CONTENTS:
- HOW EASY IT IS TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY
- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. HOW EASY IT IS TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY
Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity of coming here this evening and being with you all. It is very inspiring to see how wonderfully you all are responding to Krishna Consciousness. We are here to impart, distribute and give the wisdom of the Vedas. The wisdom of the Vedas is the wisdom that came from another world. We are in the material world which is the world of matter but beyond that, there is another world of consciousness, spiritual world. We get an idea of the spiritual world by just observing the world around us. We see that this is the world of matter and we also notice that by nature matter is inert for example this chair is inter, the table, floor, wall and building all are inert matter but you and I we are conscious, we are alive. Although our bodies are made of matter and by nature matter is inert but our bodies are not inert our bodies are conscious and living. The question arises, “What causing these bodies to become alive?” We recognise its because of the presence of the soul.
Due to the presence of the soul in this body made of dead matter is alive and when the soul leaves the body the body made of dead matter becomes dead again. We call it death but its the death of this body. Why? Because the soul left the body. The soul when it was present in the body it was alive and the moment the soul left the body it became dead. Where does the soul come from? What is the nature of the soul? The nature of the soul is so distinct with this consciousness that its presence in the body made of dead matter became conscious. The soul is so conscious that it makes a dead body conscious. The soul came from another reality which is the spiritual reality, we can define it as the world of consciousness. Who are we? Are we the body or the soul? Apparently, we consider that this body is me, I am this body and that is our identification here. Is this our real identity? The body had been changing, when I was a little child, I had one kind of body, when I reached boyhood the child like body disappeared and another body developed, then the body became a young man’s body and in this way the body had been changing.
Although my body was changing am I not the same person? Like 5 years old me and today’s 72-year-old me is the same me although the 5-year-old body is not there anymore. Just think about it, doesn’t this principle apply to all of us? Were you 5 years old at one time now where is that body? At least we know that not a single cell of that body is living today in this body therefore my body changed. I am the same person although I have a different body. Does this point make sense? The question is who am I? Body or the soul? The answer is that we are spiritual beings. We are the souls but unfortunately, we have forgotten our spiritual identity. This is the arrangement by the illusory energy of the Lord called Maya. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has various energies and his external energy is called Maya and has its wonderful illusory influence which makes us forget who we actually are.
That energy is acting in order to remind us about our relationship with the Lord. How? It is punishing us when we go away from the Lord and this energy rewards us when we get closer to the Lord and that is how this Maya potency acts. Have you ever seen an animal being trained like a dog? How the dog is trained? When the dog does the right thing, the dog gets rewarded with a biscuit, cookie and when the dog does the wrong thing it gets a stick and this is how the dog learns what to do and what not to do. In a similar way Maya is teaching us and training us, when you do the right thing then Maya rewards us and when we do the wrong thing then Maya punishes us. The ultimate consideration of right and wrong is the activities that take us to the Supreme Personality of Godhead right and the activities that take us away from the Lord is wrong. When we act in a way that takes us away from the Lord then Maya punishes us and activities that take us towards the Lord Maya rewards us. In this way Maya is training us to go towards the spiritual reality.
Beyond this material reality is spiritual reality. How many of you believe that there is another reality beyond this material world? How do I know? The things that we did not see how do you know that it exists? We become aware of it from information. What is knowledge? Knowledge is information. When we have information, we know and when we do not have information we do not know. The predominating factor of the spiritual reality is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is identified by various names like Krishna, Rama, Vishnu, Narayana, etc. He is one Supreme Personality but He has many names due to His qualities and activities. In Latin one of the names of the Lord is Omnipotent, omni means all and potent means powerful. Who is all powerful? He is all powerful. Omniscient means He knows everything, Omnipresent means present everywhere. This is how the bible is describing God but when you go to it then we see that these are the definitions of His qualities. Krishna means all attractive. It is not that Krishna is a Hindu God, a product of somebody’s imagination. No. He is Krishna because in Sanskrit it is indicating that He is all attractive.
Karshati iti Krishna He attracts, He is all attractive therefore He is Krishna. He is the Supreme Enjoyer and Supreme pleasure giver therefore He is Rama. He is sustaining all the living entities therefore He is Vishnu. These names are indicative of His qualities but He is one without a second. He is the Supreme Personality. His identity has been described through examples like the Sun which is a source of light and it also has innumerable rays which are light but minute, so He is identified as the Sun and we are like the rays coming from Him and that is one identification of the Lord and us. Our relationship with Him, the rays is coming from the Sun so the Sun is the source of all the rays and we all are those minute particles coming from Him. Another example is a spark and fire. The spark is fire but the spark is fire only as long as the spark is with the fire, the moment the spark comes out of the fire it loses its fiery qualities and falling on a heap of ash it becomes ash. Similarly, we are minute parts and parcels of the Lord and when we lose our relationship with Him then we lose our spiritual qualities and falling in this world of matter we begin to identify ourselves with matter.
We are spiritual only as long as we are connected to Him. When we become separated from Him then we lose our spiritual qualities just as the spark separating from the fire became ash falling on a heap of ash. It was spark only when it was connected to fire and when it became separated from fire it lost its fiery qualities. Similarly, when we become separated from the Lord, we lose our spiritual quality and falling in the world of matter we identify ourselves with matter. Although we are spiritual beings, we have become separated from Him we are identifying ourselves with this body but in reality, we are not this body. When that spark is taken back to the fire what happens? It is no longer ash it becomes fire again. Similarly, when we become connected to the Lord, we regain our spiritual identity. This is the basic teachings of the Vedas. This teaching is pointing out from the world of death you enter into the world of immortality. Everybody wants to be immortal. The pharmaceutical business is the most lucrative business today? Why? A simple fact is because no one wants to die so in order to remain alive they are taking whatever medicine is being presented to them.
In spite of all their endeavours will they be able to conquer death? No. No one in this world is immortal. The body will die when the soul leaves the body, it’s a universal truth. There is generally no absolute truth in this world accept one absolute truth and that is everyone will die. All of us have to die. The point is who dies? The body. When does the body die? When the soul leaves the body. Theoretically you can consider are you the body or the soul? How many of you will at least theoretically accept that you are a spirit soul? Ok very nice. What is the body? How many of you read Bhagavad Gita? You know the answer. The body is like a dress an external covering of the soul. We are wearing a dress but that dress is not our actual identity. Our actual identity is ourselves. Similarly, this body is like a dress we are wearing for the time being and at some point, we will leave this body. When we leave this body who will die? The body will die. Is that point clear? Again, who are you? Soul so who dies? The body. You are not the body but the soul will you die? No. See how easily we can attain immortality. It’s very simple to achieve provided we are given the right information.
The whole world wants to become immortal but the point is in reality everyone is in fact immortal. Because of his false identification with the body and when the body dies, he thinks he is dead but in reality, none of us will die from the world of death you enter into the world of immortality because that is where you belong. One of the first instructions of the Vedas are so full of assurance. Listen the children of immortality, that’s the wisdom and instructions of the Vedas. The Vedas are reminding us that we are all the children of immortality, we all are immortal. We all came from the world of eternity. We all are eternal, full of knowledge and joy but because we have severed our relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna therefore we have lost those spiritual qualities. I hope I have illustrated this point on how easy it is to achieve immortality it’s only a matter of shifting our consciousness from body to soul. Simply becoming aware of our actual identity being spiritual not material and immediately immortality is achieved. Thank you all very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
2. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q: If we reach the spiritual world and again misuse our free will then would we fall down again in this material world then why does Krishna say if one reaches my spiritual abode the he never comes back here?
A: Very good question. A simple answer to that is once bitten twice shy. Once you have seen how terrible this material world is and after so much endeavour and when you go back to the spiritual world and experience how wonderful the spiritual world is then would you ever want to come back again? No. So that is why Krishna says yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama. Once one goes there, he never comes back here again.
Q: Yesterday I saw a video on paradox suppose God has created a stone that cannot be lifted by anyone then He also cannot lift it but He is God how could He not lift it?
A: The answer is because He is Omnipotent, all powerful so nothing is impossible for Him. What to speak of lifting a stone just by His will He is causing innumerable universes floating in the space. Can you imagine what His potency is like? He just glances into the material nature and the whole material universe becomes manifest. This thing about the stone is just some fancy jugglery of words. Like you have said at the beginning of your question so it’s just a paradox.
Q: When a devotee is new in Krishna Consciousness then he loses faith in the soul because of bodily attachment so how to regain faith?
A: Faith will be established when you get proper information and that is why it is so important to study the scriptures like Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and listen to the devotees who thoroughly understood those scriptures. Two things are very important to associate with the devotees who has their faith firmly established and reading the scriptures that reminds us of Krishna’s inconceivable mercy and potency.
Q: We read in Bhagavad Gita that demi-gods fight for nectar do they not have the information that we are immortal beings?
A: Yes the demi-gods do not have this information. They live for a long time and they have a body which is almost immortal because of their long duration of life but they don’t have that clear understanding that they are the parts and parcels of Krishna and that their identity is eternal servants of Krishna. The demi-god has to come down to this earth planet, get a human body, develop devotional service to Krishna and then go back. The point is that unless and until one develops pure devotion to Krishna one cannot have the proper understanding. A devotee’s situation is even higher than that of a demi-god. Another way of looking at it that demi-gods have been assigned with certain duties and responsibilities by Krishna so they are executing that responsibility to Krishna therefore they are absorbed in serving Krishna in their respective services, they not so much concerned with liberation as such and as a result of that they are getting lots of facilities like an employee of a company his business is to serve his master in that position and he gets the facilities from the company for that.
Q: We are parts of the spiritual world then why did God send us to this material world?
A: The Lord has given us independence because our relationship with Him is a loving relationship. Love cannot be forced; you cannot force somebody to love you therefore Krishna has given us the independence to decide for ourselves whether we love Him or not. Since He has given us the independence, we have the freedom to decide what to do. When we want to enjoy away from Him and become like Him then He sends us in this world where we can try to become like Him, the enjoyer, controller, supreme authority. The thing is no matter how much we try to do that we can never become like that, rather the more we try to do that the more we suffer. The reality is that the more we try to enjoy here the more we suffer. Since Krishna has given us the independence when we want something He allows us to do that. When we wanted to enjoy, He has given us the facility because in that world that is the world of absolute truth there is no room for falsity, we can never become the enjoyer we become enjoyed. We are not the Lord and master we are the servants. We wanted to become enjoyer, Lord and master that is why we had to come to another world to make that possible. In that world it was not possible so He created this world to become like Him and by trying to do that we suffer and eventually we realise that it is not possible for us and that only happens when we come across a devotee of the Lord. He reminds us that this is not a world of enjoyment but it’s of suffering. We are not meant to enjoy but we meant to be enjoyed by the Lord. We are not the Lord and master but we are the servants. In this way when we receive the information from such a person then we turn towards Krishna and become situated in our actual position of eternal, knowledge and bliss.
Q: Can you become immortal by solving materialistic problems like hunger?
A: There are many countries those who have solved the problem of hunger and poverty but still they die there not only dying but suffering more than poor countries. Materialistic endeavours do not lead to enjoyment.
Q: Is this sruti or smriti that says Supreme Lord is Krishna? Any verse you can quote?
A: Sruti means that knowledge that was received by hearing and smriti means memory like when that knowledge has been absorbed and assimilated. Sruti is the Vedas and smriti is like mainly Upanishads and puranas. In Vedas things are not given in an elaborate explanatory way because the understanding was there so the presentation was enough. Like the Vedas are saying He glanced and the material world became manifest, although it says He the automatic understanding is there of whom that He is? Do you have any doubt who is that He? He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This Vedic knowledge flew through 2 different branches one branch is the Upanishad branch and the other is the Puranas branch. The essence of the Upanishad branch is Bhagavad Gita and essence of Puranas is Srimad Bhagavatam. These 2 scriptures are giving very elaborate understanding. Bhagavad Gita Krishna Himself is speaking about Himself so what can be more authoritative than that? So, one can see how sruti and smriti are both speaking about Krishna. In all the Vedas Krishna is saying I am to be known.
Q: I know that we have separate identity in the spiritual world but the impersonalists say that we will mix with Supreme Brahman and how to deal with them when they give analogy spark of the fire mixes with fire and loses its identity?
A: This spark and fire these are all examples and the examples should not be taken literally. Examples are there to give an idea to clarify the understanding but it’s not that Krishna is fire and we are spark and just as spark becomes one with fire, we become one with Krishna. In reality Krishna has His identity and we have our identity and this identity is never lost. Krishna has His identity as the Supreme person and we have our identity as His parts and parcels. Now his identity remains and our identity also remains. It is not that when we go back to the spiritual world, we lose our identity and become one with Him that is a misconception, as you mentioned the impersonalists, that is the impersonalists misconception. Krishna is a person and we are persons so where is the room for impersonalists?
Q: As stated by Rupa Goswami that Krishna is cent percent God, Narayan is 94% God, Shiva is 84% God and how much percent God is Balarama?
A: God is God. It is a manifestation of His potency to that percent He is displaying His potency. So, Krishna, Balarama, Narayana They are all in 1 category but when it comes to Lord Shiva then it is another tattva. God is Vishnu tattva and Shiva is Shiva tattva and we are jiva tattva. When it comes to jiva tattva we may display some qualities that He has but never to the extent that He has. The difference between Vishnu tattva and Shiva tattva is that Vishnu tattva the Lord is maintaining His identity as He is whereas Lord Shiva, He has transformed Himself into another identity. The example is given in Brahma Samhita just as milk turns into yoghurt there is no difference between the milk and yoghurt but the yoghurt is not milk anymore and the milk can become yoghurt but the yoghurt can never become milk. Vishnu can become Shiva but Shiva cannot become Vishnu. Why He transformed Himself? The Lord’s external potency is this material nature being externally He cannot deal with it directly, If the Lord deals with this nature directly it will not remain external but become His internal potency. When He is dealing directly its His internal potency and when it is separate from Him it is external potency, therefore He transforms Himself into Lord Shiva to deal with the material nature. Material nature personified is Durga and who is the husband of Durga? Lord Shiva. In order to deal with this material nature Lord Shiva transformed Himself into Lord Shiva, the Lord of Maya or this material nature.
Q: As you stated that Mayadevi rewards us according to our actions but when we practise Krishna Consciousness why does she provide obstacles instead of supporting us?
A: No Maya doesn’t put obstacles. Maya puts us through tests and those tests are meant to promote us just like you are studying throughout the year and at the end of the year comes the examination. The teacher who taught you throughout the year he becomes the invigilator and puts you through the test but what is the purpose of the test? To promote you to the next class. Similarly, Maya puts us through tests in order to promote us and at the same time we run the risk of failing. If we don’t answer the questions properly its bad luck for us. Maya is the maid servant of Krishna so her business is to take us to Krishna not to take us away from Krishna. Through these tests she is qualifying us and until and unless we are qualified, she won’t allow us to go to Krishna that is her role.
Q: If the soul resides in the body and the body is mortal then why is this material body changing from childhood to youth to old age? If the soul is immortal and divine and residing in this body then why is this body unstable and changing? Because of the power of the soul, it becomes ever youthful? What is there that is changing those states of the body? Is it pre-planned that the soul has no control over the body? Why the divine effects of the soul become null and void when it enters the body?
A: So many whys? The simple answer to all these whys is we all are spirit souls and in the spiritual world and when we want something that is not appropriate. As I mentioned we are not the enjoyers, we are the enjoyed; we are not the masters or the lords but the servants. When we desire to become the lord and master and desire to enjoy ourselves then Krishna provides us the facility. Krishna is providing us with the facility to fulfil our desires but the fulfilment of those desires would not be possible in that spiritual world there is no room for falsity, there is no way we can become the lord and master there. In order to fulfil our desires Krishna creates this material nature and here we are getting an opportunity to become lord and master and try to enjoy. The way to do that Krishna is providing us with a body made of matter so that we can function in this world of matter. The soul cannot function in this material world.
In order to function in this material world, we need a body homogenous to this material world and that is why we got a body made of matter and through this body we are trying to enjoy, become lord and master, fulfil our innumerable desires. The ultimate outcome is no matter how much we try to do whatever we are trying to do it never culminates into fulfilment. Krishna is providing us with the facility to fulfil our desires but those desires are wrong desires therefore when we try to fulfil those desires we end up suffering and when we come onto the right track that is that Krishna is the Supreme enjoyer and we are His servants and then we try to serve Him and try to develop our loving relationship with Him as His servants then we become qualified to go back and we regain our spiritual identity and go back there. In the material nature all that is happening the spirit soul is experiencing through the body made of matter.
Q: Sometimes people ask that Vedas are written by some person so how can there be perfect knowledge? How can we justify this?
A: Is it true that Vedas are written by some persons or the Vedas was given by the Lord Himself? The knowledge came from the Lord and Brahma imparted that knowledge and as far as the writing is concerned Brahma did not write. In those days knowledge was imparted just by speaking, writing started only 5000 years ago. In this age of Kali which started 5000 years ago the memory of the people will be so weak that they won’t be able to remember what they heard therefore there was a need to write down so that is why Vyasadeva who spoke the Vedas for the benefit of us asked Ganesh to write it. Vyasadeva spoke and Ganesh wrote. Because Ganesh wrote it does not mean that the knowledge is coming from Ganesh and because Vyasadeva spoke it does not mean that the knowledge came from Vyasadeva. For example, I am speaking is it my knowledge? No, it is the knowledge I received from my spiritual master. In this way it goes back to Lord Brahma and finally it goes back to Krishna. This Vedic knowledge came from Krishna.
Q: As it is said that in every second of Maha Vishnu a universe is created and we come into this material universe ....?
A: As I pointed out WE desired, we desired to enjoy like Krishna and because we desired then Krishna created and we developed our aversion to Krishna.
Q: In the higher planetary system in the material and spiritual worlds why is it that demi-gods want to descend in this world for achieving perfection? Is Krishna not merciful to the residents of higher planets?
A: In the higher planets there is some very special facilities for enjoyment and they are so absorbed in their enjoyment that they like the way they are they do not want to change their situation. That is why there they don’t really consider the need for getting out of there. We notice a person who is very wealthy and famous they do not turn towards spiritual life because they are enjoying the situation so much that they do not see any need to change the situation whereas when one suffers then only, he questions why am I suffering? Why do I have to be here? That is why the earth planet is such a wonderful place to be in. Here we are subjected to suffering and that leads to the question why am I suffering? And that leads to the point how do I get out of this suffering condition.
Q: Despite science has become very advanced we are not able to attain immortality, why?
A: Science has made advancement in the material direction, identifying with the body you can never make the body immortal. No matter how much advancement you made through science and technology but you will never be able to make this body immortal. In order to attain immortality, you have to transcend the bodily platform and recognise your actual identity being spiritual then only will you achieve actual immortality. Otherwise, you may extend the span of your life but will never attain immortality. No one in this world is immortal.
Q: When the spark is out of the fire it will become ash when ash establishes relations with fire it will again become fire similarly if we re-establish our relationship with God can we become equal to God?
A: No qualitatively we can become equal, like God is eternal, full of knowledge and full of joy so in that way these qualities we can achieve but the Lord is absolute and we are minute therefore that quality we can never get. We can never become God, the supreme controller, proprietor, enjoyer. We can qualitatively become one with Him but not quantitatively. Just like a drop of water and an ocean. A drop of water is water qualitatively so is the ocean but a drop of water will never become the ocean. Even when we go back to the spiritual world qualitatively, we become one with Him there also we become immortal, full of knowledge and full of joy but not absolute as He is.
Q: Knowing that we are soul, there is an eternal abode but why sometimes there is so much difficulty to be inclined towards Krishna and His service?
A: Because for so many lifetimes you are trying to enjoy so when it comes to give up that propensity ad serve, we develop some reluctance but through practice that will go away. When we develop the taste of real enjoyment by serving Him. Now we developed the taste to enjoy through our sense gratification but real enjoyment comes from being related to Krishna but because we have the tendency to get this enjoyment through sense gratification, we have a reluctance to give up that tendency and serve Krishna.
Q: Demi-gods drank nectar still they are not immortal so what benefit they got by drinking nectar? What is the significance of nectar?
A: This nectar prolongs the life of the body so by them drinking nectar they have obtained very very long duration of life and due to the effect of nectar they do not experience old age and so forth but eventually they also have to go so that is why this nectar is also giving us a temporary benefit just like by drinking medicine sometimes someone gets longer duration of life. Although duration of life is increased but that does not give immortality. Even the demigods are not immortal. At the time of annihilation, they also have to give up their situation and bodies and die.
Q: In Bhagavad Gita it is written that we all are controlled by 3 modes of material nature then what is free will?
A: Very good question. Free will is to desire something on our own. We have the desire, the ability to desire and we have a kind of illusory arrangement that we are able to fulfil those desires but actually we are not. For example, we are trying to enjoy but we see in our process of endeavour of enjoyment we are actually suffering. For example, one thinks that if he can make a lot of money, he will enjoy but while he is trying to make the money, he is undergoing so much difficulties so he is desiring to have a lot of money to enjoy but in the process of doing that he is actually suffering. That is why this world is said to be illusory it gives you the impression that you can enjoy but in reality, you end up suffering. The illusory influence is giving you the impression that you can lord and master but you end up serving everyone else so that is the condition of this world. We are desiring that is our free will, we desire but the ultimate fulfilment of the desire is not up to us. We are being controlled by 3 modes of material nature and our karmic reactions. As we are acting, we are subjected to the reactions. The point is in reality there is no freedom. Although the free will is there.
Q: Krishna gave the knowledge 5000 years ago and Buddha gave knowledge after Krishna we follow Krishna’s instructions but not of Buddha. Why?
A: Krishna came as Buddha came to fulfil certain purpose and that was to stop the animal sacrifice that was going on in the name of the Vedas and that is why we see Buddha did not give the actual spiritual knowledge. He gave some ethical and moral principles. Do this don’t do that, tell the truth, be respectful to superiors, don’t hurt others, don’t be violent, these were the teachings of Budhha. He came to achieve certain purpose but that was not the ultimate goal that is why buddha’s instructions are not so important to us. Whereas Krishna’s instructions BG is of absolute importance.
3. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
For example, I am speaking is it my knowledge? No, it is the knowledge I received from my spiritual master.
4. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTION
- The point is who dies? The body. When does the body die? When the soul leaves the body. See how easily we can attain immortality;
- Two things are very important to associate with the devotees who has their faith firmly established and reading the scriptures that reminds us of Krishna’s inconceivable mercy and potency;
- We are not the enjoyers; we are the enjoyed; we are not the masters or the lords but the servants; and
- The reality is that the more we try to enjoy here the more we suffer.
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)