Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.4
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Гита-нагари · 2005
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Recitation and translation of Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.23.4
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Where did Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam come to? Chapter 23 Maharaja Prithu's going back home. Text four. Tatra Api Adabya Niyamaha Vaikana Sammate Arabhd Ugrata Passi,
Yata, Svavijaya pura tatrapyadabanyamo, trapyadabanyamon, vaikanasu samate, vaikanas Rabda wrathapas, Yatha Swavijaya Pura, Yatva, Tatrapyadabyanyamon, Vaikanasa Samate, Bramate, Arabdagratapasit Yadha
Swadijaya Pura There happi also Adabya Severe Niyama Austerities Vaikanasam Rules and Regulations of Retired Life. Rules and Regulations of retired life. Susammate. Perfectly recognized. Perfectly recognized. Arabha beginning.
Ugra severe tapasivasi austerity yata as much as much as Svavijaya In conquering the world formally translation after retiring from family life,
Mahārāja Pṛthu strictly followed the regulations of retired life and underwent severe austerities in the forest. He engaged in these activities as seriously as he had formerly engaged
in leading the government and conquering everyone. Śrīla Prabhupāda. As it is necessary for one to become very active in family life. Similarly, after retirement from family life, it is necessary to control the
mind and senses. It is possible when one engages himself fully in the devotional service of the Lord. Actually, the whole purpose of the Vedic system, the Vedic social order is
to enable one to ultimately return home, back to God. The gṛhastha-āśrama is a sort of concession combining sense gratification with a regulative life.
It is to enable one to easily retire in the middle of life and engage fully in austerities in order to transcend material sense gratification once and for all.
Therefore, in the vānaprastha stage of life, tapasya or austerity is strongly recommended. Mahārāja followed exactly all the rules of vānaprastha life, which is technically known as vānaprastha-āśrama.
The word vaikanasa-susammate is significant because in vānaprastha life the regulative principles are also to be strictly followed. In other words, Mahārāja Pṛthu was an ideal character in every sphere of life.
Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ. One should follow the footsteps of great personalities.
Thus, by following the exemplary character of Mahārāja Pṛthu, one can become perfect in all respects while living this life or while retiring from active life.
Thus, after giving up his body, one can become liberated and go back to Godhead. Śrīla Prabhupāda. Tatrāpi dābhya-niyamo vaikhāna-susammate ārabdha ugratas tapasi yathā-sva-vija-puraṁ.
After retiring from family life Mahārāja Pṛthu strictly followed the regulations of retired life and underwent severe austerities in the forest.
He engaged in these activities as seriously as he had formerly engaged in leading the government and conquering everyone.
Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārvasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe.
Kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhupānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Thank you very much for coming. I'm very happy to be with you. I feel a little embarrassed to give class here, but because I was asked I will try to speak a few words. In
Material desires in third and fourth cantos
the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is explained that the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a representation of the body of the Lord. And in this symbolic representation of the body of the Lord, in
which the tenth canto representing the pure bhakti is the smiling face of the Lord. The third and fourth cantos are the legs of the Lord. They are the pillars which uphold the pure bhakti.
And specifically the third and the fourth cantos deal with a very difficult problem of material desires. These two cantos are addressing or tackling,
dealing with this problem which has to be dealt with before we reach the stage of pure bhakti. The third canto is more dealing with the gross material desires.
We know that in the third canto, the beginning of the third canto, there is a story of Hiraṇyākṣa. Hiranyakṣa according to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura is the representation of material greed. He is the greed personified.
And this greed has been born from lust. Lust of deity has given birth to greed and pride, Hiranyakṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu.
So fromම්භ the beginning of the third canto, there is this problem is being clearly described that when one goes along with his material desires, when one doesn't have this idea that one has to control the desires and control his mind that ultimately he becomes a demon.
He becomes Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu at best. You know usually we don't even reach this elevated status of life.
But specifically, this is the description or one can say symbolic description of what happens with someone who is not controlling his desires.
It is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā that one, when, when lust is fulfilled, when one is just, you know, becomes a slave of the lust, he cannot really extinguish lust.
Sometimes people say that when I'm young I have to follow my lusty desires and then everything will be okay. It will not be okay. The problem will aggravate itself more and more and more.
The greed for material desires, the greed for lust have become stronger and stronger and stronger.
And we can see that Hiraṇyākṣa, the very name of this demon Hiraṇyākṣa means Hiraṇyākṣa. He has, Hiraṇya means gold and Akṣa means eyes. He has this golden eyes. He has not golden eyes, he has the gold in his eyes.
Wherever he sees, he sees the gold.
Like in this cartoon of Walt Disney, there was this character who had this dollars in, dollar sign in the, in the eyes so it's, uh, it's, uh, it's a younger brother of Hiraṇyākṣa basically.
and this is the start and the start is being when when the desires
are not controlled, and this is the topic of the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, when desires are not controlled, that produces psychologically the atheistic outlook of life, the atheistic mentality.
Actually, this scientific worldview, which is represented by Sāṅkhya philosophy, by Nīrīśvara Sāṅkhya. Sāṅkhya, which denies the existence of God, is produced from the lust.
You know, all those great scientists, they're also brothers of Hiraṇyākṣa. They are more or less his followers because
ultimately to fulfill the lust, to state that the lust should not be controlled, one has to deny existence of God and for that the atheistic Sāṅkhya is there because atheistic Sāṅkhya says that everything is produced more or less on its own, on its own accord and therefore the lust is also has a very legitimate place in this world.
You have to follow the lust because it's as natural as everything else. And there is no God. Ultimately there is no God in control.
This philosophy is being described in the 16th Canto of Bhagavad-gītā by Krishna himself and he says, Asatyamapratistamte, Asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram. But he is describing the philosophy of demons. That there is no ultimately anīśvaram. There is no God.
And therefore, in the third Canto we have this story, first of Hiraṇyākṣa being killed by Varāhadeva and then we have the alternative story of Kapilamuni being born from uh Kaśyapa and Diti and uh Kaśyapa and Devahūti.
So and of course the philosophy of theistic Sāṅkhya is being explained there as an alternative to the atheistic Sāṅkhya, as an alternative to this atheistic world view.
So basically, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives us two examples, the bad example and the good example. And by following good example, we can dovetail to a certain extent our material desires.
Because Kaśyapa Muni, despite being a great ṛṣi, he had material desires. And we can see he could fulfill these material desires.
When the Lord appeared to him after so much austerity, after so much spiritual discipline, and the Lord asked him, What do you want? He didn't say, I want you, my dear Lord.
He said, I want a wife. I want a good wife. I want a wife who is like a cow of plenty, you know.
It's perhaps nowadays it would not be a very good compliment for a lady to say you're like a cow of plenty. But in those days, you know, I want the wife who will fulfill all my desires.
I have my material desires and I'm very uh I'm very realistic about it. I do need my desires to be fulfilled.
Therefore please give me a good wife so she will fulfill my desires. And in the way, by the way of fulfilling desires, I will ultimately achieve the ultimate end of the human existence.
Religious fulfillment of desires and karma-mimamsa
So this is the third Canto, but the fourth Canto which we are reading now is dealing with the same problem but in a much more subtle way.
The fourth Canto basically in Gist is explaining the religious way of fulfilling desires. This religious way of fulfilling desire sometimes is called karma-kāṇḍa or karma mimamsa.
So basically the whole fourth Canto is dealing again with the same problem on this level, on the level of religious fulfillment of one's desires.
And again, there is an inappropriate way of fulfilling one's desire in the religious framework. And this is being represented in the story of Puranjana. The story of Puranjana is the illustration of this karma
mimamsa philosophy. Nārada Muni comes and Nārada Muni basically smashes this karma-mīmāṁsā because karma-mīmāṁsā uh is teaching us that
yes you have material desires, and you have to fulfill your material desires, but very piously, very religiously. And who cares about the Lord? You don't have to care about the Lord.
It doesn't matter whether he exists or doesn't exist. Even if he exists, he is there only to help you to fulfill your desires. He is just a mechanism of the pious karma, of your pious karma.
The karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy or pūrva-mīmāṁsā philosophy, sometimes it's called pūrva-mīmāṁsā, which means the preliminary consideration, the preliminary understanding of religious life.
When people come to God, they have this preliminary understanding that God is there, yes, fine. I don't mind. Let him be there.
I don't want to be gross materialist, gross atheist, I don't want to be a demon, I want to be pious. But I want to be a pious demon. Therefore, basically I don't care about the Lord.
The Lord is only there to fulfill my desires. Like Jaimini Ṛiṣi, he starts his great treatise on this karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy, Mīmāṁsā Sūtra, with the Sūtra Athāto Dharma Jijñāsā.
Now it is the time to ask what is Dharma, what is religious duties, which you have to fulfill in order to fulfill your desires. And they say yes, Vishnu is there. They even accept Vishnu is God.
But they say Vishnu is subservient to the law of karma. Vishnu is not original cause of all causes. Vishnu is also just a mechanism, just an instrument. And ultimately they say he is a purva.
He is somebody who is a darśya, adṛṣṭa. He is unknown. He is somebody who is not seen and who you basically can't care less.
You know, as long as you fulfill your duties, as long as you do your religious duties, it doesn't matter whether God exists or not.
And sometimes we can see that this mentality somehow rather sneaks within our mind or within our psyche.
Actually Madhvācārya in his commentary to Vedānta-sūtra he explains that when we apply too much importance to the fulfilling of the rituals, forgetting the goal of the ritual and considering ritual all in all, we are more or less on this platform of karma-mīmāṁsā. Because for us, God is not important. Ritual is important.
You know, we have to do everything very properly with all kinds of mudras and you know, pranayamas and this and that. And then subconsciously we feel that we have a right to demand, to demand from God good fortune.
You know, I have been going to monastery for twenty five years. Why you don't give me wealth and good wife and everything, you know. Why some why I'm so not as fortunate as I have to be?
Because I'm following all these rules and regulations of sādhana-bhakti. But this is exactly this is not bhakti. This has nothing to do with bhakti.
This is karmami mamsa. This is Jaimini philosophy. This is the philosophy of ritual. You follow the ritual and then God is there and he will make sure that you will be happy.
But this is this is not correct because this is basically drags down. It drags down the Lord to the to the level of your servant.
Of this somebody who is supposed to... of the machine like Prabhupada says the uh and this philosophy the Lord is more or less a mechanism to fulfill your desires and that's exactly the topic of the fourth canto.
In the fourth canto we have this story of King Puranjana where this philosophy is being defeated. And we have two other stories of King Prithu and Dhruva Mahārāja. And in both stories, we have this same theme of
material desires being fulfilled, or varṇāśrama-dharma being properly followed. Particularly here in the example of Mahārāja Pṛthu, it's a good example. It's an example which ultimately shows that you can, if
you have material desires, you can and should follow dharma you should follow uh your religious duty according to the Varna and Ashrama which you belong to and this is the way to fulfill your desires, there is no doubt about it.
There is definitely this is the way to fulfill your material desires.
But if you do it properly, if you don't lose the focus, if you don't lose the goal of your endeavors, if you understand that God is ultimately the endeavor of everything, is ultimately the goal of all your endeavors, of all your religious duties, of all the rules and regulations, then only following the rules and regulations makes any sense.
Otherwise it's useless, it's atheistic. It's actually demonic.
So basically, this example of Mahārāja Pṛthu and his life is there to teach us how to follow the rules and regulations of our life, how to follow the rules and regulations of our ashram and varna, whatever ashram and varma we belong to.
Basically, we don't belong to any Ashraman Varna, which is a good news because we don't have to follow any rules and regulations.
But in any case, the point here is that the following the rules and regulations is not to fulfill the desires. Fulfilling the desires is just byproduct of following the rules and regulations.
Scientific social design of the four ashramas
The following the rules and regulations of one varna and nasrama is to extinguish the desires and to obtain the great desire to get the Lord, to get love of God.
Basically, and this is very clearly explained here an example of Maharaja Prithu, where it is said that Maharaji Prithu he went to his retired life in the forest.
And when he went to this retired life in the forest, the purpose of this was to extinguish the material desires.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the purport that there is gṛhastha āśrama. And gṛhastha āśrama, uh, Prabhupāda says that this is the license, this is the concession.
And this system of ashrams is a very scientifically designed. It's a very scientific design to manage one's desires.
It is said that normal life should consist of four ashramas, and these four ashramas, brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, and sannyāsī, uh, will ultimately lead one, uh, to this end of complete renunciation in sannyāsa āśrama.
But this complete renunciation is gradual and natural process. Like when you are brahmacārī, you're supposed to live a very renounced life.
But at the same time, while you are Brahmachari, it's not proper actually to expect that Brahmachari will not have any material desires. They should follow the rules and regulations of brahmacarya āśrama.
And this is actually Prabhupada explains that this system of four ashramas is the system of gradual spiritual development. But when somebody is young, it's very natural to have some hopes and expectations of life.
It would be completely, totally unnatural to say that you have totally, completely give up all your hopes while you're young. It may be possible for a few selected people.
For a few people who have very deep spiritual experience from the past life, who have very deep spiritual samskaras of renunciation from the past life, it may be possible. For others, it's natural to have some hopes and some desires.
For others it is uh natural to uh you know to have some plans for the future, for the future development. And for that exactly in this scientific system the gṛhastha āśrama is there.
Gṛhastha āśrama is there for us to fulfill our desires.
We're actually thinking about the essence of gṛhastha life. And the essence of Grihasta life, which is one of the most essential uh ashramas and the whole of Vedic system, because this is the ashram where everyone else is dependent on.
The essence of Grihasta life is not sense gratification again.
It's a mistake to think that the Grihasta life is for sense gratification and I think every grihasta can confirm it because there's not much sense gratification in this ashram either.
But uh the essence of grihasta life is to be productive. This middle portion of life, in the beginning, in the scientific system you have to just study. And you don't have to worry about anything else.
You have to study and study and study to make a very firm foundation for your whole life. You know, if you're proper brahmacārī and then you study and studying means getting obtaining theoretical knowledge more or less.
But then the theoretical knowledge has to be applied in a different ways in gṛhastha-āśrama and vānaprastha-āśrama and ultimately in sannyāsa-āśrama. To deepen this theoretical knowledge.
This whole spiritual development and Prabhupāda explains that these four stages of life, this is the four stages of our spiritual, internal spiritual development, is actually meant to deepen our knowledge, to make our knowledge realized.
Like it is said that first brahmacharis, they are just, you know, they are just studying by heart. They don't even understand what it means. They're just studying mantras or Saṁhitās.
I was once in uh in gurukula in traditional gurukula in Varanasi in Benares. There are many, many gurukulas there. And there are little children there.
You know, there was probably two, three hundred children and they were just all day long. What they do they only chant. They don't understand anything. They just studied by heart.
You know, this mantra, that mantra, that mantra, because the brain is not yet developed.
The memory is good, but the brain is not yet developed, and it's just good to get as much knowledge as possible, to pack inside as much knowledge as possible.
But then there is grihasta life, and grihasta life is to apply this knowledge, to apply these mantras in a practical way. You know, you apply these mantras in the sacrifices.
Gṛhastha-āśrama means you do sacrifice and by the way of doing sacrifices, by the way of applying spiritual knowledge in the first approximation. Because it's not yet spiritual knowledge.
It's kind of uh gṛhastha life is more or less testing the spiritual knowledge to see whether it's true or not. Gṛhastha life means you get the spiritual knowledge, you apply it in life, and you see it works.
It really works. It does fulfill your desires. It does bring some happiness in your life. It does bring some kind of control or order in your life.
It really makes your life much more orderly and then chaotic life of the modern society, of modern so-called family people. So you do this and it works. You chant these mantras, and your desires are being fulfilled.
But this is again the byproduct. Because if you have the spiritual knowledge and if the goal is very firmly established within yourself. If you know that you only need the Lord, you don't need anyone else.
And ultimately, you will successfully traverse this gṛhastha stage of life and by the way of fulfilling your desires you will also gradually develop the longing for renunciation.
You will get frustrated ultimately everyone gets frustrated. But if one is doing it in a uh in a chaotic way,
then uh either one gets commits suicide at the end because of being so frustrated, because his hopes are not fulfilled, or still till the very end, one just holds for these material hopes.
You know everyone gets frustrated. The material life is very nicely designed by Krishna for everyone to be burnt. You know, everyone is more or less fried. When uh Yakṣa asked Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira what is the news?
It was a very interesting question which Yakṣa asked, Yakṣa in this Yakṣa Parva uh section of Mahābhārata asked so many questions. And one of the questions which he asked Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, what is the news? And Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he smiled and he said, I will tell you what is the news.
The news is that this whole world is a big frying pan and everyone is being fried. And uh time or Yamaraj is the cook and he is cooking us very nicely and when he sees and when he
sees that we are evenly fried from all sides. He says it's he says it's okay. He says, svaktam, that's it. You're done with this life. So that's the news.
That's the that's uh there are so many news out there in this world but basically this is the essence of all
news you know whatever is whatever you read in your newspapers how everyone is being fried in this big frying pan of this material world.
So the frustration is there, but if the life is not regulated according to rules and regulations of gṛhasthāśrama, then this frustration is useless. It sells uh it either gets you into this complete despair, complete gloomy mood and you commit suicide.
Because it doesn't really have any way out, so to speak. It's just useless, it's just frustration for the sake of frustration. Or you still, despite of frustration, you remain a very stupid old man.
You know, my first impression of America was an airport and I saw an old lady and old man together.
The man was in a shorts and the lady was in a very you know, she was in a very frivolous kind of you know, she had some hairdress and she was very you know, with lipstick and everything.
And there was something like seventy-five or maybe eighty years old. They they couldn't even walk properly.
That but they were, you know, loudly laughing and you know, eating some chips and you know chewing some chewing gum and you know enjoying life and this this that was my first impression of America this is the first scene which I have seen in America you know, you know all the American people they g go all over the world and they enjoy life, you know.
There is nothing else there is nothing to enjoy, you know, there is nothing left to enjoy. But still they are trying to squeeze the last drops of enjoyment. And this is this pitiful scene of this unregulated life.
Because when you're unregulated, you're frustrated, but still somehow or other you manage to forget about your own frustration and you still cherish some hopes for future happiness.
And you hold for this position and the sense of enjoyment till the very last second of your life. Which is totally stupid, totally unreasonable, but still you do it because you're stupid and it's nice to be stupid.
It's actually it's kind of it's kind of cool to be stupid because this is the way to be happy in this world.
So uh but here it is explained, and Prabhupada explains very clearly that if you follow grihasta life, then after this grihasta life you have to go to the forest. Vanam Vrajait.
You have to go to the forest to perform austerities. You have to actually, and austerities is called tapasya, tap means fire.
You have to perform austerities, and austerities is the fire which burns away the remnants of material desires. The material desires, some of material desires you have fulfilled.
But to fulfill the material desires is not the way to get rid of material desires. When you fulfill the desires, the desires only magnify.
So vānaprastha life is there, when you get frustrated from the fulfilment of desires because you understand that you didn't get happier. You you didn't become much more happier by fulfilling your desires.
Then vānaprastha life is there to burn away the remaining material desires which are there. And we can see that Maharaja Prithu will be literally burning away all these desires. You know, he will be sitting by the fire.
This is Panchagni austerity. Four fires from the four sides, and the fifth fire up there is the sun, you know.
Maharaja Prithu's severe austerities in the forest
And this is the way uh basically to purify the heart. To purify the heart from the remaining material desires because ultimately you cannot be happy without uh leaving the material desires aside.
The only way to be happy is just to get rid of material desires. And when your heart is completely pure and completely free from material desires, then only you can be happy, then only you can be fulfilled in your life.
And this is the example of Maharaja Prithu, and it is specifically said, very interestingly, it is specifically said here in this verse, Yathaswavija Pura.
He was applying himself to the austerities, to the controlling, to conquering over his desires with the same vigor as he was applying himself before to the conquering over the world.
When you're gṛhastha, and this is the meaning of gṛhastha life, when you are living gṛhastha life, Śrīla Prabhupāda starts the purport saying that you have to be active.
You have to conquer over the world, you have to be competitive, you have to do so many things, you have to be responsible, you have to earn money, you have to do so many things.
But then the same sense of responsibility which you developed in Grihasta life, the same energy which you applied to fulfill your material desires, you have to apply to conquer over your material desires
in vānaprastha life. When you retire from the material existence, you have to apply the same vigor, Yatha Svijaya Pura. It is said Svavijaya. Swavijaya means it may mean conquering over the world.
But it may also, it can also mean Svavijaya, conquering over himself, his material desires.
So as before Maharaja Prithu was trying to conquer over the whole world, now he is applying the same kind of energy to conquer over the material desires, the remaining material desires, to uh achieve the ultimate goal of life.
Because the ultimate goal of life you cannot achieve unless and until all your material desires you're done with all the material desires.
If you only have just one little material desire, you will be given a chance to fulfill it. Next life, unfortunately.
Because there is no way to fulfill your material desires in the spiritual world. You have to be, by the end of this life, you have to be completely free from all the material desires.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that it is very interestingly explained there in the third canto, Lord Kapiladeva is explaining that the mind is a special device.
And the mind, when the mind gets under the influence of rajas, it produces unlimited material plans. One plan after another plan after another plan after another plan. Plans to be happy in this world.
This is the real purpose of mind. Our material mind is a plan-making committee. Śrīla Prabhupāda was joking, you know.
He said so many uh plan-making committees are there in this world to make the world a perfect place and they're making new plans and new plans and the world's going to hell and going to hell.
So uh it is explained there by Lord Kapiladeva then the plans are being constantly produced. The mind is producing one plan after another plan after another plan. One hope after another hope after another hope to be happy.
You know, uh you were not happy before and everyone else is not happy, but everyone else is not happy because they are not so lucky as you and you're not happy because of some mistakes which you have done.
But in the future, somehow or other we will make it. We will produce some plan, this plan, or then another plan.
And then it is explained and when the mind is in the mode of rajas, in the mode of passion, uh it will go on with this business of producing one plan after another plan.
And when you will die, you will have all these plans within your mind. You know, and uh what Lord can do? He can only say, you know, if you want to fulfill the stupid plans, I I don't mind. You know, please go on.
Here is another chance and another chance and another chance. Prabhupāda was saying, uh remembering that he he had a friend who was dying.
And the friend was in his very last moments of life and he was begging the doctor, please give me give me a few more weeks. I still have my plans to be fulfilled. Give me one year, give me a few more minutes.
But the problem is that even if you're given you know one year or two years or hundreds of years or thousands of years, all your plans will not be fulfilled because you will produce new plans and new plans and new plans and you will be born again and again and again and again.
So this last period of life which is so gloriously exemplified here by Maharaja Prithu and here in Gitanagari by His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami is specifically meant for completely purifying the heart.
We may have so many different plans or so many different desires or whatever. But ultimately if we remember during our lifetime that our only goal is to achieve the Supreme Lord, is to go back home back to Godhead.
Then this very last period of life is there for us as the facility by the Lord to purify our heart. Actually, the whole life is the facility for this. And if we follow the rules and regulations. If
we follow the proper sadhana, then this desire will become stronger and stronger and stronger. Yes, we do have material desires. There is no doubt about it. It doesn't matter who we are.
Especially because we are living in this Kali Yuga. So many material desires are there, so many uh provocations from Kali Yuga are there. And the material desires will be there in the heart.
And there is nothing wrong with it unless and until we stress and and emphasize during our sadhana and during our spiritual life the spiritual desire.
And when the spiritual desire becomes so strong, then actually all the material desires will vanish, will completely will flee away. And in the last period of life we will uh be mm just
in front of the Lord who is all our ultimate goal, it is set by Srila Prabhupada here in this purport that, you know, this is the way to go back to Godhead. To go to the forest of Gitanagari. It's a very nice forest here.
When I came here I could understand some of Satswarupa Maharaja's books because the mood is kind of very strongly there. And Vrindavan is the forest.
Śrīla Prabhupāda says that the real forest where we have to go before the end of our life. And actually after the end of our life is the forest of Vṛndāvana.
This is the place where we performing austerities. The Vṛndāvana is the place for austerities.
But this is these are the austerities which ultimately bring the fulfillment of our most strong innermost desire to go back home back to Godhead to see the beautiful Lord at the end of our life journey.
And I'm very fortunate to be here. Uh I you know I was planning to come here long ago, but I couldn't come before.
And somehow or other I wanted to see His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Swami and hopefully uh I will be able to see him. But anyway I don't I don't feel myself qualified to speak on this topic in front of you.
But this this verse and purport teach us the same topic which we have to know very clearly. That the goal of our life is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna.
And the way to achieve Him, the only way to achieve Him is to get our heart purified from all our material desires and ultimately come back home, back to Godhead. Thank you very much.
Questions on piety material desires and service
Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! So yes, I have to finish now. Yes, very nice question. Thank you very much. You mentioned earlier about the concept of piety and how even one can be a pious. Yeah.
So that verse in chapter VII of the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, four types of pious souls or four types of men surrender to me. And one they're considered pious is uh seeking wealth.
So how does that um qualify in terms of uh achieving Krishna through searching both um it Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained this verse in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Rasamlita Sindhu, where he says that this
four kinds of pious men with the material desires to be fulfilled, are lower than the level of kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. Because Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he gave a definition of pure bhakti.
And the bhakti is pure, can be pure on every stage of our life. Even on the very beginning stages of life. Even if when ārārtas are there, bhakti still can be pure.
Because if our goal is very clear, then the bhakti is pure. If our goal is God, then this is Utama Bhakti or Pure Bhakti, Sudha Bhakti. And then he says, below this level of kaniṣṭha-adhikārī,
Of the beginner and the path of pure bhakti, there is this karma mishra bhakta, so people uh with mixed desires, uh not in the sense that they have desires, but in the sense that they have other goals than God.
So and they can be elevated to the level of kaniṣṭha-adhikārī or Pure Bhaktas. Only when they are done with these material desires or when their goal is clearly focused on the Lord Himself.
Before that, below this level, they have uh the Lord not as a goal but as a means to fulfill their desires. Yes, they approach God, but they need God only to fulfill their desires.
And Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gives an example of Dhruva Mahārāja as the example of somebody who is seeking wealth, who is who was on the level lower than kaniṣṭha-adhikārī.
But because he was following the path of Bhakti, when his desires were fulfilled, ultimately he got rid of all the desires. He said, My dear Lord, I was seeking for some broken pieces of glass, but here is the jewel, the most brilliant jewel which is there, and I don't need anything else.
So if uh during the spiritual evolution trying to fulfill your desires by the means of God you realize that God is not the means but the goal.
Then you're not a demon then then only you reach the level of of pure bhakti and then your pure bhakti is is established within your heart.
But when you're still trying to use the Lord as the means to fulfill your desire and kind of uh relegate him on this position, you know. You just be there, you know, it's your place.
You are just somebody who who has to fulfill my desires. Then it's it's demonic, it's not good. And then it's uh it's uh it's it's it's just demonic. Yes.
You mentioned Kashyatalumi and I was wondering as he had the opportunity and Krishna was there with him, could he have asked him to take away his desires or did he have to go through the he could have asked uh the Lord theoretically he could have asked the Lord to take his material desires, but he preferred to fulfill his material desires, and ultimately he got the Lord as Kapiladev.
What is the reason for this?
The reason for this is perhaps because from the very beginning because Bhagavatam teaches us how to apply the pass of bhakti properly, and there are the very wide range of the varieties of bhaktas, so to speak.
And from the very beginning, uh Kasyapomuni's uh oh uh uh oh Devahuti yeah uh his desire was not exactly hundred percent pure and perhaps he I I I I don't really know.
You know, for us uh uh uh see he is a great personality, there is no doubt about it. And uh uh great personalities, one of the characteristics of great personalities is that they're free from kapata.
Kapata is the tendency to cheat. We have this very strong uh cheating mentality. And because of the cheating mentality, we are not really clear what we want.
We think that we want something, but in reality we want something else. He was not a cheater. He very clearly knew I have these material desires.
And he perhaps saw that it's a safer way to fulfill my material desires in a proper way.
And by fulfilling my material desires in a proper and very honest way, ultimately to achieve the Lord again in a very noble way so to speak. Whereas sometimes we think yeah, we as such, you know, if the Lord will come, we will only ask pure bhakti. Good luck.
It's not that clear in my mind, you know. If you have the Lord in front of you and you know that here's the one who can fulfill all your desires. Well and anyway the Lord knows our desires. He knows our desires in any case.
He is within our heart. And it is explained, Prabhupada is explaining in Bhagavad-gītā that desires are like an aroma. The soul is emanating this aroma of desires. And the Lord is there. And he smells this aroma.
Oh sometimes it's not an aroma, sometimes it's a big stink, you know. And he's there. And he says, oh yeah, right. You are smelling something.
I smell some material desires within your heart, so so be it, tathāstu. too. Let it be so, if you really want it. So m you know it's it's uh it's
basically the same uh to ask this question is is to ask ourselves because every day we are chanting and every day the Lord is in front of us in the form of the Holy Name. He is not different from the Holy Name.
What do we ask him? Do we ask him please, get please free us from all the material desires? If we would really sincerely ask him to free us from all the material desires, he would definitely do it.
But because the desires are still there, it means that we're asking for something else. He's in front of us.
But despite of us being very pure śuddha-bhaktas uh on the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu we sometimes do ask for something else. Uh because of not being very fixed up in our goal, in our ultimate desire.
Thank you, Mark, for a class.
I was just as you were answering this question, I was just reflecting on uh the archival forms that sometimes come in front and we we ask different verse presenters are repeat certain elevated tray levels.
And then when things start happening we which Yeah right. I didn't mean it. That's a fan. That's another situation. But the Lord does fulfill and then it's a real location.
I I recently received a letter, a long, long letter from one lady and she was writing that you know I was I was praying to the Lord please purify my heart from all the desires please free me from all my anarthas
and when he started doing this very quickly, you know. I regretted myself bitterly. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not ready yet. So that's a fact. The desire to renounce this world has to mature.
It's a process of maturing this desire. When we really understand that this is not a very nice place to stay. This is not a very nice place to stay. When I'm in Russia, everyone in Russia wants to go to America.
This is the most uh cherished the most the most beautiful desire within the core of everyone's heart. They don't want to go to the heavenly planets, no there's much more tangible goal to get American visa Anyway,
uh when I say that this is not the solution of all the problems in life they don't believe me. Right, thank you for the place.
Um you were saying that the the mind is like a mental device, and it's like a device of creating all the time newer newer and newer flags, all the time one after the other.
So what happened with the plants are uh seemingly or they look like you planning so much in order to push the movement or reaching plants and things like that.
But it's a constant plan, one flex, thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of plans.
But still you know always focusing on just giving Krishna consciously plans, Prabhupada would very much approve this kind of plans because ultimately the Lord is there behind all these plans and because the Lord is there, uh uh whether you fulfill these plans or not, you will get purified.
When the Lord is not there in the plans, then the plans are useless, and whether you fulfill the plans or not, you will not get purified.
But uh when you're planning something for the movement to push the movement, sometimes it's passionate. I you have to be passionate to achieve something in this world, there's no doubt about it.
And sometimes it's really difficult and you you really have to you know sometimes
you you only think about this but because the Lord is there Prabhupada is uh very interestingly explains this, it's uh in the purport to the last verse of the 11th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
It's interesting because before that Krishna said about Ananya Bhakti. He said, here is the pure bhakti. The pure bhakti is the only goal, ananya bhakti.
The bhakti which doesn't have which you are not deviating for any other goals, you know. This is the goal of your life, ananya bhakti, pure bhakti.
And this is the way to achieve me, this is the way to know me, this is the only way to really understand me as I am. And then he explains what it means.
And he starts this Matkarma Creed Mat Paramo uh what is this Nirvairim? Anyway, uh from the uh word mat karma kreed. Or Krishna karma. Śrīla Prabhupāda in the purport says Krishna karma. You do Krishna karma.
It means that you do some karma or some material activities, so seemingly material activities, but for Krishna.
You build some temple, construct some temple, or you do some gardening for the Lord, or you do something else. And because uh the goal is Krishna, it's still within the realm of pure bhakti.
Even though it may seemingly be passionate activity in this world with so many other you know problems uh connected with these passions.
When Jayapatākā Mahārāja was complaining to Śrīla Prabhupāda that he has to deal in the morning with all these Indian workers and cheaters and he cannot chant his mantra, he chant his rounds in the morning, early in the morning.
Prabhupāda said dealing with Indian cheaters is your chanting, you know.
When you deal with all these workers, this is your chanting in in a sense that you're doing it for the Lord. You're constructing this long building for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord.
So these plans are good because even if these plans are not fulfilled by the end of your life, uh still your heart will be purified completely by the end of the life.
And you will understand, yes, this is the Lord. And I was doing it for him. And this is my this is my life long service to him. Yeah, you need. But isn't it that um what if this more can actually be accomplished?
Uh well not necessarily. It really depends. If you are a kṣatriya, uh you you cannot be in a mode of goodness all the time. You will not accomplish your duty as a kshatriya being in a mode of goodness.
movement the context of yeah uh and still uh even within our movement we have different uh uh duties and different kind of people you know with different psychophysiological constitutions.
If you're a brāhmaṇa, then definitely you have to take shelter in the mode of goodness, and then this is this is the best way. But you know, sometimes we have to be we have to employ passion.
It is explained by the ācāryas that you're not under the influence of passion, but you're employing the mode of passion.
Like Krishna says to Arjuna, you have to be angry, you know, because to kill somebody you have to be really angry, and Krishna says, you know, hey Arjuna, you know get out of this strange frame of mind. Be angry, be angry. Kill them, kill them, kill them.
And this is kind of employing passion. When you are under the influence of passion, then you cannot control yourself. Then you're just overwhelmed by these emotions and everything.
But when you employ this, you consciously employ this kind of mode in the material nature, this, this kind of, you know, working in the material nature to achieve certain goal. But you're not under the influence.
And you know, very first opportunity you, you completely relinquish this, and you read Prabhupada's books, or you sit in the class, or you chant mantras.
You are not really, you know, we, we're employing the mode of passion. And that's different, you know. We're not getting under the influence of the mode of passion.
When you're getting under the influence, it's also uh we have seen this also,
you know, some ISKCON managers who are totally, completely, who gave up everything including chanting and you know, they're so renounced that they even renounced the Hare Krishna mantra for the lord.
This is, this is passion, yeah, this is pure passion.
But when you are employing passion to achieve certain goals, then it's I believe legitimate because some goals you in this world you cannot achieve just by goodness it's it's too good to be true Yeah. That's an example.
That's an example. He's also a passionate person. Okay. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda-ki-jaya! Śrīla Bhakti-Tīrtha Swami-ki-jaya! Śrī Rādhā- Damodara-ki-jaya! Mahārāja