Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.3

Pradyumna: Translation: "Those who are interested in reviving Kṛṣṅa consciousness and increasing their love of Godhead do not like to do anything that is not related to Kṛṣṅa. They are not interested in mingling with people who are busy maintaining their bodies, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. They are not attached to their homes, although they may be householders. Nor are they attached to wives, children, friends or wealth. At the same time, they are not indifferent to the execution of their duties. Such people are interested in collecting only enough money to keep the body and soul together." [break]

Prabhupāda:

ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti-yuktā yāvad-arthāś ca loke [SB 5.5.3]

So the recommendation is that if you want to go back home, back to Godhead, divyam, so you have to practice austerities, penance. That austerity and penance is according to the age, deśa, kāla, pātra. Not that... Just like in the common law also, if a grown-up man commits some theft, he is punished more. And if a child or a boy commits theft, he is not so much punished. So there is consideration of deśa kāla pātra. In the Kali-yuga people cannot undergo very severe austerities. That is impossible for them, because mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10].

[O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.]

They are already very much suppressed and suffering because they are all unfortunate, manda-bhāgyā. Mostly, people, they have no provision for eating, either today or tomorrow. Manda-bhāgyā. There is no sufficient grains. Formerly, even in the villages you would see that a common man has very good stock of food grains and cows, dhanvena dhanavan, gavaya dhanavan. Formerly, the standard of richness was considered how many morai, the bank, what is called? Where grain is stocked?

Devotee: Silo.

Prabhupāda: Silo. So in India it is called morai, grain stock. And how many cows one has got in stock. Then he is rich man. Nowadays, how much paper money he has got. Actually it has no value. Suppose you have got some papers. Each paper it is written there "one thousand dollar." But if there is no grain, what will this one-thousand-dollar paper will do? It actually so happened in the last war in Germany, their money was thrown in the street. Nobody cared to take it, because it has no exchange. So long the paper money you can exchange, there is value. Otherwise, it is paper only. But if you have got actual commodity—grains and cows—then you can eat in any circumstances. Never mind war is going on; you don't care. You get sufficient food. What you will do with the paper money? So this paper currency is useless. If the things are going on nicely it has value, but in times of crisis it has no value.

So here it is description is giving that we are recommended to make association with mahat-sevā just to get liberation. Mahat-sevā. And who is mahātmā? That is being described. In the first... Mahāntas te. They are mahātmā. What is the symptom? In the śāstra we'll find not by one symptom, that one has got saffron cloth or big beard, then he is mahātmā. No. There are other symptoms. Just like brāhmaṅa. In the Kali-yuga brāhmaṅa means one two-paisa thread, that's all. But that is not brāhmaṅa. Brāhmaṅa means śamo damo titikṣā. These are the symptoms. Similarly, mahātmā does not mean a dress. But people have taken advantage of this dress, veśopajivibhiḥ[?]. In India still, although poverty-stricken, if a person simply by dressing in saffron cloth goes to a village, he has no problem. Everyone will call him, invite him, give him shelter, give him food. Still, [Hindi: "Sir, come here. Take prasādam.] Everyone will ask. Poor people have taken advantage of it. Without any education, without any..., they take it for solving economic problems. Here also in Vṛndāvana you'll find so many people have come here because there are many chatras. You can get free cāpāṭi, dāl. You'll find in the morning so many wretched class, they have come to Vṛndāvana just for this bread and dāl. And they collect and they exchange. They purchase bīḍī.

So everything, in Kali-yuga, everything is being misused. But śāstra has given us direction who is brāhmaṅa, who is mahātmā. So here one type of mahātmā is given: mahāntas te sama-cittāḥ. They are equal. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā [Bg 18.54].

[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.]

Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu. That is mahātmā. He has realized, Brahman realized, so he has no discrimination, either man to man or man to animal. Even a...

vidyā-vinaya-sampanne brāhmaṅe gave hastini śuni caiva śvapāke ca paṅḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg 5.18]

[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṅa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]]

Paṅḍita does not mean one who has got degree. Paṅḍita means sama-cittāḥ. That is sama-cittāḥ. Cāṅakya Paṅḍita has also said that,

mātṛ-vat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭra-vat ātma-vat sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyati sa paṅḍitaḥ

[One who sees others' wives as his mother, who sees all others' possessions as insignificant as a lump of clay, and who sees all living beings as himself—such a person is considered a learned man.]

He is paṅḍita. Otherwise a rascal. Mātṛ-vat para-dāreṣu. As soon as you see one woman except your married wife, you immediately address her "mother." This is paṅḍita. This is paṅḍita. Not that talking phish-phish with other's woman. He's a rascal. So mātṛ-vat para-dāreṣu para-dravyeṣu loṣṭra-vat: not to touch others' property. Garbage nobody touches. But people are so unfortunate. I have seen in Hong Kong, they are picking out some food from the garbage like dogs. I have seen. Somebody throws away some foodstuff, and that is collected. People are so unfortunate. So garbage nobody touches. But in Kali-yuga one has to pick out some papers, some, I mean to say, pieces of cloth to make some business in the garbage. Garbage is untouchable, but in the Kali-yuga the people are so unfortunate that they pick out from garbage also something valuable.

So anyway, mahāntas, these are the symptoms. Sama-cittāḥ: they have no such thing, "Oh, here is Hindu, here is Musselman, here is rich man, here is poor man." No. He's kind to everyone. That is godly qualification. Kṛṣṅa says, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ [Bg 9.32].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth—women, vaiśyas [merchants], as well as śūdras [workers]—can approach the supreme destination.]

Sama-cittāḥ. This is explanation. Anyone who takes shelter of Kṛṣṅa's lotus feet, he is te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim. He's eligible to go back home, back to Godhead. So Kṛṣṅa gives this liberty, open to everyone. Now who will act it? Who will induce people, even though he's born in low-grade family. Māṁ hi pārtha..., ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yoni. Pāpa-yoni means one who is born in pāpa-yoni, in low-grade family. They say caṅḍāla, yavana, mleccha, in the, there... But Kṛṣṅa is giving liberty to everyone. Ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. Ye 'nye ca pāpā, Śukadeva Gosvāmī said. Then who will do it? You are a big sādhu, very learned sādhu, and if you sit down, "No, no. I shall not go out of India. As soon as I cross the sea, immediately I'll become fallen," then who will do this business? Kṛṣṅa wants that te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ. Then who will deliver these pāpa-yoni? If "I am a big sannyāsī and big devotee, I do not go outside Vṛndāvana, I do not go outside India. I am jagat-guru..." "Have you seen jagat?" "No. I'm self-made jagat-guru." This is going on. Cheating. This cheating is going on. What is mahātmā they do not know; still, they are posing themselves mahātmā. Mahātmāji he [Hindi].

So they are not mahātmā. Mahat, the first qualification is sama-cittāḥ. Everyone must be delivered. Not "I am... I am undergoing severe austerities. I shall become brahma-līna and my business is finished." No. Others finished. That is sama-cittāḥ. Others. Just as Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "I do not wish to go alone to Vaikuṅṭha unless I take all these rascals with me." That is Vaiṣṅava. Māya sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān [SB 7.9.43]. "These vimūḍhān who are so much entangled in this material world and trying to adjust things for peace and happiness, unnecessarily they do not know. So I want to take them." That is Vaiṣṅava. "Alone I don't want to go." Just like Nārada Muni. Nārada Muni is traveling all over the universe. He's going to hell, heaven, everywhere, and trying to make disciples who can become Kṛṣṅa's devotee. He does not stay anywhere for more than three minutes, like that. He's traveling always. This is sama-cittāḥ, always going everywhere: "You become devotee, you become Kṛṣṅa conscious so that your life will be successful." Preaching, that is wanted. Sama-cittāḥ. As soon as there is some facility, one should approach the fallen souls. People are suffering. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā [SB 1.1.10].

[O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.]

They are so unfortunate, they are suffering in this material world. Give them the information at least that "Why you are suffering? You take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness and be happy." That is wanted. That is sama-cittāḥ.

Prasannātmā. Praśāntā. Prakistho rūpeṅa santaḥ. Preaching is not very, I mean to say, pleasant. They have to meet so many difficulties. Still they are peaceful, not disturbed. Praśāntā. Not that... Just like Nityānanda Prabhu went to preach amongst Jagāi-Mādhāi. And Jagāi-Mādhāi injured—"Why, You rascal, You have come here to disturb us?"—and threw the piece of earthen pot, and Nityānanda Prabhu was injured. Still praśāntā. This is sādhu. Yes. "My dear Jagāi-Mādhāi, you have injured Me. It doesn't matter. Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa please." This is praśāntā. He's not disturbed: "Oh, you have injured Me. I shall go to the police." No. Peaceful. "All right, never mind. You do not know how to behave; you have injured Me. It doesn't matter. Please chant." When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard it, He immediately came, and He was so angry that "I shall kill these two men immediately. Bring My cakra." Nityānanda Prabhu said, "My Lord, You have promised not to take weapon in this incarnation, so kindly be merciful upon them." "No! They have insulted Vaiṣṅava!" This is another example. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching this humbleness: tṛṅād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṅunā. But when Nityānanda Prabhu was injured, did He stop punishing them? No. At that time He became fire: "I shall kill them!" Tṛṅād api sunīcena does not mean that if a Vaiṣṅava is insulted or Viṣṅu is defamed, you remain silent, "I am tṛṅād api sunīcena." No. At that time you should become fire. That is the teaching of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Just like Hanumānjī, he's Vaiṣṅava. But when there was need for the service of Lord Rāmacandra, he set fire in the Lanka. So when there is viṣṅu-vaiṣṅava-ninda, defamation, you should not remain tṛṅād api sunīcena. You should take steps. This is the instruction. Anyway, Vaiṣṅava is never angry, but that does not mean that you tolerate insult to Viṣṅu and Vaiṣṅava. No.

So praśāntā. Praśāntā vimanyavaḥ, without any anger. Vimanyavaḥ. Suhṛdaḥ. These are the examples. Just see. Suhṛdaḥ. Su-hṛda means one who is actually wanting your welfare. That is called suhṛt. Just like father, mother. In spite of so many faults on the part of the son, still they are willing always, "How my sons will be happy." These are the examples of suhṛdaḥ. He's not ordinary friend. Ordinary friend, that is reciprocation: "If you do me, then I shall do to you. Otherwise not." But suhṛdaḥ means the other side does not do anything benefit, but one side is always willing. That is called suhṛdaḥ. Similarly, a mahātmā, he is not well received. He is criticized, insulted, sometimes injured. Still, he wants. Just like Lord Jesus Christ. He was so badly treated, and still he was thinking, "Father, they do not know what they are doing. Please excuse." This is suhṛdaḥ. He is praying to God. This is sādhu, mahātmā. Suhṛdaḥ praśāntā. Not that...

In India there are examples like Haridasa Ṭhākura, Prahlāda Mahārāja. And there in Western countries also, Lord Jesus Christ, he is śaktyāveśa-avatāra, God's son. And he tolerated so much. These are the examples of mahātmā. Don't misunderstand that we are preaching that mahātmās are only in India. No. By the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead there are mahātmās even amongst the birds, even amongst the beasts, even amongst the lower than animals. Because this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is going on in different places, in different circumstances. That is God's desire. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]. So Kṛṣṅa wants this. Just like in your country there is welfare activity by the government. The welfare department is seeing that nobody is unhappy for want of money. Similarly, mahātmās, they are also in the welfare department of Kṛṣṅa. They are sent to different countries, different places, different species of life, so that the living entity may take advantage of Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

So vimanyavaḥ suhṛdaḥ sādhavaḥ. Sādhavaḥ. Sādhu. Generally, sādhu means devotee. Otherwise not sādhu. 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.]

There is a description of sādhu also. That is suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām. [Bg 5.29]

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

Ajāta-śatru, sādhavaḥ sadhu-bhūṣaṅāḥ, titikṣavaḥ kāruṅikām. These are the symptoms of sādhu: very tolerant and kind, titikṣava-kāruṅikā. And suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām: and he's friend of all living entities, not that daridra-nārāyaṅa sevā and cow-nārāyaṅa killing. If you have got such vision that Nārāyaṅa is everywhere, why should you distinguish daridra-nārāyaṅa, dhani-nārāyaṅa, cow-nārāyaṅa, goat-nārāyaṅa? It is not that for the humankind... Just like it is going on, nationality. What is this nonsense "nationality"? Nationality means one who is born in that country. This is the general definition. So why you are giving protection to the human being and killing the cows and goats? They are not national? This means short-sighted. Because they haven't got the Kṛṣṅa consciousness they are always crippled. They do not know what is the meaning of nationalism, but they are pushing on nationalism. Rascalism.

Here is nationalism, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam [Īśo mantra 1]:

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

everything belongs to God. And Kṛṣṅa says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

He's the proprietor. He's the proprietor; everyone is His subject. Everyone requires protection. That is nationalism. Not that crippled ideas: "I am good, my brother is good, and everyone is bad." That is not nationalism. This is going on. "My nation," a few people, Russia is thinking, "A few people in this area, they are our men." And America is thinking like that. India is thinking like that. But what is this nonsense nationalism? Because it is not perfect. Simply taking care of some human being. Otherwise there is no question of nationalism. Even according to their definition of nationalism, there are so many discrimination. Nowadays in your country, now the white and the black have been given the equal rights. But formerly, although the blacks were born, they were treated like animals. But one of your president has given them right. But there are so many defects, unless you become mahātmā. So unless you come to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, this so-called nationalism, philanthropism, altruism, this "ism"—that is all rascaldom. It has no value. Real value is here: mahātmā, vimanyavaḥ, sādhavaḥ, suhṛdaḥ.

So these mahātmā, tyāgī; generally, they are sannyāsīs. And so far other mahātmās also, it does not mean only the sannyāsī can be mahātmā. No. Gṛhasthas also can be mahātmā. How gṛhasthas can be mahātmās, that is described in the next verse: ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā. His only business is to satisfy Kṛṣṅa. That is... Otherwise, here it is said, jāyātmaja-rātimatsu gṛheṣu. He has no interest in so-called family life—wife, children, friends and nationality. No. Ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā: only interest is how to please Kṛṣṅa. Such person, he is also mahātmā. Not that only the mahātmās who are renounced order. There are gṛhasthas also. Just like Advaita Ācārya, He was gṛhastha. He became very, very sorry that people are so much suffering: "It is not in My power to elevate them. Unless Kṛṣṅa personally comes, it is not possible." Therefore He offered to Lord Viṣṅu gaṅgā-jāl, tulasī, praying, "Please come. People are very much suffering. So if You come..." And on His request Kṛṣṅa came in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So it is not that a gṛhastha cannot be mahātmā. There are many mahātmās.

śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

All gaura-bhakta-vṛndas, they were gṛhasthas. Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu was also gṛhastha. But their only business was to satisfy Kṛṣṅa: ye vā mayīśe kṛta-sauhṛdārthā janeṣu dehambhara-vārtikeṣu gṛheṣu jāyātmaja-rātimatsu na prīti. And the ordinary gṛhasthas, they are called gṛhamedhi: they are simply interested with family life, not for the people in general. So a gṛhastha can be a mahātmā also if he is broad-minded, how to do benefit to the mass of people by introducing Kṛṣṅa consciousness.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. [end]