740817 - Lecture SB 01.05.36 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740817SB-VRNDAVAN - August 17, 1974 - 30:22 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (break) . . . somebody is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, that is all right, but why the necessity of initiation? Initiation means (break) that the disciples agree to accept the instruction of the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa accepts the disciple immediately to give him a spiritual body. This is the process. Otherwise, there is no need of initiation. One is chanting, one can chant . . . (break) . . . it is the factual connection. And this connection means he gets immediately a spiritual body. In this body, his spiritual . . . his material body is transformed into . . . (break) But if there is any reservation . . . (break) . . . surrender . . . (break) . . . it will take time. (break) . . . our spiritual body. (break) . . . means existence.

So the process is how to purify this existence. (break) . . . defect of this existence . . .

(break) . . . bhagavat-śikṣayā . . . (break) . . . or asakṛt. (break) . . . means "constantly," and sakṛt means "once." (break) By once chanting "Kṛṣṇa" without any offense, one can immediately get freed from many, many thousand times of sinful activities. So much so that he is unable . . . Pāpī haya tata pāpa kare nāhi. Although he's a sinful, he cannot execute so much sinful activities. (break)

Last night . . . (break) . . . I described about the ten offenses . . . (break) . . . so if we . . . naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu (SB 1.2.18). Completely to become offenseless chanter of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra means, like Caitanya Mahāprabhu . . .

(break) . . . become mad in ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. Completely, if we can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra without any offense, then there is premoda. That is the result. And almost offenselessly, not completely, then you become mukta, liberated. Mukta. That is stated in another place of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, naṣṭa-prāyeṣu (SB 1.2.18). Naṣṭa-prāyeṣu means almost finished. Not completely finished. It is very difficult to finish the dirty things which have accumulated within our heart birth after birth. It is being accumulated. So many things, so many impression. All of a sudden you remember, which has no connection with your present activities, but all of a sudden you remember something which was in context with, say, many, many years ago. That means the dirty things are stocked within our heart. Just like in the water, in a pond sometimes you will find all of a sudden one bubble comes from within. Phat! That means the dirty things are within, stocked. (break) . . . all of a sudden it comes. (break) (indistinct) . . . Kṛṣṇasya . . . mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet (SB 12.3.51). (break) This is the advantage of this age, Kali-yuga. We have got many disadvantages. (break) People are implicated in sinful activities, more and more trouble. And it will be exhibited there will be no food grains, no milk, no sugar. These things will be completely absent. Now you are getting. In the later age it will be not possible to get them. And there will be scarcity of food, scarcity of rain or, anāvṛṣṭi durbhikṣa (SB 12.2.9). And other side, taxation, heavy taxation. So we should be very alert in the matter of preparing ourself back to home, back to Godhead. Otherwise, if we take birth again and again, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), then we have to suffer some things.

"This material body means suffering," we have repeatedly said. People do not understand it. And there are different kinds of suffering, different types of body. But if we follow this process as it is stated, kṛṣṇasya anusmaranti . . . Kṛṣṇa. While acting, doing something, at the same time, we can remember Kṛṣṇa. Anusmaranti. Anusmaranti. Anu means follow. You cannot remember, memorize Kṛṣṇa by your whims. No. Therefore this word is used, anusmaranti. Anusmaranti bhagavac-chikṣayā. As Kṛṣṇa has personally taught. Just like Kṛṣṇa says that . . . what is that? Aps . . . the water, taste? Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8). So Kṛṣṇa is teaching that, "You try to understand Me in this way." Not whimsically, "I am meditating something." No. You meditate, but according to the will of Kṛṣṇa, bhagavac-chikṣayā, as He has taught. He says that you can meditate. This is very good subject matter of meditation: raso 'ham apsu kaunteya. Very easy. Everyone is drinking water, and as soon as you get water and drink, if you meditate little what Kṛṣṇa has said, raso 'ham apsu kaunteya, "I am the taste of the water," where is the difficulty? Bhagavac-chikṣayā. Prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ. As soon as you see light, sunlight, moonlight, immediately you can remember Kṛṣṇa: "This light is Kṛṣṇa."

So you can utter "Kṛṣṇa," and you can remember Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you remember Kṛṣṇa, then you become the topmost yogī. As soon as you remember Kṛṣṇa within your heart, you become the topmost yogī, immediately. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā śraddhāvān . . . (BG 6.47). (break) This practice is required.

(break) . . . your work. Because without working you cannot live. This is the work. Śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ (BG 3.8). Śarīra-yātrā, we have to keep this body fit; therefore we have to work. Kṛṣṇa does not say, never said to Arjuna that, "I am your friend, Kṛṣṇa. I'll do everything. You can sleep. You don't require to fight." Kṛṣṇa never said. "You have to fight. But you have to fight, at the same time, yudhyasva mām anusmara (BG 8.7)."

This is our duty. We have to, for existence, struggle for existence . . . here is, according to cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13), there is prescription of duties according to guṇa we have acquired. And let us work, but at the same time . . . kurvāṇā yatra karmāṇi, bhagavan . . . bhagavac-chikṣayā, or by the will of Kṛṣṇa we are put under certain condition of life. Never mind. Kṛṣṇa has made me, say, a śūdra, not a brāhmaṇa. A śūdra also has got work to do. Paricaryātmakaṁ kāryaṁ śūdra-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.44). So if we simply remember that "Kṛṣṇa has put me in this condition of life, I am a śūdra," that is very nice. Tat te 'nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam (SB 10.14.8). A devotee is satisfied always. He does not grudge that "I am put into this condition. Why I'm not put into the condition of a king or a learned Brahmin?" No. "Whatever condition Kṛṣṇa has given me, that is all right." Tat te anukampām: "It is His grace. By His grace I have got this position."

Because my only business is to remember Kṛṣṇa. That we can do any stage of life. It does not require that you have to become a Brahmin, an Indian, and so on, so on, great learned scholar in Vedic scripture. No. You may be in the far-away country, in Europe, America, or you may not be in Brahmin family. It doesn't matter. But you can remember Kṛṣṇa. We are teaching this art through Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that you may remain in whichever position Kṛṣṇa has put you—it doesn't matter—but try to understand Kṛṣṇa. "How can I understand?" Well, you are drinking water. You can understand Kṛṣṇa. Where is the difficulty? Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya (BG 7.8). Kṛṣṇa says that "I am the taste of water." Then where there is a person who does not drink water? Is there any land where people do not drink water? Is there any land? So where is the difficulty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? If you simply drink water . . . (break)

And it is stated that bhagavac-chikṣayā. (break) Kṛṣṇa teaches that raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ . . . (break) Is there any land within this universe where there is no moonshine, sunshine? Everywhere. So where is the difficulty to become Kṛṣṇa conscious? (break) You are practicing meditation. Why not this simple meditation: "Here is Kṛṣṇa. Here is light, here is Kṛṣṇa. Oh, here is Vedic study. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam"? Or oṁkāra. Oṁkāra sarva-vedeṣu. (break) If you, as soon as you get a nice flower, you smell it, Kṛṣṇa says: "That fragrance I am." You can remember Kṛṣṇa. So any part of the world, anywhere. You may be whatever you are.

Another point is as soon as you try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then your purification begins immediately. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). If you simply remember or say that, "I have heard it from my spiritual master or from a saintly person that while drinking water, that taste is Kṛṣṇa." So you accept it, this is preaching. This is preaching. You are preaching. Or one who hears from you, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ, if you simply carry this work. Just try to understand the importance of preaching. Sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ: you are remembering and you are preaching. So you are preaching means somebody else is hearing. So he is also being purified. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Even he does not know what is Kṛṣṇa, but he simply hears from you, then he becomes purified.

Actually, we are experiencing how in European and American countries, our boys going in buses, village to village, and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and they are collecting devotees. (break) How many devotees collected you told me, France? Eh? How many?

Devotee: Ten.

Prabhupāda: Ten. Where? You sent your saṅkīrtana party there?

Devotee: . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Ah. It is happening. Our saṅkīrtana movement is increasing in every country, Europe, America, even in Africa, Canada, everywhere. Why? Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was traveling in South India, He was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So somebody heard Him chanting this mantra, he became purified, and he went back to his village, he also began to chant. So another person who heard him, he heard him become purified. It is such a nice thing. (break)

Simply be hearing . . . if we understand the . . . (break) The process is there, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). Not other. (break) . . . the whole world can be purified. But the secret is that one who is chanting, he must be very pure. (break) So far I have studied, in the Western countries . . . (break) They have got so many hodgepodge ideas that they are not pure. It is very difficult. (break) I say that "Here is Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa," they accept it. (break) Here . . . if I say: "Here is Bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa," he'll bring dozens of other Bhagavān. Or more than that—hundreds. "Why Kṛṣṇa is God?" (break) They are being deviated. So many . . .

Therefore we are student of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the beginning it is said that dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra. All types of cheating religious system is thrown away from this. And Śrīdhara Svāmī gives his comments on this, that kevala bhagavad-upāsanā. Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstavaṁ vastu vedyam atra (SB 1.1.2). Śrīmad-bhāgavatam param. Kiṁ vā paraiḥ. Mahā-muni-kṛte. Mahāmuni Vyāsadeva has given us. What is the use of studying any other book? Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. It is the spotless Purāṇa. Spotless Purāṇa means that which gives you spiritual knowledge without any adulteration. Simple. Without any adulteration. As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is without any adulteration.

So when one understands what is dharma without any adulteration, then he becomes fit candidate for studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam. Nārada Muni gives . . . (break) Kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma ataeva śānta (CC Madhya 19.149). Kṛṣṇa-bhakta, he doesn't require for bhukti, mukti, siddhi. They simply want . . . just like Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, kīṭa-janma hao yathā tuwā dāsa, bahirmukha brahma-janme nāhi mora āśa. He is desiring, "My Lord, let me . . ." Janmāobi yadi . . . "If I have to get birth again, my Lord, this is my prayer, that let me have my next birth in the house of a devotee, even as a small worm." To take birth in the house of a devotee is not so easy thing. Śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo sanjāyate (BG 6.41). It is not so easy thing. But Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says: "I am not fit. But if You kindly give me a birth of an ant in the house of a devotee, I shall prefer that more than to become Brahmā and forget You." Brahma-janme nāhi mora āśa. These are the process.

So we have to work according to our capacity, at the same time chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Kṛṣṇa has given you the tongue, and there is no difficulty. Kurvāṇā yatra karmāṇi. And always think of Kṛṣṇa, man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. "How I can think of Kṛṣṇa constantly? It becomes hackneyed." No. The varieties. Kṛṣṇa says that you think of Kṛṣṇa while drinking water, you think of Kṛṣṇa when you see the sunshine, think of Kṛṣṇa when you see the moonshine, day and night. So at daytime there is sunshine, at night there is moonshine. So day and night you can think of Kṛṣṇa. So, so many ways . . . kṛṣṇa-śikṣayā, bhagavac-chikṣayā, as is taught in the Bhagavad-gītā, you think of always Kṛṣṇa, then your life is successful. Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65).

So therefore bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā (CC Madhya 6.254). You have to stop thinking of this material bhukti, mukti, siddhi. Simply you have to think of Kṛṣṇa. That is spiritual platform. That is instructed here. Try to follow, and your life will be successful.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)