731002 - Lecture BG 13.08-12 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1973

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

731002BG-BOMBAY - October 02, 1973 - 35:39 Minutes

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

amānitvam adambhitvam

ahiṁśā kṣāntir ārjavam

ācāryopāsanaṁ śaucaṁ

sthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ

indriyārtheṣu vairāgyam

anahaṅkāra eva ca

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-

duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam

aśaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ

putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu

nityaṁ ca sama-cittatvam

iṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu

mayi cānanya-yogena

bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī

vivikta-deśa-sevitvam

aratir jana-saṁsadi

adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ

tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam

etaj jñānam iti proktam

ajñānaṁ yad ato 'nyathā

(BG 13.8-12)

(break)

Prabhupāda: So?

Translation: "Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest; and even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; resorting to solitary places; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance."

Prabhupāda: So we have discussed about the body, kṣetra. The question of Arjuna was kṣetra, kṣetrajna, jñānam and jñeyam. Now kṣetra we have discussed yesterday. Kṣetra, this body, is combination of the five great elements—false ego, intelligence, the unmanifested, the ten senses, the mind, the five sense objects, desire, hatred, happiness, distress, the aggregate, the life symptoms, and convictions. All these are considered in summary to be the field of activities. Yesterday we have discussed.

So we should not mistake this that we accept the field of activities identified with myself. That is going on. Suppose you have got a piece of land as agriculturist, and you produce your food grain in large quantity or small quantity. It doesn't matter. Similarly, this body we are utilizing. We can practically see. Everyone is working with this body in Bombay city. A very poor man is also in Bombay city, and a very rich man is also there. Both of them have the same facilities to work, but we find that one man is working very hard day and night. Hardly he is getting his morsel of food. Another man, simply by going, sitting in the office, earning thousands and thousands. Why? Because the difference of the field of activities. The body is different.

Because one has got a certain type of body, his destination is already there. karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur dehopapattaye (SB 3.31.1). We can study these things, that somebody is living in a poor slum and another man is living in a very palatial building. So simply by endeavoring that, "I shall live in a palatial building, and I shall not live in this poor slum hole," it is not possible, because the destiny is there. Therefore the body is made according to our past karma, and that is called destiny. Your happiness and distress according to the body is already settled up. It is not possible by natural way to improve or disimprove it. It is already settled up. Therefore śāstra says:

tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido

na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ

tal labhyate duḥkhavad anyataḥ sukhaṁ

kālena sarvatra gabhīra-raṁhasā

(SB 1.5.18)

The human life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth. The next paragraph, that describes how one can understand the Absolute Truth: amānitvam adambhitvam ahiṁsā kṣāntir ārjavam. So our life should be utilized for understanding the Absolute Truth, not for economic development. Economic development, what is already destined, you cannot improve less or more. It is already settled up.

There are so many examples. Just like a pig has got a body, he likes to eat stool. If you give him halwā, that "Don't eat stool. Take this nice halwā," he's not interested, because he has got a particular type of body. That is the aggregate. That is already explained. Mahā-bhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam ca, icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkham (Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa). Icchā dveṣaḥ. The icchā and dveṣa according to the body. He has got the desire to eat the stool. That is his icchā. And he has got a dveṣa for the halwā, while a gentlemen, advanced gentlemen, he has got the icchā for halwā, not for the stool.

Therefore our duty should be that without trying . . . that was Indian civilization. Everyone was happy in his position, everyone—brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. The culture was so nice that nobody was unhappy, even if he is a śūdra or even if he is a vaiśya or a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya. It is not that because the kṣatriyas, the royal family, they were happy, and the brāhmaṇas were not happy or the śūdras were not happy. No. Everyone was happy because . . . still in India you go to the village, they are happy with their destination. This is the Indian culture. Now we are injecting discontentment. Injecting. Otherwise, everyone was happy in his position: "God has given this position. So this is all right. Let me do my work." That is satisfaction. Everyone was satisfied. Still it is going on, although great propaganda is going on to kill the Vedic culture. Just as some, in 1971, we attended the Māgh-melā.

(aside) In 1971? Or which year, that Allahabad Māgh-melā?

Devotee: '71.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So people were coming there, thousands and thousands, to take a bath in the Ganges, and they were happy. There in Calcutta there was an Indo-American Society. I was invited to speak there. So they gave me the subject matter "East and West." So . . .

(aside) Don't do . . .

So we . . . so far we are concerned, we have no such distinction, "East" and "West." We know that everyone is human being, and everyone, every living entity, not only the human being, even the birds, beasts, animals, trees, everyone, a living entity is part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7).

So everyone is in ignorance. That is our concern. Our propaganda is not for the East and the West, but our fight is with the ignorance of the people, because at the present moment people are kept in ignorance, in foolishness, that he is this body, bodily identification. But still, there is difference between East and West. In the West, I have talked with big, big professors, learned scholars. They have no idea of next life. I talked with Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He said, "Swāmījī, after annihilation of this body, everything is finished." They have no idea that there is soul. And in India even the poorest man, he knows that "There is next life. I existed in the past, and I will exist in the future." This Vedic conclusion is known even to the poorest man, illiterate man. That is, of course, the difference between East and West.

So anyway, our position is that we should not identify this body as self. Kṛṣṇa says here that:

adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁ

tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam

etaj jñānam iti proktam

ajñānaṁ yad ataḥ anyathā

(BG 13.12)

Adhyātmā-jñānam, to understand oneself as the spirit soul, that jñānam. Adhyātmā-jñānam, tattva-jnanārtha-darśanam. Philosophy should be utilized. Logic and philosophy should be utilized for self-realization, not for simply mental speculation. We find nowadays, big, big philosophers write volumes of book, simply theorizing, without any understanding of the spirit soul. Big, big philosopher. And Kṛṣṇa says that if one simply puts philosophical theories for some utopian ideas, "Now time is coming which will be like this, like that . . ." No. Time is there already. You cannot manufacture time like this or like that. It will go on. It is eternal. It is eternal. Just like Kṛṣṇa has said in the Second Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā that, "Arjuna, you and Me and all the soldiers and kings who have assembled here, it is not that we did not exist in the past. We are existing now, and we shall continue to exist in the future." So this eternity of the soul we do not know. We are simply identifying ourself with this body, and we are simply interested for the bodily comforts of life. This is the civilization, going on.

So although we have got this Bhagavad-gītā, at least in India the education should have been on the line of Bhagavad-gītā for the benefit of the people of India. Unfortunately, nobody is taking care. Even though there are some propaganda of understanding Bhagavad-gītā, they are interpreting in their own way to fulfill their own ambition. This is going on.

So here Kṛṣṇa says, amānitvam. Amānitvam . . .

(aside) What is that amānitvam? Read the purport.

Pradyumna: Purport?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) That is mentioned here. The central point of process of knowledge is mentioned here, mayi ca ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicariṇī. One has to be fixed up on this point. There are eighteen different description of the process of knowledge, but the central point is mayi ca. Mayi ca. Ca means . . . that is the main point. Without Kṛṣṇa, if you simply try to become elevated in knowledge, that will not stand. That will not stand. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says mayi ca. Mayi ca ananya-yogena. Ananya-yogena means without any deviation. Ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī. Without any deviation. Avyabhicāriṇī means without any disturbance. Ananya-bhakti. In another place Kṛṣṇa says, api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk.

api cet su-durācāro

bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ

samyag vyavasito hi saḥ

(BG 9.30)

The central point is bhagavad-bhakti. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. If one is not a devotee of the Lord, Kṛṣṇa, harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ—he cannot possess any great qualities. That is not possible. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ.

We have seen practically. Just like Rāvaṇa: Rāvaṇa was a great personality, a great devotee of Lord Śiva also, and materially his kingdom was very much advanced. It is said that Lanka was made of gold. Actually there were many palaces. And he was a very big Vedic scholar also. But one thing—that he was against Rāma. And for this disqualification he is still described as asura, rākṣasa. So harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ mano-rathenāsato dhāvato bahiḥ. If one is not devotee of the Lord, he will simply concoct on the mental platform. So that will not make.

Rāvaṇa also wanted to make a staircase to go directly to the heavenly planet. Just like we are, at the present moment, we are trying to go directly to the moon planet by Sputnik. But it has failed. It is not possible. In that way we cannot go. If we want to go to another planet, the process is described in the Bhagavad-gītā: yānti deva-vratā devān piṟn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ (BG 9.25). If you want to go to the higher planetary system, then that particular devata, Indraloka, Candraloka—the moon planet is Candraloka; that is also considered as one of the heavenly planets—so you have to prepare yourself by karma-kāṇḍīya activities. Then you can go there by . . . after this body is finished, you immediately transfer to certain planet where you want to go. Similarly, if you want to go to the planet where Kṛṣṇa lives, Goloka Vṛndāvana . . .

goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya

devī-maheśa-hari-dhāmasu teṣu teṣu

te te prabhāva-nicayā vihitāś ca yena

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.43)

There is . . . paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo vyaktyāvyakta-sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). They are described in the Bhagavad-gītā that, "Beyond this material nature there is another nature. That is called sanātana." Paras tasmāt tu bhāva. Bhāva means svabhāva, or nature. As you see this material nature . . . although you are seeing, you cannot go. You are so limited, conditioned. You see so many planets twinkling at night, but there is no possibility of going there. You cannot go to the nearest planet, even the moon planet, by your mechanical arrangement. The modern scientists, the sputniks experts, they say to go the topmost planet of this universe it will take forty thousands of years. Who is going for forty thousand . . . flying forty thousands of years and again come back and see you: "Yes, I went to such-and-such planet"? Is it possible? So we are so poor. It is not possible in that way.

So this is the position of our going to the material planets, and what to speak of the spiritual planets. That is far, far away. You cannot travel within the space of material world.

panthās tu koti-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo

vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām

so 'py asti yat prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.34)

Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara. Not only one year, two years, three years or forty thousand years. Koṭi-śata-vatsara. Koṭi, you know, one hundred times lakhs makes koṭi, and again multiply it by hundred. Koṭi-śata-vatsara. And the speed? What is the speed of that aeroplane? Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi. Aeroplane. Vāyur manasaḥ: and with the speed of mind. Aeroplane running with the speed of mind. You know what is the speed of mind. You are sitting here, and within a second your mind can go some ten thousand miles away, within a second. So even with that speed and running on for koti-sata-vatsara, you cannot go to the spiritual planet. This is the position. So py asti yat prapada-sīmny-avicintya-tattve. So in that way you cannot go.

But you can go if you prepare yourself. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām (BG 9.25). Mad-yājino. Those who are devotees of the Lord, mad-yājinaḥ. That is the principle of Bhagavad-gītā: man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī. Mad-yājī: "You worship Me." So mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām. You can go to the Kṛṣṇa planet. Goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni tale ca tasya (Bs. 5.43). The Kṛṣṇa-dhāma is described in the śāstra, Brahma-saṁhitā:

cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vṛkṣa-

lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam

lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-sevyamānāṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.29)

There is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. That Goloka Vṛndāvana planet is the topmost planet. This material world, then you'll get spiritual world. Then spiritual world . . . as you have got in this material world, this is only one universe. There are millions of universes, even within this material world. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya.

People claim . . . some rascal claim, "I am God." So here is a description of God. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ. Jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ means Brahmā. You have understood Brahmā's duration of life. Sahasra-yuga-paryantam arhad yad brahmaṇo viduḥ (BG 8.17). So Brahmā's one day, twelve hours, you cannot calculate. Sahasra-yuga-par . . . yuga means forty-three lakhs of years, and multiply it by one thousand, and then it comes to be twelve hours of Brahma's ayuḥ. Such Brahmā lives only . . .

Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya. Mahā-Viṣṇu is exhaling and inhaling. When He is inhaling, so many Brahmās are going within, and when He is exhaling, so many Brahmās are coming, means so many brahmāṇḍas are coming. This is the position.

yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya

jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ

viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kāla-viśeṣo

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Bs. 5.48)

That Mahā-Viṣṇu is partial representation of Govinda. Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi.

So this is called knowledge. One has to know what is God, what is the nature of God. So one has . . . the first qualification is amānitvam. Don't be puffed up with your false knowledge. Having this little degree from the university, you are thinking that you have become so learned, you don't care for God even. This is nonsense. Therefore first qualification to make progress in knowledge is amānitvam. Amānitvam. Don't be proud falsely. Our present education is simply teaching people how to become falsely proud. Just like here is, Bhagavad-gītā is going on. They are falsely proud: "Oh, what you have to learn here? We know everything. We know everything. We are M.A., Ph.D. That's all. We have finished all education." Therefore the first thing is amānitvam, pridelessness.

(aside) Go on reading the purport.

Pradyumna: "So if one does not approach or is not able to approach the transcendental service of the Lord, then the other nineteen items are of no particular value. But if one takes to devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the other nineteen items automatically develop within him."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the central point. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanāḥ sarvair guṇair tatra samāsate surāḥ (SB 5.18.12). All the qualities of the demigods, sura . . . sura and asura. Sura means demigods or gods, and asura means demons. So if one becomes devotee of Kṛṣṇa . . . yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanāḥ. Akiñcana, pridelessness. Akiñcana. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Akiñcana-gocara. He can be understood by akiñcana, one who thinks himself as very humble, meek. That is also said in the Bible, that one has to become meek and humble; then he can understand. And that is also Kṛṣṇa demanding that, "First surrender. Become humble and meek." This is the verdict of all Vedic śāstras.

Jñāne prayāsam udapasya namanta eva san-mukhāritaṁ bhavadīya-vartam. This is the statement of Brahmā, that one should give up the nonsense process of mental speculation, "God may be like this; God may be like that." No. God is not manufactured by your mental speculation. God is God always—Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is God from the childhood. When He was three months old He demonstrated His godly power. He immediately killed Sakaṭāsura. He immediately killed Putanā. So He did not become God by meditation, manufactured in some mystic factory. God is God. God is always God. Even when He is child, when He is young man, when He is a boy. Kṛṣṇa, when He was a boy of seven years old, He lifted the Govardhana Hill. That is God. Not that, "Here is a man. By mystic power he has become God." No. That God is different God. Real God is always God.

So akiñcana-gocara. That real God can be realized by a person who is humble and meek. Amānitvam adambhitvam.

(aside) Go on.

(break) "Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The other ninety-nine items automatically develop." Yasyāsti bhaktir-bhagavaty akiñcanāḥ sarvair guṇair tatra samāsate surāḥ. Automatically. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3). This is the Vedic assertion. If you simply understand one, that Kṛṣṇa, then you understand everything. Just like in Bhagavad-gītā. If you try to understand Kṛṣṇa, you get all the knowledge—material, spiritual, everything—practically. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti.

(aside) Go on.

Pradyumna: "The principle of accepting a spiritual master, as mentioned in the seventh verse, is essential."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That knowledge has to be acquired. Ācāryopāsanam, here it is said. You have to worship ācārya. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda. One who has accepted . . . Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has also said, āśraya loiyā bhaje kṛṣṇa tāre nāhi tyaje āra saba more akaraṇa. Āśraya. You have to take shelter. Evaṁ paramparā prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). And Arjuna also said, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). Śiṣyas te . . . ācārya, ācāryopāsanam. Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna, two friends. There was no need of accepting Kṛṣṇa as Arjuna's spiritual master. Still, he is accepting officially. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam: "I am accepting You as my spiritual master. Please teach me."

So this is essential. Ācāryopāsanam. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). This is Vedic instruction. If you at all interested in the understanding of spiritual subject matter, then you must approach a bona fide spiritual master. Tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet. Abhigacchet means "must". It is not that if you like, you can go; if you do not like, you do not. No. You must. Abhigacchet. Samit-pāṇi śrotrīyaṁ brahma-niṣṭam (MU 1.2.12). Tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijṇāsuḥ śreya uttamam (SB 11.3.21).

It is not a fashion to accept one guru. If you are actually interested śreya uttamam, the highest perfection of life—tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta—then you have to accept a guru. This is called ācāryopāsanam. Even Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted Sāndīpani Muni as teacher, master. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is also incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, but He accepted Īśvara Purī as His guru. They do not require guru, but just to keep pace with the official program, even God personally, He accepted spiritual master. So this is essential. Ācāryopāsanam. To become humble, meek, ahiṁsā, non-violence, śānti, tolerance—in this way you have to make progress. The other ninety-nine items will be described by and by. We have to . . . yes. Tomorrow we shall describe.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda . . . (cut) (end)