Although You Are in this Bodily Conception of Life, Still, You Can Work From The Spiritual Platform

Bhagavad-gita 2.48-49
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[Lecture, givin in New York City, April 1, 1966]
(660401BG.NY)

Prabhupada: All glories to the assembled devotees. All glories to the assembled devotees. Now, spiritual consciousness, and to continue it... Simple theoretical knowledge that “I am consciousness; I am not this body,” anything, simple theoretical knowledge, cannot help us. (aside:) You can put on this light. Unless...

Just like a person. He studied medical science or law, anything, any technical science. He gets all theoretical knowledge. But if he does not practice, then that knowledge will gradually subside. You see? Similarly, that “I am not this body, but I am that pure consciousness,” that is already analyzed in various ways. Now, we are in practical life. Now, if we say that “I am not this body,” so what is the use of working for this body? The whole world is moving under the bodily conception of life. Because I am born in this land, my body is born out of this land, American land, therefore I am thinking “American.” Because I am born in India, therefore I am thinking “Indian.” Because I am born of a certain family, therefore I am identifying myself with that family. Because my father has given me some name, so I am identifying with that name. So my position is that I am all around surrounded by this bodily conception of life.

Now, from studying Bhagavad-gita or deeply thinking over the matter, I come to understand that I am not this body. That is settled. That’s all right. But actually I am working on bodily plane. This adjustment is required, that yes, you, for the present moment, because you are entangled or enwrapped within this, encaged within this body, so you cannot say that “I will work without this body.” But you can work in such a way that even without this body, even with this body you can work in your spiritual platform. Although I am in this bodily conception of life, still, I can work from the spiritual platform. That technical knowledge is instructed by Lord Krsna to Arjuna, that “You are not this body, but you have to work at the same time.” Then how? Now, here is the formula: yoga-sthah kuru karmani. Yoga-sthah. Yoga-sthah means that you remain in spiritual consciousness, but at the same time, you go on with your usual work. You remain in spiritual consciousness and go on with your work. It is very difficult? I am working with bodily conception of life. How I can be situated in spiritual conception of life? So, this techniques is... sangam tyaktva dhananjaya. Sangam tyaktva dhananjaya. Without being touched with bodily conception. And how it can be done? Siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva samatvam yoga ucyate. That neutrality will be that...

In the former verse it has been already explained that “You have right to work but not for the result. Don’t be cause of the effect of your result. Then you will be bound up.” We are being bound up by reaction of every work. It is just like this world is so situated... Just you know that a sound vibration... Practically, nowadays everyone knows it, that any sound vibrated, it, within a second it takes round all over the world seven times. It is so... The arrangement is so.

Just like in a pond if you drop a stone, the circle, the circle begins to enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, and so similarly, we catch the radio vibration. You know there is numbers. Under such and such vibration, you can catch the sound. So the whole arrangement is like that. Now, if we work even in that arrangement, yoga-sthah, being situated in my spiritual plane, then that will reach to the spiritual sky by enlargement of the circle, enlargement of the circle. I can do work here. You will find in the Bhagavad-gita that the Lord says that patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati: “Anyone who offers in devotion patram puspam, a little flower, a little, small leaf, a little water, I accept them. Because it is offered to Me in devotion, therefore I accept them. I take them in My hand.” But people may ask question that “Where is the hand? Where is the hand of God?” He says that “I take.” “I take” means “I take it in my hand.” Without hand there is no question of taking. Therefore Vedic hymn says that apani-pado javano grahita: “The Lord has no legs, no hands, but still, He can walk more than the speed of the air, more than the speed of the mind, and He can accept whatever we offer. But He has no hand; He has no leg.” So this means that He has no hand, He has no leg, like our limited measured hand or leg. He can stretch His hand anywhere. And similarly, He can stretch, He can hear, from anywhere. That is the prerogative of the Supreme Lord.

I have given you several times the example that the sun is far, far away from us. Still, he can distribute his heat and light to us. So if we work with God consciousness, although we are here in this platform, material platform, that work is admitted by the Supreme Lord. That is called yoga-sthah. Yoga-sthah... Yoga means keeping touch with the Supreme. That is called yoga. There are different kinds of yoga mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita, especially jnana-yoga, karma-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. And within jnana-yoga there are many other yogas—dhyana-yoga, hatha-yoga, so many things.

Now, here it is said that yoga-sthah kuru karmani: “You be situated in your yoga or in meditation.” Generally yoga is understood as meditation. But yoga, real meaning of yoga—to keep in touch with the Supreme—that is called yoga, to keep in touch. So you have to work for, er, from the platform of spiritual consciousness. At the same time you have to work. The Lord never says that “You stop work,” never says. Arjuna... Arjuna’s friend was Lord Krsna, but Krsna never said... He is God Himself. He is the Supreme Personality of God Himself. He never said Arjuna that “I am your friend. I shall supply all your necessities. You don’t require to work. You stop.” No, He never said that. Rather, Arjuna was declining to fight, but Krsna is inducing him to fight. So in spiritual platform there is no question of stopping work, no question of stopping work. But work for the Supreme. That’s all, isavasyam idam sarvam, with God consciousness.

Now, there are three processes of yoga: jnana-yoga, and karma-yoga, and bhakti-yoga. Now, jnana-yoga, take for example jnana-yoga. Jnana-yoga means to keep in touch with the Supreme by speculation of higher knowledge, that discriminating what is spirit and what is matter. So there are philosophers, they are discriminating that “This is matter...” Neti neti: “This is matter, and this is spirit.” Now, that requires study, and that requires knowledge also. Now, suppose a man is neither educated, neither he has got sufficient knowledge, philosophical knowledge. Then what happens to him? He will not be able to perform yoga-sthah kuru karmani? No. He is also a bona fide person. He can also perform the work. Because he has no knowledge and because he is uneducated, that doesn’t mean that he cannot do the..., or he cannot work from the spiritual platform. He can also do. That, how he can do, that is the technique. This technique is explained herewith, the siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva, that “You do not be anxious for the success and failure of the attempt you are making.” Success and failure. A common example can be cited in this connection.

Suppose you are working for your master. You are working in a firm for selling something. The master says that “You go and find out some customers for this particular thing.” You go out. You go out. Now, you sincerely work for it. Suppose you get business worth 100,000 dollars or something like that. And suppose one day you don’t get any business. Now, the day in which you got some business and on the day in which you did not get any business, it doesn’t matter. Your connection with the master is there, so you get your salary. When the profit is 100,000’s of dollars, you don’t expect any profit out of it. And when there is no business, there is no loss on your part. Siddhy-asiddhyoh. Similarly, if you act on behalf of the Supreme Lord, you can do any work you are situated. That doesn’t matter.

But if you act on behalf of the Supreme Lord... Just like Arjuna is being requested indirectly that Lord Sri Krsna says that “This fighting is My plan. So if you work for it, so you have nothing to enjoy or suffer out of the reaction because you shall work under My instruction.” That is the... If we work on behalf of the Supreme Lord, then that is called yoga-sthah. So our work is also not stopped, and at the same time I am situated in the spiritual platform. That technique is taught by Lord Krsna. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani tyaktva sangam dhananjaya: “You do not be attached with the profit and loss of anything, but you simply do your duty. You don’t care for the success or failure. And if you are, I mean to say, steady either in success of failure, that is called yoga. That is called yoga.” Don’t mind for the success or failure.

Do act on behalf of the Supreme Lord. And if you are steady in that position, then your working in spiritual platform is successful. Sangam tyaktva. Sangam tyaktva means “Don’t be associated with the result of the work. Let the result come, whatever it may be, but you have to do your duty nicely and for the sake of God.” Sangam tyaktva. Kartrtva abhinivesam ca tyaktva yoga-sthas tam karmani kuru yuddhadi.(?) Kartrtva. Kartrtva means that you are the doer. “Forget this. You are not the doer. You are being ordered to do it.” Just like there is an example that you take a rod and kill a snake. Now, the rod is practically killing the snake, but actually the rod is not responsible because the man who has taken the rod, who is killing the snake, he is responsible for killing the snake, not the rod. So we have to become the rod in the hand of the Supreme. Then all the reaction of our work will be... I will not be responsible for the reaction. The Lord will be responsible for that. That is the system. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva dhananjaya.

Now, for a householder, according to our Vedic system... I have already described to you the four divisions of social system and four division of spiritual orders. Now, all the social system and orders, they are so designed that everyone is working for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. In a higher section of the social order, just like the brahmanas and the ksatriyas and the vaisyas, the system is that in every household they establish the Deity, I mean to..., the form of the Supreme Lord. Either in picture or in idol, they establish that. Now, what is the function in your household affairs? You have got wife, you have got children, and you require some money. And the activities in householder affair is that you have to get some store from the market, and they are brought in your house, and they are stocked, and in due time they are cooked, and you take your foodstuff and then go to your work. This is generally the whole system of household work.

Now here, the yoga-sthah kuru karmani. In India there are many families still. At least in my family, when I was family man, I was also doing this, that the Deity, Lord Krsna, the murti... Murti means Deity or the idol of Radha-Krsna, established in a room. That is called the God’s room. The God’s room. So our duty is to rise early in the morning and open the door of the God’s room, offer Him some prayers and some kirtana, and then cleanse the room and then begin our daily duty, take our breakfast and... The whole idea is that “The proprietor of this house is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers.” The whole idea is “The proprietor is the Supreme Lord, and we are all workers.” Now, I am going to my office, to my work, to earn some money, because without money my household affairs cannot be run. So I am thinking that “This money is required; otherwise God’s service will be stopped.” So in earning that money in my office or in my workshop, my God consciousness is there. Therefore, even in earning, whatever may be the process, you are yoga-sthah; you are situated in yoga. Now, you get your money. Then you go to the market. You are thinking, “Oh, this is a very nice thing. Oh, it can be offered to Lord Krsna. It can be offered to Lord Krsna.” Just like sometimes you bring some fruits for me, thinking, out of your love, “Oh, Swamiji will take this and he will like it.” So the consciousness is love. Out of love, you think of Swamiji. Similarly, Swamiji is thought because he is in relation with God. So similarly, we can think of also God. God or anything, relation with God, that is God consciousness. Just like electric charge. Anything connected with the powerhouse and anything later on connected with that powerhouse link—everything is surcharged with electricity.

So our life should be so formed that in our every activity there will be God consciousness. That is the technique of yoga-sthah. You haven’t got to separately being seated in meditation as yoga, generally as we understand. Now, how much you can devote your time to meditation? Suppose one hour in the morning or one hour in the evening you can devote. But if you mold your life in such a way that always, twenty-four hours, you are in meditation, that is the platform of yoga-sthah kuru karmani. I am earning for the Supreme Lord. Then, when I earn, I bring things for cooking, I am thinking, “Oh, this thing will be cooked for Lord.” Now, your wife cooks, and she is also very clean because it is being cooked for Lord Krsna. You see? Now, as far as I am concerned here, I also cook myself my food and offer to Krsna, and therefore I ask my friends that unless it is offered to Krsna, you please do not take it. You see? Sometimes I see that in your country, while cooking, they taste. They taste. But I request them that don’t taste before the cooking is finished. After cooking is finished and when it is offered to the Deity, then you take as much as you like, as much as you like. So that means there is God consciousness, that “This thing is being cooked for the Lord.” The cooking will go on. If you don’t think of God, you require cooking because you want to eat. The cooking is there in the program. But if you think that this cooking is done for God, then your God consciousness is there.

The cooking you cannot avoid. As a householder you have to cook for yourself, you have to cook for your children, you have to cook for somebody else or for your own self. Just like I am cooking. I have no here family or children, but I am cooking for myself. So cooking you cannot stop. But if you cook with the understanding that “This foodstuff is being cooked for the Lord. The Lord may be offered first; then we shall take,” this is God consciousness. This is God consciousness. But is it very difficult thing? Anyone can accept this. Anyone can do it. It is not... Because your cooking business is not stopped. Simply the mode of thinking has to be changed. That’s all. A small technique, that “I am earning for God. I am cooking for God. I am eating also for God. I am eating also for God.”

How is that eating you are...? “Now, because my body is dedicated to the service of the Lord, if I don’t eat sufficiently to keep my body fit, then how can I work?” So your eating is also God consciousness. Your sleeping is also God consciousness. So that is the way. We have to mold our life’s activities. Now, when I think that “I have to keep this body fit for working for God,” so then that is not, I mean to... That is not bodily conception of life. Just like when you think that “My car has to be kept very nicely so that I can take nice work for it,” then you are not identified with your car; you simply want to take some service of the car. Similarly, if you think that “This body is required for acting, for working on behalf of the Supreme Lord; therefore I must keep the body fit to work,” so that is not your identification with the body. But if I use this body for sense gratification and therefore I make my body stout and strong to enjoy sense enjoyment, that is the cause of my bondage.

So it is a simple technique, and we have to understand it and we have to act it on the program as they have been made by experienced devotees, experienced devotees. Now, another thing. Take this... See the advantage of God consciousness. Now, if you have got determination that “I shall not take anything which is not offered to God,” because your life is meant for God’s service... You earn for God; you cook for God; you eat for God. Therefore the whole life is like that. Now, if you are cooking for God, if you are purchasing stores for God, then you have to know what sort of things can be offered to God because... Always remember that you are going to the store not for your own purpose. You will find in later chapters that pacanti te agham papah... Er, no. The idea is that anyone who is doing everything for the sake of the Lord, he is freed from the reaction, but anyone who is doing anything on his own account, he is being entangled in that action and reaction. So that is the technique of becoming yoga-sthah. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani.

In the next sloka, in next sloka, it is very clearly explained that

durena hy avaram karma
buddhi-yogad dhananjaya
buddhau saranam anviccha
krpanah phala-hetavah
Krpanah phala-hetavah.

Now, here is... The word krpana is very significant. Krpana. There are two classes of men. The krpana means miser, krpana, miser. And just the opposite word of krpana is brahmana. I have already explained to you sometimes that brahmana... Brahmana means who knows that “I am not this body; I am the... I am the... I am in spirit, conscious. I am soul, spirit, consciousness,” one who knows perfectly well this understanding and the science also, that “I am qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord,” aham brahmasmi. The Vedic mantra says, aham brahmasmi. That means “I am Brahman. I am not this matter. I am Brahman.” So one who knows this science, he is called brahmana. And that doesn’t matter who is he and where he is born. That doesn’t matter. Simply knowing this science... Now, the opposite word is krpana. Krpana means miser. Whom you call miser?

The miser is a man who has got enough money but does not spend it. He is called miser. Miser means who has got enough assets, but he does not spend. He simply sees his money and satisfied. He does not spend it, properly utilize it. He is called krpana. Is it right, the miser explanation? So krpana, who is krpana, and who is brahmana? Brahmana means who has known that “I am spiritual identity. I am qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord. I am the part and parcel of the Lord.” This knowledge, one who has developed highly and perfectly, he is called brahmana. And krpana means who has not utilized this human form of body to understand that he is spiritual identity, Brahman, but he simply knows that “I am this body, and because this body is born in a certain place, so I am identified to that country or to that society or to that family.”

They are called krpana. Krpana means that he has not properly utilized the developed consciousness he has got in his asset. A human being has got the developed consciousness than other sub-human or the animal society. So he has to utilize. Just like you have got 100,000’s of dollars. Now, if you properly utilize, it can be increased. It can be increased to millions of dollars by your intelligence if you utilize it. And if you do not utilize it, if you keep it as it is, that is also very good, but sometimes we lost the whole thing. They are called krpana. Foolishness. Foolishness.

So we must utilize this human form of body properly to understand that “I am not this body; I am pure consciousness. And this pure consciousness I have to practice in such a way that in next life I get my pure conscious or into pure spiritual body, not again this material body.” This material body, we must always know, this is a foreign thing. We have already explained to you that this is just like dress. Dress. Dress is a foreign thing to my body. Similarly, this gross and subtle body—gross body of this material five elements and the subtle body of mind, ego, intelligence—they are my foreign things. So I am now encaged in foreign things. My whole life mission is to get out of these foreign things. I want to be situated in my real spiritual body. That can be done if you practice. If you practice during this life to..., always to be spiritually situated, then your next life, after leaving... Even within this body, when you get clear conception that “I am not this body,” and you are clearly working from the spiritual platform, as Lord Krsna prescribes here that yoga-sthah kuru karmani, “Be situated in yoga and act in your daily duties,” then similarly, if we practice this to work in such a way that we have to work from the spiritual platform, then your next life will be free from this material bondage and you get your freedom life.

Spiritual body means your freedom life. We do not know; we have no conception that in our spiritual body how much we can be powerful. We do not know that. There is calculation. There is calculation that suppose God is cent percent perfect. So when you get your spiritual body, you may not be as powerful as God, but almost near to God. You get seventy-eight percent. You get seventy-eight percent of the whole power. That is a calculation by the great sages. They have calculated that a living entity can attain to the perfection of seventy-eight percent. Now, in our present material condition we have no spiritual power at all. We are always encumbered and conditioned by material forces. You see? So therefore one who does not utilize this body for perfection, for liberation, he is called krpana. Krpana. This is stated here. Krpanah phala-hetavah. Krpanah phala-hetavah.

That krpana, that means miserly person who does not utilize this human form of life for better profit. Then he wants that “Oh, I have done so much. I must get the profit. I must get it.” What profit you get? For the bodily enjoyment? For sense enjoyment? Oh, sacrifice it. Sacrifice it. You know that there is a word, yajna, sacrifice. Sacrifice means—it is a common word—that you dedicate, you dedicate your life for the service of the Lord, this life. You’ll not be sufferer. What is there, suffering? Now just the prescription or the formula I have just cited before you that your householder life... Now, you are doing everything. You are earning money; you are getting from the store; you are cooking. Everything... Nothing is stopped. Simply change your mentality, that everything is being done for God. It is not at all difficult. Simply we have to adopt it. We have to adopt it. So krpanah phala-hetavah. Now, if you think, “Oh, why...? I am earning for my palatable dishes. Why shall I offer it to God? This is there are so many, I mean to say, encumbrances. I am not going to do,” then you become krpana, miser. But if you be a brahmana... Brahmana means udara, liberated, liberal, not liberated, liberal. The opposite word of krpana is liberal. “I offer this body for the service of the Supreme.” I become so liberal. Not for my sense enjoyment.

So one who engages this body for sense enjoyment, he is called krpana, miser. And one who engages this body for the service of the Supreme Lord, he is called brahmana. So Lord says that “You don’t be krpana. You don’t be miser.” Miser want... Now, here, suppose there are so many rich men in your country and so many foundations also. And I tell you my practical experience. I wrote some letters to some good foundation that “I want to start here in America an institution for God consciousness, international institution for God consciousness. You kindly help me.” Now, they have flatly refused that “Our pledge is not anything for religion or God.” Just see. That means, according to Bhagavad-gita, they are all misers. Although they have got very good foundation, they are making actually some charities, but they are miserly. They do not know where to make charity, where to make charity. The karma-yoga, karma-yoga... It will be clearly stated by Lord in later chapter, yat karosi yaj juhosi yad asnasi dadasi yat kurusva tad mad-arpanam. The karma-yoga process is that “Whatever you do, whatever you take trouble for, whatever you eat, and everything, offer to Me. Offer to Me.” That is called karma-yoga, or yoga-sthah. But the people have developed such a consciousness at the present moment that whenever they hear of God or whenever they hear of some religion, they at once become adverse to it. In my country also the same position...

Now, this book, my Srimad-Bhagavatam, it is recognized by the government. The Ministry of Central Government, they have recognized this book, and they are purchasing hundred copies of each part. They recognize. But when I told that “For this publication of the whole thing, I require 500,000’s of dollars. The government can take up this work,” “No, our government is secular. Secular.” So I could not get any help from my government. You see? And here also I approached some foundation that “Here is my program, that I want to start one institution for God consciousness. Please, your... The institution will be established in your country. Your people will be benefited. I don’t take any money. I don’t make any profit. I want to simply give my service.” And I have got their letter, on the Rockefeller Foundation. They have flatly refused: “No, we are not going to contribute anything for religious purpose or for God consciousness. It is not possible.”

So people have become so averse to the sense of God. How they can be happy? At least from the Bhagavad-gita we find it clearly they cannot be happy. However they make progress in material advancement of science and economy and everything, oh, they cannot be happy. They cannot be happy. The whole thing is the wrong process. Here is the process recommended in the Bhagavad-gita, that yoga-sthah kuru karmani. Yoga-sthah kuru karmani. Unless you work. No work is condemned. Whatever you do, that doesn’t matter. But if that work is done on behalf of the Supreme Lord, that makes you purified. That makes you happy. But that science is lacking altogether all over the world, not only here or there. The whole thing... In Russia they are preaching godless civilization: “There is no God.” Here also there are even some churches. I know they are preaching that God is dead. You see? They are preaching like that.

So the condition is very precarious at the present moment. And we are preaching Bhagavad-gita and the formula, but the formula is practically very difficult to apply in the present circumstances. You see? Yoga-sthah kuru karmani. People have gone so much ahead in material, I mean to say... Material civilization means only sense gratification. That’s all. It has nothing more than this. And actually we are seeing that as much as we are making economic progress, as much money we are getting, the next program is how to spend it for sense gratification, how to spend it for sense gratification. They have no other program, no other program. You see? Everywhere. But here the formula is that nothing for your sense gratification; everything for God. The work is not condemned. Work you can do. Whatever in situation, position you are by God’s will you are put in, that doesn’t matter. Your work is not bad, provided you work for the Supreme Lord. That’s all. That is the technique.

So durena hy avaram karma. Here it is emphatically emphasized that durena hy avaram karma buddhi-yogad dhananjaya: “By application of this God consciousness, you throw away all other work. Any work which you cannot do with God consciousness, don’t do it.” Now, here is the injunction in Bhagavad-gita that “Anything which you cannot do with God consciousness, stop doing.” But the whole world is engaged, doing things in which there is no God consciousness. There is no God consciousness. And here it is enjoined that buddhau saranam anviccha krpanah phala-hetavah: “Only those who are krpana, those who are not self-realized, they are hankering after sense gratification. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But you don’t be. Arjuna, you don’t be. If you want to be spiritually situated, if you want to work from the spiritual platform, then you don’t do it. You work on the spiritual platform and don’t do anything which you cannot do in God consciousness.”

This is clearly stated here. Now, it is, of course... It depends on us whether to accept it or not accept it, because God has given us independence. You’ll find also in the Bhagavad-gita at the end that after the instruction is given, the Lord inquires from Arjuna that “I have given you all instruction necessary. Now whatever you like, you do.” So this is the position. The Lord never interferes with the little independence that has been offered to us. We have got little independence because we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Oh, so under certain percentage we have got independence. Not full independence, but under certain percentage we have got independence. And that independence we can use properly or misuse it also. When we misuse, then we become krpana, the miser. And when we use it properly, then we become brahmana. So durena hy avaram karma buddhi-yogad dhananjaya buddhau saranam anviccha, saranam anviccha krpanah phala-hetavah. Buddhi. By intelligence, by intelligence you take shelter of the Supreme Lord. Don’t be miser and be hankering after the result of your work and enjoy for yourself. No, sacrifice. Sacrifice means you sacrifice your energy. God is not hankering after your money or whatever you have got. He is full in Himself. He is full in Himself. He doesn’t require.

Now in India there is a system of worshiping the Ganges water. Ganges water. Ganges water. There are five sacred rivers which the Hindus, they worship. They are Ganga, Yamuna, Kaveri, Godavari, Narmada. Just like you have got your Hudson River here, similarly there are many rivers, and one of them... These five rivers, they are accepted as the sacred river and people take their bath and offer their respect. Now, what is the process of respect? The process of respect is just like worshiping the Ganges water. Now, after taking your bath, you stand on the water and take little water from the river, just like this. The river is flowing. You take little water like this, and chant your mantra and offer it. Now, this offering, offering of water, wherefrom the water is come? Oh, you have taken the water from the Ganges. You have not brought even the water from your house. You are taking the water from the Ganges, and you are again offering the same to the Ganges with some mantra. So similarly, the Ganges has got immense water. If you take one palmful of water out of it, the Ganges is not in loss. And again, if you offer a palmful of water on the Ganges, the Ganges does not gain anything. But utilizing the Ganges water and offering to the Ganges, you become a devotee of Ganges. Similarly, the offering to Lord... What you have got? Your body, it is also given by God. Your intelligence, it is given by God. The facility of work, it is given by God. Everything is given by God. Now, what do we work? Now, suppose I am writing books. All right. In which you are writing? On paper. All right, who has given you paper?

Now, you make philosophical study. “Well, paper I purchased from the market.” Market, how does it supply paper? “It is manufactured in mills.” Oh, it is manufactured in mills. Where they get the raw materials? “Oh, from the wood.” How the wood is produced? Oh, then you come to the God. You cannot produce the wood. You simply bring wood from the forest and get it to chemically purified and make a plaster, and the paper is made. So no raw material you can manufacture. Raw material has to be taken from God’s stock. Now, if the raw material is taken from God’s stock, then how the paper becomes yours? This is God consciousness. Everything we’ll find that nothing is our. We simply... The economists also say that we cannot manufacture anything; we can simply transform from one form to another. That’s all. We can give our labor only. And that labor also, given the strength... Now, suppose I work with my hand. Now, I am claiming, “This is my hand,” but if God withdraws the power of your hand, paralyzed, oh, your pride is at once vanished. Not your hand. You see? So in everything, nothing is yours. I am also... As spirit soul, I am also part and parcel of God. And we are thinking independently that “I have no connection with God.” This is very horrible condition. The whole world is suffering because this misconception of life, misconception of life, that he has forgotten his eternal relationship with God. So we have to revive it. We have to revive it, this process. The Bhagavad-gita has prescribed,

durena hy avaram karma
buddhi-yogad dhananjaya
buddhau saranam anviccha
krpanah phala-hetavah

Krpanah means those who are anxious for enjoying sense gratification, by the fruits of their labor. They are called krpana. And those who have sacrificed the whole body, whole intelligence... Sacrifice... You always remember: what we can sacrifice? Just like we take Ganges water from Ganges and offering Ganges, so everything is obtained from God, and now, if we offer the same thing to God, then we become liberated. Actually I am not proprietor in anything. Myself is also not... I am also the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. These are the conception. Without this conception, without this God conception, there is no spiritual realization and there is no happiness, either personally, or impersonally, or socially, or economically or politically. There cannot be.

Of course, today there is no time. Otherwise I would have recited. Those who have got my books, you will see that how much profusely the earth was producing during the time of Maharaja Yudhisthira, because the executive head of the state was a pious, so how nature was helping. Nature was helping. Now India there is scarcity, scarcity of foodstuff. But the same India was producing so much grains, even during British time, that many thousands and thousand tons of rice were being exported from India to other countries. You see? That I have seen. I have seen. My maternal uncle was very rich man by simply exporting rice to the foreign countries. Yes. Spices... And old history you will find that India, they had got their own ships for exporting spices to Greece and other countries of Europe. The history is there. And they were supplying muslin cloth, even just before the British period, Muslim period. So India’s export, export, I mean to say, status was far greater than other countries. And these spices and other export attracted persons from Europe, that Vasco de Gama, and the Columbus also wanted to go, but he fortunately came to America. You see?

All these Europeans and the Britishers went and established their supremacy. So India was so rich. But now how that India has become so poor? The same land is there. Why? Because they have lost that old culture, God consciousness. You see? And at least my calculation is that, that a state, a secular state... Secular state means he has no... Here in America you have got state religion. You have got state religion. But in India there is no state religion. Every country has state religion. Even Pakistan, it has divided. It is now a part of India. But they have also their state religion. But unfortunately India has no state religion. That means deliberately they are trying to disconnect with God relation, godly relation. But in the same India... You just read the history, five thousand years before, how much profusely the nature was supplying. In the morning we are studying that portion. Mr. Paul was reading that portion, that how much nature was giving. So nature can give you anything. After all, it is the nature that supplies your necessities, not the industry. Industry simply transformed in a different way, and a certain class make profit out of it. Industry does not mean really economic improvement. Real economic improvement means what you produce from the land. That requires God help. Without raw materials, even your industry cannot go on. Just like I have cited the example of paper. Nowadays paper is made from wood. Now, if there is no sufficient... Now you have got in your America sufficient wood, so you can make, produce paper in large quantity. But suppose the woods are finished. Then industry will be finished.

Anyway, we should always be in conscious that everything that we have in our possession, even our body, even our mind, even our energy, everything, that is God-gifted. One who has got this conception of life, he is brahmana. He is the one who knows Brahman. One who does not know this and simply lives for sense gratification, he is called the miser. So we shall not be miser. We shall be the brahmana. That should be our... And there is no restriction. Don’t think that because you are born in America, you cannot become a brahmana. No, you can become a brahmana. There is no restriction. Brahma janatiti brahmanah. The formula is that janmana jayate sudrah samskarad bhaved dvijah. Janmana jayate sudrah. Everyone who is born, first born by the father and mother... Then he is called a sudra. Even he is born in a brahmana family, he is called a sudra. Then samskarad bhaved dvijah. Then, by culture... The cultural birth is called the second birth, dvija. The higher caste in India, they are called dvija. Dvija means the first birth by father and mother, that is... Animal birth and man birth is the same because the process is the same. But unless one takes his birth by higher culture, he cannot be called dvija.

Sometimes the birds are also called dvija. Dvija means twice-born. Twice-born. Just like the birds... The sea bird lays the egg first, and then it is fomented. And from the, I mean to, the egg, the cub comes out, the offspring comes out—the second birth. Therefore birds are also sometimes called dvija. Similarly human and higher status of life, they must have twice-born. Therefore the brahmanas, the ksatriyas, and the vaisyas, this thread, this thread is the sign that “My second birth has been done.” This is the emblem. This upavita, upanayanam, this is the sign. In India higher caste you will find this sacred thread. Sacred thread means when he is accepted, when he is given the second birth, this thread ceremony, there is a thread ceremony. So second birth means samskara, samskara, reformation, reformation. It doesn’t matter where and how he is born. It doesn’t matter.

The other day I cited the example of Jabali Upanisad. He could not say even his father’s name. But because he was so sincere that he declared before Gautama Muni that “Either my mother or myself, I do not know who is my father,” Gautama Muni ac..., “Oh, you are brahmana. You are truthful. You are truthful.” So these are the qualifications, samskara, cultural birth. Cultural birth makes the twice-born. Samskarad bhaved dvijah. Janmana jayate. By birth everyone is sudra. And when he is reformed, when he is culturally rebirth, taken rebirth, then he is dvija, twice-born. And after being dvija, veda-pathad bhaved viprah. Veda-pathat means this knowledge, scriptural knowledge, Vedic wisdom. By studying this Vedic wisdom he becomes a vipra. And after studying, when he knows, “Oh, I am spiritual. I am not this matter,” and he knows the constitution of himself, constitution of the Supreme Lord, then he is brahmana. Therefore the whole mission of human society should be how to prepare brahmana. Then peace and prosperity will be there. If you keep them just like cats and dogs in the platform of sudra, how can you expect? Do you mean to say there is any peace in the dog society? No. That is not possible. Peace can be had only, really—human society.

So this is the culture. The Vedic, whole Vedic culture is to make a man a brahmana, not to keep him in the sudra stage, not to. Every father has to take care. The state has to take care, the teacher has to take care—how to make the children, the poor children, the innocent children, to..., a perfect brahmana. The whole culture is like that. You see? so Bhagavad-gita teaches that. And don’t become... Don’t remain in the sudra stage and a miser, but just try to become a brahmana by culture. Then your life will be successful.

Thank you very much.

Space Travel & The Sky Beyond the Universe

If even the higher planets in this universe are subject to birth and death, why do great yogis strive for elevation to them? Although they may have many mystic powers, these yogis still have the tendency to want to enjoy the facilities of material life. On the higher planets, it is possible to live for incredibly long lifetimes. The time calculation on these planets is indicated by Sri Krsna:

sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmano viduh
ratrim yuga-sahasrantam
te ’ho-ratra-vido janah

“By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.” (Bg. 8.17)

One yuga covers 4,300,000 years. This number multiplied by one thousand is calculated to be twelve hours of Brahma on the planet Brahmaloka. Similarly, another twelve-hour period covers the night. Thirty such days equal a month, twelve months a year, and Brahma lives for one hundred such years. Life on such a planet is indeed long, yet even after trillions of years, the inhabitants of Brahmaloka have to face death. Unless we go to the spiritual planets, there is no escape from death.

avyaktad vyaktayah sarvah
prabhavanty ahar-agame
ratry-agame praliyante
tatraivavyakta-samjnake

“When Brahma’s day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the arrival of Brahma’s night, they are all annihilated.” (Bg. 8.18)

At the end of the day of Brahma, all the lower planetary systems are covered with water, and the beings on them are annihilated. After this devastation and after the night of Brahma passes, in the morning when Brahma arises there is again creation, and all these beings come forth. Thus subjection to creation and destruction is the nature of the material world.

bhuta-gramah sa evayam
bhutva bhutva praliyate
ratry-agame ’vasah partha
prabhavaty ahar-agame

“Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.” (Bg. 8.19)

Although the living entities do not like devastation, that devastation will come and overflood the planets until all living beings on the planets stay merged in water throughout the night of Brahma. But as day comes, the water gradually disappears.

paras tasmat tu bhavo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktat sanatanah
yah sa sarvesu bhutesu
nasyatsu na vinasyati

“Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.” (Bg. 8.20)

We cannot calculate the extent of the material universe, but we have Vedic information that there are millions of universes within the entire creation, and beyond these material universes there is another sky, which is spiritual. There all the planets are eternal, and the lives of all the beings on them are eternal. In this verse the word bhavah means “nature,” and here another nature is indicated. In this world we have experience also of two natures. The living entity is spirit, and as long as he is within matter, matter is moving, and as soon as the living entity, the spiritual spark, is out of the body, the body is immovable.

The spiritual nature is called Krsna’s superior nature, and the material is called the inferior. Beyond this material nature there is a superior nature, which is totally spiritual. It is not possible to understand this by experimental knowledge. We can see millions and millions of stars through a telescope, but we cannot approach them. We have to understand our incapabilities.

If we cannot understand the material universe by experimental knowledge, what is the possibility of understanding God and His kingdom? It is not possible experimentally. We have to understand by hearing Bhagavad-gita. We cannot understand who our father is by experimental knowledge; we have to hear the word of our mother and believe her. If we do not believe her, there is no way of knowing. Similarly, if we just stick to the Krsna conscious method, all information about Krsna and His kingdom will be revealed.

Paras tu bhavah means “superior nature,” and vyaktah refers to what we see manifested. We can see that the material universe is manifested through the earth, sun, stars, and planets. And beyond this universe is another nature, an eternal nature. Avyaktat sanatanah. This material nature has a beginning and an end, but that spiritual nature is sanatanah—eternal.

It has neither beginning nor end. How is this possible? A cloud may pass over the sky, and it may appear to cover a great distance, but actually it is only a small speck covering an insignificant part of the whole sky. Because we are so small, if only a few hundred miles is covered by cloud, it appears that the whole sky is covered. Similarly, this whole material universe is like a small, insignificant cloud in the vast spiritual sky. It is encased by the mahat-tattva, matter. As a cloud has a beginning and an end, this material nature also has a beginning and an end. When the clouds disappear and the sky clears, we see everything as it is. Similarly, the body is like a cloud passing over the spirit soul. It stays for some time, gives some by-products, dwindles, and then vanishes.

Any kind of material phenomenon that we observe is subject to these six transformations of material nature—it comes into being, grows, stays for a while, produces some by-products, dwindles, and then vanishes. Krsna indicates that beyond this changing, cloudlike nature there is a spiritual nature, which is eternal. In addition, when this material nature is annihilated, that avyaktat sanatanah will remain.

In Vedic literatures there is a good deal of information about the material and spiritual skies. In the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam there are descriptions of the spiritual sky and of its inhabitants. There is even information given that there are spiritual airplanes in the spiritual sky and that the liberated entities there travel about on these planes like lightning. Everything that we find here can also be found there in reality. Here in the material sky everything is an imitation, or shadow, of that which exists in the spiritual sky.

As in a cinema we simply see a show or facsimile of the real thing, in Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that this material world is but a combination of matter modeled after the reality, just as a mannequin of a girl in a store window is modeled after a girl. Every sane man knows that the mannequin is an imitation. Sridhara Svami says that because the spiritual world is real, this material world, which is an imitation, appears to be real. We must understand the meaning of reality—reality means existence which cannot be vanquished; reality means eternity.

nasato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah
ubhayor api drsto ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darsibhih

“Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent there is no endurance, and of the existent there is no cessation. This seers have concluded by studying the nature of both.” (Bg. 2.16)

Real pleasure is Krsna, whereas material pleasure, which is temporary, is not actual. Those who can see things as they are do not take part in shadow pleasure. The real aim of human life is to attain to the spiritual sky, but as Srimad-Bhagavatam points out, most people do not know about it. Human life is meant to understand reality and to be transferred into it. All Vedic literature instructs us not to remain in this darkness. The nature of this material world is darkness, but the spiritual world is full of light and yet is not illumined by fire or electricity. Krsna hints of this in the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (15.6):

na tad bhasayate suryo
na sasanko na pavakah
yad gatva na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama

“That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.”

The spiritual world is called unmanifested because it cannot be perceived by material senses.

avyakto ’ksara ity uktas
tam ahuh paramam gatim
yam prapya na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama

“That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.” (Bg. 8.21)

A great journey is indicated in this verse. We have to be able to penetrate outer space, traverse the material universe, penetrate its covering, and enter the spiritual sky. Paramam gatim—that journey is supreme. There is no question of going a few thousand miles away from this planet and then returning. This sort of journey is not very heroic. We have to penetrate the whole material universe.

This we cannot do by spaceships but by Krsna consciousness. One who is absorbed in Krsna consciousness and who at the time of death thinks of Krsna is at once transferred there. If we at all want to go to that spiritual sky and cultivate eternal, blissful life, full of knowledge, we will have to begin now to cultivate a sac-cid-ananda body. It is said that Krsna has a sac-cid-ananda body—isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah [Bs. 5.1]—and we also have a similar body of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, but it is very small and is covered by the dress of matter.

If somehow or other we are able to give up this false dress, we can reach that spiritual kingdom. If once we can attain that spiritual world, return is not necessary (yam prapya na nivartante).
Everyone, then, should try to go to that dhama paramam—Krsna’s supreme abode. Krsna Himself comes to call us, and He gives us literatures as guidebooks and sends His bona fide representatives. We should take advantage of this facility given to human life. For one who reaches that supreme abode, penances, austerities, yogic meditations, and so on are no longer required, and for one who does not reach it, all penances and austerities are a useless waste of time.

The human form of life is an opportunity to get this boon, and it is the duty of the state, parents, teachers, and guardians to elevate those who have acquired this human form of life to attain this perfection of life. Simply eating, sleeping, mating, and quarreling like cats and dogs is not civilization. We should properly utilize this human form of life and take advantage of this knowledge to prepare ourselves in Krsna consciousness, so that twenty-four hours of the day we will be absorbed in Krsna and at death at once transfer to that spiritual sky.

purusah sa parah partha
bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya
yasyantah-sthani bhutani
yena sarvam idam tatam

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.” (Bg. 8.22)

If we are at all interested in reaching that supreme abode, the process, as indicated here, is bhakti. Bhaktya means devotional service, submission to the Supreme Lord. The root word for bhaktya is bhaj, which means “service.” The definition of bhakti given in the Narada-pancaratra is “freedom from designation.” If one is determined to get out of all the designations that are attached to the pure spirit soul, and which arise due to the body and are always changed when the body is changed, one can attain to bhakti. Bhakti is realizing that one is pure spirit and not matter at all.

Our real identity is not this body, which is simply a covering of the spirit, but our real identity is dasa, servant of Krsna. When one is situated in his real identity and is rendering service to Krsna, he is a bhakta. Hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam: [Cc. Madhya 19.170] when our senses are free from material designations, we will utilize them in the service of the master of the senses, Hrsikesa, or Krsna.

As Rupa Gosvami points out, we have to serve Krsna favorably. Generally we want to serve God for some material purpose or gain. Of course, one who goes to God for material gain is better than one who never goes, but we should be free from desire for material benefit. Our aim should be to understand Krsna. Of course Krsna is unlimited, and it is not possible to understand Him, but we have to accept what we can understand. Bhagavad-gita is specifically presented for our understanding. Through receiving knowledge in this way, we should know that Krsna is pleased, and we should serve Him favorably, according to His pleasure. Krsna consciousness is a great science with immense literatures, and we should utilize them for the attainment of bhakti.

Purusah sa parah: in the spiritual sky, the Supreme Lord is present as the Supreme Person. There are innumerable self-luminous planets there, and in each one an expansion of Krsna resides. They are four-armed and have innumerable names. They are all persons—they are not impersonal. These purusas, or persons, can be approached by bhakti, not by challenge, philosophical speculation, or mental concoctions, nor by physical exercises, but by devotion without the deviations of fruitive activity.

What is the purusah, the Supreme Person, like? Yasyantah-sthani bhutani yena sarvam idam tatam: every living entity and everything is within Him, and yet He is without, all-pervading. How is that? He is just like the sun, which is situated in one place and yet is present all over by its rays. Although God is situated in His dhama paramam, His energies are distributed everywhere. Nor is He different from His energies, inasmuch as the sunshine and the sun are nondifferent. Since Krsna and His energies are nondifferent, we can see Krsna everywhere if we are advanced in devotional service.

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti

“I worship the original Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom the pure devotees whose eyes are smeared with the ointment of love of Godhead always observe within their hearts.” (Brahma-samhita 5.38)

Those who are filled with love of God see God constantly before them. It is not that we saw God last night and He is no longer present. No. For one who is Krsna conscious, Krsna is always present and can be perceived constantly. We simply have to develop the eyes to see Him.
Due to our material bondage, the covering of the material senses, we cannot understand what is spiritual. But this ignorance can be removed by this process of chanting Hare Krsna. How is this? A sleeping man may be awakened by sound vibration.

Although a man may be for all intents and purposes unconscious—he cannot see, feel, smell, etc.—the sense of hearing is so prominent that a sleeping man may be awakened just by sound vibration. Similarly, the spirit soul, although now overpowered by the sleep of material contact, can be revived by this transcendental sound vibration of Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krsna is simply an address to the Supreme Lord and His energies. Hare means energy, and Krsna is the name of the Supreme Lord, so when we chant Hare Krsna we are saying, “O energy of the Lord, O Lord, please accept me.”

We have no other prayer for acceptance by the Lord. There is no question of praying for daily bread, for the bread is always there. Hare Krsna is but an address to the Supreme Lord, requesting Him to accept us. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself prayed,

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram
patitam mam visame bhavambudhau
krpaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrsam vicintaya

“O son of Maharaja Nanda, I am Your eternal servitor, and although I am so, somehow or other I have fallen in the ocean of birth and death. Please, therefore, pick me up from this ocean of death and fix me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet.” (Siksastaka 5) The only hope for a man fallen in the middle of the ocean is that someone will come and pick him up. If someone just comes and hauls him but a few feet out of the water, he is immediately relieved. Similarly, if we are somehow lifted from the ocean of birth and death by the process of Krsna consciousness, we are immediately relieved.

Although we cannot perceive the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord, His name, fame, and activities, if we establish ourselves in Krsna consciousness, gradually God will reveal Himself before us. We cannot see God by our own endeavor, but if we qualify ourselves, God will reveal Himself, and then we will see. No one can order God to come before him and dance, but we do have to work in such a way that Krsna will be pleased to reveal Himself to us.
Krsna gives us information about Himself in Bhagavad-gita, and there is no question of doubting it; we just have to feel it, understand it.

There is no preliminary qualification necessary for the understanding of Bhagavad-gita, because it is spoken from the absolute platform. The simple process of chanting the names of Krsna will reveal what one is, what God is, what the material and spiritual universes are, why we are conditioned, how we can get out of that conditioning—and everything else, step by step. Actually, the process of belief and revelation is not foreign to us. Every day we place faith in something that we have confidence will be revealed later. We may purchase a ticket to go to India, and on the basis of the ticket we have faith that we will be transported there. Why should we pay money for a ticket? We do not just give the money to anyone. The company is authorized and the airline is authorized, so faith is created. Without faith we cannot take one step forward in the ordinary course of our life. Faith we must have, but it must be faith in that which is authorized. It is not that we have blind faith, but that we accept something that is recognized.

Bhagavad-gita is recognized and accepted as scripture by all classes of men in India, and as far as outside India is concerned, many scholars, theologians, and philosophers accept Bhagavad-gita as a great, authoritative work. There is no question that Bhagavad-gita is authority. Even Professor Albert Einstein, such a scientist, read Bhagavad-gita regularly.

From Bhagavad-gita we have to accept that there is a spiritual universe which is the kingdom of God. If somehow we are transported to a country where we are informed that we will no longer have to undergo birth, old age, disease, and death, will we not be happy? If we heard of such a place, surely we would try as hard as possible to go there. No one wants to grow old; no one wants to die. Indeed, a place free of such sufferings would be our heart’s desire. Why do we want this? Because we have the right, the prerogative, to want it. We are eternal, blissful, and full of knowledge, but having been covered by this material entanglement, we have forgotten ourselves. Therefore Bhagavad-gita gives us the advantage of being able to revive our original status.

The Sankarites and Buddhists claim that the world beyond is void, but Bhagavad-gita does not disappoint us like this. The philosophy of voidness has simply created atheists. We are spiritual beings, and we want enjoyment, but as soon as our future is void, we will become inclined to enjoy this material life. In this way, the impersonalists discuss the philosophy of voidism while trying as much as possible to enjoy this material life. One may enjoy speculation in this way, but there is no spiritual benefit.

brahma-bhutah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati
samah sarvesu bhutesu
mad-bhaktim labhate param

“One who is thus transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman. He never laments or desires to have anything; he is equally disposed to every living entity. In that state he attains pure devotional service unto Me.” (Bg. 18.54)

He who has progressed in devotional life and who is relishing service to Krsna will automatically become detached from material enjoyment. The symptom of one absorbed in bhakti is that he is fully satisfied with Krsna.

From "Beyond Birth & Death", Ch. 4

Yoga as Action

In the Sixth and Eighth Chapters of Bhagavad-gita, Lord Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, explains that the eightfold yoga system is a means to control the mind and senses. This method, however, is very difficult for people to perform, especially in this age of Kali, an age characterized by ignorance and chaos.

Although this eightfold yoga system is particularly recommended in the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, the Lord emphasizes that the process of karma-yoga, action in Krsna consciousness, is superior. In this world, everyone acts to maintain his family, and everyone is working with a view to some self-interest, or personal sense gratification, be it concentrated or extended. But to act perfectly is to act in Krsna consciousness, and this means acting detached from the fruits of labor.

It is our duty to act in Krsna consciousness because we are constitutionally parts and parcels of the Supreme. The parts of the body work for the satisfaction of the entire body, not for the individual parts. The goal is the satisfaction of the complete whole. Similarly, the living entity should act for the satisfaction of the supreme whole, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and not for his own personal satisfaction. One who can do this is the perfect sannyasi and the perfect yogi. In the first verse of the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, the chapter dealing with sankhya-yoga, Bhagavan Sri Krsna states,

anasritah karma-phalam
karyam karma karoti yah
sa sannyasi ca yogi ca
na niragnir na cakriyah

“One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no work.”

Sometimes sannyasis (renunciates) incorrectly think that they have become liberated from all material engagements and therefore no longer have to perform agni-hotra yajnas, or fire sacrifices. This is a mistake. Certain yajnas (sacrifices) have to be performed by everyone for purification. Since sannyasis are not traditionally required to perform yajnas, they sometimes think that they can attain liberation by ceasing to perform the ritualistic yajnas, but actually, unless one comes to the platform of Krsna consciousness, there is no question of liberation.

Those sannyasis who cease to perform yajnas are in fact acting out of self-interest, because their goal is to become one with the impersonal Brahman. That is the ultimate goal of the impersonalists (Mayavadis), who have one major goal or demand: to become one with the supreme impersonal Being. The devotees have no such demands. They are simply satisfied in serving Krsna for the satisfaction of Krsna. They do not want anything in return. That is the characteristic of pure devotion.

It was Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu who expressed this devotional attitude so succinctly:

na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

“O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want is only the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth.” (Siksastaka 4)

In essence, this is the bhakti-yoga system. There are many examples of the pure devotional attitude. Once Lord Nrsimhadeva told Prahlada Maharaja, “My dear boy, you have suffered so much for Me. Whatever you want, ask for it.” Being a pure devotee, Prahlada Maharaja refused to ask for anything. He said, “My dear Master, I am not carrying out mercantile business with You. I will not accept any remuneration for my service.” This is the pure devotional attitude.
Yogis and jnanis are demanding to become one with the Supreme because they have such bitter experience suffering the material pangs. They want to become one with the Lord because they are suffering in separation.

A pure devotee, however, does not experience this. Although separate from the Lord, he fully enjoys the service of the Lord in separation. The desire to become one with the impersonal Brahman, or to merge with God, is certainly greater than any material desire, but this is not without self-interest. Similarly, the mystic yogi who practices the yoga system with half-open eyes, ceasing all material activities, desires some satisfaction for his personal self. Such yogis are desirous of material power, and that is their conception of the perfection of yoga. Actually, this is not the perfection of yoga, but a materialistic process.

If one practices the regulative principles of yoga, he can attain eight kinds of perfection. He can become lighter than a cotton swab. He can become heavier than a great stone. He can immediately get whatever he likes. Sometimes he can even create a planet. Although rare, such powerful yogis actually exist. Visvamitra Yogi wanted to beget a man from a palm tree. He was thinking, “Why should a man have to live so many months within the womb of his mother? Why can’t he be produced just like a fruit?” Thinking like this, Visvamitra Yogi produced men like coconuts. Sometimes yogis are so powerful, they can perform such acts, but these are all material powers. Ultimately such yogis are vanquished, because they cannot retain these material powers indefinitely. Bhakti-yogis are not interested in such powers.

The bhakti-yogi, acting in Krsna consciousness, works for the satisfaction of the whole without self-interest. A Krsna conscious person does not desire self-satisfaction. Rather, his criterion of success is the satisfaction of Krsna; therefore he is considered the perfect sannyasi and the perfect yogi.

A pure devotee does not even want salvation. The salvationists want to be saved from rebirth, and the voidists also want to put an end to all material life. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, however, requested only devotional service to Lord Krsna, birth after birth; in other words, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was prepared to endure material miseries in one body after another. What, then, was Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s desire? He wanted to engage in God’s service, and nothing more, for that is the real perfection of yoga.

Whether in the spiritual sky or the material sky, the individual spirit soul is constitutionally the same. It is said that he is one ten-thousandth part of the tip of a hair. This means that our position is that of a small particle. But spirit can expand. Just as we develop a material body in the material world, we develop a spiritual body in the spiritual world. In the material world, expansion takes place in contact with matter. In the spiritual world, this expansion is spiritual.
Actually, the first lesson of Bhagavad-gita is, “I am spirit soul. I am different from this body.” I am a living force, but this material body is not a living force. It is dull matter, and it is activated only because spiritual force is present. In the spiritual world, everything is living force; there is no dead matter. There, the body is totally spiritual. One may compare the spirit soul with oil and the body with water. When oil is in water, there is a distinction, and that distinction always remains. In the spiritual sky, there is no question of oil being placed in water. There everything is spirit.

The impersonalists do not want to develop a body. They simply want to remain spiritual particles, and that is their idea of happiness. But we bhakti-yogis (Vaisnavas) want to serve Krsna, and therefore we require hands, legs, and all the other bodily parts. Indeed, we are given these bodies in order to serve Krsna. Just as we develop a material body in our mother’s womb, we can similarly develop a spiritual body in the spiritual world.

The spiritual body is developed through the practice of Krsna consciousness. This material body is spiritualized by this bhakti-yoga process. If you place an iron within fire, the iron becomes so hot that it also becomes fiery. When the iron is red hot, it acquires all the qualities of fire. If you touch something with that iron, that iron will act as fire. Similarly, although this body is material, it can become spiritualized through Krsna consciousness and act as spirit. Although copper is just a metal, as soon as it comes in contact with electricity, it becomes electrified, and if you touch it, you will receive an electric shock.

As soon as your body is spiritualized, material activity ceases. Material activity means acting for sense gratification. As you become spiritualized, material demands dwindle until they become nil. How is this possible? In order for an iron to act as fire, it must remain constantly in contact with fire. In order for the material body to become spiritualized, one must remain constantly in Krsna consciousness. When this material body is fully engaged in spiritual activities, it becomes spiritual.

According to the Vedic system, the body of a high personality, a sannyasi, is not burned but buried, because a sannyasi’s body is considered spiritual, having ceased to engage in material activities. If everyone in this world engages fully in Krsna consciousness and ceases to work for sense gratification, this entire world will immediately become spiritual. Therefore it is necessary to learn how to work for the satisfaction of Krsna.

This requires a little time to understand. If something is used for Krsna’s satisfaction, it is spiritual. Since we are using microphones, typewriters, etc., in order to talk and write about Krsna, they become spiritualized. What is the difference between prasada and ordinary food? Some people may say, “What is this prasada? We are eating the same food. Why do you call it prasada?” It is prasada because it has been offered for Krsna’s satisfaction and has thus become spiritualized.

In a higher sense, there is no matter at all. Everything is spiritual. Because Krsna is spiritual and matter is one of the energies of Krsna, matter is also spiritual. Krsna is totally spiritual, and spirit comes from spirit. However, because the living entities are misusing this energy—that is, using it for something other than Krsna’s purposes—it becomes materialized, and so we call it matter. The purpose of this Krsna consciousness movement is to respiritualize this energy. It is our purpose to respiritualize the whole world, socially and politically. Of course, this may not be possible, but it is our ideal. At least if we individually take up this respiritualization process, our lives become perfect.

In Bhagavad-gita (9.22) Krsna says that He provides for His devotees by giving them what they lack and preserving what they have. People are very fond of saying that God helps those who help themselves, but they do not understand that helping yourself means putting yourself under Krsna’s protection.

If one thinks, “Oh, I can help myself. I can protect myself,” one is thinking foolishly. As long as my finger is attached to my body, it is useful, and I may spend thousands of dollars to preserve it. But if this finger is cut off, it is useless and is thrown away. Similarly, we are part and parcel of Krsna, and helping ourselves means putting ourselves in our proper position as His parts and parcels. Otherwise we are only fit to be cast away.

The finger can help itself only when situated properly on the hand and working on behalf of the entire body. If the finger thinks, “I will separate myself from this body and simply help myself,” that finger will be cast away and will die. As soon as we think, “I shall live independently of Krsna,” that is our spiritual death, and as soon as we engage in Krsna’s service, as His part and parcel, that is our spiritual life. Therefore, helping oneself means knowing one’s actual position and working accordingly. It is not possible to help oneself without knowing one’s position.

Service means activity, for when we serve someone, we are acting. When we serve Krsna, we are preaching Krsna consciousness, or cooking, or cleansing the temple, or distributing books about Krsna, or writing about Him, or shopping for foodstuff to offer Him. There are so many ways to serve. Helping Krsna means acting for Him, not sitting down in one place and artificially meditating. Krsna consciousness means activity. Whatever assets we have should be utilized for Krsna. That is the process of bhakti-yoga. Krsna has given us a mind, and we must utilize this mind to think of Krsna. We have been given these hands, and we must use them to wash the temple or cook for Krsna. We have been given these legs, and we should use them to go to the temple of Krsna. We have been given a nose, and we should use it to smell the flowers that have been offered to Krsna. Through the process of bhakti-yoga, we engage all these senses in the service of Krsna, and in this way the senses are spiritualized.

In Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was refusing to act, and Krsna was inspiring him to engage in activity. The entire Bhagavad-gita is an inspiration to work, to engage in Krsna consciousness, to act on Krsna’s behalf. Krsna never tells Arjuna, “My dear friend Arjuna, don’t concern yourself with this war. Just sit down and meditate upon Me.” This is not the message of Bhagavad-gita. We are not to refrain from all activity, but only from those activities that impede our consciousness of Krsna. Meditation means stopping all nonsensical activity. Those who are advanced in Krsna consciousness are constantly working for Krsna.

A mother tells only her bad child to sit down and do nothing. If a child can do nothing but disturb his mother, the mother says, “My dear child, just sit down here and keep quiet.” But if the child can work nicely, the mother says, “My dear child, will you please help me do this? Will you go over there and do that?”

Sitting still in one place is just for those who do not know how to work sensibly. As long as the child sits in one place, he does not raise havoc. Sitting still means negating nonsense; it is not positive activity. In negation, there is no life. Positive activities constitute life, and positive activity is the message of Bhagavad-gita. Spiritual life is not “Don’t do this.” Spiritual life is “Do this!” In order to act properly, there are certain things that one must know not to do; therefore certain activities are forbidden. The whole Bhagavad-gita, however, is “do.” Krsna says, “Fight for Me.” At the beginning of Bhagavad-gita, when Arjuna told Krsna, “I will not fight,” Sri Krsna said,

kutas tva kasmalam idam
visame samupasthitam
anarya justam asvargyam
akirti-karam arjuna

“My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the progressive values of life. They lead not to higher planets, but to infamy.” (Bg. 2.2)

Krsna directly tells Arjuna that he is speaking like a non-Aryan—that is, like one who does not know the spiritual values of life. So Krsna consciousness does not mean sitting down idly.
Krsna Himself does not sit down idly. All His pastimes are filled with activity. When we go to the spiritual world, we will see that Krsna is always engaged in dancing, eating, and enjoying. He does not sit down to meditate.

Is there any account of the gopis meditating? Did Caitanya Mahaprabhu sit down to meditate? No, He was always dancing and chanting Hare Krsna. The spirit soul is naturally active. How can we sit down silently and do nothing? It is not possible. Therefore, after Sri Krsna outlined the sankhya-yoga system in the Sixth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna frankly said,

yo ’yam yogas tvaya proktah
samyena madhusudana
etasyaham na pasyami
cancalatvat sthitim sthiram

“O Madhusudana [Krsna], the system of yoga which You have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.” (Bg. 6.33)

Although Arjuna was highly elevated and was Krsna’s intimate friend, he immediately refused to take up this sankhya-yoga system. In essence, he said, “It is not possible for me.” How could it have been possible? Arjuna was a warrior, a householder, and he wanted a kingdom. What time did he have for meditation? He flatly refused to practice this type of meditational yoga, saying that the mind is as difficult to control as the wind (Bg. 6.34).

That is a fact. It is not possible to control the mind artificially; therefore we must engage the mind in Krsna consciousness. Then it is controlled. If Arjuna found this process more difficult than controlling the wind, then what of us? After all, Arjuna was not an ordinary man. He was personally talking with the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna, and he proclaimed the mind to be like a great wind. How can we control the wind? We can control the mind only by fixing it on Krsna’s lotus feet. That is the perfection of meditation.

No one really wants to sit down and meditate. Why should we? We’re meant for positive activity, for recreation, for pleasure. In Krsna consciousness, our recreation is dancing and chanting, and when we get tired, we take prasada. Is dancing difficult? Is chanting difficult? We don’t charge anything to dance in the temple. If you go to a ballroom, you have to pay to enter, but we do not charge. It is natural to enjoy music and dancing and palatable foods. These are our recreations, and this is our method of meditation. So this yoga system is not at all laborious. It is simply recreation, susukham. It is stated in the Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (9.2) that this yoga is susukham—very happy. “It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.” It is natural, automatic, and spontaneous. It is our real life in the spiritual world.

In Vaikuntha, the spiritual world, there is no anxiety. Vaikuntha means “freedom from anxiety,” and in Vaikuntha the liberated souls are always dancing, chanting, and taking prasada. There are no factories, hard work, or technical institutions. There is no need for these artificial things. In Vedanta-sutra it is stated, anandamayo ’bhyasat: God is anandamaya, full of bliss and pleasure. Since we are part and parcel of God, we also possess these same qualities. So the goal of our yoga process is to join with the supreme anandamaya, Sri Krsna, to join His dance party. Then we will be actually happy.

On this earth we are trying to be happy artificially and are therefore frustrated. Once we are situated in Krsna consciousness, we will revive our original position and become simply joyful. Since our actual nature is anandamaya, blissful, we are always searching for happiness. In the cities we are inundated with advertisements. Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and dance halls are always announcing, “Come on, here is ananda. Here is pleasure.” That is because everyone is searching for ananda, pleasure. Our society for Krsna consciousness is also announcing, “Here is ananda,” but our standard of pleasure is very different. In any case, the goal—pleasure—is the same.

Most people are hunting for pleasure on the gross material platform. The more advanced search for pleasure in speculation, philosophy, poetry, or art. The bhakti-yogi, however, searches for pleasure on the transcendental platform, and that is his only business. Why are people working so hard all day? They are thinking, “Tonight I shall enjoy. Tonight I will associate with this girl or with my wife.” Thus people are going to so much trouble to acquire a little pleasure. Pleasure is the ultimate goal, but unfortunately, under illusion, people do not know where real pleasure is to be found. Real pleasure exists eternally in the transcendental form of Krsna.

Perhaps you have seen pictures of Krsna, and if so, you have noticed that Krsna is always jolly. If you join His society, you will also become jolly. Have you ever seen pictures of Krsna working with a machine? Have you ever seen pictures of Krsna smoking? No, He is by nature full of pleasure, and if you unfold yourself in that way, you will also find pleasure. Pleasure cannot be found artificially.

ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, residing in His own realm, Goloka, with Radha, resembling His own spiritual figure, the embodiment of the ecstatic potency possessed of the sixty-four artistic activities, in the company of Her confidantes (sakhis), embodiments of the extensions of Her bodily form, permeated and vitalized by His ever-blissful spiritual rasa.” (Brahma-samhita 5.37)

The word rasa means “taste,” or “mellow.” We enjoy sweets or candy because of their taste. Everyone is trying to enjoy some taste, and we want to enjoy sex because there is some taste there. That is called adi taste. Material tastes are different because they are tasted and quickly finished. Material tastes last only a few minutes. You may take a piece of candy, taste it, and say, “Oh, that is very nice,” but you have to taste another in order to continue the enjoyment. Material taste is not unlimited, but real taste is without end. Spiritual taste cannot be forgotten; it goes on increasing. Anandambudhi-vardhanam. Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, “This taste is always increasing.” Spiritual taste is like the ocean in the sense that it is very great. The Pacific Ocean is always tossing, but it is not increasing. By God’s order, the ocean does not extend beyond its limit, and if it extends, there is havoc. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that there is another ocean, an ocean of transcendental bliss, an ocean that is always increasing.

Anandambudhi-vardhanam
prati-padam purnamrtasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate
sri-krsna-sankirtanam.

By chanting Hare Krsna, our pleasure potency increases more and more.

One who has realized Sri Krsna is always living in Vrndavana, Vaikuntha. Although a devotee may seem to be living in some place far from Vrndavana, he is always living in Vrndavana, because he knows that Krsna is present everywhere, even within the atom. The Supreme Lord is bigger than the biggest and smaller than the smallest. Once we are fully realized and established in Krsna consciousness, we never lose sight of Krsna, and our bliss is always increasing. This is the true yoga system, bhakti-yoga, as expounded by Lord Sri Krsna Himself in Bhagavad-gita.

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WATER---This taste is Krsna!

Bhagavad-gita 7.8
--
Bombay, February 23, 1974

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) Translation: “O son of Kunti, Arjuna, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras. I am the sound in ether and ability in man.”
Prabhupada:

raso ’ham apsu kaunteya
prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh
pranavah sarva-vedesu
sabdah khe paurusam nrsu

This is all-pervasive nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We should mark the important word in this verse: aham. Aham means the person. Krsna never says that “I am imperson.” Imperson is the feature of Krsna. Just like in the Ninth Chapter, Krsna says, maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina. Maya, “I am all-pervasive by My energy.”
We have already explained that Krsna has multi-energies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate. That is the Vedic version, that the Absolute Truth, Supreme Person, has got multi-energies. In the Visnu Purana also: whatever we are experiencing, that is simply Krsna’s energy. Just like we can experience the heat and light from the sun. We can understand the constitution of the sun globe. Although we are ninety-three million miles, away from the sun, but by his energy, heat and light, we can understand what is the sun. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, He has got multi-energies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate.

na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate
na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate
parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate
svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca

This is the version of Upanisad. He has nothing to do. Na tasya karyam. Why? And because... Na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate. And nobody is equal to Him. Neither greater than Him. And He hasn’t got to do anything because He has got so many energies. Svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca. Everything is being done by His energy very perfectly.

So His energy is working even in the water. You can perceive His energy within the water. We are daily using water. We are tasting water. So you can perceive Krsna’s presence, Krsna’s all-pervasiveness, even while you drink water. Every one of us, we drink water. And... So the taste of the water, Krsna says, “Here I am.” This is impersonal feature, but the person is behind. Mayadhyaksena prakrtih [Bg. 9.10]. Water is one of the products of this material nature, but behind this existence of water is Krsna. Then you can understand Krsna. You try to understand by studying His energy.

Therefore Krsna is describing that “Although you cannot see Me just now...” Because in the preliminary stage nobody can see Krsna, although Krsna is present everywhere. Andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham. He is present within the atom. But it requires the qualified eyes to see Him or purified senses to perceive Him.

That is stated in the sastra: atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [BRS. 1.2.234]. With our these present senses we cannot understand what is the holy, transcendental name of Krsna. Therefore sometimes we are misunderstood, that “Why these people are chanting Hare Krsna?” So... Because ordinary man or ordinary senses cannot understand the value, the nature of the name, therefore sastra says, atah sri-krsna-namadi. Namadi, beginning from name. We can realize God by chanting name. Because abhinnatvan nama-naminoh. Nama cintamanih krsnas caitanya-rasa-vigrahah.

These are the description of the sastras. Nama, the holy name of the Lord, is completely spiritual. Nama cintamanih krsna. He is... Nama is, name is as good as Krsna. Nama cintamanih krsnas caitanya-rasa-vigrahah. Those who are chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra without any offense, they are tasting spiritual nectarine. Just like Rupa Gosvami has written a sloka that “If I could possess millions of ears and millions of tongues, then I could enjoy what is the transcendental mellow in chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra. But that is not possible for ordinary human being in the beginning.

Therefore sastra says, atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [BRS. 1.2.234]. These impurified senses cannot appreciate the value of the holy name of Krsna. Nama-adi, His name, His quality, His pastimes, His form, His activities... There are so many things, beginning with nama, Hare Krsna maha-mantra. As we go on chanting, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama ,Rama Rama, Hare Hare, and as we become purified... The more we chant, we become purified. Ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam sreyah-kairava-candrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam [Cc. Antya 20.12].

So this is the process. So those who are not even inclined to chant this holy name of Hare Krsna maha-mantra, although there is no loss and there is no expenditure... Anyone can chant. It is freely distributed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Anyone can take the chance of chanting Hare Krsna. Automatically... Sometimes we find friends on the street. Simply by seeing us, they chant “Hare Krsna.” So that is a good sign. They are learning the value of Hare Krsna maha-mantra. So in this age the chanting of the holy name is very, very important. Kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha. For God realization.

So even if you are not inclined to chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra, then try to understand Krsna in this way. This is the process given by Sri Krsna Himself. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. You have to drink water; you cannot avoid it. So when you taste, while drinking water, anything drinking... Apsu. Apsu means any liquid thing. Either you drink milk or even up to, even you drink wine, so you have got some taste in any liquid thing while drinking. So Krsna says, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. “My dear Kaunteya, Arjuna, that taste in the liquid thing which you drink or use, that is I am.” Just see how it is easily can be done. Nobody is without drinking something liquid. Either Coca-cola or water or this or that, something must be drinking. So Krsna says that “I am the taste.” So where is the difficulty of understanding Krsna? If we cannot... They say, “Can you show me Krsna?” All right, here is Krsna, see. Seeing means directly perception. When I say, “Let me see what is this mango,” you are seeing already. Here seeing means tasting. “Let me see the mango.” That means seeing means tasting.

So we have got so many senses. And we taste different senses. We can see by eyes. We can taste by the tongue. We can hear by the ear. We can smell by the nose. We can touch by the hand. So we have got all senses. And by senses we get experience. So if you try to experience Krsna by this process, that whenever you drink something liquid and taste it very nicely, you consider “This taste is Krsna,” is it very difficult for Krsna realization? And because you’ll remember Krsna... Actually that taste is Krsna. Because that water is also Krsna. Water is Krsna in this sense: the energy of Krsna.

Just like fire and the heat. Heat is the energy of Krsna. So heat and fire is not distinct. They are the same. Still, the heat is not fire. This is called acintya-bhedabheda philosophy, simultaneously one and different. Simultaneously. Everything. Idam hi visvam bhagavan ivetarah. It requires only realization that “Whole universe is Krsna.” Idam hi visvam bhagavan. But it appears different from Bhagavan.

Actually, it is not different. You have to understand by purified senses. That is required. Unless you have got purified senses, you cannot understand. But this is the beginning: raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. You just try to understand. This rasa... It is said by Krsna. It is not our manufacture. When... If I say that “The taste of water is Krsna,” that may be different. But Krsna says raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. So why not think of Krsna?

So this thinking of Krsna is a process of devotional service, out of the nine processes. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]. So if you remember Krsna, you advance in your spiritual life, and you become perfect yogi. How?

yoginam api sarvesam
mad-gatenantar-atmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo mam
sa me yuktatamo matah
[Bg. 6.47]

If you simply think, as you drink water, or drink anything, the taste only... Here is the hint: “Now here is Krsna.” So you must be drinking so many times. If so many times, if you remember Krsna, you gradually become Krsna conscious. So simple thing it is.

Krsna is prescribing. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. Suppose if you do not drink. So nobody there is who does not drink. Everyone drinks. The another method, prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. As soon as, early in the morning, you find the sunshine, you remember “Here is Krsna. Here is Krsna.” Or at night, when there is no sun, there is moonlight, “Here is Krsna.” Then pranavah sarva-vedesu. If you are a student, serious student of Vedic mantras... Om tad visnoh paramam padam sada pasyanti sura... If you chant the Vedic mantras... Om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur varenyam. The omkara, that is Krsna. Many people are very much fond of chanting omkara. That is also nice. That is Krsna. But if we simply remember that “This omkara is Krsna,” then we become perfect. Because the process is how to become Krsna conscious.

So you can become Krsna conscious while drinking any liquid or water, while seeing the sunshine, while seeing the moonshine, while, if you are a scholar, brahmana, advanced, while chanting the pranava, pranavah sarva-vedesu. Or even if you, sound, if you hear the sound... There are so many sounds going on. If you remember Krsna. And also, paurusam nrsu. Paurusam. You meet so many men in your dealings with this material world. There are many very big, big men. Big, big industrialists, big, big scholars, big, big manufacturers, and big, big bankers. So this is paurusam, ode(?) who has attained perfection in the material world.

So instead of envying him, if you simply think that “He has attained because he has got little power from Krsna.” Yad yad vibhutimat sattvam mama tejo ’msa-sambhavam. Anything wonderful that is done, that is done by any person, paurusam, that is also Krsna’s energy.
So it is not at all difficult to become Krsna conscious.

There is no expenditure; there is no loss. Simply by your daily dealings you can become Krsna conscious. This is the program here. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh, pranavah... If you cannot chant... We are advising everyone, “Chant Hare Krsna mantra.” Kirtaniyah sada harih [Cc. adi 17.31]. Kirtan... This Hare Krsna mantra should be chanted twenty-four hours. Kirtaniyah sada harih. But (if) it becomes difficult or hackneyed, then you can remember Krsna otherwise.

While drinking water, while seeing the sunshine, while seeing the moonshine, while chanting Vedic mantras, or even hearing some sound in the khe. Sound is produced by the ether. So many sounds we are hearing. If you simply remember this sloka of Bhagavata, that sabda, any sound... Hare Krsna sound is transcendental. That’s all right. But if you don’t like Hare Krsna sound, you take any sound, any sound is also... That is coming from the original sound. Simply it is covered by maya. What is the difference between spiritual and material? Everything is spiritual. Sarvam khalv idam brahma. But when it is covered by maya, it is material. That’s all. And what is maya? Forgetful of Krsna. The same water, the same water, it is spiritual. Because it is Krsna’s energy. Krsna has already said, bhumir apah. Apah. Here also, apsu. So apah, jala, or water, is Krsna’s energy. How it can be different from Krsna? So we have to deal with water in so many ways. How we can forget Krsna?

The Krsna consciousness movement is the spreading the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita as it is. So how one can become Krsna conscious very easily without any loss, but gain is very much—why don’t you take this advantage of Krsna consciousness movement? What is the reason that you’ll not take? Satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah [Bg. 9.14]. If you become Krsna conscious in this way, the profit is very, very great. Because the more you become Krsna conscious, the more Krsna becomes revealed to you. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah. Realization, revelation, that... With the blunt senses you cannot understand Krsna, you cannot realize Krsna. But if you purify... Atah sri-krsna-namadi na bhaved grahyam indriyaih [BRS. 1.2.234]. Our present senses are blunt senses because it is covered by forgetfulness of Krsna, or maya. Therefore it has to be purified. Or the nature of forgetfulness has to be removed. That’s all. This is the process. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. If you follow this process, that “Here is drinking water, the taste is Krsna,” that means some percentage of your forgetfulness of Krsna is removed. Similarly, when you see the sunshine, the moonshine, or you chant omkara... There are other, so many ways prescribed in the later verses. So try to understand Krsna in this way. It doesn’t require any advancement of education or Vedic knowledge. A simple thing.

So there is no difficulty. And as soon as it is purified... Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. The purification... That is bhakti. Bhakti-marga, devotional service means purifying the senses. That’s all. The, at the present moment, our senses are covered by maya, and this maya can be moved away simply by remembering in every step Krsna. Sevonmukhe hi jihvadau. That, that sevonmukha, that is the devotional service. Jihvadau. You simply engage your jihva. Jihva means tongue. The tasting is also tongue. Without tongue, you cannot taste. Therefore it is said, sevonmukhe hi jihvadau: “The beginning, beginning of purification, is to use your tongue in this devotional service.” So our prescription is therefore that you use your tongue for chanting Hare Krsna maha-mantra and employ your tongue for tasting Krsna’s prasadam. It is not at all difficult. There is no need of studying, mean, higher knowledge in the Vedic principle. That will auto, automatically will be revealed.

Therefore it is said: sevonmukhe hi jihvadau svayam eva sphuraty adah. If you apply your ear only... As it is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam: srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. Punya-sravana-kirtanah. Chanting of the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, or hearing of Krsna’s word... Just like you are hearing the words of Bhagavad-gita. Srnvatam sva-kathah. This is His own word. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. Either you hear or you chant. Because sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam... [SB 7.5.23].

There are nine methods. So the beginning is hearing. We are opening so many centers just to give people chance to hear about Krsna. That’s all. If you simply hear about Krsna, srnvatam, then Krsna becomes pleased: “Oh, now he’s hearing about Me.” Then what does He do? Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. Either you understand or don’t understand, it becomes a pious activities on your part.

And the more you become pious, you can understand Krsna. Because impious persons... Yesam tv anta-gatam papam. Impious persons cannot understand Krsna. But one who is free from impious activities, yesam tv anta-gatam papam jananam punya-karmanam... Punya-karma. This hearing is punya-karma. Jananam punya, te dvandva-moha-nirmukta bhajante mam drdha-vratah [Bg. 7.28]. If you simply hear.

There is no... If you understand, it is very good. Even if you do not understand, the vibration of Hare Krsna mantra, the reading of Bhagavad-gita, simply chanting, you’ll be purified. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah, hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani... [Bhag. 1.2.17].

So we cannot understand what I am, what is God, what is my relationship with God, what I have to do in that rela..., we cannot understand these things because we are enwrapped in sinful activities. That is also stated in the... Here. Na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah [Bg. 7.15]. So in the material world, every one of us, more or less, are duskrtinah. More or less sinful. So it is very difficult for us to understand Krsna. Atah sri-krsna-namadi. I have already explained.

Therefore we have to take advantage of this Krsna consciousness movement. And wherever there is a chance of hearing about Krsna, we should take the opportunity. That is Krsna consciousness movement. And learn from the... It is not our manufacture. Krsna says. Learn how to become Krsna conscious. Simply you try to understand Krsna in every step of life. In every step of life. They will be all explained in this chapter, how you can perceive Krsna. The beginning is tasting. Everyone drinks water or drinks something else. So try to taste the liquid, thinking that “This taste is Krsna.” You see in the morning the light of sunshine: “Here is Krsna.” In the evening you see the moonlight: “Here is Krsna.” There is sound always, especially in a city like Bombay. It is full of sound. So whenever you hear any kind of sound—sound is the vibration of the sky—you remember: “This sound is Krsna.” Sabdah khe. And whenever you meet any person very exalted, very extraordinarily able, you understand that “This ability is Krsna’s mercy, vibhuti.”

In this way, if you practice, and if you chant also Hare Krsna maha-mantra, and if you hear from realized souls about Krsna, then you gradually become advanced in Krsna consciousness. And when you come to perfection... Janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvatah. This Krsna’s appearance, disappearance, His activities, will be revealed to you. Svayam eva sphuraty adah. When Krsna becomes manifest, revelation, then you understand what is Krsna, what is His activities, what is His name, what is His pastimes. Everything becomes revealed. Then you can understand perfectly.

Not... We cannot understand perfectly, but so far our ability is concerned, we can understand Krsna. And if we a little bit understand Krsna, then our life is successful. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. Simply by little understanding Krsna. What is that? Now, tyaktva deham punar... That is the highest perfection. After giving up this body... Ordinarily, we give up this body and we accept another. Tatha dehantara-praptih. That we have to stop. We are trying our best to make solution of all problems of life. The real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, birth, death, old age and disease. But if you can conquer over birth, no more birth...

As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg. 4.9]. No more birth. “Then it is finished? I am finished?” No, you are not finished. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti [Bg. 4.9]. “You come to Me. You come to Me.” Go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the process of Krsna consciousness. It is very easy. Everyone can adopt. Why should you give up? Take it very seriously and be happy.
Thank you very much. (end)

Teachings of the Vedas

[Delivered as a lecture by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on October 6, 1969, at Conway Hall, London, England.]

Ladies and gentlemen, today’s subject matter is the teachings of the Vedas. What are the Vedas? The Sanskrit verbal root of veda can be interpreted variously, but the purport is finally one. Veda means knowledge. Any knowledge you accept is veda, for the teachings of the Vedas are the original knowledge. In the conditioned state, our knowledge is subjected to many deficiencies. The difference between a conditioned soul and a liberated soul is that the conditioned soul has four kinds of defects. The first defect is that he must commit mistakes. For example, in our country, Mahatma Gandhi was considered to be a very great personality, but he committed many mistakes. Even at the last stage of his life, his assistant warned, “Mahatma Gandhi, don’t go to the New Delhi meeting. I have some friends, and I have heard there is danger.” But he did not hear. He persisted in going and was killed. Even great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, President Kennedy—there are so many of them—make mistakes. To err is human. This is one defect of the conditioned soul.

Another defect: to be illusioned. Illusion means to accept something which is not: maya. Maya means “what is not.” Everyone is accepting the body as the self. If I ask you what you are, you will say, “I am Mr. John; I am a rich man; I am this; I am that.” All these are bodily identifications. But you are not this body. This is illusion.

The third defect is the cheating propensity. Everyone has the propensity to cheat others. Although a person is fool number one, he poses himself as very intelligent. Although it is already pointed out that he is in illusion and makes mistakes, he will theorize: “I think this is this, this is this.” But he does not even know his own position. He writes books of philosophy, although he is defective. That is his disease. That is cheating.

Lastly, our senses are imperfect. We are very proud of our eyes. Often, someone will challenge, “Can you show me God?” But do you have the eyes to see God? You will never see if you haven’t the eyes. If immediately the room becomes dark, you cannot even see your hands. So what power do you have to see? We cannot, therefore, expect knowledge (veda) with these imperfect senses. With all these deficiencies, in conditioned life we cannot give perfect knowledge to anyone. Nor are we ourselves perfect. Therefore we accept the Vedas as they are.

You may call the Vedas Hindu, but “Hindu” is a foreign name. We are not Hindus. Our real identification is varnasrama. Varnasrama denotes the followers of the Vedas, those who accept the human society in eight divisions of varna and asrama. There are four divisions of society and four divisions of spiritual life. This is called varnasrama. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (4.13), “These divisions are everywhere because they are created by God.” The divisions of society are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. Brahmana refers to the very intelligent class of men, those who know what is Brahman. Similarly, the ksatriyas, the administrator group, are the next intelligent class of men. Then the vaisyas, the mercantile group.

These natural classifications are found everywhere. This is the Vedic principle, and we accept it. Vedic principles are accepted as axiomatic truth, for there cannot be any mistake. That is acceptance. For instance, in India cow dung is accepted as pure, and yet cow dung is the stool of an animal. In one place you’ll find the Vedic injunction that if you touch stool, you have to take a bath immediately. But in another place it is said that the stool of a cow is pure. If you smear cow dung in an impure place, that place becomes pure. With our ordinary sense we can argue, “This is contradictory.” Actually, it is contradictory from the ordinary point of view, but it is not false. It is fact. In Calcutta, a very prominent scientist and doctor analyzed cow dung and found that it contains all antiseptic properties.

In India if one person tells another, “You must do this,” the other party may say, “What do you mean? Is this a Vedic injunction, that I have to follow you without any argument?” Vedic injunctions cannot be interpreted. But ultimately, if you carefully study why these injunctions are there, you will find that they are all correct.

The Vedas are not compilations of human knowledge. Vedic knowledge comes from the spiritual world, from Lord Krsna. Another name for the Vedas is sruti. Sruti refers to that knowledge which is acquired by hearing. It is not experimental knowledge. Sruti is considered to be like a mother. We take so much knowledge from our mother. For example, if you want to know who your father is, who can answer you? Your mother. If the mother says, “Here is your father,” you have to accept it. It is not possible to experiment to find out whether he is your father. Similarly, if you want to know something beyond your experience, beyond your experimental knowledge, beyond the activities of the senses, then you have to accept the Vedas. There is no question of experimenting. It has already been experimented. It is already settled. The version of the mother, for instance, has to be accepted as truth. There is no other way.

The Vedas are considered to be the mother, and Brahma is called the grandfather, the forefather, because he was the first to be instructed in the Vedic knowledge. In the beginning the first living creature was Brahma. He received this Vedic knowledge and imparted it to Narada and other disciples and sons, and they also distributed it to their disciples. In this way, the Vedic knowledge comes down by disciplic succession. It is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that Vedic knowledge is understood in this way.

If you make experimental endeavor, you come to the same conclusion, but just to save time you should accept. If you want to know who your father is and if you accept your mother as the authority, then whatever she says can be accepted without argument. There are three kinds of evidence: pratyaksa, anumana and sabda. Pratyaksa means “direct evidence.” Direct evidence is not very good because our senses are not perfect. We are seeing the sun daily, and it appears to us just like a small disc, but it is actually far, far larger than many planets. Of what value is this seeing? Therefore we have to read books; then we can understand about the sun. So direct experience is not perfect. Then there is anumana, inductive knowledge: “It may be like this”—hypothesis. For instance, Darwin’s theory says it may be like this, it may be like that. But that is not science. That is a suggestion, and it is also not perfect. But if you receive the knowledge from the authoritative sources, that is perfect. If you receive a program guide from the radio station authorities, you accept it. You don’t deny it; you don’t have to make an experiment, because it is received from the authoritative sources.

Vedic knowledge is called sabda-pramana. Another name is sruti. Sruti means that this knowledge has to be received simply by aural reception. The Vedas instruct that in order to understand transcendental knowledge, we have to hear from the authority. Transcendental knowledge is knowledge from beyond this universe. Within this universe is material knowledge, and beyond this universe is transcendental knowledge. We cannot even go to the end of the universe, so how can we go to the spiritual world? Thus to acquire full knowledge is impossible.

There is a spiritual sky. There is another nature, which is beyond manifestation and nonmanifestation. But how will you know that there is a sky where the planets and inhabitants are eternal? All this knowledge is there, but how will you make experiments? It is not possible. Therefore you have to take the assistance of the Vedas. This is called Vedic knowledge. In our Krsna consciousness movement we are accepting knowledge from the highest authority, Krsna. Krsna is accepted as the highest authority by all classes of men.

I am speaking first of the two classes of transcendentalists. One class of transcendentalists is called impersonalistic, Mayavadi. They are generally known as Vedantists, led by Sankaracarya. And there is another class of transcendentalists, called Vaisnavas, like Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnu-svami. Both the Sankara-sampradaya and the Vaisnava-sampradaya have accepted Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sankaracarya is supposed to be an impersonalist who preached impersonalism, impersonal Brahman, but it is a fact that he is a covered personalist.

In his commentary on the Bhagavad-gita he wrote, “Narayana, the Su-preme Personality of Godhead, is beyond this cosmic manifestation.” And then again he confirmed, “That Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana, is Krsna. He has come as the son of Devaki and Vasudeva.” He particularly mentioned the names of His father and mother. So Krsna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all transcendentalists. There is no doubt about it. Our source of knowledge in Krsna consciousness is the Bhagavad-gita, which comes directly from Krsna. We have published the Bhagavad-gita As It Is because we accept Krsna as He is speaking, without any interpretation. That is Vedic knowledge. Since the Vedic knowledge is pure, we accept it. Whatever Krsna says, we accept. This is Krsna consciousness. That saves much time. If you accept the right authority, or source of knowledge, then you save much time. For example, there are two systems of knowledge in the material world: inductive and deductive. From deductive, you accept that man is mortal. Your father says man is mortal, your sister says man is mortal, everyone says man is mortal—but you do not experiment. You accept it as a fact that man is mortal. If you want to research to find out whether man is mortal, you have to study each and every man, and you may come to think that there may be some man who is not dying but you have not seen him yet. So in this way your research will never be finished. In Sanskrit this process is called aroha, the ascending process. If you want to attain knowledge by any personal endeavor, by exercising your imperfect senses, you will never come to the right conclusions. That is not possible.

There is a statement in the Brahma-samhita: Just ride on the airplane which runs at the speed of mind. Our material airplanes can run two thousand miles per hour, but what is the speed of mind? You are sitting at home, you immediately think of India—say, ten thousand miles away—and at once it is in your home. Your mind has gone there. The mind-speed is so swift. Therefore it is stated, “If you travel at this speed for millions of years, you’ll find that the spiritual sky is unlimited.” It is not possible even to approach it. Therefore, the Vedic injunction is that one must approach—the word “compulsory” is used—a bona fide spiritual master, a guru. And what is the qualification of a spiritual master? He is one who has rightly heard the Vedic message from the right source. And he must practically be firmly established in Brahman. These are the two qualities he must have. Otherwise he is not bona fide.

This Krsna consciousness movement is completely authorized from Vedic principles. In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, “The actual aim of Vedic research is to find out Krsna.” In the Brahma-samhita it is also stated, “Krsna, Govinda, has innumerable forms, but they are all one.” They are not like our forms, which are fallible. His form is infallible. My form has a beginning, but His form has no beginning. It is ananta. And His form—so many multiforms—has no end. My form is sitting here and not in my apartment.

You are sitting there and not in your apartment. But Krsna can be everywhere at one time. He can sit down in Goloka Vrndavana, and at the same time He is everywhere, all-pervading. He is original, the oldest, but whenever you look at a picture of Krsna you’ll find a young boy fifteen or twenty years old. You will never find an old man. You have seen pictures of Krsna as a charioteer from the Bhagavad-gita. At that time He was not less than one hundred years old. He had great-grandchildren, but He looked just like a boy. Krsna, God, never becomes old. That is His supreme power. And if you want to search out Krsna by studying the Vedic literature, then you will be baffled. It may be possible, but it is very difficult. But you can very easily learn about Him from His devotee. His devotee can deliver Him to you: “Here He is, take Him.” That is the potency of Krsna’s devotees.

Originally there was only one Veda, and there was no necessity of reading it. People were so intelligent and had such sharp memories that by once hearing from the lips of the spiritual master they would understand. They would immediately grasp the whole purport. But five thousand years ago Vyasadeva put the Vedas in writing for the people in this age, Kali-yuga. He knew that eventually the people would be short-lived, their memories would be very poor, and their intelligence would not be very sharp. “Therefore, let me teach this Vedic knowledge in writing.” He divided the Vedas into four: Rg, Sama, Atharva and Yajur. Then he gave the charge of these Vedas to his different disciples.

He then thought of the less intelligent class of men—stri, sudra and dvija-bandhu. He considered the woman class and sudra class (worker class) and dvija-bandhu. Dvija-bandhu refers to those who are born in a high family but who are not properly qualified. A man who is born in the family of a brahmana but is not qualified as a brahmana is called dvija-bandhu. For these persons he compiled the Mahabharata, called the history of India, and the eighteen Puranas. These are all part of the Vedic literature: the Puranas, the Mahabharata, the four Vedas and the Upanisads. The Upanisads are part of the Vedas. Then Vyasadeva summarized all Vedic knowledge for scholars and philosophers in what is called the Vedanta-sutra. This is the last word of the Vedas.

Vyasadeva personally wrote the Vedanta-sutra under the instructions of Narada, his Guru Maharaja (spiritual master), but still he was not satisfied. That is a long story, described in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Vedavyasa was not very satisfied even after compiling many Puranas and Upanisads, and even after writing the Vedanta-sutra. Then his spiritual master, Narada, instructed him, “You explain the Vedanta-sutra.” Vedanta means “ultimate knowledge,” and the ultimate knowledge is Krsna. Krsna says that throughout all the Vedas one has to understand Him: vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham. Krsna says, “I am the compiler of the Vedanta-sutra, and I am the knower of the Vedas.”

Therefore the ultimate objective is Krsna. That is explained in all the Vaisnava commentaries on Vedanta philosophy. We Gaudiya Vaisnavas have our commentary on Vedanta philosophy, called Govinda-bhasya, by Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Similarly, Ramanujacarya has a commentary, and Madhvacarya has one. The version of Sankaracarya is not the only commentary. There are many Vedanta commentaries, but because the Vaisnavas did not present the first Vedanta commentary, people are under the wrong impression that Sankaracarya’s is the only Vedanta commentary. Besides that, Vyasadeva himself wrote the perfect Vedanta commentary, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the first words of the Vedanta-sutra: janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1]. And that janmady asya yatah is fully explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Vedanta-sutra simply hints at what is Brahman, the Absolute Truth: “The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates.”

This is a summary, but it is explained in detail in Srimad-Bhagavatam. If everything is emanating from the Absolute Truth, then what is the nature of the Absolute Truth? That is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam. The Absolute Truth must be consciousness. He is self-effulgent (sva-rat). We develop our consciousness and knowledge by receiving knowledge from others, but for Him it is said that He is self-effulgent. The whole summary of Vedic knowledge is the Vedanta-sutra, and the Vedanta-sutra is explained by the writer himself in Srimad-Bhagavatam. We finally request those who are actually after Vedic knowledge to try to understand the explanation of all Vedic knowledge from Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Bhagavad-gita.

From Sri Isopanisad