19920110 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.10.40-57

(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 January 10, 1992 – in Bhubaneswar, India. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.10.40-57.

It. Ram nama. Guru. Sa. Translation Many headless trunks were generated on that battlefield with weapons in their arms. Those ghostly trunks which could see with the eyes and the fallen heads attacked the enemy soldiers. Translation of repetition Many headless trunks were generated on that battlefield with weapons in their arms. Those ghostly trunks which could see with the eyes and the fallen heads attack the enemy soldiers. Attack the enemy soldiers. Report it appears that the heroes who died on the battlefield immediately became ghosts. And although their heads had been severed from their bodies, neutrons were generated, and these neutrons, seen with the eyes and the severed heads, began to attack the enemy. In other words, many ghosts were generated to join the fight, and thus neutrons appeared on the battlefield. Text 41.

Maharaj Bali then attacked Indra with 10 arrows and attacked Ayuravata, Indra’s carrier elephant, with three arrows. With four arrows he attacked the four horsemen guarding Ayuravatha’s legs. And with one arrow he attacked the driver of the elephant Purport. The word vahan refers to the soldiers on horseback who protected the legs of the carrier elephants. According to the system of military arrangement, the legs of the elephant bearing the commander were also protected. Before Bali Maharaj’s arrows could reach him, Indra, King of Heaven, who was expert in dealing with arrows, smiled and counteracted the arrows with arrows of another type known as bhala, which were extremely sharp. Tasya, karmotta, manvikshya, durmasha, satastang. When Bali Maharaj saw the expert military activities of Indra, he could not restrain his anger. Thus he took up another weapon known as Śakti, which blazed like a great firebrand.

But Indra cut that weapon to pieces while it was still in Mali’s hand. Thereafter, one by one, Bali Maharaj used their lance, prasa, komara, rishtis and other weapons. But whatever weapons he took up, Indra immediately cut them to pieces. My dear king. Bali Maharaj then disappeared and resorted to demoniac illusions. A giant mountain generated from illusion that appeared above the heads of the demigod soldiers. From that mountain fell trees blazing in a forest fire. Chips of stone with sharp edges like picks also fell and smashed the heads of the demigod soldiers. Scorpions, large snakes and many other poisonous animals, as well as lions, tigers, boars and great elephants, all began falling upon the demigod soldiers, crushing everything. O my king. Many hundreds of male and female carnivorous demons, completely naked and carrying tridents in their hands, then appeared carrying the slogans.

Cut them to pieces. Pierce them. Fierce Clouds harassed by strong winds then appeared in the sky, rumbling very gravely with the sound of thunder, they began to shower live coals. A great devastating fire created by Bali Maharaj began burning all the soldiers of the demigods. This fire, accompanied by blasting winds, seemed as terrible as the Sangharkada fire which appears in the time of dissolution. Prachantha vata. Thereafter, whirlpools and sea waves agītāted by fierce blasts of wind appeared everywhere before everyone’s vision in a furious flood. While this magical atmosphere, the fight was being created by the invisible demons who were expert in such illusions, the soldiers of the demigods became very morose. Satra Bhagavān Vishabhavanaha O King.

When the demigods could find no way to counteract the activities of the demons, they wholeheartedly meditated upon the supreme personality of Godhead, the creator of the universe, who then immediately appeared. The supreme personality of God in whose eyes resemble the petals of newly blossom lotus, sat on the back of Garuḍa, spreading his lotus feet over Garuḍa’s shoulders. Dressed in yellow, decorated by the costume and the Goddess of fortune wearing an invaluable helmet and earrings, the supreme Lord, holding various weapons in his eight hands became visible to the demigod. As the dangers of a dream cease when the dreamer awakens. The illusions created by the jugglery of the demons were vanquished by the transcendental prowess of the supreme personality of God as soon as he entered the battlefield.

Indeed, simply by remembrance of the supreme Personality of Godhead, one becomes free from all dangers, O King. When the demon Kalani who was carried by a lion, saw that the supreme personality of God it kept by Garuḍa was on the battlefield, the demon immediately took his trident, whirled him and discharged him at Garuḍa’s head. The supreme personality of Garib Hadi, the master of the three worlds immediately caught the trident. With the very same weapon he killed the enemy Khalimi along with his carrier the lion. In this regard, Śrīla Madhvacharya says. Kalanimi and all the other demons were killed by the supreme personality of God in Hadith. And when Sukrah Charlie are their spiritual master brought them back to life again, they were again killed by the supreme personality of Godhead.

Therefore, the two very powerful demons named Mali and Sumali were killed by the supreme Lord who severed their heads with his disk. Then Mahal Yavan, another demon, attacked the lord with his sharp club. The demon who was roaring like a lion attacked Garuḍa. The lord of the Birds who are born from eggs. But the supreme personality of Godhead, the original person used his disk to cut off the head of that enemy also. Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports of the 8th Canto 10th chapter of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam entitled the battle between the Demigods and the Demons. Thus I am the Bhaktivedant Goswami purports of the 8th Canto 10th chapter, the Shimad Bhāgavatam entitled the battle between the Demigods and the demons spoken this 10th day of January 1992 Istabdo in the 505th year of our lordship which I turn your Mahal to go.

So this is a detailed discussion about the battle between the demigods and the demons. Give cards of english. Right. So. This is just one phase of the battle. The battle goes into other phases. Subsequently. The demigods were defeating the demons. And the demons reversed everything using their illusory capacity. Then again the demigods remembered Vishnu. By remembering Vishnu, the Lord appeared and then we saved him. Simply by remembering the lotus seed of the Lord. Everything auspicious is achieved. When we do a Yajna before we proceed, we chant a purificatory mantra. Simply by remembering Vishnu, we are purified within and without. We are purified from whether we are sinfully contaminated or not. Whatever, everything sinful is turned to a pure state. You’re completely purified simply by remembering Vishnu.

Also in the Swasti mantras in the Mangalacharan, it also mentioned that simply by remembering Kṛṣṇa or Vishnu, all obstacles are destroyed. So here the demigods, when everything else failed, then they remembered Vishnu, then they were protected. We can understand how important it is to remember Kṛṣṇa all the time. All the times of our life. The devotees are always remembering Kṛṣṇa. The pure devotees are thus getting the mercy of the Lord all the time. Here the demigods are Swakam Bhaktas. They are devotees of the Lord. But they have got some material desire. So when there is a danger, now they are remembering Vishnu. Not that they are always remembering Vishnu. So when they remember Vishnu, then they got remembered mercy.

So the Privya Sacharyas advise us that by being a pure devotee, by simply being surrendered to pleasing Kṛṣṇa at all times, we can get the mercy of the Lord all of the time. Those who only pray to the Lord when they’re in danger, when they’re in need, they get the mercy only at that time. So they’re only partial recipients of the Lord’s mercy. So this has been understood by some of the devas. So it explains in the Bhakti in the Chaitanya Bhagavad that one time when Lord Chaitanya was in the womb of Mother Sachi, different devas came to see Lord Chaitan and prayed to the Lord invisibly. I mean, Mother Satshi couldn’t see them. Sometimes she would think she saw someone but she wasn’t sure. So that time the devas prayed that we are your devotees. Having come from the spirit, the heavenly planets.

We have come here knowing that you are the most merciful of all the incarnations of God. Here you have come into this material world in order to give the special gift which was never given before. So freely, that is a pure love of Kṛṣṇa. When Vishnu kills the demons, they get liberation. When Vishnu and your different avatars gives his blessing, he can give liberation. But except for Kṛṣṇa, nobody was giving pure love of Kṛṣṇa. And even Kṛṣṇa only gave the pure love to someone who was completely surrendered. So it’s very hard to get pure love of Kṛṣṇa. But we understand that my Lord, you and this incarnation will be giving out pure love of Kṛṣṇa freely to the conditioned souls. So we are praying to you that we are your devotees in the heavenly planets. We want to get your mercy.

We don’t want to be left out from this very benediction. We don’t want to ask you for anything material by your mercy. Already we have got so much material facility. In fact, in the heavenly planet there’s every facility for material enjoyment. There’s really no problem. The only two problems we face are, number one, that sometimes we’re attacked by the demons. So we had to be a little bit wary or fearful that at any time the demons could attack us to try to take over the heavenly planets. This is our first problem. But this rarely happens. But still we have to be prepared for that event. The second problem is that we are getting so much sense gratification that practically speaking we forget to engage in your devotional service purely.

And thus we get cheated from that nectar of pure love of Kṛṣṇa by tasting this material happiness. So this is the greatest suffering of all. To have to enjoy material happiness and to be deprived of pure love of Kṛṣṇa. So we are begging you to please bless us that we can be saved from this distraction and in this pastime of yours be blessed so we can get to love of Kṛṣṇa without fail. So that’s the very picture we see here. The demigods, the devas, they’re not facing many problems in life. There’s no hard struggle for existence. But still there is the danger of being attacked by the demons. And when that happens, the demons put up.

(Side B of the Cassette)

And put the demigods into very fearful position. When they are fearful, then they are remembering Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, demigods, in their very comfortable arrangement in this heavenly kingdom, they may often forget Kṛṣṇa. There’s a difference between the demigods and the pure devotees. Pure devotees are like bhakti. Vinod Thakur has stated. That whether we are in danger or whether we are in happiness, whether we are in a very healthy condition or whether we are in great danger for our life, whatever our position, we are simply offering ourselves at your lotus feet, our pilotua for. So. The tear devotee, whether he is in happiness, he remembers Kṛṣṇa. Whether he is in material sadness, he remembers Kṛṣṇa all the time. But the devas, they get distracted by their sense gratification. Thus they forget to remember the Lord due to this sense gratification.

But when these demons are attacking him, it’s all completely hopeless. They are basically devotees. So at that time they remember the Lord and the Lord reciprocates with them and appears. The Lord promises in the dita he will reciprocate with the devotion of his devotees, the pure devotees, always remembering the Lord. So the Lord is always taking care of his pure devotee. The demigods are not always remembering the Lord. So when they’re not, when they are remembering, then he protects them. When they weren’t remembering him, when they thought we can take care of these demons, they just fought. So then Kṛṣṇa let things happen according to the natural material abilities. But when the things became very critical, the demigods were forced to remember Kṛṣṇa. Then Kṛṣṇa came in his form as Vishnu and protected them.

So of course the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is not trying to create demigods, but trying to create pure devotees. Prabhupda wanted that we should not do any sin, we should not do any punya. We should simply do pure devotional service to the Lord. There are four kinds of people mentioned in the Bhagavad Gītā who come to Kṛṣṇa. Those who are in want of something material, those who are in distress, those who are inquisitive and those who are having knowledge. So the first two categories, those in distress are those wanting some economical blessings. They generally come only when there is some need. After that they tend to forget the Lord. If someone comes who is inquisitive, there’s a greater chance that he may stick once he realizes the Lord. And for those who are in knowledge, they’re the most dear.

If they come to the conclusion at Vaasudeva Sarvamiti that the Lord Kṛṣṇa is everything, he’s the total of all existence. He’s the supreme absolute Truth. So he becomes the Samahatma Sutra, Guru Ram. A very rare special devotee of the Lord. A great soul Mahatma. Rare Mahatma, not ordinary Mahatma. Even when Vishnu appears, the demigods are offering all respect. But the demons become envious and against the Lord. And they attacked the supreme Lord. So because they were attacking the supreme Lord so the Lord reciprocated with them and he attacked them. The difference of course is that the Lord killed them. They couldn’t kill the Lord which the Lord can never die. So the demons don’t accept the eternal nature of Kṛṣṇa. The demigods do.

But sometimes we see in the Bhāgavatam that when the demons are attacking Kṛṣṇa in his different avatars, sometimes Kṛṣṇa puts up a fight and leaves there be a little doubt at some point in time. At that time the demigods start to themselves doubt. What’s going to happen? Oh no. Why doesn’t he just finish the demon? Oh no. This demon is so powerful. He defeated us. Don’t tell us that he’s going to also defeat Vishnu. They may have this weakness in heart. Some fear may come. When Baraha was fighting with Hira and Yaksha, they were having a big club fight. And then at one point, the club of Baraha, they fell from his hand and started spinning in the air. Down. And Baraha was apparently weaponless. But Hiranyaksha, he observed the rules of chivalry and didn’t attack him. He said, take off your next weapon.

I won’t attack an unarmed person. So then Braha took up his next weapon. Meanwhile, the demigods were praying. Please finish him off. Don’t play like this. It gives us too much anxiety. You have the power to finish him off. Just do it right away, while the time’s right. They’re getting a little nervous. So just like a cat sometime plays with the mouse. Sometimes the Lord lets the demon feel a little exhilaration. Puts on a show of a big fight. Sometimes allows himself to be temporarily defeated. Just like Kṛṣṇa, he allowed himself to be entangled in Kaliyah serpent for a moment. And then all the Vajravasis fainted. They thought, oh no, Kṛṣṇa is finished. Then all of a sudden, Kṛṣṇa broke loose and he finished off Kaliya until Kalia surrendered. Of course Kaliya surrendered. So he didn’t need to be killed.

The Lord will protect the person. And they surrendered to him or to his devotee. The Mayasura demon was creating a big problem. So the Sudarshan Cakra went to defeat the Myasur Asura. But then Myasura went and surrendered at the lotus feet of Arjuna. So Kṛṣṇa became very pleased because he surrendered at the feet of his devotee. So then he withdrew the Sudarshan Chakra. And then Mahasura gave his blessing to Arjuna. First of all he wanted to offer him the benediction of Yantra Vijayana Yantra Vigna means technology, the science of machines. But Kṛṣṇa said, no, we don’t want that. It’s Dwarfara Yuga that will come in Kali Yuga. This Yantavik Gyan will complicate things like anything and make a mess of the whole world. So we don’t want that now in Kara Yuga. Keep it simple.

And therefore they took another benediction instead, a service offered by Mayasur. So although we think that these machines are a blessing, they also have very big complications. As we can see, you have the vehicles to move the things around. But Prabhupāda mentioned like in the west, because people can drive easily a long distance. So then what happens is people tend to live far apart. So the instead of working near to your house, you drive a long distance, sometimes to go to work or you drive 50 or 60 miles just to visit a friend or relative. In this way a person has to move over greater distances, that high speed with various risks because of the so called advantage of having the automobile. Where before when people lived in one village and they didn’t have automobiles, so they lived in their local area.

In fact, in Māyāpur I met some villagers. They never left the village in their whole life. They said once in their life they said they went to Kṛṣṇa, the big district town. It was the biggest thing. And I remember that they were talking and another person said no. I went once to Calcutta 10 years ago, but after I went there I never wanted to go again. It was too hellish. They said, what did you see? He said, I saw a most sinful thing. I went to a public park. These are two Muslims speaking and I was just learning Bengali. This was about 15, 20 years ago when I was just there. I was listening to them talk amongst themselves while were waiting at the irrigation well to get irrigation for our rice field in Māyāpur. So that one man said yes.

I saw a man and woman sitting together in a public park bench. They said, no. I said, yes. Not only that, a man put his head in a woman’s lap. Oh no. Ugh. Allah Akbar. Horrible, horrible. How sinful. Oh, I never want to go to Calcutta and see Such sinful things, at least here in the village we follow the rules and regulations of. Actually still india and the villages there’s certain degree of purity was being maintained. Of course Kali is trying to attack that also. But to some degree that simplicity you find in the villagers where they avoided many kinds of sinful activities. So in the previous Yugas, people didn’t travel so much. In fact, it was considered a bad karma. If you were forced to leave your family and go far away to work. That would be considered like a curse or something.

But now it’s very common that husband and wife will be separated. They have to live far apart. Where previously the husband will be working, come home for lunch and go back to his do his work in the field or work in his local business or whatever. Till this live nearby. So our so called advancement has affected family life, affected the moral stature, affected so many things. So Kṛṣṇa, he said, I don’t want this technology now. Leave it simple. That will come in the Kali Yuga. So although we think that we are very fortunate now in Kali Yuga we have all these machines, especially when trying to give the class here. And the trucks are coming by on the highway, create a lot of noise. In many ways our life has become unnecessarily complicated.

And this in turn has created various types of sufferings and anxieties. So although they didn’t have in the previous Yuga so many machines, the demons, they were always into these machines. But these machines are therefore not really a godly thing. But nevertheless we use them since they are being used now by this demonic civilization. But they are also available to be used by the Kṛṣṇa devotees. So Prabhupāda said that he also used them for flying around in the airplanes, for broadcasting the message through the radio or television, or through the amplifier system. We utilize these modern things for Kṛṣṇa service. That was the breakthrough by Śrīla Bhakti, Siddhānta, Saraswati Thakur. Before that, the Sadhus thought use any of these things would not be appropriate. But he said that since they are being used by Māyā, so we had to counter also.

So let us also use them for Kṛṣṇa. We can see here that the demons, they were using various kinds of tricks. So the demons had one trick up their sleeve. The demigods would counteract him. And finally, when nothing else worked, the demigods took shelter of Kṛṣṇa. So we follow similarly in serving Kṛṣṇa. We use whatever the facilities are. And ultimately we’re always depending upon Kṛṣṇa at all the time. So we had to compete with Māyā. So Therefore, Prabhupāda said, make Kṛṣṇa conscious movies. He probably made Kṛṣṇa conscious cassettes for playing by the tape recorder. So on. He said, in Māyāpur, we’re living in the grass hut. This isn’t a mode of goodness for our personal bhajan. This is sufficient. This is appropriate. But if we stay in the grass hut, who will come? People are not interested nowadays in this type of sattvic life.

So if we build a big project, a big temple, even though that’s in a mode of passion with bricks and concrete and so many passionate things, but that will bring people that we can preach to them about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this will enable us to give them an idea about the purpose of life. So in order to preach, we also build many things which are also in the mode of passion. In Bengali, a mystery. What do you call that? The mason. A mason is called the Raj mystery also Oriya, also called Raj mystery. Raj Raj mishti. So the Raj Mishti, this that was meant that the king or those in the mode of passion, they would have the brick houses. So otherwise the Brahmanas and other people, they didn’t need brick houses. They were quite happy in the mud huts.

Yesterday were staying in a mud hut. It was a very thick wall. Although it was the winter inside, it was quite comfortable. Like just a controlled climate. It always remained at the same climate. In the hot weather, it was cool inside. In the night, when it was cold outside, we became warm because it was very well insulated. So living in a mud house is a good insulation. You live in a brick house, it becomes hot in the hot weather and cold in the cold weather. This is one of the shortcomings. So although these shortcomings are there, but people are more attracted because a lot of maintenance is required in the mud house. It seems very simple. Sometimes the lizards and little animals are living up inside the grass and the roof. So people prefer concrete houses with marble floors.

So this is more in the mode of passion. So we provide these things, Prabhupāda, sadly, otherwise people won’t come. We saw that before His Holiness Govinda Maharaj. And previously Prabhupāda was staying here in the simple Bhajan Kuti. And of course some people were coming to take Darshan. So so now there’s a big temple. So more people know about it. So it’s a facility to bring people here. In this way more guests can come. Now there are many guests we see here from foreign countries. Before Govinda Maharaj didn’t have anyone assisting from foreign countries. Prabhupāda said, you should have some always some foreign devotee to help you. This also be nice for the preaching. So now we see Kṛṣṇa is sending so many devotees now that there’s facilities here that people can stay temple.

Of course, after some time we find out that in the west, people are also getting fried with the mode of passion. And they’re looking in the Western countries for the mode of goodness. Some Italian tourists came and they saw the Gurukul in Māyāpur, and they were saying, oh, this is so wonderful. They appreciate that simple lifestyle. And many devotees are coming. In the Nav Hata program, which is now in Orissa, we have their devotees from England, from New Zealand, from Canada, from Holland, from many other countries. Italy were there. And they’re also appreciating the simple village life. They encouraged that His Holiness Gobindra Maharaj can also go and participate in their program, health permitting, starting from a few days from now. But it’d be very nice if any devotees like to join. It’s just a few hours of every night they’re doing a program.

Dhanan Jayaprabhu and many other devotees are there. But every devotee who goes is given opportunity to preach. And literally there are about 10,000, 5,000, even 15,000 people in a night, depending on the local village. Some people walk 18 miles to come to the program. So it’s an opportunity for experiencing a simple lifestyle of India still there in the interior villages, at the same time preaching to them. Prabhupāda said, in the Indians, how we preach to them, we don’t need to teach them that Kṛṣṇa is such a person, that the supreme Person. In that sense, we don’t have to just like inform them. They already know many things, but rather their faith may not always be very clear. So it’s like having coals where the ashes have started to accumulate over the coals.

So if we take the ashes off the coal, then the coal will burn very brightly. So he said, for the foreign devotees india, they can encourage the Indian devotees, Indian public, to have faith in the process of Bhakti yoga, that if it’s working even in foreign countries, why not india where the people are naturally more pious and they know Kṛṣṇa from birth, so they can actually take up the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness very seriously. The older generation still is somewhat interested in sweet spiritual life. But many times we see the young, educated youth of Orissa, Bengal, India, they tend to be looking to the west, and they think that the Western culture is more preferable to the ancient Indian culture.

So when they see that the ghot is men and women from different countries, and they explain how kish consciousness is being practiced in their countries and how people are accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, it’s very attractive for all the people, the youth, they gain a faith in their own culture that if people all over the world are accepting Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then why shouldn’t I? Then I should also accept it. Why should I imitate the Western ways of doing things? When the Westerners themselves are coming to our culture and the older people, naturally they are enthused. They Sometimes you find now india, there’s a lot of swahjiya, as Bhakti Vinod Thakur mentioned, that there’s this sentimental upper Sampradays who have introduced various type of wrong teachings. So they don’t strictly follow the four regulative principles. They don’t have any sadhana, but they simply claim to be devotees.

And they generally have some kind of concocted ideas which pollute the whole thing. So when they see devotees who are strictly following the regular principles, and when they hear the pure teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda Gītā Bhagavad Caitanya Mahāprabhu Prabhupāda senior preachers, then maybe people develop a clear conception what is actually devotional service. Otherwise, many people, they don’t understand because there’s so many different groups saying conflicting things that it becomes very confusing for them. So in this way, it’s a very important activity to go sometimes in the country and meet the simple people who are still living almost like in the Dwarpa Yuga, to some degree at least little simplified life. And to encourage them to not unnecessarily complicate their life, to base their life with Kṛṣṇa in the center, make a Kṛṣṇa saṁsāra or a family life with Kṛṣṇa in the center.

And this way they can be happy. So. This type of teaching is going on all over. Especially here in eastern India. The preachers have taken up these activities. This Mahja Gorgovinda Maharaj is preaching in various places in the villages. Subag Maharaj, occasionally Bhakti Chur Maharaj goes. Different preachers are going. Of course, I also sometimes take the blessings of being able to preach in these rural areas. In this way we. We can get a different perspective on India. In a city and India in a country is a big difference. Even how the families are still structured. They are the ladies, they respect their husbands very much. Family life is very orthodox, still falling much in line with the Vedic traditions in many of the places, especially where the people are culture.

So anyway, were just commenting yesterday how were in the village and these people were very poor, just having a mud house. But for the devotees, they had prepared a big feast with about six different kinds of pakuras and eggplant, bhajis, fries, four or five different sabji and special dal rice, chapatis. It was a huge feast. But we’re all sitting in the mud hut and they’re giving the devotees from all over the world a big feast, a feast bigger than what you can normally get. And they’re cooking all in a little mud stove with wood just from the forest. And of course, they’re all initiated devotees wearing tea lock and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So this shows that in any circumstance somebody can be Kṛṣṇa conscious.

And the hospitality, the Kṛṣṇa conscious not dependent upon a very luxurious living style that actually depends one’s consciousness being able to transcend that conditioning of the Kali Yuga. So Prabhupāda was very concerned that here the people have every facility. They can easily be Kṛṣṇa conscious, but due to false propaganda and false promises, people are being attracted to come to the cities. One day he was driving with us North Calcutta on the way to Panihati, and he said, this Bharagpur Trunk Road, this used to be all Bagan bodies or beautiful garden houses. And it was all a very nice place. But now it’s all tea stalls, tire repair shops, little kind of dirty shops. The whole thing has become a hellish Kali Yuga thing with smokestacks everywhere.

Just I don’t know if you have ever gone on that road, but it’s just really hellish kind of situation with just all these little guys smashing, beating on steel. And everyone’s black and everything’s just smoky and black. All little busty kind of shops alongside the road and behind. You can point out in the distance, see, that used to be like a big palatial building and there was a big garden there. But now all you see on the road is trucks and all these little shops. So Prabhupāda said, this is the unfortunate thing in Kali Yuga. Some villager is living very nicely in his village. He has his own little Pukur, a little lake in the West. If you have your own swimming pool, you’re considered a big rich person.

So here in the village, everybody has their own swimming pool, a little pond that they dig. They have their own mango trees, jackfruit trees, various kind of trees, flower trees. They have their own fields. So they have the facility for a simple living. But like, just like the demons and the demigods are fighting here in the Kali Yuga the demonic influence is trying to destroy everything. Satvik. So Prabhupāda was saying that they’re attracting you. Come to Calcutta and work in the factory and there you can get 800 rupees a month which is about you know, $25. So people think wow, 800 rupees here in the village I don’t get money. They don’t need money. They have all the natural things so they don’t have so much need for money.

So then they think yes, let me go in the city and get 800 rupees a month. But then they move to the city and then they leave their nice sattvic environment and they end up living in some industrial busty which is like a slum area in some little shack. And there it’s so hellish. All day long he’s working in the factory. You know sounds and the dust and smoke and this hellish thing, you know, working on some welding machine or something. This all around the sound naturally the consciousness becomes really down. So the. So then when he leaves the work right outside of the factory there’s a guy selling the country wine. And so then all right you spend a few rupees, he drinks and he gets drunk.

Then he goes a little further and there’s somebody saying you can make a quick buck, you can get rich. Let’s play a little gambling game. And he sits there and starts gambling and he loses half his money. He goes home and the wife is crying. He just lost all the money. Drinking, drinking and gambling. There’s not enough food for the children and everything. He gets more frustrated. Then the kids are running around in a slum and Prabhupāda said the whole thing degrades to just a sub human level. And then people say oh look it, India is very poverty stricken. But actually the way of life of people in the rural India was very nice. But then when they built the industries they didn’t maintain that kind of standard of housing and facility and steps brought everything down.

So Prabhupāda said we also want to teach people the nobility to be self sufficient in the village. They don’t need to come to the big cities. Even Gandhi and other political leaders in the past had that much vision that it was detrimental everybody coming to the city. But Śrīla prophet saw from a more spiritual point of view, let the people be Kṛṣṇa conscious in their village. They don’t need to come into the city simply for sense gratification. You see, sometime in Māyāpur we face a difficulty where foreigners come to live there. Then they say, well, I prefer Vrindavan. And they brought this up to Prabhupāda. To Prabhupāda. Look at. Everybody prefers the Vrindava. Vrindavan at that point in time, 1875. Then Māyāpur. They say that in Vrindavan they can easily go to Loy Bazaar and get anything they want.

But in Māyāpur they had to go all the way to Navadip. So it’s very difficult. Prabhupāda said, yes, more sense gratification. They can go easily to the shop and buy what they want. So that’s easy to gratify their senses. So that’s the facility of the city. Whatever you want, you can go and get it whatever you want it. So the senses are very active. Mind is agītāted. Always when you’re in the village, you accept what you have. You accept the simple things of life. When the mangoes come in season, you eat a mango. When the fruits are in season, you eat them in the city, you import the fruits from all over the world or all over distant places and off seasons. So like this, there’s a.