The Science of God -- Srila Prabhupada Founder of Hare Krishna Movement -- Melbourne Australia 1975

be Thine name, my Lord, Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. Let Your holy name be glorified." This is our movement. It is not a sectarian, it is very scientific movement. Scientific movement because at the present moment we are all godless, forgotten what is God and what to speak of His name.

They do not believe in God and want to speak of his name, fame, his place, his activities, his form, his quality. How we can know? There is no educational system about the science of God. This movement, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, is teaching the science of God.

God is absolute, absolute means there is no difference. Just like in the relative world, this is relative world. Material world means relative world. Relative world means the son.

As soon as I say the son, there must be a father. As soon as I say friend, there must be another man, friend. As soon as I say water, there must be something as water. But in the Absolute World, the name water and the water is the same.

This is called Absolute. No different separation. So in the kingdom of God, the God is God, and His son is also God. So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, you are directly in contact with God.

This This is the meaning of Hare Kṛṣṇa. We think we are enjoying, but we are suffering, actually. And because we cannot understand what is suffering… Suffering there is… Sometimes we come to understand, but we are accepting this suffering as enjoying. A man is working very hard, very hard, whole day.

He is… This is not enjoyment. You have got a car, but you are running a 70-mile speed, going to your business, and there you are earning hundreds and thousands of dollars. So you are thinking that you are enjoying, but this labor is suffering, you forget. And in order to forget this suffering, then I take to wine, take to this, take to that, to forget this suffering.

So actually we are suffering, but we are accepting it as enjoying. This is called illusion. Anyone who is very much sensuous, very much attached to sense gratification, they are called demon. Those persons who do not indulge in sense gratification but utilize this body or this life for God realization, Kṛṣṇa realized, they are called gods.

There are two classes of men, demon and god. Those who are engaged in God consciousness, they are not God, but godly. And those who are not... Because this human life is meant for this purpose, forgetting our father, forgetting our God, we are criminals within this material world.

Therefore, our only business is how to get out of this prison house and go back to home, back to God. God is like you and me, a person. But He is Pacific Ocean, we are dropped. The question was, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the scripture that we study, it says that Kṛṣṇa did not want us to come to this material world.

The question is, if Kṛṣṇa did not want us to come, why are we here? Yes. You force Kṛṣṇa to allow you to come. Just like sometimes a child forces the father.

Father says, my dear son, do not do this, do not go. But he insists, I must, I must. All right, you go at your risk. That's all.

And you suffer. What can be done? Because you are son of God, God has got independence, full independence, almighty. Therefore you have acquired the quality of your father.

You have got little independence. So God does not interfere with your little independence. Beginning from Lord Brahmā, down to the ones in the stool, gradually, according to your work, according to your desire, you manufacture your different types of body, and you enjoy and suffer. In their main senses, we cannot understand what is Kṛṣṇa or God, His name, His form, His attributes, His pastimes.

We cannot understand by these blunt material senses. Then how it is to be understood? After all, this human life is meant for understanding God. That is the only business of human life.

The nature, material nature, gives us this opportunity to have this human form of life. Similarly, the facility of this life, of this form of life, is given to us just to understand God. Other forms of life, cats and dogs, trees, and so many other things. There are 8,400,000 forms of life.

So in other forms of life it is not possible to understand what is God. So if we call all the dogs of your country, come here, we shall talk about God. There is no possibility of understanding. But in the human form of life, there is possibility.

Doesn't matter whether it is in India or America or Australia, any human being, if he tries and if he reads the scriptures, never mind Bible, Bhagavad-gītā, Bhāgavata, then he will understand God. In the beginning of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, janmād-daśya-yataḥ, absolute truth is that from whom everything has come into existence. Now, what is the nature of the absolute truth? Everything means there are two things, matter and spirit.

Two things. Just like this table is matter, and we, living entities, we are spirit. Spirit is soul. This material body is my covering, just like dress.

Every one of us is dressed, covered by some kind of dress. Similarly, all living beings, they are dressed by the material covering. So we, the spirit soul, part and parcel of God, at the present moment we are covered by two kinds of dresses. The subtle dress, mind, intelligence and ego, and the gross covering.

Subtle means we know there is this thing but we cannot see. Just like you know I have got mind, I know you have got mind, but I don't see your mind, you don't see my mind. I know you have got intelligence, you know I have got intelligence, but we don't see, don't see what is that intelligence. Similarly, identification, I am this consciousness, that also you have got consciousness, I have got consciousness, But we don't see.

So things which are not visible to these material eyes, that is called subtle. And spirit soul is still subtle. So human life is meant for understanding that spirit soul and the Supreme Soul. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the process is to get beyond the disease of material existence.

Yes. The first part of his question, how to do this? Second part of his question, what is the end result after taking to the process? The process is to transfer yourself from material energy to spiritual energy.

We are under energy. God has got two energies, material energy and spiritual energy. We are also energy. We are marginal energy.

So, marginal energy means we can remain under the material energy or on the spiritual energy, as we make our choice. Marginal, just like on the beach, you find sometimes on the border of the water, the water is covering the land, and sometimes the land is open. This is called marginal position. Similarly, we are marginal energy of God, living entities.

So we can remain under the water, means the material energy, or we can remain open also, and spiritual energy. What is our view of Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, He is Son of God, the best Son of God. So we have all respect for Him.

Yes? I think Francis, the founder of this particular order, which we have been invited to speak to, found God in the material world, and he used to address the aspects of the material world as brother and sister, brother tree, sister water, like that. What is your view upon this? This is real God consciousness.

This is real God consciousness. Not that I am God-conscious and I kill the animals. That is not God-conscious. To accept the trees, plants, lower animals, insignificant ants, even as brother.

This is explaining the Bhagavad-gītā. Sama means equal. To all living entities, to see the spirit soul, anyone, it doesn't matter. Either he is man, or cat, or dog, or tree, or ant, or insect, or big man.

They are all parts and parcel of God. They are simply dressed differently. One has got the dress of tree, one has got the dress of king, one has got the dress of insect. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.

Paṇḍitāḥ sa mad-darśina. One who is paṇḍit, learned, his vision is equal. So if Saint Francis was thinking like that, there is higher standard of spiritual understanding. That means begin to roll.

Action. That means action. When they snap that, that's the beginning of the shooting. It's the boy who's pulling the cart in the red.

He's making one documentary film all about your stay here in Australia. Then it will be distributed to the government. Actually this is an independent film. It can be put into library.

People can get it for their schools, colleges. To understand Kṛṣṇa is very difficult job. Kṛṣṇa has personally said in the Bhagavad-gītā, manuṣyānāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati śirdhayo . Out of many, many millions of persons, not only at this age, in the past also, Fast also.

Manuṣānāṁ śāsyaḥ. Out of many millions of persons, kaścid yatati siddhaye, one is trying to become perfect. Generally, they have no knowledge what is perfection. Perfection they do not know.

Perfection means To stop This process of birth Death, old age and disease That is called perfection Everyone is trying to be perfect But they do not know what is perfection Perfection means this That when you Are free From these four Imperfections What is that? Birth, death Old age and disease Everyone, nobody wants to die, but there is force pulling. You must die. That is imperfect.

But these rascals, they do not know. They think that we must die. But no. Because you are eternal.

You are not meant for death. But nature is forcing you. Must die. The body, transcendental body of the...

God is the Supreme Being, full with six kinds of opulences, therefore He attracts everyone. This is the definition of the word Kṛṣṇa. This Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Kṛṣṇa, the perfect person. The pains and pleasure, on account of this material body, we have to feel.

But if we come to the spiritual platform, that is, understanding of the soul, then, in any condition, we shall be happy. Yes, sir? Movement's the major form of enlightenment emanating from the United States today. What order of priority has your movement in the White House Psychological Warfare Department?

Will you also be coming along to our July 4th demonstration again this year to try and prop it up and divert people away from taking up real political issues concerned with Australian independence? All right, we can answer one at a time. I can answer them for you, July. Our movement is not coming from the United States.

If you have some paranoiac stigma about everything coming from the United States, well, that's your hang-up, not mine. Second of all, our spiritual master, he came to the United States to start this Krishna consciousness movement because he got a free ticket on a boat to go there, and because it was the mercy of this one lady who gave him the free ticket on the boat, he came to America on the orders of his spiritual master. This is the reason he came to America to start Krishna Consciousness. If you had sent him a free ticket, he probably would have come to Australia first.

He was a monk, a penniless monk in India, and he was trying to follow the orders of his spiritual teacher by spreading love of God. Some people would say that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is too austere. Huh? Too austere.

Yes. It should be taken in stages. What is that austere? Austerity.

You are starving? No. We say don't eat meat. Is that a very great austerity?

No, that is the easiest. You give up. There are no illicit sexes. We don't say no sexes.

Illicit sexes. So where is the austerity? Well, devotees, they must rise early in the morning. Take cold bath.

That is healthy. Because early to rise, early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy and wise. That's fact. What to speak of early rise?

Practically I don't sleep at night, only two hours, that's all. And still I work in the early in the morning. What is the wrong then? No, I don't sleep at night.

You have got one big dum-dum? Yes, sir, yes, dum-dum-dum. You can take on, hold on. What is your decision?

Yes. Just wear it. This is just wear it on head, like that. So everything is alright?

This is? Give them the flowers. I can distribute this to the school? Yes.