760817 - Lecture BG 13.22 - Hyderabad

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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760817BG-HYDERABAD - August 17, 1976 - 33.53 Minutes

Prabhupāda: Where is Bhagavad-gītā? Bhagavad-gītā?

Hari-śauri: Karatālas, Śrīla Prabhupāda? Karatālas?

Prabhupāda: Bring Bhagavad-gītā.

puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi

bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān

kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya

sad-asad-yoni-janmasu

(BG 13.22)

Puruṣa, puruṣa means enjoyer, and prakṛti means enjoyed. So real puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the living entities, they are actually prakṛti. There are three kinds of prakṛtis, or energies. God has got different energies. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (CC Madhya 13.65, purport). Svābhāvikī. Just like an intelligent person, he has varieties of intelligence and energy. We see sometimes in human society a particular person has got special intelligence, special energy. So what to speak of the Supreme Lord? He has got varieties of energies, and all of these energies taken together primarily, divided into three: the material energy, the spiritual energy and the marginal energy.

The material energy, this cosmic manifestation, as we see one universe, and each universe is filled up with many planetary systems—suns, moons and other planets. This is one universe. Similarly, there are many millions of universes. We get information from Vedic śāstra, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (BS 5.40). Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe, and there are hundreds and millions, numberless. And each universe is filled up with innumerable planets. Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam (BS 5.40). Vasudhā, planets. So all these, manifestations of material energy. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

athavā bahunaitena

kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna

viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam

ekāṁśena sthito jagat

(BG 10.42)

This jagat is one-fourth manifestation of the material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is called prakṛti.

So puruṣa . . . (aside) Don't talk. Puruṣa. We living entities, we are sometimes called puruṣa, because we artificially exhibit our propensity to enjoy this material world. So puruṣa means the enjoyer. Therefore sometimes we are called puruṣa. Here the living entities as a whole is called puruṣa. Here even the woman, she is also puruṣa, because the same spirit: "I shall enjoy to my best capacity," either man or woman. Therefore she is also in that sense puruṣa. She wants to enjoy, and the man also wants to enjoy. But both of them, prakṛti-stha, we are under the control of this prakṛti. This is our position. We must understand our position.

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

The puruṣa, the living entity, is fully under the control of material nature. That's a fact. You cannot deny it. If you deny it, then ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā. Simply by false egotism we declare independence. But that is not possible. This is jñāna.

So this puruṣa, (many dogs barking loudly) this living entity, prakṛti-stha, being under the control of prakṛti, material nature, bhuṅkte, he is obliged; he is forced. Prakṛti-jān guṇān. He is forced, he is obliged to accept the supremacy of the modes of material nature. Prakṛti-jān guṇān. There are three modes of material nature: goodness . . . sattva, raja, tama. So goodness, passion, and ignorance. So either of them; we have to accept either of them. So on account of accepting the association of a particular type of modes of material nature, kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-yoni-janmasu (BG 13.22).

Why there are different varieties of living entities? Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ (Padma Purāṇa). There are 900,000 species or forms of life within the water. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati. There are 2,000,000 forms of plants, trees, like that, creepers. And kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ: and insects, eleven lakhs species. In this way there are 8,400,000 forms of life. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ (BG 14.4). In all the forms of life, as many living entities are there, tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā: "I am the seed-giving father of all of them."

So every living entity is the son of God. But according to karma, they have accepted different forms of life. Some of them are in the water, some of them are the plants and trees, some of them are the insects, some of them are birds, beasts. And the human life is a great chance to understand that how we have been put into the clutches of prakṛti. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. How I have been put in . . . you cannot . . . if somebody says, "It is all right. I am put within this material nature, prakṛti. So what is the wrong? Let me remain." That is called ignorance. Because you are a spirit soul. You are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). The spirit soul is transmigrating from one body to another, beginning from the aquatic life up to this human life, and above this human life this transmigration is going on. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You have to change your body within this material world, according to your karma. You have to change your body.

Unfortunately, there is no education, there is no knowledge about this throughout the whole world. We are thinking that after annihilation of this body everything is finished. No. That is not the fact. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. If a young man thinks that "I have got now this body for enjoyment. I am young man. I shall not become an old man," that is not the fact. Young man has to become old man. That is prakṛti-jān guṇān. He cannot say that "I shall remain young man forever and enjoy life." That is not possible. Similarly, you have to change your body. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Unfortunately there is no discussion, there is no education, there is no institute for these important factors of life, and people are kept in darkness. This is Kali-yuga. They do not care to know, neither there is arrangement in the educational institution to know this fact, although the fact is there; it is explained by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa personally explaining, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ. Antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ (BG 2.18). This body is perishable, but the śarīriṇaḥ, one who possesses this body, he is nitya, śāśvata. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This knowledge is missing.

That is the defect of modern civilization. Atheistic civilization. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. This is not very good position. Today I may be in good position, I may be millionaire, I may be prime minister, but when death will come it will take everything from you, and it will oblige you to go to a species, form of life, which you cannot you deny. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho hi bhuṅkte prakṛti-jān guṇān (BG 13.22). If you have infected some disease, you must suffer from it. There is no excuse. Even a child, if he touches the fire, the fire will not excuse, "Because it is a child, he does not know; therefore I shall not burn his finger." No. No excuse. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot escape the stringent laws of nature. That is not possible. If you are foolishly thinking that "I shall escape the punishment or reward of the prakṛti . . ." Actually, so long we are within this material world, prakṛti-stha, there is no question of enjoyment. It is false enjoyment. Suppose you are well situated after hard struggle. How long you will remain in that situation? At any moment he may be kicked out. That is your position. Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham (BG 10.34).

So real knowledge is, I must seriously think that "If I am eternal, what shall I do with this temporary position?" I may stay here for fifty years or forty years, or say a hundred years. Not hundred years; it is not possible. Utmost thirty, forty years. But I am not meant for thirty, forty years. I am eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). This knowledge is not coming. There is no system of education. It is a very dangerous type of civilization, without any spiritual knowledge. Very, very dangerous position. Risky.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement on authoritative basis trying to enlighten people to release him from these clutches of māyā and ignorance. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. And it is authorized because we are speaking on the basis of Bhagavad-gītā, on the basis of Vedic knowledge. And Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of Vedic knowledge. Bhagavān says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). What is the purpose of Vedic knowledge? The purpose of Vedic knowledge: to understand Kṛṣṇa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. Bhagavad-gītā is also the process to know Kṛṣṇa. Therefore it is the essence of Vedic knowledge. Because if it is a fact that by studying Vedas one has to understand Kṛṣṇa, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15), so Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself, what He is. So therefore it is essence of Vedic knowledge. This essence of Vedic knowledge is there. It is very simple. Anyone can understand. There is no difficulty.

When Kṛṣṇa says, dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ (BG 1.1), where is the difficulty? The Kurukṣetra is still there. Everyone knows, there is a railway station of the name Kurukṣetra, and there is a place Kurukṣetra. Now it is being developed by the Hariyana government. So how you can explain Kurukṣetra otherwise? Kurukṣetra is a fact, and it is a dharma-kṣetra. Still many millions of Indians go there to visit. Especially during the solar eclipse occasion they go there. And when Kṛṣṇa was staying on this planet, He, His brother Balarāma, and His sister Subhadrā also visited Kurukṣetra. That ceremony is observed as Ratha-yātrā. Three persons—two brothers and one sister. We are celebrating, introduced this Ratha-yātrā system in the Western countries, and recently we had this festival in New York, very successfully. Perhaps you have read in the paper.

Anyway, this movement is strictly based on the śāstra and the Vedic knowledge, and the essence of Vedic knowledge is the Bhagavad-gītā. And we are presenting as it is. We do not explain Kurukṣetra as this body. There is no meaning. There is no dictionary which means "Kurukṣetra: this body." So Kurukṣetra is a place. Dharmakṣetra, it is a place of religion, or as our Vedic instruction, kurukṣetre dharmān yajayet. You go to Kurukṣetra and perform ritualistic ceremonies, that is recommended. So there is no question of interpreting Kurukṣetra, dharmakṣetra, when you can understand it very easily and directly. There is no use of interpretation. Interpretation is required when you cannot understand one statement. In the law court, if one statement is ambiguous then two parties argue on it: "I think it is this," "I think . . ." But when it is clear, there is no question of interpretation.

Unfortunately, the Bhagavad-gītā is being interpreted by unauthorized persons unnecessarily, and people are kept into darkness. We are trying to protest against this process. We are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is, and people are taking advantage of it in the Western countries. They are taking good interest. They are reading Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in very large scale, increasing our book sales every year. Millions and millions dollars we are already selling, I have already stated—unexpected, sixty hundred thousand, er, sixty thousand dollars per day. People are taking so much interest in this literature.

So try to understand that we are puruṣa. Puruṣa means we are part and parcel of the supreme puruṣa. Kṛṣṇa is described as the paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma puruṣaṁ param (BG 10.12). He's parama-puruṣa and we are subordinate puruṣa. We have got the same constitutional position, but very minute. Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.20). Kṛṣṇa is mahataḥ, greater than the greatest, and we are the smaller than the smallest. But the particle is the same, as particle of gold is also gold, but the particle of gold is never equal to the gold mine. We should understand this. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). We are part and parcel of the Supreme Person; therefore we have got all the propensities and qualities of God, but very minute quantity. That minute quantity is also now covered by this material energy. That is our position.

Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-sthaḥ. Being under the clutches of this prakṛti, whatever little light was there as part and parcel of God, that is now covered. So this position has to be discovered, or this covering has to be taken away. Then we come to our position, original position. That is called brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). As soon as this covering is taken away, then you become brahma-bhūtaḥ. Now we are jīva-bhūtaḥ. Under the covering of this material energy we are jīva-bhūtaḥ. When covering is taken away, then we are brahma-bhūtaḥ.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

(BG 18.54)

So if you try to become brahma-bhūtaḥ that is not very difficult. Just try to understand that you are not this body. You are spirit soul. You are entrapped by this body, and you have to change this body. And according to your work, you have to accept another body. Don't be satisfied with the present bodily situation, that you are very happily situated. That is not the fact. You have to change this position. You have to accept another body, and you do not know what kind of body you have to accept. It will be given by prakṛti. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22).

So don't be irresponsible to your life. Be responsible and be prepared for the next life and act accordingly, as the direction is there in the Bhagavad-gītā, and prove that you are human being. The animal cannot do it. If you do not do it, then you remain an animal. The animal has no capacity to understand Vedic knowledge or the Bhagavad-gītā. And even though we have got the intelligence, if you do not utilize it to understand the instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā and Vedic knowledge, then purposefully we keep ourself within the category of animals.

So our this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a humble attempt to awaken the whole human society to this spiritual knowledge and act according to the instruction of spiritual life, and be happy, and be prepared for the next life. The perfection of next life is to become free from the laws of material nature. That is the highest perfection. Saṁsiddhiṁ paramaṁ gataḥ (BG 8.15). That can be possible when you go back home, back to Godhead. But that is not very difficult at the same time.

janma karma ca divyaṁ

me jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti . . .

(BG 4.9)

Very simple thing. You simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Why Kṛṣṇa comes? Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). What is dharmasya glāniḥ? What is dharma? Why does He come? Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). Who is sādhu? Who is duṣkṛta? These things are to be studied. If you neglect, if you remain like animal without studying all these things, what is the value of your life?

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is trying to awaken people: "Wake up!" Uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.14). You have got this opportunity. Try to understand yourself. Why you should go on like animals and imperceptibly change your body from one to another, one to another? This is bhava-roga. This is not very good position. So we shall request you to take advantage of this movement, join it, study and inquire, and be actually in knowledge. Jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). This is the business of brāhmaṇa, one who knows Brahman. Jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyam. Āstikyam means to have faith in the authoritative Vedic knowledge. That is called āstikyam.

According to our Vedic principle, one who has full faith in the Vedic knowledge, he's āstika. And who has no faith in the Vedic knowledge, he's nāstika. So be āstika; don't be nāstika. There is no useful purpose becoming a nāstika. Be āstika. And the essence of Vedic knowledge is Bhagavad-gītā because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is speaking personally. Take advantage of it. Apply it practically in life and be happy, not only in this life, but the next life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (break)

Devotee: If anybody has any questions, he can put them forward. Does anybody have any questions?

(pause)

Devotee: No question?

Indian man: Prabhu, Vivekananda also stated, "Awake. Arise. Stop not until the goal is reached." What goal did he preach?

Prabhupāda: Ask him. I do not know. (laughter) Call Vivekananda and ask him. You are devotee of Vivekananda, you do not know what did he mean? What kind of devotee you are? You are asking me? You do not know? This is going on. He does not know Vivekananda, and he is a devotee of Vivekananda. This is not good. You must know what Vivekananda said, what is his ultimate goal of life. You must be intelligent. Now we are speaking of Kṛṣṇa and the Supreme Person. Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). So there is no need of Vivekananda. When the Supreme Person is speaking, accepted by all. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that "You are accepted by authorities," Vyāsa, Devala, Asita, Nārada. We have to accept authority who is accepted by authorities. So Vyāsadeva, Nārada, Devala, Asita, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Caitanya—even Śaṅkarācārya—they have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the supreme authority. You take the authorities' statement. Don't go elsewhere. Then you'll be misled. When the supreme authority is speaking, take it and apply it in life. You'll be happy. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Any other questions?

(pause)

So let us have saṅkīrtana.

Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)