750719 - Lecture SB 06.01.37 - San Francisco

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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750719SB-SAN FRANCISCO - July 19, 1975 - 30:05 Minutes

Nitāi: "Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued to speak: After the messengers of Yamarāja thus addressed the Viṣṇudūtas, those perfected beings who are personal associates of Vāsudeva smiled and, with voices resounding as the sound of the cloud, gravely spoke the following words."

Prabhupāda:

ity ukte yamadūtais te

vāsudevokta-kāriṇaḥ

tān pratyūcuḥ prahasyedaṁ

megha-nirhrādayā girā

(SB 6.1.37)

So the Yamadūtas, they very politely submitted. They could understand immediately that these persons so nicely decorated, four hands, looking very youthful, all the good qualities . . . So with due submission, they said that "You look so nice, gentle. Why you are interfering with our duties?" Kim arthaṁ dharma-pālasya kiṅkarān no niṣedhatha (SB 6.1.36). So they accepted the submission. Very humbly they submitted, with great respect. Therefore they were smiling. And the word is used here, tān pratyūcuḥ prahasya idam. When there is argument, dealing, if the words are exchanged very politely, so things go on nicely. So prahasya. Prahasya, now they are challenging, the Viṣṇudūta, that "You are claiming to become the servants of Yamarāja, and he is Dharmarāja, he is authority, and how is that you do not know whom to arrest and whom not to arrest? This man is now free from all sinful reaction. How is that you are claiming to be servant of Yamarāja, Dharmarāja, and do not know?" Therefore they were smiling.

So their challenge was that "You are claiming to be servants of Yamarāja, but we are doubting whether you are bona fide servants of Yamarāja. Otherwise why you are committing this mistake?" So this indicates the servant should be as good as the master. That is servant. Because sometimes servants may be challenged. So that is the qualification of Kṛṣṇa's servant. Kṛṣṇa's servant must be always equipped, because they have to meet so many opposing elements, Kṛṣṇa's the . . . Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). There are so many . . . Practically the whole material world is full of duṣkṛtām. They want to create God. They don't want to become servant of God. That is their challenge. Therefore, anyone who is claiming to become servant of God, Kṛṣṇa, he must be well equipped to meet the challenging spirit of others. Prahasya idaṁ megha-nirhrādayā girā. Very gravely enquired from them. What is that enquiry? They said, śrī-viṣṇudūtā ūcuḥ. The Viṣṇudūta replied. Their submission was, "Sir, you are so nice gentlemen. You appear to be coming from the very elevated planets, and why you are interfering?"

So they, with very grave voice and smiling, challenging them. What is that?

yūyaṁ vai dharma-rājasya

yadi nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ

brūta dharmasya nas tattvaṁ

yac cādharmasya lakṣaṇam

(SB 6.1.38)

"So if you are actually servant of Dharmarāja, then you must know what is dharma and what is adharma." Yūyaṁ vai dharma-rājasya yadi nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ. "That will be your bona fide representation. You cannot do any mistake if you are servant of Dharmarāja." Dharmarāja means . . . Here there are so many living entities, of course, in the human society. I have explained many times, dharma, religious system, is in the human society, not in the animal society. The animals does not . . . They have no knowledge; neither they have capacity to distinguish what is dharma, what is adharma. Their business is simply eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That's all. It is the human society, another extra, not only simply eating, sleeping, mating. That is required, because we have got this body. But we have got extra intelligence. Why this extra intelligence? That is for understanding dharma, religion.

But unfortunately, the modern rascal society, they utilizing that extra intelligence than the cats and dog for the same purpose: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is the defect of the modern civilization. In spite of advancement of education, scientific knowledge, technical knowledge, this knowledge, that knowledge, they remain the same cats and dogs. This is the defect. Therefore people are dissatisfied, disappointed. God has given him extra intelligence for understanding God, but they are being misled: "There is no God. You utilize it for your sense gratification." This is education. Extra . . . Therefore they are thinking, "The dog is eating on the street. We are eating in a very good hotel, nice table, nice dishes. This is advancement of life." But they do not think that after all, the dog is eating, you are also eating. You may be a better dog, that's all. So what is your extra business? So a dog is eating only flesh, or meat, because God has ordained. But you are ordained to eat fruits, flowers, nice grain, milk preparation, but you, because you are dog, you are eating meat. The extra intelligence that . . . Because you have got extra intelligence, you should utilize the food for you. Tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam (ISO 1). The Upaniṣad, Vedas, says, "What you are ordained to take or accept . . . Everything belongs to God, but He has given allotment: 'You use like this. You use like this.' " So if you imitate dog instead of human being . . . You are advanced human being. Why should you eat like dog or the uncivilized man? The uncivilized man in the jungle, he does not know how to produce grain, how to prepare many nice preparation. He does not know. But you are civilized man. Why you should eat like dogs and tigers? This is misuse of intelligence.

So therefore, as they are challenging, that first of all, "You are claiming to be servant of Dharmarāja, so let us know what do you know about dharma." So similarly, we should also challenge, "If you are human being, you must know how to live like human being. Otherwise you are animal. If you eat like animal, sleep like animal and have sex like animal and defend like animal, then you are animal." They say that "It is very good to become dog because there is no restriction of sex life. We can have it on the street." They think like that. "This is advancement." The animals wander naked, so man is also trying to become naked, nudyism. This is life. So their extra intelligence is being used like that—very, very abominable condition of the human society. You are the only hope to save them. Otherwise it is doomed.

So the question is, they are challenged, "What is dharma and what is adharma? If you are servant of Dharmarāja, you must distinguish what is dharma." So even though the, what is called, the Yamadūtas, they are not very good-looking as the Viṣṇudūtas, still, this question was put to them to explain. They are not very much civilized, you may say. Still, they are expected to know this distinction. Just see. Even the Yamadūtas were how much advanced, and how we are advanced? We do not know what is dharma, what is adharma, don't make any distinction. Dharma is . . . We have repeatedly said: dharma means to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Simple. And adharma means everything except this. If you don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then whatever you are doing, that is adharma, means nonreligious. Therefore in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra (SB 1.1.2). Kaitava means cheating, false, pretendous. So all kinds of cheating religion is kicked out. Cheating religions, they are teaching that "We can create God. As we can create television, similarly, we can create God." They are teaching, "This is dharma." Just see how degraded they have been. And these things are going on as dharma.

Brūta dharmasya nas tattvam. Tattvam. Tattvam means truth. "Don't talk nonsense. Don't waste time." Tattvam: "In truth, what is dharma?" Brūta dharmasya nas tattvaṁ yac ca adharmasya lakṣaṇam: "And how you distinguish from adharma, nonreligious thing?" Knowledge means you should know both things, not one side. You must know what is religious system and what is not religious system. Simply one side is not full knowledge. Upayaṁ ca cintayet prajñā. Apayaṁ ca cintayet. Just like if you want to do some business, you have calculated that "I shall invest so much money, and I shall get so much profit. So let us do this business. It is very nice." But śāstra says, "No, you have simply calculated the profit, and you also calculate no profit, not one-sided." Similarly, to know dharma, you must know adharma also, the opposite side. If you know white, you should know what is black. Otherwise the knowledge is not . . . Relative. This world is . . . If you know the father, then you must know the son. Or if you know the son, then you must know the father. So in the religious system, if one knows the son, the further improvement is to know the father. That is required. Otherwise incomplete. If you simply know the son of God, then it is incomplete. If you know the father of the son of God, then it is complete.

So here in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement there are . . . In all other religious system, they say that "Our this leader is son of God." Somebody says, "He is . . . Our leader is a servant of God." So now, because you did not know who is the master, who is the father, therefore gradually it has dwindled. Now we must know. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is awarding, "Here is the father of the son of God—Kṛṣṇa. Here is the master of the servant." This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So there is no quarrel with other religious system. They know simply the son of God, but they do not know who is the father of the son. That is Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the seed-giving father." Whose father? Sarva-yoniṣu: "In all forms of living entity." Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya sambhavanti (BG 14.4). Beginning from the microscopic living entities up to the Brahmā, the biggest. So Kṛṣṇa claims that "I am the father of Brahmā as well as the microscopic germ." Sarva-yoniṣu. So you should know. And if anyone understands Kṛṣṇa, how He is father of Brahmā and father of this microscopic germ, then he becomes perfect, immediately. Therefore Kṛṣṇa recommends, janma karma ca me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). The tattva, truth, if you simply try to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, how He is father of Lord Brahmā and how He is father of the microscopic germ, and if you in truth understand what is this microscopic germ and what is this Brahmā, what is this human being, what is this tiger, what is this tree, so to know Kṛṣṇa means to know everything.

Therefore in the Vedas it is said, yasmin vijñāte sarvam idaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3): "If you simply understand Kṛṣṇa, then you become full knowledge." That is complete knowledge. Etaj jñānam. This is . . . Bhagavad-gītā says, "This is knowledge." If you simply study Kṛṣṇa, so what is the difficulty? Kṛṣṇa is explaining Himself. Suppose if you want to study somebody, you may guess that this body, this man, may be like this, like that. That is going on all over the world, what is God. Some theosophist, some theo . . . sophist and theologist, all are speculating, "maybe," "perhaps," "this," "that." And the God is explaining Himself, "I am this, like this," that they will not take. Just see. God is canvassing that "Here I am. I have come." Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). "I have appeared before you just to give you relief." Paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. "You are trying to understand Me, so here I am. I am present. Why you are thinking God is formless? Here I am, Kṛṣṇa, form. You see, I have got My flute in the hand. I am very much fond of the cows. I love the cows and the sage and Brahmā, everyone equally, because they are all My sons in different bodies." Kṛṣṇa is playing. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Still, these rascals will not understand Kṛṣṇa. So what is Kṛṣṇa's fault? It is our fault. Andha. Just like the owl. Owl will never open the eyes to see that there is sunlight. You know this, owl? So they will not open. However you may say, "Mr. Owl, please open your eyes and see the sun," "No, there is no sun. I don't see." (laughter) This owl civilization. So you have to fight with these owls. You must be very strong, especially the sannyāsīs. We have to fight with the owls. We have to open their eyes by force from this, with machine. (laughter) So this is going on. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is a fight against all the owls.

So here is a challenge: yūyaṁ vai dharma-rājasya yadi nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ. Nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ. Servant means they have no second choice than to carry out the orders of the master. Therefore nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ. They cannot argue. No. Whatever is ordered, that is servant. So if anyone claims to become . . . He is expecting the . . . I think . . . Here the Viṣṇudūtas are also mentioned here, vāsudevokta-kāriṇaḥ. They are also servant. So ukta means whatever order is given by Vāsudeva, they carry out. Similarly, the Yamadūtas, they are servant of Yamarāja. They are also addressed nirdeśa-kāriṇaḥ: "If you are actually servant of Yamarāja, you act according to his direction. Then you must know what is dharma and what is adharma."

So they are actually bona fide servant of Yamarāja, there is no doubt about it. Now they are giving their identification in this way, yamadūtā ūcuḥ veda-praṇihito dharmaḥ (SB 6.1.40), immediately answered. "What is dharma?" That was the question. Immediately answered. They know what is dharma. Veda-praṇihito dharmaḥ: "Dharma means what is explained in the Vedas." You cannot create dharma. Veda, the original knowledge. Veda means knowledge, Veda-śāstra. So from the time of creation, the Veda was given to Brahmā. Veda . . . Therefore it is called apauruṣeya; it is not manufactured. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tene brahma hṛdā ādi-kavaye (SB 1.1.1). Brahma, brahma means Veda. Vedas another name is brahma, spiritual knowledge, or all knowledge, brahma. So tene brahma ādi-kavaye hṛdā. So Veda has to be studied from the spiritual master.

So it is said that the Brahmā is the first living being who understood Vedas. So how he understood? Where is the teacher? There is no other creature. How he understood Vedas? Now, that teacher was Kṛṣṇa, and He is situated in everyone's heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). So He is teaching from the heart. So Kṛṣṇa teaches—He is so kind—as caitya-guru, from the heart, and He sends His representative from outside. Caitya-guru and guru, both ways, Kṛṣṇa is trying. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. So therefore Vedas, they are not man-made books. Veda, apauruṣeya. Apauruṣeya means not made by . . . We should not take Vedas as ordinary, mental speculation book. No. It is perfect knowledge. It is perfect knowledge. And one has to take as it is, without any adulteration, interpretation.

So it is spoken by God. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā is also Veda. It is spoken by Kṛṣṇa. So you cannot make any addition, alteration. You must take it as it is. Then you get the right knowledge. Vedas, how . . . The example is given, perhaps you know, several times, that the Vedas, how it should be accepted as it is, without interpretation. Just like Vedas says that if you touch stool, immediately you have to take your bath. You have become impure. This is Vedic injunction. If you touch bone, then you have become impure. You have to take your bath immediately, full. Then Vedas say, "Now, the stool of cow is pure, cow dung." Now, with your reason you can say, "First of all you said that stool is impure, and as soon as you touch you must take your bathing; otherwise you remain impure. So another stool, cow stool, you say pure? This is contradiction. You say that the bone is impure, and you are keeping the bone in the Deity's room?" The conchshell is bone. You know this conchshell is a bone of an animal. So it is being used in the Deity room, and the cow dung is also used in the Deity room. Even Kṛṣṇa is smearing His whole body with cow dung. You know Kṛṣṇa's līlā. So if you say, argue, with your poor knowledge, then it becomes contradiction. One stool is good; another stool is bad. But because it is said by the Vedas, you have to accept it. This is Vedic knowledge. You cannot argue. There is no scope of argument. Whatever is said, you have to accept. Otherwise how Vedas become authority? You can change in your own way.

So therefore we say that if you want to take benefit by reading Bhagavad-gītā, then you should accept it as it is said. Don't try to interpret foolishly. Then you will never get the benefit. That is our propaganda. And people are very against us: "No, I am a scholar. I am a philosopher. I can interpret in any way." We say, "No, sir, you cannot do that." This is our propaganda. Veda-praṇihito dharmaḥ.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end).