Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.19 and Conversation – November 15, 1970, Bombay

701115SB-BOMBAY [30:48 Minutes]

Prabhupada: ...inform that man, he'll come at about ten.

Hamsadūta: He'll come at ten tonight? It's on the way to Gorakhpur?

Prabhupada: Yes, we can go via that way also. Then it would be time?

Hamsadūta: When do they want us to come there?

Prabhupada: Huh?

Hamsadūta: When do they want us? If we leave... The day we leave here, we can go there? Sixteenth or seventeenth?

Prabhupada: No, we are leaving on the seventeenth, so we can get that place on the eighteenth and live there for three, four days, if they'll provide a good bungalow. And they have promised. So this is the position. Now you can consider.

Hamsadūta: They can arrange a program for you?

Prabhupada: Oh, yes. They'll do everything.

Yamuna: [indistinct] make arrangements [indistinct].

Prabhupada: Then we can cancel that. So the possibility is on the eighteenth. [break]

Devotee: In order that you should leave by the eighteenth, actually we have to go by plane. And so the plane reservation has already been made, and [indistinct].

Prabhupada: So you, amongst yourself, consider all these. I cannot tax my brain. So whatever is good, you do it. At Gurudasa's meeting we shall be required all to represent there? Some of them may go.

Yamuna: Not all.

Prabhupada: Not all. Then some of them may go directly to Delhi, and some of them may go via Krishnanagar. What do you think, Hamsadūta?

Hamsadūta: I think so, yes.

Prabhupada: So you consider. Make a meeting amongst yourselves. Decide what to do.

Hamsadūta: [indistinct conversation with other devotee]

Prabhupada: And here, for opening a center it is already proposed that they will give us land and they will give us a temple also. Other buildings we have to manage.

Hamsadūta: They will give us a temple also?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Hamsadūta: Where is that temple?

Prabhupada: Temple we have to construct.

Hamsadūta: Oh!

Prabhupada: But for that construction, temple, they will pay. But for residential and other buildings and maintenance, we have to arrange. That's not a bad proposal. It is nice proposal. They are giving us land, giving us a temple. And we can raise funds and construct as we increase men. In the meantime we can manage the temple. It is good proposal.

[knocking noise] [Hums] Open it. Somebody is knocking. Keep it open. No, don't keep it ope... Yes, open, open. Keep it open like that. Yes.

[indistinct comment by devotee]

Another thing: that Gopala is not offered sacred thread? You were not doubly initiated? So he can be initiated doubly. And Bruce, what it is? He is not going to be initiated?

Yamuna: I'll have to ask him [indistinct].

Prabhupada: Huh? No, you can ask later on. He is now practiced to our habits. So he can be initiated. Yes. There is sufficient place. You can sit down here. [break] [Hindi]

You can sit down behind the women. Aiye, aiye. [Hindi] Come. Come on forward. Come forward. [Hindi] Now the difficulty is if I speak in English, most probably the ladies will not be able to understand. And if I speak in Hindi, then these... [laughs]

Guest (2): [indistinct]

Prabhupada: Huh?

[discussion among guests and Prabhupada; ladies say they understand English]

Prabhupada: Speak in English? You can do one thing. You can translate. Huh? That will be nice. So you come here. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat [Bg 2.40].

Guest (2): The Sanskrit... I don't read Sanskrit.

Prabhupada: No, I will speak in English, but you will...

Guest (3): [indistinct]

Prabhupada: Svalpam apy asya dharmasya?

Guest (3): Yes.

Prabhupada: [Hindi] [pause] So Sukadeva Gosvami says,

Sakrt. Sakrt means very a little, svalpam, very little. Sakrt manaḥ. If one accepts this process of devotional service as very good-not that he has got full knowledge, but simply accepts it, simply accepts it... That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat.

[Indian man translates] [Prabhupada speaks in Hindi]

We have no other business, simply Krsna consciousness. Therefore anyone who joins with us even for a moment, even for a few minutes, still, it is so powerful that it can help you to save you from the greatest danger.

[Indian man translates throughout]

For this reason the temple is situated. In the temple, generally ordinary man, woman, they come to see the Deities, hear the chanting, and sometimes play some instrument. All these help him progressing toward devotional service. Nivesitam tad-guna-ragi yair iha. Sridhara Svami says, bhaktiḥ svalpapi punati:

"Bhakti, devotional service, is so nice that even it is done very little, still it purifies." Just like fire. Even a small fire can burn wherever it is placed. Tasya gunesu raga-matram asti na tu jananam. Sridhara Svami says, "Simply a little attraction for Krsna, not full knowledge even, simple little attraction, can purify one from all sinful reaction."

Now he again says that "Those who are attracted to devotional service of Krsna even to a very little extent, for them," na te yamam pasa-bhrtas ca tad-bhatan svapne 'pi pasyanti hi cirna-niskrtaḥ, "they do not even dream the Yamaraja or his constables." Because at the time of death those who are very sinful, they are taken away to Yamaraja's place. That's a fact. Not only that: he even in dream does not see them, because that little service to Krsna has made him freed from all sinful contamination. [Hindi] The very word is used, cirna-niskrtaḥ.

Now Sukadeva Gosvami is giving an example from the history. Now it is explicitly stated here, itihasam puranam. All the Puranas that we have got, they are not legends; they are all history. They are all histories. Just like there is no chronological history one after another, but any incident which has taken actually place, they are reciting.

They are not fiction or imaginary stories, all the Puranas. Itihasa, yes. So Sukadeva Gosvami is giving an instance from the history which is very instructive. Atra codaharantimam itihasam puratanam. Purana means old history, actually Purana. Purana means old. So puratanam itihasam.

Now he gives that,

He says, "In the city of Kanyakubja..." Kanyakubja is still existing. That is also historical place. That place is now known as Kanauj. Yes.

[some discussion in Hindi between guests and Prabhupada]

"In the city of Kanyakubja, formerly there was a brahmana." Kanyakubje dvijaḥ kascit. "There was a brahmana." Asid dasi-patir ajamilaḥ. Dasi-pati means one who keeps woman; it is not married. He kept one woman, dasi; therefore he was the husband of a dasi. He was living with a woman who was not married wife. So a brahmana of the name Ajamila who was husband of a kept woman, kanyakubje dvijaḥ kascid dasi-patir ajamilaḥ, namna nasta-sadacaraḥ. But he lost all good qualification of a brahmana. That is the result of illegitimate connection with women.

So this point is very important, that if one is addicted to illicit sex life, if one is addicted to meat-eating and if one is addicted in intoxicants, then he is immediately fallen from the standard of human society. [Hindi]

The present state of Hindu society is so fallen because a brahmana, in spite of his sadacara, he claims to become a brahmana. Do you follow? The sastra says that as soon as you give up your good habits, the behavior of a brahmana... The behavior brahmana or... Just like it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, satya-sama-dama-titiksa-arjavam, jnanam vijnanam astikyam brahma-karma svabhava-jam [Bg 18.42].

So we have to select a brahmana by the symptoms of his life, not that because he is born of a brahmana family he remains a brahmana. No. He must continue the brahminical qualification; otherwise he is not a... Nasta-sadacara. He is lost. Sadacara must be continued. This is the conclusion of the Bhagavata. Unfortunately, not only brahmanas-ksatriyas or sūdras, they are practically... They have lost all sadacara. Still, they are claiming that "I am born in higher family." Nasta-sadacara dasyaḥ sam...

And why he was lost of his good behavior? Dasyaḥ samsarga-dusitaḥ: because he was contaminated by that illicit sex life. And at the present moment a gentleman keeps woman and goes there, and still, he passes on as brahmana. He does not know that he has fallen down. [Hindi] For this reason the present Hindu society is so degraded.

Now his profession was... When a man falls down, then he lives by this profession. What are these? Bandy-aksaiḥ: gambling, cheating and stealing. All these abominable activities they adopt. And he does not think that "I am doing something bad because I have no other means to maintain my family." He gives the reason that "What can I do? I have to maintain my family, so somehow or other I must get money."

So there is a practical example in Patna high court. I do not wish to name, but there was a big high-court judge. He was taking bribe, and he was detected one day. When he was just to deliver one judgment, the chief judge called him and he asked him that "You immediately resign on health condition and go away." But when his friends asked him that "Why you were doing so?" he replied that "I have got expenditure ten thousand rupees per month, and I get only four thousand. What can I do?"

So the... [door opens] [aside:] Come on.

Just see practically. Even a high-court judge, because he has to spend more than his income, he adopted these vile means of living. The trend of modern civilization is like that. They unnecessarily increase their expenditure and adopt these all vile means. [Hindi]

So your party is ready? [Hindi with guest] So you can go with him. Yes. So we'll... [Hindi] [end]