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660821BG.NY
Prabhupada:
yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir
bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna jnanagnih sarva-karmani bhasmasat kurute tatha [Bg. 4.37] Yatha, "as," as an edhamsi. Edhamsi means "fuel." Sammidho 'gnih, "blazing fire." Bhasmasat, "turns into ashes." "Just like blazing fire, whatever you put into it, any fuel, that becomes turned into ashes, similarly," jnanagnih, "when your fire of knowledge will be ablaze, then sarva-karmani, all reactions of your work, will turned into ashes." Because the reaction of our karma, reaction of our work, is the cause of our bondage. There are good work and bad work. Here it is stated, sarva-karmani. Sarva-karmani means either good work or bad work. There are reactions of bad work, and there is reaction of good work. But a, a person who is going to be liberated from this material bondage, for him, both good work and bad work are reprehensible. There is no need of reaction of good work also. In this material world we are attached to perform good work. Not all. Those who are in the modes of goodness, they want to do some good work in the material estimation. And those who are in the modes of passion and ignorance, they do work, bad work, passionate work, work in ignorance. But those who are going to be Krsna conscious, they have no need, either this good work or bad work.
Why? Now, either you enjoy the reaction of good work or bad work, your material bondage is there. Suppose by bad work I am born... Because, according to work, there are different position of life. Janmaisvarya-sruta-sribhir edhamana-madah puman [SB 1.8.26]. By good work we get good heritage, birth in a very good place, in a high family, in rich family, aristocratic family. And with bad work we may get our birth even in the animal kingdom or lower grade family, poor family. These are Vedic estimation of good work and bad work. But for a person who is going to be Krsna conscious, he has no need either for good work or bad work because he has no need bondage again.
Suppose I am born in a very aristocratic family, very rich family. That does not mean that I am getting free from the material miseries. Just like we are sitting here. Some of you are very well situated. Some of you coming from rich family and some of you may not be so rich, from middle-class family. But the temperature of this day is equally heating. There is no consideration that "Here is a person who is coming from rich family, so the temperature should be lesser for him." No. Therefore, either we enjoy the reaction of good work, either we enjoy the reaction of bad work, we have to accept this material body. And as soon as we accept this material body, we have to undergo the material miseries.
But our whole program is... Duhkhalayam asasvatam [Bg. 8.15]. Lord Krsna says, mam upetya tu kaunteya duhkhalayam asasvatam napnuvanti [Bg. 8.15]. You'll find in the Tenth Chapter. The Lord says, "Anyone who comes to Me or gets Me, mam upetya, gets Me..." We can get Krsna in this life also by Krsna consciousness. Just like you get into touch with government if you are engaged in the government service, similarly, if you get into the transcendental service of Krsna, then you get into Krsna. Krsna says, mam upetya tu kaunteya. Kaunteya means Arjuna. "O the son of Kunti, after attainment of Myself by a person, the..." What is the result? The result is: mam upetya tu kaunteya duhkhalayam asasvatam napnuvanti: [Bg. 8.15] "He does not get any more to this place of miseries."
The whole thing is... Now, jnanagnih, knowledge, fire of knowledge. That fire of knowledge does not burn in our mind. You see? Therefore we accept this miserable life as happiness because there is want of that knowledge. Just like a dog or a hog cannot understand what sort of miserable life he's passing on. He thinks that "I am all right. I am enjoying life very nicely." That is the... That is called covering influence of material energy. A person who is suffering...
Just like you'll find in the Bowery Street there are so many drunkards lying on the street. Oh, they're also thinking, "Oh, we are enjoying life, enjoying life." But others, who are passing on cars, they are taking sympathy on him, "Oh, how miserably they are living." But that is the way of covering, covering influence of material nature. I am in miserable life, but I accept it, "Oh, I am very happy. I am very happy." This is called ignorance.
So when one is awakened to the full knowledge, he understands, "Oh, I am not happy. Oh, I want freedom. Oh, there is no freedom. I don't want to die, but there is death. I don't want to become old man. Oh, there is old age. I don't want diseases. Oh, there are diseases." These are the problems, but due to our ignorance we set aside all these big questions of human problems. We take a small problem as very important.
We take economic development as the most important thing, forgetting that how long I shall live here in this material world? So fifty or sixty or hundred years. So economic development or no economic development, my life will be finished. Suppose I develop my economic life in a very... I accumulate millions of dollars. But when I leave this body I'll leave everything. Then again I take my birth according to my reaction, either in poor family or old, I mean to say, rich family or even animal life. There is no guarantee.
This is knowledge. One has to acquire this knowledge. So unless this knowledge is awakened in our mind or in our consciousness, then whatever we are doing we must consider that we are being defeated, defeated by the influence of material nature. So here Krsna says, jnanagnih sarva-karmani bhasmasat kurute tatha. As soon as I understand my position, that I want freedom...
We are trying to go to the moon planet, but because there is no freedom, oh, we are failing in every step, although we are advertising in the paper, "Now it is two years more, two years more." The Russians began to sell land in the moon planet, that "In 1965 we shall go there." But 1965... It is going to 1967. Now they are silent about selling land in moon planet.
The thing is that we want. That is our nature. We want to travel. People are coming from India to America, from America to India. So we want to travel freely. That is my right because as spirit soul, there is a word... You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita, sarva-ga. Sarva-ga means a spirit soul has the potency of going anywhere he likes, anywhere he likes. There are... Actually, those who have attained perfection in yoga... Of course, that is not the highest perfection. Even persons, those who have attained perfection in yoga, they can travel in any planet. And the perfection of yoga is indicated like this, that a yogi dies according to his own will. He is not, I mean to, pressed to leave this body just like ordinary people. They leave this body under the pressure of nature's law. So they get so much power. When they find that "Now I shall leave this body," they fix up in which planet they will go, and they transfer their soul into that planet. That is the highest yogic perfection. And hardly you'll find such a yogi.
So my point is that the living entity has got the tendency to move freely, to move freely. There are living entities in other, higher planets which is called Siddhaloka. We get this information from Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the Siddhaloka planet there are also living entities or human being like us. But they are so powerful that, without any help of airplane or without any help of sputnik, they can travel from one planet to another. We have got this information. So our... When we are free from this material bondage, we have no information how much powerful we are. We are satisfied here by manufacturing something, sputnik, that we are very much satisfied that we have advanced so much in material science without knowing that without any help of this sputnik and aeroplane, I can travel all planets. That potency I have got.
Now, how that potency we can have? That is the thing we should culture. Jnanagnih. And that can be achieved by jnana, by knowledge. The knowledge... For knowledge, everything is there. We have to accept that. That... Therefore, formerly people used to observe penances and austerity to attain perfection. Now, here, in this age, oh, that, such austerities and penances are not possible, are not possible. Because our life is very short, and we are always disturbed. Prayenalpayusah kalau asmin yuge janah. Kalau. Kalau means this age, the age of quarrel and insufficiency. This age is called Kali. Kali means "the age of quarrel." We fight. On insignificant questions we fight. Therefore this is called Kali-yuga. So in this yuga we have got very short period of life.
That day I was reading from the Twelfth Chapter, er, Twelfth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatamperhaps some of you who were presentthat in this age the life will be reduced from twenty to thirty years. We have to wait for that time. So gradually, things will deteriorate. Therefore in the Kali-yuga, the yoga practice or the sacrifice or, I mean to say, very pompous worship of God, oh, that is not possible. People are, have got short life, they are always disturbed, they are disturbed with material disturbances, diseases, and they are unfortunate also. They are not very fortunate. So mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [SB 1.1.10]. Mandah. They are very slow, and also unfortunate. This very word is used in the Bhagavata. So therefore, in the Kali-yuga, if we want to get all this advantage of knowledge, then the only way is to become Krsna conscious, to become Krsna conscious. That will help us.
If that Krsna consciousness is ablaze... That... Bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate [Bg. 7.19]. If we can surrender unto Krsna and fully become Krsna consciousjust the example Arjuna showed; he became Krsna consciousthen our knowledge will be ablaze and all the reactions of our good work and bad work will be turned into ashes. We shall be purified. Na hi jnanena sadrsam pavitram iha vidyate [Bg. 4.38]. The Lord says again, "There is nothing purified things in this material world except jnana, or knowledge." What is that knowledge? That knowledge is that, that "I am part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Therefore my business is to dovetail myself with the Supreme Consciousness. I am individual consciousness, and I shall be dovetailed with the Supreme Consciousness." That is jnana.
This is the purest thing in this material world. Everything is contaminated here by some modes of material nature. Even the modes of material nature of goodness, that is also another kind of contamination, and what to speak of the modes of passion and ignorance? Even goodness... In goodness, one becomes enlightened. He becomes enlightened about his position, about this matter, about transcendental subjects. But the defect is there: "Oh, now I have understood everything. I am all right." He wants to stay here. That means a first-class prisoner. And... He's offered all kinds of facilities in the prison house. Oh, he thinks, "Oh, now I am all right."
So even the modes of goodness, that is also a cause of our bondage. Therefore we have to transcend even the quality of goodness. Even the quality of goodness we have to transcend. That transcendental position is Krsna consciousness. The transcendental position is, also begins, aham brahmasmi: "I am Brahman. I am not this matter." But that position is also unsettled.
Because
brahma-bhutah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param [Bg. 18.54] Now, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. In the brahma-bhutah stage... Brahma-bhutah stage means self-realization of transcendental position, that "I am not this matter; I am spirit soul." This realization is called brahma-bhutah. We are Brahman. We are not matter. But some way or other we have been in contact with the maya, matter. Therefore, out of ignorance, I am identifying myself with this material body. But actually, we are not matter. That we can understand. If I had been matter, then as soon as my, my dead body is there, oh, no matter can revive the life. Now they have made so much scientific improvement, material scientific improvement.
Now, suppose there is a body, dead body. Now, if the living force was something material, then bring something material and inject in that dead body and get it up again. No, that is not possible because that spiritual thing is gone, and we have no control over the spiritual matt..., spiritual thing. The spirit soul, that is a superior nature. We have been simply informed in Bhagavad-gita. That is a superior nature. This is inferior nature. So this inferior nature is my bondage. I am not this inferior nature.
So Krsna says, na hi jnanena sadrsam pavitram iha... So as soon as we become, I mean to say, revived to our position, brahma-bhutah, then our first symptom will be prasannatma, prasannatmawe shall be joyful. Prasannatma na socati na kanksati [Bg. 18.54]. There will be no lamentation and no hankering. But the difficulty is that even if we rise up to the brahma-bhutah stage and if we do not take to the service of Krsna then there is possibility of falling down again. That information we have got. Aruhya krcchrena param padam tatah patanty adhah anadrta-yusmad-anghrayah [SB 10.2.32]. Just like you may rise very high in the sky, but if you have no shelter there, if your aeroplane or sputnik fails, then you again you fall down. Again you fall down. So if you rise up to that stage that you can attain some planet and take your rest there, so then there is no possibility of falling down. But so long you are in the sky, oh, there is every chance of falling down, every chance.
Similarly, simple understanding of brahma-bhutah stage will not help me unless I take shelter unto Krsna. As soon as I get shelter unto Krsna, as soon as I engage myself in the service of Krsna, then there is no chance of falling down again into this material world, because there is engagement. Our nature is such that we want some engagement. Param drstva nivartate [Bg. 9.59].
Just like a child... Child is playing all day and doing mischief in the house, and... So he cannot be stopped mischief-doing. He must be given some engagement. If he's given some engagement, some playthings, and if his attention is diverted there, then he'll stop mischief-making in the house. Otherwise, idle brain, devil's workshop. He will go on, go on. So therefore we must have spiritual engagement. Simple understanding that "I am spirit soul" will not help me.
Brahma-bhutah prasannatma [Bg. 18.54]. The brahma-bhutah stage, situation, is that "I am not matter; I am spirit." That's all right. But we have to sustain the spirit. How we can sustain? We can sustain when there is spiritual engagement. Otherwise, it is not possible. Otherwise, I may continue for some time, but there is chance of falling down because we have got this information and a practical experience also: great, great, I mean to say, yogis and jnanis, they again come. We have some practical experience. Sometimes we find a person leaves all worldly engagements, leaves his family, gives up his family connection, becomes a renounced order, sannyasi, and highest order, and then, after some time, he becomes engaged in opening hospitals and philanthropic work and in politics.
We have seen it. Oh, why? You have renounced the world. Why you are hospital-making business? Hospital-making business is there, going on by the government, by the state. You are not meant for making hospitals. You have to make hospital how people can get rid of this material body. That is spiritual activity. We also require to open hospitals. And what is that hospital? To cure this material disease, not this temporary disease. Again we may be attacked. The complete cure of material disea... That sort of hospital will be required. That hospital is this Krsna consciousness society. If we take treatment under this Krsna consciousness society, then we shall be cured of this material disease.
Otherwise, we shall be again attacked with some kind of body. Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya [Bg. 2.22]. Just like we change our dresses from one dress to another, similarly, this body to another body, transmigration of the soul. But we are meant for now completely ceasing to have any material body in the next life. That should be our aim of life. That is called... That knowledge is called the purest knowledge. Na hi jnanena sadrsam pavitram iha... That knowledge is the purest knowledge. Tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah kalena atmani vindati [Bg. 4.38].
Now, by becoming Krsna consciousness, by this yoga, bhakti-yoga, you can be successful. Yoga-samsiddhah. And, in due course of time, you'll understand that "Yes, I am in right path. Oh." In due course of... Immediately you may be very doubtful, "Whether I have accepted the right path or not?" But in kalena, in due course, in due course of time, if you continue the process... Therefore in the next verse it is stated, sraddhavan labhate jnanam. Sraddhavan, one who is faithful, he can take up this knowledge. Faithful. Those who are hesitating, those who have no faith, oh, it is very difficult for them. We have to accept. Because the method is standard, and it is given by the highest authority, Krsna, so we must have such faith, "Oh, here is a thing, authoritative."
Just like faith in any transaction we have. We must have some faith. Now, suppose if I go to California from here, from New York, now, I have purchased the ticket by, going by air. Now, I have got this faith that "This company, this aeroplane company, will take me to there." Maybe there may be some accident, but on faith I accept it, "Yes, it will take me there." When we go to the barber shop, on faith we stretch our neck and the razor is going on. He may at once put into the neck. But you keep the faith, "Yes, we have got the faith. He'll not do that." So without faith, we cannot make progress. If in ordinary dealings we have to accept faithfully something... Who knows that this airplane will take me to California? It may go down to hell, in the oil.[?] The, in the bus, there may be some accident. In the railway, there may be some accident. There is possibility. But on faith we accept. So if we want to make progress we must have faith.
And where to keep our faith? In the authority. We are not going to book our ticket in an authorized, unauthorized company. Those who are acknowledged company, we purchase their ticket to go to California. Similarly, here we must have faith in Krsna. If you have got this faith in Krsna or Lord Jesus Christ or whatever you may have, full of... Without faith, we cannot make progress. That is called faithful. And those who have no faith, they are called faithless. So here it is clearly stated, sraddhavan labhate jnanam: "Those who are faithful, they can make progress in this knowledge of spiritual advancement." Tat-parah samyatendriyah.
And faith, how we become faithful? Now, samyata indriya. You have to control the senses. The whole thing is: our material existence is here because we want to gratify senses. That is the whole disease. So this faith of spiritual advancement can be, I mean to say, enhanced when we agree; at the same time, samyata indriya. Just like if you are taking treatment of a physician, you have faith, "All right." But the physician says, "Don't do this," and if you do this, then what kind of faith you have got? Physician, when he treats some patient, he prescribes something, "don't do this" and "do this," some "do-nots," some "do." Now, if I say, "My dear physician, I have got all faith in you. Very good. But I cannot follow your instruction. You say, 'Do not.' I do it," oh, how you can? How you are faithful? How you are faithful? So sraddhavan labhate jnanam tat-parah samyatendriyah. You have to follow the instruction with faith. Then you get. You have to follow the instruction with faith.
sraddhaval labhate jnanam
tat-parah samyatendriyah jnanam labdhva param santim acirenadhigacchati [Bg. 4.39] And, when the formula is properly executed and he attains to the stage of knowledge, then his profit is: jnanam labdhva param santim, he gets complete peace, param santim, complete peace. Acirena. And that peace is very near to you. In the near future you'll have if you faithfully follow. Very near, not very long. Acirena. Acirena means "very near." Very near. Sraddhavan labhate jnanam tat-parah samyatendriyah, jnanam labdhva. And when that stage you'll achieve, then you'll feel, "Oh, there is no happiest man in the world like me." That stage you will have.
Just like when the disease is cured, when disease is... Just like you have got some boil in the boil, in the hand or some part of your body, and the physician says, "It is... It has to be surgically operated," now, with faith, you undergo the surgical operation, and during the operation it may seem very severe. You may be feeling very severely, but when the pusses are out and it is bandaged, oh, you'll feel relief. "Oh, my dear physician, you have done a great deal of progress." You are engaged. But when the operation was going on, you was in hell.
So this is the point. With faith, you have to accept the formula, and we have to execute it. But if you do it... Because the authority is there. We are keeping our faith not to a third-class person. To the supreme authority, Krsna.
We have to understand first. Therefore we have discussed this point. Tad-vijnanartham, tad viddhi pranipatena [Bg. 4.34]. For attain, attainment of knowledge, we have to approach such a person where we can keep our faith. If we are faithless, if we keep, if you go somewhere where we cannot keep our faith... That is also necessary. We must find out such a person who is actually worth for keeping my faith. If we find out a third-class person and keep my faith, then there may be dangerous thing.
So here Krsna is the most authorized personality. Now, anyone who is actually Krsna conscious, Krsna conscious, then you can accept him as the same as Krsna. Because a person who is fully in Krsna consciousness, he is the bona fide representative of Krsna. He's the bona fide representative of Krsna. So keeping faith on Krsna or to His bona fide representative is the same thing. So that sraddhavan, if you follow, samyatendriya, with controlled senses, then your result is guaranteed. And you'll feel it.
How you'll feel it? Just like you are hungry and if you are given some food, foodstuff and you eat it, and as you eat it, you feel that "Yes, I am feeling satisfaction," so you'll feel it. You won't have to ask anybody that "Whether I am making progress nor not?" You yourself will feel it. Acirena. Acirena santim adhi... He feels full peace acirena, very soon. Then ajnas casraddadhanas ca samsayatma vinasyati. And those who are faithless or hesitating, oh, they have no chance. They have no chance. Ajnas ca. That hesitation is due to also ignorance. Ajnas ca asraddadhanah. And ignorant and faithless. Samsayatma, hesitating. Vinasyati: "He is hopeless." Nayam lokah asti na parah na sukham samsayatmanah: [Bg. 4.40] "Anyone who is hesitating in accepting this principle of knowledge or Krsna consciousness, for him," nayam loko 'sti, "not even this material world will be happy. And what to speak of his next life?" If he has no faith, then even in this material world, he'll be unhappy. The material world is unhappy. It is all already miserable. It will be more miserable. He'll feel always disturbed, miserable, faithless. So for a faithless, the situation is very precarious.
So here is an authoritative version in the authoritative book, Bhagavad-gita. And spoken by the Lord Himself, Sri Krsna. And if we accept faithfully, with confidence, that "Here is an authority..." Just the same way that when I am purchasing a ticket from a recognized company... Just like I am keeping my money in some bank, thousands of dollars. Why? With faith. With faith. They have created some faith. Otherwise, thousands of thousands of dollars are coming in the bank. Why? There is faith. Who knows? The bank may fail or may not pay. Because the money's out of my hand, now they may not pay it. It may be. But, because I have faith, I am putting my money there. So faith is required.
Where? Authority. Here is authority. Why we are putting our money in the bank? Because we have got faith. We have confidence that "This bank will not fail." Similarly, if we can keep our faith in an ordinary bank or a traveling agent, can we cannot keep our faith Krsna, who is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all other big authorities, even by Sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Lord Caitanya and all these. So we have to follow the footprints of great authorities. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. He'll be situat... Just like we also follow others. Just like if I put some money in a bank, I see, "So many people are keeping their money. So I may also keep." So if Krsna has been accepted as the supreme authority by so many big, big men, why should we not keep our faith in Krsna? Or Jesus Christ? That's all right.
We must keep our faith, and faithfully we shall discharge our duties. And if you follow the principle the result is guaranteed. Thank you very much. Any questions? You can ask.
Why the door is closed? Come here. Eh?
Guest: I have [haven't?] got to know the different books before I come here. When I come in here there was sound and movement and odor. ...why is this allowed?[?]
Prabhupada: Yes. This transcendental sound is a process of cleansing our mind. This is also transcendental sound. This is not ordinary sound. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. The whole thing is due to our unclean mind. So this transcendental sound is the process of cleaning the mind, and in clean, in clean mind, we can accept transcendental subject. Otherwise it is sometimes disturbing. So this...
Guest: Cleanse the mind.
Prabhupada: Yes. Yes?
Disciple: In other words, you don't want to negate the senses?
Prabhupada: Eh?
Disciple: In other words, there's no negation of the senses?
Prabhupada: No negation?
Disciple: Of the senses.
Prabhupada: Senses. Yes. Here... Senses... We have got our transcendental senses. Now it is covered. Just like in our diseased condition, the same hand, the same nose, same ear, are there, but we feel something extraordinary. "Oh, my, there is headache. Oh, my hand is burning, burning. Oh!" But when the disease is cured, then you don't feel that sensation. So senses we have got. That is our spiritual senses. So we have to revive our spiritual senses. We are not senseless. As spirit soul, we have got our original senses, but that senses are now covered by this material contamination. Just like my senses, my hand burns during fever, due to the fever. But when the fever is moved, removed, when I get free from the fever attack, then I feel nice, similarly, we have got our senses; when we are freed from this material contamination, then we have got our proper use of the sense and enjoyment.
We have to wait for that purpose. And if our... If we, in our diseased condition, we go on satisfying the senses, then the disease will be aggravated. So for the present, samyatendriya, we have to control the senses just to get us cured from this material disease. That is the way. You have not to kill your senses. That is not given. Because your hand is burning, due to some disease, oh, if the physician says, "All right, cut off this hand," oh, that is not treatment. The treatment is that sensation, that burning sensation, should be cured. Hand should live as it is. So we are, we have got all desires, we have got all senses, spiritually. And we have to revive that, and that, Krsna consciousness will help us to revive our original status of senses. And that original status of senses, that sense of enjoyment, will be spiritual enjoyment. That will give us real... Sukham atyantikam yat atindriya-grahyam [Bg. 6.21].
You'll find in the Bhagavad-gita that happiness, happiness perceived by the senses, is beyond these material senses. And in the Narada-bhakti-sutra also you'll find that hrsikena hrsikesa-sevanam bhaktir ucyate. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. When our senses are freed from all designation... Just like due to fever, I am feeling some extra sensation in my hand. That is a designation. When that designation is freed, then I come to my normal state. Similarly, at the present moment, due to this covering of material body, I have got different designative sensation, designative sensation. I am feeling I am, I am just using my senses under some designation. So we have to get free from this designation. That is the whole spiritual process. You haven't got to kill your senses. That will help you when you are in Krsna consciousness. [break]
...which are beyond the topics. Just like we also talk something on some subject matter, Krsna consciousness is the highest knowledge. So we have heard so many things about this. If there is any doubt about that statement you can ask me. That was my point. Otherwise, any question...
Student: That's what I was...
Prabhupada: Eh? So you can ask any question on the topics which we have already finished. (end)
Link to this page: https://prabhupadabooks.com/classes/bg/4/37-40/new_york/august/21/1966 Previous: Bhagavad-gita 4.34-39 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1969 Next: Bhagavad-gita 4.39-42 -- Los Angeles, January 14, 1969
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