19821029 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.12

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on October 29, 1982 – in Bangkok, Thailand. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.12.

Translation what is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted and experienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest. Translation with repetition what is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted? Inexperienced by years Inexperienced by years in this world Better a moment of full consciousness because that gives one a start in searching after his supreme interest. His supreme interest Report Śrīla Sukhadev Goswam instructed Mahārāja Parikshit about the importance of chanting the holy name of the Lord by every progressive gentleman in order to encourage the king who had only seven remaining days of life. Rla Sukhadeva Goswami asserted that there is no use in living hundreds of years without any knowledge of the problems of life.

Better to live for a moment with full consciousness of the supreme interest to be fulfilled. The supreme interest of life is eternal with full knowledge and bliss. Those who are bewildered by the external features of the material world are engaged in the animal propensities of the eat, drink and be merry type of life are simply wasting their lives by the unseen passing away of valuable years. We should know in perfect consciousness that human life is bestowed upon the conditioned soul to achieve spiritual success and the easiest possible procedure to attain this end is to chant the holy name of the Lord in the previous verse. We have discussed this point to a certain extent and we may further be enlightened on the different types offenses committed unto the feet of the Holy Name.

Rla Jīva Goswami Prabhu has quoted many passages from authentic scriptures and has ably supported the statements in the matter offenses as a feat of the Holy Name. In the Vishnu Yamla Tantra, Rlajiva Goswami has proven that one can be liberated from the effects of all sins simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. Quoting from the Markandeya Purāṇa, Śrī Goswami ji says that one should neither blaspheme the devotee of the Lord nor indulge in hearing others who are engaged in belittling a devotee of the Lord. A devotee should try to restrict the villifier by cutting out his tongue and being unable to do so, one should commit suicide rather than hear the blaspheming of the devotee of the Lord. The conclusion is that one should neither hear nor allow vilification of the devotee of the Lord.

As far as distinguishing the Lord’s hol names from the names of the demigods, the revealed scriptures disclose 1041 of the Bhagavad Gītā that all extraordinarily powerful beings are but parts and parcels of the supreme energetic Lord Kṛṣṇa. Except for the Lord Himself, everyone is subordinate. No one is independent of the Lord. Since no one is more powerful than or equal to the energy of the supreme Lord, no one’s name can be as powerful as that of the Lord. By chanting the Lord’s holy Name, one can derive all the stipulated energy synchronized from all sources. Therefore, one should not equalize the supreme holy name of the Lord with any other name. Brahma, Shiva or any other powerful God can never be equal to the supreme Lord Vishnu. The powerful holy name of the Lord can certainly deliver one from sinful effects.

But one who desires to utilize his transcendental potency of the holy name of the Lord in one’s sinister activities is the most degraded person in the world. Such persons are never excused by the Lord or by any agent of the Lord. One should therefore utilize one’s life in glorifying the Lord by all means, without any offense. Such activity of life, even for a moment is never to be compared to a prolonged life of ignorance like the lives of the trees and other living entities who may live for thousands of years without prosecuting spiritual advancement. So we discuss here the point is that as we discussed today, Prabhupāda is saying that actually the human life is bestowed upon a conditioned soul so that we can achieve spiritual success. That we take so many births that you cannot count.

Since time immemorial we’re taking birth not only as a human being, but as a fish, as a plant, as animal, as a bird in different species. Everyone knows the human birth is the rational animal. It is the intelligent birth more than other creatures that we can see. So what is the purpose of the human life? So for that advice has been given by the great saints, by the great sages that life is not meant for simply engaging in animal propensity. Animal like activity that human is special because it has a higher purpose. The animal is eating, human also eat. Animal is having sex, human also has sex, animal is sleeping, human is also sleeping. An animal is fighting, human is also making wars.

So simply because animal is doing it in a just undisguised way and human being is doing in a sophisticated way that makes the human being greater or take a different species. So the great sages say this is not the purpose. That human being has been given more intelligence by nature, by Kṛṣṇa. Human being has been given more intelligence so that they can understand what is the purpose of life. They can understand what is the supreme interest, what is the supreme cause so that the human being can get out of this cycle of rebirth. That is why the human being has been given more intelligence than the animal. Animal never thinks how to end this cycle of reincarnation. The animal never thinks, what is the supreme cause? Human being has got the intelligence to consider these things and to achieve full consciousness.

So if one is leading the whole life without any full consciousness, simply imitating the animals, so then at the end of life, again that person has to take birth again, there’s no spiritual progress towards ending this cycle of rebirth. Rebirth means you have to suffer. You live in this world, you have to suffer. Maybe there’s some enjoyment also, but their suffering is there in so many ways. So here it’s saying better moment of full consciousness. Because that gives one a start in searching after to his supreme interest. If you even have a moment of full consciousness, then that creates the vision to go for complete perfection. Just like a person who is always living in complete ignorance. So they’re happy because they don’t know any better.

But one day, if you give them a good meal, or if you show them something of a higher standard of life, then they will always be thinking, I should have that. So some materialists may say, well, better he didn’t see that, because then the whole life he’s in anxiety that he could have a better life. So in a material standpoint, that’s one thing, but in a spiritual standpoint, it’s better they have a slight bit of pure consciousness. Because by desiring to achieve perfection, they will be able to progress out of this material world. Materially, they may not be able to immediately promote themselves, but in due course they can, according to karma, at least in the next life. Similarly, if one desires to go back to the spiritual perfection and get out of this miserable state, then one can easily progress.

Therefore, what is this slok telling us? What is this verse telling us? It is encouraging us to take some initiative, to take some active part, to awaken our full consciousness, not simply to waste our time. If we’re not searching after the supreme interest, there’s no use in having a human birth. If our purpose is to enjoy more eating, we can become an elephant and eat tons of food. Or an insect. An insect eats. Some insects eat more food than they weigh. We can only eat. We weigh maybe 60 to 100 kil. We can eat one to two kilos. But you can imagine how much a little insect is eating. They’re eating their own Weight. Just like if were eating 100 kilos of food, you’d be eating the whole day. That’s what they’re doing. The whole day they’re eating.

So if you want to eat better to be insect, you can eat the whole day. You never lose your appetite. You see those ants, they just go on eating termites day and night, they’re just eating. Or pigs, they can eat the dirt, they can eat stool, they can eat anything. So if I of our interest, I would just like it eat. So human birth is not the best birth for eating. If a person’s purpose is sleeping, you can become a bear. They sleep for six months. If your purpose is having sex, it’s also not the best birth because there are other births you can have more sex. Just like the pigeons, they’re having sex about 60 times in a day. Or the little sparrows hundred times. Or the monkeys, they’re having dozens of times.

They can have right out on the public street, there’s no problem. They don’t have to go through any restraint. There’s some type of bugs, they call them love bugs. In Africa, for 24 hours they are attached together, they’re having sex. Then they die. Their whole lifespan is about four days and quarter of their life is spent in Africa. Non stop sex, you see. So if you want to have sex, why be a human being? You can have more facility. In other births, the standard of happiness for them sex is the same as a human having sex. Same idea, not much different. And for fighting, it’s better to be a tiger or a lion compete in the jungle. So why a human being? Today, modern society has lost the purpose for human life. They’re making disco. They’re making so many facilities for simply frivolous activity.

When the purpose is to get out of the circle of rebirth, the purpose is to achieve full consciousness. Instead, their consciousness is so miserable that they’re taking simply intoxication. Because their ordinary consciousness is not satisfying to them. But someone who elevates the consciousness by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa doesn’t need any artificial crutch to be happy. In fact, spits on any artificial crutches as being completely waste of time, waste of. And a vampire sucking the valuable life energy from the real purpose of life. Therefore, the devotees are going all over the world trying to help people who are wasting their energy and life and missing out and the real happiness offering them the opportunity if they want. Take why everybody should follow the stereotype.

If a person wants to be different, then he should be different than all the ordinary People who are simply following everyone else and trying to satisfy their senses. Someone should be different and get out of the material world, go back to the spiritual world. That is real difference. That is real perfection. Actually, everybody wants to be free from fear. But the only way to become free from fear is to actually have this full consciousness. Just like in the dark. Because we have partial vision, it’s fearful. But when the sun comes out, then there’s no fear. We can see in the dark. We may see something move. What is that when the light comes on? Oh, we can see it’s nothing. Or it’s just a friend like that. In this material world, because we have partial consciousness, therefore we are afraid.

When we have full consciousness, we become above fear. So of course the devotees take on a sacrifice to give people this fearlessness. By worshipping Kṛṣṇa, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hari Ram Ram Hari Hari. One becomes completely free from fear because one develops full consciousness. Therefore it’s better to have even a moment of full consciousness which gives you. It’s better rather than living in the dark your whole life, even one time, to see the world with his son on, rather than being blind the whole life, it’s better to even one moment be able to see. Then you know what things are. So therefore we’re going around trying to give even people just a glimpse of the truth, even a moment of spiritual happiness. Then they can see, oh, what am I missing?

And then at least they can mold their life so that their life gradually goes towards that goal, towards real success. Otherwise, the way the modern world is going, they will again take birth in animal kingdom and lose this chance to get out of material repetition of birth and death. So this is the special mercy of Caitanya Mah Prabhu that he has given this chanting for everyone to awaken themselves. And this was brought by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda throughout the whole world, just so that we can get this opportunity. Now it’s been brought here to Thailand from the whole world and come back again to the east just so that the people can get the opportunity to become fully happy and satisfied in their life. So this present day in the world is a very bad time. Many people are suffering various difficulties at the present time.

You know that when people do match pop, then the karma results are bad. And when people do Mach Punya then the results are good. I don’t have to tell you today what type of activities people are doing. Therefore the flow of the current is going down but that is where this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is a very special grace. Dangani important because the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa that creates a vibration which is always flowing up. I live on the bank of the sacred Ganges india. There the river is flowing to the sea. But sometimes, by nature’s arrangement, there is a formation in the water where a whirlpool forms and the water is flowing alongside the river opposite to the stream going up. I can show you if you can it.

(Side B of the Cassette)

Sa say that river is going around the corner. So then it creates a circular motion. So what happens is that creates like a vacuum which causes the water to go alongside the shore up. So this we find in nature that sometimes for a short distance, water is going up against the stream. But so even in nature you can find it sometimes. But this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa that is also. It’s a separate stream which is always going to the high level of pure truth. Highest level of pure truth. It is going to nirvana, going to the purest region. So it says in the book about Kṛṣṇa called Bhāgavatam that three kind of people can worship Kṛṣṇa and can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Gītā Singh Namib. This process is known as Bhakti Yoga. The yoga one kind of person is known as Okam.

Another type is known as Sarvakam. Third type is known as Mokshakam. Moksha Kam Sarvokam means someone who has got all desires. If somebody has all kinds of desires, all possible desires, then he cannot practice this. Then if a person has got desire to end all desires and to achieve moksha or liberation, he can also worship and chant this. And someone who has got no desire at all, one way or the other, who has got no desire, who is simply doing because he loves Kṛṣṇa, he can also do this. So Kṛṣṇa means the all attractive Kṛṣṇa Mahkava and the reservoir of all good fortune, of all happiness. So we hope that those who chant they will be. We know that those who chant they will be able to experience this highest of fortune and be able to attract even things are going bad.

They will be able to go on the higher stream which goes above the evil. This depends on how purely one is chanting, how regularly and unbroken one is keeping the link. So since it’s late today, we’d like to have your question that will this world be cleansed by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? If you have enough people chanting, then it will be cleansed. But each person should worry to first cleanse oneself and those nearby. Unless one first becomes clean, then how we can clean others? Just like when we go out in the street and we get our clothes dirty. We wash the clothes or we buy a new set from Hare Kṛṣṇa International. But when we are going in the world by talking, by living, our consciousness also becomes dirty. It becomes just filled with dust like that. So what do we do to cleanse the consciousness?

For our clothes we use soap. For this consciousness, we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and we eat Kṛṣṇa Prasad. This chanting and dancing like that is like a bathing of the consciousness. The more that we allow ourselves to float in the vibration like a person swimming in water. The more that we become cleansed, as the vibration increases and increases, then more people can float. Just as were able to float nearly one room, some of them went in the water and some were just floating. Those who were deep inside the water, they got more results. And those who are floating on the top, they got less. But also they were moved around. So we have seen in Calcutta this last June, when I went from here, we had over 2 million people floating in this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. 2 million. They declared it a state holiday.

And we had a procession for 10km. And all the streets were filled with people in this procession. This is called Rathayatra, the festival of chariots. So by having big festivals and giving out big feasts to all the people and big chanting, then more and more people can be cleansed. But those who run away and hide and hold with their fingers in their ear, then what can we do? Is that all right? Yeah. You will come one time to our festival india? Not yet, no. will you in the future, will you come? You’re going to Japan? I went to Japan, but so it’s very short one time for the festival. Yeah, but this after, I think. Yeah, for one week or three days. I have to ask if the allowance. Nice to see if she has the allowance.

No, she means that I told her I am going to India only if I stay. So you have to sacrifice one time. Okay, I say goodbye. I was just on a tour. I went to France. They had a big festival there with over 25,000 people. With four big tents. Lami. Then I went to Sweden, where we have a very big farm there. We have. The government lets use the three main radio stations. Each station 1 hour per day. Total of 3 hours per day, 24 hours a week. Thay spoke over the one station and gave a class over the air. Hi. We also have our own radio stations in France and Italy. We have total 10 radio stations. They go each station 24 hours. Those are our own. The name of the station is Radio Kṛṣṇa Central Plan.

Because Sunklan the laws are different in spirit. France and Italy there you can own your own station. In Sweden, as socialist, the government owns the station here. Whether it’s a private station or government station. All government. Only TV is personal. Then. Then from there I went to London. They had this year six festivals of the chariots. Big procession. We also had a big procession. I went to Washington D.C. the capital of America. There around the up to the Capitol building. We had this procession and then I went to the palace of Gold. Prabhupāda has started a community called New Vrindavan in America. You may have seen that movie. If you haven’t, then we can show you in the future, tomorrow or next day. There. Vrindavan india is the place where Kṛṣṇa played as a boy.

Where he lifted up a big hill with his little finger at seven years old. And he did many wonderful things. So there they have built a temple for Prabhupāda one hill. And that temple has over 1/2 a ton of gold which was donated by devotees from all over the world. And it was made not by any hired laborers, but only by the devotees with their own hands. It took nine years. Now this last year over 400,000 people visited there. So they invited me to come there and to give a lecture to the big gathering this way. I visited Canada also Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, South America. When I arrived in Peru, the television met me at the airport to take my interview which was broadcasted to the whole nation. Sing Die. Then the governor of the province officially welcomed me to the state.

And when my car went from the airport, they put the Peru and Indian flag on the car. And two motorcycle police with sirens cleared the road before. They say we never asked them. They did this on their own in these countries. They don’t know about reincarnation, they don’t know about karma. They don’t know anything about karma. The Eastern ideas. I told them how the teachings of Buddha, the teachings of Kṛṣṇa, how they have the answer for the troubles of the world today. And people were very interested to know more and more like that. Then after South America, then I came and we had also some program in the park in Japan, but. But our center is very new in Japan. But even then so many Japanese were coming that there was no room to put them.

The place was still packed and they are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting great happiness. What’s wonderful to see is that people all over the world, from all cultures, by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa become happy Kṛṣṇa. This shows that Hare Kṛṣṇa is universal.