(Click to enlarge painting of Krishna and the cowherd boys of Vrindavan)
"We have got our natural affection for Kṛṣṇa. That is explained in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:
nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-bhakti sādhya kabhu naya
śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya
(CC Madhya 22.107)
[Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.]
Just like sex impulse. It doesn't require to... how to awaken sex impulse. Natural. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-bhakti is our natural inheritance because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, or sons of Kṛṣṇa. Ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). It is the same example, that as the mother and the child has got natural affection, similarly, with Bhagavān we have got natural affection. Bhagavān has got natural affection for us, and we have got also natural affection for Bhagavān. And the external covering which checks this natural affection, this is called māyā. Just like touch... What is called, magnetic stone? Magnetic stone naturally attracts the iron, and iron is naturally attracted by the magnetic stone. Similarly, kṛṣṇa-bhakti is not something which is unnaturally taught or unnaturally gained, artificial.
This... Another vivid example is this: these foreigners, Western boys and girls, how they became attracted with Kṛṣṇa consciousness unless it is natural? Their forefathers, or they also, even four, five, six years ago, they did not know what is Kṛṣṇa, neither they cared to know. But now they are almost mad after Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, why they are coming here? They have not come here in India to see your skyscraper building or industry. They are not at all interested. They have seen all these things in their own country. They have enough. So why they have come here? They are after Vṛndāvana. They are after Māyāpur. They are after me. What is the attraction? The attraction is Kṛṣṇa. They are not interested with anything else. They do not go to see your skyscraper building in New Delhi or in Bombay. They have seen it enough. So why it is so? Because it is natural. Kṛṣṇa-bhakti, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is natural. That is the original consciousness.
The example is given here: yathā apāṁ prakṛtiḥ parā. Just like the water, rains, fall from the sky. If you do not allow to touch the water the ground, you take it in the middle, you will find crystal, distilled water. You will find. And as soon as it comes down on the ground, it becomes muddy, the purity lost. Muddy, opaque; you cannot see, agitated. Similarly, our original consciousness is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is svaccha, svacchatvam avikāritvam. In the original consciousness we do not know anything else than Kṛṣṇa. Avikāritvam. There is no change. Therefore in the Vaikuṇṭha planets, especially in the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, that is exhibited. When Kṛṣṇa comes to show His dhāma— goloka-nāmni nija-dhāmni—that is His own abode. So Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa comes, He brings everything with Him: His dhāma, His qualities, His place, His paraphernalia, His associates, His father, His mother, His friend, His consort, His trees, His water—everything He brings. That is Vṛndāvana. You will find in Vṛndāvana still—still you will find—people are all automatically Kṛṣṇa conscious. Eighty-four, curāśī crores, about 160 miles' area. So they are Kṛṣṇa conscious naturally. And if you go to Vṛndāvana, this area, wherever you go, you will feel Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So the example of purity is still there. And what to speak of in the original Vṛndāvana?
So from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you will find the vṛndāvana-līlā—the cowherds boys and the cows, the calves, the trees, the plants, the flowers, the water. The description is there that everyone is Kṛṣṇa conscious. They do not know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They do not know it; neither they care to know it. What is Supreme Personality of Godhead, what is Brahman, what is Paramātmā, they do not care to know these things. But they have unalloyed, unflinching love for Kṛṣṇa. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Yaśodāmāyi is seeing wonderful things in Kṛṣṇa, but she never thinks that 'Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.' She thinks that 'Kṛṣṇa is my child. This wonderful thing has happened due to Providence.' She thinks that 'The Supreme Lord, or the Absolute Truth, is different, and here Kṛṣṇa is my child.'
So as I have already said, the love for the child of the mother is natural. So that is Vṛndāvana atmosphere. Everyone loves Kṛṣṇa. Everyone is overwhelmed with love of Kṛṣṇa. When they cannot find Kṛṣṇa, they become mad. Although they do not know that Kṛṣṇa... When they see some wonderful activities of Kṛṣṇa, they think, 'Some demigod might have come here. Otherwise, how this wonderful thing is possible?' So this is pure love. This is pure love, without any knowledge of the supreme powerful, almighty. That is svacchatvam, no contamination— pure love.
So the mission of human life should be how to clarify this consciousness again into that pure consciousness of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the mission of human life. The consciousness is impure; therefore there are so many varieties, material varieties, and we are captivated by these material varieties. But that is not giving us any happiness. We are especially very much unhappy on account of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (birth, death, old age and disease). So if we want to get relief from the miserable condition of this material life... This place is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15): 'This place is meant for miseries.' Do not try to become happy here. That is foolishness, mūḍha. Nābhijānāti mām ebhyaḥ param avyayam. 'The mūḍhas, these rascals, they do not know that here he cannot be... one cannot be happy, because real happiness is when he comes back to Me.' Mām ebhyaḥ param... Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti (BG 4.9). That is real happiness. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam (BG 6.21). Everything is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
So everyone is very... working very hard, struggling for existence, but they do not know how they can actually become happy. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). That they do not know. So it is our humble attempt only, this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. At least, we inform people that 'This is the way of happiness.' Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tat. 'Don't be carried away by temporary, so-called happiness. That is not happiness. This is called māyā.' Māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān. Kṛṣṇa says mūḍha, and Prahlāda Mahārāja says vimūḍhān—not only mūḍha, but again added with word vi, viśiṣṭa. Viśiṣṭa-prakāreṇa mūḍha. Vi, therefore vimūḍha.
So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, śoce tato vimukha-cetasa māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43). That is the thankless task of the devotees, to turn these vimūḍhān (fools and rascals) from this māyā-sukha (temporary, illusory happiness) to real sukha (happiness). This is the business of the devotee. They have no other business."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Bombay, December 31, 1974)
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