Bhagavad-gītā As It Is

Bhagavad-gītā 4.23

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse]

gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate [Bg 4.23]

[break] [02:44]

Translation: "The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence."

Prabhupāda:

gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate [Bg 4.23]

The difficulty in the conditioned state, that we are creating our next life by karma... We are, just at the present moment, we are acting according to our past karma, and again we are creating another karma so that we have to enjoy or suffer in the next life. The transmigration of the soul takes place according to karma. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22].

[The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.]

Sad-asat, good and inferior janma. So one has to take his birth in a nice family or in nice nation, good education, good-looking, nice opulence... Janmaiśvarya-śruta-śrīḥ [SB 1.8.26].

[My Lord, Your Lordship can easily be approached, but only by those who are materially exhausted, because one who is on the path of [material] progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high education and bodily beauty, cannot address You with sincere feeling.]

Janma means to take birth in good family, good nation, and aiśvarya, opulence, very rich. Janmaiśvarya-śruta. Śruta means knowledge, education. And śrī, and beauty.

I repeatedly say to the American people that "You have got your this position, richest nation in the world, janma..." Practically in America there is no poor man. That I have seen. They do not know what is poor man, because the poorest man gets five thousand rupees per month. The poorest man. So actually there is no poor man. There cannot be. The government arrangement is so nice that nobody is in want of money. He can get money in so many ways. So it is very good, fortunate position to take birth in America. Janma, rich family, rich nation. And aiśvarya. Janma-aiśvarya-śruta, education. Now they are advanced education. By scientific advancement, they are trying to go to the moon planet. Not only that; many machine up to date they have discovered, using... There is very big company IBM. Machine, business machine, IBM. International Business Machine. You know everything.

So janma-aiśvarya-śruta, education, and śrī. Most American boys and girls, they are all beautiful. So why this position? This position is due to puṅya, karma. Karma means pāpa-karma, puṅya-karma. This is the way. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa jantur dehopapattaye [SB 3.31.1].

[The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.]

This is said in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. By karma, the janta, the living entity, jantu, he is getting a particular type of body. In Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated that kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

Kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22]. We are associating with a particular type of modes of nature—goodness, passion and ignorance, or mixed. So on account of this, we are working differently and we are preparing our next life, kāraṅam. This is the kāraṅam.

So those who are karma-kāṅḍīya, they are interested next life in the heavenly planet or higher standard of life. So that is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ [Bg 14.18].

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

If you associate with the modes of goodness, then you are promoted to the higher planetary system, beyond heavenly planets: Janaloka, Tapoloka, Maharloka, Satyaloka, Siddhaloka, Brahmaloka. So that is possible. But our problem is not to promote ourself to go to the heavenly planet or higher than that, Janaloka, Satyaloka, Maharloka or Brahmaloka. Kṛṣṅa advises, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg 8.16].

[From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.]

He does not encourage that "You go to the Brahmaloka." No. He never encourages. He says, ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino 'rjuna [Bg 8.16]. Even if you become promoted to the Brahmaloka, then again you have to come back. Kṣīṅe puṅye punar martya-lokaṁ viśanti. As soon as your puṅya, the duration of life, is finished, then you have to come back again. This is going on.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, ei rūpe brahmāṅḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva [Cc Madhya 19.151].

[According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṅa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṅa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.]

We are rotating, wandering, in different species of life, different planets, different forms. In this way we are transmigrating from one position to another position. This is going on. So... But that is not a very nice business. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19]. You accept some type of body or some type of place. Suppose one has become American. So how long he will remain American? Say, for fifty years or utmost hundred years. Then again, next chapter. One does not know what is the next life. That will be decided, kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu [Bg 13.22]. There is no guarantee that the next life again you become American or Indian or brāhmaṅa. You may become a cat and dog, because that is not in your hand. That is in the hand of material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṅāni guṅaiḥ karmāṅi sarvaśaḥ [Bg 3.27].

[The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.]

Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [SB 3.31.1].

That will be awarded to you by superior judgment, that "This man has done like this; he should get a body like this." That is not in your hand. That is not in your science.

The real science is how to stop this business. That is being advised in Bhagavad-gītā. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9].

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

People do not understand this, that our real problem is not become promoted to the higher position, but to stop this birth, death, old age and disease. That is real problem. So Kṛṣṅa says that gata-saṅgasya.

[aside:] Don't sit like that. Don't sit like that.

Gata-saṅgasya. Because we are getting different types of body in different planets and different spheres of life on account of our association with modes of nature, therefore Kṛṣṅa is advising, gata-saṅgasya: "Don't associate with the modes of material nature. That is your business." Not that "You associate with the higher modes of nature." Even very good man, goodness, brāhmaṅa, that is also conditioned life. To become brāhmaṅa—satya śamo damas titikṣā ārjava, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg 18.42],

[Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, wisdom, knowledge, and religiousness—these are the qualities by which the brāhmaṅas work.]

very perfect way of life, but that is also risky. Not that... Everything is risky, because at any moment we can be associated with another quality. And kāraṅaṁ guṅa-saṅgo 'sya [Bg 13.22]. It is very difficult position, mixture.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa advises that "You become freed from association of any of the modes of material nature. Any one of them." Gata-saṅgasya. Muktasya. As soon as you become free from the association of the modes of material nature, then you are mukta, muktasya. Gata-saṅgasya muktasya. And how mukti can be achieved, muktasya? How this position can? Now, jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. If you are actually situated in knowledge, then you can be mukta. Without knowledge, ignorance... Just like a man in knowledge, he never commits any mistake lawfully. So he is not a member or subjected to be punished in the prison house, because he has got full knowledge of the law. If anyone knows... Even ordinary dealing, just like "Keep to the right, keep to the left," you are driving your car. If you are fully aware that "If I go to the right, it will be criminal," then you are not subjected to be fined. Mukta, if you are in full knowledge. Therefore our first business is to be situated in knowledge. Jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ.

So this knowledge is being imparted by Kṛṣṅa Himself, Bhagavad-gītā. The beginning of this knowledge is when Arjuna accepted Him as guru. Śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam [Bg 2.7].

[Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me clearly what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.]

"Now no more friendly talks. I become Your disciple." So this is the position. Knowledge should be taken from the perfect person. Because if you take knowledge from a person who is defective, your knowledge has no value. You must take knowledge from the perfect. So anyone in this material world, he is defective. Every one of us, we know that we are defective. What is that? We are very much proud of seeing. So what is the value of our seeing? We see under certain condition, that's all. If there is immediately darkness, what is the value of our eyes? We cannot see. So under certain condition because we see, therefore we are not perfect. But if you can see in any condition, that is perfection, not depending on these defective eyes or senses. That is not knowledge. Defective.

Four defects, I have several times explained. One defect is that we commit mistake, everyone. And we become illusioned, accepting something for something. Just like mostly, even educated person, they accept this body, "I am this body." Just like animal. The cats and dogs, they also think that "I am this body." I have several times told you that I talked with Professor Kotovsky in Moscow. He said, "After finishing this body, Swāmījī, everything is finished." He said like that. And he is a big professor. And according to our Vedic culture, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṅape tri-dhātuke sa eva go-kharaḥ [SB 10.84.13].

[One who identifies his self as the inert body composed of mucus, bile and air, who assumes his wife and family are permanently his own, who thinks an earthen image or the land of his birth is worshipable, or who sees a place of pilgrimage as merely the water there, but who never identifies himself with, feels kinship with, worships or even visits those who are wise in spiritual truth—such a person is no better than a cow or an ass.]

If one is going on under this impression that "I am this body," he is go-khara, ass and cow, means animal.

Therefore they do not know how we are accepting different bodies under karma, by associating with especial... Associating means even unknowingly. Just like infection. In medical science there is the word "infection." You may not know, but if you have infected typhoid disease, it will fructify at one moment. So similarly, even if we do not know, if we associate with the material modes of nature, it will be effective. Sad-asad-janma-yoniṣu. Therefore we must have full knowledge how to save ourself from the association, from the infection of this material disease. That is called jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. Just like a man who knows hygienic rules and regulation, he does not infect disease. But a man in ignorance, he infects disease and suffers. It is not God's creation. Your creation. If you do not know how to live, then you will infect the infection of the different modes of material nature, and you will have to suffer or enjoy.

Therefore commonsense instruction given by Cāṅakya Paṅḍita, a great politician: tyaja durjana-saṁsargam. This is his first instruction, that "Don't associate with bad character." We are also doing that, that "Don't associate with the four principles of sinful life: illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling." Tyaja durjana-saṁsargaṁ bhaja sādhu-samāgamam: "You associate with sādhus." Who are sādhus? That is also described in the Bhagavad-gītā: sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ samyag vyavasito hi saḥ [Bg 9.30].

[Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated.]

Who? Api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ. That is sādhu. Sādhu means who is fully engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. He is sādhu.

So in this way we have to acquire knowledge. Jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. Full knowledge. Then we can avoid the association of the three modes of material nature. Gata-saṅgasya muktasya. Then we become liberated even in this life, if you are actually situated in knowledge. And how to... How one can understand that "This man is mukta. He is not associating with any material modes of nature"? How? Yajñāyācarataḥ karma. For yajña, yajñāya. Yajña karma-samudbhavaḥ. Just like I was explaining, you have to perform yajña, yajñāya, only for yajña. Yajñārthe. Another place Kṛṣṅa has ex..., yajñārthe karma anyatra karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg 3.9].

[Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṅu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.]

If you do not act for yajña, then you be entangled in the karma-bandhanaḥ.

This is the science. One has to be situated in full knowledge, and full knowledge is... The beginning of knowledge is that one must understand that "I am not this body." This is knowledge. And if one is working like cats and dogs, thinking himself "I am this body," he has no knowledge. Just like animals—they are not expected to be in knowledge. A man is expected to be in knowledge, and he must know that "I am not this body." Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

So one has to know that "I am not this body, but circumstantially and according to my association with the modes of nature, I am transferring, transmigrating from this body to another body."

So therefore in the Vedic culture the karma-kāṅḍīya-yajña is recommended. At least, you get a better body. Don't go to the lower body. Ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthāḥ [Bg 14.18].

Better body in higher planetary system. That is karma-kāṅḍīya-vicāra. Therefore yajña. Yajñāyācarataḥ karma. Everything should be easier. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ [Bg 3.13], the same thing. Just like here, we are performing yajña, the saṅkīrtana-yajña. We are preparing food for Kṛṣṅa. That is yajña. And when we eat the remnants of foodstuff, that is also yajña-avaśiṣṭa, remnants of foodstuff. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santaḥ. Aśina. Aśina means eating. After offering in the yajña, if you eat, yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santaḥ, you become a santaḥ, saintly person. And yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ, mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. He becomes free from all sinful reaction. And bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṅāt [Bg 3.13].

[The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.]

And who is cooking for himself very palatable dishes, he is bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā: he is simply eating sins, and he has to suffer. Therefore we have to eat, we have to work, we have to do everything only for yajñāya, not for any other purpose. Then we are entangled. As soon as we do anything for my sense gratification, then we are entangled immediately—goodness or badness, goodness, passion or ignorance.

So there are very complicated laws, but we do not know. That is ignorance. So we have to know what are these complicated laws. That is called jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. Ignorant person, they suffer from disease, they suffer from legal action, because ignorant. Ignorance is no law..., er, no excuse. If you go to the court, "Sir, I did not know this law. I did not know law that 'Keep to the left,' " so the court will not excuse you. "I did not know that I associate with the smallpox infection." The nature will not excuse you. A child touches fire. The fire will not excuse, that "Because it is a child, no, no, I shall not burn him." No. Nature must work. Daivī hy eṣā guṅa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

So you have to be fully in knowledge how to save yourself from the contamination of the modes of material nature. That is called gata-saṅgasya muktasya. Then you are free. So that is also stated, how you can become gata-saṅgasya. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā.

māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṅa bhakti-yogena sevate sa guṅān samatītyaitān brahma-bhūyāya kalpate [Bg 14.26]

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

You have to situate yourself on the Brahman platform, spiritual platform. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhi... And how it can do it? No. Avyabhicāriṅi-bhakti-yogena. Bhakti-yoga. You have to perform bhakti-yoga. Then what is that bhakti-yoga?

śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]

These are the bhakti-yoga. You have to hear about Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Hearing, hearing, hearing, hearing, you can become mukta. Just like Mahārāja Parīkṣit. He simply listened about Kṛṣṅa, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. At the last stage of his life, he listened from Śukadeva Gosvāmī, simply Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and he became liberated. Śrī-viṣṅoḥ śravaṅe parīkṣit [Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.265]. The śrī-viṣṅoḥ śravaṅe, about Lord Kṛṣṅa or Lord Viṣṅu, Parīkṣit Mahārāja became liberated. Abhavad vaiyāsakiḥ kīrtane. And Vaiyāsaki, the son of Vyāsadeva, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he simply narrated the topics of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he became liberated.

There are nine items of bhakti-yoga.

śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam [SB 7.5.23]

So if you can execute all the items, that is very good. If not, some of them, at least one. This... This chance is being given by the Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. We invite people all over the world, "Please come and join with this chanting, Hare Kṛṣṅa." Actually, whatever development has been made, it is only by this process. We don't impose any, I mean to say, regulation in the beginning. No. "Please come and sit down and hear about Kṛṣṅa." Śravaṅam. If you simply continue, if you do not do anything, I guarantee that if you simply come here and hear about Kṛṣṅa, you will be liberated. If you do not do anything, if you kindly come here and hear about Kṛṣṅa—here or anywhere—śravaṅam.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended this process. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir ye prāyaśo 'jita jito 'py asi tais tri-lokyām [SB 10.14.3].

[Those who, even while remaining situated in their established social positions, throw away the process of speculative knowledge and with their body, words and mind offer all respects to descriptions of Your personality and activities, dedicating their lives to these narrations, which are vibrated by You personally and by Your pure devotees, certainly conquer Your Lordship, although You are otherwise unconquerable by anyone within the three worlds.]

This is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's recommendation, that sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ: "You remain in your position." It doesn't require to change, because you are gṛhastha or you are engineer, you are doctor or you are washerman. It doesn't matter. You remain in your position, sthāne sthitāḥ. But lend your eyes for aural reception of Kṛṣṅa's message. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Śruti mean this ear. Allow this much, the message of Kṛṣṅa, to enter your ears. That will help you. Sthāne sthitāḥ. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām.

Then if you are..., any man is conscious, deliberate, then, if you try to implement and practice in your life... Sthāne sthitāḥ. First of all hearing. Unless you hear... Just like Kṛṣṅa is speaking personally. You have to hear.

gata-saṅgasya muktasya jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate [Bg 4.23]

So in this way, hearing, hearing, you become jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ. You don't require to go to the college and school. This is also... They simply hear. Even in college and school, there is percentage of attendance, hearing. All of you know that unless one has attended class of the professor seventy-five percent, he is not allowed for the examination. So hearing is so important.

And that is also in the case of spiritual. You hear from... Hear from whom? Hear from whom? That tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12]:

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

"Hear from guru." Who is guru? Guru... That brahma-niṣṭham. Brahma-niṣṭham. Guru means who knows God and fully engaged in His service. That is guru. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet, samit-pāṅiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. Śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham. And he has also heard from his guru. This is both, hearing. Therefore Vedas are known as śruti. Formerly it was learned simply by hearing. There was no books, and there was no need of noting down. The merit was so perfect that simply by hearing from guru, he would understand everything.

But in the Kali-yuga, because gradually we are losing the potency of our brain, therefore we require in writing books. Vyāsadeva was very kind. He knew that in the Kali-yuga there will be no sharpened brain. Mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10].

[O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.]

They are made by nature; by the influence of Kali-yuga, they are all mandaḥ, very slow or very bad, mandaḥ. Sumanda-matayaḥ, and they have got..., manufactured some ideas, sumanda-matayaḥ, which is not standard to the Vedic ideas. Manda-bhāgyāḥ, and unfortunate. Unfortunate. Kṛṣṅa is canvassing, "Here is God. Here I am, God," they are so unfortunate they cannot accept. Manda-bhāgyāḥ.

Kṛṣṅa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the śāstras. Vyāsadeva, he writes, kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

In the Brahma-saṁhitā, Brahmā writes, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

Kṛṣṅa personally says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat [Bg 7.7].

[O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.]

Arjuna, who heard Bhagavad-gītā, he accepts: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

The ācāryas, Śaṅkarācārya, Mādhvācārya, Rāma..., they accept Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was... Then what evidence want you more? What is your knowledge? You do not accept so many authorities? You are so proud? That is our misfortune. Manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ, and disturbed condition of life. That is our misfortune.

This is the position. Otherwise where is the difficulty of understanding God? "God is dead," "There is no God," "I am God," "You are God," so many theories. Why? Here is God. God personally comes to show you what is the position of God, and He has shown what is the meaning of God. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya balasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47].

[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

What is the meaning of Bhagavān, He has shown. Still, we are so unfortunate we cannot accept, because we are not free from the contamination. Yeṣām. One can understand. Yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām. Otherwise,

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

So the best thing is that we should be submissive. We should not be proud. That will not help us. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatām. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya. The so-called speculative knowledge should be given up. Jñāne prayāsam... Namanta eva. Just be submissive. Namanta eva. Śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ. Jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. San-mukharitām [SB 10.14.3], those who are perfectly saint... Just like Vyāsadeva, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, san-mukharitām. They have accepted. Caitanya Mahāprabhu... San-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām. In this way we can understand, we can take the lesson. Everything is clear.

Now this formula, that gata-saṅgasya muktasya... So gata-saṅga, how gata-saṅga, to be free from the contamination of the material nature? That is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṅa bhakti-yogena sevate [Bg 14.26]:

[One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.]

"Anyone who is engaged according to the principles, rules and regulation in bhakti-yoga..." Just these boys are being trained up all over the world to rise early in the morning, to perform maṅgala-ārātrika, to chant the holy name, to read Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then take some prasādam, then go to preach, distribute books. When we go to distribute books, we are doing this very organizedly all over the world, and it has become very successful. Very successful. So why not in India? Why you are neglecting this process? Why you are manufacturing something nonsense? That will not help you.

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]