The Krsna consciousness movement is gradually spreading all over the world, but it is a little difficult to understand the purport of this movement because it is completely on the spiritual platform. Generally, people do not understand what the spiritual platform is.
Rascals cannot understand the difference between bhakti [devotional service] and karma [material activity]. Bhakti looks like karma, but it’s not karma. In bhakti we also work, but for Krsna’s sake. That is the difference.
People do not know that they are spoiling their life. They are thinking, “I’ve got a very nice apartment, a very nice car, a very nice wife, a very nice income, a very nice social position.” All these material attractions make us forget the purpose of our life—to worship Krsna.
Krsna loved the gopis. The gopis were young girls, and Krsna was a young boy, and He loved them. But here the so-called love between a young boy and girl is lust. Therefore it is condemned. But in the love between Krsna and the gopis there is not a trace of lust.
The impure consciousness of nationalism has kept all the big heads of the world’s nations ever active for an amicable adjustment of everyone’s national interest. They have now made a United Nations Security Council, and are trying in vain to find the right adjustment.
There are many international societies, such as the United Nations. So the idea of an international society is very nice, but we must try to understand what the central idea of an international society should be.
Your home is the spiritual world. But by karma you are put into this material world. Then you must struggle, like a fish out of water. And if the fish is again put into the water, his life is in its natural condition.
The men who are awarding the Nobel Prize are also rascals. It is a society of fools and rascals. Therefore my Guru Maharaja [spiritual master] used to say, “This is a society of the cheaters and the cheated.”
Ladies and gentlemen: Please accept my greetings for the happy new year of 1969. and please accept the blessings of Sri Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for your kindly participating in this happy meeting of Krsna consciousness.
This material nature is constituted in such a way that we have to suffer; it is God’s law. And we are trying to relieve the suffering by patchwork remedies. Everyone is trying to get relief from suffering; that is a fact. The whole struggle for existence is aimed at getting out of suffering.
We should not be anxious to increase our material happiness. Always in civilization those who have no spiritual happiness are hankering after these sense enjoyments. So Prahlad Maharaj says, our duty is to dovetail ourselves in Krishna Consciousness.
Suppose I ask the United Nations to explain the purpose of this cosmic manifestation. I am created a man, another is created an elephant, and another is created an ant. Why? The sun is rising on time, the moon is rising on time, seasons are changing. What is the purpose behind this?
The Vedas describe how great an artist Krsna is. Nobody can be found who is greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead or equal to Him, and although He is the greatest artist, He doesn’t have to do anything personally.
You may enjoy, but by enjoying you forget your real goal in life. Is that intelligent? You have been given the human body to improve your next life. Suppose you become a dog in your next life. Is that success? You must know the science of Krsna consciousness.
God is there. Anyone can go back to Him and live an eternal life full of bliss and knowledge simply by knowing about it. When God Himself comes, all great acaryas, stalwart men, accept Him: “Yes, He is God.” If we simply understand God, we make a solution to all our problems.
If the people of Paris would have installed the Deity of Krsna in these buildings, how nice that would have been! People chanting, dancing, and taking prasadam [food offered to Krsna] every day. Then there would have been no maya.
Eating, sleeping, sex, and defense—these are common to both human beings and animals. The distinction between humans and animals is a man can search after God but an animal cannot. Therefore a man without that urge for searching after God is no better than an animal.
“This material world is worthless”—that is real knowledge. As long as one thinks, “No, it is not always bad; sometimes it is very good”—that is ignorance.
The Supreme Lord rescues His devotee from the ocean of birth and death. A soul suffering in material existence can never save himself from the ocean of repeated birth, old age, disease, and death.
Krsna is explaining Himself. But suppose you say, “How can I believe that Krsna said these words? Somebody may have written them in the name of Krsna.” No. Because the Bhagavad-gita is accepted by saintly persons, we should also accept it.