Sri Shikshashtakam Verses 1 and 2 | Rus- split | 23 Dec 1988 | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

This morning we discussed the qualities of a sadhu. I think some of you were there for the morning program, and yesterday we discussed the importance of controlling Om.

Yeah.

So today we shall start the discussion on sex-shāstra-ka. I think some of you may not be aware of what sikṣāṣṭaka means. I can see that in this audience we have some regular devotees, and we also have some friends who may be coming here for the first or second time. So we shall speak a language that everyone will be able to understand. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is considered to be the incarnation of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhāgavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, yadā yadāḥ dharmasaḥ glānir bhāvatiḥ bahārataḥ. That is, He appears from time to time in different forms, but He always appears with the same purpose: to get people to take to religious process. This is confirmed in the fourth chapter of the Gītā where Kṛṣṇa says, parītanāya sadhu-nām vinasyaccha duṣkataṁ. Dharmān sāṁstāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge. So the Lord appeared in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu in West Bengal, India, 500 years ago. Now when God appeared in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He appeared in the form of a devotee, but that does not mean that He was not God Himself. Actually, in the role of a devotee, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was teaching us how to love God. Just like, I'm sure all of you can recall and these young children can testify, that when you were in school, when you were young, learning how to write A, B, C, D. So the teacher sometimes would come and hold your hand and teach you how to write. That doesn't mean that the teacher has become the student, but the teacher is teaching the student how to write. So now Caitanya Mahāprabhu was playing the role of a devotee. No one should forget that He was the Param-Bhāgavān Himself. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to teach us to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was a young boy, just like you have these young children, Caitanya Mahāprabhu would cry when He was a young child. And he would stop crying only when the neighboring ladies would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. I'm sure there are many ladies here who have had children, but I'm sure their children don't stop crying when they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu's intention was to get people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, so from his very birth he would cry and the neighborhood ladies would all come. But they all knew that the only way this boy will stop crying is if they chanted. Normally our children stop crying when you give them some toys to play with. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, even when He was teaching as a teacher, He was working as a teacher, He would teach the grammar to the students using linking up everything to Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very learned in the philosophy. Of course, He was God, so God is all-knowledgeable. Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed His disciples to write volumes of books, especially the Gosvāmīs, the 6 Gosvāmīs of Vrindāvana. They were entrusted by Caitanya Mahāprabhu to study the vast Vedic literature and summarize it in simple form. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself, however, only wrote 8 verses which are known as Sikshastaka. So as we had announced this morning, we shall now attempt, proceed to discuss these verses. It will not be possible to finish all 8 in one sitting, so we'll discuss as many as we can now and continue the same tomorrow morning, tomorrow evening, and so on. Do you want an express train or do you want a a slow train. Do you want me to run through all the verses at the speed of an express train, or should I discuss it slowly but thoroughly? Okay. So I'll read the first verse. Ceto derpan mārjanam mahāvamāk-dvāgṇī-nirvāpanam śrīya-kāra-vāc-candikā-vītalam vidyavādu jīvanam anandam-bhūti-vardhanam prati-padam pūm-nāma-rātas-vādanam sarvatas nāpam parambujyate Śrī Kṛṣṇa-sankirtanam. So the first point that is being stated is— there are many points that are being covered in one verse, so I will take each point and discuss it. So the first point that is being made is glory to Śrī Kṛṣṇa's sāṁkīrtana. Because this Śrī Kṛṣṇa's sāṁkīrtana is the process by which in this age of Kali, in which by and large people are not interested in Self-realization, people can be enlightened or induced to take to the spiritual path. Because in this age of Kali, by and large people are not too interested in Self-realization. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated, preṇal païśya-savya-kalavasvinyoge janahā, manda-samandamātayau māndya-bhāgaye yūpādatāḥ. That in this age of Kali, People are misguided, they are lazy, and they are unfortunate. You cannot deny that people in this age of Kali are very lazy. If the boss is not watching, the employee will never work. At least I know in India, sometimes we have to go to government offices to get our work done, and we see when the boss is not there, everybody is reading the newspaper. And when the boss comes, they all pretend as if they are working. So one characteristic is that people are lazy. Second, they are misguided. Nobody is giving them the right direction. And they are unfortunate. So in this age, the Lord has presented a very easy process for Self-realization, which is the chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. Like even in your country, the great Soviet Union, The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has been here only since 1973 or '71 when Prabhupāda came, and it has picked up momentum mainly in the last 10 years. But the Vedānta Society founded by Vivekananda has been in this country for nearly 100 years. But how many people are devotees of the Vedānta Society? Very few, all old people. And the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, thousands of young people. The only reason why all of you are taking to it is because you have a taste for chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. You were not born in this culture, but still after you heard somebody chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and you tried it, you got, you felt so much happiness that now you don't want to give it up. So this chanting of the holy name is known as the sankirtana process. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "All glories to the sankirtana process." Why? Why is Lord Caitanya saying glory to sankirtana? Because it can cleanse the heart of the dust accumulated for years together. Our heart today has become like black coal. I'm sure you don't see much coal in the city of Moscow, Moscow. But there is coal. Coal is very black. So our heart doesn't matter. Our skin may be white, brown, black, but our heart of everyone is black, black, completely black. So that black heart has to be made clean. Just like your clothes become dirty and then you wash your clothes and the dirt goes away. So we have to wash this black heart. So that is possible by this chanting process. So when we chant the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, Actually, because this is spiritual sound vibration, it has a very positive effect on the contamination in the heart. So this chanting actually is a very scientific method by which one can develop love of God. Actually, the Bible also says, "Thou shall always chant the names of the Lord." So because this is spiritual sound vibration, This can purify the impurities from the heart. And as long as we have impurities in the heart, the living entity is transmigrating from one body to another body. And then from one body to another body, what do we experience? Nothing but pain and misery. Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhāgavad-gītā, dukhālayam asyaśyatam. There is nothing but misery and everything is temporary. So the devotee understands that there is no real happiness in the material world. Just like if somebody was to tell you that he has found a lot of water in the Sahara Desert, you will not believe it. Because in the desert there cannot be any water. If somebody told you in the Russian desert in Central Asia they found a lot of water, you will not believe it. So just like in the desert you cannot find water, in the material world, does not matter what arrangement you make, there cannot be any happiness. Our materialist friends will say, "Where is the misery? You Hare Krishnas are just fearful, pessimistic. You don't have courage to face the world. Where is the misery? When your hair begins to turn white, we have the hair dyes." and we can dye it and we'll continue to look young. And when our cheeks are getting wrinkled due to old age, what's the problem? I'll go to the beauty parlor and do some makeup and then I'll look young, I'll continue to look young. And if my teeth are falling, and if the teeth are falling, where's the problem? You can get artificial teeth of almost any shade that you want. I once went to a dentist in Vancouver, Canada, and I was so surprised that he had teeth with every shade you can possibly imagine. And then if your eyes are getting bad, previously people, some people used to say, "Oh, if I wear glasses, I will look so ugly." So now then our materialist friends will say, "Where's the problem? You can wear contact lens. You'll still look beautiful and nobody will know your eyes are bad." And even if there's something wrong with our heart, there's no problem. Now our scientist friends can even transplant the hearts. So where's the misery? So anyway, the point is, if somebody wants to deny that there's misery, he will give you so many reasons. But the reality is that there is nothing but misery in material life. The child comes out of the mother's womb crying. Doesn't matter whether the child is born in a socialist government or a communist government or a dictatorship or democratic. Or a capitalist society. The child comes out of the mother's womb crying. It's not when a millionaire gives birth to a baby, the baby comes out smiling. So the child coming out crying gives a very positive message. That is, for one's whole life one will have to go on crying. So when the child comes out crying, he's giving an important message that for the whole life one will have to go on crying. Of course, in the material world, Even if you are crying, you always want to act in such a manner that you are not crying. Just like when you are posing for a photograph, the expert photographer is one who knows how to make you laugh before he does the— he presses the button. So just like we smile when the camera is being clicked, we are always smiling artificially. Even if you go to a sick man in the hospital, he can't even move. But if you ask him, "How are you?" He will say, "Very well, thank you." So that is the problem. Even though everybody is suffering, even though everyone is unhappy, he likes to think he's not suffering, he's not unhappy, and even if he is unsuccessful, tomorrow he's going to become successful. So we go on chasing for that tomorrow, and that tomorrow never comes, and we end up leaving the body. Okay. It's just like the dog in the desert. The dog in the desert is thinking, "If I just go a little bit ahead, I'll find some water." So he goes on chasing for that water thinking that the mirage is only a few yards away, and then with the heat of the sun, he just dies without finding the water. So this cycle of repeated birth and death is very painful, and the intelligent person is one who tries to get out of the cycle of birth and death. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "Glories to the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Sankirtana Movement because it can take away the material desires and free the one from the cycle of birth and death." Rāṣyavadeva was the emperor of this whole planet. In Sanskrit, the word rāṣyava means the best. So Rāṣyavadeva had 100 sons. And unlike the present-day fathers who think that their only business is to produce children and not give them any spiritual instruction, Rāsha Deva considered his duty to give his children the spiritual knowledge by which they can go back to God. Mahārāja Rāsha Deva has said, "One should not become a father or a mother till he can send his dependent back to God." One should not become a spiritual master till he can take his disciple back to God. So Mahārī Śrī Veda Deva gave very valuable instructions to his sons. We shall discuss two of these instructions. First he says, nāiham dehadheya vājam na loke kastam kāma-mārtavya-bhūjamye tapo tivyam putaka yena satvam śuddhaye desmadvam asokya-tavanantam. Mahārāja Rūṣadeva is saying, "My dear sons, please do not lead this life like the cats and dogs, but understand human life is meant for austerity for the pleasure of the Lord." And in the next verse Mahārāja Rūṣadeva says, nū-nām-pramata-kurute vikarma-yajñendya-priyata-apraṇo 'ti na sādu manyeta ātmānyāma-sāna-bhikleśada-āsadeha. He says, O conditioned soul, as long as you have material desires, you will have to take on a material body which will give you nothing but pain. Anyway, so the point is this, that as long as we have material desires, there will only be pain and nothing but pain. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "This Sankirtan movement is a prime benediction for humanity at large." In other words, For the entire humanity, this chanting of the Holy Name is the best means for Self-realization. You have all seen the moon. What do you say the moon in Russian?

Luna.

Luna.

Luna. Such an easy word. So you have all seen the luna. If you don't have the luna, then you cannot get any vegetables. You know that? It is due to the luna that the vegeta— vegetables grow. So the Caitanya Mahāprabhu is comparing the Sankirtana movement to the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. This means that the most important point in transcendental knowledge is to understand that you are not this body, and you must engage in devotional service. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss. In other words, when you engage in devotional service, gives you some pleasure, isn't it? We tell our devotees, "No intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling, and no meat, fish, and eggs." Still people are coming and begging, "Please, please take me in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement." Why? Because obviously the pleasure they are getting in chanting Holy Name is superior to the pleasure from illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, and meat. The materialist does not begin to dance till he's had enough vodka, until he gets a lot of disco music to hear. You only see the materialist dancing in the night in nightclubs and so on, isn't it? But the spiritualist begins to dance at 4:30 in the morning. In all our temples in the West and East where you have mangalārti at 4:30. The devotees are all dancing at 4:30 in the morning. So they are dancing because they're getting some pleasure. So we are all looking for some satisfaction. We all want happiness. The animal wants happiness, the Indian wants happiness, and the Russian wants happiness. But we do not know how to find happiness. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying that happiness which you are searching for can be found if you take to these Kṛṣṇa's sankirtan process. So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, by taking part in the sankirtan process, one will experience nothing but spiritual ecstasy. So this is the first śloka. Now we'll go to the second one, and then we'll take on questions, okay? Nāma-kāri-bhāudha-nijascerva-śaktis tatra-apita-niyamita-smārnena-kālaha. "Itā dēṣitā vākṛpā-bhāgvan vamāpi dudāiva-midārśa-mihā-jani-anurāgaha." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, as I told all of you earlier, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is playing the role of a devotee. So in these prayers, He's not speaking as God speaks in the Bhagavad-gītā. Like in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is instructing Arjuna, "You do this, you do that." But in this, in these prayers, we got Caitanya Mahāprabhu is playing the role of a devotee. He is acting and speaking like a devotee would speak. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings." So He is saying that, "My dear Lord, You have manifested Yourself in Your holy name." The Lord is non-different from His name. In the material world, there is a difference between the name and object, but in the spiritual world there's no difference between name and object. A hungry man, if he says, "Food, food, food, food, food," his hunger will not go away. And by shouting, "Rubel, rubel, rubel, rubel," you'll not become rich. But when you chant, "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa," Kṛṣṇa is actually there dancing on your tongue. So this is what Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying. That Your holy name alone can make everybody fortunate. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "My dear Lord, You have hundreds and millions of names. Kṛṣṇa Govinda, God is known by different names in different parts of the world." And, and in these transcendental names, Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "You have invested all Your energy." So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, that, "My dear Lord, You are so kind that You have incarnated in this age in the form of the Holy Name." In Caitanya-caritamrta it is said, "Kali-kale nama rupa Krishna avatara." In this age of Kali, the Lord appears in His Holy Name. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "My dear Lord, You are so merciful. Not only are You appearing in Your Holy Name, but You have no rules and regulations. You can chant the Holy Name anytime You want." It is not that you can only chant the Holy Name after you have a shower. It is not that you can't— anybody can chant the Holy Name. It is so powerful that it will work. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "My dear Lord, You have made spiritual life so easy, but I am so unfortunate that I still have no attraction for You." So this is a fact that actually we have no attraction for the Holy Name. Therefore, very often when it is japa time, we fall asleep. Because we— you never fall asleep while eating prasadam. I've yet to see a devotee fall asleep while eating a nice feast. But I've seen so many devotees fall asleep while doing japa. I've seen so many devotees fall asleep while hearing the Bhāgavatam class. This is because we have no spontaneous attraction for the Holy Name. But we all have attraction for prasadam to satisfy our tongue. So we must understand that basically we have no attraction for the Holy Name, but if we follow the instructions of guru and Kṛṣṇa and sincerely, sincerely chant, then the attraction for the Holy Name will develop. So if Caitanya Mahāprabhu can say that I have no attraction, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as I told you a short while ago, even when He was a young baby, He used to cry just to make people chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. So if Caitanya Mahāprabhu can say He has no attraction, how can you and I say that we have natural attraction for Kṛṣṇa? So you must understand that you really have no attraction for the holy name, but if you take to the chanting, then gradually the attraction will develop. This chanting is the simplest process of self-realization in this age. In the śāstras it is said, kṛṭaya dhyāyato viṣṇam, kṛṭayo yajyato mākhe. Dvarpare paricharya yam kalauta dharikirtanat. That in this age, that there are four principal ages: Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvarpa Yuga, and Kali Yuga. In Satya Yuga, the means of self-realization was meditation on the Lord, and people used to meditate for 60,000 years in one stroke. You may say impossible, but in Satya Yuga people used to live for 100,000 years. So in Satya Yuga the means was meditation, but today even if you go and sit on the top of the Himalayas, you know how tall the Himalayan mountains are? 28,000 feet. Even if you go and sit on the top of 28,000 feet, The planes are flying on the top at 35,000 feet, so you can't meditate today. Then came the next age that was known as the age of Treta Yuga, and in Treta Yuga the means of self-realization was to hold very big yagyas. So in those yagyas you would have to light fire, you would need thousands of brahmins,, and you would need pure ghee, pure water, pure air, pure of everything. I mean, for example, if each of you was told, "Okay, now each of you must do yajña at home." You, in your salary of 150 rubles, you could never do a yajña. 150 rubles every month. You could never do a yajña. You would get broke. Because to do a yajña, first of all you have to call thousands of brahmins. So where are those Brahmins today? Even in India, there are no real Brahmins left. And where is pure water? Maybe in Russia you still have pure water, but in many parts of the world you can't get pure water. And where is the pure air? The air is so heavily polluted by the chemical nuclear plants and so on. So certainly what was recommended in Treta Yuga is not possible in Kali Yuga, isn't it? Then came the Dwarpa Yuga, and in Dwarpa Yuga, the process of self-realization was to offer very expensive offerings to the Lord in the temple. So that means that every time you would have to come to Prema Bhakti's temple, each of you has to bring a big, big present for the, for the temple, otherwise you can't come. So you would probably get broke after one visit. And even if you don't get broke, the government will say, "You're getting too much income, so we are going to tax you." So that is not possible. Therefore it is said, kalau tad-dhāri-kīrtanāt, in this Kali-yuga, just by Kṛṣṇa's kīrtan you can get the same benefit that you could get in Satya-yuga by meditating for 60,000 years, by in Treta-yuga by doing yajñas. In Dvarpa-yuga by doing expensive sacrifices, that same benefit you can get in Kali-yuga by chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. It is just like, I don't know if you have sales in Russia. Do you have sales after Christmas, price gets reduced? No. But in the Western countries, they may have something that is selling for $100, but after Christmas they'll reduce it to $10. So, just like you have, just like you have a sale, so Caitanya Mahāprabhu has subsidized and made a very easy process of self-realization in Kali-yuga, that is the chanting of the Holy Name. So I think we'll stop at this point, huh? We have finished discussing the first two verses. Prasadam for whom? For me? Oh, I had enough prasadam for 3 days today, in the afternoon.

For everyone.

For everyone? Oh yes. So, go ahead, now it's questions. So I finished discussing the first 2 verses. Did you all understand it? You may not be able to recognize the name of Kṛṣṇa, but everybody else is. Those who are fortunate are recognizing the name of Kṛṣṇa. But those who are unfortunate, they don't recognize. You have a question? The names of God are all predicted in the scriptures. So if somebody is giving a name, that name has to be tested if it is in the scriptures or not. I cannot just say, "Here I have a new name of God," if it is not there in the scriptures. If I tell you that if your mind makes offenses, your spiritual life will not be obstructed, will you misuse this information? Because in Kali-yuga, the Lord has given us one more concession. That is, what the mind thinks, it is not counted. So even if you are thinking offensively, you get excused. But there is one danger. But if you are— because if you are always thinking of something negative or thinking of sense enjoyment, then you will get attached to that thing, and then slowly, slowly your spiritual life will get weakened. Just like in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there's a story of Arjuna. Arjuna was a brahmin, but once he was coming from the forest and he saw a prostitute making love to a man. So she— he just started thinking about that incident because he saw it with his eyes. And slowly, slowly he gave up his wife, his children, his parents, and he married this prostitute and he became a devotee. So it is better to control the mind.

If not, not, not, we are not the ones who commit the offenses, but our mind making disturbance, committing offenses, and we suffer because of that. And would it disturb our spiritual advancement, our spiritual life?

Yes, I said that. I said that even though your mind may think offensively, it is not a sin, but the problem is that if your mind is thinking of something else than Kṛṣṇa, then that will curtail your spiritual development. It will trouble your spiritual development. It will affect your spiritual development.

It is said that Souls fall down from the spiritual world into material world, and they have to make some spiritual work to get back to spiritual world. Is it possible for all the conditioned souls get back to God?

Babaji was once asked a similar question in Australia. Prabhupada was asked, "What will happen if everybody goes back to God?" So his question is similar, isn't it? So Prabhupada said, "Don't worry, everybody will not go back to God at the same time." So if all the souls go back to God, very, very good. But unfortunately, it doesn't appear that it will go in that direction. More questions? Yeah.

Soul gives up his body. And next time he gets another one. And can you explain the process of getting— describe the process of getting—

The soul enters through the semen of the male into the womb of the female. This is explained in Srimad Bhagavatam. And then the soul— and then the development takes place in the womb. Is that clear? Death only comes once your next life has been decided. Tell her. Okay. How can it be? You cannot understand spiritual technology with material senses. Our death only comes when our next life has been determined. Do you know what the size of the soul is? If you were to take the tip of your hair and divide it into 100 pieces, then take each again into 100. 1/10,000th of the tip of your hair. Now the soul is 1/10,000th of the tip of your hair. It still has enough energy to make the whole body work day and night. So this is a spiritual process, how the soul leaves one. Just like when the soul leaves the body, you cannot see, "Oh, now the soul is leaving the body." You cannot remember your previous life. Actually, you and I, you and I were both in our mother's womb at one time, and when we were in the mother's womb, we were so uncomfortable. We were crying. Our body was full of stool and urine and blood and mucus, but now we have forgotten everything. We can't even remember the misery we went through in this life. What is the, in that case, reward to the rite, to the rite house?

Huh?

What is the reward to the rite house?

What is the?

Reward. We want to give.

We give.

We give back. Prasad?

Yes, yes.

What is we give back?

To those who righteous, righteous, righteous.

Doing everything nicely.

Those who do everything nicely, Kṛṣṇa says they come back to My spiritual abode where there is no misery. He goes back to the spiritual world and gets a spiritual body, which is the opposite of material body. Just like a student who studies, a student who studies hard for the whole year, he passes the exam with good marks. And somebody who doesn't study, he fails the exam. There is a statement in the Vedas, ante narayana smriti, that the real test of our life will be at the moment of death. So if you die thinking of Kṛṣṇa, then your life was successful. And if you die thinking of something else, then your life life as a failure.

She's having— when she chants in the morning, she's having some pain in the heart. It gives her pain.

So when you chant the mantra, you get pain in the heart? Actually, maybe material pain but spiritual ecstasy. It is material pain because when we have to give up our sense enjoyment, it is painful. But this material pain, what is happiness today— I'm sorry, what is pain today will become happiness tomorrow. The child is used to sucking the thumb, huh? So when the mother says, "Now you can't suck your thumb anymore," the child cries, isn't it? So when we are told to give up sense gratification, in the beginning we all protest. So if you are having some pain when you chant, maybe it's due to some other reason, maybe Your heart needs an examination or something. I don't know. Or maybe it is just psychological. Is that clear? Did you understand the answer?

He says that one of the good qualities of the person is seeking, philosophical seeking for absolute truth. Can you explain this point? What does it mean?

Absolute truth?

No, no, seeking for absolute truth.

Seeking for absolute truth means to try and understand the philosophy by which you can surrender to God.

Say something to book distributors, like your instrument.

You want something about book distribution? Prabhupāda said, "As long as book distribution goes on, I will never die." Because in these books, actually He is speaking. Just like when you put the television on, then you let the announcer speak to you. So when you give these books, you're not only letting Prabhupāda speak to that man, but you're letting Vyāsadeva and the whole parampara speak to that man. Prabhupāda said these books are so powerful that if you dust Touch these books, you can get human birth. So all these degraded people who are spending 25 roubles and buying a Bhagavad-gītā definitely are at least being guaranteed a human birth. So book distribution is the most important activity of the Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees. And it is so wonderful to see that so many grihastas are maintaining themselves by selling books. Actually Prabhupāda had told us, That if you want to maintain yourself, instead of doing a job, go and sell my books. Prabhupāda said these books will one day become the law books of the world. And he said for the next 10,000 years people will read these books. And after 10,000 years it will be so degraded that the moment you talk about God, they will shoot you. There will be no religion left after 10,000 years.

Jasta hai.

So please hurry up, not much time is left, and go back to Godhead. Time is running out. Therefore, Chanakya Pandit said, "Ayusha kashana ekopina labhayasvanna koti bhi." He said, "A minute lost cannot be obtained back with the wealth of the entire world." A rich man can become poor and a poor man become rich. A sick man can become healthy and a healthy man can become sick. But if time is wasted and then you say, "Okay, here's 1,000 rupees. Please buy back the time I lost." You cannot. You tell somebody, "I wasted 20 years doing sense gratification. Now here is so much money. Please, can the 20 years come back to me?" Even your scientist friend cannot give it back to you. So just one or two more questions. Somebody who has not asked a question so far. Yes, yes, yes, here, here, here.

Yes. Out of Christian saints, 1000 years, was there even one who was compared to Guru, could be compared to a Guru?

Frankly, I'm not an authority on Christian saints. You should find, you should ask this question to somebody who's an authority on Christian saints. It's from the very beginning of creation. Sikha, sikha has a great symbolic meaning. Sikha is the transcendental thread. By which Kṛṣṇa can pull you up when you're falling into māyā. But you may say, "What about the ladies? They don't have sikha." Their hair are long enough by nature's arrangement, but the men's hairs are not so long. Okay, then the other regarding the tilak. The tilak is a spiritual uniform that indicates that we are devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Prabhupāda used to say, "Just like the policeman has uniform and then you can recognize him." If that same policeman is without uniform, you will not know that he's a policeman. So this tilak indicates that we are devotees of Lord Sri Krishna. Of course, in some places may be difficult to put on tilak that is visible to everyone, so you may have to put on water tilak. Actually, a Vaishnava who has tilak on his forehead, anyone, the materialist, just by looking at his face is making spiritual advancement. Because anytime he sees the face of a Vaishnava, With a tilak, he'll say, "Oh, this man's a devotee of Kṛṣṇa." So he has remembered Kṛṣṇa due to your tilak. But the same man, if he's in front of you and you don't have a tilak, he will not know you're a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. I'm sure even in your country, Russia, when you go with a tilak, they all know you're the crazy Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay, some more questions. You had a question. You develop attraction for your spiritual master by taking his instructions to heart. Just like the disciple cannot separate the body from the soul, so Bhaktivedanta Ṭhākura says he cannot separate his life from the instruction of the spiritual master. And what is the instruction of the spiritual master? Niyat, niyat, niyat for Maya and dā, dā, dā for Kṛṣṇa. So if you try to do these two things, then the spiritual master is very pleased. Actually, there is no difference because Jesus Christ was honest and he said, "I am Son of God," and Krishna said, "I am the Father." But one thing you must understand that God speaks according to time and circumstances. Just like 2 and 2 is 4. 2 and 2 is 4 whether you are studying mathematics in grade 1 or whether you are studying mathematics in college. But still you have higher and lower level of mathematics. So the philosophy given by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, is the most in-depth philosophy about God. Arjuna understood the whole philosophy in 18 minutes. But Krishna did not tell Arjuna, "Thou shall not kill," because Arjuna was a very enlightened human being. But Jesus Christ had to tell people, "Thou shall not kill," because people were degraded. Therefore, the philosophy in the Bible is not so much in-depth as it is in the Vedas. Just hold on, I want to go on. Okay, we explain that. And for example, the Quran. In the Quran, Muhammad says, 'Thou shalt not sleep with anyone but thy wife,' because the Muslims were so degraded that they were sleeping with their mothers and sisters and daughters. So Allah said, 'You cannot sleep with anyone but thy wife.' So the point is that God gives religious principles based on the people's capacity to understand and digest it.

It is said that in spiritual world there is no scarcity. Which are desires for addressing to desire tree?

What Caitanya Mahāprabhu said? What did Caitanya Mahāprabhu said? Nādhanaṁ jānana-jānāṁ na sundanam kāmbhitāṁ vā-jagriṣ-kamaye mama-janmani-janmēśvane bhāvatar-bhaktir-āyato-ki tyāye. "Oh my Lord, I don't want beautiful women, I don't want wealth, I don't want followers. What I want is only pure devotional service birth after birth." Thakura Bhaktivananda says, "My dear Lord, I may even take my birth as a cockroach, as a fly, as an insect in the house of a Vaishnava." Because even as an insect, he'll be hearing the holy names and benefiting. Of course, when I joined and got initiated in 1968, Things were different from they are today, you understand. At that time there was only one spiritual master for the whole movement, you understand, and it was a natural automatic thing.

Nikak siddhi.

But now the process in ISKCON is that whoever you get most inspired by to take to spiritual life, you understand, you can ask for initiation from that person, but you must go through your temple president, and so on. You select a guru not on the basis of some material qualification like who is most handsome, who jumps the tallest, who jumps the best, but on the basis of one who can guide and inspire you to give up sense enjoyment and keep you on the right track.

It's a very important moment, it seems to me, to ask a guru Because we are in different spiritual situation. At the first time we have no knowledge of different bad qualities, but after some time we develop some knowledge. And I need to say that some ask, like, good Guru, because they are afraid of their future and they see that Krishna consciousness is so important, but what is the moment when to ask Guru?

When you think that you are completely ready to surrender, that's when you can ask for spiritual master for spiritual surrender. When you think that you are ready to follow the instruction of the Guru. One should not take a guru just because it is a fashion to have a guru. In spiritual life, you need a guru, about that there is no doubt. But one should approach a guru for initiation only when one is ready to follow the instructions of the guru and live by the instructions of the guru. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, initiation is a serious business. It is not like The Reverend Moon from Korea who does 1,000 initiations and 1,000 marriages in one stroke. Reverend Luna. Have you heard of Reverend Luna? Reverend Moon from South Korea. So he does, he marries hundreds and thousands of couples at one time, initiates hundreds and thousands at one time. Okay. I think we better stop over here. Last question. You must follow the 10 offenses. The first offense is to be inattentive while chanting. Because if you remember that the chanting of the Holy Names are non-different from Kṛṣṇa, you must be very attentive when you chant. Actually, I want to talk about the 10 offenses also before I leave. I'll complete the 6th Āsṭaka tomorrow. Then when I come, you know, Sunday, Monday I will be in Leningrad, and again Tuesday, Wednesday in Moscow. Tuesday is mastor. I had a big feast in the afternoon. I can just do like what the Lord does, just see it and bless it. Krishna eats with His eyes, so of course we are His servants, so we cannot do that. Where is the Yamaraja? Is he here? Yamaraja. He made such a nice feast in the afternoon that at least I eat for 3 days. I must say that in Russia there are very good Vaiṣṇava cooks. The prasada I had yesterday at Krishna Kumar's house was also delicious, and today also was very delicious. And just by seeing this, I can say it is super delicious. So this is all because of the bhakti of all of you. You all must set up a cooperative and open a big Govinda restaurant on Red Square. Open it right in front of the Kremlin.

It says that even grass wouldn't move without them. Grace of Krishna. But sometimes when we do something, maybe even something wrong, we can say, we say that, oh, this was the plan of Krishna. So maybe, how do we consider that? Is there any—

Yeah, I follow. So in order to determine whether it is Krishna's plan or Maya's plan, you have to be an expert. It takes time. You don't become an expert in one day. It depends on one's faith and what the guru says. Just like in Ayurvedic doctors, they will just feel your pulse for 30 seconds and they will tell you what is wrong in your whole body. So you have to be an expert spiritual doctor to say whether it is Maya's arrangement or Krishna's arrangement. If you have any specific instance, then maybe I can clarify it whether it is Krishna's plan or Maya's. To make a general statement, it's hard to say because sometimes it may be Krishna's plan, sometimes it may be Maya's plan. Well, if the guru is not expert in understanding this, then he should not be a guru.

Yeah, just like, why they are not smiling? And in this, in this, I think that we, we must smile more because we must be happy that we are just in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Of course, one of the qualities of a devotee also is that he's grave. So a devotee should not, a devotee just should not smile like Charlie Chaplin, but he should actually A Indian smile when there is a genuine need for smiling. Otherwise people will say you are a madman. Oh, I am not tired. I can go on for 3 more hours. So all of you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? How do you say? All of you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa in Russian? Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Krishna Krishna! Hare Hare! Hare Rama Hare Ramana Maharshi! Lama Lama! Hare Hare! Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!