Radhanath Swami educates on The Ultimate Fulfilment
Some people study medicine because they want to combine both. To survive in the society that we are living, we have to have some financial basis in our lives and it is the duty of a responsible person to make his economic needs fulfilled in an unstinted moral way, but there is something more to life than that because that can give no fulfilment. Money cannot give anyone real fulfilment, but a purpose of life gives a person inner fulfilment and the greater the purpose of life the more fulfilment. The ultimate purpose of life brings about the ultimate fulfilment and that is what we should all be striving to understand and achieve the ultimate purpose of life and to connect all of our activities to that ultimate purpose. So the Bhagavad-Gita explains what is truth? What is illusion? What is matter? What is spirit? What is God? To understand these principles is called knowledge, real knowledge. To live by these principles is to pursue the truth. To not live by these principles is to be a part of a great illusion, an illusion that is causing so much dissatisfaction, so much disharmony, and so much suffering within the world that we live. There is a need for truth and there is a need for people who live by that principle and that is what this Krishna consciousness is humbly trying to present to society. What is the highest most noble truth and how to live every aspect of our life in pursuance of that truth to understand the relationship between the atma, the spirit, and the body. What is this material nature? This material nature composed of the eight material elements: Earth, water, fire, air, mind, intelligence, false ego, and how this material covering, although temporary by nature affects the soul, which is transcendent, eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. How we can utilize this temporary vehicle in which we are now residing to pursue the natural function of the soul and its relationship with God or Krishna. To understand and to live by this is truth.
So you are all practising to be doctors and no doubt you will make some nice income. You will get some nice prestige within society for your work, but people because of their departure from truth are suffering terribly because of their identification with this body and the various types of activities they perform with their body. There are so much sufferings and it is a noble purpose, which is fulfilling to the heart, not to just selfishly consume, but to help others to show compassion, to be a friend, to relieve distress of other living beings. As a doctor, you are being trained and equipped to do according to your capacity just that service of relieving people from suffering can that will give fulfilment. If you are actually performing a profession with a genuine concern for the condition of others that will give you fulfilment, but what will give you the ultimate fulfilment is when you help people to understand the ultimate relief from all suffering and that is to give transcendental knowledge along with physical wealth there. Transcendental knowledge of how people can become enlightened, how people could realize the eternal blissful condition of their own soul to teach people how to serve God, to love God that is the greatest doctor, the doctor who is concerned with person’s body, mind, and soul. Just to have a healthy body, does not necessarily bring a person happiness.
People who commit suicide generally do not because they are in physical conditions of suffering, people commit suicide because they are in mental distress. Mental distress is more severe than physical distress and how much mental distress there is in this world and how much physical distress, but beyond these physical grouse and physical forms of suffering, there is also the loneliness, the unfulfilled condition of the heart, which is longing and seeking for immortality and for perfect love, which can only be fulfilled in Krishna, or in God. So what is the greatest doctor? The doctor who can heal the body, the mind, and the soul. The doctor who knows his profession well enough, to know exactly how to treat the body according to the particular disease and bring relief. The person who can speak and live in such a gentle and humble way that we can encourage a person’s mind and put their mind at ease, but most important the doctor who can diagnose the real disease that everyone is suffering the disease of ignorance, avidya, which has separated us from our own eternal blissful nature and give the medicine to that disease and treat a person, so that he could gradually come back to his healthy spiritual condition. So these are the types of the doctors that this world is in the greatest need of. Doctors of the body and mind, and soul and you all have the opportunity to do this ultimate welfare work, the greatest service to all humanity and the greater the service, the greater the fulfilment you can give others and greater fulfillment you can experience yourself in your own life.
Radhanath Swami enlightens that “Name of God is the Medicine”
What we give is what we receive. So you should understand what a rare and precious fortune that Krishna is giving you all and really to show your appreciation for this fortune, you simply have to be very enthusiastic and sincere to receive the gift of this knowledge, this way of life. The name of God is the medicine that can cleanse the disease of ignorance from our hearts and bring us back to our natural health, which is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of joy. So we take the name of God in our own life. You have heard the saying physician heal thyself. A drowning man cannot save another drowning man. If the best surgeon is suffering from a terrible cancerous disease, does he have the capacity to perform surgery on another? He has to go to a surgeon and be healed and then he has the power and the strength to heal others. That is what it means physician heal thyself. If we equip ourselves with purity, morality, and spiritual consciousness, then we can give that to others and that is what really the soul is longing to do, to connect with Krishna and connect others to Krishna. So the name of God is that Medicine, which can connect all living beings regardless of whatever condition in society they are presently dwelling, whether they are in the bodies of a man or a woman, whether they are of upper class or lower class, upper caste or so called lower caste. These temporary designations are utterly irrelevant to the soul, as irrelevant is, one person is driving a Maruti, one person is driving an Ambassador, one person a Contessa, one person a Mercedes, one person a Rolls Royce, but the real consideration is the person inside. The person inside is suffering terribly from arthritis, rheumatism, and what joy is his Rolls Royce or Mercedes-Benz is going to give him? We see people with great healthy bodies are really miserable, lonely, and frustrated in life, agitated, no fulfillment, but the Name of God is a Medicine, which works on every living being if they take it properly. Why? Because it is medicine for the soul, it awakens the soul from its sleeping condition. I would like to read a letter if I could find it. Malati, Malati has AIDS. Somehow or other years ago, she contracted it and someone recently gave her the herbal remedy that they claim would heal AIDS, would cure AIDS, so to please the people giving, she took it. It is a long letter, but I will just read one part. She says that she has faithfully consumed the particular medicines, she said by the persistent mercy of Jamuna Prabhu who was making all of these preparations for her every day. She says, but I admit to small faith in this medicine, I only fully trust in Srila Prabhupada’s prescription, he said this Mahamantra:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
It is the only medicine I have, so will you not please take it, this is what Prabhupada said. Prabhupada is our doctor. She was Prabhupada’s personal cook for many years. She said Prabhupada said, “This Mahamantra is the only medicine I have, so will you not please take it.” So my real desire is to increase consumption of this remedy, I beg your merciful for assistance to his end. Hari Bol. She may have AIDS, but AIDS means you are going to die, but you are going to die whether you have AIDS or not, then… we all have that disease. We all have a terminal disease. The terminal disease is this material body. It is guaranteed that it will terminate and there is only one medicine for that terminal disease and that is the name of God:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So we want to be real servants to society to the maximum capacity, to be doctors of the body, mind, and soul, and in the college, you are learning something that will be useful. The Visvarüpa and Devamrita, and Gauranga who explains what they are giving is something hundreds, millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions of times more valuable than anything in the college. They are giving you the medicine to cure the repetition of birth and death, to liberate the soul from the prison of the threefold miseries of material existence. The medicine that can bring about a revolution of consciousness that can awaken your original blissful nature. This is my humble request as you are all intelligent, young, cultured men and ladies that the world needs you. The world needs not good physical doctors, the world needs compassionate people who are willing to reveal the truth to society. That is the greatest need and Krishna is calling upon each and every one of you to dedicate your life to whatever degree for that purpose.
Questions to Radhanath Swami
Devotee: The name of God is the only medicine for stopping the prison of birth and death. None of us have seen those who have left and where they have gone and what they feel like after leaving this body? Does this medicine help them and did it help them at the moment of death and what happened to them? We are speaking amongst people who are living and we have some experiences of pleasure chanting the Hare Krishna, but when it comes to the moment of death and what we call as exchange of body and future life and all, what is the proof? We want to know that is there any proof the people who have dead where they have gone where they have gone? Has anybody seen them?
Radhanath Swami: Yes, may be you have not seen. What is the proof? First of all, we can understand that any medicine, will have its greatest effect when it is taken according to prescription. If the person takes medicine whimsically, it will not have the same effect. If someone has a disease some serious effect infection and you tell him here is an antibiotic, you take one every morning, one every evening for the next 10 days and that person takes one and then two weeks later he takes another and four days later he takes another, will there be much effect? Minimal. Medicine must be taken according to prescription and that is why we need a spiritual master. We cannot just whimsically chant God’s name according to our own idea. We need to live a particular life and take the medicine of the name in such a way that it will have a maximum effect that is the prescription and those who actually follow sincerely in this way, we can see within their life if they are seriously taking it properly then there is a great transformation. They become less greedy. They become less selfish. They become more moral. They become more content. They become more compassionate and the most compassionate people can ever lived on the face of this earth historically are those people who dedicated their lives to God, not the politicians, not the scientists, but the people who were truly saintly, who appeared truly purified by God and his name, that we can see and we can see the transformation of people’s life when they start to take the spiritual life and chant the name of God, that we can see, remarkable transformations historically as well as in the present moment. Exactly where the soul goes at the time of death? You do not have the power to see that in the conditioned state of consciousness, but all these greater acharyas, all this great saintly teachers, all these great scriptures, which are the most highest men of the station of science, ancient sciences are explaining this principle. They are many things you have to accept on the basis of reasonable, philosophical, and scientific base that simply your senses have no access to perceive, but these scriptures have transformed the lives of so many others and the greatest persons that ever lived or even now and why cannot God, the creator, the supreme origin of everything that exists, reveal the truth, which he has to so many incarnations. When you study medicine you have practically no realization or perception of anything at the beginning of the study, you just accept it on the basis of faith and gradually as you progress you develop realization that it is true. Correct? At first, it is all theoretical; to practicing is realization so similarly as we practice Krishna consciousness with faith gradually even in this life we realize the eternal nature in the deathlessness of the soul and we become free and fearless.
Devotee: I am not yet convinced about that those people who have left their bodies, who are supposed to be devotees, you have not met them to hear the experience exactly what happen to them?
Radhanath Swami: I have already explained. You cannot because of your incapability, because of your conditioned nature. Why can we not see? Because we are so much identifying with this world’s body. We only see gross bodies, we do not have the intuitive development to proceed what is beyond this body because our whole reality is this body. As we come to a subtler spiritual platform we can perceive the true effect and the true progress of the soul, but all the great authorities have told us this and if we just practice Krishna consciousness gradually we have direct experience of the same plane. At the beginning of medical science, do you know about medicine? The beginning as you except authority and you follow them and then realization and experience comes of how medicines work and how diseases are cured. First day you are in school, do you know? That is why I am saying the same thing. You may not be able to perceive the eternal nature of the soul now, but if you accept the proper authority and follow that proper authority, you will gradually realize and experience it definitely, but not any authority, proper authority. If you want to study medicine, you do not start it study from any crack who says I am doctor and I will teach you, you go to that professor who has been in a line, who has learned from other professors, and who is teaching according to the standard books. Correct? He is certified. He has studied the proper books. He has studied under the proper professors. He can teach me. He is authorized. In the same way, if you want to understand spiritual science, not anyone who has a shaved head or long hair, not anyone who just knows how to fast or can perform magic tricks, he is a proper teacher.
A guru is one who has studied the proper books, the proper scriptures, who has learned them from proper authorities, and who lives and teaches accordingly, that is called ‘disciplic succession’. Teachers and professors in college come in ‘disciplic succession’ also. They are graduated from the certain college, they learn from someone who graduated from another college, they learnt from someone who graduated from another college. Is that not the standard way of learning medicine? That is also the standard way of learning spiritual knowledge and as we study from proper authority, we get realization, we get experience and then we can directly perceive these things; until then, from philosophical conviction, from basic common sense, and the submissive hearing from self realized souls of the past and present. We believe in these things, gradually the realization comes as we practice. Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita that the soul cannot be perceived with our senses, but the symptom of the presence of the soul can be perceived, and that is ‘life’. The symptom of the presence of the soul is consciousness, our life, that we can perceive, but the soul cannot. It is said that the soul is 10,000 of the size of a tip of the hair; how can you see with your eyes? How can you see where it is going after it leaves this body? But Krishna explains one who thinks of me at the time of death attains me without fail.
Devotee: In our normal life, it is very difficult for us to practice Krishna consciousness according to the prescribed rules, what are rules we are told how to go through, because we are weak at this to receive. We have just began into it, because we are very juvenile to start with it and we do commit blunders simultaneously, but is it that if we do not leave it and just have faith in it even if we are doing blunders, we do not see to the blunders, is it that our blunders go off sometime and we will be able to overcome, because at present what I feel is that I am not able to overcome even though I am knowing that these things are blunders which I am committing, but I am still not able to overcome. Is it that will be able to overcome that in case we continue with it?
Radhanath Swami: Most definitely. When a baby child tries to walk, he does not start running in his first attempt because his legs are weak. First time he tries, he falls. Second time he stands a little longer, but then he falls. Third time slightly longer and falls, correct? But because he keeps trying every time he tries, every time he endeavors, he gets more strength and soon he never falls; walking is completely natural, running is completely natural. So in the same way, when we begin our spiritual lives, we should know that there are certain gross activities that we should very strictly avoid, we should not fall. Most of us do have the power to restrain those – illicit sex, intoxication, gambling, meat eating; but as far as the mind still inclined toward materialistic activities, our mind is still very spiritually very weak and from time to time it is falling, it is going after some sense objects, it is going after some greed, or some lust, and envy, or some pride. Yes, this is what are you saying? But if we keep practicing, if we do not give up, if we keep trying, if we keep resisting to our capacity these temptations, if we keep chanting God’s name, if we keep associating with proper people, if we keep hearing proper philosophy, engaging in proper seva, we become little by little more strong. Our mind become stronger, our senses become stronger, spiritually stronger, but it takes time for like babies learning to walk spiritually. Through constant practice and determination gradually we become very strong and our mind becomes our best friend.
Devotee: Sir, we sometimes do not even want to, we do not even want to leave it, although we know that it is wrong, but we do not want to leave it and the other thing, even we known that mahä-mantra is very strong medicine, which we are taking, even if we chant mahä-mantra still we are not able to overcome, then one thing is very helpless that no, you are not still not able to overcome these pride, or this lust and such kind of things and then feels as if no, it is not that strong, It is not able to make me overcome such things, it means that it is not that strong, if we put it logically?
Radhanath Swami: As a doctor, if somebody has had a disease of 40 years and has completely neglected that disease for all 40 years and he comes to you for treatment and you give him medicine, you give him a diet, you give him particular exercise, and after two days he says I am not well. What is wrong with this medicine? What is wrong with your prescription? What will you tell him? That you have been neglecting this disease for 40 years, it takes more than two days to become healed. The desires that we have in our hearts and in our minds, we have been cultivating perhaps for many, many births. What to speak of this life? So many previous, we just take the Krishna Consciousness. How long have you been chanting? How long have you been associating with devotees, few months? How long? Three months. You have been serving Maya for 8,400,000 births and you have been assimilating imbibing the contaminations of the disease of Maya for 8 million births and you have been taking the holy name minimally for three months and you expect to be a liberated soul? It takes time, but the medicine does work. Gradually, I think if you examine your values in life for the last three months you will see a remarkable difference of what you held precious as far as morality and the goal of life between now and three months ago. I believe there is a drastic transformation in the way of thinking. So much has been done in the three months to change in consciousness, you’ve whole duration of life, continue on.
Devotee: Just like, I am not able to come up to the temple every hour, every Sunday or some like I feel that I have said to devote more because I am not very disciplined regarding my studies. I feel that I have to devote more time towards my studies and if I chant I could not do the studies that will be sufficient enough for me. Is it right?
Radhanath Swami: If you actually genuinely honestly do not have time, yes it is right, but if you do have time, it is very important in addition to your chanting in your room alone to come and associate with wonderful devotees. It gives a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and faith to continue the process. If you cannot, Krishna will certainly give you everything right in your room, but you can and he is waiting to give it to you here also, you should come and accept it. Both are required.
Devotee: I am trying my best. Thank you very much.
Devotee: Prabhu, there is one practical problem, which I am facing and the thing is that I come on Sundays and even whenever I get chance or I get the opportunity that my fortune is with me I come over here, listen to great devotees, but the thing is if you say that hearing of pure ideas, God name, and just studying and reading of Bhagavatam or good ideas, we should understand the things by proper Guru, by proper devotee <___>. Suppose, somebody comes on Sunday and the practical problem there is communication gap. He or she does not understand the language in which the understanding of Bhagavatam is being given at that time. Suppose my mother wants to come on Sunday, I say that my mother please come over and there great joy, you get the understanding of everything, you get the knowledge of God just to study these, not need to study scriptures and all that of 20, 25, or 30 years, but I say that please come over there and she ask that. Because the ideas should be given by proper guru and here they have conference, suppose I tell her that my guru has said these, these, these things, but it does not make that much of effect and my intelligence is not at that level that I can make her understand everything about that much. How this practical problem is overcome?
Radhanath Swami: What language does she speak?
Devotee: Hindi.
Radhanath Swami: Most of the lectures here are in Hindi.
Devotee: But on Sundays, actually is that Prabhu, every time on Sunday there is a facility of translation of lecture in hindi.
Radhanath Swami: The best you see if someone is translating exactly what that person says and she is hearing from that person through sound vibration, but many devotees do hear and what you can do for your mother, is you see these ladies here, Vishakha, Kishori, Sangeeta, and Pinky, Mira, they all know English and Hindi very nice. They can sit next to your mother and if the person is speaking in English as he is talking, they could translate perfectly and she can understand every part of the lecture. Is not that what you do with your mother Kishori. Her mother also does not know English, but when she comes to the temple, her daughter just translates as it is being spoken. In fact there are Bramhacharies in this temple who speak in English, but because they are interested to hear, somebody is always translating us what I am speaking or else whoever is speaking and they hear everything very nicely.
Devotee: I tell my mother that it is a great opportunity to have to come over here because I can arrange some times to get the nectar.
Radhanath Swami: We can arrange because it might not look so nice for you to be on the ladies side translating. We can arrange these ladies, they can do that service, but will be happy to, they will be joyful to. You come Sundays, what you should do is when you come on Sunday just introduce your mother to Vishvarup Prabhu and he will arrange one of these nice lady devotees to translate for her and she will get every word of it.
Radhanath Swami: Maharajaji, do not you think that justice delayed is justice denied? We see that suppose there is a prisoner and the prisoner has committed some sin and the prisoner has committed some grave crime then suddenly the prisoner has gone into unconsciousness and then at that time the prisoner is given the punishment, which actually he deserves? Then he has a case, suppose the prisoner is allowed to come out of the unconsciousness and then remains conscious and then he is given that punishment then do not you think that if the prisoner is given the punishment in a conscious state in which he is able to appreciate that I am being punished in this way for this crime that I have done then he is able to remedy himself or he will be able to guide himself from this in the future, but if actually the prisoner has done some crime and then he is punished when he is an unconsciousness state, when he is not able to appreciate that I am being punished for this, then do not you think that punishment has gone a waste. In the case of the soul we see that the soul does many kinds of crimes or misdeeds in particular life then after that in that life in many cases, in some cases, it is punished, but in many cases the soul is not punished in that life and then when the soul takes another life then we see that the soul is punished for the misdeeds, which the soul has committed in the previous body. For example, in this life only we come across many instances for example even in my native place there was a pujari, now the pujari, he was completely used to do worship of God and in this way he used to earn his livelihood and here the man who was completely in a mode of goodness, means no one to no one he would ever be unkind or to no one he would ever be unsympathetic, always whoever person have come across or used to come across that pujari, he always used to be in a state of goodness. I do not know whether he was transcendental or not, but he always used to be in a state of goodness, but then what happened when he died we saw that such a play of circumstances came in to being that he had to die of starving. Now in this case, we see that even though that person we might tell that yes he has got the punishment of the misdeeds, which he has done in the past, but then do not you think that in this life only I have been punished. I think that I get bewildered. I get frustrated, but suppose if I would have got punished for my misdeeds in my previous life itself then I would have had this strong belief that I should correct my deeds in the future, otherwise if I get punished in this life I do not remember anything about my past life. I am now completely unconscious regarding my past life so even if I am being punished, I am not able to be in a condition to appreciate that I am being punished for the misdeeds in the past because generally I do not have this belief of my past life, I do not have the belief that I had any past life or I will be having any future life or not so this punishment do not you think it is going a waste. Do not you think justice delayed is justice denied?
Radhanath Swami: Anyone would like to answer that question? First thing you think and I think, we do not know what is best. You may think and have your opinion and I may have my opinion and God has his opinion. Who knows better you, me, or God? Who knows more about the machine, the manufacturer or the person who has just been using it for short time? God has created everything. He has created the material nature. He has created all of the phenomenon within material nature. He has created the soul. He has created all the situations in which the soul passes through and his whole material creation is meant to ultimately cleanse the soul of the disease of ignorance and forgetfulness and everything that is happening in this material creation is for that purpose. Now just God know better how to serve justice or do you and me know better? You may think that this is the best way for the soul to learn, but God knows something else. That is the first point. Second point is on a more relative level that people are suffering in this world and they are still not giving up their sins because they simply are too attached even though they know it. People smoke cigarettes and they know it will kill them, but they will not give it up even though they see the sign that this is going to kill you, they still cannot give it up because they are too attached and that is the same type of attachment that practically everyone has in this world for materialistic karmic activities because they are too attached. Therefore, let us use an example of the medical profession. If a person wants to know why he is suffering, he will understand in principle and that is all he needs to know, he does not need to know the specifics and if a person does not want to know then however much you tell him, he will not listen. Do you understand what I am saying? Suppose a person is suffering from sinful activities, if he really wants to understand why I am suffering and how can I get out of it he will hear what is the principle, he does not need the specifics what he did and when. He will just understand the principle, which has been affected on him and he will give up his sins and he will take to pure life, a holy life. Correct? Because he wants to know, but if a person does not wants to know even if he reads it or hears it, and he is preached to it, he will not listen, he will not change.
God has given scripture in every part of the world and there are preachers in every part of the world. Everyone knows what is morality and what is immorality. Everyone knows what is spiritual life and what is material life. Everyone knows what is sin and what is not sin, but why the world is in such a chaos because they do not want to hear, they are too attached, and if you do not want to hear, God will not force you to hear. He will let you go through the evolution of suffering until you finally do want to hear and understand why. God is telling you why, but do you want to hear it, do you want to follow, do you want to understand. If you do, he will speak through His representatives. He will send someone if they want to know and if you do not want to know, he will not force you. He will let you go on suffering until you want to know and I was bringing it to the medical idea if a person has malaria and he is suffering fever, nausea, whatever other symptoms there are and a doctor comes and says you have malaria, here is the medicine, take it, and be cured. Is there any doubt whether the person has malaria or what if the person asks. I will take the medicine if you tell me, which mosquito bit me. I want to know, which mosquito. I want to see that mosquito and I want to know exactly what date and what time and where. Does it matter? Does it matter where you got bit, when you got bit, or which mosquito bit you? You know in principle that somewhere, sometime, some mosquito bit me and I have the disease so let me take the medicine. All you have to know is the principle. So similarly, we are suffering and we know that suffering is due to bad karma. We do not have to know exactly where or when or how we did it. We known one principle we did it so we should stop doing it and we should take the medicine to cleanse ourselves of the reactions of it, that is intelligence and if you want to know you will accept it on that principle and you will take the medicine and if you do not want to know you will make so many excuses, I will not take it unless you tell me exactly when, where, and how because justice delayed is justice denied. So justification to go on an ignorance.
As far as the pujari goes, if he was actually genuinely a holy man whether he died of starvation, whether he died of malaria, or whether he died of old age, he was a holy man, he was gratefully thinking of God at the time of his death and his life was perfect. It is not so important how he died physically. It is important how he did consciously. If he was such a good person, God would have been there at the time of his death to take him away, to take him to perfection of life, or at least to alleviate him. If he did not mind, why should you mind.
Devotee: Maharaj, do not you think it gives a very, very bad impression on us. We actually, we do not know what is God?
Radhanath Swami: It gives a bad impression if you want to see a bad impressions does not give bad impressions to the rest of us. We see that if he was God conscious, however he dies is glorious. He has perfected his life. It gives bad impression to those who want to remain in ignorance. It gets him an excuse. Just see. Just see. He is a religious man. He starved. Therefore, I can do anything I like because justice delayed is justice denied. Justice is not delayed. It is given like medicine in doses or material energy according to what will be the best sober you are from your material intoxication and illusion.
Devotee: Maharaj I would like to ask one question, as you gave the example of malaria, it is alright, but actually if we consider this analogy to the actual life, we see that in this case, the person is suffering from malaria, but he has accepted it as a part of his life and he refuses to believe that this malaria has been caused by the bite of a mosquito. He is telling that no I have just got this malaria, everyone is getting this malaria. There is no person in this world who is not having this malaria, so why to be angry at this malaria. The drug, which you are giving, how to believe that this drug is going to cure me? Or show me that this mosquito has really bitten me and show me the parasites, which have caused this malaria in the stomach of this mosquito. I am going to believe that I am having this malaria, otherwise I will believe that no, this is general thing. Everyone is having this malaria. Why to believe that your drug only has the potency to cure this malaria. In that case, do not you think that it is extremely essential for the person, the mosquito, and to demonstrate the plasmodia, which had caused that malaria in the stomach of that mosquito?
Radhanath Swami: How many people demanded such a service from a doctor? Have you ever met anyone? You ever met anyone who would not take the medicine until they saw the stomach of the mosquito that bit them?
Devotee: That is because maharaja they have full faith on us. They have full faith on the doctor.
Radhanath Swami: You want to become cleansed of your spiritual disease, you have to have full faith on Krishna, the ultimate doctor, and his representatives. Otherwise, there is no possibility.
Devotee: Maharaja, as Viswarup prabhu already told in that case, the patient can see the other patients getting alright by getting cured by the doctor, but in this case, we have no direct access of seeing whether the soul is going to the spiritual world.
Yes, it is. You can see transformation of values in people’s life. We see people who previously were doing all kinds of, watching televisions, going to cinemas, now they are coming to the temple to chant God’s name in joy. We can see that. As Prabhupada used to tell us in America, we can see the hippies becoming happy. We can see people who were lost who have found the golden purpose of life. That we can see with our own eyes and that should give us faith.
Devotee: Maharaja, do not you think that in this world people accept sufferings just because they think that sufferings are a part of life. Sufferings are an inevitable part of life so why not at least enjoy the enjoyments that are present on this world? If a person denies enjoyment in drinking alcohol or if a person denies enjoyment in doing some kind of other, suppose some other lusty activities.
Radhanath Swami: This is ignorance. Therefore, religious way of philosophy is sentimental for medicines. We have to have philosophical conviction. Are you the body or are you the soul? At the time of death, every part of your body is present, but where are you? Who is it that is speaking through your mouth and seeing your eyes, and thinking through your brain and loving through your heart and feeling through your flesh, who is it? It is not the flesh that is feeling. It is not the eyes that are seeing. It is not the brain that is thinking. There is a person. There is consciousness within and when that conscious force leaves the body, the brain, the eyes, the flesh, everything is there, but there is no conscious witness because the person is gone. We are not this body. We are the eternal soul. We must understand what are the needs of the soul? What is the nature of the soul? That is philosophy and that is what human life is meant for to use our developed intelligence to understand these things and to discriminate between truth and illusion. People who want to remain in ignorance, who have no proper philosophy of life, who have no conception of the difference between matter and spirit. Yes, eat, sleep, enjoy, be married because tomorrow may never come and people who want to remain in ignorance propagate this philosophy and even try to defeat real philosophy to justify their attachments. There is a saying, if a person does not want to hear, you cannot convince him of anything. One convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. We can preach philosophy to someone, but if he does not want to hear, he has no submission to the truth, no change in his heart, no change in his mind, and therefore, for such people, God is a god of love. He wants love from people. He will not force us. If you want to remain in ignorance, he will allow you to remain in ignorance, but eventually just through your experience of suffering, you will turn to him. In your time, you will turn to him. The question is why not now? Why should we waste our valuable precious time. Krishna knows that eventually every living being is going to turn to human surrender to him when they decide by their free will out of love, but as long as you want to maintain all of these ideas, concepts, and justifications, he will allow you to go on like that birth after birth after birth. Why not now? We have the chance. We have the golden opportunity to perfect our lives and bring real joy to the world. Take it.
Devotee: Maharaja, one thing, you told that there are many people who actually do not want to come out of this ignorance, but they will only want to come out of this ignorance only when they realize that they are really in ignorance, but then we see that suppose we are coming in contact with the devotees, but there are so many millions and millions of people in this world who are actually involved completely in the mode of ignorance, but there is no one actually to tell them that you are in the mode of ignorance.
Radhanath Swami: That is not true. If they really want to know if Krishna is in their heart, he will direct them to someone who will tell. Another thing, if you are feeling such a concern, why do not you become a preacher and do something for this people. If people are suffering the plague in the earthquakes zone and you are a doctor and you are sitting in Bombay saying there is nobody to help them. What good is that talk. You should go and help them. If you know that so many people are suffering their ignorance and there is nobody to tell them, you should go and tell them. That is what all of us have decided. We should go out and tell them. It is a great need. There is an epidemic and there is a need for a lot of spiritual doctors and we are trying to recruit more and more not for ourselves, but for the suffering people.
Devotee: Maharaja, I would like to ask one question which I had faced while trying to preach to one of my classmates, Maharaja actually I told him what is the basic priority of Krishna consciousness and he told that see whatever you are telling, everything is actually based on what Srila Prabhupada had told. Even the Gita that you are studying that actually has slokas in Sanskrit, now you do not know anything about Sanskrit, even I do not know anything about Sanskrit so what is actually the meaning of the slokas we do not know. What we only know whatever translation we are reading from the slokas, but again these translations have been done by Srila Prabhupada, so ultimately whatever convictions you may tell that we do not speak anything by our heads, we speak only what has been given in the scriptures, but then again the scriptures, we do not have access to understand them directly in Sanskrit, so we have to take the help of somebody who is translating it, so again here comes the creditability of the person who is actually translating these slokas to English, so how to believe that whatever Srila Prabhupada is telling or in whichever way he has translated the Gita or the Bhagavatam, it is actually right?
Radhanath Swami: Even if you know Sanskrit perfectly, that does not make any difference because you cannot understand the scriptures by knowing Sanskrit.
You can only understand the scriptures by hearing at the feet of the great souls. Upanishad means to sit at the feet of the great souls.
tasmäd guruà prapadyeta jijïäsuù çreya uttamam
It is the only way the Vedas could be understood. There are thousands of Sanskrit scholars in India who know nothing about the conclusion of the Vedas. Only those who hear from the proper disciplic succession can understand the real essence of truth. Now Krishna does say and any Sanskrit scholar will tell you that Krishna says:
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham
Even the most materialistic atheistic Sanskrit scholar will tell you that this that means Krishna says that by the all the Vedas I am to be known and he also says:
sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
Any Sanskrit scholar will tell you that Krishna is saying all abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender to me and Krishna also says mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya, any Sanskrit scholar will literally translate will tell that this means that there is no truth superior to Krishna and Krishna says man-mana bhava mad-bhakto.
Any Sanskrit scholar will tell you this means always think of Krishna, become his devotee, you will come to Krishna.
aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate
Every Sanskrit scholar will tell you that this means aham means me, Krishna. It means that Krishna is the source of everything that exists. Everything is emanating from him and the wise who know this perfectly engage in his loving service. Now are not these slokas transparent and self evident that it means we are supposed to surrender to Krishna, but the problem is practically every other translator says this is what the Sanskrit says, but this is what it means and then they give their own idea.
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru
Krishna says always think of me, become my devotee, worship me, offer your homage to me, in this way you will come to me without fail. Everyone will translate it in the same way. It has to be in Sanskrit, but the most popular commentary of the Bhagavat-Gita used to president of India, one of the greatest scholars in his purport. Translation is perfect, but his purport says when Krishna says me, he does not mean him Krishna the personality, he means the unbond, unmanifest, invisible, impersonal, within himself. Now if Krishna wanted us to surrender to the unbond, impersonal, invisible within himself, why did not he say that, he said me. So Prabhupada says when Krishna says me that means Krishna and another translator says Krishna says,
bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah
Krishna says only by bhakti, only devotion, I can be known in truth. Everyone has to translate that. Bhaktya means bhakti, devotion and there is commentators I have seen, they say that devotion means meditation and the impersonal within Krishna. Why did Krishna say it? Prabhupada says Krishna says bhaktya mam that means devotion to him and who is him, Krishna. That is why it is called Bhagavad-Gita as it is. When Krishna says surrender to me Prabhupada says surrender to Krishna and other commentators are saying that is not what it means. It says that, but it is not what it means. It means something else. You are Krishna, it means surrender to yourself, but Krishna says,
mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhütah sanatanah
All living beings are my part and parcel. They are eternally my servants. They are eternally subordinate to me. That is what he says. Surrender to Krishna means surrender to Krishna. When Arjuna was told to surrender to Krishna, did he surrender to himself or did he surrender to Krishna? So even from the point of view of Sanskrit, if you study the translation, you will find that Prabhupada is simply speaking what Krishna is saying, but he is just revealing it. It is obvious. What is the most obvious? It is him.
“tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya
What is most obvious cannot be understood except through the transparent medium just like you are obviously sitting here, but Visvarupa cannot see without his glasses, but he has defective vision. His glasses are not showing something new, they are just revealing what is there, but if you put on red colour glasses or yellow colour glasses or orange colour glasses or black colour glasses, you do not see what is really there, so many commentators give a various coloured glasses. Prabhupada is giving the clear transparent vision of what Krishna is saying and when you hear him you know what is true just by understanding the Sanskrit and even if you do not know the Sanskrit, just if you see any translation you will see what Prabhupada is saying is what Krishna means and what others are saying is something else. In other thing, what Prabhupada is saying is not his own opinion, it is what he has heard from his Guru, who heard from his guru, who heard from his Guru in a disciplic succession and we read the histories and the glories of such person and we see the example of Prabhupada’s personal life and we understand that this is the disciplic succession of self-realized liberated souls. He simply repeated like a postman the eternal message without adding or subtracting anything, therefore we have faith in his words. He is not just an upstart giving his own opinion. He is presenting what he has heard and Gita says evam paramparä-präptam, the only way to understand Gita is hearing from someone in such a disciplic succession, who is purely with all humility delivering the message and that you can understand with a little sincerity what Prabhupada has done.
Devotee: We generally in Krishna consciousness, we tell that Vedas came into being even before this creation material creation came to being. Maharaja, do we have any direct proof to assess that actually the Vedas that has transferred through all these generations, even through millions and millions of years, it has not actually been distorted. Its meaning has actually not been distorted or it has not actually been written by the Aryans of the early Vedic period who have come here from the region of Iran and Mesopotamia and then settled here? According to what these two are doing still. Is there any direct proof to negate this statement of the historians. Yes they have all the remains of the Harappa culture and the Mohenjo-Daro culture, they have found out through excavations that they are level.
Radhanath Swami: No doubt, they have remains of those cultures, but they have noticed. Yes, we admit that they are lotus that they have found out in the ground, but how does that connect to them writing the Vedas. They had some archaeological proof that the culture existed, but what is the evidence was not there already. There is no evidence. The rest is speculation. First of all you have to understand that these historians who came and who created these whole Aryan idea were Christian missionaries, who came from the Western countries for only one purpose to convert the Hindus into Christians.
Devotee: But Maharaja, that time Christianity had not come into being. That is during the early Vedic period at the time Christianity had not come.
Radhanath Swami: No, the whole concept you are talking about was created by the Christians. I am talking about 5000 BC. I am talking about the people who tell you about all these things about 5000 BC. The historians are not the people who have lived in 5000 BC. The historians are the Christian missionaries who came to India to convert you to Christianity by showing that your religion is inferior to theirs. That is who created this whole concept of the Aryans and the Vedas being created by people coming from Iran and because the British Indologist and the German Indologist came, and they actually learned Sanskrit and they actually tried to prove things in this way and India was subjugated by British rule. This became standard government approved knowledge. It was a very, very terrible and massive form of brainwashing people by degrading their faith in religion and it was done very systematically and now even Hindus believe this nonsense. It is unfortunate, they have no evidence. They have no proof. They take some evidence that they do have and then they a make a big show of what they found and then they connect it to something through word jugglery and speculation and say this is a fact. Darvin’s theory if evolution is the same nonsense. He found some fossils, they found some other fossils and then he created a whole theory how they are all connected, which disproves the existence of God, but there is no reality to anything he said and foolish people believe it. So there are so many theories. This is nothing, but a blind theory, but the people who know the Vedas and people who follow the Vedas, not the ill motivated historians who just comment totally theoretically. The people who know the Vedas are the saints, the sages, the rishis, they have been following since time immemorial and who have given their lives to those teachings and who have realized enlightenment and pure devotion through that. They are the people we understand the Vedas from.
Devotee: But Maharaja, again we have not really met the saints, rishis, and these great scholars. We again come to know about them through history only or through the Vedas.
Radhanath Swami: Which is true that you are going to believe that is the question. It is true of the history of those faithful people living according to high principles with morality dedication and compassion or the history of people who are ill motivated and very, very much have their own agenda and they are not living pure lives at all. That is your choice, whose history do you want? What you want to become like?
Devotee: Maharaja, you told that at the time the indulges, they propagated these views just to negate our own Vedic cultures, but Maharaja at present the historians within the history book, which we are studying at present, that are not actually coming from the Indologist, they are coming from the Indian historians.
Radhanath Swami: No, you are wrong. They are coming from the Indian historians who have been totally brainwashed by the educational systems of the British. They are not coming from the people who go to Ashramas and learn from the people who really deeply understand and believe in the Vedas. This same people will say the Vedas are mythology. There is nothing true about them and they say the same thing about the Muslim faith. They have all their proofs to convert the Muslims to Christianity too. This is all nonsense.
Devotee: Maharaja, we say that the Darwin’s theory that is actually completely nonsense.
Radhanath Swami: If you want to know you follow. If you want to know then you follow Bhagavad-Gita, then you see what it does to your life and you do not have to guess whether these missionary historians are speaking the truth or not, you will know. If you taste sugar and someone tells you that it is sour, you know that it is not and these devotees have tasted what is Bhagavad-Gita. They are getting realizations. They understand to various levels what is truth.
Devotee: Maharaja, then do you think that Bible and Kuran, what is written in that, that is of no value.
Radhanath Swami: It is value. We consider them literatures, which are according to time and circumstance presenting sanätana-dharma, the same truth that is in the Vedas. No person who understands the Vedic knowledge will deny any of these scriptures because they see the same thing as there to a particular proportion according to the time and circumstance. The Vedas are like an encyclopaedia. They include everything. If you are in a Ph.D. course and someone comes with a high school textbook, do you say it is bogus. No, you say it is very good. They may not include everything that is in your book, but you know that the same message is there and it is leading to the same goal.
Devotee: But many thing preached in Indian mythology, they are unbelievable like many things like Hanuman wanted to swallow the whole sun.
Radhanath Swami: Unbelievable to persons who are brainwashed by material energy to think that what they can do is all that anyone can do. Let me ask you this. You have seen little ants on the ground. How much can an ant lift?Ten times greater than they are.
Now what is that? 1 mg? Something like that. May be if you lift 1 mg or may be 1 cg or whatever they call. How much can you lift? You can lift probably 100 pounds. Is there any ant on earth that can lift 100 pounds? No, I am asking you. Now, ants cannot comprehend what you are doing. They do not have the intelligence to comprehend what a human being is. Why because they are ants. They have a brain of an ant. They have a consciousness of an ant. All they can relate to is being an ant. If one ant would tell another ant that I saw, what is your name?
Rajesh.
That I saw someone named Rajesh, he lifted a 100 pound. That ant would say forget mythologies. Because he is taking it in the terms of an ant. So here just a tiny little human being, the ant is thinking that there is no one greater than ants, but the human being is whereof thinking that we are the greatest, we are so good, I cannot swallow the sun so how can anyone swallow the sun, but there are things greater than human being. We are like ants next to such a great souls as Hanuman and with our ant like consciousness, we cannot understand what they are doing, but if you get out of your ant like consciousness, you understand that there is greater beings that you. It is not that just because other humans were just like us cannot do, then nobody can do it. They are more powerful beings than ourselves. Millions of times, trillions of times more powerful. Why is that so hard to believe, because we are like ants. We are so conditioned that we are the only reality.
Devotee: The earth is placed on snake’s hood, Sheshanaga. What is that?
What is it?
It is said that earth is placed on.
It is said what it is.
Earth is placed on snake’s hood, Sheshanaga, which is resting place of Vishnu.
Radhanath Swami: Does not say the earth, say the universe. No where it is said that the earth is on the snake’s hood. No scripture, that is the universe. Now we can see, it says in the scriptures that the earth is floating in the sky, it says that, but with our telescopes can we see what is beyond this universe to see whether it is on the snake’s hood or not? What is so impossible that God who created this whole universe, he cannot create a snake’s hood to rest it on. Is that so difficult to believe? It is if you think that God is just like you. If you think maybe I can lift the 100 pounds, may be that God can lift 120, but no, not more than that. It is not possible. Is that your consciousness? That is not perception of truth. You are infinitesimal. God is infinite. God can do anything. If you could create this earth planet and Mars, Venus, and Saturn, and all the sun and all of these universe and make everything work in so systemically and scientifically in such a perfect order, if you could create that you could not create a snake to hold it? For us, it is absolutely believable. Whatever the scriptures says God has done is totally believable. Just like I will not tell the whole story, but Narada Muni was asked by one very proud brähmana when you saw Narayana, what was he doing? He said Narayana told me to tell you that he was threading an elephant to the eye of a needle and the brähmana said, that is ridiculous, nonsense. How could anyone put an elephant to the eye of a needle? Narada left thinking such kind of brähmanas, what is this world coming to? When he came to little cobbler, Shudra cobbler, when the cobbler said, Oh! You have gone to see Narayana, what was he doing? He said he was putting an elephant to an eye of a needle. That is what Narayana has told me to tell you. He said, oh! How wonderful and Narada Rishi said you believe me? You believe me that he was actually putting an putting an elephant to an eye of a needle? He said of course. You see this banyan tree we are sitting under. See how big it is. Why it is? How it stretches in all directions and you see the thousands and thousands of seeds on this banyan tree within each fruit are tiny little seeds, hundreds of little seeds and the same God, my God, he has put an entire banyan tree in one of these little tiny seeds. Is that true? Did God put the whole banyan tree inside of the seed? Everyone has to say yes. You do that? Can your friends do that? Can your uncle or aunty do that? Can the Prime Minister of India do that? Can a President of the United States do that? Can Michael Jackson do that? Can a World Wrestling Federation Champion do that? So I think no body can, but see that God is doing it. In every seed you see, every tree you see came out of a tiny little seed smaller than your fingertip. If God can make that a banyan tree and a tiny little seed, what is the problem for him to put the elephant to the eye of a needle? If God has created all the planets, all the oceans, and do not say it happened by chance, things that happen by chance are chaotic, not organized.
We have never seen in our history, in our own experience, anything happening by chance, it is systematic and organized. How is it that the seasons come the same time every year since time immemorial? How is that this earth is orbiting the sun and never gets too closer or too far? Are these things happening by chance? Or is there is some organization behind this universal creation? Where there is organization there is brain. Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the century, his conclusion was that mathematically it is impossible that this earth and universe can be doing what is doing without a brain. Mathematically, it is impossible and the brain is what we name by God. If God has such a brain and such a power to create such a thing as this universe, is it a problem, is it unbelievable for him to put it on the hood of a serpent? What do you say? Is it unbelievable? It is perfectly believable because God has revealed. If God creates the universe does not he have the power to reveal to us how he has done it and that is what the scriptures are. So if he explains this way, we accept it. It is not a problem. It is utterly believable. Only very small crippled minds cannot believe such things. Only very ego centric people cannot believe these things because although they see miracles that are far beyond their comprehension in every moment just in this material nature, they still think that if I cannot do it, nobody can do it.
näham prakäsah sarvasya yoga-mäyä-samävrtah
müdho ’yam näbhijänätiloko mäm ajam avyayam
Krishna explains such people in the Gita, those who are fools, who do not want to know, who do not want to see, who do not want to surrender, I cover them by my maya potency and even though they are seeing the miracle of God everywhere around them, they do not believe that there is a God. Even though they are seeing miracles everywhere, they do not believe in miracles. Even though they see acintya shakti, inconceivable potencies taking place in all directions, they cannot believe in anything that they cannot do themselves or that the politicians, or scientist, or weightlifters cannot do, or what cannot be done by the computers or machines, but everything around them is being done beyond the capacity of anyone or anything of this world. Is that true? Is there any difficulty in understanding and accepting that. It is common sense, but the problem is the world has lost common sense. They have uncommon nonsense instead of common sense. That is the root of the problem.
Devotee: If the God is supreme power has created the souls and these things, then why did he commit the sins they are ultimately made for good, doing good things, everywhere there should be some good things, because everything is created by God, but why it is not seen. Everything is expected to be good because everything is created by God.
Radhanath Swami: Now, this world is not expected to be good. This world is expected to be bad. Not that from the state, the government makes so many good things, which they are supposed to, but they also make a prison house for people who have chosen to be bad, to keep them away from the good people, the spiritual world has meant is everything is all good because everyone wants to be good, but for those who do not want to be good there has to be a place to keep them away from the spiritual world and that is this material world. Material world means prison. Do you expect everyone to be good in the prison? No. Similarly, we do not expect everyone to be good in this material prison house. We come to this material world because we want to enjoy to be separate from God and the only way we can enjoy separate from God is we have to accept a position of ignorance and God allows us to do that. Ultimately, we know that ,but He allows us to do that. This is a prison, which is meant to rectify our deviousness, the God comes, Krishna comes through some many avatars through out history and send so many of his divine representatives to teach everyone who wants to reform, come out of the prison, and come to the place that actually is good. In one sense the prison is good because it serves the good purpose, but what the people do in the prison is not good and that is not because God wants it that way. It is because we want it that way. Does the government want people to be criminal? But there has to be a place for them and here we are, but the doors are opened, the key is given to come out. Jesus Christ said be in this world, but not of this world. Within the prisoner there are also guards, there is also the warden, they are not prisoners. They are there to serve the prisoners, to help the prisoners. Right? That is what the saintly people come to do. Krishna is the warden, he comes into the world, but he is not of this world and the great saints and rishis according to their realization, they are beyond this world, but they are here for our sake, to help us to rectify ourselves and to come out.
Devotee: Maharaja, do not you think that it is our ultimate purpose of human existence is to realize that we cannot enjoy material pleasures and to go back to Godhead, then do not you think that if Krishna would have given us the memory of our past lives and how we had bitterly suffered in our past lives, we would have engaged ourselves more and more urgently.
Radhanath Swami: We have already answered that question. There is no need for the technical details. There is no need because most people, they want to forget the technical details so that they could go on with their materialistic lives. They want to forget those things. So Krishna says alright if you want you forget and those who want to remember the principle is enough to have them rectify their condition. They do not have to know the details.
Devotee: But, what will do who do not have the belief, but we have this belief after they get these details.
Radhanath Swami: No, they will not, that is where your are wrong. They will not and we can see that they will not. They do not want to know. They do not want to hear because they are attached and even if you show them they will figure out some philosophy to justify how it is not true or there is nothing I can do about it. So if they do not want to know, Krishna just says alright, if you do not know and if you do want to know, if you actually want to know, there is enough in your own experience to confirm the principle by which he will take to the holy life, to spiritual life, to Krishna consciousness.
Devotee: But Maharaja, as far as I go, as far as my experiences of life are concerned, I think if I would have remembered all that experience of past life, I would have been very urgent in Krishna consciousness.
Radhanath Swami: No, if you remembered all your past experience, you would die immediately. You could not bear it.
But I will die thinking of Krishna.
No, you would die thinking of all your bad experiences, therefore, Krishna is giving you just enough suffering and enough pleasure now and if you are to know he will be enough to convince, but he convinced against his will about the same opinions do your own. If that was true, Krishna would show you everything of the past, but you do not want to know. You do not want to see it all and you could not bear if you did. It is too much. You would try to have suicide if he show all the things you have done all your life, you would be so disgusted with yourself.
But Maharaja, why should I commit suicide?
Why should you? You should not, but you would because you could not bear it all. However, you wound not have to, you would just die of anxiety and guilt, so therefore, you have to know that if you want to know the philosophical principles and what we see in the world around you is enough if you want to know and if you do not want to know it does not matter how much God shows you, you will not change. Therefore, Krishna knows it best. You do not know what is best. If you have a better way of conducting his creation, you should create your own universe. If you cannot create your own universe you should accept that God knows better than you and accept the way he is doing the things, process that he is giving for everyone to come to become perfect.
Devotee: Maharaja, you gave the example of the prison, the prison being the material prison. Maharaja, do no you think that the prisoners, is he really to remember that two days back he has received severe beatings by the prison warden, he will become more determined to get out of the prison rather than he forgets about the beating and then his co-prisoner rather then he forgets about the beating and then his co-prisoner tells him that two days before you had received the beating.
Radhanath Swami: People are getting beatings everyday.
But they have forgotten that they have got the beatings.
They are forgetting the beatings two days ago, they are forgetting the beatings two lives ago, because they do not want to remember. You do not suffer at all in this world, did you suffered? Ever? I am asking you a question. Have you suffered? No. You have never suffered.
Not that I consider itself to be a major suffering.
But you have suffered.
Very minimally.
Very minimally. Then why are you coming to Krishna consciousness and why are you asking all these questions about suffer?
Because Maharaja, I want to experience the sufferings, which I had had.
You will get yours. If you have not got it yet, you will get it in this life and then when you get, let us see whether you surrender to Krishna. You have the opportunity. Even in this earth when you were a child, you touched fire and you have a big scar of burn all over your arm, you know you touched fire. Anyone can tell you, you touched fire. Do you have to know exactly what age you were? Exactly where you were and where you touched the fire? Do you need to know all that? You have enough to know you should not touch fire anymore. Correct? In principle, there is no need for all these detailed knowledge. It is just to check your reasoning. It is just justification to not surrender. To understand the principle and the symptoms of what is before us right now today is enough for a sincere soul. So we should take the medicine. We should understand that we need the medicine and that the world needs the medicine and chant the holy name.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
So I will have just a few minutes of kirtan.
Devotee: Maharaja, we tell that the nature has not given to anybody anything extra. The nature only gives a person only that much that is required, the Maharaja and we also say that Darwin’s theory is completely nonsense, then Maharaja, how do we explain the existence of a vestigial organs in a human being. For example, the pinna of the ear or the appendix. They do not have any function at all and then why are these vestigial organs present in the human body?
Radhanath Swami: You may not understand its function, but everything has a function.
So even these vestigial organs, they also have functions.
What is a vestigial organ? Does everyone have one? I have one here?
Yes.
Then it definitely has function.
Ayurveda says that they have got function. Ayurveda says they have function. He can explain to you later what the Ayurveda says the function is. Everything has a function. You may not understand its function, but you have to understand that sciences in ever increasing, improving pursuit of truth. Is it not? Right now, medical science are they always learning newer things. Is that true? Yes. Is not that what scientific researches for to learn about biological nature and disease in the body? So there may be many, many things in this body that around 100 years ago were said to have no function, but now it is discovered that it does ever function and they may have been able cure diseases by understanding those functions that they were not able to do before because they did not understand the function. So you may say that these particular organs have no function, but in 50 years, 100 years, may be in two years in the laboratories, they may find or discover that it has a very, very vital function that the body could not survive without. It is not happening all the time in medical research, new discovers. Ayurveda already says it has a function and medical science will discover the function in due course time also, but God’s creation of these bodies are very intricate and everything has a function. The person who makes the automobile knows the function of every single part of the engine of the car, or everything, but a mechanic who does not know how and why he did it, he may understand certain functions and not understand others, but the creator knows and basically what medical and scientific research is all about, all sciences, is just to further analyze and understand what the creator has done in this world, but we will never understand in full. Only the creator knows that and in the scriptures the creator himself is revealing and he has revealed to us his holy name from which all knowledge can be understood.
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