Lecture at Government Center, Pedagogical Institute [Partially Recorded]

Prabhupāda:

...karuṅā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te

[O my dear Kṛṣṅa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṅī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You.]

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṅamāmi hari-priye

[I offer my respects to Rādhārāṅī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṅa.]

Ladies and Gentleman, we know Kṛṣṅa as Kṛpā-sindhu, the ocean of mercy: he kṛṣṅa karuṅā-sindho. Dīna-bandho, and He is the friend of all submissive spiritual souls. Dīna-bandho. Dīna—this very word is used because we are in this material existence. We are very much puffed up—svalpa-jalā mātrena sapari phora-phorayate. Just like a small fish in the corner of the lake flaps, similarly, we do not know what is our position.

Our position is very insignificant in this material world. This material world is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, er, Bhagavad-gītā: ekāṁśena sthito jagat [Bg 10.42].

[But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.]

This material world is only an insignificant portion of the whole creation. There are innumerable universes; that we get information—yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi [Bs 5.40].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

Jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṅḍa means this universe. So there are… Koṭi means innumerable.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu stated that this universe is just like a mustard seed in the bag of a mustard. Just you cannot count how many mustard seeds are there in a big bag, and this is one of the mustard seeds. Jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi. Koṭi vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnam [Bs 5.40], and each universe is impregnated with innumerable planets. So just imagine this world is out of such innumerable planets in one universe. There are innumerable universes, and all together all these universes is considered the material world. There are many description in the śāstras.

So out of the innumerable universes, this universe is only an insignificant part, and within this universe there are innumerable planets, out of which this earthly planet is an insignificant portion. And within this earthly planet there are so many countries. So our India is only a portion. And in India there are so many provinces and cities and countries.

Out of this, Allahabad is very insignificant, and we, what to speak of our position, we are very, very insignificant in the creation of the Lord. But we are puffed up—"I am God" We are so much puffed up, our position is so insignificant, but we are puffed up; we speak of that "I am God" That is called māyā. That is called māyā: which is not actually fact.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa, although He is suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ… Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ [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.]

He is friend of everyone. Because He is God, He is friend of everyone, samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu [Bg 9.29].

[I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.]

But He is especially inclined to the devotee, ye tu māṁ bhajanti. Therefore Kṛṣṅa's name is Bhaktavatsala. And He is Dīna-bandhu. Bhakta means He is very humble. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,

tṛṅād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ [Cc Ādi 17.31]

[One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.]

He has advised that one should become humbler than the grass—because we trample over the grass; it does not protest. So humbler than the grass, and tolerant than the tree.

tṛṅād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā ... [Cc Ādi 17.31]

We should not be puffed up. If we want to make success of our life, then we must revive our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṅa. That is the movement of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. If we actually want to be happy, there is no happiness, there is no peace, there is no prosperity without Kṛṣṅa. We must know it.

So Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kṛṣṅa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ’śānta'. Kṛṣṅa-bhakta, a devotee of Kṛṣṅa, he has no other desire than to serve Kṛṣṅa; therefore he is peaceful.

kṛṣṅa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ’śānta' bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali ’aśānta' [Cc Madhya 19.149]

[Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṅa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.]

Bhukti means the materialist they want to enjoy this material world to the fullest extent. That is called bhukti. They are after money and all that. That's all. That is called bhukti. They are elevating themselves; they are doing pious activities, yajñas, performing yajñas, pious activities—why? They will be elevated to the heavenly planets; they will enjoy more comfortable life, more beautiful wife, more beautiful association. This is karmic. Bhukti—simply for material enjoyment.

But they forget, as Śrīmān, my disciple, Devānanda, was speaking, that the problems of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi [Bg 13.9], that cannot be solved even if you go to the Brahmaloka.

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

Kṛṣṅa also confirms this: ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg 8.16],

[From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.]

kṣīṅe puṅye punar martya-lokaṁ viśanti [Bg 9.21].

[When they have thus enjoyed heavenly sense pleasure, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus, through the Vedic principles, they achieve only flickering happiness.]

So anywhere you go, in any planet, either moon planet, sun planet or Brahmaloka, Janaloka, Maharloka—there are innumerable planets, and there are thousands and thousands times better comfortable life if you are elevated to such planets—but you cannot avoid these four principles: janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. Even if you are born as Brahmā in the Brahmaloka you will have to die.

What is Brahmā? That his life is also calculated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṅo viduḥ [Bg 8.17]

[By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.]

Our yuga multiplied by one thousand, so that is only twelve hours in Brahmā's life. In that way you make twenty-four hours, you make months, you make years, and such hundred years he lives—but he has to die.

So there are many instances, many informations of the Vedic literature you have to learn. But we do not learn. That is our misfortune. In India we have got so many valuable scriptures and Vedic information, but we have neglected. That is our education. We do not know what is our own culture. We are now going to beg from other countries. Our government men, ministers, go: "Give me rice. Give me wheat. Give me money. Give me soldiers. Give me. Give me." But you haven't got anything to give to them?

This is Kṛṣṅa culture. If you want to give them, not to be beggar, then take up this Kṛṣṅa conscious movement seriously and give to the whole world. They will receive it with great [indistinct]. And you see the examples how these boys, these frustrated boys. Everyone in the younger generation is frustrated. You see the example: in Calcutta I have talked with so many nationalized boys, similarly nice, educated boys, but they are frustrated; they are desperate.

So our university education, our so-called education, is producing only confused, frustrated, desperate generation. So if you want to save yourself, you must take this Kṛṣṅa consciousness very seriously. It is a science, it is authorized, and it is India's gift to the whole world. So I think you shall seriously consider this movement. We are giving as far as possible in these books all the information, and be benefited by this movement.

Thank you very much. [applause]

Devotee: [to tape] Prabhupāda has just spoken at the Government Centre, Pedagogical Institute, Allahabad, on the first of January [sic] 1971. [end]