Guide to Self Realization - The Acharya Part 5

Subtitles

[00:23]: Hello. I’m Sid Hunter. Here at the Srila Prabhupada museum in Los Angeles.
[00:27]: Over the past several years, I’ve had the good fortune
[00:31]: of being the editor of ITV’s acclaimed Acharya series.
[00:35]: In a few minutes, you’ll be seeing the Acharya part five,
[00:39]: another wonderful collection of documentary film clips,
[00:43]: that provide us with an intimate glimpse into the remarkable personality
[00:48]: of that great visionary and spiritual teacher,
[00:51]: His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
[00:56]: But sadly, this will be the final show in the Acharya series.
[01:01]: The film segments you are about to see represent the very last remaining
[01:06]: 16mm sound synchronized material in our collection of intimate footage of Srila Prabhupada.
[01:12]: All of us at ITV feel honored to have participated in the production of the entire series,
[01:18]: and we extend our heartfelt thanks to Yadubara Das, and his wife, Vishaka Dasi,
[01:24]: who gave us so much of the original footage that was used to compile these shows.
[01:32]: Certainly everyone who personally knew and loved Srila Prabhupada will appreciate
[01:37]: the opportunity to rekindle and relish the sublime memory of his presence,
[01:41]: and for those who never met Srila Prabhupada in person, we hope that these rare,
[01:47]: all too brief moments will serve as an inspiration to learn more about his saintly personality and his teachings.
[02:03]: At the ripe old age of sixty-nine, his divine grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada,
[02:10]: boarded an Indian steamship bound for America.
[02:14]: Like so many who have come before, he arrived with only a few dollars,
[02:19]: a couple of battered trunks, and a dream.
[02:23]: But his was not the usual dream of freedom, fame, or fortune.
[02:28]: Srila Prabhupada had a bold vision for the re-spiritualization of the entire western world.
[02:35]: He sought to transform the predominantly material consciousness of the West
[02:40]: by transplanting the ancient religious traditions of India.
[02:44]: First to America, and then throughout the world.
[02:47]: The seeds that this elderly saffron-robed holy man planted took immediate root and blossomed into
[02:55]: an international spiritual movement that profoundly influenced the lives of millions of people,
[03:00]: in just twelve years, from 1965 until he passed away in 1977.
[03:07]: Srila Prabhupada circled the globe some fourteen times, preaching, gathering disciples,
[03:13]: and opening hundreds of centers for the study and practice of Krishna Consciousness.
[03:18]: In that time, he also managed to write and publish over eighty volumes of translation and commentary
[03:25]: on the sacred texts that form the basis of Indian religious and philosophical thought,
[03:31]: winning lavish praise from the academic community for his dedicated scholarship and profound insight.
[03:37]: Today, his books are available in over thirty languages and are being printed
[03:43]: at the phenomenal rate of twenty million copies a year.
[03:48]: All of Srila Prabhupada’s accomplishments were the result of his single-minded determination
[03:52]: to make the science of self-realization both understandable and achievable.
[03:58]: Even in a world increasingly consumed by material values.
[04:02]: By his tireless preaching, such fundamental spiritual concepts as vegetarianism, karma,
[04:10]: and reincarnation have become widely understood and accepted.
[04:15]: But Srila Prabhupada’s struggle against all odds to establish a spiritual beachhead
[04:21]: in the Western world is more than just a tribute to his fierce and vigorous resolve.
[04:26]: His remarkable success was in great part due to an engaging personal warmth,
[04:32]: a rare blend of deep moral strength and quiet humility that inspired both reverence and affection.
[04:39]: Srila Prabhupada succeeded because his life and personality
[04:44]: were the epitome of the ideal he set forth for others to follow.
[04:48]: He could offer to everyone he met not just a theory, but a practical way of living.
[04:55]: At every moment, he was a true acharya, a holy man who teaches others by example.
[05:18]: That is our motto. Krishna is Sun. Remember? Krsna surya sama.
[05:26]: So when Krsna Sun is there, all those glowworms, (impersonalists) will be finished.
[05:39]: Keep this sun always shining. Then these glowworms will be finished.
[06:06]: There is one newspaper article in the papers, I was reading, they were advertising a new book
[06:11]: about the evolution of man, and it was saying that there were approximately 2 million
[06:15]: varieties of life on this planet. This was the calculation of the scientists.
[06:20]: Two million? No. 8,400,000.
[06:26]: You were saying the other day that all the species of life are mentioned in the Padma-purana.
[06:42]: Is it divided by country or within one country there are many species?
[06:49]: You are thinking of the country but shastra (scripture) takes the planets, not the country.
[06:58]: Your idea is based upon country, nationality, but shastra is not.
[07:05]: There is no such thing as nationality. Take the whole universe, as a whole.
[07:11]: They consider from that angle of vision. One planet or universe.
[07:23]: Just like last night the girl was astonished at how this planet can be governed by one king.
[07:34]: And it was actually being done and the whole universe is being governed by Brahma.
[07:40]: One person. So one must know how to govern.
[07:45]: Just like we have got different GBCs for different jobs.
[07:51]: Similarly, they’re doing their duty nicely.
[07:55]: All these planets are the different residential quarters of different demigods.
[08:05]: They are controlling the whole universal affairs.
[08:10]: In comparison to them this human being is nothing.
[08:15]: There is a good chance, however, of realizing God in this human form of life.
[08:22]: Just like the difference between western countries and India.
[08:29]: In India there is a very quick chance of realization of God.
[08:33]: The atmosphere is so nice.
[08:38]: So, this planet is good for God realization and the best place is in India.
[08:49]: So, in this planet everyone is meat eating, or in this country everyone is performing sinful activities…
[08:56]: Therefore, it is decreasing. The more you are becoming sinful, the more the rain will decrease.
[09:02]: Yes, and at the end, there will be no rain.
[09:07]: Then this whole planet will be ablaze with fire. That is the beginning of destruction.
[09:14]: There will be scarcity of rain and scarcity of food grains.
[09:20]: The best thing is at night there must be heavy rain and daytime there should be sunshine.
[09:30]: Then the field will be very fertile.
[09:34]: That is knowledge. But they have no knowledge.
[09:39]: They simply want to enjoy.
[09:42]: They do not care for death also.
[09:45]: Simply sense gratification. That’s all.
[09:50]: This is called Danav (demoniac). “Danav” life.
[09:54]: They say originally there was just a cell, and by adaptation, certain circumstances,
[10:00]: one kind would live and another would die, so all these varieties adapted to different conditions.
[10:05]: Who adapted?
[10:06]: They did, accidentally.
[10:07]: Who managed?
[10:08]: That is nonsense. Nothing happens accidentally. That is nonsense.
[10:14]: There must be some arrangement. What is happening accidentally?
[10:19]: Why are you taking care of the trees? So many things. Nothing is done accidentally.
[10:28]: If accident is there, let accident come and I’ll become a rich man. Why do they try?
[10:37]: Why do they go to college? Then accidentally you become M.A., Ph.D.
[10:43]: This is all rascaldom.
[10:58]: Dr. Meyers found that he is chanting Hare Krsna a little in the shower now.
[11:03]: When he takes his shower he chants a little bit.
[11:06]: One press reporter at Berkeley University, in the beginning, he wrote his article and he wrote that
[11:17]: after hearing these “Hare Krishna’s” for a few minutes, “I came home chanting all the way,
[11:26]: “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna”…
[11:29]: So, when you conquer over these base qualities (lust and greed), then you’ll become happy.
[11:40]: tada rajas-tamo-bhavah kama-lobhadayas ca ye ceta etair anaviddham
[11:48]: When the consciousness is not influenced by these base qualities.
[12:00]: Being situated on the platform of sattva guna (goodness), he feels happy.
[12:08]: That is the beginning of spiritual life.
[12:11]: When so long the mind is disturbed by lusty desires and greediness,
[12:17]: there is no question of spiritual life.
[12:20]: Therefore, the first business is how to control the mind.
[12:27]: So that it may not be influenced by the base qualities, lusty desires and greediness.
[12:41]: We have seen is Paris, an old man 75 years old, he is going to the nightclub,
[12:55]: because the lusty desire is there.
[13:06]: He pays $50 for entering the club, and then he pays further for other things.
[13:22]: So even though he is 75 years old, the lusty desire is there.
[13:37]: Do all souls fall out of the spiritual sky at once, or at different times,
[13:43]: or are there any souls that are always good, they’re not foolish?
[13:47]: Majority, 90%, they’re always good. They never fall down.
[13:54]: So we’re among the 10%?
[13:58]: Yes. Or less than that.
[14:03]: In the whole material world all the living entities, they’re just like in the prison house.
[14:11]: There is some population, but they’re not the majority.
[14:16]: The majority of the population, they’re outside the prison house.
[14:22]: Similarly, the majority of living beings, part and parcel of God, they’re in the spiritual world.
[14:29]: Only a few fall down.
[14:32]: Does Krishna know ahead of time that a soul is going to become foolish and fall?
[14:37]: Krishna. Yes Krishna may know because He is omniscient.
[14:44]: Are more souls falling all the time?
[14:49]: Not all the time, but there is the tendency of fall down.
[14:55]: Not for all, but because the is independence,
[15:00]: everyone is not liking to misuse their independence.
[15:05]: The same example, just like a government constructing a city,
[15:16]: and they construct also a prison house,
[15:18]: because the government knows that somebody will be criminal.
[15:24]: So their shelter must be also constructed. It is very easy to understand.
[15:35]: Not that cent per cent of the population will be criminal.
[15:39]: But the government knows that some of them will be.
[15:48]: Otherwise why do they construct the prison house also?
[15:52]: One may say, “Where are the criminals? You are constructing a prison house?”
[15:55]: But the government knows, “Oh, there will be criminals!”
[15:59]: So if the ordinary government can know, why God cannot? Because there is the tendency.
[16:11]: The origin of that tendency is?
[16:16]: Tendency means the independence.
[16:21]: So everyone can know that independence means one can use it properly,
[16:30]: or one can misuse it. That is independence.
[16:36]: Therefore, it is the duty of the human being to know how to control the mind.
[16:43]: Not act like cats and dogs. That is human being.
[16:50]: He should be inquisitive. Why is this happening, why is this happening?
[16:58]: And he should take education. That is human life.
[17:03]: That is the difference between a human being and a dog.
[17:18]: Therefore, Vedic injunction is “go on and inquire.” “You have got this human form of life.”
[17:25]: Athato brahma-jijnasa “Now this is the time for inquiring about the soul.”
[17:32]: Tad vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigaccet.
[17:38]: “If you want to understand this science, then go to a proper guru and take lessons from him.”
[17:45]: The same thing as we instruct our children,
[17:53]: “If you want to be educated in the higher status of life, go to school, go to college, take lessons.”
[18:04]: That is human society.
[18:06]: The dog’s father will never ask the dog child, “Go to school.”
[18:11]: No, they’re dogs.
[18:26]: The hippies are dissatisfied with the method of modern materialistic way of life? Is it not?
[18:33]: Voluntarily they are giving up possessions. Sit down.
[18:50]: They want to have something new, but they are not accepting what is actually better.
[18:59]: Some of them are accepting. But there is frustration. There is no doubt. Frustration.
[19:14]: Yes. This materialistic way of life like their fathers, grandfathers, they do not like.
[19:21]: Is it not?
[19:30]: In Los Angeles, do you live in richness, do you have a car, and a chauffer, and a yacht?
[19:37]: Why not? I am the guru of the richest country, why shall I not have a car?
[19:43]: Do you follow?
[19:48]: If I am guru of the richest country, then why shall I not have a car?
[19:59]: So, you have one?
[20:01]: I have many. In each center I’ve got at least one dozen cars.
[20:07]: Just now I’m coming from Europe, Germany. They’ve got 19 vans.
[20:19]: They go into the interior villages. Volkswagon?
[20:29]: So our devotees are packed up in each bus and they go into the interior villages.
[20:39]: Similarly, in every center we have got.
[20:46]: In Germany, in England, in Los Angeles, in New York.
[20:52]: Here also?
[20:59]: Just see.
[21:05]: Some spiritual leaders live in great richness…
[21:16]: Because I know you are envious, therefore, I don’t sit here (elevated seat), I am sitting here.
[21:27]: You are very envious when a spiritual master is honored very nicely by his disciples,
[21:33]: you become envious. What can be done?
[21:41]: But that is the etiquette, that the spiritual master be honored as good as God.
[21:50]: But if you do not know, you become envious,
[21:54]: “Why this man is sitting in this position in this gorgeous way?”
[21:58]: What can be done?
[22:09]: …But the tailor according to the body makes a covering of this hand.
[22:18]: And this looks like a hand This covering of the chest looks like a chest.
[22:26]: Therefore, the impersonal means the material covering.
[22:34]: Otherwise, the spirit soul is personal.
[22:40]: Just like you go to the tailor according to your body, the tailor will cut a coat.
[22:50]: The ingreditents of the coat, the cloth, that is impersonal.
[22:55]: But it is made like a person. (The covering of the person)
[23:03]: In other words, the spirit soul is personal.
[23:10]: As much as God is also a person.
[23:13]: Impersonal means the covering. Try to understand.
[23:18]: The covering is impersonal.
[23:25]: Not the, the living being who is covered, he is not impersonal, he is personal.
[23:37]: A very simple example. The coat and shirt are impersonal.
[23:43]: But the man who is putting on the coat and shirt, he is not impersonal.
[23:48]: He is personal. So how God can be impersonal?
[23:56]: The material energy is impersonal. That is explained…
[24:12]: That is explained in the Bhagavad-gita:
[24:14]: Maya tatam idam sarvam, jagat avyakta murtinam.
[24:19]: This jagat is avyakta, impersonal. And that is also energy of Krishna. Therefore, He says,
[24:32]: “I am expanded in the impersonal form.”
[24:39]: The impersonal feature is Krishna’s energy. So the material covering is impersonal.
[24:53]: But the spirit soul or Supersoul is a person.
[24:58]: Any questions on this? It is very intricate. Anyone?
[25:14]: This payment, the Book Trust has paid to me. But that is my money, not your money.
[25:22]: I am paying you. It has been simply sent though you.
[25:25]: Transfer.
[25:28]: But actually the Book Trust is not paying to me. So under the circumstances what is the account?
[25:35]: You are debiting, paid to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.
[25:41]: I have written it as a transfer, because Your Divine Grace told me
[25:46]: you were going to give me these certified checks.
[25:48]: I can do it another way. If you do not want to deposit the checks with us,
[25:57]: I will write it as a donation to some project in India.
[26:01]: Whatever the money is used for I can simply make it a donation.
[26:06]: Donation, that’s alright, but you are not donating, you are taking payment.
[26:12]: Only if you want.
[26:14]: No.
[26:15]: You give me a statement. If not many months, at least in this month,
[26:25]: what is the receipt, and how it is spent, and what is the balance.
[26:31]: For this account, in India?
[26:35]: No, no.
[26:36]: Every month you give me a statement.
[26:39]: Of BBT?
[26:42]: Yes.
[26:43]: So much received and so much spent.
[26:46]: Oh, yes, I can do that. Every month.
[26:47]: Every month.
[26:48]: No problem. I am doing that already, and sending a full report to Bhagavan
[26:53]: and Hamsadutta each month.
[26:54]: So you can give me one copy.
[26:57]: Yes. I never did before because I didn’t want to disturb you with the details.
[27:01]: No details.
[27:03]: Give me this.
[27:20]: I will also be able to keep a record,
[27:25]: so you can for transfer receive the check. Is that alright?
[27:36]: I am giving in favor of BBT. Yes, that’s right.
[28:24]: Where is my pen box? Here.
[29:09]: There is not sufficient men or they’re not working? Otherwise there is a tremendous market.
[29:16]: I did it personally. When I was alone I was selling the Bhagavatam.
[29:22]: All the schools, colleges, everywhere with great delight they were taking.
[29:30]: And then I got a standing order from the American Embassy.
[29:34]: 18 copies of each book as soon as its published. The same standing order.
[29:40]: But these people are not doing their job.
[29:43]: Indian management is very…
[29:47]: So for the time being, if the money will not be used for the construction in Mayapur,
[29:53]: it will be used to print books.
[29:56]: Mayapur, they have already taken one-half lac from me.
[30:00]: Gopal Krishna, in India, requested that BBT give him a loan of 160,000 dollars.
[30:11]: In India, during the Mayapur festival, he requested a loan from the U.S. BBT
[30:19]: for 160,000 dollars, which would be used to construct the second residence building.
[30:28]: How will he pay back?
[30:30]: His plan was that the American temples would purchase rooms,
[30:35]: and over a period of four or five years they would pay that money back.
[30:40]: So is that still approved by your Divine Grace?
[30:45]: Yes, I have no objection.
[30:47]: The only thing is that we will have to delay the loan because for the next three months,
[30:53]: all our money will be used to print these 17 books.
[30:56]: First of all books, then loan. We cannot hold up printing, that is not possible.
[31:06]: This you must always keep in view.
[31:09]: We are not going to…The surplus money we are going to pay.
[31:14]: Not that at the cost of stopping printing. You must always keep it (in view).
[31:20]: When you require money for printing, there is no question of loan or temple building.
[31:27]: This should be our principle.
[31:42]: How would we react if someone breaks in and tries to rob the building?
[31:47]: Rob?
[31:48]: A thief. What would we do if a thief came in?
[31:52]: Oh, a thief? Well you shall punish him. Why not? A thief should be punished.
[32:00]: You would punish yourself? What would you do? Just start attacking him?
[32:08]: No, ourself or anyone, a thief has to be punished. A thief has to be punished.
[32:16]: Ourself or yourself, it doesn’t matter. A thief is a thief. He should be punished.
[32:23]: So what if he breaks in because he is hungry?
[32:35]: Then we say, “Everyone come and eat.” Why should he remain hungry?
[32:39]: We invite everyone to come here and eat. No charge. We don’t charge.
[32:47]: So why should he remain hungry? Let us increase this program.
[32:53]: All hungry men of Melbourne city, “Come here to eat sumptuously.”
[33:00]: We invite, “Come on.” Why should you remain hungry?
[33:05]: Because they have made a department, just like yours. What is the department?
[33:13]: Social welfare.
[33:14]: So if they find social welfare, why not help? Why do they bring in politics?
[33:23]: If actually there is social welfare here, why should they not support it?
[33:30]: Well you’re right. But in our society, a minister is elected to carry out certain policies.
[33:40]: Not what he wants, but what the people voted for.
[33:45]: Then if your policy is social reformation,
[33:50]: Social reform isn’t our policy.
[33:52]: Then social welfare.
[33:54]: Just to look after those who are in trouble.
[33:57]: But everyone is in trouble. At the present moment even the ministers are in trouble.
[34:05]: Yes, but that is not what our function is, everybody’s in trouble.
[34:09]: “Physician heal thyself.”
[34:11]: You see, they are also drunkards, woman hunters, and meat-eaters and gamblers.
[34:19]: They require to be rectified.
[34:24]: Unless you change the society, how can you make social welfare?
[34:35]: If you keep them as they are, then were is the question of welfare?
[34:40]: You give a different interpretation to the word.
[34:45]: Basically, one must be a first-class, ideal man. That is wanted.
[34:55]: That is why it is so very difficult, you have to work on your own.
[35:02]: Our own program, it is not vox populi. You find out a fault with us.
[35:13]: You find out what is our fault. Then you can disagree.
[35:20]: But when you see, everything is nice, how you’ll not accept it? Unless you are biased.
[35:29]: Of course I’m biased, I’ve been brought up differently.
[35:32]: No, we are not biased. We are not biased. We are allowing.
[35:42]: We say that if you want to be a first-class man, then you must not commit sinful activities.
[35:51]: That is our proposal.
[35:54]: Actually I’m not here to change society.
[36:01]: We are also public. We belong to the public. You must become our servant also.
[36:07]: We are public, members of the public, so you should become our servant also.
[36:13]: If you are public servant.
[36:15]: A public servant, in our philosophy, is a man who serves the minister elected
[36:23]: by the people, so this way he serves the public.
[36:25]: Therefore, just like we are proposing here. I am not proposing, Krishna says,
[36:33]: that one must be peaceful. So how to become peaceful?
[36:38]: If his mind is always disturbed, how can he become peaceful?
[36:45]: So, that is the secret of success.
[36:50]: You want to make people peaceful but you do not know how to make them peaceful.
[36:55]: So therefore, you have to adopt this.
[36:57]: You have a competitive society.
[37:00]: We say that you chant Hare Krishna, eat here sumptuously, live here comfortably,
[37:09]: and you become peaceful. It is guaranteed.
[37:14]: If anyone, even a madman agrees to these principles,
[37:18]: that let him chant Hare Krishna mantra, take whatever nice foodstuffs we prepare,
[37:27]: and live peacefully. He will be peaceful.
[37:32]: Still such a small percentage of the population, a tiny percentage of the population accepts that the…
[37:41]: Tiny percentage. Just like, there are so many stars in the sky and there is one moon.
[37:51]: In percentage the moon is nothing.
[37:56]: If you take percentage of the stars, the moon is nothing.
[38:00]: but the moon is more important than all the nonsense stars.
[38:03]: This is the example.
[38:07]: What is the use of taking percentage of the stars in the presence of the moon?
[38:13]: Let there be one moon, that is sufficient. There is no question of percentage. One ideal man.
[38:20]: Just like in the Christian world, one ideal Jesus Christ.
[38:26]: How do you feel about Mao Tse Tung?
[38:34]: His idea is alright.
[38:40]: His idea is the communist idea that everyone should be happy.
[38:45]: That is good idea but they do not know how…
[38:50]: Just like they are taking care of the human being in the state,
[38:54]: but they are sending poor animals to the slaughter house.
[38:57]: Because they are Godless.
[39:00]: So, for the satisfaction of the tongue of the human being, the animal’s through should be cut.
[39:11]: So what can be done? Then hopeless.
[39:14]: We are going on without depending on these rascals.
[39:18]: We are publishing our books. We are making our movement. We are honestly trying, that’s all.
[39:33]: Dr. Gerson has promised that he will read every single one of your books before he writes his book.
[39:39]: That is very kind of you. We have got over fifty books! And it is increasing.
[39:52]: Perhaps in the next 2 months it will increase another 17 books.
[39:59]: When a person came first he was doing drugs or some nonsense,
[40:03]: but now that he’s taken to Krishna Consciousness he has become
[40:06]: so much more of a healthy and wholesome person.
[40:08]: That is the test. How we got so many devotees from the Hippie group?
[40:23]: So how they have given up all their bad habbits?
[40:25]: So the function of this testing is to show that that change takes place
[40:30]: in a way that other scientists will accept it. That is it’s purpose.
[40:34]: Oh, that’s nice. That is already admitted by the educated class.
[40:42]: Therefore, they are becoming attracted.
[40:45]: Well there still are many who aren’t familiar with the movement, and I hope to familiarize them.
[40:52]: But I say that even if there is something wrong, it is not impediment.
[40:58]: They are making propaganda that these American devotees are CIA.
[41:04]: This propaganda is very strong in India.
[41:10]: Making the people against these American boys who are preaching.
[41:19]: I would like to show them a path so they won’t be cheated any longer.
[41:22]: Provided you know the path.
[41:24]: I’m trying to learn.
[41:26]: So first of all learn it. Otherwise you’ll be cheating.
[41:30]: If you do not know the art, and if you want to do some benefit to the others, then that is cheating.
[41:47]: Suppose a physician he does not know what is the medical science,
[41:51]: and if he wants to become a physician, that is cheating. Quack.
[41:59]: I hope through the study I’m doing through the devotees and the books that comes out of it,
[42:04]: it will help them not be cheated any longer and show them the right way.
[42:10]: Yes.
[42:12]: He is advising his patients they should chant Hare Krishna and to come to the temple.
[42:16]: Then it is very nice. Then you are friend.
[42:20]: Another thing I would like to do is go to Gurukula and test the children and show
[42:25]: what NBC did was very false and unfair.
[42:31]: On television, they did a very bad story about Gurukula.
[42:33]: Yes, they’re cheaters. They want to cheat and get some money. That’s all.
[42:39]: Because the whole so-called human society is a combination of “cheaters” and “cheated.”
[42:48]: So anyone who is acting without Krishna Consciousness, he is a cheater.
[42:55]: And anyone who is thinking himself advanced without Krishna Consciousness, he is cheating.
[43:02]: This is the basic principle.
[43:06]: When I say Krishna Consciousness, I mean God Consciousness.