750714 - Lecture SB 06.01.30 - Philadelphia

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this Lecture

750714SB-PHILADELPHIA - July 14, 1975 - 26:03 Minutes

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) Sixth Canto, First Chapter, verse number 30. (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

niśamya mriyamāṇasya

mukhato hari-kīrtanam

bhartur nāma mahārāja

pārṣadāḥ sahasāpatan

(SB 6.1.30)

(break) (01:34)

"My dear King, the order carriers of Viṣṇu, upon hearing the chanting of the holy name of their master, Nārāyaṇa, being offenselessly chanted by Ajāmila, who was in great anxiety at the time of his death, immediately arrived on the scene."

Prabhupāda:

niśamya mriyamāṇasya

mukhato hari-kīrtanam

bhartur nāma mahārāja

pārṣadāḥ sahasāpatan

(SB 6.1.30)

So he was calling his son, Nārāyaṇa. So the pārṣadāḥ, viṣṇu-pārṣadāḥ—pārṣadāḥ means associates or attendants—they immediately came. Just like in your city, the police is wandering in the car, and if somebody calls for police, immediately he is present; similarly, the attendants of Lord Viṣṇu, they are also wandering throughout the universe and searching out somebody who is engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord. So if you chant holy name of the Lord, they are very much pleased and they immediately come. That happened to Ajāmila. He did not mean Nārāyaṇa—may be or may not be—but he was calling his son. But the attendants of Hari, or the order carriers, they took notice of the chanting only. That's all. They did not care to know by "Nārāyaṇa," Ajāmila, what he was meaning. No. Because they heard bhartur nāma, their master's name, they immediately appeared. This is clear.

So anyone who is chanting the holy name of the Lord, he is taken care of immediately by the attendants of the Supreme Lord, especially at the time of death, because that is the last moment. The account is taken at the last moment. If you practice Hare Kṛṣṇa, naturally at the last moment you will be inclined to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram (BG 8.6). It is so nice. If we practice in this life chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then gradually my core of heart will be cleansed and everything will be manifest: my position, my duty, what is God. Everything will be manifest. It is so nice. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Because we are filled up with so many rubbish, dirty things, we cannot understand the science of God. But if you be practiced to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, then your heart will be cleansed and you will see things as they are. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. And as soon as we are able to see things as they are, then our material bondage is over.

Because first of all I will see . . . People are making research work about the bodily cells, how they are working, and so many things, simply on the body. But as soon as you become cleansed of your heart, then immediately you understand, "I am not this body, so what is the use of studying the cells and atoms and this and that? I am not this body." Immediately. Actually, I am not this body. I am simply wasting my time in studying. The same thing, example, that I am in the car, I am studying the machine only. I forgot my destination, where I have to go. I am busy with studying the car. What is the use? You must know—you have got a good car—you must know where is the destination, where you have to go. That is your business. The business . . . Of course, it is secondary. If you want to know what is the car, that is secondary; that is not your main business. The main business is how to utilize the car and go to my destination. That is intelligence.

So we are fallen in this material condition in different forms. So long we are in this bodily concept, "I am this car," that is ignorance. I am not this car, but I have to utilize this car for going to my destination. That is wanted. So I am not this body; I am spirit soul. My destination is how to go to the spiritual world, how to meet the Supreme Spirit, God, and live with Him in His association. So this life is meant for understanding what is the Supreme Lord, where does He live, what does He do, what is my relationship with Him. This is called brahma-jijñāsā. That is actual education. And I am given this machine. If we simply study the machine, then what is the use of it? The śāstra says that machine is working, and it will work until it is rotten.

So you don't bother with the machine, but you simply appreciate that you have got now a good machine. The dog has got also a machine, and a human being has got a machine. Everyone has got a machine, living entity, but the śāstra says, "This machine should not be utilized like the dog's machine." Nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛ . . . (SB 5.5.1). Everyone has got machine. Even an ant, it has got machine, because according to his desire, he has been given a body. That is also machine. An elephant has got a machine. I am also, I have got also machine. Every one of us, we are spirit soul, and relatively we have got different machine. So that machine is required for going from here. But we should not waste our time simply studying the machine, forgetting our destination. This is human intelligence. God has already given you a type of machine. Now utilize it to go to the destination.

Nṛ-deham ādyaṁ sulabhaṁ sukalpam (SB 11.20.17). This nṛ-deham, this machine, is very carefully made not by me, but by the nature. Nature is the agent of God. I wanted to do something. That means I require a particular type of machine. God orders nature that "This living entity wants something like this. You give him a machine." So the prakṛti, or the nature, gives us different types of machine. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). I am neither driving the machine, neither I have made the machine. I have been given as gift to work on, or to fulfill my desire. This is the position. So śāstra says that "You have got now a very good machine." Nṛ-deham. The human form of body is very good machine. Nṛ-deham ādyaṁ sulabhaṁ sukalpam. It is very rare. With great difficulty you have got this machine, because we have to come through so many machines—the aquatics, the plants, the insects, the trees, and the serpents, reptiles, then birds, then beast—millions and millions of years. Just like you have seen this. The trees are standing there, maybe standing for five thousand years. So if you get that machine, you cannot move, you have to stand in one place. So we had to go through this. Foolish people, they do not know.

Therefore this machine is sulabham. Sulabham means very fortunately we have got this machine. And sukalpam, "very nicely made." Those who are medical man, they see how nicely made it is, how the nerves are working, the nails are working, the intestines and the heart and everything—a grand machine. Therefore it is called sukalpam, "very well planned." And what for? Just like a nice boat, well planned. If you have got a nice boat, you get on it and cross over the river or the ocean. Similarly, we are in this material ocean. Life after life we are struggling. So now we have got a nice boat, this human body. Sulabhaṁ sudurlabham. And it is specially advantageous because the breeze is very favorable. When you ply your boat, if the breeze is favorable, pushing on, that is another advantage, good boat and good breeze. And guru-karṇadhāram (SB 11.20.17): "And the captain, steering man, is guru." He is giving instruction, "Row like this. Turn this way, that way." He is turning everything. So we have got this opportunity. If the boat is very nice, the captain is very nice, the breeze is very favorable, and even accepting or getting this nice boat, favorable, if we do not cross over the sea of ignorance, of material existence, then we are committing suicide, sa ātma-hā (SB 11.20.17). You get all the opportunities, and still you remain in this material world, repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. Is that very good intelligence? No. That is not good.

So we are misled. We are engaged in studying the machine, that's all. Instead of using the machine to cross over the ocean, take the advantage, they are very busy in studying the machine. Is that very good intelligence? Machine is already given to you. You cannot study even. You do not know. Even if you study, you cannot say . . . I claim, "It is my body," and if somebody asks me, "How many hairs you have got in your body?" I cannot say. How I am eating something, how it is being turned into some secretion, it is going to the heart, it is becoming red and it is again distributed through the nerves and veins—I do not know anything. I can simply theorize. But the machine is not under your control. The machine is made by God, or by nature. It is very subtle machine. If you are very expert, the first thing is that what is the use of simply studying the machine? You got it. You utilize it for going to the destination. That is your intelligence. No, they forgot to use the machine for going to the destination; they are simply studying the machine. And that is going on in the name of science. What is this nonsense science? Simply busy in studying the machine.

So that is our mistake. Our mistake is that we have got advanced or developed consciousness. We should utilize it for going back to home, back to Godhead. Why should we misuse it unnecessarily? And you are not perfect. Suppose you are studying the machine throughout the whole life. What you will get that? Can you make the machine to your favor, that this machine will not be lost, there will be no death? You all scientists, you are studying the machine. Have you found out any means that there will be no death? Where is that knowledge? Death will be there. You study the machine or do not study the machine, in due course time, the death will come and will take you. The machine will stay.

So this is intelligence. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu . . . (BG 13.9). You cannot cure even one disease. You are embarrassed with the cancer disease. You find out how the cells are working, how it can be changed, and there will be no cancer. No, that you cannot do it. You go on studying simply, waste your time. So śāstra says, "Don't waste your valuable time in that way. Try to understand God. Use your intelligence for this purpose." Tapaḥ. Tapo divyaṁ yena śuddhyet sattvam (SB 5.5.1). You have to undergo austerities that you may not be subjected to this machine. That is your business—not to study the machine. How to become independent of the machine. So long you are in this material world, you are desiring differently. Nature is supplying you a different type of machine, and you are busy. Then again, the machine is broken, then you accept another machine. This is going on.

So your problem is to stop this repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. Come to your spiritual life. That is your business. That is the instruction of the śāstras. The machine maintaining, everyone knows it. The dog knows how to maintain the machine. He eats according to the necessity of his doggish body. So we also know, human body. So that is natural. That is . . . The supplies are already there. You cannot manufacture supplies. That is the Vedic instruction: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). There are many millions and trillions of living entities, and there is another living entity: that is God. So this another, one, singular number, there is no second, duplicate, of this one. But we ordinary living entities, we have got many millions of duplicates. Therefore two things are used: nitya, nityānām. Nityānām means plural number. Many, many, innumerable. You cannot count. Asaṅkhyā, the jīva is. Asaṅkhyā means nobody can count. And above this asaṅkhyā, innumerable living entities, there is one prime living entity. God is also a living entity. He is also like us. In your Bible there is there: "Man is made after God." Is it not? So God is living entity, and we have got this form after the form . . . God is two-handed; we have got two hands. So that is a fact. This human form of life is made according to the form of Lord. It is imitation; that is real. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1).

But we are thinking that God has no form. Why? Wherefrom you got your form? You are daily praying, "O God, O Father, give us our daily bread," and we accept God as the Supreme Father. So if I have got form, the father must have got form. It is reasonable. How you say, "There is no form"? This is all . . ., not very reasonable argument. God is also a living entity, but what is the difference between God and all these living entities? They are all dependent on God. That's all. God is great; we are small. Just like father maintains all the children, so we are all children, and the Supreme Father maintains. So if the children have got forms, so it is naturally concluded the father has got, even though you have not seen the father. Suppose a posthumous child, a child is born after the death or disappearance of the father. So that does not mean because he has not seen the father, he will conclude that "My father had no form." This is not conclusion. He should know from the mother that "Yes, my child, your father had form." So this is intelligence.

So difference between this prime, or the Supreme Person, and these . . . Difference is that eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). We different living entities, we are planning differently. Just like children: somebody is playing with the motorcar toy, somebody is something, somebody is . . ., a doll, and the parents are supplying, "All right, you take this doll. You take this. You take this. You take this." So we are playing like that, making plan. So God is supplying us all the . . . But He wants that "My dear child, you are now grown up. You have got this human form of body. You don't play like this and waste your time. You take education and know things as they are." That is called athāto brahma jijñāsā, the Vedānta-sūtra: "Now you have got human form of life. You try to understand what is God." That is the main business. Unfortunately, we are misled by blind leaders. We have been engaged in studying the body, that's all.

So here it is said, niśamya mriyamāṇasya mukhato hari-kīrtanam. So God very much appreciates when we use our tongue and mouth in glorifying or chanting the holy name. He very much appreciates. Because the name of God and God is not different, so immediately he becomes in touch with God. As soon you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately we are in touch. So He very much appreciated. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Śravaṇa means hearing, and kīrtana means chanting. So anyone who is chanting God's name and one who is hearing God's name, both of them are becoming purified, puṇya. Puṇya means piety. So simply by chanting . . . This is the example, that this man was addicted to so many sinful activities, and out of fear or out of his good luck, he chanted "Nārāyaṇa." Immediately the attendants of Nārāyaṇa has come to deliver him. And now there will be talk between the order carriers, attendants of Yamarāja and Viṣṇudūta, and that we shall discuss later on.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end).