Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.6.1

Prabhupāda: [indistinct] You all understand English?

Children: Yes!

Prabhupāda: Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṅa. Jaya. Very good. [chuckles] Oh, nice.

[Prabhupāda leads kīrtana; obeisances]

[09:36]

kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam [SB 7.6.1]

This is a verse spoken by Prahlāda Mahārāja, Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he was a five-years-old boy, like all these children. Kaumāra. Kaumāra age is called from five years to ten years. That is called kaumāra. So Prahlāda Mahārāja was born of an atheist father. The father was atheist number one, Hiraṅyakaśipu. He is described as rākṣasa, demon, like that. Daitya. Daitya means demon.

There are two classes of men. One class is called daitya and the other class is called devata. Dvau bhūta-sargau loke daiva āsura eva ca [Bg 16.6].

[O son of Pṛthā, in this world there are two kinds of created beings. One is called the divine and the other demonic. I have already explained to you at length the divine qualities. Now hear from Me of the demoniac.]

There are two classes of men, known as daiva, and another, asura. Viṣṅu bhaktaḥ bhaved daiva āsuras tad viparyayaḥ. Those who are devotees of the Lord, they are called daiva or devata, demigods. And those who are just the opposite number, they are called daitya, or demon.

So Hiraṅyakaśipu was atheist. Fortunately, he was so fortunate that he got a great Vaiṣṅava devotee son, Prahlāda Mahārāja. You have heard his name, Prahlāda Mahārāja. He is one of the mahājanas. There are twelve mahājanas in the śāstras. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ.

tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā nāsau munir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186]

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

The mystery of religious life is very, very secret. Secret means for ordinary man it is very difficult to understand. Therefore śāstra says tarko 'pratiṣṭhāḥ. If you want to learn what is spiritual life simply by your argument, dry, philosophical speculation, it will never be achieved. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhāḥ śrutayo vibhinnā. If you study the Vedas... There are different Vedas, principally Sāma, Yajur, Atharva, Ṛg—but you cannot understand the objective of the Vedas simply by studying yourself. Therefore Vedas says, Kaṭhopaniṣad, tad vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham samit-pāṅiḥ [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12].

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

Like that. In every śāstra the injunction is if you want to understand the essence of Veda, then you must approach a realized, self-realized person. In the Bhagavad-gītā also the same thing is said. Tad viddhi praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā [Bg 4.34].

[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, although he was born of a father who was atheist number one, godless, by the grace of Nārada Muni he became a great devotee. So his father was very careful that nobody comes and instructs his son about Vedic way of life or God consciousness, Kṛṣṅa consciousness. He was very careful not to allow anyone. He appointed teachers for his son, strictly prohibiting about... Just like nowadays it has become..., what is called? State? Secular state. "Don't talk of God." This is the present situation of the world, atheist class. "Don't talk of God."

But they do not know that they have not much improved by "Don't talk of God." The situation is becoming grimmer and grimmer. But they have no eyes to see. They have no eyes to see. This godless civilization will not make them happy. That's a fact. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad guṅa manorathena asato dhāvato bahiḥ [SB 5.18.12].

[All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?]

If one is godless, then however qualified he may be from the material point of view, he is useless. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad guṅā. He cannot have any good quality. Why? Manorathena asato dhāvato bahiḥ. Because he is on the mental platform. So by speculation on the mental platform, he will accept which is not spiritual. Asata. Asato māṁ sad gamaḥ. That is the Vedic injunction. Don't keep yourself in the asata, but you try to transcend to the sat platform, oṁ tat sat. That means spiritual platform.

So those who have no spiritual knowledge, they are on the mental platform. There are many platforms of our life. Indriyānī parāṅy āhur indriyebhyaḥ paraṁ manaḥ manasas tu parā buddhir [Bg 3.42].

[The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.]

So ordinarily we are bodily, we think, "I am this body." This is called... Body means my senses. So civilization based on this bodily concept of life are interested only sense gratification. That is their aim of life. Indriya-tarṣaṅāt[?], sense gratification. And those who are disgusted with sense gratification, they go little higher on the mental platform, mental speculation, just like philosophy, poetry, like that. Gross means they are working very hard day and night for sense gratification, just like hogs and dogs.

That is stated in the śāstra. Nāyaṁ deha deho bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhate viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1].

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

Ṛṣabhādeva says that this human form of life is not meant for working so hard like cats and dogs. That is not recommended. Ayam deha. But the material world, people are so enchanted that working day and night they think, "I am enjoying." This is called māyā. Actually he is working day and night, and he is thinking that "I am happy. I am making progress." This is called māyā.

So the world situation is very, very downward. Don't think that you are making progress. It is not progress. Śāstra says, parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto yāvan na jijñāsata ātma-tattvam [SB 5.5.5]. So long a human being is not interested in the subject matter of ātma-tattva, "What I am," then whatever he is doing, he is becoming defeated. He is not victorious; he is defeated. Parābhavas tāvad abodha-jāto.

Abodha-jāto. He is a rascal, fool. He does not know what is his interest. He does not know that by nature's law,

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate [Bg 3.27]

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

By nature's law we have to transmigrate in so many species of life—from aquatics to plants, trees, then insect, then flies, then birds, then beast, then uncivilized human being. Then we have got this civilized form—especially those who are born in India, because in India the varṅāśrama-dharma is here.

India, Hindu... "Hindu" is a foreign name given by the Muhammadans. Actually our real position is followers of the varṅāśrama-dharma: four varṅas and four āśramas. This is the stepping stone for civilized life, varṅāśrama: brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra; and brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa.

This system of social order, I mean to say, spiritual and material, it is so systematically done that one who follows this system, automatically he becomes at the end Kṛṣṅa conscious. That is his highest objective. Unfortunately, they do not know it. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatim hi viṣṅuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

They are enchanted by the glaring materialistic..., material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Just like we come from airport to this hotel. This city is very nice. Not only this city; I am traveling all over the world. There are very, very nice cities in Europe, America and other countries also. It is all right. You decorate this city nice, you make your life very comfortable. But if you forget Kṛṣṅa, then you are defeated. Then you are defeated. That is the instruction given by Kṛṣṅa to Arjuna. Yuddhyasva mām anusmara [Bg 8.7].

[Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṅa and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.]

Arjuna did not stop his fighting capacity. He was a kṣatriya. And Kṛṣṅa did not encourage him that "You should stop fighting." Rather, Arjuna was trying to stop fighting, Kṛṣṅa said, "No. You are kṣatriya. You cannot stop fighting."

So don't think that by becoming Kṛṣṅa consciousness..., Kṛṣṅa conscious, one becomes a vagabond. No. One gentleman talked with me that "Your Vaiṣṅava philosophy has made our country coward." No. You do not know what is Vaiṣṅava. In India there were two great fights: one, the fight between Rāma and Rāvaṅa, and the another great fight was between these two, Kurus and the Pāṅḍavas. In both the fighting the hero was Vaiṣṅava. The hero, Hanumānjī, Vajrāṅgajī, who fought on behalf of Lord Rāmacandra, he is a Vaiṣṅava. And Kṛṣṅa..., and Arjuna, who also fought on behalf of Kṛṣṅa, he is a kṣatriya. So they do not know what is Vaiṣṅava philosophy.

Vaiṣṅava philosophy means the Vaiṣṅava is ready to do anything for God's sake. That is Vaiṣṅava. It is approved by God, Kṛṣṅa, then they are ready to do anything. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. It is not that by Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement everything, our daily routine work, will be stopped. No. I am very glad to see that these small children are being trained here in such a far distant place from India. I thank our Bhūrijana Prabhu for this work. But this is the aim for training them in Kṛṣṅa consciousness: brahmacārī. And if one becomes very solid in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then his further progress of life...

Just like I was quoting the instance of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja was a devotee from the very birth, but he was a great king, he was a great ruler. Dhruva Mahārāja, he was also a devotee from the very beginning of his life, but he was a great ruler, a great king. So do not misunderstand that by accepting Kṛṣṅa consciousness everything will be stopped. No. Nothing will be stopped.

Simply one has to change the consciousness. That's all. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna was a fighter in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. He remained a fighter after hearing Bhagavad-gītā. He did not change his position as a fighter, as a kṣatriya. But in the beginning he was thinking non–Kṛṣṅa conscious. He was thinking of his personal interest, personal sense gratification. But at the end he decided to satisfy Kṛṣṅa.

This is the difference, materialism and spiritualism. If you want to satisfy your senses, that is materialism, and if you want to satisfy Kṛṣṅa's senses, that is spiritual. You have to satisfy. Our position is... [end]