730425 - Lecture SB 01.08.33 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1973

730425SB-LOS ANGELES - April 25, 1973 - 38:22 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (leads singing of Jaya rādhā-mādhava)

(prema-dhvāṇī prayers) (break)

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

apare vasudevasya

devakyāṁ yācito 'bhyagāt

ajas tvam asya kṣemāya

vadhāya ca sura-dviṣām

(SB 1.8.33)

Prabhupāda: Word meaning?

Pradyumna: apare—others; vasudevasya—of Vasudeva; devakyām—of Devakī; yācitaḥ—being prayed for; abhyagāt—took birth; ajaḥ—unborn; tvam—You are; asya—of him; kṣemāya—for the good; vadhāya—for the purpose of killing; ca—and; sura-dviṣām—of those who are envious of the demigods.

Translation: "Others say that since both Vasudeva and Devakī prayed for You, You have taken Your birth as their son. Undoubtedly You are unborn, yet You take Your birth for their welfare and to kill those who are envious of the demigods."

Prabhupāda: So there are two purposes of incarnation. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya

tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham

(BG 4.7)

The Lord says that whenever there is irregularities, ''dharmasya, of religion, irregularities . . . Glāniḥ. Glāniḥ means irregularities. Just like you are executing some service. There may be irregularities, then it becomes polluted. So yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati . . . dharmasya glānir bhavati means development of irreligiosity. That means if your wealth is diminished, then your poverty is increased, balance. If you increase this side, the other side will go up, and if you increase that side, the other side will . . . but you have to keep balance. That is required.

So in the human society, they are meant for keeping balance. What is that balance? They do not know that . . . it is just like balance. One side spirit, another side matter. We are now, actually, we are spirit soul. Somehow or other we have been encaged within this body, material body. For that purpose, so long we have got this body, we have got necessities of the body—eating, sleeping, mating, defending.

These are the necessities of the body. Soul does not require all these things. Soul has nothing to eat. That we do not know. Whatever we are eating, that is . . . that is for keeping of this body. So the bodily necessities are there, but if you simply look after the bodily necessities and do not care to look after the necessity of the soul, that is foolish civilization. No balance. They do not know.

Just like a rascal: he's simply washing the coat, but does not take care of the body. Or a bird is in the cage, and if you take care of the cage and don't take care of the bird within the cage . . . the bird is crying, "Keh-keh. Give me food. Give me food," but you are taking care of the cage. This is foolishness. So why we are unhappy? Why, in your country especially . . . you are supposed to be the richest country in the world. You have no scarcity—no scarcity of food, no scarcity of motorcar, no scarcity of bank balance, no scarcity of sex. Everything is there, complete, in full abundance.

And still, why a section of people are frustrated and confused like the hippies? They are not satisfied. Why? That is the defect. Because there is no balance. You are taking care of the bodily necessities of life, but you have no information of the soul. And there is necessity of the soul also, because soul is the real subject matter; body is the covering only.

So it is said that . . . now, I'm explaining that verse: dharmasya glānir bhavati. This is dharmasya glāniḥ: pollution of duty. dharma means duty. dharma is not a kind of faith. In English dictionary it is said religion means a faith. No, no. It is not. dharma means the actual, constitutional duty. That is dharma. So if you have no information of the soul, if you do not know what is the need of the soul, simply you are busy on the bodily necessities of life, bodily comfort . . . so bodily comfort will not save you.

Suppose a man is very comfortably situated. Does it mean that he will not die? He'll die. So simply by bodily comforts you cannot exist—survival of the fittest; struggle for existence. So when we simply take care of the body, that is called dharmasya glāniḥ, polluted. One must know what is the necessity of the body and what is the necessity of the soul. The real necessity of life is to supply the comforts of the soul. And the soul can be comforted not by material adjustment. Because soul is a different identity, the soul must be given spiritual food. That spiritual food is this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

If you give the soul the spiritual food . . . food, there are . . . when one is diseased, you have to give him diet and medicine. Two things required. If you simply give medicine, no diet, that will be not be very successful. Both things. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for giving food—means diet and medicine—to the soul. The medicine is this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Bhavauṣadhāc chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt virajyeta pumān vinā paśughnāt (SB 10.1.4). The Parīkṣit Mahārāja said to Śukadeva Gosvāmī that, "This Bhāgavata discussion which you are prepared to give me, it is not ordinary thing." Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt.

This Bhāgavata discussion is relishable by persons who are nivṛtta-tṛṣṇā. Tṛṣṇā. Tṛṣṇā means hankering. Everyone in this material world is hankering. Hankering. So one who is freed from this hankering, he can taste the Bhāgavata, how palatable it is. It is such a thing. Nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ . . . similarly bhāgavata means also the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is also bhāgavata. Bhāgavata means anything in relationship with the Supreme Lord. That is called bhāgavata. The Supreme Lord is called Bhagavān. Bhagavata-śabda. And in relationship with Him, anything, that bhagavata-śabda turns into bhāgavata-śabda.

So Parīkṣit Mahārāja said that the taste of Bhāgavata can be relished by a person who has finished his hankering of material desires. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt. And what is . . . why such thing should be tasted? Bhavauṣadhi. Bhavauṣadhi, medicine for our disease of birth and death. Bhava means "become." Our . . . at the present moment, we are in diseased condition. They do not know what is the diseased condition, what is the healthy condition, these rascals. They do not know anything. Still they are passing on as great scientist, philosopher . . . they do not inquire that, "I do not want to die. Why death is enforced upon me?" There is no such inquiry. Neither there is any solution. And still they are scientist. What kind of scientist? If you can . . .

Science means that you advance in knowledge so that your miserable condition of life can be reduced, minimized. That is science. Otherwise, what is this science? They are simply promising, "In future." "But what you are delivering just now, sir?" "Now just now you suffer as you are suffering; go on suffering. In future we shall find out some chemicals." No. Actually, ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti. Ātyantika, ultimate. Ātyantika means ultimate. Duḥkha means sufferings.

That should be the aim of human life. So they do not know what is ātyantika-duḥkha. Duḥkha means suffering. So ātyantika-duḥkha is pointed out in the Bhagavad-gītā: "Here is the ātyantika-duḥkha, sir." What is this? Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9): birth, death, old age and disease. So what you have done for vanishing or making . . . or nullifying this duḥkha, these sufferings?

So there is no such thing in the material world. Ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, ultimate relinquishment from all kinds of suffering, is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. What is that?

mām upetya kaunteya

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ

saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ

(BG 8.15)

So you should read all this. You have got Bhāgavata, everything explanation. This is ātyantika-duḥkha-nivṛtti, ultimate relinquishment from all sufferings. What is that? Mām upetya: "One who approaches Me or one who comes to Me, back to home, back to Godhead." So they have no knowledge what is God and whether one can go back to home, back to Godhead, it is a practical thing or not. No knowledge. Simply like animals. That's all. No knowledge. They pray, "O God, give us our daily bread." Now ask him, "What is God?" Can he explain? No.

Then whom we are asking? In the air? If I ask, if I submit some petition, there must be some person. So I do not know what is that person, where to submit this petition. Simply . . . they say that He's in the sky. The sky, there are so many birds also, but that is not God. You see. No knowledge. No knowledge. Imperfect knowledge, all. And they're passing on as scientists, philosophers, great thinkers, writers, and . . . all rubbish. All rubbish. The only book is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā. All rubbish. In the Bhāgavata it is said:

tad-vāg-visargo janatāgha-viplavo

yasmin prati-ślokam abaddhavaty api

nāmāny anantasya yaśo 'ṅkitāni yat

śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ

(SB 1.5.11)

And on the other side: na tad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo . . . pragṛṇīta karhicit tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham (SB 1.5.10). Tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham. Any literature which has no connection with the knowledge of God, tad . . . tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham, that is just like the place where the crows take enjoyment. Where the crows take enjoyment? In the filthy place. And the swans, the white swans, they take pleasure in a nice, clear water where there is garden, there is birds.

So there are, even in the animals, there are divisions: swan class and crow class. Natural division. The crow will not go to the swan. The swan will not go to the crow. Similarly, in the human society there are crow class men and swan class men. The swan class men will come here because here everything is clear, nice, good philosophy, good food, good education, good dress, good mind—everything good. And crow class men will go to such-and-such club, such-and-such party, naked dance, so many things. You see.

So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is meant for the swan class of men, not for the crow class of men. No. But we can convert the crows into swan. That is our capacity. One who was crow is now swimming like swan. That we can do. That is the benefit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So when the swans become crow, that is material world. That is, Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati (BG 4.7). The living entity is encaged in this material body, and he's trying to gratify the senses, one body after another, one body after another, one body after another. This is the position. And dharma means to gradually turn the crows into swan. That is dharma.

Just like one man may be . . . may remain, may be very illiterate, uncultured, but he can be converted into educated, cultured man, by education, by training. So that possibility is there in the human form of life. I cannot train a dog to become a devotee. That is difficult. It can be done also, but I may not be so powerful. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu did. When He was passing through the jungle, Jharikhaṇḍa, the tigers, the snakes, the deers, all the animals, they became devotee. They became devotee. So what was possible for me, uh, Caitanya Mahāprabhu . . . because He's God Himself. He can do anything. We cannot do that. But we can work in the human society. It doesn't matter however fallen a man is, if he follows our instruction then he can be turned.

So that is called dharma. dharma means to bring one to his original position. That is dharma. So there may be degrees. But the original position is that we are part and parcel of God, and when we understand that we are part and parcel of God, that is our real position of life. That is called brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20) stage, understanding his Brahman realization, identification. So Kṛṣṇa comes . . . this explanation . . .

Just like Kuntī says that apare vasudevasya devakyāṁ yācito 'bhyagāt (SB 1.8.33). Vasudeva and Devakī prayed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead that "We want a son like You. That is our desire." Although they were married, they were . . . they did not beget any child. They engaged themselves in tapasya, severe tapasya. So Kṛṣṇa came before them: "What do you want?" "Now, we want a child like You." Therefore here it is said, vasudevasya devakyāṁ yācitaḥ. Yācitaḥ. "Sir, we want a son like You." Now what . . . where there is possibility of another God? Kṛṣṇa is God. God cannot be two. God is one. So how there can be another God to become the son of Vasudeva and Devakī? Therefore God agreed that "It is not possible to find out another God. Then I shall become your son."

So people say that because Vasudeva and Devakī wanted Kṛṣṇa as their son, He appeared. Kecit. Somebody says. Vasudevasya devakyāṁ yācitaḥ. Being requested, being prayed for, abhyagāt, He appeared. Ajas tvam asya kṣemāya vadhāya ca sura-dviṣām. Others says the same thing, as I was explaining. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). Actually Kṛṣṇa comes to pacify His devotee. Just like He appeared to pacify, to satisfy His devotee, Vasudeva and Devakī. But when He comes, He does the other business. What is that? Vadhāya ca sura-dviṣām. Vadhāya means killing. Sura-dviṣām.

There is a class of men, they are called asuras. They are sura-dviṣām. They are always envious of the devotees. They are called demons. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja and his father, Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu is the father of Prahlāda Mahārāja, but because Prahlāda Mahārāja was a devotee, he became envious. That is the nature of the demon. So much so envious that he was prepared to kill his own son. The only fault is that little boy, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is his fault. The father could not. Therefore they are called sura-dviṣām, always envious of the devotees. Demon means always envious of the devotee.

This material world is so nuisance place that . . . just you have got a very nice example: just like Jesus Christ, Lord Christ. So what was his fault? But the sura-dviṣām, the envious person, killed him. And if we find, if we analyze, what is the fault of Jesus Christ, there is no fault. The only fault he was preaching about God. And still we find so many enemies. He was cruelly crucified. So you'll always find this, sura-dviṣām. So Kṛṣṇa comes to kill these sura-dviṣām. Therefore vadhāya ca sura-dviṣām. These envious persons are killed.

But this killing business can be done without the presence of Kṛṣṇa. Because there are so many natural forces—war, pestilence, famine, anything—just set on working. Millions of people can be killed. So Kṛṣṇa does not require to come here to kill these rascals. They can be killed simply by Kṛṣṇa's direction, nature's law. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā (Bs. 5.44). The nature has got so much power that it can create, it can maintain, it can annihilate, dissolute, everything. Nature is so powerful. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. Sṛṣṭi means creation, and sthiti means maintenance, and pralaya means destruction. These three things nature can do.

Just like this creation, material creation, is natural, nature, cosmic manifestation. It is being maintained. By nature's mercy we are getting sunlight, we are getting air, we are getting rains, and thereby we are growing our food, eating nicely, growing nicely. This maintenance also being done by nature. But at any time everything can be finished simply by one strong wind. Nature is so powerful. So for killing these demons, nature is already there. Of course, nature is working under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). So if Kṛṣṇa says that these demons may be killed, then nature's one blast, one strong wind will . . . can kill millions of them. So for that purpose Kṛṣṇa does not require to come.

But Kṛṣṇa comes, as it is stated here, that yācita. Kṛṣṇa comes when He is requested by devotee like Vasudeva and Devakī. That is His coming. That is the cause of His coming. And simultaneously, when He comes He also shows this, that "Anyone who is envious of My devotees, I kill them. I kill them." Of course, His killing and maintaining, the same thing. He's absolute. Those who are killed by Kṛṣṇa, they immediately get salvation, which requires millions of years to get. So people say like that, that Kṛṣṇa came for this purpose or that purpose, but actually Kṛṣṇa comes for the benefit of the devotees, kṣemāya.

(aside) What is the meaning of kṣemāya? "For maintenance"?

Pradyumna: "For the good."

Prabhupāda: For the good. For the good of the devotees. He's always after seeing good of the devotees. Therefore from this instruction of Kuntī, our business should be always how to become devotee. Then all good qualities will come upon us. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). If you simply develop your devotion, dormant devotion, natural devotion . . .

We have got natural devotion. Just like father and son, there is natural affection. And the son has got natural devotion to the father, for father, for mother. Similarly, we have got our natural devotion. When we are actually in danger, even the scientists, they also pray to God. But when they are not in danger, they defy God.

So therefore danger is required in order to teach these rascals that there is God. So that is natural. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). That is our natural . . . artificially we are trying to banish God: "God is dead," "There is no God," "I am God," "This God," "That God . . ." This rascaldom we shall give up. Then we shall be given all protection by Kṛṣṇa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda . . . (audio end) (Video - 31:02) . . . haribol! (obeisances) (kīrtana) (end)