661219 - Lecture BG 09.27-29 - New York

Lectures by Date, 1966

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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661219BG.NY - December 19, 1966

Prabhupāda:

yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi

yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya

tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam

(BG 9.27)

Now, here is a general prescription for all people for transcendental realization of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yat karoṣi, whatever you do, it doesn't matter. So you do it for Kṛṣṇa. And how to do it we discussed in the last meeting, that you are doing something; simply change the consciousness that you're doing for Kṛṣṇa.

Nobody is inactive. It is not possible. You cannot be inactive even for a second. Because as living entity, our position is that we shall be always active. Don't you see? As soon as I am out of this body, the body has no more activities. All activities stopped. Again, when I enter another body, my activities from the womb of my mother begins. At the age of seven months only, the child becomes active. So spirit soul is always active. So all these activities should be dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, yat karoṣi, whatever you do.

śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ

mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ

sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā

vimukto mām upaiṣyasi

(BG 9.28)

Now, here is a neutralization formula. Whatever we are doing, it has got some reaction. If we do pious acts, there is good reaction. If we do impious action, there is reaction also. So every action has got its reaction. That we can experience in this material world, that if we eat more, the reaction will be that for two days there will be indigestion. Similarly, this material world is so situated that every action has got its reaction. But Kṛṣṇa says that if you act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for Kṛṣṇa, then there will be no reaction. Śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ.

In the Fourth Chapter we have discussed that what sort of work we shall do. That is prescribed. Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9).

Karma-bandhanaḥ means you become bound up by the resultant reaction. But if you act for yajñārthe—yajñārthe means for Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa—then there will be no reaction, śubhāśubha. Śubha means good, and aśubha means bad.

So reaction, either good reaction or bad reaction, you have to take this body. Suppose your . . . as a result of your good action, you are going to take your birth in the Rockefeller family of America. That's all right. But so far your body is concerned, the body itself is miserable. Don't think that because you are getting your body in some rich family or in other higher planets, in the demigods planet, where you can have a long duration of life . . . but still, you have got the material body. And as soon as you get this material body, the reaction of the material body—threefold miseries and the miseries of birth, the miseries of death, the miseries of old age and the miseries of diseases—will continue.

Because you are rich man, so you are not immune from the material miseries. That will affect. Therefore all these material affection will continue, either you do good work, either you do bad work.

So here it is said, Lord Kṛṣṇa says, śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase: "If you dovetail . . . dovetail your activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you become liberated from all reactions, either good or bad." Transcendental. Because in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you are not achieving any future reactionary resultant . . . your place will be transcendental. You will be transferred to the spiritual world. Therefore you are free from all reactions. Just this Bhagavad-gītā, beginning, Arjuna was thinking of so many reactions for his fighting, but when he understood that "If I fight for Kṛṣṇa, there is no reaction," then he fought. So here it is also clearly stated that if you act for Kṛṣṇa.

Suppose . . . now, ordinarily . . . na yad . . . dadāsi yat. Dadāsi yat means charity, charity according to karma-kāṇḍīya-vicāra, fruitive activities. Suppose if I give you some charity, say, hundred dollars I give you in charity, the reaction will be that I will have to realize four hundred dollars from you. That is the law of nature. Besides that, if my money is accumulated in some impious activities and if you take my money, you will have to suffer. You have to share my reaction. These are the laws of karma, very subtle laws of karma.

So, now, if you give charity for Kṛṣṇa activities, then there is no reaction. The . . . of course, there is reaction. That is called transcendental reaction, that you will gradually become elevated into Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So dadāsi yat. Therefore everything should be done for Kṛṣṇa. And if you do like that, then you will neutralize the actions and reaction. Śubhāśubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣyase. You become liberated.

Sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi. And this sannyāsa, renunciation, means to become free from the actions and reactions. That is called sannyāsa. Sannyāsa does not mean that simply taking this orange-colored cloth. Sannyāsa means to become free from the actions and reactions. Because in the material activities we are always creating actions and reactions, so at a certain stage of your life it is recommended, according to the Vedic standard of, I mean to say, order of society, one has to accept the sannyāsa order so that he may be free from the actions and reactions. And how one can become free from reactions and reactions? Simply by acting for Kṛṣṇa. Even externally it appears that you are doing some bad work, still, it will have no reaction.

It does not mean that we shall entail our activities with some impious motive. No. Of course, a devotee cannot do that. But even supposing that you have done something which is impious, which you ought not to have done, still, it will have no reaction, because the assurance is there: ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ (BG 18.66).

The Lord will save you from the reactionary result of even impious activities. Sarva-pāpebhyaḥ. Pāpa means sinful activities. So a devotee never acts sinful, but supposing that he sometimes consciously or unconsciously does something, there will be no reaction. That is the formula. Sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi. And so long you are not liberated from the actions and reactions, you cannot be liberated. You cannot be liberated.

Now, pious activities . . . suppose in my whole life I have never done anything impious thing; I have done simply pious activities, pious act . . . the result of pious activities is janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrībhiḥ (SB 1.8.26).

By pious activities, in your next life you can get your birth in a very highly respectable, aristocratic family. Janmaiśvarya. You can get a great amount of wealth. And janmaiśvarya-śruta: you can become a highly educated scholar, or you can become a very beautiful, you have a very beautiful body. The result of good activities. Result.

Now, suppose I get all these things. That is not my liberation. But we are for liberation. We want to get out of this material contamination. So good work or bad work, that will not lead me to liberation. The bondage is there, but if you act for Kṛṣṇa or you act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then you are liberated. And liberated means you are at once transferred to the spiritual world. Mām upaiṣyasi. Mām means "You can get Me." "You can get Me."

samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ

ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā

mayi te teṣu cāpy aham

(BG 9.29)

The Lord says that "I am neutral." God is neutral. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu. Samatā means . . . this point we have discussed, sama, how God is neutral, sama. If He is sama—sama means neutral—then how we find different grades of people or different grades of species of life? That is samatā. Now, I will give you a crude example. Suppose I am a shopkeeper. I have got different varieties of goods. Now, if you pay me less, then I can supply you inferior quality of goods. Another customer is paying me and a good amount—then I will supply you superior quality of goods. Now, I supply to some customer inferior quality of goods—to another customer I supply superior quality of goods. Is there any partiality? No. That is not partiality.

So God gives you result of your actions. Samo 'ham. He is impartial. If you do good acts, then you get good result. If you do bad acts, then you get bad result. That is samo 'haṁ sarva . . . this is the common . . . common formula. The Lord says, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ. It is not that somebody is suffering because God is envious upon him. No, God is not envious. He is suffering his own activities.

Same example we can give: Just like a person is ordered by the high court to be condemned to death. He will be punished, death punishment. Does it mean that the high-court justice is enemy of that particular person? No. He is not enemy. He has created such situation that he is condemned to death. The high-court judge is not responsible for that. He simply administers the, I mean to say, intricacies of law, of the state. Similarly, there are agents of Lord in . . . in the material nature, and so many, there are agents we do not know. But there, in the śāstras, we have the Yamarāja, or there is justice department. Everything is there. So He is neutral. He . . . it is not that God is kind to somebody and unkind to some other. No. His position is always neutral.

Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti. Dveṣya means anyone whom I . . . upon whom I am envious. Of course, our nature is to become envious, even to enemy or friend. Even a friend, I mean to say, develops his material condition, economic development, then we become envious. That is one of the nature of the conditioned souls. Even my son becomes something greater than me, I become envious. So this is nature.

So . . . but God has no such, I mean to say, crude qualities. He is not envious of anyone. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ. Nobody is very dear to Him, and nobody is an enemy. "But," He says especially, ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā, "anyone who is engaged in devotional service and Kṛṣṇa consciousness," mayi te, "he always remains with Me," mayi te teṣu ca api aham, "and I am also with him." Just see. Just a devotee cannot be separated. An unalloyed devotee, he cannot be separated from God.

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena

santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

(Bs 5.38)

Premāñjana. When you have got you have developed love of God . . . this is quite natural. Just like you somebody, loves somebody. You love some person or . . . you always think of him. That is quite natural. Anyone. That is the objective of love. But because we are . . . our love in this material world is a perverted reflection of the love of God, love can be applied only to God.

In this material world there is no love. It is all lust. There cannot be any love. The word love can be applied only to God. So these are only perverted reflection, what is going on in the name of love. There is no love. So the nature of love is this, that the lover wants every moment to see without any remuneration, without any return. That is real love.

Real love is described by Lord Caitanya. His love of God is being expressed in one verse, that āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu māṁ marma-hatāṁ karotu vā adarśanāt (CC Antya 20.47): "My Lord Kṛṣṇa, You embrace me or trample me down at Your feet. Whatever You like, You can do. And You make me brokenhearted by not being present before me." Because lover wants to see his lovable object. But if the lovable object does not come, he becomes brokenhearted.

So Lord Caitanya says: "I am trying to see You, but You do not come. That's all right. I am brokenhearted, but still, I shall continue to love You. I cannot detract myself from this love." This is pure love. This is pure love. So Kṛṣṇa says, ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā. One who is, I mean to say, entrapped in such love affairs with God, don't think that God is forgotten. God is also thinking in that way. Although you do not see, but you see.

Those who are advanced in spiritual consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they always see Kṛṣṇa. Always see Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, as the devotee sees always Kṛṣṇa, similarly Kṛṣṇa also always sees that devotee. This is reciprocation. Although He is neutral . . . He says: "I am neutral, but still, I cannot deviate Myself from My devotee who is always thinking of Me." This is His admission.

There is another admission by Kṛṣṇa about the gopīs. The gopīs loved Him so extensively that Kṛṣṇa admitted that, "I cannot return your loving dealings. I am unable. So please be satisfied with your activities. I cannot return." Now, just see. God, who is so powerful, He fails to return the loving objective of the devotee. Samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ, ye tu bhajanti māṁ prītyā. Prītyā means "with love."

We should worship . . . the word "worship" is not applicable to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The exact word is sevā, bhajanti. Here it is bhajanti. Whenever you'll find the dealings between the Supreme Lord and the devotee, the word is used bhajanti. The bhajanti word cannot be translated into "worship." Worship means pūjā. Pūjā. Just like a worthy gentleman comes; I give him all reception. This is called pūjā. There may not be love. That is only etiquette. But love is different thing.

So here it is said, ye bhajanti tu. Bhajanti means render service in love. When there is question of love, there is service. Without service . . . if I . . . we have got practical experience. Suppose if I love somebody and if I don't give him something, don't eat something or give him . . . give him something eatable, then what kind of love it is? That is not love. Love means bhajanti, render service. That is love. That is the beginning of love. So even there is no love, if you, under the prescribed rules and regulation, if you simply render service, then you will develop love.

This śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam (SB 7.5.23).The class which we are holding, that you are hearing and I am speaking, this is the beginning of love of God. Unless we hear of God, ādau śraddhā. You gentlemen, ladies, you come here with some faith. So this faith is the basis of developing love.

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu

saṅgo 'tha bhajana-kriyā

tato 'nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt

(CC Madhya 23.14).

So we have forgotten our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Therefore there is no question of love at the present moment. But we can develop this love by this process, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Bhajanti. Bhajanti means bhakti. Bhakti.

The beginning of bhakti, or devotional service, is to hear, is to chant and hear. Unless there is chanting, there is no question of hearing. Hear means somebody must be chanting. Either we chant with musical sound or we chant by lectures of Bhagavad-gītā, this is all chanting. And the others, they are hearing. So this hearing and chanting is the beginning of bhakti, or devotional service. Here it is recommended, ye tu bhajanti māṁ bhaktyā. Anyone who, with devotional love, begins this devo . . . I mean service of hearing chanting . . . śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam. Smaraṇam. Smaraṇam means remembering. Smaraṇam.

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ

smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam

arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ

sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

(SB 7.5.23)

So these are the nine processes of bhakti: hearing, chanting, remembering, offering foodstuff, and, I mean to say, cleansing the temple, and offering your earning . . . yat karoṣi yaj juhoṣi. Everything, reciprocated dealings. They are not inactivity. This is the bhakti. So anyone who engages his service, his prāṇair arthair dhiyā vācā, service to be rendered with life, with wealth, with words and with intelligence . . . intelligence. Service . . . no unintelligent man can serve the Supreme Lord. Kṛṣṇe yei bhaje sei baḍa catura. Only the intelligent class of men, they can serve Kṛṣṇa, not the unintelligent class. So everything should be done with intelligence, buddhi. Prāṇair arthair dhiyā (SB 10.22.35). Dhiyā means by intelligence. And vācā, by words. By your money, by your life.

So this is the reciprocation of dealings of devotional service with Lord. And if there is any devotee who is constantly engaged in such reciprocation of devotional service, God will never forget him. Teṣu te mayi: "As he is always unto Me, similarly I am also unto him." So there is no question of disappointment. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt (BG 2.40). If you do little thing for the service of the Lord, it is noted in the notebook of Kṛṣṇa.

Don't think that your labor is going in vain. Everything you are . . . whatever you do sincerely, that is noted. It is clearly stated here, teṣu te mayi: "As they are always, constantly thinking of Me, similarly, I am also constantly thinking of Me (them), how he can make further development, how he can come to Me very quickly, how he can be free from all contamination of the material . . ." He will give you intelligence.

That is stated in another place. You will find in the Tenth Chapter, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10): "Those persons who are always engaged in love and devotion in My service," buddhi-yogaṁ dadāmi tam, "I give them intelligence." Because intelligence required. A fool cannot make progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, only the intelligent person. And that intelligence is supplied by God. He supplies. Dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ tam: "I give him such intelligence." What kind of intelligence? Yena mām upayānti te: "By which he can quickly come to Me."

So therefore our duty is to engage ourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There are, at the preliminary, rules and regulation. And if we follow, if you follow those principles, it is not very difficult thing to see God or to become acquainted with God intimately. God is very cheap if we adopt the means. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs 5.33).

Adurlabha. Adurlabha, very cheap. To whom? To the pure devotee. But to others, those who are, I mean to say, mongering in philosophical speculation and manufacturing something, some hallucination, it is not possible to have a relationship with God. But adurlabham ātma-bhaktau: He is very cheap to the pure devotee.

So our duty is to become pure devotee by practice of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and this is not at all difficult. This chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, if you chant, you will realize how you are making progress, and gradually . . . Kṛṣṇa is within you; God is within you. He will give you intelligence that, "You do this way. You do that way." Everything will be clear, and the result will be tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9): "After leaving this body you will come to Me." Then your human life is perfected. Follow this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Thank you very much. (end)