Quintessence Touchstone for the Inquisitive rāja-vidy ā r āja-guhyam pavitram idam uttamam pratyaksy āvagamam dharmyam su -sukham kartum avyayam INDEPENDENTLY YOU CANNOT BE Apr/May/Jun 2007 The following conversation between His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and some of his disciples took place in October 1975 during an early- Inside this issue: morning walk in Nairobi, Kenya. Çréla Prabhupäda: [Taking the role of an athe- ing? Srila Prabhupada Speaks out 2 ist.} By pleasing the spiritual master, you please Çréla Prabhupäda: That I am curing. That is Kåñëa. That's nice. But why should Kåñëa be also nice. [Laughter.] Inquiries into the Absolute 3 pleased? Why should one bother himself to Devotee: It is said in the Bhägavatam that we Peace-Part 3 3 please Kåñëa? Answer this. are just like the limbs of the body and that Devotee: Because our real position is to serve Kåñëa is like the stomach. All the limbs may be Prince Duryodhana & Lord 4 Kåñëa. We've fallen into the illusion of this jealous of the stomach and not want to feed the Balarama material energy because we forgot our position stomach, but if the hands and legs and mouth Is Religion A Crutch? 6 as His servants. were to go on strike and not feed the stomach, Çréla Prabhupäda: We are making scientific they would ultimately be destroyed. Crossword 7 progress. What is the use of bringing God in? Çréla Prabhupäda: This is the right answer. Pearls of Wisdom 7 Devotee: Because we shall never become per- Every limb of the body must cooperate with fect if we don't serve God. the stomach. If the finger thinks, "I shall re- Holy Places of India-Alarnath 8 Çréla Prabhupäda: That is begging the ques- main independent and be happy," that is not Veggie Corner 9 tion. possible. The stomach must be supplied food, Devotee: Everybody has to serve somebody. and then all the other parts of the body will be Lessons from the Gita 10 Since Kåñëa is the reservoir of all pleasure and happy. Editor’s Jottings 11 everything emanates from Him, instead of serv- Similarly, Kåñëa is the central enjoyer ing some ordinary person we should serve (bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäm). He is the center of What’s New in Universities 12 Kåñëa. everyone's activities, just as this African state is Çréla Prabhupäda: But without serving Kåñëa, I the center of people's activities here. If you do am getting pleasure by drinking wine. Why not satisfy the state—or the president—then shall I serve Him? you cannot remain happy. Independently you Devotee: That pleasure will not last; it is only cannot be happy. For example, we have come temporary. to this park because the state is maintaining it. Çréla Prabhupäda: But I also will not last. So I We have not gone to the jungle. So if we actu- am enjoying wine while I can. ally want happiness, we must cooperate with Devotee: But such a mentality is third class. the state. Actually, our life is eternal. Similarly, if our ultimate aim is to Çréla Prabhupäda: That is your statement— become happy, then we must cooperate with "third class"—but my statement is "It is first Kåñëa. This is obligatory. You cannot escape it. class." If you try, you'll be unhappy. Devotee: Kåñëa says in the Bhagavad-gétä Devotee: We are part and parcel of Lord "Every limb of the body must cooperate [10.10], "To those who are constantly devoted Kåñëa . with the stomach. If the finger thinks, "I to Me and worship Me with love, I give the Çréla Prabhupäda: Yes. Even a child—he will shall remain independent understanding by which they can come to Me." naturally bring everything to his mouth. He and be happy," that is So, this is our desire. picks up something, but he does not put it not possible. The stomach Çréla Prabhupäda: I don't want to go. anywhere. Immediately he puts it in the must be supplied food, Devotee: You don't want to go to Kåñëa? mouth. Why doesn't he put it in the ear? He and then all the other Çréla Prabhupäda: No. doesn't know what is what, but as soon as he parts of the body will be Devotee: All right, suffer. gets something, he puts it in his mouth be- happy. Similarly, Çréla Prabhupäda: You are putting upon me cause his position is eating. He knows—"Taste Krishna is the central some impression—"suffer"—but I am enjoy- with the tongue and eat." He hasn't got to be enjoyer - He is the center ing. educated. of everyone's activities” Devotee: Your knee is hurting. Is that enjoy- Contd on Pg 5 Quintessence P a g e 3 HH Romapada Swami is a disciple of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He travels frequently dis- INQUIRIES INTO THE ABSOLUTE seminating the science and philosophy of the Vedic scriptures to Answer by His Holiness Romapada Swami students and other educated audiences around the world. Q) Is it correct to say that the individual souls have natural have the choice - to voluntarily serve God or to serve something inclination to enjoy independently? If yes, then what is the other than God. We can readily observe that everyone in this hope that the individual soul will ever become dependent and world, without an exception, is serving someone or something. serve the Lord? How natural would that state be? But because it is not in relation to the Supreme, they find all their services to be unfulfilling, frustrating and baffling. A) No, it is not a natural inclination of the soul to enjoy inde- It is the most natural state for the living entity to feel pendent of the Lord. It is the nature of the soul to be jubilant and dependent on the Lord; in fact, we are dependent on Him for our to enjoy; as the Vedanta sutra says, anandamayo 'bhyasat. But we existence in any case, whether we acknowledge it or not. What is have the choice to seek that enjoyment in service to Krishna or in unnatural is our forgetfulness, just as the frozen condition of wa- forgetfulness of Him. ter is an unnatural state, and as soon as normal conditions are What is natural for the soul is the propensity to serve. restored, ice becomes liquid again. Living entities in their pure or Our acharyas have taught that this is the 'dharma' or eternal occu- natural state are called devotees. pation or natural inclination of all living entities. Just as the dharma of sugar is sweetness or the dharma of water is liquidity, You are welcome to send in your questions to HH Romapada Swami at similarly the nature of living entity is rendering service; but we [email protected] with the word "Question" included in the subject line. Radhikesh Das is a disciple of HH Jayapataka Swami PEACEPEACE----HOW EVERYONE WANTS IITT BUT FEW KNOW HOW TO ACHIEVE ITIT ––– 333 and has been practicing Krishna consciousness for the By Radhikesh Das past 20 years. He assists in 'Livehelp' at Krishna.com and lives in Iowa. Peace, the most sought after commodity in the world, is elusive and scendental service. This would avoid the clash of interests of so does not last long. In the previous issues we discussed about some of many self-centered countries and individuals. By accepting the su- the ways we can achieve peace in this world as explained by Lord preme sovereignty of the Lord over all living beings, one can en- Krishna in Bhagavad Gita. Krishna advises us to have a fixed mind courage others to worship Him. And by understanding that the Lord and intelligence to achieve peace. He teaches us how to fix the mind is one’s best well-wisher, one will have the confidence to carry out and intelligence in Him. He also advises us how to handle desires their duties without fear or favor. When there is no fear, there is that disturb our mind and spoil our peace. By dovetailing our desires peace. in the service of the Lord, our desires get purified, the mind is paci- In his purport to this verse, Srila Prabhupada sums up fied and peace results. nicely: “The conditioned souls within the clutches of the illusory Krishna explains these points further in Bhagavad Gita energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they (5.12). The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because do not know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of he offers the results of his activities to Krishna. The person who is the Bhagavad-Gita. The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord attached to Krishna and works for Him only has no anxiety over the Krishna is the beneficiary in all human activities. Men should offer results of his work. When we try to indulge in sense enjoyment, we everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is are trying to enjoy separate from Krishna. This is the conception of the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is duality – not seeing Krishna in every act of out lives. If we see greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the demigods, Krishna always, i.e. be conscious of Him always, then we will not Lord Siva and Lord Brahma. In the Vedas (Svetasvatara Upanisad indulge in sense gratification. The Srimad Bhagavatam explains that 6.7) the Supreme Lord is described as tam isvaranam paramam anxiety over the results of an activity causes one to function in dual- mahesvaram.