KRISHNA, THE RESERVOIR OF PLEASURE
&
Who Is Crazy
NOTE: This booklet is missing the middle sheet (that sheet had pages 19 through 22 on it, Somewhere along the line, over the years, it must have fallen out). So if anyone has a copy of this wonderful booklet please send an email to info@krishnapath.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta was born Abhay Char an De in Calcutta, India, in 1896. Trained at the finest Indian universities, he was a successful young businessman when, in 1922, he met his Spiritual Master, Sri Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati, Founder Acharya of the Goudiya Math Institutions. Just before the Master’s departure from this world in 1936, Swami Bhaktivedanta was charged with the responsibility of spreading the Samkirtan Movement to the English-speaking world. Shortly there after, an English fortnightly was established and work was begun on a number of books and translations, the most ambitious of which is a proposed sixty volume translation with commentary of the Srimad Bhagwatam, still in progress. Finally, in 1959, he took up the life of a sanyasin, fully engaged in the duties ordered by his Spiritual Master, and in 1965 the seventy-yearold Swami sailed to the West with the message entrusted to him nearly three decades earlier: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say REJOICE.
KRISHNA, THE RESERVOIR OF PLEASURE
By Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Krishna-this sound is transcendental. Krishna means the highest pleasure. All of us, every living being, seeks pleasure. But we do not know how to seek pleasure perfectly. With a materialistic concept of life, we are frustrated at every step·in satisfying our pleasure because we have no information regarding the real level on, which to have real pleasure. For the last few weeks we have been learning that we are not this body; we are consciousness. Not exactly consciousness, for consciousness is actually the symptom of our real identity: we are pure soul, now merged within this material body. Modern material science lays no stress on this; therefore the scientists are sometimes misled in their understanding of spirit soul. But spirit soul is a fact, which anyone can understand by the presence of consciousness. Any child can understand that consciousness is the symptom of the spirit soul. Now, the whole process we are trying to learn from the Bhagavad Gita (The Song of God) is how to bring ourselves to this level of conscious. And if we act from the level of consciousness, then we may not be pushed again into the level of this bodily conception; and, if we can continue on that level, if we can continue to act in pure consciousness, then, at the end of this body we shall be free from material contamination, our spiritual life will be revived, and the ultimate result will be that, in our next life, after leaving this body, we shall have our full, eternal spiritual life. Spirit, as we have already discussed, is described as eternal. Even after the destruction of this body, consciousness is not destroyed. Rather, consciousness is transferred to another type of body and again makes us aware of the material conception of life. That is also described in the Bhagavad Gita.
At the time of death, if our consciousness is pure, we can be sure that our next life will not be material-our next life will be spiritual. If our consciousness is not pure at the point of death, then, after leaving this body, we shall have to take another material body. That is the process which is going on. That is Nature’s law. We have now a final body. The body which we see is the gross body. It is just like a shirt and coat: within the coat there is a shirt and within the shirt there is a body. Similarly, the pure soul is covered by a shirt 4 and coat. The garments are mind, intelligence and false ego. False ego means the misconception that I am matter, that I am a product of this material world. This misconception makes me localized. For example, because I have taken my birth in India, I think myself Indian. Because I have taken my birth in America, I think myself American. But as pure soul, I am neither Indian nor American. I am pure soul. These others are designations. American, or Indian, or German, or Englishman; cat or dog, or bee or bat, man or wife: all these are designations. In spiritual consciousness we become free from all such designations. That freedom is achieved when weare constantly in touch with the Supreme Spirit, Krishna. The International Society For Krishna Consciousness is simply intended to keep us in constant touch with Krishna. Krishna can be in constant companionship with us because He is omnipotent. Therefore, He can be fully in touch with us by His words. His words anrl He are not different. That is omnipotence. Omnipotence means that everything relating to Him has the same potency. For example, here in this material world, if we are thirsty and we want water, simply repeating “Water, water, water, water, ” will not satisfy our thirst, because this word has not the same potency as water itself. We require the water in substance. Then our thirst will be satisfied. But in the transcendental, Absolute World, there is no such difference Krishna’s Name, Krishna’s Quality, Krishna’s Word-everything is Krishna and provides the same satisfaction. Some people argue that Arjuna was talking with Krishna because Krishna was present before him, whereas in my case, Krishna is not present.
So how can I get directions? But that is not a fact. Krishna is present by His words The Bhagavad Gita. In India, when we speak on the Bhagavad Gita or Srimad Bhagawatam, we regularly perform worship with flowers, or with other paraphernalia, as is required for worshipping. In the Sikh religion also, although they have no form of the Deity, they worship the book Granthasahib. Perhaps some of you are acquainted with this Sikh community. They worship this Grantha. Similarly, the Moslems worship the Koran. Similarly,· in the Christian world, the Bible is worshipped. It is a fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is present by His words. Krishna is also present by His words. These personalities, either God or the Son of God, Who come from the Transcendental World, keep their transcendental identity without being contaminated by the material world. That is their omnipotence. We are in the habit of saying that God is omnipotent. Omnipotence means that He is not different from His Name, from His Quality, from His Pastimes, from His Instruction.