Yes, again, hearing from the right person is very much stressed because... Well, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said bhāgavata paḍa giyā bhāgavata-sthāne. You cannot hear Bhagavad-gita and get some benefit if you are not hearing from a bhagavata person. Bhagavata is the one who lives according to the book Bhagavata. There are two bhagavatas: person and the book. Book Bhagavata is here, but the person bhagavata, this is like Srila Prabhupada and great acaryas and devotees like him, who live according to Bhagavatam. They just don't need to speculate anything, they just have to repeat. Srila Prabhupada says Krsna consciousness is very simple, very easy to preach. You have to just say what Krsna says. Krsna says mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat, "There is no one superior to Me."
Well, Srila Prabhupada, for example, in the introduction of Bhagavad-gita, he quotes one Mayavadi philosopher, politician, who said that we should not be surrendered to Krsna. There is somebody inside Krsna which is unknown, which is higher than Him. No, Krsna says, "There is nobody higher than Me." mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat. There is nobody higher than Me. So if you understand this, then you can become liberated. So I mentioned it a few times that Mayavadis and monists can become very angry because they have to go through so much penances to get liberation. While Krsna says if you understand who I am and My appearance, and My body is transcendental, I'm not just born just like anybody, so you can become liberated just by knowing Krsna's appearance. Isn't it amazing? So, such a wonderful message is this. Well, Sanatana Gosvami, he says that you can drink milk, but if milk is touched by a snake, then you can get sick. Milk is wonderful, but not milk touched by a snake. So that's the whole idea. So Bhagavad-gita is like supreme milk, but if the Mayavadi has interpreted it, then it's essentially really dangerous poison. I do something on the social media from time to time, and for example, when we printed new Bhagavad-gita in Georgia, which is gorgeous, really nice and beautiful, printing beautiful, yes, it looks just wonderful, and actually became very popular in the whole country. And sometimes in the commentary, people ask, "Well, do you have commentary by Sankaracarya?" or something like that. They think that... I say, "No, this is the only Bhagavad-gita, there is no other, this is Bhagavad-gita, everything else is not Bhagavad-gita." Sankaracarya, well, we know why Sankaracarya did what he did, but we should not read his commentaries because then we can become very much polluted. So we have to take example of Sukadeva Gosvami and Maharaja Pariksit. So both are the perfect example of one who recites Bhagavatam properly and one who listens to it. Maharaja Pariksit could have easily counteracted this curse by a brahmana boy, but he didn't do that. He was very young, actually. He could have nullified this and could stay alive, enjoy his kingdom, enjoy his family life, but he didn't do that. Why? Because he knew he has to make Bhagavatam possible. I mean, he had to make this wonderful event take place. He knew that Sukadeva Gosvami would come and they would talk about Krsna. He didn't care about anything else. So he didn't even eat anything or drink anything or sleep during a week. So, yes. Well, he was pure, of course he was, in a way, already liberated. But he didn't listen to this to get free from this material reaction. He just wanted to be absorbed in topics of Lord Sri Krsna, krsna-katha. Well, let me go on, because we don't have much time. "The instructions of Bhagavad-gita and the descriptions of Srimad-Bhagavatam are so cleansing that almost anyone suffering from threefold miseries of material existence will desire to hear the glories of the Lord from these books and thus be elevated on the path of liberation. Two classes of men, however, will never be interested in hearing the message of Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam: those who are determined to commit suicide and those determined to kill cows or other animals for the satisfaction of their own tongues. Although such persons may make a show of hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam at a bhagavata-saptaha, this is but another creation of the karmis, who cannot derive any benefit from such performance. The word paśughnāt is important in this connection. Paśughna means butcher. Persons fond of performing ritualistic ceremonies for elevation to the higher planetary systems perform sacrifices, yajñas, by killing animals. Lord Buddha, therefore, rejected the authority of the Vedas because his mission was to stop animal sacrifices, which are recommended in Vedic ritualistic ceremonies.
nindasi yajña-vidher ahaha śrutijātaṁ
sadaya-hṛdaya darśita-paśughātam
keśava dhṛta-buddha-śarīra jaya jagadīśa hare
Well, yes. Pariksit Maharaja asked, "Who will not be interested in hearing?" Only two kinds of people, who are killing the animals or killing themselves. Well, killing animals is just bad, even in sacrifice. Even Vedic sacrifices are not okay. So Lord Buddha came to stop it. Basically, its idea is that you have to then go to higher planets, which is a materialistic desire, so anyway, killing bad. Should not kill animals, of course. But killing yourself, committing suicide, doesn't mean that one really drinks poison just like that. It means that one is not interested in spiritual matters, and one wants to... we can see, we have something called traivargika. Traivargika are those who are only interested in dharma, artha, economic development, and sense enjoyment. They don't want anything else. So, okay, I think we are managing. "Even though animal sacrifices are sanctioned in Vedic ceremonies, men who kill animals for such ceremonies are considered butchers. Butchers cannot be interested in Krsna consciousness, for they are already materially allured. Their only interest lies in developing comforts for the temporary body.
bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ
tayāpahṛta-cetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ
samādhau na vidhīyate
"In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination of devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place. Bhagavad-gita 2.44."
So this is actually the antithesis of the verse before in Bhagavad-gita, which says vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana. Those who are...
Those who really want to go back to Godhead, their mind is just directed to one thing. They want this goal to achieve, and they don't want anything else. So they are very much determined. But on the other hand, those who want bhoga and aiśvarya, enjoyers of this world, they cannot have a strong mind, and they are always directed to all kinds of sense subjects and all kinds of goals and desires. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:
manuṣya-janama-pāiyā, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nā bhajiyā,
jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāinu
Anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, and who therefore does not engage in the service of the Lord, is also paśu-ghna, for he is willingly drinking poison. Such a person cannot be interested in kṛṣṇa-kathā because he still has a desire for material sense gratification. He is not nivṛtta-tṛṣṇa. As it is said, traivargikās te puruṣā vimukhā hari-medhasaḥ. Those interested in traivargikā or trivarga, that is, in dharma, artha, and kāma, are religious for the sake of achieving a material position with which to gain better facilities for sense gratification. Such persons are killing themselves by willingly keeping themselves in the cycle of birth and death. They cannot be interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the Upadeśāmṛta, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that even though the holy name is so sweet and so wonderful, those who are materially affected cannot taste the sweetness of it. Just like someone who has jaundice, in Ayurvedic terms the medicine for jaundice is sugarcane juice or molasses or something very sweet. But this very sweet thing, sweetest form of sugar, tastes bitter to them because those who have a very high level of bilirubin, yellow pigment in the body, which makes their eyeballs and skin become yellow, everything tastes inverted for them. So just like that. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, "Well, I was willingly drinking poison because I did not want to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa." So when we come to this stage of regretting, "Yes, I wasted my time, even though I've been chanting and everything. Was I really interested in it? Was I really interested in getting free from material desires?" Everyone has to ask this question to himself or herself. So this is a very personal thing, of course. So it's up to us to be serious in devotional service. We may follow all the principles, but we may not be... I regret now I don't remember the exact śloka from Caitanya-caritāmṛta where it says that you may chant a lot, but if you don't develop attachment to Kṛṣṇa, you're wasting your time. Well, not really, you are getting something, but you are not getting love of Godhead because you don't want love of Godhead. You just follow some kind of things externally. Anyway, enough of that. So let's take the next step. For kṛṣṇa-kathā, topics about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there must be a speaker and a hearer. Both of them can be interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness if they are no longer interested in material topics. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "I don't have love of Kṛṣṇa, because if I had love of Kṛṣṇa, how could I maintain my life? I'm alive, that's why I don't have love of Kṛṣṇa, because how could I live?" If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and okay, whatever, so no problem, you don't have tears and you don't have all these symptoms of ecstasy and separation from Kṛṣṇa. So anyway, yeah, it's a very high level, of course. And one can actually see how this attitude automatically develops in persons who are Kṛṣṇa conscious. Although the devotees of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are quite young men, they no longer read materialistic newspapers, magazines, and so on, for they are no longer interested in such topics (nivṛtta-tarṣaiḥ). They completely give up the materialistic understanding of life. For topics concerning Uttamaśloka, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the spiritual master speaks and the disciple hears with attention. Unless both of them are free from material desires, they cannot be interested in topics of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The spiritual master and disciple do not need to understand anything more than Kṛṣṇa, because simply by understanding Kṛṣṇa and talking about Kṛṣṇa, one becomes a perfectly learned person, as stated: yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati. The Lord sits within everyone's heart, and by the grace of the Lord the devotee receives instructions direct from the Lord Himself, who says in the Bhagavad-gītā 15.15:
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair ahameva vedyo
vedāntakṛd vedavid eva cāham
"I am sitting in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge, and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas." Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so exalted that one who is perfectly situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness under the direction of the spiritual master is fully satisfied by hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā, expounded in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, and similar literatures. Since merely talking about Kṛṣṇa is so pleasing, we can simply imagine how pleasing it is to render service to Kṛṣṇa. Well, if you understand Kṛṣṇa, you don't need anything. Just like this famous sentence by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, that the only need in this world, you don't need anything, everything is there. The only thing lacking is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So if you understand Kṛṣṇa, you understand everything. That doesn't mean you become a chemist or you become a bank adviser. It's not to say that. I mean you know Kṛṣṇa and you will know everything what you need. Of course, you have still to maybe go to school or whatever if you need it for something, but if you know Kṛṣṇa, you know everything. You know Paramātmā, you know Brahman, you know the spiritual world, you know everything. So you don't need any other source of spiritual knowledge. Of course, you may need some material skills or knowledge or whatever for some other reasons, of course, because we have to live somehow, we have to maintain ourselves and our families, so of course. Yes. So now we come to the last part of this wonderful purport. When these discourses on kṛṣṇa-kathā take place between a liberated spiritual master and his disciple, others also sometimes take advantage of hearing these topics and also benefit. These topics are the medicine to stop the repetition of birth and death. This cycle of repeated birth and death, by which one takes on different bodies again and again, is called bhava or bhava-roga.
If anyone willingly or unwillingly hears kṛṣṇa-kathā, his bhava-roga, disease of birth and death, will certainly stop. Therefore, kṛṣṇa-kathā is called bhavauṣadha, the remedy to stop the repetition of birth and death. Auṣadhi is a herb. Kṛṣṇa says in the tenth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, "I am the medicinal herb," when he describes different vibhūtis. "I am the talent in man, I am the sound oṁ in Vedic mantras, syllable oṁ, I am sound in ether, I am taste of water," and everything. So he says, "This is the medicine if you want to stop repetition of birth and death." But I think first one has to understand that this is actually very bad to be born again, not having finished our job in this life, or at least not tried our best in this life. So when we become serious, we start looking for a cure. And this is the cure: just listen to kṛṣṇa-kathā. Therefore, kṛṣṇa-kathā is called bhavauṣadha, the remedy to stop the repetition of birth and death. Karmīs, or persons attached to material sense enjoyment, generally cannot give up their material desires. But kṛṣṇa-kathā is such a potent medicine that if one is induced to hear kṛṣṇa-kathā, he will certainly be freed from this disease. A practical example is Dhruva Mahārāja, who at the end of his tapasya was fully satisfied. When the Lord wanted to give Dhruva Mahārāja a benediction, Dhruva refused it:
svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāce
"My dear Lord," he said, "I am fully satisfied. I do not ask for any benediction for material sense gratification." We actually see that even young boys and girls in our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement have given up their long practice of bad habits like illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling. Because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so potent that it gives them full satisfaction, they are no longer interested in material sense gratification. See the example of Dhruva Mahārāja. One of the greatest devotees of the Lord, he wanted an unheard, huge kingdom, much bigger than his father's. And he performed wonderful sacrifices, just amazing sacrifice, nobody can do that. And then the Lord, Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu, came to him. When he saw the beauty of the Lord, he said, "Well, I was so stupid. I don't want any benediction from You." He said, "I was looking for some pieces of broken glass, and I found You, the biggest diamond." Well, then the Lord tells him, "No, no, you have to be the ruler of the biggest kingdom in the universe." So He gave him the polar star, Dhruvaloka. So by listening to Kṛṣṇa, by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, the only chance to get free from material desires is this. So we have to develop aural reception, Śrīla Prabhupāda says, aural reception, where you do it submissively, you submit yourself to this, to want to receive this vibration and listen to it very carefully, and analyze it very intelligently, not in a challenging mood, but in a submissive mood, and then the heart becomes purified. Let's read the verse again, and then we can go to questions and answers, and maybe then go on in japa.
nivṛtta-tarṣair upagīyamānād
bhavauṣadhāch chrotra-mano-'bhirāmāt
ka uttamaśloka-guṇānuvādāt
pumān virajyeta vinā paśughnāt
Maybe I remembered wrongly, but I think this edition, all the volumes have a śloka, characteristic śloka. I thought this was on one of those volumes, but it's not. So this is a very famous śloka. Let's read the translation again and finish. Glorification of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is performed in the paramparā system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in the false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the Lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self? All right. What do we do now?
Q: I have a question. When you hear, you are two people. But today I also read that somebody was saying to Prabhupada that Ramananda Swami, I think, he was alone in Africa somewhere. And another devotee was telling Prabhupada he needs men because he's alone. And then Prabhupada said, "Alone? What is this nonsense? I never felt alone. I came to the US alone, but I always felt like I was busy writing, I was busy preaching, and following my spiritual master. I never felt alone." So my question is that because sometimes we hear that you can only practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the association of devotees, but then Prabhupada also said that you are never alone. Also, when we are reading Prabhupada's books, we also feel we get the association of Prabhupada. So could you elaborate a little?
A: In the beginning, of course, being with devotees, and it's always very nice being with devotees, to do service and everything. But at one point, maybe you are physically alone, but if we remember vāṇī, the instruction of the spiritual master or Śrīla Prabhupāda through his books and do the service, we never feel alone, actually. Yes, it's wonderful being always within the society of the devotees, but if somehow or other we are not there, we should not think that we are alone. Of course we are not, because Kṛṣṇa is there in our heart, and if we follow vāṇī, the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we feel enlightenment all the time. So I think this is how I see it.
Q: I think you also yourself, you have your family, but you also spent a long time just translating.
A: Yes, that's right. One has to find some kind of engagement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness so one doesn't feel alone. Of course, having some physical contact with nice people, family or friends, this is nice, but if somehow or other we are not there... Just like my fellow devotees in the Soviet Union, they were in prison, too. So they were actually sitting in jail for years. I know all of them. I cannot imagine how hard it was for them, but they survived. Some of them would make japa beads from the bread. They would chew the bread and make the beads. I mean, just unbelievable. So in normal situations we have people around us like family or devotees and everything, but if we are put in such trials, then we have to be very creative and surrender to Kṛṣṇa more and more. It's always nice to have some good association, I think so. I hope this is okay.
Q: What advice would you give to a person who wants to be determined, but they aren't determined, or they don't feel much determination in terms of making progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?
A: I think it's a matter of taste, because wherever your heart is, that's what you want. If we think that material enjoyment is so nice, so that taste will drive us to this. So how to develop the spiritual taste? By listening to kṛṣṇa-kathā. Śrīla Prabhupāda says we should read books two hours a day. It's not a joke, he meant it. But actually, I work with Śrīla Prabhupāda's books...
A: ...at least two hours, if not more, every single day. Because all the books I translated, right now I'm reading my translation of Ādi-līlā Chapter 5, glories of Lord Nityānanda Balarāma. Or just before that, I of course read the fourth chapter, which is the inner reasons why Lord Caitanya appeared. It's about Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and Kṛṣṇa wants to taste what Rādhārāṇī feels, how she's happy, and how much love she experiences, and things like that. So anyway, we have to read Prabhupāda's books, and then we'll get determination, taste. If you think something is very good for you, then you will do everything for that. And if you develop this taste, these books which give us strength, then from the books we get the strength to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, properly listen to the names, and then we come closer to Kṛṣṇa. And to cultivate these things, devotees who are very determined, being with them, together with them, it's very helpful, I think.
Q: Japa-mālā?
A: Yes. Let's...