731118 - Lecture SB 01.02.12 - Delhi

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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731118SB-DELHI - November 18, 1973 - 43:20 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

tac chraddadhānā munayo

jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā

paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ

bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā

(SB 1.2.12)

We have been discussing the instruction of Sūta Gosvāmī, what is the purpose of life. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā. The only business of the human being is to inquire about the Absolute Truth, tattva-jijñāsā. And that tattva has been explained in the previous verse:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas

tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam

brahmeti paramātmeti

bhagavān iti śabdyate

(SB 1.2.11)

So the Absolute Truth is one. There is no doubt about it. But according to our angle of vision, we appreciate the Absolute Truth in different ways, although the Absolute Truth is one. Somebody is realizing the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman, and somebody is realizing the Absolute Truth as localized Paramātmā, Supersoul, and somebody is realizing the Absolute Truth as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the last word, Supreme Personality of Godhead, in the matter of understanding the Absolute Truth.

So our Gosvāmī Bhavānanda has explained about the Absolute Truth, Kṛṣṇa: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28). Bhagavān iti. But who is Bhagavān? That has been also explained. Bhagavān means ṣaḍ-aiśvarya-pūrṇa, complete in six opulences. He is Bhagavān. Bhaga means opulence. Just like we say bhāgyavān. This bhāgyavān word comes from bhaga. Bhaga bhavārthe śrī-karṇa, bhāgya. And vān is vatup, asty arthe vatup. If somebody possesses something, this affix vat or mat is used. So bhagavān means one who has got opulences.

So Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, when He was present on this planet, nobody could excel His opulences. That's a fact. Everyone knows. People want to enjoy—that is natural tendency—the association of woman. Here also we see that very, very rich men, they want to associate with nice, beautiful woman. In the Western countries I have seen. In Paris there are many clubs. So the club business is to go and enjoy the association of nice, beautiful woman. So everyone knows it. So tendency is there. That is also richness. So that richness I have already explained. Here in the material world the same thing is represented pervertedly, not in actual position. Therefore we are frustrated.

So there are two kinds of philosophers. The mental speculators, empiric philosophers, they therefore reject that, "This should be zero." Here the association of woman is so abominable that it should be rejected. But they have no information that this association of woman and man is so, I mean to say, opulent in the spiritual world. Otherwise how Kṛṣṇa is associating with the gopīs? Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī. Gosvāmīs, the six Gosvāmīs, about their life, they are described by Śrīnivāsa Ācārya: tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat (Śrī Śrī Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka 4).

Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī were ministers in the government of Nawab Hussain Shah, most opulent. So naturally the minister must have association with big, big zamindars, lords, aristocratic family. But about them it is said, when they joined Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement, resigning from their ministership, so that is described by Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ.

Maṇḍala-pati means big, big zamindars, aristocrats. So tyaktvā, gave up their association. Just like we flatter here. If we can mix with a very big, rich man, we consider very fortunate. But these Gosvāmīs, they gave up, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa, not only one, two. Because they were ministers, everyone is coming to flatter him, all big, big zamindars. But he gave up that association. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat. Tuccha means very insignificant. Then what they became? Bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Dīna-gaṇeśakau, just to show favor to the poor souls, dīna-gaṇeśakau. Gaṇa. Gaṇa means people in general. So just to show them favor, accepted the life of a mendicant. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Kaupīna-kanthā. That is the last stage of sannyāsa, paramahaṁsa stage: a loincloth and an underwear, kaupīna-kanthāśritau.

So, 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. Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau. So Kṛṣṇa's opulence, Kṛṣṇa's dealings with the gopīs, they are not ordinary things.

ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhis

tābhir ya eva nija-rūpatayā kalābhiḥ

goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūto

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.37)

He got His pleasure potency, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). The Supreme Absolute Truth is the reservoir of all pleasure. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt. So Brahman realization, Paramātmā realization and Bhagavān realization. If you realize Bhagavān, then you realize Brahman and Paramātmā. Just like if you have got one lakh of rupees, ten rupees or fifty rupees are already there within. Similarly, if you understand Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, then you understand automatically what is Brahman and what is Paramātmā. But if you simply stick to Brahman realization or Paramātmā realization . . . the jñānīs, they are interested in Brahman realization, and the yogīs, they are interested in . . . (break) . . . realization cannot be continued if you do not realize the other two things, namely Paramātmā and Bhagavān. Cit and ānanda. Sac-cit-ānanda. Simply realization of sat, oṁ tat sat, will not satisfy you, because you are part and parcel of the sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Vigraha means form.

So you are also form. Because you are part and parcel of the form, therefore you have got a form. The form may be different in the material world. Kṛṣṇa therefore claims all forms, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ (BG 14.4). Sarva-yoniṣu. There are different, 8,400,000's forms of living entities, and Kṛṣṇa claims, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayo yāḥ, "As many forms are there," tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā, Kṛṣṇa says: "I am the seed-giving father."

So Kṛṣṇa is father for all living entities. They are simply struggling here in this material world under different desires, and therefore they are getting transmigrating from one body to another, and in this way they are wandering within this material world. That is their real disadvantageous position. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says the real problem is, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). This is the real problem. Whole spiritual process should be executed to get out of this entanglement of repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. That is real problem.

So Kṛṣṇa therefore comes that, "Why you are rotting in this material world?" Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). "Why you are struggling so hard?" For ānanda. Everyone is struggling for ānanda, but he does not know whether ānanda is there. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Absolute Truth, He is the reservoir of ānanda Therefore you will see Kṛṣṇa's picture always in ānanda. Wherever you see Kṛṣṇa . . . Kṛṣṇa is in the battlefield; still, He is smiling, ānanda. He is not morose. Arjuna is morose, but He is not morose, because He is ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt.

So everything is there. The pleasure which we are hunting here within this material world, everything is there, full, full ānanda. You can enter into the ānandamaya-līlā. That He practically demonstrates in Vṛndāvana. He is playing with His cowherd boys friend, He is dancing with the gopīs, He is playing as a child to His father and mother, Yaśodā. He has got conjugal love with Rādhārāṇī. Everything is there. Therefore here it is said, tac chraddadhānā munayo jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā, paśyanti (SB 1.2.12). You can see all this ānandamaya-līlā, ātmani, within yourself. How? Tac chradda, chraddadhānāḥ. Śraddhā. This śraddhā means . . . I have already explained many times; it is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya (CC Madhya 22.62). This is called śraddhā, when you firmly believe. Śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa sudṛḍha. Without any shaking. Not shaking platform. Firmly. What is that? Kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya. If you become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then all perfection is there. This is called śraddhā. Because Kṛṣṇa says at the last stage of His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). Śaraṇaṁ vraja: "Voluntarily you surrender unto Me. Then I take charge of you." Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. "There is no question of considering. Do it immediately." That Kṛṣṇa says.

So if one accepts this principle, then that is called śraddhā. Here it is said . . . because after Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata was written. So one who accepts Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Personality of Godhead by understanding Bhagavad-gītā as it is, not by malinterpretation—as it is—then that is called śraddhā. Śraddadhānā munayaḥ. As soon as you become a surrendered soul, then you become one of the munis, great-minded, wide-minded, muni, mahātmā. Munayaḥ. And what kind of śraddhā? Now, jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā. Two things must be there—jñāna and vairāgya.

I have already explained that actually our aim of life, human life, is to acquire knowledge and vairāgya. Simply talking of knowledge is useless. There must be vairāgya also. Therefore Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he never liked simply talking. "First of all become a sannyāsī." That was his propaganda. "Then you talk." So jñāna-vairāgya. One who is actually jñānī, he must be vairāgī. Vairāgī means vigata-rāga. We are not rāgī. Rāga means attachment. We are materially attached, and when you become actually jñānī, then you should be materially detached. That is called jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā.

Tac chraddadhānā munayo jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā, paśyanty ātmani ātmānam (SB 1.2.12). Ātmani, within his mind and within his self, he sees the Paramātmā. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). Perfect yogī always sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead within himself. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti, yaṁ śyāmasundaram (Bs. 5.38). The question was, "Why Kṛṣṇa is black?" But that black is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā, śyāmasundaram. Here, one who is black, nobody likes to see, naturally. But Kṛṣṇa is black, at the same time the most execusitively beautiful. That we cannot adjust. In another place it is said, asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. Asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. His body is just like black cloud. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya. We understand Kandarpa, the Cupid, as very beautiful, but if you millions of Kandarpas act together to increase the beauty, that is also not comparable with Kṛṣṇa's beauty.

So these contradictory terms cannot be understood unless one has got the ointment of love of Godhead. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena. Añjana. Añjana we understand, a kind of ointment. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). So the first beginning is śraddhā, tac chraddadhānā munayaḥ. Ādau śraddhā. If you have got this faith . . . this is the . . . Bhagavad-gītā is just to create the preliminary faith to understand God. That is the only . . . that is Bhagavad-gītā.

Because we do not know. We cannot understand God with these blunt senses. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). The present senses, they are simply after material gratification. So how they can understand Kṛṣṇa? That is not possible. Therefore it is said, jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā (SB 1.2.12). You can understand after jñāna. Jñāna means brahma-bhūta, one who understands ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul." So brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). Now we are designated by this bodily relationship: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Brāhmaṇa," "I am Kṣatriya," "I am black," "I am white," "I am strong," "I am weak," "I am fatty," "I am thin," so many. These are all designation. So one has to become free from the designation. That is jñāna. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Upādhi. This upādhi. The bodily conception of life is called upādhi.

So sarva upādhi, when you become completely freed, no more thinking like American, Indian, brāhmaṇa, śūdra. No. "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave His identification in this way: "I am not a Brāhmin, I am not a Śūdra, neither I am a king, neither I am a Vaiśya, neither I am a sannyāsī. I am nothing of this." Because this material designation, varṇa-āśrama. Four varṇas: Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, Śūdra; and four āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. So anybody must be within these eight categories. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that, "I don't belong to any of these categories." Nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir na ca yatir vā (Padyāvalī 63). Then what you are? Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). "Gopī-bhartuḥ, the maintainer of the gopīs, gopī-bhartuḥ, and the master of the gopīs, Kṛṣṇa, pada-kamalayoḥ, lotus feet—I am His servant, dāsa, and his servant, his servant, his servant, his servant, his servant, in this way servants' servant."

The more you become servants of servant, then you are liberated. Here this material world they want master. "He is master; I am his master, I am his master, I am his master." They are trying to become master. It is just the opposite—to become the servant. This is Vaiṣṇava philosophy, how to become the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, oh, hundred times servant (CC Madhya 13.80). Because this philosophy is understood by becoming a servant, not by becoming a master. That you will not. That is called jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā (SB 1.2.12). Because so long wants to become a master, he is still in ajñāna, because he cannot be master. How he can be master? Real master is Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29). How you can be master? Can you become more than Kṛṣṇa? He is sarva-loka-maheśvaram.

So this is jñāna, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu enunciates: not to become master or God; to become servant of the God. Not only servant, but servant, servant, servant, servant, hundred times downward. Then you become perfect. That is the demand of Kṛṣṇa, that you first of all become servant. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). Because that is your real position. Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms it. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). This is our position. This is jñāna. Anyone who is claiming other that this is not in knowledge. He is ajñāna. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā—I have several times repeated—bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). After many, many births trying to become the master, when actually he becomes jñānavān, then jñānavān māṁ prapadyate. This is the sign, when he surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. That is real knowledge. That knowledge is not sentiment. Because bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, after experiencing many, many births that "I am the master, I am God, I am this, I am that," so when he actually jñānavān, māṁ prapadyate, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti . . . (BG 7.19), when he understands, "Oh, Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is the origin of everything," that is real jñāna. That is real jñāna.

Therefore it is said, jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā. Then you have to become vairāgī to your puffed-up consciousness that, "I am master, I am God, I am this, I am that." No. That is called jñāna and vairāgya. Jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā. And again it is confirmed, bhaktyā. As soon as the bhakti word is used, there is no question of becoming master. Bhakti is used, via media between Bhagavān and bhakta. The dealings of Bhagavān and bhakta is called bhakti. Bhakti, bhaja-dhātu. Bhaja-dhātu sevāyām. Sevāyām. Sevā mean there is a sevaka and there is a master, sevya—one who is worshiped and one who serves. Then the process is called bhakti. Here it is also said, bhaktyā. What kind of bhakti? Bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta, by hearing śruti, or Vedas. Completely on the basis of Vedic knowledge, that bhakti; not sentimental. Sentimental bhakti is also there, because the acceptance of Kṛṣṇa is there. Therefore there is some value. But real bhakti, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī has commented that bhakti based on understanding of Vedānta-sūtra is perfect, on the basis of jñāna and . . . knowledge, and vairāgya. That is . . . and Kṛṣṇa has also said, brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ (BG 13.5). Brahma-sūtra means Vedānta-sūtra.

So actually the Vedānta-sūtra, everything is bhakti. But unfortunately, people have taken Vedānta in a different way, after the Śārīraka-bhāṣya. But all the ācāryas, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, they have all, they have commentated on Vedānta-sūtra. So Vedāntī does not mean simply the Māyāvādīs. Actually Vedāntists are the devotees. Because veda anta. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last word. The last word is bhagavān. That is Vedānta. Here it is said, brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11). If you understand by studying Vedānta simply Brahman realization, that is not perfect. If you understand Paramātmā realization by studying Vedānta, that is also not perfect. When you come to understand Bhagavān, that is perfect. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). By studying Vedānta or all Vedic literatures, if you do not understand Kṛṣṇa, then śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8).

vāsudeve bhagavati

bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ

janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ

jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

(SB 1.2.7)

These things are required, jñāna and vairāgya. That is very easily achieved. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ. If bhakti-yoga is adopted unto the Supreme Personality of God, Vāsudeva, then very soon, janayaty āśu . . . āśu means very soon. Jñāna-va irāgyam ahaitukam.

The example you can see. These European and American boys and girls, how they have become vairāgī? They have got immense opportunity for material enjoyment. Material enjoyment means money and woman. That is the standard of material enjoyment. So these boys, these girls, they have got enough. The money is thrown on the street. And woman is loitering on the street. You can pick up as many as you like. You see? That is the Western country. But they have left everything. That is vairāgya. Why? Jñānam. They have obtained the real knowledge, kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), as Bhavānanda Mahārāja said. They are firmly fixed up. Kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam, "Let us sacrifice our life for Kṛṣṇa." That is real jñāna and vairāgya. Bhaktyā.

This is to be understood, bhaktyā. Because without bhakti, there is no admission in the kingdom of God. That is not possible. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti

yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ

tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā

viśate tad-anantaram

(BG 18.55)

Viśate means "enter." One is admitted in the spiritual world . . . paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ. There is spiritual world. There is another world. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). That sanātana-dhāma. That sanātana-dhāma you cannot enter without being a bhakta. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). Those who enter that spiritual world, Brahman, nirviśeṣa-brahman, because they are lacking in bhakti, they again falls down.

That is stated in the Bhāgavat: āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). There are certain persons, they are thinking, "Now I have become liberated." Ye nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Vimukta-māninaḥ means "thinking that they have become liberated." But aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ, their intelligence is not yet clear. So what is the result? Suppose one realizes Brahman realization. He is not mukta? Yes, he is mukta. That's all right. But the intelligence is not yet purified. Why? Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ (SB 10.2.32). After undergoing severe austerities and penances, they rise up to the Brahmaloka, paraṁ padam. Patanty adhaḥ, again falls down. Again falls down. Why? Anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ. Just like the impersonal sky. You can go in the sky with your speedy airplane, but if you don't get a shelter in any planet, you will have to come again. Just like these moon planet–goers, going and coming. Why don't they stay there? So it is doubtful whether they are going.

So anyway, this is the position of the nirviśeṣa-vāda. Because they do not enter in one of the Vaikuṇṭha planets . . . because they are not bhaktas, they are not admitted. Without being bhakta, nobody is allowed to enter into the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Just like here in the sky there are millions and millions of planets, similarly, in the brahma-jyotir there are also millions and millions of planets. They are called Vaikuṇṭhaloka. But in those Vaikuṇṭhalokas only bhaktas are admitted, not the nondevotees. They can go to the Brahmaloka. Brahmaloka is combination of the spirit souls. But spirit soul means part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, who is ānandamaya. So they do not get that ānanda. They simply are elevated to the position of eternity—but eternity without ānanda. Just like, you just imagine . . . suppose you are given a very nice place. You are ordered that, "You live here eternally, but don't allow nobody else. You can live alone." How long you will live? Because as a living entity, as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, you want ānanda. So ānanda is required society, friendship and love. That is ānanda. That is not impersonalism. That is personalism.

So unless you enter to the personal activities of Kṛṣṇa, there cannot be ānanda. There cannot be. Unless you are qualified to dance with Kṛṣṇa or to play with Kṛṣṇa, to become father of Kṛṣṇa, mother of Kṛṣṇa, and enjoy the ānandamayam, ānanda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhāvitābhiḥ (Bs. 5.37), you cannot be happy. Therefore āruhya kṛcchreṇa. The brahma-pada, the Supreme, paraṁ padam, it is called paraṁ padam . . . Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Adhaḥ. They falls down. Therefore we see sometimes, big, big sannyāsīs, brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā, they give up this world, take sannyāsa, but after some times they come to politics, to sociology. Why? If the jagat is mithyā, why you are interested in politics and sociology and welfare acts? That means anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ: he could not get ānanda without being in touch with the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa; therefore they comes to this ānanda. Ānanda. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa. This is practical.

So simply Brahman realization is not perfect. Simply Paramātmā realization is also not perfect. When you realize Bhagavān, then you realize Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān simultaneously. That is ānanda. That is ānanda. That is available as it is. Paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta-gṛhītayā, hearing. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī says:

śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-

pañcarātriki-vidhiṁ vinā

aikāntikī harer bhaktir

utpātāyaiva kalpate

(Brs. 1.2.101)

One who does not understand the bhakti philosophy through śruti, through Veda, smṛti . . . just like Bhagavad-gītā is smṛti. Śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi (Brs. 1.2.101), and Nārada Pañcarātra. Without reference to these books of knowledge, if one becomes a so-called devotee, that is not accepted by Rūpa Gosvāmī. Here also it is said, bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā. Śruta-gṛhītayā, knowledge, full knowledge, through Vedas, bhaktyā, with devotion. Dry Vedic knowledge makes you impersonalist, only a partial realization. Therefore bhakti must be there. Bhakti means without any result of karma and jñāna. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). People are interested with dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa (SB 4.8.41, CC Ādi 1.90). But Bhāgavata says that above that, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). Here in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . . . dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, they are cheating, because they are not giving directly the devotional service to the Lord. dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Therefore Vyāsadeva says, dharmārtha-kāma-mokṣa, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2).

So if we want to understand the real reality, vāstava-vastu, that is Kṛṣṇa, then this is the process. What is that?

tac chraddadhānā munayo

jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā

paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ

bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayā

(SB 1.2.12)

You have to receive through the channel of paramparā system, bhakti. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Paramparā. Ādau gurvāśrayam. Therefore we have to accept a guru who is coming in the paramparā. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna, he is paramparā. Because the paramparā was lost, Kṛṣṇa again said Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. So as Arjuna understood, if you understand Bhagavad-gītā, as Arjuna understood, if you understand Kṛṣṇa, then your understanding of Kṛṣṇa is perfect. And if you invent some imaginary meaning, then you are śrama eva hi kevalam, waste of time.

So don't do that. Try to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is, as He speaks Himself about Himself that, "I am like this." What is the difficulty? If Kṛṣṇa says, if God says: "I am like this," why you are manufacturing ways and means to understand God, uselessly wasting time? God is giving His name, God is giving His address, God is giving His activities. Everything is there. Why don't you understand God? Why you are researching? This is called śrama eva hi . . .

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ

viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ

notpādayed ratiṁ yadi

śrama eva hi kevalam

(SB 1.2.8)

So don't waste time in searching out what is God. God is canvassing you, "I am God, here." Bhaktyā sa . . . man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a manufactured way. It is simply the standard. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. We are preaching this philosophy. It is not difficult. Anyone can do it. Anyone can do it. It is not that I am playing something wonderful. What wonderful? They talk about this, that I have done something wonderful. I do not know any wonderful thing. I only know to present Kṛṣṇa as He is. That's all. This is the secret. So anyone can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is from Bhagavad-gītā or from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why do they search out? Why they should invent some means? This is useless waste of time.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (end)