740224 - Lecture BG 07.09-10 - Bombay

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740224BG-BOMBAY - February 24, 1974 - 36:26 Minutes

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

puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca

tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau

jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu

(BG 7.9)

Prabhupāda: Next verse also.

Pradyumna: (leads chanting of verse etc.)

bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

viddhi pārtha sanātanam

buddhir buddhimatām asmi

tejas tejasvinām aham

(BG 7.10)

(leads chanting of synonyms for both verses) (break)

Translation: "I am the original fragrance of the earth, and I am the heat in fire. I am the life of all that lives, and I am the penances of all ascetics. O son of Pṛthā, know that I am the original seed of all existences, the intelligence of the intelligent and the prowess of all powerful men."

Prabhupāda:

puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca

tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau

jīvanaṁ sarva-bhūteṣu

tapaś cāsmi tapasviṣu

(BG 7.9)

Puṇyo gandhaḥ: it may be original, also the fragrant. Just like there are some flowers like rose, the fragrance is very nice. Of course, all fragrance is varieties, but pṛthivyāṁ ca, the fragrance is coming from the earth. It is not synthetic fragrance. So the same earth, the same watering, the same, what is called, sāra? For growing the trees, you . . .

Devotee: Manure.

Prabhupāda: Manure. The same manure, same water, the same gardener, but according to different flowers, the fragrance is different. How this is done? Can any scientist answer? How it is coming differently? And why there are differences? If it is nature, then the ingredients are the same. Why nature is not producing the same quality or the same kind of flower or trees or fruits? Why? Therefore it is answered in the Bhagavad-gītā that nature is not all in all. Nature cannot work independently. Nature is the material world, material elements.

So it is answered there in the Bhagavad-gītā: mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10). There is superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. He, He likes that, "This kind of bīja, or the seed, will produce this kind of flower and this kind of flavor." The superintendence is there of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. We fools, we say, we cannot explain. We say "nature." What is this nature? There must be brain behind the nature. Otherwise, how a rose, so nicely it is coming? Even from artistic point of view, if you want to paint one flower, you have to take so much labor, so many color, reflection, and so many instrument, then hardly you can paint one nice rose flower. Still, it is not as good, and not at all good in comparison to the original flower. So if this third-class flower you have to apply so much brain, and this first-class flower has no brain behind it? Is that very good logic? What is this logic? There must be brain. And that is stated here: puṇyo gandhaḥ pṛthivyāṁ ca tejaś cāsmi vibhāvasau (BG 7.9). Aham. "It is My . . . under My superintendence."

So Kṛṣṇa is giving us intelligence that, "If you do not go to the temple or do not hear to the ācārya, you can at least try to understand My presence when you see a flower or smell a flower." Is that very difficult job? Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice. Even drinking water, even by seeing the sunshine, even by seeing the moonshine or, if you are a Vedic scholar, by chanting oṁ, praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu, or even by hearing the sound vibration, or by seeing a flower, or smelling a flower, something brilliant . . . just like the sun is brilliant, the moon is brilliant. Tejaś cāsmi. So wherefrom this brilliance come? The brilliance is imitation, reflection of the bodily brilliance of Kṛṣṇa. That is stated in the Brahma-sūtra, er, Brahma-saṁhitā: yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi (Bs. 5.40). Then why we should disbelieve? We can see eye-to-eye that the sun is so brilliant. It is a material product only. But wherefrom the sun has come, so brilliant? Yac cakṣur eṣa savitā sakala-grahāṇāṁ rājā samasta-mūrti . . . samasta-sura-mūrtir aśeṣa-tejāḥ (Bs. 5.52). The brilliance and the temperature is unlimited. So wherefrom the brilliance comes? You can calculate yourself that, "The sun is composition of these chemicals, this material . . ." but why don't you produce? Why don't you produce an imitation sun so that you'll save so much money for electricity? At night you can get one sun in Bombay city. (laughs) (laughter)

So the rascals will give all description, but they'll never be prepared to prepare it, to manufacture it. Recently . . . it is a practical . . . in California one learned chemical scholar—he has got Nobel Prize—so he was describing that, "From matter, life has come." So there was one student, he's my disciple, Svarūpa Dāmodara. He questioned, "Sir, if I give you all these chemicals, can you produce life?" Then he said: "That I cannot say." But if you know that these chemical composes life, so when I give you the chemicals, why don't you produce? So simply theorizing. Simply theorizing. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyaḥ (Bs. 5.34).

So we cannot decide by theorizing. But if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, here is the perfect knowledge, that aham, "I am the background." Otherwise, how we can explain? You have to accept that . . . (break) Svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8). Just like if you have to paint one flower or if you have to create some scent, you have to mix so many chemicals. But He's so powerful, His energies are so perfect, that svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca: simply by His willing, immediately, everything is there. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate (CC Madhya 13.65, purport). That is the appreciation of the energy of God. If you are not appreciating, that is your fault—but there is brain, there is work. But the energy is so perfect . . . just like nowadays, electric, electronic energy, you simply push on one button and so many things happens immediately. It is still, still, hundred thousand times subtler. Simply by His willing, everything has come out. This is understanding. But because we have no such brain, neither we can think, we evade the issue. Therefore if we want to understand how this flower has come in, how this fragrance is there, you try to understand that it is due to Kṛṣṇa. And appreciate. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You appreciate, "Oh, my Lord is so . . ."

There is a story, I shall—it is not story or take it as story—that sometimes Nārada Muni was passing, and one very learned scholar, Brāhmin, he saw Nārada Muni, and he asked Nārada Muni, "Sir, where you are going?" He said: "I am going to Vṛndāvana . . . er, yes, Vaikuṇṭha, to see my Lord." "Oh, you are going there?" Nārada Muni has got free passage to everyone. So, "Will you ask Nārāyaṇa when my liberation will come?" "All right, I shall ask." Then he met another cobbler. He was sewing shoes. So he also asked: "Sir, where you are going?" "Now I am going to Vaikuṇṭha to see my Lord." So, "Will you ask when I shall get salvation?" So Nārada Muni noted, "All right, I shall ask." So when Nārada Muni met Nārāyaṇa, he, after finishing his business, he asked the two men's question that, "These two men, one very learned scholar, Brāhmin, he also asked me this question, and the cobbler also asked me." So Nārāyaṇa said: "This cobbler will get his salvation after finishing this life, and this Brāhmin will have to take . . . wait for many, many births."

So Nārada Muni became very much inquisitive, "How is that?" So when he came back, first of all he met the Brāhmin. He inquired, "Did you inquire, sir, about me?" "Yes, yes. He said that you have to wait many, many births . . ." No, He did not say many, many births. Kṛṣṇa said . . . Nārāyaṇa said that, "When you meet them again, you say that, if they inquire 'What my Lord was doing at that time?' you say that 'He was pulling one elephant from the hole of a nail,' " what is called?

Devotees: Needle.

Prabhupāda: Needle. So when he met the Brāhmin he said . . . and he inquired, "What Nārāyaṇa was doing when you met Him?" "I saw that He was pulling one elephant through the hole of a needle." So he immediately said, "All right, sir. Namaskāra. Your all these big, big stories we cannot believe, that an elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle." And the same question was raised by the cobbler, and he . . . Nārada Muni replied in the same way. And he began to cry, "Oh, my Lord is so powerful. He can do anything." So Nārada Muni inquired that, "How do you believe that the elephant is being drawn through the hole of a needle?" "Now, why not? I am seeing daily, I am sitting under this banyan tree and there is fig, banyan fruit, and there are thousands of seeds, and I know that each seed's containing a big tree like this."

That's a fact. Everyone knows. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10). Here Kṛṣṇa says, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Is there any chemist, just get one small seed like the fig seed? It is very small, but it contains that big tree. Where is that chemistry? Where is that physics? So here is the answer. Kṛṣṇa says, bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi. Big, even this big, gigantic universe, that is also bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. It is stated in the Vedic literature, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ (Bs. 5.48). There are so many things. Everyone is inquisitive, "Where is the beginning of this thing?" The beginning is the Supreme Lord. That is the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Beginning is there. So you cannot say that life has come from matter. That is not possible. Because here it is said, Kṛṣṇa says, that bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām. Anything which has come into existence, the original source is Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa is life. He's not dead stone. Therefore the conclusion is: from life, life has come and matter has come. Not that matter has come from life . . . er, what is that? Life has come from matter. That is not the conclusion. That is wrong conclusion.

So if you actually require perfect knowledge, then we have to accept knowledge this, like this way. It is called avaroha-panthā. Avaroha-panthā means a descendence, or deductive process. So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we claim that we have got perfect knowledge of everything because we are taking knowledge from the perfect person—Kṛṣṇa. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ (BG 4.2). And that is the real process. If you simply speculate to arrive at the conclusion, inductive process . . . just like if you want to study whether man is mortal or immortal, there are two processes. Deductive process, you take the idea from superior person that man is mortal. If you accept, then your knowledge is perfect. But if you want to approach the knowledge by inductive process, by studying each man, whether he is mortal or immortal, you may study thousand, two thousand, five thousand, but you cannot study all the men. Therefore your conclusion remains always defective. You cannot do that. Therefore the best process is knowledge is to receive from the person who is authorized. Actually, you do that. We go to a school, we go to college, to receive knowledge from the superior person. That is our process. That is perfect knowledge. You cannot manufacture knowledge.

Therefore real knowledge of everything can be had from the Bhagavad-gītā. If you study it nicely, it is very easier and perfect. Bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ viddhi pārtha sanātanam (BG 7.10). Sanātanam. Sanātanam means eternal. It is not that bīja, that which is produced and again it is vanquished. Sanātanam. In another place Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. The all living entities . . .

sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya

sambhavanti mūrtayaḥ yāḥ

tāsāṁ mahad yonir brahma

ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā

(BG 14.4)

Aham, the person. He is the . . . just like the father gives the seed in the womb of the mother and the child comes out. Similarly, sarva-bhūtānām, not only human being, but also all living entities. There are 8,400,000 species of living entities. The original bīja, the seed, the seed-giving father is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is international or inter-universal. Kṛṣṇa is not a Hindu or Indian or this or that. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. So I have explained to my foreign students, American, European and African and other that, "Kṛṣṇa is for everyone. Don't take it that Kṛṣṇa is for the Hindus, for the Indians, or for the Brāhmins or the Kṣatriyas. No. Kṛṣṇa is for everyone." Therefore our society's name is "Kṛṣṇa Consciousness."

So our only request is that, "Take Kṛṣṇa as the original father." Original father. It is very easy to understand. As I have got my father, my father has got father, his father, his father his . . . who is the original father? The original father is Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). So where is the difficulty to understand? There must be one original father. If you go on researching who is the original father, then you'll come to the conclusion that Kṛṣṇa is the original father.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ

anādir ādir govindaḥ

sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam

(Bs. 5.1)

This is the Vedic version. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Father's father, his father, his father, you go on, go on, you come to Brahmā. Brahmā is considered as the forefather or grandfather, pitāmaha. But Kṛṣṇa is addressed in the Bhagavad-gītā: prapitāmaha, even the father of Brahmā. Prapitāmaha. You'll find in the Eleventh Chapter, prapitāmaha (BG 11.39). He's father of . . . tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). You know, those who are conversant with the śāstras, that Brahmā's another name is Svayambhū. He's not born of any material father and mother. He's born on the lotus flower sprouted from the navel of Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Therefore his name is Svayambhū. Svayambhū is one of the authorities because he was first educated about the Vedic knowledge by Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu. Tene brahma hṛdā. Brahma means Vedic knowledge. Tene means imparted. Ādi-kavaye, the ādi-kavi, the original person. Tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ. Even big, big personalities, they become bewildered to understand Kṛṣṇa. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says . . . we have already discussed:

manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu

kaścid yatati siddhaye

yatatām api siddhānāṁ

kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ

(BG 7.3)

So Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Person. Kṛṣṇa is the original of everything, original source of everything. That is the verdict of the . . . therefore Arjuna accepted, sarvam etad ṛtaṁ manye yad vadasi keśava (BG 10.14): "My dear Kṛṣṇa, whatever You are saying, I accept Him, accept all these in toto, not deducting, not giving my own commentation." This is the way of studying Bhagavad-gītā. So if you study Bhagavad-gītā as it is, as it is said in the . . . and if you accept it, then your life is successful. Otherwise, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām (Bs. 5.34), you'll never understand what is God or what is ultimate source, what is Absolute Truth.

So the Bhagavad-gītā is the essence of all Vedic literatures because, after all, Vedic literature means vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15), to understand Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the purpose of Vedic study. So the Supreme Personality Himself is giving the knowledge of the Supreme by Himself, personally. Therefore we are preaching this Bhagavad-gītā as it is, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And the easiest method is to chant Kṛṣṇa's name. Easiest method. It is recommended. It is not our manufacture. It is said. When Mahārāja Parīkṣit learned all the defects of this Kali-yuga, then he was little disappointed, "How these men or the persons . . .?" Men means human being. "How they will be relieved from the miserable condition of materialistic life in this age of Kali?" Because it is all defective.

Now, it is stated in that chapter that in the Kali-yuga the mlecchā rājanya-rūpiṇo bhakṣayiṣyanti prajās te. The government will be all mlecchas, not the Kṣatriyas. Mlecchas. Mlecchā rājanya-rūpiṇaḥ. They'll take the post of government post, government service. And their business will be bhakṣayiṣyanti prajās te: they'll devour all the prajās. And in this way the prajās will be so much, I mean to say, distressed that gacchanti giri-kānanam. Gacchanti giri-kānanam. They will be so much, I mean to say, harassed that they will give up their home and hearth and go to the forest. That time is coming. That time is coming. It is no more that Brāhmin, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya . . . therefore human civilization, there is no human civilization if there is no such division as Brāhmin, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya, Śūdra. That is not human . . . that is animal civilization. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa . . . (BG 4.13). Everything is there. Social, political, economical, all solutions are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. But unfortunately, it is our property, it is . . . it was spoken in India, and it was desired that all Indians should learn it and spread the knowledge all over the world—the rascals are doing nothing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu ordered, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra (CC Adi 9.41). It is for the perfect human being. Janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra. The other parts of the world, they're in darkness. So there is great necessity of spreading the knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā all over the world. The customers are also ready. So if you want glory of India, if you want to glorify your life, just study Bhagavad-gītā as it is and spread it all over the world. You'll be honored. Single-handed, whatever I have done, they are thinking wonderful. And if we have got many, many persons to go outside India and preach this gospel of Bhagavad-gītā, they will be benefited and you will be glorified. Your country will be glorified. This message of Bhagavad-gītā, it is a fact, it is not story.

So people are fed up with this wrong type of civilization. This is not civilization. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca (Hitopadeśa). Day and night. This is also warned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma

yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti

na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam

asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ

(SB 5.5.4)

Ṛṣabhadeva said that, "These rascals, pramattaḥ," pramattaḥ, "has become mad." Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma: "Always engaged in mischievous activities," these rascals, these materialistic persons. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. "They have become mad, and their business is . . ." Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Karma, akarma and vikarma. Vikarma means activities which are forbidden in the śāstra. Just like according to Vedic principles, at least a Brāhmaṇa, a leader, a king should avoid these four principles of sinful activities. What is that? Meat-eating, illicit sex life, gambling and intoxication. At least, these four men, who is leading the public or who is a Brāhmaṇa or who is a king, he must be very much cautious about . . . but just see what is the . . . everyone, practically, they are addicted to these sinful activities. So therefore they are mad, pramattaḥ. Vikarma. These are forbidden in the śāstras, and they are doing that. Why? Because they are mad. Why they are so mad? Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Now, yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti: "Simply for sense gratification." That's all. Simply for sense gratification. Not for any big word, but to satisfy the senses. "Oh, oh, my tongue is asking for a cigarette, asking for wine. All right, give the tongue wine." Why? Without cigarette, without wine, you shall die? "No, I want to satisfy my tongue." Indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti. "So why it is sinful?" It is sinful in this way, that . . . nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti, na sādhu manye (SB 5.5.4). "Oh, it is not good." Yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada. Ātmā, ātmā is eternal, but he is covered by this material body. Asann api. You can say, "All these material bodies, they are for a few years." But it is kleśada, it is so much miserable. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu . . . (BG 13.9). People have lost their brain. They do not know what is actually unhappiness, miserable condition. They have no . . . "All right . . ." That is all . . . animals, the animals do not know. He's going to the slaughterhouse: "Alright, let me go." That's all.

So this kind of civilization will not make you happy, sir. You have got . . . bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya janma haila . . . (CC Adi 9.41) You have taken your birth in the puṇya-bhūmi, in the sacred land of Bhārata-varṣa. Here is your knowledge. Take it and be successful in your life.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. (end)