Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.36 Prabhupada: So many ways we can remember Krsna always. That… [break] …somebody is chanting Hare Krsna, that is all right, but why the necessity of initiation? Initiation means the disciples agree to accept the instruction of the spiritual master and Krsna accepts the disciple immediately to give him a spiritual body. This is the process. Otherwise, there is no need of initiation. One is chanting, one can chant… [break] …it is the factual connection. And this connection means he gets immediately a spiritual body. In this body, his spiritual… His material body is transformed into… [break] But if there is any reservation… [break] …it will take time. [break] …our spiritual body. [break] …means existence. So the process is how to purify this existence. [break] …defect of this existence… (faulty recording) …bhagavat-siksaya… [break] …or asakrt. [break] …means constantly, and sakrt means once. [break] By once chanting “Krsna” without any offense, one can get freed from many, many thousand times of sinful activities. So much so that he is unable… Papi haya tata papa kare nahi(?). Although he’s a sinful, he cannot execute so much sinful activities. [break] Last night… [break] I described about the ten offenses… [break] Nasta-prayesv abhadresu [SB 1.2.18] Completely to become offenseless chanter of Hare Krsna mantra means, like Caitanya Mahaprabhu became mad in ecstatic love for Krsna. Completely, if we can chant Hare Krsna mantra without any offense, then there is premodaya. That is the result. And almost offenselessly, not completely, then you become mukta, liberated. Mukta. That is stated in another place of Srimad-Bhagavatam, nasta-prayesu. Nasta-prayesu means almost finished. Not completely finished. It is very difficult to finish the dirty things which have accumulated within our heart birth after birth. It is being accumulated. So many things, so many impression. All of a sudden you remember, which has no connection with your present activities, but all of a sudden you remember something which was in context with, say, many, many years ago. That means the dirty things are stocked within our heart. Just like in the water, in a pond sometimes you will find all of a sudden one bubble comes from within. Phat! That means the dirty things are within, stocked. [break] …all of a sudden it comes. [break] Krsnasya… Mukta-sangah param vrajet. [break] This is the advantage of this age, Kali-yuga. We have got many disadvantages. [break] People are implicated in sinful activities, more and more trouble. And it will be exhibited, there will be no food grains, no milk, no sugar. These things will be completely absent. Now you are getting. In the later age it will be not possible to get them. And there will be scarcity of food, scarcity of rain. Anavrsti durbhiksa. And other side, taxation, heavy taxation. So we should be very alert in the matter of preparing ourself back to home, back to Godhead. Otherwise, if we take birth again and again, bhutva bhutva praliyate, then we have to suffer some. This material body means suffering. We have repeatedly said. People do not understand it. And there are different kinds of suffering, different types of body. But if we follow this process as it is stated, krsnasya anusmaranti. Krsna. While acting, doing something, at the same time, we can remember Krsna. Anusmaranti. Anusmaranti. Anu means follow. You cannot remember, memorize Krsna, by your whims. No. Therefore this word is used, anusmaranti. Anusmaranti bhagavac-chiksaya. As Krsna has personally taught you. Just like Krsna says that… What is that? Ap… The water, taste? Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. So Krsna is teaching that “You try to understand Me in this way.” Not whimsically, “I am meditating something.” No. You meditate, but according to the will of Krsna, bhagavac-chiksaya, as He has taught. He says that you can meditate. This is very good subject matter of meditation. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. Very easy. Everyone is drinking water, and as soon as you get water and drink, if you meditate little what Krsna has said, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya, “I am the taste of the water,” where is the difficulty? Bhagavac-chiksaya. Prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. As soon as you see light, sunlight, moonlight, immediately you can remember Krsna: “This light is Krsna.” So you can utter “Krsna,” and you can remember Krsna. And as soon as you remember Krsna, then you become the topmost yogi. As soon as you remember Krsna within your heart, you become the topmost yogi, immediately. Yoginam api sarvesam mad-gatenantar-atmana sraddhavan… [Bg. 6.47] [break] This practice is required. [break] You work… Because without working you can not live. This is the work. Sarira-yatrapi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmanah. Sarira-yatra, we have to keep this body fit; therefore we have to work. Krsna does not say, never said to Arjuna, that “I am your friend, Krsna. I’ll do everything. You can sleep. You don’t require to fight.” Krsna never said. “You have to fight. But you have to fight, at the same time, yudhyasva mam anusmara [Bg. 8.7].” This is our duty. We have to, for existence, struggle for existence… There is, according to catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah… [Bg. 4.13]. There is prescription of duties according to guna we have acquired, and let us work, but at the same time… Kurvana yatra karmani, bhagavat, bhagavac-chiksaya. Or by the will of Krsna we are put under certain condition of life. Never mind. Krsna has made me, say, a sudra, not a brahmana. A sudra also has got work to do. Paricaryatmakam karyam sudra-karma svabhava-jam. So if we simply remember that “Krsna has put me in this condition of life, I am a sudra,” that is very nice. Tat te ’nukampam su-samiksamano bhunjana evatma-krtam vipakam. A devotee is satisfied always. He does not grudge, that “I am put into this condition. Why I’m not put into the condition of a king or a learned brahmana?” No. “Whatever condition Krsna has given me, that is all right.” Tat te anukampam, it is His grace. “By His grace I have got this position.” Because my only business is to remember Krsna. That we can do any stage of life. It does not require that you have to become a brahmana, an Indian, and so on, so on, great learned scholar in Vedic scripture. No. You may be in the far away country, in Europe, America, or you may not be in brahmana family. It doesn’t matter. But you can remember Krsna. We are teaching this art through Krsna consciousness, that you may remain in whichever position Krsna has put you. It doesn’t matter. But try to understand Krsna. “How can I understand?” Well, you are drinking water. You can understand Krsna. Where is the difficulty? Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. Krsna says that “I am the taste of water.” Then where there is a person who does not drink water? Is there any land where people do not drink water? Is there any land? So where is the difficulty of Krsna consciousness? If you simply drink water… [break] And it is stated that bhagavac-chiksaya. [break] Krsna teaches that raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh… [break] Is there any land within this universe where there is no sunshine, moonshine? Everywhere. So where is the difficulty to become Krsna conscious? You are practicing meditation. Why not this simple meditation? “Here is Krsna. Here is light, here is Krsna. Oh, here is Vedic study. Om tad visnoh paramam padam.” Or omkara. Omkara sarva-vedesu. [break] If you, as soon as you get a nice flower, you smell it, Krsna says, “That fragrance I am.” You can remember Krsna. So any part of the world, anywhere. You may be whatever you are. Another point is as soon as you try to become Krsna conscious, then your purification begins immediately. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. If you simply remember or say that “I have heard it from my spiritual master or from a saintly person, that while drinking water, that taste is Krsna. So you accept it,” this is preaching. This is preaching. You are preaching. Or one who hears from you, srnvatam sva-kathah, if you simply carry this work. Just try to understand the importance of preaching. Sva-kathah krsnah, you are remembering and you are preaching. So you are preaching means somebody else is hearing you. So he is also being purified. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17] Even he does not know what is Krsna, but he simply hears from you, then he becomes purified. Actually, we are experiencing how in European and American countries, our boys going in buses, village to village, and chanting Hare Krsna mantra, and they are collecting devotees. [break] How many devotees collected you told me, France? Ten. Where? You sent your sankirtana party there? It is happening. Our sankirtana movement is increasing in every country. Europe, America, even in Africa, Canada, everywhere. Why? Caitanya Mahaprabhu, when He was traveling in South India, He was chanting Hare Krsna mantra. So somebody heard Him chanting this mantra, he became purified, and he went back to his village, he also began to chant. So another person who heard him, he became purified. It is such a nice thing. [break] The process is there, sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23] Not others. [break] …the whole world can be purified. But the secret is that one who is chanting, he must be very pure. [break] They have got so many hodgepodge ideas, that they are not pure. It is very difficult. [break] I say that “Here is Bhagavan, Krsna.” They accept it. [break] Here… If I say, “Here is Bhagavan, Krsna,” he’ll bring dozens of other Bhagavans. Or more than that—hundreds. “Why Krsna is God?” [break] They are being deviated. So many… Therefore we are student of Srimad-Bhagavatam. In the beginning it is said that dharmah projjhita-kaitavo ’tra [SB 1.1.2] All types of cheating religious system is thrown away from this. And Sridhara Svami gives his comments on this, that kevala bhagavad-upasana. Dharmah projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsaranam satam vastavam vastu vedyam atra [SB 1.1.2]. Srimad-Bhagavatam, kim va paraih. Maha-muni-krte. Mahamuni Vyasadeva has given us. What is the use of studying any other book? Srimad-bhagavatam amalam puranam. It is the spotless Purana. Spotless Purana means that which gives you spiritual knowledge without any adulteration. Simple. Without any adulteration. As Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja [Bg. 18.66]. This is without any adulteration. So when one understands what is dharma without any adulteration, then he becomes fit candidate for studying Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-bhagavatam amalam puranam. [break] Krsna-bhakta niskama ataeva santa. Krsna-bhakta, he doesn’t require for bhukti, mukti, siddhi. They simply want… Just like Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, kita-janma hao yatha tuwa dasa, bahirmukha brahma-janme nahi mora asa. He is desiring, “My Lord, let me…” Janmaobi yadi… “If I have to get birth again, my Lord, this is my prayer, that let me have my next birth in the house of a devotee, even as a small worm.” To take birth in the house of a devotee is not so easy thing. Sucinam srimatam gehe yoga-bhrasto ’bhijayate. It is not so easy thing. But Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “I am not fit. But if you kindly give me a birth of an ant in the house of a devotee, I shall prefer that more than to become Brahma and forget You.” Brahma-janme nahi mora asa. These are the process. So we have to work according to our capacity, at the same time chant Hare Krsna mantra. Krsna has given you the tongue, and there is no difficulty. Kurvana yatra karmani. And always think of Krsna, man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah. “How I can think of Krsna constantly? It becomes hackneyed.” No, the varieties. Krsna says that you think of Krsna while drinking water, you think of Krsna when you see the sunshine, think of Krsna when you see the moonshine, day and night. So at daytime there is sunshine, at night there is moonshine. So day and night you can think of Krsna. So, so many ways… Krsna-siksaya, bhagavac-chiksaya, as He has taught in the Bhagavad-gita, you think of always Krsna. Then your life is successful. Man-mana bhava mad-bhaktah. “How I can think of Krsna constantly? It becomes hackneyed.” No, the varieties. Krsna says that you think of Krsna while drinking water, you think of Krsna when you see the sunshine, think of Krsna when you see the moonshine, day and night. So at daytime there is sunshine, at night there is moonshine. So day and night you can think of Krsna. So, so many ways… Krsna-siksaya, bhagavac-chiksaya, as He has taught in the Bhagavad-gita, you think of always Krsna. Then your life is successful. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. So therefore bhakti-yoga means vairagya-vidya. You have to stop thinking of this material bhukti, mukti, siddhi. Simply you have to think of Krsna. That is spiritual platform. That is instructed here. Try to follow and your life will be successful. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Vrndavana, August 17, 1974