SB 7.6: Important Instructions by Prahlāda Mahārāja | Rus-Split | 15.7.92 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Prasada Mahārāja. We have one hour in which we'll discuss Pralāda Mahārāja's instructions to his classmates. This morning we had discussed about Lord Nrsimhadeva's appearance and the background that led to his appearance. Pralāda Mahārāja's instructions to his classmates can be found in the 6th chapter of the 7th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So what we will do is We will take the important verses from this chapter and discuss it. So Pralad Mahāj, as I told you this morning, Pralad Mahāj had the fortune of receiving this transcendental knowledge when he was in the womb of his mother. You and I may, may not have had that fortune, but Pralad certainly had. Therefore, Pralad Mahāj is recognized in the Vedic scriptures as one of the 12 authorities or mahajans. Now this also proves another important point, that is, the child in the mother's womb has consciousness. The modern-day scientists who claim that life comes after the child comes out of the mother's womb are wrong, because everything that Prahlada instructed was what he had heard from the womb of his mother, from Narada Muni. So Prahlada Maharaj starts off his instruction by saying "Kamara aśrat prāgyo dharmām bhāgavatāmya dhurlabha-mānasam jñāṇmā tad api adruvam arthaḍham." He says, "My dear friends, please realize that this human life is realized with great, great difficulty." Dhurlabha-mānasam jñāṇmā. Dhurlabha-mānasam jñāṇmā means great, great difficulty. Dhurla means difficult. Therefore he said, One who is sufficiently intelligent, he should use this rare human body for what? For establishing his relationship with the Lord. Kaumara. Kaumara means when a child attains the age of 5. So from the age of 5 onwards, a child must be trained in spiritual activities. Prabhupada said, till the age of 5, you can let the child do anything he wants. Let him do nonsense if he wants. But from the age of 5 onwards, the parents must start discipline the child and teach the child about spiritual education. We see in the material world that people want to educate their child from the age of 3 in modern technology. Like in many schools in America, from the age of 4, children are trained in computers now. So they'll train a child in computers from the age of 4 because they recognize that computers are very important, but Spiritual life, they don't have to worry about training at all. Therefore, Pralad Mahārāja states, from the age of 5, one should start investigating what is the goal of life and how one can establish one's relationship with the Lord. Therefore, in our Kṛṣṇa conscious families, from the age of 5, we start giving children spiritual education. From the age of 5, the parents teach the child about the importance of practicing spiritual culture. So Pralad Maharaj then told his classmates, devotional service to Lord Vishnu is something very natural. Why is devotional service very natural? Because the Lord is the master of the individual and residing in the heart of everyone as the Super Soul. And Pralad said, the Lord is the real well-wisher of everyone. Yesterday when we were explaining the— yesterday evening When we were explaining the meaning of Takarabakti Nāhā's Jīv-jāgoṇa song, we explained how the sadhu is the real friend of every living entity. The sadhu is the well-wisher of everyone because the Supreme Lord, who is the master and the creator of everyone, is the real well-wisher. Why do the sages engage in service to the Lord? Because they know that the Lord is the real enjoyer, the real proprietor. Therefore, it is said in the Bhāgavad-gītā, Bhaktanam yajñetāposaṁ sarvalokam haiśvaram sūdam sarva-bhūtanam gātamaṁ santim rācchati. That the great sages, they know that Viṣṇu is the real bhakta, enjoyer. So in this verse from Bhagavad-gītā, 5th chapter, 3 important points have been made. Bhaktanam yajñetāposaṁ. If you understand these 3 points, if you always remember these 3 points, then your mission in life is achieved. In many lectures that Prabhupada gave, he emphasized these three points, and he said all you need to do is just remember these three points. You want to hear these three points? You'll memorize them. Today is a very auspicious day to memorize it, but not only memorize it, you have to practice it. So the first point is that Vishnu is the proprietor of everything. Second point, that he is the well-wisher of all living entities. So by this it means the following: when Krishna says give up sense enjoyment and your mind says don't give up sense enjoyment, you have to understand that Krishna knows better than your mind. And the third point is that Vishnu is the supreme enjoyer of everything. So once you recognize that Krishna is the enjoyer and you are to be enjoyed, then you also become enjoyer, then you also become happy. After all, when we acknowledge that Krishna is the enjoyer It doesn't mean that Kṛṣṇa says you don't have to eat, you don't have to sleep, you don't have to wear clothes. All it means is that you first offer everything in service to the Lord and then you eat the remnants. Just like very soon your devotees are going to have a nice feast this evening. The feast has been first offered to the Lord and then the devotees eat the remnants. So if you remember these three things: that Kṛṣṇa is the proprietor, Kṛṣṇa is your well-wisher, Kṛṣṇa is your enjoyer. Then Prabhupāda said, you'll be all— you'll always be happy and peaceful. So then Pralāda explained, why do you have to over-endeavor for happiness? Pralāda said, sukham indriyākam detya dehā yojena dahīnam sarvata labhete daivāt yatha duhkham ayatnāha. This means that according to your past actions your quota of happiness and distress has been predetermined. Just like misery— misery comes without your asking for misery. So Pralad explains, similarly, happiness will also come without your asking for it. All this has been determined by your past activities. It is not that if you over-endeavor, you're going to get a higher quota of sense happiness. And Pralad said, this so-called happiness that is in relationship with the senses. This happiness through the medium of senses can be obtained in any form of life. It is not that only in the human form of life can you get this happiness through the senses. Even the animals are realizing happiness through their senses. It is not that the animals do not know the art of eating, sleeping, defending, mating. The animals learn the art of eating, sleeping, defending, mating without having to go to school or magu or anywhere. So Pralad is saying that everybody today is over-enduring for happiness through the senses, but this is available even to the animals. And throughout, Pralad was always addressing his classmates, 'O sons of demons.' Why was he saying that? Because all these boys' parents, fathers, were loyal servants of Hiranyakashipu. And because Hiranyakashipu was a demon, everybody who was serving him loyally also fell in the same category. So Prasad was saying, do not waste your time in useless activities, but use this time for what? For cultivating the principles of devotional service. Prasad's point was simple: don't waste this valuable human life. And if the human form of life is wasted, you will not realize another birth for many millions of years. Now Prahlāda, with logic, was trying to convince his friends how human life is very short. So Prahlāda said, let us suppose a man can live for 100 years. Now Prahlāda said, even assuming that you can live for 100 years, at least half the life is wasted in just sleeping in the night. So Prahlāda said, one who cannot control his senses, one who is in ignorance, at least 12 hours a day are wasted just in sleeping. That means the man is not living for 100 years, but he's living for only 50 years. Now after these 50 years, Prahlāda said, 10 years goes away in childhood, in just playing. In that first 10 years, Prahlāda said, the child is completely bewildered. He doesn't know what he should do, and time is wasted. Then another 10 years goes away in sporting activities— playing baseball, hockey, running. Then another 20 years goes away in worrying about old age and disease. You get old, you're always worried about the body. You can talk about Self-Realization now because your body is very healthy, but in old age People are just worried about keeping their body together. So Pralad said 20 years are wasted in old age due to disease and worrying about death. You know how much old people worry about death? A lot. They are worried about the uncertainty, what's going to happen after death. You devotees may laugh at it because you know what's going to happen after death, but the materialist doesn't laugh at the, at the thought of death. So Pralad said, even assuming you're living for 100 years 50 years has gone away in sleeping, 20 years in playing and growing up and playing hockey and so on, 20 years in worrying about old age, death. All that is left then is 10 years. And one whose senses are uncontrolled, mind is uncontrolled, even those 10 years, Prahlāda said, are wasted. Why? Because he's just thinking how can he satisfy his lusty desires. So Prahlāda Mahārāja said, uncontrolled senses uncontrolled mind is most dangerous for spiritual path. Then Pralad Maharaj began to instruct his classmates about what are the normal attachments that one develops in the human form of life. You'll be amazed when you see how accurate Pralad Maharaj's predictions are. And these predictions were made thousands of years ago, not 50 years ago. So Pralad Maharaj first says that the biggest attachment is the attachment to family life. He says an attached householder who's attached to wife, children, relatives, etc., he doesn't think about spiritual life. Just like a man is bound by ropes, and when he's bound by ropes he cannot free himself, so similarly one who is in the material concept of family life, he's bound by the ropes of attachment And due to the ropes of attachment, he's unable to see what is the real mission of life. In the Srimad Bhāgavatam, there's a very nice story that explains the foolishness of developing unnecessary attachment to family life. Before I explain this story, I want to make it clear that what Pralad Maharaj is talking is about material family life. If somebody is living as a grihastha and not a grihamedhi, then it is another thing. So there were two birds, husband, wife, living in the forest. They were madly in love with each other. The husband was all day appreciating the beauty of the wife, and the wife was all day appreciating the beauty of the husband. The story is from the Bhagavatam, so I don't feel bad in describing it in this manner. So slowly, slowly, they had few children. They were very happy in the nest. You know, birds, they bring different straws and they make a nice nest. So they were very happy in their nest, and slowly, slowly their children were growing. And as their children were growing, it was giving the parents great delight. One day, the father and mother went to the forest to bring some food for the children. And because the children were grown up, they flew out of the nest, and they were walking near the tree. They were— the children were just playing. There was a cruel hunter walking by. He saw those nice sweet birds walking around near the tree. So the hunter threw his net and he had the children trapped in the net. When Mr. and Mrs. Bird came back with their food, they saw to their shock their beloved ones standing right in front of them but trapped in the hunter's net. The wife said, "Here are my beloved ones standing right in front of me, but there's nothing I can do to free them." The only purpose of my living was to make my children happy, and now I'm caught. There's nothing. They're right in front of me, and there's nothing I can do to free them. And thus thinking, the wife also fell in the hunter's net. So the mother and the children were all under the— in the hunter's net. The poor father was lamenting, I have wasted this valuable life just trying to flatter my wife and children. Now they're standing in front of me. 'But there's nothing I can do to free them. How foolish I am.' And thus, thinking like that, he also fell in the hunter's net. So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam illustrates this story to point out this is exactly the position of what will happen to those attached householders who are just busy from morning to night catering to each other's wishes and not understanding what should be the prime goal of life. You devotees know the story of Valmiki. How Valmiki previously was a very big criminal. You know who Valmiki is? He's like the compiler of the Ramayana. Actually, there are two editions of the Ramayana. One is by Valmiki and one is by Tulsidas. But we Vaishnavas accept the Valmiki Ramayana to be bona fide and not the Tulsidas version. The Tulsidas version has, has touches of impersonalism inside. So Valmiki was a big criminal. But he was a big criminal just because he was trying to rob people, murder people, everything, just for the benefit of his wife, children, and parents. One day, when Valmiki was in the forest, he met a great sage. Anyone who would pass by in the forest, Valmiki would rob him of his money. So when the sage was coming, Valmiki said, "Give me everything you have." The sage said, "I'll give you." I have a lot. But what do you want it for? Do you want it for yourself? He said, no, for my wife, my parents, my children. I have to make them all happy. Then the sage told him, do you realize for all this crime that you're committing, you'll have to take on the sinful reaction? So the Valmiki said, if I have to take reaction, no problem, since I'm doing all this crime for my parents, children, uh, wife. They'll all share it with me. So the sage said, okay, please go and confirm it, and if it's a fact that they will share it with you, I'll give you a lot of valuable possessions. So when Ajamil came to his parents, he said, I've just discovered that all this time I was committing a crime for which I'll have to take on the reaction. Since I gave the money I robbed to you, will you please share just 25% of the sinful reaction? So the parents said, "We never told you to commit this crime. We can't suffer 25% of the punishment." Then he went to his wife, said, "I've been giving you all this jewelry. Sorry, I've been getting all that by committing a lot of crime. I've just realized I'll have to take on the sinful reaction. Can you please share 25% of the crime or the punishment due to me?" She also refused. Children also refused. Then Valmiki came to the understanding, "Yes, this sage was right. I've been committing all this crime for their welfare, and now they don't want to share any sinful reaction." So then Valmiki gave up all this and became— he started chanting the names of Rāma. Actually, he was such a thorough, such a big criminal, that when the sage told him to chant the name Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, He could not even utter the word Ram. He was such a big criminal. He was uttering the word mar, mar, mar, mara, mara, mara. Mara, mara means kill, kill, kill, kill. And that gradually turned to Rama, Rama, Rama. And then Valmiki meditated for 60,000 years, and then he compiled the Shreeramayan. So Prasad Maharaj has first pointed out the foolishness of attached krihasta life. Then he says money is sweeter than honey. You may think that this state— this is a modern-day invention, this— for this statement, honey— money sweeter than honey. But this was stated by Prasad Maharaj. This is in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Prasad said money is sweeter than honey, and in order to get money, one will commit any amount of crime. So in today's world, doesn't matter whether you have communism, capitalism, socialism, India, America, Russia, Everybody only has one religion, and that religion is hook or crook, make money by honest means or dishonest means, doesn't matter. All we need is money. So Prahlad Maharaj pointed out that just to make money, a man will do anything. So you see that all over the world, for money, people will do anything. In India, I meet so many businessmen, they are strict vegetarians themselves. But to make money, they're running hotels and bars, and in these hotels they serve meat, everything. So I tell them, you're vegetarian but you're selling meat, so you're also going to get the karma. But they, but it's okay, we won't get the karma. They only want the money. So for money, people are ready to do anything, whether it's slaughtering animals, slaughtering babies, or doing anything else. So Prasad said that For all these sins that one commits, Yamraj is going to punish the living entity. Pralad said, "Those who steal other people's wealth, those who steal other people's relatives, they will be severely punished by Yamraj." In the Fifth Canto of the Bhāgavatam, there's a vivid explanation of the hellish planets. And Pralad— it is explained over there by Śukadeva Gosvāmī how when you rob somebody's wealth, How when you rob somebody's wife, how you have to be punished. So Pralad was pointing out how one should just be content with simple living rather than try and obtain through any means, um, um, wealth to have a high standard of sense enjoyment. So Pralad told his friends, y'all are all living in demonic families because your relatives are only interested in sense exploitation. Those who are attached to the concept of family life and the extension of family life are simply demons, Pralhad explained. He said, take shelter of the devotees of the Lord, associate with the devotees of the Lord, and take shelter of Narayana, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So Pralhad, as you can see, was very strong in his preaching. Now this morning I told you that Pralhad Maharaj, when he was asked by his father, Hyāne Kāśyapū, My dear son, please tell me, what have you learned from the teachers? He said, Shraavanam ketanam vishnusvanam pada sevnam acha mandyam dasyam sakhyam advani vedam. So Prasad Maharaj is the author of the Ninefold Process of Devotional Service. So it is important that we meditate on these nine limbs of devotional service on an auspicious day like today. So Shraavanam ketanam, as we know, means to chant and hear. What do we chant and hear? There are many subject matters for chanting and hearing, but devotees are only interested in the right subject matter. That is chanting and hearing the Names of the Lord. So the more you can chant and hear, the better and safer you'll be spiritually. In old age, Haridas Thakur was not feeling very well. So Haridas, as you know, used to always chant 300,000 times a day the holy Names of Kṛṣṇa. One day, Caitanya Mahāprabhu told him, "Hārīdaṣ, what is your disease? Please tell me what is your disease?" Hārīdaṣ said, "My disease is that I can't chant my rounds. I can't complete my rounds. That is my disease." So if we complete our rounds nicely— in this morning in the initiation lecture, we were explaining how one must chant his rounds, but not only chant the rounds, but chant the rounds avoiding the 10 offenses and chant attentively. So śravana-kīrtanam is the foundation for spiritual life. Just like when if we put food in the stomach, all the parts of your body become strong. Similarly, if your śravana-kīrtanam is good, attentive, then all good qualities will develop. A devotee does not have to separately endeavor for these qualities. So if śravana-kīrtanam is strong, then Viṣṇu-smāraṇam will also develop. Who knows the meaning of Viṣṇu-smāraṇam? To remember the Lord. Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja is a classic example of one who practiced Viśnu-smārṇam. What was Prahlāda doing? He was always meditating. What was he meditating on? Who knows? One person said he was always meditating on Kṛṣṇa. So another person said Prahlāda was meditating on the desires of the Lord. Of course, both are partially correct. Prahlāda was obviously always meditating on Kṛṣṇa, but Prahlāda was also meditating How he can take all the conditioned souls back to Godhead? When Prahlāda would see that the materialists are trying to convert a position of distress to a position of comfort, his heart would lament. Even in today's society, you see, you see people trying to convert distress to happiness, don't you? People are in old age, hair are turning white, cheeks are getting wrinkled, teeth are following. You know, eyes are getting weak, they will go to the makeup, do surgery so that they still look young. When their hair turn white, they go to the hair, hair salon and dye their hair so they look very young. Dye your hair at home and you can dye to any color you want— black, browns, any— there are about 20 colors to choose. Then when your cheeks get wrinkled, you go to a good surgeon, he does surgery and your wrinkles from the cheeks goes away. And when your teeth begin to fall, you don't want to look bad and put a golden teeth, artificial golden teeth. You go to a good dentist, he'll give you perfectly matching shade of teeth. So every attempt of distress is being attempted to be converted to comfort. So Prasad RAVAL said, when I look at this, my heart laments. So this is why he was always thinking, how can I give Krishna consciousness to everyone? Similarly, All your devotees should follow in the footsteps of Pralad Maharaj. Each of you should be thinking, how can you give Krishna consciousness to everyone? Doesn't matter whether you're brahmachari, sannyasi, brahmacharini, housewife. Everybody, if he wishes to, can utilize his facility for spreading the Lord's glories. So Pralad was always thinking how to give Krishna consciousness to others. I've explained to your devotees before, how book distribution history developed in ISKCON. When Prabhupada went to America, he just told his disciples, do book distribution, because his spiritual master had told him, print books and distribute books. So Prabhupada disciples started thinking, Prabhupada's telling us to do book distribution, but how to do it? So they started meditating. Someone said, oh, we'll go to a petrol station. Another person said, no, we'll go to shop. Somebody else said, I'll go and stand in front of a liquor shop. Prabhupada never told the disciples how to do book distribution. He only told them, do book distribution. And he said, increase book distribution. So everyone meditated how to do it, and they went and they experimented, and slowly, slowly they come up with newer, newer techniques how to increase book distribution. I see that had developing even in your country now. Your devotees know that Prabhupada instruction is increase book distribution. So some of you are traveling to remote areas where you would have never dreamt of going before, but— and you're discovering there are better ways to increase book distribution. So this should be our meditation: how can I increase? How can I increase my preaching? And if you're always meditating, how can you increase your preaching? Then Krishna will inspire you with new ideas. Just like all of you are fasting, You know you're going to break the fast at 7:30. So everyone's mentally calculating, now there are only 45 minutes left. Then it's at 7 o'clock, you all will calculate, now only half an hour left. And at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, you'll probably calculate, now 6 hours more are left. So just thinking like this gives you the strength to go on fasting. Like on Jānāmāsmī, when you fast for 24 hours. So you're constantly meditating, okay, now I only have so much, so much I've done, so much time is left. So similarly, and just like we are anxious to have prasad today, if we would announce that prasad has been postponed from 7:30 tonight to 7:30 tomorrow morning, all of you would be disappointed. So just like our absorption is in prasad, our absorption should be, how can I give Krishna consciousness to everyone? Like I told you all yesterday morning, every morning, literally, Prabhupada, when he would get up, he would get up with some new idea how to spread Krishna consciousness in whichever city he was. Now, if you focus your mind on how to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness through your abilities, through your skills, then the mind will not contemplate normal activities of sense enjoyment. Since times immemorial, the mind is accustomed to only thinking of sense enjoyment. Now, if you want to get rid of this thinking habit of the mind, you have to give the mind a positive load to meditate upon. So meditating on following the footsteps of Pralad is very easy. On this auspicious day, all of you can pray to Pralad Maharaj to please bless you all with the ability to always meditate the way he was meditating about the suffering of the conditioned souls. I always meet devotees in Soviet Union who said, Swami, please bless me that I can do book distribution. Please bless me I can do this. Please bless me I can do that. So now you— today you pray to Pralad Maharaj to bless you. To bless you so you can think like him. So that is Vishnu Smarna. Then Padasevanam. Padasevanam means to worship the lotus feet of the Lord. And Goddess Lakshmi, you always worship the lotus feet of Narayana. So, um, we— so that is Padasevanam. Archanam. Archanam means to meditate on the form of the Lord. And we meditate on the deities, just like you have Gauranithai deities and you're dressed up so nicely today. So meditate on the transcendental form. Then vandanam. Vandanam means to offer prayers to the Lord. To offer prayers, just like Prahlada Maharaja is offering so many prayers to the Lord. Just repeat those prayers. Now you may say, Prasad Raaval, we don't have the 7th Canto in Russian as yet. No problem. Go to the 1st Canto which you have in Russian. Read the prayers of Queen Kunti. The prayers of Queen Kunti are so powerful. That Prabhupada used to lecture on those prayers. He's lectured on those verses so many times, more than anything, I think. Meditate on Bhisma Dev's glorification of Krishna when he was about to die and repeat those prayers. So that is vandanam, not that you concoct something, but you repeat the words of the great sages. When this Krishna conscious movement first started in the West, you know, many people joined who were previously in rock groups, who used to play the guitar, and who were musical back. So all these devotees have a habit to write their own songs glorifying Krishna, but it was their own speculation and imagination in the middle. Prabhupada said there's no need to write these songs, just repeat the prayers of the songs composed by great sages. So that is vandana, just repeat the offering of prayers composed by great sages. So rasyam, rasyam means to carry out the orders of the Lord as as a servant. And sakyam means to carry out the orders of the Lord as a friend. Hanuman carried out the orders of the Lord as dasyam, and Arjuna carried out the orders of the Lord as sakyam. So carry out the orders of the Lord. What is the order of the Lord? There's so many orders. So you may say, which one do you want us to say? One order is sarvadharmah parityaja— give up everything and surrender to me. Another is whoever you meet, you talk to him about Krishna. So carry out these two orders and your life will be blissful. And then Ātmanivedyam. Ātmanivedyam means to surrender everything to the Lord. So execute this ninefold process of devotional service which has been given by Prasad RAVAL and you'll be happy, blissful, and wise. Krishna consciousness means happiness, unlimited happiness, no limit. Pay the price and get it. Nothing is free, and the price is the desire to become Krishna conscious. Chaitanya Mahāprabhu— Ramana Maharshi explained that you don't need money to become— to be happy. You don't need beauty. You don't have to be beautiful to become God conscious. You don't have to be educated to become God conscious. You just need one thing: greed and desire to become Krishna conscious. And if you have greed and desire, then Krishna is in your pocket, provided you make the effort in that direction. Hare Krishna. So, uh, there's going to be aarti at 7 o'clock. And at 7:30 there's going to be prasad. But today devotees are only going to get one drop of liquid prasad and one drop of morsel prasad. Rest of the prasad you'll get tomorrow morning. Okay, so I have to go now for my Russian classes. Okay, okay. Lecture tomorrow morning. Lectures, yes, tomorrow morning Bhagavadam class, 7:30. And I was discussing with Krishna Kumar, after the Bhagavadam class We'll have a separate meeting just with the Sankirtan devotees, the Sankirtan class, okay? After the class. Vaiśram nīyad pātamuṣto yā bodhu ye kātva leningādia. Hare Kṛṣṇa.