19920329 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.21

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on March 29, 1992 – in Trichy, India. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.21.

By Translation and Purpose by Divine Grace Śrī Lanka Swami Śrīla Prabhupāda Knowing well that the age of Kali has already begun, we are assembled here in this holy place to hear at great length the transcendental message of Godhead and in this way perform sacrifice purpose. This age of Kali is not at all suitable for self realization as for Satya Yoga, the Golden Age or Theta or Dvāpara Yoga, the Silver and Copper Yogas. For self realization the people in Satya Yoga living a lifetime of a hundred thousand years were able to perform prolonged meditation. And in Tretā Yoga when the duration of life was 10,000 years, self realization was attained by performance of great sacrifice. And in Dwapara Yoga when the duration of life was 1000 years, self realization was attained by worship of the Lord.

But in the Kali Yoga, the maximum duration of life being 100 years only, and that combined with various difficulties were recommended. Process of self realization is that of hearing and chanting of the holy Name, fame and pastimes of the Lord. The sages of Naimi Sharanya began this process in a place meant specifically for the devotees of the Lord. They prepared themselves to hear the pastimes of the Lord over a period of 1000 years. By the example of these sages, one should learn that regular hearing and recitation of the Bhāgavata is the only way for self realization. Other attempts are simply a waste of time for they do not give any tangible results.

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mah Prabhu preached this system of Bhāgavata Dharma and he recommended that all those who were born india should take the responsibility of broadcasting the messages of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa primarily the message of Bhagavad Gītā and when one is well established in the teachings of Bhagavad Gītā, he can take up the study of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam for further enlightenment in self realization.

It. Oh, According to the Vedas there are four Yugas. And the beginning of the fourth Yuga or Kali Yuga began when Lord Kṛṣṇa left the planet. Lord Kṛṣṇa was present 5,000 years ago and his pastimes are given in detail in the 10th canto of the Rimad Bhāgavatam as well as in other parts of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Many of the expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa, many of the Vishnu avataras are mentioned in the other nine cantos of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So when Lord Kṛṣṇa left this planet, he took along with him Dharma Ghana Tapasya, so many good qualities left. So these sages, they were very concerned that in a Kali Yuga when Dharma is reduced, how can we preserve whatever spirituality we have? How can we develop spiritually?

So.

They asking various questions to Sutago. Swami Sutta Goswami was given the task of lecturing on the Bhāgavatam after his father was disqualified. Ramaharshana was a very great sage was seated to give the class. At that time, Lord Balaram was Shayam Prakash of Lord Kṛṣṇa Vishnu Tattva. He and Lord Kṛṣṇa were on the planet displaying their pastimes. He was visiting during the. He was visiting different holy places during and after the Kurukshetra battle. So he visited Naimesharanya. And there all the sages were gathered together preparing to hear the Bhāgavatam to carry them into the Kali Yuga, which they knew was going to start very soon. And all the sages stood up to offer respect to Lord Balaram. But Ramaharshana, he didn’t stand up.

He thought that since he was seated like this on a raised seat, generally when someone is seated to give Bhāgavata, even if some important person comes, he won’t get up because you’re representing the Asa Deva. So sitting under the Asa sound, representing the Asa devil, One doesn’t have to follow social norms. But if Vyasadeva himself comes, or if the Lord himself comes, it’s a different story. Maybe that when ambassador is seated in his embassy and any other dignitaries come, he doesn’t have to. Give all kinds of respect. Because he’s seated in his embassy. He has certain he’s representing his country. But if his own president comes from his country, naturally he has to drop everything and see to the president who he’s representing. So here the Lord himself came. Ramah should have stood up and immediately offered all respect. But Ramaharishna didn’t budge.

So when Balaram saw that in his heart he was having quite a bit of false ego, therefore he wasn’t qualified to teach the Bhāgavatam for all these great sages. So Balara went and they just took out one Khus and appearing like Ashurbad, he went and touched Lomaharshina with the Kusha grass. And as soon as he was touched, Ramaharshina’s light force left his body and the Ātmā entered into Balaram. All the sages were very upset. Their Guru has left his body. The one who was going to teach them, they requested Balaram. Now we are in a great difficulty. We have taken away our Guru. So who is going to teach us? Whatever you do as perfect, you’re all good. However, don’t leave us in this stranded position without anyone to teach us the Bhāgavata.

So then Balaram, Lord Balaram, he said the son of Ramaharshana is not different from the Father yet he has personally been trained by Sukhadev Goswami. He was present at the time Sukhadeva spoke Bhāgavatam to Parikshit Maharaj. So he is qualified to teach you. So he established Sutta Goswami on the Vyasasana. And now the sages are addressing Sutta Goswami. What is their purpose? We have assembled here to hear at great length the transcendental message of Godhead and in this way perform sacrifice. In the previous verse. It explains, Please narrate to us the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Godhead’s multi incarnations. Such auspicious adventures and pastimes of the Lord, the Supreme Controller are performed by his internal powers for the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material worlds.

The Supreme Lord, personality of Godhead Himself appears in many thousands of forms of incarnations and the specific adventures found in those transcendental forms are all auspicious. Both those who are present during such activities and those who hear the transcendental narrations of such activities are benefited. So we don’t fit within the first category. We are not present during the pastimes of the Lord, but we can fit into the second category. We can hear about the pastimes of the Lord and by hearing about them we become benefited. This is a very easy form of meditation. Doing Pranayama or simply studying the philosophy is very difficult. But to study the pastimes of the Lord, to hear the pastimes of the Lord is definitely much easier. And by hearing the pastimes of the glories of the pastimes of the Lord we can concentrate our attention in this way.

It’s a very natural form of meditation. In the Bhagavad Purāṇa 1st canto 2nd chapter 11 verse, it states. Satyatik. The translation is that learned Transcendentalists know the Param Tattva, or the Absolute Truth. They call this non dual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān. Purport takes part of the purport. The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference there. It’s a very difficult sentence. I don’t know how many can understand. The Absolute Truth is both subject and object, and there is no qualitative difference. So we are the subjects. We are thinking about God. Lord is object. He is object of our meditation. So in quality there’s no difference. We have a spiritual quality. He has a spiritual quality. Now, quantitatively, there may be a very big difference. We will get to that later. I continue reading.

Therefore, Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān are qualitatively one and the same. The same substance is realized as impersonal Brahman by the students of the Upanishads, as localized Paramātmā by the Hiranya, Garbas or the Yogis, and as Bhagavān by the devotees. So the same transcendental reality, the Param Tattva, is existing as Brahman, as Paramātmā and Bhagavān, So different Jogis, Gyanis, Bhaktas, they are trying to realize the same Param Satya. So previously they were specialized. The Gyanis would only try to realize the Brahman, the Jogis would only try to realize the Paramātmā, and the Bhaktas would only try to realize Bhagavān. Of course there’s a progression. If you realize Bhagavān, you also realize Paramātmā and the impersonal Brahma Jyoti. So this is explained that in other words, Bhagavān or the personality of Godhead, is the last word of the Absolute Truth.

Paramātmā is the partial representation of the Personality of Godhead, and the impersonal Brahman is the glowing effulgence of the supreme Personality of Godhead, as the sun rays are to the sunshine. Less intelligent students of either of the above schools sometimes argue in favor of their own respective realization. But those who are perfect seers of the Absolute Truth know well that all the above three features of the one Absolute Truth are different perspective views seen from different angles of vision. You get people arguing about different aspects of the Absolute Truth, which is the Absolute Truth? The Brāhmaṇa is absolute, Bhagavān is Māyā, or someone may say, no, Vishnu is absolute. The Brāhmaṇa is not absolute. But all the three are absolute. Brahman, Paramātmā, Bhagavān, all are absolute. If somebody is thinking only my aspect is absolute.

The one I particularly meditating on, this is a very parochial vision, very partial vision. So example is given by very ancient example. I am sure you have heard of it. How different blind men, five blind men. They are all seeing. They’re all trying to understand what is an elephant. So they’re grabbing different parts of the elephant. One is grabbed the tail and he said, oh, I know now what elephant is. Elephant is like a snake, very long and thin. And the other one, he was grabbing the ear. He said, no, what you’re talking about. Elephant is like a banana leaf, very flat. Then someone said, what you people are talking? He was grabbing the belly. He said, elephant is very big and round like a big tree trunk. The other one was grabbing the leg.

He said, no, what you are talking is not so big at all. Elephant is like a small kind of medium sized tree. The other one is grabbing the nose, the trunk. He is saying what? You are all speaking nonsense. You don’t know. Elephant is a very movable and some hot air comes out the end like a python snake. See, each one is ayga. All people don’t know anything about elephant. But all of them are grabbing on different parts of the elephant. So someone is seeing one aspect of absolute truth, Param Satya. And he’s thinking, oh, this is the only thing. But there are so many aspects we have to see. If someone has vision, he’s standing back and laughing. What are all these blind people doing? They don’t know what actually elephant is, all of these.

But you put it together and you get the whole shape. So we need to find out what is absolute truth in entirety in a complete vision. If we just see like a blind man, one part, then we think, oh, I know what is the absolute truth? Others don’t know. But we also don’t have the full picture. When we understand that all the aspects of absolute truth are absolute. So then naturally it’s easier for people to meditate on the personal form because we are embodied. To meditate on the nothingness, on the formless. It’s very hard for someone who’s embodied. Difficult process, Gītā. Kṛṣṇa says a difficult process. It’s easier to meditate on the form of the Lord.

Even the children can enjoy hearing how Kṛṣṇa is stealing butter and he’s sneaking into the house of Mother Yaśodā and then he is getting the butter and he is feeding all the monkeys. It’s very easy Anyone can visualize a small child going, sneaking in the dark and then stealing a pot of butter, going and feeding to monkeys. It’s very easy to visualize. But those monkeys are actually great Rishis who have come to get the butter from the hand of Vishnu, to get the butter from the hand of Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa, he is playing all these pastimes just to give pleasure to his devotees. You see, we are here in Venkateshara temple. This is Nārāyaṇa form, Lord of Vaikuṇṭha Natha.

So he is as official form, just like you have got here, as far as I can understand, general manager, executive director, various positions, very senior managers, or the top manager, general managers. So when they’re in their office, naturally you have to follow all the protocol. You have to be very careful. So that’s one aspect. Their efficiency, their ability to get their work done and so on. He’s collapsing. So but at the same time, the fact that they can mingle with the other officers and off hours, they can sit together in some dharma saba or they can go to some cultural function, that’s another aspect. Even it’s known as very good for management relations. Apart from that, it shows a more personal nature. It’s another quality. If the person was only formal all the time, day and night, he never was informal.

People would find it a little bit tough to get close to that person. And he may not be the most well liked amongst all of the managers or general managers or whatever. I could use another example. Even our politicians, you see in the country, when it’s vote time, they come in, they shake everybody’s hand. Of course, sometimes they take great risks. Like Rajiv Gandhi took great risk to come close to the people. And he was assassinated by fanatical people. So this at great risk. They want to show that they’re coming down to the common level, that they are one of the people. So the Lord, all these qualities, you see, whatever quality we have is originally coming from Kṛṣṇa, coming from Vishnu. We are all parts of the Lord. So he also has that quietly.

He wants to mingle with his devotees and be very informal, to have very loving relations with them. And we know that the formal aspect, you don’t get to know the person as much. Of course, politicians may just show some kind of show when they get an office. They don’t always maintain that same accessibility. So the Lord, he’s a complete person. So he has got certain forms which are very accessible and they’re always accessible. And he has certain forms which are Very formal. And they’re always formal. Just like we have to sometime be formal, sometimes be accessible. Some manager he has to adjust. He’s only one person, one body. He has to different times of the day he has to perform different character roles. When he’s at home with his family, he’s one character. When he’s in the cultural club, he’s another.

When he’s in office, but for the Lord, he just makes another Rūpa. He’s Ananda Rūpa. So if he wants to take a form of Braha like a boar, he make a boar form. And eternally he can stay like that. If he wants to deliver, excuse me, prolonged. He can take the Narasingha roop. And he can eternally remain like that. He can take unlimited forms. And once he makes a new form, that form also exists eternally. He doesn’t destroy it. So in this way the Lord’s original form is that Kṛṣṇa form. And that form is always very accessible. Like a cowherd boy, he is playing with his friends. He’s taking butter from his mother. This gives the opportunity by his mother. Where is that Kṛṣṇa? Let me find him. He doesn’t know if he gives away all the butter, what he will eat.

Actually Yaśodā is only worrying about Kṛṣṇa. So these great devotees, how they forget Kṛṣṇa is God. This is a wonderful thing. In Vrindavan, nobody is thinking Kṛṣṇa is God. They’re only thinking he’s the most beautiful boy. He’s beloved to us. They love him. But they’re not thinking that he is the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha or he is the Lord of all the three worlds. They’re just loving Kṛṣṇa as he is. This is possible by yoga, Māyā. Actually in the western countries many people want to become. I think all over the world, east, west, they want to become very famous. So some people, they become these famous musicians, pop stars. They become rock idols or cine stars. But when they become rich and famous then they have the problem that all the people are running after them. They want autograph, they want them to do benefits.

There are so many. Some people are crazy. Like John Lennon was killed by a crazy guy. So they may think that I want to become famous and I can kill the rock star. I will become famous as the murderer of the rock star. So actually they become very frightened what to do. In fact, George Harrison who is connected with our movement for a long time he gave one temple in London. He was previously of the Beatles. He has sung one song, My sweet Lord and he dedicated that to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So in the end he’s saying, my sweet Lord, I want to be with you, I want to see you, I want touch your feet. But all with rock music. So all the kids are listening, you know, in those days. Now of course he’s old fashioned according to the modern trend.

But at that time it was the number one hit. But who is that? My sweet Lord, he wants to see, he wants touch. He says you’re blowing in the wind. He’s just quoting verses from the Gītā, putting it to rock music. And then at the end he’s saying hallelujah. Hallelujah, he said, because big Christian audience, so he has to also conform with everything. So he has understood that same hallelujah. Same God, Allah Jehovah is the same Kṛṣṇa. So in the beginning he’s singing Hallelujah and at the end they’re singing Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you listen carefully, you hear Hare Kṛṣṇa at the end of the song. So then Prabhupāda had a very great founder, a very big influence on these musicians and people. So anyway, I am getting back to the original point.

He came to see us in Mayapura world headquarters and he liked the project very much. He said he wants to be there for the opening of Prabhupāda’s memorial samadhi we’re building. Should be open in one or two years. So that time he was mentioning that since his friend John Lennon was assassinated, he’s very much preoccupied. And he goes, you can’t recognize. He wears sunglasses and puts wigs on and false mustache, different things. He wears disguise so no one can recognize him. He’s afraid if somebody spots him, then so many things may happen. So he became rich and famous. Now the rest of his time he spends hiding from the people, only appearing as he is at some rare moment when he feels very safe and he has to. He was visiting Calcutta that time to practice sitar with Ravi Shankar.

That time he came out to Māyāpur. So he was explaining how he was hiding from the people. Always he had check in his secretary’s name in the hotels because if his name was used, they’d find out problem. So we’re seeing how. Being rich and famous is very difficult. So one of the problems these people have is that when they want to get married, they don’t know whether the people love me because it’s for my money, my fame, my power, or because it’s for me. So they have a very big problem. They want people to love them. They want to get married and have love and all that. But they don’t know whether they just really want my money or they want me. So they get this problem. It’s a very common psychological problem people in the west that are rich and famous have.

So here people are worshiping the Lord, give me this, give me that. They’re approaching with so many demands. But the Lord, he also wants that some devotees who just like him because of his wonderful qualities, that for them he gives a special place. And so that the fact that he has got all this power and all this money and all this knowledge, etc. will not come in the way of their natural relations. He creates in the spiritual world the whole area, which is very confidential. And there Yoga Māyā has created a covering over the consciousness of these devotees that they forget that Kṛṣṇa is God. So that problem that these other rich people are facing, that whether people love me for myself or not, that question doesn’t arise at all.

Those who become qualified to go to that place, they are completely reprogrammed by Yoga Māyā so that they simply identify with whatever their role is in Kṛṣṇa’s pastime. It’s a drama he creates. But each actor doesn’t know that he’s an actor. They think that this is who I am. This is the wonderful thing. So Yaśodā is not thinking anything else. He’s thinking, I am mother of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. If I don’t feed Kṛṣṇa, he will starve. I have to feed Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is stealing all the butter, giving it to the monkeys. But what he will eat, there’s no butter left. I won’t be able to cook his pakuras and his dosas and whatever, parotas and things. So she’s just thinking like a mother.

(Side B of the Cassette)

But when she’s angry, she wants to reprimand Kṛṣṇa that what you’re doing. But when she sees Kṛṣṇa, she just melts. Oh, Kṛṣṇa is so wonderful. Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful. And she just hugs Kṛṣṇa. Of course, sometimes Kṛṣṇa gets the best of her and she thinks, okay, I have to train Kṛṣṇa, otherwise he will get spoiled. So then when Kṛṣṇa was being very naughty, she thought, let me just tie him for one moment so he doesn’t get in trouble. So let me tie him to the mortar and pestle, the big stone mortar like you have here for grinding the idli rice flour. They have some kind of big mortar for grinding dal and Vrindavan. So he tied Kṛṣṇa to some mortar like that. And there’s a famous pastime that when that time Kṛṣṇa was just in carbon dioxide cycle.

I don’t know if those who are science based, they know about these biological things. We breathe oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, but these organisms, they are breathing ammonia and breathing out something else. So they may find on Venus, the whole planet is covered with ammonia. So they write it off, no life, but no, there may be life, but they may be breathing ammonia. If we go there, we will die, but they can live there and they can breathe that different types of gas and they will have their own life system. So these things, little hints we get. You see, we find in Vedas it says that there’s life in all planets of different types of life. Not the way we may know it or the dimension that we may see it on.

Then we find a little hint here, there’s life in the bottom of the ocean living on ammonia in this one place. So that confirms to us. Yes, see this is a proof what the Vedas are saying. Life can live in all various types of environment. But if you don’t know the Vedas, you just see that little bit of data and you say, interesting, what does it all mean? And you forget about it and go on say there’s no life on other planets because there’s ammonia there. You don’t put it to the oceanographers, they’re studying that. And then someone else is studying the astronomers, the planets, so they don’t compare notes. We read the newspapers and you see all these things, oh look at very interesting point, Sid. We are also trying to recommend to the scientists to get a bigger picture of the universe.

Study the Vedas, study the Purāṇas, you will get a deep understanding. Anyway, I am going too far off the point, getting back to the original point that Kṛṣṇa, when he is Having these pastimes. So his devotees, they don’t think that he’s the Lord. They think he’s just an ordinary devotee. So with Nalakuvair and Managriva, when they went to Swargaloka back meanwhile all the Brajavasis they came running, the elder people, they saw these two gigantic trees fallen down. And there Kṛṣṇa tied like a little child to the martyr. And Nana said, what happened? Mother Yaśodā, what you are doing? Look at you put Kṛṣṇa in such a dangerous position. These streets could have fallen on him. Mother Yaśodā came out and said no, I just tied him so that he wouldn’t get in trouble, you know, because no one was there to watch him.

You were off somewhere and I had to do the cooking. Look at unties Kṛṣṇa, how could you tie our dear son? He’s such a nice boy. And he’s hugging, you know. Then he’s asking the other children what happened? How did these trees fall? And the children said, well you see, Kṛṣṇa was tied to this stone mortar and he pulled it over and he pulled down the trees and out came to it, you see brilliant entities with all effulgence and helmets and so many jewels. And they came and circled around Kṛṣṇa. Then they offered prayers and they flew up into the sky as two children. Such imagination. What’s wrong with you? Can’t you just tell us the truth? You’re just saying so many what you’re dreaming. They don’t believe. We just said what happened? You asked us what happened. You’re telling him.

And some of the older cower said maybe it’s true. Kṛṣṇa is pretty amazing kid. He does wonderful things. But none of her eyes he couldn’t see none of. Anyway, you can never get the truth from any of these kids nowadays. They’re not like they used to be. So in this way in Vrindavan nobody is thinking Kṛṣṇa is the Lord. Sometimes he is revealing. And his cowherd friends, even they know Kṛṣṇa is God. Yes, he’s God. They don’t care. He’s my friend. He needs Ladu is with me. I give him my japadi, he gives me his Ladu. So in this way they’re able to enjoy these transcendental pastimes. So when we are thinking about Kṛṣṇa in this way, we’re actually thinking about the Param Brahma. So that time we are in a samadhi, we’re in meditation. So that’s very easy if you try to meditate.

And niraka is very difficult. How do you concentrate? You Find you see even big Jogis, big Gyanis. They are glorifying the Dvaitavat. But in their own personal Sadhana, they are keeping some deity or they’re chanting some Japam. They will be chanting some mantras, some name of God, Govinda, some deity that they have. Because this is a very practical method. Even Shankaracharya, he said, Panchapasana, you worship either Vishnu or Lakshmi or Ganesha or Dwarga. What’s the fifth one? Shiva. He also recommend that you worship some deity. Then he told his followers, he’s going on, he was arguing, why don’t you worship Gobindhar? You will achieve success easier this way. So our guru, his name is Bhaktivedant, he was a great Vedantist. He studied the Vedānta very deeply, the Vedānta sutrams. He could translate the entire Bhagavat in just a matter of a few years.

Actually, it’s so difficult to write. He’s traveling around the world, giving lectures. He’s establishing a worldwide movement. And whole night he’d get up at midnight and from midnight till 4, 5 in the morning after chanting some malas of Japa. Then he would just go on translating by Dictaphone. He’d use modern scientific means. He’d just read the Sanskrit and translate like that. Then he’d give up. He’d see the commentaries from Madhua, from Ramanuja, from Shankara, from various Acharyas. And then he would give that commentary also. He would add some of his own observations based on the modern world to bring it in tune with people’s modern understanding of the world, their misconceptions or their ideas. So it’s very difficult to come to such a quick conclusion. You can imagine what a sharp consciousness to be able just to see.

Normally people write their tikas, they take jugas. They take a long time to write and compose it. He just read and then compose in his mind and just dictate it like that. Whatever you’re reading is from his dictation. Some English editor would just correct a little bit the grammar or syntax so that it would be. But otherwise there is no other editing going on as it is just straight dictation. Like Vyas Dev was dictating to Ganesha. So he is writing down. You can’t imagine how Vyas Dev is writing the Shastra. He is just dictating one verse after the next. And Ganesha is writing, taking off his one we call a tusk. And he is writing down no time. Okay? He begin now, Subasham Sigram start now. So while he won’t get a pen, so he breaks it off and starts.

He said, you have to understand the subject matter before you write it. So that will give Vyas Dev enough time to compose the next verse. So he would compose, give the verse in such a way that Ganesh has to think for a minute. What does it mean then? Aha. Then he’d write down. At that time Yaz Dev would compose the next verse. So here there are no Ganesha, just a dictaphone. Dictaphone of course is on, off switches there, but same speed. Prabhupāda. He would just digest all these tikas from the Acharyas and then he would dictate it. Wonderful. In fact, when he did Caitanya Charatam Rita, he completed the entire 17 volumes in two months. He said, unless you can publish as fast as I can translate, I won’t be inspired.

So at the same time, the Western devotees, they had to type the whole thing in a computer. And those days the computers were not so advanced as now. They had to typeset, type, compose. They had composers. Actually they didn’t have these micro computers in those days. It came much later. So they had the composition machines, very big computers, hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs in America. But even then they couldn’t keep up with Prabhupāda. He was translating so quickly he would chastise them, you’re not able to keep up. So I am feeling less inspiration to translate if you don’t publish it immediately. And then once they are published, he told the devotees, you’re not distributing, the books are piling up. You have to distribute these. I am giving it for the people’s benefit. So the devotees are going out trying to distribute the books.

Sometimes they’re over enthusiastic. They were pushing too much, people didn’t like it. So they had to adjust their methods to become more agreeable to the people. Somehow another encouraged them to take the books. So now these books are become very well known throughout the entire world. And especially attractive are the Kṛṣṇa book, the Pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. In Karnataka, there’s a regular competition amongst all the high school students for Janmastami on this Kṛṣṇa book. And last, it’s voluntary, but it’s approved by the Department of Education. Last year, I believe it’s about 10,000 students participated. And they all get computerized certificates of their results. And the top 10% get awards and the top 15 get the silver and gold medals. And the top schools get Trophies and things. So it’s a very popular program organized by our Bangalore center in Soviet Union.

Three years ago, of course, our devotees were in jail because religion was banned. Propagation of any religion was banned. And initially the communists thought that these people are promoting that people shouldn’t work. Then they did a study and they found that there are over 10,000 Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees in Soviet Union. And they all were working. Only a few people were preaching. They weren’t working because they were going and training all the others. Gorbachev became under heavy pressure from worldwide leaders. Bob Hawk, the Prime Minister of Australia at that time, he approached Gorbachev and said, why you’re persecuting the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees. They’re not causing any trouble in our country. So then Gorbachev did a personal inquiry and even it was on the agenda for Ronald Reagan, the President of USA at that time, to approach him.

Why the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees are being persecuting your country? You’re claiming you have freedom of religion, human rights. So before that big summit, when Gorbachev declared Hare Kṛṣṇa religion was legal in Soviet Union and freed all the devotees, it was actually the first religion to be recognized by the Soviet Union. But now there’s no more Soviet Union. But now in each of the independent republics, the sovereign states, we have our devotees. So this last year, every year, we have annual competition about distributing these books. We are trying to give this Vedantic knowledge. But Prabhupāda, his name is Bhaktivedant. With the Vedānta, he’s added Bhakti. Because Bhakti is the force that makes the Vedānta practically applicable, makes it easy for everyone to practice. Without Bhakti, the Vedānta becomes bit dry, hard too.

Just like if you’re taking just that idli, no chutney, no Sambhai, only Italy, no water. It will get stuck in your throat. It gets very dry. You take a little Sambhar, chutney, then it slips down. Very easy. If you try to understand Vedānta without a bhakti, only very intellectual people will be able to appreciate. And also for them it will be a bit. They can only take short sessions at a time. But if you add the bhakti to it, then it goes very tasty. And you can have varieties, you can have idli. Then you can also have Dosa and Uttar palms and so many. So. In this way, worldwide we have a very big competition for distributing these books. And in the world. This year, the number one position went to the Soviet. What was previous at the beginning of the year.

Last year, 1991, it was Soviet Union. So we continued to the end, although by December they had already reorganized. So what was previously the Soviet Union got the number one position in the whole world. They distribute over two and a half or three million books. Bhagavad, Gītās, Bhāgavatams and other. They have books translated into Russian language, Ukrainian, Uzbekian, Armenian, Azerbaijan and many also in all Mohammedan republics they’re also buying hundreds of thousands of these books. There’s Kazakhstan and so on. It’s very good field there because people were for 40 years made atheists. So now they most, no matter what we follow, like most people, they have no knowledge about God. So we are training them fresh and they have good friendship with India. So they are buying all these Gītā and Bhagavad. It’s the number one place in the whole world.

You can imagine people are so interested that they are setting up in the subways and bus stations book tables with the books. And people are queuing up to buy the books. So one distributor from America went to see them and said, what do you tell to the people who buy the books? The person at the book table said, I don’t have any time to speak to them. They are just coming and saying how much and buying. So I don’t have time to say anything to them. So much demand is there. So after starvation of Dharma and all, the people are really hungry. So the presses are going day and night. First we sent books from India, 200,000 one month they were finished. So they found it too expensive because they had to pay in dollars or rupees or something. So they started publishing there.

Whereas in rubles it was cheaper. I don’t know. Now with the changes, very difficult. Prices are very difficult to keep up with. So it may be affecting our book distribution there in the next year because of the economy. But in general, people are very eager. In fact, about 2,000 Gītās per day were being ordered by mail by VPP. One thing is that we saw the number two position went to Germany, fee position went to Switzerland. Switzerland is a small country. I think about 6 or 8 million people. Fourth position went to India. Why should India with hundred crores of people more or less or 90 crores should be in the fourth position. And a previous communist country should be number one position. Actually, India should be in the number one position for buying Gītās and Bhāgavatams. So now we’re trying to do is.

This is not a sales pitch. People want they can get. See, they are so fired up as soon as they hear books they start pulling it out. They think. Of course these are natural because we know somebody gets a book and reads it they really can quickly get a grasp for the whole Vedic Siddhānta Gītā is the main book, the cream of all the Vedas. Shankaracharya, as he explained yesterday all the Vedas you can say are like the cow and Kṛṣṇa is a cow, herd, voice. So the cream that milk from the Vedas is coming is the Gītā. So we understand the Gītā. Then everything is understood. All essence of the Vedas. So Gītā Prabhupāda explained is like college course, bachelor’s degree. And when you graduate you get your BCom BE. Ed. Whatever, Bachelor of Engineering.

Then you go on and you get your master’s degree Ph.D. so that is Bhāgavatam. Bhāgavatam is the master’s degree course. So today we’re reading the Bhāgavatam. So this is a thing by meditating on these pastimes of Kṛṣṇa then knowing the inner meanings. It’s very interesting. It’s a very big subject actually. I see my watch, I am overdue. We lose track of time and space when we start to think about Kṛṣṇa and his pastimes. I remember how there was one story told by one of our Acharyas how once there was one Brahmin pandit and he was going home to his village. And so it was getting to be late in the afternoon so he thought I will take a quick shortcut through the forest. One simple villager, he told that Brahmin pandit who was the great Biakaran Theta.

He told him that please don’t go in the forest. He said you go to the village. He said why? It’s a shorter way. No, but my dear sir, there’s a tiger there. The tiger was seen and very dangerous. Are you tiger? You don’t know Sanskrit. What is the meaning? Vagra. And he started to give the declension what each letter meant. Va. Agra. These are all the qualities this word means this very powerful, very. You see charitable. This head giving so many explanations. That religious head. Sir, I am not a Sanskrit pundit. I don’t know all these things. I just know you see Tamil. But the tiger, he will eat you. So I am just saying for your welfare you can go this way. After all you are Brāhmaṇa. We don’t want to see you eaten. As a Brāhmaṇa, my duty is to serve others.

I have to see for the welfare of Everyone, if the tiger eats me, I am serving the tiger, isn’t it? The villager said, I didn’t think that it was the best service for the Bravanas to be tiger food. I thought they could do some other service to the people. That’s only I am saying, sir, don’t mind if you just come to the village, how much more time you will spend. You can just save yourself whatever you like. You do, you’re the pundit. No, I just take the shortcut to the forest. So that tiger, I mean that pandit, he went into the forest thinking of all his background and everything. When he was deep in the forest, it was getting very dark. All of a sudden heard something in the bush, some sound. A tiger looked and jumped on him, grabbed his leg, chewing.

Oh, he was feeling so much pain, the tiger is eating him. Then suddenly that pandit, he remembered, oh, I remember in that sabda kosh, there’s another meaning for tiger. The one who lives by eating others. Why didn’t I remember that earlier? And he was finished. So sometimes we get hung up on little details, technicalities of the Sanskrit or of some tattvas or something and we miss the whole point just for maintaining that. You see, he actually thought, I don’t find anywhere in my recollection, nowhere in the grammar does it say that tigers should be worried about. But then he went, oh, I forgot there was one. We get into this, we get hung up in some kind of rules and we miss the whole point. That simple villager, he said, you go round about. So sometimes we think this is a short way.

We miss the real point. We want people to go the way which will work. It may seem, oh, Bhakti is roundabout, he’s more direct. Go directly to the Jñāna, directly to the yoga. Those are all very much accepted ways in the Vedas. But in Kali Yuga, it’s very difficult to reach the destination. Lot of tigers on the way. Because our senses are very strong, Māyā is very strong. And we need to have a full taste of nectar to keep us immunized from all these attractions of Māyā. So bhakti is vasamoi anandamoi. So that fills our consciousness with a bliss. So that way we are a little detached from the Mayas. The modern Māyā is marketed very efficiently. So we need to also combat that. So Kṛṣṇa has given us the ananda first. Prabhupāda gave an example.

When you have a big feast, normally they give so many, you see, they will give the various bitters and the saags and the vegetables and the sambar with the rice. And at the end they will give all the sweets. Sometime in the beginning they get a little sweet. But the main sweets are at the end. So the children, they’d rather have the sweet. The payasam and the other sweets. Yesterday we had a very nice sweet. It was called Akta Aga from Malaya Lum culture. Very beautiful sweet. So the children, they’d either have the sweet first, the ladus or the other sweets. So because in Kali Yuga we’re a little bit impatient. So first Kṛṣṇa has given us the sweet. Chaitanya Mahabhara has given Bhakti first. That way we get first the Anandam that gives us a peaceful nature.

Then after the Anandam then it’s easy for us to get the ganam. Once people have a taste for spiritual life. But if you first give the Gyanam, then only the very intellectual people can appreciate who already have a taste for spiritual matters. The uncommon people may not be able to easily get into it. So Bhakti has made it accessible for everyone. And even the big Gyanis for them is easier. For everyone it’s easier. So that’s why we humbly are presenting this process of Bhaktivedant. We hope that everyone, whether the great scholars or whether the simple devotees or whoever it may be, they can kindly give their support and help for spreading this message. So people can understand Bhagavad Gītā understand Seema Bhagavat. And I believe last night one of the general manager spoke. He said it’s a way of life.

Gītā is a way of life. We want people to live by Gītā. Not only to hear it, they should live by it, live by Bhagavat. In this way their life will be perfect. They will get this supreme bliss. They won’t have to take Poona Janma again at the end of this life. So like you’re working with Prophet and fun, you work side by side. You put little in account of Bhakti Vedānta and you achieve. At the end of life you get the supreme pension. At the end of this life, you go back home, back to Godhead. So this way human life is perfect. You lead a full life. But at the end you go back to the Lord, go back to God, go back to Vaikuṇṭha, back to the Param Brahm. Thank you very much.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Hare. Not able to do all the things very well in terms of material like I don’t know what you call that state, but she seems spontaneously very attracted to devotional things. During the kīrtana, she will clap and she will. She will be very peaceful. So they said before this, they brought her to the kīrtana. She was very unruly sometimes, you know, hard to train. But sensado bring her to the kirtans and other spiritual functions, giving prashadam that she become more peaceful and seems to also even be increasing in her intelligence quite marginally. But very good response. You see, even we know that a dead person, if you take the ashes and put in a Gaṅgā, they can get liberation. That someone’s living and you give the Vishnu prashadam, we give char.

They hear the Hari nam. Certainly they can get delivered. These things are very powerful. Any other question? Thank you very much. It.