If one is completely surrendered into the service of the Lord, into the transcendental loving service of the Lord, mayy arpita-mano-buddhir (BG 8.7). Because we work not with our body actually. We work with our mind and intelligence. So if our intelligence and mind are always engaged in the thought of the Supreme Lord, then naturally our senses are also engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the secret of Bhagavad-gītā. One has to learn this art, how one can be absorbed both by the mind and intelligence twenty-four hours thinking of the Lord. And that will help one to transfer himself into the kingdom of God or in the spiritual atmosphere after leaving this material body. The modern scientists, they are trying for years and years together for reaching the moon planet, and they have no approach as yet. But here in the Bhagavad-gītā, here is a suggestion. Suppose a man lives for another fifty years and he... So nobody tries to elevate himself in the spiritual ideas for fifty years. That's a very good idea. But even for ten years or five years one sincerely tries for this practice, mayy arpita-mano-buddhir... (BG 8.7) It is simply a question of practice. And that practice can be very easily possible by the devotional process, śravaṇaṁ. Śravaṇaṁ. The easiest process is to hear.
Engaged in the service of the Lord (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"engage in the service of the Lord"
|"engage in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead"
|"engage in the service of the supreme transcendence"
|"engage myself in the service of God"
|"engaged actually in the service of God"
|"engaged in service of the Lord"
|"engaged in service to the Lord"
|"engaged in the service of God"
|"engaged in the service of the Lord"
|"engaged in the service of the Lord"
|"engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord"
|"engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead"
|"engaged in the service of the Supreme Spirit"
|"engagement in the service of Vasudeva"
|"engagement in the service of the Lord"
|"engages in the service of the Supreme Person"
|"engages in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead"
|"engages in the service of the lord"
|"engaging in the service of the lord"
|"ngaged in the service of the supreme"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
If one, anyone says, "Oh, what God? We are creating our own food." Just like the Communist says. They are duṣkṛtina, rascals. But if anyone even goes to the church and temple for asking something to God, he is pious. At least, he has approached God. So one day when he will be advanced devotee, he will not ask any more. He knows that "Why shall I bother God? He is supplying everyone food, so why shall I ask Him food? My food is also there. Let me serve Him." That is his higher intelligence. That is higher intelligence, that "Why shall I ask food from God? God is supplying food to the cats, dogs, ants, elephants, and I want little food, he will not supply me? And especially when I engage myself in His service? Ordinary man pays to his servant, and I shall starve if I am engaged in the service of God?" This is intelligence. This is intelligence. "Why shall I bother God? If He likes, I will starve. That doesn't matter. But I must engage myself in the service of the Lord." This is intelligence. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). This intelligence comes after many, many births of endeavoring for self-realization. It is not easily comes.
So when we are detached from the service of the Lord, this is also unnatural, unnatural. Natural position is that we must be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is our natural position. Therefore the Vaiṣṇava kavi says that kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare. When a living entity forgets Kṛṣṇa, forgets Kṛṣṇa's position... Kṛṣṇa's position... Kṛṣṇa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram: (BG 5.29) "I am the proprietor, I am the enjoyer." This is the Kṛṣṇa's position. He never falls down that position. Kṛṣṇa is enjoyer. He keeps always that position. He never falls down. He never comes to the position of being enjoyed. That is not possible. If you want to bring Kṛṣṇa on the position of being enjoyed, then you are defeated. Being enjoyed means keeping Kṛṣṇa in front, I want to get some profit of sense gratification. That is our unnatural position. Kṛṣṇa will never agree. Kṛṣṇa will never agree. Kṛṣṇa cannot be enjoyed. He is always enjoyer. He is always the proprietor. So kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva means when we forget this position of Kṛṣṇa, that He is the Supreme Enjoyer, He is the supreme proprietor... This is called forgetfulness. As soon as I think that "I am enjoyer, I am proprietor," this is my fallen stage. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare. Then jāpaṭiyā dhare, māyā, immediately māyā captures.
Just like the yogis, they try artificially by some gymnastic. That may be possible for some time, but it is... There are many instances, it became... (break) Because by force they cannot control the senses. That is not possible. You must give better engagement. (break) By force, if you think that "I shall control my tongue, I shall control my eyes, I shall control my genital, I shall control my belly." Artificial. That may be possible for some time. But they are so strong, the senses are so strong, artificially it cannot be stopped. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā... (break)... stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. You give the senses better engagement. Then you can control. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir uttamā. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena... (CC Madhya 19.170). (break) You have to purify the senses. How? By engaging the senses in the ser... (break)... tat paratvena. (break) Then you will be able to purify the senses, and with purified senses, when you are engaged in the service of the Supreme, that is called bhakti.
The tongue can be engaged in the service of the Lord. How? You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, always glorify. Vācāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. Vācāṁsi, means talking. Talking is the business of tongue, and tasting is the business of tongue. So you engage the tongue in the service of the Lord by glorifying. Whenever... You take a vow that "Whenever I shall speak, I shall simply speak, glorifying Kṛṣṇa, nothing more." That is tongue control. If you don't allow your tongue to speak anything nonsense, grāmya-kathā... We sometimes sit together. We talk so many nonsense. That should be controlled. "Now I have engaged my tongue for the service of the Lord, so we shall not talk anything of sense gratification." This is controlling the tongue. "I cannot eat anything which is not offered to Kṛṣṇa." This is controlling the tongue. So these are small techniques, but it has got great, great value so that Kṛṣṇa will be pleased, the austerity, and He will reveal. You cannot understand. You cannot see Kṛṣṇa. You cannot order Kṛṣṇa, "Kṛṣṇa, please come, dancing with flute. I shall see You." This is order. Kṛṣṇa is not subjected to your order.
Gopīs, they are not conditioned souls. They are liberated spirits. So first of all you have to come out from this conditioned life. Then the question of serving gopī will come. Don't be at the present moment, very eager to serve gopī. Just try to get out of your conditional life. Then time will come when you'll be able to serve gopī. In this conditional stage we cannot serve anything. Kṛṣṇa is performing it (everything?). But Kṛṣṇa gives us opportunities to accept service in this arcā-mārga. Just like we keep the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, offer prasāda under regulation, under principle. So we have to make advance in this way, this chanting, hearing, and worshiping in the temple, ārati, offering prasāda. In this way, as we make advance, then automatically Kṛṣṇa will reveal to you and you'll understand your position, how you have to... Gopīs means who are always, constantly engaged in the service of the Lord. So that eternal relationship will be revealed. So we have to wait for that. Immediately we cannot imitate serving gopīs. That's a good idea that you shall serve gopī, but it will take time. Not immediately. Immediately we have to follow the rules and regulations and routine work.
Unfortunately, the so-called government men, they are also śūdras. The so-called priests, they are also śūdras. The so-called vaiśyas, they are śūdras. The whole world is now full of śūdras. So you cannot expect anything very nice in this situation because everything is being conducted by śūdras. So Kṛṣṇa is advising Arjuna that "This fight is not ordinary fight. It is dharma-yuddha, and you should accept it, you should not hesitate. After all, the soul is never killed. It is the duty, it is the duty of different dharma." Sva-dharma, sva-dharma means so long one is in the bodily concept of life, this sva-dharma means this brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. This is sva-dharma. And Arjuna belonged to the kṣatriya; therefore his sva-dharma, his occupational duty, is to fight. So, and real sva-dharma is spiritual sva-dharma. In the spiritual. So when you go deep into the matter, when you understand that "I am not this body; I am soul," then that is real sva-dharma. And what is the occupation of that sva-dharma? That is to be engaged in the service of the Lord. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Actually that is sva-dharma. Every soul is eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual sva-dharma. And material sva-dharma means this brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra.
Every, every reformer or every great religious leader or God Himself, He comes on this earth to reclaim these conditioned soul to back to Godhead, back to the kingdom of Godhead. That is the whole idea of incarnation. Now, at the present moment... Not at the present moment. Practically always, the people, by material contact they forget their relation, their relationship with the Supreme Lord, their constitutional position. Now, this, whatever we earn, if not the whole thing, but if at least some portion of our income we engage in the service of the Lord for propagating the teaching of God consciousness, that is engaging our fruitive activities, the result of our fruitive activities, in the service of the Lord. And another thing, if we want to prosecute our spiritual life, then there are certain formulas. Certain formulas mean that we should not take more than what we need. We should not take more than what we need. We should not neglect also that, the portion which we actually need, but at the same time we should not accumulate more than what we need.
Just like Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are... Take practical example. We are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Now take any religion and take their highest conclusion—it is there in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Take for example Buddhism. They say nonviolence. Oh, we are nonviolent. Christianism, love of God. Oh, we are simply meant for loving God. Mohammedan, servant of God, to render service to the Lord. Oh, we are twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. Yogis—samādhi, always in samādhi, absorbed in the thought of the Supreme. We are always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṇa. So take any religion, any process, any well. This river, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, will overflood everyone. There cannot be any comparison. What is there? How much water is there in the well? In the river, unlimited. Thousands of wells can be merged into the river. This example is given. Kasmin tu bhagavo vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. If you know Kṛṣṇa, you know everything. You know science, you know mathematics, you know philosophy, you know geography, everything. There is no dirth of knowledge. Don't think that a Kṛṣṇa conscious person actually, he can be a foolish man. No.
Just like it is taught here that Kṛṣṇa is the superconsciousness; He's trying to convince Arjuna that "You act according to My direction. Because you are individual consciousness, subordinate to Me, and I am Superconsciousness." And in the last phase of Bhagavad-gītā, you'll see that He summarized, Lord Kṛṣṇa summarized, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You just surrender unto Me." This is the sum and substance of everything. So therefore the conclusion is that the individual consciousness should surrender to the supreme consciousness and act accordingly. That is the position of standing on the conscious plane. That is the position of conscious plane. And Bhagavad, Śrīmad-Bhāgavata also says that sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmaḥ, the activities, the occupation, the business, that which leads us to that consciousness, that consciousness, that "I am subordinate to the supreme consciousness," and let me act according to the supreme consciousness, without any cause, ahaituki, without... "Why I shall act?" There is no such question. It is automatic, automatic. Just like a little son, and the mother... The little son is automatically subordinate to the mother. Whatever the mother says, the child acts. The child is completely dependent. Similarly, as soon as we make our consciousness completely engaged in the service of the supreme consciousness, that is our liberated position. That is our liberated position. And in that liberated position, whatever we do, there is no reaction. That is transcendental position.
Our material calculation of our activities, they are all nonsense. They are all causes of our bondage. And when the same senses, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme, that is our freedom. Kāmaḥ kṛṣṇa-karmārpane. Here the same thing is indirectly explained. Yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo 'ṅgānīva. One should know "When I shall properly use the senses." That is the sign of a person who is situated in pure consciousness. He knows properly, "How to use my senses." That is the difference by the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, we'll find, that in the beginning Arjuna did not know how to use his senses, and after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he learned it. He became a learned man, how to use his senses. And when he did not know how to use his senses, he said, "I shall not fight." And when he learned how to use senses, he said, "Yes, I'll fight." Now, what is the difference between "yes" and "no"? That means when our senses are engaged in the service of the supreme consciousness, then we are in pure consciousness situation. And when our senses are used to our whims, to our whims. Just like in the previous śloka it has been explained, prajahāti yadā kāmān sarvān pārtha mano-gatān. We manufacture plans by our mental concoction. That should be given up.
So a spiritually perfect man is he who? Tasmād yasya mahā-bāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ. Indriyāṇi. One who has controlled his senses perfectly in this way. Then he's to be understood that he's spiritually perfect. Tasmād yasya mahā-bāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ. Nigṛhītāni means completely restrained, not to use the senses for any other purpose except in the service of the Lord. That is called self really control, really purified senses. Tasmād yasya mahā-bāho nigṛhītāni sarvaśaḥ, indriyāṇi indriyārthebhyaḥ. Indriya, the senses, shall not be let loose to act freely. It should be restricted in such a way that my senses cannot work without in the service of the..., without being engaged in the service of the Lord. That is called sense control. Indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyas tasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā.
So without taking any account how the things are going on, if you are actually serious for spiritual emancipation of life, then the, the process recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā, as, and as practically demonstrated by Arjuna, if we follow this principle then we shall be proceeding towards the spiritual emancipation of life undoubtedly and without fail. So whole thing is that we have to make the best use of a bad bargain. The, that whole thing is the senses, senses are the cause of my material miseries. Now I cannot avoid the senses in my present status of life. The best thing is that senses may be engaged in the service of the Lord so that automatically they'll be restricted and purified, and my spiritual life will be revealed and the spiritual perfection will sure to come.
Just like if you mix with a joyful society or joyful person, then automatically you become joyful. There is no necessity of becoming joyful separately. That association will make you joyful. If you mix with a society criminal, automatically you become criminal. There is no necessity of learning criminality separately. By association, you'll do that. Similarly, if you associate with the supreme joyful, Kṛṣṇa, automatically you become joyful. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Automatically. There is no necessity separately how to become joyful. Simply by association. Therefore here it is said that "One who rejoices in." That rejoice is by association with the Supreme. "And is satisfied with the self only." With self. My self, what I am? My identity is that I am eternal servant of God. So as soon as I engage myself in the service of God, that is my self-realization. And if I enjoy in that self-realization, then I have no other duty. Finished, I have finished all duty, all sacrifice, everything complete.
But there are certain persons who are above this mistake, illusory energy. Who are those? The devotees. The devotees, who are called sādhu. Sādhu. There is a word, sādhu. Sādhu means honest, good behaved. They are called sādhu. There is description of sādhu. Sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. What are they, sādhu?
- titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ
- suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām
- ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ
- sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ
- (SB 3.25.21)
This is the description of sādhu. Sādhu does not mean for livelihood change the color of the garment or having big beard and become sādhu. No. Sādhu means devotee. Sādhu means first-class devotee. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ (BG 9.30). Who is that man? Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ. One who is fully engaged. Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. He has no other engagement. Not partial, some percentage for this purpose, some percentage for that purpose. No. Samyak, wholeheartedly, twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. He is sādhu. He is sādhu.
Api cet su-durācāraḥ. Even if you find some fault in him. Because sādhu is sādhu-bhūṣaṇaḥ. You cannot find fault in him. Cannot find fault, but even though if you find some fault, but if you find that he is strictly, he's engaged in the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa says, he is sādhu. Here it is said, paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. What is the verse number? Yes. Verse number eight. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām (BG 4.8). As sādhu is always engaged, dedicated to the service of the Lord, he has no other business.... That is sādhu.
It is a revelation. It is not speculation. The speculators cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa, that is not possible. Those who are actually devotees, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām (BG 10.10). Twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord.
- śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
- smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
- arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam...
- (SB 7.5.23)
Out of these nine methods, all the nine, or eight, seven, six, even one. If you engage yourself. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit, he engaged himself simply for hearing. He become perfect. Simply by hearing Bhāgavata from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī also became perfect, simply by reciting Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrī viṣṇoḥ smarane, śravaṇe parikṣid abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. This is also kīrtana. Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. Prahlādaḥ smarane. Prahlāda Mahārāja, he was put into so many difficulties by his father. He could not resist, he was a poor child, five years. And the rascal father was teasing him in so many ways. So what could he do? He was simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa, "What can I do?" There are so many processes. If you take one of the processes your life will be successful. Simply by thinking of Kṛṣṇa.
Who are sādhus? That is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ (BG 9.30). Who? Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). That is sādhu. Sādhu means who is fully engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. He is sādhu. So in this way we have to acquire knowledge. Jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. Full knowledge. Then we can avoid the association of the three modes of material nature.
Now, suppose if there are hundred person in a society, twenty-five percent students, twenty-five percent retired life, and twenty-five percent sannyāsa, renounced order of life. Now, out of 100 persons, seventy-five percent, they are engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. The rest twenty-five percent who are gṛhasthas, they are meant for sacrificing fifty percent of their income for this seventy-five percent. That is the whole program of varṇāśrama-dharma. That is a kind of spiritual communism. Spiritual communism. For spiritual advancement of a society, the whole social order is so arranged that seventy-five percent of the people, they are engaged in the matter of spiritual advancement of knowledge and twenty-five percent of the population, those who are earning, those who in family life, those who have got factories, business and so many things, they should sacrifices fifty percent of their income for these seventy-five percent persons who are engaged in spiritual emancipation. So that is the whole program.
So they must have engagement. Because we small particles of the Supreme, we are also engaged... Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā (Prema-vivarta). We are engaged in material affairs. So our business is to finish this material affair or not to be attracted by the material affairs, but to be attracted by the spiritual affairs. That is required. Not that finishing. It cannot be finished. Therefore in the śāstra (it) says, ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ: (SB 10.2.32) "Those who are thinking that 'Now we have brahma-jñāna, knowledge, and we have become one with Brahman, therefore we are now liberated,' vimukta-māninaḥ, that is not liberation." The liberation is not there because tvayy asta-bhāvāt, because the senses are not yet engaged in the service of the Lord." They do not know the Personality of... Tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. They cannot be liberated.
Viṣaya means enjoyable things. In the material world, what we want to enjoy, that is called viṣaya. So anāsaktasya viṣayān. So far we have got this body, we have to accept not for sense gratification, but for maintenance. So anāsaktasya, without being attached, we may accept the necessities of our bodily requirements, yathārham, as far as possible, as much as I want for maintaining the body and soul together. In this way, if we live, but everything dedicated to the Supreme Lord, that is the highest standard of renounced. And another, other side he explains that, that the things... Phalgu-vairāgyaṁ kathyate. Nirbandhaḥ. The idea is... I exactly forgot the verse, but it is stated like this, that a person who is trying to renounce this world without knowing that everything can be engaged in the service of the Lord, and he's renouncing, he is..., his renunciation is not first-grade. His renunciation is not first-grade.
So a devotee does not want even salvation. Why Lord Caitanya says "birth after birth"? The salvationists, they want to stop, the voidists, they want to stop this material way of life. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "birth after birth." That means he is prepared to undergo all kinds of material pangs birth after birth. But what He wants? He simply wants to be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the perfectional. I think you can stop.
Someone is called karma-yogī, someone is called jñāna-yogī, someone is called dhyāna-yogī, someone is called bhakti-yogī. So there are different kinds of yoga in this conception. Otherwise, this lift service, yoga service, is the same. It is, the difference is between the elevation point. So similarly, yaṁ sannyāsam iti prāhur yogaṁ taṁ viddhi pāṇḍava (BG 6.2). "Oh Arjuna." Pāṇḍava means "the son of Pāṇḍu, Arjuna." "You can understand that what is sannyāsa and what is yoga, they are the same principle." They are the same principle how? Na hy asannyasta-saṅkalpo yogī bhavati kaścana. Because without being freed from desires of sense gratification, nobody can become either a yogi or a sannyāsī. Everyone is trying to have some profit out of his activities. There are many yogis, they perform yoga system or teach yoga system for some profit, but that is not the idea of yoga system. Everything should be engaged in the service of the Lord. Everything. Whatever we do, either as ordinary worker or as sannyāsī or as yogi, or as jñānī, all our energies should be dovetailed with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is real sannyāsa, that is real yoga. Ārurukṣor muner yogaṁ karma kāraṇam ucyate. Those who are just stepping on the staircase of the yoga system, for them, karma kāraṇam ucyate, they must work. In the beginning, nobody should stop working. Nobody should stop working.
So we have fallen down. Being rebelled against the principles of God consciousness, we are all fallen down. So if we want to revive our original position, we must be placed again into that service attitude. That is the perfect cure. Otherwise we shall suffer pain and God will be suffering pain on account of us. Just like if your son is not good, you suffer and the son suffers. Similarly, we are all sons of God. So when we are painful, God is also painful. The best thing is to revive our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is natural life and that is possible in the spiritual sky or the Goloka Vṛndāvana.
After brahma-jñāna... Sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers they say, "By bhakti one gains brahma-jñāna, and one becomes liberated, merged into Brahman," and so on, so on, because they say, "Bhakti is meant for the less intelligent class of men." Their accusation is like that. No. That is not the fact. Bhakti, kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of bhakti, that is also higher than the Māyāvāda philosophy. In the lower status of bhakti means that arcā-vigraha, anyone, any person, he does not clearly understand what is God, but by the instruction of the spiritual master one is engaged in the service of the Lord. This morning we have explained the Deity worship. Here is God. Here is God, factually, but He has no realization that here is God. That is called kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, in the lower stage of devotional service. But if he accepts even theoretically that "Here is God," then he becomes more advanced than the Māyāvādī who are thinking of God without head and leg, nirviśeṣa-vādī.
So now, somebody may say that "If a devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord, that's all right, but if his behavior is not up to the standard, then what happens to him?" Of course, a devotee is naturally developed, developing the twenty-six good qualities, but even if he does not develop those qualities... Of course, that very quality, that he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, that is sufficient. But still, if somebody is not up to the point, but he is unflinching, not moving, he is perfect devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then Lord Kṛṣṇa says, api cet su-durācāraḥ. Api cet su-durācāraḥ. Durācāraḥ means his conduct is not good, and su-durācāraḥ means still further. So api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. Ananya-bhāk means "Without deviating his attention to any other demigod or any other business, if one is simply cent percent engaged in My service, but his character is, general activities are not so to the point, still," the Lord says, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). Sādhu means a pious man or a religious man. Sādhu means the honest man and all good qualities.
We are seeking friendship with so many people to get our motive realized. But if we make Kṛṣṇa, if we know Kṛṣṇa is already ready... In the Upaniṣad it is said that two birds in friendly way are sitting in the same tree, the body. So if we understand, "Kṛṣṇa is my best friend..." Kṛṣṇa says, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. He's not only my friend, your friend, but He's a friend of everyone. So that friendship is equally distributed. But if one becomes special devotee, ye tu bhajanti māṁ prītyā, with love and affection, one who is engaged in the service of the Lord, He's especially inclined to him. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy to the devotee. Kṛṣṇa is equal to everyone, but He is specially inclined to the devotees who is engaged in His service with love and faith.
Is it very difficult to be engaged in the service of the Lord? Not at all. Not at all. Why? Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto-mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). You are seeing Kṛṣṇa here, and you can think of this Kṛṣṇa always. There is no tax and there is no loss. Suppose if you come to the temple and you get the impression of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa so nice and if you keep within you heart... But that can be kept when you love. Just like if you love somebody, you always keep within your heart the form of your lover. Similarly, if you develop love of Kṛṣṇa, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). If you have actually developed love of Kṛṣṇa then you'll be able to keep Kṛṣṇa always within your heart. That Kṛṣṇa wants. Man-manā: "Always think of Me." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).
So karma, the karmīs are also working, and the devotees are also working, but karmīs are working—their words and mind is differently engaged. Because they are working very hard day and night, but they are thinking of, manasā, sense gratification. Karmaṇā manasā vācā And they are talking only sense gratification. Therefore their mind and words are engaged differently. But one whose mind, words, and activities are engaged in the service of the Lord, īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā vācā, so he may be situated in any position, jīvan-mukta sa ucyate, he is liberated. The same thing is confirmed here. Sarvathā vartamāno 'pi na sa bhūyo 'bhijāyate.
He says that "Since I have been engaged in the service of the Lord," yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde, "since I have begun my life to serve Kṛṣṇa, since that time, whenever I think of sex life I spite (spit) on it." So therefore, when we stop our desires for material enjoyment... Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). Karma means to desire to be elevated in the higher planetary system, Svargaloka. (break) ...jñāna. The jñānīs, they are trying to elevate themselves to the impersonal Brahman. So these are not pure devotional service. (break) Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (CC Madhya 19.167), no desire for material conception of life. So jñāna is also another desire, negative desire, to become free from this material world. That is desire.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Kṛṣṇa says that "I am situated in everyone's heart. Simply one has to become qualified to hear Me." And what is that qualification? That qualification is practice of bhakti-yoga. It is said, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. Bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam means bhakti-yoga, always engaged in service of the Lord with love and affection. So teṣām, those who are always, twenty-four hours, engaged in loving service of the Lord, to him only He gives instruction, "You do like this." And what is that instruction? Yena mām upayānti te. The instruction is meant for giving him facilities to come back to home, back to Godhead. Here in this material world we are struggling for existence, and therefore we are not happy here. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You give up all these rascal engagement; you simply just surrender unto Me." And when we are surrendered, that surrender is oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. That means "Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, I accept Your proposal. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You." Then begin your loving service to render to Kṛṣṇa, and gradually you will get instruction from within, "You do like this, you do like this, you do like this." So it is not difficult for anyone. It is very simple thing.
So if you take to this bhakti-yoga system, avyabhicāreṇa... Avyabhicāreṇa means without any deviation, strictly on rigid principles. Māṁ ca yaḥ avyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate. One who is engaged in the service of the Lord by accepting the bhakti-yoga system, sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26), he immediately becomes transcendental to the three material qualities, namely, the sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, and tamo-guṇa. And that is called mukti. Mukti does not mean that when you become liberated you'll have got so many heads or so many legs, no. Mukti means svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6), to be situated in one's original, constitutional position. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
So these are siddhāntas, that one should be simply serving, engaged in the service of the Lord-favorably. Not unfavorably. What He wants. So in this age... Not only in this age, in all the ages, Kṛṣṇa wants that all these bewildered living entities who have come here to enjoy material happiness, they should be given the information that this is not very nice plan for the living entities, to enjoy material enjoyment. The best plan is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). That will save him. This is the necessity for all the ages, especially in this age. Therefore if you can educate people to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa, that is the best service to Kṛṣṇa. That is the best service to Kṛṣṇa. Ānukūlyena. Because Kṛṣṇa wants it. Kṛṣṇa wants it. Personally He says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). And He comes again as devotee, as Lord Caitanya, He's teaching how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is teaching how to serve Kṛṣṇa.
If you want actually peace, then you must be engaged in the service of the Lord. And before being engaged in the service of the Lord you should be qualified, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Brahma-bhūtaḥ. As soon as you become brahma-bhūtaḥ, you are jolly. What is the symptom of jolliness? Na śocati na kāṅkṣati. Na śocati means "does not lament." We are always lamenting for the things which we have lost, and we are always hankering for things which we haven't got. This is our business. So long we do not get, we hanker. And when we get, then "How to keep it?" That is anxiety. And when it is lost, that is also anxiety. This is the material position. And when you come to the spiritual position there is no such thing—no more lamentation, no lamenting, no hankering. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). At that time it is possible to see that everyone is equal because he can see. He does not see "Here is American." He does not see "Here is Indian." He does not see "Here is a brāhmaṇa." He does not see "Here is a dog." He sees all living being part and parcel of God. That is called samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. That equality is possible when you are brahma-bhūtaḥ. Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu.
Now, Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has returned so much nice foodstuff, prasādam; now we can eat and thereby we can conquer the dictation of the tongue. In another place it is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). God realization can be possible. How? If you engage your tongue in the service of the Lord. It is very wonderful. People may say, "How is that? The tongue has to be engaged in the service of the Lord?" Yes, that is the sastric injunction. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you simply engage your tongue in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa will appear to you, svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. He will personally appear before you. And what is that? You can utilize your tongue simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and satisfy the tongue by taking prasādam. Finished. Very simple and very easy. By simply controlling your tongue, you can control all other senses. You can control belly, you can control the genital, you can control everything. Therefore, here is recommendation, "Please do not take this, do not take this. Don't take animal foodstuff. Simply take Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Don't drink, don't smoke..." There are so many don'ts, and so many do's also.
So this śraddadhānāḥ, if we have got little faith that... Just like people come here with little faith. That faith is the little spark of fire. Now you have to fan it, fan it, so that fire may increase. Tat śraddadhānāḥ munayaḥ. So śraddadhānāḥ, Rūpa Gosvāmī has given us the formula that if you have got little faith in for understanding the Absolute Truth, Bhagavān, then ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15), associate with sādhu. Who is sādhu? Sādhu means devotee. Kṛṣṇa says, api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30). He's sādhu. Not a sādhu having big beard or mustaches and having red cloth without any sense of Kṛṣṇa. He's not sādhu. Sādhu means one who is fully engaged in the service of the Lord. He's sādhu. Api cet su-durācāraḥ. Even if he's not very well-behaved, su-durācāra, still he's sādhu. Why? Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. He has no other business than to love Kṛṣṇa. This is the symptom of sādhu.
Mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimukteḥ (SB 5.5.2). In another place it is said, mahat-sevā, rendering service to the pure devotee, mahat. Mahat means who is great soul. Who is great soul? Great soul means who is twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the description of mahat, mahātmā, is given there:
- mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
- daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
- bhajanty ananya manaso
- jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam
- (BG 9.13)
This is the mahātmā. They are under the daivī-prakṛti. Daivī-prakṛti. There are two kinds of prakṛtis. We have studied in Bhagavad-gītā: aparā-prakṛti, parā-prakṛti. So parā-prakṛti, or nature, transcendental nature, that is called daivī-prakṛti. Just like we are trying to be under the guidance of Rādhārāṇī, daivī-prakṛti. Prakṛti means woman, and daivī, transcendental woman. And those who are materialists, they are under the mahā-māyā, material energy, Goddess Kālī, Durgā. They are the symbolic representation of material energy.
So ruci, the taste for hearing vāsudeva-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā, this materially diseased person cannot taste. This ruci, taste. To get this taste there are preliminary activities. What is that? First thing is that appreciation: "Oh, it is very nice." Ādau śraddhā, śraddadhāna. So śraddhā, the appreciation, this is the beginning. Then sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83). Then mixing: "All right, these people are chanting and talking of Kṛṣṇa. Let me go and sit down and let me hear more." This is called sādhu-saṅga. Those who are devotees, to associate with them. This is the second stage. The third stage is bhajana-kriyā. When one is associating nicely, then he will feel, "Why not become a disciple?" So we receive application, "Prabhupāda, if you'll kindly accept me as your disciple." This is the beginning of bhajana-kriyā. Bhajana-kriyā means to be engaged in the service of the Lord. This is the third stage. Then anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt.
Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi taṁ yena mām upayānti te. Kṛṣṇa says. Here, it is indirectly said that Kṛṣṇa helps. And in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa directly says, "Yes. I give him such intelligence so that he may come back to home, back to Godhead." Yena mām upayānti te. To whom? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). One who is twenty-four hours engaged in the loving service of the Lord, and satata-yuktā... Satata means twenty-four hours. Not officially. Of course, by official, one may gradually come to the position of satata-yuktānām. Bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam. With faith and love, if one is engaged in the service of the Lord, then Kṛṣṇa says, buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam. There are two things, buddhi and buddhi-yogam. Buddhi, ordinary buddhi, intelligence, that is dirty. But when it is yogam... Yogam means connected with Kṛṣṇa. It is called buddhi-yogam.
So there are many conception of God. But there is a conception of God: to accept God as son. That is only in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, because we are eternal servants of God. That is our philosophy. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). The living entity, his real constitutional position is to serve God. We have several times explained this fact, that the part and parcel of God must be engaged in the service of the Lord. Just like this finger is part and parcel of my body. Its duty is to serve the body. It has no other duty. The finger cannot go elsewhere and serve something else; it must serve my body. Therefore, it is part and parcel. Similarly, if I am part and parcel of God, then my only duty is to serve God. This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy. So therefore, in Vaiṣṇava philosophy, everything in relationship with God is service.
So Vyāsadeva says, jugupsitam: "This is abominable, because if you simply stick to that principle... You are authority. People will understand that this is religion, nothing more." Na manyate tasya nivāraṇam janaḥ, yad-vākyataḥ. Nanu yad pravṛtti-mārga nindate 'tha nivṛtti-mārge sarva-kriyā-tyāgena parameśvara-sukhasya rūpe anubhuteḥ kiṁ tad yaśaḥ-kathānenāpi tatrāha vicakṣaṇaiti, vicakṣaṇa ati-nipunaḥ kaścid eva nivṛttitaḥ sarva-kriyā-nivṛttya, asya bibhaḥ sukhaṁ nirvikalpaka-sukhātmākaṁ svarūpaṁ vedituṁ jñātum arhati.(?) One may be very expert in the matter of executing religious performances, but that does not mean he can be elevated to the spiritual platform.
- vicakṣaṇo 'syārhati vedituṁ vibhor
- ananta-pārasya nivṛttitaḥ sukham
- pravartamānasya guṇair anātmanas
- tato bhavān darśaya ceṣṭitaṁ vibhoḥ
This may be little helpful to rise to the spiritual platform, but unless one is actually engaged in the service of the Lord, it cannot be achieved perfectly.
Just like we are inviting, we are attracting, middle class of men. Those who are too much rich, in consideration of this, they are not attracted. They think that "All right, these boys are chanting in the street. All right." Not, I don't think very rich men contributes. They also, middle class of men, they contribute something. So to become too much rich, too much puffed up with opulence like the two sons of Kuvera, is another chance of being degraded. To remain a little poor is better condition for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore our duty should be not to become a very great man in the consideration of these materialistic men. If he wants thousands and millions of dollars, become like a Rockefeller or Ford, that will be great a estimation of these common materialistic man, but from spiritual point of view, such things have no value—unless such opulence is engaged in the service of the Lord. Otherwise, it is the cause of falldown.
But one may say that "I can see Kṛṣṇa by my pious activities." No, that also not possible. "I can see Kṛṣṇa by my philosophical speculation." No, that is also not possible. "I can see Kṛṣṇa by practicing yoga." That is also not possible. Then how it is possible? Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). This particular process you have to accept, bhaktyā. That is called bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. Everything is there symmetrically in every Vedic literature. We have to take advantage of it and benefit ourself. So the summary is that Kṛṣṇa is beyond your material experimental knowledge. You cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by these material senses. It is not possible. Then bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga. Bhakti means to engage oneself in the service. The more you engage in the service of the Lord, (the) more you realize what is Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, it is not possible. If you don't accept bhakti-yoga, if you accept jñāna-yoga, karma-yoga or haṭha-yoga, then you can make some material progress, but there is no possibility of understanding Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is recommended here the bhakti-yogam particularly. Everywhere it is made, bhakti-yoga. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55).
One can be strictly engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness when he's free from all sinful activity. Otherwise not possible. Of course, Kṛṣṇa is very kind. If you are engaged in kṛṣṇa-bhakti sincerely, if by mistake you commit some sin, that can be excused. But if you purposefully commit sinful activities, you'll never get Kṛṣṇa's approach. That is a great... Nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. That is very great offense, that I am a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and... Just like the Christian people go to church, that "I am a devotee of Christ. I can do any nonsense, and on Sunday I shall go, I shall admit, 'Yes, my Lord, I have done this.' " "All right. Excused." Then? Then I'll do again tomorrow." This is not wanted. That is pāpa-buddhiḥ, that "Somehow or other let me be atoned today, and from tomorrow I shall begin my business. And again I shall come Sunday." This is pāpa-buddhiḥ. Such persons are never excused, but they do not know. But by mistake or by chance, unknowingly if we commit some mistake, that is excused. Sapada-mūlaṁ bhajatāṁ priyasya. Because he is engaged in the service of the Lord. Not only that, one who is engaged, if you simply admit, "Sir, from today I shall be Your servant," immediately, immediately you become free from all... Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You just surrender to Me." And you do it, and immediately ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi. Immediately. But don't commit again.
So we have to wait for that opportunity when Kṛṣṇa reveals. How that revelation is possible? Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). By sense perception or sense speculation you cannot. Nāmādi. Even the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra you cannot understand. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi. Nāma, rūpa, līlā, parikara, vaiśiṣṭya..., everything. You cannot understand with these blunt senses. Then how? Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When you engage your senses, purified senses. Sevonmukhe. Purified senses means when the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord—everything—then you can understand Kṛṣṇa. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Kṛṣṇa is not your servant: "Kṛṣṇa, I want to see You." No. That you cannot see. Svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When He's pleased, when He sees that "Here is a pure devotee," then He reveals.
Pure devotion means to pray to the Lord, begging some service. "My Lord, kindly engage me in Your service." That is the perfection of life, when one is engaged in the service of the Lord in love. You can become a very great saint and live in a secluded place and become puffed-up that you have become very great personality, and people may come to see him, that "He's not to be seen, he's engaged in chanting." My Guru Mahārāja has condemned this. He said, mana tumi kisera vaiṣṇava. "My dear mind, your mental concoction, you are thinking that you have become a very big Vaiṣṇava. You do not do anything and sit down in a secluded place and imitating Haridāsa Ṭhākura, chanting. So you are a nonsense." Mana tumi kisera vaiṣṇava. Why? Nirjanera ghare, pratiṣṭhāra tare. To get some cheap adoration as a great chanter. Because if one is actually chanting, why he should be attracted by woman and biḍi? If he is actually in such position like Haridāsa Ṭhākura then why he should be attracted by material things? That is a false show only. That is not possible for ordinary person.
Kṛṣṇa says, "One who is engaged in My unalloyed service," avyabhicāreṇa, "no adulteration, pure devotional service..." Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa bhakti-yogena sevate, one who is engaged in the service of the Lord, purified, unalloyed... Unalloyed means no motive, no motive. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Other motives, completely zero. Generally, they go to temple to church, to..., or mosque, generally, they go with a motive. Just like in the Christian world, they go that "God must be order supplier. We shall pray to God, and He must supply. Then I accept God. This is the condition. And if He does not supply my order, I don't care for this God." So they are not going to become servant of God. They want to make God his servant: "God, give us our daily bread." That's all right. God is giving daily bread. Why you are asking, bothering God? He is supplying food to millions and trillions of living entities, and why not to you? He'll also supply. That is not our problem, that God will supply our bread. He is supplying without asking. Do the animals go to the church and ask for bread? But they are getting sufficient. They are getting sufficient.
Suppose you are engaged in worshiping the Deity, in cleansing the room, in decorating the Deity, in making foodstuff for Deity, everything nicely... So your senses are already engaged. Where is the chance of your senses being diverted? The senses are already controlled. Because my senses, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Bhakti means simply to engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses. Hṛṣīkeśa means master of the senses, and hṛṣīka means senses. So now our senses are engaged for sense gratification. Sarvopādhi, upādhi yuktaḥ. So I am this body. So I must satisfy my senses. This is the contaminated stage of life. But when one comes to the understanding that I am not this body, I am spirit soul, part and parcel of God, so my senses, spiritual senses, should be engaged in the service of the Supreme Spiritual Being. That is wanted.
So one who does not listen to the glories of the Lord... Because the human life... This life is meant for learning how to engage our senses in the service of the Lord. That is the mission of human life. In other lives the senses are engaged for sense gratification. And in the human life, when we have got developed consciousness, at that time the senses are meant for being engaged in the service of the Lord. So ear is the most important sense because our spiritual enlightenment begins from this sense. Hearing. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. Karṇa-patha means aural reception. So one has to go to hear from the realized person, guru, spiritual master. That is the meaning. Śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). One has to approach a spiritual master, śrotriyam, who has also heard from a spiritual master. This... Our knowledge is by hearing, śruti.
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.
Because they consider this body as self. That is their fault. That is their ignorance. The Darwin's theory, this theory, that theory, simply they are bewildered, thinking this body is the self. The body's developing or evolution ... No. So all our senses should be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is perfection. It is indirectly being said in these verses that if our senses are not engaged in the service of the Lord, then it is dead. Śāvau. Śāvau karau no kurute saparyām. Just like a dead man, he has got his legs and hands, but he cannot employ it for any service. It is now flat. Actually, it is flat, but because within the body there is the soul, who is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, if he does not come to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform and does not engage himself in the service of the Lord, then his hands, legs, heads, everything is dead body's head. The decoration of dead body. This is the conclusion.
Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kīrtana and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish cinema attractions and rubbish sex-songs broadcast everywhere by radios. If one is unable to maintain a temple at home, he should go to another's temple where all the above performances are regularly executed. Visiting the temple of a devotee and looking at the profusely decorated forms of the Lord well dressed in a well-decorated, sanctified temple naturally infuse the mundane mind with spiritual inspiration. People should visit holy places like Vṛndāvana where such temples and worship of the Deity are specifically maintained. Formerly all rich men like kings and rich merchants constructed such temples under the direction of expert devotees of the Lord, like the six Gosvāmīs, and it is the duty of the common man to take advantage of these temples and festivals observed in the holy places of pilgrimage by following in the footsteps of great devotees (anuvraja).
As Caitanya Mahāprabhu, teaching us, na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye, mama janmani janmanīśvare... (Cc. Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4). He says, janmani janmani, "birth after birth." That means He does not require even salvation, because salvation means apunar bhava-janma, no more janma, no more birth. No more birth—there are two kinds of more more birth. For the Māyāvādīs, or impersonalists, they want to stop birth, to merge into the existence of the Supreme, brahma-nirvāṇa. Brahma-nirvāṇa... The Buddha philosophy teaches nirvāṇa, devoid of all material desires, that much. He does not give any more. Śaṅkarācārya gives further, more, that brahma-nirvāṇa, that "You become desireless of this material world, but you enter, merge into Brahman." That is called brahma-nirvāṇa. And the Vaiṣṇava philosopher says that "You make null and void all your material desires, enter into Brahman and be engaged in the service of the Lord." This is called bhakti. So brahma-nirvāṇa is also siddhi, but more than that siddhi is to be engaged in the service, Brahman service.
It is not difficult at all. You can become immediately nirguṇa as soon as you engage in the service of the Lord. And so long you keep yourself in that position, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you remain nirguṇa. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). Saguṇa means māyā. Kṛṣṇa says, mām eva ye prapadyante: "One who surrenders to Me," māyām etāṁ taranti, "no māyā touching, no in contamination of māyā." Māyām etāṁ taranti. There is nirguṇa. Nirguṇa means be engaged in the devotional, loving devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. That is... Then you are svarūpa-darśana, ātma-darśanam. That is your ātma-darśanam, nirguṇa. Prakṛteḥ paraḥ. As Kṛṣṇa is prakṛteḥ paraḥ... Prakṛteḥ... Prakṛti means this material world, and paraḥ means transcendental. So prakṛteḥ paraḥ. You cannot serve Kṛṣṇa unless you also become prakṛteḥ paraḥ, not within this material world.
You cannot, understand God. But if you take to the devotional service submissively, if you become submissive, surrendered, and you render service to the Lord, then, by His causeless mercy, He becomes revealed, "Here I am. See Me." He talks.
- teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
- bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
- dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam...
- (BG 10.10)
Then He gives intelligence. What kind of intelligence? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which one can approach Me." This intelligence is given to him. To whom? Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānām. Twenty-four hours engaged in the service of the Lord. How? Prīti-pūrvakam: "With love and faith," not that officially. Just like if I want a glass of water, one can give me, "Here is. Take it!" And one brings the same glass of water with love and devotion. So there is two different. Kṛṣṇa is not in want of anything from us. He is pūrṇa. But if we offer Him something with love and faith and devotion, then He accepts. That is the difference. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). That is the real thing, bhakti. Otherwise Kṛṣṇa is not hankering after your patraṁ puṣpam. He has created patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, He can enjoy. Why He should ask from you? But the real thing is bhaktyā. It is insignificant thing, but if you offer Him bhaktyā, with bhakti, devotion, faith, and love, that He accepts. And if He continues to accept, then you can realize Him. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). Otherwise you cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa.
Just like there are so many nice example, that if an ordinary man beats another man, slap, he immediately becomes criminal. Law is there, "You cannot do that." But the policeman gives you a slap—it is not criminal. If you kill somebody, then you become criminal. But when a soldier kills hundreds of men, he is not criminal. The process is the same, but because one is acting on behalf of the supreme lawgiver, he is immune. So that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
- bhakti-yogena sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
"Anyone who is engaged in the service of the Lord, he becomes immediately nirguṇa." Sa guṇān samatītya etān, plural number, etān guṇān, the sattva-rajas-tamo-guṇa, samatītya. Samyak-rūpeṇa atītya.
Everyone is hankering after śāntatvam, the whole world, because in the material world you cannot be on the platform of śāntatvam. Only on the spiritual platform and when you are engaged in the service of the Lord, then you will get this position, svacchatvam avikāritvaṁ śāntatvam. Iti cetasaḥ vṛttibhir lakṣaṇaṁ proktam. How one has become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there are, these are the symptoms, the brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na... (BG 18.54). We have to understand by the symptoms. If somebody says, "I am very rich man," so generally we want to see the symptoms: "Oh, he is very rich man. Oh, he has got this car. He has got this house. He has got this..." Then we can understand he is rich man. But if these symptoms are not there, how we can understand that he is rich man? Similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness means these are the symptoms: svacchatvam avikāritvaṁ śāntatvam. When you attain these three stages, these symptom, then you are perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Everything is supplied by Kṛṣṇa. Why the devotee should be anxious for varam, for benediction? Kṛṣṇa says, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham (BG 9.22). Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānām. Those who are constantly engaged in the service of the Lord, all that is required by him, that is carried by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself to supply him. He says, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham. What you have got, He will give protection, and what you have not got, He will supply you—for the devotees. The devotees do not want, but Kṛṣṇa... Just like a child, dependent on the parents. He does not want anything, but the parents are very much anxious, "What my child needs?" The bhakta, devotee, wants how to keep satisfied the Lord, how to keep Him in comfortable position. Just like here the devotees, they are always dressing and giving flower garland and sandalwood pulp and tulasī and cleansing the... Tan-mandira-mārjanādau. What is the idea? That Kṛṣṇa may sit down here very pleasingly. This is bhakta's activity. And Kṛṣṇa's anxiety is "How My devotees will remain without any want." This business is going on, without any difficulty.
The best charity is to give for spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, God consciousness. Kṛṣṇa said, dadāsi yat kuruṣva tad mad-arpanam: "If you want to give in charity something, please give Me." Kṛṣṇa says, God says. So yajña-dāna-tapaḥ, again tapa, austerity. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyaḥ pāvanāni manīṣiṇām. We should not give up this practice, performing yajña, giving in charity and practicing tapasya. This is essential for the human being. This should be practiced as far as possible. So this is called pious activities. So one should be engaged in pious activities. Then there will be no chance of committing sinful activities. In this way, when you are nature, yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpam, no more sinful life, pure life, yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpam janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām, always practicing pious activities. Te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā (BG 7.28), such person without any doubt, without any duality, can be engaged in the service of the Lord, such person.
So it is recommended that mahat-sevāṁ dvāram āhur vimuktes (SB 5.5.2). Mahat-sevā, we have described the symptoms of mahātmā. The sum and substance of mahātmā is mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13). That is mahātmā. Otherwise durātmā. Simply putting on a saffron dress and having a big beard, he's not mahātmā. Mahātmā is he who is cent percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim (BG 9.13). He's not in the control of this material nature. He's completely under the direction of spiritual nature. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. And what is the sign? What is the difference between a person under material nature and spiritual nature? The difference is that one who is under spiritual nature, he is cent percent engaged in the service of the Lord. This is the sign.
Mukti is described here. It is not very difficult simply we have to decide that it is enough, no more. Then muktaḥ paraṁ yāty atihāya hetum. This is the hetu. We are baddha, conditioned. This is the ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam. So long we shall try, because people are after this gṛha apartment or home, kṣetra land, gṛha, kṣetra, suta children, āpta friends, vitta wealth, riches, the basic principle is that, maithunyam, agāram ajñaḥ vindati tāpān. This is very important point. Therefore according to Vedic civilization, one is trained up how to give up this ideas, concoction. That is brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, ultimately sannyāsa. No more. And ultimately, sannyāsa also is not the perfectional stage. Sannyāsa is also practice, how to come to the perfectional stage. The perfectional stage is to be engaged practically, not theoretically, engaged in the service of the Lord, according to his capacity. Not that everyone will be able to do everything, that is not required.
So senses are there. So one who is associating with the devotees... Devotees mean who is engaged in the service of the Lord. He is not engaged in the service of the senses. That is devotee. Devotion... The definition of devotion is given in the śāstra,
- sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
- tat-paratvena nirmalaṁ
- hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeṣa-
- sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
- (CC Madhya 19.170)
Sarva upādhi-vinirmuktam. Upādhi means designation. I am spirit soul, but because I have accidentally..., or my result action, resultant action of my past karma, I am thinking, "I am Indian," somebody is thinking "I am American." So this is the designation of the soul. I am neither Indian, nor somebody is American, somebody is Australian. We are living soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is my position. But being designated in a different way, I have become a servant of that designation. So bhakti... Bhakti means nivṛtti-mārga, to become free from all these designations. That is called bhakti. The definition of mukti, or liberation, or becoming free from the designation, is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: Mukti means when we give up the service in designation and we are situated in our original constitutional position. That is called mukti, liberation, or salvation, whatever you like. Muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa.
Suppose you are a big lawyer. I want to make friendship with you, I want to know about your inside life. That I can know by knowing you completely, and by satisfying you someway or other, by serving you. Then you: "Oh my dear sir, you want to know me. All right. This is this." Similarly, bhakti means service. You have to please Kṛṣṇa, then you can know Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa will say. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti pūrvakam (BG 10.10). "Those who are always engaged in love and affection." Buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I say unto Him, I give him intelligence." Not to ordinary persons. Those who are actually engaged in the service of the Lord, he can get instruction from Kṛṣṇa. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā. And when he gets instruction fully and he is fully aware of Kṛṣṇa, viśate tad anantaram, then merging question comes. Without understanding... Without clear understanding of Kṛṣṇa where is the question of merging? Simply imagining that I am merge into Kṛṣṇa? No. That is not possible. You should know first of all what is Kṛṣṇa, what is God. Then there is question of merging. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).
So this program, this devotional service, morning, from morning till night, is simply how to serve Him. The more we serve, then we become dedicated to Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa says on the Bhagavad-gītā the same thing: teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Persons who are twenty-four hours engaged, satata-yuktānām... Satata means twenty-four hours. Not that five minutes or fifteen minutes meditation, and then do all nonsense. No. Twenty-four hours one should be engaged in the service of the Lord. Twenty-four hours. That we are doing. Whatever he knows, whatever talent he has got, use for Kṛṣṇa. That is twenty-four hours' engagement.
The spiritual master has given you so many things to do. Do it. First of all finish that. First of all finish sixteen rounds, observe the regulative principles. First of all... First of all finish this duty. And neglecting this duty, what you can do further? If you cannot finish sixteen rounds chanting, you cannot observe the regulative principles, then what else you can do? First of all finish this duty. Be expert in finishing, executing these duties. Then ask for another duty. And if you finish these duties, automatically Kṛṣṇa will give you intelligence. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). One who is actually engaged in the service of the Lord, buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I give him intelligence." Kṛṣṇa will give you intelligence. You will be able to talk with Kṛṣṇa from within if you become sincere. If you cannot execute the preliminary duties, then how you can execute further duty? There is no question.
Kṛṣṇa-prasāda means to control the tongue. Our main enemy is the tongue. In another place it is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ: (Brs. 1.2.234) "God realization becomes by keeping the tongue engaged in the service of the Lord." Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. The tongue has to be first of all engaged, not the hands and legs. "I have to serve Kṛṣṇa. So yes, I am ready. I am expanding my hands. I am going there." But śāstra says, "No, no, no. Not your hands and legs but your tongue. This is the one. First of all engage your tongue." This is astonish: "How can I serve with tongue? If I have to serve, I have got my hands and legs, my eyes and I..." No. Śāstra says tongue. This is very peculiar. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. If you engage your tongue... So how to engage my tongue? What is the business of my tongue? Two business only: to taste, or eat, and chant. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa with tongue and take kṛṣṇa-prasādam—you will conquer Kṛṣṇa. This is the program. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. So if you do not control your tongue, if you feel inconvenient in taking prasādam, that means you are not making progress. This is the... This is the formula. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ.
Evaṁ vartamāno 'jño mṛtyu-kāla upasthite. When it was time for death, mṛtyu-kāla upasthite, matiṁ cakāra tanaye bāle nārāyaṇa. So the benefit was, because he was chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa in connection with his child's name, naturally at the time of his death he was thinking of the Nārāyaṇa child, the name. Viśvanātha Cakravartī has commented on this point that this Nārāyaṇa, thinking of the name of the child, immediately reminded him of the service he was doing according to his father's direction. He was also, in the childhood or in his boyhood, he was engaged in the service of the Lord, Nārāyaṇa. According to Vedic civilization, therefore, a child—he may be a king's son or a poor man's son—must go to gurukula and live for some time under the training of the spiritual master to be very thickly connected with Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa.
Even in this process, when they are engaged in Deity worship, arcāyāṁ haraye yat-pūjāṁ śraddhāyehate, with great devotion doing, but na tad bhakteṣu cānyeṣu, but he has no sympathy with others or he does not know what is the position of a devotee, then sa bhaktaḥ prakṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ: "He is called material devotee, material devotee." So we have to elevate ourselves from material devotional stage to the second platform when one can understand what is a devotee, what is a nondevotee, what is God, what is atheist. These discriminations are there. And in paramahaṁsa stage there is no such discrimination. He sees everyone is engaged in service of the Lord. He does not envy anyone, he does not see anything, anybody. But that is another stage. We should not imitate, try to imitate, but we may know that paramahaṁsa is the highest stage of perfection. Just like as a preacher we have to point out... Just like I told this boy, "You sit down like this." But a paramahaṁsa will not say. A paramahaṁsa, he sees, rather: "He is all right." He sees. But we should not imitate paramahaṁsa. Because we are preacher, we are teacher, we should not imitate paramahaṁsa. We must tell the right source, right course.
When we are punished that is no envious envy on the part of God or His agent; it is our correction, I think the Yamarāja, er, the Yamadūtas said in the beginning that "We have come to take Ajāmila just to correct him." So dharma and adharma... Our real dharma is to serve God. That is our real duty. And as soon as we neglect this permanent service or occupation, then we are liable to be punished. You cannot become independent of God. That is not possible. That will (not) make you happy. The healthy condition of the finger is that it is able to serve the body. If the finger is not able to serve the body, that will mean unhealthy. Otherwise... Similarly, when we are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engaged in the service of the Lord, that is our healthy state. That is mukti, liberation. Mukti means no disease. So when we deny to serve Kṛṣṇa, when we are not engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is our diseased condition. That is not healthy condition.
You'll never find any disagreement with the śāstra, sādhu, and guru. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya. That is our guidance. Sādhu. If you say Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a sādhu or a devotee, so His words and the words of the scriptures are the same. The sādhu will speak only on the authority of śāstra. And śāstra means the description given by the sādhu. They are correlative. And guru means who follows the sādhu and the śāstra. So these are very instructive. Sādhu who is always engaged in the service of the Lord, he is sādhu, bhakta. And śāstra. Śāstra means description of the activities of the sādhu and Bhagavān. Just like Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are reading the story of Ajāmila. He became a sādhu; therefore his description of his life is imparted here. Prahlāda Mahārāja is sādhu, Dhruva Mahārāja, a sādhu, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, a sādhu. Formerly the kings were all sādhus, rājarṣi. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā, you have heard, imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Formerly the kings were so exalted and they were so nice that they were, although they were sitting on the throne, they were dealing in politics, still, they were sādhu, just like ṛṣi. There are many instances.
Everyone can become sanātana-dharma. But they do not know what is the meaning of sanātana. Every living entity is sanātana. And Kṛṣṇa, God is sanātana. And there is a place where we can meet together—that is sanātana dhāma. Sanātana dhāma, sanātana-bhakti, (indistinct), sanātana-dhāma. When it is executed, that is called sanātana-dharma. So what is that sanātana-dharma? Suppose I return to that sanātana-dhāma and there is God, sanātana, and I am sanātana. So what is our sanātana activities? Does it mean that when I go to sanātana-dhāma I become God? No. You do not become God. Because God is one. He's the Supreme Lord, Master, and we are servant. Caitanya Mahāprabhu: jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). So here every one of us, we are claiming to become Kṛṣṇa. But when you return to the sanātana-dhāma, then we—unless we are qualified we cannot go there—then we eternally engage in the service of the Lord. That is sanātana-dharma.
Evaṁ nirjita-ṣaḍ-vargaiḥ kriyate bhaktir īśvare. This practice will gradually enhance your devotion, at the same time your strong senses eager to enjoy this material world will be cut down. That is called breaking the poison teeth of the serpents, sense serpents. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. For a devotee there is no danger from the senses because his senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. So he is the greatest yogi. Yogi means who are trying to control the senses. That is by practice, by mechanical practice, that's all. But here there is no mechanical practice. Here it is factual activity, how to control the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka means the senses. The senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. If one thing is already engaged, it cannot be..., especially when one is engaged in the service of the Lord, he cannot be dragged to the service of māyā. Therefore, that is sense control. Sense you cannot extinguish. The living entity, you must have your senses. Living means you have got your senses. But they should be purified. They are now engaged in the service of māyā, and now, by bhakti-yoga process you have to purify and engage the senses in the service of the Lord.
So when one reaches the highest stage of perfection of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has no more any distinction, and he thinks everyone as sādhu, as devotee. He thinks himself that "I am the worst." He thinks anyone, "Oh, everyone is serving the Supreme Lord. They are engaged in the service of the Lord. Simply I am so fool that I cannot engage myself." He simply laments himself. That is the highest stage. He sees, "Everyone is engaged in the loving service of God, but simply I am unable to serve God. So kindly...," he prays to God, "my dear Lord, please give me strength so that I can serve." This is the first-quality stage. Evaṁ nirjita-ṣaḍ-vargaiḥ kriyate bhaktir īśvare. These are the process of devotional service when the senses are completely under control. This highest stage means, even in the first stage, second stage, the senses are controlled.
So brahma-pada, you can rise up. But if you do not engage yourself in the service of Bhagavān, then again you come down. āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Because they could not engage their service to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, these so-called sannyāsīs again come down to this material platform and engage their service to the mithyā. Because they rejected this world, mithyā. Why they come down again to this mithyā platform-politics, sociology, humanity—if this is mithyā? But our philosophy is not that... We don't say that this world is mithyā. Why shall I say? It is creation of Kṛṣṇa. If Kṛṣṇa is truth, His creation is also truth. We employ everything to the service of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, anyone who is engaged in the service of the Lord is always situated in the transcendental platform. They will never come down. Because it is so sweet, it is so nice, they will never agree. Any student of this institution, if you ask him, if you try to cheat him that you give up this idol worship, come down, go and worship the poor, the leper, and this and that, so many things, they will not. They will not. They will not come down. They will engage themselves always in the service of the Lord.
In India it is considered according to Vedic, that low family is considered one who eats the dog, dog-eaters. Of course, there are many kinds of flesh-eaters, but when a man becomes the eater of dog flesh, he is considered to be very low. So śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. So there is a class in India, they are called caṇḍāla. Everywhere there is. They eat dog flesh. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, "It doesn't matter. But if he is a devotee of Lord, he is better than that brāhmaṇa, that brāhmaṇa with good qualifications. And he, although he is born of a low family..." Śvapacaṁ variṣṭham. Why he is variṣṭham? Now, manye tad-arpita-mano: "Because his mind and attention is always engaged in the service of the Lord." That is his qualification. That is making him purified in every moment. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ-kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17).
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, "It is very, very difficult to control the tongue." Therefore the tongue should be engaged in service of the Lord, beginning from the tongue. If you can control the tongue, then you can control your belly, then you can control your genital, and then you become jitendriya. So we have to become jitendriya. Indriya means the senses. They are given to us for material enjoyment, just like the hog is also given the tongue to taste stool. Not your tongue. Your tongue is meant for tasting prasādam, not stool. Your tongue is meant for chanting, not eating stool. So you have to control this. Then there will be possibility of getting the shelter of apavarga-śaraṇaṁ. The repetition of birth and death Everyone should be afraid of the saṁsāra-cakra-kadanāt.
So these things, people think that these riches or yogic power or bodily strength or influence, these are qualification. They are not actually qualification, neither they are disqualification if provided. But the difficulty is, one who is rich, one who is very powerful, one who is very influential, he thinks, "What shall I do by hearing about Kṛṣṇa? I have got everything, I am so powerful, I am so rich." That is the disqualification. If he simply agrees to hear about Kṛṣṇa, then it is all right. We, according to Gosvāmīs, we don't say that riches, wealth, is a disqualification. But it must be engaged in the service of the Lord. Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa sambandhe yukta vairāgyam ucyate. Just like Rāmānanda Rāya, he was very rich man, he was governor, but he always engaged himself in Kṛṣṇa's service. He was one of the most confidential servants and devotee of Lord Caitanya. So the conclusion is that richness or aristocracy, they are not qualification and they are not disqualification also, provided we agree to hear about Kṛṣṇa from the right source. This is the conclusion.
Just like in your body you have got so many parts and parcels. You have got the hands, you have got the legs, you have got the head, you have got the fingers, you have got the ear, you have got the nose—so many parts. So what is the business of all these parts of your body? The business of parts of the body to maintain the body properly, to serve the body. Just like this finger is there. I am feeling some incomfort; immediately my finger comes and serves, automatically. Therefore the conclusion is that it is the business of the part and parcel of God to serve God. That is the only business. Natural business. So when you are engaged in the service of the Lord, because you understand—by chanting the holy names Lord you will understand who is Lord and what is His advice, what does He want service from me—then you will be engaged in that service. That is the perfection of your life. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇam (CC Antya 20.12).
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Lord Caitanya's principle is universal. Anyone who knows the science of Kṛṣṇa and is engaged in the service of the Lord is accepted as being in a higher position than a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa. That is the original principle accepted by all Vedic literatures, especially by the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The principle of Lord Caitanya's movement in educating and elevating everyone to the exalted post of a gosvāmī is taught in the Nectar of Devotion.
He's brahma-bhūtaḥ. He's self-realized. Self-realized. That is mukti. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svārupeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). Mukti does not mean stopping activities. That is not mukti. That is suicidal. You are living entity. How you can stop? That is not possible. They say that, Māyāvādī philosophers, they say to become desireless. That..., you cannot be desireless because you are living entity. How you can stop your desires? But you have to rectify, you have to purify your desires. Now we are desiring simply for sense gratification, to lord it over the material nature. That is your desires. And, and when this desire is purified, then you'll desire that how everything should be engaged in the service of God. Now I am trying to become God, lord it over the material nature, but when my desires are purified, then I shall understand that everything belongs to God; therefore everything should be dovetailed in the service of God. That is liberation. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa... This is svarūpa.
In the Bhāgavata it is said that they are thinking, concocting that they have become liberated. Actually they are not liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Māninaḥ. Say somebody thinks that "I'm the proprietor of all the banks." Let him think like that. But that does not mean he has become the proprietor of the banks. That is a different thing. Similarly, one may think that "I have become liberated," but actually he's not liberated. Liberated is he who is engaged in the service of the Lord. He's liberated. Nobody's liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Just like they are going to the Moon planet. They have got very high speed sputniks. Simply riding on, boarding on high-speed sputnik does not mean he has gone to the moon planet. Actually he has to go there and live there. Then it is successful.
Therefore in, in the Gurvaṣṭaka by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, it is said there: yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo yasya aprasādād na gatiḥ kuto 'pi **. The best devotee is the spiritual master. Unless one is devotee, pure devotee, how he can be spiritual master? Spiritual master means representative of God. So who can become representative of God. Unless he is twenty-four hours engaged in the service of God, Kṛṣṇa, how he can be spiritual master? This is also explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ. The spiritual master is described as good as Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because the, the spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa because he's most confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa. Kintu prabhor ya priya eva tasya. Yasya pra... Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. The spiritual master is worshiped as good as the Supreme Person. Sākṣād dharitvena. This is not artificial, but in all the śāstras, this is recommended. Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ **. Those who are learned devotees, advanced devotees, they also accept this that spiritual master should be treated as good as Hari, the Supreme Person.
But when you are raised to the highest platform of devotional service, then there is no more dviṣatsu. No more friend, no more dviṣat. Everyone, a mahā-bhāgavata sees that "Everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, except myself." That is mahā-bhāgavatas vision. But we should not imitate that. Just like I was, I was giving the example of Caitanya-caritāmṛta author, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. He's speaking that
- jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
- purīṣera kīṭa muñi se lagiṣṭha
He's not imitating, or he's speaking falsely. He feels like that. A mahā-bhāgavata feels like that, that "I am the lowest." Just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung, āmāra jīvana sada pāpe rata nāhika puṇyera leśa (?). He says like that, that "My life is always engaged in sinful activities. I've not a trace of pious activity." Āmāra jīvana sada ape rata nāhika puṇyera leśa. "I have given so much distress to all other living entities." He's representing common man. But he's feeling like that. It is not that artificially speaking. He's feeling like that. Just like Rādhārāṇī. She thinks always Herself as the lowest of the devotees. She thinks always. She sees always that the gopīs, other gopīs, they are better qualified to serve Kṛṣṇa. And She is not qualified, so much qualified.
When one has got that vision, transcendental vision, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhakti, then the devotional service begins. Not that with blunt eyes and senses one can serve God, devotional service.
- ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi
- na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
- sevonmukhe hi jihvādau
- svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ
- (CC Madhya 17.136)
This is the process. So when our senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170), when our senses become purified, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate, at that time, the hṛṣīka, the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord. Because Kṛṣṇa is spirit, the Supersoul, He cannot be served by matter. He has to be served with spirit.
Secure mukti. Mukti means to engage in the service of the Lord. We are serving in this material world. Everyone is serving, but this is not mukti. This is our anyathā rūpa. We are serving, just like I am serving my country. I am Indian, I am very much feeling compassion for my Indian brothers. Similarly, Americans are feeling, Chinese are feeling, identifying, that we have made compartment. No, if you feel as Kṛṣṇa conscious, that feeling is perfect. Otherwise, these feeling, temporary āruhya, patanty adhaḥ. This is a fact. Now I have got Indian body, suppose, but next life there is no guarantee in human body. Next life, even if I get Indian body, if I become a cow or goat, then I'll be sent to the slaughterhouse. So, this, these are not guarantees. This is anyathā rūpa. Our, this change of body, that is our anyathā rūpa. We must be fixed up in our own rūpa, svarūpa. Svarūpa-siddhi. It is called svarūpa-siddhi. Svarūpa-siddhi means to be engaged in the service of Lord. That is real mukti, mukti hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. Purification. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170).
We don't pray to Kṛṣṇa for anything of sense gratification. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore said, mama janmani janmani īśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Ahaitukī apratihatā. Our simply, simple desire is how to be engaged in the service of the Lord. Janmani janmani. When, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu speaks janmani janmani, that means He rejects liberation also. Na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na kavitāṁ vā yāce. This is the karmī's, jñānī's... And even liberation. He rejects liberation. Mama janmani. If one is liberated, then where is the question of janmani janmani? So liberation is also not aspired by a devotee. These are the characteristics of pure devotion. This chapter is "Characteristics of Pure Devotional Service." Pure devotional service should be without any desire, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). The others, they are trying to make Kṛṣṇa-śūnyam, śūnyavādi; our attempt should be to make our desires śūnyam. Simply we be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is pure devotion.
The whole world is disturbed, agitated with so many problems, but for a devotee, there is no problem. Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. And they are trying, the whole world is trying to become very big man. Somebody's trying to be very big merchant or big industrialist, or minister, or this or that, and others, they are trying to occupy the post of Indra, Candra, devata. That is competition, going on. As soon as there is some competition, even persons, demigods, like Indra, Candra, they become disturbed, and they try to stop it. But a devotee has no such concern. He's not disturbed. Because he's engaged in the service of the Lord, he feels so much happy that he has no disturbance. Viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate. Neither he is anxious to occupy any very big post. Because for a devotee, vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate. He knows that "What is this position? Say, for some years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years, hundred years, millions years." It is limited.
The yogis try to control the senses and mind because they think of the senses just like serpent. Serpent, little touch by the lip, I mean, the tongue, immediately it causes death. So it is very dangerous. But Prabodhananda Sarasvatī says that "We are not afraid of these serpents because protkhāta daṁṣṭrāyate, the serpent is so long dangerous as long as it has got the poison teeth." Poison teeth. Protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. So if you take away the poison teeth, then, however big serpent it may be, nobody will be afraid. In the Bengali it is said, visnai kulapana cakra (?). If a serpent is known that his poison teeth has been taken away, so his big hood, hans phamsa (?), nobody will be afraid, one who knows that he has no poison teeth. A child may be afraid, but anyone knows... So for a devotee, the senses are there, but it is not like serpent. The dangerous point of sense, for sense gratification, that is taken away. That poison teeth is taken away. So therefore a devotee's not afraid of the senses. They can easily handle the senses because the senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, which means the poison teeth of the serpent of sense is taken away. Durdānta indriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate.
Just like a snake, as soon as it touches somebody, it kills. It is very dangerous, touching by the lip of the snake. Similarly, a, a slight sense gratification is so dangerous, kāla-sarpa indriya-paṭalī, especially in the sex matter. So one... Yogis, they are training the senses how to restrain them from sense gratification, but a devotee, on account of their senses being engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no poisonous effect of the senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Kṛṣṇa's another name is Hṛṣīkeśa. Rathaṁ sthāpaya acyuta. Hṛṣīkeśa. In the Bhagavad-gītā, this word is used, Hṛṣīkeśa. So Hṛṣīkeśa means "the master of the senses." Actually, our senses are given by Kṛṣṇa. We wanted a type of instrument to enjoy certain type of material enjoyment, and Kṛṣṇa has given us senses. Actually, the proprietor of the senses is Kṛṣṇa; therefore His name is Hṛṣīkeśa, "master of the senses." So if we actually use the senses for the service of the proprietor of the senses, that is bhakti.
Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ. Varṇa and āśrama, four varṇas and four āśrama, that division is always there. But it does not matter, division. It... Of course, comparatively, the head is important than the leg. But if everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, then everyone becomes perfect. It doesn't matter whether he's śūdra or brāhmaṇa. It doesn't matter. Sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya (BG 18.46). Or svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). That is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
So we can become immediately liberated from this prison house of material existence if we accept this teaching of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇera dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). And therefore so many arrangement. We are having Kṛṣṇa Deity here, and every one of us, we are engaged as servant. Śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-śṛṇgāra-tan-mandira-mār janādau **. Somebody is engaged in cleansing the temple. All servant, we are. Somebody is engaged in dressing the Deity. Somebody is engaged in preparing nice foodstuff for Deity. Somebody is making flower garlands. Somebody is going to distribute literature to make people understand the glories of Kṛṣṇa. So in this way Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means everyone is engaged cent percent to become servant of Kṛṣṇa. So those who are sincerely engaged in the service of the Lord, they are all liberated. They are all liberated. The Māyāvādīs who are trying to become liberated in so many ways, mystic yoga practice and austere penances, and so on, so on, so on, so on... You can get that liberty immediately, simply by engaging yourself in some service of Kṛṣṇa. Immediately. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Even little service you give, it is your permanent asset. Even if you fall down from that service platform, still, whatever you have done, it will never go in vain.
For self-realization, if you want to realize yourself or if you want to get out of these material clutches, then the main function is to become in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be engaged in the service of the Lord directly. And bhakti-mukha-nirīkṣaka karma-yoga-jñāna. And other processes, they're also admitted, but they are dependent on this process. That means if by karma-yoga, when you acquire knowledge, then that is another step forward. Then by jñāna-yoga, when you are able to meditate, by jñāna-yoga you can understand the Supersoul and your soul. And when you understand also that by the individual soul the Supersoul has to be seen by meditation or focus, that is called dhyāna-yoga. Then when you understand Supersoul, then go further. You can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyway, all these processes... Yoga means just like a staircase. You cover the staircases under certain rules and regulation, but the highest top, topmost place, is that Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Ultimately you have to reach that point. So any other process, that is dependent on the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is direct method.
One who performs great penance, one who is very charitably disposed, one who is very famous, one who is very mentally advanced, he can think nice things, writes philosophical thesis, write nice poetry. Manasvinaḥ. These are the products of great mind. Manasvino mantra-vidaḥ. Mantra-vidaḥ means the chanters of Vedic hymns. Mantra-vidaḥ sumaṅgalāḥ. These things are all nice, auspicious. These things are all... But kṣemaṁ na vindanti vinā yad-arpaṇam. But these things cannot... By these things you cannot alone have success unless it is not offered to the Supreme Lord. Your good qualification should be engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. Then you get the desired result. And our Howard's mother has written very nicely that if you talk of Kṛṣṇa, then you enjoy yourself, and you give enjoyment to many others. And if you talk of man (mammon?), then you can create some, I mean to say... What is the exact word she has used? Noise. You can create some noise for some time.
Festival Lectures
So Kṛṣṇa or Rāma can give you a position by which you can stop all this nonsense. Nirvāṇa-śānti-pradaṁ brahma-śambhu-phanīndras tebhyo 'nīśam. Brahmā, the demigods, there are millions of demigods. Of all the demigods, Brahmā, Śiva and Brahmā, they are considered to be the chief. Brahmā, Śiva, Phanīndra. Phanīndra means Śeṣa. He's also incarnation of Viṣṇu. So all of them are engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. That means Viṣṇu is the Supreme, even superior than Lord Śiva. He has especially mentioned: brahmā-śambhu. Śambhu means Lord Śiva. Brahmā-śambhu-phanīndras tebhyo 'nīśaṁ vedānta-vedyaṁ vibhum. So Vedānta, Vedānta means the ultimate knowledge. So one who is in the ultimate knowledge, he can understand the Personality of Godhead Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. Those who have got little knowledge, or a mediocrity, they can go up to the impersonal Brahman, but they cannot enter into the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Rāma. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā by Arjuna, that "It is very difficult to understand Your personality."
Arrival Addresses and Talks
One who is sincerely engaged in the service of the Lord, He gives him intelligence, "Now do this, do this." Simply we have to become sincere servant; then all dictation will come from within. Kṛṣṇa is there is everyone's heart. So work sincerely and everything will make progress.
Initiation Lectures
Beginning of Kṛṣṇa consciousness means first of all faith. Ādau śraddhā: "The beginning is faith." What is that faith? Faith means firm conviction that "If I become transcendentally engaged in the service of the Lord, then my life becomes successful." This is called faith. And that conviction must be firm, not tottering faith. So when this faith is created, then actually the initiation begins. Otherwise initiation is not accepted. Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. When one is firmly convinced that "If I be engaged in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa..." When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, we should know, speak of God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. When we take to the transcendental loving service of the Lord, then the Lord reveals Himself. We cannot understand. He reveals Himself. Therefore sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. Jihvā means tongue. The first business of is to engage the tongue in the service of the Lord. How you can engage the tongue in the service of the Lord? By chanting and glorifying His name, fame, quality, form, paraphernalia, pastimes. This is the business of the tongue. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau. When the tongue is engaged, gradually all other senses are also engaged in the service of the Lord. The tongue is the most important sense within our body; therefore for controlling our senses it is recommended that one should control first of all the tongue. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sings in his song: tā'ra madhye jihvā ati lobhamaya sudurmati. Our present conditional state is like this. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, we are packed up in the network of this material body. It is just like a fish is caught within a net. Similarly, we are caught up by this network of this material body. Not only this body—we are changing this net in various phases of life.
When you engage your senses in Kṛṣṇa's service, then it becomes purified. Hṛṣīkeṇa. That purified, your senses is not to be abolished like the impersonalists: "No more sense, finished." No. We... Our senses are... Because we are eternal, our senses are eternal. But at the present moment our senses are being used, contaminated; therefore you are not satisfied. The senses are not to be cut off. No. Liberation does not mean I become impersonal, all my senses are gone. No. Liberation means purification of the senses. And the symptom how the senses are purified, that will be manifested that when one's senses are simply engaged in the service of the Lord. Hands, legs, eyes, ears, mouth—we have got so many senses—everything. Hṛṣīkeṇa-hṛṣīkeśa-sevanam (CC Madhya 19.170). Actually the proprietor of the senses is Kṛṣṇa. We have got this hand, but it is given to us. Actually it is the hand of Kṛṣṇa. He is all-pervading. Sarvato 'pāṇi pādas tat: "Everywhere, His hands and legs are there." You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā. So therefore these hands and legs which we have got, this is Kṛṣṇa's hands and legs. So when these Kṛṣṇa's hands and legs will be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is the perfection. That is the perfection.
Wedding Ceremonies
So it doesn't matter whether one is householder or a brahmacārī or sannyāsī. He has to become first of all sincere servitor of the Lord. Then everything is complete. The Lord is within you. He will give you all knowledge, all enlightenment, all dictation, and He will make your life progressive. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ tato bhajana-kriyā, anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā tato rucis tato bhāvas tato prema (Cc. Madhya 23.14-15). In this way your life will be sublime. Yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ. And if you can contact the Supreme Personality of Godhead by some way or other by discharge of this devotional service in any position, never mind, then you will feel no more profit. Everyone in the material world, they are working hard day and night for some profit. But if you can be engaged in the service of the Lord, you will feel that you are so much profited that you will say, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce: (CC Madhya 22.42) "I don't want any more profit. I have got all the profits now. I am fully satisfied." That is required. Yayātmā suprasīdati. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6).
General Lectures
Just like without being heated, you cannot stand in a place which is very heated. The temperature must be the same. This is known to everyone. So God is pure. You cannot approach God being impure. So the whole process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is purificatory process. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Hṛṣīka, hṛṣīka means senses, and Hṛṣīkeśa means the master of the senses, the Lord of the senses, Kṛṣṇa. So by engaging your senses in the service of the master of the senses, that is called bhakti. Now, how you can do that? Tat-paratvena nirmalam. You have to simply purify. Then it is easily possible. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to adopt the purificatory process, and then you have got natural engagement in the service of the Lord, your life is perfect.
Persons who are servant of their senses, they are called materialistic go-dāsa, and persons who are master of the senses, they are called gosvāmī. Gosvāmī. They control the senses. The tongue wants to eat something which is not... "Oh," he controls. "Oh, tongue, you cannot taste these things. It is not Kṛṣṇa prasāda." Therefore he becomes gosvāmī, master. He does not allow the tongue to eat any nonsense thing except Kṛṣṇa prasāda. He cannot allow his senses, his anything for sense gratification. Only for the service. That is called devotional service. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). Bhakti, this devotional service, means when you engage your senses for the satisfaction of the master of the senses. The supreme master of the senses is Kṛṣṇa. So we are trying to apply the senses for our personal service. This is called māyā; this is called illusion. The same senses purified, when they'll be engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is perfection. So we are not going to stop the activities of the senses, but senses are being purified for being engaged in the service of the Lord. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
For a devotee there is no caste, because he's servant of God. He does not belong to any material consciousness. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is transcendental. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that one who is engaged in the service of the Lord, he is on the platform of becoming Brahman. Brahma-bhūyāya kalpate. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān.... Guṇān means this world, this material world is full of three qualities: the quality of goodness, the quality of passion, and the quality of ignorance. Or mixed. Three into three into nine, nine into nine equal to eighty-one. There are so many mixture of qualities and different kinds of men, because they are within the material qualities. But as soon as you engage yourself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, you are no more within these qualities; therefore you are freed from designation. Just like these boys, they are not thinking that they are American. I am not thinking "I am not Indian," "I am Indian." Actually, our platform is Kṛṣṇa. We are loving each other. So we have forgotten our designation. Otherwise, how they can work so nicely? Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). They are now thinking in terms of Kṛṣṇa, that's all.
Just like this microphone is being used for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the same microphone can be used for singing a cinema song. So microphone is not bad, but as you use it for different purposes it is bad or good. Similarly, this world, or things which we accept for our maintenance of the soul, body and soul together, they are called viṣaya. Viṣaya means eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. That is viṣaya. So anāsaktasya viṣayān. We should not be attached to the viṣayas. Just like eating. Everyone is eating. You are eating, I am also eating. So what is the difference between you and me? The difference is that we who are engaged in the service of the Lord, we are eating for maintaining the body just to keep ourselves fit for working for the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Another person, he is also eating. He is eating to satisfy his palate or with the aim simply to make the body stout and strong.
In our India, two histories are there: the history of Rāmāyaṇa and the history Mahābhārata. And there were two great battles: fight with Rāvaṇa and Kurukṣetra fighting. In these two fightings the heroes were Vaiṣṇavas: Hanumānjī and Arjuna. They are still worshiped as the great Vaiṣṇavas, Vajrāṅgajī and Arjuna. So it is a mistake. Here is the definition of bhakti: tat-paratvena nirmalam, "When your senses are purified by devotional service." Not that your senses are wiped out in mukti. No. The senses are there. It cannot be wiped out. Simply it is purified. Just like if you have got some disease—the same example—in your finger, it is painful. You cannot render service. But when the finger is cured by treatment from the disease, it again gives service. Similarly, those who are not engaged in the service of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, they are supposed to be diseased. The degree may be different, that one is very highly diseased, another is very slightly diseased. It doesn't matter. But he is diseased. Therefore this is the curing method. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66).
So actually our indriyas can be controlled when they are engaged in the service of the Lord. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ (CC Madhya 19.170). Otherwise it is not possible to control the senses. You cannot stop the activities of senses. That is not possible. Because we are living entity, we have our senses, and it must act. In the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that you cannot stop the action of the mind even for a moment. And mind is the central point of our sensuous activities. Therefore, if you want to control the senses, then you have to learn this bhāgavata-dharma. Prahlāda Mahārāja therefore recommending, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). From the very childhood one should practice this bhāgavata-dharma. This bhāgavata-dharma means śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). They have manufactured many other kīrtana parties, but the śāstra says śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. That is bhāgavata-dharma. Bhāgavata comes from the word bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence, and vān means one who possesses. That is bhagavān. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Bhagavan. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11).
An example can be given, one gentleman has got more than one wife. So if the wives quarrel between themselves that one wife will enjoy the another or predominate over the other wives, that is not possible. Similarly, prakṛti, we are prakṛti, we cannot control over the other prakṛti. It may be I am superior prakṛti but the other is inferior prakṛti. But that does not mean one prakṛti can enjoy the other prakṛti. Therefore, this enjoying spirit should be given up. This enjoying spirit is māyā. Māyā means illusion. The same example, one woman cannot enjoy other woman. The all women is enjoyable by the man, that is the nature. Similarly, we are prakṛti, jīva, and the material world is also prakṛti. So one prakṛti cannot enjoy prakṛti. The best thing is, best adjustment is that all the prakṛtis should be engaged in the service of the Lord. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
As living entity, I must be egoistic. Law of identity. How can I say that "I am not"? I am. I am existing. But now I am existing with designations. If I give up my designations, if I become purified, that is my real ego. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). One has to become nirmala. And when you become nirmala... Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. That is bhakti. So your senses are there. Now with my senses I am thinking that "I am the head of this familyman," "I am head of this community," or "I am..., I have to serve. I have to engage my hand in this way, my eyes in this way, my nose in this way." Senses are engaged in a upādhi, designated. But when this is, designation is taken away, when you become nirmala, the senses remain, the dress of the senses taken away, at that time, your senses are engaged in the service of the Lord, and that is called bhakti.
Anyone who is purely devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he's sādhu, not anyone else. Sādhu means he's mahātmā. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, bhajanty-ananya manaso (BG 9.13). He's mahātmā, who is unflinchingly, without any deviation, engaged in the service of the Lord. He's called mahātmā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtiṁ āśritāḥ. They are not under the influence of this material qualities, daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. They're under the influence of the spiritual energy. Therefore they're called daivīm. So what is the symptom that one is under the spiritual energy? Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, always engaged in the service of the Lord. That is the symptom. Therefore anything about Kṛṣṇa, that is sādhu. One who is questioning, he's also sādhu. One who is answering, he's also sādhu. And what to speak of one who is always engaged in the service of the Lord. He must be a sādhu. Sadhava sarva-bhūtānām. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām..., sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ (SB 3.25.21). Sādhu means he's tolerant. He's tolerant, titikṣavaḥ. At the same time, kāruṇikāḥ, very merciful. Now these persons, because they are sādhus, they are so much tolerant. Anyone who's preaching about God, they're sādhu, because they have to meet so many dangerous people.
Service of God is without motive. Here in the material world we serve somebody with a motive, for some material gain. But in the spiritual world, to serve God means "It is my duty. I love him. I want to serve Him." Just like mother loves child. It is not like the maidservant who is paid. Mother loves spontaneously child, as duty. He (she) loves to serve the child. Similarly, when our love of God will be spontaneous, without any motive, and without being impeded... Love of God cannot be checked by any material condition. It is not that because a man is poor, therefore he cannot love God. No. If a man is very rich, therefore he cannot love. No. Ahaituky apratihatā. Whatever you may be, you can learn how to love God without any impediment. And if we come to that stage of life—here it is said, yayātmā suprasīdati—then you will be fully satisfied and pleased. If you are engaged in the service of the Lord without any motive and without being impeded, spontaneously loving, then you will feel complete satisfaction. Svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). There are many instances of devotees.
I am speaking through this microphone about the message of God. So when it is utilized for God's purposes it is spiritual. And when it is utilized for our material purposes or sense gratification, this is material. Just like electricity. Electricity is one energy. It can be utilized for heating purpose and cooling purpose. Similarly, God's energy is one, but when it is utilized for sense gratification, that is called material energy, and when it is used for service of God, then it is called spiritual energy. So to transfer ourself from material energy to spiritual energy is to begin service of God. Anything engaged in the service of God, that is spiritual. This is a hall. It can be utilized for selling wine and it can be utilized for speaking about God. So the place is the same, but when it is utilized for God's purpose, then it is spiritual. And (if) it is utilized for my sense gratification, that is material. That requires little guidance. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything belongs to God, but it becomes material and spiritual according to the purpose it is being utilized. So if you convert your life, everything for God-speaking for God, eating for God, sleeping for God, mating for God—then it is spiritualized. We have got four kinds of engagements: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Defending for God also. So actually everything belongs to God. Now we have to learn it, how to utilize it for God. That is our philosophy.
Anyone, even in this world or spiritual world, he has got the potency of coming down by misusing his little independence. It is nothing like that, that if you become president, you are secure. If you are not perfect, then you will be dragged down. Or if you think imperfectly... The formula is that in the spiritual world everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord. There is no other conception as in this material world everyone is engaged to serve his senses—he likes something, and he is engaged for that purpose. That service is there, but it is service to himself, his senses. But in the spiritual world there is no such thing as giving service to the senses. Simply giving service to the Lord. That is spiritual world. So as soon as you think that "Why shall I give service to Kṛṣṇa? Why not become independent?" you fall down immediately. So there is potency of thinking like that.
So this jīva-bhūta, living entities, we are living entities, we also belong to the spiritual prakṛti, we are expansion of spiritual prakṛti. Just like Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is always engaged in the service of the Lord, anārādhyate. Ārādhyate, it is Rādhārāṇī. The Rādhārāṇī, the name has come from the word ārādhyate. Ārādhana, ārādhana means worshiping. So everyone is meant, beginning from Rādhārāṇī, and her expansion, Lakṣmī, in Vaikuṇṭha, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi (Bs. 5.29). Here we worship mother Lakṣmīji, goddess of fortune, to receive some favor. But in the Vaikuṇṭha world there are many hundred thousands of Lakṣmī, lakṣmī-sahasra-śata, and they are sambhrama-sevyamānam: with great respect, they are engaged in serving the Supreme Lord. So, we being expansion of the spiritual Lakṣmī, or Rādhārāṇī, our duty is to serve Rādhārāṇī, and through Rādhārāṇī to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are missing this point, that instead of learning from Rādhārāṇī how to serve Kṛṣṇa, we are being controlled by the another prakṛti, material energy, Durgā, with weapons in her ten hands. This is our position.
If you engage yourself in devotional service, bhakti, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo... (SB 1.2.6). And that is the topmost system of religion. There are different religious systems, different parts of the world, of the universe. But the real purpose of religion is yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, how to become engaged in the service of the Lord, that is religion. And this service of the Lord cannot be checked. Ahaituky apratihatā. It is not that for certain reason one has to engage himself in devotional service. It is spontaneous. And apratihatā, without any check. Just like we are sitting down here, there is no check. Anywhere we can sit down. Of course, sometimes the climatic condition different, but there are different climates also. In India we have got almost all the year climate like this, except in the rainy season—that is also not constantly. Therefore India is supposed to be the best place for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because the climate is very suitable.
Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: Is this isolation a characteristic only of the lower and middle planetary systems? In the higher planetary system, systems, is there so much isolation?
Prabhupāda: Isolation is always there. Even in this world there is isolation, even in animals. The birds, the crows, they remain together, and the swans remain together. So there is isolation between the swan and the crows. So this isolation will continue because everyone is under different modes of material nature. There are three modes of material nature. Multiply three by three, it becomes nine. Nine by nine, then it becomes eighty-one. So, prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). So according to the association of different qualities the isolation is there, but when they come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual platform, so there is no more isolation. When everyone is engaged in the service of the Lord, there is no isolation.
Prabhupāda: Jagat. Jagat means change. Jagat. (indistinct) jagat, everything is changing. Just like wind(?), time and tide. So that is not a very unique proposal. It is the nature's way, it is going on. And therefore I say this theory, this Marx theory, it is all changeable(?). It will not stay.
Śyāmasundara: Does this mean that man's nature, there is no fundamental nature that a man's reality is...
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is spiritual nature. That is spiritual nature. We are teaching people to come to that standard, spiritual nature which will never change. Just like we are trying to serve Kṛṣṇa. This is not (indistinct). We are serving Kṛṣṇa and when we go to Vaikuntha, we serve Kṛṣṇa. That which is called nitya. Nitya means eternal. Nitya-yukta upāsate. Bhagavad-gītā, eternally engaged in the service of the Lord. Not like Māyāvādī. Māyāvādī philosophers, they will say that "Let me serve Kṛṣṇa now. As soon as I become liberated, I become God. I become God." This is another bluff. Just like I am serving you to take your favor and as soon as I get opportunity I ride upon you. You see?
Śyāmasundara: He says it's within man's hands, that man is responsible for the next stage of evolution.
Prabhupāda: What is that next stage of evolution? If he surrenders, that is the highest evolution, highest platform. Then simply enjoyment. There is no more evolution. Evolution, ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim (Nārada-pañcarātra). If you have come to the point to worship the Supreme Lord, ārādhito yadi haris, then there is no more question of evolution. Tapasā tataḥ kim. Tapasā, tapasya, austerity, penance, they are required for elevation. So ārādhito yadi haris tapasā tataḥ kim. When you are engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, there is no more question of evolution. That is the highest evolution. And Bhagavad-gītā also says,
- māṁ ca 'vyabhicāriṇi
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
He is already Brahman. Anyone who is engaged in the service of the Lord, avyabhicāriṇi, without any adulteration, pure devotion, then he is already Brahman. He hasn't got to seek for again becoming Brahman. Māṁ ca 'vyabhicāriṇi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate, sa guṇān sama... He immediately transcends all the three guṇas, the sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. And brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, he is Brahman. Without becoming Brahman, how he can serve the Supreme Brahman?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is our conception also, that the fallen soul is rotating within this material world, within this universe, up and down in different forms of life, and in his developed condition of understanding he is enlightened by God as it is instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā, and the spiritual master gives him full enlightenment. Then what he says, the perfection?
Hayagrīva: His detachment from matter...
Prabhupāda: Yes. When he understands his pleasing, as situation with God, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate... (BG 9.59). When he understands the transcendental pleasing situation of his life, he automatically gives up this material bodily attachment. That is his freedom. And when he actually, in his spiritual identity, engaged in the service of the Lord, that is his normal position.
Hayagrīva: (indistinct) Again, like Augustine, Aquinas believed that sin and man go together due to Adam's, the first man's original sin. All men require salvation. Salvation can only be attained through God's grace. The individual living entity has to assent by his free will in order for God's grace to function.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is bhakti. Bhakti is devotional service. So you, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234), and bhakti is our eternal engagement. So salvation means when you are engaged in our eternal activities, that is called salvation, or liberation. When you are engaged in false activities, that is called māyā. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. Muktiḥ means to remain in one's own constitutional position. In the material world we are also engaged in different types of activities, but they are with reference to the particular body. In the spiritual world spirit, as he is, is engaged in the service of the Lord. That is liberation.
Purports to Songs
| Page Title: | Engaged in the service of the Lord (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 12 of Jul, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=123, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 123 |