Akrūra continued: “Less intelligent men misunderstand Your transcendental form to be made of material energy. But that concept is not at all applicable to You. Actually, You are all-spiritual, and there is no difference between You and Your body. Therefore, there is no question of Your being conditioned or liberated. You are ever liberated in any condition of life. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, only fools and rascals consider You an ordinary man. To consider Your Lordship one of us, conditioned by the material nature, is a mistake due to our imperfect knowledge. When people deviate from the original knowledge of the Vedas, they try to identify the ordinary living entities with Your Lordship, who have appeared on this earth in Your original form to reestablish the real knowledge that the living entities are neither one with nor equal to the Supreme God. My dear Lord, You are always situated in uncontaminated goodness (śuddha-sattva).
Fools and rascals (CC and Other Books)
Expressions researched:
"fool and rascal"
|"fool and rascals"
|"fool rascal"
|"fools and rascal"
|"fools and rascals"
|"fools rascals"
|"rascal and fool"
|"rascal and fools"
|"rascal fool"
|"rascal fools"
|"rascals and fools"
|"rascals fools"
|"rascals, and fools"
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Adi-lila
This conclusion of the revealed scriptures is also the realization of experienced devotees. Fools and rascals, however, cannot understand the opulences of devotional emotions.
Kṛṣṇa is providing for millions and trillions of living entities by supplying all their necessities, and even if all the innumerable living entities wanted to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, there would be no scarcity of love of Godhead, nor would there be insufficiency in providing for their maintenance. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement was started single-handedly, and no one provided for our livelihood, but at present we are spending hundreds and thousands of dollars all over the world, and the movement is increasing more and more. Thus there is no question of scarcity. Although jealous persons may be envious, if we stick to our principles and follow in the footsteps of the Pañca-tattva, this movement will go on unchecked by imitation svāmīs, sannyāsīs, religionists, philosophers or scientists, for it is transcendental to all material considerations. Therefore those who propagate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should not be afraid of such rascals and fools.
The more the five members of the Pañca-tattva cause the rains of love of Godhead to fall, the more the inundation increases and spreads all over the world.
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not stereotyped or stagnant. It will spread all over the world in spite of all objections by fools and rascals that European and American mlecchas cannot be accepted as brāhmaṇas or sannyāsīs. Here it is indicated that this process will spread and inundate the entire world with Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Here is an important point. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to invent a way to capture the Māyāvādīs and others who did not take interest in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is the symptom of an ācārya. An ācārya who comes for the service of the Lord cannot be expected to conform to a stereotype, for he must find the ways and means by which Kṛṣṇa consciousness may be spread. Sometimes jealous persons criticize the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement because it engages equally both boys and girls in distributing love of Godhead. Not knowing that boys and girls in countries like Europe and America mix very freely, these fools and rascals criticize the boys and girls in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for intermingling. But these rascals should consider that one cannot suddenly change a community's social customs. However, since both the boys and the girls are being trained to become preachers, those girls are not ordinary girls but are as good as their brothers who are preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
When Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī inquired from Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu why He neither studied Vedānta nor performed meditation, Lord Caitanya presented Himself as a number one fool in order to indicate that the present age, Kali-yuga, is an age of fools and rascals in which it is not possible to obtain perfection simply by reading Vedānta philosophy and meditating. The śāstras strongly recommend:
- harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
- kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
- (CC Adi 17.21)
"In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way." People in general in Kali-yuga are so fallen that it is not possible for them to obtain perfection simply by studying the Vedānta-sūtra. One should therefore seriously take to the constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord.
In this connection we can particularly see how an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ascertained by His bodily symptoms, His activities and the prediction of the śāstras. By factual evidence a person can be accepted as an incarnation of God, not whimsically or by the votes of rascals and fools. There have been many imitation incarnations in Bengal since the appearance of Lord Caitanya, but any impartial devotee or learned man can understand that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was accepted as an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa not on the basis of popular votes but by evidence from the śāstras and bona fide scholars. It was not ordinary men who accepted Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the beginning His identity was ascertained by learned scholars like Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, and later all His activities were confirmed by the six Gosvāmīs, especially Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, and many other learned scholars, with evidence from the śāstra. An incarnation of God is such from the very beginning of His life. It is not that by performing meditation one can become an incarnation of God all of a sudden. Such false incarnations are meant for fools and rascals, not sane men.
CC Madhya-lila
Following the example of the gopīs, the devotees sometimes worship the goddess Kātyāyanī, but they understand that Kātyāyanī is an incarnation of Yogamāyā. The gopīs worshiped Kātyāyanī, Yogamāyā, to attain Kṛṣṇa as their husband. On the other hand, it is stated in the Sapta-śatī scripture that a kṣatriya king named Suratha and a rich vaiśya named Samādhi worshiped material nature in the form of goddess Durgā to attain material perfection. If one tries to mingle the worship of Yogamāyā with that of Mahāmāyā, considering them one and the same, he does not really show very high intelligence. The idea that everything is one is a kind of foolishness indulged in by those with less brain substance. Fools and rascals say that the worship of Yogamāyā and the worship of Mahāmāyā are the same. This conclusion is simply the result of mental speculation, and it has no practical effect. In the material world, sometimes one gives an exalted title to an utterly worthless thing; in Bengal this is known as giving a blind child a name like Padmalocana, which means "lotus-eyed." One may foolishly call a blind child Padmalocana, but such an appellation does not bear any meaning.
It is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy that He advises everyone—even caṇḍālas, mlecchas and yavanas—to chant the holy name of the Lord. In other words, one who has taken to chanting the holy names "Kṛṣṇa" and "Hari" has already received Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy. The Lord's request to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is now extended to everyone in the world through the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Whoever follows Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instructions will certainly be purified, and one who sincerely chants the holy name offenselessly is already more than a brāhmaṇa. Unfortunately there are many fools and rascals in India who do not allow Western Vaiṣṇavas to enter certain temples. Such rascals do not clearly understand the Vedas. As stated previously, yan-nāmadheya-śravaṇānukīrtanād . . . savanāya kalpate.
This is a solution to all sinful activities. In this Age of Kali everyone is perplexed by so many inconveniences—social, political and religious—and naturally no one is happy. Due to the contamination of this age, everyone has a very short life. There are many fools and rascals who advise people to adopt this way of life or that way of life, but real liberation from life's perplexities means preparation for the next life. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). One should be situated in his spiritual identity and return home, back to Godhead. The simplest method for this is recommended herein by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. We should constantly chant the holy names of the Lord, the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Following in the footsteps of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is recommending this process all over the world. We are saying, "Chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, be freed from all the complexities of life, and realize Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Engage in His devotional service and perfect your life so that you can return home, back to Godhead."
CC Antya-lila
Although Kṛṣṇa wants everyone to surrender to His lotus feet, because of people's sinful activities they cannot do this. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ: (BG 7.15) rascals and fools, the lowest of men, who engage in sinful activities, cannot suddenly surrender to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Nevertheless, if they begin chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and rendering service unto the tulasī plant, they will very soon be able to surrender. One's real duty is to surrender to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, but if one is unable to do so, he should adopt this process, as introduced by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His most confidential servant, Nāmācārya Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura. This is the way to achieve success in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
The story of King Pauṇḍraka is very interesting because it proves that there have always been many rascals and fools who have considered themselves God. Even in the presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, there was such a foolish person. His name was Pauṇḍraka, and he wanted to declare himself God. While Lord Balarāma was absent in Vṛndāvana, this King Pauṇḍraka, the King of the Karūṣa Province, being foolish and puffed up, sent a messenger to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but King Pauṇḍraka directly challenged Kṛṣṇa through the messenger, who stated that Pauṇḍraka, not Kṛṣṇa, was Vāsudeva. In the present day there are many foolish followers of such rascals. Similarly, in Pauṇḍraka's day, many foolish men accepted Pauṇḍraka as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because he could not estimate his own position, Pauṇḍraka falsely thought himself to be Lord Vāsudeva. Thus the messenger declared to Kṛṣṇa that King Pauṇḍraka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, had descended to the earth out of his causeless mercy just to deliver all distressed persons.
The most dangerous theory of the impersonalists is that when God comes as an incarnation He accepts a material body created by the three modes of material nature. This Māyāvāda theory has been condemned by Lord Caitanya as most offensive. He has said that anyone who accepts the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead to be made of material nature commits the greatest offense at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also states that when the Personality of Godhead descends in a human form, only fools and rascals deride Him. This actually occurred when Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāma and Lord Caitanya moved within human society as human beings.
Renunciation Through Wisdom
The ass slaves his whole life carrying the washerman's burden, just for a handful of grass. Similarly, the karmīs (fruitive workers) toil tirelessly simply to secure a supply of food and other necessities. The ass is a symbol of foolishness, for he works hard only to fill his belly and copulate with a she-ass. So also do the asinine karmīs toil tirelessly out of affection and attachment, struggling to maintain their homes and, beyond that, the land of their birth, which they consider worshipable. In the home the karmī's sole source of enjoyment is his wife, who cooks for him and provides pleasure for his misery-ridden senses. The shortsighted karmīs do not want to know of any broader issues concerning themselves or their world; they are simply tethered to their home and bodily cares. And those leaders who foster the people's sensual lives are bigger fools and rascals than the ordinary karmīs. Therefore they never come in contact with the Bhagavad-gītā or Lord Kṛṣṇa. The word surrender means nothing to them.
Possessed of perverted intelligence, the demons, rascals, and fools can never surrender to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, Lord Kṛṣṇa never shows them His mercy. The most munificent incarnation of Godhead, Lord Caitanya, repudiated the sinner Gopāla Cāpala because he was envious of the Lord's devotee. In this regard, the Supreme Lord states His opinion in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.11): ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham. "As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly." Thus the Lord arranges for the demons to slide lower and lower into degraded species of life and suffer hell for many millions of births.
From the ocean of loving compassion, which had been completely dammed up, Lord Nityānanda cut a canal of love of Godhead and flooded the entire world. And then some persons called caste Gosvāmīs, claiming to be the Lord's descendants, again dammed up that ocean of mercy with their malpractices of fruitive activities and rituals. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura once more cut open the canal of love of Godhead and brought in the flood waters. And now are we, of all persons, trying once more to dam it up like the caste Gosvāmīs? By the influence of the good association of the Lord's devotees, even a fool and rascal like me, possessed of a destructive, demoniac mentality, can accumulate enough piety to become inspired to serve the Supreme Lord.
| Page Title: | Fools and rascals (CC and Other Books) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, Serene |
| Created: | 05 of Dec, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=10, OB=6, Lec=0, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 16 |