Pradyumna:
sarvatah pani-padam tat
sarvato 'ksi-siro-mukham
sarvatah srutimal loke
sarvam avrtya tisthati
Translation: "Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes and faces, and He hears everything. In this way the Supersoul exists."
Prabhupada: So we are now discussing jneyam, the object of knowledge. Previously we discussed the process of knowledge, amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam, acaryopasanam... Twenty items we have discussed. The chief is: mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. The chief of them is bhakti, mayi ca ananya-yogena, without any diversion. Ananya-yogena bhakti-yoga. That is the chief point. Then other qualities of knowledge will develop automatically. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah.
As soon as you become a pure devotee of the Lord, all the good qualities of the demigods, surah. There are two classes of men: sura and asura. Sura means devotees, and asura means nondevotees. So good qualities can be found in the suras. Ahimsa amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. There are many instances that the devotees are all qualified.
Just like Prahlada Maharaja, he was only five years old boy and his father was always chastising him because his only fault was he was chanting Hare Krsna mantra. So the world is so made, full of demons, that simply for your fault of chanting Hare Krsna mantra you'll have so many enemies, even your father. This is the position. Simply for this fault, that because we are chanting Hare Krsna mantra, we have got so many enemies. This is the world. Sura and asura. Because the more asuras... They'll never tolerate. The glorifying the Lord, they cannot tolerate. It is very difficult for them. So there are two classes of men, suras and asuras. Sura means visnu-bhakto bhaved daivah. Sura means devata, or the demigods; and asura means, visnu-bhakto bhaved daiva asuras tad-viparyayah. And asuras means just the opposite number of visnu-bhakta. They are asuras.
So if you develop Krsna consciousness, if you develop love for Krsna, then automatically the qualities of the suras, or the demigods, will develop. You haven't got to endeavor separately for becoming qualified in good qualities. Automatically. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah, harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah.
But if one is nondevotee, he cannot have any good qualities. Why? Now, mano-rathenasati dhavato bahih. Because he is on the mental platform. Devotee means one who is acting on the spiritual platform, and nondevotee means those who are acting on the material platform, either bodily platform or mental platform. These are material platform. Bodily platform, they are called karmis. They are working for their personal benefit.
Generally, everyone in the Bombay city, they are working very hard, but what is the aim? For their personal profit. That is called karmi. Either in this life... Even those who are performing yajnas for being elevated to the heavenly planet. That is also karma, karma-kandiya. They are also karmis. Either for becoming happy in this life or becoming happy... Happy nobody can become; it is illusion. But by sense gratification we think that we are happy. That is the karmi life, on the bodily platform. And the mental platform is little subtle. The philosophers, the poets, the scientists, like that.
So both the bodily platform and mental platform, they are material. Because the body is also matter and mind is also matter. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca, apareyam, prakrtir me bhinna astadha. This body is made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, sky, and mind is there, subtle body, mind, intelligence and egotism. So both platform are material platform. Therefore it is said harav abhaktasya. Those who are devotees of the Lord, they are not acting on the mental or the gross material platform. They are not working on that platform. They are working on the spiritual platform.
So good qualities can be attained automatically when you work on spiritual platform. But if you work on material platform, means the gross body and the mind, then good qualities cannot be attained. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna mano-rathenasati dhavato bahih [SB 5.18.12]. Therefore we find that educated persons, so-called educated... They are not educated because in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, the so-called educated persons are bereft of real knowledge, mayayapahrta-jnanah. Apahrta-jnanah. Why? Asuram bhavam asritah. Because they have taken the position of becoming an atheist, no faith in God. They are asura. So any asura, mayayapahrta-jnanah... He may be MA, PhD, from academic career, but his real knowledge is taken away. Therefore he is atheist. Actual knowledge is to know God. Therefore Krsna is explaining what is knowledge, jneyam. Because as soon as you become actually wise, then you become liberated. But if you are not liberated, that means your knowledge is imperfect. Your knowledge is imperfect.
So Krsna says jneyam. Jneyam means mat-param brahma. In a previous verse it has been explained, anadi mat-param brahma. Brahma means brhatya brhanatyad iti brahma.(?) Nothing is great than Brahman. That is being explained, how Brahman, what is the meaning of Brahman. Brahman means sarvatah pani-padam tat: "Brahman has got His hands and legs everywhere." Just like I have got my hands and legs, this is limited. I have got my hands. Why I cannot stretch five feet? Only three feet. That is also with great difficulty. But the Brahman's hand, sarvatah, sarvatah, everywhere.
Just like Krsna said, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Now Krsna says that "Either a little flower, a little fruit, or little leaf..." Anyone can collect these things. Even if he is the poorest of the poor, then he can also collect a little flower, a little fruit, little water and offer Krsna, "My dear Krsna, I wanted to offer You something, but I am so poor. I have nothing to offer. I have collected these three things as You have prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita. "Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. The real thing is bhakti.
Krsna, He has appeared here in His form to accept your offerings, not that He is poor. So Krsna comes here to accept your offering, but the demons want to break it. This is demon. He does not think that "Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead has so kindly come here in Juhu and accepting our offerings." But the demons will not tolerate. "No, Krsna cannot..." This is called asuram bhavam asritah. Asura, raksasa.
Ravana. "Bring Rama's wife, Laksmiji, Sita." This is demonic. He was a great devotee of Lord Siva, but a demon, first-class demon, raksasa. Therefore it is said, harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah. Even though he was a devotee of Lord Siva, because he was not a Vaisnava, therefore he had no good qualification. He had no good qualification. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna mano-rathenasati dhavato bahih [SB 5.18.12]. Mano-rathena, by mental platform. Ravana thought that "I shall enjoy the Laksmiji of Narayana." But that is not possible. You can think like that. So everyone is after Laksmiji. The Ravana's philosophy. The whole world is after material acquisition, laksmi. Money is called laksmi. Everyone is after money but nobody knows that money can be properly utilized when there is Narayana. Laksmi can stay when there is Narayana. Laksmi-Narayana. You cannot keep Laksmi alone without Narayana, that is not possible. Then you'll be finished, just like Ravana. He wanted to kill Sita without Rama; therefore he was finished with his whole family.
That is awaiting. The whole world is awaiting that disaster. The America has got atom bomb and Russia has got atom bomb. As soon as there is another war, the whole world will be finished. So this is the ajnana. Mayaya-apahrta-jnanah. They do not know that we cannot keep Laksmi without Narayana. That is not possible. Laksmi can be kept at home with Narayana, but she cannot leave Narayana. So if you want to enjoy false laksmi, that is different thing.
Therefore a person who is devoid of knowledge, who is not devotee, Krsna conscious, he has no value. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah. He cannot have any good qualities. This is our test. We are not very learned, but we can test because we have got the testing tube. Just like a scientist tests chemically, analytically tests, how pure one chemical is within the test tube, similarly, we have got a test tube. What is that? That test tube it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita,
na mam duskrtino mudhah
prapadyante naradhamah
mayayapahrta-jnana
asuram bhavam asritah
[Bg. 7.15]
As soon as we see that one is not surrendered soul to Krsna, he is mayayapahrta-jnana. Then what is the category? Duskrtina, always sinful. Must be. Because he is sinful, he cannot surrender to Krsna. Na mam duskrtino mudhah.
And another class -- mudha, rascal, without any knowledge. He cannot also surrender to Krsna. Na mam duskrtino mudhah naradhamah. And the lowest of the mankind. Why lowest of the mankind? Because this human body, this man's body, not the dog's body, cat's body, but the man's body, that is meant for understanding Krsna. Athato brahma jijnasa. That is not meant for spoiling like cats and dogs, jumping from here and there. So therefore he's not taking the opportunity of understanding Krsna. Therefore naradhama. Adhama. Adhama means the lowest. First-class man utilizes life for proper benefit. But one who cannot... They are called krpana also. Miser.
Just like if you have got millions of dollars, you don't use it, you keep it only in the bank or in the treasury to see, "Oh, I have got millions of dollars." But utilize it. That is intelligence. Utilize, make it millions to ten times millions by doing a business or something like that. That is intelligence. Similarly, this body, this human form of body, athato brahma jijnasa... To understand Brahman. That Brahman is being explained to understand, how Brahman. Sarvatah pani-padam tat. Brahman means the greatest. So greatest means not limited. We are limited. Our hands and legs are limited, but Krsna's hands and legs are not limited. Sarvatah pani-padam.
Brahman means Krsna. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita Krsna is addressed as param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan [Bg. 10.12]. When Arjuna understood Krsna, in the tenth chapter we'll find, he's addressing Krsna, that "You are Param Brahman." Brahman, all of us are Brahman, aham brahmasmi. It is not very difficult to understand. "I am not this body, matter, but I am spirit soul." Therefore anyone can understand that he is Brahman. Spirit soul is Brahman, not the Param Brahman. Param Brahman is Krsna. We are Brahman, but part and parcel of the Brahman. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [15.7]. We are part and parcel of the Param Brahman. Therefore we are Brahman.
Therefore a part and particle of gold is also gold. A particle of the sea water is also sea water, salty sea water. That is oneness. So far the quality is concerned, that is oneness. A drop of sea water and the whole sea water, in quality, they are one. Because the taste of a drop of sea water is also salty, therefore you can understand the whole water is salty. Chicklena[?]. So you can understand Param Brahman if you understand yourself. That is called self-realization. Simply the difference is Param Brahman, is the greatest, and you are the smallest. He is vibhu, you are anu. But maya is so strong, because we are qualitatively one, we are thinking we are the Supreme Brahman. That is another nonsense. "Because I am salty, therefore I am the sea water." This is not very good logic. A part cannot be equal to the whole.
So here jnana means, to understand the Param Brahman means, sarvatah pani-padam: "Param Brahman has got pani, hands, and pada, and legs, everywhere." How it is possible? That is knowledge. That is knowledge. It is possible because we are part and parcels of Krsna, we have got our hands and legs, therefore Krsna has got his hands and legs everywhere. But our hands and legs are now engaged otherwise. It is not for Krsna. That is called illusion. Actually, the hands and legs belong to Krsna. My hands, it is not my hand, it is Krsna's hand. My leg, it is Krsna's leg, but in maya, in illusion, it is covered, upadhi. My hand means it is Indian hand." "My leg means Indian leg." "My hand means American hand." "My leg means American leg." No. It is neither American leg, neither Indian leg, neither Indian hand, nor American hand. It is all Krsna's hands and legs. That you have to realize. That is real knowledge. That is jneyam. You have to understand that you are not the proprietor of these hands and legs. Krsna is the proprietor.
Therefore Krsna's another name is Hrsikesa. Hrsika means senses, and isa means the master. Hrsikesa. Senayor ubhayor madhye ratham sthapaya me acyuta. Another place Arjuna has addressed Krsna as Hrsikesa. No, I mean to say Sanjaya said "Hrsikesa." So Krsna's another name is Hrsikesa. So hrsika means indriya, senses, and hrsikesa means the master of the senses. We have got our hands and legs, we have got our mouth, we have got our tongue, everything we have got. That's all right, but the real knowledge means to realize that these hands, legs, tongue, eyes, ears -- everything belongs to Krsna. That is knowledge.
Therefore bhakti means to become liberated from the false understanding that "This is my leg, my head." No. It is Krsna's. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. When we become purified... Purified means at the present moment we have got this false knowledge, "This is my hand, this is my leg." When we become purified, we understand that "This is Krsna's leg, Krsna's hand, Krsna's eyes." That is wanted. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
Nirmalam, this is liberation. So long we are materially attached, it is mala. Mala means dirty things. But when we are purified of the dirty things, we can understand. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was in the beginning thinking that "My hand, my leg, it is meant for my family." Therefore he was hesitating to kill, that "This hand, it belongs to my family, to my kinsmen, to my country, to my nation, to my society. How I can use these hands and legs against them. Krsna, I'll not fight." This is ignorance. He did not know that his hands and legs belong to Krsna. And when he understood... After reading, after hearing Bhagavad-gita from Krsna, he understood, "Well I was thinking the hands and legs belong to my family, to me. No. It belongs to Krsna. It must be used for Krsna." Then he decided, "Krsna," karisye vacanam tava [Bg. 18.73], "now You want me... Because this is Your hand, Your leg, so you want to use these hands and legs for fighting. I must use it." This is knowledge. This is knowledge. Otherwise how...?
Of course, Krsna is all-pervading, still, we are also part and... Everything. All-pervading means everything belongs to Krsna, everything Krsna's energy. Just like the sun is all-pervading. How it is all-pervading? By the light and the heat. Light and heat is all-pervading. Although sun is localized. sun is situated in one place, how it is all-pervading? Because it is supplying the heat and light throughout the universe. Therefore it is all-pervading. And what is the heat and light? The energy of the sun. Similarly, the original sun is Krsna and He has got two energies: the material energy and the spiritual energy. So therefore everything is Krsna's. Parasya brahmanah saktih sarvedam akhilam jagat. Sarvam khalv idam brahma. That is realization, when you understand that everything belongs to Krsna because everything is manifestation of Krsna's energies.
Just like this whole material world. What is this? This is only expansion of the energy of the sun, heat and light. Those who are scientists they can understand. Physics, heat and light. Similarly, the whole creation, that is Krsna's energy, heat and light, material energy and the spiritual energy. Bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca, bhinna me prakrtir astadha. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim param, jiva-bhutam maha-baho yayedam dharyate jagat. That is the superior energy, living entity.
So we are living entity. We are superior energy of Krsna, but we have become inferior on account of this material covering. We have become inferior but we are not inferior. We are superior energy. When we act for Krsna, then we are situated in our own position. That is called mukti. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said, mukti means hitva anyatha-rupam svarupena vyavasthitih. That is mukti. Mukti does not mean that you have got now two hands, and as soon as you become mukta, you'll have three thousand hands. No, not that. Mukti means svarupena vyavasthitih. When we understand that "I am utilizing hands and legs and eyes for my sense gratification. No, this is wrong. It should be utilized for Krsna's service. My hands should be engaged for Krsna's service. My hands should be engaged for cleansing this temple. My hands should be engaged for cooking Krsna's food." In this way. "My hands should be utilized for writing for Krsna, glorifying Krsna. My legs should be used for going to the temple of Krsna. My eyes should be used for seeing beauty of Krsna. My ears should be used for hearing glories of Krsna. My tongue should be used for chanting Krsna's holy name." That is mukti.
Mukti is not a very difficult thing. You can attain mukti in a second simply if you agree, as Krsna says,
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami (ma sucah)
[Bg. 18.66]
That aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami, this is mukti, moksayisyami. So Krsna is offering you this mukti. Muktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra syat. Viraktir anyatra syat. When you understand that "These hands and legs belong to Krsna, so I am misusing them. So long I have misused them. I use for my personal sense gratification or expanded sense gratification." The so-called socialism, nationalism, this ism, that..., that is also sense gratification but it is expanded sense gratification. First of all... [break]
Another meaning of this verse is that if He has got, sarvatah pani-padam, He has got His legs and hands, eyes, head, then how He becomes impersonal, void? Where is this conception comes from Bhagavad-gita? The rascals say that "God is impersonal, no form." How it is possible, if He has got hands and legs, head and ears, how He has become formless? Tell me. Who is there? How He becomes formless? He is not formless. But the difference is His form is different from our form. Our hands and legs are limited, but He has got His hands and legs... That is not limited, that is unlimited. That is difference. When we say, when there is such thing as formless, formless means He hasn't got a form like us which is limited. Sac-cid...
isvarah paramah krsnah
sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah
sarva-karana-karanam
[Bs. 5.1]
He has got His form, He has got His hands. Just like Krsna says,
patram puspam phalam toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam
asnami (prayatatmanah)
Now if you say, Krsna is in the Goloka Vrndavana, far, far away from here. How He accepts?" That is the answer is here, that sarvatah pani-padam. He has got hands. That is the Vedic injunction. Apani-pado javana-grhitah. The Absolute Brahman has no hands and legs, but He can accept anything, He can walk everywhere. Just contradictory. Pasyaty acaksuh. He has no eyes. but He can see everything. This is the difference. He has got His form. That is spiritual form, that is not this material, limited form, but He has got His form. One who does not understand His unlimited form, Brahman form, sarvatah... Everywhere He can go, everywhere He can see, everywhere He can accept whatever you offer. Everywhere He can walk. That is His form, but He is not formless.
Therefore He is called omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. These are the adjectives given to God. Omnipresent. He is present everywhere. That's a fact. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese arjuna tisthati [Bg. 18.61]. He's sitting within your heart, He's seeing everything, what you are acting. Isvarah sarva... Sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca [Bg. 15.15]. This is knowledge. This is knowledge. Not that to make Krsna formless, "He does not eat. He does not speak. He does not walk. He has no hand. He has no head." That is not knowledge. That is ignorance, foolishness. Mudha. Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam, param bhavam ajanantah [Bg. 9.11]. Because He does not know the param bhavam. This is param bhavam. Krsna has form, but a form not like us. That is param bhavam. He is present everywhere.
He can accept anything, wherever you offer. That Krsna says, tad aham bhakty-upahrtam asnami. Krsna says, "I take." Who are you to say that Krsna does not accept? Krsna accepts, provided it is given with devotion. That is wanted. Tad aham bhakty-upahrtam. Anyone brings something to offer Krsna with bhakti, Krsna is not hungry but He accepts... [break]
These are the Vedic injunctions. He takes whole foodstuff, still He remains full. Purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavasisyate. These are the Vedic injunctions." So that is, Krsna is teaching, sarvatah srutimal loke. He can hear. It is not that Krsna is in the Goloka Vrndavana, far, far away, therefore we are chanting His glory here, He cannot... [break]
...sarvatah srutimal loke. He can hear everywhere. Sarvatah srutimal loke. Sarvam avrtya tisthati. Because He is Brahman, He is covering everything. He is everywhere. Brhatyad brhanatvat(?). Therefore He is Param Brahman. This is knowledge. You have to understand... Don't think Krsna is limited because he appeared before us, He has appeared here in the form of a stone. He's not stone. Stone is His energy. [break] He can appear before... [break]
Then don't think that here "These people are worshiping a stone," as the atheist will speak. Arcye sila-dhir gurusu vaisnave jati-buddhih naraki... [break] ...in the sastra that "Don't think the worshipable Deity is made of stone, made of metal." Because in the wood there is Krsna and because Krsna is omnipotent He can accept. [break]
...apani-pado javana-grhitah. So in this way try to understand... [break] ...anyatha ajnanam. Then you are in ignorance, ajnana. [break] ...Krsna, then you are liberated. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.14 -- Bombay, October 7, 1973
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
"Clutches Of Birth And Death" 73/10/06 Bombay, Bhagavad-gita 13.13
Pradyumna: (leads synonyms)
jneyam yat tat pravaksyami
yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute
anadimat param brahma
na sat tan nasad ucyate
"I shall now explain the knowable, knowing which you will taste the eternal. This is beginningless, and it is subordinate to Me. It is called Brahman, the spirit, and it lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world."
Prabhupada: So this chapter is explanation of the knower and knowledge... The knowledge, the chapter has already explained, in order to make progress in the line of knowledge there were about twenty items: amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. These are the process, not to become falsely proud of possessing knowledge. There are symptoms that who is actually in knowledge and those symptoms have been explained. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. The most important... Of course, all the items are very important. Still, approaching the acarya... [break] ...portion of Krsna. Racayitum jagad-anda-kotim. One portion, Paramatma. That Paramatma portion is the Maha-Visnu, Maha-Visnu lying on the Karanarnava, the Causal Ocean.
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.48]
That Maha-Visnu is lying on the Causal Ocean beyond this universe, on the border, there is a big ocean which is called Causal Ocean, karanodaka-jala. And there is Maha-Visnu lying, and from His breathing process, yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Jagad-anda-natha means Brahma. So that portion, eko 'py asau racayitum, He is the origin of universal, this material creation. Karanarnavasayi Visnu. From Him, the Garbhodakasayi Visnu comes out, and He enters in each and every universes. Garbhodakasayi Visnu. That Garbhodakasayi Visnu again expands as Ksirodakasayi Visnu. That Ksirodakasayi Visnu is within this universe. In each and every universe there is Visnu, Svetadvipa-loka where Ksirodakasayi Visnu is there, and that Ksirodakasayi Visnu enters within the heart of all living entities, Paramatma, Antaryami.
That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah andantara-stha... [Bs. 5.35]. He is not only within this universe, but He is also within the atom. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara... Paramanu means atom. In this way Lord Visnu is expanded, and He is jneyam, He is to be understood. Jnana, knowledge, simply material knowledge, is not perfection of knowledge. Real knowledge is to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Visnu. That is real knowledge. That is explained here. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "I shall now explain to you what is the ultimate goal of knowledge." In other place, in the Fifteenth Chapter also, Krsna said,
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah...
[Bg. 15.15]
Krsna is within everyone's heart, sarvasya ca aham hrdi. This place, the particular place is also mentioned there. Hrdi, in the heart, He's there. Sannivistah. And from Him, mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. From Him, our remembrance, smrtir jnanam, knowledge, and forgetfulness -- everything is coming from Him. Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. Therefore, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. One has to understand Krsna by studying Vedic literature. If he's missing Krsna, then srama eva hi kevalam, he's missing Krsna. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
Everyone has got particular type of occupational duty. That is called dharma. Dharma is not a faith. The particular duty... Just like you are a medical practitioner. So your dharma is to treat patients. That is your dharma. So everyone has got particular occupational duty. [break] Actually, what is going on as Hindu dharma... Actually, Hindu dharma this word is not there in the sastras. In the sastra it is called varnasrama-dharma. Four varnas: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra; and four asramas: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. These are called varnasrama-dharma. So in every varna, brahmana, his qualification is described in the sastra. Samo damas titiksa arjavam ksantir jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam. Similarly, ksatriya, vaisya. So by discharging one's occupational duty according to varna and asrama, if one does not understand Krsna, the Bhagavata says, srama eva hi kevalam. Then he's simply spoiling his time and wasting his labor. That's all.
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
This is the verdict of Vedic literature. He's simply laboring for nothing. One must know Krsna -- visvaksena-kathasu yah. Visvaksena, another name of Krsna, or Visnu, is visvaksena-katha. Just like we are speaking about Krsna, nobody is interested to come here. Nobody is interested. Visvaksena-kathasu notpadayed ratim. They will say, "Oh, I am busy with my occupational duty." But the human form of life is meant for increasing your interest in the matter of visvaksena-kathasu yah. This means krsna-katha.
This is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya, His mission is this: He said,
yare dekha tare kaha ‘krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]
Krsna-upadesa. He says, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that "On My order, every one of My devotees, become a spiritual master." Amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. "You become a spiritual master and deliver all the people." By krsna-upadesa, you can deliver. People are suffering. Here also, the same thing is said. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. Amrtam. People are suffering. They do not know what is amrtatva. So 'mrtatvaya kalpate. This is the aim of life, to become immortal. That is wanted. One has to come to that platform of knowledge when one can achieve the perfection of life, amrtatva, immortality.
So Krsna says here that jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "The ultimate goal of knowledge I will explain to you. Yaj jnatva: "If you can understand that knowledge, then," amrtam asnute, "if anyone can understand that knowledge, he becomes immortal." That is the problem. The process of knowledge... In that chapter it is already said that janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. The subject matter should be how to understand or how to get relief from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. This is knowledge. And here also Krsna says again, anyone who comes to the ultimate goal of knowledge, then he becomes immortal.
Anadimat param brahma. Brahma, brahma-jnana. The brahma-jnana without knowledge of Krsna is not perfect knowledge. Generally, people are interested... (aside:) Give me water. In the impersonal Brahman, but without knowledge of Krsna that impersonal feature of Krsna, brahma-jnana, is also insufficient. They do not... That is not sufficient knowledge. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. Philosophical speculation or discussion should be to reach the ultimate goal of life. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. That is already explained. And what is that tattva? That is explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, what is tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11]. Tattva-vid, one who knows tattva, he can speak about tattva. Tattva means the Absolute Truth. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam. That thing is spoken as tattva, as the truth, by persons who are tattva-vid. Tattva-vid means one who knows the tattva. Unless one knows the thing, how he can explain? Therefore we have to understand the Absolute Truth from a person who knows it. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam [SB 1.2.11]. That knowledge is absolute, advayam, no relativity, absolute.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
That truth is explained as Brahman, as Paramatma, or as Bhagavan. The same thing. Just like we see the sun. The sun is a planet and there is a sun-god. Just like we have got also in each and every planet one chief person. Here we have got president. Formerly there was one president or king on this planet. Now they have now so many presidents. But according to God's plan, there is one president or king in each and every planet. So in the sun planet there is also one king or one chief person. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gita, Vivasvan. If you accept Bhagavad-gita, then you have to accept all these things. You cannot make minus anything. That is not knowledge of Bhagavad-gita.
Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. We cannot use the ardha-kukkuti-nyaya -- half. I take half of the hen. I take the rear part, and the front part I reject. This kind of logic, argument, will not be very successful. You have to take as it is, in toto, and you have to understand That is understanding of Bhagavad-gita. If you take something to your choice, that is useless, useless waste of time. Just like Mahatma Gandhi, he wanted to prove from Bhagavad-gita nonviolence. How it is possible? Bhagavad-gita is spoken in the battlefield. So in this way, if we try to understand Bhagavad-gita, it will be not Bhagavad-gita, it will be something else. We must understand Bhagavad-gita as it is. That is our preaching method. We are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is all over the world. So we accept.
The modern theory, scientific theory, is that "The sun planet is only blazing fire. There cannot be any living entity." No, we don't believe that. Because sastra says that "The living entity is never burned." Acchedyo 'yam adahyo 'yam. Adahyah. Just like we sterilize by putting into the fire, but that does not mean the living entity is dead. No. Adahyo 'yam: "It cannot be burned into fire." Acchedyo 'yam: "It cannot be cut into pieces." This information we get from Bhagavad-gita. So in the sun planet, although it is blazing fire, there are living entities. They have got a particular type of body. That particular type of body is fiery. Just like you have got living entities in the sea. There are hundreds and thousands. Jalaja nava-laksani. There are nine lakhs, species of aquatic animals. But they are living in the water. They have got particular type of body. You cannot say, because you cannot live within the water, you cannot say, "No, no, there cannot be any living entity." This is nonsense. The living entities, another name is sarva-ga. He can live everywhere. It is not a fact that living entities live only in certain particular place. No. Sarva-ga, anywhere in God's creation there are living entities. This is shastric vision.
So in the sun planet also, there are living entities, cities, just like here. Otherwise how Krsna can say, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]. Krsna is telling lie, that "I spoke this science of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god?" Now, according to our calculation nobody can go to the sun planet, and where is the scope of speaking there, and to whom speaking? But Krsna says, "Yes." Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham [Bg. 4.1], "I said," avyayam, "imperishable knowledge." Vivasvan manave praha. So from this version we can understand, in the sun planet there are living entities, and the chief man, or chief demigod, is the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvan. So his body must be fiery; otherwise how he can live there? And the inhabitants there also. So we are thinking from here that nobody can live there, but that's not the fact. We are calculating via our own experience. Therefore we cannot have perfect knowledge by speculating our experience. It is not possible. We must go to a person whose experience is beyond our experience. That is called guru. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Guru means heavy. If guru is as good as I am, then what is the use of taking knowledge from him? Guru must be heavier.
So who can become more heavier than Krsna? Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. There is nobody heavier. And Krsna proved it when He was a child. When He was a boy of seven years old He proved how heavy, that He lifted the Govardhana Hill, and it rested on Krsna's finger continually for seven days. Just imagine how heavy He is. So in this way we have to understand Krsna. And if we understand Krsna from that spirit, from that angle of vision, then we become perfect. As it is said here, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. You become immortal. This is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah. If you simply understand Krsna in truth, not superficially, but in fact, then what is the result? The result is tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. Punar janma, punar janma, next, again if I take a material body, then again I'll have to die. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to die. Janma-mrtyu. One who is born, he must die. But here Krsna says, punar janma naiti. "No more birth." Then there is no more death. Because if there is birth, there is death, and if there is no birth, there is no death. That is immortality, amrta. That is amrtatva. So amrtatvaya kalpate. In another place Krsna says,
yam hi na vyathayanty ete
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate
We are disturbed by the bodily concepts of life, every one of us. Everyone is busy how to relieve the bodily pains and pleasures. That's all. The real pains and pleasure: that the living entity who has accepted this material body, he has to continue these pains and pleasure. That is explained in the Bhagavad, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. So you there is no science to give relief from janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. How can expect relief? It is temporary relief. So Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, we should not be disturbed by the temporary pains and pleasure.
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata
We should not be disturbed by these so-called bodily pains and pleasure. We can try, we can get as much... But this is not our business. Our business is how to get out of these clutches of birth and death. That is real business. That they do not know. Because they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals, they are busy for the temporary pains and pleasure. That's all.
So here it is said, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. That is knowledge. "I shall speak to you about that supreme knowledge." That supreme knowledge means if you simply try to understand Krsna, janma karma me divyam, why Krsna appears, janma karma, why He works like an ordinary human being... He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why he takes part in these ordinary activities? Just like Krsna took part in the Battle of Kuruksetra. He's Supreme Personality of Godhead; why should He take part in the battleground? Yes this is..., somebody, some section of people, they question like this. But He has his business. Because He comes, He has got His business. He says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come. My business is to reestablish the principle of life, religion."
Human life means religion. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. The cats and dogs, they have no religion. But if the human being has no religion, then he is no better than the cat and dog. Therefore all over the world, either he's a European or American or Indian or Canadian or Russian, everyone has got some religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Hinduism, Muslimism or Christianism. Because human society without religious conception -- religious conception means to understand God -- he's animal. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. So gradually, the whole world is becoming animal because they are rejecting religion. They are rejecting religion. Therefore Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Because these rascals, they give up religion and become animals and fight between themselves and make the whole world a confusion and chaos, therefore it is required that Krsna comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya. This is His duty. He has no duty, but it is His mercy that He comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya.
And what is that dharma? In the Bhagavata it is explained, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture a religious sect. That is rascaldom. Just like if you think, "I shall manufacture law at my home," is it possible? Who will care for your law? If the law is enacted by the state, that is accepted. The government says, "Keep to the left." You have to accept it. You cannot say, "No, why not to the right?" Then you'll be criminal. Similarly, laws means given by the government, and dharma means which is the codes given by God. That is dharma. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. That is religion. And Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come to reestablish. When people become cats and dogs without any religion, then I come down to establish religion." Because we are Krsna's sons, we are all sons of Krsna, He is very much anxious to see us happy. Just like father wants to see his sons, bewildered sons, to see that he is happy. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]. That is also the same thing. To deliver the righteous person and to kill the demons, the same thing, because Krsna is absolute. His maintaining the devotee and killing the demon, both of them are same thing.
Just like father. Father is giving some child, some son, nice sweetmeat, and the other son comes, "No you cannot take it." Does it mean that father is partial? No, father is kind both the child. He knows that he cannot eat. So similarly, two things are going on parallel. Some are punishments, some are maintenance by the laws of God, but he knows how to do it. We have to accept His law. That is... Tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamanah. Therefore a devotee is never disturbed by the so-called pains and pleasure of this world. He is never disturbed. He knows his duty, how to execute Krsna consciousness. That is real devotee. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam [Bg. 18.66].
So Krsna said that dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Then what is that dharma? He did not come here to reestablish Hinduism or Muslimism or Christianism. No. He came to give you real dharma. What is that? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. That is dharma, to surrender unto Krsna: "Krsna, I am eternally Your servant. I forgot You. Now I come to my senses. I surrender unto You." This is dharma. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. This sense, real sense, comes when after struggling, struggling for many, many births, one becomes wise. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan. Jnanavan means wise. Not fools and rascals. Jnanavan mam prapadyate: "He surrenders unto Me." So anyone who is surrendering to Krsna, taking to Krsna or devotional service fully, he is the most intelligent man. He's not cats and dogs or rascals. Because Krsna says, jnanavan. This is real knowledge. That will be explained.
Krsna says, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami "I shall speak to you what is the object of knowledge, ultimate objective of knowledge." Yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. If one can understand Krsna he gets eternal life. That is our aim of life. Not to remain within this material world, bhutva bhutva praliyate, take birth once and again die. This is done by the cats and dogs. Any animal, they do not know anything. They take birth and again die. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. You have to accept. So if in ignorance I take birth and again die, what is this life? Bhutva bhutva praliyate. That is no knowledge. Spoiling. This human form of life is the boon where you can make a solution simply by understanding Krsna. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. This is knowledge, how to become immortal, how to understand Krsna, how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of Krsna consciousness. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973
jneyam yat tat pravaksyami
yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute
anadimat param brahma
na sat tan nasad ucyate
"I shall now explain the knowable, knowing which you will taste the eternal. This is beginningless, and it is subordinate to Me. It is called Brahman, the spirit, and it lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world."
Prabhupada: So this chapter is explanation of the knower and knowledge... The knowledge, the chapter has already explained, in order to make progress in the line of knowledge there were about twenty items: amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. These are the process, not to become falsely proud of possessing knowledge. There are symptoms that who is actually in knowledge and those symptoms have been explained. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. The most important... Of course, all the items are very important. Still, approaching the acarya... [break] ...portion of Krsna. Racayitum jagad-anda-kotim. One portion, Paramatma. That Paramatma portion is the Maha-Visnu, Maha-Visnu lying on the Karanarnava, the Causal Ocean.
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.48]
That Maha-Visnu is lying on the Causal Ocean beyond this universe, on the border, there is a big ocean which is called Causal Ocean, karanodaka-jala. And there is Maha-Visnu lying, and from His breathing process, yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Jagad-anda-natha means Brahma. So that portion, eko 'py asau racayitum, He is the origin of universal, this material creation. Karanarnavasayi Visnu. From Him, the Garbhodakasayi Visnu comes out, and He enters in each and every universes. Garbhodakasayi Visnu. That Garbhodakasayi Visnu again expands as Ksirodakasayi Visnu. That Ksirodakasayi Visnu is within this universe. In each and every universe there is Visnu, Svetadvipa-loka where Ksirodakasayi Visnu is there, and that Ksirodakasayi Visnu enters within the heart of all living entities, Paramatma, Antaryami.
That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah andantara-stha... [Bs. 5.35]. He is not only within this universe, but He is also within the atom. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara... Paramanu means atom. In this way Lord Visnu is expanded, and He is jneyam, He is to be understood. Jnana, knowledge, simply material knowledge, is not perfection of knowledge. Real knowledge is to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Visnu. That is real knowledge. That is explained here. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "I shall now explain to you what is the ultimate goal of knowledge." In other place, in the Fifteenth Chapter also, Krsna said,
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah...
[Bg. 15.15]
Krsna is within everyone's heart, sarvasya ca aham hrdi. This place, the particular place is also mentioned there. Hrdi, in the heart, He's there. Sannivistah. And from Him, mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. From Him, our remembrance, smrtir jnanam, knowledge, and forgetfulness -- everything is coming from Him. Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. Therefore, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. One has to understand Krsna by studying Vedic literature. If he's missing Krsna, then srama eva hi kevalam, he's missing Krsna. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
Everyone has got particular type of occupational duty. That is called dharma. Dharma is not a faith. The particular duty... Just like you are a medical practitioner. So your dharma is to treat patients. That is your dharma. So everyone has got particular occupational duty. [break] Actually, what is going on as Hindu dharma... Actually, Hindu dharma this word is not there in the sastras. In the sastra it is called varnasrama-dharma. Four varnas: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra; and four asramas: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. These are called varnasrama-dharma. So in every varna, brahmana, his qualification is described in the sastra. Samo damas titiksa arjavam ksantir jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam. Similarly, ksatriya, vaisya. So by discharging one's occupational duty according to varna and asrama, if one does not understand Krsna, the Bhagavata says, srama eva hi kevalam. Then he's simply spoiling his time and wasting his labor. That's all.
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
This is the verdict of Vedic literature. He's simply laboring for nothing. One must know Krsna -- visvaksena-kathasu yah. Visvaksena, another name of Krsna, or Visnu, is visvaksena-katha. Just like we are speaking about Krsna, nobody is interested to come here. Nobody is interested. Visvaksena-kathasu notpadayed ratim. They will say, "Oh, I am busy with my occupational duty." But the human form of life is meant for increasing your interest in the matter of visvaksena-kathasu yah. This means krsna-katha.
This is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya, His mission is this: He said,
yare dekha tare kaha ‘krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]
Krsna-upadesa. He says, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that "On My order, every one of My devotees, become a spiritual master." Amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. "You become a spiritual master and deliver all the people." By krsna-upadesa, you can deliver. People are suffering. Here also, the same thing is said. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. Amrtam. People are suffering. They do not know what is amrtatva. So 'mrtatvaya kalpate. This is the aim of life, to become immortal. That is wanted. One has to come to that platform of knowledge when one can achieve the perfection of life, amrtatva, immortality.
So Krsna says here that jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "The ultimate goal of knowledge I will explain to you. Yaj jnatva: "If you can understand that knowledge, then," amrtam asnute, "if anyone can understand that knowledge, he becomes immortal." That is the problem. The process of knowledge... In that chapter it is already said that janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. The subject matter should be how to understand or how to get relief from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. This is knowledge. And here also Krsna says again, anyone who comes to the ultimate goal of knowledge, then he becomes immortal.
Anadimat param brahma. Brahma, brahma-jnana. The brahma-jnana without knowledge of Krsna is not perfect knowledge. Generally, people are interested... (aside:) Give me water. In the impersonal Brahman, but without knowledge of Krsna that impersonal feature of Krsna, brahma-jnana, is also insufficient. They do not... That is not sufficient knowledge. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. Philosophical speculation or discussion should be to reach the ultimate goal of life. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. That is already explained. And what is that tattva? That is explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, what is tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11]. Tattva-vid, one who knows tattva, he can speak about tattva. Tattva means the Absolute Truth. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam. That thing is spoken as tattva, as the truth, by persons who are tattva-vid. Tattva-vid means one who knows the tattva. Unless one knows the thing, how he can explain? Therefore we have to understand the Absolute Truth from a person who knows it. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam [SB 1.2.11]. That knowledge is absolute, advayam, no relativity, absolute.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
That truth is explained as Brahman, as Paramatma, or as Bhagavan. The same thing. Just like we see the sun. The sun is a planet and there is a sun-god. Just like we have got also in each and every planet one chief person. Here we have got president. Formerly there was one president or king on this planet. Now they have now so many presidents. But according to God's plan, there is one president or king in each and every planet. So in the sun planet there is also one king or one chief person. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gita, Vivasvan. If you accept Bhagavad-gita, then you have to accept all these things. You cannot make minus anything. That is not knowledge of Bhagavad-gita.
Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. We cannot use the ardha-kukkuti-nyaya -- half. I take half of the hen. I take the rear part, and the front part I reject. This kind of logic, argument, will not be very successful. You have to take as it is, in toto, and you have to understand That is understanding of Bhagavad-gita. If you take something to your choice, that is useless, useless waste of time. Just like Mahatma Gandhi, he wanted to prove from Bhagavad-gita nonviolence. How it is possible? Bhagavad-gita is spoken in the battlefield. So in this way, if we try to understand Bhagavad-gita, it will be not Bhagavad-gita, it will be something else. We must understand Bhagavad-gita as it is. That is our preaching method. We are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is all over the world. So we accept.
The modern theory, scientific theory, is that "The sun planet is only blazing fire. There cannot be any living entity." No, we don't believe that. Because sastra says that "The living entity is never burned." Acchedyo 'yam adahyo 'yam. Adahyah. Just like we sterilize by putting into the fire, but that does not mean the living entity is dead. No. Adahyo 'yam: "It cannot be burned into fire." Acchedyo 'yam: "It cannot be cut into pieces." This information we get from Bhagavad-gita. So in the sun planet, although it is blazing fire, there are living entities. They have got a particular type of body. That particular type of body is fiery. Just like you have got living entities in the sea. There are hundreds and thousands. Jalaja nava-laksani. There are nine lakhs, species of aquatic animals. But they are living in the water. They have got particular type of body. You cannot say, because you cannot live within the water, you cannot say, "No, no, there cannot be any living entity." This is nonsense. The living entities, another name is sarva-ga. He can live everywhere. It is not a fact that living entities live only in certain particular place. No. Sarva-ga, anywhere in God's creation there are living entities. This is shastric vision.
So in the sun planet also, there are living entities, cities, just like here. Otherwise how Krsna can say, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]. Krsna is telling lie, that "I spoke this science of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god?" Now, according to our calculation nobody can go to the sun planet, and where is the scope of speaking there, and to whom speaking? But Krsna says, "Yes." Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham [Bg. 4.1], "I said," avyayam, "imperishable knowledge." Vivasvan manave praha. So from this version we can understand, in the sun planet there are living entities, and the chief man, or chief demigod, is the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvan. So his body must be fiery; otherwise how he can live there? And the inhabitants there also. So we are thinking from here that nobody can live there, but that's not the fact. We are calculating via our own experience. Therefore we cannot have perfect knowledge by speculating our experience. It is not possible. We must go to a person whose experience is beyond our experience. That is called guru. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Guru means heavy. If guru is as good as I am, then what is the use of taking knowledge from him? Guru must be heavier.
So who can become more heavier than Krsna? Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. There is nobody heavier. And Krsna proved it when He was a child. When He was a boy of seven years old He proved how heavy, that He lifted the Govardhana Hill, and it rested on Krsna's finger continually for seven days. Just imagine how heavy He is. So in this way we have to understand Krsna. And if we understand Krsna from that spirit, from that angle of vision, then we become perfect. As it is said here, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. You become immortal. This is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah. If you simply understand Krsna in truth, not superficially, but in fact, then what is the result? The result is tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. Punar janma, punar janma, next, again if I take a material body, then again I'll have to die. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to die. Janma-mrtyu. One who is born, he must die. But here Krsna says, punar janma naiti. "No more birth." Then there is no more death. Because if there is birth, there is death, and if there is no birth, there is no death. That is immortality, amrta. That is amrtatva. So amrtatvaya kalpate. In another place Krsna says,
yam hi na vyathayanty ete
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate
We are disturbed by the bodily concepts of life, every one of us. Everyone is busy how to relieve the bodily pains and pleasures. That's all. The real pains and pleasure: that the living entity who has accepted this material body, he has to continue these pains and pleasure. That is explained in the Bhagavad, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. So you there is no science to give relief from janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. How can expect relief? It is temporary relief. So Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, we should not be disturbed by the temporary pains and pleasure.
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata
We should not be disturbed by these so-called bodily pains and pleasure. We can try, we can get as much... But this is not our business. Our business is how to get out of these clutches of birth and death. That is real business. That they do not know. Because they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals, they are busy for the temporary pains and pleasure. That's all.
So here it is said, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. That is knowledge. "I shall speak to you about that supreme knowledge." That supreme knowledge means if you simply try to understand Krsna, janma karma me divyam, why Krsna appears, janma karma, why He works like an ordinary human being... He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why he takes part in these ordinary activities? Just like Krsna took part in the Battle of Kuruksetra. He's Supreme Personality of Godhead; why should He take part in the battleground? Yes this is..., somebody, some section of people, they question like this. But He has his business. Because He comes, He has got His business. He says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come. My business is to reestablish the principle of life, religion."
Human life means religion. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. The cats and dogs, they have no religion. But if the human being has no religion, then he is no better than the cat and dog. Therefore all over the world, either he's a European or American or Indian or Canadian or Russian, everyone has got some religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Hinduism, Muslimism or Christianism. Because human society without religious conception -- religious conception means to understand God -- he's animal. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. So gradually, the whole world is becoming animal because they are rejecting religion. They are rejecting religion. Therefore Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Because these rascals, they give up religion and become animals and fight between themselves and make the whole world a confusion and chaos, therefore it is required that Krsna comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya. This is His duty. He has no duty, but it is His mercy that He comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya.
And what is that dharma? In the Bhagavata it is explained, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture a religious sect. That is rascaldom. Just like if you think, "I shall manufacture law at my home," is it possible? Who will care for your law? If the law is enacted by the state, that is accepted. The government says, "Keep to the left." You have to accept it. You cannot say, "No, why not to the right?" Then you'll be criminal. Similarly, laws means given by the government, and dharma means which is the codes given by God. That is dharma. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. That is religion. And Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come to reestablish. When people become cats and dogs without any religion, then I come down to establish religion." Because we are Krsna's sons, we are all sons of Krsna, He is very much anxious to see us happy. Just like father wants to see his sons, bewildered sons, to see that he is happy. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]. That is also the same thing. To deliver the righteous person and to kill the demons, the same thing, because Krsna is absolute. His maintaining the devotee and killing the demon, both of them are same thing.
Just like father. Father is giving some child, some son, nice sweetmeat, and the other son comes, "No you cannot take it." Does it mean that father is partial? No, father is kind both the child. He knows that he cannot eat. So similarly, two things are going on parallel. Some are punishments, some are maintenance by the laws of God, but he knows how to do it. We have to accept His law. That is... Tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamanah. Therefore a devotee is never disturbed by the so-called pains and pleasure of this world. He is never disturbed. He knows his duty, how to execute Krsna consciousness. That is real devotee. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam [Bg. 18.66].
So Krsna said that dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Then what is that dharma? He did not come here to reestablish Hinduism or Muslimism or Christianism. No. He came to give you real dharma. What is that? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. That is dharma, to surrender unto Krsna: "Krsna, I am eternally Your servant. I forgot You. Now I come to my senses. I surrender unto You." This is dharma. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. This sense, real sense, comes when after struggling, struggling for many, many births, one becomes wise. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan. Jnanavan means wise. Not fools and rascals. Jnanavan mam prapadyate: "He surrenders unto Me." So anyone who is surrendering to Krsna, taking to Krsna or devotional service fully, he is the most intelligent man. He's not cats and dogs or rascals. Because Krsna says, jnanavan. This is real knowledge. That will be explained.
Krsna says, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami "I shall speak to you what is the object of knowledge, ultimate objective of knowledge." Yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. If one can understand Krsna he gets eternal life. That is our aim of life. Not to remain within this material world, bhutva bhutva praliyate, take birth once and again die. This is done by the cats and dogs. Any animal, they do not know anything. They take birth and again die. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. You have to accept. So if in ignorance I take birth and again die, what is this life? Bhutva bhutva praliyate. That is no knowledge. Spoiling. This human form of life is the boon where you can make a solution simply by understanding Krsna. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. This is knowledge, how to become immortal, how to understand Krsna, how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of Krsna consciousness. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973
"Clutches Of Birth And Death" 73/10/06 Bombay, Bhagavad-gita 13.13
Pradyumna: (leads synonyms)
jneyam yat tat pravaksyami
yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute
anadimat param brahma
na sat tan nasad ucyate
"I shall now explain the knowable, knowing which you will taste the eternal. This is beginningless, and it is subordinate to Me. It is called Brahman, the spirit, and it lies beyond the cause and effect of this material world."
Prabhupada: So this chapter is explanation of the knower and knowledge... The knowledge, the chapter has already explained, in order to make progress in the line of knowledge there were about twenty items: amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. These are the process, not to become falsely proud of possessing knowledge. There are symptoms that who is actually in knowledge and those symptoms have been explained. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. The most important... Of course, all the items are very important. Still, approaching the acarya... [break] ...portion of Krsna. Racayitum jagad-anda-kotim. One portion, Paramatma. That Paramatma portion is the Maha-Visnu, Maha-Visnu lying on the Karanarnava, the Causal Ocean.
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.48]
That Maha-Visnu is lying on the Causal Ocean beyond this universe, on the border, there is a big ocean which is called Causal Ocean, karanodaka-jala. And there is Maha-Visnu lying, and from His breathing process, yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Jagad-anda-natha means Brahma. So that portion, eko 'py asau racayitum, He is the origin of universal, this material creation. Karanarnavasayi Visnu. From Him, the Garbhodakasayi Visnu comes out, and He enters in each and every universes. Garbhodakasayi Visnu. That Garbhodakasayi Visnu again expands as Ksirodakasayi Visnu. That Ksirodakasayi Visnu is within this universe. In each and every universe there is Visnu, Svetadvipa-loka where Ksirodakasayi Visnu is there, and that Ksirodakasayi Visnu enters within the heart of all living entities, Paramatma, Antaryami.
That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah andantara-stha... [Bs. 5.35]. He is not only within this universe, but He is also within the atom. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara... Paramanu means atom. In this way Lord Visnu is expanded, and He is jneyam, He is to be understood. Jnana, knowledge, simply material knowledge, is not perfection of knowledge. Real knowledge is to understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Visnu. That is real knowledge. That is explained here. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "I shall now explain to you what is the ultimate goal of knowledge." In other place, in the Fifteenth Chapter also, Krsna said,
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah...
[Bg. 15.15]
Krsna is within everyone's heart, sarvasya ca aham hrdi. This place, the particular place is also mentioned there. Hrdi, in the heart, He's there. Sannivistah. And from Him, mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. From Him, our remembrance, smrtir jnanam, knowledge, and forgetfulness -- everything is coming from Him. Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca. Therefore, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. One has to understand Krsna by studying Vedic literature. If he's missing Krsna, then srama eva hi kevalam, he's missing Krsna. That is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam,
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
Everyone has got particular type of occupational duty. That is called dharma. Dharma is not a faith. The particular duty... Just like you are a medical practitioner. So your dharma is to treat patients. That is your dharma. So everyone has got particular occupational duty. [break] Actually, what is going on as Hindu dharma... Actually, Hindu dharma this word is not there in the sastras. In the sastra it is called varnasrama-dharma. Four varnas: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra; and four asramas: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. These are called varnasrama-dharma. So in every varna, brahmana, his qualification is described in the sastra. Samo damas titiksa arjavam ksantir jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam. Similarly, ksatriya, vaisya. So by discharging one's occupational duty according to varna and asrama, if one does not understand Krsna, the Bhagavata says, srama eva hi kevalam. Then he's simply spoiling his time and wasting his labor. That's all.
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
This is the verdict of Vedic literature. He's simply laboring for nothing. One must know Krsna -- visvaksena-kathasu yah. Visvaksena, another name of Krsna, or Visnu, is visvaksena-katha. Just like we are speaking about Krsna, nobody is interested to come here. Nobody is interested. Visvaksena-kathasu notpadayed ratim. They will say, "Oh, I am busy with my occupational duty." But the human form of life is meant for increasing your interest in the matter of visvaksena-kathasu yah. This means krsna-katha.
This is the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya, His mission is this: He said,
yare dekha tare kaha ‘krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]
Krsna-upadesa. He says, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that "On My order, every one of My devotees, become a spiritual master." Amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. "You become a spiritual master and deliver all the people." By krsna-upadesa, you can deliver. People are suffering. Here also, the same thing is said. Jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. Amrtam. People are suffering. They do not know what is amrtatva. So 'mrtatvaya kalpate. This is the aim of life, to become immortal. That is wanted. One has to come to that platform of knowledge when one can achieve the perfection of life, amrtatva, immortality.
So Krsna says here that jneyam yat tat pravaksyami: "The ultimate goal of knowledge I will explain to you. Yaj jnatva: "If you can understand that knowledge, then," amrtam asnute, "if anyone can understand that knowledge, he becomes immortal." That is the problem. The process of knowledge... In that chapter it is already said that janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. The subject matter should be how to understand or how to get relief from the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. This is knowledge. And here also Krsna says again, anyone who comes to the ultimate goal of knowledge, then he becomes immortal.
Anadimat param brahma. Brahma, brahma-jnana. The brahma-jnana without knowledge of Krsna is not perfect knowledge. Generally, people are interested... (aside:) Give me water. In the impersonal Brahman, but without knowledge of Krsna that impersonal feature of Krsna, brahma-jnana, is also insufficient. They do not... That is not sufficient knowledge. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. Philosophical speculation or discussion should be to reach the ultimate goal of life. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. That is already explained. And what is that tattva? That is explained in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, what is tattva. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam [SB 1.2.11]. Tattva-vid, one who knows tattva, he can speak about tattva. Tattva means the Absolute Truth. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam. That thing is spoken as tattva, as the truth, by persons who are tattva-vid. Tattva-vid means one who knows the tattva. Unless one knows the thing, how he can explain? Therefore we have to understand the Absolute Truth from a person who knows it. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam [SB 1.2.11]. That knowledge is absolute, advayam, no relativity, absolute.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
That truth is explained as Brahman, as Paramatma, or as Bhagavan. The same thing. Just like we see the sun. The sun is a planet and there is a sun-god. Just like we have got also in each and every planet one chief person. Here we have got president. Formerly there was one president or king on this planet. Now they have now so many presidents. But according to God's plan, there is one president or king in each and every planet. So in the sun planet there is also one king or one chief person. His name is also given in the Bhagavad-gita, Vivasvan. If you accept Bhagavad-gita, then you have to accept all these things. You cannot make minus anything. That is not knowledge of Bhagavad-gita.
Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is. We cannot use the ardha-kukkuti-nyaya -- half. I take half of the hen. I take the rear part, and the front part I reject. This kind of logic, argument, will not be very successful. You have to take as it is, in toto, and you have to understand That is understanding of Bhagavad-gita. If you take something to your choice, that is useless, useless waste of time. Just like Mahatma Gandhi, he wanted to prove from Bhagavad-gita nonviolence. How it is possible? Bhagavad-gita is spoken in the battlefield. So in this way, if we try to understand Bhagavad-gita, it will be not Bhagavad-gita, it will be something else. We must understand Bhagavad-gita as it is. That is our preaching method. We are presenting Bhagavad-gita as it is all over the world. So we accept.
The modern theory, scientific theory, is that "The sun planet is only blazing fire. There cannot be any living entity." No, we don't believe that. Because sastra says that "The living entity is never burned." Acchedyo 'yam adahyo 'yam. Adahyah. Just like we sterilize by putting into the fire, but that does not mean the living entity is dead. No. Adahyo 'yam: "It cannot be burned into fire." Acchedyo 'yam: "It cannot be cut into pieces." This information we get from Bhagavad-gita. So in the sun planet, although it is blazing fire, there are living entities. They have got a particular type of body. That particular type of body is fiery. Just like you have got living entities in the sea. There are hundreds and thousands. Jalaja nava-laksani. There are nine lakhs, species of aquatic animals. But they are living in the water. They have got particular type of body. You cannot say, because you cannot live within the water, you cannot say, "No, no, there cannot be any living entity." This is nonsense. The living entities, another name is sarva-ga. He can live everywhere. It is not a fact that living entities live only in certain particular place. No. Sarva-ga, anywhere in God's creation there are living entities. This is shastric vision.
So in the sun planet also, there are living entities, cities, just like here. Otherwise how Krsna can say, imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham avyayam [Bg. 4.1]. Krsna is telling lie, that "I spoke this science of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god?" Now, according to our calculation nobody can go to the sun planet, and where is the scope of speaking there, and to whom speaking? But Krsna says, "Yes." Imam vivasvate yogam proktavan aham [Bg. 4.1], "I said," avyayam, "imperishable knowledge." Vivasvan manave praha. So from this version we can understand, in the sun planet there are living entities, and the chief man, or chief demigod, is the sun-god, whose name is Vivasvan. So his body must be fiery; otherwise how he can live there? And the inhabitants there also. So we are thinking from here that nobody can live there, but that's not the fact. We are calculating via our own experience. Therefore we cannot have perfect knowledge by speculating our experience. It is not possible. We must go to a person whose experience is beyond our experience. That is called guru. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Guru means heavy. If guru is as good as I am, then what is the use of taking knowledge from him? Guru must be heavier.
So who can become more heavier than Krsna? Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. There is nobody heavier. And Krsna proved it when He was a child. When He was a boy of seven years old He proved how heavy, that He lifted the Govardhana Hill, and it rested on Krsna's finger continually for seven days. Just imagine how heavy He is. So in this way we have to understand Krsna. And if we understand Krsna from that spirit, from that angle of vision, then we become perfect. As it is said here, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. You become immortal. This is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah. If you simply understand Krsna in truth, not superficially, but in fact, then what is the result? The result is tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. Punar janma, punar janma, next, again if I take a material body, then again I'll have to die. Anyone who has got this material body, he has to die. Janma-mrtyu. One who is born, he must die. But here Krsna says, punar janma naiti. "No more birth." Then there is no more death. Because if there is birth, there is death, and if there is no birth, there is no death. That is immortality, amrta. That is amrtatva. So amrtatvaya kalpate. In another place Krsna says,
yam hi na vyathayanty ete
purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so 'mrtatvaya kalpate
We are disturbed by the bodily concepts of life, every one of us. Everyone is busy how to relieve the bodily pains and pleasures. That's all. The real pains and pleasure: that the living entity who has accepted this material body, he has to continue these pains and pleasure. That is explained in the Bhagavad, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. So you there is no science to give relief from janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. How can expect relief? It is temporary relief. So Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, we should not be disturbed by the temporary pains and pleasure.
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata
We should not be disturbed by these so-called bodily pains and pleasure. We can try, we can get as much... But this is not our business. Our business is how to get out of these clutches of birth and death. That is real business. That they do not know. Because they have no knowledge. All fools and rascals, they are busy for the temporary pains and pleasure. That's all.
So here it is said, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. That is knowledge. "I shall speak to you about that supreme knowledge." That supreme knowledge means if you simply try to understand Krsna, janma karma me divyam, why Krsna appears, janma karma, why He works like an ordinary human being... He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why he takes part in these ordinary activities? Just like Krsna took part in the Battle of Kuruksetra. He's Supreme Personality of Godhead; why should He take part in the battleground? Yes this is..., somebody, some section of people, they question like this. But He has his business. Because He comes, He has got His business. He says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come. My business is to reestablish the principle of life, religion."
Human life means religion. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. The cats and dogs, they have no religion. But if the human being has no religion, then he is no better than the cat and dog. Therefore all over the world, either he's a European or American or Indian or Canadian or Russian, everyone has got some religion. It doesn't matter whether it is Hinduism, Muslimism or Christianism. Because human society without religious conception -- religious conception means to understand God -- he's animal. Dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah. So gradually, the whole world is becoming animal because they are rejecting religion. They are rejecting religion. Therefore Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Because these rascals, they give up religion and become animals and fight between themselves and make the whole world a confusion and chaos, therefore it is required that Krsna comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya. This is His duty. He has no duty, but it is His mercy that He comes. Dharma-samsthapanarthaya.
And what is that dharma? In the Bhagavata it is explained, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture a religious sect. That is rascaldom. Just like if you think, "I shall manufacture law at my home," is it possible? Who will care for your law? If the law is enacted by the state, that is accepted. The government says, "Keep to the left." You have to accept it. You cannot say, "No, why not to the right?" Then you'll be criminal. Similarly, laws means given by the government, and dharma means which is the codes given by God. That is dharma. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. That is religion. And Krsna says, dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge: "I come to reestablish. When people become cats and dogs without any religion, then I come down to establish religion." Because we are Krsna's sons, we are all sons of Krsna, He is very much anxious to see us happy. Just like father wants to see his sons, bewildered sons, to see that he is happy. Paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]. That is also the same thing. To deliver the righteous person and to kill the demons, the same thing, because Krsna is absolute. His maintaining the devotee and killing the demon, both of them are same thing.
Just like father. Father is giving some child, some son, nice sweetmeat, and the other son comes, "No you cannot take it." Does it mean that father is partial? No, father is kind both the child. He knows that he cannot eat. So similarly, two things are going on parallel. Some are punishments, some are maintenance by the laws of God, but he knows how to do it. We have to accept His law. That is... Tat te 'nukampam su-samiksamanah. Therefore a devotee is never disturbed by the so-called pains and pleasure of this world. He is never disturbed. He knows his duty, how to execute Krsna consciousness. That is real devotee. Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam [Bg. 18.66].
So Krsna said that dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge. Then what is that dharma? He did not come here to reestablish Hinduism or Muslimism or Christianism. No. He came to give you real dharma. What is that? Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. That is dharma, to surrender unto Krsna: "Krsna, I am eternally Your servant. I forgot You. Now I come to my senses. I surrender unto You." This is dharma. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. This sense, real sense, comes when after struggling, struggling for many, many births, one becomes wise. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan. Jnanavan means wise. Not fools and rascals. Jnanavan mam prapadyate: "He surrenders unto Me." So anyone who is surrendering to Krsna, taking to Krsna or devotional service fully, he is the most intelligent man. He's not cats and dogs or rascals. Because Krsna says, jnanavan. This is real knowledge. That will be explained.
Krsna says, jneyam yat tat pravaksyami "I shall speak to you what is the object of knowledge, ultimate objective of knowledge." Yaj jnatva 'mrtam asnute. If one can understand Krsna he gets eternal life. That is our aim of life. Not to remain within this material world, bhutva bhutva praliyate, take birth once and again die. This is done by the cats and dogs. Any animal, they do not know anything. They take birth and again die. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha dehantara-praptih [Bg. 2.13]. You have to accept. So if in ignorance I take birth and again die, what is this life? Bhutva bhutva praliyate. That is no knowledge. Spoiling. This human form of life is the boon where you can make a solution simply by understanding Krsna. Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. This is knowledge, how to become immortal, how to understand Krsna, how to go back to home, back to Godhead. That is the mission of Krsna consciousness. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.13 -- Bombay, October 6, 1973
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
"You Have To Approach An Acarya" 73/10/05 Bombay, Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12
Prabhupada: So we have been discussing for the last few days about the process of knowledge. So we have discussed already amanitvam, humbleness. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa. Ahimsa, non-violence. So ahimsa ksantih, tolerance, arjavam, simplicity. These things we have already discussed.
Now another important thing is acaryopasanam. If you want to make progress, then you have to approach acarya. Just like if you want to be educated, you go to school, you go to college, you go to university, similarly, if you want to be advanced in knowledge... knowledge means not this material knowledge. Actual knowledge is to advance in spiritual knowledge.
Just in this Bhagavad-gita the beginning of knowledge was instructed by Krsna that "I am not this body." Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara [Bg. 2.13]." I am encaged in this body. I am not this body. Unfortunately at the present moment, this is accepted knowledge, bodily concept. "I am." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brahmana," "I am ksatriya." This is going on. Actually the knowledge begins when one understands I am not American, "I am not Indian," I am not brahmana," "I am not ksatriya." Then what you are? Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanu-dasa: "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna, the provider of the gopis," Gopi-bhartuh. That is my real identification. Not this body.
So to understand this knowledge one has to approach acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, sastra. Asrnoti yah sastram. And practices and teaches his disciple. He knows. Acarya means knows. One who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, he practices in his life, and he teaches his disciple. He is called acarya. So acarya upasanam. Before worshiping the Lord... Just like here Krsna said in the beginning, acaryopasanam, and in the middle he says, mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. So before engaging yourself in devotional service to the Lord, you must first of all worship acarya, acaryopasanam. One cannot become a devotee personally. Just like some rascals say, "What is the use of accepting guru?" Of course, they have got very bad experience.
But who is acarya? Acarya means one who has received the Vedic knowledge through the parampara system. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. He is acarya. Acarya cannot be manufactured, self-made. No. He must come down from the disciplic succession. He is acarya. You have to approach such acarya who is coming in disciplic succession. acaryavan puruso veda. One who is under the shelter of acarya, he knows things. So Krsna recommends also here that if you actually want to become in knowledge, if you want to have real knowledge, then you must worship acarya. Acaryopasanam. This is Vedic system. Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12].
It is not that "If I like, I can go to a guru; if I don't like I can learn the books at home and learn everything." No, that is not possible. Practically... Just like if you purchase some medical book and study at home and if you begin to practice, you will be called a quack. You will not be recognized by the government. You will not get the practitioner's registration. You will not. Unless you have passed through the medical college, your medical examination, you will not be accepted, even if you say that "I have read all the books." Similarly, if you simply think that "I have read... As we see generally, "Oh, I have read Bhagavad-gita hundred times." But you ask him what is Krsna, he cannot say. Because he has not approached the acarya. This is the difficulty. He might have read Bhagavad-gita a thousand times, but he will not understand a single word because he has not approached.
Therefore Vedic literature says tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Abhigacchet." This word is used when the sense is "You must." This is vidhi-lin form of verb, gacchet, abhigacchet. You must. There is no excuse. You cannot learn. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. If you want to know uttamam subject matter... Ut, ut means udgatam, transcending. Tamah means this material world. This material world is tama, darkness. But if you are interested in the matter which is transcendental to this material world, that means spiritual world, then tasmad gurum prapadyeta, you must surrender to a guru.
Jijnasuh sreya uttamam. Not ordinary jijnasuh. Just like we go to the market, "What is the rate of this share? What is the rate of rice? What is the rate of dahl?" Not that kind of jij... Brahma jijnasuh. Athato brahma jijnasa. This human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, not this rice, dahl, share market. No.
So jijnasuh sreya uttamam, what is the highest perfection of life, he requires to approach a guru. It is not a fashion. It is not a fashion that "I have made my guru, such and such Swami." But what you have learned? You cannot learn because you are not at all jijnasuh. You do not know how to inquire, neither the guru you have met, he does know how to reply. Such kind of guru and disciple will not help. The disciple must be also serious to understand about the spiritual subject matter. That is knowledge, brahma-jijnasa. One who is inquisitive to know about the Absolute Truth, he requires to approach a guru. That is jnana. Jnana means brahma-jnana. Aham brahmasmi. This is jnana. And if I am American, that is not jnana. That is ajnana. "I am Indian," "I am brahmana," "I am this," "I am that," "I am black," "I am white," "I am fat," "I am thin." These are all ajnana, ignorance. You are neither fat nor thin nor black nor white nor American, but you are spirit soul. You have to know that. Aham brahmasmi: "I am spirit soul. I am eternal servant of Krsna." That is knowledge. And for this knowledge you must approach, acaryopasanam.
Saucam, cleanliness. That is very essential. This morning I was talking with Tamal Krsna Gosvami. Cleanliness is... As soon as you give up cleanliness, you become mleccha and yavana. Mleccha, yavana, these two names have come into Vedic sastras, one who is unclean." Why there was always misunderstanding between the Hindus and the Muslims? I am talking of practical life. Because the Muslims were very unclean and the Hindus are supposed... now Hindus are less than Muslim, less than Muslim. And still, they are claiming... Saucam. They are most unclean at the present moment, so deteriorated. Publicly it is being advertised, "Here is beef shop. Come on. Equality. Equality by eating beef, drinking wine." Now this is coming. Saucam. Saucam. Cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness. You must take twice bath at least. It is required. And in tropical countries like India, there is no difficulty taking bath three times. Of course, if your body does not permit... But that is Saucam, to clean. Saucam. Saucam bahyabhyantaram.
apavitrah pavitro va
sarvavastham gato 'pi va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahyabhyantaram sucih
The brahmana is called therefore suci. He is always clean, taking three times bath, cloth washed, mouth, hands, legs, all clean, with tilaka. That is brahmana. Saucam. This is externally. And internally you have to become also saucam. Bahyabhyantaram. Bahya mean externally you have to cleanse yourself with water, soap or earth. And internally you have to be cleansed by chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Because if you remain unclean within the heart, simply by washing your external body and cleansing your cloth, that is not complete cleanliness. That may be called hygienic. But real cleanliness is internally and externally. Yah smaret pundarikaksam sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. So you have to cleansed yourself externally and internally.
By remembering, yah smaret pundarikaksam, the lotus-eyed Krsna, if you always think, that is suci. And in Bengali there is a word, poetry, muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. If one is Krsna conscious, even if he is born in a cobbler's family, muci... In India there are two things, muci and suci. Suci means perfect brahmana, and muci means cobbler, the shoemaker. So muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. If one becomes Krsna conscious, even if he is born in the family of a muci, camara, he can become a brahmana. And suci haya muci haya yadi krsna tyaje. And if he gives up Krsna, even if he's born in a brahmana family, he becomes a muci.
Muci means the skin expert. If he is simply busy, "I am this skin, brahmana skin..." Your behavior? "No, that doesn't matter. So that means skin expert. Just like muci knows how to distinguish whether it is cow's skin or goat's skin or this skin.
No. One must be Krsna conscious. Then he is cleansed. Sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. Yah smaret pundarikaksam. This is Krsna consciousness. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. One who is always thinking of Krsna -- Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama -- he is suci. He is no more muci. Muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahah.
Controlling the senses, atma-vinigrahah. That is called swami, gosvami. If you can control your senses... Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam. If you can control your force of talking nonsense... Because generally we talk nonsense. So if you can control your talking of nonsense things, then you will become controller of talking. Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam. Naturally because we are generally affected with rajas-tamo-guna, raja-guna especially and tamo-guna, we become angry all of a sudden. So we have to control that. Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam manaso-vegam. Mind is very restless. So you have to control the mind. You cannot allow the mind to do anything and everything, but it must be controlled. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahah. Indriyarthesu vairagyam. Indriyarthesu.
For the matter of sense gratification you have to practice vairagya. Indriya. Our all the indriyas -- eyes, tongue, nose -- they are very much, I mean to say, affected or attracted. Eyes, always attracted by beauty. "I want to see very beautiful thing." But you can control the eyes when you practice to see the beautiful feature of Lord Krsna and Radharani. Therefore the Deity should be very nicely decorated so layman like us may be attracted by the beauty of Radha-Krsna. Gradually, he will forget to see any other beauty. This is the practice of indriyarthesu. Indriyarthesu vairagyam.
Actually the whole life is meant for understanding vairagya, renouncement. Human life is not meant for becoming more and more attached to the material enjoyment. Human life is meant for tapasya, vairagya. Here it is said, vairagyam, anahankara, and false prestige, false identification. "Oh, am this. I must do this." That is... In the beginning it is taught, amanitvam, anahankaram. And then janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. We are very much busy to make solution of the problems of life. Political problems, economical problems, social problems. They are also problems. But real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, that you have to take birth, you have to die, and when you are in life, you have to suffer from diseases, jara-vyadhi, and you have to become old. Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha. These are really problems. But who knows that these are the real problems? They have taken it, accepted it.
Krsna says, "This is knowledge." If you are scientifically advanced how to stop death, how to stop birth, how to stop old age, how to stop disease, then you should know that you have advanced in science. Otherwise what is this? If you have made a horseless carriage motorcar, that is not advancement. It is advancement, but it is not the solution of the problem. The solution of problem is, human life, is to how to stop death.
Therefore sastra says that nobody should become guru, nobody should become father, nobody should become husband -- in this way there is a list -- na mocayed yah samupetya mrtyum, if one cannot help his student or his son or his subordinate to stop death. Actually this is the problem Na mocayed yah samupetya mrtyum. We are under the clutches of death. "It is as sure as death." So this human life is meant for stopping this death. But if you don't see that this is the problem, that is ajnana. That is ignorance. If you don't accept this is the problem, if you simply think "My problem is how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life, how to defend... These problems are already solved, even by the birds and the beasts. These are not the problems. They are already set up. Real problem is here: janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam.
Another problem is asaktih. We are very much attached to our so-called home, so-called wife, children. And here is, jnana means that asaktir anabhisvangah, asaktir. You should, therefore, at a certain age, according to Vedic civilization, one is forced to give up this attachment. Naturally, one is attached to wife, children, home. But Vedic civilization says, that is all right from... Up to fifty years, you can remain attached. But pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. After your fiftieth year, you must give up your family life. Vanam vrajet. Go to the forest for tapasya. That was the system. Here at the present moment, everywhere, all over the world, when he is going to die, still he is attached to his political life, social life, family life. That is not knowledge. That is ignorance. You must be detached. Vairagyam. Anabhisvangah. Putra-dara-grhadisu. Family life. Putra means children. Dara means wife. Grha means home. Putra-dara-grhadisu. Asaktir anabhisvangah. Nityam ca sama-cittatvam istanistopapattisu.
In this way you have to be situated on the devotional service. Devotional service is not sentiment. Just like Krsna, after describing so many stages of advancement of knowledge, then he says, mayi ca ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. Ananya-yogena. Always... Yoga means linking up. Always linking up with Krsna. Mayi. Krsna says mayi, "Unto Me, Krsna." Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena. So you can become attached with Krsna if you are dovetailed in the service of Krsna, not casually, but constantly. Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena avyabhicarini. Acyabhicarini means without break, always, constantly. Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah [Bg. 9.14].
In another place Krsna says, satatam kirtayanto mam [Bg. 9.14], "always glorifying Me." This is Krsna consciousness movement. Always we have to glorify Krsna. We should go, meet people, preach, and glorify Krsna. We beg for Krsna. We print books for Krsna. We distribute book for Krsna. We type for Krsna. We eat for Krsna. We sleep for Krsna. So everything should be dovetailed with Krsna. That is called ananya-yogena, without any break, constantly, twenty-four hours in Krsna consciousness. Avyabhicarini.
Vivikta-desa-sevitvam aratir jana-samsadi [Bg. 13.11]. Aratir jana-samsadi, not very much attached with general public, because they are not Krsna conscious. We can meet them as far as possible, as far as required. Not that we have to sit down and talk all nonsense with these general people. No. Aratir jana-samsadi, and vivikta-desa-sevitvam [Bg. 13.11]. Naturally, we shall be inclined to avoid such company. But preaching work, we have to go. Not to associate with him, but to give your association to him. That should be the principle. Because you have learned something about devotional service, you should give your experience to such person, but not to accept their behavior. If you keep this in view, then you will be preacher. And if you become victimized by his association, then you are doomed. You should give him the opportunity of your association, whatever you know, whatever you have learned about bhakti-yoga. When you go to meet a person, you should try to inform him, "This is Krsna consciousness. You also take to it." As Caitanya Mahaprabhu... Yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna-upadesa' [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna-upadesa'.
This is real business. Adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam. Spiritual knowledge. That is eternal knowledge. It will not break. If you learn spiritual knowledge, a little of it in this life, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat, then you will be saved from the greatest danger. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. If you want to become philosopher, then you philosophize for understanding the tattva-jnana. And what is tattva-jnana?
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
That is tattva-jnana. Truth. What is that truth? Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti. To understand about Brahman, to understand about Paramatma, to understand about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is tattva-jnana.
So if you want to become philosopher, then philosophically you try to understand what is brahma-tattva, what is Paramatma-tattva, what is Bhagavan-tattva. Etaj jnanam, this is jnana. Not these degrees, MA, Phd. These are all decoration of the dead body. If you do not understand what is the value of life, you do not understand what is tattva, what is Brahman, what is Paramatma, what is God, if you do not become cleansed, if you do not become a devotee, as they are stated, if you have no acarya, you have no guru, then you are in darkness. Krsna concludes here. Etaj jnanam, "All these items described, this is jnanam." Iti proktam. It is accepted, prokta. Ajnanam yad ato 'nyatha: "And just any other thing besides these things, they are ajnanam."
So you compare. You call any educated person. Just like I told you several times, that that Professor Kotovsky, big man in Russia, he said "That there is no life. After finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see how much ajnanam. He does not know. So the whole world is going on under ajnanam. If they accept this Krsna consciousness movement, there is chance of having jnanam. Otherwise they remain in ajnanam. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973
Now another important thing is acaryopasanam. If you want to make progress, then you have to approach acarya. Just like if you want to be educated, you go to school, you go to college, you go to university, similarly, if you want to be advanced in knowledge... knowledge means not this material knowledge. Actual knowledge is to advance in spiritual knowledge.
Just in this Bhagavad-gita the beginning of knowledge was instructed by Krsna that "I am not this body." Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara [Bg. 2.13]." I am encaged in this body. I am not this body. Unfortunately at the present moment, this is accepted knowledge, bodily concept. "I am." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brahmana," "I am ksatriya." This is going on. Actually the knowledge begins when one understands I am not American, "I am not Indian," I am not brahmana," "I am not ksatriya." Then what you are? Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanu-dasa: "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krsna, the provider of the gopis," Gopi-bhartuh. That is my real identification. Not this body.
So to understand this knowledge one has to approach acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, sastra. Asrnoti yah sastram. And practices and teaches his disciple. He knows. Acarya means knows. One who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, he practices in his life, and he teaches his disciple. He is called acarya. So acarya upasanam. Before worshiping the Lord... Just like here Krsna said in the beginning, acaryopasanam, and in the middle he says, mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. So before engaging yourself in devotional service to the Lord, you must first of all worship acarya, acaryopasanam. One cannot become a devotee personally. Just like some rascals say, "What is the use of accepting guru?" Of course, they have got very bad experience.
But who is acarya? Acarya means one who has received the Vedic knowledge through the parampara system. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. He is acarya. Acarya cannot be manufactured, self-made. No. He must come down from the disciplic succession. He is acarya. You have to approach such acarya who is coming in disciplic succession. acaryavan puruso veda. One who is under the shelter of acarya, he knows things. So Krsna recommends also here that if you actually want to become in knowledge, if you want to have real knowledge, then you must worship acarya. Acaryopasanam. This is Vedic system. Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12].
It is not that "If I like, I can go to a guru; if I don't like I can learn the books at home and learn everything." No, that is not possible. Practically... Just like if you purchase some medical book and study at home and if you begin to practice, you will be called a quack. You will not be recognized by the government. You will not get the practitioner's registration. You will not. Unless you have passed through the medical college, your medical examination, you will not be accepted, even if you say that "I have read all the books." Similarly, if you simply think that "I have read... As we see generally, "Oh, I have read Bhagavad-gita hundred times." But you ask him what is Krsna, he cannot say. Because he has not approached the acarya. This is the difficulty. He might have read Bhagavad-gita a thousand times, but he will not understand a single word because he has not approached.
Therefore Vedic literature says tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Abhigacchet." This word is used when the sense is "You must." This is vidhi-lin form of verb, gacchet, abhigacchet. You must. There is no excuse. You cannot learn. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. If you want to know uttamam subject matter... Ut, ut means udgatam, transcending. Tamah means this material world. This material world is tama, darkness. But if you are interested in the matter which is transcendental to this material world, that means spiritual world, then tasmad gurum prapadyeta, you must surrender to a guru.
Jijnasuh sreya uttamam. Not ordinary jijnasuh. Just like we go to the market, "What is the rate of this share? What is the rate of rice? What is the rate of dahl?" Not that kind of jij... Brahma jijnasuh. Athato brahma jijnasa. This human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, not this rice, dahl, share market. No.
So jijnasuh sreya uttamam, what is the highest perfection of life, he requires to approach a guru. It is not a fashion. It is not a fashion that "I have made my guru, such and such Swami." But what you have learned? You cannot learn because you are not at all jijnasuh. You do not know how to inquire, neither the guru you have met, he does know how to reply. Such kind of guru and disciple will not help. The disciple must be also serious to understand about the spiritual subject matter. That is knowledge, brahma-jijnasa. One who is inquisitive to know about the Absolute Truth, he requires to approach a guru. That is jnana. Jnana means brahma-jnana. Aham brahmasmi. This is jnana. And if I am American, that is not jnana. That is ajnana. "I am Indian," "I am brahmana," "I am this," "I am that," "I am black," "I am white," "I am fat," "I am thin." These are all ajnana, ignorance. You are neither fat nor thin nor black nor white nor American, but you are spirit soul. You have to know that. Aham brahmasmi: "I am spirit soul. I am eternal servant of Krsna." That is knowledge. And for this knowledge you must approach, acaryopasanam.
Saucam, cleanliness. That is very essential. This morning I was talking with Tamal Krsna Gosvami. Cleanliness is... As soon as you give up cleanliness, you become mleccha and yavana. Mleccha, yavana, these two names have come into Vedic sastras, one who is unclean." Why there was always misunderstanding between the Hindus and the Muslims? I am talking of practical life. Because the Muslims were very unclean and the Hindus are supposed... now Hindus are less than Muslim, less than Muslim. And still, they are claiming... Saucam. They are most unclean at the present moment, so deteriorated. Publicly it is being advertised, "Here is beef shop. Come on. Equality. Equality by eating beef, drinking wine." Now this is coming. Saucam. Saucam. Cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness. You must take twice bath at least. It is required. And in tropical countries like India, there is no difficulty taking bath three times. Of course, if your body does not permit... But that is Saucam, to clean. Saucam. Saucam bahyabhyantaram.
apavitrah pavitro va
sarvavastham gato 'pi va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahyabhyantaram sucih
The brahmana is called therefore suci. He is always clean, taking three times bath, cloth washed, mouth, hands, legs, all clean, with tilaka. That is brahmana. Saucam. This is externally. And internally you have to become also saucam. Bahyabhyantaram. Bahya mean externally you have to cleanse yourself with water, soap or earth. And internally you have to be cleansed by chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Because if you remain unclean within the heart, simply by washing your external body and cleansing your cloth, that is not complete cleanliness. That may be called hygienic. But real cleanliness is internally and externally. Yah smaret pundarikaksam sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. So you have to cleansed yourself externally and internally.
By remembering, yah smaret pundarikaksam, the lotus-eyed Krsna, if you always think, that is suci. And in Bengali there is a word, poetry, muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. If one is Krsna conscious, even if he is born in a cobbler's family, muci... In India there are two things, muci and suci. Suci means perfect brahmana, and muci means cobbler, the shoemaker. So muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. If one becomes Krsna conscious, even if he is born in the family of a muci, camara, he can become a brahmana. And suci haya muci haya yadi krsna tyaje. And if he gives up Krsna, even if he's born in a brahmana family, he becomes a muci.
Muci means the skin expert. If he is simply busy, "I am this skin, brahmana skin..." Your behavior? "No, that doesn't matter. So that means skin expert. Just like muci knows how to distinguish whether it is cow's skin or goat's skin or this skin.
No. One must be Krsna conscious. Then he is cleansed. Sa bahyabhyantaram sucih. Yah smaret pundarikaksam. This is Krsna consciousness. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. One who is always thinking of Krsna -- Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama -- he is suci. He is no more muci. Muci haya suci haya yadi krsna bhaje. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahah.
Controlling the senses, atma-vinigrahah. That is called swami, gosvami. If you can control your senses... Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam. If you can control your force of talking nonsense... Because generally we talk nonsense. So if you can control your talking of nonsense things, then you will become controller of talking. Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam. Naturally because we are generally affected with rajas-tamo-guna, raja-guna especially and tamo-guna, we become angry all of a sudden. So we have to control that. Vaco-vegam krodha-vegam manaso-vegam. Mind is very restless. So you have to control the mind. You cannot allow the mind to do anything and everything, but it must be controlled. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahah. Indriyarthesu vairagyam. Indriyarthesu.
For the matter of sense gratification you have to practice vairagya. Indriya. Our all the indriyas -- eyes, tongue, nose -- they are very much, I mean to say, affected or attracted. Eyes, always attracted by beauty. "I want to see very beautiful thing." But you can control the eyes when you practice to see the beautiful feature of Lord Krsna and Radharani. Therefore the Deity should be very nicely decorated so layman like us may be attracted by the beauty of Radha-Krsna. Gradually, he will forget to see any other beauty. This is the practice of indriyarthesu. Indriyarthesu vairagyam.
Actually the whole life is meant for understanding vairagya, renouncement. Human life is not meant for becoming more and more attached to the material enjoyment. Human life is meant for tapasya, vairagya. Here it is said, vairagyam, anahankara, and false prestige, false identification. "Oh, am this. I must do this." That is... In the beginning it is taught, amanitvam, anahankaram. And then janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. We are very much busy to make solution of the problems of life. Political problems, economical problems, social problems. They are also problems. But real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, that you have to take birth, you have to die, and when you are in life, you have to suffer from diseases, jara-vyadhi, and you have to become old. Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha. These are really problems. But who knows that these are the real problems? They have taken it, accepted it.
Krsna says, "This is knowledge." If you are scientifically advanced how to stop death, how to stop birth, how to stop old age, how to stop disease, then you should know that you have advanced in science. Otherwise what is this? If you have made a horseless carriage motorcar, that is not advancement. It is advancement, but it is not the solution of the problem. The solution of problem is, human life, is to how to stop death.
Therefore sastra says that nobody should become guru, nobody should become father, nobody should become husband -- in this way there is a list -- na mocayed yah samupetya mrtyum, if one cannot help his student or his son or his subordinate to stop death. Actually this is the problem Na mocayed yah samupetya mrtyum. We are under the clutches of death. "It is as sure as death." So this human life is meant for stopping this death. But if you don't see that this is the problem, that is ajnana. That is ignorance. If you don't accept this is the problem, if you simply think "My problem is how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life, how to defend... These problems are already solved, even by the birds and the beasts. These are not the problems. They are already set up. Real problem is here: janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam.
Another problem is asaktih. We are very much attached to our so-called home, so-called wife, children. And here is, jnana means that asaktir anabhisvangah, asaktir. You should, therefore, at a certain age, according to Vedic civilization, one is forced to give up this attachment. Naturally, one is attached to wife, children, home. But Vedic civilization says, that is all right from... Up to fifty years, you can remain attached. But pancasordhvam vanam vrajet. After your fiftieth year, you must give up your family life. Vanam vrajet. Go to the forest for tapasya. That was the system. Here at the present moment, everywhere, all over the world, when he is going to die, still he is attached to his political life, social life, family life. That is not knowledge. That is ignorance. You must be detached. Vairagyam. Anabhisvangah. Putra-dara-grhadisu. Family life. Putra means children. Dara means wife. Grha means home. Putra-dara-grhadisu. Asaktir anabhisvangah. Nityam ca sama-cittatvam istanistopapattisu.
In this way you have to be situated on the devotional service. Devotional service is not sentiment. Just like Krsna, after describing so many stages of advancement of knowledge, then he says, mayi ca ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. Ananya-yogena. Always... Yoga means linking up. Always linking up with Krsna. Mayi. Krsna says mayi, "Unto Me, Krsna." Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena. So you can become attached with Krsna if you are dovetailed in the service of Krsna, not casually, but constantly. Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena avyabhicarini. Acyabhicarini means without break, always, constantly. Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah [Bg. 9.14].
In another place Krsna says, satatam kirtayanto mam [Bg. 9.14], "always glorifying Me." This is Krsna consciousness movement. Always we have to glorify Krsna. We should go, meet people, preach, and glorify Krsna. We beg for Krsna. We print books for Krsna. We distribute book for Krsna. We type for Krsna. We eat for Krsna. We sleep for Krsna. So everything should be dovetailed with Krsna. That is called ananya-yogena, without any break, constantly, twenty-four hours in Krsna consciousness. Avyabhicarini.
Vivikta-desa-sevitvam aratir jana-samsadi [Bg. 13.11]. Aratir jana-samsadi, not very much attached with general public, because they are not Krsna conscious. We can meet them as far as possible, as far as required. Not that we have to sit down and talk all nonsense with these general people. No. Aratir jana-samsadi, and vivikta-desa-sevitvam [Bg. 13.11]. Naturally, we shall be inclined to avoid such company. But preaching work, we have to go. Not to associate with him, but to give your association to him. That should be the principle. Because you have learned something about devotional service, you should give your experience to such person, but not to accept their behavior. If you keep this in view, then you will be preacher. And if you become victimized by his association, then you are doomed. You should give him the opportunity of your association, whatever you know, whatever you have learned about bhakti-yoga. When you go to meet a person, you should try to inform him, "This is Krsna consciousness. You also take to it." As Caitanya Mahaprabhu... Yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna-upadesa' [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna-upadesa'.
This is real business. Adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam. Spiritual knowledge. That is eternal knowledge. It will not break. If you learn spiritual knowledge, a little of it in this life, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat, then you will be saved from the greatest danger. Tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. If you want to become philosopher, then you philosophize for understanding the tattva-jnana. And what is tattva-jnana?
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]
That is tattva-jnana. Truth. What is that truth? Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti. To understand about Brahman, to understand about Paramatma, to understand about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is tattva-jnana.
So if you want to become philosopher, then philosophically you try to understand what is brahma-tattva, what is Paramatma-tattva, what is Bhagavan-tattva. Etaj jnanam, this is jnana. Not these degrees, MA, Phd. These are all decoration of the dead body. If you do not understand what is the value of life, you do not understand what is tattva, what is Brahman, what is Paramatma, what is God, if you do not become cleansed, if you do not become a devotee, as they are stated, if you have no acarya, you have no guru, then you are in darkness. Krsna concludes here. Etaj jnanam, "All these items described, this is jnanam." Iti proktam. It is accepted, prokta. Ajnanam yad ato 'nyatha: "And just any other thing besides these things, they are ajnanam."
So you compare. You call any educated person. Just like I told you several times, that that Professor Kotovsky, big man in Russia, he said "That there is no life. After finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see how much ajnanam. He does not know. So the whole world is going on under ajnanam. If they accept this Krsna consciousness movement, there is chance of having jnanam. Otherwise they remain in ajnanam. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 5, 1973
Monday, August 1, 2011
"How To Go Beyond Your Destiny" 73/10/02 Bombay, Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12
Prabhupada: So we have discussed about the body, ksetra. The question of Arjuna was ksetra, ksetrajna, jnanam, and jneyam. Now ksetra, we have discussed yesterday. Ksetra, this body, is combination of "the five great elements, false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptom, and convictions -- all these are considered in summary to be the field of activities." Yesterday we have discussed.
So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter. Similarly, this body we are utilizing.
We can practically see. Everyone is working with this body in Bombay city. A very poor man is also in Bombay city, and a very rich man is also there. Both of them have the same facilities to work, but we find that one man is working very hard day and night. Hardly he is getting his morsel of food. Another man, simply by going, sitting in the office, earning thousands and thousands. Why? Because the difference of the field of activities. The body is different. Because one has got a certain type of body, his destination is already there. Karmana daiva-netrena jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. We can study this thing, that somebody is living in a poor slum and another man is living in a very palatial building. So simply by endeavoring that "I shall live in a palatial building, and I shall not live in this poor slumhole," it is not possible because the destiny is there. Therefore the body is made according to our past karma, and that is called destiny. Your happiness and distress according to the body is already settled up. It is not possible by natural way to improve or disimprove it. It is already settled up. Therefore sastra says,
tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa
The human life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth. The next paragraph, that describes how one can understand the Absolute Truth. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. So our life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth, not for economic development. Economic development, what is already destined, you cannot improve less or more. It is already settled up.
There are so many examples. Just like a pig has got a body. He likes to eat stool. If you give him halava, that "Don't eat stool. Take this nice halava," he's not interested because he has got a particular type of body. That is the aggregate. That is already explained. Maha-bhutany ahankaro buddhir avyaktam (eva) ca, iccha dvesah sukham duhkham. Iccha dvesah. The iccha and dvesa according to the body. He has got the desire to eat the stool. That is his iccha. And he has got a dvesa for the halava, while a gentlemen, advanced gentlemen, he has got the iccha for halava, not for the stool.
Therefore our duty should be that without trying... That was Indian civilization. Everyone was happy in his position, everyone -- brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. The culture was so nice that nobody was unhappy, even if he is a sudra or even if he is a vaisya or a brahmana or ksatriya. It is not that because the ksatriyas, the royal family, they were happy, and the brahmanas were not happy or the sudras were not happy. No. Everyone was happy because... Still in India you go to the village. They are happy with their destination. This is the Indian culture. Now we are injecting discontentment, injecting. Otherwise everyone was happy in his position: "God has given this position. So this is all right. Let me do my work." That is satisfaction. Everyone was satisfied.
Still it is going on, although great propaganda is going on to kill the Vedic culture. Just as some in 1971, we attended the Maghamela. In 1971? Or which year? That Allahabad Maghamela.
Devotee: '71.
Prabhupada: Yes. So people were coming there, thousands and thousands, to take a bath in the Ganges, and they were happy. There in Calcutta there was an Indo-American society. I was invited to speak there. So they gave me the subject matter, "East and West." So... (aside:) Don't do... So far we are concerned, we have no such distinction, "East and West." We know that everyone is human being, and everyone, every living entity, not only the human being, even the birds, beasts, animals, trees, everyone, a living entity is part and parcel of God, Krsna. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. So everyone is in ignorance. That is our concern.
Our propaganda is not for the East and the West, but our fight is with the ignorance of the people because at the present moment people are kept in ignorance, in foolishness, that he is this body, bodily identification. But still, there is difference between East and West. In the West, I have talked with big, big professors, learned scholars. They have no idea of next life.
I talked with Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He said, "Swamiji, after annihilation of this body, everything is finished." They have no idea that there is soul. And in India even the poorest man, he knows that, "There is next life. I existed in the past, and I will exist in the future." This Vedic conclusion is known even to the poorest man, illiterate man. That is, of course, the difference between East and West.
So anyway, our position is that we should not identify this body as self. Krsna says here that
adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam
tattva-jnanartha-darsanam
etaj jnanam iti proktam
ajnanam yad atah anyatha
Adhyatma-jnanam, to understand oneself as the spirit soul, that jnanam. Adhyatma-jnanam, tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. Philosophy should be utilized. Logic and philosophy should be utilized for self-realization, not for simply mental speculation.
We find nowadays, big, big philosophers write volumes of book, simply theorizing without any understanding of the spirit soul. Big, big philosopher. And Krsna says that if one simply puts philosophical theories for some utopian ideas, "Now time is coming which will be like this, like that." No. Time is there already. You cannot manufacture time like this or like that. It will go on. It is eternal. It is eternal.
Just like Krsna has said in the second chapter of Bhagavad-gita that "Arjuna, you and me and all the soldiers and kings who have assembled here, it is not that we did not exist in the past. We are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." So this eternity of the soul we do not know. We are simply identifying ourself with this body, and we are simply interested for the bodily comforts of life. This is the civilization, going on.
So although we have got this Bhagavad-gita, at least in India the education should have been on the line of Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of the people of India. Unfortunately nobody is taking care. Even though there are some propaganda of understanding Bhagavad-gita, they are interpreting in their own way to fulfill their own ambition. This is going on. So here Krsna says, amanitvam, amanitvam. What is that amanitvam? Read the purport.
Pradyumna: Purport?
Prabhupada: Yes. [break] That is mentioned here. The central point of process of knowledge is mentioned here, Mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. One has to be fixed up on this point. There are eighteen different description of the process of knowledge, but the central point is mayi ca. Mayi ca. Ca means... That is the main point. Without Krsna, if you simply try to become elevated in knowledge, that will not stand. That will not stand. Therefore Krsna says mayi ca. Mayi cananya-yogena. Ananya-yogena means without any deviation. Ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. Without any deviation. Avyabhicarini means without any disturbance. Ananya-bhakti. In another place Krsna says, api cet su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak.
api cet su-duracaro
bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah
samyag vyavasito hi sah
[Bg. 9.30]
The central point is bhagavad-bhakti. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah. If one is not a devotee of the Lord, Krsna harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah -- he cannot possess any great qualities. That is not possible. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah.
We have seen practically. Just like Ravana. Ravana was a great personality, a great devotee of Lord Siva also, and materially his kingdom was very much advanced. It is said that Lanka was made of gold. Actually there were many palaces. And he was a very big Vedic scholar also. But one thing, that he was against Rama... And for this disqualification he is still described as asura, raksasa. So harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah mano-rathenasato dhavato bahih. If one is not devotee of the Lord, he will simply concoct on the mental platform. So that will not make.
Ravana also wanted to make a staircase to go directly to the heavenly planet. Just like we are. At the present moment, we are trying to go directly to the moon planet by sputnik. But it has failed. It is not possible. In that way we cannot go. If we want to go to another planet, the process is described in the Bhagavad-gita: yanti deva-vrata devan pirn yanti pitr-vratah [Bg. 9.25]. If you want to go to the higher planetary system, then that particular devata, Indraloka, Candraloka. The moon planet is Candraloka. That is also considered as one of the heavenly planets. So you have to prepare yourself by karma-kandiya activities. Then you can go there by... After this body is finished, you immediately transfer to certain planet where you want to go.
Similarly, if you want to go to the planet where Krsna lives, Goloka Vrndavana...
goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya
devi-mahesa-hari-dhamasu tesu tesu
te te prabhava-nicaya vihitas ca yena
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.43]
There is... Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo vyaktyavyakta-sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. They are described in the Bhagavad-gita that "Beyond this material nature there is another nature. That is called sanatana." Paras tasmat tu bhava. Bhava means svabhava or nature. As you see this material nature... Although you are seeing, you cannot go. You are so limited, conditioned. You see so many planets twinkling at night, but there is no possibility of going there.
You cannot go to the nearest planet, even the moon planet, by your mechanical arrangement. The modern scientists, the sputniks experts, they say to go the topmost planet of this universe it will take forty thousands of years. Who is going for forty thousand, flying forty thousands of years and again come back and see you: "Yes, I went to such and such planet." Is it possible? So we are so poor. It is not possible in that way.
So this is the position of our going to the material planets, and what to speak of the spiritual planets? That is far, far away. You cannot travel within the space of material world.
panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo
vayor athapi manaso muni-pungavanam
so 'py asti yat prapada-simny avicintya-tattve
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs 5.34]
Panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara. Not only one year, two years, three years or forty thousand years. Koti-sata-vatsara. Koti, you know, one hundred times lakhs makes koti and again multiply it by hundred. Koti-sata-vatsara. And the speed. What is the speed of that aeroplane? Panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo vayor athapi. Aeroplane. Vayur manasah. And with the speed of mind. Airplane running with the speed of mind. You know what is the speed of mind. You are sitting here, and within a second your mind can go some ten thousand miles away, within a second. So even with that speed and running on, koti-sata-vatsara, you cannot go to the spiritual planet. This is the position. So 'py asti yat prapada-simny-avicintya-tattve. So in that way you cannot go.
But you can go if you prepare yourself. Mad-yajino 'pi yanti mam. Mad-yajino. Those who are devotees of the Lord, Mad-yajinah That is the principle of Bhagavad-gita: man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji. Mad-yaji. "You worship Me." So mad-yajino 'pi yanti mam. You can go to the Krsna planet. Goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya [Bs. 5.43]. The Krsna-dhama is described in the sastra, Brahma-samhita,
cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.29]
There is the Goloka Vrndavana planet. That Goloka Vrndavana planet is the topmost planet. This material world, then you'll get spiritual world. Then spiritual world, as you have got in this material world, this is only one universe. There are millions of universes, even within this material world.
Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya. People claim. Some rascal claim, "I am God." So here is a description of God. Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Jagad-anda-nathah means Brahma. You have understood Brahma's duration of life. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmano viduh. The Brahma's one day, twelve hours, you cannot calculate. Sahasra-yuga-par... Yuga means forty-three lakhs of years and multiply it by one thousand, and then it comes to be twelve hours of Brahma's ayuh. Such Brahma lives only...yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya [Bs. 5.48]. Maha-Visnu is exhaling and inhaling. When he is inhaling, so many Brahmas are going within, and when He is exhaling, so many Brahmas are coming, means so many brahmandas are coming. This is the position.
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.48]
That Maha-Visnu is partial representation of Govinda. Govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **. So this is called knowledge. One has to know what is God, what is the nature of God. So one has...
The first qualification is amanitvam. Don't be puffed up with your false knowledge. Having this little degree from the university, you are thinking that you have become so learned, you don't care for God even. This is nonsense. Therefore first qualification to get progress in knowledge is amanitvam, amanitvam. Don't be proud falsely. Our present education is simply teaching people how to become falsely proud. Just like here is, Bhagavad-gita is going on. They are falsely proud: "Oh, what you have to learn here? We know everything. We know everything. We are M.A., Ph.D., that's all. We have finished already this." Therefore the first thing is amanitvam, pridelessness. Go on reading the purport.
Pradyumna: "So if one does not approach or is not able to approach the transcendental service of the Lord, then the other nineteen items are of no particular value. But if one takes to devotional service in full Krsna consciousness, the other nineteen items automatically develop within him."
Prabhupada: Yes. This is the central point. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincanah sarvair gunair tatra samasate surah. All the qualities of the demigods, sura... Sura and asura. Sura means demigods or gods, and asura means demons. So if one becomes devotee of Krsna... Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincanah. Akincana. Pridelessness. Akincana. Krsna's another name is Akincana-gocara. He can be understood by akincana, one who thinks himself as very humble, meek. That is also said in the Bible, that one has to become meek and humble. Then he can understand. And that is also Krsna demanding, that "First surrender. Become humble and meek." This is the verdict of all Vedic sastras.
Jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam. This is the statement of Brahma, that one should give up the nonsense process of mental speculation, "God may be like this; God may be like that." No. God is not manufactured by your mental speculation. God is God always, Krsna. Krsna is God from the childhood. When He was three months old He demonstrated His godly powers. He immediately killed Sakatasura. He immediately killed Putana. So He did not become God by meditation, manufactured in some mystic factory. God is God. God is always God. Even when He is child, when He is young man, when He is a boy. Krsna, when He was a boy of seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. That is God. Not that "Here is a man. By mystic power He has become God." No. That God is different God. Real God is always God.
So akincana-gocara. That real God can be realized by a person who is humble and meek. Amanitvam adambhitvam. Go on. "Krsna consciousness. The other nineteen items automatically develop." Yasyasti bhaktir-bhagavaty akincanah sarvair gunair tatra samasate surah. Automatically. Yasmin vijnate sarvam etam vijnatam bhavanti. This is the Vedic assertion. If you simply understand one, that Krsna, then you understand everything. Just like in Bhagavad-gita. If you try to understand Krsna, you get all the knowledge -- material, spiritual, everything. Practically. Yasmin vijnate sarvam idam vijnatam bhavanti. Go on.
Pradyumna: "The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the seventh verse, is essential."
Prabhupada: Yes. That knowledge has to be acquired. Acaryopasanam. Here it is said. You have to worship acarya. Acaryavan puruso veda. One who has accepted... Narottama dasa Thakura has also said, asraya loiya bhaje krsna tare nahi tyaje ara saba more akarana. Asraya. You have to take shelter. Evam parampara praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2].
And Arjuna also said, sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam. Sisyas te... Acarya, acaryopasanam. Krsna and Arjuna, two friends. There was no need of accepting Krsna as Arjuna's spiritual master. Still, he is accepting officially. Sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam: "I am accepting You as my spiritual master. Please teach me." So this is essential. Acaryopasanam.
Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. This is Vedic instruction. If you at all interested in the understanding of spiritual subject matter, then you must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet. Abhigacchet means must. It is not that if you like, you can go; if you do not like, you do not. No, you must. Abhigacchet. Samit-pani srotriyam brahma-nistam. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. It is not a fashion to accept one guru. If you are actually interested, sreya uttamam, the highest perfection of life -- tasmad gurum prapadyeta -- then you have to accept a guru. This is called acaryopasanam.
Even Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted Sandipani Muni as teacher, master. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He is also incarnation of Krsna, but He accepted Isvara Puri as His guru. They do not require guru, but just to keep pace with the official program, even God personally, He accepted spiritual master. So this is essential. Acaryopasanam.
To become humble, meek, ahimsa, non-violence, santi, tolerance. In this way you have to make progress. The other items will be described by and by. We have to... Yes. Tomorrow we shall describe. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973
So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter. Similarly, this body we are utilizing.
We can practically see. Everyone is working with this body in Bombay city. A very poor man is also in Bombay city, and a very rich man is also there. Both of them have the same facilities to work, but we find that one man is working very hard day and night. Hardly he is getting his morsel of food. Another man, simply by going, sitting in the office, earning thousands and thousands. Why? Because the difference of the field of activities. The body is different. Because one has got a certain type of body, his destination is already there. Karmana daiva-netrena jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1]. We can study this thing, that somebody is living in a poor slum and another man is living in a very palatial building. So simply by endeavoring that "I shall live in a palatial building, and I shall not live in this poor slumhole," it is not possible because the destiny is there. Therefore the body is made according to our past karma, and that is called destiny. Your happiness and distress according to the body is already settled up. It is not possible by natural way to improve or disimprove it. It is already settled up. Therefore sastra says,
tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkhavad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa
The human life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth. The next paragraph, that describes how one can understand the Absolute Truth. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahimsa ksantir arjavam. So our life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth, not for economic development. Economic development, what is already destined, you cannot improve less or more. It is already settled up.
There are so many examples. Just like a pig has got a body. He likes to eat stool. If you give him halava, that "Don't eat stool. Take this nice halava," he's not interested because he has got a particular type of body. That is the aggregate. That is already explained. Maha-bhutany ahankaro buddhir avyaktam (eva) ca, iccha dvesah sukham duhkham. Iccha dvesah. The iccha and dvesa according to the body. He has got the desire to eat the stool. That is his iccha. And he has got a dvesa for the halava, while a gentlemen, advanced gentlemen, he has got the iccha for halava, not for the stool.
Therefore our duty should be that without trying... That was Indian civilization. Everyone was happy in his position, everyone -- brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. The culture was so nice that nobody was unhappy, even if he is a sudra or even if he is a vaisya or a brahmana or ksatriya. It is not that because the ksatriyas, the royal family, they were happy, and the brahmanas were not happy or the sudras were not happy. No. Everyone was happy because... Still in India you go to the village. They are happy with their destination. This is the Indian culture. Now we are injecting discontentment, injecting. Otherwise everyone was happy in his position: "God has given this position. So this is all right. Let me do my work." That is satisfaction. Everyone was satisfied.
Still it is going on, although great propaganda is going on to kill the Vedic culture. Just as some in 1971, we attended the Maghamela. In 1971? Or which year? That Allahabad Maghamela.
Devotee: '71.
Prabhupada: Yes. So people were coming there, thousands and thousands, to take a bath in the Ganges, and they were happy. There in Calcutta there was an Indo-American society. I was invited to speak there. So they gave me the subject matter, "East and West." So... (aside:) Don't do... So far we are concerned, we have no such distinction, "East and West." We know that everyone is human being, and everyone, every living entity, not only the human being, even the birds, beasts, animals, trees, everyone, a living entity is part and parcel of God, Krsna. Mamaivamso jiva-bhutah [Bg. 15.7]. So everyone is in ignorance. That is our concern.
Our propaganda is not for the East and the West, but our fight is with the ignorance of the people because at the present moment people are kept in ignorance, in foolishness, that he is this body, bodily identification. But still, there is difference between East and West. In the West, I have talked with big, big professors, learned scholars. They have no idea of next life.
I talked with Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He said, "Swamiji, after annihilation of this body, everything is finished." They have no idea that there is soul. And in India even the poorest man, he knows that, "There is next life. I existed in the past, and I will exist in the future." This Vedic conclusion is known even to the poorest man, illiterate man. That is, of course, the difference between East and West.
So anyway, our position is that we should not identify this body as self. Krsna says here that
adhyatma-jnana-nityatvam
tattva-jnanartha-darsanam
etaj jnanam iti proktam
ajnanam yad atah anyatha
Adhyatma-jnanam, to understand oneself as the spirit soul, that jnanam. Adhyatma-jnanam, tattva-jnanartha-darsanam. Philosophy should be utilized. Logic and philosophy should be utilized for self-realization, not for simply mental speculation.
We find nowadays, big, big philosophers write volumes of book, simply theorizing without any understanding of the spirit soul. Big, big philosopher. And Krsna says that if one simply puts philosophical theories for some utopian ideas, "Now time is coming which will be like this, like that." No. Time is there already. You cannot manufacture time like this or like that. It will go on. It is eternal. It is eternal.
Just like Krsna has said in the second chapter of Bhagavad-gita that "Arjuna, you and me and all the soldiers and kings who have assembled here, it is not that we did not exist in the past. We are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." So this eternity of the soul we do not know. We are simply identifying ourself with this body, and we are simply interested for the bodily comforts of life. This is the civilization, going on.
So although we have got this Bhagavad-gita, at least in India the education should have been on the line of Bhagavad-gita for the benefit of the people of India. Unfortunately nobody is taking care. Even though there are some propaganda of understanding Bhagavad-gita, they are interpreting in their own way to fulfill their own ambition. This is going on. So here Krsna says, amanitvam, amanitvam. What is that amanitvam? Read the purport.
Pradyumna: Purport?
Prabhupada: Yes. [break] That is mentioned here. The central point of process of knowledge is mentioned here, Mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. One has to be fixed up on this point. There are eighteen different description of the process of knowledge, but the central point is mayi ca. Mayi ca. Ca means... That is the main point. Without Krsna, if you simply try to become elevated in knowledge, that will not stand. That will not stand. Therefore Krsna says mayi ca. Mayi cananya-yogena. Ananya-yogena means without any deviation. Ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicarini. Without any deviation. Avyabhicarini means without any disturbance. Ananya-bhakti. In another place Krsna says, api cet su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak.
api cet su-duracaro
bhajate mam ananya-bhak
sadhur eva sa mantavyah
samyag vyavasito hi sah
[Bg. 9.30]
The central point is bhagavad-bhakti. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah. If one is not a devotee of the Lord, Krsna harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah -- he cannot possess any great qualities. That is not possible. Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah.
We have seen practically. Just like Ravana. Ravana was a great personality, a great devotee of Lord Siva also, and materially his kingdom was very much advanced. It is said that Lanka was made of gold. Actually there were many palaces. And he was a very big Vedic scholar also. But one thing, that he was against Rama... And for this disqualification he is still described as asura, raksasa. So harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-gunah mano-rathenasato dhavato bahih. If one is not devotee of the Lord, he will simply concoct on the mental platform. So that will not make.
Ravana also wanted to make a staircase to go directly to the heavenly planet. Just like we are. At the present moment, we are trying to go directly to the moon planet by sputnik. But it has failed. It is not possible. In that way we cannot go. If we want to go to another planet, the process is described in the Bhagavad-gita: yanti deva-vrata devan pirn yanti pitr-vratah [Bg. 9.25]. If you want to go to the higher planetary system, then that particular devata, Indraloka, Candraloka. The moon planet is Candraloka. That is also considered as one of the heavenly planets. So you have to prepare yourself by karma-kandiya activities. Then you can go there by... After this body is finished, you immediately transfer to certain planet where you want to go.
Similarly, if you want to go to the planet where Krsna lives, Goloka Vrndavana...
goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya
devi-mahesa-hari-dhamasu tesu tesu
te te prabhava-nicaya vihitas ca yena
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.43]
There is... Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo vyaktyavyakta-sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. They are described in the Bhagavad-gita that "Beyond this material nature there is another nature. That is called sanatana." Paras tasmat tu bhava. Bhava means svabhava or nature. As you see this material nature... Although you are seeing, you cannot go. You are so limited, conditioned. You see so many planets twinkling at night, but there is no possibility of going there.
You cannot go to the nearest planet, even the moon planet, by your mechanical arrangement. The modern scientists, the sputniks experts, they say to go the topmost planet of this universe it will take forty thousands of years. Who is going for forty thousand, flying forty thousands of years and again come back and see you: "Yes, I went to such and such planet." Is it possible? So we are so poor. It is not possible in that way.
So this is the position of our going to the material planets, and what to speak of the spiritual planets? That is far, far away. You cannot travel within the space of material world.
panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo
vayor athapi manaso muni-pungavanam
so 'py asti yat prapada-simny avicintya-tattve
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs 5.34]
Panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara. Not only one year, two years, three years or forty thousand years. Koti-sata-vatsara. Koti, you know, one hundred times lakhs makes koti and again multiply it by hundred. Koti-sata-vatsara. And the speed. What is the speed of that aeroplane? Panthas tu koti-sata-vatsara-sampragamyo vayor athapi. Aeroplane. Vayur manasah. And with the speed of mind. Airplane running with the speed of mind. You know what is the speed of mind. You are sitting here, and within a second your mind can go some ten thousand miles away, within a second. So even with that speed and running on, koti-sata-vatsara, you cannot go to the spiritual planet. This is the position. So 'py asti yat prapada-simny-avicintya-tattve. So in that way you cannot go.
But you can go if you prepare yourself. Mad-yajino 'pi yanti mam. Mad-yajino. Those who are devotees of the Lord, Mad-yajinah That is the principle of Bhagavad-gita: man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji. Mad-yaji. "You worship Me." So mad-yajino 'pi yanti mam. You can go to the Krsna planet. Goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya [Bs. 5.43]. The Krsna-dhama is described in the sastra, Brahma-samhita,
cintamani-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrksa-
laksavrtesu surabhir abhipalayantam
laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.29]
There is the Goloka Vrndavana planet. That Goloka Vrndavana planet is the topmost planet. This material world, then you'll get spiritual world. Then spiritual world, as you have got in this material world, this is only one universe. There are millions of universes, even within this material world.
Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya. People claim. Some rascal claim, "I am God." So here is a description of God. Yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah [Bs. 5.48]. Jagad-anda-nathah means Brahma. You have understood Brahma's duration of life. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmano viduh. The Brahma's one day, twelve hours, you cannot calculate. Sahasra-yuga-par... Yuga means forty-three lakhs of years and multiply it by one thousand, and then it comes to be twelve hours of Brahma's ayuh. Such Brahma lives only...yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya [Bs. 5.48]. Maha-Visnu is exhaling and inhaling. When he is inhaling, so many Brahmas are going within, and when He is exhaling, so many Brahmas are coming, means so many brahmandas are coming. This is the position.
yasyaika-nisvasita-kalam athavalambya
jivanti loma-vilaja jagad-anda-nathah
visnur mahan sa iha yasya kala-viseso
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.48]
That Maha-Visnu is partial representation of Govinda. Govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami **. So this is called knowledge. One has to know what is God, what is the nature of God. So one has...
The first qualification is amanitvam. Don't be puffed up with your false knowledge. Having this little degree from the university, you are thinking that you have become so learned, you don't care for God even. This is nonsense. Therefore first qualification to get progress in knowledge is amanitvam, amanitvam. Don't be proud falsely. Our present education is simply teaching people how to become falsely proud. Just like here is, Bhagavad-gita is going on. They are falsely proud: "Oh, what you have to learn here? We know everything. We know everything. We are M.A., Ph.D., that's all. We have finished already this." Therefore the first thing is amanitvam, pridelessness. Go on reading the purport.
Pradyumna: "So if one does not approach or is not able to approach the transcendental service of the Lord, then the other nineteen items are of no particular value. But if one takes to devotional service in full Krsna consciousness, the other nineteen items automatically develop within him."
Prabhupada: Yes. This is the central point. Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincanah sarvair gunair tatra samasate surah. All the qualities of the demigods, sura... Sura and asura. Sura means demigods or gods, and asura means demons. So if one becomes devotee of Krsna... Yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincanah. Akincana. Pridelessness. Akincana. Krsna's another name is Akincana-gocara. He can be understood by akincana, one who thinks himself as very humble, meek. That is also said in the Bible, that one has to become meek and humble. Then he can understand. And that is also Krsna demanding, that "First surrender. Become humble and meek." This is the verdict of all Vedic sastras.
Jnane prayasam udapasya namanta eva san-mukharitam bhavadiya-vartam. This is the statement of Brahma, that one should give up the nonsense process of mental speculation, "God may be like this; God may be like that." No. God is not manufactured by your mental speculation. God is God always, Krsna. Krsna is God from the childhood. When He was three months old He demonstrated His godly powers. He immediately killed Sakatasura. He immediately killed Putana. So He did not become God by meditation, manufactured in some mystic factory. God is God. God is always God. Even when He is child, when He is young man, when He is a boy. Krsna, when He was a boy of seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. That is God. Not that "Here is a man. By mystic power He has become God." No. That God is different God. Real God is always God.
So akincana-gocara. That real God can be realized by a person who is humble and meek. Amanitvam adambhitvam. Go on. "Krsna consciousness. The other nineteen items automatically develop." Yasyasti bhaktir-bhagavaty akincanah sarvair gunair tatra samasate surah. Automatically. Yasmin vijnate sarvam etam vijnatam bhavanti. This is the Vedic assertion. If you simply understand one, that Krsna, then you understand everything. Just like in Bhagavad-gita. If you try to understand Krsna, you get all the knowledge -- material, spiritual, everything. Practically. Yasmin vijnate sarvam idam vijnatam bhavanti. Go on.
Pradyumna: "The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the seventh verse, is essential."
Prabhupada: Yes. That knowledge has to be acquired. Acaryopasanam. Here it is said. You have to worship acarya. Acaryavan puruso veda. One who has accepted... Narottama dasa Thakura has also said, asraya loiya bhaje krsna tare nahi tyaje ara saba more akarana. Asraya. You have to take shelter. Evam parampara praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2].
And Arjuna also said, sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam. Sisyas te... Acarya, acaryopasanam. Krsna and Arjuna, two friends. There was no need of accepting Krsna as Arjuna's spiritual master. Still, he is accepting officially. Sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam: "I am accepting You as my spiritual master. Please teach me." So this is essential. Acaryopasanam.
Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. This is Vedic instruction. If you at all interested in the understanding of spiritual subject matter, then you must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet. Abhigacchet means must. It is not that if you like, you can go; if you do not like, you do not. No, you must. Abhigacchet. Samit-pani srotriyam brahma-nistam. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuh sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. It is not a fashion to accept one guru. If you are actually interested, sreya uttamam, the highest perfection of life -- tasmad gurum prapadyeta -- then you have to accept a guru. This is called acaryopasanam.
Even Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted Sandipani Muni as teacher, master. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He is also incarnation of Krsna, but He accepted Isvara Puri as His guru. They do not require guru, but just to keep pace with the official program, even God personally, He accepted spiritual master. So this is essential. Acaryopasanam.
To become humble, meek, ahimsa, non-violence, santi, tolerance. In this way you have to make progress. The other items will be described by and by. We have to... Yes. Tomorrow we shall describe. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. (end)
>>> Ref. VedaBase => Bhagavad-gita 13.8-12 -- Bombay, October 2, 1973
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