Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6

Prabhupāda: ...viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ.

[aside:] What is that sound?

Notpādayed yadi ratiṁ śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8].

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

Yesterday we discussed the verse,

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yenātmā suprasīdati [SB 1.2.6]

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

One gentleman was talking with me in my room how there can be perfect peace of mind. That we discussed yesterday. Yena ātmā suprasīdati. Prasīdati means satisfied, fully satisfied. And suprasīdati. Farther, specifically prasīdati. How?

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yena-ātmā suprasīdati [SB 1.2.6]

This is the process to develop our love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

So we do not know. We have got the propensity to love. Love means somebody else. Love cannot be done or love cannot be executed only one, personally. There must be another one. I love somebody; somebody loves me. So as soon as there is question of love, there must be lover, there must be beloved, and the transaction, then love. Prema. Premā pum-artho mahān [Caitanya-mañjusā].

[The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, is to be worshiped along with His transcendental abode, Vṛndāvana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopīs of Vṛndāvaṅa. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the spotless authority on everything, and pure love of God is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.]

So we have got this loving propensity, to love somebody, to love my family. First of all, love begins from family—father, mother, brother, sister. Then you extend your love to your society, to your community, then to your nation. Or you can extend to the international. You can expand. But where is the end? You can expand yourself, but unless you come to the point of loving the Supreme Person, you cannot have tranquillity or peace of mind. That is the secret. Just like watering the tree. You can water, pour water on the leaves, on the branches, on the twigs, on the flowers, each and every one very particularly. But if you forget to water on the root, then everything is spoiled. Time is spoiled.

This is the śāstra's direction: yathā taror mūla-niṣecanena tṛpyanti tat-skandha-bhujopaśākhāḥ [SB 4.31.14].

[As pouring water on the root of a tree energizes the trunk, branches, twigs and everything else, and as supplying food to the stomach enlivens the senses and limbs of the body, simply worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead through devotional service automatically satisfies the demigods, who are parts of that Supreme Personality.]

Very practical example. Just like watering, pouring water on the root of the tree, automatically you please the branches, the twigs, the leaves, the flowers, the fruits and everything. Immediately the watering energy is transformed to every part of the tree. It is practical. There is no argument. And another example is given: prāṅopahārāc ca yathendriyāṅām [SB 4.31.14]. You give food to the stomach, and the energy will be distributed to all the parts of your body. If you want to serve separately, two sweetmeats to the two eyes and two sweetmeats to ears, in this way, it will be simply useless waste of time. Simply one sweetmeat, if you put into the stomach, and immediately you will feel some energy which will be enjoyed by your eyes, by your ears, by your nose, your hands, your legs, your hair, everything. This is the process.

So we have manufactured so many types of love except God. This is our defect. As soon as there is the name of God, "Oh, you go to Calcuttera.[?] Not here." This is the position. People are so much averse. And our śāstra says that when you forget God or when you are not religious... Religious means to become devotee of God. That is religion; very simple thing. Religion does not mean the ritualistic ceremonies, that "My religion, the ritualistic is this. In your religion the ritualistic is this." That may be different according to time, according to the men, according to the country, climate. That may be little different. Just like we are eating. Somebody is eating; somebody..., somebody is eating something; somebody is eating... But the eating process and to derive the benefit by eating is the same everywhere. There is no difference. So you may profess any religion. That doesn't matter. You may become Christian, you may become Hindu, you may become Buddhist, you may become Sikh or anyone. There are hundreds and thousands of types of religion. It doesn't matter. But the test is whether you have learned to love God. That is all right. Then it is all right.

That is explained: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

If you have learned to love God, then it doesn't matter what type of religion you are following. The Bhāgavata is very liberal. It does not said, "If you follow Hindu religion or if you follow this type of religion, then you will understand God." No. Any religion, it doesn't matter. But the test is whether you have advanced in loving God. But if we see that instead of loving God, you are loving something else which is not God... Of course, God is everything. That is another thing. Without God, there cannot be anything. But still, there is the central point.

It is described in the Bhagavad-gītā that because everything is the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but everything is not God. That is explained, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā [Bg 9.4].

[By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.]

Kṛṣṅa says that "I am expanded in My impersonal feature everywhere. But I am not there." It is very simple to understand. Just like the sunshine. The sunshine is expanded all over the universe. But if you are in the sunshine, you cannot say that "I am in the sun planet." No, that is not. Sun planet is 93,000,000's miles away. But the sunshine is not different from the sun. That is also fact. But still, you cannot say, because the sunshine has entered in your room, you cannot say that "I am in direct connection with the sun-god or the sun planet." No.

This is called acintya-bhedābheda philosophy:

[It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṅa and a manifestation simultaneously one and different from the Lord.]

simultaneously, inconceivable, one and different. So everything is God. That is a fact. And still, everything is not God. That is also fact. So we have to understand this philosophy. Everything is God. Without God's energy... The same thing, that the whole material world is existing on the sunshine. All scientists know it. But at the same time, the sunshine is different and nondifferent from the sun. Similarly, whatever we are experiencing, that is energy of God. Brahmaṅaḥ śaktiḥ. These are energies of God, sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 1.22.53],

[Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Para-brahman, are spread all over this universe.]

the whole creation, cosmic manifestation. But when there is question of love, you have to find out the origin of this energy. That is Kṛṣṅa.

Kṛṣṅa says,

ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ [Bg 10.8]

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

When one understands that everything is coming... That is the Vedānta-sūtra. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Athāto brahma jijñāsā: "Now this human form of life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth." And what is that Brahman, brahma-jijñāsā? Immediate answer is janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]: "Brahman, or the Absolute Truth, is that from which or from whom everything has emanated." That answer is there, the meaning of Brahma-sūtra, in the Bhagavad-gītā. Because we have [to] find out what is that Absolute Truth, wherefrom everything is emanating, everything has come into existence. The answer is there in the Bhagavad-gītā: ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate [Bg 10.8]. One who knows this secret... Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ: "I am the origin of everything." Mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate: "Everything emanates from Me. Everything comes from Me." Iti matvā: "One who has understood this fact," iti matvā bhajante mām, "then he engages himself in the service of the Lord." Why? Budhāḥ: "They are actually in understanding." And budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ. "Oh, Kṛṣṅa is the origin."

That is repeated in another place. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

Not easily. To actually, to understand Kṛṣṅa... In another place it is said,

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

"Out of many thousands of people, millions of people," sahasrāṅām... Sahasrāṅām means many thousands times of thousands. So a man tries to become siddha. Siddha means perfect. What is that perfection? The perfection means to stop this repetition of birth, death, old age and disease. This is perfection. This is perfection.

Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānu... [Bg 13.9].

[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.]

Everyone is trying to be perfect. The whole struggle of existence is going on all over the world, how to become perfect. So that perfection ideal is different of different persons. Somebody is thinking that "If I have a nice bungalow and a nice bank balance and nice wife and children and family, then my life is perfect." Somebody is thinking that "If I can make my country very happy in comparison to other country, then it is happy..." So there are different types of perfection. But actual perfection is... They do not know. That is indicated, that I am... Because I have been described, I am the soul; I am not this body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [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.]

Within this body there is the dehī. Dehī means the proprietor of this body.

So that dehī, he is, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ, he is changing from one body to another. One body... Just like we have got experience in this life also, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood. As we are changing, past and present, therefore after this body is annihilated, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20], I am not annihilated; I take another body. That body... What kind of body? That will depend on my work. Just like we become diseased. As we infect certain type of disease, we suffer from that disease. This is practical. Nature's law is there. If you infect some disease, you will have to suffer from that disease. Similarly, as we are creating our mentality by different types of activity, our next life will be according to that mentality. This is the law of nature.

But we do not know. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [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.]

Actually, prakṛti, nature, is pulling us according to our desire, or according to our... The desire is contamination, the mental contamination. And we are creating different types of body. So our real suffering is the transmigration from one body to another. That we do not know. There is no scientist... But it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13]. You have to accept. And that is explained in other places, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa jantur deha upapatti [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.]

As you are creating the situation.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is also stated, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajaty ante kalevaram [Bg 8.6].

[Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.]

At the time of your death, the situation which you have created, it will carry you. Because mind is there. Mind is subtle. Intelligence is subtle—that mind, intelligence and ego. The subtle body is there. The gross body is lost. But the subtle body will take you to another gross body. It will take to the womb of another mother. And according to your karma, the mother's..., by the mother's help you will get a body, and duly you will come out and begin your work. This is nature's process. It is going on.

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.]

Ahaṅkāra. But one who is puffed up with false ego, that "I am this," "I am that," "I am big man," "I am small man," but he does not know how prakṛti is working... You may be very big man in this life. That does not mean that you will remain a big man in the next life. You may be bigger or you may be smaller, according, karmaṅā, what you are doing. The same example: Suppose you are prime minister, but if you have contaminated some disease, you must suffer. It is not that nature will excuse you, "Oh, you are prime minister. You have infected this disease, and you will not suffer." No. You have to suffer.

So it is the question of creating the mind, the intelligence. Therefore if you constantly keep yourself, your mind, absorbed in Kṛṣṅa, then you get next time, next life, a body like Kṛṣṅa, which means sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Kṛṣṅa's body is not like us. But we think that Kṛṣṅa is like us. That is also condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam [Bg 9.11]:

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

"The rascal fools, they think Me as ordinary human being." They, all the big, big ācāryas of our country—Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Nimbārka, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, many, many big, big stalwarts—they have accepted, kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

Are they fools, that they are worshiping a human being? Are they fools, so big, big scholars, stalwart? No. Only the fools consider that Kṛṣṅa is ordinary human being. He comes to give us lesson what is actually God. God is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam. Therefore it is His mercy that He comes before us to show what is actually God. But Kṛṣṅa says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm... [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

Somebody says, "Well, God, why God will come? He is so big. Why He is come?" But why He will not come? If He is so big, why you restrict Him not to come? If He is very big, is it under your laws that He will not come? If He is very big, then He has the freedom to come. You cannot restrict.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [Bg 4.6]:

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

"Under My own laws I come." Not that by your laws. Just like as we go somewhere, sometimes we are put into the prison house, not by my personal law, by the law of the state. Similarly, this is a prison house. This whole universe, material universe, is a prison house. There is no freedom. We are thinking that we are free, but actually, nobody has got freedom. A little contamination of disease, immediately you are diseased. Where is your freedom? If you eat a little more than you can digest, immediately there is disease. So where is your freedom? So therefore we are called conditioned soul. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni [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.]

Prakṛti is taking care of. In another place Kṛṣṅa says,

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni yantrārūḍhāni māyayā [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.]

The māyā has given this vehicle, this body, and we are put into this. And Kṛṣṅa, or Īśvara, or the Paramātmā, is also within this body. So as you wanted in your past life, Kṛṣṅa has given you through the agency of māyā a type of body, and you are moving according to your desire. This is called karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [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.]

Therefore we have to understand this subtle knowledge. But in the modern educational system, there is no such thing, although the Bhagavad-gītā is there and it is the property of India. At least... Because it was spoken, the science of Bhagavad-gītā, it was spoken long, long ago—that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā—in the sun planet.

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.]

Everything is there. How important this Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement means we are not manufacturing anything by our fertile brain. No. We don't create anything. We simply repeat, but we try to explain for modern understanding. That's all. Otherwise there is no question of manufacturing. Because nobody can manufacture the perfect knowledge, because we are all imperfect. Our senses are imperfect. However we may be learned, but the senses are imperfect. Therefore we cannot give perfect knowledge. Perfect knowledge can be received from higher authorities. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ sa kāleneha... yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa [Bg 4.2]

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

As soon as the process of receiving perfect knowledge is lost, then the original purpose is lost.

So it becomes sometimes lost. When the paramparā system... Just like nowadays, everyone is proud of reading Bhagavad-gītā, but he interprets in his own way. Everyone is at liberty to interpret Bhagavad-gītā as he likes. That is the modern proposal. So there are 664 editions of Bhagavad-gītā. Everyone is commenting in his own way. I have heard that there is one doctor, some rabbi, he has interpreted Bhagavad-gītā as the talk between a patient and a physician. You see? So this is going on. Everyone whimsically, he is interpreting. Sometimes in our country also, we see that Mahatma Gandhi wanted to interpret Bhagavad-gītā as nonviolence. It is very difficult to prove, because Bhagavad-gītā is spoken in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. [laughs] So how you can prove nonviolence? So it is a difficult job. So that is not the process of understanding Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad-gītā is to be understood, as our swāmījī immediately talked, that it has to be received from the paramparā system.

So Kṛṣṅa said to Arjuna that "At the present moment the paramparā system is now lost." Yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. Sa kāleneha yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa. "It is..., the paramparā system has been lost, because there have been so many interpretation, wrong interpretation. Therefore I am selecting you to make again paramparā." Bhakto 'si sakhā ceti. "Why You are entrusting me? I am not a Vedāntist. I am not a sannyāsī. I am not very learned scholar. I am military man. So why You are trying to give the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā unto me?"

This question may be raised. Because Arjuna was a family man. He was not a sannyāsī, neither he was a Vedāntist. A military man is not expected to become a Vedāntist. Kṣatriya, he knows how to fight. And Kṛṣṅa says that "I will speak to you." Why? Bhakto 'si priyo 'si me [Bg 4.3]:

[That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.]

"You are My dear friend. Therefore I shall tell you." So this is the process of understanding: you have to become dear friend of Kṛṣṅa. Then you will understand Bhagavad-gītā. Otherwise, for thousands of years you may go on reading Bhagavad-gītā, you will not learn even a word of it. That is the secret. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

[This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.]

So our business is... We are teaching Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as it is spoken by the authorities. We don't add anything or subtract anything. Kṛṣṅa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65].

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

This is the process. Man-manāḥ: "You always think of Me." And we say, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa." Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma... If you chant somebody's name, your friend's name or your relative's, immediately you remember the person. It is not very difficult. If you hear in the telephone somebody speaking, as soon as you hear the voice, you can understand, the other side, the person is there.

So the chanting process means to always think of Kṛṣṅa, twenty-four hours. Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises, 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.]

And what is the benefit? The benefit is, because Kṛṣṅa is the supreme pure, you become purified. Just like if you remain with the fire, you become warm, warmer, warmer, warmer. Just like in the fire you put one iron rod, it becomes warmer, warmer. At the end the iron rod becomes red hot. And when it is red hot, it is no more iron rod; it is fire. You touch everywhere, it will burn. The same process. If you remain with Kṛṣṅa always, you get Kṛṣṅa's quality. You have got the quality because you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa. If Kṛṣṅa is gold, you are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, therefore you are also gold. But at the present moment, as the gold is covered by dirt, at the present moment we are spirit soul, we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, as good as Kṛṣṅa, but we have been covered by this material body. Therefore we have to take out ourself from this material body. That is called siddhi; that is called perfection.

So manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

Nobody knows how to become perfect. They are struggling very hard to become perfect individually, socially, nationally. But how they can be perfect? They do not know what is perfection. This is perfection. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

If you do not take another material..., and do not accept another material body, this is the final, that is perfection. That is the injunction of the śāstra: na mocayed yaḥ samupeta-mṛtyum, gurur na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sā syāt [SB 5.5.18].

[One who cannot deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a relative, a father, a husband, a mother or a worshipable demigod.]

These are the injunction of the śāstra. "Don't try to become a guru or don't try to accept a so-called guru." Who? "Who cannot save you from this repetition of birth and death." This is the injunction. Not that "Guru has given me some mantra. I am now a poor man. I become very rich man." No. That is not. Real purpose of life—how to get out of this repetition of birth and death. That is wanted.

So that is very simple method. If you become Kṛṣṅa conscious, if you develop Kṛṣṅa consciousness, you understand... By Kṛṣṅa consciousness means you understands what is Kṛṣṅa. Otherwise, if we superficially try to understand Kṛṣṅa, we will understand Kṛṣṅa is an ordinary human being. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Śukadeva Gosvāmī is remarking. When Kṛṣṅa is playing with the cowherds boys, he is describing, itthaṁ brahma-sukhānu...

itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṅa sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṅya-puñjāḥ [SB 10.12.11]

[All the boys would be differently engaged. Some boys blew their flutes, and others blew bugles made of horn. Some imitated the buzzing of the bumblebees, and others imitated the voice of the cuckoo. Some boys imitated flying birds by running after the birds' shadows on the ground, some imitated the beautiful movements and attractive postures of the swans, some sat down with the ducks, sitting silently, and others imitated the dancing of the peacocks.

Some boys attracted young monkeys in the trees, some jumped into the trees, imitating the monkeys, some made faces as the monkeys were accustomed to do, and others jumped from one branch to another. Some boys went to the waterfalls and crossed over the river, jumping with the frogs, and when they saw their own reflections on the water they would laugh. They would also condemn the sounds of their own echoes.

In this way, all the cowherd boys used to play with Kṛṣṅa, who is the source of the Brahman effulgence for jñānīs desiring to merge into that effulgence, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead for devotees who have accepted eternal servitorship, and who for ordinary persons is but another ordinary child. The cowherd boys, having accumulated the results of pious activities for many lives, were able to associate in this way with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How can one explain their great fortune?]

These boys who are playing with Kṛṣṅa, they are ordinary cowherd boys. Kṛta-puṅya-puñjāḥ. Kṛta-puṅya-puñjāḥ means they acquired volumes of the result of pious activities. Now they have been allowed to play with Kṛṣṅa. And who is this Kṛṣṅa? Itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. This boy, Kṛṣṅa, He is the target of the brahma-sukha, brahma-sukhānubhūtyā. He is the worshipable Lord of the devotees. Dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena. And māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṅa. Those who are māyāśrita, within the clutches of māyā, they are thinking He's an ordinary boy. But He is not an ordinary boy.

So by Kṛṣṅa consciousness, by constantly thinking of Kṛṣṅa, as Kṛṣṅa advises, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65],

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

if you dovetail your whole life to these principles, thinking of Kṛṣṅa, man-manāḥ, to become devotee of Kṛṣṅa, mad-bhakta; mad-yājī, to worship Kṛṣṅa and to simply... If you cannot do anything, either four or one if you can do. If you simply come and offer your obeisances to Kṛṣṅa, you are getting the benefit. Kṛṣṅa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. The navadhā-bhakti, śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23],

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]

in this way, if you remain touched with Kṛṣṅa, that is the perfection. Some way or other you remain touch with in Kṛṣṅa. These are the process. Man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ. Viṣṅu and Kṛṣṅa is the same. You have to hear.

But people do not know the science, neither this science is taught in any school, college or university. But although the science is there, it is so neglected. Although it is the culture of India, the best culture of India, but unfortunately, we are bereft of this. This is our position. So we are making little our teeny effort, how to make people happy. Our only business is to make people happy. We have no other desire. We don't say that "You give us some money in exchange of your Kṛṣṅa consciousness." No. That is not our business. We are not merchants. We are spreading this Kṛṣṅa consciousness free of charge. We are engaged servant of Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa will provide us. Kṛṣṅa will provide us. Kṛṣṅa says, yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham, teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānām [Bg 9.22].

[But those who worship Me with devotion, meditating on My transcendental form-to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they have.]

Those who are engaged in the service of Kṛṣṅa, they have no problem. There is no problem because Kṛṣṅa is their protector.

So one must have... Now you will be surprised to know that our this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, our monthly cost is eight lakhs of rupees, all over the world. But Kṛṣṅa is providing us. We have got simple a few books, and we are selling. You will be surprised. We are selling 30 to 40,000 rupees' per day. So we have no problem. Because we believe. If I serve to a ordinary man, he gives some salary, he gives some food. And we are engaged in service of Kṛṣṅa, we shall starve? No. We have got that confidence.

So our only request is that it is a great science. Don't neglectfully take it. It is the real problem of life. We say that you live peacefully, happily, but don't risk your life. Don't risk your life. Just like a man is living very nicely, very good post, very good money, but if he is doing something criminal, then what is his next life? He is put into jail. Just like in America, Mr. Nixon, he was president, everything. Now everything is at risk. So we say that you become Nixon, you become prime minister, you become everything. We don't say... You make your profit, like that. But don't risk your life. That is our proposition. If after this life you are prime minister, you are very big man, and next life, if you become a dog, then what is the profit of your life? Śrama eva hi... That is explained here:

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed ratiṁ yadi śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

You do your work, duty. Dharma means duty. You are very dutiful. Do your duty nicely, but see by executing your duty whether you are developing your love for Kṛṣṅa. That is the criterion. If it is not done so, if you are in the blindness, then it is said that notpādayed yadi ratim. If you do not become attracted by Kṛṣṅa or Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then, śrama eva hi kevalam, simply you are wasting time.

So our propaganda is that do everything, but don't waste your time. Make improvement. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: yānti deva-vratā devān pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ [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.]

Just like by evolutionary process you have come to this human form of body, you can make farther improvement. You can go to other planets. There are many, many other planets where thousand times better standard of life is there. We cannot go. We are so conditioned. Although we are seeing all the planets, the sun planet, moon planet... They are trying to go to the moon planet, but that's a failure.

So you cannot go in that way. There is process: yānti deva-vratā devān. If you want to go there, then deva-vrata, you have to worship that deva. Similarly, if you worship Kṛṣṅa, you can go to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. Mad-yājino 'pi yānti mām [Bg 9.25]. So if you have to prepare your next life, so why not prepare to go back to Kṛṣṅa, yad gatvā na nivartante [Bg 15.6],

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

wherefrom you haven't got to come back again to accept a material body? Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

These thing are there in the Bhagavad-gītā. Why don't you study and understand? They are very good, good scholars, but they do not know what is next life. They are so good scholar, they are reading Bhagavad-gītā three hundred times, but they do not know what is the next life. This is their study.

So this verse is very important. It is quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ. Dharma means... I do not wish to take your more time. Dharma means your occupational duty. Dharma means it is a fanaticism. That is not. That is not the meaning of dharma. The meaning of dharma, in English, it is called "religion." And religion is a kind of faith. So faith may be wrong or right. That is not dharma. Dharma means your constitutional position and duty. That is called dharma. Just like the other day I explained, just like chili should be pungent; sugar must be sweet. This is the idea. Water must be liquid. A stone must be solid. This is the dharma. You cannot say "liquid stone." No. That is not dharma. As soon as you say "stone," it must be solid. As soon as you say "water," it must be liquid. So this liquidity and water, the liquidity is the dharma of water. The solidity, or dharma... Similarly, we have got a dharma. We are forgotten now what is our dharma. The dharma is... Here it is stated, dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṁsāṁ viṣ... [SB 1.2.8]. How to awaken our consciousness to understand Kṛṣṅa, that is real dharma. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje [SB 1.2.6].

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

This is the description of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

So there is no question of the created dharma. Therefore Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra [SB 1.1.2]:

[Completely rejecting all religious activities which are materially motivated, this Bhāgavata Purāṅa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are fully pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries. This beautiful Bhāgavatam, compiled by the great sage Vyāsadeva [in his maturity], is sufficient in itself for God realization. What is the need of any other scripture? As soon as one attentively and submissively hears the message of Bhāgavatam, by this culture of knowledge the Supreme Lord is established within his heart.]

"Cheating type of dharma is completely rejected." Real dharma is to know our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is that He is the Supreme Prabhu, the Supreme, and we are aṅu.

nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

That is our relationship. God is also a person like us. We are also persons. Nityānām, cetanānām. We are also living entities, and God is also a living entity, a person. But what is the difference? The difference is God is maintaining everyone, and we are being maintained. That is the difference. We are all persons. Just like father in the family: father is also a person, and the children, they are also persons. But what is the difference? The father maintains. Similarly, we are all children of God, children of Kṛṣṅa. He is the maintainer. So what is our duty? To feel obliged. That is our duty. That is dharma. Not that you manufacture some dharma. Real dharma is you try to understand what is your relationship with God and then act accordingly—your life is perfect.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

You have to understand Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ, in truth. Then as soon as you understand Kṛṣṅa in truth... That is the real criterion. If you do not understand Kṛṣṅa in truth, simply superficially, then that is not perfection. That is not perfect knowledge. Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. This tattvataḥ has been again repeated in the Eighteenth Chapter: tato mam tattvato jnatva visate tad anantaram [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.]

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kascid vetti mam tattvata [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So this tattvataḥ word is very important. If you understand Kṛṣṅa tattvataḥ, in truth, not superficially, not whimsically, not according to your idea—paramparā—then your life is perfect. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma [Bg 4.9]. That is perfection, if you, if after giving up this body, no more accepting material body. You go back to home, back to God, in your spiritual body. You have got your spiritual body. That is within this body. Just like within this garment or within your coat, your real body is within the coat; so this body is just like coat, and the subtle body is just like shirt. And as a gentleman is within the coat and shirt, real body, similarly, the spiritual body is within this material gross body and subtle body. If you can get out of this material gross and subtle body, you realize, then you go back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya. Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramam... [Bg 15.6].

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

Everything is there.

Therefore our request is that you read Bhagavad-gītā, try to understand Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Don't interpret in a foolish way. Everything is clear. There is no need of interpretation. The foolish people simply unnecessarily interpret. Everything is clear. Where is the difficulty to understand when Kṛṣṅa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru... [Bg 18.65]?

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

But one scholar is saying, "Yes, this is not to Kṛṣṅa the person."

Kṛṣṅa says that "You become My devotee," and the scholar says, "It is not to Kṛṣṅa." This is interpretation. This is going on, simply misleading people. You take Bhagavad-gītā as it is and try... [end]