Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.26.43
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Bombay, January 18, 1975

Nitai: “The characteristics of water are exhibited by its moistening other substances, coagulating various mixtures, causing satisfaction, maintaining life, softening things, driving away heat, incessantly supplying itself to reservoirs of water, and refreshing by slaking thirst.”

Prabhupada:

kledanam pindanam trptih prananapyayanondanam tapapanodo bhuyastvam ambhaso vrttayas tu imah

So this is analysis of water. So many things can be performed by water. Everything is being analytically studied. Ksitir ap tejo marud vyoma. So… But one thing important in this verse is that tapa apanodah, refreshing, refreshing. When you are thirsty, you drink water. Immediately your thirst is satiated and you feel a fresh pleasure. So in the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says that this qualification of the water, tapa apanodah… What is that verse? Apo ’ham…

Devotees: Raso ’ham…

Prabhupada: Raso ’ham. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi-suryayoh. So this satisfaction… Actually, our satisfaction can be revived only with relationship of Krsna, revival of our relationship with Krsna. That is santi. Just like Dhruva Maharaja, when he came in contact with the Supreme Personality of Godhead… He was hankering after material opulence, kingdom, a better kingdom than his father, than his grandfather. That was his ambition. As a child, he was insulted by his stepmother. So actually when he saw Visnu, Lord Visnu, he was so satisfied that he said, svamin krtartho ’smi varam na yace: “Now I have no more hankering.”

So this is also one tapa. In this material world we are suffering so many varieties of tapa. Tapan vindanti maithunyam agaram ajhah.(?) It is simply full of tapa. Tapa means heat, and tapa means unbearable, miserable condition. Therefore from tapa… It comes from tapa, tapasya. Tapasya means voluntarily accepting some unfavorable condition. Of course, the soul is not affected by any favorable or unfavorable condition. Asango ’yam purusah. Actually, it has no connection with the favorable, unfavorable condition. It is simply abhinivesa. The mind being affected by the material contamination, we are suffering so-called miserable condition of life. It is due to the mind. Otherwise, as it is said, one man is satisfied in a very poor condition of life, and another man is not satisfied even in the best opulent condition of life. Why? It is due to the mind. It is due to the mind.

So therefore whole process of spiritual life or peaceful life… Spiritual life is peaceful life. Material life is not peaceful life. Ahankara-vimudhatma. There are so many varieties of desires in material life. Therefore one cannot be peaceful. That is not possible. But when one enters into spiritual life… Spiritual life means to revive our spiritual consciousness or Krsna consciousness. Then we can become happy. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Three things, if we learn… What are those three things?

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram suhrdam sarva-bhutanam jnatva mam santim rcchati [Bg. 5.29]

Santi. If we learn these three things, then we’ll get santi. Santi, that is clearly explained in Caitanya-caritamrta also. It is said in the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna says, jnatva mam. “Me,” Krsna says—person. Just like “Give me.”

So Krsna says, jnatva mam. What is that? So we have to know Krsna, that He is actually enjoyer. Master and servant. If the servant knows that “In this house my master is the proprietor. He is the enjoyer. I am simply servant,” then he is peaceful. But if he artificially tries to become the master although he is servant there, then there is all disturbance. So here our miserable conditions are caused by our thinking that “I am the proprietor. I am the owner. I am the enjoyer.” One becomes to owner, proprietor, because he wants to enjoy. So this is our disease. Actually, we are servant of Krsna. Jivera svarupa haya nitya-krsna-dasa [Cc. Madhya 20.108-109] This is our original position. We are servant, even in this condition. But we are servant of maya, illusion—means we are servant of our lusty desires, kama, krodha, anger, lobha, greediness, moha, illusion, so many, mada, madness. We are servant of these propensities. We are not master. When you become master of these sense gratification processes, then you are svami.

That is the position of svami. Svami means master. Gosvami. Gosvami means this controller of the senses. Go means senses. So svami or gosvami means one who has control over the senses or one who has control over the mind. The mind is very restless. The whole yogic process is meant for controlling the mind because unless you control the mind, the mind will volumes and volumes of desires, hundreds, thousands, millions. And you have to satisfy them. Then where is santi? You have to satisfy the master. Who has become your master? Mind. Then you are disturbed. There cannot be any peace. And mind has got many millions of desires. Therefore, when you can control over the mind, that mind desires something and you have to control, “No, you cannot do it,” then you become a svami. Svami, these sannyasis, they are given the title “svami” or “gosvami” because the sannyasis are supposed to control over the mind, over the senses. Therefore they are called svami. Otherwise, not svami but servant. If you are controlled by the mind, then you are servant, and if you are controller of the mind, then you are svami, the same person.

So how you can become svami? Because we are falsely thinking that “I am the proprietor. I am the enjoyer. I am the leader. I am the friend of my family, my society, my nation,” so many ways, you have to convert these things. Suhrdam sarva-bhutanam. Krsna says that “I am the friend of everyone.” But we are taking the place of Krsna, leadership. I am declaring to my countrymen, to my follower, that “I am your friend.” So actually, I cannot be friend because I do not know what is the goal of life. I cannot lead them properly. Some immediate convenience we can offer, and people, being less intelligent, they are after immediate profit. It is called preyas. Just like if you say to a small child, “Don’t go to school. Please come and play with me,” he would like to play with his friend. That is immediate profit. But if you ask him to go to the school, that is remote profit. That is called sreyas. And preyas. Preyas me ans immediate profit. Two young men, if one friend says to the other friend, “Oh, let us go to the cinema,” that is very palatable. And if he says, “Let us go to this meeting in Hare Krsna Land,” that is not very palatable. This is the distinction between sreyas and preyas. Nihsreyasaya. Nihsreyasaya means ultimate goal of life, ultimate profit of life.

So ultimate profit of life is to go back to home, back to Godhead. Because we are suffering on account of separation from God. This is our cause of suffering. Instead of becoming servant of God we have become the servant of senses. That is the cause of our suffering. Therefore three things, if we can understand thoroughly, that Krsna, or God, is the proprietor and enjoyer of the whole universe or creation and… Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram [Bg. 5.29] He is the proprietor of all universal planets, and suhrdam sarva-bhutanam, and He is the real friend of everyone. Jnatva, “One who knows,” Krsna says, mam, “Me, then he gets santi.” Otherwise, there cannot be any santi. In the Caitanya-caritamrta also it is confirmed that

krsna-bhakta—-niskama, ataeva ‘santa’ bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—-sakali ‘asanta’

Krsna-bhakta, one who is fully Krsna conscious, he is santa. He is fully confident. Krsna consciousness or God consciousness, he is fully confident that “Krsna, I have surrendered to Krsna. I have taken shelter of Krsna, and He has promised, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami. Then where is the cause of my anxiety?” Therefore he can become… He has understood Krsna, the Supreme Personality, almighty, all-powerful, full of all opulences. “So if he has taken my charge, then where is my anxiety?” That is santi. That is santi. And so long we are taking shelter of maya, asat, which will not stay…

Suppose we are taking shelter, child is taking shelter of the father, mother, or the citizens is taking shelter of the state, of the government. So one has to to take shelter of something else for protection, for security. But they are not actually security. Therefore we are always full of anxiety. You may be a citizen of a great state like United States of America. But you are not without any anxiety because that shelter is not sufficient. That will not stay. Just like recently in America they had to dethrone Mr. Nixon because they were not free from anxiety. So you cannot become free from anxiety by taking shelter of anything material. That is not possible. Sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat. Asat and sat. Sat means eternal, and asat means temporary. So we are eternal. Na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. We are not annihilated after the annihilation or destruction of this body. Therefore we have to take shelter of the eternal. Then we’ll be happy. And so long we shall take shelter of the temporary thing, asat, this material world, material society, friendship, love, state, community, nation— anything you take, they are not permanent—so you cannot be happy. But if you take shelter for security at the lotus feet of the Supreme, then you are actually secure.

Sada samudvigna-dhiyam asad-grahat. Asad-grahat. Asad means this material world. It will not stay. Just like this material body. It will not stay—everyone knows; it has a beginning, birth—it stays for some time, it transforms some other bodies as children, then it becomes old, dwindling, and then finished. These are six different transformation of the material world. But it is temporary, asat. But there is another life, where there is no transformation: eternal. Nityah sasvato ’yam na hanyate hanyamane sarire [Bg. 2.20]. That is spiritual world. So that spiritual world, we have no information, but we have got little experience. Spiritual world means complete peaceful, santi. Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram, jnatva mam santim rcchati [Bg. 5.29]. Therefore it is compulsory business of our life to understand God, or Krsna, if you want santi. Jnatva mam santim rcchati. If you want santi, then you have to know God, what is God, not vague idea, actually. Jnatva mam santim rcchati. You have to know.

Now, the position is how to know God. How to know God. So God know, it is very easy. If you don’t chant… Suppose if I say that “By chanting Hare Krsna mantra you will know God,” you may think that “Why shall I chant Hare Krsna mantra? I belong to different religion. Why shall I chant this Hindus’ Hare Krsna mantra?” Then all right, you do not chant Hare Krsna mantra, but you try to understand God in your daily life. What is that? That satisfaction by drinking water. Raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. Everyone drinks water. Either you become Hindu, Muslim, Christian, you have to drink water. And after drinking water, when you feel satisfaction, as it is said, tapa apanodah, the tiresomeness immediately annihilated, immediately diminished, satisfies, so that satisfaction is Krsna, or God. Krsna says. So you haven’t got to search out Krsna anywhere. Krsna is within you, God is within you, but still if you are doubtful, then God says, Krsna says, “You try to understand Me in this way, tapa apanodah, the water.” Everyone drinks water, very easy. So raso ’ham apsu kaunteya. Then the beginning, if you do not do anything… Just I am trying to convince you about the easy process of bhakti-yoga. Anyone, everyone, at any place, any condition of life, he can become a bhakta. Ahaituky apratihata. This is first-class religion, to become devotee of God. Sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje [SB 1.2.6]. Bhakti… When you… Bhakti means loving service. When you develop your dormant love for Krsna and you begin to serve Him, that is called bhakti.

So this bhakti is the first-class religion, Paro dharma. All other different kinds of religious systems, they are material. “I am Hindu,” “I am Muslim,” “I am Christian,” “I am Buddhist”—these are all material designation. Actually, it is not dharma. Just like gold. Gold cannot be Hindu gold, Christian gold, Muslim gold. Gold is gold. There is no question of Hindu gold or Muslim gold. Similarly, dharma, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. Dharma means relationship with God. So human being in any society, any part of the world, there is a consciousness or sense of understanding God. The method may be different; that is another thing. But the idea is how to know God. Just like Christians, they say, “O God, give us our daily bread.” So there is relationship. Muslim they say, allah akbar, “God is great.” So in Hindu-conception generally say, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan [Bg. 10.12]. So any sense you say, there is relationship with God. So unless you revive your relationship with God which is dormant, there is no santi. There cannot be any santi. So try to understand God.

Therefore Krsna is canvassing that “If you do not take this process, that process, you simply, while drinking water, you think of Me: ‘Here is Krsna. Here is Krsna.’ ” As it is said here, tapa apanodah. Everyone drinks water, so everyone can remember Krsna, or God, if you simply learn this art, that “While drinking water, while I feel satisfaction, I must know, ‘Here is God.’ ” Your devotional life immediately begins, without any education, without any enlightenment. Even a child can… If you teach the child that “When you drink water, you think of God…” Of course, one must have some knowledge what is God. So that according to different status of life… So here from Bhagavad-gita or Bhagavata we understand, krsnas tu bhagavan svayam. So Krsna is here in the temple. Krsna is in my room in picture. So that is also not difficult. How easy it is, just try to understand, that if drinking water and if I think, “Here is Krsna,” and I have seen Krsna in the temple, I have seen Krsna in my room, my father has shown me, “Here is Krsna,” then where is the difficulty? And if you think Krsna like that—“Here is Krsna”—that is the beginning of spiritual life. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam [SB 7.5.23], memorizing.

So we request everyone to come to the temple because he will have the impression what is Krsna, how He looks. Here is Krsna. It is not imagination. Don’t think it is imagination, we have imagined some form. Just like the Mayavadis say, “It is imagination.” No. It is fact. Because this Krsna, this form of Krsna, the our forefathers or acaryas they have seen when Krsna was present on this planet. And there are many, many old temples. The same feature of Krsna, two hands, playing on the flute, and anywhere you will see Krsna He has got this flute. Because that is His most beloved, favorite instrument. That is stated in the sastra, not imagination. Venum kvanantam aravinda-dalayataksam barhavatamsam asita… [Bs. 5.30] In the Vedic language it is said that Krsna, He has got a flute in His hand. He likes to play on flute. Venum kvanantam aravinda-dalayataksam barhavatamsam asitambuda-sundarangam [Bs. 5.30]. Barhavatamsa means the peacock. He likes peacock feather. These symptoms are described in the Vedic literature, and when Krsna was present on this earth, the same feature was there. So this picture, this photo, or this statue of Krsna, this arca-murti, is not different from the original Krsna.

So if you simply come here, take the impression of Krsna and think of Krsna while drinking water, you become a devotee. Is it very difficult job? Very easy. Anyone can do. Anyone can do. Patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Then, if you develop… This is santa rasa. Then, when you develop your santa-rasa, then there is dasya-rasa. Dasya-rasa means that you want to serve Him. That is further development. “Here is God. No, why not…?” Therefore, according to the Vedic principle, whoever comes to the temple, he brings something to offer to Krsna. Not that He requires huge amount of money. No. You must offer something. What is that? Krsna says, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Krsna is not in want, but if you give something to Krsna, that is for your benefit. If Krsna accepts something from you, then your life becomes successful. So… “But I have no money. What can I offer to Krsna?” Oh, that is not the fact. We have got money for going to cinema, and you have no money to bring one flower for Krsna. This is denial. This is denial. Krsna does not say that “You bring one thousand dollars.” No. He says, patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati.

So anywhere within this universe, you can get all these things, however poor man you may be. Patram, a little leaf, better tulasi leaf, or any leaf. Patram puspam a little flower. Phalam, little fruit, and little water, that’s all. Yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Krsna, He is the bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka… [Bg. 5.29]. He is the proprietor of the all universes. So why He is asking this patram puspam phalam toyam? He is so poor? He is not poor. He is the most opulent. But if you begin to give something to Krsna, you become opulent. That is wanted. Therefore He is canvassing that “Give Me something.” Yat karosi yaj juhosi yad asnasi yat tapasyasi, kurusva tad mad-arpanam. Because you have forgotten to give to Krsna, therefore Krsna comes down. Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata [Bg. 4.7]. He canvasses, “Please give Me something,” as if He is in great need of it. He is not need of it. But if you hear Krsna and if you give something to Krsna, then it is for your benefit. You will understand gradually what is your relationship with Krsna and gradually develop your Krsna consciousness. Then your life is successful. Then your life becomes peaceful.

Otherwise there is no possibility. Otherwise there is no possibility. Everyone is hankering after peace, but this is the way of attaining peace, to revive your relationship with Krsna, to engage your mind fully in the service of Krsna in the matter of understanding Krsna. And if you understand Krsna… The books are there. Bhagavad-gita is there. Srimad-Bhagavata is there. You have got your reason. You have got your knowledge. Try to understand Krsna. Then your life is successful. Janma karma ca me divyam yo janati tattvatah [Bg. 4.9]. Simply you try to understand Krsna. Then, from this asat, this temporary life which you are changing one after another, tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaunteya… [Bg. 4.9]. After giving up this body… This is also temporary body, asat, the asat. Asat means it will not stay. So after giving up this body, if you get another body… That is compulsory. Tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13]. Dehantara-praptih there is. Just like we are getting different bodies in this life, similarly, when this body is finished, we get another body. But another body or this body, because this material body, asat. Asad-grahat, because we accept this material, temporary body, there must be suffering, klesada. Or whatever we feel pains and pleasure, that is due to this body.

So the best achievement of life is the how to stop this getting material body again. Spiritual body. That is happiness. Then you will get eternal happiness, blissful life. Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti kaunteya [Bg. 4.9]. That you go to the spiritual world. There is spiritual world, as this, here, is material world. You have got material body. So if you are fit for going to the spiritual world, then you get spiritual body, same way. And spiritual body means sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], spiritual body. Vigraha means body, and sac-cid-ananda… Sat means eternal, cit means full of knowledge, and ananda, blissful. That we want. The Krsna consciousness movement means to try to understand Krsna, very easy. If you drink water as Krsna advises, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya, that satisfaction by drinking water, that is Krsna. That’s all. You think, “This is Krsna.” You think that “I am drinking Krsna.” Then twice, thrice, “Krsna,” means you become purified. Krsna… Eka krsna-name yato papa hare, papi haya tato papa kari bare nare(?). Eka krsna, one, once chanting of Krsna, it can kill so many reaction of sinful life that you cannot do so many sinful life. A sinful man can do large amount of sinful activities. But you cannot do even.

So this process, if you adopt… Very easy. It is authenticated. We have not manufactured this. It is said in the Bhagavad-gita, raso ’ham apsu kaunteya, “That rasa, that satisfaction by drinking water, that is I am.” So why not think of Krsna like that? You drink so many times water, especially in India. You drink water and think of Krsna, you become perfect.

Thank you very much. (end)