RC BHU 1977-01-31 The Great Soul
ANNOUNCER: Next is a conversation
with His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
recorded on January 31st, 1977, in Bhubaneshwar, India.
PRABHUPĀDA: Still in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, Vṛndāvana, you’ll see many devotees.
They offer, counting, flat, so many times.
So we have to take some labor.
It is not so easy thing that you realize [chuckling] God so easily.
Saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau [Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka].
The valuable time of human life should be utilized
only for cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfect.
No other business.
Sarva-dharmān parityajya [Bg. 18.66]. That is sarva-dharmān.
But if you cannot do that, all right, make minimum: “So many times I shall chant.
So many times I shall offer obeisances.”
Make some dṛḍha-vrata.
Then gradually it will be successful.
GUEST (5): [Bengali]
Yes.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa—twenty-four hours.
Japa-tapa.
Tapasya. tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena śuddhyed [SB 5.5.1]
Japa means tapa, tapasya.
And that is dṛḍha-vrata.
Tapasā brahmacaryeṇa [SB 6.1.13].
Tapasya begins with brahmacarya.
There is no tapasya, there is no brahmacarya,
there is no dṛḍha-vrata, there is no understanding,
and they are becoming guru.
Just see these Europeans, Americans.
Their life beginning was meat-eating. And they have given up everything.
This is tapasya.
And we shall eat everything, do everything…
yato mata tato patha “Whatever I like, I do, and still a devotee.”
What is this nonsense?
Hmm?
GUEST (6): Viśvāsa first, faith strong.
No, where is faith if we do not execute tapasya?
Where is faith?
viśvāsa sudṛḍha niścaya That is viśvāsa, the same thing.
This is viśvāsa: “Kṛṣṇa said this; I shall do.” This is viśvāsa.
And if you do not do anything, what Kṛṣṇa says, where is viśvāsa? There is no viśvāsa.
Kṛṣṇa says, Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām [Bg 9.14].
“Anyone who is chanting Me, Hare Kṛṣṇa…” So Kṛṣṇa says; I must do it.
That is viśvāsa.
If you do not do that, where is viśvāsa?
What do you mean by viśvāsa?
Viśvāsa means sudṛḍha niścaya. “Yes, Kṛṣṇa has said. I shall do.”
That is viśvāsa.
If you have no faith in the words of Kṛṣṇa, where is your viśvāsa?
What do you mean by viśvāsa?
Hm?
Bhagavān’s servant.
Bhagavān is your servant.
Whatever you like, you can do, and He’ll serve you. You’ll not serve Him.
He will serve you.
Is that viśvāsa?
“Whatever nonsense I do, Kṛṣṇa will support.”
Is that viśvāsa?
Viśvāsa means “What Kṛṣṇa says, I shall do.” That is viśvāsa.
That has been impressed at the modern age, that “Whatever I do,
Kṛṣṇa will accept it.”
Is it not?
Do you mean viśvāsa means this,
that “Whatever nonsense you do, Kṛṣṇa will accept”?
Do you mean viśvāsa means this? Then what is viśvāsa? Explain.
“Whatever Kṛṣṇa says, I will do,” that is viśvāsa.
Or “Whatever nonsense I do, Kṛṣṇa will favor”?
Which one viśvāsa?
What do you mean…? Huh? There is one pervading Supreme Soul.
What is that pervading? What do you mean by that?
Plain explain.
What do you mean by viśvāsa? Explain.
Faith in God. Faith in God.
Then hear what God says.
That is… I am speaking that “What Kṛṣṇa says, you do it.” That is viśvāsa.
And if you do otherwise, where is viśvāsa?
Hm?
Viśvāsa means… I say, “Mr. such and such, do this.”
If you have faith in me, you will do this.
That is viśvāsa.
And if you do otherwise, where is your viśvāsa?
“You have no faith in Me.”
Now people have degraded so much that they think, “This is viśvāsa.
Anything I accept as God is God.” [splice]
So if you take this, that Kṛṣṇa is the beginning of everything—
iti matvā—by understanding this,
if anyone engages himself in kṛṣṇa- bhakti, bhajante mām, that is bhakti.
Budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ.
He has come immediately to the bhāva stage.
Means he’s budhāḥ.
He is actual… He has actually understood the thing.
So that is viśvāsa.
In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said viśvāsa…
Śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya,
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya [Cc Madhya 22.62].
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya This is viśvāsa.
Kṛṣṇa says, Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66].
I am thinking, “I have got so many other things.
Simply why shall I surrender?”
That is not viśvāsa.
Viśvāsa means “Kṛṣṇa says,
‘sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ.’ [Bg. 18.66] I’ll accept.”
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva- karma kṛta That is viśvāsa.
Sudṛḍha niścaya.
śraddhā-śabde viśvāsa kahe sudṛḍha niścaya,
kṛṣṇe bhakti kaile sarva-karma kṛta haya That is viśvāsa.
That viśvāsa wanted, not that I manufacture something.
It is useless.
moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ [Bg. 9.12] That is hopeless.
What Kṛṣṇa says, if you believe firmly, then it is viśvāsa.
Dṛḍha-vrata.
And execute, determination. Then you get the result.
Sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ [Bg 7.19]. Such mahātmā is very rare.
And nowadays mahātmā means one who does not know anything about Kṛṣṇa,
speaks all nonsense. He is mahātmā.
“Because we stamp somebody, mahātmā, therefore he is mahātmā.
Find out this verse, mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim.
SATSVARŪPA: Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam [Bg. 9.13].
“O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded,
the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature.
They are fully engaged in devotional service
because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
original and inexhaustible.”
This is mahātmā.
Is there any purport?
Yes.
“In this verse the description of mahātmā is clearly given.
The first sign of the mahātmā is that he is already situated in the divine nature.
He is not under the control of material nature.
And how is this effected?
That is explained in the Seventh Chapter.
One who surrenders unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa,
at once becomes freed from the control of material nature.
That is the qualification.”
mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti
“One can become free from the control of material nature
as soon as he surrenders his soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
That is the preliminary formula. Being marginal potency,
as soon as the living entity is freed from the control of material nature,
he is put under the guidance of the spiritual nature.
The guidance of the spiritual nature is called daivīṁ prakṛtim, divine nature.
So when one is promoted in that way
by surrendering to the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
one attains to the stage of a great soul, mahātmā.
The mahātmā does not divert his attention to anything outside Kṛṣṇa
because he knows perfectly well that Kṛṣṇa is the original Supreme Person,
the cause of all causes.
There is no doubt about it.
Such a mahātmā or great soul develops through association with other mahātmās,
pure devotees.
Subtitles by Gaurāṅga Sundara Dāsa, Causelessmercy.com