September 14

Prabhupāda: Ātmaupamyena sarvatra samaṁ paśyati yo ‘rjuna. Please come forward. Sukhaṁ vā yadi vā duḥkhaṁ sa yogī paramo mataḥ. Now, we have been discussing for the last few days about the perfect form of yoga. Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is teaching Arjuna directly the perfect form of yoga. If you actually want to perform the yoga system, then here is authoritative statement by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So we have discussed in details. Now, after hearing the system, Arjuna is replying. Just mind that, that the whole thing was being described in the battlefield, in the battlefield. This whole Bhagavad-gītā was taught to Arjuna in the battlefield. And when Arjuna was just going to release his arms on the opposite party, on the enemy’s party, he thought… He got a sentiment: “So why this fighting with my own kinsmen?” That was his illusion, and to eradicate that illusion of Arjuna’s, this Bhagavad-gītā was explained by Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: So we have to continue this chanting, either imperfectional stage or in the perfectional stage. Satatām kīrtayanto mām. In the Bhagavad-gītā, you will see that this kīrtana is recommended continuously. Satatam. Satatam means always. Either in the imperfect stage or in the perfect stage, the process is one. It is not like the Māyāvādīs, that first of all you chant, and by chanting, when you become yourself God, then there is no chanting—stop. This is Māyāvāda philosophy. This is not real, the position. Chanting will continue even in your highest perfectional stage. But that chanting and at the present moment chanting, there is little difference. Yes.

This is very important verse. Śrī Yamunācārya says, “My dear Lord,” bhavantam evānucaran nirantaraḥ, “when I shall be fully engaged in Your service?” This is the process of being freed from all anxiety. Just like this child. This child is restless. He’s going here, going there. But if the child is given some engagement, toy, which he likes, then she will remain there pacified and will not disturb anyone. That is natural. Similarly, we are part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. So long we are not again linked up with His service, with His… So long we are not again reestablished in our lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa, we shall remain restless. That is our natural condition. Just like the child is crying, restless. But as soon as the mother takes the child on the lap, the child is immediately pacified. Why? Because the child wants that. She cannot express what she wants. She is crying. But she has no language to express, but she can express her feelings. As soon as she is on the lap of the mother, she understands, “Now I am fully satisfied.” You can also understand. So even there is no language, there is a stage of satisfaction. That stage is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one comes to the stage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he’ll be satisfied. And unless he comes to that stage, he’ll always be disturbed, full of anxieties.

Prabhupāda: There are so many hotels, means people have no home. Eating, sleeping facilities. It means they have no sufficient sleeping accommodation that they cannot provide. Where is your happiness? Most of them they have no wife, most of the people they do not have a fixed wife, they have to hire a wife, hire a room, go to a hotel, hire a this, so where is the facility of eating, sleeping? Devotee: Everything is rented. Prabhupāda: Eh? Everything is rented [laughs] Svarūpa Dāmodara: [laughs] yesterday I stopped by to a gas station [devotees laugh]. And the man in the gas station he asked me, I was taking some petrol, and he asked me, “Hare Kṛṣṇa people how they get children?” He told me that he saw the girls are having children, “So do you allow sex?” Prabhupāda: [indistinct] us. Svarūpa Dāmodara: Then he asked me, “Do you have free sex?” Like that. I said, “Never, that is never allowed, in fact, sex is allowed but within the marriage system not outside.” Then he said that he doesn’t want to get married and then I asked, “What do you want, sex?” “Yes,” he said, he always wants to have like that but he doesn’t want to get married. I said, “That is the greatest sinful activity.” Prabhupāda: [indistinct] animals. Animals do not marry but they have sex life, so that means you are animal. You’re not human being. The answer should be like that. Because marriage, this ceremony is not for fun. Amongst the animals but they ...

Prabhupāda: So, this universe, this universe is filled up with water, half. Whatever we are seeing, this is only half, like this. The other half we cannot see. So within this water, sometimes that Hiraṇyākṣa demon drowned this whole earth within this water. So at the present moment we cannot find such demons, but there were demons like that. The whole planetary system is floating, but there may be some demon who can take one of them and put within the water. The planets are floating; that is known to everyone. We can see, actually, that such a big, gigantic mass… Even the sun, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, that is also floating in the outer space. The support is Ananta. They say “law of gravitation”; we say Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa. So He is holding every planet, and it is said that all these universes are resting on the hood of Śeṣa-nāga just like a small grain of mustard.

Third incarnation, Devarṣi, ṛṣi among the demigods. Just like there are ṛṣis among the kings, they are called rājarṣi. In the Bhagavad-gītā the word rājarṣi is used. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ. Formerly the kings were just like great saintly persons. They were not ordinary vote collectors. They were so saintly there was no need of electing another president every five years. They are ṛṣis. These words are there. So in the third millennium, they were almost all ṛṣis. They were so enlightened that everyone of the population were just like great saints, saintly persons. So this Devarṣi means Nārada, saintly sage among the demigods. He is also one of the demigods. So he compiled Vedic principles for executing devotional service, Nārada Pañcarātra. Our method, this devotional service, is according to the Nārada Pañcarātra. Especially in this age, Vedic system is not very much convenient. It is very strict. Just like according to Vedic system, if one wants to become a brāhmaṇa, he must be born of a brāhmaṇa father. Otherwise he cannot be accepted as a brāhmaṇa. But according to the Nārada Pañcarātra system, even if one is lowborn, he can be accepted as a brāhmaṇa by this reformatory process. Because kalau śūdra sambhavaḥ—everyone in this age is a śūdra. Śūdra means no intelligence, little better than animals, that’s all.

So yad brahma-bandhoḥ. Brahma-bandhu, or kṣatra-bandhu, a person born in the family of a brāhmaṇa but has no brāhmaṇa qualification, he is called brahma-bandhu, “friend of a brāhmaṇa.” Bandhu means friend. Just a… A person, a man, his father is high-court judge. So there is no harm that he belongs to the family of such and such high-court judge—but that does not mean he is high-court judge. It should be noted. That is the difference, brāhmaṇa and brahma-bandhu. Brāhmaṇa means guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. He must have the quality: śamo damaḥ śaucaṁ titikṣā ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam. He must be self-controlled, controlling the mind and the senses. Then very clean, śaucam. Satyaṁ śaucam. Then titikṣā, tolerant; ārjavam, very simple, no duplicity. Simple, ārjavam. Jñānam, full knowledge; vijñānam, knowledge applied in practical life. This is vijñānam. Just like we call science. Science means to know the things correctly, and by practical experiment to understand the things correctly, that is vijñānam. Jñānam means theoretical knowledge, and vijñānam means practical application of the knowledge. Simply if I know, “This is the qualification of brāhmaṇa,” but there is no practical application, that will not do. One must pass the engineering examination and work as engineer; then he’s called an engineer. One has passed the law examination and is practicing in the court, then ...