Kks Lecture - Cape Town

KKS Lecture

Cape Town, South Africa

26/03/2006

We’re reading from the Bhagavad Gita As it is, the third chapter entitled: Karma Yoga. So, the third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is entitled “Karma Yoga”, text no.33. sadrsam cestate svasyah prakrter jnanavan api prakrtim yanti bhutani nigrahah kim karisyati Translation: Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can repression accomplish? (reads purport) (Invocatory prayers) Once upon a time, there was a king who was a great devotee of the Lord and this king was daily worshipping the Deity of Lord Visnu. This king was faithfully performing his puja early in the morning, faithfully every day, he was making elaborate arrangements for the worship of his beloved Lord on the altar. And naturally, he took the service on the

altar as sacred, and he took it as a duty before anything else. So in other words, looking upon that king, he seemed to be a very serious devotee. One day, while the king was engaged in his worship, a great sage arrived. So the king was very confused: “what to do now? Go receive the sage and stop my worship or continue my worship and meet the sage

after? What shall I do, what would be the correct thing to do? On the one hand you want to respect a saintly person…” he was thinking, “…on the other hand you want to not neglect your worship.”

So he decided that he would simply act as if he hadn’t heard that the saint arrived and he just continued his worship and then afterwards he met the saintly person and offered him all respects and so on. As a result for this activity, for neglecting a saintly person, as a result of this, the king in his next life became an elephant because an elephant is generally a little slow in reacting. So because the king was so slow in reacting to receive the saintly person, therefore in his next life he got the huge body of an elephant which is somewhat slow in reacting. He became the elephant Gajendra! Gajendra, was the king of the elephants. In fact in Srimad Bhagavatam we understand that there are not only elephants on this planet but actually that elephants, lions and such kind of animals exist on various planets throughout the entire universe and it was

described that Gajendra, as an elephant, was the king of the elephants, still king, but this time elephant and not on this planet, no, on a higher planet. One day Gajendra went to take his bath in the company of many female elephants, or at least a group, and they were spraying each other with their trunks, in a lake of water which was filled with water lilies and in the background there were beautiful mountains: one with a golden peak-not like Table mountain but with a golden peak- one with a silver peak and one with an iron peak, three mountains- very nice, wonderful place! So, there the king of elephants was enjoying and sporting in the water and having lots of fun, until suddenly, out of nowhere a crocodile appeared!

And this crocodile attacked him ferociously, ferociously, and the crocodile just latched on to its leg and the crocodile was hanging on this leg. Anyway, it became a big fight between the two and at times they were loose from each other, at times they were locked in a great fight but because the king of elephants, although unlimitedly strong and in fact stronger than the crocodile in physical strength, still the king was not in its element and because the king of elephants was not in his element, namely in the water, it was difficult for him, whereas the crocodile was within his element and had something to eat during the fight and therefore the crocodile remained strong but the elephant gradually lost its

strength and in due course of time the elephant with the crocodile now, again latched on to the leg! The elephant was coming to the stage where it was losing its strength- the critical stage. At that point, the elephant remembered something from its previous life, remembered that at that time he had worshipped the Supreme Lord and the elephant was slowly, through his thick and foggy brain, remembering the Supreme Lord and then prayed to the Supreme Lord for protection. It is said that then, Lord Visnu appeared in that particular spot on the back of His bird carrier Garuda, and it is stated that although, although Gajendra at that time was in great pain because a crocodile was hanging on its leg, still, with his trunk, he picked up a lotus flower and offered it to the Lord.

The Lord then saved him from that crocodile, cut the head of the crocodile, the crocodile turned out to be some demigod who had been cursed and so on. Crocodile also got some mercy since the Lord cut his head; even when the Lord cuts your head, it is a very auspicious thing. And the elephant Gajendra, was saved by Krsna directly. Now, this story is a famous story from Srimad Bhagavatam and Srila Prabhupada begins to explain this story and he explains in this story that, one may be very powerful but if one is not

situated properly according to his nature, then even when one is very powerful, he becomes weakened with time.

Therefore a devotee should not repress his nature but a devotee should find a position where he is comfortably situatued according to his nature in spiritual life and then, progress with the practice of Krsna consciousness. That is explained in the purports of Srimad Bhagavatam and that is relating to this verse that we are describing here from Bhagavad Gita:

“Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can repression accomplish?”

Yes, it’s very difficult; it’s very difficult for a long time to do something against our nature. How long, how long can we do it? Who can act against his nature? There is only, only one way that one can possibly act against ones nature. How? How can you act against your nature? But there is one way it can possibly be done. How?

It can be done, on the strength of love! On the strength of love, one can tolerate anything, on the strength of, of real love one can even sacrifice his nature therefore it is stated here that as long as a person is under the influence of material nature, and not yet on the transcendental platform, then he can not in any way neglect that nature.

But a person, who is fully, fully in Krsna consciousness, who has developed love

of God, such a person, he couldn’t care less about his personal position; such a person cares only about the happiness of Krsna!

We see the example of the Gopi’s, it is a famous example. It is said that one day Narada Muni, the great sage Narada, was travelling throughout the universe as ever, glorifying the Supreme Lord and Narada came before the Supreme Lord.

And Narada, in the presence of the Supreme Lord, was told by the Lord that the Lord had a headache. So Narada was expressing great concern: “Is there anything I can do? Is there anything I can do to help in this situation?” “Yes, well…”, the Lord said, “…there is one thing you can do. You could give the dust of your feet.” Narada says, “The dust of my feet?” And the Lord

says, “Yes, I will take the dust of your feet and put in on My head and that will cure, that will cure my headache.” So Narada, “How could I say no, but how could I do that! I am very fallen. You are the Supreme lord, how could even, even hear this? Please don’t speak like this. That would be the greatest offence on my part. I can not do it, oh no, please my Lord, please don’t ask me this?” Then Lord Narayana told Narada, “All right, My dear Narada. Go to Vrndavana, go and meet My devoteesthe Gopi’s of Vrndavana- and ask them if they will give the dust of their lotus feet to place on My head to cure My headache.” So Narada took the order of the Lord, went to Vrndavana, met the Gopi’s and asked the Gopi’s, “will you give the dust of your feet to cure the headache of the Lord?”

The Gopi’s said, “Yes, yes! Please take.” Narada said, “But my dear girls! My dear girls, don’t be so foolish. Don’t you realise that it is a great offence to give the dust of your feet to put on the head of the Lord! Don’t you realise? Didn’t you hear any scriptural knowledge?” The Gopi’s said, “ No no, we know that, we know that; we know that if the Lord takes the dust of our feet and places it on His head that would be a great offence on our part and we would suffer tremendously for that, probably even go to hell!”

But then the Gopi’s said, “That…that’s all right. We will go to hell, but the Lord’s headache will be cured.”

So this is an ancient story also, and it shows the level of pure devotion. So in this narration we are making this distinction between pure devotion to Krsna and conditional devotional service to Krsna. Conditional devotional service, where we think: “I have my nature, I have my needs, I am the one that I am and have to be the one that I am!” It is said there are four different classes, in the Bhagavad Gita Krsna says, “catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah”,

that, all over the world there are four classes of people: there are intellectuals, there are administrators or military men, there are farmers or business men and

there are labour class who are not very intellectual.

It is said in the Vedic culture, the intellectual class was the priestly class who would study the Vedic scriptures and who would act according to the injunctions of the scripture. The intelligent class of man is meant for this. That class of man is described to be in the mode of goodness. So a class of man who can dedicate his life according to the injunction of scripture and put scripture, the direction of scripture, before his own personal desires and feelings, such a person is in goodness. Such a person is on the path of elevation. A person who is ruled by the mode of passion

but pure in passion and is respectful to those who are in goodness, can become a ksatriya. A ksatriya is one who protects religious principles and proper moral standards and who dedicates his life to the welfare of others and works under the direction of those who are spiritually pure, but a ksatriya himself being in the mode of passion cannot always control his senses and therefore needs a certain amount of sense enjoyment. A vaisya is by nature mixed; he is under the influence of passion and ignorance. A vaisya by nature, being passionate is interested in personal gain and profit, and being under the influence of ignorance, is not religiously dedicated to the principles of purity. Although a vaisya will certainly follow spiritual principles, when it comes to the choice between profit and principle, well, what can he do! What to do, if it’s between profit and principle, lets take the profit and we can always follow the principles tomorrow!

So we know this mentality in us as well, we know this mentality: “Well, what can you do, you know, lets go for the advantage and then tomorrow again I’ll be a holy person, I’ll follow all the principles…” A sudra by nature, finds principles something repressive. A sudra by nature hates principles because these principles they interfere with my own natural expression of what I am, the person that is really me, deep down within there lives a person and that person I‘m trying to discover as I’m exploring the entire universe, I’m

exploring the depth of my personality and the more I do so, the more free I become! The more real I become! And therefore the more spiritual I become! Because through spirituality must be freedom, total free expression of the true nature of being!

mind! (laughs) you’ve convinced him! But there’s someone in the corner there who maybe… (devotee 2): I thought maybe that is a little selfish. Maharaja: Selfish uh? Ya, to detect an element of selfishness: “ME, and MY desires and MY personal experience and what I feel, deep in MY being” you see the selfish element there and what do you say? (devotee 1): it has to start here…

True or not? (devotee 1): True Maharaja: True! True or not? (devotee 2): not true Maharaja: Not true? Not true! My God, we have a debate. You see that! This man in the corner there is disagreeing with you! Chee! Oh, boy! You’re in trouble! And why not? (To devotee) you’re elder so we give you the first chance. You were so bold to speak, now you can’t sit there and act numb… hmm…you challenge the lady!

Why is it not true? I said that the true and pure freedom of expression, unchecked, is the most wonderful, beautiful spiritual thing in the world. And you say it’s not true! Oh, my God! It is true, it is true, you change your

Maharaja: It has to start here, it doesn’t have to end here as well (laughs) it starts there and where does it go from there? (devotee 1): possibilities.

it

has

unlimited

Maharaja: There are unlimited possibilities, yes, all right. Yes, it has to start here, that’s true;

I mean…Let me say something about nature, our own nature. What is our nature? What is our nature? Have you

also had this experience that there is more than one inside of you? Have you ever experienced a split personality within yourself? Have you? Nobody? ‘ No, never! Never heard that, no’…uh?

within us. Who are we really? Behind every gentleman or behind every lady there is a hidden personality, the personality that wants to break loose! The personality that wants to break all the borders!

(devotee): I get it all the time. Maharaja: You have it all the time. Vraja Krsna has it all the time! (laughs) all right. So often? (devotee): it’s happening so often, I cant even see it. Maharaja: I see. It’s happening so often, you can’t even see it anymore. Yes, you’ve been to a doctor? (laughs) (devotee): that’s why I came here. Maharaja: I see, just asking. But there is an element in us where we are many times divided, where we many times see there is two sides in us: one side wants to do it and the other side says ‘well, maybe better not, maybe better not’. One side thinks, ‘I’ll put in my pocket’ the other says, ‘well, maybe don’t do that, maybe don’t’ and so on and so on. Because, in Bhagavad Gita we see that nature is described as being of two kinds: the lower nature and the higher nature! Mmm! Oh, you know, even Disney figured it out: The Beast and The Beauty!,

But all within us, all within us, living

The personality that just wants to be free! ‘Why don’t we do it! Why don’t we do it in the road!’ Well…well John, what shall I say. It does make a mess you know, it does make a mess we can see. So, what is this? ‘Are we imposing all kinds of Victorian morals upon ourselves?

And are we trying to behave according to all kinds of false standards out of prudeness? Are we simply prude and conservative, Victorian? Is that what is going on? And are we just repressing our true nature out of fear or is there

another reason for it?’ What do you think?

Maharaja: It doesn’t set you free. Why not?

(devotee): Security.

(devotee): because there’s many consequences and also you may not want the consequences…

Maharaja: Security, security. Ya! Yes, whatever you do leaves its traces, leaves its mark. So a little security helps, you know, if you just go in the road you just might also pick up something in the road, you know, that you didn’t want, it might get out of hand in the road, it may drag us down also to the low life. So lower nature, higher nature…low life is connected to suffering. If we go for free sex, then what will come of that? Does free sex set you free?

Maharaja: What are the consequences? (devotee): well, unwanted progeny and … Maharaja: Unwanted progeny… (devotee): …and all kinds of diseases… Maharaja: Kids and diseases. Is there any similarity between the two? (laughs) (devotee): I have no answer for that. Maharaja: All right. (devotee): just kidding.

I’m asking all kind of nasty questions (laughs) but I want some answers also, somebody who is bold. This is Cape Town, I think in Cape Town, these things you can ask…yes? (devotee): It doesn’t set you free.

Maharaja: Just kidding. Right, okay. Well, it is true that whatever you do in this world, every action is causing a reaction, it effects our consciousness and the more we go for free sex, with this and that one and then that one as well and why not this one also, and so on and so on; the more we wind up exactly where our friend, who is sitting in the corner there, whatever his name is, said that we would wind up in the realm of selfishness: ‘ME! I am the greatest! ME, so wonderful!’ Just like, I was on the plane, being a sanyassi, living a life of celibacy and then the movie started on the big screen and it was all about Don Jaun and Don Juan came up to this girl and grabbed her hand and said, “and if I kiss on this spot…” that’s where I walked out and went to sit on the seat of the stewardess, so I could look the other direction, because I thought this is not for a sanyassi: Don Juan! And who is this Don Juan anyway? Don Juan,

conquering and conquering and conquering the world! And what’s he conquering? With each conquest, his ego is growing and growing. Psychologically speaking, Karl Yaung identified that as ‘a swollen ego.’ He said that someone like Don Juan would be suffering from an extraordinary swollen ego, an ego as big as the moon!

not only to people, but to things as well… ‘The earth!

The earth is simply there for my enjoyment, oh yes it is! It is! Doesn’t it say in the bible that God gave man supreme dominion over all that be? Yes it does, yes it does and it is all for us to enjoy, isn’t it great, isn’t it wonderful, a whole planet for ME and my enjoyment? Wonderful!’

So something like that, ‘ I, Don Juan, am irresistible!’ and so on. In other words, he is only caring about himself. So what happens, when we become caught up in selfishness? Is that, we see that everything in this world, is for MY pleasure! Selfishness is that, ‘ it’s for my pleasure. You are for my pleasure, he is for my pleasure, he is for my pleasure, everyone is for my pleasure and people ought to just simply exist for MY pleasure and if I can arrange it like that, very good! So if I can be master and everyone can be slave, wonderful! Wonderful! I am master and they naturally are slaves! Great, it is wonderful! Where shall I live? Mmm, let me see…could I somewhere in this neighbourhood maybe find a nice dwelling place, maybe just a little bit over the hills there…’ So this masterslave dynamics, this dynamics of exploitation which then goes of course

And yes…I saw a very nice poster, and the poster was called “The happy home” and there was a lovely happy home, very lovely: a nice garden

with picket fence and a beautiful little cottage and they had some nice little pets in the garden and fruit trees and it looked lovely. A little lovely cornerHappy Home- on planet earth, the only problem was, that planet earth, didn’t exactly look anymore like the globe as we know it but it looked rather, just like you sometimes have these round pieces of cheese and it looked just like one chunk of the cheese and everything else had already fallen off!

back into the car, back into the house looking from behind the window ‘ how long is this gonna last?’ something’s going on. Some say. It’s because all the cold water is melting at the polar caps and going into the Gulf Stream and therefore the weather is extreme. Whatever may be. But with this selfishness, we are destroying the world! We are destroying the life of so many people. Did Don Juan ever think of all the abortions he caused? That you don’t see in the movie!

So this is what we’re doing now. Have you noticed a little greenhouse effect? I don’t know what the weather’s been like on the Cape, but I know what it was like when I just came back from Gaura Purnima in India to Europe, my God! On Gaura Purnima, there was snow in Europe! And ice! Snow and ice, in Europe, in March, that is not normal.

It’s all rosy and romance and so on but, you know, what about the ugly side of the story and the girl? And she’s stuck and then what’s she going to do? All alone, yes, and so on.

Correct? That is not the way it’s supposed to be. But sure enough, and it had been going on since November and just didn’t stop! It didn’t stop. Superintense, everyone sitting inside near the heater, walking from the house to the car, from the car into the shopping mall,

And he’s not so rotten; he’ll pay the medical bill! Thanks a lot! And then who gets the karma? - Both of them! And what is the karma for that? It’s heavy duty! This goes in the category of ‘heavy duty karma’- abortion! You

better stay away from that, if you don’t want to get burnt, baby! Because you’re going to be baby to, again, and you’re going to get it for that abortion you were involved it! ‘ But I was only 13!’ Doesn’t matter! 13- old enough to know better!

So, the lower nature gets us all so entangled in all kind of things because in the lower nature, the selfishness is predominant and then we don’t care about the consequences, and then what to do? ‘ I mean we can’t take care of the child. I can’t marry the girl, we are too young! No, we can’t do that and then what to do, I mean, we can’t have it anyway- the poor, little dear, would not get a proper chance in the world, we’re doing it a favour by killing it in the womb before it comes out! We’re saving it from so much misery, better we kill it now! It’s only tissue anyway. So if we simply just surgically remove the tissue there won’t be any problem, I mean it’s not really life, I mean it’s like hardly developed, it’s basically tissue in a state of development which eventually at the time of birth will manifest into life but if we are quick enough, and we just, you know, with proper anaesthesia and so on, nicely remove it very painlessly, quickly done. Done! Best solution, best solution!’ So, in this way, freedom, freedom!

I remember 1965, oh yes, I was there, I had a guitar, sure enough, you had to have one in’65.

And there I was and I couldn’t play a single chord but that didn’t matter either, because just on the open strings…and I will yell out, and on top of my lungs: FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM! My favourite band was called ‘The Animals’ and my favourite song, ‘ It’s my life and I do what I want!’ and I did and boy oh boy, shoo! It was complex. So the lower nature basically is all based on our personal enjoyment, everything for ME and it’s not only Don Juan, there’s also his female counterpart of course, ‘tadam tadam tadamm, I wrap the guys around my little finger…’ that’s also going on. So, whoever, but the same thing again, she dresses to kill, oh yes, dress to kill and for what? She loves to be loved, she loves to be loved! That’s what it is all about! - To see them squirm, to see them crawl, to feel the power of simply controlling them ,

oh she loves to be loved!

So all this is part of the entanglement of the lower nature. Because, true love is something different. True love is not that self-centred type of desire:

‘ all for my enjoyment!’- But it is actually making sacrifice, it means to give. So in the higher nature, we speak about sacrifice-‘sacrifice?’ It was always one of those words together with ‘duties, principle, sacrifice...the kind of words that I thought, why did my parents harass me with these words? Sacrifice! Yuck! Can’t we just be free?’ But we see that within sacrifice, we grow because within sacrifice when we give for someone else we become a greater person. I remember here in South Africa being in one college programme and one girl told, she said, “Why are you guys against sex? What’s your problem with it? What’s your problem with it?” she says, “I have 10 boyfriends!” and she says, “And I like it!” And all the students, they go: “YYeh! Yeh man. What is your hang up actually? I mean, what is it, you know? What’s the hang up you guys got?” So, ooh, I was thinking, how am I going to get out of this one! Anyway, Krsna gave me some inspiration. And I told the girl, I said, “ Okay, it maybe very nice that you are having 10 boyfriends and you’re enjoying but there is a higher purpose in life for a women and that is not to just have boyfriends but also to have a child. But if your child has 10

fathers and is not sure which one it is, it gets confusing, isn’t it?

So better, for the benefit of the child have only one, have only one and that will help for the whole relationship, for the child and the parents to develop nicely.” And she was quiet and at the end of the programme she said, “ that man, he said a lot of wise things!”, she said.

It is a fact. So we make a sacrifice, we make a sacrifice for the benefit of someone else and the more we sacrifice for the benefit of someone else, the more actually…the greater we become, the more actually our heart becomes free from lust and greed and anger and envy and other low qualities. So the development of these qualities of the mode of goodness, the spirit of sacrifice, the spirit of tolerance, the spirit of self control and are not simply going for everything the senses see, but see, “Is this really beneficial? Is this activity, not only beneficial for myself, but is this activity beneficial for all? Because I will not build my happiness upon the suffering of others.”

So, back to that- the mode of goodness, the life of sacrifice, the life of following higher principles, the life of following principles which benefit all is higher, than just doing whatever comes in the mind, whatever the senses dictate. Still higher than that, is the life of pure devotional service because within the life of pure devotional service, one doesn’t just follow the life of sacrifice but one begins to put the pleasure of Krsna before anything else.

Are you ready to live like that? Yeh, that’s a step up uh? From just being free and being ME to the point where we say, ‘I will not build my happiness upon the suffering of others’, you are right maybe, after all! So, that is the mode of goodness. Within the mode of goodness, we will not build our happiness upon the suffering of others and we will therefore act in a way that is good for us, and good for the world, good for all others. If that would only become like the predominant mood in Cape Town, it would really be what it supposed to be, it would become a wonderful place to stay and even the weather might improve due to improved karma! Who knows! It’s not impossible.

Krsna, is the well-wisher of all living being: suhrdam sarva-bhutanam and because Krsna is the well-wisher of all living beings, therefore by serving Krsna, we also become the well-wisher of all living beings. And being the wellwisher of all living beings, yes then we have really come to the other end of the scale, the other end of the spectrum, in terms of…from selfishness we have gone to selflessness. At that point we live a life of giving then we are over the thing of taking, ‘what’s in it for me?’ Because, in the world, it’s the world of the ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ and the ‘have’s’ are really happy that they have it and the ‘have nots’, they really hate

the guts of those guys that have it! And in this way we live with fences, with nice electricity on them or other varieties and ‘armed response’- a world of ‘have’ and ‘have nots’! But if we live in a world where everyone is simply working selflessly, for the welfare of all, understanding that the true welfare of all is not simply material…we can go to the streets of Calcutta, and we can see how the sisters of Mother Theresa are still picking up the leper patients off the street and it’s rough, it is rough! I have been at night, walking past the Howrah Bridge and that bridge starts as a fly-over leading into the bridge and there’s leper colonies living under the bridge. And I’ve seen how they attacked a dog with a rock and smashed its head and I have seen, how their noses have rotted away from the leprosy and how their fingers have become little stumps, but still, they killed the dog, cooked the dog and ate the dog! Right there, and I go “heavy, heavy!” it was. And those same colonies, they take off the street and they cure their disease and they give them some education, they give them some material facility, isn’t it great, isn’t it great! Yes it is, it is great., it is great. But I remember, that I was in Calcutta, and I was giving one lecture in our temple in Calcutta in the morning, I was giving a lecture and I was also remembering in that lecture a doctor in Calcutta and this doctor in Calcutta, was working so hard and I remember that I saw that his house filled with patients: sitting in the corridors on the floor and they were sitting in the garden with bloody bandages and what not! And this doctor was working for, like, you know, just practically peanuts and working very hard. So I was remembering that doctor in that lecture and speaking about the glories of that doctor. And then I was saying, “ if we look at the sacrifice of that doctor and if we

look at the sacrifice of our devotees, then who sacrifices greater?” And I asked that question. Low and behold, it turns out that there was a Calcutta doctor in the audience! And the Calcutta doctor in the audience he said… he started a whole thing and said, “ the vaisnava’s are so much greater because all we do is fix the body but we don’t do any thing for the soul. We may be repairing bodies and curing diseases but we do not change, we do not change the mentality of a person. Why did someone come in this condition? Due to sinful life! But we fix the body, we fix the machine and he walks away and again engages in sinful activity, we are not changing his life… without actually changing a person’s life, that’s insufficient”, the doctor said. He was right; he’s probably a life member!

Because, you know, I think he heard it before, the philosophy. That it is a factsimply welfare work for the body won’t do it, we have to something for the eternal benefit of the soul. What’s the point to take some leper off the street?

Very nice. It is good, it is great. But not great enough! Because, the karma of that leper would not improve and again he will suffer. We have to do something. If we want to do welfare work, if we want to make sacrifice, if we give up selfishness and really want to do some welfare work for the world, then we have to do something that people get eternal benefit, eternal benefit. Srila Prabhupada, was such a person who totally selflessly, gave everything in his life for the benefit of others. And helped others to take up spiritual lifewhich is the greatest thing to do-and then supported them throughout. Prabhupada did not just travel around the world to preach, but Prabhupada also did also everything he could to support people in their spiritual life and to train people in their spiritual life and to make it possible, and therefore now it’s so easy.

That means we have to free them from karma, free from sinful reactions. This is the highest position of selflessness, greater than being a doctor! Greater that we sacrifice our life for the Absolute Truth than for the mundane truth of science…Greater than any such thing, we give everything for the benefit of all in the world. This is what we see in the great and pure devotees. Srila Prabhupada, for those who don’t know, is there on that picture also on the vyasasana in the form of a murti.

Here we are, like you know, in our devotional attire, look at me, you know. I’m doing pretty good in the world. I’ve got like, a whole bouquet of roses around my neck and what else I do not get, so many things. And it’s an easy life in a way, everything is ready, and all I have to do is either look on the Internet at Krsna.com, or buy from any Hare

Krsna temple a ‘Back To Godhead’ magazine, which gives a full address list. Krsna.com and boom, there it is! ‘Your nearest Hare Krsna temple in the world.’

It’s pretty easy. You know, Krsna.com… and sure enough, there it is- prasadam! Or that nice vegetarian food, you know, that famous Hare Krsna kitchen, that kitchen- religion and all that sort of mmm…All that, so easily available from the Internet. Like, that you know…ADSL and right there- you got it, wherever you are! And you’re on holidays in Greece and sure enough there’s your address and you go to Spain and where would you want to go? London – healthy, wealthy wise…we were just there a few days ago and it’s going strong, we had spinach roles on the plane. We made it all the way to South Africa, until the next prasadam, we survived! So, Prabupada, did not just preach a very high philosophy, did not just preach a very high goal of making…and did not just try to inspire us to make the greatest sacrifice, to just dedicate our lives to serving Krsna and to become the well-

wisher of all living beings, but Prabhupada himself, showed it by his example and made it easy for us, gave us help, gave us support, gave us programmes by which we can actually do it and simply made it possible for us to be our natural self- at least the one we are for now!

The one we are now, where we start with, it’s got to start here. Yes, you were right! (to devotee). It’s got to start here, its got to start with us. And Prabupada made a connection for us, that we too, can live a natural life and yet, take advantage of the Bhagavad Gita As It Is and of all the spiritual knowledge. That’s wonderful and that is this movement and everyone is welcome, welcome to some or somehow or other take advantage of it and that will certainly save us, save us from the predicament that Gajendra the elephant came in, where a crocodile was hanging on his leg! Yes. Gajendra had not expected it, he had not expected it that the nice beautiful lake: golden, silver mountains, not just Table mountains but golden silver mountains and lotuses. Not just a little lake, no, beautiful! He

had not expected to be attacked, right there at the height of his enjoyment. We may also not expect, just as we are playing a nice CD in our quadraphonic sound system within the car…Boom! (accident)

‘ Blood pressure is going down, quick, quick! Emergency, blood pressure is going down., emergency emergency!’ and so on. And then…floating around the room looking down upon the doctors and so on, and then see if you can get back in or not and then where will you go, do you know? Where will you go?

Who knows where he will go? But, Bhagavad Gita…for one who follows Bhagavad Gita throughout his life, he knows! He knows very well what his destination will be and that destination will be auspicious. So can we do a little more than just ‘be here now’, can we look a little further than the nose is long ‘mmm, what am I smelling?’ it’s not all about smelling smelling, tasting, tasting, touching touching, having, having, but we take it a step further: where am I going, going, going….? Where will it all end, end, end….? And with the Bhagavad Gita, we have some security! So with that, I have come to ‘the end’: a lion appears

on the screen…or a mountain with a snow cap and then all the names will scroll on the screen and the names that are scrolling on the screen you can read them here, in the Bhagavad Gita just at the end of the introduction. The first name that appears on the screen in big caps is the name of Krsna! And the next name is Brahma, Narada, Vyasa, Madhava…and then many other names, you cant read them all, you know how it is at the end of a movie (laughs) but then you see some big names like Bhaktivinoda, Gaura Kisora, Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati and A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada! And then you understand, this whole information was not just a product of someone’s brain, but it actually was like a proper production coming down directly from Krsna Himself! Bhagavad Gita- As It is! ‘The end’.

And here we have your writing. I am very happy to see the attempts of our authors. I’m very happy to share these creations with everyone. Sometimes the handwriting is also a little tough. Questions: 1.) If I am to take initiation, ask a guru, how will this help me in my life even if the guru lives far away? Well, it’s very simple. Taking initiation from a guru is quite an involved thing; it’s not a small thing. One is, there are four regulative principles: no meat fish or eggs, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit

sex. That’s quite something. Number two is that on has to chant everyday 16 rounds of the mahamantra.

you have very little time for japa etc? Yes, first the love is in practice. We can say, ‘love under construction’, just as ‘work in progress’, ‘house under construction, - ‘love under construction.’ You cannot just love like that; so-called love at first sight doesn’t go so deep. Love at first sight may be initial attraction but how deep does it go? So therefore, love for Krsna develops by finding out more and more about Krsna: who He is, what He does, what He says, and what He likes.

That’s very potent and powerful. And then, additionally, one promises to accept the orders of the spiritual master without questioning them and to simply surrender to them and follow the direction of the spiritual master in one’s life. The spiritual master is one’s best friend, sudrira suhrdam, one has a firm friendship and one is trusting; that my spiritual master knows better than I know myself what is good for me and if we actually act upon that, then the result will be that we will get great benefit because the spiritual master, whatever direction he’s giving us he’s not taking it from himself, he’s taking it from Krsna and Krsna is perfect. Therefore under the directions of the spiritual master, our life will become perfect. Looks like similar handwriting, but not the same. 2.) How can we act out of love for Krsna in an everyday way when

And then if we begin to act in such a way that is pleasing to Krsna, then gradually everything becomes favourable. Then we begin to slowly develop our love for Krsna because Krsna is wonderful and by acting in a way that is pleasing to Him, we too will become pleased, because Krsna’s directions are perfect: full of depth and wisdom and whoever dedicates his life to that, will see that his life will become perfect.

3.) Please could you tell me if Srimati Radharani does not wear tilaka? No, I don’t know actually these things. I’m sorry; you have to ask somebody who knows more than me.

from anartha’s. If someone is free from anartha’s, then he can help us to also become free from such stumbling blocks, from these stupid attachments that actually have no benefit to us and anyone else but still we are conditioned by them. So we need to take shelter from someone who’s free.

4.) How can anartha’s be removed? Please expand on what the anartha is and is it a material energy? Okay. The word anartha means stumbling block, it’s a stumbling block on the path of spiritual advancement. ‘A-nartha’- that which not gives benefit, ‘nartha’ means benefit, that which not gives benefit. So, we have so many things, anartha’s, stupid things. Like everybody knows smoking is a stupid thing but still people go on, keep on doing it.

So many things are stupid things but we just do these stupid things. Why? Because we are stupid! So, how can anartha’s be removed? If we see that we are stupid and that we keep on doing things of which we know that we shouldn’t but somehow or other we cant stop it, that’s’ the time when we need help. That’s’ the time when we need help from someone who’s situated better than we are. And that’s the point if we really want to remove our anartha’s we have to take help of a person who is free

So the devotees are being trained to become free of such anartha’s and to only engage in activities that are beneficial. Like I remember that I use to go to a bar on a Saturday night and then met everybody and I was speaking with everybody and I thought that I was having an interesting Saturday night and then I would forget something in the bar. And then on Sunday morning I would go back to the bar and the smell, the smell in the place on Sunday morning was so bad, so bad that I wondered ‘how was I here last night having a good time when it stinks like this, this morning?’

So, that’s an anartha, to name one. And there are many anartha’s on the waterfront that I will for now leave for what it is.

5.) I heard that in the spiritual world one can attain a body similar to Krsna’s. Is this at all true? Well, the body of Krsna is wonderful, because the body of Krsna is eternal and it is fully blissful, everything about that body is blissful. So in the spiritual world also you can have a totally blissful body;

There’s no such thing. And you don’t have to stop eating, you can eat as much cake as you like- this is not only for the kids but the adults as well- you can eat as much cake as you like and you don’t blow up like you know, where one says ‘maybe it’s time to stop.’ No, in the spiritual world there is no limit to the enjoyment you can have. You don’t have to go to bed, you don’t have to sleep- you can- but you don’t have to because one never becomes tired, you don’t run out of energy, you don’t run out of steam and time is not a factor to worry about. What shall we say! So in this way we can get a body similar to Krsna’s body and we can engage in an eternal relationship with Krsna and that exchange with Krsna, that is the ecstasy of the spiritual world and all that is true.

a body where you don’t feel any pain, nothing at all and a body where you can eat without limitation. This is for the kids, you can eat sweets in the spiritual world and you never have to go to the dentist, never, never! They don’t have dentists in the spiritual world.

6.) Not doing something for the sake of not wanting to get the attached karma, is this then not a selfish act? Yes, it is very self-centredness if you just avoid different activities because you don’t want the karma, still a selfish element. But it’s not as selfish as pure gross selfishness. Pure gross

selfishness, where we just exploit anything and everyone, is obviously worse. But it is true. The gopi’s when they were ready to take the headache of Krsna; they had no selfish motivation at all. So that’s beyond the level that is suggested here. The gopi’s were selfless.

Next question… 7.) What is a selfish servant? A servant who wants some gain, some personal gain from the service. It takes time. Begin as a selfish servant. Better a selfish servant than trying to be a selfish master because in being a selfish servant, we are on the path of going towards selflessness. But in being a selfish master, we become Johnny the self-kicker. 8.) Why does Prabhupada say we are part and parcel of Krsna? Because he’s repeating the Bhagavad Gita: mamaivamso jiva-loke jivabhutah sanatanah, saying we are the

separated part and parcel of Krsna; it doesn’t say part and parcel but separated part and parcel of Krsna. So we are part and parcel of Krsna because everything is Krsna’s energy but although we are part and parcel of Krsna, we are not Krsna, we’re just a part of His energy and all the energy is part of Krsna. The parcel, the part and parcel; that we are parts may be easy to understand but that we are parcel, okay not a parcel: a post man and with a ribbon around it like that, your name on the tag. But parcel, meaning we have the same, we are of the same nature. The word parcel, here, implies that we are of the same nature as Krsna. Not only are we parts of Krsna but, we are of a similar nature as Krsna is and yet, we are not Krsna, we are just…and we can never become Krsna and are only eternal servants of Krsna. And if we surrender to that it would become ecstatic and if we don’t, we will suffer and suffer and suffer and suffer! Good luck! And it says one should end a lecture on a light note, so with these light words I think I have to find a befitting end for this lecture and with that I thank you very much for tolerating me all this time. It’s a pleasure being back at the Cape and we hope that there will be more opportunity to spend together in the next few days. Hare Krsna! Srila Prabhupada ki, Jaya!