680315 - Lecture SB 07.06.01 - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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680315SB-SAN FRANCISCO - March 15, 1968 - 21.24 Minutes

Prabhupāda: Yamunā?

Yamunā: Swāmījī?

Prabhupāda: It is not working, I think.

(break)

ajñāna-timirāndhasya

jñānāñjana-śalākayā

cakṣur-unmīlitaṁ yena

tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

śrī-caitanya mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ

sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale

svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ

dadāti sva-padāntikam

vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam

sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca

It is not properly working.

Yamunā: No, Swāmījī. I don't want to fix it. I've been . . . (break)

Prabhupāda: We have been discussing Prahlāda Mahārāja's instruction to his class fellows. Fortunately, we have got some little boys. So it is very interesting. Prahlāda Mahārāja was five-years-old boy, and he was preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. All the boys, and Prahlāda Mahārāja himself, belonged to the atheist class, most materialist.

They did not know anything beyond sense enjoyment. That's all. All the fathers of the students, class fellow of Prahlāda Mahārāja, they belonged to the atheist family. In Sanskrit language the atheist is called asura, asiriyan. And the persons who are God conscious, they are called suras or āryans. So they belonged to the family of asirian, or asuras.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja is fortunately, although he is born of a father completely atheist, by the grace of Kṛṣṇa and by the grace of his mother, he became a great devotee. From very childhood, from his birth, he was a devotee. Why he became such devotee, that is explained in later chapters. We shall come to that.

So he was agitating in the school amongst his class fellows to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. So he's preaching. Just in the tiffin hour, in the recess hour, as soon as the teacher's gone, he took the opportunity and stood up on the bench and began to agitate his friends, "My dear friends," kaumāra ācaret prājñā (SB 7.6.1), "Now we should become Kṛṣṇa conscious from this childhood. Don't wait for your old age." Generally, people think that, "When we shall become old, we shall take care of becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious or God conscious or go to the church or temple. At present, let us play and enjoy life."

So Prahlāda Mahārāja says: "No." Kaumāra ācaret prājñā. Prājñā means intelligent. Intelligent means who does not waste time. Time is very valuable. You are American people. You know very well how to utilize time. But time is very valuable is also accepted in Vedic civilization.

There is a very nice verse in Cāṇakya śloka. You just see how much time was considered as valuable. By this verse, you will know. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says . . . Cāṇakya Paṇḍita was a great politician. He was sometimes prime minister of the emperor of India. So he says, āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi na labhya svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ (Cāṇakya-śloka 34). He says that "A moment time of your duration of life . . ." Moment. Not to speak of hours and days, but moment. He was considering moment to moment.

Just like today, 15th March, 1968, now it is half past seven or past seven, thirty-five. Now this 1968, seven thirty-five gone. As soon as it is, seven thirty-six, you cannot bring back that 1968, 15th March, evening seven thirty-five, again, even if you pay millions of dollars, "Please come back again." No. Finished. So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that, "Time is so valuable that if you pay millions of golden coins, you cannot get back even a moment."

What is lost is lost for good. Na cen nirarthakaṁ nītiḥ: "If you, such valuable time, spoil for nothing, without any profit," ca na hānis tato 'dhikā (Cāṇakya Paṇḍita), "just imagine how much you are losing, how greatly you are loser." The thing which you cannot get back by paying millions of dollars, if that is lost for nothing, how much you are losing, just imagine.

So the same thing: Prahlāda Mahārāja says that dharmān bhāgavatan, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, or God conscious, is so important that we should not lose even a moment's time. Immediately we shall begin. Why? Durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma. Mānuṣaṁ janma (SB 7.6.1).

He says that this human form of body is very rare. It is obtained after many, many births. So modern civilization, they do not understand what is the value of this human form of life. They think that this body is meant for sense enjoyment like cats and dogs. The cats and dogs, they are also enjoying life in four principles: eating, sleeping, defending and mating.

So human form of life is not meant for spoiling like cats and dogs. Human form of life is meant for something else. And that "something else" is Kṛṣṇa conscious, or God consciousness, because without human form of life, no other body can understand what is God, what is this world, what I am, where from I have come, where I have to go. These things are meant for human life.

So he says that, "From very childhood . . ." Actually this is essential. From childhood, in the schools, in the colleges, this bhāgavata-dharma, or the occupation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, should be introduced. This is necessary, but they do not understand. They think that this spot life is all, and this body is all, and there is no other life. Next life, they do not believe it. This is all due to ignorance. Life is eternity, and this spot life is preparation for the next life.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja says durlabhaṁ. Durlabhaṁ means very rarely obtained. Our modern anthropologists, they also admit it, that after many evolution of different species of life, this human form of life is obtained. But they do not know what it is meant for. That is answered here, Prahlāda Mahārāja. We have to pass through many millions of species of life.

There are 900,000 species of life in the water. Eleven hundred thousand species of life . . . jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa). Sthāvarā means plants and trees. They are 2,000,000's species of life. And jalajā nava-lakṣāni sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ.

And worms, they are 1,100,000 species of life. Kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ. Pakṣiṇāṁ daśa-lakṣaṇam. And birds, they are 1,000,000 species of life. And then four-legged beasts, they are 3,000,000 species of life. And human form of life, beginning from the most uncivilized to the civilized form of life, they are only 400,000 species of life.

So in consideration of all the total species of life, human form of life is very small. Only 400 . . . out of 8,400,000's of species of life, human form of life is only 400,000. Out of that, there are many uncivilized. So the Āryan family, they are considered as advanced, civilized, so, with full developed consciousness, and therefore this is the opportunity for understanding the value of life. So:

kaumāra ācaret prājño

dharmān bhāgavatān iha

durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma

tad apy adhruvam arthadam

(SB 7.6.1)

Adhruvam arthadam. He says that "This life is very valuable, very rare, but it is also temporary." Because it is very rarely obtained, it is not permanent. It is also temporary like cats and dogs. They have got their temporary body. But the one significance of this body is arthadam. Arthadam means you can derive the greatest value in this life. Arthadam. Artha means money, and paramartha means spiritual consciousness. That is also artha.

So one should be engaged for earning money, because the body requires material necessities. That's all right. But his real attention should be how to achieve spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is arthadam. That is the value of life.

yathā hi puruṣasyeha

viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam

yad eṣa sarva-bhūtānām

priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt

(SB 7.6.2)

And what is that spiritual consciousness? Puruṣasyeha viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam. Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu means the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is called Viṣṇu, all-pervading, the word used here, viṣṇoḥ. Viṣṇu means who is all-pervading, at the same time He's a person. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is person—at the same time, He is all-pervading.

How it is? In our material conception we cannot imagine, but there is a proof in your presence. Just like the sun. Sun is localized. You can see every day. Sun globe is located at a certain place in the outer space, but the sunshine is all-pervading. Sun is present everywhere by his all-pervasive sunshine.

Similarly, Viṣṇu, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is in His abode, which is called Viṣṇuloka, or the kingdom of God, or Kṛṣṇaloka, whatever you may understand. He has got His particular abode. But at the same time, by His different energies, He is all-pervading.

There is another example of this all-pervasiveness of God in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa that, "Just like fire is situated in one place, but its light and heat is distributed long, long distant, similarly, whatever we see within this cosmic manifestation, that is diffusion of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead." So Prahlāda Mahārāja points out that:

yathā hi puruṣasyeha

viṣṇoḥ pādopasarpaṇam

yad eṣa sarva-bhūtānām

priya ātmeśvaraḥ suhṛt

(SB 7.6.2)

One should be Kṛṣṇa conscious, or God conscious, why? Because He is the master of your self and the most intimate friend, suhṛt. Yathā ātmeśvara. Ātmeśvara means we are individual self and He is the original Superself. Just like we, for the present, we like this body, we love this body, why? Because the body is the production of the soul.

Without soul, there is no body. Just like a child born. If the soul is there, the child will grow. If the child is born dead, however chemically you can keep up that body, it will never grow. So that is the significance of the presence of the soul. So as the body grows on account of presence of the soul, similarly, the soul, individual soul, is the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord.

It is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7 (1972)): "All these living entities, they are My part and parcel." We are part and parcel of God. You can study. You can understand what is the nature of God by studying yourself, because you are sample God. You are miniature, small God. Just like particle of gold is also a small particle—it is also gold, similarly, because we are part and parcel of God, therefore there all the ingredients, all the chem . . . (break) (end)