Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.44

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Seventh Canto, Ninth Chapter, text number 44. [chants verse; devotees respond]

prāyeṅa deva munayaḥ sva-vimukti-kāmā maunaṁ caranti vijane na parārtha-niṣṭhāḥ naitān vihāya kṛpaṅān vimumukṣa eko nānyaṁ tvad asya śaraṅaṁ bhramato 'nupaśye [SB 7.9.44]

[My dear Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, I see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence [mauna-vrata]. They are not interested in delivering others. As for me, however, I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Kṛṣṅa consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, one cannot be happy. Therefore I wish to bring them back to shelter at Your lotus feet.]

Prabhupāda: Verse number?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Text 44. Ninth Chapter. [continues chanting verse; devotees respond] [break] [chants synonyms, devotees responding] [break] "...to go back to home, back to Godhead; eka—alone; na—neither; anyam—any other person; tvad asya—except the..." This word is missing? "Except the..." Tvad asya?

Prabhupāda: Tvad? Where it is? Maunaṁ caranti vijane na parārtha, naitān vihāya... Where is tvad asya?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Tvad asya, the translation was not typed in.

Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Nānyaṁ tvad asya śaraṅaṁ bhramato 'nupaśye: "Except Yourself, I don't find he has got any hope who'll deliver him."

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: [continues chanting synonyms; devotees respond] "Śaraṅam—to take shelter of; bhramataḥ—the living entities rotating and wandering throughout the universe; anupaśye—I can see actually from authorized evidence."

[12:07]

Translation: "My dear Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, I see there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are simply interested for their own deliverance, and thus, without caring for big, big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayan forest for meditating, taking mauna-vrata, the vow of silence. They are not interested to deliver others. So far I am concerned, I do not wish to be liberated alone and leave aside all these poor fools and rascals. I know that without Kṛṣṅa consciousness, without taking shelter of Your lotus feet, nobody can be happy, and therefore I wish to bring them to You, to the shelter of Your lotus feet."

Prabhupāda:

This is the conviction of a perfectly convinced in Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. The preacher who are preaching Kṛṣṅa consciousness, they must be convinced that without accepting Kṛṣṅa consciousness, nobody has any means of escaping these stringent laws of material nature. It is everywhere stated. In the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti [Bg 7.14].

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

But unfortunately, the conditioned souls, although they are very, very much afflicted with the pressure of material nature, they have become callous. Every moment, every second, they are being controlled, and still they are thinking they can do anything and everything independently. So in this way they are suffering. But a learned, saintly person... Prahlāda Mahārāja, he thinks that "Without delivering these fallen souls, alone I am not prepared to go back to home, back to God." Naitān vihāya kṛpaṅān.

Kṛpaṅān. Kṛpaṅān means misers. All these persons who are in this material world, they are hankering after material enjoyment, and they have no interest to understand spiritual life. Such persons are called kṛpaṅa. Kṛpaṅa. Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṅā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ [SB 7.9.45].

[Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Gṛhamedhīs, so-called gṛhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The kṛpaṅas, the fools who are just the opposite of brāhmaṅas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhīra, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals.]

I have several times discussed this verse, that this material life, especially, material life means sex life. So everyone is suffering for indulging in sex life, but in spite of suffering, they are not satiated. Therefore they are called kṛpaṅa. Kṛpaṅa means miser. Brāhmaṅa means liberal, and kṛpaṅa means miser. Every one of us, we have got this valuable body, human form of body. If we utilize it, then..., utilize it by brahma-jñāna, then we become brāhmaṅa. And if we do not utilize it, then we are kṛpaṅa.

So here it is said kṛpaṅān. Kṛpaṅān means "These people, these conditioned souls, they are not endeavoring for liberation from this material world." They are so callous, foolish, just like cats and dogs, eating, sleeping and mating. That is their happiness. So they are reluctant. Nobody is interested in Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Therefore you have to... By the grace of Kṛṣṅa you have to adopt such means that they may be interested a little about Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Otherwise they are so dull and miserly, they do not understand that Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is very, very important for them. They have no sense even to understand. But the preacher who is Kṛṣṅa conscious, he knows that without Kṛṣṅa consciousness these people are condemned. They cannot be happy. They cannot be liberated. They will simply remain within this material world, accepting one body after another. And whichever material body we accept, it is meant for suffering. It is not meant for any happiness. Tri-tāpa-yātana, the three kinds of material miseries—adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika—he has to undergo.

So only the devotee, Kṛṣṅa conscious devotee, he can deliver them. He goes from town to town, village to village, house to house, to bring this message of Kṛṣṅa and deliver him. Prahlāda Mahārāja is promising, naitān vihāya kṛpaṅān vimumuksa eko: "I do not wish to go alone. Give me some strength so that I can deliver some of them. It is not possible to deliver all of them." But that is a very important engagement for Vaiṣṅava. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has written in his Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta, we can understand a Vaiṣṅava very nicely when we see that he has converted so many conditioned soul into Vaiṣṅava life. That is estimation of a Vaiṣṅava. If I simply try for myself—I may be very advanced devotee—that is not very much appreciated by Kṛṣṅa. Prāyeṅa deva munayaḥ sva-vimukti-kāmā. Everyone is interested. There are goṣṭhy-ānandī and bhajanānandī. Bhajanānandī is interested for his own welfare, or they think it that he is not competent enough to preach; therefore he does not go for preaching work. Sva-vimukti-kāmā: "Let me look after my own affairs." "Oil your own machine." So this is another stage, and other stage is a devotee taking all risk, preaching for the benefit of the whole human society. He is called goṣṭhy-ānandī, increasing the number of devotees. That is preferred by Kṛṣṅa.

It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, ya imaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidhāsyati [Bg 18.68]: "Anyone who is engaged in preaching this confidential science of Bhagavad-gītā," na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścid me priya-kṛttamaḥ, "nobody is dearer to Me than he is." So if you want very quickly recognition by Kṛṣṅa, go on preaching Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Even it is imperfectly done, but because you are sincere in your capa..., whatever capacity you have got, if you preach, then Kṛṣṅa will be very much pleased. I have seen practically. In my Guru Mahārāja's day there was a paper, Dainik Nadiya Prakash. It was being published daily, a piece of paper, just like I was publishing Back to Godhead. And if a small brahmacārī would go to Navadvīpa and would sell a few copies, one paisa a copy, that would be taken as a great preaching by Guru Mahārāja: "Oh, you have sold five copies? Very good." Because people are so reluctant—they are not at all interested in Kṛṣṅa consciousness—therefore we become very much engladdened when we see that some of our books and literatures are sold. They will read and be benefited.

So this is the mission of high-class Vaiṣṅava, how to preach Kṛṣṅa consciousness among the suffering humanity. And this is the purport of this verse said by Prahlāda Mahārāja, and we are following the footprints of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Never mind even it is imperfectly done, we must execute the orders of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, yāre dekha tāre kaha kṛṣṅa-upadeśa [Cc Madhya 7.128].

[Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.]

I may not be so very expert in delivering the message of Kṛṣṅa, but my duty is to try to my best capacity how to distribute this knowledge to the suffering humanity.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]