KC- The real help to society

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I will speak four points about what is Manoseva, Manoseva thing.
First is how the compassionate feeling to help others is very noble and good. Second is how social service, Manoseva, falls short. Third is how Manoseva sometimes becomes counterproductive.
And how Krishna consciousness, last point will be, offers service at all levels. Certainly, a person who wants to do social service, who wants to help others who are suffering, is a noble person, much better than the ordinary person who just wants to exploit and enjoy everything for his own good. In fact, if we see giving charity is considered a very noble activity.
Charity is considered very noble and good in the Vedic tradition and in all traditions. And to help others is a natural, noble human quality. And those who have it in the selfish materialistic age of Kali are certainly very special souls.
So, the desire to help others is noble. And in fact, even among spiritualists, there are two kinds of spiritualists. There are the, to some extent, self-interested spiritualists who go to the Himalayas and they just focus on their own liberation, their own spiritual deliverance, and they don’t care for others.
So, Prahlad Maharaj says, I do not want to be this kind of spiritualist. He says that those who want to go to the Vijnana, Vijnana means the place where no people live, and they want to follow a vow of silence so that they will not become contaminated by the social materialistic people. They are interested only in their welfare.
They are not concerned about others. He says, I don’t want to be a spiritualist like that. Rather, I want to take all these people home back to Godhead and only then I want to go back.
So, compassion is a noble quality. And those devotees who have that compassion and want to help others, save others from suffering, they are considered more advanced spiritualists than those who want their own deliverance. The second point is, yes, we want to help others.
And if you see some small boy with a bloated stomach and matchstick-like arms, and he is begging for charity, and it’s just natural human compassion, I want to give him something. That is not at all wrong. That is glorious.
At the same time, a wise person will think more deeply and enquire, what is it that is putting this person, this child into this pitiable condition? I can give him some charity. I can give him some food. That is going to give him some temporary relief.
But why is he put in this situation? And is there something which we can do to save him and others from being put into such situations at all in the first place? So, we will analyse this at two levels. From the purely material level, and then from a deeper material karmic level. From the material level, there are states like England, France, and earlier even America, which are called as welfare states.
Welfare states means that if in these countries there is a person who does not get a job, the kind of job he wants, the kind of job he likes, he doesn’t get it, and he is unemployed, and the government says, it is our responsibility to maintain you, because you are our citizen. And this is what is called dole. So, if you are on the dole, then the government gives you a lot of money, but government gives you sufficient money to maintain yourself.
So, the unemployed people, so that they do not starve and suffer, the government gives them money. But there are many youths who take this unemployment benefit, and what do they do with it? Instead of using it for their food, clothing, shelter, they use it for drugs. They use that money, go high on the drugs, and fall unconscious in the streets.
So, the attempt for welfare does not lead to the desired result. If somebody starts a free hospital and cures somebody with a venereal disease, what is that person going to do? Again get that venereal disease. But venereal disease means sexually transmitted disease.
So, even if we want to help others, as long as people do not have control over their mind and senses, as long as people are controlled by sinful desires, our help will not help them. Our help is like pouring water in a leaking pot. I may get the satisfaction, I am pouring water, but actually there is no water in the pot.
There is a well-known incident, once a person started a hospital, free medical cure. And one day a woman came to his hospital and said, what benefit has your hospital done? What do you mean? My husband was an alcoholic, and every night he would drink alcohol, come home and beat me. And then he fell sick.
So, when he was sick, he was admitted in the hospital. And all day I was taking care of him, and somehow I was working, washing some vessels and things like that, and managing to provide food for our family. And he was getting free medicines and free treatment from the hospital.
So, when he was sick, he was sober. He was coming to his senses, but then he got the treatment, he got well, and now again he goes, drinks and comes and beats me. So, it is better for me when he was sick than when it is now.
So, although everybody may not fall in this category, in Kalyuga it is true that a large number of people fall in this category. So, therefore, let us be intelligent and think whether when I want to help, am I actually helping or harming the person? By the help that I am giving, if I perpetuate his sinful indulgences because of his uncontrolled senses, then how am I really helping? So, there are the givers of help and there are the receivers of help. The receivers of help cannot receive help as long as they are uncontrolled in their mind and senses.
And the givers of help will also not give help as long as they are greedy. Adi Shankar talked about this elaborately yesterday. There is a UNICEF statistic that the amount of money that the US and the EU, European Union spends on perfumes, on cosmetics, that is enough to feed all the hungry people of the world.
That means there is not a shortage of food or shortage of money. There is a shortage of compassion. There is an increase of passion.
So, now, if people are taught that they are the body and the goal of life is bodily enjoyment, then this is what they are going to do. On the other hand, if they are given spiritual knowledge, then they will start living simply and all the money that is used for cosmetics, that will be saved. This cosmetics is just one example, but there are many, many examples.
Earlier in the evening, I was giving an example of meat. So, many times starvation is caused not because there is a lack of food, but because of politics. There is an author, John LaPez Moore.
She has done a study of famines in Africa and she wrote a book called Food First, a well-known book. So, in this book, she says that for 20 years she analysed all the famines in Africa. Do you understand the word famine? Famine means a shortage of food.
Then she found that in every single incident within the borders of that particular country, where there was a shortage of food, there was adequate food to fulfil that shortage. But because of political tensions, political quarrels, the food was not, or because of economic interests, the food was not transferred to the needy. I saw one cover page of one Outlook magazine.
So, starvation, that was the picture, that was the head. And below, on the front page only, front cover, there was a big pile of potatoes and there was a hog, a pig walking on those potatoes. And below the subtitle, why are 10 million people starving in India, while 50 million kgs of grain rots in the godowns? 50 million kgs of grain rots in the godown and 10 million people are starving.
Why is that? Because people are greedy. When there is a shortage of food and the food merchants, if they give the grains free, the shortage can be rectified. But what they do? What is the use of giving it free? They don’t even give it at normal cost.
They just hoard it, and they increase the figure that there is no food, no food, and the prices increase, increase, increase, increase, and then they make more money. And in the process, poor people starve. During the Second World War, when the Japanese were attacking from the east, at that time, Netaji Bose had joined with them, and they were marching from this side, and when the Britishers had to retreat, so when they were coming through Bengal, at that time, in order that the invading Japanese troops not get any food resources, the withdrawing British troops just burned all the grains, all the livestock that was there in all of Bengal.
At that time, Bangladesh and Bengal was one. And eventually, Japan never reached into India. But in the process, there was stock, but it was all just burned.
And it was one of the biggest man-made famines created. Five lakh people died at that time. Five lakh people.
So nature had given grains, people had cultivated the grains, but politics. So now, this sort of my country, your country, my body, it has to be decorated. How can all this be solved? There has to be elevation of consciousness to the spiritual level.
Without that, our material efforts for helping people will not help. Because the givers of help will not want to give help, and the receivers of help will not be able to benefit from help. Those who could give help, instead of giving help, they are taking away the help.
Instead of giving food, they are manipulating and trapping the food so that people starve. So therefore, even from a material point of view, material welfare work, although noble, will not be effective unless there is transformation in people’s character. Transformation in the lives of wealthy people so that they become more charitable and compassionate.
And transformation in the life of needy people so that they become self-controlled and disciplined. So that’s at one level. Now, going deeper, if we understand from the karmic point of view, why are people put in poverty? That is because they have done past bad karma.
Actually, God is a very compassionate father, and he doesn’t want anyone to suffer. But sometimes we see ourselves that if a child is very naughty, the mother says, you will not get breakfast today. The mother is not being cruel, but the mother wants the child to become disciplined.
So, the starvation that is there, that is a result of sinful activity. And now, that doesn’t mean that we let the starving people suffer. That is their God’s desire, that is not God’s devotee’s desire.
But if we don’t offer people knowledge of why they are suffering, and just give them food, then we are actually going against God’s will, going against God’s plan. God’s plan is to reform them through that punishment, but instead of reforming them, what are we doing? We are letting them stay sinful, and we are giving them some material facilities. So, when Prabhupada was in Calcutta, he saw her suddenly, there was some screaming, and he looked out of his window, and he saw the neighbouring lady, she was beating her child, beating her daughter, very severely.
What happened? He went and asked. She said, you know, my small boy, he had a severe typhoid, and he likes pakoras very much. The doctor had told him no pakoras.
So, then, I had gone out to the market, and this girl, please get me some pakoras, please get me some pakoras. He thought, let me help him. And she went, and got a big bag full of pakoras.
And that boy just eagerly, really just gulped down the pakoras. And then, he was very happy, he was gulping it down, but after that, he vomited on the verge of death. Somehow, I came and rushed him to the doctor and saved his life.
So, that mother was beating her elder daughter, because in the name of helping her brother, she actually ended up almost killing him. So, yesterday, Rajashank was mentioning that, unless one is qualified, unless one is pure, if one tries to administer help, that help will be counterproductive. So, again, this law of karma doesn’t mean that we let starving people starve.
We help them, but along with that, we also give knowledge of God. So, if we don’t give knowledge of God, and we just help people at the material level, then we are perpetuating their sinful life. Therefore, a devotee is not hard-hearted, but a devotee is wise in offering the best possible help.
And, if we see further, from the point of view of law of karma, the law of karma is not something which is blind or insensitive. The law of karma is the manifestation of the law of God. And therefore, this law of karma offers suffering according to the misdeeds or deeds of a person.
So, if we think that, like there is one welfare organisation, now I am talking about a third point, where social service becomes counterproductive. Counterproductive means, far from having the desired effect, it has an undesirable effect. There is one social service organisation, I won’t mention names now, which is run by an atheist, and what is his slogan? God, in double quotes.
God sends calamities, we send relief. That means he is poking fun. What kind of God is that? There is no God.
God sends calamities, we send relief. That means we are better than God. What is your so-called God doing? So, this is terrible.
You see, from the material point of view, a person who is selfless and wants to help others is better than a selfish person who doesn’t care for others. But, if this selfless person thinks that he is better than God and becomes offensive towards God, then he becomes worse than the selfish materialistic person. Is this point clear? So, from one perspective, from the material perspective, the selfless, the social service worker is better than the normal people.
But, if he becomes envious and offensive of God, and what is God doing? What are these devotees doing? I am actually helping people. Then, he becomes actually more offensive and worse than the common people. Now, in India, if you see all the saints, you look at all the great saints who were Sant Tukaram was there in Maharashtra and there were so many other saints, Kabir, Tulsidas and so many.
How many of the saints opened hospitals? How many of the saints did social welfare activities, like opening schools, opening hospitals? See, they are glorified. They were having a treasure of happiness in their hearts and they shared that happiness and they lifted people to the highest spiritual level. So, this is Indian culture.
And Lord Macaulay, Lord Macaulay was the Governor General of India and he administered the policy of introducing English education and westernising the Indian intellect, Indian intellectuals. So, he says that, one of his very famous statements which he made in the British Parliament. So, he says, I have travelled all over the length and breadth of India and people of such calibre, I have not seen anywhere else in the world.
He says, not a single thief, not a single beggar have I seen in any part of the world, any part of India. Not a single thief, not a single beggar. So, India is not a poor country.
Britishers didn’t come to a poor country to loot it. India was fabulously wealthy. When India was living in harmony with God, following the principles of God Consciousness, then nature was providing profusely and Indians were sharing.
A village would be like an extended family and if somebody had some difficulty, somebody didn’t have, people would share that and that’s how they would live. So, Adityanath was talking about a giving culture. That giving culture was very much there in India and this Macaulay, who was a person who wanted to destroy Indian culture, even he had to admit that Indian culture is so glorious.
So, that’s with respect to the spiritual solution that if we transform people’s hearts so that they become compassionate, selfless, spiritually minded, sharing, giving, then that is the solution to the problems of life. Even at a material level. And then coming to the last point, how Krishna Consciousness offers solution to all problems.
Okay, the starving people are suffering. Yes, that is true. But are the hungry people happy? Sorry, are the well-fed people happy? What is that? Are the well-fed people happy? The jobless people are suffering.
Are the people with job happy? Yes, if somebody is, okay, hungry people are giving food, then what happens? He thinks, okay, what about next time? You give him a job. You say, why my job is only 3,000? I want 10,000. Your job is 10,000.
He will what? 50,000. I want to go to America. So, as long as a person has greed, he cannot become happy.
So, by doing material social service, what are we doing? We are not solving problem. We are just changing the form of the problem. The person was hungry and miserable.
Now the person is well-fed and miserable. Just like sometimes you get a, sometimes you have this thread tangle, another thread that you use for stitching. The thread gets tangled.
And it is all tangled and messed up. And you concentrate and pull this string, pull that string, pull this, pull that. One hour of hard work and you succeed in getting another tangle.
You do not disentangle it. So, social welfare work is like that. Now we just change the form of the problem.
Because as long as people are internally not satisfied, they can never be happy. So, many of you told the story of the lost child. The lost child, somebody gives him food, somebody gives him clothing, somebody gives him medicine, and somebody takes him back to his home.
Relatively speaking, taking him back to his home does not appear to be offering immediate relief. And taking him back to home will take much more time. Because the child has left his home because of some misconceptions about his father.
So, then this person will have to sit with him, talk with him, explain to him about his father’s glories, explain to him, clarify his misunderstandings. And then the child will become ready to go back to his home. So, that is what we are doing in Vairagya Chanting.
When we are discussing the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness, what are we doing basically? We are removing the misconceptions that the soul has about Krishna, by which he will become ready to go back to Krishna. Therefore, sharing this philosophy is actually the greatest relief work. Because that is what will offer lasting relief.
That by sharing the message of the Lord, what happens is, the blazing fire of lust, anger, greed and desire in the heart, that gets extinguished. And that alone solves all problems. So, now if you see, as devotees, we offer complete care.
It is not that we say, now you are a devotee, we will only care for your soul, we will not care for your body. No, for devotees there is complete care. What do you want? You want food, you want clothing, you want a house to stay, we will provide you everything.
And if you want to marry, Prabhupada says, we will provide you a good wife also. Nowadays there is an arrangement for that, and it is gone. So, it is not that Krishna Consciousness is only caring for the soul.
Actually, every person has physical needs, emotional needs and spiritual needs. And all of them are taken care of by the devotees, when they are offering their help to people. But then for whom can this help be offered? For those who want to be connected with God.
And this is the real service that will transform people in a lasting way. Henry David Thoreau said that one hacking at the root is more effective than a thousand hackings at the shoots. If there is a tree and you want to uproot the tree, thousand times you break the branches, what is going to happen? It will all grow again.
But one hacking at the root is more effective. So, what is this? What is the sharing of the Krishna Consciousness message? That is one hacking at the root. Sometimes people ask, why do you build big big temples? Why do you have such opulent prasadam? Yes, that is to attract people.
Now, if you say, why do you have such big big buildings? Okay, if really we are seriously asking about this, why big big buildings for God, then why a big building for the Prime Minister of India? Let him live in a hut. Why does he travel by plane? Why can’t he walk? Okay, he has to go, he has a lot of work to do, he can go by plane. But why does he need a big building, a big car, a whole fleet? Or why do wealthy people need big houses? This Prime Minister is just the ruler of one small country in one small planet, in one small planetary system, in one small universe among the millions of universes.
And Krishna is the source of Vishnu, who is Anantakoti Brahmandanayak. So, for this Prime Minister, there is a big palace, and for Krishna, you worship him under a tree. That is completely wrong.
So, if somebody is really serious, those people who say, why do you worship God so opulently? Ask them, why do you want to build a big house for yourself? First, talk. Actually, in India, many people talk about social service, but very few people do even social service. Many of your friends, they will say, you know, you should do social service, why are you wasting time in doing this Hare Krishna? But what are they doing? They are browsing on the internet.
They are not doing anything. But what happens by Krishna Consciousness is, when we have beautiful temples, when we have opulent prasadam, by this people become attracted. And when people become attracted, then they hear the message and their lives become transformed.
So, Vedic culture was such that, the best should be offered to the best person. God, Krishna is the best person, and when you offer the best to him, then people become attracted by that. And when people become attracted, then they hear and they become transformed.
You see, Prabhupada was in Singapore, and the devotees had arranged in Hong Kong, the Hilton Hotel. It was a very posh five-star hotel, and they had arranged a suite for him, for Prabhupada, and Prabhupada was staying there, and they arranged a press conference. And all the reporters from all the newspapers in Hong Kong came there for the press conference.
And in one conference, one reporter asked, Swamiji, you know, you are a nunciate, why are you living in this five-star hotel? Actually, Prabhupada replied, I can live under a tree, but if I had arranged a press conference under a tree, would you have come? So, they heard, oh, Hilton Hotel, let us go. So, this is required for attraction, and this is not something which Prabhupada concocted, this is what the Vedic culture is. The biggest building in the kingdom would be the king’s building, and bigger than that would be the lord’s temple.
Why? People see the size of the building. The king’s building is so big, and the lord’s building is bigger, that means the lord is a person bigger than the king. Therefore, we should worship him.
And that’s how people become attracted and transformed. So, Krishna Consciousness doesn’t mean that we don’t care for the body and mind, but we actually care for the soul. And like Radheshyam postulated yesterday, if people start chanting Hare Krishna, doing yajna, then Mother Nature, she doesn’t like her children to starve, but because they are killing other of her children, the animals, she is punishing them.
If people start reforming and living according to the laws of God, then Mother Nature will start providing. Many people ask, if you are hungry and starving, how can you chant the names of God? Okay, hungry and starving cannot chant, but are the well-fed people ready to chant? The well-fed people have their own excuses for not chanting. So, if we feed the hungry people, and then they become like the well-fed people who don’t want to chant.
And how is the problem solved? So, in Hindi we say, दुन्या में भोजन की नहीं, भजन की कमी है। Bhojan is there a lot. According to WHO statistics, there are 800 million people who are starving in this world, undernourished. And there are 1000 million, that is 1 billion people who are obese, who are overweight.
That means the problem is not lack of food, the problem is overeating. There are some people who are overeating, and other people who are not getting food to eat. So, therefore, if people start doing bhajan, people start chanting the holy names of God, then God will provide them food.
And like Radhe Shyam posted yesterday, Srila Prabhupada challenged that person, you follow the laws of God, we will provide you food. But the problem is people don’t want to follow the laws of God. So, therefore, what Krishna Consciousness is doing is, we are offering the best service to transform people.
And now all of you are engineers and in the future you will become influential people in society. If you go into respected positions in society, and then you can transform people. And then eventually, if the influential people in the society are Krishna Conscious, then they can also administer laws, they can pass policies by which people’s material welfare can also be taken care of.
But at the same time, we give them spiritual knowledge. But if we cater only for material welfare, then we are actually not helping them, we are just changing the form of their problem. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada would say that Krishna Consciousness is the one switch that illuminates everything everywhere.
One switch that illuminates everything everywhere. We get, by this one act of becoming Krishna Conscious, we get the solution to all problems. You may solve the physical problems, food, clothing, shelter, but what about the mental problems? Even the people who have food, clothing, shelter, all the software engineers, they have much more than food, clothing, shelter.
But they are so stressed and distressed. But you give them Krishna Consciousness, the body’s problems are solved, the mind’s problems are solved, the soul’s problems are solved. One switch that lights everything.
So, I’ll summarise. First point I said how is, the desire for helping others is noble. And even the spiritualists, they want to help others.
But then we discuss, secondly, how social service falls short. Because the receivers of help, because of uncontrolled senses in mind, cannot take the help. Like pouring water into a leaking bucket.
So, the alcoholic, that example, another example of the welfare states, UK and England. And then, not only that, the receivers of help don’t want to give help because of greed. Man-made shortages in Africa, famines in Bengal, the starvation in India.
There are grains which are rotting and outside there are people who are starving, hoarding. Then we discussed at the level of karma. When people are suffering because of bad karma, and instead of, we try to end the suffering artificially, without giving them knowledge of why they are suffering, then we perpetuate this sinful mentality, like giving pakodas to a person with typhoid.
Temporary relief, but long-term suffering. And then lastly, we discuss how Krishna Consciousness offers help at the physical, mental and spiritual level. So, it is slow, but it is sure and complete.
One hacking of the root is superior to thousand hackings at the shoot. Krishna Consciousness is the one switch that lights everything. The one process that solves all problems.
So, thank you very much. Yeah, actually there are a lot of questions. How many of you are coming to Kharagpur from here? Okay, how many of you are not coming? Okay, very few.
Yeah, we have a lot of questions and we will have a question and answer session over there, where all the questions will be answered. So, it is likely that you may have your own scooter and, you know, you may stay in a, in a 1BHK apartment, isn’t it? And then after some time, you become a, over a period of time, you are promoted and then you become a project leader. Naturally, you will be getting a Maruti car by the time.
And then you may also have a reason. You may say, now I am married or I have a child, you know, you can’t go in a scooter. You know, sometimes the dogs, dogs come on the way and they bite me when I am on a bike.
So, I better have a, you know, Maruti car. Then you may go for a 2BHK, isn’t it? And then you become an M2 manager or M1 manager in the company. Naturally, you go for a row house or a bungalow and maybe Santro car or maybe, then you gradually go for a Benz car, isn’t it? So, depending on how your salary starts becoming fatter and fatter, you are, three things you will see.
The type of dress that you wear, the type of accommodation that you live in, you know, and the type of food that you eat. Now, think about it yourself. You are not going to be simple.
You certainly will start improving the quality of your eating, your dressing, the items that you use and the accommodation in which you live in. Is there anyone here who may say that even if I become a CEO of a company, I will live in a 1BHK bungalow only? Is there anyone here? Oh, really? We have one, two. Let us see.
Time will tell. After you become a CEO, means you are the number one man in the company, chief executive officer of a company. You will continue to live only in a… And is there anyone here who may say that after becoming CEO of a company, I will go in a bike, bicycle or a bike? Is there anyone here? How many? One, two.
You have to note down the names. Is there anyone? Amal Pranthamu? I would like to check. You note down the names.
You have to go in a bicycle or a bike after becoming CEO of the company. Say, it may take you about 20 years to become a CEO of a company. Let us see how many of them go in bike.
You note down the names. You can raise the hand. Seriously, I am not joking.
Raise the hand. See, there is one man. Sometimes you become brahmacharis sometimes.
Those who say like this, that is why they are very confidently raising hand. So, you will see that as our position increases in the company, these things keep increasing. Now, as Sajithanand was saying, you find in India also, for example, if somebody is an MLA, you will see MLA, what type of car he comes in, how many people are surrounding him, and when MP comes or Chief Minister of a state comes or Prime Minister of India comes.
If you see, I heard that how much they spend money, one crore is it? One crore and how much period they spend at the other day? Who was saying the point? For the Prime Minister, they spend a few crores in a month for his security. You know that? For the security of the Prime Minister, they spend a few crores just for one person. And somebody was giving a detail about all the cabinet ministers of India, how many hundreds of crores are spent for these people in our parliament, for the cabinet ministers.
Why I was telling this, the more a person becomes bigger, all these things become more and more opulent also. And we can see that. We can see with our own eyes.
For example, Mahatlal, Rishikesh Mahatlal, for example, you know he has thousands of crores of company. For him to go in a Benz car is not a luxury. It’s a necessity for him.
But for a boy who is joining a company, who is a G.E.T., for him to go in a Maruti car may be a luxury. Correct? Correct? For example, coming to college in a car, as the person’s position increases more and more, naturally the things he uses also will be more and more finer. So, when it comes to God, as I was telling, if you go to Srirangam temple, the Gopuram of the Srirangam temple is the biggest in the entire Asia.
In the entire Asia, it’s the biggest Gopuram what we have now. Any of you have been to Srirangam? You’ve seen the Gopuram? Yeah, Ranganath temple. Very beautiful.
So, one of the very prominent leaders of India, anyway I have no fear to take his name, Nehru, he went to Srirangam temple and he saw the seven walls of the temple, such a big area. He saw that and he said, I wish there is a big industrial enterprise in this place instead of this temple, he said. He made that statement when he went.
He is the leader of a country, making such a statement, you can easily understand the direction in which the country is going. You can easily understand. So, the Ranganath temple is a very famous temple.
In the Ranganath temple, Lord Ranganath or Vishnu, who is lying in the Anantashesa, the famous prayer which we offer, Shantakaram Bujagasayanam Padmanabham Suresham Vishwadharam Gaganasadasam Meghavarnam Shubhangam Sakshmikantam Kamalanayanam Yogirudhyanagamyam Vanve Vishnum Bhavaveharam Sarvalokai Kanatham, beautiful deity, huge long deity which is worshipped by Vibhishan, originally. And currently it is in Ranganath, Ranganath temple in Srirangam. So, this great famous leader of our country made that statement, I wish there is an industrial enterprise in this place instead of this temple.
This goes to show his envy for Krishna. What is it? Envy for Krishna. Every living entity in this material world is envious of Krishna.
Otherwise he won’t be here. In fact, in Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says in the 9th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Vidam tute guhyatamam pravaksyami anasuyave jnanam vijnanasagitam yajnatva mokshishe ashubhadra. Krishna is telling Arjuna, my dear Arjuna, you are asking truths about me.
You are asking me to tell about myself. I am in front of you, I can speak very frankly about me, who I am. And I can tell all the truths about me.
Like Krishna is telling Arjuna, I am the taste of water. I am the light of the sun. I am the intelligence of the intelligent people.
I am the strength of the strong. In fact, in this creation, whatever beauty you find, whatever opulences you find, it is only a small spark of my splendour. And then in 10th chapter of Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives 88 specific opulences.
Amongst the animals in the forest, I am the lion, he says. Amongst the Rudras, I am the Akshiva. And amongst the warriors, I am Arjuna, he says.
And amongst the Adityanam, I am Vishnu. I am Vishnu amongst Adityas. Like that, 88 specific opulences Krishna gives.
And Krishna says, my dear Arjuna, I am telling these things very openly, frankly to you. Why? When I am talking about my glories to you, you will not feel envious of me. That is why I am telling you.
Because you are my devotee. You love me. So I can very frankly tell you about who I am.
But at the same time, when Krishna says this, he implies another thing also. When people read Bhagavad Gita and when Krishna says, I am the Supreme Personality of Godhead, everything emanates from me. There is nothing in this creation which has not come from me.
Everything has come from me only. When Krishna says all these things, some people immediately ask, why is Krishna so proud? Why is he so proud of himself? He says, I am God. I am this.
I am that. Why is he saying like this? Correct? There are many people who ask this question. For example, if one of you is studying in IIT, Kharagpur, like I was telling about Vishal Kaushal, isn’t it? Somebody asks him, so you are working in this software company, where did you study? He says, I studied in IIT, Kharagpur.
How many marks you got? I got 9.8 out of 10. Did you get any awards? Yes, I got President’s Silver Medal. They gave me.
Just see how proud he is. He is saying that he got Silver Medal from the President. He got 9.8 out of 10.
Studied in IIT, Kharagpur. Why is he so proud? He is just telling the truth. You only ask him, where you studied? Should he say that I studied in some Nakananda Mukananda College? He studied in IIT, so he is saying I studied in IIT.
Similarly, Arjuna is asking Krishna, Krishna, who are you? Krishna, I am God. Because he is God, he is saying I am God. He is telling the fact.
But because we are envious living beings, just see, Krishna is saying he is God. You see, this is our envy. One, in America they were selling the books, you know, and the devotees used to take a poster with them sometimes.
So, while the devotees were distributing some book, there was one very, some famous star, he saw the book, they showed him the book, he saw. Immediately he saw Krishna’s picture, there was Radharani’s picture on the side. He asked, who is this beautiful girl standing next to Krishna? You put my photo here, in this place.
He said, openly he said it. Can you imagine? How envious, you see. So, when we, when we see Krishna with the gopis, Krishna with Radharani, then people, the humanity become envious.
Why this fellow? He is supreme. Why this fellow is? Similarly, when we see a big gopuram, big temple, then we become envious. Why this fellow needs such a big temple? Actually, this is the original envy that has brought us to this material world, originally.
Krishna says that, In Bhagavad Gita he says, Two things. Icha means, desire to be separate from Krishna, desire to enjoy separate from him. We just don’t want to cooperate with him.
We don’t want to assist him. We don’t want to be subordinate to him. What do we want to do? We want to be separate from him.
You all know this particle sun story, isn’t it? You heard how he wanted to be separate from his father. So, we all originally had the desire to be separate from Krishna. Krishna, you have your planet and I will have my own planet.
I will have my wife, my children, my family, my estate, my business and I’ll be a hero in my own circle. Why should I cooperate with you? Original envy. This is the envy.
So, many people say, Oh, God is everywhere. We can worship God everywhere. What is the need of, you know, building a big temple? Oh, God is everywhere.
Can you see God everywhere? Do you have the eyes to see God everywhere? Or you are saying God is there in the hearts of everyone. Can you see God in the heart of everyone? Are we so advanced, Paramahamsa says, that we have premanjanacharita, we have eyes tinged with salve of love, you know, wherever we see, we see Krishna, Krishna everywhere. Sarvam krishna mayam jagat.
Are we seeing like that? These people who say, actually, these are envious people. Simply envious. Prabhupada used to say, simply envious.
That’s all. Simply envious. Nothing more than that.
Because, you know, Krishna can have 16,000 wives and I have difficulty maintaining one also. Simply envious. That’s all.
So, you see, envy means indirect appreciation. That is envy. Sometimes you see somebody in your class, he is too smart in sports, or he is too smart in studies, or he is too smart in dancing, or he is very handsome looking and so many girls are after him.
Then you become very envious. Why only he is attracting so many? What about me? So, we are indirectly appreciating him. Like if somebody is very smart in studies, you directly go to him and say, my dear friend, I saw you, how you are answering the questions and how you are firing the exams.
You are really smart. I congratulate you. And, you know, you are getting distinction, I am getting just pass marks.
Please give me some guidelines, how I can also get good marks. Then you will immediately dissolve that envy. One of the easiest way to dissolve envy is, whomever you feel envious of, go to that person and speak some polite, nice words to him and serve him and assist him.
And appreciating, you will see that envy gets dissolved immediately. Why? Because envy is indirect appreciation. Now, indirect appreciation, if you give it directly, then envy is dissolved.
Similarly, when you see Krishna, when you see Krishna is all beautiful, then you wonder, why I am not all beautiful? He is all wealthy. Why I am not all wealthy? You see, that is why, like, you know, many people say, just look at this Ganesha sitting at the banyan tree foot, you know, small temple they make. Why don’t you guys make temple like that? People ask.
Isn’t it in India, people ask? Why do you make such a big temple in ISKCON? You know, you ISKCON guys, you know, why don’t you make small, just see the Ganesha sitting under the banyan tree? People say, no? You have seen that? That means, you know, Ganesha has to sit under a tree and even if there are rains, he has to tolerate and whatever comes, he has to be under the tree and you will live in a very big palace. And as you earn more salary and you become bigger and bigger in the company, your house size will become bigger, your car size will become bigger, your, you know, your entourage, your people who salute you, the people whom you influence, that will become bigger and your number of branches will increase and your influence will increase, fame will increase. I will increase my fame, my money, my name, my entourage and everything and God will sit under a tree.
Poor fellow. Envy, simply envious. What is it? Simply envious.
That’s all. So, that is why Krishna tells Arjuna, my dear Arjuna, you are my dear friend and you become bigger and bigger in the company, your house size will become bigger, your car size will become bigger, your, you know, your entourage, your people who salute you, the people whom you influence, that will become bigger and your number of branches will increase and your influence will increase, fame will increase. I will increase my fame, my money, my name, my entourage and everything and God will sit under a tree.
Poor fellow. Envy, simply envious. What is it? Simply envious.
That’s all. So, that is why Krishna tells Arjuna, my dear Arjuna, you are my dear friend and when I tell about my glories to you, you will not feel envious of me. So, I can tell you.
So, becoming a devotee of Krishna means giving up envy. That’s all. Be simple.
Recognise God’s greatness. Recognise His supremacy. Recognise His love.
Recognise how He is so magnanimous. You see, we wanted to be atheistic. That is why we are sent to this material world.
Do you know that? Actually, some people ask, if God is there, why I am not able to see God? Why I cannot recognise Him? Actually, this material world is specially designed for atheists who wanted to forget God and do activities independent of Him. For them, it is designed, this material world. That’s why.
So, Krishna is so kind that He has sent us here and has given us, okay, whatever you want to do, independent programme, you do and I will supply you all facilities. Can you ever imagine? Will anybody do that for you? Like you are working for a company and then you tell the company, I have my own independent programme, which is not in line with the company. And the company gives you money, gives you material, gives you car, everything also.
Have you ever seen any company? Only Krishna company can do that. We have our own independently enacted activities and programme. And so, Prabhupada gave a beautiful example.
He said, sometimes a master is carrying a dog with a leash, you know, with a leash in the hand he is carrying. And this dog sometimes, you know, goes into one side and he licks some bones. Sometimes he goes to other side, he smells some stool or something.
Master sometimes sees. So, master is keeping the control in his hand and he also gives that freedom to the dog. Okay, sometimes he goes here, sometimes he goes there.
So, Krishna also, what he does, when we come to the material world, he escorts us as a super soul. He is there with us in our heart, sitting, standing by the side and taking us. Okay, you want to go to a monkey’s body, dog’s body, cat’s body, you know, worm’s body, sometimes human body.
Every body we go, he is also accompanying us. Can you imagine? Why accompanying us? Not like a policeman just to punish us, but he is accompanying us so that he can provide us facilities for our enjoyment in every life. Because in every body we need different facility, right? And he keeps avoiding.
Okay, you want to try this, try this. Actually, he knows the answer also. He knows that you are never going to be satisfied by trying different things in the material world.
He knows it, but he doesn’t force you to accept his opinion. He doesn’t say, foolish living entity, why are you trying like this? Don’t you know? I am Supreme Lord telling you that you cannot be happier. Come with me.
He doesn’t say that. If you want to try, yes, you try. How many lifetimes? Even if you want million lifetimes, he is patiently ready to come with you.
Life after life after life after life. Can you imagine? What a great compassion it is. And then at last after many many many millions of lifetimes owing to our envy for him, we go on with independently enacted activities.
We are very stubborn and very obstinate, refusing to turn to him and surrender to him. We are saying that I will do everything in this world except I am surrendering to you. That’s the only thing I will not do.
Why? Oh, I have to give up my ego. Why should I give up? Except that I will try all possibilities. That’s what the living entity does.
And he tries in many many lifetimes. Krishna says, after many many many many many lifetimes, at last the soul comes to his senses that I am not the supreme controller. I cannot control my own bubbles.
I have to run to the bathroom. I cannot control passing air. I cannot control my hunger.
I cannot control my thirst. I cannot control diseases in the body. I cannot control death.
I cannot control my ageing body. I cannot control my own body. What is the use of controlling wife, controlling children, controlling society, controlling nature? I can’t control anything.
I am not the supreme controller. Nor am I the supreme enjoyer. Nor am I the supreme proprietor.
I came with empty hand, going with empty hand. I don’t own anything. We come at a certain time and own the land for some time and then we leave it and go.
Somebody else owns it later. So one gradually comes to the realisation that Krishna is the supreme enjoyer. Everything belongs to Krishna.
And he is the supreme proprietor, supreme controller. One understands. After many many lifetimes, he is saying.
So, when we make a beautiful temple for Krishna and worship him, as Ajahn Chahar was saying, we should offer the best flowers to him. We should offer the best tunes, ragas, in glorification of him. And we should offer our kaya, bacha, manasa, everything, our body, our mind, our words, everything we should offer in front of him.
And he deserves that. Actually, there is a verse in Bhagavatam which says, it is not that Krishna needs all these things. Do you know that? He doesn’t need anything.
Why he doesn’t need anything? Because he only wants everything. Is there anyone here who can offer Krishna anything which he does not want? Everything is wanted by him. So Prahlad Maharaj told a very beautiful verse in the Bhagavatam.
He said, naivaatmanaprabhurayam nijalabhapurno manam janadavidushakarno vraneethe yathyajano bhagavate vidadhita manam tachchatmanepatimukasya yathamukasri He said, My dear Lord, if somebody takes a bindi and puts in their, you know, forehead, immediately the reflection in the mirror also gets a bindi. If somebody puts a kundal in the ears, immediately the reflection also gets the kundal automatically. Isn’t it? Whatever decoration you make for the person, that reflection also gets it.
Similarly, my dear Krishna, if somebody beautifies you, they become beautiful. And if somebody offers you, whatever they offer you, the person who is offering you only stands to benefit. And you don’t benefit at all.
He says, why? Because ultimately everything belongs to you. In fact, by serving you and surrendering to you, the living entity stands to gain. He becomes purified, he becomes advanced and he can attain the spiritual world.
Because who can do any favour to you? Who can be your enemy? Nobody can kill you, nobody can do any favour to you. For example, all of us, you know, sometimes your mother or father may say, hey, that uncle, you know, he’s the MLA. You go and meet him, he’s living in that town.
You know, go and meet him and come, go and give some gifts and come. Because now he’s the MLA now. Tomorrow if you want some, you know, something in society, you know, you want something, he will… So sometimes we want friendship with our relatives.
Why? We want some, you know, favours from them. Isn’t it? Or similarly, if there is an enemy in your community or society and you are afraid that they may attack your family or you or anybody, so we are always fearful. We go to a stronger person for seeking protection, correct? Or we seek police force or military force or whatever like that.
So we are… Is Krishna afraid of any enemy? Does Krishna need any favour from anyone? Not at all. And everything belongs to him, so what can anybody at all offer him, offer to Krishna in spiritual world or anything? So that is why Prahlad Maharaj says, if you do some service to Krishna, you only stand to gain. How is it like? For example, imagine if the, say, Shri Manmohan Singhji, Prime Minister of India, comes to your town.
So naturally there will be lot of barricades, lot of cars and 20 cars ahead, 20 cars behind and all that. So he says, I’m going to get out of the car and walk and he’s walking. Suddenly, you know, his shoes got torn and you have a big bata shop, you put a board and then our Prime Minister enters into your shop.
And then you stand for a moment, PM of India entering to my shop. Immediately you call your assistant, hey, get the camera immediately. PM has come.
So immediately he gets the camera and then you show, you show him different type of shoes, four, five different types, the best of the shoes you show him, right? He’s the PM of India, naturally. You may show a very costly shoe, you know. You may show something in 3000, 2500 or something like that.
And then he sees different things and at last he chooses one. I like this very much. He says, okay, sir, you can take it.
Are you going to give him a bill? 2099, 10.99? Will you give him a bill? Nobody will give a bill because it’s the PM of India. You can’t ask him any money. But then, you know, he wears a shoe and then while you are giving the shoe, you are telling your assistant, hey, click the photo quickly, you know.
While I’m here, I’m catching his, you know, hand, he’s catching my hand, you know, please, please. Some people stand for a long time. That fellow is not able to click properly sometimes.
So after the PM goes, immediately goes out, he has only few, few seconds with you. And then next day, you’ll put a big board, the shop which PM of India visited, isn’t it? Along with his photo, your photo, everything you put up and a lot of people will be attracted to come to your shop. So PM of India visiting your shop is a privilege for you.
Do you think that, oh, I lost that 3000 rupees, will you worry about it? No. Who stands to benefit, he or you? Huh? You only stand to benefit by his coming. That is the meaning of a great personality.
Now, the PM of India is like a mosquito in front of God, huh? But what is weak of God? If God is coming in someone’s life and saying, I will accept your service, it’s a great privilege. Morning, we are offering a flower to Radha Kunjubaiyari, for example. If Radha Kunjubaiyari says that, yes, I will accept this flower.
Great privilege for us. So, morning in front of Radha Madhav, we are standing with arms raised, we are dancing. It’s a great privilege to be allowed in front of such a big personality and he is ready to watch us and listen to us singing and dancing.
And he has so much time, can you imagine? Isn’t it? Is there any rich man who will allow you to chant and dance and wind up him for such a long time? Isn’t it? That’s what Advaita Acharya said once to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He said, my dear Lord, it’s such a great privilege to be standing in front of God, singing His glories. Because He is the number one person in the whole creation, whole universe.
Not just universe, in all the millions of universes. And He is giving us an audience. We go in front of Him, we bow down to Him, He is watching us, He is listening to us and then He eats the bhoga we give Him and He is giving it back to us in the form of prasadam.
So, one should actually give up this envy for God, understand His position and one should feel very happy when Krishna does great things. When Krishna is lifting govardhana hill or when Krishna is dancing on Kaliya, subduing Kaliya or Krishna is drinking fire, He swallowed the forest fire in Vrindavan and saved all the Gopas. Krishna is doing great things with folded palms, we should bow down at His feet and say, all glory.
Like they were saying in that Sivama movie we saw, long live Krishna, all glory to the King Krishna. They were glorifying. So, we have to beware of this envy.
We feel envy for even ordinary people, little people who are little above us, little above us. And you see the biggest person will feel the biggest envy also. Then we say, make a small temple under a banyan tree.
That’s how it comes. So, actually when we see the deity form of the Lord in a very magnificent temple, like if you go to Tirupati for example, Tirupati is on a hill, hilltop. Lord Balaji is residing there.
All the area around, people in the morning when they come out of their houses, they see like this. They look at the hill, they can hear, Kausalya Supraja Ramapurva Sanjaya Pravartate in the morning. Lord is woken up.
So, Lord is the master of our lives. One should look up to the Lord in the morning. That is why in the Vedic times, the Lord was given, actually Lord would come out of the temple in procession.
We have seen, when I was in South India, I have seen. You know, Lord used to come in procession outside. You know, when He would come out of the temple, people would go, they would break coconuts, they would offer the ghee lamp, they would offer agarbathis, they would offer garlands, people would offer flowers, incense, people would offer karpur.
And all, old, young, children, women, all people would come out. We used to have a 10-day festival, 10 days on different vahanas. One day Hanumantha Vahan, one day Garuda Vahan, one day, you know, horse.
Different days, different, different vahanas, Lord would come and He would break and around and all people would bow down and offer and the brahmanas would be chanting Vedic mantras. So why all this is done? Lord is the person who is the hero amongst all heroes. Nayakanaam shiro ratnam, Krishnaastha bhagavan svayam, it is said.
He is the hero of all heroes and all of us are His servants. So to love Him and serve Him is very natural for us. To be morose when we see Him and to feel envy for Him and to try to usurp His position and not cooperate with Him is completely unnatural for the soul.
Actually we have become morose in the material world. Why? Because we are envious of Him. We give up that envy, we will become cheerful, we will become very happy.
So the shastras say, how to give up this envy? We have to constantly hear about Krishna. yat anudhyasena yukta karma granti nibandhanam chintanti kovidastasya konakuryat katharati We have to develop katharati. We should develop the fondness to hear about Krishna.
And when we hear, actually sometimes we hear about Krishna, we feel asleep. We feel sleepy. Why? Because the mind says, because when you hear the glories of someone, the mind goes to sleep.
When you hear our own glory, he says, tell me more. What did you say about me? Immediately he has become attentive. If you go and tell someone, you call a boy privately, I come here and you tell his glory.
Yes, tell me more. And he tells some more glory. Even more, tell me more.
And then you tell him more. Why are you telling me alone? Go and tell everyone about me. Tell him publicly about me.
One feels like that, isn’t it? And you tell the glories of Krishna. Oh, Krishna is so beautiful. Krishna is so intelligent.
Because we are tired of hearing about Krishna. Actually, I am also no exception. I am also with everyone.
Actually, we all have the difficulty to hear the glories of Krishna. But Parishad Maharaj told Shukadeva Goswami, seven days, seven nights, he didn’t eat one morsel of food. He didn’t drink one drop of water.
And he told Shukadeva Goswami, please don’t cut short the pastimes of Krishna. Tell elaborately. Don’t think I have not eaten, I have not drunk water, I have not taken sleep, rest and all.
No, tell as elaborately as possible. In fact, the Kathamritam which you are giving, it is so nectarean for me. He said, I don’t need any other food or water or anything.
I am completely satisfied, he said. So, we have to come to that stage when we have to hear about Krishna. Then, at that stage, our envy will be completely finished.
No more envy for Krishna. So, that is actually called love of Krishna. When we develop love for Krishna.
And we would like to see, Lord is decorated very beautifully, how cutely they dress Krishna. How beautifully He looks, so wonderfully, so smartly. That day, one of the days, they had put the blue chandan, you saw.
So beautiful. So, we should feel great joy to see Krishna decorated very beautifully. Then, we will forget to decorate ourselves very beautifully, when we dress Krishna very beautifully.
In fact, like Prabhupada was such an old man, you know, beyond 70 years. Many people say, oh, Prabhupada is so cheerful. His smile is so magnetic smile.
And he is such a charismatic personality. People feel like that, why, actually how can an old man be considered so beautiful, isn’t it? But what beauty people are seeing in Prabhupada, it is spiritual beauty. So, when one serves Krishna selflessly, without any expectation, wants to glorify Krishna, then that person becomes beautiful.
So, we can attain all the true opulences only by cooperating with Krishna, for our own good. Actually, we need Krishna. Krishna doesn’t need us.
We need Him more than He needs us. We have to always remember that. So, we actually have a session on faith and doubt, which we didn’t do here, this time.
Generally, when we do the faith and doubt session in Kharagpur, for about three days or so, and then we come here, and then we do the Utkarsh camp. This time, your STW came a bit later. So, we didn’t do, we will do that.
If you have any doubts about Krishna, or spiritual world, or about ISKCON, or about scriptures, or about devotees, or about Krishna conscious practises, so you will be given an opportunity in that session. We will be making groups and understanding these things more nicely, so that we develop proper faith in them. And we have to learn to ask appropriate questions to clarify our doubts.
And after clarifying the doubts, we have to have a childlike faith, innocent and pure faith. Because, you know, if one is argumentative from beginning to end, and one doesn’t commit oneself to surrendering to Lord, then one doesn’t make any progress. Yes, you have to have surrender, question, service, all the three.
We should render service to Krishna, we should surrender also, and we have to ask questions also. Then we will blossom very wonderfully, and you can develop a firm faith in Krishna. Actually, when we perform devotional service, then we understand, this is the real world, this is the real life, we understand.
Then we understand how people are poverty stricken, even millionaires are poverty stricken, without the company of Krishna. We understand that. So, not only the poor people are poor, the rich people are also poor.
Anyone who doesn’t have Krishna is poor. If anyone is begging, please give me food, actually they are begging for Krishna only. If somebody is crying, they are crying for Krishna only, actually, originally speaking.
Because a child, Tata’s son, I was telling you, isn’t it? Tata’s son is crying for Tata only. He may be crying for food, you give him food, he eats the food, he is satisfied. Again he is crying.
Why? Ultimately he is crying for his father only. So, attaining Krishna in our lives and offering Krishna to others, it’s the ultimate goal of life. So, I would like to conclude here.
Another group was here? We have to give out the prizes to devotee, to finalise the prizes. Why? Because, for example, in debate, first rank went to two teams. So, I’ll say the names of the teams and you all can say Haribol to them.