"Hear from a Real Devotee" Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23 Vrndavana, March 31, 1976 listen Srila A. C.

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Take a test Prabhupada: sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam iti pumsarpita visnau bhaktis cen nava-laksana kriyeta bhagavaty addha tan manye 'dhitam uttamam [SB 7.5.23-24] So the nine different processes of devotional service. So Prahlada Maharaja was asked by his father to say something from whatever he had learned. He considered that what he had learned from his spiritual master was the best of all teaching , whereas what he had learned about diplomacy from his material teachers, Sanda and Amarka, was useless. So the education at the present moment throughout the whole world is Sanda-Amark a education. For a devotee such kind of education has no value. Ahara-nidra-bhay a-maithunam ca. Everyone is being educated how to live comfortably with referenc e to the comforts of the body. This is not education. Real education is to under stand oneself, self-realization, and with that purpose one should make progress in Krsna consciousness, that beginning with sravanam. As we are hearing, without sravana there is no beginning of spiritual education. Satam prasangad mama viry a-samvidah. That sravana, hearing also, should be accepted from devotee, from re al devotee. Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami recommended that a brahmana... He wrote something about Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and there were so many discrepancies. So S varupa Damodara Gosvami was not at all satisfied with such writings. He chastise d the brahmana that "You cannot write." So unless one is self-realized, there is practically no use writing about Krsna. This transcendental writing does not de pend on material education. It depends on the spiritual realization. You'll find , therefore, in the comments of Bhagavatam by different acaryas, even there are some discrepancies, they are accepted as asat-patha. It should remain as it is. So Sanatana Gosvami therefore said, avaisnava-mukhodgirnam putam hari-kathamrtam , sravanam naiva kartavyam: "One who is not Vaisnava, from him one should not he ar hari-kathamrtam." Hari-katha Srimad-Bhagavatam is hari-katha, and it is amrta , nectarine. But if it is recited or explained by some avaisnava, one should not hear. It is forbidden. The example is given, sarpocchistam payo yatha. So profe ssional reciters or one who speaks and writes for living means it is strictly pr ohibited. Na vyakhyam upayunjitah. One should not make Bhagavata recitation as a means of livelihood. That is, the process is not accepted. So sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]. You should hear from Vaisnava, at least one who is trying t o become Vaisnava, not professional man. Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra syat [SB 11.2.42]. So the test of advancement in Krsna consciousness is that one should be detestfu l, lose attachment to the material things. Therefore Prahlada Maharaja did not l ike the material education from Sanda and Amarka. He very plainly said to his fa

ther that "What I have heard from my spiritual master, Narada Muni..." Spiritual master means Narada Muni or his representative. Therefore we should follow the Narada-pancaratra instructions. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam tat-paratvena nirmalam [C c. Madhya 19.170]. According to Narada-pancaratra, one should be free from all d esignation. Just like you boys from America and Europe, you have forgotten your designation. Therefore you are advanced, and people are very much praising that "How these Europeans, Americans have become nice devotee." They do not know that they are no longer Americans or Europeans. They are devotees, Krsna's servant. This is sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. So long we shall think that "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am African," there is no possibility of advan cement in Krsna consciousness. This teaching we have got from the greatest autho rity, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He said that "I am not a brahmana; I am not a ksa triya; I am not a vaisya; I am not a sudra; neither I am a brahmacari or grhasth a, vanaprastha, sannyasa. I am simply servant of the servant of the servant of K rsna [Cc. Madhya 13.80]." Gopi-bhartur pada-kamalayor dasa-dasa-dasanudasah. So the more we advance in the matter of becoming designationless, no designation... Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. So long we have got upadhis, design ations, there are many desires, material desires. But we have to become zero abo ut these material desires. Karma, jnana, yoga, they are all material desires. Bh ukti-mukti-siddhi-kami-sakali 'asanta'. Because they are in the material world. The karmis, they are in the material world. The jnanis, they are simply trying t o get out of the material world, but their attempt will be failure because they do not catch up the real spiritual work. Real spiritual work is Krsna. And yogis , they are after demonstrating magic and get cheap popularity. So they are also in the material world -- karmis, jnanis, and yogis. Only pure devotees, they are in the spiritual world. Sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam [Cc. Madhya 19.170]. That is con firmed by Krsna: mam ca 'vyabhicarini bhakti-yogena yah sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate [Bg. 14.26] So as soon as you engage yourself in pure devotional service without any materia l desire, without any material designation, immediately you are liberated. Svaru pena avasthiti. That is real situation of our constitutional position. So long w e are not engaged in Krsna's service, that is our opposite number of life, not r eal life. Real life is when you are fully engaged in Krsna consciousness, always engaged. That is life. Sravanam kirtanam. So to be fixed up in that spiritual l ife we should always engage ourself, sravanam kirtanam. Sravanam kirtanam of who m? Visnu. Of Krsna or Visnu. Even not of any other demigods, what to speak of or dinary beings. We are engaged in sravanam kirtana from the morning. We newspaper and we read what the politician says, what so many nonsense things. We waste ou r time. Srama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8]. We should increase our taste for hearin g and chanting about Visnu, Krsna. That engagement you have fully in the SrimadBhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita. So stick to these two books or Caitanya-caritamrta . Caitanya-caritamrta is still far advanced. So anyway, we should always engage ourself twenty-four hours. Kirtaniyah sada ha rih [Cc. Adi 17.31]. Here it said, sravanam kirtanam, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu sa ys, kirtaniyah sada harih. Sada means twenty-four hours. We shall mold our life in such a way that... If somebody says, "How it is possible? We have got other b usiness. How it is possible to simply engage in sravanam kir...?" Therefore smar anam. Whatever you are hearing, you should remember it. That is very easy. Srava nam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam [SB 7.5.23]. And always engage in serv ing. Just like sri-vigraharadhana-nitya-nana-srngara-tan-mandira-mar janadau **. If you have no engagement, simply cleanse this temple. Tan-mandira-marjana. Tha t is also service. That is also service. Pada-sevanam. Arcanam vandanam. Then ac tually worshiping, decorating, vandanam, offering prayer, dasyam, sakhyam. In th

is way remain always engaged in Krsna's service. Then you are to be considered t he most learned. That is the recommendation of Prahlada Maharaja. Tan manye adhitam uttamam. "In my mind, in my decision, persons who are engaged in Krsna consciousness fully, t hey are to be understood as the first-class advanced in education." And this mat erial education... Of course, we are going to open the gurukula. Our aim is not how to make the students a big grammarian. No. That is not our purpose. How to m ake him fully Krsna conscious. That is the aim of this gurukula. In the gurukula description there is nothing, such thing as how to make the student a big gramm arian or... Generally they take Sanskrit education, first grammar, and it is rec ommended that one should read at least for twelve years grammar. Actually this i s the fact. Sanskrit grammar is very difficult, and unless one reads regularly f or twelve years... But that is another thing. If one is well versed in grammar h e can read all the Sanskrit literatures. That is another thing. But our aim is n ot that, to read Sanskrit literature. No. Our aim is how to mold the life to bec ome fully Krsna conscious. Those who are contemplating to organize our, this gur ukula, they should stress on this point as Prahlada Maharaja says, tan manye adh itam uttamam: "He is first-class educated." Who? Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaran am pada-sevanam, arcanam vandanam dasyam [SB 7.5.23]. We want to teach that. The re is no question of economic problem, that one has to become learned to get som e service in some big school or college and get some big salary. This is not our aim. Our only aim is how to mold the life of the children to become Krsna consc ious. So this is the summary given by Caitanya..., Prahlada Maharaja. We should follow this instruction. Thank you very much. (end) >>> Ref. VedaBase => Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23-24 -- Vrndavana, March 31, 1976