NITĀI: “The demoniac person
thinks: ‘So much wealth do I have
today, and I will gain more
according to my schemes. So
much is mine now, and it will
increase in the future more and
more. He is my enemy and I have
killed him and my other enemy
will also be killed. I am the lord of
everything, I am the enjoyer. I am
perfect, powerful and happy. I
am the richest man, surrounded
by aristocratic relatives. There is
none so powerful and happy as I
am. I shall perform sacrifices, I
shall give charity and thus I shall I
rejoice.’ In this way such persons
are deluded by ignorance.”
PRABHUPĀDA:
idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ
prāpsye manoratham idam
astīdam api me bhaviṣyati punar
dhanam
asau mayā hataḥ śatrur haniṣye
cāparān api īśvaro ’ham ahaṁ
bhogī siddho ’haṁ balavān sukhī
āḍhyo ’bhijanavān asmi ko ’nyo
’sti sadṛśo mayā yakṣye dāsyāmi
modiṣya ity ajñāna-vimohitāḥ
So last night we discussed about
the demons’ thinking. Āśā-pāśa-
śatair baddhāḥ. He does not
know “So long I shall be aspiring
more and more, I am getting
entangled more and more within
this material world. Because
Kṛṣṇa is so kind, he has given me
freedom to enjoy this material
world, but according to my work,
I am becoming implicated. So
long I’ll have a pinch of desire for
enjoying this material world, I’ll
have to accept a typical body.”
This is the law of nature. When
you’ll actually be free from all
material desires, then it is called
mukti, mukti, liberation. That is
liberation. So that standard of
mukti, mukti standard or mukti
platform, is bhakti-yoga.
“No desire” does not mean no
desire for serving Kṛṣṇa. That is
real desire. Other desires are
artificial. That is material. But the
desire to… That is called Kṛṣṇa
consciousness. When all our
desires are for serving Kṛṣṇa…
Desires you cannot give up. That
is not possible. Desires will
remain there, but at the present
moment, in the conditional stage,
the desires are being misused.
That is the defect. Therefore the
definition of bhakti means
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam [BRS
1.1.11]. Śūnya means zero. That is
called nirvāṇa. The Buddha
philosophy advocates nirvāṇa, no
more desire. That is their
philosophy. “By desire, you are
becoming implicated, so make all
your desires extinct. Then there
will be no more feelings of pains
and pleasure. Desirelessness.”
But that is not possible. Desire
must be there. Because I am
living there, living being, I must
have desires. That is the
symptom. A stone has no desire,
but a living being, however small,
insignificant ant, it has got desire.
The insignificant ant gets
information that in the other
corner of the room, which is one
hundred miles for the ant…
Because the world is relative,
relative world, so this length of
the room, from this corner to the
other corner, for an ant it is
hundred miles, yes, because the
world is relative according to the
size, atomic size, the distance.
Now we have got speedy
aeroplane. The distance has
reduced. Distance from Honolulu
to India, if you go by land it will
be ten thousand miles, but… It is
ten thousand miles, but the
speedy aeroplane has reduced.
So relatively… Everything is
relative. This is called relative
world. Dar… What is…? Professor
Einstein, he has proved the law of
relativity. So the ant, he has to
go, to pick up one grain of sugar,
by going hundred miles in his
capacity, but it will go. That is
desire. You have got experience.
You put little sugar here. You
don’t invite ants, but they’ll
come. They’ll come. They’ll get
immediately information. Just like
from Europe many people came
in America—gold rush desire. So
desire must be there. The ant has
desire; Lord Brahmā has desire; I
have got desire; you have got
desire. This is artificial, to make
desireless. That is not possible.
Therefore bhakti means to purify
the desire. That is bhakti.
Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam.
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-
karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena
kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
[BRS 1.1.11]
Tat-paratvena nirmalam.
Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam [Cc.
Madhya 19.170] I am desiring
now with upādhi, designation. I
am Indian; I am desiring in a way.
You are American; you are
desiring in another way. Similarly,
cat is desiring another way. The
dog is desiring another way.
Everyone has got desires,
different types of desire. Child is
desiring some way or other. The
boy is desiring another way. So
the desire is on account of this
body, different desire. So when
we become transcendental to the
bodily concept of life, then we
come to the spiritual platform. In
that platform the only one desire
is how to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is
required, not to become
desireless but to purify the
desire. That is bhakti.
Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-
paratvena nirmalam [Cc. Madhya
19.170]. Nirmala means without
any dirt, cleansed completely,
crystal clear. That is required. The
senses will be there, the mind will
be there, the intelligence will be
there, I’ll be there—everything
will be there, but we have to
cleanse the desire, purify the
desires. Āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ.
Here, the demons, they’re also
desiring, but baddhāḥ: they are
becoming conditioned. But a
devotee, he’s also desiring, but
he’s mukta, means liberated.
Therefore in the Bhagavad-gītā it
is said, yajñārthe karmaṇo
’nyatra, karma-bandhanaḥ: “You
work for performing sacrifice,
performing sacrifice.” Sacrifice,
yajña… Yajña means to satisfy the
Supreme. That is sacrifice. I
sacrifice my own convenience. I
take all kinds of troubles… There
is no trouble. It is pleasure, just
like the mother takes all kinds of
trouble for the little child, but she
does not think that is trouble.
That is pleasure. When you do
something out of love, that is
pleasure. That is not trouble. So
in the transcendental platform,
devotional service, anything you
do, that is pleasure. That is not
trouble. Just like you are dancing
here. Actually, bodily, there is
some trouble because you are
perspiring, but you are not
feeling the trouble; you are
feeling pleasure. Otherwise how
you can dance? This is the
transcendental platform. So the
demons are bound up by
material desires, and the
devotees—apparently there is
desire, but there is no bondage.
This is the difference. There is no
bondage. Sarvopādhi-
vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena
nirmalam [Cc. Madhya 19.170].
So the Māyāvādī philosophers,
they cannot understand. They are
thinking that “Why these people
are taking so much trouble,
dancing jumping?” They cannot
under… Therefore they feel
displeasure. They feel
disturbance because they are not
purified. So āśā-pāśa-śatair
baddhāḥ. The demonic principle
is to become bound up by their
desires, but if you are on the
spiritual platform, then all your
desires means loving service to
the Lord. That is wanted. So the
demons’ desires is described
here. There is nothing to be
explained. We have got practical
experience in the material world.
They are always thinking, idam
adya mayā labdham: “Now, today
I have earned five hundred
dollars” or something more or
less. Mayā labdham means “I
have got it.” Imaṁ prāpsye
manoratham: “Again I shall get
tomorrow so much money, and
my bank balance will increase to
such and such strength.” Idam
asti: “I got so much, and so much
will be added, and the balance
will increase.” Idaṁ me bhaviṣyati
punar dhanam: “In this way I will
increase the amount of my
wealth more and more.”
There is no question of “how
much love I have increased for
Kṛṣṇa.” That is bhakta, bhakti. But
where there is no bhakti, they are
thinking of this material increase.
Asau mayā hataḥ, thinking others
are enemy… Actually, in the
higher status of life, a devotee
does not think anyone as enemy.
Samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-
bhaktiṁ labhate parām [Bg.
18.54]. Samaḥ. He knows that
“Nobody can become my enemy
unless Kṛṣṇa desires. So why shall
I think of him as my enemy?
Kṛṣṇa has desired him to act as
my enemy just to correct me, just
to make me more advanced in
spiritual life. So why shall I take
any action upon him as enemy?”
Of course, this stage is meant for
very highly elevated devotee.
That is not meant for ordinary
devotee. But the fact is this: “How
one can become my enemy? If I
am Kṛṣṇa’s servant, how one can
become my enemy? If one is
acting as my enemy, it is Kṛṣṇa’s
desire. I have got some defect,
and he is correcting me.”
Therefore it is called samaḥ
sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ
labhate parām [Bg. 18.54]. That is
the topmost devotee’s
conception.
But when we are preaching, we
have to come to the second
stage. There are three stages of
devotional life. The first stage, or
the lower stage, the middle
stage, and the top stage. So this
kind of conception, that “Nobody
is my enemy,” that is on the
topmost stage. That is not to be
imitated. When you are
preaching, you have to come to
the middle stage. Even if you are
on the top stage, you have to
come on the middle stage
because you have to
discriminate: “Here is a devotee;
here is a demon.” On the top
stage there is no such thing as
demon and devotee. The top
stage, the devotee sees:
“Everyone is engaged in Kṛṣṇa’s
service. Simply I am not
engaged.” This is topmost
devotee’s vision, that “I am
lacking Kṛṣṇa’s devotion.”
Just like Rādhārāṇī thinks that
“All others, they are engaged in
Kṛṣṇa’s devotion, but I could
not.” Caitanya Mahāprabhu said.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that “I
have not a pinch of devotion to
Kṛṣṇa. Then if you say, ‘Why you
are crying?’ that is to make a
show.” Caitanya Mahāprabhu
said that “I am crying for Kṛṣṇa
just to advertise Myself that I
have become a big… But actually
I have not a pinch of devotion to
Kṛṣṇa.” “No you are so great
devotee. Everyone says.” “No.
Everyone may say, but I am not.”
“Why you are not?” “Now,
because without Kṛṣṇa, still I am
living. That is the proof that I
have no love for Kṛṣṇa.” This is
Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s
statement. “If I had any drop of
love for Kṛṣṇa, how I could live so
long without Kṛṣṇa?” Śūnyāyitaṁ
jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa
me. So this is love of Kṛṣṇa, that
“How can I live?”—separation
from Kṛṣṇa. This is Caitanya
Mahāprabhu’s philosophy. And
the Gosvāmīs followed them.
They never said that “Now I have
seen Kṛṣṇa.” Never said. The
Gosvāmīs… Caitanya
Mahāprabhu also said that “I was
dreaming Kṛṣṇa. Why you got Me
awakened? I lost the chance.” But
the Gosvāmīs, they said that
he rādhe vraja-devīke ca lalite he
nanda-sūno kutaḥ śrī-
govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale
kālindī-vane kutaḥ ghoṣantāv iti
sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-
vihvalau vande rūpa-sanātanau
raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau
They were simply feeling
separation. In Vṛndāvana they
lived, but they never said, “Last
night I saw Kṛṣṇa was dancing.”
Never said. They said that “Kṛṣṇa
and gopīs, Rādhārāṇī, where you
are all?” He rādhe vraja-devīke ca
lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ:
“Where you are?” Kālindī-vane
kutaḥ govardhana-kalpa-
pādapa-tale: “Either on the…,
near the Govardhana Hill or on
the bank of the river Yamunā,
where you are?” This is called
bhajana, devotion in separation,
feeling separation. So in this way
we shall increase our aspiration
more and more. That is required.
That āśā, that hope, that
expectation, will lead us to the
topmost platform of devotion.
So instead of thinking always like
this demon that “I have got so
much money. Now I shall get
further amount of money and it
will be like so much money. He is
my enemy. I have killed one of
them. The other enemy…” This is
going on actually, in the material
field. So we have to rectify. We
have to rectify. Āḍhyo
’bhijanavān asmi: “I am the
richest man. I have got so many
friends, all aristocratic.”
Abhijanavān. Janavān, dhanavān.
Dhanavān means possessing
wealth, and janavān means
possessing men, strength,
popular strength, and strength of
money.
So Caitanya Mahāprabhu said
that na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na
kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye.
These are the bhakti path. The
demon is thinking, “I have got so
much money. I have got so many
friends, and so many relatives, so
many family members.” Caitanya
Mahāprabhu is denying that na
dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmaye, just
the opposite: “I don’t want any
material friends or followers,
neither I want money. Simply I
want to serve You. Simply I want
to serve You.” So in these three
verses everything is… Word
meanings are there. So these are
the demonic propensities, and
the very thing can be changed
into devotional service, and then
we become devotee or demigod.
So I am going tomorrow. So here
you shall try to become devotee,
not to think like demons. That
will not help us. Then āśā-pāśa-
śatair baddhāḥ. We’ll remain
bound up in material bondage.
You cannot stop desires. That is
not possible, but purify the
desire. Purify the desire. Purify
desire means that the same
hopes, hope against hope, just to
improve your position as
devotee… That will help you to
make your life successful. Thank
you very much.