Bhagavad-gītā 7.3 and
Harikeśa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat]
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Mahārāja Prabhupāda! Chapter 7, text 3
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ
[Bg 7.3]
[break] [02:42]
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena
tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
[Gautamīya-tantra 7.11]
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara
śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
[Śrī Pañca-tattva mantra]
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare
[Mahāmantra]
Prabhupāda: So, this will remain our rule for this time in the morning we will speak in English for these foreign students, what time do we speak… seven?
Person: Hindi is better…
Prabhupāda: It is part of our routine that for our foreign students we have morning classes from 7.30 am to 8.30 am in English and in the evening we try to speak in Hindi from 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm. I do not have much practice for speaking in Hindi but I am Indian so I can speak a little.
So before I explain this Bhagavad-gītā śloka, there is some good news which I want to share with you. This temple that you all say is a very beautiful one, the reason behind this Mr. Kashiramji Saraf and his wife, Smt. Geeta Devi. And when I first came to Vṛndāvana in 1971, this gentleman on his own accord proposed to donate this land to me. Then by the Lord’s will, the donation was done and at that time I did not have any money also. Anyway by begging all over the world we have spent at least fifty lakh rupees on this. At that time Mr Kashiramji had kept some part of the land in the front for his own use but after seeing this temple he was very happy and he has said that this land also belongs to you. You can use this space as you want. You take it. On that land we are now going to make a gurukula. And the expenses incurred in building this gurukula will be met by Mr Viśvambhar Nathji Agarwal, who is sitting next to me. He will give at least one lakh rupees, and may give more also. I will start the gurukula tomorrow. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, you all know something about this already, we are preaching Lord Kṛṣṇa’s name all over the world. The other name for this is Hare Kṛṣṇa movement.
Big big scholars are writing books and articles on this movement. Professor Judah, from the Berkeley University has written a big book “Hare Krishna and Counter Culture”, very scholarly book. Similarly this movement is being slowly appreaciated by everyone. And these are the words of Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
[CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126]
This was his prediction that in all the villages and towns all over the world, nagarādi, there will be preaching all over and it is happening also. They are accepting Indian culture with great respect. We will discuss this later on. Let us talk about the Lord’s topics now, as today is His appearance day also. We should discuss something on that.
So, birth of the Lord, ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā, the Lord is ajanmā, the Lord is never born nor, we are parts and parcels of the Lord, we are born. Bhagavad-gītā says, na jāyate mriyate vā [Bg 2.20] if we who are parts and parcels of the Lord are neither born nor do we die, then how can the Lord be born? So the Lord Himself has said,
ajo ’pi sann avyayātmā
bhūtānām īśvaro ’pi san
[Bg 4.6]
Though the Lord is unborn, He takes birth. This is the inconceivable power of the Lord. Today is His appearance day, not only today, every day is the Supreme Lord’s appearance day. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said, just like the sun we see every day in the morning and we think that this is the birth of the sun or the rising of the sun. But the sun is there in the sky all the time but when we see it we think, the sun is rising now. Similarly in the unlimited universes, the Lord’s appearance day is occuring all the time, His pastimes. Not only appearance but all the Lord’s pastimes in Vṛndāvana, Mathura and Dvārakā, all these pastimes are eternal pastimes. It is not that the Lord appeared five thousand years ago and He is not existing now. No! The Lord is there till today. Just like you do not see the sun in the night time, it does not mean that the sun has left the sky or is not in the sky. The sun is existing always in the sky. That is why the Lord says, janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ. So the appearance day of the Lord is not an ordinary event, it is transcendental, divine.
yo jānāti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti kaunteya
[Bg 4.9]
Just by understanding the appearance of the Lord in reality, you can be assured that he has achieved perfection and he is liberated. Just by knowing about the appearance of the Lord!
Janma karma me divyam
yo jānāti tattvataḥ
The Lord has used this word “tattva” a number of times. Even here in the śloka which was recited by them just now He says the same thing,
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ
kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
[Bg 7.3]
This Absolute Truth, we need to understand the Lord in truth, not in ordinary way. And how to understand this Absoulute Truth has also been explained by the Lord,
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
In three or four places this word “tattva” has been used. In the first place the Lord has said, Janma karma me divyam yo jānāti tattvataḥ. And here He is saying, yatatām api siddhānāṁ, those who have achieved perfection like yogic perfection. Actually the meaning of perfection is one who has attained the knowledge of self-realisation—that is perfection. First of all amongst thousands and crores of people, a few may try to achieve perfection. Not everyone does. That is why the Lord says,
manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu
kaścid yatati siddhaye
And out of those who have achieved perfection, someone will understand the Lord in truth. Kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ. So Lord Kṛṣṇa if someone thinks that He is born in Mathura in the same way that we are born, that is not reality, the truth. In reality! First we need to understand, just like the Māyāvādis think the Lord has no form and when He descends He accepts a material body. This is not knowledge in reality. The real knowledge is that there is no difference between the body of the Lord and His soul. They are one. That is why the Lord says,
avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā
mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
[Bg 9.11]
The Lord’s body and the Lord’s soul are not different, unlike our body and our soul which are separate. Our body is called kṣetra and soul is called kṣetrajña. The Lord has also explained this, that,
kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi
sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata
[Bg 13.3]
The living entity is the owner of this body, but the real owner is Supersoul. Just like there is a house there is an occupier and an owner. So the actual owner of our body is the Lord, but He has given us this body according to our desires but this body actually belongs to the Lord. That is why the Lord has yet another name, hṛṣīkeśa. In another place the Lords says,
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā
[Bg 18.61]
This machine, this body is a machine. I am not this body. I am, dehino ’smin yathā dehe, [Bg 2.13] We have been seated on the machine. Who has seated? māyayā, Māyādevī who is one of the potencies of the Lord, is ordered by the Lord that, this person desires such and such body so give him such and such body. That is why the Lord says,
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā.
īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
We get one machine and we make use of that machine to move about here and there and then according to our desires and our karma,
karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa
jantur dehopapattaye
[SB 3.31.1]
So for so many lifetimes we accept one body, then leave it to accept another body. So in this human form of life if we can understand the Lord in reality, in truth, jānāti vetti tattvataḥ, then we do not have to accept any more material body. This is scientific knowledge. jñānaṁ te ’haṁ sa-vijñānam, [Bg 7.2] you all know this. So this appearance day of the Lord, the Lord is unborn. The Lord comes because, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ and vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg 4.8] He has two missions to accomplished. First, to protect the pious and secondly, to kill the miscreants. The Lord is Absolute. Advaya jñāna. His destruction and protection is the same thing. The one who is destroyed by the Lord is also delivered simultaneously. You all know this that, those whom the Lord kills with His own hands, just like He killed big big demons, they were liberated at that very moment. So that is why the Lord is called “all good”. Whatever He does is for our benefit only. That is why the devotees of the Lord know that if for some reason they are put into miserable condition that is the Lord’s mercy. This they should understand.
tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
[SB 10.14.8]
The devotee of the Lord never blames the Lord. Although they may be put in uncomfortable situations even then they offer their gratitude to the Lord, that “O Lord, it is Your mercy!” This is the vision of a devotee of the Lord. So the Lord is appearing today but the Lord does not appear only today. Just like the sun does not take birth only on one day. This is His daily activity if not in this universe, then in one of the unlimited universes. In every universe there is Vṛndāvana and in all these unlimited Vṛndāvanas’, the Lord’s appearance and activities are being enacted daily. These are the daily pastimes of the Lord. This is called *nitya-līlā. * Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī has explained about this, that those who, as the Lord has said, understand the Lord activities in reality, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti he does not take birth again after quitting this material body. Our Vedic civilization is based on how to conquer the repetition of birth and death, nothing else. Not to gratify our senses here. Whatever fruitive actions, knowledge, fruitive actions will force one to take birth again. Jñāna, yoga and bhakti, those who tread on these paths, what is the reason for that? To conquer the repetition of birth and death, punar janma jayāya, nothing else. [Rāmayana].
We are in this material world that has four kinds of suffering. janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9] We are all big big scientists, philosophers, philanthropists and we want to solve all the problems of life. The Lord says, all these problems are immediate in nature, these will go on. The real problems of life are janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi. So if we want to solve the problem so that we are not reborn again. So for not to be born again, the Jñāni’s say that they will merge into the Brahman, be one with Brahman. It is not difficult for the Lord to merge them with Him but the Vaiṣṇavas or the devotees of the Lord do not want to merge with the Lord. He wants to be engaged forever in the service of the Lord. So the Lord also says, mām eti. mām eti means that if someone wants to merge then he can merge with the Brahmajyoti. Otherwise he can go to His eternal pastimes in Vaikuṇṭha, in Goloka Vṛndāvana and be engaged in the service of the Lord. But there is a problem in merging into the bodily effulgence of the Lord. And that is sat-cit-ānanda, you don’t get ānanda. Only eternity is accomplished. But by only achieving eternity one is not blissful. That is why the scriptures says,
ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
Those who are not liberated but think themselves as liberated, their intelligence is not purified, tvayy asta-bhāvād, because until one attains the shelter of the Lord, that liberation does not last. Why?
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho
[SB 10.2.32]
You know that many big big sannyāsīs say, brahma satya jagan mithyā, they renounce this world saying it is false. And after some time in this life time itself they again entangle in politics or some such similar work because only liberation will not work.
brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā
na śocati na kāṅkṣati
samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu
mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām
[Bg 18.54]
If one stops at the *brahma-bhūta *then it is of no use, one has to advance further. That further advancement is accomplished by bhakti, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. So after being a jñānī or a yogī, if one becomes a bhakta by the association of devotees then his liberation is perfect, they go back to Godhead. These are some considerations. The Lord has come to teach us all this.
yadā yadā hi dharmasya
glānir bhavati bhārata
[Bg 4.7]
dharmasya glānir means when we forget the Lord. This is dharmasya glānir. Our religion, the Lord Himself says, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ [SB 6.3.19] We cannot manufacture dharma. Just like nowadays it is a fashion that I manufacture one dharma and you manufacture one dharma. These are not the real dharma. These are all kaitava, cheating religion. That is why it is said in the Bhagavatam, Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo’ atra, this cheating religion is to be thrown out. [SB 1.1.2] What is the real dharma? Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītaṁ, whatever the Lord says, that is real dharma. What does the Lord say?
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
[Bg 18.66]
This is dharma. This is what the Lord comes to teach us in every millennium. Today is the auspicious appearance day of the Lord, please accept what the Lord is teaching, make your life successful. This is the goal of our preaching, and this is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. That is why we travel all over the world and people like it, accept it. What to talk about the Indians, they know all this already. Please be merciful and give us your blessings that we are able to propagate the teachings of the Lord all over the world as we are doing now. Thank you very much!
Hare Kṛṣṇa!
Devotees: Haribol!
*Guest: [Transl. Lord Kṛṣṇa had driven away Kāliya serpent from the Yamunā. Then Lord Kṛṣṇa killed Tṛṇāvarta demon who was coming to destroy Vṛndāvana in the form of a storm. [indistinct]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Just place it [microphone] little away from his mouth.]
*Guest: [Transl. Then He…]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. That’s ok. That’s enough.]
[Most indistinct talk below]
Prabhupāda asks Kashiramji Saraf next to him: [Transl. Take prasādam here tomorrow at noon. Your wife is not here now?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. No. Not here now. How long are you going to be here in India?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. I will start this gurukula and go. Gurukula Building.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Building? So about a month or two?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Yes, one month.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Ok. If she comes back by then then we can do the registration.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. So shall we start the construction?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Yes!]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. You already had a talk with her, no?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Yes! When I come in the daytime, I will discuss with you the small details which are left.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Ok. Just behind this place Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma enact Their pastimes!]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Here? It happens!]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. No, the tradition says…many people say that here Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma come. There is a place here, just behind your this temple.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. I see! Will we get that spot also?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. What?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Is he giving it as donation?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. No! This is that place where the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma actually happened.]
Prabhupāda: Kapoorji? …[Transl. Hmm. Make a brief talk please.]
*Prabhupāda to another Guest in Bengali: [Transl. Why don’t you say something?]
*Guest: [Transl. What should I say?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Something little.]
*Guest: [Transl. There will be drama performance now.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Oh, there is drama now.]
*Guest: [Transl. I will speak later. Just twenty or twenty-five minutes.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. I want that we should start the gurukula building, two storied, here itself. [aside:] speak in Hindi otherwise what will they understand? Please tell him to speak in Hindi. Sit down.]
Kashiramji Saraf: Inaudible.
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. I see. You have come to this temple for the first time?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. What?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Coming for the first time?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. No I have come many times.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. I see.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. I have come many times.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Geetaji has come?]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Geetaji, I think, has not come after the inauguration of the temple.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. No, she came once in my presence.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Everything was nice during the inauguration ceremony?]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Yes!]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. My heart and soul are very happy! Very happy!]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. It’s your blessings! It is yours only!]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. My soul is very happy! I am saying it from my heart.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. No, everyone says, that the temple is very beautiful.]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. My land has borne the results today.]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. It already did so, when you donated the land. This tamal tree, a lot of people told me to cut it down. I said, no!]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. No, Prabhu! This is the beauty of the temple! It is the beauty of the temple!]
*Prabhupāda: [Transl. Yes, very beautiful!]
*Kashiramji Saraf: [Transl. Yes, it is the beauty of the temple Prabhu, we must not even consider such a thought. You make strict order that in your absence they may never cut it down.]
Prabhupāda : No! No!
[Break] [end]