Bhagavad-gita 5.15
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · South Africa · 2007
Chapters
Reciting Bhagavad-gita verse five fifteen
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsam.
I will read now the fifteenth verse from the fifth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, which is called Karma-yoga—Action and Krishna Consciousness. nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ
nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ ajñānenā- vṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ. nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ ajñānenā- vṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ.
nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ tena muhyanti jantavaḥ. Na — never; ādatte — accepts; kasyacit — anyone's; pāpam — sin; na — nor; ca — also; eva — certainly; sukṛtam — pious activities;
Devo the Supreme Lord. ajñānena — by ignorance; āvṛtam — covered; Knowledge. tena — by that; muhyanti — are bewildered; jantavaḥ — the living entities. Translations.
Nor does the Supreme Lord assume anyone's sinful or pious activities. Embodying beings, however, are bewildered because of ignorance which covers their real knowledge.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. The Sanskrit word vibhu means the Supreme Lord, who is full of unlimited knowledge, riches, strength, fame, beauty, and renunciation.
He is always satisfied in himself, undisturbed by sinful or pious activities. He does not create a particular situation for any living entity, but the living entity
bewildered by ignorance desires to be put into certain conditions of life and thereby his chain of action and reaction begins. A living entity is by superior nature full of knowledge.
Nevertheless, he is prone to be influenced by ignorance due to his limited power. The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not.
The Lord is vibhu, omniscient, but the living entity is only atomic. atonic. Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free will. Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord.
And so when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows him to fulfill those desires. But the Lord is never responsible for the action and reactions of a particular situation which may be desired.
Being a bewildered condition, being in a bewildered condition, therefore the embodied soul identifies himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to temporary misery and happiness of life.
The Lord is the constant companion of living entity as Paramātmā for the super soul, and therefore, he can understand the desires of the individual soul as one can smell the flavor of a flower being near it.
Desire is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity. The Lord fulfills his desire as he desires. Man proposes and God disposes. The individual is not therefore omnipotent in fulfilling his desires.
The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord being neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the main neutral independent living entities.
However, when one desires Krishna, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain Him and be eternally happy.
The Vedic hymns therefore declare: Eṣa u hy evādhunaḥ karma karayati tam yam evaiṣa ebhyo ninīṣate. Eṣa evādhunaḥ karma karayati yam adho ninīṣate. The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so that he may be elevated.
The Lord engages him in impious activities so he may go to hell. Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad. Ajño jantur īśvaro 'yam ātmanaḥ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ, īśvara-preritaḥ gacchet svargam vābhram eva ca.
The living entity is completely dependent in his distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme Lord, he can go to heaven or hell as a cloud is driven by the air.
Therefore, the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to avoid Krishna consciousness, causes his own bewilderment.
Consequently, although constitutionally eternal, blissful, and cognizant, Due to littleness of his existence, he forgets his constitutional position
of service to the Lord and thus entrapped by māyā. And under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence.
Vedānta-sūtras also confirm: vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt. The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: does the Supreme Lord assume anyone's sinful or pious activities, embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.
Namam Vishnu Padari Krishna Krishna Buddy, she machy bakrida, besławmi, di na mini, na master słache, go rawami, pacharny, sos na ballie, pachadtevi s baby, bancha kaupada sripa sindu devacha, patitanamedyovashnale,
Resolving the dilemma of evil
Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhupānanda, Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi- deiv Bora Vakrina, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna, Arama Bare Rama Rama Rama Bare, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hai Hare Rama Bama Rama Ramahai Hai, Hare Krishna Hai Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hai Hare Ma Ram This
verse is very important because it answers the most important question, often misunderstood in different religious traditions. People have a hard time to understand why there is evil in this world.
They somehow or other are bewildered in the sense that they think that if God is all good, why did He create evil? Either he is all good or he is all poet. That's the dilemma which they bewildered to us.
Some people say yes, God is all good, but he is just weak. He just cannot get rid of these evil forces. He is trying his best. But it just doesn't work all the time. So they say God is not omnipotent. But he is good.
You know like there are sometimes good rulers, but he's a little weak. Everyone says, yes, he is good, but he's a little weak. What can we do? Other people say no, God is omnipotent.
But then how do you explain that there is evil in this world? This is so-called question of evil is a very bewildering question for most of the people.
But Prabhupāda puts it crystal clear in this little purport to this verse. And Krishna himself says, Nadateka Syachi Papam Nachaevasu Krita Miku. Krishna doesn't want to be held responsible for our sins.
He says, no, I have nothing to do with this. And he doesn't call himself Krishna in this verse, he says Vibhu. Vibu means big. Vivu means really big. Vibhu literally means all-pervading. The one who is everywhere.
So in the first line of this verse, Krishna firmly establishes that God is all pervading and all powerful. But he is not responsible for the actions because he gives us the freedom to act.
Usually people when it comes for them to act, they are misusing their freedom very conveniently. But then when it comes to read the reactions of their actions, they say this is God. That's him.
So what Krishna is doing here, Krishna is explaining this very difficult philosophy because from one side he is responsible for everything, right? He is Vibhu, if he is God, responsible in the ultimate sense.
Like even today, somebody approached me and said, you know, why did I do what I did if it was not for the world? And he's right. Krishna himself says, Matha gyanamat pohana gyanam vitamapokan cham. Whatever.
He says from me comes knowledge, from me comes remembrance, and from me comes forgetfulness. If you take this position of the Lord, that everything is coming from the Lord, what can you do?
Or somebody recently asked me a question, I was in Durban in Rathayatya and somebody asked me, why did God create an illusion? If he would not create illusion, we would not be illusion, right? You know, that's him.
He is responsible. And he himself admits this because he says everything is coming from me. Mataksavampravertate, whatever, everything is coming from me, I I I'm the only source of everything. So he created illusion.
So he's he's responsible right? Krishna says no I'm not. Because we have to understand that both things are true and it really depends how we look at it.
From one side, it is true that everything is coming from Krishna. But it's not the complete understanding of reality.
Because here he says, yes, everything is coming from me, but at the same time I'm not responsible for this. This philosophy of uh mutually contradictory qualities is very important.
We will never understand reality and we will never uh properly act in the reality where placed it unless we understand that yes, everything is coming from the Lord and ultimately He's responsible for everything and at the same time he is not responsible.
So this is what Krishna is teaching us. In one place, when he wants to stress one side, he says, I'm not responsible, you're responsible.
In another uh side, when he stresses bhakti, which means unity with the Lord, he says everything is coming from me.
In other words, if we are to understand what he wants to tell us, he tells us that unless you are united with me in your consciousness, don't blame me. You can blame me if you are united with me. Completely, totally.
And we know sometimes devotees they blame the Lord. And Lord takes pride of being blamed by devotees. Bhīṣma dev, he was really quarreling with the Lord. He was putting his arrows in the chest of the Lord.
And uh Śrīla Prabhupāda says that for Krishna this was much more pleasing than the hymns of of the sages when they glorify the Lord. The arrows of Bhishma were better for them.
So when we are not united with Krishna, we shouldn't hold him responsible. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains it very beautifully.
Analogy of the child and material illusion
He says that you know we have the independent will, and because we have independent will, Krishna allows us to do whatever we like. Like if we answer this question, why Krishna created the ghost, I answered it this way.
I thought, and this is a famous example from Caitanya-bhāgavata or Caitanya-caritāmṛta also. Chaitany Taampage also. That sometimes the child cries.
And really cries, really cries, and becomes really, really, really you know, nasty. And says, I want the moon. Now can the child have the moon? No, he cannot have the moon. But the child really wants the moon.
I want the moon, I want the moon, and he he will not stop crying. And ultimately mother says, okay, enough of it. And she puts a little mirror in his hand and she said, My dear child, look,
you have the moon and he looks and he says, Yes, I have the moon, āmā look I have the moon. So in this way, this is illusion, isn't it? Who created the illusion? Mother created the illusion.
But who was the cause of this illusion? The crazy desire of the child. So in the same way we cry, we say, Yes, I want this, I want this, I want I want to rule the world. Ultimately that's what we want.
Ultimately we want to become God. Come to God and say, my dear God, can I become you for a while? And he says, no, you cannot. He said, but I won't. And he says, no, I'm sorry. You cannot because you're anu.
You're small and I'm big. How you can become me? I'm bigger, you're small. You say, but I really won't. He says, okay. Here is the illusion. And in this illusion, a little soul can imagine yourself really big.
This is what we do, you know. In our imagination, we are not small, really. If we imagine ourselves, we are really big because we are so important. If we were not so important, why would we think about us all the time?
This is what we do, right? About whom do people usually think? About somebody who is important? About whom do we usually think? About ourselves, because we're so big, right? We're so big and we're so central.
We want to force the world to circumbilate us. Everyone has to do pradakṣiṇa around us. The whole world. The whole universe. But we cannot. And therefore Krishna gives us this illusion that we are.
An illusion is given by him because we wanted to have this illusion in the same way as mother gives this little mirror to the child. This is illusion, but you wanted this illusion. So you are responsible for this.
You ask for this illusion. You wanted to be in the center. Although you can never be in the center. Only God can be in the center.
So Śrīla Prabhupāda from the very beginning he explains that you are anu and you cannot you're so small. You're so insignificantly small. Really, I mean so hopelessly small we are.
That we cannot ourselves even fulfill our desires. There is a nice story about famous Sufi mystic or whatever Nasreddin, the Muslim. Somebody asked him, can you tell us something about the perfection of God's will?
He said, I will tell you everything about the perfection of God's will. From the time I remember myself always happens not as I desire but as somebody else. This is the perfection of God's will.
Because if it was my desire, at least sometimes it would happen like I want. But all the time it happens not as I want. And that means that there is supreme will of the world. Basically you know we're so small that even you know sometimes of course our desires are fulfilled.
As Prabhupada explains that if we deserve, Kṛṣṇa says okay, let his desire, let his crazy desire be fulfilled, and you know what can we do? He wants it. But uh even this is not because of our desire really,
only because the Lord allows this desire to be fulfilled. And if we don't connect ourselves, our consciousness with the Lord, then we shouldn't blame the Lord. We should understand, this is me who is responsible for this?
Nobody else. This is my fault. This is not Krishna's fault. And usually we try to avoid this. But if we connect ourselves with the Lord in a real sense,
Overcoming the false ego of the doer
and here, because Kṛṣṇa explains the action of a jñānī, basically what he explains, and it's very interesting, how the progression goes in Bhagavad-gītā.
In the beginning, we're separated from the Lord because of our false ego. And false ego means I'm the doer. I'm acting, right? And I want to enjoy the results of my action. This is the fundamental mistake of a living entity.
I can do it, I'm really powerful, I have really, you know, muscles. And I can make it. And the Lord is laughing. Oh my goodness. Look at yourself in the mirror. You can't do anything. Only if I allow this it will happen.
But we have this false ego. And false ego means I can do it and I have to enjoy the fruits of my actions. Everyone is really, especially when he's young, this false ego is very strong. The false ego has two sides.
When he's young, he thinks I'm the doer, I really make it, I will make it, everyone else didn't make it, but I will make it. I will be the exception. I will conquer over this world.
This world will really understand who I am. Yeah, but then in the course of time, the false ego changes its color. In the beginning, the false ego tells you you're the hero. At the end, the false ego says you're the victim.
You tried, but they didn't allow you. You are good, they are bad. You had all good intentions, you wanted this, you wanted that. But it's all the same full seed.
It's all the place of our false ego. So when we do this, when we try to manifest this false seed, this false seed really separates us from the Lord. This is what really is the impediment between us and the Lord.
I can do it. And therefore first teaching of Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā says, no my dear sir, you do it, but don't claim the results. Because the results are coming from me.
You can try to do whatever you like, but ultimately it doesn't depend on you alone. So many other factors are there. You know, like for example, to act, we have to please. Like right? You know.
And who gives us the air? That's the Lord. Can you do something if there was no air? You can't do anything. You can do there are so many other factors which actually contribute to our success or failure.
Our role is really small, but it's so big in our own eyes. So Krishna in the beginning he says, the step number one. Don't claim the results.
Practicing karma-yoga and abandoning proprietorship
I am the doer.
You're just doing something, you're just really like a child in in his you know like like sometimes the daughter comes to mother and mother is cooking and daughter says, I also want to cook then mother gives her a little piece of dough and says, You cook. I'm cooking.
So I'm the same way, me. I don't know, yeah yeah, you're doing of course. He says if you want to understand better.
The step number one, please understand that it's not only you who is going to face. I also have something to do with the results of your activities.
Don't uh claim the proprietorship of the results of your activities because they don't belong to you alone. I also contributed to this.
And that's the first teaching of Krishna, because he wants to destroy the false ego. His first desire is to help us to destroy the false ego.
And the false seed has this nature: I'm the doer. And I have to enjoy the fruits.
And then when the false seed is destroyed by this selfless action, when you act without claiming the results, then you can become the absorber.
Basically, what is explained by Krishna in this particular chapter that you should not be claiming the results of your action, you should just absorb. Absorb what is happening. Don't be involved emotionally into this life.
Like in this body so many things are happening. And you know we don't even know what is happening, how it is happening. When we eat food, we very proudly say, I am eating food. Right? I am eating food here.
But then we never say I am digesting food. We always say my stomach is digesting food. And when the stomach doesn't digest the food, what will you do? You can't do anything, you know.
You just you can take some medicine, but you know, ultimately it depends on the stomach and on Krishna in the form of the fire of the stomach.
So what Krishna explains when your false figure is destroyed to a certain extent by this practice of karma-yoga, of selfless action, when you're not dependent, when you don't claim the results of your action, when you don't say I'm the doer, then you come to this platform of absorbing.
I'm the absorber. I'm neutral. And I'm looking and I'm seeing that this is what is happening, and I am just the absorber. Something is happening within my body, I am absorbing it.
Something is happening around me, I am absorbing it. And the Lord says, I'm also absorber. I'm also the same.
I'm also just watching what people are doing. I'm just watching and watching and watching and really sad about this but you know I I'm not responsible for this.
Surrendering to God and receiving divine protection
But then when he wants to bring us further, he says, Yes, I'm responsible for everything. Because he brings us further to the platform when he wants us to understand that we are connected with him all the time.
And when we understand that we are connected, then he says, Yes. If you understand that you're connected with me, then I'm responsible. Then I will take the responsibility for your actions.
Then you really become devotee within your heart. And it means basically that you always feel connected with the Lord. Never feel that you are separate. Then the Lord says yes. In this case, I'm taking responsibility.
There is this beautiful story about one Ram Bhakta. He was a weaver and he was making clothes. And he was really famous in his village for being very honest. He was a great Rāma-bhakta.
And usually he would make some cloth and would bring them to the market and the the the price for the cloth was really low. And people would ask him, you know, how much is the how much is your cloth? He said, you know the the treads they cost that much one rupee and then my work cost two anas so this is one rupee and two anas.
If you won't take it. If you don't want it, don't take it. And people liked him because he was genuine. He was always he always had this uh uh this saying.
Whatever he would say, he would say, by the will of Lord Rāma. By the will of Lord Rāma. By the will of Lord Rāma.
So he was really connected in his heart, and he knew that everything is happening by the will of Lord Rāma.
So once he sold his clothes, his uh whatever and the market and he went to the temple and he was chanting and he forgot himself and it was dark. So it was really dark already. And there were some thieves.
And thieves came and they saw some men and they needed somebody to help and they told him, you go with us. And he said, okay, by the will of Lord Rāma I will go with you.
So they went and they started robbing the thieves started robbing some house and they took a lot of wealth and they put it it on him. And he was carrying this wealth.
He was saying, it's really funny, the Lord Rāma is really playing a good joke with me today.
So he was walking and when he was walking all of a sudden the police came and the all the thieves they they ran away flew away and only this guy was was all the stolen goods uh uh caught red-handed. No police took him and put him in prison.
And he was sitting there and he was chanting Rāma, Rāma, Rāma and he was saying, Rāma really funny, what's what's happening with me today? But Rāma is really is really in a joking mood today.
So he was put in prison and he was he was not really disturbed by what is happening.
So next morning, people from this village came to the judge and they said we know this man he's honest he's really really honest your majesty please uh being partial please look at this he can never do this he is he's he's a
bhakta he can never do this. So the judge decided to see for himself. He called this man and he said, please tell me what happened yesterday. He said, Oh, your majesty, I will tell you.
By the will of Lord Rāma I made some clothes, and by the will of Lord Rāma I sold the clothes, and I got some two anas or three anas of some profit, and then by the will of Lord Ram I went to his temple. And in the temple, by the will of Lord Ram, I was changing his holy names, and by the will of Lord Ram I was so pleased.
And then by the will of Lord Ram some good people came to me and they told me that I should go with them. And I told them, okay, by the will of Lord Ram I will go with you.
And by the will of Lord Ram, these good people, they have stolen so much good. And they put it on me.
And by the will of Lord Ram I was kidding and then by the will of Lord Ram the police came. And then police, by the will of Lord Ram, caught me and put me in prison. And by the will of Lord Ram I was sitting there very happy because Lord Ram was So this is my story, Your Majesty.
And his Majesty said, by the will of Lord Ram, I release you came back home and he said you know what happened by the will of Lord Ram, they put me in prison.
And then by the will of Lord Ram, they released me. This is what happened. So if we understand that everything is happening by the will of the Lord, then the Lord says yes, then I'm responsible. I will take care of you.
That's what exactly He says. I will take care of you, and He says, na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati. Tell very loudly so that nobody would have any trace of doubt that I will take care of my bhaktas.
But the little condition which has to be fulfilled before you have to become his bhakta. Then he will take care of you.
The problem is that we say I am his bhakta and he should take care of me, but then when it comes to real world, we somehow rather forget about this. So he says very emphatically, yes, I'm responsible for every
action and I'm responsible for the provision of my bhaktas in each and every respect.
Lord Chaitanya when he came to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura's house, he said, Śrīvāsa, can you tell me? You're not working, you're not employed, you're not going to dvija to get some money for the maintenance of your family. How you maintain your family?
You have a big family, you have to you have to take care of the family. What's happening? And Śrīvāsa, I can tell you a secret, Śrīvāsa.
He says, usually when I need something, I go out in my yard and I say one, two, three and if it doesn't appear in front of me after three counts, then I will go to Ganga and I will drown myself.
But usually it appears somehow rather than what can I do? I'm just a servant. And somehow it all happens with me. You give me. And I'm just serving you. This is my answer.
My duty is to serve you, and your duty is to maintain me, and if you don't maintain me, I don't care because this is your duty. This is not my problem, this is your problem.
And Lord Śeṣa said, you know, if there will be famine and even Goddess Lakṣmī will go begging. Even if Goddess Lakshmi will become really poor and bereft of wealth, you will still have all the wealth which you need I will provide for you. Because you have this pure devotion.
And therefore he says to Arjuna, kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati, please tell everyone. Because Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Krishna, why all of a sudden he says Arjuna, you tell this.
Before that he was telling himself this and that, you know, but now all of a sudden he says, Arjuna, now you tell everybody that I will take care of my bhakti. They will not perish under any circumstances.
And Śrīla Sūta says he says this statement is so important for the Lord that he doesn't want it to be pronounced by himself. Because sometimes, you know, he doesn't say everything correctly,
you know, Lord is not famous for being very truthful. Let me know. You know, he's from Vṛndāvana. What can you say? So the Lord knows. He says actually I tell people may or may not believe me.
If you tell, people will believe you because you're sādhu. So he says you tell this.
If you're my bhakta, if you're really my bhakti in heart, and bhakta means the condition of the heart, if you're really uh connected with me in the heart, then I will take care of you. You don't have to worry about anything else.
But if you're not my bhakta, proportionately to the extent you're not depending on me internally, you're depending on your own skills or your own intelligence or your own uh I don't know good fortune. Proportionately I will not take care of you.
This is your responsibility. This is your duty. So basically here Krishna explains that if you want something and then uh and if you only depend on you then I may arrange the same way.
You know, if you want to go to hell, no problem, you can go to hell. It's it's it's accessible, you can go. If you really want to go to heaven, you can go to heaven. But if you want to come to me, you can come to me.
And that's different. Heaven and hell, it's the same. Believe it or not, people in other traditions would be shocked to hear this statement.
But for real Baptists, heaven and hell don't make any difference. Because both have this separated vision. Both imply that we're separated from the Lord.
Transcending sin and piety through devotional service
But the Lord says there is third possibility, which is neither heaven nor hell, which is neither sin nor piety. Here he says, I'm not responsible for your sins, I'm not responsible for your piety.
You want to be pious, I'll make sure you're pious. You want to be sinful? Okay, what can I do? You'll be sinful. But if you want to come to me, this is not piety and sin.
Usually people say that you know piety is good, sin is bad. Krishna doesn't say this. Krishna says piety is bad and sin is bad. It really depends how you look at it. It may be all bad.
As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, sarvabhauma dharma. It's all speculation. You just mental concoction. You say this is good, this is bad. This is not good, this is not bad.
You know, there's n no such distinction for the Lord. Uh but uh it may also be all good. It depends if you see that this is good because this is coming from the Lord, this is good because this is coming from the Lord.
The Lord is sending this to you, this is good. The Lord is sending this to you, this is also good.
There is this nice story in Caitanya-bhāgavata, and also Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. It really very interestingly describes this mentality of the Lord, the vision of the Lord.
I will tell this and then conclude my lecture. This is a famous story about Odana-ṣaṣṭhī festival in Jagannātha Purī. During Pañca-ratha-yātrā festival, Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi decided to stay in Purī.
All the devotees went back to Bengal. But Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, he stayed back with Lord Caitanya. And winter came. Oran Shasti is the festival when they put the
warm cloth, some nice woolen cloth on Lord Jagannath. It's interesting that today I was reading this pastime and Odan means cloth. And in Russian, clothes is called odezhda. The same kind of word is there.
So when the winter comes, they put new clothes on Lord Jagannath and this is the whole festival because this is you know people treat the Lord in a very personal way.
They put in new clothes, very warm clothes, so this is part of the devotees of the Lord.
So Pundarika Vidyanidhi was there. He came with Svarupa Damodar to the temple of Lord Jagannath and he saw the clothes and he saw that the clothes were just the new clothes which were just bought from the
and the clothes were with the starch. And Pundarika Vidyanidhi became really disgusted and he said, what is this? What kind of pujaris they are? Starch is considered to be uh contaminated. You can't put it on the Lord.
It says very clearly in the Shastras, this is nisedha, this is not good, you cannot do this. And so Svarupa Damodar said, no, no, dear sir, please understand this is the tradition here. And they just follow the tradition.
And they don't have any bad intentions. And the Lord likes it. For God, there is nothing dirty. How you can say that this is dirty? You cannot say that this is dirty.
So God accepts bhakti, God accepts this cloth because it's given to him with love. But Pundarika Vidyanidhi was not convinced. He said this is false logic. Yes, you're right. Nothing is dirty for the Lord.
The Lord can accept everything. But for us, there is distinction.
And it's pretty disastrous and in the Shastras it is said that you cannot give starch clothes because starch clothes are contaminated, you have to wash it first, then only give and offer to the Lord. So you can do this.
And he criticized all the pujaris and he was really upset about this. And then he came back to his residence and he slept. And when he slept, Jagannath and Balaram came to him and they were laughing.
And they were really, you know, and they were rolling their eyes. The big eyes and they were laughing and laughing and laughing and they came to him and they started slapping, sleding,g sledging, sledging.
And they say, You're nonsense. You're nonsense. And at the same time they were laughing. What did you do? How can you say this? That my servants are doing something wrong.
And they were slapping and slapping and slapping and then they said to him, you know, if nothing is good for me and nothing is bad for me, then how you can say that something is good and something is bad for my servants.
They're on the same level as me. They're serving me with love and I accept their love. Whatever they tell me. Whatever they will give me. I accept this. And they're like, it's like it's like it's like it.
And that he was so happy. He was getting his laps. He was saying the Lord is really merciful to me. He came to me to teach this lesson.
Then if you are really on a transcendental level, there is nothing good or nothing bad for you. Unless you are on the transcendental level, yes, we have to have the distinction. This is good, this is bad.
This is pāpa, this is puṇya. We have to be very strict. We shouldn't we should not misuse this philosophy. But at the same time we have to really clearly understand that there is the third alternative.
The third alternative is bhakti. When you are united with the Lord with love, that nothing is good and nothing is bad for you. Everything is good or everything is bad, it depends how you look.
So basically this is, and yeah, when Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi woke up, Svarūpa Dāmodara came to him and he saw that his cheeks were swollen, really red. And he asked him, What happened? Why are your cheeks so swollen, he said.
The Lord is really merciful. He slapped me so nicely. This is the vision of a bhakta. When something bad is happening to us, we should say the Lord is really merciful today. He slapped me so nicely.
Because he says I'm taking care of my bhakti and he will take care of your Bhakti. There is nothing really bad. Nothing bad can happen to a bhakta if he's a bhakta.
If he's really connected with Krishna in the eternal plane and he knows that he's as a soul always connected with the world. If he removed the obstacle of false ego from his consciousness, if he doesn't separate himself from the Lord by this stupid crazy pride that I am the doer and I'm entitled to enjoy the fruits of my action.
If whatever he does, he does in the mood of the service. I'm doing it as a service for you. This is my offering. Or rather, my heart is my offering to you. I am giving you my heart, and whatever I do is automatically yours.
Because my heart is yours. Whatever I did, the my consciousness is given to the Lord completely, without any reservations. If I gave the consciousness back to the Lord and don't want to claim it
my own, then whatever I do will be his and he will be responsible. And he will take the full responsibility. And whatever will happen is you will be for your eternal benefit. So this is what it is.
In this world we're always faced with this problem of evil and good, but from the highest point of view, there is no evil and there is no good. There is only love of God or hatred of God.
And when we are hating God, when we are turned away from God, then we will always be in this difficult world when we will try to avoid something and try to obtain something and we will always be in anxiety about this.
But if we transcend this by the means of the process of bhakti yoga, then nothing will be bad or good for us. And the evil will disappear.
It will disappear first from our heart and then it will disappear from our perception of this material world. So this is the samadhristi about which Krishna is teaching in the fifth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
He says that the knowledge means you don't identify yourself with the body. But in the normal condition, because to identify with the body. With this identification, this understanding of good and bad comes to us.
And our knowledge is covered in this way. And muhyanti we are beludding. We are not really understanding who we are. But by the real process of connecting our consciousness with Krishna by changing his holy name.
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāmah Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hriam Krishna Krishna Krishna Arey Aareya.
Progress on the Moscow Krishna temple project
By this process we will be able to transcend this muhyanti, this moh, this illusion, this bewildering which is there, and understand that I am the eternal spirit soul, eternally connected with the world and not connected with this rotten matter.
Cool because this is also somewhat connected with the topic of our lecture. Last year you remember perhaps I came one year back in April
of last year and uh I told you the very difficult and dramatic story how devotees in Moscow had a temple and how the temple was demolished by the government because the government wanted to redevelop the style.
And the government tricked us, the government gave us the land in exchange and then took it back. But ultimately we tricked the government.
Because we said we're not this time we're not living this land. You have to give us something.
You you can't just put us out on the streets and we were negotiating and we were fighting and we were you know, doing all kinds of different things with the government and
ultimately uh as a result of all our endeavors Krishna through the government gave us the land which is twice as big as the previous it's funny because this is this is really how Krishna works.
Śrīla Prabhupāda once in Germany there was a similar story. In Germany there was a very heavy attack on Hare Krishna movement
in the beginning and demons they wanted to destroy the whole movement and they really worked hard. They took back the temple which was there. It was very difficult time and Prabhupāda knew about this, about the struggle.
But as a result of this struggle, the movement doubled in Germany. Because the devotees they became so determined, they became so strong, and the movement really increased two times.
And Prabhupāda, when he heard about this, and they distributed twice as many books as possible. And Prabhupāda said, yes, this is how Krishna works. Demons say, let it be finished, and Krishna say, let it be doubled.
So the same formula worked in our case. Some of our enemies said let it be finished and we said no, let it be double.
So we got twice as big land as possible from the government and it's uh situated on the the bank of river, on a high bank, very beautiful place. And um there was an interesting story also.
Uh usually it's very difficult to uh approve the design in a planning committee. Especially when design is somewhat exotic, you know, and we want to build proper temple, beautiful Indian style, traditional temple.
We created this design. And usually you have to go at least ten times to the planning committee.
And they always find fault they say this is good, this is not good, this is not it's not fitting to the background, this is bad, this is a change. In our case, they approved our design from the first year.
Someor or other they said, let there be beautiful Vedic temple in Moscow. And really this is this is Krishna. This is how Krishna works. He puts us in difficulties. He puts the devotees in difficulties.
Just to test their determination. And the determination is there. I don't know. There is no difficulties which we cannot overcome. Krishna gives us the strength, Krishna gives us intelligence, and ultimately Krishna helps.
Uh and then he says, as he says in the case of Arjuna. Arjuna, I already achieved this victory, but you please do it and take the credit for yourself. You do something. You know, and the credit is yours.
Krishna doesn't want credit. He has all the fame, but he wants to keep behind the scene. So he says if you just try to do something and then you know you will be glorious.
So this is how Krishna consciousness movement works. Prabhupada came and he said, you know, I'm doing it, I'm serving to Krishna. Krishna is doing her listening part. Krishna says, no, this is my bhakta, my devotee.
Let all the credit close to him. And in the same way, this drama with Moscow temple that write our best and Krishna is helping.
So now by the end of the year we will get the permission uh to build because there is a lot of formalities and hopefully with your prayers and your support and your uh I don't know your uh help we will be able to build this beautiful temple first Krishna temple in the Eastern Europe.
First Krishna temple in Russia. So and I'm sure that this is this is yogic. I came and told you, so many people wrote to me, Shivalabhot would help very much, and so many other devotees helped and afraid.
Like now in Kazakhstan there is difficult situation, but I'm sure one way or another it will be resolved. Krishna always helps a devotees to become winners.
Growth of Krishna consciousness in Russia
So this is your victory and I congratulate you with your victory in Moscow. Can you say how many devotees are there in Moscow? We know that uh yearly so many thousands go to Maiput.
Uh you can see majority of the devotees are probably Russian Yatra outnumbers you know practically all the yatras besides of course Indian Yatra but uh like in Moscow the number three in the book distribution scores, the number first after Mayapur and Bombay and maybe Delhi.
So the in the Western world we distribute more. We have uh around you know more than one thousand devotees in Moscow and we have tens of thousands of in Russia.
So when we have big festivals, thousands actually our festival in September and we have our Black Sea festival on the seashore. And usually three, four thousand people comes and it's bigger than Mayapur Festival. This is you know the uh uh one of the biggest uh gathering of divorces uh in in this country. So uh it's a lot of people and new people are coming both at the time.
Last year we had Janmashtami Festival and we had ten thousand people coming for our mussals. And out of this ten thousand, I don't know, maybe one thousand was Indian and nine thousand was Russians.
So this is this is what is going on by the mercy of Śrīla Prabhupāda and his sincere followers and Lord Krishna, Chaitanya. Thank you very much.