...vibrations like oṃkāra and Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rāma. So these two forms, Kṛṣṇa says these two forms of me, the sound and this form, the spiritual form, are my eternal forms.
So there are three ways to see Kṛṣṇa. So there's Brahman, there's the effulgence. He's everything, he's everywhere. And then there's the Lord in the heart, Supersoul we call him, Paramātmā. We are ātmā, he is Paramātmā. And then he's also Bhagavān. So there are two forms of Bhagavān, and that is the sound of his name, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and the other is his spiritual form.
So first of all, he's everywhere, but how come we don't see him? If he's everywhere, why don't we see him everywhere? Because our eyes are covered. They're covered by so many things. There's a curtain of māyā, and there's also ignorance, avidyā, and he's adhokṣaja, he's way beyond. And also, we have the vision of mūḍha, which means foolish vision, vision of fools. We just see the bodies, we don't see the soul, we don't see Kṛṣṇa.
So one time, Śrīla Prabhupāda was having a class in USA, Los Angeles. And there, one hippie, who thought he was God, came into the class and he had a big, dark robe, sun, moon, stars. He thought he was controlling them. So he sat through Prabhupāda's lecture and he was just glaring at Prabhupāda. So at the end, he asked a question to Prabhupāda, "Can you see God?" And Prabhupāda looked at him and he said, "No, because you are in the way."
So he couldn't see because this guy had such a huge false ego. And you can't take that with you when you go to the spiritual world, you got to leave it here. No false ego is allowed in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
Okay, so that's one way to see God. Another is the Lord in the heart. Lord in the heart. He's helping us, he's giving us, "Okay, what do you want, you can have." Whatever you want. And he's sitting there, he's our friend, and he's just waiting for us to turn to him. He's just waiting, sitting and waiting. "When will my friend talk to me? When will my friend serve me?"
And so Prabhupāda gives the example, I think here in Sweden, you might see people taking their dogs for a walk. So the dog is on the leash, whatever you call it, and the dog can sit, the dog can run, the dog can pass, he can do anything, but there's a limit. The master has the leash. So we are like that little dog. We can sit, we can run, we can jog, but there's a leash also, and the Lord's got us on a leash. So yes, he's very kind and he's asking us, "Just surrender to me and you'll really be happy."
And in Gītā he says so. And he's just asking, what is he asking? "A little leaf, a little flower, fruit and water" in Gītā. "And just give me that, and I will eat." He's just trying to call us, trying to help us turn our face to him.
So yes, and when we offer something to Kṛṣṇa, he's very, very happy with that. He's pleased. He's our father. Like if you have a child, your child offers something to you, you think, "Oh, that's so sweet." I mean, the thing belongs to you, but still, when the child does it, then you think that's really nice. Same thing with Kṛṣṇa. We are his children. If we just give a little bit to him, then he's very happy. He's very happy.
So another analogy that Śrīla Prabhupāda gives, the Supersoul, the Lord in our heart, is like an expert director of a drama, of a play. Just like this verse says, he's directing our wanderings. So an expert director makes the actor forget his real identity to become the part he's playing. So we have to forget about our spiritual identity in order to be who we think we are in this world. "Yes, no, no, I am Indian, I am American, I'm this, I'm that." Yes, man, woman, mother, father. We have to forget our family in the spiritual world, we have to forget, "Oh, I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." So he helps us if that's what you want, okay. You don't have to remember me. He's not like, "Love me, just love me and that's it." No, he doesn't force us. He's asking us to love him, and that's according if we like, if we like.
And so, yes, we forgot our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, want to enjoy. So he says, "Okay, it's your choice. If you want to forget, I'll help you forget. If you want to remember, I'll help you remember." He says in Gītā, teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ. If you worship me with love, I'll give you intelligence how to come to me.
And other ways, we choose to identify with this world, then he'll give us that intelligence too, how to forget him. And most people are trying to forget Kṛṣṇa. But here we're trying to remember Kṛṣṇa. Here we're trying to help you remember. So it's good if you come here.
And Kṛṣṇa says in Gītā, "Don't be entangled, surrender to me and I'll help you to escape from this prison of material world." Yes, it's a prison here because the problem is birth is painful, and then we get sick, nobody wants to get sick. And after that we get old, and when you're young you never think it's going to happen to you. But just wait, if you live that long. Who knows in this crazy world now, how long we will live. But old age is not fun. You wake up in the morning, and this morning I woke up, okay, well, the pains, the usual pains there in my back, but now I got pain here too in my teeth. Oh, boy.
So you wake up and you feel the pain. But one day, if you wake up and don't feel the pain, then you probably left your body already and you died. So yes, that's there's one Indian old man, he said to me that, "No, no, I must have pain. Otherwise, how do I know I'm alive?" This is old age, in summary. Really, really like that.
So yes, but he's trying to help us not to feel that pain but to feel love for him, go beyond the pain. And so yes, he's giving us good instruction. And when devotees, when they wake up, we're trying to wake up everybody. Then when you have, when you feel your relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then it is so much fun and it's changing every second.
The Supersoul, he's new, he's fresh. He's not stagnant, not stagnant. When I used to be pūjārī in Calcutta temple in the '70s, then we used to take pictures of Rādhā Govinda to show, to make Indian men, to make them life members. They would see the picture and, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to be life member."
So our temple president, he was taking pictures. And so he took one picture, and we didn't have like now you can just take a million pictures in a few seconds. We had regular big, huge cameras, and not even digital. And so he was taking one picture, and about two minutes later took another picture, and he looked, he said, "Hey, they changed. They..." Yeah, they're changing every second because I used to be pūjārī and I would be watching them the whole day. So yes, they actually change. They're not stagnant.
And in Australia, the devotees hired one professional photographer to take pictures of Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. And the photographer is taking his pictures, and he said, "Hey, she moved. She moved. Can you fix her veil?" This is an outside person, not a devotee. But she was very merciful to him and showed she's alive. Yes.
And so yes, this is amazing, this movement. It's very amazing. We can see Lord Caitanya directly here and associates, and Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, if you go to Horsnäs, you can see Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. So there's here what we can see in this world, there are two basic forms of the Lord. And one is the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is, when you chant very nicely, then you'll be able to see Kṛṣṇa in the words of the holy name. Yes, you chant very nicely, attentively, chant attentively, and that will happen.
And so when you sing Hare Kṛṣṇa, that form is more merciful than the deity form, because there's no rules for chanting. You can chant in the bathroom, you can chant on the train, on the plane. I chant on the plane when it's going up and going down, and it equalizes the pressure in my ears also. It's very, very good for plane rides. And even the whole plane ride, I chant. It's very nice, very helpful to make my mind peaceful. Oh, we have a little monkey, that's what the monkeys do in Vṛndāvana. They run around with something on their head, they don't know where they're going.
So anyway, yes, so we can see Kṛṣṇa through sound. In Bhāgavatam purport, it says, "You can hear, you have to hear with rapt attention from the speaker. And if you do that, you can see Kṛṣṇa in the pages of the book Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā." But Prabhupāda says no one can give rapt attention if you're not pure in mind. Oh, boy. That's rough. And then no one can be pure in mind who's not pure in action. All right. And no one can be pure in action who is not pure in eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating. So isn't that, that's kind of rough, to be pure in all these things. But Prabhupāda always gives us a concession. He says, "But somehow or other, if someone hears with rapt attention from the right person at the very beginning, he can see Kṛṣṇa in the pages of Bhāgavatam." And also we can hear.
So his holy name, sometimes we don't understand, "How is the holy name the same as Kṛṣṇa?" And so there's a story told by His Holiness Śacinandana Swami. There was a beggar in the time when there used to be kings. Everybody could see the king. So one beggar came to the king and said, "I would like to see what gold looks like" because he's very poor. The king said, "Okay. You go up the stairs, go to my treasury, open the door, and you will see what gold looks like." So he went, he saw gold, he came back, and then he realized the stairs were also made of gold. Now, what does that mean? That the way to Kṛṣṇa, the chanting, is Kṛṣṇa. It's all already, we're in gold already, by chanting. We're on the gold stairway.
And, but we forgot Kṛṣṇa, so we don't realize this is Kṛṣṇa. And one day, if you keep on chanting, you will see Kṛṣṇa come from the holy name. So yes, we're so proud of seeing everything, but we should wait to become qualified to see. You can't just say, "Oh, God, come, come in front, I want to see you." No, no. Prabhupāda says to people like that, "First I have to make eye operation. You have cataracts. I have to take them out and then you can see Kṛṣṇa."
And so, yes, there's some verse in Bhāgavatam, when the devotees see his beautiful forms, smiling and attracting, and hear his words, he almost loses all other consciousness. So, isn't that nice? So, in spite of his unwillingness, he gets liberation without separate endeavor.
So, there are three kinds of devotees: there's the beginner, there's the preacher, and then there's the highest devotee, uttama-adhikārī. He sees he sees everyone except himself as a devotee. He thinks, "Oh, I'm the lowest" and everyone's a devotee, "Wow, they're serving." And then, the medium one, he just wants to preach. And the third class, he just comes, he may come and see one time, like all of you. But Prabhupāda says even the third class devotees who just come and see, you're the liberated souls, did you know that? If you look at the deities. That's the catch. You look at the deities, and you become liberated even though you don't want to be liberated. You may want to stay here and enjoy, but anyway, there is a prayer, "Don't look at Kṛṣṇa, or else you might get attracted."
And I know in South, in Tamil, they are afraid to worship Kṛṣṇa because we might forget everything and lose everything, especially if he has a flute in his hands. Then, oh, no, no, no, don't look at him, watch out. He can take you away. Yes, Malaysia, also, they're afraid to worship Kṛṣṇa because of that.
So anyway, Śrīla Prabhupāda says how to see God, actually, Gītā says raso 'ham apsu kaunteya that the taste of water, yes, yes, here we have water, it's Kṛṣṇa, that taste. And when we were new devotees in 1970s, our practice was every time before we would drink a glass of water, we would say, Śrī Viṣṇu, Śrī Viṣṇu, Śrī Viṣṇu. So we knew it was Kṛṣṇa. And in Ayurveda, before you take your medicine, you're actually supposed to chant the names of God, and that will help in your healing process. Did you know that?
So we have so many senses and we think, "Oh, the eyes are the ones to see God." Now, Prabhupāda says no, no, sometimes now we're going to have prasādam today, spiritual food. So you might say, "Okay, let me see, let me see how it is." But it's not you want to see it, you want to taste it. So the taste of that food, that is Kṛṣṇa, also. That is Kṛṣṇa. So it's not by the eyes. So Prabhupāda encourages us, "First of all, try to taste God." How are you going to taste? By chanting the holy name. That's one way, and the other way is to eat prasādam, spiritual food. And then Kṛṣṇa will say, "Okay, here I am, here I am."
Just like the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, if we chant, Śrīla Prabhupāda encourages like a child crying for its mother. I think we had a baby here who was crying for its mother, and that's how we're supposed to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And Rādhārāṇī, our mother, will pick us up and give us to Kṛṣṇa.
And so, and if you chant really nicely, what's going to happen? So we chant, we say to Kṛṣṇa, "Please accept me. Please accept me." And if we chant really attentively, Kṛṣṇa will hear us. And Kṛṣṇa will come and he will say, "Please accept me. Please accept me." That's Kṛṣṇa.
So one of my godbrothers, he was in Germany, and Śrīla Prabhupāda asked him, "Why aren't my books being translated into German?" Now, this devotee, he was from America, didn't know German. So he said, so he asked Prabhupāda, "How, how should I do this?" And Prabhupāda said, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will give you intelligence." And so he said that's almost always the answer I got. Prabhupāda was not the type of manager who would give you details. He would not give details.
And so then, he inspired you to use your creative intelligence. He said there's a kind of individual genius in every living being. Like the birds, they fly in the line, and so that's, so that's intelligence. So, genius, genius. So this devotee, he went to the dictionary and looked up the word genius. And guess what the word genius said in the dictionary? This is, of course, 50 years ago, might have changed. So, genius, the definition was: indwelling deity. Can you imagine? Indwelling deity, that's our genius. So that's Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's our genius. He's intelligent, he has ocean of intelligence, and he's giving us intelligence how to reach him.
So this devotee, he was a high school dropout. He never finished high school. And after being a devotee for about three years, he lectured to the Harvard University faculty. No one can do that, a dropout from high school, and he lectured to the Harvard University faculty.
No. So the genius is Kṛṣṇa, so we just we depend on Kṛṣṇa, and then we get the we get the genius. And so His Holiness Śacinandana Swami advises that we should pray to Supersoul in this way... "My dear Kṛṣṇa, please remind me to always chant your..." Oh, this is Śrīla Prabhupāda, this is not, sorry, not His Holiness. This is Prabhupāda's prayer, how we should pray.
"My dear Kṛṣṇa, please remind me to always chant your holy name. Please do not put me into forgetfulness. You're sitting within me as Supersoul, you can put me into forgetfulness or into remembering you. So please do not put me into forgetfulness. Please always remind me to chant. Even if you send me to hell, it doesn't matter, as long as I can always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa."
And then Prabhupāda quotes a song from Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda. They're saying, "Everyone, please follow us and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Come along with us and chant." And so that is our request. So, I'll stop now. We have another five minutes in case anybody has some questions about this topic. No questions.
Why we do wrong things when Kṛṣṇa is inside us?
Good question. No, his question is, why do we do wrong things if Kṛṣṇa is inside of us? Well, he's giving us his advice: don't do it. But we don't listen. But Arjuna asked the same question to Kṛṣṇa in chapter three, so it's a very good question. He said, "Why, why am I doing sinful acts even unwillingly, like I'm being forced?"
So Kṛṣṇa answered, kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ. "It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into anger, which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world."
And so we have this in the material world, we have different modes, and one mode is passion. So passion, in this mode, we're forced, unwillingly. We don't want to, but we're forced. But if you come here, if you practice the chanting and serving, then that is the way you can control that lust. That is the way.
You follow, we have four regulative principles: no meat eating, no non-veg, and no illicit sex. Marriage is, you get married, that's good, but don't do illicit sex, no gambling, no intoxication. So that way you can, that's yoga, you can control your passions. Chanting is our meditation, and then we follow these four rules, it's very helpful, especially non-veg, don't eat, that will increase your lust, if you eat the non-veg foods.
Okay, any other questions? No. No questions. Okay. All glories to Prabhupāda, Hare Kṛṣṇa.