Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana Appearance – June 14, 1970, Los Angeles

Prabhupada: Hm. Hare Krsna. [devotees chanting japa] So everyone feeling all right?

Devotees: Jaya.

Prabhupada: Ananda-mayo 'bhyasat [Vedanta-sūtra]. Practice of Krsna consciousness means you gradually come to the platform of blissfulness, ananda-mayo 'bhyasat. That is our prerogative, right. Hare Krsna. Now chant the mantras.

Chant this verse again.

The next verse.

[Prabhupada corrects pronunciation] Again chant.

Again.

[05:32]

Prabhupada: Hmm. So. "Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the Absolute."

If we do not know how to worship, then first of all, the materialists, they worship some demigod for immediate effect. Just like even in our ordinary life, to get some immediate effect, suppose I want some business from somebody, so I worship him, I flatter him, just to satisfy him. Or if I serve some..., I want to satisfy my immediate boss, that is natural. But this satisfaction, trying to satisfy our immediate benefactor, that is described in the Bhagavad-gita [Bg 7.20] kamais tais tair hrta-jnanaḥ.

Those who are of lost of intelligence, kamais. Why they have lost their intelligence? Kamai: being greedy or lusty. I want something; I desire something for my sense enjoyment. So, just like in Vedic literature there is worship of goddess Kali. Why they worship goddess Kali? Eh? Because in the kali-pūja, in the worship of Kali, there is a prescribed method of sacrificing a goat, animal.

So these devotees are actually after eating meat, but if they worship Krsna, or Visnu, oh, that is not possible. If somebody comes here, "Ah, give me prasadam meat," that is not possible. So therefore they will not come. They will go to some mission who are worshiper of Kali, a very good devotee. Because they are offering meat, and this-what is this called?-this turkey prasadam. So turkey prasadam means prasadam; for that purpose they go to worship this goddess of Kali. Actual purpose is to eat meat. But Vedas is so broad that they are...

You may question, then, "Why in this Vedas this worship of Kali is recommended?" Yes, it is recommended for the third-class men. Third-class men, they will not be able to give up. If a third-class man, if I say, just like we are preaching, "You cannot take meat," or this is not very good advice to the ordinary men; therefore they are not coming here: "The Swamiji is very conservative. He restricts so many things."

So this Krsna consciousness movement is not for the third-class men, only first-class men-more than first-class men; those who are above first-class men. They will understand. So therefore in the Bhagavad-gita it is stated, kamais tais tair hrta-jnanaḥ [Bg 7.20]. They do not know first-class…, what is the difference between the first-class man and the third-class man and fourth-class man. The first-class man knows what is the aim of his life. The third-class, fourth-class men, they do not know what is the aim of life. That is the difference. How a man becomes first-class? How? By quality: vyavaharena jayante [Canakya Panḍita].

Just like you treat somebody as enemy and you treat somebody as friend, but both the men have the same hands and legs and... Maybe whom you treat as enemy, he may be more beautiful; but why you treat him as enemy? Now, vyavaharena. Na kascid kasyacid ripuḥ, na kascid kasyacid mitro. Nobody is enemy or friend, but vyavaharena jayante mitrani ripavas tatha [Canakya Panḍita]

But by your dealings with him, if he acts favorably for you, then he is friend, and if he acts unfavorably for you, then he becomes an enemy. Similarly, this first-class, second-class, fourth-class men, how they are classified? By their behavior. Not that a man is born third-class or a man is born... Third-class man born may become first class.

So we are giving chance to everyone: "Never mind you are third class, fourth class, fifth class, tenth class. Whatever you are, you come to become first class." We are inviting everyone. We have no distinction. Krsna has no such distinction. That Krsna says:

"My dear Arjuna, if somebody takes to Krsna consciousness, never mind he is born in an abominable family,"striyo vaisyas tatha sūdras, "or in the human society, less-intelligent class of men like sūdra or women. Never mind. Whatever he may be or she may be, if he or she takes to Krsna consciousness," te 'pi yanti param gatim, "they are also elevated to the platform wherefrom he can go back to home, back to Godhead."

So for us there is no restriction. We don't say that "You don't come." We invite everyone, "Take prasadam, chant Hare Krsna." That is our program. But the sastra says that those who are demigod worshipers, bahv-isvara-vadis, they take so many gods: "Everyone is God…" That philosophy is very palatable nowadays: "Everyone is God. You are God, I am God, and whomever I worship I get the…"Yato mat tato path: "Whatever opinion you have got, that is all right."

These things are going on. But the Vedas, the sastras, they do not say like that. If you worship demigod, then you get the result which can be derived from that particular demigod. If you worship Kali, all right, you can eat a little prasadam meat, but the thing is, this…, the question was, "Why the Vedas have recommended the kali-pūja, or worship of Kali? Why not only Krsna?"

Actually only Krsna is to be worshiped. That is in the Bhagavad-gita you will find, sarva-dharman parityajya [Bg 18.66] Give up all nonsense; simply surrender. That is real dharma. But the third-class, fourth-class men who cannot take it, for them, "All right, you worship goddess Kali, the energy of Krsna." If you cannot go touch the fire immediately, just try to take…, utilize the heat of fire. You cannot go.

Just like we are not eligible to enter into the sun planet-it is so fiery-but we can utilize the energy of sun by going to the sunlight. The Vedas recommend that you worship this god or this god. That means at least these third-class, fourth-class men recognize that there is some authority. Therefore, I am going to eat meat, so it should be with the permission of goddess Kali; only for this purpose. The purpose is to restrict him; therefore it is recommended. Similarly, why you are recommending marriage?

No illicit sex life-that means restriction. If we allow unrestricted sex life, he will remain a dog, a cat. The purpose is restriction; otherwise one may argue, "Oh, why you say illicit sex? Here is also sex, there is also sex." Why? This is for the purpose that if he indulges in illicit sex life as he likes, like cats and dogs, he'll remain cats and dogs forever. He will never be able to improve. It is meant for restriction.

Everyone has got this tendency for meat-eating, for sex life, for drinking; that is natural, pravrttir esa. These, I mean to say, desires, propensities, are there in everywhere. Therefore somebody says that "Swamiji does not allow even the facilities of human life." They think that illicit sex and intoxication and meat-eating and gambling, these are facilities for human life. You see? Therefore they are called in the ignorant. They are not facilities; they are the means of dragging you down to the hell. They are not facilities: facilities for going to hell.

So these facilities should not be allowed; they should be restricted if we want to elevate. That we explained the other, last Monday, that human life is meant for tapa divyam. So you are hearing all these things. I am speaking also repeatedly. The same thing is here: andham tamaḥ pravisanti ye 'sambhūtim upasate .

Asambhūtim means these demigods. We are thinking that… Just like the sun-sun is also demigod. So sun, we are thinking, the materialist scientists, they are thinking that sun is the cause of this creation. But he is not cause of the creation. Cause of the creation, cause of everything, is Krsna: sarva-karana-karanam [Bs 5.1], cause of all causes.

But because we do not know, we think that "He is the cause; here is the cause." Just like scientists, they say: "Law of gravitation." They advance in scientific progress accepting this axiomatic truth, but they do not know who has made this law of gravitation. You cannot deal with this law of gravitation. It is…, as soon as you say "law," the law must have been made by somebody. So they have no eyes to see, or they have no intelligence to understand that behind everything there is Krsna. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:

"Under My superintendence the material nature is working."

So here it is said, andham tamaḥ: those who do not know whom to worship, they enter into the darkest region. And if somebody says that "I know what is to be worshiped," he also enters into the still more darkness. Therefore one has to take instruction:

These things are all stated in the Bhagavad-gita; you read very carefully. Chanting is also… Those who have got still more intelligence, they should read also books. What for I am preparing so many books? It is especially for my students, not for making business that I have to... Business I can do so many other things; why I am taking so much trouble?

So try to understand these things, that if we do not worship Krsna… Krsna worship means…, that is not… Worship, there is two words: "worship" and "service." Worship is meant for these demigods, but service is meant for Krsna. Nobody can accept service-only Krsna. Ekalaisvara krsna . He can accept service; nobody can accept service.

So today is the birthday of Baladeva Vidyabhūsana? So Baladeva Vidyabhūsana, you have seen in my Bhagavad-gita his name: dedicated to Baladeva Vidyabhūsana, who has written the commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Govinda-bhasya. Sri Baladeva Vidyabhūsana is our acarya. Baladeva Vidyabhūsana is a fourth-generation acarya from Lord Caitanya-fourth or fifth. Anyway, he is one of the acaryas. Just like Gosvamis, they are acaryas; Srinivas Acarya.

So acarya parampara, disciplic succession. So Baladeva Vidyabhūsana is also acarya in this Gauḍiya-sampradaya. So his special gift… Every acarya means he gives some special things. Previous acarya has given, and the next acarya gives something more. That is the symptom of acarya. In the incarnation also, just like Lord Buddha incarnation. Then Sahkaracarya, then Ramanujacarya, then Madhvacarya then, in this way Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

So every acarya is giving a further lift. So Sri Baladeva Vidyabhūsana also gave a further lift to this sampradaya. What is that? Baladeva Vidyabhūsana wrote commentary on Brahma-sūtra, Vedanta-sūtra. Vedanta-sūtra, his Vedanta-sūtra commentary is known as Govinda-bhasya, commentary of Govinda. The history is that this Gaudiya-sampradaya did not write any commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra, because according to our sampradaya we accept this Srimad-Bhagavatam as the commentary of Vedanta-sūtra: bhasyo 'yam brahma-sūtranam [Cc Madhya 25.143].

Lord Caitanya has recommended, it is stated in the Srimad..., that this Srimad-Bhagavatam is the real commentary of Vedanta-sūtra. Vyasadeva is the writer of the philosophy, Vedanta-sūtra, and he personally, under the instruction of his spiritual master, Narada, personally wrote this commentary, Srimad-Bhagavatam, on his own book, on his own philosophy, Vedanta-sūtra. If a writer, if the author himself, writes some commentary, that is the perfect, because he knows what is what.

Therefore because the Srimad-Bhagavatam is there, the Gaudiya Vaisnava, they did not attempt to write another separate commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. Any intelligent man can understand that this Srimad-Bhagavatam is commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra. The Vedanta-sūtra begins with janmady asya, athato brahma-jijnasa, and Bhagavata says jivasya tattva-jijnasa [SB 1.2.10]. Brahma jijnasa and tattva-jijnasa is same thing: "The human life is meant for inquiring for the Absolute." In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is there. And the next aphorism in the Vedanta-sūtra is janmady asya yataḥ...

[break] This Gauḍiya-sampradaya did not take unnecessary trouble again. The acarya's sampradaya... If my previous acaryas has written something, so he will not touch those points, but he will write something which can develop further. That is acarya, not that chewing the chewed: somebody has written something and he is also writing the same thing. No. If he at all writes, he will write something which will beautify, or glorify, or magnify the former idea. That is the...

So this Vaisnava sampradaya did not write commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra, because they knew that already Vyasadeva, our original guru, he has already written Srimad-Bhagavatam, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu has recommended, and it is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, bhasyo 'yam brahma-sūtranam [Cc Madhya 25.143]. This is the real commentary on the Brahma-sūtra. But those who are smarta-brahmanas, they objected in Jaipur.

In the Jaipur there is Govinda-seva temple of Govindaji. The king of Jaipur took away, when Aurangzeb was harassing Hindus and he was breaking some of the Hindu temple, at that time from Vrndavana the Govinda mūrti-not only Govinda, but Govinda Gopinatha and Madana-mohana-these mūrtis were taken from Vrndavana to Jaipur. The king of Jaipur, he was Vaisnava.

So along with the Deity, the priest or the worshiper, I mean to say, those who were engaged in the temple worship, they were also taken. That is the system. So they were as usual worshiping, but some of the smarta-brahmanas, they objected that "Gauḍiya-sampradaya is not bona fide." Why not bona fide? Just like Dr. Staal objected that this Krsna consciousness movement is not Vedic. Therefore I immediately protested, "No, it is cent per cent Vedic."

So when the smarta-brahmanas, they objected that "This Gauḍiya-sampradaya is not Vedic..." How one is Vedic? Any sampradaya, if you inaugurate some party, then he must comment on the Vedanta-sūtra; otherwise that party is not bona fide. That is Vedic rules: one must understand what is Brahma-sūtra. So because there was no particular commentary on the Brahma-sūtra by the Gauḍiya-sampradaya on account of presence of Srimad-Bhagavatam, so they objected.

So this information was given at that time to Vrndavana. Vrndavana..., Visvanatha Cakravarti-you have heard the name of Visvanatha Cakravarti; he is also acarya and vastly great scholar. So all the Vaisnavas requested him that "Please write a commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra; otherwise they are objecting that we are not Vaidic." At that time he was very old, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, so he thought it wise, he asked this Baladeva Vidyabhūsana-he happened to be just like his disciple-that "I am very old now. I cannot go out of Vrndavana. So you take up this job and write one commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra immediately."

So he took up the matter. He has written many other books, Baladeva Vidyabhūsana. So he immediately started for Jaipur, Govindaji's temple, and... This is the acarya, that "Unless I am authorized, unless I am empowered, how I can write?" This is Vaisnava. Not that "Because I have got some A-B-C-D knowledge I can write something." No.

Just like one civil service officer, Mr. Gupta, sent me one commentary on the Bhagavad-gita. Perhaps you know, we have delivered that..., returned that panacea[?]. So I immediately pointed out that "There are so many discrepancies. We cannot publish this." So they have taken back. So he thought that because he is ICS officer, civil service officer, very big officer in India, therefore he can write commentary on Bhagavad-gita or... These nonsense things are going on. Anyone, he has got some A-B-C-D knowledge, he thinks that "I can write something." No. You cannot write anything unless you are authorized by the disciplic succession. You have no access in it.

So this Baladeva Vidyabhūsana went to, I mean to say, Jaipur, and for three days continually he laid himself flat, just like we offer obeisances in that way, without taking any food and water, asking permission from Govinda, "Whether I shall write?" Of course he was ordered, but still, to confirm it, that "Visvanatha Cakravarti has asked me to write, but if You confirm it, then I shall begin writing." So Govindaji informed him, "Yes, you write. I give you order," "I immediately write." So he began to write this bhasya, commentary of Vedanta-sūtra, and it came out very, very successful.

Govinda-bhasya commentary on Vedanta-sūtra available, this is in Sanskrit. But we are describing the same conclusion in our different books. In Srimad-Bhagavatam also the same conclusion is there. You don't require to read separately, but because the smarta-brahmanas challenged that "You are not Vaidic because you have no commentary on the Vedanta-sūtra," so this Baladeva Vidyabhūsana gave us the Govinda-bhasya.

Of course, other Vaisnava acaryas like Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, they have given commentary on Bhagavad-gita. But we Madhva-Gauḍiya sampradaya, we are benedicted by this Baladeva Acarya prabhu. And his life is that he..., he was..., he appeared in the family of a vaisya community. His forefathers were agriculturists, but he became a great devotee and great scholar in Sanskrit, and he has got his commentaries on Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta bhasya, and he has written many other books, all in Sanskrit.

So his birthday, appearance day, is today. So it is our duty to commemorate the memory, I mean to say, activities of the acaryas and offer our respect and ask from them benediction for our progress. That is the system. Therefore we have listed the appearance and disappearance of the acaryas. We should take advantage of these auspicious dates and offer our respect to the acaryas.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Prabhupada. [end]