Nationalism of Pure Consciousness

When a man enters into the sitting room of a friend, the friend receives the man with all cordiality and offers him the best couches for his comfortable rest. The friend accepts this friendly welcome and sits along with his host in all security. Does this mean that the man who has entered the house of his friend will consider the sitting room his own property? Certainly he will not think like that unless he has turned to be a mad man. His consciousness of the fact that none of the paraphernalias of the friend's sitting room do belong to him does not disturb him in the least to sit down there tightly and securely and with this pure consciousness of his position, he is allowed equal facility along with his friend who is actually the proprietor of the sitting room.
   
But if the man after some time madly thinks that because he was allowed to enter into the parlour of his friend to sit down there comfortably he has thereof become the proprietor of the room and all the furnitures in that room, then what will become the lot of the mad man? The natural consequence of this unlawful desire of the intruding friend will meet with police action by the real proprietor of the room and trouble will begin to disturb the friendly relation.
   
And if the man leaves the room without being able to occupy it as his own property and impertinently tells his friend that he is renouncing the right of proprietorship in disgust, certainly the proprietor friend will laugh at him thinking as to when and how the proprietorship of the room was awarded to him.
   
This is the real position of the conditioned soul who enters a stage of life in the cycle of birth and death. The living entity is unborn and eternal. The living entity simply changes his dress according to the price of the dress he has paid for. In the shop of the material nature there are eighty-four lacs of different dresses and the living entity is allowed to put on any one of them according to the price he is able to pay. Leaving aside all other dresses let us consider about the dress of the human body. Because in the dress of the human body a living entity is more puzzled than in the dress of the beast due to the gorgeousness of the particular garment. The dress of the human body is also exhibited in varieties of four lacs of species. There are different dresses of humanity in the form of Kirata, Huna, Andhro, Pulinda, Pukkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yananu, Khasadaya etc. and almost all of them are no more civilized than the jungle beasts. As such they have very little idea of civilized form of national feeling. Out of the eighty-four lacs of different dresses exhibited by the living entities, only the highest civilized human being is conscious of national feeling. This national feeling has created different civilized nations of the world but because almost every one of them is guided by sense of nationalism of impure consciousness, all of them are always busy in making pacts and blocks for security of everyone's national position.
   
The impure consciousness of nationalism has kept all the big heads of world nations always active for an adjustment of everyone's national interest. They have now made a united nation's security council and trying in vain to make a right adjustment. Impure consciousness of every nation has made it impossible to come to the safety point and it is needed therefore to awaken their pure consciousness by the propagation of spiritual education back to Godhead undertaken by the Lord Himself in the form of Shree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
   
What is that pure consciousness? The idea of pure consciousness is specifically described in the Ishopanishad and it is said there as follows:-
   
Wordings: Isha, Abasya, Idam, Sarbam, Jat, Kimchit, Jagatyam, Jagat, Tena, Taktena, Bhunjeetha, Ma, Gridha, Kashyachit, Dhanam.
   
Synonyms: Isha-The Lord, Abasya-Domain, Idam-All, Sarbam-These, Jat-Whatever, Kimchit-Anything and everything, Jagatyam-In the world, Jagat-Material things, Tena-By Him, Taktena-By His offer, Bhunjeetha-You can enjoy, Ma-Do not, Gridha-Accept, Kashyachit-Anyone's, Dhanam-Property.
   
Translation
   
Everything that we see in this material world or in the matter, all belong to the domain of the Supreme Lord. You can therefore enjoy what has been offered to you by Him and you must not accept any others property and enjoy it.
   
Purport
   
The living entity in either of the above mentioned eighty varieties of dresses enter into four lacs the domain of the Lord. The agent of the Lord material nature gives him all facilities to live in that domain provided with all comforts of air, light, shelter, food, drink, residence, and all the facilities of acquiring knowledge. The lower grade living beings such as the aquatics, the plants and trees, the reptiles, the birds and beasts and the beastly human beings living in the jungle-do take all the facilities offered by nature and make progressive evolution by a gradual process from the aquatics to the plants, from the plants to the reptiles, from the reptiles to the birds and from the birds to the beasts. The human form of life is evolved out of the life of the beast in the three modes of nature. As guests of the material nature all these non-human living entities do not bother much about conventional civilization to mishandle the products of material nature. But the civilized man, because of his developed consciousness, mishandles the laws of nature, thinks on terms of proprietorship of the particular place of appearance and thus become entangled in the matter of designations. The civilized man thus creates a bungle in the name of advanced civilization.
   
These civilized nations forget completely that the particular places offered to them for residential purpose-all belong to the proprietorship right of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all the 'Lokas' or planets. In the Bhagwat Geeta [Bg. 5.29] it is said like this.
   
Wordings: Bhoktaram, Yajna, Tapasam, Sarba, Loka, Moheswaram, Suhridam, Sarbabhutanam, Jnatya, Mam, Shantim, Richhati.
   
Synonyms: Bhoktaram-The beneficiary, Yajna-Sacrifice, Tapasam-Penances, Sarba-All, Loka-Planets, Moheswaram-The Supreme Lord, Suhridam-Benevolent friend, Sarba-Of all, Bhutanam-Living entities, Jnatya-Knowing, Mam-Me, Shantim-Peace, Richhati-Is able to enjoy.
   
Translation
   
I am the beneficiary of all sacrifices and penances and I am the Supreme Lord of all the planets and universes. I am the benevolent friend of all living being and knowing this one can enjoy perfect peace.
 
Purport
   
The so-called civilized nations have forgotten the fact that the place of residences particularly specified for them by the Supreme Lord do not belong to them but it is the property of the Supreme Lord. He has given the nations particular places of residence and comfortable life making progress in the matter of pure consciousness. The Lord has not allowed us to remain in such places of residence to create a hell of it by developing a denching ground for the hooligans, ruffians, demons and unbelievers. He is the Supreme Friend of all living entities and therefore He has made the codes of scriptures like Vedas and Purans to guide the civilized nations so that they are not illusioned by the influence of Maya or impure consciousness and consider the place of their appearance as their property.
   
The particular place of residence allotted to us must be protected from the disturbing forces of demons and non-believers,-not as proprietor of the land but with full consciousness of servitorship of the Supreme Lord.
   
Out of an impure consciousness Shri Arjuna declined to fight in the battlefield of Kurukshetra as a proprietor. He forgot for the time being that he was not the proprietor. The Supreme proprietor is Shri Krishna and Arjuna is a servitor only. This fact was explained in the Bhagwat Geeta from different angles of vision and ultimately when the illusion of proprietorship was dissipated-pure consciousness of Arjuna was awakened by the mercy of the Lord and Arjuna agreed to abide by the order of the Supreme Lord. His attitude of non-violence adulterated with a sense of proprietorship right was condemned by Shri Krishna in the very inception of the idea. It is sheer nonsense to think that devotees of Godhead are so many inertia element of society. Real devotees of the Lord like Shree Bajrangajee Hanuman and that like Arjuna-both of them fought out the two celebrated battles of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The devotees are neither violent nor non-violent on their own account but they are both violent and non-violent on account of the Lord. That is the criterion of pure consciousness.
   
 Nationalism in pure consciousness as it was exemplified by Shree Arjuna or Bajrangaji brings in real peace of the world. Such pure consciousness is aroused by devotional activities. Unbelievers in the Supremacy of the Absolute Lord cannot have pure consciousness. Nationalism, guided by the principles of devotional activities of which Shri Arjuna is the typical example, is the goal of our life.

[Written By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada for "Back to Godhead Magazine": June 29, 1956]

How to Broadcast the Teachings of Bhagavad-Gita (Part 2)

(Cont'd. from "How to Broadcast The Teachings of The Bhagavad-gita")

The Bhagwat Geeta supports such scientific caste system in the following words viz.

Chatur, Varnya, Maya, Sristam, Guna, Karma, Bivagasha, Tasya, Kartaram, Api, Mam Biddhi, Akartaram, Abyayam. (Bg. 4.13)

Sama, Dama, Soucham, Khanti Arjabam Eba, Cha, Jnanam, Bijnanam, Astikyam, Brahma, Karma, Swabhabajam.(Bg. 18.42)

Sourjam, Teja, Dhriti, Dahkyam, Juddhe, Cha, Apalayanam, Danam, Jswarabham, Cha, Khatra, Karma, Swabhabajam.(Bg. 18.43).

Krishi, Gorakshya, Banijyam, Vaishya, Karma, Swabhabajam, Paricharyya, Atmakam, Karma, Sudrasya, Api, Swabhabajam. (Bg. 18.44)

There are three modes of Nature current all over the world and they are called the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. And every man or every animal is under the influence of either of the above mentioned three modes of Nature. As such it is mistake to calculate that the modes of Nature are working within the boundaries of India only but it is quite reasonable that such natural laws are working in other parts of the world. In the human society there are undoubtedly men of such different qualities namely men under the influence of the mode of goodness called the qualified Brahmins, those who are in the mode of passion called the Kshatriyas, those who are under the influence of the mode of passion cum ignorance are called the Vaisyas and last of all, men under the influence of the mode of ignorance are called the Sudras. The mode of ignorance as it goes down by degrees it produces men of such qualities as are called Javana, Mlechhas, Kirats, Huns, Andhras, Pulindas, Pukkasas, Aviras, Sumbhas, Khasadayas etc. and there are four lakh kinds of men all over the universe.

From Geeta Nagari this universal Truth must be propagated systematically so that real human society may be reestablished for the benefit of all, dividing men according to natural mode by such approved processes as are called practical psychology or anything else. Such social order all over the world will be known as the Institution of quality caste system and every human being will have the right to qualify himself by education and culture to enter into the higher status of life in the same manner as the varsity of different states offers the facility to anyone. Casteless society will never allow of course to place on the same category a High Court judge and a labourer of the mill unless such society has gone into madness. On the contrary by establishment of such casteless society as it is said in the Bhagwat Geeta nobody will be grudging if anyone is recognised as qualified Brahmin on his merit only. Such casteless society is reasonable and acceptable.

E. The Geeta Nagari may properly utilise the huge fund collected to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi in the manner as above mentioned in four principal heads because Gandhi's memory can only be preserved by his exemplary activities and not by simply erecting some big buildings or statues as we see the general tendency. The Bhagwat Geeta asks every big man perfect his life with the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta and then set himself as an example for the benefit of the people in general. It is said there Jat, Jat, Acharati, Shrestha, Sat, Tat, Eba, Itarey, Jana, Sa, Jat, Pramanam, Kurute, Loka, Tat, Anubartate.

It is foolish to follow the proverbial principle of putting a cart before a horse or putting old wine into new bottle. It shall be the duty of Geeta Nagari to agitate against the Gandhi Memorial Fund being utilised otherwise than in the manner befitting the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta and as approved by Mahatma Gandhi.

(To be continued)

How to Broadcast the Teachings of Bhagavad-Gita

[This is the first part of the Gita Nagari series: written by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada for "Back to Godhead Magazine", dated  May 20, 1956]  

1. The Personality of Godhead Sree Krishna appears Himself in this mortal world by dint of his Internal Potency in order to be visible to the conditioned souls and specially to human being, although in essence He is eternally unchangeable Supreme Truth and Absolute Lord of the visible and invisible worlds. He is ever existent prior to the creation of the manifested world. The Vedas are known to be transcendental because they were impregnated in the heart of Brahma by Sree Krishna after creation of the universes and as such Vedic knowledge has descended in a transcendental process of aural reception from Sree Brahma to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa, from Vyasa to Sree Sukhdeva Goswami and Sree Sukhdeva Goswami to other disciples by succession. The Vedic knowledge is famous as Sruti because it has descended in the above process of hearing only. But the original Teacher of such knowledge is nobody else than Sree Krishna Himself.
   
2. Sreemad Bhagwat Geeta and the transcendental knowledge thereof has also descended in the above process of aural reception from Vaivaswata Manu but when the chain of disciplic succession was broken at the beginning of the Kali Yuga by the influence of the External Energy of the Personality of Godhead known as Maya, it was again reincarnated by the Supreme Authority of Sree Krishna Himself at the battlefield of the sacred place of Kurukshetra in the presence of His most beloved friend and devotee Sree Arjuna. He summarised the full text of the Vedas and Upanishads in the teachings of Sree Bhagwat Geeta in order to give facility to the people of the present age, who are mostly affected by the influence of Kali Yuga or the age of quarrel and disagreement.
   
3. The summumbonum teaching of Sreemad Bhagwat Geeta is that RELIGION means the art and science of learning the transcendental process of surrendering unto the Lotus Feet of the Absolute Personality of Godhead Sree Krishna. The purity of such religious knowledge becomes polluted when conditioned souls become too much influenced by the External Energy of Godhead as they forget their eternal relation with Him and thereby become too much addicted to the material process of sense gratification which is the lowest and crude form of human existence. When such irreligious life of the people in general flourished by the influence of External Energy of Godhead, the world at large suffers terribly in all directions in the way of challenging the very existence of Godhead.
   
4. The Personality of Godhead and His transcendental utterances as sounded in the Bhagwat Geeta are identical. Sreemad Bhagwat Geeta is therefore eternally the Personality of Godhead Himself with full potency and therefore when the transcendental knowledge of Bhagwat Geeta is received in the manner as it was received by Sree Arjuna we can be equally enlightened as Arjuna was. When the law-abiding devotees of Godhead become disturbed by the unlawful activities of the Ashuras i.e. those who are averse to acknowledge the Supreme Authority of Godhead, at such critical time either the Personality of Godhead or His counterpart Form of transcendental Sound appears in this mortal world in order to save the faithful and annihilate the unbelievers. As such Bhagwat Geeta descended directly from the utterances of the Personality of Godhead in order to save the faithful and to annihilate the unbelievers at the juncture of disappearance of the Dwapara Yuga and appearance of the Kali Yuga in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, which was fought between two rival political parties namely the Kurus and the Pandavas.
   
At the present age the same fight between two rival parties of politicians without any guidance of the transcendental direction of Godhead is merrily going on at the expense of the innocent poor people of the world and as such Sree Krishna has descended again in the shape of Geeta Nagari with the same purposes of saving the faithful and annihilating the unbelievers as He did in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
   
5. The Geeta Nagari will therefore be the main preaching centre of the Supreme Authority of Sree Krishna the Personality of Godhead. It shall be proclaimed from that place that Sree Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the Absolute Enjoyer of all benefits derived from all kinds of work, sacrifice, cultivation of knowledge; that He is the Absolute Proprietor of all the manifested universes and that He is the unalloyed friend and philosopher of all living entities namely the gods or rulers, the general people, the beasts, the birds, the reptiles, the plants and trees or the aquatic animals residing in every nook and corner of the great universe. When such knowledge will be fostered from the vantage of Sree Geeta Nagari, at that time only, real peace and prosperity will usher in the world so anxiously awaited by all kinds of people. Unfortunately the present trend of human civilization is conducted just on the opposite direction of the above views. The human being has declared himself as the supreme enjoyer of everything and the proprietor of the world. He has declared himself foolishly as the friend and philosopher of the people in general enamoured by material power and wealth, which is bringing in ruination for himself and his followers. Every human being is imagining himself as an independant God (?) and foolishly trying to guide the activities of his so-called followers without knowing the art and science of such leadership business. Such leadership for the actual benefit of the people in general can effectively be conducted when the leaders themselves will know the art and science of surrendering unto the lotus feet of Sree Krishna and shall be able to convince their followers that God alone has the absolute prerogative in the above-mentioned three main functions.
  
On the other hand the natives of India only have the prerogative to understand this position of Godhead from the pages of Bhagwat Geeta and they are alone able to preach this truth throughout the whole world. It is therefore desired that the authorities who shall guide the activities of the Geeta Nagari may make such organised effort as will help this mission of the Geeta Nagari on a permanent basis.
   
The pangs of a demoralised type of civilization designed by the demoniac principled leaders are being felt keenly by the people in general and to save them from that untold miseries of life is to take shelter of the transcendental message of Bhagwat Geeta.
   
A vivid picture of the demoniac principled leader is given in the pages of Bhagwat Geeta in the sixteenth chapter as follows:
   
We can know the real heart of an 'Ashura' in the statement of Bhagwat Geeta. At the present moment practically every man is infected with a sense of false prestige, pride, anger, vanity, cruelty and similar qualities born of poor fund of knowledge. There area always two classes of men of which the one is known as the Devas or the gods and the other is known as the Ashuras or the demons. The Ashuras are unable to realise what should be done or what should not be done in the human form of life. Those who are qualified with godly qualities generally do perform charities, possess controlling power of the sense organs, perform sacrifices, practice penance and non-violence, love, truth, learn toleration, remains peaceful, refrain from speaking ill of others, become kindly in behaviour, eradicate lust and hankering, practice patience and purify habits. These are some of the many godly qualities of men known as gods. But unfortunately these godly qualities are rarely experienced in the character of the present generation and in most cases the qualities of the demons are vivid in all directions. Such men of demoniac principle are generally unclean in habits. They do not believe in the Supreme authority of God and they think without any reason that desire or necessity is the ultimate cause of creations, without knowing that disposal is more important cause than desire. The demoniac observations are always imperfect in fact and practice.
   
People addicted to demoniac principles, devoid of transcendental knowledge, imperfectly educated and inventors of violent work leading to miseries and destruction of the world have greatly developed in this age. Although these people indirectly realise that their mode of activities had already diminished the duration of life of the people in general, yet they consider the advancement of material knowledge as progress of life, dictated by a strong sense of vanity under the cover of unclean habits. The effect of this pernicious type of material civilization is that people have almost forgotten the question of life after death and thus have taken to an irresponsible way of life leading to untold miseries and distress of material existence. The demoniac way of thinking has covered their unsatiated desire for work and enjoyment till the end of material existence. These people are embarrassed with such thousand and one desires enlarging the circle of exploiting habits in greater and greater circumference. They have now become mad so to say for such enlarged activities of material civilization. Such people think unrestrictedly and at all times like this. "I have accumulated so much wealth just now and in the next I am going to accumulate more wealth. I am god (?) and nobody is equal to my position."
   
"I have killed this enemy and I am arranging to kill the other one. I am god and I am the enjoyer of everything. I am happy and I am perfect. I do not think anybody else is richer than me. I can perform all sorts of sacrifices and by doing so I can purchase all virtues." The Ashuras therefore exhibit a feat of their unalloyed foolishness by such contemplations as above mentioned.
   
Saintly politicians of modern age like Mahatma Gandhi and others inspired by the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta, although imperfectly, have tried to lead such politicians of demoniac principle, as they may be influenced by the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta. Mahatma Gandhi's movement in the political field such as non-violence, non-cooperation, truthfulness, sacrifice etc. are some of the brilliant examples for subduing the demoniac tendency of the people in general. Such example in the life of Mahatma Gandhi made him well recognised all over the world in spite of their being temporary measures and it may safely be concluded that Mahatma Gandhi's success in such movements was solely and wholly dependant on the inspiration of Bhagwat Geeta. Leaving aside his all other activities in the political field, the four following principles which he adopted sincerely in his mature old age are in essence derived from the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta for practical application for social and spiritual upliftment in the present order of things. They are as follows:-
   
A. Leaders and politicians may take lessons from the life of Mahatma Gandhi, who was undoubtedly a great and busy politician, in respect of his daily evening prayer meetings and regular recitation of Bhagwat Geeta. He followed this principle of life most faithfully even up to the last moment of his lamented life. People in general and the leaders in particular may follow this footprints of Mahatma Gandhi if they at all want to do some good to their followers. Such regular habit of reciting the readings of Bhagwat Geeta makes one able to get rid of the demoniac way of life and gradually rising up to the plane of pure devotional life of the gods. When such devotional life is enriched by recitation of the readings of Bhagwat Geeta, all the good qualities of the saints and gods automatically overcome the reciter without any extraneous effort on his part. And a person however qualified he may be in the mundane sense of the term, if he is devoid of the principles of devotional life as above mentioned, he shall surely hover in the mental plane of uncertainty and as such will always fail to enter into the noumenon existence of life. Those who have developed such noumenon existence of life generally known as spiritual life are called Mahatmas in the language of Bhagwat Geeta. The definition of real Mahatmas are given below from the reading of Bhagwat Geeta.
   
B. The temple entry movement of Mahatma Gandhi is another attempt to deliver people in general from spiritual degradation and by such movement the mass of people can be saved from gliding down to the lowest status of demoniac life. Even when he was at Noakhali (Pakistan) during the dark hours of the partition days, he never hesitated to reinstall the deities of Sree Sree Radha Govinda Sreemurties there and by such examples he had done immense good for the people in general. Leaders and politicians may take lessons from this particular incidence of his life. It may be said in this connection that there are thousands and thousands of Vishnu temples or other temples all over India. And these temples were originally the centres of spiritual enlightenment which helped subduing the demoniac way of life of the people in general and thereby they would live in peace and prosperity. At the present moment in most cases those spiritual educational centres have been rendered into rendezvous of demoniac dance for want of culture of the teachings Bhagwat Geeta. They have become on the contrary so many plague spots for preaching atheism and advancement of demoniac principles for want of proper and regular spiritual propaganda under able leadership. The mission of Geeta Nagari must have its aim amongst others to rectify the anomalies that have entered into the life of these centres of spiritual education and regenerate them to the sense of spiritual life through the exemplary life of devotees that may be created from the practical life of Sree Geeta Nagari. The Bhagwat Geeta [Bg. 9.25] encourages us in such spiritual culture as follows:-
   
Janti Devabrata Devan,
Pitrin Janti Pitribrata
Bhutani, Janti Bhutejya,
Janti Madjajina, Api, mam.
   
C. Mahatma Gandhi started the Harijan movement in order to raise the status of the fallen people either by social injustice or otherwise. But such movement may not be restricted only amongst the Bhangis and Chamars who are proclaimed as such by social injustice but such movement may be extended amongst those also are passing in the society as Brahmins and Kshatriyas etc. but in practice their mentality is more degraded than the lowest of the Bhangis and Chamars. Harijan means the associate of God himself. Chamars and Bhangis or for the matter of that, people of the mentality of the Chamars and Bhangis, can never be promoted to the position of the Harijan, unless and until such persons are helped to go up to the place of the Harijan by methods approved by the Harijans such as Arjuna, Prahlad, Dhrubamoharaj, Yamaraj, Bhisma, Janaka, Narada, Vyasa etc. There is no bar for anyone to rise up to that position of Harijans as it is stated in the Bhagwat Geeta in the following lines:-[Bg. 9.32]
   
Mam, Hi, Partha, Byapashritya, Jey, Api, Syu, Papa, Yonaya, Striya, Vaishya, Tatha, Sudra, Te, Api, Janti, Param, Gati.
   
Mahatma Gandhi did not approve of the present system of castes as is prevailing in India and there is ample support of this movement of casteless society in the Bhagwat Geeta in its own way. Casteless society does not mean that there will remain no section or subsection of social division because without that no society can exist; but there may not be any caste simply for the sake of birthright accidents. Bhagwat Geeta approves of the caste system in terms of mundane quality acquired but not in terms of accidents of birth. (To be continued.)

Immortality

Prabhupada:. . .Now Krsna is giving a practical way of understanding the presence of soul. He says, yena sarvam idam tatam: "One thing, which is spread all over the body, that is avinasi." That means immortal. So what is that which is spread all over the body? It is not the skin, not the... This is also spread over the body. The skin, the bone, the marrow, the blood—they are also spread over the body, but Krsna is not meaning this material things. The actual active principle within this body is the spirit soul. Now, in medical science, bones are being replaced; flesh also being replaced; blood is also being replaced by injection. So everything can be replaced materially by scientific improvement. But when that things which is immortal, that is gone, it cannot be replaced. Even nowadays the heart is being replaced, but no medical science or any science has ever been able to replace the life. So he's giving the example that that presence of the soul is perceived by consciousness. So the flesh is there, the bone is there, the blood is also there, but when the consciousness is not there, that means it is finished. Because the consciousness is there, therefore any part of the body, if we pinch, we can feel pains and pleasure. And when the consciousness is not there, when the man is dead, the flesh is there, the blood is there and other ingredients are there, but there is no more life because it is useless now.

Therefore Krsna says that avinasi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idam tatam. The tatam means spread. The consciousness is spread. If we pinch in this part, by consciousness you'll feel pain, or this part or any part of the body, because the consciousness is there, you feel pains and pleasure.

So Krsna points out that this consciousness is immortal, avyaya. Avyaya means which is never annihilated, avyaya. Vyaya means there is whole thing, and you can take out part of it, but avyaya means you cannot take a part of it also; it is always wholesome. So this consciousness is avyaya, means never annihilated, and avinasi means immortal. So when this consciousness is transferred from this body to another body, that is called transmigration of the soul. But one thing we must know it, that as there is consciousness in my body, as there is consciousness in your body, similarly, there is consciousness in the whole universe. So long the consciousness is there in my body and the consciousness is there in your body or everyone's body, the body is very nice, very fresh, everything is going nicely. So as soon as the consciousness is gone, immediately this lump of matter begins to decompose.

Similarly, this material cosmic manifestation is working very nicely—the sun is rising; the moon is rising; the seasons have changes; the air is blowing; the light is there; heat is there—why? Because there is big consciousness. And that small consciousness in your body and my body, keeping this body fit, similarly, there is another, greater consciousness which is keeping this material world fit and working order. So what is this consciousness? This consciousness is the spread of the soul. Just like example: you take a small grain of arsenic acid, or potassium cyanide, you put in your tongue, immediately it spreads all over your body and you die. So you can just understand the potency of a small grain of material thing. So how much potency is there of the spiritual thing? Because, we have already discussed, material things are inferior and spiritual identity is superior. So you study these material things, a small grain of poison or the sun, how much powerful they are. A small grain of poison immediately can finish the body, and the small disk, although it is not small... It looks... We can see. The sun globe is spreading the light and heat all over the universe. Similarly, the potency of the soul is so powerful that it is maintaining the whole body. Similarly, the potency of God is maintaining the whole universe. Just like on account of the presence of the soul the body is maintained, similarly, on account of presence of God the whole universe or the cosmic manifestation is maintained. As I am, a small particle of spiritual identity, I am maintaining this body so sound and healthy, similarly, the presence of the Supreme Soul Krsna, or God, is maintaining the whole material cosmic manifestation. Every one of us can perceive the presence of the soul and presence of God.

Another feature is that your consciousness and my consciousness is different. Therefore we are all individual. Similarly, God is also individual. That has been explained in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gita. Krsna says that "Arjuna, you, Me, and all these people who have assembled in this battlefield, they were individual in the past, individual at present, and they'll continue, individual, after death also." Now, that individuality... God is great because His consciousness is big. He is maintaining the whole cosmic manifestation. And I am very small. Therefore my consciousness is also limited, and I am spreading all over this body. So any sensible man, intelligent man, can understand the presence of God by seeing this cosmic manifestation in orderly being maintained. It is said in the Visnu Purana, just like fire remaining in one place spreads the heat and light, similarly, the soul also, being present in some part of our body—it is said in the heart—it spreads his heat and light, the consciousness. Similarly, God is also present. He spreads heat and light, and therefore we find so many varieties of manifestation. Just like... This example is very perfect. Just like the light is here, it is localized, but it is spreading its illumination all over this room. The light is situated in one place. Similarly, God is situated in His kingdom or in His place; still, He is present everywhere. He is present within your heart. He is present even within the atom. Andantara-stha-paramanu-ca

yantara-stham govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami [Bs. 5.35] **. He is present in His abode, and He is present everywhere. He is present within the atom. He is present within your heart. This is called parinama-vada, or the presence of the energy of God. Every one of us, we are also energy of God.

There are three kinds of energies. He has got multi-energies—parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]—but they have been summarized into three. The one energy is called spiritual energy, the other is called material energy, and the third is called marginal energy. The spiritual and material we can understand. At least we can feel when the, a living man and a dead man... A living man means spirit and matter combined. And a dead man means the matter is there; spirit is gone. So you can distinguish what is spirit and what is matter. So similarly, there is, as this is material world, there is another spiritual world. We living entities, we, by nature, we are spiritual, but because we have got the potency either to live in this material world or in the spiritual world, therefore we are called marginal. The real position is, because we are spiritual, we should live in the spiritual world. At the present moment we have lost our spiritual constitutional position; therefore we are in this material world. Just like a man is generally healthy, but sometimes he falls sick, so at the present moment our condition is sick. It is called bhava-roga. Bhava-roga. Bhava means to become, and roga means disease. What is that bhava-roga? We are appearing, taking birth in the material world. This is called bhava: "You become." And after sometimes you become finished, means death. This is called disease. Bhava-roga. Yes. We have to cure this disease and come to our healthy standard of life. That opportunity is here in this human form of life. If you want to cure this material disease and revive your healthy condition of eternal spiritual life, the opportunity is here. Therefore our only business in this human form of life is to cure this material disease, not to aggravate it. Disease should be cured, not to increase it. But at the present moment we are mad after increasing the disease. We are acting in such a way that we have to accept another body. That means material disease will continue.

So to live irresponsibly like cats and dogs is very risky life. Because so long we shall be engaged in the matter of sense gratification—material life means sense gratification—we shall increase our prolongation of repetition of birth and death. So this irresponsible life of eating, sleeping, sex life and defense like cats and dogs will not help us. Therefore... Because this kind of activities will oblige me to accept another body, and as soon as we accept another material body we become subjected to the stringent laws of material nature. And the material miserable conditions are summarized into four items: birth, death, old age and disease. So those who are not in knowledge of the spirit soul, they are very irresponsibly prolonging his life in material activities. Material science could not find out the spirit soul within the body because the magnitude, the dimension of the spirit soul, is very, very small. That is stated in Padma Purana,
balagra-sata-bhagasya
satadha kalpitasya ca
bhago jivah sa vijseyah
sa canantyaya kalpate

Balagra means the tip of your hair. Divide into ten thousand parts. That one part is the dimension of the soul. That is there within the body. So material science has no such instrument or perfection of study that they can see such a small particle. Therefore these foolish people say there is no soul, but the practical application—the soul is there; therefore the consciousness is there; therefore the body is working in order. The soul is minus, the consciousness is minus—this body is a lump of matter.
So we have to study this very intelligently. Then we'll understand that what is soul, what is the business of the soul, why the soul is entrapped in this bodily, material body, why there are so many varieties, body. This is a great science, and that science is explained in this Bhagavad-gita. Actually, at the present moment there is no education, because education means to understand my identity. The so-called education which is going on, that is called art. Of course, they also say, "B.A., M.A., Bachelor of Art, Master of Art." It is just learning an art only; it is not education. Just like an electrical electrician. He knows the art how to put the negative and positive wire and bring electricity. That is an art. But that electrician does not know what is the science of understanding soul. The modern education, they are simply giving lessons on some art, generally known as technology. So by that advancement of knowledge we can construct high skyscraper building, nice motorcar, nice airplane, nice machine. That is art. But we do not know what is going to happen next life, my soul. That we do not.

So this is the distinction between avidya and vidya. Vidya means knowledge, and avidya means ignorance. Suppose you construct a very nice skyscraper building and next life you become something—you remain a rat in that house—then what is your benefit? The soul has to accept a body according to his karma. If by karma he has to accept the body of a rat, it will not be excused by nature that "You have constructed skyscraper building; therefore you'll again come and live there." No, that is not possible. If by karma you are fit for becoming a rat or cat, nature will give you that body. On account of your high attraction of the skyscraper building you can remain there, a rat and cat, but you cannot enjoy anymore. Therefore every human being should be very intelligent that "What is going to happen, my next life?" and prepare for that because it is said..., avinasi tu tad viddhi: "That small particle is avinasi," means it is not going to die; the body is going to finish. Then if my next life, next body, becomes rat and cat, then what is the benefit I get by this skyscraper building I have constructed with so hard labor and perseverance? This is knowledge. If you simply become interested on this small span of life, say, fifty or sixty or hundred years, utmost, but if you neglect your eternal existence, is that intelligence? We are teaching that science, and the Bhagavad-gita is there. Take advantage of it.
Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.

 

[ SRILA PRABHUPADA, Bhagavad-gita 2.17 -- Mexico, February 17, 1975]

Ultimate Deception

Once upon a time (as in a fairy tale), most of us believed that the food we ate was basically wholesome, nutritious and free from dangerous chemicals, that advertising may have been believable, and that product labels truly described the qualities and contents of what we fed ourselves and our families. Once upon a time, most of the world believed in the integrity of our heads of state, high-ranking political officials and local leaders. Once upon a time, we thought our children were getting a solid education in the public school system. Once upon a time, many of us believed atomic energy had “peacetime uses” that were perfectly safe and completely congruous with a happy and healthy society.

Yet in recent times our illusions have been shattered. Repeated exposes of widespread consumer fraud and grand political collusion and bribery have all but destroyed our former innocence. We now know that through mass marketing and the media, a veil of fantasy and deception can be created with such unprecedented expertise that it can become impossible for us to distinguish between substance and simulation, reality and illusion.

Today many scientists are propagating the doctrine that life originates from matter. However, they cannot provide proof, either experimentally or theoretically. In fact, they hold their stance essentially on faith, in the face of all sorts of scientific objections. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that this groundless dogma has done great damage to moral and spiritual standards worldwide and has thus caused incalculable suffering.

Though beset by internal doubt and division, modern scientists have somehow managed to present a united front to the nonscientific public. Their behavior brings to mind the worst in political and corporate trickery. For instance, despite the recent outcry over their masking the difficulties of maintaining safety standards at nuclear power plants, the scientists and the government remain committed to nuclear power and even make light of the fact that there is no safe way of dealing with radioactive waste.

In popular works and in textbooks scientists present their account of the material origin of life as the only possible scientific conclusion. They claim that no other theory can be scientifically acceptable. And so everyone is taught that life gradually arose from chemicals, a “primordial soup” consisting of amino acids, proteins and other essential ingredients. Yet in their journals and private discussions, the same scientists acknowledge that their theory has grave, sometimes insuperable difficulties. For example, certain features of the DNA coding mechanism cast serious doubt upon the substance of evolutionary thought. The noted biologist W. H. Thorpe writes, “Thus we may be faced with a possibility that the origin of life, like the origin of the universe, becomes an impenetrable barrier to science and a block which resists all attempts to reduce biology to chemistry and physics.” The highly committed evolutionist Jacques Monod has pointed out these same difficulties. Theodisius Dobzhansky, another prominent advocate of evolution, can only agree: “Our scientific knowledge is, of course, quite insufficient to give anything like satisfactory accounts of these transitions [from no life to life, from no mind to mind]. Biologists as basically different in their... views as W. H. Thorpe and Jacques Monod agree that the origin of life is a difficult and thus far intractable and unsolved problem. I concur.” Dobzhansky goes on to call the origin of life “miraculous.” These admissions by Dobzhansky, Monod and Thorpe are by no means unique. Yet in popular presentations and textbooks one finds little hint of such widespread doubt.

Nobel prize-winning physicist Eugene Wigner has shown that the probability of the existence of a self-duplicating unit is zero. Since the ability to reproduce is one of the fundamental characteristics of all living organisms, Wigner concludes that our present understanding of physics and chemistry does not enable us to explain the phenomenon of life. Herbert Yockey has demonstrated by information theory that even a single informational molecule such as cytochrome c (what to speak of complex organisms) could not have arisen by chance in the estimated lifetime of the earth: “One must conclude that, contrary to the established and current wisdom, a scenario describing the genesis of life on earth by chance and natural causes which can be accepted on the basis of fact and not faith has not yet been written.”

As we can see, on the one hand many scientists have a deep personal commitment to the concept that life comes from matter. On the other hand they admit that they do not have the evidence to corroborate their conviction, and that their theory is beset with intractable problems. They are convinced that life arose from matter and is reducible to matter, yet at the same time they must confess to having scant scientific grounds for their conviction. Thus their theory is a priori: it supersedes the scientific method and science itself. Their fervent, almost messianic hope is that someday, somehow, someone may be able to validate it, and in the meantime their faith is unshakable.

Dazzling technological achievements have given modern scientists an aura of infallibility, and so when the scientists present untested or unprovable theories about life’s origin, people tend to accept with blind faith. In Passages About Earth William Irwin Thompson writes, “Just as once there was no appeal from the power of the churches without risking damnation, so now there is no appeal from the power of science without risking a charge of irrationality or insanity.” And as botanist Garrett Hardin notes, anyone who questions the status of Darwin “inevitably attracts the speculative psychiatric eye to himself.”

The dialogues in Life Comes From Life may seem revolutionary, but then were not Newton, Pasteur and Einstein scientific revolutionaries? Life Comes From Life does not simply criticize those who support the theory that matter is the origin of life. Rather, this book encourages them to rededicate themselves to a more genuine and intense quest for truth and knowledge, and to thereby redirect their valuable intelligence, resources and work toward the true benefit of the world.

[Introduction to Life Comes From Life, By His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acharya for ISKCON]
http://prabhupadabooks.com/g=156405

Spiritual Death

Prabhupada: So it may..., it can be taken figuratively, that when one forgets his position, that is a kind of death also. One forgets himself. But actually soul is eternal, and what Augustine says as spiritual death, that is his forgetfulness. Just like in unconsciousness one forgets his identity, but if he is dead then he cannot revive consciousness. Similarly, it is little difficult for the bodily concept of life persons, but there are many proofs and understanding that soul is eternal. He, of course, until he gets his freedom from this material existence, he is spiritually dead. Even though he is working in this material form, because he has forgotten his real identity, that is also a kind of death. Ya nisa sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami. This sloka explains how one is dead and how one is alive. When one is forgetful of his spiritual consciousness, God consciousness, he is supposed to be dead, and when he, one is alive to the spiritual consciousness or God consciousness, he is alive. In this sense, it is a question of two stages, awakening stage and forgetful stage, but actually a soul is eternal. He never dies, even after the annihilation of this body.
 
Hayagriva: But the forgetful stage is never everlasting or eternal, is it?
 
Prabhupada: Yes, it is not. It can be, what is called, revived, his consciousness. That is our Krsna consciousness movement. Just like a man is sleeping, almost unconscious, but if you call him again and again, and the sound enters through the ear into the heart, he becomes awakened. Similarly, by this chanting process he revives his spiritual consciousness, then he is alive in his spiritual life.

[Srila Prabhupada, * Discussions with Hayagriva dasa, St. Augustine]

Kill An Animal Kill A Plant: Same Sin

Girl: Why is it all right to kill any plants? How are they different from animals?

Tamala Krsna: She is asking, "What is the difference between killing a plant and eating it and killing an animal and eating it?"

 
Prabhupada: The same fault. Either you kill animal or plant, the same sin is there just like if you kill an uncivilized and if you kill a big man, the punishment is the same, hanging. You cannot say that "I have killed one uncivilized man." No. That you cannot do. Similarly, you cannot kill even plant. But we have to live. Therefore we can kill plant under the order of the Supreme. Just like I have already explained. Krsna said, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati [Bg. 9.26]. Patram means plant. So Krsna wants it. So for Krsna's sake we can do that. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna did not like to kill his brothers, but Krsna said that "This is My desire." "All right, I shall kill." This is Krsna-bhakti. When Krsna says, we can do everything, not for our personal self. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih. That another crude example: just like a soldier. When he is fighting by the order of the state, he is getting gold medal and killing. His business is killing. But the same man, when he comes home, if he kills one person, then he is hanged. Why? He could say that "My business is killing. I am soldier. I have killed this man." "No. This is for your account. On the battlefield you killed for the state's account; therefore you were eulogized. You were given reward." Similarly, we can kill only on the order of the Supreme. Otherwise we cannot kill even a plant. Therefore Bhagavad-gita says, yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih. Yajna means for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, whatever you do, you are not implicated with sinful activities. And bhunjate te tv agham papa ye pacanty atma-karanat [Bg. 3.13]. And a person who is doing on his own capacity, he is simply acquiring sinful resultant action. So the conclusion is: even a plant you cannot kill, what to speak of bigger animals. If one thinks that "I am killing only plants; therefore I am very pious, vegetarian," no. There is no question of vegetarian, nonvegetarian. They are equally sinful. Only those who are taking prasadam [food offered to Krishna], they are free from sinful activities. Yajna-sistasinah santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaih. All right, thank you...

[Conversation with Srila Prabhupada, Sunday Feast Lecture—Atlanta, March 2, 1975]

Guru Nanak: Authorized Teachers Encourage Chanting Gods Name

Guest (2): Srila Prabhupada, in the Sikh-dharma they say to chant the holy names of God,and so far I haven't encountered the name “Krsna” in the scriptures. Ihave encountered “Govinda,” “Mukunda,” “Rama” and…, but the main namethat is chanted is Viduh. And I was wondering if you could commenton…, on the Sikh-dharma.

Prabhupada: It is very good. It is very good. Guru Nanak, he chanted the name, holy name of Rama, the holy name of Krsna, Govinda. So if we follow Guru Nanak, we are fortunate. Anyone who presents a science of God, it doesn't matter whether he is this man or that man; he is our guru.

United Nations: We Want to Unite The Nations

Letter:

To the People of Bangkok, Thailand

Please accept my best wishes. I am sorry I am not able to come but I must remain here in Bombay for some pressing matters. So I am sending my secretary His Holiness Brahmananda Maharaja who will represent me.

The Krishna Consciousness mission is not sectarian. We want to do what the United Nations has failed to do. The human form of body is an opportunity for solving all the problems of life. Through evolution we come to the human life for solving this problem. The real problem is the repetition of birth, death, disease, and old age.

But there is another status of life where there is no birth, death, disease, and old age. The Krishna Consciousness movement is the means for promoting the human being to that status. This is a great science, and it is elaborately explained in the Bhagavad-gita.

So our mission is to give this benediction to all humanity. Let us cooperate together on this basis so that it will be a more effective United Nations, We shall be united on the basis of the prime need of human society, spiritual life.

I hope this meets you all well.

Faithfully yours,
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Bombay 14 December, 1974

Travel to Other Planets; "only possible by psychological changes in the mind"

The adaptability of organisms in different varieties of planets is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as vibhūti-bhinnam, i.e., each and every one of the innumerable planets within the universes is endowed with a particular type of atmosphere, and the living beings there are advanced in science, psychology, etc., according to the superiority or inferiority of the atmosphere. Vibhūti means "specific power," and bhinnam means "variegated." Scientists who are attempting to explore outer space in an attempt to reach other planets by mechanical means must realize that organisms adapted to the atmosphere of the earth cannot exist in the atmospheres of other planets. As such, man's attempts to reach the moon, the sun, or Mars will be completely futile because of the different atmospheres prevailing on those planets. Individually, however, one can attempt to go to any planet he desires, but this is only possible by psychological changes in the mind. Mind is the nucleus of the material body. The gradual evolutionary progress of the material body depends on psychological changes within the mind. The change of the bodily construction of a worm into that of a butterfly and, in modern medical science, the conversion of a man's body into that of a woman (or vice versa) are more or less dependent on psychological changes.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said that if a man, at the time of death, concentrates his mind upon the form of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and while so doing relinquishes his body, he at once enters the spiritual existence of the antimaterial world. This means that anyone who trains the mind to turn from matter to the spiritual form of the Godhead by performance of the prescribed rules of devotional service can easily attain the kingdom of God, in the antimaterial sky. And of this there is no doubt.
[By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, from Easy Journey to Other Planets]
[http://prabhupadabooks.com/g=156037]

A Variety of Planetary Systems

In the 'Brahma Samhita' fifth chapter there is a description of variegated planetary system even within the material world. And in the Bhagwat Geeta, such variegated planetary system in thousands and crores of material universes are considered to be the one-fourth part of the complete creative energy of Godhead. The major three-fourth part of the Lord's creative energy is manifested in the spiritual sky called by the name Paravyoma or the Vaikuntha Loka.

The explanation of the 'Brahma Samhita' is now confirmed by the material scientist as much as he (the material scientist) has admitted of the anti-material world. We have discussed about the anti-material world in the last issue of the 'Back to Godhead' (20-3-60) and in this article we shall try to give some idea of the variegated planetary system within the material universes.

There was a news from Moscow dated 21st February as follows: (Indian Express New Delhi dated 22/2/60).

"Russia's well known professor of astronomy Boris Vorontsov-Velianino said that there must be an infinite number of planets in the universe inhabited by beings endowed with reasons."

This statement of the Russian astronomer is but the latest confirmation of the statement of the 'Brahma Samhita.' In the 'Brahma Samhita' the description is summarised as follows:-

"Yasya prabha prabhavata jagadauda koti kotisu vasudadi vibhuti bhinnam tad brahma niskulama annata ashesabhutam govindam adi purusham tam aham bhajami."

According to 'Brahma Samhita' as mentioned above there is not only infinite number of planets as confirmed by the Russian astronomer but there is an infinite number of universes also. And all these infinite number of universes with their infinite number of planets within are floating on and are produced of the Brahma effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of Govinda (Lord Sri Krishna) the Primeval Lord who is worshipped by Brahma the presiding deity of the Universe where we are residing.

The Russian astronomer confirms also that all the planets, which are estimated to be not less than approximately 100,000,000 planets. And in the 'Brahma Samhita' it is said that in each and every one of the infinite number of universes, there are infinite number of variegated planets.

The astronomer's view was seconded by professor Vladimir Alpatov, a biologist. According to him, some of the above mentioned planets had reached a state of development corresponding to that of earth. The report adds also as follows:-

"It could be that life similar to that in earth flourished on such planets."

"Doctor of chemistry Nikolat Zhirov, covering the problem of atmosphere on other planets, pointed out that the organisms of a Martian, for instance, could very well adapt itself to normal existence with a low body temperature."

"He said that he felt that the gaseous composition of Martian atmosphere was quite suitable to sustain life of beings which have become adapted to it."

This adaptability of organism in different varieties of planets is described in the 'Brahma Samhita' as Vibhuti Bhinnam i.e., each and every one of the innumerable planets within a universe is endowed with a particular type of atmosphere and the living beings there are more perfectly advanced in science and psychology on account of better atmosphere of life. Vibhuti means specific power and Bhinnam means variegated. Scientists who are attempting to explore the outer space and trying to reach other planets by mechanical arrangements must know it for certain that organisms adapted to the atmosphere of the earth cannot exist in the atmospheric influence of other planets. As such the attempt to get into the orbit of the Moon, the Sun or the Mars, as they are anxious to get into these particular planets, will be completely a futile endeavour of man on account of different atmosphere prevailing in those planets which are described in the 'Brahma Samhita' as Vibhuti Bhinnam. Individually however one can attempt to go into any planet he desires but this is only possible by psychological changes in the mind of a particular person. Mind is the nucleus of the material body. The gradual evolutionary process of the material body depends more or less on the psychological changes in the mind. The change of bodily construction of worm into a butterfly and in the modern advancement of medical science to convert a man's body into a woman or vice versa all these depend more or less on the psychological change of the mind.

In the Bhagwat Geeta it is said that at the time of death if anybody concentrates his mind upon the Form of the Personality of Godhead Shri Krishna and thus doing relinquishes one's body-such person at once enters into the spiritual existence in the anti-material world. This means that anybody who practices constantly for psychological changes of the mind from matter to the Spiritual Form of Godhead by performances of prescribed rules in the devotional services can easily attain to the kingdom of God in the anti-material sky and there is no doubt about it.

And in the same way if anybody desires to enter into any other planet of the material sky, he can go there just after quitting the present body, i.e., after death, and enter into the atmosphere of the particular planet one desires to enter in. Thus if somebody wants to enter into the moon planet as they are now attempting or into the Sun planet or into the Mars, one can do so simply by performing statutory acts for that purpose. The Bhagwat Geeta confirms this statement in the following words. "The thing which a person meditates upon at the time of death, and quits his material body in that state of mind, does at once attain to that particular thing after death." Maharaj Bharat, in spite of his severe penances, thought of his stag at the time of his death and thus he became a deer after death but with clear consciousness of his past life. This is very important point. The atmosphere created at the time of death is but an after-effect of the actual deeds which one performs during his duration of life.

In the Sreemad Bhagwat (3.32) the process of entering into the moon planet is mentioned as follows:-

"Materialistic minded men who have no information of the Kingdom of God are almost mad after material acquisition of wealth, fame and adoration. Such men are interested in the progressive welfare work of the family unit for self-satisfaction and progressively extending the activities for social or national welfare. Such men do attain to the desired object by material activities in the prescribed mechanical or ritualistic discharge of duties and are thus inclined to satisfy the Pitris or the bygone forefathers and so also other controlling gods by performances of sacrifices as presented in the revealed scriptures. Addiction to such acts of sacrifices and ceremonial observances such men do enter into the moon planet after death. When a person is thus promoted to the atmospheric conditions of the moon he gets the necessary strength to enjoy the drinking of 'Somarasa' (a celestial beverage). The Moon planet is a place where the demigods like Chandra is the predominating deity. The atmosphere and amenities of life there are far more comfortable and advantageous than those what we have got to utilize here. And reaching there if a person does not utilize the opportunity to get promotion to other better planets, he is degraded and is made to come up again on this planet or any other similar one like the earth. And such materialistic persons, even though they attain to the topmost planetary system, do certainly get themselves annihilated at the time of periodical general disappearance of the cosmic manifestation."

So far as the planetary system in the spiritual sky is concerned there are unlimited number of Vaikunthas in the Paravyoma and the ratio is that the manifestation of the Lord's internal potency, that is the spiritual sky, is three times greater than that of the material sky made by the external energy.

Poor materialist are busy in political adjustment in a place which is most insignificant in the evaluation of God. What to speak of this planet earth the whole universe with innumerable planets up and down is compared with a grain of mustard amongst the mustards packed in a bag. Such poor materialist makes plan here to live comfortably and thus waste most valuable energy of human life in a thing which is never to be completed. Instead of wasting time in that plan making business a plain and simple life with high thinking of spiritual life would have saved the misguided human being from perpetual unrest which is a gift of matter.

Even if a materialist wants to enjoy developed material facilities, he can transfer himself to the other many many material planets where he can experience more and more advanced material pleasures. The best plan of life is to prepare oneself for going back definitely to the spiritual sky after leaving this body but yet if anyone wants to enjoy the largest amount of material facilities, one can transfer himself in the other planets, not by means of playful sputniks which are simply childish entertainments but by psychological effects and learning the art of transferring the soul by mystic powers. The yoga system is also materialistic in as much as it teaches to control the movements of air within the body. The spiritual spark, soul is floating on air within the body and breathing exhalation are the waves of that air containing the soul. Therefore yoga system is a materialistic art of controlling such air which can be placed by practice of yoga from the stomach to the navel, from the chest to collarbones, from collarbones to the eyeballs and from the eyeballs to cerebellum. And from the cerebellum the expert yogi can convey his own soul to any planet he desires. The velocity of air or light is taken into consideration by the material scientist but they have no information of the velocity of matter namely the mind and intelligence. We have some experience of the velocity of the mind because in a moment we can transfer the mind to lacs and crores of miles away. Intelligence is still fine matter. Finer than intelligence is the soul which is not matter at all but it is spirit or anti-matter and is crores and crores times finer and powerful than intelligence. We can thus make an imagination of the velocity of the soul and how quickly it can travel from one planet to another by its own strength without any help of any sort of finer material vehicle.

Animal's civilization of eating, sleeping, fearing and sense-gratifying has misled the modernised man and they have forgotten how powerful a soul he is. As we have already described that the soul is a spiritual spark which is many many times illuminating, dazzling and powerful than the sun, the moon or electricity. Human life is spoiled by not realising his real identity. And Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu along with Nityanand appeared to save the man from the type of misleading civilization.

How the yogis can travel in all the planets of the universe is also described in the "Bhagwatam" as follows:

When the vital force is thus lifted on the cerebellum there is every chance of these force being burst out from any one of the holes like eyes, noses, ears, as these are the places which are known as the seventh orbit of the vital force. The yogis therefore can block out these holes by complete suspension of passing air and carefully the yogi concentrate the vital force in the middle position or in between the eyebrows. At this position the yogi can think of in which of the planets he wants to go after leaving this body. He can decide either to go to the abode of the Krishna in the Vaikunth which are transcendental places where nobody is required to come back again in the material world or at least if he desires not to go directly to the planets of the spiritual sky but wants to have a travel over the higher planets in the universe, he is at liberty to do so in that position.

For a perfect yogi who has attained success in the system to leave this material body in perfect consciousness, the process is as easy as an ordinary man in lifetime goes from one place to another. As already discussed the material body is just a covering of the spirit soul, mind and intelligence is the under cover and gross body of earth, water, air, etc. is the overcoating of the soul. As such any advanced soul who has realised himself by the yogic process or the linking up process from matter to spirit-can leave these shirting and coatings of the soul in perfect order and as he desire. One has complete freedom by the grace of God. The Lord is kind upon us that we can live anywhere either in the spiritual sky or in the material sky and in any planet fixed up thereof. Misuse of this freedom makes him fall down in the material world and live in a conditional life full with threefold miseries. To live a miserable life in the material world is a choice of the soul as it is nicely illustrated by Milton's "Paradise Lost" poetry and not of chance and from the material world also by his own choice he can go back to home, back to Godhead.

So in that critical time of placing the vital force in between the two brows, he is to decide where he wants to go. If he is completely reluctant to keep any connection with the material world, he can do so and within less than a second he can reach the transcendental Vaikunth and appear there completely in spiritual body just suitable to him in the spiritual atmosphere. He has simply to desire to leave the material world both in finer and grosser forms and then put on the vital force on the topmost part of the skull and leave this body from the hole of this skull called Brahmrandhra. That is the highest perfection of practicing yoga system.

But as he is endowed with the freedom of will and as such if he does not wish to get himself completely freed from the material world but enjoy a life of Brahma pada or to occupy the post of Brahma and to see the place of materially perfect beings called the Siddha Loka where a living being has full capacity of controlling the gravity, space, time, overlordship, etc., then he has not got to leave the mind and intelligence (finer matter) but can simply give up the grosser matter and thus go up to the highest place of the material universe.

The sputniks or the so-called man-made planets made of mechanical arrangements will never be able to carry human being in the interplanetary outer space. Even they cannot go into the so much advertised moon. The reason is repeated again in the higher planetary system the atmosphere is different from here. Each and every planet has its particular atmosphere and if one wants to go to any particular planet anywhere within the material universe one has to get his material shirt and coats made up exactly adaptable to the climatic condition of that particular planet. It is just like this. If a person wants to go from India to Europe where the climatic condition is different from India, then one has to change his dress accordingly. Similarly complete change of dress as much as we require to change the body when we want to go up to the transcendental planets of Vaikunth.

The difference is that if we want to go to the highest material planet we need not change the finer dress of mind, intelligence and ego but we have to change the gross dress made of earth, water, fire, etc.

But when we go to a transcendental planet we require to change both the finer as well as gross bodies and we have to reach in the spiritual sky completely in spiritual forms. The change of dress will automatically take place simply by desiring it at the time of death. This desire is possible only if we practice it during the conscious state of life. Such desires when practiced in relation with material world are called fruitive actions. When such desires are conducted in relation with the Kingdom of God, it is called divine or devotional service which is discussed also in this issue.
[By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, originally published in the Back to Godhead Magazine, BTGPY21: Volume 3, Part 17, April 5, 1960]

Trying To Pluck A Flower From The Sky

...(the scientists) they are simply childish. In my childhood I used to watch the tramcars go along the rail. Once I thought, “I shall take a stick and touch it to the wire, and I shall also go along the rails.” The scientists, with all their plans, are just as childish. They spend so much time and money, but what is their purpose? Their effort is hopeless because they do not actually know the purpose of life. The scientists are spending large sums of money, and politicians are financing them, but the result is zero. They are like a doctor who doesn’t understand a particular disease, but who still says to his patient, “All right, first try this pill, and if that doesn’t work, then try this pill.” The doctor will never admit that he doesn’t know the remedy for the disease. The scientists are simply bluffing and cheating. They cannot solve the real problems of life—birth, death, old age and disease—and therefore all their programs are taking place on the utopian platform, which in Sanskrit is called ākāśa-puṣpa. Ākāśa-puṣpa means “a flower from the sky.” All their efforts to know the truth by exploring outer space are like trying to pluck a flower from the sky.
To give another example, the scientists act like foolish ducks. In India we may sometimes observe a duck following all day behind a bull. The duck is thinking that the testicles of the bull are a fish. In India this is a common sight. The bull is walking, and all day the duck is walking behind, following that big fish and thinking, “It will drop, and I will eat it.”
[His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, The Twelfth Morning Walk: May 17, 1973]

Who is giving the pushing?

Prabhupāda:" Motion. So one must give the motion. Then another motion, another motion, another motion. Just like big, big, that trucks, railway, trucks. The engine pushes one truck. Have you seen shunting? The, the truck pushes. Another truck, another, kat, kat, kat, kat, kat, kat, kat, kat. Like that."
Brahmānanda: Shunting, yeah.
Prabhupāda: "So who is giving the pushing? The living entity, driver. A big truck is being pushed: kata kak kata kak kata kak kata kak, one after another. Similarly the whole creation, Kṛṣṇa is giving the pushing. Then one after another, one after another, one after another working. You see. mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg. 9.10]. That is stated in the Bha... mayādhyakṣeṇa. Kṛṣṇa gives the pushing first. Then everything comes, one after another. But His pushing capacity is so perfect that everything is coming out perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect. Just like Kṛṣṇa says: bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām [Bg7.10]. "I am the seed of everything created." Now take the seed of the banyan tree. Kṛṣṇa has created. He says, "I am the seed." Now you sow the seed. A big tree will come out. Big tree will come out. Not only big tree. Many millions of seeds will come out of it. And each seed, again big tree. So the original seed, Kṛṣṇa, pushes. Then one after another, one after another, one after another... So you are simply observing when the things are coming into existence by such pushing. But you are trying out, trying to find out who is the original pusher. That you do not know. That you do not know. Who has originally pushed this energy? That you do not know."
[Morning Walk -- December 3, 1973, Los Angeles]

Alexander The Great & The Robber

Prabhupāda: Alexander the Great, you have heard the name?

Mālatī: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He conquered all over the world almost. He went to India also. So he met one robber. So he arrested, Alexander. He was king. The robber said, "Why you have arrested me?" "Because you are robber." "Oh, you are also great robber." When Alexander was charging him that, "You have done this," oh, he charges, "You have done this. I have entered a private house; you have entered a private state. So you are a big robber." Then he released him, "Yes, what is the difference between robber and me?" And Alexander, from that day, he stopped his conquering propaganda. "Alexander and the Robber." The robber proved that "You are a big robber only. But because you are big robber, therefore you are called 'Alexander the Great.' But my business is the same as yours-encroaching upon others' property. Why do you think that I am culprit and you are innocent? You are also culprit. If I had power, I could have punished you. And you have now power, you are trying to punish me." So Alexander the Great was convinced by robber.

Devotee and the Divinity

A pure devotee is just like the Desire-Tree from whom we can have on request everything desirable. This is no myth or bluff but it is actual fact. The devotee can deliver to us the mercy of God and what is not obtainable by one who has got the mercy of God? Therefore the devotees are the most magnanimous in their charitable disposition of mind. They are also the deliverer of the fallen souls and we need to offer our obeisances unto their lotus feet so that we can invoke their blessings in our all attempts.

The highest authority for benediction is God Himself and the Devotees are His custodians. If a devotee desires to bestow upon us the mercy of God, he is quite competent to do it in all respects. Such devotees are called Mahatmas i.e. those who have surpassed all narrowness of the mind because supramentally they depend upon God & God alone they enchant(?) His glories and discuss about His wonderful acts. All these make the devotee just qualified to accept everyone's' obeisances and the devotee as respectfull as the Personality of Godhead Himself. There is no difference between them qualitatively.

I must think always myself as the most fallen soul as I am so by dint of my mundane attachment and if I surrender unto the devotee, surely he will protect me in all respects: I am a needy man, constantly suffering from the pangs of insufficiency and the devotee is as above mentioned, the desire tree from whom I can have everything that I may desire. The devotee is not a miser like the mundane people and had he not been so, I could not have satisfied all my needs from him only. The Divinity has empowered the devotees to deliver the fallen souls like me and by nature they are not only kind but also liberal and munificent. They are not poor either in knowledge or in opulence. Therefore, if we at all want to satisfy our all (?) needs, we must approach the devotee only; otherwise if we approach any other person, not only not our desires will be satisfied in full but also we shall imperceptibly accumulate a range of inauspicious things which will baffle our desire to become complete and self-sufficient.

If we have to approach therefore a devotee of the nature described above, we must have at last the preliminary knowledge for discriminating a pure devotee from the nondevotee. Let us first of all understand what are the other (?) that co-exist along with the pure devotee. The devotee is relatively known with the existence of the Divinity or the Personality of Godhead who is the Fountain head of everything that be. (?) along with the existence of a devotee and the Personality of Godhead, there is another set of living being who are detached from direct relations of Godhead and therefore known as the nondevotee. In other words men who are eternally attached to the transcendental loving service of Godhead, is called the devotees and men who are wrongly detached from the transcendental service of Godhead but have the latent potency to become so engaged (in the service) of Godhead, are called the non-devotees. In Sanskrit language the devotee is called 'Vaisnava' the divinity is called 'Visnu' and the nondevotee is called 'Avaisnava' Thus we can conclude that there are these three categories eternally co-existent in this world.

The 'Avaisnavas' or the non-devotees are those who are constantly engaged in topics and matters not concerned with the Divinity or Visnu. Such non-devotees have made up their own plan of living, dictated by the illusory energy of Godhead and they think it their duty of life to eat drink be merry and enjoy the senses. The whole plan of material civilization is based on the foundation of such non-devotional plan of sensuous activities.

Therefore if we want to be devotee or 'Vaisnava' we must make it a point of our life, that we shall not talk or hear of anything which is unconcerned with the Divinity. What we eat, what we give, what we meditate upon, and all such other things must be related with the Divinity. It is our duty to eat the remnant of food stuff first offered to the Divinity, it is our duty to talk about Him and to preach about Him. We must always allow ourselves to be under the guidance of a pure devotee and if we neglect to become so and so in relation with the Divinity, then it is sure and certain that we become identified with those who are in the categories of nondevotee.

Materially advanced people may ask what is our loss by remaining a nondevotee? What is there if somebody remains nondevotee by his natural tendency unlike One who becomes a devotee by his inclination. To answer this question it may be said that if we want to remain a nondevotee, threefold miseries inflicted bv the laws of Nature will surely disturb us. The miseries are, one related with our gross body and subtle mind, two in relation with other living being and three in relation with the troubles inflicted upon us by the controlling deities namely the sun, the moon, the planets, and others. And such troubles are generated only in our state of forgetfulness of our eternal relation with Godhead. In the Bhagwat Geeta it is said that the laws of Nature are insurmountable by the attempt of conditioned souls. Those who surrender unto the Supreme will of Godhead, can only get rid of such threefold miseries of the laws of Nature. It must be understood that the laws of Nature is so made that they make a presance(?) by force to revoke the lost relation of living being with Godhead. In extreme difficulty i.e. when a man fails to make solution of his difficult problems, he automatically and unconsciously makes a surrender unto God. It is clear therefore that the natural law is something like police action of Mother Nature to reinstate a living being unto the transcendental loving service of Godhead. It being so, if we want to get real relief from the stringent laws of Nature it is our duty to become devotee. We gain everything by becoming a devotee and we spoil everything by remaining a nondevotee. The human form of life offered by Mother nature is a chance for the living entity to revert to his original position of a devotee.

The material Nature of Godhead is called illusory (Maya) because it keeps us in darkness of ignorance when we misuse our human independence by animal proclivities. The material Nature is personified in the divinity of Godess 'Kali' whose grim feature is devastating and she dark all over the body although she appears Herself in the attractive feature of a young girl. Her thankless task is to keep the conditioned soul in the darkness of ignorance as long as misuses his human independence and keep him always aloof from the transcendental service of Godhead. In that state of ignorance, the conditioned soul, instead of rendering service unto Godhead, thinks himself wrongly as the one who may be served by Godhead. In such a state of ignorance, he thinks that the beauty of material nature is made by Godhead for his exploitation and enjoyment. In that state of ignorance he wants to lord it over the laws of nature and meets thereby devastation and nothing else. That is the picture, real picture of Godess 'Kali'. The conditioned soul wants to pacify the devastating feature of material Nature by his own manufactured plans and techniques without knowing it well, that the material Nature cannot be brought into service of the conditioned soul and that she cannot be conquered except by the method of complete surrender unto the lotus feet of the Absolute Personality of Godhead Sree Krishna.

By the misuse of the infinitesemal independence given to the living being, he poses himself to be able to accept the prayers of other individual souls by becoming a false God himself and does not put himself for the prayers of Godhead. With such vain purpose, the conditioned soul is trying to become a designer of a peaceful world situation(?) Such imperfect wishful desires in the minds of the conditioned souls, make them oblige to become the leaders of other innocent men, just like a blind man desires to direct the activities of other fellow blind men. And all these misconducts become possible when we are overshadowed upon the pure knowledge of our own self. In such state of things only we think ourselves only as the supreme designer, master, enjoyer, seer and doer of everything. But when we enter into the association of devotees for guidance we can know that we are neither, the designer, nor the master, nor the enjoyer and everything is done by the will of God through His different agencies and therefore He is only the object of our adoration and worship.

It is however very difficult to rise up to such standard of pure devotional activities in this world. Most people are inclined to work under the laws of 'Karma'or to work for one's own fruitive enjoyment. No body works for any other else except for his ownself. Under the law of 'Karma' the narrow minded conditioned soul does labour for his own benefit under illusion He works for his own benefit, for his family's benefit, for his society's benefit, for communities benefit, for his country's benefit or for his party's benefit, but no body works for Gods' benefit. That is the life of a nondevotee.

Beneficient activities for ones' self-interest or for the matter of extended self-interest are done under the laws of 'Karma' and the labourer under such laws of 'Karma' are called 'Kripana' or misers distinguished from the 'Brahmanas' or the broad minded liberals. Such narrow minded leaders may be very popular by their philanthropic activities, but the devotees let us know that such leaders under the laws of 'Karma are bound up hands and legs and cannot deliver us the real thing. They can give us temporary relief and illusory happiness subject to the laws of Nature and as such beneficial activities are sure to be lost in the wilderness of eternity at the cost of immense loss of human energy. The devotees let us know that our only duty is to workout the plan of Godhead by rendering transcendental loving service for him. Such service is possible to be done by every one and all because God is for all living beings. Sectarian service for Material Nature keeps aloof the lower grade of living entities from direct service but transcendental loving service of Godhead is possible to be done by all creatures of God never mind what they are either the gods, the men the beasts, the birds, (? ) , and all other living entities. Non-devotees are inclined to think that human being is meant for enjoying life. The human life is different from the animal life by the angle of vision of the nondevotee in as much as varieties of enjoyment can be undertaken by the human being. Such non-devotees distinguish the life of human being from the life of lower animals by qualitative and quantitative distinction of the grades of sense gratification.

The conditioned soul therefore is afraid of mixing with the association of devotees thinking that by such association he may be drifted from his sensual enjoyment. In such ignorance only, the nondevotee tries to turn the table upon the devotee by emphasizing on the point that the devotees are not liberal because they do not encourage their indomitable desires for material hankerings neither do they support others wild (?) for extravagancy conditioned by the laws of Nature. To the non-devotees the cultural and progressive life of a devotee is a sort of monotory and obstruction to unrestricted flow of material enjoyment. The nondevotee will be able to make a perfection of his life when he will be able to see the Personality of Godhead besides his ownself and try to serve Him instead of falsely serving himself either in concentrated or extended mode. On that auspicious day of his life, the nondevotee will get relief from such troubling conceptions as the atomic theory of the cosmic world(? ) or the conceptions of false nationalism, philanthropic and other mundane (?) one ideologies. The nondevotee will from that date engage his ears for aural reception of the science of transcendental loving service of Godhead from those who are engaged hundred per cent in such transcendental loving service of Godhead.

But if the nondevotee without associating with the pure devotee continues his material worship he will do so at the risk spoiling his human energy by serving the material Nature atom by atom for millions and millions of different grades of life.

By the association of the devotee, the nondevotee will come to his senses that by serving the Divinity only all other objects will be served. By watering the root of a tree the leaves and branches are simultaneously watered and by supplying food in the stomach all the senses are automatically served and nourished. The secret of this science can be revealed only by the association of pure devotees.

Such pure devotee is peaceful and non-aggressive. He is never attracted by any object of material happiness. Neither in this life or in the life after, a pure devotee has any attraction for anything which can be more attractive than the transcendental beauty of the lotus feet of Lord Krishna the Personality of Godhead. As such, we must note it for certain that whenever there is any lack of such attraction for the lotus feet of Sree Krishna we are surely being counter attracted by the illusory Energy in her manifold representations.

We can acquire full knowledge of everything by knowing well the All perfect, from his devotee. One who has scanty knowledge of the Complete Whole or one who is materially poor in knowledge and opulence, how he can do good to others and if he ever does so he can disseminate his poor fund of knowledge to the still more poor audience or followers. In outstanding contrast to such poor fund of knowledge and acquisition, the devotee has in his possession 'Bhagawan' or 'Narayana' who is the fountainhead of all opulence, all power, all beauty, all fame, all knowledge and all indifference in fullness. Therefore a pure devotee is also full of all opulence, all power, all beauty, all fame, all knowledge and all indifference. 'Narayana' or 'Bhagavan' does never become poorer as somebody thinks Him wrongly or less than His original potency by such controlling of His devotee and He remains the same full in every aspect. That is the instruction we have from the 'Brihadasarayaka Upanishad' It is said there that the Absolute Truth is full in every respect and if His full strength is deducted from Him still He remains full. The subtracting process of matter make it ultimately nil. But the complete Whole Spirit by the process of eternal emanation, eternally remains the complete whole. One who has in his possession such Complete Whole i.e. one who is eternally engaged in supra mundane service of Godhead, cannot be compared with any mundane creature. That is the difference between a devotee and a nondevotee.

It may be noted however that transcendental service of a pure devotee is more important than the transcendental service of Godhead. The devotee is the transcendental medium through whom it is possible to render service unto Godhead. Lord Chaitanya is the ideal devotee and those who follow His footprints are also ideal devotee. Lord Chaitanya is more kind than Sree Krishna although Lord Chaitanya is Sree Krishna Emperic speculators become unwilling to surrender unto Sree Krishna as it was demanded by Him in the Bhagwat Geeta. Ashuras like Dantabakra and Shisupal considered it that Sree Krishna is not the Absolute Truth and therefore they declined to surrender unto Him. Although Sree Krishna presented Himself as the Absolute Truth and although He manifested His all-pervading universal feature in His own transcendental Body, men who have very poor fund of knowledge considered Him as an ordinary man like them and thus made malafide interpretations of the Bhagwat Geeta. And in order to rectify this malafide representation of Bhagwat Geeta, Sree Krishna appeared Himself again in the Form of Lord Chaitanya but this time He did not declare Himself as Supreme Lord but He presented Himself as an humble devotee of the Lord. As such Lord Chaitanya is more kindly than Lord Krishna.

Lord Chaitanya made it clear that by becoming a devotee of Sree Krishna no interest of Krishna is served. Sree Krishna being full in Himself He does not need the service of any body else. But it is the interest of the devotee to serve Sree Krishna because by such service only he can himself become constitutionally perfect and happy. He also warned us for committing the mistake of thinking God as an ordinary man or an ordinary man as God. Both conceptions are dangerous in the path Divine life. No mental speculator has even been able to surpass the knowledge of Lord Chaitanya. Each every one of them were defeated by Him and therefore Lord Chaitanya is worshipped by all section of sane persons. He unfolded the real nature of the living being and every one was made perfect by His preaching by knowing himself as eternal part and parcel servitor of Sree Krishna. The teachings of Bhagwat Geeta was practically demonstrated by Lord Chaitanya, the ideal devotee.

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When the agent mind, under the influence of the external energy of Godhead, tries to cheat its master spirit soul, the living entity becomes a worker to enjoy the fruitive result. Religious ideologies that have so far been introduced in the phenomenal world have practically choked up the transcendental service of the Absolute. Such mental speculationists try to engage the devotee also for satisfying their fruitive ideologies. But the devotee keeps himself aloof from them by miles asunder. Mental speculation is based on false ego as it is said in the Bhagwat Geeta that conditioned soul thinks himself a worker bewildered by the false ego. If we are therefore influenced by mental speculative process for religious ideologies, certainly we shall remain a bewildered fruitive actor and shall never be able to become devotee.

Let us therefore be prepared to become the transcendental servitor of the devotee of the Divinity only. Let us not be misled by false status quo. We can fulfil our lifes' mission simply by serving & associating with devotee who are cent per cent engaged in the service of the Divinity.

[Devotee and the Divinity: An Essay By A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, Founder Acharaya for ISKCON, written on unknown date]