720510 - Lecture - Honolulu

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720510LE-HONOLULU - May 10, 1972 - 37:47 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (prema-dhvani) Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (devotees offer obeisances)

Prabhupāda:

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ

śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam

ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ

. . . paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

(CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1)

Hmm . . . (indistinct) . . . all glories to the śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. This chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—sixteen words, thirty-two letters, each word two letters: Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare, Hare, Rāma, Hare, Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare.

So, very simple method. Anyone can practice it. We are distributing this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, the holy words, the holy name of God, and everyone is chanting. It is not difficult. In the any foreign country, all over the world . . . it is not that because it is made of Sanskrit letters, pronunciation Sanskrit words, in other parts of the world they cannot utter it. Even a child can utter.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṇkīrtanam: "All glories to the chanting of this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." Why? Because ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ. If you chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, there is no loss for it, but there is great gain. This is the significance. We are distributing this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra not with any charges. Free. We are chanting; anyone can hear and repeat it.

So there is no monetary loss, but if you chant it, then you have got the greatest gain of life. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṇkīrtanam: "All glory to the chanting of this holy name." Why? Now, because it cleanses the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ. Darpaṇa means mirror; mārjanaṁ means cleansing. So our heart is just like mirror. It requires to be cleansed, that's all. It is contaminated by the material dust.

We spirit soul, we are as pure as God. God is pure. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa is addressed as paraṁ dhāma pavitram paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). Pavitram means the purest. So we are part and parcel of God; we are also purest. We may be very small, just like gold particles. Gold, lump of gold or mine, gold in the mine, that gold and a very small particle of gold, qualitatively they are gold. You cannot say because a small particle, you cannot say it is iron. No. It is also gold. Similarly, we understand from Bhagavad-gītā that living entities, all of us, we are part and parcel, minute particle, of the Supreme Spirit. The Supreme Spirit is called paraṁ brahma.

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma

pavitram paramaṁ bhavān

(BG 10.12)

This was the realization of Arjuna after hearing Bhagavad-gītā. He understood Kṛṣṇa as paraṁ brahma, the Supreme Brahman. Brahma means spirit. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma: the rest of everything. Everything is resting on the energy. Just like the sunshine—sunshine is the energy of the sun globe. So all these planets within this universe, they are resting on sunshine. You know, you are all students of science, you know: due to the heat in the sunshine the planets are rotating, resting on the sunshine. Similarly, there is a shining effulgence from the body of God, Kṛṣṇa. That is called brahmajyoti, impersonal Brahman.

Person is Kṛṣṇa. From the person the effulgence, the illumination, is coming. That is called brahmajyoti. And in that brahmajyoti everything is resting. From the brahmajyoti innumerable universes are coming—effulgence from the body of God. The example you can very easily understand, that the shining, the sunshine, is emanating from the sun globe, and the sun globe is a planet where the sun god is there. Sun god is there. Not only sun . . . when you speak of God or any big personality, he has got his associates. Just like your President Nixon. When you speak of Mr. Nixon, it means his secretaries, his office, his paraphernalia, government, so on. Not alone. Similarly, when we speak of God, God means with His associates, with His energy, with His power, everything.

So God is expanded everyone. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4): "I am spread everywhere, all-pervading, in My impersonal feature." Mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ. Tatam idaṁ means, "I am expanding everywhere." Here is also God. Where you are sitting, there is God. Everywhere. God is all-pervading, exactly like the sunshine.

Although you are in this room, this sunshine is within the room, you know, all. Because it is daytime, the sunshine is there in the sky. The sunshine is always there in the sky, but it becomes night on account of my eyes being covered, on the juxtaposition of the earth. The sun is there, always. Similarly, when we cannot see God by some reason or other . . . God is always there. He is all-expanding, everywhere, but we cannot see because our eyes are covered.

But this cover, this covered eyes can be uncovered. There is process. What is that process? That process is to develop your love of God. This is also very simple to understand. If you love somebody—you are all young boys and girls, naturally you are attracted either with some boy or some girl—but if you actually have got love for him or her, you will always see. You will always see. This is a practical example. Similarly, if you develop your love of God, then you will be able to see God everywhere, at every moment. It is not very difficult. That is stated in the Brahmā-saṁhitā:

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena

santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.38)

This verse was written by Lord Brahmā. He says those who are saintly person, pure devotee . . . pure devotee means one who has no other desire than to serve God. He is a pure devotee. Everyone is servant here, all of us present, but someone is serving māyā, the illusion, and someone is serving the Supreme Lord. So everyone is serving. Nobody can say that, "I am not serving." No, you cannot say. Even if you have no master, then you create one master, a dog or cat, and you serve him.

So you cannot be free from service. That's a fact. Either you serve the society or serve your family, serve your country or somebody, somebody, somebody, cats, dogs—you have to serve. That is your position. But this service is confusing, frustrating. Just like take for example in your country President Kennedy. He was serving his country—you elected him president—but somebody did not like: shot—he's dead. In our country also, Mahatma Gandhi, he was recognized servant of the . . . father of the nation, but somebody shot him.

So the idea is that in this material world, however perfectly you give your service, the service-taker and the service-giver, nobody will be satisfied. Nobody, at any time. It is illusion. Therefore it is called māyā. Māyā means you are doing something only for nothing. That is called māyā. Māyā means nothing: which has no existence, phantasmagoria; which has no existence, but we accept something.

So premāñjana-cchurita. Therefore our happiness, our real position, is to convert or transfer this service to Kṛṣṇa, or God. That is our business. And when you transfer your service to Kṛṣṇa, or God, you are serving. But you are being frustrated. In this material service, the person to whom you are rendering service, he is never satisfied, neither you are satisfied. That is the position. Try to understand. Nobody.

So the real service is . . . that is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), cleansing the heart that, "I am serving throughout my whole life my country or my family, but they are not satisfied, and I am also not satisfied." Then what is the remedy? The remedy is that service spirit is your constitutional position. You have to serve. But because you have placed your service spirit in a wrong place, you are frustrated. You have to put it into the right place, and that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

We are trying to push on this movement, change the consciousness. Now our consciousness is polluted, muddy. Somebody is thinking, "I am Indian," somebody is thinking, "I am American," and they are fighting one another. Just like Russia, America, Vietnam: everyone is thinking, "I am Vietnamese," "I am Russian," "I am American." So the interest crossing one another, overlapping—the circle of activity, the center being missed. Just like if there is center, from the center if you draw a circle, then no circle will overlap. But if you miss the center, any circle you make, it will overlap with other.

So we are missing the center. The center is God, or Kṛṣṇa. With God center, if we expand our activities—either country's service or society's service or family's service, or any service—you expand, but you keep the center, then it will be very nice. It will never overlap. But if you miss the point, Kṛṣṇa . . .

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo

mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate

(BG 10.8)

Kṛṣṇa says: "I am the center of all activities."

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is: we don’t stop activities. Don't think that we are creating some lazy fellow. No. We have got our activities. Just like our activities, this propagation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so we are using everything. Somebody, some foolish person says that, "If you are advanced in spiritual consciousness, why you are using material?" But the foolish person do not know that in I or you there is nothing material. Actually, there is nothing material. Material means when you forget the center, then it is material.

Just like the same thing, that the . . . in the sky there is sun. It is always there, you can see. But when there is cloud, you cannot see. Now wherefrom this cloud comes? The cloud also comes from the sun, not that cloud is an external thing that comes. But when the cloud comes, you cannot see the sun. Similarly, the cloudlike substance is māyā. When māyā covers your eyes, you cannot see God, you cannot know God. But as the cloud comes and goes—it is not a permanent feature in the sky—similarly, māyā may come and go also. The process to be known: how to drive away māyā.

So how to drive away māyā, that is also . . . there are so many processes, how to become cleansed. "Drive away māyā" means something phantasmagoria is covering my eyes; I have to cleanse. That is called ceto-darpaṇa. The māyā is also in the heart. How it is? The same thing: I am servant, but I am thinking I am master. This is māyā. I am actually serving, but acting just like a businessman. He is serving; he is always busy. He is serving his customer, he is serving his clerks, his managers, his secretaries, so many. Unless he satisfies everyone, his business cannot go on. So actually he is serving.

If you go to see a big businessman's home, "My dear sir, I have no time to see you." Why? "Because I am serving." He is thinking that "I am master," but he is busy in service, so that he has no time to see anybody. If he is master, why does he say that he has no time? He must have immense time, but he has no time, because he is actually engaged in service. So this is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. When you cleanse your heart, you will understand that "I am thinking that I am master, but actually I am serving." This is cleansing of the heart.

Then the next question will be, "Then whom I am serving? For what interest?" If you think that "I am serving for my sense gratification: I have to eat, I have to sleep, I must have sex and I must defend . . ." These are the necessities of the body. These necessities are there in the animal form of life also. The animal also, they eat, they sleep, they have sex desire, they fulfill it, and they also defend in their own way. So these four principles are common, they fulfill it and they also defend in their own way. So these four principles are common to the human being and to the animals.

So actually we are engaged in human society for economic development, for advancement of so many things—actually, for eating, sleeping, mating and defending. Whatever we do, these four things are there. You may eat in a very nice plate, nice palatable foodstuff, but business is eating. And a hog may eat stool; that is also eating. So the eating process is there in the hog and in human being. So there is no difference in eating. You are hungry, so you want to eat something. So somebody is eating something, you are eating something, so eating process is there. Similarly sleeping, similarly mating, similarly defending. So these processes are there.

So what is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam? The ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam: how to cleanse the heart. When you think that, "I am also eating and the animal also eating, or the bird is also eating, but he has no problem of eating; I have the problem of eating . . ." Just try to understand. A bird has no problem. In the morning he does not think where he has to eat. He knows, "My eatables are there somewhere. I go just to the tree and there is fruit, I will eat."

Similarly, every man has also something eatable everywhere. That is not a problem. But we have created problem for eating, sleeping, mating, which is no problem for the animals. Just try to understand. This is God. Then if you think clearly that if the animals, the birds, the beasts, they have no problem for eating, sleeping, mating and defending, why—we are civilized human being—why we have got this problem? That means you have created the problem. You have created this problem. Our so-called civilization means we have created so many problems.

So this ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam means to solve all the problems. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. If you take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, then all the problems of the society, human society, of the world, will be solved. The first thing is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We accept that everything belongs to God. Take, for example, now we are claiming, "This is my country." Like you Americans, you have got vast land, but you . . . formerly, this vast land did not belong to you. You were Europeans or somewhere; this land was lying vacant. It becomes . . . belonged to the Red Indians, but by force you came. Now you are claiming that it is your land.

Actually it is not your land; it is God's land. The land was there before you came here, and still there. And maybe after some hundred years or so you may vacate, and somebody may come. This is going on. Actually the land is there. It belongs to God, and we are claiming, "This is my land," "This is my land," and therefore there is struggle, there is war, there are animosity and so on.

But if people accept this philosophy that all land on the surface of the globe belongs to God, Kṛṣṇa, then whole problem is immediately solved. Is it not? If I . . . just like I am sitting here. I am sitting here in this hall of the university. I am speaking. There is no trouble. But if I claim, "Now I have sat down in this room for two hours or one hour, now it has become my property," then there is trouble. I came as outsider, and I remained here for one hour, and how can I claim this is my property? Similarly, we are coming. Of course, we do not know the . . . there is no such education from where you are coming or after death where you are going. But we can know all these things from Vedic literature.

So I come here, I or you, fo . . . and stay here—instead of few hours, you may stay here for few years—then how this land becomes yours? This is called māyā. Actually this land does not belong to anyone; it is the property of God. Now this vast ocean, we are . . . have we created the vast ocean? The big, big lump of matter? These fish? Have we created? Who has created? If anyone has created, then He is the proprietor. How I claim that I am the proprietor?

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to propagate this sense, this consciousness, that "Everything belongs to God." Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). This is Vedic injunction, Īśopaniṣad. We have got . . . we have published our book, Īśopaniṣad. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: everything belongs to God, and every one of us, we are children of God. We have got right that . . . you will find in the animal kingdom, they are actually following. If you throw a bag of rice or wheat on the street, so many birds will come, and they will eat. But as soon as their belly is fulfilled, two grains or five grains, they go away. They won't take the grains for stocking for tomorrow or speculating for business. They will never do. But we human being, because we are civilized, as soon as we see there is enough grain, "Oh, let us take home, stock it. Tomorrow we shall sell and speculate, make some profit." This is going on.

So if you actually take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then even the . . . there is no scarcity actually. Suppose in India there is scarcity of grain, but here in America there is enough grain production. Even the government request that, "Don’t produce more." Why? If there are so many hungry men all over the world, why don’t you stock? Why you stock . . . (indistinct) . . . distribute it. Everything belongs to God, and everyone is God's children. Why one should suffer? This is another Vedic communism. According to Vedic communism, in your house if there is a lizard, if there is an insect, if there is a rat, if there is snake, you have to see that everyone has got his food. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is nothing extra; it is simply cleansing your heart to understand things as they are. That's all. Nothing external. You have to understand that you are eternal servant of God, or son. Son is also servant of the father. So as you take it, if you take as father, then father's desires should be fulfilled. Father orders something; you have to carry out. That is the duty of the son. Similarly, religion means to carry out the orders of God. That's all. This is simple definition of religion. You may define religion with some bombastic word. This is religion: religion means to abide by the orders of God. That is religion.

But unfortunately you do not know God. We know, but we do not try to understand what is God. Neither there is any education, university, to teach actually what is God, what is His function, how does He live, where does He live, what does He order. We do not know. That is the missing part. This human form of life is meant for understanding God only. There is no other business. But instead of understanding God we have created so many problems, and our life is being spoiled in solving all these problems. That is the difficulty.

So if you take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, automatically all problems will be solved. Problems are already solved. Due to our misunderstanding we are creating problem. There is no problem at all, but the same misunderstanding: that this land does not belong to me; I am claiming, "It is my land." This body—I am not this body, but I am claiming, "I am this body." Similarly, we do not know what is the aim of life. We are taking to so many unnecessary engagements. The human life is so valuable that not a single moment you cannot spare for any other business than Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Even from business point of view, as Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says:

āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi

na labhya svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ

sacen nirārthakaṁ nītaḥ

kā ca hānis tato ’dhikaḥ

(Cāṇakya-śloka 34)

Your any portion of your life . . . just like today, 10th May, now six o’clock morning, 10th May, it is gone; it will never come back. So if that six o’clock morning of 10th May you have spoiled for some . . . for nothing, then how much you have lost? Because that will never come. If you pay millions of dollars, "Please bring me back that six o’clock, 10th May, 1972, again," no. It will never come. So if you spoil time, so valuable, that valuable consideration that you cannot get it back in exchange of money . . . therefore it is valuable.

So every moment should be utilized to understand your position. Your position means to understand you are eternal servant of God, and your duty, to carry out the orders of God. If you understand simply these two things: that you are eternal servant of God and you have to carry out the orders of God . . . He is the supreme proprietor. He is the supreme friend. Not only proprietor . . . just like a father, he is the proprietor of your house, of your home, but he is your best friend at the same time. Nobody can be best friend than your father. Similarly these three things, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ

sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

(BG 5.29)

Śāntim, peace. If you want peace, if you don’t want to be confused and frustrated, then try to understand these three things. What is that? God is the supreme enjoyer, God is my supreme friend, and He is the supreme proprietor of everything. These three things. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So if you try to understand our philosophy . . . we have got volumes of books. Or you simply chant this mantra: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. There is no charges. There is no loss on your part. But if you kindly chant, you'll understand everything, because your heart will be cleansed.

Thank you very much.

(break) First of all you should know that our movement is Kṛṣṇa conscious . . . (break) (end)