"Intelligent People are Krishna Conscious"

 Lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami 

24/10/97 Switzerland ISKCON.

Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to get to know you all. Hare Krishna. Is everyone comfortably situated?

Our movement is very small now but very soon there will be a time when we will have huge temples everywhere, where we can accommodate thousands of people. In Mayapur, we are building a temple where in one hall we can seat twenty five thousand people and that is just one section of the hall. That will be the largest temple in the world and we will start our construction in the year 2000.

This movement is only about thirty, thirty-one years old in the West. Srila Prabhupada came to America in 1965 and he set up ISKCON in 1966. Within ten years time, Srila Prabhupada spread this movement all over the world. In that respect, we can remember that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that this Krishna consciousness movement will spread in every town and village. That Caitanya Mahaprabhu predicted five hundred years ago but we can see that through Srila Prabhupada that prediction has become true. Now this Krishna consciousness movement actually has spread all over the world. We will see that as time passes, this movement will become more and more established and more and more people will join us. There is once condition for accepting this Krishna consciousness movement. Do you know what this condition for accepting this God or Krishna consciousness is? The condition is that one has to be intelligent. This movement is not meant for unintelligent people. It is meant only for intelligent people. Only the intelligent class of people will join. It is not that I am just saying it for the sake of saying it.

Now why does one have to be intelligent to accept the Krishna consciousness movement? Because unless and until one is intelligent, he will not be able to understand that there is something beyond matter. The less intelligent people just accept what they see and they think that, that is reality. He sees this world around him and he thinks that this world is meant for enjoyment. But a person who is intelligent will consider that in this world there are two different types of objects. Like, if we consider this room, in this room there are two different types of objects, like for example the floor, the wall, the door, this seat, the window, the curtain; they are one type. They all are inert. But we all here, we are living, isn’t it? Is there any difference between this seat and me? What is that difference? The seat is not conscious but I am conscious. The seat is not living but I am alive. Now, doesn’t it apply to all of us? How many of you are conscious? Now why are some things conscious and some other things not conscious? Have you ever considered this? I will make this point a little more clear. Now I am talking to you, sitting here and you are all thinking that, “Yes, he has come here and he is speaking to us. He is here and he is speaking to us.” But now if I drop dead then my body will be lying here, but you will say, “He is gone.” Who is it that that has gone? My body will be lying here but why do you say that I will be gone? That is the one who made the body alive. As long as that was in the body, the body was alive. As soon as he leaves the body, the body becomes dead. Now who is that? Do you have any information? How many of you have the information about that? Raise your hands.Now those who have information please tell me who is that. Devotee: “That is the soul.”

Very good, the soul. Now, do we have any information about the soul, do you know about the soul? If we want to know about the soul, you have to join ISKCON. How many of you want to have informations about the soul? Those of you who want to have informations of the soul please raise your hands. Can you get information of the spirit soul from the University of Basel or the University of Zurich or in the Gymnasium in Munster? (laughs) No. Do you know any place where you can get the information about the soul? Anybody? “from the Krishna consciousness movement” Who said that, yes Ginter is very well informed. So that why I say one has to be really intelligent to join this movement because one has to be seriously curious to know about the spirit soul. The people those who are not interested in knowing about the spirit soul they don’t have any reason to join ISKCON. They can rather go and spend their time in the pub, drinking beer. That’s what they are doing. Most people are just out there in the beer house today, drinking and trying to enjoy their life but are they enjoying? Those who really want to enjoy they must come and join ISKCON.

When we join ISKCON what happens? Let us consider the difference between the people those who are in the beer house or pub and those who are here in this temple of ISKCON. What is the difference? They are simply trying to drink and forget or lose their consciousness. Drinking is intoxication. Do you know the word toxin? Toxin is poison. Intoxication means taking poison. Do you think it is very intelligent to take poison? When you take poison what happens? Do you increase your life when you drink poison? No, when you drink poison what happens? When you drink poison, you die. Death means you lose your consciousness. When one wants to lose his consciousness, he ends up in a place like that. When one wants to gain his consciousness, then he comes to ISKCON. When you come to ISKCON, what do the devotees tell you? How many of you are coming on a regular basis? Please raise your hands. Is there any newcomer, anyone who is coming for the first time? Very good, welcome, thank you! I hope I’m not going to be too heavy for you! When you come here, we tell you, “Don’t eat meat, don’t take intoxication, don’t indulge in illicit sex life and don’t indulge in gambling.” It’s pretty heavy, yes? But why do we tell you to do that? Because they are detrimental to our consciousness. When you eat meat, then you make your stomach into a graveyard. You take intoxication, you kill your consciousness. You indulge in illicit sex life, you lose your vitality. You indulge in gambling, you lose all your money! In gambling, you not only lose your money, but you actually speculate, and by speculating you go away from truth. But if we want to understand the Absolute Truth, we have to become situated in truth. Isn’t it common sense? If we want to understand the Absolute Truth, can we situate ourselves in falsehood? We have to actually be situated in truth.

Therefore, those who want to tread the spiritual path they should become truthful; they should not lie. Those who want to aspire for spiritual life they must retain their vitality and life energy. That’s why they must abstain from illicit sex, preferably to abstain from sex altogether. Every religion actually says this. To make advancement in spiritual life one must be a celibate. But those who are in household life, they, for the sake of procreation, can indulge in sex life. But that is just for the sake of procreation, not for any other purpose. One who wants to make advancement in spiritual life must abstain from intoxication. It is clear, spiritual life means a life of immortality. Immortality is attained through nectar but intoxication is taking poison. If you take poison, you won’t become immortal. If you take poison then you will accelerate your death. Those who take intoxication they invite death. Meat-eating is bad because meat eating is violence. When one eats meat it naturally leads one to commit violence to other living entities. Spiritual life is opposed to violence. One has to be internally very peaceful to make spiritual advancement. Therefore, he cannot afford to be violent.

After following these four principles, when one chants the holy name of the Lord, that means when one prays to the Lord for His mercy, then he receives the mercy of the Lord and makes spiritual advancement. That is the difference between those who want to indulge in materialistic way of life and those who want to accept spiritual life. Spiritual life is a life of austerity but austerity does not mean that those who take to spiritual life suffer. This austerity means abstinence from unnecessary or detrimental activities. Things that are harmful, we don’t do that.For example, eating meat, taking intoxication, indulging in illicit sex and gambling are all harmful. Therefore they must be stopped. One must abstain from these activities. That is why it seems that it is austere but actually one who practices spiritual life realizes that it is actually wonderful. Because when you lead your life like that, you can see your consciousness is expanding. Isn’t it wonderful to expand your consciousness?

Early in the morning when you wake up and see the world, when the day is just beginning, when you become so fresh and so aware of the surroundings, don’t you feel great? Now when you take to spiritual life, you feel that way all the time. Not only that but your consciousness expands. Actually spiritual life is a process of expanding your consciousness. This has also been explained in the Vedic scriptures in a very beautiful way. We just established that point that living entities are conscious. Is that acceptable? Living entities are conscious, now this consciousness has different stages. For example, around the earth there are different types of living entities. There is a tree here, this tree is it a living entity? It is a living entity. The tree is conscious but its consciousness is practically covered. Apparently it doesn’t seem like the tree has any consciousness. Only when we very carefully analyze the tree then we see, “Yes, it is conscious.” The trees fall into the category of covered consciousness. Then there are worms, insects, reptiles, birds or beasts. They are also conscious but their consciousness is in a shrunken stage, they conscious but not really that much conscious. That is the second stage of consciousness called “the shrunken stage of consciousness”. From the worms to the animals, they fall into that category. The third stage of consciousness is called the “bud” stage of consciousness. The bud and petal is apparently also in a shrunken stage. The bud has the ability to bloom. The human beings fall into that category, the bud stage of consciousness. A bud in order to bloom into a flower needs two conditions: the rays of the sun and water. When the bud has water and is exposed to the sun, the bud blooms. Human consciousness when he is exposed to God under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master then his consciousness begins to bloom. That is the fourth state of consciousness, called the “blooming” state of consciousness. When one becomes fully aware of God, it is called the “fully bloomed” state of consciousness. This is how you can see the different stages of consciousness and the ultimate state of consciousness is the fully bloomed state of consciousness, or the consciousness where one becomes fully aware of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that is the perfection of life.

Those who want to expand their consciousness should take advantage of this process; of becoming exposed to the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, under the direction of a bona fide spiritual master. Then, our consciousness, which is in a “bud” state, will gradually bloom into a fully bloomed state of consciousness. When one attains that state, he becomes completely freed from the bondage of matter. This body is made of matter and we have all become caught up in this bondage. Although we are not matter but we are identifying ourselves with the body. Whatever is happening to the body, we are thinking, “That is happening to me”. That is called “body consciousness” but actually we are not this body. This body is just a covering. Just as we are wearing different dresses similarly this body is like a dress to the spirit soul. You may be wearing a dress or a white jacket, but you don’t say, “I am a white jacket”. Do you say that? You don’t identify yourself as a jacket or that you are the dress that you are wearing. It is only the covering. Similarly, this body is the covering of the soul, but the real identity is the spirit soul. When I say, “I”, that “I” is that spiritual soul. But due to our ignorance, we identify ourselves with the body. We say that it is “me” who is feeling cold in Switzerland, but it is actually the body that is feeling cold. The body is hungry, and I say, “Oh, I am so hungry”. This is the bondage of the body but when you become situated in your pure spiritual identity, you become completely free from that bondage. At that time, even though we may be dwelling in the body, we are not affected by the body. Therefore, one should cultivate this process of spiritual development. The process of developing spiritually is to chant the holy name of the Lord, because the Lord is the Supreme Spirit, and we are all His parts and parcels. When we develop our relationship with the Lord, we become situated in our pure spiritual identity. In that identity, we become free from the bondage of matter. Then he does not  become affected by what happens to the body.  The soul is not actually affected by the affairs of this material nature. In the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna gives the spiritual knowledge very, very succinctly and in a systematic and orderly way, Krishna in the beginning is saying that the spirit soul cannot be cut by any weapon. It cannot be burnt by fire. It cannot be moistened by water, nor dried by the air. That means the spirit soul is not affected by anything in the material nature. The fire cannot burn it. The fire may burn the body, but the fire cannot burn me, A weapon can cut my body, but no weapon can cut me, the spirit soul.

Human life is meant to recognize that fact: “I am not this body, I am spirit soul. Nothing in this material nature can affect my spirit soul”. That spirit soul comes from the spiritual world and is part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The ultimate perfection of the existence of the spirit soul is to become reunited with the Supreme Spirit, God. This International Society for Krishna Consciousness is trying to distribute this knowledge to whoever is interested. Those who are really intelligent will aspire for this knowledge from this spiritual organization. I am very happy to see that so many of you are regularly coming here and cultivating this knowledge. I am also seeing quite a few new faces, so ALL are welcome. Please take advantage of this wonderful gift that Srila Prabhupada gave. Take advantage, and make your life successful. It is not that this is an Indian knowledge and you are Swiss or European. Knowledge is knowledge. You are not Swiss, you are spirit soul! When you take advantage of this knowledge, you will be able to become situated in your spiritual identity. It may appear that the knowledge is coming from India, but actually it is universal, spiritual knowledge. Just like the sun rises in the east, but do we think that the sun belongs to the east? No, you know that the sun actually is not a part of this world. Everybody can take advantage of the light of the sun. Wherever this knowledge is coming from is not important. What matters is whether this knowledge makes sense. If it does make sense, then please take advantage of this knowledge. You will see that your life will become blissful.

Questions and answers

1.     You said that we are not this body and we don’t have to identify with the pain and pleasures of the material world, but still we see that although we know that we are not this body, we are spirit soul, still we are so much suffering some headache or whatever. It seems very theoretical at the moment, not very practical.

Yes very good point. Actually Krishna consciousness or the process of spiritual advancement is a very practical process. There is nothing artificial about it. When our consciousness is limited to the body or related to the body, there is no need to artificially say that we are not attached to the body. But we can recognize that we have a body and for the time being, we are related to and connected to the body. Krishna consciousness actually teaches us to use the body for spiritual activities and thus become situated in the spiritual identity and become free from the bondage of the material body. For example, when we have the body, the body needs food. In order to function, the body needs food. The body becomes hungry. We can’t say, “I’m not this body”. When my stomach is burning for food out of hunger, I cannot artificially say, “I am not this body”. The spiritual process is, “Ok, you are hungry, so eat Krishna prasadam.” Krishna prasadam is the mercy of the Lord in the form of food and if we take the mercy of the Lord in the form of food, then by taking that food, we become free from the bondage of matter. The body needs to sleep, we say “Ok sleep, but sleep for six hours and try to remain awake and serve the Lord.” When the body is feeling cold, then we are not saying, “Well, tolerate the cold.” No, we make the necessary arrangements, we get the warm clothes and some heater in the room. In this way, as long as we have the body, we take care of the body in order to engage it in service of the Lord. Actually the devotee’s understanding is that the body is a gift of nature. Especially when one gets the human body, it is a very special gift that one receives from nature. When one gets a human body, as I mentioned earlier, he gets an opportunity to expand his consciousness to an unlimited extent so that he can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is a wonderful gift of nature and we must take full advantage of it. Take care of this body and engage this body in the service of the Lord. Just by doing that, we can make spiritual advancement.

One should be very careful not to waste this wonderful gift of material nature, by using this human facility in order to lead a life like that of an animal. Animal life is eating, sleeping, mating and defending. In spite of getting the human body, if we are just leading our life to eat, sleep, have sex and defend ourselves from different attacks, that is not the human way to lead one’s life. Human life is based on three questions: “Who am I?”, “Where did I come from?” and “What is the purpose of my existence?” Only then does life transcend the animal platform and comes to the human platform. Who am I? That is the first question. Am I this body or something else? Where did I come from? Did I just come from my mother’s belly? No, the body came from my mother’s womb, but I am not this body. I am a part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and I came from the spiritual world. What am I supposed to do here? The goal of life is to take advantage of this human form of life, recognize our spiritual identity and go back to the spiritual world.

2.     Some people identify themselves with the ego which is not the body or the spirit soul.

Actually ego is a body, the subtle body. We have two types of material body: gross material body (this body is the gross body) and beyond this gross body, we have a subtle body. The false ego, which is the ego you are speaking of, is actually the subtle body. The gross body is made of earth, water, fire, air and ether. The subtle body is made of mind, intelligence and ego. That is also the body, the subtle body. You are correct that some people do not really identify with the gross material body but they identify themselves with the subtle body. But we have to even transcend the subtle body. We have to transcend the platform of our mind, material intelligence and ego, and then we can come to the platform of our spiritual identity, spirit soul. The first person we have to convince is ourselves. If you are convinced and if somebody listens to you with a little open heart, he will also become convinced. If you are not convinced, you won’t be able to convince anyone else.

3.     Krishna made this world then why is there evil in the world?

Before we say Krishna made this world, we have to also understand why Krishna made this world. Krishna created this nature so that those who do not want to accept Krishna can independently try to enjoy and as a result of that, suffer so much that finally they realize that they made a mistake. To make this point a little clearer, I’ll give an example. The king creates a prison, but does the king create it to go there and have a good time? Why does the king make the prison? For the criminals, the law-breakers. Those who don’t want to abide by the law and go against the law are put into the prison and made to go through punishments so that they realize that it is bad to break the law. Similarly, Krishna created this material nature for those criminals like ourselves, who do not want to accept Krishna’s law! The more we break Krishna’s law, what is the result? The more we suffer. Through this suffering, we come to realize that we shouldn’t do that. Evil means to go against Krishna. Krishna didn’t create evil. Absence of Krishna is evil, just as absence of light is darkness. Light did not create darkness, but when light is absent, it becomes dark.