720920 - Lecture SB 01.03.15 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

720920SB-LOS ANGELES - September 20, 1972 - 41:35 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (leads singing of Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava) (prema-dhvani) Thank you very much. Hare Krsna.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda, Ācāryadeva. (obeisances) (break)

Pradyumna: . . . bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Canto One, Chapter 3, text 15. (leads chanting of verse) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

rūpaṁ sa jagṛhe mātsyaṁ

cākṣuṣodadhi-samplave

nāvy āropya mahī-mayyām

apād vaivasvataṁ manum

(SB 1.3.15)

Prabhupāda: Ladies, ladies. (ladies chant) So, word meaning.

Pradyumna:

rūpam—form; saḥ—He; jagṛhe—accepted; mātsyam—of a fish; cākṣuṣa—Cākṣuṣa; udadhi—water; samplave—inundation; nāvi—on the boat; āropya—keeping on; mahī—the earth; mayyām—drowned in; apāt—protected; vaivasvatam—Vaivasvata; manum—Manu, the father of man.

Translation: "When there was a complete inundation after the period of the Cākṣuṣa Manu and the whole world was deep within water, the Lord accepted the form of a fish and protected Vaivasvata Manu, keeping him up on a boat."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So here is history also. This Vedic history is not that for one thousand years or two thousand years. No, not like that. One period. One millennium, Brahmā's one day, it is millions and millions of years. So just like there is night after day, day after night, similarly, the Brahmā's day, Brahmā's night, that is calculated. And one Brahmā's day, you know, that is described in the Bhagavad-gītā:

sahasra-yuga-paryantam

ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ

(BG 8.17)

So Brahmā's one day means one thousand times of the yugas. The yugas means the Satya-yuga, Kali-yuga and . . . Tretā-yuga, Dvāpara-yuga and Kali-yuga. So Satya-yuga's duration is about 1800,000's of years. The next, Tretā-yuga, duration about 1200,000's of years. And then Dvāpara-yuga, 800,000's of years, solar years.

We are calculating the years, the time also relative. That is the latest theory of the scientist, law of relativity. My hundred years and Brahmā's hundred years and an ant's hundred years, a germ's hundred years, they are not the same. Similarly time calculation, if you go in the upper planetary system, that time calculation is different. Just like in modern age, the Sputnik age, they are flying Sputnik. The first Sputnik flight, they circumambulated this earth three times in one hour and twenty-five minutes. And they saw that there is night and day. Here in this planet our night and day experience is twenty-four hours.

But as soon as you leave this planet, you fly in a different speed, there is three times night and day in one hour and twenty-five minutes. So similarly, everyone lives hundred years, but that hundred years are all relative. An ant's hundred years and man's hundred years is not the same. Similarly, a man's hundred years and a demigod's hundred years not the same. In different planetary system the time is . . . similarly, if you go still up and up, the time is relative.

So we are calculating our three thousand years, four thousand years in our system. That three thousand or four thousand years, as soon as you go little up, it become one hour, twenty-five minutes. So Brahmā's one day is different. But it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā . . . you know, who are reading Bhagavad . . . sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). You try to understand Brahmā's one day equal to our one thousand times of the yugas.

And the yugas, as I have already explained . . . the Satya-yuga, 1800,000's of years; Tretā-yuga, 1200,000's of years. In the Satya-yuga people used to live for 100,000's of years. Vālmīki Muni, he practiced yoga for 60,000's of years. So unless one has got 100,000's of years' duration of life, how he could practice 60,000's of years? So we should understand, everything is relative. This is called relative world. Relativity, law of relativity.

So Brahmā's one day means 4300,000's of years of our calculation. Forty-three hundred thousands of years; little more. That is Brahmā's one day. And in that one day, 4300,000's of years, there are fourteen manus changing. So these are described here, the manu, Cākṣuṣa Manu, Vaivasvata Manu. There are fourteen manus. So the calculation is in one day of Brahmā, ah, in one month of Brahmā, there are about five thousand manus. So this calculation is taken in the duration of manu's life. The Bhagavad-gītā says:

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ

proktavān aham avyayam . . .

manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt

vivasvān manave prāha

manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt

(BG 4.1)

So this is the paramparā system.

So here it is . . . Vaivasvata Manu. What is text number? Fifteen. Here it is Vaivasvata Manu. So this Vaivasvata Manu means at the present moment the president of the sun planet is called Vivasvān. His name is Vivasvān. And because his son Manu . . . vivasvān manave prāha . . . the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken long, long ago by Kṛṣṇa to the sun god, Vivasvān.

Vivasvān. They are trying to understand the historical dates. So how you can understand the historical date? It is beyond your calculation. You cannot calculate even one Brahmā's day. And in Brahmā's one day there are fourteen manus. So it is beyond your brain substance. You can have some idea.

Now here it is said Vaivasvata Manu. Vaivasvata Manu. There are different manus. Just like first of all it is said Cākṣuṣa Manu. Similarly, next it is said Vaivasvata Manu. So this Vaivasvata Manu is the son of sun god. There are two kinds of kṣatriya families within this planet: one coming from the moon and the other is coming from the sun. The first person, I mean to say, first father of this kṣatriya family from sun, his first son is manu. And his name is Vaivasvata Manu. Because he is the son of Vivasvān, therefore his father's name is also added.

In India the system is still that when a man will give you name, the first name is his own name, the second name is his father's name, and the third name is his village name. So that by three names he will understand that "This man is the son of such-and-such gentleman and coming from such-and-such village." Complete name. Just like when we give our identification, we give our own name, our father's name and address. That is complete identification. So still—not in everywhere; in almost all provinces of India—the system is still current. State . . . especially in Maharastra province. Maharastra province, they exactly will give you his own name, his father's name and his village name.

So here also, Vaivasvata Manu. Vaivasvata Manu means the son of the gentleman whose name is Vivasvān. He is the president of this solar world, of the sun, sun planet. There is also president. You have got your president here. Why not in the sun planet? Why . . .? How can you deny with teeny knowledge that there is no life, there is no city, there is no . . .? Simply you go on smoking gāñjā and telling anything, but the fact is different. The fact is different.

From common sense we can understand that this is a planet made of five elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether. So this whole material world is made of these five elements. Somewhere, some portion is very prominent. Here the earth is very prominent. Similarly, in the sun planet the fire is very prominent. But there are five elements. Nothing is made . . . just like if you go to a fireplace, there the temperature is different, but the fireplace is made of these five elements: earth, water, air, fire, ether. Nothing but.

Therefore if we study Bhagavad-gītā very carefully, you understand everything. A little brain required. Just like we can . . . just you, when you go to the oven, fire, fireplace, that fireplace, the stove . . . what is the stove? The stove is made of these five elements, earth, water, fire, air, but there the fire is very prominent. Therefore you cannot touch it. You do not go there. Similarly, sun planet is not very wonderful thing. It is also made of the same ingredients as it is made here in this planet, because the whole material world is made of these five elements.

But there the fire element is very prominent. Therefore we are thinking, "How one can live there?" How one can cook in the kitchen when the fire is so hot? It is possible. Just like you can see in the water. You cannot live in the water, but there are thousands and millions of living entities, they are very comfortably living. The same living entities you bring on the land, they cannot live. But you can live.

So it is, God's creation is like that. According to karma, there are different species of forms of life, but they have got all facilities to live. That is God's creation. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). The direction is there, that this living entity wanted a body to swim in the sea very jubilantly, so now he has got the body of a fish. So let him live very peacefully. That is God's mercy. You take very much pleasure with that surf . . . what is called, in the sea?

Devotee: Surfboard.

Prabhupāda: Surfboard? Yes. (laughter) So if you increase your engage . . . "How I shall be swimming and enjoy this sport whole day and night?" then, then Kṛṣṇa will give you the body of a fish. (laughter) Yes. He is very kind. And you will very nicely live in the sea, always swimming without any difficulty. Every life. As you increase your propensity for a certain type of activities, nature is ready immediately: "Take this body. Why you are anxious? Take this body." Similarly, if you become anxious to have a body like Kṛṣṇa, that is also ready. Now it is your choice. If you like, you take the body of a fish, or if you like, you take the body of sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha (Bs. 5.1), eternal, blissful knowledge.

So we are trying to give that body—not a fish body, cat's body, dog's body. That we have experienced, past life. We have got this life now to make discretion, to make choice, what kind of body we are going to get next. That is intelligence. That is intelligence. Not that to give away with the waves of this time. Māyār bośe jāccho bhese' khāccho hābuḍubu bhāi. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura therefore sings that, "Don't be carried away by the waves of māyā. Now you have got intelligence. You try to understand that you are eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa and do the needful. Then get out of this māyā's webs."

This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, giving the right information, that "If you do not want to be carried away by the waves of this māyā, material nature, then take to this consciousness so that at the time of your death you will change this body to Kṛṣṇa planet, Kṛṣṇa . . . Goloka Vṛndāvana." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). Kṛṣṇa says.

Kṛṣṇa is not making lying propaganda. He has no business. He is giving you information, that if you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, janma karma me divyam, always thinking of Kṛṣṇa—how He is acting, why He has come, why He has appeared, why He has given us the Bhagavad-gītā, what lessons He is giving—in this way, if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tat . . . in truth, not whimsically, not sentimentally; with sound philosophy, knowledge, argument, you try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then you get tyaktvā deham . . . then after giving up this body, undoubtedly you go back to Kṛṣṇa, go back to home, back to Godhead. This is the proposition, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Otherwise, these changes of Manu, changes of millennium, changes of devastation . . . in every . . . manvantara. At the end of Manu, there is another devastation. Pralaya-samplave, cākṣuṣa-samplave. After the span of life of Cākṣuṣa Manu, there is another inundation. And then again everything comes out gradually and the water dries. Just like you see the Pacific Ocean, it is drying. Of course, we shall not live, but if hundred years after, if somebody comes here, he will see that the Los Angeles city has expanded and the Pacific Ocean has diminished. This is going on.

In this way, one day will be . . . there will be no Pacific Ocean. And therefore, without water, everyone will die. Simply sunshine, bright sunshine. So then again, as there is after bright sunshine there is cloud and rain, similarly, again there will be rain. Then again there will be water. Samplave, inundation. This is going on. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).

This material world, these scientist, the rascal scientist, they are trying to save it, "How to run on our motorcar? How our grandchildren who are coming, how they will drive this motorcar?" They are thinking and trying to find out some energy. But the rascals, they do not know where they are going. He is thinking for the future grandchildren. What is the relationship with grandchildren? There are so many living entities, they are coming and going. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate.

So our relationship is just like sometimes there is wind and some straws gather together, and as soon as the wind is finished, the straws are again strewn everywhere. So our this gathering, this father, mother, son, children, grandchildren, it is like that. By nature's blast we gather together; again finished. So where is your grandchildren? Where is your grandfather?

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni

guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ

ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā

kartāham iti manyate

(BG 3.27)

They are, by the freaks of nature, by the arrangement of nature, they are gathering together, so-called nation, so-called family, so-called society. Again, by freaks of nature, they are thrown here and there. Sometimes somebody is going to be cat, sometimes he's going to be dog. So if your grandchild, grandson is going to be a cat and dog, how he is coming to drive your motorcar? (laughter)

But these rascals, they do not know. They are trying to make provision, "How my grandchildren will drive car? The petrol will be finished, and what other energy we shall make in stock so that my grandchildren will come and very comfortably drive his car?" This is called māyā-mohita.

māyā-mohita jīvera svataḥ kṛṣṇa nāhi jñāna

. . . kṛṣṇa kailā veda-purāṇa

(CC Madhya 20.122)

That is stated in the Caitanya . . . we are so much engrossed by the influence of māyā that we are trying to do so many things, but our only business is how to forget Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Our real business is how we can kill Kṛṣṇa—"There is no God"—how we can forget Kṛṣṇa. And we are very busy in finding out petroleum energy. This is our business.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, anādi-bahirmukha jīvera svataḥ kṛṣṇa nāhi jñāna. We are so much foolish, influenced by the illusory energy, that by automatically we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. Because we are influenced.

Therefore this propaganda required. Not that automatically they will come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is need of spreading, unless . . . if you want to save . . . if you are actually benevolent to your countrymen, to your society, to the human society, you must preach this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Otherwise they are going away, they are carried away by the influence of māyā. That is . . . therefore the most welfare activities, the most valuable welfare activity, is to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world. Otherwise they are being carried away by māyā. Anādi-bahirmukha jīvera svataḥ kṛ . . . ataeva kṛṣṇa kailā veda-purāṇa.

Now we have to accept knowledge from Veda, Vedic knowledge, not this rascal's knowledge. Rascal knowledge is that, "Yes," as soon as he comes to the imperfect point, "Yes, we are trying." You are trying. What is this trying? Trying means that your knowledge is imperfect. And another rascal will come, he will say: "Now here is the perfect." And ten years after, another rascal will come," "No, this is not perfect. This is perfect." This is going on. This is called scientific advancement. This is . . . advancement means . . .

But we don't change our Vedic knowledge. We do not say: "Now, Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years ago, said like this. Now we are advanced; we change this line." Of course, others are doing. In the scriptures . . . just like the Christians, they are changing the words. But you cannot do that. Then where is the authority? If you change the word of the scripture, then where is the authority of the scripture?

Just like in law books, there is some law made already. Whimsically you cannot, I mean to say, erase the words and put something that, "It should be changed like this." That will not be accepted. Law, if there is change . . . actually, there is no change. There cannot be change. Real law means there is no change. Just like day and night, it is coming. The fortnight, the dark period and the light period, it is coming for millions and millions and time immemorial. The same law is going, going on. You cannot change. So as soon as you change, that means it is imperfect. You change.

So Vedic laws are not like that. You cannot change. Five thousand years ago Kṛṣṇa said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66): "You give up all other religious principles. Simply surrender unto Me." We are preaching the same thing. No change. No change. There is no possibility of change. Then how Kṛṣṇa is authority? So change means imperfect knowledge. This very change. And perfect knowledge . . .

You will find that one who is very experienced medical practitioner, he gives you a prescription, and you visit him again and again, he gives you the same prescription, unless you are cured. His prescription is so nice that he doesn't change. But a nonexperienced physician, every time you go, he will change the prescription. But actually, those who are experienced, he knows, "This is the disease, and ultimately this medicine will cure. So let him repeat that medicine."

So our is that platform. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam (CC Adi 17.21). We repeat only. We don't change: "Now hari-nāma is not curing, so let me add, instead of Hare Kṛṣṇa, 'John Kṛṣṇa,' if I may." No. No "John Kṛṣṇa." (laughter) That same Hare Kṛṣṇa must be repeated. And you will be cured. So change means imperfect knowledge. No change means that is perfect knowledge. So we follow that "no change" policy. No, not that because I think I have become now advanced, I change this to that. That means I am not advanced. My knowledge is imperfect; therefore I am changing.

So this verse, the appearance of Vaivasvata Manu is described. So Vaivasvata Manu is incarnation of God. Svāyambhuva Manu, Vaivasvata Manu. As I told you, there are fourteen manus within the day. Now out of that fourteen manus, this is the seventh manu. It is going on.

This Vaivasvata Manu is the seventh manu. So another seven manus, when they will be finished, this one day of Brahmā will be finished, and there will be another devastation. This is the law of nature.

Thank you very much.

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