Bhagavad-gita 5.29
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Удупи · 2013
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Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya vāsudevāya, om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, om namo bhagavate
namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet. Okay.
Reciting the peace formula verse
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. I'll read the famous verse from the fifth chapter which Śrīla Prabhupāda called the peace formula. 29th verse of the fifth chapter:
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ,
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram, māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. bhoktāraṁ
jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, sarva-loka-maheśvaram, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati.
bhoktāraṁ: the beneficiary of sacrifices, tapasāṁ and penances and austerities of all planets and the demigods. Maheśvaram: the Supreme Lord. Suhṛdaṁ: the beneficiary, the benefactor. The benefactor.
Sarva: of all. Bhūtānāṁ. Bhūtānāṁ: the living entities. The living entities. Jñātvā: thus knowing. Māṁ: Me, Lord Krishna. Śānti: relief from material pains. Relief from material pains. Ṛcchati. One achieves.
Translation and purport of verse
One is translation.
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries, purported by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
The conditioned souls within the clutches of the illusory energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the Bhagavad-gītā.
The greatest peace formula is simply this. Lord Krishna is the beneficiary of all human activities.
Man should offer everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods. No one is greater than He.
He is greater than the greatest of the demigods, Lord Shiva and Lord Brahmā. In the Veda, Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, the Supreme Lord is described as Tam Īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaram.
Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to be the lords of all they survey, but actually they are dominated by the material energy of the Lord.
The Lord is the master of material nature, and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of material nature.
Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to achieve peace in the world, either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Krishna consciousness.
Lord Krishna is the supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the greater demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in complete Krishna consciousness.
This fifth chapter is a practical explanation of Krishna consciousness, generally known as karma-yoga. The question of mental speculation is as to how karma- yoga can give liberation is answered here.
To understand Krishna consciousness is to work with the complete knowledge of the Lord as the predominator. Such work is not different from transcendental knowledge.
Direct consciousness is bhakti-yoga, and jñāna-yoga is a path leading to bhakti-yoga.
Krishna consciousness means to work in full knowledge of one's relationship with the Supreme Absolute and the perfection of this consciousness is full knowledge of Krishna or the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and parcel. He comes into contact with Maya illusion due to the desire to lord it over Maya, and that is the cause of his many sufferings.
As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms of material necessities.
Krishna consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual existence by practice in the material world.
The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the clutches of matter. The Lord is not partial toward anyone.
Everything depends on one's practical performance of duties in Krishna consciousness, which helps one control the senses in every respect and conquer the influence of desire and anger.
And one who stands fast in Krishna consciousness, controlling the above-mentioned passions, remains factually in the transcendental stage of Brahman Nirvana.
The eightfold yoga mysticism is automatically practiced in Krishna consciousness because the ultimate purpose is served.
There is a gradual process of elevation in the practice of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi, but this only prefaces perfection by devotional service, which alone can award peace to the human being.
It is the highest perfection of life. Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purports to the fifth chapter of the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā in the matter of karma-yoga or action in Krishna consciousness.
bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram / suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati.
A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries. oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya
jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ / śrī-caitanya- mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale / svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam. vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn
vaiṣṇavāṁś ca / śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam / sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devam śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā- śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca / he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho
dīna-bandho jagat-pate / gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te / tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi
rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari / vṛṣabhānu- sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye. vāñchā-kalpataru-bhēda, kṛpāsindhu-bhava-vācā, patitānāṁ pāvanē dēvi, vaiṣṇavī namō namō namaḥ, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Śrīvāsādi, gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, ājānu-lambita
bhujau kanakāvadātau saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau, viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau, vandē jagat priyakarau karuṇāvatārau.
Understanding peace and material miseries
Namāmi bhagavat-pāda-paṅkajam, sadā-śiva-śakti-dārakam-ananyam, sahasra-caraṇa-śravaṇatva-gatiṁ praṇamō bhagavatē puruṣāya. It's a fantastic purpose for that. Yeah.
So Prabhupada explains in a very logical way that everyone wants peace in this world. Everyone is after peace. Of course, nowadays, even this concept of peace has become little foreign to the human beings.
Somehow, rather than the West, people think that the more you agitate your mind, the more happy you become.
But still in India, this conception that we need some peace, that the suffering should be somewhat pacified and only then we can experience some real happiness, it's still there.
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ, all this śānti-pāṭha is there, and you know, whatever you do, you do ultimately to achieve this. Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. We want peace.
And it's repeated three times because there are three kinds of material miseries.
Miseries coming from our mind and our body, miseries coming from all other living entities, miseries coming from the demigods, ādi-daivika-kleśa. All these kleśas are there.
And people in India, they knew that these kleśas, these sufferings are inevitable in the material life; therefore, the main prayer of the human being is: "Give me little peace." Just little peace.
And Kṛṣṇa Himself says in the second chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham. Without śānti, without peace, there is no question of happiness.
You cannot experience happiness if you are disturbed, if you are agitated in mind. But Śrīla Prabhupāda from the very beginning says that, unfortunately, people in the modern world don't know how to achieve peace.
Sometimes they say, "Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ." But just by saying this you will not achieve peace. Just by saying oh praying, give me peace, give me peace. You will not achieve peace.
Krishna explains the practical way, how the disturbance comes to our mind and how to achieve peace.
Humanistic attempt to replace God
Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote one brilliant essay before he went to the West, which is called Gitanagari.
And in this essay, he elaborates a little bit on this particular verse and he says that the problem, the general trend of the modern civilization is that people are trying to imitate God in these three ways.
And therefore, both individually and collectively there is no peace. We can see that the world is becoming progressively more and more turbulent. The anxiety is increasing day by day basically.
And this is the, you know, this is the progress of material civilization. People are very proud. You know, this is our progress, this is our pragati. But this is durgati. This is not pragati.
This is actually degradation is going on because people are getting less and less peace. And ultimately they give up on the peace and they just agitate themselves and try to achieve peace in the middle of this agitation.
And the mind is totally disturbed and then somehow or other they they feel that you know it's it's anyway so disturbed it's let's be even more disturbed.
But Prabhupāda he very aptly says listen very important it's a very important point because this is the he says this is the main trend of modern civilization. The main trend of modern civilization is specifically this.
That the man declared himself, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasām sarva-loka-maheśvaram. It's actually this trend started some 200-250 years back with the Enlightenment.
Enlightenment is a specific era in a human civilization which basically made the basis of modern civilization. All these humanistic ideas are coming from this enlightenment.
And enlightenment is nothing but to put man in the center. And to put man in the center is the conception that man is the proprietor of everything, that man is the beneficiary of everything, that man is the enjoyer.
What is the meaning of life? I have to enjoy. My enjoyment is what matters. Everything else doesn't matter. I have to somehow or other enjoy myself, and this is the first thing, bhoktāram. Krishna says, I am bhoktā.
Krishna says, I am bhoktā. I am sorry to say this. I know you will be offended, but it's me who is bhoktā, not you. But the men say, no, it's not you, it's us. It's I. It's me.
So that started some 200, 250 years back in Europe, when they finished with this dark age of God consciousness, which was in some rudimentary form, is there, and they said, let's put man in the center.
So first thing: man is the enjoyer. He's entitled to enjoy. Let's do this humanistic civilization where the man is in center. So the next point is that man is the Maheśvara. He is the controller. He is the controller.
And specifically Krishna says that this is the demonic mentality. And the sixteenth chapter he says, īśvaro 'ham ahaṁ bhogī. siddho 'haṁ balavān sukhī. He says the demons they think like this, īśvaro 'ham ahaṁ bhogī.
And this idea, this philosophy has become the general trend in the human society. Man is the enjoyer and man is the controller.
And the most dangerous of all these three things is that the man is the best friend of all human beings. These three functions is the functions of God, not man.
And when the man is trying to imitate God in these three ways, he is trying to put himself in the center. And we do it in multitude of different ways. We are doing it in our own lives.
We are trying to do this, and collectively we are doing this as a human civilization. And as a result of this, as Krishna says, there is no peace.
You cannot achieve peace unless you understand that Krishna should be on this in the center, not you.
This is the three ways how you try to put yourself in the center; at basically it means you want to push God from the central position. You want to say you are out, I am in. Yeah, something like this.
So what people want to say basically that they want to be in the center of this world and they want to enjoy and see this is the, and you know we can see this tendency is very predominant in the West and it's becoming more and more prominent in India.
It's practically is there already. You know, man is the enjoyer. You know, all these big, big supermarkets, you know, I'm the enjoyer of the fruits of my action. What are the fruits of my action?
You take big, big, you know, cart and you put so much stuff there. You know, I remember I was in America sometime back. It was long back. You're from America? No? Yeah.
And I saw this, I was in the supermarket and I saw this funny, funny scene, you know, from behind.
It was three people and one couldn't say whether they were men or women; it was indistinguishable because they were totally round, absolutely round. One was little but round and two were big but equally round.
And exactly the same clothes, you know, totally. And each of them was pulling a huge cart in front of them. you know. This is the, this is the ideal of the modern civilization.
You just enjoy, you know, it's huge, you know, I don't know. It's, it's, it's something really extraordinary. Gigantic, you know, they're pulling this. They're, they're fat like anything.
They're totally abnormal and they're, you know, they're pulling this and they're very dull in their faces. You know, I wouldn't dare to tell this story in America. I probably would be arrested.
Futility of material sense enjoyment
But basically, that's the idea of modern civilization. Modern civilization put man in the center and let him enjoy. But you know, you try to enjoy and enjoy and enjoy your senses. It's not possible.
Krishna says that the more you try to enjoy your senses, the more this fire of desire is burning you from inside.
You're basically being burned from inside because you can never put out the fire of desires by satisfying desires. It's futile in the same way as trying to put out the fire, the real fire, by putting ghee there.
You put more ghee, it becomes more and more. Of course, if you put so much ghee that it may be extinguished for some time.
And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it actually says that for some people, this is the only way to finish their desires is to satisfy them so much that you become totally, totally finished.
But this is not the way to achieve happiness. You try to enjoy, but you are not meant for enjoyment. That's the problem. Human body is totally useless as far as the enjoyment is concerned.
The bodies of foul living entities are much more suitable for enjoyment than human body. Human body is totally, absolutely useless as far as enjoyment is concerned. Pig's body is much better.
If you want to enjoy, you know, be honest. Pick up another body. It's much more suitable, you know. Pig can enjoy stool. You know it's it's easily available. You don't have to work hard to enjoy this. And it's nectar for them.
I mean it's they really like it. It's it's it's especially if it's hot, you know, if it's just fresh you know, you don't have to do much.
You know, you can enjoy, you can have sex with your wife and with your children and with your mother. No restriction whatsoever. You can live free life of total complete freedom.
You know just little just have to change your body a little bit, adjust to your mentality. But basically, you know, human body is very limited as far as the enjoyment is concerned. It's very it's frustratingly limited.
How much you can eat. You know, you eat one idli, two idli, four idlis, five idlis and two dosas. That's it. Not more than this. And anyway, so the the point is that Krishna says you're not the enjoyer.
You're not the enjoyer. I am the enjoyer. If you try to cooperate with my enjoyment, then it will bring you eternal fruit.
Krishna, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains here that the goal of human endeavors is not to enjoy ourselves but to try to enjoy Krishna. If we try to enjoy Krishna, then the fruit will be eternal.
If we try to enjoy ourselves, the fruit will be totally perishable and it will not bring anything good to us. It only brings sickness. There is only one result of enjoyment: sickness and anxiety.
If you overenjoy yourself, you become sick, isn't it? Who has this experience? Everyone after the Sunday feast when we have Sri Gulabjam. We become sick. It's not... it's not the way.
Mango tree lesson on offering
In, uh, in Caitanya-maṅgala there is a very interesting story, Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura. It's not a, you know, it's not a common story, but it's a very interesting story.
Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura explains, he tells the same story which is there in Caitanya-caritāmṛta, but he tells it in a different way, in a very significantly different way. He explains the story with this mango tree miracle.
You probably know one time after the, you know, kīrtana, Lord Caitanya, he decided to manifest some miracle and everyone was totally exhausted.
And he planted the seed of a mango tree, and the mango tree just grew and it immediately gave the fruits. And the fruits were huge and they were practically all juice, no even seeds.
So, uh, but in Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura's Caitanya-maṅgala, this story is told slightly differently, in a very significantly different way, which I wanted to tell you. There, the same thing is happening.
Lord Caitanya comes out from, from his house and he plants the seed of mango. And miraculously, in the eyes of everyone, under the eyes of everyone, this huge tree grows.
And everyone can believe: huge tree grows and the mangoes are there. They are very ripe. And then at that point, listen very carefully. Lord Caitanya makes a little gesture to someone.
And one clever devotee who understands what he means, he runs towards this tree. He picks up a huge mango. He takes this mango and brings it to Lord Caitanya.
And Lord Caitanya takes this mango and immediately, at this moment, when he takes this mango fruit in his hands, the whole tree disappears. But the fruit which is in his hands is still there.
And this fruit Lord Caitanya gives to everyone, and everyone enjoys it to his full satisfaction.
And the simple purport of this story is that, you know, there is this illusory tree of this material world, and you can try to take the illusory fruits for yourself, but ultimately it will disappear.
There will be no result of it whatsoever. But if you first bring it to God for his enjoyment, and then get it from his hands, then it will be real.
The enjoyment of this world, if you try to enjoy independently, it will only bring miseries and it will only bring anxieties and troubles.
But if you try to give it to Krishna first, recognizing his position as Bhoktāram yajña-tapasām, He is the enjoyer of all the fruits of all your endeavors. We have to work. We are working. We are working hard.
The fruit will come. But who is the enjoyer? Krishna is the enjoyer. I have to give him this fruit. If you give him this fruit, then the result will be eternal, it will stay with you.
If you try to eat this fruit yourself, you will only suffer. You will only suffer. And ultimately everything will disappear, and you will get the anxieties.
The problem of this world is that with every enjoyment there comes suffering, and the only way to extricate this poisonous part of enjoyment is to first recognize that the real enjoyer is Krishna.
And you give him, you do it for him, you give him the fruit of your work, and then you enjoy the result. And Krishna, you know, he will be very happy to share with you.
Like we offer our food to Krishna, and you know, Krishna leaves everything on the plate. And I heard one lecture of Radhaga Vindamara as he says that he was explaining this process of offering the food to Krishna.
And after the lecture, one atheistic man came to him and he said, "I know you guys. You only offer it to God only because He doesn't eat anything. Even if He would eat it, you would not offer."
And Radha Vindamaraji said, he gave a very beautiful answer to this. He said, "You know, Arebaba, if you feed your wife and your son, you give them some plate. You only give them plate only if they don't eat it?
No, if they eat you give them more. You know, you give some plate to your wife and your wife eats it and you say, 'That's it. I will not offer to you anything anymore.' No.
He said if Krishna will eat, we will give him even more. We will be happy because he is happy. But Krishna wants to give to us. Ultimately, he's sharing with us.
Krishna, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the very beginning of Bhagavad-gītā, he says that the tendency to enjoy is there in us because it's there in Krishna. We are small Krishnas.
Therefore it's natural that we have the tendency to enjoy, but we are dependent enjoyers. And we have to recognize our dependence in our enjoyment. There is nothing wrong in enjoying itself.
We have to do it in a proper way. That means we should do it by recognizing that Krishna is the real enjoyer and I'm the helper in his enjoyment. My enjoyment is to help him to enjoy.
And if we do this, we will become totally peaceful. If we try to enjoy independently, there will be immense sufferings and immense anxieties.
We will always be dissatisfied, we will always try, you know what happens with people who are trying to enjoy independently, they are trying to enjoy independently, they get some enjoyment, they don't get happiness and they think there must be something wrong.
Probably I'm not doing, I'm not getting enough enjoyment or I need some other kind of enjoyment.
And they're trying to enjoy some other way, some other completely perverted way, but you know, enjoyment, the happiness is not coming. People in the West, they get married once, it doesn't work, no happiness.
They get married twice, third time, fourth time, fifth time, sixth time, seventh time, sometimes ten times. You know, still it's not coming. But the hope is so strong. In Russia there is a saying that the hope dies last.
Hope is still there because we we feel that you know I have to be happy, I have to enjoy. Yeah, you have to enjoy, you have to be happy. But Krishna explains to you how to become happy.
You can become happy if you recognize that he is the enjoyer and, your job is to help him to enjoy. If you do this, you will enjoy, no problem. You will be happy, no problem. He doesn't mind it.
He wants you to enjoy, he wants you to be happy. You give it to him, and he will give it to you. Like this bhakta who gave this mango fruit to Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya shared this with everyone.
This one fruit was enough for everyone to feel completely happy. But it was real because it was offered to him first. If it would not be offered, it would not be real.
Demonic mindset of total control
It would be just an illusion of this world. And then Krishna says Bhoktāram yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, Sarva-loka Maheśvaram, you know, he is Maheśvara. And we are trying to be little Maheśvaras.
I am the Īśvara of my country or of my city or of my family. You know, no matter where I have to be little as well. But it's, you know, all these attempts to be Ishvaras is such a, such a foolish thing to do.
You know, the more you try to be Ishvara, you try to be Ishvara just to one man. It's not going to work. You try to be Ishvara for your wife and she will prove to you who is Ishvara. She knows better.
You will just be fighting and fighting. You try to be Ishvara to your own kids, it's not going to work. You will be frustrated. You will not be able to control your kids. It's crazy. People think they are controllers.
We're not controllers. We're servants by nature. If we try to act contrary to our nature, there is no question of peace, there is no question of happiness, there is no question of anything good.
Nothing good will come from this futile attempt to do something which is unnatural to us. We're servants, we're not Ishvaras. I am not Ishvara, you know, I'm dāsa, dāsānudāsa, Dāsa, dāsa, nudāsa.
We're trying to be Ishvaras, Ishvaras, Ishvaras. You know, we're trying to be. Everyone is trying to be, all these politicians, you know, there's Barack Obama. No. We're like little Hiraṇyakaśipus. Yeah.
Sometimes we're not so little Hiraṇyakaśipus, sometimes, but anyway, the point is that, you know, if we try to do this and this is the trend, everyone, you know, this is, this is like this democratic society.
What is democratic society? Democratic society is that everyone can become Ishvara. Everyone can become king. Anyone can become the president of this country. Like, I read a nice joke, you know.
The man says, American says that in my childhood I read that anyone can become the president of America. And when I grew up I realized that anyone can become the president of America.
Basically any useless man can become the president of America. But the point is that, you know, what is democracy?
Democracy is exactly this system which is totally logically derived from this understanding that everyone is Maheshwara. You know. Even if I will not be elected, but I am electing this man.
One feels, you know, I'm I'm very important. I put my word. You know, who cares for your word? But still one feels, you know, I'm I'm you know, I made him the president, I made him the king, you know.
It's it's just the illusion. Illusion which is being created in the minds of people. And this democratic way it's the whole democracy is just ruining the world.
Socrates, two and a half thousand years back, he said that democracy he was living in uh in the city where the democracy was the main rule. He said democracy is the worst way of the to govern the society. Why?
Because in democracy practically there is no way that good people will be elected. Why? Because they will be elected only those people who want to be elected.
And those people who want to be elected, they naturally want some benefits from this. And they will do it in a crooked way, they will cheat and they will pretend and they will do this.
You know, practically democracy i i is never a good way. Democracy is just is just a way to control you know misuse of power, basically but it's a horrible way. We we can see.
You know somebody is elected, he becomes corrupt and then somebody else is elected he is again becomes corrupt. And everyone is becoming corrupt, more and more corrupt. And this is this is all Sarvaloka Maheswaram.
Three modes in imitating God
You know, I'm the man is you know is is is Maheswara, is Ishwaram.
And the most dangerous in my humble opinion, is the most dangerous illusion which we can cherish within our heart is that I am Sukhridam Sarvabhutanam, I am the friend of all living entities.
three misunderstandings of three illusions. They correspond to three modes of material nature. Boktaram, the conception that I am the enjoyer is it's a tamas conception.
It's the way of Tamasic people to put themselves in the center. I am enjoying. This is how they feel important. I am getting some material enjoyment. I'm there in the center. My enjoyment is what matters.
Rajasic people, they're a little more subtle, so they want to enjoy by putting themselves in the center, by controlling others. They want power.
It's actually interesting because when the first study of human psychology started in the West. Then the first the father of psychology, of Western psychology was Freud, Freud.
And what he said, what is the human psychology is all about? He said the human psychology is all about one thing. What? Sex. Enjoyment. And this is tamas. This is a very low understanding of human consciousness.
So in a very low stage, in a stage of tamasic consciousness, your idea of being in the center, of being God is enjoyer. In a little more advanced stage, your idea of being in the center to become the controller.
You become the power. You want power. So, and the the proponent of this idea was the next psychologist, the next great psychologist who came after Freud, Adler. Adler said that he created the next school of psychology.
He said, no, the main drive is not enjoyment. The main drive is the drive for power.
You have the fear, and because you have fear, you want to become the most powerful, and therefore you're coming there, you have the controller. So, this is the second very important drive, and that's for rajasic people.
And the most dangerous is the way how sattvic people are trying to become God.
Sattvic understanding or sattvic quote-unquote, sattvic attempt to become the center of the universe is to become the suhṛdam sarva-bhūtānām, the friend of all living entities, the benefactor.
I'm so good, I'm so damn good, I will do only good things for you. But the problem is that this also will bring anxiety to your mind.
What Krishna wants to say, and what Śrīla Prabhupāda explains, is that by trying to imitate God you will condemn yourself. You will actually become totally troubled in your mind.
It's very clear how you become troubled if you try to enjoy. It's very clear how you become troubled if you try to control other people.
It's less clear how you become in anxiety and in trouble if you try to do good for people. It seems good, isn't it? It seems fine, it seems nice.
But if your motivation is to push God away from His real position as the best friend of all living entities, you will suffer by this attempt. What will happen with you?
You will do something good to people, but you will become attached. You will feel that they will have to love you. Why you're doing this? Not because you're good. Because you want love.
And because you want to buy love from these people by doing something good to them. And inevitably, what happens with you, the people they will not do what you want them to do.
This is your subtle way to control the people. You will feed these people. You are so good, you are such a good person, you want to feed people and you will do this.
And ultimately people will come and say this: "Your food is useless and you're useless and you're doing these bad things," and so many other things will happen to you.
And because you are attached to your position as a benefactor, you already, you know, you're so good and people are so ungrateful.
All these big people who are trying to do some good work to these people, they ultimately become very frustrated. I know it in my own little example.
Sometime I try to do something good to people and I do good and do good and do good and I feel so good inside. Oh, I'm so good, I'm so good, oh, so good I am.
And then these people to whom you did something good come to you and do something nasty to you and you feel so bad. And you wouldn't feel so bad if you would not be attached to the position of being their friend.
You feel frustrated only because you wanted to become the center of their life. This is a very subtle way. And because it's so subtle, it's much more dangerous.
With other gross ways, it's easily recognizable, you can recognize it within your heart. But what Krishna says is that unless you really understand that He is the benefactor...
You just, you can only help Him to do good to other people. Yesterday I spoke with Dr. Tanmay Goswami and we had some interesting discussion. Sometimes it happens.
Pitfalls of subtle spiritual pride
Why I'm speaking about this? Because it often happens in spiritual societies. In spiritual societies, we try to do good for people. We are basically good people. We have a little sattvic mindset.
And therefore, we're trying to do good for people. But if we at one point come into the illusion that I am doing good, it's me who is doing good. Not Krishna.
Krishna here says, suhṛdāṁ sarva-bhūtānām, I'm the best friend of all living entities. I, not you. Do you understand this? It's not you. It's me. It's Krishna. So unless we understand this, we will be in a great illusion.
Sometimes it happens with spiritual leaders. Especially with, you know, with those who are in a position of being guides, gurus. You know, we were speaking about this Asaram Bapu.
You know, you all know the story, this big scandal recently. Why, you know, it's not—I don't think it's correct to say that he was corrupt from the beginning. No.
Ultimately, you know, I'm sure his intentions were good, he was trying to do something good, he achieved some position.
But when the corruption comes, the corruption comes when he feels I'm doing so much good to so many other people. I'm the best friend. And at that point, the pride comes in the heart.
And when the pride comes in the heart, you're finished. That's it. Krishna says, you're the best friend. Let's see. And Krishna is trying to expose.
What Krishna is saying here is that if you are in this illusion, which can manifest in three different ways under the three modes of material nature, if you are in this illusion, trying to become the center, instead of becoming the little servant somewhere, not necessarily in the center, a little servant somewhere doing your duty, you know, helping whoever you want to help, whoever you can help, understanding that ultimately it's Krishna who is helping them. Trying to, you know, to bring all the fruits of your action to Krishna, recognizing the position of controller as Krishna, that Krishna is the controller and I'm his servant.
If you do this, you will become very peaceful. And it's very simple. And it's very natural. It's actually very natural, simple position. You, I'm doing whatever little I can do and not much depends on me.
I'm trying to do my best. And you become very happy inside. Because as Krishna says, sukha happiness comes from śānta. And śānta, uh, śānti comes from the right position in your mind, from proper consciousness.
If your consciousness is proper, if you're not trying to usurp the place in the center, to push Krishna away from the center, then you will become very peaceful.
But if you are trying to do this, your whole life will be wasted in a futile attempt to become God. You know, that's what we're trying to do ultimately.
In three different ways, there are three different scenarios of: I can become God by trying to enjoy, I can become God by trying to control, I can try to become God by trying to do something good to people.
Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda was so against mundane welfare work. We should do welfare work, there is no doubt about it. But the mundane welfare work is poisonous.
Because the very consciousness from which it is coming is wrong. It's our way to imitate God, to put ourselves in the position of God. We are not the best friends of all living entities.
Never will be a time when everyone will like us. Never. Everyone wants to be loved by everyone else. Isn't it? I have bad news for you. It will never happen. Somebody will always hate you, no matter what we do, what you do.
Somebody. Unless you become a completely pure devotee. And even in this case, even more people will hate you. No matter how much you try, it's a futile attempt. Don't try it. Don't try to be good for everyone.
You cannot be good for everyone. Try to be yourself. And be yourself means be servant of God. Do something because you are servant of God. Do whatever you are supposed to do.
And somebody will like it, somebody will not like it. So many people will not like it. It doesn't matter. You're peaceful inside. Because you feel right. I'm doing the good thing.
I'm not good, you know, and if you try to imitate God by, you know, by becoming the best friend of all living entities, forget it. You will only achieve troubles.
So I was trying to explain this verse from a different point of view. How Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this: that you know, if you don't do this, you will not achieve peace.
If you don't recognize that the place of the supreme enjoyer, supreme controller, and supreme friend of all living entities is already occupied by Krishna.
If you don't recognize this, and if you still try to do this in your own small way, in your own limited area of influence, it's not going to work.
The emphasis of our endeavors should be to become the true servant in all our actions, in all our thoughts.
Finding peace through humble service
And that's not easy. That's not easy.
But we can see that the whole society is going to hell because people don't understand this; therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda says, both individually and collectively, you cannot achieve peace.
If the society wants to achieve peace, they should recognize that Krishna is in the center, he is the best friend, he is the controller, he is the enjoyer.
If we individually want to achieve peace and happiness, we have to recognize this. And recognizing this means to act in a practical way.
By admitting this fact, by recognizing this fact that Krishna is the best friend, and then you'll become very happy. And basically that means you have to become humble.
It means I'm not in the center, I am a little somebody, you know, not a very important somebody, a little somebody, a little servant of the great God in this great mission of Krishna consciousness. Thank you very much.
Yes. You spoke so beautifully, Mahārāja. It was very inspirational, very wonderful. So thank you for that. Śrīla Prabhupāda says that we are secondary enjoyers, isn't it? Yeah.
You can say the same; you were saying that same, the secondary, sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda uses that word. And he says we are cooperators. We should cooperate in Krishna's enjoyment. With Krishna's enjoyment. He says this.
Okay, yeah. And the other point I was thinking, that we're fortunate because all three of these endeavors—we have to be the enjoyer, to be the controller, to be the friend of everyone— is due to the ahaṅkāra.
And bhakti dissolves the ahaṅkāra. So the practices are so important.
Practice in the beginning to be a devotee, to bow down, to do certain, to actually engage in devotional service, because that's the beginning of dissolving the ahaṅkāra so that we can never try to take up those two positions.
Yeah. We are practicing sādhana-bhakti just to... The sādhana-bhakti is basically the way to remind us of our real position. What is sādhana-bhakti?
Sādhana-bhakti is when we bow down, we understand that this is, you know, it's my head somehow or other has to be there at the lotus feet of Krishna. Sādhana-bhakti means we're reminding ourselves who we are.
Because without sādhana-bhakti we will forget it for sure. And there are three main ways how we forget that we are not God. By trying to become enjoyer, controller, and the best friend.
This is the three ways of forgetting God. So sādhana-bhakti is the constant reminder of who we really are, our real nature.
Executing practical duties as servants
Are there any questions? Maharaj, you said something about not trying to become the controller. Our nature is always to be a servant.
Now, when we are outside, let us say we are working and we have some couple of people under us. At that time, if we think that, you know, what should be our mood, you know, if we think like we have servant...
See, there is a difference between we have to play the role of a controller, but we should never forget that this is the role which we are playing. Our real position is that we are servant.
But being the servant, sometimes we have to play the role of controller of other people. And there is nothing wrong with it.
Our real nature is that we're servant, but, you know, we have to act according to our position in the society, but by acting we really have to understand that this is the role which we are playing, this is not our real position.
Like for example, some of us have to be guru, but it's a temporary role for limited it's a role for limited amount of people, uh, during a limited period of time.
In the same way, when you're controlling some people, it's your role which you are playing in a limited period of time for a limited amount of people.
But if you decide by controlling this couple of people who are under you that you are Maheswara now, because you have to control them and you try to, you know, expand your area of control on other people, then you will become very frustrated.
People will immediately remind you who you really are. So you're not—so they will remind you that this is your role. In the same way, you know, in reality, in our real nature, we are always disciples, we are not gurus.
We may play the role of guru for some people, limited amount of time, limited amount of people, for them we play.
But if we forget, if we decide that, yeah, I am guru eternally, this is my eternal svarūpa-guru, we are in big trouble. I'm disciple. Eternally I am disciple. I am śiṣya. Eternally I'm servant. Eternally always.
But you know, the servant you can be everywhere, and even for these people you are serving them by controlling them. And internally you understand this is my service to them. Therefore my service to them is to teach them.
If I am guru, this is my service to them, nothing else. And I have to—sometimes I have to be heavy with them, I have to control them, I have to execute some of my duties.
So the point is that when we're playing the role, sometimes you know, when people play the role—uh, I heard a story some anniversary of American state.
And there was one drama which was performed and which was specifically designed to celebrate this anniversary, and one man was playing Abraham Lincoln, first president or whatever president.
And this drama was played in all different states, in all big cities, and this man, one man, was playing the role of Abraham Lincoln, you know, so many times.
And ultimately he completely forgot that he's not Abraham Lincoln. And ultimately his wife took him to a doctor and said, "Please do something with this man because he comes home and he says, 'I'm Abraham Lincoln.'"
And the doctor says, "Well, if he is Abraham Lincoln, shoot him," you know. Abraham Lincoln was shot. But his wife was in trouble because the man became mad. He thought he's the controller now, he's the Abraham Lincoln.
The point is that we may play this, but we really have to remember that this is our role which we are playing for some time. You know. I in reality I'm the servant and this is the safest position in this world.
Practicing devotion under Soviet persecution
But if we forget, we're in big trouble. So even going through so many difficulties, how was it like what was the experience when you were? It was the best time in my life.
See, any society is dangerous in the sense that in a society you can achieve and especially ISKCON is a spiritual society is very dangerous because in a spiritual society you can very easily get some some honor, some some no fame, name.
And this is this is very dangerous thing. This is very dangerous. Because we want this, our false ego wants this. Our false ego, this is the food for our ahaṅkāra, false ego. I am so big, I am so great. And
in the eighties when we joined, I joined in 1980, I started chanting Mahā-mantra 33 years back, so quite some time back. There was no question that by doing this you will get any benefit anywhere.
You can only be in trouble. Therefore it was very good. Nowadays if you join the ISKCON you can get so much perks in the society like you know and whatever is there.
So your motivation may or may not be so pure, you may get some other ulterior motives to join the spiritual society. There it was very good because it was very pure. Only very sincere people were there.
And the state was so heavy that you know that it was really fun to practice spiritual life.
When everything is free and you can do whatever you like and you can practice spiritual life, it's not a fun, you know it's just it becomes sometimes boring. But when everyone is against it it's real fun.
Because everyone is against it. And we still do it. No, it was a very good time.
It was the when I joined after some time when I joined in 1980 and I started meeting with devotees and it was very secret, everything was underground and we couldn't perform kīrtanas. We performed kīrtanas.
There was no you know there was no mṛdaṅgas, there was nothing, but there was so much enthusiasm because it was such a you know, the forbidden fruit is always very sweet, so it was, it was this forbidden fruit.
And at one point, the KGB came to me. I was at that time not very much involved uh with the devotees.
I was still very young and uh I didn't read much because there was no books, so I was still somewhat doubtful about the whole process.
But still, it was interesting, and I was associating with devotees, speaking with them, attending some kīrtanas, getting some experience. And then KGB came; KGB was secret police,
and they came to me, to my job—I was doing a PhD degree at that time— and they told me that, you know, you are an intelligent young man.
And you know you have enough brains to understand what will happen to you if you continue the same way. They told me that, you know, you can continue the same way, but you have to report to us.
You have to come to us every week and report what's going on, where do they meet, what do they speak about, who comes, what, this and that. If you do this, everything will be alright.
And if you don't do this, we hope you understand what will happen to you. There are some nice labor camps in Siberia.
There's hardly any food there, and you will not finish your PhD degree and forget about your career, and you will be—oh, you will be finished. You just think about it and you decide. It was very kind of them.
You know, they knew—they really know the psychology of people. They know that the human mind is such a machine that it will start building up on this.
You know, they really said just a few sentences, and the mind started working like mad.
You know, you will go to Siberia and you will die there, and this Siberia, oh my goodness, and this will happen and this will happen, and all your friends will, and your relatives, and this and that.
And you know, and the mind would say, you know, little thing you have to do, just come to them, what's the big deal? Just come to them. But inside I knew that I would never do this. I just—it's just, it's just too much.
I knew, but I had this—only this choice. Either I work for them or I go to Siberia to prison, this and that. And they gave me three or four days to decide.
I was building up and building up and building up inside, and I was in complete anxiety. And ultimately, before going to them, I decided to meet with one devotee.
It was one young girl whom I happened to know, and she was really young and but very intelligent, and somehow rather I had some trust. And I knew that she had some encounter with KGB before.
She was very intelligent also, she knew languages and this and that. So I just and I knew she had some experience and I came to her very secretly. I called her.
I asked her to come out from her flat because all the flats of the devotees were, you know, there were some informers and you know people. It was not safe, so she came out and I still remember the scene.
We were speaking with her and I told her they came to me. Ultimately they came to me and they want me to work for them and if I don't do this, they will put me in prison and they will do this.
And she looked at me in a very peaceful way. I still remember how she looked at me. She was very peaceful and very happy and she smiled. And she said, "What can they do to you? The soul is eternal. What can they do to you?"
And it was it was such a revelation for me, I thought, yeah, what can they do to me? The soul is eternal. They can't do anything. I thought this is this is far out.
And I became very peaceful and I went to them, to their headquarters, there was some, you know, there was a pointed meeting place.
And there was two men and this huge man, heavy man, and he was smiling and very, you know, duplicitous way he was making he said, "So what did you decide? What did you decide? You intelligent young man, tell me."
And he said and I and I I very calmly, very s very peacefully, I said, "I will not report to you because this is against my principles," is what I said.
And I didn't say that because I am spirit soul and that you cannot do anything to me because they wouldn't appreciate this for sure.
But he didn't appreciate my saying about the principles when I said this he said I he started yelling at me. He said, "What kind of principles do you have except the four regulative principles?"
He knew about the four regulative principles. And anyway, they didn't do much to me. Somehow or other. It was just an illusion. Anyway, I was in trouble for some time, but Krishna saved me. It was not a big deal.
But it was fun. I tell you, it was very good. So my logic after this meeting was very important.
I saw that I don't take this Krishna consciousness so seriously, but these people from KGB, they take it so seriously, and they must know better than myself.
Probably it's good if I also take it more seriously, so they helped me a lot. They were one of my Vartma-pradarśaka gurus. Okay. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki!