Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.8.21

Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

kṛṣṅāya vāsudevāya devakī-nandanāya ca nanda-gopa-kumārāya govindāya namo namaḥ [SB 1.8.21]

[break] [01:25]

Translation: "Let me therefore offer my respectful obeisances unto the Lord, who has become the son of Vasudeva, the pleasure of Devakī, the son of Nanda and the other cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, and the enlivener of the cows and the senses."

[break]

Prabhupāda: So in the last verse, it is..., it has been explained by Kuntī that Kṛṣṅa is meant for the paramahaṁsa, muni, very, very exalted persons; they can understand Kṛṣṅa, bhakti-yoga-vidhānārtham. Because such learned persons, such exalted persons, they can only understand what is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is the topmost yoga. There are different kinds of yogas: karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga, haṭha-yoga, many others. Yoga means "contact" or "having connection." So bhakti-yoga means directly connection with Kṛṣṅa, or God. That is bhakti-yoga. Other yogas, they are not directly connected.

Karma-yoga... Yoga means connection with Kṛṣṅa, or God, but when there is the word karma-yoga, it is adulterated. It is not pure yoga. Karma-yoga means, yat karoṣi yad juhoṣi yaj aśnāsi tapasyasi yat kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṅam [Bg 9.27]. That is karma-yoga. Whatever you doing... In the beginning, one cannot take to pure bhakti-yoga. Therefore karma-yoga is recommended: "Never mind whatever you doing. In that position you can become a devotee." Karma-yoga, that is. People are interested with different types of work. So therefore Kṛṣṅa says, yat karoṣi. "Never mind whatever you are doing." So how it becomes karma-yoga? Now, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṅam: "You give it to Me." Suppose you are doing business, and you are earning lots of money. So Kṛṣṅa says, "All right, go on. You are attached to business. You go on doing that. But the money earned out of your business, you give it to Me." This is karma-yoga. Not that you earn money and spend for your sense gratification. That is not karma-yoga. The rascals, they are saying this is karma-yoga. For sense gratification they are using, and that is karma-yoga. No. That is not karma-yoga. Here is karma-yoga: "It doesn't matter, whatever you are doing, but the ultimate result, you give it to Me."

In another place, Kṛṣṅa says, karmaṅy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana [Bg 2.47]:

[You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.]

"You can go on. You can go on with your business, but don't expect the fruit of the business." Mā phaleṣu. He indirectly says, "The fruit should be given to Me." Mā phaleṣu kadācana: "Don't expect the fruit." Suppose you grow a nice mango tree, and there will be fruit, nice fruit. So according to Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, mā phaleṣu kadācana: "You don't take the fruits." "Oh? Such a nice mango tree I have nourished in so many years. Now the fruit is there, and Kṛṣṅa says, mā phaleṣu kadācana: 'Don't take the fruit.' Then who will take the fruit? It will rot? It will fall down on the ground, and it will rot?" No. The idea is, "You don't take, but you give it to Me." This is karma-yoga. It is not that it should be wasted. So that is karma-yoga. So those who are karmīs, very much attached to material activities, for them, this karma-yoga is recommended. Some way or other, be connected with Kṛṣṅa. It is not so meant... It is very great achievement that you work hard, earn money, and give it to Kṛṣṅa. That is a great sacrifice.

So by karma-yoga also, you can satisfy... Because the main business is to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. Ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā varṅāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ [SB 1.2.13].

[O best among the twice-born, it is therefore concluded that the highest perfection one can achieve by discharging the duties prescribed for one's own occupation according to caste divisions and orders of life is to please the Personality of Godhead.]

Varṅāśrama. There are four varṅas and four āśramas: brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsī. So these are the scientific division of civilized society. Unless there are these divisions, it is a chaotic condition; it is not very satisfactory. That is happening. Nowadays, there is no scientific division of the human society. Therefore there are so many chaotic conditions. So actual human civilization begins when we accept these eight departmental management of the society. That is human society. Otherwise it is animal society.

So... So according to Vedic civilization, every department, division, has got a particular duty. The brāhmaṅa, their duty is how to practice to control the mind, to control the senses, śamo damas titikṣā, to be tolerant, to be very simple, simple living, not very gorgeous living. Whatever is absolutely necessary, a brāhmaṅa will accept, not more than that. That is simplicity: simple living, high thinking. So this is brāhmaṅa's... Śamo damas titikṣā ārjava. And then jñānam. Jñānam means to understand what is what. People are all in ignorance, rascals. The brāhmaṅa should not be rascal. Therefore brāhmaṅa is given the title paṅḍita. Still in India they say brāhmaṅa-paṅḍita. Brāhmaṅa must be a paṅḍita, a learned. A brāhmaṅa rascal is not brāhmaṅa. You are... "What you are?" "I am brāhmaṅa." "What do you do?" "Now, I pull ṭhelā." So that is not brāhmaṅa. Brāhmaṅa means paṅḍita. He must be a learned man. Paṭhana-pāṭhana yajana-yājana dāna-pratigraha. These are the brāhmaṅa's occupational duty. He must be learned scholar himself, and he would try to make others also learned scholar, paṭhana-pāṭhana. Not that "I know." If you know something better, means very valuable, you must distribute it. Otherwise, in Sanskrit language they are called jñāna-khala: "miser in knowledge." One who has got knowledge... Just like in the modern world, if one is scientifically advanced, he gives the knowledge to others. He goes from university to university and speaks about the new invention. So similarly, brāhmaṅa means that he must have full knowledge and he must distribute the knowledge, not that keep it for himself, reserved: "Nobody should know it." No. Paṭhana-pāṭhana. So jñānaṁ vijñānam.

Similarly, everyone has got particular type of business. Kṣatriya has got; vaiśya has got. So yat karoṣi, whatever you are doing, you must do it for Kṛṣṅa's satisfaction. Kṛṣṅa's satis... If you have got some knowledge, you distribute the knowledge for Kṛṣṅa's satisfaction. How you can do that? Whatever knowledge you have got, you try to describe Kṛṣṅa. Kavibhir nirūpitaḥ yad uttama-śloka-guṅānuvarṅanam [SB 1.5.22]. This is the first-class distribution of knowledge. Whatever you know, you try to explain Kṛṣṅa by that knowledge. Just like our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara. He's a scientist, and now he is trying to explain Kṛṣṅa through his scientific knowledge. Similarly, if you are a medical man, you can explain also Kṛṣṅa through medical science. If you are engineer, you can explain also Kṛṣṅa through engineering. Kṛṣṅa can be explained. But the person who is explaining, he must be intelligent. Because Kṛṣṅa is everything, so simply we must have the intelligence how to explain engineering and come to the conclusion of Kṛṣṅa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was doing that. He was teaching grammar. So when there was question of dhātu, He was explaining Kṛṣṅa. So the students, some of the students, they did not like that explanation. So therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had to wind up His school because they did not like.

So Kṛṣṅa can be... Kṛṣṅa is everything. Simply one must have sufficient knowledge how to see Kṛṣṅa through everything. That is mahā-bhāgavata. Sarvatra sphūrti haya nija iṣṭa-deva [Cc Madhya 8.274].

[The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.]

Whatever he sees, Kṛṣṅa, because actually Kṛṣṅa is everything. So there..., bhakti-yoga is so nice that that is the perfect yoga. And Kṛṣṅa confirms it:

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā 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 thinking of Kṛṣṅa. The same way: If you are a medical man, if you think of Kṛṣṅa, how to prove that Kṛṣṅa is the best physician or Kṛṣṅa is the best surgeon through medical science, if one thinks like that, and if he tries to do it, he is first-class yogī, even though he is a medical man. Similarly, everyone can become the first-class yogī if he takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Now, the question is that some of the rascals, they take Kṛṣṅa as a black man. [aside:] Who is talking? Black man. Some..., one government officer, I think, some rascal. His name is Mr. Anand. He has described Kṛṣṅa that "He was a black aborigine, and He became very powerful some way or other, and people worship Him as God." It was published in a government magazine. So there are so many rascals. Sometimes Kṛṣṅa... Means those who are demons, to defy Kṛṣṅa, that "This Kṛṣṅa is a crow" or "This Kṛṣṅa is a black man" or "Kṛṣṅa is śūdra..." Kṛṣṅa means so many things. Kṛṣṅa... Śūdras, they are also kṛṣṅa, called. The brāhmaṅas are called śukla, and the... So in this way, the rascal demons, they want to describe Kṛṣṅa in their own way so that Kṛṣṅa devotees may be unhappy, and that is their pleasure.

Therefore, to teach these rascals, Kṛṣṅa..., er, Draupadī..., er, Kuntī is pointing out, kṛṣṅāya vāsudevāya: "You rascal, you don't take Kṛṣṅa otherwise. I am speaking of Kṛṣṅa the son of Vāsudeva..., Vasudeva." Just like to identification in the court, if you give your name, then you must give the father's name, your village, your district, like that. That is identification. So therefore Kuntīdevī is pointing out: "It is no other Kṛṣṅa. The Kṛṣṅa whose father's name is Vasudeva, whose mother's name is Devakī, whose father's name is Nanda Mahārāja, whose mother's name is Yaśodāmāyi. That's all." When that Vallabha Ācārya... He wrote some essays and book, The Meaning of Kṛṣṅa. The Meaning of Kṛṣṅa. And he went to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he wanted some eulogization that he has so many meanings of Kṛṣṅa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "No, no. I know Kṛṣṅa's name, only two or three. That's all." He said, "I know Kṛṣṅa is the son of Yaśodāmāyi, Yaśodā-stanamdana[?]. Kṛṣṅa means the boy who sucked the breast of Mother Yaśodā. I know that."

So here also, nanda, nanda-nandanāya... He [She] says, nanda-gopa-kumārāya. Kumāra. Kumāra means "who is not married." So Kṛṣṅa remained in Vṛndāvana up to sixteen years. Therefore He remained always kumāra, Nanda-kumāra, Nanda-nandana. Here it is explicitly said, Nanda-gopa. And who was Nanda? That is also explained. Nanda means that leader of the cowherds men, or he was king, Nanda Mahārāja. "King" does not mean always one has to become a king of very big kingdom. No. Anyone who possesses... Still in India, anyone who possesses some land, he is called king, rāja. He is called rāja, the zamindar, one who possesses some land, in..., especially in the up-country. [coughs] So Nanda Mahārāja, because he possessed some land... He was well-to-do, rich man. [coughs] Because... [aside:] Where is water? He possessed cows and grains. Formerly, a man... Still now, also, actually that is rich, riches. Gavayā dhanavān, one who has got many cows, he is to be considered as rich man. Dhānyena dhanavān. One who has got large quantity of food grain, he is dhanavān. Nowadays, one who has got a bunch of paper, he is considered... And the paper is nothing. As soon as the government is failure, then the hundred..., thousand-dollar note and hundred-dollar notes, it will have no value.

So actual, actual value: to keep cows, to have food grains or gold, jewelries, these are the signs of richness. But Kali-yuga is so cruel that if you have got gold, if you have got jewels, then government will take away. Dasyu-dharmabhiḥ. Formerly there were ordinary plunderers, thieves. Now, according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the government will be composed of organized thieves. That is meant: dasyu-dharmabhiḥ, rājabhiḥ. Government officer means organized thieves, in every country. That will be the situation. So you cannot keep now. You have to be satisfied with these papers. That's all.

So Nanda Mahārāja was rich because he possessed nine lakhs of cows, not... And Kṛṣṅa had to take care of. Although Kṛṣṅa was Nanda Mahārāja's son, king's son, still He had to go... When He was young, five, six years old, He had to take care; not only Kṛṣṅa, but all His friends. That was the system. Small boys, they would take care of the calves, and after sixth year, they would take care of the cows. So in this way, fifteen, sixteen years they would pass. Then they would..., they may go to school, but the ordinary vaiśyas... Nanda Mahārāja happened to be vaiśya, not kṣatriya. His father, Kṛṣṅa's father, was Vasudeva. He was kṣatriya. His uncle, Kaṁsa, he was kṣatriya. He belonged to the kṣatriya family because born as the son of Vasudeva, but because He was transferred in His..., just after His birth to Nanda Mahārāja, so in the boyhood, in childhood, he remained a vaiśya.

Actually Kṛṣṅa is neither vaiśya nor śūdra nor kṣatriya nor brāhmaṅa. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Prakṛteḥ param. That has been described by Kuntī. Prakṛteḥ? Namasye...? What is the beginning?

Devotee: Namasye puruṣaṁ tvādyam.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Namasye puruṣam... What is that verse?

Devotee: Ādyam.

Prabhupāda: Ādyam.

Devotee: Tvādyam.

Prabhupāda: Tvā. Tvā means "You." So īśvaraṁ prakṛteḥ param [SB 1.8.18]. He is beyond the jurisdiction of this material world, prakṛteḥ param. So He is neither brāhmaṅa... This brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahma..., they are these material designation. They are not actually fact. So, as Kṛṣṅa is not belonging to this material world... He belongs to the spiritual... Prakṛteḥ param. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ [Bg 8.20], as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Para. Para means "another," or "the superior." Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find that... You are seeing this material world up to the sky. Your vision is up to the sky, although you do not know what are these planets, how they are existing. You have no knowledge. But still, at least, you can get experience that this universe is covered by this round sky, and within this universe there are so many planets.

So... So Kṛṣṅa does not belong to these planets or this material sky. He belongs to the paravyoma. Again, paravyoma means sky. And para means the superior, or spiritual. Therefore Kṛṣṅa does not... Kṛṣṅa belongs to everything, because everything is Kṛṣṅa's. But He has got His special abode. That is Vaikuṅṭha, Goloka Vṛndāvana. That is situated in the spiritual sky, not in this material sky. A... In the material sky, the, that Goloka Vṛndāvana is there, replica, just Vṛndāvana, where we go. When Kṛṣṅa comes... Just like government: the governor or the king, when he is on tour, in every city he has got a special house. What is that house called? Huh?

Devotee: Embassy.

Prabhupāda: Now... Just like... Similarly, when Kṛṣṅa comes in this universe, He comes there, in Vṛndāvana, in Mathurā, in the Dvārakā. So... But the real... But there is no difference between that Vṛndāvana, Goloka Vṛndāvana, and this Vṛndāvana.

So these things are to be understood. Kṛṣṅa is para. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ [Bg 8.20]. In the Bhagavad-gītā we get this information. There is another nature exactly like this. But these so-called scientists, they are so ignorant, they cannot estimate that there is another nature, there are spiritual planets... This... They do not know even how many planets are there, how they are situated, how they are inhabited. They think simply this planet is full of living entities; in other planets, there is no living entity. But that is not the fact. Every planet. Every planet is full with living entities, even in the sun planet, moon planet. So this is a subject matter we have discussed many times. So Kuntī has already pointed out that Kṛṣṅa is īśvara, and He's beyond the jurisdiction of this material world. That Kṛṣṅa, when He comes here... Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati [Bg 4.7]. He comes. Tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. He comes. Then how He comes? He comes as the son of Vasudeva. Kṛṣṅāya vāsudevāya. Vāsudeva, vāsudevāya. His name... Because He comes as the son of Vasudeva, therefore He is called Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ [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.]

If one knows that this Vāsudeva is everything, then he is the most exalted mahātmā.

So these things are to be understood. That is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. And if we remain fool... No. Everything is there. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in Bhagavad-gītā, everything is there about Kṛṣṅa. Anyone can understand if he's little intelligent. And as soon as you understand Kṛṣṅa, then you are liberated person.

janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ 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.]

So why should you not understand Kṛṣṅa? Everything is given there. Why you should...? At least, the intelligent class, the Americans and Europeans, they are very intelligent materially. They have proved their intelligence. Why not spiritually? If they are materially intelligent, brain is there, you can utilize it either for material purpose or... Now, so far, you have done for material purposes. You have done enough, so many machineries and so many things. But there is no happiness. You take to..., apply your brain and intelligence to understand Kṛṣṅa. Then your life is successful.

That I have said many times, that you American boys or American people, you are fortunate so many ways. How? Now, because you have got the result of pious activities. What is the result of pious activities? Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrī [SB 1.8.26].

[My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted, because one who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot address You with sincere feeling.]

You have... You were born in very rich nationality, in America. You were born of rich fathers. Nobody is poor; poverty is unknown there. I have studied. If, by voluntarily, one becomes poverty-stricken, that is another... But actually there is no poverty, so far I have studied. That is result of pious activity. To take birth in poor family, low family, is the result of sinful activities. So because you are born in rich nationality, rich family, that is good sign. Janma, aiśvarya. And opulence. You don't care for money. Money is nothing for you. This... We, we, we take money so carefully. But you spend money without any... So these are the results... Janmaiśvarya-śruta, education. And śrī, beauty. These are... So now you utilize this. Because one is fortunate if he gets all this opportunity, so you take this opportunity and utilize it for understanding Kṛṣṅa. Then your life is successful.

And I am hoping also that if you take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, and... It was the duty of the Indians. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, that,

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya janma yāra janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra [Cc Ādi 9.41]

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

Of course, I am Indian, so I have tried my best to give you this Kṛṣṅa consciousness. It was the duty of the Indians to preach this cult. But even they are not doing, so you can take up, and for the benefit of the human society, you simply preach about Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅāya. We are speaking of this Kṛṣṅa, not that Kṛṣṅa, the "aborigine Kṛṣṅa" or "the black Kṛṣṅa." "No, kṛṣṅa means black." No, Kṛṣṅa means many things. Kṛṣṅa means also attractive. Does not mean... Kali-Kṛṣṅa does not mean that He's black. He's... "Your Kṛṣṅa is black." Yes, my Kṛṣṅa is black, but at the same time all-attractive. So many beautiful gopīs all became attracted. So many queens all became attracted. So this blackness of Kṛṣṅa is not this ordinary. Therefore in the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobham [Bs 5.30].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adept in playing on His flute, with blooming eyes like lotus petals with head decked with peacock's feather, with the figure of beauty tinged with the hue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charming millions of Cupids.]

Kṛṣṅa's blackness is not ordinary blackness. Asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam. Although He's blackish like the black cloud, but sundara, very, very beautiful. How much beautiful? Kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobham. He's so beautiful that if you bring millions and millions of Cupids—Cupid is supposed to be very beautiful—still, He will surpass. So Kṛṣṅa... Śyāmasundaram. Śyāma means black, and still, very, very beautiful. That is the understanding of Kṛṣṅa.

So therefore to understand Kṛṣṅa perfectly, Kuntī is pointing out that Kṛṣṅa who is the son of Vasudeva, that beautiful Kṛṣṅa, that Śyāmasundara Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅāya vāsudevāya [SB 1.8.21]. Then Vāsudeva may be... There may be Vāsudevas. Then mother's name also. Devakī-nandanāya: "That Kṛṣṅa is born of Devakī and Vasudeva, not others." Then there cannot be any mistake. If both the father's and mother's name... And again, he's [she's] pointing out, nanda-gopa-kumārāya: "That Kṛṣṅa who was carried to Vṛndāvana, and He remained as foster son of Mahārāja Nanda." And then he [she] says, govindāya. Govindāya, that "He was a cowherd boy, played as a cowherd..." Govinda. Go means cows, and go means indriya, senses. So He was pleasure to the cows. The cows were very much pleased with Kṛṣṅa. As soon as Kṛṣṅa will call them, they will immediately come.

And this govinda word is explained in the Brahma-saṁhitā in so many ways. Govindam. Therefore this reference is given there, govinda. What is that...?

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva bhuvanāni bibharti durgā icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ... [Bs 5.44]

[The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.]

Govinda is not ordinary thing. That Govinda... Which Govinda? Now, this material energy, Durgā, who is working so wonderfully, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktiḥ, she has... This material energy has got so much power that it can create, it can destroy, it can maintain—so much power. But don't think that this material energy is working independently. And then how is...? How she is working? Chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā [Bs 5.44]. Just she is working just like shadow. The... Then what is the reality? Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. So we are worshiping that person who is the original director of this material... Because we are captivated by the three guṅas of material energy, we think this material energy, material world, is everything, because we are foolish. Nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. Tribhir guṅamayair bhāvaiḥ. They have been captivated by the three material... They cannot understand that behind this, there is Kṛṣṅa.

So this govinda word can be explained in so many ways. Kṛṣṅa can be... You can try to explain this verse year after year, still it cannot be ended, it is so nice verse. But you... We should try to understand Kṛṣṅa. There are so many ways to understand Kṛṣṅa. Some way or other, simply if you understand that Kṛṣṅa is īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1], that much, that Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead—if you are convinced on this subject matter—then your life is successful.

[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.]

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya... [end]