Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.17

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṅa.

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

sadhrīcīno hy ayaṁ loke panthāḥ kṣemo 'kuto-bhayaḥ suśīlāḥ sādhavo yatra nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ [SB 6.1.17]

[03:22]

"In this material world, following the path of the pure devotees who are well behaved and completely endowed with first-class qualifications due to their having fully taken to the service of Nārāyaṅa as their life and soul is certainly the most auspicious, without any fear, and authorized by the śāstra."

Prabhupāda:

sadhrīcīno hy ayaṁ loke panthāḥ kṣemo 'kuto-bhayaḥ suśīlāḥ sādhavo yatra nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ [SB 6.1.17]

So the śāstra says that the association of devotees... Nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ means devotees. Nārāyaṅa-para: one who has taken Nārāyaṅa as the ultimate goal of life. Nārāyaṅa, Kṛṣṅa, Viṣṅu—They are of the same tattva, viṣṅu-tattva. So people do not know this, that to approach the platform of worshiping Nārāyaṅa or Viṣṅu or Kṛṣṅa, that is the most exalted and, what is called, assured platform. Just like we get insurance, this is assured. Assured by whom? Assured by Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa is assuring, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi [Bg 18.66]. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṅaśyati [Bg 9.31].

[He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.]

Api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa man... [Bg 9.30].

[Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.]

So many assurances there. Nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅa. Kṛṣṅa says personally that "I shall protect you." People suffer on account of sinful reaction, ignorance. Out of ignorance, they commit sinful action, and sinful action reacts. Just like a child, ignorant, he touches blazing fire and it burns the hand, and he suffers. You cannot say that "Child is innocent, and the fire has burned." No. This is nature's law. Ignorance. So sinful activities are done out of ignorance. Therefore one should be in knowledge. Ignorance of law is no excuse. If you go to the court and if you plead, "Sir, I did not know that I have to suffer, I have to go to imprisonment for six months because I have stolen. This was unknown to me..." No. Known or unknown, you must go to the jail.

Therefore the greatest contribution to the human society is knowledge. To keep them in ignorance, in darkness, that is not human society, that is cats' and dogs'... Because they are in ignorance, nobody can give them knowledge, neither they can take. Therefore in the human society there is institution for giving knowledge. That is the greatest contribution. And that knowledge, the supreme knowledge, is there in the Vedas. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. And all the Vedas ascertain that one should know what is God. That is wanted. [aside:] Don't make that sound. Vedaiś ca sarvaiḥ. People do not know it. This whole material world, they do not know what is the actual knowledge. They are busy in temporary things for sense gratification, but they are not aware what is actual the goal of knowledge. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31]:

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

the goal of knowledge is to know Viṣṅu, God. That is goal of knowledge. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. Jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā [SB 1.2.10].

[Life's desires should never be directed toward sense gratification. One should desire only a healthy life, or self-preservation, since a human being is meant for inquiry about the Absolute Truth. Nothing else should be the goal of one's works.]

This life, the human form of life, is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. That is life. And without trying to understand the Absolute Truth, if we simply are busy how to eat little comfortably, how to sleep little comfortably or how to have sex little conveniently, these are animal activities. These are animal activities. Human activity means to know what is God. That is human activity. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ [SB 7.5.31]. Without knowing this, they are struggling for existence. They want to be happy by adjusting the external energy, bahir-artha-māninaḥ. And people, leaders, andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31]. Ask big, big scientists, philosopher, "What is the goal of life?" They do not know. They simply theorize, that's all. The real goal of life is to understand God. So that can be done, as it is said here, that you make association...

[aside:] What is the number of the verse?

Nitāi: Seventeen.

Prabhupāda: Sadhrīcīno hy ayaṁ loke panthāḥ kṣemo 'kuto-bhayaḥ. Our life is to attain the transcendental platform of knowledge. That is our goal of life. Then how it can be done? Now, suśīlāḥ sādhavo yatra nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ. You associate with that cultural institution where there are suśīlāḥ, very well behaved. Now, find out any institution throughout the whole world who are suśīla. You will find here in Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement: no meat-eating, no illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication. You won't find anywhere. This is called suśīla, well behaved. Suśīla means... Śīla means behavior, or custom. Here you will find they are taking bath three times, they are changing cloth, everything neat and clean, personally their character, their behavior suśīla. Suśīlāḥ sādhavaḥ. Sādhavaḥ means saintly. What are the saintly characteristics? That is also mentioned:

titikṣavaḥ kāruṅikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṅāḥ [SB 3.25.21]

[The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.]

These are the characteristics of sādhu—not a sādhu having a dress like a sannyāsī and accompanied by three dozen women. No. Sādhavaḥ, their business is to preach. Kṛṣṅa says, api cet sudurācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ... [Bg 9.30]

[Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.]

He is sādhu, who are engaged in Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. Api cet sudurācāraḥ. Such person, even if you find some fault... Because everyone cannot become immediately perfect. Due to bad habits, sometimes they fall victim. But still, if he is Kṛṣṅa conscious strictly—he does not deviate, he does not forget Kṛṣṅa—then he is to be accepted as sādhu. Kṛṣṅa says. That, only for that qualification. Bhajate mām ananya-bhāk. That is the qualification of Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement.

So sādhu, they have to preach. They have to preach. Therefore the first qualification is titikṣavaḥ, tolerant. So many people will criticize, so many people attack, so many opposing elements, and he has to fight with them. Therefore titikṣavaḥ, toleration. Just like you see, Lord Jesus Christ is so tolerant that he was crucified; still, he did not curse anybody. This is sādhu: titikṣavaḥ, tolerant. The very great example of tolerance, Christ, Jesus Christ. So similarly, Haridāsa Ṭhākura. There are many saintly persons, sādhu, who were very tolerant. So first qualification of sādhu is titikṣavaḥ. Titikṣavaḥ and kāruṅikāḥ: at the same time, kind. These two examples we find in the character of Lord Jesus Christ. He was being crucified, and still he was praying to God, "My Lord, they do not know what they are doing." Did he not?

Brahmānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just see. And he was persecuted, and still, he was kind. He was kind. Still, he was praying to God that "These rascals are doing. They cannot kill me, but they are thinking that I will be killed. So they are committing offense." So this is toleration, and kāruṅikāḥ. Similarly, there are many examples. Titikṣavaḥ kāruṅikāḥ, and suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ [SB 3.25.21]: friend of all living entities. Lord Christ said, "Thou shall not kill." He never said that... Now they are interpreting in a different way: "The animal has no soul, and you can kill animals and keep slaughterhouse." So who is a Christian? I do not know who is a Christian. They profess to be Christian. It is very difficult to find out a true Christian who is strictly following the words of Lord Jesus Christ. So he is a good example of sādhu. We therefore adore and offer our obeisances to Lord Christ. Sādhu, example.

Titikṣavaḥ kāruṅikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām [SB 3.25.21].

[The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.]

This is suhṛdaḥ, not that "My brother will be saved, my family will be saved, and all others should be killed." That is not sādhu's qualification. Sādhu's qualification is he is kind to everyone. It is not that if a human being is killed, the killer is also killed. Why? Even a human being is killer of an animal, he should be killed. That is called suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām: friend to everyone. Not that "Only the human being should be given protection, he is national, and others animals and trees should not be given protection." No. That is imperfect knowledge. National means one who has taken birth in that land. So do the animals do not take their birth in the land? They are also national, but it is your discriminating law that you are giving protection to the human being and not to the animals. This is sinful activities. Therefore we say that "No meat-eating." If we give up this meat-eating, then so many lifes of the poor animals will be saved.

So that is sādhu, no meat-eating. Here you will find. In Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement you will find, nobody is meat-eating. Nobody is prepared to kill even an ant, what to speak of big animal. They put argument that "You are vegetarian, and you are also killing vegetable life." Of course, we are killing. But we are not killing vegetables. First of all, vegetables are not killed. If I take a fruit from the tree, the tree is not killed. Or if I take the grains from the plant, before the grains are ripe the plant dies. So actually there is no question of killing. Although the law is..., nature's law is that "One living entity is the food for another living entity." Jīvo jīvasya jīvanam. But a human being should be discriminative. If I can live by eating fruits and grains and milk, why shall I kill animal? This is human consciousness. Milk, if you get milk, you can prepare hundreds of nice preparations, all full of vitamins and nourishing. In our New Vrindavan we are maintaining cows and having so many nice preparations—rābṛi and lugdu and this peḍā and burfī and sandeśa and rasagullā and yogurt—varieties enough. The other farmers they come, they are surprised, that "Such nice preparation can be made from milk?" Yes, you do not know. You do not know how to utilize the animal. Ignorance. The milk is also produced out of the blood.

So it is intelligence. You are drinking the blood in a different way, produced by nature with more vitamin values and more taste and more gentleman. Why should you kill one cow and try to drink the blood? The blood is there already, but in a different form, without any violence. And we have seen it. It is practical experience that if the cows are assured they would not be killed, they will give you double milk. That we have experience. And it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that siṣicuḥ... We have not got here the verse. The purport is that during Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira's time, the cows were so happy and jubilant that from their milk bag always drop milk, so that the pasturing ground became muddy with milk.

So this science is unknown to the rascal civilization, how to utilize things for the best purpose. So in the Bhagavad-gītā you will find, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṅijyaṁ vaiśya-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.44].

[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]

Vaiśyas... First-class men, brāhmaṅa; second-class men, the kṣatriya; third-class men, the vaiśyas; and fourth-class men, all others, the worker class, śūdras. So the first-class men, the brāhmaṅa, they should give instruction, nice instruction, so that the whole human society will profit. By seeing the character of the brāhmaṅa, the behavior of the brāhmaṅa... Śamo damaḥ satyaṁ śaucaṁ titikṣā kṣāntir eva ca, jñānaṁ vijñānam [Bg 18.42].

[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.]

A brāhmaṅa is not..., never recommended a brāhmaṅa will make some trade or become a engineer. No. Śamo damas titikṣā, these are the qualification, characteristics, of brāhmaṅa. And śāstra says, yasya yal lakṣaṅaṁ proktaṁ puṁso varṅābhivyañjakam, tat tenaiva vinirdiśet [SB 7.11.35].

[If one shows the symptoms of being a brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya or śūdra, as described above, even if he has appeared in a different class, he should be accepted according to those symptoms of classification.]

When there is characteristics of a brāhmaṅa, then you should accept him as a brāhmaṅa. Not whimsically. Similarly, kṣatriya, he must be very strong and chivalrous and never be go, I mean, fly away from battle. They should come forward when there is some battle, riot. They should give protection. They are kṣatriyas. And vaiśya means... Now, the brāhmaṅas, they are not going to produce food or other things. They are simply for knowledge, giving the best knowledge to the human society. There is a need of brāhmaṅa. Everyone śūdra, simply working hard, and because they are accusing, "Oh, you people are escaping..." What is escaping? We are giving the best knowledge to the human society.

So it is specially mentioned, kṛṣi-go-rakṣya-vāṅijyam [Bg 18.44].

[Farming, cow protection and business are the qualities of work for the vaiśyas, and for the śūdras there is labor and service to others.]

The vaiśyas, food production means produce food grains, agricultural. By agriculture, you can... So much land is vacant all over the world. They are producing coffee. I have seen in Africa, vast land is engaged in producing coffee. No food grain. So this is the defect of the civilization. They do not know how to live. Will man die without drinking coffee? No. That is not the fact. But man will die if they have no real food, anna, food grains. If you think that "I eat meat. I don't require food grains," but the cows, the animal eat food grains. So without food grain, how we can live? Therefore Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, annād bhavanti bhūtāni [Bg 3.14].

[All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.]

You produce food grains. Why you are producing so much unnecessary things—television and tools, and stool also, so many thing? Why? They are not necessary. Live in the village, produce your own food, your own cloth, and drink milk sufficiently—all economic questions solved. Then you become suśīla, well behaved. And if you go on killing animals and drinking wine and gambling, when you will be suśīla? You are always bad character.

Here it is said suśīla, "well behaved," "good character." Suśīlāḥ sādhavaḥ. Sādhavaḥ, character like ideal. You have got ideal, Lord Jesus Christ. Suśīlāḥ sādhavaḥ nārāyaṅa... Why? Nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ: because they are devotee of Nārāyaṅa. If you become simply nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅa, devotee of Nārāyaṅa or Kṛṣṅa, all good qualities will come to you automatically. All good qualities. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṅais tatra samāsate surāḥ [SB 5.18.12].

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

Take practical example. These boys, these girls, how they have become so nice? They are known as "bright-faced." Why? Because nārāyaṅa-parāyaṅāḥ: they have taken seriously Kṛṣṅa as the object of worship. So actually if you want happiness within this world, peace and prosperity, just become Kṛṣṅa conscious. All problems will be solved, and you will be happy.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]