680913 - Lecture BS 5.29-30 - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

680913BS-SAN FRANCISCO - September 13, 1968 - 30:30 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (singing)

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.29)

govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

Chant! (singing)

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: This prayer for Govinda is from Brahma-saṁhitā. It is very old literature, and nobody can say when it was spoken, but it is understood that these verses were written by Brahmā, and when Lord Caitanya was traveling in South India He picked up this book from a temple, hand-written, and He delivered to His devotees. So it is very authorized book. In this book the description of Kṛṣṇa is very vivid, vividly given. There His place, His activities, His form, everything is there nicely given.

So, this, this verse, it is . . . it is not first verse. This is the 34th verse of the Fifth Chapter. Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam (Bs. 5.29).

That, that place, cintāmaṇi . . . cintāmaṇi, a stone. In the transcendental world the . . . as we have got experience here the houses are made of bricks, there the houses are made of cintāmaṇi stone. The cintāmaṇi stone is . . . of course there is no exact translation, but it is understood it is something like touchstone. Touchstone means the stone which, if it touches a iron, it transforms into gold.

So, the abode of Kṛṣṇa is described that there are houses, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu. Prakara means house. And cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa, and that the trees are desire trees. What is that desire tree? Just like here in . . . in this material world, a tree is meant for delivering a particular fruit or flower, but desire tree means whatever you desire you get immediately delivered from the tree. That is called cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu, kalpa-vṛkṣa. Kalpa means whatever you like, whatever you will.

Cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu. Such trees are not one. Just like here in your country, as soon as you go outside the city there are hundreds and thousands of trees, there is neither fruit nor flower, but they are meant for fuel or some other purposes, but there, there are many millions of trees which are all desire trees. Whatever you want, it is present there. The tree will supply immediately. Prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-lakṣāvṛteṣu.

And surabhīr abhipālayantam. Kṛṣṇa is engaged in . . . as a cowherds boy. He is herding cows. What sort of cows? Surabhiḥ. Surabhiḥ means that cow supplies you milk as much as you like, and as many times you can, you like, you can draw milk from that cow. Immense supply of milk, surabhīr abhipālayantam. Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānam, and the Lord is worshiped by many hundreds, thousands of goddess of fortune.

The gopīs, here you see the picture. That is a little sample only. But in the transcendental kingdom the Lord is always served with all great respect and obeisances and devotion, many thousands of goddess of fortune. That goddess of fortune means they are most beautiful, and everything is complete, that such a place and such abode and such activities are described about Kṛṣṇa.

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānaṁ

govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.29)

And that Personality of Godhead, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, is the original person. As in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, "Who is Brahman? What is Brahman? What is the Absolute Truth?"

(break)

Devotees: (singing) . . . tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: So, the description is that Govinda is very fond of playing on flute, venum. Venum means flute. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ. His eyes are just like lotus petals. Very beautiful eyes. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ barhāvataṁsam. And He likes peacock feather, peacock feather on the head. So you will find Kṛṣṇa always with peacock feather. He wears a very valuable helmet, helmet on His head, but you will find one peacock feather.

Barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam, and His complexion of the body is blackish, just like new clouds. He is not that complexion light; He is blackish, Kṛṣṇa, and . . . but He is so beautiful, all-attractive. Here, of course, in this material world, blackish we do not like; we want fair complexion. But Kṛṣṇa, the original person, He is blackish, but not blackish like this.

Kandarpa-koti-kamaniya-visesa-sobham. His beauty is surpassing many millions of Cupids. You have heard the name of Cupid. He is a very enchanting person, loving person. But here it is descibed, kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ.

If you assemble millions of Cupids in one place, still it cannot be compared with the beauty of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful. Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ. Veṇuṁ kvaṇantam, always playing on flute. (singing)

veṇuṁ kvaṇantam aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ

barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam

kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ

govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.30)

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: So just imagine the position of the Kṛṣṇa conscious person. Everyone is worshiping somebody. Somebody is worshiping his wife, somebody is worship . . . worshiping his husband, somebody is worshiping the leader of the country, somebody is worshiping something, something, something.

And if anyone has nothing, then somebody is worshiping a dog, a cat. But we are worshiping the original person, Kṛṣṇa. Just see our position. Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. We are not flattering ordinary things. We have captured the original. Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. And why not? He is so . . .

Devotees: Jaya, haribol!

Prabhupāda: He is so beautiful. (laughter) Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ. And calling us, by playing on His flute, nice flute. When He was playing His flute, all the gopīs, they would give up all their family duties, everything, and go off to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Their fathers, their brothers, their husbands, who will call them, "Where you are going? It is dead of night!" "No, we are going to Kṛṣṇa."

Devotees: (laughter) Jaya, haribol!

Prabhupāda: So, Kṛṣṇa is so nice. Just to attract us, that you want love, here, at Vṛndāvana, He appears at Vṛndāvana, in Vṛndāvana, and shows His līlā, His activities, just to attract us. How lovable object! You are trying to find out something lovable. You are being frustrated. Here is something complete, if you love, you will become complete.

And this Govinda can be achieved simply by love. You don't require any other qualification. He is so great, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is the proprietor of everything, but what does He want from you? In the Bhagavad-gītā He says, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26).

We can worship Kṛṣṇa with a little flower, with a little fruit, a little water, that's all. How universal it is! A little flower, a little fruit, a little water can be collected by any poor man. You don't require to earn many thousands of dollars to worship Kṛṣṇa. Why Kṛṣṇa will ask you, you contribute dollars or millions of rupees? No. He is full in Himself. He has got everything, complete.

So He is not beggar. But He is beggar. In what sense? He is begging your love. Therefore He says that patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati (BG 9.26).

He is not beggar from you a little flower, a little fruit, but Kṛṣṇa said, "If something should be given to Me . . . please try to give Me something, because that is the token of love. You are taking so many things from Me. I am supplying you light, I am supplying air, I am supplying you water, I am supplying you life, food, everything. You cannot reciprocate something for Me? I am asking you simply a little water, little flower, a little leaf."

So what does He want? He wants yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. He wants simply bhakti, or love, pure love. Yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ (BG 9.26). And because a devotee is lover of Kṛṣṇa, brings these things in love and devotion, therefore Kṛṣṇa says, aham aśnāmi: "I get that and eat that."

Devotees: Jaya, haribol!

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa worship is not very costly affair. Simply you have to decide that "I shall love only Kṛṣṇa." And if you love only Kṛṣṇa, then you will actually love everything. If you love . . . because you are loving the root. Just like if you supply foodstuff to your stomach, then you supply foodstuff all the parts of your body. This is the method. The Bhāgavata describes this method.

yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena

tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ

prāṇopahārāc ca yathendriyāṇāṁ

tatha (iva) sarvārhaṇam acyutejyā

(SB 4.31.14)

Just like, taror mūla-niṣecanena, if you supply water on the root of the tree, the water is immediately transferred to the branches, to the leaves, to the flowers, to the fruits—everywhere. Everyone knows it. It is scientific. But if you supply water to one leaf, or thousand leaves, it does not mean that other leaves are also getting the benefit.

So at the present moment, people are captivated for human welfare activities. Oh, what human welfare activities they will do? It is not in your power. You can do something, but very limited. There are living entities, they are not only human beings. There are 8,400,000's of living entities, and the human living entities, they are only minute portion. They are only 400,000's these, only. Other living entities, they are eight million.

That is not very difficult to understand. If you take a census of the living entities in the city of San Francisco, then the census of the human being residing in this city, they will be very, a small number in comparison to the birds, beasts, aquatics, ants and so many other living entities, so many other living entities. So suppose a portion of human living entity you serve, then what is the value of service? What is the value of that service?

Therefore, the Bhāgavata says, just like watering the root of the tree you can serve all the leaves, flowers, branches and everything of the tree, just by supplying foodstuff to your stomach you can serve all the limbs of your body, similarly, simply by loving Kṛṣṇa you can learn how to love everyone. If you don't love Kṛṣṇa, and if you love the whole universe, it is still imperfect. Imperfect. And, because we are not loving Kṛṣṇa, therefore we are sectarian.

Just like, take for example your country, or any country, it doesn't matter. I am giving example. I am not attacking anybody; I am giving example. You love your countrymen. That's very nice, but why don't you love the cows of your country? As it . . . it is also living entity. They are also born in this country. Have they not right to live?

Oh, you know in argument, in logic, you will accept, "Yes." But because we do not love Kṛṣṇa, therefore there is partiality, that one section of the living entities should be loved, and the another section of the living entities should be sent to the slaughterhouse. Why this defect?

This defect is due to your lack of loving affairs with Kṛṣṇa. And as soon as you try to love Kṛṣṇa, then you will see, "Oh, the cows are my brothers. Oh, the black people are my brothers, the white people are my brothers, the ants are my brothers, the dogs are my brothers, the trees are my brother, everyone my brother." That is universal brotherhood.

If you simply talk of universal brotherhood and you do not love Kṛṣṇa, hah, then it is useless. (laughter) It is useless. Therefore, actually it is happening. They are proclaiming peace and prosperity, and they are fighting in the United Nations. But where is the peace? Then where is the prosperity? Because lacking love of Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very urgent necessity for the human society. They should learn how to love Kṛṣṇa. Then everything will be adjusted, very easily. It is not utopian theory; it is practical. There are many instances, and those who are following, the students in, in our Society, ask them how they love others, how they love everyone, because they are . . . they are trying to love Kṛṣṇa. So govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. Therefore our process is, try to love the original person. And as soon as you become an expert lover . . .

You will find in . . . in our Back to Godhead there is a picture that a hunter, after being initiated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he is loving even the ants. Those who have seen our Kṛṣṇa pictures. Have you got Back to Godhead here? You can show picture? The story is, the hunter, a hunter was killing in the forest many animals, because hunter's business is to kill. So . . . I am speaking very shortly.

The story and the picture you will find in Back to Godhead recently published. And Nārada, because he is Vaiṣṇava, he is lover of Kṛṣṇa, when he was passing on the path in the forest, he saw that many half-dead animals are in torture, flapping. So he was very kind. "Oh, who has done this mischief, these poor animals?" So he searched out the hunter, and he went there.

The hunter asked me, "Oh, why you are disturbing my business?" So Nārada said: "My dear hunter, I have come to beg something from you." So hunter thought that, "This mendicant is a beggar, so he might have come to me to beg some skins, or deerskin or tiger skin."

So he said: "All right, please, let me do my business. I shall give you skins, whatever you like." Nārada said: "No, no. I don't want anything from you. I have come to request you something." "What is that?" "How, if you are killing animals, why don't you kill them all at once? Why you are killing them half, and giving them so much torture?" "Oh," he said that, "I have been educated in that way. I have been trained in that way killing of animals by my father. I take pleasure in it."

So Nārada said: "So my request to you is that if you want to kill animals, please kill them immediately. Don't kill half. This is very great sinful."

Then he inquired, "What is the sin?" He said that "You are killing so many animals, so you are accumulating sins." Then he explained everything, so he became little softened, and he inquired that, "How to get out of these sinful activities?" That Nārada said that, "If you follow my instruction, then you can get free from these sinful activities." "Now, what I will have to do?"

He said that, "First of all break your bow, then I shall tell you." "Oh, if I break my bow, then my business instrument is gone." "No, don't be afraid." "Then how shall I eat?" "Oh, I shall send you food." So then he agreed: "If you solve my food problem, then I will follow you." So Nārada said, "Yes, I shall send you all kinds of food. You give up this business and come with me."

So the hunter and his wife went with Nārada, and Nārada fixed them a place on the bank of the Ganges at Prayāga, and he said that, "You sit down here and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. I shall send you all food that you require." "All right, sir. Don't forget (laughter), because I have given up my business." (laughter)

So next day it was advertised in the village that the hunter has become a Vaiṣṇava, a bare-headed boy (laughter), Vaiṣṇava. (laughter) So in the . . . in India it is the system that if anyone goes to a temple or to a saintly person, the ladies especially, and they take some grains in hand, at least one palmful, and contributes. So, ten, twenty, fifty people are coming, and it becomes sufficient for the temple-keepers.

That is the system in India still. Still there are many hundreds and thousands of temples in India, and India is advertised as poverty-stricken, but all these temples are being maintain . . . maintained by the people from the morsel of their food, still. They contribute. If a sannyāsī goes to the house of a householder, he will never be refused. At least he should be given a little rice, little flour. That is the system.

So, so many people are coming to see them, how they have become Vaiṣṇava, saintly person, and contributing, somebody flour, somebody ḍāl, somebody rice, somebody fruit. "Oh," they thought. "Oh, why Nārada is sending so much? We are only two persons, husband and wife, and he is sending more than twenty person foodstuffs daily." So he was convinced that "If I chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, I will not starve. Nārada will send everything. That's all." So gradually by chanting they became very highly advanced spiritually.

So one day Nārada said to his friend Parvata, "My dear Parvata, I have got a disciple in Prayāga. He was hunter, and I have initiated him to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Let us go and see how he is doing." So, two friends are coming there, and it is the system that the disciple, by seeing the spiritual master, should immediately offer obeisances and receive him very nicely.

So when he was going to receive from distant place Nārada, he saw some ants were on the feet, and he was trying to remove them so that they may not die,

(break) . . . pressure of his foot . . . (break)

Prabhupāda: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Devotees: Govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Devotees: Jaya. (end)