From fictional enjoyment to spiritual enjoyment through explanations, exponents and experiences – Hindi
And check then we will. Thank you. Hare Krishna.
Hare Krishna. So today we will discuss on this topic how we can reach Atmaranjan from Manoranjan or how we can reach enjoyment in the imaginary world to the spiritual world. In the first verse of Bhagavad Gita chapter 7 Bhagavan says mayy asatmanah partha yogam yunjan madhashrayah asamshayam samagraham yatha gyan sisi tashranam means mayy asatmanah that how you can make your mind attached to me I will tell you this method.
yogam yunjan madhashrayah that through this yoga madhashrayah you can take my refuge and you can get knowledge about me that asamshayam samagraham you can get knowledge about me like you can reach samshayam through that your mind will be attached to me So in today's society what is the value of society we can understand through one thing that what is society we can understand our values by what we value by what we value means for which thing a person gives a lot of money for which thing a person spends a lot see that for society what is most important valuable we can understand that so in today's society who earns most money which profession people earn most sorry doctors ok CA builders ok politicians actors cricketers ok everyone can earn a lot of money but we can see most people who earn money are entertainers people who entertain others they earn most money doctors earn a lot of money that is true but a doctor who has broken his leg that doctor can't earn that much money that a person can earn by kicking a ball a football player can earn that much money so in few days a documentary about his life a movie is coming many of you will go to watch so the students of Prabhupada who made this movie are Dubar Prabhu and Vishakha Mata when they were making this movie I met them 2 years back they are trying to make this movie now by the grace of Prabhupada and Krishnaji we were discussing how the historical person who has existence in history when they make when they make a movie about his life so many times they put drama in it so there are 2 types of movies one is documentary and other is biopic documentary means based on a false life so some serious people watch that documentary the biopic is based on a person's life but it is not the real life they put a lot of drama in it so a person's life will be that much entertaining or not but when they make a movie what they have to do they have to show that they are entertaining people so we were discussing about the life of so many times they make a documentary about politicians about sports stars so now few years back in India there was a boxer from north east India Maricom they made a movie about him so that boxer the money he earned by boxing that actress she made a movie about him so she earned money here in real life she did a big thing but people don't appreciate her when she is entertaining people appreciate her now if so much money is being given to actresses then why is it being given someone is giving money but people are giving money why are people giving so much money because they feel so much need of entertainment entertainment is so important for people they feel whatever happens I will give money for it in many countries in Europe, New Zealand, Australia they are called welfare states welfare states means if a person can't get a job can't earn money then government gives money for maintenance till you don't get a job government will maintain you so when this happens some people don't work and live on government but in this many times when people don't have money for entertainment then they get stuck in bad habits and many times a person was watching youtube and other videos on internet and he kept watching for 72 hours and he got so obsessed with it he got so obsessed with it that for 72 hours he forgot to eat he forgot to drink and for 72 hours he fell unconscious he had to go to hospital so many times people get so obsessed with entertainment that they forget their physical needs now many times in India entertainment has two main paths one is Bollywood and second is Cricket so entertainment is we need self satisfaction we have to be satisfied we have to be happy so our life our life is on three levels physical, mental and spiritual now when we live on physical level on physical level most of the time we are not happy sometimes we are sad sometimes we are happy but most of the time we are not stimulated let's say a person lives on physical level he will eat a lot he will enjoy he will eat but how much can he eat he will eat more we can't eat for 24 hours so our body has a limit we can't eat without it so if a person has a goal in his life that I want to eat tasty food and that is the definition that is happiness so what will happen when he is getting tasty food he will be happy when he is getting bad food he will be sad but most of the time what will happen we can't eat because our stomach is full so when we live on physical level most of the time most of the time our life becomes boring because there is no happiness no matter what we do how much happiness can we get so in modern society boredom is a very big problem the entire entertainment industry the entertainment industry has been called boredom industry the people who are bored they have to avoid boredom they have to get rid of it right now life has become boring what does it mean if we are living on physical level and on physical level there is nothing interesting in life what to do so then we go on the level of mind on the level of mind we can go on two ways we can imagine in their mind we can imagine so I will do this this will happen but what is it our imagination is limited so on the physical level if we are getting bored suppose if you find this discourse boring then what will happen you will think today was slugger cricket match what will happen this is this so our mind will go somewhere for something more interesting but our mind imagining in something interesting our capacity is limited so the entertainment industry what does it do which brings the capacity of imagination of many people together to make a show and then in that show our mind gets engaged so we are sitting in our house but we are watching a movie we are watching a sports match now entertainment is not a bad thing sports is not a bad thing but when here people become compulsive about this people people become very dependent on it so it becomes a cause of problem on the physical level we are not excited we are not happy so we go to the mental level and when we go to our mental level then our mind troubles us so we can do two things with our mind the mind is agitated by two things agitated or activated by two things by fear and desire that mind sometimes gets excited by fear and sometimes by desire so now we are sitting in one place and everything is boring so then our mind will go let's do this let's do that let's do that and when people don't have any work to do when we are working doing some work at home in which we have to concentrate then our mind doesn't get a chance to go there because we have to concentrate on our work but when we sit comfortably so during our spare time our mind works overtime when we start relaxing then our mind starts working and mostly when people are worried that this will happen, that will happen this is wrong, that is wrong that happens when we are working responsibly it doesn't happen when we are working when there is no work and we are sitting comfortably then our mind starts working and many times why do people go to entertainment it's not like that entertainment is so attractive the thing is to be at your own level is so scary that we go in someone else's imagination so what is happening here when the mind needs some relief actually we need relief we are imagining so the mind needs some relief so there are many channels on TV so one of my friend is in the TV industry he is telling that when people watch TV when do they become the most attentive when do they become the most attentive most attentive many people are watching this programme many people are watching this programme but actually while watching the programme people are not that much attentive when they are changing the programme so people are more attentive while surfing channels than while watching channels because this is the nature of the mind that I will get something better than what is in front of me I will get something better with that feeling it keeps moving it keeps running because of this when we are getting entertainment so what is happening the inner peace or happiness we don't get there we get that only at the level of the soul at the physical level at the physical level life is boring at the mental level we at the level of our own mind we get distracted so we try to get someone else's imagination but what is there that is a pain killer because that relief is there till we get it but after that my mind came back my life came back and I have to face it if a person is sick in pain then pain killer is not bad pain killer can be necessary but if a person thinks I will cure everything with pain killer then it becomes a big problem because pain killer is not curing the pain it is just covering it in the same way when we get stuck in entertainment then what is happening in our life we are not able to pay attention to it we are not able to work on it so this pain killer if a person is taking a lot of pain killer and is not taking medicine then what he has to do he has to increase the dose of pain killer because the disease is increasing from inside so increase the dose of pain killer increase it so in the same way if we see the history of entertainment so 100 years ago 50 years ago 20 years ago 10 years ago now now entertainment is increasing more and more so the action 50 years ago there was a movie one hero and two villains were fighting now what happens entertainment is a big building it explodes it is fun it is fun so what has happened our emptiness from inside has increased I was telling you that in India there are two main sources of entertainment one is cricket and the other is Bollywood so these two are big pain killers so 10 years ago these two pain killers got married and then they had a child who is he IPL in IPL Bollywood stars also come and cricket stars also come and everything has been accelerated now in one month IPL how much money is spent on that with that money all the hungry people in India we can give them food for a year we spend so much money why because from inside people's life is so empty that to remove some excitement is needed and that excitement when it reduces like if the pain does not go from the pain killer then take more dose take more dose so like this we are increasing the excitement more more so our life is physical, mental and spiritual on all three levels on the mental level we can go to the imaginary level and this imaginary life in that in that many people get stuck and in that they try to get maximum happiness of their life in reality the soul that soul is spiritual and soul's eternal relationship is with God now many people say we don't believe in God who has seen God now ok, who has seen God this is right some say God did this he lifted the mountain he did miracle, no miracle can do like this so then ok, if you believe that he can't do like this, this is not possible this is not natural but those people who tell themselves that you are having superstition remove superstition but those people later will give speech against superstition will go to their house and then what will go to their house and see a cartoon in which there is a batman, spiderman in which there are different kinds of imaginary people now what is that there is a character half man, half spider half bat where is it logical where is it rational but they take pleasure in that so if you don't believe this why are you taking pleasure in that this is imaginary why are you taking pleasure in imaginary if it is imaginary so in reality attraction to the supernatural is natural for the human heart attraction to the supernatural which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is which is they get shelter in imaginary life the more imaginary life they get in real life they get in real life now some imaginary characters like Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter or some movies like science fiction characters like Krish when such characters are made they don't become one character the whole industry is made from that character and people start living in that life people make their whole world like here the purpose of all this is to understand that the thing which we are trying to achieve which on spiritual level we can get the real satisfaction which we can get on mental level we are trying to find it in imaginary things some people will say no we are taking interest in imagination this is your Harry Potter, or Batman, or Superman. This is your imagination, this is our imagination. And what you call God, is your imagination.
So, we take pleasure in our imagination, and you take pleasure in your imagination. No, there is a lot of difference in this. We will see three main differences in this.
That, if someone says that the Leela of God is also imaginary, this is also imaginary. So, no, how can we understand the difference in this? With three things. One is, I call this as a triple E. Explanation, Exponence, and Experience.
Explanation. When we listen about God, when we chant about Him, when we try to concentrate on Him, So, in reality, what is the purpose of our life? What do we really want to achieve in life? We get an explanation for this. That we are a soul, a soul has an eternal connection with God.
And in connecting with God, we are going to get eternal bliss. So, in this way, we get an explanation for the meaning of life. But, when we take pleasure in the material world, what is there in that? Stop thinking to start enjoying.
Stop thinking, just enjoy. So, what is there in this? What is the meaning of life? What is the ultimate value of life? There is not much emphasis on this. There is no explanation in this.
It is told in Shastra, Bhagavad Gita says, Bhagavan, in Chapter 10, Verse 41, यद्यद्विभूतिमच्छत्वं श्रीमदूर्जितमेववं तत्तदेवावगच्छत्वं ममतेजो अम्शसंभवं यद्यद्विभूतिमच्छत्वं Whatever you see attractive in this world, that attractive thing, where has it come from? It has actually come from Bhagavan. It has come from Bhagavan. So, if there is a big sports star, a big film star, where is that person's attraction coming from? A person is very attractive for a few years.
For a few years, his attraction is high. And then later, he dies. His attraction is actually coming from Bhagavan.
A wise person can see the relation of everything with Bhagavan. Once, there was a person, he went to the temple, I went to him and asked him to tell me how we should be grateful to God for everything. Whatever happens, we should be grateful to God.
After that, he went for shopping. He parked his car and came back after shopping. He saw that his car keys were lost.
What should we do? Oh God, help me. I want to go home quickly. I don't have my car keys.
What should I do? It was evening time and there were not many people there. Suddenly, a man came on a motorcycle. He looked like a goon.
He stopped there and asked him what happened. He said that his car is locked. I don't know how to open it.
Can you do something? He said yes, I can. He took out a screwdriver from the side pocket of his car. He turned the screwdriver and opened the car door.
The man said, thank you very much. You are so nice. You helped me a lot.
The man said, I am not a good man. I have just come out of jail. I have been released from jail.
Do you know why I went to jail? Because I stole a car. The man folded his hands and said, Oh God, you are so kind. You sent a professional to help me.
I am so happy. When we see God only as a portion of our life, we see that God is a part of my life. I go to the temple and I think of God.
and I do bhakti of Bhagwan, I do puja in the morning. So when we see Bhagwan as just a part of our life, then we cannot be more stable in bhakti. Because, okay, this is bhakti of Bhagwan, the rest of the life is my own life.
But those who are aggressive in bhakti, those who are progressive in bhakti, they can see the relationship of everything with Bhagwan. So many times, it can get stuck in our mind, that when I do bhakti, what is bhakti? I can watch a movie, I can do something else, I can do some other entertainment. And on one hand, the pleasure we get from entertainment, the happiness we get, we get it a little more easily.
So what we do in bhakti, we cannot get it so easily. So we feel that these two are contests. Should I do this or that? And as long as we see this bhakti, which in a way, gives pleasure to the soul, and physical things, which give us pleasure, we see these two as contests.
Should I do this or that? Till then, our bhakti will remain unstable. Sometimes we feel we should do this, sometimes we feel we should do that. But if we understand tattva gyan, then we will understand that the pleasure I get from entertainment, the happiness I get, where does it come from? The actor who acts so well, the singer who sings so well, where does it come from? Their power, their talent, comes from Bhagwan.
There is only one ambition of Bhagwan. And in reality, when someone is in deep darkness, if it is very cold in a dark night, and he is wandering in the jungle, and there he will see a spark somewhere, here it is a little light, here it will be a little hot, and he will go there. And in comparison to that darkness, that spark is definitely hot, there is some light in it, but that spark's light cannot give the person peace of mind.
That spark's light cannot show the person his entire path. So whatever entertains us in physical things, what is that? That is like a spark. And the real fire, which is like the sun, that is Bhagwan.
So whatever entertains us, it is not that there is no joy in it, there is a little joy in it, but that is the joy of moments. And how is that? It is like a spark's light. It is like a spark, it is like a spark, it is like a spark, and the entire source is Bhagwan.
To the extent that we get attracted to Bhagwan, then whatever joy we get in entertainment, that and many times more joy, we will get in Bhagwan. But for this, we have to purify. Before purifying, let us see what happens in entertainment.
Whatever is entertaining, for some time it seems entertaining, after that slowly, it becomes boring. Leave it. We need something else.
We need something else. Because it is like a painkiller. We get a little relief, but later it becomes so painful again.
So that is why we need more energy, we need more energy. So Bhagavad Gita says, यत्तक अग्रे अमृतो पमं परियामे विश्मव Suppose, someone gives us a glass, and tells us to drink sweet rice. A glass full of sweet rice.
Great. We drink it. And what is there in it? Only on top, there is a little sweet rice.
And below, there is bitter gourd juice. We drink it. We drink it.
What is this? How has the taste changed? But, that person holds the glass and says, drink it. I won't leave you. No, I don't want to drink it.
Drink it. Drink it forcefully. So, what happens is, when we enjoy physical things, first it feels like a bitter gourd, but later, it feels like poison.
Now, bitter gourd juice is also good. It is good for health. But it is poison, and nothing good comes out of it.
On the contrary, the spiritual bliss is the ultimate result of the spiritual bliss. At first, it feels like poison, but later, it is the ultimate bliss. Why is it poison and ultimate bliss? Because, our mind is very attached to something.
So, it finds it very difficult to leave it. Regarding this, the third point, I will talk about it later. But, here, I said, the imaginary and spiritual, so, what is the difference? We discuss this on three points.
The first was, what was it? Explanation. What is life? What is the purpose of life? What do we really want to achieve in life? We are not going to get the explanation of this from any imagination. We are not going to get it from any imaginary thing.
For that, on the spiritual level, the scriptures that have been told, not only the divine play has been told, but also the spiritual knowledge has been told, so that we get to know the ultimate purpose of life. The second is, exponents. Exponents means, those who teach it.
Those who tell about it. So, those who make imaginary characters, so, what do they do? If we see their life, so, their life is not special. They are materialistic, some make Harry Potter characters, some make Spiderman characters, some make Batman characters, and after making those characters, they earn a lot of money, and after earning money, they do a lot.
So, imagining, and making decisions from imagination, is actually a profession for them. They can be very high in that, they can take a lot of pleasure in that, but their own life, is only on the material level. So, they take advantage of imagination on the material level.
But, those who are teachers of spiritual knowledge, if we are great saints, if we see about their life, so, in reality, to tell about God, they have given up everything. The creation of imagination, many times, a character creates one, and then, that character, the author, the poet, the one who has created the character, they enjoy it, they earn money from it, they enjoy different things from it. That character is a profession for them.
But, those who tell about God, they dedicate their whole life for it. The great saint, after giving up his whole life, he tells about God, listens to it, recites hymns, so, he is enjoying it so much, that he doesn't need anything else. If we see the character of the great saints, they are selfless, they are compassionate, they are humble, they are beyond material things.
भक्ति परीशानु भवः विरक्तिर अन्यत्रच्य। Bhakti gives us the experience of Parish, it gives us the experience of God, and what is the result of it? विरक्तिर अन्यत्रच्य। So, from other things, one becomes selfless. And then, the third thing in this, what is it? Experience. Experience means, the person who creates something imaginary, be it Harry Potter, or Chris, or any imaginary character, no matter how many movies he watches, no matter how many novels he reads, no matter what he does, he can go into that imaginary life.
That imaginary life is always imaginary. पर जब हम भगवान के बारे में चर्चा करते हैं, भगवान के बारे में शरून करते हैं, उससे हमारे चेतना विकसित होती है, और धीरे धीरे हम, उससी जीवन में हम प्रवेश करते हैं. So, the spiritual knowledge, doesn't just offer us another worldview, it offers us another worldview.
Another worldview means, अच्छा कि एक दूसरी तरह से आप जीवन देख सकते हैं, वैसे नहीं, एक दूसरी जगत है, जिसमें हम प्रवेश कर सकते हैं. आध्यात्मिक ज्ञान जो है, वहां हमें मनोरंजन के लिए नहीं बताय गया है, it is not just for entertainment, it is for entering into, उसमें हमें प्रवेश करना है। बगुरन बताते है कि जो मेरे कर्म्ज चनीतीति तत्वतह समचता है, वास्तव में जनानता है कि किया होता है? मेरे धान को प्राप हुआता है, आरे जलतिं वापस नहीं होता है. So, the attainment of God is not something that can be experienced only at the end of life.
The attainment of God, the presence of God, can be experienced only when we are progressing in this life. As it is said, भक्ति परेशानु भवा विरक्ति रण्यत्रुच्य। We can see that when we hear about the story of God, when we talk about the divine play of God, its effect is that we get attracted to it gradually. And the more we get attracted, the more the interest in many things does not remain.
The joy of it does not remain the same. I was in Australia, in Sydney, there was a devotee, he was telling that he was very interested in music. And when he was growing up, he used to come to the temple and do kirtan.
But later, the culture there, he said, why should I do kirtan? There is so much music in the world, there is MTV music, there is this music, I want to see that. So, when he reached his teenage, when he was 15-16 years old, then what happened? Then he left all the bhakti, he said, you have put me in such a narrow world, you have closed it, I have experienced the whole world. So, when children reach their teenage, then what happens? They change completely.
Parents say, I was such a good, small, young child, where did he go? Who has come for him? He does not talk, he gets angry, he lives in his own world. What has happened to him? So, what actually happens is that, in the teenage, a person is trying to find his identity. When we have small children, our identity is that, our parents are like this, I am his son, I am his daughter.
When we are adult, what is adult? Proud is like old, right? Tarun, not young, okay, you all know what is adult. So, when we are 25-30 years old, then we have our own identity, that I have done this degree, I have this job, I have this house. So, in childhood, our identity is based on our parents.
When we become adult, we have our own identity. So, when a person comes in teenage, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 years old, what has happened till then? He has become so big, that only on the basis of his parents, he is not satisfied with his identity. So, I should have my own identity.
But till now, he has not achieved so much, that he has his own identity. So, what is it? He is not satisfied with his previous identity, but he has not achieved his new identity. So, what happens? At that time, whatever identity he can get, he accepts it.
So, what happens sometimes? Someone says, if you smoke, then you will become a man. What is the relation between smoking and being a man? There is no relation. Okay, it is cool.
I want to be cool, and in the name of being cool, I become a fool. So, when there is peer pressure, it happens a lot. Some time ago, there was a game called Blue Whale Challenge.
In that, many young boys committed suicide. And what else? They were told different things, that now you do this, do this, do this. And that thing, it was not a good thing.
They were told, cut your body, do this, do that. Now, who will do like this? But, all those people, are trying to find their identity. And, when they think, how will I get my identity? I earn so many marks, so I am a topper.
No one can recognise me. In my school, I am a very good batsman in cricket. I am the first in athletics.
Whatever it is, people are trying to find their identity. Now, there is social media, people are trying to find their identity. I posted my picture on Facebook, it got so many views.
I had a photo on Instagram, it got so many views. I am so big, I have so many friends on Facebook. So, we all need our identity.
And, when a person plays a game like Blue Whale Challenge, he is trying to find his identity. I completed this challenge. If I complete this challenge, he will kill himself in the end.
But, in search of identity, we can destroy our identity. This is such a mental disorder. When the mind likes something, I have to do this, then, that person gets so addicted to it, he can go crazy, that he does not know what destruction is happening to him.
So, why was I telling this? Because, the devotee, the son of this devotee, he went completely into music. And, he went into big music. Then, he started playing music himself.
He went into concerts. And, once, he went to a concert. He spent a lot of money to go to the concert.
And, he went to the concert, and was sitting there. And, suddenly, he started playing drums. What is this concert? This is all nonsense.
This is all noise. There is no music in this. Everyone is screaming, shouting, playing drums.
What is this? Suddenly, he remembered. When I was going to the temple, I was doing kirtan in the temple. Kirtan is so sweet.
In comparison to that, what is there, there is nothing. And, because of that, he changed. He came to the temple.
Now, he has become a very good kirtanier. And, he makes his videos on YouTube. He does kirtan.
And, he is very interested in kirtan. So, what happened here? That experience of kirtan, that is why, he did not get satisfaction from it. What is there? Our mind, is always dissatisfied.
Even if we are taken to heaven, there, the mind will say, it's good, but, it's good, but, this is also needed, this is also needed. The mind, no matter how many good things it gets, it will not be satisfied. The nature of the mind is like this.
And, why is it like this? Because, the mind, for many lifetimes, in the search for happiness, is experiencing many things. And, by experiencing so many things, the mind has come to know, that there is no happiness in anything. That is why, what is it? Whatever we are experiencing, the mind is not interested in that, what is the next thing to get? And, we are seeing this, what is the next thing? So, in many worlds, most of the, pleasure, is in the anticipation of the pleasure.
Mostly, what is the happiness? This happiness is going to get, happiness is going to get. That is where the happiness is. So, when we are doing bhakti, the nature of the mind is still there, which is the creator of all, Lord Krishna.
And, the greatest happiness is in Him. But, we have enjoyed a little in so many things, and a little more, and we want something new, something new. So, the mind is in Lord Krishna too, for a while it is there, and then it says, I want something else, I want something else, But if we keep focussing on the Lord Krishna, then the experience we get from that, we compare that experience with other experiences.
This experience is unique. Now sometimes, this realisation, this experience of physical things first, then we can come to spiritual things. If we come to bhakti as adults, then what happens? We have experienced a lot of things, then we experience spiritual things.
But the people who are born in the family of devotees, the children, they have not experienced a lot of things. They have experienced spirituality since childhood. So in front of that, you feel that this is a new thing, I have to experience it.
So they go to experience it. But the taste of bhakti still remains. And because of that taste, a person is attracted to it again.
So for now, the experience of bhakti that we have, that this is happiness, that such happiness is nowhere else. This happiness is the best happiness in bhakti. So this happiness, this is what Kulshekhar Maharaj is telling.
And we have not experienced it yet. Not experienced means, we have experienced the happiness of bhakti. We have also experienced the happiness of a lot of things.
But our mind has not yet understood that this happiness is good, that happiness is not so good. So we feel that we have to experience this, we have to experience that, we have to experience that. But the difference is that if we do bhakti at the level of intellect, first a little poison is applied, if we go ahead of that poison, then what happens with that? Later, the nectar in it is the eternal nectar.
And that nectar will remove all the emptiness, loneliness, negative feelings in our soul. With entertainment, we cover up the emptiness inside us for some time. But with self-entertainment, with bhakti, when we connect with Bhagwan, then we completely transform ourselves.
And this transformation, when Prabhupadaji propagated it all over the world, he gave an opportunity to the whole world. And he has given this opportunity to all of us. When Prabhupadaji was going to America, when he was in Vrindavan, he had nothing.
Vrindavan. Prabhupadaji had some gurubhais. And when Prabhupadaji was in Vrindavan, he told a shopkeeper, he was a shopkeeper in Vrindavan, that Bhaktivinoda Swami had come to me once.
He was saying that I am writing a book about Bhagwan Krishna. But what happened is that the refill of my pen is over. And I don't have money to buy a new pen.
I don't have money to buy a new pen. He said, I am not asking you for a pen. You just give me a refill.
And I will buy a refill. So when Prabhupadaji went to America, one of his disciples was Haigriva Prabhu. He met his disciple later.
He wanted to serve him. He said, should I type something for you, Prabhupadaji? Prabhupadaji said, yes, definitely, come. So he opened his entire almirah.
And the whole page was written from bottom to top. And what do we usually do when we write? We leave the left margin, right margin, top margin, bottom margin. So Prabhupadaji did not leave any margin.
He wrote from left top to right bottom. Why? Because he did not have paper. So this is how Prabhupadaji was writing.
So when Prabhupadaji had written hundreds of such pages, and at that time he did not even know whether anyone would read this book or not. He did not even have the hope of publishing it. There was hope, but there was no way to publish it at that time.
But still Prabhupadaji kept writing, kept writing. Why? Because he was seeing that he was doing it for the glory of God. He was doing it for the service of his Guru.
He was doing it for the service of his Guru. And he was happy in that. Even if no one had even read that book, still Prabhupadaji was completely satisfied in the glory of God.
He wanted this glory of God to reach the whole world. But he was not dependent on it. If Prabhupadaji just wanted to publish his book, then he could have done it in India as well.
When he had written some books before Bhagavatam in India, he was praised by the President of India, by the Prime Minister of India, by Dr. Radhakrishnan, by Lal Bahadur Shastri. So Prabhupadaji could have written many such books. But Prabhupadaji left all that and went to America alone.
Why? Because he did not just want to write books. He wanted to do the glory of God in such a way that people could be attracted to God. And when he did this, then in the last ten years of his life, he did such a great publicity in the history of the world.
There was a scholar of religion in the Pashupati country, Thomas Hopkins. He says that there is no such person in the history of the world. Who is such a religious leader, a religious leader, who has gone far in his old age, to such a country where he has never been before, and in the last ten years of his life, he has made an international organisation.
There is no such person. He says that Bhaktindranath Swami's achievements are unique in the history of the world. He says that in this case, fact is stranger than truth.
The imagination is more interesting than the truth. We can get pleasure from the physical level to the imaginary level. But when we are in Bhakti, even if our life is miraculous, but the real miracle of Prabhupada's life was not that he made 108 temples, wrote 70 scriptures, went around the earth 14 times.
This was not a real miracle. It is definitely a miracle. But Prabhupada's miracle was that when he was going to America, he had no money.
He did not know if anyone was going to come to meet him. There was no support from the organisation. He had a heart attack.
He was on the verge of death. What was his emotion then? Oh God, I am your servant. It is my interest to listen to your Leelas.
And I want to give this interest to others. He was not praying for his own health. What did he pray for? He did not need anything physically.
Because on the spiritual level, he was completely content with God. Similarly, when we do Bhakti, then gradually, whether we are on the physical or mental level, there can be pain on the physical level, there can be worry on the mental level, there can be happiness on the physical level, there can be entertainment on the mental level. But beyond all this, we go to the level of Bhakti, we go to the spiritual level through Bhakti.
And there, the bliss that is there, the bliss that is told in Bhagavad Gita, the bliss that is told in Bhagavad Gita, Rishami cha mohor moho, Rishami cha punha punha, this is the bliss that is there every moment. This is the ultimate goal of life. And this can be the highest attainment of life through Bhakti.
In the last lecture, today we discussed how we can reach from Amaranjan to Atmanjan. We can take interest in spiritual things rather than in imaginary things. So, we can understand the value of a society, for whom it gives value.
In today's society, those who are entertaining, they get the most money. Why? Because people find entertainment so important. Some people forget to eat their food because they want entertainment.
Why? Because the mind is completely empty from inside, hollow. Life has no meaning. Life has no real pleasure.
So, our life is such that we should go from physical to mental to spiritual level. But due to materialistic society, people have left spirituality. And there is not much enjoyment on the physical level.
That's why, when we live on the physical level, we get bored. And to get rid of this boredom, the real medicine is Bhakti. But if we don't know the medicine, we take a painkiller for entertainment.
And what happens with this painkiller? The pain goes away, but it comes again. When it comes again, we take a lot more dose of painkiller. So, the entertainment is getting more and more intense.
But in reality, it doesn't get any higher than this. So, as long as we see entertainment and Bhakti in a spiritual form, it will remain in our mind. But when we understand that the joy in entertainment in reality is a drop of the joy in Bhakti.
It is a spark. God is the whole sun. So, we can concentrate on Bhakti.
So, the imaginary joy and the spiritual joy, the spiritual character of God is not an imagination. There are three differences. What are they? The first one is What is the purpose of life? What is the essence of life? Based on this, based on tattvajnaan, what we understand, is not understood in entertainment.
The second one was exponents. Those who give attention to the scriptures, who tell, who describe, we see their life, we see their character. And those who do the work of entertainment, those who create entertainment, they are materialistic and they are materialistic.
And those who believe in God, they give up everything materialistic and worship God. So, they don't need anything materialistic. The joy they get, they have to give it to the world.
And the third one is experience. Through Bhakti, we can experience the divine joy. So, our mind, because it has been dissatisfied for a long time, even if we worship God, we are still dissatisfied.
So, we have to look at the level of our intellect, that even though here, I find it a little tasty, I find it poisonous, but if I keep on worshipping, I will get the nectar later. In contrast, if we keep on entertainment, first there is a little nectar, but after that, there is a lot of poison. When we keep on worshipping with one intention, then slowly, slowly, we will get this nectar permanently.
And, when we do Bhakti, then internally, in Prabhupada's life, externally, his life was miraculous. But, even though our life is not that miraculous externally, but internally, in remembrance of God, in service to God, we will get such joy that, we will also get such inner satisfaction, which we cannot get from anything in this world. Thank you very much.
Shri Prabhupada Ki Shreemad Bhagwat Gita Ki Gaur Bhaktivinda Ki Gita Gaur Preman Deh Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And, now, our new year is yet to come, which is 2018.
So, our calendar for this year has arrived, for 2018. So, we would like to welcome Prabhupada Ji. Thank you.