670301 - Lecture SB 06.01.07 - San Francisco
There is no prerequisite qualification. You haven't got to educate yourself. Just like if one studies Vedānta, he has to tax his brain so much, he has to learn Sanskrit, he has to learn the intricacies of logic and philosophy and so many things.
Here, there is no need of anything. You come here as you are, whatever you may be, and join this chanting and dancing—your purification method immediately begins. Immediately. And if you continue, then you become purified. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). As soon as you are purified . . . purification means purification of your heart, that's all. All the dirty things are within our heart. The bodily dirty things, if you wash once, it is all gone. But it is very difficult to remove the dirty things within the heart. That requires purification.
So this process, chanting Hare Krishna, begins from the purification of your heart. Now, the television man was asking how it is possible. It is possible. One may not understand. Just like a child, he does not know how he is produced. I know. I asked my mother in my childhood, "My dear mother, how did I come out from your belly?" I still remember. So my mother showed me her navel: "You come out from this navel." So anyway, a child cannot understand, but when he grows up, he understands everything.
So how Kṛṣṇa consciousness acts, how this transcendental sound cleanses your heart, you may not understand in the beginning, but if you take to it and if you practice it, then you understand. Then you can understand. And in the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, śabdāt anāvṛttiḥ. As from the sound the whole material existence has come into being, similarly, from sound also, you can go back to the spiritual existence.
So this sound vibration . . . the oṁkāra is also the same sound as . . . oṁ, but this is easier, Hare Kṛṣṇa. You cannot have so ecstasy by vibrating oṁ, but because it was chanted by the greatest authority, Lord Caitanya, it has got special power. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). The scriptures indicates that we have to follow the footprints of great authorities. Tarko apratiṣṭham. You cannot come to the right conclusion simply by arguing. You may be a very good logician and you can argue very nicely, but another man, he may be a greater logician than you; he can nullify all your arguments. There is possibility. So tarko apratiṣṭhaḥ.
Therefore simply by argument and logical conclusion, you cannot approach to the Absolute Truth, or real truth. Tarko apratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ (CC Madhya 17.186). And if you consult yourself scriptures . . . just like Bhagavad-gītā, if you read yourself, you get one kind of impression, and if you hear explanation from an authorized person, you get another impression. The book is the same, but by hearing from the authorities, you get a better impression, better understanding. There are so many examples like this. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnāḥ.
Now, there are many scriptures in the world. The Hindus have got the Vedas; the Christians have got the Bible; the Muslims, they have got Koran. Now, if you read all these scriptures, you will find something contradictory. Just like animal killing. Animal killing, more or less, there are in every scripture, restricted or non-restricted.
There is none non-restricted; restricted. Even in the Koran, the animal killing is restricted. Animal is to be killed in the . . . in certain Bakri Eid ceremony and in the masjid. Similarly, animal killing amongst the Hindus, they are to be done in the temple of Goddess Kālī. But no slaughterhouse is recommended.
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