740712 - Lecture SB 01.16.22 - Los Angeles

Lectures by Date, 1974

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

740712SB-LOS ANGELES - July 12, 1974 - 38:04 Minutes

Nitāi: (leads chanting of verse, etc.) (Prabhupāda and devotees repeat)

kiṁ kṣatra-bandhūn kalinopasṛṣṭān

rāṣṭrāṇi vā tair avaropitāni

itas tato vāśana-pāna-vāsaḥ-

snāna-vyavāyonmukha-jīva-lokam

(SB 1.16.22)

(Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation of vyavāyonmukha)

(break)

"The so-called administrators are now bewildered by the influence of this age of Kali, and thus they have put all state affairs into disorder. Are you now lamenting this disorder? Now the general populace does not follow the rules and regulations for eating, sleeping, drinking, mating, etc., and they are inclined to perform such anywhere and everywhere. Are you unhappy because of this?"

Prabhupāda:

kiṁ kṣatra-bandhūn kalinopasṛṣṭān

rāṣṭrāṇi vā tair avaropitāni

itas tato vāśana-pāna-vāsaḥ-

snāna-vyavāyonmukha-jīva-lokam

In this Kali-yuga everything is topsy-turvied. The Vedic way of life . . . for living condition, we require to eat, we require to take bath, we require to sleep, we require to have sex also. Everything must be in regulative principle. Because human life means regulative principle. Unfortunately, the human life has become irregulated than the animal. This aśana, pāna, vāsaḥ and snāna, and sexual intercourse, there is, at the present moment, there is no regulative principle. The Vedic principle is early in the morning one must take bathing, then worship the Deity, read Vedic literature, mantra, then offer foodstuff to the Deity, then take prasādam. Everything is regulative principle. And it is the duty of the government to see that these regulative principles are being observed by the citizen. This is government. The Vedic system, these brāhmaṇa, the topmost class of the human society, their business is to study the Vedas, paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. Ideal character, very learned. Still in India . . . now it is formality, a brāhmaṇa is called paṇḍitajī. Paṇḍita means very learned. Without being very learned scholar, one cannot become brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava is farther above the brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa vis the preliminary qualification for becoming a Vaiṣṇava later on.

So how this principle should be observed? Just like government, still they regulate. In your country there are so many regulative principles. Just in the shop, foodstuff or fruits, they should not be too old or rotten. The inspector is there. If there is not to the standard, they are thrown away. Similarly, not only . . . only these stores and shopkeepers, but even in household affairs, there should be government inspection. That is stated in the śāstra. Whether a man who is professing to become a brahmin, whether he is following strictly the brahminical rules and regulations, satyaṁ śamo damas titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam (BG 18.42). Similarly, kṣatriyas, whether he is powerful, he is brave, he has got forwardness to fight. When there is fight he does not go back, and whether he is making charity. The kṣatriya qualifications also there. And similarly, the vaiśya qualification, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṇijyam (BG 18.44): whether one who is professing to become vaiśya, whether he is making agricultural attempt, giving protection to the cows and making trade. And śūdra-karma, paricaryātmakam. Śūdra's business is to serve these higher class: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Śūdra cannot live independently. That is śūdra.

Nowadays the education is that nobody can live independently. Higher education means if he does not get a suitable service, then it is useless. Nobody. The education means nobody can live independently. One takes titles in education degrees, "agriculturist." But he does not go to the field actually to act as agriculturist, kṛṣāṇa. No. He is finding some job in some school, college, how to teach agriculture. Nobody goes to the land practical, how to plow the land, how to produce food grains. Simply theoretical knowledge. "I am teaching you; you are teaching," that's all. This is going on. No independence.

So why this has happened? Because here it is said, kiṁ kṣatra-bandhūn. Kṣatriya, the administrator class, the government. So in Kali-yuga they will take charge of the administration or government, but they are not real kṣatriya. They are less than śūdra. So how the government will be nice? Therefore it is lamentable, that those who are not kṣatriyas, they are taking the position of government officers. And further it is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Twelfth Canto, kriyā hīnā . . . they are not following the rules and regulation of kṣatriya or brāhmaṇa. Still they are claiming to become brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya or vaiśya. And there is a mercantile class nowadays, interested in business, but business is one of the item of the vaiśya. The first business is to become agriculturist. Vaiśya. Vaiśya class, they are meant for making arrangement for our eating. That is also required. Kṣatriya is meant for give us protection, and the brāhmaṇa means to give us the ideal life, what is the goal of life, and śūdras, they cannot do anything of these . . . therefore they are śūdra.

So in the Kali-yuga the śūdras . . . śūdra means the last. Less than śūdra, the caṇḍāla, they are taking the part of kṣatriya or brāhmaṇa or vaiśya. That is the effect of this Kali-yuga. Therefore it is very lamentable. One must be trained up. This very word kṣatra-bandhu means even though one is in the royal family, but he cannot administer. Just like in England . . . now the royal monarchy is finished all over the world. Even there is monarchy in some countries, just like in England there is monarchy, the queen is there, but the queen is also uneducated. She does not know how to rule. It is an official post only. The parliamentary sanction, simply she signs, that's all. She has no power to rule over. So power or no power, in Kali-yuga, the administration will be done by less qualified, no qualified men. Kim kṣatra-bandhūn kalinā upasṛṣṭān. The system will be disturbed on account of this Kali-yuga. Kalinā upasṛṣṭān rāṣṭrāṇi. Rāṣṭrāṇi means states. Tair avaropitāni, "put into disorder."

So in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you will find everything, whatever is necessity, for the advancement of human civilization. Everything is there described. And knowledge also, all departmental knowledge. Even astronomy, astrology, politics, sociology, atomic theory—everything is there. Vidyā-bhāgavatāvadhi. Therefore if we study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam very carefully, then you get all knowledge completely. Because Bhāgavata begins from the point of creation. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Vedānta. It is the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra. Vedānta means the essence of cream of Vedic knowledge. That is Vedānta. That cream of Vedānta knowledge is further explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So we are publishing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Our students specifically, they should take care of reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have therefore prescribed in our school, Dallas, that let them simply learn Sanskrit and English, because English translation they will be able to read, and the Sanskrit verses are there. And from the very beginning, if they begin education with Bhagavad-gītā and then comes to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and reads the whole literature, then they will be more than M.A., Ph.D. More than. The knowledge will be so advanced, these ordinary university degrees, M.A., Ph.D.

Because the essence of knowledge is there. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam idam (SB 1.1.3). It is stated that what is the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That nigama-kalpa-taru. Nigama means Vedas. It is just like kalpa-taru, desire tree. We have no idea of desire tree, what is desire tree. It is in the Vaikuṇṭha-loka. The trees are desire tree. Desire tree means from any tree you can get any fruit or anything you want. That is called desire tree. Here it is fixed up: you can get mango from the mango tree. But in the desire tree, whatever you want, you can get. So kalpa-taru. Kalpa-taru means any departmental knowledge that you require to execute your human form of life, so that you will find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalam (SB 1.1.3). Galitaṁ phalam. Fruit . . . generally whatever fruit we eat, that is not galitaṁ phalam. Galitaṁ phalam means the fruit matured in the tree. Here we artificially mature. We take the fruit unripe, and by artificial method, we get it ripened. But that is not acceptable. But the fruit which is ripened fully in the tree, that is very palatable, sweet. Nigama galitam. Galitaṁ phalam, fully matured fruit, this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Fully matured fruit of the desire tree known as Vedas.

So in this verse we find that due to mismanagement of the government, people will have no regular principle even for taking bath or eating or sleeping or sexual intercourse. And another point is here, that vyavāya unmukha-jīva-lokam. They can give up eating, they can give up sleeping, they can give up everything, but cannot give up sex life. And the Vedic civilization is to avoid sex life. Just like these hippies. Hippie means they have given up bathing, given up eating, given up sleeping, but they cannot give up sex life. And everyone, not only the hippies . . . vyavāyonmukha. Ultimately, so many yogīs, incarnation and others, others, are coming in your country, but they cannot give up the sex life. You have seen advertisement, so many yogīs, they are having sex life. So many incarnation of God, (laughter) having sex life. You see? Big, big sannyāsīs, svāmīs.

Long, long ago some svāmī came here. He returned with three woman, and we do not wish to discuss. Many more. You see. The sex life is very strong in this material . . . in this age. But sex life should be regulated. Not that anywhere and everywhere, or any time. Therefore the population is unwanted population. One irregular sex life produced the Hiraṇyakaśipu. Hiraṇyakaśipu's mother became very sexually agitated, and she wanted to sex, with her husband, intercourse, And just in the evening. Kaśyapa Muni, he said: "No, no, this is not the time, proper time." But she was insistent. So the result was two demons were born.

So everything should be regulated. But in this age there is no regulation, there is no knowledge. Less than animals also. They have sex life at a certain period of the year, not always. But human being has become so low-graded that . . . and that is due to Kali-yuga. Therefore it is very lamentable. Everything is topsy-turvied. It is no regular. It is the Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy that we are reforming the whole society very simple way—chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. You see? It is so nice. You see? The examples are here. It is no story. Simply by chanting. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā

(CC Adi 17.21)

There is no other alternative. Simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Everything will be reformed. Life will be polished, and everything will be successful. This is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Human being, he is also a soul. Animal is also a soul. Everyone. But the human form of life is meant for God realization, athāto brahma jijñāsā. This is Vedānta-sūtra. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā (SB 1.2.10). Not only human being, everyone. But everyone less than human being, they cannot inquire about the Absolute Truth: "What is the aim of life? What is the Absolute Truth? What I am? What is my relationship?" These things are the subject matter for discussion in the human form of life.

But unfortunately, on account of Kali-yuga, the heart being full of dirty things, they cannot think of the aim of life, how to achieve it. That is called Kali-yuga. Therefore so much fallen socially, politically, economically, culturally, everything, religiously, we are so fallen and downtrodden that the only method, as recommended in the Vāyu Purāṇa and other Purāṇas: kalau nāsty eva . . . kalau means "in this age of Kali," nāsty eva, "there is no other alternative." And factually, by spreading this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we are seeing practical result. The most wretched, most rotten, they are coming to life, they are understanding the value of life, the aim of life, and they are trying to be elevated more and more. Of course, it is an attempt. Not that everyone will be successful. But if everyone follows the simple rules and regulation, he will be successful. There is no doubt about it. There is no doubt about. The four simple regulative principle: no illicit sex, no meat-eating, no gambling, no intoxication, and chant sixteen rounds. Very simple method.

Because the difficulty is they do not know what is the aim of life. The aim of life, that we are conditioned by this material nature, embodied by the material elements, and that is the cause of our all miserable condition of life. Therefore Ṛṣabhadeva says, nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Pramattaḥ. We are so mad under the bodily . . . everyone is under the . . . big, big scientists also, they are also. They don't believe there is soul, big, big scientists, politicians, philosophers. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). They remain animals. If anyone has taken this body as the self . . . yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ. So the modern Kali-yuga is very, very dangerous for the human being. They are given chance by the laws of nature, "Now take your birth as human being." Because to get a body as a human being or as a demigod or as a king or as a lower-class man or as an animal, as an . . . that is not in our hand. That is in the nature's hand.

Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). I have several times explained: as you are infecting yourself with the quality of material nature, you get a different type of body. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu (BG 13.22). The lower and higher grade of life, different types of body, how we get? That is explained in the Bhāgavata here. Kāraṇam. Kāraṇam means reason, cause. What is that cause? Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. The living entity, the soul, is associating with certain quality of the material nature, and therefore he is getting different types of body. We are all living entities, even the trees and plants and cats and dogs. But why there are so many different species of life, 8,400,000 species of life? Why? The reason is given in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṇaṁ guṇa-saṅgaḥ asya. The guṇa-saṅgaḥ. As we are infecting the quality of this material nature, we are getting. This is completely in the hands of the material nature.

So therefore it is the duty of the human being how to get out of the control of the material nature. That is the greatest science. But they do not know it. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ. The rascals have become mad. Pramattaḥ means mad. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma. Simply acting sinfully. If they are advised that, "Don't do this. This is very dangerous. You will be involved again in the birth and death cycle . . ." They have no knowledge what is birth, what is death, what is this body, what is the aim of . . . no. Simply blind animals. Simply blind animals. And still, they are going under the name of scientist, philosopher, politician. This is the misfortune of the present age.

So nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma yad indriya-prītaya āpṛṇoti. The same thing is explained here: vyavāyonmukha-jīva. Indriya-prītaye. Simply for sense gratification they are doing anything nonsense, as madman. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute yad indriya-prītaye. What is the aim? Aim is not self-realization. Aim is how to satisfy. "Never mind. Risk everything. Satisfy your senses." Therefore real civilization is to teach the children from the very beginning of life how to control senses. That is called brahmacārī. That is called brahmacārī life, to learn how to control the senses.

So everything is topsy-turvied, and five thousand years ago or more than that, these things were being discussed, and people were very sorry that very bad days were to come. And still we can predict. There is no . . . it does not require very much advanced knowledge. In the śāstra it is stated what will be the later ages of Kali-yuga. That is also stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The beginning is already there. Anāvṛṣṭyā kara-pīḍitāḥ. One side there will be no rainfall. Now yesterday somebody was telling that in this California, the rainfall is now not so much. I think Jayatīrtha. So rainfall will be practically very, very little. Anāvṛṣṭi. And another difficulty will be kara-pīḍitāḥ. One side there will be famine, scarcity of food, no rainfall, and another side there will be excessive taxation by the government. So people will be so much disturbed. Because you have no food. You are . . . there is scarcity of rain; you cannot produce food. And at the same time, government will give some morsel of food and levy taxes. So durbhikṣa-kara-pīḍitāḥ (SB 12.2.9), disturbed, yāsyanti giri-kānanam, ācchinna-dāra-draviṇā yāsyanti giri-kānanam. Being disgusted, they will give up their family and children, separated, and they will go to the forest or the hills. This is another. And another will be, there will be no more available these food grains, especially wheat, rice and milk. These will be finished.

So very, very bad days are awaiting in this Kali-yuga. Therefore it is our duty to finish this business of material life and go to home, back to home, back to Godhead. That is business. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. Haribol Prabhupāda. (end)