740811 - Lecture SB 01.05.30 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740811SB-VRNDAVAN - August 11, 1974 - 32:57 Minutes

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse, etc.) (devotees repeat)

jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat

sākṣād bhagavatoditam

anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ

kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ

(SB 1.5.30)

(break)

Translation: "As they were leaving, those bhakti-vedāntas, who are very kind to poor-hearted souls, instructed me in that most confidential subject which is instructed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself."

Prabhupāda:

jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat

sākṣād bhagavatoditam

anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ

kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ

So yesterday we have been discussing the symptoms of guru and the symptoms of disciple—who is actual disciple and who is actual guru. It is stated by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura:

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair

uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ

kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya

vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

So guru's position is very exalted. Exal . . . why exalted? Because he is the confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. One . . . suppose you want to do some business and . . . with some firm, and a representative comes to transact business—naturally, one tries to satisfy that representative so that the business can be done very fairly. This is natural psychology. Similarly, kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. Guru is very dear to Kṛṣṇa because his business is to serve Kṛṣṇa. His business is to execute the will of Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore here it is said, yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam. (aside) Don't disturb in this way. Sākṣād bhagavatoditam. Sākṣāt means directly, what was spoken directly by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. And that is jñānam, that is real knowledge. Jñānaṁ guhyatamam. Guhyatamam: most confidential. Guhya, guhyatara and guhyatamam. What is that verse in the Eighteenth Chapter? Guhyād guhyatamaṁ pravakṣyāmi . . . that . . . the conclusion is that the most confidential knowledge is that which is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. And what it is said in the Bhagavad-gītā? Guhyād guhyatamam. (aside) Find out this verse. Could not? Before sarva-dharmān . . . yes.

Nitāi:

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ

guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā

vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa

yathecchasi tathā kuru

(BG 18.63)

Prabhupāda: Hmm. Read the . . .

Nitāi: "Thus I have explained to you the most confidential of all knowledge. Deliberate on this fully, and do what you wish to do."

Prabhupāda: So Kṛṣṇa personally giving the most confidential knowledge. And here it is also mentioned that the saintly persons, the mahātmā, they simply spoke what was spoken by Kṛṣṇa Himself directly. That's all. Here it is stated, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ, guhyatamam yat tat sākṣād bhagavato . . . this is very important statement. Jñānaṁ guhyatamam, the most confidential part of knowledge, is that which is given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. Anyone who is interested in spiritual knowledge, they will benefit simply by accepting what Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā. This is jñānam. That is also stated by Kṛṣṇa. Etaj jñānam. Etad anyathā yad ajñānam. Anything beyond this knowledge, what is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, that is ajñāna, ignorance. That is not jñāna.

Unfortunately, it has become a fashion now to interpret Bhagavad-gītā in their own foolish way and mislead the public. This I have repeatedly spoken in many places, that in the Western countries so many svāmīs and yogīs, they went there. For the last, at least, one hundred years. One hundred years, from India many svāmīs and yogīs had been . . . still they are going. But they could not turn even a single person to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not a single person. Throughout the whole history of these hundred years of svāmīs going to the Western country, but could not turn even a single soul to understand Kṛṣṇa. This is a fact. It is not that I am very proud. No. The truth must be spoken. Why they could not do so? The defect was that they did not say what Kṛṣṇa said directly. They said their own words. They manufactured their own philosophy.

Here the, I mean to . . . saintly persons, the mahātmās, gamiṣyantaḥ, when they were going, they confidentially said what was spoken by Kṛṣṇa directly. This is the secret of success. Try to understand. Anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ. Guru, or mahātmā, they are very merciful. Merciful in this way—that they know how a person can be elevated to the topmost platform of knowledge, and they can give it. And this is not very difficult. It is said here that yat tat sākṣād bhagavatoditam. This is mercifulness.

A guru's business is to deliver the same message as Kṛṣṇa says. Then he's dīna-vatsala. Otherwise, if he says something else, he's a cheater; he's not guru. He must be, to the suffering humanity, being kind upon them, dīna-vatsala. Dīna means very poor, poor in knowledge. At the present moment, the—not only at the present moment; always—those who are in the material world, they are very, very poor. Very, very poor. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Because their mind is very crippled. They are thinking that this duration of life—say, fifty years or twenty years or utmost seventy or a hundred years—this is everything. That's all. Therefore they are very poor. Their expansion of knowledge is very, very meager. And it is the business of the saintly person to be kind upon them that, "This is not the life. You are thinking, making adjustment to live for fifty years or hundred years very comfortably, or even next life . . ." Karmīs, they also take consideration of the next life, to be promoted in the heavenly planet or other higher planetary system. But still, they are poor. Poor. Because they are lacking in the knowledge of eternal life, full of knowledge and blissfulness. That they do not know. Sac-cid-ānanda life.

So it is the business of the mahātmā to enlighten them to the real platform of life. Kṛṣṇa says personally:

mām upetya punar janma

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ

saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ

(BG 8.15)

This is real life, to go back to home, back to Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Mām upetya. If you go back to home, back to Godhead, that is saṁsiddhiṁ paramām. That is the highest perfection of life. But generally . . . generally, almost . . . why generally? Almost everyone. Ninety-nine point nine percent people, they want to become happy within this material world. Therefore they are poor, very, very poor. And the mahātmās, they give the knowledge that "This is not life. This is a temporary platform." Aśāśvatam. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. This is confidential knowledge. You are trying to be happy . . . suppose Brahmā. He lives for many millions of years. Still, it is duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam. That life is also temporary. What is millions of years' duration of life in comparison to the eternal life? So beginning from Brahmā down to the small ant, whoever is within this material world, it is to be understood their understanding is very poor. And the mahātmā, being kind upon these poor souls, they deliver the same knowledge as Kṛṣṇa gives. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam . . . (BG 18.66). This is guru's business. Do not manufacture anything. There is no question of . . . there is no need of manufacturing anything. Simply you speak to the suffering humanity the same thing which Kṛṣṇa says. Sākṣād bhagavatā uditam. This is the business of guru. It is clearly said.

Nārada, he'll explain further in the next verses, how he became advanced. This verse is very important, that jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat. Actually, perfect knowledge you can get from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and in paramparā system you get that knowledge. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). Paramparā means they do not change the word of Kṛṣṇa. That is paramparā. Kṛṣṇa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru (BG 18.65), and the paramparā system says the same thing. No change. They never say that, "I have now become Kṛṣṇa, and you surrender unto me, think of me." There are many so-called incarnations who are preaching like that, "You think of me." Same, repeating the same word in his own favor, not in Kṛṣṇa's favor. That is not mahātmā; that is durātmā. Mahātmā means who always speaks in Kṛṣṇa's favor. That is mahātmā. This is the purport of this verse. Jñānaṁ guhyatamaṁ yat tat sākṣād bhagava . . . Bhagavān says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja.

So our business should be to repeat the same thing that, "You give up all nonsense engagement. Simply surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Simply you think of Kṛṣṇa. Simply become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Simply offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. That will make your life successful." This is mahātmā's business. Sākṣād . . . not indirectly. Directly. Directly . . . here Kṛṣṇa says, guhyād guhyatamam. (aside) Read that verse again.

Nitāi:

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ

guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā

vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa

yathecchasi tathā kuru

(BG 18.63)

Prabhupāda: Yathecchasi tathā . . . the word is used there, yathecchasi tathā kuru. We have got the little independence. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. But why people are not doing that? Because they have got little independence. Every living entity is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got the quality of full independence. Naturally, the part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, it has also independence. But that is not absolute independence. Just like independent country, America, independent country. We are also now independent country. But the citizens, they have independence dependent on the state independence. Not absolute independence. Similarly, we have got independence. We living entities, we have got independence—but dependent on the independence of Kṛṣṇa. Not absolute independence. So . . . therefore we become entangled in our own karma. Kṛṣṇa does not give anyone a position or karma. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, that He does not give anyone a better position or anyone a inferior position. Everyone creates his own position. Kṛṣṇa simply orders that "This is your position. Now you enjoy or suffer." We create our own position.

Therefore the most confidential part of knowledge is . . . Kṛṣṇa says that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That is the guhyatamam, jñānaṁ guhyatamam. The same thing, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is the preliminary study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One who has understood Bhagavad-gītā properly, he can understand what is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Where Bhagavad-gītā ends . . . Bhagavad-gītā, teachings of Bhagavad-gītā ends at the point when Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, to surrender. And the Bhāgavata begins from that point. Janmādy asya yataḥ . . . (SB 1.1.1), satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi. Surrender. Otherwise, in next paragraph of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2): "Except surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, there cannot be any religious system." The real religious system . . . therefore Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. That is religion, to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, as it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). All cheating type of religious system is kicked out from Bhagavad . . . Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kicked out, projjhita. To merge into the Supreme, to become God, to become incarnation of God—these kind of religious system is very rigidly kicked out from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because they are not religion. Real religion is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

Therefore it is said, yat tat sākṣād bhagavatā uditam. If you want to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then you must abide by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But they have no idea who is Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is His order, what is our relationship with Him. These things are unknown. It is simply known to the, I mean to say, devotees. Why it is monopolized by the devotees? That is also answered in the Bhagavad-gītā: bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). If you want to know what is God, what is Kṛṣṇa, then you have to go through this bhakti-mārga, or devotional . . . there is no other way. Kṛṣṇa never says that He can be known through speculation or cultivation of so-called speculative knowledge. No. Then He would have said: "Through jñāna one can understand Me." No. Neither karma one can understand. Neither yoga. This is explained in many, various places of the śāstra. Only bhakti. Only bhakti. And it is the duty of the spiritual master, or mahātmā, to spread bhakti cult. That is the most confidential . . . that is the most merciful humanitarian activity. Because people are suffering for want of this knowledge.

Therefore our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only movement—I can declare very proudly—which can actually do some benefit to the human society. It is the only movement. All other—bogus movements, I declare. Let them come and study the śāstras and decide for themselves. They're all cheating. Only this bhagavad-bhakti. Because you cannot understand Bhagavān without undergoing the process of devotional service. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). If you want to know in truth, tattvataḥ . . . Kṛṣṇa wants that one should understand Him tattvataḥ. Not that superficially to take Kṛṣṇa that, "He was very fond of the gopīs, and let us hear the līlā of Kṛṣṇa." Why Kṛṣṇa's gopīs' līlā? Why not Kṛṣṇa's līlā killing the demons? That, the people are not interested to hear about Kṛṣṇa's killing the demons. Because the gopīs' līlā, it appears to be the transaction between young woman and man, it very quickly appeals. But Kṛṣṇa's other business is there. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). That is also Kṛṣṇa's līlā. That is Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Just like Lord Rāmacandra is killing the Rāvaṇa. That is also Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Lord Rāmacandra's līlā and Kṛṣṇa's līlā, there is . . .

So we should take any līlā of Kṛṣṇa as Supreme. Not that simply the most confidential. The vṛndāvana-līlā, Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs, is the most confidential līlā. We should not entertain this confidential līlā unless we are liberated. It is very difficult subject. And because they cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa's līlā, they imitate, they fall down. There are so many things. We do not wish to discuss. But we should be . . . if we are actually serious about advancing in kṛṣṇa-līlā, then we must know first of all what is Kṛṣṇa, what He desires, and how we shall act. Then we can enter into the confidential part of Kṛṣṇa's līlā. Otherwise we shall misunderstand and fall down.

So the . . . here it is said that sākṣād bhagavatoditam . . . uditam. That . . . what is Bhāgavata, Bhāgavata? Kṛṣṇa never says that, "First of all you hear My līlā with the gopīs." He never says that. He first of all says that, "You surrender unto Me." First of all learn how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. First of all learn how to love Kṛṣṇa. Then you can taste what is Kṛṣṇa's līlā with the gopīs. It is just like mukhāravinda. Just like . . . Kṛṣṇa's līlā in the Daśama-skandha with the gopīs is compared with the Kṛṣṇa's face, smiling face. But we have to worship Kṛṣṇa beginning with the feet. Not immediately we shall look to the face of Kṛṣṇa. We shall misunderstand. First of all try to be Kṛṣṇa's devotee by offering your worshipable things at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. The First Canto or Second Canto of Bhagavad-gītā are the two lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. So from the very beginning we should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Gradually, we shall come to the face. That is real understanding of Kṛṣṇa. And without understanding of the other nine cantos of Bhagavad-gītā, er, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if we simply jump over the Tenth Canto, and especially to the Thirty-fifth Chapter, the five chapters, Rāsa-pañcādhyāya, this is not very favorable. Of course, it is favorable. Kṛṣṇa's līlā, you hear any way, this way or that way . . . but if we misunderstand Kṛṣṇa, then there is falldown. That is instructed by Śrī . . . Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, that don't try to understand Kṛṣṇa's līlā all of a sudden without understanding Kṛṣṇa tattvataḥ.

So regulative principle—to serve, as it is stated in the śāstras or as it is enjoined by the spiritual master.

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā

tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt tato niṣṭhā tato rucis

athāsaktis tato bhāvas . . .

sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ

(CC Madhya 23.14-15)

Krama. So dīna-vatsalāḥ. The mahātmās who instructed Nārada Muni that, "Here is the confidential knowledge, please fully surrender unto the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa." So Nārada Muni admits here, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ. Gamiṣyantaḥ means the mahātmās were going. He served for four months. So they became very happy; they became very pleased. This is the business: how to make the mahātmā pleased. Yasya . . . yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. If you try to please mahātmā, the spiritual master, then bhagavat-prasādaḥ will automatically come. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ.

So here it is said, anvavocan gamiṣyantaḥ kṛpayā. Kṛpayā dīna-vatsalāḥ. Actually, Vaiṣṇava is dīna-vatsala. They are very unhappy. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was unhappy seeing the people, degenerated people, suffering in this material world. Prahlāda Mahārāja said to Nṛsiṁha-deva, "My dear Sir, I have no problem. I am happy anywhere by chanting Your holy . . . by glorifying Your activities. But I am simply morose seeing the fallen-down condition . . ." Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). "I am simply thinking of these rascals, whose . . . who, for flickering happiness, engage themselves in so many material activities, forgetting Your relationship."

So dīna-vatsalāḥ, the sādhus, they should be very much compassionate to the suffering humanity and give them the message which is spoken directly by Kṛṣṇa, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam . . . (BG 18.66). This is the mission of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)