Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). The brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, situation, is that "I am not matter; I am spirit." That's all right. But we have to sustain the spirit. How we can sustain? We can sustain when there is spiritual engagement. Otherwise, it is not possible. Otherwise, I may continue for some time, but there is chance of falling down because we have got this information and a practical experience also: great, great, I mean to say, yogis and jñānīs, they again come. We have some practical experience. Sometimes we find a person leaves all worldly engagements, leaves his family, gives up his family connection, becomes a renounced order, sannyāsī, and highest order, and then, after some time, he becomes engaged in opening hospitals and philanthropic work and in politics. We have seen it. Oh, why? You have renounced the world. Why you are hospital-making business? Hospital-making business is there, going on by the government, by the state. You are not meant for making hospitals. You have to make hospital how people can get rid of this material body. That is spiritual activity.
We have got practical experience (Lectures)
Expressions researched:
"we have got practical experience"
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|"we have our practical experience"
|"we have practical experience"
|"we have some practical experience"
|"we have the practical experience"
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
Bhagavān. There is definition of Bhagavān. Not that any rascal advertises himself Bhagavān and he becomes Bhagavān. No. Parāśara Muni, father of Vyāsadeva, gave us what we mean by Bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence, and vān means one who possesses opulence. Just like we have our practical experience. Anyone who is very rich, he's attractive. He becomes attractive. Many men go to him for some favor. One who is very influential, he becomes very attractive. One who is very famous, he becomes attractive. One who is very learned, wise, he becomes attractive. One who is very wise, he becomes attractive. And one who is in the renounced order of life Renounced order of life means one who possesses everything but renounces, does not use it for his personal benefit. Just like a person who is very charitably disposed, he gives everything to the public. He's also very attractive.
So these are six kinds of attraction. So Bhagavān means one who is in full possession of all these attractive features, He's Bhagavān. Not any rascal loitering in the street and becomes Bhagavān. No. That is misleading.
If we speak something about Kṛṣṇa and Rāma... Generally, in the villages, the Rāmāyaṇa or Mahābhārata, they are recited by the paṇḍitas, and still thousands and thousands of men come to hear about Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. We have practical experience in India. We held several Hare Kṛṣṇa festivals in Calcutta, Bombay and Hyderabad, Madras, many thousands people come. Twenty thousand, thirty thousand people, they come, still. So my request is that you are here in foreign country, you don't forget your heritage. That is my request. Don't be baḍa sāheb. Remain as Indian with Indian culture, and here is the temple of Kṛṣṇa, we are distributing this Kṛṣṇa culture all over the world. So don't miss this opportunity, but you take advantage of it. That is the duty of every Indian.
Mogha-karmāṇaḥ. Mogha-karmāṇaḥ means fruitless, baffled. Whatever they are doing, doing something, but at the end they will find it is frustration. They are not happy. Take for example we have practical experience in India. Mahatma Gandhi, he was a great worker for national emancipation. You have heard his name. But at the end he was so much disgusted—that I have seen personally—wherever he used to go, he used to plug his ears like this. Why? Now, wherever he would go, thousands of people would gather and will cry, "Mahatma Gandhi ki jaya!" So the poor fellow could not sleep even. The person, as soon as there is some scent that "Mahatma Gandhi is coming here," at least five thousand people will gather and will cry, "Mahatma Gandhi ki jaya." So at the last stage of his life he could not sleep due to this crying. Just see. And he was so much disgusted, the very morning when he was, I mean to say, assassinated—he was killed by bullet shot—he said to his secretary, "I am so disgusted, I wish to die." You see. This very word was published in the paper. Now see. Such a big worker, such a..., simply a worker, but still, he felt baffled. And what to speak of others.
So here it is said, ye bhajanti tu. Bhajanti means render service in love. When there is question of love, there is service. Without service... We have got practical experience. Suppose if I love somebody and if I don't give him something, don't eat something or give him something eatable, then what kind of love it is? That is not love. Love means bhajanti, render service. That is love. That is the beginning of love. So even there is no love, if you, under the prescribed rules and regulation if you simply render service, then you will develop love.
So the Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand. They are thinking that "Why these people are taking so much trouble, dancing jumping?" They cannot under... Therefore they feel displeasure. They feel disturbance because they are not purified. So āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ. The demonic principle is to become bound up by their desires, but if you are on the spiritual platform, then all your desires means loving service to the Lord. That is wanted. So the demons' desires is described here. There is nothing to be explained. We have got practical experience in the material world. They are always thinking, idam adya mayā labdham: "Now, today I have earned five hundred dollars" or something more or less. Mayā labdham means "I have got it." Imaṁ prāpsye manoratham: "Again I shall get tomorrow so much money, and my bank balance will increase to such and such strength." Idam asti: "I got so much, and so much will be added, and the balance will increase." Idaṁ me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam: "In this way I will increase the amount of my wealth more and more."
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
Hṛdayānanda: (break) ...you could explain something of what the scientists are always talking about, mutation and variation, and how one species evolves from another species.
Prabhupāda: By the mind, intelligence and ego. At the time of death, you think of what you have done all through your life. So the mental situation at the time of death will carry you to the different form of life as your mental situation. We do not see the mind, intelligence, although we say that "I have got mind. You have got mind. You have got intelligence. I have got intelligence." So but we do not see it. It is very subtle thing. But after the destruction of this gross body, the subtle body carries me to another gross body. we have got practical experience. The mind is so forceful that you are sitting here, and within a second, you can go to your home or homeland, which may be ten thousand miles away, immediately. The example is given: just like from a garden, rose garden, the flavor is carried by the air, and it is transferred to another place. So in this life, whatever mental creation we are doing or creating, that will be carried in the next life, and according to that, nature will give us a body. So if we think of dog, maybe we are transferred to the dog's body. If I think of God, then I shall be transferred to a god's body. So we have scattered our love for so many things in the material world. We have to collect everything and transfer everything for loving God. That is successful life. So if we think of God, then how we become purified, and next we become transferred to the kingdom of God. And if we think of material things, then again we shall be transferred to another material body.
Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, āmāra ājñāya guru hañā (CC Madhya 7.128), "You become a spiritual master under My order." So if you carry out the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa, then you become guru. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā. Unfortunately, we do not wish to carry out order of the ācāryas. We manufacture our own ways. We have got practical experience how a great institution was lost by whimsical ways. Without carrying out the order of the spiritual master, they manufactured something and the whole thing was lost. Therefore Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura stresses very much on the words of the spiritual master. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana (BG 2.41). If you stick to the order of spiritual master, then, without caring for your own convenience or inconvenience, then you become perfect.
But we have got practical experience that if somebody from very exalted post becomes a renouncer, he cannot tolerate that. We have seen it. In Calcutta there was a big man. You have heard. Mr. C. R. Das, Gandhi's lieutenant, he gave up his practice. In those days he was..., fifty years ago he was earning fifty thousand rupees. So that is not joke. So he became mendicant. All Gandhi's followers, they became mendicant. Without becoming mendicant, you cannot do any welfare activities. That is the Vedic process, sannyāsa. So but he could not live. After giving up his job as a lawyer, he could not live for more than one year, because he was living very opulently and all of a sudden he became a mendicant. He could not tolerate. That we have seen. But here we see that the Gosvāmīs, they were also very big men, ministers, but how they lived? Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau, gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī. Gopī-bhāva. They were living simply by thinking of the ecstatic love of gopīs. Gopī-bhāvāmṛta. That is compared with an ocean. As the ocean is beautiful, constant flowing of waves, similarly, the ocean of bliss of the gopīs relationship with Kṛṣṇa, these Gosvāmīs were always absorbed in that.
We fall down, we, because we are very small, spiritual sparks, and Kṛṣṇa is the whole fire. And the fire and the spiritual, fire, sparks from the fire, their quality—the same. They can burn. As the big fire can burn, similarly, the small spark, if it falls down on your cloth, that portion, it will immediately burn. It will become back, black. So the quality is the same. But when it falls down, it's burning quality becomes extinguished. We have got practical experience. Burning quality becomes extinguished. So when we fall down from the spiritual world, we come to the material world, our spiritual quality becomes extinguished. That we have to revive. That we have to revive.
Prabhupāda: You can make everyone happy, even the kirāta. Kirāta means the Africans. They are called niṣāda. Niṣāda was born as the son of the king... I forget just now name. Mahārāja Pṛthu's brother.
Devotee: Veṇa?
Prabhupāda: Veṇa, yes. Out of the body of Veṇa. Niṣāda. So they became thieves. They were, professionally, they became thieves, and they were asked to live in the jungle. So we have got practical experience. So these junglese, they are very much accustomed, however you keep them nicely, they will steal. Niṣāda. Is it not? (laughs) We have got very practical experience. We are pushing on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and we have got experiences, different types of men. So they can also be delivered. How? Yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ, if they associate with sādhu. Yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ means if they are given the chance of associating with devotees, they can be delivered.
So Kṛṣṇa also says, all śāstra says, that our only obligation is to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we take to that process, then we are no more obliged to anyone. We are free. That is really freedom. How it is done? That is the almighty God's power. He can do that. Just like we have got practical experience. If a man is condemned to death, nobody can save him by law. But if the president or the king excuses him, then he is saved. That we have got practical experience, king's mercy or the president's mercy. So if you actually surrender your everything, your life... Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. We can sacrifice our life, our wealth... Prāṇa, artha... We can sacrifice the intelligence. Everyone is intelligent. If he sacrifices... This is called yajña. If you sacri... You have got some intelligence. Everyone is intelligent how to make his sense gratification very nice. Even an ant knows how to gratify his senses. So you have to sacrifice that. Don't gratify your senses, but try to gratify Kṛṣṇa's senses. Then you are perfect. Then you are perfect.
So Kṛṣṇa also says, all śāstra says, that our only obligation is to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we take to that process, then we are no more obliged to anyone. We are free. That is really freedom. How it is done? That is the almighty God's power. He can do that. Just like we have got practical experience. If a man is condemned to death, nobody can save him by law. But if the president or the king excuses him, then he is saved. That we have got practical experience, king's mercy or the president's mercy. So if you actually surrender your everything, your life... Prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā. We can sacrifice our life, our wealth... Prāṇa, artha... We can sacrifice the intelligence. Everyone is intelligent. If he sacrifices... This is called yajña. If you sacri... You have got some intelligence. Everyone is intelligent how to make his sense gratification very nice. Even an ant knows how to gratify his senses. So you have to sacrifice that. Don't gratify your senses, but try to gratify Kṛṣṇa's senses. Then you are perfect. Then you are perfect.
So Devahūti wants elucidation of the characteristics of puruṣa and prakṛti. So puruṣa is one, but prakṛti, there are many, energies. Prakṛti, energy. Just like we have got practical experience that husband and wife, the wife is supposed to be the energy. The husband works day and night very hard, but when he comes home, the wife gives him comfort, eating, sleeping, mating, in so many ways. He gets fresh energy. Especially the karmīs, they get energy by the behavior and service of the wife. Otherwise the karmīs cannot work. Anyway, the energy principle is there. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He has got also energy. In the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of everything, Brahman... athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahman... In one code Vyāsadeva describes that janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Brahman, Supreme Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything comes." So unless this principle is there, that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is also energized or worked with His energies; otherwise why this conception comes within this material world? The material world is shadow reflection of the spiritual world. Unless the original thing is there in the spiritual world, it cannot be reflected in the material world.
Viśvam ātma-gatam. This body, everyone's body, is also a small universe. Whatever the arrangement is there in this body, the similar arrangement is there in the whole universe. The principle is the same. The same arrangement is within the seed of a banyan tree. We have got practical experience that a small seed of banyan tree, very small, but the potency within the seed is there, a big tree.
So these universes are also coming like a small seed. Therefore innumerable universes: yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya (Bs. 5.48). From the breathing of Mahā-Viṣṇu, the small particles are coming, and they are developing into big manifestation of universal form. Similarly, our desire is also very small. We are very small, one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair. Still, we have got desires and everything. And according to the desire, as soon as there is creation, everything fructifies, everything comes out. It is called suptotthita-nyāya. Suptotthita-nyāya means just like one man is sleeping, and in the morning, when he is awakened... In the sleeping stage he forgot himself.
There are three guṇas; therefore the material nature is called guṇa-mayī. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Kṛṣṇa says that this material energy... There are three different energies of the Supreme Lord. He has got multi-energies, parasya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). We can see activities are going on, different varieties of activities in this world, but they have been summarized into three divisions: sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa... The animals, they are in the tamo-guṇa. Then gradually they are elevated by the evolutionary process to the rajo-guṇa, and then we are elevated to the sattva-guṇa. That is the brahminical qualification. And we have to surpass the sattva-guṇa also. Not that coming to the platform of sattva-guṇa we become perfect. No. There is chance of falling down from the sattva-guṇa. We have got practical experience in this age, Kali-yuga, many persons have fallen down from the platform of brahminical qualification. The brahminical qualification is the platform of sattva-guṇa: śamo damo titikṣava ārjavaṁ jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). This is the brahminical culture.
Self-preservation is the first law of nature. So in our ordinary activities we find the same thing. Suppose a big political leader, in the beginning he is interested with his family, with his family members, but sometimes he takes to national interest, for all members of the country, or the society, community. And then there is fight between one community to another community, one family to another family, one nation to another nation, because that extended self-interest does not make the thing perfect. That extended self-interest must be up to Viṣṇu. Then it will be perfect. But that they do not know, because they have no idea that there is Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, or Kṛṣṇa. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). They do not know. They think that I have extended my self-interest to my country, to my family, I have become a big man. And people also give him honor. This we have practical experience but that is extended self-interest. That is not actually philanthropy.
As soon as we deny to serve Kṛṣṇa, immediately māyā. As soon as we deny to obey the state laws, immediately we are criminals and subjected to the criminal acts, "Go to the prison." This is, we have got practical experience. You cannot defy the laws of the state or the laws of the worlds of the government. If we cannot... You cannot do it. If you do it, then you are punished. That is the statement in every śāstra. Daṇḍaniya. Daṇḍaniya, this daṇḍa is going on, one after another. Daṇḍa means punishment. But we are, because we are in illusion, we are thinking this daṇḍa is advancement of civilization.
So we should know, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8), this material world is nothing but a false attraction between man and woman. Not only in human society—in birds, beast, animal, aquatics, trees, plants, everywhere. You will find these pigeons, as soon as one female pigeon is there, and the male pigeon immediately wants to canvass, "Please come, let us unite." You have seen this is nature's way, sparrow.
But the policy is that his money, which is accumulated for sense gratification... In Western countries they accumulate millions of dollars and at the last moment he gives to his dog. (laughter) There are many instances, you know better than me. He has no, nobody even, because they do not marry, no children, no friend, so the dog is the best friend in Western country. Every gentleman must have this best friend, pet dog. So ultimately, because there is nobody to give, he gives it to the dog. Makes a will that my dog will get it and they'll give him jewelry, ornaments and so on, so on, so on. We have got practical experience, the big palace which we have purchased in Detroit, the man did not marry, so ultimately he bequeathed the whole estate to the dog. (laughter) And there is a tomb of the dog. (laughter)
So, one has to do it. If he does not do it for God, then he will have to do it ultimately to the dog. So better, so long you have got money, spend it for God. San-nimitte varaṁ tyāgo vināśe niyate sati(?). This is the instruction of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, that whatever money you have got, it will be spent. You cannot keep it. Either the money will go from you, or you have to go from the money.
We have got many example, the character of woman. It is not that. It is not generalization. But there is chance. If they are not controlled, not properly educated, there is chance of becoming puṁścalī, and there have been many instances that woman, for being attracted by paramour, has killed even one's own son. There are cases. So Bhīṣmadeva also advised that the shyness of woman, lajja, is the control. If you break that shy, what is called, shyness, then there will be disaster. That is the control valve naturally given. And woman's shyness is one beauty, beauty. We have got practical experience. And command also. We have practical experience in our life. You have seen that my friend came, Dinanath Mishra. They were our neighbor. So one day we were sitting on the corridor of the house. One sweeper woman, she wanted to come within, but very shyful, and with a covering of the head, although with broomstick and bucket, she was waiting because we were sitting both side.
This manyu-manyu means krodha, anger—it can be also utilized. Bhakti-dveśi-jane, those who are envious of devotees... Just like they are making propaganda in Europe and America that "Why this Kṛṣṇa conscious persons should be allowed?" So bhakti-dveśi. So one should utilize his krodha, anger, upon these persons. That is wanted. Kāma kṛṣṇa karmārpaṇe krodha bhakta-dveśi-jane. And moha, without seeing a devotee, without seeing Kṛṣṇa... Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaching, yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛsāyitaṁ śūnyāyitaṁ jagat-sarvam. This is illusion. Śūnyāyitam. Jagat is not śūnyaṁ. Just like we have got practical experience. If somebody's beloved has died, he sees everything zero. Nothing is appealing to him. Similarly, if we have developed our love for Kṛṣṇa and if we do not see Kṛṣṇa, that is śūnyāyitaṁ jagat-sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. But a devotee and ordinary person, if ordinary person wants to see something and if he cannot see, he becomes angry because that is kāma.
In the Fifth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the universal planetary system have been very nicely explained, and within the planetary system there is some planet, some planetary system which are called hellish planet. Actually in every scripture, not only in Bhāgavata, in other religious scripture, the description of hell and heaven are there, some way or other. So in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you'll find where are those hellish planets, how it is distant from this planet. Just like modern astronomy, they have got calculation, how far the moon planet is there from here, what is the distance, what is the distance between earthly planet, the sun planet. Similarly, there are hellish planets also. Just like... We have got practical experience. Even on this planet, there are different conditions of atmosphere. Western countries, nearing the North Pole, the climate is different from India because it is near the equator. As there are differences of atmosphere and condition of life within this planet, similarly, there are particular planets also, the condition of life, atmosphere and everything different.
Never think, "Oh, it is small fire. It will extinguish automatically." No. It may take a very, I mean to say, blazing shape at any moment. So one should not neglect fire. Similarly, debts also. If somebody thinks, "Oh, I have got this hundred, thousand dollars I am indebted. All right I shall see to it." After some years it may increase to five thousand dollars. So similarly, disease also. Suppose you are thinking that "Oh, this is nothing. It will cure out of itself." No. That is the instruction. So we should not neglect. And in the Manu-saṁhitā it is enjoined that when a man is a murderer, that we have got practical experience, the king condemns him to death. And the Manu-saṁhitā supports that it is good. It is good for him. In every country and every law that "life for life" is good. Because if he's hanged in this life, then next life he hasn't got to suffer. His all sinful reaction is finished, being hanged. Therefore in every state, and especially in the Manu-saṁhitā, it is said that it is king's mercy when a person is hanged for his murdering sinful activities; it is to be thought that king's mercy.
So last night in our meeting, we were... Not last night; day before last night. Parīkṣit Mahārāja, King Parīkṣit, is very much, I mean to say, compassionate by hearing different kinds of miserable conditions in different hellish situation. He is asking Śukadeva Gosvāmī whether there is any possibility of delivering them. Vaiṣṇava, a devotee of the Lord, is always anxious to reclaim the fallen souls, who, out of ignorance, they are suffering. We must know always that by ignorance only we suffer. Just like we have got practical experience: by ignorance if I take something which is not suitable for my constitution, I become ill, sick. So that sickness is due to my ignorance. I have seen in Calcutta one neighbor, he died out of ignorance. He took too much pakori one day, and they were fried in oil, and the next day he was attacked by cholera and died. So similarly, whatever suffering we are undergoing, that is due to our ignorance.
In every religious system there is a process of atonement. In Christian religion there is a process of atonement called confession. The Parīkṣit Mahārāja is practical politician. He said that... He had also experience that a criminal is punished and again he commits the criminal act. Nowadays we practically see also that government has enacted so many laws against criminality, but criminality is going on without any stoppage. We have got practical experience, as we have explained last night, that in the airport the security checking is going on for everyone, which means that after so much education, every one of us, we are dishonest. This answer is there in the śāstra: yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ. This means that if one is turned to be a pure devotee, then all the good qualities automatically become manifest in him. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇā manorathenāsato dhāvato bahiḥ (SB 5.18.12). Whereas a nondevotee, he has no good qualification because he is acting on the mental platform, as such, he will be always attracted by material things.
Tāpa-traya means three kinds of miseries: miseries inflicted by other persons or other living entities... That is, we have practical experience. We create so many friends also, so many enemies also. We do not go into the jungle because we know there are jungle animals who may attack us. So... Even at home there are bugs, there are mosquitoes; they also give us trouble. So there is a kind of trouble or misery inflicted by other living entities. That is called adhibhautika. Three kinds of miseries. Miseries offered by other living entities. We also offer, I mean to say, miseries to the other animals. Just like we have created our slaughterhouse. We send so many cows and animals for being slaughtered. Similarly, we are also attacked by other animals. So this is the law of nature. I am killing you, you are killing me. This is called adhibhautika. This is one class of misery. The other class of misery is due to this body and mind. Sometimes the body is sick; we don't feel very nice. Sometimes the mind is disturbed. That is also..., it may be due to other friend or other relative; so mind is not in order. This is called adhyātmika. So adhibhautika, adhyātmika. And other disturbance created by adhidaivaika. Daiva means on which we have no control. Just like earthquake, flood, or similar nature's disturbance on which we have no control.
"I enter into this creation." Without spiritual creation, without spiritual entities, there cannot be development of material. That is our contention, that this material world has developed because Kṛṣṇa has entered it. Anupraviṣṭaḥ. It is said here clearly, tair avasitas tad anupraviṣṭaḥ: "Because You have entered, therefore things have developed." Aṇḍāntara-sthaṁ paramāṇu-cayāntara... Without spiritual touch, nothing can develop. We have got practical experience that without the spirit soul, the body cannot develop. If a dead child comes out, the body does not develop. Because the spirit soul is there... So this nonsense theory that "Within the womb of the mother, unless the body is developed to seven months, there is no life," what is this nonsense? The body has developed to that seven months' condition because there is a spirit soul. Otherwise how it becomes seven months' developed? You'll find this description in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore the knowledge received from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is perfect. Any knowledge which does not corroborate with the knowledge in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that is useless knowledge.
That is His avyakta, impersonal form. Everything is Kṛṣṇa, but that does not mean that His personal form is finished. Because He is expanded everywhere... This is Māyāvāda theory, that "Because God has expanded in so many varieties, therefore God has no form." No. That is not the fact. Fact is, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). He is... In His original sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1) He is existing always in Goloka Vṛn... He does not go anywhere, leaving aside His friends, father, mother, beloved, anywhere. He's always... Vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya padam ekaṁ na gacchati. He does not go anywhere. Padam ekaṁ na gacchati. Just like a big man. We have got so many examples. A big man, he is sitting at his home. With family he's enjoying. But he is managing many, many hundreds of factories sitting there. We have got practical experience. Big, big business magnate, they do not come to the office, neither he goes to the factory. Simply by his order, telephone, "You do this," that's all. Things are going on. So if it is possible materially that one ordinary man, he can manage hundreds of factories and offices without going there, simply by his order, so how much powerful is Kṛṣṇa, we have to imagine.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
There are many stories. We have got practical experience that Akbar Shah inquired from his, one of his very confidential ministers that "How long a man is sexually inclined?" So the minister replied that "Up to the point of death." He replied. The Akbar did not believe it. But the minister sometimes took him to a man who was goi..., just going to die, and the minister requested Akbar Shah to get with him his young daughter. So when the Akbar Shah and his daughter was entering, the man on the death bed, he was looking to the young girl, not to the Akbar. So he pointed out, "Just see." And he was convinced, "Yes." So the sex life is so strong that you cannot be satisfied. If you re..., remain in material existence, then this sex desire will never be satisfied. But it can be satisfied only when you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures
They do not see who is behind this explosion. That is their ignorance or poor fund of knowledge. We have got practical experience that no explosion takes place without the touch of a human being. Similarly, even there was explosion going on, but there is a touch of the Supreme Being. That is the statement in the Bhagavad... Mayādhyakṣeṇa (BG 9.10). We are seeing the explosion. Just like child sees the explosion. He does not know that there, behind the explosion, there is a management of a superior being. This is childish observation. Because in śāstra we see that behind everything the hand of the Supreme Being is there, and by our practical experience also, we see that matter does not act automatically without being touched by a living being, so how we can accept this argument, that the explosion is going on automatically? What is the evidence? There is no evidence.
By one portion, the Garbho..., er, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu enters each universe, and within that universe He creates a ocean by His perspiration. Now, there are so many questions: "How these oceans are created?" The scientist says that it is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen gas. So wherefrom this gas came? The answer is here. Of course, from the gas, water comes out. If you cover one boiling pot, the gas, the vapor coming... And you will find spots of water. So from the gas, the water comes, and from the water, gas comes. This is nature's way. But the original water came from the perspiration of this Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Just like you have got perspiration. You can produce, say, one gram or, say, one ounce of water through your bodily heat. That we have got practical experience. So if you can produce one ounce of water from your body, why God cannot produce volumes and millions of tons of water from His body? Where is the difficulty to understand? You are a tiny soul, and you have got a small body. You can produce one ounce of water by your perspiration. Why God, who has got the gigantic body, He cannot produce water, the Garbhodakaśāyī, the Garbhodaka water? There is no reason to disbelieve. This is called acintya-śakti, inconceivable power.
So actually the original person for material creation, Mahā-Viṣṇu, through the agency of māyā, He has created. Māyayā sṛjaty adaḥ. All this cosmic manifestation is created in that way. Those who are not devotee, they cannot see that over the chunk, total material energy, there is the vision of Mahā-Viṣṇu. That they cannot see. Just like you'll find on the ground, so many flowers and grasses are coming up. How? By the sunrise, the glance of the sun. Where there is no sunshine, there the vegetables do not grow. We have got practical experience. Similar... Therefore the field or the earth is not exploding with the vegetation. It is due to the sunshine. Therefore it is coming out. It is the real cause. Similarly, accepting that chunk, the total material energy, it is agitated by the glance of Mahā-Viṣṇu. Then it explodes and things are coming out. We can accept that in that way, but not that automatically there was explosion. That is not fact. Therefore to the foolish person, the power behind the explosion is not visible. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). Therefore Kṛṣṇa says that "I am not visible to everyone, they being covered by the curtain of yoga-māyā." Mūḍhāḥ nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Tribhir guṇamayir bhavair mohitaḥ.
So what is the difference between the plural number nityas and singular number? Now, eka. Eka-vacana, singular number leader, God... Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. That is the difference, that we are living entity and Kṛṣṇa, or God, is living entity, but Kṛṣṇa maintains all other living entities; we cannot maintain even ourself. And we find difficulty especially nowadays to maintain even a family. That is the difference. And still, as a rascal, I claim that "I am God. I am God." Nobody can claim unnecessarily that one is God. First of all prove that you can maintain all the living entities. You cannot maintain yourself even. You beg from door to door, and how you become God? Very simple question. Because in the Vedas (it is) said that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: "That one, singular number leader, He maintains all other living entities." That we have got practical experience. He is maintaining within the sand so many crabs. He is maintaining so many ants in the hole of your room. He is maintaining millions of elephants in the African jungle. So out of 8,400,000's of forms of life, mostly 8,300,000 species of life are being maintained by that one maintainer. And some of us so-called civilized, we are trying to maintain ourself. Therefore nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). He is also consciousness. He is conscious. He is not acetana. Acetana means there is no consciousness. He is conscious, and we are also conscious.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu is going to explain the potency of the Lord—three potencies: spiritual potency and material potency and the marginal potency. How they are acting, throughout the whole cosmic manifestation, beyond that also, that very simple word, everyone can understand. The light is here, the bulb is here, localized, but the illumination is spread. And we can take advantage of the illumination. By the sun's illumination we see practically how trees are growing their leaves, their color. Everything is due to the sunshine, we have got practical experience. Where there is no sunshine, especially in these countries, all the leaves fall down, and as soon as there is sunshine, immediately millions and trillions of leaves come out. Immediately. Not that waiting. Immediately. At least in this way you have to understand how Kṛṣṇa's potency is working. That is the Vedic information, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktir. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport). Just like the sunshine is the potency of the sun and how it is acting wonderfully. Everything is perfectly—the flowers, the leaves—perfectly done. Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca.
Now, even a love extended, so-called love extended, that nationalism, loving the countrymen, loving the humanity, that is also not perfect. We have got practical experience. In our country, in India, Mahatma Gandhi, he loved his country very nicely. He sacrificed everything, and for thirty-five years he simply struggled for the, I mean to say, independence of his country, of his countrymen. But the result was, at the ultimate end, he was killed by his countrymen. After loving so much his country, the result was that he was killed by his country. So in this material world the love is like that. It is never perfect. It cannot be perfect. So Lord Caitanya, taking compassion on these poor fellows, He taught love of Godhead. If you love Kṛṣṇa, then you will feel pleasure. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said that "Every living creature is searching after pleasure, pleasure." Therefore we have presented this small booklet, that Kṛṣṇa is the Reservoir of Pleasure. If you can love Kṛṣṇa, then you will get pleasure. Otherwise, there is no pleasure. You will be frustrated. This is a fact. If you take it, it is nice. If you don't take it, then that is your misfortune.
So here it is said that kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās. Durnideśāḥ. Of course, you are my master, that's all right; whatever you order, I have to carry out. But sometimes the master orders that "You do this," which I should not do. We have got practical experience in our life. Sometimes we do something which is not to be done, but being carried away by lust we do so many nonsense things. So we are servant of this lust and anger. So one who is in sense, he says like this, that "I have served this kāma, krodha, but the result is that they are not satisfied." This material world, if you go on serving anyone and if you ask the master, "Are you well served?" he'll never say that "I am." Rather, even a master is satisfied, he will not frankly say, "No, I am satisfied." This is the nature. So the devotee says, "Now, because I see that I have to serve only, so I have given up the service of this māyā. I have given up the service of māyā." Utsṛjyaitān. "Utsṛjya, the service of māyā I have now given up." Then what you want to do? Utsṛjyaitān atha yadu-pate sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhiḥ. "Now, just presently I am little bit intelligent."
Arrival Addresses and Talks
Completely different from ordinary movement. This is spiritual movement. This movement begins when one understands that he is not this body. (break) We are under the bodily concept of life. Ninety-nine percent people think that one is this material body. But that is not the fact. The fact is that within this body there is the spirit soul. The example is given in the Bhagavad-gītā that because the spirit soul is there within the body, therefore the body is changing from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood, then middle-aged, then old man. This body is changing. But if the child is born dead—that means without the soul—then the body does not change. We have got practical experience. A dead child, if you keep the body in a preservative way, it will not grow. So long the soul is there, the bodily changes are there. From the womb of the mother, the embryo, the child, grows daily. Why? Because the soul is there. So our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to understand this fact first of all, that body is superficial.
Initiation Lectures
Just like a child; a child is persisting, crying, "Father, I must have. Give me." Father does not like to give him that undesirable thing, but because the child persists in crying, making disturbance, then my father says, "All right, you take." That is father's mercy. "Oh, why this child is crying? Let him have it. That's all." We have got practical experience. So, I may recite that in my younger days when my eldest son was only two years and half, so, he was trying to catch the table fan—the table fan was moving—so I was resisting(?), "No, don't touch." But he insisted, a child. So, one of my friends was sitting, he said that, "Make it slow and allow him to touch it." So I did it and the child touched it; then there was, in the finger, "Tunnng!" And, then I asked him if, "Again touch?"
General Lectures
Similarly, in Viṣṇu Purāṇa also, it is said, parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathaiva akhilaṁ jagat. Akhilaṁ jagat means the whole cosmic manifestation is a display of the multi-energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So because He is fully energetic, therefore He is attractive and the cause of all causes. These are the evidences of Vedic literatures. And when He was actually present, He was attractive in so many features. In the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, when He was speaking the Bhagavad-gītā, the speech which He delivered, although He is not present now in our vision, you cannot find in the whole world such attractive speech of wisdom. Nobody can say. What we have got, practical experience, about His speech, which is still going on, still we are trying to understand. The greatest scholars of the world, the philosophers, they are trying to understand Bhagavad-gītā. There were many, many great scholars and saintly persons all over India, but each and every one of them have tried to understand Bhagavad-gītā. Even Professor Einstein, he was reading Bhagavad-gītā.
So His attractiveness is evidently presented by the wisdom of Bhagavad-gītā. So He is all-attractive. There is no doubt about it. And in the Vedic literature we also understand: tasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati: "If you can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Absolute Truth, then sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati, you can understand everything, how it is working." Because everything is display of His energy. So if you can understand how His energy is acting, then you can understand the whole cosmic manifestation. That is explained in the Vedic literature. Just like in our presence we have got practical experience, the sun. The whole material world is maintained by sunlight. The planets are rotating by the heat of sunlight; the vegetation, the water, everything is being conducted by the sunlight. It is by scorching sunlight the water is evaporated from the sea. It is formed into gas, cloud, and it is distributing all over the land. Then vegetation is coming, and it is becoming green, yellow, many colorful. So actually, the sun is the cause of all material manifestations. So if anyone can study what is sun, then he can understand how everything is appearing. That is practical.
It is very difficult to surmount the stringent laws of material nature. It is not possible. If you surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then it is possible. So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is very scientific movement. It is based on authentic scriptures and experience and recommended by personalities like Lord Caitanya, Rāmānujācārya, and many stalwart scholars and devotees. So we are spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement... Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā in practical demonstration of life. So we are requesting you to study this movement. And it is very easy. It is..., you do not require any very big qualification to understand this movement. Anyone, even a child, can take part in this movement. We have got practical experience. When we chant, even children, they also take, they also chant, they also dance.
So we are teaching the same principles of Bhagavad-gītā, that "Let us surrender unto Kṛṣṇa." And the process is very easy. You simply chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is not a very difficult problem. Anyone, we have seen it practically, although this Hare Kṛṣṇa sound is Sanskrit sound, still, as soon as we chant it... Perhaps I am here the only Indian who can pronounce in Sanskrit, but you are all Americans. You also joined with us. And we have practical experience that everywhere we chant, everyone can join this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. So we simply request. Our movement is to request persons that "You please chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa, and if you go on chanting, you will find the solution of your life very easy." There is no expenditure and there is no loss. Suppose if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa—nobody will object. There is no tax. But if there is some gain, why don't you try to achieve it? Just make an experiment for one week. Chant as many times as you can: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And you'll find so many things in..., new in your life. That is practically experienced, and if you try to chant, you'll also feel. And I shall be very glad if you join with this chanting again when we shall perform again, and you shall join with us: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
We should consider what are the religion of the world 2,600 years ago because modern history cannot place before you any chronological list of religious evolution within 2,600 years. There was human society before 2,600 years. And what was their religion? We think, from Vedic evidences, the whole world was in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There was one God, Kṛṣṇa; one scripture, Bhagavad-gītā; one consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and one work, service of the Lord. From Mahābhārata, the great history of India, we can understand that up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the whole world was ruled by one flag, this Vedic culture. Gradually it deteriorated, as we have practical experience. Twenty years ago there was no Pakistan, but now Pakistan is existing. Similarly, the whole planet was known as Bhārata-varṣa. This Bhārata-varṣa name was after the king Mahārāja Bhārata, the son of Ṛṣabhadeva. Before that, this planet was known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa. And after the king Mahārāja Bhārata—he was a great king—he also left his kingdom at the age of twenty-four years, very young boy, for searching after spiritual realization, self-realization. That is the way of Vedic culture or Indian culture.
What is this world, manifestation. This is explained. Just like the fire is existing... Just like the sun, sun is an emblem of fire, and ninety-three millions of miles away it is situated, eka sthāni sthitasya, but because it is fiery planet, its heat and light is expanded, and in that heat and light everything is being generated. Just like, we have got practical experience, in western countries where there is no sufficient heat and light, the trees and the flowers do not grow so luxuriously, because there is want of heat and light. And when there is snowfall, when there is no sunlight, everything, the trees become, without any leaf, dry, śuṣka. So, as it is the cause of the different leaves and flowers and fruit, is the heat and light of the sun, similarly, Kṛṣṇa has got two kinds of energies. That is also heat and light. That heat and light is spiritual energy and material energy. The material energy, not material energy, material energy is practically darkness, there is no light. The Vedic instruction is therefore that, don't keep yourself within this darkness, tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. There is another sky. Just like in this sky, you will find it is darkness. Naturally it is darkness. Because there is darkness, therefore Kṛṣṇa has created the sun.
So long we have got this material body, there are four necessities of life. They are eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defense. So the cats and dogs, they also eat, they sleep, they have sex life and they can defend also. So therefore a human being should not be educated only for these four principles of animal necessities. The human necessity is to understand God. Therefore in civilized human society, there is some system of religion. Either you call it Christianity, Muhammadanism, or Hinduism, in civilized society there must be some form of religion. And a human being is supposed to follow the principles to have complete knowledge about God and himself, to know "What is the relationship between God and me?" and what is the goal of life.
So it doesn't matter whether you are Christian, Hindu, Muslim. The real purpose of life is to know God. And in the Vedic literature it is said, dharmaṁ tu sākṣāt bhagavat-praṇītam: Dharma, or religion, means the codes given by God. Just like in the state we have got practical experience.
This one verse He explained in sixty-four ways. Just see His learning. Not only that, when He was sixteen years old only, a great paṇḍita came to Navadvīpa. His name was Keśava Kāśmīrī. He conquered over all parts of the country..., India at least, because there was no possibility to go outside India. But He defeated him in one śloka when He was a boy. So He was not a fool, rascal. That is not the fact. But He represented Himself as a fool because we are fools. In this age we are all fools and rascals. What we shall read Vedānta and understand Vedānta? We have got practical experience how the so-called Vedāntists go to foreign countries and mislead them, and they learn how to eat meat and wine. This is their Vedānta knowledge. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew it very well that all the rascals, they will call them vedānti and do all nonsense. So don't become falsely a vedānti. Real vedānti means vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). If you simply know Kṛṣṇa and surrender unto Him, then you become a vedanti, real vedanti. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15).
So if we accept these words of Kṛṣṇa, then we become actually Vedānti. Without understanding these things as spoken in the... Bhagavad-gītā is the summarized Vedānta or Vedic philosophy. Because in this age, Kali-yuga, we are not very advanced. About us, it is described in the śāstra, mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā upadrutāḥ, prāyeṇālpayuṣaḥ kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ (SB 1.1.10). In this age, Kali-yuga, we are living not very long time. In Kali-yuga, the duration of life will be reduced so much, gradually, that if a person lives for twenty to thirty years, he'll be considered a grand old man. That day is coming. Now we have got practical experience. Our grandfather or father lived for so many years, but we are not living for so many years. Our sons will not live so many years. In this way the duration of life, the memory, the mercifulness, the bodily strength—everything will be reduced. This is already foretold in the śāstras. So therefore in this age we are all short-living, mandāḥ, very slow or bad, and sumanda-matayo. Everyone has got a obnoxious opinion about philosophy, about the goal of life. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo, and manda-bhāgyā, unfortunate also.
Philosophy Discussions
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is nonsense. If you believe in your existence, you should believe in others' existence also. Actually there is. Human being is not only existing, but there are so many, 8,400,000 different forms of living being. They are existing. So God is also one of them. According to Vedic understanding of God, that God is also one of the living being, but He is the chief, supreme living being. That is the difference. So, in the ordinary understanding a man is better than the animal, and another intelligent man is better than the nonintelligent man. So similarly, you go on with comparative study, one after another, when you come to the final living being, He is the Supreme. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: (BG 7.7) there is no more superior living being, and that is God. That we have got practical experience. You may be more intelligent than me, he may be more intelligent than you, go on, go on searching. So when you find somebody that He is the final intelligent, that is God. So what is the difficulty to understand? Why God shall not exist? If one person better intelligent than me he can exist, so why a person who exceeds all others in intelligence, He cannot exist? So there is no meaning of atheism. That is ignorance.
Prabhupāda: Yes, unless one has got full sense of God, they cannot stick to the worshiping method. And we have got practical experience in Los Angeles that we purchased that church because it was not going on at all. They made plans for Sunday school and so on, so on, but somehow or other it failed. Nobody was coming to the church. At last it was sold to us. Now this same church is there, and the same Americans are there, but at the present moment in our Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple it is always packed up. So what is the reason? The same church is there and the same men are there, but formerly nobody was coming, so that the church was sold to us. Now it is all packed up. What is the reason? The reason is that simply religious sentiment, assembly in the church, will not help us unless there is spiritual life and based on philosophy and full understanding of the goal of life. That will make religion perfect; otherwise no.
| Page Title: | We have got practical experience (Lectures) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Matea |
| Created: | 20 of Oct, 2009 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=49, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 49 |