741121 - Lecture SB 03.25.21 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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741121SB-BOMBAY - November 21, 1974 - 37:24 Minutes

Nitāi: ". . . of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime."

Prabhupāda:

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ

suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ

sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ

(SB 3.25.21)

In the previous verse Kapiladeva has recommended that sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. What is that?

prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam

ātmanaḥ kavayo viduḥ

sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto

mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam

(SB 3.25.20)

There are two things: conditioned life and liberated life. Eight million, four hundred thousand forms of life there are. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa). Nine lakhs forms of life in the water. (child talking) Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi. (aside) The child may be . . . sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. The trees and plants, they are two million. Sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. And the germs and insects, reptiles, they are eleven hundred thousand, eleven lakhs. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. Then birds, they are ten lakhs of forms. Then beasts, animals, so they are three millions forms. And then human being, they are 400,000. Very small quantity. Of all the living entities, the human forms, they are very small number, 400,000. Aśītiṁ caturaś caiva. Aśītim means eighty, and catura means four. So 8,400,000 species of forms.

So prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam ātmanaḥ. Ātmā is the same, spirit soul. He has got the same form. But they are different dresses. They are having different dresses. Just like we are sitting so many. As human being, we are the same, but we have got different dresses. Similarly, ātmā, the soul, the spirit soul, is the same. There is no difference. Therefore paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. One who knows what is the form of ātmā, he sees . . . vidyā-vinaya brāhmaṇe gavi hastini . . . sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18). He sees the animal, the cats and dogs, and a learned brāhmaṇa—sama-darśinaḥ. Samatā means not that brāhmaṇa is equal to the dog. No, not that. But he sees that brāhmaṇa is also a spirit soul, and the dog is also a spirit soul.

So this conditioned life . . . dog has got a conditioned life, I have got a conditioned life, you have got a conditioned life. We are all conditioned, under different . . . and according to the condition, we have got different bodies. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). This conditioned life, different forms of life, we have got daiva-netreṇa, by superior . . . superior administration. Netreṇa means netṛtva, leadership. So superior leadership. Just like Yamarāja. Karmaṇā, according to my karma, he offers me some body. Daiva-netreṇa. Jantur deha upapatti. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). Karma . . . Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). Guṇa and karma . . . just like here, in the practical world, you can work as an engineer, karma, if you have got the qualification. If you have got the qualification of a shopkeeper, you cannot act as engineer. That is not possible. If you have got the qualification of a teacher, educationist, then you can become a teacher.

So the whole world is going like that, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. So guṇa means we are, according to our position or according to our mentality, we are infecting some guṇa, sattva-rajas-tamo-guṇa. So guṇa-karma, guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. Very scientific this is. You can become . . . if you acquire the qualities of a brāhmaṇa, then, and if you work as a brāhmaṇa, then guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, you become a brāhmaṇa. If you have the qualities of a kṣatriya and if you work as a kṣatriya, then you are kṣatriya. If you have the qualification of a mercantile man, businessman, and if you work as a businessman or cultivator, then you become vaiśya. This is very scientific. Not that one is classified according to the birth. No. According to qualification. Just like there is medical association. Medical association does not mean all the medical men in the association, they are born of the same family. No. They are born in different family. But because they have got qualification and working as medical man, they are admitted as the member of medical association or member of bar association. This is practically. Similarly, if you acquire the qualification of a brāhmaṇa and if you work as a brāhmaṇa, then you are accepted as a brāhmaṇa. Similarly kṣatriya, similarly vaiśya.

This is . . . it is, it is the authoritative statement of Nārada. Yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ varṇābhivyañjakam (SB 7.11.35). In the Bhagavad-gītā, varṇābhivyañjakam, how to decide to which class or which caste a certain man belongs to, so there are symptoms. Satyaṁ śaucaṁ śamo damaḥ kṣāntir ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). So Nārada Muni says, yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ proktam. These are the symptoms. So if such symptoms are visible in another place, then tat tenaiva vinirdiśet (SB 7.11.35). And Śrīdhara Svāmī has given his note that birth is not everything. One has to acquire the quality. Then he'll be classified.

So prasaṅgam ajaram. We are attached to some quality and some work. In this way we are getting different bodies, one after another. This body finished, we create another body. This life is creating another body. This is called prasaṅgam ajaram. Attachment to the material qualities, we are conditioned. And suppose we have got now human form of body or in a very rich family, that is all right, but it will not continue. You have to give it up. And any moment, by the superior authority, when it is ordered, "Immediately please leave this position," you have to do it. This is called conditioned life. You cannot stay in any status of life for all the days. If you think that, "I am American. I am very happy," that . . . that's all right. You're American, you're happy, or Indian, you are very happy. You have chalked out your plan how to continue happiness. But nature will not allow you to stay. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). As soon as nature will call back, "Please give up this post. Now take the post of a dog . . ." Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa (SB 3.31.1). "You have acted . . . you were given the most, I mean to say, exalted form of life, human being, you did not act as human being, you acted as a dog. Now you take the body of a dog." This is karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa.

Therefore we must be very careful in this human form of life. Our aim should be how to become a devotee. So to become a devotee, Kṛṣṇa conscious, because that is the path of liberation . . .

janma karma me divyaṁ

yo jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti . . .

(BG 4.9)

If you want to stop punar janma . . . great, great personalities in India, they used to go to the forest to stop this repetition of punar janma. Just like Viśvāmitra Muni. Viśvāmitra Muni, when he approached Mahārāja Daśaratha to take with him Rāmacandra and Lakṣmaṇa—They were boys—to kill the Tāḍakā Rākṣasī . . . there was some disturbance. So although Viśvāmitra Muni could kill, but no, that was not the brāhmaṇa's business. It was the, to kill, it was the, to punish, it was king's business. So therefore they approached. So at that time Mahārāja Daśaratha greeted Viśvāmitra Muni: aihiṣṭaṁ yat tat punar-janma-jayāya (Rāmayana). Just like when we meet a friend, if he's a businessman . . . suppose he comes to see me. I am a sannyāsī, and he's a businessman. I ask him, "How your business is going on?" Because he's engaged in that way. And the gentleman who comes to see me, he will ask me, "Swāmījī, how your preaching is going on?" He'll not ask me, "How your business is going on?"

So the punar-janma-jayāya aihiṣṭam. The brāhmaṇas, the learned ṛṣis, sages, they're especially engaged for punar-janma-jayāya, to conquer over the process of repetition of birth and death. That is the highest occupational . . . so every man is meant for that, punar-janma-jayāya. Unless we conquer this process of punar janma, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), and if we simply waste our time like animals—eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defense—then it is animal life. So especially in this age they cannot distinguish that what is the animal life and what is human life. They think, "The dog, animal, he is sleeping on the street, and I am sleeping on the twentieth floor of a nice apartment. Therefore I am civilized." The śāstra says no. Either you sleep on the street or on the twenty-fourth story of apartment, you are sleeping. You are not doing any other thing. Simply the dog is eating without any plate, and suppose if you are eating in a golden plate. That does not mean the taste of the foodstuff has changed. No. The foodstuff given to the dog on the street, without any plate, and the foodstuff given to me in a golden plate, the taste is the same. And the value, food value, is the same. So we have to see in that way that to improve the quality of eating, sleeping, mating . . . the dog is having sexual intercourse in the open street, and if we have sexual intercourse in a very secluded place and very nice bedstead, that does not change the quality. Therefore we should know it that simply by eating, sleeping, defending and sex life, that is animal life. Human life is meant for how to become free from this process of repetition of birth and death. That is liberation.

So here we have discussed last night that prasaṅgam ajaraṁ pāśam ātmanaḥ. The bondage, conditioned life, more and more tightened. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you do not engage your life in activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness . . . that is called yajña. Yajña-puruṣa. Yajña means to sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Supreme Person. That is called yajña.

(aside) Go on.

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā

varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ . . .

saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam

(SB 1.2.13)

If you want perfection of your activities . . . different men have got different activities. That's all right. But try to make it perfect, saṁsiddha. Siddhaye, brahma-siddhaye. We have discussed all these things. And how it can be done? Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. If you satisfy Kṛṣṇa, Hari, by your talent, by your activities, then you are successful. That should be the aim of human life. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). You don't try to engage yourself, entangle yourself for repetition of birth and death.

So how this can be achieved? That is suggested in the last . . . (indistinct) . . . sa eva sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ (SB 3.25.20). The same attachment as you are attached to these material activities, if you transfer that attachment to a sādhu, then your life is successful. We have got attachment for money, we have got attachment for woman, we have got attachment for nice house, we have attachment for our country, for our society, for our families and so on, so on, so on. That attachment is called ajaraṁ pāśam. Pāśam means rope. If you are tied up with a rope, hands and legs, then you are helpless. So we are actually tied up. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī (BG 7.14). Therefore it is called guṇa. Guṇa means rope. We are tied up. We are not free. Just like we are trying to go to the moon planet so many years, but because we are not free, still we have not been successful to go there. So there are so many planets within this material world, we can go. We have got now machine, very speedy machine, but why cannot go? Because you are conditioned. You cannot go by your whims. You must be qualified to go to certain planets. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

yānti deva-vratā devān

pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ

bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā

mad-yājino yānti 'pi mām

(BG 9.25)

So if you want to go, you must qualify yourself. Otherwise it is not so easy. Just like if you want to go to America, you must have qualification. You must have your visa, you must have your passport, you must have the . . . so many things—if you want to be immigration or if you want to go as a visitor. Similarly, the other coun . . . if there are so many processes you have to undergo from this country to that country, is it possible that you want to go to another planet without such qualification? This is futile attempt. It is not possible. Therefore you are conditioned. It is called conditioned. We cannot go, we cannot move freely, without being sanctioned by the superior authority. So we generally say: "Not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of God." Similarly, we cannot do anything. Daivī hy eṣā. God does not take as the supervision personally. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8, CC Madhya 13.65, purport). Na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate—in the Vedas, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. He hasn't got to do personally, but He has got so many agents to do. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. He has got so ma . . . they will do. You are not free even to twinkle with your eyelids. That is also being controlled. That information . . . you are moving this hand very freely. It can be immediately paralyzed. I am claiming that, "I . . . it is my hand." What is your hand? It can be stopped immediately. Your eyes, it can be stopped.

So we must know that we are conditioned. So this is conditioned life. How you can improve conditioned life? Therefore our business is how to become liberated from all this condition. And that can be done only by sa eva sādhuṣu kṛto mokṣa-dvāram apāvṛtam. If you . . . you have got so many attachment for so many things. If you turn all this attachment to a sādhu . . . sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga sarva-śāstre kaya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised, sādhu-saṅga sādhu-saṅga sarva-śāstre kaya (CC Madhya 22.54). In all the śāstras they advise that to associate with the sādhu. Tasmad . . . (indistinct) . . . utsṛjya bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. Even Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, a great politician . . . bhaja sādhu-samāgamam. Asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra (CC Madhya 22.87). One gṛhastha Vaiṣṇava, householder Vaiṣṇava, he asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu that, "What is the duty of a gṛhastha, householder Vaiṣṇava?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said in two lines: asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. "Don't associate with nonsense asādhus." Asat-saṅga-tyāga ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra. One line. A Vaiṣṇava's behavior is to give up the association of demons, nondevotee. Because sādhu means devotee. Sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ (BG 9.30).

So it is very, I mean to say, sincere to avoid the company of asādhu. But at the present moment it is very difficult to find out the association of sādhu. Therefore our teeny effort is, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, to create an association of the sādhus so people may take advantage of this association, and then his life becomes liberated. And that is the aim and object of this association. It has no other object. People may say so many nonsense things, but our only object is that, as . . . therefore we have given the name "Association of Kṛṣṇa conscious person." Kṛṣṇa conscious means sādhu. Because Kṛṣṇa says:

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ

mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ

sa me yuktatamo mataḥ

(BG 6.47)

"He is first-class yogī." Who is that? "Who is always thinking of Me." And Kṛṣṇa is advising, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Four things only. It is not very difficult thing. Always think of Kṛṣṇa, man-manāḥ. And without becoming devotee, how you can think of Kṛṣṇa? You can think of your business, you can think of your dog, or you can think of your family, or you can think of your lovable object, woman or man and so many. But Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ: "You think of Me."

Because we have to think something. Without thinking we cannot remain. This is the simple process. Instead of thinking so many things, you simply think of Kṛṣṇa. The sādhu will teach that. Sādhu's business . . . why sādhu, to associate with sādhu, sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83)? Now, sādhu will not teach anything else. Ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ (CC Madhya 23.14-15). This is the process of making spiritual advancement. If you have got any faith for making spiritual advancement, then you must associate with sādhus. Ādau śraddhā. Just like here people come. Here there is no other thing because here all the boys and girls and devotees, they are concerned with Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That's all. The whole business, whole day's business, whole night's business, is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. From early morning at three o'clock to night, ten o'clock, they have only business of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Therefore they are sādhu. Therefore they are sādhu. This is the symptom of sādhu. And so many people are criticizing. So many enemies we have got. We are not getting the sanction because there are so many enemies. We are creating "nuisance." We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra—that is nuisance. This complaint is going to the police.

So that is very difficult. Therefore a sādhu is advised, titikṣavaḥ, tolerate. Tolerate all this nonsense. What can be done? We have no other alternative to tolerate. Nobody's coming to help us, our business is so thankless task. Because we are trying to create one temple, so many enemies, they are giving hindrance, "You cannot do it." Therefore titikṣava. You have to remain sādhu. You cannot become asādhu. You have to tolerate. What can be done? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ (SB 3.25.21). At the same time, you have to become merciful. You know what has happened in this place, Hare Krishna Land. So much attack by the police, by the Municipality, "Break this temple." So we could have gone that, "What is the use of taking so much botheration? We have got hundreds of temples outside India. If Bombay people are not liking, let us go away." No. Kāruṇikāḥ. We have come to distribute Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We must tolerate and give this message to the people. Kāruṇikāḥ. Very merciful, in spite of all trouble. What is the use of . . .? These boys, these American boys, they have come to help me—not that they are hungry, they have come here. No. My mission is that "You American, your . . . you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa so that India, people of India will see, 'Oh, Americans, they are also chanting. Why not ourselves? It is our property.' " But unfortunately, so much dull brain. But that is not coming. But still, we have to do it. We have to tolerate and we have to become kāruṇikāḥ.

Therefore it is said that para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kāruṇikāḥ. Why kāruṇikāḥ? Why you should, one, you want to be merciful? Now, para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. Kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye (CC Madhya 6.254). A Vaiṣṇava's business is para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. A Vaiṣṇava understands that "These people, they are engaged like cats and dogs in sense gratification. They are misguided, and they'll be, next life they'll be punished for this misguidance. Let us do something for them." This is kāruṇikāḥ. Karuṇā. Karuṇā . . . out of mercy. There is no question of getting something, money. No. Money we have got sufficient. Just to become merciful upon these fallen, conditioned souls, who are suffering on account of becoming animalistic, without any Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore the preacher, the sādhu . . . these are the sādhu. Titikṣavaḥ, tolerant. "Never mind. Whatever hindrances and tribulations they are offering to us, never mind. Tolerate." Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ (SB 3.25.21). Suhṛdaḥ means the heart is so nice. Su means nice, and hṛda means heart. They have no other desire. Suhṛdaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ means . . . just like there are different words: mitra, suhṛdaḥ, bandhu . . . and Sanskrit is very perfect language. Suhṛdaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ means a person who is always thinking of welfare for others. He's called suhṛdaḥ. Otherwise kuhṛdaḥ. The ordinary person, they are thinking how to make him subdued, how to make him defeated in competition. That is the polluted heart. And the Vaiṣṇava, he's always thinking how a man can be saved from the clutches of māyā. He's called suhṛdaḥ. He has no other desire. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. Not "For my brother or family," but sarva-dehinām, for all dehīs. All dehīs.

It is not that, that these human . . . just like here—nationalism. What is this nationalism? Nationalism means to take care of the human being and send the cows and goats to the slaughterhouse. This is going on, "nationalism." What do you mean by national? Nation . . . the definition is any living being born in that land, he is a national. So the cow is not born? The tree is not born in this land? But because they are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, they cannot be kind to all the dehīs. Sarva-dehinām. Dehī means anyone who has got this body. So somebody has got body human being, somebody has got the cow's body, somebody has a dog's body, somebody has tree's body. So the Vaiṣṇava is so kind that suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. He is kind not only to the human being: to the cats, dogs, to the trees, to the plants, to the insect. A Vaiṣṇava will hesitate to kill even one mosquito. Sarva-dehinām. Not that, "I shall take care of my brother. I am good, and my brother is good." No. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. These are the Vaiṣṇava qualification.

Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām, ajāta-śatravaḥ (SB 3.25.21). Because he is living in that way, why others will be enemy? Or, he does not create enemy. They become enemy out of their own character. We do not create enemy, but due to the demonic qualification . . . how we can create enemy? Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). We are simply teaching, "My dear human being, my dear friend, you become a surrendered soul to Kṛṣṇa." So what is our fault? So we don't create enemy, but they become enemy. We don't create enemy. Why shall I create enemy? Suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. Why shall I create enemy? But they become, out of their own nature . . . just like serpent. Nobody creates a serpent enemy, but he's already enemy. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says: "There are two crooked animals, or envious animals." What is that? One man, envious. Without any reason, he becomes envious. And there is one serpent, envious. Without any fault, it will bite, and your death. Sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. Similarly, there are men—without any offense, they'll become enemy. Unnecessarily. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says, sarpaḥ krūraḥ khalaḥ krūraḥ. There are two envious entities. Sarpāt krūrataraḥ khalaḥ. The crooked man is more dangerous than the serpent. Why? Mantrauṣadhi sa-rupa śaḥ sarpaḥ: sarpa, the serpent, can be subdued by mantra, by chanting, snake-chanting mantra, or by some herbs. Khalaḥ kena nivāryate: The man envious, it cannot be subdued. Therefore he's more dangerous than the serpent.

So we are in this society, human society. Because we are spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the krūraḥ, which is more dangerous than a snake, they are putting, putting so many impediments. But we have to tolerate. We have no other alternative. You see? Ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ. Be peaceful. What can be done? Depend on Kṛṣṇa. Sādhavaḥ. They are sādhu. They are sādhu. Sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ. These are the ornament of sādhu. What is that? Titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām (SB 3.25.21). Sādhuṣu kṛtaḥ. But you must know what is sādhu. First, sādhu is that he must be devotee. And if he's devotee, then all the symptoms are there. All the symptoms are there. These are the symptoms. Now, don't go to a sādhu . . . Śāstra says that this is the sādhu. Now, you find out a sādhu and associate with him. Then your path of liberation will be open.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. (end)