Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.6

Devotee: ...sa tat-kara-sparśa-dhutākhilāśubhaḥ [break] [continues leading chanting of verse, but he and devotees stumble over pronunciation]

Prabhupāda: Tat-kara-sparśa-dhuta-akhila-aśubhaḥ.

Devotee: [chants, but devotees still having problems with pronunciation]

Prabhupāda: You can divide the syllables: sa tat-kara-sparśa-dhuta-akhila-aśubhaḥ. You cannot pronounce combinedly, just divide. Sa tat-kara-sparśa-dhuta-akhila-aśubhaḥ, like that. Anyway, chant. [Pradyumna continues chanting, devotees chant slowly] There is no board writing. Why? So many men, could not write the board? They cannot see. Go on. [devotees attempt to chant verse] Hmm. That's all right. Difficult.

Pradyumna: saḥ—he [Prahlāda Mahārāja]; tat-kara-sparśa—because of being touched on the head by the lotus hand of Nṛsiṁhadeva; dhuta—being cleansed; akhila—all; aśubhaḥ—inauspiciousness or material desires; sapadi—immediately; abhivyakta—manifested; para-ātma-darśanaḥ—realization of the Supreme Soul [spiritual knowledge]; tat-pāda-padmam—Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva's lotus feet; hṛdi—within the core of the heart; nirvṛtaḥ—full of transcendental bliss; dadhau—captured; hṛṣyat-tanuḥ—having transcendental ecstatic bliss manifested in the body; klinna-hṛt—whose heart was softened due to transcendental ecstasy; aśru-locanaḥ—with tears in his eyes.

Translation: "By the touch of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva's hand on Prahlāda Mahārāja's head, Prahlāda was completely freed of all material contaminations and desires, as if he had been thoroughly cleansed. Therefore he at once became transcendentally situated, and all the symptoms of ecstasy became manifest in his body. His heart filled with love, and his eyes with tears, and thus he was able to completely capture the lotus feet of the Lord within the core of his heart."

Prabhupāda:

sa tat-kara-sparśa-dhutākhilāśubhaḥ sapady abhivyakta-parātma-darśanaḥ tat-pāda-padmaṁ hṛdi nivṛto dadhau hṛṣyat-tanuḥ klinna-hṛd-aśru-locanaḥ [SB 7.9.6]

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, tat-kara-sparśa, "touch of the lotus palm of Nṛsiṁhadeva," the same palm where there is nail. Tava kara kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-sṛṅgam. The same palm with nakha adbhuta... Dalita-hiraṅyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam. Immediately, with the nails only... The Lord did not require any weapon to kill this gigantic demon, simply nails. Tava kara-kamala. The example is very nice: kamala. Kamala means lotus flower. The Lord's palm is just like lotus flower. Therefore in the lotus flower it is very soft, very pleasing, and how the nails came? Therefore adbhuta. Tava kara-kamala, adbhuta. Nakham adbhuta-sṛṅgam. It is not possible to grow some ferocious nails, piercing nails, in the lotus flower. This is contradictory. Therefore Jayadeva says adbhuta: "It is wonderful. It is astonishing." This... Therefore Lord's power, exhibition of power and sharp nails, they're all inconceivable. Śrīla Jīva Goswami has explained, "Unless you accept inconceivable power of the Supreme Lord, there is no understanding." Acintya. Acintya-śakti. Acintya means "inconceivable." You cannot speculate how it is happening, how in the lotus flower there is so hard nail that immediately, within a second, it could kill a great demon like Hiranyakasipu. Therefore it is acintya. We cannot conceive. Acintya. And therefore Vedic instruction is acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāvā na tāṁś tarkeṅa yojayet: "Do not apply your poor logic in the matters which is inconceivable by you." There is no logic that how lotus flower can grow nails. They say "mythology." Because they cannot conceive within their poor brain, they cannot accommodate how things happen like that, they say "mythology." Not mythology. It is fact. But it is inconceivable by you or us. It is not possible.

So that, the same kara kamala, was put on the head of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlādāhlāda-dāyine. Prahlāda Mahārāja was feeling, "Oh, how blissful this hand." Not only feeling, but immediately all his material unhappiness, pangs, disappeared. This is the process of transcendental touch. We can have the same facility in this age. It is not that Prahlāda Mahārāja became immediately jubilant by the touch of the lotus palm of the Lord. You can have the same benefit immediately if we become like Prahlāda Mahārāja. Then it is possible. Kṛṣṅa is advaya-jñāna, so in this age Kṛṣṅa has descended in His sound vibration form: kali yuga nama rūpe kṛṣṅāvatāra [Cc Adi-lila 17.22]. This age... Because these fallen men in this age, they are... They have no qualification. Mandāḥ. Everyone is bad. Nobody is qualified. They have no spiritual knowledge. Don't mind. In your Western countries they are very much puffed up with material knowledge, but they have no spiritual knowledge. Perhaps in the history, for the first time in the history, they're getting some information of spiritual knowledge.

Devotees: Jaya.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise there was no spiritual knowledge. They do not know. That's a fact.

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā [Bg 7.4]

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

These materialistic person—scientist, physist and other speculators—they're dealing with these elements, material—earth, water, fire, air, ether, up to mind, psychology, or, little advanced, intelligence, but no more. They are dealing in their university, colleges, educational institution. They are concerned with these elements, material. They have no spiritual knowledge. Kṛṣṅa said... We get information from the Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam: "These eight elements, they are inferior." Therefore, because they are dealing with this inferior nature only, their knowledge is inferior. This is a fact. It is not that I am accusing. No. This is the... They have no information. Big, big professor, they say that this body finished... "Body finished" means pañcatva-prāpta. They do not know that there is another body, subtle body—mind, intelligence, ego. They do not know. They are thinking this earth, water, air, fire, ether, that much..., "This is finished. I see, either you burn the body or bury the body, finished, everything finished. And where is other thing?" So they have no knowledge. So they have no knowledge even of the subtle body, earth, water, which carries the soul, and what they'll know about the soul?

So Kṛṣṅa gives information in the Bhagavad-gītā, apareyam: "These elements, even up to mind, intelligence, ego," bhinnā, "they are My separated energy, separated energy. And," apareyam, "this is inferior. And there is another, superior nature." Apareyam itas tv viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parā. Parā means "superior." Now, they may be asking, "What is that? We know these elements only. What is that another, superior energy?" Jīva bhūtaḥ mahā-bāho, clearly said: "That is living..." And they are thinking that there is no other superior energy except these eight material elements or five elements. Therefore they are in ignorance. It is for the first time they are getting some knowledge, Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and from that they can know that there is another, superior energy, who is jīva-bhūtaḥ. The living entity which is moving the body, that is superior energy. So they have no information, neither there is an attempt to understand that superior energy in their universities or institution. Therefore they are mūḍha, mūḍhas. They may be very much puffed up of their so-called knowledge, but according to Vedic knowledge they are mūḍhas. And if one cannot understand the superior energy, prakṛti, nature, then how one can understand God? That is not possible. Then again, dealings between God and the superior energy, that is bhakti. It is very difficult. Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

That siddhaye means to understand that superior energy. That is siddhi. And after that, one can understand Kṛṣṅa.

So it is very difficult, especially in this age. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo [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... Mandāḥ means they are not interested, or even they are little interested, they are very slow. They do not understand this is the prime knowledge. And first of all you must know it, athāto brahma jijñāsā, that superior knowledge. That is required. But everyone is neglecting. There is no inquisitiveness even what is that thing which is moving this body. There is no inquiry. They think automatically, by combination of this matter... They are still persisting on this point, and when you challenge, "You take this chemical and prepare the living force," they'll say, "That I cannot do." And what is this? If you cannot do, then why you are speaking like nonsense, that "The combination of matter or chemicals gives the life"? You take the chemicals. Our Dr. Svarūpa Dāmodara in the California University... One big professor came to lecture on chemical evolution, and he challenged immediately, that "If I give you the chemicals, can you produce life?" He said, "That I cannot say." [chuckles] So this is their position. They cannot prove it. They cannot do it. Science means not only observation but experiment also. That is complete. Otherwise theory. It is not science. So they have got different theories. That anyone can put forward. That is not... But real fact is that Kṛṣṅa is spiritual and He's the Supreme. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

This is Vedic injunction. God is the supreme nitya, eternal, and the supreme living being. In the dictionary also it is said, "God means the supreme being." They could not understand "supreme living being." But in the Vedas it is said not only supreme being, but supreme living being. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetānām eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13]. That is the description of God. So it is very difficult to understand even the spiritual substance, and what to speak of God. The beginning of spiritual knowledge is to understand first of all what is spirit. And they are taking the intelligence or mind as spirit. But that is not spirit. Beyond that. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtim parā [Bg 7.5].

[Besides this inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which are all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.]

So this perfection, as Prahlāda Mahārāja had immediately by touching the Supreme Personality of..., we can also have. There is possibility, and very easily, because we are fallen, mandāḥ—very slow, very bad. Mandāḥ and sumanda-matayo. And because we are bad, everyone has manufactured a theory. Sumanda. Mata. Mata means "opinion." And what is that opinion? Not only mandā but sumanda, very, very bad. Sumanda-matayo. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ [SB 1.1.10], and all unfortunate, or misfortunate. Why? When there is knowledge, they'll not take. They will theorize. They're unfortunate. Ready knowledge, but they will theorize, "It is like this. It is like that. It is like that. Perhaps... Maybe..." This is going on. Therefore manda-bhāgyāh. Just like here is money. One will not take that money. He'll work hard like hogs and dogs to earn money. So that means unfortunate. So mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyāḥ. And because manda-bhāgyāḥ, there is upadrutaḥ, always disturbance—this war, that war, that war. Beginning, whole history, simply war. Why war? Why there is fight? There should not be any fight, because everything is complete, pūrṅam idam [Īśopaniṣad, Invocation]. The world is full by the mercy of the Supreme Lord, because it is the kingdom... This is also kingdom of God. But we have made it hell by unnecessarily fighting. That's all. Otherwise it is... For a devotee—pūrṅam. Viśvaṁ pūrṅaṁ sukhāyate. Why there should be fight? God has supplied everything. You want water? Three-fourths of the earth is full of water. But that water is salt. God has process how to make it sweet. You cannot do this. Water you want. There is sufficient water. Why there should be scarcity? Now we heard in Europe they were contemplating importing water. [laughter] Was not that? Yes. In England they were thinking of importing. Is that possible? [laughter] But these rascal scientists think like that. They'll import. Why not? The England is surrounded by water. Why don't you take water? No. Nire kari bas na me tilo piyas. "I'm living in water, but I'm dying of thirst." [laughter] These rascals' philosophy... Or in... I think in our childhood we read one book, a Moral Class book, said there was a story that shipwrecked, and they took the shelter of one boat, but some of them died of thirst because they could not drink water. So in this water they were living, but they died of thirst.

So our position is like that. Everything is full. Still, we are dying and fighting. What is the reason? The reason is that we do not follow Kṛṣṅa. This is the reason: absence of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. My Guru Mahārāja used to say that the whole world is full of everything. Only scarcity is Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Only scarcity. Otherwise there is no scarcity. Everything is full. And if you take the instruction of Kṛṣṅa you will be happy immediately. You can make the whole world happy. This instruction of Kṛṣṅa in the Bhagavad-gītā, so perfect. It must be perfect, because it is coming from Kṛṣṅa. It is not the so-called scientist theory. No. Perfect instruction. And if we follow the instruction, if we practically utilize, then whole world, viśvaṁ pūrṅaṁ sukhāyate.

So as Nṛsiṁhadeva touched the head of Prahlāda Mahārāja, immediately you can have that same facility. "What is that facility? How? Nṛsiṁhadeva is not here. Kṛṣṅa is not here." No. He is here. "What is that?" Nama rūpe kali kale kṛṣṅa avatāra [Cc Ādi 17.22]. Kṛṣṅa is present by His name, "Kṛṣṅa." Don't think this Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, this name, is different from Kṛṣṅa. Absolute. Kṛṣṅa, the Deity Kṛṣṅa, the name Kṛṣṅa, the person Kṛṣṅa—everything, the same Absolute Truth. There is no differentiation. So in this age simply by chanting: kīrtanād eva kṛṣṅasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet [SB 12.3.51].

[My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.]

Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṅa... Nama-cintāmaṅi kṛṣṅaḥ caitanya-rāsa-vigrahaḥ, pūrṅaḥ śuddho nitya-muktaḥ [Cc Madhya 17.133].

[The holy name of Kṛṣṅa is transcendentally blissful. It bestows all spiritual benedictions, for it is Kṛṣṅa Himself, the reservoir of all pleasure. Kṛṣṅa’s name is complete, and it is the form of all transcendental mellows. It is not a material name under any condition, and it is no less powerful than Kṛṣṅa Himself. Since Kṛṣṅa’s name is not contaminated by the material qualities, there is no question of its being involved with māyā. Kṛṣṅa’s name is always liberated and spiritual; it is never conditioned by the laws of material nature. This is because the name of Kṛṣṅa and Kṛṣṅa Himself are identical.]

Don't think the holy name of Kṛṣṅa is different from Kṛṣṅa. It is pūrṅam. Pūrṅaḥ pūrṅam adaḥ pūrṅam idam [Īśopaniṣad, Invocation]. Everything pūrṅa. Pūrṅa means "complete." We have tried to explain this completeness in our Īśopaniṣad. You have read. So stick to the holy name of Kṛṣṅa. You'll get the same benefit as Prahlāda Mahārāja got by direct touch of the lotus palm of Nṛsiṁhadeva. There is no difference. Always think like that, that as soon as you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa, you must know that you are touching Kṛṣṅa with your tongue. Then you get the same benefit as Prahlāda Mahārāja.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! [end]