Why is the path of devotional services so sublime? | BG 5 | Rus-Split | 1989 | Gopal Krishna Goswami

I think some of you people can come a little forward. There is more room in the front. So what chapter did we discuss yesterday evening? Who remembers? The fourth chapter. So now we shall start discussion of the fifth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. I'm going to try and complete the 18 chapters before I leave on this trip between Moscow and Leningrad. Śrī Gurave Namah. Śrī Caitanya Mano-Vistam Stāpitām Iñābhuḥ Tāle Swayam Rūpa Kedāmayam Tadāti Svāpādanti Kām. Bande ham Śrī Guru Śrī Urtāpāda-kamnan Śrī Guruṇa Vaishnava-nāsta. Śrī Rūpaṁ Sagrajatam Sahagena Raghunāthaṇvatam Tām Sajevam. Sadveṭham Sabadhuḥ Tām Parijana Saitam Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Devam. Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa-padaṇṣahagena Lalitā Śrī Viśākhānetāmśca. Jai Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadaḍaśiva Chaitanya Gaura Mahāprabhu Nanda. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare, Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare, Hare. So this fifth chapter is called Karma Yoga, Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Now if you remember, the third chapter was called Karma Yoga. So you may say, what is the difference between the two? Actually, in this chapter, Kṛṣṇa is emphasizing that one must work, but one must learn the art of working for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes repetition is necessary in order to drive a point home. So in this chapter, we see that Kṛṣṇa is emphasizing the points that he has already hinted at in the third chapter. So the Bhagavad Gita fifth chapter starts with Arjuna presenting a question. Arjuna wanted to know what is better. Is it better for him to renounce work, or is it better that he works with devotion? Just like we noted in the second chapter, Arjuna was confused about his duty. So he very submissively surrendered at the lotus feet of the Lord and begged for spiritual direction. And we have also seen in the fourth chapter that Krishna says in order to obtain spiritual knowledge, one must approach a bona fide spiritual master and submissively serve and obtain guidance. So Arjuna is getting his confusion removed not by just going to any ordinary person but to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Just like when you get diseased, you just don't approach a doctor on the road, but you go to the proper qualified doctor to get your disease examined. So in reply to this inquiry from Arjuna, Kṛṣṇa says that the renunciation of work and work in devotion are both good for liberation, but of the two, Work in devotional service is better than renunciation of work. So living in a socialist country or any part of the world, nobody should have any concern because the Bhagavad-gītā does not tell that those who are on the spiritual path, they should renounce their work and retire to the mountains. Rather, it explains that one must learn to work for the pleasure of the Lord. That is all. Once again, in the 5th chapter, what is emphasized is that fruitive activities, or activities through which one desires to obtain some degree of sense pleasure, should be given up. Because as long as one is engaged in fruitive work, one will remain entangled in the samsara of birth and death. A point that he has already made in the previous chapters, that one must get free from duality. You should neither hate the result of your activities nor should, nor should you desire the fruits of your activities. In other words, when you become Kṛṣṇa conscious, you become a true renouncer. Such a renouncer is dedicated to the transcendental loving service of the Lord, and hence he is not attached to the fruits, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant. So karma yoga is described as work in devotional service, and those who are approaching the samkhya philosophy, That is the analytical study of the difference between matter and spirit. They also come to the understanding that the soul of all existence is Vishnu. Very often we say that people misunderstand the meaning of the word Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga does not mean that you just do your duty to your family, etc., but rather it means you work for the pleasure of the Lord. So those who are ignorant or unaware of the spiritual philosophy, they think that karma yoga is different from the samkhya yoga philosophy. So the real student of samkhya philosophy finds out the root cause of this material world, that is the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, and then waters the root by engaging in His service. Because even in the samkhya yoga philosophy,, the process of detachment is highly recommended. So from that angle we can say that both are the same because Sankhya Yoga is preaching detachment or abandoning fruit of activities, and so is Karma Yoga. So there's some transcendentalists who think that just renouncing all activities is real spiritual life. Just like you have what is known as spiritual hippies. The hippies are those who just want to renounce the society and they just don't want to do any work and just roam around doing their own thing. And spiritual hippies are those who under the guise of spiritual life just renounce all the duties in society, etc., and just wander around doing whatever their minds dictates. So Kṛṣṇa says, just by renouncing activities, you're not going to become a perfect person. But if you renounce your activities and engage in positive devotional service, then they can be perfection. So the important point is that we have to learn to act for the pleasure of Krishna. This is known as action in Krishna consciousness. Prabhupada used to give a very simple example that instead of signing for Alexander Alexander, you sign for Krishna Alexander. This is what it means to be action— this is what is meant by action in Krishna consciousness. Krishna, you, Alexander. That's all. You don't change your work, you just change your consciousness. The materialist is thinking he is the cause of all action and so he must be the enjoyer of the result. The devotee is thinking the Lord is the cause of all action and he must be entitled to the fruits of the action. Just like today happens to be a very nice day. It's such a nice day that if we knew ahead of time it would be nice, we could have had the program in the park. But since this is the rainy season, some thought maybe it will rain, so we should have the program indoors. Anyway, when the weather is very nice, what do the karmis do? They drive to the beaches to enjoy the sun. But the devotee, when he sees a nice day or something beautiful, he just thinks, "Oh, how can I go out and distribute more books or offer a beautiful flower to the Lord?" So Krishna says in the 7th verse of this chapter, yoga yukta vishuddhatma, vijitātmā jñitindriyā sarvabhūtāmā bhūtātmā khoranāpīna lipyate. This is a very important verse. Kṛṣṇa is saying that one who works in devotion is a pure soul because he controls his mind and senses. And because his mind and senses are in control, he is dear to everyone and everyone is dear to him. So frankly, a devotee of the Lord He really has no enemies. Just as we know the leaves are part of the tree. A leaf, when it is separated from the tree, the leaf becomes dry. And when the leaf is part of the tree and the tree is regularly getting water, then the leaves are green. You understand this simple example? Okay. So similarly, the devotee of the Lord thinks that every entity is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. So He has no friends and no enemies. The materialist is always dividing the society into friends and enemies. He's saying, "Oh, this man is my friend, this man is my enemy." One nation is thinking, "This ideology consists of my friends and this ideology consists of my enemies." But actually, a devotee is a friend of everyone. Even an ant, he does not want to harm any living entity. So Krishna is saying that one who is in control of the mind and senses Nobody envies him and he envies no one. And such a person is seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, walking, sleeping, breathing, but within everything he's doing it for the Lord. Just like because we are Krishna conscious doesn't mean when we walk on the street we blind our eyes so that we may not see some beautiful person and get attracted to that person. We try to take the poison out of our senses, just like a snake charmer. When you go to India, you see a lot of snake charmers there. So these snake charmers, they have the snakes around their neck, some have the snakes on their head. How do they manage to keep this poisonous cobra snakes right on their head? There's a trick to it. The trick is that they have removed the teeth of the snake. So, so the snake has poison, but all the poison is stored in the teeth. So when you take away the poison, the teeth of the snake, then even if the snake bites you, there is no poison. So in Krishna consciousness, we don't close our ears, we don't blind our eyes, we don't stitch our tongue, we have— we don't stop walking. We do all these things, but we do it in relationship to the Lord. And this is what Krishna is emphasizing in this text, 8 and 9 of the of this chapter. In India, there are some so-called transcendentalists who don't speak at all, and they have big, big following. People are so foolish, they think this is big sacrifice when you don't speak. But when you have this tongue, it must be used, but you must know what to speak. So we don't practice artificial monism, but rather we believe in using the tongue to glorify the Lord and to taste Krishna prasad. We have 5 knowledge acquiring senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and touch. So these eyes, if they're just used in seeing something vulgar, then this will invite death. Just like the moth. The moth is waiting all day for the lights to be turned on, and in the night when the light is turned on, the moth goes and sits on the light. And when it goes and sits on the light, it gets burned by the heat of the light. So did you understand this example? Is this— do you see this in Russia also? When there's light, the moth goes and sits. The moth is waiting all day, 'I must give my eyes a beautiful light to sit.' And in the night when the moth's lights are put on, the moth says, 'Boy, now here's my time to enjoy.' So it goes and sits on— it sits on that light and His enjoyment results in being burned by the heat of the light. So if you want to use your eyes to see something vulgar, to see dirty pictures and so on, then, then your fate is going to be the same as that of the moth. Then another of our senses is hearing. Do you know that the deer is an animal which is very difficult to capture? So when the hunter wants to capture a deer, He goes and plays a particular melody. So the deer is always running, but when he hears that melody, he stops. He tries to find out where is that melody coming from. And while it has stopped to hear, to find out where the melody is coming from, the cruel hunter takes his gun and shoots the deer. Otherwise, the hunter runs, the deer runs so fast The hunter's bullet will never catch him. So similarly, if you want to use your ears to hear this mundane sound, to hear this material sound, then your faith is going to be the same. So stop listening to this, stop listening to mundane music. Now, we all have the nose also, huh? If we told you, you can become Krishna conscious, but you must seal your eyes, seal your ears, seal your nose, seal your tongue, none of you would be here. You would look ugly and people would think we are really crazy. I'm sure all of you don't mind putting on tilak and wearing dhotis, kurtas, and saris. But if we told you now you have to blindfold, shut your eyes, ears, nose, and all, you would say, "Sorry, this is not for me." So the desire to smell is natural, but if you want to smell material things, then your faith will be the same Like that of the bee, the chiloe. So the bee, the chiloe, goes all day from one flower to another, and in the end it finds the lotus flower. And when it finds the lotus flower, it says, 'This is what— this is exactly what I was looking for.' And it sits on the lotus flower and it goes into complete samadhi. But by the laws of nature, in the evening the lotus flower must close. I'm sure in your country also the lotus opens in the morning and in the evening it closes, isn't it? So in the evening when the lotus flower closes, the bee gets trapped to death. So here is a poor bee who was searching all day for something to smell. It finally found something, and then by trying to satisfy the nose, it died. Then everyone loves to taste. Tongue, tongue, tongue. Wherever you go, there are a lot of places to eat. Like, even in America, studies have been conducted which show that everybody loves to overeat. So people love to eat without discrimination, huh? Jesus Christ said, "Thou shall not kill," and Bhagavad-gītā says, "Pātraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ doyam." Still people want to pretend to be Catholics and so on. Still they want to eat without discrimination. So what happens when you eat without discrimination? Exactly what happens to the greedy fish. So, you know, when the person goes fishing, what does he do? He takes a bait, and on the bottom of the bait he puts a food that the fish really likes. So the fish underwater sees that food and it says, "Boy, now it's time for me to have a feast." So The fish goes running. All the fishes, when they see that plate of feast on the below water, they all run for that bait and they all get trapped. So similarly, those who want to eat without discrimination, they'll have to pay the price. And then there are those— by and large, we see the whole society, whether you're Russia, America, India, Nepal, anywhere, everybody is mad after sex life. The whole society is revolving around the sex desire. So what happens to those who misuse this facility? Exactly what happens to a he elephant. To capture a he elephant is very difficult. So the hunter, he digs a big— they dig in the ground a big trench and they cover it with grass. So the he elephant is made to follow the beautiful she elephant. And while the he elephant is following the she elephant, he falls in the ditch. Because if you have a well which is covered by grass and you step on that grass, you'll fall inside the well. So similarly, those who are mad after illicit sex, they'll have to pay a very heavy price. Just like in the 5th Canto of the Bhagavatam, in the description of the hellish planets, it is said that those who engage in illicit sex, after death they have to embrace a burning Naked, rod-like form of the opposite sex. So the point is that a devotee of the Lord, he uses all these senses in service to the Lord according to the direction of the scriptures, and that is how he develops detachment. The Bhagavad-gītā gives a very nice example of the position of a transcendentalist. It says that just like the lotus flower is in water, but the water doesn't touch the lotus flower. Similarly, a devotee of the Lord is operating in the material world, but he is not touched by the material world. It is just like the mouth of the cat. The mouth of the cat for the kitten, it is a source of shelter, but for the mouse, it is the blow of death. Isn't it? Yes. The mouse says, "Oh, here is the cat." "Aha, now my death has come." And the kitten sees the cat coming and says, "Oh, here my mother is coming to carry me in her mouth." So Kṛṣṇa explains, a perfect yogi is one who abandons attachment, uses the body, mind, intelligence, and the senses only for service of the Lord, and by this process he becomes purified. We are presently impure because we think our nature is to engage in sense gratification. So the living entity who's in perfect control of the mind and the senses and who's living in the city of nine gates, He is fixed in serving the Lord and hence he is detached from it. The living entity who is living within the city of nine gates, he controls his mind and the senses and engages in devotional service. He controls the natural tendency to engage in sense gratification. Just like there are many gates, I don't know if you have gates that lead to the city of Moscow. When you devotees came to Vrindavan, you saw that to the entrance of Vrindavan there were two big gates. So there are nine gates in your body, and through these nine gates the desires for sense gratification come in. Just like when you're leaving home and you want to make sure that the thief doesn't break into your house, you make sure the door is properly locked, isn't it? So you must make sure that these nine gates in the body are properly trained, properly locked from material desires. You want to know the 9 gates? Oh, you know. The 9 gates are the 2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears, 1 mouth, the anus, and the genitals. So the living entity who is on the spiritual understanding, he does not want to use these different openings in the body for sense enjoyment. Even though the living entity has no freedom, it is said that he has one freedom. And that freedom is he can either go in the spiritual direction or in the material direction. So we always have the free choice, whether we take the spiritual life or material life. Like, we do not give you any salary or special benefits for coming to spiritual life. Benefits? But if you become a member of ISKCON, you get no material benefits. But you take the spiritual life because it gives you satisfaction. So the living entity who is the master of the city of this body He does not create any activities, nor does He induce people to act. All that is actually done by the modes of material nature. In other words, material nature is working and the modes of nature are working also. As long as the living entity is in ignorance, his real knowledge is covered. But when one has the spiritual knowledge, then he can understand everything clearly. Just like when all of you were young, you were probably sucking your thumbs in the mouth, isn't it? Do the babies suck their thumbs in Russia also? They do. Okay. They do it all over the world. So, but when you grow up, you know that sucking thumb doesn't look good. So even if somebody told you, okay, here is 1,000 rubles, now walk on the road with your thumb in the mouth, you won't do it. So as long as you are in this sense, you're thinking that you're this body. But when you have the spiritual knowledge, you understand you're not this body. So through spiritual knowledge, One can control the mind and the intelligence and develop faith in the Supreme Lord. So the whole Vedic history and the Bhagavad-gītā centers around the point that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme and we must use this life in relationship to Him. So one who has the spiritual knowledge, he sees everyone with an equal eye. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not make any distinction between different entities or different species. Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, vidyā vinayaḥ sampaṇe brahmanī-kāivyā hastini śuṇī caivaso paaketaḥ sāpanditaḥ sama-darśināḥ, that the humble sage by virtue of true knowledge sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater. So the humble sage, one who has spiritual knowledge, he doesn't say, "Oh, here the animals are put on earth for our enjoyment." The humble sage knows that a person has taken his birth in a high family as a Brahmana, it is also due to his past karma. And if one has taken his birth as a dog or a cat, that is also due to his karma. And one is evolving through the cycle of birth and death. So the moment one understands that he is not this body, he is no more in the conditioned state of life. He is in the liberated stage. And such a person is not scared of death or birth. I'm sure even in your country everybody is scared of death, isn't it? The old man when he's dying, he'll tell the doctor, "Doctor, please save my life just for a few more days, few more weeks. Some of my plans are still not completed." So the point is that one who is on the spiritual platform knows that for one who is born, death is certain. In the material world, everyone is happy when he gets what he wants and sad when he doesn't get what he wants. But one who is intelligent spiritually, He's not bewildered because he knows that even if I get some happiness today, this happiness will become painful tomorrow. Everything that goes, that any happiness today must become sad, must result in sadness tomorrow. So this is material happiness, not spiritual happiness. So material happiness is temporary. You may have a very good job today, but the moment you get fired, you will be— you feel sorry that you had a good job. You maybe miss Universe today, but the moment you get old, You will just lament, 'Oh, one time I looked so beautiful, now see I'm wrinkled, my face is wrinkled and I look so ugly.' You may have a very, very wonderful husband, nice children and so on, but the moment your husband and relative and children leave you, then you will feel sorry that at one time you had them. You may be very rich and have a nice car, but the moment you lose your riches and you have an accident, you will feel sorry that you had a nice car. So please understand,— that whatever your material desire may be, it may give you happiness today, but tomorrow it will make you cry. There's a very nice story in the Bhagavatam to support this point, but it's a long story, so I'll say it either this evening or tomorrow. In the Western societies where there's so much emphasis on money, people cannot understand how the Hare Krishna devotees can be happy. They have no bank balance, They don't believe in illicit sex, no gambling, no meat. How can you be happy? They just cannot understand. They don't understand that spiritual happiness is from within. A material greed can never be satisfied. Narada Muni makes a very important statement in the Bhagavatam which is as follows. He says, a hungry man can be satisfied if he is given food. I'm sure all of you are hungry for prasad, huh? So when you get prasad, you'll be satisfied. And a thirsty man is satisfied when he gets water. And an angry man is satisfied when he has a chance to shout. Sometimes you may be very angry at your children, so when they come home you shout at them, but after you shout at them, your anger is gone. But a greedy man can never be satisfied. Sir. Nārada Muni says a greedy man can never be satisfied. When you become a millionaire, you want to become a billionaire. So in spiritual life, we are content with whatever is provided by the will of the Lord. For example, in our temples where we have Mangala-Arati at 4:30, of course, because most of you live at home, you probably get up at 6 or 7, am I right? But in our temples, our devotees get up at 3:30 in the morning, and at 4:30 when they go for Mangala-Arati, they are all dancing. But the materialist will not start dancing. Till he has enough vodka and he gets a lot of music. You can never conceive of a materialist getting up at 3:30 and he starts to dance at 4:30, isn't it? Sometimes when we go in a Hare Naam, the materialists, even in India, they think that we are drugged up. We have taken some drugs that we are dancing like that. The only drug that we have taken is the drug of love of God. So the materialist can never understand How a spiritualist can be happy in just pursuing spiritual goals. So the spiritualist is getting unlimited happiness and he's not attracted to so-called sense gratification. A great devotee by the name of Sri Yamunacharya, he has said that since I have started engaging in devotional service, whenever my mind turns to sex life, I just spit at that thought. So you must know that material sense activities can never give you happiness. So an intelligent person, according to the Bhagavad-gītā, 5th chapter, does not, does not take part in the sources of misery which are in contact with material senses. As I just told you, he knows that everything has a beginning and an end. If I have a beautiful wife or a handsome husband, this is all again a very temporary relationship. The spiritualist knows that. So the wise man does not take delight in the so-called sources of misery. So before giving up this material body, we must so train ourselves that we develop the spirit of detachment. It is not that because you become a devotee now you won't have any material desires and you will not get angry. Generally, people become angry when they do not get what they want, isn't it? When does the child cry? When the mummy doesn't give the child what it wants. Dr. Sergey is there? What time is the next program? I'll finish this in 10 minutes. It's okay, niyat problem. Okay, so the child cries when it doesn't get from the mother what it wants. So similarly, when you don't get sense gratification, people become angry. As long as the leaders of the government all over the world can give their citizens enough sense gratification, everybody gives them vote again and again. But when they cannot get sense gratification, the people say, okay, now I want another leader. So Krishna says that one must tolerate the urges of the senses and one must give control desires and anger. You may have so many material desires, but you must remember that I have been trying to satisfy my desires since time immemorial, but I'm still dissatisfied. There's so much emphasis on sex life. The pigeons are having sex 100 times a day. The monkeys are having sex hundreds of times a day. So You think that by engaging in this activity, I'm going to get happiness is simply an act of hallucination. So the point is that we must control our material desires and then anger will automatically be in control. So we must have this conviction in our heart that human life is meant for serving the Lord. So once you have this conviction, you're happy from within. And when you're happy from within, then you're always happily situated and free from duality. And such a person is guaranteed to go back to the kingdom of God. He's happy now and happy later. So when you act with this understanding that human life is meant to serve the Supreme Lord, then that is perfection of life. After all, who is the Supreme Lord? This is very nicely explained in the last verse of this chapter. Bhaktanam yajyataposam sarvalokam heśvaram surdam sarva-bhūtanam gyatvam santim rājyati. That is A person in full consciousness of Me, who knows Me as the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all the planets and demigods, and the well-wisher of all entities, attains peace from all miseries. So the real point is that, that those who come to spiritual life, they understand that the Supreme Lord is the cause of all causes. He is the proprietor of everything.— and therefore everything should be used in the service of the Lord. So when you understand that Kṛṣṇa is the cause of all causes and you use everything for Him, then you become spiritually happy. And this spiritual happiness is superior to any happiness that material activity can ever give you. You must understand that spiritual happiness is superior to material happiness. Material happiness has a beginning and an end, but spiritual happiness has no end. If somebody told you, "Okay, you want to buy a house? Here is this house. It may look very beautiful, but it will fall down in a few years. Here is this house. It may look a little ugly, but it is going to last permanently." What will you take? The one that will last permanently. So, in the beginning, spiritual life may be a little distasteful. Just like when the child is used to sucking the thumb, And the mother pulls the child out and the mother slaps the child every time he puts the thumb in the mouth, the child cries. So in the beginning when you have to practice sense control, it may be difficult, but if you take to the process of chanting Hare Krishna, reading and associating with devotees, then you will obtain unlimited spiritual happiness which will give you real joy in life. Okay. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So we have covered the 5th chapter of the Gītā. What I'm doing actually is telling you each chapter of the Bhāgavad-gītā in a storybook form. Everybody likes to listen to stories, so you can listen in the form of a story. Could all of you hear in the back also? Is this approach of explaining the chapter, is it helping you understand the Gītā a little better? Okay, so tomorrow I will give you all a small test based on everything that we've done so far. Very simple test. I'm sure all of you will pass. Okay, okay, don't worry. If you only— those who want the test can take, those who don't, I'll just ask verbal questions. So, so I want to request all of you that now I won't take any questions because I had to go and meet someone, and I'm sorry I came a little late today. As you know, Krishna Kumar has arranged two programs today. One was here, one in the evening. So the evening program is supposed to be around 5 o'clock or 5, 5, 5 o'clock. Is it going to be difficult for you all to go there? Actually, I was feeling sorry that two programs are arranged because I know you all will have to go to the trouble. It is better to arrange everything in one place, but I think it was done so that more people will get the chance to take part in the program. So if you don't mind, I won't take any questions now. We'll have the evening program, and in the evening I'll start the 6th chapter of the Gita. The 6th chapter— the 6th chapter is a very long chapter, very, very important. So the 6th chapter may take 2 days. So today evening is 5 o'clock, Kṛṣṇa-kṛma. Tomorrow from 1 o'clock till— Tomorrow 1 o'clock, where I'll continue the Bhagavad-gītā. So is it okay? I have your permission if I stop now? Your permission and blessings? Hare Kṛṣṇa.