At the house of Dr. Chamanlal Bali – November 19, 1970, Bombay

Hamsadūta: At the house of Dr. Chamanlal Bali and Vijayantimala. Active in Bombay, evening of the 19th of November 1970. [break]

Prabhupada:

Dr. Bali and Srimate Vijantimalla, ladies and gentlemen. I am very much glad to meet you this evening and to explain to you the purpose of Krishna Consciousness Movement.

This Krishna Consciousness Movement as you understand from the very words. Krsna. When I started this movement in USA many friends requested me to incorporate the association as, "God conscious." I denied, I said, "No." Krsna consciousness. God consciousness is vague term. And Krsna consciousness is directly to understand that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Absolute Truth appears in three features,

Brahma, impersonal Brahma is the realization at the first stage of knowledge, perfection of knowledge. Not perfection of knowledge, means liberation from ignorance and stepping on the platform of knowledge. That is called Brahma realization. Aham brahmasmi. And when one realises Brahma, then his material tribulations immediately stop. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita:

So one who is Brahma realized his symptoms should be that he has no more any hankering and no more any lamentation. Na socati na kahksati. In this material world we are perturbed with two things. We are desiring for things which we do not possess and we are lamenting for things which are lost. But these two things are the prominent features of material life. Sometimes gaining-sometimes losing. It is not fixed up. If we think that now I have got permanent settlement, I have got so much bank balance and my position in the society is so nice, so everything is settled up. No. It is a tottering platform, any moment it can be finished. Another [indistinct], begins. That is not only true for this life but it continuation of this life. Just like we have got in our front 8,400,000 species of life.

What are these 800.. 8,400,000 species of life? They are different stages of our transmigration from one body to another. Just like even in this present life we are experiencing, transferring.., transforming or growing from one body to another. Everyone is born a small child but that childhood body is changing to boyhood body or the boyhood body changes into youthhood body. Then old age, then body finished. So anyone, any sane man can understand that although the body is being changed. I am fixed subject. Everyone of us can remember that I was a child. I was a boy, I was a girl, in young age. Now I am old but I am existing although the body is changing therefore it is very, I mean to say, easy to understand. It is not at all difficult, that a body is changing but I am fixed.

Tatha dehantaram-praptir. So we cannot make any permanent settlement in this material world. We have to change therefore it is called jagat. Jagat means gacchati. Change, always changing. So we should not forget the process of life. Krishna Consciousness Movement is to remind, is to remind the forgetful human society. That you have very much, engaged in your present business but you do not know what is going to happen next. Not only next stage of life but next life. Unfortunately at the present moment people do not know that there is next life. Some of them do not believe, that there is next life. But here in the Bhagavad-gita it is plainly said, dehantaram-praptir. Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya [Bg 2.22], just like we change our dress.

Similarly we change our body. This is the beginning of Bhagavad-gita. Unfortunately we Indians, we are forgetting the simple teachings of Bhagavad-gita. That this life is not sold. Na jayate na mriyate na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg 2.20]. I, you, everyone of us. That is very vividly explained in the Bhagavad-gita. When Krsna was on the battlefield and Arjuna was perplexed. Krsna said, "My dear Arjuna, you, Me, and all the soldiers and the kings whom you see in your front. It is not that they are not existing in the past. And it is not that they will not exist in the future. So our life is continuation, it is not that this life is the end. So, so, but there is no education about the.., I mean to say, the eternity of the living entity.

When I was called to lecture in the..., what is that? Boston there is a technical, technological inst..?

Devotee: In Massachusetts.

Prabhupada: Massachusetts, yes. Massachusetts Technological Institute.

Devotee: MIT.

Prabhupada: Eh?

Indian guest: MIT.

Prabhupada: MIT yes. You have been there?

Indian guest: No. We have to go.

Prabhupada: Ho.., that's right. So I immediately asked the students that this is a Technological Institute but have you got any technological department in which it is.., I mean, for lessons that the life is eternal and it is changing? This is a great technology. Unfortunately there is no such university, there is no such institution throughout the whole world which is serious to study about the eternity of the soul. Or to find out what is the living force within the body. A still they are very much proud of advancement of education. This is the preliminary knowledge of human life. The animals cannot understand this philosophy but in the human form of life there is facility to understand.

There are so many books of knowledge, Vedic knowledge and our great saints and sages in India they had labored so much to present us the real knowledge and a still, we are neglecting. This is not very good sign, you see? There is a Bengali nice verse in which it is stated that apana dhana vilaye diye bhiksa mage parera kache. We are disputed, we have thrown away our own assets, now we are going to beg something for our protection, our ministers, our government, responsible officers are going to the foreign countries to beg for money, beg for rice, beg for wheat, beg for soldiers. But people are thinking that India has nothing to give. But actually India has also something to give and this is Krsna consciousness. This contribution of India is very much appreciated in the foreign countries this Krsna consciousness.

So the Krishna Consciousness Movement is also very nice. In the sense that we are dealing with Krsna, the Supreme, most beautiful personality and his energy Srimate Radharani. The love exchange between Srimati Radharani and Krsna.

So this Krsna consciousness movement is very nice in this sense, that we are dealing with original Krsna love affair. Wherefrom this love affair come's-between young boys and girls? Ah, that is explained in the Srimad Bhagavatam or Vedanta sūtra: janmady jijnasa [?]. So Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has explained that this feelings of love between young boy and girl that is called adi-rasa. There are 12 rasas. So this feeling, it may be perverted now in the present conditional stage of life as sex feeling. But this attraction is the original attraction between Krsna and Radha. Therefore Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained what is the feature of Radha and Krsna. Radha is the pleasure potency of Krsna. Krsna is Parabrahma, so ordinary man in order to understand Brahma. Sukham or happiness, Brahma happiness. Brahma happiness means, happiness or pleasure which has no end. The material happiness-there is end. That is the distinction between material happiness, material pleasure and spiritual or Brahma pleasure.

Rama, Rama is the spiritual Ramayana [?]. So yoginaḥ, those who are bhakti yogis, those who are devotees. They are called yogi's. So ramante they also have romance [?] but they have raman in ananta. Not in the limited but in the unlimited. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. And that is real ramante, that is real pleasure. Anything which is flickering, which is nonpermanent that is not happiness. That is maya. That is maya, that is the distinction between maya and reality.

So this radha krsna-pranaya, loving affairs between Radha and Krsna originally the Parabrahma, Krsna and His pleasure potency Srimati Radharani. So for Brahma realization, big, big saints and saintly persons and sages they give up worldly pleasure. They take sannyasa. So have Brahma plat..., to enjoy Brahma pleasure. Now this Krsna being the Parabrahma how He can enjoy material happiness? No. That is our mistake. These Radha-Krsna lila, enjoyment between Krsna and Radha is not material. Just try to understand. Because for Brahma pleasure we have to give up everything material and the Parabrahma the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is Parabrahma, naturally He is not expected to enjoy anything material.

Because to come to the Brahma understanding you have to give up all material pleasures. Now how Krsna can enjoy material pleasures? So don't mistake..., therefore Radha Krsna lila is anything material. But that Radha-Krsna lila has been pervertedly reflected in this material world which is going on as love. But that is not love, that is lust. That is the difference between love and lust. Actually it appears like the same. But one is lust, one is love. How this distinguish? It is distinguished in this way that Krsna...,

When there is self-satisfaction or self enjoyment that is called lust. And when there is sense of satisfying Krsna that is called love. That is the distinction between love and lust.

The spiritual love of Radha and Krsna because in the Vedanta sūtra you will find the definition janmady asya yataḥ. What is Brahma? Brahma, Parabrahma means the Supreme Absolute Truth from Whom or from Which everything emanates. That is called Brahma. Therefore it is to be understood that this feeling of sex feeling between man and woman this is also born of the Absolute Truth. It is not artificial. But it is perverted. Because it is material it is pervertedly represented. Perverted means just like the example is given in the Bhagavad-gita. urdhva-mūlam adho-sakha [Bg 15.1].

The, this material world has been explained as a tree which is perverted. Whose root is upwards and the branches downwards. Have you seen any such tree-within your experience? That the root is upwards and the branches are downwards. Perhaps you have not seen but you, some of you might have seen. If you go near a reservoir of water and if there is a tree on the bank you will see that the tree is reflected downwards to branches and upwards to the. That shadow representation of the real shoe..., real tree is called maya. Therefore the highest rasa, Radha-Krsna is reflected in this world as the lowest.

The Radha-Krsna attachment is the highest in the spiritual world but that is now reflected as the lowest in this material world. Because it is perverted. But the truth is that this loving propensity is there everywhere. In you, in me, even in the cats and dogs and the animals. Everywhere. And we are trying to divorce this loving affairs from her[?] But we are being frustrated because it is pervertedly. Ah, repose. Therefore the science is that these natural tendencies to love others should be given to Krsna. Then it will be perfect. Na te viduḥ svartha-gatim hi visnu [SB 7.5.31].

Visnu and Krsna are the same thing. They do not know that the ultimate goal of life is to revive our original relationship with Krsna. That is Krsna consciousness movement. We are simply trying to awake people to this Krsna consciousness. Because unless this ultimate aim of life is achieved we remain always dissatisfied and by disatisfaction we create our next karma life and therefore we get another life, another type of body next life and in this way our life is being [indistinct] in this material existence.

Therefore Srimad Bhagavatam says:

Nūnam pramattaḥ-all people have become mad after sense gratification. And kurute vikarma-and for sense gratification they are acting so many things which are not sanctioned. Vikarma means-not sanctioned. Just like if you act something which is not sanctioned by the Lord then you are criminal. Similarly there is nature's law, there is God's law if we act against that law that is called vikarma. Kurute vikarma. So therefore Rsabhadeva says, "na sadhu manye," this kind of irresponsible activities is not good.

Because according to our activities we shall get body. Now we have got experience in this body we are suffering so much we are trying to enjoy artificially but actually we are in suffering condition. Anyone who is in this material world beginning from Brahma down to the worm in the stool, all living entities are suffering. Therefore our main aim of life should be to stop this repetition of birth and death and come to the spiritual life. And as Srimate Vijantimalla first of all said. Recited two slokas:

Now:

Now this Krsna says that, "I appear to establish the principles of religion," dharma-samsthapanarthaya. Now what is that religion? That is explained by Krsna at the end of Bhagavad-gita. What is that?

So we have created so many dharmas, Hindu dharma, Moslem dharma, Christian dharma, Buddha dharma, Jain dharma, so many. Hundreds and thousands of dharma. But Krsna says that, "sarva-dharman parityajya." Now in the beginning He said that, "dharma-samsthapanarthaya-in order to establish the principles of dharma, religion I appear." And at the end He says, "sarva-dharman parityajya." Therefore the conclusion is that-mam ekam saranam vraja. Only surrendering unto the lotus feet of Krsna is dharma, everything is not dharma. All other dharma which does not teach either you call Krsna or God any dharma which does not teach you surrendering unto the Supreme Lord that is not dharma. Therefore in the Srimad Bhagavatam you'll find in the beginning, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra [SB 1.1.2].

In the Srimad Bhagavatam-kaitavaḥ dharma-cheating religion is completely thrown away. So we have created so many dharmas, of course it takes very long time to explain each and every item but try to understand the principle. What is the dharma? The dharma is this Krsna consciousness. That Krsna says, "mam ekam-only unto Me." He does not say that whatever you do that is all right. No. He says, "mam ekam-only unto Me." Only to become Krsna conscious that is dharma. And anything beyond this-that is not dharma. Therefore Krsna says, sarva-dharman parityajya. So our propaganda is you don't remain a Christian or don't remain a Hindu or don't remain a Moslem. You become Krsnite. Or lover of God then your life is perfect.

That is bhagavata-dharma, to love God. And because God is everything if you understand how to love God then naturally you love everything. Your love for country, your love for society, your love for family, your love for husband, your love for wife will be perfect when you love Krsna. How it is possible? Just like if you simply take care of your stomach, if you supply kindly food's to the stomach automatically your supplying food to the other parts of the body is finished. You haven't got to make separate attempt to supply food to the eyes, or to the ear, or to the hands, or to the legs. You simply supply food to the stomach and energy will be distributed everywhere. Similar...

Similarly if you try to love Krsna only your love will be distributed to everyone. Why we have come here? A sannyasi may not like-but we love everyone. We want that everyone should be Krsna conscious. That is our program. It doesn't matter where we are invited but it is our business, it is our duty. We have dedicated our life that we want to see everyone Krsna conscious and thereby become happy. That is our mission. And that happiness how it can be attained that is also very easy. Just like the girl Sudha.

[aside:]... is that right?

Mataji: Yes.

Prabhupada: Yes. She chanted, she chanted that, "How I can reach Krsna?" She went phut, phut, phut, phut, here. So that eagerness how I shall attain Krsna in this life that is [indistinct]. The Rūpa Gosvami advises:

You just try to partake in Krsna bhakti. Krsna, devotional service of Krsna if it is available somewhere. Krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matiḥ. Matiḥ means-consciousness, therefore we have named Krsna consciousness. The translation should be krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matiḥ. So Rūpa Gosvami says that, "If you can purchase this krsna-bhakti-rasa or Krsna consciousness you immediately purchase it." Then what is the value? Because when you go to purchase you have to pay something. So what is that? He says that: tatra laulyam ekalam api mūlyam [Cc Madhya 8.70].

That we gather, just like mirror, how I shall leave Krsna, how I shall leave Krsna. That madness after Krsna, agra [?]. Laulyam, just like we become mad after somebody-if I love. Either a girl or boy how to go there? How to achieve? Similarly the same love when it will be employed in the service of Krsna by that price you can purchase Krsna consciousness. And.. But that type of eagerness Rūpa Gosvami says na janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate [Cc Madhya 8.70]. That eagerness to achieve Krsna is very difficult to gain. Even after many, many births it is not possible to gain. That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita:

This surrendering unto Krsna or Krsna consciousness shall be achieved by a man who has perfectly attained knowledge. Jnanavan, not the fools, rascals but jnanavan. Those who have attained real perfect knowledge. Such persons after many, many births, mam prapadyate. Surrenders unto Me. How?

Because after perfection of knowledge he understands Vasadeva Krsna is the Absolute Truth and is the source of everything. There are many verses in the Bhagavad-gita that:

Budha. Budha means-one who is factually wise. So this Krsna consciousness movement although very difficult to achieve but just like; there are many verses in the Bhagavad-gita.

So this Krsna consciousness to achieve this consciousness is very difficult undoubtedly. But by the mercy of Krsna who appeared as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is Krsna Himself. Krsna is so kind that although He says in the Bhagavad-gita that, "You simply surrender unto Me." That people misunderstood. They did not do it. Therefore Krsna came again as Lord Caitanya to distribute Krsna consciousness how people can easily take this. This is Lord Caitanya's gift and the process is very simple. The process is:

Simply by chanting this Hare Krishna mantra. That we are teaching.

So our request is to everyone, all the boys and girls and ladies and gentlemen who are present. That you may remain engaged in your respective business. It doesn't matter. But you chant this mantra: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Then your life will be successful. In whatever position you may remain, it doesn't matter. Simply you take up this maha-mantra and chant it. There is no expenditure, there is no loss but the gain is great, very great. You will get Krsna. You see? So don't lose this opportunity. The human life, you don't think that you have, you have got this life, you are now enjoying life. This is no. At any moment there could be a flash of light, any moment it will be finished. But so long you have got this opportunity try to understand Krsna. That is the success of life.

It doesn't matter whatever occupation you have. That doesn't matter. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was not a Vedantist, neither a brahmana nor a sannyasi. He was householder. And he was a politician, so many things. He had no time to understand Vedanta. Vedanta is meant for the brahmanas, but he was not a brahmana, he was ksatriya always busy in politics. But a still he attained perfection simply by making friendship with Krsna and understanding Bhagavad-gita. You see? So there are nine different, I mean to say, procedure or process for executing devotional service.

So Arjuna got perfection by making friendship with Krsna. Sakhyam. So all of you should begin this Krsna consciousness simply by hearing. Sravanam. Just like you are kindly hearing me. So you can hear every day, you can sit down with your friends, with your family members and chant Hare Krishna and read some slokas from Bhagavad-gita. Just see how your life become sublime and happy. So we are teaching that. And we have published many books or magazines so you can take advantage of these books also. Pure Krsna consciousness we don't deal with any other. Simply how one can become elevated to Krsna consciousness, that is our movement.

We have got dozens of big, big books and we are reaching every month in different languages, this Back To Godhead. English, French, German, Japanese, Hindi and we are now going to publish in Bengali also. So gradually we shall give in all languages. So our attempt is there and we have got very good assistance, very good workers. You also cooperate with us. Your life will be sublime. Please cooperate with this movement. Try to understand this movement and you have got this human form of life so don't waste it for nothing. You will remain... Krsna. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu never says that you give up your profession or occupation. No. Sthane sthitaḥsruti-gatam tanu-vah-manobhir [SB 10.14.3].

Simply you apply your body, your mind, tanu-vah-mano, a mind and your words for spreading Krsna consciousness. That will give you very immediate effect, ye prayaso 'jita jito 'py asi. God is never conquerable but anyone who employs his mind, words and body for the service of God, Krsna. He, Krsna becomes defeated by such devotee. To such devotee, Krsna comes within the.., I mean to say, hand. Vedesu durlabham adurlabham atma-bhaktau. Vedesu-you cannot understand Krsna simply by studying Vedic literature. Although all the Vedas aims at Krsna consciousness understanding. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyam [Bg 15.15], Krsna says.

The purpose of Vedic knowledge is to understand Krsna. Therefore after many, many births of studying Vedic literature and becoming perfectly wise, one surrenders unto Krsna, which He advises at the last verse of Bhagavad-gita.

So don't wait for many, many births. You have got this opportunity. We are trying to help you-take to Krsna consciousness and make your life perfect.

Thank you very..., Hare Krsna.

Devotee: All glories to Prabhupada. [end]