Bhagavad-gita 9.13
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2003
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Recitation and verse translation
So since today is the appearance day of Bhakti Sidanta Sarasvati Thakur Praupad, and he is Mahatma, great soul. I will read a verse from the Bhagavad Gita which defines the great soul and try to speak something about him.
Mahatmana, to, mam, parthas, daivim, prakritim, अश्रिताह, बजन्ति, अनन्यमानासाह, ज्ञात्वा, बोता, आदिम, आदियम, आदियम, आदियम, महात्मनास्तुमंपार्था, दायिविन प्रकृति मश्रिता, the great souls, to but, Mam unto me, Parthas, oh son of Pritha, Daidim Divine, Prakriti, Nature.
Asritaha, having taken shelter off, Bhajanti render service. Ananya manasah without deviation. Jattva knowing. Knowing. Buttva, buttha, buttha, of creation. Adim, the origin. Origin. Avya Yam. Inexhaustible. Translation.
O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature.
They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible. In this verse the description of the Mahatma is clearly given.
The first sign of the Mahatma is that he is already situated in the divine nature. He is not under the control of material nature. And how is this affected? That is explained in the seventh chapter.
One who surrenders under the Supreme Personality of God Hidri Krishna at once becomes freed from the control of material nature. That is the qualification.
One can become free from the control of material nature as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is preliminary formula.
Being marginal potency, as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature, he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature.
The guidance of spiritual nature is called Daivi Prakriti, divine nature.
So when one is promoted in that way by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one attains to the stage of great soul The Mahatma does not divert his attention to anything outside Krishna because he knows perfectly well that Krishna is the original Supreme Person, the cause of all causes.
There is no doubt about it. Such a Mahatma, oh great soul, develops through association with Sadha Mahatmas pure devotion.
Pure devotees are not even attracted by Krishna's other features, such as the four armed Mahavishnu. They are simply attracted by the two armed form of Krishna.
They are not attracted to other features of Krishna, nor are they concerned with any other form of a demigod or a human being. They meditate only upon Krishna in Krishna consciousness.
They are always engaged in their unswearing devotional service to the Lord in Krishna consciousness. Mahatmanas tumam partha daivim prakriti ashritaha vajan tyanannya manasau ghetva bhutha dima vyam.
O son of Pritha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of divine nature.
They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.
Misconceptions about the Mahatma title
So I'll speak a little bit on this verse of the Bhagavad Gita where Krishna is giving the definition of the great soul.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the beginning of his purport that often people misunderstand what great soul is. Like they say Mahatma Gandhi because he's popular under this name.
But Prabhupāda, he was always against this rubber stamped Mahatmas. He used to say that you cannot become Mahatma just because people like you, people like you, or because you're so popular.
This is not a qualification of Mahatma. And Krishna is very clearly saying here Mahatma nas tumam partha daivim prakriti masitaha. That you become Mahatma by taking shelter of the divine energy.
And he's saying too because this is the contrasting verse.
The verse is following the previous verse where Krishna says that there are two kinds of people And one kind of people, they take shelter in the prakriti mohinim, which means in the diluting energy, in the material energy which deludes you, which basically deludes the consciousness. And there is another kind of people who are taking shelter in divine energy. And that's it. There is the choice.
Everyone is free to choose, but the choice is very simple. Either this or that.
Sometimes people don't like Hare Krishnas because they're so black and white. You know, too much black and white. Nothing in between. But that's what the spiritual philosophy is.
Krishna says either you're taking shelter in deluding energy and you're deluded.
And deluded means that you don't really know who you are, who is God and what you're doing here. You know, they're totally bewildered. And they're so bewildered, they don't even know that they're bewildered. And that's basically our state of consciousness.
He says mohinim prakritim.
And bewildering energy means that you are taking shelter of this material energy and material sense gratification. And basically if you consider what material sense gratification is, you will understand that this is all from beginning to end bewildering.
You know, why do people smoke? Nobody has more clear thinking after smoking, you know. He just becomes much more bewildered. Or why do people drink? You know, when they're drunk, they're ultimately bewildered.
They don't know where is the, you know, ceiling, where is the floor. You know, they don't know where is left, where is right. They don't know where is home and what they're doing here.
But the purpose is simple, just to be bewildered. Why do people engage in sex life? This is also the same thing. These passions, they're blinding you. Literally.
It is also medical, there is a medical investigation which proves that by indulging in all these activities you become blind. By indulging in sex people literally become blind.
By indulging in drinking, you know, people like I'm a chemist by background. I have a PhD in chemistry. And chemistry is very nice, especially in Russia, because it has a lot to do with alcohol.
And some people, they become chemists only to have free access to alcohol. So that's reality, unfortunately. But we had literally the case when somebody drank alcohol but another kind of alcohol and he became blind.
By drinking too much alcohol you become blind. So this is the effect of this bewildering kind of energy.
If you take shelter in these things or even meat eating is kind of bewildering because people become passionate. From eating meat people develop this passionate nature which ultimately also bewilders you.
And Krishna says that this is one choice. You can become this taking shelter in this prakriti, in this nature. Or another choice: mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ.
You take shelter in the divine energy of Krishna and divine energy is supposed to make you clear in your mind. That's the effect of taking shelter in divine energy.
Because if you're taking shelter in divine energy, the main purpose is to purify the heart, to purify the mind. Like we're chanting this mahā-mantra. And mantra means something which purifies the mind.
That somebody who is trying to take shelter of the divine energy, his purpose in life is to become much more clear.
Because he wants to know what is my direction, what is meaning of life, who I am and who is God and what is my goal.
Like here Krishna explains that the sign of a mahātmā is that he takes shelter in divine energy and when he takes shelter in divine energy, he knows what is the goal. He's unswerving in his goal.
Prabhupāda explains it very clearly that as soon as you take shelter in divine energy, you're very clear in your mind. You become one-pointed, and that is the difference between somebody who is bewildered.
Because somebody who is bewildered he doesn't really know what he is doing.
Krishna explains this in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, and he says that many-branched is the intelligence of those who are under this material energy.
Soul as the marginal potency
Their intelligence has so many different branches, you know. They want to do this and that and ultimately they don't know what they want to do.
So the difference is simple, and Prabhupāda explains that because the living entity is marginal by nature, because we're by nature kind of in between of these two energies. And because by nature we're very small, we have to take shelter, either of one energy or another energy.
The living entity, the soul, is called taṭastha. And taṭastha literally means, taṭa means bank. Taṭastha means you are on this bank, in this line between one energy and another energy.
Like in Jagannātha Purī, there is a very nice place and there is an ocean there. And if you walk there in the morning, you see many crabs, small, tiny crabs, and they're running back and forth. They're kind of in between.
They're living in the sand. They have a little hole in the sand. They have their home, their wife and children, everything is there. Their family happiness is there.
But at the same time, they also sometimes they run into the ocean. And they try to swim a little bit in the ocean, but then very quickly they come back and take shelter in the sand.
So they're kind of coming back and forth. So Prabhupāda explains that the living entity is in a similar situation in one sense.
Because we are so small, we have to take shelter. Either of one energy or another energy. We cannot really be on our own, so to speak.
Like some people say that we're free, you know, I'm very free. There are fighters for freedom. You know, they're fighting for freedom, but at the same time they don't understand how bound they are.
They're completely bound like these people, Dostoevsky, he was writing, he was mocking at them. He's saying all these fighters, all these revolutionaries, they're fighting for freedom.
And you put them in prison and you don't give them cigarettes for two hours and they're ready to surrender to do whatever you like because they're so dependent. That's what it is.
Basically, life means you have to choose from whom you want to be dependent.
Either you're choosing to be dependent from alcohol to smoking and other things, and you can become completely bound and dependent on these things. And your dependence will grow and grow and grow.
Like people who take drugs, they take a little bit and they become totally sold to this process. They cannot just get rid of it because you know, that's how it works.
But on the opposite, contrary to this, if you become dependent on the Lord, you will also become dependent. And if you take this direction in life, your dependence will grow. But this dependence makes you more free.
The dependence on the Lord doesn't make you a slave. The dependence on the Lord actually gives you real freedom. Because the dependence on the Lord means that you're realizing your spiritual nature.
The material nature is bounding us and spiritual nature freeing us. But the problem is that it's very difficult. The problem is that it's actually, it sounds very simple. You just surrender. You know, just surrender.
Just chant and be happy. You know, Prabhupāda, he was very expert in this, you know, in this sense. He was just giving some slogan, you know, and it's a nice slogan.
But actually it's not so simple to surrender, you know, to Krishna. It's not really so simple because our habits are kind of, you know, dragging us back.
Krishna explains this in the beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā when he chastises Arjuna. He says, Arjuna, this is your weakness in heart. Even Arjuna, the great devotee, the great soul, even he became weak.
He didn't know to whom to surrender, whether to surrender to material energy or to Krishna. Krishna is in front of him. He's standing in front of him. Still he has doubts which way to go.
Overcoming heart weakness through great souls
So this is our problem, and this is a very fundamental problem indeed. But for that we need the example of the great soul because today we're celebrating the appearance day of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
I wanted to speak a little bit about him and how this example of the great soul helps us to surrender to divine energy, helps us to choose the right way, and how we need this help.
Because without this help from outside, we're helpless. Helpless. Cannot really do anything. And there is every choice, every chance that we will surrender to material energy.
And we will fall back to this influence of the material energy. Like This weakness of the heart, it's this fundamental problem.
One of the fathers of the church, the Augustine, he's explaining it that the weakness of the heart, this weakness which is there, our weakness, is a result of our former previous sinful activities.
Because in the past we committed some sinful activities, the heart became weak. In his confession, this Augustine, he's explaining that at one point he understood his precarious situation.
He understood that he has to surrender to God. But at the same time he had this powerful lust, powerful desire to enjoy, and he couldn't do anything. So he's explaining in the confession that he was praying to the Lord.
Oh my dear Lord, my dear Lord, please help me to get rid of this lust. And then immediately he would add, but not now. Please help me to get rid of it. But not now. I'm not ready yet.
Please, I want to get rid of it, but little later. So that's the best illustration of this weakness. At one point we understand we need to go up. We need to develop spiritually.
We have to do this because this is the way to live. But at the same time we feel this weakness and this weakness always drags us down. And this is the result of our previous scenes.
And therefore we need somebody in front of us who will drag us up. We need this help.
Like, for example, if you are in a swamp, you know, if you are somehow rather in a forest and you happen to be in a swamp, you know, and you're drowning in a swamp, no matter what you do, the swamp has this nature or has this property that if you try to somehow rather to crawl out of it, you will only drown more and more.
The more you try to do it, the more you will be sucked in. So you need somebody who is standing on the firm ground to drag you out. There is no other way.
And exactly in the same way, in a similar situation we are, because we are in this swamp of material energy. It's a big swamp. We think it's a nice swamp. We think it's a good, very socially protected swamp.
But it's a swamp. It's kind of sucking you in more and more and more. And this is the effect of material energy. Material energy has this degrading effect. Even to stay in one level.
And that's basically the experience of many people. Even to stay on a certain level of decency, you know, not even to go up, to go higher. Even to stay on the same level you have to really work.
It's like, you know, if you are in a river and the river is, you know, flowing this direction and you want to go another direction. Even to stay in one point you have to work, you know, you have to swim.
So this is how material energy works. Material energy drags you down all the time.
And the spiritual master of the pure devotee, mahātmā, who is described here, He has this firm belief how Prabhupāda very beautifully describes in this purport that because the mahātmā knows that Krishna is the cause of all causes.
He doesn't look for anything else. We do have theoretical understanding that there is God and he is the cause of all causes. But it's purely theoretical.
If we knew that he is the cause of all causes, it means that everything is dependent on him. It means that we don't need to go for anything else. It means that there is really no other goal. There is only one goal.
If there is cause of all causes, then you have to go straight to this cause of all causes, and all your needs will be fulfilled automatically. No need to do anything else. So this is the experience of a Mahatma.
Mahatma, he knows not theoretically. The difference between us and real great soul is that he knows it practically. He knows that if you're coming closer to God, all your desires are fulfilled.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's call to preach
You're completely happy and you don't need anything.
Like in case of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, there was one occasion in his life when he was about to start his preaching mission because Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura wanted him.
He was praying, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, his father, he was praying that, you know, the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu is unfulfilled. It has to spread all over the world. Somehow rather I need help.
And he was praying to the Lord, please send me some soul, special soul, which would be my helper, which will continue my task, my business in life, my mission in life. And he was praying for the ray of God.
And this ray of Viṣṇu came in the form of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. So at one point, when Bhakti Sidanta Sarasvati, he was recluse.
He was living like a monk and he was chanting, you know, day and night, day and night, day and night. For many years he gave this vrata to accumulate some power. And he was about to finish his Vrata.
He was chanting 1,000,000,000 names of God. And he was about to finish it and start his preaching mission. But at one point he felt some kind of weakness in the heart. He felt some doubts.
No wonder, because, you know, look, if you are to preach anywhere, you know, it's impossible. Basically, people are so engrossed in this material energy. You know, there is no chance to somehow rather to drag them out.
So he knew that he was supposed to start this preaching mission which not only be limited by India, but which will go on, you know, which will spread all over the world. This is totally impossible, you know.
Even in India people are forgetting God. Like yesterday we were speaking with one devotee here who came to the program and he said, it's so easy in India. In India it's so easy to believe in God, you know.
In Sweden it's very difficult. But it's only because he hasn't been in India. If he would visit India he would not say this because it's difficult even in India.
In India there is so much, so much māyā is there, so much degradation is there.
For some time, of course, the Indian Council was intact, but what Muslims couldn't do for thousands of years, what British couldn't do for a few hundred years, then Americans they did you know, for a few years.
Know, they just put TV in every home and then, you know, everything is finished basically. You know, you go in India and everyone is watching TV, you know, all these pious Indians. They're degrading themselves very nicely.
But Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, when he was in this, you know, on the verge of this mission, he had this doubt. How will I do this? How can I do this? And somehow rather he had this hesitation in heart.
Even though he was, you know, he was changing so much, he had so much power, still this hesitation was there. So what happened to him just before he was about to commence his mission? He had a dream.
He was sleeping, and in a dream he saw Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And he saw how Caitanya Mahāprabhu is descending on earth.
And not only alone, Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the Supreme Lord was descending on Earth with friends all and all his associates.
And Rūpa Gosvāmī was there, Sanātana Gosvāmī there, all the great souls were there, and he saw Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he saw Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī, his spiritual master.
And Caitanya Mahāprabhu Gaurāṅga came to Bhaktisiddhānta and he asked, Why do you hesitate? Why do you... Why are you afraid? Just go, just do it. And I will give you everything which you need.
You will have no need or no lack in money, followers. Anything which you will need will be supplied immediately.
It's amazing feature because Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu himself personally promised to him, whatever you will want for your mission, I am an inexhaustible source of everything.
Like here Krishna is saying that they know me as the inexhaustible source. And Krishna is not is not a poor man. He has everything which you need, you know.
And somebody who has taken complete shelter of him, he provides him with everything he needs.
Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati, it's a known fact that whenever he would need something, you know, if he would had an idea to build a temple, there was no money whatsoever. It's a poor organization.
All of a sudden somebody would come and say, I want to build it.
Complete reliance on divine support
There was absolutely no lack in anything when he was there. It was kind of miraculous. Once, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he was in his math, in his monastery, in his temple, and he was walking by.
And two of his disciples, one of them was sannyāsī, they were saying, you know, 'yeah, Guru Maharaja is so busy and, you know, we have to, you know, we have to go, we have to beg, we have to collect everything, you know, we're so busy, we're doing this.'
And basically they were saying, we're maintaining this mission. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī overheard it. So next morning he came and he said, From now on, nobody goes out.
Everyone sits here and only chants the Holy Name and studies the scriptures. This is my order. From now on, only me who will go out and I will supply.
So he went out and for one day he brought enough food stuff and everything for one month. Nobody was supposed to go out. They were all sitting and chanting in a very morose way.
Before that they thought everything depends on us. But everything depends on Krishna. And because Mahatma knows this, because he knows this by his personal experience, not just theoretically.
He knows that if Krishna is there, that Krishna is there. And he gives everything which you need. He provides everything which you need if you're truly surrender unto him.
So I wanted to tell you a few little stories how Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī would really free his followers from this weakness of the heart.
Because this is weakness of the heart and Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in this purport that in order to become mahātmā, in order to take shelter of divine energy, you have to associate with other mahātmās.
There is no other way. With Mahatmas, only by the association you can get the strength which is necessary to surrender. Without the association it's hopeless, it's practically useless. You cannot really do this.
So I wanted to illustrate this point with few stories from the life of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, how by his association, by his mere presence he could give so much strength to people that this strength would give them this desire and enthusiasm to surrender, give them this happiness to surrender.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he explains that there are four kinds of weaknesses of the heart. Because of our previous sinful activities the heart and the will became weak.
And we cannot really, because of this weak heart and weak will, we cannot really do anything on our own. We're trying to do. We're trying to follow some principles, but it's so difficult.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he says that there are four kinds of these weaknesses. One kind of weakness he says is tuccha-śakti.
And tuccha-śakti means the attachment to something which is, you know, insignificant for some trivial things, for some really, you know, completely insignificant things.
Like, you know, sometimes people they have big problems, you know. They just cannot surrender only because they love TV so much, you know. TV is the, you know, big impediment between you and Krishna.
Krishna is there and you're there, but between you and Krishna there is this blue screen and you cannot go over it. No way! So this tuccha-śakti sometimes, you know, you cannot really give up these small things.
And there are many stories of this kind when Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī would help with this. When when they initially want to surrender, this may be a problem.
When you speak with people, when you talk with people, sometimes they're nice. They admit that there is God and the chanting is nice.
But there is some, you know, something, you know, which is which is there, which don't really let them doing it, you know. They have some, you know, little attachments.
So Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he had a very powerful influence upon people. And even people who didn't really want to surrender, who would come to his lectures and listen to him, they would surrender.
So he himself, he had an article, and in one article he explains how to overcome this weakness of the heart.
And he says that the only way to overcome the weakness of the heart is to hear somebody, how a pure devotee speaks about Kṛṣṇa. So there is an interesting story from the early history of Gauḍīya Maṭha.
When Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī just started his preaching, at that time the British government became very paranoid because they thought maybe they are, you know, freedom fighters, you know, because at that time, you know, Gandhi started his mission.
So the British government used to send some spies.
And these spies, they would sit and listen to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī's lectures because they were supposed to come and report, you know, what he was saying, whether he's saying, you know, you just, you know, get rid of these British people, you know, or whatever.
So there is a story about one spy. The spy, he was a personal spy for Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, and he, you know, he would dress like a vaiṣṇava. He would come and he would: No more this spying business.
He became one of the best preachers in the whole of Gauḍīya Maṭha just because his duty was to listen to him.
Self-deception and false spiritual paths
So that is the effect of listening, of a pure devotee. Then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that another effect or another problem, another manifestation of this weakness of the heart is called kuṭināṭī.
And kuṭināṭī means self-deception. The inclination to be self deceptive.
There are so many false forms of religion and this deception takes so many different shapes and forms and even the people they try to surrender but they use religion for their material gain.
And this is a very typical situation with the religion. You know, people they use religion to justify, they use scripture to justify their material situation. Like, there is a famous story about one man.
He was a Muslim, and he was living in a very sinful life. He was very sensuous, he was drinking, and, you know, having all kinds of affairs with women.
So ultimately, mullah, the priest, a Muslim priest approached him and said, my dear friend, my dear brother, didn't you read Qur'an? In Qur'an, you know, it is said that you shouldn't do this. Why are you doing this?
And this man, he smiled and he said, dear mullah, it seems to me that you didn't read Qur'an. I know Qur'an very well. In Qur'an it is said, you drink wine and you take all kind of sense gratifications, do this.
And mullah said with tears in his eyes and he said, don't you know the next line? You drink wine and you'll be engaged in sense gratification and you will ruin yourself. Yourself.
And he said, it's no problem, you know, somebody follows first line, somebody follows second line. I prefer to follow this first line. I was scared. You know, nobody can follow everything, you know.
I'm just following this one. You can do this. This is called deception. People, they deceive themselves. They take religion and they try to use religion for their material kind of sense gratification or material gain.
So there is a couple of interesting stories in this regard with Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. One story is about his first disciple. His first disciple, his name was rather Raman Gosh.
And his story is very interesting because he was a sincere seeker, but he was living in Bengal. In Bengal there are so many different groups and there are so many different sects.
And some sects they claim themselves followers of Chaitanya sampradaya, Gauraṅga Mahāprabhu sampradaya. And this Radharaman Gosh, he being a sincere seeker, he found some Bauls. Bauls are very interesting sect.
They're the best singers. When they sing, you know, your heart melts. And they usually sing in a very high pitched voice, you know, and they sing devotional songs about Radha and Krishna.
And they usually, you know, when they for a long time, they, you know, they they sing it and people come in thousands to listen to their kirtans.
You know, they have very and they they have long hair and they're very, you know, nice and they're very beautiful. And they also have sannyasis.
There are sannyasis in Bauls and sampradaya, and there are grihastas in Bauls and sampradaya. But the sannyasis, they are engaged in their sadhana with the female counterparts.
And the difference between the sannyasis and the grihastas is that when the sannyasis are engaged in sex and grihastas are engaged in sex, But grihastas are fallen because grihastas, they produce children by sex.
And sannyasis, they should never produce children by sex. They should keep it completely pure and spiritual.
If the female counterpart of such a sannyashi would become pregnant, they would just kick her out because she broke the principle of spiritual life.
So, this man, he somehow rather, he took shelter of this Baul guru, and he was living in the ashram of this Baul guru, and his female sannyasini, you know, guru, śī-guru. They were hī-guru and śī-guru.
They were together guru. And this man Radharaman Gosh, he spent a couple of nights there. He started some practices, some sādhana. They have far out sādhanas, different kind of unmentionable things. And then he saw a dream.
And in dream he saw his guru and his wife, or whatever she was, whatever. You know? And he saw the guru in a shape, in a form of tiger. And the wife, his wife in a shape of tigris, you know?
And they were one, the tigris from one side and the tiger from another side. They were just, you know, jumping upon him. And then at the same time he saw one sadhu, very beautiful sadhu, which he saw once in his life.
That was Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Once only he listened his lecture, you know, he came to his lecture, he listened. And after that he developed this desire to surrender, and in this way he came to these Baul Gurus.
And he saw this sadhu, and this sadhu he was driving away these tigers, you know, and he saved him. Dragged from basically from the mouth of these tigers.
So next morning he got up and he went and he started searching for this Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī and he became his first disciple. He surrendered unto him. He said, No more tiger business. I want to surrender to you.
I want to take shelter of you, not of the tigers. There was another story interesting. Man sannyasin: When in Gauḍīya Maṭha, when Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī started his mission, he came.
And he came with the, you know, huge cart. And this cart was full with, you know, food grains and everything. He went for begging and he brought this huge cart with a lot of grains and money and everything.
And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī asked him, How did you get it? By which means? So much, you know. Because he was impressed. And he said, You know, I used a very special technique.
You know, I knocked on the door and one lady came out from the door and she was a professor's wife. It was a rich house. And I started flattering her.
I said, you're like Lakshmi, you know, you're so beautiful and you're so rich and this and that. And she became, her heart melted and she was ready to give everything which she had.
So she gave me this because I said she's a Lakshmi and she wanted to prove to me that she's a Lakshmi.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī looked at him with a very grave look in his face and he said, Did you tell her about Krishna? He said, No, no, I didn't tell her about Krishna.
I told her that she is Lakshmi, you know, I didn't tell her about Krishna. He said, You take this cart and you go back with this cart to this lady and you tell her everything about Krishna.
And if after that she gives you, then you bring it back. If she doesn't give you, leave it there. We don't need these cheap donations. We don't need donations which are given by the way of deception.
We only need our business is to speak about Krishna. Our business is only to uncompromisingly speak about Krishna. And if we can do this, that's fine.
False prestige and genuine humility
If we cannot do this, what can we do? And then another weakness of the heart, another manifestation of this weak heart is Pratista. Pratista means that we are attached to glorification, to name, fame, and glory.
And this is a very big impediment which is there between us and Krishna. Because we are so, you know, puffed up. And because of that we are trying to put ourselves always in the center.
Because of this weakness, because of this quality which is there in our heart, it's of, you know, it's naive. It sometimes seems stupid, you know, but we always try to put ourselves in the center.
We always try to attract attention. Like, you know, the children, in the case of children, it's sometimes very obvious, you know. Like I remember once I was...
Some gṛhasthas invited me and there were some devotees and we taking some prasāda on the floor. And there was a small child in this household and this small child was trying to attract attention by all means.
He was crying and he was doing all kinds of tricks. But nobody cared about him. We were engaged, we were taking prasāda, speaking about Krishna. So nobody cared about him. It was too much for him.
He was, by all means, was trying to attract attention, but nobody cared about him. Ultimately, he decided to do it in the most direct and straightforward way.
So we were sitting like this on the floor, So he kind of, you know, moved everyone aside.
And he was he stood right there in the table or on the floor, you know, in the middle, you know, and look, look at me, you know. Why you're not looking at me? Look, here I am. You know, I'm the center of the universe, you know. Why you're not looking at me?
So that's basically human mentality. The humans, they have this weakness and this weakness manifests that by all means, you know, there are different tricks. All the psychologists, they know these tricks.
The psychology basically, it's the science about the tricks of the mind. And most of the tricks is that how to attract attention.
Some people they attract attention because they they're so strong, and some people they attract attention because they're so weak, they're so meek and surrender.
Some people they attract attention because they suffer so much. It's all tricks to attract attention. So Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, that's the point.
And people they use they use different devices for this pratista, for this desire for name and fame and glory.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī wrote a little essay about his relationship with his Guru Mahārāja, with Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī. And he said, he was so great.
He's glorifying his Guru Maharaj and in this way teaching us how we should be humble, what the real humility is.
He says, My Guru Maharaj was so great that when I came to him and when I found myself in his presence, you know, I saw that that time that I'm very great because he was very learned. He knew astrology very well.
He was a famous astrologer. He was in the court of Van Kink, the court astrologer. And he was a professor in the university in Calcutta for some time. And he was extremely learned. He knew Sanskrit very well and everything.
And his Guru Maharaj was blind, and he was not even learned so much. He was illiterate.
But he's writing in this essay that the greatest of my Guru Maharaj was that when I came in his presence he didn't notice my greatness whatsoever.
He didn't pay any attention, you know, and I was trying by all means to show how great I am, but at one point I understood that I'm not very great.
At one point I understood that actually this is all, you know, ridiculous. Like this childish attempt to gain some extra fame and glory.
Converting a Mayavadi scholar
And that's how he explained that the real virtue of a real vaiṣṇava to be humble. And the last weakness of the heart is Matsarya, and Matsarya means envy.
And the greatest manifestation of this mātsarya is this māyāvāda philosophy, the philosophy of oneness with the absolute truth, when the people want to become one with absolute truth.
And I want to tell a little longer story about this, how Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was preaching against it and how he was fighting with it.
This is an interesting They said that at one point they realized that where mayavadis, that mayavadis in our heart. Because the envy is there. The envy is pushing us to develop all kinds of strange philosophies.
And basically this māyāvāda, the basis of this philosophy is envy. So this disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, his name became Ādi Keśava after initiation. He is telling about himself. And he was not a simple Mayavadi.
He was a professor of māyāvāda. And he knew the philosophy of Śaṅkarācārya back and forth. And he knew the philosophy of Sankara Acarya back and forth.
He knew it so perfectly that, you know, and he was convinced that this is the best philosophy.
That this philosophy can basically, and this is, you know, it's a very tricky philosophy that through the jugglery of words you can really prove everything and anything.
And what they want to prove is that everything is one, that you and me and we're all good. We just forgot about it. And it's actually one, it's illusion.
You know, I'm speaking and you're listening, but this is illusion because there is no you who is listening, there is no me who is speaking, it's just all one.
So he was very perfect in this jugglery, and he met with one disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, one sannyāsī. And he started arguing with him and there was a fierce battle.
And ultimately finally this professor of Śaṅkarācārya philosophy, he defeated the sannyāsī.
The sannyāsī couldn't say anything because he knew scriptures so perfectly and he, you know, argued so perfectly that ultimately sannyāsī said, I don't know what to say anymore.
I only know that Krishna is God and I don't know anything else. But I cannot say anything to you, but my guru Mahārāja, he is coming soon to the city. It was in Allahabad. He was a professor in Allahabad University.
And he's coming soon and you speak with him and let's see. He is a great Mahatma. Let's see who will win. So this young man, professor, he was kind of, you know, he was very excited. He thought I will prove, I will show.
If I defeat this man, this mahātmā, this sannyāsī, then, you know, they will all surrender unto me and they will all become Māyāvādīs and, you know, everyone will become one with Kṛṣṇa. He had this plan.
He was actually very excited and very happy about this. And he had all the arguments, all the questions, you know. He prepared very tricky questions, very tricky arguments were there. And he was waiting.
So in a couple of weeks, because this Gauḍīya maṭha, they wanted to open a temple in Allahabad, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī came and he came with his entourage. So many sannyāsīs came with him.
And this young man came and he said, Yeah, I'm ready. I want to have darśana. I want to speak with your guru mahārāja.
And the sannyāsīs, they became little worried, and they they took him aside, and they said, you have to become humble, you know, you he's great, you know, he because they were told that he's, you know, too much when it comes to arguing.
And he said, yes, yes. I will be very humble, you know. Don't don't worry about me. I I have all my questions. I just want to ask a few questions, you know. But he had all the tricks out there prepared.
So ultimately they let him in. And he was sitting there in the room and he was waiting for Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, he's coming out and he's sitting in his chair. He's, you know, excited.
He wants to ask some questions. But without giving him a chance to ask any questions, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī starts speaking. And he speaks, and this person listens, and listens and listens and listens.
And at one point, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī started speaking about Kṛṣṇa. And when he spoke about Kṛṣṇa, so much love was there in the heart that this person he forgot everything.
Forgot about his questions, his arguments, everything, you know. He was there. He was not in this room anymore. He was in the spiritual world.
He was there with Krishna and he was crying, you know, and he didn't understand what happened, you know, and all of a sudden it finished, you know, and because he was not in this world he was looking, you know, where is this sadhu?
Where has he gone? And then he realized that the sadhu was too much overwhelmed in the heart and he just stopped. He stopped and he went away. And he started thinking, What happened to me?
You know, I have all my questions here, you know, and I have all my proofs are there, you know. Why did I become so sentimental? Why tears are on my eyes? Why is it so? And he was bewildered, you know, he didn't know.
But he was so impressed because when the pure devotee speaks he doesn't speak theoretically. He speaks from his personal experience and this has such a strong impression.
So he said, he went out and he said, you know, that was very interesting but I didn't have a chance to ask my questions. Could I again speak with him?
He came again and he again listened to him and then he asked the permission to go with him and he never asked his questions.
He forgot about his questions and he threw away his dissertation and he wrote a new dissertation, The Teachings of Lord Caitanya. That was his dissertation. That's how he got his PhD degree.
So he became the first professor of this Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy in this Allahabad university. He became the initiated disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
And he said, I still, you know, I still remember all these arguments and I still cannot understand how foolish I could be.
Strength gained from pure devotees
That's the influence of the speech of a pure devotee. So the point which I wanted to make on this point which Prabhupāda makes in this purport.
That he says that if you want to become strong, because you need to be strong to surrender to Krishna, if you want to become strong, the only way to become strong is to associate with pure devotees, is to listen how the pure devotees speak.
And by listening to them, you will gain immense strength. Because the word of the pure devotee is not from this world. It's coming from the spiritual world.
And when the pure devotee chants, when he pronounces Krishna, when he calls for Krishna, it's not from this world, it's from another world.
So this power was there in Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur Prabhupada, and he invested his power into his disciples in Śrīla Prabhupāda, and we are kind of, you know, trying to follow his footsteps.
That's the only way how to overcome this problem and how to really solve the main problem in life to become surrendered to Krishna. And, yes, I should stop now. Thank you very much for listening so patiently.
Maybe there are some questions or comments. Maybe you want to say something. Don't know. Was this professor Yes. That was Professor Kapur. He describes it very graphically.
Once I heard a very nice story about Professor Kapur too. He was a scholar and Gaudi Imat and Gaudi Imat they had such a fervor to preach and they wanted to preach so much.
And once a couple of disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, they spoke with Professor Kapur in Vrindavan. And they asked Professor Kapur, is it possible?
Is allowed to sometimes to say some lies, you know, which is not really true when you preach.
Because sometimes when we distribute books, we say, you know, this is a book about, you know, about, you know, war. This is if if a military man is there, we say, it's a book about war. And if it's household wife is there, they say it's a good book for health, you know. It's it's if you read it, you will get a good health or whatever.
Sometimes when when you preach, you you kind of overstep something. So these two sannyasis, they were speaking with O. B. L. Kapoor and they asked, Is it allowed? Kapoor and they asked, Is allowed?
Can you say some things when you preach? Because sometimes, you know, you cannot say directly about Krishna. Somehow rather it's not everyone capable of swallowing it directly.
And O. B. L. Kapoor, he said, Yeah, that was the way of Gaudiya Math. And being a scholar myself, I never could appreciate it.
I never really, you know, understood how you can do this because, you know, if you're a scholar you have to be neutral and you have to really speak according to the truth and never, you know.
And then this sannyasi, a western disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, he said, But if it was not for this technique, I would never sit in front of you and I would never speak with you about Krishna.
And this Kapoor he smiled and he said, Me too. So, so that's the way of preaching.
Instructions and vows for preaching
Is there any other questions? No, I think he... Well, he started it when Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī were there, but he just took it for at least to prepare himself.
Because Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura told him, You should be engaged in preaching. And he was a, you know, he was a sannyasi, you know, not a sannyasi at that time. He was not really prepared.
So to prepare himself to gain some strength, he gave this vrata and he was chanting day and night to gain this spiritual strength which is needed for this preaching mission.
His mother, when she was dying she was also a great devotee of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, so when she was dying she was on her death bed.
And before breathing her last she asked Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī to come and she said, I have a last desire. And he said, Oh my mother, whatever you tell me I will do. I will fulfill your desire.
And she said, Let the name of Caitanya Mahāprabhu be spread all over the world. This is my last desire. This is the desire which you have to fulfill. He said, okay, I'll try it. That's a special birth to have such a mother.
He got his instruction from Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura to start the movement? He got the instruction of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura that he has to start the preaching mission to preach.
Because what Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura did, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he kind of reformulated the teachings of Lord Caitanya in such a way that, you know, modern people could understand it.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he's a genius, you know, and he wrote his books, and his books are brilliant. There are for all kinds of people, like for philosophically minded Western people he wrote Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta.
And it's a shastra, it's a scripture. There's no doubt about it. It's a brilliant book, brilliant exposition for people who are more like Indians. For Indians, he wrote Jaiva Dharma.
And basically he, in a very systematic way, he described the teachings of Lord Caitanya. But then still the mission was not fulfilled because it was kind of limited. Limited.
And he said to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, Now you take these books, and on the basis of these books you preach this philosophy far and wide. And that's what he did. Okay. Thank you very much. I guess that's it.