730411 - Lecture BG 02.13 - New York

Lectures by Date, 1973

730411BG-NEW YORK - April 11, 1973 - 30:53 Minutes

(Video - 09:38)

Prabhupāda:

dehino 'smin yathā dehe

kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā

(Audio start)

tathā dehāntara-prāptir

dhīras tatra na muhyati

(BG 2.13)

So this is a statement by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, bhagavān uvāca, that you are not this body. The first instruction for spiritual understanding is to know that, "I am not this body." This is the beginning. The so-called yogīs, they're exercising the body, studying the psychology of the mind by charts, by so many humbugs. But our philosophy: that we are not this body.

Then where is the question of exercising the body and spiritual realization? If I am not this body, then how I can realize myself simply by some gymnastic process? So this is the mistake—the karmīs, jñānīs and the yogīs. The karmīs, fruitive worker, materialistic person, they want bodily comforts. Their only idea is how to get the best comfort of this body. This body means the senses. We have got eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, hands, genital—so many senses we have got.

So as soon as we are in the bodily concept of life, immediately the necessity is for sense gratification. But Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna that, "You are not this body." So therefore my self-interest does not depend on my bodily comforts. They do not know this. Everyone at the present moment, in this age, they are only business is how to gratify the senses. The Western countries, they have got little information, but in India, there was cultivation of all kinds of philosophy.

So atheist philosophy was there. Cārvāka Muni is the chief of the atheist class of philosophers. So he said hedonism. The Western philosophy is hedonism that, "Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." This philosophy. So long you have got this body, eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. The Cārvāka Muni also said like that. Ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet. In India, bodily enjoyment means first, tongue, tongue's enjoyment. Everywhere; here also. Tongue's enjoyment. So if we want to control our senses . . .

Therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, following the footsteps of previous ācārya, he says that "Control your tongue." Control your tongue. in the Bhāgavata also it is said, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). With our these blunt senses, we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. It not possible. The senses are so imperfect that you cannot acquire any perfect knowledge, material or spiritual, by the senses. That is not possible. Ataḥ.

Even if you cannot know perfectly the affairs of this material world . . . just like they are studying the moon planet, the nearest planet. Besides this moon planet, there are millions and trillions of other planets. They cannot say anything, because the senses are imperfect. How you can understand? I can see, say, up to one mile. But when there is question of millions and trillions of miles, how you can use your senses and have the perfect knowledge? So you cannot have even material knowledge perfectly by using these senses. What to speak of God and spiritual knowledge? That is beyond, avāṅ-mānasa-gocara, beyond your conception.

Therefore śāstra says, ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ (Brs. 1.2.234). If you want to know God by mental speculation, that is frog philosophy, Dr. Frog, calculating Atlantic Ocean, sitting down in the well. This is called drog, frog philosophy. You cannot understand. Then how it is possible to understand? The next line is, sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty. If you employ your tongue in the service of the Lord, He'll reveal Himself to you. He'll reveal, revelation. So therefore we have to control the tongue. What is the tongue's business? The tongue's business is taste and vibrate. So you vibrate in service of the Lord, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." Hare Kṛṣṇa means "O Kṛṣṇa, O the energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service." Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare . . . this is the meaning of Hare Kṛṣṇa. It has no other meaning. "O my Lord Kṛṣṇa and O the energy of Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārāṇī especially, kindly both of You engage me in Your service."

As Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, hā hā prabhu nanda-suta vṛṣabhānu-sutā-juta (Hari Hari Bipale): "My Lord, Kṛṣṇa, You are well known as the son of Nanda Mahārāja. And Your eternal consort, Rādhārāṇī, She's also known as the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu. So both of You are here." Hā hā prabhu nanda-suta vṛṣabhānu-sutā . . . karuṇā karaha ei-bāra: "Now I have come to You. Please both of You be merciful upon me." This is Hare Kṛṣṇa: "Be merciful upon me." Narottama-dāsa kaya nā ṭheliha rāṅgā-pāya: You are lotus feet, You have got; don't neglect me or push away with Your lotus feet."

I think if Kṛṣṇa kicks and push away, that is our great fortune. You see? If Kṛṣṇa kicks with His lotus feet: "You go away," that is also a great fortune. What to speak of accepting? Just like when Kṛṣṇa was kicking on the hood of the Kāliya. So the Kāliya's wives prayed, "My dear Sir, I do not know, this culprit, Kāliya, how he became so fortunate that his hood is being kicked by You. Your touch of lotus feet, great, great sages, saintly persons are trying to meditate upon millions of years, but this Kāliya . . . I do not know what did he do in his past life that he's fortunate that his hood is being kicked by You."

So this is our position, that we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa by our mental speculation, limited sense. That is not possible. We have to engage—sevonmukhe hi jihvādau—beginning from jihva, tongue. Tongue is the greatest enemy, and it is the greatest friend also. If you allow the tongue to do whatever it likes—smoking, drinking, eating meat, and this and that—then it is your greatest enemy. And if you do not allow the tongue, you can control the tongue, then you can control the all the senses, automatically.

tā'ra madhye jihvā ati, lobhamay sudurmati

tā're jetā kaṭhina saṁsāre

kṛṣṇa baḍa dayāmay, karibāre jihvā jay

sva-prasādānna dila bhāi

sei prasāda anna pāo, rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa gāo

preme ḍāko caitanya-nitāi

(Prasāda-sevāya)

So tongue should be used always for glorifying the Supreme Lord. That is our business with the tongue. And the tongue should not be allowed to anything except kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Then you become liberated, simply by controlling the tongue. And if you allow the tongue to do anything, then it is very difficult.

So the spiritual education, as Kṛṣṇa says, begins when you understand that, "I am not this body. And satisfying the senses is not my business, because I am not this body." If I am not this body, why shall I bother myself to satisfy the body only? Body means the senses. This is the first instruction. So the karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs, they're all trying to satisfy the demands of the body. The karmīs are directly doing that: "Eat, drink, be merry, enjoy." That is their philosophy.

Jñānī, he's also, he's simply trying to understand that "I am not this body." Neti neti neti neti: "This is not, this is not, this is not, this is not. This is not" The yogīs, they are also trying to come to the point of controlling the senses by bodily exercise, haṭha-yoga. So their center of activity is body. Center of activity is body. And our philosophy begins that, "You are not this body." When they will pass their M.A. examination in studying this body, then they may be able to understand what is their function. But our philosophy begins that, "You are not this body." Postgraduate study. "You are not this body." That is Kṛṣṇa's instruction.

We have seen so many big, big politicians and scholars in India, they write comments on Bhagavad-gītā, but they write on this bodily concept of life. We have seen in our country the great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, his photo is with some Bhagavad-gītā. But what did he do throughout his whole life? The bodily concept: "I am Indian. I am Indian." Nationalism means that's bodily concept of life: "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Canadian." But we are not this body. Then where is the question of "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Canadian"?

So they have no this knowledge; the bodily concept of life, they're absorbed, and still they're authority of Bhagavad-gītā. Just see the fun. And Bhagavad-gītā teaches in the beginning, "You are not this body." And they are in the bodily concept of life. Then just try to understand what is their position. What they can understand Bhagavad-gītā? If one is feeling that "I belong to this nation, I belong to this family, I belong to this community, I belong to this cult, I belong to this, I belong to this religion," everything is bodily concept of life.

The yogīs, they are also trying to understand by bodily exercise. The jñānī is also trying to know, understand fully that, "I am not this body." And the karmīs, they cannot understand. They're as animals. The animals cannot understand that he's not body. So factually the karmīs, jñānīs, yogīs are a little maybe elevated than the animals. That's all. They are on the animal platform, but it is little elevated.

So I give this example—perhaps you heard it—that the dry side of the stool. India, they pass stool on the open field. So at the end of day, because there is sunshine, the upper side of the stool becomes dried up, and the lower side, still moist. So somebody says, "This side is very good." (laughter) He does not know. It is stool, after all, this side, or that side.

So these rascals, they are on the bodily concept of life, and they are thinking that "I am nationalist," "I am yogī," "I am this," "I am that," "I am that . . ." You see? This is the philosophy. So long you are in the bodily concept of life, we are no better than the animal. That is the Bhāgavata philosophy. You are animal. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke.

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhā . . .

sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ

yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij

janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

(SB 10.84.13)

So go-kharaḥ means . . . go means cow, khara means ass. Animals. So who is that? Now, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātu. This bag of tri-dhātu—kapha, pitta, vāyu—if one thinks that "I am this body. I am this body, and in bodily relation . . ." Because in bodily relation I have got my family, society, children, wife, country, and therefore they are mine. So yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhā . . . sva-dhīḥ. Sva-dhīḥ means thinking, "They are mine. I am theirs." Sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu. Kalatra means wife. Through wife, we get children; we expand. The Sanskrit word is strī. Strī means expansion. I remain one. As soon as I get wife, I get . . . become two, then three, then four, then five. Like that. That is called strī.

So our expansion, these expansions, these material expansion, bodily expansion, means illusion. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This illusion increases, that "I am this body, and in bodily relation, everything is mine." Ahaṁ mama. Ahaṁ means "I", and mama means "my." So, so long one shall remain in the bodily concept of life, his illusion will increase. It will never decrease. Therefore the first instruction of Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna . . . because if Arjuna would not have been in that position of illusion that, "I am this body, and the other side—my brother, my grandfather, my nephews—they're all my relations. How can I kill?" This is the illusion. Therefore to dissipate this illusion, darkness, Kṛṣṇa begins the first lesson, that "You are not this body."

Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). You'll have to change this body, as you have already changed. You have already changed. You were a baby. You change your body to child, you change your body to boyhood, you change your body to youthhood, you change your body to old man. Now, after change is . . . as you have already changed so many times, similarly, there will be another change. You'll have to accept another body. Very simply logic. You have already changed. So tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). So "Don't be afraid that your nephews and grandfather and guru and these other, they will die. They'll not die. Change the body, that all." So na muhyati.

Dhīra. Dhīra means sober, whose brain is nice: cool brain. One should not be bewildered when there is change of body. But the point is, Kṛṣṇa says that tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ: another change of, that is sober. One who is sober, he will think, "Then what kind of body I am going to get next?" That is the problem. But these rascals, they do not know. Still they are proud of their intelligence. He does not know from what kind of body he has come to this body, and what he is going to get next body. They have no intelligence.

Even they are said that suppose if you get next body dog's body, they say: "What is the harm?" (laughter) Yes. In, what is called, Hawaii University, one student says like that. He's student—he's being educated—but he doesn't care even if he is going to become a dog next life. This is the education. This is the education. And they are intelligent. Professor Kotovsky said in Moscow, "Swāmījī, after finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see. He's professor. And he's student.

So this is the position of so-called professor, student, university. All rascals. This is our challenge: all rascals. Because they are in the bodily concept of life, "I am this body, and the body has no change." Body's changing. He's seeing actually in this life. He still he'll not believe that, "After changing this body, I'll get another body." It is very logical. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Exactly in the same way as we have changed so many times this body, I'll have to change. Therefore, one who is intelligent, he should try to understand that "What kind of body am I going to get next?" That is intelligence. So that is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, what kind of body you can get.

yānti deva-vratā devān

pitṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ

bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni

mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām

(BG 9.25)

If you want to go to the higher planetary system, where demigods live for hundreds and thousands millions of years . . . just like Brahmā. Brahmā's one day you cannot collect, calculate. So in higher planetary system, you have got thousands and thousands of better facility for sense gratification and duration of life, everything. Otherwise, why the karmīs, they want to go to the heavenly planet? So yānti deva-vratā devān. So if you try to go to the higher planetary system, you can go.

Kṛṣṇa says. There is process. Just like for going to the moon planet, one must be very expert in the karma-kāṇḍa, fruitive activities. By karma-kāṇḍa you get, by the resultant action of your pious activities, you can be promoted to the moon planet. That is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But you cannot enter moon planet by your, this process: "By force we shall go with this aeroplane and jets and sputniks." Oh, that's not possible.

Suppose if go I've got a nice motorcar in America. If I want to enter in another country forcibly, is it possible? No. You must get the passport, visa. You must get sanction from the government. Then you can enter. Not because that you have got a very good car you'll be allowed. So we cannot by force . . . this is foolish attempt, childish attempt. They cannot go. Therefore nowadays they stopped. They do not speak. They are realizing their failure. In this way, you cannot. So . . . but there is possibility. You can go if you adopt the real process. You can be promoted.

Similarly, you can go to the Pitṛlokas by offering śraddhās and piṇḍa. You can go to the Pitṛloka. Similarly you can remain in this loka, bhūtejyā. Similarly you can go back to home, back to Godhead. So who is intelligent? And if you ask: What is the benefit by going to the planet, back to home, back to Godhead? That is assured in the Bhagavad-gītā, mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvataṁ nāpnuvanti (BG 8.15): "If you come to Me, then you won't have to accept again this material body, which is full of miserable condition. You will remain in your spiritual body."

So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for, I mean to say, allowing, elevating all living entities . . . of course, it is not for all. It is very difficult. But anyone who has accepted this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, if he follows the principles, then he's surely going to home, back to home, back to Godhead. That is certain. But if you deviate, if you become attracted by māyā, that is your business.

But we are giving you information: This is the process, a simple process. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, be purified, be . . . remain always liberated from material clutches, and tyaktvā dehaṁ. Mām upetya. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti . . . if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa, then tyaktvā dehaṁ, after quitting this body, mām eti, "You'll come to Me."

So this is our philosophy. It is very simple. And everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. You try to realize and preach this cult for the benefit of the whole world. Then everyone will be happy.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya, all glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda! (audio end) (obeisances)

(Video - 38:22) (kirtan) (end)