710130 - Lecture - Allahabad

Lectures by Date, 1971

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

710130L3.ALLAHABAD - January 30, 1971 - 16:47 Minutes

Devotee: At the government camp, Māgha-melā, January 30th, 1971.

Prabhupāda:

āna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ

śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale

svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam

he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho

dīna-bandho jagat-pate

gopeśa gopikā-kānta

rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi

rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari

vṛṣabhānu-sute devī

praṇamāmi hari-priye

hare kṛṣṇa, hare kṛṣṇa

kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa, hare hare

hare rāma, hare rāma

rāma rāma, hare hare

Ladies and Gentlemen, my previous speaker, Swami Rāghavānandajī, has explained to you about Kṛṣṇa consciousness very thoughtly, and it is very nice. And next speaker, my assistant, Śrīmān Haṁsadūta dāsa Adhikārī, he has explained before you about our activities and our publications.

Actually, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the prime necessity of the present age, because we understand from Vedic scriptures that:

bhagavad-bhakti-hīnasya

jātiḥśāstraṁ japas tapaḥ kriyā

aprāṇasya hi dehasya

maṇḍanaṁ loka-rañjanam

(Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya 3.11)

We have attained independence. Not only we; practically all the people of the world, they have attained so-called independence. But there is no independence. The independence we are searching after, according to our Vedic conception, it is farce, because we are servant of the material nature.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

We are simply being pulled up and down by our ear by the prakṛti. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said real independence is:

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

(BG 7.14)

If we want actual independence, what is this independence? Suppose I am now prime minister. But after my death I am no longer prime minister. I am the servant of material nature. By the law of material nature I will be enforced to accept a kind of body which may be better than prime minister or lower than prime minister.

That can be seen by the intelligent person, as Swāmījī has spoken. Only those who are actually in knowledge, they can see where this man is passing. So . . . but we want independence—that's a fact. But that independence cannot be attained in this way.

This place is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. Kṛṣṇa says:

mām upetya kaunteya

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti . . .

(BG 8.15)

This place is full of miseries, threefold miseries. And our problem is how to get independence from the four principles of miserable condition:

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-

duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

(BG 13.9)

Those who are intelligent persons, they will see that however I may make my life comfortable by material ways and science, these four things—the troubles of taking birth, the troubles of dying, the troubles of old age and troubles of diseased condition of life—that cannot be solved. That can be solved only by understanding Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā:

janma karma me divyam

ye jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti . . .

(BG 4.9)

If you want to get freedom from the laws of material nature, then the only process is to understand Kṛṣṇa. You simply try to concentrate your mind on Kṛṣṇa and try to understand Kṛṣṇa. And he is the greatest yogī who simply is trying to understand Kṛṣṇa, thinking of Kṛṣṇa—sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinda—as Mahārāja Ambarīṣa did, always. This is possible. It is not impossible. Just like Arjuna was advised, yudhyasvamām mam anusmara (BG 8.7): "You go on fighting, at the same time go on remembering Me." That is possible.

Therefore, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, how to think of Kṛṣṇa always, that is also instructed in the Vedic literature, Bṛhad Nāradīya Purāṇa:

harer nāma harer nāma

harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva

nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that we are trying to place before the world that there is God, and God is one, and that is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). These are the verdict of Vedas. And, so far our country is concerned, all the ācāryas, including Śaṅkarācārya . . . there are two sects in India: the Māyāvādī sect and the Vaiṣṇava sect.

All the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, like Śrī Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī, all of them are Kṛṣṇa worshipers. And the Śaṅkara-sampradāya, they are also Kṛṣṇa sampradāya, but not so seriously as the Vaiṣṇavas. But Śaṅkarācārya has accepted, sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇa.

So, so far we are concerned, followers of the Vedas and the ācāryas, everyone accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And Kṛṣṇa's book, the Bhagavad-gītā, because it is spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it is accepted all over the world. There are thousands of editions of Bhagavad-gītā—not only in America; in Europe, in France, in German, in Japan. I have seen all of them. But because they do not follow the principles of ācārya upāsanā, they have commented in a different way. And our this movement is based on the Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any malinterpretation.

Malinterpretation will not help you to understand what is Bhagavad-gītā. As Śrīmān Haṁsadūta has said, just to understand Bhagavad-gītā, one has to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa; otherwise there is no scope of understanding. Because in the beginning the Lord says that "This system of disciplic chain of succession is now broken. Therefore I am speaking the same yoga system, Bhagavad-gītā, unto you, Arjuna."

But Arjuna was a warrior; he was a soldier, fighter. He was not expected to be a great Vedāntist or Vedic scholar in Vedic literature. That is . . . (indistinct) . . . besides that, neither he was a Brahmin; he was a kṣatriya. And he still . . . why Kṛṣṇa insisted that, "I shall speak to you this lost yoga system of Bhagavad-gītā"? That is explained by Kṛṣṇa: bhakto 'si, priyo 'si me, "Because you are My dear friend, and you are a devotee."

So . . . and Arjuna, how did you understand Kṛṣṇa at the end of hearing Bhagavad-gītā from Him? He says:

paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma

pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān

(BG 10.12)

"You are paraṁ brahma." Every one of us, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, we are brahma. That is nice. But we are not paraṁ brahma. Paraṁ brahma is Kṛṣṇa. Every one of us īśvaras. Īśvara means controller. Just like some of you are here, coming tonight, magistrates, judges, you are controller; but you are not supreme controller. In this way go on finding out who is the supreme controller. Supreme controller means one who hasn't got to obey others' order. He is supreme controller. Otherwise, everyone may be controller, but he has to obey the orders of a superior.

Therefore Kṛṣṇa's name is Asamordhva. There is nobody equal to Him, nobody greater than Him. Everyone is servant of Him. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta: ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa, āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). Only the supreme master, controller, is Kṛṣṇa, and everyone is servant. Our position is servant. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa' (CC Madhya 20.108).

Because we are part of parcel of Kṛṣṇa, it is our duty to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is our healthy condition. Just like the part and parcel of your body—take for example, your finger. If this finger does not serve your body, it is in diseased condition; it has to be treated. And when it is actually in healthy condition, it is always serving your body. Similarly, the constitutional position of living entity is to serve God. And who is God? Kṛṣṇa.

Mukti means to be situated in his own constitutional position. That is explained in the Bhagavad . . . Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ

sva-rūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ

(SB 2.10.6)

When a person, a living entity, situated in his own constitutional position, that is called mukti. Mukti does not mean anything else. People are trying for mukti. That mukti can be attained here also, when you are living in this material body, simply by serving Kṛṣṇa. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

māṁ ca 'vyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena yah sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

Anyone who is a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he is mukta. He is liberated already. He hasn't got to search out for mukti. Just like Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura says, muktiḥ mukulitāñjali sevate asmān. Those who are actually pure devotee, mukti is standing with folded hands, "What can I do for you?" That is the position of a devotee.

So we are teaching this pure devotional service to Kṛṣṇa all over the world, and they are accepting it. So there is very, very big prospect for spreading this movement, and it is our duty, Indians . . . Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says:

bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

(CC Adi 9.41)

Anyone who has taken his birth as a human being, he should first of all rectify his own life by understanding all these Vedic literature. They are required. That is also stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:

anādi-bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli' gela

ataeva kṛṣṇa veda purāṇa kaile

(CC Madhya 20.117)

This Vedas and the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata is simply to understand Kṛṣṇa. Just like Swāmījī says:

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo

mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

(BG 15.15)

That is the purpose of the Vedas: to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedas have no other purpose—simply to understand Kṛṣṇa.

So this science, this propaganda, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are spreading all over the world. They are being accepted. It is done simply by one personality . . . therefore . . . but if you all join, if you make a scientific program to preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world, then one day we will see that people will be very much obliged to India.

They will think that, "We have got something from India." Now India is begging only, from the foreign countries: "Give me money, give me rice, give me wheat, give me soldiers." But this movement, when we have taken to them, there is no question of begging from them—it is to give them. Just try to give something. That is my request.

Thank you very much.

(devotees offering obeisances) (end)