got two choices. Either you again go to hell or you go back to home, back to Godhead. Two choices, that in, by evolutionary process, you come to the human form of life after going through eight million forms of lower-grade life. Then you come to this human form of life, when your consciousness is developed. You are not exactly like animals. The animal propensities are there, but it is decent. Because you have got good, advanced consciousness. The animals eat; we also eat. But our eating process is more decent than the animals. We have got nice kitchen. We can prepare varieties of foodstuff by mixing so many eatables. Because we have got intelligence, we can do. The animals cannot do. So similarly, sleeping. There are animals. There are animals. They also sleep. We also sleep, but our apartment is very nice, we have got nice bed—in a improved way.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

Similarly, if you become a advanced, civilized man simply to make a gorgeous scheme, bahvārambhe, of this eating, sleeping, mating, and defending, you remain animal. These, these things they cannot understand. This rascal civilization, they think this is advancement of civilization. They cannot think that with this advancement of civilization of industry, big, big cities, electric light, big, big road, motorcars and... But what is the basic principle? The basic principle is eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Just like the basic principle being stealing, you are thieves. Either you are expert thief for stealing diamonds or you are not expert, but you can steal one apple or one peach, both of you are thieves. So you are punishable. You are punished. The gorgeous thief, scientifically stealing from the bank millions of dollars, he cannot say that "I am advanced thief. I am very civilized way, take. I take, at a time, millions of dollars. Therefore, my stealing is advancement of civilization." These rascals, they cannot understand this. Therefore we call all of them rascals. They may say that "We are so much advanced. You are crazy." Yes, but just see. The law is either you are advanced thief, or you are a crude thief, you are thief, and as soon as you are thief, you are punishable. This is the process.

Lecture on SB 5.5.3 -- Stockholm, September 9, 1973:

"I have no trouble, I am free from all trouble"? Is there anyone? Is it possible to say? What do you think? Can anyone say that "Yes, I've got this body, but I have no miserable condition, I'm always very happy"? Is there anyone? That rascal civilization, they cannot understand. They are trying to stop miserable condition, but he does not know that miserable condition is his body. Just see how much foolish (it) is. He does not know that this very body is the cause of your miserable condition. They do not know. They are trying to improve the condition. How you'll improve the condition? Just like in our Bengal there is a word, jadi jau bange kapala jabe sange (?). Just like people are going from this country to that to improve economic condition. But it is a common saying that "Wherever you rascal go, your fate will go with you." Either you go to England or India or here and there... Because people are struggling for economic development. But he does not know that I cannot make an inch of development beyond the destiny which is already fixed up. Already fixed up.

Don't you see that two men, they are working day and night, very hard. One man has become all of a sudden millionaire, and another man, he has no employment. Why? Why this distinction? Both of them have worked hard to improve economic development, but one has become very quickly millionaire, another is still struggling. He does not know how to eat tomorrow. Why this arrangement? Who has made this arrangement? So this is actually study—that you cannot change your fate. Already fixed up. The material condition of life, as soon as you get a certain type of body, your pains and pleasure already fixed up within the body routine work. You cannot make any change. Just like the—I have given many times—the pig, he's destined to eat stool. Therefore he has been awarded that type of body. So however you canvass this pig, "Why you are eating the stool? Take this halavā," he'll not take. It will not take. Because his destiny means he has got that particular type of body. So these are finer studies.

Lecture on SB 5.5.5 -- Stockholm, September 10, 1973:

There there is no such facilities, they are not very good-looking, not very learned scholars, not birth is very nice, not aristocratic, not riches, poor. So from spiritual point of view, both of these kinds of facilities or inconvenience are one, because when you take your birth, you have to enter within the womb of a mother and stay ten months in a packed-up condition. Not only ten months. Nowadays it is going on, killing the child within the womb. Even you cannot come out. Before your coming out from the womb of your mother, you might be killed by your very mother or father. Because that movement is going on, abortion. So either you are in a womb of a very rich mother or a poor mother or in the womb of a black mother or white mother or a learned mother or foolish mother, the pains of staying within the mother is the same. It is not that because you are in the womb of a rich mother, therefore there will be no pain of living within the womb. The same pain. So janma. Then again, as soon as you accept some material body, you will have to suffer the bodily pains and pleasure. Then, at the time of death, the same painful condition.

Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:

So the father and mother's duty is to unite them so that they may not be spoiled, they may not be like cats and dogs. At least there will be some regulative principles they will follow. But the bondage is, as soon as they are united, the economic development, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair (SB 5.5.8), then searching after: "Now we must have an apartment, so to..." Either you construct a house or rent a house, anyway money is required, so you will be enthused to earn money. "I have got wife, I have to keep nicely, I have to eat nicely, I have to give her dress, and so on, so on." So first of all, get one apartment or house, ataḥ gṛha. Then how to maintain the house. Formerly there was no other business except that agriculture. Agriculture, that is the economic, annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). We have to eat, so grow food grains. So where shall I grow my food grains? Not on the roof, but I must have some land, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra, land is wanted, ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra. Then putra-hīnaṁ gṛhaṁ śūnyam, family life, married life, but there is no son. That is another troublesome There are so many married life, they haven't got son, children—they are very unhappy. They spend so much money to get a children. They go to the saintly persons and beg blessing, "Give us one children, one child." There was one great big man long ago, he had no child, so he came to my Guru Mahārāja and he offered, "Guru Mahārāja, if I get a child, I can give you the whole estate." So these are natural demands. First of all husband and wife and child, then apartment, then land, then friends, then money, in this way we become entangled more, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So instead of sukhera lagiya ei ghara bandhun, I became a householder for happiness, agune puriya gela, now there is blazing fire. Sukhera lagiya ei ghara bandhun agune puriya gela. And there is another, ravana hoila ithe gatila janja: "I wanted to be happy in this way, but it has become an embarassment." So this is going on.

Lecture on SB 5.5.15 -- Vrndavana, November 3, 1976:

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.

Lecture on SB 5.5.18 -- Vrndavana, November 6, 1976:

So in the previous verse it has been described that kas taṁ svayaṁ tad-abhijño vipaścid. The guardian should be abhijñaḥ, and vipaścit, very learned. The government, the father, the guru, the teacher, or even husband of... Because we are guided, everyone is guided by somebody else. That is society. Not cats and dogs. Just like the cats and dogs, they give birth to the children and then they have no responsibility. The dogs are loitering in the street; nobody takes care. But human society should not be like that. There must be responsible guardians. The some of the responsible guardians are described here. First of all, guru. Either you take ordinary teacher in the school or colleges, they are also called guru, and the sublime guru is the spiritual master. Not only the spiritual master, but anyone who has taken the post of becoming guru to teach others, he must be very learned, very responsible, vipaścit, abhijñaḥ. Abhijñātaḥ, it is the qualification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is said in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, abhijñaḥ. Janmādy asya yataḥ 'nvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). The controller must be abhijñaḥ. The same thing is here. Of course, we cannot be as abhijñaḥ as God—that is not possible—but little quantity of that abhijñātaḥ must be there. Otherwise what is the use of becoming...?

Lecture on SB 5.5.25 -- Vrndavana, November 12, 1976:

This word is used, punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām. I have enjoyed this material life, āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca. Eating, sleeping, sex, and bhaya is everywhere. A small insect up to Brahmā or Indra, this is the business. So people do not want to stop this business. They want to improve the business. "I am eating now without any plate, and if I can eat on the golden plate," they are thinking, "this is advancement of civilization." So the eating process... Eating means kṣut nivṛtti tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. When one is hungry, when he eats something, according to the taste... A gentleman is eating halavā, purī, and the hog is eating stool. So the taste and tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti is the same. Either you eat halavā, purī or stool, you are eating according to the taste. Just like in the airplane we sit down. They are asking, "Sir, what can I...?" We say, "We refuse." We don't touch anything in the airplane because we know what is that. And the next man, he is eating very nicely the intestine of hog. We have seen it. He is very nicely eating with spoon and fork, very enjoying. And we are saying, "Oh, what nasty thing he is eating." We don't, do not touch even what is offered. So why? We are taking whatever little things we have taken with us. But the result is the same, tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. You are hungry, you take something, so your appetite will decrease and your satisfaction will increase. You will get strength. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. So this is not improvement. Eating by the hog and eating by the human being, the result is the same. Tuṣṭiḥ puṣṭiḥ kṣut nivṛtti. But eating the intestines of the hog or eating halavā, puri, it does not make any difference. Ei bhāla, ei manda' saba 'manodharma'. In this material world, "This is good and this is bad," this is all mental concoction. 'Dvaite' bhadrābhadra-sakali samana.

Lecture on SB 5.5.26 -- Vrndavana, November 13, 1976:

This is the way. You increase your attachment, see Kṛṣṇa in the temple, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto (BG 18.65), think of Kṛṣṇa, and chant Kṛṣṇa's name and offer obeisances Kṛṣṇa. These things you can teach even to the small children. They can be practiced to see Kṛṣṇa and increase attachment for Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. But this bhakti-yoga should be practiced not from the nondevotees. Then it will be not possible. Mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogam..., mad-āśrayaḥ. Not jñānīs' āśraya or yogis' āśraya, no. Then you'll never be able to see. Mad-āśraya. Either you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa... You cannot take shelter of Kṛṣṇa directly, that is not possible, but one who has taken shelter of Kṛṣṇa, you can take shelter of him. That is mad-āśrayaḥ, one, mat-āśrayaḥ: "a person who has taken shelter of Me." That means His devotee, a pure Vaiṣṇava, a Vaiṣṇava guru. You have to take shelter of. Then you can practice bhakti-yoga. Then never mind what you are. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ, ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ (SB 2.4.18). If you take shelter of a devotee of Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, then śuddhyanti—you'll be purified. Śuddhyanti. How it is possible that...? He's born in low-grade family, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā. How he became so purified that he can see? Now prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ. This is Kṛṣṇa's influence. He can do that. If you take shelter, upāśrayāśrayāḥ, a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is pleased to reveal Himself. That is Kṛṣṇa's special power, Viṣṇu's special power. He can be seen even by the kirāta-hūṇāndhra andhra, and He cannot be seen even by the most purified brāhmaṇa. That is His option. He is not exposed to be seen by everyone. That is not possible.

Lecture on SB 5.5.29 -- Vrndavana, November 16, 1976:

Just like the word nirgranthā... Kurvanty ahaitukīṁ bhaktim ittham-bhūta-guṇo hariḥ. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained this word nirgranthā. Nirgranthā means one who has no granthi, no tight knot with this material world. And the another meaning, one who has no connection with granthā, nirgranthā. So there are two classes of men. One is foolish rascal, no education. He is called also nirgranthā, and another person who has no connection with this material world, he is also nirgranthā. So here the sign of Ṛṣabhadeva, He became just like a madman, a deaf and dumb, a rascal, a fool, a ghost. But He is not madman. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is... Apparently it may look like that, but He is Supreme Personality of Godhead. He has no connection, either you call Him deaf and dumb, fool, rascal, whatever you call. You can call. Tṛṇād api sunīcena. He has no connection with this body. This is avadhūta-veṣa. When one, no more he has got any connection with this material body, he is avadhūta-veṣa.

Lecture on SB 5.6.2 -- Vrndavana, November 24, 1976:

Tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamoy sudurmati. Simply for this tongue, little only. He cannot live simply on meat unless he's an animal exactly. He has to take vegetable, food grains, butter. These are milk products. Otherwise he has no chance to live. But for the tongue's sake he's taking little piece of meat, and for that reason, we have to maintain thousands and thousands of slaughterhouse. This is our position.

Therefore tā'ra madhye jihvā ati. Simply for the tongue we are committing so much sinful activities and becoming implicated because implication means there is no God consciousness, no Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Two things are there: one is God, and one is the repetition of birth and death. There is no third way. Either you take God... This chance... This is a chance. This human form of life is a chance. Either you go back to home, back to Godhead, or go to hell. I think Christians also, they say. Two things are there. And in our śāstra, Kṛṣṇa says, Bhagavad-gītā, mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Two things are there. Either go this way or that way. Either go to hell or go to heaven. This is the general, yes. Asat-saṅga-tyaga,-ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra (CC Madhya 22.87).

So if you are serious about going back to home, back to Godhead, we must be educated how to control the senses, how to control the senses. Therefore while eating, we are reminded that this eating is... If you do not take it as prasādam, then eating is sense enjoyment.

Lecture on SB 5.6.3 -- Vrndavana, November 25, 1976:

Practically we can see richer class, a middle class, and a poorer class. That is always existing. I thought before going to your country, USA, I thought that "The Americans, they are all rich." That's a fact. I don't say that you are poor. You are rich in comparison to India. But still, when I saw that on the Bowery Street so many drunkards are lying down on the footpath, then I thought, "Here is also third class." So either by drinking they are lying on footpath, or by becoming hippies they are lying in the park, and the police is kicking on their face. That means that three classes are always there, either you go to America, or hell or heaven—anywhere—because there are three guṇas: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. Prakṛtijān guṇān. You cannot escape it. There is no question of becoming poor. In the Western countries the government arrangement is so nice. And still, voluntarily they will become poor. That is hippies. Because nature is working. Most of these hippies, they are coming from very respectable family, rich family. I have seen. In Beverly Hills when I was walking in the morning I saw nice boy, there is car, he is coming from a very nice house, but he's a hippie. I have seen it. Why he has become hippie? Prakṛtijān guṇān. He might have taken his birth in a very rich family, respectable family. Because the mode of nature is working, voluntarily he has become hippie. This is going on all over the world. Therefore we have to come to the platform of sattva-guṇa, brāhmaṇa platform. Brāhmaṇa platform.