660727 - Lecture BG 04.12-13 - New York

Lectures by Date, 1966

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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660727BG.NY - July 27, 1966

Prabhupāda:

kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ

yajanta iha devatāḥ

kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke

siddhir bhavati karma-jā

(BG 4.12)

People, they are naturally following leadership, but they do not want to follow the leadership of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, because they want immediate relief from the miseries of this world. They do not want a permanent solution of all miseries. Kṛṣṇa . . . if we accept the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, then in this very life we can make a solution of all the miseries of material existence. But instead of following the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, we accept leadership which is also indirectly the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, but it is misrepresented because on account of contamination of this material nature.

Material nature is inferior, or lower, nature. Constitutionally, we are following the leadership, but we want immediate, temporary relief for our miseries. We do not want permanent solution of all miseries. That is the defect of our life. But here is a chance. If we follow the leadership of Kṛṣṇa, then we make a solution of the whole miseries. Kāṅkṣantaḥ . . .

kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ

yajanta iha devatāḥ

kṣipraṁ hi mānuṣe loke

siddhir bhavati karma-jā

(BG 4.12)

Karma-jā means those who are acting here on the line of fruitive activities. Suppose . . . you have experienced that there are so many political leaders. They follow some particular leader, and they capture the governmental machinery, but after some time they are taken away from the scene. Just like in our country, recently, within one year, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, he's also shifted away—Shastri is also shifted away.

In your country, the President Kennedy is also shifted away. We do not take into account that after shifting this position, again we are going to enter into the miserable life of material existence. If we do not make a solution in present life, then we are again going to enter.

Suppose in this life I am elected to be the president of this great state, United State of America, and if my next life I become an ordinary citizen or even an animal . . . there is no guarantee what I shall become in my next life. That depends on my work, because the whole body is given by the material nature. It is not made according to my order supply. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27).

You are given a chance to act here, but according to your act, it will be judged what you are going to have in your next life. That is your problem. No . . . don't make this life of fifty years, sixty years or seventy years or hundred years as all in all. You have got a continuous life of transmigration from one body to another. It is going on. You must know that.

Now here is a chance to stop this nonsense of transmigrating from one body to another and suffer the material miseries. Here is a chance. And how that chance you are going to utilize? That we have already discussed. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9).

If somebody simply studies critically the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, the transcendental nature of His activities, simply by knowing this, the benefit will be that tyaktvā deham, after quitting this body, you are not again going to have such a material body, but tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma . . . (BG 4.9). Punar janma means you are not going to take your birth again in the womb of a mother of this material nature.

So just believe it. It is standard. It is accepted by all the great stalwart scholars and ācāryas of repute. Just like Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, great scholars and ācāryas, they have accepted it. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186).

We have to follow the footprints of great saints and sages, those who have achieved success by this indication of Bhagavad-gītā. Don't follow your whims. Take the standard advice. Just try to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Just try to understand Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa. And the result is that after leaving this body, you are no more going to accept any material body, but you enter into the spiritual kingdom and you have your spiritual body, which is eternal, full of knowledge and blissful. This is the chance.

So Kṛṣṇa says . . . although the chance is there, people, out of foolishness . . . exactly this very word has been used in the Seventh Chapter.

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

māyayāpahṛta-jñānā

āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ

(BG 7.15)

He has used very strong words, that persons who are miscreants, do not care for vice or virtue, never mind—they don't care which is vice and which is virtue—such persons, duṣkṛtina, those who are always engaged in vicious work, and those who are foolish . . . na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Narādhama means lowest of the mankind. And māyayāpahṛta-jñānāḥ, and one whose knowledge is deluded by the external energy—these people, they do not take the shelter of Kṛṣṇa. They do not like, although the opportunity is open for everyone. But we may not be like the miscreants, foolish and lowest of the mankind. Let us become intelligent.

Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not very difficult job. It is the easiest and the highest, topmost type of yoga system. In the Twelfth Chapter you'll find it explicitly stated that one who (is) always in devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, he is the first-class yogī. One who is always constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is the first-class yogī. And that is also stated in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter also, and it is accepted by great scholars and ācāryas.

So here is an opportunity. It is very simple, very simple—simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Satataṁ cintayantaṁ viṣṇum. Smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara, 42.103, Nārada-pañcarātra, 4.2.23).

Always, simply if you think that Hare Kṛṣṇa, if you think simply, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, that is sufficient.

Even if you do not go into the Bhagavad-gītā, if you do not go into the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, simply as you are chanting. Kṛṣṇa has given us the ear, and Kṛṣṇa has given us the tongue. No expense, no difficulty. You haven't got to go to college and take degrees to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. It is easy for the rich, for the poor, for the learned, for the fool, for the black, for the white, for the rich, for the poor—everyone. There is no distinction . . . (indistinct) . . . Kṛṣṇa is for everyone.

Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ (BG 9.32). In the lower nature, everyone thinks, "Oh, I am greater than you." The Hindus think, "Oh, we are greater than Muslim." The Muslim thinks, "We are greater than the Hindus." The Christian thinks that "We are greater than the Jews." The Jews thinks, "We are greater than . . ." This is material conception.

But for Kṛṣṇa there is no lower or higher. Every living being—His part and parcel. He comes here to claim every one of you, "Come on. Come on, My dear sons. Why you are suffering this? It is not for you. Take this chance." Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7).

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice, but one who does not care for it, they are satisfied by some temporary relief, and they take to other courses. They do not take the leadership of Kṛṣṇa. Kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ yajanta iha devatāḥ. Iha devatāḥ means these material gods. Material gods means their existence is so long this material world.

Just like here we have got the president, the governor and so many big, big officers. But suppose, somehow or other, this whole planet or the whole thing is gone, destroyed—because we can expect destruction every moment, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), then the whole thing, I mean to say, the president and the governor, everything is gone.

Iha devatāḥ. So we are taking shelter of this material world, something big, but that will not exist with the annihilation, with the dissolution of this material world. Everything will be dissolved. Everything will be dissolved. So we have to take the leadership of the Supreme. Then it will be the largest perfection, the greatest perfection of life.

Now, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, karmaṇām, karmaṇāṁ siddhim. How in the material world people are working? He is analyzing the process of different occupation. What is that?

cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ

guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ

tasya kartāram api māṁ

viddhy akartāram avyayam

(BG 4.13)

The Lord says that cātur-varṇyam, four castes or four divisions of human society. You have heard that there is caste system in India. There is caste system in India. There is caste system in India. Sometimes Indians are criticized by the outsider that they have caste system. But here the Lord says the cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: "This caste system is created by Me." "This caste system is created by Me, how?"

Guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: "According to quality and according to work." That division in the human society, according to quality and according to work, is there in everywhere, everywhere in the world—not only everywhere in the world, but everywhere in the universe.

God's creation cannot be stopped. God's creation cannot be stopped. Just like in God's creation there is sun, there is moon, there is seasonal changes. Nobody can stop this. Similarly the cātur-varṇyam, according to quality and karma, that division prevails all over the universe, not only in India but also in your country also. In your country also.

And what are these divisions? Now, what are the guṇa and karma? The guṇa, the quality. There are three qualities. In the material world, there are three qualities—the quality of goodness, the quality of passion and the quality of ignorance. And either human being or animal or demigods or American or Indian, everywhere these qualities are working. So some of them are in the modes or quality of goodness, and some of them are in the quality of passion, and some of them are in the quality of ignorance.

Those who are in the quality of goodness, they are called brāhmins, or the intelligent class of men. In Sanskrit language, because intelligence, intelligence does not mean to know, to have some knowledge of the material things. Intelligence means to know about the spiritual world also. That is intelligence.

Because as you know that I am combination of matter and spirit . . . I am spirit, and I am now entangled in this material body. I am spirit, consciousness. As soon as I am out of this body, I can distinguish or . . . I cannot distinguish, because I will go away. You can distinguish that, "Now this real Swāmījī's spirit is gone, the Swāmījī's material body is here." So it is very plain thing. So therefore we should not only have perfect knowledge of this matter, but we should have perfect knowledge of the spirit also, if you are actually intelligent.

Therefore the brāhmins . . . why they are called brāhmins? Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. Brahmin, it is English transcription. But real word is brāhmin, brāhmin. And wherefrom this brāhmin word comes? Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. That means one who knows the spirit, the spiritual. One who has got complete knowledge of the spiritual world, he is called brāhmin.

How one becomes brāhmin? Now you will find distinctly that cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13); "The four divisions of qualitative divisions is set by Me according to quality and karma." Never said that, "According to birth," you will find. "According to birth," it is not said here. Although in India it is now misrepresentated that a brāhmin's son is trying to designate himself as brāhmin, but according to Bhagavad-gītā, that is not sanctioned. Bhagavad-gītā says, "according to quality."

Now, just like here is a qualified lawyer, Mr. Goldsmith. He is lawyer. Now, because he is lawyer, his son cannot claim that, "Because my father is lawyer, then I am also lawyer." How it can be done? The son also must be qualified lawyer. He must pass the Bachelor of Law degree, examination. Then he can be lawyer. So similarly, here Kṛṣṇa says . . . don't misunderstand the Indian caste system as hereditary. No. It is, according to Vedic literature, it is according to the quality.

And what is that quality? Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ: "Anyone who takes his birth, by his birth he's a śūdra." Śūdra means the lowest, in the lowest order. Everyone. Even if he is born in the family of a brāhmin, he is to be considered as a śūdra, janmanā, by birth.

And perhaps some of you know that the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas, they are called dvija. Dvi means twice, and ja means birth. Twice-born. Twice-born. The bird is also called twice-born. Why? The bird birth is first of all in the egg. The egg is fermented, then the real bird comes out. Therefore bird is called in Sanskrit language also dvija, twice-born.

Similarly, a man, unless he is twice-born, he is a śūdra. Twice-born. How is that twice-born? Because by birth anyone, everyone has got some father and mother, because without father and mother, there is no question of birth. So the beast has also got father and mother, and the bird has also father and mother. Similarly, a human being has also got father and mother. So this birth by father and mother is not sufficient for becoming a dvija. He has to take his birth again.

So janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ saṁskārād bhaved dvijaḥ. Birth. Birth is not all, everything. The culture, saṁskāra. Saṁskāra means culture. One has to take his birth, rebirth, by culture, by education, by knowledge. That is called cultural birth. So unless one is in the cultural birth, he is to be considered the lower-grade person, or the śūdra.

So therefore the system in the . . . according to varṇāśrama-dharma, that not only by birth—before birth, when the father and mother is going to be combined to beget a child, there are cultural saṁskāra, or reformatory measures. How much carefully these things are. They wanted first-class son. Not sons like cats and dogs—first-class son. So there is some saṁskāra.

There is some purificatory measures, which is called garbhādhāna-saṁskāra. Garbhādhāna means pregnancy, the cultural ceremony before making the mother pregnant. And it is enjoined, you will find in the Bhāgavata, that any family, the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, if they give up this garbhādhāna-saṁskāra, I mean to say, birth-giving ceremony, then that family turns immediately to the classification of the śūdras.

So nowadays, at the present moment, this cultural program . . . I am speaking of India and everywhere. There is no such cultural program. That cultural program, that program to beget nice children, the whole program is, we must know, the whole Vedic system is to give the human life the greatest chance of self-realization and get free from these material miseries. That is the whole program. It is not . . . the Vedic culture does not mean that we shall be like cats and dogs, simply eating, sleeping, mating and defending. No. The human society is a systematic program to give everyone the chance of getting free from this material miseries.

Just like every state is supposed to be welfare state. Every citizen of that state should be happy, should be prosperous. There should be no anxiety. I do not know if every state is taking care of the citizens in that way. People are always full of anxieties. They are creating situation that everyone is full of anxiety. This material world is made so that it is full of anxieties. Whoever is in the material world . . . even the bird, you will see, when it is taking some grains, he is also full of anxiety. He is looking like this and that, "Oh, somebody is coming or killing me." So this is the nature.

The human society, human society is so arranged that the people, the members of the human society, should be free from all anxieties. Therefore we require good citizens, good father and mother, good system of government, and pious, virtuous cooperation between God and nature. Everything will be helpful for my spiritual realization, for my self-realization. If I am full of anxiety, how can I make progress in spiritual realization? It is not possible.

Therefore it is the duty of the state, duty of the father, duty of the teacher, duty of the spiritual master to give chance to the small children to develop in such a way that he becomes fully realized spiritual soul at the end, and so that his miserable life in the material existence is over. That is the responsibility.

In Bhāgavata you will see that Ṛṣabhadeva says that "One should not become the spiritual master, one should not become the father, one should not become the mother, one should not become the husband who cannot give relief from these miseries of material existence". It is the husband's duty also. Because the wife is under the protection of the husband, he has got so much responsibility.

Woman class and children class, they are taken in the same category. They require protection. They require protection. That is the Manu-saṁhitā. Na striyaṁ svatantratām arhati. Women should be under the protection. They should be given all protection. So the system of taking . . . just like the Hindu system is . . . just like a girl, before attaining the age of puberty, she is handed over to a suitable boy to take charge before she gets youthful energy.

So this is the system of varṇāśrama-dharma. This is the system. The whole idea is that everyone should be given the chance of being liberated in this very life. No more waiting for again for further . . . another life. Who knows that I am going to be human being again? It may be by freaks of nature I become a cat, a dog, a cow, an animal.

Now we are very much enthusiastic to become good nationals. Suppose I am American, a very good national. Now, after death, suppose that if I become a cow. Then even I am national of this country, oh, I am destined to be sent to the slaughterhouse. You see? So we should not take the risk of next birth. In this life, in this birth, we should make a permanent solution of all miseries. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let us become Kṛṣṇa conscious in this very life and make a solution.

Now, this cātur-varṇyam, this plan of cātur-varṇyam, Lord says . . . you should always remember that this material creation, whole material creation . . . there are unlimited number of universes and, I mean to say, planets in each universe. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated, yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe, and koṭi means hundred millions. Hundred millions. Not exactly one hundred millions, but numberless.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-

koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam

tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs 5.40)

So this material world is created. It is created for temporary existence. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19), you will find in the Bhagavad-gītā: "This material manifestation is temporary." May be for millions of years, but it is temporary. And why this temporary material world is created? Just to give the rebelled, I mean to say, living entities who are averse to God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, to give another chance for developing. For developing.

So if we miss this chance, then again, when this material world will be dissolved, oh, we do not know how many millions of years we have to become unconscious. We shall remain in the unconscious, sleeping stage. Then again there will be creation. Then again our body will be created, and . . . so these are very subtle laws. We should not miss. We should be very much serious about this life.

So the whole program is made: cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13). So by birth one is supposed to be the lowborn. Janmanā jāyate śūdraḥ. Śūdra means without any culture. The man who has no cultural life, he is called a śūdra. And those who are cultured, they are called dvija. Dvija means twice-born. So one has to take his birth twice. He should not be satisfied simply by taking birth by the father and mother.

One should be anxious to take his twice-born, to become twice-born, brāhmins. But that chance is . . . don't think that you cannot become a brāhmin. You can become a qualified brāhmin, provided you abide by the qualification of a qualified brāhmin. Just like to become a lawyer it is not, I mean to say, limited to a certain section or to a certain person. Anyone who takes the qualification of a lawyer, he becomes a lawyer.

Similarly, here Lord says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: "According to quality and karma, these cātur-varṇya, four classes or four castes or four classes of division of the human society, is created by Me." So brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ. If you want to know Brahman . . . because that is the prerogative of your life, human life. Vedānta-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā. Athāto brahma-jijñāsā; "Oh, here is the chance for inquiring about Brahman." Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Now we should take the chance to become a brāhmin. As soon as we begin to enquire about Brahman or the Supreme Brahman, Kṛṣṇa, then my process of becoming the brāhmin begins.

You know that the brāhmins, the kṣatriyas and the vaiśyas, they have got the sacred thread. You have seen. I have got the sacred thread. This is, of course, not very valuable. It is . . . (chuckles) it is made of cotton. But this is a badge. This badge is given to a person who is twice-born, who is twice-born. So anyone can become twice-born. There is no hindrance. You will find in the Bhagavad-gītā:

māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya

ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ

striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrās

te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim

(BG 9.32)

kiṁ punar brāhmaṇāḥ puṇyā

bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā

(BG 9.33)

kaunteya pratijānīhi

na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati

(BG 9.31)

So it is a chance we should not miss. You can become brāhmin. There is chance. We should not be satisfied that, "I am born in America, so I am great. I am born of a great nation." That's all right. You are born of a great nation, that's all right. But next cultural birth, to become a dvija, twice-born, is awaiting. The Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "Yes. I give chance to any . . . everyone to become dvija." Māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. Never mind wherever he is born.

Now the human society, everyone thinks that "He is low, I am big." Oh, everyone thinks. In his own consideration he thinks, "I am the biggest. I am the big; he is lower." That is everywhere. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is not considering who is bigger. So He says: "Even who is considering that 'I am lowborn.' " Because if everyone says that I am lowborn, it is propaganda that "You are lowborn. You are lowborn," so I think, "Yes, I am lowborn."

Daśa cakre bhagavān bhūta. Just like there was a clique. There was a brāhmin. His name was Bhagavān. So he had some enemies. So the enemies, ten enemies, they sat down in ten places, and wherever he was passing, "Oh, you have become ghost! You have become ghost!" "Oh, how I have become? I am living. How I have become ghost?" Next post he goes, he also says: "Oh, you have become ghost! You have become ghost!" In this way, when he passes ten posts, he thinks, "Oh, I might be, I have become ghost. Otherwise everyone says I have become ghost." So daśa cakre bhagavān bhūta.

So if everyone says I am lowborn, I am lowborn, so I also think I am lowborn. But I am not lowborn. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. I am brahmāsmi. I am spirit soul. I am born of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is my father. Take like that. Think like that. That is twice-born. That is twice-born. So Kṛṣṇa says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya: "Anyone who takes shelter of Me, never mind what he is . . . never mind he is. He may be lowborn, he may be a śūdra, he may be woman, he may be whatever he may be." Te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim: "He can also go to My kingdom."

So our duty is to become twice-born. Just by culture, by Kṛṣṇa consciousness, let us take another birth. Let us take another birth. Then you will be recognized brāhmin. Brahmā jānāti. As soon as you know Kṛṣṇa, you are brāhmin. Never mind whether you are born in America, Czechoslovakia or any other place. Doesn't matter. So try to become a brāhmin. Here is a chance.

But how to become a brāhmin? Simply by purchasing two-cent-worth this thread and getting on the body? No. There are qualities, karma. You have to act like a brāhmin, and you have to acquire the qualification of a brāhmin. Then you can become a brāhmin. There is no impediment. Never mind wherever you were born. That doesn't matter.

So here is . . . Bhagavad-gītā is giving a chance to everyone to become brāhmin or be qualified person who knows Brahman and who is preparing himself for the next birth in the spiritual kingdom. He is called brāhmin. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13).

Now, the Lord says, tasya kartāram api māṁ viddhy akartāram avyayam: "Although I have created this system, still, I am not there." "I am not there." Why? Because Kṛṣṇa is neither brāhmin nor śūdra nor kṣatriya or anything, anything of the material world. He is transcendental. When we go to Kṛṣṇa with spiritual body, we also become like Kṛṣṇa in transcendental body. That chance is given here. So just it is our duty, everyone.

Lord Caitanya, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He appeared as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, but He never said that, "I am Kṛṣṇa." But from Vedic references we understand that He is Kṛṣṇa. But the same mission. The Kṛṣṇa's mission and Lord Caitanya's mission is the same. How it is same? Kṛṣṇa, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He said that, "You surrender unto Me," and Lord Caitanya said, "You surrender unto Kṛṣṇa." The same thing. Lord Caitanya said . . . what is the philosophy of Lord Caitanya? Lord Caitanya says:

ārādhyo bhagavān vrajeśa-tanayas tad-dhāma vṛṇdāvanaṁ

ramya kaścid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-varga-vīrya kalpita

śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇaṁ premā pum-artho mahān

śrī-caitanya mahāprabhor matam idaṁ tatradaraḥ na paraḥ

(Caitanya-mañjusā)

The philosophy of Lord Caitanya is that Kṛṣṇa is the only object of worship. And as Kṛṣṇa is object of worship, similarly, His place, Vṛndāvana, Vṛndāvana-dhāma. Those who have visited India, Vṛndāvana-dhāma, still, if you go to Vṛndāvana without knowing about Kṛṣṇa, you will at once feel Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is such a nice place. So that Vṛndāvana-dhāma is also worshiping.

And ramya kaścid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-varga-vīrya kalpita. Now, Kṛṣṇa was worshiped by the damsels of Vrajadhāma. Lord Caitanya recommends, "That is the highest, topmost grade of worship, because that was pure love." The damsels of Vraja loved Kṛṣṇa so much, without any return. That's a sublime thing. So He recommended, "That is the highest form of worship."

Ramya kaścid upāsanā vraja-vadhu-varga-vīrya kalpita, śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇam: "As Śrīmad-Bhāgavata is the spotless Vedic literature." Because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness only. That's all. Just like this Bhagavad-gītā is full of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

The last word of the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā is that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66); "You give up everything. You just surrender unto Me," Kṛṣṇa says. One who accepts this philosophy—"I accept Kṛṣṇa as vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ" (BG 7.19)—then for him Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the postgraduate study.

And śrīmad-bhāgavatam amalaṁ purāṇaṁ prema pum-artho mahān. Now, we are searching. We are searching our self-interest. Everyone is busy of his own interest, but they do not know what is real interest. They do not know what is real interest. The real interest is to invoke the dormant love of Kṛṣṇa.

That is my real interest. That dormant love for Kṛṣṇa is there in every one of you. Don't think that because I am born in India, therefore I have got love of Kṛṣṇa within my heart dormant or manifested. No. That dormant love of Kṛṣṇa is within you also. Kṛṣṇa is neither foreign to you or foreign to me. He is for everyone. Therefore love of Kṛṣṇa is there permanently, but it is covered. Simply it has to be invoked.

And what is this process of invoking? This is the process. Just like we are discussing, you are chanting, and you are reading Bhagavad-gītā, we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This association will help us. This association will help us to invoke that dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if we at all want . . .

You will be interested in hearing a story. Not story; it is actual fact. One of my Godbrother who is no longer in this world—his name was Bhaktisāraṅga Goswami—he went to London. Just I have come to your New York, he went to London and he formed a society also there in which Lord Ronaldsay, the Marquis of Zetland . . . he was formerly governor of Bengal during British period, and in our childhood, when we were college student, in boyhood, I saw him. He is very interest in India philosophy. He's a Scotsman but very interested. Lord Ronaldsay. So that Lord Ronaldsay, he was very kind enough to become the president of that society my Godbrother organized in London.

So Lord Ronaldsay and that my Godbrother is talking. So Lord Ronaldsay asked him, "Well, Swāmījī, can you make me a brāhmin?" "Yes, why not? Yes, why not? You can become a brāhmin." "So what are the conditions?" My Godbrother said: "The preliminary four conditions." "What are these conditions?" "Now, striya-sūnā-pāna-dyūta yatra pāpaś catur-vidhāḥ (SB 1.17.38). You cannot have any illicit connection with woman, you cannot have any intoxication habit, you cannot indulge in gambling or unnecessary sporting, and you cannot live on animal food." Lord Ronaldsay replied, "It is impossible. It is impossible." (laughs)

So these things, these four principles, preliminary, if we actually want to be a brāhmin, then we have to take care of these four principles of life just to become a brāhmin. Yes. Then everyone can become a brāhmin. There is no bar. And whoever becomes a brāhmin, he knows what is Brahman. And Kṛṣṇa is Parambrahman. Parambrahman. You'll find in the Tenth Chapter, He is addressed by Arjuna, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān (BG 10.12); "By studying Bhagavad-gītā I now understand that Kṛṣṇa, You are Parambrahman." Paraṁ dhāma: "You are the shelter of everyone." So He is Parambrahman.

So anyone who becomes a brāhmin, he first of all knows what is Brahman—brahma-jijñāsā—the Supreme, the Absolute Truth. And the Absolute . . . one who knows Absolute Truth and enters into further, postgraduate study, he understands Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as he understands Kṛṣṇa, then his next life in the spiritual world is guaranteed.

So this is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the simple process introduced by Lord Kṛṣṇa . . . er, Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya also supported this philosophy of Kṛṣṇa, that anyone is eligible for going back to the kingdom of Kṛṣṇa. This simple process. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. We have discussed that simply by knowing the transcendental nature of Kṛṣṇa, we become eligible for entering into His kingdom. Simply by knowing. So try to know. Try to study what is Kṛṣṇa. And do you know what is the recommendation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He said that:

kibā śūdra kibā vipra nyāsī kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā sei guru haya

(CC Madhya 8.128)

That means, "It doesn't matter whether he is a householder or a svāmī, renounced order, or a brāhmin or a śūdra or a lowborn, whatever he is. That doesn't matter. If he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa, he is a bona fide spiritual master. If he simply knows the science of Kṛṣṇa." This is cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma (BG 4.13). It is the quality.

Just like if I go to a medical man or a lawyer, we go there for his qualification. We don't ask him, "Well, sir, are you Christian? Are you Jew or Indian or American or a brāhmin?" No. We are concerned with the qualification. It doesn't matter what he is. He may be an American, he may be an Indian, he may be Christian, he may be Jew, he may be Hindu or Muhammadan. Doesn't matter. He's a practiced medical practitioner, so he's a qualified man. I have gone there for my treatment.

Similarly, Lord Caitanya also says the same thing, and Kṛṣṇa also says the same thing. Never it is He is stressing on birth. Birth is no consideration. Nobody is responsible for his birth. He may be lowborn, but what is that? Or he may be highborn. That doesn't matter. But when he comes out from the womb of the mother, he has got his own responsibility. He has to advance his cultural life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is his responsibility. That is his responsibility. Of course, father, mother, state, teacher, friend, they can help us, but ultimately, the responsibility lies with me.

If I want to enter into the kingdom of God, or Kṛṣṇa, if we want to be Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there is no impediment. There is no impediment. Ahaituky apratihatā (SB 1.2.6). In the Bhāgavata says that if one wants to cultivate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it is without any cause and without any impediment. Because it is transcendental subject matter. It does not depend on any material condition. On any material condition. There is no consideration of material impediment. So it is open for everyone. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam (BG 4.13).

That is a chance given, that you can become a brāhmin, you can become a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and you can become the spiritual master of the world. That is the . . . and I think you should take seriously. I am old man. If you, some of you at least, understand this science and take up this science, you become future hope of the . . . this country or the world. That is my request to you, that you should take this chance and become a spiritual master for all the people.

Thank you very much. Now let us have some question if you want. (end)