730501 - Lecture SB 01.08.39 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

730501SB-LOS ANGELES - May 01, 1973 - 33:25 Minutes

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

neyaṁ śobhiṣyate tatra

yathedānīṁ gadādhara

tvat-padair aṅkitā bhāti

sva-lakṣaṇa-vilakṣitaiḥ

(SB 1.8.39)

(break)

Prabhupāda: Word meaning.

Pradyumna: na—not; iyam—this land of our kingdom; śobhiṣyate—will appear as beautiful; tatra—then; yathā—as it is now; idānīm—now; gadādhara—O Kṛṣṇa; tvat—Your; padaiḥ—by the feet; aṅkitā—marked; bhāti—is dazzling; sva-lakṣaṇa—Your own marks; vilakṣitaiḥ—by the impressions.

Translation: "O Gadādhara (Kṛṣṇa), our kingdom is now being marked by the impressions of Your feet, and therefore it appears beautiful. But when You leave, it will no longer be so."

Prabhupāda: So in the Cāṇakya śloka there is a very nice verse:

śarvarī-bhūṣaṇaṁ candra

pṛthivī-bhūṣaṇaṁ rājā

nārīṇāṁ bhūṣaṇaṁ patiḥ

vidyā sarvasya bhūṣaṇam

Everything looks beautiful when one is related with something in very intimate relation. Just like at night the sky becomes beautiful when there is moon. Everyone can understand. The sky becomes . . . the sky is there, vast sky, at night. But on the full-moon night, when the moon is there and the stars are there brilliantly, it looks very nice.

Similarly, the state looks very nice if there is good government, good king, good president. Then everyone is happy, everything going on nicely. Similarly, nārīṇāṁ bhūṣaṇaṁ patiḥ. A girl looks very beautiful . . . girls are naturally beautiful. But she looks very beautiful when she has got a husband. Nārīṇāṁ bhūṣaṇaṁ patiḥ. And vidyā sarvasya bhūṣaṇam: but if a person, however ugly he may be, if he's learned scholar, that is his beauty. Similarly, there are kokilānāṁ svaro rūpaṁ nārī-rūpaṁ pati-vratam. These are there.

Similarly, everything will look very beautiful when Kṛṣṇa is there. When Kṛṣṇa is there. So Kuntīdevī is thinking that "When Kṛṣṇa will be absent, our this kingdom will not be beautiful. So long Kṛṣṇa is with us, we Pāṇḍavas, our kingdom, Hastināpura, everything beautiful." It is said, tvat-padair aṅkitā bhāti. "Kṛṣṇa, You are now in our kingdom. You are walking. So by the impression of Your footprints, everything is beautiful. There is sufficient supply of food, fruits, water. Everything looks beautiful. But when You leave us, then it will not look beautiful." That is being described. Neyaṁ śobhiṣyate. Śobhiṣyate. "It will not look beautiful."

So it is not only applicable when Kṛṣṇa was present and Kuntī was speaking. It is not that the truth was there. It is always. With the advancement of our civilization, if we don't bring . . . we cannot . . . if we cannot bring Kṛṣṇa in the center, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then it will never become beautiful. This is the philosophy. You bring Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Practically anyone can appreciate that this . . . you are all boys and girls. When you were outside this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just think over, your beauty was there, but at the present moment, because you are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you look very, very beautiful. That's a fact. Nobody can deny it. You compare with other boys and girls and the boys and girls here. Anyone . . . in your country, they have given you the name "bright-faced." Do you know? The newspapers. Yes. In Philadelphia, one lady was inquiring that "Are you Americans?" Perhaps you know all these things.

So actually your countrymen, those who are sober, they are seeing that, "How these boys and girls are becoming so nice, jolly, beautiful." Because at the present moment in your country all young generation mostly they are confused, hopeless. We see every day—morose, black-faced. Why? Because they're missing the point. There is no aim of life. But these devotees, Kṛṣṇized, they look so beautiful. Why? Because Kṛṣṇa is there. That's all. It is a fact. Any sane man will admit.

So what is fact now, what is . . . what was fact before, during five thousand years ago when Pāṇḍavas were there, that Kṛṣṇa in the center, everything becomes beautiful—that can be done at any time. Kṛṣṇa is always there. Simply you have to invite Him, "My Lord, please come and be in the center." That's all. Everything will be beautiful. The same example, sometimes as I give you, that there are zero . . . zero has no value. But you bring one by the side of zero, it becomes ten times beautiful, immediately. So our point is that you do whatever you are doing. We don't stop you. We never say that "Stop everything of material . . ."

But we have to stop anything which is against Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because we do not stop . . . it doesn't mean that we shall not stop meat-eating. We must stop. This is against advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You cannot commit sinful activities. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). Kṛṣṇa says that "You surrender unto Me, and I shall rescue you, make you liberated from all kinds of sinful reaction."

Every one of us, life after life, we are committing simple sinful activities, knowingly or unknowingly. Knowingly, I may kill one animal. That is sinful certainly. Even we do it unknowingly, that is also sinful. Just like while we are walking on the street, we are killing so many ants, unknowingly. So in our ordinary dealings—while cooking, while taking water, while using pestle and mortar for smashing spices—we are killing so many animals. So unless we remain Kṛṣṇa conscious, we are liable to be punished for all these unknowingly committing sinful activities.

Knowingly, of course, you'll be . . . that's a fact. Unknowingly. Knowingly or unknowingly. Just like fire. A child unknowingly touches the fire. Does it mean the fire will excuse the child? No. The nature's law is so strict, so stringent, that there is no question of excuse. In the ordinary law also, ignorance is no excuse for legal obligation. If you go to the court, and if you say: "My lord, I did not know that the result of this action is this, criminal," that is not pleading that you will be excused.

So therefore Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be there. If we actually want to be free from the reaction of sinful life that we are doing, knowingly or unknowingly, then Kṛṣṇa consciousness must be there. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi (BG 18.66). Therefore it is recommended, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Always we have to be engaged in chanting: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma . . . so that Kṛṣṇa will save us. Knowingly we cannot commit any sinful activities. That is one thing. Unknowingly also we cannot do it. Then we'll be liable.

Therefore if you remain in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if you always keep Kṛṣṇa within your mind, then . . . just like when the sun is there, there cannot be any darkness. Similarly, if you keep kṛṣṇa sūrya, the Kṛṣṇa sun . . . that is our motto in the Back to Godhead: kṛṣṇa sūrya sama māyā andhakāra (CC Madhya 22.31). Kṛṣṇa is just like brilliant sunshine, and the māyā, ignorance, is just like darkness. But when or while or where the sun is there, there cannot be any darkness. Similarly, you keep Kṛṣṇa in consciousness always, there cannot be any ignorance; there cannot be any darkness. You'll be walking very freely in bright sunshine of Kṛṣṇa. Don't try to make Kṛṣṇa absent. That is Kuntī's prayer. "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are going to Dvārakā . . ." This is an example. They are not going. Kṛṣṇa is not going from the Pāṇḍavas.

Just like in Vṛndāvana. In Vṛndāvana, when Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana for Mathurā . . . so in the śāstra it is said, vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya na padam ekaṁ gacchati: Kṛṣṇa does not go even one step from Vṛndāvana. He doesn't go. He's so much attached to Vṛndāvana. Then we see that Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana, went to Mathurā. So how is that, He went so far away? And did not return for many years? No. Kṛṣṇa actually did not leave Vṛndāvana. Because since Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana, all the inhabitants of gopī, they were simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa and crying. That's all. That was their business. Mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, Rādhārāṇī, all the gopīs, all the cows, all the calves, all the cowherd boys, their only business was to think of Kṛṣṇa and cry. Absence, separation.

So Kṛṣṇa can be felt, Kṛṣṇa can be present more acutely in separation. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching: to love Kṛṣṇa in separation. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu in separation: govinda-viraheṇa me. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me (Śikṣāṣṭaka 7). He was thinking that "Everything is vacant without Govinda, without Kṛṣṇa." So everything is vacant, but Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there. That is the highest perfectional . . . when we'll see everything is nothing, simply Kṛṣṇa consciousness is there, that is the highest. That is the gopīs' . . .

Therefore gopīs are so exalted. Not for a single moment they could forget Kṛṣṇa. Not for a single moment. Kṛṣṇa was going in the forest with His cows and calves, and gopīs at home, they were disturbed in the mind: "Oh, Kṛṣṇa is walking bare-footed. There are so many stones and nails. There is pricking Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet, which is so soft that we think our breast as hard when Kṛṣṇa puts His lotus feet. Still He's walking." They are absorbed in this thought. And they are crying. So they are so anxious to see Kṛṣṇa back home in the evening that they are standing on the way, on the roof: "Now Kṛṣṇa is coming back with His . . ." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is . . . Kṛṣṇa cannot be absent from a devotee when he's too much absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So here Kuntīdevī is very much anxious that Kṛṣṇa will be absent. But the effect will be, when Kṛṣṇa will be absent physically, He will be more, I mean to say, accurately present within the mind of the devotee. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teaching is that vipralambha-sevā. By His practical life. He's finding out Kṛṣṇa: govinda-viraheṇa me. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. What is that verse? Cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam. Cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam, śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me. He's crying like torrents of rain coming out of the eyes, and He's feeling everything vacant for want of Kṛṣṇa. Separation. Vipralambha. So sambhoga and vipralambha. There are two stages of meeting Kṛṣṇa. Sambhoga means when He's personally present. That is called sambhoga. Personally talking, personally meeting, personally embracing, that is called sambhoga. And there is another, vipralambha. The two ways a devotee can be benefited.

At the present moment, when we are in this material world, we do not see directly Kṛṣṇa. We see Kṛṣṇa . . . just like I was explaining in the sea beach. We see Kṛṣṇa indirectly. Just like if you see the Pacific Ocean, you can remember Kṛṣṇa immediately if you are advanced. How you can remember Kṛṣṇa? You can think of. That is called meditation. Not some rascaldom. This is meditation. Now you can think of the Pacific Ocean, that "Such a vast mass of water, and so many big, big waves. I am standing a few yards from it, but I am safe. I am safe.

Because I am confident that this ocean, however powerful it may be, however its waves are very fearful, I am sure it will not come up to this." How it is happening? Now, yasyājñayā: by the order of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has ordered, "My dear Pacific Ocean, you may be very big and powerful, but you cannot come beyond this line." You can remember immediately Kṛṣṇa, God: "God is so powerful that even this Pacific Ocean is abiding the order, obeying the order of Kṛṣṇa." In this way you can think of Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

You see the sunrise, immediately you can remember Kṛṣṇa. If you have read Bhagavad-gītā, it is stated there, prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ (BG 7.8): "I am the shining of the sun. I am the shining of the moon." So if you have learned how to see Kṛṣṇa, you can see in the sunshine Kṛṣṇa. You have not created the sunshine. You have not created the sun, you so-called scientists. You can talk all jugglery of words only, but it is beyond your capacity to know what is the sun. It is beyond your capacity. You cannot know. But you can know śāstra-yonitvāt. The Vedānta-sūtra says: through the śāstra. Just like in the Brahma-saṁhitā, about the sun it is stated:

yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ

rājā samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ

yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakro

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.52)

Now you study this Vedic literature, what is this sun. The sun is described as the eyes of all the planets. Now you think over, meditate. Yes, it is a fact. Because unless there is sunrise, then . . . you cannot see at night. That is not possible. And what is the sun? Sun is the eyes of the Lord. This is one . . . moon is one eyes, and the sun is one eye. And in Veda, in the Upaniṣad, it is said when Kṛṣṇa sees, then you can see. When Kṛṣṇa sees. So Kṛṣṇa is seeing with His eyes, the sun, then you can see. This is fact. You cannot see anything if Kṛṣṇa does not see.

So you think over of the sun. Then what is the sun? Now, it is the king of all planets, rāja. Rāja means king. Samasta-sura-mūrtiḥ. And what is the nature? Aśeṣa-tejāḥ: unlimitedly hot. Unlimitedly. Aśeṣa-tejāḥ. Then what is his function? Yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ. Sun has got his orbit. So God has ordered that, "You just travel within this orbit—not here, not there." The scientist says that if the sun is moved a little this side, the whole universe will be ablaze, and if it moves this side, the whole universe will be frozen.

But by the order of the Supreme, it is neither going even . . . even one ten-thousandth part of an inch this side or this side. Exactly in the line. Exactly during, in the time, fixed time, at 5:30 it must rise. So there must be some discipline. There must be some obedience. There is some order. In this way the śāstra says, yasyājñayā bhramati sambhṛta-kāla-cakraḥ. By whose order the sun is moving in the orbit? Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi: "I worship that original person, who is giving direction even to the sun, even to the ocean, even to the moon. Everything is going on under His order."

So where is the difficulty to understand God? There is no difficulty. If actually one is sane man, if he has got some brain substance, not stool substance, then he can understand God in every step. Every step. Every step. Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhāsmi śaśi-sūryayoḥ śabdaḥ khe . . . (BG 7.8). Everything explained there. Why they speak lies that, "I have not seen God"? Why don't you see God as God directs you to see? Why do you manufacture your own way? You cannot see God by your own way. That is not possible. Then you will remain always blind.

That is happening at the present moment. The so-called philosophers and scientist, they are trying to see God in their own way. And it is being supported by rascals that, "You can find out in your own way to see God." That is not possible. You cannot see God in your own way. You have to see God by God's way. Then you can see Him. It is not possible to see God in your . . . what you are? Just like if I want to see President Nixon, can I see him in my own way?

So how you can expect to see God in your own way? Is it not rascaldom? I cannot see even an ordinary man in big position in my own way. I have to apply, I have to take the sanction of the secretary, appoint some time, and so on, so on. And I am expecting to see God in my own way. And these rascals are supporting this view that "You can see God in your own way. As many ways you invent, they're all bona fide." This is rascaldom.

So the world is full of rascals and fools. Therefore God consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, has become a vague idea. Otherwise, if one wants to see God as Kuntīdevī is requesting, that "You remain always . . ." one can keep God always within his heart. He's always there. Therefore we have to apply as it was done by Mahārāja Ambarīṣa: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18).

We can use our senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. First thing is that we have to fix up our mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Then . . . mind is the center of all sensual activities. If your mind is absent, in spite of having your eyes, you cannot see; in spite of having your ears, you cannot hear. Therefore mind is considered the eleventh sense. There are ten senses—five working and five knowledge-acquiring—and the mind is the center.

So indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ. Everything is there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ (BG 3.42). Kṛṣṇa is explaining that we take the senses as very prominent. But beyond the senses there is another, superior thing. That is mind. Beyond this mind, there is intelligence. And beyond this intelligence, there is soul. So how they can appreciate existence of soul if they cannot understand the psychological movement of the mind? Behind that mind there is intelligence. They . . . ultimate, utmost, they can approach to the intellectual platform. But one has to go beyond the intellectual platform to understand what is soul or what is God. Otherwise, it is not possible.

So everything is there, but we have to understand through the right channel. Therefore Vedic information is, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12). This is Vedic injunction, that if you actually serious about understanding that supernatural transcendental subject matter, you must approach a bona fide spiritual master.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)