SB 2.3.17 – Utilizing the Human Form of Life to Realize Our Lost Relationship with Krishna

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So, we are going to read and discuss an important verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is the ripened fruit of the tree of Vedic literatures, and it is full of nectar. And the verse we are going to read today contains very important instructions how we can live our lives in the best way to get the most out of our duration of life. Please, repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, Pure Devotional Service, Text Seventeen. Please repeat.

TRANSLATION

Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service.

COMMENT

So, the living entity, the ātmā, the spiritual force, is eternal. It has no beginning, and no end, and it transmigrates from one body to another. But the human form of life is a special opportunity awarded to the living entity to realize the greater values of life, the spiritual values. In other words, to revive our lost relationship with the Supreme, or Krishna, by devotional service, bhakti-yoga.

PURPORT (continued)

Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold.

COMMENT

So, this is practical, our duration of life consists of time, and even one moment of time at the end of life cannot be purchased for any amount of gold. It may happen that at the time of death one wants to live longer, and most people do, ordinary people, they all want to live longer because they have plans, how to achieve things in the material world, and they think after leaving the body, or after dying, they will not be able to realize their goals. So if such a person says: “I am ready to pay any amount of money to live longer,” but there is no way that by spending money you can live longer. That means that every moment is of incalculable value. Or even this moment, we are actually engaging in activities that will save us from repeated birth and death, uttama-śloka-vārtayā, discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead. But if we are not present, that moment that passes, we can never buy it back, say 12:35, no, 1:35, well, it would apply to 12:35 also, but say 1:35 on Sunday, June 5, we can never buy that moment back, once it is gone it is gone. Even if we feel we miss some opportunity, and we wish we could have that opportunity again, and would be willing to spend any amount of money to get that opportunity back, but you can’t get it back. You cannot purchase even one moment for any amount of gold. So, we should use every moment in the best possible way because again it is of incalculable value. 

Srila Prabhupada, our spiritual master and founder, he was very expert in speaking in a language that was appropriate for his audience. So, he had a friend in Bombay named Brijratan Mohatta who was a very big businessman, industrialist. In fact before the partition of India and Pakistan, he had been the wealthiest man in what became Pakistan. And I visited Mr. Mohatta’s office, and he had a whole department of accountants, and he even told me his philosophy of accounting, that there are some businessman they don’t want the accountants to raise issues, they want them to just keep quiet, and then there are others they want the accountants to raise issues if they think things could be done better, or differently, improved, or corrected and he was saying he is in that second category. He had his whole philosophy of accountancy. 

So, when he came to meet Srila Prabhupada in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada was speaking to him as if he was giving him business advice, and he told him that in the ledger of your life every moment used in Krishna consciousness is profit, and in your ledger every moment outside of Krishna consciousness is loss. So, every businessman of course he wants to maximize his profits and minimize his losses. So that is really the case, we should be very mindful of every moment and use it in a profitable way, spiritual way.

PURPORT (continued)

Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness.

COMMENT

Everyone wants happiness, but we need a permanent source of happiness. We try to find happiness in so many places, but even if we get a little happiness and it is not guaranteed, but even if we do get some happiness it is that the supply is not going to continue from that source. Of course this probably sounds like some example from another age, but when I was growing up we used to hear music on phonograph records, they were like round discs with the music, or the sound encoded in little ridges I guess. 

And it was a big thing, my father was very frugal, and we were, by choice, or otherwise also frugal, and so to buy a record was a big thing. But I very quickly found out that if I saved up, and bought a record with some music that I really liked, if I played it too much I would get sick of it. So then I would deliberately stop myself from playing it too much because it happened, after a while, I just didn’t like it anymore, I was sick of it and I didn’t want to hear it anymore. So, I would keep it very carefully but the problem with that is that I spent this money on this record, and I was just keeping the record on the shelf because I was afraid if I played it too much I would get tired of it. So, this is a simple example of how material things do not give permanent happiness. It may be a source of some happiness but it is not a permanent source of happiness. 

So, we have to keep looking, looking, looking, looking, going here, going there, and we never really find that permanent source materially. So what Srila Prabhupada is saying here is that we should utilize the human form of life, the duration of life, in the human form to realize a permanent source of happiness. 

PURPORT (continued)

A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. 

COMMENT

Now, this is also really a very simple, but very profound point, that God or Krishna is perfect and complete, and when we are established in our relationship with Him then we feel completeness. And without our eternal relationship with Krishna we feel incomplete, and so we try to overcome the feeling of incompleteness with so many things; if I get this record I will feel complete, or if I get this job I will feel complete, or if I get this spouse I will feel complete, or if I have a child I will feel complete, whatever it is. But we never feel complete with those things because we are only complete in relationship with the Supreme complete whole, Krishna. 

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. 

COMMENT

So yes, okay, so we want happiness, we want complete happiness, and we can get that in relation to Krishna, but then where is Krishna? How do we come in touch with Krishna? So Krishna being absolute, His name which we chant, His forms which we see, His qualities, His activities, His associates, by coming in touch with any one of those we come in touch with Krishna. So although in a way as He says in the Bhagavad-gītā, He is very far away but He is also very near and when we chant His name or hear His glories he is present, we are in His association. 

PURPORT (continued)

Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.” 

COMMENT

Actually, the greatest fear for a human being is that he will again fall down into the lower species of life, but if one engages in even a small amount of devotional service like you all are doing right now, one is protected from the greatest fear.

PURPORT (continued)

As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through. . .

COMMENT

Now, where are these highly potent topics of the Lord injected? Yes, through the ear.

PURPORT (continued)

The transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization.

COMMENT

That is a-u-r-a-l, that means through the ear.

PURPORT (continued)

Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī…

COMMENT

The speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

PURPORT (continued)

. . . prepares one’s complete life for eternity. 

COMMENT

So, this is, we are coming now to the solution to the mystery of this verse, and I will ask you wise and learned sages who have assembled here to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we read that by rising and by setting the sun steals away the duration of life of everyone except one who utilizes the time in discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead. So, how does that work? How is it that by rising and setting the sun takes away the duration of life of everyone except one who utilizes the time in chanting and hearing about Krishna? It is a very mysterious statement.

PURPORT (continued)

This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

COMMENT

Now, there is an apparent change of subjects in this purport which Srila Prabhupada brings back to the original subject, but this digression is also very important.

PURPORT (continued)

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion.

COMMENT

So, if you give money to a brahman or even someone who is not really qualified as a brahman, the amount that you give in this life because you gave it in charity will come back to you in your next life in the same amount. 

PURPORT (continued)

If the money is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double.

COMMENT

A pretty good return, but you have to make sure he is at least half-educated. 

PURPORT (continued)

If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times.

COMMENT

You definitely didn’t want to miss this, so, I will repeat it and even others who heard it the first time may want to hear it again. 

PURPORT (continued)

If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication.

COMMENT

So, in the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ, that the purpose of the Vedas is to know Krishna. So if you give to someone who knows Krishna, who has realized Krishna as we were inspired to give it to Srila Prabhupada, the money that you give is returned by unlimited multiplication. In other words, you can’t even calculate it, which means that it can’t be repaid in the material world. In other words, to cash in, you go to the spiritual world which means you have already cashed in. 

And just to give an example, when Srila Prabhupada arrived in, I believe it was Hong Kong, the devotees had arranged a Rolls-Royce to receive him at the airport, and then it took him to the penthouse of the most prestigious hotel in Hong Kong, and there was a press conference. So one of the reporters asked Srila Prabhupada, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person, why are you riding in a Rolls-Royce?” Now, I wasn’t there, I was in Bombay, but when Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay he told me this story. And so he said when they asked him, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person, why are you riding in a Rolls-Royce?” He replied that, “I am a resident of the spiritual world, I am a representative of the Supreme Godhead, and in the spiritual world everything is made of transcendental gems. So, even if this Rolls-Royce was made of solid gold or solid diamonds it would not have been good enough. So, you are asking why as a spiritual person I am riding in a Rolls-Royce? Well, the answer is, that was the best my disciples could do and so, I had to accept it.” And then, after relating that to me in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada said, “What else can you say to such envious people?” But that was his answer, and as with all of Prabhupada’s answers, there is profound truth to it. 

So, the opulence that we will enjoy in the spiritual world, of course we won’t be in the mood of enjoying separately from Krishna, but it is beyond anything that we can imagine in the material world.

PURPORT (continued)

The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion.

COMMENT

So, whatever you give in charity you will get it back, but depending on who you give it to you will get more or less back. 

PURPORT (continued)

Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord.

COMMENT

As we are doing, as the sages did with Śukadeva Gosvami, as we did with Srila Prabhupada.

PURPORT (continued)

A moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate.

COMMENT

That means one who goes to the abode of Krishna never comes back to the material world. 

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

So, generally we don’t want to grow old, we don’t want to fall ill, we don’t want to see our loved ones fall ill, but it happens quite often that in that situation one becomes more serious about spiritual life, and therefore it might appear to be a curse, or a reversal but it is actually a blessing. 

There is the mother of one devotee in South Africa right now, she was recently diagnosed with cancer and of course it came as a great shock to her and the whole family. And personally I feel that she will, well I don’t know for sure, but there is hope that she will survive and live for some time more. But the result was that she became very serious about chanting and hearing about Krishna which she never was before. And so, the duration of life she has now, and we hope that it will be a significant amount of time, will be used in the best way in discussing kṛṣṇa-kathā and chanting, chanting and hearing as she had not done before. So, we should not get all upset if something bad happens because we don’t really know what is bad. 

I will just tell one little story which is very instructive. There was a farmer, I have told this story before, but it is always good to hear it, he had two horses. So, one of the horses escaped, went into the forest and so all the neighbors came to the wise farmer and said, “Oh, how terrible you lost one of your horses.” And the wise farmer said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” So, the son went out into the forest to look for the lost horse. He couldn’t find it but he came back with two other horses. So, all the neighbors came and said: “Oh, how wonderful you lost one horse, but you got two back.” And the wise farmer said: “Maybe yes, maybe no.”

One of those horses was a little wild so the son was trying to break in the horse and in the process he got thrown from the horse and he broke his arm and leg. So all the neighbors came running, “Oh, how horrible your son broke his arm and his leg.” ”Maybe yes, maybe no.” So then the King’s soldiers came to recruit the son into the militia, into the army, they came looking for the young man, and they found that his arm and leg were broken and so he was useless for military service, so they left him. So all the neighbors came running, “Oh, how wonderful. They didn’t take your son into the army.” And he said, “Maybe yes, maybe no.” And the story goes on like that. But that is the fact. We don’t really know what the outcome of something will be. Krishna knows and He knows what is best for us. So when something bad happens it may be our tendency to react, “Oh, how horrible.” Or a friend tells us, “Oh how horrible, how wonderful.” But really any situation can be good if we use it in Krishna consciousness and if we don’t use it in Krishna consciousness then that is bad. And so even something that is apparently bad as Srila Prabhupada says, “A devotee’s old age or illness is but an impetus to his eternal life.” So that should be our consciousness, that no matter what happens we take it as an impetus to chant, and hear about Krishna, and realize our eternal relationship with Him.

So on the subject of time; time and tide wait for no man. So, it is 2:05 which is time. Now, usually Ānanda Vrindavan likes to allow time for questions and answers, but she also likes us to end on time. So, we are in a dilemma here, and she has suggested that I refer the matter to all of you, and that way she is safe and I am safe. So, the question is, shall we allow ten or fifteen minutes for reflections or questions?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you so much for the transcendental class. I just wanted to understand why is hearing given so much importance, as opposed to other devotional services like just rendering other services? And why is hearing so important for realizing fully as opposed to experiencing or seeing and other things? 

Giriraj Swami: Well, hearing comes first because by hearing you can chant. Say if you want to chant Hare Krishna, first you have to hear Hare Krishna then only you can chant Hare Krishna. By hearing about the deity, when you look at the deity you could understand, “Oh, this is Krishna, this is Radharani,” but if you didn’t hear about the deities you would think these are just some statues. So, that is why hearing is so important. Hearing comes first, but after hearing then chanting is also equally good. 

Devotee: Yes, Maharaja. So you mentioned that when you invest your money by giving a charity to the qualified brahmans we can get tens and thousands times more, or unlimited. Why people do not invest in that amount? In that account? 

Giriraj Swami: I think they are waiting for you to show the example. Lack of knowledge, now, but it yes, thank you.

Devotee: So, you mentioned again with the return on investment with donating to brahmans, but my question is how much of a role does the caste system have in Hinduism and how should we regard that in our day-to-day lives? 

Giriraj Swami: Well, you are talking about caste by birth?

Devotee: Just in general. Yes, caste by birth. 

Giriraj Swami: Well, in the Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁguṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ, that one is identified in one’s position according to one’s guna, his qualities, and his karma, his activities. For example: You may be born the son of a lawyer, but just being born the son of a lawyer doesn’t make you a lawyer. You have to be qualified as a lawyer but even then, even if you are qualified as a lawyer, but if you don’t practice as a lawyer no one will say you are a lawyer. So, guna and karma, that is the real system. 

The caste by birth is not in the Bhagavad-gītā, and it really has been used, exploited by people of so-called higher birth to take advantage of people, for their own personal benefit. And in 1977 one of the leaders from India’s freedom movement, Jayaprakash Narayana, he had a huge gathering, I think with some hundreds and thousands of people, something similar to what Gandhiji did. So he made a bonfire, and he asked all the caste brahmans to come forward, take off their sacred threads and put the threads in the fire. And when we reported that to Srila Prabhupada, he replied, “Good. They are all admitting that they are all sudras.” So yes, we don’t go by that.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. There is a lot of talk about return on investment for money, can you say something about being one of the original prasādam distributors in ISKCON, can you say something about what is the return on investment for prasādam?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you should have some realizations of that.

Devotee: Yes. 

Giriraj Swami: Why don’t you tell us? 

Devotee: I want to hear from you, I want to hear from you. 

Giriraj Swami: Well any service, and this is one of our basic activities is prasāda distribution, so definitely investing in prasāda distribution you are really giving to a fully qualified and learned brahmans and so you will benefit, and the people who get the prasāda will benefit. And one thing about prasāda distribution is that even people outside the Vedic culture, they can appreciate it. In South Africa we got huge donations from Muslims because Muslims have a very high regard for feeding people.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:43:19]. 

Giriraj Swami: So, yes. Very good. Prasāda means food that is prepared with love, and devotion, and offered to Krishna. Prasāda literally means mercy. So, Krishna explains what you can offer Him and what He will accept. So pretty much any vegetarian item prepared with love and devotion for Krishna, and offered with love and devotion to Him, He will accept that. And then, the remnants of that offering become prasāda, it is sanctified, and people who eat it become purified. And actually there is another very important verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, that if you prepare food just for your own self even if it is vegetarian, but if you prepare it just for your own self you are eating lumps of sin. But, if you eat the remnants of food that has been offered in sacrifice to Krishna then you become liberated from all sins. So, it is a very important item which may be leading us very close to the next activity on our schedule, which is to honor prasāda.

Devotee: Maharaja. Question is, this is not today’s topic but still it is a good question I think. It has been said, I have read the introduction of the Gītā and it says that the living entity is a part and parcel of God, but in other parts of the Gītā I have read that the living entity is a part of material nature prakriti. What is the correct definition of the living entity? How can it be part of both? I have read also that he is part of prakriti.

Giriraj Swami: Well, the living entity is a spiritual particle of God, but when he comes into the material world he can be covered by a material body. But he is not part of the material nature. He is part of the spiritual nature.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. My question is about the charity. You were talking about a qualified brahman, but isn’t it appropriate to give charity to somebody rather than giving to a qualified brahman who is very well to do materially to somebody poor who is sick, doesn’t have shelter, and need medicine, needs food, needs shelter. Isn’t that appropriate to give to such a person, such a family rather than a qualified brahman who is very well to do?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I think the way you phrase the question, you think that it is better to give to an unqualified person who needs the money more. But let me just give an example to illustrate the danger, and that is, suppose, and I am using this word just as a hypothetical case, that suppose a bad person is poor and you take pity on him, and you give him some money, and with that money he feeds himself and he gets himself back on his feet, and then with the strength and vitality that he now has, he does bad things. So, ultimately what was the value of that charity? By giving charity to the wrong person you actually increased the bad in the world, not the good in the world. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:48:10].

Giriraj Swami: Sorry? No, I said this is a hypothetical case. You might be lucky and give to a good person but you don’t know and that is why the scripture recommends evaluating who you are giving the money to, and I am sure you do that, I am sure you do that. Everyone does that, pretty much if it is going to be any significant amount they always evaluate where it is going. 

So, this is just giving advice as to what the standard of the evaluation should be and in bhakti our ultimate goal is to please Krishna. And so, by pleasing Krishna’s devotee Krishna is pleased and that is good for everyone because ultimately everyone depends on God. The rich man, the poor man, in fact no one is in any sort of safe or secure position without the mercy of God. When Srila Prabhupada came to America he found so many people born in wealthy families who are living like poor people, hippies, and so when he commented about people in the material world that in India people are, this is a generalization, that in India people are poverty stricken, and in America people are affluent stricken, but in the material world everyone is stricken. 

So, we are trying to unstricken them, we are trying to elevate them spiritually. And that poor person, if you give him prasāda, not only will he get nutrition, but he will also get spiritual purification. So, I would say that would be the safest approach to help such a person is to give him prasāda, or bring him to the temple and that will bring you back to the temple too. So that will be good for everyone. 

So thank you very much. Hare Krishna.