How to Cultivate Knowledge and Renunciation? | ŚB 3.25.18 | Rus Split | 1992 | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Rakritim cha ato jassam. Jnana vairagya yuktena. Bhakti yuktena chatmana. Paripashyatu dasinam. Rakritim cha ato jassam. Can all of you understand the Russian translation? Is the microphone coming? Is it sounding clear enough? Om Agyānate Vrindasya Jñānānjanāśalakya ācakṣur-miletanye nātasya. Jñāna-virāgya-yuktenā bhakti-yukhena-cātmānā paripasya-tudāśinām prakatim ca hatho jasaṁ. This verse is being spoken by Lord Kāpila. Who is Lord Kāpila? You know, Lord Kṛṣṇa is the incarnation of God, and He appeared as a son of Devādhūti. His mother knew that her son was God Himself. So his mother said, "I am simply an old lady, ignorant. You, my son, are very enlightened. You please tell me how can I get free from the cycle of birth and death?" Then the Lord said, "Through the process of devotional service." So how devotional service is cultivated is explained in this verse: by practice of knowledge and renunciation. So you must have jnāna. Jnāna means spiritual knowledge. Relative knowledge changes from day to day, year to year. Just like at one time in your country, the relative knowledge was that communism is the best form of government. But is that the opinion in your country even today? Now they say the worst form of God. One scientist says something today, then tomorrow another scientist will say. One politician in power will say something today, tomorrow another politician comes to power, he'll say something else. Today this is the law of the country, but tomorrow the law is completely different. So this is relative knowledge. Even what you learn in schools and colleges, it keeps changing every day. So in the— so why on the— this relative knowledge, because it is coming from a material personality is subject to 4 types of defects. It is full of mistakes. It is a result of illusion. Every living entity's senses are imperfect and they have a tendency to cheat. Now absolute knowledge is coming from God. Therefore it is true yesterday, it was true yesterday, it is true today, and it will be true tomorrow. It doesn't change with the passage of time. Just like the Bhagavad-gītā that you read. When you read it, it appears it was spoken yesterday. Don't you get that impression it was spoken only yesterday? When you read the Bhagavad-gītā, don't you think it's just for me? These questions Arjuna is asking are just the questions that I ask. Many times when you give a class, after the class devotees say, "Guruji, that class was just for me. This is exactly what I was thinking that you discuss in the class." And the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken 5,000 years ago to Arjuna. But as we have explained many times, the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gītā is at least existing on this earthly planet since over 2 million years, but still it looks fresh, just like the air you breathe. Every day when you go out, you want to breathe the fresh air, isn't it? It never appears to you, oh, I've already had fresh air so many times, so why should I go out today? So similarly, when you chant Hare Krishna, when you hear the Bhagavatam, hear the Bhagavad Gita, it is explained by the Kumaras. One experiences ever-increasing freshness, ever-increasing freshness. So the challenge ahead of us is how to get rid of material existence. Why? Because material existence is the cause of our entanglement in the cycle of birth and death. Because of this material existence, the living entity is entangled and suffering the miseries of birth, death, disease, old age, mind troubling us, other entities troubling us, and natural calamities. So material existence is not pleasurable to a gentleman. But how to get out of material existence? Because Maya is very strong, no? Isn't Maya strong? In Tashkent, is Maya strong? Bol shoy? So Maya is strong everywhere. Even if you go to the Derbni of Uzbekistan, it will be strong. Even if you go to the villages of India, it is very strong. Previously in India, television was very limited. Now, and they only— but then few years ago, government introduced television, and television went Everywhere, even in villages. But Indian television programs were not so bad. They were controlled and little decent. But now for the past one year, due to the advent of satellite communication, now they're getting programs for England, Hong Kong, all these programs in every village of India. So people are watching all these vulgar movies, obscene things, and getting polluted. So Maya is strong everywhere. And in Kali Yuga, Maya will become stronger and stronger. So some of you may say, then we are a hopeless case. What are we doing at the Hare Kṛṣṇa temple? Let us become slaves of Maya. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhāgavad-gītā, devī-eṣa gunamāyimamamāyā-dūrata-yā, this illusory energy of mind consisting of the three modes is very difficult to overcome. But Kṛṣṇa also says, mām evāme prapadeyante māyāmetām taranti te, but one who surrenders unto Me, he can overcome the influence of the illusory energy. So if you surrender to Krishna, then you can overcome Maya. How? Because Maya is Krishna's servant. Krishna is stronger than Maya. It's not that Maya is stronger than Krishna. Maya Devi never comes in front of Krishna. She always stands behind Krishna. So we have to get Krishna on our side, or we have to go on Krishna's side. Now in this verse, Lord Kapila is explaining seeing things in the right perspective. So what does it mean? Just like now the sun has just risen, you can You can see everything clearly. But 2 hours ago, if you would have stood on the road, you would not have been able to see anything clearly. Pravada? So just like with sunshine, everything's become clear. Similarly, with spiritual knowledge, you can see things in the right perspective. But with material knowledge, you cannot see things in the right perspective. What does it mean seeing things in the wrong perspective? Thinking you are this body, and this body is so beautiful. That's why everyone stands in front of the mirror for hours and hours. Tell people to chant Hare Krishna, they say, "Nieture mani." But ask them, "How much time do you spend in front of the mirror?" That they won't tell you, but they all spend a lot of time in front of the mirror. You go to most houses, they won't have japa beads, but everybody has a mirror in that home. Because everybody loves to stand in front of the mirror. I'll tell you a real story. Once in America, you know in America there are these big apartment buildings. So one building, the owner of the building was a complete miser. He was a Jewish man. He didn't like to spend any money. So all the tenants were complaining, this lift is moving up too slow. Well, by Russian standard, the lift was fast, but by American standards, it was slow. Because Americans are very passionate. So every day the tenants would say, put a new lift or get the lift fixed up. But that my landlord was a complete miser. He didn't want to spend so much. Put a life-size mirror in the lift and you will see your tenants will stop complaining. So the landlord put a life-size mirror on all the four sides of the lift, and he saw that everyone stopped complaining. They stopped complaining that the lifts are moving up too slow because everybody would stand in front of the mirror and just see how handsome or beautiful he looks. So this is one symptom of ignorance—identifying with the body and praising the body. Everybody loves to say, "How intelligent I am! How handsome I am!" If you want to flatter someone, Just tell him how beautiful you are, how handsome you are, how young you look, because everybody likes to identify with the body. So this is one symptom of ignorance. Then you identify with a place of birth— my country, my home, my family, my community, my religion. And then you identify with the extensions of the body— wife, children, relatives. And then you identify with the senses and so on. So these are all symptoms of ignorance. You say, "This is my land, you cannot come into my land. This is my house, my money, so I'll use it as I see fit." Just like in this world today, there is a big food shortage. Many parts of the world, people are starving because there's not enough food. But by God's arrangement, there is enough land to produce food to feed everyone on this planet. There's no need of abortion, there's no need of contraception to artificially control population. To prevent people from getting food. But where is that food? The rich farmers in America, Australia, Canada, they will not grow food on all the land because if they grow too much food, then the price will come down and they will not make enough profit. So as long as they may make profit, let the people starve. Who cares? But by God's arrangement, there is provision for enough food for every human being on this planet. So these are all symptoms of ignorance. Now, practice of knowledge. Knowledge means understanding who you are in relationship to the Lord. Now, when you cultivate the spiritual knowledge, when you practice the spiritual knowledge, when you hear the spiritual knowledge, then you develop in yourself the spirit of renunciation. What is renunciation? Understanding that you can't become a slave of your senses. Understanding that by becoming a slave of your mind and senses, you'll miss the boat, you'll miss the opportunity to avail of this human form of life. Understanding that you are the part and parcel of the Lord and the Lord is the Supreme Proprietor. Understanding that there's no point in satisfying the senses because as much as you try to satisfy, the senses will still not be satisfied. The nature of the senses is that they can never be satisfied. Just like when you have an itching sensation on the hand, Doesn't matter how much you scratch, you may get some instant pleasure, but then the disease becomes worse. So similarly, renunciation means understanding the senses can never be satisfied. So Lord Kapila is saying that by cultivating knowledge, you will develop the mood of renunciation, and by cultivating the mood of renunciation, you will become indifferent to material existence. And the material influence will act less powerfully on you. So the point is, what does it mean being indifferent to material existence? Means being in the material world but just doing your duty in the material world, but not being attached to the material world. Just like if somebody's a grihastha, for example, he has a wife and children, so he may have to do a job or some business to support his family, but he does it with the spirit of detachment, and he thinks, how can I make these people Krishna conscious? So we must understand that Krishna is not preaching complete withdrawal from society. You must understand that Krishna is not preaching that one withdraw from society and go to the forest. What Krishna is preaching is action in Krishna consciousness. Why is he preaching action in Krishna consciousness? Because action in Krishna consciousness frees you from the entanglement. Just like a lotus flower is in water, but the water doesn't touch the lotus flower. So we have to live in the material world without being touched by the material world. That is Krishna consciousness. So we must cultivate this knowledge. How do you cultivate this knowledge? By hearing from the right source. You must hear this knowledge from the right source, then the knowledge will have a powerful effect. And if this knowledge is heard from the right source, then it will inspire you to take to the path of bhakti. Just like there have been so many translations of the Bhagavad-gītā from the beginning, but have these Bhagavad-gītās made any devotees? Till Prabhupāda Bhagavad-gītā appeared, there were hardly any devotees of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the Western world. Because Prabhupada presented the absolute truth, therefore people got inspired. So we must cultivate this knowledge from the right source, and when you get this knowledge from the right source, then the knowledge will have spiritual potency. And if you don't cultivate it from the right source, then it will not have the desired result. So we must cultivate the spiritual knowledge from the right source, and when you execute devotional service then this knowledge becomes— then this knowledge is being applied in practice. But if you just have knowledge and you don't apply it, then what is the use? Just like in India, you meet so many people who know the whole Bhagavad Gita by heart, but they don't practice the Bhagavad Gita. And because they don't practice the Bhagavad Gita, it's useless. So devotees in Krishna consciousness, they cultivate knowledge and they practice knowledge. So somebody may be materially uneducated materially ugly, materially poor, but he has faith in the words of Guru and Krishna, then he'll be able to succeed on the spiritual path. You may not know one word of Sanskrit, that is immaterial. Once Lord Caitanya was in a temple in southern India, and as Lord Caitanya was coming out of the temple, he saw there was one man holding a Bhagavad Gita in front of him, and there was a big crowd of people and they were all laughing. So Lord Caitanya broke through the crowd, went to the man and said, "Why are you crying?" He said, "My spiritual master told me to read one chapter of Gita every day, but I'm uneducated, I can't read." "Still, why are you crying?" "When I see that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, has become the chariot driver of His devotee Arjuna, looking at the Lord's humility and desire to serve His devotee, my heart laments and his weeping. So when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard, he said, you have really understood the Bhagavad-gita, and he embraced him. This man was uneducated, he could not read, but he understood the spirit of the Lord, that he's anxious to serve his devotee. So Lord Chaitanya embraced him and said, you have really understood the Bhagavad-gita. He was uneducated, he had understood the true spirit of the Lord in desiring to serve his devotee. So the point is, we must practice devotional service, and in the association of devotees We can practice devotional service better. In the association of devotees, one is inspired to follow this path. In the association of devotees, even if you make some mistakes, it gets corrected. Therefore, the spiritual guideline is sadhu-saṅga-sādhū-saṅga-sarvaśāstra-kāyaḥ. All scriptures emphasize that one should take advantage of spiritual association. So we associate with non-devotees only to the extent that it is necessary, not more. And if associated with devotees, to the— with non-devotees, to the extent necessary and not more, then you'll be able to make spiritual advancement. And how do we cultivate knowledge? By regularly reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhāgavad-gītā. Those who live in the temple, they should hear the Bhāgavatam and the Gītā in the temple. But those who live at home should be— should also read regularly. By regularly hearing the Bhāgavatam, loving devotional service to the Lord is established. And what is undesirable is vanquished. So you should hear the Bhagavad Gita regularly, and then you'll develop love of God. How do you test whether you're making spiritual advancement or not? By seeing how much renunciation are you developing. Just like when you're sick, how do you test whether you're getting better or not? By seeing whether your temperature is coming down, whether your appetite is increasing. So we have to see whether our material temperature is coming down or not, whether material desires are coming down or not. Whether your material appetite is coming down or not, whether your material lust is going down or not. And how can this go down? As you get more attached to the process of bhakti. Get attached to the process of bhakti and your material temperature will automatically come down. And as the material temperature comes down, you'll be spiritually happy. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So I'll take on questions for 10 minutes. Once again, I want to apologize to your devotees that I'm leaving so early. This is all due to this misunderstanding about Aeroflot's timings on the tickets that they write. Next time we'll be careful. So any questions? Bistro, by chanting your rounds every day without fail, being attentive in your chanting, reading the scriptures regularly, and associating with devotees whenever possible. If you take the medicine, you will recover. You can't remain sick and keep telling the doctor and not take the medicine and keep telling the doctor, "Oh, I'm sick, I'm sick, I'm not getting healthy." Medicine is there, take it. Those who take the medicine, they recover. Those who don't take the medicine, they keep suffering. Any more questions? Well, the chanting of name of Jesus Christ can help you develop love of God. If you follow the true principles of Christianity, thou shalt not kill and thou shalt always chant the names of the Lord, you can develop love of God. But the names of Krishna are more powerful. But if you follow true principles of Christianity also, you can make spiritual advancement. And then gradually he'll come to the stage of coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Of course, that is what you do by preaching. By preaching you should impress upon people to convert impersonalists to the path of personalism. Yes, the name of Kṛṣṇa is most powerful. Therefore we say, "Janaḥaya Kṛṣṇa." In the Quran, there are many portions that talk about vegetarianism. Many. I'll bring that book with me next time I come. There's a book published in India which shows that. It's very easy to show animals are the children of God. So I think what I'll do, I'll prepare to stop the class now. I just want to request all of you to please go on with your devotional service enthusiastically. Maya is very strong, but Krishna is stronger. And you are on Kṛṣṇa's side and Kṛṣṇa is on your side. So nothing to fear, māyā. Chant your rounds nicely every day. Read the Bhāgavatam, Bhāgavad-gītā every day. And those who live in the temple, they should engage in service all day. But those who live at home, they can also do, even if you are doing a regular job, try and associate with devotees at least once a week. In this way you will be able to fight māyā. And please help propagate Lord Caitanya's mission. Give Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Krishna Consciousness to everyone. Distribute Prabhupāda's books. These books are non-sectarian. They are for the whole planet. And Prabhupāda has written them with great realization. He has presented the ancient philosophy of Kṛṣṇa that is explained by the great Ācāryas. And Prabhupāda has explained all this in simple language. Just like the sunshine destroys darkness, the Bhaktirānta Purports destroy our illusion. And work cooperatively with your yātrās. Tajkent devotees should work cooperatively with the Tajkent yatra leadership and the devotees. In the other yatras, all of you, by working together, your preaching will become more powerful. This movement is the only movement that can save humanity. Prabhupada has built a house in which the whole world can live. So there is room for everyone. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa. Lama Lama.