Spreading Krishna Consciousness Throughout the World

А. Ч. Бхактиведанта Свами Прабхупада · Бомбей · 1972

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Opening prayers and historical context

Devotee: ...absolutely quiet. [leads jaya rādhā-mādhava] [prema-dhvani]

Prabhupāda: Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga.

Prabhupāda: Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly participating in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is already known to you that we are trying to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.

I was ordered by my spiritual master to go to the Western countries and spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So in 1965, in the month of September, I went to New York with forty rupees in my pocket.

But gradually—this is a long history—in a very short time this movement has spread all over the world by the cooperation of my American disciples, both boys and girls.

Now we have got more than ninety branches all over the world, and we have come here in Bombay to open this center in this place where we are now sitting.

So by your cooperation we wish to develop this center into a very large institution for spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Evolution and the human form

This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very important at the present moment. It is important in this sense = that throughout the whole world, I have traveled, everyone is practically without God consciousness.

This means that this human form of life, which is achieved after many, many births, labdhvā su-durlabhaṁ bahu-sambhavānte Bahu-sambhavānte: after many, many births.

There are 8,400,000 species of life—aquatics, then plants, trees, insects, birds, bees, then uncivilized human being, then civilized human being.

In this way, especially in India we are considered to be very advanced in culture and religion, still. I read one book written by one Chinese gentleman.

It is recommended in the New York University for studies in comparative, philosophical and religion class.

In that book this Chinese gentleman writes that "If you want to know about religion and culture, then you have to go to India." So our background, this Vedic civilization, is very great. We should remember it always.

Now these boys, American boys, European boys, they have come to India not to see your industrial improvement or economic development. They have seen enough of these things in their own country.

They are highly economically developed, industrially, so they have nothing to learn about these things from India. They have come here to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or God consciousness.

Even the yogic activities, aṣṭa-siddhi-yoga, practically by mechanical arrangement they almost come to the perfection of yogic principles. Just like the yogī, by his laghimā-siddhi he can fly in the space.

But they are also flying by sputniks and other aeronautics. But that is not very important. Real important thing is God consciousness.

That is the present necessity throughout the whole world, because by nature’s own way this human form of life is offered to understand "What I am? What is God? What is this material world? What is our interrelation?

Why I am suffering threefold miserable condition of life? Whether there is any remedy?" Of course, everyone is trying to mitigate the miserable condition of life, but it is being attempted not in the right way.

In Bhagavad-gītā it is said,

BG 6.21यत्रोपरमते चित्तं निरुद्धं योगसेवया ।यत्र चैवात्मनात्मानं पश्यन्नात्मनि तुष्यति ॥२०॥सुखमात्यन्तिकं यत्तद् बुद्धिग्राह्यमतीन्द्रियम् ।वेत्ति यत्र न चैवायं स्थितश्चलति तत्त्वतः ॥२१॥यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं ततः ।यस्मिन्स्थितो न दुःखेन गुरुणापि विचाल्यते ॥२२॥तं विद्याद्‌दुःखसंयोगवियोगं योगसंज्ञितम् ॥२३॥yatroparamate cittaṁniruddhaṁ yoga-sevayāyatra caivātmanātmānaṁpaśyann ātmani tuṣyatisukham ātyantikaṁ yat tadbuddhi-grāhyam atīndriyamvetti yatra na caivāyaṁsthitaś calati tattvataḥyaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁmanyate nādhikaṁ tataḥyasmin sthito na duḥkhenaguruṇāpi vicālyatetaṁ vidyād duḥkha-saṁyoga-viyogaṁ yoga-saṁjñitamIn the stage of perfection called trance, or samādhi, one’s mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This perfection is characterized by one’s ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness, realized through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difﬁculty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.

Material and spiritual energy systems

Sukham ātyantikaṁ: we are spiritual sparks, part and parcel of God, and Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā

mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ: "The living entities are My part and parcel." Not only the living entities—this material world also. This is also part and parcel. Actually it is explained in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa very nicely:

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgnerjyotsnā vistārina yathāparasya brāhmaṇaḥśaktiḥsarvedam akhilam jagat[Viṣṇu Purāṇa]

This akhilam jagat, entire cosmic manifestation, is the resultant action of two energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā = prakṛti. One prakṛti means material energy; another, spiritual energy. Bhūmir āpo analo..., bhinnā me prakṛtir aṣṭadhā

Aṣṭadhā, eight [indistinct], eight kinds of energies = earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind, intelligence, ego. These are inferior energies of the Supreme Lord, and the superior energy we are—the living entity.

BG 7.5अपरेयमितस्त्वन्यां प्रकृतिं विद्धि मे पराम् ।जीवभूतां महाबाहो ययेदं धार्यते जगत् ॥५॥apareyam itas tv anyāṁprakṛtiṁ viddhi me parāmjīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāhoyayedaṁ dhāryate jagatBesides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.

So we are also prakṛti, and the material nature is also prakṛti. We are also prakṛti; we are not puruṣa. Puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Lord, and everything prakṛti, or energy.

So whatever manifestation we see, it is the introduction of the different energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. parasya brāhmaṇaḥśaktiḥsarvedam akhilam jagatIn the Vedas also it is stated,

parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyatesvā-bhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca

purport] So there is a great science, and we have got this in India.

Vedic literature and divine knowledge

And in the Bhagavad-gītā everything is very nicely explained, and for further understanding there is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is spoken by Vyāsadeva about Kṛṣṇa.

Vyāsadeva begins Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya This vāsudevāya means Kṛṣṇa. That is explained by Śrīdhara Svāmī. We shall take up this explanation from tomorrow.

We shall begin Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the beginning, janmādy asya yataḥ: the original source of all emanations, as it is stated, described in the Vedānta-sūtra, janmādy..., athāto brahma jijñāsā [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.1].

So these kṛṣṇa-kathā, knowledge about Kṛṣṇa, is very wide and vast, so one should try to understand Kṛṣṇa. And especially in India we can understand it, because culturally we are Kṛṣṇa-ites, but we have forgotten.

We are not forgetting our culture, but it is so nice that foreigners in Europe and America, Canada, Japan, Australia, they are taking it very serious, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So this is an attempt, this camp is an attempt to invite our countrymen.

We have already done such festival in the Cross Maidan, and I was very glad to see twenty to thirty thousand people were daily assembling for ten days, and they were very kind upon us.

In spite of all inconveniences they used to come, and they wanted that the program should have been extended. But we could not do so; we were searching after some place. So Kṛṣṇa somehow or other has given us this place.

So let us cooperate to understand Kṛṣṇa, that's all. This is our business. We have no other business to understand Kṛṣṇa, but there is a great benefit if we can understand Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa says Himself in the Bhagavad-gītā,

BG 4.9जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ।त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥९॥janma karma ca me divyamevaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥtyaktvā dehaṁ punar janmanaiti mām eti so 'rjunaOne who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

But we have to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth, not by fiction or imagination or concoction. In truth what is Kṛṣṇa. BG 4.9जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः ।त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर्जन्म नैति मामेति सोऽर्जुन ॥९॥janma karma ca me divyamevaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥtyaktvā dehaṁ punar janmanaiti mām eti so 'rjunaOne who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.

The result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti. If you can understand Kṛṣṇa, the result is that you stop the repetition of birth and death, old age and disease. That is very good.

Ending the cycle of rebirth

Kṛṣṇa says, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti. If you understand Kṛṣṇa, then after leaving this body no more transmigration to another material body.

Punar janma... Janma, birth, takes place of this material body, not of the soul. The soul, na jāyate na mriyate vā: the soul never dies or takes birth. The so-called birth is the birth of this body.

Therefore anyone who understands Kṛṣṇa, he does not take anymore this material body, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti. Then where does he go? Because soul is eternal, I am eternal, you are eternal.

We are passing through different phases of material body. So by understanding Kṛṣṇa, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma: no more material birth. Then where does he go? Mām eti: he goes back to home, back to Godhead.

This is the sum and substance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. The idea is that the living entity, this part, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, he is in contact of this material world, and the disease is,

BG 13.9अमानित्वमदम्भित्वमहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् ।आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रहः ॥८॥इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहंकार एव च ।जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम् ॥९॥असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्गः पुत्रदारगृहादिषु ।नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु ॥१०॥मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी ।विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि ॥११॥अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्त्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् ।एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा ॥१२॥(8)amānitvam adambhitvamahiṁsā kṣāntir ārjavamācāryopāsanaṁ śaucaṁsthairyam ātma-vinigrahaḥ(9)indriyārtheṣu vairāgyamanahaṅkāra eva cajanma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam(10)asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥputra-dāra-gṛhādiṣunityaṁ ca sama-cittatvamiṣṭāniṣṭopapattiṣu(11)mayi cānanya-yogenabhaktir avyabhicāriṇīvivikta-deśa-sevitvamaratir jana-saṁsadi(12)adhyātma-jñāna-nityatvaṁtattva-jñānārtha-darśanametaj jñānam iti proktamajñānaṁ yad ato 'nyathāHumility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona ﬁde spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratiﬁcation; absence of false ego; the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest; even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me; aspiring to live in a solitary place; detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization; and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth – all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance.

Because we are in this material body there is birth, there is death, there is disease and there is old age. So our advancement of education has not discovered anything which can stop birth, death, old age and disease.

That is not possible.

Responsibility of the Indian youth

Not only in this planet, but you go even to the higher planet, there is no excuse from this material condition. BG 8.16आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन ।मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥१६॥ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥpunar āvartino 'rjunamām upetya tu kaunteyapunar janma na vidyateFrom the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.That is stated.

Even if you go to the Brahmaloka, BG 8.16आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन ।मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥१६॥ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥpunar āvartino 'rjunamām upetya tu kaunteyapunar janma na vidyateFrom the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.

So try to understand that this human form of life is especially meant for stopping this botheration of repeated birth, death, old age and disease. You cannot stop it by so-called material advancement of knowledge.

That is not possible. So this prerogative of the human being must be given to them. That is the greatest welfare activities. People do not know how to do good to others.

They temporarily, they get some relief; but that will not give him actually comfort of life. Here is the greatest relief = Kṛṣṇa consciousness. If anyone simply understands Kṛṣṇa, he gets relief from all botheration.

So this contribution to the human society is from India.

Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has ordered that anyone who has taken birth in India as a human being, not as an animal, bhārata-bhūmite manuṣya-janma haila yāra... Anyone who has taken birth as a human being on this holy land of Bhārata-varṣa,

CC Adi 9.41ভারত–ভূমিতে হৈল মনুষ্য–জন্ম যার ।জন্ম সার্থক করি’ কর পর–উপকার ॥ ৪১ ॥bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya janma yārajanma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.

Just make..., make your life successful. We have got all the Vedic literatures how to make our life successful.

So unfortunately we are neglecting our great spiritual assets, and we are enamored by the so-called material civilization. That is the present condition of India.

But I see after traveling three times all over the world, I see that there is a great demand for Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world.

They are no more interested in so-called gloss[?] of yoga-siddhi and so-called Vedānta-siddhi. They want something factual.

So I request that those who are intelligent persons, especially Indian, especially young men, they should come and join this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and spread this Indian culture, or Vedic culture, throughout the whole world.

That will enhance the glories of India. You cannot compete with the Western countries by so-called industrialization or economic development. You will always be hundred years back from their advancement.

But if you want some credit of your country, then try to spread this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

Make your life first of all successful by understanding what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and then hundreds of you may go to the foreign countries outside India to preach this great philosophy.

You will be honored; your country will be glorified. So single-handed I have tried a little, and I am very glad to inform you the response is very great. So similarly you should go, many of us.

Then India's glories will be very much magnified, that I can assure.

So how to make your life successful by understanding our Vedic culture we shall present as far as possible from the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I have been honored by the managing committee of this festival that I shall speak in Hindi in the morning and I shall speak in English in the evening.

And if so.... In the Cross Maidan, also Calcutta, Madras, Delhi, our festival, this Hare Kṛṣṇa movement festival, was very, very successful in all these cities. In your city also it was very successful in last May.

Now we have come to this place. It is not very, I mean to say, exposed, just like Cross Maidan; it is written in the name. But you can come here very easily and encourage us to explain what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

And from tomorrow regular meeting work will begin, and we shall be very much thankful to you if you come and cooperate with us. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]