680316 - Lecture Excerpt - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

680316LE-SAN FRANCISCO - March 16, 1968 - 09.42 Minutes

Prabhupāda: The soul is the production of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore ultimately, He is our dearmost friend. We are trying to love somebody. That somebody is a perverted reflection of Kṛṣṇa. Actually . . . just like the child. The child is searching after the mother's breast, and it is crying. If somebody takes the child, he's not satisfied. Because he cannot express that, "I want my mother."

Similarly, we are hankering after loving Kṛṣṇa in a perverted way. But because we have no information of Kṛṣṇa, we have forgotten our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, therefore we are loving this body, that body. Ultimately, I am loving a cat or dog or something else. The love is there, but we have misplaced the love. As soon as we replace our love to Kṛṣṇa, then our perfection of love is manifested and our perfection of life is also achieved.

Lord Caitanya preached this philosophy that premā pum-artho mahān. Prema, prema means love. His philosophy, Lord Caitanya's philosophy, is ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayaḥ. Vrajeśa-tanayaḥ means Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of the king of Vraja, Vṛndāvana. Therefore . . . and tanaya means son. So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, His propagation, His teaching, the substance of His teaching is that Kṛṣṇa is the most worshipable object. Ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam. And as He is worshipable, similarly His place, the Vṛndāvana, where He appeared, that is also worshipable.

ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛndāvanam

ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā yā kalpitā.

(Srinatha Cakravarti, Caitanya-manjusa of his commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam)

And the method of worship, the best method of worship of Kṛṣṇa, was exhibited by the gopīs. Now what were the worshipable method of the gopīs? The gopīs they were not very learned scholars or Vedāntists, or theosophists or mental speculators. None.

They were ordinary village girls. And that also, not coming of a very high royal family or brāhmin family. They were cowherdsmen. So their fathers were not very rich, but they had several cows, that's all. So the gopīs method of Kṛṣṇa worship was that they could not forget Kṛṣṇa even for a moment. That was their qualification.

There are many verses about the mental situation of the gopīs. I shall just try to explain you about their mentality, how they are loving Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa used to take His cows to the forest for pasturing. And the gopīs, when Kṛṣṇa was away from the village, the gopīs were thinking, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa's," I mean to say: "Foot is so soft, and He's walking barefooted on the stones and chips of stones, and they are pricking His foot. Oh, how much He's suffering!"

In this way they were thinking and crying. Kṛṣṇa is away from the village and is walking in the forest, and the gopīs were thinking at home that, "How much troublesome the walking is that He has gone out." In this way there are so many.

So while they were at home, while they were cooking or they were feeding their children, always they were thinking of Kṛṣṇa. That was their qualification. That's all. They were so much absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa that not a single moment were without Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommends that ramyā kācid upāsanā vraja-vadhū-vargeṇā yā kalpitā (Caitanya Mañjuṣā). There is no better method of worship than it was conceived by the gopīs. And what was that? The gopīs were twenty-four hours, they were always Kṛṣṇa conscious. They were requesting Kṛṣṇa, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, many, many yogīs, many, many saintly persons, they go to the forest and meditate upon Your lotus feet. But they cannot fix up.

They meditate Your lotus feet, but still, they think of something else. They are not perfect. Their meditation fails. But in our case, Your lotus feet is so much fixed up in our heart that we are thinking of You, and we cannot discharge our family duties. So kindly get out of our heart." Just see. "Please excuse. Kindly go out of our heart so that I . . . we can do our duties." That was their prayer.

Therefore that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, ideal Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have to mold your life in such a way that you cannot think of Kṛṣṇa . . . you cannot think but Kṛṣṇa, only. The gopīs were doing their duties. They were household . . . housewife, girls. They had their husbands, children. But in spite of all these things, they were thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

So this is the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65). Kṛṣṇa says that "Always be thinking of Me in your mind." Man-manā. Manaḥ means mind. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, "and become My devotee. Don't think Me as your enemy." Sometimes Kṛṣṇa is thought of as enemy. That kind of thought is useless. Not useless. Of course, the enemies who thought of Kṛṣṇa always, they also got salvation. Because, after all, they thought of Kṛṣṇa. But not in that way.

Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, "Just becoming My lover and devotee." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī, "Just worship Me," mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru, "and offer your obeisances unto Me. In this way," mām evaiṣyasi, "you'll come back to Me," asaṁśayaḥ, "without any doubt."

So this is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and Prahlāda Mahārāja is teaching that in this human form of life, especially from childhood, people should be taught God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, somehow or other. Then their life will be successful. And don't spoil your life otherwise. This is the instruction we have begun, and we shall continue it. If you please come, we shall talk further. If any . . . (break) (end)