Continued from the book " perfect questions and perfect answers"
Bob: I'd like to ask you just something I talked with devotees about—medicine. I walked to the river with some devotees today. I have a cold, so I said I shouldn't go in the water. Some felt I should because it is the Ganges, and some said I shouldn't because I have a cold, and we were talking, and I don't understand. Do we get sick because of our bad actions in the past?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact.
Bob: But when one...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Any kind of distress we suffer is due to our impious activities in the past.
Bob: But when someone is removed from karmic influence...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes?
Bob: ... does he still get sick?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: No. Even if he gets sick, that is very temporary. For instance, this fan is moving. If you disconnect the electric power, then the fan will move for a moment. That movement is not due to the electric current. That is force—what is it called, physically, this force?
Śyāmasundara: Momentum.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Momentum. But as soon as it stops, no more movement. Similarly, even if a devotee who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa is suffering from material consequences, that is temporary. Therefore, a devotee does not take any material miseries as miseries. He takes them as Kṛṣṇa's, God's, mercy.
Bob: A perfected soul, a devotee, a pure devotee...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: A perfected soul is one who engages twenty-four hours a day in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfection. That is a transcendental position. Perfection means to engage in one's original consciousness. That is perfection. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā:
sve sve karmaṇy abhirataḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ
[Bg. 18.45]
"By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect." Complete perfection. Saṁsiddhi. Siddhi is perfection. That is Brahman realization, spiritual realization. And saṁsiddhi means devotion, which comes after Brahman realization.
Bob: Could you just say that last thing again please?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Saṁsiddhi.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Sam means complete.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: And siddhi means perfection. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that one who goes back home, back to Godhead, has attained the complete perfection. So perfection comes when one realizes that he is not this body; he is spirit soul. Brahma-bhūta [SB 4.30.20]—that is called Brahman realization. That is perfection. And saṁsiddhi comes after Brahman realization, when one engages in devotional service. Therefore if one is already engaged in devotional service, it is to be understood that Brahman realization is there. Therefore it is called saṁsiddhi.
Bob: I'd like to ask you just something I talked with devotees about—medicine. I walked to the river with some devotees today. I have a cold, so I said I shouldn't go in the water. Some felt I should because it is the Ganges, and some said I shouldn't because I have a cold, and we were talking, and I don't understand. Do we get sick because of our bad actions in the past?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes, that's a fact.
Bob: But when one...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Any kind of distress we suffer is due to our impious activities in the past.
Bob: But when someone is removed from karmic influence...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Yes?
Bob: ... does he still get sick?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: No. Even if he gets sick, that is very temporary. For instance, this fan is moving. If you disconnect the electric power, then the fan will move for a moment. That movement is not due to the electric current. That is force—what is it called, physically, this force?
Śyāmasundara: Momentum.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Momentum. But as soon as it stops, no more movement. Similarly, even if a devotee who has surrendered to Kṛṣṇa is suffering from material consequences, that is temporary. Therefore, a devotee does not take any material miseries as miseries. He takes them as Kṛṣṇa's, God's, mercy.
Bob: A perfected soul, a devotee, a pure devotee...
Śrīla Prabhupāda: A perfected soul is one who engages twenty-four hours a day in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is perfection. That is a transcendental position. Perfection means to engage in one's original consciousness. That is perfection. That is stated in Bhagavad-gītā:
sve sve karmaṇy abhirataḥ
saṁsiddhiṁ labhate naraḥ
[Bg. 18.45]
"By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect." Complete perfection. Saṁsiddhi. Siddhi is perfection. That is Brahman realization, spiritual realization. And saṁsiddhi means devotion, which comes after Brahman realization.
Bob: Could you just say that last thing again please?
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Saṁsiddhi.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: Sam means complete.
Bob: Yes.
Śrīla Prabhupāda: And siddhi means perfection. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated that one who goes back home, back to Godhead, has attained the complete perfection. So perfection comes when one realizes that he is not this body; he is spirit soul. Brahma-bhūta [SB 4.30.20]—that is called Brahman realization. That is perfection. And saṁsiddhi comes after Brahman realization, when one engages in devotional service. Therefore if one is already engaged in devotional service, it is to be understood that Brahman realization is there. Therefore it is called saṁsiddhi.
To be continued.....
No comments:
Post a Comment