710507 - Lecture Town Hall - Kuala Lumpur

Lectures by Date, 1971

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

710507LE-KUALA LUMPUR - May 07, 1971 - 30:47 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (break) Minister Tun, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to thank you very much for your taking part in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which is going on progressively all over the world. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement was practically started millions of years ago, and Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā:

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ

proktavān aham avyayam

(BG 4.1)

So this bhakti-yoga system as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā it was spoken first to the sun god millions of years ago.

vivasvān manave prāha

manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt

(BG 4.1)

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam

imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ

(BG 4.2)

So it is coming down from sun god to his son Manu, then Manu to Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, the first king in the dynasty wherein Lord Rāmacandra appeared. It is very old movement but the paramparā system, disciplic succession, was broken. That is stated by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself.

sa kāleneha (mahatā)

yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa

(BG 4.2)

Therefore the Bhagavad-gītā yoga or bhakti-yoga was originally spoken to Arjuna. So at least from the historical point of view this movement is not less than five thousand years old. So not that we have concocted a religious process and distributing it. No. We cannot manufacture religion. That is not possible, because dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19).

Dharma means the codes given by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just like law means the codes given by the government. You cannot manufacture laws in your home. That is not acceptable. Similarly this dharma, or bhāgavata-dharma . . . dharma means bhāgavata-dharma, because the rules and regulations given by Lord Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that is dharma.

It is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). First of all Kṛṣṇa said:

dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya

sambhavāmi yuge yuge

(BG 4.8)

He came to re-establish the principles of religion. Then at the last moment He said:

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja

(BG 18.66)

This means the concocted religion made by man, man-made religion, is not religion. Kṛṣṇa has distinctly forbidden: don't accept such religion, sarva-dharmān parityajya, because they are all concocted. Real religion is mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja. This is real religion.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also this statement of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa is confirmed: dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra (SB 1.1.2). In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kaitavaḥ means cheating. Religious principles which are cheating public, that is completely eradicated. Dharmaḥ projjhita. Paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ vāstavam vedyaṁ atra (SB 1.1.2): it is to be understood by the paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ. Nirmatsarāṇāṁ parotkarṣāsahanaṁ matsaraḥ. This is the comment by Śrīdhara Svāmī.

Śrīdhara Svāmī comments on this point that mokṣābhisandhir api nirastaḥ. People are after religion—dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa. Generally people go to the churches, to the temple, for religious principles, but actually it is meant for solving economic problems. Just like the Christians, they pray, "O God, give us our daily bread." Similarly, you also go to the temple, you also worship many, many demigods also, go to the temple of Goddess Kālī or Durgā or Lord Śiva: dhanaṁ dehi rūpaṁ dehi rūpavatī-bhāryāṁ dehi, dehi dehi, to ask from them.

Therefore the modern politicians, they have become very much disgusted with this kind of dharma. They say that if you want dhanam, dhanam dehi, that's all right. Why don't you produce dhanam as others are producing it, by economic development? Why waste your time at the temple? Of course, those who go to temple, they are recognized, even if they are asking something, because they have approached God.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janaḥ sukṛtino (BG 7.16). They are su-kṛtinaḥ. Anyone who goes to the temple or church for asking God for economic solution, bread, bread solution, they are better than the atheist class, because they are at least going to God.

The atheist class of men, they are described in the Bhagavad-gītā, duṣkṛtinaḥ. Duṣkṛtinaḥ means miscreants, sinful. Kṛti means meritorious, but their merit is being misused in wasting time of the very valuable human life.

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

(BG 7.15)

And they have been described as mūḍha. Mūḍha means the ass. The ass works very hard day and night, but it has no means for . . . (indistinct)

So this human life is meant for getting release from the cycle of birth and death and enquiring about Brahman. That is the instruction we get from Vedānta philosophy: athāto brahma-jijñāsā. This is the actual inclination of human life. Atha, now you have come through evolutionary process, through various types of species of life. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṇi sthavarā lakṣa-viṁśati (Padma Purāṇa), like that. Now this is the point, human form of life—when we can completely get release from the repetition of birth and death. That is real problem. Not that economic problem. Economic problem is already settled up. Prahlāda Mahārāja said:

sukham aindriyakaṁ daityā

deha-yogena dehinām

(SB 7.6.3)

He addressed his demonic friends that, "My dear friends, this sense gratification program is already settled up by the type of body you have got." Deha-yogena dehinām. Everyone is getting a certain type of body according to his karma. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā that you carry a certain type of body with you at the time of your death. If you . . . just like this air carries the flavor of rose flower or a filthy place, similarly, in our present life if we make our life like a rose flower, then I carry the flavor of the rose by my subtle body—mind, intelligence and ego—to form another body. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deho (SB 3.31.1).

So that facility is given to us by the Supreme, daiva-netreṇa, by the superior manager. Just like a clerk working in a office, there is a record, service record, and according to the service record he is given promotion or degradation as the authorities like. Similarly, there is a big service record in the superior hand, or in the superior government, and that is counted, and according to our karma we get a type of body next life. This is going on. This is a fact.

So this life, this human form of life, is to get out of this karma-bandhanaḥ. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra, karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). Yajña means Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, or Supreme Personality of Godhead. We have to work only for satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is stated in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, that varṇāśramācāravatā puruṣeṇa paraḥ pumān, ārādhyate viṣṇuḥ, nānyat tat-toṣa-kāraṇam (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 3.8.9, quoted CC Madhya 8.58). By acting according to the varṇāśrama system, Vedic system . . . that system is made by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Kṛṣṇa says:

cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ

guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ

(BG 4.13)

So according to varṇāśrama-dharma everyone has got a particular type of duty. But that duty is made in order to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not to satisfy your senses. The Bhāgavata also confirms the same way:

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā

varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ

svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya

saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam

(SB 1.2.13)

You can act according to your position. It doesn't matter, either you are a brāhmiṇ or a kṣatriya, a vaiśya, śūdra, a sannyāsī, a brahmacarya, vānaprastha or gṛhastha. These are eight different orders of social system according to daivika. So everyone has got a particular type of duty. Now by discharging that duty we have to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just like in a factory there are many departmental work, and everyone is working, but the real purpose is to satisfy the proprietor of the factory, because the supreme enjoyer, or beneficiary, is the proprietor. Similarly, whatever we do, it is meant for satisfying the supreme proprietor. And who is the supreme proprietor? Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā:

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ

sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

(BG 5.29)

If anyone wants peace and prosperity, then he should know these three things: that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme enjoyer, beneficiary, of everything. Yajña-tapasā. Whatever yajña or tapasya you are discharging, the result should go for enjoyment of Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka. And He is the proprietor, sarva-loka. Not only on this loka, this planet, but there are innumerable planets all over the universe, and there are innumerable universes also. The supreme proprietor is Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-loka-maheśvaram.

And suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām: and He is actually the well-thinking friend of everyone. Kṛṣṇa is so nice friend that, as it is stated in the Upaniṣad, that He is sitting with the jivātmā as a friend. Two birds are sitting as friends in one tree. One is jivātmā, who is enjoying the fruit of the tree, and the other is simply watching, witness, anumantā upadraṣṭā. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. So Kṛṣṇa is always trying to give you good advice, suhṛt, so that you may come again back to home, back to Godhead. That is Kṛṣṇa's wish.

So Kṛṣṇa came, dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya, as you all know. But what is that dharma? That dharma is surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-dharmān parityajya. Clearly you haven't got to discharge any other kind of dharma. If you are actually interested in becoming dharmic, then this is the process: surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. "My Lord Kṛṣṇa, I forgot You for so many millions of years, and I was wandering in different species of life. Now I've come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, I'm just surrendering unto You." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We are teaching this simple truth. There is no complication.

But this surrendering method is very difficult also. Difficult for whom? Those who are against Kṛṣṇa. For them, it is very difficult.

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ

prapadyante narādhamāḥ

(BG 7.15)

That is also stated. Na māṁ prapadyante. Those who are miscreants, those who are sinful, those who are rascals . . . these language are used by Kṛṣṇa; not that I am interpreting. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ. Mūḍhāḥ means rascal, and duṣkṛtinaḥ means always sinful. Na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ. Narādhamāḥ. Narādhamāḥ means lowest of the mankind. Because this life is meant for sacrificing to Kṛṣṇa, or God, and we are misusing.

Therefore narādhamāḥ. Adhamāḥ means lowest. "Oh, but there are many educated persons in that group who are not surrendering unto Kṛṣṇa." Māyayāpahṛta jñānā: their intelligence has no value. No value. The essence of knowledge has been taken away by the illusory energy of God. Because the real essence of knowledge is to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. That is stated also by Kṛṣṇa, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

(BG 7.19)

Actually those who are searching after the Absolute Truth, athāto brahma-jijñāsā, by such speculative process, after many, many, births they have to come to this point of surrender unto Kṛṣṇa. Because that is the ultimate goal. So those who are taking to the process other than which is recommended by Kṛṣṇa, they will have to undergo many, many births to come to this conclusion:

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti

sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

(BG 7.19)

He has to come to this conclusion. But such kind of mahātmā, great soul, is very rare. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very difficult also. But it is easy also. The most sublime and very easy. Simultaneous. Most sublime because many, many philosophers, theologists, they come to the conclusion of surrendering to Kṛṣṇa for many, many births. Therefore it is very sublime.

But at the same time, because it is natural . . . Kṛṣṇa and we are related very intimately as part and parcel. Just like my finger is a part and parcel of my body, so there cannot be any separation. If I have got this body, then I have got this finger, I have got this nail, I have got this hair. They are all my part and parcel of the body. Similarly, either the demigods or the great sages or the greatest in the human society, anyone, they are all parts and parcels of Kṛṣṇa. But how it is separated? It is separated when we, part and parcel, does not give service to Kṛṣṇa.

Just like this finger is meant for giving service. I want finger to stand like this, immediately it stands. But when it cannot, it means it is in diseased condition. This finger, if just on my command cannot stand up, that means there is some pain and there is some disease. So because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, any one of us who is not giving service to Kṛṣṇa, he is in diseased condition. That is called illusion, māyā.

So the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for giving relief to the diseased condition living entity, those who have forgotten Kṛṣṇa. Diseased condition means one who has suffering from many, many years in diseased condition, one forgets what is the healthy condition. But we should know this is the criterion to understand whether I am mukta or baddha, whether I am liberated or conditioned. Liberated means to be engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, and conditioned means otherwise. That is also confirmed in the Srīmad-Bhāgavatam:

mukti hitvā anyathā-rūpaṁ

svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ

(SB 2.10.6)

Mukti means when one gives up his situation otherwise, and becomes situated in his own position, constitutional position. That is mukti. Mukti does not mean something very wonderful. Simply this position, as Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁśaraṇaṁ vraja, if you do it immediately. You can get yourself free within a second, provided you agree. But the difficulty is you do not agree. That is the disease; that is māyā. But if we agree, immediately liberation, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ.

Svarūpa, my svarūpa, my real constitutional position, is to surrender unto Kṛṣṇa and abide by His order. That is my position. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was thinking independently. When he was talking with Kṛṣṇa as friend, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, there is no necessity of my fighting, because I have to kill my brother, my grandfather and so on, so on. It is better not to fight," so he was thinking in his own way.

That is the disease. And therefore Kṛṣṇa taught him the Bhagavad-gītā, the science of bhakti-yoga, and he enquired from Arjuna, "Now what you have decided? Are you going to fight or not to fight?" He said, kariṣye vacanaṁ tava, "Yes." Naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā (BG 18.73): "Now I am in my real position. I have got my memory back, and I shall act according to You." And he fought.

So this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that we have to give up our own concocted ways of salvation or mukti or so many things, or becoming prosperous, happy. At least we have to simply abide by the order of Kṛṣṇa as a human being, then that is right, because that is my constitutional position. So this position is attained after many, many births, who are actually wise.

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante

jñānavān māṁ prapadyate

vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti

(BG 7.19)

How one surrenders? Because he understands by scrutinizingly studying all the Vedas that Kṛṣṇa . . . Vedas means . . . knowledge means . . . (break) (end)