This verse we have been discussing, that the Lord descends out of His own spiritual energy. He descends, appears. Yuge yuge sambhavāmi, in every millennium. And dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya. Two things are visible in his characteristics. One thing is paritrāṇāya sādhūnām. Those who are pious, following strictly the rules and regulations of particular type of scripture, to protect such persons, and to vanquish duṣkṛtām, miscreants… Miscreants. Who are miscreants? Miscreants, means just like outlaw. A person may be very nice, well-educated, or wealth. So many qualifications he might have. But if he is an outlaw, then all his qualification becomes damned. Similarly, duṣkṛtām, miscreant, outlaw, those who are not obedient to the laws of nature or laws of God…

Prabhupāda: Actually, this building, it was a Christian church. Nobody was there. It was a barren desert. And since Kṛṣṇa has come here, you see? The same building. Is it not a fact? The same…, building is the same, and it was a church, but because there was no Kṛṣṇa, it was a barren land. This is a fact. Nobody was coming; therefore they sold it out: “It is useless.” That’s a fact. Similarly, everyone can bring Kṛṣṇa at his home by becoming devotee, and there will be opulence. There will be no question of making suicide out of frustration. So many men, so many actress[?], so many, out of frustration, committing suicide. They want to die. But if you take Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa consciousness, immediately everything will be clear. That’s a fact. Not that Kṛṣṇa was present there and not present here. He is present here. The Deity is present here. But if you think otherwise, then again Kṛṣṇa will be [indistinct]. If you think that Kṛṣṇa is personally present here, then everything will be all right.

Prabhupāda: Māyā-sukhāya. For flickering happiness arranging huge paraphernalia, just like for sporting, just we saw, so many things. Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. No use. There is no use, but fooling, for frivolous sporting. Just like beginning from the morning working, so many people are engaged, but they do not know the value of arranging maṅgala-ārati. They do not know. [laughter] Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. Making huge arrangement. What for? Flickering happiness, that’s all. Vimūḍhā, rascals. Prahlāda Maharaja says, “I don’t think for myself; I am simply anxious for these rascals who are engaged in huge affairs for some flickering happiness.” Śoce tato vimukha-cetasa, māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. [break] Construct a very nice temple in this open park, people would come in the morning and they will see the maṅgala-ārati, take prasādam. That would have been good for this life and next life. And what is they are doing?

Prabhupāda: Mission. That mission is God realization. Cats and dogs cannot do it; human being can do it. Therefore in any civilized human society, there is a type of religion. May be Christianism or Muhammadanism or Hinduism or Buddhaism—there is. But you cannot find this religious system in the animals life. That is the difference. If you give up this religious consciousness, or God consciousness, then we are as good as cats and dogs. That is the only difference. You go anywhere, any part of the world, civilized human being, they have got a system, which you may call religion or philosophy, to understand God. That prerogative is specially for the human being. But if you do not care for that special prerogative, then you are as good as animal. What is the difference between animal and human being unless he has got some method of understanding God? The animal eats, and we also eat. The animals sleep; we also sleep. The animal have sex intercourse; we have got also. They are also afraid of something; we are also afraid of something. Then where is the difference?

Prabhupāda: Hm so, one who does not listen to the glories of the Lord… Because the human life, this life is meant for learning how to engage our senses in the service of the Lord. That is the mission of human life. In other lives the senses are engaged for sense gratification. And in the human life, when we have got developed consciousness, at that time the senses are meant for being engaged in the service of the Lord. So ear is the most important sense, because our spiritual enlightenment begins from this sense, hearing. Na yat-karṇa-pathopetaḥ. Karṇa-patha means aural reception. So one has to go to hear from the realized person, guru, spiritual master. That is the meaning. Śruti. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. One has to approach a spiritual master, śrotriyam, who has also heard from a spiritual master. This… Our knowledge is by hearing, śruti. Therefore Vedas are called śruti. Śruti means this is not experimental knowledge. This knowledge is acquired by hearing. That’s all. If you have got nice receptive power through the ear, then your life can be successful. You don’t require to use any other sense. This one sense will make you correct.

Prabhupāda: [indistinct] …this class, when it is held in Los Angeles, this full hall would have been compact. This is the difference between India and foreign countries. They are receiving this message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. Here they are rejecting. The Indians, they’re rejecting. There is a proverb: āpanār dhana bilāye diye bhikṣā māge parer khache[?]. They have lost their own culture, and they are now beggars. They are going to beg from door to door in the foreign countries. When I was speaking in Berkeley University sometimes in the year 1966, one Indian student stood up, and he said, “Swāmījī, what this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement will do? We require now technology.” So I replied, “Yes. You are after technology. So you are a beggar. I am not a beggar. I have come here to give something. That is the difference. I have come here to give some culture, and you have come to imitate the Western civilization by technology. That is the difference. You’ll remain a beggar, I shall remain a giver. That is the difference.”

Prabhupāda: [aside:] Where it is? So the same thing explained in the Vedic literature. Here it is said that “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” So God being Absolute Truth, there is no difference between God, His form, His qualities, His word and everything relating to God. That is also God. Just like in the material world the name and the subject, or the substance, they are different. Just like when you are thirsty, you simply utter the word “water, water,” it will not quench your thirst. But in the spiritual world, the name “God,” or “Kṛṣṇa,” and the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are the same. Just parallel to this Bible passage I’ll quote one Sanskrit verse from the Vedas. Therefore it is said, nāma-cintāmaṇi-kṛṣṇa caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ Namely, the name of God is as powerful as God is Himself. It is called pūrṇa. Pūrṇa means complete. And śuddha. Śuddha means without any material contamination. Pūrṇaḥ śuddha nitya. Nitya means eternal. Abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ means without being different from the person whose name we are chanting.

Prabhupāda: They have been cheated by some cheaters, that this practice, gymnastic practice, is yoga. That’s all. They do not know what is yoga. Yoga indriya-saṁyama. Even… All yoga system, Patañjali’s system. So indriya… Where is indriya-saṁyama? They are gratifying their senses to the fullest extent. And where is their yoga? That is described… You do not read the Sixth Chapter, Bhagavad-gītā? Why don’t you explain them, that “You are yogī… You not yogī. You only making some farce. Where is your yogī? Are you going to a solitary place? Are you practicing alone, sitting on your seat like as they are described, and looking on the point of the nose? Are you doing this? You are not yogī. You are simply a caricature. You are not yogī.” Don’t accept them as yogīs. If one is yogī… That.., that, that gentleman, that yogī came there. He appreciated very much. Yogeśvara: Shraddhananda Giri. Prabhupāda: Yes. He said that “Swāmījī, you are doing the greatest work, that God’s name you are distributing.” He said like that. And when the record was going on, he was very rapt attention, he was very… So actual yogī means he’ll be attracted by bhakti-yoga. And these gymnasticians, what they’ll understand about yoga? That is a process to control the mind. Those who are too much bodily concept of life, for them that exercise is required. But that is also not properly done. They must find out a very sacred place and practice yoga alone, not ...

Prabhupāda: We are translating the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Vedic literature. You have seen the sample, original verse, word-to-word meaning, then translation, then giving a purport. Professor Lacombe: You wrote the commentary. Prabhupāda: Yes. Professor Lacombe: What is the paramparā from Caitanya? Prabhupāda: From Caitanya Mahāprabhu? Yes. The six Gosvāmīs: Rūpa, Sanātana, Bhaṭṭa Raghunātha, Śrī Jīva, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, Dāsa Raghunātha. The six Gosvāmīs. Then from the Gosvāmīs there is Śrīnivāsācārya. Professor Lacombe: Śrīnivāsa. Prabhupāda: Śrīnivāsācārya. Then from him, I think, this Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, and then Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. Then Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, then Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, then Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, then my Guru Mahārāja. Next we are. I am the tenth or eleventh, eleventh from Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Prabhupāda: Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6]. At the time of death, if you can remember Nārāyaṇa—Nārāyaṇa or Kṛṣṇa, the same thing—then your life is successful, whatever you do. In Bengal there is a proverb, it is called bhajana kara sādhana kara mūrti jānle haya. Means you may be very big, stalwart spiritualist or yogīs, or there are so many big, big things, so whatever you do, that is all right, because they say that “Everything is leading to the Supreme, this way or that way.” That has been described here, sāṅkhya-yoga, karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga or dhyāna-yoga. So many things they have manufactured, that’s all right. And you say that “Whatever path we may follow, ultimately we go to the same goal.” That is very nice, provided if you actually go to the same goal. Otherwise, it is misleading. That is described here, that “Never mind, You say that whatever path one may take, it leads to the same goal. We accept it.” That is described here. Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6]. Whatever you have done may be very good, but at the time of death, if you forget Nārāyaṇa, then it’s all useless. All useless.

Prabhupāda: …injunction, apāṇi-pado javano grahīta, is, “He, the God, has no leg, no hand, but He accepts gift.” That“accept gift” means He has got hand, but why it is said “no leg,” “no hand”? That means He has no material hand and leg. He has His hands and legs, but that is spiritual. That is the meaning. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. His body is made of spiritual eternity… This body is not eternal, but God has got His eternal body. There is no question of God’s becoming old, because His body is eternal. It is the material body which is not eternal. That is subjected to old age, disease, birth, death. [japa] What is this big house? [break] …stated that he came to cheat the atheists. They did not believe in God, but God came as Buddha.

Prabhupāda: Yes… Death, Nobody wants to die, that’s a fact. They are manufacturing medicine. So many preventive processes to check death, old age, disease. These are the problems but where is the solution? The telephone company advertises, but is there any solution of this problem in this material world, by the material scientists? Try to understand this fact, they can give you facility and may bluff you that this is the solution. But the real problem remains the same. You should always keep in view that the material scientist, leaders they cannot solve the real problem. That real problem can be solved by Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Try to understand this. If you have any questions you can ask? This is our challenge. It is not challenge it is fact. They can challenge whatever they like but [indistinct], but these problems. No telephone company can give us information for that how these problems can be solved. This is our problem we don’t want to die. Can you give me any information? They’ll not hear but you can inform the telephone company that here is an institution which can solve it.

Prabhupāda: Bus-way station? Railway station? Leave luggage. Put it and lock it, then not coming back. Then when there is bad smell… This is going on. This is simply animal civilization, taking the last drop of milk from the cow and immediately send it to the slaughterhouse. They are doing like that. Before sending to the slaughterhouse, they draw out the last drop of milk from the cow, and immediately killing. So you require the milk. You are taking so much milk. Without milk you cannot… And the animal from whom you take milk, she’s your mother. They forget this. Mother supplies milk. She’s supplying milk from her body, and you are killing the mother? Is that civilization, killing mother? And milk is necessary. Therefore you are taking the last drop of it. Otherwise, what is the use of taking the last drop of milk from the cow? It is necessary. So why not let her live and supply you milk, and you can make hundreds and thousands of very nourishing, palatable preparation from milk? Where is that intelligence? Milk is nothing but transformation of the blood. So instead of taking blood, take the transformation and live nicely, like honest gentlemen.

Prabhupāda: …point out material development of civilization is artificial. It is not meant for that. ¶ Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It is patchwork. Prabhupāda: India has been frustrated. Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you mention in the First Canto how it was predicted that certain different peoples, they would conquer India. This was predicted in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So these troubles they were foreseeing? Prabhupāda: Hmm? Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The troubles that India is going through today, they were foreseeing over five thousand years ago, that the Muslims would invade, the Turks? Prabhupāda: Yes. The Englishman would invade. That is also… Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The Greeks. Prabhupāda: In the Twelfth Canto. I think Candragupta’s name is also… The last emperor of India. [break] …fighting between the demons and the demigods, the demons brought mountain and it was in fire, the jungle, and it was split by dynamite, and the all the stones fell down on the enemies. Where is that war plan? Bring the mountain on the head of the enemies and split it by dynamite, and it will… [break] This information is there, that dynamite was there, and it was used for breaking mountains. Fighting was taking place. Not in this planet; upper planet. Hari-śauri: This is in connection with the churning of the ocean? Prabhupāda: Yes. [break]

Prabhupāda: Happily they live. As soon as there is no quarrel between the husband and wife, the home will be happy. And as soon as there is misunderstanding between husband, wife, it will be hell. So the principle is the husband honestly tries to earn livelihood, and at home the wife should be so intelligent that whatever money the husband has earned, she’ll manage. She’ll not demand, “Bring money, bring money, bring money. Otherwise it cannot be…” Then the home will be happy. So where is that training? Hari-śauri: [explaining] Where is that training? Eugene: Well, there is no training here. There is no culture, as you pointed out. Prabhupāda: No, I mean to say culture, not training. Eugene: As a matter of fact, even among the educated classes in the United States, there is no culture. There are no cultural roots. Prabhupāda: No, no culture. There is no culture. There is no standard social life. Simply hodgepodge. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is the only hope to bring everything in proper order. Everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. So America is the leading nation of the world. If you work on the principle of Bhagavad-gītā and train up your people, it will be ideal state and example for the whole world. At least a certain section of the American population should be ideal. That will also do. Not that…, we cannot expect cent percent will take Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is not needed. But if there is one section of the people ...

This is called tri-kala-jña: past, present and future. So Yamarāja or Lord Brahmā or great personalities, they, even great sages, saintly persons, they know the three features of time. Just like yesterday I told you that there is a astrological system: immediately they will speak what I was in my previous life, what I am now and what will be my future life. So Yamarāja is not ordinary person. He is given in charge; he is also one of the authorities out of twelve authorities. Balir vaiyāsakir vayam. He is one of the authorities about religious performances. So he knows everything even from within his mind, manasaiva pūrva-rūpaṁ vipaśyati, what this person was in the past, because everything is going on exactly on the rulings of the prakṛti, material nature. It cannot be changed. Tasyaiva hetoḥ prayateta kovido na labhyate yad bhramatām upary adhaḥ. This is called destiny. So destiny cannot be changed. So with the insight of destiny Yamarāja can understand what was this man previously, what is his position now, and what he’s going to become in future. Anumīmāṁsate ‘pūrvam. Apūrvam means which is not yet in vision. Apūrvam, “future.” Manasā bhagavān ajaḥ. That is also… So therefore he can give judgment within a second. After death, those who are sinful, they are taken to the Yamarāja’s. Just like in the criminal court, those who are criminals, they are taken there. Thieves, rogues, cheater—not ordinary persons, honest persons; they are ...