740314LE.VRN
Lecture

Vrndavana, March 14, 1974
Prabhupada: So we are all very fortunate that different nations, from different parts of the world, are now combined together in Krsna consciousness. Some of you, you have come from Europe: England, France, Germany, Holland, Rome. Similarly, you have come from America: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco; Canada: Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver; Africa: Nairobi, South Africa. So it is very good example that you have come from different parts of the world to join in the Sankirtana movement. That is Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted,
He said that all over the world, as many towns and villages are there, the name of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu will be known. So His prediction was never to be foiled. So by His grace it is now becoming fulfilled. This is the real platform of United Nations. They are trying for United Nations, working for the last thirty years, but they have not been successful, neither they will ever be successful. That is our prediction. Yes. They'll never be successful. Because you cannot be united on the material platform. That is not possible. Because on the material platform... Material platform means on the bodily concept of life: "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Christian," "I am Hindu," "I am brahmana," "I am sudra." All... So many, "I am." All designation. So on the platform of designation there is not possibility of unity. That is not possible. Unity's possible on the spiritual platform. Those who are under the concept of this body, "I am this body," they have been described in the sastra as go-kharah. Go means cows, and kharah means ass. Sa eva go-kharah.
yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma-ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesv abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah
[SB 10.84.13]
Go means cows, and kharah means ass.
So this Vrndavana tirtha, if somebody comes here with the bodily concept of life, he does not derive any benefit. Yat-tirtha-buddhih salile. Salila means water. Just like generally people come here, take their bathing in the Yamuna River, and they think, "Now my business is finished. I came to Vrndavana. Now I have taken my bath in the Yamuna River and purchased some things from here. Now let me go home. I have finished my tirtha." But sastra says, "No. That is not tirtha." Janesv abhijnesu. If you want to purify yourself, then in the tirtha you must find out abhijna. Abhijna means one who knows. One who knows. What that knowing? One who knows Krsna. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission. Yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei guru haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128]. One who must know who is Krsna. This morning I met one gentleman. So in his house I saw that "Prabhu." So I asked him, "Who is that prabhu?" So he says, "He has no name." Just see the fun. He's living in Vrndavana. He does not know the name of prabhu. Just see his position. Prabhu is Krsna. Prabhu means isvara. Isvara means controller. A prabhu means proprietor. So Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,
mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
[Bg. 7.7]
Aham adir hi devanam [Bg 10.2]. These words are there. And he's living in Vrndavana; he does not know who is his prabhu. This thing is going on. (aside:) You can go behind him. Yes. This man is... You are dozing. Hm.
So, so long one will remain in the bodily concept of life, he cannot understand prabhu, or Krsna. That is not possible. So to understand this prabhu it requires many, many births. That is also said in the Bhagavad-gita. Krsna says, bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. Because foolish persons cannot understand prabhu. Another place Krsna says,
So this... We, our, this Krsna consciousness movement is to understand the prabhu, who is prabhu, who is the master, who is the Supreme Absolute. This is Krsna consciousness movement: to understand the supreme prabhu, or master, or controller, and surrender unto Him. This is the process, simple process. That prabhu you can under..., cannot understand by mental speculation. That is not possible. Nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na bahuna srutena. There are many Vedantists, many scholars in Vedic literature, but they do not know who is his prabhu. They will say, "prabhu," but I ask him, "Who is your prabhu?" That they cannot say. Or they will not utter the name of the prabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that mayavadi haya krsne aparadhi. They will charge, they will call, "Brahma," "Caitanya," "Paramatma," "Prabhu," but he will never utter the name of Krsna. This is their disease. This is called Mayavada disease. Therefore, because people are so poor in knowledge, alpa-medhasah, brain substance is very little, they cannot understand Krsna. Therefore Krsna Himself appeared as Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
That was detected by Srila Rupa Gosvami:
"My Lord, You are the most munificent incarnation, because people cannot understand even Krsna, but You are distributing freely the love of Krsna, the highest perfection of life, love of Krsna." One may know Krsna, but it is very difficult to know the love of Krsna. Gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau sada. Rupa Gosvami... About the Gosvamis... They knew what is Krsna, what is love of Krsna. They wrote many booksVidagdha-madhava, Lalita-madhava, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. Actually... Vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau. So actually to understand Krsna, one has to follow the footprints of the six Gosvamis:
You have to accept the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana, who came here, who discovered Vrndavana. This Vrndavana is the discovery of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas. Srila Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, they were first deputed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Otherwise, it was a big field only. Caitanya Mahaprabhu discovered the Radha-kunda. In this way, the Gosvamis were deputed, and Srila Sanatana Gosvami first of all established this Madana-mohana temple, then Govindaji. In this way all the city of Vrndavana... It is transcendental city, but it was begun by the inspiration, by the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu because He appeared to distribute Krsna-prema. Krsna-prema-pradaya te [Cc. Madhya 19.53]. That is the highest perfection of life. Prema pum-artho mahan. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission is prema pum-artho mahan, to achieve love of Godhead. That is the verdict of all sastras.
sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yenatma samprasidati
[SB 1.2.6]
If you want really peace, then you develop your dormant love of God, Krsna. Then you'll be happy. Otherwise you'll never be happy. Because we want to love somebody. That is natural. So we have placed our loving propensity in so many things, even to cats and dogs, but that will not satisfy us, because that is sense gratification. That is not real love. Real love is to love Krsna, love of Krsna. So this is the highest philosophy of life, highest perfection of life, how to learn to love Krsna. The Vrndavana means simply loving Krsna. The cowherds boy, the gopis, the Nanda Maharaja, Yasodamayi, Radharanithe only focus is to love Krsna. That's all. This is Vrndavana. Vrndavana does not mean a city or town or this or that. Vrndavana means where everyone is in love, in intense love with Krsna. So you have come to Vrndavana. Try to learn how to love, intensified love, Krsna. That is perfection of life. And that is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's contribution. Krsna-prema-pradaya te [Cc. Madhya 19.53].
So although we have got love propensity... Everyone loves somebody. But we are being frustrated, because that is not real love. Real love is to love Krsna. You may execute your duties very nicely, but if you do not learn how to love Krsna, this all discharging of your duties is simply working or laboring for nothing. Srama eva hi kevalam.
Srama eva hi. So why this love is not invoked or awakened in us? Because we are covered by this material energy, and we have become conditioned by the material energy. Therefore, to purify ourself we require certain process. That process is called varnasrama. Varnasrama. Varna means four divisions of the society: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra. And this varnasrama is created by Krsna so that one day one may become devotee of Krsna. The whole project is, Vedic project is, Vedic civilization... Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg. 15.15]. Vedic civilization means that to understand Krsna. That is Vedic civilization. Vedanta-vid vedanta-krd caham. So the Vedantist means to understand Krsna. Veda means knowledge, and anta means the last. That Krsna explains, Vedanta explains. Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. This is Vedanta. One who understands Krsna, he is Vedantist. Not the Pukkar(?). No. The so-called Vedantists, they want to get out of Krsna. They'll never accept Krsna as the Supreme. That is not Vedantist. Real Vedantist is here: bahunam janmanam ante. Jnanavan means one who has actually knowledge. Jnanavan. So real knowledge is to understand Krsna. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg. 15.15]. This is knowledge.
So those who are followers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by the grace of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu... Because He has come to distribute love of Godhead, immediately.
And this is verdict of the Srimad-Bhagavatam: kalau dosa-nidhe rajann asty eko mahan gunah. This Kali-yuga is a ocean of fault, simply faulty. Mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya [SB 1.1.10]. In this Kali-yuga people are..., duration of life is very short; and still, they are slow, mandah, all bad; sumanda-matayo, and they have their different concoctions of ideology and philosophy, sumanda-matayo; manda-bhagya, very unfortunate; and upadrutah, always disturbed. This is the position of this age. Therefore this Kali-yuga is full of faulty atmosphere. Kalau dosa-nidhe rajann. Dosa-nidhe: ocean of faults. But there is one opportunity. What is that opportunity? The opportunity is Sri Krsna Caitanya, who is teaching Krsna consciousness. He is Krsna Himself. Namo maha-vadanyaya krsna-prema-pradaya te [Cc. Madhya 19.53]. Distributing krsna-prema. So in this Kali-yuga, although it is very faulty, people are very, very degraded, less than animals, still there is a great opportunity. And this opportunity is kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet [SB 12.3.51]. Simply by chanting this Hare Krsna mantra. Kirtanad eva krsnasya. You don't require to read Vedanta philosophy or this philosophy. Caitanya Mahaprabhu presented Himself: guru more murkha dekhi kahile vedanta nahi adhikara [Cc. Adi 7.71]. He presented to Prakasananda Sarasvati that His spiritual master saw Him a great fool. Therefore he said to Him that "You have no, I mean to say, access to understand Vedanta philosophy. Chant Hare Krsna. That's all." This is the position. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "He, he taught Me one sloka." What is that? Harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam, kalau nasty eva nasty eva... [Cc. Adi 17.21].(devotees join in, finish verse) If you chant this Hare Krsna mantra, then you become a first-class Vedantist. You don't require to study. Of course, if you have got intelligence, if you have got stamina, Vedanta must be studied. And what is that Vedanta? Vedanta is Srimad-Bhagavatam. Bhasyam brahma-sutranam **. Brahma-sutra means Vedanta. This is the real bhasya, or commentary, on Vedanta-sutra. The Vedanta-sutra begins, janmady asya yatah, athato brahma jijnasa. And Bhagavata says, jivasya tattva-jijnasa. The same thing; a little different language. And janmady asya sloka is beginning of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Janmady asya yatah anvayad [SB 1.1.1]. In the Vedanta-sutra the sutra is janmady asya yatah: "Absolute Truth is that from which or from whom everything emanates." Janmady asya yatah. And Bhagavata is explaining... That is commentary. What is that janmady asya yatah? Janmady asya yatah anvayad itaratas ca arthesu abhijnah sva-rat. Who is that source of knowledge? He must be abhijna. Wherefrom He got this knowledge? Svarat. These things are explained.
So you are all fortunate. You have come to Vrndavana, perhaps for the first time in life. So it is very good opportunity. Vrndavana-dhama. Aprakrta, cintamani. Similarly, you are coming from Navadvipa. That is also cintamani-dhama [Bs. 5.29]. These two dhama, places, are not ordinary places. Don't make dhama-aparadha. As there are offenses against chanting the holy name, similarly, there are offenses in dhama, that in the dhama one should not perform any sinful activities in the dhama. In the dhama, if you chant Hare Krsna mantra, then it increases thousand times. Similarly, in the dhama, if you commit offenses, it increases thousand times. So dhama, one should be very careful not to commit any sinful activities. Illicit sex, or intoxication, meat-eating and gamblingthese are the sinful activities. So Vrndavana-dhama, aprakrta dhama. Those who are attached to visaya, sense gratification, they cannot see what is Vrndavana. They cannot see what is Vrndavana. They cannot understand what is Krsna and Radha, those who are visayi. Visaya means ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca. This is visaya, material objectives. They cannot. Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura sings,
Visaya chadiya, one who has become detestful to this material enjoyment, they can see what is Vrndavana. Those who are attached to material enjoyment, they cannot see what is Vrndavana. These are the process.
The ordinary artists, they are very much fond of painting pictures that Krsna is embracing Radharani. They won't paint picture in the Krsna consciousness that Krsna is killing Kamsa. Krsna has two business: paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam [Bg. 4.8]. So we should not try to understand Krsna's love with the gopis all of a sudden. It is very confidential. It is meant for the paramahamsas to understand. Let us understand Krsna first of all. Of course, that is the aim, the higher understanding of Krsna. Gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau. But not all of a sudden. Try to understand Krsna first. Therefore Vyasadeva has compiled Srimad-Bhagavatam, nine cantos to understand Krsna, beginning from the First Canto, First Chapter, janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1], Vedanta philosophy. Then he begins to write about Krsna and Krsna's activities on the Tenth Canto. One has to understand Krsna by studying nine cantos. Then if he tries to understand Krsna from the Tenth Canto... Otherwise the mudha manusim tanum asritam, avajananti mam mudha [Bg. 9.11]. "Krsna is like us, a young boy, and He's after so many young girls. So let us imitate." No. That is not understanding of Krsna. Krsna must be understood:
When you understand Krsna in that way, then, if you follow the footsteps of the acaryas, sri-rupa-raghunatha-pade haibe akuti, then you'll be able to understand what is the loving affairs between Krsna and Radharani. Don't try to understand all of a sudden like ordinary boy and girl making their loving affairs. Then you'll fall down.
So this is my request, that you have come to Vrndavana; try to understand what is Vrndavana-dhama, what is Radha-Krsna, but very cautiously, very, I mean to say, carefully. Then Krsna will be pleased. And Krsna Himself, as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna Caitanya, He is present here. Go through sri-krsna-caitanya prabhu-nityananda sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura..., so in this way, gradually, you'll be able to understand. But that is the highest perfection. Some way or other, if you can understand Krsna and His Vrndavana... Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam. If you... Krsna and Vrndavana is nondifferent. Krsna and Krsna's place, Krsna's name, Krsna's pastimes, Krsna's everything, they are not different. They are one. So this is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's philosophy, that aradhya-vastu, the worshipable Lord, is Krsna. And as He is worshipable, His dhama is also worshipable. We should not commit any offense in the dhama, and follow the footsteps of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Then we'll be favored by the grace of Krsna to understand Him and His pastimes with Radharani.
Thank you very much. (end)

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