761114 - Lecture SB 05.05.27 - Vrndavana

Lectures by Date, 1976

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 Listen to a 'Nectar Drop' created from this lecture

761114SB-VRNDAVAN - November 14, 1976 - 29.30 Minutes

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

mano-vaco-dṛk-karaṇehitasya

sākṣāt-kṛtaṁ me paribarhaṇaṁ hi

vinā pumān yena mahā-vimohāt

kṛtānta-pāśān na vimoktum īśet

(SB 5.5.27)

(break) Translation: (01:40) "The true activity of the sense organs—mind, sight, words and all the knowledge-gathering and working senses—is to engage fully in My service. Unless his senses are thus engaged, a living entity cannot think of getting out of the great entanglement of material existence, which is exactly like Yamarāja's stringent rope." (break)

Prabhupāda:

mano-vaco-dṛk-karaṇehitasya

sākṣāt-kṛtaṁ me paribarhaṇaṁ hi

vinā pumān yena mahā-vimohāt

kṛtānta-pāśān na vimoktum īśet

(SB 5.5.27)

So the entanglement is made by the senses. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has sung that śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, jīve phele viṣaya-sāgore. This body is covering of ignorance, śarīra avidyā-jāl. Everyone has got a material body, and according to the different proportion of ignorance (child loudly crying in background) (aside) This child is so crying. From three miles we can hear. (laughter) Balanaṁ rodanaṁ balam. This is strength of the children: crying. They can disturb the whole world (laughter) simply by crying. So just see. This is the body, immediately. You cannot cry like that. Even if you are aggrieved, you cannot cry so loudly that up to four miles one can hear. That is not possible. Why it is not possible? Because he has got a different body and you have got a different body. Everything is going on according to the body. This is mahā-vimoha. This is going on, 8,400,000's of different forms of body according to mano, vaca, dṛk, karaṇa, etc. This body is the entanglement, and the senses are the instruments, and we are acting with the senses and we creating another type of body. This is going on. Śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl.

Therefore the first business is how to purify the senses. Bhakti means that. Bhakti, devotional service, means purifying the senses. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said . . . what is that verse, the body and the senses? I forget now.

Hari-śauri: Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhuḥ?

Prabhupāda: Ah, very good. Thank you. Indriyāṇi parāṇy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ, manasas tu parā buddhiḥ (BG 3.42). These are finer. This body means indriya, and finer than the indriyas is the mind. And finer than the mind is intelligence. And finer than the intelligence is the soul, very minute part and parcel of the Supersoul. That is also mentioned: keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca (CC Madhya 19.140). So minute, you cannot imagine it. Keṣa agra, the tip of the hair, it is a small point. Divide into ten thousand, then you can get an idea what is the measurement of the soul. Keśāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya, jīva bhāgaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ. Everything, measurement, is there. It is not that without body. It is. There is body. And the impetus is coming from there. Intelligence is working, then mind is producing the senses, and the senses are transforming into a gross body. This is material existence. How finely it is. Where is the science? The rascal do not know except this body. Dehātma buddhi.

Therefore one who sticks to this body only, gross body, atheist class . . . just like in our country the Cārvāka, he says, bhasmī-bhūtasya dehasya kutaḥ punar-āgamano bhavet: "Why you are thinking of next birth? It is not possible. We see this gross body is burnt into ashes. And where is the soul? Who is coming back again? Don't care for all these things. Live happily. Eat, drink, be merry and enjoy." Yāvaj jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet. This philosophy is going on: "There is no mind, there is no intelligence, there is no soul, only this gross body, and so long we possess this gross body, let us enjoy the senses." But this is called, it is described, mahā-vimoha. This is the greatest bewilderment, mahā-vimoha. So because people have no education how we are existing in this material world, vimohana, vimūḍha, prakṛti, how nature is working . . . prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā (BG 3.27). Vimūḍha. Mahā-vimoha. This rascal is thinking that there is no other life. That is not the fact. It is very great entanglement.

So intelligent person, they will try to get out of this śarīra avidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl, to get out of these gross senses. Senses are there. The spirit soul is a person. Person. As Kṛṣṇa is person . . . just like the father is person, the child is also person. It cannot be otherwise. Or if the child is a person, the father must be a person. Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). So all living entities, we experience it that we are all persons. Even a small insect, a small ant, it is a person. An ant is going this way. If you stop, it will struggle: "Why you are stopping me?" That is person. It will try its best to go this way and this way to avoid your checking. You will find it by practical experience. Even a small ant, it has got all the propensities. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna, these propensities—eating, sleeping, sex, and fearing—you will find everywhere. Viṣayaḥ sarvataḥ puruṣya. Viṣaya. Viṣaya does not mean to become rich man. Viṣaya means enjoyment of the senses. That is called viṣaya. Viṣaya chāriyā, se rase majiyā, mukhe bolo hari hari. This is instruction, that we can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, we can chant the holy name of the Lord, purely, without offense. Because if we can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra once only—if it is pure—then immediately you become liberated. Ekara hari name yata pāpa hare, pāpi haya tata pāpa karibāre nare. Hari-nāma is so powerful that once chanting immediately vanquishes the accumulated sinful reaction of millions of lives. Pāpi haya tata pāpa karibāre. Every pāpi, sinful man, is very expert in committing sinful activities. But hari-nāma is so expert that once chanted, the pāpi, the sinful man, will be failure to commit sin anymore.

But the difficulty is that we cannot come to the pure stage of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Due to our past habits our mind is disturbed. We cannot concentrate. Therefore we have fixed up the minimum. We cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura. That is not possible. If somebody imitates Haridāsa Ṭhākura . . . we can see this chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and smoking bīḍī. We can understand what is the position. The offense is going on. Therefore we should try to avoid the ten kinds of offenses. Of course, in the beginning the offenses will continue. But chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting, as soon as we become purified . . . ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam (CC Antya 20.12). By chanting, chanting, chanting repeatedly, when our the core of heart will be cleansed, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, then immediately bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam, this mahā-vimoha . . . this is mahā . . . this is bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. They do not know that what kind of position we are now passing through. Kṛṣṇa says the same thing: mṛtyu saṁsāra vartmani. Mām aprāpya nivartante mṛtyu saṁsāra vartmani (BG 9.3).

So we are rascals, we do not know what is that mṛtyu saṁsāra vartmani. We have dismissed everything, all instruction of the śāstra, all instruction of Kṛṣṇa, all instruction of guru. We have all dismissed, "Oh, these are all mythology. There is no life after death." This is going on, maha . . . Ahaṅkāra vimūḍhātmā. Vimudhātmā. This is the position. We should understand that what is our position. But they have become so dull, just like a stone or a tree. You cut it; it does not respond, does nothing. But if there is life, little pinching—immediately, "Why you are pinching?" That is the difference between life and dead body, or jaḍa and cetanā. So long one is not conscious, he's as good as the stone or the wood. Therefore sometimes Vaiṣṇava poets say that amāra lid pasanta bolo na, pasan hole bolo yato. We have created such a strong heart of material existence that it does not respond even after suffering so much. This is our position.

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to bring him to the right position of consciousness. Consciousness we have got. The more it is covered, dull, it cannot respond. But it can be brought into the proper existence, and the process is hearing, hearing. Go on hearing, hearing. Kṛṣṇa has given us one chance, this ear. If we properly use it . . . therefore Vedic knowledge is to be heard, hearing. Listen. It is therefore called śruti. The Vedic instruction has to be gotten from the right person through aural reception.

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

(SB 1.2.17)

So this is the process, that we should engage our ear to receive the knowledge, Vedic knowledge, very attentively. And therefore we have to approach to the proper person and inquire and hear. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam. Tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā (BG 4.34). Not to hear like animal, but paripraśnena sevaya. Then our knowledge will be developed. This is the process.

So mano-vaco-dṛk-karaṇehitasya sākṣāt-kṛtaṁ me paribarhaṇaṁ hi. So we can worship the Lord by mind, by words, by seeing—all senses. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170). (aside) You sit down. Yes. Hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Bhakti means hṛṣīka. Hṛṣīka means the senses, karaṇa. Mano-vaca. Mind is the king of the senses. So mind is also one of the senses. Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati (BG 15.7). Mind and the indriyas combined together, we are trying to be happy in this material world, but there is no happiness, simply struggling. Prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho bhuṇkte prakṛti-jān guṇān (BG 13.22). He is put into this prakṛti, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhi, bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4). So we are put into this prakṛti. Bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ buddhi mano. These are material. There is also mana. Mind is subtle matter; it is not spirit. So in this way, separated energy and the jīva, the living entity, although he is part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, he wanted to enjoy life separately or independently without Kṛṣṇa, and that is called material world, struggle for existence. Without Kṛṣṇa. Therefore he has to come to Kṛṣṇa. If he wants to stop his struggle for existence with mind and senses, then he must come to Kṛṣṇa. That is the natural position.

But these rascals are not taught about Kṛṣṇa, but they are already in ignorance and they are kept into ignorance. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). These rascals, they do not know that his real self-interest is how to approach Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, therefore comes personally just to show His causeless mercy upon them, to exhibit Himself, how He can be friend to everyone. Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntiṁ ṛcchati. If you want śānti, then you must accept Kṛṣṇa, suhṛdaḥ. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaraṁ, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 5.29). He is friend of everyone; therefore He comes. He is not only friend of Arjuna. Arjuna is symbolic friend. He is instructing Arjuna Bhagavad-gītā, His friend, but He is friend of everyone. Suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām.

So we must take advantage of the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. It is not meant for . . . Arjuna is already liberated, but he is placing himself as one of us just to take the lessons of Kṛṣṇa for the benefit of the whole world. Arjuna, who is living with Kṛṣṇa as friend not only in one life . . . bahūni me janmāni vyatītāni tava cārjuna (BG 4.5). So Arjuna is always with Kṛṣṇa. He cannot be in ignorance. Kṛṣṇa-sūrya-sama, māyā andhakāra, yāhāṅ kṛṣṇa tāhāṅ nāhi māyāra adhikāra (CC Madhya 22.31). Who is constantly living with Kṛṣṇa, he has no ignorance, but he's putting himself as ignorant. Just like Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is asking question from Rāmānanda Rāya. Does it mean that Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not know; Rāmānanda Rāya . . . no. Just to make a scene that how we can get knowledge from hearing from the authorities. Similarly, Arjuna placed himself—it is a theatrical stage—that ignorant. But actually he is liberated. When Arjuna was advised to practice haṭha-yoga, he said, "Kṛṣṇa, it is not possible for me."

cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa

pramāthi balavad dṛḍhaṁ

tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye

vāyor iva suduṣkaram

(BG 6.34)

"I cannot do this." He was frank enough. Or on behalf of us he said frankly that "It is impossible," at least in the Kali-yuga, "to control the mind." Yoga indriya saṁyamaḥ. It is not possible. Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham (BG 6.34). Five thousand years, Arjuna is denying to accept this yogic process. "It is not possible to give that. I am a politician. I am a military man. I have to fight. I have to see so many things. How can I control my mind? It is not possible."

So that is fact. This controlling the mind by the yogic process, by meditation, is impossible. It was possible in the Satya-yuga: kīrte-yajñāya . . . (break) . . . read so many śāstras, the essence of the śāstra. That is the duty of the ācārya. The essence of the śāstra should be presented to the fools and rascals so that, just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He presented Himself before His guru that guru more mūrkha dekhi' karila śāsana (CC Adi 7.71): "My guru found Me a great rascal." Caitanya Mahāprabhu was not a rascal, but He presented Himself as a rascal because we are rascals. These people of this age, they are all rascals. Therefore He presented Himself, guru more mūrkha dekhi' karila śāsana: "My guru saw Me a great rascal; therefore he has asked Me, chastised Me, that 'You rascal, You cannot understand Vedānta. You cannot read even.' " Mūrkha tumi nāhi tomāra vedānta adhikāra: "You cannot read Vedānta." That means the rascals of this age, what they will understand with Vedānta? They will simply misrepresent. They will simply mislead the persons. You see so many big, big politicians, scholars, simply misleading people from Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is spoken on the battlefield, and they want to prove that it is nonviolence. In this way people are being misled.

Therefore avoid this rascal process, to read something and interpret in a different way. Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to do that. Guru more mūrkha dekhi karila śāsana. So we should not try to become very learned scholar by misreading the Vedic literature. Take the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Not Caitanya Mahāprabhu—the śāstra, the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa. Sādhu śāstra guru vākya (Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura). Sādhu will not speak anything which is not in the śāstra. That is sādhu. Sādhu cannot manufacture anything. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said that,

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalaṁ

kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir . . .

(CC Adi 17.21)

Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa as many times as possible and be liberated.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)