741027 - Lecture SB 01.08.47 - Mayapur

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

741027SB-MAYAPUR - October 27, 1974 - 40:02 Minutes

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

āha rājā dharma-sutaś

cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham

prākṛtenātmanā viprāḥ

sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ

(SB 1.8.47)

(break)

Translation: "King Yudhiṣṭhira, son of Dharma, overwhelmed by the death of his friends, was aggrieved just like a common, materialistic man. O sages, thus deluded by affection, he began to speak."

Prabhupāda:

āha rājā dharma-sutaś

cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham

prākṛtenātmanā viprāḥ

sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ

(SB 1.8.47)

Sneha, love, affection; and moha, illusion. So, prākṛtena. Prākṛtena means on the bodily conception of life. Actually, sneha is different. There are affection in different stages. This morning we . . . I was reading the statement of a fisherman who caught Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His trance, and by touching Caitanya Mahāprabhu he became spiritually ecstatic, but he thought that he has become ghostly haunted, "Here is a ghost." And he was thinking, "I am ghostly haunted, so if I become mad, who will take care of my wife and children?" This is the position. The fisherman was actually, spiritually, by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, simply by touching Him, he was so much spiritually advanced that he was chanting, dancing, crying—means all the symptoms of spiritual ecstatic transformation was visible in his body—but he thought that he had gone mad on account of touching the body, ghost. He was thinking like that. And the man thinking was that, "If I become mad like this, then who will take care of my wife and children?"

This is sneha. Everyone is thinking. Even the lower animals, they are also thinking of giving protection to the children. I have got personal experience in Kanpur, I was sitting in my room, and one monkey was outside the door with his (her) kiddy to take something out of my eating. But by chance the small kiddy entered through the bars of the window within the room, and I saw the mother became almost mad immediately, "Oh, my son has gone inside, and it will not be allowed to come again." Anyway, I managed to push the small kiddy to go away; then she was relieved. So this affection for children, for wife, for family members increase, then to society, to country, even to the whole human society. There are so many persons, they have given their state (estate) for benefit of the whole human society. There are many, many philanthropists, charitably disposed men, they do that.

But all these activities are simply moha, illusion. Only moha. It has no value. If you say that, "So many things, it has no value?" it has value—temporary, puṇya. Puṇya . . . there is also pāpa also. Suppose if you give charity. Charity is pious activities, but if you give charity to a brāhmaṇa, then it is—proper brāhmaṇa, I mean to say, qualified brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava—then your charity is properly utilized. And if you give the same charity to a drunkard, then you commit sinful activity. If you do not know what kind of charities we shall perform, if you blindly give charity, then sometimes you may be doing pious activities, but sometimes you are clearing the way for going to hell. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated there are three kinds of charities: sāttvika, rājasika, tāmasika. If you perform sāttvika charity, then you get good result; rājasika charity, you get some profit; and tāmasika charity, you go to hell. So one must be very careful even for this sneha, or charity, or philanthropy.

There is another story—it may be fact—that a boy was raised by his aunt very liberally. Then, gradually, the boy became, in bad association, a thief. And the aunt was encouraging, "Oh, it is a very good business. You are bringing so many things without any labor." So . . . or out of affection he (she) did not chastise the boy when he was stealing. Then he, at the end, became a murderer. So he committed a murder. Then when he was to be hanged, so the government men inquired, "What is your last wish?" "Now, I want to speak with my aunt through the ear." Then he was allowed. And the aunt was generally crying that, "My nephew is going to be hanged." She was . . . so he caught up her ear with the teeth and cut it. So he said: "My dear aunt, if you would have chastised me in the beginning, then today, this position, that you are crying and I am going to be hanged, this would not have happened. But you did not do that. Therefore you are uselessly crying now, and this is your punishment, I cut off your ear with the teeth." A very good instruction.

So the so-called sneha, if it is not properly done . . . nature's regulation is so strict that you cannot avoid the consequence. That is not possible. These are practical. I have seen another practical. In front of our residence there was another neighbor. So the old man had his daughter-in-law. So she was beating her one child. So I inquired through my servant, "Why this young woman is beating her child?" Now, then the servant brought me the news that this boy gave paraṭā to his elder brother who is suffering from typhoid. The typhoid . . . in typhoid fever, solid food is forbidden strictly, but the boy did not know. He asked his younger brother that, "If you steal one paraṭā and if you give me, I am very much hungry." So he became very sympathetic to his brother, and he gave the paraṭā. And the boy was ill; he aggravated the illness. So as soon as the mother heard that he gave a paraṭā to him, he (she) began to beat him, "Why did you give?" Now, it was charity, it was affection and sympathetic, but the result was beating with shoes. So if we do not know where charity should be given, then, where affection should be there, then we are under the laws of nature; we shall be punished if it is not properly done. There is punishment.

Therefore it is said, prākṛtena ātmanā. Prākṛtena, by worldly relationship, prākṛtena ātmanā viprāḥ sneha-moha-vaśaṁ gataḥ. Sneha, affection; moha, illusion. Just like Arjuna, the same thing: out of affection he was denying. He was denying, "No, no, Kṛṣṇa, I shall not fight. There, on the other side, there are my brothers, my nephews, my grandfather and my teacher, Droṇācārya, all my object of affection and obeisances, and I will have to kill them. You are inducing me. No, no, don't do it." That is prākṛtena. He did not know the spiritual necessities. Sometimes we take sannyāsa. I have seen. One of our Godbrother, big Godbrother, he was . . . he took sannyāsa. So his son was crying, and he was also crying. Then if you have got affection for your family, society, then why you are taking sannyāsa? That is prākṛtena. We should not be carried away by this material affection. No. That is not good. You must do your duty. That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā that, "Arjuna, you are being carried away by your material affection, and you are hesitating to execute your duty. This is not good." Anārya-juṣṭam: "This is befitting for the anārya, non-Āryan." Non-Āryan means not civilized, and Āryan means civilized. This is the distinction. Now people are very much fond of calling themselves as civilized, Āryan, belonging to the Āryan family. Where is the Āryan civilization? Āryan civilization means this Vedic civilization. Just like Arjuna, a kṣatriya, belonged to the Āryan civilization, and because he was denying to fight, Kṛṣṇa accused him, "Oh, this is just like non-Āryans." Anārya-juṣṭam, non-Āryans.

So this is Āryan civilization. Āryan civilization means giving importance to the spiritual life. That is Āryan civilization. And those who are giving importance to the material life, prākṛta . . . that is called prākṛta. Sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ. In devotional life also, there are prākṛta-bhaktas. Prākṛta-bhaktas are described:

arcāyām eva haraye

yaḥ pūjāṁ śraddhayehate

na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu

sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ

(SB 11.2.47)

"A devotee"—of course, that is the beginning—"who is carrying the arca, Deity worship, very nicely," arcāyām haraye yaḥ pūjāṁ śraddhayā, "with great affection, regulative principle, but he does not know," arcāyām haraye yaḥ pūjāṁ śraddhayā, na tad-bhakteṣu, "but he does not know how to respect a devotee," na tad-bhakteṣu cānyeṣu, "he does not know how to do good to others—simply he is attached to the Deity worship," sa bhaktaḥ prākṛtaḥ smṛtaḥ, "he's still on the material platform."

So one has to make advance. What is that advance? That advance is . . . what is that verse? The four kinds of . . . prema-maitrī-kṛpopekṣā yaḥ karoti sa madhyamaḥ (SB 11.2.46). Īśvare tad-adhīneṣu. The further advancement . . . one has to make advance, stage by stage, from the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, from the lower stage, to the middle stage to the higher stage. So the next stage, from prākṛta, from material position . . . of course, any devotion is . . . any devotee is not on the material platform. He is . . . but if we remain more on the material platform, not on the spiritual platform, then we'll fall down. We'll fall down. Therefore one should try to make forward march. The forward march is to become a preacher. Bhakteṣu cānyeṣu. Preaching means to obey the order of the spiritual master or superior authorities and to good to others, do good to others. They are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Try to preach them. This is the second stage. If we simply become blocked up for Deity worship and do not preach, then we remain in the lowest stage. But when we take up this work, preaching . . .

Preaching means he must be conscious, very . . . Kṛṣṇa conscious, advanced. Kṛṣṇa conscious means that he's a lover of Kṛṣṇa. Iśvare tad . . . he'll see four things: first Kṛṣṇa, īśvara and tad-adhīna, the devotees . . . iśvare tad-adhīneṣu and bāliśeṣu. Bāliśa means people, ignorant men, who do not know what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are called bāliśa, just like child. Child is called bāliśa. Ignorant men, bāliśeṣu, dviṣatsu ca, and other class. He'll see four things: īśvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—he'll see the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, he'll see some ignorant person and he'll see some envious person. That you will have to meet. If you become preacher, then you'll create so many enemies also. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja: his father became enemy, not outside. Outside he might have many enemies, but the five-years-old boy, because he was taking opportunity in the school, and as soon as the teachers are out, in the tiffin hour, he would immediately stand up on the bench and preach . . . you have seen the picture. He was preaching amongst his small class friend. That preaching work is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how he was intelligently preaching.

His first was . . . kaumāram . . . bhakta? I forget now. My memory is becoming old. (laughs) So, kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha (SB 7.6.1). That, he was preaching, "My dear friends, we are now unmarried boys, so this is the opportunity. Now we are unmarried; we are not very much attached to family life. This is the opportunity." Kaumāra ācaret prājñaḥ. Because as soon as one becomes materially affectionate . . . here it is said, prākṛtena ātmanā viprāḥ sneha-moha-vaśam. The more we increase . . . when the child, when we are children, we have got little affection for playing or for father, mother, that's all. Limited. But the more we grow, and especially when you are married, then this material affection increases, more entangled. That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etam (SB 5.5.8). This material life means sex life. So a man is searching after woman, and woman is searching after man. This is material bondage. This is natural, not only human society, in dog society. Just see. The dog is crying, is crying at night because he has lost that woman. Is it not? Just see, even in the dog, what to speak of human being. So this is material life, to be affectionate unnecessarily. Therefore devotional service means vairāgya-vidyā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed by His example how He gave up the affection of young, beautiful wife, very nice home, most affectionate mother, most influential position in the society—gave up.

So this is the . . . people do not know what is devotional service. Devotional service means . . . just like Kuntī was praying, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, kindly help me how can I give up this affection of my family, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis." This is required. This is the first sacrifice, not prākṛtena vaśaṁ gataḥ. Then it is . . . actually, the perfection of life is no more affection for anything material: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). That is the beginning, when we have lost complete affection for . . . we are not cruel; that is not another . . . but we know, we should know, that this is not required; this is simply moha. This is simply moha. This is illusion. It has no meaning. It is simply entanglement. That one must know. That is called vairāgya. Vairāgya-vidyā. Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya wrote hundred verses appreciating Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, of which two verses are available, because when he sent the hundred verses by glorifying Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He immediately torn the papers, but the devotees collected the torn papers and saved one or two ślokas.

So the . . . one of the most important śloka is:

vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-

śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī

kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye

(CC Madhya 6.254)

Who is this Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu? He immediately recognized, "He is Kṛṣṇa." He is Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, as the Supreme Person, He ordered this vairāgya-vidyā, "Give up, nonsense, all these things. Just surrender to Me." This is vairāgya-vidyā. The so-called affection and duty and so on, so on, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66): "Give up," this is vairāgya-vidyā. So Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya could understand that "He is the same Kṛṣṇa, same Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead ordered, but He did not personally teach how to become elevated in vairāgya-vidyā. Here is the same person, He has come again to teach practically how to attain this vairāgya-vidyā stage." Therefore he said, vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam. Vairāgya-vidyā means you become detestful to the material thing—paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59)—but, as Kuntī said, that "My affection may increase for You." Vairāgya-vidyā means not only simply give up affection of this material, but you increase your affection for Kṛṣṇa. That is vairāgya. Not that giving up all affection for the material world, you become zero. The zero stage is brahma-bhūta stage, "I have no more any affection for material things." But zero stage, you cannot stay. That is not our nature. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). We want ānanda.

So we give up this association—unless we take Kṛṣṇa's association there will be no ānanda; it is simply zero. In the zero platform you cannot remain for many years or many days. Then you'll fall down. If you don't get, if you don't increase your affection for Kṛṣṇa—simply you give up the affection of this material world—then you cannot stay for many days. You'll fall down. You'll fall down. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Simply negative process will not help you. You must take the positive position. So that is required. Otherwise, devotional service means vairāgya-vidyā. It is the transcendental education to become unattached to this material world. This is called vairāgya.

In another place it is said:

vāsudeve bhagavati

bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ

janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ . . .

janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ

jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam

(SB 1.2.7)

Vairāgya or jñāna, these two things required in human life: to become unattached to this material world and, based on jñāna, knowledge. Just like a so-called sannyāsī, they give up as a sentiment and take sannyāsa, but unless he has knowledge, he cannot stay; he'll fall down. He'll fall down. Therefore vairāgya and jñāna, two things must be there. Jñāna means full knowledge that, "I am spirit soul; my only necessity is spiritual advancement of life." This is jñāna. And then, naturally, he has no more any affection for material things.

So Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was thinking—it is natural—that on account of his position to become the emperor of the world, suhṛdāṁ vadham, so many friends have been killed. Āha rājā dharma-sutaś cintayan suhṛdāṁ vadham. This is natural. But duty is duty. When Kṛṣṇa says that, as He did to Arjuna that, "You must fight. You must kill them," that is duty. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness—no consideration of my affection. That is duty, and Arjuna did it. This is the duty of the devotee. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā (CC Madhya 19.167). First-class devotion is to serve Kṛṣṇa just to please Him. If He is pleased, if He says that, "You kill your son," then we should be prepared to do that. That is called vairāgya-vidyā. Of course, never Kṛṣṇa says like that, but actually, in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, Arjuna was ordered, if not the son but the nephew. But his sons were also killed. So this is duty. So many people inquire, "Kṛṣṇa was inducing people to fight?" But this fight by the order of Kṛṣṇa and the fight or war declared for the satisfaction of the politicians, they are not the same. We must always remember. They are not the same.

Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was standing, and his father was being killed. Is it a very good thing? Suppose if I am here and somebody kills me, and if you do not protest, is it a very good business? People will be surprised, that "So many disciples are there, and this man is being killed, and nobody do anything?" So from material point of view, Prahlāda Mahārāja could have asked Nṛsiṁha-deva, "My Lord, do not kill my father." He could have asked, and immediately his request would have been granted. But he did not do that. He was standing and seeing. But he knows that, "This killing of the body of my father is not killing. I shall save him. I shall save him." That he did. When he was offered benediction, he did not take anything. He said: "My Lord, what shall I do, all this material benediction? I have seen in the case of my father, He was so strong that even the demigods were frightened for his presence. His position was so strong, and You finished it within a minute. So what is the benefit of taking? No, no. Please do not request me." But although he did not ask anything for his personal self, but he asked the Lord, prayed that, "One thing I request." "What is that?" "My father was a great demon, and he was against You. He has committed so many sinful life. So I know he'll have to suffer for these things. I request You to excuse him." This is Vaiṣṇava son. "Oh, yes. Immediately." Immediately.

So he knew that, "What is this of asking for this material . . .? My father is not this body, but he has to suffer so many things for his sinful activities. I shall save him in due course of time." Therefore that is called putra. Putra means pun-nāmno narakād trāyate yasmāt putra. Pun-nāmno narakād, this is represented by the alphabet pu, and trāyate, tra. Combined together, putra. The putra's duty is to save the father from hellish condition of life. Therefore there is śrāddha ceremony. So here is a putra, real putra, Prahlāda Mahārāja, that he saved his father from the hellish condition of life. Similarly, a father should be the protector of his child not only simply by feeding him, making him very fat in this life, but from death. Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum, pitā na sa syāt (SB 5.5.18). One should not become father, one should not become mother, one should not become guru, one should not become relative, husband, and so many. The list is there. Why? If he cannot save his subordinate from imminent death. That is father; that is mother; that is guru. And how one can be saved from imminent death or repeated death? Simply by Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

janma karma me divyaṁ

yo jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti . . .

(BG 4.9)

You can save your son, your disciple, your relative or anyone whom you love, real affection, then give him Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he'll be saved from death. That is the purport of this.

Thank you very much. (end)