Lecture to the Rotary Club: Prabhupada: Mr. President, Rotarians, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your kindly inviting me to speak before you on the subject matter: “The Present Need of the Human Society.” The… At the present day, according to our Vedic calculation, this is called Kali-yuga. Kali means disagreement and fighting. Kala. So in this age, slight disagreement will cause some fighting, some misunderstanding. And practically this is the age of misguidance. Therefore it is called Kali-yuga. So in different Puranas the symptoms of Kali-yuga is described. Sastra. Sastra means tri-kala labdham. Sastra is not ordinary books; therefore our Vedic literatures are known as apauruseya, not written by ordinary human beings. Ordinary human being who is called, according to sastra, conditioned soul—they are conditioned by so many nature’s law. So the imperfectness of the conditioned soul are described that a conditioned soul is sure to commit mistake. However great he may be, he’ll commit mistake. And… “To err is human,” we say. And he may be illusioned. Not maybe; he’s illusioned. Illusioned means accepting something for something else. Just like we accept this body, material body, as self. That is the conception of the general people at the present moment: “I am this body.” “I am Indian,” “I am American,” “I am brahmana,” “I am sudra,” like that. Bodily conception of life. This is illusion. Actually I am not this body, but because we are lacking knowledge, imperfect, insufficient knowledge, therefore we are accepting this body as self. This is called illusion. And the other imperfection is that we have got a cheating propensity. Cheating propensity means I do not know something definitely, but I present my theory as if I know perfectly. This is cheating. And the last is imperfectness of the senses. All our senses are imperfect. Take, for example, the eyes. We see under certain condition, when there is light, sunlight or electric light. We can see. We cannot see what is beyond this wall. We cannot see which is very long distantly placed. We cannot even the nearest, eyelid. Therefore our seeing power is conditioned. Similarly all other senses. So we cannot have perfect knowledge by our imperfect senses. But at the present moment, especially in this age, we are accepting so many philosophers, scientists, although we know that their senses are imperfect. This imperfectness is increasing. We are not becoming liberated from imperfectness, but we are increasing, due to this Kali-yuga. That is described in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Twelfth Canto. It is said there, tatah ca anu-dinam dharmah satyam saucam ksama daya kalena balina rajan nanksyaty ayur balam smrtih With the progress, advancement of this Kali-yuga, these following items… What is that? Now, dharma. First thing is dharma. People will decrease in the conception of dharma, religion. Religion. Religion does not mean a kind of faith. Religion, as I, I think, the other day I described here, the characteristic, the characteristic of the human being, of the living being—to serve. Actually we are serving, every one of us, we are serving somebody. So everyone is serving. That is his characteristic. Just like a person, now, today, he’s Hindu; tomorrow he changes his faith. But the service continues. He cannot change the characteristic of service. He may be or you may be Mussulman, or you may be Christian. You must be serving somebody. Maybe—not maybe—actually who is superior to you. This is called dharma. According our Vedic principle, the dharma is the principle given by God. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. You cannot manufacture dharma. Therefore Krsna, He’s giving you dharma, what is dharma. He advents, He appears, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata tadatmanam srjamy aham [Bg. 4.7]. He says, “When there is discrepancies in the principles of dharma, then I appear, I advent Myself.” So in the Bhagavad-gita He is giving us the principles of dharma: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. He said to Arjuna, “Because you are My very dear friend, I am giving you the most confidential information, that sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja.” This is dharma. Dharma satyam, truthfulness. That is also reduced, being reduced. Dharma means to become devotee of the Lord. That is practically not reduced. It is practically nil. And people have manufactured so many dharmas—dharma without the principle of God consciousness. So according to Vedic principle, that is not dharma. Vedic principles says, sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje [SB 1.2.6]. That is first-class religion which teaches people how to become devotee of the Supreme Lord. Paro dharma. Paro means transcendental. There are many kinds of dharmas. And, according to Vedic system, there are twenty different types of books, vimsati prakara dharma, given by different sages. But the conclusion is that that first-class dharma which is convenient for becoming devotee of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gita also the same thing: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. In another place, Srimad-Bhagavatam, it is said, dharmah projjhita-kaitavo ’tra [SB 1.1.2]. Atra, srimad-bhagavate, projjhita… Projjhita means prakrsta rupena projjhita: very cleanly swept away. That means it is taken away. Projjhita. Just like we sweep very nicely, cleanly our room. Similarly, all type of cheating religion is wiped out, swept away. Dharma projjhita-kaitavo ’tra. So dharma means, the conclusion is, dharma means that our constitutional position is to serve, but our service, being misplaced, we are not happy. Actually you are serving not any person, but we are serving our different types of desires—kama, krodha, moha, like that. That dharma, when it is reverted, transferred, to the service of the Lord, that is called real dharma. sa vai pumsam paro dharma yato bhaktir adhoksaje ahaituky apratihata yayatma suprasidati That service to the Lord should be without any desire, material desire; spontaneous. God is great. He is my supporter, maintainer. We should always remember that. Eko bahunam vidadhati kaman. Actually, God is supporting. Now at the present moment in India, especially in this part, there is scarcity water. Why? If we are independent of God, we can take advantage of the sea water. There is sufficient water. God also supplies water from the stock of sea water. And in the Bhagavad-gita it is said, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. One who cannot understand immediately the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, he can try to understand Him by His different potencies. Just like He says that “I am the taste of the water.” Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya: taste of water, or the sweetness of water. So there is sufficient supply of water in the oceans and the seas. Then why we are in scarcity of water? Because that taste of the water should be changed by the grace of Krsna. Otherwise you cannot use it. That is Krsna consciousness. You can also change, by distilling the sea water, or ocean water, but it will not be as tasteful as it is done by God. Or you can say nature. The same water, taken from the ocean, transferred, transformed into cloud, the cloud is distributed, and water, rain, falls. You get nice distilled water, tasteful water. So if you are going to challenge there is no existence of God, then you can do it. Why don’t you do it? Why you are so much in scarcity of water? I do not think any scientist can very boldly answer that “Yes, we can do and we can defy the existence of God, or the mercy of God.” That is not possible. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. Krsna says that “I am the shining of the sun and the moon.” Now, there…, there are so many great scientists, and expert in chemical composition, making chemical composition. Why not make a small sun on the head of the [break] city so that you save so much expenditure of electric light? They’ll say, “Oh, the composition of the sun is like this, that.” So many theories. But why not prepare also? If you know the composition, make it a sample sun and see that it is shining. So they…, there are many, so many theories for avoiding God consciousness, but that is not very practical. Therefore in the Kali- yuga it is said, dharma satyam. The truth is neglected. The dharma is neglected. It is reduced. Another place in the Srimad Bhagavatam it is said, prayenalpayusah sabhya kalau asmin yuge janah mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [SB 1.1.10] This is summarized, summarization of the kind of people in this Kali-yuga. What is that? Alpa ayusah. Their span of life is shortened. Here also it is said, ayuh. Ayur balam smrtih. Bodily strength, span of life, and memory—reduced. Formerly there was no need of books; therefore our Vedic literatures are known as sruti. The student will hear from the master, from the teacher. Sruti. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet srotriyam brahma-nistham [MU 1.2.12] Simply by hearing, they’ll remember. That was going on up to the date of Vyasadeva, five thousand years ago. There was no writing principle. There was no need of writing. People were so much powerful in their memory, they could immediately remember everything by hearing once from the teacher. The Vyasadeva, when he saw the Kali-yuga is coming, people’s memory will be not so sharp, then he wrote all these Vedic literatures. He’s called Vyasadeva, Veda-vyasa. Vedic knowledge was already there by tradition, by hearing. But he chronologically wrote all these Vedas. So there are so many symptoms. I may explain some of them. Kalena balina rajan nanksyaty ayur balam smrtih. These things will be reduced: dharma, truthfulness, clean, cleanliness and forgiveness and mercifulness. People are not very merciful now. Actually in the Western countries, if one is attacked by another, people will pass. Nobody will care for that. He may be killed. People do not show any mercy. And ksama. Ksama means forgiveness. That is also being reduced. Memory reduced, merciful reduced, span of life reduced, bodily strength reduced, health is reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. So vittam eva kalau nrnam janmacara-gunodayah. Formerly there were divisions: catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah [Bg. 4.13]. The four class, social divisions—brahmana, ksatriya, sudras—and they were calculated according to guna and karma, quality and work. Brahm ana means he must be truthful, he must be very clean, satyam saucam; he must be controlling the mind, controlling his senses, sama dama titiksava, he must be tolerant. Titiksa arjava, he must be simple, arjava. Jnanam: he must have full knowledge. Vijnanam, practical application in life. Vijnanam. Astikyam. Astikyam means to accept the Vedic principle as truth. That is called astikyam, theism. It is translated as theism. But is not… Astikya, astikya means to have firm faith in the Vedic instruction. That is called astikya. So that is a fact. What is stated in the Vedas, they are true. We can save our time. For example… Just like the cow dung. The cow dung is said in the Vedas as pure. So if we accept cow dung as pure, we don’t require to make research, but actually it is pure. The other day, I was passing through a cowshed in Hyderabad. So, so much cow dung was stocked there. So I was asking my students, “Suppose so much human stool was stocked here. Could we pass through it?” No. It is not possible. But it was pleasant to pass through. So this is a fact. If we argue that animal stool… (aside:) Stop. Stop it. Don’t make noise …the animal stool is impure, but when the Vedas says the animal stool of the cow is pure… So this is the stool. Similarly conchshell. Conchshell is the bone of an animal. So, according to Vedic instruction, if you touch the bone of an animal you become impure. But the bone of an animal, which is conchshell, it is kept in the Deity room. So Vedic instruction is so perfect. Why, why this animal, bone is pure, why this stool of animal is pure, that is already known. You don’t require to make any research. You simply accept and get the fact. This is Vedic truth. So that is called astikyam. Astikyam means to accept the Vedic instruction as it is. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gita As It Is. There is no need of interpreting. If we accept it, the truth, as it is, then you are benefited. In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says that “I am the Supreme.” Mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya [Bg. 7.7]. “My dear Dhananjaya, Arjuna…” Arjuna is called Dhananjaya. That’s a background, how he became a dhananjaya. So mattah parataram nanyat: [Bg. 7.7] “There is no more superior person than Me.” So we accept that way. Our Krsna consciousness Movement means we accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only we accept—all the authorities, whom we accept as authority… Just like Vyasadeva—he’s the authority of the Vedas—he accepts Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Narada accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Of course, that is long, long ages ago. In the recent years, all the acaryas, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Sankaracarya, all of them accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepts, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So what is the difficulty for us to accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? There is no difficulty. If you do not accept Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you must present somebody else, that “Here is another person.” Then we have to compare whether Krsna is actually Supreme Personality of Godhead or the another person. Because there is definition of God: aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah. So the present need of human society, because they’re reducing their good quality, satya sama dama titiksa arjavam, and money’s becoming the most powerful thing… As it is stated here, vittam eva kalau nrnam janmacara gunodayah. Formerly if one is qualified brahmana, he may be a poor man, but a brahmana, when approaches a king, the king will stand up and offer him… Even Krsna, when He was King of Dvaraka, Sudama Vipra, His friend, he came… Immediately He stood up and gave him His own seat, so because he was a qualified brahmana. So everywhere qualified brahmana was respected by the qualified ksatriyas, vaisyas. But now there is practically no qualified brahmana, neither a qualified brahmana is respected. Vipram eva. But if one has got money, then he’ll be respected. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Vittam eva kalau nrnam janmacara gunodayah. If one has got money, he may be not educated, without any good qualification, but somehow or other he has got money, he’ll be respected. Not a qualified brahmana. Then dharma-nyayavyavasthayam karanam balam eva hi. How justice… Nyaya means justice; dharma, and religious principles, dharma-nyaya-vyavasthayam… To establish justice, anyone who is powerful, he’ll get justice. You bribe. Nowadays—of course, we do not discuss these things; everyone knows—justice can be purchased in this age. Balam eva hi. Dampatye ratih, ratih abhirucih hetur mayaiva vyavaharike. These are the symptoms. Dampatye, husband relationship, husband and wife, means sex power. We have practically seen in the Western countries, as soon as there is some disturbance in the sex relation of husband and wife, there is divorce. So that, these are the symptoms. Stritve pumstve ca hi ratir vipratve sutram eva hi. So man and woman should be united in marriage relationship simply on sex urge, not on the religious principle. That we have seen. And sutram, vipratve sutram eva hi. And if anyone somehow or other gathers a sacred thread—not sacred even; not sacred: thread—he becomes a vipra. Lingam eva asrama-khyatav anyonyapatti karanam, avrttya nyaya-daurbalyam. If you go to the court, court of justice, if you have no money, then you cannot get. Suppose if you have to claim from somebody, say, some few thousands of rupees. First of all you have to deposit the stamp fee, five percent, and the pleader’s fee. So you have to push good money after bad money. So these, these are the symptoms. There are many symptoms. In this way, the conclusion is, it is the description given by Sukadeva Gosvami to Maharaja Pariksit. There are many other symptoms. Our time is short. The king, the government… That is also stated. Government will be simply taxing, and people, being harassed in famine and taxation, they’ll give up their hearth and home, will go the forest and fields. And gradually time will come when the ages will be reduced so much that a person twenty to thirty years old will be considered as great grand old man. These are the symptoms of Kali-yuga. So how to get out of this entanglement? There are so many things prescribed. But in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said that kalau dosa-nidhe rajann asti eka mahan gunah. Dosa-nidhi. Nidhi means ocean. This Kali-yuga is a ocean of dosa, so many faults. But still there is some hope. kalau dosa-nidhe rajann asti eka mahan gunah kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet If you take to Krsna kirtana, krsnotkirtana-gana-nartana-parau, if this, if you take to this principle, very simple process… That is recommended in the sastra: harer nama harer nama harer nama eva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha [Adi 17.21] Kalau, especially it is meant. Kalau. Kalau means this age of Kali. In another place: kalau sankirtanair prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah. So these are the… As the description here is there about the symptoms of Kali-yuga, the remedy’s also suggested. What is that? Kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta eva param vrajet. If you begin chanting this Hare Krsna maha-mantra, then you become aloof from all this faulty situation of this Kali-yuga. And if you keep yourself aloof, then mukta-sangah param vrajet: then next life you’ll be promoted to the kingdom of God. Param means the spiritual world. There is another, spiritual world. This is material world. This material world, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita—you perhaps you know that—paras tasmat tu bhavah anyah ’vyakto ’vyaktat sanatanah [Bg. 8.20]. Sanatana-dhama. The other day I was describing here, sanatana-dhama. God is sanatana, and His… (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Ahmedabad, December 8, 1970,
“The Present Need of Human Society”