Principles for a Perfect Society | SB 07.11.12 | Rus-Split | 06 May 90 | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

Nārada Muni explains to Yudhiṣṭha Mahārāja the principles for human beings. Om jñāna-timirandhasya jñānanjanāśalakya-cakṣinmṛlita-līnātāsmāi śrī-gurave namah. Śrī-cetanya-mana-viṣvāṁ sthāpitām yena bhūtele, svayaṁ lūpakadāmayāṁ dadāti svāpādanti-kam. Bande ham Śrī Guru Śrīvṛtāpada-kamal Śrīguruṇvaiṣṇava-nāsta. Śrīrūpaṁ sagrajatam sahāgina rāguṇātāṁ vidam tām sajevam. Sadveṭham svadhūtam parijñāṣaitaṁ Kṛṣṇa-cetanya-devaṁ. Śrī-rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-padānaṣahāgina-lalitā Śrī-viśākā-nitāmśaḥ. Jai Śrī Kṛṣṇa-cetanya-prabhu-nitānanda Śrī-advaita-gadādhara. Śrīvācari-gaura-bhaktavendā. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare. So we are reading from the 7th Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in which Nārada Muni gives information on the perfect society. All over the world, the leaders are trying to establish a perfect society. Just like in your country also, they recently had major changes and they have changed the system of government. Why did they change the system of government? Because their thinking was that with a new system of government, a better society can be established. And in different parts of the world, people have elections and different processes of government, but the goal always is to give people a better society. So Yudhishthira Maharaj, Yudhishthira Maharaj asked Narada Muni, he said, "Please describe to me the principles of religion by which society, by which one can achieve the goal of life." So Yudhishthira Maharaj, when he needed some information, he just did not go to anyone, but he went to the most perfect Narada Muni. Because as Yudhishthira Maharaj says, Narada Muni has performed devotional service and practiced austerities. So Nādhāmuni, when he was asked this question by Yudhiṣṭhira, he said, "Okay, since you have asked me the question, 'What is religion?' I will describe to you what I have heard from Lord Nārāyaṇa." So Nādhāmuni said, "The essence of all religious principles is to worship Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead." And on the basis of worshiping Kṛṣṇa, everybody becomes satisfied. Kṛṣṇa is not the property of any individual or people of a particular group. Kṛṣṇa is ahanmīja pradāpyadā, the seed-giving father of all living entities. Just like one sun is shining over the whole universe, similarly Kṛṣṇa is the Lord of the entire creation. In the Iṣopaniṣad verse that we discussed in the afternoon, We had discussed how human life is distinct from animal life. We had discussed how one must not become killer of the soul. We had established how the present society is virtually a soul-killing society. So Nādamūṇī is saying that there are 30 principles in life which every human being must cultivate. So are you ready to hear these 30 principles? Or do you think 30 is too many, you just want 1 or 2? You want all 30? You don't want to bargain and get 5 or 10? So we will describe the 30 principles which Nārada Muni says every human being must cultivate if he wants to worship God. So first is the quality of truthfulness. So truthfulness is very important in spiritual life. This is indicated by the use of the word satyam. So what is the real meaning of truthfulness? Because different people have different interpretations of this word. If somebody is working for the mafia and he's carrying out the orders of the boss, then he may think that he's being truthful. So, and if somebody is working for some other political party and he's carrying out the command of the head, he may think he's being truthful. So what is the meaning of truthfulness? So truthfulness means to accept the words of Kṛṣṇa as they are coming down in the guru-parampara. The words of Kṛṣṇa cannot be distorted. If we accept the words of Kṛṣṇa in the same manner that Arjuna accepted the words of Kṛṣṇa, then one can make spiritual progress. So it is very important that we be truthful in spiritual life. The instructions of Kṛṣṇa are coming down through the guru-parampara. It is coming down through the spiritual master. So one must be truthful to those instructions. For example, the spiritual master says, "You must chant your 16 rounds every day without fail." So the first aspect of truthfulness is, "I must do these rounds every day without fail." In material society today, truthfulness has lost its meaning. In the name of diplomacy, everything goes on. But in spiritual life, truthfulness is very important. Ṛpa Gosvāmī says that there are 6 types of loving rāsās or relationships that we can establish amongst devotees. One is to reveal your mind to those who are more advanced. The other is to take instructions from those who are more advanced. So truthfulness is very important. Another aspect is— another principle is mercy. Now, religion means that it must have 4 essential ingredients. Truthfulness, austerity, cleanliness, and merciful— mercy. So we see that Narada Muni, when he is listing the 30 principles of human life, first he is listing these 4 principles. So, uh, what we are doing today is just discussing these principles in detail, because each of these principles is so important that one could discuss each of them for hours and hours. So What does mercy mean? This is again, different people will have different definitions. Just like in many parts of the world, people think that mercy means you give people some material help. So in countries like India, it is very common to see rich people build hospitals in memory of their relatives and so on. But that is not real mercy. Real mercy is to give people the knowledge by which they can get out of the cycle of birth and death. So when our devotees go on harinama, when our devotees go on book distribution, when our devotees go on prasāda distribution program, they are really distributing mercy. A Vaiṣṇava must be very merciful and compassionate. A Vaiṣṇava is parā-duḥkha-duḥkī. Parā-duḥkha-duḥkī means that when he sees that somebody else is in distress, he also becomes distressed. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as we know, was described by Rūpa Gosvāmī to be The most merciful incarnation, Nama Mahā-bhādanāya Kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāyate, He freely distributed this process of love of God without any conditions. At least Lord Kṛṣṇa made a condition. Kṛṣṇa said, "I will protect you." Sarva-dhamaṁ paritājya mām ekaṁ śrī-nāma-rājaḥ aṁ tvāṁ sarve pāpebhojo mokṣyāmi māso caḥ. But I will protect you only after you surrender to Me. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu freely gave the holy names without any condition. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu's concept of mercy was such, he would not let any associate stay with him. He would tell them to go out and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness house to house. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave us this instruction, jāre dakotahe kaho 'kṛṣṇa upadeśa. Whoever you see, you please give him knowledge about Kṛṣṇa. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu knew, Except for this, there is no alternative. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there's a very nice story. There was a devotee who was suffering from leprosy, and that devotee was embraced by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and his leprosy was gone. So that devotee said, previously I was suffering from leprosy, nobody was even looking at me. Now Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by your embrace, "You have made me so handsome. So what should I do? How will I remain humble? Now I've become so handsome, so beautiful, so healthy. What will I do?" So Caitanya Mahāprabhu told him, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and tell the glories of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa to everybody else." So Prabhupāda, in the purport of this verse, says, similarly, by the preaching, this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, has made all these mlecchas into brahmanas. So all these devotees who have now become reformed must not only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa but go out and tell the glories of Hare Kṛṣṇa to everybody else. You need to feed everyone. I'm hungry. Please give me some food to eat. So the king said, "Okay, take this food." Then he was about to eat again, break his fast, when another hungry man walked into his palace. He rang the bell. And said, "Oh King, I'm starving, give me something to eat." So the king gave him also what he had. Then the king was just left with some water. A thirsty man walked into the palace of the king and he said, "Oh King, I'm thirsty, please give me water to drink." And the king gave his water. So after all this, the king composed a very beautiful prayer to the Lord. He said, na kāmāye ham gatim īśvratparam astārthe yuktam apunarbhāvavā. Āntastītrina bhavanti yadūkā arthem prapadekiladeya-bhājaṁ. He said, "My dear Lord, I do not want anything from You at all. I just want to stay in the material world as long as every conditioned soul goes back to You." This is the understanding of a Vaiṣṇava. So you can see, The Vaishnava's thinking, it is not selfish. Therefore it is said that a devotee is a friend of everyone. In material society everybody has few friends and enemies, but a devotee has no friends and enemies. Everybody is his friend. So this quality of mercy must be there in the Vaishnava. And how does this quality of mercy develop? By chanting. It is not that by chanting the mantra, "Mercy, mercy, mercy," the quality of mercy will develop. The milas will develop by chanting and serving. There is also the story of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, "Socetato vimukhasa cetas indriyātā māyāśakāya bhanam udvartovi mūram." He said, "My dear Lord, when I think about the materialists who are trying to convert a position of distress to a position of comfort, my heart just begins to lament." So that is what material society is always trying to do. Hide unhappiness and think that they are happy. They are trying to hide their distress through many artificial arrangements. Just like when the cheeks are getting wrinkled, they go and do plastic surgery. When your hair begins to turn white, they begin to dye their hair. When the hair begins to fall, they put a special cream so the hair grows in the bald head. When your teeth begin to fall, they put artificial teeth. If you don't like wearing glasses, now they have contact lenses. If you don't like this old-fashioned big hearing aids, now at least in the Western society they have small hearing aids. You just put behind your glasses, nobody can even see that you're wearing a hearing aid. And if your heart doesn't work, no problem, they'll do bypass surgery for you. And if your lungs, if your kidneys are not working, you'll advertise in the paper and buy a kidney from a poor man. So Pralāda Mahārāja says basically we are trying to convert a position of unhappiness to a position of happiness. So Pralāda Mahārāja says that, "My dear Lord, I am not interested in going to the mountains, I'm not interested in going to the forest, but I want to be where the people are so I can give them this Kṛṣṇa consciousness." So this is the mentality of a Vaiṣṇava. He's very merciful. In the Bhāgavatam, there's a story of King Sibi. King Sibi was a very famous king. One day, the demigods wanted to test him. So one of the demigods played the role of the pigeon and the other played the role of the eagle. The eagle was chasing the pigeon and the pigeon came to Maharāja Sibi. The pigeon said, "Oh king, protect me. This eagle is trying to eat me." So the king, when the eagle came to the king, the king said, "You cannot eat this pigeon's flesh. The pigeon has come to me for protection." The eagle said, "I'm hungry. I must get flesh at any cost." So the king said, "I cannot let you take the flesh from this pigeon, but you can take the flesh from my body equal to the weight of the pigeon." So by the arrangement of the demigods, The weight of the pigeon just went on increasing and increasing, but still Maharaj Sibi did not go back on his promise. In the end, the demigods revealed their real identity to Maharaj Sibi, and they were very pleased that Maharaj Sibi was so merciful that when the pigeon came to him for protection, he did not discard it. So these are just some examples that we have given from these scriptures. To show you the Vaiṣṇavas' concept of mercy. There are innumerable more examples that we can give. Next is the quality of austerity. So austerity is the wealth of the brahmana. Just like the materialists want to save dollars and rubles, the devotee wants to cultivate the quality of austerity. So what does austerity mean? Austerity means abstaining from sinful activities. And why do we abstain from sinful activities? We abstain from sinful activities because to develop love of God, we must become pure. So austerity means avoiding sinful activities. Like on certain days of the month, like Ekadasi, we do not eat grains. On certain days, we don't— we fast. We get up early in the morning. When the mind says sleep, the intelligence says, no, get up. When you have the opportunity for doing some illicit relationship, the intelligence says, "No, this is not good for your spiritual life." So in spiritual life, we are not scared of austerity. Because austerity is the price that you have to pay for getting real happiness. Austerity is the price that you have to pay for developing love of God. Austerity is the price that you have to pay for getting out of the cycle of birth and death. Everything has a price, isn't it? It is not that in your country you can just walk into any store and walk out with any commodity. So similarly, love of God also has a price. But what is the problem today? People want God's kingdom, but they don't want austerity. You can go to the religious sermons of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Seventh-day— to the Christians, to the Protestants, to the Jews, to everyone's religious sermons you can go and attend, but nobody talks about austerity. Because the moment they talk about austerity, people will run away. And so they don't want their audience to run away. So what they have done, they have watered down austerity. Just like Jesus Christ says, thou shalt not kill. So what is the Christian's version of this? It means don't kill a human being, but you can kill animals. Why? They say animals have no soul. How do animals not have soul? The animal eats, sleeps, defends, and mates like the human being. How can you say they don't have a soul? To say that God has put these animals on earth for our enjoyment is not the answer. So austerity has become watered down in all the religions of the world today. The Hindus have done the same thing what the Christians have done, and so has almost every other religious faith. But we in Krishna consciousness believe in practicing the real thing. So austerity means following four regulative principles. Austerity means following sadhana-bhakti. Austerity means abstain— fasting on Ekādaśī, means avoiding grains on Ekādaśī. Austerity means fasting when necessary. In the beginning, of course, austerity is painful. Just like when the mother tells the child to stop sucking the thumb, the child will always grumble, isn't it? All the mothers can testify to that. So, but in the end the child is grateful. So similarly, in the beginning we may protest when we have to avoid sinful life, but in the end it will work to our advantage. Tapa-seva-param-jyotir-bhāgvatam adhokṣajam. Lord Brahmā says in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Kṛṣṇa is adhokṣaja. Adhokṣaja means very difficult to obtain. But through the medium of tapasya, You can know Kṛṣṇa. Maharaja Rishyadeva had 100 sons. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said, one should not become a father or a mother or a spiritual master till he can take his dependents or children back to Godhead. So before retiring from his duties, from his kingly duties, Maharaja Rishyadeva wanted to instruct his sons about the principles of Bhāgavad-dharma. So Maharaja Rishyadeva told his sons, "Nāyham dehad-eya bhājam na loke kastam-kāmām atavitabhu-jamye tapo divyam puṣṭhaka yena satvām." My dear sons, you must not lead this human life like the cats and dogs, but you must use this life for what? For tapo divyam puṣṭhaka, for performing austerities for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. So austerity may be something that you never heard of before coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, But now that you have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, please embrace the principles of austerity enthusiastically and you'll be happy. Then the next core principle is bathing twice a day, which means cleanliness. So cleanliness is to be practiced at two levels: external and internal. External cleanliness means that we must live in a clean environment. We should have clean habits. "Not that now I'm a devotee, I can afford to be dirty." So a devotee lives in a clean way. And internal cleanliness means cleansing of the heart. And cleansing of the heart is practiced how? By chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So internal cleanliness and external cleanliness, both are important. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Caitanya-pramārjanam bahumāk dvāgdīnairāpanam." That by the chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, the heart will be cleansed of the dirt. So it is said over here, bathing twice a day. Generally a Brahmin must bathe at least twice a day. So Prabhupāda used to very often quote this English phrase, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." Do you have such a phrase in Russian also? So anyway, cleanliness is next to godliness, this is a well-known phrase. Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave us a very good example of external cleanliness. He organized the cleaning of the Gundicha temple. Who knows this story? So Gundicha is a temple near the Jagannātha Puri temple in Orissa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his associates, they organized the cleaning of the whole temple. Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his associates, they were all scrubbing the floors, passing the water bucket, bringing buckets of water and cleaning the whole temple. And during the whole cleaning operation, nobody was allowed to speak. They would say, "Hare Krishna!" They would make signs and just chant Hare Krishna. And this— so this cleaning of the temple is like cleaning the heart. Very soon you will have a big temple like Gondicha in your country. Then all of you can join together to clean the temple. So at least that thinking must start. So cleanliness is very important for anybody who wants to succeed on the spiritual path. When we go out to preach, our appearance must also be very clean. Not that in the mood of renunciation we dress up in a very dirty, shabby manner. The next quality that Nārada Muni mentions is tolerance. Tolerance, if you know, has been mentioned in many places in the scriptures. As I said yesterday, tolerance is one quality you Russians are blessed with. Nowhere else in the world could you expect devotees to sit down so tight for 2-3 hours in a row without complaining. So, so spiritual tolerance means I also accept what my mind says I should not accept. In the second chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, matlaḥ parśaṣta kaunteya sītoṣṇa sukha-duḥkhaḍā, erga māphāino netya-stam tat kṣaśya-bhārata, that one should become equipoised in all situations. Just like the coming and going of winter and summer seasons, similarly there is going to be happiness and distress, victory and defeat, honor, dishonor, but a devotee has to be adhīra, equal in all situations. Just like the weather is very good today, but is there anybody in this room who thinks that the weather will remain good like this for all 365 days? And in December the weather gets very bad, but you know it is bad only for a short time. So just like the winter and summer seasons come and go, there is happiness and distress, victory and defeat, honor and dishonor. Don't be happy when you're honored and don't feel bad when you're dishonored. Don't be joyful when you're victorious and sad when you lose. So we have to be tolerant in all situations. Caitanya Mahāprabhu also emphasizes the quality of tolerance. He says, trināda pīsuni cēyinā taror api saīśo nūna amānina mānādena kṛṭṇa-dīs-sādhāri, that if we want to be in a position where we chant the holy names of the Lord constantly, then He says be more tolerant than the tree, isn't it? You know how tolerant the tree is? I don't think you people have ever imagined how tolerant the tree is. Hot or cold, rain or sunshine, the tree is always there to help you. And it's very cold, you use the heating and warm clothes, but the tree is there standing firm. And even if you cut the tree, the tree still gives service to humanity. Even if you don't water the tree, even the dry wood is of value to humanity. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that you have to become more tolerant than the tree. And more humble than a blade of grass. So sometimes devotees say, "How do you develop this quality of tolerance?" Comes with practice. Once Prabhupāda had developed a drug tonic. It was a health tonic. You know, Prabhupāda at one time was making, was in the pharmacy, was in the medical business. And Prabhupāda had made many medicines. So he had produced a medicine called the health tonic. So one day Prabhupāda showed this health tonic to one of his godbrothers, and Prabhupāda told him, "This is a new tonic for good health that I have prepared." So Prabhupāda's godbrother said, "Abey babu, I don't want health tonic. I want the tonic by which I can develop love of God." So Prabhupāda said, "I know the formula, but the medicine is not ready as yet." And what was the answer? The tonic for developing love of God —jinaad api suni chena tarura api saishyana. So this quality of tolerance is very necessary for making spiritual advancement. So next point Anādamuni mentions is discrimination between right and wrong. So this is important, discrimination between right and wrong. We are not so foolish that when you see something wrong happening, you keep quiet. Just like, I'll give you Another real-life story. Once Prabhupāda was giving a lecture in Rishikesh. This was in his last days, in 1977. So Prabhupāda, of course, you know, when he would lecture, he would lecture very strongly. Rascals, mūḍhas, they are, you know, distorting Kṛṣṇa's teachings. So Prabhupāda was giving a very forceful lecture. So there was one American lady in the audience. She said, "Swāmiji, Swāmis are not supposed to criticize." Why are you criticizing? But Prabhupāda said, when you have a boil, you don't blow over that boil, you press it. Boil with pus inside. You press the boil to get the pus out. Tuh! When you have a boil, you don't blow over that boil, but you press it. So Prabhupāda was saying that when a truth has to be spoken, it has to be spoken. Even if the truth hurts the other person, but the truth has to be spoken. The truth cannot be compromised. So we must discriminate between what is right and what is wrong. Rūpa Gosvāmī says, "Accept everything favorable for spiritual life and reject everything unfavorable for spiritual life." Just like a businessman, a businessman will only do that transaction in which he can make profit. So we should only do that activity by which we can achieve the goal of life. And if by some activity the goal of life cannot be realized, then So how do we know what is right and what is wrong? Just like as I was saying, some religions are saying that you can eat beef, no problem. You can eat meat, no problem. And some other religions say, "Oh, you can eat beef, but don't eat any pork." And somebody else says, "Oh, you can eat meat every day, there's no problem. Just on Fridays don't eat meat." So how do you know what is right, what is wrong? There has to be some basis. And that is the words of God. Just like if I want to know, What is permitted in this country and what is not? I have to find out what the laws of this country are. We must know what is right and wrong based on what the scriptures are saying and what is explained by the guru. Guru, sadhu. Next point is which all of you will love. That is controlling the Om. Mitha. Controlling the Om is necessary principle for human life. Everybody says he has problem controlling the oṁ. So how to control the uma? That is what we learn in devotional service. Arjuna told Kṛṣṇa, it is more difficult to control the mind than controlling the wind, isn't it? So what to do with this uma? You have to control it. You have to make the mind your friend. mana eva manuṣṇam kāṇam bandhayā mokṣaya bandhay viśayaḥ saṅgōṇa mukṭhayā nairuṣyam manaḥ. The mind has to be so dovetailed, controlled, that the mind becomes your friend and not your enemy. Right now the mind is your worst enemy, but you are thinking the mind is my best friend. The mind says, "Don't chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It's okay. You've chanted for 1 year. Now take a break." And I say, "Oh yes, the mind knows what is best for me." The mind says, "You're still young. You're only 25, 30. You're going to live for at least 70." So you can afford to fool around for 20 years and then we'll become serious. But we must understand, time and tide wait for no one. Pādām pādām yādvī pādām nāte śām. There is danger at every step. So we must control the mind, realizing the mind is our— the contaminated mind cannot be listened. If in the material world you give money to somebody And that, and that person does not return the money to you. Do you give him money again? So the mind has cheated you so many times. Why do you want to listen to the mind again? It is the mind. Mind has two main businesses. One is known, the business of accepting. The other is known, the business of rejecting. Today I will accept something, tomorrow I will reject it. Today the man and the woman get, get the They go in the church and they get married and they take all these religious vows and they pose for photographs smiling. But tomorrow the mind rejects that relationship and they end up in the divorce courts. So this is called accepting and rejecting. Today I like this latest fashion suit that I have bought. Tomorrow I see something else and my mind doesn't like today what it liked yesterday. Is that right? So this is the business of the mind, accept and reject. Just like an adult does not listen to a child, or when you want to get some direction, you don't ask direction from somebody who had a lot of vodka. So similarly, you don't ask your mind, "Now, how should I make spiritual advance?" So how do you expect the mind to show you the way? The mind is contaminated, polluted, misdirected. Cheater number one. We are always busy accusing others of being cheaters, but do you know your biggest enemy is your own mind? So we must control the mind. Now, how do you control the mind? It is definitely not easy. It was not easy for Arjuna. So do you think it's going to be easy for 20th century people in Western society? Yes, it will be easy if we take the medicine properly. And what is the medicine? "Mān māna-bhāvā mad-bhakto mad-ya-jī-māṇ-nāmaśkuru." Always think of Me, bow down to Me, offer your homage unto Me. So with the mind, instead of thinking, "Oh, I've had so much sense enjoyment. Now I just need little more. How can I get it? I have so much money. I just need a little more. How will I get it?" We should think with the mind, what is Kṛṣṇa's instructions? What are the spiritual master's instructions? What does Kṛṣṇa look like? His different pastimes, His message from the Bhāgavad-gītā. Then the mind will come in control. The speed of the mind is such that you are sitting in Moscow, but in one second your mind can be in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, anywhere. And it can go around the world and come back in one minute. Isn't it? Mind has to be very carefully controlled. Don't think it is difficult to control. If you practice, then the mind will come in control. Then nārada-muni says, control of the senses. Sarvopādi vidinmuktam tat parvena nirmalam reṣikīna reṣikīna sevṇa-bhaktir ucyate. In the Narada Pancharātmā it is said that reṣikēśa, reṣikēśa means the proprietor of the senses. So if the senses are used in service of the proprietor of the senses, then one will become free of all designations. What are the designations? I am this body and my body must be enjoyed. Do you have such a phrase in Ruski also? So talk may be cheap otherwise, but it is possible if we practice the path. If the senses are engaged in service to the Lord, then there is no opportunity for going into Maya. It's like if this glass is full of water, then can you add any milk inside? Can you? So similarly, if your mind and senses are engaged all the time positively, then it won't create a disturbance. When the child is running all over the house and creating a disturbance, what does the intelligent mother do? She takes a paper and pencil, makes the child sit down, and tell the child, now sit down and do some drawing. And when the child is engaged in the positive way, then he stops creating a disturbance. So if the senses are engaged in a positive way, then they will not create a disturbance. Otherwise, the senses will go in the direction of our eternal enemy. And what is our eternal enemy? Who knows? Kama. Kama is the eternal enemy of the living entity. Kama means lust, L-U-S-T. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa was asked a very nice question by Arjuna. Arjun said, "How is it that in spite of knowing what is right and wrong, one is still forced into sinful activities?" So Kṛṣṇa said, "It is lust only, the all-devouring enemy of the living entity that is always burning like fire and never satisfied." Some people have the philosophy that lust can be satisfied by fulfilling the desires of the senses. Like I've heard now in your country you have the Rajneesh organization also. So what is their philosophy? Don't control your senses. Why should you control your senses? Satisfy your senses unlimitedly and one day will come when you won't desire any more sense enjoyment. That day will never come. It is explained in the scriptures that even in old age the desire for sense enjoyment does not go. It is just that in old age the parts of the body do not cooperate. The organs of the body stay— become weak. So the mind may say, "Come on, I want this enjoyment," but the organs of the body say, "Sorry, our working time is over now." The mind says, "Do overtime," but the organs say, "No, sorry, now it is holiday, no more." So basically what we are talking about is the heart has to be cleansed. Krishna tells Arjuna that lust is eternal enemy of the living entity. He also says where this lust can be found. When you're fighting a war with an enemy and you know exactly where the enemy is sitting, then it is easy to conquer him. So Krishna says, where is this lust? Where? Mind, intelligence, and the senses. The lust is hiding behind the eyes, is hiding behind the ears, the nose, the tongue, and all the senses, because all of them want sense enjoyment. So we have to control these senses. Prabhupāda used to give an example of different animals, how they try to achieve sense enjoyment and how they end up meeting their death. For example, the fish. Now the fish has one big desire for sense enjoyment. What is that desire? Who knows? To eat. So the fisherman knows how to get— what is the weakness of the fish. So the fisherman, when he goes to fish, he puts that food on the bait, isn't it? And the fish sees the bait downstairs underwater, says, "Oh, some more for my appetite." And it goes towards the bait and it gets captured to death. You know that deer is an animal that runs very fast? Have you ever seen a deer? I saw some deer in Canada recently. The way they run, it's amazing. They run so fast, nobody can catch them. But the deer has one weakness. What is that weakness? So the hunter, when he goes to capture the deer, what does he do? He plays a particular melody. Now don't ask me what that melody is because I don't know. So the hunter plays that melody and the deer who is always running, it hears that melody and it says, "Oh, where is that melody coming from?" So the deer stops running and begins to search out where the melody is coming from. He shoots the deer. So this is how the deer dies, trying to satisfy its ears. Then you have the example of the bee, very keen to satisfy its nose. So the bee travels all day from one flower to another, and ultimately it finds shelter in a lotus flower.

So when it finds a lotus flower, it says, "Oh, this is heaven," and it just goes into samadhi.

But in the evening, by the laws of nature, the lotus flower closes.

And when lotus flower closes, the bee gets trapped to death. So see how the bee died. Then you have the elephant who is also very difficult to capture. So what does the hunter do? The he elephant is made to follow the she elephant. While the he elephant is following the she elephant, what the hunter, they dig a ditch and the ditch is covered with grass. So the he elephant is following the she elephant to satisfy its sex desire and the she elephant traps it and the he elephant ends up falling in the ditch, in that hole which is covered by grass. And then the cruel hunter comes and takes or kills him. So we have 5 knowledge acquiring senses. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and genitals. So Nārada Muni is saying in this point, the senses must be controlled, and if you don't control the senses, then you cannot succeed spiritually. Now there's one big difference between the animals and the human animal. Case of the animals, it is usually just one sense that is more dominant. By this I mean, Like in the case of fish, it is mainly the tongue. In the case of the elephant, the genitals. In the case of the deer, the ear. But in the case of the human beings, all the senses are fighting for satisfaction at the same time. So see how risky our life is. With your eyes you want to see something beautiful all the time, something filthy. With the ears you want to hear some good music all the time. Therefore, in this human form of life, We have to engage the senses in service to the Lord. And we have the example of King Amresh. How King Amresh used all the senses in service to the Lord. He used his eyes to see the beautiful temple of the Lord, to see the beautiful Deities of the Lord. He used his leg to walk to the temple of the Lord. He used his hand to clean the temple of the Lord. He used his head to bow down before the Lord. So this way we have to— he used his nose to smell incense offered to the Lord. So by this process we have to learn how to engage the senses in service to the Lord. If a devotee is engaged in devotional service all the time, then the senses will be fully satisfied. Just like in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is an example that once an arrow-maker, a person was sharp— making business of making arrows. He was sharpening his arrows. So he was so absorbed in sharpening the arrows that even the king passed by in front of his shop with his whole entourage and music, but he did not notice it. So if our senses are engaged, then there's no problem. What is the most popular sport in Russia? Football. Football, soccer. Okay. So when suppose you go to somebody's house who's absorbed in watching a football game, and you tell him, "Please buy this Bhāgavad-gītā," he won't even look at you because his mind is absorbed in watching that match. So if the senses are engaged in a positive way, then we will be spiritually safe and we'll be able to make spiritual progress. Non-violence. So non-violence means that no violence. But this doesn't mean that if somebody attacks you that you keep quiet. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when he saw That Nityānanda was attacked by whom? The guy in Madurai. The guy in Madurai had attacked Nityānanda. Everybody knows this story. Okay, so I'll explain the story. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as I told you earlier, had told all his associates, "Just go house to house and preach the glories of the holy name." So Lord Nityānanda was out with his sankīrtana party chanting Hare Nāma. Just like when you people go on Gorky Street, Some people who are drunk, they come and make fun of you. I know in America it is very common. In America when we go on a harinama, it is very common some drunkard will come with his bottle and make fun in front of us. So there were two drunkards, Jagāya and Madāya. So they saw Nityānanda chanting and they were drunk, so they attacked Nityānanda. So as soon as Caitanya Mahāprabhu found out that Nityānanda was attacked by these drunkards. Caitanya Mahāprabhu at once came on the scene and He was releasing His sudarśana-chakra to kill Jagāya-mādhāya. But then Nityānanda Prabhu stopped Him. He said, "This is typical of what is going to happen in the age of Kali. Everyone is like Jagāya-mādhāya." And then by the mercy of Nityānanda, this Jagāya-mādhāya was saved and they became great devotees of the Lord. So the point is that a devotee is generally not violent. We don't believe in killing even an ant. In the Bhāgavatam, there is a story of Jādbhārata and King Ruhugana. So Jādbhārata was a Brahmin who was requested to carry the king in a palanquin. So all the other carriers of the king's palanquin, they were just running, but Jādbhārata would not even keep his feet on the ground till he saw that he was not stepping on an ant. So for the next 3 feet, He would see to make sure that he did not step over any ant. So this is our definition of non-violence. Don't attack anyone. Even the ant has a right to live. So intentionally we don't kill anyone. Next is celibacy. Actually, I had told the brahmacharis that I was going to give them a special lecture just on brahmacharya ashram. So celibacy is actually for everyone in spiritual life. Even if you are in the Kriyāśrama ashram, you have to more or less follow the principles of celibacy. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhāgavad-gītā: "I am also sex life that is not contrary to religious principles." So a grihastha, if he uses sex life just to procreate, that is as good as celibacy. But in the— those who are in the brahmachari, brahmacharini ashram, they have to follow certain guidelines so that their celibacy can be maintained. In the Vedas, unrestricted mixing of men and women is restricted. Just like if you have butter next to fire, it will melt. Similarly, by unrestricted enjoy— association, the spiritual determination will melt. Therefore celibacy is important regardless of whether you are brahmachari or grihastha or vanaprastha. And for sannyāsi, there are very strict rules of celibacy. Then charity. So charity is very similar to mercy. I was telling you that Rūpa Gosvāmī talks about 6 rāsas amongst devotees. One is to give in charity and the other is to accept in charity. So we give in charity these books of Prabhupāda and we accept in charity donation that people give for printing more books. Sometimes people tell us, "Why do you want to charge for these Gitas? Why don't you give it free?" Even in India they say like that. So we tell them, "Okay, we'll give it to you free, but give us free paper, free printing." That's all. So if we have to pay for the printing, for the paper, everything, naturally we have to recover the cost. So the devotee gives in charity the Kṛṣṇa conscious knowledge, and he accepts in charity donation to facilitate the expansion of that knowledge. Next is reading of scriptures. Prabhupāda used to say that, "I am writing these books not just for distribution, but my disciples must read these books." So reading is very important. Just like when you go on book distribution and somebody tells you, "Oh, Prabhu, please tell me, mister, sir, tell me what's inside these books." And you tell him, "Sorry, I don't know what's inside." So you must read these books. You must know what is in these books. Because if you do not know what is in these books, how will you know what is right and wrong? So we must study these books every day. Prabhupāda used to read his own translation of the Gītā every day. So by reading these books, our spiritual intelligence will get sharp. And when the intelligence is sharp, then you can discriminate between what is right and what is wrong. Just like when you have a sharp knife, it is easy to cut a rope, isn't it? So Bhāgavatam says, with the axe of knowledge, cut the nescience of ignorance. Therefore we must read these books, sharpen our intelligence, and cut the nescience, cut the knot of material entanglement. So we have only discussed about 12 of the 30 principles. The rest we'll discuss tomorrow morning. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. So I only have 1 hour exactly to discuss the verse which we started discussing yesterday. So yesterday we were discussing from the 7th Canto, Narada Muni's explanation of principles that everyone in the human form of life must cultivate. Does anybody remember the last principle that we discussed yesterday? Let's see how good your memory is. What is the last point that we had discussed yesterday? It was the principle of reading the scriptures. Prabhupāda said that these books that I am writing, they must be read by his devotees. Prabhupāda said that if you go out and distribute these books and if somebody wants to know what's inside these books, you will not know if you don't read them. Yes. So as devotees, we must study these books carefully. By studying these books, two important gains will be realized. One, the philosophy will make your intelligence very sharp, and with sharp intelligence you will easily be able to reject the temptation of Maya. And two, you will be able to convince others why they should take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If you just go and tell people, "You are not this body, take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness," they will not take. But if you tell them the philosophy, As to why spiritual life is superior to material life, then they will take to it. Prabhupāda ste worked so hard to produce these books. Even when Prabhupāda was sick, he would not stop translating these books. For example, I personally saw with my own eyes the difficult conditions under which Prabhupāda translated this Tenth Canto, Part Three. Prabhupāda was so sick that he could not even sit down. He could not even read or hear. So one devotee, two devotees were helping Prabhupāda sit down. One devotee was holding the microphone. One devotee was reading the Sanskrit verses, and Prabhupāda was translating and speaking to the dictaphone. So Prabhupāda went through all this difficulty because he said that these books will guide humanity for the next 10,000 years. And one day these books will become the law books of the world because nobody can defeat The philosophy that is in these books. Why have all of you come to Krishna consciousness? Because you read the philosophy and you found it very convincing. Who can deny that this body gives nothing but misery? Neither the Americans, nor the Russians, nor the Indians. No one can deny. Who can deny that the body will get old, diseased, and eventually die? Who can deny that there is something in the body which doesn't die? So we must read these scriptures, study these scriptures, and with the arguments in the scriptures, defeat the materialists. Another principle is simplicity. Our philosophy is simple living and high thinking, and the materialistic philosophy is high living and simple thinking. Like, at least in these Western countries, they can buy everything on credit. People in those countries don't even use money, they use credit cards. So if somebody is earning 100 rubles a month, he will spend 300 rubles a month. Everything is on credit. So, but that is because they want to have a very high standard of living. And their thinking is very simple, like the animals, just thinking, "How can I eat, sleep, defend, and mate?" A devotee lives very simply. We have the example of the Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana.

The Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana would live underneath a simple, a different tree every day. And they build the most opulent temples to glorify Kṛṣṇa. Just like to glorify their Lordship, Rādhā-Rādhmī-ārī, Prabhupāda built this very opulent temple in Bombay, but not for devotees. Devotees have to live very simply. You people are blessed in the sense that in your country, by and large, everybody lives quite simply. So simple living and high thinking. We live very simply and we are thinking always how, how the goal of life can be realized. In other words, in our heart and mind we should be thinking how to please Kṛṣṇa. What is the highest consciousness, daivin consciousness? Divine consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So satisfaction is very important for a spiritualist because the materialist is never satisfied. As much as he has is less than what he should have. Just like Narada Muni has made a very nice statement. Narada Muni says A hungry man you can satisfy when you give him food. A thirsty man you can satisfy when you give him water. An angry man is satisfied when— Angry man is satisfied when he's allowed to shout. But a greedy man can never be satisfied. So a devotee must be satisfied with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. Not that the devotee is always grumbling, grumbling, grumbling. Devotee may try, but eventually he must understand that Kṛṣṇa is the controller. So We can be satisfied if our wants are simple. Next point is rendering service to saintly persons. So, just by serving an advanced Vaiṣṇava, one makes spiritual advancement. Nārada Muni was asked by Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva, as you know, was a disciple of Nārada Muni. So Nārada Muni was asked, "How did you become such an elevated spiritual personality?" So Nādhāmuni said that in his previous life, his mother was serving in the house of some great sages. And his mother was serving the great sages, and sometimes Nādhāmuni, as a son of this maidservant, would get the opportunity to eat the remnants of foodstuff left by the great sages. And He would get the opportunity to listen to the speeches, the sermons of the great sages. So just by that service which he had done to the great sages, he in his next birth took this high birth. So by serving a Vaishnava, one is never a loser. In material life, everybody thinks, "Oh, why should I serve him?" Because everyone's ego is very strong. They don't want to go to somebody's house till the other person comes to his house first. But a Vaiṣṇava is always ready to serve, especially advanced Vaiṣṇavas. Next point is gradually taking leave of unnecessary engagements. So this is very significant since many of you are coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but you may be in a situation where to accept Kṛṣṇa consciousness completely may not be very easy. Of course, as far as the bad habits are concerned, We give up the bad habits as soon as we discover that these bad habits are detrimental for spiritual advancement. But you may be engaged in some engagement which you may have to do due to some compulsory obligation, but which may not be very good for your Kṛṣṇa conscious advancement. So Nārada Muni is saying that if you are in such a situation, then gradually you must make plan.— that you can gradually give up these unnecessary engagements so that your spiritual mission will not be checked. As we discussed yesterday, Rūpa Gosvāmī's advice is, we accept everything favorable for spiritual advancement and reject everything unfavorable. Next point is observing the futility of the unnecessary activities of human society. So Nādhmaṇī is saying in this verse that We must understand that in this human society, so many unnecessary activities are taking place which are simply a distraction to human society. Just like, for example, the materialists, they have built so many big, big factories, industries, and they have created an artificial society in which everybody is just working from morning to night. Just to achieve sense gratification. Now what has happened? Now they're discovering all of a sudden, just like till, till few years ago, there was a big arms race going on between the superpowers. They were spending so much money in armaments that there was no money for the people, but the arms had to be built all over the world. But now they have discovered that it is useless to spend so much money on arms, and they've also discovered that making these nuclear weapons is very dangerous. Now they are also discovering that all these factories, etc., that they have built, it is polluting the air. In all these big cities of the world, so much poison is being inhaled every day. So all this has happened because we have tried to create an artificial society based on the principle of sense enjoyment. If a devotee finds himself in a situation where he is engaged in some unnecessary engagement, Then even if he cannot give it up immediately, he should work towards giving it up so that he can concentrate on his spiritual mission. This is Nārada Muni's advice. We must understand that this artificially human society will not give us satisfaction. So realising that this society is artificial, we should not be attracted to it. Our attraction must be towards Kṛṣṇa, not towards this artificial, temporary, miserable world. Kṛṣṇa says that two characteristics of material existence, which means misery, and aśāśatam, which means everything is temporary. Next point is remaining silent and grave and avoiding unnecessary talk. So a devotee is grave. Gravity is one of the features of a Vaiṣṇava's life. So gravity and silence does not mean that when he has to open his mouth, he does not open his mouth. It doesn't mean that when somebody comes to you and says, "Please tell me who is Kṛṣṇa?" You say— So when Nārada Muni says remaining silent and grave, what Nārada Muni means is that we should only talk Kṛṣṇa-katha and not anything except Kṛṣṇa-katha. Unnecessary talk is defined by Rūpa Gosvāmī as prajālpa. So if a devotee is grave and serious and he's avoiding prajālpa, then automatically he will only talk Kṛṣṇa-katha. So, some or the other, we must engage in Kṛṣṇa-katha. And by engaging in Kṛṣṇa-katha, we can make spiritual advancement. So in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there's a very nice story of Jadbharta. Of course, I don't have the time to explain the whole story, but I will tell you in a nutshell. There, Jadbharta, as you know, was the same King Bharata who was the ruler of the world. So as a young king of the world, He had renounced his beautiful wife, children, opulence, and he had gone to the forest to practice meditation. But in the forest, unfortunately, he had got attached to a deer, and so in his next life he became a deer. So in his— but because he had done devotional service also as a king, he did not have to stay for long as a deer, and he soon took his birth in the family of a Brahmana. When he took his birth in the family of a Brahmana, he had determined that now he's not going to make the same mistake that he made previously when he took his birth as a king. In English there's a saying, "Once burned, twice shy." So Jada Bharata, when he took his birth as a Brahman, he had said that now I'm going to be, I'm going to pretend in society as if I'm deaf and dumb. So Jada Bharata, he would not even talk to anyone, he would not laugh. Every people were throwing stones at him, laughing at him, but still he did not get involved in any conversation. One day a king called King Rahugana was being carried in a palanquin, and those who were carrying the king in a palanquin, they needed help. So they saw this very handsome man, Jadbharta. They said, "Please come and help carry the king." So Jadbharta had no choice, and he also started helping carrying the king. But the other people who were carrying the king, they were Sudras. Sudra means they had no understanding of Self-realization. But Janmabharta, because he was a Brahmin, he would not step, put his feet on the ground till he made sure that there was no ant on the floor. Now, if 4 or 5 people are carrying somebody and 4 people are going fast and 1 man is walking slow, then everybody becomes slow. So the king got very angry. He said, "Why is my palanquin going so slowly?" So the other palanquin carrier said, "Sir, it's not our fault. We are running, but this man that we just added to our team is going very slow." So the king got very angry at Jadbharta. He said, "You fool, you don't know you're slowing down my palanquin." So anyway, for the first few minutes, Jadbharta let the king shout at him. But Jadbharta knew that he was an advanced Brahmana. And the king by insulting him was digging his own grave. So then Jadbharta finally started speaking. Jadbharta told the king, "Today you may be king up and I am down, but tomorrow I could be sitting up and you could be down." So then the king came to his senses and he became Jadbharta's disciple. So I have related this story to emphasize the point which is being made here.— that the devotee is silent and grave. He doesn't talk unnecessary, but when it comes to preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he's second to none. He's ahead of everyone. So do not use your tongue for criticizing other Vaiṣṇavas or for mundane talk, but use your tongue to constantly serve the Lord. Next point is considering whether one is the body or the soul. This is important in human life to understand that you are not this body. You can see the body is changing at every minute. You can look at a picture of yourself, say when you were 5 or 6 years old, and look at a picture of yourself now. You will say, this is I when I was 5 or 6 years old. How can you say this is I when I was 5 or 6 years old? Your body looks completely different now. But the reason why you can say this is I when I was a young child is because the soul was there in the body then, and the soul is there in the body now. So we must understand the difference between the dosha and the body. Distributing food equally to all living entities, says to both men and animals. It is said that a grihasta, before he starts to eat, he must go out of his door and shout 3 times, "Is there any hungry man?" And if some hungry man comes, then he has to give him food. But if after shouting for 3 times no hungry man comes, then he can sit down and eat.