Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir Grand Opening Address

The following is a speech given by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada at the Grand Opening of the Sri Krsna-Balarama Mandir in Vrndavana on April 20, 1975

Srila Prabhupada: Sriman Rajya-pala Sahib, Acyutananda Swami has tried to speak in Hindi, and you have heard him. So similarly, you have given me permission to speak in English.

Devotees: Haribol!

Prabhupada: Thank you. (chuckles) Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is addressed by Rupa Gosvami as maha-vadanyaya.krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namine gaura-tvise namah. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself. Krsnaya krsna-caitanya-namine. He has assumed the name of Krsna Caitanya. Actually He is Krsna. That is confirmed in many literatures. Especially in the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said,

krsna-varnam tvisa akrsnam
sangopangastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtanaih prayair
yajanti hi su-medhasah

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, after taking His sannyasa order, His name was Krsna Caitanya. Rupa Gosvami said, "You are Krsna. You have now come as Krsna Caitanya." Why? Krsna-prema-pradaya te: "Just to distribute love of Krsna." And Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission was prema pum-artho mahan. Generally people understand dharma artha kama moksa, but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that above moksa, above liberation, there is love of God. That is wanted. Prema pum-artho mahan. And this is confirmed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, that dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsaranam satam, vastavya-vastu vedyam atra. And Sridhara Swami says that kaitava-dharma... In simple word, cheating. Kaitava means cheating, or false. So when there are false dealings, that is cheating. So according to Vyasadeva, dharma artha kama moksa, that is not very essential thing. Real thing is how to advance in the science of loving God, Krsna, Krsna-prema. And the Srimad-Bhagavatam says,

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhoksaje
ahaituky apratihata
yena atma samprasidati

If you want really peace, then you should stand on the platform of paro dharma. Paro dharma. Just like Krsna has described, apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakrtim parah. Para and para. Para is applicable to the purusa, and para is applicable to the prakrti. So we are prakrti, we are not purusa. Purusa is Krsna, as described by Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita, param brahma param dhama pavitram paramam bhavan, purusam sasvatam adyam. And in the Brahma-samhita also it is: adi-purusam. Krsna is described, adi-purusam. Isvarah paramah krsnah sac-cid-ananda-vigrahah, anadih adih govindam tam aham bhajami.

So this Krsna-bhakti, Krsna personally came to teach Krsna-bhakti. He came here in this district Mathura. And the Krsna birthplace is still there. So Krsna personally came to teach the science of Krsna-bhakti. And although He proposed that dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge, but at the end He says, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. And this is confirmed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, that dharma-projjhita kaitavo atra. Except surrendering to the lotus feet of Krsna, anything which is going on in the name of dharma, that is not dharma. Therefore Krsna says sarva-dharman parityajya. When Krsna came, He did not come to reestablish Hindu religion or Christian religion or Muslim religion. No. Religion is religion. Gold is gold. You cannot say "Hindu gold," "Muslim gold," "Christian gold." That is not possible. That is not possible. That is called kaitava-dharma, cheating dharma. Gold is gold, pure gold. Therefore Bhagavata says, dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam: "Dharma means the order or the law given by God." That is dharma. This is the simple explanation of dharma. If you want to know what do we mean by dharma, then dharma means dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam. Just like law. Law means which is given, sanctioned by the governor. You cannot make your law at home. You cannot say, "The law given by the government or by the governor, I don't care for it. I shall make my own law." That is not possible. That will never be accepted as law. You can make your law. Similarly, if you manufacture dharma without any reference to the authority, that is not dharma. That is cheating religion. Dharmah projjhita-kaitavah.

So therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, what He is speaking, mam ekam saranam vraja, that is dharma. All other things are cheating. And when Krsna says, mam ekam saranam vraja, He does not say it to any particular community or any country or any nation. He speaks to everyone.

sarva-yonisu kaunteya
sambhavanti murtayo yah
tasam mahad yonir brahma
aham bija-pradah pita

He says, "I am the seed-giving father of all forms of life." Krsna does not say that "I am speaking to Indian or the Hindus." No. Krsna is speaking to everyone, to His every son. It doesn't matter whether he is white or black or blue or... It doesn't matter. These are skin disease. Krsna says that we don't take this body as yourself. Asmin dehe. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam... This transformation of the body, that is natural. But within the body, the part and parcel of Krsna is there. That you have to understand, that is the beginning of Bhagavad-gita. We have to understand what is there within the body. That is the beginning of spiritual education. Unfortunately, the whole world is going on under the impression that "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am European..." That is condemned in the sastra.

yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke
sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma ijya-dhih
yat-tirtha-buddhih salile na karhicij
janesu abhijnesu sa eva go-kharah

Go, go means cow, and kharah means ass. So yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke. This bag of three dhatus—kapha, pitta, vayu—if one takes it that "I am this body," "I am Indian," "I am American," so sastra says, "He is not even human being." Sa eva go-kharah. This Krsna consciousness movement is very, very important from this angle of vision, that everyone is thinking this body as he is. Nobody understands that he is within this body. Just like we are within this dress. I am not this dress. This is the primary education of spiritual life. Unfortunately, it is very much lacking. And now you can see practically that these European and American boys, they are all young men, but they have forgotten the bodily relationship. We have got in our institution Africans, Canadians, Australians, Europeans, Indians, but they do not consider with reference to this bodily concept of life. They live as eternal servant of Krsna. That is the instruction given by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, jivera svarupa haya nitya krsna dasa.

So actually, if we want to be happy, then we have to accept the principle of Srimad-Bhagavatam, yato bhaktir adhoksaje. Bhakti comes out of love. You cannot make one forced to love you. It comes automatically. That automatic love is there in everyone's heart for Krsna. That is stated in the Caitanya-caritamrta:

nitya-siddha krsna-bhakti sadhya kabhu naya
sravanadi-suddha-citte karaye udaya

Udaya means it is awakened. Everyone has got love for Krsna within the heart. That is natural. But that love is distributed in different ways. How? Yasyatma-buddhih kunape tri-dhatuke sva-dhih kalatradisu bhauma idya-dhih. This love has been distributed familywise, communitywise, nationwise, countrywise, like that. So this love has to be concentrated, converted to be love of Krsna. That is required. Then everything is perfect. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching, and He practically... krsna-prema-pradaya te. To develop love for somebody, that requires very elaborate process. It is not... Because we are in the darkness. Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita,

manusyanam sahasresu
kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanam
kascid vetti mam tattvatah

So we cannot understand even Krsna, what is Krsna. Actually, there are so many misinterpretations about Krsna. I do not wish to discuss because they have been made mistaken by big, big leaders. People cannot understand even Krsna, what is Krsna, and what to speak of loving Krsna. That is very difficult job. But Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He distributed this love of Krsna. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda is standing before you, and He delivered many, many sinful persons to the transcendental position of love of Krsna. Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has sung, vrajendra-nandana yei, saci-suta hoilo sei, balarama hoilo nitai. This Balarama, He became Nitai, and Krsna, He became Caitanya Mahaprabhu. These two brothers, the same two brothers, Rama-Laksman, Krsna-Balarama, again as Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. So what was Their business? The papi-tapi jata chilo, hari-name uddharilo. This is Their business. All the papis and all the persons suffering from material anxieties, They delivered, "Yes." How? Tara saksi jagai madhai. There were two brothers, Jagai and Madhai. They are very debauchees. That debauchees means what was their fault? The fault was that they took their birth in brahmana family, but they became woman-hunter and drunkards and cheaters, like that. So Nityanand a Prabhu delivered them to become first-class Vaisnava. Papi-tapi jata chilo, hari-name uddharilo, tara saksi jagai and madhai. So five hundred years ago, to become a drunkard was most abominable, especially in the higher section of the Hindu society. But now it has become a fashion. So if you want to develop the position of the society, position of the country, which is now full with papi-tapi, you have to accept the process of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and that is practically being manifested. These European, American boys, they are also the same type, Jagai and Madhai. That is a fact. They were at least. Now they are not. So how they have become delivered? The same process. Papi-tapi jata chilo, hari-name uddharilo.

This Krsna consciousness movement is so important, and there is practical result, that you introduce this chanting of Hare Krsna maha-mantra offenselessly, not with offense, then the world situation will improve very much. That's a fact. And it is being actually enacted in the present position. We are sending our men from village to village in Europe and America. We have introduced. We are taking advantage of the modern facilities. We are using this microphone for chanting Hare Krsna mantra, we are using nice buses, cars and wagons to go to village to village and distribute books and chant Hare Krsna. One of the leaders is present here, Sriman Tamala Krsna Gosvami. He is going. He is controlling about one dozen buses. And here is Hamsaduta also. He is doing the same in Germany. So we have introduced this as Caitanya Mahaprabhu's ordered, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama. Throughout the whole world, as many villages and towns are there, this sankirtana movement should be introduced. And especially in India, because if in India the people are generally Krsna conscious. By artificial means they are trying to forget. This is the position. This should be stopped. They have got natural tendency for becoming Krsna conscious. Therefore in these days, still so many hundreds and thousands of people coming to Vrndavana to relish the transcendental mellow of Krsna consciousness. And now the foreigners are also attracted to Krsna consciousness. And I am trying to place them in our temple. This temple is one of them. We have got four, five temples in India. We are constructing one big temple in Hyderabad, and we are getting good response. So it is our request to the leaders of the society and to the people of India that they may take this Krsna conscious movement, Hare Krsna movement, very seriously. It will be good for everyone and the whole world will become peaceful. We do not expect that throughout the whole world everyone will take to Krsna consciousness. But even five percent, two percent, three percent people takes to Krsna consciousness, there will be great example.

yad yad acarati sresthah lokas tad anuvartate

So our only request is that this simple thing,

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

this formula of the Vedic sastra. And you will be surprised. I invite you to come to our different centers in Europe and America, how they are chanting, dancing before the Deity, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda or Radha-Krsna.

Recently I had been to Atlanta for the first time. But the boys and the girls there, they have taken three big, big houses. The middle house has been transformed into temple. How nicely they are chanting and dancing. You will be surprised if you go. This movement is undoubtedly increasing in the foreign countries, and why not in our country? The government, the leaders and the guardians, they should deeply contemplate on the serious nature of this movement and help us. Now we are bringing men from the foreign countries to preach. How long I shall bring? If we want to spread this movement all over India very seriously, then we invite educated, intellectual young men to come forward to study this movement. It is not blind; we have got books. We have already published about fifty books on this movement. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's movement is meant for both kinds of men. The ordinary men without any education, illiterate, he can also take to it, and the most advanced scientists, philosopher, philanthropist, politician, they also can take to it. So we are helping both ways. Those who are educated scientist, philosopher, for them we have got volumes of books. And those who are not educated, they can simply chant Hare Krsna. That will help them, both ways. Therefore this movement has become important and interesting. Our books are being purchased by the topmost class of man. Big, big professors in the universities, they are giving standing order. The books which are not published, they are putting standing order.

Here our one sannyasi is present, Satsvarupa. He is visiting the libraries, universities, professors, and we are getting very good response. So don't take it as a sectarian movement. Don't misunderstand this movement as a CIA movement. These are all foolishness. Do you think that the Americans are such fools that for propagating their CIA movement they will become Vaisnava and chant and dance? The Americans have become so fools? No. They have taken it very seriously. They are not CIA, not American nor European. They are Vaisnavas; they are servant of Krsna. Don't misunderstand them. And try to cooperate and help this movement for the benefit of the whole human society.

Thank you very much.