So Kṛṣṇa conscious person is neither interested in pious activities or impious activities, but one who is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are pious, transcendental, automatically. He hasn't got to try separately. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā (SB 5.18.12). Anyone. Take for example nonviolence. Nonviolence is good quality. Now here, you see Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna. Arjuna is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Automatically he's trying to be nonviolent. "Why should I fight?" This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because he is devotee of Kṛṣṇa, nonviolence is already his quality. People are starting vegetarian society to become vegetarian, a very uplifted society. But the persons who are in Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are already vegetarian. That means the people in the ordinary status, they are trying to acquire some good qualities, but in Kṛṣṇa conscious person you will find all the good qualities automatically. That is the difference. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa conscious person is not interested that this is good work or this is bad work. He is interested with Kṛṣṇa. Because his activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is all transcendental, better than good, śuddha-sattva, pure goodness. In the material world, the goodness, the quality of goodness is sometimes tinged with passion and ignorance. But in pure goodness, which is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no tinge of passion or ignorance. Automatically everything is good. Yes.
Upliftment (Lectures)
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Sudāmā: "One should therefore act very diligently under the expert guidance of a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa or under the direct instruction of Lord Kṛṣṇa, under whom Arjuna had the opportunity to work. Nothing should be performed for sense gratification, but everything should be done for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. This practice will not only save one from the reactions of work but will also gradually rise one to the platform of the transcendental loving service of the Lord which alone can uplift one to the kingdom of God."
Verse number 10: "In the beginning of creation the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying 'Be thou happy by this yajña (sacrifice) because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things (BG 3.10)."
Prabhupāda: Yes. In the creation, after creation, the yajña was also created and everyone, created being, was ordered to perform the yajñas. One cannot... Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriyā na tyājyam. In the Bhagavad-gītā also you'll find that you may be a renouncer, sannyāsī. A renouncer, you have renounced this world. But the four things, yajña... Yajña means working for satisfaction of Viṣṇu, yajña. Dāna, charity. Yajña, dāna, tapaḥ. Tapaḥ means austerity, following the rules and regulation for spiritual upliftment. These things are not to be renounced. If somebody says, "Oh, I have renounced the world," that does not mean you can renounce the service of the Lord. No.
Therefore Kṛṣṇa comes and He presents Himself just like ordinary man acting. Why? Just like here in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa is present in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. Oh, He had no necessity of presenting Himself in the battlefield of Kurukṣetra. But it is for us because we are very much anxious to know where battle is going on, where fighting is going on, where detective is working, where murder is committed. All these literatures attract us very much. Stories and literatures, all these things, they attract very much. In a bookshop you go, if you ask them, "Supply me one copy of Bhagavad-gītā," he will have to find out. But if you ask a bookseller, "Give me some novels," oh, he will present so many things. Because our inclination is like that. We are always anxious to learn these mundane affairs. We have no taste for spiritual upliftment. That taste we have lost.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Devotee (2): Yes, but I'm still wondering. Is it the nature of the Kali-yuga that mother and father always separate? Is it the nature of the Kali-yuga that this family separation is always happening?
Prabhupāda: (chuckles) Therefore I say, kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ: "In the Kali-yuga there are only śūdras." There is no brahmacārī system, no... Now we are introducing it, even collecting from the śūdras. But actually, these four divisions, scientific division of social order for spiritual uplift..., that is already gone. It is not existing. Do you follow? Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. In the Kali-yuga, amongst the śūdras, there is no āśrama, simply earn, earn, get some money and eat. That's all. That is śūdras life. There is no question of Vedic culture, there is no question of knowledge. Simply labor, get some money, and eat. Almost like animal. So at the present moment, as you say, in the Kali-yuga, it is accepted that everyone, almost everyone is a śūdra. But in the pāñcarātrika system, not Vedic system, Nārada Pañcarātra, they are... Otherwise, do you mean to say because everyone has become śūdra, the science of Kṛṣṇa, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be stopped? No. Even they are śūdras, they should be given that opportunity. And that opportunity is given by Lord Caitanya very liberally: "Whatever you may be, come on, sit down, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and you become more than a brāhmaṇa." This is the highest gift of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But if you take otherwise from the social conventional life, oh, there is no brāhmaṇa, there is no gṛhastha, there is no brahmacārī. There is all gone, all finished. So those rules and regulation are not now applicable because amongst the śūdras there is no such rules and regulation. It is meant for the brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, and those are gone. They are finished. Now, even though the people are in the status of śūdra, they should be given opportunity for spiritual advancement, and that is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's special gift, and very easy, that "Whatever you may be, you may be a brāhmaṇa, you may be a kṣatriya, vaiśya, that doesn't matter. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and gradually realize."
So this human society should be divided into eight divisions. That is first-class human society. Just like any organization, any establishment, there are divisions of labor. The directing board, board of directors there are, then the secretarial board, then ordinary clubs, then menial, then workers. There must be division; otherwise it's chaotic. Nowhere you'll find without division it is going on very smoothly. There must be division. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). It is ordered by God that there should be four divisions for the materialistic condition of life and four divisions for spiritual upliftment. So there must be the brāhmaṇa, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13). Varṇa means four divisions of society. Varṇa means class. It has been taken now as caste; but actually class. Class is not caste. Caste, of course... Throughout the whole world there is no such thing as caste. But anyway, in India there is caste. But Kṛṣṇa says that cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam: (BG 4.13) "Four divisions of classes I have created—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra." Who is a brāhmaṇa? That is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā: satya, śama, dama, titikṣā, ārjava, āstikyam, jñāna, vijñāna, so many qualifications required to become a brāhmaṇa. Not that because I was born in a brāhmaṇa family... This is discussed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that to take birth in a brāhmaṇa family is not all. You must be qualified, śamo damas titikṣā. That is required. The Indian culture has failed at the present moment because instead of considering the qualifications, they accept only the birth: The birth in a brāhmaṇa family makes a man a brāhmaṇa. No. That is not the shastric injunction. Qualities. There must be qualities.
Just like a hog. A hog, if he changes his country or position, if he's taken to heavenly planet, then what he will be? He will try to find out, "Where is stool?" Because the body is hog's body. Similarly, an Indian, because he has got Indian body, even if he goes to America, he'll try for spiritual upliftment. That is the nature. A tiger, if you take in a civilized human society, he'll try to hunt. So they do not understand that by superior management, every living entity has been offered a different type of body for material distress and happiness. Everyone. It is not possible to change. Therefore, if we are intelligent enough, we should know that "My distress and happiness in this material world is already fixed up because I have got a particular type of body. Then when it is fixed up, then why, why I shall waste my time for so-called distress and happiness, when it is fixed up?" Just like you are running in a train. You have already purchased a ticket for third class.
This is... "You Write books on this principle, that they are sticking to their so-called religious principle, so if anyone giving up his own religious system or occupational duty..." Religion means this sva-dharma. Sva-dharma means that the whole human society is divided into four classes—brāhmaṇas, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra—in different names maybe: intelligent class, administrative class, mercantile class, and laborer class. It may be in different names, but these four classes, division, is there all over the world in different names. So sva-dharma means, intelligent class means they are interested in philosophy, in religion, in uplifting the human society to the proper position. That is intelligent class. And administrator class means they are interested in giving protection to the people. Now it is under nationalism. And give them protection from the enemies, from thieves, from rogues. That is the duty of the kṣatriya. Kṣat. Kṣatta means injury, and tra means one who protects or liberates. "One who protects a human being from being hurt by others"—that is called kṣatriya. And brāhmaṇa means one who knows Brahman, the Absolute Truth. And vaiśya means those who know visampati, the economic problem. And śūdra means laborer. So each word has got meaning. So everyone has got his particular type of occupation, either as intelligent class of men, or as the administrator class of men, or as vaiśyas, traders, or merchants, or as a laborer. Everyone has got.
In a Bengali proverb it is said, śarīre na mahaseya ye sahaye taya saba. This body is so nice that if you practice something, it will be accustomed. Just like we are sitting on the floor. If we practice to sit on the floor, there is no necessity of this couch. We are not refusing couch if available, but not that without couch I cannot sit. This kind of civilization is condemned. Besides that, we have got our own business. The real business is athāto brahma jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam you will find, kāmasya nendriya-prītir (SB 1.2.10). So there are some necessities for sense gratification, but not for the senses, but for spiritual upliftment. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth.
Those who are attached for sense gratification... Bhoga means sense gratification. Bhogaiśvarya. Aiśvarya, opulence and sense gratification, those who are too much attached... Now, why people are so much slow in the matter of understanding spiritual value of life? At the present moment, why people are not...? Manda. Manda means very slow. They do not take seriously that... Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the most important movement for the upliftment of the human society, but they do not take it very seriously. Why? Bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām. They have been taught... The modern civilization is simply teaching people how to enjoy life by sense gratification. Especially in the Western countries, so many things. Even for shaving there is machine. Means they do not want to ply the razor even. Formerly, safety razor, formerly, there was Halogram(?) razor. Now simply you take the machine. Not to move the hand even. You see? This is advancement of civilization. The more you enjoy your senses...
So nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhac chrotra, vinā-paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4). We have to become very simple and pure. Then it is possible to relish the transcendental chanting. So bhavam āśritaḥ. For one who has taken shelter, actually this is not our place. This very word is used, āśritaḥ. Unfortunately we have taken shelter of this material world. Otherwise it is not our place. We are spirit soul, sanātana, and there is a sanātana-dhāma, place. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). This word is used, sanātanaḥ. Means eternal. These living entities, they're eternal. They are not meant for this world. Here, nothing is eternal; everything is temporary. So why we should remain here? It is not. Therefore it is called bhavam āśritaḥ. Unfortunately, he has taken shelter of this place where he has to die and take birth again. So bhavam āśritaḥ. So Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends, tato yateta kuśalaḥ. If one is interested for his upliftment, kuśalaḥ... Kuśalaḥ means auspicity. Everyone wants auspicity. Tato yateta kuśalaḥ kṣemāya bhavam āśritaḥ. Ultimate auspicity or ultimate goal of life. So long the body is strong... Not that... Prahlāda Mahārāja has begun, kaumāra ācaret prājñaḥ. General education also. Education is given to the children, not to the old men. Because that is the rising of the body. He's receptive; he can take. Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation is that so long we are strong, we are in working order, we are not feeble or all energy lost... No. When you have got full energy, full strength, young men, children, they should take this lesson of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is recommended for them. Not for the old man who has lost everything. But they have taken it that Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is for the old man who is going to die. But here it is recommended—no, for the strong man, youthful children, like that. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is recommending, because the business is very important. Bhavam āśritaḥ: to get out of this bhava. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
So they are not ordinary. We should not think like that. The ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāva. That is Kṛṣṇa's expansion of pleasure potency. Kṛṣṇa wants to be controlled by Yaśodāmāyī. Kṛṣṇa wants to be defeated by His friends. Kṛṣṇa wants to be refused Rādhārāṇī's darśana. Yes. Rādhārāṇī is angry, she has refused, she has ordered the sakhis, "Don't allow Kṛṣṇa to come here!" Yes. Kṛṣṇa is flattering. (laughter) "Kindly let Me go." "No sir, you cannot go." This is Kṛṣṇa. You see. But at the same time, gopī-jana-vallabha. Jaya śrī-rādhā-mādhava gopī-jana-vallabha. Kṛṣṇa is, that is Kṛṣṇa's actual life. He is gopī-jana-vallabha, He is rādha-mādhava, He is giri-vara-dhārī. As soon as the gopīs and the cowherd boys in distress, He will uplift this hill, Govardhana, giri-vara-dhārī. That is Kṛṣṇa's life. As the gopīs, and the cowherds boy, and the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, they have sacrificed everything, they do not know anything but Kṛṣṇa, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also does not know anything beyond Vṛndāvana. That is Kṛṣṇa. That is Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, ocean of blissful life.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
Guest (2): Question was, "Why there is a chaotic situation if...," I think if I'm understanding him correctly, "Why there is a chaotic situation? If God is to uplift the soul of all the persons, all the livings, why there is a chaotic situation?" Lord Kṛṣṇa has said that yadā yadā hi glānir bhavati... That is the answer, guru will say. Why there is a chaotic situation? That is his question, sir.
Prabhupāda: The chaotic sit..., must be there. Kṛṣṇa says one thing and you do other thing. So why there shouldn't be chaotic condition? You hear Kṛṣṇa, you follow Kṛṣṇa; there will be order. But if you do not follow, Kṛṣṇa says something and you do something... Kṛṣṇa says that,
- evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
- imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
- sa kāleneha (mahata)
- yoga naṣṭo parantapa
- (BG 4.2)
Festival Lectures
So actually this logic is coming to be true, there is now agitation. People are feeling the pressure of this movement, and in Europe and America there is opposing party. But don't be afraid. Take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement very seriously. It is not a national movement or some social movement. It is the movement to uplift the position of the whole human society. So that was the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Somehow or other we are taking it little seriously. Let all the Americans, Indians, especially young men... Don't misunderstand these Europeans and Americans C.I.A. Don't be mad, crazy fellow. They have taken Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They have nothing to do with politics. And you also, young men, you also join on the basis of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and do something philanthropic for the whole human society.
General Lectures
So our business is to inform you. Just like one of the devotees of Lord Caitanya, he said that padayor nipatya, "Falling down on your feet," padayor nipatya, dante nidhāya tṛnakaṁ padayor nipatya, "taking a blade of grass on my mouth and falling down on your feet with flattering and informing you, 'My dear sir, you are very learned man. I know that. But for the time being, please set aside all your learning. Kindly hear what Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says.' " We belong to that sect, Lord Caitanya's disciplic succession. So our business is falling down on your feet and flattering you and making many, I mean to say, salvation(?), I mean simply we request you that try to understand this philosophy, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You will be benefited. The so-called knowledge, so-called elevation, so-called upliftment, oh, this will be all finished as soon as your body is finished. But you are pure soul. You have to educate yourself how your soul can be saved from this cycle of birth and death within the species of 8,400,000's in different planets and different places. Just try to elevate to the spiritual world, back to home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of your human life. Don't lose this opportunity. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is easy thing, Hare Kṛṣṇa, only sixteen names. Anyone can chant. Even the child can chant. You try it. There is no payment; there is no loss. But you try it and you'll be benefited. That is our proposition.
We have divided God's land: "This is America. This is India. This is Germany. This is England." But after all, this is our given name. This planet especially... Not only this planet, all other planets, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-loka-maheśvaram: He's the proprietor. Formerly, five thousand years ago, this planet was being governed by Kṛṣṇa's representative, Mahārāja Parīkṣit. That is actually life. Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor of all planets, and one should be Kṛṣṇa's representative to rule over the planet. That is Vedic system. There cannot be any king or emperor who is not representative of God. It is the duty of the representative of God to take charge of a planet and educate the persons, the citizens, into God consciousness. That is Vedic way of life. Not that the chief executive or the government simply levies taxes from the citizens and let them go to hell. This is not good government. The government must be responsible for the uplift of the citizens to the spiritual life. That is real government.
Philosophy Discussions
Hayagrīva: Material life is a projection of the will.
Prabhupāda: Yes, he has read it. It is taken from Indian... It is called vāsanā. Vāsanā means desire. So that desire, material desire, but the living entity cannot be desireless. Desireless..., nirvāṇa means material desires finished. But because living entity is eternal spiritual being, he is, he has got spiritual desire. Now it is covered. The desire is there, desire is constant companion, but because it is materially covered, we are thinking this temporary world as reality, and it is not reality; therefore it is changing. We are having different types of desires according to the body we get, and the soul is transmigrating in this material world from one body to another, and he is creating a certain type of desires, will. And to fulfill that will he is getting a different type of body by the Supreme Will. He is willing, and the Supreme Will, God, Kṛṣṇa, understanding his will, giving him facility to accept a certain pattern of circumstances, body, to fulfill his particular desire. That is going on. Therefore this vāsanā, or will, is the cause of his material existence, constantly changing, and on account of changing will he is changing body. This is the complication of material existence. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to teach the living entity that as living being you must have desires. If your desires are stopped, then you become like stone. So you have to cleanse this desire, diseased form of desire. That is bhakti. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Now the desires are according to the upādhi, according to the body. A man gets the body of American, he thinks, "America is my home. American nation, they are my brother. American upliftment is my business," so on, so on. And as soon as it is changed, you are Chinese man, again he thinks, "I am Chinese." Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). He has to change. He has got the material body of a dog, he is barking, "I am dog. This is my business, to bark." So this is all desires. So these desires are temporary. By one desire I get one body, then I desire another body, another body, it is going. So therefore in one sense it is dream, that factually he cannot fulfill the desires, like dream. Yes. There are so many different circumstances. They are all temporary. So this, at night you dream, it is say for one hour or two hour. We..., nobody sees one kind of dream for two hours. Say even two hours, then finished, then another dream. So this change of body is also like a big dream. At night we dream, we forget everything about daily activities, and again when the dream is finished, again we come to this body and we do some things. So in that sense all material activities, subtle or gross, they are manifestation of different desires. Therefore the Māyāvādī philosophers, they say brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. The dreamer is fact, but the dream is false. That is one sense it is right. So our Vaiṣṇava philosophy is the same, that the dreamer is the living entity and the dream is temporary. Therefore the dreamer has to be brought to the real, spiritual platform so that these material dreams, either in day or night, they can be extinguished. That is nirvāṇa.
| Page Title: | Upliftment (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Visnu Murti, MadhuGopaldas |
| Created: | 19 of Mar, 2012 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=16, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 16 |