We Just cant get anought form this lecture so here is the shortcut
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Haribol!
So Kuntī is
praying. The prayer is very peculiar. What is that peculiar prayer? The prayer is sneha-pāśam imam. Pāśam means "rope." We are bound up by the ropes of affection to the family. This family or that family,
everyone is bound up. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam [SB5.5.8]. This family combination is māyā because we all, living entities, we are being washed away by the waves of material
nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ [Bg. 3.27]. So just like the waves of the river carry so many straws scattered here and there, and
sometimes by whirlwind, all the straws meet together in the water, so our meeting—"I am the father. You are the son. She is the wife. He is the grandson," or "He is father," or "She is..."—in
this way, our mixing up in a group of family is exactly like the assembly of some straws in the waves of the river. It has no meaning. Just like the straws, they gather together by the movement
of the waves, and again, by the movements of waves, the straws are scattered here and there, here and there, here and... Nowadays it is very practical. Just like I am an Indian. I have my family.
You are European, you are American. You have got family. But now where we are from, the family, we scattered. This is practical. We have no more any connection with our father, mother or
children. No. We are now gathered in another group, Kṛṣṇa conscious society.
So this is māyā. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti [SB 5.5.8]. We gather exactly like the straws, and on account of māyā's influence, we become very much attached: "Oh, here is my son.
Here is my wife. Here is my family. Here is my..." And this is the, what is called, entanglement. Our main business is in the human form of life how to get out of this material world. They do not
know. They not only create family but also society, community, nation, In this way we are embarrassed. The so-called nationalism, socialism and communism—simply moha, moha, exactly the same way as the small, that insects, under some illusion, moha, they come to the light and sacrifice their life.
I have told you many times. We have seen in 1947, partition days, Hindu-Muslim fighting. One party was Hindu, other party was Muslim. They fought and so many died. And after death, there was no distinction who is Hindu or who is Muslim. The municipal men, they gathered together
in piles and to throw them somewhere. Exactly the same way, the same insects, they come to the light and die in the morning, and we gather them together and throw in the street.
So long the life is there, everyone is thinking, "I have got this responsibility. I have got this responsibility. I have got this responsibility," and they are
working very, very hard and doing all nonsense. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma [SB 5.5.4]. Now, somebody's stealing for the sake of family maintenance, doing so many sinful activities, but when they are scattered again by the laws of
nature, nobody will be sympathetic to me if I suffer for my own sinful activities. But they do by the so-..., for the so-called family. They get money, and they... Due to affection... First of
all, whatever he earns, by hook or by crook, first of all he wants to see that his wife, children, are fed up very nicely. And, at last, if there is some remnants, he can eat, out of affection.
You see?
So therefore this affection is the very hard knot for being bound up in this material world, this affection. Therefore the Vedic civilization is that the affection
is to be cut off compulsory at a certain age, not that the affection should continue. If the affection continues, then there is no chance of my becoming free from this material world. There is no
chance. Therefore vānaprastha. Because the wife's..., affection with the wife, is very, very strong. So vānaprastha means the husband and wife, they give up
the affection. Not give up, go away from home, and they travel in the holy places just to purify, and again, when the affection draws, they come to the family. Again remain for one or two months,
then again go away. So the wife, there is no sex connection, but wife remains as assistant to the man to be accustomed how to remain aloof from the family. And then, when he is practiced to
remain aloof from the..., then wife is also sent back to the family, to the care of elderly children, and the man takessannyāsa, compulsory. It is called "civil suicide." My Guru Mahārāja used to say, "Commit civil suicide." Mean... If you commit suicide it is criminal. It is also
suicide, no more connection with family. This is also suicide, but it is civil. There is no criminal action against... But it is also voluntarily committing suicide—no more connection with
anyone.
Ata saba hari āra varṇāśrama-dharma, niṣkiñcana haya laya kṛṣṇaika śaraṇa.(?) This is the...Varṇāśrama-dharma, that is material. Varṇāśrama is planned for material life in a systematic way so that, in due course of time, one may
give up the family relationship and take sannyāsa and completely devote for Kṛṣṇa's service. This is the plan of varṇāśrama-dharma. Varṇāśrama-dharma is not meant for planning something, and you remain in the family. No. The Varṇāśrama... Varṇa meansbrāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg. 4.13].Guṇa, not everyone is qualified in the same way. Therefore you... The ācārya will pick up that "They are meant for
becoming brāhmaṇas. They are meant for kṣatriyas." Or for coming from kṣatriya family, or the brāhmaṇa family... So first of all, these varṇas, then āśrama. The brāhmaṇa, one who is qualified as a brāhmaṇa, he has to observe the
four āśramas, a brāhmaṇa: the brahmacārī-āśrama, thegṛhastha-āśrama, the vānaprastha-āśrama and sannyāsa-āśrama. The kṣatriya, they'll have to observe three āśramas: brahmacārī, gṛhastha and vānaprastha. And
the vaiśyas, two āśramas:brahmacārī and gṛhastha. And śūdra, only one āśrama, only gṛhastha. A śūdra is never offeredsannyāsa. A... Only the brāhmaṇa is offered.
So in Śaṅkara-sampradāya, strictly, unless one is born in brāhmaṇa family, he's not offeredsannyāsa. He's not given sannyāsa. So far we are concerned, we also offer sannyāsa to the brāhmaṇa,not to the śūdras. But according
to quality we create brāhmaṇa, not that we are offering sannyāsa to the śūdras, No. The principle is: sannyāsa can be offered only to
the brāhmaṇas. So one may not mistake that we are offering to the..., offering sannyāsa to the mlecchas, yavanas, as they complain. Some of my Godbrothers, they
criticize like that, that I am offering sannyāsa to the mlecchas, yavanas.This is wrong idea. This is nārakī-buddhi. Actually, a Vaiṣṇava is above this varṇāśrama-dharma. But we don't claim that we have become perfect Vaiṣṇava. We are not so impudent. We want to remain under
the Vaiṣṇava. Under the Vaiṣṇava. Otherwise Vaiṣṇava means... In Caitanya-caritāmṛta you'll find the Vaiṣṇava is paramahaṁsa. Vaiṣṇava has no saffron cloth. Vaiṣṇava is white cloth becauseVaiṣṇava is paramahaṁsa, above. But we don't claim the position
of Vaiṣṇava. We want to remain servant
of Vaiṣṇava. Therefore sannyāsa order is below the position
of Vaiṣṇava. Sannyāsa order means still in the material
classification. But this Vaiṣṇava is paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām.Dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmat... [SB 1.1.2]. This Vaiṣṇavism is meant for paramonirmatsarāṇām, paramahaṁsa. Sa guṇān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg. 14.26].
So Vaiṣṇava position is not very easy thing, above all qualities. Therefore Śrīla BhaktisiddhāntaSarasvatī Ṭhākura introduced not to become an imitation of Rūpa Gosvāmī. Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana, the Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, they are paramahaṁsas. And
in Vṛndāvana you'll find
so-called bābājīs,they have imitated the dress of Rūpa Gosvāmī—half loincloth—but a biḍi in the mouth. What is this nonsense? Rūpa Gosvāmī used to smoke biḍi? (laughter) Not only that. You'll find in Vṛndāvana so many Rūpa Gosvāmīs are making biḍi. Have you seen in
the Gopīnātha Bazaar? They're making
trade,biḍis, and shameless. Therefore my Guru Mahārāja introduced this. Of course, sannyāsa is there in theVaiṣṇava... All the ācāryas, they were sannyāsa, but later on, it so degraded that
these biḍi-smoker,gāñjā-smoker, they imitated Rūpa Gosvāmī. Therefore to purify, Guru Mahārāja introduced thissannyāsa system, below the paramahaṁsas, not that artificial means I become a paramahaṁsa, No. When one is...
The sannyāsa stage has got four stages: kuṭīcaka, bahūdaka, parivrājakācārya and paramahaṁsa. Kuṭīcaka. When one
takes sannyāsa... These are
the processes. He is not practiced to beg from door to door. Therefore in the beginning he makes a cottage outside the village, and the foodstuff comes from his home. But he has no connection
because by vānaprastha he has already left home, and bysannyāsa, completely... But takes prasādam from home. That is called kuṭīcaka. Then when he's practiced, he goes
from door to door, and that is called bahūdaka. And then, when he's still more practiced, he becomes a preacher, parivrājakācārya, goes from country to
country, state to state, for preaching. And after preaching, when the preaching is advanced to some extent, then he sits down in a place as paramahaṁsa. That is called paramahaṁsa. Different stages. Not that all of a
sudden one becomes paramahaṁsa and biḍi also, not like that. Paramahaṁsa stage is not to be imitation. So to stop this imitation, Śrīla
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
introduced this system, sannyāsa. He personally became sannyāsa, and to many of his disciples, he gave sannyāsa.
So the whole process is how to get out of the affection of this family, community, nationalism. This is the process. This is illusion. But at the present moment,
this illusion is being increased. They criticize the..., that "What is this nonsense? So many people, they have been entrapped by this Kṛṣṇaconsciousness movement, and they are nothing, they are doing
nothing for the society, nothing for the nation, nothing for the family. So they are useless parasite." They are thinking like that. Even Subhash Chandra Bose, he was a politician. He came to
my Guru Mahārāja that "So many people, you have captured them. They
are doing nothing for nationalism." So Guru Mahārāja said, "Well, for your national propaganda you require very strong men, but these people are very weak. You can see. They are very skinny. So don't put
your glance upon them. Let them eat something and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa." He
avoided like that.
And then there were many others. That was a philanthropy, to give food to the daridra-nārāyaṇa.These things are going on. Nobody is interested that..., or they know it, that human life is only
meant for God realization; there is no other business. Otherwise Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not so fool that at the age of twenty-four years He took sannyāsa and preached this cult:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
[Cc. Ādi 17.21]
He was not such a fool because that is the only business. That is the only business, how one should develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the verdict of all
Vedic śāstras. What is the meaning of Vedic..., studying Vedas? Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg. 15.15]. That is the only necessity. To become educated, learned scholar and learned in Vedas, catur-vedi, tri-vedi, dvi-vedi, four-vedi... Thebrāhmaṇas were divided according to
education. Ordinarily they must study, vedi, Vedas. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipraḥ. Without Vedic knowledge, nobody can become a brāhmaṇa. Veda-pāṭhād bhaved vipro brahma jānātīti brāhmaṇaḥ. And by Vedic knowledge, when one understands Brahman, the Absolute Truth, he becomes brāhmaṇa.
So there are four Vedas: Sāma, Yajur, Ṛk, Atharva. Generally they read one Veda, Sāma-vedi, Ṛg-vedi, Yajur-vedi, vedi. But one who studies two Vedas, he is called dvi-vedi, and the apabhraṁśa is du-veda. And one who studies three Vedas, he's called tri-vedi. In... And I mean to say up-country, these titles are still there: vedis, dvi-vedis, tri-vedis, and catur-vedis or co-veda.(?) In Mathurā you'll find theco-vedas. But they have no
connection with Vedas now; simply with the name, and begging in the name of dvi, dvi-vedi or tri-vedi, catur-vedi. That...
The purpose is how to become disentangled with this family relationship. Family or society, that is the increase or expansion of the same affection. So the so-called
nationalism is also materialism. There is the simply expansion. Just like you have got a party of rogues. And a big party or small party, the business is plundering. That's all. Because you have
got a very big party of thieves, it does not mean that you are immune from criminal activities. Therefore these things are not required. People have become accustomed, but we discourage them. We
do not approve this so-called nationalism. Therefore we have named "Internationalism." "International," no distinction between this nation or that nation, this religion or that religion. Religion
is one. There cannot be two religions. If God is one... And what is religion? Religion means the law given by God. That is religion. This is a simple definition. "What is religion?" If somebody
says... They will say, "Religion means this; religion means that." No. The simple definition of religion is "the law of God." Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. Just like law. Law means the order given by the state. That is law. Your order is not
law, or my order is not law. But when the state orders, state orders, "Keep to the right," you must keep your car to the right side. Or the state orders that "Keep your car to the left side." In
Europe, and some, somewhere, it right side coming to left side. So, so, the, according to the state... You cannot say, "Why sometimes it is left side, sometimes right side?" No. It may be
whatever it is, but because it is the state order, you have to abide by it. You cannot say that "I was driving my car in India to the left side. Why shall I drive on the right side?" Sometimes
they feel inconvenienced. But no, you have to because that is the state order.
So similarly, as the law means state order, similarly, religion means God's order. That's all, simple definition. Dharmaṁ tu... It is not that we have manufactured... It is
stated, dharmaṁ tu sākṣādbhagavat-praṇītam [SB 6.3.19]. Nobody knows what is dharma, neither the human being, nor the demigods, nor big,
big sages, saintly person, and whatever you say, philosopher. No, nobody knows what is religion. Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc.Madhya 17.186]. Mahājana means those who are authorized person by God, one who knows what is the law of God, he's mahājana. He mahājana. So a guru is mahājana because he knows what is religion and what is
the law given by God. Therefore he's mahājana. How he has become mahājana? Because he is following the previous mahājana. That's all. It is not difficult. Evaṁ paramparā-prāptam imaṁrājarṣayo viduḥ [Bg. 4.2]. So mahājana... So therefore sampradāya. Just like we are Mādhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. Madhvācārya. Or Brahma-sampradāya. We are following... Brahmā ismahājana. Or there are twelve, twelve mahājanas stated in the śāstras, and Brahmā is one of them.Svayambhū. Brahmā's name is Svayambhū. The other day we were discussing Svayambhū. Or Ātmabhū. Ātmabhū. Because he is born out of
the abdomen of the father, not of the mother. Not... The other... Father is the seed-giving, life-giving agent. So this life was not transferred to anyone else to take the body. The life-giver,
father, gave him the body. Therefore Brahmā is called Svayambhū.Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ [SB 6.3.20]. They are all mahājanas.
So dharma means the codes or the law given by God. That is dharma. And our life is meant fordharma. Dharma. But unfortunately we have created so many dharmas. But there cannot be so
manydharmas. There cannot be. Suppose if gold... Gold is gold, pure gold. There cannot be... Just like they have made twenty-carat gold, fourteen-carat gold, sixteen-carat gold.
That is mixture. That is not pure gold. We are preaching, "If you say it is religion, it is pure religion, not carat." "Fourteen-carat religions" or "Twenty-carat religion," no. Real, pure
religion. What is that pure religion? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam... [Bg. 18.66]. We are
teaching, "Just surrender to Kṛṣṇa,"Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is pure religion, original
gold, no carat gold. Therefore our Vṛndāvana dāsaṬhākura has said very clearly, pṛthivīte yāhā kichu dharma nāme cale: "Whatever is going on, all over the world, in the name of dharma," bhāgavata kahe tāhā paripūrṇa cale,(?) "according to the opinion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, all this rascaldom is simply cheating."
Now, if you say that, everyone will be rebellious. But that is the fact, because if dharma means the order of God, then what is God's order? That "You become My
devotee." Man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namas... [Bg. 18.65]. Four
things: "You always think of Me, and you become My devotee, you offer your obeisances," man-manā bhava mad-bhaktaḥ, "and worship Me."
So we are teaching this real religion. Here is Deity, Kṛṣṇa. So we are thinking of Kṛṣṇa, "Hare Kṛṣṇa." We are worshiping Deity, Kṛṣṇa. There is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Deity. He's Kṛṣṇa. And we are offering obeisances. So the same... This... Therefore it is real religion because we are strictly
following the laws of God. Anyābhilāṣitā... We have no other business. So therefore this is real religion, if you take, or real culture, real society—everything real. Because
God is real, anything in connection with God, according to His instruction, that is real. All other things are imitation. So always remember that if somebody takes us as religionists, yes, we are
religionists, but pure religionists. If somebody says socialist, we are pure socialist. If somebody says we are diplomats, poli..., yes, we are pure politicians. What is pure politicians?
Politics requires violence. So annihilate the demons and give protection. The politics means two things. The state, government, what is that? Government gives protection to the good citizen, and
those who are rogues, punish them. Law and order. Two things are there: maintenance and law and order. So similarly, our Kṛṣṇa consciousness is also the same thing. But so far we are concerned, because we are not in political
power... Otherwise we have, would have followed the principles of Kṛṣṇa.
But Caitanya Mahāprabhu has shown us the way, that we kill the demons in a different way. We kill the demons in this way: By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, we purify him so that his demonic activities are stopped. That is also another way of killing. He
stops his demonic activities. That is CaitanyaMahāprabhu's mercy, that He did not kill Jagāi-Mādhāi. Although He wanted to kill them because they insulted Vaiṣṇava, but still, Nityānanda Prabhu reminded Him that "In this incarnation, You promised that
You'll not kill. So have mercy upon them." So their demonic activities were killed. That is also killing. Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted Jagāi-Mādhāi on this condition, that "You have to stop your sinful activities. Whatever you have done, that is
done." So we make this condition. The demonic activities, we say, you have to stop. Whatever is done is done. Strictly following Caitanya Mahāprabhu, there is no consideration. Because one, you were previously a demon; therefore you cannot become
aVaiṣṇava—no. Anyone can become Vaiṣṇava provided he stops his demonic activities.
Anyone. Anyone is welcome provided he accepts this philosophy, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja[Bg. 18.66].
So this is the way that Kuntī is praying, that sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi dṛḍham . So in this way we can get rid of the so-called affection for society, friendship, love, country, nationalism... No. Our sneha,affection, is completely transferred
to Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Thank you very much. (end)
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