The lecture explains that the material universe is designed by the Supreme Lord rather than occurring by chance, serving as a platform for souls to recognize God's ultimate ownership. It emphasizes that true spiritual advancement and liberation are achieved by engaging all of our senses in the Lord's service, rather than seeking independent enjoyment or false renunciation. Finally, the speaker discusses common mental obstacles on the path of devotion, such as complacency, pride, and isolation, and how to overcome them through humble service.
When Kardama Muni understood that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the chief of all the demigods, Viṣṇu, had descended, Kardama approached Him in a secluded place, offered obeisances, and spoke as follows.
oṁ namo viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
So this story with Kardama Muni and pastimes with Kardama Muni and Devahūti, they are like very special personalities in the beginning of creation. And they are also like role models, like there are so many other personalities in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam who are role models for devotees for all times. But we can understand that these personalities, they were exceptional, qualified in so many ways. Both Kardama Muni and Devahūti like this.
So this whole part of Second Canto and Third Canto is very much about the creation. And we sometimes wonder also this thing here with Kardama Muni. He was supposed to populate the universe on the order of Brahmā. So this was also part of the creation, the secondary creation. The first creation, that is sarga, that is all the ingredients, elements, they are created by Viṣṇu. And then that is the first creation. And the second creation is visarga, from Brahmā. So this, there are going on so many things in the beginning of, I don't know if this is the Brahmā's day or beginning of the Brahmā's life, but anyway, so there's creation going on.
So why is it so that we should learn about the creation? One thing is very important, that the conditioned souls, us, we must understand that there is a Creator. That there is something behind the whole manifestation, cosmic manifestation. And it is not by chance, by Big Bang, that this universe is coming about. Because this, even if now I hear that devotees, they say that Big Bang theory is quite all right because it is corresponding to the Vedas. Something like this. But still, those who are professing something like this, the Big Bang, they are not theists. And there is not God behind their creation, so to say.
So we have to understand that this creation does not come by chance or by explosion or Big Bang or anything like this. It is coming because there are two purposes. When somebody is creating something, it usually has some purpose. There is a reason why he creates something. So what are the two reasons why Kṛṣṇa manifests these universes? Somebody knows? What are the two purposes of having this universe? Why did Kṛṣṇa create it? To give the living entities a chance to enjoy as they want, and to control as they want, separate from Kṛṣṇa.
So that is a very important lesson in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We can hear how the virāṭ-rūpa is created, this whole cosmic manifestation from Kṛṣṇa and actually His plenary portions, Mahā-Viṣṇu and Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. Kṛṣṇa is eternally situated in the spiritual sky, in Vaikuṇṭha and in Goloka Vṛndāvana, and His expansion, the puruṣa-avatāras, they are creating, maintaining, and destroying the universes.
So this is going on. And there is this verse:
athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam ekāṁśena sthito jagat
Ekāṁśena sthito jagat. That means, by Me, a single fragment of Myself, I pervade and support this entire universe. So that is Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He is pervading, He is everywhere, and He is supporting everything.
So this is Kṛṣṇa's position. So then when we understand that everything is emanating from Kṛṣṇa, I mean, even Brahmā is also emanating from Kṛṣṇa. It's not that Brahmā is separate and independent of Viṣṇu like that. So even when Brahmā is continuing his creation, so to say, that is on behalf of Kṛṣṇa. So everything is emanating from Kṛṣṇa and therefore He owns everything. And this is the first mantra in Īśopaniṣad:
īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam
Everything, animate and inanimate, in this world is owned and controlled by the Supreme Lord. Therefore, one should just accept what is set aside as one's quota, know well to whom it all belongs.
So usually there is this example that if you find a 100 euro note on the street, there are three different ways you can deal with that. You see it, and you think, 'Oh, very nice. I'm very lucky today. I take this note and then I will enjoy with this, buy some things for this note.' The second person who comes by such opportunity, he says, 'This is not my money. I don't care. I should be honest and leave it there.' And so he just passes by. And the third person, he is seeing the note, he said, 'Somebody dropped this. I will try to find out the owner of this note.' And then he does that. So that, you know, the karmī, the jñānī, and the bhakta.
Karmī, he tries to enjoy in this world. And the jñānī, he renounces, tries to renounce all these things. And the bhakta is actually using everything in the right way. So we, the conditioned souls in this material world, we have senses. Body means senses. And we know we have jñānendriyas, knowledge-acquiring senses, and we have working senses. So the body is like this. So when we are born, we are just in that small, little first embryo. But we are waking up maybe in the seventh month or something in the womb of the mother. And then we are just there in that little body. And we don't know where this body comes from or anything, but when we come out of the womb, we try to use the senses and learn how to use the senses. The classical thing is that when a child is standing up for first time, the parents are very happy and also the child is very happy. She or he conquered something very important.
And so also when the child starts to run and like this, and also he comes to school and he can solve mathematical problems. And he thinks that his mind and his body is his, is him, and that he is trying to develop all these skills, so to say, life skills. So in this way we are completely in illusion when we grow up. We think that it's me doing all these things.
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate
Bewildered by the false ego, the living entity thinks himself to be the doer, which are in actuality carried out by material nature. So we have to understand this verse from Īśopaniṣad that everything is owned and controlled by the Supreme Lord. So if you now have these senses and the mind, it is also said in the fifteenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā:
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
The conditioned souls in this material world are My eternal fragmental parts. They are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind. So this is our situation. Actually we think that we can enjoy all these senses, but actually we are struggling with them.
So we must understand that like the person who takes up the 100 euro note and gives it to the right person, we must understand that these senses that we have, the eyes, the nose, the mouth, and the ears, and the working senses, and this and that, that should be used in Kṛṣṇa's service.
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate
That is bhakti. So if we are successful in doing this, then we are liberated even in this life.
īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
One who is using his body, mind, and words in the service of the Lord is liberated in this world.
So this is the person who just sees the 100 euro note and passes by. He cannot, it is like a person who is trying to negate the senses, functions of the senses. He will not be purified, the senses will not be purified, and he will not make any advancement like that. But the person who is using the senses in the service of the Master of the senses, his senses are purified and he becomes free from all designations. So many times we devotees, we are asking, 'How can we make spiritual advancement?' And this is the process of making spiritual advancement, to engage our senses in the service of the Master of the senses.
And so in this, we, I think, I don't know if you two were in this seminar with Keśava Mahārāja, both of you? So he went through this, the process of first having some initial faith, and then, after that, association of devotees, sādhu-saṅga, and then bhajana-kriyā, that means that one is engaging in sādhana-bhakti with all what that means, 16 rounds, come to maṅgala-ārati, coming to class and things like this, and doing service. So then when one is doing that, then one comes to the anartha-nivṛtti stage, cleaning of all the anarthas.
And many anarthas, of course we are, it is explained in the third chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, how the senses are the sitting place of lust. Like the eyes want to see beautiful things, the tongue wants to taste, so this is, this is more easy to overcome, especially as we have this process of taking prasādam. This is easy because we can take prasādam. But the more difficult is to control the mind.
And Keśava Mahārāja, he gives five very common ways that we are allured by māyā in the mind. For example, if we have been practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness and trying to get rid of so many anarthas for 30 years or 40 years or 50 years, and still we think that maybe we are complacent, we become complacent. We think, 'I'm doing quite all right. I have had many realizations for 30 years back and so on, and I...' vilar på lagrarna, what is that in English? 'I'm resting on my...' resting on laurels. Laurels, that's the laurel leaf that the Romans, they put on their head when they were learned, isn't it? Yeah, so you can't rest on the laurel leaf. In devotional service, one has to be always serving Kṛṣṇa. But this is a very common thing, that one is complacent, that means that one is thinking that, 'I'm all right,' and you don't cry for Kṛṣṇa. You don't cry for pure devotional service like this.
Another very common thing is that it is difficult to live together with devotees. And sometimes, it's even difficult to live with your partner. So then you think that, 'I should just go my own way, isolation.' This is also a very common trap, so to say, by māyā, by the mind.
And another, a third, is diversion. That we just, actually, this is what Rūpa Gosvāmī says in Nectar of Instruction, that prajalpa, for example, that you are on the social media, you watch TV, this is definitely prajalpa and useless, divert ourselves from pure devotional service. atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyamāgrahaḥ and so on. So this is diverting ourself from pure devotional service.
And then another problem is pride. And Keśava Mahārāja, he also explained that pride can be manifest in so many different ways, very subtle, that the common example is that it's not that you are humble just by making a show like this. Pride can be manifested as humility, as Keśava Mahārāja said. Humility is actually to surrender to the spiritual master and serve him without any material motive, so to say. That's real humility. But yeah, so this is many subtle things that one can become victim of.
And then also, if you give good classes or if you are leading kīrtana, and then you can see that others are seeing this, and then this is some kind of subtle enjoyment, and this is of course some anartha. And then Keśava Mahārāja gave a very good tip, that you take a service that nobody sees, that you are doing service to Kṛṣṇa, nobody sees it, nobody can make you puffed up by praising you or something like that. But so in this way you can go on serving Kṛṣṇa with this little service and develop pure devotional service.
Okay, so I stop there. Maybe somebody has some question, comment? Yeah.
I think it's better to be puffed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness than to be puffed up outside, no? When you are on the way, you are in the shower. So of course, you are puffed up in the beginning, for when you make some nice service, you feel like. So it's better to be in Kṛṣṇa consciousness making service and be puffed up than to be outside and be puffed up.
Yes, but it is also important that we recognize that this is not the right position, so to say, to be puffed up, and work on it. Yeah, of course. It's also like, when you are instructed to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, there are three stages of chanting. So the first stage is offensive stage, and the second is clearing stage, and the third is the śuddha-nāma, the pure name. But in the first stage, you make offenses, knowingly or unknowingly. And but still, it is better to go on chanting. Because finally, the Lord will penetrate through your coverings and show you something.
It's not that you yourself feel hopeless.
Pardon? Oh, yeah, yeah. This was actually the fifth problem that he was given, the hopelessness. Devotees can say that, 'It's hopeless. I cannot make spiritual advancement. I'm stuck here. It doesn't work. Doesn't work. The process doesn't work. I'm too fallen.' I've so many. For example, in tonight, in the night, I had very strange dreams. Very strange dreams, and also last night. I mean, I have never had such dreams before. I don't even know... so there are so many layers of unconscious things in the mind, like also Sigmund Freud, he was discovering, you know, that there is a subconscious mind, subconsciousness.
We have too many anarthas. One has to respond that, 'Oh, Kṛṣṇa will stay in Kṛṣṇa consciousness,' which you may qualify because if you're very proud, you can also become a disturbance to other Vaiṣṇavas if you stay in the association of the devotees. And they may, out of their limitless causeless mercy, tolerate you. But if you understand that you are actually a disturbance for the Vaiṣṇavas, maybe we should have the good taste of removing oneself, at least temporarily. Because, you know, Gopīparāṇadhana Prabhu, he had a note on his desk, the words from Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, saying that, 'If your outside is different from your inside, then you should lock yourself up in your room and preach to yourself. You shouldn't preach to anyone,' he said. If your outside is different from your inside.
And you mean that the inside is worse, and then the outside is...
I think generally that's the case. I mean, we can say that the dhotī makes the devotee, but there is something inside the devotee as well, and it could be a lot of disturbing characteristics like that. So he said at least you shouldn't preach, and then you should just lock yourself up and preach to yourself.
I mean, if you if you have such good understanding of yourself, then is it is it so bad? Is it so bad, you mean? I mean, if you understand that you are a disturbance, yeah, then there is a good chance also that you can be together with devotees. But if you don't understand that you are a disturbance, then it's more difficult.
I think that's why you shouldn't really speak and try to preach, but you can be with devotees as long as you don't open your mouth, then you can be a gentleman.
And then you can be a gentleman? Yes, they say that somebody can pass as a gentleman, a fool, up till he opens his mouth. Okay, any more questions?
I was wondering where is actually mind residing? Is it in heart or in head?
In the heart.
In the heart, mind?
Yeah.
In the heart.
And the brain is just the connection between the mind and the outer world, as I understand.
It's the connection point between...
Between the heart and the outer world, the senses, isn't it? That the head is like the kopplar, for, or...
The mind is like the software and the brain is hardware. That's one way of saying it. The mind is the software, you know, the program.
And heart is the... and head is hardware?
No, no. The brain is the hardware.
The brain is the hardware, ok.
The brain is the machine, the computer. And in the heart, we have, you know, we are programmed to be in a certain way, our character. And this is supposed to be purified with devotional service. Yeah.
If we become complacent and isolate ourselves, then māyā can attack us.
Yeah, māyā has already attacked us, I think. Māyā has already attacked us. Yeah, if we are complacent and we isolate ourselves, then māyā can attack us. And I said that māyā has already attacked us when we are like that. But of course, there is also a person who is spiritually advanced, like he can also be alone. It's not that, like we have this Vaṁśīdāsa Bābājī, he was very, very advanced, and he was doing very strange things, and he was mainly alone, what I understand. He was having some deity hanging on his neck. And sometimes, he was throwing the deity in the Gaṅgā and chastising them and like this. So...
But was was he the one who hopped out... they carried him or if it was him?
No, no. That was Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī. He was jumping out from the basket when he was, when he was carried to Lord Caitanya's birthplace. Yeah.
If someone is very ill with some disease and they are about to leave body, the doctor said he should take this treatment, is it like chemotherapy? Kṛṣṇa says, but he refused, so 'It's better to depend on God.' So what should we do? If we are in that situation, should we depend on God or should we take the advice of the doctor?
I mean, one conclusion could also be that you take the chemo treatment but you take, another alternative is that you take the chemo treatment and rely on God, you know, that it works. But personally, I think that this chemotherapy is horrible. It destroys so many things in the body, I have heard. So...
Chemotherapy is horrible.
Yeah. But I think some some devotees have also used this chemotherapy. And Candra, she had a school friend who was also heavily afflicted by cancer, and she had chemotherapy, and she managed to live further, without cancer. But anyway, somebody else can give a good answer to this. We can remember, yeah, Mahārāja.
I think the point made... as long as you can use... do some service, maybe some service... to stay alive...
Yeah, you mean that one can use treatment if that gives you the opportunity to, or possibility of doing service.
Yeah, otherwise... suppose preaching...
Yeah.
To suppose... to suppose...
Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, if you have headache, you think and take an aspirin, and then you can do service instead of just suffering the headache. It happens maybe one time in a year for me. And it's very nice, relieving.
I think we should stop. Okay.