Price tag to enter in spiritual world -SB 2.6.19 | Rus-Split| 21.10.92 |Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, padeshu sarva bhūtani, pūṣaṣṭhiti padho vidu, amṛtam śemaṁ abhayaṇ, kri mūrdṇo dhyāi mūrdhasu, This verse is being spoken by Lord Brahmā. Lord Brahmā is describing in this verse many important points. First of all, he's establishing that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the supreme reservoir of all material opulences. And then he explains how the living entities are living in one-fourth of the creation of the Lord. And then he further explains the nature of life in the spiritual planet, and it is explained how in the Vaikuntha planet there is no, no death, no fear, and no old age, and no disease. So Vaikuntha and Kunta, these are the two type of planets that exist. Vaikuntha means where there is no anxiety. Kunta means where there's nothing but anxiety. So the spiritual energy of the Lord, or the spiritual planets, that comprises 3/4 of the total creation of the Lord. And this material universes where all the living conditioned entities are living, it's only— they only comprise 1/4 of the Lord's total creation. So the Supreme Lord is the source of all the opulences that exist. Both in the spiritual world and in the material world. Bhagavad-gītā also establishes, hamsa-rasya-prabhavo mataḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, I'm the source of everything material and spiritual. So the living entities are living in the material world and transmigrating from one body to another, from one planet to another. Now in the purport, Prabhupāda says, in the material world you only see a meager manifestation of the spiritual qualities of the Lord. As Prabhupada says in the prayer book, the Supreme Lord is sācid-ananda-vigraha, full of knowledge, eternal, and always blissful. The Lord is full of knowledge. This is one of the six opulences of the Lord. That is, He has unlimited knowledge, and He's eternal, and He's blissful. While the Lord is full of knowledge, the conditioned living entity is full of ignorance. When the Lord is fully blissful, the conditioned entity is miserable and just makes an artificial attempt of being blissful. The Lord is eternal and the living entity is eternal, but still there's a difference between the two eternals. Nityo nityanam cetana cetananam ekobhavanam vedati kama. The singular living entity who is eternal, nitya, is maintaining all other entities who are also nitya, eternal. So the conditioned entity who is eternal, he forgets everything, but the Lord does not forget. Just like in the Bhāgavad-gītā we see that when Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna that He had imparted this knowledge to the sun god Viśvaśvān, Arjuna was surprised how Kṛṣṇa could have given this knowledge to Viśvaśvān. So Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa, "How am I to believe that He imparted this knowledge to the sun god Viśvaśvān when he is senior to You by birth?" So Krishna replied that many, many times both you and I appeared, but I can remember all my previous births, but you cannot. So in the material world, you see a perverted reflection of the spiritual reality. Real reality exists in the spiritual world. In the material world, you just see a perverted, perverted reflection. So the human form of life offers one an opportunity to cultivate spiritual knowledge so that one can qualify oneself to enter into the spiritual world. The human form of life offers one an opportunity to cultivate spiritual knowledge so that he can enter into the spiritual world. The materialists have no concept of life in the spiritual world. Actually, they do not even have a full understanding of the various planets in the material world. The first space attempt was made by a country in the early '50s. When did Gargarin go into— '61. It was made in the early '60s, not '50s. And great hopes were established as soon as Gargarin's first mission was a little successful. But 30 years later, they're still struggling to get information just about these material planets. Forget the spiritual planet. But we obtain information about the nature of the spiritual planets from the revealed scriptures. Krishna explains, prasada smārti bahāvoniyo vyaktyo vyaktet sannātana. In the Bhāgavad-gītā, Krishna explains how these spiritual planets are eternal and they do not get annihilated. And Lord Brahmā in this verse is giving us further information about life on the spiritual planet. Lord Brahmā is saying there is no death in the spiritual planet. There is no fear, there's no old age, there's no disease. If somebody told you that there's some part in Russia where you can go and live where there'll be no old age, disease, death, um, and fear, everybody would run over there. Who likes having fear? Who likes death? Who likes old age? Who likes disease? Nobody. Even if you have free medicine, you don't like getting disease because free medicine doesn't compensate for the pain you're going to have. Even if you've had a long duration of healthy life, still you don't want death. And who wants old age? That is why everybody tries to avoid the appearance of old age. When people's hair begins to turn white, they begin to dye it. When their cheeks begin to get wrinkled, in rich countries they go and do surgery so their cheeks still look youthful. When their eyes begin to get weak, they wear contact lenses. And when the hearing gets to be defective, they hear— they use modern hearing aids that are hard to be seen. So everybody makes an attempt to avoid old age. If you ever want to flatter an old man, all you have to do is tell him how young he looks. And if you ever want to insult a young man, just tell him how old he looks, because nobody likes old age. Old age is associated with disease, and as you get older, you get reminded that death is coming, coming, coming. Then nobody likes fear. Shaymo, there's so many different layers of fear that we experience. There is a fear that somebody may not steal into my house, so you lock the house. One businessman is fearful that another businessman may not take his business away. One, uh, one nation is fearful that another nation may not attack us. So even when these nations have no money for food, but they have money to buy weapons. So there's so many different types of fear, and ultimately there's the fear of death. Now Krishna is giving us information about life in the spiritual world and explaining how that place, Vaikuntha, is free of all anxieties. Just like if you go to a travel agency, they give you a brochure that gives you a little indication of what life is in these different countries that you may, may be planning to visit. So the Vedic scriptures are giving us summary explanation and detailed explanation about life on other planet, life in the Vaikuntha planet. Why is this information being presented? With the purpose of attracting the conditioned soul to wake up to a higher life that is available. The business of the spiritual personality is to remind everyone about his eternal, his real home, which is in the spiritual abode of the Lord. But unfortunately, today civilization has become so degraded that even when they're educated about this high philosophy they still do not want to take advantage of it. Prabhupāda used to give an example that one man was so absorbed in flying a kite, he was about to fall off the roof. Another man ran from behind and told him, be careful, you'll fall off the roof. But the man said, no, no, no, let me continue flying. So that is the plight of the present-day population. They're all in deep coma, fully intoxicated with unlimited material desires. That they think will buy them happiness. And hence they're endeavoring from morning to night, hoping to find happiness through these agencies. So those who are intelligent take advantage of the Vedic conclusion and realize, yes, there is really no real happiness in material existence, and we have to prepare to go to the spiritual abode. Material world is mithyā-loka, where there's nothing but misery. Therefore, Krishna says, dukhālayam āśāśatam. Dukhālayam means where there's nothing but misery. Ashāśata means where everything is temporary. So anybody who analyzes the material society will see there is really nothing but misery. I just came back from a 3-week tour of America and Canada and Europe, and everywhere people are miserable, complaining like anything. They don't have jobs. More and more people are becoming unemployed every day. People are graduating from universities, but there are no jobs for them. Every day they're laying off thousands of workers. So people have to realize you cannot have God's kingdom without God. They want material prosperity, but they don't want God. So that cannot go on for long. Krishna says in the third chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, saḥ yajña-prajāśaṣṭvā puruvaḥ ca prajāpati, in the very beginning of creation, the Lord sent forth different entities and told them, be thou happy by the performance of this sacrifice. So happiness can come only when we perform sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, there is no happiness. See, in human society today, the spirit of sacrifice has been sharply declining. And even as they perform sacrifice, just a name, show bottle sacrifice, just like people go to the church or the mosque or the temple, but they don't really go to the church or the mosque or the temple to find out the real meaning of religion. So therefore we see that a real spirit of sacrifice is declining with the passage of each day in Kali-yuga. Another point that is being made in the purport by Prabhupada is the number of liberated souls is far in excess of those who are conditioned. So Prabhupada used to give an example, that is, he used to say, just like in any city, the number of people living in the, in the jails is definitely less than the number of people walking freely on the streets. I'm sure even in your country, even when they had the Stalin era where everyone was ending up in jails, the number of people outside of jail was more than number of people inside. So just like you have more people walking on the streets than inside the prison houses, there are more liberated souls than those who are conditioned. So the Vaikuntha planets are beyond all the material planets. In the Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa, it is said, "Ābrahma-bhuvanā-lokā punāra-vartana-raujinā, mam upiti du-kontya punājñānmanā vidiyate." That even if one is elevated to the brahma-loka, still one cannot become free from the cycle of birth and death. When Hiranyakāśipu approached Lord Brahmā for a benediction that he may become deathless, what did Lord Brahmā say? Brahmā said, How can I give you this benediction when even I don't have that facility? So just like an airplane can fly in the sky only as long as it has enough fuel, then it has to descend. You can drive a car only as long as there's enough fuel. You can stay in a country only as long as you have a visa that permits you to stay for a particular period. You can only stay even in the upper planets where the opulence is more than this earthly planet as long as your pious karma allows you. So one who's intelligent, he doesn't even want to go to the upper planetary system. The sātrika planets may give you a longer duration of life and more sense enjoyment, but one who's intelligent, he doesn't make any plans to even be elevated to the upper planet because he knows that even being elevated to the upper planet is temporary. So one who's intelligent takes to the process of service to the Supreme Lord, because Kṛṣṇa says Unless one renders devotional service, he cannot return to Him. Bhaktiyamām abhijānanti. I can only be known through the path of devotional service. Through the other paths of self-realization, there may be elevation to the upper planets, but true love of God is the only medium by which— true devotional service is the only medium through which one can enter into the kingdom of God. That is why this Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is focusing only on one theme. There's only one theme in the entire Bhagavatam, and that is a theme how one must render pure devotional service, because this is the only thing that can satisfy the individual. The living entity, being spiritual in nature, can only be satisfied by the execution of spiritual activity. Material activities may satisfy one temporarily, but it cannot satisfy one permanently. Rupa Gosvāmī says the nature of material happiness is such it can end at any time. Therefore, one who is intelligent, he does not hanker for material happiness. Rūpa Gosvāmī has also said, kāmadīnam kathīnapalitā dhūrṇī deṣa, I have been trying to satisfy my senses since times immemorial, but there is no satisfaction. So therefore, one who is intelligent, one who is cultivating spiritual knowledge in the association of devotees, he does not want to get entangled in material existence. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in describing the six processes of śrī-nāgati— śrī-nāgati means to surrender, Prasad RAVAL. He explains, one who is serious on the spiritual path, he should only accept what is favorable for devotional practices and reject what is unfavorable. Just like in order to lead a healthy life, you only eat what is good for your body. If somebody tells you, eat this food stuff, and this food stuff you know will make you sick, will you eat it? You will not eat it. If you know that going to some area you're going to get robbed, are you going to walk on that street? You won't walk on that street. A businessman, if he knows by the execution of a particular transaction he may lose money, will he execute that transaction? No. Similarly, we should not engage in an activity if it's going to be an obstruction on achieving the real goal of life. So this is not a difficult rule to understand. Accept everything favorable, reject everything unfavorable. And when you are in doubt if a particular activity will be— it will be of assistance on the path back to Godhead, or it will be an obstruction, then consult The guru, the sadhu, the shastra do not act independently. And understand that Kṛṣṇa is the protector and the maintainer. We must recognize that Kṛṣṇa is the eternal well-wisher of every living entity. Therefore, life should be so molded that we depend upon Kṛṣṇa, and there must be humility in the execution of devotional practices. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, jnāda-bhi sunīcena tarau rupī-śaishyuna-māni-nāmānādhena-kṛṭṇā-dī-sādhāri. That if we want to be in a position where we chant the holy names of the Lord, then one consider— one must consider oneself to be lower than the stone in the street, more tolerant than the tree, and devoid of false sense of false prestige. And there must be self-surrender, that body, mind, words, everything to be used in service to the Lord. If we take advantage of these guidelines, then we can make spiritual advancement. One other point that we devotees should recognize as we are reading this puruṣa śukta section of the Bhāgavatam is that the Bhāgavatam gives complete information about the vast creation of the Lord. If you read the 5th Canto, you get a very vivid explanation about all the different planetary systems. Now, the materialists, they acknowledge that there are other planets and other planetary systems, but unfortunately they do not acknowledge the spiritual, uh, technology needed to enter into these planets. Material technology will not be able to transport you to these planets. The present-day materialist could be compared to the attempts of Ravan. Long, long ago, there lived a personality who had 10 heads and was called Ravan. Ravan means one who gives pain to others. So Ravan was making plans, he, to build a staircase to go to heaven. He wanted to go to heaven, but not by performing pious activities. He said, I'll go to heaven on my own attempts, I'll build a staircase to heaven. So the present materialists, they are also attempting to build staircases to heaven. They are planning to build a staircase through having mechanical devices, but they're not going to succeed in these endeavors. The way to go is, as Prabhupada said again and again, a spiritual process. In Easy Duty to Other Planets, Prabhupada says that no one should think that our devotees are behind in any way. Prabhupada says the materialists are attempting to go to other planets where the devotees on this early planet are just chanting Hare Krishna, so people may not think that we are outdated. Prabhupada concludes that the devotees are ahead of what the materialists are trying to achieve because they've already gone, uh, they already know through the scriptures what type of life there is on other planets and how to enter into those planets. In the material world, everything is influenced by time. Therefore, you have birth, death, disease, old age. Something is new today, but tomorrow it becomes old. But in the spiritual world, the influence of time is not there. So we must understand the difference between the material world and the spiritual world, and one must understand the foolishness of trying to squeeze happiness in a place which has been branded as the place of misery. In the material world, you have to endeavor, endeavor, endeavor to become happy or rich. You have to work very, very hard, just like the materialists today. They have to work on 2 jobs, 3 jobs to pay all their bills. You may see pictures of materialists in the Western countries having 2, 2 cars, big, big houses, but they are— but in order to pay all these bills, both husband and wife, they have to do 2, 3 jobs. But in the spiritual world You do not have to endeavor for happiness. The whole atmosphere is so charged with happiness, and happiness because the whole nature of existence in the spiritual world is happiness. Therefore, anandamaya-bhāsat— this is what the Vedanta Sutra says— that is, the spirit there is full of happiness, and the happiness in the spiritual world is always increasing, increasing, increasing. Even a material happiness increases, at a certain point it stops to increase and it disappears. But this spiritual bliss can only be found in the spiritual world. Now, just like everything has a price tag, this entrance in the spiritual world also has a price tag. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita promises you full protection, but he only promises you full protection if you surrender to him. So this is the price tag— surrendering to Krishna. And surrendering to Krishna means Only doing what Krishna wants you to do as manifested through the parampara and not doing nonsense activities which we have been engaged in since times immemorial. So we should be serious about Krishna consciousness, not waste even one minute, because a minute wasted cannot be purchased for the wealth of the whole world. Follow the process of Krishna consciousness enthusiastically and preach the glories of Krishna consciousness enthusiastically. Vaishnava is enthusiastic to practice, enthusiastic to preach. He's enthusiastic to practice because he knows this is the real thing. In the material world, they have a soft drink called Coca-Cola Company, so they have an advertising slogan, Coca-Cola, the real thing. But that is bogus. Krishna consciousness is the real thing. Everything else is false. So we should be convinced that the real thing is Krishna bhakti, not illusory activities. And we should be convinced that everybody else can be happy also through Krishna bhakti. Therefore, we have to be enthusiastic to preach. Unless you're enthusiastic to preach, how will the unfortunate people become fortunate? How will those who are blind develop vision? How will those who are unhappy become happy? So just like we all feel fortunate for having been saved from a terrible material life, we also have to make others fortunate. And we can make others fortunate by being enthusiastic to preach. And all the various forms of preaching— the principal form of preaching is What is the principal form of preaching? Book distribution. So everybody knows this in our Krishna Consciousness movement, whether you're a new bhakta of 2 days or whether you're an old bhakta of 20 years, that book distribution is the principal form of preaching. Prabhupada hammered this in our heads, that book distribution is the principal form of preaching. In his darshans, letters, purports, this theme was emphasized. So we have to, we have to meditate how we can distribute these books to make people happy. And if you're enthusiastic and, and determined to do it, then Krishna, who's in the heart, will make us the instrument. So we'll talk more about this in the next class, about book distribution. Hare Krishna. And to make people understand that this should be some reality. Even though I just said logic, logically, logically, should be. So yes, there are many people who don't accept shastra. So when you talk to these people, you don't have to necessarily tell them this is shastra. Tell them these are ancient books of knowledge. When I was— once Prabhupada was talking to me in Bombay, he said Bhagavad-gītā This is not a religious doctrine. This is real education. So tell them this is a book of education, a very ancient book of knowledge. And tell them, you scientists are spending billions of dollars trying to discover some information that's already there. Of course, there'll always be some people who want to accept shastra, but I think if we preach convincingly, then we can make them realize that shastra is real. People can say Material knowledge has failed to deliver the goods. How should the devotees, uh, start preparing for Prabhupada marathon right now? One, actually devotees in ISKCON are always on a marathon. You have to start thinking about Prabhupada marathon by understanding the importance of saving the conditioned souls. Prabhupada said, as long as book distribution goes on, I will never die. If you want to please me, then distribute my books. So we should start absorbing ourselves in the importance of saving the conditioned soul. Like in your country now, people virtually have no faith in any type of ism. First they put their faith in communism, then they thought— then after 70 years they realized, no, this is— we put our faith in the wrong people. So now they put their faith in capitalism, but after one year of capitalism, they're again— they're getting more frustrated. So we have to tell them, this is where you should be putting your faith— Krishnaism. Tell them we have an alternative. Yeltsin thought he had an alternative, but we have a better alternative. And so absorb yourself in the importance of book distribution. And you should never forget, the enthusiasm to succeed in book distribution will come from purity, and purity comes from chanting, attentive chanting of the holy names of Krishna. The more you chant, the purer you will become. We talk more later. Yeah, okay. I think it's getting a little late now. I don't want the— so we'll stop over here, huh? Hare Krishna. Prabhupada ke. Last question. Any other questions? I used to hear in the temple that there are different grades of gurus. And upon the grade of one's glory depends, emphasis here, one's spiritual advancement. I cannot speak for other organizations, but I can only speak for ISKCON. In ISKCON, all gurus are delivering message from the same source, Prabhupada. Of course, amongst devotees there are different degrees of advancement, but the medicine they're giving is the same, and it is coming from the same factory. So anyone who takes the medicine as given by the guru will get exactly the same result. Of course, it is natural for every disciple to think very highly of his guru, but one should be respectful to all the gurus, all the Vaiṣṇavas. If we are just respectful to our guru and not the other guru, this will not please either the guru or Kṛṣṇa. The spiritual advancement you make will be dependent upon the medicine you take which the doctor gives. There were so many disciples of Prabhupada who did not take the medicine Prabhupada gave, and on this whole planet there will never be a spiritual master as powerful as Prabhupada. But because they didn't take the medicine, they fell under, in Maya. Some took the medicine and they advanced. So it depends upon the faith and the intensity with which we take the medicine. But all gurus are giving same instruction, and based on one's faith, one chooses and surrenders to a guru. And surrendering to Guru, this is a serious business, so it should be done carefully, not whimsically. And then once you take the medicine, but full— with full faith. Okay, so Prabhu, I thank all of you very much. I'll see you all after a few weeks, a few months. Hare Krishna.