PRABHUPĀDA:
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati tad
ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi
prayatātmanaḥ
Now, the Lord Kṛṣṇa says that
“Anyone who offers Me in
devotion these four things,”
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam,
“a bit of leaf and a bit of flower, a
little fruit and little water…” So He
is pleased to take, accept. Why?
Because we are offering Him with
devotion and love. That is the
only way. Just like if you offer me
varieties of foodstuff and very
palatable dishes, but if I am not
hungry, then all these palatable
dishes and varieties of foodstuff
is useless. I cannot accept
anything. Similarly, if you offer
anything to the Supreme Lord,
He is full. He does not require
your offering. He is always being
served by hundreds and
thousands of goddess of fortune.
Lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambhrama-
sevyamānam [Bs. 5.29]. We are, in
the material world, we are
seeking the favor of goddess of
fortune, but in the spiritual world,
hundreds and thousands of the
goddess of fortunes, they are
eagerly trying to serve the
Supreme Lord. So He is full. He
has nothing to accept from you.
But He likes that you should offer
Him something.
Just like a rich father. He does not
like any help from the son, but if
the son, after he is grown up, he
is earning, and if he offers
something to the father, oh, he
becomes very happy. This is
natural. So our connection with
the supreme father is like that. He
is not in want. He does not
require anything from me. But it
is for my interest. If I offer
something, then I become a very
pet son of my father. This is
called bhakti. This is devotional
service or Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
And why should we not offer?
Then we are ingratitude. Suppose
the father is supplying
everything, and if I do not offer
anything to my father is it very
good business? No. So here the
ultimate, even the poorest of the
poorest, he can offer these four
things.
Otherwise if you have got means,
oh, you should prepare very nice
foodstuff for the Lord. At
Vṛndāvana in India there are
temples still. They are spending
thousands and thousands of
rupees for palatable foodstuff,
offering to the Deity. And those
foodstuff are distributed to the, I
mean to say, devotees. Not only
devotees, even nondevotees
come and take because by
eating, one shall be devotee.
Nobody shall eat… If I ask
somebody, “Please come and
hear Bhagavad-gītā,” oh, he may
not agree. But if I offer some
palatable dishes, foodstuff, kṛṣṇa-
prasāda, oh, everyone will accept.
Everyone will accept. So that is
one of the process of devotional
service, that we should offer very
sumptuously to the Lord, and the
prasāda should be distributed.
The Lord is not taking away to
His abode, to His kingdom. It is
for you. But if you eat and if you
distribute that sort of prasāda to
the public, you are doing great
service and the public is getting
spiritual consciousness, God
consciousness. Just establish, just
propagate this everywhere. In the
hospital, in the charitable
societies, in industrial places,
everywhere distribute this
prasāda and chant this Hare
Kṛṣṇa. Just see what is the result.
You want peace? These are the
process of peace. But we do not
take care of this, what is peace.
Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-
loka-maheśvaram [Bg. 5.29]. Just
we have discussed previously. We
should simply acknowledge.
There is a process of worship of
the Ganges. You have perhaps
heard the name of the Ganges
river. The Ganges river is the
sacred river, Ganges and the
Yamunā. The most two sacred
rivers in India. Millions of people
take bath early in the morning in
the two rivers, all parts of the
country. It is very wide and very
long river, from Himalaya to the
Bay of Bengal. So it is very long
river, and all the tracts of land,
they are considered to be sacred
place, and in each and every part,
thousands and thousands of
people, they are taking their bath
early in the morning. Either in the
winter season or in the summer
season, it doesn’t matter. So
there is a process of worshiping
the river Ganges. And what is
that? After you take your bath,
you stand up to your waist filled
up with water and take little
water from the Ganges water,
and you offer. “Mother Ganges, I
am offering this respect.” This is
the process. Now, suppose you
take a handful of water from the
Ganges. What is the loss of
Ganges water? And if you offer
some handful of water in the
Ganges, where is the gain? So
this patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ
toyam, a bit of flower, a bit of
fruit and a bit of leaf, if you offer
to the Supreme, do you mean to
say He gains something? Or if
you take it out of nature’s—you
are taking so many things—is He
in loss? So He has no gain or loss.
It is for your interest. When God
accepts, He says, “Yes, I…”
Aśnāmi: “I eat.”
One Arya-samajist… You see, in
the Hindu society since a very
long time, especially since the
days of India’s destruction of the
original culture, so many
offshoots they have come out
under the name of so many isms.
So there is one section who are
called Arya-samajists. Their
business is only to criticize all the
scriptures. That is their business.
So one of the member of the
Arya-samajis, he… They do not
favor the temple worship. So he
asked me, “Swamiji, do you think
God eats?” I said, “Yes.” “Then
how do you think?” “Because God
says, ‘I eat.’ ” Here is, Kṛṣṇa says,
aśnāmi. So God says, “I eat.” Who
are you that He does not eat? I
replied him like that. Who are
you? You say that God does not
eat, but here God says, “I eat.” So
whom shall I believe, a loafer like
you, or Kṛṣṇa? (laughter) I am a
third person, and you are also a
third person, and Kṛṣṇa is
recognized the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. Whom
shall I believe? I accept that I am
the fool number one, but whom
shall I accept, you or Kṛṣṇa? You
said that… What you are? What is
your position? You are an
ordinary man. So you say that
God does not eat, but God says,
“I eat.” Why shall I not believe?
So this is the question of faith.
This is the question of faith. And
without faith, you cannot reach
the kingdom of God. Your
experimental knowledge, your
so-called defective reasons and
arguments and philosophy, that
will not be applicable in the
transcendental field. You have to
believe. You are believing in
every sphere of your life. When
you purchase a ticket for
transferring yourself in the
aeroplane, if you go on arguing,
“Sir, I am purchasing ticket.
Whether this aeroplane will
reach? Whether it will not, I mean
to say, crash on the way?” if you
go on arguing, there is no
question of, I mean to say,
getting on the aeroplane. You
have to believe that “Aeroplane
will take me to the other side.”
You are doing that. There is no
argument.
So similarly, you have to believe.
We must have faith. And we see
that many faithful, great ācāryas
and devotees of the Lord, they
achieved success by this faith.
Why shall I not follow them?
Therefore the Vedic literature
says that you have to follow the
footprints of great ācāryas.
Ācārya means great devotees
who come to teach the people in
general about God consciousness
or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He is
called ācārya. He behaves in his
life how? To think of Kṛṣṇa and
he teaches his students about
that. He is called ācārya. Acinoti
śāstrāṇi.(?) He knows the purport
of the scriptures, and he behaves
in his life and he teaches his
student in that way. He is called
ācārya.
So we have to… In the Bhagavad-
gītā in the Thirteenth Chapter
you have read it that
ācāryopāsanam. Ācāryopāsanam.
You have to approach an ācārya.
That is the way of learning
transcendental knowledge in all
Vedic scriptures. Tad-
vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum
evābhigacchet: [MU 1.2.12] “If
you want to learn that
transcendental science, then you
have to approach the bona fide
spiritual master.” Tad-
vijñānārtham. Tat means
transcendental; vijñāna means
science. If you want to learn. So
the Vedic literature teaches us to
accept the authorized bona fide
spiritual master ācārya. Kṛṣṇa is
the head of all ācāryas. He is the
principal ācārya. From Kṛṣṇa,
Brahmā learned this Vedic
literature. From Brahmā, Nārada
learned this Vedic literature.
From Nārada, Vyāsadeva; from
Vyāsadeva, Madhvācārya. From
Madhvācārya, so many. In this
way the paramparā system, the
ācārya system, is coming down.
So we have to believe that.
Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ.
You have to follow the footprints
of ācārya. Not only in the…
Everywhere, the footprints of
ācāryas are followed. Just like in
your country you are following
the footprints of Lord Jesus
Christ. Yes, that is the way. Or any
ācārya. Because the ācārya, they
come here to teach us about
Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God
consciousness. That is their
business. They have no other
business. That is bona fide ācārya.
If somebody claims that “I am
God,” then he is fool number
one. At once reject him. One who
teaches about the message of
God, he is ācārya.
So the Vedic literature teaches us
that tarko ’pratiṣṭhaḥ: “In the
spiritual matter, you cannot
argue.” Your argument will be
failure because you may be very
good arguer, but I may come. I
can cut all your arguments. And
somebody else comes—he cuts
all my arguments. It is a question
of logic. So there are many
logical experts. So by arguments
we cannot reach the Supreme
Truth. Tarko ’pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo
vibhinnāḥ. Not by purchasing
books from the market and
reading it. No. That also will not
help you. Tarko ’pratiṣṭhaḥ
śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. If you
purchase Bhagavad-gītā, you
purchase Bible, you purchase
Koran, or… So many, there are,
literatures. They are also
authorized. That’s all right. But
you cannot learn them by your
own study. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa
gurum evābhigacchet [MU
1.2.12]. One must go and learn it
from the spiritual master, exactly
you purchase some scientific
book, medical science, or
engineering and study at home.
Oh, you will never be
acknowledged as a medical
practitioner. You have to admit
yourself into the, that disciplic
succession, medical college. You
have to attend lectures. Then,
when you pass degree, then you
will be admitted.
So śrutayo vibhinnāḥ, and nāsāv
ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam.
And if you consult different kinds
of philosophers, you will be
bewildered. Because one
philosopher is giving one
opinion, another philosopher is…
Because nāsāv ṛṣir yasya…: “A
philosopher is not philosopher if
he does not cut another
philosopher.” That is going on.
Nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na
bhinnam, dharmasya tattvaṁ
nihitaṁ guhāyām: “Therefore the
purport of spiritual life is very
confidential.” How I can learn?
Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ:
“Therefore we will accept the
footprint of those recognized
ācāryas.” Ācāryopāsanam.
So Kṛṣṇa is the best and foremost
ācārya, and He is accepted as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In India all schools of, I mean to
say, transcendentalists, the
impersonalists and the
personalists, all of them, they
have accepted Kṛṣṇa as the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There is no doubt about it. So
here the Lord says Himself that “I
eat.” So we cannot say that He
does not eat. “He does not eat”—
in favor of my conclusion, there is
no evidence. But here is the
evidence, accepted evidence, that
God eats. If God eats, then why
don’t you offer Him to eat?
Where is the harm? What is the
harm? If your little fruits and
flowers offered to God, He
accepts it, why don’t you offer it?
You want to please so many. You
flatter so many bosses by
supplying good dishes and so
many things, and why don’t you
try to please God? What is the
harm? Is there any loss? You are
eating every day, and before
eating, if you offer to God, what
is the harm there? Why people
do not take this formula and see
the result? If actually God eats
from your hand, oh, how much
advanced you become in spiritual
life you do not know. He accepts
your things from your hand. How
much fortunate you are.
So here is the… It is clearly said,
tad aham aśnāmi. Aśnāmi, the
Sanskrit word, means “I eat. I
eat.” Why? Bhakty-upahṛtam: “He
has brought with devotional
love.” So you try to love God. You
become a lover of God and offer
Him whatever you eat, whatever
you do. Then see the result, how
peaceful you become and how
the world becomes peaceful.
Simply by theoretical resolution
you can make peace in the
world? Now resolve, “We shall
not fight.” Oh, next moment you
are fighting. Unesco resolution is
going on for the last twenty
years, and where is the peace?
That is not the way of peace.
Here is the peace. Try to establish
your lost relationship with Kṛṣṇa,
or God. Then there will be peace.
Now, Kṛṣṇa says in the next verse,
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi
dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya
tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam
Now, every human being, he has
got a philanthropic view. Now,
the other day I met one
gentleman. So I did not know
that he is not a family man
because in India we are supposed
to accept anyone, any gentleman,
as family man. So he said, “Yes, I
am not family man.” Then what
he is doing? He is earning nicely,
but he is helping one orphanage.
That’s nice. He said that “I have
got many sons in this
orphanage.” That is very good.
So this natural inclination for
loving an orphanage is there, is
there. So this give and take, this
inclination, is there in the human
being.
So the Lord says that yat karoṣi…
And we have to work. It is not
that without working, we can
have our body and soul
maintained. This is not possible.
This material world, we have to
work. Everyone is working. Yat
karoṣi yad aśnāsi. And we have to
eat also. That is a fact. And yaj
juhoṣi. And for our salvation or
advancement we do something,
religious rituals or attending
church and temple or mosque.
Something there is in human
society. And dadāsi yat, and
charity. Everyone is more or less
charitably disposed, and he
makes some charities according
to his capacity. Dadāsi yat yat
tapasyasi. And everyone accepts
some penance, voluntary
penance in his life. Yat tapasyasi
kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-
arpaṇam. Now, Lord Kṛṣṇa says,
“All these activities—your work,
your charity, your eating, your
penance, and your rituals—
everything should be done for
me.” That’s all. That is Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. Everything should
be done for…
If you want to work, well, work
day and night, but you work for
Kṛṣṇa. That is Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. If you don’t work,
if you are simply eating, if your
father has got money and you
are eating, oh, eat for Kṛṣṇa.
What is that? You offer the same
to Kṛṣṇa and eat palatable dishes.
Kṛṣṇa will not take away your
dishes. Simply offer it. Yad aśnāsi.
Yaj juhoṣi. Oh, you are trying to
elevate yourself to higher
standard of life? Just try to go
back to Kṛṣṇa, God, Godhead,
and try for that. Accept all kinds
of austerities and penances. Yaj
juhoṣi dadāsi yat. You are making
some charity? All right. Make
charity for Kṛṣṇa. “Well, Kṛṣṇa is
God, and He is very rich. Why
shall I make charity to Kṛṣṇa?”
No. Kṛṣṇa says, dadāsi: “Give Me
that charity. Give Me that
charity.” Kṛṣṇa is not poor, but
you are very proud that you try
to make charity with Kṛṣṇa’s
property.
I am thinking… I come here for a
short duration of life. Say, I am
born a hundred years before or
fifty years before, and I live here
for fifty years and then go away,
but I claim, “This is my property.”
Wherefrom your property
comes? Before your birth the
property was there, and after
your death the property will
remain there for thousand and
millions of years. Wherefrom you
claim your property? You have no
property. You are simply an
outcomer, a guest. So you should
accept that this is Kṛṣṇa’s
property; this is God’s property.
You are falsely claiming that it is
your property. It is not your
property. So when Kṛṣṇa asks you
that “Give Me in charity,” so
that—you are foolishly thinking
that it is your money—Kṛṣṇa is
just trying to take your money so
that your false consciousness
may be dispelled. Therefore He
is.
Just like there is a nice story, Bali
Mahārāja. Bali Mahārāja, he
became a very strong king, and
he… Nowadays, as in the modern
age, we find a strong
government or a strong king, he
simply tries to conquer other
countries. Formerly they were
able to conquer other planets
also. They were so powerful. So
this Bali Mahārāja became so
powerful that he conquered
many of the higher planets of the
demigods, so he became a
disturbing element. So God, as
incarnation of Vāmanadeva, He…
Bali Mahārāja was also a
grandson of a great devotee,
Prahlāda Mahārāja. He had that
blood of devotional blood. He
had some devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa
also. But at the same time he was
king. He was conquering life. He
was making disturbance like that.
So all the demigods prayed to
Kṛṣṇa to settle up this thing. So
Kṛṣṇa as Vāmanāvatāra,
incarnation of Vāmana… Dwarf.
Vāmana means dwarf. He went to
Bali Mahārāja, and He was
brāhmaṇa. So as a brāhmaṇa
boy, so He asked some charity
because the kṣatriyas, the kings,
are meant for give in charity. So
he was very much pleased to see
that beautiful dwarf boy: “Yes,
what do You want? I will give You
charity.” But his spiritual master,
so-called spiritual master, he
could understand that “This boy
is Viṣṇu, God Himself. He has
come to cheat this Bali.” So he
asked his disciple, “Don’t promise
any charity to Him. Because He is
God, He will take your everything.
Once you agree to offer
something, then He will take
yourself also.” God is very
intelligent. Once you engage
yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness,
there is no way out. You cannot
go out. You cannot go out. He is
so kind. As once you become
sincerely a surrendered soul to
Kṛṣṇa, then there is no way out.
You have to be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
You have to continue to be Kṛṣṇa
conscious. You cannot do
otherwise. So this guru, the so-
called guru, he thought, “Oh, if
Kṛṣṇa, the vāmana God, if He
takes away everything from my
disciple, then how I shall live? I
am living at his cost, and if he
becomes a beggar, then I also
become beggar.” So he was very
cautious. He said, “Don’t promise.
Don’t promise.” “Why? He is a
little boy. Let me give Him
something.” “No, no, He is not
little boy. He is God.” “Oh! He is
God! Oh, then you ask me not to
give Him? And you formerly
taught me that everything should
be given to God. Now God is at
my door, and you ask me not to
give? Oh, I reject you. I don’t
want you, a spiritual master like
you.” So any so-called spiritual
master who is against God, he
should be at once rejected just
like Bali Mahārāja.
So Bali Mahārāja is one of the
mahājanas whose footprints we
have to follow. He has given tacit
example. Anyone who is against
God, he should be at once
rejected. Never mind what he is.
Yes. Never mind what he is. He
should at once be rejected. This is
the example of Bali Mahārāja. So
Kṛṣṇa also approached him as a
beggar. So here is also… He is…
“All right. You are very powerful
king. You have got much wealth.
You think that yourself, that you
are very much charitably
disposed. All right, give Me
something.” So Kṛṣṇa is so kind.
Dadāsi yat. If you are in cha…,
give for…, charity, charity for
Kṛṣṇa. Eating for Kṛṣṇa. Working
for Kṛṣṇa. Sacrificing for Kṛṣṇa.
Everything for Kṛṣṇa. Then you
become perfect. Yat karoṣi yad
aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat, yat
tapasyasi kaunteya.
Tapasya. Tapasya means
penance. Now people are… There
are great scientists, great
philosophers, great thinkers. They
are engaged in great penances.
They are taking very severe type
of pains for discovering
something. We have got that
tendency. Just like we have
discovered this atomic bomb.
That required some penance or
austerity. But Kṛṣṇa says that
“Don’t discover atom bomb, but
discover Me. If you are so
painstaking, if you are so great
scientist, discover Me.” “Oh, that
is not possible. We can kill. That
is possible.” So this is going on.
That tapasyasi, kuruṣva mad-
arpaṇam. Everything should be
done for Kṛṣṇa. That is the
greatest civilization. That is the
perfection of civilization. That is
peaceful civilization, everything
for God. Thank you very much.