We have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there are Vedas and Purāṇas and Vedic literature. It is for human being. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). If we study this Vedic literature,... Vedic literature means four Vedas, eighteen Purāṇas, and Vedānta and Upaniṣads, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and any literature which is connected with this Vedic literature. That is also Vedic literature. So Veda-Purāṇa, this Vedic literature, should be utilized. They have got time to read so many nonsense literatures, rubbish literature, and waste time, but if you invite them that "Come here, we shall discuss Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Vedānta-sūtra, similar literature," nobody will come. But simply by hearing... If we want... Vītaṁ yadā manaḥ śuddham. If we become free from this contamination of tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa, that is the highest stage of perfection.
That can be done simply by hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā. No education required. Simply come and hear. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Because you will be purified. As you hear and repeat, chant, you become purified.
- śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
- hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi...
- (SB 1.2.17)
These dirty things, mala... Here it is said, kāma-lobhādibhir malaiḥ. Mala, mala means dirty things. And what are these? Kāma and lobha, lusty desires, lobha, greediness and lusty desires. These are mala. So one has to become free from these two things, kāma and lobha. The whole world is going on kāma and lobha. One is getting money. When he has got one thousand, he wants one lakh. If he gets one lakh, he wants more and more and more. This is called kāma. And why? Lobha. They are making profit. They have got enough money, still, they will hold stock, will not sell, so that people may not get stock and they will be hankering, they will pay any price demanded. These are going on, kāma and lobha. Kāma-lobhādibhiḥ.
So we have to cleanse this heart, the ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). They are doing all these things. These are not good things. Asādhu ayam. Na sādhu manye. These, this is not good for human being. Why it is not good? Because according to your karma you'll get another next life, another next body, and you'll have to suffer. Again you have to suffer. You are already suffering. You may be very rich man, but does it mean that you'll not be diseased, because you are rich man? No. This is suffering. You may be very rich man, very, I mean to say, influential man, prime minister... Even Jawaharlal Nehru-last time he became paralyzed. So you cannot avoid these things. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). You should not be puffed-up because you have got some bank balance, you are happy. No. Your real unhappiness—these four things: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. That any intelligent man should always keep in front, that "These are my distresses." These temporary distresses and to relieve it, that is not very good. You must make ultimate finishing of all distresses. That is bhakti-yoga. That is bhakti-yoga. And that bhakti-yoga begins this, by hearing and chanting.
- śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
- hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi...
- (SB 1.2.17)
If you continually hear, then gradually all the dirty things, kāma-lobhādibhiḥ, these things will be finished and you will be purified, and then that is the way of your liberation. Muktaye. Guṇeṣu saktaṁ bandhāya rataṁ vā puṁsi muktaye. The process is also given that you hear about Kṛṣṇa. Then you will be purified. Because this life is meant for sattva-śuddhi. Śuddha-sattva. Our existence is not uncontaminated. It is con... The human form of life is meant for to make this existence uncontaminated: no more birth, no more death. They do not know. Where is the university, where is the school, college, to teach this science how one can become uncontaminated? There is no such institution except this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
So vītaṁ yadā manaḥ... So how it is possible? That is also said, that nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu. Abhadra, the dirty things... Because you hear, go on, go on hearing, chanting, then the dirty things will be diminished. Kṛṣṇa says that hṛdy antaḥ-sthaḥ. Kṛṣṇa is also within the heart, and the dirty things are also there. So..., but Kṛṣṇa helps you cleansing. So it is not completely cleansed, but even it is fifty percent or sixty percent cleansed, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu abhadreṣu... How? Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Regularly hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. These two processes recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Chant your rounds regularly. Make a fixed-up... We have fixed up only minimum. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was chanting 300,000 times, and we have made sixteen times. And still, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nā... "I could not perform even sixteen rounds. Such unfortunate I am." You see? Etādṛśī tava kṛpā... We have mini..., minimized, the lowest number, the easiest process... Caitanya Mahāprabhu says read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Don't talk nonsense; don't waste your time. Then you become purified. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). Kṛṣṇa says...
In this way... Here it is, vītaṁ yadā manaḥ. When the mind is cleansed. This can be done, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). Nityam. Not Bhāgavata-saptāha. The Bhāgavata-saptāha, that is a business. Real business is nityam. We don't find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by so many big, big commentators, Śrīdhara Svāmī, Jīva Gosvāmī, and Vīrarāghava Ācārya, many, many... They never recommend Bhāgavata-saptāha. I do not know wherefrom it has come. Bhāgavata says, nityaṁ bhāgavata... Why week? Every day. If it is possible, twenty-four hours. Therefore one has to retire from these family, social, political responsibilities, and whole time devote for chanting and Bhāgavata reading. That is required. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. At least, as much as possible. Don't waste time. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has says that āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhyaḥ svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ. Āyuḥ, the duration of life... Suppose I shall live for hundred years. Even one moment of this hundred years, if..., it cannot be returned back, even if you are prepared to thousands and millions of dollars. No. One moment passed out of a hundred, that is minus. That's all. You cannot add again. Āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi. Even, even moment. Sa cen nirarthakaṁ nītaḥ... If you cannot get returned back even a moment of your life by payment of millions of dollars, if that moment is wasted, just how much you have lost money, you consider. How much you have lost! Therefore not a single moment should be lost, human life. It should be utilized. Simply by chanting, simply by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are publishing so many books. We have to read; we have to chant. Then life will successful. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodha (BG 4.10). Then we shall be free from this attachment, ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye.
So the process is that nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Daily we should devote our time for understanding Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And bhāgavata-sevayā means to serve the person bhāgavata, whose life is simply Bhāgavata, to serve him. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā.
- naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
- nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
- bhagavaty uttama-śloke
- bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī
- (SB 1.2.18)
By this process then you attain the stage of bhagavad-bhakti, naiṣṭhikī, fixed up, not tiltering, fixed up. Bhagavati naiṣṭhikī. Anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā. This naiṣṭhikī, or niṣṭhā, firm faith, is achieved when anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. Anartha. This anartha means ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8), kāma-lobhādibhiḥ. This is anartha. We don't require all these things. Why I shall think, "This is my country, my family, my body..."? Nothing is mine. It is false. But people are wasting time in this way. "My country, my nation, my body, my family." Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). They are wasting time. So nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. We can vanquish all these false conceptions of life. Then sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. These are the... Kāma-lobha... But even if it is not completely finished, these dirty things, but even if you come to the platform of sattva-guṇa, then you'll not be disturbed. But these tamo-guṇa and rajo-guṇa always disturb. Then if you are not disturbed by these kāma and lobha, then sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati. Then you will be pleased, you'll feel happiness, when you are on the sattva-guṇa. And then you have to surpass the sattva-guṇa. Śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vasudeva-śabditam. The vasudeva platform. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Then you will understand your relationship with Kṛṣṇa and then you'll be happy.