The process to understand Lord krishna | BG 3.22 | 25 Oct 2000 | Moscow | Gopal Krishna Goswami

Nam, nam, nee, nee, vartasi, vartasi, vartavyam, vartavyam, rishu, rishu, lokeshu, lokeshu, inchanam, inchanam, nanavapta, nanavapta, vartavyam, vartavyam, Om Mani Padme Hum. So we're reading the third chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā called Karma-yoga. Very often the word karma yoga is grossly misunderstood. Often when we talk to people about bhakti yoga especially in India they say, "Yes but now I'm busy with karma yoga." What do you mean by karma yoga? Is— I am busy working hard making money to take care of my material duty. And that's it! Mental duty includes quota of sense enjoyment. Well, that's not the meaning of karma yoga. It's not any type of yoga, forget karma yoga. That's simply maya, not even maya yoga. Because yoga, the word, the moment you use the word yoga, you're talking about a process of self-realization. So karma yoga, as Krishna explained in this chapter, means action for the pleasure of the Lord. In fact, in this chapter, the Lord has explained sahayajñaprājāśyaśvapurovachaprājāpati. How in the beginning of creation, the Lord sent forth different generations of men and demigods and told them, "Be thou happy by the performance of yajña or sacrifice." So in the very beginning of creation, the Lord encouraged society to perform, to perform yajña, sacrifice. Kṛṣṇa also explains in this chapter "Yajnārtha-karma-nam niyatā-lokayam karma-bandhana." Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu must be done. Otherwise, work causes bondage in the material world. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says, "Ārjuna, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction." Well, one reason why Kṛṣṇa is giving this advice in detail is because Ārjuna, as you know, in the first chapter, was hesitant in participating in the battle. Arjuna was giving so many reasons as to why he should not take part in this battle. So Krishna induced him. Krishna is trying to induce him through the third chapter and again in the fifth chapter to take part in the battle. So once you have a clear-cut understanding of the Bhagavad-gītā, at no point does the Bhagavad-gītā preach inaction. At no point does the Bhagavad-gītā preach idle society. Krishna himself says in the Gītā. You can't even maintain your physical body without work. Then the Lord has also said that whatever great men do, others will follow. Yadyaḍaḥ śrīrati śreṣaḥ tad-dhāra ivaḍḥ karo janahāḥ sa yād-pramāya-nām-kuruṭe lo-kasthaḍ-ani-vārtha te. Kṛṣṇa in this very famous verse of the 3rd chapter says, whatever action a great man performs, others will follow. And whatever standards he establishes, others will follow. So Kṛṣṇa says, whatever great men do, others will follow. So today, what are the great men doing? A lot of pious work. The great men are all polluted, corrupted, degraded characters, and the society also follows. People do not examine at election time if a particular man has a good character or bad character. So Lord Caitanya emphasized exemplary preaching. So, it is important that we be exemplary leaders of society. Lord Caitanya emphasized this point that we should be idle spiritual teachers. So in this verse, Kṛṣṇa is saying, actually there is no work prescribed for Me. Most of us go to work because we need something. Na śrābodhaḥ pāta-muṣto-kātil-dingi. We need money for sense enjoyment, money to live. Nothing is bliss platform. So we work because we need. But Krishna says, I don't need anything. Krishna doesn't need anything. He's complete. Om punah madah punah midam punah punah mudah cete punah se punah adaya punah eva krsnasvami. The Lord is complete in all respects. His creation is also complete. This creation is considered complete in the sense That within this creation, there is full facility if you want to become God conscious. If you want to be God conscious, then all the facilities are there. So Kṛṣṇa is trying to tell Arjuna, "Listen, you are a Kṣaṭrya. Your duty is to take part in this battle." And the Battle of Kurukṣetra was not a battle along the lines that you have in today's society. These days, the battles are all political battles. But this was a religious war, meant to establish dharma. The present-day wars are not meant to establish adharma, dharma. They're all based on adharma. So Kṛṣṇa is saying in this verse that I am complete in all respects. I do not need anything. Still I'm engaged in preaching, doing my prescribed duty. Everything that Kṛṣṇa does or creates is perfect. This material nature that we are experiencing is under the control of Kṛṣṇa. Mayāḍaḥ cena prakṛtiḥ svye 'deṣā carā-carām. This material nature is working under my direction. So the point to realize is the material nature is working under the Lord and material nature is not independent of the Lord. Take for example the rising of the sun. Doesn't it happen every day without fail? Did you ever hear that once there was a time when the sun did not rise or the moon or the stars didn't do their job? So the clouds, they evaporate the water from the earth, and then the water falls in the form of rain. So all this is going on. How? Just like in your country, there's so many natural resources— oil, gas, gold, diamond. So who put it there? It was ours? The Communist Party? Ancestors? Krishna? It's by God's arrangement these natural resources are there. So, important point is we all have vṛsanāmārṇāya āśrama. We all have duties. Now in the purport, Prabhupāda quotes from the śāstra, from the Śvetāsvatara-Ūpaniṣads, where there's a description of the personality of Godhead. The various points made in this purport. For example, it is said the Supreme Lord is the controller of all other controllers. So there are many controllers, but there is one Supreme Controller. Demigods are also controllers, but he is the Supreme Controller. So there are many controllers. Lord Brahmā is also a controller. Lord Śiva also. Lord Indra also. There are millions of controllers, but there is only one Supreme Controller. Eka-lai Īśvara-kṛṣṇa-āra-saṁṛtāya. Kṛṣṇa is the only master and all others are subordinate. Everyone is under his control. So the The atheists and the materialists would like to believe that they are independent. They are not independent. We are all under the strict control of the laws of material nature, who in turn are under control of the Supreme Lord. So we must understand that whatever little power I have, whatever little facility I have, is what is due to me based on my karma. When people are successful, They take credit for everything. Is it possible? They say, "I did this, I did this, I did this." If a man becomes successful, he writes a book, how he got to the top. And they like to take credit. Whereas, as this word prarabdha explains, we get positions, power, whatever, based on, we get it based on our karma by the mercy of the Lord. Then this verse is saying, That He is worshipable by all demigods and is the Supreme Director of all directors. Just like on the 28th, we're going to be celebrating Govardhan Puja. We'll have a big program here. In Vrindavan, we have a big program in the Krishna Balaram Temple. Of course, hundreds of thousands of people will be doing Govardhan pranayama on that day. And the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees will go and distribute prasāda to them. And We'll go on prayer camp on the 29th morning. Traditionally, we celebrate Govardhan in the 10th Krishna Balaram Temple on 28th and 29th morning, 5 o'clock we start the prayer camp. In this story, what do you learn? How Indra was puffed up at one time. He was very proud. He became angry when Nand Maharaj stopped his sacrifice. He said, "They're listening to this young boy? Let me teach them a lesson." So he tried his best to teach them a lesson. But in the end, he ended up learning a lesson. What's the lesson that he learned? He learnt that he is not supreme. He learnt that he has limited powers, that he also has a boss. So he fell at his feet and offered him prayers. Then this verse says that Kṛṣṇa is transcendental to all material situations. So Kṛṣṇa is transcendental beyond the material mode. Everything about Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. Kṛṣṇa says, janma-karma-cāme-devyam ivām abheditāt-patahā. "Jag tad deham punar janma naiti mam iti śrīvrajna." My coming and going are both completely transcendental. He didn't come out of the mother's womb crying. He appeared in His Viṣṭu form. Have you ever heard of a baby appearing in His Viṣṭu, four-handed form? Clean, ornamented, decorated. He served Sauri. He served the gopī. And then when He was requested by His parents, He transformed Himself into an ordinary child. So Kṛṣṇa is completely transcendental. These days it's a fashion for people that we call gods. But we don't worship an imaginary god, we are worshiping the real God. Just like Prabhupada was once greeting the— right after greeting the Deities in New York, Prabhupada started his Bhagavatam class. Usually Prabhupada would go for a walk from 6 to 7. Even if it was cold, he would go for a walk. Then he would come at 7:15 to greet the Deities, and then he would accept guru-pūja from the devotees, and then he would start the Bhagavatam class. So in one of the Bhagavatam classes, Prabhupada said, Ko 'na bāli puruṣaṁ tabāmuhām vijāmi. We are not worshiping an imaginary God, but we are worshiping the real God. Further, this verse is saying, He does not possess bodily form like that of an ordinary human being. In other words, the Lord is always divya. He doesn't age with the passage of time. Zār the oldest. He looks ever. There is no difference between body and soul. Therefore, what is He called? Advaita means no difference between body and soul. So there is no difference between body and soul. This is all transcendental. He is absolute. Absolute means he never makes mistakes. Can we see that? Can we see that for us? I think the Māskārī devotees don't make mistakes. That's the problem. We make mistakes. Inhaktā siddha. So we all make mistakes. But Kṛṣṇa doesn't make. In the 4th chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā, Arjuna inquired from Kṛṣṇa as follows. He said, "How am I to believe that you imparted this knowledge to the Sun God?" Sambad Vivasvan, when he is seen unto you by birth. Kṛṣṇa told, and imparted this knowledge to Sambad Vivasvan. So Kṛṣṇa said, many, many times both you and I have appeared, but I can remember all my previous births, but you cannot. So Kṛṣṇa is absolute. He never makes any mistake. In 1932, Prabhupāda wrote a very famous vyāspadya offering to his guru. In that, Prabhupāda said, "Absolutely saintly thou hast proved." That means that you have proved, my guru, that the Lord is a person. He is absolute and He has senses. The difference between the personless and the impersonless is as follows: The personless acknowledges God has a form. God is transcendental. He has senses. And we should engage in service to the master of the senses. What is one of Krishna's names? Master of the senses. So Krishna, just like we are reading the Bhagavad-gītā, and devotees are going to be reading this for the next 10,000 years. Now when you read the Bhagavad-gītā, it looks as if it was spoken only yesterday. And I've met so many people all over the world who say, "I think Krishna spoke the Gītā just for me." Because the questions that Arjuna asks are the questions that you and I would ask, and the Bhagavad-gītā answers answers all questions, economic, social, philosophical. They are all answered in the Bhagavad-gītā. So God is absolute. Prabhupāda explained to us that to be Kṛṣṇa conscious is not difficult. You just have to know God is the Supreme Proprietor, the Supreme Enjoyer, and our well-wisher. Tolkā. Anybody have Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Eṣṭudha? What's the feeling of this? So we must understand God is absolute. He knows what is best for me. Then the verse is saying all the senses are transcendental. With any one sense, you can perform the function of any other sense. You and I can do a particular function with a particular part of the body, but not Krishna. Krishna can do anything with any one part of the body. He is simultaneously present everywhere. Dhāvi has his original residence in Goloka Vṛndāvana. He can eat just by looking at your offering of prasāda. He can, he can eat just by hearing your prayers. When you prepare prasāda with love, place it at the feet of the Lord, chant the mantras, the Lord accepts it. The materialists can't understand that. They say, look at these foolish Vaiṣṇavas. They are brainwashed. They say God has eaten. How has he eaten? The plate is still full. But they don't understand God can eat with his eyes. He can lift a sweet rice glass and hide it behind a curtain without making any effort. Who did he do this for? He stole a sweet rice glass without any effort. Urdhva Mahārāja stole all the cows and the cows and the cowherd boys. Kṛṣṇa expanded himself with no difficulty. So no one is greater or equal to the Lord. What is the second offense in the channel that Mahāmāntara To consider the name of demigods to be equal to or independent of, of the soul, of the name of the Supreme Lord. So we don't, our understanding is, ekalaiśvār-kṛṣṇa-ārṣabhṛtaya. Kṛṣṇa is the only master and all others are subordinate. So the Vedas not only tell you God is great, but they tell you how great God is. Every religion talks about God is great. Turtles say, "Allah Akbar." So we also agree God is great. God is great. Well, how great is God? That's, you can understand from the Vedic scriptures. So the point that is being made in the purport is, even though Krishna has all these abilities, qualities, etc., He is still working. So we have to act, but act for the pleasure of the Lord. In the fourth canto of the Bhagavatam, we read about the story of the Prachetas. There were many brothers. They were the sons of King Prithinabharisha. They had gone to perform austerities. They performed austerities for 10,000 years. Can you do that? More than that? Niyet. Okay, this was Satya Yuga, Niyet Kali Yuga. So the Lord was very pleased by their sacrifice, and then the Lord came to speak to them. He came on the back of the— He was sitting on the Garuda and He came and spoke to them. The Lord said, I am very pleased with all of you, Because you all have single-pointed occupation. And what is that single-pointed occupation? Devotional service. So all of you are united in being single-pointed occupation, devotional service. So similarly, we should all have single-pointed occupation. And our single-pointed occupation should be devotional. Some may be grihastas, some may be brahmacharis, some may be housewives, some may be brahmacharinis, some may be students. Doesn't matter. We should all have single-pointed occupation. That's devotional service. Regardless of which varnara, āśrama we belong to, our life should be so molded that we can engage in the service of the Lord. And if we engage in devotional service, then what happens? You become free from the reaction. Everything we do, there's going to be a reaction. If we act for the pleasure of the Lord, then we are free, exempted. Just like when you pay your income tax, Legal tax, you don't have to worry. And if you don't pay your tax, then you are always in anxiety. Okay, these days people aren't in anxiety. They work out all the deals. They work out all their deals, but it's in theory. But you can't work out any deal with the Āmṛta. You may be able to work out deals with presidents, prime ministers, kings. We can't work out deals with Kṛṣṇa. No, sir. So we don't act for the pleasure of the Lord. Then you get, you're responsible. So anyway, um, so we must understand that, um, we have to act for the pleasure of the Lord. Practically speaking, what does it mean? Means that we be regulated in our life. We follow the regulated principles of bhakti yoga, which we read about in the Bhagavad-gītā, Nectar of Devotion. Kṛṣṇa says By following the regulative principle of Bhakti Yoga, you will develop a desire to attain Me. So without yajña, you cannot have cooperation from the demigods also. Kṛṣṇa has made it clear that even the demigods are able to give you benediction only if you do yajña. Kṛṣṇa has explained that regulative actions are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore, we must have faith in the Vedic conclusion and abide by that faith. Now, what happens in a situation where somebody doesn't live by the Vedas? Kṛṣṇa says he leads a life of sin. And he says, living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain. śrama evahikévalaḥ It's simply a waste of time when we're living a life of please our senses, but not for the purpose of pleasing the Lord. So through the Bhagavad-gītā, we get enlightened into our duties. Now a self-realized man sets the example for others to follow. Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He set the example. Once, when Rāñjanapura came and hinted, The Chitra Mahāprabhu was eating too many sweets. Even though it was false accusation, he has still to set the example. He at once reduced his income. So there's great need to understand the third chapter properly. And if we understand this chapter in karma yoga, then we will dedicate our action for the pleasure of the Lord. The duty of the vaiṣṇavas is to educate people about the higher values of life. Just like it is said, avaisyam ais paradukhadukhi. Seeing others in distress, he becomes distressed. Some of you may say, "Oh, but these days people are not in distress. I see them driving fancy cars. I see all these fancy shops in Moscow." You drive or walk on any street, it's full of so many billboards, free cloud. So you imagine that everything's booming. Devotees knows that if a person's living his life independent of Vedas, is living a life in vain. So by and large, people are leading a life of vain. And they're so degraded, you tell them the results that will happen, they'll say, "Doesn't matter, I'll become a dog or a cat." So we have to educate people. And we educate people through the medium of preaching. Prabhupāda wanted us to distribute his books. He wanted us to distribute transcendental knowledge. He wanted people, he wanted devotees to read his books. He wanted devotees to become instruments in getting others to read these books. And what does Kṛṣṇa say? But people who endeavor to preach, what does Kṛṣṇa say about them in the 18th chapter? Na sa, what's in Karasura book? Kṛṣṇa says, "There will never be one more dearer than he who preaches My glory." Kṛṣṇa gives Himself to these devotees. So who would not like to become dear to Him? Only a foolish man. Do all of you want to become dear to Kṛṣṇa? Then you have to pay a price. Even going back to Godhead means rasplāta. Please like that. Going back to Godhead is not rasplāta. Toys, but not money. The price tag is surrender to Kṛṣṇa and then stop. So if you want to become dear to Kṛṣṇa, you have to tell, show to Kṛṣṇa that you care for what He says. You have to endeavor to preach, endeavor to distribute these books. The material mind will give you so many reasons. You are an introvert. Jibīya, teeny-ochintas, kṛṣṇas, gavārīs were giving it me. They are not interested. No one is going to buy. If no one would buy, how did all of you buy and become devotees? So it all depends upon our So it's nice to hear the book distribution is going up now. Amrit was telling me that book distribution now in Moscow area is double of last year. That's very good. We should keep endeavoring. Even though Maya is advancing, Lord Caitanya's Golden Era is also expanding. This past month I traveled nearly 40,000 miles back and forth in CIS. Is it possible in English? In Russia, in CIS. I went about 15 cities in in your country and your neighboring countries. And I met a wide variety of congregation devotees and devotees. And everywhere people are glad to take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They're very happy with Prabhupāda's books. They're so grateful that, they're so grateful that Prabhupāda's books and devotees have changed their life. I'm just coming from Azerbaijan, program in the temple last night. I thought for the Bhagavad-gītā class there will be less devotees. It was fully packed. And at the airport, you know, I carry my deities with me. They wanted me to show them my proper deity. So one of them was trying to hassle me, "Is this gold?" I told him, "No, it's not gold." "No, it looks like gold." And I thought the guy is going to create trouble for me. Then another big officer came and said, "No, no, no, all Krishnaite, it's okay, let him go." So then they had another checking inside before being on the They were getting ready to harass. Then another good man walked in and said, "No, no, no, this is okay." He appears to put the fellow Sri Kṛṣṇa Guru. So we had to keep preaching. And then we keep preaching. Then there was another man who walked in, one man Samir. He knew the devotees. And he took me right to the plane. He said, "I know the devotees very well. I read Bhāgavad-gītā regularly." So we have to have full faith that there are people waiting for these books. Of course, they are not waiting as enthusiastically as they wait for Walter Waddle. But we have to still create an interest in them. So soon the Prabhupāda marathon is going to be coming. It would be nice if all of you can take part in the marathon. I'll be taking part personally in the marathon in India. Usually India wins, breaks all world records. We have to break our previous record this year. So you should please try to do your share of bhaktis. Actually, if you give Kṛṣṇa, you get Kṛṣṇa. Krishna is very pleased by your efforts to distribute His knowledge. And then Krishna reciprocates and gives you the determination to become a devotee. If you want to be a lazy devotee, toka pasareśye sthāntur uve. It's okay. But you won't make rapid advance. If you make some sacrifice to preach the Lord's mission, then you make advancement. So the choice is ours. Vindava Krishna Prasada. Hare Krishna. Hale lama hale. Lama lama hale hale.