Arrival – June 11, 1976, Detroit

Prahlada Maharaja refused to take any material benediction

Prabhupada: ...our process is: What Krsna says, we believe Krsna, because He is the supreme authority. Mattaḥ parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg 7.7]. So Krsna is the supreme authority, accepted by all acaryas. In our India the acaryas are Ramanujacarya, Sahkaracarya, Madhvacarya. They all accepted Krsna, the Supreme. Formerly the acaryas like Vyasadeva, Sukadeva Gosvami, Narada...; later, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So all accept Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore we should accept what Krsna said, that. Then you are sound. No question of "my religion," "your religion." What Krsna said, that is sound.

So Krsna says very simple thing. Our real problem is how to get relief from the material world. One may say, "What is the fault of material world?" The fault is that you may arrange... First of all, there is no happiness. But even though you make some arrangement, still, you are not allowed to stay. Suppose you have made very good arrangement: "I have got very nice house, nice car, very nice family, wife and relatives, and business," just like that. But where is the guarantee that you shall stay here and enjoy? That is the question. Suppose you have arranged everything; but nature will allow? Nobody can check. You cannot say that "I've arranged so nicely for my happiness, and why Yamaraja will take it away from me forcibly? Give me some time to set it up." "No." This is the problem. So that is the defect in material civilization, so-called material civilization, that if I try to do something with hard labor to make yourself happy, but at any moment the whole thing will be smashed.

Ravana tried to make a golden city. Eh? He was vanquished. Hiranyakasipu tried; he also was vanquished. Therefore Prahlada Maharaja, he refused to take any material benediction. He said, "My Lord, so far material benediction is concerned, I have seen my father was so opulent even the demigods were trembling when he was angry." So still the principle is there. So, "I have no value of this material civilization. Kindly engage me in Your service." This was Prahlada Maharaja's statement. Actually that is the [indistinct], how to be engaged in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

This Hare Krsna mantra means that. Hare: "O the energy of the Supreme Lord, Hara." Hare, Hara. Hara means the energy, Radha, Hara, like that. So, Hare, "O mother, the energy of Krsna," and Krsna, "O Krsna." Krsna is always with his energy, just like Radha-Krsna. Krsna is not alone. The Mayavada philosophy is Brahman, impersonal, alone. That is not [indistinct]. Actually, the Absolute Truth is a person. Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti , Bhagavan. And without any opulence? So they were practically [indistinct]. Suppose a man is very rich, all-powerful, but he has no faculties, so he's not happy, cannot be. So there are many practical examples. But "all opulence" means He must have multi-energies: parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc Madhya 13.65]. So this special energy is Srimati Radharani, radha krsna-pranaya-vikrtir . When Krsna wants to feel pleasure, then He expands Himself by His pleasure potency, and that is Radharani. So, Hare, Krsna, [indistinct] he radhe, he krsna, or Hare Krsna, it's the same thing: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ [all join in chanting] Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Rama means the supreme enjoyer, Rama; and Krsna means the supreme attractive. So the two, three names are there, Rama and Krsna and Hara. So why we are addressing? We are addressing God, "Accept me in Your service." This is liberation. "O Hara, O Hare, O Krsna, O Radha, O prema[?], please take me in Your service."

So actually we are servant of God, every one of us. But instead of serving God, we wanted to serve something else, and the result is that gradually we have come to serve dog. This is our position. Service is there, as we discussed, you can see: when one has no family, he keeps a pet dog to give service. So service is our essential part of life. So we are suggesting, "Please don't give your service to maya, illusionary." Everyone is attempting. Just like here in Detroit there are so many factories and so many servants, they are all engaged in service. The workers, they are engaged in service, and the so-called master, he is also engaged in service to a master to get [indistinct] and opulent cars. So everyone is engaged in service, but everyone is thinking that he is master. This is called illusion.

So our this Hare Krsna movement is that one should understand that we have to render service to someone-either to the society, to the family, or to the community, or to the nation, or to the total human society. So [indistinct] keep a dog. So we have to render service. If nobody is there, you shall render service to something else. That is our nature, our constitutional position. But the difficulty is that here in this material world you go on rendering service to somebody or some institution, neither the servant is satisfied nor the master is served. [indistinct] This is the defect of material civilization. Therefore, when you become intelligent, then, when you understand that our constitutional position is to render service to the Supreme Lord, when you come to that understanding... That is not very easy. Bahūnam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg 7.19].

After many, many births of rendering service here and there, one comes to the conclusion, by knowledge, that "My real position is to render service to the Lord." Then we become perfectly in knowledge. Bahūnam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate. So this Krsna consciousness movement is an educational propaganda. Don't take it as a sectarian faith or religion. No. It's... Religion is there, but don't misunderstand that just like somebody takes... Religion means a kind if faith, in the dictionary meaning. So faith, some faith one may accept; one may not accept. But you cannot deny from your constitutional position. Your position is to render service. You have to render service. If you don't render service to Krsna, God, then you have to render service to maya or to the cats and dogs. You have to. So this is an educational propaganda that people may come to his original constitutional position and give service to the Supreme Lord. There is no restriction. Mam hi partha vyapasritya ye 'pi syuḥ papa-yonayaḥ. Here the system, in human society, there is restriction: "No, [indistinct]." That is going on perpetually. But so far the service of Krsna is concerned, there is no such restriction.

Without any restriction, without any hindrance, everyone may join this movement, make his life perfect and go back to home, back to Godhead.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupada! [end]