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Fest NY 1976-07-18 Ratha-yatra--The Culture of Liberty
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ANNOUNCER: Next is an address
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given by His Divine Grace
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda,
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recorded on July 18th, 1976,
at the New York Ratha-yatra.
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PRABHUPĀDA: …five thousand years ago at Kurukṣetra.
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In India there is still that place, Kurukṣetra,
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and religious men go there especially
on the occasion of solar eclipse.
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So recently there was solar eclipse.
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Still, many millions of Indian population gathered there.
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Those who have gone to India might
have seen this holy place, Kurukṣetra.
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There is a railway station also of the
name Kurukṣetra, and it is a vast field.
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The Battle of Kurukṣetra took place
also during Lord Kṛṣṇa’s time,
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and the Bhagavad-gītā is the product
in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra.
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So this ceremony…, Kṛṣṇa,
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with His elder brother Balarāma
and His younger sister Subhadrā,
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visited in this chariot at Kurukṣetra,
and we are observing this festival.
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Formerly one king of the name Indradyumna,
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he started the temple of Jagannātha in Orissa at Purī.
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Perhaps some of you who have gone
there, they know there is a very,
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very old temple, according to modern calculation,
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not less than two thousand years old.
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There is the Jagannātha Deity.
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The King was very much anxious
to establish a temple of Kṛṣṇa,
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Balarāma and Subhadrā,
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but there was a contract between
the sculptor and the King
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that the sculptor would go on working in closed door
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and the King should not disturb him.
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But when many days passed the King
felt, “What this worker is doing?”
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So he forcefully opened the door,
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and he saw that the sculptor could not finish the Deity.
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So this form of Jagannātha, Kṛṣṇa,
Balarāma and Subhadrā, was unfinished.
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They were going under construction, carving,
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but the King forcibly opened the door.
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Therefore the King said, “I shall
worship this unfinished Deity.
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Never mind.”
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So this Jagannātha you see in this form
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because King Indradyumna wanted
to worship Him in that form.
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So this is devotee’s willing.
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Kṛṣṇa accepts everyone’s devotional service
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if it is offered with love and affection.
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He says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
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Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo
me bhaktyā prayacchati [Bg. 9.26].
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Kṛṣṇa said “Anyone who offers
Me a little flower, a little water,
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a little fruit, with love and affection,
I eat them, I accept them.”
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So if something offered by you
to Kṛṣṇa is accepted by Him,
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then you should know that your life is successful.
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So there is no question of offering God
so many things very gorgeously prepared,
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but you can offer a little flower, a little fruit
and little water with love and affection.
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That means even the poorest man in the world
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can worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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There is no hindrance.
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ahaituky apratihatā [SB 1.2.6]
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Devotional service cannot be
checked by any material condition.
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If anyone wants to worship God,
he can do in any condition of life.
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There is no restriction.
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There is no restriction of cast
and creed or country or nation.
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Anyone can worship the
Supreme Personality of Godhead
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according to his means,
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and our,
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this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement
is a propagation to teach people
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how to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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This is our mission, because
without relationship with God,
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without reviving our eternal affinity with
the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
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we cannot be happy.
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The Vedic injunction is Sarve sukhino bhavantu [?].
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“Everyone become happy.”
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And we are actually struggling
for existence to become happy,
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but we do not know how to become happy.
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So this science was taught five hundred…
five thousand years ago by God Himself.
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He advented in India.
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That does not mean He advented for India’s benefit.
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He claims… Actually that is God’s claim,
that He is the father of all living entities.
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Sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya mūrtayaḥ
sambhavanti yaḥ tāsāṁ brahma
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mahad yonir aham bīja-pradaḥ pitā [Bg. 14.4].
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God is father, supreme father of everyone.
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If we simply study this verse from the Bhagavad-gītā,
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that the mother nature is the mother of all living entities
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and God is the supreme father of everyone.
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We can study these two lines very carefully.
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On the earth we can see so many
living entities are coming out,
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beginning from the grass, then so
many insects, reptiles, big trees,
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then animals, birds, beasts, then human beings.
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They are all coming from the earth, and
they are living at the expense of earth.
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The earth is supplying food to everyone.
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As the mother gives life or maintains the
child by the milk of her breast, similarly,
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the earth mother is maintaining
all different types of living entities.
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There are 8,400,000 different
forms of life, and the earth,
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mother earth is supplying food.
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There are thousands of elephants in the African jungle,
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they are also being supplied with food.
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And within your room, in a hole,
there are thousands of ants.
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They are also being supplied food
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by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
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So the philosophy is that we should not be disturbed
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by the so-called theory of over-population.
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If God can feed elephants, why he cannot feed you?
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You do not eat like the elephant.
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So this theory, that there is
shortage of food or overpopulation:
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We do not accept it.
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God is so powerful that He can feed
everyone without any difficulty.
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Simply we are mismanaging.
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Otherwise there is no difficulty.
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So under the circumstances we propose
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that every one of you become God conscious.
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The paragraph which I was
mentioning, that we see the mother,
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mother earth, and we see the
children in different forms.
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Then we must accept that there is father.
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Because without father there is no
possibility of mother begetting children.
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If you simply understand this philosophy
of father, mother and children,
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then you can very easily understand
that there is God, the supreme father.
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There is no difficulty.
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But if you do not become reasonable as human being,
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if you remain as animal like cats and dogs…
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The dogs cannot understand that
there is the supreme father, God,
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but a human being can understand.
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He has got intelligence.
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So with this advanced intelligence,
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if we do not understand about the existence of God,
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our relationship with Him and what is
our duty in that relationship, then our,
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this human form of life will be spoiled.
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Our, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement
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is checking the human society from
spoiling the human form of life.
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This human form of life,
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by the evolutionary process we have
got after millions and millions of years,
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and if we spoil this life eating, sleeping,
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mating and defending like the cats
and dog without any sense of God,
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then our life is spoiled.
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So please do not take this
Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement
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as any sectarian movement.
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It is the science of God.
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Try to understand the science of God.
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We have got so many…
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[aside] What is that?
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RĀDHĀ−VALLABHA: Crazy boy.
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[aside] All right.
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Either you accept it directly
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or you try to understand
through philosophy and science.
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We have got so many books.
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So kindly take advantage of this movement
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and impartially try to understand what
is the purpose of this movement,
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why we are distributing so many literatures.
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Soberly and with calm head, try to
understand this movement and be happy.
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That is our only mission.
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Thank you very much.
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DEVOTEES: Jaya!
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[end]
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