Now, there are many examples how we have to utilize the allotment of the Lord. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna, he decided in the beginning that he should not fight. That was his own contemplation. Arjuna said to the Lord that it was not possible for him to enjoy the kingdom after killing his own kinsmen. And that point of view was due to his conception of the body. Because he was thinking that the body was himself and the bodily relatives, his brothers, his nephews, his father-in-law or his grandfather, they were expansion of his body, and he was thinking in that way to satisfy his bodily demands. And the whole thing was spoken by the Lord just to change the view. And he agreed to work under the direction of the Lord. And he said, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73).
Agree (Lectures, BG)
Expressions researched:
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Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
The talk was going on between intimate friends, namely the Hṛṣīkeśa and the Guḍākeśa. As friends, both of them were on the same level, but one of them voluntarily became a student of the other. Kṛṣṇa was smiling because a friend had chosen to become a disciple. As Lord of all, He is always in the superior position as the master of everyone, and yet the Lord agrees to be a friend, a son, or a lover for a devotee who wants Him in such a role. But when He was accepted as the master, He at once assumed the role and talked with the disciple like the master—with gravity, as it is required. It appears that the talk between the master and the disciple was openly exchanged in the presence of both armies so that all were benefitted. So the talks of Bhagavad-gītā are not for any particular person, society, or community, but they are for all, and friends or enemies are equally entitled to hear them.
Although they are friends, one is still the master and the other is the servant. Forgetfulness of this relationship by the atomic soul is the cause of one's changing his position from one tree to another, or from one body to another. The jīva soul is struggling very hard on the tree of the material body, but as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master—as Arjuna agreed to do by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction—the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentations. Both the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.2) and Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (4.7) confirm this:
- samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno
- 'nīśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ
- juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam
- asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ
"Although the two birds are in the same tree, the eating bird is fully engrossed with anxiety and moroseness as the enjoyer of the fruits of the tree.
Lord Śiva was deep in meditation, but when Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal, and as a result Kārtikeya was born. When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a young devotee of the Lord, he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Māyā-devī, but Haridāsa easily passed the test because of his unalloyed devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa. As illustrated in the above-mentioned verse of Śrī Yāmunācārya, a sincere devotee of the Lord shuns all material sense enjoyment due to his higher taste for spiritual enjoyment in the association of the Lord. That is the secret of success.
Material sense pleasures are due to the contact of the material senses, which are all temporary because the body itself is temporary. A liberated soul is not interested in anything which is temporary. Knowing well the joys of transcendental pleasures, how can a liberated soul agree to enjoy false pleasure? In the Padma Purāṇa it is said:
- ramante yogino 'nante
- satyānande cid-ātmani
- iti rāma-padenāsau
- paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate
- (CC Madhya 9.29)
"The mystics derive unlimited transcendental pleasures from the Absolute Truth, and therefore the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is also known as Rāma."
Unless the mind is controlled, the practice of yoga (for show) is simply a waste of time. One who cannot control his mind lives always with the greatest enemy, and thus his life and its mission are spoiled. The constitutional position of the living entity is to carry out the order of the superior. As long as one's mind remains an unconquered enemy, one has to serve the dictations of lust, anger, avarice, illusion, etc. But when the mind is conquered, one voluntarily agrees to abide by the dictation of the Personality of Godhead, who is situated within the heart of everyone as Paramātmā. Real yoga practice entails meeting the Paramātmā within the heart and then following His dictation. For one who takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness directly, perfect surrender to the dictation of the Lord follows automatically.
BG Chapters 7 - 12
No other condition, such as becoming a brāhmaṇa, a learned scholar, a very rich man or a great philosopher, can induce Kṛṣṇa to accept some offering. Without the basic principle of bhakti, nothing can induce the Lord to agree to accept anything from anyone. Bhakti is never causal. The process is eternal. It is direct action in service to the absolute whole.
Here Lord Kṛṣṇa, having established that He is the only enjoyer, the primeval Lord and the real object of all sacrificial offerings, reveals what types of sacrifices He desires to be offered. If one wishes to engage in devotional service to the Supreme in order to be purified and to reach the goal of life—the transcendental loving service of God—then one should find out what the Lord desires of him.
Because most men cannot understand Kṛṣṇa in His actual situation, out of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators. Yet despite the Supreme Lord's uncommon activities, these speculators, due to contamination in the material energy, still think that the impersonal Brahman is the Supreme. Only the devotees who are fully surrendered unto the Supreme Lord can understand, by the grace of the Supreme Personality, that He is Kṛṣṇa. The devotees of the Lord do not bother about the impersonal Brahman conception of God; their faith and devotion bring them to surrender immediately unto the Supreme Lord, and out of the causeless mercy of Kṛṣṇa they can understand Kṛṣṇa. No one else can understand Him. So even great sages agree: What is ātmā, what is the Supreme? It is He whom we have to worship.
He can never be deviated by any amount of nonsensical commentaries or by fools. All Vedic literature agrees that Kṛṣṇa is the source of Brahmā, Śiva and all other demigods. In the Atharva Veda (Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.24) it is said, yo brahmāṇaṁ vidadhāti pūrvaṁ yo vai vedāṁś ca gāpayati sma kṛṣṇaḥ: "It was Kṛṣṇa who in the beginning instructed Brahmā in Vedic knowledge and who disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past." Then again the Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (1) says, atha puruṣo ha vai nārāyaṇo 'kāmayata prajāḥ sṛjeyeti: "Then the Supreme Personality Nārāyaṇa desired to create living entities." The Upaniṣad continues, nārāyaṇād brahmā jāyate, nārāyaṇād prajāpatiḥ prajāyate, nārāyaṇād indro jāyate, nārāyaṇād aṣṭau vasavo jāyante, nārāyaṇād ekādaśa rudrā jāyante, nārāyaṇād dvādaśādityāḥ: "From Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā is born, and from Nārāyaṇa the patriarchs are also born.
Thus the devotees enjoy them. In discussing Kṛṣṇa's opulences and His diverse energies, the pure devotees take transcendental pleasure. Therefore they want to hear and discuss them. Kṛṣṇa knows that living entities do not understand the extent of His opulences; He therefore agrees to state only the principal manifestations of His different energies. The word prādhānyataḥ ("principal") is very important because we can understand only a few of the principal details of the Supreme Lord, for His features are unlimited. It is not possible to understand them all. And vibhūti, as used in this verse, refers to the opulences by which He controls the whole manifestation. In the Amara-kośa dictionary it is stated that vibhūti indicates an exceptional opulence.
For those who are sleeping in the darkness of ignorance, it is not possible to understand how the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests Himself in various ways in the material and spiritual worlds. Thus this address by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna is significant. Because Arjuna is above such darkness, the Personality of Godhead agrees to describe His various opulences.
Kṛṣṇa first informs Arjuna that He is the soul of the entire cosmic manifestation by dint of His primary expansion. Before the material creation, the Supreme Lord, by His plenary expansion, accepts the puruṣa incarnations, and from Him everything begins. Therefore He is ātmā, the soul of the mahat-tattva, the universal elements. The total material energy is not the cause of the creation; actually Mahā-Viṣṇu enters into the mahat-tattva, the total material energy. He is the soul.
Arjuna is very enlightened and is glad that he has such a great friend as Kṛṣṇa, but now he is thinking that although he may accept Kṛṣṇa as the source of everything, others may not. So in order to establish Kṛṣṇa's divinity for all, he is requesting Kṛṣṇa in this chapter to show His universal form. Actually when one sees the universal form of Kṛṣṇa one becomes frightened, like Arjuna, but Kṛṣṇa is so kind that after showing it He converts Himself again into His original form. Arjuna agrees to what Kṛṣṇa has several times said: Kṛṣṇa is speaking to him just for his benefit. So Arjuna acknowledges that all this is happening to him by Kṛṣṇa's grace. He is now convinced that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes and is present in everyone's heart as the Supersoul.
BG Chapters 13 - 18
The best advice imparted to Arjuna is to surrender unto the Supersoul seated within his heart. By right discrimination, one should agree to act according to the order of the Supersoul. That will help one become situated constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the highest perfectional stage of human life. Arjuna is being directly ordered by the Personality of Godhead to fight. Surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in the best interest of the living entities. It is not for the interest of the Supreme. Before surrendering, one is free to deliberate on this subject as far as the intelligence goes; that is the best way to accept the instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such instruction comes also through the spiritual master, the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa.
He is so unintelligent that he does not think that if he were God, then how could he be in doubt? That he does not consider. So that is the last snare of illusion. Actually to become free from the illusory energy is to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and agree to act according to His order.
The word moha is very important in this verse. Moha refers to that which is opposed to knowledge. Actually real knowledge is the understanding that every living being is eternally a servitor of the Lord, but instead of thinking oneself in that position, the living entity thinks that he is not a servant, that he is the master of this material world, for he wants to lord it over the material nature. That is his illusion. This illusion can be overcome by the mercy of the Lord or by the mercy of a pure devotee. When that illusion is over, one agrees to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead can even give Himself to the devotee. One who does not know Him is under the spell of illusion; he does not become a devotee, but a servitor of māyā. Arjuna, however, after hearing Bhagavad-gītā from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, became free from all illusion. He could understand that Kṛṣṇa was not only his friend but the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And he understood Kṛṣṇa factually. So to study Bhagavad-gītā is to understand Kṛṣṇa factually. When a person is in full knowledge, he naturally surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. When Arjuna understood that it was Kṛṣṇa's plan to reduce the unnecessary increase of population, he agreed to fight according to Kṛṣṇa's desire. He again took up his weapons—his arrows and bow—to fight under the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Here woman is also thinking to enjoy, and the so-called man is also thinking to enjoy. Everyone. Nobody wants to serve. Everyone wants to be served. Puruṣa attitude. Everyone wants to be served. Nobody wants to serve. This is the material conception of life.
So when we agree to serve, not to be served, that is liberated person. When we agree to serve only, not to be served. Not to accept service from others, but to serve others—that is real liberation. But here the material disease is that everyone is making plan "How others will serve me." This is called māyā. This is called māyā. Māyā means that artificially we want to be served. That is not possible. When we agree to serve... As Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us the path of liberation, jīvera svarūpa hoy nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa, this is our position. We are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.
So when we engage ourself in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
So Kṛṣṇa could not say anything. The elder brother has decided. Therefore Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna to kidnap Subhadrā. Just see how much Kṛṣṇa was affectionate to Arjuna that Arjuna liked also to marry Subhadrā, and Subhadrā also liked, but the elder brother did not agree. So they made a plan that Arjuna kidnap Subhadrā.
This kidnapping was allowed among the kṣatriyas, and fight. That is kṣatriya marriage. Unless there is fight, that marriage is not complete. The red vermillion which we apply, that is kṣatriya principle. After killing the opposite party, the blood will be smeared over the hair of the bride. That is conquer, victory. So in every marriage, Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives, and each wife was married by fighting, beginning from Rukmiṇī. Rukmiṇī also, the first wife of Kṛṣṇa, the first queen, when Kṛṣṇa became king of Dvārakā, she was the first queen.
He keeps always that position. He never falls down. He never comes to the position of being enjoyed. That is not possible. If you want to bring Kṛṣṇa on the position of being enjoyed, then you are defeated. Being enjoyed means keeping Kṛṣṇa in front, I want to get some profit of sense gratification. That is our unnatural position. Kṛṣṇa will never agree. Kṛṣṇa will never agree. Kṛṣṇa cannot be enjoyed. He is always enjoyer. He is always the proprietor. So kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva means when we forget this position of Kṛṣṇa, that He is the Supreme Enjoyer, He is the supreme proprietor... This is called forgetfulness. As soon as I think that "I am enjoyer, I am proprietor," this is my fallen stage. Kṛṣṇa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare. Then jāpaṭiyā dhare, māyā, immediately māyā captures.
This is Vedic training. First of all brahmacārī. Brahmacārī means to lead the life of austerity. A brahmacārī is supposed to live to serve the spiritual master at his home, and he has to work just like a menial. He may be a king's son or a very great brāhmaṇa's son, but as soon as he agrees to live with the spiritual master, he has to live just like a menial servant. Whatever the spiritual master will order, he has to do it. This is brahmacārī. And they will gladly do, because they are children. Brahmacārī life begins from five years. So you ask any child do anything, he will do. They are learned. They are given education, "Go from door to door, house to house, and bring some alms." So brahmacārī means the neighborhood, their sons. So when the brahmacārī goes for begging, "Mother, give me something, alms," so immediately, some rice, some dāhl, some atta, is given, or some vegetables, sometimes some money.
Because He has given you little independence, He will not touch it. Otherwise what is the difference between a stone and a living entity? A living entity must have independence, although it is very little, minute. That Kṛṣṇa does not touch. He'll never touch. You'll have to agree, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, I shall surrender unto You. Yes. That is for my benefit." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You must voluntarily agree, not hackneyed, mechanical. "Spiritual master says like this right. All right let me do it." No. You have to understand very nicely. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). Prīti, with love. When you work, when you work for Kṛṣṇa with love and enthusiasm, that is your Kṛṣṇa conscious life. If you think that "It is hackneyed, it is troublesome, but what can I do? These people ask me to do it. I have to do it," that is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to do it voluntarily and with great pleasure. Then you know.
This is the criticism. So etān na hantum icchāmi. So "You may induce me, but I am not going to kill them." Etān na hantum. Hantum, "To kill, I am not willing." Then the question may be that "It is fight. If you do not kill, if you stand still, then they will kill you. Because it is fight. Then what you will do?" "Yes, I agree." Ghnato 'pi. "If they kill me, I agree. Still, I will not kill them." Ghnato 'pi. "Even they kill me, I will not fight, I will not kill them. But if they kill me, that is also agreed; still, I will not kill." Just see how much determination. This is called family attraction.
So he is preparing the ground for teaching Bhagavad-gītā. We are so much attached to our bodily conception of life, and expansion of bodily conception of life. He is thinking in terms of bodily conception of life. Śyālāḥ bandhuḥ pitaraḥ pitāmahāḥ. Because somebody happens to be.
They were very, very poor. Even no clothing. So after putting on the cloth, she went to the grocer's shop. Because Rāmānujācārya is there. She must receive. Grocer shop. The grocer knew that this woman is very woman, uh, very poor, so his business was to entice her. But she never agreed, although she was young. Now this woman went to the grocer's shop that: "You know that I am very poor. I require immediately some grains, ghee, and other things. My Guru Mahārāja has come at home. I must receive. So tonight I agree with your proposal. Please give me. Even at the sacrifice of my chastity I want this." So the grocer was very glad. "Oh, this woman, I have canvassed her, I have tried to induce her. She never agreed. And now she's agreeing." So: "All right, you take, whatever you like. Take." So she was given all kinds of food grains, as much as she wanted. And she cooked and gave to the spiritual master and his associates, his servants.
These Bhagavad-gītā talks took place between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna in the battlefield just on the verge of his beginning the battle. So how much time he could spare? Utmost, half an hour. Not more than that. So within half an hour, this Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna, and he could understand it, and then he agreed to fight. Yes, naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava. (BG 18.73) How much advanced he was in education and learning, just imagine. At the present moment they are reading Bhagavad-gītā years after years, big, big scholars, big, big theologians and... But they cannot understand. After reading Bhagavad-gītā, they are accusing Kṛṣṇa as immoral. One professor in Oxford University, he is a student or professor of Bhagavad-gītā, has written book. Now his conclusion is that Kṛṣṇa is immoral.
Because without becoming Vaiṣṇava, nobody has got right to worship Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu will not accept anything from anyone unless he is devotee. And Viṣṇu is poverty-stricken that He has come to take from you? He cannot eat? He has no eating means? No. He agrees to accept our offering just on the basis of love. The Vaiṣṇava loves Viṣṇu, and Viṣṇu agrees to accept any foodstuff. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). That bhakti is main thing, not your palatable dish. Viṣṇu is quite competent to prepare thousand times better palatable dishes than you can offer. But the real thing is bhakti.
So viṣṇur ārādhaṇam means viṣṇur ār..., that should be the aim of human life. Viṣṇur āradhana means one must become a Vaiṣṇava, and Vaiṣṇava means regulated life, not destroyed everything, finished, to become hogs.
So Kṛṣṇa is not immoral. Kṛṣṇa is not engaging Arjuna to commit such sinful activities, svajanaṁ hatvā. No. Kṛṣṇa is engaging him in His service. So one has to understand that. So when Arjuna will understand that "This war, this fighting is not for my sense gratification, it is for Kṛṣṇa's sense gratification..." Then he agreed, because he is a devotee. Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava: (BG 18.73) "Yes I shall now act." This is the proposition. So ātmendriya-tṛpti-vāñchā dhare tāra nāma kāma. Kāma means lust. What is lust? Lust means whenever you try to satisfy your senses, that is called lust. And the same, whenever you try to satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses, that is love. Practically the same business, but personal and Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we have to act everything for Kṛṣṇa under proper direction. We cannot manufacture that "I am doing for Kṛṣṇa." Then that is another misleading. Therefore we require the guidance of the spiritual master.
He'll speak from Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata, or what was spoken by Nārada, Vyāsa, that is his authority. He does not say, "In my opinion it is..." No. Therefore it is perfect, it is coming from the disciplic succession, and if one agrees to such instruction, then he's also perfectly advancing. It is not difficult to understand. So he's accepting. "Now I accept You as my spiritual master. You teach me." Is that the statement? Yes. What is that?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "He offers himself to Kṛṣṇa as a disciple. He wants to stop friendly talks. Kṛṣṇa is therefore the original spiritual master in the science of the Bhagavad-gītā, and Arjuna is the original disciple in understanding the Gītā. How Arjuna understands the Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Gītā itself, and yet foolish mundane scholars explain that one need not submit to Kṛṣṇa as a person but to the unborn within Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's within and without, and one who has no sense of this understanding is the greatest fool, the greatest pretender."
So I am not going with You." He separated. These statements are there in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (CC Madhya 1.97). So in one sense, Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not require to accept any sannyāsa guru, but He accepted the formality that if one takes sannyāsa, one has to take sannyāsa from another sannyāsī. That is the system. Just like if you want to get yourself married, you have to call for a priest. That does not mean that you have to agree with the priest's personal opinion. Do you follow? Yes. He may execute the rules and regulation of marriage ceremony, but that does not mean that one has to agree with the priest's opinion, personal opinion. This is the answer. But when you accept a spiritual master, that is not allowed. Unless you cent percent agree with the spiritual master's opinion or philosophy, there is no need of accepting a spiritual master. There is no need. Yes.
Woman (1): No, I quite agree that I'm spirit soul. I quite agree with that.
Prabhupāda: Then that's all right. So similarly, when there is duty, when..., because I have already explained that the kṣatriyas are meant for maintaining the social order. The brāhmaṇa is meant for giving good intelligence. The vaiśyas are meant for maintaining the economic condition. So as the government maintains the force, military police, their business is to chastise. This is required for maintenance of the whole thing. So you cannot avoid this war, fighting, when it is for good cause. We should not be so foolish that war can be, I mean to say, completely abolished. That is not possible. If you want to keep the social order, you must have to maintain the military strength, the police strength, and the court or the university. Everything is required. You cannot neglect one of them. Similarly... But if you are afraid of being killed—that is the medicine we are preaching—then you get out of this entanglement. You be situated in your spiritual body. There is no more question of killing. But so long you are in the material world, you have to abide by the rules and regulation of material nature. That you cannot avoid.
Then it will be very difficult to present an ordinary man as God. You see? You'll find that in the Bhagavad-gītā, when Arjuna was convinced that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead... But because in future others will have doubt about Kṛṣṇa, he requested Kṛṣṇa that "Will You show me Your universal form?" And Kṛṣṇa agreed and showed him the universal form. That means in future any intelligent man, accepting a so-called God, may also ask him, "Just show something, that you are God." Without showing something, simply by false advertisement, one cannot be God. So whole mistake is that we do not know what is God. We consider God may be just like one of us. No. The God who is controlling such a huge affairs of universal administration, He cannot be, He is superconscious. That is superconsciousness.
So here Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that... Because he has accepted the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, therefore Kṛṣṇa is chastising him in this way. He is chastising in this way, that Arjuna was talking with Kṛṣṇa as friends. So friends means equal status, but he gave up that status. He took the status of a disciple. A disciple means who voluntarily agrees to be disciplined by the spiritual master. When one becomes disciple, he cannot disobey the order of the spiritual master. Śiṣya. Śiṣya, this word, comes from the root śās-dhātu, means "I accept your ruling." So previously Arjuna has accepted, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: (BG 2.7) "I am now surrendered to You, and I agree voluntarily to accept Your ruling." This is the relationship between the spiritual master and the disciple. So we have got ten kinds of offenses in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So the first offense is guror avajñā, means to disobey the orders of guru, spiritual master.
He had attraction. He was, although a boy of twenty years old, He had many followers. He ordered, "Oh, Kazi has ordered to stop. Now I order that hundreds of thousands of people shall assemble this night, and we shall go to the Kazi's house." This is civil disobedience. So people agreed, and there were hundreds of thousands of mṛdaṅgas and hundreds of thousands of people, and they chanted and crossed the whole street, don't care for any police action. And the Kazi saw, "Oh, it is a mass movement." He was afraid. You see? When any movement is taken by the people, then the government becomes afraid. Just like the marijuana movement? Now there is no more legal action. Government cannot because all people are taking to marijuana. You see? What is that? Mariana, marijuana. Marijuana. So you make this marijuana, taken by all people, then police will be afraid. You see? They'll not dare to stop you.
So similarly, here also, Kṛṣṇa is giving the same argument, that "You are lamenting on your grandfather. He has got old body, but if he is killed in this battle, he'll have a new, fresh new body. So you should be joyful. Why are you lamenting?" So this argument was forwarded by Kṛṣṇa, that... Now, just like this child. This child can hope many things. He has got immense duration of life now beginning, and what hope I have got? I am now this old body, say five years or ten years more. So I cannot expect, hope anything more, than this child. So Kṛṣṇa is giving that "There is no question of lamentation for your grandfather. Your grandfather is going to have a new lease of life. Why should you be sorry?" So this argument He is forwarding, but nobody will agree to this argument.
Immediately, if he accepts the principle. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: (BG 18.66) "You give up all your engagements. Simply surrender to Me." If one agrees to this principle, he becomes immediately liberated. And He says also, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ: "I shall give you protection from all reaction of sinful activities. Don't bother. Don't worry." So He immediately squares up all account if you surrender to Him. And if you don't commit again sinful life, then your life is successful.
Viṣṇujana: "The jīva, the soul, is struggling very hard in the tree of the material body. But as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird..."
Prabhupāda: That's all.
Viṣṇujana: "...as the supreme spiritual master..."
Prabhupāda: Then here is the solution. He's simply taking unnecessary trouble. Kṛṣṇa says that "I'll supply you everything. There is no necessity of going from here to there." No. But I'm not accepting it. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). One who understands this, "how Kṛṣṇa is helping me, how He is my, the greatest well-wisher, friend," immediately we can stop all these problems of life and go back to Godhead, go back to home.
Viṣṇujana: "But as soon as he agrees to accept the other bird as the supreme spiritual master as Arjuna has agreed to do, by voluntary surrender unto Kṛṣṇa for instruction, the subordinate bird immediately becomes free from all lamentation."
Prabhupāda: (laughs) Yes. Then a pure devotee is not in māyā. Do you agree to that?
Vīrabhadra: Uh huh.
Prabhupāda: So are you going to be a pure devotee?
Vīrabhadra: Me?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Vīrabhadra: I'm not a pure devotee.
Prabhupāda: But you are going to be, trying to be.
Vīrabhadra: I try to be.
Prabhupāda: That's all right. That's all right. That's all right. Yes?
Devotee: In Bhagavad-gītā it says that we are one...that spirit soul, I, spirit soul, am one ten-thousandth the tip of a hair.
Even one goes up to that point, to merge into the Brahman existence after severe austerity and penances, still, they fall down. Patanty adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means again comes into this material world. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Why they fall down? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. They'll never agree God is person. They'll never agree. Their teeny brain cannot accommodate that God, the Supreme, can be a person. Because he has experience of the person of himself, or others. If God is a person like me and you, then how He can create universe, innumerable universes?
Therefore to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it requires enough pious activities. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).
Sambhāvitasya, one who is very reputed, famous man, if he does something wrong, then it was better to die before such infamy is grown. This is advised. Arjuna is famous as a great fighter. Not only that, he is personal friend of Kṛṣṇa, so much so that Kṛṣṇa has agreed to become his chariot driver. Just try to understand what is his position. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, who is worshiped by Lord Brahmā, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi **, He has agreed to drive the chariot of Arjuna on account of friendship. Now, we have to imagine how much famous he is. "Everyone will say, 'Oh, Kṛṣṇa is his so intimate friend that He has agreed to drive his chariot!' This is your reputation all over the world." So sambhāvitasya cākīrtiḥ. "And if you don't fight now, what people will say? Better you die."
Prabhupāda: So initiation means the beginning. The very word initiation means if you are engaged in some work, just in the beginning, that is called initiation. Initiation is not the end. Initiation means you agree to enter into the world of enlightenment. And if you make progress, then more you make progress, more you become enlightened. Initiation means the beginning. This is the dictionary word meaning, initiation. What is that meaning, Hayagrīva? Is that...?
Hayagrīva: Yes. Beginning.
Prabhupāda: Beginning. If you begin, agree to execute Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is called initiation.
Because they see that the sunshine is spreading all over the universe, therefore it is more important, greater than the sun planet. But actually it is not. The simple truth. And if you go into the sun planet you will find Vivasvān the sun-god is there. The sun planet is so dazzling due to his presence. Similarly, with all impersonal conception, when you reach Kṛṣṇa, then you reach to the goal. There are so many crude examples. Just like your country. There are so many departmental government businesses going on. This department, that department, all over the country. The whole thing is concentrate in the President. How can I deny it? The everything is going on on the finger's end of the President. This is a crude example. Similarly, ultimately, unless there is the Supreme Person on the background... That, Hayagrīva has brought one book, Evidence of God. So the many scientists they have written in that book, and they have agreed that if God is there, He must be person. He must be person. Is not that, Hayagrīva?
Yes. Very big, big scientists, astronomers, mathematicians, they have written in that book, Evidence of Existence of God. And they have all agreed that if there is God at all, He must be person. He cannot be imperson. And God says personally, "There is no greater truth than Me. Arjuna, there is no greater truth than Me." Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ (BG 10.8), "I am the source of all energy." So God says, Arjuna says, Vyāsa says, Nārada says; why should we hear a street man? (laughter) (Prabhupāda laughs) A man in the street, is he greater than Nārada? Is he greater than Vyāsa? He is greater than Kṛṣṇa? Then why should I hear him? You should ask him, "Please, keep your theory with you. We are greater authority than you." Yes. Yes?
And I have already informed you that one of the aristocratic family in India, Sir Padampat Singhania, he's a very big. He's as equal to your Rockefeller family. And I wrote him that "I want to start here one Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple and I want your help." He has immediately agreed, "Swamiji, I shall spend for a nice architectural, Indian pattern temple in New York if I get exchange sanction." You see? So my putting you, putting this statement is that even up till now, Indian aristocratic family, they are so much religiously inclined that immediately on my proposal he's agreed. He's agreed, "Yes. I shall construct a temple." So that aristocratic family has the facility. In every Indian aristocratic family you'll find they have got their particular temples and temple worship, and they go, they offer their respect, and do their business as it is. There is no harm.
Therefore supreme consciousness is, I mean to say, conscious of anything which is taking part in any part of the conscious, supreme, I mean, manifestation. And you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā that the supreme consciousness knows the past, present and future, but we, we are not, I mean to say, conversant in that way, that I know the present, past and future. That is my deficiency.
Now Arjuna declined to fight, and after hearing Bhagavad-gītā, after understanding Bhagavad-gītā, he agreed, "Yes, I shall fight. Yes." Kṛṣṇa inquired, "Now I have explained to you everything about knowledge, about yoga, about fruitive activities, about devotional service, everything. All-round Vedic wisdom, I have explained to you. Now it is up to you to do or not to do." Mark this. The Supreme Lord can give us instruction. We are individual persons, individual living entities, infinitesimal.
We are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). We do not die after the annihilation of this body. We simply change the body just like we change our dress. But we are eternal. But because we are under the spell of this material energy, we do not take seriously that "Why I shall agree to change my body life after life?" We have taken it as usual. This is our foolishness. We have got our eternal life, and in eternal life we have got immense measure of freedom, immense measure of power, almost equal to God. But we do not make any research in that part of our life. We are simply satisfied the..., to have a little more of the necessities of our, this present material life. Suppose I have got one, one hundred millions of dollars. I think, "If I get ten thousand millions of daughters, dollars, then I shall be happy." This is our foolishness. You cannot be happy with any millions of dollars, because you are not matter. You are spirit.
And the point is very clearly manifested in the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā, that Arjuna mentally speculated in the beginning that "Whether I should take up this fighting or not?" But at the ultimate issue he gave up his mental speculation and agreed with the Lord that "Yes, I shall fight."
Now, this "Yes, I shall fight", this "I", and the former "I"—"I shall not fight"—so there is vast difference. The former "I" is the representative of mental speculation, when Arjuna decided that "I shall not fight. They are my relatives, they are my brothers; I cannot fight with them for the matter of kingdom. Rather, I shall forego; I shall become a beggar. I shall... I don't want this kingdom." He argued like that. But after reading Bhagavad-gītā, he said that "My illusion is now removed." Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā:
Sense satisfaction... Arjuna's statement that "I shall not fight," that was his sense satisfaction. Because he was thinking in bodily relation, therefore that sort of thinking, that "I shall not fight," this mental state was his sense's satisfaction. But here, when he agreed to fight, that was not his sense satisfaction. That was the satisfaction of the Lord. Therefore we have to purify our senses, not to use it for my satisfaction, but to use it for the satisfaction of the Supreme. That's all. That is. That is our perfection. You are not devoid of the senses. Not that after being situated in spiritual consciousness your senses become null and void. No. Senses cannot be null and void because life means senses. Without senses there is no life. But the, this is the process of purification of the senses. That's all.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "Lord Śiva once was in deep meditation, but when the beautiful maiden Pārvatī agitated him for sense pleasure, he agreed to the proposal and as a result Kārttikeya was born."
Prabhupāda: Oh, here is Kārttikeya present. (laughter) Yes. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Go on. (laughter)
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: "When Haridāsa Ṭhākura was a young devotee of the Lord he was similarly allured by the incarnation of Māyādevī."
Prabhupāda: Now here is the difference. Lord Śiva, he is the greatest of the demigods. He was also allured by Pārvatī, and as a result of that attraction, this boy Kārttikeya was born. That was the, what is called, conspiracy of the demigods, that unless one son is born out of the semina of Lord Śiva, it is impossible to conquer the demons. So Kārttikeya is considered the commander in chief of the demigods. But here, another example. Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was young boy, about twenty, twenty-four years old, and he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the landlord in that village, he was very much envious of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He conspired and engaged one prostitute to defy him. So the prostitute agreed and at dead of night, with very beautiful dress and she was young, and tried to captivate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. But he was not captivated. That is the difference.
One of them is worthless, is doing nothing. And if the other son says, "My dear father, this son, your youngest son, or this son, is worthless. He is doing nothing. Let us kill him," will your father agree? Because he is worthless, will your father agree? No, he will say, "No, no, no. You have nothing to do. He is not harming you. He is eating my, my subsistence. I am paying for his subsistence. Why you should kill him?" So similarly, in this material nature, all these living entities in different forms, they have come for material enjoyment and everything is being supplied by the Supreme Lord. We have no right to kill them. We have no right. According to God's law, if one is conscious... The same thing: Just like the father will never agree to kill a worthless child by the competent boy... No.
So consciously or unconsciously, we are committing. Suppose I am not willingly killing any animal, but unconsciously I am killing so many living entities by my walking, by my so many things.
Now, that agreement of fighting and in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, not to fight, that is the difference. In the beginning he was not in agreement with Kṛṣṇa. He made so many arguments with Kṛṣṇa against fighting. And at the end, he agreed. "Yes," he said. He became a yes man. So we have to become a yes man to the Supreme Lord. That's all. That is the perfection of our spiritual life. Now we are all "no men." God says this, I say "no." Stubborn. I say, "no." Now simply we have to say "yes". That's all. In everything we say, "no" at the present. Present formation of our existence is to say "no." Anything godly, we say "no." We shudder even by the name of God. We have come to a certain stage of our civilized life, that we want to banish God altogether. Not only saying "no," but we now prepare to agree to the point that there is no existence of God.
So far the techniques are required, we are present. The books are there. The literature are there. The authorities are there. Simply we have to agree. "Yes." Yes man. Simply you have to agree, "Yes," henceforward we shall become karma-yogī. Then, from that very point, your life begins. Karma-yoga. The yes man. Mind that, that instead of saying no to Kṛṣṇa... Just like Arjuna said no in the beginning: "No, sir. I am not going to fight. You don't try to induce me, my dear Kṛṣṇa." He argued so many things with Kṛṣṇa. Then, at the last moment, he said, "Yes. I shall fight." So from "no man" to "yes man," that's all. So we have to agree. We are now "no men." We say everything about God, "no." Now we have to learn "yes."
They are wandering in the street. They are meant for helping you. They are not meant for controlling you. But when you agree to be controlled by the police, then it will control you. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Then you become under the police control, if you become criminal. And what is that criminality? The criminality is that kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā. Kṛṣṇa is the original enjoyer, God.
When I speak Kṛṣṇa, it means God. God has got many names according to different religious system. But the real name is Kristo (pronounced "Kreesto"). And you will be glad to understand that this Kristo, it is a Greek word, and it is a perverted pronunciation of Kṛṣṇa, this Greek word.
What is that karma-yoga? The karma-yoga, if somebody is describing the Bhagavad-gītā, yat karoṣi. "Whatever you are doing, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. You are working? All right. What you have earned?" "One thousand dollars." "Give Me." Are you prepared? Kṛṣṇa is asking, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. So if anyone is agreed, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, here is the money for You," then he's a karma-yogī. Otherwise he's a karmī. And the difference between karma-yogī and karmī means he has to suffer the result, good or bad, and karma-yogī has nothing to suffer because he's doing everything for Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna. In the beginning he considered that "If I kill my kinsmen and my grandfather I'll be sinful." Yes. But the same thing he acted under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wanted. So he's free. So karma-yogī means he is free from the reaction of activities. He is karma-yogī. Similarly jñāna-yogī. Somebody is addicted to work very hard.
"Yes, for Kṛṣṇa's sake I shall accept it," then I am stopped, there is inconvenience. But if somebody accepts voluntarily, "Yes, for Kṛṣṇa's sake I shall accept it," that is tapasya.
Just like Arjuna, he was very much painful to kill his kinsmen, but for Kṛṣṇa's sake he agreed. That is tapasya. It was not very happy for him to kill his grandfather and nephews, but for Kṛṣṇa he accepted. That is tapasya. So people cannot understand, "Oh, he was a fighter. How he was a tapasvī?" But that is... Anything which you do not like, but for Kṛṣṇa's sake if you accept, that is tapasya. Because your, the central point is, you love Kṛṣṇa; therefore you have sacrificed. The point is that for Kṛṣṇa's sake, you are voluntarily accepting this inconvenience. That is tapasya. And as soon as you become tapasvī, your whole existentional condition becomes purified. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvaṁ yasmād brahma-saukhyaṁ tv anantam (SB 5.5.1).
The ass is so fool that he can get grass anywhere. It is for a few pieces of grass only, he's loading on his back so much burden from the washerman. He thinks that "The washerman is giving me this morsel of grass." He's so foolish that he can see there are grasses so many here and there. Still, he has agreed to take the burden. Therefore, he's an ass. Similarly, the karmīs, you see in Bombay. There are so many karmīs. They are working so hard. What is that? He's also eating less. Four cāpāṭis, that's all. But he does not think that "Four cāpāṭis, why I am working so hard and wasting my time?"
The life is meant for understanding what is my relationship with God. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the vision of life: what is Brahman, what is God, what I am, what is my relationship with God. And so far eating, sleeping concerned, that is done by the cats and dogs.
Devotee: Yeah, I'll ask them. (laughs) Agreed!
Prabhupāda: If we take it, accept it as it is, as Kṛṣṇa says, then actually, we shall be benefited. And great stalwart scholars just like Rāmānujācārya, Śaṅkarācārya, Madhvācārya, in India, they have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority.
Even Śaṅkarācārya, who is, who has got a different opinion from the Personality of Godhead. Because we, we, the Vaiṣṇavas, we are, we accept the personal Godhead, but there are other philosophers who do not accept the personal feature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Śaṅkarācārya was the head of this impersonal school. Still, he has admitted in his commentation of Bhagavad-gītā that sa kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ bhagavān: "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. He's the Supreme Lord." So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and He's accepted.
Arjuna, he was under the impression of this material existence. Therefore he refused to render service to the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted that he should fight. He refused, "No, I am not going to fight." But when he understood his position by, by the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, he agreed, "Yes, I shall fight." So this is spiritual...
Now, so far the employment is concerned, so here, here the employer and employee, both are serving and both are thinking that "I am the master." That is māyā. Suppose I employ somebody. I give $25 per day. So the man who is employed, he thinks that "I am not your servant. I am servant of these $25." So there is no question of service. So similarly, the master also, he thinks, "I am giving you $25 because I am exacting some service from you." So here there is no question of... The service is there, but it is perverted, perverted, in a different way. That is not real service. Service is there.
And why money? "Because money will help me in satisfying my senses. Therefore I am serving my senses." Nobody is serving anyone. Everyone is serving his senses. This is the position. This is dharmasya glānir bhavati. As soon as we are engaged in serving our senses, that is dharmasya glāniḥ. And as soon as we agree to serve the senses of Kṛṣṇa, that is dharma.
That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. When Arjuna was talking with Kṛṣṇa, in the beginning he was trying to serve his senses. "My dear Kṛṣṇa, if I kill my relatives I'll be entangled in this way of sinful activities. I'll go to hell. If I kill my grandfather, the other side, Droṇācārya, the other side... No, no." In this way he concluded, "No, no. I shall not fight." This kind of service is to satisfy Arjuna's own senses. He thought, "By killing the other party, I'll not be satisfied. I'll be very much sorry." That means serving my own, senses.
So he is to be understood that he is already Brahman realized. It is not that you have to... This is the spiritual. Material, suppose if you have to accept the post of high-court judge, then you have to gradually qualify yourself. But spiritually, if you immediately engage yourself in the service of the Lord, then you become a high-court judge immediately. You are brahma-bhūtaḥ. That is the difference between matter and spirit. It is unconditional. Ahaituky apratihatā.
Simply we have to agree, "My Lord, from today, I dedicate my life for Your service," you are immediately brahma-bhūtaḥ. Immediately, from that moment. It is so nice. Not that you have to take some time how to become brahma-bhūtaḥ. So those who are actually engaged in the spiritual devotional service of the Lord, it is to be understood they are already on the platform of brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. Is it clear? Yes. (break) Question? Question? Yes? No.
Don't take it as a type of religion. It is a course of education which is understandable by the human society, not by the cats and dogs. If I call a dog, "Please come here, read this book," how he will understand spiritual nature? It is not possible for him. But if I call a human being and I ask him, and if he agrees to understand what is spiritual nature, it is possible. That is the difference between dog and a man. A dog cannot understand what is spiritual nature, but a man can understand. Therefore the conclusion is if in this human form of life we do not take advantage of understanding what is our spiritual nature, then we are no better than the dog. It is an opportunity given by the nature or by God to understand this human form of life. We should not miss this opportunity. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
This is the world. Even father will be enemy, what to speak of others. If you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the whole world will be your enemy. You must be prepared for that. So therefore you require tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily agree to suffer. That is called tapasya. Voluntarily. Suffering is there, but why not suffer for Kṛṣṇa? Everyone is unhappy. Everyone is in suffering condition. Who is not suffering? Everyone is suffering.
Tri-tāpa-yatana. Adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. Three kinds of sufferings are always going on. Why you are running fan? Because suffering. There is heat. So where is no suffering? This is called adhidaivika, the scorching heat, scorching, I mean, severe cold. There must be always. We are suffering now due to scorching heat, and when the... We are thinking, "If it is become cooler..." And when it is cool, then also we suffering.
And although I am accepting somebody as my leader, but actually I accept somebody as my leader who corroborates with my lust. Therefore lust created by me is my leader," so he said, kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ: "Oh, I have followed the leadership of my lust, and in doing so, I am ashamed to, I mean to say, accept it. I agree to accept it, that I have done so many nonsense by the dictation of my lust." Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ.
When a person is lustful, then he can do any nonsense thing. Lust is so strong. He can do any nonsense. Durnideśāḥ. Durnideśāḥ means the direction which I should not have followed, but being pressed by my lust, even I followed which I should not have followed. So he is just studying his own life, that "So far I have followed the leadership of my lust, but the result is that my lust is not satisfied." Teṣāṁ na trapā nopaśāntiḥ.
You have got so many responsibilities. You have this and that. Oh..." So there is no pension. Kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśāḥ.
Therefore, if we become saner, then instead of following this material leadership, we may agree to follow the leadership of Kṛṣṇa. Just try to follow the leadership of Kṛṣṇa and make an experiment how you are becoming happy. We have just started this association, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and trying to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you kindly come and take advantage of this opportunity, it will be beneficial for both of us because we have come here with a mission, and if you cooperate, you will be benefited.
The other day we have already discussed that Bhagavad-gītā can be understood by a person who is Kṛṣṇa conscious, nobody else. Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam (BG 4.3). So here is a chance.
Now, Kṛṣṇa says that ye yathā māṁ prapadyante. Now the proportionately, if you agree to follow the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, proportionately as you follow, so you become perfect. If you follow one percent, then you become one percent perfect. If you follow twenty-five percent, then you become twenty-five percent perfect. And if you follow cent-percent, then you become centpercent. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa does not interfere with your individual independence. Every living entity has got an independence, minute, because he is also spiritual atom. We are all spiritual atoms.
Prabhupāda: How? Do you agree with me? Do I agree with you?
Guest (2): Er... Not truly.
Prabhupāda: Yes. We do not agree. Therefore your consciousness, different; my consciousness, different. When we agree, then it is the same. When we come to the point of agreement, then it is the same.
Guest (2): It's the same, even we disagree because disagreement is a part of the same supreme soul.
Prabhupāda: Then you mean to say disagreement, agreement, the same thing?
Guest (2): Yes.
Prabhupāda: Then I cannot follow you.
Prabhupāda: Then I cannot follow you.
Guest (2): That's why I'm trying to understand. The supreme consciousness is all consciousness, even disagreement.
Prabhupāda: Supreme consciousness... Just like... You try to understand your consciousness. You are conscious? You agree? Are you conscious what is going on in me? (end)
You are merged in matter; still, you have got your individual existence. What is your body? This is matter. Is it not? Then are you not merged with matter? Then still you have got your individual existence. Don't you agree? Similarly, I may merge in the spiritual existence, but still, my individuality will be there. You are merged already in this matter. Just like when you leave this body, your body will be transformed into earth. That means it is already merged. Still, you have got separate existence. And what is that separate existence? Due to that spirit. So even in the matter, if the spirit can maintain separate existence, don't you think in spirit it cannot maintain its separate existence?
Now, suppose I am suffering from some disease and there are so many ailments, and if some doctor comes: "Oh, let me finish your ailments by killing you," oh, will you agree? You'll say, "No, no, better let me suffer from the disease. I don't want to be killed." Is it not? Will you agree? Suppose you have got too much suffering, miseries of life, and I suggest, "All right, let me cut your throat and kill you, and everything will be finished." "Oh, no, no, no, I'm not agreeable to that." That is the sane man's statement. "Oh, I am not going to be killed for ending my miseries." That is the nature. So the theory that "After making end of all these material miseries, there is nothing, void," oh, that is not attractive. That is not attractive at all.
So he was seeing sinful activity in that fight. So long there is deliberation of sinful and pious activities, that is called karma. Karma has got two results, either suffering or enjoying. Of course, in this material world there is no enjoyment. But with the hope of enjoyment, we agree to suffer. And that is called enjoyment.
Just like a businessman, he is working very hard, whole day and night, and he gets some profit, say, two lakhs; he thinks that he is very happy, he is enjoying. But actually, he is working very hard. But because he has no knowledge, he is thinking that "I am profiting. I am making profit. This is my happiness." But in the śāstras those who are working so hard simply for some sense gratification... Especially in Western countries we have seen, this is very factual.
And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was a sannyāsī. Rāmānanda Rāya belonged to the second class. He was not a brāhmaṇa. In Orissa, the Karana,(?) they are accepted as śūdras. So he belonged to that community, Karana(?) community. But he was so learned in spiritual education that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu agreed to talk with him about spiritual advancement of life.
So the first question was that, "What is the method of progress in human life?" Sādhya-sādhana. So Rāmānanda Rāya gave Him the information,
- varṇāśramācāravatā
- puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān
- viṣṇur ārādhyate panthā
- nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam
- (CC Madhya 8.58)
Because human life is meant for understanding position of Viṣṇu, and his position, what is the relationship with Viṣṇu, and how to achieve the highest success of life. Sambandha, abhidheya, prayojana. These things are there.
And there is need of spiritual master at the present moment. We require thousands of spiritual master to preach all over the world this science of Kṛṣṇa, the science of Kṛṣṇa. That will solve all problems of the world. Take it from me. We discussed amongst our confidential devotees here, and they agreed that actually this is the science which can mitigate all the problems of the world.
So yaj jñātvā punar moham evaṁ yāsyasi. So Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna... He's addressing Arjuna because Arjuna is hearing as representative of us. He was not speaking to Arjuna alone, but He was speaking to all the human race. So yaj jñātvā na punar moham: "By understanding this science then you cannot go, you cannot be illusioned." Because Arjuna was illusioned and he was not prepared to fight, so this instruction was given, this Bhagavad-gītā instruction was given to Arjuna.
The whole thing is: our material existence is here because we want to gratify senses. That is the whole disease. So this faith of spiritual advancement can be, I mean to say, enhanced when we agree; at the same time, saṁyata indriya. Just like if you are taking treatment of a physician, you have faith, "All right." But the physician says, "Don't do this," and if you do this, then what kind of faith you have got? Physician, when he treats some patient, he prescribes something, "don't do this" and "do this," some "do-nots," some "do." Now, if I say, "My dear physician, I have got all faith in you. Very good. But I cannot follow your instruction. You say, 'Do not.' I do it," oh, how you can? How you are faithful? How you are faithful? So śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ tat-paraḥ saṁyatendriyaḥ.
He thought that "By killing my kinsmen, my brothers on the other side, I will be unhappy." So my happiness and unhappiness pertaining to this body, that is a kind of sense gratification. So when he was taught Bhagavad-gītā he gave up that process of sense gratification. He agreed to fight to satisfy the sense of Kṛṣṇa. So he remained the same fighting man. He remained the same military man. But only difference was that in the beginning he wanted to satisfy his own senses and at the end of studying Bhagavad-gītā, when he became a liberated soul, he engaged the same energy for the sense gratification of Kṛṣṇa.
So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We haven't got to decry anything. Simply we have to change the consciousness. Everything we are now doing in the matter of sense gratification, we have to prepare ourself, we have to train ourself for the sense gratification of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Now we are practiced to satisfy our own senses since a very, very long time. In every life, either in this human form of life, in other, so many species of life everyone is engaged for sense gratification. Now we have to change the process. Instead to satisfying my senses, we have to agree to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately we make the Supreme Lord senseless. "God is impersonal; He has no sense. He has no hands. He has no mouth. He has no legs." Then what it is? So we are creating imaginary God in that way. But here is God present, Kṛṣṇa. He's with hands and legs and feet and speaking to Arjuna. So God is not senseless. If He is senseless, then there was no use of speaking this Bhagavad-gītā and taking it so very important book so that world is reading very carefully. He's not senseless. He is full sense. Otherwise His Bhagavad-gītā has no meaning. So He is full sense.
"You should fight." And he was declining. So this kind of declining is kāma, lust, his own sense gratification. As soon as he became to satisfy the senses of Kṛṣṇa, then he is freed from his own kāma, own lust. There is no more his own lust. His own lust was that he was desiring not to fight. But as soon as he agreed to the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, he gave up his own lust; he becomes free from kāma-krodha. So kāma-krodha, kāma-krodha, this anger and this lust, that can be... Actually we can be free from the anger and lust when we are actually in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kāma-krodha-vimuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yata-cetasām. Yatīnām. Therefore great sages, one who is able to give up this kāma, the lust and anger, they are called great sages. Kṣamā-rūpa-tapasvīnām. Tapasvī, one who is, who are sages, their duty is they always forgive any enemy. Just like you have got very nice example, Lord Jesus Christ.
That's all." So He was a boy, His sole was sole, not very long. So Bali Mahārāja said, "What You will do with a small piece of land?" But He said, "Yes, that will suffice Me. If you promise this three measurement of My three feet of land, that will suffice." Then Bali Mahārāja agreed, and by His two measurement of the palm, He covered the whole universe. Then He's asking, "Bali Mahārāja, now whatever you have got, you got, now it is finished by two feet, by two measurement of my palm. Now where I am going to keep My third, third one?" Then Bali Mahārāja understood that it is the favor of the Supreme Lord. He said, "My dear Lord, yes, I have now lost everything. I have no other property, but I have got my head. Please kindly keep on it." You see. So the Lord was very much pleased on him, and He offered, "Bali Mahārāja, then what do you want from Me?" "No, I never expected anything from You.
And the mantras are chanted in this way; the goat is advised that "You are sacrificing your life before the goddess Kālī. So you get immediately promotion to have a human form of life." Actually it happens. Because to come to the standard of human form of life one living entity has to pass through so many evolutionary process. But the goat who agrees or who is by force sacrificed before the goddess Kālī he gets immediate promotion to the human form of life. And the mantra says, that "You have got the right to kill this man who is sacrificing." Māṁsa. Māṁsa means that you will also eat his flesh, next birth. "Why eat this flesh? Then I'll have to repay with my flesh. Why shall I do this job?" You see. The whole idea is to restrain him.
Cañcala means restless. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi. Pramāthi means just like a madman, pramāthi, without any brain, pramāthi, and balavat, and very strong. Oh, my mind is dragging to somewhere else. I am trying: "No, mind, don't go there." Oh, no, mind says, "No. I must go. I must go." And sometimes we agree. "All right, let me go." So it is very strong. So Arjuna is saying, tasyāhaṁ nigraham. Now, you have... The whole process of your yoga system is, the sum and substance of yoga system is, to control the mind. The agitated mind should be controlled, and the mind has to be focused on the Supersoul. That is the whole purpose of yoga. Now, Arjuna says that tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye. The mind is so agitated that to cut down the mind is as impossible as you want to stop a hurricane. Suppose there is hurricane.
Indian guest (5): But do you agree or not?
Prabhupāda: What is that?
Indian guest (5): That chanting is not the stage you have to preserve all the time or practice all the time?
Śyāmasundara: That you become as more advanced in spiritual life, your chanting drops away.
Prabhupāda: No. no, chanting is eternal. After you become perfect, you will also chant more loudly.
Indian guest (5): I have one question. Swamiji, you accept Kṛṣṇa as the supreme glory...
Prabhupāda: I do not accept. The whole Vedas accept.
We say the regulative principle. When one is seriously becoming our intimate friend or member, then we say that "You have to follow the rules and regulations." That he will agree. If he has actually heard our words, then immediately he will agree. It is not very difficult thing.
So hearing is so important thing. Śravaṇam. Śravaṇam means hearing. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was talking with Rāmānanda Rāya, the process of self-realization. You will have it. For those who have got Teachings of Lord Caitanya, he'll read it. When Rāmānanda Rāya and Lord Caitanya (were) speaking, so Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Rāmānanda Rāya, "What is the best process for self-realization?" Because life is meant for self-realization.
In the beginning of the fight he was conscious of his relatives, of his family, means bodily. But when he understood Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṇa, he said, "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73). In the beginning he denied to fight, but when he understood Bhagavad-gītā, he agreed, "Yes, I shall fight." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava. "I am now full conscious." Naṣṭo mohaḥ: "This attachment, bodily attachment, is now finished. Kṛṣṇa, it is now finished." Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā. Because we forgot, I have already said that we are forgetful. This is our another nature. "Now my forgetfulness is gone," tvat-prasādāt, "by Your mercy. You have taught me Bhagavad-gītā, so by Your mercy my two things—that bodily attachment and misconception of life—is now gone. Now I know that I am Your servant. I am Your eternal servant, and it is my duty to carry out Your order. Therefore I agree." Kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73).
The whole human..., the whole universal living entities can be devoured by Kṛṣṇa. But, because you are not able to offer such gigantic food to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, "All right, give Me," patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam, "give Me a little flower, give Me a little fruit, give Me a little water, I shall accept it." This is called arcana-viddhi. Kṛṣṇa has agreed to accept your service as you can afford to do. It is not idol worship. It is actually worshiping Kṛṣṇa.
So therefore Kṛṣṇa said, mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha, that simply you have to increase your attachment for Kṛṣṇa. This is bhakti-yoga. We have got attachment for so many things. Our attachment is now disbursed in so many ways. You have to concentrate that attachment to Kṛṣṇa, then your business will be successful, bhakti-yoga, mayy āsakta-manāḥ, "Mine." Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravindayor.
Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process, that you stay in your position. There is no question of changing your position. But from that position you become Kṛṣṇa conscious. And the easiest process is: chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is not at all difficult provided we agree to accept it. Then we can gradually understand "What is God, what I am, what is my relationship with God," and so on, so on. Everything will be clear.
"Everything will be clear" means for the time being our heart is very dirty. We are always full of so many dirty consciousness. It has to be cleansed. This cleansing process is this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore says, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). This Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra means the first business is to cleanse the dirty heart. The dirty heart means rajas-tamas.
And after learning from Him the essence of Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), he agreed to fight. That is bhakti. Even by fighting, you can become a devotee. We have to carry out the order of Kṛṣṇa. That is bhakti.
So you must be qualified to know Kṛṣṇa, then you must be qualified, or automatically you become qualified how to receive His order. This is the way. So unless you understand from where the order is coming, how the order-giver is speaking, if you do not know the science, how you can talk with Kṛṣṇa and receive His order? That is also not very difficult. Kṛṣṇa says, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10).
Similarly, you can understand God is there. You have to accept the method. If you accept... That method is recommended here: yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. "You have to practice this yoga system under the shelter of Me." "Me" means... Just like the same example, a business firm signs "We." "We agree to this point." The manager signs, the proprietor signs, he says "We," means "We, the company, any one of us." Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa says mad-āśrayaḥ, "under My shelter," it means that taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa or anyone in the disciplic succession of Kṛṣṇa. The same example: anyone attached to that business transaction, he's as good as the proprietor or the manager.
So Kṛṣṇa says, jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam... The yoga system... Yoga system is a type of knowledge. Jñānam. Jñānam means knowledge. Jñānaṁ te 'haṁ sa-vijñānam idaṁ vakṣyāmy aśeṣataḥ (BG 7.2). "
"How it can be? It is already arranged. He is the eldest son." "No, you promised sometime that you will keep your promise and satisfy me. So this is my demand." "So what do you want?" "That Rāmacandra should be banished immediately and my son should be enthroned." He agreed. He called Rāmacandra, "This is the demand of Your stepmother. Kindly go to the forest for fourteen years, and Your stepbrother will be king." Rāmacandra agreed immediately. "Yes, that's all right, father." This is brahminical culture. Is there any single instance in the history that a king which is going to be enthroned next morning and by the order of his father immediately he goes away to the forest? Therefore there is no harm that we make materially very much advanced, but not like cats and dogs. Take brahminical culture. Then it will be perfect, the whole society.
"We don't want any other world. We don't want, don't believe in it, heaven" or "We don't believe in Vaikuṇṭha. We want to make ourself happy in this world." They say. But from authorities like Kṛṣṇa or Bhagavad-gītā, we understand that this place is meant for suffering. This is called duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15). Even if we agree to live in this miserable place... Because everyone, we want to live. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to die. Suppose we are sitting here, and if there is some death signal, oh, we shall at once flee away from this place, if there is fire, because we do not want to die. That is a fact.
So... But this place is certified by Kṛṣṇa as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "It is place of miseries; at the same time, it is temporary."
"Oh, you are My father." So that is the question. So if this process is for simply hearing, aural reception, sincerely, then by this process, whatever position I may be, in whatever position I may be, I can conquer the Supreme Lord. He agrees to be conquered.
This Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be spread. It is very easy. You drink water—Oh, you remember Kṛṣṇa. You hear something—Oh. Suppose there are... So many sounds are occurring in the street, but if you know that "This sound is Kṛṣṇa," then in every step you will feel Kṛṣṇa.
Then again He says,
- puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca
- tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau
- jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
- tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu
He is describing more elaborately. How is that? Now, puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca. Puṇyo gandhaḥ means flavor, the flavor. Any flavor, that is Kṛṣṇa, that is God.
So the demons and the fools and the lowest of the mankind and whose knowledge has been plundered by the illusory energy and who is impious, oh, they cannot go to God. It is impossible. They are not allowed. But they can be, provided they agree. God is always kind to accept anybody, but these people, they cannot have due to their... They will have to suffer these threefold miseries for many more days. Then when they come to the senses, then they can come.
So against these four classes of men, there are another four classes of men who take to the shelter of God, beginning, beginning. And what they are?
So another problem is coming. (chuckles) But intelligent persons should think of how this ultimate problem can be solved.
So what will be the answer? How ultimate problem can be solved? The problem is there, you agree everyone? Or you have disagreement, there is no problem. You think there is no problem? Eh? Problem there is, you think? So how to solve it? They have tried their utmost. It is not solved. Then what is the solution? That solution is there in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Seventh Chapter. Where is Bhagavad-gītā? Is there? No Bhagavad-gītā here?
Devotee (1): I have one in my case.
Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Give me my spectacle. Behind that, there is small book. Just up, here. (break) ...seven. Give me that. Hayagrīva, you can come here. Sit down here. Seventh Chapter, fourteenth verse.
Student: No, I agree. I agree. But...
Prabhupāda: Yes. So suffering's there. You have to take version from realized souls, from, I mean to say, authorities that this... Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam: (BG 8.15) "This place is full of miseries." So one has to realize it. Unless we understand that this place is miserable, there is no question how to get out of it.
Student: So we have to...
Prabhupāda: Similarly, a person who does not develop this miserable condition of this world, he is not fully developed. Just like the animals. Animals, they do not understand what is misery. They do not understand. They are satisfied... (end)
Voluntarily sometimes we agree. That means every one of us has individuality. This is called being, "I am."
Similarly, God is also being like us, but He is Supreme Being. That is the difference between God and me. I am also being, you are also being, but we are not Supreme Being. We are under some control. But God is not under control. He is the controller, but He is never controlled. (aside:) Make it louder. That is explained in the Vedic literature, the definition of God. The definition of God is given there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. The Supreme Being is Kṛṣṇa. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). And He is... Vigraha means He has form. He is person, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. But His person, His form, is different from our form, our present form. Our present form, as we have got the material tabernacle, that is temporary. Your form, my form, this is changing. We are not existing in the same form.
Guest (3): All right, I agree. I...
Prabhupāda: Then you agree. Then you accept that the soul is different from the body.
Guest (3): Yeah, I understand. So you call that Kṛṣṇa. But God is God. God's name is God, not Kṛṣṇa. You may call Him Kṛṣṇa if you want.
Prabhupāda: So who is God?
Guest (3): God is God.
Prabhupāda: Who is that? You do not know. You do not know.
Guest (3): God is God.
Prabhupāda: "God is God," you say. Man is man. But who is that man you do not know.
So Lord Caitanya says, "Out of these 400,000 species of life, some of them are civilized. And out of many civilized persons, they are actually devoted to the scriptures, not all." Some of them, they agree that "I belong to Christian religion," "I belong to Hindu religion," or "I belong to Muhammadan religion," but at the present age, mostly they simply claim that "I belong to this religion" but do not believe in the scripture, mostly. So those who are believing in the scriptures, they are mostly attracted by pious, philanthropic activities. They, some of them, those who actually believe that charity is very good thing, and... Religious means these three things: yajña-dāna-tapaḥ. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ. Yajña means sacrifice, dāna means charity, and tapaḥ means penance. Just like brahmacārī. It is tapasya.
Arjuna agreed, "Yes, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava." After hearing Kṛṣṇa perfectly, he said, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73), "My illusion is over." What is that illusion? Illusion means, whatever you do for Kṛṣṇa, that is not pāpa. Yat karoṣi, yat juhoṣi. But you must do according to the order of Kṛṣṇa, or according to the order of Kṛṣṇa's representative. You cannot manufacture your work. That you cannot do. Arjuna did not manufacture. Arjuna acted by the order of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, if we do by the order of Kṛṣṇa and His representative, there is no question of sinful activities. There is no question of sinful... So this is rāja-guhyam. We cannot understand sometimes rāja-guhyam; therefore it is very confidential.
Gurukṛpā: If somebody would like to ask some question to Śrīla Prabhupāda, raise your hand. No questions? Everybody agrees?
Guest (1) (young man): Would you like to give your views on psychiatry?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Would you like to give your views on psychiatry? Psychiatry. Psychiatrist.
Prabhupāda: What is that? (laughter)
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Well, when someone is having some kind of mental problem the psychiatrist analyzes it from the medical viewpoint, sometimes from the psychological viewpoint.
So if I do not do this business how shall I live?" So Nārada Muni said, "If I guarantee your living, would you give up this business, this profession?" "Why not? If I get my living means, then I can give up." So it was agreed that he will give up his business of hunting. And Nārada Muni said that "I will give you all the necessities of your life. Come on." So it is a long story. I am making short cut.
So Nārada Muni asked him that "You sit down on this bank of Ganges and here is the tulasī plant. You worship it, and I will send your food. Don't be worried." So next morning it was declared in the village, "That heinous hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava." So people, generally, they are inquisitive. They came to see. It is the custom when you go to see a saintly person, you take some fruits or flowers or some rice or some āṭā.
Our limit, there are limitation, we cannot accept anyone and everyone as disciple. Unless he agrees tacitly to give up some preliminary principles. Just like illicit sex life. Anyone who comes to me to become my disciple, the first condition is no illicit sex life, no intoxication, up to drinking or smoking or even drinking tea and coffee and chewing pan. These are also intoxicants. So one cannot take all these things. No intoxication. No illicit sex. Unless you have got connection with woman by marriage tie, there cannot be any sex life. These are the pillars of sinful life. Yatra pāpaś catur-vidhā. Striya-sūnā-pāna-dyūtaḥ yatra pāpaś catur-vidhā. If you actually want to make progress in spiritual life, you must accept at least these four principles. This is tapasya. Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa tyāgena, śauca, satya-śaucābhyām (SB 6.1.13). These are the tests, the prescription.
And one who knows that "I can never become the predominator, I shall always remain the predominated..." If I do not become predominated voluntarily by the Supreme Lord, if I do not surrender unto Him and voluntarily agree to be predominated by the Lord, then I shall be predominated by the elements of material nature, this kāma, krodha, lobha, lust, desire, anger, enviousness, so many things. They'll predominate me. The senses will predominate me. Actually, we are, at the present moment, we are servants of the senses. My senses dictate something. I am obliged to do it. I cannot avoid it.
A simple thing: as soon as my tongue dictates, "Please smoke," oh, immediately I have to take one cigarette. Immediately. If somebody does not smoke, then he asks permission.
"This boy is Viṣṇu, God Himself. He has come to cheat this Bali." So he asked his disciple, "Don't promise any charity to Him. Because He is God, He will take your everything. Once you agree to offer something, then He will take yourself also." God is very intelligent. Once you engage yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no way out. You cannot go out. You cannot go out. He is so kind. As once you become sincerely a surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa, then there is no way out. You have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. You have to continue to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. You cannot do otherwise. So this guru, the so-called guru, he thought, "Oh, if Kṛṣṇa, the vāmana God, if He takes away everything from my disciple, then how I shall live? I am living at his cost, and if he becomes a beggar, then I also become beggar." So he was very cautious. He said, "Don't promise. Don't promise."
We agree to read Bhagavad-gītā in terms of the instruction as it is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā says that this knowledge has to be taken by the paramparā system or the disciplic succession. It is not that anyone can interpret. This viewpoint no bona fide student of Bhagavad-gītā will accept.
So this Bhagavad-gītā is being taught by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to Arjuna. He says again the same thing. He's repeating that yat te 'haṁ prīyamāṇāya vakṣyāmi hita-kāmyayā. "Because you are My dear friend, I desire that you become prosperous, you become happy. Therefore I am speaking to you." Do you think that Kṛṣṇa is not interested with others?
"Anyone, never mind what he is, pāpa-yonayaḥ..." Pāpa-yonayaḥ means "those who are in the lower birth." So, so Bhagavad-gītā is transcendental subject matter. It does not depend on the qualification of the student. Anyone. Anyone can understand Bhagavad-gītā provided he agrees to understand according to the principles. That's all.
The principle is evaṁ paramparā prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). This is stated in the fourth chapter, that this Bhagavad-gītā is coming by disciplic succession from sun-god. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam (BG 4.1). "I first of all instructed this yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā to the sun-god." The sun planet, the Vivasvān... The present ruler of the sun planet is known as Vivasvān. So Vivasvān, his son was Manu, and Manu, the father of the mankind, his son was the king, Ikṣvāku, and King Ikṣvāku was the king of this earthly planet and, from him, this paramparā system or disciplic succession is coming down. But it has broken down. Lord said to Arjuna, sa kāleneha yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. "In course of time, that disciplic succession has now broken. Therefore I make again you as My disciple."
That is the teaching of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, not that we go to God and beg our daily bread. That is also good because... That is good in the sense that the atheists, they do not even agree to accept the authority of God. Better than them, anyone who is going to the temple or the church and asking for bread or something, material benefit, that is good. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ sukṛtino 'rjuna: "Those who are pious, whose background is piety, such persons, divided into four classes..." Ārto jijñāsur arthārthī jñānī, four classes. Ārtaḥ means distressed, and arthārthī means in need of money. Ārto arthārthī. Or some material benefit. And jñānī, one who is searching after knowledge. And jijñāsuḥ, inquisitive.
Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. This is the recommendation by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that people should be given chance for hearing. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga, they cannot do anything, but if they simply agree to hear, sitting for some time... That can be introduced in every house, every home.
The Bhagavad-gītā is there, and everything is explained there. If family-wise everyone sits down in the evening or in the morning for half an hour and reads Bhagavad-gītā, chants Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, just see the result. Every home will be happy. This is our propaganda, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Simply try to hear about Kṛṣṇa.
So about Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is personally speaking this Bhagavad-gītā about Himself. So why not take this opportunity?
Mukti is not a very difficult thing. You can attain mukti in a second simply if you agree, as Kṛṣṇa says,
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
- ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
- mokṣayiṣyāmi (mā śucaḥ)
- (BG 18.66)
That ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi, this is mukti, mokṣayiṣyāmi. So Kṛṣṇa is offering you this mukti. Muktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt. Viraktir anyatra syāt. When you understand that "These hands and legs belong to Kṛṣṇa, so I am misusing them. So long I have misused them. I use for my personal sense gratification or expanded sense gratification." The so-called socialism, nationalism, this ism, that..., that is also sense gratification but it is expanded sense gratification. First of all... (break)
And at the same time, antike, very near, very near, just like Kṛṣṇa is standing here. One has to understand. Very near. He has kindly come to you, near, so near that you can touch His lotus feet, you can offer Him some foodstuff, you can decorate. He's agreeing, "Yes, I will accept your..." Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26). And before this, Kṛṣṇa has said, sarvataḥ pāṇi-pādaṁ tat. He has got hands and leg everywhere. In the Vedas also it is confirmed, apāṇi-pādo javana-gṛhītaḥ. Apāṇi-pāda, He has no hands and legs, but whatever you offer in sacrifice, He immediately accepts. How He accepts? How He accepts? That is called dūrastham. Very, very far away; at the same time, antike. Immediately... Provided you know the means. If you know, then you can see. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). That is God's power.
We shall not work, stop working. Just like nowadays striking goes on. So they stopped working, and after few days, all of them became weak because they were not feeding the stomach. Then they arranged another conference. "Why we are becoming weak?" Then the fault was found out that because we are not giving to eat to the stomach. So all then agreed, "Well, let the stomach eat, and let us work." So this is the nature's arrangement. The stomach will simply eat and the hands and legs and eyes, they must work.
Similarly, the central point is Kṛṣṇa, God. God must simply eat. You must work. We are all part and parcel of... Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). Just like part and parcel of my body. They must work. And the stomach shall eat. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that, that Kṛṣṇa is the central stomach and you all work for Kṛṣṇa. You are also benefited.
There is no security in any place. But Kṛṣṇa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: (BG 15.6) "But you can go at a place wherefrom you haven't got to return. That is My paraṁ dhāma." So why not that? Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). So if you worship Kṛṣṇa... The simple thing... Kṛṣṇa has agreed to take your service. Because you cannot see Kṛṣṇa physically. You can see. This Kṛṣṇa, when He's present in, this mūrti, Deity, He's physically present. Because you cannot work without Kṛṣṇa's being physically present. Kṛṣṇa is everything.
So because you cannot see Kṛṣṇa otherwise, therefore Kṛṣṇa has appeared before you just like a stone statue. Because you cannot see Kṛṣṇa, without His becoming a stone statue or wooden statue. That is Kṛṣṇa's mercy. But that does not mean Kṛṣṇa is stone. Kṛṣṇa is everything. So mad-yājinaḥ.
He has agreed. Because mad-yājinaḥ. Kṛṣṇa say "One who worships Me..." Now, ordinarily, where is Kṛṣṇa? We don't find. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is available in this form. Kṛṣṇa is so kind, that "You take Me. You offer Me service." Mad-yājinaḥ. "I will accept." We should worship Kṛṣṇa in that spirit, not that "We are worshiping a stone. He cannot see. Let me do all nonsense in the Deity room." No. He is seeing. Don't be so much cunning. He's more cunning than you. You see. He can see.
Just like in that story, the old brāhmaṇa and the young brāhmaṇa, Sākṣi-gopāla. Sākṣi-gopāla. So the young man came to Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, "Sir, You have to go to give witness because the old man is not keeping his promise." So Kṛṣṇa said to the young devotee that "How you are proposing that I shall go? Can a stone Deity, He can walk? Do you think?"
We are canvassing, we are going door to door, we are publishing books, we are flattering them, "Please come here. Take prasādam. Hear something from Bhagavad..." "No." They have no time. They have no time. They are working like cats and dogs. They will agree to go to, transfer this body, from this body to another abominable body, but they'll not try to stop this repetition of birth and death. māyā is so strong.
So it is our duty to preach, to broadcast the message of Bhagavad-gītā as far as possible. That is our duty. It is not that it is a formality. It is not formality. It is our duty. Because Kṛṣṇa, we have accepted... We are eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa. That we forgot. Now, in this life, we have surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and accepted His service. "Kṛṣṇa, so long I forgot. I am Your eternal servant, but I forgot. Now, in this life, I can understand.
We should agree to Kṛṣṇa's desires. We should not allow our desires, demonic desires, to grow. That is called tapasya. Our desires we should sacrifice. That is called sacrifice. We should only accept Kṛṣṇa's desire. That is the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna's desire was not to fight, but Kṛṣṇa's desire was to fight, just the opposite. Arjuna ultimately agreed to Kṛṣṇa's desire: "Yes," kariṣye vacanaṁ tava (BG 18.73): "Yes, I will act according to Your desire." That is bhakti.
This is the difference bhakti and karma. Karma means to fulfill my desires, and bhakti means to fulfill Kṛṣṇa's desires. That is the difference. Now you make your choice, whether you want to make your desires fulfilled or if you want to make Kṛṣṇa's desire fulfilled. If you make your decision to make Kṛṣṇa's desire fulfilled, then your life is successful.
All the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they are trying to fulfill Kṛṣṇa's desire. The cowherds boys, the calves, the cows, the trees, the flowers, the water, the gopīs, the elderly inhabitants, mother Yaśodā, Nanda, they are all engaged in fulfilling Kṛṣṇa's desire. That is Vṛndāvana. So you can turn this material world into Vṛndāvana provided you agree to fulfill the desires of Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. And if you want to fulfill your own desires, that is material. This is the difference between material and spiritual.
The same thing, this house. This house is a house. The next door is a karmī's house, and this house is a temple. What is the difference? The difference is: in this house everyone is engaged to fulfill Kṛṣṇa's desire, and the other house, everyone is engaged in fulfilling his own desire. Therefore it is temple, and that is house. Otherwise, from the external feature, where is the difference?
Then why don't you take a piece of stone? Can you say? Suppose if you have gone to a, purchasing to a goldsmith shop. So I say, "Sir, you take this ornament made of stone and you pay me the price of gold." Would you agree? Then there is no such... It must be practical. In the practical life that is very higher stage. Those who do not care either for... Just like Sanatāna Gosvāmī. Sanatāna Goswāmī was Vṛndāvana. He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, always. Then, one brāhmaṇa, he was very poor—perhaps you know this story—he worshiped Lord Siva, and when Lord Siva was pleased, then he wanted to take him, give him some benediction. So, "What do you want?" So he said, "Give me the best thing, so I shall be the greatest of all."
She cannot dictate if you are strong. But if you agree that "I shall be dictated by you," then you become dictated. Just like a disease. If you infect the disease, then you must suffer. But if you remain very fit, competent, not to be infected by the germs of the disease, you are not diseased. This is the way.
And that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that our different types of bodies, desires, activities, are due to our being infected by the particular quality of material nature. Perfected quality. There are three qualities: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. If you want to be infected by the tamo-guṇa quality, then you are suffering the infectious disease of tamo-guṇa. Tamo-guṇa means nidrā, alasya, ignorance, and sleeping more, laziness, and alasya, alasya, laziness, nidrā, means sleeping, and ignorance. Just like cats and dogs. They do not know what is the aim of life, what they are doing.
So don't remain in the ignorant stage of life. That is called śūdra. Try to become brāhmaṇa. That is the meaning. It is not prohibited that one cannot become brāhmaṇa. No, one can become brāhmaṇa. If he gets association of a brāhmaṇa, if he agrees to be trained up by a brāhmaṇa, he can become brāhmaṇa. And brāhmaṇa means brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇa, not by birth. Anyone who has full knowledge of the Supreme, he is brāhmaṇa. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. By birth everyone is śūdra. Even if he's born in a brāhmaṇa family he is śūdra. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. The saṁskāra means purification. That is satyaṁ śaucam. But the asuras, they do not want to be purified. They want to remain in the degraded stage of life. That is the difficulty.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa advises four things, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Then what will be the result? Mām evaiṣyasi. Simply by practicing these four things... It does not require any MA, PhD, degree. Simply you have to agree, "Yes, I shall think of Kṛṣṇa, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa." You have to agree. That's all. That is required. Then, gradually, you become bhakta. Gradually you worship, and gradually you offer obeisances, surrender.
That one, that is wanted by Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). So it does not require any high education, high birth, or great riches, or to become very beautiful. Nothing required. Beautiful or not beautiful, everyone can become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, śamo damas tapaḥ. This śamo damaḥ, how it can be practiced without tapasya? It is so easy thing that you can control your mind and senses? But with tapasya. You must agree. That is human life. Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). Ṛṣabhadeva was advising his sons, "My dear boys, this human form of life is meant for tapasya, tapaḥ." What for tapasya? Divyam, to realize the Supreme, deva. Why it is required? Tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyet sattvam: "Your existence will be purified if you practice tapasya." "Now what is my existence? Am I impure?" Yes. Therefore you are dying. Otherwise you are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). You, eternal, but you are dying. You are subject to death because your existence is impure.
It is not possible. You come to the spiritual platform. You come to your original consciousness. Then your sattva, your existence, will be purified and you will enjoy. Enjoyment is your right. So therefore this śamo damaḥ can be practiced provided you agree to execute tapasya, tapasya.
Therefore in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we are training these boys, anyone—it doesn't matter what he is—no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling. This is tapasya. Those who are practiced to these bad habits, for them it will be very difficult, very difficult. Yes. One of our godbrother went to preach in London and Lord Zetland, he was talking with him, and he said, "Goswamiji, can you make me a brāhmaṇa?"
This is our life." But at the present moment these boys, hundreds and thousands of boys, they are giving up this practice. This is called tapasya. Hundreds and thousands, they have agreed. I have not bribed them. I am poor Indian. But they have agreed. "Yes." They are actually practicing no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat-eating, and no intoxication. They do not smoke even, don't take tea even. This is called tapasya.
So śamo damaḥ, brahminical first qualification, can be practiced provided you agree to undergo tapasya, tapaḥ. And it is not very difficult. Not that because these boys, European, American boys, have given up these bad habit, they are dying for it. No. Rather, their parents, their countrymen, say they are bright-faced.
"How these LSD men could become Kṛṣṇa conscious servant of Kṛṣṇa?" So it is... Everything is possible provided you agree, tapasya. Śamo damas tapaḥ.
Then śaucam: very clean. Everyone must take bath thrice daily and wash the cloth. This is śaucam, external, śaucam. So they are doing that. They are rising early in the morning at half past three and taking bath. In this country they don't even require hot water, in cold water. Śaucam, very cleanse. Śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntiḥ, toleration. Kṣāntir ārjavam, simplicity. Kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca jñānam, knowledge. What is that knowledge? Knowledge that "I am not this body." This is knowledge. And if simply I think "I am this body," you may advance in your so-called scientific knowledge; you are a fool.
We are not predominator. If the predominated wants to become predominator, that is false. That is illusion. That is going on. Everyone, all our, all living entities, we are trying to become predominator instead of being predominated. That is the struggle for existence. And as soon as we become, we agree to become predominated, there is peace immediately. That is called mukti.
The description of mukti is given in the Bhagavad..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: muktir hitvā anyathā-rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6). That is mukti. Mukti means if you give up the artificial endeavor to become predominator and become situated in your original position, being predominated. Artificially... Suppose a woman is trying to become man artificially, how long it will go on? How she can be happy? That is not possible.
At least, the story is like... So Mira challenged that "I came to Vṛndāvana. I know that only Kṛṣṇa is puruṣa here, and everyone is woman. So how does it mean that Rūpa Gosvāmī's declined to see another woman?" So Rūpa Gosvāmī agreed, "Yes, I am mistaken. Yes, Kṛṣṇa is the only puruṣa." So puruṣa means the enjoyer, and prakṛti means the instrument of enjoyment, prakṛti, energy. Just like here we see one man is very big, rich man, but he's enjoyer by utilizing his energy. Similarly, the whole cosmic situation, whole creation is..., the supreme enjoyer is God.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ
- sarva-loka-maheśvaram
- suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
- jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati
- (BG 5.29)
If we want really peace, then we should understand these three things: that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the enjoyer. We have to serve Him for His enjoyment. That is called devotional service.
| Page Title: | Agree (Lectures, BG) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 30 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=14, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=106, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 120 |