The Vedic civilization was the original culture of this world, but it disintegrated after a great world war that occurred about 5,000 years ago. That took place in India in what we know today as Kurukshetra, north of New Delhi. In fact, to this day scientists who go there and examine the sands find that they are fused, like sands are fused after a nuclear blast; because they were advanced in all kinds of technology.
Lecture on Krishna Consciousness given by Hansadutta dasa on January 8, 2005
We are going to have kirtan. Unlike most musical performances, kirtan is actually not a form of entertainment. Kirtan literally means praise, to praise Krishna, just by chanting His Holy Name. Although there are 16 words in the mantra, it is composed of only 3 words, Hare, Krishna and Rama. You all have a card, and it reads:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The process is that I will sing the mantra completely, and then the audience responds, and it goes back and forth like that. You can clap, you can play the cymbals, you can just sit, or you can get up and dance if you feel like it. Normally in the world of entertainment, a person comes and he performs, and he wants the audience to clap and admire and appreciate his talent and his energy, but kirtan is not like that. It is actually a complete transcendental participation for everyone. So the unique thing about kirtan is that it is not a performance that I am doing for you. It is actually that every person who sings is doing it for their own spiritual benefit. The idea of chanting the mantra is that by this sound vibration, you are immediately in touch with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. Some will say Allah, or Buddha or Jehovah, at any rate, the literal translation of the word Krishna means “The All-attractive”.
Then we have Crista, whose name is obviously a derivative of Krishna, and so is “Chrish-mas” and Christian, etc. When we trace them back through the Greek or the Latin to the Sanskrit, we will find all the cultures of the world”it doesn’t matter who, where or what they are, they are all an expansion of the original Vedic culture. The word Vedic, or Veda just means knowledge. The Vedic civilization was the original culture of this world, but it disintegrated after a great world war that occurred about 5,000 years ago. That took place in India in what we know today as Kurukshetra, north of New Delhi. In fact, to this day scientists who go there and examine the sands find that they are fused, like sands are fused after a nuclear blast; because they were advanced in all kinds of technology. We like to think that we are the only ones that have advanced and have developed, but the fact is that the Vedicans were far more advanced as a civilization than today.
The unique feature of their advancement was not material; although they were materially advanced. The emphasis on Vedic civilization is spiritual advancement. They concluded that because material life here is temporary, meaning we are born, we grow old, we become diseased and inevitably, we die. There is no material adjustment that can overcome these four problems. The unfortunate thing about our present day civilization is that instead of dealing with these four problems, they have set them aside, and they are very busy creating an environment which at first glance is very dazzling; with the technology, industry, economics, and so forth. It is very dazzling in so much as it focuses 100% on preserving and maintaining this material body: bodily comfort, bodily enjoyment, bodily prestige, bodily beauty, bodily health, everything BODY.
Everything is made for the body, but I am not this body”this is the difficulty. “I”, the living being, I am simply a “resident”, or a “tenant”, or the “driver” of this body. Exactly as a man drives a car, or I am wearing this shirt and pants. I am not the shirt and pants, I am not the car, I am not the airplane, and similarly, I am not the body. I am the proprietor of this body. So unless the human society reorients its focus back to spiritual advancement, they cannot solve these four problems: birth, old age, disease and death. There is no material adjustment that will help to avoid these four things. We may temporarily, at times, alleviate some ailment or the signs of old age by some face lifting and dieting or whatever, but there is no way to escape these 4 problems. And not only that, but when we leave this body, then wherever and whatever the mind is fixed on at that time, that nature one attains without fail. This is the process of transmigration of the soul.
Exactly as a person whose car is worn out, and dysfunctional, he abandons it and he gets another car. What kind of car he gets depends on his capacity, or his ability to pay. Take of example this apartment; now we are in this apartment, but if you were to inherit $10 or $20 Million dollars, certainly you would think of getting a better apartment. Or if on the other hand you were to lose your job or your source of income, you would have to think of finding a lesser apartment. So in exactly the same way, the living entity is not a product of this world, it is not a product of this body. He is never born, and he never dies, once having been, he never ceases to be. That which pervades the entire body is indestructible, no one is able to kill the imperishable soul.
So although this point is so simple and elementary or fundamental, it is not understood. In fact it has become the source of jokes and criticism. But this is the beginning of knowledge; to be able to distinguish life from matter. Matter cannot produce life, no more than darkness can produce light. Darkness is the result of the absence of light, and similarly, matter is a shadow of the living force. Because the living force is present, matter is integrated in a particular form. It may be a bird, or a bee, a beast, a man, a bug, but behind every material phenomenon, there is life.
So, education begins when a human being can distinguish matter from life, or spirit”living force. If he cannot do that, he is considered to be an animal. Although he may be very sophisticated in a material sense; he may be technologically capable, he may be economically well off, he or she may be a powerful political personality, but if this distinguishing factor is missing in their intelligence, they are animals, because that is the difference between the animal and the human being. The animal is busy day and night doing four things: eating, sleeping, defending and mating. So, human beings also eat, they sleep, they defend, and they also indulge in sex and beget children. Therefore if a human being is not engaged in spiritual life, if he is not seriously and actively trying to realize his spiritual identity as distinct from matter, then he is just a sophisticated animal.
He may have a very sophisticated sleeping arrangement. The dog is sleeping in the street, eating in the street, having sex in the street without shame, and we may be in a very nice apartment, or hotel room indulging in the same thing. The pleasure principal is the same for the dog or for the man.
So, Vedic civilization was focused primarily on how to get out of this cycle of birth, old age, disease and death, because we do not simply live one time and then we’re finished, no. Our life is eternal, or rather, the living entity is never born and never dies. Once having been, he never ceases to be. Krishna says, “Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings, and never will there be a time when we shall cease to be. That which pervades the entire body is indestructible, no one can kill the imperishable soul”. And the fact is that even an ant or a mosquito, if you try to kill it, it will resist and scramble to live. Why, because everyone has the sense of living perpetually, and enjoying perpetually, and knowing everything without a doubt. This is the very nature of the soul, but it is covered by this body, and because we are not educated in childhood to distinguish matter from spirit, we have accepted this body as everything, and we are busy struggling day and night to preserve it. That is called the hard struggle for existence, which means eating, sleeping, defending and mating, that’s all.
So this education, in fact the word education is very interesting. Generally people think that education means sending the children to school and they inject into them an ocean of facts and figures, which will make them capable of fairing well in the world. But education actually comes from the word educe, like seduce, reduce, produce, etc. So to educe, to educate means to draw out what is already there, it is not to put something in artificially. Educate means to draw out that knowledge, the understanding that is already there, exactly as a miner draws the gold out of the gold mine. He doesn’t manufacture it.
It is there, it has to be uncovered, there is a process, and they know it. So similarly the knowledge of Krishna Consciousness, or spiritual knowledge, or self-realization, it is already there, you know it now, but it is covered. And the Vedicans, aside from all other fields of knowledge, the primary knowledge, or the “King of Knowledge” was this self-realization. It is called Raja Vidya. Raja means King, and Vidya means knowledge.
“Raja vidya raja guhyam pavitram idam uttamam”. The King of knowledge is to know one’s self. If I don’t know myself, then I don’t know anything.
We speak of, “Oh, I want to by happy, I want to have self confidence”, but I don’t know what I am. I don’t know what that self is, I have mistakenly accepted that, ” I am this body, that I am an American, I am German, I am a Jew, or I’m a Palestinian”, but I am not that. I am simply present in this body, and as long as the living force is present, the body appears as a living, moving and growing unit. But the body is in fact always a dead lump of matter. Exactly as a computer is nothing more than a combination of metal and plastic and wires, but when the electric force touches it, it gives the appearance of a wonderful functioning machine. So the body is an organic machine. The Sanskrit word is actually yantra, which means machine. The computer is a mechanical machine, and the body is an organic machine. It is valuable and it is beautiful only because life is present from head to toe. If there were a dead body in this room now, no one would want to be here. We have recently seen on the television so many bodies piling up on account of the tsunami/earthquake disaster. As soon as the life is separated from the body, the body reveals itself for what it is: it is repulsive, there is nothing beautiful about this body. It is only because life is pervading it for a certain time that it gives an appearance of living and growing, but in fact, it is always dead. It is not living, and it is not growing, it is changing, from childhood, to youth hood, to old age, and at death there is another change, the self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. That change is the change of another body. Because this body is worn-out, the organs are failing, the mind is becoming feeble, and digestion has dimmed, we can no longer work it. It becomes so painful, that the soul actually abandons it, but that abandonment is not that I evaporate and become zero, as the materialistic persons think. That, “I’ll just peacefully go to sleep and that will be the end”. No. There is no end; as there is no beginning, there is no end.
Life is eternal and everyone gets another body according to their karmic work. Karma means work. According to the work that you have performed in this life, you will get the result in the next life. Just as this month you work, you get paid next month. You don’t get paid first and then work. You work, and when the work is done, you collect the paycheck. If you miss 3 days, then your pay is docked 3 days. Even in Civil life, or social life if a man commits a crime, then there is some reaction. He is brought before the judge, and then he is fined, or he is imprisoned, or sometimes he’s executed, etc.
Similarly, the Universe, or the material nature is not blind; it is not going on just haphazardly. It is being supervised and managed by higher, transcendental spiritual intelligence. Although we cannot see it, it is a fact. Just as the government has everything controlled. I don’t see any government officers, but it is all regulated. Your electricity is being metered, your telephone is being metered, how many days you are staying here, (rent) that is being metered, yes? Your gasoline is being metered, everything is under control. So in the higher sense, material nature is also completely controlled, and regulated and managed by higher authorities. It is not just that, “Hey, there was some big bang and there it all was”. If there were a bang in this room, would there be some wonderful arrangement after the bang? No, everything would be in chaos.
So to come back, or to develop in the direction of understanding God, and our relationship with God, and how to ultimately revive our original love for God, that is the purpose of human life. Actually, people don’t ever think that, “Is there any purpose to life?” They simply concoct something and pursue it. Someone wants to be pilot, another person wants to be an artist, someone becomes a terrorist, and they are simply busy day and night on the bodily platform. So Krishna Consciousness is a scientific lifestyle, or a culture of life, which is meant to help the human being make progress spiritually, and solve these 4 problems of birth, old age, disease and death. Because if we do not solve them, then you have to repeat again. Whatever we develop, or whatever we set our hearts on, at the time of leaving this body, or at the time of death, that is what will draw us back. That is the meaning of karma, or reincarnation, that everyone gets what they want. Whatever it is you want, yes, you get it, but in order to get that thing, you have to accept this body, and this body is the source of all our problems. The major problems are birth, old age, disease and death. Then there is the problem of how to eat, how to sleep, how to defend myself, and have sex. Then there is adi-atmika, adi-bhodika, adi-deivika miseries.
That means the body itself gives me trouble: head aches, stomachaches, fever and so on. Then other bodies give me trouble: mosquito bites, dog bites, dacoits, rapists, and so on.
Then the third is called adi-deivika; we have just seen adi-deivika phenomenon in Southeast Asia, where a tsunami washed away maybe 150,000 lives in a minute’s time. That means supernatural phenomena such as tsunami, cyclone, hurricane, earthquake, tornadoes, volcanoes, too hot, too cold, too much water (flooding) it is just endless.
So the material existence is a tremendous struggle against the laws of material nature, but this is an unnecessary struggle. It is our freedom to go on struggling, or to say I’ve had enough, I’m ready, let’s chant Hare Krishna! I’m ready to make progress spiritually and get relief from this inevitable and futile struggle. However powerful one is, it is futile. Just like Hitler was powerful, Napoleon was powerful, President Kennedy was powerful, John Lennon was famous and rich and popular, but no one can prevail against these 4, birth, old age, disease and death, it’s not possible. So therefore, an intelligent person will ask, “Why should I take so much trouble?”
This is the message of all great spiritual leaders, whether it’s Jesus, or Buddha, or Caitanya, or Mohammed, or Krishna, none of them say, “Hey, have a good day”. All of them are in agreement on one point: this material world is full of miserable conditions, and to pitch oneself against the material nature thinking that you will be the one that can do what’s never been done, (remain here happily forever) that is foolishness, that is madness. So at the present moment, we are living in an environment full of mad people, especially our leaders are mad; they are sending us to Iraq, and for what? There are so many senseless, mindless conditions created by leaders who have no consciousness or no understanding, and no appreciation for the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So now we will have kirtan.
Kirtan Ends”
Hansadutta (To Crista): Thank you so much for inviting us and having this program! This is a completely spiritual activity. It is not material. Although the chanting of Hare Krishna seems almost childishly simple, (3 words repeated in a 16 word mantra) the fact is that this sound vibration is not material. It is a completely spiritual vibration. On the absolute platform- as opposed to the material platform where everything is relative- the name and the substance are identical. The sound of a thing and the thing itself are identical. This is no difference, and there is no discord. In the material world, everything is in discord. Then name water and the substance water are not identical. So the process of chanting this sound vibration is the recommended method for reviving our original Krishna Consciousness. Krishna Consciousness is not an artificial (imposition on the mind). It is not a ritual. It is not a religion. It is not a faith. It is a science; just as engineering, or digital computers, or chemistry, or medicine, they are sciences”material sciences, and one must be trained systematically by an authorized professor in an authorized institution. (Harvard or Stanford) and one has to accept the standard texts and do the work. In the Bhagavad Gita this principle is explained:
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
In every field, the same procedure applies. The translation of this verse is: “Just try to learn the truth by approaching a bona fide spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render him all kinds of service. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth”. When you have thus seen the truth, you will know that all living beings are in Me and are Mine”. So any subject matter, if we want to master it, we must find an experienced expert, an authority, and we must submit to him. Suppose you want to become a musician. You must find out a master musician, a recognized master; and you must submit, you must be inquisitive, and you must be prepared to do everything he orders, or dictates; (inquiry, submission and service). You cannot challenge him”(if you do) then you will be dismissed.
This principle of inquiry, submission and service (or surrender) is present everywhere. When a man wants to find employment, he must be prepared to surrender and submit. He can’t come and challenge, or boast. He must be very inquisitive, submissive, and most of all, he must be prepared to do anything and everything that is required of him. Then when the master, or the boss is pleased, such a person he rises up. It is simply a question of satisfying the higher authority. This is true in commercial life, in social life, in military life, student life, even in home life. The children must be submissive, they must be inquisitive, and they must do service (chores). Of course, now in the present time we find that these things have been neglected, because people are becoming irregular and dull. (They are becoming dull) because they are indulging in forbidden things like meat eating, intoxication, illicit sex and gambling. Therefore, they are losing their intelligence, they are losing their determination, and the whole society is deterioration and degrading.
But anyway, the original verse was tad viddhi pranipatena. If we want to make progress in spiritual life, we must accept someone who has actually mastered spiritual life, someone who actually has a spiritual life. If he does not have a spiritual life, it is useless. Just “professor” or academic knowledge is useless. Theoretical knowledge of business is useless. You must go to someone who has actually accumulated millions of dollars, and then you serve him, and he will show you or reveal to you how business is done. Therefore generally, the University study is a waste of time, because the professors are actually not successful in their field. They have accumulated academic or abstract or theoretical knowledge, but they have no actual success in their own field. Business Administration, so forth and so on.
The best way to learn a thing is to find out who is the topmost. Suppose you wanted to be a filmmaker. You would go to Steven Spielberg, and you would say, “I will do anything for you, anything you ask, I simply want to serve you, because you are the best, and from you I am sure I can learn everything I need to know (about filmmaking). That is the process. That of course was the old process in Europe, and even in America, the Master – apprentice system. The apprentice was sent to the home, or the residence (workshop) of some master craftsman, and the student was accepted; but he had to do all the bidding of the master. If he was reluctant or rebellious, such a student could not hope gain the confidence of the master. Even in the relationship of boy and girl, or man and a woman, the woman tries to satisfy and please the boy or the man. And the man, when he is pleased, he is prepared to give protection and shelter and support. In this way, it becomes a very happy and harmonious relationship. But nowadays people are misled, and they are taught that man and woman are equal, and “why should I serve this man? I can do anything he can do!” (In the words of the song: “Anything you can do, I can do better; I can do anything better than you”). That is a competitive relationship, so there is no happiness. It may sound (theoretically) very up to date and modern, but it is not a question of one being inferior and one being superior, it is the natural psychology in every relationship: someone is the leader, and someone is the follower. Someone gives protection, and someone accepts protection, and it is especially true in spiritual life.
If we want a spiritual life, we must first give up our false prestige, thinking that “I know everything, I can know be research, by experiment, by reading books”"no, you can’t.
You must go to the person who has actually darsinah, (means has seen the truth). Not that he has simply read it in a book and can repeat by quotation, like a professor in the class. No, he has seen the truth. Darsinah, tattva-darsinah, tattva means truth, and darsinah means seen. He has seen, and he can guide us in practical life, how to make progress towards that seeing, towards that darsan. This is the basic principle of Krishna Consciousness, and just this chanting of the Holy Name- in itself- requires a humble and submissive attitude. Not puffed-up like, “Oh, what is this, this is a waste of time, I could have a drink, or I could make some money, this is wasting time”. If someone just chants the Holy Name of Krishna, that in itself is the very beginning of his spiritual life. And if one continues chanting the Holy Name of Krishna and hears about Krishna, and does something for Krishna, even”Krishna says, “If anyone offers Me with love and devotion, a glass of water, a leaf, a flower, a fruit, I will accept it”. Someone will say, “What is this? Accept a glass or water, a fruit, a leaf”"but no. This is the principle.
Just imagine, if somehow or other in ordinary affairs you could approach a great powerful personality like George Bush, and offer him a glass of water, and he accepted it”instantly, your stature, your prestige would take on a significance that it didn’t have before”simply because he accepted something from you. Now generally, sometimes we find in business dealings that two parties come together, and one of them is very wealthy like Bill Gates. The other party may be just a junior in the field, and they go to dinner. Now, a normal person will think that Gates is so rich; he should pay for the dinner. But the intelligent person would not think like that, he would think, “I will pay for the dinner”. Because it is the natural relationship of the dependent to serve the superior, that is natural. And we are dependent, we are all dependents, we are all ultimately dependent on Krishna, because everything in our life comes from Him. Our very own body which we are so proud of and attached to; even that we have received it from a higher agent, our father and mother. The clothes you are wearing, you did not make them. The carpet we are sitting on, you did not make it. You did not make this house, the TV, the lamp, the food that you eat, the bed that you sleep in, etc. There is actually nothing that you can claim that you are the proprietor. But we are thinking that, “I am the proprietor, I am the master, and I am the enjoyer. But actually we are the servants, and ultimately we are the servants of Krishna. Everyone is the servant of God, because everything is provided by Him, everything is maintained by Him, and everything in the end rests in Him. Material consciousness is just the opposite. The material conception is that “I am the master, I am the enjoyer, and everything is made for my satisfaction”, and therefore our lives are always full of disappointment, frustration and failure. It is because this concept is the diseased conception of “I, me and mine”.
Actually nothing belongs to us. Everything was here before you arrived, before you came out of the womb of your mother, and it will remain after you vanish “into the air of oblivion”. Therefore, Krishna Consciousness is the life which revives our eternal relationship with God, and all other things are included in that life. It is not a life of “negating this and accepting that”. No, spiritual life includes material life. Just as light includes the shadow, but in the shadow there is no light. When the substance moves, the shadow moves automatically. So life is the basis of everything, and when life is withdrawn, then matter is useless. Exactly as when the electric current is withdrawn, all the lamps in the world won’t give us a spark of light. Without a driver, the car is sitting for a hundred years, it will not move.
So similarly, this body”it is simply like a dress. In fact, in the Bhagavad Gita it is said, “As a person gives up an old and useless dress and gets a new dress, the soul gives up an old and useless body and gets a new body”. This is the principle of reincarnation, or the transmigration of the soul. In Sanskrit it is called samsara, or the cycle of birth and death. It is a perpetual cycle; it never stops, unless one actually becomes fully conscious of the fact that “I am not this body. I am the living force, the spirit soul within this body, and I am part and parcel of the Supreme Living Force, KRISHNA”. Just as my finger is part and parcel of this body, and the relationship of this finger, or of any other part, is that of dependence upon the whole. The finger depends on the body; the body doesn’t depend on the finger. If this finger is cut off and lying on the ground, it is useless. Or if one part of the machine is removed and is thrown on the ground, that part has no value. But that same part, lets say a spark plug; when it is in its right place within the machine it is very valuable. Similarly, when this finger is in its right place, and is acting under the direction of the whole body, it is very beautiful and very valuable. All the parts of the body serve the whole. When there is danger, my hand immediately rises up to protect me. When there is hunger, my hand brings food to the stomach. If there is an itch, my hand will scratch it. If I need something, my hand will pick it up. My hand cannot see this microphone, so how does the hand know? It is because the eyes give it guidance.
This is our connection with, or our interrelationship with Krishna. Krishna is the whole, and we are the part. The part’s business is to satisfy the whole, not to dictate to the whole. Like on a tree there are many leaves, with each leaf depending on the whole. The leaf cannot dictate to the tree, the tree dictates to the leaf. There is a story: two leaves fell in love, so they decided to get together, and they left the tree, so they could have an intimate relationship. But they withered up and dried, and were blown away. So this is material life. We are all like leaves separated from the tree of Krishna. We are trying in vain to establish a relationship with the other separated leaves of love, friendship and society. But the result is always grief and frustration. You cannot find anyone”if you ask anyone, “Are you happy?” No. No one is happy, they simply make show, “Yes we are very happy”. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, (who just split up the day before this lecture was given! Transcriber’s note)
All the stars are on the cover and they’re smiling and they’re looking very nice, it appears like yes, they are happy, and we also can have such happiness, but there’s no happiness, it is simply pretend. Real happiness is when the living entity comes back to its original, pure Krishna Consciousness, its spiritual life. Then all the necessities of material life are included. It is just like if you are in need of $10, and you approach a wealthy person who says, “Oh no, you take this $100″. So the $100 includes the $10! So similarly, spiritual life includes material life. Spiritual life is so exciting and so satisfying, that those things which were my ideals in material life become insignificant. They lose their importance, because we see things in their proper perspective. So, this chanting process of
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
is very simple; almost childish and silly. But it is the most powerful and most authorized process for reviving our original, pure Krishna Consciousness. This is because the sound Krishna is identical with Krishna, and by associating with Krishna, you become Krishna-ized. You become purified; your heart will become clean. The word mantra is two Sanskrit words. Man means mind, and tra means “to deliver”. Our mind is always saturated with so many plans and hopes and fears and anxieties, which are all based on preserving this body, and securing eating, sleeping, defending and mating. When you chant the Holy Names of Krishna, and hear it, in Sanskrit it is sravanam-kirtanam.
Sravanam means to hear; first you have heard it, now when you repeat Krishna, that is kirtanam” sravanam kirtanam Visnoh smaranam”smaranam means remember.
You will remember automatically; as your mind becomes clean, you will remember Krishna. It is not something you believe, like chanting the rosary, or waving some candles and incense, and ringing some bells and imagining, no. It is scientific to chant the Holy Name of the Lord, and simply by associating with Him by sound, your heart and your mind will become cleaned.
Like a mirror covered in dust. Sometimes we go up into the attic, and the mirror has been there for so many years, and you look and you can’t see because there is so much dust there. But if you take a cloth and wipe it, then everything is clear. So our minds and our hearts are covered with the dust of the material conception of life, “I am this body, I am rich, I am black, I am white, I am intelligent, I am a man, I am a woman”"on and on, “I want this, I want that, I hate him, I love him”, etc. Our heart is completely covered, and therefore the natural spiritual joy which is the quality or nature of the soul, exactly as sugar is naturally sweet, no one adds sweetness, sweet is the nature of sugar, it is its natural characteristic. Similarly, joyfulness”brahma-bhutah prasannatma no socati na kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu mad-bhaktim labhate param”when you come to this point of brahma-bhutah prasannatma, prasannatma means joyful. You become joyful, and what is the sign of that joyfulness? You never hanker or lament. Everyone is hankering, “I want this, I want that car, I want that job, I want that boy”, etc. Hankering, hankering”that is one symptom, and lamenting: “Oh, I lost my boyfriend, I lost my money, I lost my job, I lost my apartment, I lost my looks”, etc. Everyone is hankering and lamenting; this is the symptom of material existence”hankering and lamenting.
So brahma-bhutah prasannatma means that this hankering and lamenting will evaporate, because you will see that, “I am not in need of anything, and whatever needs I have will be provided by Krishna”. Your intelligence and your consciousness will become clear, and you will see things as they are; not that you have to believe what I say, or even believe what Krishna says. But if you practice chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare”regularly, (everything will be revealed to you on a need-to-know basis). Just as the child is regularly eating breakfast, eating lunch, eating dinner, and sometimes he doesn’t want to eat, but the mother says, “No, you must eat”, and imperceptibly he’s growing, and one day he sees that he is grown. Imperceptibly. Imperceptibly if you chant the Holy Name of Krishna, regularly, and read Krishna’s words, and take Krishna prasadam, your spiritual life will rise like the sun rises in the morning. Before we see the sun rise, it actually becomes lighter and lighter, more and more, and then at some point, we actually see that the sun is coming up.
So spiritual life is not some imaginary thing, it is real: it is actually the only thing that is real; other things are all shadows of the spirit, the shadows of the soul. This body is like a 3-dimensional shadow of the soul, and because we are in ignorance or in the darkness, we have accepted this body as the most beautiful thing. “Oh, I love my body”. We look in the mirror, we comb our hair, we put on nice perfumes and nice clothing, we have a nice car, a nice apartment, we have friends, and we are busy always with the body. But I’m not this body. So however nice your body may be, “I am not this body”. Therefore, no amount of pampering, and taking care, or showing off, no matter how famous you may be, and people are adoring you, like Elvis, or Marilyn Monroe, or Bob Dylan, etc. They had so many hundreds and millions of fans adoring them, but they are miserable. Why, because “I am not this body”. So you are adoring my body, but I’m not the body, so I’m not getting any satisfaction. I met John Lennon in 1969, and he was miserable. He had to sneak out at night in disguise so he could have some “normal” time alone, and get away from all of his sycophants.
So, it is very easy, just chant Hare Krishna, you will see, make an experiment. Of course, there are many other things; it is a very big subject matter, this is just in a nutshell. If you simply do this chanting, and try to understand who is Krishna, what is Krishna, there are many literatures and books you can read”everything”all of your desires will be fulfilled. It is not that, “Oh, I have to live like a beggar”, it is not like that. It is that one has to live as spirit soul, not as a body. Now we are living as this body, but I am not this body, therefore there is no happiness, no satisfaction. Thank you, Hare Krishna. Now we will take prasadam!
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