So this Movement is reviving the original consciousness. And by missing this consciousness—"I am the spirit soul"—I am transmigrating from one body to another. Today I am a Frenchman, but tomorrow I may be something else. There are 8,400,000 species of life. I can... After quitting this body I can be transferred to any one of the species of life. That point we are missing. So this process is to get out of the designation. Just like I am spirit soul, but due to my this body, I am thinking I am Indian. So this designation has to be changed. Then we are purified.
We are engaged in some sort of service, every one of us, but that service is now being rendered within that designation. But when we are freed from the designation, when we are purified, then our service to Kṛṣṇa becomes bona fide, and that is the real standard of peace.
So this chanting process is purifying process to become freed from this designation. Just like all these boys, some of them coming from America, some of them from England, some of them from India, some of them from France or Germany, but they have forgotten that they are German or American or Indian or something else. They are always thinking, "I am Kṛṣṇa's." This is freedom from designation.
So the peace formula as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that when one understands that Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, Supreme Personality, is the supreme enjoyer, He is the supreme proprietor and He is the supreme friend, if we understand these three items, then there is peace immediately.
The original Sanskrit words in this connection are as follows:
- bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
- sarva-loka-maheśvaram
- suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
- jñātvā māṁśāntim ṛcchati
- (BG 5.29)
This śāntim means peace. Actual peace can be achieved when one understands these three things only—Kṛṣṇa the supreme enjoyer, Kṛṣṇa the supreme proprietor and Kṛṣṇa the supreme friend.
So we are teaching these three things to the world. That is our business. And the process is very simple. The process is simply chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. If we continue chanting, it has got some spiritual value; then we cleanse our heart from all dirty things. Except Kṛṣṇa consciousness, any other consciousness is dirty—that is material, contaminated consciousness.
So by chanting this mantra... Just like in India, still there are many snake charmers. They, by chanting mantra, they cure snake-bitten cases, although they're fatal. Of course they are now dwindling, but there are still. So if it is possible materially, then spiritually there is great possibility. And it is recommended in the śāstras, and actually it has happened.
By chanting this mantra, simple mantra, without any education, without any philosophical knowledge, simply if we chant, your heart will be cleansed of all dirty things and you'll understand that you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and you will understand that He is the supreme enjoyer, He is the supreme proprietor and He is the supreme friend. And as soon as you understand these three things, you are in peace.
This word man, man means mind. Man-tra—tra means deliverance. So mantra means which delivers from our mental platform. Every one of us are now hovering either on the bodily platform or on the mental platform, subtle. Mental platform is subtle, and bodily platform is gross. But beyond this mind there is intelligence, and beyond intelligence there is soul. So by this mantra we, I mean to say, cross over the mental platform, intellectual platform, and come directly to the spiritual platform. And as soon as we come to the spiritual platform and we understand our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, or God, then we are in peace.
(Prabhupāda explains to the translator: "Delivered from the mental platform.") I think this is the explanation. Now if there is question.
Translator: (translating questions from audience for Prabhupāda) You said that there's 8,400,000 species of living entities. He would like to have an explanation of it.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi (Padma Purāṇa). There are nine lakhs. Nine lakhs means..., ten millions, one lakh?
Śyāmasundara: Nine hundred thousand.
Prabhupāda: Nine hundred... Yes. Nine hundred thousand species in the water. Aquatic animals, yes. Nine hundred thousand aquatic animals, jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati—sthāvarā means the trees, plants which cannot move, they stand up; they are twenty hundred thousand. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Kṛmayo means insects. They are eleven hundred thousand species.
Then after insect life there is birds, pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam—there are ten hundred thousand species of life, birds. Birds. Then there are beasts, thirty hundred thousands of beasts. And there are four hundred thousand species of human beings, out of which the civilized form of human being are very few.
And this civilized form of life is especially meant for self-realization. This is a chance given by the nature to understand yourself. But if we don't understand—miss this point—again we go into the cycle of different species of life.
Just we can imagine if we get next life like a tree, we have to stand up for ten thousands of years. So we should be very careful not to miss this opportunity of getting civilized form of life, and try to understand what I am. All the śāstras, Vedas, they are meant for human being, not for the cats and dogs. If you don't take advantage of this great knowledge, then you are following the suicidal policy.
Yes?
Question: (translated) What do you mean by 400,000 forms of human beings?
Prabhupāda: Yes, there are so many species of human beings—in the jungles, uncivilized. Gradually they come to the civilized form. Not that every human being is complete in knowledge. There are so many species of human being, they are not in knowledge; they are in the darkness.