720617 - Lecture SB 02.03.20-21 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720617SB-LOS ANGELES - June 17, 1972 - 44:04 Minutes

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

Just do over that . . . on page 155, text 20, read over the verse and then read the purport.

Prabhupāda: No, one more . . . chant the verse.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse)

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye

na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya

jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta

na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

(SB 2.3.20)

(break) (Līlāvatī chants)

Prabhupāda: That's all. You have . . . word meanings are recited?

Pradyumna: Yes, we just didn't do the purport.

Prabhupāda: So, bile batorukrama-vikramān ye. Urukrama. Urukrama means Kṛṣṇa. Krama means activities; uru means great. So urukrama-vikramān. Vikramān means chivalrous activities, very brave activities. So one who does not hear about the brave activities of Kṛṣṇa, they are satisfied with teeny activities of this material world . . . we give credit to an ordinary man to become a God. How? Now, meditation. Now, what are his wonderful activities? Simply by meditation he becomes God? This is the foolishness. God must be acting very wonderfully; otherwise, how He's God. If he is just like ordinary man, and because he has got a big beard, he becomes God? How foolishness it is.

They do not know what is God, because they have not heard about God, how powerful He is, how brave activities He does. Just like Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, when He was seven years old, He lifted a great hill, Govardhana Hill. Giridhārī. And He kept it on His finger for seven days. That is God. Kṛṣṇa, when He was householder, He married sixteen thousand wives. And who can maintain sixteen thousand wives? One cannot maintain even one wife. This is called urukrama. Great activities. Not that Kṛṣṇa remained one, and He had sixteen thousand wives. No. He also expanded Himself into sixteen thousand forms so that no wife may be displeased. His wife . . . if I am one, and if I have got many wives, so everyone will be displeased. He provided sixteen thousand palaces, and in each palace, there were many thousands of servants and maidservant, and each wife was blessed with ten sons. This is called urukrama, great activities.

Lord Rāmacandra, He killed Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was so powerful that all the demigods in higher planetary system, they were all afraid of, he became so powerful. And Rāvaṇa's brother, he reigned in Mexico . . . Brazil. Brazil. And there was subway from Ceylon to Brazil. We get information from Rāmāyaṇa. Such powerful demons. Who can make now subway from one country into another country? They can make subway from one city to another, utmost. But at that time, Rāvaṇa was able to make a subway from one continent to another, from Asia to Africa. And Brazil, they say, still there are big stock of gold.

So Rāvaṇa utilized these gold mines for constructing his city, Svarṇa-laṅkā, "Golden Ceylon," it was known at that time. He was so advanced even in material science, and he was also a good scholar in Vedic literature. He was a great devotee of Lord Śiva, and by the blessings of Lord Śiva, he got so much opulences. And he became so powerful that he dared to kidnap the wife of Rāmacandra. So such a powerful demon was killed by Rāmacandra. And He approached his kingdom on a stone bridge. And the stones were floating on the water. Where is the law of gravitation? The law of gravitation, the so-called scientists' imagination, does not act when Urukrama, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, acts. He wanted, "There should be no law of gravitation. Let the stones float on the water." This is called urukrama.

So we accept Lord Rāmacandra as God, Lord Kṛṣṇa as God, not these petty dogs and cats. We have no business with these petty dogs and cats. All rascals, they are declaring, "I am God." No. Therefore these rascals, who do not know what is God, you have to inject within their earholes the message of God. That is your business. Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means . . . these rascals, dogs, hogs, camels and asses, who have no information of God, and therefore their earholes are compared like the snake holes, bile . . . so you have got very responsible task to inject within their ear the chivalrous activities of God. Otherwise, their earholes remain as snake holes. As I explained yesterday, in the snake holes, nobody goes there. Nobody puts their hands or legs. Similarly, if these earholes remains empty, without aural reception of the great activities of the Lord, it is as good as the snake holes. Bile batorukrama-vikramān ye.

Na śṛṇvataḥ: They have decided, "There is no God. God is dead. God has no personality. He's zero," therefore they have no opportunity to hear about God. Na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya. This human form of body . . . these earholes are meant for giving aural reception to the message of God. But they'll not do that. Therefore your mission is to go home to home, village to village, town to town, and give them injection, "Hear." Make such arrangement, nice dancing, nice chanting, prasāda distribution.

Why? Just to inject in their snake holes the words of Kṛṣṇa. This is your mission. Those who are taken sannyāsa, especially, it is their duty. Sat-nyāsa, to sacrifice everything . . . sacrifice means nothing to be sacrificed, but sacrifice the sense of, "I am the Lord." That's all. What you have got you can sacrifice? This is simply a bluff, sacrifice. We cannot sacrifice. What we have got we can sacrifice? There is no question of sacrifice, but sacrifice means this doggish mentality that, "I am Lord. I am God. I am enjoyer." This doggish mentality has to be sacrificed. Otherwise, what you can sacrifice? What you have got?

Renouncement: there is no question of renouncement. You haven't got anything what to renounce, when you come naked, and you go naked. Simply by false, illusory conception, you think, "This is mine, this is mine, this is mine." Actually, when you take your birth, you do not bring anything with you. And when you go away, you do not take away anything. The things were there, and things will be there. You come and go. But then where is the question of sacrifice? Where is the question of renouncement? This is illusion. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything belongs to God; nothing belongs to you. So what is the meaning of renouncement?

And what is the meaning of enjoyment? You cannot enjoy others' property, neither it is very nice thing if you say: "I renounce it." Suppose you are passing through Bank of America, if you say: "I renounce this." Where, where . . . what is the renouncement? Bank of America belongs to you? This is craziness. You cannot enjoy the Bank of America. If you go and try to enjoy, then you'll be criminal. And if you say: "I renounce it," then you are a madman. This is your position.

But people are going on under two impressions. Somebody, the karmīs, they are thinking, "I am enjoyer. I am the lord of all I survey. This America is mine. You cannot enter." So this is the karmīs' position. Falsely they are claiming proprietorship, which does not belong to them. Thieves, rather; they are thieves, rogues. There is a story that a, a group of thieves, they plundered some booty, some property, somewhere, and then, out of the town, they were dividing. So one of the thieves was speaking, "Please divide the property morally." Now, the property's stolen property, and they are speaking of "morally." Devil cites scripture. Similarly, you Americans, you have come from Europe, you have stolen this property. Now you are speaking of morality.

So not you; everyone. Nothing belongs to us. There is no question of morality unless one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. Everything immoral for a person who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious. Everything immoral. Therefore Caitanya-caritāmṛta says:

'dvaite' bhadrābhadra-sakale samana

'ei bhāla, ei manda' saba mana dharma

(CC Antya 4.176)

In this material world, which is called duality, these, our listing, "These things are good. These things are bad," bhadra abhadra—bhadra means good; abhadra means bad—these are all the same. It is simply mental concoction. Here, the so-called morality, ethics—all nonsense. Because you, you are trying to lord it over on the property of somebody else. So where is your morality? So these sentiments—morality, immorality, good, bad—they are simply manufactured. Actually, unless one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, there is no question of this ethics and morality. We are now discussing in our philosophical class Huxley's morality. These are all crazy man's proposals. Actually, there is no morality.

So that we can understand things as they are if we receive the message of Urukrama, Kṛṣṇa—if you give aural reception to the activities of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, you should not waste a moment even with nonsense talkings. You have got so many books. Either chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, or read books, discuss amongst yourself. Don't waste your time by so-called drama and play. It is simply waste of time.

Don't waste your time in that way. If you have got inclination to enjoy some drama, then you should take hint how that drama should be written or played. Don't manufacture. You are not so expert that you can manufacture things. That is illegal. Just like we do not read any rascal's book. They are manufacturing so many ideas. We read Bhāgavatam, authorized. We read Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. We read Brahmā-saṁhitā. Not rascal's book. What these rascals can write? They're imperfect.

So don't waste your time. Simply always pour in, give aural reception to the message of Urukrama. Don't waste a single moment. This should be your life's policy. Avyartha-kālatvam (CC Madhya 23.18-19). Rūpa Gosvāmī advises an advanced devotee should always look, "Whether my time is wasted?" Avyartha-kālatvam. Vyartha means useless. So that is . . . that should be one of the, I mean, target of devotees that, "Whether I am wasting my time?" Don't waste your time. Always pour in the activities of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Always, twenty-four hours. Kīrtaniyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31), Caitanya Mahāprabhu says. Sadā. Sadā means always, twenty-four hours. Otherwise, it is the snake hole. Similarly, jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta. Dārdurikeva. A frog's tongue: ka-kara-kaa, ka-kara-kaa. No. Dārdurikeva sūta na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ. Urugāya, glorious activities. This should be our motto of life.

Now read the purport.

Pradyumna: Purport: "Devotional service of the Lord is rendered by all limbs or parts of the body. It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. One can engage in devotional service when the senses of the body are purified in relation with the Lord, and one can render service to the Lord with the help of all senses. As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered as impure or materialistic as long as they are employed in sense gratification only. The purified senses are engaged not in sense gratification, but in the service of the Lord in toto."

"The Lord is the Supreme with all senses, and the servitor, who is part and parcel of the Lord, also has the same senses. Service of the Lord is the completely purified use of the senses, as it is described in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord imparted instructions with full senses, and Arjuna received them with full senses, and thus there was a perfect exchange of sensible and logical understanding between the master and the disciple.”

"Spiritual understanding is nothing like an electrical charge from the master to the disciple, as it is foolishly claimed by some propaganda-mongers. Everything is full of sense and logic, and the exchange of views between the master and the disciple is possible when the reception is submissive and real only. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses, so that one can logically understand the great mission."

Prabhupāda: Caitanya dayāra kathā karaha vicāra. The exact language is there. That Caitanya-caritāmṛta writer, Kavirāja Gosvāmī, says that "You put your logic about the mercy of Lord Caitanya. I request you, you consider. Don't accept it blindly." Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-dayā karaha vicāra. "But if you intelligently deliberate on the mercy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu," caitanya-dayā karaha, vicāra vicāra karile citte pābe camatkāra (CC Adi 8.15), "You'll feel wonderful. If you accept it by systematic deliberation about the mercy of Lord Caitanya, then you'll feel that it is wonderful."

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not a, I mean to say, force, that we are pushing something forcibly to anyone. There is complete judgment. But unfortunately, if one cannot understand, that is not our fault. One must have the intelligence to understand. Otherwise, logically, philosophically, it is perfect.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "In the impure state of a living being, the respective senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs. If the car is not engaged in the service . . ."

Prabhupāda: "If the ear . . ."

Pradyumna: "If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him in the Bhagavad-gītā or in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled up with some rubbish."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the secret. We have got the ears, and we have got the sound also. Just like we are reading this book. So if we don't fill up our ears with this transcendental sound, then it will be filled up with some rubbish things. It cannot remain empty. Either you fill up with transcendental message, or you fill up with rubbish nonsense. Two ways. So if you take care that your earholes are always filled up with the transcendental message of Kṛṣṇa, so there is no scope for rubbish things to enter into it. So therefore our attempt should be twenty-four hours hearing. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Twenty-four hours. As soon as you get time, read books, discuss amongst yourself . . . (indistinct) . . . don't fill up the ears with rubbish things. Then advance will be choked up.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "Therefore the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. Many may want to speak something to others, but because they are not trained up to speak on the subject matter of Vedic wisdom, they are all speaking nonsense, and the people are receiving them with no sense."

"There are hundreds and thousands of sources for distributing mundane news of the world, and people of the word are also receiving them. Similarly, the people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord, and the devotee of the Lord must speak loudly so that they can hear. The frogs loudly croak, with the result that they invite the snakes to eat them. The human tongue is especially meant for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like the frogs."

"The word asatī used in this verse is also significant. Asatī means a woman who has become a prostitute. A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when it is engaged in the matter of chanting some mundane nonsense."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like a chaste woman has got good reputation, similarly, a chaste tongue . . . chaste tongue means . . . chaste tongue and ear. Jihvādau. Our spiritual life begins from tongue. Jihvādau. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ. Ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (CC Madhya 17.136). These senses—these mundane, blunt senses—they cannot receive or understand what is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa's name, what is Kṛṣṇa's form, what is Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, what is Kṛṣṇa's paraphernalia—so many things Kṛṣṇa's . . . what is Kṛṣṇa's word. Na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ. These senses cannot do it.

But when the one sense, the tongue, is engaged in devotional service . . . the tongue is engaged in devotional service means chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This tongue is especially given to you. The dog, the cat cannot chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, but you can, because God has given you the opportunity. So just like chaste woman means he (she) is meant for her husband, similarly, chaste tongue means which is meant for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is chaste tongue. And tasting kṛṣṇa-prasādam.

So if you can simply engage your tongue chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and tasting kṛṣṇa-prasādam, you become perfect. Simple thing. There is no difficulty. Whenever there is time, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And when you feel hungry, take kṛṣṇa-prasādam and live here peacefully. Don't talk rubbish. Then life is successful. Is there any difficulty? We are, we are trying to give you kṛṣṇa-prasādam. We are giving you chance to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is our duty.

So you take advantage of it, and make your life successful. Otherwise, it is jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta. Dārdurikā. The frogs, frog's tongue, very busy in croaking. But it, it, it is means inviting death: "Please come here. I am sitting here." So similarly, by talking nonsense we allow our span of life being diminished by the sunrise and sunset, but if we talk about the urugāya-gāthāḥ, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then our life cannot be taken away. It cannot be decreased. It will be eternal. Simply by doing these two things . . . sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). If we simply engage the jihvā, the tongue, in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, then we can see God, eye to eye. Then? You read one verse more.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse)

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam

apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam

śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ

harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

(SB 2.3.21)

Prabhupāda: (devotees chant, Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation) Bhāraḥ. It is bhāraḥ.

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam

apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam

śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ

harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

(SB 2.3.21)

So . . . (more devotees chant) (Līlāvatī chants) That's nice. Hmm. So you can read the word meanings. Read.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of synonyms)

bhāraḥ—a great burden; param—heavy; paṭṭa—silk; kirīṭa—turban; juṣṭam—dressed with; api—even; uttama—upper; aṅgam—parts of the body; na—never; namet—bow down; mukundam—Lord Kṛṣṇa, the deliverer; śāvau—dead bodies; karau—hands; no—do not; kurute—do; saparyām—worshiping; hareḥ—of the Personality of Godhead; lasat—glittering; kāñcana—made of gold; kaṅkaṇau—bangles; vā—even though.

Translation: "The upper portion of the body, though crowned with a silk turban, if not bowed down before the Personality of Godhead who can award mukti, freedom, is a heavy burden only. And the hands, though decorated with glittering bangles, if not engaged in the service of the Personality of Godhead Hari, are like those of a dead man."

Prabhupāda: So you have seen Indian turban—very, very big, made of silk and jewels. Perhaps you can . . . you have seen the typical turban by the Indian Airways, a big turban. So what is the use of the turban? It is a great burden, you, if you do not bow down before the Lord. Similarly, if you don't engage your hand in the service of the Lord, it is exactly like the dead man's hand. If the dead man's hand, if it is decorated with nice, glittering golden bangles, what is the beauty? There is no beauty.

So we'll discuss tomorrow again. Thank you. Jaya.

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