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EDITORIAL  About the AuthorOther Stories by this Author Srila Prabhupada Appearance Day BY PURU DAS ADHIKARI  EDITORIAL, Sep 1 (VNN) — Dear Readers, dandavat pranams. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gouranga!Here is another transcript of a wonderful early New York lecture from 1966 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The verse(4.34) is one of the Bhagavad-gita's most essential verses. This transcript will be added to his page of historical lectures at the Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library site. your servant, Puru das, das anudas Bhagavad-gita 4.34 - New York, August 14, 1966 tad viddhi pranipatenapariprasnena sevayaupadeksyanti te jnanamjnaninas tattva-darsinah Now, this verse we are discussing in our last meeting. Sri Krsna,Lord Sri Krsna, has concluded that all kinds of sacrifices that wecan expected, we are expected to do, the best sacrifice is toacquire knowledge, acquire knowledge. Because whole, our thismaterial conditioned life is due to ignorance. Therefore thepurpose of sacrifice, penance, yoga, and philosophical discussion,everything--the ultimate aim is to acquire knowledge. And even in that knowledge field also... Of course,transcendental knowledge, as we have discussed already, they areviewed in different, three different angles of vision: theknowledge of Brahmavada, or impersonal, impersonal Absolute Truth,and the knowledge of Paramatma, the localized Supersoul, and theknowledge of Bhagavan, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are different stages of development of knowledge. But thefirst beginning knowledge is that we must understand that "I amnot this body. I am spirit soul, and my aim of life should be howto get out of this material entanglement." That is knowledge. Thatis the beginning of knowledge. And that knowledge, when developed gradually... The first,first stage of knowledge is impersonal Brahman realization, andthe next stage is the Supersoul realization, and the last stage isrealization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In theSrimad-Bhagavatam we have got this information, that the tattva,that the Absolute Truth is realized in three visions: brahmetiparamatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate. Brahman means impersonalAbsolute Truth, and Paramatma means Supersoul, and Bhagavan meansthe Supreme Personality of God. That Supreme Personality ofGodhead is Krsna. You'll find in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, krsnas tu bhagavansvayam. There are description of different manifestation of Visnuor God because God expands Himself in various ways. We are alsoexpansion of God. So similarly, there are degrees of expansion,and the central point, or the primal Lord, is Sri Krsna. We havegot evidences from various Vedic literature that Sri Krsna is theSupreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavata confirms, etecamsa-kalah pumsah krsnas tu bhagavan svayam, that... There is alist of incarnation of Godhead. There are many thousands andthousands of incarnation, and there is a list. Especially inCaitanya-caritamrta there is a specific list. Now, after givingthat list, the conclusion is made that ete camsa-kalah pumsahkrsnas tu bhagavan svayam. Now, we have given the list, the author of theSrimad-Bhagavatam, but all these incarnation of Godhead, they areeither plenary manifestation or manifestation of the plenarymanifestation, like that. Ete camsa. Amsa means plenarymanifestation, and kalah means manifestation of the plenarymanifestation. So the conclusion in the Srimad-Bhagavatam is that"This name Krsna, which is given here..." Because Krsna alsoappeared, and He proclaimed Himself that yada yada hi dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharata, tadatmanam srjamy aham. So He is acceptedas the original Supreme Personality of God. Similarly, in the Brahma-samhita, another Vedic literature,that is also confirmed that isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam There are many gods. Many gods means that in one sense we are alsogod. God means controller, that's all. God, the literary meaningof god, this word, is controller, isvara. So every one of us hassome controlling capacity, everyone. Either we control the family,or control the office, we control the state, we control themunicipality, or so on, so on, everyone is a controller. Butnobody is the supreme controller. Similarly, if you go on, make your progress, then you come tothe Brahma. Brahma is the controller of this whole universe. Andthere are many, innumerable universes and innumerable Brahmasalso. And their controller is the Garbhodakasayi Visnu. And theGarbhodakasayi Visnu is controlled by Maha-Visnu, and Maha-Visnuis controlled by Sankarsana, and Sankarsana is controlled byNarayana. And Narayana is controlled by Vasudeva. And Vasudeva iscontrolled by Baladeva. And Baladeva is controlled by Krsna.Therefore you'll find in the Bhagavad-gita that Krsna says, mattahparataram nanyat asti kincid dhananjaya: "My dear Arjuna, there isno, nobody greater than Me." And Arjuna also accepted that "Youare asamordhva: "Nobody is equal to You, and nobody is greaterthan You." And our Gosvamis in Vrndavana... There were six Gosvamis. Theywere very good scholars, especially Jiva Gosvami. They haveanalyzed the characteristics of the Absolute Truth, Personality ofGodhead, and they have established that Krsna has got the all thetranscendental qualities of Godhead in Krsna. And in Narayanathere are ninety-four percent of the transcendental qualities ofthe Absolute Truth. Similarly, in Lord Siva there is eighty-fourpercent of all the transcendental qualities of the Absolute Truth.And in living being, as we are, we have got seventy-eight percentof the transcendental qualities. That is also in fraction, not infull. So there are some scholars, analytical study like this. Now,the point is that Krsna says that "All kinds of sacrifices,whatever sacrifice you can undertake..." There are different kindsof, mentioned, dravya-yajna, jnana-yajna, yoga-yajna, so many.There are different types of yajna. But here Krsna concludes, "Allthe different types of yajna," sarvam karmakhilam partha jnaneparisamapyate, "whatever yajna you can perform, that's all right.But that is the different steps, different steps to come to thepoint of real knowledge." Just like you have got your Empire State Building here and atwo-story building. So you go up, you go to the twenty-fifthfloor, you can go to the fiftieth floor, you go to the seventieth,seventy-five, eighty--in this way, unless you reach thatone-hundred-second story, that is not the perfect progress. Thatis also progress. Suppose if you have gone to the eighty-fifthstory, that is also progress from the downwards. That's all right. But the highest, highest perfection of knowledge is, so far westudy from the Bhagavad-gita, it is said, bahunam janmanam antejnanavan mam prapadyate. Bahunam janmanam ante. Bahunam meansafter many, many births of culturing knowledge, when he comes tothe real knowledge, real, perfect knowledge. Bahunam janmanam antejnanavan. Not the fools, but jnanavan. He especially mentionsjnanavan. Jnanavan mam prapadyate. Jnanavan the sign is thatjnanavan surrenders unto the Supreme Lord Krsna. That is thehighest stage of knowledge. Either you take it, granted... Just like Arjuna was advised byKrsna, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: "You giveup. Because you are My very confidential friend, therefore I sayunto you that you don't bother with anything else. Just surrenderunto Me." This is the most confidential. So in all points of view,if you make an analytical study of the Vedic literature, theultimate summit knowledge is to surrender unto Krsna.-- bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah And what kind of surrender? The surrender means full knowledge.After scrutinizingly studying all the process of self-realizationor transcendental realization, when one comes to the perfectionalpoint, he understands that vasudevah sarvam iti: "Vasudeva, Krsna,is everything." As it is confirmed in the Brahma-samhita, that isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam Sarva-karana-karanam means the cause of all causes. Just like myexistence. I have got this body. The cause was my father. And thefather, his father was cause. You go on searching, father,father's father, his father, grandfather, great-grandfather... Goon searching, searching, searching. Don't think that because youcannot see just now your great grandfather, there was no father ofthe grandfather. Don't think like that. There was. Although heis... Don't think that "Anything which is out of my sight, becauseI cannot see, so there is no existence." No. This conclusion isnot good. This is not very intelligent conclusion. Because I cannot seewhat is happening beyond this wall, oh, that does not mean thereis nothing beyond this wall. So everyone wants to see Godimmediately. God you can see when you are perfectly qualified.When you are in perfect knowledge, you can see God eye to eye justlike you are seeing me, I am seeing you. But that requiresqualification. You have to wait. That qualification is Krsnaconsciousness. That qualification means Krsna consciousness. This Krsna consciousness begins with sravanam kirtanam.Sravanam, hearing. We have to hear about Krsna. Just like theSrimad-Bhagavad-gita is the preliminary study of understanding orhearing about Krsna. Hearing about Krsna. Just like suppose I came to your country, United States ofAmerica. Oh, in my childhood I heard of it in school when I wasreading geometry or something like, history or geography. I heardfirst of all. I did not come first of all. So hearing, hearing,when I understood, "Oh, that's a very wonderful country, and it isfar away, and if I go there..." Similarly, as you think also aboutgoing to India, so first of all hearing. Not immediately seeingwhat is America or what is India. First of all hearing. Sosimilarly, if we want to see God, then we have to hear. That isthe process. Krsna consciousness process is first with hearing.Sravanam. Sravanam means hearing. Then kirtanam. Kirtanam means to chant about the glories, aboutthe holy name, about the form, about the quality. Then this isassociation with Krsna because Krsna, or God, is absolute. He isnot different from His name, from His quality, from His form, fromHis pastimes. He is not different. So hearing and chanting of thequalities or form or name of the Supreme, of the Absolute, meansour association with God. Association. Direct association, intranscendental quality. So as we go on making association, thenKrsna helps us to understand Him. Srnvatam... It is in Srimad-Bhagavatam. There is a verse. srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrt satam Suhrt satam. Krsna is sitting within your heart. Krsna is the, isacting as your spiritual master, caitya-guru. Caitya-guru.Caitya-guru means the guru, or the spiritual master, who issitting in my heart, citta. So srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah. When you begin to hear about Krsna, then the hearing ofkrsna-katha, the topics about Krsna, is punya-sravana-kirtanah. Itis, even if you do not understand, it will increase your virtue.Punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani. We haveaccumulated so much dust by our material contact. By so manyyears' association with the matter, we have accumulated so muchdirty things within our heart. That becomes gradually cleansed.Srnvatam sva-kathah krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah, hrdy antah-sthohy abhadrani. Hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrt satam. Sri Krsna is friend of everyone, but He's a special friend tothe devotee. That you will find in Bhagavad-gita. Samo 'hamsarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo 'sti na priyah: "I am friend ofeveryone. Nobody is My enemy, and nobody is My friend. But I amequal to everyone." Sama, sama means equal. Ye tu bhajanti mambhaktya tesu te mayi: "But a person who is devoted to Me and isengaged in devotional service with Me, I have got specialattention for him." Therefore Krsna's another name is suhrt satam. Satam. Satammeans those who are trying for having eternal life. Because inthis material world we don't get anything eternal. All,everything, temporary. Therefore it is called asat. Asato ma sadgama. The Vedic injunction is "Don't try to remain in thistemporary world." Sad gama: "Just try to go to the eternal world."Tamaso ma jyotir gama: "Don't try to remain in this darkness. Yougo to the kingdom of light." These are Vedic injunctions. SoKrsna, He is within our heart. Hrdy antah-sthah. Therefore, assoon as we become a little inclined towards Krsna, then fromwithin our heart He gives us favorable instruction so that we cangradually make progress, gradually. Krsna is the first spiritual master, and when we become moreinterested, then we have to go to a physical spiritual master.That is enjoined in the next verse. tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah Now, Krsna advises that "If you want to know that transcendentalscience, then you just try to approach somebody." Pranipatena.Pranipatena, pariprasnena and sevaya. What is pranipata? Pranipatameans surrender. Surrender. You must select a person where you cansurrender yourself because nobody likes to surrender to anyone. We have got... Everyone, we are puffed up with whateverknowledge we have got. Everyone is puffed up: "Oh, who can give meknowledge?" There is regular propaganda that "For spiritualrealization there is no need of spiritual master." But so farVedic literature is concerned, so far Bhagavad-gita is concerned,so far Bhagavata is concerned, so far the Upanisads and Vedicliteratures are concerned, they do not say. They say that there isneed of a spiritual master. Take for example the Upanisads, the Vedic Upanisads. In theVedic Upanisads it is said, tad-vijnanartham sa gurumevabhigacchet, srotriyam brahma-nistham, this mantra, that "If youwant to learn that transcendental subject, then..." First word isthat if you are eager to learn that subject. In the material world also, suppose if I want to learn the artof music. Then I have to find out somebody who is a musician.Without having the association of a musician, nobody can learn theart of music. Or any art. Suppose if you want to become anengineer. So you have to enter yourself in an engineering collegeor technical college and learn there. Nobody can become a medicalpractitioner simply by purchasing book from the market and readingat home. That is not possible. You have to admit yourself in amedical college and undergo training and practical examination, somany things. Simply by purchasing book, it is not possible. Similarly, if you want to learn Bhagavad-gita or anytranscendental subject matter, here is the instruction by LordKrsna Himself. Lord Krsna Himself, because He is the speaker ofthis Bhagavad-gita, He says that tad viddhi pranipatenapariprasnena sevaya. You must go to a person where you cansurrender yourself. That means you have to check, "Who is the realperson who can give me instruction on Bhagavad-gita or any Vedicliterature, or any scripture, right?" And not that, to search outa person as a, whimsically. No. You have to search out a personvery serious that, who is actually in the knowledge of the thing.Otherwise why you shall surrender? No. There is no necessity ofsurrender. But here it is said clearly that "You have to surrenderto a person." That means you have to find out such a person whereyou can voluntarily surrender. Without finding, your mission willnot be fulfilled. Because very word, first thing, is... Just like Arjuna in the beginning. We have discussed thatpoint. Arjuna was talking with Krsna in friendly terms just likefriend. He was... Krsna was saying some discussed that point.Arjuna was talking with Krsna in friendly terms just like friend.He was... Krsna was saying something, "Oh, you cannot... You are aksatriya. You are a military man. How can you give up thefighting?" Just like friendly talks. But when Arjuna saw it, that"Our friendly talk will not make a solution," so he surrenderedunto Krsna that "I'll..." Sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam prapannam: "Ijust become surrendered disciple unto You. Please instruct me whatis my duty." So this is the process. Here also, Krsna advises that "If you have to learn," say, forBhagavad-gita, "then you have to go to a person where you cansurrender." Not only surrender, not blindly surrender. You must beable to inquire. Pariprasna. The next qualification is pariprasna.Pariprasna means inquiry. Without inquiry, you cannot makeadvance. Just like a student in the school who inquires from theteacher, he's very intelligent. Even a boy, a child, if heinquires from the father, "Oh, father, what is this? What isthis?" that child is very intelligent. Very intelligent. Soinquiry is required, not only pranipata... "Oh, I have found out avery good spiritual master, very learned and very good, saw. Allright. I have surrendered. Then all my business finished." No.That is not... You may have a very good spiritual master, but if you have nopower to inquire, then you cannot make progress. Inquiries must bethere. But inquiry, how inquiry? Not to challenge. Inquiry, notthat "Oh, I shall see what kind of spiritual master he is. Let mechallenge him and put some irrelevant questions and talknonsensically, this way and that way." Oh, that will not make...Inquiry on the point. Pariprasna means inquiry on the point, andthat inquiry should be seva. Seva means service. Not that "Oh, I have inquired so manythings from such and such person. Oh, I have not rendered anypayment or any service, so I have gained." No. Without service,your inquiry will be futile. So three things here. Pranipata,pariprasna and seva. Pranipata. Pranipata means you must have thequalification to, at least to find out a person who is actuallyqualified to give you real instruction. That you have to do. Thatremains on you. Suppose you have to purchase some gold or jewelries, and if youdo not know where to purchase, if you go to a grocer shop topurchase a jewel, oh, then you'll be cheated. If he says, go to agrocer shop and ask, "Oh, can you give me diamond?" he willunderstand that "Here is a fool. So let him [me] give himsomething. This is diamond." "Oh. What is the price?" He cancharge anything and when you come home, your relatives say, "Whatyou have brought?" "This is diamond. I went to the grocer shop."So that kind of finding spiritual master will not do. You have tobecome a little intelligent. Because without being intelligentnobody can make any spiritual progress. Athato brahma... In the Brahma-sutra, in the Vedanta-sutra, itis stated, athato brahma-jijnasa. Brahma-jijnasa. Brahma-jijnasameans to inquire, inquire about the supreme subject matterBrahman. That requires a qualification. Atha. Atha means those whohave become experienced of this miserable life of this materialworld. They can inquire. Then can inquire what is Absolute Truth,what is spiritual life. Athato brahma-jijnasa. Similarly, in theBhagavata also it is stated, tasmad gurum prapadyeta jijnasuhsreya uttamam. Sreya uttamam. Uttamam means the udgata-tamam. That istranscendental. Tama means darkness. Anything of this materialworld, that is in darkness because this material world is dark.You know that the whole world, whole universe, is dark. Thereforethere is requisition of the sunlight, moonlight, electricity. Itis dark. So uttamam means which is beyond this darkness, beyondthis darkness. That means transcendental subject, spiritualsubject. In the spiritual world there is no darkness. So if anyoneis desirous of inquiring about the spiritual world, then herequires to find out a spiritual master. Otherwise there is nonecessity. For a man who wants to remain in this darkness, formaterial benefit... Suppose I want some spiritual master or I want to studyBhagavad-gita or Vedanta-sutra so that I may make some materialimprovement. Oh, that is not required. For material improvementyou can work just so many people are working. They are making,trying industry or something like... That is prescribed. But ifyou are at all interested about the Brahman subject, the spiritualsubject, then you require a spiritual master. That is clearlystated. Tasmad gurum prapadyeta. Tasmat means "Therefore one hasto surrender unto the spiritual master." Who? Who is jijnasuh sreya uttamam: "who is very much eager tounderstand about the transcendental subject matter." So any Vedicliterature the same instruction you'll find, as it is stated inthe Bhagavad-gita, tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah Jnaninah means jnani, or a man who is in perfect knowledge.Perfect knowledge means one who has perfect vision or the perfect,not theoretical, but actual vision of the spiritual subjectmatter. He is called jnani. Jnaninas tattva-darsinah. Tattva. Tattva means the Absolute Truth. Now, so far tattva isconcerned, you'll find in the Bhagavad-gita that Krsna is thesupreme tattva, Absolute Truth. Now, He explains that manusyanam sahasresu kascid yatatisiddhaye: "Out of many, many thousands of people, a few people maytry how to get spiritual salvation." Not all. Everyone is notexpected to hanker after spiritual salvation. That requires alsomany, many years qualification. So manusyanam sahasresu. Aftermany... Out of many, many thousands of people, one is very muchanxious for spiritual realization. And then Lord Krsna says,yatatam api siddhanam. And out of many perfected spiritualists,some may know what is Krsna. Just try to understand. First of allout of many, many, many thousands of people, who wants to haveperfection in spiritual life, then those persons who have attainedsuch perfection, out of them, one or two may understand what isKrsna. So the subject matter of Krsna is not so easy. It is verydifficult also. But one can understand very easily. That processis also prescribed in the Bhagavad-gita. bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah tato mam tattvato jnatva visate tad-anantaram Bhakti, devotional service. That devotional service, if youaccept, you can understand that difficult subject matter of Krsnavery easily. Bhaktya mam abhijanati. Abhijanati means perfectlyyou can understand. Yavan yas casmi tattvatah. Tattvatah means theAbsolute Truth as it is, you can understand. And tato mam tattvatojnatva, and after understanding the Krsna science very perfectly,he becomes eligible to enter into that spiritual kingdom. Thesethings are stated. So here... We are discussing this point that tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah So if we actually want to reach that point of perfectionalknowledge where we can fully surrender... Now, the intelligentperson... According to my opinion... I have several timesdiscussed this point, that if it is a point that after many, manybirths, when I am fully perfect in knowledge, I have to surrenderto Krsna, then why not immediately surrender to Him? Why shall Iwait for many, many births? That is very intelligent proposal. Ifthat is the end of perfection, then why not accept the perfectionimmediately? But people are doubtful. Somebody asked me... That, I think, Mr. Moscowitz asked me thisquestion. I answered this point. His inquiry was: "How long itwill take to be perfect in Krsna consciousness?" So I replied thatKrsna consciousness can be had in one second, and it cannot be hadin thousands of births and deaths. So why? But if we understandthis principle that after attainment of full knowledge, I have toultimately surrender to vasudevah sarvam iti, I have to becomethe, I mean to say, sa mahatma, a great soul like that, why notimmediately surrender to Krsna? Why not become immediately thesupreme, I mean to say, great soul. Sa mahatma sudurlabhah. Thatis a process. But we are, some of us, or most of us, we are not prepared toaccept immediately Krsna as the Supreme or we have got manydoubts. Therefore, in order to drive away, dissipate all yourdoubtful ideas, the sastras, the scriptures, the Bhagavad-gita andSrimad-Bhagavata, are there, and if we make scrutinizingly studyof these two books, we can understand the Krsna science verynicely, and our progress in the matter of Krsna consciousness willbe definite. Thank you very much. If there is any question, youcan ask. (end) About the Author Other Stories by this AuthorContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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