The demons do not know when or where to renounce, nor do they know when or where to accept or receive. When diagnosing a patient, one has to properly judge this accepting and rejecting principle. So, in order to cure the demoniac mentality in human society, which causes the Rāvaṇa syndrome of trying to steal Sītā-devī, it is essential that the demoniac nature be transformed. For any treatment, two important factors are that the patient be in clean surroundings and that his medicine and food be administered punctually. Similarly, to transform the demoniac mentality, people have to be clean, disciplined, and truthful. This end is not served by advocating the theory of yata mat, tata path—that "there are as many ways to salvation as there are opinions"—for in this way one confuses and deceives the populace. By bringing the clean and the unclean, the disciplined and undisciplined, the truthful and the untruthful onto the same level, one will find it impossible to cure or even treat any patient.
Yata mata tata patha
Expressions researched:
"yata mat tata pat"
|"yata mat tata path"
|"yata mat tata patha"
|"yata mat, tata path"
|"yata mata tata pat"
|"yata mata tata pata"
|"yata mata tata patha"
|"yata mata, tata patha"
|"yata mata, tata"
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 6
Unfortunately, because of Kali-yuga, foolish people do not surrender to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Even most people who claim to belong to the Vedic system of religion are actually opposed to the Vedic principles. Every day they manufacture a new type of dharma on the plea that whatever one manufactures is also a path of liberation. Atheistic men generally say, yata mata tata patha. According to this view, there are hundreds and thousands of different opinions in human society, and each opinion is a valid religious principle. This philosophy of rascals has killed the religious principles mentioned in the Vedas, and such philosophies will become increasingly influential as Kali-yuga progresses. In the last stage of Kali-yuga, Kalkideva, the fierce incarnation of Keśava, will descend to kill all the atheists and will save only the devotees of the Lord.
SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13
We cannot manufacture our own way of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for it is not that everything one manufactures or concocts will lead to understanding God. Such a proposition—yata mata, tata patha—is foolish. Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyāham ekayā grāhyaḥ: "Only by executing the activities of bhakti can one understand Me." (SB 11.14.21) This is called ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167), remaining engaged favorably in the service of the Lord.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta
CC Madhya-lila
According to the Buddhists' fifth principle, Lord Buddha is the only source for the attainment of knowledge. We cannot accept this, for Lord Buddha rejected the principles of Vedic knowledge. One must accept a principle of standard knowledge because one cannot attain the Absolute Truth simply by intellectual speculation. If everyone is an authority, or if everyone accepts his own intelligence as the ultimate criterion—as is presently fashionable—the scriptures will be interpreted in many different ways, and everyone will claim that his own philosophy is supreme. This has become a very great problem, and everyone is interpreting scripture in his own way and setting up his own basis of authority. Yata mata tata patha. Now everybody and anybody is trying to establish his own theory as the ultimate truth.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Renunciation Through Wisdom
Persons bereft of these qualities are not eligible to discuss spiritual topics. The false logicians mistake the above-mentioned qualities, which are meant to lead the conditioned soul to liberation, for mundane qualities acquired as a result of transformations of the mind, such as lust, anger, and hate. But factually, the above-mentioned qualities represent spiritual knowledge. Even if one accepts the false logicians' argument that the qualities Lord Kṛṣṇa enumerates in the Gītā as prerequisites for absolute knowledge are mental transformations, still we cannot agree that these transformations are equivalent to such qualities as lust, greed, anger, and illusion, which result from gross ignorance. One kind of mental transformation drags the soul down to depravity, whereas the other redeems the soul from doom. Both disease and medicine are products of material nature, yet one pushes a man toward the jaws of death, while the other saves him from destruction. So one must avoid becoming the laughing-stock of society by accepting the foolish theory of yata mata, tata path—"All ways lead to the Truth"—and on this basis professing that the medicine and the disease are one and the same.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So now Kṛṣṇa may say: "There are, that's all right. You are, for temporarily... You go on fighting. And when you will get the kingdom, you'll be happy. There is no need of making Me guru. Neither it is..." Just like ordinary men, they think that: "We are earning so much money. What is the use of making a guru? I can understand everything in my own way." And another rascal is: "Yes, yata mata tata patha. Whatever their opinion, that's all right. You can make your own opinion." That is going on. You can make your own opinion to understand God. So all foolish rascals, they're making their own opinion. No, that is not possible.
Religion means the laws of God. Religion does not mean "I have manufactured some religion, he has manufactured some religion, he has manufactured some religion, and another man has... Yes, all religions are right." Yata mata tata patha. No. That is nonsense. Religion is one. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is religion. Kick out all sorts of religious principles; simply surrender to God, or Kṛṣṇa. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). This is confirmed. That is first-class religion, which teaches how to surrender to God and how to become a lover of God. That is religion. Otherwise, they are simply cheating religion.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
By the sages in Naimiṣāraṇya, the question was put before Sūta Gosvāmī that "After Kṛṣṇa's departure from this world to His own abode, where the responsibility was given for religious propaganda?" So it was kṛṣṇa-sampraśno, question about Kṛṣṇa. And the question was that religious principle, where did it rest? Because religion means the law of God. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). As you cannot manufacture law at home The law is enunciated in the legislative assembly of the government. Not that you can manufacture law in your home or in your office or in a big conference by the public. No. Similarly, the word dharma, religion, is explained in the English dictionary, "a sect of faith." And people have interpreted in a different way, that "I can manufacture my own way of religion." It is going on very strong nowadays by some missionary sect, yata mat tata pat. As many ways there are, they are all perfect. That somebody said that to cut throat is my religion. That is also accepted. But that is not religion. Religion means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). What is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead or what is ordained by the supreme authority, that is dharma.
Dharma cannot be manufactured. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Just like law cannot be manufactured. If you manufacture some law at your home, that will not be accepted. Maybe some people, your friend, your relatives or your family members, may accept. But that cannot be accepted by all, law. But the law given by the government must be accepted by everyone. Similarly, dharma means the law given by God. That is dharma, not that I manufacture this dharma, you manufacture another dharma, you manufacture another... That may be partially good, but it is not dharma. Dharma is... Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). That is the definition. Just like law is made by the government. The government makes the law, "Keep your car to the right." That has to be accepted by everyone. You cannot say, "Why not left? In India we keep our car on the left side. Why not here?" No. Then it will be unlawful. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa says, "This is dharma." Not that yata mat tata pat, whatever you manufacture, that is dharma. No. That is rascaldom. This is dharma: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), only one. That is dharma.
So this mumukṣavo ghora-rūpān, we don't advise that you..., either you worship Kālī, or either you worship Śiva, either you worship... Oh, it is all the same. yata mata tata patha. We don't speak all this nonsense. We simply say, "Come to Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be saved."
I was suggesting, "The secular government does not mean that let people do whatever he likes." No. Yata mata tata patha. No, that is not... A government's duty is, if anyone is proclaiming himself a Hindu, the government must see that he is acting as a Hindu. If a person is claiming to be Mussulman, he must act as a Mussulman. That is secular government. Secular government may be impartial, but it is not the government's duty to let the people to be whimsical: "Whatever he likes, he can do." No. That is not civilization. So we were discussing on this point.
So these anarthas will increase as long as we are godless rascals and demons. Therefore here it is suggested, anartha upaśamaṁ sākṣād bhakti-yogam adhokṣaje. If you want to be a right gentleman, means according to your position... If you are a brāhmaṇa, you should act as a brāhmaṇa; if you are a kṣatriya, you should act as a kṣatriya; if you are a vaiśya, you act as a vaiśya; and if you are none of them, then you are a śūdra. In this way, if we live like a gentleman, then we can make progress further in spiritual advancement. If we live foolishly, whimsically, as we like, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ (BG 16.23), whatever we like, and others engaged, "Yes, whatever you do, it is right," yata mata tata patha, this is rascaldom. No, you must act according to the śāstra.
If you have got faith in these words of Kṛṣṇa, that "Yes, whatever Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam... (BG 18.66), accept it," then śraddhā begins. Otherwise there is no śraddhā. Ordinary śraddhā is..., they are going this temple or another Kālī's temple or Durgā's temple. They say that "Everyone is all right." Yata mata tata patha: "Whatever you like." That is not śraddhā; that is whims.
So these things are there, and it is the duty of the government to see how things are going on. But it is simply now dream. People are also not interested what is the aim of life, what is the mission of this human form of life; neither there is guidance. There are so many upadravas. That is Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga means that people will be more and more unhappy. Prāyeṇa alpāyuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ. The first thing is that the duration of life will decrease, alpa-āyuṣa. And manda, all bad men. Hardly we'll find any good men. Manda. Manda means bad and slow. Both the meanings can be manda. Manda-gati. They're not interested in progressive life. That is also manda. Manda matayaḥ. And they have got their own opinions. They do not follow the standard path, and it is confirmed by the so-called leaders, yata mata tata patha, you can manufacture your own way of life. These are the situation of upadrava.
So Kuntī says that "You have come to teach rascals like this and engage them in this business: śravaṇa, smaraṇa, arhaṇa." Śravaṇa. Because this is bhakti. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). But they are so rascals, as soon as they, the Vaiṣṇavas begin, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, the rascal swami will say, "No, any name, śravaṇa, will do. Any name. Why Viṣṇu? Oh, Kālī." You know. In Bengal there is a party, kālī-kīrtana. What is this nonsense, kālī-kīrtana? In the śāstra there is no such thing as kālī-kīrtana. Kīrtana means śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, Viṣṇu-kīrtana. But these rascals have discovered because they are very fertile brain and they can discover so many things. Yata mata tata patha: "I have discovered this." What is this? Kālī-kīrtana, durgā-kīrtana. So... But śāstra does not say. Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not say. Śāstra says, harer nāma: the holy name of Hari, Kṛṣṇa, not any other name. Not any other name.
So Kṛṣṇa comes to introduce the system by which one can get relief from this continuous, troublesome life. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says: yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir, glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). Just like you suffer when you create some disturbance in the law. Then you suffer. We haye got experience. If we violate the state laws, then you have to suffer. Similarly, religious, religion means God's laws. They do not know. "Religion means faith." Faith, you may have faith something. I may have faith something. I may believe you or you may not believe me. That is not religion. Religion "I do not believe in God." Just like this big mission, they say; "You can manufacture your own way." Yata mata tata patha. "Whatever you think right, that is right." This is their philosophy. But that is not science. I am a madman. Whatever I am thinking, that is all right? How it is? Two plus two equal to four, it is science. If I believe, no, two plus two equal to five, or two plus two equal to three? No.
So we should take this instruction of Arjuna that govinda abhihitāni me: "Govinda has narrated the mystery of Bhagavad-gītā unto me, and when I remember, not read, the instruction, immediately there is minimizing the..." Smarataś cittam, hṛt-tāpa upaśamāni. Upaśamāni means relief immediately. So read Bhagavad-gītā. Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gītā. We do not manufacture anything. Yata mata tata patha. This is rascaldom. This is rascaldom, that if you manufacture some way for relief, that is not possible. Because you are imperfect, how you can manufacture? Your senses are imperfect. You cannot manufacture. If you manufacture, then you will simply waste your time. Then real religious life means dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19), to abide by the orders of Bhagavān, the Supreme Person.
Similarly, we cannot create religion. We cannot create religion, "This is my religion." Then everyone will escape(?) in the name of religion. Because you have created so many rascaldom as religion, therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya: (BG 18.66) "You rascal, you give up all these religion. Real religion is surrender to Me." This is religion. Otherwise why Kṛṣṇa says, "Give up all religion"? Sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), He says in the beginning. Dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. "I come, I descend just to reestablish the principle of religion." Does it mean that He came to support Hindu religion, Muslim religion, Christian religion? No. He came to reestablish religion. People do not know what is that religion. They have created their own religion. And some rascal swami is supporting, yata mata tata patha. How you can create? Religion is personal? "You can create your own religion and be satisfied"? This is going on. In the name of religion, every rascal is creating his own religion and he is satisfied. He is satisfied, "I have got my own religion." But they do not know. These rascals, they do not know what is the meaning of religion. Religion means to abide by the laws of God, simple definition. Religion.
So he's playing childish, foolish things? He's giving some wrong information? Imagination? What business he has got to do that? But these Māyāvādī rascals will say that "the demigods are also māyā, Kṛṣṇa is also māyā, everything is māyā." Therefore we call them Māyāvādī, everything māyā. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti is māyā. They say it is good for raising oneself to the platform of impersonalism. Their process is that you, if you want to go higher platform, you take one staircase and get on it, and then throw it away. Because you don't require to come down again. That is their philosophy. So you take any means, the Ramakrishna Mission also says like that. Yata mata tata patha. "You can worship brahma-varcasa, you can worship Devī-māyā; you can worship Vasūn; you can worship Rudra; you can worship anyone; ultimately, you become one with the Supreme." Most misguiding. Here it is... But if you want this particular thing, then you worship this. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, it is confirmed, yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25).
Kṛṣṇa never says that "You are worshiping Goddess Kali, or Durga, or this, or that, that's all right." But these rascals said, "Oh, this is all right." And he has become guru. He does not know what is the path of salvation, how one can get out, can get rid of this problem of birth, death—and still they preach.
There are so many, you will find, rascal gurus, they are preaching like that, that "Whatever you do, it is all right." There is a big mission, they say also that yata mat tata patha. "Whatever you have manufactured, the way of salvation, that's all right." But Kṛṣṇa does not say, or the śāstra does not say. Śāstra says hariṁ vinā na mṛtiṁ taranti: unless you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, Hari, there is no question of salvation. There is no question of salvation. Therefore bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). One who is bewildered, he thinks that "Whatever I do, it is all right." That is mistake.
They got the chance of understanding Kṛṣṇa, but they do not know. And the so-called rascal leaders, they are also misleading them, that "There was no Battle of Kurukṣetra. There was no instruction like that. It is all mythology, and we can utilize it for our political purposes but it has no value. I can interpret in my own way; you can interpret in your own way. Actually, this instruction has no value." Yata mata tata patha. "You can interpret in your own way; I can interpret..." In this way things are going on. This is the position.
You cannot say that the government law is different from government. This is material example. And spiritual is still more perfect. Vedo nārāyaṇaḥ sākṣāt. In other words, that you cannot make any law. The government can make law. Similarly, you cannot manufacture any religion. Nārāyaṇa sākṣāt. Nārāyaṇa, God, He can make. You cannot make at your home, "I have manufactured a type of religion." No. That you cannot do. Nowadays this is going on. Yata mata tata patha: "You can manufacture your own religion." This is going on. "You are okay, I am okay." "I manufacture my religion. You manufacture your religion. Don't fight. Let us become brother." This is going on. So how you can be brother? The dog remains a dog. How they can become brother? It is not possible. Therefore so many religious systems, they are all rascaldom. One religion: that is the order of God. That is religion. If you want one religion, then you must know who is God and you must abide by the order of God. That is religion, very simple thing.
Now, the authority, Dharmarāja, says that dharma cannot be manufactured by anybody, even great sages or demigods. But nowadays everyone is manufacturing a dharma, and the so-called rascals, they are supporting that "As many opinions there are, all of them are good." Yata mata tata patha. That is the preaching of the Ramakrishna Mission, that "Anyone can manufacture his own. It is personal." Is it not? And I have seen in your country also this, the same opinion he gave, that "Everyone has got his personal religion." And there is the hippies also. They are against any organized religion. These things are going on.
Kaitava means cheating. "...a cheating type of religious system is completely kicked out in this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām (SB 1.1.2). It is for the best person. Unless one is the best person, he cannot take up this dharma, bhāgavata-dharma. This very word is there. For whom the bhāgavata-dharma is meant for? In the beginning, so that others may not be misled that "Dharma means whatever I accept, that is dharma."... They are preaching now in India, yata mat tata path. "Whatever you accept, that is dharma." No. Dharma means bhāgavata-dharma. Whatever Bhagavān says or God says, that is dharma.
And God is one. There cannot be different Gods. If God has got competitors, then He is not God. There cannot be Hindu God, Muslim God, Christian God, or other conception of God. God is one. God cannot be Hindu, Muslim, Christian. So... And His order is also one. That is the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, God says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Real dharma is to surrender unto God. And surrender and to follow His instruction and become a lover of God. Then it is dharma. It is perfectly clear.
So yogena, this word, is very important in this verse. There are... Yogena means "by the means of," upayena, "by the means of." So as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ: (BG 18.55) "Only by devotional service one can understand Me." So here the word yogena should not be understood otherwise. If one says that jñāna-yogena, karma-yogena, haṭha-yogena, dhyāna-yogena... There are many yoga system. One can understand. That is the usual proverb nowadays, that "Any means, you can understand the Absolute Truth." Yata mat tata patha. "You can have your own process or yoga and you can realize God." But that is not possible. Kṛṣṇa personally says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). In another place, bhaktyā ekayā: "Only through devotional service." And practically we see there are many jñānīs and dhyāna-yogīs, karmīs. They have no clear conception of the Absolute Truth. Vague idea. Even in many other religious system they have got some conception of God, not clear idea. But in bhakti-yoga you can understand directly the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So the first reply was given by Rāmānanda Rāya, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu inquired, "What is the goal of life?" and "What is the process to reach that goal of life?" Very nice question. So Rāmānanda Rāya replied:
- varṇāśramācāravatā
- puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān
- viṣṇur ārādhyate puṁsāṁ
- nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam
- (CC Madhya 8.58)
He immediately replied that a human being must, first of all, come to the standard of varṇāśrama-dharma. Four varṇas and four āśramas: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, and brahmacārī, gṛhastha... Unless they come systematically, life on these principles, they're animals. They're not human beings. They're... That was our Indian, Vedic civilization. Now they have manufactured their religion: yata mat tata path. You can manufacture your own way and you be satisfied. This is being... So many. You can see in Bombay, so many rascals are preaching. They, there is no standard thing. So it is very difficult for us to give us the right thing, but we are certain. Because we are not cheating people, so it may take some time, but people are gradually coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because this is right thing.
Without undergoing the process of śruti—means Vedas—smṛti, the Purāṇas, and other corollary literatures, Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata, Smṛti, Manu-smṛti, the laws given by Manu, Parāśara... So Hari-bhakti, devotional service to the Lord, must be approved by Vedas, Purāṇas. Pāñcarātriki-vidhi. Otherwise, any show of devotional service is simply disturbance. Anyone can manufacture. And it is being supported by some very big missionary activities: yata mata tata pata. You can manufacture your way of religious principles. But that is not Vedic way. Vedic way is evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2).
People who are very short-living and they are not very enthusiastic for self-realization. Manda. Even they, somebody becomes interested in self-realization, they accept some wrong path. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). They have got different mataḥ, opinion or path. And the so-called swamis, they also support that "Whatever opinion you have got about religious system, that is all right." Yata mata tata patha. But actually, the fact is different. The fact is that one should take simply to the devotional path, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). If you are actually serious to know God, or Kṛṣṇa, then you must take to this process of devotional service. Without this you cannot understand.
So ācārya's duty is to point out the śāstric injunction. They're already there in the Vedas. His duty is... Just like there are so many medicines. If you go to a drug shop, all of them are medicines, but the experienced physician, he gives you a medicine which is particularly suitable for you. You cannot say, "Sir, why you are selecting medicine? You can give any one bottle." That is nonsense. Not any one. The particular body, a particular bottle, and a particular medicine which is suitable for you, the experienced physician gives you. He's ācārya. So you cannot say that "Everything is medicine; whichever bottle I take, that's all right." No. That's not. This is going on. Yata mata tata patha. Why yata mata tata patha? The particular mata which is suitable for you at a particular time, that should be accepted, not any other mata.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, He has got manyfold expansion. The first expansion is prakāśa, svayaṁ-prakāśa, Balarāma. And Nityānanda is Balarāma. Vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-sūta hoilo sei, balarāma hoilo nitāi. We have to understand from the mahājana, Narottama das Ṭhākura. Sometimes some foolish people interpret Nityānanda as expansion of Rādhārāṇī, but that is not the fact. Nityānanda is Balarāma. We have to know from mahājana. We cannot manufacture our own idea. That is blasphemy, sahajiyā. Yata mat tata pat. These things are not accepted by mahājana. Mahājana means who follows the previous mahājana. This is the system. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu strictly followed this principle. Kṛṣṇa also recommended evaṁ paramparā-prāptam (BG 4.2). We have to receive knowledge through the disciplic succession. Mahājana-gataḥ. You cannot manufacture. This concoction has killed the spiritual life of India. "You can think any way; I can think in my way"—that is not at all scientific. You cannot think "Two plus two equal to three" or "five." Two plus two equal to four. You cannot think otherwise.
So nobody should try to write any Vedic literature. Vedic literature means the śruti, smṛti, Purāṇa. They are Vedic literature. Therefore Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has also confirmed,
- śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-
- pañcarātriki-vidhiṁ vinā
- aikāntikī harer bhaktiḥ
- utpātāyaiva kalpate
- (Brs. 1.2.101)
Utpātā, simply disturbance. Yata mat tata patha: "I can manufacture my own way." This rascaldom has been condemned by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. He says that harer bhaktiḥ... You will find many so-called bhaktas crying, falling down on the ground. But immediately after, he is smoking bidi. So why this is going on? Because they do not follow the injunction of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
. Kṛṣṇa came, appeared on this planet, for dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. He did not come to establish the conception of Hindu religion and Muslim religion or Christian religion or this religion. No. Real religion. Real religion. What is that real religion? To surrender unto the Supreme Lord. That is real religion. So just like our real citizens means..., citizenship means that we surrender to the government regulation, similarly, dharma means dharmāṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). You cannot manufacture dharma as you cannot manufacture law at home. That is not. Now they are manufacturing and it is being supported, yata mat tata pat. Whatever... (break)...manufacture, it is all right. It cannot be all right. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the Supreme. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). Everything is being conducted under His instruction. The sun is rising exactly at time. Yasyājñaya bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro. These are description in the Vedic literatures.
Philosophy Discussions
Śyāmasundara: This may be an eternally existing fact which has no cause or no creator. This is his idea.
Prabhupāda: There is no creator?
Śyāmasundara: No creator. He says, however, that if we prefer, we can say that there is a creator, if we like to. In other words, he bases everything on this idea that you can do what you like to do.
Prabhupāda: So that he can go on talking whatever he likes. (laughter) All nonsense. All he wants that license: you can go on talking all nonsense, I can go on talking all nonsense. You are right, I am right, everything is all right. Yata mata tata patha. Yata mata—as many opinions there are, so many (indistinct) are there also. So it does not apply in legal sense. Just like the same example that I give always, "Keep to the right." Then if somebody says, "My opinion is, 'Keep to the left,' " but as soon as he does it, he is arrested.
Prabhupāda: Anything nonsense idea, that is not God. God has created you. You cannot create God. And they are creating God. Just like Vivekananda mission, yata mata tata patha. As many opinion you have got, you can have your religious way. Yata mata, this is their mission, yata mata tata patha, "Whatever you are thinking, all right." Ramakrishna, he wanted to realize God from any way. And later on he wanted to realize God by the Mohammedans' way and he asked the proprietor of the temple to allow him to take meat, cow's flesh. So when he asked, the proprietor said, "Please go out. Get out." Now don't real..., I don't want the (indistinct). This philosophy also you can realize God in any way, yata mata. Now he wanted to realize in the Mohammedan's way, therefore he thought it wise that he must eat cow's flesh. These things are there.
Śyāmasundara: Yes. That to which one is supremely devoted, that means God.
Prabhupāda: Anyone may be supremely devoted to his wife or sometimes supremely devoted to his dog. The dog is God? Wife is God? So everyone has got one god, and I think that it is supported by Vivekananda, yata mata tata patha: "Whatever you think of God, that's all right." (Hindi with guest) Everyone can manufacture his own God. (laughter) Yes.
Śyāmasundara: Kierkegaard, he considers that truth, it's true (indistinct) subjectivity-personal, individual reflections...
Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense. That is another nonsense. Truth is true. Not that... I cannot fashion truth. This statement is nonsense. Truth is true. Fire is hot. That is true. If I imagine that fire is cold, is that philosophy? He does not prove. He does not know what is truth. One who does not know what is truth, therefore they imagine or manufacture truth. Just like Vivekananda, yata mata, Ramakrishna, yata mata tata patha, "You can manufacture your truth." That is going on. That is going on. The hippies, they are manufacturing their truth. So truth cannot be manufactured. Truth is truth. That is called absolute truth. Not relative truth, absolute truth. You can manufacture relative truth, but absolute truth is one: tattvaṁ phalaṁ yena (?), just like Bhāgavata says. Who is meditated upon? Who is worshiped? The Absolute Truth. So they have no knowledge of the absolute.
Conversations and Morning Walks
1973 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: That is Ramakrishna mission's morality: yata mata tata patha. Whatever you think, that is your way. Yata mata tata patha.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yata mata tata patha.
Prabhupāda: As many ways you think, that's all right.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: That is how they define morality.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That you make your own morality.
Brahmānanda: That's not standard, though.
Prabhupāda: No. These rascals do like that, so why don't you make your own law in the state?
Brahmānanda: Cannot.
Prabhupāda: Why do they not make their own law, that I have got my own law. I don't care for state law." Will they be accepted?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: They'll be caught.
Brahmānanda: Anyone who does that is either criminal or insane.
Prabhupāda: Yes, insane. All criminality is done when one is insane. That is the definition of the Vedas. Everyone is criminal when he's insane. Sane man never commits any criminality. Just like when a, when a man commits murder, unless he becomes insane, he cannot commit murder.
Prabhupāda: If we do not follow strictly our regulative principles, routine work, then the whole scheme will be failure. Then, instead of Christianity, it will be "churchianity." You know this word, "churchianity?" You know? Yes. Everywhere this churchianity is going on. And the real aim is how to enjoy sense, under different cover. That is going on all over the world. Therefore it has come to that Rajneesh. Ramakrishna Mission, Rajneesh mission. Vivekananda has given preached, Yata mata tata patha, Rajneesh also, a mata. They have got also followers. Everyone can manufacture his own way of religion. So sense enjoyment, there is free field. This material world means sense enjoyment. But spiritual life means no sense enjoyment, tapasya. Tapo divyam. Sense enjoyment is there even in the hogs. Then where is the difference between man and hog? The man means the more he has denied sense enjoyment, he is advanced. Otherwise the spirit of sense enjoyment there is in the hogs. That is the difference.
Prabhupāda: Rascal means that... You know the story, that Kālidāsa, a great poet, he was a great rascal. So... It is a long story. So he was sitting on the branch of a tree and cutting. So some gentleman: "Why you are cutting? You'll fall down." "No, no, I'll not fall down." But when he fell down, then he went to that gentleman, "How did you know, sir, that I shall fall down?" Then they concluded, "Here is a rascal number one." (laughter) "Here is a rascal number one." They do not know that they are going to hell. That is rascaldom. By their so-called scientific advancement, philosophy, education, they are going to hell. That they do not know. Therefore they are rascals. Therefore they are rascals. This is the definition of rascaldom: one who does not know where he is going. If somebody goes in this way straight, and you say "Don't go!" "No! Why shall I not go?" He's rascal. (laughter) He's rascal. And the another rascal, "Yes, yes, you can go, it is all right." Yata mata tata patha. "As many ways you manufacture, it is all right. You can go this way." He's another rascal. This is going on.
Prabhupāda: Vivekananda's philosophy is yata mata tata patha: "Whatever you have got, your opinion, that is all right." They organize Kālī-kīrtana in competition to...
Guest (1): Yes, in their mandira. In the mandira. In the mandira their kīrtana is Kālī-kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: But that is not recommended in the śāstra. Śāstra is: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23).
1974 Conversations and Morning Walks
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: When I hear in the United States there's a saying, a slogan, amongst the young people: "Do your own thing." And also in India now when I go there they say, "So many men, so many minds."
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is Vivekananda. Yata mata tata patha. That means everyone can become authority. This is their philosophy.
Satsvarūpa: And this they praised as good.
Prabhupāda: Ha?
Satsvarūpa: And others praise this as...
Puṣṭa-kṛṣṇa: Very tolerant, liberal.
Prabhupāda: Yes, but our philosophy, Kṛṣṇa says, "You rascal, give up everything. Just surrender unto Me." This is our philosophy. "You rascal, you give up everything and surrender unto Me." This is our philosophy.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Prabhupāda, sometimes during your lectures I hear you say yata mat tata mat?
Prabhupāda: Ah, yata mat tata path.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: What does that mean?
Prabhupāda: That is Vivekananda's philosophy. "Whatever opinion you have got, that is also nice." That means even if we differ, your opinion, my opinion, your is good and my is good. That means no controversy, that's all: making compromise. If I say, "Your, your whatever you think..." This is going on. When Gandhi was approached that "You have got so much influence on the Mohammedans. Why don't you stop this cow slaughter?" Gandhi said, "No, it is their religion. I cannot stop." That is yata mat, that "Cow slaughter is also good, and cow not slaughter is also good." (chuckles) This is their philosophy.
Prabhupāda: ...Karl Marx, why not others?
Dr. Patel: Karl Marx is the grandfather of all of this.
Prabhupāda: Anyone who is concocting, he is an āsura. Hm? Na vidur āsura ajana (sic). Pravitti ca nivṛtti ca na vidur āsura ajana (sic).
Dr. Patel: (Sanskrit) That is what they want. If they are competing with each other from tomorrow...
Prabhupāda: (aside:) Hare Kṛṣṇa, Jaya! (break) No. Why Karl Marx? Your Vivekananda says yata mat tata patha: whatever you manufacture, that is all right.
Dr. Patel: That is because you are struck by the utter poverty of the people...
Prabhupāda: No, no...
Dr. Patel: It was temporary, you see. Because here Karl Marx wanted it permanent, and...
Prabhupāda: He himself is suffering from poverty—of knowledge.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Because you will ask them not to eat meat, and that they cannot do. What are these? Crows?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: At our Māyāpura Candrodaya Mandira, though, lakhs of people are coming.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, it is by the common people, ordinary people.
Prabhupāda: Because they are godless, they are uncommon. Educated Bengalis, they are spoiled.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes. My feeling was they do not want to stop eating meat.
Prabhupāda: That is the only...
Svarūpa Dāmodara: I think that is the main reason.
Prabhupāda: And Vivekananda says whatever you like, you can eat.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Yes, yata mata tata patha. They claim like this also. They follow like that.
Prabhupāda: Spoiled. Bengalis are spoiled.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: Our request is they should join and they should help us in spreading the mission.
Prabhupāda: Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ (BG 7.15). They are narādhamas.
Prabhupāda: No, he was a big worshiper of Kali. And he was meat-eater also, Ma Kali's prasāda, that unless one eats that prasādam he cannot become a devotee. So this was his position, that he worshiped Kali, and later on by worshiping Kali... His picture is there, mother Kali's embracing. And he also preached yata mata tata pat: "Whatever path you take, accept, that is all right." Is it not? So do you think it is all right? He worshiped Kali and he said yata mata tata pat. You agree to this? Now, Ramakrishna says yata mata tata pat. And Kṛṣṇa says... He became Ramakrishna, identifying himself with Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa said mam ekam, and now he's becoming Kṛṣṇa, he says yata mata tata pat. Just see. When he's actual Kṛṣṇa, he says mām ekam, and when he became imitation Kṛṣṇa, he says yata mata tata pat. Kṛṣṇa has changed his views. (laughter) Just see, this foolishness is going on.
Prabhupāda: These are miracles, that's all. It has no value. People are after miracles. So in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante 'nya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Those who are worshipers of other demigods, they are hṛta-jñānāḥ. Hṛta-jñānāḥ. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura gives his comment, hṛta-jñānāḥ naṣṭa buddhayaḥ, one who has lost his intelligence. So by worshiping the demigod Kali he is to be considered as hṛta-jñānāḥ, one who has lost his intelligence—and he becomes God. Is it possible? One who has lost his intelligence, he becomes God. With that lost intelligence. And this is the proof that on account of lost intelligence, he says yata mata tata pat. Kṛṣṇa says mām ekam. Sarva dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). And when he became Ramakrishna, same Kṛṣṇa is speaking, yata mata tata pat. So he has changed his view. We have to accept this? And how he gave up his wife, that's a long history, I don't wish to discuss. We know everything. So we cannot accept something which is beyond the instruction of śāstra.
Prabhupāda: I'm talking of this Ramakrishna particularly. There is no śāstra siddha. Whimsical, sentiment, that's all. So far his yata mata tata pat is concerned, at last he proposed, "Now I shall worship according to the Muhammadan process. So I have to eat cow's flesh." So he was living in that temple... What is that temple in Calcutta? Daksinesvari. So the temple was owned by one big zamindar. So because it is temple, he cannot take... Of course, in that temple Kali was there. So they are taking fish and flesh. That was not objectionable. But he, when he wanted to take cow's flesh, so he wanted permission from proprietor, "Sir, I shall now practice according to Muhammadan system. So I take cow's flesh. So I want your permission." So he said, "Sir, I've given you so much licenses, but if you ask this, then I'll ask you to go out. I cannot give you this permission." Then he stopped Muhammadan way of worship. This is whimsical.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Yes. So therefore you have to learn from the very beginning. In foreign countries, Indian students, they say, "Oh, Swamiji, what will be done by this Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa? We require technology." They say like that.
Guest (2): Indian students.
Prabhupāda: We have rejected. Otherwise why there was so much talk, yata mat tata pat? Why yata mat tata pat? The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is saying, mām ekam. And yata mat? What is this nonsense? Admit that you have forgotten Kṛṣṇa, or you do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise why bring this all question—"What is God? Yata mat tata pat. Why Kṛṣṇa was killed?" Kṛṣṇa can be killed?
Guest (2): He asked?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Who asked?
Guest (2): That gentleman yesterday was saying.
Prabhupāda: Yes. "Why Kṛṣṇa was killed?" Just see how rascal question this is.
Guest (2): He was not killed. Kṛṣṇa was not killed.
Prabhupāda: That is the fact, but he... Why he questioned this, "How Kṛṣṇa was killed?"
| Page Title: | Yata mata tata patha |
| Compiler: | Haya, Labangalatika, Visnu Murti |
| Created: | 15 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=2, CC=1, OB=2, Lec=31, Con=12, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 48 |