Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.16 Nitai: “When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from false identification of the body as ‘I’ and bodily possessions as ‘mine,’ one’s mind becomes purified. In that pure state he transcends the stage of so-called material happiness and distress.” Prabhupada: aham mamabhimanotthaih kama-lobhadibhir malaih vitam yada manah suddham aduhkham asukham samam In the previous verse it has been advised, gunesu saktam bandhaya ratam va pumsi muktaye. The process is that… (loud sound of firecrackers in background) The process is the mind has to be cleansed of all dirty things. Mind is the friend; mind is the enemy of everyone. If it is cleansed, then it is friends, and if it is dirty… Just like if you keep yourself unclean, then you contaminate some disease. And if you keep yourself clean, then you don’t contaminate. If you take action, remaining… Therefore according to Vedic civilization, one has to cleanse himself three times a day, tri-sandhya. Morning, early in the morning, again at noon, again in the evening. Those who are strictly following the brahminical rules and regulations… Vaisnava also. Vaisnava means he’s already brahmana. So he must follow the rules and… Satyam samo damas titiksa arjavam jnanam vijnanam astikyam… So cleanliness is next to godliness. So the… Actually, our material conditioned life means the mind is covered with dirt, all unclean, dirty things. That is the disease. When we are in the lower stage of tamo-guna and rajo-guna, these dirty things are very much prominent. Therefore one has to raise himself from the position of tamo-guna and rajo-guna to sattva-guna. The process is recommended, how to cleanse the mind: srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. One has to hear the krsna-katha. Krsna is within everyone’s heart, and when He sees that a conditioned soul… Because the individual soul is part and parcel of Krsna, Krsna wants that “This individual soul, rascal, he is so much attached for material enjoyment, which is the cause of his bondage, birth and death, old age and disease, and he’s so fool that he does not take into consideration that ‘Why I should be subjected to repetition of birth, death, old age and disease?’ ”He has become so fool. Mudha. Therefore they have been described: mudha, ass. Ass… Just like ass does not know why he is loading so much, so many cloths of the washerman. What for? He has no profit. None of the cloth belongs to him. The washerman gives a little morsel of grass, which is available everywhere. If the… But the ass thinks that “This morsel of grass is given by the washerman. Therefore I must carry the heavy load, although not a single cloth belongs to me.” This is called karmis. The karmis, all these big, big karmis, big, big multimillionaires, they are just like ass, because they are working so hard. Not only these big—small also. Day and night. But eating two capatis or three capatis or utmost, four capatis. But he’s working hard, so hard. These three-four capatis can be had easily even by the poorest man, but why he’s working so hard? Because he’s thinking, “I am responsible for maintaining such a big family.” Similarly, a leader also, public leader, a politician, he’s also thinking like that, that “Without me, all the members of my nation will die. So let me work day and night. Up to the point of my death or up to the point until I am killed by somebody, I have to work so hard.” These are called dirty things. Aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. Aham mameti. Aham mamabhimanotthaih. These dirty things that… Take individual, social, political, communal, or national. Any way. These two things, aham mameti [SB 5.5.8], is very prominent. “I belong to such and such community. I have got such and such duty.” But he does not know these are all false designations. That is called ignorance. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore begins His instruction that jivera svarupa haya nitya-krsna-dasa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109]. The actual position is that eternal servant of Krsna. That is the actual position. But he’s thinking, “I am servant of this family. I am servant of this nation. I am servant of this community, servant…” So many. Aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. This is due to ignorance, the mode of tamo-guna. Tamo-guna. Therefore in the previous verse it is said, gunesu saktam bandhaya. So long you’ll be attached with these gunesu, even you be attached to the sattva-guna, that is also bandhaya. Suppose… Sattva-guna means execute… The symbolic presentation is perfect brahmana. So even if we are very perfect brahmana, so I think that “I am so…, such a learned person. I understand the Vedic principles. So I…” The same, aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. The same principle, aham mameti [SB 5.5.8]. But if you are raised in the sattva-guna, then there is chance of understanding your position. In the tamo-guna and rajo-guna you cannot. Tamo-guna, rajo-guna, you remain like animal, like cats and dogs. But when you come to the platform of sattva-guna… That you can come by following the principles, and then the attachment… Gunesu saktam bandhaya. Then your conditioned life on account of being attached to the material qualities will be finished. How? Simple thing. Everyone can attain to the platform of sattva-guna if he follows the instruction. In the Bhagavad-gita the same thing is said in different way, these languages and Vedic scriptures. satatam kirtayanto mam yatantas ca drdha-vratah namasyantas ca mam bhaktya nitya-yukta upasate [Bg. 9.14] This is the process. And in another place it is said, srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrt satam [Bhag. 1.2.17] The process is that you try to hear about krsna-katha. Krsna-katha. Krsna-katha is there in the Bhagavad-gita. Krsna is speaking. That is krsna-katha. And Srimad-Bhagavatam. About Krsna. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya, janmady asya yatah… [Bhag. 1.1.1] Speaking about Krsna, the original person. So we have to hear the krsna-katha. This temple, or this center, is open to give chance to the people in general, “Come and hear krsna-katha.” The sat-sanga. This is called sat-sanga. Satam prasangan mama virya-samvido bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah. If you hear, gradually… Because we do not hear krsna-katha on account of dirty things in the heart. So we have to cleanse the dirt. That process is ceto-darpana-marjanam, param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam. If we chant and dance, then the dirty things become cleansed. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Cetah khalu asya bandhaya muktaye catmano matam. Cetah, this heart, is the cause of our bondage, and the heart is the cause of our liberation. When it is dirty, then it is cause of bondage, conditioned life. Conditional life means that janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. I take one birth, one body, and I stay for some times, enjoy or suffer. There is no question of enjoyment, only suffering. And then again I die. Tatha dehantara-praptih. And I get another body and again begin another life. Maybe very good life, or maybe cats’ and dogs’ life, a tree’s life. That we do not know. But dehantara-praptih. But there is change of body. As soon as I die, give up this body—another body. Immediately. Immediately I’ll have to enter the womb of certain mother through the grace of the father, and I’ll have to develop another body, and when it is fit for working I come out, and again another chapter of my life begins. This is conditioned life. So the human life is meant for understanding that how we are undergoing this tribulation of birth and death, old age and disease. The cats and dogs, they cannot understand. That is not possible. Therefore for human life so many Vedic literatures are there, not for the cats and dogs. If you don’t take advantage of this Vedic literature,… There is no need of education. It is not needed that one has to become very learned scholar. No. Sat-sanga. Hear. Sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhih. You remain in your position, but go to a person who is speaking krsna-katha. Hear him. That’s all. Everyone can do that. Where is the difficulty? So our this Krsna consciousness movement is that. We give chance to the people to hear about Krsna. That is our men… Therefore we have specifically mentioned: Krsna consciousness. We don’t talk any other nonsense things. We don’t talk. We have no other business. Simply we talk of Krsna. That will purify. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. If you, even if you do not understand a single word, if you simply hear, then you become pious. It is so nice. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. Sravana means when there is talks of Krsna, somebody is hearing and somebody is talking. Sravanam kirtanam. Just like here in this meeting, I am talking, you are hearing. Both of us are being benefited. Sravanam kirtanam. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah. Krsna wants this, that “These rascals may begin to hear and chant about Me.” That’s all. Satatam kirtayanto mam [Bg. 9.14]. Mam, Krsna. Not others. You don’t talk politics, or don’t talk sociology, or this or that, nonsense. This is all dirty things. Don’t waste your time. There is no need of reading so many rascal novels. They are called tad vayasam tirtham. Tad-vag-visargo janatagha-viplavah, na yad vacas citra-padam harer yasah. Any literature which does not glorify the Supreme Lord Hari, that is vayasa-tirtham. Vayasa-tirtham means the place where the crows enjoy. Vayasa-tirtha. So this is, this Krsna consciousness movement is giving chance people to become pious. Punya-sravana-kirtanah. “How? I have no money. How can I become pious? I cannot give in charity. I cannot go to take bath in the Ganges, and…” So many, there are pious activities. Tapasa brahmacaryena tyagena yamena niyamena [SB 6.1.13]. There are so many processes to become pious. In the sastra there are recommendations, “You do this to become pious.” So in this Kali-yuga people have lost all stamina, how to become pious. They are so sinful. But here is the only means: you simply come here and hear about Krsna. You have got ears, Krsna has given you ears. And Krsna has given you tongue also. You can speak. Just like we are reciting the verses. So the tongue is there, the ear is here, there, and you can hear from realized soul and make your life perfect simply by hearing. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah [Bhag. 1.2.17]. Because one cannot be devotee unless he is purified. A sinful man cannot become a devotee. Duskrtinah. It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita: na mam duskrtino mudhah [Bg. 7.15]. One class of men, duskrtinah, always committing sinful life. Such rascals, such foolish men… Duskrtino mudhah. Na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah. Naradhama means lowest of the mankind. Why lowest of the mankind? Because the human life is meant for purifying your existence. You are under condition of birth, death, old age, and here is the chance to purify yourself. If you don’t do that, then you are mudha, duskrtina, naradhama. You don’t take chance. Mudha, naradhama. So this class of men, they are not interested. They will suffer this material existence continually, one after another, one of chapter, one of chapter… Bhutva bhutva praliyate, one life. And if he gets one life very opulent, that is, then he doesn’t care for what is next life. “Let me drink and enjoy. Eat, drink, and be merry and en…” This is going on all over the world. But sastra says, “No, no, no, no. It is not good. You are doing mistake. You are doing mistake.” Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma [Bhag. 5.5.4]. You have become mad and you are engaged in doing all forbidden things which you should not do. You are doing that. And why you are doing that? Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma [Bhag. 5.5.4]. Why? Yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti. Simply for sense gratification. Simply for sense gratification. I have seen one hotel man in Calcutta. He cut the throat of a chicken, and the chicken, half-cut, it was flapping and jumping. The child of the hotel man, he was crying, and the hotel man was laughing. He was taking pleasure, “Oh, how this chicken, half-cut throat, and how he is jumping… Why you are crying? Why you are crying?” And in Western countries I think students are sometimes taken to slaughterhouse to see. Is it a fact? Yes. You see. They take pleasure. Doing something sinful, they take pleasure. For pleasure’s sake they do that. Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaye [Bhag. 5.5.4]. Simply for the matter of sense gratification. So sastra says, “No, no, this is not good. This is not good.” Na sadhu manye yata atmano ’yam asann api klesada asa dehah [Bhag. 5.5.4]. But they have no brain. This body is temporary, but it is full of suffering, although it is temporary. One can say, “This body is temporary. So what do I care for…?” But it is painful. We have to suffer. nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti na sadhu manye yata atmano ’yam asann api klesada asa dehah [Bhag. 5.5.4] They have no brain that this material body is klesada, is simply miserable. So dull brain. That is tamo-guna. Tamo-guna means completely darkness. Just like animals. You take one animal, you cut its throat. Another animal is standing and eating grass. He does not know “The next time, next term is mine.” This is animal life. So people have become… Especially in this Kali-yuga. Mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [SB 1.1.10] But this Krsna consciousness movement is trying to give these rascals little sense, that “Don’t remain animal. Become human being.” This is the propaganda. The Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that, krsna bhuli’ sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha ataeva maya tare deya samsara-duhkha Krsna-bhuliya, forgetting his relationship with Krsna, one is simply acting foolishly, and the maya is giving him miseries one after another, one after another, one after another. Another place it is said that, anadi-bahirmukha jiva krsna bhuli’ gela ataeva krsna veda-purana kaila We have forgotten Krsna. Therefore there are Vedas and Puranas and Vedic literature. It is for human being. Vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah [Bg. 15.15]. If we study this Vedic literature,… Vedic literature means four Vedas, eighteen Puranas, and Vedanta and Upanisads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and any literature which is connected with this Vedic literature. That is also Vedic literature. So Veda-Purana, this Vedic literature, should be utilized. They have got time to read so many nonsense literatures, rubbish literature, and waste time, but if you invite them that “Come here, we shall discuss Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam or Vedanta-sutra, similar literature,” nobody will come. But simply by hearing… If we want… Vitam yada manah suddham. If we become free from this contamination of tamo-guna and rajo-guna, that is the highest stage of perfection. That can be done simply by hearing krsna-katha. No education required. Simply come and hear. Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah. Because you will be purified. As you hear and repeat, chant, you become purified. srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani… [Bhag. 1.2.17] These dirty things, mala… Here it is said, kama-lobhadibhir malaih. Mala, mala means dirty things. And what are these? Kama and lobha, lusty desires, lobha, greediness and lusty desires. These are mala. So one has to become free from these two things, kama and lobha. The whole world is going on kama and lobha. One is getting money. When he has got one thousand, he wants one lakh. If he gets one lakh, he wants more and more and more. This is called kama. And why? Lobha. They are making profit. They have got enough money, still, they will hold stock, will not sell, so that people may not get stock and they will be hankering, they will pay any price demanded. These are going on, kama and lobha. Kama-lobhadibhih. So we have to cleanse this heart, the aham mameti [SB 5.5.8] They are doing all these things. These are not good things. Asadhu ayam. Na sadhu manye. These, this is not good for human being. Why it is not good? Because according to your karma you’ll get another next life, another next body, and you’ll have to suffer. Again you have to suffer. You are already suffering. You may be very rich man, but does it mean that you’ll not be diseased, because you are rich man? No. This is suffering. You may be very rich man, very, I mean to say, influential man, prime minister… Even Jawaharlal Nehru—last time he became paralyzed. So you cannot avoid these things. Therefore Krsna says, janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duhkha-dosanudarsanam. You should not be puffed-up because you have got some bank balance, you are happy. No. Your real unhappiness—these four things: janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi. That any intelligent man should always keep in front, that “These are my distresses.” These temporary distresses and to relieve it, that is not very good. You must make ultimate finishing of all distresses. That is bhakti-yoga. That is bhakti-yoga. And that bhakti-yoga begins this, by hearing and chanting. srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani… [Bhag. 1.2.17] If you continually hear, then gradually all the dirty things, kama-lobhadibhih, these things will be finished and you will be purified, and then that is the way of your liberation. Muktaye. Gunesu saktam bandhaya ratam va pumsi muktaye. The process is also given that you hear about Krsna. Then you will be purified. Because this life is meant for sattva-suddhi. Suddha-sattva. Our existence is not uncontaminated. It is con… The human form of life is meant for to make this existence uncontaminated: no more birth, no more death. They do not know. Where is the university, where is the school, college, to teach this science how one can become uncontaminated? There is no such institution except this Krsna consciousness movement. So vitam yada manah… So how it is possible? That is also said, that nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. Nasta-prayesu abhadresu. Abhadra, the dirty things… Because you hear, go on, go on hearing, chanting, then the dirty things will be diminished. Krsna says that hrdy antah-sthah. Krsna is also within the heart, and the dirty things are also there. So…, but Krsna helps you cleansing. So it is not completely cleansed, but even it is fifty percent or sixty percent cleansed, nasta-prayesu abhadresu… How? Nityam bhagavata-sevaya. Regularly hear Srimad-Bhagavatam and chant Hare Krsna. These two processes recommended by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Chant your rounds regularly. Make a fixed-up… We have fixed up only minimum. Haridasa Thakura was chanting 300,000 times, and we have made sixteen times. And still, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi durdaivam idrsam ihajani na… “I could not perform even sixteen rounds. Such unfortunate I am.” You see? Etadrsi tava krpa… We have mini…, minimized, the lowest number, the easiest process… Caitanya Mahaprabhu says read Srimad-Bhagavatam and chant Hare Krsna mantra. Don’t talk nonsense; don’t waste your time. Then you become purified. Vita-raga-bhaya-krodha man-maya mam upasritah [Bg. 4.10] Krsna says… In this way… Here it is, vitam yada manah. When the mind is cleansed. This can be done, nityam bhagavata-sevaya [SB 1.2.18]. Nityam. Not Bhagavata-saptaha. The Bhagavata-saptaha, that is a business. Real business is nityam. We don’t find in the Srimad-Bhagavatam by so many big, big commentators, Sridhara Svami, Jiva Gosvami, and Viraraghava Acarya, many, many… They never recommend Bhagavata-saptaha. I do not know wherefrom it has come. Bhagavata says, nityam bhagavata… Why week? Every day. If it is possible, twenty-four hours. Therefore one has to retire from these family, social, political responsibilities, and whole time devote for chanting and Bhagavata reading. That is required. That is Krsna consciousness movement. At least, as much as possible. Don’t waste time. Canakya Pandita has says that ayusah ksana eko ’pi na labhyah svarna-kotibhih. Ayuh, the duration of life… Suppose I shall live for hundred years. Even one moment of this hundred years, if…, it cannot be returned back, even if you are prepared to thousands and millions of dollars. No. One moment passed out of a hundred, that is minus. That’s all. You cannot add again. Ayusah ksana eko ’pi. Even, even moment. Sa cen nirarthakam nitah… If you cannot get returned back even a moment of your life by payment of millions of dollars, if that moment is wasted, just how much you have lost money, you consider. How much you have lost! Therefore not a single moment should be lost, human life. It should be utilized. Simply by chanting, simply by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam. We are publishing so many books. We have to read; we have to chant. Then life will successful. Vita-raga-bhaya-krodha [Bg. 4.10]. Then we shall be free from this attachment, aham mameti [SB 5.5.8], kama-lobhadayas ca ye. So the process is that nityam bhagavata-sevaya. Daily we should devote our time for understanding Srimad-Bhagavatam. And bhagavata-sevaya means to serve the person bhagavata, whose life is simply Bhagavata, to serve him. Nityam bhagavata-sevaya. nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya bhagavaty uttama-sloke bhaktir bhavati naisthiki [SB 1.2.18] By this process then you attain the stage of bhagavad-bhakti, naisthiki, fixed up, not tiltering, fixed up. Bhagavati naisthiki. Anartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha. This naisthiki, or nistha, firm faith, is achieved when anartha-nivrttih syat. Anartha. This anartha means aham mameti [SB 5.5.8], kama-lobhadibhih. This is anartha. We don’t require all these things. Why I shall think, “This is my country, my family, my body…”? Nothing is mine. It is false. But people are wasting time in this way. “My country, my nation, my body, my family.” Aham mameti [SB 5.5.8] They are wasting time. So nityam bhagavata-sevaya. We can vanquish all these false conceptions of life. Then sthitam sattve prasidati. These are the… Kama-lobha… But even if it is not completely finished, these dirty things, but even if you come to the platform of sattva-guna, then you’ll not be disturbed. But these tamo-guna and rajo-guna always disturb. Then if you are not disturbed by these kama and lobha, then sthitam sattve prasidati. Then you will be pleased, you’ll feel happiness, when you are on the sattva-guna. And then you have to surpass the sattva-guna. Suddha-sattva. Sattvam visuddham vasudeva-sabditam. The vasudeva platform. Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Then you will understand your relationship with Krsna and then you’ll be happy. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, November 16, 1974