720601 - Lecture SB 02.03.15 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720601SB-LOS ANGELES - June 01, 1972 - 46:09 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (prema-dhvani) Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (devotees offer obeisances)

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Page 145. (leads chanting of verse) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

sa vai bhāgavato rājā

pāṇḍaveyo mahā-rathaḥ

bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan

kṛṣṇa-krīḍāṁ ya ādade

(SB 2.3.15)

Prabhupāda: (devotees chant, with Prabhupāda correcting pronunciation) Anyone? That's all right. Word meaning?

Pradyumna: saḥ—he; vai—certainly; bhāgavataḥ—great devotee of the Lord; rājā—Mahārāja Parīkṣit; pāṇḍaveyaḥ—grandson of the Pāṇḍavas; mahā-rathaḥ—a great fighter; bāla—while a child; krīḍanakaiḥ—with play dolls; krīḍan—playing; kṛṣṇa—Lord Kṛṣṇa; krīḍām—activities; yaḥ—who; ādade—accepted.

Translation: "Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the grandson of the Pāṇḍavas, was from his very childhood a great devotee of the Lord. Even while playing with dolls, he used to worship Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating the worship of the family Deity."

Prabhupāda: Hm. Kṛṣṇa-krīḍām. Bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan kṛṣṇa-krīḍāṁ ya ādade. This is the facility of taking birth in a Vaiṣṇava family. Children, simply by playing with Kṛṣṇa, they become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Some way or other, if somebody comes in contact with Kṛṣṇa, then his life becomes successful.

So this kṛṣṇa-yoga, bhakti-yoga, can be practiced even by a child without interfering with his natural propensities. A child naturally wants to play, so he can play with Kṛṣṇa Deity. We had the opportunity of doing that. My father was worshiping Kṛṣṇa Deity. So I wanted to imitate him, and he gave me small Deity. That still, that Deity is still worshiped. My sister and myself, whatever we were eating, we were offering exactly the same arća. And father used to encourage. This Ratha-yātrā and Rādhā-Go . . . Kṛṣṇa temple which we are propagating, it was, from the very beginning of our life, was initiated by our parents. So anyone can initiate his child to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness understanding from the very beginning, without any education, without any knowledge.

There is no need of high-grade knowledge or education to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is already there in everyone's heart. As it is stated in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha. Nitya-siddha. It is eternally a fact. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha. Nitya means eternally, and siddha . . . it is not to be realized; it is already there. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya (CC Madhya 22.107). It is not that one has to learn it artificially, by some gymnastic. No. Natural. Just like the children here, they are also dancing with their parents. They are offering flower, trying to imitate how to chant. Naturally. And they are very much pleased. So similarly, in our Dallas school, if these things are introduced, kṛṣṇa-krīya . . . I have already suggested how they can be engaged in kṛṣṇa-krīya. So some way or other, they should be engaged in kṛṣṇa-krīya.

It doesn't matter whether one understands it or not understands it. It is just like touchstone or infection. You know or do not know, it will act. Because kṛṣṇa-bhakti, love for Kṛṣṇa, is there in everyone's heart. If it is not so, how you all young boys and girls are taking very seriously? It is a question of two, three years, or less than that, our students are joining, but they are becoming first-class kṛṣṇa-bhakta, devotees. Even in India, they also are surprised that how these Europeans and Americans are coming to such nice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Not only Europeans, Americans, but Africans also.

This is the proof that love for Kṛṣṇa is there in everyone's heart. That is stated by Caitanya-caritāmṛta kaṛ, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha. Eternally it is a fact. Simply it has to be awakened. Just like attraction for the opposite sex, a girl or a boy. That is natural. It is not unnatural. It has . . . nobody goes to school and colleges how to learn how to be attracted by young man, young . . . no. It doesn't require any education. The natural instinct is already there. When the boy and the girl are grown up, naturally the attraction is there, spontaneous. Similarly, he has to be . . . they have to be brought up in the proper situation.

In India, therefore, early marriage is recommended, according to śāstra. According to Vedic civilization, a girl, before attaining puberty, must be married. There are so many injunction about that. And the responsibility is of the father or, in the absence of father, the elderly members or brother. It is called kanyā-dāya. Kanyā-dāya means it is the obligation. You cannot avoid it. You can avoid the marriage of your son, but you cannot avoid the marriage of your daughter. That is Vedic injunction. Of course, when the marriage of daughter is there, there must be one boy. That is understood. But special care is taken for daughter's marriage, some way or other. If he has no money, he begs from friends and gets his daughter married. This is system. Because there is time it will be hankering. There will be hankering for sex. So if there is ready husband, then the girl is sent. That is the psychology.

So our point is that as this hankering after sex, or the opposite sex, is natural—it doesn't require to be educated—similarly, kṛṣṇa-bhakti is also natural. It is not that because we have established this temple and people are here . . . of course, there is practice, but that practice is also very simple. Simply you have to hear. That's all. It doesn't require any gymnastic. Just like in other yogic process, haṭha-yoga, you have to learn so many things: yama, niyama, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, āsana, prāṇāyāma, so many things. But here there is no need. Simply sit down and hear about Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

But that hearing must be from a person who is realized. Then it will act. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti nitya-siddha sādhya kabhu naya, śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa). By hearing, the more your heart will be cleansed of all material infection you will understand what is Kṛṣṇa. In dirty heart, you cannot. Therefore to cleanse the heart it is required that you regularly hear. Therefore we are holding this class, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or about Kṛṣṇa. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that we must hear about Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. Not that a particular time I hear and then stop. Don't stop. Mold your life in such a way that you . . . just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja from the very beginning of life taught kṛṣṇa-krīya.

Read it, purport.

Pradyumna: "In the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 6.41) it is stated that even a person who has failed in the proper discharge of the yoga practice is given a chance to take birth in the house of devout brāhmins or in the houses of rich men like the kṣatriya kings or rich merchants. But Mahārāja Parīkṣit was more than that, because he was a great devotee of the Lord since his previous birth, and as such he took his birth in an imperial family of the Kurus, and especially that of the Pāṇḍavas. So from the very beginning of his childhood he had the chance of knowing intimately the devotional service of Lord Kṛṣṇa in his own family. The Pāṇḍavas, all being devotees of the Lord, certainly venerated family Deities in the royal palace for worship. Children who appear in such families fortunately . . ."

Prabhupāda: People still, in India, those who are rich men, they have got their family temple Deities. One temple is there in Kanpur. The family members, they are very rich. The rule is that if the family members do not come in the temple to offer obeisances to the Deity, they'll be fined. The mother, the head of the family . . . mother is still living. She has imposed this law that, "Any of my children or grandchildren, if he or she does not visit the temple, then according to this rule, this fine should be realized from them." So if somebody misses to go in the temple one day, the priest presents the bill: "Sir, you have been fined five rupees." (laughter) So they pay. Yes. So we should also enforce that rule. Anyone who is not attending maṅgala-ārati should be fined. (laughter) And the fine should be that he must sell one Kṛṣṇa Book. (laughter) Is that all right?

Devotees: Jaya!

Prabhupāda: Yes. Go on.

Pradyumna: "Children who appear in such families fortunately generally imitate such worship of the Deities, even in the way . . ."

Prabhupāda: Children's nature is to imitate, because they have to learn. So nature has given them the propensity to imitate. So the first imitation begins from the parents. If the parent is nice Kṛṣṇa devotee, naturally the children become devotee. That is the opportunity of taking birth in a Vaiṣṇava family. So you are all Vaiṣṇavas. If your children do not become Vaiṣṇava in the future, then it is a great, I meant to say, fault on your part. So you should be very cautious, careful, that children are not going astray, they are becoming actually Kṛṣṇa conscious. That means you have to imitate, er, you have to be devotee, and they will imitate. By imitation, imitation, imitation, they will come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then they will never give it up.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "By the grace of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, we had the chance of being born in a Vaiṣṇava family, and in our childhood we imitated the worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa by imitating our father, and our father encouraged us in all respects to observe all functions such as Ratha-yātrā and Dola-yātrā ceremonies, and he used to spend money liberally for distributing prasādam to us children and our friends. Our spiritual master, who also took his birth in a Vaiṣṇava family, got all inspirations from his great Vaiṣṇava father Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda. That is the way of all lucky Vaiṣṇava families. The celebrated Mirabhai was a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa as the great lifter of Govardhana Hill."

"The life history of many such devotees is almost the same, because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord. According to Jīva Gosvāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit must have heard about the childhood pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana, for he used to imitate the pastimes with his young playmates."

"According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, Mahārāja Parīkṣit used to imitate the worship of the family Deity by elderly members. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī also confirms the viewpoint of Jīva Gosvāmī. So accepting either of them, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was naturally inclined to Lord Kṛṣṇa from his very childhood, and he might have imitated either of the above-mentioned procedures, and all of them established his great devotion from his very childhood, a symptom of a mahā-bhāgavata."

"Such mahā-bhāgavatas are called nitya-siddhas, or souls liberated from birth. But there are also others, who may not be liberated from birth but who develop a tendency for devotional service by association, and they are called sādhana-siddhas. There is no difference between the two in the ultimate issue, and so the conclusion is that everyone can become a sādhana-siddha, a devotee of the Lord, simply by association with the pure devotees."

"The concrete example is our great spiritual master Śrī Nārada Muni. In his previous life he was simply a boy of a maidservant, but through association with great devotees he became a devotee of the Lord in his own standard, unique in the history of devotional service."

Prabhupāda: So this is the difference between sādhana-siddha and nitya-siddha.

gaurāṅgera saṅgi-gaṇe, nitya-siddha boli māne

se yāya vrajendranandana-pāśa

gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṇi

tāra haya vrajabhūme vāsa

(from Prārthanā)

So nitya-siddha means he has no chance to forget Kṛṣṇa. That is called nitya-siddha. And sādhana-siddha means by following the regulative principles, the rules and regulations, one revives his Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Both things are siddha, because you cannot revive Kṛṣṇa consciousness without being Kṛṣṇa conscious. It may be covered. So nitya-siddha means he does not get covered by the influence of material nature about his natural devotion tendency to serve Kṛṣṇa. He never becomes covered. This is the difference. Kṛṣṇa gives him chance to get birth in such a family, just like Parīkṣit Mahārāja, that he never gets the chance of forgetting Kṛṣṇa. So one who does not get the chance of forgetting Kṛṣṇa is called nitya-siddha. This is the difference.

And sādhana-siddha means one has forgotten Kṛṣṇa. That is the position of all materialistic men. Every one of us, forgotten. But even though forgotten, the thing is there. It has to be awakened only. And the awakening process is hearing. Just like you are out of your family touch for many years. Practically you have forgotten. Now, if somebody comes to you, some friend, "Do you remember your child, when he came out, he was such little, and now he is grown-up? Now he's this, that, so on," if for some days this topics of the family is . . . then again he becomes attracted: "Let me go and see." It is natural.

Similarly, anyone who has forgotten Kṛṣṇa somehow or other—the cause may be so many—but if he is given chance to hear about Kṛṣṇa . . . śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

(SB 1.2.17)

As soon as somehow or other one begins to hear about Kṛṣṇa . . . either by his natural inclination or by chance or any way, he comes to hear about Kṛṣṇa, attempts hearing about Kṛṣṇa, then, Kṛṣṇa is within everyone's heart, Paramātmā, so Kṛṣṇa helps him immediately. Kṛṣṇa helps both ways. If you want to forget Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will help you in that way, so that you will be able to forget Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, if you want to revive your lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa again, Kṛṣṇa will help you.

These things are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānām. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam (BG 10.10). One who is engaged twenty-four hours in rendering service to the Lord with faith and devotion, bhajatām . . . bhajatām, this word is used. Bhaja, sevā, service. Bhaja sevayā. Every verbal root has got particular meaning. When this bhajatām, bhajana . . . just we call bhajana. Bhajana means serving the Lord. So bhajatām, one who is engaged always, teṣāṁ nitya, satata-yuktānām, twenty-four hours he's engaged, in that stage, Kṛṣṇa is become . . . Kṛṣṇa is very pleased upon you: "No, now he has taken to My service. He's engaged twenty-four hours. All right, let him give some instruction."

So Kṛṣṇa is within you. So śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). One profit is, by hearing about Kṛṣṇa, he becomes gradually sinless, simply by hearing. Unless we are sinful, we don't come into the material world. So we have to become sinless before going back to home, back to Godhead. Because kingdom of God . . . God is pure, the kingdom is pure. No impure living entity can enter there. So one has to become pure. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam (BG 7.28). "One who has completely been freed from all sinful reaction of his life," yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām (BG 7.28), "and always engaged in pious activities, no more sinful activities."

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is that once he's given chance to erase all the sinful activities and keeping himself intact—no illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating, no gambling—if we follow this regulation, then after initiation all my sins are washed off. And if I keep myself in that washed-off position, then where is the question of becoming sinful again? But once washed-off . . . you take your bath and again take the dust and throw on your body—that process will not help. If you say: "I'll take again wash and again throw," then what is the use of washing? Wash off. Once washed off, now keep yourself in that washed-off condition. That is required.

So that will be possible if you keep yourself constantly in touch with Kṛṣṇa by hearing about Him. That's all. You have to remain uncontaminated. And that is puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. If you hear about Kṛṣṇa, then puṇya, you will be always in pious position. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Either you chant or . . . therefore our recommendation is always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So we should be careful about our slipping down again into the sinful activities, and everyone should be careful and keep oneself in the chanting process. Then he's all right.

So śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). And gradually, as you go on hearing about Kṛṣṇa, the all the dirty things within the heart will be cleansed. The dirty things are that, "I am a material body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that." These are all different types of covering of the soul. The uncovered soul is fully conscious that, "I am eternal servant of God." That's all. One has no other identification. That is called mukti. When one comes to the understanding that, "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, God, and my only business is to serve Him," that is called mukti.

Mukti does not mean that you will have another two hands, another two legs. No. The same thing, simply it is cleansed. Just like a man is suffering from fever. The symptoms are so many, but as soon as the fever is not there, then all the symptoms gone. So our this fever in this material world is sense gratification. Sense gratification. This is the fever. So when we become engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, this sense gratification business ceases. That is the difference. That is the test how you are becoming advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt (SB 11.2.42). That is the test.

So . . . because this disease is called bhava-roga . . . bhava-roga means again and again taking birth. Bhava-roga. But if we take the medicine, bhavauṣadhi . . . everything is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhava-roga, the disease of repeated birth and death in the material world, and the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is bhavauṣadhi, the medicine to cure this bhava-roga. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt, ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt virajyeta pumān vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4). Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt. There are very nice verses in Bhāgavatam. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt. This chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, or God, is possible by a person who is disgusted with all these material activities. They can actually chant. That means mukta-puruṣa, liberated soul. It is . . . the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the business of liberated soul, not for the conditioned soul. But even in our conditioned life we chant, we become gradually purified.

Therefore it is recommended that everyone should chant. Never mind, nama oṁ apavitraḥ pavitro vā yaḥ smaret puṇḍarīkākṣam. Anyone who remembers the Puṇḍarīkākṣa . . . by chanting, you'll remember. So nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhi. It is the medicine for our this bhava-roga, repeated birth and death. Such a nice thing. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhi chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt. Not only it is medicine . . . medicine is always bitter. But it is not bitter. Mano 'bhirāmāt: it is very pleasing to the mind, to the senses. Otherwise, how we become ecstatic in chanting unless it is pleasing? It is medicine, but pleasing medicine. Other medicines, they are very bitter. If you practice yoga, oh, you have to take so much labor. And that, you do not know whether you'll be successful or not, haṭha-yoga. And if you take to jñāna, that also requires much education, much understanding of philosophy.

So they actually, although they are medicine, but they are bitter medicine. Not very palatable. Neither everyone can take it. A child cannot become a jñānī. A child cannot become a yogī. But a child can become a bhakta. Therefore this is the easiest process. Pleasing. Everyone is pleased to execute this process. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhi chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt (SB 10.1.4). Mano-'bhirāmāt. Even for ordinary men who wants to hear about conjugal love . . . they read therefore so many novel, fiction, dramas. What is that? The love affairs between one young man, one young girl. But that is also there, Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In that sense also, it is pleasing, even to the ordinary man.

So, mano 'bhirāmāt, it is very pleasing. Nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ . . . for philosophers it is also pleasing. We are talking all of philosophy in Bhāgavata. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād bhavauṣadhi chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt. Ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt. Uttamaśloka is Kṛṣṇa, who is worshiped by offering nice, selected ślokas, authorized. Just like we offer prayer, cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa . . . (Bs. 5.29). Each line is full of poetry, poetic and literary character, grammar. Anything you take, they're all full. All Bhāgavata, all Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. You cannot produce such literature in this days, such meaningful. Because Vyāsadeva was incarnation, he could produce. Therefore it is uttamaśloka: by the best selected verses, Kṛṣṇa is described.

So who can be away from such activities, to hear about Uttamaśloka through nice verses, philosophy? Who can be bereft? Vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4): only the animal-hunter or the animal-killer. The animal-killer cannot understand. Therefore it is prohibited: no meat-eating, no flesh-eating. This is the greatest disqualification for understanding. One cannot understand. The animal-killer cannot understand. Therefore it has to be stopped. Vinā paśughnāt. Paśughnāt means . . . ghna means killer, and paśu means animal. And another meaning is, paśu means oneself, living entity—ghna. So either one is killing himself or killing animals, such person cannot understand about the glories of the Lord. It is not possible. Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that, ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt virajyeta vinā paśughnāt. Only the animal-killer.

So, have kīrtana.

Devotees: Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (devotees offer obeisances) (break)

(kīrtana) (end)