751212 - Lecture SB 07.06.10 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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751212SB-VRNDAVAN - December 12, 1975 - 33:15 Minutes

Harikeśa: "Money is so dear that one conceives that money is sweeter than honey, and who can give up the desire of accumulating such money, especially in the household life? The thieves, the professional soldiers, or the mercantile community tries to acquire money by risking the very life."

Prabhupāda:

ko nv artha-tṛṣṇāṁ visṛjet

prāṇebhyo 'pi ya īpsitaḥ

yaṁ krīṇāty asubhiḥ preṣṭhais

taskaraḥ sevako vaṇik

(SB 7.6.10)

So here is one condemnation, that taskaraḥ, sevakaḥ and vaṇik. Similarly, there is another verse in Bhagavad-gītā, striyaḥ vaiśya tathā śūdra. So stri śūdra quality, vaṇik quality, they are very backwards. So here it is said, sneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham. Professor Marshall, he has given reason for economic development: the family affection. Unless one has got family affection, he is not interested in money. So therefore I sometimes say that these hippies, they are little advanced because they have no affection for family and they have no affection for money also. This is. . . In the other way, these are good qualification: no interest, no affection. Everyone is working on account of family affection, sneha-pāśair. He has got wife, children, and he requires money to make the family happy. So. . . and for maintaining the family, he requires money. Ato gṛheṣu sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam.

This world is going on, this material world going on the principle of sense gratification, puṁsaḥ striya mithunī-bhāvam etat. Everyone is hankering after sex life, man and woman. This is the beginning of material life. In the Vaikuṇṭha-loka there are thousand times beautiful women and thousand times strong men (talking in background) (aside:) Where is this sound is coming? . . .but there is no sex desire. This is Vaikuṇṭha life. Here in this material world, as soon as there is strong man, as soon as there is beautiful woman, then there is sex impulse. In the Vaikuṇṭha world there is no such thing, because they are so much absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness that sex life is very insignificant. There is no sex life in the Vaikuṇṭha realm. But in this material world, the sex life is the basic principle of pleasure.

puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhavam etat

tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ

ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair

janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti

(SB 5.5.8)

So when they are united, then the attraction for man or attraction for woman becomes very, very strong. Then he requires gṛha, apartment, home. Then he requires field, land, because land is the means of livelihood. Ato gṛha-kṣetra. Then children, then friends. In this way he becomes implicated. Moho 'yam. These things are not required, but out of illusion he is thinking that "These things will give me protection, life and pleasure." That is explained in the previous verse: sneha-pāśair dṛḍhair baddham (SB 7.6.9). He becomes too much entangled and captivated by this family affection.

So therefore in the Vedic civilization, from the very beginning of life the brahmacārī is educated not to be attracted by family life, very strictly. Even though he is educated so, if he is found unable, then he is allowed to marry. That also not for many years: to remain in the household life for twenty-five years, then compulsory, I mean to say, separation, pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. Then when the mind is settled up, he is awarded sannyāsa. This is the system.

So on account of this deep affection for maintaining family, everyone is risking life. The example is given here that taskaraḥ. There are many professional thieves, every country, in India also. They are family men—not they are loafers—but their business is to steal. Their business is to steal. Why they steal? They know it is risky. He has heard it that "If you steal you'll be arrested, you'll be put into jail." Knowledge is gathered by hearing and by seeing. Hmm? In Hindi it is called dekha śuna, dekhavyair śunavyair, that "Have you seen or heard it?" That is experience. So thief knows he has heard it from law books that stealing is not good, and from religious scripture also, that "It is sinful. Do not commit theft. Do not become criminal." But still he does, at the risk of ad. . . At night he goes in the house of rich man and risk his life. Especially in Western countries, there is fire gun, and trespassers, even without permission, if anyone enters anyone's house, he can kill him. Is it not the law in your country? Trespassing? So there is risk of life, but he has entered the house for stealing. And why stealing? The family affection. That is the impetus for economic development. The. . . Professor Marshall, the economist, he has given the definition that "Wherefrom the economic development begins? By family affection." Or by sex attraction. So this earning money, there are so many smugglers, so many illicit businessmen, black market, they are risking their life to get money. The purpose is when one becomes too much attached to family life and too much devoted to maintain it, he doesn't care. He has to earn money, somehow or other, even risking life. Even risking life.

So taskaraḥ. Who risks his life? First of all taskaraḥ, thieves. And the next? Taskaraḥ sevakaḥ. Sevakaḥ, servant. Still, in India, in the. . . some district, there was a servant of mine, he belonged to that. . . There are professional class of servant, they voluntarily sell themselves to the master: "Sir, I'll require five hundred rupees, and if you advance me this five hundred rupees I shall remain lifelong your servant." Still you get. Formerly they were slaves, slave trade, but. . . you'll get it still. You advance the servant class, śūdra class—nowadays may not be five hundred; you advance five thousand—you can purchase him. There will be agreement, that is lawful, that "He has to work lifelong." And especially the professional soldiers, nowadays the economic activities are so. . . varieties. One of our disciples' son, he has accepted the service of a diver. He enters into the ocean. This is his service. Sometimes they accept the service of coming down from the aeroplane, paracy. . . What is called? Parachute. Fall down. They are forced, from three miles up. These are all risky things. At any moment. . . Of course, any moment there is death, that is a fact, but people voluntarily accept these kind of services. For what purpose? For getting money. And what for money? For sense gratification. And where is the sense gratification? In family.

So actually, if one becomes too much attached to family life, and one has to become—this is the way—then he has to earn money by risking life. He has to earn money. Similarly, the vaṇik, mercantile community, they also risk imprisonment by so many illegal activities. So formerly, these classes of men were after money. The higher class, namely the brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, they were very, I mean to say, pious. They did not do anything for risking life, for earning money. The brāhmaṇa, they were trained up not to earn money but to learn how to become self-controlled, śama, dama, satyam, how to speak truth, or how to understand the Absolute Truth. Then cleanliness, śama dama satyaṁ śaucam (BG 18.42). Titikṣa, how to become tolerant. Ārjava, simple. Jñānam, fully aware of all kinds of knowledge. Vijñānam, practical application of knowledge. So then āstikyam. Āstikyam means to accept the authority of the śāstra. That is called āstik. That is theism. Theism means just like Veda, one who accepts the authority of Vedas, he is called āstik. And one who does not accept the authority of the Vedas, he is called nāstik. Āstik and nāstik.

According to Vedic civilization, one who does not follow the Vedic principle, he is called nāstik. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained about the Buddhist. Buddhists, they do not believe in the Vedic injunction. Or the Muslims. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika. Buddhists are called nāstik, atheist. Why? Veda nā māniyā: he does not believe in the Vedas.

veda nā māniyā bauddha haya ta' nāstika

vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda bauddhake adhika

(CC Madhya 6.168)

But a person, hypocrite, who accepts the Vedas but he preaches atheism. . . Just like you are praying that śūnyavādi, nirviśeṣa śūnyavādi pāścātya deśa tāriṇe. These two, very dangerous position, nirviśeṣa. The Buddhists, they say there is no God—śūnyavādi. "Everything, at the end, everything is zero. You have got this body. When the body is finished, then everything becomes zero." Because they do not believe in the soul, not in God. There are many nāstik. Vasu bhūta sa dehasya kuta pūrna . . . (indistinct) . . . bhavet: "The body, I see it is burnt into ashes. Where is life? There is no life. There is no soul." So this is bauddhya-vāda, śūnyavāda—everything becomes zero.

And the vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda, the Māyāvādīs, they do not say there is no God, because in the Vedas there is God. So they do not say directly, but they say, "Yes, there is God, but He has no head, no leg, no hand. He cannot talk. He cannot eat." Then what remains? He is making zero, God, zero, by negative definition—"He has no head, He has no hand. He has no leg." So both of them are zero, advocate of zero. But one directly says, "No, there is no God. Everything is zero." And these Māyāvādīs, nirviśeṣa-vādi, they say the same thing—zero—but in a different way.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that these Māyāvādīs, zero-vādis, they are more dangerous than this bauddha. Vedāśraya nāstikya-vāda. All these Māyāvādī sannyāsīs, they are very learned, but they'll never accept that God has form. They say it is kalpanā, it is imagination. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has designated them very, very dangerous, these Māyāvādīs. He has therefore strictly forbidden, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169): if you hear this Māyāvādī speaking, then your future is doomed. You are finished. Because as soon as you have become infected with the Māyāvāda philosophy, it will take millions of years to come to the platform of devotional service, it is so dangerous. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Sarva-nāśa means everything is finished when you become godless, or you think yourself as you are God. The Māyāvādī do that. They accept God, Kṛṣṇa as God, but Kṛṣṇa's body is māyā. He has assumed a form, with a body which is created by māyā, just like our body is created by māyā.

That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā:

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati

bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni

yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

(BG 18.61)

This body is given by the material nature at the direction of. . . by the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Because the nature is working by the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Nature is not independent. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). So īśvara, Kṛṣṇa, as Supersoul, He is wiyhin the core of my heart, sitting with me. I am also in the heart. And I am desiring, and Kṛṣṇa is fulfilling my desire. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Smṛtiḥ. Kṛṣṇa gives a body by the living entity: "You wanted to eat anything and everything, without any discrimination—now take this body of a hog. You can eat even stool. I give you the facility." Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam. "Now, here you have got this body, you eat stool." Smṛtir jñānam.

In this way we are going on, life after life. We are creating different types of body. This is called seasonal changes. Just like there is tree, and every season there are fruits. The fruits, they are undergoing six kinds of transformation. First of all it is just like a small bud, or flower, then grows into a green fruit, then it is ripened fruit, then there is seed, then it is completely ripened, then falls down and finished. The fruit is going on, these six kinds of transformation, but the tree is standing. Similarly, as living entity we are permanent, and according to our karma, fruitive result of our karma, we are getting different body. So I am steady, as spirit soul. My bodies are changing, seasonal changes. But Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Because the fruit is grown, stays for some time, then dwindles, then vanishes, that does not mean the tree is finished. This is a crude example. So this change of body is there on account of presence of the Supersoul. He is noting down. He doesn't require to note down, but He notes that "This living entity wants this kind of facility." So each and every body means a kind of facility for fulfilling our desires. That desire is fulfilled by Kṛṣṇa. He is within our heart. He is giving. . . He has given full independence: "Desire. . . Whatever you desire, I will give you." Ye yathā mām prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11).

So for fulfilling our desires. . . In the morning we were talking on the street about desire. So desire cannot be stopped. Desireless, it is not possible, because we are living entity; we must have desires. But this kind of desires we are proposing: "My Lord, give me a facility for fulfilling these desires." So that means you get a particular type, and these desires are generated on account of our different association—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa, tamo-guṇa. So if we associate with sattva-guṇa, then we get body like the demigods.

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā

madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ

jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā

adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ

(BG 14.18)

In this way it is going on, vāsanā. Therefore we have to become vāsanā-less—without any vāsanā, means without any material desires. Vāsanā cannot. . . It is therefore not actually to make it null and void, but to make it purified. That is the aim of human life: to purify our desires. That purification is possible by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). If you simply desire how to serve Kṛṣṇa, then that is really desirelessness. Desirelessness means not to become without desire. You desire to serve Kṛṣṇa, then these material desires will automatically finish. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor (SB 9.4.18).

So you fix up your mind at the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then non-Kṛṣṇa desires will be finished. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa. Everything will be there: the hands will be there, the legs will be there, the eyes will be there, the ears will be there—everything will be there. But if you change your desire, they will be purified. It is not to make it null and void. No. The hand is there, but if you engage your hand in cleansing the temple, then you are transcendental. If your. . . If you walk to go to the temple, then your desire for walking will be spiritual. If you smell the flower offered to the Deity, then your desire for smelling so many scented things will be finished. If you eat prasādam, then your desire for going to the restaurant and making satisfied. . . satisfaction of the tongue will be finished. Therefore if we simply desire eating, sleeping, mating—everything, even mating also. . . If you desire that "If I can beget a child who will be Kṛṣṇa conscious," then you have sex life. Otherwise stop it. If you take this responsibility that you will beget a child who will be Kṛṣṇa conscious, you can produce thousands of children, allowed; otherwise don't become mother and father. This is śāstra. Don't become. Pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt na mocayed yaḥ samupeta (SB 5.5.18). Why? That is the duty. Make your children Kṛṣṇa conscious, then your duty is all right. Otherwise, don't become father and mother.

So desireless means when we don't desire anything material—simply desire to serve Kṛṣṇa—that is desirelessness. Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). Then it is nirmala, purified. And the. . . what is the function of the purified senses? Hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. When your. . . there is no more material desires, none of your senses are engaged in anything except in Kṛṣṇa's service, this is purification. And in that purified state, when your senses are purified by this way, then you can render service to Kṛṣṇa. That service is accepted. Then patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad aham aṣnāmi (BG 9.26). In that stage of transcendental position, that is bhakti. Anything you offer to Kṛṣṇa, He'll eat, with a great relish, "Oh, it is very nice." Just like Vidura was offering the skin of the banana, and Kṛṣṇa was eating. He was so much absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought, Kṛṣṇa came to his house, and in great ecstasy he was opening the banana, and the skin was being offered to Kṛṣṇa and the pulp was thrown away. But Kṛṣṇa was eating that skin, because yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. Kṛṣṇa can eat anything; He is all-powerful. Even if you give the skin or the pulp, it doesn't matter. But it must be yo me bhaktyā prayacchati. The real thing is bhakti. So this is, when you are bhakta, then you are desireless. Otherwise desire cannot be finished. That is not possible. The Māyāvādī philosopher says you become desireless. It is not possible. Desire can be purified in connection with service of Kṛṣṇa.

So the whole idea is that our desires, ko na artha-tṛṣṇām—artha-tṛṣṇām means desiring for getting money—visṛjet. That is not possible. So long you are in this material world, one cannot give up these desires. Therefore I was saying that these Europeans, Americans, boys, they prefer to become hippies. That is another process of desirelessness—don't want. They are coming from rich man's house, but they don't want. That is a desireless, but it is not properly utilized. Now they have got this opportunity how to serve Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they are advancing so quickly. So desirelessness is not possible. Desire there will be. When we change our consciousness, desire is transferred for Kṛṣṇa's service, that is perfect life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end).