View source for This is my obligation, to give them education in Krsna consciousness. That is the best service I am giving to the humanity. Why I have come to your country? I am old man. Just to fulfill this obligation

<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"This is my obligation, to give them education in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the best service I am giving to the humanity. Why I have come to your country? I am old man. Just to fulfill this obligation"}}
{{notes|}}
{{compiler|SharmisthaK}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|2022-12-22T07:31:37Z}}
{{last|2022-12-22T07:31:37Z}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=0|Lec=1|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|1}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:This Is]]
[[Category:My (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:Obligation]]
[[Category:Giving Krsna Consciousness]]
[[Category:Krsna Conscious Education]]
[[Category:That Is]]
[[Category:Best Service]]
[[Category:I Am (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:I Give (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:Humanity]]
[[Category:Why]]
[[Category:I Have Come to Your Country (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:I Am An Old Man (Prabhupada)]]
[[Category:Just To]]
[[Category:Fulfill]]
[[Category:Pages Needing Audio - SHARMISTHA]]
</div>
<div id="section">
<h2>Lectures</h2>
</div>
<div id="sub_section">
<h3>General Lectures</h3>
</div>
<div class="quote">
<div class="quote_heading">
This is my obligation, to give them education in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the best service I am giving to the humanity. Why I have come to your country? I am old man. Just to fulfill this obligation. So when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he feels obligation very extensive, not limited. He is called mahātmā, very broad-minded.
</div>

<div class="quote_link">
[[Vanisource:681011 - Lecture - Seattle|681011 - Lecture - Seattle]]
</div>
<div class="text">
Prabhupāda: Because at the present moment mind is always disturbed, full of anxieties. You cannot concentrate. Therefore this process, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is forcibly. When you chant, I chant, loudly, at least you hear "Kṛṣṇa," your mind is immediately turned to Kṛṣṇa. So that is meditation.

Because after all, meditation means you have to concentrate on the Supreme. The Supreme is non-different. Supreme name—Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa's name, non-different. So when you hear Kṛṣṇa, the name, you immediately remember the Kṛṣṇa person, and there is no difference between His name and the person. So immediately you associate with Kṛṣṇa. Forcibly.

Even you don't like, I'll chant "Kṛṣṇa," you'll be forced to associate. You will chant "Kṛṣṇa," I'll be forced to associate. This is going on. One devotee is forcing another devotee to remember Kṛṣṇa. And what he'll do by meditation? He'll think of his office or his home or his dog or his cat. That's all.

So therefore meditation . . . not only at the present moment; even five thousand years ago, when Kṛṣṇa advised Arjuna that, "You take to this practice," he said: "Oh, it is not possible for me. I am a warrior. I am a politician. I have got to do so many things. How can I concentrate my mind? Kṛṣṇa, excuse me." You'll see in Bhagavad-gītā. But we are trying to be more than Arjuna at the present moment. It is simply waste of time. It is not possible. This is the only process of meditation.

Young man (5): I have known some people who have meditated, and they don't know how to meditate, and they try to meditate, as I say, on the astral, and they contact the incarnate souls in the astral world. And sometimes they get a hold of the wrong one. And when their mind is left open, these spirits or incarnate souls that are not good will take over the mind of a person. Now, how can one avoid this?

Prabhupāda: By Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You can avoid all rubbish things by simply keeping your consciousness in Kṛṣṇa. That's all. It is a very simple thing. Satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 9.14 (1972)|BG 9.14]]). That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. Those who are great souls, they're always chanting, glorifying the Lord. So there is no opportunity of engaging the mind in something else which is nonsense. We are teaching our student, "Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma . . ." He is being practiced to this. He cannot avoid it. Even if he goes on the street he'll chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. His samādhi . . .

He hasn't got to attain samādhi; the samādhi is going with him, samādhi. It is so nice thing, and easy. They are not practicing breathing exercise or sitting exercise. No. They are ordinary boys and girls. But simply by chanting they are making practical progress. Their health, their character, their mode of living—everything is increasing, developing.

And spiritual advancement means all goodness. It does not mean that a man is spiritually advanced and doing all nonsense. That is contradictory. How pure thing can be impure? Pure is pure; impure is impure. If you say it is impure pure, how it is possible? One is addicted to all nonsense habit and he's practicing meditation and elevating himself. Is it possible? That is all bogus.

As soon as one becomes purified, the manifestation of his character, of his mode of life, living, everything will be purified. That is the test. Pareśānubhava. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhava ([[Vanisource:SB 11.2.42|SB 11.2.42]]). Just like if you're cured, then there is no fever. The temperature is at the normal point. And if you say, "I am cured. I am taking medicine, and still, my temperature is 105," that is not possible.

So advancement in self-realization means purification from material contamination. That is real advancement. This is practical. Now, how practical it is? In your country, smoking, drinking, taking tea and keeping boyfriend, girlfriend, liquor, meat-eating, they are common affairs. How they have avoided all these things, within very short time? None of them are associating with me more than one year, and just see their character.

It is so practical. You cannot induce them even to smoke. We don't say that you go on with all nonsense, at the same time you become spiritually advanced. We don't talk all this nonsense. There must be practical exhibition that one is advanced in spiritual consciousness. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiṣcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 5.18.12|SB 5.18.12]]). All good qualities will develop. That is spiritual advancement. That is the test.

But it may be due to my past habit I may sometimes commit mistake, I may fall down. But Kṛṣṇa says, śaśvad bhavati dharmātmā ([[Vanisource:BG 9.31 (1972)|BG 9.31]]). Even if he falls down sometimes out of ignorance, still, he'll very soon become purified. The process is so nice. Just like a fan is moving and make the switch off. Still you will see the fan is moving, but rest assured it will stop, because the switch is off.

Similarly, a person taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, his material life's switch is off immediately. And even though it is seen it is moving, it will stop very soon. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means to put off the switch of material existence immediately. It is so nice.

Yes.

Young man (5): Do you think that drugs would help attain the Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Prabhupāda: It is nonsense. It will not help, but it is nonsense. We don't allow any kind of intoxication.

Young man (5): Does it interfere with the . . . the soul?

Prabhupāda: Yes. It is artificial. You are already artificially complicated by your this body, because you have got this body. And you want to make yourself more complicated? And do you mean to say that is advancement? You have to get free.

So just like in order to get free from a type of disease one has to take proper medicine and proper diet, similarly, in order to get out of this material contamination, you have to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. This is the medicine. And you have to take Kṛṣṇa prasādam, the diet. The disease will be cured. Simple method.

And it is practically seen. When these boys came to me first, from that time and this time, their face has changed so much. And what I am giving them? These fruits, kṛṣṇa-prasāda, that's all, and chanting. Their mind, their face, their activity, their habit, their character—everything has changed. But what is the process? This medicine and this diet. That's all. There is no surgical operation. It is very simple. You take to it and you see the result.

Yes?

Young man (5): What are the good qualities you referred to not too long ago?

Prabhupāda: To become devotee of Kṛṣṇa. That is the greatest quality. We are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. We have forgotten it. And when we come to understanding that, "I am part and parcel of God," that is your greatest qualification. Simple thing. What is the greatest qualification of good citizen?

American, when he thinks that, "I am American citizen. I have to look after the interest of American state," that is his good qualification, or good citizenship. Similarly, when you transcend all these artificial designations that, "I am American," "I am Indian," "I am this or that . . ." "I am part and parcel of the Supreme," that is the greatest qualification.

Young man (5): When you succumb to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or to Kṛṣṇa, do you still have any obligation to, say, the worldly affairs, in making, say, the world a better place?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is my obligation, to give them education in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the best service I am giving to the humanity. Why I have come to your country? I am old man. Just to fulfill this obligation. So when one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious, he feels obligation very extensive, not limited. He is called mahātmā, very broad-minded.
</div>
</div>
</div>