Prabhupāda: [chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers] Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming to this meeting, saṅkīrtana movement. This saṅkīrtana movement is very authorized, according to Vedic literature. Most of you are well acquainted with the studies of Bhagavad-gītā. And in the Bhagavad-gītā also you’ll find, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. Those who are mahātmās… Mahātmā means great soul. Mahātmā is not created. Mahātmā means… That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, who is mahātmā. Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante: “After many, many births.” Of course, at the present moment they do not believe whether there is birth after birth. But it is not the question of whether you believe or not believe. The truth is truth. So there is birth after death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. You do not die after finishing this body. You accept another body. That you can experience daily. In your childhood… You can remember that you had a body just like this child. Now you are grown up. Where is that body? That body is gone. Now you have got a new body. But you know that “I had a childhood body like this. I was attending such and such meeting,” but that body is now no longer existing.

Prabhupāda: The answer is because the soul is there in the body, he is eternal, he is seeking eternal happiness but he’s not getting, being bound up with this body, this is the answer. This is the answer. The soul is there, just like you are repairing the house because you are there, you are there. If you would not have been there, they don’t care for the house. The importance of the body is due to the soul, not the body as it is.

Prabhupāda: So the Lord sometimes appears as… Whenever the Lord takes the incarnation, He appears to be like ordinary human being. So in this incarnation, Nara-nārāyaṇa, They undertook severe penances to teach us. So what was the purpose of such severe penance? For sense controlling. The modern civilization is to give freedom to sense satisfaction, because they cannot control. Just like you are riding on a horse, but the horse is not under your control, then you say, “Let it go to hell, never mind.” This is the position. Because they cannot control the senses, they have taken this philosophy that liberating sense gratification is the ultimate goal of life. And the result is that they are going to hell. Adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām. The problem is they cannot control the senses. Therefore their philosophical idea is that sense gratification is the ultimate goal of life. They are thinking, which will never be successful, that by advancement of material comforts they will be happy. Therefore the śāstra says impossible or very difficult or by a kind of hope which will never to be fulfilled. It was never successful in the past, it is not successful in the present, therefore in the future also it will never be successful. But they have taken up this philosophy of sense gratification materially.

Prabhupāda: No. Yes, we also say. Although everything is expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṇa, not that everything is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Vaiṣṇava philosophy takes everything as expansion of Kṛṣṇa’s energy. Parasya brāhmaṇa śaktiḥ. [aside:] Jaya. Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Everything is expansion of the energy of the Supreme Brahman. Kṛṣṇa confirms it, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Without Kṛṣṇa, there is no existence. But that does not mean anything existentional is Kṛṣṇa. That is Māyāvāda philosophy.

The most important word here is mriyamāṇaḥ samagrahīt. Ordinarily there are discrimination of nāma, nāmābhāsa and nāmāparādha. Śuddha-nāma, pure name; nāmābhāsa, almost pure; and nāmāparādha, chanting the holy name with aparādha. There are ten kinds of offenses, that nāma… Nāmnād… Out of the ten kinds of offenses, the most offensive chanting is nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. One aparādha is guror avajñā. If we neglect the orders of guru and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then it is aparādha, offense. Guru-avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam. The Vedic literature, whatever injunction is there, if I don’t obey or I decry—“Oh, there are many…, so many rules. It is not possible”—śruti-śāstra nindanam. Nāma artha-vāda. We interpret in our own way about the nāma. And to consider the holy name of Viṣṇu and other names equally potent, that is nāmāparādha. And nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ. And because one is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, he thinks, “Even if I do something sinful, it will be counteracted,” that is aparādha. And to instruct to a person who has no interest in hari-kīrtana, that is also aparādha. So we should not be very much interested to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness if one is not very much interested. But tactfully, if you can, just try to give him a book. In this way there are ten kinds of offenses. We have discussed many times, and I think all of you know it.

Prabhupāda: Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. So Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was a devotee. Unnecessarily he was harassed by Durvāsā Muni. But because Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was a pure devotee, advanced, he was not afraid of being killed. He was not afraid. There are many instances. Just like Prahlāda Mahārāja. He was attempted to be killed by his father so many times, but he was never afraid. Although he was five-years-old boy, but he was not afraid. So that is the distinction between an advanced devotee and ordinary man. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. Death means changing of the body. So there is nothing to be very much afraid of, but one is afraid of death because at the time of death the tribulation, the miserable condition of the body, is very, very severe—so much severe that one cannot remain. He has to give up this body. Just like sometimes out of disappointment, too much suffering, one commits suicide—death. So death means very, very painful, as much as birth is also very, very painful. Therefore Kṛṣṇa presents, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyadhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. One who is intelligent enough, he should always keep before him the sufferings of birth, death, old age and disease in front. [aside:] You can…, side. Birth, death, old age and…, they are very suffering condition, but if one is advanced devotee, he’s not afraid of. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati. Nārāyaṇa-parāḥ, he’s never afraid of. Death is coming, that’s all right. What ...