721030 - Lecture NOD - Vrndavana
Pradyumna: (reading:) "...Kṛṣṇa we refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, along with His many expansions. He is expanded by His plenary part and parcels, His differentiated parts and parcels, and His different energies. Kṛṣṇa, in other words, means everything and includes everything. Generally, however, we should understand Kṛṣṇa to mean Kṛṣṇa and His personal expansions. Kṛṣṇa expands Himself as Baladeva, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, Aniruddha, Pradyumna, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, and Varāha, as well as many other incarnations and innumerable Viṣṇu expansions. These are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be as numerous as the uncountable waves. So Kṛṣṇa includes all such expansions, as well as His pure devotees. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that Kṛṣṇa's expansions are all complete in eternity, blissfulness, and cognizance. Devotional service means to prosecute Kṛṣṇa conscious activities which are favorable to the transcendental pleasure of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, and any activities which are not favorable to the transcendental favor of the Lord cannot be accepted as devotional service."
Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa does not mean alone. Kṛṣṇa is not imperson. He's person, and He expands in so many persons. Eko bahu śyām. He is one, but He expands Himself to innumerable forms. The Viṣṇu forms, They are known as svāṁśa. And the servitor forms, the living entities, they are also expansion of Viṣṇu, part and parcel, differentiated, vibhinnāṁśa. So everything—expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Whatever we see, experience within this world, within this universe, they're simply expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṇa. Just like fire has got two energies, heat and light, similarly Kṛṣṇa is expanding by His two energies, the material energy and the spiritual energy. So this material world is expansion of His material energy, and we are marginal We are also energy. We are not energetic. We are not puruṣa. We are prakṛti.
In the Bhagavad-gītā the living entities have been described as prakṛti. Apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtim parā. After describing the material energies—earth, water, air, fire sky, mind, intelligence, ego—Kṛṣṇa says apareyam, all these energies, separated energies, material energies, they are aparā, inferior. But that is also Kṛṣṇa's energies. Inferior means not actually inferior, because they, there cannot be anything inferior which is emanating from Kṛṣṇa. The inferior in this sense: by our absence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because we have come here, in this material world, to enjoy to satisfy, sense satisfaction, sense gratification, we have made it inferior. Otherwise it is not inferior. One who knows how to utilize this energy, for him, it is not inferior. Nirbandha-kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam ucyate. One who does not know how to utilize this material energy for the purpose of Kṛṣṇa, for them, it is inferior. Otherwise, advaya-jñāna, absolute... Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. Nārada Muni has described before Vyāsadeva: idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ. It appears like different, but actually Kṛṣṇa... A mahā-bhāgavata... This is the vision of mahā-bhāgavata, not ordinary man. Mahā-bhāgavata... Sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhi tāra mūrti CC Madhya 8.274 . A mahā-bhāgavata sees a tree or an animal or a... He does not see the form but he sees his iṣṭa deva mūrti; he sees there Kṛṣṇa. Actually, Kṛṣṇa is there as Paramātmā. So he sees Paramātmā. He does not see the external body. So Kṛṣṇa's two energies... Inferior means where Kṛṣṇa consciousness is almost absent. That is inferior. When there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is no more inferior; that is superior. So Kṛṣṇa says, apareyam itas tu vidhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. After all, any energy, prakṛti... So the Māyāvādī philosophers mistakes to elevate the living entities to the standard of puruṣa, the Supreme. But actually it is not so. It is prakṛti. Prakṛti means predominated and puruṣa means predominator. And actually, that is our position. We are not predominator. Artificially I am thinking that I am predominator. That is my illusion. I am not predominator. Nobody's predominator. Predominator is Kṛṣṇa. Mattaḥ parataro nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya. He's predominator. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate CC Madhya 8.274 .
So prakṛti and puruṣa... Kṛṣṇa is puruṣa. Puruṣaṁ śāśvatam. Arjuna has described, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam BG 10.12 . "You are the original puruṣa, enjoyer." That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If we know that Kṛṣṇa is the original person, enjoyer, and we are simply enjoyed... We are meant for being enjoyed, not to take the post of enjoyer. Here, in this material world, everyone is artificially trying to become enjoyer, both men and women. But that is illusion. Nobody's enjoyer. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram BG 10.12 . The supreme enjoyer is Kṛṣṇa. So just like prakṛti-puruṣa, we can get one idea, husband and wife. Husband is puruṣa, wife is prakṛti. So if the wife is faithful, always trying to serve the husband, always to make her husband pleased, and husband takes care of the wife for all her necessities of life, as that home life becomes very beautiful and happy, similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Puruṣa, enjoyer. We living entities, if we simply try to serve Him and make Him happy, as the gopīs did, then it is very congenial atmosphere as it was in Vṛndāvana. Everyone is serving Kṛṣṇa. Everyone is trying to please Kṛṣṇa. The birds, the beasts, the trees, the land, the water, the cowherd boys, the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa's father, mother, elderly people—everyone—the central point is Kṛṣṇa. That is Vṛndāvana. So we can have Vṛndāvana anywhere and everywhere. Vṛndāvana is not that limited. It is not material. As Kṛṣṇa is not limited... Kṛṣṇa says in the Brahma-saṁhitā, goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ [Bs. 5.37] . Just like Kṛṣṇa says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, tad aham aśnāmi BG 10.12 . Now, one can say that "Kṛṣṇa is far, far away in the Goloka Vṛndāvana. How He will eat?" That is material conception. Kṛṣṇa can eat even He is in Goloka Vṛndāvana, provided the foodstuff is offered by a devotee. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. It is a question of bhakti. Then Kṛṣṇa eats. Kṛṣṇa is present in His Goloka Vṛndāvana, in His dhāma. He does not go out, but His expansion goes out and takes, accepts the service of the devotee. This is the bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. One should understand the bhagavat-tattva-vijñānam. It is a science, how He takes... We have got our limited sense that "I am sitting here." If you offer my foodstuff some yards off from me, I cannot reach, because I am limited. But Kṛṣṇa can expand His hand. He Himself comes. Svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ. Kṛṣṇa becomes manifest to the devotee. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau BG 10.12 . When one becomes devotee, beginning from the tongue, jihvādau, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ, He becomes revealed. Yei nāma sei kṛṣṇa. That is the perfection of chanting without any offenses. Then you'll find the name is not different from Kṛṣṇa. When you are chanting, you'll find Kṛṣṇa is dancing on your tongue. This is the conclusion.
So we have to learn how to chant. Therefore in the śāstras, in the Purāṇas, the ten kinds of offenses are described. And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has given very much stress to avoid these offenses. Śuddha-nāma. In the beginning we cannot chant pure form of the name, because we are accustomed... But still, by chanting process, then it becomes nāmābhāsa, almost pure. Ābhāsa means just like before sunrise, you find the darkness is off, but it is not sunlight. It is different from sunlight, but still, there is the dawn, you can see everything distinctly. Similarly, first there is offensive name and, if you avoid, avoid the ten kinds of offenses, then gradually it becomes nāmābhāsa. And Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura has said, Namācārya, that by nāmābhāsa, one becomes liberated. There was some argument with Haridāsa Ṭhākura and one brāhmaṇa in the office of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī's father, uncle. So there were some high level talks on this nāmābhāsa. So by nāmābhāsa one becomes liberated. By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offensive, one becomes materially happy or distressed, but when one comes to the stage of nāmābhāsa, he becomes liberated. And when he chants pure name, there is Kṛṣṇa-prema. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī: he was chanting. We are also chanting. But we are not in the stage of Rūpa Gosvāmī or Sanātana Gosvāmī and Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Actually, if we come to that stage then there will be Kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Kṛṣṇa. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī said that "What shall I chant with one tongue and two ears? If there were millions of tongues and trillions of ears, I could chant something." And we cannot finish even sixteen rounds, because we have not created our taste for chanting. Still we are in the nāmāparādha stage. But don't be disappointed. Go on chanting. You'll come to the right position, nāmābhāsa, then śuddha-nāma. Everything requires gradual development.
So this nāma is also another incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Nāma-rūpe kali-kāle kṛṣṇa-avatāra. Name is... Because name and Kṛṣṇa is not different. Abhinnatvād nāma-nāminoḥ. There is no difference. Here, in the material world, there is difference between the name and the substance, but advaya-jñāna, in the Absolute world there is no such distinction. The name and the person, the same, identical. So actually, when we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we directly associate with Kṛṣṇa, because name is the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra. Therefore, if we are sensible, then we should take very much respectful attitude to the name, because name and Kṛṣṇa, the same. Suppose Kṛṣṇa comes here. How much respectful we shall be, immediately. So similarly, when we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we should know Kṛṣṇa is there. Therefore we should be very much cautious and respectful, not neglectful. That is offense. That is offense. If you become inattentive, that is offense. You should know this. Try to avoid. Kṛṣṇa is giving us chance to meet Him in so many ways: nāma, rūpa, līlā, parikara, vasiṣṭha. He is giving us chance in the form of name, in the form of Deity, in the form of His pastimes, in the form of His paraphernalia. Just like this Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana is as good as Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said. It is not my manufacture. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvana. As Kṛṣṇa, the Brajendra-nandana Hari, Kṛṣṇa, as He is worshipable, similarly His dhāma is worshipable. We should be very much respectful to Vṛndāvana-dhāma; otherwise we'll be offender. Dhāmāparādha. Dhāmāparādha. If we remain in Vṛndāvana we should know that we are living with Kṛṣṇa. And how much we should be cautious, how much we should be careful if we are actually understand what is dhāma. Dhāma is also Kṛṣṇa. If in the dhāma we commit sinful activities, then we are, what is called, suiciding, committing suicide. It is a fact.
You know the story of Yamala-arjuna. So they were given the place in the dhāma, Vṛndāvana-dhāma, as a tree, but they had to waste time for so many hundreds years. Although there is guarantee, anyone who is in dhāma, he'll get the shelter of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, but not... Why should we waste your time to become a tree or a monkey or a hog or a dog? Don't waste. You should be very careful. Don't commit any offense in the dhāma. Then one life is sufficient to go back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaun... BG 4.9. If you actually live in Vṛndāvana carefully, without committing any offense and sinful life, then in this life you are going to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. To live in Vṛndāvana means to know Kṛṣṇa—how He appeared there, how He played here, how He executed His pastimes here. Janma karma divyam. These are all celestial, all transcendental. Jaya rādhā-mādhava kuñja-vihārī.
So this is Vṛndāvana life of Kṛṣṇa. So if we know Kṛṣṇa, tattvataḥ... This tattvataḥ we discussed this morning.
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścit vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
So those who are living in Vṛndāvana, they should try to understand Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ. That is their business. Not that take advantage of Vṛndāvana and make some anyābhilāṣa, jñāna-karma. No. That means we are wasting time. You'll get the chance because you have come to Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana's so powerful. But if we commit offense and sinful activities, it will be delayed. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that "Don't waste time. Don't wait for another life. In this life, finish this business, to understand Kṛṣṇa, and go back home, back to Godhead." That is required. If one is businessman... Just like in business they want to execute business free, finish the business very quickly, similarly, because we see that such a devotee like Bhārata Mahārāja, because he was little attached to a calf, a deer calf... What is called?
Devotee: Fawn.
Prabhupāda: Fawn. Yes. So he had to take the life of a deer next life. Just see. Such a great devotee, but because he was a little attached... Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran loke tyajaty ante kalevaram BG 8.6 . So we should be very careful that even in Vṛndāvana, if we miss the point, if we are attached to something, then we have to accept another life, either as beast or tree. Of course, the chance will be given to become a tree and beast in Vṛndāvana. That is also profitable, because next life, he's going back to home, back to Godhead. But why should we waste another life in this way? So Kṛṣṇa-nāma rūpe-avatāra. So we should respect chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra with very care, carefulness, cautious so that we may not commit any offense. Then your business is successful. Nāmnad balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. If somebody thinks that "I am living in Vṛndāvana. I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So if I do something sinful, what it will do...?" Eka nāma, kṛṣṇa-nāme yata pāpa kare, pāpi haya tata pāpa karite nāraya (?). "So what sinful I am doing? A little sinful..." Yes, little sinful will be excused. But if it is done not willingly, but if you commit sinful activities willingly, daily, then you'll be punished. That is laws of nature. Even if you are bhakta. You'll be given chance, but you'll have to be punished. So therefore we must be very careful. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra means dealing with Kṛṣṇa directly. Therefore we must be very careful, cautious, respectful. Then it is nice, it is success. Read. Next.
Pradyumna: "For example, great demons like Rāvaṇa, Kaṁsa and Hiraṇyakaśipu were always thinking of Kṛṣṇa, but they were thinking of Him as their enemy. This sort of thinking cannot be accepted as bhakti, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Prabhupāda: Yes. As Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa was thinking of Kṛṣṇa as enemy, similarly, if we think of Kṛṣṇa that "He'll wash my sinful activities," that means you are thinking like Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. Kṛṣṇa should be thought favorably. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Na prātikūlyena. No. You cannot think of Kṛṣṇa and commit sinful life at the same time. That is prātikūla. Kṛṣṇa does not want that you shall remain sinful, because you cannot approach Kṛṣṇa without being free from sinful activities. Yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam. Kṛṣṇa is pavitra, paramam. Apāpa-viddham. These are the description. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Pure. You cannot approach the Supreme Pure being sinful and make Kṛṣṇa your order-supplier, that you go on committing sinful life and Kṛṣṇa will wash it. Kṛṣṇa washes it—once, twice, thrice. But if you consciously go on, continue the sinful life, then you'll have to be punished. So we should not think pervertedly, like Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was always absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Also he got salvation. But not as associate, but he merged into the Brahman effulgence.
So these are the points. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam CC Madhya 19.167 . We should execute cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very favorably, not unfavorably. Favorable means by which Kṛṣṇa becomes pleased, by which your spiritual master becomes pleased. Because when your spiritual master is pleased, Kṛṣṇa is pleased. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ ** . So spiritual master is representative of Kṛṣṇa. Just like in office, you do not see the proprietor, but your immediate officer, if you can please, then you get promotion, increment, so many things. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa sends His representative. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit CC Madhya 19.167 . So, so pleasing the ācārya means pleasing Kṛṣṇa. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, yasya prasādad bhagavat-prasādaḥ ** . So ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam means when you have accepted the bona fide spiritual master, you should work in such a way that your spiritual master is pleased with you. Then you, your path is very clear. Don't do anything which is against the will of the spiritual master. Because we cannot see Kṛṣṇa eye to eye at the present moment. The direction is coming through disciplic succession. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ CC Madhya 19.167 . So we should follow favorably to cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then our life is successful. Go on.
Pradyumna: "The impersonalists sometimes misunderstand devotional service in such a way that they divide Kṛṣṇa from His paraphernalia and pastimes. For example, the Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, and the impersonalists say that although Kṛṣṇa is of interest, the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra isn't. The devotees, however, also know that the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra by itself has nothing to do with their business, but in addition they know that 'Kṛṣṇa' does not mean just Kṛṣṇa alone. He is always with His associates and paraphernalia."
Prabhupāda: There are so-called pseudo devotees. They say, "What we have to do with Bhagavad-gītā? " They think that they are so advanced that they will jump over immediately to the Kṛṣṇa's rasa-līlā. That means Kṛṣṇa's līlā in the Kurukṣetra is not very much important for them. But no. Kṛṣṇa's līlā, either in the Kurukṣetra or in Vṛndāvana, the same thing. We should know. Abhinnatvād nāma-nāminoḥ. So better, first of all, read Bhagavad-gītā, the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Try to read, or try to learn. Of course, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is everything. But for ordinary persons, because Bhagavad-gītā is the ABCD of spiritual knowledge... People even commit mistakes in studying the ABCD of spiritual knowledge. People have become so much degraded that they cannot understand even ABCD of spiritual knowledge. They'll make their own interpretation. Such is the horrible condition. They'll try to make minus Kṛṣṇa Bhagavad-gītā, go on reading Bhagavad-gītā for millions of years, setting aside Kṛṣṇa. That is scholarly. This is going on. Scholar means they say, openly... I have seen Dr. Radhakrishnan. When he's explaining man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru BG 18.65 , he's saying openly, "It is not to the person Kṛṣṇa." He's saying. Just see the attempt. He's writing comments on Bhagavad-gītā and he's trying to make Kṛṣṇa away, minus Kṛṣṇa. Simply mental speculation. This is going on. We should be very careful. What is that? Go on. The impersonalists... The impersonalists, they do not know that Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's body, not different. They take it for acceptance that when God, Brahman comes, He accepts a material body. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhāḥ mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ BG 18.65 . He comes... Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā BG 18.65 . He comes as He is. Otherwise how He can act so wonderfully? When He was on the lap of His mother, three months old, how He could kill the gigantic demon, Pūtanā? He's not different from His body. He simply appears according to the necessity. Kṛṣṇa has no such difference, body and soul. He's full, complete, spiritual. We have got, in this conditional state, soul and body difference. Dehi and deha. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā BG 18.65 . So dehāntaraṁ prāptiḥ. Kṛṣṇa hasn't got to accept another body. So this, these things we should know. Kṛṣṇa is complete, pūrṇa-brahman. There is nothing like material and spiritual in Kṛṣṇa's body. Go on.
Pradyumna: "For instance, if someone says, 'Give something to eat to the man with the weapons,' the eating process is done by the man and not by the weapons. Similarly, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, a devotee may be interested in the paraphernalia and locations—such as the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra—which are associated with Kṛṣṇa, but he is not concerned with simply any battlefield. He is concerned with Kṛṣṇa—His speech, His instructions, etc. It is because Kṛṣṇa is there that the battlefield is so important."
Prabhupāda: Go on.
Pradyumna: "This is the summary understanding of what Kṛṣṇa consciousness is. Without this understanding one is sure to misunderstand why the devotees are interested in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Sometimes we are asked that "Why Kṛṣṇa induced Arjuna to become violent?" So then so many so-called scholars, they criticize Kṛṣṇa, but they do not know what is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. In whichever way He acts, it is the same thing. God is good. It does not mean when He fights in the Battlefield of Kurkṣetra He becomes bad. No. He's still good. That is the conception of God: absolute. He can do anything and anything. Still, He continues to be the Absolute Truth. That is Absolute Truth. There is no relative understanding, "This is good for God, this is bad for God," as (if) God has come before me to be judged by me. You cannot judge God, Kṛṣṇa. What He does... Just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa: sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava BG 10.14 . "I accept whatever You say in toto , without any distinction." That is acceptance of Bhagavad-gītā and Kṛṣṇa. That is the way of understanding Vedas. You cannot judge the conclusion of the Vedas. You have to accept as it is. Because we are conditioned. We have got so many defects—we are illusioned, we commit mistake, our senses are imperfect... So many defects. Bhrama-pramāda-vipralipsā-kara-ṇāpāṭava, we want to cheat others. So therefore we cannot give perfect knowledge. We have to receive knowledge from the perfect. And who is better perfect than Kṛṣṇa? Therefore whatever Kṛṣṇa says, whatever Kṛṣṇa does, that is all good. There is nothing criticizing. You cannot criticize Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. You cannot say, "Why Kṛṣṇa took part in the Battlefield of Kuruksetra?" Yes, He had business to do it. Because He appeared, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām BG 10.14 . He had to kill all the demons. That was His another business. Not only to dance with the gopīs in Vṛndāvana, but He had other business to kill the demons. In Vṛndāvana also, so many demons were appearing daily, and Kṛṣṇa was killing them. So that is another side of Kṛṣṇa's business. But if you study Kṛṣṇa from your materialistic angle of vision, you'll misunderstand. You should know Kṛṣṇa's dancing with the gopīs and Kṛṣṇa's fighting in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra is the one and the same. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)