Prabhupada 0151 - We Have to Learn From the Acaryas
Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Madras, January 2, 1976
So we are making different plans but it will not be successful. That much I explained last night, that we are thinking independent and we are planning so many things independently to become happy. It is not possible. That is not possible. That is māyā's illusory play. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā. You cannot surpass. Then what is the ultimate solution? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). If we surrender to Kṛṣṇa, then we revive our original position. That is... Kṛṣṇa consciousness means instead of keeping so many things in consciousness... They are all polluted consciousness. The real... We have got consciousness, that is a fact, but our consciousness is polluted. So we have to purify the consciousness. To purify consciousness means bhakti. Bhakti, the definition given in Nārada Pañcarātra... Rūpa Gosvāmī... Rūpa Gosvāmī says,
- anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
- jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
- ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
- śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā
- (Brs. 1.1.11)
This is first-class bhakti that there is no other motive. Anyābhilā... Because here in the material world, under the control of the material nature Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ, ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartā... (BG 3.27). We are under the full control of the prakṛti, material nature. But because we are foolish, we have forgotten our position, so ahaṅkāra, false ahaṅkāra. This is false ahaṅkāra: "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am kṣatriya." This is false ahaṅkāra. Therefore Nārada Pañcarātra says sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ (CC Madhya 19.170). So one has to become free, uncontaminated from all these designations, "I am Indian," "I am American," I am this," "I am that." "I am..." Sarvopādhi vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam. When he is purified, nirmalam, without any designation, that "I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi.
This is ahaṁ brahmāsmi. Kṛṣṇa is Para-brahman. He is described in the Śrīmad-Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna... Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvatam ādyam (BG 10.12). Arjuna recognized and he said, "You are recognized by all the authorities." Prahlāda Mahārāja is one of the authorities. I have described the authorities. Brahmā is authority, Lord Śiva is authority, and Kapila is authority, Kumāra, four Kumāras, they are authorities, and Manu is authority. Similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja is authority. Janaka Mahārāja is authority. The twelve authorities. So Arjuna confirmed that "You are speaking, Yourself, that You are the Supreme Lord," mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7), "and from discussion of Bhagavad-gītā, I also accept You Para-brahman. And not only that, all the authorities, they also accept you." Recently, in our time, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, all the ācāryas, they also accept Kṛṣṇa. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he accepts Kṛṣṇa. Sa bhagavān svayaṁ kṛṣṇaḥ. So Kṛṣṇa is accepted the Supreme Personality of Godhead by all the ācāryas.
So we have to learn from the ācāryas, not any common man or any self-made ācārya. No. That will not do. Just like we... Sometimes in the court we give some judgment from the other court and that is taken very seriously because it is authority. We cannot manufacture judgment. Similarly, ācāryopāsanaṁ, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is recommended. We have to go to the ācāryas. Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: "One who has accepted ācārya in the disciplic succession, he knows the things." So all the ācāryas, they accept Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nārada, he accepts, Vyāsadeva, he accepts, and Arjuna also accepts, who personally listened to Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavad-gītā. And Lord Brahmā. Yesterday somebody questioned that "Whether there was the name of Kṛṣṇa before Dvāpara-yuga?" No, there was. In the śāstras there are Kṛṣṇa. In the Vedas, in Atharva Veda and others, Kṛṣṇa name is there. And in the Brahma-saṁhitā—Lord Brahmā, he wrote Brahma-saṁhitā—it is clearly explained there, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), anādir ādiḥ. Anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). And Kṛṣṇa also says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7). Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo (BG 10.8). Sarvasya means including all the devatās, all the living entities, everything. And the Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). So Kṛṣṇa is the absolute Supreme Person, īśvaraḥ paramam, from Lord Brahma. He is the distributor of Vedic knowledge, and Kṛṣṇa says also, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyam (BG 15.15). This is ultimate goal.