BG 6.1

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Six, “Dhyāna-yoga,” 

TEXT 1

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ
kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ
sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca
na niragnir na cākriyaḥ

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic, not he who lights no fire and performs no duty.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this chapter the Lord explains that the process of the eightfold yoga system is a means to control the mind and the senses. However, this is very difficult for people in general to perform, especially in the Age of Kali. Although the eightfold yoga system is recommended in this chapter, the Lord emphasizes that the process of karma-yoga, or acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is better. Everyone acts in this world to maintain his family and their paraphernalia, but no one is working without some self-interest, some personal gratification, be it concentrated or extended. The criterion of perfection is to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and not with a view to enjoying the fruits of work. To act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the duty of every living entity because all are constitutionally parts and parcels of the Supreme. The parts of the body work for the satisfaction of the whole body. The limbs of the body do not act for self-satisfaction but for the satisfaction of the complete whole. Similarly, the living entity who acts for satisfaction of the supreme whole and not for personal satisfaction is the perfect sannyāsī, the perfect yogī.

The sannyāsīs sometimes artificially think that they have become liberated from all material duties, and therefore they cease to perform agnihotra yajñas (fire sacrifices), but actually they are self-interested because their goal is to become one with the impersonal Brahman. Such a desire is greater than any material desire, but it is not without self-interest. Similarly, the mystic yogī who practices the yoga system with half-open eyes, ceasing all material activities, desires some satisfaction for his personal self. But a person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness works for the satisfaction of the whole, without self-interest. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person has no desire for self-satisfaction. His criterion of success is the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa, and thus he is the perfect sannyāsī, or perfect yogī. Lord Caitanya, the highest perfectional symbol of renunciation, prays in this way:

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi

“O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth.”

[Prayers]

COMMENT

Once, the mayor of San Francisco was relatively young, and in those days in America, there were many hippies who followed a slogan: Turn on, tune in, and drop out. Now, although the hippies were not well organized, nor did they have any proper leaders, they wanted to become free from the bondage of material existence. Srila Prabhupada said, they knew what was wrong, but they did not know what was right. They were disgusted with the stereotypical materialistic way of life and rejected it, but they didn’t have the positive idea of Krishna consciousness, nor did they have any proper leader. So, somehow, the mayor of San Francisco got a copy of the Bhagavad-gītā, and he was very intelligent. When he had the opportunity to address some gathering of young people, he quoted the same verse: that he is a sannyasi or a yogi who works without attachment to the fruit, not one who lights no fire and performs no work. So, he was actually using the verse to preach to the hippies so they should not try to renounce all activities or all duties.

Now, although the outward appearance of the hippies was quite different, the inner mood is very similar to many impersonal philosophers in India who want to become free from material life. Actually, most people want to work and enjoy, but when they try to work and enjoy, they become baffled and frustrated. Instead of enjoying, they end up suffering, or they enjoy a little and suffer a lot. So, an intelligent person will think, why should I work and try to enjoy? Enjoying only ends in the opposite—in suffering. So, I should not work, and I should not try to enjoy. I should stop all activity and all desires. So, in one sense, the impersonalists are like the hippies. They know what is wrong, but they don’t know what is right. They know that trying to enjoy brings suffering, but they don’t know the positive alternative. They think the only alternative is to stop working and stop desiring.

In the material world, there are two activities: bhoga, or enjoyment and tyāga, renunciation, and people generally vacillate between the two. Just like the students or the teachers or the businessmen or the workers, they work during the week; that is a sort of austerity. But when the weekend comes, they want to enjoy. But after enjoying for the weekend, they cannot continue; they have to go back to work or go back to school. So again, they do austerities, and again they enjoy, try to enjoy. For nine months, they do austerities and work, and for three months, they enjoy. But after three months, they cannot continue to enjoy; they have to go back to work or go back to school and again do austerity.

So, no one in the material world is actually happy. By enjoying, they cannot really be happy, and by performing austerity, they cannot really be happy. Because they are not satisfied in any position, they are always trying to change the position. But opposed to both enjoying and renouncing is something completely different, which is not of the material world at all, and it is called bhakti-yoga, or devotional service. Devotional service is transcendental to both the idea of enjoying and the idea of renouncing, and only devotional service can satisfy the self or the soul. Artificial enjoyment cannot satisfy the soul, nor can artificial renunciation.

Once, Srila Prabhupada was looking out his window in Los Angeles, and he was looking at the hippies. He commented that they are thinking that I will renounce, that nothing is mine. And he looked at the older people and he commented that they were thinking that I will try to enjoy and everything is mine. But he said that the devotees aren’t trying to renounce, and they are not trying to enjoy. Because to renounce something implies that I own it or I have the right to enjoy it, but actually, we have no such claim. For example, if I say, like in America, there is a very big bridge called the Brooklyn Bridge, so I say that I renounce the Brooklyn Bridge. What is the meaning? I don’t own the Brooklyn Bridge. What is the meaning of saying I renounce it? Similarly, I can’t enjoy it because it is not mine to enjoy. Opposed to false renunciation and false enjoyment is bhakti-yoga. Now, the defect in the enjoyers and the renouncers both is that they have some selfish desires, and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta states,

bhukti-muktī-siddhi-kāmī-sakali aśānta
kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma ataeva śānta

That the karmis who desire material enjoyment, the jnanis who desire impersonal liberation, and the yogis who desire mystic perfection, all have selfish desires, and therefore none is happy. kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma, only a devotee of Krishna has no selfish desire, ataeva śānta, and therefore only he is peaceful.

So, a sannyasi who wants to give up his duties or his work for the sake of personal happiness cannot be happy. And a yogi who also wants to give up performing sacrifices and other work for the sake of personal happiness also cannot be. Generally, the jnanis desire mukti, and the yogis desire siddhi, so they cannot be happy. Only the devotee can be happy because he has no selfish desires. But to be free from selfish desire, does it mean that one must have no desire at all? No, because we cannot live without desire. We are living beings, so we cannot live without desires. Maybe a stone can be without desire, but a person cannot be without desire. However, material desires end in frustration and misery, so we definitely don’t want material desires. So, what is the alternative? The alternative is spiritual desire, the desire for Krishna.

There is a beautiful verse in the Fourth Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, yat pāda-paṅkaja-palāśa-vilāsa-bhaktyā, That the kami, jnani, and yogi cannot become free from desires for fruitive gain, for fruitive activity, no matter how hard they try, because such desires flow like the waves in the river. The waves keep coming and coming without cessation. But the devotees of the Lord, who take shelter under the buds of the lotus feet of the Lord, can easily cut the hard-knotted desire for material enjoyment. Whereas karmis, jnanis, and yogis cannot. But how is it possible? Because the waves of desire keep coming like the waves in a river. So how is it possible that the waves will stop?

The acharyas give the answer that the waves of the river keep flowing, but they flow somewhere. They flow into the ocean, and the ocean also has waves. At the time of high tide, the waves of the ocean flow into the river, and they overflood the river. The waves of the ocean become more prominent than the waves of the river. So, in the same way, when the desire to serve Krishna becomes more powerful than desires for personal happiness, then the wave of desire for personal happiness can be overflooded, and the waves of desire for Krishna’s service can become more prominent. We cannot become free from desire, but the desire to serve Krishna and please Krishna has to become more powerful and more prominent than the desire for personal happiness. The desire to serve Krishna, to serve the lotus feet of Krishna, itself is the cause of supreme happiness. Just as material desires themselves cause frustration and misery, spiritual desires for Krishna’s service themselves cause supreme bliss. Such desires are completely different from the selfish desires either to enjoy or to renounce.

So if we are not supposed to renounce the things of the world, what are we supposed to do? We are not supposed to renounce them, and we are not supposed to enjoy them. Not supposed to means if we try to renounce them, we suffer, and if we try to enjoy them, we suffer. So what to do? The answer is that the things of the world are the property of the Lord, and therefore they should be used in the service of the Lord. Then there is no reaction. Just like if someone works in a bank, he can touch lakhs and crores of rupees. But if he thinks that the money is not mine, it belongs to the bank, or it is being held by the bank, then even touching lakhs and crores of rupees, he won’t be affected. But as soon as he tries to take even one rupee for himself, he gets in trouble. He becomes a criminal, and he is punishable. So if we see that everything in the world belongs to Krishna and try to use everything for the pleasure of Krishna, there is no reaction, there is no suffering, there is no contamination. But as soon as we try to enjoy even one atom for ourselves, we become entangled in sinful reactions, and we suffer.

Here, Srila Prabhupada has given a nice example. Suppose we are sitting here, and at the end of the class, we stand up to leave, and somebody discovers that someone has left his wallet with some hundreds of rupees in it. Now, if someone thinks, “Oh, here is somebody’s wallet with some hundreds of rupees; I will put it in my pocket and enjoy,” he is a thief, definitely. But if someone says, “Oh, here is some wallet lying on the ground; it doesn’t belong to me, I will leave it,” he is not a thief, but at the same time, his action is not complete. The third person will see the wallet and think, “Oh, someone has left his wallet; I should find out the owner and return it to him.” So his action is complete.

Now we see the material world, so many material elements. If we think, “I will take these and enjoy them,” I am a thief. I am taking God’s property and trying to enjoy, so I am bound to suffer. If I see, “Oh, this is not my property; I cannot touch it,” and we leave it, it is not bad, but it is not complete. But if I see, “Oh, this energy belongs to someone; I should find out who this energy belongs to and use the energy in his service or give the energy to him,” it is complete. Therefore, Rupa Gosvami has given two terms. One is yukta-vairāgya, and the other is phalgu-vairāgya. Yukta-vairāgya means appropriate renunciation or complete renunciation, to find out the owner and return the property to the owner. Phalgu-vairāgya is false renunciation or artificial renunciation. Phalgu is a river in Bihar, and it looks like dry sand, but under the surface of the sand, there is a whole river flowing. So, that is Phalgu river. Phalgu vairāgya means like the impersonalists; they light no fire, and they do no duty. They look like they are very renounced on the surface, but underneath the surface, there are so many desires. The current of desire is very strong.

We can know if someone is really renounced by whether he uses everything in the service of Krishna. Otherwise, another word is markata-vairāgya. Markata means monkey. The renunciation of a monkey. Monkeys also look very renounced. They live in the jungle like sages; they don’t wear clothes; they live very simply, only eating fruits and berries. But each monkey has two dozen girlfriends, so they are not actually renounced. They look renounced, very simple, living in the jungle, just eating fruits, not having any clothes or house or possessions, but they are enjoying like mad. Markata-vairāgya or Phalgu-vairāgya are not approved. Yukta-vairāgya or engaging everything in the service of the proprietor is approved, and that is transcendental to karma or jnana, or enjoying or renouncing.

The definition of bhakti is given as hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. Hṛṣīk means the senses; hṛṣīkeṇa means by the senses and hṛṣīkeṇa means the proprietor of the senses. So, hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ, serving Krishna, who is the proprietor of the senses, with the senses is bhakti because He is the proprietor of the senses; He is the proprietor of everything. So I have no right to engage the senses without the permission of the proprietor. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada says that a pure devotee does not engage any of their senses without taking permission from Krishna first, because the senses are not ours. So we need to take permission from the proprietor before we use them, and that is bhakti.

Once, of course, it is an example, but once Srila Prabhupada told the disciples, “You should not move your pen from here to here without my permission.” In other words, the senses, the body, the pen, the table, everything belongs to Krishna, and the representative of Krishna is the guru for the disciple. So he should not do anything without the permission of the guru; then his activities are perfect. As far as self-interest, one should not have any self-interest. Srila Prabhupada told this story: The different parts of the body had a meeting, and they started discussing that they were doing everything only for the stomach. They were working hard, earning money, spending money, buying food, cooking, eating, and doing everything ultimately so that the food would go into the stomach, and we are not getting anything. So, the different parts of the body decided, “We will go on strike. We are not going to serve the stomach anymore.” So they went on strike. And what was the result? The result was that they became weaker and weaker and weaker, and finally, they became almost useless. So they quickly had another meeting and decided that they were better off when they were serving the stomach. So they decided to go back to work.

Krishna is the stomach of existence. By putting food in the stomach, all the parts of the body are automatically nourished and enlivened. Similarly, by rendering service to Krishna, all living entities become satisfied and enlivened. This is bhakti. If we try to enjoy separately from Krishna, we will fail. If we try to renounce, we will also fail because we have nothing to renounce. We cannot give up the activities of the body because the body doesn’t belong to us. If we become inactive, it means to go on strike. We can’t go on strike against Krishna, so we can’t become inactive, and we can’t be active for sense gratification. The only solution is to be active for Krishna.

Although there is the process of ashtanga-yoga, the process of ashtanga-yoga is not practical for the modern age because ultimately, ashtanga-yoga brings one to the same point as bhakti-yoga, or working for Krishna. Working for Krishna is recommended because it is easier and more natural. We are used to working; we are not used to meditating. So if we work in the spirit of service to the Lord, we get the same result as by ashtanga-yoga, but the process of working for Krishna is easier and more natural. This is the purport of this verse, and this verse actually summarizes the whole process of yoga. Hare Krishna.

So, any questions?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:35:58]

Giriraj Swami: The body is made of material elements. Where do the material elements come from? We can search back, search back, search back, but finally, we will conclude that the material elements come from God. Therefore, the body, which is made of material elements, belongs to God. We cannot create matter. I don’t know what the latest theory is, but when I was a student, we were taught matter cannot be created or destroyed. So, we cannot create matter. So, where did it come from? It came from Krishna; it belongs to Him.

Just like, if you give a mistrī and you are given some wood and other things and tell him to make a table, after he finishes the table, who does it belong to? To the owner or to the carpenter? It belongs to the owner because the mistrī only put together the ingredients that were given to him by the owner. But say you have a cook, and you provide rice, dal, sabji, atta, and the cook cooks everything. But who does the food belong to? It belongs to you because you gave the ingredients; the cook only put them together. So, God has given all of the ingredients in creation. We may manufacture a building, but who does the building belong to? It belongs to God because He provided the material; we only assembled it. So the same applies to the body. God has provided the ingredients in the body, so the body belongs to God.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:38:40]

Question: Very good question. He says that everyone works according to his nature, but we must have our own original spiritual nature. So, how do we know what is our own original spiritual nature, and how can we act accordingly?

Giriraj Swami: Well, there are two natures: the divine and the demonic, or the spiritual and the material. Within the material, there are three further divisions: sattva-guṇa, raja-guṇa, tama-guṇa. Have you heard? Every conditioned soul is controlled by the three modes of material nature: some degree of goodness, some degree of passion, and some degree of ignorance. But none of these are our actual eternal spiritual nature. In conditioned life, our eternal spiritual nature is covered, and we are acting under the influence of the modes. But by bhakti-yoga, we can uncover or discover our original spiritual nature, and our original spiritual nature is to act in Krishna consciousness.

There are two stages in bhakti-yoga: one is the stage of practice, and the other is the stage of perfection. In order to realize our eternal spiritual nature, we have to practice, sādhana-bhakti. After practicing sādhana-bhakti for some time, when we realize our eternal spiritual nature, we come to sādhya-bhakti, that is prema-bhakti and then we know who we really are. It is just like we are sleeping and dreaming, so our identity in our dream is not real. We have to wake up from the dream, and in order to wake up from the dream, we need some alarm clock; we need some sound. By transcendental sound, by the Hare Krishna mantra, by the transcendental talks of Krishna, we can awaken from the dream. When we awaken from the dream, we can know immediately who we are, that our identities in the dream were false, and then we will naturally act according to our real identity. But in the meantime, we have to follow sādhana-bhakti. We have to follow the rules and regulations of the scripture to come out of the influence of maya.

In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā, that the material nature is composed of the three modes and she is very difficult to overcome. But mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: one who surrenders to Krishna can easily cross over māyā. Then mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, instead of taking shelter of the material energy, we are placed under the spiritual energy, daivīṁ prakṛti. The material energy is personified as Durga; she is the warden of the prison and she keeps us in the jail of material existence. The spiritual energy is personified as Srimati Radharani. We want to come out from the control of the material nature, Durga, and come under the control of the spiritual energy, Srimati Radharani. This is the goal of life. Otherwise, you don’t actually know who you are. Imagining that you are so-and-so, you are male, you are Indian, you are a student, you act, but actually, you are none of those. Those are just bodily designations. That actually completes the definition of bhakti.

sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate

That we have so many designations: “I am Indian,” “I am American,” “I am male,” “I am female,” “I am intelligent,” “I am handsome,” “I am ugly,” “I am poor,” so many designations, and on the basis of those designations, we serve. In order to actually serve Krishna, we have to become free from those designations. In other words, to actually serve Krishna, we can’t identify with the body because if we identify with the body, we will serve the body either in a limited way or extended ways.

The Srila Prabhupada says, “I am for others also, so I will try to help others gratify their senses.” Either working for personal interest, family interests, community interests, national interests, but the basis is sense gratification. As I am working for my sense gratification or my family’s sense gratification, my community’s sense gratification, my nation’s sense gratification, even humanitarians, they are working for my species’ sense gratification. The basic principle of sense gratification, either limited or extended, and both are the same. Hira-chora and khira-chor, Hira is diamond and is khira cucumber. Someone may be a Hira-chora, and steal diamonds, and someone else may only steal cucumbers, but stealing is stealing. Similarly, sense gratification is sense gratification, whether I go for my own sense gratification or the sense gratification of the family or the sense gratification of humanity. The principle is the same.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:47:47]

Question: What was the need for creation?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, God is complete in himself; there is no need for the creation for God’s sake, but there is a need for the creation for us because we wanted to imitate God. We wanted to be the enjoyer. We wanted to be the controller. We wanted to be the proprietors. In the spiritual world, God is the only enjoyer, controller, and proprietor. So, we could not act in such a way there. Thus, God created the material world for us so we could play at being God.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:48:48]

Giriraj Swami: God is the supreme father. Even in the material world, why do parents have children? Because they think that their happiness will increase. Now, it may happen that some child goes bad and, instead of giving pleasure to the parents, causes them pain. But parents have children in the expectation or hope that the children will be good and increase their family happiness. We are meant to increase God’s happiness, but sometimes living entities go astray and create anxiety for God, not giving happiness. Therefore, the best service we can do for any human being and for God is to bring the human being back to God.

It is like if some boy runs away from his parents. He is living on the footpath, completely wretched and miserable, with no proper food or shelter, and he is dirty. Now, he may approach you and ask for two rupees, and you can give him two rupees. He may buy some bread or tea. But even if he buys bread, in a few hours, he’ll be hungry again, so his problem is not solved. But if you recognize him and say, “Oh, you are the son of such-and-such rich man. Why are you living on the street? You should go back to your father.” Then, all of his problems will be solved permanently. He’ll never be hungry, and he’ll have shelter, clothing, food, and everything. If the boy goes back to his father, then all of his problems are solved permanently, and the father will be so happy.

We have run away from Krishna and are suffering in the material world. Instead of trying to give some temporary relief, like two rupees, if we tell people, “Oh, you are the son of Krishna. He is the richest person, and you should go back to him. He will take care of you in every respect. All of your problems will be solved forever.” That is the best service to that person and also the best service to Krishna because His lost child will come back.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:52:25]

Giriraj Swami: In the spiritual world, Krishna is fully satisfied in spiritual bliss, and he doesn’t suffer. But when Krishna comes into the material world, he sees the suffering of the conditioned soul and wants them to be happy. His happiness is not dependent on us; our happiness is dependent on him. So, he wants us to serve him for our sake, not for his. Actually, Krishna is ātmārāma, he is self-satisfied and ātmākāma, His desires are fulfilled, so it is for our sake that he wants us to come to him, not for his sake.

We say that he created us as a way to understand, but actually, he did not create us in any material sense because creation implies that before creation, the thing did not exist. The souls are eternal; they have no beginning and no end. In one sense, Krishna did not create us because we always existed. We only use the term creation to understand a certain part of the whole picture, but we cannot understand the whole picture by the term creation because actually there is no creation of the soul. Souls are neither created nor annihilated; they always exist. We say that he created us for his pleasure to increase his pleasure so that we can understand what our purpose in life is, not that we did not exist and Krishna brought us into existence so he could enjoy. That is not the sense in which we speak of creation. We understand that we are meant to serve Krishna and that we are children of Krishna; otherwise, we are not created.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:55:50]

Giriraj Swami: Duty means dharma. Duty is the translation of dharma. Now, in the ordinary sense, dharma means varnashrama-dharma: what is your duty as a brahmachari or as a gṛīhastha, vanaprastha, and the sannyāsa. Or what are duties of brahman, kshatriya, vaishya, sudra. But at the end, Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, that just give up all dharma and surrender to me. our real dharma or duty is to surrender to Krishna. One is direct, and the other is indirect because varnashrama-dharma come from Krishna; cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. So, by following varnashrama-dharma, one is indirectly following Krishna. But Krishna is standing in front to Arjuna and telling him, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. So, giving up all dharma and surrender to Krishna directly is better. varnashrama-dharma comes in the category of karma; it is not on the same level as bhakti.

But varnashrama-dharma is the beginning of human life. If one doesn’t follow varnashrama-dharma, it is animalistic. He is not regulated, like an animal is not regulated. Varnashrama-dharma gives rules and regulations to make someone human, but after he becomes human, he can progress further and become godly by becoming Krishna conscious. So, Krishna says many things for people on different levels, giving different instructions for people on different levels. But the final instruction is to surrender to him. That is what we are trying to do; that is what we should all try to do. That is the perfection of life.

Nowadays, people don’t follow varnashrama-dharma anyway. Their so-called karma is karma but vikarma. Vikarma means activities against to the scripture and karma means activities according to the scripture, like varnashrama-dharma. So, all these sinful activities which are being done in the name of economic development or material advancement are not dharma, it is vikarma, forbidden activities. And why? nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma, Bhāgavatam says that people become mad after sense gratification. They engage in vikarma, so many industries are vikarma.

So, in Kali-yuga, it is really very hard to follow varnashrama-dharma properly. The only practical thing and the best thing is to preach Krishna consciousness. Because almost every industry involves some sort of violence, cheating, or exploitation. In the name of fulfilling the economic necessities of life, we become implicated. There aren’t many good alternatives. Everywhere, they are cooking, serving, and engaging in activities that are not free from sin. We serve these institutions, and so we become implicated. We become implicated in all the sinful activities of the organizations we serve. Therefore, Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Until we have faith in Krishna, we have to do our other duties. But when we develop faith in Krishna and Krishna’s words in the Bhagavad-gītā, then we can leave all other duties and engage in direct service to Krishna. Generally, people think that they have to serve the family, and Srila Prabhupada used to call the family legitimate plunderers. The poor fellow works day and night to earn money, and when he comes home, the family members want to plunder him for whatever he has, and he takes it as love. They love him so much; therefore, they want to plunder all of his hard-earned wealth.

So, legitimate plunder. What is this? We serve our boss who is a sinful demon, and then we come home and serve our family members who are also selfish. People know the story of Valmiki. He was a great thief, and somehow, he met Narada. Narada told him, “Why are you killing people, robbing them, and stealing? Why?” Valmiki said, “I am doing it for my family.” Narada said, “But you will have to suffer,” and he gave him some vision of how in the future he would have to suffer. So, he said, “You are doing it for your family, but do you think your family will suffer any share of your sins?”

Valmiki said, “Yes, I am doing everything for them. We are all together.” So, Narada said, “All right, you can ask them.” They went and asked the family members, and they all said, “Why should we suffer for him? He is the one who’s stealing, we are not stealing. Why should we suffer? Let him suffer himself.” Then Valmiki saw the nature of family affection, so-called family affection. They are just selfish; they are exploiting the father or the husband. They are enjoying the results of his stealing, but they are not ready to share in the reactions for his stealing. They only want to enjoy.

There is no real love in the material world. Everyone is basically selfish, and he just wants to get what he can get. So for what, for are we serving these people? For what? And if you want to become Krishna’s conscious, that is the worth thing. For most parents, there could be nothing worth than the son becoming Krishna conscious. These are the people that we are loving and serving.

There was one incident. Many years ago in Calcutta, they had the Naxalites, who were the young men like you all who were communist, and they were criminals. Actually, they were criminals, but their philosophy was that the rich people had more than their share, so they should bomb the houses of rich people, kidnap the children of rich people, shoot to death the rich people as a type of social protest. But actually, they were criminals, and they upset the whole atmosphere in Calcutta because nobody felt safe. And generally, the parents lived in dread that their children would become Naxalites. You could say they were guṇḍās with an ideology. Anyway, one Naxalites boy came to the temple in Calcutta. Somehow, he became convinced by the philosophy and he joined. After some time, his mother came to Srila Prabhupada, and she was crying and crying and crying, “I lost my son, I lost my son. Send him back, send him back.” Anyway, Srila Prabhupada dealt with it, but afterwards, he was so disgusted. He said that when he was a Naxalites, she wasn’t suffering. She was living, but as soon as he wanted to become a devotee, she couldn’t bear it.

Why is that? Why do they think that nothing can be worth than if the son becomes Krishna conscious? Very strange. Not all are like that, but most definitely. Yes, because of selfish interest. They don’t actually, they say they love this child, but actually, they don’t love the child. They want something. So in every activity except Krishna consciousness, the basic principle is sense gratification. So at least if the boy is a Naxalite, still the principle of sense gratification which the parents like. But in Krishna consciousness, there is no sense gratification. The basic principle is changed, so they can’t take it. Even if you become a smuggler or a cheater, they don’t mind because the principle is sense gratification, and in the end, they may get some share. But in Krishna consciousness, there is no sense gratification, so they become very disturbing. They are also victims of bad education or misguided, that is true. It gets passed down from one generation to another.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:10:40]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is true.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:10:57]

Giriraj Swami: Your message can go all over the world. All coming from Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:11:45]

Giriraj Swami: He says that in Krishna consciousness, we have a routine, but we are satisfied because although the routine is the same externally, internally we are always experiencing newer and newer pleasures. Whereas the materialistic persons are never satisfied. They are always changing because they are hoping to get something that they haven’t got, which will satisfy them. That is true. Some new style of music, some new food, some new experience, because they are not satisfied, they are not happy, so they think maybe the new thing will make me happy. The old things not.

So we do the same thing every day, and from the same old thing, we are getting newer and newer realizations, so we are satisfied. If they say, can’t you think of anything else except Krishna? Can’t you talk about anything else except for Krishna? But Krishna is unlimited. Therefore, Rupa Gosvami said that with one tongue and two ears, what can I chant? If I had millions of tongues and billions of ears, then I could begin to chant. Chant Hare Krishna and take prasāda.

Srila Prabhupada kī jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!