Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.12.3 – April 14, 1976, Bombay

Sex Life-Spiritual Life

Pradyumna: Translation: "Being called by the spiritual master, one should study the Vedic mantras regularly, and every day, before beginning his study and at the end of the study, the disciple should offer respectfully his obeisances unto the spiritual master."

This is the training. The brahmacari should rise early in the morning and worship guru, agni, fire, sūrya, and in the morning there should be class, and on the order of the guru, they should assemble and begin reading Vedic literature, chandamsi.

So for reading Vedic literatures it does not require any erudite scholarship. Simply one has to hear. Therefore the another name of Vedic literature is called sruti. Sruti smrti puranadi [Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 1.2.101]. This class means that everyone has to learn Sanskrit? No, that is not necessary. You may be a very good scholar or not, but Krsna has given you the facility of seeing and hearing. You have got eyes; you have got ear. So in the gurukula the students, they first of all attend the mahgala-arati, guru-vandana, hearing. Then hear this Vedic literature. Here is Vedic literature, Srimad-Bhagavatam or Bhagavad-gita. They are all Vedic literature. The Mahabharata is Pancama-veda. The four Vedas are there: Sama, Yajur, Rg, Atharva. And Mahabharata is Pancama-veda, the fifth Veda. Stri-sūdra-dvija-bandhūnam trayi na sruti-gocara [SB 1.4.25].

Woman and sūdra and dvija-bandhu, they cannot understand Vedic language. It is difficult. For them Vyasadeva made Mahabharata. In the manner of studying history, Mahabharata... Mahabharata means the great history of greater India. So in that history, Vedic literature, Pancama-veda, there is the Bhagavad-gita, essence. So if you read Bhagavad-gita, even if you read Mahabharata, that is all Vedic literature-Mahabharata, Ramayana, the Puranas, the Upanisad, Vedanta-sūtra and the Vedas, original Vedas. Original Veda is Atharva Veda. Atharva Veda was divided into four parts: Sama, Yajur, Rg, Atharva. So they are all Vedic literatures.

So especially in this age Bhagavad-gita is essence of Vedic literatures, and it is based on the Vedanta-sūtra. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, hetumadbhir viniscita. Brahma-sūtra padais caiva hetumadbhir viniscitaiḥ [Bg 13.5]. This Bhagavad-gita is based on Brahma-sūtra. Brahma-sūtra means Vedanta-sūtra. Vedanta-sūtra is very important. It is the summary of Vedic study, sūtra. The janmady asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1], this is a sūtra, a synopsis. And you can explain very nicely from the Vedas. So there are small sūtras, aphorism. From that aphorism you can expand. Vedanta is the summary of all the Vedic literatures, anta, the supplement of the Vedic literatures. And Srimad-Bhagavatam is the explanation of Vedanta-sūtra. Bhasyayam brahma-sutranam. In every chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam you'll find brahma-sūtra-bhasya: "This is real commentary on the Brahma-sūtra." So one should read daily at least one, two hours. That is human life. They are going to the libraries for reading newspaper and nonsense literature, but they will not come to hear Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the essence of Vedic literature. Nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam idam [SB 1.1.3]. It is stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, nigama. Nigama means Vedas. Agama, nigama. So nigama-kalpa-taru. Vedas just like desire tree. Whatever knowledge you want to get, there is perfectly there, without any mistake, without any illusion, without any cheating. All other literatures, man-made literatures, you will find these things: cheating, imperfectness, mistake and illusion. In the Vedic literature you won't find these four defects. Therefore, according to Vedic civilization, if you give evidence from the Vedic literature, it is to be accepted. No more argument. Anything which is accepted in the Vedas, vedavacan, there is no more argument. This is Indian civilization. All our literatures you'll find, therefore, full of quotation from Vedic literature to prove it. That is the actual. It is not imaginary.

So one should read or hear chandamsi. Chandamsy adhiyita guroḥ. It is guru's duty. Adau gurv-asraya. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet [Munḍaka Upanisad 1.2.12]. Tad-vijnana, transcendental knowledge, one should approach guru. So guru-kula means guru's place. So he keeps the disciples to learn the Vedic literature. This is gurukula. We are constructing such big, big houses. Why? We are inviting people to come here and live in this gurukula and learn Vedic literature. This is our purpose. Bombay is a very big city, people are rich, so we can give you nice room, nice prasadam. Come here, live here at least once in a week and learn Vedic literature, Vedic civilization. The essence of Vedic literature is Srimad-Bhagavatam. Bhasyayam brahma-sutranam vedartha-paribrmhitam.

Our mission is to invite people to take advantage of learning Vedic literature, chandamsi. And what is the ultimate goal of studying Vedic literature? That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg 15.15]: to understand Krsna. So therefore our movement is known as Krsna consciousness movement.

So chandamsy adhiyita guror ahūtas cet suyantritaḥ. Very well behaved. Just like machine works systematically. You have seen. Everyone has seen, the machine of the watch is working very systematically, correctly. Similarly, every student, every disciple must work very correctly, like the machine. There is no question, "Why you did not attend the school or the class?" You cannot say that "This is this. This is this." No. As machine work, everyone should attend the class, rise early in the morning, attend mahgala-arati. This is called suyantritaḥ, working like machine, no discrepancy. That is wanted. Suyantritaḥ. Then upakrame avasane. In the beginning and in the end the students should come and offer obeisances to the lotus feet of guru. This is begining. Adau gurv-asraya. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadaḥ. [Sri Gurvastaka 8] This is the principle. If you offer your respectful obeisances to guru, he becomes pleased. Anyone, even one is offender, if he comes and offers obeisances to the superior guru, then even there was offense, he forgets. Father. Father of... The son may be offender, but when he comes and offers his respect to the father, he forgets. So that should be done regularly, suyantritaḥ, just like machine. As soon as one sees guru, immediately he must offer obeisances. Beginning, end. When he comes to see guru he must offer obeisances, and when he leaves that place he must offer obeisances. And in the in-between, coming and going, he should learn from the guru Vedic understanding. This is the principle of living in gurukula.

So upakrame avasane ca caranau sirasa namet. Just at the lotus feet of guru the brahmacari... So our students, they are very obedient. And if our students see the guru hundred times, he practices this process, offering obeisances while meeting and while going. These things are to be practiced. Then danta. Brahmacari guru-kule vasan danta [SB 7.12.1]. Then he'll be controlled, self-controlled. Obedience is the first law of discipline. If there is no obedience, there cannot be any discipline. And if there is no discipline you cannot manage anything. That is not possible. Therefore this is very essential, that the students should be very disciplined. Disciple means one who follows discipline. This is disciple, sisya. The Sanskrit word is also the same, sisya. I have several times explained. Sisya, it comes from the verb sas, sasana, ruling. So sisya means one who voluntarily accepts the ruling of the spiritual master. He is called sisya. Sisya, sasana, sastra, sastra, sasana-these things are the same, from the same root. So this is the instruction.

This is essential. To make the human life real civilized, the children should be sent to the gurukula. But there is no gurukula at the present moment. So we are starting. We have got some gurukula in the United States, Texas. We are starting another gurukula in Vrndavana, and we can start another gurukula here in Bombay to train the students. I wanted to start this gurukula long, long ago, before going to the USA, in 1960, say '62, '61, but I approached so many gentlemen friends; they never agreed to give their sons to gurukula. They never agreed. Everyone said, "Swamiji, what benefit there will be by training our students in the gurukula way? They have to earn their bread."

So that is India's position now. They do not care for their original culture. They are after money. You teach them something to earn money. Therefore they are after technology. This is not experience in India. In US also, many Indian students question me. Long ago, when I was speaking in the Berkeley University, one Indian student came forward and he said, "Swamiji, what this Hare Krsna will do? We have to learn now technology." He said. So this is India's mentality at the present moment, that they are not very much interested in the spiritual advancement of life. It is very risky, very risky, because these foolish persons, they do not know how much risky it is to spoil the human life simply for eating, sleeping, mating and gambling. This is very risky life. This Krsna consciousness movement is very scientific movement. It is trying to save the human society from risky life. Risky life means that if we are not cultured, if we do not take to Krsna consciousness and properly trained up, there is every chance to become again cats and dogs next life. This is the understanding. Tatha dehantara-praptiḥ [Bg 2.13], I repeatedly say this. Krsna confirms. Krsna says, and we are repeating Krsna's word. Dehantara-praptiḥ: you have to change this body to another. And if you do not properly work like human beings, and if you keep yourself like cats and dogs, then dehantara-praptiḥ means you'll get the body of cats and dogs and pigs. So they do not know this science. Therefore they want to forget that there is life after death. They think after death everything is finished, but that is not the case. So, the Krsna consciousness movement is trying to help everyone so that he may not fall again to the cycle of birth and death at the risk of becoming cats and dogs.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! [end]