Guide to Self Realization - The Acharya Part 2

Subtitles

[00:10]: In 1965 His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
[00:16]: A vedic scholar and holy man in the renounced order of life left India
[00:21]: for America to transform a bold vision into a historical reality of global dimension.
[00:27]: To fulfil the desire of generations of Indian saints who wished to see India’s
[00:33]: timeless spiritual culture benefit the entire world
[00:36]: Srila Prabhupada left India and sailed to the United States.
[00:41]: When he arrived by freighter he was practically penniless.
[00:46]: But after nearly a year of struggle he established
[00:50]: the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in July of 1966.
[00:55]: In the years that followed the society grew rapidly
[01:01]: and Hare Krishna became familiar to millions of people.
[01:04]: Srila Prabhupada became the focal point for the public’s interest in the Hare Krishna movement
[01:11]: but he was never too busy to carefully answer any question
[01:14]: and with each and every encounter he would
[01:18]: open the doors to the ancient philosophical and spiritual knowledge of India.
[01:23]: An Acharya is one who teaches by example.
[01:28]: By his personal example Srila Prabhupada demonstrated that the soul, the self
[01:35]: is naturally eternal, full of knowledge and full of transcendental bliss.
[01:41]: When a living being is awakened to his original constitutional position of
[01:47]: Krishna consciousness he becomes filled with sublime
[01:50]: exalted spiritual emotions that have no material counterpart.
[01:54]: As a great self-relized and God-conscious saint Srila Prabhupada
[02:01]: often exhibited the spiritual happiness that Krishna describes in the Bhagavad-gita.
[02:06]: That sacred and ancient fountainhead of wisdom has this to say
[02:12]: about the final state of human perfection.
[02:15]: “In that joyous state one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness
[02:21]: and enjoys himself through transcendental senses.
[02:25]: Established thus, one never departs from the truth,
[02:29]: and upon gaining this he knows there is no greater gain.”
[02:33]: Welcome.
[02:35]: Thank you very much.
[02:36]: You founded the Hare Krishna movement some seven years ago in 1967, did you not.
[02:41]: Yes.
[02:42]: In a capsule what is the movement?
[02:44]: Movement is to awaken God consciousness of the human being.
[02:52]: The human being is distinguished from the animals
[02:59]: in that the animals cannot understand what is God.
[03:03]: And if the human being also does not understand what is God, then he is animal.
[03:11]: I see. So your movement is to bring about an understand of God among human beings.
[03:16]: Yes.
[03:17]: And “Hare Krishna” means what?
[03:19]: “Hare Krishna” means addressing the energy of God.
[03:24]: “Hare” means the energy of God and “Krishna” means God.
[03:31]: OK. You were here yesterday to attend your annual festival.
[03:38]: That was held in Golden Gate Park and we were there too.
[03:41]: And in fact here it is.
[03:44]: few thousand people came out to hear it.
[03:47]: How many people are now disciples of the Krishna consciousness movement?
[03:52]: Dedicated life, about ten thousand, in the Western world.
[03:57]: About ten thousand dedicated ones.
[04:00]: Your Grace, is there any significance at all in the shaved heads?
[04:05]: Why are heads shaved?
[04:07]: We keep ourselves very clean, that’s all.
[04:11]: Oh, it’s just a cleanliness thing.
[04:12]: Yes.
[04:14]: Is there any significance in the color of the robes.
[04:16]: At least at the present moment people think that by keeping long hair it becomes very beautiful.
[04:24]: I see.
[04:25]: But we are against that.
[04:27]: Just as simple as that. Is there any significance in the yellow robes?
[04:31]: Yellow robe is the dress of those who are dedicated.
[04:38]: It could very well have been a blue robe?
[04:42]: This yellow-saffron..
[04:46]: Your Grace, why do you feel that so many people are pulling away from the
[04:54]: traditional religions in this country such as Christianity and so forth
[04:57]: and going for trying to understand the Eastern religions.
[05:01]: We hear a lot of Swamis and Gurus and other types of Yogi and so forth.
[05:06]: Why do you feel that people are pulling away from the traditional Christian standards here.
[05:10]: We see that the Christian churches, especially I have seen in London, mostly closed.
[05:20]: People are not interested or the Christian leaders, they cannot make them interested.
[05:27]: Why? Did Christianity fail the people which is why they are turning to other things?
[05:31]: I think so.
[05:32]: You say that Hare Krishna consciousness pretty much takes the absolute truths from
[05:38]: the Bible, the Koran, the Tora and the Vedic.
[05:43]: Yes. Everywhere. Religion means to understand God.
[05:48]: I understand but do you feel that in getting truths from various places like the Bible,
[05:53]: the Koran and so forth, don’t you run into conflicts at all
[05:57]: or contradictions in those particular philosophies.
[05:59]: No. I don’t find any conflict because the ultimate goal is God.
[06:04]: So you have to understand God and try to love Him.
[06:07]: So you can go through any religious process.
[06:11]: If the goal is attained, that you understand what is God and you try to love Him then your life is perfect.
[06:19]: Why do we so many of your followers chanting, almost all the time.
[06:25]: Chanting means to keep association with God, always.
[06:28]: So you have to audibly chant “Hare Krishna.”
[06:31]: Yes, yes.
[06:32]: This is transcendental vibration.
[06:36]: Just like a radio message.
[06:39]: If you keep contact with the radio message they you will know everything what is going on outside.
[06:45]: Similarly this transcendental sound, “Hare Krishna,”
[06:50]: if you chant then you keep connection with God directly.
[06:54]: Thank you very much, your Divine Grace, its been our privilege to talk with you
[07:00]: and to meet you and hope that we can see you again, when you return.
[07:02]: We’ll be back with more news in just a moment.
[07:33]: I’m very much happy because these American boys are helping me.
[07:39]: It is due to their cooperation that the movement is spread all over the world.
[07:45]: Where will you go from here?
[07:49]: In America?
[07:52]: What is the date I entered in Hawii?
[07:56]: She is asking where you will go after Dallas.
[07:59]: Oh, from Dallas I’ll go to West Virginia.
[08:06]: And from there I shall go to London.
[08:12]: Are you pleased with the Krishna movement in the United States? Do you think it is growing?
[08:19]: What do you think?
[08:21]: I think it is and this pleases you.
[08:23]: It is growing very fast. Not only growing, but growing very fast.
[08:30]: And the flowers of your country, the young generation, they are taking it very seriously.
[08:38]: These boys, these girls, they have taken it very seriously.
[08:42]: Do you think that the children you see here will carry on?
[08:46]: Yes. Yes. Creating another generation, Krishna conscious.
[08:50]: So it will continue.
[08:54]: What does Krishna offer that some of the other religions of the world…
[09:00]: Krishna is God.
[09:01]: So other religions who follow God, God consciousness, so there is no difference.
[09:09]: It may be difference of name but religion means God consciousness.
[09:16]: Without God consciousness, there is no religion.
[09:22]: And what does worshipping in your way, is it any better than worshipping in another way?
[09:30] Is it more direct contact with Krishna?
[09:32]: Well every way is nice provided the followers are nice.
[09:37]: Unfortunately, the principles are not followed.
[09:42]: Just like in Christian religion. It is said “thou shall not kill.”
[09:49]: But killing is very good thing here, in the Christian world, so many slaughterhouses.
[09:57]: That is not Christian religion. But followers, they do not follow the rules and regulations.
[10:05]: That is regulation. Otherwise it is very nice.
[10:09]: Ours also, the principle is “no meat eating.”
[10:15]: That means there is no killing of animals.
[10:18]: Every religion says like that, but the followers do not follow.
[10:22]: The Krishna religion teaches that women are to be subservient to men always, why?
[10:31]: The Krishna religion teaches that women should be subservient,
[10:35]: should be subordinate to men, she is asking, why
[10:38]: Well, not should be, they are by nature.
[10:44]: What do you think, your position?
[10:47]: I don’t believe in that, of course, I disagree.
[10:52]: But you voluntarily become subservient to a man. That is the nature.
[11:00]: They are seeking to become subservient.
[11:04]: Attracting man, “take me as subservient.”
[11:09]: That is natural.
[11:13]: Even psychologically it is analysed that the brain of man, they have seen up to 64 ounce,
[11:26]: whereas the brain of women they have not found more than 36 ounce.
[11:32]: But women live longer than men.
[11:37]: Not necessarily.
[11:40]: My grandmother lived about hundred years.
[11:46]: So sometimes it happens.
[11:55]: It is not restricted amongst women. There are men also.
[11:59]: How old is the movement?
[12:02]: From historical point of view it is about five thousand years.
[12:07]: Why has it just begun to really catch on in the Western world?
[12:12]: I mean just recently, recent years has it begun to sweep the Western world.
[12:18]: Why is this?
[12:19]: The Western people were seeking something like that.
[12:25]: So as soon as they got it, they captured it.
[12:28]: The Western world, the younger generation were being frustrated, the hippie movement.
[12:39]: So, when they saw something tangible, they accepted it.
[12:47]: What things, if everyone in the United States believed in Krishna and to the extent that you do,
[12:58]: what would happen to this country and how would it be transformed?
[13:02]: So they will be very happy and peaceful.
[13:06]: There will be no more hippies.
[13:10]: What would you describe as a hippie?
[13:18]: You know better than me. Something extraordinary.
[13:23]: How should people who follow your beliefs respond to other people
[13:38]: criticizing them for the way they…
[13:43]: This criticizm. You criticize me and I criticize you. That is going on.
[13:47]: Even there is no change of dress.
[13:52]: It is mans nature to become envious, to criticize others. That is material nature.
[14:02]: So you think they are envious because they are criticizing you?
[14:05]: Yes.
[14:06]: Because of the happiness the people have?
[14:08]: Certainly. Sometimes they enquire, “Are you Americans?”
[14:15]: Because they have never saw Americans so peaceful.
[14:18]: Even the priests also, they very much appreciate.
[14:25]: In Melbourne, the Bishop from Melbourne and the head of the Scottish Church,
[14:34]: many Church people, they very much appreciated.
[14:39]: They invited me to talk at the society of Saint Francis.
[14:50]: Hundreds of fathers, the meeting was attended, and I spoke for one hour,
[14:56]: they very much appreciated, applauded for ten minutes,
[15:00]: and they have accepted the principal, Hare Krishna.
[15:04]: And Reverend Powel, he gave declaration that we have no alarm from the Krishna movement.
[15:11]: This is your third visit to Dallas, is that correct.
[15:16] Yes.
[15:20]: Why was Dallas selected as the point to establish the school.
[15:26]: I believe this is the first school, isn’t it, in the United States to be established?
[15:30]: Why was Dallas particularly chosen for the school?
[15:34]: It was Krishna’s choice.
[15:36]: Krishna’s choice, He chose Dallas?
[15:39]: Yes. We got a nice house and we accepted it. So it was Krishna’s choice.
[15:46]: Where does the international Krishna organization get its funds? From simply donations?
[15:52]: They have been criticizes occasionally for being very wealthy.
[15:55]: Yes, that is our reputation.
[15:58]: Even in Indian parliament this question was raised. “These Hare Krishna people”
[16:06]: are fabulously rich, where they are getting money?
[16:09]: Somebody suspected we are getting bribes from American government, what is that, CIA?
[16:43]: So if you are theologicians then you must know what is God and abide by God.
[17:00]: What do you think, Dr. Judah, this proposition?
[17:07]: Yes. I think you are quite right. Certainly in our day and age many of us don’t really know God.
[17:16]: Then he is not theologist, he is theosophist.
[17:21]: We know about God, but we do not know God, I would agree.
[17:28]: That is theosophist. Theosophist, they are thinking there is something superior,
[17:35]: but who is that superior, they are searching out.
[17:39]: The same thing, a boy, he knows “I have a father.”
[17:47]: But who is that father, he doesn’t know.
[17:50]: He has to ask mother. Alone he can not understand.
[17:57]: So our proposition is that if you do not know God, and here is God, Krishna,
[18:07]: why don’t you accept it..
[18:10]: You do not know, first of all. And if I present, “Here is God,” then why don’t you accept it.
[18:24]: What is the answer?
[18:28]: We are presenting God, “Here is God.”
[18:40]: And big, big acharyas have accepted. Ramanujacharya, Madhavacharya, Visnuswami, Lord Caitanya.
[18:52]: In our disciplic succession my guru maharaja and I am preaching
[18:57]: I’m not presenting a God whimsically.
[19:04]: I am presenting a God who is recognized. So why don’t you accept it?
[19:13]: What is the difficulty?
[19:24]: I suppose one of the difficulties would be for certainly many in the older generation
[19:32]: is that we follow certain patterns of life and it is difficult to change. This is the great problem.
[19:43]: You are not serious. Therefore Krishna says:
[19:48]: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
[19:52]: You have to give up. And if you are not prepared to give up then you cannot accept God.
[20:03]: I think you are being a little unfair to Dr. Crosley.
[20:12]: I think what you say is true, that the most important thing we can do is to seek and know God.
[20:21]: But I don’t think it is right to say that it’s a bad thing to study how other people, or how man is…
[20:31]: No, I’m not saying bad thing. I say if you are serious about God, now “Here is God.”
[20:38]: …that’s what a university, in part, is for.
[20:40]: To study about how people have thought on different matters.
[20:45]: No. If you are seeking after something, if you get that something,
[20:49]: why don’t you accept it?
[21:05]: Do you believe that Christ said that Krishna was his father.
[21:06]: Name may be different. Just like in our country we refer say this flower something
[21:12]: you say something, but subject matter must be the same.
[21:20]: Name is not.
[21:24]: You can say in a different way according as you understand. But God is one. God cannot be two.
[21:32]: You may give Him different names, that is different thing, but God is one, God cannot be two.
[21:53]: You pay tax to the government and the tax is distributed to so many departments.
[22:01]: So it is not your business to go every department and pay tax.
[22:06]: Pay to the treasury of the government it will be distributed.
[22:14]: This is intelligence.
[22:17]: And if you say, “Why should I pay to the treasury house?”
[22:21]: “I shall pay this department, that department, that department, that department.”
[22:25]: You can go on, but it will never be sufficient.
[22:29]: Neither complete.
[22:34]: So you may love humanity but because you do not love Krishna
[22:39]: therefore do not love the cows, send them to slaughter.
[22:45]: So your love will remain defective, it will never be complete.
[22:53]: And if you love Krishna, then you will love even a small ant.
[23:02]: He is not interested to kill even an ant.
[23:08]: That is real love.
[23:11]: I agree with you that we love very badly and slaughter the animals…
[23:17]: Badly love is not love.
[23:20]: ..but is the converse true,
[23:23]: that we chant very well and can love Krishna even when we cannot love our fellow…
[23:24]: Chanting… We are also working.
[23:27]: It is not that we are simply sitting down and chanting.
[23:32]: Because we are chanting therefore we are loving everyone.
[23:38]: That is a fact.
[23:44]: These Hare Krishna chanters, they’ll never agree to kill any animal, even a plant.
[23:50]: Because they know everything is part and parcel of God.
[23:55]: Why unnecessarily one should be killed?
[24:02]: That is love.
[24:09]: Love means never killing?
[24:12]: There are so many things. It is one of the items.
[24:15]: Yes. Do you kill your own son?
[24:22]: Why? Because you love him.
[24:37]: Could you explain the other side of it.
[24:41]: The fact that of course the Bhagavad-gita has its setting on a battlefield in which Krishna enjoins Arjuna…
[24:51]: That killing and poor animal who is supplying milk.
[24:59]: You are drinking milk, your mother.
[25:00]: And you are killing.
[25:01]: This killing and that killing is not the same thing.
[25:04]: According to Vedic civilization the cow is to be given a special protection.
[25:20]: Why it is recommended for the cow?
[25:26]: He does not say of other animals.
[25:34]: Srila Prabhupada you are aware that they advance the argument of mesmerisation against chanting.
[25:42]: That’s good. If you can mesmerise… That Dr. Judah has admitted.
[25:49]: If you can mesmerise the drug-addicted hippies and engage them in understanding Krishna,
[25:57]: it is a great achievement.
[26:06]: Dr. Judah has admitted.
[26:14]: So if mesmerisation is for good, why not accept it?
[26:19]: If it is for bad then it is another thing.
[26:23]: If it is doing good why not accept it.
[26:26]: What do you think?
[26:29]: I don’t know how to react. I think I agree with you.
[26:35]: If it is good… Everything good should be accepted.
[26:41]: The problem is I’m keep wondering how are so sure you know what good is.
[26:48]: Particularly when it comes to war.
[26:51]: I would be a little more worried I think.
[26:53]: What is that war?
[26:55]: Well, you were telling that sometimes war is necessary.
[26:59]: I should think that it…
[27:02]: Now necessary means that you can not expect in this material world all saintly persons.
[27:09]: There are bad elements.
[27:12]: So if the bad elements come to attack you is it not your duty to fight?
[27:19]: It just may be though that mine are the bad elements and
[27:24]: I keep thinking that other people are the bad elements.
[27:27]: No. Even God has got this discrimination.
[27:35]: He says paritranaya sadhünam vinasaya ca duskrtam, there are bad elements.
[27:42]: In God’s mind there is good elements and bad elements.
[27:48]: So we are part and parcel of God. We must also have the same subject.
[27:53]: We cannot avoid it.
[28:00]: The body is not God?
[28:02]: Yes.
[28:02]: No. He’s saying that when we say everything is part of God, he says the body is an exception.
[28:09]: No, why. The body is also part of God.
[28:13]: No, why. The body is also part of God.
[28:19]: Yes. It is another energy.
[28:21]: I see.
[28:25]: Everything is God’s energy. So body is also God’s energy.
[28:29]: The best use of the body is God’s energy should be used for God.
[28:34]: Then body is spiritualised.
[28:40]: Body is also God’s energy and if it is engaged in God’s service.
[28:48]: Then the body is no more a bad bargain, it’s a good bargain.