Symptom of Spiritual Advancement Is | Rus-Split | BG 7.19 | 26.1.92 | Moscow| Gopal Krishna Goswami

Bahau nama janmanam ante, jñānava mam prapadeyate, vāsudeva-sarvāmiti-samahātmā-suddhūrulabhāḥ. This is a very, very important verse of the Bhāgavad-gītā. In this verse, Kṛṣṇa is explaining that after many, many births, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, surrenders unto Him. So one who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa is actually very, very fortunate. And such a great soul is very rare. Sudurlabhā. Sudurlabhā is a Sanskrit word which means very rare. So a person who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa is actually very, very rare. So all of you who are sitting in this assembly, some of you may have surrendered 50%, some 80%, some may be just thinking of surrendering. All of you actually are very, very rare. You're very rare because after going through many, many millions of births and deaths, do you get the wisdom that sarva-kārna-kāraṇa? Sarva-kārna-kāraṇa means that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes. So the devotee who understands that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes is actually most fortunate. In this verse, it is explained that the one who is in perfect knowledge surrenders to Krishna. So jnana, jnana means knowledge. So we see in society many people are trying to obtain knowledge by studying in universities, schools, etc. But why is it that these people don't surrender to Krishna? They may have PhD degrees and so many degrees next to the name, but they don't surrender to Krishna. Why? Because they don't have real knowledge. One who has real knowledge surrenders unto Krishna. And one who falsely claims that he has knowledge does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So real knowledge means to understand one's constitutional position. Real knowledge just doesn't mean that you be acknowledged in society as a very learned man, but you understand the supremacy of God. And once you realize the supremacy of God, you also understand that material nature is working 100% under His direction. Mayā-dakṣinā-prakṛti-svayete sa-carā-caram. This material energy is working under My direction. And whatever ability one may have, such as the power to speak, the power to see, the power to hear, the power to walk, all that power is also coming from Kṛṣṇa. The living entity is transmigrating through many millions of births and deaths. There are 8,400,000 different species of life, out of which only 400,000 are considered human species. So while traveling through so many millions of births and deaths, Is one fortunate enough to receive the seed of bhakti? Brahmanda-brahmita-kona-bhagavanujī guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpāpāya-bhakti-latabhīda. Caitanya-caritāmṛtaṇḍaṇḍa states that just like a log that is being pushed down by the water, so sometimes when it is being pushed down by the water, the log gets stuck in the corner of some stone. So Caitanya-caritāmṇraṇḍa explains the living entity, while going through so many births and deaths, by chance comes in contact with the process of devotional service, and he's very fortunate. So to understand that Vāsudeva is the cause of all causes constitutes real knowledge. But just accepting Vāsudeva to be the cause of all causes is not enough, as it is explained in this verse. Prapadyate, prapadyate is translated to mean surrender. So the moment you accept the supremacy of Kṛṣṇa, one must surrender to Kṛṣṇa also. What is the value of accepting the greatness of Kṛṣṇa if we don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa? Just like in India, you may meet millions of people who acknowledge the greatness of Kṛṣṇa, but they do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is basically saying in this verse that the person in knowledge is not only one who understands His greatness, but one who surrenders to Him also. So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is training up people how to surrender to Krishna. If we do not surrender to Krishna, we'll be forced to surrender to his illusory energy. If you surrender to Krishna, you feel protected. And if you surrender to the illusory energy, you feel miserable. Just like the mouth of the cat— the— in the mouth of the cat, when the kitten is being held, the kitten feels completely protected. And in the same mouth, When the mouse is there, the mouse feels the blow of death. It is the same mouth of the cat, but for one it's a source of shelter and for the other is a sign of death. So similarly, one who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he is completely protected. Just like Kṛṣṇa shows us in the 18th chapter, sarva-dharmām paritajyamām ekaṁ ca nama-jahām tvam sarva-pāpi-bhayaḥ mokṣām imāsujjāha. He says, "One who surrenders unto Me, I will protect him from all types of sinful reaction. But one who doesn't surrender to Kṛṣṇa, he is lost in the cycle of birth and death." So surrendering to Kṛṣṇa is a sweet experience, whereas surrendering to the illusory energy is a bitter experience. The living entity has a free choice. Just like in the 18th chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, we see that Arjuna inquired from— Kṛṣṇa inquired from Arjuna, If his illusion was now gone. And then Kṛṣṇa said, "Now you may do as you like." The business of the spiritual master and the saintly personality is to travel from location to location to remind people about the mission of human life. Those who are fortunate take advantage of these instructions, and those who are unfortunate do not take advantage. In Sanskrit there are two words. One is duḥkṛtina, the other is suḥkṛtina. Suḥkṛtina means One who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa. And duṣkṛtinas means miscreants, those who do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So there are 4 people, 4 categories of individuals in the category of those who surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says, "The distressed, the inquisitive, the genuine seeker of knowledge, and, um, one who wants money, these 4 types of people surrender to Me." And there are 4 types of people who don't surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Like the hard-working mula, who is compared to an ass. The ass carries a heavy burden of load all day, not realizing that a little bit of grass it needs is available even without having to carry the heavy burden of load. You don't see asses in action in Moscow and Russian Republic, but if you go to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, you see asses in action. And of course, if you come to India, you see them everywhere. So, The ass carries a heavy burden of load, and the ass is carrying this heavy burden of load because it is thinking, "I can't get grass to eat unless I carry this load." So similarly, the materialist, he makes many ambitious plans, carries a huge burden of responsibility, not realizing that this artificial carrying of responsibility is not necessary for realizing real happiness. Then narādhama. Narādhama refers to those people who may be holding very important positions in society, but they do not know the real goal of life. Individuals in this category may be president of the country or a Nobel Prize laureate, so on, but he doesn't know what is human life meant for. Then māyāyā-paṭhā-jñāna. This category consists of those who may be holding— who have great mundane knowledge, But as a result of the mundane knowledge, they become proud and don't surrender to God. And lastly, aśrama-bhāvanāśritah, those who are openly atheistic, who don't acknowledge the supremacy of God and God is the cause of all causes. So Prabhupāda says in the concluding lines of the purport that the devotee surrenders in full knowledge to Kṛṣṇa. So when we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, it should not be understood that we are being brainwashed, or we are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa due to some sentimental reasons. Very often then, when children join Kṛṣṇa consciousness, their parents accuse that they have been brainwashed or they're being sentimental. But that is not a fact. When one surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, he surrenders in full knowledge, and that is understanding his subordinate position in relationship to the Lord. It should not be thought that people are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa without having complete knowledge of what they are doing. This would be a great insult to the intelligence of the devotees who surrender. It is only because they have full knowledge, that is why they are surrendering to Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes people want to know, "What do you get by surrendering to Kṛṣṇa?" I know in many countries when children surrender, their parents come and say, "What are you going to get in exchange for surrendering to Kṛṣṇa?" Because in the material world, nobody likes to do anything unless he gets something in exchange. If somebody tells you to come and do a job for him, you're ready to do a job provided you're going to get some money in exchange. So the question often arises, what do the devotees get in exchange? They get up at 3:30 every morning, sleep for only 6 or 7 hours a day. They work hard, 8 to 10 hours, trying to distribute books or other practical activity. Plus they follow 4 regulative principles. So what are they getting in exchange? Who knows? They are getting unlimited spiritual happ— unlimited happiness. It is not that when you surrender to Kṛṣṇa you get nothing in exchange. In the material world, when we surrender, we have a frustrating experience. Just like at one time people surrendered to communism. What did they get in exchange? Frustration. And there are people in other parts of the world who are surrendering to capitalism. But they are also getting the same result, frustration. But if you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, you are guaranteed not to be frustrated. You are guaranteed to obtain real happiness. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, ananda-buddhi-vardhanā prati-padām pūm-nām-rātas-vādanām sarvatma-snapaṁ parambhaijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṁ-kīrtanām. This means that the nectar, the happiness that you get As a result of chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, it's so powerful that it just goes on increasing and increasing and increasing. The same point was also made by King Rishabhdev. King Rishabhdev was the incarnation of Godhead, and he had 100 sons. And once his 100 sons were present in an assembly of brahmanas, and he was addressing that great assembly. So the king told the audience, Tapo devyam pratyaka yena satvam śraddhayedasmād brahma-so'kya-mānāntam. So what this means is that in exchange for performing spiritual sacrifices, you will obtain happiness that is always going to go on increasing, increasing. That is unending. So in exchange for surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, you realize happiness. And this happiness is far superior to any happiness that can be achieved through any material endeavor. Rūpa Gosvāmī was a very great sage who compiled volumes of books describing how to surrender to God. So Rūpa Gosvāmī has said that there are different types of happiness. The happiness obtained through material activities can end at any time, whereas the happiness you get by spiritual activities is unending. Kṛṣṇa has been described as the reservoir of pleasure. So when you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, you obtain real happiness. Please bear in mind that if you don't surrender to Krishna, you'll be forced to surrender to the illusory energy. And the illusory energy can never satisfy the living entity. Through these sevenfold processes of misery, it makes sure that the living entity experiences nothing but pain. And the symptom of spiritual advancement, the spiritual— the symptom of one who is getting attached to Krishna is that one is always anxious to hear and chant and meditate about Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. Kṛṣṇa, when He appears on this planet, He performs superhuman activities which can never be equaled by any ordinary individual. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in the pastimes that have been summarized in the Kṛṣṇa book, we see how when Kṛṣṇa appeared, even though He looked like an ordinary child, He always performed superhuman activities which cannot be equaled by anyone. One pastime of Kṛṣṇa that we can discuss very briefly today is the pastime of Kṛṣṇa in which He killed the demon Putana. Kamsa was very worried that his sister is going to give birth to a child who may eventually destroy him. So he instructed Putana to somehow or the other go and kill this child. Putana had a history of having killed innumerable children. She was expert in this witchcraft. So Putana was very confident that she'll be able to please Kamsa. The demons are always confident that they can challenge God. So Putana dressed herself up as a very— in a very nice dress, and she was very attractive. And so she came to Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja's palace, and there she was moving around in his house. And because she looked very dignified, nobody suspected her. But Kṛṣṇa is God in all situations. He was God as a baby when He manifested His divine presence in front of His parents, and also in the Battle of Kurukṣetra where He showed His universal form. So from beginning to end, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of— Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So being in everyone's heart, Kṛṣṇa also knew exactly what Putana's intentions were. Īśvara-sarva-bhūtanam hṛdayaśvara-jñāṇa-ṭṣṭhati. Kṛṣṇa resides in everyone's heart, and He recognizes our desires. Just like when you are passing through a garden, by smelling the flowers, in the— by smelling the flowers, you can identify the fragrance of the flowers. So similarly, God residing in the heart can smell our desires, and therefore He reciprocates accordingly. So Kṛṣṇa allowed Putana to, allowed to carry her, to carry him in her lap, and to, Putana, and she accepted Putana's invitation to suck her breast. But she didn't realize that not only would Kṛṣṇa suck the milk, but Kṛṣṇa would also suck her life. She had applied a lot of poison on the nipples of her breast And her intention was to poison Kṛṣṇa. But what instead happened was that Kṛṣṇa not only sucked the milk, but He also sucked the poison. And in the end, Putana was killed. And her body was so heavy, 12 miles long. And when Putana died, her parents expressed great feeling of relief. Kṛṣṇa, when He appears on the planet, He appears along with His devotees, but due to His yoga-maya potency, the devotees are unable to understand that here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The purpose of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is to get us to get more attached to Kṛṣṇa. As we get attached to Kṛṣṇa, our attachment to other material activities will automatically decline. Kṛṣṇa, when He was sucking Her breast, He closed His eyes. Several interpretive, several reasons have been given for this. Some say because Kṛṣṇa was killing a woman, therefore He closed His eyes. Some say that because Kṛṣṇa knew Putana's background, and therefore because she had killed so many children, therefore He closed His eyes. Kṛṣṇa, by closing His eyes, gave Putana confidence that she was going to succeed in her mission. But eventually Putana was, life was sucked But Kṛṣṇa was so kind that He sucked her life. But He was sucked— because He sucked her, He took milk from her breast, she also got liberation. So what is the fate of devotees of Kṛṣṇa? Those who surrendered to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa guarantees them complete protection. Therefore, to surrender to Kṛṣṇa is a very, very rare achievement. Just because it's a rare achievement doesn't mean that we should say, "Oh, it's not possible to surrender to Kṛṣṇa," and we don't surrender. Through the process of hearing the transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and hearing the holy names, one gets inspired to surrender more and more, more and more. When Putana fell, she knocked down several trees because her body was so long, 12 miles long. But when her body was burned, there was a very nice fragrance, aroma that came from her body. Because Kṛṣṇa is so kind that even though she came with evil intentions, but because she was touched by Kṛṣṇa, eventually there was fragrance that came out of her body. So Kṛṣṇa performed many pastimes in Vṛndāvana, but actually this was the first pastime that He performed in Vṛndāvana. This pastime is described in the 6th chapter of the Kṛṣṇa book. But the first 5 chapters are all Kṛṣṇa's pastimes outside Vṛndāvana. So we should take on Kṛṣṇa's pastimes and absorb ourselves in these pastimes. And as we absorb ourselves in these pastimes, we'll be inspired to surrender more and more to Kṛṣṇa. So to summarize the verse of the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa is saying that one who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa is actually in knowledge, and this is, this is realized after many, many births. And such a great soul is very, very rare. So all of you who are assembled here, whether you're full-time devotees living in the temple or grihastha devotees or just guests, But actually, all, all of you belong to this category because at least you're inquiring about surrendering to Krishna. So please surrender to Krishna and realize spiritual happiness. A great sage has said that whatever price you may have to pay to surrender to Krishna, please surrender to Krishna. In the material world, you may succeed or you may not succeed, but in spiritual activities, there's only success. And you can only surrender to Krishna once you recognize that Krishna is the cause of all causes and the ability in man. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. You see, I had to end the class now because on weekdays we don't take the class very long, and I understand that this big temple room is also used as a bedroom by devotees. So I'll just take on questions for 5 minutes. Yes. Okay, tell them you'll get real knowledge. Tell them these books explain the real path of happiness. Tell them these books will destroy all illusion. Hare Krishna!