BG 3.10 – Live Happily and Achieve Liberation

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from “Bhagavad-gītā As It Is“ Chapter Three, “Karma-yoga,”

TEXT 10

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā

purovāca prajāpatiḥ

anena prasaviṣyadhvam

eṣa vo ‘stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Viṣṇu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home – back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patiṁ viśvasyātmeśvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also (2.4.20) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir

dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ

patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ

prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ

The prajā-pati is Lord Viṣṇu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacrifices) for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after finishing the present material body they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance of yajña, the conditioned souls gradually become Kṛṣṇa conscious and become godly in all respects. In the Age of Kali, the saṅkīrtana-yajña (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Saṅkīrtana-yajña and Kṛṣṇa consciousness go well together. Lord Kṛṣṇa in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) as follows, with special reference to the saṅkīrtana-yajña:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ

sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam

yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair

yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.” Other yajñas prescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the saṅkīrtana-yajña is easy and sublime for all purposes, as recommended in Bhagavad-gītā also (9.14).

COMMENT

When Lord Chaitanya met Sanatana Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami inquired from the Lord. Sanatana Gosvami was the Prime Minister of Hussain Shah. He was very learned in Sanskrit, Persian and various languages. So he was most intelligent, but he approached Lord Chaitanya in a most humble mood, and we also should approach spiritual authority in a humble mood. He said to the Lord that, “In ordinary [Unintelligible], people considered me to be a learned scholar, and I am such a fool that I believe them. I am such a learned scholar that I do not even know who I am, or what is my real self-interest.” Then Sanatana Gosvami asked Lord Chaitanya very crucial questions, “ke āmi, who am I? Why have I come into the material world? Why am I forced to suffer? How can I become free from suffering?” And Lord Chaitanya answered each question.

“Ke āmi, who am I?” Lord Chaitanya explained that the living entity is spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme spirit, Lord Krishna—and the constitutional position of living entity is to be the eternal servant of Krishna, Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’ “Why do we suffer?”

We suffer because of forgetfulness of our eternal relationship with Krishna. And how can we become free from suffering?

We can become free from suffering by being established in our eternal relationship with Krishna.

So here, the Bhagavad-gītā explains that in the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures, Lord Viṣṇu, sent forth generations of men and demigods, and He blessed them all, not just the human beings but the demigods also. He blessed them all by saying, “Be happy by sacrifice. By sacrifice, you can live happily in the material world and in the end, you can be liberated.” So we can get everything from the performance of sacrifice. What can a man desire? Either he desires to live happily in the material world or he desires to be liberated from material bondage, but both desires are fulfilled by performance of sacrifice. Generally when we hear the word “sacrifice” or yajña, we think of some fire and offering ghee and grains into the fire, but sacrifice is really sacrificing anything for the service of the Lord, and in Vedic sacrifices they sacrifice ghee and grains, but sacrifice means to sacrifice something for the sake of the Supreme. And how to sacrifice? You cannot do the Vedic sacrifices recommended for the previous age of Treta-yuga. As you may know, according to Vedic literature there are four ages which repeat in cycles like the seasons, such as Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga and in each age a different method of God realization is recommended, and a different incarnation of God descends to propagate the recommended process for the particular age.

So in Satya-yuga, the recommended process was meditation. In Treta-yuga, the recommended process was Vedic sacrifice. In Dvapara-yuga, the recommended process was temple worship, and then in the present age of Kali-yuga, the recommended process is to chant the holy names of God.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

One should chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name. There is no other way, no other way, no other way, for success in the modern age. Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma is repeated three times for emphasis. You must do it, you must do it, you must do it, and similarly, kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva, is repeated three times, there is no other way, no other way,no other way. In other words, one cannot be successful by meditation. One cannot be successful by temple worship. One cannot be successful by Vedic sacrifice, but one can be successful by chanting the holy name of Krishna.

So Lord Chaitanya was actually the incarnation of Krishna who descended in the age of Kali to propagate the yuga-dharma. And the yuga-dharma is hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. And by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, we get the same results mentioned in the verse, and that is. . . that we can live peacefully and happily, in this life, in this world, and at the end of this life we can go back home, back to Godhead, and live with Krishna eternally in transcendental bliss. So Srila Prabhupada formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to execute the the Lord’s instructions in Bhagavad-gītā, and to execute the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And the Krishna consciousness movement follows strictly the principles of Bhagavad-gītā. In the conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaśaraṇaṁvraja, surrender unto Me. Bhagavad-gītā also says, as mentioned here indirectly, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ, that one should constantly, satataṁ, one should constantly engage in kirtan in the association of Krishna. Lord Chaitanya also instructed, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, that one should always chant the holy name of Krishna. So there is Krishna’s instructions in the Bhagavad-gītā and there is Chaitanya’s instructions, how to say, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ, always engage in kirtan and kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, always engage in kirtan. If one makes that sacrifice, it is not a very difficult sacrifice, if he makes that sacrifice, he will get tremendous benefit. He will understand who he is, spirit soul, and he can understand what his duty is, to serve Krishna, and he will understand what his relationship with Krishna is. He can understand everything.

Lord Chaitanya explained to Sanatana Gosvami that there are three subjects in all Vedic literature, only three. One is called sambandha, knowledge of one’s relationship with God. The second is abhidheya, the means of reaching perfection, and the third is prayojana, perfection itself or the goal, which is love of God. And Lord Chaitanya told the story of an astrologer who visited a poor man, and he told the poor man that, “Actually you are not a poor man. Really you are a rich man. Your father has left a great treasure for you, and unfortunately he died before he could tell you where the treasure was hidden.” Then the astrologer told the poor man, “But don’t dig on the southern side, because on the southern side there are wasps and they will bite you and don’t dig on the western side, because on the western side there are yakshas, like ghosts and they will cause harassment, and don’t dig on the northern side because on the northern side there is a big snake, and he will swallow you. But if you dig on the eastern side, then very quickly your hands will touch the treasure.” Lord Caitanya explained that the southern side, western side and the northern side represent karma, jnana, and yoga. You cannot get the treasure of the love of God by karma, jnana, or yoga. You can only get the treasure of love of Godhead by bhakti. Then he said that as soon as you get the treasure you will enjoy immense happiness, and all of your miseries will go away. So when one actually develops pure devotional service or love for Krishna, he immediately enjoys immense material happiness, or I would say spiritual happiness, and he becomes free from all material misery. Although according to this verse one enjoys material happiness also, which is good news for some people.

So now, how does the analogy of the astrologer, or the story of the astrologer, relate to the three subjects covered in the Vedic scriptures? Well first the astrologer established the poor man’s relationship with the treasure. So that is sambandha. Then the astrologer told the poor man the method by which he could attain the treasure, and that is Abhideya, the means by which we can reach the goal. And the treasure itself is prayojana, which is the goal, and that is love of Godhead and the means is bhakti-yoga. Actually, we are all poor in the material world and therefore we are all struggling just to exist. Sometimes people can’t come early to the program because they have to come to the shastra that depends [Unintelligible].25.12]. In the spiritual world there is no hard struggle for existence. For everyone is poor, and generally people always pray to God, “Give me this, give me that” that means they are poor, they are beggars. So we are like the poor man, no matter how much we might have, but we need more, we want more. So we are poor, we are never satisfied, because of what we feel we want. But we have a rich father, Lord Krishna, and because we have forgotten our relationship with Krishna, we are suffering, we are struggling. It is like when a child runs away from home, at home he may have every facility, but if he runs away from home he will have to just loiter in the streets, and struggle to exist. So, because we have forgotten our relationship with Krishna, we are suffering and struggling here in the material world but if we go back to Krishna and if we return home to our eternal father, then everything is provided without any difficulties.

Recently we visited Pune for a conference,Reverence for All Life and the basic idea was vegetarianism. When the organizer of the conference, the chairman of the committee, Sri Bhari Malhotra, he is a life member of ISKCON and was a personal friend of Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada actually visited his house in Pune and spend some time with the family. [Unintelligible]

So once Mr Malhotra asked Srila Prabhupada, “Why are you spending so much money to build temples? You could use the same money to do something useful for people, like build hospitals.” So Srila Prabhupada replied with another story or analogy. Mr. Malhotra was quite the prominent industrialist so Srila Prabhupada said, “Suppose you spend some time with the Birla family.” The Birla family is the wealthiest family in India. “Suppose you spend with the Birla family and later on, you are driving down the road, and you see Mr Birla’s grandson begging on the footpath. What will you do?” So Srila Prabhupada said, “You have three choices. One, you can just pass him by; two, you can stop and give him one hundred rupees; but three, you can stop and talk to him. Now if you can give him a one hundred rupees, but in a few days or whatever one hundred rupees will be finished and he will be in the same position, but if you stop and approach him and say, ‘Oh I know you, you are Mr Birla’s grandson. Why are you begging in the streets? Why don’t you come with me. I will take you to my house.’ You can take him to your house, and you can bathe him, give him fresh clothes, feed him and treat him with great love and affection. And after some time when he has developed faith in you, you can bring up the subject of what happened at home, ‘Why did you leave home? What was the matter?’ And eventually, you can bring him to the point that instead of struggling on the streets better go home. You can rectify your relationship with your father, grandfather and go back.” And then, as Mr Malhotra relates the story, Srila Prabhupada said, ”Then you can phone Mr. Birla and he will personally come and get his grandson, you don’t even have to take him.” So the idea is of course that Krishna is our Supreme father; father, grandfather, and somehow we have run away from home, from our returning home in the spiritual world, and come to this material world and we are like struggling like beggars.

At one time the richest man in the world was John Paul Getty So once a reporter asked him that, “You are the richest man in the world. Can you tell us in one word what is your philosophy?” And you said, “Yes, I can tell you in one word, More!” He answered more, meaning he was never satisfied. Then another time, or maybe the same time, but a reporter asked, “You are the richest man in the world, you have everything that money can buy. When you are alone, and there is no one else with you, what do you think about? You are on top of the world, when you are all alone, all by yourself, what do you think of?” And the richest man in the world replied, “I think of how to pay the bills.” So whether one is a rich man, or a poor man, he is thinking of how to pay the bills. The poor man is thinking how to pay a fifty pound bill, and the rich man is thinking how to come up with the millions of dollars to purchase the next company he wants to buy. So everyone is poor, everyone needs more, everyone wants more. So that is the material world, and the spiritual world means that we get whatever we need by the grace of our Supreme father, by the grace of Krishna, without endeavor, without struggle. So Srila Prabhupada explains that we are going to meet the Birla son on the road and bring him home, and bathe him, and dress him, and feed him, and gradually bring him to the point of re-establishing his relationship with his father, and going back home. That is what we do in the temple. To bring people to the temple and either literally or figuratively, we bathe them, we give them fresh clothes, we feed them, and gradually we remind them of their eternal relationship with Krishna, and we bring them to the point where they want to go back to their original home, Krishnaloka. And that is the best service, and that is the purpose of temple. The purpose of temple is to bring people to the point in which they can go home, where all their problems are solved. So that is the best service for humanity. Krishna consciousness is the best love or activity, and to go back to the spiritual world is actually very easy. All we have to do is chant the holy name of Krishna,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Before Srila Prabhupada went to the West, he had written one small book called Easy Journey to Other Planets, in response to the first attempt to go to outer space with spacecraft. And after Srila Prabhupada came to the West and began to preach, he established a printing press in Boston, and apart from the press there was an art department who painted for the books. So he wanted them to reprint Easy Journey to Other Planets, and he told them what he wanted the picture on the cover to be. And he said there should be a devotee; at the bottom where it should be the Earth, and then there would be space, the sky, blue, and right at the top would be the supreme abode of Lord Krishna, in the spiritual kingdom of God, Krishna-loka and the devotee, he will be flying through space leaving the Earth planet and going to the supreme abode of Krishna. And as he is flying through space he will be holding his chanting beads and chanting

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So this is our spaceship to take us back home, back to Godhead, and that is the saṅkīrtana-yajña, chanting the holy names of Krishna. And by the saṅkīrtana-yajña, we can live peacefully and happily in this life, and at the end of this life go back home back to Godhead. Actually we see, again from, Srila Prabhupada and so many others, how the Lord takes care of His surrendered devotees. Even in the material world, we don’t even have to wait to go to the spiritual world but even in the material world, you can see how the Lord takes care of his surrendered devotees.

Srila Prabhupada comments that no one in history has achieved what he achieved, even from the material point of view. Because he left India and came to America at the age of seventy years, and within about ten years, Srila Prabhupada had large mansions and palaces all over the world, about a hundred palaces, and he had thousands, and thousands of servants. And not just Indian servants, [Unintelligible 40.31] but because that was so prestigious. Srila Prabhupada used to say about Jawaharlal Nehru [Unintelligible @ 40.34], how he had a British, American, and Japanese, and Australian, French servant, and he didn’t have to pay them anything. But he was saying even the Birlas could not amass such great opulence in such a short time. So the Lord’s mercy upon the devotee is visible even in the material world. There is no comparison to what the Lord can give to a devotee; anything he wants to achieve by his own effort. So the conclusion is we should become devotees and chant Hare Krishna and we will have all the facilities in the material world and then go back home, back to Godhead.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well, they do have everything they say have, but there are other things too like disease, old age, death, and rebirth. [Break in Audio]. Srila Prabhupada gave the example of eating sweet rice mixed with sand, and you can’t really enjoy sweet rice mixed with sand. Although the sweet taste is there but because of the sand you can’t really enjoy it. So there might be some pleasure in the material world, but it is mixed with misery and because of the misery you can’t really enjoy. And whatever you do enjoy is just temporary: your wife, your children, your house, your car, they are all temporary. Your body is temporary. When you have to leave behind the body, then you have to leave behind the wife, the family, the house, the dog. So what everyone really wants is permanent happiness without any distress. So whatever happiness they have is mixed with distress and temporary. But in Krishna consciousness, they can get permanent happiness without any ddistress, and that is why we should give the credit to Krishna consciousness.

We are not trying to force them to take to Krishna conscious but they will benefit tremendously if they do take to Krishna consciousness. Krishna does not gain or lose if someone take to Krishna consciousness. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, surrender to Him. Now, why does Krishna ask us to surrender? It is for our benefit. It is not that Krishna is lacking one servant, so we can ask you to surrender so he can get one more servant. Krishna is ātmārāma, He is self-satisfied; He is [Unintelligible], all His desires are already fulfilled. So, He does not need our service but we need to serve Krishna, to revive our relationship with Krishna. So when Krishna says, “Surrender to Me,” we surrender to Krishna. It is not that we benefit, we have nothing to gain or lose, but they benefit. We are not asking them to give up their wives, give up their children, give up their husbands, give up their job, give up their money. We are just saying “add Krishna.” They have nothing to lose. They have so much to gain.

But of course, in Krishna consciousness we ask them to give up their sinful activity. Their sinful activities will just bring them more misery in the future. They may not know, they may be blind but we can see the future that if someone commits sinful activity will throughout the cycle in the future. They are the ones who will benefit.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes the first created being is Lord Brahma. He is the most intelligent. Then after Lord Brahma come the Kumaras, Narada, the Prajapatis. The Prajapatis, they grow the population and gradually the lower species appear. So we don’t accept Darwin’s theory that in the beginning there was that [Unintelligible 49.35]. All the species are created by God and just as today there are demigods, human beings, civilized men, uncivilized man, giraffes, tigers, fish, birds, plants, all living side by side. So, all along all species have existed side by side. They are all created by God, and according to one’s karma, one takes birth in a particular species. And I can’t imagine why the demigods would want to have [Unintelligible]

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: We have heard that children are innocent, so if someone has made progress in Krishna consciousness, in the last life he picks up from where he left off. In the last life [Unintelligible 52:40] but why not in childhood, whether he has to wait. [Unintelligible 52:45] The Bhagavad-gītā explains that if someone makes advancement in Krishna consciousness but is not completely successful, he can take birth, śucīnāṁ śrīmatāṁ gehe yoga-bhraṣṭo ‘bhijāyate, [Unintelligible] or in a pious family of brahmans or devotees. Of the two, birth in a family of devotees is considered better than birth in a rich family. And if one is born in a family of devotees, then from the very beginning, even from within the womb, he hears the holy name of Krishna, he will hear the Vedic scriptures, eats prasāda. So one can be engaged in Krishna consciousness from the beginning. But sometimes great devotees, they do not manifest themselves until later. Actually, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he appeared to be like a materialistic student, selling different books, and getting scriptures, and finally at a certain stage he accepted Krishna consciousness, to show us that one can take to Krishna consciousness at any age. There are many examples of great devotees who are great devotees from birth or before birth like Prahlada Maharaja. And there are also examples of others who appear to be ordinary persons but they became pure devotees later.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible] Well in Kali-yuga, the women are generally more pious and more submissive that men. But men also take to Krishna consciousness. But it is stated that in Kali-yuga, women are more pious and more submissive and take to Krishna consciousness more than men.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: He says men die before women. Actually, the first very rich man I met in India from Calcutta [Unintelligible] had a big steel mill, and he was quite an elderly gentleman, and that was in 1970, and he was so proud, [Unintelligible] And he said that all she does all day long is japa and puja. And he actually meant it. He said that [Unintelligible 57.57]. It is confirmed in the verse.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: You can know from the scripture. The scripture says that if you remember Krishna at the time of death you go to Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: So every conditioned soul has four defects. He has imperfect senses, he makes mistakes, he is subject to illusion, and he has a tendency to cheat. So because we all have such defects, we cannot get perfect knowledge on our own. If we want perfect knowledge, we have to approach the perfect authority, and what will be a more perfect authority than God, Krishna. So on the authority of Krishna, we accept the truth that if you can remember Krishna at the time of death you can go to Krishna. And to be with Krishna at the time of death you have to practice now. The best way to remember Krishna is to chant the holy name of Krishna. So if we practice now then we can get Krishna at the time of death, go back home, back to Godhead. And then in Vedic language the different types of evidence, one is called pratyakṣa; pratyakṣa means direct perception, but our senses are imperfect. By direct perception we see that the sun is a small disc in the sky, but actually the sun is nine times larger than the earth, but by direct perception we could not know that the sun is nine times greater than the earth. But by hearing from authorities, we know. Then anuman, inference. This means, you hear a sound coming from the street, and so we hear this sound and we think, “Oh a car is coming.” But this may not be a car, it might be a truck or a bus, and you might think. . . So inference is also important. The best evidence is called shabda, and shabda means Vedic sound. It is like Krishna’s words in the Bhagavad-gītā, shabda; and that is considered the best evidence.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: If one is sinful, but if at the last moment you chant the holy name of Krishna you can be saved from sinful reaction. They actually had the historical incident of Ajamila. Ajamila was born in a nice family, but when he was a young man he saw a prostitute on the street, and he became attracted to the prostitute, so he left his nice parents and his chaste wife and he went after the prostitute. And he actually married the prostitute, but for the sake of prostitute he [Unintelligible] lie and cheat and steal, and did so many sinful activities. When he was eighty-eight years old, he was lying on his deathbed and the agents of Yamaraja came to take him or they take the soul to be punished. And he had a small boy named Narayana. So when he saw the Yamadutas coming he became hysterical and, in complete helplessness, not knowing anything that could help him except his son, he began to call out Narayana, Narayana and as soon as he chanted the four syllables of the holy names of the Lord, the messengers of Narayana came, and they are interviewed. They stopped the Yamadutas from taking the soul with Ajamila to be punished. But he did not chant the name, let’s say it the other way, he did not commit his sins with the idea that at the time of death he would chant the holy name of Krishna and be freed from sinful reaction.

So someone deliberately commits sins with the idea that he will neutralize the effects by chanting Hare Krishna, that is a great offense. If they don’t [Unintelligible], but Ajamila was not thinking that, “Oh I will engage in sins now and at the time of death by chanting Hare Krishna, but he wasn’t even thinking he is engaging in sin, just blindly acting, and at the time of death because he chanted the name of the Lord in complete helplessness, without offense, he was saved from the hellish punishment which awaited, but it is true that the power of God’s name is so great it can deliver the soul from punishment, but if you think, I will just engage in all sorts of abominable activities and chant Hare Krishna at the time of death and I will be free; it doesn’t work like that. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible] So the caste system which claimed that someone is a brahman by birth, or someone is a sudra by birth, is actually a deviation or a perversion of the original system. Because in the original system anyone can become a brahman if he is qualified and does the work. Srila Prabhupada gives an example that someone may be born in a family of lawyers. So being born in the family of lawyers, he has a good chance to become a lawyer, but just by being born in a family of lawyers he is not automatically a lawyer. He has to be trained, and qualified to act as a lawyer. Even when someone was qualified to act as a lawyer, but if you don’t want to actually work as a lawyer no one will say he is a lawyer. Someone may have a Law Degree, but if he goes into business instead of Law, no one will say he is a lawyer; they will say he is a businessman. But he is known as qualified to act as a lawyer, and actually practices Law, he can be called a lawyer. Similarly, if one is qualified as a brahman and actually works as brahman, he can be called a brahman, whether he is born in a family of brahmans or not.

So the original system of varnashrama-dharma comes from Vedic shastra, but what you see in India may not do the original system, which is the system called [Unintelligible], like one of the Indian political leaders. It is very precautionary. So he organized a huge gathering of lakhs of brahmans as if to show their disapproval of the caste system, they all took off their sacred threats and put their sacred threads in a big pile and then they set fire. So when devotees told Srila Prabhupada about the incident [Unintelligible] Srila Prabhupada said, “Good [Unintelligible]

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Good question. He said if Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead what was the need to have so many other incarnations and demigods?

Well Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but he experience into different forms, which are all in the same category as Krishna, and he does so to reciprocate with the desires of devotees to serve the Lord in different forms. None of the devotees are attracted to Lord Krishna, but some of the devotees are attracted to Lord Rama and some devotees are attracted to Lord Narayana, but they are all the same. One is as good as the other. Okay, as far as demigods, Lord Brahma, Durga, Shiva, and so on, they are living entities like we are, but they are very pious, and they have, as a reward, been given very important service, and management in this universe. Just like the king, there is only one king, but the king may appoint various ministers to look after different affairs of state. So Krishna is like the king and the demigods are like the ministers appointed by the king. Lord Brahma is the minister for creation; Shiva is the minister destruction; Sarasvati is the minister for knowledge and art and music; and [Unintelligible]

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: It is not difficult, just that it is [Unintelligible] in five minutes and the child can understand it also. The subject is not difficult to understand, but the problem is that persons do not know the subject, and therefore they can’t answer the question. But if they knew the subject they could answer the question, and they can give better answers on the basis of the Bhagavad-gītā or on the basis of the Quran, or the Bible or other scriptures which you are not so scientific. Yes, it is very easy to say Allah, but what if someone wants more details? So Bhagavad-gītā gives very complete and scientific answers, which the younger generation needs.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: He is saying why do we have to worship statues; why can’t we just worship Bhagavad-gītā? 

We have sense of mind, intelligence, and so on. So the mind and the intelligence can be absorbed in Bhagavad-gītā, but what about the senses, the actual of senses? And generally conditioned souls with their senses, like to enjoy nice clothing, and good food, and so on. So Krishna consciousness means developing love for Krishna; instead of loving our own selves or our own body, we love Krishna. But the tendency to learn to eat good food, can be dove-tailed into [Unintelligible] offered to the deity of Krishna. The tendency to answer their nice dresses can be dovetailed into making nice dresses to offer the Krishna, and by offering nice dresses to Krishna we lose the desire to dress ourselves nicely. So it is practical. If you love someone. So the wife loves the husband, so she wants to make nice food for him. The husband loves the wife, he wants to get her nice clothes and nice ornaments. So by preparing nice food for Krishna, nice dresses for Krishna, nice ornaments for Krishna, we are developing our loving service to Krishna, and devotees like to serve the Lord. They are not pious, they like to serve the Lord. They take pleasure in cooking for the Lord; they take pleasure in sewing garlands for the Lord, we take pleasure in bringing ornaments for the Lord [Unintelligible].

Devotee: [unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well again, the [Unintelligible] means to receive the Lord, and we receive the Lord at different times, and at the same time we also remember the Lord at different times. But again, we are serving the Lord with love. So what we would do for our [Unintelligible], or wife or child, we do it for the Lord [Unintelligible]. Then we put the Lord to rest for a few hours in the afternoon, and again we [Unintelligible], then we give him dinner, then there is [Unintelligible] and then we give him some refreshments, before he takes rest. [Unintelligible] So just as we would serve the king, we serve the Lord. He is the king of heaven. So there are various offerings [Unintelligible]

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: The system of deity worship comes from the scriptures, and some things in the scriptures you can’t argue. You just have to accept. But we are [Unintelligible] that the scriptures are coming from God. [Unintelligible] Do you have any questions?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: You should not instruct those who are envious, those who are not pious [Unintelligible]

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: [Unintelligible] necessarily not interested in Krishna consciousness, but they are engaged in sinful activities. And as Nityananda Prabhu [Unintelligible]