So we are indebted to the demigods. Just like the sun-god, the moon-god, the Indra. Indra is supplying us water. Of course, in your country, there is no such conception. But the Vedic knowledge gives us full information how water is being supplied, how light is being supplied, how air is being supplied by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Don't take it irresponsibly. Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has arranged so many things. Just like in your city there is department of water supply, there is department of light supply, there is depart..., different departments, similarly, in the kingdom of God there are departments. But because we are foolish, we do not know how the departments are being conducted. So we are not paying any bills. The bills are paid, according to the Vedic injunction, by performing sacrifices. So in this way, our point is sex life, that, the, a gṛhastha, a householder, he has got debts towards his parents, towards his father, towards his mother, towards his wife, towards his children. The society should be human society, not the cats' and dogs' society. That is Vedic conception. So in the Vedic conception of life the sex life is there, but you become indebted. You must repay the debts. If you simply beget children like cats and dogs and go away, then you become responsible for the sinful activities. You must take responsible. So this man was suggesting, he wants sex life at least once in a month. Yes, that is allowed. That is allowed in the Vedic civilization. When the wife is in menstrual period, after five days of the menstrual period, the wife and husband can have sex life for begetting rightful children. And before be getting a child, one must go... If he is in the higher orders of society, one must accept the garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Garbhādhāna-saṁskāra means that child born out of the sex life of the father and mother must come out a very nice child, not like the cat and dog. That is called garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Those who are in the higher position of the society, they are obliged to observe ten kinds of purificatory processes, out of which, the first purificatory process is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. So the parents, when they take to sex life for begetting nice children, there is garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, and if one does not observe this garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, he immediately falls down to the group of śūdra from brahminical position. These are the injunctions in the Vedic literature. Sex life is not denied, but one must take responsibility for sex life; otherwise, he becomes entangled in so many sinful activities.
Because here in the material world, everyone is a criminal. Just like in the prison house, when a criminal is there, in every state there is law. He cannot violate the laws of the prison house. Similarly, here also, in this material world, who have come here to enjoy... There is no enjoyment. There is simply suffering. But we take sufferings as enjoyment. That is called illusion. Anyway, the Vedic principle has allowed everything. Because here we have come to enjoy so-called sense gratification. That is illusion. So there is regulated principle. You can have sex life once in a month. That is prescribed. Because the woman has once in a month menstrual period. So sex life is meant for simply begetting nice children, not for sense gratification. Therefore, because the woman is, gets the menstrual period once in a month, therefore the man can have sex life just after the menstrual period, over, after five days, he can sex life, have sex life with his wife under garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, responsibility. Otherwise he becomes implicated in sinful activities. That is Vedic injunction. So sex life is not denied. Just like in our society, the boys and girls, they come to our society, and as far as possible, we get them married. We don't allow to live, the boys and girls and friends, like friends. No. That is a great sinful activity. So nothing is denied. The problem of life is eating, sleeping, mating, and defending. So everything is there, but in a regulated form. In regulated form so that the world may not become hell. If it is irregulated form, then the whole world will be hell. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, narakāya varṇa-saṅkaraḥ. When we produce unwanted children, the whole world becomes just like hell. It is going to happen like that at the present moment. The sex life is not denied. The point is discussed because it was raised. Sex life is not denied, but in a regulated form so that you can get nice population, you can live very happily. Not that you produce unwanted children and they turn out rogues, thieves and drunkards, like that. That is not allowed. You must produce nice children. For that purpose, sex life is allowed. And especially in this age, at the present moment, if you can produce children to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, that will be a great service to the Lord. Because we want now Kṛṣṇa conscious population. Otherwise this world is going to hell. That's a fact. We are dwindling, liquidation. There were great empires like Roman empire, Greece empire, Carthaginian empire and, later on, Moghul empires, British empire. So many empires there were. There was Hitler. There was Mussolini. There was Napoleon. So these powerful emperors or men came and gone. Their name is only there, and nothing is remaining.
So I came to your country. Your country is very nice country, America. I heard it from India. So I decided to come here because I heard that your country's very nice. And when I came here, I saw actually your country is very nice. Your cities, your buildings, your men also... Because mostly my students, they are Americans, and they help me very kindly to push on this movement. So I have studied the American life, very nice. They have good heart. So only thing is wanted—Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For want of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, despite your all opulences, you are becoming confused and frustrated. I hear that out of three, one man is a patient of a psychiatrist. Why? Why you are unhappy? Why you should be unhappy? You have got everything—enough food, enough land, enough money, enough intelligence. Why you should be unhappy? The cause you should try to find out. The cause is that without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, without God consciousness, nobody can be happy. That is the cause. So my request is that this movement is started from America, from New York. In 1966 I registered this movement, International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, and since then, we are spreading. In your country, we have got about fifty branches, all over the country, America. And we have got other branches also, about fifty, in Europe, in Canada, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Japan. In India also. India, of course, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is known since a very, very long time. At least, everyone in India knows what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he may not be seriously engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but even a street man, a street boy, knows what is Kṛṣṇa. In your country, this, this movement is started since 1966, but in '67 I was sick. I went back to India and again came back in 1968, and since that time, we are pushing on this movement little, very highly, and it is being effected. It is being effected. People are understanding. So my request is that you have got all material resources. Don't waste your time. Life is very valuable, especially this human form of life. Labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte. This human form of life is achieved after many, many births of evolutionary process. We had to undergo 900,000 species of life in water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Two millions of species of life through plants and trees. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Eleven hundred thousand species of life of insects and reptiles. Pakśiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. And one million species of life amongst the birds. Then triṁśal-lakṣāṇi paśavaḥ: and then three million species of life amongst the beasts. In this way, there are four hundred thousand species of human form of life, out of which, the civilized form of life, when our consciousness is developed, that is the opportunity to understand what is God, what I am, what is my relationship with God, what is this material world, how I shall treat. That is needed. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This human, this civilized form of human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, the Supreme, the Absolute Truth.
So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is giving knowledge about the Absolute Truth, Paraṁ Brahman. The Sanskrit word is Paraṁ Brahman. And Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman. If you have read Bhagavad-gītā on the Tenth Chapter, when Arjuna summarizes his understanding after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he says, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān: (BG 10.12) "Kṛṣṇa, I understand that You are the Supreme Personality, Absolute Truth." Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma: "You are the reservoir of everything." Pavitram: "You are the Supreme Pure." Pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān. Puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam: "You are the Supreme Person." Kṛṣṇa, or the Absolute Truth, is not imperson. He's the Supreme Person. He's Supreme Person. He is the Absolute Truth. And we are presenting Kṛṣṇa before you, and you take it. Most of the Western country, they are Christian. So the Christians believe in Lord Jesus Christ as son of God. But we are presenting the father, God Himself. So there is no contradiction. If there is son, there must be a father also. Without father, there cannot be son. So if you believe in the son, then you must believe in the father also. The father is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya
- sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yaḥ
- ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā
- (BG 14.4)
He is the seed-giving father for all living entities. So Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in your English dictionary, "Kṛṣṇa is a Hindu God." He's not Hindu, He's not Muslim, or He's not Christian. He's God. God is neither Hindu nor Muslim nor Christian. It is bodily designations, "I am Hindu, you are Christian." This is bodily... Just like dress. You have got some black coat. Another has got some white coat. That does not meant we are different because we are in different coat or shirt. As human being, we are all sons of God. We are one. That is the conception. So at the present moment, we have divided the world on account of this shirt and coat. That is not. That is not good. Actually, the whole world or the whole universe belongs to God. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.