He is praying, "Kṛṣṇa, I am now in good health. So kindly award me death immediately." Adyaiva. "Immediately, so that my mind, who is just like a swan, he can take pleasure by entering into stem of Your lotus flower feet." Kṛṣṇa's feet is always compared with lotus flower, and the lotus flower has got a stem. And the swans, they take pleasure being entangled with that stem. They go and dive into the water. This is their very good sporting. So he is taking that sporting, he is comparing his mind as the rāja-haṁsa. "So as the rāja-haṁsa takes pleasure by entangling him in the stem of the lotus flower, similarly Your lotus feet, there is a stem. So my mind, which may be compared with rāja-haṁsa, let it be entangled now, immediately. Otherwise I do not know." Prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ. "When everything bodily function will be mixed up, kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, 'ghan ghan,' there will be some sound, how I will be able to remembering your lotus feet? So let me die immediately, immediately. Now I am quite fit. Otherwise I may not be able." This is the point.
Sport (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"sport"
|"sported"
|"sportful"
|"sporting"
|"sportingly"
|"sportings"
|"sportive"
|"sportively"
|"sports"
|"sportsman"
|"sportsmen"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
I think you have seen, Jayānanda, when we were walking in Seattle in that park, in a lake the swan were diving near the lotus. You have seen? Yes. That is the practice. The swan takes pleasure where there is, I mean to say, what is called, lotus or lily, lilies. There's a stem. They dive and they entangle their long neck with the... That is their sporting. So Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, we call, lotus feet. So he says that "My mind may be entangled with the stem of Your lotus feet just like the swan. Immediately. I can do that now because I am in healthy state. Otherwise at the time of death, kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, when mucus, bile, everything will be disordered, and my throat will be choked up, I will not be able to speak or chant. So why shall I wait for that time? Now I am fit. Let my mind be absorbed with Your thought and let me die." That is the technique.
Because a kṣatriya family, it is to be understood they must go on fighting. Even in their marriage there would be fighting. Without fighting, no marriage takes place in kṣatriya family. Kṛṣṇa had 16,108 wives, and almost in each time He had to fight, to gain the wife. It was a sporting. For kṣatriya to fight, it was a sporting. So he is perplexed whether this kind of fighting he should encourage or not.
There is a proverb in Bengal, khābo ki khābo nā yadi khāo tu pauṣe. "When you are perplexed, Whether I shall eat or not eat,' better not eat." Sometimes we come to this point, "I am not very hungry, whether I shall eat or not eat?" The best course is not eat, not that you eat. But if you eat, then you can eat in the month of December, Pauṣa. Why?
"You are not fit for fighting with me." So there was fighting for twenty-eight days. Fighting was going on from morning to evening. And at night they were friends. Bhīma, Arjuna, and Kṛṣṇa was the guest, and he received them as guests. They were eating together, talking together. In the morning again fighting. This is kṣatriya. It is sport, sporting, but that sporting was meant for... Until one dies, the fighting will go on.
So yuddhe cāpy apalāyanam. This is the qualification of kṣatriya. So here it is said, Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa is chariot driver of Arjuna. So He says, janādhipāḥ. There were many kings. Different parts of the world, they joined. Janādhipāḥ, the leaders, when there is fight the leaders must come forward. And as soon as the leaders are killed, then it is victory, not by killing the soldiers or common men by atomic bomb.
"So what are the conditions?" My Godbrother said, "The preliminary four conditions." "What are these conditions?" "Now, striya-sūnā-pāna-dyūta yatra pāpaś catur-vidhāḥ: (SB 1.17.38) You cannot have any illicit connection with woman, you cannot have any intoxication habit, you cannot indulge in gambling or unnecessary sporting, and you cannot live on animal food." Lord Rolandcey replied, "It is impossible. It is impossible." (laughs)
So these things, these four principles, preliminary, if we actually want to be a brāhmaṇa, then we have to take care of these four principles of life just to become a brāhmaṇa. Yes. Then everyone can become a brāhmaṇa. There is no bar. And whoever becomes a brāhmaṇa, he knows what is Brahman. And Kṛṣṇa is Parambrahman. Parambrahman. You'll find in the Tenth Chapter.
This is not the end of yoga system. But people are taught like that. "Oh, if you practice this yoga system." That you can do if you undergo any exercise process your body will be kept fit. There are so many system of bodily exercise, the system, this weight-lifting system, there are many sporting system, they also keep body very fit. They can digest foodstuff very nicely, they reduce fat. For this purpose there is no need of practicing yoga. The real purpose is here; that to realize that I am not this body. I want eternal happiness, I want complete knowledge, I want eternal life also. That is the ultimate end of yoga system. Go on.
We have got attraction for so many things in this material world. Somebody has got attraction for his family, somebody has got attraction for his wife, children, or somebody has got attraction for some sporting, or somebody has attraction for his country, so on, so on. We have got attraction. That is not a new thing. We have got attraction, but we have got attraction in different subject matter, material. So this yoga system, bhakti-yoga system, means you should be only attracted by Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. Attraction is there. Nobody can say that "I have no attraction for anything." That is false. Everyone has got attraction. If you have nothing to be attracted, then you keep a cat and a dog to be attracted. That is the nature. Especially in the Western countries we see.
What is called? No, you have no experience. So You can fly. The kite goes very high and high. In India kite-flying is very popular sport. So you can allow the kite go and go, very high, and at the same time you can bring it near and nearer by that wheel. So this wheel, this human form of body, is meant for not prolonging the unclean material life, but now stop it. Now stop it. It is meant for that purpose.
Therefore in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now inquire about... Sit down about... Sit down quietly and inquire about the necessity or the aim of life." That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ, kāmasya nendriya-prītiḥ. Kāmasya nendriya, kāma. Here it is called kāma. Kāma means lust. So because we have got this body, therefore we must have some kāma. That is a fact. You cannot avoid it. Lusty desire there is, and for the up keep of the body the lusty desires may be fulfilled, but don't become lusty which is duṣpūram, which is never to be fulfilled. So kāmasya na indriya-prītiḥ. Just like lusty desires, generally it is with reference to sex life.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
I am thinking rightly. Kindly give me immediately death, and I can be entangled with Your lotus feet tight, like the swan entangles itself with the lotus stem." You have seen, the swans take pleasure by entangling itself with the lotus stem. It goes down the water and catches the stem and binds itself. In this way, it is a sporting of the swan. So Samraj Kulaśekhara says, mānasa. Kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam adyaiva viśatu me mānasa-rāja-hāmsaḥ. "At the present moment my mind is just like the swan. It is playing with Your lotus stem. So, let me die immediately. Otherwise, if I die ordinarily," prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ, "the three elements kapha, pitha, bile, they will overwhelm me, and I may not remember You at that time. I may forget You. So Kṛṣṇa, give me immediately death so that I, remembering, I may die." This is process. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means somehow or other try to remember Kṛṣṇa at the time of death, ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ (SB 2.1.6).
We want to do that here. We have got many sporting club, dancing club, because we want to do that. But we want to do in this material world. That is our defect. The same thing, you can do with Kṛṣṇa. Just become Kṛṣṇa conscious and you get the opportunity. Why you are suffering here for sporting and dancing? That is called dharmasya hy āpavargyasya. Stop this, I mean to say, always painful condition of material life. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Because we have got this material body. This material body means reservoir of all suffering. By artificial method, so-called scientific advancement, we are trying to patch up, but that is not real happiness. You can go on continuing patching up. This is called māyā. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). You cannot... The real purpose is that everyone wants to live and enjoy, but the māyā will not allow. You can have very nice skyscraper building, but have you made any insurance that you will be allowed to enjoy this house? "No, sir, there is no such insurance."
Yes. (laughter) So if you increase your engage..., "How I shall be swimming and enjoy this sport all day and night?" then Kṛṣṇa will give you the body of a fish. (laughter) Yes. He is very kind. And you will very nicely live in the sea, always swimming without any difficulty. Every life. As you increase your propensity for a certain type of activities, nature is ready immediately: "Take this body. Why you are anxious? Take this body." Similarly, if you become anxious to have a body like Kṛṣṇa, that is also ready. Now it is your choice. If you like, you take the body of a fish, or if you like, you take the body of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal, blissful knowledge.
The same example: you take one big paper and cut into pieces and throw it. The original paper is lost. That is material. But in the Īśopaniṣad we hear that pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇaṁ pūrṇāt udacyate, pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation). Just like when Kṛṣṇa was sporting on this earth as cowherd boy, Brahmā became doubtful, "How is that? Kṛṣṇa has become a cowherds boy here?" So he wanted to test whether He's Kṛṣṇa. So he, he sifted all the cows and cowherds boys from the pasturing ground, and again he saw that millions times the same cows, boys and cowherd, cows and cowherd boys, are present there. So that is Kṛṣṇa. He can expand. Bṛhatvad bṛhannatvad. Brahman means He can expand unlimitedly. And He can shrink also to the minute.
Nitāi: "Although they were impartial by nature, those followers of the Vedānta blessed me with their causeless mercy. As far as I was concerned, I was self-controlled and had no attachment for sports even though I was a boy. In addition, I was not naughty and I did not speak more than required."
Prabhupāda:
- te mayy apetākhila-cāpale 'rbhake
- dānte 'dhṛta-krīḍanake 'nuvartini
- cakruḥ kṛpāṁ yadyapi tulya-darśanāḥ
- śuśrūṣamāṇe munayo 'lpa-bhāṣiṇi
- (SB 1.5.24)
These are the qualifications how to receive favor of the devotee. He was, Nārada Muni, in his previous birth, a boy servant. But boys are generally restless. But Nārada Muni was not restless. Cāpale. What is given there? Proclivities. Generally, boys are attached to so many different types of playful things. This also becomes possible by association. Just like you are all young men, you have got so many desires, naturally, especially in the Western countries. But you have voluntarily given up not to go to the restaurant, not to go to the club or theater or cinema. These are good qualifications.
By such endeavor even the most forgotten soul is roused up to the sense of spiritual life, and thus being initiated by the bhaktivedāntas the people in general gradually progress on the path of transcendental realization. So the vedānta-vādīs initiated the boy even before he became self-controlled and was detached from the childish sporting, etc. But before the initiation, he (the boy) became more and more advanced in discipline, which is very essential for one who wishes to make progress in the line. In the system of varṇāśrama-dharma, which is the beginning of actual life, small boys, five years of age, are sent to become brahmacārī at the guru's āśrama just to learn discipline."
So unless one is disciplined... This is the only qualification, that Nārada Muni was disciplined. So much disciplined that he's a small boy, still, he would not talk anything nonsense. He was so disciplined. So the more we become disciplined... As it is stated in the śāstras, utsāhād dhairyāt niścayāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt.
It is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is being enlivened by seeing Rādhārāṇī, and Rādhārāṇī is becoming more beautiful by seeing Kṛṣṇa. Duye lagye hura huri. The competition. This is described in the fourth chapter of Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So it is transcendental sporting between the devotee and the Lord. It is not nirviśeṣa-vāda. The Lord wants to see "How he is My pure devotee." And the devotee wants to see that "I'll not accept anything from Kṛṣṇa. I shall sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa." That is duye lagye hura huri. That is devotee, and that is Kṛṣṇa.
So here is Arjuna. He's being examined by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wants to examine His devotees, how staunch devotee he is. Just like the Pāṇḍavas. They were put into so many troubles. They lost their kingdom, they lost their wife-insulted. The wife was endeavored to become naked. Never..., the Pāṇḍavas never said that "Kṛṣṇa, You are our friend. Why we are suffering so many troubles?" Never. Never.
So Bhīṣmadeva saw that "Kṛṣṇa has broken His promise. Therefore I give up this fight." Kṛṣṇa came to threaten him. That means He has broken His promise. "So I wanted to see that Kṛṣṇa breaks." This is also affection, love, between devotee... Just like in sporting, just like you want to see your friend defeated, but that does not mean you are enemy. In sporting, there is fight. That one party is defeated. That does (not) mean they are enemies. Next moment, they shake hands, sit together, dine together. It is like that.
So in this way Kṛṣṇa saved. Therefore mahāratha astrataḥ. And at last, Drauṇi, the son of Droṇācārya, Aśvatthāmā. He was so crooked that he killed the five sons of the five Pāṇḍavas, and at last, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in the womb of his mother. He wanted to kill him also. Brahmāstra. Brahmāstra, atomic bomb nowadays.
Because he has to practice. So what kind of animal? Not the cows or simple animal. He must kill one tiger, one lion, one jungle boar. Ferocious, very ferocious animals, That was the kṣatriya's business. Not that a rabbit (laughter) or an innocent bird, sports. This kind of sporting was not allowed. If you want to kill, you must kill one rhinoceros. Then one can understand that you have power of killing. That kṣatriya used to do. Even, say, twenty-five years ago, Mahārāja of Jaipur, he used to go into the forest every year and he would fight with a tiger, simply with a sword, simply with a sword. He would fight with a tiger in the jungle, and he was so expert, he would kill. And then the tiger would be brought in procession, in royal procession. Because the king used to say, "This tiger is the king of forest, or the lion is the king of the forest. I am also king. So after his death, there must be a royal reception.
All the cowherds boys, they are very rich. They have got enough grains and enough milk. Naturally they will be rich. But not that the cows and the calves will be taken care of by some hired servant. No. They would take care himself.
That was children's sport, to go to the forest, take the calves and cows and carry some tiffin. Eat there, dance there, play there, and again come in the evening. Then they will take bath and change their dress and take their meals and immediately go to sleep. This was the boy's, children's, engagement. So how they would grow healthy because they go outside and play and work and very happily, they enjoy the company. So there is no question of becoming contaminated.
Just like we go to the seaside, the beach, similarly, there is bank of Yamunā, very nice river, and there are trees. So these boys, Kṛṣṇa and His friends, with their cows they will go and loiter on the bank of the Yamunā and sport and frivolities, everything, so nicely. So there was no question of education at that time. After the child is grown up, healthy, nice, then he goes to school. Otherwise first of all eat sumptuously milk, butter and yogurt, and play sufficiently in open air with friends, take care of the cows. This is labor. But it is sporting, very nice. So these things were taught by Kṛṣṇa Himself, although He was the son of king. Then when He was also grown-up, His real father took Him charge, Vasudeva.
He is always with cows, and how the cows look very happy with Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is personally teaching how to protect cows. He became a cowherd boy. He was king's son, Mahārāja Nanda; but His business was to take the cows and the calves daily to the pasturing ground. And it was very sportive engagement with the cowherd boys. The cows were grazing, and the boys, they took their meals in a pot, tiffin carrier. Not tiffin carrier in those days. Some way or other. And they used to eat them, distribute amongst the friends. Sometimes a tiffin carrier was stolen by one boy, and he was searching, and then it was... So just like the boys do. This was the children's life, to take protection, to give protection to the cows, to the calves. The small children, up to six years, seven years old, they used to take care of the calves, and the elderly men, the used to take care of the... Or elderly boys, they used to take care of the grown-up cows. So the cows were fed very nicely. Vrajān.
And when she was insulted, because she was lost in the gambling... Bet was that "This time if you lose, then your Draupadī should be lost." So she was lost in that way.
So Karṇa was refused to take part in the sporting, piercing the eyes of the fish, because Draupadī actually knew that "Arjuna is my real husband. So if Karṇa takes part in this sporting..." Karṇa was powerful. He would gain. But she did not like Karṇa. Therefore at that time she said that "This sporting is meant for the kṣatriyas, not for the śūdras." Karṇa was known at that time as śūdra. You will find all these stories in the Mahābhārata. Karṇa was also Yudhiṣṭhira's brother, born of Kuntī before her marriage. So Kuntī did not disclose that Karṇa was her son, but he was raised by a śūdra. People knew that he was a śūdra. So Karṇa had a grudge against Draupadī. Therefore he planned to place her in the gambling game.
So he was not getting any opportunity to fight because there was no enemy with whom to fight. But as soon as he got the news that Kali has entered in the jurisdiction of his kingdom, he got the chance of fighting.
Those who are sportsmen, they want to play. Naturally, one who is expert in some art... Just like there was one Bhasmāsura. So... Bhasmāsura? Bhaumāsura? What is the name? Bhaumāsura. So Bhaumāsura, by the grace of Lord Śiva, he got one thousand hands. And he wanted to fight, but he was so powerful that nobody would dare to come before him to fight. Therefore he was practicing to fight with the hills and mountains and cracking them and smashing them. So one day he complained to Lord Śiva, "My Lord, you have so kindly given me the hands to fight, but I don't find any opponent to fight. So what is the use of these hands, so many?"
So here Parīkṣit Mahārāja went for digvijaya just to challenge all over the world, "Now I have been selected by my grandfather as the emperor of the world. If you do not accept my authority, then here is fight. Come on. Here is fight. Let us fight." So if by fight he becomes victorious... Just like in modern sporting also, there are rival parties, and ultimately, the party which defeats all other sportsmen, they get some reward, seal, or some cup. Similarly, this is also another type of digvijaya. Parīkṣit Mahārāja went out of home not king, simply drinking and enjoying the dancing of the young girls just like the Muhammadan kings when they deteriorated. Still there are so many fools. No. King's duty is to subdue the miscreants who will create disturbance. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja was such a nice, what is called, hero, that he got out of his home.
Here there is distinction between master and the servant, but in the spiritual world there is no such distinction. Sometimes the servant is rendering service to the Lord, and sometimes the Lord is serving to the master. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when He was playing with His friends, so they were sporting, and in the sporting there is defeat and victory. So if some of the friends would become victorious, then the challenge was that one who will be defeated, the victorious person will ride on his shoulder. That was the challenge. So when Kṛṣṇa became defeated, the other boys, they rose up and got up on the shoulder of Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa had to carry them.
And he was informed that "Mahārāja Parīkṣit has insulted your father by garlanding him with a dead snake." The fact was that Mahārāja Parīkṣit was in hunting. One after another, so many things comes, but let me explain to you. This hunting business was allowed only for the kings, kṣatriyas, not for ordinary man. Killing in sports. Because the king had to administer so strongly that sometimes he had to kill an evil person immediately with sword. The kingdom was very strong. Not many days before, say, about hundred years ago in Kashmir, if a thief was caught, burglar was caught, and he was proved that he has committed theft, the king would personally cut off, chop off his hand. The punishment was so severe. And the result was that even you miss something on your way, nobody will touch it. Everyone was afraid: "Let the things remain there. One who has lost his thing, he will come and take away.
At least that is the philosophy. It is restriction. So all these facilities given sometimes in the śāstras or by the government for drinking or for intoxication or for sex or for gambling, that is restricted. Gambling, kṣatriyas, they can gamble. They must have the sporting spirit. Otherwise when they are defeated they will succumb to death. So they have to... The gambling, I lose one hundred thousand dollars, "Never mind. It is sporting." Otherwise I will succumb to death. I have been... What? That is being done in gambling clubs. But if you do it in a sporting habit, then "Never mind. I gain or lose, it is nothing." That's all. Kṣatriyas are allowed because when they fight they will have to gain or to lose. But if they lose, if they become succumbed, then it will be very difficult for them. They are allowed to hunt. If they cannot kill, then how can they rule over the criminals? The kṣatriya king, "Oh, he is a criminal"?
Not only that, when Kṛṣṇa was fighting with Rukmiṇī's brother, he lost his chariot. So, and Rukmiṇī took the sword. So Kṛṣṇa also throw His bow and arrows. He also took the sword. Not that "I shall possess better weapons to kill you." No. Equal. Equal terms. "If you have no sword, I will give you a sword." Yes. "Take this sword. I take another." That is kṣatriya spirit. Sporting. So for kṣatriya, this animal killing, this, which is abominable, but they require.
Don't worry. Sleep nicely." So Kṛṣṇa could understand that "This arrangement has been done." So Kṛṣṇa reminded Arjuna that "Duryodhana wanted to give you some benediction, being pleased upon you. Now you go there and take the five weapons from him." So when My point is that how the fighting was in a sporting spirit. So Arjuna, when came to the camp of Duryodhana, Duryodhana well received him: "Yes, my dear brother, come. What do you want? Why you have come?" "Now, you promised something to give me. I have come to take that." "Yes, I will give you. You want without fight the kingdom? Take it immediately. You want that?" "No, no, no. I don't want that. Fighting must go on. That is not I have not come to beg you that. We shall I have come to take that weapons which you have kept." Immediately he delivered. He kept the safety for killing them, and because he has come to beg "A kṣatriya should not beg, but he is begging? All right, take it." This is India. This is India's civilization.
Ānandamaya, the Vedānta-sūtra says, ānandamaya..., "By nature, spirit soul is ānandamaya, always full of jolly." You see Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is full of jolly. Always you see pictures of Kṛṣṇa, either He is playing with the cowherds boy or either He is killing some demon, He is laughing, very sportively He is killing. And what to speak of with the gopīs and Rādhārāṇī? Because He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), always full of happiness and bliss. And we are also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore our position is the same, maybe in small scale. The position is the same, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Ānandamaya. So why should we be morose? Why should we be unhappy? Because we are now at the present moment covered with the sinful reaction of our life. So if we purify ourself... Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa (SB 6.1.13). We have already discussed, or that will be discussed later. The human life is meant for that.
Ten thousand men are working, but the capitalist is not working. It is our practical experience. He is aloof from the factory. In a nice place, in a nice bungalow, garden house, he is enjoying. Similarly, God, Kṛṣṇa, He is the enjoyer. You will find, therefore, Kṛṣṇa here in this temple, He is enjoying. He is standing with His elder brother, enjoying in the forest, sporting with His cowherd boy friends, His cows, calves—enjoying in the forest. The description is there in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. And those who are playing with Him, those who are associates of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, they are also not ordinary persons.
You stop breathing, but you are transferred, transmigrated to another body. So death we are experiencing daily. So out of hundred years, old age, age, the span of life, we are practically dead for fifty years because we are sleeping. Then the fifty years, out of the remaining fifty years, in our childhood we are very much fond of sporting and playing. So twenty years by playing. So seventy years gone. Then during old age, family adjustment, so many things not done, thinking, thinking, another twenty years. So in this way, unless we are trained up in our childhood about the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness, it will be very difficult to take up this consciousness with our grown up age. Prahlāda Mahārāja is therefore recommending, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1).
So those who are ajitātmanaḥ, although they have got one hundred years' age, still, fifty years they are wasting at least because they will sleep at night twelve hours. So fifty years wasted. And the other fifty years? That will be described in the next verse: twenty years by sporting, because a man, a boy, up to... It is natural, every country. They are students. Instead of becoming brahmacārī... Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dāntaḥ. Instead of becoming śānta, dānta, very peaceful, they are indulging in sporting. This is introduced in India also. I have seen in Calcutta many young men. At twelve o'clock, no, they are playing football. Why? There is no engagement. What he'll do? Unemployment. There is no employment. Because education means to become servant, to write one application and go office to office: "Sir, give me some service." "No, no, no. No vacancy. Get out."
Oh, this is advancement of civilization. Instead of utilizing the valuable form of human life, there is always wasting. And at night they are sleeping, and at noon they are playing football, you see, wasting in this time. So this will be explained next verse, mugdhasya bālye kaiśore krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ: (SB 7.6.7) "By so-called sporting life, twenty years passed, fifty years by sleeping, and twenty years by football." Then seventy years passed. And jarayā grasta-dehasya yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ. And when he is old man: "Here is pain. Here is rheumatism. Here is...," what is called, "diabetes and so on, so on." So by treatment, by blood examination, by this..., viṁśati, another twenty years. So twenty years sporting, twenty years diabetes and fifty years sleeping—then what is left? Where is the opportunity for Kṛṣṇa consciousness? This is modern civilization.
Harikeśa: Translation: "In tender childhood age, when everyone is bewildered, he passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, being engaged in sporting and playful things, another ten years. In this way twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when a person becomes invalid and he is unable to execute even material activities, he passes another twenty years wastefully."
Prabhupāda:
- mugdhasya bālye kaiśore
- krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ
- jarayā grasta-dehasya
- yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ
- (SB 7.6.7)
So fifty years out of one hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping. And then balance fifty years, twenty years in childhood and youthhood, sporting, playing; another twenty years in old age... Jarayā grasta. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). These are inevitable. As birth is inevitable, death is inevitable, similarly, old age is inevitable. So in this way our time is wasted because we do not know how valuable this human form of life is.
Is it not? But since Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is being chanted, there is rainfall. So they do not know the secret of rainfall. Yajñād bhavanti parjanyaḥ. If you perform yajña, then there will be cloud. Parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ. Annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ (BG 3.14). This prescription is there. As soon as you stop performing yajña—you take pleasure in sporting, no yajña... Now big, big cities, they have got big, big Olympian sporting, but no yajña performance. So why there shall not be scarcity of rain? And as soon as there is scarcity of rain, there is scarcity of food grains. And as soon as there is scarcity of food grain, so many so-called associations will come out, "Give us grain. We have to feed such and such person, such and such village." So it is not going to the village. It is collected, and they use at their own. And government also raise tax. There will be constant durbhikṣa. So to stop durbhikṣa, government will tax the people.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
All the family members can gather together, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and read śāstras, as we are doing in this temple. But the present tendency is that we have..., they have got sufficient time to smoke, they have got sufficient time for playing cards, they have sufficient time for drinking, going to the cinema, going to the sports. But they have no time for developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the difficulty. As soon as you talk of them, talk to them about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they'll immediately say, "Sir, we have no time." And for other things, the paraphernalia of Kali-yuga, they have got enough time. They'll read newspapers, all full of rascal news. "One man has stolen, one man has kidnapped, one man has stabbed." These news, he'll very, with great interest he'll read. And as soon as we present Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, "Oh, this is not good." This is the position.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
And in rotation, after some lakhs of years, again Kṛṣṇa comes on this planet. This is... Therefore Kṛṣṇa's līlā is nitya-līlā. So just to attract us, that "You are fond of dancing. Why don't you come back to Me and dance with Me?" this is Kṛṣṇa's business. "Why you are rotting in this rotting dance? You want association. You want sporting. Why don't you come to Me and take part in My sporting with the cowherds boys?" This is invitation of Kṛṣṇa.
So one who has got intelligence, they will try to enter into the pastimes, transcendental pastimes of the Lord, either as a cowherd boy or as a servant or as a flower, as a tree, or the water of Yamunā, or the land, or the father and the mother and the conjugal lover. Or it may be as enemy, as Aghāsura, Bakāsura, Pūtanā. They are also blessed because they are acting with Kṛṣṇa.
He exhibits His līlā in Vṛndāvana to attract the conditioned souls, who are engaged in false līlā, temporary līlā, or hellish līlā. Kṛṣṇa wants to save us. The propensity is there. Kṛṣṇa says, "Not here. Not in this material world. This is perverted. You come to Me." But the Māyāvādīs, because they have poor fund of knowledge, they think that "If again there is līlā, there is sporting, there is dancing, so that is here. Then it is māyā." In their poor fund of knowledge, brain cannot accommodate that Kṛṣṇa's līlā and this līlā are not the same. Not the same. They think when there is līlā, then it must be māyā; therefore they are called Māyāvādī. Their idea is that liberation means minus this līlā, no more līlā, simply stop everything. Or voidism.
Best. Just like in sporting, there are champions in chessboard playing champion or so many departmental champion. This is coming from long, long ago. So similarly, there were champions of scholars. Just like in modern days a sportsman will challenge, and if he is victorious all over the world... Similarly, in those days there were competition of the great learned scholars, champions. So this Keśava Kāśmīrī... At least India, that was the system even five hundred years before. So Keśava Kāśmīrī, he was a paṇḍita.
Festival Lectures
And so many people who are sincere seekers are being deluded, and this is very unfortunate. There is said to be two classes of men. One class of men is satisfied with his existence. He goes from one pleasure to another. From the cinema to the restaurant to sports, from one to the other. "I can't wait to finish one to go to the next," and still he's saying, "I'm happy. I'm satisfied." And there's another class of men that is not satisfied. These men are searching, that there is always something on his mind. He is thinking, "There must be something behind all of this. That I can look at all of this as a unified whole." So this first class of men will not want to take to spiritual knowledge, but the person who is inquisitive and is not satisfied with this material life, he can hear this knowledge submissively and derive great benefit from it.
See how I am enjoying." Just so that we may have our brain cleared that if we enjoy with Kṛṣṇa, we can enjoy the dance, the paternal love, the conjugal love, the friendly playing with boys, with animals, who is in the garden, in the forest, in the water-same thing is there. Everything is there, all the sporting, but spiritual. So this is Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis (Bs. 5.37). So we are seeking pleasure within this material world. That is imitation. That is not real enjoyment. But the basic principle of enjoyment is there. Here there is imitation enjoyment, love between young boy young girl. So wherefrom it comes? It is there in Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise how it can come? It is not possible. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). This loving exchange between young boy, young girl is there. Kṛṣṇa is also enjoying there.
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Nitāi: "The completely bewildered material civilization is wrongly directed towards the fulfillment of desires in sense gratification."
Prabhupāda: Simply wine, women and beach, and sporting and jumping like monkeys, this is the... We require little satisfaction of the bodily demands. That's all right. But not for this purpose. The bags have come?
Harikeśa: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Oh, then that's all right. There is oil.
Harikeśa: Upendra's getting ready for your massage.
Prabhupāda: Read it.
Initiation Lectures
What are those sinful activities? That is simple. We have mentioned. You should take it note. No illicit sex life. Beyond marriage, there is no sex life. No intoxication. Even drinking tea, coffee, they are also intoxication-cigarette smoking. No intoxication. No meat-eating. Simple. Only Kṛṣṇa prasādam. Whatever... If you remain in the temple you will get Kṛṣṇa prasādam, and if not, outside you prepare your capati, dahl, offer to Kṛṣṇa and take. Don't take anything except Kṛṣṇa prasāda. The third... And no gambling or unnecessary sporting. People are wasting time. So many sportings they have invented-sporting balls, this ball, that ball. You see? Human life is very short. We do not know when we shall die. Before that, we must prepare ourself for the next life. Next life means directly going back to Kṛṣṇa, highest perfection. As you'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, yānti deva-vratā devān pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25).
General Lectures
There are twelve kinds of rasas, humor. Just like sometimes we want to see a very pathetic scene in some drama, some ghastly scene. Somebody is murdering somebody and we take pleasure in seeing that. There are certain kinds of person... There are different kinds of sporting. One of our student in Montreal, he was saying that his father took pleasure in bull fighting in Spain. When the bull is killed by fighting, he was taking pleasure. So different kinds of men. One person is seeing, "It is horrible," another person is enjoying, "Oh, it is very nice." You see? So Kṛṣṇa can accommodate. If you want to love horrible things, Kṛṣṇa can present yourself as Nṛsiṁha-deva, "Ah."(laughter—Haribol) Yes. And if you want to see Kṛṣṇa as very loving friend, He is Vamśī-dhārī, Vṛndāvana-vihārī. If you want Kṛṣṇa as loving child, then He's Gopāla. If you want child as loving friend, he's Arjuna. Just like Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa.
His name was Sākara Mallika, name was also changed. But this Sākara Mallika later on decided that he would propagate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement started by Lord Caitanya. So when he wanted to resign, the Nawab was very much sorry, because he was right-hand man. He frankly said that "I am engaged with sporting and so many other proclivities, and you are my only representative to rule over the country. If you resign, then I shall be in great danger. I cannot accept your resignation." Then he said, "Your majesty, I am sorry. I cannot proceed any more. I shall retire from the service." Then Nawab said that "Then I shall punish you. I shall immediately arrest you. I cannot let you go." The answer of Sanātana Gosvāmī was that "You are king, representative of Nārāyaṇa, so whatever punishment you give, I shall accept."
So from Bhagavad-gītā, if you study scrutinizingly each word and each śloka—not by man interpretation, but actually as it is—then we can understand what is our eternal life, what is our eternal pleasure, how we can return and sport there. Everything is explained there. Everyone can go. Everyone can transfer himself in that spiritual world—simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa. That's all. And the Kṛṣṇa understanding is there. Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā. He, if you do not introduce your so-called foolish scholarship, then you get actually back to home, back to Godhead, by simply studying Bhagavad-gītā. But if you add your foolish rascal scholarship, that "Kṛṣṇa means this and that means this, this means that," then you are lost. Study Bhagavad-gītā as it is. You get all information how to realize Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So 'ham. Don't misinterpret.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: The..., everything is calculated at the time of death. That is nature's process. That I was talking in the morning, that these boys, they are too much addicted to these water sports. Twenty-four hours they are indulging in this water sport. They are creating a mentality to become aquatic animal. So naturally, at the time of death, he will think of all these things and nature will give him a body. Yes. That you cannot check. After death you are completely under nature's control. You cannot dictate. That these rascal do not understand. Therefore they, "Finish this business. There is no life after death. That's all."
Hayagrīva: Now how was it that a great personality like Indra, with his mind, intelligence, and ego all intact, how is it he could become a toad?
Prabhupāda: Mūḍhā janmani janmani mām aprāpyaiva (BG 16.20). Because he does not get under the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, so life after life he is trying to be happy and he is becoming baffled. He is manufacturing new way of sporting—sometimes diving in the water, sometimes flying in the air. So this sporting, as soon as, according to his desire, God is supplying, "All right, you want to fly, you become a bird. You want to dive in the water, all right, you become a fish, big fish." So God is giving you and trying to see whether giving up all this nonsense plan he comes to God and surrenders unto Him: "Sir, I have, I have tried all my plan; I could not become happy. Now, my Lord, you say that 'You give up all this nonsense business, you surrender unto Me, I will make you happy.' " Then he becomes happy. For this message, God comes. Because this rascal will not do according to the desire of God; therefore God comes personally and teaches him—as Lord Rāmacandra, as Lord Kṛṣṇa, as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and He, They, He gives the same instruction, that "You surrender unto Me and act according to My instruction; you will be happy." But he will not do that.
Hayagrīva: Skinner believes in what he calls reinforcement, reinforcing people's behavior. He doesn't believe in punishing people when they do wrong, but he believes more in a system of rewards. He writes, "A government may prevent defection by making life more interesting, by providing bread and circuses, and by encouraging sports, gambling, the use of alcohol and other drugs, and various kinds of sexual behavior, where the effect is to keep people within reach of aversive sanctions." So he...
Prabhupāda: He recommends these things?
Hayagrīva: So he believes that through..., by providing the people with sense gratification the government can keep people from acting in an antisocial way.
Prabhupāda: That means he is also of the same category. No, that will not help. Just like, the example is given in this connection, that when there is fire, if you think that putting more and more ghee the fire will extinguish, that is not possible. To keep the society in order they must be educated according to his capacity, and they should be engaged for common benefit. That is required. Not that to encourage them in their bad habits things will be done nicely. No. That is not possible.
Hayagrīva: Well, uh, he mentions, oh, working together, types of work, all, all types of work are shared equally. Family ties are discouraged. Children are generally held in common. People can live the good life, and he defines, "The good life means the chance to exercise talents and abilities. And we have let it be so. We have time for sports, hobbies, arts and crafts, and, most important of all, the expression of that interest in the world which is science in the deepest sense, an exploration of nature. Last of all, the good life means relaxation and rest." So the, the woman would be able to participate in the good life when she's finished bearing children at the age of twenty-three or whatever.
Prabhupāda: They are, difficulty, that is missing, that what is their ideal life, what is the aim of life. So he is prescribing so many things. That will not help the human society. And women, about women, this idea that (s)he should be married at sixteen years old, that is good, but it is not that women stops child breeding by the twenty-two years age. No. There are many women and they can beget children in, in advanced age. I, so far personally I know, my mother was the youngest daughter, and she was born when my grandmother was fifty years old. So it is not that the woman stops child begetting at the age of twenty-two years age.
Purports to Songs
Everyone has the facility to become the greatest devotee of the Lord. So he's praying "My dear Kṛṣṇa, Your feet is lotus." Generally we say "Lotus feet". But where the lotus flower is there, the white swans, they come to the lotus flower and try to play with the stem. They sport, going down the water, and be entangled with the stem of that lotus flower. That is their sporting. So King Kulaśekhara is praying that "Let the swan of my mind be immediately entered into the network of the stem of Your lotus feet." So that means he wants to engage his mind on the lotus feet of the Lord immediately. There is no question of delaying. He says that "Now I am in sound mind. If I think that I shall think of Your lotus feet at the time of death, there is no certainty. Because, at the time of death, the whole body becomes dislocated. The whole function becomes dismantled."
Lord Caitanya's activities is just like an ocean of loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore one who takes a dip into this ocean, gaura-prema-rasārṇave, sei taraṅga yebā ḍube. Just like we take a dip and bath, and we play, sport, in the waves of the ocean or sea. Similarly, one who takes pleasure, taking a dip and sporting with the waves of the ocean of Lord Caitanya's distribution of love of God, such a person becomes immediately a confidential devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Sei rādhā-mādhava-antaraṅga. Antaraṅga means not ordinary devotee. They are confidential devotee. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, gṛhe vā vanete thāke. "Such devotee, who is taking pleasure in the waves of Lord Caitanya's movement," because he has become a very confidential devotee of the Lord...
So in Śaṅkara sampradāya nobody is accepted as bona fide impersonalist unless he has accepted the renounced order of life. But here, in Caitanya's movement, there is no such restriction. Advaita Prabhu, He was a householder. Nityānanda, He was householder. Gadādhara, He was also householder. And Śrīvāsa, he was also householder. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu also married twice. So it doesn't matter. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that to become in renounced order of life, or to remain in householder life, that does not matter. If he is actually taking part in the movements of Caitanya's saṅkīrtana activities and actually understanding what it is, he is taking sport in the waves of such devotional ocean, then such person is always liberated. And Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura is aspiring his association ever increasingly. That is the sum and substance of this song.
| Page Title: | Sport (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Mayapur, RupaManjari |
| Created: | 05 of Oct, 2011 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=53, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 53 |