701226 - Lecture SB 06.01.44 - Surat

Lectures by Date, 1970

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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701226SB-SURAT - December 26, 1970 - 58:11 Minutes

Haṁsadūta: The following lecture was recorded on the morning of December 26th, 1970, in Surat, India. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda:

sambhavanti hi bhadrāṇi

viparītāni cānaghāḥ

kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti

dehavān na hy akarma-kṛt

(SB 6.1.44)

So far it has been discussed that those who are impious, they are to be punishable, undoubtedly; but there may be pious activities, so they can avoid punishment. So one may say that, "I shall avoid impious activities. I shall stick to the pious activities, therefore I shall not be punishable."

This is possible. The śāstra says if one can avoid impious activities, then he is not punishable. But the Yamadūta says that that is not possible. The Yamadūta said that one has to become impious. The world is so situated that willingly or unwillingly, you have to become impious. Just like those who are in business, sometimes—or always—they have to make some transaction in black market. Without doing that, his business cannot be continued. There are many cases, practical examples, that in business sale, without going through the black market, sometimes there is no profit of the business.

Therefore the Yamadūta says, kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti. Because we are in this material world, we have to associate with the three kinds of material modes of nature. And even though I try to keep myself on the quality of goodness, the association is so bad that I have to become a criminal under the association of other qualities just like tamo-guṇa.

Therefore we are singing every morning, saṁsāra-dāvānala-līḍha-loka (Gurv-aṣṭaka 1): the blazing fire of this material existence, dāvānala, forest fire. It is not that one intends, then fire may take place. No. But in course of time, in the course of seasonal changes, the fire takes place automatically. How we can avoid? That is not possible.

That is clearly stated by Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā, that yajñārthāt karmaṇa anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you don't act for yajña, for Viṣṇu, or if you don't become a Vaiṣṇava and simply devote your life for serving Kṛṣṇa, then you are bound up by all your activities, either pious or impious. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura therefore sings:

karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa sakali viṣera bhāṇḍa

amṛta baliyā yeba khāya

nānā yoni brahman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṇa kare

tāra janma adho pāte yāya

(Prema-bhakti-candrikā)

Karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa . . . in the Vedas there are three different types of activities. One is called karma-kāṇḍa, the other is called jñāna-kāṇḍa, and the last is upāsanā-kāṇḍa. In the upāsanā-kāṇḍa, when you are elevated to the viṣṇu-upāsanā, when you come to the understanding that Viṣṇu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is to be worshiped, viṣṇur ārādhyate puṁsāṁ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.8).

This our varṇāśrama-dharma, which is now running on as Hindu dharma, varṇāśrama-dharma means to please Lord Viṣṇu. Varṇāśrama—the four āśrama and four varṇas; brāhmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, the four varṇas; and four āśramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa—all their aim is how to please Viṣṇu. That is varṇāśrama. Not that by force I am brāhmin, I am kṣatriya, I am this, I am that, and fighting one another. No. The real aim:

varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa parā pumān

viṣṇur ārādhyate puṁsāṁ nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam

(Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.8)

Therefore a civilized country or a civilized society, unless they accept this varṇāśrama-dharma, that is not human society. That is not accepted as human society. That is almost animal society, without accepting this varṇāśrama-dharma. That is the beginning of real human civilization, when they accept these four divisions of varṇas and according to quality as Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa says:

cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ

guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ

(BG 4.13)

Not by birth. That has killed this Vedic civilization. When people began to claim that to become Brahmin, kṣatriya, simply by birth, the whole structure has been dismantled. That is to be revived. We have to pick up Brahmins from all parts of the world. That is Vedic civilization. Kṛṣṇa says that cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ, "I have created these divisions of four varṇas according to quality."

Nāradajī . . . Nārada says, yasya hi yad lakṣaṇaṁ syad varṇābhivyañjakam (SB 7.11.35). There are symptoms for ascerting, ascertaining, a particular class of varṇa—brāhmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya. Yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta: if you find that quality, such symptoms in anywhere, in other place, you have to accept. If you find the brahminical qualification in Europe and America somebody—not all—then you have to accept them as Brahmins.

That is the Vedic injunction. And if you think, "Oh, he is European. He is mleccha, he is yavana." No. But when you see that he has got the brahminical qualification, viṣṇur ārādhyate, he is simply engaged in worshiping the Viṣṇu, you have to accept him as a first-class varṇa, or the Brahmin. Unless you become such liberal, and really under the regulation of Vedic principles, your the so-called Vedic civilization is already spoiled, and it cannot be protected.

So guṇa-saṅga—association with the particular type of guṇa, quality—that is essential. We have to find out the symptoms, just like Bhagavad-gītā says. Now, a man is dying. A man is dying . . . these are very clearly stated:

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

When a man is taking another . . . he is about to accept another body—that means dying, a dying man, leaving this body—those who are crying, "Oh, my father is dying," "My son is dying," they are not advanced. That was the first instruction to Arjuna that, "You are lamenting on the body. No learned man does this. That means you are a fool."

aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ

prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase

(BG 2.11)

"My dear Arjuna, you are talking just like a very learned man, but your symptom is like a fool." That is going on.

So dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). One can understand that this my father or my son or my relative or my friend is dying; he is accepting another body. And what kind of body he is accepting, that you also can foresay, if you are learned. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. Dhīra, if you are dhīra. But if you are adhīra . . .

Adhīra means this ordinary man—sensuous, adhīra. Those who are conducted, or directed, by the senses, they are called adhīra. And dhīra means they have controlled the senses. That is called dhīra. One who is not agitated by the dictation of the senses, he is called dhīra.

Just like Lord Śiva is described in Kumāra-sambhava as dhīra. He was in meditation, naked, and the demigods' plan was that Lord Śiva must give birth to a boy who can actually become the commander-in-chief of the demigods. That was their plan. So Pārvatī was induced, young girl, Pārvatī, and she began to worship the genital of Lord Śiva, the śiva-liṅga, the śiva-liṅga worship.

So still Lord Śiva was in meditation. So that time Kālidāsa is describing, "Here is a dhīra." Dhīra. Dhīra means a man is sitting idle, and a young girl is touching the genital, but still he is not agitated. That is called dhīra. Not by simply seeing any young girl, beautiful girl, one becomes agitated. They are adhīra. So there are dhīras and adhīras. Dhīra means those who have control over the senses, they are called dhīra.

Every word, Sanskrit word, has got very deep meaning. Therefore there is no comparison of the Sanskrit language in the whole world. It is called saṁskṛtaḥ. Saṁskṛtaḥ means "purified." The grammatical composition, the rules, they are so much nicely . . . and it is called devanāgarī.

Devanāgarī means in the higher planetary system where demigods live, they speak in Sanskrit. In Vaikuṇṭha also, they speak in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language is so uplifted. In India also formerly amongst the learned circle the language used was in Sanskrit. Therefore you find all the Vedic scriptures, even five hundred years ago, just like our Gosvāmīs, they wrote all their books in Sanskrit.

Therefore there was no provincialism, because the learned circle, they talked in Sanskrit, they wrote in Sanskrit. It doesn't matter whether he is born in Bengal or in Gujarat or Madras. When the learned men will speak and write, they would write in Sanskrit, speak in Sanskrit. So this learning was especially entrusted to the Brahmins, because they were the leaders of the society, head of the society. Just like your head is the leader of your bodily activities, similarly, the Brahmins were head.

So in this way, the subject matter is that in this material world the guṇa-saṅga, you have to associate with a particular type of quality. And according to that quality, your character, your behavior, your activities are molded. And according to that symptom of your association with the particular type of quality, your caste or category is selected. That is called guṇa-karma-vibhāgayoḥ (BG 3.28).

It is all scientific. They are now . . . the government wants that there should be no this caste system, but how can you say there is no caste system? There are guṇas. How you can avoid caste system? There must be a class of men very intelligent. They are called Brahmins by their guṇas. And there must be a class of men kṣatriyas by the particular type of guṇa. And there must be a class of men mercantile, or vaiśyas, by the particular type of guṇas acquired. And there must be a class of men śūdra.

So guṇa-saṅgo 'sti, so according to guṇa. Therefore the Yamadūta said, kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti (SB 6.1.44). Anyone who is engaged in activities . . . activities means, I have already explained, that karma. Karma means I work, I get some profit, and I utilize it for my sense gratification. They are karmīs. So work is not prohibited. You cannot stop working, but the purpose of working, according to the purpose of working, the guṇa is detected.

What is the purpose of this work?

kāriṇāṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sti

dehavān akarma-kṛt

na hy akarma-kṛt

(SB 6.1.44)

Deha-vān, one who has accepted this body, he has to work. Without working he cannot live. Then it is said:

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

tathā tāvad amutra vai

(SB 6.1.45)

Just like in this life, dharma-adharma. Suppose I have committed some criminal act, so I will be punished. That's a fact. Similarly, if I have acted piously I will be rewarded. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-kriya (BG 18.5). Those who are performing yajñas, giving in charity, those who are undergoing austerities for self-purification, they will be rewarded with sukham, with happiness.

Why do you find so many different kinds of men or bodies enjoying? One body is born with silver spoon in the mouth, and one body is born, from the very beginning, injection of the doctor. The child is born, and immediately it requires an injection. Why this is? That is due to, as it is said:

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

(SB 6.1.45)

These are being automatically. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). They are, under the laws of nature, one body is suffering, one body is enjoying. You cannot rectify it.

Therefore those who are engaged in philanthropic work, "Oh, this man is suffering. I shall give him some food. I shall give him some shelter. I shall take to hospital," you can do so, for from your part it is pious activities. But you cannot give relief him. That is not possible.

Your sympathy for the suffering humanity is nice, because if you think that, "So many people are suffering from disease. Let me open a hospital, and let me give free treatment," from your part it is all right. You are doing some pious activity. You will enjoy the fruit of your piety. But the person to whom you want to give relief, he will not be relieved. He will suffer. Therefore it is useless.

The only relief work is if you can induce one man to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the only relief work. Otherwise all futile. You cannot check a man's suffering by your hospitalizing. No, that is not possible. That is from your part it is good—try to understand—but you cannot give relief.

So many hospitals are open all over the world. The patients are increasing, that's all. Patients are increasing everywhere. How many hospitals you have got in this country? In America there are very, very nice, nice, big, big hospitals. What is that hospital, mental, in New York?

Devotee: Bellevue.

Prabhupāda: Bellevue. For treating mental disorder . . . (indistinct) . . . the mental disorder persons are increasing only. Crazy fellow. You see? Is it not? You have to simply increase the bedding, that's all. Beds are increasing, not the patients are decreasing. Beds are increasing.

Somebody, you have got some money, you can increase some beds, but the patient will not decrease. There is increase. Guṇa-saṅgo 'sya. Because they are associating with the different types kinds of guṇas, how you can check it? That is not possible. And if you teach people to become above the guṇas, that is real beneficial work.

What is that, to make a person above the guṇas, without being touched by the guṇas?

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

How?

māṁ ca avyabhicāreṇa

bhakti-yogena ya sevate

(BG 14.26)

He becomes. He is not infected by the guṇas. Therefore this is the only means of welfare activities to the human society—how to make them Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is only. Any other activities for welfare activity for the human soc . . . they are simply futile. That is a fact.

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

(SB 6.1.45)

Yena yāvān yathādharmo. Adharma and dharma, according to that, one has to accept a particular type of body. He has to be placed in a particular position. Karma and daṇḍa: he has to suffer. How it is so, that is also explained. Just like I was trying to explain from the Bhagavad-gītā, dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). Dhīraḥ, one who is learned, he can know that "This man—my father or relative or friend or son—is now dying. Where he will go? How he will accept this other body?"

That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). If you see that this man was in sattva-guṇa . . . sattva-guṇa means in a brahminical qualification: śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ (BG 18.42), as the symptoms are described. This is science. Just like you can . . . in the medical science, a drug has a particular characteristic.

When you analyze that characteristic right, then a medical man has to accept, "Yes, this is pure drug." Similarly, everything you have to accept by the symptoms, by the characteristic. So if you see that this man dying as a Vaiṣṇava or as a brāhmin, sattva-sthā, then he is going to Vaikuṇṭha or higher planetary system, Brahmaloka, Tapaloka, Janaloka or Maharloka. It is not difficult.

So ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 14.18). You have to see and you have to know what is sattva-guṇa, what is rajo-guṇa, what is tamo-guṇa, what is mixed guṇa. If you are learned, then you can foretell that, "This man is going there." This indication is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Just like Kṛṣṇa says, yānti deva-vratā devān (BG 9.25). If you know that this man was performing this worship of such-and-such demigod, then he is going to such demigod.

yānti deva-vratā devān

pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ

(BG 9.25)

Those who are fond of . . . addicted to karma-kāṇḍa, tarpaṇa, pitṛ-tarpaṇa, they will go to the Pitṛlokas. But how you can say, "Whatever you do, that is all right. You can go to God"? This is nonsense. Where you get this idea that whatever you do, whatever you worship, you ultimately reaches God? No.

It is clearly stated:

yānti deva-vratā devān

pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ

bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni

mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām

(BG 9.25)

"Those who are My devotees, they will come to Me." How you can say that worshiping the demigods, you can go to the kingdom of God? No. These are ignorance.

And in other places it is said, Bhagavad-gītā:

kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ

prapadyante 'nya-devatāḥ

(BG 7.20)

Those who are worshipers of demigods, they are hṛta-jñānāḥ. Hṛta-jñānāḥ has been commented by Viśvanātha Cakravartī as naṣṭa-buddhayaḥ. Naṣṭa-buddhayaḥ: one whose intelligence is lost. They are addicted to the worship of demigods. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ (BG 7.23). "Well, we get some profit by worshiping demigods." That is all right, but antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ: how long you will enjoy that profit? Tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām: they are meant for less-intelligent class of men.

And those who are actually intelligent, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ (BG 18.66), he worships Kṛṣṇa, that's all. He is actually intelligent, because his result is permanent. If one worships Kṛṣṇa according to the system, then tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). That is the solution. So after this body, he is no more coming to this material world. Therefore that is real solution of life.

Our suffering is . . . we do not know what is our suffering. The suffering is repeated . . . repetition acceptance of birth and death. That is our real suffering. When you get a body, you also suffer, but if you get a good body you do not suffer very much. But that is not the solution. You have got now this very good body—you are enjoying—but in the next life you may not. So that is not the solution. Therefore for temporary benefits if anyone worships the demigods, he is to be called as lost of all intelligence. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says mām ekaṁ. Don't bother yourself with any other worship. Simply:

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto

mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru

(BG 18.65)

This is Gītā. Simply concentrating on Kṛṣṇa.

We are preaching this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that simply concentrating on Kṛṣṇa. That is real preaching of Bhagavad-gītā. Then he becomes above the . . . transcendental to all activities of the guṇas. Like that song, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's song: karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, sakali viṣera bhāṇḍa. Karma-kāṇḍa, fruitive activities; jñāna-kāṇḍa, philosophical speculation. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that both these are pots of poison. Karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, sakali viṣera bhāṇḍa. Bhāṇḍa means pot, and viṣera means poison.

But amṛta baliyā yebā khāya: if some foolish person accepts karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa by his foolishness, amṛta baliyā, tāra janma adhaḥ-pāte, he got the chance of human form of life to make a solution of all problems by worshiping Kṛṣṇa and being Kṛṣṇa conscious; now he loses the chance. He is attracted by karma-kāṇḍa, to be elevated to the heavenly kingdom, or jñāna-kāṇḍa, to become one with the Supreme, jñāna-kāṇḍa. That means he is missing the chance.

It is a very nice song, karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, sakali viṣera bhāṇḍa. They are all poisonous pots. If one is allured to this poisonous pot, then nānā yoni sadā phire. This is jñāna-kāṇḍa. One is thinking, meditating, that "I am becoming one with the Supreme." That is also a false idea. That is also false idea, because in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān (BG 7.19). Those who are following the path of jñāna, jñānavān, as bahūnāṁ janmanām ante, there are many births, so how he becomes one with the Supreme? If he has to take many births, then where is the mixing up with the Supreme? That is a false, false idea, bewildered idea.

In another place in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said:

ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas

tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ

(SB 10.2.32)

These persons, those who are contemplating that "I have become Nārāyaṇa . . ." These Māyāvādī, every sannyāsī addresses another sannyāsī, "Nārāyaṇa," "Namo nārāyaṇa." That means he has become Nārāyaṇa. So vimukta-māninaḥ. To become Nārāyaṇa means he is now liberated from this material contamination. So Bhāgavat says that such kind of self-complation, thinking that "I have become Nārāyaṇa," they are aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ (SB 10.2.32). Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ means their intelligence is not yet clear. Aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ.

Why? Tvayy asta-bhāvād: because they have not yet learned to surrender unto the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa. They are trying to become Nārāyaṇa. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas. They have become vimukta-māninas: "I have become liberated." Mānina, mānina means "falsely thinking." Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād. And because they have not learned to surrender unto the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa, they are aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ—their intelligence is impure, aviśuddha.

So what is the result of becoming such impure intelligence? Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ: by undergoing severe penances and austerities they rise up to the brahmajyoti position, but they fall down again. Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho. "Again they come down to this material world," anādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ, "simply by neglecting Your lotus feet." These are the statements of the Vedic literature.

So you can understand at the time of death how one is being promoted or degraded. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā (BG 4.18). If a man was in actual goodness, the mode of goodness, he will be elevated, or just like Bhagavad-gītā says, mad-yājino api yānti mām (BG 9.25). If he is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, he has whole life he has simply worked for Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa says, mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām: then he is going to Kṛṣṇaloka, and he is going to Brahmaloka, he is going to Janaloka. If one is learned, just like by astrological science one can understand the future, similarly, in the śāstras everything is there.

So here it is stated that:

yena yāvān yathādharmo

dharmo veha samīhitaḥ

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

tathā tāvad amutra vai

(SB 6.1.45)

As one is enjoying the fruits of dharma and adharma in this life, similarly one can understand how he is going to enjoy or suffer in the next life. Amutra. Amutra means next life.

sa eva tat-phalaṁ bhuṅkte

tathā tāvad amutra vai

yatheha deva-pravarās

trai-vidhyam upalabhyate

bhūteṣu guṇa-vaicitryāt

tathānyatrānumīyate

(SB 6.1.45-46)

Very nice instruction. Just like you can see that by committing sinful acts one is suffering—if not, I mean to say, bodily, but by the state laws he is suffering. Similarly, you can, anumīyate, you can imagine, you can perceive, you can hypothesize that, "This man has committed such kind of sins; he is going to suffer. He has not suffered in this life, then he has to suffer next life."

In the Manu-saṁhitā it is stated that when a man is hanged by the king, it is a favor to the man. It is a favor to the man. If he is not punished life for life in this life, then he will have to suffer in the next life more, with compound interest. Therefore the law says that this man has committed a murder, he must be killed so that he may be saved from the sufferings of the next life. This is the Manu-saṁhitā it is said.

So there are many things to save a person from the further suffering, and the best service to the humankind is to make him a devotee, devotee, or to teach him how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is plainly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi

(BG 18.66)

The suffering is due to pāpa. So Kṛṣṇa takes charge of the person, surrendered soul, and He gives assurance that, "I shall protect you." He can do so. That is the Supreme Lord. Just like a man is condemned to death, but he submits petition to the king or the president, he may be saved. That is in the power of the president or the king.

By law he cannot be saved, but by the mercy of the king, king's mercy, he can be saved. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa is the supreme king. When He takes charge of you and He gives you assurance that, "I shall give you protection," why do you hesitate? Just surrender unto Him, become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and your problem is solved.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break)

So the only solution of all problems is to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Is there any disagreement? Boliye. (indistinct comment by Indian man) That is always. Now you can understand how much important is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This is the śreyaḥ:

prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā

śreya-ācaraṇaṁ sadā

(SB 10.22.35)

Everyone should join this movement for the human welfare activities, with their life, with their money, with their intelligence, with their words.

Revatīnandana: Prabhupāda, there's one place in the Bhagavad-gītā, I think it is the Fourteenth Chapter, it says that the soul in the modes of nature, you have to understand how these modes act, how they bind and how they give liberation. My understanding is that liberation only comes from beyond the modes of material nature—from Kṛṣṇa or from a pure devotee.

Prabhupāda: But you have to go to the highest platform gradually. If you take . . . just like you have to rise to the topmost story. So there is staircase and there is elevator also. So ultimate aim is Viṣṇu, the topmost. So you can go by the step-by-step, which is one method; and if you take the easiest method, elevator, then you can also go. Both ways you can go, but this will take many, many years.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

(BG 7.19)

After many, many births, one who is actually jñānavān, wise, he surrenders. And another, he takes the word of Kṛṣṇa, immediately he surrenders.

It is not that they will not be going to that post. It will take time, step by step, step by step, by karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa. Therefore it says, bahūnāṁ janma . . . why you should wait for bahūnāṁ janma? What is the great advantage of the elevator? Why you are determined, "No, I shall go step by step." Is that very intelligent, when two things are there?

In your country you have got experience of hundred-story building, and if you go step by step it will take three hours. What is that building, Empire Building, in New York? If you go step by step then it will take three hours, and if you take the advantage of the elevator, you go in three seconds. Why one should be so fool to go up to the topmost flight in three years?

When Kṛṣṇa is offering, He is coming personally, canvassing, "You surrender." Why these foolish persons refuse? Why this foolishness? And why this foolishness to make a, I mean to say, wrong commentation not to surrender to Kṛṣṇa? Just see the foolishness of the people. The so-called scholars, so-called svāmīs, how they're misleading people.

Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās (SB 7.5.31). The blind leader is leading many blind followers. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir . . . they are trying to be happy by making adjustment of this material condition. That is another foolishness. That is not possible.

Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī (BG 7.14). Everything is stated very nicely in the Bhagavad-gītā, but they wrongly comment and mislead the people. Therefore our business is to present Bhagavad-gītā as it is and give the right direction to the people. That is our position. Boliye doctor saheb, thik hai ki nahi? (So Doctor saheb, is it correct or not?)

Revatīnandana: Is it right to say that this path of doing good work is completely impossible in the Kali-yuga? That no one can do it in Kali-yuga, because . . .

Prabhupāda: When you are doing the utmost good, why you are anxious about doing other good work?

Revatīnandana: I just want to establish that the prescribed . . .

Prabhupāda: That is . . . that is not . . . even if you do some good work, but the result is temporary. Suppose if you give medicine to a person: that is a good work, nice work. But do you think that he will not be attacked with disease anymore? Is it possible, Doctor? So what is the value of this good work? Punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām (SB 7.5.30): chewing the chewed.

Suppose a doctor, a patient is coming to him, suffering from some infectious disease. He is infecting, say, syphilis. Then doctor gives him injection, cures him, and he again does the same thing, again comes to the doctor. The real doctor, he will advise him, "Why you are doing this?"

And the doctor who will say: "Let him come. I get my money," that is another thing. (chuckles) So this . . . this kind of advice is like that, "Let him come, and let me have my money." And the real advice is that, "You become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and your problem is solved."

That is not my imagination. That is Kṛṣṇa says. Our position is that we simply stick to what Kṛṣṇa says. That's all. We haven't got to manufacture ideas. Don't take the trouble of manufacturing ideas. We simply, as a peon, convey the ideas given by Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Therefore it is being successful. And it will be successful, because there is no adulteration. Pure milk will be accepted everywhere, and if you mix it with water, you will have to find out a particular type of customer.

So this revolutionary movement is eyesore for many, because if this movement become successful, then the so-called so many philanthropists, they will have no position. There is an economic theory, bad money drives away good money. So when the good money is not available in the market, the bad monies are there. There is example in the Bhāgavata that in the rainy season, when the sky is covered with clouds, at time the glow worms become very prominent. Glowworms.

But when the sky is clear, there is moonshine, these glowworms has no meaning. So in the world there are so many glowworms, because real knowledge is covered. They do not know. They have forgotten what is Kṛṣṇa; therefore all these this rascal glow worms they are prominent.

But this movement is clearing the clouds, bringing out the moon, śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ (CC Antya 20.12). Śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ. There is no use of, any more, of the glow worms. Caitanya-candrodaya, the rising of the moon of Lord Caitanya. Caitanya-candrodaya. Now He is rising gradually, just like moon rises gradually and one day becomes full moon. Similarly, Śrī Caitanya movement is rising gradually, and one day it will clear the sky and all these glow worms will go away.

Lady devotee: Oh, Prabhupāda!

Prabhupāda: There will be no more any place for all these glowworms. So you be decided, determined to push on this movement, Caitanya-candrodaya. That's your duty. You are coming out of very intelligent nation, very rich nation. Utilize this opportunity. So clear out all these glowworms and bring the Caitanya-candrodaya.

And the method is so simple: Hare Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam (CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1)). Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives you the benediction, and you go on pushing this śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam and everything will be cleared, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ. Don't be after glowworms; just be after the moon, full moon, Caitanya-candrodaya.

(break) He is so kind that our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, nobody . . . (indistinct) . . . Kṛṣṇa baṛo doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay, swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi (Prasāda-sevāya 1). Anywhere you go, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, in any temple or in any place—immense foodstuffs. You eat whatever you like. It is not? (laughter)

Our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not dry speculation—simply hear, and there is no prasādam. No. There is prasādam. By mental speculation, simply wasting time. No. It is practical. Get some factual knowledge, you take some prasādam, you dance very nicely and chant very musical, su-sukhaṁ.

There in the Bhagavad-gītā says su-sukhaṁ. It is very pleasing to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam (BG 9.2). And whatever you do, whatever percentage you make progress, it is never to be annihilated. Permanent, avyayam. So take to this movement and be happy. That is our mission. Do you agree or not? What is your opinion?

Devotee: I think it is very good.

Prabhupāda: Yes. (aside) Not now. That's all right.

There is nice Bengali poetry, Krishna nama koro bhai ar sab niche, palaibar poth nai Yama ache piche. Ki bolen doctor moshai? Palaibar poth nai, Yama ache piche. (Oh brother, please chant the names of Lord Kṛṣṇa as everything else is inferior to it. There is no way to escape as Yamarāja is after you. What do you say, Doctor saheb? There is no way to escape as Yamarāja is behind you.) You cannot escape this Yamarāja. He is after you. Take shelter of Kṛṣṇa; He will give you protection. Pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grām (Caitanya-bhāgavata Antya 4.126).

Now you execute the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Go village to village, town to town, all over the world, and preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And if it is proved they will accept. Is it not? You can say better, because you are American. I may be over-hopeful, but what is your experience? Huh?

Revatīnandana: It is a very ecstatic process. Everyone likes it.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Everywhere we open a branch, immediately it is accepted—as if they are prepared to take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is our experience. Every month we are opening a branch. Now, what is the calculation? Suppose we are working for the last four years, so four years means forty-eight months. Is it not?

We have got forty-five branches. That means proportionately we have opened one branch every month since we began work. Is it not unique? In forty-eight months we have opened . . . not forty-eight months actually; we have begun real propaganda from 1968, January. So how many months? Sixty-eight, '69, '70.

Devotee: Twenty-four months.

Prabhupāda: Twenty-four months, and '70, another twelve months in December—thirty-six months. Taking previously these few months, actually the proportion is that we have opened every month a branch. (end)