dravyaa karma ca kälaç ca
svabhävo jéva eva ca
väsudevät paro brahman
na cänyo ‘rtho ‘sti tattvataù
(SB 2.5.14)
Translation
The five elementary ingredients of creation, the interaction thereof set up by eternal time, and the intuition or nature of the individual living beings are all differentiated parts and parcels of the Personality of Godhead, Väsudeva, and in truth there is no other value in them.
Purport
This phenomenal world is impersonally the representation of Vasudeva because the ingredients of its creation, their interaction and the enjoyer of the resultant action, the living being, are all produced by the external and internal energies of Lord Krsna. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.4-5). The ingredients, namely earth, water, fire, air and sky, as well as the conception of material identity, intelligence and the mind, are produced of the external energy of the Lord. The living entity who enjoys the interaction of the above gross and subtle ingredients, as set up by eternal time, is an offshoot of internal potency, with freedom to remain either in the material world or in the spiritual world. In the material world the living entity is enticed by deluding nescience, but in the spiritual world he is in the normal condition of spiritual existence without any delusion. The living entity is known as the marginal potency of the Lord. But in all circumstances, neither the material ingredients nor the spiritual parts and parcels are independent of the Personality of Godhead Väsudeva, for all things, whether products of the external, internal or marginal potencies of the Lord, are simply displays of the same effulgence of the Lord, just as light, heat and smoke are displays of fire. None of them are separate from the fire—all of them combine together to be called fire; similarly, all phenomenal manifestations, as well as the effulgence of the body of Vasudeva, are His impersonal features, whereas He eternally exists in His transcendental form called sac-cid-änanda-vigrahaù [Bs. 5.1], distinct from all conceptions of the material ingredients mentioned above.
Radhanath Swami speaks on Learn to seek the truth
An empowered to create the various manifestations within this particular universe that we reside, this hearing revealing the inner truths of thousand universes working from where it is coming & what is the purpose of this creation and the purpose of life. The scripture, shabda-praman is the most accurate & most important means by which we receive information because the scriptures are the spoken by those personalities like Lord Brahma who are directly in connection to the Personality of Godhead. Everyone has their opinions though Brahma is not giving his opinion. He is speaking the truth as he has heard from the Lord himself and as he has personally realized –
tad viddhi praëipätena
paripraçnena sevayä
upadekñyanti te jïänaà
jïäninas tattva-darçinaù
(BG 4.34)
Krsna himself tells in Gita that – “we must approach a spiritual master. Inquire submissively and render service. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth”.
Srila Prabhupada often said that in the spiritual world seeking the higher truths we learn to seek through our ears not through our eyes because the senses are imperfect. They are defective. But when we hear the transcendental sound vibration of the word of God, we receive perfect religion. We learn how to perceive through all our senses, the truth. Krsna explains – when you have thus known the truth you may know that all living beings are My parts & parcels, they are in me & they are Mine. The truth is to understand our relationship with Krsna. The living entity is an emanation of Krsna, non different from Krsna. In the essence of his quality, Krsna has created all living entities. But Krsna’s creation is different than our conception of creation in this world. If we create a house or if we create a road, it has a beginning & that beginning is declared to be as creation. But here, it is explained by Srila Prabhupada that ‘kälaç’ doesn’t this means time. It means – ‘Eternal time’. In Krsna, everything is eternal. In Krsna, nothing has beginning or an end.
oà pürëam adaù pürëam idaà
pürëät pürëam udacyate
Because “Krsna is perfect and complete, therefore all emanations from Krsna are perfect & complete”. Anadi means beyond material existence, limitations. Therefore, when Krsna creates the living entities, it is not limited to a particular reference of beginning.
Why Material world is created
Living entities always exist, side by side with Krsna for His pleasure. Krsna is unborn & all of His parts & parcels are unborn. This is inconceivable to the human intelligence but it is the natural understanding of the eternal liberated soul. So Krsna has manifested himself in innumerable living entities for the sake of lila or transcendental enjoyment. And the whole spiritual world, ‘Vaikuntha’, is the manifestation of Krsna’s spiritual energy where everything exists only to the purpose of ecstasy, bliss, rasa, transcendental loving relationships. That is the only purpose of life. It is the only single existence in the spiritual world is rasa i.e transcendental loving relationships in ecstatic love.
Lord Krsna by his own sweet will has given an infinitesimal part of his own free will to every living entity. And we all have the freedom to choose how to utilize that free will. And those who are in knowledge, they utilize that free will simply to enhance the pleasure of Krsna, whose free will is to enjoy us. Krsna’s will is to enjoy and to experience ecstasy from our love & to give us ecstasy from his love. That is Krsna‘s will. And if we are agree with His will, we can be merged in that ecstasy forever, in the spiritual world. However, if we choose to go against the will of the Lord & try to enjoy independent of the service of the Lord then Krsna creates the cosmic manifestation as sort of a informatory (rectification) facility, by which we can make our efforts in this fools paradise of material world. And how Krsna creates, is so wonderfully explained in details in Srimad Bhagavatam. What the Lord does? Just to show His love to the living being.
What is Mahatattva?
Karanodakshayi Vishnu, Mahavishnu actually, His purpose is simply to create the causeless manifestations. In another words, He is existing only to somehow or other facilitate & purify the living entity who have chosen to betray the Lord’s desire. Laying in His yoganidra in the casual ocean, which is He creates the ‘Mahatattva’. And Srila Prabhupada explains according to the shastra that the Mahatattva is like a cloud in the spiritual sky. And just as it is explained that every living entity is like sunrays & Krsna is the Sun. The sunrays are always connected to the Sun. And it is always conscious of the connection to the Sun. No wonder is the cloud, the sunrays that are within that cloud or on the other side of that cloud. They are disconnected and they are able to perceive the very source of the Sun. When the cloud is removed naturally, immediately the sunray, it is sees its source, the Sun. So the Mahatattva is the sum total of all material ingredients and that cloud as long as we are under the control of material consciousness in that mahatattva. Our relationship with Krsna, the ability to perceive our very source is obscure like a cloud.
Krsna is like the Sun
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he explained to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya this idea. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was explaining for seven days the teachings of the ‘Brahma-Sutra’ according to Shankaracharya’s teachings. And he was using so much philosophy, so much logic & Caitanya Mahaprabhu just sat down & after the seven days Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was actually doing it in the mood of service. You’re so young & you’re so beautiful, how you became a sanyasi? And must you really understand you are not this body that you are the supreme Brahman. And the whole world is in the illusion.
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Gauranga Mahaprabhu, ‘Why you have not asked any question? Do you understand what I have spoken?’
And Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied, ‘I understand ‘Vedanta Sutra’, it is quite evident how Srila Veda Vyas have explained. It is like the shining Sun. But your explanations are like a dark cloud that completely obscures the light of knowledge of that shining Sun of the Vedanta Sutra. Misconceptions, that is the condition of all of us within the conditioned state of life. The Cloud of maya is blocking, obscuring the perception of our relationship with the source of all light, Krsna. We are like that sunrays; we can’t see the Sun. And therefore, we are thinking, when the sunray forgets the Sun, the Sunray foolishly thinks-‘it is the Sun’. One little sunray in darkness is thinking -’ I am the Sun’.
Lord Brahma has this conception. In his prayer, due to the yogamäyä potency of the Lord, he stole the cowherd boys, he stole the calves, he put them in a mystic sleep in a cave. And Krsna performed such a wonderful lila of manifesting Himself in all these children, gopas and cows for one year. And when Brahma finally came down and saw each of them turn into Vishnu Himself, he surrendered to Krsna. And he said that, when a firefly is in the darkness of the night the firefly is thinking that – ‘I am lighting up the whole sky’ because actually as far as he can see, because fireflies eyes are very small. They cannot see very large distances. They can only see a short distance but as far as they can see, when they turn on the light within their tail the whole universe lights up. They cannot see beyond their own light. And when they decide to the dana, prakriti, aprakriti. And he decides to make the light unmanifested, by his free will the whole world is in the darkness, the whole universe is in the darkness. So the firefly is thinking he is so very, very powerful and great at night. Night means ‘darkness’. Darkness means ‘ignorance’. No ability to see reality. When the beautiful Sun, when Suryadev appears to give his darshan in the morning and illuminates everything, everywhere then the firefly realizes,’I am nothing’. My life is insignificant.
Radhanath Swami explains Misery is the Mercy of the Lord
Srila Prabhupada explained to us our position. One time a devotee approached and he said, Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada- ‘I am the most fallen’. And Prabhupada said –‘You are not the most anything! You are simply insignificant!’ This is very, very powerful preacher, leader of our society. ‘You are simply insignificant’. That is our eternal, constitutional position. The more we realize the Sun, the more the ray of light realizes it is insignificant. Not only it’s insignificance but also that whatever light it has, is depending not on ourselves but on a source, the Sun. In the same way, the living entity forgetting Krsna, thinks-‘I am the enjoyer’. But unfortunately trying to enjoy material life, there is so much problems, so much misery and suffering. And Krsna has designed that way out of his mercy. “Misery is the mercy of the Lord”. We may not like misery; we must understand how it is needed, it is require, to reform us, to purify us to make us detached from all of the addictions of we have there are keeping us away from Krsna.
Radhanath Swami speaks on Material Creation
Adhiadhyatmika, adhidaivika ,adhibhautika the three fold miseries, they are the gifts of Krsna. They are required. It is being explained here how the Lord, He created the five elementary ingredients of creation earth, water, fire, air and ether. He creates the basic subtle covering and keeps the soul always in bondage as long as it is forgetful. And those are the possible material intelligence, the mind and then He creates the interaction for karma. The interactions of all of these ingredients which is set up by eternal time. The three modes of material nature sattva guna, rajo guna, tamo guna are the underline forces within this material existence. And due to eternal time, there are different interactions of these three modes of material nature. And these interactions stimulate the five gross and three subtle elements to have various types of transformations and mixtures. And through this process everything is created. All 84,00,000 species of life and all inanimate matter through this process. And Mahavishnu casts a glance.
Within this wonderful, wonderful creation and in previous creation with all the living entities who due to their previous karma’s, from previous creations are trying to enjoy separate from the Lord. And therefore, we have the material existence. And it is explained here that all of the ingredients of material existence, the three modes of material nature which is influencing of the various reactions of material existence, eternal time is whose round everything is being activated. All the living entities, in all the 84,00,000 species of life as well as the intuitive nature within each living entity to have freedom of choice. They are all differentiated parts & parcels and energies of Krsna, Vasudeva, ‘sarva karana karanam’, who is the cause of all causes, who is the source of everything that exists. And in this situation, there is a very simple explanation, the Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati has given. That so many problems come about by the interaction of the three modes of material nature under the influence of time, upon the gross and subtle elements. So many problems and all the problems are due to the temporary nature of the everything being subjected to birth, old age, disease and death. There is only one solution to the problem. And that is to become Krishna Consciousness. And the only real problem is a ‘lack of Krishna Consciousness’, because –
apareyam itas tv anyäà
prakåtià viddhi me paräm
jéva-bhütäà mahä-bäho
yayedaà dhäryate jagat
(BG 7.5)
That the living entities are transcendental, they are part of Krsna. They are not meant to be in this material world.
mamaiväàço jéva-loke
jéva-bhütaù sanätanaù
manaù-ñañöhänéndriyäëi
prakåti-sthäni karñati
(BG15.7)
Why we are struggling with six senses and the mind? When we understand our eternal relationship with Krsna, then we are above and beyond material existence. This means to become detached.
Accept what is favorable for devotional service and reject what is unfavorable
Krishna Consciousness means – ‘to accept what’s favorable to the devotional service and reject what unfavorable to devotional service’. Which means in essence to be detached from anything except what pleases Krsna. And to be attached to whatever pleases Krsna. In this way, we must replace our attachment to material life with spiritual attachment. Other yoga systems or other philosophies are teaching that you have so many material attachments and you have suffering because you don’t have enough. This is the karma kanda. Therefore, perform pious activities, do charity, worship the devata’s, perform yajna and you get more and more and more and more attachments. And the more you become fallen, rich with great wealth and riches and attachments then there is less to be in anxiety about. We are all in anxiety because we don’t have enough. So the more you have the less anxiety. You can go to heavenly realms if you so desire, but you have to work hard for births to do it. So this type of approach we never fulfill our desire because we become more and more and more and more attached to the objects of misery. “Ye hi saàsparça-jä bhogä duùkha-yonaya eva te”. And after following such a system ultimately you come to the realization that nothing in this universe will satisfy me.
ä-brahma-bhuvanäl lokäù
punar ävartino ‘rjuna
mäm upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
(BG 8.16)
We have to understand what the karma kanda divisions of the Vedas are? Go all the way of up to the higher planets enjoy everything, see everything, suffer, miserably again and again and again, birth after birth, after birth and still you come to the conclusion there is nothing in this universe from Brahmaloka down to Patalaloka, there I don’t want anything to do itbecause of all suffering. When you succeed in karma kanda, you come to that realization. But it may take several million births that we are disgusted, distrusted with material life. If Indra would come and say, here is my most beautiful, beautiful apsara, one would vomit at that thought , “Get her out of here, I have had enough of it, Nonsense it. Miserable! I know what’s behind it all, suffering.”
When we take to the jnanakanda just eradicate material existence. And let we become totally detached from everything and anything. But in that detachment, it’s like fasting. The purpose of fasting is it seems to be helping, seems you eat nicely. Yes? The purpose of fasting is not just to starve and suffer. People are fasting. They are giving up everything; it is not pleasure, it is no real pleasure, it may be some, some peace. That peace is due to no longer being frustrated by all material efforts. This is no ecstasy. No rasa. There is no love. That would never satisfy the soul. The soul is sac-cid-änanda, it is seeking änanda. And Rupa Goswami explains very deep philosophy in Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, and he summarizes it in two çlokas. Accept ‘what is favorable for devotional service and reject what is unfavorable for the devotional service ’. Manavabiram. The same attachment a young man has for a young girl in this world, make it so attached to ‘Radha Gopinath’. That is the perfection of life. We must detach ourselves from anything that keeps us in that cloud of the illusion. And attach ourselves to all those things that help us to see the light of the sun, Krsna‘s mercy. That means we must become attached to the association of devotees. And attached to devotees, some people say, this is sentimental, why you are, why should be attached to another person. But the greatest acharyas who have practiced the ultimate detachment they would be most attached to each other.
Raghunathdas Goswami’s renunciation
Let us look at Raghunathdas Goswami. He was the very emblem,he was the personification of the ultimate detachment this world is ever seen. He had a wife, more beautiful than an angel. He had a estate that was so palatial and so wealthy. He had so many thousands of servants. He has such prestige, popularity, power. He left all. It’s not that, just he left it all but his whole goal of life is to escape from that. It is one thing to just whimsically leave something behind but through years, he was planning escape that is the only thing on his mind. Then ultimately, he escaped. And he came to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Caitanya who was the crest jewel of all sanyasis wanted to show the world what kind of renunciant this Raghunathdas Goswami was. “Instead all of your material excellencies, are like a kit where people go to pass stool.” This is the way the renunciant see the material wealth meant for sense gratification. Sometimes very greedy, wealthy, materialistic people, they invite a sadhu, ‘Come to my home and so much gold and so much rubies and marble and everything, very proud. But for the devotees, it’s like the oriental kit where people pass stool. Not charmed by these things, not disgusted by these things and he sees the family members like little worms scrawling around stool. Sometimes destiny shrinks the senses from death from calling you a worm. See like that, all it is nothing more. This was Raghunathdas goswami’s detachment. And he gave up his fine, fine clothes. He would go to the rubbish, not like rich people. Clothes that even poor people, the poor beggars, would one day no longer wear because there were too many holes and which is too old and which is lying on floor of the roadside, Raghunath das will take those clothes. Not clothes nothing, even soan. It is just like a cloth that is wrapped around the copin. What did he eat?
One time, the Prasad of Jagganath, that would be sold, in the shop .And after some days, some of it would become remaining. People would throw that remaining Prasad in a pile, near the ‘Simha Dwaram gate’. And the cows from talinga will come on that big mountain of remaining Prasad. Of course, Prasad is never ragäné but we refuse them by material conception after sometime. And those cows would eat what is palatable and spit out what is not. Throughout the day, they would just be eating and spitting out, eating and spitting out. And at night the cows finished selecting the best part of the pile. Raghunath would what then take what they would spit out. He would wash it and take the inner part of that and he would eat that only. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard about it and came to Raghunathdas Gowami’s kutir under the care of Srila Swarup Damodar Goswami. He asked, ‘What are you eating’? He said, well, he really didn’t have anything to say. He said, ‘I heard you are eating very good feast’. ‘Why you don’t share with me? Give me!’ Raghunath was hiding. He didn’t want the Lord to see thisbecause it was a complete secret what he would do. He was not like some renunciante who do some tapasya and then make it so public that everyone thinks – oh! ‘He is very great’. Whole world is celebrating the renunciation. And in this way, you are actually enjoying sense gratification, popularity and fame, prestige and being worshipped. That type of renunciation is not real renunciation. That’s just giving up one sense gratification to get a better sense gratification. Caitanya Mahaprabhu stretched his hand out and grabbed the little pot of Raghunathdas das Goswami’s Prasad and he ate it. Then Srila Swarup Damodar Goswami said, My Lord, you can’t eat any more. You already had enough. And Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was in ecstatic love. He said, I have tasted so many cakes and so many sweets and so many sabjis but I have never tasted such delicious prasada that Raghunath das is eating every day.
mahäprabhura bhakta-gaëera vairägya pradhäna
yähä dekhi’ préta hana gaura-bhagavän
Caitanya-caritämåta (Antya 6.220)
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, it is His life and soul. He takes such pleasure in seeing detachment to the renunciation of His devotees. And such detachment is the life and soul of His devotees. Raghunathdas das Goswami is so detached, so renounced from everything of this world. How attached he was to the Vaishnavas?
Radhanath Swami explains the Deep Attachment amongst the devotees
After Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Swarup Damodar Goswami disappeared from this world, Raghunath was just weeping and crying in an ocean of separation because he could not bear the loss of company of such devotees. And he was speaking, ‘without the association of such devotees there is no purpose of living’. So he made a resolution in his mind that he would jump from Goverdhana hill and commit suicide’. Then he went to Goverdhana hill from Vrindavan, he walked long distance after sometime. And he went to Shiv darshan, to Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé, Çréla Sanätana Gosvämé and he told them his plan. And they said, ‘You are asking our blessings to commit suicide’. We would not give you the blessings rather we give you the instruction to stay with us always. And we have never achieved the wonderful pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Jaggannath puri. Then Raghunath das Goswami started living on the banks of Radha Kunda where each day for several hours he would simply narrate the wonderful pastimes of Lord Caitanya. And the Goswami’s would come and listen with great eagerness and then such a deep spiritual attachment was created between Rupa goswami, Sanatan Goswami ,Raghunathdas Goswami ,Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Gopal Bhatta Goswami, Loknath Goswami, Bhugarbha Goswami, Kashishwar Pandit and so many of the other devotees. They have such love for each other. And when Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami left the world, Raghunath das Goswami was simply weeping and crying year after year after year in separation from them. That is attachment. Such attachment we should have. And Narottam das Thakur who came in the disciplic succession of these great souls Mentions in his beautiful song, his prayers to the departed vaishnavas, he says, in the absence of these devotees, I simply weep. So spiritual life means to become completely attached to Krsna and with those things in relation to Krsna’.
We should become attached to the deity of Krsna. So attached to the deity of Krsna! We read so many wonderful stories of devotee’s relationships with the deities. Madhavendra puri attached with Gopal. How attached he was to that mürti! He was willing to risk his life; he was willing to suffer terribly, anything. Just to bring some sandalwood for the pleasure of that mürti. That is puja. Puja doesn’t it mean ringing bell and burning lamps. Real puja is that sacrifices for the pleasure of the Lord in his deity form. Gadadhar pandit, how attached he was to the deity of Öoöä-gopénätha. He is his life, his soul, his everything. In fact, when we seen that beautiful form in the temples of Vrindavan. ‘Rüpa goswämér präëa-dhana he’ – Radhagovind. Madanmohan – ‘sanätaner präëa-dhana he’. Means this deity was the life and soul, the very force, above attraction for these personalities. Such attachment!
Krsna is the source of everything & Krsna is the goal of everything
The Attachment to the Holy Name – Srila Haridas Öhäkura, how attached towards the Holy Name. When the Islamic king & the Kazi, they ordered him to stop this chanting or you will be beaten and killed. He said, ‘never’. ‘Let me die’. Tear my body into pieces, cut it apart. But I will never stop chanting –
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
And to our service, not any particular service but service in essence means willing to do anything for Krsna’s pleasure’. Willing to do anything to help the Vaishnavas andGuru. Willing to do anything for giving their compassion to the fallen souls. Devotees are attached to these principles. We should never be indifferent to the devotional principles. We must cultivate deep attachment to the chanting of the Holy Name, to the worship of the deities, to the association of the Vaishnavas, to hearing Srimad Bhagavatam. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu every day would go to Gadadhar Pandit’s Gopinath mandir to hear Srimad Bhagavatam from him. One should be attached to all these things. And simultaneously, we should cultivate complete detachment for anything that takes our mind away from those principles. That is Krishna Consciousness. Because there is only one way to becoming attached to Krsna & detached from maya. You can come out of this cloud of material existence. Because in the darkness of the night, only the sun can illuminate. You can have your flash light and you can have your electrical light. But you cannot dispel the darkness all around you. Only the Sun can. And the Sun comes by his own, sweet will. In the same way, it is only Krsna that can give us relief from the miseries of material life. It is only Krsna that can illuminate our heart with bliss and knowledge. And it’s only to come to this point of surrendering to Krsna. Always remembering Him and never forgetting Him. Krsna has created entire causeless manifestation. He brings us that to that point. Lord Brahma is so kindly praying his wonderful verse – that there is no value in anything that exists, save and except to perceive that can relationship to Krsna. There is no value in anything or anyone, save and except to understand how Krsna’s will is to be served in and through everything. That is the creation. This is knowledge. And it is this perception of life that we must derive from the scriptures. If we study the scriptures and learn so many slokas and so many nice pravachan this has no meaning. Brahma said, there is no value except this. In anything, anywhere, anytime except understanding how this whole, causeless manifestations of living entities, all under the controll of the material time are meant for one purpose only to realize that is it all to serve the will of the Lord. Just to be conscious that Krsna is the source of everything and Krsna is the goal of everything. Therefore, Caitanya Mahaprabhu told Nityananda prabhu & Haridas Thakur, He declared this message everywhere. Krsna is your mother, Krsna is your father, Krsna is your only well wisher and treasure in life, Krsna is your life and soul. Chant Krsna’s name, worship Krsna, serve Krsna‘s devotees, always think of Krsna and tell the world about Krsna. Krsna is everything.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.
To live in this world without this understanding that is the greatest tragedy. We human beings try to manipulate material elements without understanding the goal of life which is to always remember Krsna.
Questions & Answers
Question : Very practical point of view, when we say that – you have to completely hold the conviction that I am only of the servant of Krsna. There should one we acting the sense gratification in our heart. Day to day point of point, whatever we agreed that we have to see, we are doing as service to Krsna. For example – Whatever, the food we are taking that is a Prasad, that Prasad we like to take this Prasad & we don’t like to take this Prasad. For e.g. whatever the cloths we are wearing that cloth also we like, we have some selection that we want this type of cloth. Whatever house we have, in the house, we want something which is comfortable not for anything else. If we go very deep in it, point to point day to day then we feel, these are something which are unfair using for the sense gratification not for the service to Krsna. So if we go deep, This is completely against of the Krishna Consciousness. And other side, we say – ‘We are the servant of Krsna’. So, how to discriminate the disease completely wrong in our heart, in a point to point & in a day to day life?
Answer : We should collect whatever best we can to utilize in the service of Krsna. You are arranging your home, you should be thinking, finally how to make it a beautiful temple for Krsna. How could you make nice place for your family to be Krishna Conscious? That should be first in your mind. As far as comforts and all of these things, that may be certain comforts for basics. Revival in a satiety. To facilitate the service & approved. Grihastha has the comforts required so that he should keep body, mind and soul together and also to give nice seva to others. That is alright. But we should simplify as far possible. We should not be artificial. Because you are not Raghunathdas Goswami we should be practical. We should depend nicely but very simple. Idea is that which facilitates our devotional service. And certainly some devotees like a particular type of Prasad and don’t like another type of Prasad then certainly this is the material consideration because Prasad is Krsna’s mercy. But at the same time there are certain variants between all of us. It may be conditioned. But we can’t say that it is completely against the principles of devotional service. Completely against devotional service means we want something that is not Prasad’. If you’re selective about Prasad, you can explain yourself that I have certain material attachments, certain material conceptions. That may be there. But by eating Prasad, you become purified from all of that. You have to take the gradual process of Krishna Consciousness according to your capacity and try to be simple and sincere. And gradually you become purified. It does not happen immediately, the paramhamsa stage where you are completely detachment from everything. But we try to dovetail whatever attachments you have, in such a way, through the process of Krishna Consciousness that you can become purified. Grihastha life, if the person has the inclination to have children then he can purify that attachment by having the child in Krishna Consciousness. And you become elevated by doing that. By performing the proper Sanskara, by raising the child in this world in a devotional atmosphere. So that propensity is cleansed, it is purified, it is used in Krsna’s service. You have a propensity to eat nice Prasad. In this way, Krishna Consciousness takes us from whatever platform we are on and raises us to higher more purified platform. By Krsna’s mercy we are existing under the direction of Krsna’s representatives.
Question : In the process of getting attached to Krsna & his devotees, there is element of hypocrisy within us, trying to show what we are not. How to overcome this hypocrisy, element of hypocrisy?
Answer : This is only possible when we are honest and humble with one another. We should never try to portray ourselves as being great. We should portray ourselves as being servant. We should be calling out for the help of the devotees. But at the same time, as a service to the devotees, we should try to be a very first class example to inspire them and help them. We may declare ourselves to be fallen. We should not behave fallen because that is the greatest disservice. We should declare ourselves to be fallen. We should be trying our very best to live according to the standard to be exemplary, to inspire. That is not hypocrisy. That is service. That is the humble service and the neccessity.
Srila Prabhupada ki Jay!
