20201128 Zoom Addressing ISKCON South India Youth

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So how to be steady in an unsteady world? This morning we were reading how Vyāsadeva, he bathed early in the morning in the Sarasvatī river and then he sat in meditation and thought how the people in Kali-yuga will be blessed, when the Kali-yuga becomes very unsteady and materialistic? So he could see the future that Kali-yuga is going to be disturbed. People are very identified with their body. They think that the material world is simply material. They don’t understand that as human beings, we can realize our spiritual nature. Animals, they eat, sleep, mate and defend. If the humans do the same thing, what is the advantage? The difference is that the humans, they can realize their spiritual nature. Otherwise, we are like sophisticated animals. In the previous yugas, the residents of the higher planets would visit the earth, because the brāhmaṇas, the kṣatriyas of the earth were spiritually conscious. Today, we are very advanced in technology, but people are more identified with the material nature. They don’t think there is anything beyond material life and material life means it is unsteady. How we are depending on the material world, then we will be unsteady also. But if we depend on Kṛṣṇa, on His holy name, on devotional service, then we can be steady. So that is the solution. We should not depend on the unsteady world, we should depend on the steady Lord. Just like Kṛṣṇa lifted the Govardhana hill, He is known as Giridhārī. So like that we can take the shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Even if the world is disturbed, we can be steady because we are under the protection of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Previous ages they would do meditation, homas, temple worship. We are not so qualified in the present. The Lord has perceiving, our predicament of being in an unsteady world, He has manifested as Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Holy Name. We can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa always, we can read Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and we can engage in devotional service. In this way we can be steady, even though the material world is not steady. Most people are suffering because we are depending on changes always. Things which change. So we would like to make the people peaceful, by depending on Kṛṣṇa. India is a very sacred place. Here the Lord personally manifested His pastimes, either personally or He came as Lord Śiva who is the greatest of all the Vaisnavas. He came in the Deity form like Lord Jagannātha in Purī, like Bālājī in Tirumala, like in Śrīrangam the Raṅganātha Deity, in Thiruvananthapuram, the Ananta Padmanābha Deity, the Guruvāyūr Deity, many other Deities, many other temples. We are trying to help the people, wherever they go, to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Thus they can be steady in an unsteady world. Whatever they do, they can chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Just like the ancient ships navigate in the ocean, but they would see the Pole Star, the Dhruvaloka, that would stay mainly in one place compared to the other stars which were continuously moving. So like that if we depend on Kṛṣṇa, we can always be steady. Although the world is always in changing. So we would like to help everyone to engage in bhakti-yoga. This way they can be steady. And in the study, we like to do that as our service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. We think that whatever we are studying like engineering or finance or medicine, or whatever, we think that we are doing this ultimately to serve Kṛṣṇa. Using our education to please and serve Lord Kṛṣṇa, either directly or indirectly. Use this opportunity to tell our colleagues, our work friends, about the real meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā. How Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna what he should do, what he shouldn’t do and Arjuna was in a crisis situation. He was going to fight with his guru, with his cousins, with his brothers, so he wanted to know what to do. He was ready to walk away from the fight but Kṛṣṇa told him he should not walk away, because your nature is to be a fighter. Any way, you should fight for Me. And then I take the responsibility. So like this Kṛṣṇa gave the assurance to Arjuna that if did it for Him, he will take all the responsibility.

So we want to know how to be steady in an unsteady world. But Kṛṣṇa is always steady. He is known as Acyuta, He is infallible, and we can depend on Him, He doesn’t change. He has a constant personality. And the material world may change but He doesn’t change. So taking the shelter of Kṛṣṇa is the solution for this problem. Because Kṛṣṇa is the source of all happiness. So similarly, we also will be very happy. Whether we are a brahmacārī or whether we are a gṛhastha, we should keep Kṛṣṇa in the center. And thus, we can have the spiritual bliss throughout our life. If we don’t do that, if we don’t keep Kṛṣṇa in the center, if we keep the material world in the center, then naturally we will be tossed and turned by the material energy. We have to suffer. Now we want to help people to avoid suffering, so take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and thus be always blissful and have the material suffering and sadness go far away!