730101 - Lecture NOD - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

730101ND-BOMBAY - January 01, 1973 - 44:57 Minutes

Pradyumna: Nectar of Devotion. "This eternal engagement in bhakti-rasa can be understood by a serious student upon studying The Nectar of Devotion. Adoption of bhakti-rasa, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, will immediately bring one to an auspicious life free from anxieties and will bless one with transcendental existence, thus minimizing the value of liberation.

Bhakti-rasa itself is sufficient to produce a feeling of liberation because it attracts the attention of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Generally, neophyte devotees are anxious to see Kṛṣṇa, or God, but God cannot be seen or known by our present materially blunt senses. The process of devotional service as it is recommended in The Nectar of Devotion will gradually elevate one from the material condition of life to the spiritual status, wherein the devotee becomes purified of all designations."

Prabhupāda: Yes. The process of seeing God . . . sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adhaḥ. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). Just like a person suffering from some disease, his eyesight is blocked. He has got the eyesight to see, but on account of some cataract disease, he cannot see. Similarly, God is there, and I can see Him also. But the cataract of illusion is covering via media between God and me. Therefore in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said:

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena

santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

yam śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.38)

That treatment is to invoke your dormant love for God. That is the treatment. We have got love for God. We want to love somebody, either man or woman, even animals. You'll find between the two dogs, there is love. They are jumping over one another, playing very nicely. Sometimes the mother dog is pretending to bite the cub, but it actually it is not biting.

So this loving propensity is there, living entity. Every living entity—it doesn't matter whether he is man or animal—the love is there. But at the present moment, it is being pervertedly reflected. Just like love between Kṛṣṇa and Mother Yaśodā, that love is reflected here also between the mother and the child, the same love. Because unless there is love in the Absolute, there cannot be any exhibition of love in the relative world. The Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). The . . . everything is emanating from the Absolute. So there is love. Just like Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa love, Kiśora-kiśorī, young Kṛṣṇa, young Rādhārāṇī. This love is pervertedly reflected in this material world which is in the name of love, but it is lust; therefore it is called perverted reflection. Lust because the . . . a young boy, a young girl mix together, they love together, but a slight disagreement, they separate. Why? Because that is not love; that is lust. The lust is going on in the name of love. But the reflection is from there. Therefore it is called māyā. The same love between father and mother, er, father and son, vātsalya-rasa, mādhurya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, friendship. Here, we have got friends, but a slight disagreement, we separate. Master and servant—dāsya-rasa. A servant is very faithful so long you pay. As soon as you stop payment, no more service. Finished.

Therefore it is to be understood that the love with Kṛṣṇa in the platform of mādhurya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, dāsya-rasa, śānta-rasa, that is the real platform, in the spiritual world. And because the love affairs are there in the Absolute, that is reflected in this relative world. And here is also the same love is there, but it is not very palatable. It is not without any fault. There are so many faults. Therefore real love can be reciprocated with Kṛṣṇa. In the material world, there cannot be any real love. Therefore the real love cannot be appreciated with our this material senses. Whatever we appreciate or experience by the material senses, that is not love; that is lust. Motive. There is some motive. One is friend of another person, very intimate friends, both of them have got some motive. As soon as the motive is frustrated, they separate. These things we find. Even husband and wife, as soon as the sense gratification is disturbed, immediately there is divorce between husband and wife. So . . .

(aside) Where is this? Outside?

Śyāmasundara: Outside . . . next door . . .

Prabhupāda: That's all right. No. Doesn't matter.

Śyāmasundara: Shut these doors.

Prabhupāda: Therefore we have to invoke our love for Kṛṣṇa. Then our loving propensities will be actually satisfied. Otherwise we'll be frustrated. Otherwise, we'll be frustrate . . . that is going on. We may admit or not admit, but this frustration of love affair is going on. So if we . . . that same thing we repose in Kṛṣṇa . . . if I want to love my son, if I accept Kṛṣṇa as my son . . . just like Yaśodāmayī accepted. Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but by devotional service, He agrees to become a son. Just like Yaśodāmayī and Nanda Mahārāja, in their previous lives they underwent severe austerities, and their aim was that "We shall have a son like God, like Kṛṣṇa." So after their performance of austerities for many thousands of years, when Kṛṣṇa appeared before them, "What benediction you want?" so they proposed that "We want a son like You. Then we enter into family life. Otherwise not."

So Kṛṣṇa said that, "Why shall I get a son like Me? I shall become your son." This is the fact. Therefore, although Kṛṣṇa took His birth as the son and . . . son of Devakī and Vasudeva, immediately ordered Vasudeva to transfer Him to Vṛndāvana to Yaśodā. So the pleasure of having son was enjoyed by Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, not Devakī and Vasudeva, although they really gave birth to. And when Kṛṣṇa was grown up, then went to His real father, Vasudeva, and Devakī. So actually Kṛṣṇa's crawling, Kṛṣṇa's disturbing the mother, Kṛṣṇa's stealing the butter, and so many things, as child does, reciprocates with the father and mother, parent, these līlā was demonstrated in Vṛndāvana, although Mother Yaśodā and Vasudeva, er, I mean to say Nanda Mahārāja, they were foster father and mother.

So everyone can have Kṛṣṇa as his son. Everyone can have Kṛṣṇa as his friend. Everyone can have Kṛṣṇa as his master. Das . . . dāsya-rasa, sakhya-rasa, mādhurya-rasa. Even everyone can have Kṛṣṇa as their paramour. These things are very difficult to understand, but these rasas . . . they are called rasas. Parakīya-rasa. The parakīya-rasa means just like a man or woman has got his husband or wife, but he has got love with others. That is called parakīya-rasa. That is most abominable in this material world, but that is most first class thing in the spiritual world. Parakīya-rase yāṅhā brajete pracāra. So these things are very higher principles of spiritual life. But we can understand that whatever we are experiencing in this material world, that thing, in its pure form, is existing in the Supreme Absolute. That is the fact. Otherwise they cannot be manifested in this material . . . just like on the bank of a tank, pond, there is a tree, and you find the tree just upverted. The upper portion of the tree has gone down. That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā.

(aside) Find out in the Fifteenth Chapter: ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākhaṁ aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). Find out this verse.

This material world is the reflection, urdhva mulam. Generally the tree has got its root down, but the material world . . . so . . . it is described as a big banyan tree, but the root is upwards. Read it.

Pradyumna:

śrī bhagavān uvāca

ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham

aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam

chandāṁsi yasya parṇāni

yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit

(BG 15.1)

Prabhupāda: Yas taṁ veda sa veda-vit. What is the translation?

Pradyumna: "The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas."

Prabhupāda: Yes. One who knows this tree, he knows the Vedas. That means . . . the Vedas says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). That is the Vedānta-sūtra. Wherefrom this material world is coming? That is Absolute Truth. The atheist class men, they cannot think that there is the cause. In the Sixteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā: jagad āhur anīśvara. Jagad āhur anīśvara. What is that?

(aside) Find out. Sixteenth Chapter. They say that this material cosmic manifestion . . . manifestation, this world is . . . uh? Uh?

Pradyumna: Could we have the verse again?

Devotee: Jagad ahur anīśvaram (BG 16.8).

Prabhupāda: No, that is the last word. You find out, Sixteenth Chapter.

Pradyumna: Tasmāc chāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te . . .

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. In the beginning. Beginning, read, Sixteenth Chapter.

Pradyumna:

abhayaṁ sattva-saṁśuddhir

jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitiḥ

dānaṁ damaś ca yajñaś ca

svādhyāyas tapa ārjavam

ahiṁsā satyam akrodhas

tyāgaḥ śāntir apaiśunam

dayā bhūteṣv aloluptvaṁ

mārdavaṁ hrīr acāpalam

tejaḥ kṣamā dhṛtiḥ śaucam

adroho nāti mānitā

bhavanti sampadaṁ daivīm

abhijātasya bhārata

(BG 16.1-3)

Prabhupāda: Daivīm. These are daivī sampada, spiritual qualification. And what is the material qualification? Next?

Pradyumna:

dambo darpo 'bhimānaś ca

krodhaḥ pāruṣyam eva ca

ajñānaṁ cābhijātasya

pārtha sampadam āsurīm

(BG 16.4)

Prabhupāda: Āsurīm. These are the āsurīm qualities. Read the translation.

Pradyumna: "Arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance—these qualities belong to those of demoniac nature, O son of Pṛthā."

Prabhupāda: Yes. The first word, the most important thing is that ignorance. They do not know actually things as they are, but still they become leader. Andhā yathāndair upanīyamānām. Then what is their other qualities? Go on.

Pradyumna:

daivī sampad vimokṣāya

nibandhāyāsurī matā

mā śucaḥ sampadaṁ daivīm

abhijāto 'si pāṇḍava

(BG 16.5)

Prabhupāda: Daivī sampad. If you acquire daivī sampad, then you become liberated from this material bondage. But if you acquire the asuric sampad, then you become entangled. Go on, next?

Pradyumna:

dvau bhūta-sargau loke 'smin

daiva āsura eva ca

daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta

āsuraṁ pārtha me śṛṇu

(BG 16.6)

Prabhupāda: Now Kṛṣṇa says that there are two kinds of men, two classes of men. One class, daiva, or demigods; the other class, asura. So "I've spoken many things about the daivas. Now I shall speak about the symptoms of the asuras."

(aside) What is the asuras?

Pradyumna:

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca

janā na vidur āsurāḥ

na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro

na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate

(BG 16.7)

Prabhupāda: Now describe this.

Pradyumna: "Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done."

Prabhupāda: That is the first qualification of the demons. They do not know what is right doing and what is wrong doing. Suppose we, just like we restrict anyone who comes to our camp to become our student, we restrict that, "You should not do this" or "You should do this." Anywhere, if you go to a physician, he'll say also that "You shall do this." Some "do's" and some "do not's." So the asuras, they do not know.

Because they have no direction, they do not know what are the "do's" and what are the "do not's." This is the first qualification of the asuras. They do not know. Because they do not like to take lesson from superior. They manufacture their own lesson. Then?

Pradyumna: . . . na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate (BG 16.7).

Prabhupāda: Now . . . then?

Pradyumna: Asatyam apratiṣṭham . . .

Prabhupāda: This is the . . . asatyam . . . this is the first word. Asatyam . . .

Pradyumna: Apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad . . .

Prabhupāda: Jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). This is their first proposition. There is zero, asatyam.

(pause)

Aiye. Aiye. (please come, please come) Asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te. They, they do not find out that there is a cause of this material manifestation. Without any cause. The materialistic scientists say, "There was a chunk, and . . ." What is that? Chunk theory?

(aside) Come on.

So that all of a sudden the chunk become disturbed and there was split, and the creation came into existence. So jagad āhur anīśvaram. "There is no God. There is no existence of God." Every religion says . . . the Christian religion also says, the Muhammadan religion says, the Hindu religion says that God created this cosmic manifestation, or this material world. But the asuras will say: "There is no God. There is no creator." Jagad āhur anīśvaram (BG 16.8). Then?

Pradyumna: Aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ kim anyat kāma-haitukam.

Prabhupāda: Aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ kim anyat kāma-haitukam. Just like a man and woman accidentally unite and there is a child, similarly, there is no purpose. Somehow or other, the material energy came into existence, and therefore there is creation. This is their argument. This is asuric argument, or the demonic argument. But the Vedas says, "No." Vedas says that janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). There is original. Absolute Truth, or God, is He from (whom) everything emanates. Janmādy asya yataḥ. And that God must be senscient. He's not zero. Not zero. The śūnyavādi. He has got brain. He has got . . . He is person. That is explained.

The Vedānta-sūtra says, janmādy asya yataḥ. Now they, that Absolute Truth, from where everything is emanating, is discussed in the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Therefore Bhāgavatam is accepted as the real commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. Real commentary. Bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām. Vedārtha paribṛṁhitam.

These are the statements. This is accepted by the ācāryas. In the Gauḍīya-sampradāya, therefore, the Gosvāmīs, they did not write any comment on the Vedānta-sūtra, although other ācāryas like Rāmānujācārya, Mādhavācārya, they wrote commentaries on the Bhagavad . . . uh, Vedānta-sūtra. But our Gosvāmīs, they did not write, purposefully, because they accept that there is already natural perfect commentary written by the same author, Vyāsadeva, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrānām.

The Vedānta-sūtra says, answer, the first aphorism is: athāto brahma jijñāsā. Brahman, the Absolute. That is the main business of the human life, to inquire about the Absolute Truth. Here everything is relative truth. I am the son of my father. My father is the son of his father. His father is the son of his father. You go on. Everything is relative. But who is the Absolute? Who is the Absolute? That inquiry is called brahma-jijñāsā. Wherefrom the . . . who is the original father? Then if you go on searching like that, within this universe you'll find Lord Brahmā is the origin. He's called, therefore, pitāmaha, Lord Brahmā. But if you still inquire further who is the father of Brahmā, then you come to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. From the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, from His abdomen, there sprouted a lotus flower, and the lotus flower, Brahmā was born.

Therefore Brahmā's another name is Svayambhūr. He did not come out through the womb of his mother, although the mother was present. Kar . . . Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, we have seen the picture. Lakṣmījī is massaging the lotus feet of Viṣṇu, and Brahmā is sprouted from the abdomen. So this is called omnipotency. Generally we have got idea that a child is born from the yoni, but here Kṛṣṇa gives birth to a child without the help of His wife, and from His abdomen. This is called omnipotency. We say, "God is omnipotent," but how God is omnipotent, that we do not know practically. Here is omnipotency. That is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā:

aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti

paśyanti pānti kalayanti ciraṁ jaganti

ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.32)

Kṛṣṇa, He can act anything with any limb, part of His body. Kṛṣṇa can eat with His eyes, and Kṛṣṇa can hear with His eyes. Kṛṣṇa can cut by touching. These are there in the śāstras. Just like Kṛṣṇa, when entered Mathurā, He asked the washerman of Kaṁsa to deliver some cloth, but he refused. So Kṛṣṇa immediately cut off his head with His hand, without any astra. So that is omnipotency. Aṅgāni yasya sakalendriya-vṛtti-manti paśyanti pānti kalayanti . . . (Bs. 5.32).

Just like we offer prasādam. We offer foodstuff to Kṛṣṇa. Atheist class will say that, "You have offered Kṛṣṇa this foodstuff, but He has not eaten. It is there, still lying." No. He does not see. He does not know that Kṛṣṇa can eat simply by His glance, by seeing. He eats. Because He says in the Bhagavad-gītā that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad aham aśnāmi (BG 9.26). Is He speaking lies? No. He eats, but we do not know His eating process. We compare Kṛṣṇa as ourself. If one plate is given to me, I immediately devour the whole thing. But Kṛṣṇa, He is complete. He can eat the complete; still it remains complete. Pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate (Īśo Invocation).

So in this way we have to understand Kṛṣṇa from the śāstra, from the Vedas. Then we shall understand Kṛṣṇa. And once we understand Kṛṣṇa, our life is successful. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Anyone who understands Kṛṣṇa in truth, his life is perfect. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9). The perfection of life is that after giving up this body, we shall not accept any more material body. That is perfection. The people do not know that. They think . . . people, the karmīs, they think that, "If we get a nice body in the heavenly planet, that is perfection of life." Svargaloka. And the jñānīs, they think that, "I am not this body; I am spirit soul.

But somehow or other, if we finish my body and merge into the Brahman effulgence, that is perfection of life "Very very soft". " The yogīs, they think that, "We may keep this body, but with this body, if we can play some jugglery, magic, that is perfection "Very very soft"." Sometimes we see somebody plays some jugglery, magic, little magic, not very nice magic . . . one cannot show greater magic than Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa, when He was seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill with the little finger. So who can show this magic? There are so many imitation God, but if I ask him that "You just lift this one-hundred-kilo burden with your finger," it will be very difficult for him. You see?

So this kind of magic, or this kind of perfection, the devotees do not want. The devotees, they say . . . just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching us:

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ

kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye

mama janmani janmanīśvare

bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

(CC Antya 20.29, Śikṣāṣṭaka 4)

This is devotee. Therefore devotee's called akāma. They have no demand. They are satisfied in any condition of life. But they only pray to Kṛṣṇa that his devotion to Kṛṣṇa may not be disturbed. May not be disturbed. He doesn't want anything in exchange of his devotional service. That is pure devotion. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). When we engage ourself in this pure, unadulterated devotional service, then we qualify ourself to see God. So long we are not pure devotee . . . that is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). And when that stage of bhakti comes in?

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā

na śocati na kāṅkṣati

samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu

mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām

(BG 18.54)

When one has self-realized: Brahman, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So long we are identifying with this body, identifying with this material existence, body, bodily existence, that is animal life. That is not human life. A human being, if he exists in this bodily concept of life, he remains animal. But when he is advanced in knowledge, he understands that he is not this body; he's different from this body.

That we are discussing in the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā: idaṁ śarīraṁ kṣetram iti abhidhīyate (BG 13.2). Idaṁ śarīram. This śarīra is field of activities. One should not identify with this body. So when one actually understands his spiritual position, that he's not this body, he's spirit soul, he's brahma-vastu. It is not we become Brahman by meditation or by somebody. We are Brahman, but we have now forgotten. Jīva-bhūta. At the present moment, because I'm identifying with this body, I'm thinking, "I am American," "I am Indian, " "I am brāhmin," "I am Vaiṣṇava," "I am this or that." No. When we are actually brahma-bhūtaḥ, as explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya kṛṣṇa dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109), mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7), that is self-realization. When we understand perfectly well that, "I am eternal servant of God . . ." Servant. I'm not God; I'm servant of God. But one cannot be servant of God without becoming God.

That they do not know, the Māyāvādī philosophers. Servant . . . just like if one becomes secretary or servant of a very big man, he's in the same position. He's sitting on the same place. He's eating the same way. He's in the same atmosphere. So everything is same. Simply the relationship is different, that's all. So when one goes to the spiritual world . . . just like the cowherds boy, the gopīs, they are on the same platform of Kṛṣṇa. They do not think that "We are lesser than Kṛṣṇa." The cowherds boy, they sometimes chastise Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is obliged to take them on the shoulder, sometimes. They do not know that "Kṛṣṇa is God" or "Kṛṣṇa is greater than me." That is the position. Equality. Therefore Śukadeva Gosvāmī said:

itthaṁ (satāṁ) brahma-sukhānubhūtyā

dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena

māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa

sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ

(SB 10.12.11)

These cowherds boys who are playing with Kṛṣṇa, they are not ordinary human being. They are very, very advanced in spiritual assets. Kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ. When they are . . . just like you accumulate money. When you have got too much accumulation, ten crores of rupees, like that . . . when one's pious activities becomes accumulated in voluminous attitude, at that time, one is . . . that means when one is completely free from the material contamination, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). When one has . . . one is actually learned, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. A devotee has no distinction between this living entity or that living entity.

vidyā-vinaye-sampanne

brāhmaṇe gavi hastini

śuni caiva śva-pāke ca

paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ

(BG 5.18)

This sama-darśinaḥ, equality, cannot be possible in material vision. That is not possible. One must elevate himself to the spiritual platform. Then paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ. That is after brahma-bhūtaḥ stage. Brahmā bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu (BG 18.54). When one has attained this stage, then he can enter mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. That is . . . that is really bhakti's platform. That bhakti platform means elimination of all material contamination.

So one who becomes engaged immediately in pure devotional service, he immediately becomes liberated. Immediately, without any distant time. Immediately. Tad kṣaṇāt śraddhā bhavati, śraddhā savanāya kalpate, Jīva Gosvāmī, that one . . . even one is born in the lowest degree, śva-pācaḥ, śraddhā savanaya kalpate, he becomes immediately eligible for performing sacrifices. There are śāstra evidences. And Śukadeva Gosvāmī says:

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā

ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ

ye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ

śudhyanti (tasmai) prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

(SB 2.4.18)

Even born in kirāta family, the aborigines . . . they, these, these names are of the caṇḍālas. They are not Āryans. Non-Āryans. So kirāta-hūṇā . . . in the Bhagavad-gītā also Kṛṣṇa says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). Pāpa-yoni. Striya śūdra tathā vaiśyās te 'pi yānti paraṁ gatim. Immediately. So the devotional service is so nice, practical, that simply if you take to this devotional service, immediately you become sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Then we are describing how to become brahma-bhūtaḥ. So brahma-bhūtaḥ means:

māṁ ca avyabhicāriṇi

bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate

sa guṇān samatītyaitān

brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

(BG 14.26)

Immediately he's raised to the brahma-bhūtaḥ platform.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that we are trying to engage everyone in pure devotional service. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). Pure devotional service means to serve Kṛṣṇa without any motive. That is pure. Without any motive. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). Not by rendering service to Kṛṣṇa if one aspires to become liberated. That is the jñānī's aspiration. They want to merge into the existence of Brahman.

Therefore pure devotional service should be uncontaminated with that jñāna idea also. Jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam. The karmīs, they want to be promoted to the higher planetary system, heavenly planet. The jñānīs, they want to become liberated. The yogīs, they want some mystic power. But a devotee should be free from all these things. No mystic power, no elevation to the heavenly planet, no merging into the exi . . . never mind. Whatever Kṛṣṇa desires, that's all right. He does not dictate anything or he desires anything. That is pure devotional service.

So there are many śāstric injunctions. Evaṁ prasanna-mana . . . so long you have got demand, you cannot be happy. That is one thing. Either you demand to be elevated to the heavenly planet or you demand to be one with the Brahman, these are demands. Or if you want some mystic power, these are all demands. So, so long you'll have demand, you'll never be happy. You'll never be happy.

Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says, bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta (CC Madhya 19.149). Aśānta. Bhukti means the karmīs, those who are demanding to . . . to be elevated in the heavenly planets or higher planetary system for more, more elevated material happiness, they are called bhukti. Bhukti-kāmī, bhoga, enjoyment of the bodily concept of life. They are called bhukti-kāmī. Bhukti and mukti. Mukti means the jñānīs, they want to be liberated from material bondage and merge into the existence of Brahman, Absolute. That is mukti. Bhukti, mukti and siddhi. And the yogīs, they want siddhi, aṣṭa-siddhi—aṇimā, laghimā. They can become more smaller than the smallest, bigger than the biggest. Prāpti, īśitā vaśitā prākāmya. There are eight kinds of siddhis the yogīs can attain. But a devotee does not want all these things. He has no demand. These are the three demands: bhukti-mukti-siddhi.

But devotee has no demand. That is the special qualification. Devotee never demands anything. Just like Dhruva Mahārāja: as soon as appeared Kṛṣṇa, he said, svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce (CC Madhya 22.42). "I don't say." So this is pure devotee. And as soon as you become pure devotee, then your love for Kṛṣṇa becomes actual fact in the spiritual world, and you can associate with Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love or as parent, or as friend, or as servant, in whatever . . . or as trees or flower, as a water—as you desire. That is perfection of life. This is the perfection of bhakti.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya . . . (end)