Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.1.13-14

Santoṣa: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.]

tapasā brahmacaryeṅa śamena ca damena ca tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṁ yamena niyamena vā

deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api veṅu-gulmam ivānalaḥ [SB 6.1.13-14]

[break] [01:45]

Translation: "To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and never fall down. Such a life of celibacy, or brahmacarya, is perfect. One should voluntarily give up sense enjoyment. One should control the mind and senses, give charity, speak truthfully, be clean and nonviolent. He should follow regulative principles and chant the holy name of the Lord. These practices certainly bring temporary purification. Thus they are like fire, for although fire clears away the dry creepers beneath the bamboo plant, the creepers grow back again at the first opportunity."

Prabhupāda:

tapasā brahmacaryeṅa śamena ca damena ca tyāgena satya-śaucābhyāṁ yamena niyamena vā

deha-vāg-buddhijaṁ dhīrā dharmajñāḥ śraddhayānvitāḥ kṣipanty aghaṁ mahad api veṅu-gulmam ivānalaḥ [SB 6.1.13-14]

So this is first-class human life. This should be the ideal of first-class human life. The first thing is tapasya, austerity, not extravagance. That is not human life. Tapasya. Tapasā means, generally, voluntarily accepting some inconvenience. And then brahmacarya. Brahmacarya means no sex life. According to Vedic civilization, the students, they are called brahmacārī. In student life there is no sex life. Then his brain will be finished. That is happening nowadays. From the student life they indulge in sex life. Therefore not very big men are coming now, because their brain substance is finished. So a brahmacārī is supposed to raise the semina to the brain, ūrdhvam-anti,[?] not discharge, but keep it on the brain. Then their memory becomes very sharp. Once heard from anyone, he will exactly produce, without any forget. Where is that science now? There is no such thing.

So to fulfill the human life, aim of human life, we have to become first-class human being. The first-class human being, ideal human being, is the brāhmaṅa. And the second class, the kṣatriya; the third class, vaiśya; and fourth class, śūdra. So at the present moment, Kali-yuga, kalau śūdrā-sambhavāḥ. In Kali-yuga there is no first class, second class or even third class. All fourth-class men, śūdrā-sambhavāḥ. So therefore they are unable to perform all these tapasya or brahmacarya. Then what is their hope for progress? That has been enunciated in the śāstra, Brahma-vaivarta Purāṅa, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us the formula that,

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

To make one's life successful, to reach to the goal of life, it is very difficult.

[break] ...that one can observe all these principles, tapasā, brahmacarya. Śamo damaḥ titikṣa satyam. Satyam means truthfulness. One should be so truthful that if a rogue comes to him and if he asks, "What money you have got?" he will say, "I have got so much money." This is called satyam. He will not conceal even to the enemies. That is called truthfulness. Everything should be plainly and truthfully presented. These are satyam. And śaucābhyām, cleanliness. Cleanliness means if you go to the latrine, the injunction is that you will have to wash your hands, legs, so many times. Not with water, but with earth. Nowadays it is soap. So if we cannot wash our hands and legs for many times, at least we should wash once or twice with soap. This is called śaucam. A brahminical qualification is he is very neat and clean, three times taking bath, and keeping the body very neat—cloth, everything. Where he lives, his bedding, his place—all must be cleansed. And yamena niyamena vā: sex control, mind control and senses control by regulative principles.

So we have to observe all these regulative principles if we want to become first-class man. And without becoming first-class man, nobody can understand what is God. That is not possible. Fourth-class man cannot understand. It is not possible. Brahma jānātīti brāhmaṅaḥ. A brāhmaṅa, or the first-class man, is he because he knows Brahman. He knows Brahman, what is God—even not perfectly well, but Brahman, the impersonal conception of the Supreme. This impersonal conception of the Supreme Absolute Truth is also brahma-jñāna, but that is partial. God is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [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.]

His form, His person... Kṛṣṅa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that "My dear Arjuna, you, Me and all these men who have come here, we existed like this in the past." That means we are all individuals, because when Kṛṣṅa was speaking in the battlefield, He is person, and He was teaching Arjuna—he is also person. And the soldiers and other kings, they are also all persons. So Kṛṣṅa says that "It is not that we are imperson in the past or we shall become imperson in the future." No. Just like, take another example, that before our birth, accepting this body, I was a person, you were a person. And according to our personal different activities, pious or impious, we have got this body. So I was person before the beginning of my this body, and after my death I shall remain a person, and I shall accept another body. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. 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 when I become imperson? Past, present, future—there are three different phases of time. So in the past I was a person, at present I am a person, and in future I shall remain a person. So where is the question of imperson?

This is spoken by Kṛṣṅa in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter, that "My dear Arjuna, it is not that we did not exist in the past. We existed in this way, and we are existing now in the same way, and we shall exist..." That means our personality is never lost. And therefore we see so many varieties of men; each one is a person. You cannot find anyone exactly similar to the other, because everyone has got his personal propensities. And according to the personal propensities and desires, Kṛṣṅa is giving us different opportunities, and that is different body. Karmaṅā daiva-netreṅa [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.]

Just like in the court, the..., everyone is judged as person, not wholesale. The judge not says that "Now all you have come here"—some of them are complainants and some of them are respondents—"so you stand together. I give this judgment." No. Everyone is personally judged. And everyone is given reward or punishment personally. So where is the question of imperson?

And in the Vedas it is said, nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām, eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

[The Supreme Lord is eternal and the living beings are eternal. The Supreme Lord is cognizant and the living beings are cognizant. The difference is that the Supreme Lord is supplying all the necessities of life for the many other living entities.]

God means He is also nitya, eternal, amongst the eternals. There are many... We living entities, we are many, plural number, nityānām. Nityānām means plural number, and nitya, singular number. So God is singular number person, and we are plural number. We are many. God is one, but living entities are many. Not that God also is many. No. God may have many expansion—that is another thing—but God is singular number. God is not plural number. Nityo nityānām. So what kind of singular number? That He is chief singular number. Just like leader. There are many followers. Take any example: in the classroom or here, a teacher is one, but the audience, they are many. Similarly, God is one, but the living entities are many. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām [Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13].

And what kind of living entity? Now, living entity means living entity, he is also living force. He is not dead. Just like just now we were talking that "God is dead." No. Nitya, cetana. Cetana means conscious, and nitya, eternal. We are also conscious and eternal. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg 2.20]. It is not that after we have..., our body is destroyed, we become destroyed. No. Na jāyate na mriyate vā. These things we have learned from Bhagavad-gītā. This is the position. We are many, and God is one.

So if we accept one God, then where is the chance of different religious system? God is one. God is neither Christian nor Hindu or Muslim or... No. God is God. Just like gold. Gold is gold. Either in the Hindu community or Muslim community, gold is gold. Because gold is there in some Hindu community, nobody says "Hindu gold." Does anybody say, "It is Hindu gold" or "It is Christian gold"? No. Gold is gold. Similarly, God is one. There is no "Hindu God" or "Muslim God" or "Christian God." This is mistake. "We believe God in this way," that is nonsense. No. God is one, and you have to see what is the characteristic of God. Just like when it is gold, everyone wants to see whether it is actually gold or imitation gold. That we have to see. There cannot be Hindu gold, Muslim gold, Christian gold. No. Simply you have to see whether it is actually gold, acceptable. That should be the subject matter of theology, to know actually what is God and to understand what is our relationship with God.

So that is stated in the Vedas, that God is also a living entity like us, as we are living entities, nityo nityānām. We are plural number; He is singular number. Then why He is singular number? Why not plural number? And what is the difference between singular number or plural number? That is also... Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān: "That eko, that singular number, is supplying all the necessities of life of all this plural number. That is God." He is maintainer, maintainer. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhā... We have got different types of demands on account of our different types of body. And who is supplying these necessities? That is God. That is God. Very simple definition: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. Find out somebody who can supply the necessities of everyone—He is God. Is it very difficult to find out who is God? This is simple formula: eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. We become charitable persons, but have we got any means that "Anyone who comes, I can give charity"? No. That is not possible. Therefore God's definition is given by the Parāśara Muni. What is that?

aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva sad iti bhāgamgaṅa [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47]

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

This is definition. What is that? Aiśvarya means wealth, riches. Everyone has got riches, some money, either at home or in the bank. So you may have two millions dollars; I may have ten dollars; you may have hundred dollars. Everyone has got some riches. That is admitted. But nobody can say that "I have got all the riches." That is not possible. If somebody can say that "I have got all the riches," he is God. That is spoken by Kṛṣṅa. Nobody has said in the history of the world. Kṛṣṅa said, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29]:

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

"I am the enjoyer of everything, and I am the proprietor of all the universe." Who can say that? That is God. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya. Samāgra means total, not that partial, that "I have got so much. Now I have distributed." I do not wish to mention by name—one artificial God, he was teaching his disciple, and the disciple was feeling electrical shocks. So unfortunately, I cannot give you electrical shocks. [laughter] You see? Electrical shocks, and he became fainted by electrical shock. And these are written publicly, and fools are accepting. Why teachers should give electrical shock? Where is that mentioned in the śāstra? [laughter] But these things are..., bogus things are stated. Electrical shock. And when he fainted, then the God was sitting, and when he got his senses, then the disciple asked God, "Sir, why you are crying?" "Now, I have finished everything. I have given you everything." Just see. Does a teacher finishes everything by teaching his disciple? These things are going on. So Kṛṣṅa is not that kind of God, that "I have finished everything." Pūrṅasya pūrṅam ādāya pūrṅam evāvaśiṣyate [Īśo Invocation].

[The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.]

This is definition of God. God is so perfect and full that even if you take all His opulences, still, He is full. That is God. Not that "I have finished my stock."

So intelligent man should learn what is God from the Vedic information. Don't manufacture God. Manufacture..., how we can manufacture God? That is not possible. So that is called mana-dharma. By mental concoction, mental speculation, we cannot create God. Here is the definition of God, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñcid jagatyāṁ jagat [Īśo mantra 1].

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

Idaṁ sarvam. Sarvam means whatever you see. You see the big Pacific Ocean. That is created by God. It is not that He has created one Pacific Ocean, therefore His all chemicals, hydrogen and oxygen, finished. No. There are millions and trillions of Pacific Ocean floating in the sky. That is God's creation. There are millions and trillions of planets floating in the sky, and there are millions and trillions of living entities, seas and mountains and everything, but there is no scarcity. Not only this universe; there are millions and trillions of universes. We get this information from the Vedic...

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi vibhūti-bhinnaṁ tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam aham... [Bs 5.40]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

Try to understand the opulence of God. Just like yasya prabhā prabhavato. Now, you can see. This is... Material science also accept that everything in this material world, they are generated by the heat and light of the sun. So as you have got experience on account of the sunlight the whole universe is going on—you have seen that machine, when that is heated, it is running—so similarly, the real shine is brahma-jyoti, brahma-jyoti, that impersonal Brahman. And in the impersonal Brahman there are... Yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi. There are millions of universes. As you have seen... You are daily seeing, on the sunshine there are millions and trillions of planets floating, on account of the sunshine. They are rotating, everything. Similarly, the original sunshine is brahma-jyoti. What is that brahma-jyoti? Yasya prabhā [Bs 5.40]. It is the rays from the body of Kṛṣṅa, Govinda, just like the sunshine is the rays of the body of the sun-god. That we can see. If you do not see sun-god, at least you see the sun planet. So similarly, Kṛṣṅa is there, and there is a Kṛṣṅaloka planet. And the Kṛṣṅaloka planet is, I mean to say, distributing the shining. You see the sky is bluish because the rays of the body of Kṛṣṅa is also bluish. And that is reflected in each universe. Therefore we see the sky bluish, Kṛṣṅa's color.

So in this way we have to understand what is God. God is not a petty thing, that He dies, or one is manufactured by meditation, he become God. This kind of God has no value. God is always God. Kṛṣṅa, when He was a child, He had no opportunity to meditate. He was a child playing on the lap of His mother. And when Pūtanā came and wanted to kill the child, the small child God, He killed Pūtanā, a big demon. So even He was at that time three months old, still... And not only Pūtanā, many other demons. And then, when He was six- or seven-years-old boy, so at that time there was crisis in Vṛndāvana, and He lifted the Govardhana Hill with His finger. This is God. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya 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.]

God has got unlimited strength. You have seen in Kṛṣṅa picture: Kṛṣṅa is killing so many demons. That horse demon? Keśī, Keśī. Kṛṣṅa simply pushed His hand in the mouth of the horse. Because to control a horse means he control his mouth; then you can control the whole big animal. So immediately the horse came before Him, He pushed His hand within the mouth of the horse, and the horse began to feel it is red-hot iron. So this is God. Aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ.

So apart from we are not seeing personally, but we have heard it, but personally, at least, we can see one thing: how Kṛṣṅa is great. Because aiśvaryasya samāgrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ, jñāna. Śrīya, beautiful. No more... Nobody can be more beautiful than Kṛṣṅa. Śrīya, śriya means beauty. You see here Kṛṣṅa, how He is beautiful. So He does not become old. Nava-yauvanaṁ ca. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam ādyaṁ purāṅa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

He is the oldest person because He has created everything, but He will never look old. You will never see Kṛṣṅa's picture as old man. These are the definition of God. God, nobody can be richer than Him, nobody can be stronger than Him, nobody can be more beautiful than Him, and nobody wiser than Him even. That proof we can see: Bhagavad-gītā was spoken five thousand years ago, and still Bhagavad-gītā is worshiped as the best book of knowledge. This is the proof. So God does not depend on anyone's proof. But if you want to prove whether He is God, you can get. That you can get. Therefore we should accept Kṛṣṅa as the Supreme God. It is stated in all śāstras, and Arjuna also, who listened Bhagavad-gītā from Kṛṣṅa, he also accepted. After hearing Bhagavad-gītā, he said, paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān, puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam [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.]

So our process is to follow the predecessor. The Arjuna, he accepted. Not only Arjuna—"Arjuna may be His friend. He might have accepted his friend as God." No. Kṛṣṅa is accepted by the greatest learned scholar, Vyāsadeva, and greatest saintly person, Nārada. That is... Vyāsadeva writes in his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that "I have given description of different incarnation of God." He has given so many incarnation. At last, he concludes that "Although Kṛṣṅa came as incarnation, but He is not incarnation. He is the incarnate. From Him, all incarnations come." Ete cāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ 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.]

As soon as you say "incarnation," the next question will be, "Whose incarnation?" That Vyāsadeva explains, that Kṛṣṅa's incarnation. Kṛṣṅa is not incarnation. Kṛṣṅa is personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the statement of Vyāsadeva, the most learned. He is accepted the most, actually. Who can be more learned than Vyāsadeva in this material world? Nobody. You can see his writing, Bhāgavatam, how exalted, scholarly. Nobody can write such verses at the present moment. It is not possible. Each and every word is full of meaning and so nicely set up. Therefore it is said, vidvān cakre sātvata-saṁhitām: "The vidvān, the most learned Vyāsadeva, has given us the sātvata-saṁhitā."

So if we want to know, everything is there; but to understand, that will require a separate brain. That is recommended here. You create your brain, tapasā, first of all austerity. You cannot create your brain by doing nonsense things. That is not possible. You have to control: śamena damena, tapasā brahmacaryeṅa [SB 6.1.13].

[To concentrate the mind, one must observe a life of celibacy and not fall down. One must undergo the austerity of voluntarily giving up sense enjoyment. One must then control the mind and senses, give charity, be truthful, clean and nonviolent, follow the regulative principles and regularly chant the holy name of the Lord. Thus a sober and faithful person who knows the religious principles is temporarily purified of all sins performed with his body, words and mind. These sins are like the dried leaves of creepers beneath a bamboo tree, which may be burned by fire although their roots remain to grow again at the first opportunity.]

These are the process to create a brain to understand God. Otherwise it is useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8].

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

It is simply laboring for nothing. So this is the recommended, that treatment. That is also not sufficient. In the last, Śukadeva gives an hint that "This kind of purification, by tapasā brahmacaryeṅa], is like veṅu-gulmam ivānalaḥ [SB 6.1.14]." Veṅu-gulma, veṅu-gulma means the dried creepers and grass. You can set fire. In India, or here also—I have seen in London—they set fire, and all the dried creepers and grass become... But what is the purpose of saying veṅu-gulman ivānalaḥ? Veṅu-gulmam ivānalaḥ means that superficially we see that now it is burnt into ashes, but the root remains there. As soon as there will be rain, waterfall, they will come out again. So the whole process is how to become detached from this material world. So this, even if you practice this tapasya, it is not completely able to finish these attachments. Therefore it is said, veṅu-gulmam ivānalaḥ.

So we can finish this material attachment only by worshiping Kṛṣṅa. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ-prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam [SB 1.2.7]

[By rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṅa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.]

The practical example is here in our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, that our students, simply by executing devotional service to Vāsudeva, they have become free from so many sinful activities. That is the particular. So this should be introduced, this system, so that people at the present moment, they may become purified and make their advance in progress to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is back to home, back to Godhead. That is wanted. So na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṅum [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

They do not know what is their self-interest, ultimate goal of... Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ. They are thinking by adjusting the external, material things, they will be happy. No, that is not possible. Durāśayā. It is called durāśayā, hopeless hope. It is not possible. Dur means it will be very difficult to fulfill the āśayā, the hope, that "We shall be very happy in this world and enjoy senses without any interruption. Now let us make some United Nation program and we will be happy." It will never be happy. Be sure.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]