Lecture

Initiation Lecture

Prabhupāda: ...athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām. Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo [Bs 5.34].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, only the tip of the toe of whose lotus feet is approached by the yogīs who aspire after the transcendental and betake themselves to prāṅāyāma by drilling the respiration; or by the jñānīs who try to find out the nondifferentiated Brahman by the process of elimination of the mundane, extending over thousands of millions of years.]

The sky is so vast. This is material sky. We cannot even travel all over the sky. The modern scientist says that you go to the end of the sky cover, it will take forty thousands of years by the light year. This sky is only a insignificant portion of the whole sky. You have no information of the whole sky. Nobody has information, the unlimited. The balance sky is spiritual sky.

So if you have got any plane which is running on the speed of mind and air...

[child makes sound] [aside:] That's alright.

You know the speed of mind, it can run millions of miles in a second. So if you have got any airplane which runs on the speed of mind, panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso, either on the plane of air speed or even the mind speed, and you go on with that mind speed, koṭi-śata-vatsara, not only forty thousand years, but millions and hundreds of millions of years.

And not forty thousand years, koṭi-śata... Koṭi means ten million? Koṭi? Hundred millions, koṭi means. One lakh equal to..., ten lakh is equal to one million. Ten millions, koṭi, and multiply it by hundreds. For that period, if you go on with the speed of mind, still you'll find avacintya-tattva, inconceivable.

Panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām. And that plane made of not ordinary man. Muni-puṅga, highest learned, I mean to say, scientist, philosopher. Still, avacintya bhāva.

panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.34]

Still it will remain avacintya-tattva. Avacintya means beyond our conception. Even though you are able to go in high speed, and for so many years, still, Kṛṣṅa remains avacintya-tattva. Nobody can find out where is Kṛṣṅa's abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana.

Therefore the Māyāvādīs, in desperate frustration, they say that Kṛṣṅa is impersonal, because they want to approach Kṛṣṅa by mundane activities—by mental exercise, mental gymnastic. Kṛṣṅa is not available in that way. Kṛṣṅa is available only to His devotees. Kṛṣṅa is the property of His devotee.

panthās tu koṭi-śata-vatsara-sampragamyo vāyor athāpi manaso muni-puṅgavānām so 'py asti yat-prapada-sīmny avicintya-tattve govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.34]

That's all right. [break] [chants japa with devotees]

Aravinda: Rādhā-bhavānī

Prabhupāda: Rādhā-bhavānī, "always thinking of Rādhārāṅī." You know the rules and regulation? The rules and regulation?

Rādhā-bhavānī: Yes. No meat-eating, no illicit sex, no intoxicant and no gambling.

Prabhupāda: Thank you. Come on. [japa]

Aravinda: Nimāi-sundara dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Nimāi-sundara. Nimāi-sundara is Lord Caitanya's name. Nimāi-sundara dāsa. You are servitor of Lord Caitanya. [japa]

Aravinda: Māyāpur-śaśi dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Mahāprabhu?

Aravinda: Mahāprabhu-śaśi dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Mahāprabhu-śaśi?

Aravinda: Mahapura-śaśi.

Prabhupāda: Māyāpura.

Aravinda: Māyāpura-śaśi.

Prabhupāda: Māyāpura-śaśi is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's another name. Śaśi means moon, and Māyāpur is the birthplace of Lord Caitanya. Hare Kṛṣṅa. You know the rules and regulation? The rules and regulation?

Aravinda: The rules?

Prabhupāda: Yes. All right. [japa]

Aravinda: Navadvīpa dāsa.

Prabhupāda: Yes, very good. Navadvīpa is the place of Lord Caitanya, and you are servitor of Lord Caitanya. Come on. [japa]

Aravinda: Viśvambhara.

Prabhupāda: Viśvambhara. Viśvambhara is another name of Lord Caitanya. Viśvambhara dāsa. Come on. You know the rules and regulations? Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotee: [offers praṅāma mantras in background]

Aravinda: Jagannātha-sūta.

Prabhupāda: Jagannātha-sūta is Caitanya Prabhu. His father's name is Jagannātha. Sūta means son. Jagannātha son. Caitanya Mahāprabhu's father's name was Jagannātha Miśra. So you know the rules and regulation? What are those?

Jagannātha-sūta: No illicit sex, no intoxication, no meat-eating and no gambling.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṅa. Come on. [japa]

Devotee: [offers praṅāma mantras]

Prabhupāda: So those who are initiated now, your path is now open to Kṛṣṅa's abode. Satāṁ prasaṅga: by association of devotees. Satām. Satām means devotees. Sat, sat means that exists eternally is called sat. Kṛṣṅa is sat, oṁ tat sat. So devotees are also sat. So satāṁ prasaṅga, by association... Prasaṅga means very intimate association. Saṅga means association, and pra means still elevated or intimate association.

Kṛṣṅa's words, Kṛṣṅa's teachings, Kṛṣṅa's topics, they become very palatable in the association of devotee. In the association of nondevotee one cannot understand Kṛṣṅa, neither it becomes very palatable. Bhagavad-gītā is well known in your country since a very long time. There are so many editions of Bhagavad-gītā in your country, Indian and foreign editions. Many.

But nobody could become a Kṛṣṅa conscious..., a Kṛṣṅa's devotee, because they were not discussed amongst the devotees. They took it, Bhagavad-gītā, as table talks or some sort of philosophical... They could not seriously understand Kṛṣṅa, because the writing or discussing or discourses took place amongst the nondevotees. Satāṁ prasaṅgāt.

But if you want actually Kṛṣṅa, then you have to talk of Kṛṣṅa amongst devotees. We are opening different centers just to give people chance they may have intimate association with the devotees. Satāṁ prasaṅgāt mama vīrya-saṁvido. Vīrya-saṁvida. Vīrya means full potency. Mama vīrya-saṁvida bhavanti hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ. Hṛd means heart, and karṅa means ear. Rasāyanāḥ means pleasing, very pleasing, tasteful, rasāyanāḥ.

So,

satāṁ prasaṅgam mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ [SB 3.25.25]

First of all, in order to take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, one has to be engaged about Kṛṣṅa. Just like Bhagavad-gītā: Kṛṣṅa is preaching a philosophy to Arjuna. People try to understand. That is kṛṣṅa-kathā. That kṛṣṅa-kathā becomes effective when they're discussed within the circle of devotees. Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido. Actually it is full of potency.

Just contrary to this, there is another injunction, by Sanātana Gosvāmī: avaiṣṅava-mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam na suryatram [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, quoted from Padma Purāṅa]. When kṛṣṅa-kathā, Kṛṣṅa topics, is discussed by a person who is not a vaiṣṅava, dedicated life to Kṛṣṅa, that is not to be heard. Avaiṣṅava mukhodgīrṅaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam śravaṅaṁ na kartavyam.

One fashionable speaker is teaching Bhagavad-gītā... Just like the other day a rascal came, he, he's announcing that he's the authority of Bhagavad-gītā. You know that rascal? [laughter] Very well. Yes. [indicating devotee:] He wanted to study from Sanskrit from the rascal. You could not understand; that I see. So śāstra says, śravaṅaṁ na kartavyam [Hari-bhakti-vilāsa]: one should not hear from him. Why? Kṛṣṅa-kathā is nice. Why it should not be heard from a person who is not a devotee, but he may be scholar? But Sanātana Goswami says, śravaṅaṁ na kartavyam: never.

So the reason, the example he has given, sarpocchiṣṭaṁ payo yathā. Milk, everyone knows milk is very nourishing food. But as soon as it is touched by a serpent it is poison. You can say, "Milk is very nice. What is the wrong if it is touched by the serpent?" But Sanātana Goswami warns that it is not to be touched, because it has become now poison.

Instead of milk, it has become poison. So we should be very careful not to discuss. It is meant for the kaniṣṭha adhikārī, those who are neophytes. They may be affected. But those who are strong enough, advanced, they are not affected. But that is different thing. Generally. So we should not discuss kṛṣṅa-kathā with a person who is a nondevotee.

So nondevotees... Who are nondevotees? Caitanya Mahāprabhu has also said like that. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was enquired by one nice householder devotee, "What is the general behavior of a Vaiṣṅava?" He immediately answered, asat-saṅga-tyāgī vaiṣṅava-ācāra [Cc Madhya 22.87]: "One has to give up the association of asat." Sat, I have told you, sat means devotee, and asat means nondevotee. Asat-saṅga... Simply to give up the association of nondevotees. That is vaiṣṅava-ācāra.

How a Vaiṣṅava should behave, how he should maintain his standard, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says in one word: asat-saṅga-tyāgī avaiṣṅava-ācāra. Just like Kṛṣṅa says, satāṁ prasaṅga mama vīrya-saṁvido. One can develop Kṛṣṅa consciousness in association with devotee. The same thing Caitanya Mahāprabhu said in a different way: asat-saṅga-tyāgī, not to associate with nondevotees. That is vaiṣṅava-ācāra.

So in future we shall be very careful, all the devotees, not to talk with rascals, nondevotees. It will impure; it will have poisonous effect; and that will kill Kṛṣṅa consciousness. I do not know how this man was allowed to stay here for so many months. Nobody could detect that "Here is a serpent"? So you should be very careful in future.

That is very easy to understand, who is a serpent. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said. Because one may inquire, "Who is asat? How can I understand?" Asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṅābhakta. Asat means who is attached to..., very much attached to woman. You see that man, he was posing himself as yogī, and he is living with one woman. He, it was God's grace that he came with that woman so that he disclosed himself. By Kṛṣṅa's grace. Asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṅābhakta. Strī-saṅgī. One should not be attached to any woman except his wife. Then he becomes asat. Asat eka strī-saṅgī kṛṣṅābhakta.

So we should be very careful, asat, who is asat. It doesn't matter if one is very highly educated; still he should not be associated. Cāṅakya Paṅḍita has given instruction that vidhayalam krto 'pi san tyaja durjana-saṁsargam. Durjana-saṁsargam, association of rascals, nondevotees, tyaja, give up. "Oh, he is very learned scholar in Sanskrit."

But vidhalayaṁ kṛto 'pi san, "In spite of his being very learned scholar, you should kick him out." Vidhalayaṁ kṛto 'pi san. How is that? Yes, he is giving example, maṅinā bhūṣitaḥ sarpaḥ kim asau na bhayaṅkaraḥ. A serpent... You know some serpent has got jewels on the head. Does it mean a serpent with jewel on hood is not ferocious, because he has got jewel? He's as ferocious as ordinary serpent. That these things we should know.

So I do not know how this man was given shelter in our temple. Nobody could understand that "Here is a serpent," and he was accepted as Sanskrit scholar. So you should be very much careful about this thing in future.

Thank you. [end]