Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.) Translation: "The sun, fire, sky, air, demigods, moon, evening, day, night, directions, water, land, and the Supersoul Himself all witness the activities of the living entity."

Prabhupada:

suryo 'gniḥ; khaṁ marud devaḥ;
somaḥ; sandhyahani disaḥ;
kaṁ kuḥ; svayaṁ dharma iti hy
ete daihyasya sakṣiṇaḥ;
[SB 6.1.42]

In the Christian religion they do not believe karma, that I did something in my past life. "Where is the evidence that I did something; therefore I am suffering?" They take the analogy: just like a criminal in the court is convinced when there is sufficient witness, not that I have complained against you, and you go to the court, you are punished. No. My charges against you should be corroborated by sufficient witness. So the Christian religionists, they do not believe in the next birth, transmigration of the soul, something like that. So they do not believe also in the fruitive activities' resultant action of our past life. This very word "witness"... It is my personal experience. I was student in the Scottish Churches College, and we had to attend half an hour Bible class. So Dr. W.S. Urquhart, he was teaching, Reverend W.S. Urquhart. He said, I remember, that "Where is the evidence? The Hindus believe in the karma, but where is the evidence that I did it?"

The answer is here, that... We may not compare our inefficiency with the arrangement of the Supreme Lord. Now, God has kept so many witnesses. How you can escape? Here is a name, list of witness. Surya first of all—the sun. So how you can escape Surya's light? You cannot escape. So here is one witness. Then Agni, fire. Then Kham, the sky. Where there is no sky? Here we are sitting; there is sky. And there is light also. Then Marut, air. Deva. Who is deva? Demigods, yes. Then Soma. At night there is moon. Sandhya, evening or noon. Noon is also sandhya. Sandhya means junction. When the night is going away—the day is coming early in the morning—that is also sandhya. When midday, the forenoon is passing—the afternoon is beginning—that is also sandhya. Tri-sandhya. Tri-sandhya. We have to chant Gayatri mantra tri-sandhya, early in the morning, in the midday and in the evening. That is tri-sandhya. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadaḥ; yasyaprasadad na gatiḥ; kuto 'pi **. What is next line?

Devotee: Dhyayan stuvaṁs tasya yasas tri-sandhyam.

Prabhupada: Tri-sandhya. This tri-sandhya, early in the morning, midday and in the evening. So every sandhya is witness. Sandhya, ahani, day and night together, whole day, twenty-four hours, ahani. Ahany ahani loka gacchanti yama-mandiram. This ahani. Every day hundreds and thousands of living entities are dying. Seṣaḥ; sthitam icchanti kim ascaryam ataḥ; param. Still, one who is not dead, he is thinking, "I'll not die. I'll remain." This is the wonderful thing, most wonderful thing. Everyone should be prepared for death. Death is inevitable. So disaḥ;, and ten directions: north, south, east, west, the four corners, eight, and up and down. They are ten directions. Where you'll go? Everywhere there is witness. You cannot escape. Kaṁ kuḥ; svayam. What is kaṁ kuḥ;?

Devotee: Water and earth.

Prabhupada: Water and earth, yes. So how you can escape God's eyes? Sarvataḥ; paṇi-padaṁ tat sarvato cakṣuḥ;. Everywhere God's eyes are there. So you cannot escape. You are wanting witness? Here are so many witnesses. How you can hide your sinful activities? That is not possible. You can hide yourself from the material laws, that "The police has not seen me. Then I may escape." No. God's law you cannot do that. That is not possible. So we should remember it, that when we act sinfully, then there are so many witnesses, and we have to be punished. You cannot escape. Kaṁ kuḥ; svayam. Svayam. These are so many gods, witnesses, and over and above them svayam, the Personality of Godhead in His Supersoul feature Supersoul means God is present in everyone's heart. Not only heart, He is everywhere present, even within the atom.

yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-caya yad-antaḥ;
aṇḍantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-sthaṁ
govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami
[Bs. 5.35]

The Lord, in order to maintain this material world, how He has expanded, it is described in the sastra. Eko 'py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi. Jagad-aṇḍa means this universe. Aṇḍa: it is egglike. Aṇḍa means egglike, jagat-aṇḍa, the universe. So that universe is not one. We are seeing only one universe with our, these naked eyes, but when we see through the eyes of sastra, authority... Sastra-cakṣuṣat. This is Vedic knowledge, that "Don't be simply after your, these defective eyes." What is the value of these eyes? There are so many things. Just like this morning we were discussing: you take photograph from the sea. What you will see? But there are many millions of fishes within the sea. What you will take, photograph? They say that "We have taken photograph on the moon planet. There is no life." What is the value of this photograph? Can you take photograph in the water, how many fishes are there? So what is the value of your photograph? This is the difficulty, that these rascals, they do not accept that they are defective. That is the difficulty. With their defective senses they are thinking, "We are perfect. Because we have got a photograph, telescope, therefore it is sufficient." It is made by you. You are defective, and whatever you make, that is defective. This is the conclusion. This is right conclusion. If blind man, if he creates some telescope or..., can he see? You are blind. What you can see? But they are taking evidence: "We have seen with photograph, with telescope."

So these questions were never raised. We are now raising these questions. And they were passing on. No. This is not the process. The process is sastra-cakṣuṣat, sabda-pramaṇam. That is the Vedic injunction, sabda-pramaṇam. Just like you are sleeping, and somebody is coming to kill you with knife. So how you can take precaution? You are sleeping. But some of your friend or relative: "Get up! Get up! Get up! There is enemy! There is enemy!" Immediately you wake up. That means you see with the ear, not with the eyes. The real seeing is through the eyes, er, through the ears. Suppose one does not know who is your..., who is his father. So how he can see the father? Through the ear, not with the eyes. That is not possible. The mother says, "My dear child, here is your father," and you see through the eyes: "Here is my father." So therefore real eyes—the ear, not these eyes. Real eyes. That is real seeing. Therefore sastra says, Vedic knowledge, that sastra-cakṣuṣat, pasyati jñana-cakṣuṣat: "One can see by the eyes of knowledge," not by these blunt eyes. This is useless. They cannot see. And how you can see through the sabda? Sastra means sabda. Through the ear... My Guru Maharaja used to say, "Don't try to see a saintly person by your eyes. You see a saintly person by the ear." Because if you hear from the saintly person and if he is speaking from the experience which he has heard from the, another saintly person—this is called guru-parampara—then the knowledge is perfect. Yesterday we ... The Yamadutas said that iti susruma. Never said, "I have seen it." Vedo narayaṇaḥ; sakṣat svayaṁbhur iti susruma: "We have heard it." Vedo narayaṇaḥ; sakṣa... He never says, "I have seen it." No. Iti ṣuṣruma. So this is experience, real experience, real knowledge. Vedo narayaṇaḥ; sakṣat. Veda is directly Narayaṇa. So Narayaṇa... You can see Narayaṇa. You can hear about Narayaṇa. Sravaṇaṁ kirtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ; [SB 7.5.23]. Viṣṇu is Narayaṇa. This is the beginning of understanding Narayaṇa, sravaṇaṁ kirtanam. Never says, "By seeing, by touching, by licking up." No. You cannot see. That is not experience. Real experience is iti susruma. So if we take our knowledge that there is no witness what we did in our previous life, that is nonsense. Here are the so many witnesses. Iti susruma. Hear. You cannot say there is no witness. You hear from the Vedic literature how many witnesses are present there for all your activities and how they are becoming recorded minutely, and everything will be judged. Therefore the Yamaraja is there.

So this is our position, that prakrteḥ; kriyamaṇani guṇaiḥ; karmaṇi sarvasaḥ; [Bg. 3.27], ahaṅkara-vimuḍhatma. Anyone who is proud of his so-called knowledge, so-called experience—simply "I believe," "I think," "It may be," "Suppose"—what is this knowledge? They're all nonsense. When you get knowledge susruma, from the authority, that is knowledge. Otherwise all useless. All useless. Because your senses are imperfect. You cannot see properly. You cannot hear properly. You cannot touch properly. You cannot smell properly. These are your instruments for getting experience. You cannot go. How you can say in other planets there is no life? You cannot go. According to the scientists' calculations, they say that to go to the topmost planet it will take forty... Eh? Forty thousands of years. Who is going to travel forty thousand years? But we are seeing. The planets are there. Go there and see. You cannot estimate of one universe, which you are practically seeing. And in the sastra we hear that there are millions of universes.

yasya prabha prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
koṭiṣv aseṣa-vasudhadi vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aseṣa-bhutaṁ
govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami
[Bs. 5.40]

So we have to take knowledge from sastra. And who will teach me sastra? Tad-vijñanarthaṁ sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. Go to guru. Tad-vijñanartham. Just like you go to some superior person to learn something. That is the process. Similarly, the same process... You have to go to a person who has also heard. Susruma. You go to that, not that person who says that "I suppose," "I believe," "Maybe." No. You go to the person who says, iti susruma: "We have heard it from authorities." You have to go to that person. Srotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [MU 1.2.12]. Who is guru? Srotriyam: "Who has properly heard." Srotriyam. And what is the result? Brahma-niṣṭham: by hearing, he is firmly convinced there is God. You have to go to such guru. lf you go to a fakir, what he will teach you? No. Fakir means one who talks much without any knowledge. He is called fakir.

So everything is, direction is there. Tad-vijñanartham. If you want to know that science, then Tad-vijñanarthaṁ sa gurum eva: [MU 1.2.12] "must." Gacchet. This verb is used when there is the sense "must." If somebody says, "All right, I shall learn even without going to any guru," no, that is not possible. Therefore this verb is used, gacchet: "You must if you want to learn." Otherwise you remain in darkness. This is Vedic injunction. Susruma? You must hear from the right source; then you will get perfect knowledge. So therefore, whether there is witness or not witness, we cannot understand from a so-called professor. There is witness, sastra says. And how can you deny it? If surya... first word is surya. The surya is the eyes of God, one eye. Another eye is the moon. And it is described in the sastra,

yac-cakṣur eṣa savita sakala-grahanaṁ
raja samasta-sura-murtir aseṣa-tejaḥ;,
yasyajñaya bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakro
govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami

So Surya can see that... We have got some rays of the eyes, three feet. But, you see, from the 93,000,000 miles away he is seeing you. So brightly he is seeing. So you have to understand in that way. The sastra says, "Here is the eyes." Another eye, another eye, one after another, one after another. How you will escape? That is not possible.

Therefore we must be very cautious and, I mean to say, with sense we must act, and if we act according to the direction of the sastra, then our position is safe. Otherwise, we are risking life. Risking life means this human life, human life. The dog has got ear; we have got also ear. But a dog cannot understand sastra; that is not possible. Or the elephant has got ear, very big ear. (laughter) Does it mean that he can hear more? No. This is rascaldom. One must be quite able to hear to understand sastra. Therefore sastra is meant for the human society. In the Caitanya-caritamrta you will find, the Sanatana Gosvami's teachings, you will find, anadi bahirmukha jiva krṣṇa bhuli gela, ataeva krṣṇa veda puraṇa karila. Why these Vedas and Puraṇas are there? Just to remind us. The veda puraṇa karila. Veda, the four Vedas and other literatures abiding by the Vedas... Puraṇa means supplementary Vedas. There are many historical incidences. They say "mythology." No, it is not mythology. It is from selected historical incidences put together, but the same Vedic instruction for common man. In the Vedas the mantras are there. Common man cannot understand. Janmady asya yataḥ; [SB 1.1.1], athato brahma jijñasa. This Veda mantra goes on. But ordinary persons, they cannot understand. Therefore the same Vedas explained with reference to the historical incidences, that is called Puraṇa. Puraṇa means "who is complete." Puraṇa, purayati iti puraṇa. So, the Mayavadi philosopher, they say the Puraṇas are stories. No. The Bhagavata is Puraṇa. It is full of stories. But what kind of stories? All Vedic instruction. Just like Ajamila. Ajamila began, itihasa. The Bhagavata Puraṇa is speaking itihasa, in the beginning. It is said. So Sukadeva Gosvami is giving incidences of itihasa, history, example from the history. So this is actual fact.

So in order to convince Parikṣit Maharaja how chanting of Hare Krṣṇa mantra is powerful, he is giving a lesson from the history, how Ajamila was delivered simply by chanting "Narayaṇa." This is the incidence from the history. And it is history. The story begins, kanyakubje. Kanyakubja is still there in India. Perhaps you have heard the name of Kanpur. So that is within the Kanyakubja area. Kanyakubje dvijaḥ;: "There was a brahmaṇa in Kanyakubja." Historical name is all... So it is history. It is not story, mythology. No story. It is historical fact. Anything which is described in the sastra... The Bhagavata is Maha-Puraṇa. Don't be misled, "These are mythology." No, these are historical facts. And we have to learn the Vedic knowledge by the description selected from the history so that we can easily understand. This is the purpose.

So in our, this human form of life we should be very careful, and what is ordered that "You should do like this..." Just like if you go to a medical man, so if you are diseased, a medical man, physician, will give you a prescription that "You take this medicine, and you do not take this kind of food. You can take this kind of food." Ahara-pathya. So if you want to cure your material disease, then two things are required: the medicine and the food. It is called pathya. The proper food and proper medicine. The proper medicine is chanting Hare Krṣṇa, and the proper food is Krṣṇa prasada.

Devotees: Jaya!

Prabhupada: Take these two things—you are liberated.

Thank you very much. (end)

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