19870808 Bhagavad-gītā 17.7-10 Bhaktivedanta Culture Center

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on August 8^th, 1987 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The class begins from a reading from the Bhagavad-gītā (17.7-10).

Text 17.7

āhāras tv api sarvasya
tri-vidho bhavati priyaḥ
yajñas tapas tathā dānaṁ
teṣāṁ bhedam imaṁ śṛṇu

Translation: Even the food each person prefers is of three kinds, according to the three modes of material nature. The same is true of sacrifices, austerities, and charity. Now hear of the distinctions between them.

Text 17.8

āyuḥ-sattva-balārogya-
sukha-prīti-vivardhanāḥ
rasyāḥ snigdhāḥ sthirā hṛdyā
āhārāḥ sāttvika-priyāḥ

Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.

Text 17.9

kaṭv-amla-lavaṇāty-uṣṇa-
tīkṣṇa-rūkṣa-vidāhinaḥ
āhārā rājasasyeṣṭā
duḥkha-śokāmaya-pradāḥ

Foods that are too bitter, too sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry and burning are dear to those in the mode of passion. Such foods cause distress, misery and disease.

Text 17.10

yāta-yāmaṁ gata-rasaṁ
pūti paryuṣitaṁ ca yat
ucchiṣṭam api cāmedhyaṁ
bhojanaṁ tāmasa-priyam

Food prepared more than three hours before being eaten, food that is tasteless, decomposed, and putrid, (putrid means rotten) and food consisting of remnants and untouchable things is dear to those in the mode of darkness.

Purport (by His Divine Grace Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda): The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities selected those foods that best aid health and increase life’s duration, such as milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very dear to those in the mode of goodness. Some other foods, such as baked corn and molasses, while not very palatable in themselves, can be made pleasant when mixed with milk or other foods. They are then in the mode of goodness. All these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things like meat and liquor. Fatty foods, as mentioned in the eighth verse, have no connection with animal fat obtained by slaughter. Animal fat is available in the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter, cheese and similar products give animal fat in a form which rules out any need for the killing of innocent creatures. It is only through brute mentality that this killing goes on. The civilized method of obtaining needed fat is by milk. Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split peas, dāl, whole wheat, etc.

Foods in the mode of passion, which are bitter, too salty, or too hot or overly mixed with red pepper, cause misery by reducing the mucus in the stomach, leading to disease. Foods in the mode of ignorance or darkness are essentially those that are not fresh. Any food cooked more than three hours before it is eaten (except prasādam, food offered to the Lord) is considered to be in the mode of darkness. Because they are decomposing, such foods give a bad odor, which often attracts people in this mode but repulses those in the mode of goodness. Remnants of food may be eaten only when they are part of a meal that was first offered to the Supreme Lord or first eaten by saintly persons, especially the spiritual master. Otherwise the remnants of food are considered to be in the mode of darkness, and they increase infection or disease. Such foodstuffs, although very palatable to persons in the mode of darkness, are neither liked nor even touched by those in the mode of goodness. The best food is the remnants of what is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gītā the Supreme Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour and milk when offered with devotion. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. Of course, devotion and love are the chief things which the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts. But it is also mentioned that the prasādam should be prepared in a particular way. Any food prepared by the injunctions of the scripture and offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead can be taken even if prepared long, long ago, because such food is transcendental. Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable and palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation of Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, chapter 17, verses 7, 8, 9 and 10 with purport, in the matter of ‘The Divisions of Faith’.

Oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: In this 17th chapter, the divisions of faith, the divisions of the three modes of material nature are given. Kṛṣṇa is totally neutral. He’s allowing the conditioned souls in the material world to do as they please, within their natural limitations. He’s explaining, however, the different varieties of action, the different varieties of charity, the different varieties of austerity, the different varieties of food. If we eat in one way, we’ll get one result. If we eat in another way, we get another result. Even in the West there was one famous book ‘You are what you eat’. Of course, that’s very much in the bodily concept. But certainly, the body is simply comprised of what we feed it with. If someone feeds the body with food in the mode of ignorance, that is going to produce a sluggish mind, an ignorant mind, a mind filled with anger and averse to austerity and spiritual activities. Food in the mode of passion is going to create activity, disease, other extreme situations. Food in the mode of goodness, as explained here, produces long life, pure brain, good thoughts, healthy body, produces a very healthy environment for practicing material and spiritual life.

Today in the modern world, we are in the scientific age. Science has contributed many useful features to our daily life. Science is basically trying to find out the truth. Of course, we have a few bones to pick, or we have a few complaints to make, in regard to areas beyond science’s purview. For instance, science claims that matter or life is produced from chemicals or matter. Some scientists claim this. However, this is incorrect. There’s no proof of it, it is totally dogmatic to state that. There is no scientific evidence whatsoever that matter is the source of life. Rather the Vedas say that consciousness, or life itself, is the source of life. In this way science sometimes over steps its own purview, and when they do this, we have to challenge them and state that, “You are bluffing, this is not correct.” But there are other areas where science is within its purview. Technology, certain aspects of medicine, science has got some scope to deal with. So, in that sphere, now the scientists… they are seeing that if someone smokes cigarettes, this causes cancer. If someone is taking various types of very harsh drugs, this also causes various health problems. If someone eats too much meat, this causes cancer and other infirmities. So as a result, now in the western world, it’s very common that people will take vegetarian food, not for religious reasons but out of pure scientific reasons, that it gives a longer life, it’s proven to reduce disease and it has less cancer, less heart disease, less so many different problems by taking vegetarian food. That’s why today there are millions of people in the Western world who are taking vegetarian food, food which would basically fall here under the mode of goodness. Because science has proven to that this is the best diet. But the Vedas, written 5000 years ago, don’t have to rely on scientific investigation. That has already been investigated and is being explained by Kṛṣṇa. If you investigate these different types of diet, what is the result? Certainly you will be able to come to the same conclusion that Kṛṣṇa has come to. That is what modern science has come to. Eat too much meat, too much food in the mode of ignorance, you get disease. You eat healthy diet, you get good health. You eat vegetarian juicy foods, vegetables, ghee, milk, you get very good health. This is what modern dieticians are saying, especially even the Department of Agriculture in United States, has recently declared that different types of meat, like chicken, has been contaminated by various bacteria known as salmonella, which is causing epidemic sickness and many deaths even in North America. So they are sending all those contaminated chickens over to the Asian countries, where the Asians like to eat McDonald chicken burgers and other type of chicken. I wonder whether the government is testing that chicken for the salmonella contamination (laughing). But factories… they are, that even in the Western countries they are feeding so much antibiotics to the animals that they slaughter. That the people by eating that meat they’re getting other diseases from excessive antibiotics in the meat, which are not included here in the Bhagavad-gītā. There’s a further pollution.

So the actual process of preparing prasādam: we take the raw materials rice, water or flour, making dosās, idlīs, capātīs, paroṭṭās, purīs, other types of preparations… fruits, vegetables, these are very natural. Everyone knows what are the ingredients going in, it’s actually more inexpensive. Of course, it takes a little bit of time to prepare. But as long as you are in the material body, one of the more important aspects of life is good health, and good health comes from good food. So part of this culture, of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, is based on having good prasādam. Offering to Kṛṣṇa the very nice offerings of foodstuff, and then accepting the prasādam. This is not only a mere health aspect but it is a cultural demonstration. When there’s a big feast, varieties of offerings for the Lord are prepared. In fact, Caitanya-caritāmṛta has given very elaborate descriptions of different types of feasts which are offered to Kṛṣṇa. I mean Lord Caitanya would see this elaborate offering of prasādam foodstuff to Lord Kṛṣṇa. He would become overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa and say, “Oh! This was all done in devotion.” Because the process of making prasādam is no one will eat the food before it is offered to God, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After being offered, then everyone accepts. So in this way, you can say this is actually a cultural aspect of the Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement. The whole catering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There’s one festival known as the cīḍa-dadhī-mahotsava, where one great Vaiṣṇava, Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī; in his gṛhastha life, he was the son of a very rich landlord or zamindar. His father and uncle were so rich that they would pay yearly taxes to the government of one million two hundred thousand gold coins! And those coins in India used to weigh one tola, or 11 grams. So 11 grams is about two and half, about 40% of an ounce. Now today an ounce of gold is worth $450 more or less. That means a tola is worth, more or less, about say roughly $200. So this their taxes annually were something like two hundred and forty million USD or about 800 million ringgit. That was the tax they would pay every year. You can imagine what their personal wealth was, by today’s standard. And that was that time gold was more valuable. So Raghunātha, he had everything. He had everything he wanted in life, but he wanted to join Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement. So he kept running away from his house but his father had a whole army. So he’d send the army out and capture him, tie him up with ropes, drag him back. “So why you are running away?” He is already middle aged, he had a wife, he had a children, but he wanted to join Caitanya Mahāprabhu completely. So again and again he’d run away, again he’ll be captured and brought back, tied up, kept in prison. Finally Lord Caitanya came. He went to Lord Caitanya, he pleaded, “Lord Caitanya, I want to join you!”

Lord Caitanya said, “Why are you doing all these things? You can practice in your home. Just like if a wife has got some paramour, some lover other than the husband, then she’s more careful to do her household work, everything, not to be detected by the husband. But her mind is always with the lover. It’s extraordinary type of situation. (laughter) Like that, you do your material activities very efficiently, very dedicatedly externally, but you always keep your mind with Kṛṣṇa. In this way, you go on. You can practice in your home.”

So Raghunātha Dāsa, in this way he was turned back by the Lord Caitanya. Again he went back to his house. So he tried to follow that. He starts to do his material duties very nicely, although he was always thinking about Kṛṣṇa, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then his mother, and father, and uncle became very happy. Now our son is normal again. Now he’s good boy. (laughter) He’s doing his business. But sometime someone gets this very strong desire to serve Kṛṣṇa. Although generally Lord Caitanya always told to people, “You just remain in your house and you serve.” It was only in very rare cases where people had a very strong desire for vairāgya that he would allow them to renounce. And once they renounced, Lord Caitanya was very strict that they should fulfil all the duties of renounced life. But basically, most of Lord Caitanya’s devotees were not in the renounced order. They were the married devotees. But in their married life, they were very dedicated to the saṅkīrtana movement and chanting. Raghunātha Dāsa, while he was performing this type of pastime, his uncle and father went out somewhere on a journey. So he was left in charge of the entire area on their behalf. This time the government of Bengal was under the Muslim emperor Hussain Shah, Mughal Empire. And he was like a small king or a great landlord. So, one chaudhuri, one Mohammedan tax collector came to just see what was going on. So he calculated that at that time they had reduced their taxes to eight hundred thousand. And he calculated and he said, “They should be paying one million two hundred thousand! Four hundred thousand they are stealing by not paying income tax properly.” Still it’s going on, then going, now same thing. (laughter) So then he was going to arrest Raghunātha Dāsa. But then Raghunātha Dāsa told him that, “Actually you are a very pious person, very religious minded.” So in this way they worked out something, they actually want to see for your welfare and our welfare. So through various means they convinced him to accept something, and everything worked out. Same tradition is there. (laughter) In this way he saw that he was very expert in dealing with different matters. And but he is going on, but still his heart was always with Lord Caitanya. He was going through all these things externally, but internally he is feeling great separation to join and be with Lord Caitanya while He was on earth, this planet.

So, one time he went to see Lord Nityānanda, when he heard he was in Pānihāṭi. And there he went with his associates, with his employees and guards, attendants. He went to see Lord Nityānanda. There he saw at a distance, Lord Nityānanda was sitting underneath the banyan tree by side of the sacred Ganges river. Lord Nityānanda is the first associate of Lord Caitanya. He’s considered as non-different from Lord Balarāma. Just as there is Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, there’s Caitanya and Nitāi, Nityānanda. Kṛṣṇa has come as a devotee to preach His bhakti. He’s associated or helped by Balarāma, who has also come as a devotee in the form of Nityānanda. So when Raghunātha Dāsa saw Lord Nityānanda seated under the banyan tree surrounded by the various associates, he immediately fell down and offered his obeisances. Nityānanda could see someone was bowing down. He said, “Who is that?”

Some associates said, “Oh that is Raghunātha Dāsa.”

Nitāi clearly knew. “Oh Raghunātha! Aha! So you come here like a thief!? Like a thief you come! All these times you are avoiding, now you are coming here like a thief. So I’m going to punish you. I’m going to punish you for your offences.”

Raghunātha Dāsa said, “Whatever punishment you give, I will accept.”

He said, “I punish you; you have to feed all my associates. But you feed them a good feast of flattened rice - cīḍā, dadhī, fruits, condensed milk, here under the tree. Just as Kṛṣṇa would take picnic in the forest. So I’m a cowherd boy, I would like to take picnic here under the tree. This is my punishment you have to feed everyone.”

So he was very happy to get that punishment. So immediately he send his servants to go out and gather all the necessary ingredients. So different servants went out to buy flattened rice, mangoes, bananas, lychees, (laughter)  jackfruit, cīnī-cāpā - small very sweet bananas, then jāmruls, black jām, different type of all the tropical fruits. And fortunately, in India they don’t have rambutan or durian or mangosteen. Mangosteen they have in Bangalore and Mysore. So all the tropical fruits they went and got. Then huge quantities of yogurt, then kṣīra - condensed milk. Everything was gathered. Seven big jālas. Jālas are big clay pots. Sometime I’ve seen… up to two meters height they make these, to store rice. But these were not so big. These were about one and half meters height, very big size for mixing big quantities of this preparation. So then the Ganges water was used to wash the rice and everything was put in these big clay pots and a big mix was made. Meanwhile, from a nearby temple, Rāghava Paṇḍita came to invite Nityānanda back for lunch. They prepared the whole feast, the rice, the dal, the vegetables, the fries, everything. Nityānanda said “No, you  can eat that. I’m taking here today picnic. I’ll go there in the night and I’ll take some of this salty food. For now, I’m gonna take here. You sit down also, you take with me.” In this way, as Raghunātha Dāsa was purchasing all the goods through his servants, the word spread, there’s going to be a big feast, a picnic feast. And all the people start to come. You see there’s a special word in Sanskrit called mahotsava - festival. And when normally the Hindu devotees hear the word mahotsava, they run. Something not to miss! (laughter). Especially there, all the devotees, as soon as they heard there’s going to be a big prasādam feast, holy food, they all started coming. Dropping whatever they’re doing, going. Not to miss this one. So more and more people started to come so he has to send the servants to buy more. So then they’re bringing in whole bullock cart loads of yogurt and fruits, washing and cutting and putting inside and making, mixing. Then everyone was given two pots. One pot of yogurt and fruits and chipped rice… in Tamil what do you call cīḍā?

Devotee: Aval.

Jayapatākā Swami: Aval! (laughter) So aval and condensed milk, and mangoes and bananas in the other pot. So there are two pots. First Kṛṣṇa was offered. After offering to Kṛṣṇa, then Nityānanda and all his associates who are sitting under the tree on a raised platform, they were given. Then all the people were given. In this way lines and lines of people were all given two pots each and they start to take prasādam. So many people were coming that the whole field filled up with thousands and thousands of people. Finally, there was no more room in the field, people started standing on the side. There’s no room on the side, they started standing by the bank of the river. Finally there was no room there, they started taking prasādam standing waist deep in the water of the river. So many people, hundreds of thousands of people gathered. Even those who came to sell their yogurt, sell their aval, they stayed and also took the feast. In this way everyone started to chant, “Haribol! Haribol! Hare Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa!” Everyone was remembered how Kṛṣṇa used to go in the forest of Vṛndāvana with the cowherd boys, with the cows and the calves. And there He would sit with His friends and they would take picnic. You see, this type of pastime was going on.  

Kṛṣṇa would go, He would bring very nice laḍḍūs from mother Yaśodā. But some of the other cowherd boys, they would have some capāti or some other type of preparation. So Kṛṣṇa would give them a laḍḍū and take their prasādam. The someone would say, “Kṛṣṇa I want to put a laḍḍū in your mouth, open your mouth. Kṛṣṇa close your eyes, open your mouth for a big surprise (laughter).” Then they put a flower in His mouth (laughter).

Then Kṛṣṇa went…. “What…!!!”

Like this they are all playing. Of course, that time the demons would watch, “Who is this? Some boys. Kaṁsa has said me to kill this Kṛṣṇa, this Kṛṣṇa is just an ordinary boy. I'll make mincemeat of Kṛṣṇa! (laughter).” You see, then they attack Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa makes mincemeat of them (laughter). Because He’s not ordinary boy, He’s Kṛṣṇa, He’s the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But just as He showed Arjuna the Viśvarūpa on the battlefield, how the whole universe is simply different parts of His body, His universal form. He showed His Nārāyaṇa form, how He’s the Supersoul in everyone’s heart. He’s the Mahā-Viṣṇu who creates the entire material universes. He’s the original Nārāyaṇa living in Vaikuṇṭha. He’s the same Kṛṣṇa who is standing on the battlefield of Kurukṣetra speaking this Bhagavad-gītā, who is playing in the forest of Vṛndāvana like a little cowherd boy with His friends, having jokes and fun. And everyone likes a joke, likes fun in this world, right? Because we are all parts of God. We are all parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Because we are the parts of the Supreme, whatever we have, we can analyse ourself, that same feature must be there in the Supreme. But in us that may also become somewhat distorted, but in Him it will be in the purest state, transcendental feature. So what pastime Kṛṣṇa was performing in Vṛndāvana, the same pastimes, in different ways, Caitanya and Nityānanda performed here, only 500 years ago, in India. So we are very fortunate. 500 years is hardly anything. Not very long ago, just a very short time ago all these pastimes are going on. The Lord has come again and revealed the yuga-dharma, the specific sacrifice for the age. Every age, according to the Vedas, has appropriate means for achieving self-realization, God realization. Just as there are different means of transportation suitable for the time. Now it’s the jet age. Before was may be the aeroplane age. Before that was the Ford-car age. Before that was the horse age. Different age. Now we are in the jet age, so everyone is flying by jet. So Prabhupāda flew by jet and spread the Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement around the world. It is still being spread. But similarly, as there are different forms of transportation, there are different forms of self-realization suitable for different ages. Just as meditation was suitable in the previous age, sacrifices and homa-yajñas were suitable in that previous age. Similarly in this age there’s also a suitable process, in the jet age of the 20th century even in this present world. The suitable process is known as harināma-saṅkīrtana.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

To chant, to chant, to chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is the only way, the only way, the only way guaranteed to achieve success in this age of Kali. And that may sound somewhat dogmatic. Everyone is saying their way is the only way. But we are not saying this is the only way. Like every Hindu, or every Vedic person, everyone who believes in holy books like Vedas, they will take the words of the Vedas as evidence. Just like a lawyer takes the law book as an evidence. Veda-pramāṇa. So the Vedas are saying:

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalaṁ

Harer means Hari, the name of Hari. Harer nāma, Hari’s name. Hari’s the chanting of the Harināma, or the name of hari, chanting of the name of Hari, chanting of the name of ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’. Kevalaṁ means only. nāsty eva - no other, nāsty eva - no other, nāsty eva - no other way. Gatir anyathā - no other means in the age of Kali. Why does it mention three times? nāsty eva, nāsty eva, nāsty eva. No other way, no other way. Because normally in different yugas, there was meditation. There was the process of yoga, the process of karma and the process jñāna. So three times nāsty eva, nāsty eva, nāsty eva means, in this age not by karma, not by jñāna, not by yoga, but by Harināma. This is the means of this age. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu came only 500 years ago to give the name of Kṛṣṇa, the process of this age, and with it there is an aspect of the Vedic culture. When you have big groups of people gathering together to chant, and dance, and sing Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Verified By Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa 19-12-2024 in Māyāpur