700614 - Lecture Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana Appearance - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1970

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

700614LE-LOS ANGELES - June 14, 1970 - 36:10 Minutes

Prabhupāda: Hm. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (devotees chanting japa) So everyone feeling all right?

Devotees: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra). Practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness means you gradually come to the platform of blissfulness, ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. That is our prerogative, right. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now chant the mantras.

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ

pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate

pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya

pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate

(ISO Invocation)

īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ

yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat

tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā

mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam

(ISO 1)

kurvann eveha karmāṇi

jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ

evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti

na karma lipyate nare

(ISO 2)

asuryā nāma te lokā

andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ

tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti

ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ

(ISO 3)

anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo

nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat

tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat

tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti

(ISO 4)

tad ejati tan naijati

tad dūre tad v antike

tad antar asya sarvasya

tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ

(ISO 5)

yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny

ātmany evānupaśyati

sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ

tato na vijugupsate

(ISO 6)

yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny

ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ

tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka

ekatvam anupaśyataḥ

(ISO 7)

sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam

asnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham

kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr

yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ

(ISO 8)

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti

ye 'vidyām upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo

ya u vidyāyām ratāḥ

(ISO 9)

anyad evāhur vidyayā-

nyad āhur avidyayā

iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ

ye nas tad vicacakṣire

(ISO 10)

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas

tad vedobhayaṁ saha

avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā

vidyayāmṛtam aśnute

(ISO 11)

Chant this verse again.

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas

tad vedobhayaṁ saha

avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā

vidyayāmṛtam aśnute

(ISO 11)

The next verse.

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti

ye 'sambhūtim upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo

ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ

(ISO 12)

(Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation) Again chant.

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti

ye 'sambhūtim upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo

ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ

(ISO 12)

Again.

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti

ye 'sambhūtim upāsate

tato bhūya iva te tamo

ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ

(ISO 12)

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So. "Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the Absolute."

If we do not know how to worship, then first of all, the materialists, they worship some demigod for immediate effect. Just like even in our ordinary life, to get some immediate effect, suppose I want some business from somebody, so I worship him, I flatter him, just to satisfy him. Or if I serve some . . . where so I want to satisfy my immediate boss, that is natural. But this satisfaction, trying to satisfy our immediate benefactor, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā (Bg 7.20): kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ.

Those who are of lost of intelligence, kāmais. Why they have lost their intelligence? Kāmai: being greedy or lusty. I want something; I desire something for my sense enjoyment. So, just like in Vedic literature there is worship of goddess Kālī. Why they worship goddess Kālī? Eh? Because in the kālī-pūjā, in the worship of Kālī, there is a prescribed method of sacrificing a goat, animal.

So these devotees are actually after eating meat, but if they worship Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu, oh, that is not possible. If somebody comes here, "Ah, give me prasādam meat," that is not possible. So therefore they will not come. They will go to some mission who are worshiper of Kālī, a very good devotee. Because they are offering meat, and this—what is this called?—this turkey prasādam. So turkey prasādam means prasādam, for that purpose, they go to worship this goddess of Kālī. Actual purpose is to eat meat. But Vedas is so broad that they are . . .

You may question, then, "Why in this Vedas this worship of Kālī is recommended?" Yes, it is recommended for the third-class men. Third-class men, they will not be able to give up. If a third-class man, if I say, just like we are preaching, "You cannot take meat," or this is not very good advice to the ordinary men; therefore they are not coming here: "The Swamiji is very conservative. He restricts so many things."

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not for the third-class men, only first-class men—more than first-class men; those who are above first-class men. They will understand. So therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā, it is stated, kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ (BG 7.20). They do not know first-class . . . what is the difference between the first-class man and the third-class man and fourth-class man. The first-class man knows what is the aim of his life. The third-class, fourth-class men, they do not know what is the aim of life. That is the difference. How a man becomes first-class? How? By quality: vyāvahāreṇa jāyante (Canakya Paṇḍita).

Just like you treat somebody as enemy and you treat somebody as a friend, but both the men have the same hands and legs and . . . maybe whom you treat as enemy, he may be more beautiful; but why you treat him as enemy? Now, vyāvahāreṇa. Na kaścid kasyacid ripuḥ, na kaścid kasyacid mitro. Nobody is enemy or friend, but vyāvahāreṇa jāyante mitrāṇi ripavas tathā (Canakya Paṇḍita)., but by your dealings with him, if he acts favorably for you, then he is friend, and if he acts unfavorably for you, then he becomes an enemy. Similarly, this first-class, second-class, fourth-class men, how they are classified? By their behavior. Not that a man is born third-class or a man is born . . . third-class man born may become first class.

So we are giving chance to everyone, "Never mind you are third class, fourth class, fifth class, tenth class. Whatever you are, you come to become first class." We are inviting everyone. We have no distinction. Kṛṣṇa has no such distinction. That Kṛṣṇa says:

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya

ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ

(BG 9.32)

"My dear Arjuna, if somebody takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, never mind he is born in an abominable family,"striyo vaiśyās tathāśūdrās, "or in the human society, less-intelligent class of men like śūdrā or women. Never mind. Whatever he may be or she may be, if he takes or she takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness," te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, "they are also elevated to the platform wherefrom he can go back to home, back to Godhead."

So for us, there is no restriction. We don't say that, "You don't come." We invite everyone, "Take prasādam, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." That is our program. But the śāstra says that those who are demigod worshipers, bahv-īśvara-vādīs, they take so many gods, "Everyone is God . . ." That philosophy is very palatable nowadays: "Everyone is God. You are God, I am God, and whomever I worship I get the . . ."Yato mat tato pat: "Whatever opinion you have got, that is all right."

These things are going on. But the Vedas, the śāstras, they do not say like that. If you worship demigod, then you get the result which can be derived from that particular demigod. If you worship Kālī, all right, you can eat a little prasādam meat, but the thing is, this . . . the question was, "Why the Vedas have recommended the kālī-pūjā, or worship of Kālī? Why not only Kṛṣṇa?"

Actually, only Kṛṣṇa is to be worshiped. That is in the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66): give up all nonsense; simply surrender. That is real dharma. But the third-class, fourth-class men who cannot take it, for them, "All right, you worship goddess Kālī, the energy of Kṛṣṇa." If you cannot go touch the fire immediately, just try to take . . . utilize the heat of fire. You cannot go.

Just like we are not eligible to enter into the sun planet—it is so fiery—but we can utilize the energy of sun by going to the sunlight. The Vedas recommend that you worship this god or this god. That means at least these third-class, fourth-class men recognize that there is some authority. Therefore, I am going to eat meat, so it should be with the permission of goddess Kālī—only for this purpose. The purpose is to restrict him; therefore it is recommended. Similarly, why you are recommending marriage?

No illicit sex life—that means restriction. If we allow unrestricted sex life, he will remain a dog, a cat. The purpose is restriction; otherwise one may argue, "Oh, why you say illicit sex? Here is also sex, there is also sex." Why? This is for the purpose that if he indulges in illicit sex life as he likes, like cats and dogs, he'll remain cats and dogs forever. He will never be able to improve. It is meant for restriction.

pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ

nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā

(Manu-saṁhitā)

Everyone has got this tendency for meat-eating, for sex life, for drinking; that is natural, pravṛttir eṣā. These, I mean to say, desires, propensities, are there in everywhere. Therefore somebody says that "Swamījī does not allow even the facilities of human life." They think that illicit sex and intoxication and meat-eating and gambling, these are facilities for human life. You see? Therefore they are called in the ignorant. They are not facilities; they are the means of dragging you down to the hell. They are not facilities: facilities for going to hell.

So these facilities should not be allowed; they should be restricted if we want to elevate. That we explained the other, last Monday, that human life is meant for tapa divyaṁ. So you are hearing all these things. I am speaking also repeatedly. The same thing is here: andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'sambhūtim upāsate (ISO 12). Asambhūtim means these demigods. We are thinking that . . . just like the sun—sun is also demigod. So sun, we are thinking, the materialist scientists, they are thinking that sun is the cause of this creation. But he is not cause of the creation. Cause of the creation, cause of everything, is Kṛṣṇa: sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), cause of all causes.

But because we do not know, we think that, "He is the cause, here is the cause." Just like scientists, they say: "Law of gravitation." They advance in scientific progress accepting this axiomatic truth, but they do not know who has made this law of gravitation. You cannot deal with this law of gravitation. It is . . . as soon as you say "law," the law must have been made by somebody. So they have no eyes to see, or they have no intelligence to understand that behind everything there is Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ

sūyate sa-carācaram

(BG 9.10)

"Under My superintendence, the material nature is working."

So here it is said, andhaṁ tamaḥ: those who do not know whom to worship, they enter into the darkest region. And if somebody says that "I know what is to be worshiped," he also enters into the still more darkness. Therefore one has to take instruction:

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

(BG 4.34)

These things are all stated in the Bhagavad-gītā; you read very carefully. Chanting is also . . . those who have got still more intelligence, they should read also books. What for I am preparing so many books? It is especially for my students, not for making business that I have to . . . business I can do so many other things; why I am taking so much trouble?

So try to understand these things, that if we do not worship Kṛṣṇa . . . Kṛṣṇa worship means . . . that is not . . . worship, there is two words: "worship" and "service." Worship is meant for these demigods, but service is meant for Kṛṣṇa. Nobody can accept service—only Kṛṣṇa. Ekalāīśvara kṛṣṇa (CC Adi 5.142). He can accept service; nobody can accept service.

So today is the birthday of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa? So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, you have seen in my Bhagavad-gītā his name: dedicated to Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, who has written the commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Govinda-bhāṣya. Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is our ācārya. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is a fourth-generation ācārya from Lord Caitanya—fourth or fifth. Anyway, he is one of the ācāryas. Just like Gosvāmīs, they are ācāryas; Śrīnivās Ācārya.

So ācārya paramparā, disciplic succession. So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is also ācārya in this Gauḍīya-sampradāya. So his special gift . . . every ācārya means he gives some special things. Previous ācārya has given, and the next ācārya gives something more. That is the symptom of ācārya. In the incarnation also, just like Lord Buddha incarnation. Then Śaṅkarācārya, then Rāmānujācārya, then Madhvācārya then, in this way Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

So every ācārya is giving a further lift. So Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa also gave a further lift to this sampradāya. What is that? Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa wrote commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta-sūtra, his Vedānta-sūtra commentary is known as Govinda-bhāṣya, commentary of Govinda. The history is that this Gaudiya-sampradāya did not write any commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, because according to our sampradāya we accept this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the commentary of Vedānta-sūtra: bhāṣyo 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām (CC Madhya 25.143).

Lord Caitanya has recommended, it is stated in the Śrīmad . . . that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the real commentary of Vedānta-sūtra. Vyāsadeva is the writer of the philosophy, Vedānta-sūtra, and he personally, under the instruction of his spiritual master, Nārada, personally wrote this commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, on his own book, on his own philosophy, Vedānta-sūtra. If a writer, if the author himself, writes some commentary, that is the perfect, because he knows what is what.

Therefore because the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is there, the Gaudiya Vaiṣṇava, they did not attempt to write another separate commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. Any intelligent man can understand that this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra. The Vedānta-sūtra begins with janmādy asya (SB 1.1.1), athāto brahma jijñāsā, and Bhāgavata says jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā (SB 1.2.10). Brahma jijñāsā and tattva-jijñāsā is same thing: "The human life is meant for inquiring for the Absolute." In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is there. And the next aphorism in the Vedānta-sūtra is janmādy asya yataḥ . . .

(break) This Gauḍīya-sampradāya did not take unnecessary trouble again. The ācārya's sampradāya . . . if my previous ācārya has written something, so he will not touch those points, but he will write something which can develop further. That is ācārya, not that chewing the chewed—somebody has written something and he is also writing the same thing. No. If he at all writes, he will write something which will beautify, or glorify, or magnify the former idea. That is the . . .

So this Vaiṣṇava sampradāya did not write commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, because they knew that already Vyāsadeva, our original guru, he has already written Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, and it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhāṣyo 'yaṁ brahma-sūtrāṇām (CC Madhya 25.143). This is the real commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. But those who are smārta-brāhmaṇas, they objected in Jaipur.

In the Jaipur there is Govinda-seva temple of Govindaji. The king of Jaipur took away when Aurangzeb was harassing Hindus and he was breaking some of the Hindu temple, at that time from Vṛndāvana the Govinda mūrti—not only Govinda, Govinda Gopinatha and Madana-mohana—these mūrtis were taken from Vṛndāvana to Jaipur. The king of Jaipur, he was Vaiṣṇava.

So along with the Deity, the priest or the worshiper, I mean to say, those who were engaged in the temple worship, they were also taken. That is the system. So they were as usual worshiping, but some of the smārta-brāhmaṇas, they objected that, "Gauḍīya-sampradāya is not bona fide." Why not bona fide? Just like Dr. Staal objected that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not Vedic. Therefore I immediately protested, "No, it is cent percent Vedic."

So when the smārta-brahmins, they objected that, "This Gauḍīya-sampradāya is not Vedic . . ." How one is Vedic? Any sampradāya, if you inaugurate some party, then he must comment on the Vedānta-sūtra; otherwise, that party is not bona fide. That is Vedic rules: one must understand what is Brahma-sūtra. So because there was no particular commentary on the Brahma-sūtra by the Gauḍīya-sampradāya on account of presence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, so they objected.

So this information was given at that time to Vṛndāvana. Vṛndāvana . . . Viśvanātha Cakravartī—you have heard the name of Viśvanātha Cakravartī; he is also ācārya and vastly great scholar. So all the Vaiṣṇavas requested him that, "Please write a commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra; otherwise they are objecting that we are not Vaidic." At that time he was very old, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, so he thought it wise, he asked this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana—he happened to be just like his disciple—that, "I am very old now. I cannot go out of Vṛndāvana. So you take up this job and write one commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra immediately."

So he took up the matter. He has written many other books, Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana. So he immediately started for Jaipur, Govindaji's temple, and . . . this is the ācārya that, "Unless I am authorized, unless I am empowered, how I can write?" This is Vaiṣṇava. Not that, "Because I have got some A-B-C-D knowledge I can write something." No.

Just like one civil service officer, Mr. Gupta, sent me one commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā. Perhaps you know, we have delivered that . . . returned that panacea. So I immediately pointed out that, "There are so many discrepancies. We cannot publish this." So they have taken back. So he thought that because he is ICS officer, civil service officer, very big officer in India, therefore he can write commentary on Bhagavad-gītā or . . . these nonsense things are going on. Anyone, he has got some A-B-C-D knowledge, he thinks that, "I can write something." No. You cannot write anything unless you are authorized by the disciplic succession. You have no access in it.

So this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana went to, I mean to say, Jaipur, and for three days continually he laid himself flat, just like we offer obeisances in that way, without taking any food and water, asking permission from Govinda, "Whether I shall write?" Of course he was ordered, but still, to confirm it, that "Viśvanātha Cakravartī has asked me to write, but if You confirm it, then I shall begin writing." So Govindaji informed him, "Yes, you write. I give you order," "I immediately write." So he began to write this bhāṣya, commentary of Vedānta-sūtra, and it came out very, very successful.

Govinda-bhāṣya commentary on Vedānta-sūtra available, this is in Sanskrit. But we are describing the same conclusion in our different books. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also the same conclusion is there. You don't require to read separately, but because the smārta-brāhmaṇas challenged that, "You are not Vaidic because you have no commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra," so this Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana gave us the Govinda-bhāṣya.

Of course, other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas like Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, they have given commentary on Bhagavad-gītā. But we Madhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya, we are benedicted by this Baladeva Ācārya prabhu. And his life is that he . . . he was . . . he appeared in the family of a vaiśya community. His forefathers were agriculturists, but he became a great devotee and great scholar in Sanskrit, and he has got his commentaries on Bhagavad-gītā and Vedānta bhāṣya, and he has written many other books, all in Sanskrit.

So his birthday, appearance day, is today. So it is our duty to commemorate the memory, I mean to say, activities of the ācāryas and offer our respect and ask from them benediction for our progress. That is the system. Therefore we have listed the appearance and disappearance of the ācāryas. We should take advantage of these auspicious dates and offer our respect to the ācāryas.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Prabhupāda. (end)