Sankarshan Das: Srimad Bhagavatam, fourth Canto, Chapter 18, Text 03.

asmil loke ‘thavamusmin

munibhis tattva-darsibhih

drsta yogah prayuktas ca

pumsam sreyah-prasiddhaye

asmin – in this; loke – duration of life; atha va – or; amusmin – in the next life; munibhih – by the great sages; tattva – the truth; darsibhih – by those who have seen it; drstah – prescribed; yogah – methods; prayuktah – applied; ca – also; pumsam – of the people in general; sreyah – benefit; prasiddhaye – in the matter of obtaining.

Sankarshan Das: Translation and Purport by His Divine Grace, Srila Prabhupad.

Translation: To benefit all human society, not only in this life, but in the next, the great seers and sages have prescribed various methods conducive to the prosperity of the people in general.

Purport: Vedic civilization takes advantage of the perfect knowledge presented in the Vedas and presented by great sages and brahmanas for the benefit of human society. Vedic injunctions are known as sruti, and the additional supplementary presentations of these principles that are given by the great sages, are known as smrti. They follow the principles of Vedic instruction. Human society should take advantage of the instructions from both sruti and smrti. If one wants to advance in spiritual life, he must take these instructions and follow the principles. In the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Srila Rupa Goswami says that if one poses himself as advanced in spiritual life but does not refer to the srutis and smrtis he is simply a disturbance in society. One should follow the principles laid down in srutis and smrtis not only in one's spiritual life but in material life as well. As far as human society is concerned, it should follow the Manu-smrti as well, for these laws are given by Manu, the father of mankind.

In the Manu-smrti it is stated that a woman should not be given independence, but should be given protection by her father, husband and elderly sons. In all circumstances, a woman should remain dependent upon some guardian. Presently, women are given full independence like men, but actually we can see that such independent women are no happier than those women who are placed under guardians. If people follow the injunctions given by the great sages, srutis and smrtis, they can actually be happy in both this life and the next. Unfortunately, rascals are manufacturing so many ways and means to be happy. Everyone is inventing so many methods. Consequently, human society has lost the standard ways of life, both materially and spiritually and as a result people are bewildered and there is no peace or happiness in the world. Although they are trying to solve the problems of human society in the United Nations, they are still baffled. Because they do not follow the liberated instructions of the Vedas, they are unhappy.

Two significant words used in this verse are asmin and amusmin. Asmin means “in this life,” and amusmin means “in the next life.” Unfortunately, in this age even exalted professors and learned men believe that there is no next life and that everything is finished in this life. Since they are rascals and fools, what advice can they give? Still, they are passing as learned scholars and professors. In this verse the word amusmin is very explicit. It is the duty of everyone to mold his life in such a way that he will have a profitable next life. Just as a boy is educated in order to become happy later, one should be educated in this life in order to attain an eternal and prosperous life after death. It is therefore essential that people follow what is given in the srutis and smrtis to make sure that the human mission is successful. (End of Purport)

Vande ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaishnavams ca sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa jivam sadvaitam savadhutam parijana–sahitam krishna-caitanya-devam sri-radha-krishna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine

nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine

mukam karoti vacalam

pangum langhayate girim

yat-kripa tam aham vande

sri-gurum dina-taranam

Sankarshan Das: So, we should be following the Vedic literatures, sruti and the corollary literatures in pursuance of the Vedic version, smrti. If we don't do this, we are virtually committing suicide. Because if we don't live a proper life in accordance with the sruti and smrti, then even though they deny there is a next life, there is a next life. Their denial won't help them at all to be saved from going down to the animal kingdom. They say when this body is finished everything is finished, but that's not true. That's because they don't realize there is a spirit soul actually seated within the body. They think the body is the self. They don't realize that there is a person within the body that lives eternally. This is Krishna is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. sat-cit-ananda vigraha. So, the living entity also has a form which is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. But due to ignorance he misidentifies with this material body and thus puts himself into all kinds of difficult situations going down into hellish nightmarish conditions birth after birth after birth after birth. So, in this Krishna consciousness movement we want to wake everybody up. jiv jago, jiv jago, gauracanda bole. Wake up you sleeping souls, wake up. How long will you sleep in the lap of the witch named Maya? They have their head in maya, they place their head in maya lap. Yes, my dear maya devi, I place my head in your lap. So how can we wake them up? It's a real challenge. They're so nonsense and they're blaspheming the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they're blaspheming the pure devotee, they're blaspheming the spiritual master. What's the hope of such people? So, they give all these counter arguments, we have to be very expert to defeat them. Prabhupad wants us to defeat these arguments with scripture and with logic. They can give all these ridiculous arguments against the Vedic scriptures; we have to defeat them. We can't allow them to continue presenting this nonsense philosophy and duping the people like all these professors. Just like the atheistic people out there taking the position of teacher. So, what they can teach, they are atheists. What an atheist can teach is an example, a very bad example. So, these atheists should not have any positions in the universities and the schools. There should be Krishna conscious people in all these positions. The college professors should be Krishna conscious, the school teacher should be Krishna conscious, the government leader should be Krishna conscious. This is what we need. We have to bring Krishna consciousness into the centre of the human society because without Krishna consciousness they have some idea of religion but it is polluted with sense gratification. They say, God give me this, give me that, give me, give me, give me, give me. Their concept of religion is polluted. It is not pure devotional service. This is a great contribution of Srila Prabhupad. He is teaching us pure devotional service. This mixed devotional service, mixing it with sense gratification doesn't satisfy the self. It's better than atheism, but it still doesn't satisfy the self. Because you are not waking, you don't have a loving relationship with God, you are giving your loving service to Him. You are endeavouring with your thoughts, your words and your deeds to give pleasure to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the human life is meant for such a thing. Live the life of devotion. That everything I do should be for the pleasure of Krishna and the spiritual master and the Vaishnavas. But because they have their concept of the self completely wrong, therefore they are doing all kinds of ridiculous things. Prabhupad mentioned the United Nations. What did the United Nations do to solve these problems? Like this war going on in Ukraine. What power do the UN have to stop it? They don't have any power to stop it. So called United Nations. They want real United Nations. They have to put Krishna back in the centre. Then we get a real United Nations.

bhoktaram yajna-tapasam

sarva-loka-mahesvaram

suhrdam sarva-bhutanam

jnatva mam santim rcchati,

one who knows Krishna is the owner of everything and the enjoyer of everything and is the most intimate well-wishing friend of all living entities, they can have actual peace. This peace formula now has to be introduced to everybody. Everybody has to understand who is the actual owner, who is the enjoyer. They claim this is my land. This land is my land, it is not your land. You better get off or I'll blow your head off. We have to understand who is the actual owner. Even this body does not belong to me, it is Krishna’s. This body belongs to Krishna. Everything I have belongs to Krishna. So, since it is all His, it ought to be used in His service. Whatever I have, whatever talent I have, whatever ability I have, whatever possessions I have, everything is under my control. It is all being offered in the service of Krishna. And then we can have actual peace of mind. We can actually become happy. There is a nice verse in the Bhagavad Gita. Let's See if I can remember it now.

yo ‘ntah-sukho ‘ntar-aramas

tathantar-jyotir eva yah

sa yogi brahma-nirvanam

brahma-bhuto ‘dhigacchati,

one whose happiness is within, whose action, who acts and rejoices within, whose aim is inward, whose aim goes inward, he is the perfect mystic. He is liberated in the Supreme and he ultimately attains the Supreme. So, this is the way you have to learn how to do it. Our happiness should be based on our loving relationship with Krishna. That's the way you have to base it on. If you are actually in that mood of giving loving service to Krishna, my dear Lord, here I am. I am actually Your eternal servant. So whatever situation I am in, let me use this particular situation right now in such a way that gives pleasure to You. Instead of thinking, my pleasure, my enjoyment, I have to think how can I give pleasure to the Supreme Lord? That should be my happiness, giving pleasure to Krishna and then it doesn't matter what's happening externally. It can be happiness or distress, pain and pleasure, honour and dishonour, wealth and poverty, sickness and health, it doesn’t matter what external situation is. If I am in that loving mood to serve Krishna, then I'm transcendentally situated. This is Krishna consciousness. We have to learn actually how to become Krishna conscious, not I, me and my consciousness. We take this process seriously, then our lives will be unlimitedly sublime.

bahya-sparsesv asaktatma

vindaty atmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktatma

sukham aksayam asnute,

such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance relishing the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized soul enjoys unlimited happiness for he concentrates on the Supreme. Now where can you get unlimited happiness anywhere in the material world? Is there any way you can get unlimited happiness? By money, by power, by sex, or anything. Is there any way you can get unlimited pleasure? No, it doesn't exist. Even if they have some pleasure, it is always temporary. Material pleasure is temporary, spiritual pleasure is not ending. So, we have to find our happiness not in material pleasure but in spiritual pleasure. Spiritual pleasure means giving pleasure to Krishna. When you feed the belly then all the parts of the body are nourished. So, Krishna is like the belly and we are like the parts of the body. So, when you give your loving service to Krishna then you become satisfied. Krishna says that they enjoy unlimited happiness when they concentrate on the Supreme. So Prabhupada is teaching us how to concentrate on the Supreme. It is like we have our japa. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. We wake up in the morning worship mangalarati, we worship the Deity, we worship the Tulsi, worship the spiritual master. Prabhupad introduced these things gradually. He didn't introduce everything at once. It wasn't until about 1971 he introduced Tulsi worship. Then a couple of years later, I think it was around 1975, he introduced Guru Puja. So Prabhupad gradually introduced all these things. Because these things are actually meant to help us tune in our consciousness. Tune in, turn on and bliss out. We have to tune in to Krishna, the source of all existence.

aham sarvasya prabhavo

mattah sarvam pravartate

iti matva bhajante mam

budha bhava-samanvitah

I am the source of all material and spiritual worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worships Me with all their hearts. So right now, we are still distracted by the material energy, thinking, I, me and mine will make me feel really fine. Isn't it? We still are caught up in the I, me and my consciousness. We have to learn how to get out of this I, me and mine consciousness and think, what if I believe Krishna? Well, I will serve Krishna, but not in this condition. I have been in a condition. Pure devotional service means no condition. It's unconditional. Not that you make some conditions under which you will serve Krishna. No. There's no conditions. And whatever Krishna wants, Krishna gets. Whatever He wants. I'm totally under His direction. He wants me to die right now, that's fine. He's like my disciple in the Ukraine. She's out of the battle zone, but the Russians are firing rockets and blowing up apartment buildings. She says, the missile comes, you see, it's Krishna coming to get her, take her. She'll say, the missile comes to their neighborhood, she'll take it as Krishna coming to take me. So, we have to learn how to see everything in relation with Krishna. Everything happens in relation with Krishna. Because ultimately, He is the Supreme controller. Everything is going in His direction. Even the material nature is going in His direction to rectify the living entities from their rascal, lording it over mentality. So, we see the loving hand of Krishna at every minute and try to reciprocate with that loving mercy from Krishna. Then our lives become perfect. The trouble is we have our conditions. That's the difficulty. This, this, this, this, this, this, this. Now, what does Krishna want? What does my spiritual master want? That's what will make me actually happy.

Does anybody have any questions? Everybody satisfied? Any corrections? Gurumataji, do you want to add some points?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: When it comes, I will say.

Sankarshan Das: Huh?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: When it comes, I will say.

Sankarshan Das: Okay. We can look at the purport here. What do you think about women? This is considered very controversial in modern day society. Women should not be independent. She should always be protected. The thing is, unprotected women are exploitable. That's the difficulty. They're taken advantage of. That's why women are subject to being exploited by, unprotected women can be easily exploited by men. That's a difficulty. But it's not that woman, that men's a woman is a slave. No, it's a cooperative relationship between husband and wife, cooperative relationship. You remember one example? Tejas and Tejasvini, and they were serving in Vrindavan or in India and they would have quarrels and then Tejasvini would go away and Prabhupad would bring her back. Prabhupad, the marriage counselor, would bring her back and Prabhupad asked Tejasvini, what is the difficulty? Prabhupad, she doesn't do what I say then Prabhupad said, if she doesn't do what you say, you should do what she says and this way live peacefully. So, Krishna consciousness doesn't mean that women are enslaved with the men. The cooperative relationship is serving Krishna.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: So, my question is, did they follow?

Sankarshan Das: I don't know.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Very nice example.

Sankarshan Das: I don't know. I can't say. I don't know the history, but it's not the instruction that Prabhupad gave. So, women under protection doesn't mean a woman is a slave. Everybody is under the spiritual master and under Krishna. That's our authority. Okay. Here we go.

Devotee: How do we understand that women should be protected by men?

Sankarshan Das: Well, the men have to be Krishna conscious. If the men are exploitive, they have to be a saintly man. Not some woman who is going to take advantage and exploit the woman. No. We are talking about a civilization where you have saintly men who are pure in devotional service. Such men are qualified to get protection of women. Not these exploited men who take advantage of women and then they dump her and get another one and dump her and get another one and dump her and go on and on like this. In modern day society we don't have men who are actually qualified to give protection to women. The modern-day men exploit women. That's their mentality, exploit women.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Isn't that why the women don't want the protection?

Sankarshan Das: Yeah, if we tell them that, they'll reject it because they don't see any men who are actually qualified to give protection. We don't have such qualified men. Only, you know, in our movement we're training men to be like that. Even sometimes our men aren't properly doing their, even within Iskcon, they're not properly doing their service, giving protection to women. But if a man is actually strictly following Srila Prabhupad's instructions, he's qualified to give protection. Others are deviating from the instructions of Prabhupad, they are not qualified to get protection.

Local Devotee: So, here it is mentioned about in the next life, like what you do in the next life.

Sankarshan Das:  Yeah.

Local Devotee: Currently most people we know, we meet, they believe one life or live in the moment. So how does one get to them in the sense that it is just everywhere.

Sankarshan Das: How do we defeat it?

Local Devotee:  Yes.

Sankarshan Das: What are the logical arguments to prove there is a next life. Of course, the scriptures say it, na jayate mriyate va kadacin, for the soul there is neither birth nor the death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, he will not come into being. He is unborn, ever existing and primeval. The scriptures make it very clear. The scriptures make it very clear. All the scriptures of the world, the Bible, the Quran, the Vedic scriptures, they are all talking about the eternal nature of the self. But how do you convince an atheist that there is a next life? It's an interesting question. Some logical arguments. One thing is you can say what's your proof? How can you prove there is no next life? How can you prove it? That's one thing. You can challenge them. What's your proof? That when the body is finished everything is finished. The fact is you can remember things when you were a little kid. The body was a different body, the atoms and molecules that were made of your body were quite different than the ones you have now. Your body is like in the river, the water molecules are constantly flowing through it. I gave the example many times, the Mississippi river you see. The Ohio and the Missouri rivers flow into the Mississippi river. So, the water molecules in the Mississippi, they are a combination of Ohio and Missouri molecules. And they go to the Gulf of Mexico and they call it Gulf of Mexico. So, there is a constant change, a constant flux, what we call the Mississippi river today is not the Mississippi river tomorrow, it's the Gulf of Mexico. So, your body is like that too, there is a constant flow of chemicals in and out of your body every time you inhale, every time you exhale, every time you eat, every time you pass stool and urine, there's a constant flow of chemicals clustered around the atma. But that you can remember the experience you had when you were a little child, that indicates the difference of the soul. You know your body is different still you can remember. Of course they won't accept that, they'll argue that well there's something in the brain that's still locked in the brain but actually it's not true. So yeah, it's an interesting how to defeat the atheists. They have no proof. They have no proof of that. And we have countless examples in the scriptures of persons, you know, going to birth after birth after birth. There are countless examples. Okay, let's see what else we have here. We've got.

Devotee: How can we stay always in the mood to please Krishna in every moment despite a lot of material disturbances?

Sankarshan Das: That's why we have to take shelter of the holy names. We have to chant the holy names with great attention and great devotion because that purifies our consciousness. If we just chant it around to get them over with, it's not going to work. You have to take this as the greatest opportunity to fine tune my consciousness. Bring it back.

yato yato niscalati

manas cancalam asthiram

tatas tato niyamyaitad

atmany eva vasam nayet.

From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature. One must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self. So, this japa, this classes all, mangalarati, Tulasi worship, kirtan, everything we are doing should be taken as an opportunity to fine tune the consciousness. Taking prasadam in a mood of devotion. So, we have the prasadam prerogative. Should do it in taking on relationship with devotees. Therefore, we offer our obeisances to the Vaishnavas every day. vancha kalpa tarupyasya. Not just on the lips but should be in our dealings also, the way we deal with the Vaishnavas. Taking the Vaishnava association as a great blessing. Actually, after millions and millions of lifetimes to have the association of the devotee is the greatest blessing. We take it, we take devotee association for granted. We argue and this and that, but no, we have to learn how to have the greatest respect for the Vaishnavas and appreciate very much how fortunate we are to have their association. So, if you actually take every opportunity of everything, we do throughout the day to bring your mind back, bring it back, bring it back, bring it back to Krishna in everything. So many ways the Bhagavad Gita helps us on the taste of water and the healing herb He says also. If you are sick and you are taking some herbs, you say, oh Krishna is up here in the form of the herbs, help me get healed. Krishna says, I am a healing herb, Krishna says. So, we have to try to see Krishna within everything and everything within Krishna. The scripture is there to help us. sastra caksus, see through the eye of scripture. And then you can think, alright, now I have to please Him.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I have something to say about the question that she asked, that how we can say that there is a next life. I have heard this way, that in this life the body is changing and moving forward. So, when this garment is finished, then the living entity that always needs a garment puts on something new. They don't go naked.

Sankarshan Das: That's an interesting argument. When your, when your clothes get old and worn out you buy some new ones. So, when this body gets old and worn out you put on a new one. That's also a good example. Okay, Sadbhuja.

Sadbhuja:  Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are sruti or smrti?

Sankarshan Das:  As far as I remember they are called smriti. But the original Vedas are sruti. I can double check but that's my memory. My memory said that is called smrti. Isn't it Devi? Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita is smrti. Right?

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I don't know.

Sankarshan Das: That's my memory. I can double check. That's how I remember. I can be double checked.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: Okay.Whether I know it or not, Bhagavad Gita is spoken by the learned and it is accepted that is. So instead of finding where the error came from, I take the good thing and I apply it.

Sankarshan Das: It doesn't matter whether it is sruti or smrti, it is Krishna's word.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: I don't ask where the error came. I take the thing that, ok, this error hurt me, I take out the error and try to heal it. Make a good use of bad bargain or whatever. Not that where this comes from, is this sruti or this is... How, what is it going to help you to know this is sruti or smrti. Acharya has given this so, we should accept it.

Sankarshan Das: Jai. Gabriel from Lithuania.

Gabriel: In ISKCON there are many devotees that get scared, divorced and remarried. What is your view on this?

Sankarshan Das: It's nonsense. It's against the regulative principles. In the Vedic culture, the nonsense thing is divorce. One has to, of course, if the husband is abusive and he doesn't follow the principles, then the Vedic system will be lived separately.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: It's not only the husbands that are abusive, there are women also very abusive.

Sankarshan Das:  So, this idea of divorce is not Vedic culture? Not Vedic culture. The deviations from Prabhupad's teachings. They are not following Prabhupad. One has to work it out. Okay.

Devotee: How to understand the line in the first paragraph of the Purport...

Sankarshan Das: Let's put this... We'll wait here to get this song out of the way. Okay, so once you follow the principles laid down in the sruti's and smrti's, not only in one's spiritual life but also material life as well.

Devotee: What is like, marriage is a material arrangement.

Sankarshan Das: So, you follow the Vedic principles for material arrangement as well. Marriage is a material arrangement. That's an example.

Visnurata:  If one is struggling to see through the eyes of scripture, is he situated in the Transcendental platform?

Sankarshan Das: He's on the right track. He hasn't mastered it yet, but he's working on it, and he's on the right track. He's coming to the transcendental platform, he's not fully there yet but he's coming to that transcendental, he's coming there, he's making progress you see. So Pronamee.

Pronamee: How to convince someone who does not believe in the scriptures?

Sankarshna Das: Truth works.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: No, no.

Sankarshan Das: Truth works.

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: That means they don't want to accept it, so they don't believe it. We believe in so many things, newspapers, we believe in computers, we believe in the text books. Why not? This is also a text book

.

Sankarshan Das: Very good argument. My argument is truth works. We know the scripture is true because you plug it and it works. How do I know that H2O equals water? Because you combine, how do I know that two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen make water because I can do it in the laboratory. So, if you apply the scriptures, you get the result. So that's the proof. You get the result. Now some of you say I don't believe that H2O equals water. And I refuse to go to the laboratory to try it out. What can you say? They're not open-minded and closed-minded. If somebody is sincerely trying to learn, you say, oh, H2O equals water, and I go to the laboratory and prove it, now let me do it. So, the same way you can take these scriptures and apply them and get the result. We see people who are following the scriptures and we see how peaceful and happy they are, so we think, well maybe I can become peaceful and happy also by following the scriptures. It's like we saw Prabhupad, what a great personality he was, like he could totally surrender to the guru, Krishna and the scriptures. We wanted to be like Prabhupad, he's such an amazing person. Okay.

Sharada Devi Dasi: What helps one to develop love and devotion to the spiritual master and be in that mood always?

Sankarshan Das: Well, you have to understand it is Krishna's order.

tad viddhi pranipatena

pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam

jnaninas tattva-darsinah

Just try to learn the truth by approaching the spiritual master, inquire from him submissively, render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth. It is Krishna's order. Krishna is the Supreme authority. He knows what is good for us. He knows what is going to liberate us from our entanglement in the cycle of birth and death. He has come to speak Bhagavad Gita to get us out of our suffering condition. So, if you understand the validity of Krishna's words then you will follow His instruction to take the spiritual master and be devoted to the spiritual master, the representative of Krishna.

Okay, let's see what else we got here. A bunch of thank yous. Any local questions here? Are the locals... Is everybody convinced now? Or do you still have some doubts? Did I ask about the...

Srimati Vishnupriya Gurumataji: And when we don't want to follow, then there is a lot of doubt. This… that… no end in one wish.

Sankarshan Das: A lot of nice thank yous in here. One, two, three, four, five, thank yous. Well, thank you all too. I give my thank yous. Thank you all for hearing and inquiring. Take this process seriously and your lives will be unlimitedly sublime. Don't cheat yourself by remaining a slave of maya, following your mental whims, use your intelligence to understand that I need to follow Guru and Krishna to actually become happy and satisfied in my life. If I try to do things on my own whims, I'm never going to be happy and satisfied. Okay. We can stop here. Thank you for tuning in.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.