Prabhupada delivers an excellent lecture.
Hari Sauri Dasa: Srila Prabhupada attended a morning program at the Jorbagh Colony organized by Mr. Susil Ansal, the son-in-law of the owner of the Tiger Lock Company, Mr. S. K. Saigal. Jorbagh is a fairly prestigious neighborhood next to Lodi Gardens, one of New Delhi's historical landmarks. The program was held at the local community hall a large, ugly, concrete building, featureless and uninviting, with a cavernous interior reminiscent of a school hall.
A small but interested audience gathered to hear Srila Prabhupada deliver an excellent lecture from the Fifth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam on King Rishabhadeva's instructions to His one hundred sons. As always, whether speaking to one man or ten thousand, Prabhupada's speech was earnest and grave. He applied himself fully to the great task of cutting through the clouds of illusion that keep every living being firmly bound up in material existence.
Srila Prabhupada explained that our real problem is this body. "Nunam pramattah kurute vikarma yad indriya-pritaya aprinoti. We have now become mad after sense gratification. Mattah means mad, and when the prefix pra is added it means sufficiently mad. Not only mad, but sufficiently mad, and we are engaged in activities which are forbidden ... this is called vikarma." He explained that the knowledge to free oneself from this madness depends upon which authority one accepts.
One can accept the atheistic views of materialistic scientists, which are based on nothing more than mere speculation. Or one may accept sastric knowledge, which is practical, authoritative, and accepted by all the great thinkers and saintly persons. Challenging those who accept the views of the scientists, Prabhupada cited an example from sastra that describes the moon as farther way from earth than the sun. According to the Bhagavatam it's some 1,600,000 miles higher than the sun. Scientists say that the sun is 93,000,000 miles away from earth, he said, which, if we accept, means that the moon is almost 95,000,000 miles distant. "So," he asked, "how could the astronauts have journeyed there in only four days? "You may say that you have not practically experimented; but what you have experimented? You also hear from others. You believe that they have gone to the moon planet. You have not gone. You have heard from somebody in the newspaper, that's all. That is your authority. "So if you can believe in the newspaper, then I cannot believe in sastra? It is a different source of knowledge, but one takes one source, another takes another source. Our source of knowledge is Krishna, or Krishna's disciples. This is the source of knowledge? avaroha-pantha, knowledge coming from higher authorities."
Prabhupada gave a concise conclusion, frankly telling his sophisticated and somewhat Westernized audience what their real business in life is. "You have to accept this process of austerity by which you purify your existence. Then you will get deathless life, eternal. This is science. This Bhagavata literature, this Vedic literature, is giving you information how you can revive your original, eternal life. "That is the business of human life; not to become mad like hogs and dogs and simply work very hard, 'Where is stool?' and eat it and get some strength and then enjoy senses. This is not life. "In the human form of life if we do not purify our existence, if we do not realize God, if we do not understand what is my relationship with God, then we are simply wasting time living like cats and dogs. These things should be stopped. And our Krishna consciousness movement is meant for stopping this rascal civilization and giving you life. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna."
Reference: Transcendental Diary Volume 1 by Hari Sauri Dasa
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