680704 - Lecture SB 07.09.09 - Montreal

Lectures by Date, 1968

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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680704SB-MONTREAL - July 04, 1968 - 42:32 Minutes

Prabhupāda:

manye dhanābhijana-rūpa-tapaḥ-śrutaujas-

tejaḥ-prabhāva-bala-pauruṣa-buddhi-yogāḥ

nārādhanāya hi bhavanti parasya puṁso

bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja yūtha pāya

(SB 7.9.9)

Prahlāda Mahārāja is submitting his humbleness, because he has practically experienced that all great personalities present in that meeting, headed by Brahmā, the original person, original created person, as well as all other demigods, they are all highly qualified, but they could not satisfy the Lord.

Therefore he says: "I think that any kind of material qualification, such as tejaḥ, prabhāva, influence, strength, bodily beauty; tejaḥ, prabhāva, pauruṣa, capacity; buddhi, intelligence; yoga, mystic power; and all similar qualifications"—they are divided into six opulences: strength, influence, fame and beauty, knowledge, renunciation—"these six kinds of opulences are fully present in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So how you can conquer over the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all these material qualifications?"

Suppose if you are going to see some gentleman who is very rich, just like Rockefeller, and suppose you are drawing, say, one thousand dollars per month, or say five thousand dollars. So how we can become proud of your opulence before a very rich man? So Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, means that nobody can excel Him in richness, in fame, in strength, in beauty, in wisdom and renunciation. However you may exhibit or manifest your opulences, still it is very insignificant.

We can practically experience. Just like this very nice city, perhaps the greatest city in the world, New York, with so many skyscraper buildings, industrial enterprises, everything very opulent. But as soon as you go seven miles or eight miles high by aeroplane, you will see just like they are matchboxes. You have practical experience. And if you still go high you will find this whole planet just like a point. As you are daily experiencing that so many planets in the sky hanging just like small spots, but they are as big or greater than this planet.

So nobody can excel the opulence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is not possible. If you want to purchase the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by your material acquisition, it is impossible. It is impossible. That is the instruction of Prahlāda Mahārāja. He is deriding that, manye dhanābhijana rūpa. Abhijana. Abhijana means born in great nation or in great family. Nobody can be proud that "Because I am born of a very rich family and because I am born of a very great, rich nation like America, therefore I can purchase the favor of God." No. That is not possible. Prahlāda Mahārāja says it is not possible.

Nārādhanāya bhavanti parasya puṁsaḥ. Parasya puṁsaḥ means the transcendental personality. He excels all personalities. We are all person. The Lord, Kṛṣṇa, or God, He is also a person, as you are person, I am person. He is not impersonal. Otherwise, how He can be richest, the most famous, the most beautiful? These qualifications are for person. But He is so great, God is so great, His personality is so great that He transcends all personalities. Parasya puṁso. Parasya means transcendental, and puṁso, the person.

God is never impersonal. The impersonal understanding of the Absolute Truth is the beginning of transcendental knowledge. But if you make further progress, you will find Him the Supreme Person. The Supreme Person . . . just like we offer our humble prayers, govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ. He is the original person.

In the Bible you will see, "Man is made after God." This feature, this form, is just in imitation of Kṛṣṇa's form. Because Kṛṣṇa has got two hands, because Kṛṣṇa has got two legs, one head, so we are imitation. We are sample God. So just imagine how the original person, the original Personality of Godhead, is opulent, rich, beautiful, famous—so many. All good qualifications, all opulences, are present there.

So with our material acquisitions it is not possible to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How, then, He can be pleased? Now, bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja yūtha pāya. You can simply please the Supreme Personality of Godhead by your transcendental loving service. That's all. If you try, if you learn the art of loving, then you can . . . He will be just like a playmate with you. Kṛṣṇa is so nice.

advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam

ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣam nava-yauvanaṁ ca

vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau

(Bs. 5.33)

Here is also. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that adurlabham ātma-bhaktau. Adurlabha means very easily obtained. Durlabha means very difficult to obtain, and adurlabha, just the opposite: very easily obtained. How? Now, ātma-bhaktau: "Those who are devotees of the Lord, for them He is very easily available."

So affection is so nice thing. So try to develop your affection. That affection is already there. Don't think that Kṛṣṇa affection is being artificially propagated. Perhaps in this meeting I am the only Indian, but all my students here, they are all American. They belong to different faith. How they are developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness? I am not bribing them; I have no money. But still, why they are so much affectionate? This is the proof that everyone has got dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness within himself.

It is not an artificial thing. Simply you have to develop it. It is not taught actually. Just like a young boy or young girl—there is no educational department how to love a young girl or young boy. It is already there. It is not taught. Similarly, the Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not the subject matter of being taught. Please try to note this. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a thing as you are taught technology or mathematics or like that. It is already there. Simply we have to revive it. Simply we have to revive it.

Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti (CC Madhya 22.107). In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that, "Kṛṣṇa consciousness is eternally existing in every human being, every living entity." Not only human being. You have seen the one picture that a calf, how he is loving Kṛṣṇa by licking His body. You have seen it. So even in the calf, even in the animal, even in the birds, even in the beast. We have all described these things in our Teachings of Lord Caitanya, that when Kṛṣṇa was present in Vṛndāvana, how the cranes, how the cuckoos, how the peacocks, how the wasps, how the flowers, how the creepers were loving Him. How they were loving Kṛṣṇa.

So it is not a thing that we have to teach. Simply by good association, by reference, it comes out. It is called suptotthita-nyāya. Just like a man sleeping at night, he forgets everything, where he is lying on and what he is doing and which family does he belong to, which country does he belong to, what is his occupation. Everything he forgets. Sleeping means forgetfulness. But as soon as he is awakened, he remembers everything. Everything. "Oh, I have to go to office. I have to do this thing. I have to meet such-and such-person." Everything.

Similarly, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is sleeping in everyone's heart. He is hankering. He is hankering after how to love Kṛṣṇa, but he is being checked up. The māyā is checking him: "Don't try to love Kṛṣṇa. If you love Kṛṣṇa, then you will forget all these material activities." Māyā is speaking.

smerāṁ bhaṅgi traya paricitaṁ sāci-vistīrṇa dṛṣṭiṁ

vaṁśī nyastādhara kiśalayam ujjvalāṁ candrakeṇa

govindākhyāṁ hari-tanum itaḥ keśi-tīrthopakaṇṭhe

mā prekṣiṣṭhās tava yadi sakhe bandhu-saṅge 'sti raṇgaḥ

(CC Adi 5.224, quoted from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.239)

This is a very nice verse composed by Rūpa Gosvāmī, that one friend of one gopī, she is warning, "My dear friend, please do not go that side." "Where?" "In the keśi-tīrthopakaṇṭhe, on the bank of Keśī-ghāṭa, Yamunā." "Why you are warning me?" "Because there is that boy whose name is Govinda." "What He is doing?" "He is simply smiling, and with His flute, and He is so bright by the rays of the moon that He looks very, very beautiful." "Then? What happens?" "Now, if you go and see Him, then you will forget your engagement with family and friendship and love and everything, all. He will absorb everything. So don't go there." She is warning, yes, "Don't go."

In other words, Kṛṣṇa is so attractive by His activities, transcendental activities, by His beauty, by His opulence, by His strength, everything . . . if you read the history of Kṛṣṇa's activities in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or in the Bhagavad-gītā, they are so attractive that one automatically becomes attracted, and he forgets all other attraction. This is natural. This is not an artificial. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that once situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you will forget all nonsense of this material life.

So this movement is simply to revive that dormant consciousness. Nothing artificial. And by the grace of Lord Caitanya, it has been made very simple—simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and dance. That's all. You haven't got to be very highly educated in the university. You haven't got to exercise in so many yogic process, sitting posture, or hard press your nose, or you keep your head down. Nothing. No labor. Simply come here, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and take Kṛṣṇa prasādam. This very simple method will revive your Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

You know, all, that two years ago, in 1966, I started this class alone. I was chanting only. That's all. That was my . . . whatever you call. And these boys and girls, gradually they came, and they became attracted. I did not teach them any artificial method of yoga practice, but simply I requested them, "You chant and hear." So very easy process. You can revive your dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness simply, śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaya udaya (CC Madhya 22.107). The process is that as you go on chanting, then all the dirty things within your heart will be cleansed. Simply we want to cleanse.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended this chanting, and He has said that the result of chanting will be, the first installment of your gain will be, that your heart will be cleansed. The first thing, which is being tried by the so many mental speculators, how to cleanse the heart, that will be achieved in the first installment by simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpanaṁ (CC Antya 20.12). And as the cleansing process of your heart makes progress, then you become freed from the blazing fire of material existence.

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpanaṁ

śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ

(CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1)

And then again, just like in the moonlight, daily, the moon increases the light. When the moon is rising daily in the bright fortnight, daily you see that the moon is increasing in shape. So this, that very example, is said here also. As soon as your heart is cleansed and you immediately you become freed from all material contamination, then your real pleasure on the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness increases in the proportion. As the moon increases in the sky daily, and as one day it becomes the full moon, so this process is so nice that increasing daily by chanting, one day it will come that you will simply love Kṛṣṇa and forget everything.

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpanaṁ

śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam

(CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1)

And so far knowledge is concerned, you will get it automatically. You will get all knowledge. Our material conditional life is simply due to ignorance, and when you come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the full moonlight of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all knowledge will be at your feet. Everything you will know. Vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. And ānandāmbudhi-vaṛdhanaṁ: then you increase the ocean of transcendental bliss. The ocean . . . the ocean never increases, but the transcendental ocean of bliss increases daily, daily, and you enjoy it.

Ānandāmbudhi-vaṛdhanaṁ sarvātma-snapanaṁ. Sarvātma-snapanaṁ. Just like when you take your shower bath or a dip into the ocean, you feel fully comfortable, similarly, by taking your dip into the ocean of bliss of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you will feel fully refreshed, fully refreshed, without any doubt. Paraṁ vijayate śri-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Therefore Lord Caitanya gives, "All glories to the saṅkīrtana movement, Hare Kṛṣṇa."

So this is the process. God not dead. God cannot be dead. This is all foolishness. God is there. How you can conceive, how you can perceive that God is not dead? There is sufficient symptom that God is not dead. Just like your body. If you are breathing, if your bodily functions are working nice, if there is blood, and if you are feeling, thinking, willing nicely, will the doctor say that you are dead? (laughter) No. He will say: "No. All the symptoms of life are present there, so he is not dead. He is alive."

Similarly, if you have got that talent to test how God is alive, that is very simple. The whole cosmic manifestation, the whole gigantic body of God is working so nicely. The sun is rising in time, the moon is rising in time, the seasonal changes are taking place in time, the planets are moving. Everything is in order. How you can say that God is dead? What is your reason? No. God is not dead. God is alive, and you can meet also God, because He is a person and you are a person.

Just like here, if you try, you can meet the greatest personality of this material world, say, the president. That is not difficult. You have to simply arrange your meeting. Similarly, you can meet God face to face, just we are meeting here face to face. Simply you have to make arrangement. That's all.

And this is the arrangement—Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you make this arrangement complete, then you will see God face to face. Not only that, that you will see God face to face after this life—no. Even in this life also you will see God face to face. Premāñjana-cchurita (Bs. 5.38).

And what is that qualification? The qualification is love. Simply you are loving so many things. That is not giving you satisfaction. You try to develop your love which is already dormant in you, and when you are efficient in loving God, you will see God face to face.

Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti (Bs. 5.38). The Brahma-saṁhitā says that those who have developed love of God and smeared the eyes with the ointment of love, but by that ointment the sight of your eye, the material eyesight, will be clear. Just like you sometimes apply medicine on your eyes to see clear, similarly, there is a process to make your eyesight clear to see God. That's all. Not that stop seeing, but clear the eyesight. Purify your senses. That is called bhakti. Bhakti means the process of purifying the senses. That's all. And as soon as your senses are purified, transcendental eyes, you see God face to face.

Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva. Sadaiva means constantly, without any cessation, you can see God always, everywhere. Everywhere. Sthāvara jaṅgame dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti. You will see tree, but you will not see the tree; you will see there Kṛṣṇa. You will see a bus, but you will see there Kṛṣṇa. That stage will come. Premāñ . . . when your loving spirit is developed fully like the full moon, then in the full moon night, as you can visualize the whole city, similarly, by raising yourself to the platform of loving service of Kṛṣṇa, you will see God face to face.

Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti yaṁ śyāmasundaram (Bs. 5.38). That God is Śyāmasundara. This Kṛṣṇa is called Śyāmasundara. Śyāma means blackish, but He's very beautiful, very, very beautiful. Śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ. Acintya means inconceivable. His qualities, His transcendental quality, are inconceivable. When in the Vedic literature it is said that God is quality-less, nirguṇa, nirguṇa means He is transcendental to these material qualities. But His transcendental qualities are there. So He is called that acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ govindam.

We just offer our prayer, three verses only from this Brahma-saṁhitā, before our this recitation of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That Govinda is the original Personality of Godhead, and Śyāmasundara, with a flute in His hand, and He is very pastimeous, always smiling. And by His smiling He offers you blessings. You also, by seeing His smiling, you remain everlastingly smiling. It is so nice.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja recommends that the Supreme Personality of Godhead cannot be satisfied by your material opulences. That is not possible. You cannot excel Him. However you may be great in material science, knowledge, opulence, economic development or everything, but if you want to see God, then you have to accept this process, bhakti. In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same thing affirmed. Not only in the Bhagavad-gītā—in all Vedic scriptures the same thing is affirmed. Simply if you want to see God, if you want to make your relationship with God, then it is bhakti.

And our process, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is not for proselytizing that, "You are Christian, you become Hindu" or "You are Hindu you become Christian" or "You are Muhammadan, you . . ." No. We don't recommend in that way. You remain in your religious faith, but we simply request you that you develop your love of God. That's all.

We want to test your religion capacity—how much you have developed your love of God. That's all. We do not want to see how . . . what kind of rituals and performances you are doing. Phalena paricīyate. We want to see the result, how much you have tried or how much you have developed your love of Godhead. That's all.

That is the Bhāgavata recommendation. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje (SB 1.2.6): "That is the first-class type of religious principle by which one can develop his dormant love of God." That's all. If you are not developing your love of Godhead, simply following the rituals, the Bhāgavata says, śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). Simply laboring, simply wasting your valuable time. That's all. Don't waste your time. You have got very precious life in this human form of existence. Don't waste your time. Just try to increase your love of Godhead. That is the perfection of your life.

Thank you very much. (devotees offer obeisances)

Any question? Yes?

Guest: Could you explain further, purification of the senses? You said that you had to purify your senses before you can see God.

Devotee (1): Purification of the senses.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like in a diseased condition of your eyes, you cannot see. In diseased condition of your hand, you cannot touch. In diseased condition of your leg, you cannot walk. All your senses, in diseased condition, cannot work. Similarly, in material diseased condition you cannot understand what is God. You have to cure yourself from this diseased condition. Then you will see, you will touch, you will perceive, you will know, you will feel—everything.

Those who are unable to cure the disease, they want to kill. Just like a patient is suffering in very bad type of disease. The physician cannot kill, then . . . cannot cure him, then he thinks, "Let me die. Let me commit suicide." So this voidism or impersonalism is a symptom of frustration, not being able to cure the disease. But actually, the living entity is eternal. Just like a rascal or foolish man thinks that, "I am suffering so much. Let me commit suicide, and it will be a great relief." It is foolishness. He will be put into further torture after this life. He will become a ghost.

So because they do not know that living creature is eternal, therefore they want to make the ultimate solution as void, zero. But it cannot be zero. It is not possible, because you are eternal. Therefore you have to cure. And that curing process is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

(aside) Ṛṣi Kumar? Why you are there? Come here.

Ṛṣi Kumar: . . . (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: (chuckles) All right. Any other question? Yes, try to understand nicely. Yes.

Devotee (2): Swāmījī, does sundara, like "Gaurasundara," that sundara means beautiful?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Sundara means, the Sanskrit word sundara, means very beautiful. Śyāmasundara, Gaurasundara. Sundara means beautiful. Yes.

Yes?

Devotee (3): Kṛṣṇa is black? Sometimes He's depicted as blue.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Kṛṣṇa is bluish. Kṛṣṇa's color is the sky. When you see the clear sky, bluish sky, are you not very happy? "Oh, today is very nice day, blue sky," especially in this country, when the sky is always overcast with cloud. So why you appreciate the color of the sky so much? That is Kṛṣṇa's color. Kṛṣṇa's . . . Kṛṣṇa's body, there is a rays, brahma-jyotir. That brahma-jyotir is reflected in the sky. That brahma-jyotir is outside this material sky, but that is being reflected. Therefore the sky's color is appear bluish.

Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudādhi vibhūti-bhinnam (Bs. 5.40). It is stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā, "On account of distribution of the rays of His body, the brahma-jyotir, there are generation of innumerable universes." So all these universes—this is one of the universes—they are in that brahma-jyotir, and that brahma-jyotir is being reflected in the sky, and sky is so beautiful. So how much beautiful is Kṛṣṇa, just we can imagine.

Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is the rays of the sun planet, and in the sun planet there is sun-god. So if sunshine is so pleasing, just imagine how the sun-god is pleasing. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa's jyoti, brahma-jyotir, is so important. Then just imagine how Kṛṣṇa's beauty is appreciated in transcendental world. Yaṁ śyāma-sundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ. Barhāvataṁsam asitāmbudha-sundarāṅgam. Barhāvatāmsam asitā ambudha (Bs. 5.30). His color is compared with the blackish cloud, asitāmbudha; sundarāṅgam, but very, very beautiful.

So we can chant again. (fade) (end)