Just like you infect yourself when you are around people and places having contaminated substances like viruses or bacteria, we infect ourselves by simply the actions, thoughts connected with modes of nature(rajo, tamo and sattva) and extend our repeated cycle of birth & death life after life. Actions, thoughts pertaining to Krsna is like vaccine which keeps us immune to the modes of nature. Rajo guna and tamo guna does more harm than the viruses in actuality.
Infection of this Material world and Medicine!
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(Kadamba Kanana Swami, 12 March 2021, Simhachalam, Germany, Zoom Meeting)
Why try to control the material energy? Why try to manipulate it? Why try to force the hand of destiny? Instead, just take it as it comes. And under each circumstance, just make the best of the situation. And if we do so, then surely we will get the mercy of the Lord!
Krsna is conquered by all, but most by the devotee who gives the most, who does the most.
Love is the foundation of everything. It is not like a sentimental wet blanket. Sometimes, we hear of impersonalists speak about the cosmic love and how one has to connect to that cosmic love, that all this cosmic loving energy is all-pervading and if one simply connects to it then they will also become like an instrument of that love. That is the impersonal loving energy, like a wet loving blanket. Love has nothing to do with that. Love is personal. And love means you have to do something to capture me if you want me to love you. Real love is based on conquering. We have to do something that is really dear to someone else if we want to conquer them. That is the basis of love, that is the basis of the spiritual world. Everyone is trying to do something extraordinary to conquer Krsna. And Krsna is conquered by all, but most by the devotee who gives the most, who does the most. Pure devotional service attracts Krsna and that is the secret of the spiritual world. And when we attract Krsna, then miracles start to happen, then we become uplifted above the mundane.
Pañcadraviḍa: So where will we get kṣatriyas and...?
Prabhupāda: That is in the śāstra. Anyone can learn it. Just like if you want to be doctor, so you must have this qualification. Similarly, these things are stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kṣatriya means if there is fight, he must go forward first of all, risking his life. That is kṣatriya.
Pañcadraviḍa: So we have men who could teach this? Do we have men...?
Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) Because he knows how to teach. That's all.
Pañcadraviḍa: The brāhmaṇas, they all become devotee... They would all be engaged in devotional life as...
Prabhupāda: This is also devotion, to teach a kṣatriya, because this is necessary in the society. This is also devotion.
Pañcadraviḍa: And vaiśyas?
Prabhupāda: Just like when Kṛṣṇa is fighting. Kṛṣṇa is fighting, killing the demons. So that is also devotion, if you help Kṛṣṇa by killing demons, not that simply by chanting, you supply... Just like Bhismadeva. He even injured Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa took it very pleasant. Instead of throwing flowers, he pierced His body with arrow. So everything for the service. If Kṛṣṇa is pleased being pierced by the arrow the devotee will do that. His only business is how to please Kṛṣṇa. Just like, the example is given by Viśvanātha Cakravartī that when a man kisses a woman and bites her, she becomes pleased. Is it not? Is not a fact that that biting is pleasing? Is it pleasing? But sometimes it is pleasing. So one has to learn where to bite and when to... (chuckles) But if a rascal thinks that "Biting is pleasing. I shall bite always," then he is a rascal. (laughter) (break) ...lying down on the Yamunā beach, on the sand with His friends. And if we think, "No, there is no need of bedding of Kṛṣṇa. He was lying down on the Yamunā beach, so He will lie down on the floor." So is... That conclusion is very nice?
Mahāṁsa: No.
Prabhupāda: So we must know how to please Kṛṣṇa. Generally, the śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23), that is pleasing. Therefore these rules and regulation for everyone. But when one becomes mature devotee, he knows how to please Kṛṣṇa. He knows.
Nitāi: One question came up the other day when I was talking with this clergyman.
Prabhupāda: Clergyman?
Nitāi: Yes, that man I was talking to was a clergyman.
Prabhupāda: Where he was?
Nitāi: He was on the airplane when we were coming here to Hyderabad. And he was asking what our program was. And I was telling him that first of all, in order to relieve the confusion of society, we wanted to establish the Vedic culture with this varṇāśrama system. And he asked me what would be the program that we would have for a man who works in the factory...
Prabhupāda: He is a śūdra.
Nitāi: Would we retrain him as a farmer?
Prabhupāda: No, if he is prepared. If not, let him remain. But we can utilize that śūdra also.
Nitāi: He can remain in the factory.
Prabhupāda: Yes. But he cannot do the work of a brāhmaṇa. He cannot be trained as a preacher. But he can help. Just like my legs. The legs cannot do the work of brain, but it can help me. I am walking. So leg is as important as the brain. Similarly, śūdra is as important as the brāhmaṇa, provided he helps the movement, Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is wanted, not that artificially a śūdra should be working as a brāhmaṇa, no. But everyone should be engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is required.
Nitāi: So in that case he is a śūdra, and he is also doing the work of a...
Prabhupāda: Then he is not a śūdra. One who is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, he is neither brāhmaṇa nor śūdra. He is devotee. He is brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20). Brahma-bhūyāya kalpate (BG 14.26). Apparently he looks like śūdra. Just like we have got so many men from different quarters, but we do not belong to that quarter any more. Vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhiḥ. Therefore anyone who takes, "Oh, here is an American Vaiṣṇava, here is an Indian Vaiṣṇava," that is nārakī. He is Vaiṣṇava. That understanding required.
Mahāṁsa: Just like that devotee who was making garlands for Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Mahāṁsa: He is a devotee. He is not a śūdra making garlands.
Prabhupāda: No. He is not a ordinary gardener.
Pañcadraviḍa: Or that devotee who was making leaf bowls for worshiping the Ganges.
Prabhupāda: Any engagement, any engagement for Kṛṣṇa, he is Vaiṣṇava. If he is under the guidance of his spiritual master and doing the business according to the direction, he is Vaiṣṇava. He is above all these.
Pañcadraviḍa: A śūdra, if he is working, he cannot take brāhmaṇa initiation, but he can take hari-nāma, is that it?
Prabhupāda: Just like sometimes our men, my devotee, they wash the cupboard. Does it mean he is a methar(?)? No. He can go to the Deity room also. He is not a methar(?) or sweeper. But sometimes we do that. So devotee is above all these consideration. But because there is management, they should appear as brāhmaṇa, as śūdra, as kṣatriya, like that.
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
māṁ ca vyabhicariṇi
bhakti-yogena yaḥ sevate
(BG 14.26)
A devotee, because he is working as a śūdra, he is not a śūdra; neither he is a brāhmaṇa. He is already in the spiritual platform. But for management we have to do that. One can do the śūdra's work nicely—let him be engaged in that way. Why he should imitate?
Mahāṁsa: Does he get second initiation?
Prabhupāda: Everything he will get.
Mahāṁsa: He gets.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Second initiation means recognized: "Now he has become fully competent Vaiṣṇava." Just like master is teaching the servant, "Now you give massage in this way, this way." But that does not mean he has become servant.
Pañcadraviḍa: What if the person working as śūdra says, "I can do so much. I can...,"
Prabhupāda: First of all, try to understand. A devotee is neither brāhmaṇa nor śūdra. He may act like a śūdra, but he is not śūdra. He may act like a brāhmaṇa; he is not brāhmaṇa. He is Vaiṣṇava. Just like gopīs. The gopīs, they are village cowherds women. They are, according to social construction, they are not very high class. They did not belong to the brāhmaṇa class. But their worship, method of worship, has been taken the highest. Ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargeṇa. They were village girls, and practically their character was also not good. Because at dead of night they are going to Kṛṣṇa. But why they have been taken as the most topmost devotee of Kṛṣṇa? Because the love was so high class. It is the test, how much one has learned to love Kṛṣṇa. That is wanted. Apparently he may appear as a brāhmaṇa, a śūdra or vaiśya. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The only business is to see: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adho... (SB 1.2.6). Aiye. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. That is wanted.
This is a humble attempt to collect information on the spiritual subject matter for my own purification and for the benefit of the World! Lot of focus is made here to provide a one-stop solution for all problems of life! The most secret of all secrets is revealed! Vedic wisdom here unveils your real self. The perfect self-realization system(Bhakti Yoga) made so simple like never before!
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