Kim akurvata sañjaya (BG 1.1). He was asking his secretary. He was blind man. He was always conducted by his secretary Sañjaya, a very faithful secretary. And he is explaining the Bhagavad-gītā by experiencing, by television within the heart. That art is not yet developed. You have got television through machine, but there is another television—you can see within your heart everything, what is going on outside. So that television was known to... That will be explained by Sañjaya, that by the grace of Vyāsadeva, he learned this televisioning, and he was sitting with his master within the room and he was actually seeing how the fighting is going on. And he was explaining. This is the basic principle of Bhagavad-gītā, I mean, the basic platform. So let us discuss gradually, one after an... Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Television (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"televise"
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Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So sañjaya uvāca. Actually Sañjaya, the secretary of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he is relating the activities in the battlefield. Dhṛtarāṣṭra is blind. How in the battlefield the fighting was going on, Sañjaya was observing, either by television or a similar method. Otherwise, how he could explain things are going on in the battlefield in the room? This Bhagavad-gītā, Sañjaya explained, all activities in the battlefield, to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, within the room. So there must have been something like television or higher than the television, he was seeing within himself everything.
So scientific improvement is coming, but still on the material platform. Material means gross material and subtle material.
We can see fire, air, or we can perceive the sky also. But there is subtle matter also. Mind, intelligence, ego. We cannot see the mind. We cannot see intelligence. I understand that you have got intelligence, or everyone knows we have got mind, but we cannot see. This is subtle. They are also matter, subtle matter. So the television is a machine made of gross matter, but there is possibility of making another machine of subtle matter. There is possibility. Because matter, they are also matter. That subtle matter machine is not yet discovered. But here we can see the subtle matter discovery was there. Otherwise, how Sañjaya could see the activities in the battlefield? This is to be understood. They are very much proud of material advancement of science, but still, they have to make advancement, subtle matter.
"Oh, I'll have to kill my kinsmen. No, no, no. I cannot do it."
This is the set-up in the first chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. This is the summary. Now sañjaya uvāca. The Sañjaya is speaking to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Sañjaya is seeing the battlefield within his heart. That is another television. And by the grace of Vyāsadeva, he learned the art, that he advanced... He was so much advanced that the... Just like we see television, relay from the battlefield, and he, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind. And his secretary, Sañjaya, he was speaking.
In this way the business was not very palatable. Although he was forced to fight by the opposite party who were very near, thick and thin people, and he had to kill them, so it was not very satisfactory to him. Therefore he flatly denied to fight: "Kṛṣṇa, I am not going to fight." He left his weapon, and then Kṛṣṇa was surprised that "My friend, Arjuna, he is denying to fight in My presence."
So Sañjaya, the private secretary of Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he was relaying the message which was going on in the battle of Kurukṣetra by higher process. Nowadays we have got experience of the television, but the another process, antar-dṛṣṭi, that is also television. You can see the reflection of external activities within your heart, and you can explain. So Sañjaya, the private secretary of Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, he explained that Arjuna was denying to fight.
Beginning from the sky to the earth, you'll find sound, all-pervading. In the sky, there is sound. You have got experience. In the fire there is sound, in the air there is sound, in the earth there is sound, every metal, wood. You take everything, there is sound. So Brahman means all-pervading. But this transcendental sound... Just like your radio message, television sound, they cannot go beyond this earthly planet, at most. But there is sound which can penetrate the whole universe and go to the spiritual world. Sound is all-pervading, that is a fact, scientific fact. If that sound is potent, then it can penetrate even this material sky and go to the spiritual sky and go to Kṛṣṇa directly. That sound is Hare Kṛṣṇa. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāya. I've given that. He has translated very nice, Hayagrīva. Golokera prema-dhana.
This is descended from the spiritual platform, Goloka Vṛndāvana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, this Hare Kṛṣṇa. Rati nā janmilo kene tāya. "I have no attachment for these things." I have got attachment for radio sound, or television sound, so many sound, but I have no attachment for the supreme sound which is coming down from the Goloka Vṛndāvana. Golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene... saṁsāra-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. "In this material world, I am, my heart is always burning on account of so many miseries." Juṛāite nā koinu upāya. "But I could not find out the way how to get out of it. This sound vibration will get you out from the blazing fire of this material condition. This sound, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). Chant always, everything will be perfectly done." Yes.
And in the middle of Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma-parva, this Bhagavad-gītā is inserted. Not inserted. Practically, in the battlefield of Mahābhārata this Bhagavad-gītā was spoken. And it is... You will be surprised. In those days television was in the heart, television. This, I mean to say, Battlefield of Kurukṣetra was television in the heart of Sañjaya. Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the father of one party, Duryodhana, and his secretary, Sañjaya, were sitting in the room, and they were discussing what happened after this. Just like you get television or radio message in the football ground what is going on by sound and picture, so the same thing was being reflected in his heart and he was in the room. He was explaining the activities of the battlefield. This is the story, like that. Sañjaya uvāca. Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca.
Now, the old king and his secretary were sitting in a room, and the first question was, "Well, Sañjaya, what happened again, this, this and that?" And he was speaking like that. That was a television.
So anyway, now this Bhagavad-gītā was written, was spoken to a family man, Arjuna, military man, and the whole Mahābhārata is meant for strī-śūdra-dvijabandhu, less qualified men. Just see. In those days less qualified men were meant for understanding Bhagavad-gītā in half an hour. Just imagine what class of less intelligent persons were at that time. The same Bhagavad-gītā, now scholars like Dr. Radhakrishnan, and others, so many big big scholars, they are scrutinizingly studying; still they cannot understand.
The play is going on in the auditorium, but you can hear from the room. Just like we have got now mechanical arrangement, similarly, at that time, maybe the same arrangement, but there was no machine. Still, the secretary of Dhṛtarāṣṭra could see what was going on in the battlefield, and he was just narrating to Mahārāja Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who was blind. In other sense it may be said that there was television, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, being blind, he could not see, and Sañjaya, his secretary, was explaining what was seen in the television. But this is the position. Anyway, so the conclusion made by Sañjaya was this, yatra yogeśvaraḥ hariḥ. Hari means the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The side in which the Yogeśvara, Kṛṣṇa... My point is that Kṛṣṇa's name is Yogeśvara. Nobody can be better yogi than... Or the master of yoga. There are different systems of yoga, and Kṛṣṇa is the master of yoga. And Lord Śiva is called Yogīśvara.
It is just like television nowadays. You can see things happening thousands of miles away in television, and you can explain to your friends. This is like that. It is a question of seeing power. So now we have got the instrument, television machine. It is not difficult to understand. In the football ground the matches is going on, and it is being relayed in your room. It is alike that.
Yes, still. "Why?" Māyayāpahṛta-jñānaḥ: (BG 7.15) by the illusory energy of the Lord, all their knowledge has been taken away. Why? Because the knowledge is meant for to understand what is, "What I am? What is this nature? What is God? Why I am suffering? Is there any remedy?" These are knowledge. And the knowledge to manufacture a motorcar, to manufacture a radio, a television, and something for sense enjoyment, this is not knowledge. This is the plundered knowledge. The knowledge was given to understand the problems of life, but it is being misused in manufacturing something which will satisfy my senses. That's all. That is not knowledge. They are thinking that this is knowledge. What is their knowledge? Do you think when there was no motorcar people could not go from one place to another? All right, some facility. That's all. But that is also becoming a problem. When everyone will have a motorcar, there will be no place to drive motorcar. You see?
This is rāja-vidyā. He must know how to work. We are manufacturing so many ways of happy life, this ism, that ism, that plan, that plan. So many plans. We are seeing suggestion, so many suggestions, in the television. "This is the problem. This is the suggestion. This is problem." Full of new, new problem, new, new suggestion. But because we are lacking this rāja-vidyā, the king of knowledge, we are perplexed. But if you know that Kṛṣṇa is the root cause of everything and if we serve Kṛṣṇa, then every problem will be solved immediately. This is called rāja-vidyā. Rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyam. And pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyam. Just like I have given the example that the different parts of the body, they are suffering from different diseases. But if you make good treatment, if you take the proper medicine and put it in the stomach, then immediately you will understand, "Yes, I am getting relief."
And what about, hearing? Hearing, we are... Every, every day and night we are hearing something. There is television. There is radio. There is newspaper. There is so many things, hearing. Not that hearing. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). Viṣṇu means the Supreme Lord. You should devote your time in hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-kīrtanam. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). If you simply do this, śravaṇam and kīrtanam, then you shall become free from this material attachment, and you shall be elevated to the supreme place, the kingdom of God. Mukta-saṅga... This is the remedy suggested in this age. You cannot practice anything. You cannot practice sacrifice.
Therefore Bhāgavata instructs you that you just try to offer your respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Truth. That is your perfection of life. Satyaṁ damaḥ. Anartha-viṣaya-śrotrāder niyamānam.(?) Damaḥ. Damaḥ means to control the senses. Anartha. Now you are sitting here. It is very kind of you. But you could go to a cinema house or hear from, I mean to, world noise by television or, say, something like... It is simply waste of time. So you have to control your senses in such a way that every moment should be utilized for your spiritual cultivation of life. You should not allow the senses to enjoy anything which is against the cultivation of spiritual life. That is called damaḥ, control.
They say, foolish persons say, "It is nature." But you explain what is nature. Nature means God's nature, God's energy. That is nature. God's energy is so fine and so subtle that we cannot see it, how it is working, but it is working. The energy of God is working there.
Just like nowadays the electronic age, when you have got a television machine within our room, simply push a button, push on a button, and immediately the photo is there, the sound is there. But do not think that it is being done automatically. No. There is a good brain. There is a good brain who has discovered this machine. You do not know. You are simply pushing on this button, you are seeing.
There is a good brain who has discovered this machine. You do not know. You are simply pushing on this button, you are seeing. But don't think it has come automatically by nature. That is not possible. You do not know how it is working. That is your ignorance. But that is not working without direction. There is direction. There is a television house who are broadcasting their direction. They know how to work the machine and everything. The brain is working, but it is so advanced that in your room, as soon as you push on a button you see everything. But don't think it is becoming automatically done. No, that is not the fact.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
There is brain behind it. Just like nowadays there are so many mechanical inventions. You just push one button and things come, as we see in the airplane. There are simply... The pilot is working simply by pushing some buttons, and such a big, gigantic plane is floating in the sky. We can understand. The television, simply by pushing one button... So if materially it is so much advanced, perfection is possible, you can just imagine, spiritually how much it is perfectly possible.
Because Paramātmā is there, Kṛṣṇa is already there. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So simply... Just like the television set is there already. You can get so many news from outside, but you have to know how to tackle it. As soon as you push some button, electronic button, immediately the picture and the speaking immediately become manifest. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is already there within your heart. You are also there. If we simply connect or link with Kṛṣṇa, that is called yoga. Yoga means connecting the link. So there are different processes of yoga system.
Just see how much attachment we have got. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). This place has been described that it is a place for suffering. It is not the place for enjoying. But still, we are not inclined to leave it. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). You cannot make even compromise: "All right, it is a place of suffering, but we have got our radio and television. We shall live here." No. You may have your radio, television, and if you make compromise, nature will not allow you. After some years you kick out: "Please get out of this apartment." "No, I have got my television and this and..." "That's all right. You get out." Aśāśvatam. You cannot make even compromise, that "All right, it is miserable place. I will live here." But you will not be allowed to live here. But these foolish rascals, they do not understand. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).
Even some hundred years before, the memory was so sharp. Just like tape recorder, it is recorded. This is mechanical. But by nature we have got such nice brain. Just like we remember so many things of our past life. That is recorded. Actually it is recorded. Everything is recorded. How you are getting this television? Because it is recorded in the atmosphere. It is being simply transferred. Everything is recorded. But we have deteriorated in our even physical condition that we cannot produce the recorded version. So we are making ourself dull, duller, dullest. Just like Sir George Bernard Shaw, he also stated that "You are what you eat." So by eating process, we are making our brain dull. So there is need of nice eating, nice talking, nice thinking, nice behavior. The our brain is sharp. It requires training.
So woman class, strī, and śūdra. Śūdra means laborer class. Strī, śūdra, and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu means born of a high family... The brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya and the vaiśyas, they are considered as in the higher status of social life, and the śūdras... It is everywhere. It is not that...
The other day in the television somebody was questioning me that "Why there is caste system in India?" So I answered, "The caste system is everywhere. Why in India?" And what is that caste system? The caste system is that there is a class of men who are intelligent, very intelligent, educationist, philosopher, scientist. They are called brāhmaṇas. That's all. The intelligent class of the society... Just like my head is the most important part of my body. Why? Because from the head all intelligence is coming. If you cut my hand, I will exist. If you cut my leg, I will exist. But if you cut my head, oh, there is no existence.
"Then whom shall I select, guru?" Now, śābde pare ca niṣṇātam. A guru means one who is fully conversant in Vedic knowledge. Śābde pare. Śabda-brahman. Veda is known as śabda-brahman. In the material world all these books are material sound vibration, but Vedic knowledge is transcendental sound vibration. Hare Kṛṣṇa is transcendental sound vibration. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana is not a cinema song. No. It is golokera prema-dhana. This sound is coming... Just like we catch sound in the radios and television, similarly, you can catch sound also which is transmitted from Goloka Vṛndāvana. But you must have the particular machine to catch it. Then you can get message from Goloka Vṛndāvana.
So they are getting... In Zurich, we saw that every bank is by television giving the quotation, of price quotation. That city is very speculative. They are speculating on the price of gold and they purchase and sell, so they must know the price of the gold, every moment, how the market is changing. Their brain is always in that way.
So everyone is inquisitive, every one of us, even the animals, birds, beasts, everyone, inquisitive. But when one becomes inquisitive to understand God, then his human life is fulfilled. Then he is actually in human life. Otherwise, to simply inquisitive what is the price of gold, that means selling and purchasing, make some profit, and when there is profit, then there is sense gratification.
Already there is darkness, and if again that country does not get the facility of sunshine, it is considered that that country is condemned. It is shastric injunction. Any country which does not get the full facility of sunshine, it is to be considered condemned. I think I remarked this long ago, when I first came in the television. They asked me in London that "What is your conception of hell?" And "This is hell, London." Not conception. Practically... Always dark, moist, drizzly. No sunshine. Cloudy, misty. Simply big, big buildings. That's all. So there must be clear sunshine.
So why this material world (aside:) (indistinct)
Prabhupāda: Frank? So, "Today is really good morning." "Yes." Otherwise it is dark. And actually countries which have no sufficient sunshine, they are condemned. I told you frankly, your London is hell, in that television. Actually it is hell. We could understand from outside London, simply dark, moist, everything damp. The trees, they have got, what is called?
Devotee: Moss.
Prabhupāda: Moss. Yes. That moss for want of sufficient sunshine.
Devotee: People get little relief from their misery and they say, "Oh, I am happy now."
Prabhupāda: Yes. From the miseries, Mr. John is happy by becoming naked and having fireplace. He is bringing the wood personally, putting there. And Yoko is very happy.
The whole world is... This is called darkness. We can... We experience every moment. If there was no sun, then what is the value of this world? We have got good experience. In the Western countries where there is no sun, it is hell, simply hell, simply hell without sun. All the condemned countries are devoid of sunlight. This morning we were speaking that London, it is without sunlight practically throughout the whole year. Long ago, in 1969, in the television, the television man asked me that "Where is hell?" and "It is here in London." (laughter) That was published in the paper. There is such a... And always dark and always moist and always so cold. So this is hell. Why you have to search out hell? Here is hell. Simply you bring money from outside, exploiting others, and construct big, big building. It is little attractive. People come here as tourist.
That is our nature. So people are engaged in service generally. "Generally" not. That is the law. If one hasn't got to serve anybody, no family, no children, no wife, then he keeps a dog, to serve him. Is it not a fact? I have seen in the Western countries, old man who has no family, his whole day he is keeping a dog and seeing the television. That's all. (laughter) Because nature is to serve. That you cannot... Therefore pravṛtti-mārga means that we are trying to become false master, sense gratification.
Actually, we are the servant of the senses. We are not master. When you become master of the senses, then this title is given, gosvāmī, svāmī. Svāmī means master. Master means master of your senses. Now we are being dictated by the senses, 'You do this," we do that.
The more you restrain your sex life, the more you become strong for spiritual life. Brahmacaryeṇa. Brahma..., brahmacarya means to restrain, control sex life. Therefore somebody asked me, "Swamiji, why you are stressing so much on married life?" I have given this answer to many gentleman in the television, that because we have got a demand for sex life. But if we are restricted with married life, then there is no, I mean to say, illicit sex life. At least we refrain from that.
So it is stated here. These are the rules. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). Brahmacarya means celibacy, and śamena, control the mind. Damena, control the senses. If you can control your mind, then you can control your senses. In the mind is the center of sense activities. If you can control the mind, then easily you can control the senses. And the easiest process of controlling the mind is to fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
If we are sons of God, who is full with all opulence, why should we suffer? Does a rich man's son suffer anytime? If he suffers, it is due to his ignorance. Similarly, we are suffering, but our ignorance is so strong that we are suffering, but at the same time we are thinking that we are happy. This is the influence of ignorance. Just like last night in the television, that gentleman was talking with me. He said that "We have got good brain and we are utilizing it. So that is better for our advancement of happiness. Why Hare Kṛṣṇa?" His idea was, he plainly told me, that "If Hare Kṛṣṇa is so powerful, then why India is so poverty-stricken and they are suffering?" So I replied that "Do you think that your problems are solved because you have got a dozens or a hundreds dozens of skyscrapers? That problem is here also. It is not that because America is materially advanced, 'Oh, they are free from all sufferings.' Why there are so many hospitals?
All the dirty things are within our heart. The bodily dirty things, if you wash once, it is all gone. But it is very difficult to remove the dirty things within the heart. That requires purification. So this process, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, begins from the purification of your heart.
Now, the television man was asking how it is possible. It is possible. One may not understand. Just like a child, he does not know how he is produced. I know. I asked my mother in my childhood, "My dear mother, how did I come out from your belly?" I still remember. So my mother showed me her navel: "You come out from this place." So anyway, a child cannot understand, but when he grows up, he understands everything. So how Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts, how this transcendental sound cleanses your heart, you may not understand in the beginning, but if you take to it and if you practice it, then you understand.
That is not the fact. But man will die if they have no real food, anna, food grains. If you think that "I eat meat. I don't require food grains," but the cows, the animal eat food grains. So without food grain, how we can live? Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, annād bhavanti bhūtāni (BG 3.14). You produce food grains. Why you are producing so much unnecessary things—television and tools, and stool also, so many thing. Why? They are not necessary. Live in the village, produce your own food, your own cloth, and drink milk sufficiently—all economic questions solved. Then you become suśīla, well behaved. And if you go on killing animals and drinking wine and gambling, when you will be suśīla? You are always bad character.
Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra. Kaitava means cheating, false, pretentious. So all kinds of cheating religion is kicked out. Cheating religions, they are teaching that "We can create God. As we can create television, similarly, we can create God." They are teaching, "This is dharma." Just see how degraded they have... And these things are going on as dharma. Brūta dharmasya nas tattvam. Tattvam. Tattvam means truth. "Don't talk nonsense. Don't waste time." Tattvam: "In truth, what is dharma?" Brūta dharmasya nas tattvaṁ yac ca adharmasya lakṣaṇam: "And how you distinguish from adharma, nonreligious thing?" Knowledge means you should know both things, not one side. You must know what is religious system and what is not religious system. Simply one side is not full knowledge.
We have got eyes; therefore eyes are engaged for seeing something beautiful, rūpa. Rasa. Rasa means taste. That is the business of the tongue. And to see beautiful thing, that is the business of the eyes. Rūpa, rasa, śabda. Śabda means sound. The ear, we have got ear. We want to hear nice songs, music, radio, television. So ear is there; the objects are there. Rūpa, rasa, śabda, gandha, smelling. There is good odor also, bad odor also. Rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, sparśā. In this way we are entangled, completely under the laws of material nature. I am the spirit soul. Saptadaśaḥ. I have given my power of attorney to the mind, and mind is creating different varieties of the śabda, sparśā, rūpa, rasa, gandha, śabda, sparśā. In this way, life after life, as it is explained in the previous verse,
- yathājñas tamasā
- upāste vyaktam eva hi
- na veda pūrvam aparaṁ
- naṣṭa-janma-smṛtis tathā
So naṣṭa-jan... I do not know. I do not know means I cannot remember what I did in my past life and what is going to happen in the next life, in ignorance, tamasā. Ajñas tamasā upāste. This is tamo-guṇa. The present life as it is, we try to enjoy—that's all—without caring for the next life, or without understanding what was my past life. But human being should be intelligent enough that "Why...?
And a very expert man means kuṭumba, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharaṇam. If anyone can maintain a family—family means one wife and one or two children—then he is to be considered very expert, successful because... Therefore you will find in these days—no wife, no children, no family. In Western countries they take dog as the best friend, and television. That's all. Because this is Kali-yuga, no family. But he must have some companion, but he doesn't want family, the botheration of family. Then dog is the best friend. What can be done? This is going on, and it will increase more and more, more and more.
Therefore, at the present moment it is a great necessity to have some ideal men. Yad yad ācarati śreyān. Therefore we are endeavoring to create some ideal men, Kṛṣṇa conscious men, their character, their behavior, their ideal aim of life. So those who have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously, they should be ideal men.
At the last end the old men... Because this material world is such nice place that nobody can adjust things. It is simply waste of time, who are trying to adjust things. The other day, in television or radio, the man asked me, "Swamijī, whether it is possible to adjust the misadjustments of this material world?" I told him flatly that it is not possible. You can simply refer the history that the same thing is... "History repeats itself." When there was Roman Empire, Mogul Empire, the same strife, the same political dissension, the same fight. Everything was there two thousand years before, as history gives us evidence, and the same thing is happening also. So there is no adjustment. The only adjustment is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
We can find in the history of old days that they knew everything. From the books we can understand they had advanced knowledge for material civilization. Because we find description of aeroplanes, description of television. But they were used very, I mean to say, only limited circle, not that extensively. Because the whole process of civilization was to divert your attention too much for material advancement, but whatever little span of life you have got, just utilize it for spiritual advancement and get out of this material entanglement. That is the basic principle of civilization. Therefore the social life, human society, was divided into eight divisions. They are called varṇa and āśrama. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, you will find, cātur-varṇyaṁ māyā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Four divisions of society, for spiritual advancement and for material advancement both.
That oneness is a little different. It is called śuddhādvaita, pure oneness. In spite of that being one Kṛṣṇa, He is manifested by His different varieties of energies. Just like the fire. Fire is one, electricity is one, but it is acting in different varieties. It is acting in your refrigerator. It is acting in your heater. It is acting in your machine. It is acting in your television. Act... Everywhere. But the what is that? That electricity. Similarly, if you understand electricity, as of Kṛṣṇa, then you understand your whole thing, one. But there are varieties. Just like in electricity there are so many varieties at work. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Last night in the television, one boy was asking me, "Swamijī, you are all after spiritualism. Why you are using this clay as tilaka and so many things you are using which is matter?" So I explained to him... Perhaps you have known. Actually, there is no matter, actually, in this sense, because everything is emanating from the Supreme Spirit. Everything is emanating... Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). What is the Absolute Truth? The Absolute Truth is that from which everything is emanating—the source, the fountainhead, the fountainhead of everything. So whatever we see... Now, of course, we are in condition, material condition.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So this material rasa or mellow, which we relish in our daily dealings... Suppose our dealings with wife, children, friends or others, enemy also. There is a rasa. When we kill our enemy, there is also some pleasure rasa. When we see something ghastly... In European and Western countries, they want to see some ghastly things in the television. So they enjoy rasa. There is some rasa, relishment. Otherwise, how they are all day, practically, they are sitting before the television and seeing?
So there are twelve kinds of rasas. Five kinds of rasa, we generally experience. The dealings between servants and master, dealings between friend and friend, dealings between mother and the child, dealings between lover and the beloved, dealings between the enemy and enemies. So many ways, there are, on the whole, twelve kinds of rasa. And the, all the rasas are there in Kṛṣṇa.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
If you remain silent, never ask "Why I am suffering?" then you are in the category of cats and dog. And when this inquiry begins, athāto brahma jijñāsā, then your human life begins. Otherwise you remain in the category of cats and dog. If you are satisfied with all miserable condition of life... In this country, the Western country, they present television, simply presenting problems. That's all. You have got experience. And they are making plans how to solve these problems. This is going on. Whole day and night, and twenty-four hours. But actually, we are in a place with problems only. And intelligent man must inquire how to solve these problems. But they are inquiring, some of them, but not in the right channel. That should be in the... Just like Arjuna had problems, whether to fight or not to fight. So he approached Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "Kṛṣṇa, I know that the problems, You can make solution."
Festival Lectures
Therefore you will never feel tired chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. You see practically. You go on chanting twenty-four hours; you will never feel tired. Therefore it is said, golokera prema-dhana. This chanting vibration is coming from the spiritual world. Just like you receive material sound vibration in the radios or television from distant place, there is another machine which can receive the vibration in the spiritual world. So that vibration is Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
- golokera prema-dhana, hari-nama-saṅkīrtana,
- rati nā janmilo kene tāy
"Oh, I am so unfortunate that I did not get any attachment for chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." Saṁsāra-dāvānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale. The saṁsāra, this material world, is very uncomfortable place. Everyone is always full of anxiety. However rich you may be, however powerful you may be, but the anxiety must be there.
So Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, and if you are devotee, then you can catch Him. This is the secret. Just like electricity is everywhere, electrons. One who can tackle the electrons, they can talk without any direct connection by electronic method, thousand thousand miles away. Just like radio message, television message. So similarly, Kṛṣṇa is also everywhere. Just like the waves of sound wave is going on. As soon as you produce, I produce one sound, immediately within a second the sound goes round the earth seven times. So if a material thing has got so much power, just think how much power God has got. So He is everywhere. Simply you have to catch Him. And He's also ready for being caught. Yes. If somebody wants to catch Him... Suppose you are a devotee. If you want to catch Him, He comes forward ten times than your desire. He's so kind.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Devotee(?): Your Divine Grace, this is Royal Kennedy from NBC television.
Royal Kennedy: How do you do?
Devotee (1): She would like to ask you some questions.
Royal Kennedy: I would like to know what the occasion is. Why are you visiting Chicago?
Prabhupāda: Just now I have seen one article in the Times, four five pages article, "Crime...," and what is that?
Initiation Lectures
Unfaithful, those who have no faith, that Lord and His name are absolute. Just like here in this material world, the name and the person is different. Suppose your name is Mr. John. So if I chant "John, John, John," so John may be a hundred miles away. There is no response. But the name, holy name of God, God is present everywhere. Just like the television. Television is being, I mean to say, released in some place. If you have got the machine, immediately the picture is in your room. If it is, materially, it can be so possible, how much possibility there is in spiritual Kṛṣṇa name? Immediately you chant Kṛṣṇa's name, that means Kṛṣṇa is immediately on your tongue. So what is that?
General Lectures
Now before me... I am Indian, you are all Americans. This Hare Kṛṣṇa, this vibration may be foreign to you, but there is no difficulty to chant. The words may be in Sanskrit, but it is not difficult to chant. And if you simply chant, you get the result because it is transcendental vibration. Just like when television or radio vibration is there, either in India, America, everywhere the vibration is equally beneficial. Similarly, this transcendental vibration is coming down from the transcendental world. It is not material sound. It is not hackneyed. If you chant, if you practice, you'll realize it. So our request is that without any charges, without any fee, without any bluff, we say that you please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
So we are worshiping Govindam, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person. So this sound, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, is reaching Him. He is hearing. You cannot say that He is not hearing. Can you say? No. Especially in this scientific age, when television, radio messages are broadcast thousands and thousands of miles away, and you can hear, now why can you...? Why Kṛṣṇa cannot hear your prayer, sincere prayer? How can you say it? Nobody can deny it. So, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). Just like thousands and thousands of miles away you can transfer the television picture or your radio sound, similarly, if you can prepare yourself, then you can see always Govinda. It is not difficult.
This is stated in Brahma-saṁhitā, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. Simply you have to prepare your eyes, your mind in that way. Here is a television box within your heart. This is the perfection of yoga. It is not you have to purchase one machine, or television set. It is there, and God is also there. You can see, you can hear, you can talk, provided you have got the machine. You repair it, that's all. The repairing process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Otherwise, everything is supplied, complete, complete set of machine you have got within you. And just like for repairing, an expert mechanic required, similarly, you require the help of someone expert.
The Kali-yuga concept is one that you can, in a sense, interpret ecologically. If you've been following the scientifical pronouncements of doom possibility coming over television, radio, and slick magazines, as well as from the underground press, you will notice that there's increasing attention to the fact that our own fecal material, the waste products of our robots, have now so polluted Lake Erie that it's a great lake of green goo slime, biologically dead; that our atmosphere, the planetary atmosphere, is increasingly polluted with carbon wastes; and that we are so sunk in our attachment to automobile exhaust fumes, to sulphur wastes from great steel factories producing metals that can be sent flying to explode on the other side of the planet with the collaboration of the science faculties in such universities as this, (applause) so that we find ourselves increasingly sunk into what is called a materialistic habit, like a junky stuck on his junk.
We have got many children like that, they are chanting. There is no need of higher education to understand. Simply give oral reception to this transcendental vibration. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, golokera prema-dhana hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. This hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana is not this material vibration like radios and television. It is imported from the Goloka Vṛndāvana. Therefore, if we are pure, if we chant this vibration, immediately we will be touching Kṛṣṇa. Immediately. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra without any offense... There are ten kinds of offenses. Apart from that offenses, if you simply chant, then Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), immediately your heart will be cleansed of all nasty, dirty things. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpanam. And you will get immediately freed from this.
So everything is clear. Dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā (BG 1.1), assembled, yuyutsavaḥ, for fighting. And who are they? It is the question of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the father of the Duryodhana, and he is asking his private secretary, Sañjaya. Sañjaya was relaying the fight in the battlefield, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra was blind. Just like television. So he was seeing the fight from the heart. It means there is still more finer science, that you don't require machine to see it by television, what is going outside. You can see within your heart. So this Sañjaya was seeing the battle, and he was relaying to Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
Just like we have got so many examples, electronics. There is one typewriter there, and there is one typewriter here. And one pushes the key there, and here it is "kut." So the one who does not know, rascal, he says, "It is chance." Not chance. There is electronic working. They have discovered something, how Kṛṣṇa's energies are working, this electronic. Just like television working. One man talking five thousand miles away, and the man is seeing. By electronic, it is immediately transferred. Now, the fool will see, "It is chance. It is chance." No. There is work, but you cannot see how the method and process of the work is going on. There is everything working. Not chance. There is no question of chance. Everything is there, but Kṛṣṇa's power, energy, is so subtle, so inconceivable by us, we cannot understand. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Kṛṣṇa says, "Don't take it as chance."
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: Just like I invent the television set...
Prabhupāda: Because you cannot invent anything which is not in the substance.
Śyāmasundara: Even if I invent, for instance I invent the atomic bomb...
Prabhupāda: There is no question of inventing. The atomic bomb, what is that, it is brahmāstra, it is already made. You are not inventing.
Śyāmasundara: Where does the idea come from?
Prabhupāda: From the origin.
| Page Title: | Television (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 25 of Jun, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=53, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 53 |