The Most Valuable Question

Welfare activities and transcendental questions

0:00Prabhupāda: So loka-hitam. Varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ SB 2.1.1*.* [Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.] Varīyān means glorify; eṣa, this; praśnaḥ, question; kṛtaḥ, what you have done; loka-hitam, the best welfare activities. This kind of question and answer.

0:24And not only that.

Krsna consciousness as approved science

0:30One may say that "In your Society, you are talking something of Kṛṣṇa. That is your hobby. You may take pleasure." Because everyone has got some..., his hobby. But it is not like hobby.

0:47Not only loka-hitam; it is said ātmavit-sammataḥ: it is approved by the transcendentalist.

Great sages accepting Krsna's supremacy

1:02Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna says that "You are accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.

1:07Not that because I am Your friend, out of my whims or affection I am talking of You as the Supreme Personality; You are accepted by such great sages like Nārada, Vyāsa, Asita." Great stalwarts, Vedic scholars.

1:27So Kṛṣṇa is accepted by all Vedic scholars.

Historical scholars and acaryas

1:34Not only in the bygone ages, just like Nārada, Vyāsa, but in the recent ages, within, say, one thousand years.

1:44Within one thousand years, there happened to be many great scholars, just like Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Lord Caitanya. They were very, very learned scholars. They have accepted Kṛṣṇa the Supreme Person...

Sankaracarya's identification of Krsna

2:09Even Śaṅkarācārya. Śaṅkarācārya is more than one thousand years ago. Śaṅkarācārya's time is just after Buddha's age. Buddha, 2,500; Śaṅkarācārya, about 1,500 years ago. He also accepted.

2:25Although he was impersonalist, he accepted, sa bhagavān svayam kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, has come, has descended as the son of Vasudeva and Devakī." He has clearly mentioned.

2:43Because one may not misunderstand, "This Kṛṣṇa may be different." But he has specif... Just like identification. If you go to the court, you give your identification by your father's name.

2:57So Śaṅkarācārya has given identification of Kṛṣṇa by His father's name, by His mother's name. Devakī vasudevāsya. We also say Devakī-nandana, Vāsudeva.

Following the footsteps of acaryas

3:13So ātmavit-sammataḥ. It must be approved by great ācāryas. We are pushing on this Kṛṣṇa consciousness not by whims. It is approved by great ācāryas. We are following their footsteps. That's all. That is our business.

Topmost subject matter for hearing

3:38Ātmavit tattva, ātmavit-sammataḥ. And then puṁsām, for the people in general, śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ SB 2.1.1*.*

3:44Please let me know what a man should hear, chant, remember and worship, and also what he should not do. Please explain all this to me.

3:48They have got many subject matter for hearing, ordinary people. But this subject matter, hearing of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the..., śrotavyādi. Whatever subject matter you have got for hearing, this is the topmost.

4:07This is the topmost.

First steps in God realization

4:08Śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ.

4:08So he's beginning, Śukadeva Gosvāmī is beginning to talk about Kṛṣṇa, and this book is The First Step in God-Realization. How, for ordinary common men, how one can realize God, these things will be described.

4:36We shall describe. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. [end]