Identifying the relationship with the Supreme Lord | Rus-Split | 18 Jun 1989 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

For 1 hour we will be here and then we will go back to the apartment for a program. Of course, it's getting cloudy, so we may even have to go back earlier. It's not in our hand. Okay, so everyone sit comfortably. There's no shortage of space here. Kamaswami should talk some very basic issues. Actually, this forest reminds me of Vrindavan. Because Vrindavan, in Vrindavan there's a forest and there are nice trees and Kṛṣṇa used to play in the Vrindavan forest. Of course, the sand over there is a lot softer than here. So you can name this forest Vrindavan forest. I understand that you people have regular programs over here. Basically, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is teaching people to acknowledge their relationship with God. Anyone with some intelligence can understand that nothing can exist without God. So for us to think that we are so intelligent that we can run the show without God is actually foolishness. So we request everyone to follow the laws of God. Just like you have the laws of the state that everybody has to follow, so there are also the laws of God that we have to follow. We— by following the laws of God, one obtains real happiness. There's no one who does not want happiness. Whether you have a human body or an animal body, we are searching for the same thing— happiness. There was a great devotee of the Lord whose name was Pralāda Mahārāja. His father, however, was the opposite. His father's name was Hirāṇya Kāśipu. So his father was only interested in women and soft bed, but Pralāda was only interested in God. Like we send our children to school, Pralāda's father had sent him to school. In school, the teachers were trying to teach Pralāda how to identify with the body. They were trying to teach him how the society should be divided into friends and enemies. The teachers were specially requested by Pralad's father that he should be trained up to become atheistic. Pralad's father had no interest in Self-realization. Pralad, however, was determined to stay on the spiritual path. Unless one is determined, you can't remain on the spiritual path. So Prahlāda Mahārāja has given very important instructions. Prahlāda Mahārāja has said that the amount of happiness and distress that you are going to get, you will get in any case. So don't over-endeavour for happiness, but try to understand your relationship with God. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "Let us suppose you live for 100 years. Half your life goes away in sleeping." 40% of the time is lost in sleeping. The first 20 years are spent in growing up and jumping up and down, and the other 20 years are wasted in worrying about old age and death. The old man is getting so many diseases and he's worried when he's going to die. So you only have 10 years left. So Prasād RAVAL said, "Na te vidhum svarta-gatim hi viṣnu." People do not know how happiness is to be found. So Pralad Mahānta said spiritual education must be given from a young age, from the age of 5. These days, in modern days, we send our children to school at the age of 3, isn't it? 3? Yeah. In Bombay we have a big school and people are sending their children in nursery from the age of 3. But just like we teach our children how to write A, B, C, D, we should also teach them how to understand the relationship with God. So again and again we are reminding all of you the same message. How to establish a relationship with God. This is the most important thing that we need to develop in the human form of life. How to establish a relationship with God. Some people may say, "Do what you're doing, just once a week go to the church for 2 hours, that's all." They will say, "Go for 2 hours and then you can atone for all the sins that you have committed during the week." So, Their thinking is, "God has died, or the Son of God has died for our sins, so we can go on sinning as much as we want, and as long as we apologize, nothing will be lost." But actually, we know from practical experience that even in our day-to-day dealings, if you, if you are working on a job, you make a mistake once, you can apologize. And you may be excused. But if you apologize and make the same mistake again and again, again, no one is going to excuse. So how can you expect that you can go on sinning again and again and my sweet Lord will excuse you? So Prasad Mahājī gave the understanding— Prasad Mahājī's teachings are that we should start cultivating the spiritual consciousness from a young age. Once Parikṣit Mahārāja was speaking to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. That was also in a forest, but that forest was not this forest of Moscow, but a forest called Namāśvarāṇya. This forest is near Lucknow in northern India. So in that discussion, Parikṣit Mahārāja had called all the great sages. Just like all of you are great sages also. And Parikṣit Mahārāja had asked the great sages, What should one do who is about to die? So there were many people and they all gave different advice. But one of them, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, said, "You should hear of topics about Kṛṣṇa." So Parīkṣit Mahārāja wanted to know from Śukadeva Gosvāmī how people can stop committing sins. He said, "Just like if you cut the tree, you may cut the tree But as long as the roots of the tree are underneath the earth, the tree will grow again. So unless the roots are taken out below the earth, the tree will not stop growing. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that one has to take away the root of sinful desires from the heart. And if you take these material desires away from the heart, then you'll be able to develop this love of God., and then you can stop sinning. But how to take the root out of the heart? That is, only through the medium of bhakti can this sin— that is, can, can this root be pulled out of the heart. The Bhagavad-gītā gives the example, just like when there is fog, so that fog can only be destroyed when the sun comes out. So similarly, this fog of material desire can only be removed once we take to the path of bhakti. Otherwise, there's no other way. So what we are teaching is this path of loving God. In Sanskrit, this is known the path of bhakti. So this path teaches us how we should act always in a way, uh, just like a child is trained to act always in a way that the parents will approve of it. So we should act in a manner that the Supreme Lord will always be pleased. So that is possible if we take to the process of chanting the Names of God, if we associate with the Supreme Lord's devotees, if we read His instructions. Just like in your country and in other countries, the statements made by the head of the state are distributed to the whole population. So similarly, we have Kṛṣṇa's teachings. These are documented in the scriptures, and by reading these instructions, we learn how foolish it is to just become a slave of our senses. Since we are all looking for happiness, our goal is realized when we serve the Lord. Just like by feeding the stomach, the different parts are all nourished, similarly by serving God, One derives complete happiness. And if we don't serve the Lord, then there will be distress. And to cover up for that distress, we engage in so many sinful activities. So presently we are in a situation where people don't like to serve God. But we have to change that. Only then can we be happy. There's a small story that I'll tell you. Once the different parts of the body had a meeting. And they said, "Why is it that all the food goes in the stomach all the time?" So the different parts of the body decided that they were not going to put any food in the stomach. The hand decided it is not going to lift any food from the table and put it in the mouth. And the mouth said, "Even if somebody puts the food in my mouth, I'm not going to chew it." They were all jealous that the stomach is taking all the food all the time and nothing is coming to the rest of the body. So after a few days, they again had a meeting, and all the parts of the body said, we have become very weak. Why? They said, since we went on strike against the stomach, all the parts are becoming weak and weak. And one of the parts of the body said, of course, because we are not feeding the stomach, therefore we are all weak. And they all withdrew their strike and started feeding the stomach then. So similarly, if we don't serve the Supreme Lord then the living entity can never be happy. And if we serve the Supreme Lord, you'll always be happy. In the material world, there is always trouble and distress. Just like in this forest, there are so many flies. You may think you have a right to sit in this forest, but the fly is thinking that it has a right to sit on your beautiful head. The fly is thinking it has a right to sit on your beautiful nose. So you try to drive the fly away, but you drive it from one hand and it goes and sits on the other side. So we are so proud of our independence. We're so proud, we are so proud of our technology. So where is your independence now? Keep the order, the fly, get out and see the fly goes. So you may want to enjoy in this beautiful forest and the material nature will let you enjoy a little bit. But along with the enjoyment, there's also the pain. On the one hand, we have all the fresh air and nice scenery here, but on the other hand, you have the botheration of the flies. Therefore, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there's a very nice example. It is said that human life is just like the life of the bee in the honeycomb. The bee, on the one hand, is tasting the nectar of honey, but on the other hand, the other bees are all jumping on that bee for taste. The bee is inside the beehive tasting the honey, and that honey is very sweet, but then there are the other bees that are attacking this bee at the same time. So the bee is tasting both the sweet and the bitterness both at the same time. So this is exactly what material life is. If you get little nectar, then you'll also get a lot of pain. But if you practice spiritual life, then even if there's a little pain now, ultimately there will be happiness, and this happiness will just go on increasing. So we are very happy that all of you are enjoying the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, but just remain determined on this path. And you'll be eternally happy. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So what I want to request is, you'll probably— I just need about 20 minutes to talk to Krishna Kumar. My suggestion is we have kirtan for 15-20 minutes and then we can go back to the apartment. It's going to rain in any— Everybody can go. Actually, it's going to rain now, I think. Take all this. So they're going to do kirtan now? Yeah. I think it's going to rain now. So now it's getting very hot. I have too many, I have too many garlands. Does anyone know how far the sun is from here? Who knows? This sun is 80 million, 80 million miles away from here. Can you understand? Can any scientist prepare a bulb that can give light from a distance of 80 million miles? So this sun is coming, this light is coming from a distance of 80 million miles. And you see the sun, you can feel it, it's very hot now. And if you go to India, it's even hotter. And this sun is million times bigger than this whole Earth planet. But when you see from here, it looks like a small disc, isn't it? How big does it look? Small, small disc. But it is million times, it is many times bigger than this whole Earth. And for 8 months in a year, the sun is evaporating all the water from the earth, and it is storing the water. Who knows how the sun stores the water? In the clouds. So the sun stores the water for 8 months in the form of clouds, and then in the rainy season, in the form of rain, the same water comes down, and the same water is again collected in the form of by the sun, and again it comes down in the form of— So this is God, the Supreme Scientist. You plant a seed on the ground and it grows into a big tree. You plant a seed on the ground and the nice flowers that grow. Plant a seed on the ground and very nice grass grows. So this is the Supreme Lord that we are talking about. Krishna is not an ordinary person. He must be very intelligent to come up with this technology. We are very proud when we are able to fly a plane in the sky. But God is floating millions of planets in space at the same time. All these planets are floating in space and they never have an accident. We have these 747 planes, but they all have an accident. Have you ever read anywhere that the planets had an accident and some planet fell down? You never hear of them. And God is doing so many other wonders. The scientists produce one test tube baby and they get a Nobel Prize. Of course, that baby that they're producing in the test tube, actually the semen's coming from a human being created by God. Okay, so even assuming that the test tube baby is born in the tube, but Krishna is producing millions of test tube babies at every second. So we should give Krishna the Nobel Prize every year. The scientist produces one test tube baby and he gets a Nobel Prize, but when God is producing millions of test tube babies, he should get millions of Nobel Prize. So we just have to meditate how great God is. Just meditate how great the Lord is. Will understand our position. Alankar ji, so we can see how great the Supreme Lord is. So we are teaching this philosophy by which society can be happy and peaceful. So I think what we'll do, we'll stop at this point. We'll go towards the apartment. Everyone can have prasad there. We'll resume at 4 o'clock. Is that okay with everyone? It is much better we did have further discussion. It is much better we have—