Tapasya - Purpose of Human Existence
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj
04-02-98, SB (3.9.17)
VERSE (SB 3.9.17)
loko vikarma-nirataḥ kuśale pramattaḥ
karmaṇy ayaḿ tvad-udite bhavad-arcane sve
yas tāvad asya balavān iha jīvitāśāḿ
sadyaś chinatty animiṣāya namo 'stu tasmai
TRANSLATION
People in general all engage in foolish acts, not in the really beneficial activities enunciated directly by You for their guidance. As long as their tendency for foolish work remains powerful, all their plans in the struggle for existence will be cut to pieces. I therefore offer my obeisances unto Him who acts as eternal time.
PURPORT
People in general are all engaged in senseless work. They are systematically unmindful of the real beneficial work, which is the devotional service of the Lord, technically called the arcanä regulations. The arcanä regulations are directly instructed by the Lord in the Närada-païcarätra and are strictly followed by the intelligent men, who know well that the highest perfectional goal of life is to reach Lord Viñëu, who is the root of the tree called the cosmic manifestation. Also, in the Bhägavatam and in Bhagavad-gétä such regulative activities are clearly mentioned. Foolish people do not know that their self-interest is in realization of Viñëu. The Bhägavatam (7.5.30-32) says:
matir na kåñëe parataù svato vä
mitho 'bhipadyeta gåha-vratänäm
adänta-gobhir viçatäà tamisraà
punaù punaç carvita-carvaëänäm
Srimad Bhagavatam [7.5.30]
na te viduù svärtha-gatià hi viñëuà
duräçayä ye bahir-artha-mäninaù
andhä yathändhair upanéyamänäs
te 'péça-tantryäm uru-dämni baddhäù
Srimad Bhagavatam [7.5.31]
naiñäà matis tävad urukramäìghrià
spåçaty anarthäpagamo yad-arthaù
mahéyasäà päda-rajo-'bhiñekaà
niñkiïcanänäà na våëéta yävat
Srimad Bhagavatam [7.5.32]
"Persons who are determined to totally rot in false, material happiness cannot become Kåñëa-minded either by instructions from teachers, by self-realization or by parliamentary discussions. They are dragged by the unbridled senses into the darkest region of ignorance, and thus they madly engage in what is called 'chewing the chewed.'
"Because of their foolish activities, they are unaware that the ultimate goal of human life is to achieve Viñëu, the Lord of the cosmic manifestation, and so their struggle for existence is in the wrong direction of material civilization, which is under the external energy. They are led by similar foolish persons, just as one blind man is led by another blind man and both fall in the ditch.
"Such foolish men cannot be attracted towards the activities of the Supreme Powerful, who is actually the neutralizing measure for their foolish activities, unless and until they have the good sense to be guided by the great souls who are completely freed from material attachment."
In Bhagavad-gétä the Lord asks everyone to give up all other occupational duties and absolutely engage in arcanä activities, or in pleasing the Lord. But almost no one is attracted to such arcanä activity. Everyone is more or less attracted by activities which are conditions of rebellion against the Supreme Lord. The systems of jïäna and yoga are also indirectly rebellious acts against the Lord. There is no auspicious activity except arcanä of the Lord. Jïäna and yoga are sometimes accepted within the purview of arcanä when the ultimate aim is Viñëu, and not otherwise. The conclusion is that only the devotees of the Lord are bona fide human beings eligible for salvation. Others are vainly struggling for existence without any actual benefit.
“End of purport”
"Lecture begins"
THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE OF MATERIAL EXISTENCE
We are continuing our reading from the third canto chapter 9 of the Srimad Bhagavatam where Lord Brahma is offering his prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the dawn of creation. Lord Brahma, aware of the nature of conditioned souls within this material existence, is revealing the futility of their lives and all of their efforts. People under the illusion of maya’s potencies are trying to find happiness in a world of death. Unfortunate souls are struggling so hard with the idea that just by creating, maintaining and enjoying the temporary objects of this world my life will be successful. Human life is meant for tapasya. This has been established by the Supreme Lord before anything took place within the universe. When Brahma was sitting on the lotus flower no understanding was within his heart. The first thing Kåñëa wanted to reveal to the world was the two syllables tapa.
Life is meant for tapasya, it is not meant for sense gratification. It is not meant for trying to create a permanent situation of happiness in a place where we will all be cut to pieces by the Lord in the form of eternal time. Brahmaji is here offering his obeisances to Kåñëa who acts as eternal time. He cuts all of our illusions into pieces in this form of time and we see that it is happening to everyone, we hear it in scriptures but still we do not really believe it. Maharaj Yudhisthir, when he was asked by Yamaraj in the form of Yaksha “what is the most wonderful, most astonishing thing within all of the world?” Yudhisthir Maharaj explained “how everyone sees death all around them, inevitably yet everyone is thinking let me enjoy, it will not happen to me”. Srila Prabhupada compares this mentality to a foolish goat. Even big-big scholars, industrialists, politicians and scientists as far as Srila Prabhupada and the Holy Scriptures and all the great sadhus from all time, they see these endeavors of these people to be like foolish goats. I’m sorry to say but we must repeat what the scriptures, what God and what the acaryas have said. What is a foolish goats’ business? He is brought to the slaughter house. In the slaughter house just to keep all the goats pacified until they get their heads and all their limbs severed from their bodies, until all their blood is shed, they are given nice green delicious grasses and they are in a line just taking their grasses one after another after another they are coming forward eating their grass. They probably give very good quality grass at that time and one by one they are approaching the place where their heads are severed. And all the goats are getting their heads severed, but each goat is thinking I’m enjoying. What a nice arrangement this is that I have to eat grass. But every step, with every bite he is becoming one step closer to death. Now you may think why doesn’t the goat just leave the line and go some where else. Because he is so attached to eating that grass that he doesn’t want to leave the line, he wants to keep progressing forward towards death. Now we may think this is the foolishness of the goat, but it is the foolishness of our entire civilization today. We know death is coming, we see how death has come to so many others. We see how it is all around us today. And Kåñëa descends into this world again and again, He speaks the Holy Scriptures, He reveals His representatives and they are all telling us to get out of this line, in this slaughter house of material existence. Eternal time is going to cut into pieces; it’s already in the process of cutting into pieces.
GETTING OUT OF THIS SLAUGHTER HOUSE BY TAPASYA
And here’s how to get out - “tapasya”.
cätur-varëyaà mayä såñöaà
guëa-karma-vibhägaçaù…
Bhagavad Gita[4.13]
According to your particular nature as a... select a varna or ashrama and live by it for the purpose of pleasing Kåñëa saàsiddhir hari-toñaëam (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.13). By pleasing Kåñëa, by purifying our hearts and becoming devotional in our consciousness we can be removed from this line of death. But we don’t want to do that, we want to continue enjoying the fresh green grasses which tastes so good to our fastidious tongue. Our senses get a little bit enjoyment and within a moment the enjoyment is gone and we have to have more, more and more. That is the way sense gratification is. Kåñëa explains in Gita its like fire. The more fire consumes, the more it needs to consume. Examine what is sense gratification. You see some thing beautiful, but then it goes away and then you are simply longing to have it again or something else. You taste something nice. But how long does that pleasure remain within your tongue. It’s a matter of seconds, then you have to have more. And the more you experience something nice, the more you become addicted to that pleasure and you are just totally in anxiety and frustration. You fear that you will lose what you have and always aspiring to try to get what you do not have. And that pleasure cannot remain. And the nature of the mind is it’s never satisfied for long-“canchalam”. What ever you get for your sense gratification you become tired of it. You need a change, something else. And maya keeps bringing more grass for us to eat. She just keeps throwing some more grass in front of us just to keep our minds so pre-occupied with this tendency to enjoy material sense enjoyment that we forget the real goal of life, the purpose of life and how to achieve it. We should see like that. Every time sense enjoyment comes that diverts our attention away from Kåñëa Consciousness, it is simply maya throwing some cheap grass in front of us. We are giving up all the treasures of the spiritual world just to get some temporary satisfaction by chewing that grass. We are all goats in consciousness. This is the unfortunate situation that Lord Brahma sees within this universe. Human life is meant for tapasya. It is through tapasya that we can achieve real happiness and eternal existence in relationship with God, our all loving master and the supreme object of our real love.
Tapasya is by performing our prescribed duties with Kåñëa in the centre. Today in India even so called religious people, they may be a little pious, a little moral and they may have some rituals, but they do not want to keep Kåñëa in the center of their lives. They want to keep Kåñëa in a far distant corner of their lives where every now and then at their convenience when it suits their sense gratification they will take him off the shelf and they will do a little puja and they will make a little sacrifice, and then put Him away and close the door and say “stay out of my life until I come for you next”. I’m speaking bluntly but it is reality, not only in India but all over the world. But it is most shameful in India because India is the land of the Vedas, the sastras, the åñis. It is the land, the heart of the entire universe for dharma. When people of India live in this way, they are cheating the whole world and cheating themselves. When a person who has PhD acts foolishly, grown man will say that person is very much shameful, when a little child misbehaves, little shameful. To be born in India is a PhD birth. It is the land of Dharma, whether you are rich or poor, from the spiritual point of view, because the heritage is here, the culture is here to keep Kåñëa in the center, devotional service in the center of our lives. Simple living, high thinking. But unfortunately people consider it fanaticism; they consider it irrational and impractical to keep Kåñëa in the center of every aspect of our life. Our sense gratification, our family attachments, our false ego, our nationalistic conceptions of concerns in this world, they should be the center of our life. And however much our devotion to God helps us to better pursue these purposes, to that extent, degree religion has some value. Every thing is backwards. God is our order supplier and we will accept Him as long as He is supplying. But if He is not supplying for our personal, selfish, egoistic influence and helping to maintain and expand our material wealth and prestige then what is the use of God? That’s what He is here for. He is here to serve us. Why should we serve Him? We should only serve Him if He makes our material life better. And if you do too much service then your material life will be spoiled because you won’t have time for the... for reality which is eating grass like a foolish goat. That’s reality. Hare Kåñëa.
Krishna descends, the scriptures speak. Why can’t people hear? They do not want to hear, so much conditioned. Even in the name of religion, and today religious leaders are coming forward and teaching the same principles, that you worship me or you worship God and we will give you an improved material life, we will give you best grasses and you will be able to keep it in your mouth as long as possible and taste the flavors. I will give you gold; I will give you blessings that you will have so much egoistic success in your life, for you, for your family, for your society. But actually a real spiritual leader teaches renunciation and nothing else because renunciation is the only purpose of human existence. According to the particular ashram and varna we may be in, there are different ways of approaching renunciation, there are different duties. But renunciation is the basis of life, renunciation of egoistic pursuits for worldly pleasures, for the purpose of utilizing our time and energy in our eternal occupation ‘sanatana dharma’ which is service to God. That is our purpose. And when a spiritual person speaks this even so called religious people consider it a great threat because they don’t want what Kåñëa is giving, they don’t want the words of the scriptures. They want to interpret everything in such a way that “I’m God, I’m the enjoyer” and while there is a great fantasy, they are coming closer to the inevitable form of God as eternal time who will not only cut them into pieces but cut everything you’ve done into pieces. And what will be left, nothing! Except the karma that we endured, the karma that we have created during that life.
Intelligence according to Gita is to discriminate between matter and spirit, to understand that life is eternal and we should pursue that life. It certainly does not mean we should all become brahmacharis and sannyasis necessarily. After all Bhagavad Gita teaches the highest principles of renunciation and devotion to Arjuna. Arjuna wanted to renounce, renounce his family, renounce his duty as a military agent. Kåñëa said this is not renunciation. Renunciation is to do it in the service with God, with Kåñëa in the center. That is renunciation. You keep your family, you keep your home, you keep your work but don’t ever let Kåñëa come out of the focus of your life.
man-manä bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yäjé mäà namaskuru…
Bhagavad Gita[9.34]
Always remember Kåñëa, become His devotee, worship Him, serve Him. In this way Kåñëa will be always there to protect you, to guide you, to deliver you from the ocean of birth and death. Perform your duty as a service to God. Association of saintly persons is essential. The chanting of God’s name regularly is essential. The reading of the scriptures and hearing the narrations of these wonderful stories and teachings from advanced souls is essential. It is the culture of India. It is the culture of Vedic civilization. But we are chasing after the cheap goat civilization of the west.
BECOMING A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN
In the Srimad Bhagvatam there is the great story of King Präcénabarhishat. He was actually in the dynasty of great devotees, descendent of Dhruva Maharaj. Dhruva Maharaj went to the forest and prepared himself and because his mother who was actually a real loving mother, she said “You go, go to the forest, realize God. That is the real purpose of life.” How many mothers are like that today? There are some.
But then he came back and became the king of the entire world and ruled the world for many long years in perfect discipline and regulation. He got married, he had children. They were more responsible than anybody can be responsible. And people have the ridiculous, foolish mentality that if you become too surrendered to God you will become irresponsible. You become like Dhruva Maharaj and then speak these non sense words. No doubt people can be irresponsible whether they are devotees or not devotees but if you are following the teachings you cannot be irresponsible. But you will be responsible to do it as Kåñëa wants you to do it, not to do it as your fastidious egoistic mental condition prefers. Dhruva Maharaj was such a king. All the citizens loved him. All the citizens were willing to do anything for him, because he was so caring, he was so pure. He was such a merciful compassionate representative of God. That’s the way a father and mother should be, that’s the way a teacher should be, that’s the way a leader should be on every level. Giving the real substance of truth to our dependants and teaching how to live by that truth. Not only was Dhruva Maharaj such a great king but he trained all of his children to be the same. His descendants were räjaåñis. They were not only kings but they were åñis. Whether we are businessmen, whether we are housewives, whether we are school teachers, whether we are politicians, whether we are architects or doctors, we should be åñis. We should perform our duty with knowledge of what is the purpose of life. saàsiddhir hari-toñaëam… (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.13) to please Kåñëa - that is the goal of life. There is no other goal of life that has truth. But somehow as the generations went by there was a king named Präcénabarhishat. He had such a good heritage behind him. However the opulence’s, the power, the great learning, it caused him to forget what is actually the purpose. He was performing religious principles, but his performance of religious principles was to sustain his material acquisitions. It was not to realize the truth. It was not to detach himself from illusion and attach himself to reality, devotional service to the Lord. So he became very very much caught up with so many material entanglements of his life and he was performing so many religious rituals for his material benefits. And even his own studying of the scriptures could not reveal the truth to him. Even his good heritage of birth - ‘the descendant of Dhruva’, who was the son of Utthanapada, who was the son of Svayambhuva Manu, who was the son of Brahma, who was the son of Kåñëa. This is a very high gotra or caste that he was living in. But all of that background of his high caste and his very great ability to comprehend and to learn, he could not fathom what is the purpose of life Why? Prahlad Maharaj explains:-
naiñäà matis tävad urukramäìghrià
spåçaty anarthäpagamo yad-arthaù
mahéyasäà päda-rajo-'bhiñekaà
niñkiïcanänäà na våëéta yävat
Srimad Bhagavatam [7.5.32]
Unless one performs abhishek of his own body with the dust from the lotus feet of those great devotees, who have no interest in material egoistic affairs. Taking the dust from the lotus feet means to hear from them and to serve them.
tad viddhi praëipätena
paripraçnena sevayä…
Bhagavad Gita [4.34]
Then whatever endeavors you make, you cannot understand the truth.
matir na kåñëe parataù svato vä
mitho 'bhipadyeta gåha-vratänäm
adänta-gobhir viçatäà tamisraà
punaù punaç carvita-carvaëänäm
Srimad Bhagavatam [7.5.30]
DESTROYING THE PILLARS OF UNCIVILIZED LIFE BY TAPASYA
By any efforts, either individually or jointly, as long as we remain attached to trying to enjoy this material world, we will continue the cycle of birth and death, chewing the chewed. We cannot understand the real goal of life. Therefore it is so important that whoever we are however learned, however wealthy, however good our background is about family, unless we humble ourselves to hear from those who are detached and devoted to Kåñëa and learn the art of detachment vairägya-vidyä-nija-bhakti-yoga- (Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Madhya 6.254) . There are three principles, knowledge of what is truth, detachment from what is contrary to achieving that truth and devotion “bhakti”. The positive engagement of our mind, our senses, our occupational tendencies and everything, our family attachments they should all be directed towards the service of the Lord. That is reality; that is truth.
When Srila Prabhupada first went to the western world, he was telling people no illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating. What he was saying is tear down your entire civilization because the whole civilization is based on those four pillars. If you take away illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat eating western civilization is finished. It’s liberated. Because it is the basic foundation by which the entire economy and everything is built upon. When Lord Jepplin was told to follow these principles he said “impossible” and he was one of the most pious, religious and open minded. He was born in the family of great nobility. He said “it is impossible swamiji”. And people, even some of Srila Prabhupada’s best well wishers, his God brothers said “forget it, come home, how will you convince these mlecchas and yavanas to give up the four pillars of sinful activities. Impossible, you cannot do it.” Even the best of them... “Just come back home to India. Even the people of India can’t do it, what to speak of there.” And others were telling him “compromise, just get them to chant and eat prasadam but don’t say these principles. It will ruin everything.” Even some of his own initial followers were thinking like that. One time quite a famous group of musicians came to visit Prabhupada, 26th 2nd Avenue. Now, in the west... In India we have our åñis and sages who give directions to the whole society. In the west you have rock n roll singers, popular singers who sing about drugs and sex primarily and they give directions to the whole society. Actually! No exaggeration. The whole society was based on the message coming from their songs. The popular musicians singing about romance and intoxication. They are the Vedic hymns of the west. Not very Vedic - avedic. But they are standard. Nartaki Mataji, would you agree with this? Entire generation would just run towards their message. So these very, very influential people came to Srila Prabhupada and they were listening very carefully. They liked the idea of chanting Hare Krishna because they can play it on their guitars and everything like that. They liked the idea of eating prasad. But the devotees were praying to Kåñëa “please don’t let Prabhupada tell them what is the four regulative principles” because they will never accept it. And Prabhupada just went on charming their hearts with so much nice philosophy. They were listening carefully. The devotees were thinking “please, please, Prabhupada don’t spoil it, don’t tell them about this.” but sure enough Srila Prabhupada knowing exactly what everyone needs to hear he said, “but in order to make any spiritual progress you must give up illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat eating”. Hare Kåñëa! Some of the devotees in the room started holding their heads thinking Prabhupada has spoiled everything, took us so much to get these people to come here. And the musicians, when they heard that it was like thunderbolt upon their whole conception of what is the purpose of life. Dismantling the entire foundation of their existence in material illusion. And afterwards Srila Prabhupada said “I must preach the truth, whether people are going to accept it or not, whether I’m popular or not, I must speak the truth.” And what is the truth? It is what Kåñëa speaks. We are not egoistic. What Kåñëa speaks, it can be presented in a very broad minded universal way. But it must be presented as it is. Sinful activities are contrary to spiritual development. Sense gratification is contrary to spiritual development. No illicit sex, no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating isn’t such a difficult thing for people in India, because basically there’s... the connection to a culture of detachment and devotion. But in the west you cannot imagine what this means. In India to speak “keep Kåñëa in the center of your life, chant this maha mantra every day, associate with devotees, turn off your television,” “Haaaa..., what is this fanaticism? This is very dangerous. This is a suicidal conception, turn off your television. How will we live? How will we survive? Everyone’s doing it. It’s the progressive modern way of life.” But what enjoyment is there? I remember when I was young, I couldn’t believe it. I hitchhiked to New York City. And I found, this was in the nineteen sixties. I couldn’t believe it. The average person was watching television nine hours a day, all night long. I was from a small town. There were maybe two stations and by 11 o’clock at night the stations shut down. And just this... if you turn down the station it just went zzzzzzzz.... But in New York City, there were so many stations all night long. And people would just sit like this aaaaaa.... watching people killing each other with guns and swords and watching people having... having sex with each other and watching all sorts of... that’s basically all there is. Some times some... what to call it, some decorations on those principles. I... What is this? I never saw more miserable people in my life. They were morose, they were aaaaaa..... So I was thinking if this television watching is the source of happiness, why the people who do it the most are the most miserable? If sex life is so nice then why the prostitutes aren’t dancing in ecstasy? But yet when we say, “take that time, read the Gita, come to kirtan, chant with devotees.” “Haaaa... What is this? We should be normal.” We should watch television or we should work overtime. But this going to temple and hearing about Kåñëa, associating with sadhus, chanting, dancing, having ärati with your family when it’s not even Sunday. What is this? This is the downfall of all of our conceptions of reality. But Kåñëa Consciousness is the presentation of truth, real tradition.
ONLY A PURE DEVOTEE CAN GET ONE OUT OF ILLUSION
Maharaj Präcénabarhishat was in this condition of life. He was wasting so much of his time and with all of his efforts, with all of his intelligence he could not see the reality behind the cloud of illusion until Narada Muni, that great devotee of guru parampara came to his palace. And Narada Muni... He understood that Maharaj Präcénabarhishat, because of his very high position as the king of the whole world, not just a little kingdom, he had too much taken seriously his own conceptions of truth. So if I tell him what is reality, what is devotional service, what is renunciation, even as a king he will certainly reject what I say. It will be too much of a shock. His ego would not be able to accommodate that I am telling him that he is wrong. The false ego doesn’t like to be told that it is wrong- This is the problem and the more we are recognized within society as being right, the more painful it is for the ego to hear that we are wrong. So painful that sometimes we are willing to fight an entire war just to prove that we are right even if we know we are wrong. Hare Kåñëa.
 
CAUSES OF PRIDE
So the nature of the ego...
janmaiçvarya-çruta-çrébhir
edhamäna-madaù pumän…
Srimad Bhagavatam [1.8.26]
That material opulences, high parentage, much wealth, very good education, physical beauty and strength, these things make us so proud. People recognize us and adore us and we take such pleasure being recognized and adored that we cannot tolerate the idea of being seen as having a defect or being wrong. This is completely the opposite of what pleases Kåñëa. What pleases Kåñëa?
tåëädapi sunécena
taror api sahiñëunä
amäninä mänadena
kértanéyaù sadä hariù
Sri Siksastakam verse:-3

To be humble like a blade of grass, tolerant like a tree but constantly chant the holy names of Kåñëa “Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa, Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare” That is real religion.
Narada Muni, he was an expert preacher. Narada Muni, he would not preach just to prove to someone that he knows the truth. He was preaching to change the person’s heart. Therefore he wanted Präcénabarhishat to hear this message without being frightened or offended. So he began to tell a story about a king from another kingdom at another time. His name was Puranjana. First he told about the power and the grandeur of this king and Präcénabarhishat is thinking, oh this is very good story. Go on, go on. Narada Muni caught him in the web of his expertise as a preacher. He continued to explain the nature of this king’s life. He explained the beauty of his kingdom, the beauty of his queen, the wonderful nature of his children, how he was so powerful and Präcénabarhishat is very much listening. Then gradually he began to explain how this king was into an illusion. He was engaged in so many so called religious activities which were actually harmful to himself and others. And he was so much attached to his wealth and his surroundings but ultimately he suffered, he was miserable. He was conquering great lands but he was just a play of his senses and the objects of his senses. And then how he died and he had to take another birth in a miserable condition of life. And as Narada Muni was speaking this story, just towards the end king Präcénabarhishat realized he is talking about me! The whole story is about me! But he has done it in an allegorical way to appear that its some one else but it’s me! He has changed some of the names. But by the time he came to that realization he was convinced that what Narada Muni was saying is true. So who ever they are, how ever great, without the mercy of the Lord’s representative, the Vaisnavas we cannot understand the truth. And what do the Vaisnavas teach us? If they are bogus Vaisnavas, if they are bogus gurus, they will tell us go on enjoying in anyway you want, but take this mantra. Just give me some money. Hare Krsna. One meditator came to America like this. Do anything you want, it doesn’t matter. Just take this mantra and you will become God. But give me 35 dollars. Later it became several hundred dollars due to inflation. Prabhupada did not like this idea. We should preach the way Kåñëa preaches.
ye hi saàsparça-jä bhogä
duùkha-yonaya eva te…
Bhagavad Gita [5.22]
Kåñëa says that sense gratification is the source of misery. You must give it up. But how to give it up? We can’t just give up our search for enjoyment because the soul needs enjoyment. We learn how to find satisfaction in watering the root of the tree - in service to God. We direct our life around service to God. We can have a wonderful family and beautiful children and all facilities at home but put Kåñëa in the center, not your ego in the center. Don’t work out of greed, work out of devotion. For that we must have the association of saintly people to guide us, to inspire us. And then we can actually find real happiness, and we can give that happiness to others. Lord Brahma is very strongly warning us that people in general all engaged in foolish acts not in the really beneficial activities enunciated directly by you Kåñëa for their guidance. As long as that tendency for foolish work remains powerful all the plans and the struggle for existence will be cut to pieces. I therefore offer my obeisances unto him who acts as eternal time.
Are there any questions?
QUESTION & ANSWERS

UNDERSTAND THE STANDARDS AND TRY YOUR BEST TO REACH THEM
Question: Not audible
Answer: We should understand the standard. We should not justify sense gratification and change the standard. That is the tendency. It’s actually very good because it is natural. We... whether we are able to follow completely strictly or not, at least we should know what is the standard that we should gradually be trying to purify ourselves to achieve. If we do not set our goals, we will never progress in the proper direction. Hmm... We should not see each other as simply umhh... instruments for our enjoyment. We should see each other as the sacred property of God. We should see each other as our union for the service of God. That should be the basic premise of our relationship. And if due to previous conditionings we are simply not able to live by the highest standards immediately, we should do the best we can and we should always keep that standard as something very sacred to approach. The danger is when we justify and think that it’s impossible, it’s not reasonable and it’s not important. Then you cannot make progress. So certainly Kåñëa is watching over us. What ever ashram we are in, whether we are sanyasis, or whether we are brahmacharis, or grihastas or vanaprastas, whether we are Brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, shudras, whether we are atheists, mlecchas or yavanas, in every situation Kåñëa is watching over us. And we have the instructions of Kåñëa which are coming through guru, sadhu and shastra. And that is our guidance. And in the grhasta ashram there is, by Kåñëa’s divine grace, there is freedom and independence. However we should learn to utilize that freedom and independence in a way that’s to our best welfare. Then we should be sincere. We should strive for perfection even if we may be far away. And if Kåñëa see that sincerity, then He will give us strength and help us.
ananyäç cintayanto mäà
ye janäù paryupäsate…
Bhagavad Gita [9.22]
Just try your best. Kåñëa will give you the power to fulfill your ideal in life. Does that answer you question?
Any other question?
Question (Ananda Vrindavan Prabhu):
Answer:Ahh... you should not hate each other for making a mistake. You should not turn against each other. You should not lose respect so much for each other. You should just understand that we made a mistake. So let us try to purify ourselves and move forward. But it’s not that because we make mistakes that begin to fight and argue. Not like that. Mistakes sometimes happen. In grhasta ashram, they happen. So we should just try to purify ourselves and pick ourselves up and help each other with great love and affection to... to raise the standards of our... our relationship.
Question (Ananda Vrindavan Prabhu): Maharaj, during that passage our spiritual life is very much disturbed at that time.
Answer: : So you have to become more enthusiastic to revive your spiritual life. Hare Kåñëa. When a child is walking it is not so difficult to continue walking. But when a child falls it’s more difficult to get up then to continue walking, for a little child. Is it not? You have seen Raghunath, little baby. When he first learned to walk, when he is just walking it’s not so difficult for him to walk tha tha tha tha... like this. But then he falls. Now to get up is very difficult, to keep walking is not difficult. So we are like children, learning to walk. When we are doing well it’s not that difficult. And when we do make a mistake, it’s very difficult to get up again. And we must get up and start walking again. We should not just lay there for the rest of our lives thinking oh I am fallen. Hare Kåñëa. Ha ha ha... And gradually if you are walking properly we become more strong. Then there is no need to fall.

Devotee: Maharaj how can we not envy?
Maharaj: Ha?
Devotee: How can we not envy?
Maharaj: How can we not envy?
Devotee:-yes
Maharaj:- By chanting the glorification of Kåñëa’s holy name. Hare Kåñëa, Hare Kåñëa, Kåñëa Kåñëa , Hare Hare/ Hare Räma, Hare Räma, Räma Räma, Hare Hare . By following the process of devotional service, learning how to serve, hearing the glories of the Lord, chanting the glories of the Lord, that will purify envy from the core of our hearts.
LONG TERM AND SHORT TERM GOALS OF LIFE
Question: Maharaj, to whatever field we want to reach or we aspire reaching these are the higher stages. But every time... in any pursuit we have to go step by step. So how should we feel or how should we think that ok I have this and I got this. This is my immediate goal and gradually by doing these things I may in future reach the highest goal. So what should be our short term goal as far as our spiritual life is concerned?
Answer: Our long term goal should be.
sarva-dharmän parityajya
mäm ekaà çaraëaà vraja
ahaà tväà sarva-päpebhyo
mokñayiñyämi mä çucaù
Bhagvad Gita[18.66]
To abandon all varieties of occupational and religious ideas and surrender to the supreme Lord. That is the ultimate goal according to the supreme Lord.
sa vai puàsäà paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokñaje
ahaituky apratihatä
yayätmä suprasédati
Srimad Bhagavatam [1.2.6]
This is our long term goal. The supreme occupation is to serve Kåñëa with unmotivated, uninterrupted devotion. That is our ultimate aspiration in life. We will not be content with any other situation in the world until... until by the grace of God we achieve that. If you are content with any other situation you will never reach that goal. If you are driving to Radha Gopinath temple and you become satisfied looking at some restaurant in Bandra, you will never make it to Radha Gopinath temple. You will always have to keep that as your goal and keep striving for it. Now as far as your immediate goals, your short term goals, your short term goals is minute to minute, day to day to try to perform your service in the best possible quality ways. When you are chanting your japa, your short... your, ultimate goal is pure unmotivated love to Kåñëa. Your short term goal is this particular name of this particular mantra I have to listen to and concentrate on. That’s your short term goal. A little longer goal is to do that and complete sixteen rounds, with attention. Then the goal beyond that is after that I will attend Srimad Bhagavatam class and I will hear what is the reality of the purpose of life. What does Kåñëa want to tell me today? When we come to Bhagavatam class we should think like this, what does Kåñëa want to tell me today? What message does Kåñëa have for me today? It’s not just an ordinary class like in the colleges. Kåñëa... time, place and circumstances, speaking to you through His devotees or through His literatures, His scriptures. And a little longer goal could be let now let me become... help with this project. You are a dentist? Hare Kåñëa. “Jitesh the dentist” you should be thinking how can I organize my profession to be most responsible, to be most efficient so that I can utilize this to influence others to be God conscious. How I can best utilize every aspect of my life for service. So in this way in our short term goals we have... we should have moment to moment goals to be attentive and doing things in a proper consciousness. We should have hour to hour goals, day to day goals, week to week, month to month, year to year, decade to decade, but they should be all in pursuance of the goal of life. And for that we need the guidance of guru, sadhu and sastra.
Devamrita Prabhu, would you like to speak something? You have been tolerating me like a tree for so long. Madhav Prabhu, some nectarine sandesh? (laughs all around).
Srila Prabhupada ki jay.
Sri Radha Giridhari ki jay.
Sri Jagannath Baladev Subhadra ki jay.
Gaur premanande Haribol!!!

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