720624 - Lecture SB 02.04.01 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

720624SB-LOS ANGELES - June 24, 1972 - 41:13 Minutes

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. We chant all the verses in this chapter, all together, starting from the beginning.

(Prabhupāda and devotees chant all verses of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.1—25).

śrī-śuka . . .

Everyone can chant together:

śrī-śuka uvāca

evam etan nigaditaṁ

pṛṣṭavān yad bhavān mama

nṛṇāṁ yan mriyamāṇānāṁ

manuṣyeṣu manīṣiṇām

(SB 2.3.1)

brahma-varcasa-kāmas tu

yajeta brahmaṇaḥ patim

indram indriya-kāmas tu

prajā-kāmaḥ prajāpatīn

devīṁ māyāṁ tu śrī-kāmas

tejas-kāmo vibhāvasum

vasu-kāmo vasūn rudrān

vīrya-kāmo 'tha vīryavān

annādya-kāmas tv aditiṁ

svarga-kāmo 'diteḥ sutān

viśvān devān rājya-kāmaḥ

sādhyān saṁsādhako viśām

āyuṣ-kāmo 'śvinau devau

puṣṭi-kāma ilāṁ yajet

pratiṣṭhā-kāmaḥ puruṣo

rodasī loka-mātarau

rūpābhikāmo gandharvān

strī-kāmo 'psara urvaśīm

ādhipatya-kāmaḥ sarveṣāṁ

yajeta parameṣṭhinam

yajñaṁ yajed yaśas-kāmaḥ

kośa-kāmaḥ pracetasam

vidyā-kāmas tu giriśaṁ

dāmpatyārtha umāṁ satīm

(SB 2.3.2-7)

dharmārtha uttama-ślokaṁ

tantuḥ tanvan pitṟn yajet

rakṣā-kāmaḥ puṇya-janān

ojas-kāmo marud-gaṇān

(SB 2.3.8)

rājya-kāmo manūn devān

nirṛtiṁ tv abhicaran yajet

kāma-kāmo yajet somam

akāmaḥ puruṣaṁ param

(SB 2.3.9)

akāmaḥ sarva-kāmo vā

mokṣa-kāma udāra-dhīḥ

tīvreṇa bhakti-yogena

yajeta puruṣaṁ param

(SB 2.3.10)

etāvān eva yajatām

iha niḥśreyasodayaḥ

bhagavaty acalo bhāvo

yad bhāgavata-saṅgataḥ

(SB 2.3.11)

jñānaṁ yad āpratinivṛtta-guṇormi-cakram

ātma-prasāda uta yatra guṇeṣv asaṅgaḥ

kaivalya-sammata-pathas tv atha bhakti-yogaḥ

ko nirvṛto hari-kathāsu ratiṁ na kuryāt

(SB 2.3.12)

śaunaka uvāca

ity abhivyāhṛtaṁ rājā

niśamya bharatarṣabhaḥ

kim anyat pṛṣṭavān bhūyo

vaiyāsakim ṛṣiṁ kavim

(SB 2.3.13)

etac chuśrūṣatāṁ vidvan

sūta no 'rhasi bhāṣitum

kathā hari-kathodarkāḥ

satāṁ syuḥ sadasi dhruvam

(SB 2.3.14)

sa vai bhāgavato rājā

pāṇḍaveyo mahā-rathaḥ

bāla-krīḍanakaiḥ krīḍan

kṛṣṇa-krīḍāṁ ya ādade

(SB 2.3.15)

vaiyāsakiś ca bhagavān

vāsudeva-parāyaṇaḥ

urugāya-guṇodārāḥ

satāṁ syur hi samāgame

(SB 2.3.16)

āyur harati vai puṁsām

udyann astaṁ ca yann asau

tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta

uttama-śloka-vārtayā

(SB 2.3.17)

taravaḥ kiṁ na jīvanti

bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta

na khādanti na mehanti

kiṁ grāme paśavo 'pare

(SB 2.3.18)

śva-viḍ-varāhoṣṭra-kharaiḥ

saṁstutaḥ puruṣaḥ paśuḥ

na yat-karṇa-pathopeto

jātu nāma gadāgrajaḥ

(SB 2.3.19)

bile batorukrama-vikramān ye

na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya

jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta

na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

(SB 2.3.20)

bhāraḥ paraṁ paṭṭa-kirīṭa-juṣṭam

apy uttamāṅgaṁ na namen mukundam

śāvau karau no kurute saparyāṁ'

harer lasat-kāñcana-kaṅkaṇau vā

(SB 2.3.21)

barhāyite te nayane narāṇāṁ

liṅgāni viṣṇor na nirīkṣato ye

pādau nṛṇāṁ tau druma-janma-bhājau

kṣetrāṇi nānuvrajato harer yau

(SB 2.3.22)

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ

na jātu martyo 'bhilabheta yas tu

śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ

śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

(SB 2.3.23)

tad aśma-sāraṁ hṛdayaṁ batedaṁ

yad gṛhyamāṇair hari-nāma-dheyaiḥ

na vikriyetātha yadā vikāro

netre jalaṁ gātra-ruheṣu harṣaḥ

(SB 2.3.24)

athābhidhehy aṅga mano-'nukūlaṁ

prabhāṣase bhāgavata-pradhānaḥ

yad āha vaiyāsakir ātma-vidyā-

viśārado nṛpatiṁ sādhu pṛṣṭaḥ

(SB 2.3.25)

Prabhupāda: So it takes not more than five minutes. If you practice, then you become learned scholars simply by chanting these mantra, and the translation, transcendental vibration, will keep you fit for spiritual advancement. Every verse in Vedic literatures, especially Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are not ordinary sounds.

Simply if you chant the mantras, you become purified. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Simply by hearing and chanting you become pious. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. Even you don't understand the meaning, the very sound vibration will help you.

Now we have finished one chapter within five minutes. How much time it took? I don't think more than five minutes. So everyone should chant every day at least one chapter.

Then? Next chapter?

Pradyumna: Text number one. (leads chanting of verse)

Prabhupāda: Which chapter?

sūta uvāca

vaiyāsaker iti vacas

tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ

upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe

auttareyaḥ satīṁ vyadhāt

(SB 2.4.1)

Prabhupāda: (corrects pronunciation of devotees' chanting) Any of the girls? (Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation) All right. Word meaning.

Pradyumna:

sūtaḥ uvāca—Sūta Gosvāmī said; vaiyāsakeḥ—of Śukadeva Gosvāmī; iti—thus; vacaḥ—speeches; tattva-niścayam—that which verifies the truth; ātmanaḥ—in the self; upadhārya—just having realized; matim—concentration of the mind; kṛṣṇe—unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; auttareyaḥ—the son of Uttarā; satīm—chaste; vyadhāt—applied.

Translation: "Sūta Gosvāmī said: Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the son of Uttarā, after hearing the speeches of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, which were all about the truth of the self, applied his concentration faithfully upon Lord Kṛṣṇa."

Prabhupāda: So here is, vacas tattvam ātmā ni . . . ātmā, vacas tattva niścayam ātmā. Vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. Vaiyāsaki. So ātma-tattva, self-realization, this is required. So we have to approach a person like Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Niścayam. Vacas tattva-niścayam. If you want to know positively, niścayam, without any mistake, then we have to approach a person like Śukadeva Gosvāmī or the paramparā system, who is coming in disciplic succession of paramparā system.

The paramparā system means . . . just like we claim paramparā system from Kṛṣṇa. So whatever Kṛṣṇa says, or He said five thousand years ago, we are repeating the same thing. That is called paramparā system. Not that, "The world has changed. Scientific advancement is very great. Now we can interpret in this way and that way." This is all nonsense. All nonsense. You cannot change a single alphabet. They are all unmistakable. They cannot be changed. So that is niścayam ātmanaḥ.

If you want to know positively what is God, then we should take lesson from a self-realized soul who has understood, who has seen. Jñānina tattva-darśinaḥ (BG 4.34). Just like here it is tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ. So tattvam, the truth, so one must have seen the truth, realized the truth. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). That is guru, means one who has seen the truth. How he has seen the truth? Through the paramparā system.

Kṛṣṇa said this, and then Brahmā said the same thing, then Nārada said the same thing, Vyāsadeva said the same thing, and then disciplic succession, Madhvācārya, Mādhavendra Purī, Īśvara Purī, Lord Caitanya, ṣaḍ-gosvāmī, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura—in this way—Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Then we are speaking. The same thing.

Not that, "Because we are modernized . . . your modern science has changed." Nothing has changed. It is all foolishness. That change is a scheduled change. Just like day after night, and again night after day, again day after night. This is not change; this is a system. So because our poor fund of knowledge . . . just like there are many insects, their birth, death, marriage and everything is finished within night. They never see the day.

So if they see day by chance, they will say: "Oh, it has changed." Because their experience is they have never seen day. Their experience with night. So all of a sudden, if he sees that there is daylight, "Oh, what is this? Oh, the whole world has changed." No. You have not seen. The so-called scientific discovery, they are seeing something, but the next stage they have no power to see, and they think, when they see the next item, "Oh, the world has changed." There is no question of changing. It is on the process.

Just like another example can be given, the film. If you see the film as it is, each picture you will see different picture. But actually it is not different, it is the same. It is the process. How the hands and legs will move, the picture is made in such a way that when it is put into the machine, you'll find the hands and legs are moving. So change . . . sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya.

There are three kinds of changes. First of all change is the sṛṣṭi. Sṛṣṭi means creation. Creation. This material world . . . there was no material world, simply there was spiritual world. Just like when all of a sudden cloud appears in the sky. The sky was there; the cloud has appeared. Similarly, this material creation is like that. It is just like a cloud in the vast spiritual ocean . . . sky.

The sky is spiritual. This sky in which we are now existing, that is not spiritual. Just like the sky covered by the cloud is the same sky, but it is covered, similarly, we are living within the covered sky, and if you penetrate the cover, then you go to the spiritual sky.

While going to the spiritual sky, you have to give up your body. The body is a combination of five elements. So there is stock in the . . . this universe is covered by seven layers: earth, water, fire, air, like that. When we shall be going to the spiritual sky, we have to pass through the seven layers. And each layer is ten times bigger than the first.

Suppose we pass the air layer; the next layer, the fire, is ten times bigger. Then water, ten times. In this way, we have to pass through. We are so much tightly packed up. It is not so easy that I take a sputnik and go anywhere. No. That requires sādhana-bhajana, practice, how to give up this encagement of seven layers, and then completely pure spirit soul, you enter into the spiritual sky. That is merging in the spiritual effulgence, brahmajyoti.

Then you can go further and enter into the spiritual planet, if you are fit for that. Otherwise, you'll remain in the brahmajyoti, nirviśeṣa, without any variety, simply light, as the jñānīs, they want.

But you cannot stay there. Because you are a living entity, you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, so actually you are trying to go to Kṛṣṇa. Just like a child is crying. The idea is that the child wants mother or mother's breast milk. That is his demand. But sometimes we do not know. We try to make the child comfortable in different ways.

Similarly, all of us are searching after Kṛṣṇa. That is the fact. Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme, we are all, being parts and parcel, our natural tendency is to approach Kṛṣṇa. Manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ. Mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ (BG 4.11). In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find this. Mama vartmānu . . . "They are all trying to come to Me, but they are being hampered by different types of māyā."

So the spiritual advancement means ultimately to approach Kṛṣṇa. This is very nicely explained by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The bhakti-latā, the creeper of bhakti, is growing, but it will go on growing, growing, growing until the bhakti-latā, I mean to say, catches the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.

You will see the creepers, they grow, they try to catch something small. And as soon as they get a pillar or wood, immediately, by nature . . . similarly, you go on increasing your bhakti creeper. The bhakti creeper . . .

ei rūpe brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva

guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja

(CC Madhya 19.151)

Bīja. Bīja means seed. Guru-kṛṣṇa: Kṛṣṇa and guru. When both of them are merciful, then you can get the seed of bhakti-latā creeper. Mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa (CC Madhya 19.152). When you get a nice seed . . . just like you are growing, nursing, the tulasī seed very carefully. Tulasī seed, that is the example of bhakti seed. Similarly, you have to nurse the bhakti seed by giving all protection, watering daily. So what is your watering process? This watering process. (devotees recite mahā-mantra) Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana.

mālī hañā sei bīja kare āropaṇa

śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana

(CC Madhya 19.152)

You have to become a gardener and . . .

(aside) Where is that Pravīṇacandra? He's not here? Yes. That's all right.

Śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana: hearing. If you want to come to the right conclusion, then you have to hear from persons authorized, not from the nonsense rascals, politicians, diplomats. No. Just like here it is said vaiyāsakeḥ. You have to hear from Vaiyāsaki or his representative. Vaiyāsaker iti vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ.

If you hear from the right person, then tattva-niścayam, then positively you can realize self. And if you hear from some rascals, they have no connection with Vaiyāsaki, simply by dint of mental speculation interpreting, "I think this may be this. I think this . . ." What you are, nonsense? You think? We don't accept such nonsense things. It must be positively authorized. As it is said here, vaiyāsaker iti vacas tattva-niścayam ātmanaḥ.

When we hear from the right person . . .

tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti tad jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

(BG 4.34)

Jñāna and tattva-darśī. Simply jñānī, simply A-B-C-D knowledge, academic education, will not help. You must be jñānī, at the same time, tattva-darśī. That tattva-darśana cannot be possible by mental speculation. Ciraṁ vicinvan.

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvayam-

prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi

jānāti tattvaṁ . . . jānāti tattvaṁ (bhagavan-mahimno)

na cānya eko 'pi ciraṁ vicinvan

(SB 10.14.29)

Who knows the tattva. Athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya-prasāda-leśānugṛhīta: "One person who has got a slight benediction from Your lotus feet." Not that all. A slight. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. If you get a slight, a glance, then your life is perfect, immediately.

Not that you have to get all the mercies of the Lord. Even little, very insignificant part. That means, insignificant, that is Kṛṣṇa is teaching Himself: "Just surrender."

So this much mercy every one of us, we can take. How? "Kṛṣṇa, I was wandering throughout the whole universe in so many lives. I did not know that You are my supreme master. Now, from this day, I surrender unto You." Kṛṣṇa is ready: ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66): "Yes, you do it. I shall give you protection from all sinful resultant action. Immediately."

A simple process. So this much mercy we can take, if we will. But we are not willing. We surrender to some rascal, but not to Kṛṣṇa. That is our position. We shall surrender to this man, that man, this man, this one . . . why not Kṛṣṇa? "No." Māyā will say, "No, no, no. What is Kṛṣṇa? You surrender to such big politician, big yogī, big bluffer, cheater. You surrender there."

Māyā is always after you to bewilder you. Because we have forgotten Kṛṣṇa by our independence, misusing our independence, so māyā wants to give us some good lesson that, "Forgetting Kṛṣṇa, you are trying to be happy. All right, I shall give you nice happiness." This is going on.

Therefore, māyā is very strong. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). You cannot get out of the clutches of māyā so easily. Then? How it is possible? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). The same thing. "If anyone fully surrenders unto Me, then he can get out of the clutches of māyā."

So here, Parīkṣit Mahārāja is fully surrendered to his spiritual master. Vaiyāsaker iti vacas. Whatever he said . . . Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he placed the whole thing before him, how to concentrate one's mind on Kṛṣṇa. So upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe. Then immediately this is the result. If you approach a bona fide representative, then, taking lessons from him, the result will be upadhārya matiṁ kṛṣṇe—your surrender will be on Kṛṣṇa.

Read the purport.

Pradyumna: "The word satīm is very significant. This means 'existing' and 'chaste,' and both imports are perfectly applicable in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit. The whole Vedic adventure is to draw one's attention entirely unto the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa without any diversion, as it is instructed in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 15.15).

Fortunately, Mahārāja Parīkṣit had already been attracted to the Lord from the very beginning of his body, in the womb of his mother. In the womb of his mother he was struck by the brahmāstra atomic bomb released by Aśvatthāmā, but by the grace of the Lord he was saved from being burnt by the fiery weapon, and since then the King continually concentrated his mind upon Lord Kṛṣṇa, which made him perfectly chaste in devotional service. So by natural sequence he was a chaste devotee of the Lord, and when he further heard . . ."

Prabhupāda: Here, one important matter is there, that Parīkṣit Mahārāja, while he was in the womb of his mother, there was brahmāstra targeted upon him by Aśvatthāmā. And he was to be killed. Practically he was killed. His mother felt miscarriage and immediately approached Kṛṣṇa that, "I am feeling like this. The only son of this Pāṇḍava dynasty is going to be lost." So Kṛṣṇa immediately entered the womb of Uttarā and saved the baby. Now, Parīkṣit Mahārāja is recognized devotee; otherwise Kṛṣṇa would not have taken so much trouble. He wanted that Parīkṣit Mahārāja.

Now, when he was cursed by a brahmin to die within seven days, why Kṛṣṇa did not save him, or why he did not seek Kṛṣṇa's protection? This question may be raised. He was young man. He was not old man. He could live. That question was made also, "The Parīkṣit Mahārāja, such a nice king, his life was dedicated for the welfare of his subjects. So actually, his body was meant for the benefit of others. Why did he leave it, did he quit it?" This question was there.

Because anyone who has dedicated his body for the service of all humanity, that is, means, that means he has dedicated the body for Kṛṣṇa, because Kṛṣṇa, He is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Kṛṣṇa is the sincere friend of everyone, so one who is trying to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means he's also trying to make others to feel that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme friend. So that body is Kṛṣṇa's body.

Now, why Parīkṣit Mahārāja decided that? He could counteract the brahmin boy. It was not difficult for him. But he did not act it counter, and he agreed to die. And Kṛṣṇa also, from within, dictated, "Parīkṣit, now agree to die." Why? If Parīkṣit Mahārāja was not in this position, that he was to die within seven days, this Bhāgavata would not have come. This is the purport. That was the purpose. Otherwise, he could counteract.

He could save himself—personally or with the help of Kṛṣṇa. He didn't care for any curse, but if he would not have taken this position, this Bhāgavata would not have come. It was for Parīkṣit Mahārāja.

So we have to study in this way. Thank you very much.

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