According to Vedic system, there should be four classes of men: the brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, social order; and spiritual order: brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. This is perfect system of human civilization. So I shall briefly describe. Brahmana is compared with the head. Just like you have got your body. In the body there are different departments: the head department, the arms department, the belly department, and the leg department. So to maintain your body fit, you must have all these four departments rightly working. Your brain must work very nicely, your arms must work very nicely, although also the digestive system, intestines, stomach, that must also work very nicely, as well as the legs also must work nicely. Then you are perfectly fit. Similarly, in the social system there must be the head department. (aside:) This child is disturbing. The head department means the most intellectual part of the society, the most intelligent portion of the society. In the society there are naturally four classes of men, very intelligent class of men, politicians, mercantile people and ordinary workers, in every society all over the world, all over the universe. You can name them differently, but these four classes are there. That is by nature's system. Catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]. By nature's way or by God's arrangement, there are four classes of men. The most intelligent class of men is called the brahmanas. Intelligent means one who knows up to the Supreme Lord. And then next intelligent class: the politicians, administrators. Next intelligent class: the mercantile class, traders. And the fourth class man means worker. They have no intelligence, but they depend on others for their livelihood. So there are first-class, second-class, third-class, fourth-class men everywhere, any part of the world.

So the brahmanas' duty is to give education, intelligence, up to the understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth, Brahman. The Absolute Truth is called Brahman. So one who knows Brahman or the Absolute Truth... Knowledge means the end of knowledge should be up to the understanding of the Absolute Truth, the original source of everything. Absolute. Not relative. Relative truth, everyone knows, but when one comes to the point of understanding the Absolute Truth, the original source of everything... There must be original source of everything. That is Brahman. Those who have read the Vedanta philosophy... The Vedanta philosophy describes Brahman. The first aphorism in the Vedanta philosophy is called athato brahma jijnasa. The Vedanta philosophy says that this human form of life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth. One must be... Human being must be interested to know the Absolute Truth. That is perfection of human life. Because in the cats' and dogs' life... Unfortunately, at the present moment, people do not know what is the distinction between cats and dogs and a human being. That is another defect of the modern education. The distinction between cats and dogs... They are also living beings. Of course, in some quarter they say that the cats and dogs and lower animals, they have no soul. No. That is not the fact. Everyone has got soul, but the cats and dogs and animals, they are not advanced in consciousness. As soon as there is soul, there must be consciousness. These things are described in the Bhagavad-gita, and you can perceive also. I am existing in this body; you are existing in your bodyhow it is known? By the consciousness. If I pinch your body, you feel pain. You pinch my body; I feel pain. Similarly, cats and dogs, they also feel pain or pleasure. So that is the proof of existence of the soul even in cats and dogs and human beings. The only difference is in the human form of life the consciousness is developed. So developed consciousness means to understand the Absolute Truth. That is the special function of the human being. Therefore the Vedanta-sutra says, "Now this human form of life is meant for understanding the Absolute Truth, what is the original cause of everything." Because there must be some cause. That is education. Just like your appearance is caused by your father. Your father's appearance is caused by his father. Similarly you go on researching, his father, his father, his father... Then ultimately you will come to the original father, whom you call God, Krsna, or whatever you call. There must be some original father. So the Vedanta-sutra explains when the question is that what is the original cause of everything... What is Brahman? What is the Absolute Truth? Athato brahma jijnasa: "Now this human form of life is meant for inquiring about the Absolute Truth." What is that Absolute Truth? The next answer is janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.1], means "The Absolute Truth is that from whom everything emanates," or "The Absolute Truth is the original cause of all causes." This is the... So this knowledge, anyone who has knowledge, not only this knowledge, absolute knowledge as well as relative knowledge, such class of men is called the brahmanas, the most intelligent class.

The next class is called the ksatriya. Just like when somebody comes to attack you, first of all your brain gives you dictation, "Now this man is coming to attack you. You spread your hand." So immediately my hand spreads and I want to protect myself. So these are called ksatriya class or the armies, from "arm." So next intelligent class is the government class, administrator class. Then next intelligent class is third-class. First-class, brahmanas, second-class, the ksatriyas, and the third-class, the vaisyas, who maintain the society for economic condition, development of economic condition, because we require things to consume to maintain this body. So these are called mercantile class, and the ordinary man who is neither brahmana nor ksatriya nor vaisya, he is called sudra.

So this is natural, natural division of the society. Unless human being comes to the natural division... There is, but sometimes it happens that a sudra is taking the place of the brahmana or the brahmana is obliged to act as a sudra. Then there is anomaly. There is some chaos in the society. So at the present moment the education department does not distinguish who is a brahmana, who is a ksatriya, who is a vaisya or a sudra. And because the things have topsy-turvied, there is chaos all over the world, not only here or there, because the division of labor or the division of working has been overlapped. Now this Krsna consciousness movement is meant for creating some brahmanas, or the most intelligent class of men. There is no hindrance. Anyone can become brahmana. Just like in education anyone can become engineer, anyone can become medical practitioner or anyone can become lawyer if he takes such education from the very beginning, similarly, brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, there are natural division of the society. But at the present moment there is scarcity of brahmana. Brahmana means who has got very nice intellectual brain, who can understand the Absolute Truth. He is called brahmana. So this Krsna consciousness movement is trying to create some good brains so that he can understand, one can understand what is the Absolute Truth. This is the movement.

So here the same instruction is there in the Bhagavad-gita, which is spoken by Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So when Arjuna was perplexed whether to fight or not to fight, he was very much perplexed, and he accepted Krsna as his spiritual master. Sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam: [Bg. 2.7] "My dear Krsna, just now we are talking like friends, but this is a very important factor. I have to decide. Now I accept You as my spiritual master and You give me the right guidance." The whole transaction of the Bhagavad-gita is based on the talking of Krsna and Arjuna only. So when Arjuna decided that "I am not going to fight with my kinsmen, the other side, unless I am convinced that I have to do it." So at that time,

Then our point is that we should have to receive Godhead from the highest perfectional person. Knowledge, our knowledge, your knowledge or anyone's knowledgewe are defect in four principles. Our, we commit mistake. Every one of us who are sitting in this meeting, nobody can say that "I have never committed any mistake." That is not possible. We commit mistake, everyone. We commit mistakes and we are sometimes illusioned. Illusioned. That we can make experiment, that every one of us at the present moment is illusioned. How it is? That I have..., am not this body, but I am accepting this body as "I am." The whole world isI may say whole world, but at least the majority portioneveryone is under the impression that "I am this body." But I am not this body. I am soul. That will be instructed in the Bhaga... I am not this body. I am soul. I am spirit soul. There are so many evidences. If I am this body, then when the soul is not there, the living entity is not there, the body is simply a lump of matter. That is the difference between a dead body and living body. Living body means that the soul is there. Therefore the body is moving. And as soon as the soul is not there, the body is nothing but a lump of matter. I think somebody as my father. I call, "Father," Father immediately replies, "Yes, my son." But when the soul of the father is not there, then the father, this body of the father, whom I am seeing as father, although he is there, still, he cannot reply. This is the distinction.

So Krsna is replying that "You are afraid of fighting with your kinsmen, but you are mistaken. You are mistaken." Every one of us is mistaken because there are four defects in our conditional life. This is our conditional life. So long we are within this body, material body, that is our conditional life. We live under certain conditions. But actually, we are spirit soul, we are part and parcel of God. As soon as we are free from this conditional life, that is our real, actual life. That is called liberated life. The human form of life is meant for getting this liberation. So long one does not get this human form of life by the evolutionary process... There is evolution, from aquatic to birds and beast and then... Jalaja nava-laksani. First aquatic life, then plant life, tree life, then insect life, then bird's life, then beast life, then human life, then civilized human life. So this is the process of evolution. Now, we are supposed to be civilized human being. This life is especially meant for how to get out of this evolutionary process, how to get out of this evolutionary process. The evolutionary process means transmigration of the soul from one body to another. We do not wish to die, but we have to accept death. This is our conditional stage of life. I do not wish to take birth; still, I am forced to go into the womb of my mother by the laws of nature. After giving up one body I enter another body. And there is no security what kind of body I shall get next. It may be human body, it may be animal, it may be trees or it may be better than human being, because there are three divisions. One division is called demigod, and one division is called the human being. The other division is called lower than the human being. Nr-tiryag-deva. Deva means who are very highly advanced in knowledge. They are called devas, and God conscious, Krsna conscious, such men. There are different planets also for different kinds of living entities. So this knowledge is being imparted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not by a person like me or like you who are defective in four principles. That I was going to explain. The four defects are that we commit mistakes, we are illusioned, and our senses are imperfect, and therefore sometimes we cheat others. Although I know, I do not know a subject matter very clearly; still, I say something as authority. That is cheating. We should not cheat. If we want to give knowledge to the people, we must give perfect knowledge.

So perfect knowledge, how it can come? The perfect knowledge can come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the process of acquiring knowledge, so far we are concerned. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh [Bg. 4.2]. The knowledge, perfect knowledge, is coming from Krsna, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we receive that knowledge in cool head and assimilate, then our knowledge is perfect. Just like we are preaching this Krsna consciousness movement. This is perfect knowledge. If you inquire whether I am perfect or my disciples who are preaching this Krsna conscious movement, they are perfect, we may be imperfect. We are imperfect. We accept we are imperfect. But we are distributing the perfect knowledge. Kindly try to understand. We may be imperfect, but perfection means one who assimilates the perfect knowledge, he is perfect. I shall give you one example. Just like a post peon delivers you one hundred dollars. The post peon is not rich man. He cannot deliver you the hundred dollars. But he... The money is sent by some, your friend. He is honestly carrying that money and delivering you. That is the post peon's business. Similarly, our duty to receive perfect knowledge from Krsna and distribute it. Then it is perfect. This knowledge, what we are distributing, it is not that we have created this knowledge by research work or by so many other ways, by inductive process. No. Our knowledge is from the deductive process. Krsna said, "This is this." We accept. That is our movement, Krsna consciousness. We may be imperfect, but Krsna is perfect. Therefore, whatever Krsna says, if we accept it and if we.... Not accept blindly, but you can employ your logic and argument and try to understand, then your knowledge is perfect.

So here Krsna said, when He saw Arjuna that he was not willing to fight, then Krsna said,

So every one of us, we... There are so many big, big scholars. I shall give you one instance. I was talking one big professor who is in Russia, Moscow, Professor Kotovsky. He said, "Swamiji, after death, everything is finished." That bodily concept of life. Even big, big educationist, big, big doctors, philosophers, scientists, they have got this bodily concept of life. So Krsna is first of all trying to remove this bodily concept of life. He said therefore, asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase [Bg. 2.11]. "My dear Arjuna, you are talking like a very intelligent man, but you are lamenting on the subject matter which is not at all lamentable." What is that? Gatasun agatasums ca nanusocanti panditah. Panditah means one who is learned. This body, either in living condition of dead condition, it is not the subject matter of lamentation. This is the first education of spiritual life, that this body is actually dead body already. So long the soul is there, it is moving. So when the soul leaves this body and accepts another body, the body was already dead, a lump of matter, and now it is left aside, and the soul has gone to another body. So it is a lump of matter at the present moment, then, after death or after leaving, after the soul has gone from the body, it is the same lump of matter. So lump of matter, where is the cause of lamentation or jubilation? It is a lump of matter. This understanding is first required.

So this is the education, that we should understand what is our material life and what is our spiritual life. Spiritual life means sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Sat-cit-ananda. Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and bliss means full of jubilation, ananda, pleasure. This is our constitution. This is God's constitution. This our constitution. The difference between God and ourself is that God never accepts this material body, but sometimes we, under certain circumstances, we have to accept this material body. But never mind. We have accepted this material body. We can get out of it. And the process for getting out of it is Krsna consciousness. This is the science. Krsna consciousness movement means we are teaching people how to get out of this entanglement of birth, death, old age and disease and become as good as God. This is Krsna consciousness movement. It is very scientific movement, authoritative movement. So not only it is authoritative, it is accepted by millions and thousands. At least in India there are many. And in the Western countries also, they are also accepting because it is scientific. They are not fools and rascals. So our request is that you don't take this movement as something sentimental, religious faith. No. It is a very scientific, educational movement. Take advantage of it. That is our request. You can understand this movement by reading so many books. We have got about two dozen books like this. But we have got another alternative method which is very simple and easy. You chant Hare Krsna maha-mantra. If you chant this mantra, Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, gradually everything will be clear. So we are not selling this mantra, we are not asking any price for it. This Hare Krsna mantra is open for everyone. So our request is that there is no loss on your part. You kindly take this mantra and chant. Begin chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Then the result will be, gradually, all the misgivings within our heart will be cleansed. Ceto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. And as soon as our heart is cleansed, we can understand that "I am not this material body. I am spirit soul. I have got different business. So long I am working for the maintenance of this body. Now I understand that body is my superficial shirt and coat dress." One should not take simply care for the shirt and coat. Any gentleman knows. Shirt and coat, we take care of course, but not that as the self. Similarly, the present civilization is in a shirt-coat civilization, present civilization. They do not know what is there within the shirt-coat. That they are missing. This Krsna consciousness movement is therefore very important. The missing point is being presented that you are not this body. You are within this body, spirit soul. You just try to come out of this entanglement of birth, death, old age, and go back to home, back to Godhead.

Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. [break]