720220 - Lecture SB 01.02.05 - Visakhapatnam

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this Lecture

720220SB-VISAKHAPATNAM - February 20, 1972 - 33:42 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

(munayaḥ sādhu) . . . pṛṣṭo 'haṁ

bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam

yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno

yenātmā suprasīdati

(SB 1.2.5)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly coming here to participate in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So I am reciting one or two verses from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, wherein Sūta Gosvāmī describes to the great sages assembled in Naimiṣāraṇya in respect of the importance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Naimiṣāraṇya, perhaps you have heard the name. At present there is a railway station near . . . between Hardoi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The station is called Nimsar, and still the Naimiṣāraṇya atmosphere is maintained there. It is a very nice, sacred place. If you go there, you will feel immediately Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So in that meeting, the great sages and saintly persons assembled there inquired from Sūta Gosvāmī that, "After departure of Lord Kṛṣṇa, wherein the principles of religions are kept?"

Kṛṣṇa appeared for re-establishing the religious principle, dharma saṁsthāpanārthāya (BG 4.8). When Kṛṣṇa or any incarnation of the Lord descends, there are two kinds of mission. One mission is paritrāṇāya sādhūnām (BG 4.8). The sādhus, or the devotees, they are very much anxious to meet God, Kṛṣṇa, so He fulfills the desires of the sādhu, and by the way He also vināśāya ca duṣkṛtam. Duṣkṛtaḥ means sinful, impious, to kill them.

So Kṛṣṇa has got two businesses. One, to give protection to the devotee, and the other is to kill the demon. Just like Kṛṣṇa appeared as keśava dhṛta narahari-rūpa (Śrī Daśāvatāra Stotra 4), Nṛsiṁha-deva, and Narahari, Nṛsiṁha-deva, one side He was blessing Prahlāda Mahārāja, the devotee, and the other side He was killing his atheist father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. You have seen the picture. So Kṛṣṇa, when He has got the fighting spirit . . .

Because Kṛṣṇa is the source of everything, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Here in this world also, you find two things: friendship and hostility. Just like modern political atmosphere, sometimes there is conference of friendship, and sometimes there is fight with lethal weapons. So this duality is visible in this material world, but in the spiritual world there is no duality. There is absolute peace and . . . (break).

So when He wants to fight, He comes here, because here there are many demons, so His fighting spirit is satisfied. Otherwise, for killing the demons, Kṛṣṇa does not require to descend. There are many agents of Kṛṣṇa. For example, this city, Visakhapatnam, on the seashore, if Kṛṣṇa desires, this whole city can be killed in a second, simply by overflooding the sea, or by storm. He has got many agents, parasya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC Madhya 13.65, purport). Or the material agent, Durgā devī, she can all . . . do all these things.

So Kṛṣṇa does not require to descend for killing the demons, but when He feels . . . just like a rich man sometimes feels to contest with some wrestler, that does not mean he requires it. That is the Kṛṣṇa spirit. He is all-blissful. So when Kṛṣṇa comes, descends, there are many demons. He especially comes for the devotee. But when He fights with the demon, that is also His favor, because anyone killed by Kṛṣṇa, he immediately attains liberation. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is absolute. Either He fights or blesses, the result is the same.

So this inquiry was made by the great sages in Naimiṣāraṇya, that "After departure of Kṛṣṇa, wherein the principles of religions are kept?" So the answer was given by Sūta Gosvāmī. He says, in the very beginning, munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo aham (SB 1.2.5): "Your question is very auspicious." Munayaḥ sādhu pṛṣṭo ahaṁ bhavadbhir loka-maṅgalam: "This question is very auspicious to the human society." Why? Yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno: "Because you have inquired about Kṛṣṇa." So, someway or other if you talk of Kṛṣṇa, then it is loka-maṅgalam. Those who are talking about Kṛṣṇa and those who are hearing about Kṛṣṇa, both of them are benefited. It doesn't matter whether he understands or not, if he simply . . .

(aside) You can stop. These children are creating disturbance. (host asks for quiet)

So the purpose is that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. The shortcut is to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So anyone who chants this Hare Kṛṣṇa and anyone who hears Hare Kṛṣṇa, both of them are benefited.

There is another verse in this chapter, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ . . .

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

(SB 1.2.17)

Our heart is filled up with dirty things. The dirty things is misunderstanding. The first misunderstanding is accepting, identifying oneself with this body: "I am this body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am this," "I am that," this identification is one of the greatest misunderstanding. And when Kṛṣṇa began His teachings in the Bhagavad-gītā, He first . . . because Arjuna accepted Him as his spiritual master. In the beginning he was talking like friends, but when the questions were not solved, Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master: śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7).

At that time, when Kṛṣṇa was accepted by Arjuna as his spiritual master, He first of all chastised him. He said, aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase (BG 2.11). Because Kṛṣṇa . . . Arjuna was talking as a family man, so therefore He first of all chastised him, that "You are talking from a low-grade platform, but you are talking just like learned man. You are not learned." Gatāsūn agatāsūṁś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ. "You are not talking like a learned man." That means Kṛṣṇa indirectly said that, "You are a fool. You do not know what is your identification." Then He explained that:

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

The soul is eternal and the body is temporary. It is changing every minute. Just like from our mother's womb, our first birth takes place between the father and mother. Two secretions emulsified, forms into a pealike body, a small pealike body. First night the soul takes shelter within that body, and the mother supplies the energy, and it develops. From that pea it becomes a small body, but the small body becomes greater and greater, and when it is fit for developing, or increasing in this material atmosphere, mother delivers the child and again it becomes developing.

So developing means changing the body. Child's body . . . every one of us had a body like a child, baby, but that body is now missing; we have got a different body. Young man has got a different body, old man has got a different body. So this is a fact, that the soul is there, but body is changing. Therefore the natural conclusion should be that when we leave this body, I take another body.There is no difficulty to understand this reasonable proposition of Bhagavad-gītā.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir . . .

(BG 2.13)

As dehāntaram, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, is dehāntaram, another body, similarly, old man, when the body is not . . . very old, it cannot be used anymore, or the supply ingredients is almost finished, then this body we give up, we accept another body. Now this body we are changing from multiforms of body, jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkyakāḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa), in this way 8,400,000 species of body we are changing.

And this human form is the greatest benediction for the soul to understand Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa says if in this body we try to understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9), if we simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, how Kṛṣṇa comes, what is His business, paritrāṇāya sādhunaṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtaṁ dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya (BG 4.8), what kind of religious principle He re-establishes, sambhavāmi yuge yuge.

So these things are explained very nicely in the Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone in India knows Bhagavad-gītā, and not only in India, throughout the whole world Bhagavad-gītā is very well known and widely read book of knowledge. I have traveled all over the world. In every country there are different language, translations of Bhagavad-gītā, and in Japanese countries there is Bhagavad-gītā, in Muslim country there is Bhagavad-gītā. So Bhagavad-gītā is the universal book of knowledge, and our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gītā.

We have not manufactured anything. The same thing which is very, very old, at least from historical point of view it is five thousand years old, but from scriptural point of view it is more than forty millions of years old. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gītā, because it is full of kṛṣṇa-sampraśno. Here Sūta Gosvāmī says, yat kṛtaḥ kṛṣṇa-sampraśno loka-maṅgala. "The question raised by you," bhavadbhiḥ, "by you," loka-maṅgala.

The Bhagavad-gītā should be read very widely, and should be understood very widely. That is the only source of auspicity for the human society. But don't misrepresent it. It has become a fashion now to misrepresent, comment on Bhagavad-gītā according to one's whims. That is very dangerous. That is very dangerous. Bhagavad-gītā should be read, should be understood as prescribed in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṛṣṇa says, in the Fourth Chapter, evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). The Bhagavad-gītā should be understood by the line of disciplic succession of authorized ācāryas. Fortunately, in your South India all the great ācāryas appeared—Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, all of them. So you are very fortunate, and the ācārya commentary is also there. Rāmānujācārya commentary is there, Madhvācārya commentary is there.

So you take advantage and read them very nicely. That is our request, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And try to understand Kṛṣṇa. If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then the result will be, janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ, in truth, in fact, which you can do only if you follow the ācāryas, not the rascals. Don't follow any rascal. You follow the ācārya, you'll get the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our request. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). Then your human form of life will be blessed. You'll get success in obtaining this human form of life. Not only that. You are all mothers present here. Teach your children from the very beginning, as it is recommended by Prahlāda Mahārāja:

kaumāra ācaret prājño

dharmān bhāgavatān iha

durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(SB 7.6.1)

Prahlāda Mahārāja says that children should be taught about religious principle, especially bhāgavata dharma. What is dharma and bhāgavata dharma? Bhāgavata dharma means the dharma of the soul, and ordinary dharma means the dharma of this body. Generally we understand the varṇāśrama-dharma, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā śṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13): the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas, the vaiśyas and the śūdras; brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa.

So actually this is our . . . Vedic principle is varṇāśrama-dharma. So this varṇāśrama-dharma is in relationship with this body. But we are not this body. Dehāntaraṁ prāp . . . we are changing our body. So sometimes we may become a śūdra, sometimes we may become brāhmin—that is change. But when you come to the platform of the soul, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20), that dharma, when it begins, the dharma of the soul, that is called bhāgavata-dharma, because when one is, uh . . . I mean, in the platform, on the platform of understanding soul, that is called brahma-jñāna, ātmā-jñāna.

So when one comes to the platform of Brahman understanding, that is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54): when you come to that platform, understanding of the soul, then you become joyful, free from material anxieties. Just like you are on a ship and it is in danger on the ocean, tottering. At any moment you can drown. But somehow or other, if you come to the land, then you feel safety, "Now I am safe." Similarly, this bodily consciousness—"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that"—that is just on the tottering sea. But if you come immediately on the spiritual platform, then prasannātmā, "Now I am safe." Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54).

To Brahman realized soul, he has no more any hankering, nor any lamentation. So long we are on the bodily platform, we are hankering and lamenting. We are hankering for things which we do not possess, and we lament for things we lose. There are two business: to gain some material profit or lose it. This is bodily platform. But when you come to the spiritual platform, there is no more question of loss and profit. Equilibrium. So brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. Because he has no more hankering and lamenting, there is no more enemy. Because if there is enemy, then there is lamenting, but if there is no enemy, then samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. That is the beginning of transcendental activities, bhakti.

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is directly giving this bhakti platform, by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, in the form of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is distributing Kṛṣṇa immediately, because in this age people are so fallen, mandaḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Alpayu: they're living for a short time; and mandaḥ, mandaḥ means very slow or inferior quality of human being. Not superior. Inferior quality means in this age there is practically no brāhmin; all śūdras. Kalau śūdra sambhavaḥ. Actually also it is so, because people in this age, if he gets one nice service, master, he is satisfied. One wife, one service, then his life is dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba bharaṇam (SB 12.2.6).

In this age if one can maintain his wife and few children, ah, he is very expert. He is to be considered as dākṣa, very expert. He hasn't got to make any sacrifice. Simply if he is somehow or other able to maintain a wife, that is . . . that has also become impossible. The social system is coming to such degraded position. In Europe and America I have seen, very few men are family men, you see, because it is botheration. They think it is botheration, or it is very heavy task. Actually, in their country it is very heavy task by so many laws and so many conventions. So they avoid marriage.

So therefore, in the symptoms of Kali-yuga it has been stated, dākṣyaṁ kuṭumba-bharanam. Kuṭumba means family. If one can maintain his family, he is to be considered as very successful. No, he hasn't got to make dākṣa-yajña or naradeva-yajña or so many yajña. No. That he has not got means. This is the position. Mandaḥ sumanda-matayo (SB 1.1.10). And if anyone wants to accept something for spiritual, that is sumanda-matayo, something bogus. He will accept something bogus which has no spiritual, I mean to say, reference. He will accept. "I have . . . I have got this religion." Mandaḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā. Because they're all unfortunate, and upadrutāḥ, and always disturbed and anxious by so many external affairs.

Therefore, in this age Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us very shortcut method—not manufactured by Him. No saintly ācārya will manufacture his way. He must refer to the Vedic literature. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu picked up the Vedic instruction:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

From Bṛhad Nāradīya Purāṇa. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also it is said:

kaler doṣa-nidhe rājan

asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ

kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya

mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet

(SB 12.3.51)

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu picked up these Vedic instruction and introduced it to the world five hundred years ago. And He predicted that this mission should be spread all over the world, and specially the task was entrusted with Indians. He said specifically that:

bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

(CC Adi 9.41)

Those who have taken birth as human being in India, they should take this task of distributing Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, for doing well to others. (applause)

So I request that we have made a background only for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and this movement has a great demand all over the world. They are confused with this materialistic way of life. They are not satisfied. Many thousands and thousands of young men, they are confused. They do not know what to do, but they do not like to live like their fathers or grandfathers.

So this is an opportunity for spreading this mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Kṛṣṇa consciousness and Kṛṣṇa, amongst the scholars, amongst the religionists, amongst the philosophers, even amongst people in general. This Kṛṣṇa book, Bhagavad-gītā, is very well known, so take this opportunity, both ladies and gentlemen in India, and present Kṛṣṇa consciousness without any adulteration. Don't do this misservice, that adding something rascaldom in Bhagavad-gītā. In Bhagavad-gītā it is simply mentioned, and it is described, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). There is no greater authority than Kṛṣṇa.

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

iti matvā bhajante māṁ

budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ

(BG 10.8)

These things are there. So my request is that your South Indian people are very intelligent men, and you are benedicted by the blessings of all ācāryas. My sincere request is that you take up this movement seriously and spread all over the world. Join with us.

Thank you very much. (applause) (end)