Ladies and Gentlemen, we are very much thankful to you for your kindly participating in this great movement, Hare Kṛṣṇa. This Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is especially meant for this age because for self-realization, although there are many methods recommended in Vedic scriptures, in this age the greatest common factor for self-realization is simply chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.
Actually, our miserable condition of life is due to our forgetfulness. As I said yesterday, day before yesterday, this material existence is a condemned position of the living entities, exactly like a criminal is placed in the prison house. Now, the whole Vedic literature is meant for getting us liberated from this conditional life.
So far Bhagavad-gītā is concerned, the same aim is there, because at the ultimate instruction, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ (BG 18.66). That is the ultimate goal. We have to come to that point, to surrender unto the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. 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 (SB 1.2.8). In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said:
- dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ
- viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ
- notpādayed ratiṁ yadi
- 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. But if that following your religious system, if you do not come to the point of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or if you do not become interested in the matter of understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you should know it that your performances of all religious ritualistic ceremonies are simply waste of time.
So how to come to the point of surrendering to the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is taught in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. So I shall . . . I have given you some introduction to the Bhagavad-gītā, that this Bhagavad-gītā contains subject matter relating to God, to the living entity—īśvara, jīva—and prakṛti, and the time factor, and karma.