Morning Walk

Prabhupāda: ...consciousness, there is one very nice cause. The cause is, the Western people, they have no attachment for wife. Is it not a fact?

Pṛthu-putra: Yes.

Prabhupāda: They do not care for the wife.

Pṛthu-putra: They do not care for family attachment in general.

Akṣayānanda: That vairāgya is due to frustration.

Prabhupāda: Whatever the cause...

Akṣayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: The vairāgya is there. That is...

Akṣayānanda: Then you came and gave the missing link. You gave the Kṛṣṅa consciousness itself.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Vairāgya means that there must be another engagement. Then life is successful, with another spiritual engagement.

Akṣayānanda: That you have supplied.

Prabhupāda: That I have studied.

Akṣayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Akṣayānanda: You must have known that before you went to the West.

Prabhupāda: No, it was Kṛṣṅa's arrangement. Kṛṣṅa wanted to preach Kṛṣṅa consciousness in the Western countries, so He gave me the chance to take the credit, that's all. [laughter] It is Kṛṣṅa's arrangement. But He liked that one of His devotee may take the credit. That's all. Nimitta-mātraṁ bhava savyasācin [Bg 11.33]. Kṛṣṅa said to Arjuna that "I have already killed them. They are not returning, either you fight or not fight, but you can take the credit." So it was arrangement of Kṛṣṅa that Western countries should now have this Kṛṣṅa consciousness. And He wanted to give the credit to His poor servant. That's all. Kṛṣṅa likes that. He does everything, but He gives credit to His [chuckling] poor servant. That is my... Vairāgya. The whole process is how to achieve vairāgya. Vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ, janayaty āśu vairāgyam... [SB 1.2.7].

[By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṅa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.]

Pṛthu-putra: Jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam.

Prabhupāda: ...jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam. That was automatic. And the bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-yoga. Vairāgya-yogaṁ nija-bhak... Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc Madhya 6.254]. So anyway, you have got the right thing. Now make it perfect. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ [Bg 9.14].

[Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.]

With great vow and endeavor, kīrtana should go on. Then it is perfect. There is no difficulty. Teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam [Bg 10.10].

[To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.]

The kīrtana is bhajana. So if you are engaged satatam in kīrtana, then you are safe. Māyā's father will not be able to touch. In India as soon as you say, "You give up your family life," immediately he becomes morose. The family attachment, especially the wife's attachment, is very, very strong. And śāstra says if one can give up this attachment of wife, then he can conquer Kṛṣṅa. It is said. He can conquer Kṛṣṅa. Simply... Eh?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: There's a ditch here.

Devotee (1): There's a place to walk, though, on the left-hand side.

Akṣayānanda: Walking place on the left. [break] ...from his fallible soldiers.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Akṣayānanda: Fallible soldiers.

Prabhupāda: Fallible soldier? Yes.

Akṣayānanda: Sometimes I say to young boys, "You are seeking protection from your parents in your childhood, and then, when you grow old or when you grow older, they will want protection from you, because they will become old and feeble. So where is the protection? There is actually no protection." And everyone can easily understand that.

Prabhupāda: Protection is ultimately Kṛṣṅa.

Akṣayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: It is all false thought that "He is giving me protection. He is giving me..."

Akṣayānanda: Yes. And the same person who is giving me protection, later he will ask me for protection, and then I will ask somebody else...

Prabhupāda: No, no, even when the father-mother is supposed to give protection, that is also not right conclusion. Otherwise there are so many fathers and mothers who is giving protection to his children. The father-mother, when the child is sick, the father-mother gives all—one who has got means—best medicine, best medical treatment, but the child dies. Where is the protection?

Akṣayānanda: Yes. Even that is...

Prabhupāda: It is not possible.

Akṣayānanda: So there's actually no protection in any case.

Prabhupāda: Somebody was... Some bird was killed here?

Akṣayānanda: Yes, it appears to be. [break] Sometimes we see a big house and at least two or three generations are all living together, same two or three families—his mother, his...

Prabhupāda: That is joint family, yes.

Akṣayānanda: Yes, joint families. And because of that, the attachment is very strong, it appears.

Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda? After the Battle of Kurukṣetra there were many men killed. How were all the young people and the women protected after so many millions of men were killed?

Prabhupāda: What do you mean by protection?

Devotee (2): Well, I mean like Arjuna was arguing that...

Prabhupāda: That was also... That was condemned.

Akṣayānanda: Yes, that argument was not accepted.

Prabhupāda: That argument was not accepted by Kṛṣṅa.

Devotee (2): But I mean, then how...

Prabhupāda: He proved that "You are a rascal. One who puts this argument, he's a rascal."

Akṣayānanda: That was just an excuse to avoid fighting.

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṅa clearly chastised him, that "You are talking like a fool." Eh? Aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṁ prajñā-vādān [Bg 2.11]: "Talking like a very learned man, but you are a fool. No learned man speaks like that."

[pause]

Prabhupāda: Why they have kept this nice road within this forest? What is the idea?

Hari-śauri: There's some village on the other side?

Akṣayānanda: I don't know.

Prabhupāda: No, for village the government is not going to keep such nice road. This is government department, forest department. The government policy is to develop these places for industry in future. This industry is the cause of falldown of the human society—industry. So the reaction is... The industry, two things required—four things required: land, labor, capital and organization. So now the industry is going on, and the capitalists and labor, there is fight. The laborers, they are finding out that "We are working. Why the capitalists will take the profit?" This is communism. Is it not?

Akṣayānanda: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So the Communists, they are thinking, "By changing the hand, things will improve." But they do not know that very industry is the cause of falldown. They're simply trying to change the hand. The principle should go on, industry; only the proposal is that the capitalists should give up and the workers should take it.

Devotee (2): Which way is India headed towards? The capitalists or the Communists?

Prabhupāda: India has no..., had no such ideas. They are borrowing ideas. India's idea is self-realization. Live very simple life—brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. The brāhmaṅas, they are living simple life, becoming very learned scholar, pure character, advanced in spiritual life—one class, ideal. And kṣatriyas, they are supposed to be the king. They distribute the land on nominal taxation, and the vaiśyas utilize the land for cultivation and cow-keeping. And the śūdras, they are engaged as weaver, blacksmith, goldsmith, mean other necessities of life. In this way the whole society is simplified, and the central point is how to become advanced in Kṛṣṅa consciousness by cooperation. This is India's civilization. There is no question of industry. Ugra-karma. It has been condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā as ugra-karma, laboring very hard for livelihood. This industry means engage the poor worker class to work very hard, and there is huge profit, and some directors of the capitalists, they take it. And they have one dozen motorcars, palatial building, no work, simply wine and woman, that's all. This is going on. And the others, they are seeing: "There is no classification, neither real brāhmaṅa nor kṣatriya nor vaiśya. So he is enjoying like that. He has got so many cars. He has got such a nice apartment. Why not me?" There is struggle. This is actual picture. Our Vedic advice is that make life very simple. You must have some means of livelihood. Keep your body and soul together. So according to quality, guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13], there must be division, and then simple life.

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

The real aim is tam abhyarcya: how to become Kṛṣṅa conscious. Everyone is... Brāhmaṅa is guiding, kṣatriya is ruling and vaiśya is producing food, and śūdra, they have no brain; they are helping. In this way the society is very peaceful, and everyone is advanced in Kṛṣṅa consciousness. This is India's civilization. Now, due to this association of the rākṣasas... Even up to Muhammadan time this civilization was being continued. Muhammadan did not touch the Indian culture. Sometimes by, what is called, fanaticism, there was fight. Not like this. The Arjuna... Aurangzeb began this. Otherwise, from, what is called, the first emperor?

Devotee: Mogul emperor?

Prabhupāda: Akbar. Akbar, Jahangir, then Shah Jahan, there was no trouble. They did not touch. Even there was some marriage connection. They want to remain as kṣatriya king, that's all. The other things were not interfered. So instead of a Hindu kṣatriya, the Musselman kṣatriya. People were satisfied: "A kṣatriya... We have to work. Somebody must be king." So in this way the Indian people accepted the Britishers: "All right, you remain king. Don't interfere." But later on, to exploit the whole country, they began to plan.

Akṣayānanda: Industry.

Prabhupāda: Yes. The industry, railway, and this way, that way—European way of life. And the result was they were kicked out. And India is now trying to perfect...

Akṣayānanda: The same thing.

Prabhupāda: Same thing. Yes.

Akṣayānanda: Tragedy.

Prabhupāda: Tragedy, yes.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Last year, when Governor Reddy was here, you were talking with him how "Let there simply be the government's position to check and see that everyone is following their particular religion."

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is government's position.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: So how would, for example, the government... In a perfect society, how would the government check to see that the brāhmaṅas are actually practicing, and how would...?

Prabhupāda: There is... The brāhmaṅa... This is brāhmaṅa. This formula is there: satya śamo damas titikṣā ārjava. So you have to see whether he is possessing this quality. Or train them. Have brahminical school, what I am willing to do. That is required absolutely. There must be a class of men, perfect brāhmaṅa. Otherwise society will be ruined. In the Western countries there is no brāhmaṅa. There may be some kṣatriyas and vaiśyas only, and śūdras. Brāhmaṅas there is none. The same thing is here also now. Therefore the whole society is going down. There is no brāhmaṅa. What is this? This is brahminical culture. We are asking them not to be sinful; become devotee. This is brahminical culture. Namo brahmaṅya-devāya go-brāhmaṅa-hitāya ca [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 1.19.65]. Kṛṣṅa consciousness means go-brāhmaṅa-hitāya ca—for the benefit of brahminical culture and cow protection. That is brahminical culture.

Jayādvaita: So to be recognized as brāhmaṅas...

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Jayādvaita: To be recognized, our men will have to be, as you were saying yesterday, perfect gentlemen.

Prabhupāda: Yes, brāhmaṅa means perfect gentleman. Brāhmaṅa means perfect gentleman. A rogue, thief, cannot become brāhmaṅa. [laughs] Brāhmaṅa is perfect gentleman. Who feels for others, that is gentleman. Who does not feel for others, for his sense gratification, he is a rogue. A brāhmaṅa, a gentleman, must feel that "Why there should be animal killing?" That is gentleman. If you are killed, you cry and you are... Hundreds and thousands of animals you are killing on the plea that they have no soul. Lowest class, narādhama. They have been described as narādhama. So narādhama civilization, how he can be happy? There must be frustration.

Devotee (1): Yesterday, Śrīla Prabhupāda, four or five people stopped me while I was in a bus during the day, and they would stop me and look at me with tilaka and etcetera, and say, "Why have you given up your Western life and taken to this life?" [Prabhupāda laughs] They were amazed. And then I had a Bhāgavatam, and I'd show them your picture, and I'd show them the Bhāgavatam and say, "Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate [Bg 2.59],

[The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness.]

a higher taste." And then they would appreciate. They would... They looked at... They were so impressed by your Bhāgavatam. They'd look at your picture, and they'd go, "Yes, yes, you are right."

Prabhupāda: Yes, in my Preface I have written that: "What is the necessity of the human society?" This is, this Kṛṣṅa consciousness, is required. It is a mistake to understand that we are trying to push on Hindu culture. Where is the Hindu culture? To become a gentleman is Hindu culture? It is for everyone.

Jayādvaita: They think that their paraphernalia makes them gentlemen. If they have a big car and a nice house, then they are gentlemen.

Prabhupāda: And he may be great rogue, that "Simply dress yourself nicely; you become gentleman."

Devotee (1): Usually materially opulent people are puffed up and mean. They're not...

Prabhupāda: Gentleman means that if you go to a gentleman's store, "Beware of the dog," "Beware of the revolver." This is your culture. And when you go to the airport everyone is searched out, pocket. So who is gentleman? Is that gentleman? There is no gentleman in the world. All rogues and thieves, cheaters, bluffers. Now we are creating gentlemen. Otherwise there is no gentlemen. Here is the proof. If we are gentleman, why we are being checked in the airport? Hmm? This is the proof. There is no gentlemen.

Akṣayānanda: Because they're not expecting any gentlemen.

Prabhupāda: That means there is no... In other words, there is no gentlemen.

Akṣayānanda: Yes. They're only expecting rogues.

Prabhupāda: Sometimes... In most cases they do not check me. "This is gentleman." And there is all..., no gentlemen. And this is the test, how to test a gentleman, that one who is not surrendered to Kṛṣṅa. Or one who is surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, he is gentleman. Kṛṣṅa says that,

na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ māyayāpahṛta-jñānā āsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥ [Bg 7.15]

[Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.]

So anyone who has not surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, he is not gentleman. Bās. That is the test. He is not a gentleman.

Jayādvaita: Just like that man yesterday, that farmer, was so polite.

Prabhupāda: Yes, he is gentleman. He is Kṛṣṅa conscious. This can be used very nice dako[?] If you stack it nicely, you can use as dako[?]. It is very good...

Akṣayānanda: Cleaning shoes[?]. [break]

Jayādvaita: Cintāmaṅi gate.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Vaiṣṅavas in general in Vṛndāvana, are they lamenting for the physical upkeep?

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Are the Vaiṣṅavas in general lamenting for the physical upkeep of Vṛndāvana, or are they indifferent?

Prabhupāda: No, it is the business of the government. Vaiṣṅava can chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra anywhere. He doesn't require any nice park. Ahaituky apratihatā. For becoming Kṛṣṅa conscious, for a serious person, there is no obstacle. Any condition he can do it. [break] ...why there is sannyāsī? In the Vedic civilization, ultimately sannyāsa. Why? That one must give up the intimate relationship with wife. This is the ultimate position. Brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, sannyāsa.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Tamo-dvāraṁ yoṣitāṁ saṅgī-saṅgam [SB 5.5.2].

Prabhupāda: That is recommended everywhere. Illicit or legal. Mahāprabhu has said, asat eka strī-saṅgī [Cc Madhya 22.87]: "Anyone who is attached to woman, he is asat." Bās. This is the whole process, how to become detached from the attraction of woman. Dhīra. [break] Give up the connection with woman is recommended. So in our Society it will be a good test. We are mixed up with men and women. If you, in spite of this allurement, if you do not become attracted by woman, then you should know you are paramahaṁsa. [laughter] Yes. You are worshipable. And this Bhāgavata-dharma is meant for the paramahaṁsas. Paramo nirmatsarāṅām [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.]

That is... It is especially. Dharmaḥ projjhita. The other different types of regulated system, to become very religious man or to become very expert money-hunter or accumulation of money, dharma, artha, and enjoying sense enjoyment—the whole world is appreciating these men: who is irreligious man, who is very much able to satisfy his senses, dozens of cars and three dozen women, naked dance. They are taking this. Dharma artha kāma. And somebody is trying mokṣa, being baffled or dissatisfied: "These things will not... I shall become one with." So dharma artha kāma mokṣa [SB 4.8.41, Cc. Ādi 1.90].

[Any person who desires the fruits of the four principles religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, liberation, should engage himself in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for worship of His lotus feet yields the fulfillment of all of these.]

So Bhāgavata says, "These are all kicked out," paramo nirmatsarāṅām [SB 1.1.2], for the paramahaṁsas. So anyone who is freed from all these allurement, he is paramahaṁsa. And this paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā, it is called, Bhāgavata... Paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā. Bhāṣyaṁ brahma-sūtrāṅām.

Pṛthu-putra: We also should be free from the extension of this, which is profit, adoration and distinction.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Pṛthu-putra: We also should be free from profit, adoration and distinction, which are just extensions of these desires.

Prabhupāda: A Vaiṣṅava does not require any, what is adoration or distinction.

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: There's a line of preaching in our Society that subtle manifestation of sex attraction is adoration, profit and distinction.

Pṛthu-putra: This is in the books.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is... Mahāprabhu says, tṛṅād api sunīcena [Śikṣāṣṭaka 3].

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: There's another path going this way if you'd like to walk some more, Śrīla Prabhupāda. [break]

Prabhupāda: ...that garden.

Jayādvaita: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Where so many men come there.

Jayādvaita: And it is just near our temple.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Very calm and quiet.

Hari-śauri: It's very pleasant.

Prabhupāda: But we shall go this way?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Yes, it's okay. The car is just back here when you want to go back.

Devotee (1): On one tape in America you said that the Westerners have created many, many parks, but because they are so busy trying to work hard for money they cannot take advantage.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (1): Therefore we will come early in the morning and take advantage.

Prabhupāda: [chuckles] Yes, that is our ājagara-vṛtti. Ājagara-vṛtti means we haven't got to work for anything. Everything should be done by others, and we shall take possession of it. [laughter] Just like the Americans. They have earned so much money, and I have gone there and taking possession. I am not more clever than the Americans? [laughs] "Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa and give money. I'll take to India." What do you think?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: You once gave the example of a mouse. The mouse digs a hole, and then the snake comes along and takes the house away from the mouse.

Prabhupāda: Yes. And eats him. The mouse makes very comfortable home by digging, and the snake comes, he enters without any labor, and the mouse is there and he eats it.

Jayādvaita: Free food and free home.

Prabhupāda: Yes, ājagara-vṛtti. What is that? Python. Ājagara-vṛtti and madhukāra-vṛtti. For your necessities of life either you take ājagara-vṛtti or madhukāra-vṛtti. Madhukāra means the fly, honeybee, bees. They take little from this flower, little from this flower, and they stock it, and somebody comes and takes it away. Don't stock. Therefore we have to follow this, that whatever money is coming, spend it for publication or for constructing temple. No account in the bank. Finish. [break]

Jayādvaita: ...is that no one can be contaminated by it.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that is blessing for them.

Jayādvaita: As soon as I have five dollars, I'm thinking that "Now I have five dollars. I can..."

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Jayādvaita: I'm thinking, "Now I have five dollars, I can purchase something. What shall I buy?"

Prabhupāda: Why? If you don't require anything, why should you purchase? Don't create artificial demand. If you require to purchase something, then purchase. That is material civilization: "I don't require it; still I want it." Atyāhāra.

atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ laulyaṁ jana-saṅgaś ca ṣaḍbhir bhaktir vinaśyati [Upadeśāmṛta 2]

[One's devotional service is spoiled when he becomes too entangled in the following six activities: (1) eating more than necessary or collecting more funds than required; (2) overendeavoring for mundane things that are very difficult to obtain; (3) talking unnecessarily about mundane subject matters; (4) practicing the scriptural rules and regulations only for the sake of following them and not for the sake of spiritual advancement, or rejecting the rules and regulations of the scriptures and working independently or whimsically; (5) associating with worldly-minded persons who are not interested in Kṛṣṅa consciousness; and (6) being greedy for mundane achievements.]

Finish. We should not possess anything which is not absolutely necessary. We are keeping these cars for preaching facility, not for sense gratification. We are keeping this Dictaphone for preaching facility. Otherwise why it should be required?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: It is the whole mentality, then.

Prabhupāda: Hmm?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: The whole mentality is changed in Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like the Kurukṣetra fight. Kṛṣṅa wanted; therefore He fought. Personally He did not want. Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]