Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.5 – February 20, 1972, Visakhapatnam

720220SB-VISAKHAPATNAM [33:42 Minutes]

He especially comes for the devotee

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly coming here to participate in this Krsna consciousness movement. So I am reciting one or two verses from Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, wherein Sūta Gosvami describes to the great sages assembled in Naimisaranya in respect of the importance of Krsna consciousness.

Naimisaranya, perhaps you have heard the name. At present there is a railway station near..., between Hardoi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The station is called Nimsar, and still the Naimisaranya atmosphere is maintained there. It is a very nice, sacred place. If you go there, you will feel immediately Krsna consciousness. So in that meeting, the great sages and saintly persons assembled there inquired from Sūta Gosvami that "After departure of Lord Krsna, wherein the principles of religions are kept?"

Krsna appeared for re-establishing the religious principle, dharma samsthapanarthaya [Bg 4.8]. When Krsna or any incarnation of the Lord descends, there are two kinds of mission. One mission is paritranaya sadhūnam [Bg 4.8]. The sadhus, or the devotees, they are very much anxious to meet God, Krsna, so He fulfills the desires of the sadhu, and by the way He also vinasaya ca duskrtam. Duskrtaḥ means sinful, impious, to kill them.

So Krsna has got two businesses. One, to give protection to the devotee, and the other is to kill the demon. Just like Krsna appeared as kesava dhrta narahari-rūpa [Sri Dasavatara Stotra 4], Nrsimhadeva, and Narahari, Nrsimhadeva, one side He was blessing Prahlada Maharaja, the devotee, and the other side He was killing his atheist father, Hiranyakasipu. You have seen the picture. So Krsna, when He has got the fighting spirit...

Because Krsna is the source of everything, janmady asya yataḥ. Here in this world also, you find two things: friendship and hostility. Just like modern political atmosphere, sometimes there is conference of friendship, and sometimes there is fight with lethal weapons. So this duality is visible in this material world, but in the spiritual world there is no duality. There is absolute peace and... [break].

So when He wants to fight, He comes here, because here there are many demons, so His fighting spirit is satisfied. Otherwise, for killing the demons, Krsna does not require to descend. There are many agents of Krsna. For example, this city, Visakhapatnam, on the seashore, if Krsna desires, this whole city can be killed in a second, simply by overflooding the sea, or by storm. He has got many agents, parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Svetasvatara Upanisad 6.8].

Or the material agent, Durga devi, she can all..., do all these things. So Krsna does not require to descend for killing the demons, but when He feels... Just like a rich man sometimes feels to contest with some wrestler, that does not mean he requires it. That is the Krsna spirit. He is all-blissful. So when Krsna comes, descends, there are many demons. He especially comes for the devotee. But when He fights with the demon, that is also His favor, because anyone killed by Krsna, he immediately attains liberation. Therefore Krsna is absolute. Either He fights or blesses, the result is the same.

So this inquiry was made by the great sages in Naimisaranya, that "After departure of Krsna, wherein the principles of religions are kept?" So the answer was given by Sūta Gosvami. He says, in the very beginning, munayaḥ sadhu prsto aham [SB 1.2.5]: "Your question is very auspicious." Munayaḥ sadhu prsto aham bhavadbhir loka-mahgalam: "This question is very auspicious to the human society." Why? Yat krtaḥ krsna-samprasno: "Because you have inquired about Krsna." So, someway or other if you talk of Krsna, then it is loka-mahgalam. Those who are talking about Krsna and those who are hearing about Krsna, both of them are benefited. It doesn't matter whether he understands or not, if he simply...

[aside:] You can stop. These children are creating disturbance. [host asks for quiet]

So the purpose is that this Krsna consciousness movement is hearing and chanting about Krsna. The shortcut is to chant the Hare Krsna mantra. So anyone who chants this Hare Krsna and anyone who hears Hare Krsna, both of them are benefited.

There is another verse in this chapter, srnvatam sva-kathaḥ krsnaḥ...

Our heart is filled up with dirty things. The dirty things is misunderstanding. The first misunderstanding is accepting, identifying oneself with this body: "I am this body." "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," "I am this," "I am that," this identification is one of the greatest misunderstanding. And when Krsna began His teachings in the Bhagavad-gita, He first... Because Arjuna accepted Him as his spiritual master. In the beginning he was talking like friends, but when the questions were not solved, Arjuna accepted Krsna as his spiritual master: sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam [Bg 2.7].

At that time, when Krsna was accepted by Arjuna as his spiritual master, He first of all chastised him. He said, asocyan anvasocas tvam prajna-vadams ca bhasase [Bg 2.11]. Because Krsna..., Arjuna was talking as a family man, so therefore He first of all chastised him, that "You are talking from a low-grade platform, but you are talking just like learned man. You are not learned." Gatasūn agatasūms ca nanusocanti panḍitaḥ. "You are not talking like a learned man." That means Krsna indirectly said that "You are a fool. You do not know what is your identification."

Then He explained that,

The soul is eternal and the body is temporary. It is changing every minute. Just like from our mother's womb, our first birth takes place between the father and mother. Two secretions emulsified, forms into a pealike body, a small pealike body. First night the soul takes shelter within that body, and the mother supplies the energy, and it develops. From that pea it becomes a small body, but the small body becomes greater and greater, and when it is fit for developing, or increasing in this material atmosphere, mother delivers the child and again it becomes developing.

So developing means changing the body. Child's body... Every one of us had a body like a child, baby, but that body is now missing; we have got a different body. Young man has got a different body, old man has got a different body. So this is a fact, that the soul is there, but body is changing. Therefore the natural conclusion should be that when we leave this body, I take another body. There is no difficulty to understand this reasonable proposition of Bhagavad-gita.

As dehantaram, from childhood to boyhood, boyhood to youthhood, is dehantaram, another body, similarly, old man, when the body is not..., very old, it cannot be used anymore, or the supply ingredients is almost finished, then this body we give up; we accept another body. Now this body we are changing from multiforms of body, jalaja nava-laksani sthavara laksa-vimsati krmayo rudra-sahkyakaḥ [Visnu Purana], in this way 8,400,000 species of body we are changing.

And this human form is the greatest benediction for the soul to understand Krsna. And Krsna says if in this body we try to understand Krsna, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvataḥ [Bg 4.9], if we simply try to understand Krsna, how Krsna comes, what is His business, paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam dharma-samsthapanarthaya [Bg 4.8], what kind of religious principle He re-establishes, sambhavami yuge yuge.

So these things are explained very nicely in the Bhagavad-gita. Everyone in India knows Bhagavad-gita, and not only in India, throughout the whole world Bhagavad-gita is very well known and widely read book of knowledge. I have traveled all over the world. In every country there are different language, translations of Bhagavad-gita, and in Japanese countries there is Bhagavad-gita, in Muslim country there is Bhagavad-gita. So Bhagavad-gita is the universal book of knowledge, and our Krsna consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gita.

We have not manufactured anything. The same thing which is very, very old, at least from historical point of view it is five thousand years old, but from scriptural point of view it is more than forty millions of years old. So our Krsna consciousness movement is based on this Bhagavad-gita, because it is full of krsna-samprasno. Here Sūta Gosvami says, yat krtaḥ krsna-samprasno loka-mahgala. "The question raised by you," bhavadbhiḥ, "by you," loka-mahgala.

The Bhagavad-gita should be read very widely, and should be understood very widely. That is the only source of auspicity for the human society. But don't misrepresent it. It has become a fashion now to misrepresent, comment on Bhagavad-gita according to one's whims. That is very dangerous. That is very dangerous. Bhagavad-gita should be read, should be understood as prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita. Krsna says, in the Fourth Chapter, evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduḥ [Bg 4.2].

The Bhagavad-gita should be understood by the line of disciplic succession of authorized acaryas. Fortunately, in your South India all the great acaryas appeared-Sahkaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnu Svami, all of them. So you are very fortunate, and the acarya commentary is also there. Ramanujacarya commentary is there, Madhvacarya commentary is there.

So you take advantage and read them very nicely. That is our request, Krsna consciousness. And try to understand Krsna. If you simply understand Krsna, then the result will be, janma karma me divyam yo janati tattvataḥ, in truth, if fact, which you can do only if you follow the acaryas, not the rascals. Don't follow any rascal. You follow the acarya, you'll get the benefit of Krsna consciousness. That is our request. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti [Bg 4.9]. Then your human form of life will be blessed. You'll get success in obtaining this human form of life.

Not only that. You are all mothers present here. Teach your children from the very beginning, as it is recommended by Prahlada Maharaja,

Prahlada Maharaja says that children should be taught about religious principle, especially bhagavata dharma. What is dharma and bhagavata dharma? Bhagavata dharma means the dharma of the soul, and ordinary dharma means the dharma of this body. Generally we understand the varnasrama-dharma, catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasaḥ [Bg 4.13] The brahmanas, the ksatriyas, the vaisyas and the sūdras; brahmacari, grhastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa.

So actually this is our..., Vedic principle is varnasrama-dharma. So this varnasrama-dharma is in relationship with this body. But we are not this body. Dehantaram prap..., we are changing our body. So sometimes we may become a sūdra, sometimes we may become brahmana-that is change. But when you come to the platform of the soul, na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg 2.20], that dharma, when it begins, the dharma of the soul, that is called bhagavata-dharma, because when one is, uh..., I mean, in the platform, on the platform of understanding soul, that is called brahma-jnana, atma-jnana.

So when one comes to the platform of Brahman understanding, that is called brahma-bhūta [SB 4.30.20]. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannatma [Bg 18.54]: when you come to that platform, understanding of the soul, then you become joyful, free from material anxieties. Just like you are on a ship and it is in danger on the ocean, tottering. At any moment you can drown. But somehow or other, if you come to the land, then you feel safety, "Now I am safe." Similarly, this bodily consciousness-"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am this," "I am that"-that is just on the tottering sea. But if you come immediately on the spiritual platform, then prasannatma, "Now I am safe." Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannatma na socati na kahksati [Bg 18.54].

To Brahman realized soul, he has no more any hankering, nor any lamentation. So long we are on the bodily platform, we are hankering and lamenting. We are hankering for things which we do not possess, and we lament for things we lose. There are two business: to gain some material profit or lose it. This is bodily platform. But when you come to the spiritual platform, there is no more question of loss and profit. Equilibrium. So brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannatma na socati na kahksati, samaḥ sarvesu bhūtesu. Because he has no more hankering and lamenting, there is no more enemy. Because if there is enemy, then there is lamenting, but if there is no enemy, then samaḥ sarvesu bhūtesu mad-bhaktim labhate param. That is the beginning of transcendental activities, bhakti.

So our Krsna consciousness movement is directly giving this bhakti platform, by the mercy of Krsna, in the form of Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is distributing Krsna immediately, because in this age people are so fallen, mandaḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutaḥ . Alpayu: they're living for a short time; and mandaḥ, mandaḥ means very slow or inferior quality of human being. Not superior. Inferior quality means in this age there is practically no brahmana; all sūdras. Kalau sūdra sambhavaḥ. Actually also it is so, because people in this age, if he gets one nice service, master, he is satisfied. One wife, one service, then his life is daksyam kutumba bharanam [SB 12.2.6].

In this age if one can maintain his wife and few children, ah, he is very expert. He is to be considered as daksa, very expert. He hasn't got to make any sacrifice. Simply if he is somehow or other able to maintain a wife, that is... That has also become impossible. The social system is coming to such degraded position. In Europe and America I have seen, very few men are family men, you see, because it is botheration. They think it is botheration, or it is very heavy task. Actually, in their country it is very heavy task by so many laws and so many conventions. So they avoid marriage.

So therefore, in the symptoms of Kali-yuga it has been stated, daksyam kutumba-bharanam. Kutumba means family. If one can maintain his family, he is to be considered as very successful. No, he hasn't got to make daksa-yajna or naradeva-yajna or so many yajna. No. That he has not got means. This is the position. Mandaḥ sumanda-matayo . And if anyone wants to accept something for spiritual, that is sumanda-matayo, something bogus. He will accept something bogus which has no spiritual, I mean to say, reference. He will accept. "I have... I have got this religion." Mandaḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya. Because they're all unfortunate, and upadrutaḥ, and always disturbed and anxious by so many external affairs.

Therefore, in this age Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given us very shortcut method-not manufactured by Him. No saintly acarya will manufacture his way. He must refer to the Vedic literature. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu picked up the Vedic instruction,

From Brhad Naradiya Purana. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also it is said,

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu picked up these Vedic instruction and introduced it to the world five hundred years ago. And He predicted that this mission should be spread all over the world, and specially the task was entrusted with Indians. He said specifically that,

Those who have taken birth as human being in India, they should take this task of distributing Krsna consciousness all over the world, for doing well to others. [applause]

So I request that we have made a background only for spreading Krsna consciousness, and this movement has a great demand all over the world. They are confused with this materialistic way of life. They are not satisfied. Many thousands and thousands of young men, they are confused. They do not know what to do, but they do not like to live like their fathers or grandfathers.

So this is an opportunity for spreading this mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna consciousness and Krsna, amongst the scholars, amongst the religionists, amongst the philosophers, even amongst people in general. This Krsna book, Bhagavad-gita, is very well known, so take this opportunity, both ladies and gentlemen in India, and present Krsna consciousness without any adulteration. Don't do this misservice, that adding something rascaldom in Bhagavad-gita. In Bhagavad-gita it is simply mentioned, and it is described, that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mattaḥ parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg 7.7]. There is no greater authority than Krsna.

These things are there. So my request is that your South Indian people are very intelligent men, and you are benedicted by the blessings of all acaryas. My sincere request is that you take up this movement seriously and spread all over the world. Join with us.

Thank you very much. [applause] [end]