751209 - Lecture SB 07.06.07 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

751209SB-VRNDAVAN - December 09, 1975 - 38:02 Minutes

Harikeśa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (devotees repeat) Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, Sixth Chapter, seventh verse. (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

mugdhasya bālye kaiśore

krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ

jarayā grasta-dehasya

yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ

(SB 7.6.7)

(break) (00:58)

Translation: "In tender childhood age, when everyone is bewildered, he passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, being engaged in sporting and playful things, another ten years. In this way twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when a person becomes invalid and he is unable to execute even material activities, he passes another twenty years wastefully."

Prabhupāda:

mugdhasya bālye kaiśore

krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ

jarayā grasta-dehasya

yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ

(SB 7.6.7)

So fifty years out of one hundred years, fifty years wasted by sleeping. And then balance fifty years, twenty years in childhood and youthhood, sporting, playing; another twenty years in old age . . . Jarayā grasta. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9). These are inevitable. As birth is inevitable, death is inevitable, similarly, old age is inevitable. So in this way our time is wasted, because we do not know how valuable this human form of life is. There is no such education. They think human life is as cheap as dog's life, but factually it is not. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19). One gets this human form of life, 8,400,000 species of life, especially advanced life, the Āryan civilization . . . Āryan means advanced, advanced in spiritual knowledge. The materialists, they claim Āryan only from the bodily conception, but that is not the fact. Anyone who is advanced in spiritual life, they are called Āryans. Anārya-juṣṭam (BG 2.2). Arjuna was chastised by Kṛṣṇa that "You are talking like non-Āryan." Anārya-juṣṭam.

So non-Āryan and Āryan, what is the difference? The Āryan civilization means this varṇāśrama-dharma—four varṇas, four āśramas. And non-Āryan means there is no division. Everyone is one or equal. That is advocated now at the present moment. In India also, they think of casteless society, no caste. But it is not caste. It is division of culture. Brāhmaṇa means advanced in culture; kṣatriya means less advanced than the brāhmaṇa; and vaiśya means less advanced; and śūdra is less advanced; and the pañcamas, fifth grade, sixth grade, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ (SB 2.4.18), they are less. In this way, high grade and low grade division of the society. One who follows the high-grade culture, they are called Āryans, ārya. In many places in Vedic literature the superior person is addressed as ārya.

So without being culturally advanced, they do not know the value of life. They waste their life. The advanced persons, they try to reduce waste of time. We have already discussed that the Gosvāmīs, they were ministers. They came to Vṛndāvana not for begging but for advancing the spiritual culture of life. Vṛndāvana is not meant for making a solution of the economic condition—one who has no . . . nothing to eat outside, they should come and beg cāpāṭi and roṭī from door to door. The . . . Rūpa Gosvāmī did it, mādhukarī. Rūpa Gosvāmī used to beg. Not beg, collecting twenty capatis. Only one or two, that's all. Not to collect the cāpāṭis and sell it in the market and get some money and purchase bīḍī. This is not Rūpa Gosvāmī. And just to have a loincloth, imitating Rūpa Gosvāmī, and having so many illicit connections. This is spoiling.

Rūpa Gosvāmī came on the order of Caitanya Mahāprabhu to rejuvenate, re-excavate this land of Vṛndāvana. And they were engaged in the service of Lord Caitanya for preaching work. Whatever we are preaching now, it is based on the principles laid down by the Gosvāmīs. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung,

rūpa-raghunātha-pade, haibe ākuti,

kabe hāma bujhabo śrī-yugala-pīriti

The loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, that is not ordinary material things as we conceive. Generally people are very much interested in painting picture of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa's love. These pictures are very popular, because they think, "Kṛṣṇa is like us. He is after young girls. So He's a great support for us. We are also after young girls. So Kṛṣṇa has done, so we are doing that." So Kṛṣṇa affairs—different. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says,

rūpa-raghunātha-pade, haibe ākuti,

kabe hāma bujhabo śrī-yugala-pīriti

It is not so easy to understand the loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. It is meant for the most advanced spiritually. That is not ordinary thing. Not only the loving affairs of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhārāṇī, but everything. They are not material. They are all spiritual. It has nothing to do.

So, how it is spiritual? That we have to understand through the teachings of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Nectar of Devotion. Without reading all these books, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Bhagavad-gītā, if we jump over Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to understand Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, that is not good, and therefore it is not effective. Nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau, vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-go . . . The Gosvāmīs . . . You'll find in The Nectar of Devotion, so many Vedic literatures are quoted. So that is required: śāstra-vidhi. Then we'll be fixed up. Vidhi-bhakti is very important, then rāga-bhakti, then prema-bhakti. So we should not imitate prema-bhakti without going through vidhi-bhakti. This is vidhi-bhakti—just like we rise early in the morning, perform maṅgala-ārati, all regulative principles, then wash the temple, dishes, and then dress the Deities, then again ārati, then class. In this way, according to . . . Because we have no natural . . . we have not awakened yet our natural love for Kṛṣṇa, so it requires practice, practicing this vidhi-bhakti, compulsory. Vidhi-bhakti means the injunction of the śāstras and the order of spiritual master, what one has to follow. Not whimsically we can do anything. Vidhi-bhakti is required. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhi . . . (BG 16.23) Na siddhim . . . What is that?

Harikeśa: Nāvāpnoti . . .

Prabhupāda: Nāvāpnoti siddhi na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim. So in the beginning, neophyte stage, not that "Because we have come to Vṛndāvana, immediately we have become advanced." No. Vidhi-bhakti must be followed, regulative principle, by the injunction of the śāstra and by the order of spiritual master. Vidhi-bhakti. Kṛṣṇa Himself says, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya (BG 16.23). Rūpa Gosvāmī has said also, śruti-smṛti-purāṇadi-pāñcarātriki-vidhiṁ vinā. Again, vidhi.

śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-

pañcarātriki-vidhiṁ vinā

aikāntikī harer bhaktir

utpātāyaiva kalpate

(Brs. 1.2.101)

If you do not follow the vidhi as they are given in the Vedas, śruti, and smṛti, as in the Bhagavad-gītā, śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi, and the Purāṇas, Padma Purāṇa, Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Agni Purāṇa, Sāttvika Purāṇa . . . So śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi and pañcarātrika, Nārada-Pañcarātra.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ

tat-paratvena nirmalam

hṛṣikena hṛṣīkeśa-

sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

(CC Madhya 19.170)

This is pañcarātrika.

Our . . . In this age, pāñcarātrikī-vidhi, not Vaidic. Vaidic is very very strict. Unless one is not born by a brāhmaṇa father, he is not given the advantage of becoming a brāhmaṇa. That is Vaidic vidhi. But pāñcarātrikī-vidhi means although he is not born of a brāhmaṇa family, if he has got a little tendency to become a brāhmaṇa . . . Brāhmaṇa means brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. One who is inquisitive to understand Brahman—brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate (SB 1.2.11)—he should be given chance. Just like there is a little fire, fan it. Fanning, fanning, fanning, and it becomes a big fire. So our process is that. Anyone, we pick up, anyone, kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā, what to speak of the śūdra. Striyaḥ śūdrās tathā vaiśyaḥ (BG 9.32). In the ordinary way the stri, woman, śūdra, the fourth-grade man, and vaiśya, they are taken together, not very intelligent. But pāñcarātrikī-vidhi offers facility even persons who are lower than these striya, śūdra, vaiśya. Kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ, ye 'nye ca pāpā (SB 2.4.18), and less than that, ye 'nye ca pāpa yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ . . . Yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ. A devotee, a pure devotee of the Lord, and if these persons take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord, then śudhyanti—they become purified by following the injunction of the spiritual master. He knows how to deal with them, how to elevate them to the brahminical position. So that is not artificial. Śāstra says, Bhāgavata says, "Yes. By such expert management these kirāta-hūṇāndhra, lower than the śūdras, śudhyanti . . ." Śudhyanti.

Now, just like people protest because we are giving the position of a brāhmaṇa to the mlecchas, yavana. Yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ. Khasādayaḥ means Mongolians, the Chinese, Japanese and the Philippines. So they are khasādaya. The Manipuris, Assamese, they are considered as khasādaya. So there is no distinction. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given open declaration: kṛṣṇa-bhajanete nāhi jāti kulādi vicāra (CC Antya 4.67). Anyone who is desirous of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, it is open. Anyone can come. By proper training by the expert spiritual master everyone can be raised to the brahminical platform and then Vaiṣṇava platform. Śudhyanti. So how śudhyanti? The general process is that unless one is not born in brāhmaṇa family, he is not śuddha; he is impure by birth. That is fact. But the devotee can change. This is new birth, undoubtedly. Just like these our European, American students, they are in new birth. They have given up their old birth practices. So birth is changed. Punar janma.

So that is possible only by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If one has to change his body without changing body . . . The body is changed, but we see that the same body . . . but it is not the same body. It is cin-maya. The same example, that the iron rod put into the fire, it becomes red hot, so it is no longer iron; it is fire. Similarly, if we constantly keep ourself in touch with Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then the body is no longer material; it is spiritual. Therefore a spiritual body is not burned. They are kept, samādhi. Just like in Western countries they give samādhi to any, everyone, tomb, entombing. In India the tomb is offered to a very advanced spiritually person. You'll find many tombs in Vṛndāvana, because their body is spiritual. No, no . . . This is the idea.

So there are so many things to be done for cultivating spiritual life in the human form of life. So Prahlāda Mahārāja is giving account that "Fifty years in sleeping, and twenty years in playing, and twenty years in old age, and ten years simply being absorbed, 'What to do?'—then life is spoiled." Don't do this. Don't do this. You have got the . . . There is a Bengali song, pāyecha manava janma, emona janam āra pabe na(?): "Fortunately, you have got this human form of life. You'll not get this opportunity." Don't spoil. So let us follow. We have come to Vṛndāvana. Let us follow the Gosvāmīs. Rūpa raghunātha pade haibe ākuti. We should be very, very anxious to follow the principles laid down by the six Gosvāmīs.

rūpa-raghunātha-pade, haibe ākuti,

kabe hāma bujhabo śrī-yugala . . .

rūpa-raghunātha-pade, rahu mora āśa

prārthanā karaye sadā narottama dāsa

Prārthanā karaye sadā narottama dāsa. The Narottama dāsa, he has sung so many Vedic songs. Narottama dāsa's song, although it is written in Bengali, it is considered as śruti, Vedic. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya has eulogized Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura that "Your songs are Vedic evidences." Whatever Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has said in simple Bengali song, they are all Vedic injunction. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's Prārthanā are very popular and famous amongst the Vaiṣṇava, Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava, and others also.

So we should not waste our . . . mugdhasya, bewildered, befooled or illusioned, mugdhasya. Don't be illusioned. Even bālye, in childhood, they should not be, because there is no question of bālya or vṛddha. Any . . . at any moment the life can be finished. You know. There is no guarantee, "Because a child is a child, oh, he has got hundred years' age, so let him play now." No, that is not. He should be trained up. This is the duty of the father and mother. Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum (SB 5.5.18): "One should not become father, one should not become mother, if he is not very careful to save the child from the imminent death." The imminent death does not mean motor accident. Imminent death means we are in the cycle of birth and death. It is the duty of the father and mother, the duty of the guru, the duty of the relative to save one another from the cycle of birth and death. This is real upakāra, to save from the cycle of birth . . . Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum.

This life, we are thinking that "I am eighty years old or ninety years old." But it is not eighty years, ninety . . . It is mṛtyu. Mṛtyu. You are dying every moment. It is the life of mṛtyu. Therefore one has to save. Na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum. A child is grown up, five years old. Suppose he'll live hundred years. So that means he has already died five years. Therefore it is mṛtyu. Or we have grown eighty years old. That means . . . Suppose I live hundred years. Still, I have already died eighty years. Therefore it is mṛtyu. The whole life is mṛtyu. Every moment you are dying, dying, dying, dying, from the very birth. Suppose a child is born one hour before. So one hour passed means he has died one hour out of hundred years. The beginning of death. This is called mṛtyum. So we are thinking, "We are growing. We are living." This is all mugdha, bewildered. Where you are growing, you are living? You are dying every moment.

So dying, death is going on. It is called mṛtyu-loka. So long you are in the material world, you are simply dying, that's all. At the end, when the balance of life it becomes finished, we take, at that time, it is mṛtyu. But no. From the very birth there is mṛtyu only—dying, dying, dying, dying. So mugdha. We are thinking, "We are living and growing, young. We are getting strength." But he does not know that he is dying. Therefore it is explained, mugdhasya: "illusioned." He is taking death as life, mugdhasya. So one should not be so bewildered, mugdhasya, and waste time by playing. Human life is not meant for . . .

Similarly, jarayā grasta-dehasya. Akalpasya. This is also very important. Generally, the old man does not know what is going to happen. He is in the hands of the nature. Ask anybody, any big, big man, old man, "What you are going to do?" I met some very important old man in London, one . . . He was Lord . . .

Haṁsadūta: Brockway. Lord Brockway?

Prabhupāda: Brockway, I think. I asked him, "What you will do? What is the end of your life?" "No, I shall die peacefully." That's all. He does not know that what is going to happen. Because the Christians, they do not believe in the next life; they think this life is finished, everything is finished. But that is not the fact. Because they cannot find out the soul. But that requires expert knowledge. Just like gold mine: apparently it appears that it is a stone. But one who is expert, soil expert, he can understand, "Here is gold." Just like when I was in South Africa, even in the city Johannesburg there are so many gold mines within the city. Gold mines. So ordinary man, how it will . . . How he'll know that there is gold in the soil? He must be expert. To find out the soul within this body, it is not the business of rascals and fools. He must be very expert, exactly like the soil expert. And then, by analysis . . . This is called neti neti, na iti. It is very easy. If you think, study your body, take this finger, so you'll say "my finger." Nobody will say "I finger." Just like we sometimes examine little child, "What is this?" "Finger." "So a finger, whose finger?" "My finger." "Head?" "My head." "Leg?" "My leg." Everything, "my, my." And where is "I"? This is intelligence. Everything he is studying "my," and who is "I"? This very question will establish the fact, dehino 'smin yathā dehe (BG 2.13), that "I" is within this body. Therefore I am speaking "my."

So if one is expert in understanding, in analyzing this body, neti neti—"This is blood. This is skin. This is this. This is this. This is urine. This is stool"—whole body we analyze, then where is that "I"? We cannot see. But why you cannot see? As soon as the "I" is off, then whose stool, whose skin, whose bone? So in this way, if we analyze, then we can understand that asmin dehe, within this body, the "I" is there. And what is this "I"? Again, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is further advancement. But these rascal—"Ahaṁ brahmāsmi means 'I am God.' " No. Take, consult Bhagavad-gītā what is this aham. Aham means the part and parcel of the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman. Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So Kṛṣṇa says, "These Brahmans, these living entities, they are My part and parcel." That is aham understanding, "I." What I am? I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.

So one has to study the body, where is the "I," then what is the relationship of the "I," what is the position of the "I," "What I am?" This is intelligence. This is intelligence. Caitanya Mahāprabhu begins from here to teach Sanātana Gosvāmī that this "I," I, you, we are—jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). This is the beginning of Caitanya's teachings. Therefore rascals, they cannot understand what is the movement of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They think that "This crazy fellow, unnecessarily chanting and dancing," because they cannot understand what is this movement. This movement starts when one can understand what is "I." From that point it starts. So what they will understand? Unless one comes to the understanding point what I am, what he will understand Caitanya Mahāprabhu's movement? That is the defect. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so kind that without understanding, being a fool number one, if he simply joins Caitanya Mahāprabhu's chanting and dancing, he understands immediately, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), immediately, and he understands "What I am."

So we should not waste our time, mugdhasya bālye kaiśora, and foolish old man, full with disease and invalidity. No. We should immediately begin our spiritual life, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. If we come to this point, ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am Brahman; I am not this body," that is very fortune, good fortune. But people are . . . All men, whole, throughout the whole world, they are under this bodily concept of life, and they cannot find out where is the soul, "Where I . . . where I am." So they are all fools and rascals. So if one comes by cultivation of knowledge, spiritual knowledge, comes to understand that "I am within this body," that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ, brahma-jñāna, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

(BG 18.54)

In this way the beginning of devotional life is there. Take advantage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and make your life perfect.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya . . . (end).

(no audio)

Prabhupāda: (break). . .of decreasing distress. And those who are trying for going to the heavenly planet for enjoying life more and more, increasing happiness, they are also wasting time. And the whole system of dharma is like that, increasing happiness and decreasing distress. So Kṛṣṇa says both these processes, increasing happiness or decreasing distress, this is sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66): "Avoid these two ways of life. Simply surrender unto Me." Then shall I go on suffering? Due . . . "When there is happiness, it is all right. Then I shall go on suffering without any attempt to minimize it?" "Yes. Yes." That is said in the Bhagavad-gītā. Taṁs titikṣasva bhārata: "My dear Arjuna, even if you think there is some distress, still, you should tolerate."

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya

śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ

āgamāpāyino anityāḥ

taṁs titikṣasva bhārata

(BG 2.14)

Just like nowadays it is very cold. It will not stay. Say for two months, three months, it will stay, and again there will be summer, and that is also very unbearable. And that will also not stay. Say for two months. So āgamāpāyina. These things, seasonal changes, they come and go. Don't be bothered about these things. So long you have got this body, this śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ . . . The same thing: sometimes it is distressful, sometimes it is very pleasant. Just like water. Water now is distressful. If you have to take your bath, you have to make it hot; otherwise it is very distress. And similarly, same water in the summer season, it is very pleasing. The water is there, but it is sometimes distressful, sometimes pleasant. So they are āgamāpāyino. In touch with the skin it is sometimes pleasing, sometimes distressful. So this distress and happiness will be possible . . . Sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā deha-yogena dehinām. As soon as it is in touch with the body, such kind of distress and happiness will be fact. But don't be agitated. Your real purpose is that you must increase your Kṛṣṇa consciousness in any circumstances. And that is your business, human life. Don't waste your life. Don't be misguided.

He is advising to the sons of the demons because the demons, they cannot understand. But it is the duty of the Vaiṣṇava to preach, although Kṛṣṇa advises that "You don't preach the truth of Bhagavad-gītā to the demons." He said, "Those who have not undergone austerities, those who are not very serious, don't speak about these lessons of Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66)." Means they'll not understand. But still, the devotees, they take the risk that "All right, let me try to convince this person that 'Take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.' " Even Kṛṣṇa says that "Don't try, because they will not be able to understand," still, they try. That is a devotee. Therefore devotee is more merciful than Kṛṣṇa. Devotee is more merciful. Even there is no hope to understand, still, he goes door to door: "Please take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Please take to Kṛṣṇa, and you'll be happy." It is not always . . . Just like you are trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness with so much endeavor. It's not that cent percent people of the world will take. That is not possible. Ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kono bhāgyavān jīva (CC Madhya 19.151). Only the fortunate persons will be able to take it. So we should not be disappointed that "Nobody, majority of people, do not take this. What is the use of? Let me sit down in Vṛndāvana and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra." No. The Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He also did it. He never sat down tightly in Vṛndāvana. He also did it. He traveled all over the India and took so much trouble. So preaching is very important, and you should engage. That will help you. Every one of you should be pure in your activities and try to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness as far as possible. If you remain pure, then your preaching will be successful and you'll get encouragement. That is the instruction of all Vaiṣṇavas.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya. (end).