LecturesBhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
We are going to door to door, country to country, continent to continent, city to city, village to village, "Please become Kṛṣṇa conscious." We are teaching them how you can be happy, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56), how you can be a man of knowledge. That is our business. It is not very difficult. 740330 - Lecture BG 04.10 - Bombay So the human life has got responsibility. What is that responsibility? Tapasya. Here it is said, jñāna-tapasā pūtāḥ, purified. Jñāna, knowledge, and tapasya. Then he's purified. Not that "You can do whatever you like. It has nothing to do with the religion." There are so many rascals' program: "You can eat anything. You can do anything, and still you become a Vedāntist." This kind of rascal Vedāntists are going on. But here it is said by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, jñāna-tapasā. Jñāna-tapasā pūtā mad-bhāvam. Without knowledge, without tapasya, you cannot make any spiritual progress. Not by simple words. That is not possible. Because in the previous verse it has been said that, janma karma me divyaṁ
yo jānāti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9)
So how one can come to Kṛṣṇa? Mām eti. That is being described. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ. Vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ (BG 4.10). Mām upāśritāḥ, to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, to become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, to become Kṛṣṇa conscious.
Therefore we are canvassing. We are going to door to door, country to country, continent to continent, city to city, village to village, "Please become Kṛṣṇa conscious." We are teaching them how you can be happy, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56), how you can be a man of knowledge. That is our business. It is not very difficult. The examples are here. These Europeans, American boys and girls, four or five years ago they were different persons. But how they have taken to it? People are surprised. Because they have followed what we have said according to the śāstra. They have followed, and they are following. They are trying to follow sincerely. Therefore they are making progress. So anyone who will follow these principles, how to come the stage of bhāva, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ. There is process. Rūpa Gosvāmī has said how to come to the stage of bhāva. Bhāva means just the immediate stage before the stage of love of Godhead. That is the perfection. Premā pum-ārtho mahān. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us to become mad after God, Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection of love. That is perfection. Just... Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed by His example how He was mad after Kṛṣṇa. He's Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He's teaching us how to become bhāva, budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ. He taught us. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī offered his respect to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne: "Sir, You are Kṛṣṇa, but You have now assumed the name of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya." Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne. "And You are so munificent." Namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te (CC Madhya 19.53). So this bhāva stage can be attained if we follow Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's way of life. And what is that, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu's way of life? His way of life He has described in His Śikṣāṣṭaka: paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. He personally performed saṅkīrtana-yajña, and He taught everyone, harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
(CC Adi 17.21)
That is Kṛṣṇa..., Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu's contribution, that "You simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Then all perfection will come to you." All perfection will come. Very simple thing. It does not cost anything. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, there is no loss on your part. It does not cost you. It does not make you obliged to undergo so many severe penalties. No. You can chant at any moment. Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). We have seen practically. These boys, although they are very young, you'll find they have got these beads. I have asked them to chant always. They are chanting as far as possible.
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