The Nectar of Devotion

Pradyumna: [reading:] "...immediately terminates along with his body as soon as his life is over. Death is therefore taken as the representative of God for the atheistic class of men. The devotee realizes the presence of God by devotional service, whereas the atheist realizes the presence of God in the shape of death. At death everything is finished, and one has to begin a new chapter of life in a new situation, perhaps higher or lower than the last one. In any..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṅa says: mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś ca aham [Bg 10.34].

[I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, speech, memory, intelligence, faithfulness and patience.]

At the... By death, everything is taken away by Kṛṣṅa. So the modern civilization, they do not believe in the next birth. That is the basic mistake of the present civilization, that we get information that tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati [Bg 2.13]. Dehāntaram.

Just like we are transmigrating, even in this span of life, from childhood to boyhood, from boyhood to youthhood, from youthhood to old age body. Therefore it is naturally to conclude that after this old body's finished, then we get another body, transmigration of the soul.

But there is no education, no enlightenment about this transmigration of the soul. But we can, if we think, ponder very deeply on this matter, how transmigration of the soul is taking place. And it is authorized, authorized statement of Bhagavad-gītā: tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir.

dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati [Bg 2.13]

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

So this is the defect. The atheist class of men, they also see God. One..., everyone can see God, provided he has got eyes to see. Actually, premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti [Bs 5.38].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Śyāmasundara, Kṛṣṅa Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.]

Those who are yogīs, bhakta-yogīs, because they are in love with God, Kṛṣṅa, they are seeing every moment within their heart the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone you love, you see always within your heart. Similarly, if you have love for God, Kṛṣṅa, then you can see Kṛṣṅa always.

That is called yoga system. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ [SB 12.13.1].

[Sūta Gosvāmī said: Unto that personality whom Brahmā, Varuṅa, Indra, Rudra and the Maruts praise by chanting transcendental hymns and reciting the Vedas with all their corollaries, pada-kramas and Upaniṣads, to whom the chanters of the Sāma Veda always sing, whom the perfected yogīs see within their minds after fixing themselves in trance and becoming fully absorbed in thoughts of Him, and whose limit can never be found by any demigod or demon—unto that Supreme Personality of Godhead I offer my humble obeisances.]

Yoginaḥ, those who are yogīs, under meditation they see the Supreme Personality of Godhead within the heart. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ. So there are many evidences in the śāstras. Yoga means to see the Supreme Lord within the heart. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

Īśvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart. One has to see. One has to develop that visionary power, how to see God within the heart. That is wanted. That is called yoga system. Dhyānāvasthita. Otherwise īśvara is there in everyone's heart.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad gata āntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo mataḥ [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

"The first-class yogī is he who is always seeing Me within his heart." Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ. There are different types of yogīs. The first-class yogī is he who can see Kṛṣṅa within his heart constantly, without any cessation. Smartavyaṁ satato viṣṅuḥ vismārtavyaṁ na jātucit [Cc Madhya 22.113].

[Kṛṣṅa is the origin of Lord Viṣṅu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.]

This is the process. One has to observe Viṣṅu within the heart always. Smartavyaṁ satato viṣṅuḥ vismartavyam na... This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. One has to think of Kṛṣṅa or see Kṛṣṅa within the heart twenty-four hours. That is perfection of yoga. Yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatena āntarātmanā.

But the atheist class of men, they do not see. They do not like to see. Just like Hiraṅyakaśipu and Prahlāda. Prahlāda is the son of Hiraṅyakaśipu; a great devotee. And the father is atheist. That is the struggle. This struggle between the atheist and theist, always existing. But God, Hiraṅya..., I mean to say, Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared. Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared for the solace of the devotee, Prahlāda, and for the death of the atheist. Both of them saw. Prahlāda saw Nṛsiṁhadeva as the most worshipable Deity, and Hiraṅyakaśipu saw the same person as death.

Therefore God can be seen by everyone, atheist or theist, but they see in a different way. The..., the theist, the devotee, sees God... Just like these devotees are worshiping the Lord, Kṛṣṅa, that "Here is Kṛṣṅa, Rādhārāṅī, and let us offer Him respect by offering ārātrika, prasādam." They're seeing also. The atheist will say, "What this nonsense? Some idol they are worshiping."

The atheist will see, "What is this non...?" But that atheist will see God at the time of death, when He'll come as Nṛsiṁhadeva: immediately finished. All his assets, finished. With the body, the, everything he has possessed, the family or the house, the bank balance, this or that, everything is finished. Now he begins another chapter. He forgets.

Just like we forget at night when we see some dream, we forget our identity, that "I am this. I am that. I am lying on the bed. I've got this good apartment." No. Everything is finished. Again, this, when the dream is finished, we come to another dream: "Oh, this is my house. This is my family. This is my bank balance." This is going on: dream. One dream at night, one dream at daytime. But who is dreaming? That is the living entity.

So his business is different. Not dreaming, daytime dreaming and nighttime dreaming. He has to come to the actual platform. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. If he takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, that is his actual life. Otherwise, he's in the dreamland. Daivī hy eṣā guṅamayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

This is called māyā, illusion—nighttime dreaming and daytime dreaming. The nighttime dream... In this way, we are dreaming life after life: as human being, as animal, as tree, as aquatics. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati [Padma Purāṅa]. So this evolutionary process is going on.

Therefore..., therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says,

ei rūpe brahmāṅḍo bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc Madhya 19.151]

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

The living entity is wandering in this way, life after life—sometimes as human being, sometime as demigod, sometimes as brāhmaṅa, sometimes as śūdra, sometime as tree, sometime as insect, sometime as fish, so many. Sometime as birds. And in different planets also, not only in this planet. Brahmāṅḍo. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, brahmāṅḍo, within the universe, he is traveling according to his karma.

yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ bhūtejyā yānti bhūtāni mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām [Bg 9.25]

[Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; those who worship ancestors go to the ancestors; and those who worship Me will live with Me.]

So those who are in goodness, they are being promoted to the higher planetary systems of demigod.

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ [Bg 14.18]

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

Those who are in goodness of material nature, they're being promoted to the higher planetary system. Those who are in passion, they are left within this Bhūr, Bhuvarloka. And those who are in ignorance, jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti, they..., one who has no systematic life, living like animal, so eating, sleeping like animal, jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ, they go down. This is going on.

Out of many millions of living entities, in this way, wandering all over the universe, one who is fortunate, he comes in contact with guru and Kṛṣṅa. Guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc Madhya 19.151]. Beginning of devotional service, Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

So that is real life.

ei rūpe brahmāṅḍo bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva guru-kṛṣṅa-kṛpāya pāya bhakti-latā-bīja [Cc Madhya 19.151]

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

mālī hañā sei bīja karaye āropaṅa śravaṅa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana [Cc Madhya 19.152]

[When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṅa and kīrtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout.]

Just like if you get a nice flower seed, if you sow it and pour water, gradually it will grow. Similarly, this bhakti-latā-bīja, if one gets fortunately, through the association of devotees, and if he sows it within the heart and pour water gradually, by this way, śravaṅa kīrtana, this process which you are following, hearing and chanting...

This is called the process of pouring water. Then that bhakti-latā-bīja, that creeper, bhakti-latā, will grow. And, in due course of time, it will give you the fruit. The fruit is to be under the shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is fruit.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "In any field of activity—political, social, national or international—the results of our actions will be finished with the end of life. That is sure. Bhakti-rasa, however, the mellow relished in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, does not finish with the end of life."

Prabhupāda: Yes, this is very important. Whatever we are doing in this life, everything will be finished with the end of the body. My position, my wealth, my family, my this or that—everything will be finished, because I'll have to accept another body. Karmaṅā daiva netreṅa jantor deha upapattaye [SB 3.31.1].

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

This gross body will be finished. I'll have to accept another gross body. But if you begin Kṛṣṅa consciousness, it will not be finished, because it is the business of the soul. Kṛṣṅa consciousness means the original consciousness: "I am Kṛṣṅa's. I am God's, part and parcel of God," this consciousness.

At the present moment, being illusioned by different material designation, we are thinking in different way: "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am brāhmaṅa," "I am śūdra," "I am this," "I am that." These are all designation. And Kṛṣṅa consciousness means "I am Kṛṣṅa's." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. So 'ham. "I am as good as Kṛṣṅa," or "I am Kṛṣṅa's. I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa." This consciousness is required to invoke.

That is the prime objective of human life. Now we are in different consciousness. So bhakti means sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

One has to become free from all these designations: "I am this," "I am that," this bodily concept of life. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

I am identifying myself with this body. This is condemned in the śāstra: sa eva go-kharaḥ. One who identifies himself with this body, he's no better than the cows and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ.

So Kṛṣṅa consciousness means one is not identifying himself with this material body. He is identifying himself in his original, constitutional position, ahaṁ brahmāsmi.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg 18.54]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

Mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. After being liberated from all these designation, one begins his devotional service, devotional life. And Kṛṣṅa says, "If one wants to know Me, then he must accept." Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

Tattvataḥ. If one wants to know Kṛṣṅa, God, as He is, then he has to accept the process of devotional service. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. Evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhakti-yogena [SB 1.2.20].

[Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.]

There is another verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ. By practicing the bhagavad-bhakti-yoga, bhagavad-bhakti-yoga prasanna manaso, one has to become first of all joyful by identifying himself with the spirit. Brahmā bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg 18.54].

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

Then, when he becomes joyful, he understands that "I am not this material body; I am spirit soul. I am not American, I am not Indian, I'm not brāhmaṅa, I am not this, this, this, so many things... No, I am spirit soul. I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa." This is called brahma-bhūtaḥ.

Evaṁ prasanna-manaso. When one becomes brahma-bhūtaḥ, self-realized, at that time, he becomes prasanna-manaso, joyful. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati: he has no more lamentation or hankering. Evaṁ prasanna. In this state of life, prasanna-manaso, evaṁ prasanna-manaso bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ [SB 1.2.20], by practicing bhagavad-bhakti yoga, bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ mukta-saṅgasya jāyate.

At that time, one can understand what is the science of God, bhagavat-tattva. It is not a sentiment; it is a vijñāna, science. Bhagavad-tattva-vijñāna. So who can understand this bhagavad-tattva-vijñāna, science? Mukta-saṅga. One who is liberated from this material contamination, he can understand.

Therefore devotees who are constantly engaged in the loving service of the Lord, they are liberated. Māṁ ca avyabhicāriṅi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate [Bg 14.26].

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

Anyone who is engaged in devotional service unadulterated, without any motive, unadulterated:

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṅānu- śīlanam... [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11]

[One should render transcendental loving service to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṅa favorably and without desire for material profit or gain through fruitive activities or philosophical speculation. That is called pure devotional service.]

He's liberated. These activities of Kṛṣṅa consciousness, it is..., it appears to be ordinary activities, but that is liberated activity. Those who cannot understand the activities in liberation, nirviśeṣavādi, they think that in the conditioned state of life, there are activities; when one becomes liberated, he has no more activities—he becomes dumb. No. Actual activities begins in liberated...

Just like a man, a diseased fellow, diseased fellow, lying on the bed, he's also eating. He's also sleeping. He's also passing stool, urine. But that is not real activity. When he becomes cured of the disease, come to his healthy life, and then again he walks, he eats, he sleeps, that is another, mean, a position of eating, sleeping.

But one who cannot understand the liberated activities, they are shuddered. As soon as they think of activities, they think, "Oh, the activities, they, the..." The same patient who is suffering for, suppose from birth, he cannot understand that there is activities after being cured of this disease. He cannot understand. He thinks activity means lying down on the bed and drinking all bitter medicine and pass stool and urine by using, what is called, that...?

Devotees: Bed pan. Bed pan.

Prabhupāda: Bed pan. [chuckles] He's thinking like that. He has no idea there is better activities, better sleeping, better eating. That he cannot understand. Therefore śūnyavādi. They want to make zero. "These activities are giving me so much trouble. Make it zero." Just like sometimes one cannot tolerate the pains of diseased condition. Sometimes they commit suicide—stop these activities.

So the śūnyavādi, they are like that—committing suicide; stop these activities. But they do not know that there is activities. There are... After being cured of this material disease, when one is healthy... That healthy activities are the devotional activities. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, māṁ ca avyabhicāriṅi yogena yaḥ sevate. Sevate means there is activities. It is not stoppage of activities. Sevate. Sevate means giving service. Giving service is not stopping activities. But that is a different type of activities, healthy activities.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says,

māṁ ca avyabhicāriṅi bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate sa guṅān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg 14.26]

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

He's brahma-bhūtaḥ. He's self-realized. Self-realized. That is mukti. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svārupeṅa vyavasthitiḥ [SB 2.10.6].

[The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahā-Viṣṅu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies.]

Mukti does not mean stopping activities. That is not mukti. That is suicidal. You are living entity. How you can stop? That is not possible. They say that, Māyāvādī philosophers, they say to become desireless. That..., you cannot be desireless, because you are living entity. How you can stop your desires? But you have to rectify; you have to purify your desires.

Now we are desiring simply for sense gratification, to lord it over the material nature. That is your desire. And, and when this desire is purified, then you'll desire that how everything should be engaged in the service of God. Now I am trying to become God, lord it over the material nature. But when my desires are purified, then I shall understand that everything belongs to God, therefore everything should be dovetailed in the service of God. That is liberation. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṅa... This is svarūpa.

Therefore śūnyavādi, or nirviśeṣa-vādi, they are not liberated. They are still in māyā. Vimukta-māninaḥ. In the Bhāgavata it is said that they are thinking, concocting, that they have become liberated. Actually they are not liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Māninaḥ.

Say somebody thinks that "I'm the proprietor of all the banks." Let him think like that. But that does not mean he has become the proprietor of the banks. That is a different thing. Similarly, one may think that "I have become liberated," but actually he's not liberated. Liberated is he who is engaged in the service of the Lord. He's liberated.

Nobody's liberated. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

Just like they are going to the moon planet. They have got very high speed sputniks. Simply riding on, boarding on high-speed sputnik does not mean he has gone to the moon planet. Actually he has to go there and live there. Then it is successful. But what they are doing? They are going and coming back. They are going and coming back.

Similarly, āruhya kṛcchṛeṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanti adhaḥ [SB 10.2.32]. If you have no stay in the higher status of life, brahma anubhūti, then you'll have to come back again. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa. Kṛcchreṅa means by practicing severe austerities, penances, one may go up to the Brahman effulgence, paraṁ padam. That is called paraṁ padam. But because there is no stay... Just like in the sky, you may go with high speed, but if you cannot stay in some planet, you'll have to come back again. Similarly,

āruhya kñcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ [SB 10.2.32]

Because they cannot get shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, they have to come down again to these material activities. And we have seen practically, so many big, big sannyāsīs, they give up this material world, take sannyāsa to understand Brahman, but because they could not understand Brahman, they again come to open hospital and schools. That is their business. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanti adhaḥ.

But one who is engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, he does not come to these material activities again. The, the factual evidence... Just this, these boys, these European, American boys. Who could enjoy material life better than them? They were all enjoying.

But they have given up everything. They are no more going back to that status of life. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg 2.59].

[The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.]

They have found something better. Therefore they're not going to again that life of meat-eating, illicit sex, intoxication, smoking and drinking. No. They are not, no more going. Give them bribe also: "You come to again to that stage." Will you go?

Devotees: No. No.

Prabhupāda: No. They'll never go. This is called liberation. This is called liberation. Simply by thinking, "I have become liberated," and I am handicapped by so many bad habits, that is not liberation. That is simply mental concoction. Real liberation is bhakti-yoga.

Thank you very much. That's all. [end]