Chapter Six

Taking to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness

In India all scriptures and great spiritual teachers, including
Śaṅkarācārya, an impersonalist, accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord. In the
beginning of his commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā, Śaṅkarācārya says
that Nārāyaṇa is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested
creation, and in the same commentary he says that the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, is Kṛṣṇa appearing as the son
of Devakī and Vasudeva. Thus in this respect there is little difference of
opinion about Kṛṣṇa. Those who are authorities, be they personalists or
impersonalists, are in agreement that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord.
When Kṛṣṇa was present on this planet, He proved by His activities and
opulence that He is the Supreme Lord. If we are actually anxious to
understand who and what the Supreme Lord is, all of the information is
given in Vedic literatures. If we utilize whatever we have in our possession
to understand God, Kṛṣṇa will prove that He is the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. If we but accept this one fact, then all of our education is
complete. It is fashionable to research to try to find out who is God, but
this is not necessary. God is present, and He Himself says:
mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat
kiñcid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam idaṁ protaṁ
sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva
“O conqueror of wealth (Arjuna), there is no truth superior to Me.
Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.” (Bg. 7.7)
This information is not only given in Bhagavad-gītā but in other
scriptures as well, and it has been accepted from the very beginning by
great ācāryas (teachers) like Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya,
Madhvācārya, Lord Caitanya and many other stalwart authorities. Even at
the present moment those who do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Lord
are accepting the knowledge given by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna. So in this way they
are accepting Kṛṣṇa indirectly. If one accepts Bhagavad-gītā as a great
book of knowledge, he is also accepting Kṛṣṇa. There is no doubt that the
Supreme Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa and that we have our eternal
relationship with Him.
Our eternal relationship with God is sabhājana: God is great, and we
are subordinate. He is the predominator, and we are the predominated.
The duty of the subordinate is to please the predominator. Similarly, if we
want to be happy, we must learn how to make Kṛṣṇa happy. This is the
process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
 But how is it to be understood that the Supreme Lord is satisfied by our
service and labor? It is actually possible to perfect our service or
occupational duty. Everyone has some service to perform according to his
designations. He may be an Indian or American, Hindu, Muslim or
Christian, man, woman, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra or
whatever—in any case he is meant to do some sort of work, and that work
is his occupational duty. Perfection of duty can be tested by seeing whether
the Supreme Lord is satisfied by its execution. The Supreme Lord’s
satisfaction can be tested by the Lord’s representative, the spiritual
master. Therefore it is important to seek out a real representative of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead and work under him. If he is satisfied,
then we should know that the Supreme Lord is also satisfied. That is
explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura:
yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo
yasyāprasādān na gatiḥ kuto ’pi
dhyāyaṁ stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyaṁ
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam **
“By the mercy of the spiritual master one is benedicted by the mercy
of Kṛṣṇa. Without the grace of the spiritual master no one can make any
advancement. Therefore I should always remember the spiritual master.
At least three times a day I should offer my respectful obeisances unto the
lotus feet of my spiritual master.” (Śrī Gurvaṣṭakam, Verse 8)
The spiritual master is the representative of the Supreme Lord. How
does he become the representative? If one says that such and such an
object is a pair of spectacles, and if he teaches his disciple in that way,
there is no mistake as to the identity of the object. The spiritual master is
he who has captured the words of a particular disciplic succession. In the
case given, the key word is “spectacles”—that’s all. The spiritual master
does not have to say anything beyond that. This is the
qualification. Kṛṣṇa says, “I am the Supreme,” and the spiritual master
says, “Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme.” It is not that to be a representative
of Kṛṣṇa or to be a spiritual master one has to have any extraordinary
qualification. He simply has to carry the message from the authority as it
is without any personal interpretation. As soon as there is some personal
interpretation, the message is lost and the instructions become offensive.
A person who interprets the scriptures according to his own whims should
be immediately rejected.
Once Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “You must at least have enough
sense to test to find out who is a spiritual master and who is not.” For
instance, if we want to purchase something, we must at least have some
idea of what that thing is, otherwise we will be cheated. If we want to
purchase a mango from the market, we must at least know what type of
food a mango is and what it looks like. Similarly, we must have some
preliminary knowledge of the qualifications for a bona fide spiritual
master. Bhagavad-gītā itself gives some information about the
succession of spiritual masters. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa says:
imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ
proktavān aham avyayam
vivasvān manave prāha
manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt
[Bg. 4.1]
evaṁ paramparā-prāptam
imaṁ rājarṣayo viduḥ
sa kāleneha mahatā
yogo naṣṭaḥ parantapa
sa evāyaṁ mayā te ’dya
yogaḥ proktaḥ purātanaḥ
bhakto ’si me sakhā ceti
rahasyaṁ hy etad uttamam
“I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god Vivasvān,
and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in
turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku. This supreme science was thus received
through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood
it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and
therefore the science as it is appears to be lost. That very ancient science
of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because
you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore, you can understand
the transcendental mystery of this science.” (Bg. 4.1–3)
That original spiritual disciplic succession was broken, but now we can
receive the same message by studying Bhagavad-gītā. In Bhagavad-
gītā Kṛṣṇa speaks to Arjuna just as in a far distant time He spoke to the
sun-god. If we accept the words of Arjuna and Kṛṣṇa, it may be possible
for us to understand Bhagavad-gītā, but if we want to interpret it in our
own way, the results will be nonsensical. The best way to
understand Bhagavad-gītā is to accept a bona fide spiritual master. This
is not very difficult.
Arjuna says that he accepts all that Kṛṣṇa has said to him
because Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead:
naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā
tvat prasādān mayācyuta
sthito ’smi gata-sandehaḥ
kariṣye vacanaṁ tava
“Arjuna said, My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I
have regained my memory by Your mercy, and now I am fixed without any
doubt, prepared to act according to Your instructions.” (Bg. 18.73)
As Arjuna, we should accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and do as He says:
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi
yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam
“O son of Kuntī, all that you do, all that you eat, all that you offer and give
away, as well as all austerities that you may perform, should be done as an
offering unto Me.” (Bg. 9.27)
By accepting Kṛṣṇa in this spirit, we can attain complete knowledge. If,
however, we do not accept Kṛṣṇa and interpret Bhagavad-gītā in our own
way, then everything will be spoiled.
If we are sincere, we will get a sincere spiritual master by the grace
of Kṛṣṇa. If, however, we want to be cheated, Kṛṣṇa will send us a cheater,
and we will be cheated throughout our lives. That is actually going on. For
those who do not want to understand Kṛṣṇa as He is but want to
understand by dint of their own imperfect vision, Kṛṣṇa, God, remains
unknown.
The whole process is to accept Kṛṣṇa and His instructions and
therefore to render devotional service unto Him. It is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī
who is the very embodiment of perfect devotional service. In the Brahma-
saṁhitā Rādhārāṇī is described as Kṛṣṇa’s expansion of His spiritual
potency. In this way, She is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. The gopīs, who
tend Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, are not ordinary women or girls; they are
expansions of Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency. Rādhārāṇī and the gopīs should
never be accepted as ordinary women; indeed, to understand their
position we need the guidance of a spiritual master. If we living entities
want to actually associate with Rādhārāṇī, that may be possible, although
She is not an ordinary woman. We can become associates of Rādhārāṇī by
qualifying ourselves in advanced devotional service.
In devotional service there is no frustration; even if we perform only a
small amount, it will grow. Devotional service is never lost. As far as
material things are concerned, whatever we gain in the world will be lost
when the body is finished. But since we are eternal spiritual sparks, our
spiritual assets go with us, gradually fructifying. In this way those who
have previously cultivated transcendental consciousness come in contact
with Kṛṣṇa consciousness through this movement. Interest
in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not commonplace. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said
that out of many millions and billions of persons, only one is interested in
achieving perfection. If we can advertise that simply by reading this book
and meditating for fifteen minutes anyone can immediately get power,
become successful in business and pass his examination, many people
would be attracted to the book. people are not attracted
to Kṛṣṇa consciousness because they prefer to be cheated by māyā. They
think that the perfection of life is in eating a great supply of food, or in
sleeping twenty hours, or in having a new mate every night or every day.
People are interested in these things, but not in the perfection of life.
Every intelligent man should at least experiment
with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He should say, “All right. I have been enjoying
this eating and sleeping for so many lives. These things were available for
me to enjoy in my bird and animal bodies. Now in this life let me restrict
the four principles of animalistic life—eating, sleeping, defending and
mating—and let me devote my time to developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In
this way my life will be successful.”
It is not that we have coined this term “Kṛṣṇa
consciousness.” Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the oldest phrase in the history of
the world:
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te
pratijāne priyo ’si me
man-manā bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi yuktvaivam
ātmānaṁ mat-parāyaṇaḥ
“Always think of Me. Become My devotee. Worship Me, and offer your
homage unto Me. The result is that you will come to Me without fail. I
promise you this, because you are My very dear friend. Engage your mind
always in thinking of Me, engage your body in My service; and surrender
unto Me. Completely absorbed in Me, surely will you come to Me.”
(Bg. 18.65, 9.34)
The phrase man-manā bhava mad-bhakto means “just be always
conscious of Me.” This then is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In Bhagavad-
gītā Kṛṣṇa is repeatedly saying that we should worship Him, offer
obeisances unto Him and then come to Him. Bhagavad-gītā clearly
points to the absolute necessity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and Bhagavad-
gītā is accepted as the essence of the Upaniṣads. Even from the historical
point of view, it has no comparison. It has been calculated on the basis of
archeological evidence that Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gītā on the Battlefield
of Kurukṣetra more than five thousand years ago. So
this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, even from the historical point of
view, is five thousand years old. Its philosophy is the oldest in the history
of the world. If we wish to trace it even further back, we find that
Śrī Kṛṣṇa spoke it earlier to the sun-god. Kṛṣṇa is eternal, and
consciousness of Kṛṣṇa is also eternal. In this way Kṛṣṇa consciousness
should be approached. It should not simply be considered a theory.
When Kṛṣṇa consciousness is covered by any other consciousness, we
experience our contaminated conditional life. When the sky is clear, we
can see the sun’s brilliant effulgence, but when it is covered by clouds, we
cannot see it. We may be able to perceive the sunlight, but we cannot see
the sun disc itself. When the sky is clear, it is in its natural condition.
Similarly, our consciousness is eternally Kṛṣṇa consciousness because we
are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa eternally. This is asserted in the Fifteenth
Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā:
mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati
“The living entities in this conditional world are My fragmental parts, and
they are eternal. But due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard
with the six senses, which include the mind.” (Bg. 15.7)
Somehow or other we have come in contact with material nature, and
because of the mind and the six senses, we are struggling hard to exist.
That is Darwin’s theory—the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest.
However, the actual fact is that our constitutional position is not one of
struggle. Struggle is the position of animal life. Human life should be
blissful and should have as its goal spiritual advancement. At one time that
was India’s principle of life, and there was a class of people,
the brāhmaṇas, who engaged themselves exclusively in spiritual culture.
Although brahminical cultural life is enunciated in the scriptures of India,
it is not for Indians alone, but for all human beings. The Vedas were
written for all mankind, but it so happened that when the Vedas were
written, what is now known as the Indian culture was the only one extant.
At that time, the whole planet was called Bhāratavarṣa, after
Emperor Bharata Mahārāja, the son of
Ṛṣabhadeva. Bharata Mahārāja ruled the whole planet, but gradually the
planet was divided up. So the dharma of Vedic culture should not simply
be considered Indian or Hindu in a sectarian sense.
Often the word dharma is translated to mean religion, but to conceive
of dharma as a religion is to misconceive the word. In general usage, the
word religion refers to a particular type of faith. The word dharma does
not. Dharma indicates the natural occupation of the living entity. For
example, wherever there is fire, there is heat and light, so it may be said
that heat and light are the dharma of fire. Fire cannot change
its dharma. In the same way, liquidity is an intrinsic quality of water, and
this quality cannot be changed. If it is, it can no longer be considered
water. The dharma of the individual soul can never be changed, and
that dharma is the occupational duty of rendering service unto the
Supreme Lord. Faiths and religions can be changed. Today I may be
a Hindu, but tomorrow I may become a Christian or Moslem. In this way
faiths can be changed, but dharma is a natural sequence, a natural
occupation or connection.
Kṛṣṇa says that as soon as there is a discrepancy in the discharge of
the dharmas of the living entities, when there is an upsurge of unnatural
activities, He descends. One of the principal purposes of His descent is to
reestablish religious principles. The best system of religion is that which
best trains us to surrender unto the Supreme Lord. This is the basic
principle underlying Bhagavad-gītā. We can select our own religion and
be Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, Christian or whatever, as long as we know
the real purpose of religion. Indeed, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does not
recommend that we give up our present religion, but it does hint at the
purpose of religion. That purpose is love of Godhead, and that religion
which teaches us best how to love the Supreme Lord is the best religion.
In this age especially there is a general decay in the consciousness of
the masses of people. A few people remember that there is a God, but for
the most part people are forgetting Him. Therefore they cannot be happy.
People are thinking that God is dead, or that we have no obligation to God,
or that there is no God. This sort of thinking will never make for
happiness. When civilization is godless or atheistic, as it is today, God or
His representative comes to remind people of their relationship with the
supreme consciousness.
When Sanātana Gosvāmī inquired from Lord Caitanya, “What am I?
Why am I always in a miserable condition? What is the position of all
living entities?” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu immediately answered that the
real identity is that of servant of God. We should not understand the word
“servant” in the sense of materialistic servant. To become a servant of God
is a great position. People are always trying to get some government post
or some position in a reputed business firm because the service rendered
in such positions earns great profits. Although we are very anxious to get
good positions in the government service, we do not stop to think of
getting a position in God’s service. God is the government of all
governments.
 God’s service is dharma. This dharma may be described differently in
different countries according to different cultural and climatic conditions
or situations, but in every religious scripture obedience to God is
instructed. No scripture says that there is no God or that we as living
entities are independent—not the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas or even the
Buddhist literatures. Generally, according to Buddhist philosophy, there
is no individual soul and no supreme soul, but actually since
Lord Buddha is accepted by Vedic literatures as an incarnation of God, by
obeying Lord Buddha one is actually following God. In the Śrīmad-
Bhāgavatam there is a list of incarnations, and Lord Buddha is accepted
as one of them. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was compiled by Vyāsadeva five
thousand years ago, and Lord Buddha appeared about 2,600 years ago,
so Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam actually foretold the event of his incarnation.
Lord Buddha preached that there is no God and no soul, that this body is
a combination of matter, and that when we dissolve this material
combination, sensations of misery and happiness will no longer exist.
Then Śaṅkarācārya appeared to preach that the external feature
of Brahman, the body, is merely an illusion. In all religions, temple
worship and acceptance of authority are present. We may accept Kṛṣṇa, or
Lord Jesus Christ, or Jehovah, or Lord Buddha, or Śaṅkarācārya,
or Guru Nanak, but in any case acceptance of authority is required.
In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the supreme authority.
Sometimes Kṛṣṇa descends personally, and sometimes He descends by
His incarnations. Sometimes He descends as sound vibration, and
sometimes He descends as a devotee. There are many different categories
of avatāras. In this present age Kṛṣṇa has descended in His holy
name, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, H
are Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu also
confirmed that in this age of Kali, Kṛṣṇa has descended in the form of
sound vibration. Sound is one of the forms which the Lord takes.
Therefore it is stated that there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa and His
name.
Today people have forgotten their relationship with God, but this
incarnation of Kṛṣṇa in the form of His holy names, this chanting
of Hare Kṛṣṇa, will deliver all the people of the world from their
forgetfulness. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that if we chant or
associate with the chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, we will reach the
highest perfectional stage of life. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there
are different processes for different ages, but the principle of each process
remains valid in all ages. It is not that the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is
effective in this age and not in Satya-yuga. Nor is it that people were not
chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa in Satya-yuga. In Satya-
yuga meditation was the main process, and great munis meditated for
periods extending upwards of 60,000 years. In this age, however,
perfection by that means of meditation is not possible because we are so
short-lived. Consequently in this age it is especially recommended that we
all sit down together and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is very easy, and everyone
can take part in it. There is no necessity of education, nor are any previous
qualifications required. In this age people are also very slow and
unfortunate, and they are contaminated with bad
association. Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced the chanting
of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare
Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare as a great means of propaganda for
spreading love of God. It is not that it is recommended only for Kali-yuga.
Actually, it is recommended for every age. There have always been many
devotees who have chanted and reached perfection in all ages. That is the
beauty of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. It is not simply for one age,
or for one country, or for one class of people. Hare Kṛṣṇa can be chanted
by any man in any social position, in any country and in any age,
for Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord of all people in all social positions, in all
countries, in all ages.