(Srila Prabhupada delivering a lecture—click to enlarge)
Prabhupāda: So these are the, I mean to say, facilities for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And this is the only business one should take. All other things, simply waste of time. That is the instruction of Nārada. Nārada is the spiritual master within, spiritual master of the whole Vaiṣṇava sect. So he's giving the right direction, "Don't try for anything else. Don't think that you'll be happy this way or that way. Never... whatever happiness or distress..." So example is given here that tal labhyate duḥkhavat.
Nobody expects a calamity or distress, but sometimes calamity overcomes us. Similarly, you should not, I mean to say, try for any artificial happiness. Whatever Kṛṣṇa gives you, be satisfied. That was the basic principle of Vedic civilization. Nobody was trying to make any artificial economic development. No. The whole history of India is like that. They were satisfied, "All right..." Even now the mass of people... in 1942 there was famine. People were dying. Still, they were, "All right. Kṛṣṇa has given us. God has given us." That was the mentality.
So our main business is how to improve Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We should not divert our attention in any other material condition of improvement. That is actually not improvement—it is simply illusion that, "I am making improvement." What improvement? Suppose you are earning now, say, five hundred dollars per month. If you earn, say, five million dollars, so then what? Will you eat more than four cāpāṭis? (laughter) You'll eat the same four cāpāṭis.
And you'll occupy the same six-feet bed. You may acquire the whole property of West Virginia, (laughter) but you'll have to lie down on six feet. (laughter) That's all. And you'll have to eat four cāpāṭis. So this is māyā. This is māyā, "I am improving." What you are improving? You'll not be taller, you'll not be great eater—nothing of the sort. Whatever you have already, you'll have so the same thing. You see?
So tad eva bhagavad-līlā pradhanarena anuvarṇaya, ity uktam bhakti-bhāvam ka ca kasya līlā iti apekṣama ilam bhagavān eva satu asmad iti araha. So Nārada Ṛṣi, Nārada Muni, says: "You just try to describe the glories of Kṛṣṇa." And what is that? The question may be, "Then how shall I glorify Him?" He says, idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: "You study everything and dovetail with Kṛṣṇa." Idam, "This world, this cosmic manifestation..." Idaṁ jagat. Jagat means this cosmic manifestation; idam, this, bhagavān... "it is Kṛṣṇa." That means, "Try to preach or try to teach the people in general that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New Vrindaban, June 22, 1969)
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