Destroy Sadness & Become Joyful | Rus-Split | 30.5.91 | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

Prasad Raaval. I am glad to see that there is such a big turnout on a day like Thursday, which is a working day. It makes me feel as if I am lecturing in Vṛndāvana, because in Vṛndāvana when there is a lecture, a lot of people turn up because everybody there is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. I think Leningrad is becoming Vṛndāvana now. So while I was coming here, Krishna Prabhu, who was traveling with me, told me last time when I gave the lecture here, my topic was how to become happy. So the topic of today's lecture is how to destroy sadness. So the reason why people are accepting Krishna consciousness is that it is a very practical philosophy. All of you look very intelligent, and obviously you would not have come here unless he found something attractive in this program. The tragedy of the present-day civilization is they do not know the honest, truthful path of finding happiness. Just like when I was driving up to this place, I saw there were so many cinema halls on the way. In one theater they had a Bruce Lee movie going on, and there were so many other theaters, and there was big lineup of people to go inside the theater. And I was also told that in your country there are many theatres, Manohar Theatre. Why do people go to the theatre? We all know, for entertainment. So basically we are all looking for entertainment. Because happiness is our birthright. God has many characteristics. One of God's characteristics is that He is eternal. He is full of bliss and He is full of knowledge. So if God is full of bliss or happiness, we as His part and parcel are also entitled to happiness. If my father is a millionaire, Then I'm also entitled to be at least partly rich, for part of the fortune. So why is it that even though we are entitled to be happy, we are not happy? Some of you may say, "Yes, at the moment we are not happy, but very soon with the changes we are going to become very happy." Last month I was in Canada and America for a month, and I saw that people over there also were complaining. None of them looked happy. So in the material world, doesn't matter where you go, nobody really is happy. Regardless of how hard you try, material life just cannot offer you happiness. Just like, doesn't matter how good a swimmer you may be, you just can't make your permanent residence in the river. You may be a good swimmer, you may be able to swim for hours and hours, but you're not going to make— you're not going to be able to stay in the water permanently. So similarly, this material world is like a foreign soil for all of us. God has many energies. One is spiritual energy, another is material energy, another is marginal energy. Spiritual energy means the spiritual world of the Lord. Even our modern scientists have admitted that there is life on upper planet, and there is beyond the heavenly planets, there is a planet of Goloka Vrindavan where the Supreme Lord resides. So material energy is what we see Earth, water, fire, air, ether— these are the different ingredients that make all these buildings, the body, and everything else that's visible to us. And then there is the marginal energy. Marginal energy means it can either go towards the material energy or the spiritual energy. The spiritual energy is considered the, the superior energy of the Lord, and the material energy is considered the inferior energy of the Lord. Now, when you get a human form of life, it is considered that you belong to the marginal energy. Because based upon how you exercise your free choice, you can either belong to the inferior or the superior energy. You may want to question me, what is the meaning of free choice? Just like in Leningrad, all of you have a free choice. You can either follow the laws of the state or you may not follow the laws of the state. If you follow the laws of the state, Nobody will bother you. And if you don't follow the laws of the state, then you will have to face the consequences. So similarly, there are laws made by God. Just because some people say there is no God, just because some people have atheistic views, that doesn't mean that God doesn't exist. People have tried to kill the existence of God, but in the end these people have lost out. All over the world, there are a class of people who don't want to believe in the existence of God. And when you ask them, who is the cause of all this creation? They have no answer. Who has created a powerful bulb like the sun? Doesn't matter where you go, you're always under the sun. So can anybody create a bulb as powerful as the sun? Actually, the sun is many, many times bigger than this whole earthly planet. And just see how perfectly every day it rises at the right time. Based on the season that we are in, the sun has a fixed time when it rises. Then look at the moon and the stars. Look at the wonderful vegetation, flowers, trees, and the other resources that God has planted in the earth. Look at the rivers, mountains, seas, oceans that God has created. Look at your own constitution, your own human body. What a complicated machine it is. Have you ever sat down to analyze your own body? How God has created these two eyes which have the capacity to see, two ears that have the capacity to hear, and your brain substance. Your brain substance can consume and store more, more items in memory than even the best of computers in the world can. We want to give so much credit to the scientists for having created the computer and supercomputer, but who has given the brain that has created these computers? That brain to create that computer, that brain to create technology has been given by God. So we must acknowledge the existence of God. But that is only the first step. The next step is we must acknowledge the greatness of God. We must know how great God is. And the next step is we must acknowledge how subordinate and inferior we are in relationship to God. Once you recognize How subordinate and inferior you are in relationship with God. Then the next question is, what does God want us to do? What God wants us to do is in the revealed scriptures. We in the Krishna Consciousness movement follow the most ancient Vedic scriptures. But we are not fanatics. We don't say other scriptures cannot be followed. You can follow them also. But you must follow them in the true spirit. Not just claim, I am a Christian and do whatever your mind says. Not just claim that I am a Jew or a Hindu or a Muslim. And whimsically do whatever you want to do. So what do the Vedic scriptures have to tell us? The Vedic scriptures give us many important points of information. There are so many big, big universities all around the world. Just like in Leningrad, you have a big university also. And you have so many departments in these universities. But is any department that tells you what happens after death? No, no way. There is no scholar, there is no university, there is no institute There is no government agency that tells you what happens after death. And death is an encounter that nobody can avoid. And doesn't matter whether you're a powerful dictator or a democratic liberal, everybody is fearful of death. Even dictators become children when it comes to death because everybody is scared of death. But we will tell you how not to get scared of death. If you have scriptural knowledge, then you're not scared of death because then you know everything in the proper perspective. Just like at the moment you and I are both sitting under a tremendous amount of electricity, and as a result you can see me clearly, I can see you clearly, I can virtually see everyone like in the right to the last row pretty clearly. But if there wasn't any electricity, then we wouldn't be able to see each other. So similarly, when you have scriptural information, knowledge, then you see everything in the right perspective. And when you don't have scriptural knowledge And if you're just speculating and guessing, then you're operating in darkness. You may think you're operating in light, but actually you're in darkness. So the next question is, what do the Vedic scriptures have to say? Of course they have a lot to say. We don't want to discuss what the Vedic scriptures have to say in detail. Then you and I will both be here in this hall at least for the next 10 years. But I don't think you're ready to sit here for 10 years nonstop. Anyone's ready? Well, so many of you are saying gato. That is why I said it looks like I'm in Vrindavan and not in Leningrad. So we will summarize the important elements of the Vedic philosophy because we have to vacate this hall by a certain time tonight, I was told. First of all, the word veda means knowledge. So no one should think this Vedic knowledge is Hindu philosophy or Indian philosophy. This is universal philosophy. One thing In this age of rapid communication and technology, these days everybody is thinking in terms of universal world, not just sectarian world. So the Vedic philosophy presents eternal message for entire humanity. So what are the important elements of this philosophy? First aspect of this philosophy I've already covered, that there is God and God is the greatest. Another aspect of our philosophy is that we are part and parcel of God. Now this requires a little explanation. Just like a hand is part and parcel of the body, we are all part and parcel of the Lord. But still we must understand our real identity. Is this body our real identity? I have a question to all of you. How many of you believe that this body is your real identity? Please raise your hand. No one. So out of an estimated, uh, 400 people sitting here, 396 people said they are not this body, 4 people said this body is their real identity. I think maybe the 4 people didn't understand my question completely. Anyway, the majority of you recognize that you are not this body. So if you are not this body, then what are you? Who would like to reply? Madam, you. Who would like to? Yes, sir. We are the part of Supreme God Paramātmā. Any other answers? We are Jīva spirit. I told you I was speaking to an audience in Bengali, not in English. So we are spirit soul. Of course it is easy to say, but the important thing is to keep remembering that. Even though all of you are saying you are not this body, you are pure spirit soul, I know from experience that in the core of your heart all of you are not convinced about it. Because if you were convinced about it, then you would not be where you are. So the fact that we are not this body is not difficult to conclude. One reason is you can see the body is always changing. How you can see how your own body once upon the time was like a pea in the mother's womb. Then the body grew from the pea in the mother's womb to gradually in the mother's womb, and then the different parts of the body developed in the mother's womb. And then you came out of the mother's womb as a 7 or 8-pound baby. So you came out of the mother's womb as an 8-pound baby, and now some of you are probably 200, 250 pounds. So these extra pounds have been added. That means the body has been changing throughout. And even if you look back at your photo album, you will see you look so different now than you looked when you were a young boy. And projecting ahead, you can also see how the body is going to get old, how one day you will have to walk with a cane with your back like this, and how your teeth will all fall out. You won't be able to see, you won't be able to eat, you'll have all artificial teeth. Have you ever been to an old age home? Do you have old age homes in your country? Okay, I have lectured in few old age homes in Canada. And I can tell you, the life of people in these old age homes is miserable. If you ever want an educational course in miseries of life, just go on a visit to your neighboring hospital and tell the, tell the brāhmacari to take you to the beds where people are suffering. So this body is constantly changing. That is not difficult to see for anyone, but the soul remains the constant. So The Vedic philosophy states, soul never takes birth, never dies. And this point is also supported in Christianity. Actually, I have been stating this in my lectures on this trip, that there are many elements of Christianity that are directly taken out of the Vedic scriptures, or very similar to the Vedic scriptures. Last week I had visited Zagorsk. You know Zagorsk? That's the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church. And I I attended, I saw one of the ceremonies that was being performed, and I took a whole tour, and I saw that many of the traditions are exactly similar to the Vedic traditions, are quite similar. They also had a tap where the holy water was coming out, and everyone was taking bottles of water home. They were lighting candles like we do in our temple. So the point is that many elements in Christianity, uh, and in the Bible that are based upon the teachings in the Vedas. So the Bible also very strongly supports the point that the soul is eternal, the body is perishable. So since the soul is eternal and the body is perishable, should we not worry about the need of the soul? So what is the need of the soul? Obviously, the need of the soul is to be spiritually happy. Just like when the son does something very bad— suppose your son becomes a criminal and ends up in the prison house. Doesn't it give the father pain also? Yes or no? So similarly, when we engage in sinful materialistic activities, the soul also becomes unhappy because that means the soul will again have to take on a body, again enter into a prison house, again go through the sevenfold miseries of life. Whether you're born as Rockefeller in America or in Leningrad or a village in India, the basic miseries of life cannot be challenged by anyone. There's no scientist who has been able to do that, and then there's nobody claims that he will do it in future either. And nobody can conquer disease. In your country, the hospitals are full. In India, the hospitals are full. And in America, the hospitals are full. Why are hospitals full? Because everyone's diseased. Then old age also no one can avoid. You can do makeup and hide old age, but how long can you hide it? You can dye your hair for some time so that people may say you look young. You may be able to put some artificial teeth. No one recognizes that you or your teeth have fallen down. When your eyes get weak, You can put contact lenses so nobody will know that your eyes are weak. And when you can't hear, these days they have hearing aids, and these hearing aids have so small battery that they just put it behind the ear so no one can even see that you're wearing a hearing aid. And if you're a rich man and your kidney doesn't work, you can buy the kidney of a poor man. And if you're rich man and your blood is not passing through the heart, you can go to Houston and get your bypass surgery done, or go to a big doctor and get Bypass surgery done. Now how long can you still stretch all this? Few days, few years, but then when the moment of death comes, the whole life looks like, huh, a dream of the past. Is there anyone in this audience who's at least 70 years of age? Anyone? Anyone who's at least 60 years of age? Everyone is shut. Okay. So, Madam, you are 60 years of age. Can you recall and say that your whole life was so— has passed so fast, it looks like only yesterday you were a baby? Dad, please stand up and sit down. Everyone can hear. You're right. Okay, so I don't want you to think that I'm forcing things on you. This is a lady from the audience. So at the moment, as you get older, everything appears like a dream. Till then, you stretch your life of 5, 6, 10 years. What have you gained? Our scientists are always bluffing us that we are able— we are going to give you very soon a life of complete comfort. I was in school in India in 1957 when the first Soviet Sputnik went into outer space. And when the first Soviet Sputnik went up in outer space in 1957, everyone was saying, boy, very soon we will all be able to go in outer space. So today is 1991 May. Is there any difference between now and 1957? You notice, did any of you go to outer space and come back? Are any of you getting any benefits from outer space? No. So the point is, we are all led to believe that the future is going to become prosperous. The naturalists have a philosophy: we are all living in hope. But don't live under foolish hope. It's just like if a student doesn't go to school and he thinks, oh, tomorrow Leningrad University is going to give me an honorary PhD degree, and then people will call me a doctor. Now that is a foolish hope. None of you are going to stay at home and Think, tomorrow someone's gonna knock at your door and say, "Here is your foodstuff for the next one month." So, in every area of life you have to be practical and realistic, not idealistic. So we have to realistically conclude, the human life is nothing but a bed of misery, not a bed of roses. And the earlier you recognize it, the earlier you can mend your ways. Of course, they say, "Better late than never." It's never too late to wake up to spiritual life. But the earlier you do it, the earlier you diagnose your disease, the faster it is to cure the disease. So you may say, "Oh, I'm very healthy. My heartbeat is normal, my pulse beat is normal, and my eyesight is 20/20. I'm not diseased in any way." We are diseased. Our disease is the desire for sense enjoyment. We do not know what is the real standard of happiness. And as we do not know what is the real standard of happiness, We are hankering after the lower standard of happiness. I'll give you a very crude example. Please don't mind it. In your country, you don't see hogs on the street. Of course you do see it in the outskirts of Sukhumvit, Georgia, Sukhumvit, rather, Leningrad and Moscow. But in India you see hogs everywhere. Not everywhere, but in many places. The big hog derives maximum happiness by eating stool. You go to the hog and tell him, listen hog, Please take some barfi. He'll sniff in it and say, "Nir." He has a lower taste of happiness. But he is thinking, "No, no, this is the best source of happiness." But you and I as human beings with greater intelligence know that's a lower level of happiness. So similarly, beyond your and my level of perception, there is a perception presented by the Supreme God or Eternal Father. And just like a father cares for the children, He really cares for you and me. And therefore the Lord is anxious that we be reclaimed, that we be guided on the right path of spiritual happiness. That is why the Lord has written the Vedic scriptures. That is why he sends his representative, the spiritual master, just with one message, that we should give up our nonsense and come to a higher standard of happiness. Now the next question is, why is it that in spite of hearing what is Kṛṣṇa's desire, We still don't want to accept it. I lectured at this hall in January, and I'm sure many of you were in the lecture when I spoke last in January. And I'm sure many of you have heard many of our lectures, and I'm sure that within your heart you know that what you're doing is wrong and something should be corrected. So in spite of knowing what is right, what is wrong, why do you still do what is wrong? You understand, Prasad Raaval, my question? You understand my question? In spite of knowing what is wrong and right, You still do what is wrong. What's the reason? Kṛṣṇa replies in the Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna asks a similar question to Kṛṣṇa. Arjuna wanted to know exactly the same thing. Why is it that in spite of knowing what is right and wrong, we still do what is wrong? And Kṛṣṇa says, it is lust only, the all-devouring enemy of the living entity, which is always burning like fire and it is never satisfied. You understand? So that's the nature of lust. You can never satisfy it. In the Bhagavad Gītā, the example is given when you have an itching sensation. Whether you're in India or America or Russia, when you have an itching sensation, the nature is you feel like scratching, and the more you scratch, the more you feel like scratching. So how to take care of our different material desires? How to come to the understanding the spiritual desires can satisfy us more than material desires? There's a certain process. All these people that you see on the stage and all around you, they were all under illusion, deep illusion at one time, but gradually they came to the understanding that certain activities in their lives needed correction. So Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a science by which we correct ourselves and we act according to the laws of God. To give up our taste for sinful activities is not easy. Krishna says that himself in the Bhagavad Gita. So we are not disputing what your mind says, but fortunately there is an alternative. If you associate yourself with spiritual activities, then your intelligence will get sharper and sharper. It's just like suppose you have a dhamma with 3 rooms, come, you'll only give it up if somebody gives you a dhamma with more rooms. If you're doing a job which pays you 400 rupees a month, You'll only give it up if somebody gives you a job with a higher salary. Am I right? So you can only give up your lower inferior activities if you are presented with something superior. Therefore, we tell everyone to start associating with the superior spiritual energy of the Lord. How do you associate with the superior spiritual energy of the Lord? One is by chanting the names of God. Everybody loves to sing. So there's nothing like singing the names of the Lord. And all of you like singing Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna is not some imported song from India. It is universal. That is how everywhere all over the world people can adapt to it in one second. If it wasn't universal, you would have trouble pronouncing the word. It doesn't take more than 5 minutes for anyone to learn how to chant this mantra. There may be thousands of mantras in the Vedas, but this mantra is easy to chant, the easiest. Now, between the word names of God and ordinary words, There's a big difference. One characteristic of the names of God is that they're non-different from God, and because they're non-different from God, they are the same as God. So that means when you take the names of God, you're actually associating with God. So easy. So therefore, we request everyone to start chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. You can stay at home as a householder, housewife, mother, father, grandfather, student— doesn't matter. All you have to do is change your consciousness. Instead of thinking that you are the boss and the enjoyer of everything, you must recognize that God is the enjoyer of everything, and your duty is to serve that Supreme God. So one first step is to chant the names of Kṛṣṇa. Then the next step is to read the philosophy that Kṛṣṇa has spoken. Sometimes people tell us, "Oh, when Kṛṣṇa was on the planet, he personally replied to Arjuna and destroyed his doubts." But now Kṛṣṇa is not here, so where do we go? Who says Kṛṣṇa is not here? He is here, but you just don't have the eyes to see him. He is in your heart. He is next to you, but you do not have the vision to see him. He is there in the Bhāgavad-gītā. Just like Kṛṣṇa spoke to Arjuna on the battlefield, when you start reading the Gītā, you will feel exactly like Kṛṣṇa is speaking to you. So try it and you will see how Kṛṣṇa is speaking to you. So, so simple. You don't have to give up your job, you don't have to give up your studies. Stay where you are. Just start chanting and start, just start listening to Kṛṣṇa through the pages of Bhāgavad-gītā. And start associating in spiritual programs sometimes. They say, when I was in school, I learned this thing, man is a social animal. So it's a fact, we are all social animals. We all need association. If I was speaking to an empty hall, I would not be so inspired as I am inspired to speak to a hall that is full. I'm trying to be honest. Even if I was speaking to a hall with 10 people, I would not be as inspired as to a hall with 400 people. And you are also more inspired to listen to a lecture when there are 400 people rather than 3 people. So man is a social animal. You need some spiritual association. So whenever you get spiritual association, your spiritual determination will be re-emphasized, rejuvenated, and As you chant, as you read, as you associate with spiritually inclined people, automatically your taste will become more sophisticated. And then you will destroy your sadness, which is the theme of our talk. But when people don't have spiritual knowledge, then to destroy their sadness they have to take vodka. And they have to stand in a long line to buy vodka, plus spend so much money. Then they have to stand in line to buy a bag. Stand in line to go to the theater. And plus, if you work hard like an ass to earn money to buy all these things. But you don't, you won't have to stand in line to get spiritual knowledge. Plus, we don't charge you anything. It's all free, on the house. So why not try this process of destroying sadness and really become happy? So this is not an illusory presentation. It's a realistic presentation. You can see in front of you hundreds of people who have tried this process and are satisfied. This process that we are giving you, friends, is not some recent modern 20th century invention. This process is— Do you really want to know how old this process is? Tell me, how many people want to know? How old it is you want to know? Show me your hands. You really want to know how old this process is? Will you believe it? If you say yes, only then I'll tell you. This process is millions of years old, and this Hare Krishna mantra is a million-year-old mantra. Since millions of years, people are chanting, and this process is also from the beginning of creation. It is just that in this age it has been emphasized very strongly. So we are not giving you something new, we're not giving you something that we are going— we are just experimenting with the people of Leningrad. This has already been experimented Tinkstein's illusory. And the fact that day by day more and more people in your country are taking to it is because this is a proven method, a method given directly by God. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupāda, the Founder-Ācārya of this movement, took this ancient process which was millions of years ago and took it to the whole world and planted the seeds of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And because he presented the ancient philosophy in its true form, Sincere people all over the world are flocking to take to it. So I just humbly want to beg all of you. All of you look very, very sincere. They say the face is the index of the mind, and looking at all of your faces, all of your minds look very sincere to me at least. So please take to this very ancient process of destroying sadness and become joyful. This process is for everyone, whether you're black or white, whether you're from Russian Republic or some other republic, whether you believe in capitalism or communism, whether you believe, whether you're reformer or anti-reformer, this process is for everyone. And it is uniting people of different parts of the world together under one banner, the banner of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes, Vapros. But before you ask your Vapros, I have one or two Vapros. Do most of you agree with what we said? Yes. Or do you think we were trying to bluff you? Is there anyone who thinks we were trying to bluff you? I knew I wasn't going to have one. Okay.