690716IN.LA
Lecture at Initiation Fire Sacrifice

Los Angeles, July 16, 1969
Prabhupada: (devotees chanting responsively)
...pavitro va
sarvavastham gato api va
yah smaret pundarikaksam
sa bahya abhyantaram sucih
sri visnu sri visnu sri visnu
The purport of this mantra, namah, namah means "I surrender," or "I become submissive," namah. So one has to become submissive. Apavitrah pavitro va. Apavitrah means contaminated. This material world is contamination, infection of the spirit soul. We are suffering... Just like in ordinary diseased condition we suffer on account of infection, similarly the..., one who is intelligent, he should understand that this conditional life is suffering. One should not be foolishly very optimistic, that "I am very well situated. I am enjoying life." This is ignorance. Nobody is enjoying life in this material world; everyone is suffering. Samsara-davanala-lidha-loka: ** this world is just like blazing forest fire; so everyone is suffering, contaminated. This is the sign, symptoms of contamination, that suffering, threefold miseries-adhyatmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika. But as the animals, they suffer, but they do not understand, this is animal life. The animal is being taken to the slaughterhouse, but still he's happy. This is animal life. So when one cannot understand his sufferings of this material contamination, his life is animal life. He knows that he's suffering, but he's trying to cover the suffering by some nonsense means: by forgetfulness, by drinking, by intoxication, by this, by that. He's aware of his suffering, but he wants to cover his suffering in a nonsense way. Just like the rabbit. The rabbit, when he's in face to face of some ferocious animal, the rabbit closes the eyes. He thinks he is safe. Similarly, simply by trying to cover our sufferings by artificial means, that is not solution. That is ignorance. The suffering can be solved by enlightenment of spiritual life, spiritual bliss. That is the way. Anandambudhi-vardhanam. Ananda means bliss, transcendental bliss. And there is ocean of transcendental bliss. If you want to dip into this ocean, there is chance for you. Anandamayo 'bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). Vedanta-sutra says that we spirit soul, we are by nature full of bliss. That is our nature, anandamaya. But we have been contaminated by this material affection. So one has to come out of it. That is the process of self-realization, liberation, whatever you call. The process is to come out of this contamination.
So this mantra suggests that either you are contaminated or not contaminated... It is not that... The Mayavadi philosophers, they say that so long we are contaminated in the maya, we can adopt any means of self-realization, and after self-realization, when we become liberated, we become one with the Supreme and there is no more any work. This is partially true. Partially true means when actually you realize yourself, then you have no material activities. That is the sign of self-realization. This is also stated in the Bhagavad-gita:
Self-realization, liberation, the sign is that he becomes joyful, prasannatma, immediately. If you have actually realized yourself, simply by bluffing that "I am God, I am this, I am..." No. There are signs. If you are God, then you must be as joyful as God, as Krsna. If you are suffering still and you are claiming that you are God, that is nonsense. You needn't become God. You, simply if you become in the light of God, you become joyful. Just like from the darkness of night, if you simply come to the sunshine, immediately your position is changed. It does not require that you have to become the sun. Simply by coming to the sunlight your purpose is fulfilled. So the sunlight and the sun is not different; they are one unit. But sunlight is not sun. That is knowledge. If we, if simply by coming you can come into the sunlight, if I think that I have become identical with the sun, that is nonsense. Sun, you cannot become identical with the sun. It is so powerful, the temperature is so high and great, that you cannot approach even sun. The scientists say even from so many millions of miles away, if a planet or somebody goes near the sun, immediately he will be burned into ashes. So this is false claim that brahma-bhutah means one becomes God. No. That means that you come to the light of God. That is also nice, to come to the light of God.
So brahma-bhutah... Anyway, if you realize yourself that you are not... That brahma-bhutah means simply to understand that I am not the material body. To be convinced firmly with all reasons and argument, firmly conviction, this is called faith. Faith is not flickering. One must be firmly convinced. So then you immediately become joyful. Just like if you are implicated with some undesirable affairs and if you, some way or other, your lawyer advises, "Oh, you are free from this implication. The law does not bind you," just like you feel pleasure, "Oh, I'm not in this implication?" "Yes," similarly, as soon as one is convinced that "I am not this material body," then immediately he becomes joyful. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati [Bg. 18.54]. And what is that joyfulness? There is no lamentation and there is no hankering. If you have hankering, then you are not joyful. If you have lamentation, there is no hankering. If you have hankering, then you are not joyful. If you have lamentation, then you are not joyful. These are the signs. Brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu. And if you are actually self-realized soul, in the light of God, then your treatment will be equal to all living entities. Not that "He is animal, he is man, he is black, he is white, he's this, he's Indian, he's American, he's Chinese." No. Samah sarvesu bhutesu. Everyone is spirit soul, son of God, part and parcel of God. This realization. Prasannatma. He has no enemy. He becomes enemyless immediately, because he sees everyone part and parcel of God, everything energy of God, everything belongs to God, everything enjoyable by God, by Krsna. In this way he sees in everything Krsna, and nothing else. Prasannatma na socati na kanksati samah sarvesu... [Bg. 18.54]. That is the beginning of Krsna consciousness. Mad-bhaktim labhate param. Param. That is transcendental situation of Krsna consciousness.
So our, this Krsna consciousness movement is to take one from the material concept of life, material consciousness, to the platform of Krsna consciousness. Then he will be joyful. He will be no more hankering for anything material, neither he'll be sorry for any so-called material loss. And he'll be equal to everyone, universal brotherhood. So they do not know... They simply talk of these high sounds. But here is the process. If you adopt the process, then you come to the platform. It is open for everyone. So this mantra suggests that either you are in the material consciousness or not, apavitrah pavitrah va, or in spiritual consciousness. It is not that when you are delivered from the material consciousness and come to the spiritual platform your service stops to Krsna. That is not. Our service is eternal. We are serving here Krsna, and after leaving this body, when you go directly to Krsna, faced with..., the service is there. The service is the main means and the end. Not that this is simply means, and the end is something else. No. It is so nice, it is means and end, both. We are chanting Hare Krsna here, and when we go to Krsna we shall chant Hare Krsna, like that.
Devotee: Jaya. Hare Krsna.
Prabhupada: You see the pictures? They are also chanting.
ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis
tabhir ya eva nijarupataya kalabhih
goloka eva nivasaty akhilatma-bhuto
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.37]
This picture is the symbolic... Ananda-cinmaya-rasa. There is a rasa, mellowevery ananda. Just like if you take a nice fruit, mango, the taste is pleasing. That is called rasa, that taste. Anyway, anything enjoy, there is a rasa. Rasa. You love somebody, you kiss somebody, embrace somebody, there is a rasa. So this picture is ananda-cinmaya-rasa. Here we have got that taste of rasa in a perverted manner. But cinmaya-rasa means it continues. This Radha-Krsna with the gopis, they are enjoying, dancing, chanting. That is eternally; that is never stopped. It is not that they become old and there is no more enjoyment or they are separated or somebody, Krsna goes somewhere and the Radharani goes to somewhere. No. Everything is eternal. They are enjoying. That is the difference between this rasa and that rasa. This rasa is temporary. Your youthful enjoyment will not exist; it will be finished. Your American life will be finished. Your this life, that life, everything will be finishedand finished forever. Not that you are going to have it again. Therefore this is flashing. It is coming and going. But that life is eternal. That is ananda-cinmaya. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih [Bs. 5.37]. This ananda-cinmaya-rasa is called hladini-sakti, Krsna's pleasure potency. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate, na tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. These are Vedic versions, that "The Supreme has nothing to do." Just like here if we enjoy in the hotel some dancing, and next morning I'll have to go into the garbage for bringing money for that dancing. I'll work, go underground to dig out garbage. It is not like that, that Krsna has to go next morning to garbage. (laughter) You see? It is not that I'll have to acquire money by flattering somebody or working some in hell. No. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavita... That is the expansion of His pleasure potency. Krsna is Param Brahman. Param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan [Bg. 10.12]. When Arjuna understood Krsna, he says, confirms, "My dear Krsna, You are Param Brahman, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead." This is understanding of Gita. And after reading I understand that I am God. What is this nonsense? Where do you get this idea? Where it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita? Simply bluffing, all these rascals, scholars, and so-called commentators. They're all rascals. They do not know what is Bhagavad-gita. Here is Bhagavad-gita, understanding Krsna, accepting, Arjuna, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan sasvatam purusam [Bg. 10.12]. The Supreme is purusam. He is not female. Just like some rascal thinks that He's Kali, He's Durga. No! Kali, Durga are His potencies. Parasya saktir vividhaiva. The Supreme has many kinds of potencies. Goddess Kali is also one of the potencies, Durga is also one of the potencies. Not that Durga is the Absolute Truth. This is nonsense. That is stated in the Brahma-samhita, srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka chayeva yasya bhuvanani bibharti durga [Bs. 5.44]. Durga. What is that Durga? Durga is the material nature, very powerful. Srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktih. She has got the power of creating, maintaining and dissolving. She is so powerful. You have seen Durga's picture. She has got ten hands. That's a long story, of course, Durga, Candi. These are all described in the Vedic literatures. But she is not the absolute personality. Srsti-sthiti-pralaya-sadhana-saktir eka chayeva. She is working simply just like shadow. As the shadow moves when the original substance moves, similarly, she is only working under the direction of Krsna. That's all. She is the external potency. Similarly, Radharani is a pleasure potency, and these gopis are expansion of Radharani, pleasure potency. So they are not ordinary girls, neither Krsna is enjoying like us, that in the hotel at dance and in the morning the garbage. No. It is not like that. Ananda-cinmaya-rasa-pratibhavitabhis [Bs. 5.37].
So when you enter into the Krsna science you get so much volumes of transcendental knowledge, and we are trying to present before you this knowledge in so many ways, by cleansing your heart from this material contamination. And this initiation is the beginning of cleaning the contamination. Therefore this mantra suggests, apavitrah pavitrah va: either you be contaminated or not contaminated. When one is not contaminated, he's relishing this Hare Krsna mantra by associating with Krsna. Just like Rupa Gosvami, he's also chanting. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is also chanting, but His chanting and my chanting, there is little difference. That chanting is on the transcendental platform, actually relishing with Krsna. My chanting... In the beginning there are three stages: offensive stages, liberated stage, and relishing stage. So you will be initiated for chanting Hare Krsna, there will be so many offenses. So we have to offend..., we have to defend ourself from the offenses. There are ten kinds of offenses. You'll get the list. So we shall try to avoid. Then our chanting will be purified. And when the chanting is purified, then immediately you are liberated. And after liberation? Brahma-bhutah prasannatma: [Bg. 18.54] your life of devotional service actually begins. Then you relish reciprocation of love with Krsna.
So everything can be attained simply by chanting this Hare Krsna mantra. Everything. The means is the end and the means is the whole. It is not that we accept something and give it up and again come to another stage. No. If you have got conviction, if you have got faith, if you are strenuous, immediately you are in the platform. Apavitrah pavitro va sarvavastham gato 'pi va. So any stage of life, yah smaret pundarikaksam, anyone who remembers Pundarikaksam, Krsna... (aside:) Sit like this. Yes. Pundarikaksam. Pundarika means lotus; aksam means eyes. Pundarikaksam. Yah smaret pundarikaksam sa bahyabhyantara-sucih. Externally, internally, he becomes immediately purified. So keep on chanting, you keep yourself purified, maya cannot touch you. Maya's contamination will not touch you. Just like if you take vaccine, the infectious disease will not touch you. Similarly, if you keep yourself vaccinated with Krsna consciousness, the maya has no power to touch you. And if you can keep, then you will be accustomed. Just like a child, when he learns walking, he requires little help. He may fall down, but that doesn't matter. He again stands up. Similarly, in the beginning there may be childlike falldown, but if you stick to the position, then one day you'll be able to walk freely, without any hamper. So this mantra, apavitrah pavitro va sarvavastham, any condition of life, you can simply remember Pundarikaksam, Krsna. As soon as you chant "Krsna," you remember everything.
So this remembering is the whole thing. If you have got always within your heart Krsna, by sound or by mental thoughts, by work, some way or other, by reading books, any way, if simply you keep your consciousness in Krsna, then your life is successful. That's all. And in the Bhagavad-gita such person who is keeping always Krsna within himself, he's certified as the greatest of all yogis. Yoginam api sarvesam, "Of all the yogis," mad-gatenantaratmana, "simply who is keeping Me within his heart..."
yoginam api sarvesam
mad-gatenantaratmana
sraddhavan bhajate yo mam
sa me yuktatamo matah
[Bg. 6.47]
"He's first-class yogi." You don't require to labor and pay somewhere some five dollars, ten dollars, and practice this gymnastic. No. It is not possible. And as soon as you come out, you'll again engage yourself in all nonsense activities. No. The first-class yoga system is to keep yourself always in Krsna consciousness. Then it is always, you are pure. No contamination of this material world can touch you, and you are first-class yogi. All right. (chants fire sacrifice prayers responsively with devotees) Chant Hare Krsna. (end)

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