Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.39

Anantarām Śāstrījī: [chants verse; Prabhupāda and devotees respond] [break]

naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṅṭha-nātha samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram kāmāturaṁ harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṅārtaṁ tasmin kathaṁ tava gatiṁ vimṛśāmi dīnaḥ [SB 7.9.39]

[00:38]

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Translation: "My dear Lord from the Vaikuṅṭha planets, where there is no anxiety, my mind is extremely sinful and lusty. It is sometimes so-called happy and sometimes so-called distressed. It is full of lamentation and fear and always anxious to get more and more money. In this way my mind has become most polluted. It is never satisfied, and therefore I am very fallen and poor. In such a status of life, how will it be possible for me to discuss Your activities?"

Prabhupāda:

This is our position. This material world and the spiritual world, the difference is very nicely explained here. One place is no anxiety; in another place it is simply full of anxiety. This is the difference. [aside:] Ask them.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja in another place has said also the same thing. When his father asked him, "What is the best thing you have learned, my dear boy, from your school?" so he immediately addressed his father as asura-varya. Why? Now, because this thing, free of anxiety, is not understandable by the asuras. They want anxiety. They'll create such situation, they'll put themselves in anxiety and try to come out of it. That is their heroic activities. This is the difference between the asura and the sura, devatā. The devatās, or the devotees... There are two different types of men. One is asura, and the other is devotee, just like Prahlāda Mahārāja and his father Hiraṅyakaśipu. These two types of men are there in this world. And the difference we can see, that Prahlāda Mahārāja is simply satisfied with Kṛṣṅa. Prahlāda Mahārāja says, naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṅyās tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ [SB 7.9.43]. Prahlāda Mahārāja, when he saw Nṛsiṁhadeva, very fierceful... Even mother Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune, who is constant companion of the Lord, she also became afraid, and what to speak of other demigods like Brahma, Lord Śiva and Indra and so many others? All of them became afraid. Nobody could approach Him, He was so angry. But Prahlāda Mahārāja said that "I am not afraid." He said, "I am not afraid." Naivodvije para duratyaya-vaitaraṅyās tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna-cittaḥ.

A devotee who is always absorbed in the thought of Kṛṣṅa and His activities... We are therefore presenting Kṛṣṅa and His activities. This is our Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. All these books which we are distributing and publishing, what is this? This is Kṛṣṅa and His activities, that's all. Tvad-vīrya-gāyana-mahāmṛta-magna [SB 7.9.43]. So if you simply read our books very carefully, then immediately this disease of heart palpitation, anxiety, will cease. Because on account of the dirty things, product of this tamo-guṅa and rajo-guṅa... That is disturbing us. We are covered by the tamo-guṅa and rajo-guṅa, rajas-tamaḥ. So rajas-tamaḥ means greediness and lusty desires. This is rajas-tamaḥ. So we have to... If we actually want to become free from anxieties, then we have to learn how to kill this, or how to avoid this anxiety due to rajas-tamo bhāvaḥ [SB 1.2.19].

[As soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy.]

So first of all we have to try to come to the platform of goodness. There are three platforms: tamo-guṅa, rajo-guṅa and sattva-guṅa. So immediately we cannot come to the pure sattva-guṅa, śuddha-sattva. Sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vāsudeva-śabditam [SB 4.3.23], vasudeva platform... Just like Vasudeva is the father of Kṛṣṅa, so there is vasudeva platform also. Unless one comes to the vasudeva platform, there is no question of Kṛṣṅa, because Vasudeva can beget Kṛṣṅa, or Vāsudeva. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti [Bg 7.19].

[After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.]

So actually we have to come to the platform of Vasudeva, vāsudeva-śabditam, and that is śuddha-sattva. But it is not immediately possible. Therefore gradually, from the platform of tamo-guṅa and rajo-guṅa, we have to come to the sattva-guṅa. Or in other words, we have to acquire the qualities of a brāhmaṅa. Therefore this is initiation, how to bring one to the platform of brāhmaṅa. Catur-varṅyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṅa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ [Bg 4.13].

[According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable.]

So this is necessary. From this material platform to come to the spiritual platform one has to become a qualified brāhmaṅa.

So this process, that we first of all accept anyone who is prepared to chant, we accept to give him hari-nāma—what is the idea? The idea is that he'll gradually become brāhmaṅa. Of course, chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra is beyond the position of brāhmaṅa. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt [SB 10.1.4]. This chanting of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra is meant for the nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ. Nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ means one who has finished all kinds of desires, all kinds of material desires. For him. Nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānāt. But for the ordinary man, bhavauṣadhi, even it is meant for the liberated person, chanting Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, but still, those who are not liberated, if he chants, then he becomes cured from the material desires. Kāmāturam. Material desires... Kāmāturaṁ harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṅārtam. This is material desires. We are full of lusty desires, kāma, kāmāturam, and therefore you are distressed. Our distressed condition is due to lusty desires, kāmāturam. And the result is harṣa-śokaḥ. When we can fulfill our desires—"I am very much inclined to a woman or a man"—kāmāturam, lusty desires, if we can fulfill, then it is very nice, harṣa: "Oh, I am very successful." And if you cannot fulfill, then śoka. The two things are there. Śoka, there are so many things. We have got practical examples. The so-called loving affairs of man and woman ends in even murder. We have got experience. So śokāturam. The lusty desires means for the time being it may be very happy condition, but the result is śoka. It will end. Either illicit sex or legal sex, the end is śoka, śoka, lamentation. There are many examples, practical.

So this kāmāturam, this lusty desire, is not good. Either you do it legally or illegally, the result is śoka. That we must understand. Unforunately, although the result... Everyone knows practical experience, that nobody has become happy by these sex affairs. There is a Urdu word, they say dilli ka lugdu, yo khāyā abhipastāyā yo na khāyā abhipastāyā. The meaning is, "There is a lugdu"—you know lugdu, of course—"lugdu which is known as dilli ka lugdu. So this dilli ka lugdu is so dangerous, one who has eaten it, he's also lamenting, and one who has not eaten it, he's also lamenting." [laughter] Dilli ka lugdu ya khāyā abhipastāyā ya na khāyā abhipastāyā. So this man and woman connection is dilli ka lugdu. One who has married, he's also lamenting, and who is not married, he's also lamenting. So this is the thing. The śāstra also says... Not only... Any experienced man will say like that, that "Both ways, it is simply lamentation."

Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says that tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṅā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ [SB 7.9.45].

[Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Gṛhamedhīs, so-called gṛhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The kṛpaṅas, the fools who are just the opposite of brāhmaṅas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhīra, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals.]

Tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṅā. There are two classes of men: kṛpaṅa and brāhmaṅa. The opposite word of brāhmaṅa is kṛpaṅa. Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṅaḥ. This life, human life, is meant for understanding Brahman, the Absolute Truth. So a person who has understood what is Brahman—ahaṁ brahmāsmi—so he is called brāhmaṅa. Anyone who understands Brahman, he is brāhmaṅa. Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṅaḥ. And one who does not understand, he's kṛpaṅa. In the Upaniṣad also it is said, etad viditvā yaḥ prayāti sa brāhmaṅaḥ, etad aviditvā yaḥ prayāti sa kṛpaṅaḥ [Gargopaniṣad]. This human life is meant for understanding Brahman—athāto brahma jijñāsā, Vedānta—simply meant for understanding Brahman, such a nice life, human life, not cats' and dogs' life. In everywhere the same thing is repeatedly said. Ṛṣabhadeva says, nāyaṁ deho deha-bhājāṁ nṛloke kaṣṭān kāmān arhati viḍ-bhujāṁ ye [SB 5.5.1]:

[Lord Ṛṣabhadeva told His sons: My dear boys, of all the living entities who have accepted material bodies in this world, one who has been awarded this human form should not work hard day and night simply for sense gratification, which is available even for dogs and hogs that eat stool. One should engage in penance and austerity to attain the divine position of devotional service. By such activity, one's heart is purified, and when one attains this position, he attains eternal, blissful life, which is transcendental to material happiness and which continues forever.]

"This human life is not meant for acting like the pigs." Kaṣṭān kāmān arhati. So it is meant for becoming a brāhmaṅa. And one who does not become a brāhmaṅa—become a pig—he's kṛpaṅa, kṛpaṅa. Kṛpaṅa means he got the chance of becoming a brāhmaṅa, but he remained a cat and dog and pig. That's all. Kṛpaṅa. And if I give you, say, ten thousand rupees, that "You take this, do some business and be happy," but you could not do anything, simply kept the money and see it or spoil it, then you are kṛpaṅa. You could not use it. And there are others who can increase.

So we got this human form of life, we could..., we are advanced in consciousness, and if we increase this consciousness to the ultimate goal, Kṛṣṅa consciousness, then our life is successful. And if we could not do it—we remain in the same cats' and dogs' consciousness, kāmāturam... Just like a dog is lusty dog, one dog, one female dog, and dozen of dogs is after her... You have seen nature's instruction. So that is kṛpaṅa life. We should not spoil our life by becoming a kṛpaṅa. This Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement is trying to raise the standard of the human society to become brāhmaṅa from the position of kṛpaṅa. This is the attempt. It may be a teeny attempt, humble attempt, but our aim is how these dogs and cats will become brāhmaṅa. This is our aim. We do not want to keep them in the position of cats and dogs and pigs. This is our attempt.

So we may be successful or not successful, but our endeavor is very, very great. We should always remember that. Because these kṛpaṅas... Na tṛpyanti. Kṛpaṅa... What is that?

yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ kaṅḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṅā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ [SB 7.9.45]

The kṛpaṅā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ, they know, "After the sex I'll have to meet so many botherations," either illicit or sex. Either you get so many diseases, syphilis and this, and from syphilis so many other disease, up to madness, up to leprosy, one disease after one disease, one disease. This sex... The sex syphilitic disease is called in India by the Āyurvedic physician as phairāṅga-roga. It has come from the Western country. I do not wish to discuss, but the point is that illicit sex has many, many aftereffects who is not very nice. And even it is legal sex, there is also botheration. If there is no botheration, why they are killing their own child? There is botheration. Sex life is botheration. Therefore it should be controlled, undoubtedly. And the last control is to become a sannyāsī, bās. Āra nare bāpa: "No more," that is called.

So whole Vedic civilization is to reduce this propensity, kāmāturam. That is Prahlāda Mahārāja's recommendation. Because if we remain kāmāturam, sexually inclined, then we'll be subjected only to these processes, harṣa-śoka-bhayaiṣaṅārta. In this way we shall be always disturbed. And it will be not... Disturbed mind, you cannot think of the Absolute Truth. That is not possible. The mind must be peaceful. But there is one very easy method to control the mind from these disturbances. What is that? The yoga system means the control the disturbed mind. Yoga indriya-saṁyamaḥ. Real yoga means to control the mind and the senses. That is yoga. Because without controlling the mind and the senses, there is no question of spiritual advancement. That is not possible. Without controlling the mind, there is no question of spiritual advancement.

Therefore Kṛṣṅa advised to Arjuna that "You practice yoga," in the Sixth Chapter, "so that you'll be able to control the mind." But Arjuna said that "Control the mind is very difficult for me, Kṛṣṅa. I cannot practice this yoga system." Cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṅa pramāthi balavad dṛḍham [Bg 6.34]: "Mind is very restless, and it is very difficult to control." Tasyāhaṁ nigrahaṁ manye vāyor iva suduṣkaram: "I think to control the mind is still more difficult than to control the wind." Nobody can control the wind. So Kṛṣṅa... Arjuna said, "Even though I am able to control the wind, I cannot control my mind, it is so strong." So Kṛṣṅa recommended... Kṛṣṅa not discouraged Arjuna. Arjuna is a family man, and he went to the war field to gain his victory. So everyone is engaged in some such engagement, occupational duty—brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, vaiśya—in this world. And so mind is very difficult to control. But Kṛṣṅa gave the easy method:

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ mad-gata āntarātmanā śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ sa me yuktatamo [mataḥ] [Bg 6.47]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

If you can keep Kṛṣṅa always in your mind, then the whole thing is solved. This is easiest. So chant always Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa...

Devotees: ...Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Prabhupāda: Then this kāmāturam mind will be controlled, and you'll not be subjected to this harṣa-śoka-bhaya. This is the secret. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that in the Kali-yuga it is very, very difficult to come out this kāmāturam position. It is not possible. But if you chant the holy name of the Lord Hari, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalam, kalau... [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.]

Devotees: ...nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā.

Prabhupāda: So the verdict of the śāstra is the same everywhere in a different way. The perfection of life is, Prahlāda Mahārāja says, that tava kathāsu vikuṅṭha-nātha. One should be interested in kṛṣṅa-kathā. We are interested in so many kathās. Because we purchase newspaper in the morning, so big volume, so many kathās are there. And we read many material dramas and novels and fictitious stories and killing stories. We are very much attached to these. All these kathās, means stories, we are interested, but we are not interested in kṛṣṅa-kathā. Means I am interested in kathā, that is my nature, but it has become perverted on account of being contaminated by this material world. This is our position. Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja said that naitan manas tava kathāsu vikuṅṭha-nātha samprīyate durita-duṣṭam asādhu tīvram. Because it is so polluted, asādhu, dishonest and bad, everything, whatever... The mind is dirty, full of dirty things. So in another place it is said, śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ, hṛdy antaḥ-stho abhadrāṅi [SB 1.2.17].

[Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.]

This is abhadra. The hṛdy antaḥ-stho, within the core of heart, there, so many nasty, dirty things. That is the material contamination.

So it can be, I mean to say, avoided, or cleansed. Ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanam [Cc Antya 20.12],

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has assured. The whole process of education and advancement of civilization is how to cleanse the dirty mind. Why it is dirty? Kāmāturam: the lusty desire and greediness. So we should always remember this, that mind is the best friend and the worst enemy. If it remains kāmāturam, the worst enemy, and if it is Kṛṣṅa conscious, the best friend. So we have to control this mind. And that is very easy, as Ambarīṣa Mahārāja did: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṅṭha-guṅānuvarṅane [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

We have to fix up. This arcana-vidhi for kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, everyone... The temple is meant for gradually making the mind thinking of Kṛṣṅa. You'll come to the temple, you'll see the Deity, you'll see Kṛṣṅa, you'll think of Kṛṣṅa, and if you increase... That is the system. Every man, every woman, used to go to the temple. This is our Vedic civilization, to make the mind Kṛṣṅa conscious, always Kṛṣṅa conscious. And then it will be possible to cleanse the mind from this... Yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor nava-nava-rasa-dhāmanudyata rantum āsīt. If you make your mind fixed up in Kṛṣṅa and think of Kṛṣṅa's activities—tadāvadhi mama...

yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor nava-nava-rasa-dhāmanudyata rantum āsīt tadāvadhi smaryamāne nārī-saṅgame bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca [Śrīla Yāmunācārya]

This kāmāturam mind will be cleansed. Not only be cleansed: if you think of sex, you'll spite on it. This is Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda! [end]

Photos from those days in Māyāpur441

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