“yenaivaham bhagavato vasudevasya vedhasah
mayanubhavam avidam yena gacchanti tat-padam” (SB 1.5.31)
Translation: By that confidential knowledge, I could understand clearly the influence of the energy of Lord Sri Krsna, the creator, maintainer and annihilator of everything. By knowing that, one can return to Him and personally meet Him.
Purport: By devotional service or by the most confidential knowledge, one can understand very easily how the different energies of the Lord are working. One part of energy is manifesting the material world; the other (superior) part of His energy is manifesting the spiritual world. And the via medium energy is manifesting the living entities who are serving either of the above-mentioned energies. The living entities serving material energy are struggling hard for existence and happiness, which is presented to them as illusion. But those in the spiritual energy are placed under the direct service of the Lord in eternal life, complete knowledge and perpetual bliss. The Lord desires, as He has directly said in the Bhagavad-Gita, that all conditioned souls, rotting in the kingdom of material energy, come back to Him by giving up all engagements in the material world. This is the most confidential part of knowledge. But this can be understood only by the pure devotees, and only such devotees enter the kingdom of God to see Him personally and serve Him personally. The concrete example is Narada himself, who attained this stage of eternal knowledge and eternal bliss. And the ways and means are open to all, provided one agrees to follow in the footsteps of Sri Narada Muni. According to sruti, the Supreme Lord has unlimited energies (without effort by Him), and these are described under three principal headings, as above mentioned.
Wonderful proposal is here, that we could meet Him. Good news! We could meet Him!! Haribol!! If you are interested, if there is will then there is a way. No will no way, there is no way you will meet Him. If there is no will then there is no way, forget it.
But those who are interested meeting Him, it seems possible. This was the experience of those Bhaktivedantas. You were here, right for some days? They know what the story line is. You know who is speaking here? Narada Muni is speaking and he is speaking unto Srila Vyasdeva. Conversation between Srila Narada Muni and Srila Vyasdeva, the two very great great personalities. In fact, they have been listed in the list of incarnations. Krsna, the source of all incarnation’s chapter. These temple devotees have gone through chapter number three. And in there, you find the name of Srila Vyasdeva, You find the name of Srila Narada Munii. So know these two great souls, these two incarnations of the Lord, empowered incarnations of the Lord. They are meeting in Badarikashram, almost on the top of the Himalayan Mountain. Badarikashram is on the top, Himalaya ke godha mein. On the bank of Sarasvati they are meeting. Alakananda, the sacred branch of Ganga is also not far from there. One morning, one beautiful morning like this one today. Is this beautiful? This is okay, good one but more beautiful up there, where everything is so clear, no pollution, no car goes there. No, the cars are also allowed going but when they had this conversation, everything was clear. Not only the air was clear but the consciousness also, especially of Narada Muni. Srila Vyasdeva was facing some difficulty. His consciousness was bit polluted. And as a result, he was despondent. As Narada Muni arrived from above, from his travelling preaching mission and as he comes, Narada Muni is never quiet, never quiet. He is always chanting ‘narada muni bajaye vina radhikaramana namne’. Others say he is always chanting ‘narayana narayana’. But that is not the case, he does chant ‘narayana narayana’ but he also chants names of Radhika and Raman. He is very confidential devotee of the Lord, associate of the Lord. He has place in Badarikashram. He is worshipper of that Badri Narayana in this Bharata varsha. There is so many varshas, nine varshas? Yes? And one of them is Bharata varsha and the deity is Narayana and the worshipper is Narada Muni. So while chanting the names of the Lord, he was arriving, descending, landing there. And then he saw Srila Vyasdeva and he didn’t seem very happy. “Hey! What’s wrong with you? You are not a family man (Laughter) And these early morning hours also? You should be jolly.
“brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati’ (BG 18.54)
For realised soul there is no lamentation, there is no hankering, ‘prasannatma’ he is always blissful, “But look at you face.” And then Srila Vyasdeva, ‘guhyam akyati prachati’, he disclosed his mind in confidence what he was facing. He was having little hard time or in the terms that which are used these days. He didn’t have a job satisfaction (Laughter). He had compiled so many scriptures, Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and Vedanta Sutra, Mahabharata. But still he was not happy with the job he has done for the compilation of all these texts. Here Narada Muni is the spiritual master of Srila Vyasdeva. So Srila Vyasdeva said, ‘Please I would like you to do the review of my books, book review. “So Narada Muni undertook the task and immediately came with the conclusion. ‘Yes yes certainly I could now see why you are not very happy.” ‘vasudevasya mahima hy anuvarnitah’ (SB 1.5.9). “Where is mahima of Vasudeva? You have compiled all these scriptures. Well, you have sprinkled few drops of here and there of some mahima of Vasudeva. But ‘hari sarvatra giyate’ Hari should have been everywhere on every page. In every line, every word, every single syllable. ‘vasudevam sarvam iti’ Vasudeva is all in all. But you have kept Vasudeva out of your all these books or just little touch. And that’s the reason you are not happy.” So as for observations and recommendations of Narada Muni, who was the spiritual master of Srila Vyasdeva, he undertook compilation of yet another scripture. And he compiled the final and the best scripture in existence. That was and that still is Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!!
So while they were talking, conversations continued after the book review, statements… ‘srnvanti gayanti grnanti sadhavah’ (SB 1.5.11). “You should compile a scripture that is very dear to the sadhus, the saintly person, saintly devotees of the Lord. So that they could do ‘srnvanti gayanti grnanti sadhavah abhiksanah’ all the time also. By reading that scripture, they will be purified. ‘te eva pasyanti achirena tavakam padambujam’. And if they study such scripture, Bhagavatam, then as person hears and chants and recites and remembers, the result is ‘te eva pasyanti’. They will be able to see. ‘achirena’ they will not take much time. What will they see, ‘padambujam’ the lotus feet of the Lord and then beautiful form of the Lord, beautiful face of the Lord.” So as they were still talking about e subject matter , Srila Narada Muni is talking about his previous life. In his previous life, he was son of a maid servant. Well, how did he get there or how did he end in becoming son of a maid servant. Then we have talk of his previous yet another life. In his previous life, he was a Gandharva. He was a very exalted person in a higher planetary system. And so many singers and reciters were invited and it was expected that they would chant the glories of Sri Krsna, ‘vasudevasya mahima’. But there were also many young beautiful girls in the assembly. So he lost the track. He was distracted, he lost his focus, forgot his mission. And he ended up chanting the glory of demigods. He forgot the Supreme Personality of Godhead and he was chanting ‘jaya durge, jaya ambe….’ (Laughter). As a result of that, he was cursed to become son of a maid servant in the next life. So in the second life as he was son of a maid servant, that is what he is talking about in the present third life that he has now achieved when he is talking to Srila Vyasdeva about his second life, middle life.
So that time he was very lucky although son of a maid servant. It was month of Caturmasya, the four months starting with shravan, bhadrapad, ashvin and kartika. These four months are called Caturmasyas. So some bhaktivedantas had come, some parivrajakacharya, the travelling monks had come. The exalted devotees of Sri Krsna had come. They had come just outside his village. I am going to make this long story short so that we could reach the conclusion or come to where we are now. This verse, we are way behind (Maharaj talking). So he had opportunity to associate with the saintly persons. His mother used to go so he also used to go behind the mother. He had no father, no brother. He was the only child, so he used to go with the mother. Mother busy in the kitchen washing pots, cleaning. She had several services. And the child is to be around the saintly person. “Hey boy, come here, come here. Bring some water. Bring some tulasi, bring some Ganga jal. Bring this, take this.” And the child was running happily doing this and that for the saintly persons and he would also listen to the message. And one important thing he did, he says ( This is Narada Muni infact, talking to Srila Vyasdeva how he came to Krsna consciousness. How he became devotee of Krsna). Like in our Back to Godhead magazines, we publish articles, ‘How I came to Krsna consciousness.’ That is the subject matter and Narada Muni is talking, how he came to Krsna consciousness. ” I had association of devotees. I rendered some service to those devotees. I listened to some messages but I also ate lots of prasadam. With their permission, I took lots of prasadam”.
As they were living, those bhaktivedantas were very kind to poor hearted souls. ‘krpaya deena vatsalah’, they were very very kind, ‘deena vatsalah’, the poor in consciousness. You have no money or empty pocket, then also you are poor. But there is another kind of being poor. Other way you could be poor in consciousness. Of the two, it is better to have no money but you are rich in consciousness. Every and each consciousness you have Krsna for you. In fact, that’s all you need. That’s all soul needs. “So these bhaktivedantas, they were very very kind to me.” Narada Muni says. “‘jnana guhyatamam’, they gave me most confidential knowledge.” One more time, they may have summarized all the Bhagavatam or something in essence, one more time, one more time most confidential. So Narada, he was not Narada Muni that time, he became Narada later on. One more time he heard. ‘yena’ in this verse, first word is what? What is the first word? ‘yena’ by which. ‘By which’, this refers to, by the confidential knowledge that he had, Narada Muni had received. I could understand clearly the influence of the energy of the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna. He could understand everything. He could understand the energies of the Lord, different energy of the Lord about which Prabhupada is talking in the purport. And by knowing that, one can return to Him, the Personality and meet Him personally.
So Narada Muni had received this knowledge and he did meet Lord personally. He is talking about what he has heard. But then, soon after this bhagavat recitation, most unfortunate thing happened to Narada Muni. He lost his mother. While she was going in the middle of the night to milk the cow and the snakebite and she was dropped dead there. Oh what to do? But he was prepared. Because he had all the knowledge. He was equipped with the knowledge. He was not lost, he was not bewildered. He was not confused, he exactly knew what to do under the circumstances. Well, certainly it was beyond him, the death of the mother. No child, no no, what to speak of a child wanting mother’s death. No, he had never ever thought of such thing. But he had no control over. He took that as Lord’s arrangement. So he did the final rites. He burnt two things. He burnt the body of the mother and he also burnt little house they had, little hut they had he also burnt. In fact, we heard that he brought the body to the house, to the hut. And he burnt the hut with that body of the mother also. Now he has no one in the world, no property, no relatives, but he had that knowledge. He had that confidential knowledge. And what is the purpose of that knowledge, ‘vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo’ (B.G 15.15) ” I am to be known”. The knowledge that one acquires. Well then we have to understand which knowledge helps us to understand Him, the Supreme Lord.
‘raja vidya raja guhyam pavitram idam uttamam’ B.G 9.2). The king of knowledge, “adhyatma vidya vidyanam’ (B.G 10.32), ‘adhyatma vidya’ knowledge about the self. Who am I? ‘athato brahma jijnasa’. “Oh dear human being, oh, now finally and fortunately you have become human being. Become inquisitive, inquire, find out who you are, and what is this world all around you. And when you are no more, when you are dead, you would be wanting to turn left or right or go up and down. You should have all the plan. You should know everything. You should know vidya. You should also know avidya.” This is the advice of Isopanishad. Not only vidya, avidya also. So Narada Muni was equipped with this knowledge. As he had no one around him, he starts travelling, walking and walking, doing padayatra. Going through the towns, villages and industrial areas, the forest and the hills. And he comes to a very thick, forest was dark in the middle of the day. And the snakes were crawling and the owls making all the very scary sounds. Fierce animals were roaming freely; of course this was their home. In the midst of all that, there was little Narada, he was just a young boy. But he was not afraid of nothing. He was only thinking. He was remembering all that he had heard and read the Bhagavatam. He was thinking,as a result of thinking of the Lord, where is my Lord, where is my Lord? He was looking for the Lord. He was very hungry and thirsty. But all that he could see was there was a water body. So he quickly took bath and drank water. That’s all, no food, only water. He felt some relief then he sat underneath a tree and he started meditating upon the Lord in the heart. Looking, searching and searching and he was just fixed. He was fully focused, only thing he was seeing as per the description of the Lord and His beautiful form. He was fixing his mind on that Lord. He is Syamsundara, he was thinking of Syamsundara’s form. The pinkish lotus feet, the Lord’s ankle bells, Lord’s thighs are short and waist is like a lady, a thin waist Lord has. Lord’s navel, broad chest, long arms reaching His knees. Short neck, raised nose, reddish lips, lotus eyes, blooming lotus eyes. Broad forehead, beautiful curly hair and a peacock feather. ‘pitambara aravinda netra’, was wearing pitambara…like that. His palms were also pinkish and they were like a lotus hanging. He was not holding lotus but His hands were like a lotus. This part (Maharaj showing with his hand), was like a lotus flower. That part was pinkish, His fingers were like a lotus petal. And the hands were very fragrant also like a lotus, not because some powder was applied there. Naturally the Lord’s hands were fragrant.
So he had been hearing the description of the Lord. There is talk of seeing the Lord in today’s verse. So now he was seeing the Lord, Lord in his heart. And this was result of hearing about that Lord. He wanted to achieve that Lord. He wanted to see that Lord, meet Him personally. And that is what was going on here. He was meeting the Lord in his heart. He had interview with the Lord. He was seeing the Lord face to face. That darshan that audience with the Lord did not last very long. Lord disappeared and then he heard a voice. This is ahead appeal, you will be reading this in following verses and chapters. Then he heard the voice, “Yes, that is it boy. Next time I’ll give you darshan in the next life.” As he was not able to see the Lord, He was not in front of him within his heart anymore, that disturbed his darshan, his samadhi.
Then he had to wait till next birth when he became Brahma’s son. From Lord, Brahma took birth and then Narada Muni appeared. And he had lots of darshans of the Lord. Always taking darshan of the Lord, meeting with the Lord. Dancing with the Lord and everything, his life was just God centered, Krsna centered. So by that confidential knowledge, I could understand clearly the influence of the energy of Lord Sri Krsna, the creator, maintainer and annihilator of everything. By knowing that, one can return to Him and personally meet Him. And what about my life? I have to be engineer. I have to be doctor, I am already somebody. I have a job. Already 9.30 -10 o’clock I have to catch a bus. So this hearing about the Lord, making up the mind of finding the Lord, realize the Lord and finally meet the Lord, is this only for selected few or everyone should be doing this? What do you think? Well, if you are a soul, then you should have a goal of meeting the Supreme soul. Otherwise the whole thing is lost. Are we soul? Is everybody a soul? Everybody has soul? What do you think? Everyone has a soul? No? Some are thinking everybody has no soul. Some are convinced. Students are convinced. But atleast human beings, Christians say animals have no soul. So let us eat them. They are made for us to be exploited, to be enjoyed. Lets think that they are in ignorance, I would say and move on the human race. All human beings, there is a soul in their bodies. You cannot be living being if there is no soul.
Life comes from life, not from matter. Life comes from life and the Supreme life, lively Personality, Personality of Godhead. And he declares in Bhagavad Gita , ‘mamaivamso jiva loka jiva-bhutah sanatanah’ (B.G 15.7). All the living entities, they are My parts and parcels. We are the souls, we are not these bodies. I’m not this hand. This is my hand, I am not Mr. hand, I am not Mr. head, this head belongs to me and this is my chest and the belly. I am not Mr. chest, I am not the legs, legs belong to me. I am the proprietor, in other words I am the proprietor of the hands, head, belly and legs. This belongs to me. Right there with little logic, Srila prabhupada used to use this kind of logic. We could understand that there are two things. There is a ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’. This has been described in Bhagavatam as ‘aham’ and ‘mama’. ‘mi’ ani ‘maza’, ‘mein’ aur ‘mera’. So this mein’, this ‘aham’ this ‘mi’, that is me, that is soul and the rest is the body. And there is another kind of energies of the Lord, external energy of the Lord.
So need of the soul is looking forward to meet the Supreme Lord. Everyone is looking for the Lord. Even George Harrison said that. You heard of George Harrison? He is no more. But he was big big singer. His name was Harrison. He was follower of Srila Prabhupada. He used to chant “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. And he did big great service to Srila Prabhupada mission in London by donating a big mansion which is known as Bhaktivedanta Manor. And he paid for the entire cost of the printing of the Krsna book long time ago. And in there, there is a George Harrison’s statement and he has signed also. So everyone, everyone is looking for the Lord knowingly or unknowingly. And he explains how everyone is looking for some rich persons. He wants to associate with the rich persons. He is attracted to the rich people or riches or the wealth. No one is exception. Everyone is looking for wealth, riches.
Where is money, where is money? “diva ca arthe haya rajan kutuba bharne nava”. As soon as they get up, Lakshmi Lakshmi Lakshmi. They are chanting the mantra. So they are looking for wealth. Krsna has that wealth, Krsna is full of that wealth, He is Bhagavan, He is dhanavan. He is Bhagavan meaning He is dhanavan. So if you are looking for wealth, that meant even to George Harrison, you are looking for the Lord. You are looking for most wealthy person. If you find someone wealthy, you will say, ‘Oh! he is not as wealthy as that one.” And you go find, meet him ad there is another wealthy person, I go to him like that. Why everyone is interested going to heavenly planets? Because there are even more riches than Tatas and Biralas . People will find Kuvera and other demigods very very rich. But then, there is someone even more richer than the demigods. That is the Supreme Lord. You will not be satisfied by meeting a person who has wealth. You will think, Oh there is another one, another one wealthier. And most wealthy person is Sri Krsna. So you are looking for that ultimate person, most wealthy person. So this is just the wealth part.
Let’s go for the beauty and, oh this person is more beautiful and you meet him. That one is more beautiful, like that. This is how we are changing bodies. Because we are looking for a beautiful person. This one is more beautiful, oh! This one is more beautiful. But the most beautiful is Sri Krsna. So that search that we are searching for a beautiful person, that search will end only when we meet our Lord who is most beautiful.
And knowledgeable, you may know so many knowledgeable people. You may be thinking, ‘My professor is very knowledgeable.’ Oh! But then I know someone else who is a noble laureate and he is more knowledgeable. But the most knowledgeable is again Sri Krsna. What He spoke only for 45 minutes, in the battlefield of Kurukshetra 5000 years ago, that still holds as the truth. Others knowledgeable persons are coming and going. And what they have to say is studied even and becomes popular for 50 years, few 100 years and then that is dumped until someone comes and proves that this is all wrong. Its all bogus, but what Krsna spoke 5000 years ago, so many scholars are trying to understand even today. So Krsna is most knowledgeable. Krsna is most powerful, He showed that, His power by lifting Govardhan hill. That’s nothing; His expansion Anantshesha is holding all the planets. Very very powerful, so He is most powerful. So these are different opulence of the Lord. So our search for the beautiful person, wealthy person, knowledgeable person, renounced person, famous person, strong person, Bhagavan.
“aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah jnana-vairagyayos caiva”
These opulence are Krsna’s, God’s opulence. And the soul is looking for that person. And going for that person, another person, from one body to another, from one planet to another, one universe to another; this search will end only when we find the Lord of our heart. When the soul meets the Supreme soul, then we’ll be fully satisfied and not otherwise. Well, one could search or think of searching the Lord only in the human form of life, not in another species of life. ‘jalaja nava lakshani’ There are 9 lakhs varieties of species in the water. The Vedic texts are so precise. krimayo rudra-sankhyakah ‘ The germs and worms are of 11 lakhs of varieties. ‘pakshinam dasa laksyanam’- 10 lakhs varieties of birds and 20 thousands varieties of plants, 30 thousands varieties of animals. You have been adding? This is 80 lakhs and ‘manusyanam catur laksyanam’, the human species are 400,000 varieties, 4 lakh varieties. They are not all in this planet. Not necessary in this universe but wherever. This breakdown is there and of all the species the human species are most rare species.
Because this offers us the most rare opportunity of coming to the temple. Or coming to God or thinking of God or hearing about God. This dharma business, this religion business is only for human beings. I travelled long distance came from Pandharpur, not a cat has come. Not a dog has come. Only human beings have come. This is a proof that Bhagavatam is dharma, is Krsna. This chanting of the holy name , oh! This is only for human beings. Others can’t even think, it’s beyond them. Only human beings could think. So everyone, Prabhupada had said, is rotting in this material world. Everyone is rotting, suffering. I had to visit hospital in Nagpur few days ago. Terrible experience as I had to visit the Intense Care Unit. Wherever I could see, I don’t want even think …and then you die, Life is tough.
I was in New York; well I was in Nagpur few days ago. But few years ago, I was in New York. On the wall, someone wrote, some New Yoker he wrote his realization on the wall. He said, “Oh, life is tough, and then you die.” That was not all. He had another short line at the bottom. “Then you are born again. For another tough life, tough life, tough life”. Then you die and then born again and again and again and again. No one wants this, no one wants to die. Anyone here, when I had travelled and enquired in South Africa, I was there a few months ago. So, ‘No, I have not met one person, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.’ But everyone must die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to suffer. But suffering is there. We were in Gaya just few weeks ago. Buddha was Siddhartha before? Siddhartha and He wanted to see the world. But His father would not let Him go. He had to stay within the palace compound. No going outside. But He insisted, ‘ No no father, I must go daddy no!’ ‘Okay boy go.’ So He was given a chariot and a chariot driver. They were going around and doing Bharata darshan. And what He saw was, you know. Someone was terribly suffering, lying on the footpath and flies…. He was very sick and what not.
‘Oh! What is wrong with this person?’
‘He is very sick, that’s why he is suffering.’
Siddhartha said, ‘Does everyone get sick?’ Sure. ‘Will I get sick also?’
‘Yes, one day sure no problem.’
And then, move on move on. Someone is struggling to cross the road. He was not only having two feet but another support stick. ‘Hey please help, help me to cross the road.’ He had trembling body. He was falling down and getting up. ‘Hey, what’s wrong with this person chariot driver?’
‘Oh, he is old man, he is weak, invalid and blind now. That’s why he is struggling.’
‘Does everyone get old?’
‘Oh for sure.’
‘What about me?’
‘You also, no problem you will also get old.’
And then he said, carry on carry on.
‘Oh what is this? Rama naam satya hai, Rama naam satya hai. Hey what is happening here? I see that one person is enjoying nice ride (Laughter). While everyone is walking in hot sun. One person is just… They are throwing flowers on him. He must be a special person. But everyone is saying Rama naam… but he is not.’
‘Oh, he is dead person.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They will bring him to the ghat and going to burn his body.’
‘What!! Does everyone die?’
‘Sure.’
‘And what about me?’
‘No problem (Laughter), you will also die one day.’
So He had just little darshan as he was going around. Father didn’t want Him to see this. That’s why he was keeping him within the palace. So Siddhartha said, ‘ Okay chariot driver, it’s enough. I have seen the world enough, no more now I don’t want to see the world. Bring My chariot back to the palace.’ Chariot back to the palace and that night, very night…. He was young man, young wife, young son also, Rahul yes? That’s the name. He has a son called Rahul. So He took off in the middle of the night. He goes to Gaya. He becomes enlighten, he wanted to find solution. ‘Oh, I know the four problems. I have made list. Not 40, not 400 problems but My problems are four.’
‘janma mrtyu jara vyadhi duhkha dosanudarsanam (B.G 13.9)
He had made a list. ‘I have four problems that I will be facing. And if I don’t solve them in this life, I’ll have to come back again. Again those four problems and again if I don’t tackle them in that life, then another life and another. I want to put full stop to this suffering!’ So severe austerities and meditation and He becomes enlighten. He becomes Buddha. And then He wants to enlighten others. He was incarnation, one of the ten incarnations of the Lord, Buddha Dev. Don’t think He belongs only to the……. He is also our incarnation. So this Lord Buddha, He made this list for us. These are four problems. Krsna says this in Bhagavad Gita. Prabhupada is talking here. We are rotting here in this material world suffering. So, is there alternative to this suffering? The way out, is this only something that we scare people, so they have hard time even when sleeping at night? Do scriptures talking of only negative things and pointing out suffering of the world and humanity and individuals? No, that’s not the case. There is way out and that way out is realization. I am a soul, I am atma, I am atma. I am spirit soul. I am Krsna’s. I belong to God, I am His part and parcel and I must meet Him. There is so much knowledge about these matters. The soul and the Supreme soul and there is yet another kingdom of the Lord; spiritual kingdom of the Lord. No one knows about it, Krsna knows. And hundreds and thousands of pure devotees have confirmed this fact. Pure devotees, they have no tendency to cheat anybody. Narada Muni, Madhavacharya, Tukaram Maharaj, well just named few. There are thousands of them. Hundreds and thousands say the same thing over again and again and again. They only think of the welfare of others, these great personalities. And they are confirming these facts which have been said by Krsna in Bhagavad Gita or described in Bhagavatam.
Scientists do not know, of course well why should scientist know? Just because you are scientist, you should know everything? There was one honest scientist. He was again talking of only material knowledge, was Newton or Einstein or something. He took one particle of sand on the beach. He was on the beach. ‘I know only just one particle. I don’t know about all the particles around me. That much knowledge. There is so much more to know. I know only little bit, this tiny bit.’ We all have tiny brains, with the tiny brain how much could you know? All that people are knowing is about the matter. But there is so much to know about the spirit soul and the spiritual world. The Russian scientists came to conclusion, ‘Oh, if there is a matter, there must be anti matter also. Then is a complete combination.’ They came to this conclusion. If there is matter, there must be anti matter also. Well, you may know something something from this world. You wanted to become javan or kisan or doctor or engineer or some kind of professional. Well fine, we all do that. We know about this trade, that brands about the computers or constructions or cloth making or building, whatever different different things each one of us. But there is one thing that everyone must know about and that is the soul. About soul, everyone should have knowledge. About this world and worldly things, I may know something. And he knows another thing and he knows another thing. He is a science student, he is artist, he is biologist, he is a physicist, he is a geologist, he is a botanist. I am finished with the list. Cosmology, astronomy okay like that. There are so many departments of knowledge. And he belongs to this department, that department. But there is one department which is common for all the souls. There is one knowledge that everyone must study.
Prabhupada was taken on a tour of Boston University and he visited all the departments, 20-30 big tour. And at the end he said, ‘Where is that department that talks about the soul? You don’t have such department? It is incomplete.’ Where is the branch of knowledge? Where is the faculty that teaches about ‘Who am I’? I am studying everything else in the world but I do not know who am I. This is the cause of suffering. This sense of so called enjoyment is there on the surface level which does not last very long. ‘ehi samsparsah ja bhoga duhkha yona ya evate’ Anyone who is enjoying must suffer. This is the law also of this world. Those who wish to enjoy, we don’t stop you. Go ahead enjoy but be prepared to suffer. You may not want to suffer but you must suffer. You have to suffer. These two things go together. This is part of knowledge. This Gita will teach. Be prepared, be aware. You want to enjoy? Okay but you will be suffering. It is not possible to enjoy only. It is also not possible to suffer only. The complete package is two types of seasons. Sukha season and then dukha season. Every body’s life has these two seasons. But Krsna consciousness is talk about going above. No sukha, no dukha only anand which has origin in the soul and the Supreme soul. By nature we are blissful. We talked about God and soul and Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam.
“Oh, but is it accepted or proven by the scientist? Is this scientific? What you are talking, is this scientific?’ Of course, it is scientific. Krsna is Supreme scientist and many more could be said. So why science has to put stamp of approval on what Krsna has to say, what sadhus have to say, what Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam has to say, why? Is this scientific? Could you prove it scientifically? Could be proven, It is a science. To begin with this is a science, original science, the best science. Science of the soul, science of God, sastra.
‘yah sastra vidhim utsrjya vartate kama karatah na
Sa siddhim avapnoti na sukham na param gatim’ (B.G 16.23)
So anyone studying, continue your studies. Study physics, study chemistry, study this, study that. Study germs, worms (Laughter). So many persons, they take one germ and the whole life, they are focused on one tiny germ. The movements, the life span the tendencies, likings and disliking of that germ. Whether germ or something of that sort. We are studying whole life. Study little bit of that but lot of times we invested in studying who we are. Who is God? Where and how we exist and what is my relationship with Him? And once we have Him, we have everything.
Srila Prabhupada used to say so, one department, another knowledge, another property, this that. Different different zeroes. There is no ‘1’, then all these zeroes put together and one big zero. Okay I’ll stop. Any questions? Quick questions. There is so much to talk about. I am sure Radheyshyam prabhu, another prabhus have been talking to you and you have been discussing this. We are happy to see so many students from all over the planet. All over the country have assembled here. This is a rare opportunity for us to see such a scene. Young people, of course why should we wait for our body are rotten and then make an offering of rotten. The fresh flower, fresh fruits of this season. And you are the fresh fruits of this season, of this world. And all of you should be offered at the lotus feet of Sri Krsna.
Tamal Krsna Goswami Maharaj used to talk like this, a garland of jivas. ‘Prabhupada, we have come from the West and here are 108 new bhaktas.’ As if they are like a garland and they are being offered to Srila Prabhupada. Please offer them to Sri Krsna. Bring them to Sri Krsna, offer them garland of flowers or garland of fruits. So here we see nice offering. Why you should be serving Maya, you should be serving Krsna. This is the proposal of Krsna, this is the proposal of all the great sages and saintly persons and our ancestors have talked like this. Only when we started imitation of the West and as they made us the slaves for almost 1000 years by the Muslims and the Britishers and then the Dutch and French. Then we lost the track, we get distracted. Even after the independence. Okay we have independence so that we could have Rama raja. We’ll establish the principles of Rama, Krsna. This was the vision. but again forgotten as soon as we had the first Prime Minister of India. He said, ‘Oh this dams, the bridges and the factories, these are our temples. These are the places of worship or us.’ Although born in a Brahmin family, as he was born in a Brahmin family, but he was brought up and his education in the West, he was very much influenced by the West. He used to get his cloths ironed in Paris. And they used to bring his cloths to Delhi from Paris, ironed cloths. Then he would put on his cloths. He was influenced like that. He wanted his whole country like that. Again the modern science, we are modern scientific and industry and technologies, the way to go. So many promises made by technology and the industrialist civilization have been not fulfilled. And the ill effects of that modern technology and industrial lifestyles are about to… in front of us. 10% of all Indians are having kidney trouble. Well because I just happened to read this two days ago. One of every 10 Indians is having kidney trouble. And heart trouble, so many other kinds of troubles. Someone else kidney trouble, but someone else with some other kind of troubles. Soon Indians to be on the top of the list of HIV, the Aids we are leading. We are getting there, we’ll be number one. I was in Africa, the life span of south Africa has been reduced to 33 years. With more than half the population is suffering with the Aids. Shame! Matter of shame.
The most sick country in the world is America and the terrorism. We cannot have a sleep at night. You have nice bed, you could buy bed but not sleep. You could buy food but not hunger. There is no hunger, no sleep because of anxiety or so many things. This is the spirit of enjoyment. It is the result of enjoyment. Suffering is here catching up with us. We should wake up. If we cannot wake up everybody, we could start by waking up few people. I can see here, good gathering here, woken up or waking up. ‘tamaso ma jyotir gamaya’ Get out of the darkness, go to the light. Light of what? Light of Supreme Personality of Godhead is light. Krsna is ‘surya sam maya hai andhakar’. Light of Bhagavat, light of Bhagavad Gita, be knowledgeable. Know who you are then proceed. Stop, think and proceed.
So this is the proposal of International Society for Krsna Consciousness. This was what Prabhupada all life long, he was talking this language on behalf of Krsna. And in only 40 years ago, there was just him by himself. And you will be happy to know, I am sure you know. Already so many hundreds and thousands millions of followers… The Krsna Consciousness has reached 160 countries in 40 years. It’s good news or no? Haribol!! And it’s just the beginning. That means people around the world; Krsna Consciousness is in big demand. And it is the only alternative. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. Krsna is the only way, Krsna Consciousness is the only way. The holy name is the only way to get Krsna. So continue with your studies and whatever else you have been doing in your life. But add Krsna, know Krsna and spread this knowledge of Krsna around which is called Krsna Consciousness. This will do good to you, your family. This is good for your family. Because your family is also souls, family of souls. This will do good to our country, to the humanity. And all the living entities will be benefitted by this message of Bhagavatam. By knowing that, that refers to knowing Bagavatam, knowing Bhagavad gita, one can return to Him, return to Krsna and personally meet Him. That is what we said in the beginning. This is nice proposal, wonderful proposal of meeting with the Lord. And Narada Muni is speaking from his personal first time experience. Such meeting is possible and this is our birth right to meet Krsna.
Prabhupada’s spiritual master said, ‘This political freedom is not that important. More important is to make the soul free from the shackles of this bond of this material existence.’ That is why in 1922, Prabhupada was about to join Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement. He had already started wearing kadhi cloths and attending meeting. Also going to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, his underground meetings. And as he met with Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati, he said, ‘ No no, its more important to take up the mission of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. And make people free from illusion. Free from ignorance. Ignorance is cause of suffering, make them knowledgeable.’ And Prabhupada took that instruction very very seriously. Thank God that this instruction was given by Bhakti Siddhanta and he took it seriously also Prabhupada. As a result, what is happening? As a result we are sitting here today. Someone is talking and others are hearing and others will also talk further about this. So it started in 1922 with Prabhupada taking this mission very very seriously; spreading the knowledge, making the people knowledgeable. I am sure you will like not to forget Krsna. We can’t forget. He is so wonderful, how could you forget Him. Forget everything else. It’s all rubbish, all temporary cause of suffering. Embrace Krsna, go for Krsna. Meet Krsna, personally meet Krsna, Start meeting, Radha Kunjabihari is Krsna. See Him, see with the knowledge what you have heard and stand before Him. And chant His glories, chant His holy names in front of Radha Kunjabihari. Take Krsna Prasad and every person that you care… I care for my parents. I care for my friend. I really want to care, do something useful. If you are thinking like this, please share this Krsna Consciousness with them. Then and then only you have done something tangible, substantial for them. Otherwise this ‘ahara nidra bhayam maithun’ business goes on. Don’t think this eating, sleeping, roti, kapra, makaan, everyone is provided.
Whether in the bird society, animal society. Just because they don’t have university, they don’t have parliament, they don’t have Super bazaar or big bazaar like in Pune; they have big bazaar now. Is this big bazaar going to make Pune happier? Don’t be in illusion. We guarantee Pune will be more suffering in years to come. Pune vasi show us hand and ask us, ‘Please give us your predictions.’ So we will say, you are enjoying? Yes yes. You want to enjoy? Yes yes. Material way? Yes yes. You will suffer!! (Laughter).
We don’t have to curse anyway. Why should we be cursing? But we could only speak the truth. We guarantee suffering. Well, I don’t have to do anything. It is all programmed. It is all planned. So curb down this enjoying spirit independent of Krsna. Of course there is so much enjoyment in relationship with Krsna. So much enjoyment. So much to enjoy. We are not inviting you to come and suffer with us. Radheyshyam is not inviting, he is going all over the country and bringing young people and preaching to them. So that they would nicely suffer (laughter) He is not envious. Don’t think he is suffering and he wants us also to suffer. In fact, he is enjoying and he wants to see that everyone else also will enjoy. Enjoyment all the way, only enjoyment. ‘pratipadam purnamrtasvadam svadhu svadhu pade pade’. We guarantee that kind of happiness for everybody. Whole humanity could be enjoying for following this path shown by Sri Krsna described in Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavatam. And could be realized by chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Questions:
Question by devotee: Hare Krsna Maharaj, please accept my humble obeisance’s. So many times we hear about this philosophy, we should love God. We should serve God. We will be happy. But at the time of chanting the holy name, we are not able to concentrate. We are not able to relish. It is like a burden for us. How can we improve in our process of hearing so that sufficient effect will be there?
Maharaj: There is nothing wrong in Holy name. The same Holy name that Narada Muni chanted has been handed down to us to this day. Same potency, ‘krsna caitanya rasa vigraha naam cintamani rasa vigraha’. Its full of juice and full of anand. How you apply is important. What is the other way? Okay, you are in a boat. The boat is in the ocean. Well, some difficulty with the boat or something. Should you be jumping in the ocean again? Is that how you will be saving yourself? Fix the boat, repair the boat or just… Something wrong with the boat. Just fix it. Then you will survive to cross over. Not that there is something wrong with the boat, so I’ll just jump off the boat. And then you will be in the deep trouble of the deep ocean. So having faith in chanting the holy name, that is also required. So anyone who could give us that faith, association of those faithful devotees.
Prabhupada gave the example of the jaundice. Someone has the jaundice, sugar candy is the way. The person eats sugar candy but he says, because of the sickness of the jaundice, the sugar candy even taste very bitter. He says, ‘No, get me another type of medicine.’ You want to be cured. This is the only medicine. And if the person goes on eating that sugar candy, then he will be cured. And as he is cured, he will also experience the sweetness of that sugar candy. And the time will come when he will say, ‘Hey get me more, get me more sugar candy.’ Its finished, “No no go buy it!’ So Holy name is very very sweet. There is list of ten offences in Nectar of Devotion one should be avoiding.
‘aparadh sunya hoi lao krsna nama’
So become free from aparadhs. Endeavor to become free from aparadh. Faithfully keep chanting to the Holy names of the Lord. Caitanya Mahaprabhu took to the chanting and He went mad. We will say same thing. Narada Muni was enjoying, Caitanya Mahaprabhu also was enjoying and He goes to His Guru maharaj. “The Holy name is so sweet. What kind of mantra you have given to Me? ‘japite japite mantra karila pagal’ I become pagla baba. I become pagal, mad man by chanting these Holy names. ‘kiba mantra dila gosani kiba tara bala’. (CC Adi 7.81) So much bala, so much strength, so much sweetness in this chanting. I have gone mad, I can’t just sit. I have to get up and dance. What is this?” So the same mantra. This chanting of the Holy name is same mantra deliver, very kindly delivered to us by Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The properties of the Holy name and the soul are very similar. They are of similar characteristics. They belong to same world, same family. They have eternal connection, relationship. So just push yourself, don’t stop. Keep going, keep chanting. You could discuss further. Maybe take advice what changes could be made in your some habits or some lifestyles, your dealings with other matters or of the world. The Holy name is potent and sweet. So we encourage everyone to chant. Don’t stop, success is not in stopping. Beg Holy name. “My dear Holy name, please I beg You. Please reveal unto me. Please forgive my offences. Give me intelligence oh Holy name so that I can avoid offences”. You could be personal with the Holy name. Because Holy name is Lord Himself. You could reveal your heart to the Holy name. And the Holy name is very very kind. He will listen to your sincere prayers.
One more question?
Question by devotee: Please accept my humble obeisance’s, Maharaj you talked about Lord Buddha. We know that God is God from eternity. Nobody becomes God. But still in case of Lord Buddha, we see that at a certain point of time He gets enlightenment. And He performs austerities…What is the purpose of His behavior in that matter, like He went out and sees things and then He performs austerity. He neither went to gurukul nor anywhere.
Maharaj: Maharaj laughing, Well, He is God. He doesn’t have to go to any gurukul. But on other hand, to become God realized, He is performing austerities, the penances and meditation. He is teaching by His example, ‘yad yada carati srestas’. Buddha didn’t go to gurukul and became disciple of spiritual master. And Krsna went to Ujjain and He became disciple of Sandipani Muni. It was not necessary. He is God, not necessary for Him to become disciple. He is source of all knowledge. Rama, He also became a disciple. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He also had His guru. He found His guru in Gaya, in the same town. Caitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to Gaya. Buddha was enlightened in Gaya. Same Gaya Caitanya Mahaprabhu met His spiritual master. So They don’t need to accept spiritual masters. But they are playing these roles, setting examples so we could learn from that. But as a God, They may not sometimes follow the whole thing, all the steps, so in case of Buddha. Some formal acceptance of spiritual masters, other gurus also, who was it? 24 gurus, Dattatreya, He had 24 gurus. Even a prostitute, a child and a whole list, a pigeon, earth, water, fire like that… There are 24, so He is learning from them.
Caitya guru, Lord in the heart, paramatma in the heart is the first guru. In fact, because we do not listen to Him, Lord in the heart, then He comes out. Or comes in front of us in the form of spiritual master. Or Lord speaks His message through somebody through His pure devotee who plays the role of spiritual master. So Lord would like to talk to the soul. The soul and Supreme soul, they are sitting to each other. Katha Upanishad describes how this body is like a tree and on this tree there are two birds. One is atma, other one is paramatma. They are just next to each other, they are neighbors forever. In everybody the soul gets, embodied soul, the Lord is there. So He is speaking. But we are so dull headed and what not. So we do not listen to what He has to say. The same Lord is then trying to teach us through the agency of the spiritual master. And there are so many other agencies around that we could learn from. Lord Buddha did not accept the formal initiation. He is Lord, He doesn’t have to…for He heard the Lord in the heart. For what He saw, He came to conclusion. Those things, the dead body was His guru, made Him think seriously. Is that okay?
Question: What about the austerity? Like it appears that, if we follow Him then one need to perform austerity to get enlightened. Austerity in a different way.
Maharaj: Sure, without austerity you cannot achieve anything. One of the big big austerity in this world these days is to stay together. Staying together is a big austerity. The wife and husband, they don’t want to perform that austerity. Or so many other nations are getting broken into pieces. The big crowd, even brahmacari ashram is hard. That’s one austerity. There are varieties of austerities to be performed. By body, some by tongue, vaca, some by mind. Austerities one must perform in every Satya, Treta, Dwapar, Kali. There are different means to achieve that goal for purification. Austerity are there, with the austerity comes the purification.
‘tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam suddhyed
yasmad brahma sauthyam tu anantam’ (SB 5.5.1)
As one performs austerities, tapa, tapa. Brahma heard these two words in the very beginning. He didn’t know, what I should be doing. What is my goal. What is expected of me. And he was curious to know. ‘athato brahma jijnasa’. He heard two words, two letters ‘ta’ ‘pa’. And as he put those two words together, ta…pa, ta…pa, tapa while he performed austerities. He goes back to the lotus, he sits there and he performs austerities. So the very first and only being at that time in the whole universe, he starts his spiritual life with austerities. And that tapasya purifies one and with that comes the real anand, real bliss, real life. So tapasya is for cleansing, cleansing body, like to make our talk refined. It should be refined in our speech. Of course no vulgar language, no nasty dirty things. Speak the truth, this is austerity. Be kind, with the mind, of course whole thing starts with the mind. If the mind is not purified, through the word and body, we’ll be committing sin and offences. So the austerity of mind is there, of the speech, of the actions. Krsna describes this in Bhagavad Gita. So austerities that He performed, Buddha performed and we also perform. Chanting of Hare Krsna, this is tapa. This japa is tapa. This japa is yajna. This japa is archana, this japa is dhyan. Tapa is there,
“samo damas tapah saucam ksantir arjavam eva ca
jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam” (BG 18.42) Krsna is talking.