Actually, Krishna Consciousness is a science. It is the science of the life force. Generally, well not generally but almost exclusively…whatever we know has to do with matter: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. In the Bhagavad-gita, yes, this book is really the oldest book of spiritual knowledge in the world. It is actually a simple conversation between Krishna and His friend, Arjuna. And in the Bhagavad-gita, five things are explained: the material energy, which is earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego. Mind, intellect and ego are also material, but they are subtle. Subtle energy. So they are called apara prakriti. Apara means inferior, and prakriti means nature. So Krishna says, besides this inferior nature, or energy, there is another energy, which is superior. Para prakriti. Para means superior, like paratrooper, troopers that are superior, or paramilitary, paramedic, etc. Para is a Sanskrit word. We will find Sanskrit words in all languages, even in English. Because originally, the whole planet was under one cultural influence, one Vedic influence. The word veda means knowledge, it simply means knowledge, because the whole aim of human life is to know. To know what? You’ve heard the word Vedanta? Vedanta means the end of knowledge. Anta means end. So the whole aim of human life is to know, and the end of knowledge, or the conclusion of knowledge is to know oneself. And to know our relationship with the Supreme Self. Because you are self, he is self, I am self. But there is one Self which (Who) is Supreme. Just like you’re American, she is American, I am American, but there is one
American- he’s the leader- the President. But, that is just the title of the office. George W. Bush is an individual person, who is supreme.
So in a more perfect sense, or in the spiritual sense, as you are individual and I am individual, there is a Supreme Spiritual Leader, or Individual…that is God. God means the controller. Sometimes people say, “I don’t believe in God, there is no God”. So, he is saying he is not under the control of anyone. No. You must be under someone’s control. Either you are the Supreme Controller, which of course we can understand you are not, no, “I am under the control of my wife, or my boss, or my football coach, or my teacher, or the police officer…I am under someone’s control”. So, the Supreme Controller means God. He controls everyone, but He is not controlled by anyone. That’s the actual meaning of God. And God is not material. He is not a product of our imagination, He is not a product of this material world, He is the source of everything. That’s the meaning of God. Krishna says, “aham sarvasya prabava…There is no truth superior to Me, everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread”. So, we living entities are a sample of God. If we want to know what is God, we have to study ourselves, because whatever we find in ourselves, it is there in Him. It cannot be in us unless it’s present in Him. Just as you are a sample of your father and mother, you are a product of mother and father, so you have the qualities of your mother and father…(materially speaking). Isn’t it? So, the whole aim of human life is to know God, because He is my origin. My immediate or apparent origin may be father and mother, and their origin is their father and mother. But the original origin of all fathers and all mothers, all energies, all opulences, that is God.
So God is Krishna. God is not impersonal, Krishna is a person. Just as you are a person, He cannot be anything less than you! If the power of thinking, feeling, willing, is there in you, it is there in God. We are a small sample of God, like a drop of water from the ocean; it must have salt in it. Why? Because the ocean is vast body of salt water. So, if we examine a drop, we get some idea of the quality and the nature of the ocean. But the ocean is unlimited and the drop is limited, finite. So our original point was…
There are five subjects covered in this book: the material nature, the spiritual nature, the controller of both, (that’s Krishna) time, and activities, karma. You’ve heard the word karma? Karma means activity. So these are the subject matters of this book, but the most fundamental and basic understanding is to know that I am not a product of this inferior energy. In other words, matter does not generate life. Life generates matter. Just as my hand casts a shadow; the shadow does not, in any way…has no power over the hand, isn’t it? Without the hand, the shadow cannot be cast. Similarly, without the presence of life, matter cannot take shape. The same example, without the presence of electricity, there cannot be an TV, or toaster, or lamp, or refrigerator, or fan…there must first have been something known as electric force, then we condition the force by creating some appliance. The electricity then passes through and activates it. But the appliance cannot generate electric force. Similarly, matter cannot create life. Life is superior energy, and what is the nature of life? It is sat, cid, ananda. Sat, it is ever existing, in other words, there was no time of its creation, and there is no time of its destruction. Krishna says, “once having been, it never ceases to be, that which pervades the entire body is indestructible, no one can kill the imperishable soul.
Just like the same example, if I destroy the TV, it doesn’t mean the electricity is destroyed, no. It just shifts to another position. So the living force, which is known as atma or jivatma in Sanskrit, the living force is the basis of every material phenomena. Whether it is a human being, or a beast, or a bird, or a bug, or a plant, or a microbe, even the atom is existing on the basis of the living force. Therefore, there is movement in the atom. Wherever there is motion, there must be life. So the body is moving because there is life. Just like my shirt is moving, why? Because my shirt is draped on my body. If I put my shirt on the floor, it will not move. So the body is in fact a combination of chemicals, or we can say earth, water, fire, air, or blood, mucous, bile, stool, urine, whatever…it is a combination of material ingredients. And western education is concerned only with this body. How to decorate this body, how to preserve this body. They are busy day and night creating bodily comforts and bodily enjoyments. But, I am not this body. Therefore whatever we have created, whatever attention or energy we focus on the preservation and the well being of this body…it doesn’t satisfy the soul. Simply because I am not the body. Exactly like the driver of the car is not the car, he is not part of the car, he is the force…when he pushes the buttons, the whole thing is set into motion. If some part on the car breaks, like the generator, it can be replaced. But the driver cannot be replaced, because he is not a part of the car. He actually manufactures the car, and then manipulates the car. When the car is worn out, when all the parts are worn, then he leaves that car, and gets another car.
So the Bhagavad-gita describes this; “the living entity is passing in this body, from boyhood, to youth, to old age, and at death there is another change. A self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change. The living entity carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas”. If I am driving a Volkswagen, I can give it up and drive a Mercedes if I have enough money. So according to the consciousness, we change our body. You are now in this body, everyone has a particular body with a particular set of senses, a particular kind of intelligence. When this body is worn out, you give it up, and you get another body. How do you get the other body? Bhagavad-gita says, “wherever and whatever the mind is fixed on at the time of leaving this body, that nature you attain without fail”. So, the living entity is not “German, or American, or a Chinaman, he is not man or woman, or beast or bird”…just like electricity is not “TV or radio or toaster, or cooler, heater”, it is pure. But when it comes in touch with a particular arrangement, it appears to take on those qualities.
Similarly when the soul, which is pure, which means sat- eternal- cid- full of knowledge, and ananda- joyful. It is by nature joyful. When the soul comes in touch with matter, then it starts to identify, or accept those qualities. We are thinking, “I am American”. Just like you have this big body, so you’re thinking, “I’m a big guy, don’t mess with me!” (laughter) And someone is a little guy, someone is black, Mexican, everyone is thinking in terms of my body, I am this body. Why are people fighting? The Jews and the Palestinians are killing one another, why? Because they are thinking “I am this body”. And the body is born in this country, so “this is my country, so I must kill you if you come to my country”. And this is the basis of all our problems. The white man is thinking, “I am better than the black man”, or the Chinese is thinking, “I am better than the Japanese”, or the man is thinking, “I am better than the woman”, you see? So the whole environment is full of this perpetual conflict, because everyone is thinking in terms of my body. My body, my country, my wife, my friend, my enemy, my money, “I, me mine”. Just like the Americans, they came here, and the Native Indians said, this is our land, so there was killing, fighting. And this is the history of the whole world. This bodily concept is the source of all our problems. Not only socially, but politically, economically, mentally, people are absorbed in their minds thinking, “I have to lose weight, or gain weight, get lighter or darker, a tan, have more hair, grow it longer or shorter, or get the nose job, or the breast lift…something. Everyone is trying to fix up this body to make it the most adorable and attractive and enjoyable. (Ron) But it’s temporary anyway…right. (Hansadutta) Yes. But, I am not this body, and even if you fix it very nicely, it will deteriorate, because that is the nature of everything material. It takes birth, it appears at some point from the womb of the mother, and it comes out. On the first day of sexual intercourse, there is nothing, just a lump of emulsifications, they come together, and the soul takes shelter there, and it (matter) begins to expand. After nine months, when it’s fully ready, it is pushed out, and then it continues to grow. So, it is born, it grows, stays for some time, produces offspring, then it begins to dwindle, and then it vanishes.
So there are no exceptions to this law. Bhagavad-gita says, “For one who is born, death is certain, and for one who has died, it is certain he will be born again”. So then the question is, “So, what’s the point?” (laughter) That is the question. So for a human being, as soon as he asks this question, his spiritual life begins. That’s called athato brahma jijnasa…now in the human form of life is the time to inquire into the absolute truth, to inquire “why am I here, what is the point, why am I suffering, why am I undergoing all of this tribulation, what for?” I am working day and night, I am eating, sleeping, defending, mating…(Ron) just to die. (Hansadutta) Yes, but I’ll die. Whether I’m a rich man, poor man, good man, bad man, everyone. Birds, beasts, everything is destined for death; therefore this earth is sometimes referred to as martya loka, the planet of death. Because every living thing meets the same end. So, the whole aim of yoga is to revive our spiritual awareness, and get out of this futile, painful cycle of birth and death. Samsara- means the cycle of repeated birth and death. Right? Birth, old age, disease and death. That is the aim, because we are actually in a foreign environment, this world is not our natural environment. Our natural environment is spiritual. In other words, without the encumbrance of this material energy. It is very problematic. Everything in material life is a problem.
First of all, I have got this body; so I have to eat, I have to sleep, I have to defend myself from enemies, and there is the sex attraction. This sex attraction brings more bodies, so everyone is working hard. Why? Because they want money. What for? To eat, to sleep, to defend…but even though I may arrange for all this very nicely, there is old age, there is disease, and there is death. So everyone is in anxiety. Although Americans have everything, (materially speaking) they are still full of anxiety, rushing here and there trying to accumulate more and more. So, the whole Vedic culture aims at getting free from this futile struggle of birth, old age, disease and death. Someone may say, “No, we have to accept this, ‘life is tough’, we gotta ‘tough it out’”, right? But we say no, this is not life, this is death. This material existence, this temporary manifestation of earth, water, fire, air…this is not life. The body is never alive; there is no life in the body except for the soul. Just like the TV. The TV only becomes active when the electricity touches it. So if there is no electricity, you can have heaps of TVs, no use. Or lamps, they won’t make any light. The light is the force which touches the lamp, and gives it an appearance of shining.
So this body, as soon as the life is off of it, as soon as the soul is separated from the body, it’s a dead body. It’s repulsive. It is exactly like my shirt. The shirt is only moving because it’s hanging on my body. Similarly, this body is only moving because the soul is moving, the body is not moving, the soul is. This body is an instrument being manipulated by the soul. The car is not moving, the driver is the moving principle, and he pushes the button. Without the button pusher, the car is just a lump of metal. And this simple education, this simple point, this essential understanding is missing in everything. And because this is missing, everyone is confused, frustrated, even big powerful political, business and social leaders…they are bewildered. They don’t understand the difference between matter and spirit. They are just running on matter.
So, they are getting no satisfaction, because satisfaction is only possible for the soul, it is not possible for the body. Do we talk of “oh, my car is satisfied today”? No. The car is just a machine, and it acts wonderfully because the driver is wonderful. So, the body is a machine, a very sophisticated organic machine. But when the life is out of it, you can replace the lungs, or the kidneys, or whatever, but when the life is out of it, why don’t you replace the life? Can you replace it? The scientists, the doctors, they will say, “Oh, it is just chemicals interacting”. And when death takes place, that means there is some chemical missing. So, get the chemical, bring it…(laughter) right? So, there is no example where they can bring the chemical and make the dead body come back to life. Why? Because it is not chemicals, it is life, and life has nothing to do with matter. No more than the driver has anything to do with the car; really, he doesn’t drink gasoline or oil, or eat nuts and bolts, no. He is completely distinct, just as electricity is completely separate from this lamp. So this is the sum and substance of the Bhagavad-gita. There are so many other things, but in a nutshell, this is the essence of the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita, and the Bhagavad-gita is also known as the yoga shastra. I know you’ve heard of the term yoga, and shastra means instruction. That’s all it means. So whatever is known about yoga comes from this book. But unfortunately, as westerners are prone to do, they want to commercialize everything, as to somehow use it for making money, which they’ve done by popularizing yoga. But the yoga they have popularized really has nothing to do with the purpose of yoga. The purpose of yoga is really to bring us back in touch with the supreme living force, the Supreme Living Being, Krishna, God.
And all the great teachings, whether they are of Christ, or Buddha, or Caitanya, or Mohammed, or Krishna, or St. Francis, they are only concerned, “how to bring the conditioned soul to his senses, to awaken him”. Now he is sleeping, he is dreaming, “I am an American, I am a this or a that”, just like a man sleeping on the bed. He is thinking, “I am this, I am that”, but actually there is nothing, he is just dreaming. When we wake him up, he is like “Oh, yes, I was just dreaming that”. Right? So, what I am telling you is not something foreign or artificial, or academic. You know it, it’s there in you, you know this already, it is intrinsic knowledge. As the sugar is intrinsically sweet, I don’t come and add sweetness to it, it’s sweet by nature. So you know these things; they are known to you. But, unless someone confirms them, you always remain puzzled. You think, “Yeah, well, I don’t know, it’s a strange place we’re in here, this world, why are people behaving like that?” We can’t seem to get a bearing on life. Anyway, everything is just going on, so this must be right. No, that’s not right. We must receive knowledge from one who is in knowledge. Like within the wood, there is fire. That’s what wood is; it means it stores the fire from the sunlight. When another piece of wood on fire touches it, the fire which is stored there potentially, it will come out. So similarly, within your heart, you have got this understanding already; that you are eternal, that the knowledge is there, and you are naturally joyful. But, by misidentifying with matter, we become morose. Why? Because matter is dead, it’s inert. Like a dead body, would you want a dead body in your bed? Like a nice looking girl, but dead? (laughter) No. So we are not really interested in matter, but we have mistaken it for life. But actually matter is not life, it will never be life, it is just a covering.
(Ron) That’s just like when someone says, “Well, she’s a really good looking girl” but we don’t care really, because it won’t last. (Hansadutta) Right, we’re really interested in life, but we don’t know what life is because there is no department of education in the schools to teach us. Actually it should be taught systematically in school from the time we are about 5 or 6 years of age. We should be taught to distinguish life from matter. And then, we deal with matter accordingly. It’s not that spiritual life is in some way opposed, no it’s not like that, this is the essential understanding, and matter is secondary. Just like my hand, and its shadow, the shadow is secondary. I don’t need to be concerned about it, it will move when my hand moves. (Ron) It’s just like the cause and the effect.
(Hansadutta) Yes, cause and effect. And Krishna is the Cause of all causes. And as I said, this is the aim, “Radya Vidya Radya Guyam, Pravityam, Idam Uttamam”. Radja means King, and Vidya means knowledge. This is the King of knowledge. And it is scientific, it’s not that you believe it, or you speculate, No. This is scientific. There is a process for assimilating and realizing this understanding.
We study everything, but we never study ourselves, you see. (Ron) Hmmm. (Hansadutta) We are studying the astronomy, and we are studying the mineralogy, and the medicine, we are studying the engineering, the mechanics, history and politics, economics, computers, but no one is studying the self. My self. Although I say, “I want to be happy”, we don’t know what that ‘I’ is. I take ‘I’ as this body, but ‘I’ is not the body, ‘I’ is not mind, ‘I’ is not intellect, ‘I’ is the living force. So, I must come to this point, without that, everything else is useless, it has no value. (Ron) So, I have a question. Mr. Seymour has talked of past lives…and like, why we couldn’t remember our past lives…(Hansadutta) You cannot remember, if I asked you, “What did you do last month, the same day, the same time, can you remember? Huh? No. At night you go to sleep, can you remember when you go to sleep? No. But, you do go to sleep. And when you are sleeping, you think that you are awake, isn’t it? We all have this experience, everyday. While in deep sleep, dead to the world, anyone could come and kill you, you are thinking you are awake, and doing so many things, in the sleep, that’s called dreaming. And when you wake up, you realize like, “Oh, I was sleeping”. And you more or less forget what you were dreaming, you knew you were dreaming something, I can’t remember what that was hmm, what that was? Sometimes it’s very pleasant, sometimes very unpleasant.