Elevation to Krsna Consciousness - Original 1973 ... - Prabhupada

OTHER BOOKSby His Divine GraceA.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami PrabhupadaBhagavad-g1ta As It IsSr1mad-Bhagavatam, Cantos 1-3 (6 Vols.)Teachings of Lord CaitanyaThe Nectar of DevotionSri TsopaniadEasy Journey to Other PlanetsKrr;Ja Consciousness: The Topmost Yoga SystemKrr;Ja, The Supreme Personality of Godhead (2 Vols.)Transcendental Teachings of Prahlad MaharajTranscendental Teachings of Caitanya MahaprabhuKrr;Ja the Reservoir of PleasureThe Perfection of YogaBeyond Birth and DeathOn the Way to Krr;JaRaja-vidya: The King of KnowledgeBack to Godhead Magazine (Founder)A complete catalogue is available upon request.

ALL GLORY TO SRI GURU AND GAURANGACEJevatiollto. rsnaConsciousnessHis Divine GraceA.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA SWAMI PRABHUPADAFounder-AcaryaInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness•THE BHAKTIVEDANTA BOOK TRUSTNew York · Los Angeles · London · Bombay

Readers interested in the subject matterof this book are invited bythe International Society for Krishna Consciousnessto correspond with its Secretary.International Society for Krishna Consciousness3959 Landmark StreetCulver City, California 90230© 1973 the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.All rights reservedFirst Printing, 1973:100,000Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:· 73-76635International Standard Book Number: 0-912776-43-9Printed in the United States of America by ISKCON Press

contents1. Choosing Human and Animal Lives. .... 12. Hard Struggle for Happiness .......... 13.3. Toward a Peaceful Society . .. ... .. .. . 314. Knowing KrQa as He Is ..............445. Knowing KrQa's Energies ............ 606. Taking to KrQa Consciousness ........ 77

1Choosing Human andAnimal Livesom ajiiiina- timiriindasya jiiiiniiiijana-saliikayiicakur unmllitam yena tasmai sr""i-gurave nama[l"I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritualmaster, who has opened my eyes, blinded by thedarkness of ignorance, with the torchlight of knowledge."It is customary with this verse to offer obeisancesto the spiritual master who enlightens his disciplesin the matter of transcendental knowledge. The Vedicprocess does not involve research work. In mundanescholarship, we have to show our academic learningby some research, but the Vedic process is different.In the Vedic process the research work is alreadydone; it is complete, and it is simply handed downby disciplic succession from teacher to student. Thereis no question of research work because the instrumentsand the means with which one conducts suchresearch work are blunt and imperfect.At this stage of our material existence, we are conditionedby many laws of nature. All conditionedsouls are subject to four defects due to the imperfectionof their senses. One defect is that the conditionedsoul is certain to commit mistakes. There is no manwho does not commit mistakes. In India, for instance,Mahatma Gandhi was supposed to be a very greatpersonality, but he also committed mistakes. Five

2 Elevation to Kr!!f!a Consciousnessminutes before he came to the meeting at which hewas killed, he was warned by confidential associatesnot to go, but he persisted. To commit mistakes isvery natural in the conditioned state of life. Indeed,the popular saying has arisen: "To err is human."Another imperfection of the conditioned soul isthat he is sure to be illusioned. Being illusionedmeans accepting something which is not, taking somephantasmagoria to be factual. Every one of us isunder the impression that we are these bodies, butactually we are not. Accepting the body to be theself is called illusion, or miiyii. The third imperfectionis that conditioned souls have a tendency tocheat. We have often heard a storekeeper say,"Because you are my friend, I won't make anyprofit off you." But in actuality we know that he ismaking at least 50% profit. There are so many instancesof this cheating propensity. There are alsomany examples of teachers who actually knownothing but put forth theories in words like "perhaps"or "it may be," while in actuality they aresimply cheating their students. The fourth imperfectionis that the senses of the living entity are notperfect. Our vision is so limited that we cannot seevery far away nor very near. The eye can see onlyunder certain conditions, and therefore it is understoodthat our vision is limited. Similarly, all ourother senses are also limited. It is not possible tounderstand the unlimited by these imperfect, limitedsenses. The conclusion is that the Vedic processdoes not encourage us to endeavor to learn theAbsolute Truth by employing our present senses,

Choosing Human and Animal Lives 3which are conditioned in so many ways. If we areto have knowledge, it must come from a superiorsource which is not conditioned by these four imperfections.That source is KrQ.a. He is the supremeauthority of Bhagavad-g"ita, and He is accepted as theperfect authority by so many saints and sages.Those who are serious students of Vedic literatureaccept authority. Bhagavad-g"ita, for example, is nota scholarly presentation which arose out of so muchresearch work. It is perfect knowledge that wastaught by Lord KrQ.a to Arjuna on the battlefieldof Kuruketra, and we receive information from itthat in previous ages Sri Krqa also taught it to thesun-god Vivasvan, and it was handed down from timeimmemorial from V ivasvan by disciplic succession.imam vivasvate yogamproktavan aham avyayamvivasvan manave prahamanur ikvakave 'brav"it"The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishablescience of yoga to the sun-god Vivasvan, and Vivasvaninstructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, andManu in turn instructed it to Ikvaku." (Bg. 4.1)If we study Bhagavad-g"ita according to academicknowledge or according to our own mental speculation,we are certain to commit mistakes. It is notpossible to understand Bhagavad-g"ita in this way. Itis necessary to follow carefully in the footsteps ofArjuna. In previous ages, due to interpretation andmental speculation, the real purport of Bhagavad-g"ita

4 Elevation to Kr11a Consciousnesswas lost; therefore Krl).a re-established the teachingsby giving them to Arjuna.evam parampara-praptamimam rajar§ayo vidusa kiileneha mahatayogo na§ta parantapasa evayam maya te 'dyayoga prokta puriitanabhakto 'si me sakhii cetirahasyam hy etad uttamam"This supreme science was thus received throughthe chain of disciplic succession, and the saintlykings understood it in that way. But in course oftime the succession was broken, and therefore thescience as it is appears to be lost. That very ancientscience of the relationship with the Supreme is todaytold by Me to you because you are My devotee aswell as My friend; therefore, you can understand thetranscendental mystery of this science." (Bg. 4.2,3)Thus whoever follows in the footsteps. of Arjuna,approaching Krl).a in a spirit of devotion, canunderstand the purpose of Bhagavad-gTtii as well asall other Vedic literatures.There are four Vedas-Siima, IJ.k, Yajur andAtharva, and there are 108 Upaniads, including thelsopaniad, Katha Upani§ad and Taittiriya Upani§ad,as well as the Vedanta-sutra, Srimad-Bhagavatam andBhagavad-gitii. These literatures are not meant forany particular class of men but for the totality of

Choosing Human and Animal Lives 5human society. All societies can take advantage ofVedic knowledge to perfect human life. As pointedout before, human life is not meant for sensegratification, but for understanding God, the universeand our own identity.From Vedic literatures we can understand thatthis material world is only a partial manifestation ofthe complete creation of God. The larger portion ofGod's creation is found in the spiritual world of theV aikur;1thas. Above and beyond this material naturethere is a superior spiritual nature, as Sri Krr;1a statesin Bhagavad-gTtii:bhumir apo 'nalo viiyukham mano buddhir eva caahankiira ifiyam mebhinnii prakrtir afitadhiiapareyam itas tv anyiimprakrtirh viddhi me paramfiva-bhutam maha-bahoyayedam dharyate jagat"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, andfalse ego-altogether these eight comprise My separatedmaterial energies. Besides this inferior nature,0 mighty Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Minewhich is all living entities who are strugglingwith material nature and sustaining the universe."(Bg. 7.4,5)There are many material universes clustered together,and all these universes constitute the material

Choosing Human and Animal Lives 7fallible, and is the highest destination. Going there,one never returns from that, My supreme abode."(Bg. 8.20,21)The Vedic religion, or vanyiisrama-dharma, is alsocalled eternal because no one can trace out its be·ginning. The Christian religion has a history of 2,000years, and the Mohammedan religion has a historyof 1,300 years, but if we try to trace out the originsof Vedic religion, we will not be able to find a he·ginning. Varr-iisrama-dharma is accepted as the eternalreligion of the living entity.We often say that God created this material world,and this means that God existed before the world.Since the Lord was existing before this materialmanifstation, He is not subject to this creation. IfHe were subject to the laws of the material world,how could He have created it? That the Lord issimultaneously identical with His creation and yetexists in His completeness apart from it is stated inBhagavad-gztii.maya tatam idarh sarvarhjagad avyak ta-murtinamat-sthiini sarva-bhutanima ciiharh teflV avasthitaftna ca mat-sthani bhutanipasya me yogam aisvarambhuta-bhrn na ca bhuta-sthomamatma bhuta-bhiivanaft

8 Elevation to qa Consciousness"In My transcendental form I pervade all this creation.All things are resting in Me, but I am not inthem. Again, everything that is created does not reston Me. Behold My mystic opulence: Although I amthe maintainer of all living entities, and although Iam everywhere, still My Self is the very source ofcreation." (Bg. 9.4,5)Actually we are all spirit souls and are intended toassociate with God in the spiritual sky where thereare innumerable spiritual planets and innumerablespiritual living entities. However, those who are notfit to live in that spiritual world are sent to this materialworld. This very idea is expressed by Milton inParadise Lost. Although spirit soul, we have voluntarilyaccepted this material body and by acceptingit have also accepted the threefold miseries of materialnature. Exactly when we accepted it and how weaccepted it cannot be traced out. No one can traceout the history of when the conditioned soul firstbegan accepting these material bodies.At present Darwin's theory of the evolution oforganic matter is very prominent in institutions ofhigher learning, but there is information given in thePadma Puriirw and other authoritative scriptures ofthe living entities' spiritual evolution from onebodily form to another. This Puriirta informs us thatthere are 8,400,000 forms of living entities, 900,000of which live within water. There are 2,000,000species amongst plants and vegetables alone. Atpresent everyone is giving stress to Darwin's theory,but in Vedic literature there is immense informationabout the different species. Darwin expresses the

Choosing Human and Animal Lives 9opmwn that the species are evolving from lowerforms of life, but this is not the whole truth. Thesoul may progress from lower forms to higher forms,but in the beginning of creation all species werecreated by Sri KrI)a, as indicated in Bhagavad-g"ita.sarva-bhutani kaunteyaprakrtim yiinti miimikamkalpa-kfiaye punas tiinikalpiidau visrjiimy ahamprakrtim sviim avafitabhyavisrjiimi puna punabhuta-griimam imam krtsnamavasam pmkrter vasiit"0 son of Kunti, at the end of the millennium everymaterial manifestation enters unto My nature, and atthe beginning of another millennium, by My potencyI again create. The whole cosmic order is under Me.By My will is it manifested again and again, and byMy will is it annihilated at the end." (Bg. 9. 7 ,8)All of these living entities are subject to the threefoldmiseries, including those miseries pertaining tothe body and mind. Animals cannot understandthat they are suffering, but human beings can. Onewho does not know that he is suffering is in animalconsciousness. Animals may be standing behind afence to be slaughtered, but they do not understandthis. As human beings, we should be cognizant thatwe are suffering the pains of birth, old age, diseaseand death and should be inquisitive to know how toavoid these miseries. We have been suffering from

10 Elevation to KJ;qa Consciousnessthe beginning of our birth when as a baby we weretightly placed for nine months in the womb of amother. After birth, suffering continues; although amother may take much care for her child, the babystill cries. Why? Because he is suffering. Either a bugis biting, or there is a pain in the stomach or someother malady. Whatever the case, the suffering goeson. The child also suffers when he is forced to go toschool when he does not want to. The child doesnot want to study, but the teacher gives him tasksanyway. If we carefully analyze our lives, we willfind that they are full of suffering. Generally speaking,conditioned souls are not very intelligent, andtherefore they go on suffering without ever inquiringwhy. We should understand, however, that thissuffering is there, and if there is a remedy we musttake advantage of it.The great sage ij,abhadeva instructed his sons inthis way: "My dear boys, in this life you have acquiredthese beautiful bodies. Now you should knowthat they are not meant for sense gratification likethe bodies of hogs and dogs but for spiritual realization."Essentially what l_tabhadeva is saying is thata life of sense gratification is meant for stool eaterslike hogs, and now that we have a higher form oflife, we should not try to imitate the lower forms.Recently we were surprised to see, while walking inCentral Park in New York City, that a group ofyoung American boys and girls were engaged inworshiping hogs. While we were chanting Hare Krqa,these groups of youngsters were chanting, "Hog!Hog! Hog!" They were actually parading with hogsin Central Park and bowing down before them and

Choosing Human and Animal Livesllworshiping them. They actually wanted one hog tobecome President, and they wanted the hogs to leadthem. This has gone to such lengths that at one be-inin Seattle there was a demonstration with hogs inwhich the boys and girls undressed themselves andgot in the mud and played with the hogs, and inthis way they were associating with the hogs andpigs which they worshiped. All this is going on in acountry where the young people have good lookingbodies, a great deal of money and so many otheradvantages over the young people of other nations.The result of gaining all these advantages is that theyhave simply taken to hog worship. Such hog worshipwas anticipated long, long ago and was described inSnmad-Bhiigavatam, which was compiled at least5,000 years ago. The point is that a beautiful situationin life should be utilized for a beautiful end,not for degraded forms of worship.In the Vedic histories we find that there weremany, many exalted emperors and kings who practicedausterities and penances. Dhruva Maharaja,Ambaria Maharaja and Yudihira Maharaja wereall great kings and were most opulent, but at thesame time they were great sages. Thus they set theexample for those who have acquired this goodopportunity of a beautiful human form of life withall the facilities for economic development and goodliving. This opportunity should be used to attain aneven better life, and this can be actualized by practiceof penance. At present we are existing in thesematerial bodies, but if we take to the process ofKrl)a consciousness, our consciousness will be purified.Although American and European, the young

,.----12 Elevation to K{qa Consciousnessstudents who are voluntarily practicing Krl).a consciousnessare very pleased to practice it. The processis not troublesome but pleasing. Now they arerealizing that purified existence constitutes the differencebetween animal life and human life.If we purify our existence simply by followingthe basic regulations of Krl).a consciousness, whichinvolve abstaining from illicit sexual connection,meat- eating, intoxication and gambling, we willgradually rise to attain our spiritual existence, whichis completely pure. The sage abhadeva told hissons that once they purified their existence theywould have unlimited happiness. We are all intendedto attain peace and happiness, but whatever peaceand happiness we find in this material world islimited. If we but purify our existence and attainspiritual existence, we will experience unlimitedpeace and happiness.The spiritual world is not dry or abstract; aspointed out before, there is variegatedness there. Apart of the spiritual pleasure experienced in theV aikul).thas is the pleasure of dancing. There arealso young girls and young boys there. Indeed, thereis no such thing as old age, or disease, or death, orthe pains of birth. If we want to participate in theunlimited happiness, knowledge and eternal lifewhich constitute our actual heritage in the spiritualworld, we should not waste this life by working hardfor sense gratification and worshiping hogs. Weshould accept a life devoted to the cultivation ofKrl).a consciousness, and then we will get unlimitedhappiness and unlimited pleasure. This is the sumand substance of the Krl).a consciousness movement.

2Hard Struggle forHappinessIn the revealed scriptures the Supreme Lord isdescribed as sac-cid-iinanda-vigraha. Sat means eternal,cit means fully cognizant, iinanda means joyful,and vigraha means that He is a person. Thus the Lord,or the Supreme Godhead, who is one without asecond, is a fully cognizant and eternally joyfulpersonality with a full sense of His identity. No oneis equal to Him or greater than Him. This is a concisedescription of the Supreme Lord.The living entities (jivas) are minute samples ofthe Supreme Lord, and being so they therefore findin their activities the desire for eternal existence, forcomplete knowledge, and for happiness. These desiresare evident in human society, and in the upperplanetary systems (Svargaloka, J analoka, Tapoloka,Maharloka, Brahmaloka, etc.) the living entities enjoya longer duration of life, an increased amount ofknowledge, and a generally more blissful existence.But even in the highest planet in this material world,where the duration of life and standard of enjoymentare thousands and thousands of times greaterthan those on earth, there is still old age, disease anddeath. Consequently the level of enjoyment is insignificantin comparison to the eternal bliss enjoyedin the company of the Supreme Lord. Loving serviceto the Supreme Lord in different relationships

14 Elevation to Krqa Consciousnessmakes even the enjoyment of impersonal Brahmanas insignificant as a drop of water in comparison tothe ocean.Every living being desires the topmost level ofenjoyment in this material world, and yet everyoneis unhappy here. This unhappiness is present on allthe higher planets, despite a longer lifespan, higherstandards of enjoyment and comfort. That is due tothe law of material nature. We can increase theduration of life and standard to the highest capacity,and yet by the law of material nature we will beunhappy. The reason for this is that the quality ofhappiness which is suitable for our constitution isdifferent from the happiness which is derived frommaterial activities. The living entity is a minuteparticle of the superior spiritual energy of the Lord,which is sac-cid-iinanda-vigraha, and therefore he hasthe necessary propensity for joy which is spiritual inquality. Unfortunately for him, he is trying vainly toattain his enjoyment from the foreign atmosphereof material nature.A fish that is taken out of the water cannot behappy by any arrangement on land. He must besupplied with water. In the same way, the minutesac-cid-iinanda living entity cannot be really happythrough any amount of planning conceived by hisillusioned brain in this material universe. He musttherefore be given a different type of happinesswhich is spiritual in essence. Our ambition should beaimed at enjoying spiritual bliss and not this temporaryhappiness. Some philosophers claim that spiritualbliss is attained by negating material happiness

Hard Struggle for Happiness 15and material existence. Theoretical negation ofmaterial activities as propounded by Sripada Sankaracaryamay be effective for an insignificant sectionof mankind, but the best and surest way for everyoneto attain spiritual bliss was propounded by LordSri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by means of devotionalactivities. These devotional activities can change thevery face of material nature.Hankering after material happiness is called lust,and lusty activities are sure to meet with frustrationin the long run. The body of a snake is very cool,but if a man, wanting to enjoy this coolness, garlandshimself with a venomous snake, he will surely bekilled by the snake's venomous bite. The materialsenses are compared to snakes; indulgence in materialhappiness will surely kill our spiritual identity. Thereforea sane man should be ambitious to find the realsource of happiness.In order to find this source, however, we needsome knowledge of what that happiness is. There isthe story of the foolish man who had no experiencewith sugar cane. When he asked his friend about thecharacteristics of sugar cane, he was imperfectlyinformed that sugar cane resembles the shape of abamboo stick. Consequently he began trying to extractjuice from bamboo sticks, but naturally he wasbaffled in his attempts. This is the situation with theillusioned living entity who, in his search for eternalhappiness, tries to extract happiness from this materialworld, which is not only full of miseries but isalso transient and flickering. In Bhagavad-gita thematerial world is described as being full of miseries.

16 Elevation to KJ;qa Consciousnessiibrahma-bhuvaniil lokii[tpunar iivartino 'rjunamiim upetya tu kaunteyapunar janma na vidyate"From the highest planet in the material world, downto the lowest, all are places of misery, where repeatedbirth and death take place. But one who attainsto My abode, 0 son of Kunti, never takes birthagain." (Bg. 8.16)The ambition for happiness is natural and good,hut the attempt to derive it from inert matter byso-called scientific arrangements is an illusory attemptdoomed to frustration. Those who are befooledcannot understand this. How a person is driven bythe lust for material happiness is also described inBhagavad-gita.idam adya maya labdhamimam priipsye manorathamidam astl:dam api mebhaviflyati punar dhanam"The demoniac person thinks: 'So much wealth doI have today, and I will gain more according to myschemes. So much is mine now, and it will increasein the future, more and more.'" (Bg. 16.13)This atheistic or godless civilization is a hugeaffair contrived for the gratification of our senses,and now we are all mad after money in order tomaintain this empty shell. Money is sought after byeveryone because that is the medium of exchange

Hard Struggle for Happiness I 7for objects for sense gratification. Obviously theexpectation of peace in such an atmosphere of goldrush pandemonium is a utopian dream. As long asthere is the slightest tinge of sense gratification ordesire for sense gratification, peace will remain far,far away. This is because by nature we are all eternalservants of the Supreme Lord and therefore cannotenjoy anything for our personal interests. It is thereforenecessary for us to learn how to employ oursenses in the transcendental service of the Lord, andto utilize everything to serve His interest. This alonecan bring about much desired peace. A part of thebody cannot in itself be independently happy. It canonly derive its happiness and pleasure out of servingthe entire body. The Supreme Lord is the whole, andwe are the parts, but we are all busily engaged inactivities of self-interest. No one is prepared to servethe Lord. This is the basic cause for our conditioningin material existence and for our resultant unhappiness.From the highest executive in his skyscraper officedown to the coolie in the street-all are working withthe thought of accumulating wealth, legally orillegally. Actually it is all illegal, for to work forone's self-interest is both unlawful and destructive.Even the cultivation of spiritual realization for one'sown self-interest is unlawful and destructive. Thepoint is that all activities must be directed to thesatisfaction of KrJ}.a and His service.Those who are not engaged in the transcendentalloving service of the Supreme Lord wrongfully thinkthat they are accumulating so much money dayafter day.

18 Elevation to qa Consciousnessiisa-pasa-sata'ir baddhal;kama-krodha-parayaral;lhante kiima-bhogarthaman yiiyeniirtha-saiicayiin"Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires,by lust and anger, they secure money by illegalmeans for sense gratification." (Bg. 16.12)Consequently, although there is no lack of moneyin the world, there is a scarcity of peace. So muchhuman energy is being diverted to making money,for the general population has increased its capacityto make more and more dollars, but in the long runthe result is that this unrestricted and unlawfulmonetary inflation has created a bad economy allover the world and has provoked us to manufacturehuge and costly weapons to destroy the very resultof such cheap money-making. The leaders of thebig money-making countries are not really enjoyingpeace but are making plans to save themselves fromimminent destruction by nuclear weapons. In fact,huge sums of money are being thrown into the seaby way of experiments with these dreadful weapons.Such experiments are being carried out not only athuge costs but also at the cost of many lives. In thisway the nations are being bound by the laws ofkarma. When men are motivated by the impulse forsense gratification, whatever money is earned isspoiled, being spent for the destruction of the humanrace. The energy of the human race is thus wastedby the laws of nature because of man's aversion tothe Lord, who is actually the proprietor of allenergtes.

Hard Struggle for Happiness 19Wealth is worshiped and is referred to as MotherLakmi, or the goddess of fortune. It is her positionto serve Lord Narayava, the source of all the naras,or living beings. The naras are also meant to serveNarayaQa under the guidance of the goddess offortune. The living being cannot enjoy the goddessof fortune without serving Narayal}.a, and thereforewhoever desires to enjoy her wrongly will be punishedby the laws of nature. These laws will make certainthat the money itself will bring about destruction insteadof peace and prosperity.Unlawfully accumulated money is now beingsnatched from miserly citizens by various methodsof state taxation for the future civil and internationalwar fund, which is spending money in a wasteful anddestructive manner. The citizens are no longersatisfied with just enough money to maintain a familynicely and cultivate spiritual knowledge, both ofwhich are essential in human life. Now everyonewants money unlimitedly to satisfy insatiable desires.In proportion to the people's unlawful desires, theiraccumulated money is taken away by the agents ofillusory energy in the shape of medical practitioners,lawyers, tax collectors, societies, constitutions, socalledholy men, famines, earthquakes, and manysimilar calamities. One miser who hesitated to purchasea copy of Back to Godhead spent $2,000 fora week's supply of medicine and then died. Anotherman who refused to spend a cent for the service ofthe Lord wasted thousands of dollars in a legal suitbetween the members of his home. There areinnumerable similar instances occasioned by the

20 Elevation to &qa Consciousnessdictation of illusory nature. Indeed, that is the lawof nature; if money is not devoted to the service ofthe Lord, it must be spent as spoiled energy in theform of legal problems or diseases. Foolish people donot have the eyes to see such facts; therefore thelaws of the Supreme Lord befool them.The laws of nature do not allow us to acceptmore money than is required for proper maintenance.There is ample arrangement by the law ofnature to provide every living being with his dueshare of food and shelter, but the insatiable lusts ofhuman beings have disturbed the arrangement setforth by the Almighty Father of all species of life.By the arrangement of the Supreme Lord, there isan ocean of salt because salt is so necessary for theliving being. God has, in the same manner, arrangedfor sufficient air and light, which are also essential.Anyone can collect any amount of salt from thenatural storehouse, but constitutionally we cannottake more salt than what we need. If we take moresalt, we spoil the broth, and if we take less salt ourfood becomes tasteless. On the other hand, if wetake only what we require, our food is tasty and weare healthy. Presently there is a great deal of concernover the fact that our natural resources are becomingpolluted and exhausted. Actually there is amplesupply, but due to misuse and greed everything isbeing spoiled. What conservationists and ecologistsdo not understand is that everything will continueto be spoiled by the insatiable lusts of mankind unlessthis Krqa consciousness process is taken up. Itis impossible to have peace on any platform of existencewithout Krl).a consciousness.

Hard Struggle for Happiness 21Man is therefore suffering due to his insatiabledesires and lusts. Not only is man suffering, but theplanet on ,which he resides, his mother earth, representedin Srimad-Bhiigavatam by mother cow, is alsosuffering. Once a well-known sviimi in India wasasked whether God or providence is responsible forthe sufferings of humanity. The sviimi replied thatthese sufferings were all God's pastimes or tilii. Thequestioner continued to ask why a living entityshould be put under the dictations of the law ofkarma. The sviimi could not answer these questionsto the satisfaction of his inquirers. The monists andimpersonalists who think only in terms of the onenessof the living entities with the Supreme Lordcannot give satisfactory answers to such questions.Such an imperfect reply can hardly satisfy the heartof a living entity.The Lord is described in all scriptures as lilapuruottama,or the Personality of Godhead, who isby His own nature always engaged in transcendentalpastimes. In the Vediinta-sutra He is also describedas iinandamayo 'bhyiisiit. The monists and impersonaliststry with great difficulty to explain this sutra indiverse ways in order to support their imperfecttheory of oneness and impersonality. However, thefact remains that iinanda, pleasure, cannot be enjoyedalone. That variety is the mother of enjoyment is awell-known fact. Cities, for instance, are known tobe attractive if they contain a variety of things.Living entities are naturally attracted by variety, byattractive streets, buildings, cinemas, parks, conveyances,businesses, employments, foodstuffs, etc.Despite all this variety, the English poet Cowper once

L..22 Elevation to KrPll Consciousnesssaid, "The city is made by man, but the country ismade by God." The countryside is also full ofnatural variegatedness in a crude form, whereas in thecity this variegatedness is displayed in a modernizedscientific manner. Poets like Cowper are attracted tothe variegatedness of the country, and prosaic peoplewho live in the city are attracted by the colorfulvarieties manufactured by man. In any case, it isvariegatedness which attracts people both to thecountry and the city. This is the proper explanationof the verse of the Vediinta-sutra.Many so-called sviimis who are so frequentlyattracted by the cities often seek a kind of pleasurein society and feminine friendship. Generally theyare not attracted by the natural beauty of the woods,although they may assume the dress of a man whois meant to live in the woods. Such sviimis are seekingvarieties of enjoyment in matter because theyhave no information of the variegatedness of spirituallife. On the one hand they enjoy variegatedness inmatter, and on the other they deny spiritualvariegatedness to the Absolute. Because they arepledged to the theory of monism and impersonalism,they deny that whatever pertains to matter canpertain also to spirit. According to them, spirit is thedenial of matter. The fact is, however, that spirit isnot a negation of matter, but matter is a pervertedreflection of spirit.The real pleasure of variety exists in spirit withoutdeluding relativity. On the other hand, inert matter,in association with dynamic spirit, manifests a falserepresentation or a perverted reflection of that very

Hard Struggle for Happiness 23spiritual variegatedness which is so adamantly deniedby the monist class of so-called sviimis.As stated before, the Supreme Lord is sac-cidiinanda-vigraha,joyful by nature, and therefore Heexpands Himself by His different energies, parts,and differentiated and plenary portions. The SupremeLord is the Absolute Truth, and He is one without asecond, but He also includes His diverse energies,parts, and plenary portions which are simultaneouslyone with and different from Him. Because He isjoyful by nature, He expands Himself in diverse ways,and the activities of these expansions are called Histranscendental pastimes or His lilii. These pastimes,however, are not blind and inert; they exhibit fullsense, independence, and freedom of action andreaction. The complexities of the actions and thereactions of the diverse energies of the AbsoluteTruth constitute the subject matter of a vast sciencecalled the transcendental science of God, and theBhagavad-gitii is the ABC or primary book of knowledgefor students interested in that science. Everyintelligent human being should become interested inthis transcendental science; indeed, according to theopinions of the sages, human life is only meant forlearning this science. The opening words of theVediinta-siitra proclaim: "Now is the time to inquireabout Brahman."Human life by nature is full of suffering, andlower life forms are even more miserable. Any saneman with properly discriminating senses can understandthat life in the material world is full of miseriesand that no one is free from the actions and reactions

24 Elevation to q.a Consciousnessof such miseries. This is not a pessimistic view oflife but is an actual fact which we should not beblind to. The miseries of life are divided into threecategories, namely miseries arising from the bodyand mind, miseries arising from other living entities,and miseries arising due to natural calamities. Asane man must look to eliminate these miseries andthereby become happy in life. We are all trying toachieve peace and freedom from these miseries, atleast unconsciously, and in the higher intellectualcircles there are attempts to get rid of these miseriesby ingenious plans and designs. But the power thatbaffles all the plans and designs of even the mostintelligent person is the power of Maya devi, or theillusory energy. The law of karma, or the result of allactions and reactions in the material world, is controlledby this all-powerful illusory energy. Theactivities of this energy function according toprinciples and regulations, and they act consciouslyunder the direction of the Supreme Lord. Everythingis done by nature in full consciousness; nothingis blind or accidental. This material energy is alsocalled Durga, which indicates that it is a force whichis very difficult to surpass. No one can surpass thelaws of Durga by any amount of childish plans.To get rid of the sufferings of humanity issimultaneously a very difficult and also a very easyaffair. As long as the conditioned souls, who arethemselves bound up by the laws of nature, manufactureplans to get rid of the three miseries, therewill be no solution. The only effective solutions are

Hard Struggle for Happiness 25those mentioned in Bha g avad- g itii, and we have toadopt them in our practical lives for our own benefit.The three miseries of material nature are not foundin the pastimes of the Supreme Lord. As mentionedbefore, He is eternally joyful, and His transcendentalpastimes are not different from Him. Because He isthe Absolute Truth, His name, fame, form, qualitiesand pastimes are all identical with Him. His pastimes,therefore, cannot be equated with the sufferings ofhumanity as the so-called sviimi contends. Thepastimes of the Supreme Lord are transcendental tothe actual miseries and sufferings of human beings.The sufferings of humanity are caused by themisuse of the discriminative power or the littleindependence which is given to individual souls.The fraudulent sviimis or mental speculators, in orderto remain consistent with the theory of monism,must pass off the miseries of mankind as the pastimesof God, but actually these miseries are onlythe enforced punishments of Maya devi inflictedupon the misguided conditioned souls.As living entities, we are part and parcel of theSupreme Lord. Indeed, we actually belong to Hissuperior energy. As such, we may join His transcendentalpastimes in our unconditioned state of life,but as long as we are conditioned by the laws ofkarma, in contact with the inferior energy, oursufferings are our own creations, born of a grossmisuse of our little independence. The impersonalistmonists only misguide people by contending thatthe threefold miseries are a part of the Lord's pas-

26 Elevation to qa Consciousnesstimes. Such impersonalists and monists have misguidedtheir followers because they incorrectly thinkthat the Supreme Lord and the individual souls areequal in all respects. True, the individual souls areequal in quality with the Supreme Lord, hut not inquantity. If the individual soul were quantitativelyequal to the Supreme Lord, he would have· neverbeen subjected to the laws of material nature.Material nature is subordinate to the will of theSupreme Lord, and therefore He cannot be subjectedto the laws of material nature. It is contradictoryfor the Lord to be subjected to the laws of His owninferior energy.matta{t paratararh nan yatkiiicid asti dhanaiijayamayi sarvam idarh protarhsiitre mari-gara iva"0 conquerer of wealth (Arjuna), there is no truthsuperior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearlsare strung on a thread." (Bg. 7. 7)Again, Sri Krqa states:tribhir guramayair bhavair.ebhi{t sarvam idarh jagatmohitarh nabhijanatimam ebhya{t param avyayam"Deluded by the three modes (goodness, passion,and ignorance), the whole world does not.know Mewho am above them and inexhaustible." (Bg. 7.13)

Hard Struggle for Happiness 27The individual souls, who are put into the miseriesof the material world, are suffering the resultantreactions of their unsanctioned activities. This is theverdict of Bhagavad-gztii.tiin aham dviataly, kriiriinsamsiireu nariidhamiinkipiimy ajasram asubhiiniisurzv eva yoniu"Envious, mischievous, the lowest of mankind, thesedo I ever put back into the ocean of material existence,into various demoniac species of life." (Bg.16.19)The parts and parcels are meant to serve the whole,and when they misuse their independence they aresubject to the miseries of the laws of matter, just ascriminals are subject to police action. The state considersits citizens to be its parts and parcels, andwhen a citizen misuses his relative independence, thestate puts him under police authority. The life of acitizen outside the prison and the life of a citizenwithin the prison are not the same. Similarly, thesufferings of the living entities within the prison ofmaterial nature cannot be equated with the pastimesof the Supreme Lord which exist in the absolutefreedom of sac-cid-iinanda.No government wants its citizens to act in such away that they must go to prison and suffer tribulations.The prisonhouse is undoubtedly constructedby the state government, but this does not meanthat the government is anxious for its citizens to be

28 Elevation to KJ;J!.a Consciousnessput into it. Indirectly, the disobedient citizens forcethe government to construct the prisonhouse. It isnot done for the pleasure of the government, whichhas to spend a great deal of money in constructingand maintaining it. On the contrary, the governmentwould be very glad to demolish prisons altogetherprovided that there are no disobedient citizens in thestate. In the same way, this material world is createdby the Supreme Lord, but the Supreme Lord doesnot will that living entities be put in it. The livingentities themselves make that decision. The residentsof this material world are therefore different fromthose who are eternally engaged in the transcendentalpastimes of the Supreme Lord.The impersonal monists have no information offull-fledged independent life in the eternal spiritualrealm. According to them, the spiritual realm issimply void. This is like prisoners thinking that thereis no life outside the prison. Life outside of a prisonis certainly free from prison activities, but is notdevoid of activity. The soul is by nature eternallyactive, but the impersonalists try to negate theactivities of the soul in the spiritual realm. Thus theymisunderstand the miseries of prison life to be thepastimes of the Supreme Lord. This is due to theirpoor fund of knowledge.The Supreme Lord never creates the actions andreactions of an individual soul. In Bhagavad-gztii thismatter is clearly defined in the following way:na kartrtvam na karmii(lilokasya srjati prabhu

Hard Struggle for Happiness29na karma-phala-samyogamsvabhavas tu pravartatenadatte kasyacit papamna caiva sukrtam vibhu{lajiianenavrtam jiianamtena muhyanti jantava"The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body,does not create activities, nor does he induce peopleto act, nor does he create the fruits of action. Allthis is enacted by the modes of material nature.Nor does the Supreme Spirit assume anyone's sinfulor pious activities. Embodied beings, however, arebewildered because of the ignorance which coverstheir real knowledge." (Bg. 5.14-15)It is clear from these passages that the sufferingsof humanity are not to be equated with the pastimesof the Supreme Being, nor is the Supreme Beingresponsible for them. The Lord is never responsiblefor anyone's vices or virtues. By vicious actions, weare put into more and more distressful conditions,whereas by pious actions we place ourselves on thepath of happiness. Thus man is the architect of hisown material distress or happiness. The Lord doesnot want the living entity to become entangled in thereactions of activities, be they good or bad. He simplywants everyone to go back home, back to Godhead.As long as we are not awakened to our pure eternalrelation with God, we are certainly bewildered in ouractions. Our actions, in respect to right and wrong,are all performed on the platform of ignorance. Wemust rise to the platform of pure knowledge, which

30 Elevation to K.l:f!a Consciousnessis the pure realization that we are the eternal servitorsof the Supreme Lord and enjoyers of His transcendentalpastimes. The Supreme Lord is the masterenjoyerof those pastimes, and we are the servitorenjoyers.Transcendental knowledge is only attainable bytranscendental devotional service, as described inBhagavad-gzta.team satata-yuktanarhbhajatarh przti-purvakamdadami buddhi-yogarh tarhyena mam upayanti te''To those who are constantly devoted and worshipMe with love, I give the understanding by which theycan come to Me." (Bg. 10.10)By rendering such devotional service only, andnot by merely acquiring a bulk of discriminativeknowledge, can we know the Supreme Lord as He is.When we know the Personality of Godhead inreality, we can then enter into His pastimes. That isthe verdict of all revealed scriptures.

3Toward a PeacefulSocietysnbhagaviin uviicaidam sarzram kaunteyak§etram ity abhidhzyateetad yo vetti tam priihultketrajiia iti tad-vidafl"The Supreme Lord said: This body, 0 son of Kunti,is called the field, and one who knows this body iscalled the knower of the field." (Bg. 13.2)The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krl].a, isinstructing Arjuna about the knowledge of kfietraand ketrajfia. Ketra refers to the field, which is thebody, and ketrajfia refers to the knower of thefield, who is the individual soul. If land is to becultivated, there must be some cultivator, and if thisbody, which is likened unto a field, is to be cultivated,there must be a proprietor who can cultivate it. Nowwe have these material bodies, and it is our duty tocultivate them properly. That cultivation is calledakarma_, or work. A person may come to our placewith a hoe to cultivate land, or he may come tosimply drink coffee or tea. We have been given thisparticular type of body to cultivate and to attainrequired sense objects according to our desires. Thisbody is a gift from God. God is very kind, and ifsomeone wants something from Him, He allows it."All right," He says. "Take this." His relationship to

32 Elevation to 11a Consciousnessus is just like the relationship of a father to a son.The son may insist upon getting something from thefather, and the father may try to convince him thatwhat he wants is not for his good, saying, "My dearson, don't touch this. This is not good for you." Butwhen the boy insists upon it, the father will allowhim to have it. The affectionate father gives the sonjust what he wants. Similarly, the Supreme Fathergives His sons and daughters just what they want. Itis stated in Bhagavad-gitii that all beings, in allspecies of life, are his children.sarva-yoniu kaunteyamurtaya sambhavanti yiitiisiim brahma mahad yoniraham bija-prada pitii"It should be understood that all species of life, 0 sonof Kunti, are made possible by birth in this materialnature, and that I am the seed-giving Father." (Bg.l4.4)In this material world, the mother, prakrti, whichis material nature, supplies us with the body, and theSupreme Father impregnates this matter with livingsouls. There is an erroneous theory current that onlyhuman beings have souls and that other living entitiesdo not, but we understand from Vedic authoritythat there are over 8,000,000 species of bodies,including plants and trees, and that they all havesouls, otherwise they would not be able to developand grow. In this verse Sri Kr:r;a claims that allliving entities, regardless of the forms they take in

Toward a Peaceful Society33Lhis material world, are his sons, and that they arerelated to Him as a son is related to his father.This KfI)a consciousness is especially meant forunderstanding the position of the soul and its relationshipwith God.ketrajnam ciipi miim viddhisarva-ketreu bhiirataketra-ketrajnayor jiiiinamyat taj jniinarh matam mama"0 scion of Bharata, you should understand that Iam also the knower in all bodies, and to understandthis body and its owner is called knowledge. That isMy opinion." (Bg. 13.3)If we meditate upon this body and study whetheror not we are actually the body, we will come to theconclusion that we are ketrajiia, the knower of thebody but not the body. If we study our finger andconsider whether or not we are the finger, we willcome to the conclusion that we are not the fingeror any other part of the body, but that the finger,the arms, the legs, the head, etc. are our fingers,arms, legs, etc. In this way we can come to the conclusionthat we are not these bodies but that thebodies belong to us. Therefore we say, "This is mybody." Unfortunately people in this modern civilizationnever stop to inquire what they are or who theyare. They are simply laboring hard, working hard allday in an office or factory, under the impressionthat, "I am this body." And if we ask people who

34 Elevation to Kqa Consciousnessthey are, they reply, "I am Hindu, I am Moslem, Iam Swedish, I am American, I am Christian, etc."These are various identifications or designations ofthe body, but the fact is that we are not these bodies.The body is simply the field of our activities. We areno more the body than the cultivator of a field isthe field.There are different kinds of bodies and differentactivities in accordance to the different types ofbodies. A dog enjoys one kind of activity, a catenjoys another, and a human enjoys another. Thereare differences of activity due to differences of body.When we come to the platform of truth, however,and understand that we are not these bodies, thenour activities change from material activities to spiritualactivities. As long as we are operating under thebodily conception of life, our activities are material,but as soon as we understand, "I do not belong tothis body, aham brahmiismi, I am spirit soul," ouractivities will be in accordance to that realization,that is to say that they will cease to be motivatedfrom the material or bodily platform. Knowledge ofour proper identity as separate from the body is realknowledge, but this knowledge is denied as long aswe cling to bodily identification.In the scriptures it is said that as long as we are inthis bodily conception of life, all our activities willbe defeated. A child is born into ignorance, and if ashe grows older he remains under the bodily conceptionof life, he lives in darkness. His position isthat of a sudra. In the Vedic literatures we find thatin this age everyone is born a sudra; therefore every-

Toward a Peaceful Society 35one requires to be educated as to his real identity. If,however, we remain satisfied with our birth by ourfather and mother, we will remain in our conditionas sudra. We have to rise to the brahminical platformby following the purificatory processes.As mentioned before, there are four basic characteristicsof an impure life-illicit sex, intoxication,meat-eating and gambling. According to the Vedicprinciples, sex should not be indulged in outside ofmarriage. In human society there is therefore a systemof marriage which distinguishes us from the catsand dogs. Whether we are Hindu, Moslem, or Christian,we acknowledge the system of marriage. Thepurpose of this system is to avoid illicit sex. Accordingto the Vedic system, intoxication is also discouraged;nor is meat-eating advocated, for humanbeings should be nonviolent. We have been givensufficient grains, fruits, milk, and vegetables, andthere is no necessity to kill poor animals. Somepeople argue that if we do not eat meat we will beundernourished, but we can see that the students ofthis KrQa consciousness movement have given upmeat and are very healthy, whereas people who areeating meat are still, despite their meat-eating, subjectto so many diseases and unhealthy conditions.Gambling is also discouraged because it simplyagitates the mind.This then is the purificatory process by whichone can become a briihmarta. This path is open toeveryone. A briihma"{la is one who is truthful andpure, tolerant and simple, full of knowledge andfaith in God. He can control his mind and his senses

36 Elevation to Kqa Consciousnessalso.At the present moment there is a great necessityfor brahmar-as, because almost everyone is sudra,for almost everyone is wholly engaged in maintainingthe body, eating, sleeping, mating and defendingallsymptoms of animals and sudras.Society cannot be peaceful unless there are fourdivisions of human beings functioning in harmonywith one another. These four divisions are comprisedof briihmar-as, k§atriyas, vaisyas and sudras. These arediscussed by Krl)a in Bhagavad-g'ita in this way:catur-var[L_yam maya srtamgu[La-karma-vibhagasal)tasya kartaram api mamviddh y alwrtaram avyayam"According to the three modes of material natureand the work ascribed to them, the four divisionsof human society were created by Me. And, althoughI am the creator of this system, you should knowthat I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable."(Bg. 4.13)These four divisions of men in human society arenatural, not artificial, because in the material worldeverything is operating under the influence of thethree modes of material nature-goodness, passionand ignorance. As long as we are in the materialworld, it is not possible to classify everyone in thesame category because each and every person isworking under the influence of the modes of materialnature. However, when we transcend the materialplane, there is oneness. At that time, all the divisionsfall apart. The question is therefore how to transcend

Toward a Peaceful Society 37the modes of material nature, and that transcendenceis the very process of Krl).a consciousness. As soonas we become situated in Kn>l).a consciousness, webecome transcendental to the modes of materialnature.miim ca yo 'vyabhiciirerwbhakti-yogena sevatesa gupiin sama{ityaitiinbrahma-bhuyiiya kalpate"One who engages in full devotional service, whodoes not fall down in any circumstance, at oncetranscends the modes of material nature, and thuscomes to the level of Brahman." (Bg. 14.26)Thus one who is engaged in Krl).a consciousactivity is at once elevated to the transcendentalposition. By nature we are not matter but Brahman(aham brahmiismi). The philosophy of Saitkaracaryais mainly based on the principle that we should notthink that we are products of this material nature. Itis by some unfortunate accident that we are in contactwith material nature. Actually our nature is thatof spirit, Brahman, and that nature has to be invoked.This material life is a diseased condition; when weare situated in Brahman, we are in our healthy condition.That healthy Brahman condition is immediatelyattained as soon as we engage ourselves onehundred percent in Krl).a consciousness.When we transcend material nature through therendering of service unto Krl).a, what is our status?Do we become zero? Some philosophies maintain

38 Elevation to K11a Consciousnessthat after liberation from material life, after thenirviir-a of this material body, we become zero,void. That is a dangerous theory. By nature theliving entity is not attracted to zero. We may bediseased and suffering from so many elements, butif our doctor comes and says, "Let me finish yourailments by killing you," we will immediately say,"No, no! Better let me suffer from the disease." Wedo not want to be killed just to end our miseries.Thus the theory that after material life there is voidis not at all attractive. Nor is it a fact. We are sac-cidiinanda-vigraha,eternal, blissful and full of knowledge,and part and parcel of the Supreme. The SupremeLord is sac-cid-iinanda-vigraha, and we arequalitatively one with Him. Although very small, adrop of seawater is as salty as the sea, and althoughwe are but spiritual atoms, we have the same propertiesas the supreme spirit whole. There is noquestion of being void, for as living entities ourspiritual properties are all there in infinite variegatedness.If, however, out of the frustration of materialexistence we commit suicide, we do not end ourmiseries. We simply create other miseries. If oneattempts suicide but does not succeed, or is somehowrevived, he is subject to being punished under statelaw. Similarly, the laws of nature treat suicides ascriminal acts. We are to end this material life onlyafter finding out the true blissful life of eternity. Weshould not simply be trying to end the miseries ofthis life simply out of frustration, but we should engageourseh:es in activities that will raise us to spirituallife.

Toward a Peaceful Society 39The four divisions of human society were createdby Sri Krf,la in order to facilitate this process ofelevation. Just as a student is elevated from a lowerclass to a post-graduate class, the divisions of labor(catur-varrtyam) are created to elevate us from thelowest stages of consciousness to the highest stage ofKrf,la consciousness. This process is a process ofcooperation. In the human body, the most importantpart is the head, then the arms, the belly and thelegs. Although the head is considered to be the mostimportant part, there is no question of neglectingthe legs or any other part. Similarly, in the divisionsof human society, no one division is important toLhe exclusion of the others. Of these divisions, thebrahmartas are considered to be the intellectual class,Lhe class of teachers; the k§atriyas are the administrativeand military class; the vaisyas are the mercantileand agricultural class; and the sudras are thecommon laborer class. In a properly run society, allof these classes are required. If they cooperate inLheir progress toward Krf,la consciousness, there isno strife amongst them.In the present social status, we find that we areexisting in these four divisions, but there is nocooperation. Everyone is dissatisfied. Today there isgreat strife between the capitalist class and laborerclass because between them there is no compromise.There is only friction. All this strife amongst theclasses is due to lack of Krf,la consciousness. Indeed,there is not even a possibility of cooperation unlessthere is Krf,la consciousness. Krf,la consciousness isabsolutely essential for harmonizing all facets of

40 Elevation to Kra Consciousnesshuman society. Regardless of what class we belongto, if we cooperate in Krf?Q.a consciousness, there willbe peace in the world.Thus Krr?Q.a consciousness is the utmost necessityfor all divisions of society. Every chapter and everyconclusion of Bhagavad-gftii aim toward Krr?Q.a consciousness.Sri Kn>Q.a, who is speaking Bhagavad-gftii,is always stressing devotion to His personal Self.manmanii bhava madbhaktomad-_yiifi miirh nama kurumiim evai_yasi sat_yarh tepratijiine pri_yo 'si me"Always think of Me and become My devotee. WorshipMe and offer your homage unto Me. Thus youwill come to Me without fail. I promise you thisbecause you are My very dear friend." (Bg. 18.65)Throughout Bhagavad-gftii we find this word miimstressed. Miim means "unto Me," meaning untoKrf?Q.a. But there are many miscreants who are interpretingthis miim to mean "everyone." When Isay, "Bring me a glass of water," does it mean thatI want you to bring everyone a glass of water? Theindividuality is there, but by jugglery of words theyinterpret "me" or "I" to mean "everyone." Consequentlywhen KrQa says "I," the miscreantsidentify this "I" with themselves. This is a grossmisinterpretation. Although Bhagavad-gftii is verypopular in the world, due to this misinterpretationby mundane scholars, it has not been properly understood.

Toward a Peaceful Society 41Bhagavad-gftii clearly explains that this ciiturvarrzyamsystem was established by KrQ.a, but He isoutside of this system. When KrQ.a comes as anincarnation, He does not come as a member of anysocial order, not as a briihmarza or anythmg else.When Krg1a came, He came as the son of Devaki andVasudeva. Vasudeva belonged to the royal familyand was therefore a katriya. As such, Krt;ta playedLhe part of a katriya, but this does not mean thatKrQ.a belonged to the katriya class. There are manyincarnations of KrQ.a in many forms of life. In oneincarnation He appeared as a fish, as a member of thecommunity of fishes, but this does. not mean thatI le is a fish. If we think upon seeing a fish that itbelongs to KrQ.a's family, we are mistaken. Ofcourse, from another point of view, everything isK{$Q.a, but K{$Q.a is awof from everything. This isthe transcendental nature of KrQ.a, and if we understandit, we will be liberated from birth and death.Although Krt;ta has established the four divisions ofhuman society,He is not in anyone of them (tasya kartaramapi miirh viddhy akartiiram avyayam). As soonas we understand that although KrQ.a was born intoa katriya family, He is not a katriya, we actually becomeliberated. If we think that because K{$Q.a actsin a particular way-as on the battlefield He gaveinstructions to Arjuna to fight-He is bound by thereactions of His activities, we are mistaken. "Worksdo not defile Me," Sri KrQ.a says (na miirh karmiirzilimpanti). In conclusion, we must accept the factthat when K{$Q.a comes as one of us, He is not inactuality "one of us." He is transcendentaL This

42 Elevation to Kra Consciousnessfact we must learn by submissive inquiry from authoritativesources, such as Bhagavad-gitii or a spiritualmaster who is fully realized in Kn;Qa consciousness.Today all facets of human society are thinkingthat their self-interest is in maintaining this body.Consequently today's society is simply a society ofcats, dogs and hogs. From Vedic literatures we canunderstand that we don't have to work hard all daysimply to maintain this body. We are working veryhard because we are trying to control material naturefor the purposes of sense gratification. One who cancome to understand that KrQa is the root of everything,the origin of everything, can understand themeaning of isvara parama krTJa- KrQa is thesupreme controller. In the universe there are manyisvaras, or controllers, but KrQa is the supremeamong all of them. KrQa consciousness gives us thisknowledge. Without It, we will remain ignorant ofour real self-interest.Modern society is in dire need of intellectualpersons or briihmm;ws who can broadcast real spiritualknowledge all over the world. That is an absolutenecessity for a society which is working hard simplyto exploit nature. If people try to understand thisKrQa consciousness movement scientifically andphilosophically, with their best knowledge andjudgement, and try to cooperate, there will be peaceall over the world. In essence, the method is verysimple. We need only chant Hare KrQa, Hare KrQa,Kg;l).a KrI]a, Hare Hare I Hare Rama, Hare Rama,Rama Rama, Hare Hare and follow the regulativeprinciples mentioned before. By following the regu-

Toward a Peaceful Society 43lative principles, we will be avoiding the four pillarsof sinful life, and by chanting the Hare l

4Knowing Kr?Ddas He IsWe do not need any high qualifications to offerprayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.Whatever our social or intellectual position may be,we can offer prayers. We do not have to be verylearned or very scholarly, nor do we have to presentour prayers in nicely selected words that are poetical,rhetorical or metaphorical. None of this isrequired, although if it is there it is very nice. Wesimply have to express our feelings, but in order tobe able to do this we have to be aware of our position.Once we are aware of our position, our feelings canbe expressed sincerely and automatically.What is our position? This has been taught byLord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who teaches us how topray in his prayer:na dhanam na janam na sundar""imkavitam va jagadtsa kamayemama janmani janmaniivarebhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi"0 almighty Lord! I have no desire to accumulatewealth, nor have I any desire to enjoy beautifulwomen, nor do I want any number of followers.What I want only is that I may have Your causelessdevotional service in my life-birth after birth."(Sik:a§.takam, 4). In this prayer the word jagadtsa means "Lord ofthe universe." ]agat means universe, and isa means44

Knowing 11a as He Is 45Lord. Whether we are Hindu, Moslem or Christian orwhatever, we must acknowledge that there is asupreme controller of this universe. This cannot bedenied by anyone who has faith in God. Our convictionshould be that our Supreme Father is Jagadisa,or Lord of the entire universe. Only Lord J agadisa isin control; everyone else is controlled. The atheists,however, do not like this term because they like toI hink that they are in control, but actually this is notLhe case. All beings in the material world are subjectlo the three modes of material nature-goodness,passion and ignorance-but the Supreme Lord isabove these modes.tribhir gur-amayair bhiivairebhi sarvam idam jagatmohitam niibhijiiniitimiim ebhya param avya_yam"Deluded by the three modes (goodness, passion,and ignorance), the whole world does not know Mewho am above them and inexhaustible." (Bg. 7.13),The Brahma-samhitii also gives us information regarding.T agadisa, the Supreme. In that work, LordBrahmii says that the supreme controller is LordKr9l)a Himself (isvara parama krrrw). The word""isvara means controller, and the word paramameans supreme. All of us are controllers to someI imited extent. If we have nothing to control, sometimeswe keep a dog or cat so we can say, "My deardog, please come here." In this way we can think,"I am the controller." Sometimes the tables tum,however, and we find that the dog controls themaster. This happens because actually no one is the

46 Elevation to Krl}a Consciousnesscontroller, and everyone is controlled. Unfortunatelywe are forgetful of this situation, and this forgetfulnessis called maya. We refuse to accept any controllerof this universe because if we accept a controllerwe have to account for our sinful activities, just aswhen we accept the government we have to accountfor our unlawful activities. Our position is that wewant to continue in our sinful activities, and thereforewe deny the existence of a controller. This isthe basic principle of godlessness. The currentpropaganda that "God is dead" is spread becausepeople want to continue being rascals without restriction.This is the basic principle underlying thedenial of God's existence. But however much wedeny His existence, He will not die. In this regard,there is a Bengali proverb that says: sakuni sapegorumarar-a. The work sakuni means vulture. Vulturesenjoy dead animal carcasses, especially the carcassof the cow. Sometimes a vulture may go for dayswithout a carcass; therefore this proverb says thatthe vulture curses the cow, wishing him to die. Butthis does not mean that the cow will die just tooblige the vulture. Similarly, these atheistic vultureswant to see God dead so they can take pleasure inthinking, "Now God is dead, and I can do anythingI like."We must know then for certain that there is a controller;that is the beginning of knowledge. Whyshould we deny this truth? In every field of activitywe find some finite controller, so how can we denythe existence of an infinite controller in this creation?It is not without reason therefore that Lord Caitanya

Knowing Ktqa as He. Is 47Mahaprabhu particularly uses this word .J agadisa,Lord of the universe. He does not manufacture theterm, for it is found in many different Vedic mantras.For instance:tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngamdalita-hirartyakasipu-tanu-bhrngamkesava dhrta-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisa hare"0 my Lord, Your hands are very beautiful, like thelotus flower, but with Your long nails You haveripped apart the wasp Hiral).yakasipu. Unto You,Lord of the universe, do I offer my humbleobeisances."Hiral).yakasipu was an atheist who denied the existenceof God, but God came as Lord Nrsimhadeva, ahalf-man, half-lion incarnation, and killed him. Thereforepraise is given to the Lord as supreme controllerof the universe aitd all living entities (jaya jagadisahare).There is also another prayer: jaganniitha-sviimTnayana-patha-giimi bhavatu me: "0 Lord of the universe,please be visible unto me." In all these prayers,and in many others, the supreme controller of theuniverse is acknowledged. Everyone is trying to becomesupreme controllers, but it is not possible byindividual, communal or national effort. Becauseeveryone is trying to be supreme, there is greatcompetition in the world. The world is created insuch a way, however, that no one can become supreme.Regardless of what position we place ourselvesin, we will find that someone is inferior to us

48 Elevation to KrQ.a Consciousnessand that someone is superior. No one individual cansay, "I am the supreme. No one is above me." Norcan anyone say, "I am the most inferior. No one isbelow me." Once we think that we are the mostinferior, we'll immediately find that someone isinferior to us; and once we think that we are supreme,we'll immediately find someone superior. This is ourposition.God's position, however, is not like this. InBhagavad-gl:tii KrQ.a asserts His superiority Himselfin this way:matta paratararh niinyatkiiicid asti dhanaiijayamayi sarvam idarh protarhsutre mar-i-gar-ii iva"0 conquerer of wealth (Arjuna), there is no truthsuperior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearlsare strung on a thread." (Bg. 7. 7)God is asamaurdha, which means that no one isequal to or superior to Him. If we find someone whohas no superior, we can accept him as God. God canbe defined as one who has no superior and who hasno equal. This is the Vedic version. In the Upaniadsit is said, na tat samai ciibhyadhikai ca drsyate: noone is found equal to or greater than Him.Another characteristic of God is that He hasnothing to do. In the material world, when a manis considered very important, he always has a greatnumber of things to do. The President of the UnitedStates, for instance, is considered to be the suprememan in the country, but as soon as there is some

Knowing J!a as He Is 49disturbance in Central Europe or in any other placein the world, he immediately has to call a meetingof his cabinet to consider how to deal with thesituation. So even he is required to do so manythings. If he does not do anything, he is no longerthe supreme man. In Vedic literatures, however, wefind that God has nothing to do (na tasya kiiryamkararam ca vidyate). KrlJa may act in so many waysin the world, but it is not because He is required todo so. This is indicated in Bhagavad-gitii.na me parthiisti kartavyamtriu lokeu kincananiinaviiptam aviiptavyamvarta eva ca karmari"0 son of Prtha, there is no work prescribed for Mewithin all the three planetary systems. Neither am Iin want of anything, nor have I the need to obtainanything-and yet I am engaged in work." (Bg. 3.22)In this respect it is interesting to note that oneEuropean gentleman, who went to Calcutta and visitedseveral temples, noted that in the temple of thegoddess Kali, the deity had a very ferocious figure,with a chopper _in hand, and was cutting off theheads of demons and wearing them as garlands. Inother temples he saw the deity engaged in similaractivities, but when he came to the Radha-Krl).atemple, he said, "I find that in this temple there isGod." When asked how he concluded this, he said,"In every temple I saw that the deity was doingsomething, but here I see that God is simply playinga flute and enjoying Himself. He obviously has

50 Elevation to Kra Consciousnessnothing to do." This is a very intelligent conclusion;indeed, it is the Vedic conclusion.Nowadays it is becoming fashionable for people toclaim that they are becoming God by meditation.This means that by meditation it is possible to transformoneself into God; in other words, God meditates,and by His meditation He becomes God. Thisis all nonsense. God is God, and He was always Godand will always be God. Even as an infant on the lapof His mother KwJ.a is God. No meditation was required,no austerity or penance. When Putana, thedemonic witch, came to poison Baby Krrya, she cameas a beautiful young girl and asked Mother Y asoda,"Oh, Yasodamayi, you have a very nice baby. Willyou kindly give Him to me so I can nurse Him?"Y asoda was a very simple village woman, and shesaid, "Oh yes, you can take my child." Putana hadsmeared poison on her breasts, and she intended tokill Krrya by letting Him suck them. This is the demonicspirit; demons are always wanting to killKrrya so they can say, "God is dead. There is noGod. God is impersonal." Krrya was so kind toPutana that He allowed her to nurse Him, but whenHe sucked her breasts He not only sucked out thepoison but her life as well. Putana fell to the grounddead and was immediately transformed into her originaldemonic form. So this is God; in the lap of Hismother He is God. He does not have to become Godby meditation, penance, austerity or by followingrules or regulations. He is substantially and eternallyGod, and He has nothing to do. If one claims that hecan become God by worshiping such and such adeity or by meditating, we should immediately take

Knowing !!J!a as He Is 51it that he is not a god, but a dog. In understandingGod, we must be careful to accept the Vedic conclusiononly: na tasya kiiryarh kararwrh ca vidyate: Godhas nothing to do. Why would God have to do somethingto become God? If we manufacture gold, thatis artificial gold, not real gold. Gold is natural, andsimilarly God is natural. In His childhood pastimes,in the lap of His mother, He is God; while He isplaying with His boyfriends, He is God; while He isdancing, He is God; while He is fighting at Kuruketra,He is God; while He is married to His queens, He isGod; and while He is speaking, He is God. There isno difficulty in understanding God. All that is requiredof us is that we listen to KrQ.a.In Bhagavad-gitii Krr:ta tells Arjuna:aharh sarvasya prabhavomatta[l sarvarh pravartateiti matvii bhajante miirhbudhii bhiiva-saman vitii[l"I am the source of everything; from Me the entirecreation flows. Knowing this, the wise worship Mewith all their hearts." (Bg. 1 0.8)This means that Sri Krr:ta is the fountainhead ofLord Siva and the origin of ViQ.U and of Brahma,and, of course, of all other demigods and other livingcreatures. He says further:mamaiviirhso fiva-lokejiva-bhutalt saniitana[lmana[l-athanfndriycil]iprakrti-sthiini karati

52 Elevation to Krqa Consciousness"The living entities in this conditional world are Myfragmental parts, and they are eternal. But due toconditioned life, they are struggling very hard withthe six senses, which include the mind." (Bg. 15.7)In the Brahma-sarhhita Lord Brahma explains thatif we are looking for God, here is God.pre miiiijana-cch uri ta-bhak ti-vilocanenasanta sadaiva hrdayeu vilokayantiyam syiimasundaram acintya-gur-a-svarupamgovindam adi-puruam tam aham bha]ami"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, Who isSyamasundara, Kra Himself, with inconceivableinnumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees seein their heart of hearts with the eye of devotiontinged with the salve of love." (Bs. 5.38)There are similar descriptions everywhere in Vedicliterature, but rascals and demons are so obstinatethat even though Kra is confirmed to be theSupreme God b y the twelve standard iiciiryas(Brahma, Narada, Siva, Bhima, the Kumaras, Kapila,Manu, etc.) and by Vyasa, Devala and many otherdevotees, they still refuse to accept Him. LordCaitanya Mahaprabhu also confirms that Kra isthe Supreme Godhead, and the Srimad-Bhagavatamsays, krr-as tu bhagaviin svayam. Srimad-Bhiigavatamgives a list of all incarnations of God, and at last con·eludes that the name KtQa, which appears on thislist, indicates the Supreme Personality of Godhead,whereas all other names represent manifestations orincarnations. Ete ciirhsa-kaliil;l purhsa.All other

Knowing KJ;J!.a as He Is 53names of God are either parts of God or portionsof parts. The parts are called amsa, and the portionsof parts are called kala. As living entities, we areamsa, but we are very fragmental amsa. All othersare either amsa or kala, but Krrya is bhagaviinsvayam-the Supreme Personality of Godhead.Our prayers should be directed to the SupremePersonality of Godhead and none else. Therefore wepray with Brahma:cin tamari-prakara-sadmasu kalpa-vrk§alakavrteusurabh"ir abhipalayantamlakm"i-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanamgovindam adi-puruam tam aham bha]ami"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the firstprogenitor, who is tending the cows, fulfilling alldesire, in abodes built with spiritual gems, surroundedby millions of wish-fulfilling trees, always servedwith great reverence and affection by hundreds ofthousands of Lakmis, or gop"is." (Bs. 5.29)Here KrJ].a is called the original person (adipuruam).We are all persons. Our father is a person,and therefore we are persons. If we trace ourfather's father back, we will find that he was also aperson, and that his father was a person, and so onall the way back to Lord Brahma, who was the firstcreated person in this universe. Then we will alsofind that Lord Brahma's father, Vigm, is also aperson. Everyone is a person, and Krl,la is the supremeperson. The impersonalists' understanding of

54 Elevation to K.ra ConsciousnessGod is called nirarcii. Ni means "negative" and areameans "form," so nirarcii means "negative form."The impersonalists are mistaken when they thinkthat God has no form at all. The word nirarcii doesnot indicate that He has no form, but that he has nomaterial form as we do. Form is there, but it is notmaterial; it is spiritual form.What is the value of our form? This form will bechanged after a few years, as soon as we give up thebody. Our forms are changed just as we change oursuits and dresses, but God doesn't have a form likethis; therefore He is sometimes called nirarcii. Formis there, and that also has been explained in theBrahma-samhitii. Lord Brahma describes His formin this way:ve7Jum kvm;antam aravinda-daliiyatakambarhavatamsam asitiimbuda-sundarangamkandarpa-ko ti-kamaniya-vise.sa-so bhamgovindam adi-puru§arh tam aham bhafamiangiini yasya sakalendriya-vrttimantipasyanti panti kalayanti cirarh jagantiiinanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasyagovindam adi-puru§arh tam aham bhafami"I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is adeptat playing on His flute, with blooming eyes likelotus petals, with head bedecked with a peacock'sfeather, with the figure of beauty tinged with thehue of blue clouds, and His unique loveliness charmingmillions of Cupids. I worship Govinda, the

Knowing Kr'!a as He Is55primeval Lord, whose transcendental form is full ofbliss, truth and substantiality and is thus full of themost dazzling splendor. Each of the limbs of thattranscendental figure possesses, in Himself, the fullfledgedfunctions of all the organs, and eternallysees, maintains and manifests the infinite universes,both spiritual and mundane." (Bs. 5.30,32)This form has nothing whatsoever to do withmaterial forms. 1m personalists say, "Oh, you sayKrr.ta has a form. If so, how can you say that He isthe Supreme? The impersonal Brahman is the Supreme,and the impersonal Brahman is formless."But we have information from Bhagavad-g'ita thatKrr.ta is the source of the impersonal Brahman.brahmarto hi pratithiihamamrtasyiivyayasya casiisvatasya ca dharmasyasukhasyaikiintikasya ca"And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman,which is immortal and imperishable, eternal, theconstitutional position of ultimate happiness." (Bg..14.27)Krr.ta certainly has form, but His form, as statedbefore, is sac-cid-iinanda-vigraha, eternal, full ofbliss, and full of knowledge. The attributes of Histranscendental body are summarized by Lord Brahmain this way:'isvara parama krrtasac-cid-iinanda-vigrahafr

56 Elevation to Krl].a Consciousnessanadir adir govindasarva-kara1Ja-karaTJam"KrJ)a, who is known as Govinda, is the SupremeGodhead. He has an eternal, blissful spiritual body.He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and Heis the prime cause of all causes."(Bs. 5.1)The word Govinda means "He who gives pleasureto the senses." We perceive pleasure through oursenses, and therefore KrJ)a, who is the reservoir ofpleasure, is called Govinda. If we serve KrJ)a withpurified senses, we will begin to relish the pleasureof that supreme reservoir.How can we describe God or understand Hisglories? It is not possible. God is unlimited. Regardlessof our finite limitations, however, we can expressour own feelings and say, "My God, my Lord."This will be accepted. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhuteaches us to pray in this way:ayi nandatanuja kinkararhpatitarh marh viame bhavambudhaukrpaya tava pada-pankajasthita-dhulisadrsarhvicintaya"0 son of Maharaja Nanda, I am Your eternal servitor,and although I am so, somehow or other I havefallen in the ocean of birth and death. Please, therefore,pick me up from this ocean of death and fixme as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet. "(Sikiitakam, 5)This should be the standard of prayer; we should

Knowing Krqa as He Is 57only want to be placed as one of the atoms at KrQ.a'slotus feet to render service unto Him. Everyone ispraying to God with some interest, but even if wepray to God, "Give me some money, give me somerelief, a nice house, a nice wife, or nice food," thatis also good. Yet this is not to the standard of LordCaitanya Mahaprabhu's prayer. Our only prayershould be that the Lord enable us to serve Himbirth after birth. Our prayer should be, "Dear Lord,You are so great that I want to engage in Yourservice. I have been serving all these rascals, and Iam not satisfied. Now I have come to You. Pleaseengage me in Your service." This is the last word inprayer. Some people complain that when they prayto God they do not feel His presence. We shouldknow that this is due to our incapacities, not God's.There are two conceptions of presence-the physicalconception and the vibrational conception. Thephysical conception is temporary, whereas thevibrational conception is eternal. When we enjoy orrelish the vibration of KrQ.a's teachings in Bhagavadg"itii,or when we chant Hare KrQ.a, we should knowthat by those vibrations He is immediately present.He is absolute, and because of this His vibration isjust as important as His physical presence. Whenwe feel separation from Krl).a or the spiritualmaster, we should just try to remember theirwords of instructions, and we will no longerfeel that separation. Such association with Krl).aand the spiritual master should be association byvibration, not physical presence. That is real association.We put so much stress on seeing, but when

58 Elevation to Kra ConsciousnessKrgw was present on this earth, so many people sawHim and did not realize that He is God; so what isthe advantage of seeing? By seeing KrQa, we willnot understand Him, but by listening carefully toHis teachings, we can come to the platform of understanding.We can touch Kra immediately by soundvibration; therefore we should give more stress tothe sound vibration of Krl).a and of the spiritualmaster-then we'll feel happy and won't feel separation.From Srimad-Bhiigavatam we understand thatwhen Krl).a departed from this world, Arjuna wasoverwhelmed with sorrow, but when he began toremember the instructions of Bhagavad-gTtii, he becamepacified. Arjuna was KrQa's constant friend,so when Krl}a went to His abode, Arjuna wasoverwhelmed, but just by remembering His teachingshe got relief from the pains of separation. Thuswhenever we feel separation, it is best to rememberthe teachings. The teachings of Bhagavad-gitii wereimparted to Arjuna for his happiness and for thehappiness of all men. This is indicated by KrQa, atthe beginning of the Tenth Chapter, when He says:bhuya eva maha-bahosrrtu me paramam vacaftyat te 'ham pnyamartiiyavakyami hita-kiimyaya"Again, 0 mighty-armed Arjuna, listen to My supremeword, which I shall impart to you for your benefitand which will give you great joy." (Bg. l 0.1)

Knowing qa as He Is 59By hearing the words of Lord KrJa and followingthem carefully, we will attain not only peace in theworld, but the supreme peace (pararh santim). Allthat is required is that we seek refuge in the lotusfeet of Krl)a and render service unto Him by chant·ing His glories and pushing this Krg1a consciousnessmovement in every town and village of the world. Itis KrJa's promise that by such surrender peace andeternal life will come automatically.tam eva sara(larh gacchasarva-bhavena bharatatatprasadat pararh santirhsthanarh praps_yasi sasvatam"0 scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him in allrespects, so that by His mercy you can have transcendentalpeace and the eternal abode." (Bg. 18.62)

5Knowing Krocts EnergiesFor KtQ.a there is no difference between materialand spiritual energy. For Him, it is all the same.Sometimes electricity works for cooling purposes,and sometimes it works for heating purposes, butthe energy generated from the electric powerhouseis all the same. Similarly, KtQa's energy is alwaysspiritual, but it is acting in different ways. In atown there may be a department of welfare and adepartment of police. In the eyes of the governmentboth are the same, for both are subsidiary parts ofthe government, but for the individual they renderdifferent services. The material energy may be workingin different ways that may not be very pleasantto the living entity, but that does not mean thatmaterial energy is not liked by KtQ.a. It is as importantas spiritual energy, but it is engaged topunish the conditioned soul, just as the police departmentis engaged in punishing criminals. In theBrahma-sarhhitii, it is confirmed that KtQ.a's energyis always spiritual, but it is acting in different waysin different fields of activities. In relation to KtQ.athere is no distinction between the energies, but forourunderstanding we discriminate and say thatsometimes the energy is working in a material wayand sometimes in a spiritual way. We are thinkingthat the energy is hot or cold, good or bad, pleasantor unpleasant, but in fact the energy is the same.60

Knowing Krq.a's Energies 61KrQ.a cannot distribute inferior energy becauseHe is not inferior. He is always superior, spiritual,and therefore His energy is always spiritual. Subhadrais the sister of KrQ.a, and from her comes the incarnationof Durga, the personification of material energy.Subhadra is in the spiritual world and is eternallyrelated to KrQ.a as His energy, but when Durga conductsher activities here in the material world, it isnot that she is to be considered inferior. In theBhagavad-gTta as well as in Brahma-samhita it is saidthat Durga or Maya is acting under KrQ.a's direction,so how can she be considered inferior? Criminals maythink that the police department is an inferior governmentaldepartment, but the law-abiding citizens donot think that this is so. It simply functions in a particularway. Similarly, the material energy has to actto bewilder the living entity who is under the directionof KrQ.a.We are the living entities within the materialenergy, and we are in this position because wewanted to dominate material nature. KrQ.a hasgiven us the facility, saying, "All right, you may try,but you cannot be successful." As long as we are inignorance of how the laws of nature are workingunder the supreme direction of K.r.sra, we will continueto be defeated in our activities. When weunderstand KrQ.a in perfection, we will automaticallyknow the laws of nature and how they are acting.V aiQ.avas are concerned with the background ofthe laws of material nature. When we understandKrQ.a in perfection, we can understand that there is

62 Elevation to Kra Consciousnessin actuality no inferior or material energy, but thateverything is spiritual. We can understand that onthe higher platform whatever we are experiencingare the actions and reactions of the different energiesof the Supreme Lord. When we understandKrp perfectly, then these distinctions of superiorandinferior energies will disappear. Whatever isengaged in the service of KI).a is superior energy. Inthe higher sense, everything is serving KI).a, andthose who are highly elevated understand this.That the Lord has various energies is confirmedin Vedic literatures. Yet the Supreme Lord personallyhas nothing to do. How is this? He has not to strivefor wealth, for all wealth is His; nor for knowledge,for all knowledge is His; nor for power, for all poweris His; nor for beauty, fame or renunciation, for theyare all His in full. Nor does He directly manageuniversal affairs, for He has many assistants who canconduct affairs while He remains in His abode. Thisis confirmed in SrT lSopaniad:anejad ekam manaso javyonainad deva apnuvan purvam arfiattad dhavato 'n_yan at_yeti tifithattasminn apo matarisva dadhati"The Personality of Godhead, although fixed in Hisabode, is more swift than the mind, and can overcomeall others running. The powerful demigodscannot approach Him. Although in one place, Hehas control over those who supply the air and rain.He surpasses all in excellence." (Sri lsopani§ad,Mantra 4)

Knowing qa's Energies 63Thus KrI]a has no work to perform. As theSupreme Personality of Godhead, He simply engagesin enjoying Himself with the gop"ls (cowherd girls)and His consort Radhariit]i. KrI]a, as KrI]a, does notreally engage in killing demons. When Krr;ta killsdemons, He is known as Vasudeva Krr;ta, not theoriginal Krr;ta. When Krr;ta expands Himself, Hefirst expands as Balarama, then Sankarat]a,Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vasudeva. As Vasudeva,He acts in Mathura and Dvaraka, but as Krga, inHis original feature, He remains in V rndavana. Thismay seem to be confusing; even one of the greatestfiction writers in Bengal misunderstood and thoughtthat KrI]a of V rndavana, KrI]a of Dvaraka, andKrQ.a of Mathura were three different persons. Butthis is not difficult to understand if we know thenature of KrI]a's expansions. KrI]a is the same, andHe is the one without a second, but He can expandHimself in billions and trillions of forms. This is allfor the purpose of His enjoyment.In the Tenth Chapter of Bhagavad-g"ltii, KrQ.aexplains His different manifestations to Arjuna inthis way:uccaiftsravasam asvaniimviddhi miim amrtodbhavamairiivatam gajendrar_t"iimnariiTJiim ca naradhipamayudhaniim aham vajramdhenunam asmi kiimadhukprajanas ciismi kandarpaftsarpii1Jam asmi viisukift

64 Elevation to Kra Consciousness"Of horses know Me to be Uccail;lsrava, who roseout of the ocean, born of the elixir of immortality;of lordly elephants I am Airavata, and among men Iam the monarch. Of weapons I am the thunderbolt;among cows I am Kamadhuk, giver of abundant milk.Of procreators I am Kandarpa, the god of love; andof serpents I am Vasuki, the chief." (Bg. 10.27,28)Lord Knn).a further enumerated the many greatmanifestations of the material creation and explainedhow each was representative of Himself. He concludeda long detailed account of these manifestationsby saying:athava bahunaitenakim jiiatena taviirjunavitabhyaham idam krtsnamekamsena sthito jagat"But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailedknowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervadeand support these entire universes." (Bg. l 0.42)Thus this material world is existing on one plenaryportion of KrQ.a. If KrQ.a didn't enter this universe,it could not exist. Similarly, unless the spirit soul,which is a fragmental portion of KrQ.a, enters thisbody, this body cannot exist. As soon as the spiritsoul leaves, the body immediately becomes useless;when KrQ.a enters into matter, matter has value.This is true for the minute individual atom and thegreat universe as well.Since the manifestations of Krgta are so great, weshould know that His enjoyment is far greater than

Knowing Ktqa's Energies 65ours. We have to try to understand what kind ofenjoyment KrJ)a likes. Everyone knows that God isgreat, and we can conclude from this that His enjoymentis great also. In this regard, Svarupa DamodaraGosvami has written a verse which says that althoughthe loving affairs of Radha and KrJ)a may appearlike ordinary material affairs, this is not actually thecase. Radharalji is the pleasure potency of KrJ)a. Inthe Vediinta-sutra the Absolute Truth is said to bealways enjoying the pleasure potency. When wewant pleasure, we cannot have it alone. We feelpleasure in the company of friends or family. I mayspeak in a room alone, but if I speak in a roombefore other people, the pleasure is increased. Pleasuremeans that there must be others, and therefore KrJ)a,the Absolute Truth, who is always engaged in enjoyingHimself, has become many.We are KrJ)a's parts and parcels and have beencreated to give pleasure to KrJ)a. The chief pleasurepotency is RadharaJ)f, and so Radha-Krg1a are alwaystogether. Whereas the material energy is conductedby the external potency, Maya, the spiritual worldis conducted by the internal potency, RadharaJ)i. Weoften pray to RadharaJ)i because She is the pleasurepotency of Kn;J)a .. The very word "KrJ)a" meahsall-attractive, but RadharaJ)i is so great that Sheattracts KrJ)a. If KrJ)a is always attractive to everyone,and RadharaJ)i is attractive to KrJ)a, how canwe imagine the position of Srimati RadharaJ)i? Weshould try humbly to understand and offer Her ourobeisances, saying, "RadharaJ)i, You are so dear toKrJ)a. You are the daughter of King Vrabhanu, and

66 Elevation to .Kfl).a ConsciousnessYou are KwJ.a 's beloved. We offer our respectfulobeisances unto You." Radharal}i is very dear toKrQa, and if we approach Krl)a through the mercyof RadharaQi, we can easily attain Him. If Radharal)irecommends a devotee, Krl)a immediately acceptshim, however foolish he may be. Consequently inV rndiivana we find that devotees chant RadhariiQi'sname more often than Krl)a's. Wherever we go inIndia we will find devotees calling, " J aya Radhe."We should be more interested in worshipingRadharaQi, for however fallen we may be, if some·how or other we can please Her, we can very easilyunderstand Krl)a. If we try to understand Krl)a bythe speculative process, we will have to spend manylifetimes of speculation; but if we take to devotionalservice and just try to please Radharal}i, then Krl)acan be very easily realized. Radharal}i is such a greatdevotee that She can deliver KrIJ.a.Even KrQa cannot understand Radharalji's qualities.He fails to understand Her because She is sogreat. In order to understand Radhariil)i, Kr.paactually accepted Her position. Krl)a thought, "AlthoughI am full and complete in every respect, Istill don't understand RadhariiQi. Why is that?" Thisobliged KrQa to accept the propensities of Radhiiral}and this accounts for His manifestation as LordCaitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahiiprabhu is Krl)aHimself, but He is Krl)a accepting the propensitiesof Radhariil)i. Radharal)i is always feeling separationfrom KrQa, and similarly, in the position ofRadharal)i. Lord Caitanya was always feeling thatseparation. Furthermore, those who follow the

Knowing '!a's Energies 67teachings of Lord Caitanya should experience andrelish the feelings of separation, not of meeting.The gosviimis, disciples of Lord CaitanyaMahaprabhu, the most perfect and highly elevatedbeings, never said, "I have seen Krl).a." Instead,they constantly cried, "Where is Radharal).i? Whereare Lalita and Visakha and the other damsels ofVrndavana?" In their mature stage of love of Godhead,when they were living in Vrndavana, thegosviimis would also cry, "Radhariil).i, where are You?Where are Your associates? Where are You, 0 son ofNanda Maharaja? Where are you all?" In this waythey were searching after Krl).a, and they never atany time said, "Last night I saw Krl).a dancing withthe gop"is." Such claims are not made by a maturedevotee, but by one who takes things very cheaply.Some people think that Radha and Krl).a are socheap that They may be seen every night, but thisis not the teaching of the gosviim"is who were alwayssearching after Kr!l'!a crying, "Where are You? Whereare You Radhariil).i? Where are You Kr'!a? Are Youthere by Govardhana Hill? Are You on the bank ofthe Yamuna?" In this way, throughout the wholetract of V rndavana, the gosviim"is were crying andsearching after Radha and Krl).a like madmen.We have to follow in the footprints of the. gosviimis and search out Radha and K'!a in thisway. Vrndavana is in our hearts, and we must searchfor Him there. This is the process recommended byCaitanya Mahaprabhu, the process of worship inseparation. Feeling separation from Krl).a, LordCaitanya Mahaprabhu would throw Himself into the

68 Elevation to Krr.ta Consciousnesssea. Sometimes He would leave His room in thedead of night and disappear. No one would knowwhere He had gone, but all the while He was searchingafter Krt;J.a. Thus it is not that we are to enjoythe loving exchanges between Krt;J.a and Radha likespectators at some sports show. We must feel separationfrom Them. The more we feel separation, themore we should understand that we are advancing.With our material senses, we cannot see Krt;J.a, norcan we even hear His name. We can begin to perceiveHim when we advance in devotional service. Thatdevotional service begins with the tongue, not thelegs, eyes or ears. The tongue must be utilized tochant Hare Krt;J.a, Hare Krt;J.a, Krt;J.a Krt;J.a, HareHare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, HareHare and take Krr.ta prasadam. Thus the tongue hasa dual function, and by utilizing it in this way, wewill realize Krt;J.a. We cannot see Krt;J.a with ourmaterial eyes, nor hear about Him with material ears,nor touch Him with our hands; but if we engage ourtongue in His service, He will reveal Himself, saying,"Here I am."This chanting of Hare Krt;J.a extinguishes the blazingfire of material nature. This is also the purport tothe following prayer to the spiritual master.sarhsara-da vanala-lit}ha-lo katra7Jayakarur ya-ghanaghanatvampraptasya kalyiira-guriirravasyaVande guro Sn-carararavindam"The spiritual master is receiving benediction fromthe ocean of mercy. Just as the cloud pours water

Knowing KrJ].a's Energies 69on the forest fire to extinguish it, so the spiritualmaster extinguishes the blazing fire of material existence.I offer my respectful obeisances unto thelotus feet of my spiritual master." (Sri Gurvatakam,Verse l)This material world is often compared to a forestfire which takes place automatically. No one wants aforest fire, but there is often lightning, or carelessness,or friction, or whatever, and the fire immediatelytakes place. Similarly, this material world is besetofwith a blazing fire of problems. Everyone wants tolive here peacefully, but situations develop in sucha way that this is not possible for anyone. We strugglevery hard to adjust things in so many ways, butnature's laws are so cruel and dangerous that in1>pite of our hopes and plans the blazing fire of theproblems of material existence continues.In this century, for instance, we have attemptedto put out the fire of war, but it has not beenpossible. There was a First World War, and then aLeague of Nations was formed to try to prevent asecond, but despite their attempts a second tookplace. Now a United Nations has been constructedto help end war, but war is going on in VietNam, inEgypt, in Pakistan and other places. No one wants aThird World War, but it seems imminent. It is notpossible to send a fire brigade, a few men withbuckets of water, to extinguish a great fire in theforest. To extinguish a roaring forest fire there mustbe volumes of water; in other words, there must bean arrangement that is beyond human endeavor.When there is a merciful cloud over the forest fire,the cloud bursts, rain pours down in torrents, and

70 Elevation to Kra Consciousnessthe blazing fire is immediately extinguished. As acloud collects water from the ocean, similarly thespiritual master collects water from KrQa's oceanof mercy and pours it over the blazing fire of materialexistence. Thus one who bestows or distributes themerciful rain of KrQa is called a spiritual master orguru.In Vedic literatures it is said that in order tounderstand the transcendental science of KrQa con·sciousness, we must try to acquire knowledge of howto extinguish this blazing fire of problems. Scientists,philosophers and other educated men are tryingvery hard to extinguish it, but the result seems to bebigger and bigger bombs. The karmTs or fruitivelaborers are working with heart and soul, day andnight, to extinguish this fire or to diminish themiserable condition of material existence by dint ofhard labor. The jnanTs or philosophers are alsotrying, but they have become disgusted and so proclaim,"This world is false." Thinking this, they tryto merge into the existence of the Supreme and inthis way extinguish the fire. This is like the jackelwho tries to pick some grapes from a vine, andwhen he fails, says, "Oh, these grapes are sour anyway."The yogTs or meditators try to gain superiormystic power by becoming greater than the greatest,smaller than the smallest, lighter than the lightest,and heavier than the heaviest, but this is just so muchchild's play. With any material body-whether it begreat or small, light or heavy-the problems ofmaterial existence still remain. In this way one mayprogress from one stage to another, coming from

Knowing qa's Energies7lthe stage of karmi or fruitive laborer, to the stage ofjfiiini or philosopher, to the stage of yogi or meditator,but in any case one finally has to come to theplatform of bhakti, or devotional service. This is thereal evolutionary process. It is indicated in Bhagavadgitiiin this way:bahuniim janmaniim antejfiiinaviin miirh prapadyateviisudevah sarvam itisa mahiitmasudurlabha{t"After many births and deaths, he who is actuallyin knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me tobe the cause of all causes, and all that is. Such agreat soul is very rare." (Bg. 7.19)Surrender to KrQ.a is the point; that is the aim oflife, and the bhaktas, the intelligent men of the world,take to this stage immediately. Therefore Kn;Q.a saysthat they are wise men. If, after many, many birthsone has to come to this point of surrender, then whynot immediately?The blazing fire of material nature is supervisedby Durga. Often she is portrayed with weapons inher hands. She has ten hands, and each holds adifferent type of weapon. This indicates that she isruling all ten directions of this universe. She wieldsthe different weapons to chastise the demons. Thereis one famous picture of a demon struggling with alion, and the goddess Durga is pulling the demon'shair and pushing her trident against his chest. If westudy this picture we can determine that we are the

72 Elevation to KrJ].a Consciousnessdemon and that the trident is the threefold miseriesof material existence from which we are alwayssuffering. Some miseries are inflicted by other livingentities, some are inflicted by natural disasters, andsome are inflicted by the mind and body themselves.In one way or another we are always strugglingagainst these three types of miseries. No one in thematerial creation can say that he is free from them.The trident of this material nature is pressed againsteveryone's chest, and because of this, pure happinesswithin this material world is not possible. We maytry to satisfy Mother Durga by worshiping her or bygiving her some bribe, but Durga is not so easilybribed.Therefore we should know that our aim of lifeshould be to understand the Supreme Personalityof Godhead. We should make every arrangementsocial,political, philosophical or religious-but theaim should be to approach the Supreme Person. Inthe Vedas it is stated that the learned advancedpeople, the demigods of the creation, simply lookto the lotus feet of KrJJ.a. The aim should be thesame with human civilization. Without looking toKrJJ.a's lotus feet, all religious, social or politicalendeavors will fail. It is not possible to make progressas long as our desires are anchored in the materialworld. In this regard, there is a story of a bridegroom'sparty who had to go to the bride's housedown the river. It was settled that they would startat night by boat and reach the destination early inthe morning. Therefore at night, after supper, thejubilant party got aboard a boat, made themselvescomfortable and instructed the boatmen to start.

Knowing qa's Energies 73Since all the members of the party were seatedcomfortably, and since the river breeze was verypleasant, they slept soundly that night. In themorning they all got up early, but to their astonishmentthey saw that the boat had not moved an inchtoward the destination, even though the boatmenhad rowed vigorously all night long. Finally, afterinquiring, they found that despite the boatmen'srowing, the boat had not llL-Oved because they hadfailed to raise the anchor. The marriage ceremonywas thus spoiled because of a foolish mistake.Our present civilization is therefore a mistakencivilization because the mistaken leaders have forgottento raise the anchor of attachment. Instead,the anchor is being more and more firmly fixedbecause they have structured the social order on thebasis of sense gratification. This sense gratifyingsocial and political set-up, maintained by variousplans and schemes, has been described in Bhagavadg"itiias follows:lc'iimam iisritya dupurarhdambha-miina-madiinvitiiflmohiid grh"itvasad-griihiinpravartante 'suci-vratiicintiim aparimeyiirh capralayiintiim upiisritiikiimopabhoga-paramiietiivad iti niscitiifl"The demoniac, taking shelter of insatiable lust,pride, and false prestige, and being thus illusioned,

7 4 Elevation to .KfI].a Consciousnessare always sworn to unclean work, attracted by theimpermanent. Their belief is that to gratify thesenses unto the end of life is the prime necessity ofhuman civilization. Thus, there is no measurementfor their anxiety." (Bg. 16.1 0-ll)The leaders, like the boatmen, are all illusioned.They mislead us into taking some temporary benefit,but how long can their plans and schemes go on? Ifthey persist until they die of heart failure or arekilled by assassins, then another just like them takestheir place. Even the so-called philosophers ofmodern society are captivated by material name andfame, and so they do not lead the general populacein the proper direction. Thus the anchor of life remainsdeeply fixed in the waters of nescience for thepurpose of sense gratification, and thus our so-calledcivilization rots in a stagnant pool. Because we arenot moving, we are always in the same port ofproblematic life. All schemes are only useless scrapsof paper in the face of war, famine, earthquakes andother disasters. All these disasters are warnings fromMother Durga, and by them she confirms her eternalsuperiority over the illusioned planmakers. Thedifferent weights on the anchor which keep usgrounded in material life are our attachments to thematerial body due to our ignorance of spiritual facts,our attachment to kinsmen due to bodily relations,our attachment to our land of birth and our materialpossessions, our attachment to material science andour attachment to religious forms and rituals withoutknowing their true purpose-all these anchor theboat of the human body in the material universe.

Knowing a's Energies 75Sri Krva, using the example of a strongly rootedbanyan tree, advises us in Bhagavad-gitii how to getrid of this attachment once and for all:na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyatenanto na ciidir na ca sampratiflthaasvattham enam suviruflha-mulamasanga-sastrel}a dp;lhena chittviitata"{l padam tat parimargitavyamyasmin gata na nivartanti bhuyafltam eva ciidyam puruflarh prapadyeyata"{l pravrttilt prasrta puriil}T"The real form of this tree cannot be perceived inthis world. No one can understand where it ends,where it begins, or where its foundation is. Thisbanyan tree must be cut out with determination,by the weapon of detachment.Thereafter, one mustseek that situation from which, having gone, onenever comes back. One must surrender to thatSupreme Personality of Godhead from whom everythinghas begun and is extending since time immemorial."(Bg. 15.3,4)The Personality of Godhead, who is fully cognizantof everything in His creation, informs us inour best interest that we must desire to get rid of thismaterial existence. We must detach ourselves fromeverything material. To make the best use of a badbargain, our material existence should be l 00%spiritualized by constant association with KpJ;la'smessage, His devotees and His names. Therefore

76 Elevation to qa Consciousnesseveryone who ordinarily engages in material affairscan derive the highest benefit from this Kt\il).a consciousnessmovement. All kinds of spiritual endeavorsare more or less tinged with material contamination.However, pure devotional service is transcendentalto all pollution. We need not artificially adoptprinciples of materialism; we need only fix ourminds on the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, thePersonality of Godhead, Sri Kt\iJ.la.

6Taking toKrsna ConsciousnessIn India all scriptures and great spiritual teachers,including Sankaracarya, an impersonalist, acceptKrlJa as the Supreme Lord. In the beginning of hiscommentary on the Bhagavad-g'ita, Sankaracaryasays that Narayal)a is transcendental to this manifestedand unmanifested creation, and in the samecommentary he says that the Supreme Personalityof Godhead, Narayal)a, is KrlJa appearing as the sonof Devaki and Vasudeva. Thus in this respect thereis little difference of opinion about KrlJa. Thosewho are authorities, be they personalists or impersonalists,are in agreement that Krl)a is theSupreme Lord.When KrlJa was present on this planet, He provedby His a_ctivities and opulence that He is the SupremeLord. If we are actually anxious to understand whoand what the Supreme Lord is, all of the informationis given in Vedic literatures. If we utilize whateverwe have in our possession to understand God, KrlJawill prove that He is the Supreme Personality ofGodhead. If we but accept this one fact, then all ofour education is complete. It is fashionable to. research to try to find out who is God, but this isnot necessary. God is present, and He Himself says:mattaft parataram niinyatkiiicid asti dhanaiijayamayi sarvam idam protamsutre mal}i-gal}ii iva77

78 Elevation to Kra Consciousness"0 conquerer of wealth (Arjuna), there is no truthsuperior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearlsare strung on a thread." (Bg. 7. 7)This information is not only given in Bhagavadgitabut in other scriptures as well, and it has beenaccepted from the very beginning by greatacaryas (teachers) like Sarikaracarya, Ramanujlicarya,Madhvacarya, Lord Caitanya and many other stalwartauthorities. Even at the present moment thosewho do not accept Krl).a as the Supreme Lord areaccepting the knowledge given by Krl).a to Arjuna.So in this way they are accepting Krl).a indirectly.If one accepts Bhagavad-gita as a great book ofknowledge, he is also accepting Krl).a. There is nodoubt that the Supreme Absolute Truth is Krl).aand that we have our eternal relationship with Him.Our eternal relationship with God is sabhajana:God is great, and we are subordinate. He is thepredominator, and we are the predominated. Theduty of the subordinate is to please the pre dominator.Similarly, if we want to be happy, we must learnhow to make Krl).a happy. This is the process ofKrl).a consciousness.But how is it to be understood that the SupremeLord is satisfied by our service and labor?It is actually possible to perfect our service oroccupational duty. Everyone has some service toperform according to his designations. He may be anIndian or American, Hindu, Muslim or Christian,man, woman, brahmap,a, katriya, vaisya, sudra orwhatever-in any case he is meant to do some sortof work, and that work is his occupational duty.

Taking to Kwa Consciousness 79Perfection of duty can he tested by seeing whetherthe Supreme Lord is satisfied by its execution. TheSupreme Lord's satisfaction can be tested by theLord's representative, the spiritual master. Thereforeit is important to seek out a real representativeof the Supreme Personality of Godhead and workunder him. If he is satisfied, then we should knowthat the Supreme Lord is also satisfied. That isexplained by Visvanatha Cakravarti 'fhakura:yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadoyasyiiprasiidiin na gatifi, kuto 'pidhyayam stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyamvande guro[l sri-carararavindam"By the mercy of the spiritual master one is benedietedby the mercy of KrQ.a. Without the grace ofthe spiritual master no one can make any advancement.Therefore I should always remember the spiritualmaster. At least three times a day I should offermy respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of myspiritual master." (Sri Gurva§takam, Verse 8)The spiritual master is the representative of theSupreme Lord. How does he become the representative?If one says that such and such an object is apair of spectacles, and if he teaches his disciple inthat way, there is no mistake as to the identity ofthe object. The spiritual master is he who has capturedthe words of a particular disciplic succession.In the case given, the key word is "spectacles"­that's all. The spiritual master does not have to sayanything beyond that. This is the qualification.

80 Elevation to Kra ConsciousnessKrl).a says, "I am the Supreme," and the spiritualmaster says, "Krl).a is the Supreme." It is not thatto be a rep1 ·entative of Krl).a or to be a spiritualmaster one has to have any extraordinary qualification.He simply has to carry the message from theauthority as it is without any personal interpretation.As soon as there is some personal interpretation,the message is lost and the instructions becomeoffensive. A person who interprets the scripturesaccording to his own whims should be immediatelyrejected.Once Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "You mustat least have enough sense to test to find out who isa spiritual master and who is not." For instance, ifwe want to purchase something, we must at leasthave some idea of what that thing is, otherwise wewill be cheated. If we want to purchase a mangofrom the market, we must at least know what typeof food a mango is and what it looks like. Similarly,we must have some preliminary knowledge of thequalifications for a bona fide spiritual master.Bhagavad-g"ita itself gives some information aboutthe succession of spiritual masters. Lord Sri Krl).asays:imam vivasvate yogamproktavan aham avyayamvivasvan manave prahamanur ikvakave 'brav"itevam parampara-praptamimam rajar§ayo vidu{l

Taking'to Kr11a Consciousnesssa kiileneha mahatiiyogo natafl parantapasa eviiyarh maya te 'dyayogafl proktafl puriitanaflbhakto 'si me sakhii cetirahasyarh hy etad uttamam"I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to thesun-god Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it toManu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turninstructed it to Ikvaku. This supreme science wasthus received through the chain of disciplic succession,and the saintly kings understood it in that way.But in course of time the succession was broken, andtherefore the science as it is appears to be lost. Thatvery ancient science of the relationship with theSupreme is today told by Me to you because you areMy devotee as well as My friend; therefore, you canunderstand the transcendental mystery of thisscience." (Bg. 4.1-3)That original spiritual disciplic succession wasbroken, but now we can receive the same messageby studying Bhagavad-gTtii. In Bhagavad-gTtii KrJ).aspeaks to Arjuna just as in a far distant time Hespoke to the sun-god. If we accept the words ofArjtma and KrJ).a, it may be possible for us to understandBhagavad-gTtii, but if we want to interpret itin our own way, the results will be nonsensical. Thebest way to understand Bhagavad-gTtii is to accept abona fide spiritual master. This is not very difficult.

,,8 2 Elevation to .Kra ConsciousnessArjuna says that he accepts all that Kn;Q.a hassaid to him because Kn;Q.a is the Supreme Personalityof Godhead:nafito mohaf:t smrtir labdhatvat prasadan mayacyutasthito 'smi gata-sandehaf:tkariye vacanarh tava"Arjuna said, My dear Krl).a, 0 infallible one, myillusion is now gone. I have regained my memory byYour mercy, and now I am fixed without anydoubt, prepared to act according to Your instructions."(Bg. 18.73)As Arjuna, we should accept KrQ.a as the SupremePersonality of Godhead and do as He says:yat kaTOfii yad asnasiyaj juhoi dadasi yatyat tapasyasi kaunteyqtat kuru§va madarparJam"0 son of Kunti, all that you do, all that you eat, allthat you offer and give away, as well as all austeritiesthat you may perform, should be done as an offeringunto Me." (Bg. 9.27)By accepting Krl).a in this spirit, we can attaincomplete knowledge. If, however, we do not acceptKrl).a and interpret Bhagavad-g"ita in our own way,then everything will be spoiled.If we are sincere, we will get a sincere spiritualmaster by the grace of KrQ.a. If, however, we want

Taking to 11a Consciousness 83to be cheated, KrQa will send us a cheater, and wewill be cheated throughout our lives. That is actuallygoing on. For those who do not want to understandKrQa as He is but want to understand by dint oftheir own imperfect vision, KrQa, God, remainsunknown.The whole process is to accept KrQa and Hisinstructions and therefore to render devotional serviceunto Him. It is Srimati RadharaQi who is thevery embodiment of perfect devotional service. Inthe Brahma-samhitii RadharaQi is described as KrQa'sexpansion of His spiritual potency. In this way, Sheis nondifferent from KrQa. The gopi:s, who tendRadha and KrQa, are not ordinary women or girls;they are expansions of Krqa's pleasure potency.RadhariiQi and the go pis should never be accepted asordinary women; indeed, to understand their positionwe need the guidance of a spiritual master. If weliving entities want to actually associate withRadharaQi, that may be possible, although She is notan ordinary woman. We can become associates ofRadharaQi by qualifying ourselves in advanceddevotional service.In devotional service there is no frustration; evenif we perform only a small amount, it will grow.Devotional service is never lost. As far as materialthings are concerned, whatever we gain in the worldwill be lost when the body is finished. But since weare eternal spiritual sparks, our spiritual assets gowith us, gradually fructifying. In this way those whohave previously cultivated transcendental consciousnesscome in contact with KrQa consciousness

l,i84 Elevation to KrJ!.a Consciousnessthrough this movement. Interest in Krl)a conscious·ness is not commonplace. In Bhagavad-grta it is saidthat out of many millions and billions of persons,only one is interested in achieving perfection. Ifwe can advertise that simply by reading this bookand meditating for fifteen minutes anyone canimmediately get power, become successful in businessand pass his examination, many people wouldbe attracted to the book. People are not attractedto KrJ;la consciousness because they prefer to becheated by maya. They think that the perfection oflife is in eating a great supply of food, or in sleepingtwenty hours, or in having a new mate every nightor every day. People are interested in these things,but not in the perfection of life.Every intelligent man should at least experimentwith Kn>l)a consciousness. He should say, "All right.I have been enjoying this eating and sleeping for somany lives. These things were available for me toenjoy in my bird and animal bodies. Now in thislife let me restrict the four principles of animalisticlife-eating, sleeping, defending and mating-and letme devote my time to developing Krl)a consciousness.In this way my life will be successful."It is not that we have coined this term "KrJ;laconsciousness." Krt;ta consciousness is the oldestphrase in the history of the world:man-mana bhava mad-bhaktomad-yafi mam namaskurumam evaiflyasi satyam tepratijane priyo 'si me

Taking to 11a Consciousness 85man-mana bhava mad-bhaktomad-yiifi mam namask ummiim evai;5yasi yuktvaivamatmanam matparayar-a"Always think of Me. Become My devotee. WorshipMe, and offer your homage unto Me. The result isthat you will come to Me without fail. I promise youthis, because you are My very dear friend. Engageyour mind always in thinking of Me, engage yourbody in My service; and surrender unto Me. Completelyabsorbed in Me, surely will you come toMe." (Bg. 18.65, 9.34)The phrase man-mana bhava mad-bhakto means"just be always conscious of Me." This then is Kr.t:taconsciousness. In Bhagavad-gTta Krt;-a is repeatedlysaying that we should worship Him, offer obeisancesunto Him and then come to Him. Bhagavad-gTtiiclearly points to the absolute necessity of Kr.t:taconsciousness, and Bhagavad-gTta is accepted as theessence of the Upani§ads. Even from the historicalpoint of view, it has no comparison. It has been r.alculatedon the basis of archeological evidence thatKr.t:ta spoke Bhagavad-gTtii on the Battlefield ofKuruketra more than five thousand years ago. Sothis KrQ.a consciousness movement, even from thehistorical point of view, is five thousand years old. Itsphilosophy is the oldest in the history of the world.If we wish to trace it even further back, we findthat Sri Krt;-a spoke it earlier to the sun-god. Krt;-a iseternal, and consciousness of KrQ.a is also eternal. In

86 Elevation to l{rqa Consciousnessthis way !)a consciousness should be approached.It should not simply be considered a theory.When Krl)a consciousness is covered by anyother consciousness, we experience our contaminatedconditional life. When the sky is clear, we can see thesun's brilliant effulgence, but when it is covered byclouds, we cannot see it. We may be able to perceivethe sunlight, but we cannot see the sun disc itself.When the sky is clear, it is in its natural condition.Similarly, our consciousness is eternally Krl)a consciousnessbecause we are part and parcel of Krl)aeternally. This is asserted in the Fifteenth Chapter·of Bhagavad-gztii:mamaivamso jiva-lokefiva-bhutal;t saniitana(lmana(l-a.thiinzndriyiiriprakrti-s thiini kar§ati"The living entities in this conditional world are Myfragmental parts, and they are eternal. But due toconditioned life, they are struggling very hard withthe six senses, which include the mind." (Bg. 15. 7)Somehow or other we have come in contact withmaterial nature, and because of the mind and the sixsenses, we are struggling hard to exist. That isDarwin's theory-the struggle for existence, survivalof the fittest. However, the actual fact is that ourconstitutional position is not one of struggle. Struggleis the position of animal life. Human life should beblissful and should have as its goal spiritual advance-

Taking to f!a Consciousness 87ment. At one time that was India's principle of life,and there was a class of people, the briihmar-as, whoengaged themselves exclusively in spiritual culture.Although brahminical cultural life is enunciated inthe scriptures of India, it is not for Indians alone,but for all human beings. The Vedas were writtenfor all mankind, but it so happened that when theVedas were written, what is now known as theIndian culture was the only one extant. At thattime, the whole planet was called Bharatavara, afterEmperor Bharata Maharaja, the son of J;tabhadeva.Bharata Maharaja ruled the whole planet, butgradually the planet was divided up. So the dharmaof Vedic culture should not simply be consideredIndian or Hindu in a sectarian sense.Often the word dharma is translated to meanreligion, but to conceive of dharma as a religion is tomisconceive the word. In general usage, the wordreligion refers to a particular type of faith. Theword dharma does not. Dharma indicates the naturaloccupation of the living entity. For example, wher·ever there is fire, there is heat and light, so it may besaid that heat and light are the dharma of fire. Firecannot change its dharma. In the same way, liquidityis an intrinsic quality of water, and this qualitycannot be changed. If it is, it can no longer be consideredwater. The dharma of the individual soulcan never be changed, and that dharma is the occupationalduty of rendering service unto the SupremeLord. Faiths and religions can be changed. Today Imay be a Hindu, but tomorrow I may become aChristian or Moslem. In this way faiths can be

88 Elevation to Kr11a Consciousnesschanged, but dharma is a natural sequence, a naturaloccupation or connection.KrIJa says that as soon as there is a discrepancyin the discharge of the dharmas of the living entities,when there is an upsurge of unnatural activities, Hedescends. One of the principal purposes of Hisdescent is to reestablish religious principles. The bestsystem of religion is that which best trains us tosurrender unto the Supreme Lord. This is the basicprinciple underlying Bhagavad-g'ita. We can select ourown religion and be Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist,Christian or whatever, as long as we know the realpurpose of religion. Indeed, Srimad-Bhagavatamdoes not recommend that we give up our presentreligion, but it does hint at the purpose of religion.That purpose is love of Godhead, and that religionwhich teaches us best how to love the SupremeLord is the best religion.In this age especially there is a general decay in'the consciousness of the masses of people. A fewpeople remember that there is a God, but for themost part people are forgetting Him. Therefore theycannot be happy. People are thinking that God isdead, or that we have no obligation to God, or thatthere is no God. This sort of thinking will nevermake for happiness. When civilization is godless oratheistic, as it is today, God or His representativecomes to remind people of their relationship withthe supreme consciousness.When Sanatana Gosvami inquired from LordCaitanya, "What am I? Why am I always in a miserablecondition? What is the position of all living

Taking to KwJ.a Consciousness 89entities?" Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu immediatelyanswered that the real identity is that of servant ofGod. We should not understand the word "servant"in the sense of materialistic servant. To become aservant of God is a great position. People are alwaystrying to get some government post or some positionin a reputed business firm because the servicerendered in such positions earns great profits. Althoughwe are very anxious to get good positions inthe government service, we do not stop to think ofgetting a position in God's service. God is thegovernment of all governments.God's service is dharma. This dharma may bedescribed differently in different countries accordingto different cultural and climatic conditions orsituations, but in every religious scripture obedienceto God is instructed. No scripture says that there isno God or that we as living entities are independentnotthe Bible, the Koran, the Vedas or even theBuddhist literatures. Generally, according to Buddhistphilosophy, there is no individual soul and nosupreme soul, but actually since Lord Buddha isaccepted by Vedic literatures as an incarnation ofGod, by obeying Lord Buddha one is actually followingGod. In the Srimad-Bhiigavatam there is a list ofincarnations, and Lord Buddha is accepted asone of them. Srimad-Bhiigavatam was compiled byVyasadeva five thousand years ago, and LordBuddha appeared about 2,600 years ago, so Snmad­Bhiigavatam actually foretold the event of his incarnation.Lord Buddha preached that there is no Godand no soul, that this body is a combination of

J90 Elevation to KrIJ.a Consciousnessmatter, and that when we dissolve this materialcombination, sensations of misery and happinesswill no longer exist. Then Sankaracarya appeared topreach that the external feature of Brahman, thebody, is merely an illusion. In all religions, templeworship and acceptance of authority are present.We may accept KrlJa, or Lord Jesus Christ, orJehovah, or Lord Buddha, or Sankaracarya, or GuruNanak, but in any case acceptance of authority isrequired.In Bhagavad-gita Lord Sri Krl)a is accepted as thesupreme authority. Sometimes KrlJa descends personally,and sometimes He descends by His incarnations.Sometimes He descends as sound vibration,and sometimes He descends as a devotee. There aremany different categories of avataras. In this, presentage KrlJa has descended in His holy name, HareKrlJa, Hare KrlJa, KrlJa KrlJ.a, Hare Hare/ HareRama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. LordCaitanya Mahaprabhu also confirmed that in this ageof Kali, KrlJa has descended in the form of soundvibration. Sound is one of the forms which the Lordtakes. Therefore it is stated that there is no differencebetween KrlJa and His name.Today people have forgotten their relationshipwith God, but this incarnation of KrlJa in the formof His holy names, this chanting of Hare KrlJa, willdeliver all the people of the world from their forgetfulness.Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that if wechant or associate with the chanting of the holynames of KrlJ.a, we will reach the highest perfectionalstage of life. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam

Taking to Kt11a Consciousness91there are different processes for different ages, butthe principle of each process remains valid in allages. It is not that the chanting of Hare KrQ.a iseffective in this age and not in Satya-yuga. Nor is itthat people were not chanting the holy names ofKrQ.a in Satya-yuga. In Satya-yuga meditation wasthe main process, and great munis meditated forperiods extending upwards of 60,000 years. Inthis age, however, perfection by that means ofmeditation is not possible because we are so shortlived.Consequently in this age it is especiallyrecommended that we all sit down together and chantHare KrQ.a. It is very easy, and everyone can takepart in it. There is no necessity of education, nor areany previous qualifications required. In this agepeople are also very slow and unfortunate, andthey are contaminated with bad association. CaitanyaMahaprabhu introduced the chanting of Hare KrQ.a,Hare KrQ.a, KrQ.a KrQ.a, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama,Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare as a great meansof propaganda for spreading love of God. It is notthat it is recommended only for Kali-yuga. Actually,it is recommended for every age. There have alwaysbeen many devotees who have chanted and reachedperfection in all ages. That is the beauty of thisKrQ.a consciousness movement. It is not simply forone age, or for one country, or for one class ofpeople. Hare KrQ.a can be chanted by any man inany social position, in any country and in any age,for KrQ.a is the Supreme Lord of all people in allsocial positions, in all countries, in all ages.

GLOSSARYAnanda-spiritual bliss, pleasure.Avatara-an incarnation of God who descends fromthe spiritual world.Bhagavad-gTta-the book which records the spiritualinstructions given by KrQ.a to His friend Arjunaon the Battlefield of Kuruketra.Bhakti-devotional service to God.Brahmar;as-the intellectual class in human society.Catur-vaqtyam-divisions of labor in human societyas described in the Vedic literatures.Dharma-the natural occupation of the living entity,which is to serve God.GopTs-cowherd girl friends of KrQ.a described in theVedic literatures.Govinda-KrQ.a, who gives pleasure to the senses.Guru-spiritual master ..Jagadisa-the Lord of the universe, KrQ.a.Jivas-living entities or souls.]iianTs-speculative philosophers.Karma-fruitive activities or their reactions.KarmTs-fruitive laborers.Katriyas-the administrative and military class inhuman society.Ketrajiia-the individual spirit soul who is the knowerof the field of the body.

94 GlossaryLllii-transcendental pastimes of the Lord.Lllii-puru§ottama-the Personality of Godhead, whois by His own nature always engaged in transcendentalpastimes.Mantra-a transcendental sound vibration.Maya-material atmosphere in which the conditionedsoul tries to enjoy without God.Nliras-living beings.Prakrti-material nature.Sac -cid-ananda-vigraha-description of God as a fullycognizant and eternally joyful personality with a, full sense of His identity.Sudras-the common laborer class in human society.Vaisyas-the mercantile and agricultural class in humansociety.

INDEXAbsolute TruthSee Kr$1)aAnimalschoosing life of humans or,1-12don't know they're suffering,9Arjuna .heard G!ta from Sri Kr91)a,3-4, 81-82Bhagavad-g!tiianalogy of banyan tree in,75as ABC of spiritual knowledge,23as perfect knowledge taughtby K91)a, 3description of spiritual worldin, 5-8meant for happiness of allmen, 58on disciplic succession, 80-81on four divisions of humanbeings, 36on Kl)a as source of Brahman,55on miseries of material world15-16on sense gratifying socialset-up, 73-74on spiritual evolution, 8-9points to necessity of Kr$1)aconsciousness, 85stresses devotion to SriK91)a, 40Bhakti yogaSee Krsna consciousnessBody, matilas field of activities, 31, 34Brahm aacknowledges Kl)a as supremecontroller, 45as first created person, 53Kl)a as origin of, 51BrahmanKrl)a as source of, 55BriihmarJaS (intellectual class)necessity for in modern society,35-36, 42-43Brahma-sarhhitiiacknowledges Kf&J;la as supremecontroller, 45Buddhaas incarnation of God, 89-90Caitanya Mahaprabhuaccets K$1)a as God, 78His Sikii.takam prayer, 44K$1)a's manifestation as, 66-68on Hare Kl)a mantra, 90-91particularly uses word lagadisa,46-47propounded devotional service,15Conditioned soulsbound by laws of nature, 24-25deluded by modes of nature,45four defects of, 1-2not interested in perfectionof life, 84punished by material energy,60-61Devotional servicebegins with tongue, 68never lost, 83-84

96 Indexpropounded by CaitanyaMahiiprabhu, 15transcendental knowledge attainableby, 30transcendental to all pollution,76See also Krl)a consciousnessDisciplic successionGitii handed down by, 3spiritual master must be in,79-81See also Spiritual MasterDurgaas personification of materialenergy, 61supervises fire of materialnature, 71-72EnergyDurga as personification ofmaterial, 61everything is actually spiritual,60-62knowing Krl)a's energies,60-76material engaged to punishconditioned souls, 60-61EvolutionDarwin's theory refuted, 8-9GodSee KrsnaGosviimis' · (disciples of LordCaitanya)always searching after Riidhiiand Krl)a, 67GovindaSee Krl)aHappinesshankering after material islust, 15hard struggle for, 13-30impossible in godless civilization,88impossible in material world,72pious actions lead to, 29variegatedness necessary for,21-23Hare Krl)a mantraextinguishes fire of materialnature, 68-69Krl)a has descended in, 57,.90peace by chanting, 42-43HeavenSee Spiritual worldHuman lifemeant for penance, 10-11meant to be nonviolent, 35meant to study science ofGod, 5, 23, 86-87perfected by Vedic knowl·edge, 4-51m personalistsagree Krl)ais Supreme Lord,77consider Lord and individualsouls equal, 25-26deny spiritual variegatedness,21-23,28think God has no form, 53.55Jehovahaccepting His authority, 90See also Krl)aJesus Christaccepting his authority, 90Kingdom of GodSee Spiritual worldKnowledge, spiritualattainable by devotional service,30Bhagavad-gitii as ABC of, 23

Index 97broadcast by real brahma[!as,42-43given by spiritual master, 1,Kr!Ja41-42, 57-58, 68-70, 79-80, 82-83as creator of divisions ofhuman society, 36as origin of demigods, 51as reservoir of pleasure, 56as substantially and eternallyGod, 50-51as supreme authority ofG!tii, 3as supreme controller, 42as supreme person, 53-55claims all living beings as Hissons, 31-33descended in His holy name,90-91has no material form, 54-56His energy always spiritual,60-62His expansions, 63His manifestation as LordCaitanya Mahiiprabhu, 66-68not bound by His work, 41,49Riidhiiriil).i attractive to, 65-66stresses devotion to His personalSelf, 40See also Lord Sri CaitanyaMahaprabhu,the SupremeLordKr!Ja consciousnessas pleasing process, ll-12as transcending modes ofnature, 37as utmost necessity for humansociety, 39-40Bhagavad-g!ta points to necessityof, 85interest in not commonplace,84meant for understanding position of soul, 33See also Devotional serVIceLiving beingsas all sons of Kr!Ja, 13, 31-33,86belong to superior energy,25created to give pleasure toGod, 65maintained by Almighty Father,20meant to serve SupremeLord, 19, 27, 29-30naturally attracted by variety,21not attracted to void, 38subject to three-fold miseries,8-10Var[!iisrama-dharma as eternalreligion of, 7MahiimantraSee Hare Krsna mantraMarriage .. .meant for avoiding illicit sex,35Material worldas partial manifestation ofcreation, 5-6compared to forest fire, 69-70exists on plenary portion ofKr!Ja, 64full of miseries, 15-16, 23-25no one can become supremeMiiyiiin, 47-48as accepting body as self, 2as forgetfulness of our position,45-46

,98 Indexbaffles planmakers, 24people prefer to be cheatedby,84MiiyiiviidisSee ImpersonalistsMeditationno one can become God by,50-51Modes of natureall conditioned souls subjectto, 45transcended by Krpa consciousness,36-37work according to, 36Moneyused for sense gratification,16-20NariiyaQ.aSee KQ.aPadma Puriinaon spirital evolution, 8Peaceby chanting Hare KrQ.a mantra,42-43by hearing words of KrQ.a,59impossible without four socialorders, 36only achieved by servingKrQ.a, l 7-18toward a peaceful society,31-44Penancehuman life meant for, lO-llPrayersno high qualification necessaryto offer, 44of Caitanya Mahiiprabhu, 44,56of Lord Brahmii, 52, 53, 54-55,55-56should be directed to SupremePersonality of Godhead,53RiidhiiriiQ.ias embodiment of perfectdevotional service, 83as pleasure potency of SriKrQ.a, 65can deliver KrQ.a, 65-67Religionthe real purpose of, 87-91I:tabhadevaon purpose of life, 10-12Sarikaraciiryaaccepts Kn>Q.a as SupremeLord, 77his basic philosophy, 37his theoretical negation ofmaterial activities, 15Scriptures,See Bhagavad-g!tii, Snmad­BhiigavatamSense gratificationgodless civilization contrivedfor, 16-17money used for, 16-20social order structured on,73SensesKrQ.a gives pleasure to, 56KrQ.a not perceived by material,68of conditioned soul limited,1-3used in service of Lord, 17Sivaconfirms KrQ.a as SupremeSoulGodhead, 52KrQ.a as origin of, 51See Living beingsSpiritual masteras representative of SupremeLord, 79-80, 82-83associationwith by vibration,57-58

Index 99distributes mercy of KrJ;a,68-70gives disciples transcendentalknowledge, 1submissive inquiry from, 41-42Spiritual worldconducted by Radhiini!].i, 65described in Gitii, 5-8, fll of variegatedness, 12Sn /Sopaniadconfirms KrJ;a has nothingto do, 62Sfimad-Bhiigavatamanticipated hog worship mthis age, 11confirms KrJ;a as SupremeGodhead, 52foretold coming of Buddha,89on real purpose of religion,88Subhadraincarnation of Durga comesSiidrasfrom, 61in this age everyone born,34-36Suicidesimply creates other miseries,38Supreme Lordas above modes of nature, 45as one without a second,13,48as Supreme Father, 31-33expands Himself by Hisenergies, 23has nothing to do, 48-50,62-63known by devotional service,30not subject to material creation,7-9spiritual master as representativeof, 79-80transcendental pastimes of,21,23See also KrJ;aVarrziisrama-dharmaas eternal religion of livingbeings, 7Vediinta-siitraon purpose of human life, 23on variegatedness and pleasure,21-22Vedasmeant for totality of humansociety, 4, 87Visnu father of Lord Brahmii,53KrJ;a as origin of, 51See also KrsnaVisvanatha c·kravarfi Thiikuraon mercy of spirituai master,79

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"After many births and deaths, hewho is actually in knowledge surrendersunto Kr;a knowing Him to bethe cause of all causes and all that is.Such a great soul is very rare."Bhagavad-g[tii ( 7.19}