Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6 – September 27, 1975, Ahmedabad

Prabhupada:

[Transl. Dharma, what is dharma?]

Why so much noise? Too much noise! That's all right!

Organizer: Please be quiet. To listen to Svamiji's lecture reduce noise, reduce noice, be quiet. Be quiet. Be quiet, stop the noise, stop the noise. There can be no lecture by Svamiji otherwise. It is too noisy in the program. Be quiet. Be quiet. If you become totally quiet then we can have the program. There is no need to talk, be quiet. Nobody can talk here. Unless you are completely silent there can be no program.

Prabhupada: sa vai pumsam paro dharmo.

Organizer: Please do not talk here.

Prabhupada: [aside:] Is it working or not?

Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter two, Text 6. Sukadeva Gosvami says, he was questioned that when Bhagavan, Lord Sri Krsna, the incarnation, left this abode to go to His personal abode, where did He leave behind dharma: religion, jnana [knowledge]. So it is said in the Bhagavatam, puranarko' dunoditah, krsne sva-dhamopagate. [SB 1.3.43]

The Lord, after He departed to His own abode, left behind religion and knowledge in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. So it is revealed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, what is the best religion. sa vai pumsam paro dharmo, para means it does not belong to the material world. Just like in the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord has discussed two of His energies, His nature,

One material, this material energy which includes eight elements, earth, water, air, fire, sky, mind, intelligence and ego. These eight elements are called apara: inferior energy. The Lord further explained,

There is one more energy, that is para-prakrti: superior energy. Who is that para-prakrti?

The living entities like you and me, all living entities, I am also prakrti, but para-prakrti.

So there are two kinds of religions. When religion is practiced in relation to one's body it is apara dharma: [inferior religion], nikrsta; and utkrsta religion is para-prakrti. In the nikrsta religion, there is pravrtti [path of sense enjoyment] and in the utkrsta religion, there is nivrtti [path of renunciation].

So long we are practicing prakrta dharma: mundane religion, we will have the fruitive mentality, that by working hard, I will be able to keep the body very happy both in this life and by performing pious activities, in the future also we will go to heavenly planet I will be able to keep the body very happy. This mentality is of inferior religion. It is not superior religion. And because I belong to superior energy, so the superior religion is appropriate for me. So Sūta Gosvami is explaining this superior religion,

What is para dharma? By following which one develops taste for devotional service to the Lord. That is called para dharma: superior religion.

So, devotional service is not mundane but transcendental. That is why the Lord has said in the Bhagavad-gita,

Devotional service is executed in the spiritual platform. The mayavadis conclude everything with the impersonal Brahman realization. But in reality just having impersonal Brahman realization will not work out. We should be engaged in spiritual activities. What is that spiritual activity? This is also explained by the Supreme Lord in the Bhagavad-gita,

After self-realization, that Aham brahmasmi, I am not made up of material elements, earth, water, fire, and air, No. This body of ours is made up of earth, fire, water, air, sky, of all these elements. This is not me. Aham brahmasmi, I am spirit soul, I am spiritual. This knowledge is called knowledge of the self, Aham brahmasmi. After acquiring the knowledge of self-realisation, what are the symptoms? The Lord has explained. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannatma. If one has actually attained self-realisation then he becomes fully joyful. And so long we are in the material concept of life, that I am this body, that I have acquired this body in this country and so I am Indian, I am American, I am Hindu, I am Muslim, I am fat and healthy, there are various descriptions of the material body. When we give up this bodily conception of life then we attain self-realisation. That is the brahma-bhūta stage. Now our situation is, jiva-bhūta. The living entity is actually a part and parcel of the Lord.

We are struggling in this material world trying to be happy, using our senses and our mind. This is our situation. We should get liberated out of this. This is the basic aim of human life, no other work is needed to be done. Jivasya tattva-jijnasa [SB 1.2.10] the goal of human life is to enquire into, what am I in reality? Am I this body or something else? Or brahma-vastu [spirit soul]? If you have this knowledge then you are called brahma-bhūta [self realised soul]. That knowledge can be acquired quickly if,

If we engage in pure devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then this knowledge of self-realisation can be attained quickly.

If one renders devotional service unto the lotus feet of Lord Vasudeva, then janayaty asu vairagyam, he becomes detached from the material world very quickly and also acquired knowledge. So it is said here, sa vai pumsam paro dharmo, so one needs to follow the path of religion but one should follow that path of religion which leads to the developing of devotional service for the Lord, Adhoksaje. This is real religion. The Lord is called Adhoksaja. Adhoksaja means He, who is beyond our mundane knowledge and material senses. Avah manasa-gocara: He who is beyond the jurisdiction of one's speech and mind. It is only an experience, that the Lord exists. The Lord is there, and He is present before us but we cannot see Him with my material eyes, though I can feel His presence. Therefore the Supreme Lord's name is Adhoksaja. By mental speculation, what is God, whether God is formless or with form, what is His form, what are His activities-all these experiences cannot be had through other religious systems. Only through the para bhakti: transcendental devotional service, sa vai pumsam paro dharmo. This has been said in the Bhagavad-gita also, and the same thing is being said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, sa vai pumsam paro dharmo. And in the Bhagavad-gita also the Lord Himself says,

When a person comes to the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, when he realizes that he is a spirit soul, then he will no longer have any desires and lamentation. He will not have any desire or lamentation. So long we are in the material concept of life, we will be hankering for the things we don't possess, 'I need to possess that.' And when the things we possess are destroyed then there will be lamentation. This is called material life. Material life means lamentation and hankering. And when one is in the brahma-bhūtaḥ stage, these two things will be absent.

And at that time we can see all the living entities with equal vision. Panḍita sama-darsinaḥ [Bg 5.18] When one is in actual knowledge, self realized, he sees the soul in every living entity. He doesn't see the outer covering of the body, that he is a human being, he is an animal, he is a brahmana, he is a dog. No, he does not see the body of a dog nor does he see the body of a brahmana. He sees the pure spirit soul, this is called Brahma-darsana [realisation of spirit]. We should reach to this position, that is the purpose of human beings. We can adhere to religious principles only in the human form of life, not in any other forms of life lower than the human form. That is why there is a religion for the human beings only not for the animals. If we give up adhering to religious principles, then we become animals. dharmena hinaḥ pasubhiḥ samanaḥ [Hitopadesa 25] brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and sūdra.

All the existing religions, the meaning of religions is 'duty', 'occupational duty'. The brahmana has an occupational duty, the ksatriya has an occupational duty, the vaisya has an occupational duty, the sūdra has an occupational duty. But the real meaning of religion is to connect with the Lord. Just like there is law, for everything there is a law. You walk on the street, there is law there also-keep to the left, keep to the right. So go anywhere, we have to adhere to the rules of the government. So follow any religious principle, but it means we have to be connected with the Lord and act accordingly.

If there is no connection with the Supreme Lord, it is not a religion. That is animalistic religion. When we remain connected with the Lord and follow the religious principles that is real religion. dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]

That is why we are explaining to you from the Bhagavatam that, sa vai pumsam paro dharmo. Aprakrta [Transcendental]. Not prakrta: mundane, not material. sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir, bhakti means devotional service. Bhaja sevayam.

So there are nine kinds of devotional service.

These are the nine kinds of devotional service. Just like you are hearing, this is also devotional service. And I am chanting the glories of the Lord that is also devotional service. Sravanam kirtanam visnoḥ. On which topic should we hear and chant? This is not a political meeting, sravanam kirtanam visnoḥ, we are hearing and chanting about Bhagavan Visnu, that is called devotional service. Otherwise we are anyways hearing and chanting, all this noise is also hearing and chanting but of other matters. Not that kind of hearing and chanting. Sravanam kirtanam visnoḥ, if we hear and chant about Visnu, then that is devotional service. Any other topic we hear and chant about is not devotional service. Sravanam kirtanam visnoḥ, and if we hear and chant then smaranam remembrance will be there, we will remember things related to the Lord. If you go to the temple that is arcana,

Arcanam. You go the temple and pay your obeisances to the Lord, watch the arati, someone rings the bell, someone dances, sings, all this goes into your account, sukrti, this is called sukrti: pious credit. We must accumulate this sukrti. By accumulating piety, just like you collect paisa by paisa and after some time you will find it has become two thousand or four thousand rupees. Then it is substantial, a penny is not enough but if you collect little by little then one day it will become two or four thousand rupees and it will be of some use to you. Similarly this sukrti, you keep accumulating it, Sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat. [Bg 2.40] So this pious credit of devotional service if you collect little by little, then one day you will be able to overcome the greatest dangers.

The example of this is the story of Ajamila. Ajamila was a brahmana boy but due to bad association all his good qualities and behaviour became bad. He associated with prostitutes, became a thief, scoundrel, rogue but one thing, he was the son of a brahmana and so must have engaged in the service of the Lord with the permission of his parents. But in his youth he was spoilt. But because of his sukrti, when he became thief, dacoit, prostitute monger, at that time he had a number of sons. One of his sons, his youngest son, he named him Narayana. And all of us are always attached to the youngest son. He would call his son all the time, "Narayana, son sit here," "Narayana, son drink this milk," "Narayana, son eat this please." So this calling of Narayana Narayana, was being accumulated in his spiritual account. So in the end when the order carriers of Yamaraja came, out of fear he called out to his youngest son, "Son Narayana, see who are these people who have come to take me?" So because he took the name of Narayana, the Visnudūtas: the order carriers of Lord Visnu came to protect him. This description is given in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, sixth Canto. It is very deep and beautiful description. So because he took the name of Narayana, he was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Yamadūtas and he went to Vaikuntha. Sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya, that little calling out to Narayana, worked out well for him.

In this Kali-yuga this path of devotional service especially hearing and chanting, this is most suitable. All of you accept it. We have this Krsna consciousness movement, the goal of our preaching is that, all of you remain in whatever position you are in the society. It is not that we are asking all of you to become renunciates: sannyasis, leave your homes, leave your business. No. We do not say this. You remain in your place. sthane sthitaḥ sruti-gatam tanu-vah-manobhir. [10.14.3]

But engage your ears in listening to the topics of the Lord, this is our point of view. This is the scriptural injunction also, just like all of you have kindly come here to listen to something. Please keep doing this. Sravanam, nothing else. If you do nothing else but go to these saintly associations and hear the topics of the Lord from the lotus mouth of the experienced devotees, then your life will be successful. Simply by hearing.

It is mentioned in the scriptures, that if you kindly, simply hear about the Lord, srnvatam sva-kathaḥ krsnaḥ, Krsna is so merciful that when He sees that you have developed a taste for hearing the topics of the Lord, He at once becomes more merciful. The Lord is sitting in your heart,

The Lord is seated in everyone's heart and He simply witnesses your activities. That he has come into this world for sense gratification and got entangled, when will he give all this and turn towards Me? That is why the Lord descends Himself. He is seated inside the heart anyways but He also appears outside, the Lord descends as an incarnation.

And God also sends His representatives, so that in what way we will turn towards Him. We have forgotten the Lord and think we are very happy. But because we have forgotten the Lord, the Lord is unhappy. "Having forgotten Me, he is entangled in the material world for engaging in sense gratification,

And he is working so hard, day and night like an ass for a piece of bread." Do you understand? So this is not our duty. Human life is to be peaceful, wherever the Lord has given us as food, accept it and it is appropriate to utilize our time peacefully in discussing the topics of the Lord. jivasya tattva-jijnasa, [SB 1.2.10] this is our only business. This is the scriptural injunction also that you do not endeavour for anything else. This endeavour for eating and drinking is done by the animals also. The scriptures say

Having gotten this human body, taking this body and making such great endeavour for sense gratification and not knowing any other good activities, this is done by the hogs and asses. So why should the human beings do the same? What is the goal of human life? Tapo divyam, human life is meant for performing austerities. This is our Indian culture. Great kings have given up their kingdoms and gone to the forest to perform penance. All of you know this. Maharaja Bharata, after whom this country is named Bharata-varsa, at the age of twenty four left his kingdom, his young wife the queen, and children and went to the forest to perform austerities. There are many examples of this kind. So, human life is actually meant for performing austerities. Why do we have to perform austerities? tapo divyam putraka yena suddhyed sattvam.

Our existence now is impure. We get this material body due to our impurity and then we have to give it up and take on another material body, bhūtva bhūtva praliyate. [Bg 8.19] This inconvenience, why has it occurred? Because our existence is not pure now. By performing austerities if our existence becomes purified then we are spiritual, and we experience spiritual bliss. This is the goal of human life.

We also strive for happiness, but the real happiness is spiritual happiness which is eternal, that is not fleeting. This is mentioned in the scriptures. So if you want to be self-realized Kali-yuga, there is a very simple method. And that simple method is that you hear the topics of the Lord.

Chanting the topics of the Supreme Lord is Krsna kirtana. Krsna-katha, one of which is Bhagavad-gita which Krsna Himself spoke. This is also a topic of Krsna and the other one is Srimad-Bhagavatam that is also Krsna-katha, because but it is full of narrations about Krsna. Both are Krsna-katha. So hear Krsna's topics: Srimad Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Hear to this. Sravanam kirtanam, by hearing your life will be successful. And from whom to hear?

Krsna-katha must be heard from persons who are devotees of the Lord. Not from those who speak about the Lord for business purposes. No One who has dedicated his life in the service of the Lord, such a person is called a Bhagavata. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya. So in every house you can listen to Bhagavatam and purify yourself, it is not very difficult, if you so desire. Just like in our society, International Society for Krsna consciousness, their behaviour is sanctified. They give up four activities: illicit sex: Other than their own lawfully wedded wife they do not have any relationship with any other woman. This is called illicit sex, this must be given up. And give up meat eating, meat, fish etc. You will be purified. And intoxication, see these boys they do not take tea even, don't smoke bidis. They have given up everything. This makes one purified. This is an austerity. By performing austerities our existence becomes purified. So we need to give up all these four kinds of sinful activities.

Illicit sex, violence against animals. When the Lord has given us so many things to eat then why should we indulge in animal violence? Where you get nothing else to eat, like in the desert, if someone kills an animal to mitigate his hunger then he is not considered to be that sinful. What can he do, what can he eat? And in India or anywhere else also, in America also there is plenty of things to eat. Drink as much of milk you want, eat as much as grains you want and other eatables. Everything is available. But it has become a habit to eat meat, thousands of slaughterhouses are maintained. So these are all sinful activities. By committing sinful activities one can never be happy nor achieve God. You can achieve the Lord only when we are free from all these sinful activities.

The Supreme Lord does not say that you do whatever you like and act sinfully and you will attain Me. No. This is not a fact. We have to be free of sins because the Lord is,

God is supremely pure, so a sinful person cannot approach a pure Personality. So we also have to be purified. So the Lord Himself says,

This hearing and chanting is the greatest pious activity and is very simple. Nowadays yajna-dana-tapaḥ-kriya, [Bg 18.3] perform sacrifices, giving in charity, perform austerities, go to the jungles and go to Himalayas is not possible. In this Kali-yuga this is impossible. That is why this sole pious activity, srnvatam sva-kathaḥ krsna, simply hear the topics of the Lord. Be wherever you are and hear about the topics of the Lord and you will accumulate piety in this way. And voluntarily give up these four activities: illicit sex, meat eating, intoxication and gambling. These four things you give up and chant these names.

Everybody can do this, it is not difficult. Be at your homes, do your business, do whatever you are doing. As you gradually become purified, these sinful activities will automatically be vanquished.

The more you hear the holy names of the Lord, Hare Krsna, the more you will be purified, ceto-darpana-marjanam, [Sri Siksastaka 1] the mirror of your heart will be cleansed, and everything will be revealed in your heart. This is the speciality of Kali-yuga.

All the other process, karma: perform fruitive activities, jnana: cultivate speculative knowledge, yoga: practice of mystic yoga etc these are not possible. The people of Kali-yuga are so fallen that the Lord, very mercifully, has given them the most simple method.

So there is no restriction that only Hindus can chant the holy names of Hari, No. There is no question of Hindu or Muslim. Everyone is entitled. Acanḍala [even up to dog-eaters]! Everyone has the right.

Kiratas, Hūnas, Andhras, Pulindas, Pulkasas, Abhiras, Sumbhas, Yavanas, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

No question of being sinful or otherwise, everyone can chant the holy names of the Lord. If you give up the sinful activities and simply chant the holy names of the Lord then your human life will be successful. That is why,

And what will be the benefit of this? Aahaituky apratihata, this devotional service which you execute cannot be hampered by anything of this material world, no. In any situation you can hear the holy names of the Lord. Whether you are poor, you are rich, Hindu, Muslim, whatever you maybe it doesn't matter. Everyone can chant the holy name of the Lord, there is no restriction on anybody. It is open for everyone and the more you chant the holy names of the Lord your heart will be cleansed. Ceto-darpana-marjanam. Just like a mirror, if dust accumulates on the mirror you can't see, you have to cleanse it. Similarly our heart is pure and by chanting the holy name of the Lord,

The Lord cleanses it so that you can see how beautiful you are! You do not have a material body you have a spiritual body which is na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg 2.20] Even when this material body is destroyed the spiritual body remains and with that spiritual body you can go to the spiritual world to the spiritual Lord who is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha: [eternal, full of knowledge] and blissful, and live with Him and enjoy spiritual bliss for ever with the Lord, Anandamayo 'bhyasat: [Vedanta-sūtra 1.1.12] God is anandamaya, full of bliss and pleasure.

This is our preaching message, it is very simple, you all accept it and be happy.

Thank you very much! Hare Krsna! [end]