The verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
- idam hi puṁsas tapasaḥ śrutasya vā
- sviṣṭasya sūktasya ca buddhi-dattayoḥ
- avicyuto 'rthaḥ kavibhir nirūpito
- yad-uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam
- (SB 1.5.22)
That everyone is situated in some business, occupation. So it is the duty of the person, never mind in whatever occupation he is engaged, uttamaśloka-guṇānuvarṇanam, to glorify the Supreme Lord. It doesn't matter whether he is a medical man or he is an engineer or a lawyer, or whatever he may be, politician, his only business is by his occupational duties to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the basic principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We do not advise that you change your place. There is no need of changing place. Sthāne sthitāḥ. This is the Brahmā's version. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. You remain your . . . in your occupation, your position, but kindly hear. Therefore we have got so many śāstras, Vedic . . . therefore the Vedic literature is known as śruti. One has to hear. But that education is lacking. Nobody is hearing the Vedic literature. They are hearing so many other things, but not . . . therefore Bhāgavatam says, śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ. Śrotavyādīni. The business is to hear. But:
- śrotavyādīni rājendra
- nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ
- apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ
- gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām
- (SB 2.1.2)
Gṛheṣu. We are now compact in our home. You take universal home or your house home or this body home, we are within. So gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. Because we have taken that the home business is everything. Gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām. And who has taken like this? Apaśyatām ātma-tattvam: one who cannot see the "What is the value of my existence," ātma-tattvam. So for them, śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ, they have got many things to hear. Here, of course, in India, we have got newspaper, four pages, five pages, but in the foreign countries, especially in America, they'll present newspaper so big. Therefore there is paper scarcity. You see? Unnecessarily printing so much, huge quantity of newspaper. And people . . . sometimes they do not touch it. The newspaper man throws in everyone's bungalow, and it is lying for three days. So who is going to read? But they are making their business, because they get advertisement. In the . . . many news. So they have got to hear or understand so many news, but not this Bhāgavatam. They'll devote the whole day for reading this newspaper or some fiction or some novels, for this and that. Some political talks and . . . but they have no time to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā. Apaśyatām ātma . . . because they have no, no interest in self-realization. There is no interest. People have lost all interest. This is the position. Therefore this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is essential at the present moment.
Now, these European and Americans, they have enough heard about all these nonsense. Therefore they are anxious to hear about self-realization.
- śrotavyādīni rājendra
- nṛṇāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ
- apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ
- gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām
- (SB 2.1.2)
Pahale, aap to barrister hai pahale ye niyam tha ki jo apne ko brāhmaṇa paricay deta hai ksatriya paricay deta hai vaiśya paricaya deta wo agar apna kaam nahi karta hai (Before you were a barrister. Previously the rule was anyone who calls himself a brāhmaṇa, calls himself a ksatriya, calls himself a vaiśya—if he does not carry out his respective duties.) He was punishable. It was the duty of the government to see that, "You are posing yourself as brāhmaṇa. Whether you are doing the duty of a brāhmaṇa?" If he's not doing, then he was punished. Therefore nobody was unemployed. A brāhmaṇa is doing his duty, kṣatriya's doing his duty, vaiśya his duty. We get this information from Mahārāja Pṛthu's kingdom. He, he was very strict, that whether one is doing his duty. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). If the brāhmaṇa is doing his duty, the kṣatriya is doing his duty and vaiśya is doing his duty, then where is the unemployment? And it is the duty of the government to see that everyone is doing his duty.