Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.2.6
—
Rome, May 24, 1974
Nitāi: (leads chanting, etc.)
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati
[SB 1.2.6]
Translation: "The supreme occupation, dharma, for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self."
Prabhupāda: So we are reading chapter the Second Chapter of the First Canto, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, "Divinity and Divine Service." So just now we have recited the sixth verse. We can begin from the first verse. The first verse is,
iti sampraśna-saṁhṛṣṭo
viprāṇāṁ raumaharṣaṇiḥ
pratipūjya vacas teṣāṁ
pravaktum upacakrame
There was a great meeting and..., meeting means... In those days, there was no political meeting. Political meeting was not necessary because there was no democracy. It was monarchy. The kings, they were so trained up that there was no necessity of democracy. Actually, the modern government, democracy... We are experiencing, especially the great democratic country, America. So the democracy, the president elected by popular vote, is now being condemned. So what is the value of this democracy? You elect somebody by your vote, again condemn. That means the electors, the voters, have also no experience, and neither the man who is voted, he is also very good man. Otherwise, why you should change your opinion once you have elected a person to act as your head executive? So the democracy has proved a farce. It has no meaning, because people are not educated. People are mostly śūdras. There must be four classes of men. So brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, first class, second class, third class, fourth class. So at the present moment there is no first-class men, neither second-class men. All third class, fourth class. All of them. So on the votes of third-class and fourth-class men, how you can expect good government? That is not possible.
So there was no need of this democratic meeting, but there was meeting of the first-class brāhmaṇas. For the benefit of the whole human society they used to meet sometimes, and that meeting is still continuing in India. It is called Kumbha-melā. Kumbha-melā. Recently this meeting took place in Haridwar. All the saintly person used to come and in four places: one at Prayāga, Allahabad, one at Vṛndāvana, and one at Haridwar, and another at Rāmeśvaram, something like that. Four places. So similar meeting was held at Naimiṣāraṇya. Naimiṣāraṇya, that place is still existing, very nice place.
So the question was that "After departure of Kṛṣṇa, who was guiding the fates of the human being?" The last question was this.
brūhi yogeśvare kṛṣṇe
brahmaṇye dharma-varmaṇi
svāṁ kāṣṭhām adhunopete
dharmaḥ kaṁ śaraṇaṁ gataḥ
Dharma, religious principle... Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata [Bg. 4.7]. Glāniḥ means polluted. "Wherever there is pollution in the matter of discharging religious principles, I come down." Tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham. "Then I come down to settle up things." So Kṛṣṇa came for this purpose, to settle up or to purify dharmasya glāniḥ, pollution in the matter of discharging religious principles. Therefore, as soon as there is pollution, means there is a class of men who have polluted. They are called duṣkṛta, sinful. When there is increase of the number of sinful persons, there must be pollution in the system of religious life. This is the way. If everyone is following religious principle, everyone does not commit any sinful activity, so at that time, there is no chance of pollution in religiousness.
At the present moment, they do not know what is pollution and they do not know what is religious principle. That is the defect of the modern civilization, that religion is described in the dictionary, "a kind of faith," not principle. But according to Vedic conception, religion is not a kind of faith. Religion is..
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