761102 - Lecture SB 05.05.14 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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761102SB-VRNDAVAN - November 02, 1976 - 27.10 Minutes

Pradyumna: Translation: "As I have advised you, My dear sons, you should act accordingly. Be very careful. By these means you will be freed from the ignorance of the desire for fruitive activity, and the knot of bondage in the heart will be completely severed. For further advancement, you should also give up the means. That is, you should not become attached to the process of liberation itself."

Prabhupāda:

karmāśayaṁ hṛdaya-granthi-bandham

avidyayāsāditam apramattaḥ

anena yogena yathopadeśaṁ

samyag vyapohyoparameta yogāt

(SB 5.5.14)

So the bhakti-yoga process is described in the previous verses. Real purport is karmāśayam, how to be free from karmāśayam. So long our mind will be absorbed in karmāśayam, then there is no question of becoming free from this material body. Karmānubandhaṁ na mucyate deha-yogena tāvat. This is already advised. The whole purpose is how to make the spirit soul from the bondage of contamination of repetition of birth and death. That is the purpose of human life. Karmāśayam: everyone is trying to become happy by working hard and getting the result. Ābrahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ (BG 8.16): not only here, but also in other planets up to the Brahmaloka, this process is going on. And to counteract this process, in the previous three verses it has been explained how one can gradually become relieved. The first process is recommended, haṁse gurau mayi bhaktyānuvṛtyā.

So this is the Vedic injunction. If you want to understand this science . . . it is science; it is not sentiment. Bhakti-yoga is not sentiment, it is a science. Therefore we have to take it from authorized Vedic instruction. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has advised that science means you have to take it from the Vedic knowledge. Vedic knowledge means there is no mistake, there is no cheating, there is no imperfection. Everything is perfect. So science means which is perfect knowledge. Not "perhaps," "it may be"; that is not science—theory. Theory is not science. Science, the most important items of science is observation and experiment: first of all to study the situation by observation, and then practically, when you are able to make an experiment, then it is science. Otherwise, theoretical knowledge has no meaning.

So in order to know that science, one has to approach a perfect teacher. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). Here also it is said, gurau haṁsa. Haṁse gurau mayi. The mayi is also significant. That means . . . paramahaṁsa guru means he's as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, because he does not deviate from the instructions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the symptom of guru. Guru does not deviate from the instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He does not manufacture something new, novel. No, the same thing. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter, although He is the speaker, millions of years ago He instructed the science to sun god, and again when He was instructing to Arjuna, He said that "I am instructing the same thing." Sa evāyaṁ purātanaḥ (BG 4.3). Not that on account of change of time, the instruction has been changed. No. (aside) What is that exact verse? Sa evāyaṁ purātanaḥ?

Devotee: Yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ. Purātanaḥ, not something new. This is nonsense. There cannot be anything new. Everything established. Science means . . . scientific knowledge means it is not something new. Just like the sun rises from the eastern horizon. So millions of years ago, the sun used to rise from the eastern horizon - still it is going on. Not that because time has changed, the sun is rising from the western side or northern side. No. Knowledge means . . . that is Vedic knowledge: established knowledge. It cannot be changed in any circumstances. That is Vedic knowledge. What was millions of years ago fact, it is fact now. So, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). So in order to know that factual knowledge, one has to approach the bona fide spiritual master.

We have several times explained this, who is bona fide spiritual master, confirmed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that āmāra ājñāya guru hañā, "You become a guru on My instruction." So those who are affiliated with Caitanya Mahāprabhu's instruction, he is guru. Not anyone else. Āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Then one may argue that if Caitanya Mahāprabhu is ordering, then anyone can order? No, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not ordering something new. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Under My instruction you become guru." But the instruction is Kṛṣṇa's, the same instruction, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). Caitanya Mahāprabhu also does not deviate from Kṛṣṇa's upadeśa, what to speak of others. And those rascals who are deviating from the instruction of Kṛṣṇa, how he can become guru? They are interpreting in a different way, how they can become guru? That is not guru. We should simply remember this fact: whether this person is speaking the same thing as Kṛṣṇa says, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, as Rāmānujācārya says, even Śaṅkarācārya.

He, superficially he might have said something which is not understandable, but he also followed the same thing: bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha. But due to unfavorable time, he had to say about impersonal feature. But ultimately he said, bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindam, bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha mate: "You rascal, you just worship Govindam." And this jugglery of words, grammatical jugglery, will not help you at the time of death. Nahi nahi rakṣati dukṛn-karaṇe. If you misinterpret, that "With this grammatical addition or grammatical alteration this meaning can be derived," no. That is malinterpretation. Real understanding is bhaja govindam. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Lord Brahmā, he also says, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. And Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, he is incarnation of Śaṅkara, he also saying, govindam, bhaja govindam bhaja govindam bhaja govindam. And we are following the same thing, so that is guru-paramparā, that is real knowledge. So don't approach a cheater, but actually approach a teacher, not a cheater. Then bhakti-yoga will be . . . that teacher is guru, and he is representative of Kṛṣṇa. He does not say anything else.

So bhaktyā anuvṛtyā. Anuvṛtyā means following. Not that I have become more than my guru, I can invent something. No. Bhakti means sādhu-mārgānugamanam (CC Madhya 22.115). You have to follow the sādhu, the ācārya. That is bhakti. Bhakti does not mean that I am so learned I can manufacture something. That is rascal. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ (CC Madhya 13.80). That is bhakti. You have to become servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. Not that at a point you become suddenly very learned scholar, and you do not remain a servant, but you want to become a master, to dictate the guru. That is rascal. That will not help us. Here it is said, bhaktyānuvṛtyā (SB 5.5.10). Bhaktyā, bhaktyā . . . bhakti means sevā. Bhaja sevayā. When bhakti, bhaja dhatu ukti . . . bhaja means sevayā. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). So we have to understand this bhakti-yoga by bhaktyānuvṛtyā, not otherwise. Not that "I am very learned scholar, I can give a different interpretation and . . ." No, that is not bhakti. Bhaktyānuvṛtyā vitṛṣṇayā dvandva-titikṣayā ca (SB 5.5.10).

Then mat-karmabhir mat-kathayā ca nityam (SB 5.5.11). This is a very important word, nityam, mat-kathayā. The Bhagavān says, "My words," so kṛṣṇa-kathā, mat-kathā. Kṛṣṇa says mat-kathā; we can say kṛṣṇa-kathā. So kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking personally Bhagavad-gītā, this is kṛṣṇa-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking the words, that is kṛṣṇa-kathā. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also kṛṣṇa-kathā: it is spoken about Kṛṣṇa. Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi, that is paraṁ satyam, kṛṣṇa-kathā. Bhagavān is paraṁ satyam, Paraṁbrahman. Not only Brahman, Paraṁbrahman. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are concerned with the brahman-kathā, but we, very interested not only brahman-kathā but parabrahman-kathā, that is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is wanted. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12). So kṛṣṇa-kathā. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also says, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128). This is guru. Kṛṣṇa-kathā. So here it is said that mat-kathā, mat-karmabhir mat-kathayā ca. So . . . and how? Mat-karmabhir mat-kathayā ca nityam, twenty-four hours. Nityam means always. Not that officially, I attend bhāgavata-kathā for seven days or ten days in a year, and there are 365 days, and other 355 days I go to the share market and simply inquire about the rates of this share and that share. That will not help us. Nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18), then it is bhakti-yoga.

This manufacturing of seven days bhāgavata-kathā, it is business. It is not bhāgavata-kathā. In the Bhāgavata comments—there are so many authorized comments, just like Śrīdhara Svāmī, Vīrarāghavācārya, Vijayadhvaja, Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Jīva Gosvāmī and Giridhārī Gosvāmī, so many—nowhere it is stated that you hear bhāgavata-kathā for seven days. You will not find. Therefore this seven days' bhāgavata-kathā, so far we can understand, it is not authorized. Here also it is said, nityam, mat-kathayā ca nityam. Never you will find seven days. In another place it is said, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā (SB 1.2.18). Nityam. You have to hear Bhāgavatam daily. Not that a prescribed method, formality, for seven days. No. That is not authorized. Here it is also said, mat-kathayā, bhāgavata-kathayā ca nityam. Mad-deva-saṅgāt, not in the association of the karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, no. That will not help us. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says,

tāṅdera caraṇa-sevi-bhakta-sane vās

janame janame mor ei abhilāṣ

To live with the devotees. If we associate with the karmīs or the jñānīs or the yogīs, then it will not be possible. Then you will be mislead. Therefore it is said that mad-deva-saṅgāt. Mad-deva-saṅgāt means one who has absolutely taken the shelter of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, mad-deva. There are many others. Of course nobody is deva; deva is Kṛṣṇa. But there are others, demigods. There are thirty-three millions of devas. But Kṛṣṇa especially says mad-deva, one who has taken Kṛṣṇa as the only worshipable Deity. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66), that is. One who has taken such vow, that kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (SB 1.3.28), "I shall take to the shelter of Kṛṣṇa," that is not very easy thing. But that is the ultimate point.

Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). That mad-deva, that "Kṛṣṇa, is my worshipable Deity only," this conclusion comes after many, many births of culturing knowledge, jñāna, yoga, karma. It is not so easy. Therefore we have to take shelter of such person who has taken Kṛṣṇa as the only shelter, vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā (BG 7.19). We have to take shelter of such mahātmā, not others. Mad-deva, these are the different items, mad-deva-saṅgād guṇa-kīrtanān me. Not that now they have invented that "Why Hare Kṛṣṇa? We can chant śivo 'ham, śivo 'ham, om, om, kālī, kālī, durgā." They are all nonsense. They are all nonsense. Here bhakti-yoga means, here it is: guṇa-kīrtanān me. Not others. You cannot argue that "This is also good, that is also good." No compromise, kṛṣṇa-kīrtana. Just like Gosvāmīs, they said, kṛṣṇotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau. Not others. Utkīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). These are the instructions. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), not of Śiva, not of Brahmā, not of any other demigod. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam. Here also it says, guṇa-kīrtanān me.

So these are the items we should . . . nirvaira-sāmyopaśamena putrā jihāsayā deha-geha (SB 5.5.11). This is also one of the important items, that I am executing devotional service, but I have no detachment from my family life. The bhakti-yoga means bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). That is bhakti-yoga. Everyone can test, "How much I have become detached from my, this worldly affection: this is my family, this is my country, this is my society, this is my son, this is my wife, this is my children." This is moha. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). We have to give up this. If we have not been able to give up this attachment, worldly attachment, that means we are not making any progress. Therefore it is said clearly, deha-gehātmā. Eh? Buddheḥ. What is that? Jihāsayā deha-gehātma-buddheḥ. Ātma-buddheḥ. Deha-gehātma-buddheḥ. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body." Everyone is thinking, "This is my country," nationalism. "This is my socialism." "I am brāhmaṇa, I belong to the brāhmaṇas," "I belong to the kṣatriyas." "I belong to America." "I belong to India." This is deha-gehātma-buddheḥ, and yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13): anyone who is thinking like that, deha-gehātmā, sa eva go-kharaḥ, he is no better than the cows and the asses, animal. Deha-gehātma-buddheḥ is animal conception. One has to come to understand that "I am not this body, I am not this mind or intelligence." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, Paraṁ Brahman." Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).

So in this way, if we practice according to the prescription, śāstra-vidhi, that is wanted. Not that without śāstra-vidhi you can become liberated. That is not possible. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhim avāpnoti (BG 16.23), Kṛṣṇa says. And if you give up śāstra-vidhi and act according to your whims, then there is no question of perfection. Na sa . . . na siddhim avāp . . . na sukham, like that. The śāstra-vidhim we want. Rūpa Gosvāmī also advised like that,

śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-

pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā

aikāntikī harer bhaktir

utpātāyaiva kalpate

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.101)

There are so many they have invented. Just like Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is prescribed in the śāstras, and they have invented so many. Although there is the name of the Supreme Lord, still you have to follow the śāstra. If you say Rāma Rāma Rāma, Rādhe Rādhe Rādhe, Kṛṣṇa . . . there are so many mentioned. That is also name, but you have to follow the śāstra. Śāstra says, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. You have to take that. Not that you can say, nitāi-gaura rādhe-śyāma, hare kṛṣṇa hare rāma. No. Why? Is there any in the śāstra? No, you have invented. What is the value of your invention? You are not perfect. But they like that "It is my guru. I have got some followers. I invent some type of chanting." This is nonsense. You must follow, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). You cannot invent. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu . . . (break) (end)