You Can Never Satisfy Your Material Senses | SB 6.1.12 | 16 Jan 2022 | Delhi | Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya.

Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya.

Om namah bhagavate vasudevaya. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya!

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya!

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya!

So it's Shiva Bhagavan Samu—

Chandrasekhar, Chapter 1, Text 12. Voice is on the board?

Yes.

Prasad Raaval Namu!

My dear king, if a deceased person eats the pure uncontaminated food prescribed by physician, is gradually cured and the infection of disease can no longer touch it. Similarly, if one follows the regulative principles of knowledge, he gradually progresses towards liberation from material contamination. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Omegā te me andasya jñānānjanāśalakyaḥ śakṣirmetanīnām. Tatmaśvigraveṇamā. Hare Krishna. So this voice is being spoken by whom?

Has inquired.

What was his inquiry?

His first inquiry was, how can people be saved from entering into the hellish planet? Because in the previous fifth chapter of Skanda, you read about the description of the hellish planet.

Have you— how many of you have read the description of the hellish planet?

It's so frightening.

And so he described the nature of the hellish planet.

And how do you enter into the hellish planet?

Why do you have to enter the hellish planet?

For—

of— coming next to this reaction.

Punishment already heard. The punishment is so severe.

In hellish planet, you begin to wonder why would anyone want to go to the hellish planet? Because the suffering is very intense. Prasadam, I want you to know, if Is there any way people can be prevented from ending up in the hellish planet? And as Prabhupāda explains, that's the nature of a Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava is concerned not just with his own liberation but also the liberation of others. Therefore, in describing the qualities of a saintly person, One of the characteristics of the guru of the Lord is merciful.

He merciful means he desires that nobody go to the hellish planets.

He desires, and the people are going to flee from, there's some sort of a burden there. So that's why you call, you read in so many verses where the Lord says, "He is dearer most to Me who preaches My glory." So, Parikṣit Mahārāja's inquiry was, how can people be prevented from entering into the hellish planet?

In material life, When you see somebody suffering, you say, "Let him suffer.

What do I care?" "Aram saffar." But the devotee, his mentality is, "I should prevent everyone from entering the hellish world." So Praśad RAVAL wanted to know, "How can people be saved by going to hell?" And Śrī Gauradeva Swāmī has explained that before one gives up this body, one should atone for the offenses that you have committed.

In the Manuṣrīmita, this is very nicely explained.

One, it is very nicely explained how a criminal might be punished in this life only.

Otherwise in the future life it is far more severe. For example, somebody has murdered someone, he should give head, then he should be hanged.

That is the basic conclusion.

So, in the 6th Canto, you will hear more glory to the Holy Name.

So, Parākṛmaṇa doesn't require evasion.

Genuine. And he also wanted to know, how can the tendency to commit sinful activities be cleansed from the heart? And what do we see in practice? In practice we see that people commit a sinful activity, then they atone for it, and then commit sins again. This is normal pattern. The Christians go to the church and atone for sins they've committed during the week. Muslims go to the mosque, and Hindus go to the temple, and with the hope that they will be pardoned, pardoned. So Prasada wanted to know, How can the sinful tendency be? Prasadamājā was genuinely desiring to have this knowledge, and Prasadamājā said, "What is the value of a process where you sin and atone?" Sin and atone means You do something wrong and it really does, then you say, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again." Then again I do it. And that's what you see. People go to place of worship and it's tied to it. It's like when you have the Kumbh Mela in India.

Millions of people come. But they don't come to get sadhu sangha.

They don't come to learn about devotional service. They come there to atone for whatever they have done.

And Prasad Raaval gave a nice example. You have a tree and it gets burnt.

But the roots of the tree are still there.

So what will happen?

The tree will grow again. So unless we atone so deeply that we won't repeat this mistake, this is the only— you can't cleanse the heart. If the heart is cleansed, I will not repeat the same thing. Then that is genuine atonement.

So when the scriptures talk about atonement, they're talking about genuine atonement. So Prasadamā wanted to know how can the sinful tendency be corrected.

So Śrī Kṛṣṇa was forming these verses and explaining the importance of Cleansing the heart. He's not interested in learning how to sin and atone.

He has really condemned that.

So a devotee of the Lord is not interested in some superficial cleansing of the heart.

The cleansing of the heart must be very genuine.

So Praśad RAVAL has enquired, And he gave this nice example, how the tree may get burnt, but because the roots are there, again engages in sinful activities.

So in today's verse, what is, what is Śrī Caitanya Gosvāmī saying?

He's saying that if a diseased person eats a pure uncontaminated food, prescribed by a physician, he's gradually cured, and the infection of disease can no longer touch him.

So we are all diseased. Is that right?

Yes, sir.

Sab gaye dekho, kuley yeh sakar hai.

So we are all diseased.

Disease means we all have Unemptied with your desires, with your weaknesses. And because of this, you don't easily surrender to the Lord. So Prasādhmā Śukadeva Gosvāmī is saying, my dear king, a diseased person—

so we must recognize that we are all diseased. The doctor may say you are healthy, but spiritually you are diseased.

Materially healthy, spiritually diseased. And the goal should be to cleanse the heart. So, Prasad Raaval is saying, Śrīla Gosvāmī is saying, if a diseased person eats the pure uncontaminated food given by a doctor or physician, then he can avoid or overcome the tendency to commit sinful activities. So, we must recognize we are diseased.

And what is that disease?

Too many material attractions.

And what's the nature of material attractions?

Can they ever satisfy you completely?

The scriptures say, doesn't matter how hard you endeavor, you can never satisfy your material senses. So therefore the scriptures say, don't waste your valuable time, use it to serve the Lord. But the materialist has an opposite philosophy. So Śrīla Gosvāmī is pointing to The question will be raised by whom?

Prasadam.

You see in the Bhāgavatam, question and answers. Devotees are asking questions and the Lord and His devotees are replying.

Just like Prasadam.

He's asked so many questions.

They were hṛndī.

She inquired for my son.

Please explain.

So to ask questions, It is natural. Arjuna does that in the Bhagavad-gītā.

The Bhagavad-gītā is nothing but full of question and answer.

But we should ask these questions from the right source.

Just like we want to undergo some medical surgery, we just don't stop a man on the road, say, "This is a knife ticket, can you cut me open?" No, you want to go to a qualified doctor, qualified lawyer. So similarly, we should get our questions answered by approaching a bona fide spiritual teacher. In the 4th Kṛṣṇa-chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, 'Āvidhi parivrttayena parvṣena sevaḥ.' Inquire from whom? Somebody who has realized the truth.

And if you go to the right source, then you'll get the right answer.

If you go to a corrupt source, you'll get a corrupted answer. So, Parikṣit Mahārāja is being— Śrīla Gosvāmī Mahāprabhu is saying that in order to be free from our sinful tendencies, what should we do?

Which approach? A purified physician.

And if we approach a bona fide physician, he will give the right answer. So, parikṣramaḥ, mahājana inquiring, is for the benefit of entire society.

These devotees, when they ask questions, they are self-realized.

They are asking questions.

For our benefit. We are heavily contaminated. Our hearts are very black, full of material desires. And Prasadamayi is inquiring for whose? For humanity's benefit. So our hearts are heavily contaminated, and because of that This tendency to commit sinful activities is also there.

So we want to free ourselves from this tendency.

Then what do you do? What do you do?

Approach a bona fide spiritual authority and take the medicine prescribed by him. Prabhupāda, in the Bhāgavatam, in the previous verse, it is said, a good physician Does not cure a disease and let the symptom of the disease remain.

It's like, let's say you have cavity. Let's say you have, say, you have a disease and if you want to cure yourself from this disease, what do you do?

You will take the medicine. They will just practice the guideline.

You have diabetes, you take medicine.

But a good physician will also tell you what diet to take. He will also tell you, "You can't take any sweets at all." Because if you take sweets, take medicine at the same time, it will be contradictory.

So, Śrī Gauraguhū Swāmī explained, a good physician does not give the medicine and let the symptoms remain. He gives you philosophy, he gives you medicine, from which you can cleanse the heart completely. And in other words, our sinful tendencies should go away.

So Śrī Gauraguhū Swāmī is informing here, that a diseased person can only be purified if we take the prescribed medicine offered by Sri Dayananda Saraswati Swami. So if we want to purify our heart, what do we have to do?

Cultivate spiritual knowledge.

Two types of knowledge are there: material knowledge and spiritual knowledge.

Bhagavad-gītā, 9th chapter, Kṛṣṇa says, rāja-vidyā.

This knowledge is the king of education. This knowledge is most important. These days we see that people are pursuing material education, but when you talk to them about spiritual education, it's not important.

We used to send our children to take educational courses, but you don't send your children to cultivate spiritual knowledge, mostly.

So this is what is lacking in society—

lack of spiritual knowledge. And if we have spiritual knowledge, then we can control the mind in the sense that Prabhupāda wanted Bhagavad-gītā to be taught in the schools of India.

Prabhupāda wrote a letter to Madhvagandha in Mīmichi, said, "You are a strong advocate of the Bhagavad-gītā.

Why don't you introduce the gītā in school?" The other day, a few days ago, I read an article in the paper that said Bhagavad-gītā is being taught in more and more schools now.

So if they give spiritual knowledge, then children will grow up with good character, good intelligence, abstain from sinful activities.

But when it is time to educate the children, we have no time.

Prasad Raaval has said, "Ko mana aśrād bhāgya." Cultivate this knowledge for the time you achieve. What?

5 years away.

If you cultivate spiritual knowledge from a young age, then you will grow up with a strong character and good habits. And if you don't cultivate the spiritual knowledge at a young age, then what happens?

What you see in society today.

So what is important is cultivating spiritual knowledge. And we just pursue the path of material knowledge, that will not suffice.

So it is being explained in these verses that unless one receives transcendental knowledge and practices it, he will not be able to catch the heart.

And Prasadamājā's question is what?

How can the heart be cleansed so that sinful tendencies don't remain? Prasadamājā is not saying, "Please excuse me, now I want a license for more." He is saying, "I am not interested in that process where you burn a tree, because the roots are still there below the earth." material activities again begin to trouble you.

So, one prasadamana is interested in pure bhakti, pure emotional service. Vyāsa Deva had compiled the Vāsuvādit literature, but still he was feeling as if something is lacking. He was feeling this point. And when he went to his guru, Nada.

What did Nada say?

You have not exclusively presented the path of pure devotional service.

He said pure devotional service.

Because karma-kanda is also some type of knowledge. But he said it's not pure devotional service. So Prīmad-bhāgavatam is educating us how to cleanse the heart. So, so here Śrīla Gosvāmī is saying, if we, if we take the right medicine, then the sinful tendency can be cured.

So the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches us the process of executing devotional service.

For example, Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave instructions to Rūpa Gosvāmī and his brother. Both of them were at one time holding very important position in society, but gradually both left. First Rupa Gosvāmī left, and then his brother. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave instruction at Prayag to Rupa Gosvāmī for How many days? For 10 days. And he gave instructions to Rupa Gosvāmī or Viṣṇu-nātha Gosvāmī for 2 months. So, if you wanted knowledge, we should be cultivating spiritual knowledge. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very inspired by the Īśvā brothers, and the Īśvā brothers where you constantly engage in devotional service. And what did Caitanya Mahāprabhu tell Rūpa Gosvāmī? Rūpa Gosvāmī, he said, pramāṇam vraja-kona-bhāgavanaji, guru-kriṣṇa-kīpāyapāya, bhāgavanu veda-vrāmaṇa. After going through innumerable births and deaths, is he the fortunate soul? Which he is what? Bhakti-yoga.

You see, knowledge about devotional service.

He understood, unless you engage in devotional service, your life is wasted.

Shrama Āyurveda, he came out.

So, Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Rūpa Gosvāmī that after going through many thousands of births, you need a fortunate soul who receives the knowledge of Bhakti-yoga.

The seed of devotion.

And Chaitanya Mahāprabhu explained what is the measurement of the Ātmā.

Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said, "This soul or Ātmā is 1/10,000th the tip of your head." Can you imagine? Your head is a— So perfect.

Nowhere in the world will you find any educational program where they teach you what is the size of the soul.

What is the size of the soul? 1/10,000th of the tip of your hair, not the length of the hair.

Otherwise, some of the yogis who have long hair, they would have They would have a heavier soul, a longer soul, and the ladies would have bigger souls. So Lord Caitanya explained, tip of the hair. So it doesn't matter whether you're in a male body or female body, the nature of the soul is, the measurement of the soul is 1/10,000th of a hair.

Now, this knowledge about the soul, is very important.

And Bhaktivedanta Swami Prasada has explained, this second chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā is the most important of all the chapters. Because it teaches you who are you, where are you coming from, where are you headed for. Unless we cultivate this knowledge, human life is śrama eva hi, These days, when we talk about the nature of the soul, never takes birth, never dies, 'Najanta me devakarajen,' what do people say?

'What is the proof?' So if you give them the proof, and what is that proof? Consciousness.

Consciousness.

As long as there is soul in the body, there is consciousness.

When the soul leaves the body, Dead man may be next to you, and you may shout, shout, shout. He won't respond, because the soul has left the body. When someone passes away, we say, "Oh, chorge chale, guess what?" First of all, there's no guarantee everyone's going to do this, but, "And chorge chale, guess what?" It means you recognize that something is gone.

This knowledge of the soul is very, very important. So Lord Caitanya said, "After going through unlimited births and deaths, he is a fortunate soul who receives what?" Bhakti, let that be.

And Lord also explained what is the measurement of the soul. So this transcendental knowledge, should be cultivated. And this principle, the soul and the body that is eternal, is also supported in other religious texts.

For example, in the Bible it is said, "What shall I do if I gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of your eternal soul?" Jesus Christ is saying, "You may gain the wealth of the whole world, But if you have lost, if you have misused the human body, then that is very tragic.

So therefore we should cultivate spiritual knowledge only and engage atātā brahman-jagata. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained this to Rūpa Gosvāmī, and then they read and shared with each other.

For the soul there is no birth, no death.

After having once lived, it never ceases to be.

So this knowledge is very important.

Then, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained how there are 8,400,000 species of life. This knowledge is totally absent in society.

The Vedas are so precise.

They tell you exactly how many species there are. For example, in the Java and Awalokshaya, there are 900,000 species that live in water.

Can you imagine 900,000 species living in water?

That's what the Vedas say.

Sava and then 2 million species that live on earth.

But can't move.

Like the trees and the plants, etc.

The plants also have life.

The trees also have life. Prabhupāda was explaining in one lecture that these days we are killing so many trees. So many trees are being chopped, cut.

Why?

To make—

pulp to make paper. Paper, they don't have any such thing as synthetic paper. Synthetic paper means paper made by different process. All the paper that you see is based on—

what is the basic ingredient?

Pulp.

And pulp comes from?

Coming from killing trees. We are literally killing trees.

So there are 2 million species that live on land but cannot move.

Trees, plants, flowers. Can you imagine? 2 million.

Then there are species that— insects.

And that's 1.1 million.

Then you have species that live in water, 900,000. Then you have 2 million species that are on the earth, but they cannot move. And either trees, flowers, whatever.

And then you have how many species that live on In terms of human life?

400,000.

Only 400,000.

Only the species that live in water on Earth, that fly in the sky, that are flying except for 400,000.

So this is precise information being given to us in the scriptures.

That's why the Vedic scriptures have an answer to every question that you can possibly raise.

And Vedic knowledge is acknowledged by many scholars all over the world to be very authoritative and reliable. So, Śrī Gauradeva Mahāprabhu is saying, he is now beginning to— he has respond to Praśadamājā's enquiry.

And what was Praśadamājā's enquiry? What?

How can this tendency to commit sinful activity be corrected? So Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained, first, the measurement of the soul.

Then He explained how many different type of species there are.

Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained how this creeper, how the seed of devotional service will grow, will grow.

How does it grow?

Śrīla Nāma Kṛṣṇa Nāma.

Śrīla Nāma Kṛṣṇa Nāma is the key to spiritual advancement.

Śrīla Nāma Kṛṣṇa Nāma is the medium through which can cleanse the heart.

The heart is contaminated.

How can you clean it? By śrāvanaṁ and kṛṣṇa.

And we have all experienced this ourselves.

Before coming to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we had so many bad habits.

But after you started this chanting process, the heart began to get cleansed.

So this year of devotional service, Needs to be watered. And watering is comparable to śrāvana-mān-ketanam.

So śrāvana-mān-ketanam is the main medium through which you can cleanse the heart.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed His followers to write volumes of books.

But He Himself left behind Only 8 verses known as? Śrīkāśa.

Śrīkāśa.

And in the very first verse, what does he say?

Śrī-dharmān-mārjanam.

One of the benefits of the Holy Name is it cleanses your heart. What does it mean by cleansing your heart? You may say, "My heart is clean. My clothes are clean.

My body is clean." So what do you mean by cleansing the heart? It means replacing contaminated habits with purified habits.

This process of Bhakti Yoga, or devotional service, cleanses the heart for everyone.

Male, female, adult or youngster, cleanses everyone's heart.

And we have seen this.

Each of us has also experienced it.

If you chant your rounds very nicely, You find the cleansing is fast.

And if you don't chant properly, then what happens?

The contaminated desires remain.

So if we want to cleanse the heart, what does Prasad RAVAL say?

Jaya Srila Prabhupada.

Śrīmad-āsṭhoka-lakṛṣṇa puñyaśravana-ketanā hṛdayaṇḍaśto bhūdhāni. The dirt in the heart can be cleansed by chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. So chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, taking part in chanting, is the medium through which you can cleanse the heart.

And there is process of Bhakti Yoga.

Process of Bhakti Yoga is the topmost knowledge. And Bhakti Yoga rendered how?

Without mature, without Krishna Bhaktanuskama, Those who engage on the path of devotional service purely, not that I will serve Kṛṣṇa, I must get this, this, this in return.

Those who serve the Lord from an uncondemned, uncondemnated anger, their heart will be cleansed. So those who are in the purely devotional service, they are always peaceful.

And on the other hand, mukti-mukti, siddhi-karma, sākāni-āśāntara, they are always unpeaceful.

Who?

Those who want to perform karmakanda activity.

Karmakanda is a sort of business engagement with the Lord.

I will do this, but in exchange I'm going to get this.

So it's not on the path of purity whatsoever. But at least, and many of the jnānis, they have spiritual knowledge, but it's not complete. They have spiritual knowledge. It prevents them from committing gross sinful activity, but He doesn't give them pure love of God. Therefore, in the purport, Prasad says, the jñānis, the saving grace for the jñānis is they know what is grossly right, what's wrong. That's like, you see, Mayavadis. There are many Mayavadis in India.

So these Mayavadis, They don't recognize that God has a form. Their concept is God has no form. Prabhupāda used to say, "This is a great insult to the Lord if you say You don't have any eyes, You don't have any legs, You don't have any eyes." So, but these māyāvādīs, they are impersonalists. They are not as sinful as the gross karmis are.

Gross karmis engage in a variety of sinful activities. But the jnanis, they may not accept the personal form of the Lord, but they at least accept we should not take meat, fish, and eggs, no intoxication and all that. So therefore, in the purport, Prabhupāda says, that the jñāni, from the platform of jñāna, you have knowledge and you don't engage in grossly sinful activities. And whereas, on the path of bhakti-yoga, you engage in unmotivated devotional service. So those who serve the Lord, In a pure mood, they are always peaceful. Whereas on the other hand, bhakti-mukti-siddhis, those who want yogic siddhis, they don't. Those who have knowledge, jnana, but they're impersonalist, they don't, they don't make spiritual advancement.

But at least they are saved from extreme bad habits.

So Śrīla Gosvāmī is saying that we should embark on the path of nirvāsī-mārga and pravasī-mārga. One is the path of sense enjoyment, to which we are all accustomed, and the other is the path of Pure devotion. So we should receive this transcendental knowledge from the right source. And if we apply this, that will help us advance spiritually.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu was explaining the rūpā-gṛhamaṇa, this process of spiritual advancement.

And then he said, 'Pramāṇḍa-bhāgavān.' I was trying to mini version that. You need a fortunate soul to receive the seed of bhakti.

Then Lord Caitanya said, "As the makīla, the bridge, grows, then sometimes you see unwanted creepers.

They are also leaning on the tree." What is meant by unwanted creepers?

I am serving for my personal honor. I must be acknowledged as the best devotee here.

Aye, aye.

If I don't get the honor I deserve, I think I deserve, then you go on strike.

So, these unwanted creepers, desire for name, fame.

I will do bhakti, but I want name and fame also.

These unwanted creepers are dangerous.

And if you don't cut them at the right time, then these unwanted creepers can knock down the tree or bush or stuff. So, when you may see that these anukata kaini creepers are growing, what should you do? Take the help of a sadhu, take the help of a saintly person, and don't allow these unwanted creepers to grow. So, on the pure devotional path, we discourage these unwanted people to join. And you can do that by executing pure devotional service and taking the help of saintly people. Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Rūpa Gosvāmī that this, he explained, in order to protect your devotional creeper, What should you do? You should have a strong fencing so that unwanted animals and people may not come in. Just like we have a big boundary wall, Haike.

Why do we have that boundary wall?

Why?

So that unwanted elements may not come in, unwanted animals, They don't come in.

Unwanted human beings don't come in. So, Rādhārāṇa said, "Why should we keep ourselves in?" Sadhu-saṅga.

If you keep yourself in sadhu-saṅga, then even if the unwanted creepers are developing, they can be identified.

Sometimes, you may have seen, a sincere friend, One brother or someone may tell you, "Prabhuji, I see this shortcoming in your behavior.

I see that you don't pronounce the mahā-mantra properly." Normally we would say, "Hey, this man is just at enmity with me." But we should be grateful.

We should be grateful when somebody points out your weakness.

We should be happy if somebody says, "Prabhuji, this is your deficiency." We should be happy.

Normally what's our attitude?

The moment someone says something, "This man is just envious of me." But we should be grateful.

Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu used to say, "If somebody is flattering you, then be cautious. Beware of flatterers." So Chidāmāmā explained it to Bhāgavat Swami.— that these unwanted creepers develop.

But if you have a strong fencing, then that unwanted creeper will be identified.

So we should cut out the unwanted creeper.

Stay in devotee association as much as you can.

This sadhu sangha is very important. Lord Caitanya when He explained the essential principle of devotional service.

The first word he mentioned was sādhū-saṇātana, and śrīla Rāmakṛṣṇa was second.

Why?

Because if you have the genuine association with sādhū, then he's going to give you the right knowledge.

And what is the right knowledge?

Chaitanya Kṛṣṇa, if you want to make it a bit simpler. So the unwanted creepers, should be eliminated. And that can be done if you are in spiritual association. And in spiritual association, we should not just be looking at who is going to praise me. We should look at who is giving me real knowledge. How can I take advantage of this knowledge? One who has spiritual question, Then Lord Caitanya said, "This bija, bija, which grows into a tree, that can be spoiled. Beautiful garden built by devotional service can be destroyed also." How?

Bye, Prasad Raaval.

This is called the mad elephant offense.

You saw, you open the door before an elephant, they go and destroy everything. You leave some small children to play in your drawing room, they'll, they'll spoil the beautiful garden.

So this beautiful garden should not be spoiled.

And how can you prevent that? By, by executing the devotional service and avoiding offense. In our scriptures we have so many examples of The result of Lord Caitanya in order to demonstrate the importance of avoiding, avoiding a prasada, used His own mother as an example. Saci Mata, as you know, was very disturbed. She was upset that her older son had left home. And the younger one is also preparing to go.

And he, she would blame—

Who did she blame for that? Avadhūtācāra.

Avadhūtācāra.

So, this devotee then would always say, "My Lord, You are so kind to everyone, but You are not kind to Your mother." And the Lord would say, "My mother has offended." And what was her offence?

Just that. She blamed Advaita Acharya for influencing the Vishuddhu Bhakti Vam and also influencing Papapuṛrī.

So, the Sācīmādhā had a certain amount of anger.

And once when Advaita Acharya was offering respects to the Lord, Sajī Mādhā came from behind, took the dust from the feet of Mahāprabhu and the Lord saw that. He said, "Now my mother will get love of God." So, we heard this example many times. But the reason this is important is because the Lord showed even His closest relative, the mother, is not exempted from this offense. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Rūpa Gosvāmī how to proceed on the path of devotional service. In this verse we see that Śrīla Gosvāmī is giving prakṣema.

What is He giving him? Transcendental knowledge.

On the process of bhakti. So Chaitanya Mahāprabhu gave this knowledge and then he sent the two brothers to Vrindavan.

And what was, what was their agenda?

To write books on devotional service.

So the books that Rūpa Gosvāmī has given us, they're all based on the instructions that Chaitanya Mahāprabhu gave in 10 days in Prayag. And then he gave this knowledge to Sanatana Gosvām also for how long? For 2 months in Prayag. They have that beautiful Guriyamādh temple there where Rūpa Gosvām received spiritual knowledge. So when we talk about pravatimāra, the path of knowledge, what does it mean?

Knowledge By which you can execute devotional service.

That is what it is meaning. Rādhā-vijñāna-rādhā-vijñāna.

So it's very important that we cultivate the spiritual knowledge.

And if we don't cultivate spiritual knowledge, what will happen? We will keep drinking poison.

Mūṇaśicchana-pāya rādhā-kṛṣṇa-bhāgya jānya śūnya piśā-kāyam.

Having obtained this rare human birth and not worshipping Prasada and Kṛṣṇa, what was I doing?

Drinking poison, you will say.

So by and large, everyone in society is drinking poison.

And the devotees, what do they do?

They endeavor to preach so that instead of poison, They take nectar.

But people are so contaminated, they say, "Let me drink poison." No hope. So that is the tragedy. So in this verse it is said that if we execute transcendental devotional service in its pure form, then the disease will not touch you. That's like they say, if you take vaccination, then you won't get any disease. So if you take, execute devotional service, then that will give you strength and knowledge how to overcome material attraction. Devīṣa-gūṇa-māhi, mama-māhi, prasāda.

To overcome this illusion energy of mind is very difficult.

But if you mama-māmi, "But if you surrender to Me, you will be able to overcome." So, "Me" means what?

Following Lord Caitanya's instruction.

Lord Caitanya gave these instructions to Rupa Gosvāmī.

And Rupa was forced to leave.

And then his brother Sanātan also managed to escape from the prison.

Then the war was so cruel.

When he saw that Sanatana is refusing to come back and resume his duty, the Navāma was totally dependent on Nisupada. And when Prabhupāda Gosvāmī left, he was very unhappy. When his brother's intentions were known to him, then he said, "No!" You can't go ahead any cause.

And he said, imprison him.

So he was put in jail. And the jailkeeper, Sanatana knew him.

So Sanatana said, why don't you let me go?

You can tell the Nawab that I'm going to evacuate and I jump in the river. You know, I kind of Sri Srinathan, having worked in a very important position like Prime Minister, so knew that his brother had left 10,000 gold coins with a grocery store. And he went to Bhagavan Swami, he was a Hindu Brahmin, and said, He has so much wealth that the whole boat was full of gold coins, and he distributed in a very exemplary way. He gave 50% of his wealth to the Brahmanas, 25% he gave to his relatives, and the balance he kept for a future emergency. Srila A.C. Goswami knew that he may need the money to rescue, uh, Sraddhalu Gosvāmī. And I mean, Sraddhalu was put in prison.

He received a letter from Rūpa Gosvāmī. And what did the letter say?

The letter said, "I have kept 10,000 gold coins for you for emergency." So then finally, Sraddhalu, he says, Bhakti's donation, and he was freed by the jailer. So Srila Nārādhana Gosvāmī met the Lord in Mordhanāsi, and then they got the spiritual knowledge. And from Rāja Tena Mahāprabhu, for 2 months nonstop, Rāja Tena Mahāprabhu was instructing Srila Nārādhana Gosvāmī.

So this knowledge of devotional service is not acquired by some material means.

It is acquired through spiritual agency of the sadhus, guru sadhu, shastra.

Shastra means words of God. Everything that we say should be based on the scriptures.

It's not that, "According to me, this is how we should do." No, we say, according to Kṛṣṇa, we are looking for what will please me. Like these days, there's a new phenomenon in ISKCON. They use the word "comfort zone." Come, we—

Do you all know comfort zone?

Comfort zone means, "I will serve, but on my terms." Everything should be on my terms. But that was the way.

Then you don't get the benefit pure devotees get.

So our philosophy is: What is Kṛṣṇa's desire is my desire.

What is good for Kṛṣṇa is good for me. Place Kṛṣṇa's interest first. Not that you have to do what I do. We should do what Kṛṣṇa wants. And how do you know what Kṛṣṇa wants? Tuguru sadhu śāstra. Śāstra means words of God. And sadhu, sadhu means knowledge coming through the disciplic succession. And then guru.

These are three parallel tracks.

I mentioned the chain of devotional service is moving. So Parikṣit Mahārāja is being instructed to follow the path of nirvāṇa-dīmāra. We go from prarabdhi-māra to nirvāṇa-dīmāra. And in nirvāṇa-dīmāra, you have prasāda, devotional service. You have knowledge how to overcome the So in these verses, Śrīla Prabhupāda Swāmī is explaining, what is he explaining? How you can free yourself from this tendency to commit sinful activities. So this tendency to commit sinful activities is deep-rooted. And because we live in a dualistic society, You see that? You don't— we all have so many bad habits. So in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, they said, asaṅga-saṅgatyāge vāśnavacāra.

What Caitanya said?

Give up the association of non-devotees.

You may say, "But how can I give up?

I have to go to college, business, and so on." Everywhere you meet non-devotees.

So you, the answer is associate with them only to the extent that it is necessary and not beyond that.

In other words, minimize what?

Minimize material education and maximize spiritual association. And then that will give you experience for spiritual advancement. So in this words and purport In the purport, Prabhupāda explained how the path of personal devotional service can give you the strength to give up the inferior path. On the path of sense enjoyment, pravaḍimār, our only business is, our only desire is to engage in sinful activities. But when you come in contact with Guru Sadhu Shastra, you get to learn what is pravaḍimā and nivraṣimā. Pravaḍimā. And you follow that path, then what happens? Then you can overcome the mutual attraction.

So, Parikṣit Mahārāja's enquiry is very genuine.

Give me knowledge by which my heart can become permanently cleansed.

So we are not interested in Karmakanda.

We don't go to Kumbh Mela with any intention, "I'll take my bath and wash my sins, so I have a fresh license for 4 more years." Our goal is through the path of devotional service to cultivate pure devotional service. Because this is the only process by which the heart can be cleansed.

And as we cleanse the heart, Cleanse the heart means what? It means engage the senses in service of the Lord.

And we have the classic example of, of Mahārāja Prasāda Raṣadra, how we use the senses in service of the Lord.

We are wise.

We use the eyes to see the beautiful form of the Lord. And thanks to technology, you can, you have darshan.

Or 20 sets of deities on the same day.

So use the eyes to see beautiful form of the Lord. Use the tongue to, to chant the name, to hear transcendental sound, and to taste Kṛṣṇa prasāda. Bhāgavad-gītā says, if you eat food that is not offered to the Lord, then what does that do?

You're inking only sin.

So our philosophy is, eat what each Krishna prasada.

That should be our guiding principle. In the Bhāgavatam, you read the example of a fish.

How does the fish get caught?

Because it's attached to food.

Yeah, attached to food.

The fisherman puts some food on the fishing rod. And then, as the fish goes through, he said, "What happens?" It gets caught. So, use the tongue to eat Kṛṣṇa-prasāda and to chant the Holy Name of the Lord and to engage in Kṛṣṇa-gātā.

If you don't engage in these spiritual activities, what will we be doing?

Engaged in prajñālpa.

Prajñālpa weakens your spiritual life.

And Kṛṣṇa-gātā strengthens your spiritual life. So our philosophy is to take part in what? Kṛṣṇa-gātā. Prabhupāda Gosvāmī explains in Amṛta-śrīmad-bhāgavatam what is kṛṣṇa-yuselv, what is jñāna-mānasa. So the path of devotional service is the highest, and one who engages on that path, he can free himself from the material contamination. So Rūpa Gosvāmī was taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to keep devotees with Him, preach to them.

Just like there was that Brahmin who was reading the Bhāgavad-gītā in the Śrī Rāṅgaṁ Temple.

There was a Brahmin, he was uneducated.

He could not read and write.

But every day he would sit down at a particular location in the Srinagar temple and chant and recite the Bhagavad Gita. So Lord Caitanya saw a big crowd of people around him.

So he wanted to go and see what is it.

And there he saw, there was a Brahmin.

He wasn't even holding the Gita properly. And he was chanting the shlokas.

And as he was chanting, tears would come to his eyes. And the neighboring inhabitants knew that Brahman is uneducated. So they would say, "Hey, this uneducated man is trying to impress us." So they would make fun of him.

So Lord Chaitanya said, 'What are you doing?

What are you reading?' He said, 'I'm reading the Bhagavad Gītā.

My spiritual master told me to recite 18 verses of the 18 chapters of the Gītā every day.

So I sit over here and chant.

Most of the verses, I don't understand what they're saying.

But because it's my guru's order, I'm executing it.' So, and Lord Chaitanya Mahāprabhu said, 'But still, "Prasad RAVAL," "Why do you shed these tears?" "And your body is trembling." He said, "When I see the humility of the Supreme Lord, when I see the Supreme Lord is so humble, He becomes the chariot driver of His devotee, looking at His humility, my tears come from my eyes." Lord Caitanya was so pleased, He embraced him and said, "You have understood." the meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā.

And then Lord Caitanya kept him with him for 4 months.

For 4 months. And he was instructing him daily on the path of devotional service. So Lord Caitanya would keep devotees with him and give them elaborate explanation.

So the path of Bhakti-yoga is a path by which you can give up your attraction to material things. And the path of Bhakti Yoga, when executed properly, will give you the strength to defeat Maya. Just like in the words which quoted earlier, Kṛṣṇa says, devyāśakurāmāyāmāyāt, to overcome this illusion energy is very difficult, but if you surrender to Me.

So surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, what does it mean?

Sarvadhamām parisaḥ yamāmāyākam śrāṇam vraja-āmtām, arabhābhaya mokṣu-saṁ imatā.

What does it really mean?

It means engage your body, mind, and senses in service to the Lord.

It doesn't mean renounce other religions and serve Vaiṣṇava.

It means engage your body, mind, and senses in service to the Lord. And then if you do that, then you get the strength to fight Maya.

Just like the two sons of Kriyāra. When they were liberated by Nārada Muni, they said, "Now onwards, we're going to use our tongue constantly to glorify You, use our legs to walk to the temple of the Lord." In other words, in ignorance we may have performed wrong action, but now that we received Genuine knowledge, we should use our senses in service of God. So what Śrī Kṛṣṇa Gosvāmī is presenting is the path of pure Bhakti Yoga, and that will give you the strength to cleanse the heart. Otherwise, cleansing the heart is not so easy.

And our process is? Silo Bhagwan. Jnana process?

Is superior to engaging in karma-kanda, but doesn't give you pure love of God. Then bhakti-yoga means engaging in unalloyed pure devotion of God. So we should endeavor to progress, to progress on the path of bhakti-yoga. That is the substance and the Srimad Bhagavatam. You should hear attentively. That will give you the strength to cleanse the heart.

Hare Krishna.

Any questions?

Prasad RAVALAD RAVALAD.

Thank you very much again for this very inspirational lecture about so many facets of Saurabhama.

For Sahajan also.

My question, Gurumaharaj, is you highlighted how Shri Prasadam Maharaj said, "Be aware of flatterers." But on the other hand, when one understands that when somebody criticizes, it is good for one's improvement, but yet while one may have desire for name, fame, and prestige, one may decide to stay away from that, but if somebody speaks ill of us, If there is ill-fame, the heart gets disappointed, the mind gets disturbed. So how does one handle the disappointment?

So your point is, if somebody speaks ill of us, how should we behave? Lord Chaitanya gave us a philosophy of tolerance.

'Cinādavīsūritena devaṣaḥ na manya-māna-deṇa.' Be extremely tolerant.

If somebody speaks ill of us, we should just take it as Kṛṣṇa testing us, testing our tolerance level.

Tolerance doesn't mean we just tolerate what you don't like.

We accept. Even Nityānanda Mahārāja was preaching house to house. They were accused of even being tease, but it's already there.

So if somebody is criticizing you without any genuine reason, then he will also get the karma. That's already there.

I saw incidents where Prasad Raaval criticized, but he was just already there.

If somebody is criticizing you, Let's say it's a devotee criticizing you.

Then you can approach a senior devotee and take his help in communicating with the person who is criticizing you. Because if we criticize our vaiṣṇava without reason, then you also take on karma.

It's not that.

And if— and what's the result of this karma?

The devotional people will not grow. Vaiṣṇava prasāda.

As your prasāda increases, you lose taste for chanting the Holy Name.

This is the most serious complaint, most serious effect.

You lose your attraction to the Holy Name.

Sometimes people say, "I don't have a taste. I am losing taste."— that could be due to a PRASAD RAVAL. Okay.

Yes.

Thank you very much for such a wonderful lecture. So my question is regarding the Chhatimata. So she had something in mind about whether the child And that is out of the love towards her son, her son's. So even though, I mean, such a things that happened, and Srila Prabhupada was looking not to give Krishna-prema to her. And in such a current time, if we have something out of even for the— out of love for the sons or daughter, Or out of something it comes to the mind which is negative for the Vaishnavas. So even though that, we have to bear the repercussions.

I'm sorry, repeat.

Yes, in the current time, I mean the current Kali Yuga, even something that negative comes in our mind, so for the negative, if we correct it later, I mean, if something negative is coming in your mind, yes, yes, that we correct it also in the mind itself. Then, even though we have to pay those implications.

One saving grace in Kali Yuga is mental offenses don't count.

So that's a concession.

But it doesn't mean we take advantage of it.

Because if you think ill of somebody else, then eventually it affects your execution also.

That's what Prabhupāda often said. Look at the good in everyone. Be like the bee and not the fly. The bee is attracted to clean environment. The fly to dirt.

So look at the good in everyone. Any more questions? Yeah, there's a mataji in the back.

So today, tomorrow is complete lockdown, huh?

Silently, silently.

Yes, silently, I'm sorry. Yes, quickly.

Hare Krishna. Thank you, Gurumaharaj, for enlightening us. Gurumaharaj, my question is that as we learned today that hearing chanting fills our heart, And pure devotional service means to do all activities for Lord's pleasure. But when I see myself, even while engaging in devotional service or hearing and chanting, the show-off, the tendency to show off and to want to enjoy the results of my services, it's always there in the mind. Intelligence always saying, 'Why are you showing off? Don't do that.' So there is always a war between ego and intelligence, like don't show off.

Okay, I understand your question. So if there is a desire to develop, I want to be recognized, honored, and still do execute devotional service, and by executing devotional service, even if you have mature motivation, you will eventually get purified. It's like Dhruva Maharaj. He went to the forest.

His motive was to get a very opulent kingdom, even more than anyone in his dynasty had it.

But the power of Bhakti Yoga is so powerful. As he practiced meditation and 'Jānanamum Nama Bhagavata Vasudev' mantra, his heart got purified.

And then, when he was given the opportunity to ask, he said, "My dear Lord, I was looking for broken glass, now I found a diamond." Kṛṣṇa says, "People come to Me in 4 circumstances." Eṇa-cātu vidāvajanivam. One of them is who wants money. Kṛṣṇa says, "Those who go to the demigods are of less intelligence.

Come to Me, I will give you the benediction." So everyone doesn't become a pure devotee right away, but we are on the path of pure devotional service, and we stay on that path, eventually we are purified.

The important thing is you don't get deviated from the path.

Okay?

Thank you so much. Yes.

Hare Krishna. Thank you for a very nice— okay, one question. Lecture. The question is, Maharaj, that how to increase our attachment towards our spiritual master? And you explained, like, sachi madhyate, the dust of the lotus feet of Vādhdevācārya. By accident, if we commit Vaiṣṇava offense, then we have to beg for forgiveness or we have to take the dust of the lotus feet, or both?

You can do both. I mean, you can apologize.

Vaiṣṇavas are usually very magnanimous.

So if you go to Advaita, apologize. They are separate.

Gopāla Brahman had cursed Śrīvās, and Śrīvās forgave him. When he apologized, then Śrīvās forgave him.

He didn't say, "No, I'm not going to pardon you." Yeah.

May I ask you a one-line question?

I will take them all. Yeah, sure.

Prasad Raaval has a question from Vṛkṣṇa Mahāmādhava Prabhu. He is asking, "How do we accept our mistakes as the mind is saying that you are right?" Take help of those who are more advanced.

Take help of seniors. Rūpa Gosvāmī talks about 6 rasas amongst the gurūrīs.

And one of the rasas is?

Ucchamātya.

You reveal your mind to those who are more advanced and take instructions from them. There's no point in revealing the mind if you are not going to take instruction. You don't say, "I'll go to the doctor, but I don't want his medicine." Yeah.

There's one more question. One says, "How do we put this into practice, that we are the soul and not the body, especially when we are suffering from bodily pain?" If you have bodily pain, like, how do you?

It takes time to realize this knowledge. Even Arjuna said that.

So, We have this body, and the body is giving us pain in so many ways.

And then we say, "You are not this body," but we don't say, "Don't look after the body." Chinnagiri Pandit said, "Three things should be acted upon immediately: disease, death, and birth." Chinnagiri Pandit is saying, if you have some disease, take care of it, because the body is to be used as a vehicle to serve the Supreme Lord.

Yeah. Prasad RAVAL, I think.

Sir, what will be the destination of somebody who has an unfulfilled spiritual desire at the time of death?

If you have some— spiritual desire was strong, Krishna will give you the chance to executed in the, in the facility in the next life.

Just like Prabhupāda said many times, all those who are joining the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, they've all done service in the past.

So because we couldn't complete our devotional service, Kṛṣṇa is giving you this opportunity. But if you don't do it again, then that will be tragic. We should all be thinking, I've got this opportunity, now let me take it seriously.

There's this question from Melbourne, Burma. The devotee is asking, some senior devotees in India say that we are Hindu. He's asking why, why do we say that we are Hindu?

Say that again.

Why do, why do some senior devotees in India say that we are Hindu?

I, I don't know who you're referring to, but, uh, this, in some circumstances we become Hindus and in some circumstances we become Vaishnavas.

But that I can't discuss in a big pub, certainly. Hindu, actually, as Prabhupāda has explained many times, it's, it was meant to recognize people who lived across the Indus River. From Hindu, from Sindhi it became Hindu. Sometimes we use the word Hindu to easily identify. Than we are from this country or this part of the world.

The best is to be a Vaishnava. The jewel is to abide in Kṛṣṇa's love, engaged in the service of the Lord.

Okay. Should we continue? Then, uh, few more questions.

Hare Krishna. Thank you, Guru Maharajji, for this enlightening lecture. My question is, as part of service, many times we have to hear about criticism of devotees, and many times it may be wrong and right also, but ultimately hard to get eliminated. So what to do?

Well, we should all have the power to discriminate. We should. You should develop the ability with which you can recognize this criticism is valid or not. And when you are in doubt, go to your spiritual seniors.

Generally, we should avoid fault-finding. And we should not engage in fault-finding in public or in big groups.

If you really see some fault in somebody, you can go to your temple authority and tell them, "This is what we've seen." Many times you may think of somebody's great point without that being established to be truth.

Okay, yes, I'm sorry.

Hare Krishna, Dhammat Pranam, Guru Maharaj. My question is Sometimes things don't work according to our plan.

So how should we accept Kṛṣṇa's plan and be happy?

We would all love to be in a situation where all our plans are executed. We forget that we have a history of karma. And according to the history of karma, You have your quota of happiness and distress.

Prasad RAVAL says in the 7th Canto, doesn't matter how hard you endeavor, you won't get one drop of more happiness than what is your quota.

So make the effort and leave the results in Kṛṣṇa's hands. You may try to achieve something, but you can't achieve it. Don't get frustrated.

Just understand that is Okay, thank you very much. Okay, yeah. Hare Krishna, Guruji.

Can you please explain the term praising and criticizing? Both are Both will deviate us from the goal of our life. Criticizing and praising. Praising. We praise some other or criticize some other. Both will deviate.

Not praising doesn't mean—

If somebody does, somebody, Budi does some nice service, we tell him, "Thank you very much." We should not think, we say, "Thank you," he will get puffed up. It's a normal courtesy. You thank somebody. If someone's done some good service, we appreciate him, we recognize him, we give him tons of rewards. That is not praising. That is, that is our acknowledging that this person has done this service, and we recognize that by giving him a gift or All right.

So what's the question? How we deviate from the— how we deviate from our real goal by praising or criticizing them?

Criticizing is more dangerous.

Criticizing may just cause Vaishnava prasada.

So unless there is genuine meekness, we should avoid it.

Usually we criticize just due to envy.

We feel he has some facility which I don't have. So we become envious. So we should avoid criticism influenced by envy and anger. Okay, so we finish. Stop now. Anything to say about book marathon?

Book marathon is going on just when— display the final score.

Final, final voice will want to—

final score is English Bhagavad Gita, Marathi Bhagavad Gita, also in Assamese, all are in Bhagavan's name. Mahabing Books, 3,31,864.

Shila Brown, 986.

Shila Brown, 305. Chetan and Shaktam, 1,786. Big Books, 4,656. Reading Books, 6,640. 46, all books, 40,749.

Actually, now we should— for all those who have taken Bhagavad-gītā, we should approach them and get them to read it. Part 2 of our marathon.

Yes. 5, 1,786. Big books, 4,656. English books, 6,646. All books, 40,000.