Self-interest (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"self-interest"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:

So Bhāgavata says, yasya yal lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam. There are symptoms. You'll find all these in Bhagavad-gītā, who is brāhmaṇa, who is kṣatriya, who is vaiśya, who is śūdra. By symptoms, by characteristics, you'll know. Similarly, if you find a man knows Kṛṣṇa, you must accept him: "He is a brāhmaṇa." He's a brāhmaṇa. Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇa. So the miser, the opposite word is liberal or brāhmaṇa. Miser knows his self-interest, "How much nice foodstuff I have got to eat daily." That's all. And liberal, "How much Kṛṣṇa prasāda I am distributing to the world." Liberal. A miser is thinking, "How much nice dishes I have eaten today. How much I have satisfied my tongue. Never mind I go to hell. Let me eat this, that, so many nice things. Let me satisfy my tongue." "Oh, for your tongue so many animals are being sacrificed, killed?" "Never mind. I want to satisfy my tongue." Miser. But Kṛṣṇa conscious person, he does not satisfy tongue. He wants to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, and whatever remnants, foodstuff, is there, he eats. That's all. He's liberal. These are the distinction between miser and liberal.