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Lecture at the Hindu
Temple of Birmingham, AL
SDA:
We’re very happy to be here tonight with all of you ladies and
gentlemen. Whenever
gatherings like this happen, it is a most auspicious thing.
There are so many gatherings in this material world.
People are gathering for stock exchange.
They’re gathering for cinema.
They’re gathering for so many things, but when we can gather to
realize who we are, who is God, what is our relationship with God, that
is a very special thing.
Why is it special? The Lord
Himself actually manifests in that meeting.
We’re reading
tonight from Bhagavad-Gita, 5th Chapter, text 29.
One who knows Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices,
austerities, the supreme owner of all planets and demigods, and the
benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from
the pangs of material miseries.
There is a great call for peace now all over the world.
The political leaders are saying that we have to have peace.
If you elect me I will bring peace.
That’s the political platform of peace.
They should take a hint from Bhagavad-Gita.
That is the actual formula for peace.
As long as we try to make peace based on some material formula
like the League of Nations, United Nations, they will always remain
imperfect.
Peace must be based upon God.
Otherwise it is artificial.
You may have peace temporarily, but again war will break out.
Just imagine one body of water.
If I throw a rock at that body of water, concentric circles will
spread out in that pond. If
you throw your rock in the water then you throw your rock in the water,
what happens to those waves?
They clash.
But if each and every one of us can throw our rock in exactly the same
spot, then there is no clash.
Everyone can still throw their rock in the pond, but we must find that
central point that is common to everyone.
That is the peace formula.
You must find that common point which is true for everyone
whether you’re a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jain, Sikh, even an Atheist.
What is that common central point whether you’re an animal, a
plant, a god in the heavenly planets,
svargaloka or you’re being
punished down in the nether-regions for your past sins, what is that
common point that unites us all?
Krishna here is giving us some insider information.
There are three things we must understand.
God can be a vague idea, but Krishna here is giving us some
concrete information. We
can actually understand what the real meaning of the word God is.
Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
is the first point. Second:
Sarva-loka-mahesvaram.
The third point is Suhrdam
sarva-bhutanam. The
first point is that Krishna, God is the supreme enjoyer.
Why is He the supreme enjoyer? That is the second point.
Sarva-loka-mahesvaram.
I am the owner of everything.
All the planets are My property.
Just like in married life, the husband enjoys his wife, but he
cannot enjoy other men’s wives.
That is sinful. If
you are the proprietor, just like you have your house, you enjoy your
house, or your car.
Whatever you own you have a right to enjoy.
So, because God owns everything, it’s all for His pleasure.
This is two of the three points.
The third point:
Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam.
In the Sanskrit language, there are different words for friend.
There is Mitra,
bandhu and
suhrt.
Hrt means heart.
Suhrt means bosom
friend, a very close intimate friend.
Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam.
Krishna is that very intimate, close friend of all living
entities, not just some casual relationship like
mitra. Or a little closer
like bandhu.
He is the most dear intimate friend.
Just consider how dear a friend is Sri Krishna.
He manifests in the heart as
paramatma. A four-armed
form of Vishnu within the heart.
That is Krishna’s expanded form.
According to the Vedas, we transmigrate from this birth to that
birth to that birth. We are
in that samsara-cakra.
This is like a prison, and we are going from this cell to
that cell, to this cell to that cell.
But this suhrt
paramatma, Krishna in the
heart, He is such a dear friend that He comes with us.
If you got convicted of some crime, and you got sentenced to five years
in prison, just think which of your friends would give you five years to
keep you company in jail.
Can you think of any friends that would give up five years to keep you
company in prison? It would
be hard to think of which one of my friend would be willing to come into
prison for five years. They
may come once a week to visit me, and bring me some gifts, and cheer me
up. But of all my dear
friends, who would come and sit with me for five years in prison?
That is Krishna.
We’re going from this cell to that cell, this cell to that cell,
lifetime after lifetime and Krishna’s going with us at every minute as
paramatma, the four-armed
form of Vishnu in the heart.
He is coming with us from body to body to body as our best
friend. And what is He
doing? He’s just waiting
for that day when we will come back to Him.
There is a nice simile given in the Vedic literatures to describe the
Lord in the heart. It is
described there in a simile fashion that there are two birds sitting in
the tree. This body is the tree.
In that tree there are two birds sitting.
One bird is eating the fruits of the tree, that’s us.
The other bird is witnessing us while we eat the fruits of the
tree. That is Krishna, or
paramatma.
Every time we go through births and deaths, we just go from one
tree to another, that’s all.
The bird is still there, but the body is different.
Just a different tree.
We are the fruit eating bird, trying to enjoy this material world
as a human, trying to enjoy in this form and that form.
The other bird, who is the witness, who is that
paramatma, that
suhrt, wherever we go, He
flies along with us and sits there side by side with us as a witness.
There are actually two selves within our heart. There is us, the
individual living being, and there is God Himself:
paramatma, Krishna.
If we can realize these three wonderful qualities of God, the result
will be we’ll become completely peaceful.
Jnatva mam santim rcchati.
He achieves peace, one who knows Me in this way.
Jnatva mam one who
knows me, peace he attains.
Sanskrit kind of reverses it from English.
Jnatva mam santim rcchati.
Knowing Me, peace he achieves.
Knowing Me, as I have mentioned with these three things, then he
achieves peace.
So, if you look out at the world, you see people killing one another.
Terrorists blowing up so many things.
It means we are not knowing God’s three features.
Supreme enjoyer, Supreme proprietor, Supreme friend.
As a world society, we have failed to realize what is God.
That is a fact. They
may realize. They may not
realize. But at least we
can realize. We know these
great saints of India, the great
rsis, sadhus, they can be in the midst of complete turmoil on all
sides, but they’re not disturbed.
This is the beauty of our Vedic culture of India.
Of course there are saints all over the world.
There’s no doubt there are Christian saints, there are some
Muslims who are actually austere and saintly I’ve heard.
We don’t say that religion is exclusive property of India.
There’s religious principles everywhere, but we see the most
highly advanced understanding in the Vedic world.
Its like in dictionaries.
You can have a little pocket dictionary.
You can have a collegiate dictionary, and you can have a full
unabridged dictionary. Very
heavy. You cannot carry
that, you have to put it somewhere and leave it sitting there.
If you try to carry it with you, even if you have a backpack,
you’ll have a hard time carrying an unabridged dictionary.
Its so big. The
Vedic wisdom, that is the unabridged dictionary.
How is it that the sages had so many names for God?
How is it possible?
Here in the West, they just have one name, God.
They say the Lord.
One or two names like Jehovah.
A few names only.
How is it the sages of India had so many names for God?
How is that? I’ll
give you a very simple example.
You know the Eskimos living in the north pole?
They have many names for ice.
Many many many names for ice.
In America and India, we don’t have many names for ice.
I know I’m from Texas and we just call it ice.
Just one word because we rarely see it.
Thank God. But the
Eskimos have many many many names for ice.
Why? Because they’re
intimately associated with it all the time.
They say there’s type, there’s that type, this stage that stage.
They have it down.
They know the science of ice, inside and outside.
The great Vedic sages had so many names.
We have Vishnu Sarasranama.
That is only the tip
of the iceberg. There are
millions and billions and trillions of names for God.
A thousand names is just a little sample.
One thousand names of God is nothing.
Nothing. Nothing.
How is it? Because
the most intimate knowledge of God exists in India.
Now India is rushing after technology so these things are becoming more
and more forgotten, so we have to preserve this cultural heritage of
India. Technologically,
India may be backward, but technology is not everything.
There are two tracks.
In the Isopanishad it describes.
The train is running on two tracks.
If you want the full blessings of immortality, you must cultivate
material knowledge and spiritual knowledge side by side.
Both things. In our
colleges and state universities, they say no spiritual knowledge.
Material knowledge only.
This is wrong. There
must be spiritual knowledge and material knowledge, side by side.
If we want the full blessings of immortality.
This is stated in the Isopanishad.
We see so much material knowledge, but how chaotic the world is now.
We have so much material advancement.
This is an mp3 recorder.
Forty gigabytes are in this little recorder.
Can you imagine? How
many hundreds of lectures I can record, when I travel all over the
world, so my disciples can easily transfer to CDs.
We have very great advancement in material technology.
Now you can even get a little mp3 recorder on your watch that
will record nine hours.
That’s now available. The
technology is so advanced but were now in more of a chaotic condition on
this planet than ever before.
If Al Qaida gets ahold of nuclear weapons, you can just imagine what
will be the situation. Just
imagine if President Bush gets an emergency phone call.
The Al Qaida is saying, we have nuclear weapons planted in the
heart of Manhattan and you must give in to our demands, or we will
activate the nuclear explosion.
President Bush says no we don’t negotiate with terrorists.
I’ll give you five minutes, George.
Five minutes later the whole New York City goes up in a mushroom
cloud. Complete
destruction. These things
are not out of the realm of possibility now.
What has happened with the world situation?
But we have great hope.
Krishna is saying, Here is the formula for peace.
If this scientific knowledge of God can be universally taught
throughout the world, then we won’t have to face such calamities and
death. Therefore I’ve
dedicated my whole life for this.
I could’ve earned a very good living working corporate America.
But, I’ve given all that up.
My wife is also with me.
We’ve given this up and we’ve simply dedicated our whole life for
spreading this scientific knowledge of Vedic wisdom all over the world
for the benefit of all the living beings.
The world is in a very very dangerous position at this very
minute. Here is the
solution for all of the problems.
The politicians cannot give it.
They’ve proven that they’re not able to solve the problems.
By material means you cannot solve the problems.
How many years have they been trying to find Osama Bin Laden, and
even if they find him, somebody else will be there to take his place.
You cannot do it by military means, by economic means. You must
do it by spiritual means.
That’s how you can bring solid peace and happiness to the world.
Material political, economical things are alright.
Those can also be there.
In the Vedic culture all the aspects are there.
You have Brahmana Ksatriya
Vaisya and Sudra.
Brahmanas are the
head, ksatriyas are the arms
vaisyas are the belly and
sudras are the legs.
Everybody works together in harmony under the direction of the
brahmanas who are the head.
The brahmanas in the original
Vedic culture were very pure.
Lovers of God. Not
that they were interested what they can get.
They were interested in how they can give to everyone, and bless
everyone. Even during the
time of that great Indian king, Chandragupta.
Who was his brahmana?
Canakya Pandita.
Chandragupta offered him to come live in the palace.
He said no. He lived
in a simple hut outside of the king’s palace.
A simple hut he was living in.
He didn’t want any opulence.
Even though the king is willing to give him everything.
It was because of the expert guidance of
Canakya Pandita that Alexander the Great was not able to conquer
India. This Canakya Pandita
was brilliant in morality, spiritual value, politics.
He was expert in everything, but he didn’t want anything for
himself. He just wanted to give
service. Live very simply.
Even in more recent times, 500 years ago in India in our Hare Krishna
movement we have our world headquarters in West Bengal.
You’ll be hearing more about it.
We’re going to build the most magnificent temple in the world.
It is in the planning stages now.
We’re going to build the most magnificent temple in the world.
It will rival any temple that’s ever been built on the face of
this planet. Its now being
planned. One of our
devotees, Ambarish prabhu, he is the great grandson of Henry Ford.
He has some good means to organize and help this project go
forward. Being a member of
the Ford family and he is taking a leadership role to organize this
construction. You’ll be
hearing about this. It will
be the most beautiful magnificent temple in the entire world built in
West Bengal on the bank of the
ganga, the Ganges.
Five hundred years ago there was a city nearby called Krishnanagar.
There was one king, Krishnacandra.
He heard that there was one
brahmana in his kingdom who
was in a state of poverty.
So, he said no no. No
brahmanas can be in poverty
in my kingdom. I cannot
tolerate such a thing. The
brahmanas must be well cared
for. No
brahmana can be suffering in
my kingdom, so he went to where this
brahmana was.
The young boys would come and he would teach them Sanskrit,
Bhagavad-Gita and Vedic knowledge.
He came and said that I see you’re in poverty condition.
I want to give you some wealth.
You’re impoverished my dear
brahmana.
He said impoverished condition?
You see this tamarind tree here?
I have no difficulties.
My students, when they come for lessons, they bring some rice in
their hands. My wife, she
cooks that rice and she takes the tamarind leaf and boils it with the
rice and we eat very nicely.
The rice with tamarind.
So, I don’t need any support.
I’m very well cared for by God’s arrangement.
This was the actual brahmanas.
They weren’t interested in any money.
They just wanted to give knowledge, they wanted to give service.
That’s all. It even
carried over into the early days of the Greek empire.
The early Greek empire was founded by kings of India.
The son or grandsons of Maharaja Tejas, the Indian king, they
founded the Greek and Roman Empire.
Indian culture was actually the whole world in former times.
Especially the early Greek philosophers believed in
reincarnation. They
believed in knowledge passed down from previous gurus, which is the
Indian system. Krishna says
in the Gita:
This knowledge is understood
through a line of gurus.
Coming down from Krishna Himself.
So the early Greek philosophers also had this idea that we have
traditional knowledge coming down from previous teachers.
Alexander the Great, the famous warrior, there was one of the
Greek philosophers named Diogenes, he’s famous for his austerity. He was
living in a barrel. He
didn’t live in a house. He
just found one barrel and that’s where he lived inside the barrel.
So, Alexander came to him and said, my dear Diogenes, you’re
living here in this barrel, is there any way I can be of any service to
you? He looked up and said
yes, you can get out of the way.
You’re blocking the light.
Those who’re actually knowledgeable don’t want to take anything or have
some money exchange. They
are not greedy for money.
They are not greedy for prestige.
They are not greedy for power.
They have no desire like that.
They simply want to give knowledge.
They dedicate their whole life for giving knowledge.
What is the knowledge they are giving?
The knowledge here from the Vedic wisdom.
If the society in general can be educated to understand, whether we call
God as Krishna Allah Jehovah Rama Vishnu Govinda Christ, this is not the
point. The point though is
to understand what is the science of God.
Why do we argue over the name of God, when we must understand the
science of God. There is
that person that Supreme Being who actually is the enjoyer of everything
because He owns everything and He’s the best friend.
If these three points can be understood, then all of the points
of the world can be solved.
This must be taught everywhere.
It must be taught in the schools.
But the schools are saying no, nothing about God.
If you try to teach about God, some atheist will make a court case.
When I was a boy, growing up in America, every day we would pray
to God. Public school.
Every day. There was
no drugs, and there was no guns.
And we prayed every day.
So, now the Supreme Court has ruled that you cannot have prayer
in schools. They got rid of
prayers then in came the drugs, and in came the guns and they cant
figure out why we have this drugs problem and gun problem in the
schools. They cant figure
out that it because we took the prayer out.
They cant understand these things.
The Supreme Court Justices are so dull headed that they can’t
understand. The government
leaders are so dull that they can’t understand.
There may be a few that can understand, but they’re in the
minority. The majority
can’t understand. Because
we took God out, therefore, all these problems have come in.
You have to have something.
You can’t just take everything away and expect people to be
peaceful. You have to have
some basis for peace. And
this is the basis of peace.
To put God back in the center.
That is the basis for peace.
They’re thinking, well we can have peace by the United Nations.
God is not the center of the United Nations.
That’s why there are so many wars going on all over the world.
Ever since the United Nations was formed there was never a day
where the whole world was peaceful.
Never one day since the U.N. was formed was there a day without
some conflict on the planet.
The United Nations has been an absolute failure because God is
not in the center. That’s
the problem. In the Krishna
consciousness movement, we are trying to build a spiritually united
nations. We’re having very
nice success. We have
centers all over the world.
In fact, the Russian Government has donated land for us to build a
Krishna temple in Moscow.
It’s a huge opulent Radha Krishna temple in Moscow.
That is inconceivable.
A few years ago, who could imagine, the Russian government
donating land for a Radha Krishna temple.
In America the government won’t do such a thing because of
separation of church and state.
But in Russia, which was formerly the bastion of atheism, now the
Russian government is donating land for a Radha Krishna temple.
So, we’re working all over the world, in the Hare Krishna
movement. We’re working all
over the world to create this atmosphere and understanding not just in
the Hindus, but in everyone.
The Christian, the Muslim, the atheist, Jews, we can all
understand we have a common denominator, that’s that there is a supreme
being, we’re all His children, we’re meant to understand Him as the
supreme enjoyer, the supreme proprietor, and the supreme friend.
We’re working to educate the whole human society.
Normal welfare work we do too.
We have devotees feeding the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka right
now. The Hungarian
government donated 20,000 dollars to help the Hare Krishna movement do
the tsunami relief. We’re
doing all this aspect too, but after all the villages are rebuilt, then
what are we going to do?
Simply building villages and feeding is not all.
After you get the villages rebuilt and the people all fed again
and well situated, then you have to give them knowledge of who they
actually are. That you’re
not your material body.
You’re an eternal spirit soul.
Part and parcel of God.
You have to educate them in higher spiritual knowledge and
understanding so these conflicts don’t break out.
That we are doing. That is
our mission. We are doing
this mission. We ask you to
kindly cooperate with us in this program.
Kindly cooperate with us to make the world peaceful.
Let us work together as a team and make this world peaceful and
happy for everyone, in every corner of the world.
Why only in America should they have prosperity?
Does that make sense?
It’s nice if we get situated here by birth, or by immigration.
It’s nice if you’re situated in a prosperous land.
Who wouldn’t want to be?
But why should other people be stuck in a poverty condition?
Is that a very nice thing?
So many Indian villages and third-world countries, why should
they be stuck in a poverty condition?
If this scientific understanding
of God can be spread all over the world, every man woman and child can
be peaceful and prosperous on this planet.
Well clothed well fed and well housed.
Everyone. You think
God cannot feed everyone?
There’s enough facilities for everyone to be well fed.
In India, even the animals are starving and skinny.
You can see their ribs.
So, our Krishna consciousness movement means that the animals
should even be fatty and happy.
What to speak of human beings.
Everyone.
It is possible because the Lord is the father of all living beings.
We have mothers and fathers here.
Don’t you make sure that your children are well situated?
They’re well fed.
They’re well clothed, there’s sufficient funds for their education.
Don’t you personally see to that as a labor of love for your
children? Of course you do.
So, if ordinary parents here in this world do so much for their
family, how much will God do?
He has unlimited ability to provide everything.
God is already doing it, so why aren’t people getting it?
Because it’s being mismanaged.
The material facilities are being mismanaged.
The politicians are cheating.
The people are cheating all the time.
Food relief is sent in to third world countries, and people will
take it and sell it on the black market.
The people never even get it.
That’s why when we do the relief, we personally go and give it
out. We don’t just send
money to some black hole somewhere.
We go personally out there and distribute the food, so we know
the people are really getting it.
This verse is actually the key to solve all the problems of the whole
world. This one verse, if
applied and taught throughout the world in every educational
institution, promoted by every government, through all channels of
media, radio, tv, internet, magazines, newspapers, if this knowledge can
be promoted, and so we’re doing that, we’re calling upon all the media
outlets, government leaders, colleges and
universities, please, we’re asking them all to propagate this
verse of Bhagavad-Gita.
This will solve all the problems of the world.
But they say, oh no.
Separation of church and state.
We can not do it. We
will simply teach technology.
What can we do? At
least those who are fortunate will come forward, hear this
knowledge, apply it in their lives and become peaceful and happy.
At least those are fortunate will come and get it.
We are sad to see that for lack of government support we cannot
save so many others from anxiety.
We are very happy to see that you have all assembled to hear these words
of Lord Sri Krishna. These
words of enlightenment, illumination and great happiness.
We are very much appreciative that you’ve listened so nicely.
If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to try to answer them.
Q1:
Srila Gurudeva, the Lord is unlimited, therefore His names are
unlimited.
SDA: That’s right.
Every name of the Lord is actually a description of the Lord.
Krishna means the all-attractive.
Is this correct?
SDA: Sometimes it is said
that God has no name. What
does that mean? I heard
Prabhupada explain this on a tape.
I’ll try to remember exactly how he answered it.
No name means He has no one particular name.
But He has names according to
His different qualities, attributes, pastimes and relationships.
You can’t pin down that this is His one name and that’s it.
In that sense He has no name.
Actually He has unlimited names.
When mother Yasoda ties Him around the belly with rope, He is called
Damodara. The rope-bellied
one, literally. God has
names according to His qualities pastimes relationships qualities
activities and attributes.
That’s how He has no name.
Partha Sarathi. The
chariot-driver of Arjuna.
Krishna actually relishes these names because He loves His devotees.
He likes whatever name that’s in relationship with one of His
devotees. Partha Sarathi.
He loves that because Arjuna is so dear to Him.
He loves if we call Him Arjuna’s chariot driver.
He just loves that.
He just relishes it like anything because Arjuna is so dear to Him.
So, in this way, Krishna has unlimited names.
Rama, Jehovah, even the non Vedic names are also names of Krishna
ultimately. They also have
spiritual potency.
Q2: Your mission is to
spread the word and make everybody enlightened and happy.
You said only if God’s grace is there, will you get it, and the
suffering that is there is from the previous
karma.
How can you change the person’s
karma?
SDA: That’s a very
intelligent question. I
appreciate that question.
You’re a philosopher. I
appreciate that. If it
requires previous pious activities to be fortunate enough to get the
blessings of spiritual enlightenment, then how can you really even help
someone? You could say you
just have to wait for their karma
to come around. Until
they’re ready for it. This
is described in the Caitanya Caritamrta.
Everyone has heard of Bhagavad-Gita.
Bhagavad-Gita is the bachelors degree of Vedic wisdom.
You may have also heard of the Bhagavata Purana.
That is considered Masters degree.
But then there is one not so widely known, Caitanya Caritamrta.
That is PhD level.
In the Caitanya Caritamrta it is described.
brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva
That one living entity who is rotating through this
karma cakra sometimes going
up, sometimes going down throughout the
brahmanda wandering by the
laws of karma throughout the
universe.
Bhagyavan means fortunate.
So a living entity who is
kona bhagyavan jiva, he comes in contact with guru., and by the
combined mercy of guru and Krishna, he gets the seed of
bhakti planted in the heart.
So, even if you are the most sinful man.
There is a very nice example.
500 years ago in Navadvipa.
There were two gundas,
they were the leaders of the
gundas.
They were horrible.
They would rape women, murder.
They had no scruples.
Anything to make money they would do.
They became blessed by the mercy of guru and Krishna.
They became great devotees.
There’s one great Vaisnava song writer named Narottama dasa Thakura.
They became such great Vaisnavas that he put there name into a
nice bhajan which has been
sung for centuries. There
song is sung because they got that mercy.
So, if one has the good fortune of coming in contact with a bona
fide guru, even if you’re the most sinful man, your
karma
would have you suffer for a
hundred thousand lifetimes in a hellish condition, if you come in
contact with a bona fide guru, he can plant the seed of
bhakti
in your heart by his Krishna
sakti.
It will change your karma.
Karma cannot be
changed, but by the mercy of guru and Kirishna, it can be changed.
It is stated that by the mercy of guru, you get Krishna.
By the mercy of Krishna, you get guru.
If, somehow you are fortunate enough to come into contact with a
bona fide spiritual master, and when your in that contact, if you’re
attentive, and you’re submissive to what he’s saying, you’re willing to
just drink it in, you’re not fighting him and resisting him
intellectually, drinking it in like a sponge, then the guru will
actually plant the seed of bhakti
in your heart. Then, if
you will nurture and nourish that seed of
bhakti by chanting the names
of God, from that moment, if you take up the practice of chanting the
names of God, and give up your sin, no more
papa abandon sinful
activities, then that seed of
bhakti will flourish, and
you’ll become an enlightened being.
That’s why the sadhus
travelled all over the world so they can plant the seed of
bhakti.
Just like we have in America that old legendary Jonny Appleseed.
Guru is like Jonny Bhakti seed.
He travels all over the world looking for a receptive audience so
he can plant that seed of bhakti
in the heart.
So he then encourages them that I’ve planted the seed of
bhakti in your heart, now you
must chant
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,
and give up sinful life.
Stop all forms of meat eating.
Don’t take intoxicants.
Use sex for procreation; don’t just use it for recreation, that
spoils your energy. And
don’t waste your money on
the lottery, gambling.
Chant the names of God, give up sinful activities, then that seed of
bhakti wont die.
It will actually blossom.
What you’re saying is true, but if you come in contact with a bona fide
spiritual master, and you attentively and submissively hear him, then
everything changes. You
accept that seed of bhakti in
your heart. Everything
changes. Everything
changes. Those millions of
lifetimes of karma that you
were stuck in changes.
That’s what happened to me.
I was blessed by guru. I
was blessed by guru maharaja.
I left that karmic world of mortality when I took
diksa.
When I surrendered to him, I entered into that realm of
immortality. You can do the
same thing if you like.
Q3. Is there always a
separation between me and God?
SDA: In India we know
there’s the common controversy,
dvaitavada/ advaitavada.
There’s one that says that the real perfection is complete
oneness. The other says no
there is always twoness.
This controversy was actually resolved 500 years ago by Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. He taught this
philosophical principle acintya
bhedabheda tattva. Which means that the absolute truth is
simultaneously, inconceivably one and different.
There is perfect oneness with God, that is a fact.
But that oneness contains twoness also.
You have oneness and twoness existing simultaneously.
The beauty of that is that love is not extinguished.
You’re married. You
have a wife. Do you love
your wife? Would you like
to keep loving your wife?
Of course, because that’s your source of happiness and inspiration.
That loving relationship with your wife.
If you and your wife cease to exist, then you wouldn’t be able to
love her anymore.
You would miss out on that love you have with your wife.
So, love requires two.
Krishna and you. At the
same time, we don’t want any conflict.
We want that perfect
harmony of oneness, don’t we?
So, the perfect stage is not just oneness, the perfect is to have
oneness and twoness simultaneously.
Then you have the perfect harmony of oneness, but you have the
ability to exchange love back and forth between the lover and the
beloved. So, the
bhakti path, some say that in
bhakti you ultimately merge,
that its all one. That is
described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Three different levels of understanding of the absolute truth.
One level of understanding is called
brahman realization.
The next stage is called
paramatma realization.
Then the ultimate stage is called
bhagavan realization.
Those who say that everything is ultimately one, they have reached the
level of brahman realization.
Everything is spirit.
That’s good. Its
better than being a materialistic person, lost in karmic activities.
That is good. That
is an absolute position of realization.
But you can actually go further and deeper.
The next step is called paramatma
realization where you realize the four-armed form of Vishnu within your
heart and within everything.
That four-armed form of Vishnu exists within every atom and
between every atom. All
pervading. You’re sitting
on Vishnu. He’s in
the rug, He’s everywhere.
One who can see Vishnu everywhere has achieved
paramatma realization.
But the highest level, known as
bhagavan realization, then
you know that beyond this material existence, Krishna has His original
abode in the spiritual world.
His intimate pastimes with His
devotees are going on eternally there.
Let me enter into that
lila of Lord Sri Krishna.
Such loving exchanges are eternal.
That is the real bhakti
path. It does not
negate the advaitavadis.
We accept their principle, but we go deeper.
Within that oneness there is twoness. Oneness without variety
eventually becomes boring.
Here in this temple room, there’s so many varieties.
You have this god, that god.
You have so many persons here of so many varieties.
If you were to enter into a dimension where there is nothing,
everything was absolutely the same, there is no variety, that would
become boring after a while.
There’s no form, its all just light.
There’s nobody to talk to.
You become lonely.
This is why it is stated in the Bhagavat Purana,
aruhya kricchrena param padam tatah
patanty adho 'nadrita-yushmad-anghrayah
Even though they undergo great penances and austerities
kricchrena,
to enter into that brahman
that oneness, after some time,
patanty adho,
they fall back down to karma
cakra because they hav e no regard for the lotus feet of Krishna.
You may float in the sky of
brahman for some time after great penances and austerity, just like
you can put a sputnik or satilite into orbit, but after some time it
must come back to the planet, we’re planetary creatures by nature.
Now, we’re in the material planets, but those who achieve
bhagavan realization, they
achieve the Krishna planet within the spiritual world.
Those who try to go into outer space, and not onto another planet, are
like the oneness philosophy.
They may go there for some time.
They may be relieved from all the pangs of worldly existence, but
unless they’re qualified by developing love for that Supreme, to enter
into His abode and serve Him in love, they come back again, Bhagavatam
says, to the material existence.
They’re favorite example is a drop of water merging into the ocean.
You’ve heard of that one?
But if you think about it, ok, the rivers flow into the sea and
merge into the ocean, sounds great.
But you know what?
They don’t stay in the ocean.
That water evaporates and comes back to the land again. What
remains in the ocean are the aquatics, the fish.
They stay there.
They don’t come out to the land.
They stay in the ocean, swimming happily.
So, those who embrace the idea of exclusive oneness want to merge
into that ocean, but they don’t realize that they will evaporate and
after some time come back to the worldly existence.
But those who actually agree to enter into that ocean as eternal
beings, with form and personality, like the fish in the ocean, they
remain there. Supreme
fishes with form and personality.
The Vedas have these two conceptions.
They’re both valid conceptions and they actually work in harmony
with each other. Some
people try to take this idea of absolute oneness and divorce it from the
idea of God’s personality.
They don’t realize that these two concepts work together harmoniously.
The Vaisnavas understand the impersonal oneness principle and integrate
it into their philosophy.
They keep it. They don’t
reject it. But the
impersonalists reject the idea of a personal God.
They kick Him away ultimately.
The Vaisnava’s take the impersonal and personal conceptions both
as valid. Both work in
harmony with each other.
That is a higher principle.
Q4: Earlier you’d given a very nice example of two birds.
There is one bird that’s eating the fruit and another that is
observing. In ignorance we
think that I am the bird eating the fruit, but through bhakti or any
other path, we come to understand that I am the bird that is observing,
and the other bird dies away.
Is that right?
SDA: Actually the bird that
is enjoying the fruit, he becomes a servant of the witnessing bird.
Q4: But that means that he
can never become the witnessing bird, he can never become Krishna.
SDA: Yes. That’s right.
The impersonalist’s idea is to become God. But our Vaisnava
philosophy is why become God, when you can become greater than God?
Is not Mother Yasoda personally running after God with a whipping
stick? The
advaitavadiis want to merge
into God, thinking that is the supreme position.
They don’t realize that the Vaisnava becomes the controller of
God. He becomes greater
than God. Look at Arjuna.
He’s telling Krishna to drive my chariot this way and that way.
A Vaisnava becomes greater than God.
God is ajita He is
unconquerable, but He becomes
jita or conquered by His devotee’s love.
Why do you want to become God?
That is an inferior position.
You become the servant of God, and by your love, you will conquer
and control the Lord. That
is a higher position.
Why do you want to take some subordinate position?
Take the supreme position.
Become a Vaisnava.
God will be under your control.
Q4: Arjuna was free of ego,
therefore he had submission.
But ego is there.
Therefore submission can not come.
SDA: Ego has two meanings.
Ego means identity.
There is false ego and real ego.
The false ego is I am the center of everything.
I am the center of existence.
Everything is for me.
In this world everyone is corrupted by false ego.
You think you’re the center, I think I’m the center, he’s
thinking he’s the center, she’s thinking she’s the center.
There’s so much conflict.
Because we’re all thinking that I’m the center.
I’m God. Everybody’s
walking around like I’m God.
You serve me because I’m the supreme.
That’s the material disease. That’s
the difficulty with this philosophy that you become God.
We all think that we’re God, that’s why we’re butting heads with
each other. You’re not
honoring me, and I’m God.
That’s how people act and think.
People everywhere think and act like they’re the center of the
Universe. There’s an old
saying that you have to look out for good old number one.
We’re very egocentric, thinking that we’re the center.
Because of that, there’s so many conflicts.
Our egocentricity is either focused on ourselves or we extend it
out to our family, our community, our nation.
Its another form of egocentricity.
It’s simply extended egocentricity.
The philosophy that I’m God, or I become God, is not practical for
solving the problems of the world because it just reinforces the idea
that I’m the center. It
gives us some basis for continuing to be selfish.
It’s also weak in other ways.
When I first studied Indian philosophy this was one of the first books I
read. It said actually
you’re God, but you’re playing hide-and-go-seek with yourself.
You‘ve forgotten and you just have to remember.
But how is it possible that if you’re actually God, how is it
possible that you can forget you’re God ?
How could you lose your position as God?
What power could take it away from you?
You would never be able to lose that position.
That would mean forgetfulness is greater than God.
Forgetfulness would be God then.
This philosophy that actually I’m God, I’ve just forgotten it, I just
have to remember, may sound very attractive because we are egocentric
creatures, we don’t like to admit it, but it’s a fact.
Psychologists are trying to help us get over it so we can live
peacefully together, but we are egocentric.
In our egocentricity, we’re very attracted to this philosophy
that I’m God, I just forgot, now I have to remember it.
We think it’s great.
I tried to make it in politics, I couldn’t do that.
I tried to make it in education, I didn’t make it there.
I flunked out. I
tried to make it in business, I went bankrupt, but now I’ve got a way to
be one up. I’m God.
I wanted to be one up in so many ways and fell flat on my face, but now
I’ve got it, I’m God. Now I
can be one up by some impersonal philosophy.
Q5: Is the ultimate
perfection to merge with God?
What is moksa?
SDA: Yes and no. (laughter)
How’s that for a clear answer?
Merging with God in purpose.
Jesus Christ is a perfectly enlightened being.
His prayer is a good example.
Father, not my will, but Thy will be done.
He doesn’t say Father, let me become You.
He want’s his will to merge with God’s will.
We do merge with God in the sense that we merge our purposes with
His purpose. I have no will
and desire separate from Yours.
But we keep our personality separate from so that exchange love
with Him. He doesn’t want
to lose a loving relationship with Him.
He wants to have us separate and one at the same time.
Totally in harmony with Him, but exchanging love with Him.
I’ll give an example. Here
in this temple we have Hanumanji.
We know how devoted he is to Lord Rama.
If we said Hanuman, you can become Rama and Sita will be yours.
He would take his tail and knock you over so hard you wouldn’t
wake up for five days if you told him he could become Rama.
He would be fiercely angry.
You’re telling me I can become Rama!?
Get out of here you rascal!
I am the servant of Rama.
You go pray to Hanuman and tell him that and see what happens in your
dreams tonight. You’ll have
horrible nightmares if you do that.
That is a Vaisnava. He
never wants to become his master.
And that is perfect oneness.
Actually, it’s a very common philosophy in India.
IT comes from Sankaracarya.
When Krishna left this world 5,000 years ago, Vedic culture
deteriorated. There used to
be yajnaswhere they took an
old cow into the sacrificial fire and the same
jiva would be rejuvenated
with a fresh calf’s body.
That was the power of the Vedic Brahmanas.
So, just prior to the advent of Buddhadeva, the people were
saying that the Brahmanas are killing and eating cows!
They were distorting the scriptures to justify cow killing.
So Buddha appeared.
This is predicted also in Srimad-Bhagavatam 5000 years ago.
It even gives his parent’s names and everything.
So, Buddha came and the people were so degraded that they
couldn’t here proper Vedic philosophy.
So, he said, I reject the Vedas.
If you kill cows, you’ll get the karmic reaction and suffer like
anything. He simply taught
ahimsa, nonviolence.
He taught atheism.
When the Indian emperor Ashok became Buddhist, Vedic culture was killed
and Buddhism became the religion of the whole continent.
It was part of a divine plan by Sri Krishna to reestablish Vedic
culture. It was step one.
The Vedic was so corrupted, just wipe the whole thing out.
That was step number one.
Step two was to order Lord Shiva to come and introduce this
philosophy that you all are talking about.
So Sankaracarya came and taught this
advaitavada philosophy.
How will you attract people to Vedic culture?
He took the Vedanta Sutra in which God is sometimes described as
being without form. Of
course it says both nirguna
and saguna.
Both things are given.
He has qualities and He has no qualities.
Both things are given.
But through expert word jugglery and arguments, he was able to put
forward this idea establishing the impersonal oneness and that you have
to merge into that oneness.
Just what you are all talking.
This was taught by Sankaracarya many centuries ago in India for
the purpose of driving out Buddhism and reestablishing Vedic culture.
First thing was wipe it all out.
Get rid of the Vedic culture completely because it was so
corrupt. Then introduce it
in an impersonal way that will attract the atheistic Buddhists, that was
step number two. Then
Krishna sent a whole slew of Vaisnava
acaryas beginning with
Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Nibarkacarya, Visnusvami and finally
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It
came to the point of acintya
bhedabheda tattva expounded by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Inconceivably and simultaneously one and different.
Sankaracarya himself was actually a Vaisnava.
At the end of his life he sang
Bhaja Govinda Bhaja Govinda Bhaja Govinda Mudha Mate
His own disciples he called
mudhas. Rascals, fools,
asses. Your grammatical
knowledge and word jugglery will not save you at the time of death, you
simply worship Govinda worship Govinda Worship Govinda.
But they didn’t want to hear anything of it.
Why should I worship Govinda?
I am Govinda. They
didn’t take his final instruction.
They only took the earlier instruction that actually, you are
God, you just have to realize it by merging.
That was simply a device to attract the atheistic people.
If someone is an atheist, they don’t believe in God, and you tell
them that actually you are God, they’ll think maybe I’ll believe in God
after all. If I’m God it
sounds pretty good. I think I can believe in God again if I’m God.
It sounds pretty good.
It was a device to gradually introduce the full Vaisnava culture
expounded clearly in the Gita.
Its clearly given in the Bhagavad-Gita.
Krishna says surrender unto Me.
How many times does the word Me appear in the Bhagavad-Gita?
Have you counted it?
Mam?
The impersonalists say that is not Krishna, the impersonal
brahman is speaking through
Krishna. But, where does
Krishna ever say it is the impersonal
brahman?
Krishna says brahmano hi
pratisthaham. I am the
source of that impersonal
brahman. Nowhere in the
Gita does it say this is the impersonal
brahman speaking through the
mouth of Krishna who is simply some allegory, illusory manifestation of
brahman.
Q6: Every religion speaks
of peace, so why is there so much conflict?
SDA: Because they’ve lost
the actual religion.
They’ve bastardized it into what we call religiosity.
The pure essence of religion has been lost in the
kali yuga.
That’s the problem.
Religion is one, it cannot be two.
Because God is one.
How many suns are in the sky.
There is one. We may
have many names for it. You
may call it the sun. In
Hindi you may call it surya.
In Spanish, el sol.
But the sun is only one.
Do we start a war that it’s
el sol? No!
It’s the sun! No,
it’s surya!
That’s what’s happening right now in the world.
The religious leaders themselves do not have the proper knowledge.
They’re teaching improper concepts to their people.
They don’t know the science of God.
There’s a universal science of God.
They’ve politicized it.
They’ve made a sectarian political thing and spoiled it.
VPM: They’re teaching
religion based on their bodily concept of life, therefore there will be
conflict.
SDA: The problem is we
still think we’re this body.
That’s where ignorance begins.
If you think that I’m a male, I’m a female, I’m an Indian, I’m a
Christian, that’s the problem.
We have to come to the platform:
aham brahmasmi, I’m spirit.
Spirit is one, spirit cannot be two.
Of course we’re individual spirit souls, but we’re all of the
same quality. Not
that there’s female spirits and male spirits and Hindu spirits and
Christian spirits. No.
A spirit is the same quality no matter what sort of ethnic
background you have or religious tradition you have.
We’re all the same. So, why
are we fighting? We’ve made
these bodily distinctions.
I am Hindu, I’m American, I’m male, I’m female, I’m black, I’m white.
We’ve made all these bodily distinctions.
We have to get off the bodily platform.
Then we can come to the level of peace.
VPM: Then they will
understand religion also.
SDA: Yes, that’s right.
Absolutely. We will
absolutely understand religion if we get off the bodily platform.
I try to avoid using the word Hindu because its another sectarian
concept. Actually the word
was coined by the Muslims.
Its not even our word. They
imposed it on us actually.
We took it. Alright, I’m a
Hindu. At a time the
Muslims were ruling. So,
alright you’re the ruler, so if you say I’m a Hindu, I’m a Hindu.
But actually that is a word coined by the Muslims.
The true universal religion is called
sanatana-dharma :The eternal
occupation of the soul.
It’s the same for everyone on the whole planet.
The dharma of the
living entity is to render service to the supreme.
That is inseparable.
Everyone wants to serve.
Q7 : How do we go about
attaining that perfect oneness in twoness?
SDA: Krishna makes a point,
He says:
Just try to learn the truth by approaching Sri Guru, the spiritual
master, inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.
The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because
they have seen the truth.
So, if you approach guru to get knowledge of how to achieve perfect
oneness in twoness. Guru
will enlighten you how to do it.
It is described in Bhagavad-Gita in detail.
Actually, you can take this card.
We have an e-course.
It’s very popular on the internet now.
Thousands of people all over the globe are taking my free
e-course now. You can just
write your email address.
She’s offering it to enroll you.
If you don’t want to do the typing, you can write it on a piece
of paper and she will make sure you’re enrolled.
Do you have a piece of paper?
If anybody wants to be enrolled we have a little sign-up sheet.
Its free. It’s a regular
thing with a remove me link on the bottom, if you decide that you don’t
like it. We have a course
where we can train you how you can do this.
In a one hour lecture, I can’t give you everything.
I get you started, but we give personal council all free of
charge. We do this as a
service for you. If you
want to achieve this perfect state of oneness and twoness
simultaneously, we will teach you how to do this step by step and give
you personal counseling. Go
to backtohome.com.
Every day people are signing up from all over the world for our free
course. It just keeps
growing and growing and growing.
I never had any idea that it would be this popular.
I have to travel all over the world now.
I was sitting there in Austin Texas and I had this idea to go on
the web and teach self-realization.
Now I travel all over the world.
After this trip I’m going to Europe.
To Finland, to Latvia, we go to India.
We have students all over India.
Now we have students in Australia.
Mataji and I are travelling all over the world now.
Email is one thing, but face to face meeting is the most powerful
thing. So I have to travel
so my students can see me.
I can personally guide them and train them.
The basic principles are given in the Bhagavad-Gita.
Everything is there.
Krishna is saying
satatam kirtayanto mam.
If you chant the names of God, of course there are thousands and
millions of names, and they are all powerful and potent, but the Vedic
sages have given specifically in the Kali Santarana Upanisad, that these
names are the most powerful and potent in this age for realizing the
truth:
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare
Krishna also recommends in chapter three that My devotees are released
from all papa because they
offer their food to Me before eating.
So this is the basic practice.
If you want some daily disciplined activity, then you chant the
Hare Krishna mantra, and Krishna doesn’t take meat fish or eggs, so you
take your fruits vegetables, dairy products and grains and make them as
an offering to Sri Krishna.
Don’t just give Him some sugar candy.
Whatever you eat you offer to Sri Krishna.
You chant His name.
Do these two things and that will jump start your spiritual perfection.
Work with me individually personally.
Me and mataji will guide you personally through telephone and we
will also be coming back here a little later on in Spring.
We can meet with you personally.
If you want to take this seriously, we’ll give you all personal
guidance and love to help you achieve it.
We need to order some of these books.
This Bhagavad-Gita As It Is is the most lucid explanation and elaborate
commentary by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, my Guru Maharaja.
This is the most popular copy, far and above.
Its translated into dozens of languages.
There is even an Arabic copy.
Some Muslim people became Vaisnavas and risk their lives to
translate it into Arabic.
VPM: In Kazakhstan the
Muslims are becoming devotees.
SDA: It’s a completely
Muslim country and one of our Vaisnava preachers went there.
He risked his life to go in there.
Let me take a chance to preach Krishna
bhakti.
The Muslims are building a Krishna temple.
You can imagine.
Many of the Muslims have become Vaisnavas wearing
tilak and
dhoti and chanting Hare
Krishna. There’s one lady
in Turkey who’s invited me to come there.
We’re planning to go to Istanbul to preach Krishna
bhakti in Turkey.
She is distributing my e-course and translating it into the
Turkish language. She has
an email list of Muslim people she’s giving my lessons.
We’re trying to make a revolution.
Some people say that Hindus don’t spread it.
But actually there are many of the great saints of India who were
very much eager to distribute the knowledge also, not just keep it.
Is the Supreme Lord Hindunath or Jagannath?
If He is Jagannath, then everyone can appreciate Him.
Why should we keep Him only for the Hindus?
They do that in Puri still.
I went there. I have
been strictly following Vaisnava principles.
I’m an initiated brahmana.
I’m one of the greatest gurus in the history of the world.
But they would not let me into Jagannath temple.
They said that you are not born Hindu, you cannot come.
VPM: I was interrogated
too.
She was with me so they thought she was polluted by associating with one
of these angrayzes, but
somehow she got in. I had
to sit outside and they wanted me to give them money.
I asked is the Lord Jagannath, or Hindunath?
He is Jagannath so I am also part of
jagat, this universe, so He’s
my Lord also. Why are you
not allowing me in? But
they would not budge. Crazy
people sometimes.
They’re very proud. Yes I
am Brahmin and I keep all the non-Hindus away from Jagannath.
VPM: They have conflicts
between Hindus and Muslims.
SDA: This is called
sectarian consciousness.
Dividing, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, now let’s fight.
No. Jagannath means
we are all the children of God.
All one family. Why
are we fighting? Let us all
love God together. Let us
all bow down together.
We’ll have one big kirtan we
will chant Hare Krishna, they sing Allahu Akbar, they sing Praise Jesus.
One big Super Maha Kirtan.
It can all come together in one big voice.
Why should we fight?
We recognize all the great saints.
We recognize Mohammad.
Actually he was a great saint, but he was preaching to murderers
in the desert. Why is the
Koran so low-class compared to the Vedas?
Because he had to tell them don’t have sex with your mother.
Low class desert gundas.
Don’t have sex with your mother he had to tell them.
So its no wonder that there are still some rough and tumble
scalliwag type characters to begin with.
But Mohammad was a great saint dealing with very low class people
trying to elevate them.
Christ was a great saint, Mohammad was great saint.
There’s no reason we can’t come together and find a common
ground.
The politicians are not allowing it because they use that animosity
between the people to keep themselves in power.
If anyone wants to talk with me personally, privately they can come.
Those who we talked with last night about the
aryan invasion theory, I’d
like to give them the link.
Western scholars say that the aryan
culture came from Europe.
When they discovered India they found it to be so advanced that they
concluded that it couldn’t have originated in India.
It must have come from Europe.
So they invented a whole theory that it originated in Europe and
I have a scholarly article that shows it is bogus.
Ours is not simply dry philosophy where we just talk and go, no.
We distribute prasadam
also.
__________________________________________ Transcribed by His Grace Jagannatha Dasa |