741102 - Lecture SB 03.25.02 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

741102SB-BOMBAY - November 02, 1974 - 27:41 Minutes

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat) (leads chanting of verse, etc.)

na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ puṁsāṁ

varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām

viśrutau śruta-devasya

bhūri tṛpyanti me 'savaḥ

(SB 3.25.2)

(break)

"Śaunaka continued: There is no one who knows more than the Supreme Lord Himself. No one is more worshipable or more mature a yogī than He. He is therefore the master of the Vedas, and to hear about Him always is the actual pleasure of the senses."

Prabhupāda:

na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ puṁsāṁ

varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām

viśrutau śruta-devasya

bhūri tṛpyanti me 'savaḥ

(SB 3.25.2)

So we have been discussing about the incarnation of Kapiladeva, Devahūti-putra Kapiladeva, the propounder of Sāṅkhya-yoga. So in the previous verse He has been explained as bhagavān ātma-māyayā. Bhagavān . . . bhaga means opulence, and vān means "One who possesses." Bhagavat-śabda. In Sanskrit, when the meaning is "one possesses," then these pratyayas are used, vat-pratyaya, mat-pratyaya. So the real word is bhagavat-śabda, and the first word is bhagavān. So bhaga means opulence. So all the opulences are there in Bhagavān. It is said in the Vedas:

nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām

eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān

(Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13)

What is that Bhagavān's opulences? This is: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Bhagavān, singular number, and nityo nityānām, and nityānām, plural number.

So these jīvas, we, we are plural number. Jīva-bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa anantyāya kalpate (CC Madhya 19.140). How many jīvas are there, there is no limit. Nobody can count. Ananta. Ananta means you cannot get the limit that, "So many millions or so many thousands." No. You cannot count. So all these jīvas, we, living entities, we are being maintained by that one. This is the Vedic information. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. Just like we maintain our family. One man is earning, and he is maintaining his family, wife, children, servants, dependents, workers, so many. Similarly, that one, Bhagavān, is maintaining all the living entities. You do not know how many there are. In Africa there are millions of elephants. They are also eating forty kg. at one time. So that, they are also being maintained. And the small ant, that is also being maintained. There are 8,400,000 forms of different bodies. Who is maintaining them? Maintaining, Bhagavān, that ekaḥ. Eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān. That is a fact. So why He'll not maintain us? Especially those who are devotees, who have taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, leaving aside everything simply for His service.

Just like in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have got more than one hundred centers, and one center . . . we were just reading from the statement of NavBharat Times how they are well managed. But we have no business. We have no source of income. That is the only source of income—Kṛṣṇa's shelter. Samāśritā ye pada-pallava-plavam (SB 10.14.58). Therefore śāstra says that, "You take shelter of Kṛṣṇa." Kṛṣṇa comes also to say the same truth: sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). He never said that, "You do this and do that, then I shall give you for your maintenance." No. Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: "Not only I shall give maintenance, but I shall protect you from the resultant action of sinful life." So much assurance is there. So śāstra also says, tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovidaḥ. Kovida means intelligent, very intelligent person. So what should he try for? Tasyaiva hetoḥ: to get shelter at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Human life should only endeavor how to get in touch of the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. That should be the only one business.

Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ.

(aside) Let them sit down.

Upary adhaḥ. Upari adhaḥ. Upari means higher planetary system. There are seven planetary system. This is in the middle. We are in the Bhūrloka. Those who are chanting gāyatrī-mantra, oṁ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi . . . so there are fourteen planetary system within one universe. So we living entities, we are wandering in different types of forms of body and in different planets. That we are . . . according to our karma, sometimes down, sometimes up, in this way we are wandering. Therefore śāstra says: "Just like you are wandering in this way, your business is how to become materially happy, how to satisfy your senses. But don't do that. Don't do that." Then? What shall I do? Tasyaiva hetoḥ. "How to understand Kṛṣṇa—for that purpose you should endeavor." Then how shall I eat? "No, that eating and sleeping, the business of the body, that is already arranged. That is already arranged. You don't have to work for it."

Kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā, tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham (SB 1.5.18). Our endeavor is to achieve happiness. That is our struggle for existence. Śāstra says, tal labhyate duḥkhavat. Duḥkhavat means . . . just like we don't want anything unhappy or miserable condition of life, but you get it. You don't endeavor for it. Nobody says: "Let there be fire in my house. Let my child die." Nobody aspires these things. Everyone thinks that, "My child may live. There may not be any danger. I'll get so much money." Nobody thinks of the opposite. But the opposite number comes. The catastrophes come. You don't pray for it. You don't go to the temple for praying, "My Lord, let there be fire in my house." Nobody goes. He goes for something better. So śāstra says that, "Which you do not pray for, still, it comes, duḥkhavat, without your invitation . . . similarly, whatever happiness you'll have to enjoy, that will also come." Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukham. Therefore the conclusion is that, "Don't try for your so-called happiness or so-called distress. Try to achieve that position where you can understand Kṛṣṇa and get shelter at His lotus feet." This is human endeavor. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ (SB 1.5.18). Upary adhaḥ. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says to Rūpa Gosvāmī:

ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

(CC Madhya 19.151)

We are wandering in this way, up and down, brahmāṇḍa bhramite. Brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva. If one is fortunate, he can get the information of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. He gets this information. So this assembly, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is an attempt to make people fortunate—from the unfortunate position, to become fortunate. Everyone is unfortunate, at least in this age. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ (SB 1.1.10). Now see everyone. Everywhere, there is simply problem. There is simply problem. One problem in one country, another problem in another country. There is strife, there is government . . . there is . . . even the president, and he is also, has to meet so many problems. At the end he has to be dragged down. Now he's going to die in the hospital. What to speak of others? The problem, only problem. Therefore everyone is unfortunate. This is the conclusion. You may think that, "I am very fortunate." President Nixon was thinking, "I am very fortunate. I have become the President of United States." But now he's realizing, "I am the most unfortunate."

So this is for everyone. Don't think that "Only the culprit is President Nixon, and we are . . . I am very safe." There is a Bengali proverb: ghuṭe pore gobar hase. Gobar means cow dung, and ghuṭe means . . . what is called in English? The dry cow dung. So dried-up cow dung is used for fuel. So when the dry cow dung is being burned into the oven, the soft cow dung is laughing, "Oh, you are being burned. I am in safe side." (laughter) He does not know that when he'll be dry, he'll be put into the fire also. So we are laughing that, "President Nixon is in trouble. I am very safe. I have got so much bank balance." No, nobody's safe. They . . . as like the same, cow dung soft. When it will be dried up, it will be put into the fire.

And that dryness will come to everyone. That is a fact. What is that? Death. You may be saved at the present, for a few years, but you cannot avoid death. "As sure as death." And what is the result of death? The same. As the president is taken out from his position, everything—all honor, all money, all . . . even life—similarly, at the time of death Kṛṣṇa says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham (BG 10.34): "I come as death and plunder everything, whatever you have got." Your bank balance, your skyscraper building, your nice wife, your children—you have to give up. You cannot say: "My dear death, kindly give me some time. Let me adjust." "No adjustment. Immediately get out."

So foolish people, they do not know what is the miserable condition of this material life. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says real knowledge is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9), to know that, "However great I may be, these four principles of miserable condition of life there are." It is existing in the Brahmaloka, in the Pātālaloka, everywhere, sarvatra. Gabhīra-raṁhasā. Tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā. In the due course of time. This is the most wonderful thing. That is . . . that was questioned by Dharmarāja to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, "What is the most wonderful thing in this world?" He said, ahany ahani gacchantīha yamālayam (Mahābhārata, Vana-parva 313.116): "Every moment so many people are dying." Śeṣāḥ . . . (indistinct) . . . icchanti kim āścaryam ataḥ param: "But those who are living, he thinks that 'My friend has died, but I will live forever.' " No. The same thing. The soft cow dung will be dried up, and the same condition.

So Bhagavān, Bhagavān is not like that person. Therefore it is said, bhagavān ātma-māyayā. When Bhagavān . . . we come here to stay for some days, say fifty years or hundred years, enjoy or suffer life, but Bhagavān does not come for that purpose. Na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti (BG 4.14). That is stated in the previous verse. And the second verse it is further . . . na hy asya varṣmaṇaḥ: "Nobody is greater than Him." Bhagavān means the person nobody is greater than Him and nobody is equal to Him. That is Bhagavān. Everyone is lower. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta-kaṛ says, ekale īśvara kṛṣṇa āra saba bhṛtya (CC Adi 5.142). Āra saba bhṛtya. Only one master is Kṛṣṇa, and others, beginning from Brahmā . . . Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, Indra, Candra, all these demigods. There are hundreds and thousands. Thirty-three millions demigod. And then this naraloka, there are so many rich men, Rockefeller, Ford, Birla and others, others. So they are bhṛtyas, all servants. When Kṛṣṇa will order, "My dear Mr. Such-and-such, now give up your place. Go away," finish. So therefore they are all servants. This is the position beginning from Brahmā down to the ant.

yas tv indra-gopam athavendram aho sva-karma-

bandhānurūpa-phala-bhājanam ātanoti

karmāṇi nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhājāṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.54)

Everyone is enjoying or suffering the sequence of his karma. Yas tu gopam. Indra-gopa, a small insect. Its name is indra-gopa. Beginning from this indra up to that Indra, the king of heaven, everyone is enjoying and suffering about his karma. Yas tv indra-gopam athavendram aho sva-karma. Sva-karma, one's own activities, we are creating. We are creating our next body in this life. As we have got this life as the resultant action of my past karma, similarly, I am creating another body after death, on account of my present karma. This is going on.

So we should work in such a way that we may not get another body next life. That is wanted. That is wanted. And how it can be done? It can be done very easily. What is that? Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa. Simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa. This is the simple method:

janma karma me divyaṁ

yo jānāti tattvataḥ

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma

naiti mām eti . . .

(BG 4.9)

Very simple. And to understand Kṛṣṇa is very difficult? Yes, it is very difficult, but it is very easy also. How? Now, Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). If you become devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then you understand Kṛṣṇa very easily. Kṛṣṇa does not say by jñāna, by karma, by yoga you can understand Him. No. That is not possible. Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yogamāyā-samāvṛtaḥ (BG 7.25). He is . . . it is stated here that varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām. There are many different varieties of yogī, and He is the greatest yogī. Therefore He is known as Yogeśvara. Yatra yogeśvaro hariḥ (BG 18.78). So He is far, far above all yogic processes.

The yogic . . . yogīs, they can show you some magic. The yogī can walk over the water. There are so many—aṇimā-laghimā-siddhi. But see Kṛṣṇa's yogic mystic power that big, big planets, they are floating in the air. Can you do that? Can you float even a small piece of stone, floating in the air? Then see . . . therefore it is said here, varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām. What yogīs can, these ordinary yogīs, can show? Of course, we are foolish persons. If some yogī shows some mystic power, and little gold if he can manufacture, we accept him as God. But we forget the real yogī who has created millions of gold mine floating in the air. So we Kṛṣṇa conscious person, we are not so fool that we shall accept this kind of yogī as Bhagavān. We want the foremost yogī. Varimṇaḥ sarva-yoginām. That Kṛṣṇa, Yogeśvara. We accept Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because why? Now, because we are trying to become devotee. And Kṛṣṇa says, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ, tato māṁ jñātvā tattvataḥ . . . (BG 18.55). That, the verse.

So very simple process. The first thing is, the problem of life is how to conquer over death. We are now accepting death as compulsory. No. Death is not compulsory. Just like to be put into the prison house is not compulsory. It is due to my work. Because I have become criminal, therefore I am put into the jail. It is not compulsory that everyone has to go to the jail. That is not. So similarly, we living entities, our proper place is the Vaikuṇṭhaloka.

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo

'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ

(BG 8.20)

yad gatvā na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 15.6)

Everything is there. You can have eternal blissful life of knowledge, sac-cid-ānanda. It is not compulsory that you shall rot in this material world. But if you like, you can go there. The easiest process. Easiest process is janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. You try to understand Kṛṣṇa, why He comes, what are His activities, wherefrom He comes, why He comes in the form of a human being. You try to understand, study. And Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā.

So where is your difficulty? God is personally explaining what He is. If you accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then, after giving up this body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti (BG 4.9), no more birth and death. You get your spiritual body, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), and happily live in the family of Kṛṣṇa. Because He is also providing you here, and there also He'll provide you with very nice preparation. As we have learned from this, what is that, NavBharat Times, how our people are eating preparations from milk very nicely. So back to home, back to Godhead, and eat, drink and be merry in Kṛṣṇa's company. That is our process.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Haribol. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)