740929 - Lecture Bengali - Mayapur

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740929LE-MAYAPUR - September 29, 1974 - 11:33 Minutes

(Translated from Bengali)

Prabhupāda: Our ideal gṛhastha-bhaktas . Hmm.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not say that, "Only sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs are eligible to realise Kṛṣṇa. And gṛhasthas are rotten, and that they cannot realise Bhagavān (the Supreme Person)." Caitanya Mahāprabhu never said that. Mahāprabhu said,

kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya

yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei guru haya

(CC Madhya 8.128)

"Kibā vipra". Whether one is brāhmaṇa, or śūdra, or sannyāsī, or gṛhastha, that does not matter. "Yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā". The person who knows kṛṣṇa-tattva. One who knows who Kṛṣṇa is, how to see Kṛṣṇa, how to understand Kṛṣṇa. The person who has this knowledge, is guru. That guru is Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He was a gṛhastha. Not just a householder. He was a big government officer. Magistrate. During the day, he had to make judgments in court, and because he was a householder, he had to tend to bringing up his children, giving his sons an education, marrying his daughters, earning an income for them. Being a householder, he had to fulfill all these duties. Over and above all these duties, he is our Ācārya-guru. He planned and performed all his duties, he always meditated on devotional service to Bhagavān. He would return from office . . . from court, he would wash his hands & feet, he would eat, and would go to bed at 8 o’clock. Thereafter, he would awaken after four hours at midnight. Then he would write books.

He used to go to bed at 8 o’clock, and rise up at 12 o’clock, and he used to write books. So, that was . . .

So, this is how live his life. Even though there’s a lot of work in a householder’s life, he organised his life in such a manner that there would be no impediments in his performing Kṛṣṇa-bhajana. We also to have to follow this. Being householders we have many duties to perform which cannot be avoided because it is wrong to neglect our duties in taking care of our children. However, if it is impossible, then it is another matter. Being a householder and parent it is a must to take care, else if the mother and father are not good, how will the children learn to be good.

Because Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was an ideal and good householder, he was able to beget an exalted son like Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Our gurudeva Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmi is the son of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, For those of you living here, the founding father of Māyāpura is Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura.

In Navadvīpa, everyone had forgotten where the birthplace of Mahāprabhu was located. Five hundred years ago, Navadvīpa was a very large area which used to comprise of nine islands. Thousands of brāhmaṇas and paṇḍitas used to reside there. This used be be the major center for studies and learning . . . Navadvīpa. Even now, there are big, big paṇḍitas in Navadvīpa. Navadvīpa is in West Bengal, and Vārāṇasī is in Uttar Pradesh. Then, Darbhaṅga. There were many places there, just as now there is Calcutta University etc, that in the earlier times were the places of education and learning. As all of you know, here in Navadvīpa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared. His father came from Sylhet where he used to reside on the banks of Gaṅgā. His wife was Śacī-devī, the daughter of Nilambar Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was very keen to find the original birthplace of Mahāprabhu. People used to say that Mahāprabhu’s birthplace had disappeared, but he did not believe that.

There was a tulasi forest at Yoga-pīṭha in to Māyāpura where Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī would sing bhajana. He revealed to Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura that this was the place where Mahāprabhu appeared. "mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ" (Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya 17.186)

Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī was very old. He would constanstly chant Hari-nāma. He lived in Vṛndāvana, and later moved (to Māyāpura) and lived here. Based on his revelation, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura tried his utmost to develop the place to the best of his financial ability. He took charge of the place, and then he formed the ‘Dhāma Pracārinī Sabhā’ to invoke the interest of the people. He had also hoped that there . . . because there is no sectarianism or group-ism in what Mahāprabhu propagated, unlike so many groups these days . . . this one’s group . . . and that one’s group, who are cheating people in the name of dharma . Therefore the Bhāgavatam says . . . Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura explaining the purport says:

prithibitay jahakichu dharmo namay calay

bhagavata kohay taha paripurna chhallay

On this planet, all that is going on is the name of dharma. This is our dharma, that is our dharma. All this is concoction, dharma can never be separate. Just like gold. If someone says, this is Hindu gold, that is Muslim gold, this is Christian gold. Is that even possible? Gold is gold. Can gold be Hindu, Muslim or Christian? No. This is an illusion. This is cheating. Just like on College Street in Calcutta, there is a Hindu goat-meat shop. They want to eat goat-meat, where is the question of Hindu and Muslim? But they want eat pure Hindu goat-meat. This is going on. We have to give up all this.

Real religion is to surrender unto the lotus feet of Bhagavan. That is dharma. Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-Gītā says:

dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya

sambhavāmi yuge yuge

(BG 4.8)

What is that dharma? It is not Hindu dharma, Muslim dharma, Christian dharma. That is real dharma. And what is that?

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

This is dharma. That, the one who has surrendered to the lotus feet of Bhagavān, that person is religious. The rest are all irreligious, fools and rascals. This must be understood. This is our test. Just like when purity of gold is tested, those who know gold rub it on a stone and understand the value of that gold. Similarly, we too have a touch-stone. We can test on that touch-stone to know how religious each person is. So what is that? It is not some object manufactured by us. That is, as stated by śāstra, Kṛṣṇa says:

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

māyayāpahṛta-jñānā

āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ

(BG 7.15)

This is the touchstone. If we see that there is no surrender to Kṛṣṇa, there’s no understanding of Kṛṣṇa, one does not know who Kṛṣṇa is even though religious, we do not accept that. What we will accept, is that person is a mahā-pāpī, duṣkṛtino. Duṣkṛtino means very sinful, the one commits only sinful activities. This class of person who are committing only sinful activities, who are foolish, na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ . . . narādhamā. The extremely fallen in human society, the lowest among mankind, overcome by māyā.

“This person who is so highly educated in the university, you are calling the person sinful, foolish, lowest among mankind?” We are not saying this, it is stated by . . . (disruption) (end)