SB 01.02.08 dharmah svanusthitah pumsam... cited (Lec Other)

Expressions researched:
"dharmah svanusthitah pumsam" |"do not provoke attraction for the message" |"notpadayed yadi ratim" |"srama eva hi kevalam" |"useless labor" |"visvaksena-kathasu yah"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "1.2.8." or "dharmah svanusthitah pumsam" or "do not provoke attraction for the message" or "notpadayed yadi ratim"

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 2, 1973:

It is very scientific. It is authorized. We are not talking nonsense. Authorized. We are taking the version of Kṛṣṇa. We are taking the version of the Vedic conclusion. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). Vedas, study of Veda means to understand Kṛṣṇa. One who does not understand Kṛṣṇa, he's simply wasting his time.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

You can execute your dharma, your occupational duty, very nicely. That's all right. But if you do not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you are simply wasting your time and working hard for nothing. This is the verdict.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 4, 1973:

Similarly, you do whatever service you can do to the society, to the community, to the nation, but do it in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then you're perfect. Otherwise it will remain imperfect. The persons who are, whom you are giving service, they'll never be happy, neither you'll be happy. So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that they're simply wasting their time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply wasting their time in so-called humanitarian service. They must take... Nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe. Everything should be in relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

I am doing my duty." The people say, "This is my..." The doctor says, "I am doing my duty." The engineer says, "I am doing my duty." The father says, "I am doing my duty." The mother says, "I am doing my duty." That's all right. But Bhāgavata says, "Thank you very much, that you are doing your duty."

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 6, 1973:

So these people, they do not know. They are thinking that "We are doing our duty." What is this nonsense duty? Real duty is to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you are missing that point, the so-called duty is simply wasting...

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, November 1, 1972:

There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: vāsudeva-parā vedā vāsudeva-paraṁ jñānaṁ vāsudeva-paraṁ gatim. So unless one is led to the conclusion vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), jñāna-vairāgya-karma, anything that you are trying to achieve, if it is not targeted to the realization of Vāsudeva, then it... Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). That is the conclusion of Bhāgavata. Whatever you do, the ultimate goal should be realization of Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). All Vedic conclusions should be ultimately to realize Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).

Festival Lectures

His Divine Grace Srila Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura's Appearance Day, Lecture -- London, September 3, 1971:

If we at all, if we are at all interested in spiritual science, then we must follow the Vedic instruction, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We must approach. You cannot have spiritual knowledge simply by speculating. Impossible. Simply waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). You must go to the... In the Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is recommended, ācāryopāsanam. Ācārya-upāsanā. Not only worshiping the Lord, but also the ācārya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpayā pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Guru, ācārya, and Kṛṣṇa.

Arrival Addresses and Talks

Arrival Lecture -- Calcutta, March 20, 1975:

The so-called education has no meaning, no value. So it is not a whim that one may take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and one may not. No. It is compulsory. One must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness; otherwise his life is spoiled, śrama eva hi kevalam.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

One may think of executing his religious principles very nicely, but if he does not awaken his dormant love for Kṛṣṇa, then all activities in that direction is supposed to be simply waste of time, simply waste of time, spoiling. Jāniyā śuniyā biṣa khāinu.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Jayapataka Dasa -- Montreal, July 24, 1968:

The Bhāgavata says sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6). You follow any kind of religion, that doesn't matter. But the test will be how much you have developed God consciousness or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the test. If that is lacking, then you have simply wasted your time.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

If by following the ritualistic principles of any kind of religion, if one has not developed God consciousness or love of God, then it is simply waste of time, laboring. That's all. So gradually people are coming to the stage that God is dead. They have developed so much love for God that they want to see God is dead.

Lecture and Initiation -- Chicago, July 10, 1975:

Materially, don't be sorry that this racing will not help us in our spiritual life. Materially be advanced, but don't forget your spiritual duty and spiritual identity. Then it is loss. Then it is śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8), simply working for nothing, just like your moon expedition, simply a waste of time and unnecessarily expenditure of money. So many billions of dollars you have spoiled, and what you have got? A little dust, that's all.

General Lectures

Lecture Excerpt -- Montreal, July 20, 1968:

So if in that darkness and ignorance he is acting so many things, what is the profit? It is simply defeat. So a person who does not inquire into the existence of soul, his real identity, all his so-called improvement is simply waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply laboring, that's all. The whole world is doing that, beating the bush, laboring for nothing. He does not know that how long he will remain. Suppose you are in America.

Lecture -- Seattle, October 18, 1968:

There is no doubt. Similarly, if you follow the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, you will also develop. So it is up to you. You try to follow. If you do not follow, simply try to make a comparative study "This is good" or "This is bad," "This is bad" or "This is good," that is called śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8)—simply laboring. Why comparative study? Just see how much you are developing love of Godhead, that's all. Phalena paricīyate. "Whether it is apple is there, that's all right; never mind what is this tree. I'm concerned with the apple." Yes.

Lecture to College Students -- Seattle, October 20, 1968, Introduction by Tamala Krsna:

It doesn't matter whether you are following Christianism or Hinduism or Muhammadanism. Just try to understand how much you have developed your God consciousness to love God. Then in your any religion is nice, very nice. Otherwise it is simply waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). After executing your ritualistic performances in particular type of religion throughout the whole life, if you do not see that you have no love for God, then simply you have wasted your time. Śrama eva hi kevalam.

Lecture with Allen Ginsberg at Ohio State University -- Columbus, May 12, 1969:

That's all right. But if by following the principles of that religion, if you see that you are developing your love for God, then that is first class. Otherwise, Bhāgavata says, it is simply wasting time laboring.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

The Bhāgavata says that "You are very nice man. You are very honest to your occupational duty. That is all right. But if by discharging your occupational duty you do not develop your eagerness to understand what is God and what is love of God," then, Bhāgavata says, "it is simply laboring and wasting time." That is the test.

Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:

You may be very much proud of your scientific advancement of knowledge, but here is the real science. If you can overcome birth, death, old age and disease, then you can say your science is triumphant.

The Bhāgavata says, therefore, that,

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

Śrama eva hi kevalam. After executing your proper service or duties... Everyone is entrusted with some kind of duties.

Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:

After executing your proper service or duties... Everyone is entrusted with some kind of duties. So if, after properly executing your duties as Indian or American or Englishman or scientist or businessman or father or mother... So many duties we have got. Dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ, notpādayed yadi ratim (SB 1.2.8). After executing your duties, if you do not develop your anxiety to inquire about Brahman... Athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is the beginning of Vedānta-sūtra. People are indulging in studying Vedānta, but Vedānta-sūtra is not a matter of speculation.

Lecture to International Student Society -- Boston, December 28, 1969:

That is the aim of all activities. Similarly, in the Bhāgavata, there is another verse. It is said that,

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

It is said that you are doing your duty according to your position. Everyone is doing. Svanuṣṭhitaḥ dharmaḥ. Dharma means occupational duties. Everyone has got duty.

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

It may take hundreds of years or hundreds of births, but unless we come to that point, our life is simply frustration. Śrama eva hi kevalam. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said,

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

You can execute. You may have some particular type of religious system which you are following. It doesn't matter.

Pandal Lecture -- Delhi, November 12, 1971:

That is the only gain in his human form of life. Otherwise, whatever you gain, that is lost. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply wasting time, time and energy. So Prahlāda Mahārāja says that "My dear friends..." He was teaching his class friends who were five years old, and he said that durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. "Our duty is, so long the next death does not appear, we should develop our dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness." We should not wait.

Lecture Excerpt -- Tokyo, April 28, 1972:

Therefore our process is to know everything through Kṛṣṇa. That is perfect knowledge. Or through Kṛṣṇa's representative. That is perfect knowledge. Otherwise, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Śrama, śrama means laboring. Śrama eva hi kevalam. So, I think one verse is all right. Have kīrtana

Sunday Feast Lecture -- Los Angeles, May 21, 1972:

Because (the) ultimate knowledge is God. If one cannot understand what is God after so much education, then Bhāgavata says, śrama eva hi kevalam: (SB 1.2.8) "It is simply labor, labor, waste of time." Simply waste of time. There is no education. Education, knowledge, means ultimately to understand, to know what is God. Actually; not fictitiously, vaguely. So there are many classes of men who have no understanding of God. Some of them are saying, "God is dead," or "God is impersonal," "There is no God," "Zero," "I am God," "You are God," so many things.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

So this is culture. You may do your business. Just like Arjuna: Arjuna was doing his business. He was a fighter, kṣatriya, but he did not forget his culture, hearing Gītā from the master. That is culture. If you simply do business and do not cultivate your spiritual life, then it is useless waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8), the śāstra says. Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ.

Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce 'Culture and Business' -- Calcutta, January 30, 1973:

We may be businessman. We may be in other profession. But if we do not know what I am, wherefrom I have come, why I am under the tribulation of these material laws of nature and where I am going, what is my next life—if we do not know this, then whatever we are doing, śrama eva hi kevalam. Viṣvaksena-kathāsu notpādayed ratiṁ yadi, viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8).

So our request to everyone that you can be engaged in whatever business, in whatever position Kṛṣṇa has posted you. Do your duty nicely. But do not forget to cultivate Kṛṣṇa knowledge.

University Lecture -- Calcutta, January 29, 1973:

So if we want to elevate the social condition, we shall teach people to become purified. Without being purified, simply so-called performance of religious system will not help. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). We should teach people how to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the injunction given by Sūta Gosvāmī in Naimiṣāraṇya, the assembly of great brāhmaṇas, learned brāhmaṇas.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

That religion is first class which makes the follower a lover of God. This is simple definition of religion, first-class religion. If we do not awaken our dormant love for God, then śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Then you follow any type of religion, you simply wasting your time. That's all. That is not religion. Religion means to understand God and to learn how to love God. So here Arjuna, he loves Kṛṣṇa, he's a lover of God; therefore he's asking question from Kṛṣṇa. But whatever question is answered by Kṛṣṇa, that is perfect, because He is perfect.

Lecture at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan -- Bombay, October 18, 1973:

You have to accept that. Then you will be able to... You will be successful. Otherwise it is useless waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam. Śrama eva hi kevalam.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

You can execute your so-called dharmas, but if it does not help you to understand what is God, then it is useless waste of time.

Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:

We have got attachment for so many things. We have got attachment for our family, for our country, for our society, for our business, for our cats, for our dogs, so many things. But we have no attachment for Kṛṣṇa. That is lacking. Therefore life is imperfect. Śrama eva hi kevalam.

dharmaḥ svanusthitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

Everyone is performing his duty very nicely. That is..., Bhāgavata says, dharma-svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsām. Everyone has got his duty, either as a brāhmaṇa, as a kṣatriya, as a vaiśya, as a śūdra, as a brahmacārī, as a gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsī.

Lecture -- Hong Kong, January 31, 1974:

Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya. You are acting your duty as a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, that's all right, śūdra, but you have to see whether Kṛṣṇa, or God, is satisfied by your duty. If you see that Kṛṣṇa is satisfied by your discharging of duties in a particular position, then you should know that your life is perfect. Otherwise, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply undergoing unnecessary troubles.

Lecture -- Vrndavana, March 14, 1974:

So although we have got love propensity... Everyone loves somebody. But we are being frustrated, because that is not real love. Real love is to love Kṛṣṇa. You may execute your duties very nicely, but if you do not learn how to love Kṛṣṇa, this all discharging of your duties is simply working or laboring for nothing. Śrama eva hi kevalam.

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

Śrama eva hi. So why this love is not invoked or awakened in us? Because we are covered by this material energy, and we have become conditioned by the material energy.

Tenth Anniversary Address -- Washington, D.C., July 6, 1976:

So human life, this is meant for understanding who is father, what is His law, who is God, what is our relationship with Him. This is Vedānta. Vedānta does not mean talk some nonsense and no relationship with the father. Śrama eva hi kevalam. If you do not know who is your father...

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed yadi ratiṁ

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

This is not wanted. And Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). So you become Vedantist, that's very nice. In the beginning of Vedānta it is said that the Absolute Truth is that from whom everything comes.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Prabhupāda: The human need is to get out of the clutches of māyā. That is the actual need. Janma-maraṇa-mokṣaya, that is the need. But the modern society, they do not know what is needed. They are making simply plans, uselessly. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply laboring hard, they do not know the need. The real need is to get out of the clutches of repetition of birth and death in different forms. But people do not know this. They are simply concocting ideas.