Lecture at the House of Mr. Mitra

Devotee: [introducing tape] The following lecture is the first lecture delivered at the house of Mr. Mitra by Śrīla Prabhupāda, re-taped from the Mitras' tape recorder on the day of the second meeting. [break]

Prabhupāda: …movement of Kṛṣṅa consciousness in the Western countries. This movement may be new in the Western countries, but in our country it is well known since a very, very long time. From historical point of view we can take it from Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā that this movement is as old as five thousand years old. And before that, as we learn from the Bhagavad-gītā, that this system of yoga, Kṛṣṅa consciousness, was first explained by Lord Kṛṣṅa to Vivasvān, the sun-god.

imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave 'bravīt [Bg 4.1]

[The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.]

So if we take the age of Manu, it comes to about forty millions of years. So the first son of Manu, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, the first king in the dynasty, Raghu-vaṁśa, so he also learnt this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. And then again, because the disciplic succession, chain, was broken, in course of time Kṛṣṅa again said to Arjuna in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. So taking it from the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra, it is five thousand years old. And Lord Kṛṣṅa wanted that everyone should become Kṛṣṅa conscious.

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 9.34]

[Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.]

That is the instruction of Kṛṣṅa.

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66]

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

So why this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is required? That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, that,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29]

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

Kṛṣṅa, or in general term you can say God, but God's name can be Kṛṣṅa… If God has any name, the first-class name is Kṛṣṅa, because Kṛṣṅa means "all-attractive." And actually Kṛṣṅa, when He was present personally, He was all-attractive.

So Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā about peace formula. People are very much anxious for peace in the world. There are so many organizations, just like the United Nation organization. When in New York we see this office of this big organization, hundreds of thousands of flags, national flags. So the United Nation is trying to establish peace in the world.

So far we are concerned from the history, Mahābhārata, we understand that there was only one king throughout the whole world. Up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit there was only one king ruling over the world [indistinct Sanskrit] -pati, and there was one flag. But at the present moment, although we are very much advanced in the education, in economic condition and many other things, we have got many flags in the United Nation. In other words, we are becoming more and more disunited. Instead of becoming united, we are becoming disunited.

What is the cause? The cause is lacking of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁśāntim ṛcchati [Bg 5.29]

If you actually want śānti, then you have to accept this formula of śānti as enunciated in the Bhagavad-gītā: that Kṛṣṅa, or God, is the enjoyer, only enjoyer. He is the complete whole. Just like this body is a complete whole: the limbs are part and parcel of the body, but the real enjoyer of this body is the stomach. The leg is moving, the hand is working, the eyes are seeing, the ears are hearing.

They are all engaged in the service of the whole body. But when there is the question of eating or enjoying, neither the fingers nor the ears nor the eyes but only the stomach is the enjoyer. And if you supply foodstuff in the stomach, automatically the eyes, the ears, the fingers—any, any part of the body—will become satisfied.

Similarly, Kṛṣṅa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ: "I am the supreme enjoyer." So when we forget that Kṛṣṅa is the supreme enjoyer and we try to compete with Kṛṣṅa, or becoming…, try to become a false Kṛṣṅa, then the whole trouble begins.

The... Therefore this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is very essential to preach that the supreme enjoyer is Kṛṣṅa, or God. He is the proprietor of everything, sarva-loka-maheśvaram—not only of this planet; there are millions and trillions of universes, and in each universe there are millions and trillions of planets. All of them, they are…, the proprietor, the only proprietor, is Kṛṣṅa. The trouble is that we are creating false proprietorship; therefore instead of being united we are being disunited, and the flags are increasing. That's all. Competition.

There is a story; perhaps most of you know in Sanskrit there is a story, Udarendriyāṅām. There was a conference of all the limbs, that "We are working so hard, and the stomach is only eating." So they made a strike, that "We shall no more work. Let the stomach starve!" But after some days when stomach was starving, the limbs themselves became weak. So this is a very instructive story.

So we are trying to forget God, and the result is we are more and more in entanglement. This is the defect of the modern civilization. In the universities there are so many departments of knowledge, but there is no department of knowledge, "What is God. What I am. What is my relation with God." There is no such department—the most important department. And this human body, this human life, is especially meant for this purpose: to realize God. Otherwise, what is the reason?

[break] We had an animal body.

āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca samānam etat paśubhir narāṅām [Hitopadeśa 25]

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

Eating, sleeping, sex intercourse and defense—these four principles are common either to the animal or to the man. The animal also eats, the animal also sleeps, the animal also has sex intercourse, and he knows in his own way how to defend. So these things are natural in animal.

So this human being, human society, also becomes simply busy with these four principles of bodily demands, he is no more than an animal. He may be very polished animal, but if we simply follow these four principles of life, demands of this body, then we are simply animal. The only... Therefore Vedānta-sūtra says, athāto brahma jijñāsā: now, in this human form of life, one should be inquisitive to understand what is Brahman. That is the first business of human society. But they have now forgotten.

There is a nice Bengali verse. It is said like this:

kṛṣṅa bhuliya jīva bhoga vañcha kare pāśate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta]

[When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion.]

So that as soon as one forgets Kṛṣṅa, or God, and wants to enjoy this material world, immediately māyā, or the illusory energy, captures him. So that is our position; we should know. This life, this human form of body, is especially meant for self-realization, God-realization, or Brahman-realization, whatever you call it: athāto brahma jijñāsā.

And what is the definition of Brahman? As soon as the question is that "Now this life is meant for enquiring about Brahman," then next question will be, "What is Brahman?" That is also replied in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy asya yataḥ: the Brahman, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is that one who is the source of all emanation. That is God.

So these things are there, and in Bhagavad-gītā all the Vedic knowledge have been given in a nutshell, and very in easy language. Everyone can understand. Unfortunately, although Bhagavad-gītā is widespread—it is read all over the world—unfortunately, by malinterpretation the effect of Bhagavad-gītā is not being realized.

At the present moment the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is to present the teachings of Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without any malinterpretation; therefore it is being effective even in foreign countries. Four years ago nobody knew what is Kṛṣṅa, but because Kṛṣṅa or Bhagavad-gītā is being presented as it is, it is being accepted even by the foreigners—although Kṛṣṅa is not for any particular nation or community. Kṛṣṅa, if He is God, He is for everyone. And Kṛṣṅa…, relationship with Kṛṣṅa is there in everyone's heart. It is dormant. Simply it has to be awakened, that's all.

That method is very simple. That method has been introduced on authority of Vedic injunction:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

Simply by chanting the holy name of God—it doesn't matter what name you select, any name of God. Nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis [Cc Antya 20.16].

[My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as “Kṛṣṅa” and “Govinda,” by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen, conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your holy names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the holy name, and therefore I do not achieve attachment for chanting.]

Every name of God is invested with the supreme power as God Himself, because there is no difference between God and His name. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

[The holy name of Kṛṣṅa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṅa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṅa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṅa Himself. Since Kṛṣṅa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṅa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa Himself are identical.]

In the absolute world there is no difference between God and His name and His form and His quality and His entourage. They are all one.

Therefore the easiest process of God-realization, as given to us by Lord Caitanya, this…, chant this mantra, mahā-mantra. This is recommended in all Vedic literature. And actually we are finding that these boys and girls, Europeans and Americans, simply by chanting and following the regulative principles, now you can see how much they have advanced in four years. And it is increasing.

We have got, as stated by Śrīmān Haṁsadūta, that we have got forty-six branches all over the world, and it is increasing. Practically we are increasing our branches every month, one. People are very much eager. From India's culture… My point of view is that this is India's culture. India goes to foreign countries simply to beg.

Our ministers goes, "Give me money, give me rice, give me wheat, give me soldiers"—for begging. India, of course, you don't mind it. Wherever I go I meet some gentleman, and he says, "Oh, India is so poverty-stricken. The Indians have got troublement[?]; it is a poor, poverty-stricken country," in foreign countries.

So our coming here in India to say it, that real culture of India, there is great demand all over the world. Therefore we should send our representatives to preach Bhagavad-gītā as it is; then India's position will be glorified. At the present moment people know India is the biggest country comes here to beg, that "Give me this, give me this, give me this." But if you preach this cult of Bhagavad-gītā, they will appreciate that you have something to give to them.

That is my appeal to you. You are present, many respectable officers and gentlemen here. I appeal to you that you think over this matter very deeply, I prepare preachers should go to foreign countries to preach this Kṛṣṅa consciousness cult.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]