Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda's Appearance Day Lecture

Prabhupāda: [leads chanting of Cc. Ādi 1.1 responsively] ...īśa-bhaktān īśam īśāvatārakān tat-prakāśāṁś ca tac-chaktīḥ kṛṣṅa-caitanya-devam.

[aside—referring to microphone:] It will not stay. It will not stay.

Today, the auspicious day of our predecessor spiritual master, Oṁ Viṣṅupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya Aṣṭottara-śata Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura's mission... Apart from his life, we are especially stressing on the mission of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. This place, Māyāpur, was formerly known as Miyapura. Mostly it is inhabited by the Muhammadans. Some way or other it converted into the name of Miyapura instead of Māyāpur.

Still, people are very much doubtful where is the birth site of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was researching to find out the actual place. So under the direction of Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, this present Yogapīṭha was ascertained to be the birth site of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in the beginning wanted to develop this place very gloriously, befitting the holy name of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So he started this movement of developing Māyāpur. He could not finish it, so it was handed down to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.

So under his effort, assisted by his disciples, this place has gradually developed, and our attempt is also to develop this place. Therefore we have named this temple Māyāpur Chandrodaya. We have got great ambition to develop this place nicely and gloriously, and fortunately we are now connected with foreign countries, especially with the Americans. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's great desire was that the Americans would come here and develop this place, and they would chant and dance along with the Indians.

So his dream, as well as Caitanya Mahāprabhu's foretelling,

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma [CB Antya-khaṅḍa 4.126]

[In every town and village of the world, the chanting of My name will be heard.]

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu desired that all Indians to take part.

bhārata bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila 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.]

This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission, para-upakāra. Para-upakāra means to do good to others. Of course, in the human society there are many different branches of doing good to others—welfare societies—but more or less... Why more or less? Almost completely they think that this body is our self, and to do some good to the body is welfare activities. But actually that is not welfare activities, because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand very clearly, antavanta ime dehaḥ nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṅaḥ [Bg 2.18].

[Only the material body of the indestructible, immeasurable and eternal living entity is subject to destruction; therefore, fight, O descendant of Bharata.]

This body is antavat. Anta means it will be finished. Everyone knows his body is not permanent; it will be finished. Anything material—bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]—it has a date of birth, it stays for some time, and then it annihilates.

[Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved.]

Bg 8.20, 1972So the spiritual education begins from the understanding that "I am not this body." This is spiritual education. In the Bhagavad-gītā the first instruction given by Kṛṣṅa to Arjuna is this, that "We are not this body." Because Arjuna was speaking from the bodily platform, so Kṛṣṅa chastised him, that aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādāṁś ca bhāṣase [Bg 2.11]:

[The Blessed Lord said: While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor the dead.]

"Arjuna, you are talking like a very learned man, but you are lamenting on the subject matter on which no learned man laments." Aśocyān anvaśocas tvam.

So such kind of welfare activity concerning the body, like hospital and so many other things, they are good undoubtedly, but the ultimate goal is to see the interest of the soul. That is ultimate goal. That is the whole Vedic instruction. And Kṛṣṅa begins from this point. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [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 when Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to do some para-upakāra...

bhārata bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra manuṣya 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.]

These welfare activities did not mean that welfare to this body. It was meant for the soul, the same thing as Kṛṣṅa wanted to impress upon Arjuna, that "You are not this body. You are soul." Antavanta ime dehaḥ nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṅaḥ, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20].

[For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.]

So real welfare activity means to see to the interest of the soul. So what is the interest of the soul? The interest of the soul is that the soul is part and parcel of Kṛṣṅa, God. Just like small spark of fire is part and parcel of the big fire, similarly, we living entities, we are very minute, small spark of the Supreme Brahman, Para-brahman, or Kṛṣṅa. So as the spark within the fire looks very beautiful—the fire also looks beautiful, and the spark also looks beautiful—but as soon as the sparks fall down from the fire, it becomes extinguished.

So our condition is that the... Our present position is that we are fallen down from the whole fire, Kṛṣṅa. This is explained in a simple Bengali language:

kṛṣṅa bhūliyā jīva bhoga vāñchā kare pasate māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare [Prema-vivarta]

[When an individual soul forgets his eternal relationship with God and tries to lord it over the material nature or resources, that condition, that forgetful condition, is called māyā, or illusion.]

Māyā means darkness, ignorance. So this example is very nice. The sparks of the fire dancing very nicely with fire, it is also illuminating. But as soon as it fall down on the ground, it becomes cinder, black cinder, no more fiery quality. Similarly, we are meant for dancing and playing and walking and living with Kṛṣṅa. That is our real position. That is the Vṛndāvana. Everyone... Everyone is connected with Kṛṣṅa. There the trees, there the flowers, water, the cows, the calves, the cowherd boys, or elderly cowherd men, Nanda Mahārāja, other persons of his age, then Yaśodāmayī, mother, then gopīs—in this way Vṛndāvana life, Vṛndāvana picture. Kṛṣṅa comes with full Vṛndāvana picture, and He demonstrates His Vṛndāvana life, cintāmaṅi-prakara-sadmasu [Bs 5.29], just to attract us, that "You are trying to enjoy in this material world, but here you cannot enjoy because you are eternal.

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor who is tending the cows, yielding all desire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surrounded by millions of purpose trees, always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of lakṣmīs or gopīs.]

You cannot get eternal life here. So you come to Me. You come to Me." Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [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.]

This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. [aside:] Please ask them to wait for prasādam. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti. This is the invitation. Mām eti: "He comes back to home, back to Godhead." This is the whole instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. And at the end He said, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṅaṁ vraja [Bg 18.66].

[Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.]

Why you are bothering yourself, manufacturing so many plans to adjust material life? That is not possible. Here it is not possible. Here, so long you are in material association, then you have to change the body. 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-stho. What is that verse? Puruṣaḥ prakṛti-stho 'pi...

Hṛdayānanda: Bhuñjate prakṛti-jān guṅān.

Prabhupāda: Ha. Bhuñjate prakṛti-jān guṅān [Bg 13.22].

[The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.]

So long the living entity is in this material world, he has to associate with the different modes of material nature. The same example: just like the fire spark falls down on the ground. So ground, they have got different situation. One situation is dry grass, one situation is wet grass, and one situation is simply ground. So similarly, there are three position: sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. So sattva-guṅa means if the spark falls down on the dry grass, then it ignites the grasses. So in the sattva-guṅa, prakāśa, this fiery quality is demonstrated. But if it falls down on the water, wet ground, then it is completely extinguished. Three stages. Similarly, when we come down to this material world, if we associate with the sattva-guṅa, then there is some, I mean, hope of spiritual life. And if we are rajo-guṅa there is no hope, and tamo-guṅa, there is no hope. Rajas-tamaḥ. Rajas-tamo-bhāva kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye [SB 1.2.19].

[As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.]

Rajas-tamaḥ. If we associate with rajo-guṅa and tamo-guṅa, then our desires will be lusty and greediness. Kāma-lobhādayaś ca. Tato rajas-tamo-bhāva kāma-lobhādayaś ca. And if we increase our sattva-guṅa quality, then this kāma-lobhādaya, these two things, will not touch us. We may be little aloof from kāma-lobha.

So if in the sattva-guṅa... This is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṅi vidhunoti suhṛtsatām [SB 1.2.17]

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

So we have to transcend all these three qualities, sattva-guṅa, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa, especially rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa. If we do not try to do that, then there is no hope of spiritual salvation or liberation from the material entanglement. But in the Kali-yuga there is no practically sattva-guṅa, simply rajas, rajo-guṅa, tamo-guṅa, especially tamo-guṅa. Jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti-sthaḥ [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.]

Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu spread this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. So from this place Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu started this movement, Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, throughout whole India, and He desired that pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma [CB Antya-khaṅḍa 4.126]: "So as many towns and villages are there, this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement should be spread."

So this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is now in your hand. Of course, in 1965 Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he wanted me to do something in this connection. He wanted from his all his disciples. Especially he stressed many times that "You do this. Whatever you have learned, you try to expand in English language." And in 1933, when he was in Rādhā-kunḍa, I was at that time Bombay in connection with my business life. So I came to see him, and one friend wanted to give some land in Bombay for starting Bombay Gauḍīya Maṭha. He's my friend. So that's a long story, but I wish to narrate this, the Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī's mission. So at that time one of my Godbrother was also present. He reminded me about my friend's donation, and Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda immediately took up the land. He continued that "There is no need of establishing many temples. Better we publish some books." He said like that. He said that "We started our this Gauḍīya Maṭha in Ultadanga. The rent was very, very small, and if we could gather 2 to 250 rupees, it was very nice, going on. But since this J. B. Datta has given us this stone, marble stone Ṭhākurabari, our competition between the disciples have increased, so I don't like anymore. Rather, I would prefer to take out the marble stone and sell it and publish some books." So I took that point, and he also especially advised me that "If you get money, you try to publish books." So by his blessing it has become very successful by your cooperation. Now our books are being sold all over the world, and it is very satisfactory sale.

So on this particular day of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura's advent, try to remember his words, that he wanted that many books should be published about our philosophy, and it should be given to the English-knowing public especially, because English language is now world language. We are touring all over the world, so anywhere we speak English, it is understood, except in some places. So on this day, particular on the advent of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, I'd especially request my disciples who are cooperating with me that try to publish books as many as possible and distribute throughout the whole world. That will satisfy Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as well as Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]