Prabhupada: So we have been discussing for the last few days about the process of knowledge. So we have discussed already amanitvam, humbleness. Amanitvam adambhitvam ahiṁsa [Bg. 13.8]. Ahiṁsa, non-violence. So ahiṁsa kṣantiḥ;, tolerance, arjavam, simplicity. These things we have already discussed.

Now another important thing is acaryopasanam. If you want to make progress, then you have to approach acarya. Just like if you want to be educated, you go to school, you go to college, you go to university, similarly, if you want to be advanced in knowledge... knowledge means not this material knowledge. Actual knowledge is to advance in spiritual knowledge.

Just in this Bhagavad-gita the beginning of knowledge was instructed by Krṣṇa that "I am not this body." Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaraṁ yauvanaṁ jara [Bg. 2.13]." I am encaged in this body. I am not this body. Unfortunately at the present moment, this is accepted knowledge, bodily concept. "I am." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brahmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya." This is going on. Actually the knowledge begins when one understands I am not American, "I am not Indian," I am not brahmaṇa," "I am not kṣatriya." Then what you are? Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, gopi-bhartuḥ; pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanu-dasa: "I am the servant of the servant of the servant of Krṣṇa, the provider of the gopis," Gopi-bhartuḥ;. That is my real identification. Not this body [Cc. Madhya 13.80].

So to understand this knowledge one has to approach acarya. Acarya means one who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, sastra. Asrṇoti yaḥ; sastram. And practices and teaches his disciple. He knows. Acarya means knows. One who knows the purpose of Vedic literature, he practices in his life, and he teaches his disciple. He is called acarya. So acarya upasanam. Before worshiping the Lord... Just like here Krṣṇa said in the beginning, acaryopasanam, and in the middle he says, mayi cananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicariṇi. So before engaging yourself in devotional service to the Lord, you must first of all worship acarya, acaryopasanam. One cannot become a devotee personally. Just like some rascals say, "What is the use of accepting guru?" Of course, they have got very bad experience.

But who is acarya? Acarya means one who has received the Vedic knowledge through the parampara system. Evaṁ parampara-praptam imaṁ rajarṣayo viduḥ; [Bg. 4.2]. He is acarya. Acarya cannot be manufactured, self-made. No. He must come down from the disciplic succession. He is acarya. You have to approach such acarya who is coming in disciplic succession. acaryavan puruṣo veda. One who is under the shelter of acarya, he knows things. So Krṣṇa recommends also here that if you actually want to become in knowledge, if you want to have real knowledge, then you must worship acarya. Acaryopasanam. This is Vedic system. Tad vijñanarthaṁ sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12].

It is not that "If I like, I can go to a guru; if I don't like I can learn the books at home and learn everything." No, that is not possible. Practically... Just like if you purchase some medical book and study at home and if you begin to practice, you will be called a quack. You will not be recognized by the government. You will not get the practitioner's registration. You will not. Unless you have passed through the medical college, your medical examination, you will not be accepted, even if you say that "I have read all the books." Similarly, if you simply think that "I have read... As we see generally, "Oh, I have read Bhagavad-gita hundred times." But you ask him what is Krṣṇa, he cannot say. Because he has not approached the acarya. This is the difficulty. He might have read Bhagavad-gita a thousand times, but he will not understand a single word because he has not approached.

Therefore Vedic literature says tad vijñanarthaṁ sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Abhigacchet." This word is used when the sense is "You must." This is vidhi-lin form of verb, gacchet, abhigacchet. You must. There is no excuse. You cannot learn. Tasmad guruṁ prapadyeta jijñasuḥ; sreya uttamam [SB 11.3.21]. If you want to know uttamam subject matter... Ut, ut means udgatam, transcending. Tamaḥ; means this material world. This material world is tama, darkness. But if you are interested in the matter which is transcendental to this material world, that means spiritual world, then tasmad guruṁ prapadyeta, you must surrender to a guru.

Jijñasuḥ; sreya uttamam. Not ordinary jijñasuḥ;. Just like we go to the market, "What is the rate of this share? What is the rate of rice? What is the rate of dahl?" Not that kind of jij... Brahma jijñasuḥ;. Athato brahma jijñasa. This human life is meant for inquiring about Brahman, not this rice, dahl, share market. No.

So jijñasuḥ; sreya uttamam, what is the highest perfection of life, he requires to approach a guru. It is not a fashion. It is not a fashion that "I have made my guru, such and such Swami." But what you have learned? You cannot learn because you are not at all jijñasuḥ;. You do not know how to inquire, neither the guru you have met, he does know how to reply. Such kind of guru and disciple will not help. The disciple must be also serious to understand about the spiritual subject matter. That is knowledge, brahma-jijñasa. One who is inquisitive to know about the Absolute Truth, he requires to approach a guru. That is jñana. Jnana means brahma-jñana. Ahaṁ brahmasmi. This is jñana. And if I am American, that is not jñana. That is ajñana. "I am Indian," "I am brahmaṇa," "I am this," "I am that," "I am black," "I am white," "I am fat," "I am thin." These are all ajñana, ignorance. You are neither fat nor thin nor black nor white nor American, but you are spirit soul. You have to know that. Ahaṁ brahmasmi: "I am spirit soul. I am eternal servant of Krṣṇa." That is knowledge. And for this knowledge you must approach, acaryopasanam.

Saucam, cleanliness. That is very essential. This morning I was talking with Tamal Krṣṇa Gosvami. Cleanliness is... As soon as you give up cleanliness, you become mleccha and yavana. Mleccha, yavana, these two names have come into Vedic sastras, one who is unclean." Why there was always misunderstanding between the Hindus and the Muslims? I am talking of practical life. Because the Muslims were very unclean and the Hindus are supposed... now Hindus are less than Muslim, less than Muslim. And still, they are claiming... Saucam. They are most unclean at the present moment, so deteriorated. Publicly it is being advertised, "Here is beef shop. Come on. Equality. Equality by eating beef, drinking wine." Now this is coming. Saucam. Saucam. Cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness. You must take twice bath at least. It is required. And in tropical countries like India, there is no difficulty taking bath three times. Of course, if your body does not permit... But that is Saucam, to clean. Saucam. Saucaṁ bahyabhyantaram.

apavitraḥ; pavitro va
sarvavasthaṁ gato 'pi va
yaḥ; smaret puṇḍarikakṣaṁ
sa bahyabhyantaraṁ suciḥ;

The brahmaṇa is called therefore suci. He is always clean, taking three times bath, cloth washed, mouth, hands, legs, all clean, with tilaka. That is brahmaṇa. Saucam. This is externally. And internally you have to become also saucam. Bahyabhyantaram. Bahya mean externally you have to cleanse yourself with water, soap or earth. And internally you have to be cleansed by chanting Hare Krṣṇa maha-mantra. Ceto-darpana-marjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12]. Because if you remain unclean within the heart, simply by washing your external body and cleansing your cloth, that is not complete cleanliness. That may be called hygienic. But real cleanliness is internally and externally. Yaḥ; smaret puṇḍarikakṣaṁ sa bahyabhyantaraṁ suciḥ;. So you have to cleansed yourself externally and internally.

By remembering, yaḥ; smaret puṇḍarikakṣam, the lotus-eyed Krṣṇa, if you always think, that is suci. And in Bengali there is a word, poetry, muci haya suci haya yadi krṣṇa bhaje. If one is Krṣṇa conscious, even if he is born in a cobbler's family, muci... In India there are two things, muci and suci. Suci means perfect brahmaṇa, and muci means cobbler, the shoemaker. So muci haya suci haya yadi krṣṇa bhaje. If one becomes Krṣṇa conscious, even if he is born in the family of a muci, camara, he can become a brahmaṇa. And suci haya muci haya yadi krṣṇa tyaje. And if he gives up Krṣṇa, even if he's born in a brahmaṇa family, he becomes a muci.

Muci means the skin expert. If he is simply busy, "I am this skin, brahmaṇa skin..." Your behavior? "No, that doesn't matter. So that means skin expert. Just like muci knows how to distinguish whether it is cow's skin or goat's skin or this skin.

No. One must be Krṣṇa conscious. Then he is cleansed. Sa bahyabhyantaraṁ suciḥ;. Yaḥ; smaret puṇḍarikakṣam. This is Krṣṇa consciousness. Man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji maṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65]. One who is always thinking of Krṣṇa—Hare Krṣṇa Hare Krṣṇa Krṣṇa Krṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama—he is suci. He is no more muci. Muci haya suci haya yadi krṣṇa bhaje. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahaḥ;.

Controlling the senses, atma-vinigrahaḥ;. That is called swami, gosvami. If you can control your senses... Vaco-vegaṁ krodha-vegam. If you can control your force of talking nonsense... Because generally we talk nonsense. So if you can control your talking of nonsense things, then you will become controller of talking. Vaco-vegaṁ krodha-vegam. Naturally because we are generally affected with rajas-tamo-guṇa, raja-guṇa especially and tamo-guṇa, we become angry all of a sudden. So we have to control that. Vaco-vegaṁ krodha-vegaṁ manaso-vegam. Mind is very restless. So you have to control the mind. You cannot allow the mind to do anything and everything, but it must be controlled. Sthairyam atma-vinigrahaḥ;. Indriyartheṣu vairagyam. Indriyartheṣu.

For the matter of sense gratification you have to practice vairagya. Indriya. Our all the indriyas—eyes, tongue, nose—they are very much, I mean to say, affected or attracted. Eyes, always attracted by beauty. "I want to see very beautiful thing." But you can control the eyes when you practice to see the beautiful feature of Lord Krṣṇa and Radharaṇi. Therefore the Deity should be very nicely decorated so layman like us may be attracted by the beauty of Radha-Krṣṇa. Gradually, he will forget to see any other beauty. This is the practice of indriyartheṣu. Indriyartheṣu vairagyam.

Actually the whole life is meant for understanding vairagya, renouncement. Human life is not meant for becoming more and more attached to the material enjoyment. Human life is meant for tapasya, vairagya. Here it is said, vairagyam, anahaṅkara, and false prestige, false identification. "Oh, am this. I must do this." That is... In the beginning it is taught, amanitvam, anahaṅkaram. And then janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duḥ;kha-doṣanudarsanam. We are very much busy to make solution of the problems of life. Political problems, economical problems, social problems. They are also problems. But real problem is janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi, that you have to take birth, you have to die, and when you are in life, you have to suffer from diseases, jara-vyadhi, and you have to become old. Janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duḥ;kha. These are really problems. But who knows that these are the real problems? They have taken it, accepted it.

Krṣṇa says, "This is knowledge." If you are scientifically advanced how to stop death, how to stop birth, how to stop old age, how to stop disease, then you should know that you have advanced in science. Otherwise what is this? If you have made a horseless carriage motorcar, that is not advancement. It is advancement, but it is not the solution of the problem. The solution of problem is, human life, is to how to stop death.

Therefore sastra says that nobody should become guru, nobody should become father, nobody should become husband—in this way there is a list—na mocayed yaḥ; samupetya mrtyum, if one cannot help his student or his son or his subordinate to stop death. Actually this is the problem Na mocayed yaḥ; samupetya mrtyum. We are under the clutches of death. "It is as sure as death." So this human life is meant for stopping this death. But if you don't see that this is the problem, that is ajñana. That is ignorance. If you don't accept this is the problem, if you simply think "My problem is how to eat, how to sleep, how to have sex life, how to defend... These problems are already solved, even by the birds and the beasts. These are not the problems. They are already set up. Real problem is here: janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi-duḥ;kha-doṣanudarsanam [Bg. 13.9].

Another problem is asaktiḥ;. We are very much attached to our so-called home, so-called wife, children. And here is, jñana means that asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ;, asaktir. You should, therefore, at a certain age, according to Vedic civilization, one is forced to give up this attachment. Naturally, one is attached to wife, children, home. But Vedic civilization says, that is all right from... Up to fifty years, you can remain attached. But pañcaṣordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. After your fiftieth year, you must give up your family life. Vanaṁ vrajet. Go to the forest for tapasya. That was the system. Here at the present moment, everywhere, all over the world, when he is going to die, still he is attached to his political life, social life, family life. That is not knowledge. That is ignorance. You must be detached. Vairagyam. Anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ;. Putra-dara-grhadiṣu. Family life. Putra means children. Dara means wife. Grha means home. Putra-dara-grhadiṣu. Asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ;. Nityaṁ ca sama-cittatvam iṣṭaniṣṭopapattiṣu.

In this way you have to be situated on the devotional service. Devotional service is not sentiment. Just like Krṣṇa, after describing so many stages of advancement of knowledge, then he says, mayi ca ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicariṇi. Ananya-yogena. Always... Yoga means linking up. Always linking up with Krṣṇa. Mayi. Krṣṇa says mayi, "Unto Me, Krṣṇa." Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena. So you can become attached with Krṣṇa if you are dovetailed in the service of Krṣṇa, not casually, but constantly. Mayi ca ananya-yogena bhakti-yogena avyabhicariṇi. Acyabhicariṇi means without break, always, constantly. Satataṁ kirtayanto maṁ yatantas ca drdha-vrataḥ; [Bg. 9.14].

In another place Krṣṇa says, satataṁ kirtayanto mam, "always glorifying Me." This is Krṣṇa consciousness movement. Always we have to glorify Krṣṇa. We should go, meet people, preach, and glorify Krṣṇa. We beg for Krṣṇa. We print books for Krṣṇa. We distribute book for Krṣṇa. We type for Krṣṇa. We eat for Krṣṇa. We sleep for Krṣṇa. So everything should be dovetailed with Krṣṇa. That is called ananya-yogena, without any break, constantly, twenty-four hours in Krṣṇa consciousness. Avyabhicariṇi.

Vivikta-desa-sevitvam aratir jana-saṁsadi [Bg. 13.11]. Aratir jana-saṁsadi, not very much attached with general public, because they are not Krṣṇa conscious. We can meet them as far as possible, as far as required. Not that we have to sit down and talk all nonsense with these general people. No. Aratir jana-samsadi, and vivikta-desa-sevitvam [Bg. 13.11]. Naturally, we shall be inclined to avoid such company. But preaching work, we have to go. Not to associate with him, but to give your association to him. That should be the principle. Because you have learned something about devotional service, you should give your experience to such person, but not to accept their behavior. If you keep this in view, then you will be preacher. And if you become victimized by his association, then you are doomed. You should give him the opportunity of your association, whatever you know, whatever you have learned about bhakti-yoga. When you go to meet a person, you should try to inform him, "This is Krṣṇa consciousness. You also take to it." As Caitanya Mahaprabhu... Yare dekha, tare kaha 'krṣṇa-upadesa' [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Yare dekha, tare kaha 'krṣṇa-upadesa'.

This is real business. Adhyatma-jñana-nityatvam. Spiritual knowledge. That is eternal knowledge. It will not break. If you learn spiritual knowledge, a little of it in this life, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trayate mahato bhayat, then you will be saved from the greatest danger. Tattva-jñanartha-darsanam. If you want to become philosopher, then you philosophize for understanding the tattva-jñana. And what is tattva-jñana?

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaṁ yaj jñanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate
[SB 1.2.11]

That is tattva-jñana. Truth. What is that truth? Brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti. To understand about Brahman, to understand about Paramatma, to understand about the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is tattva-jñana.

So if you want to become philosopher, then philosophically you try to understand what is brahma-tattva, what is Paramatma-tattva, what is Bhagavan-tattva. Etaj jñanam, this is jñana. Not these degrees, MA, Phd. These are all decoration of the dead body. If you do not understand what is the value of life, you do not understand what is tattva, what is Brahman, what is Paramatma, what is God, if you do not become cleansed, if you do not become a devotee, as they are stated, if you have no acarya, you have no guru, then you are in darkness. Krṣṇa concludes here. Etaj jñanam, "All these items described, this is jñanam." Iti proktam. It is accepted, prokta. Ajñanam yad ato 'nyatha: "And just any other thing besides these things, they are ajñanam."

So you compare. You call any educated person. Just like I told you several times, that that Professor Kotovsky, big man in Russia, he said "That there is no life. After finishing this body, everything is finished." Just see how much ajñanam. He does not know. So the whole world is going on under ajñanam. If they accept this Krṣṇa consciousness movement, there is chance of having jñanam. Otherwise they remain in ajñanam. Thank you very much. Hare Krṣṇa. (end)

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