Great souls perpetually chant Krishna's glories, realizing through knowledge that God is the source of all existence and their eternal self.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Conway Hall Lecture — September 15, 1969, London 690915LE-LONDON [46:52 Minutes] Lecture_690915LE-LONDON Prabhupāda: [chants maṅgalācaraṇa prayers] om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave-namaḥ ["I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, who with the torchlight of knowledge has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance."] śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam ["When will Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, who has established within this material world the mission to fulfill the desire of Lord Caitanya, give me shelter under his lotus feet?"] he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te ["O my dear Kṛṣṇa, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cowherd men and the lover of the gopīs, especially Rādhārāṇī. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You."] tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgī rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devi praṇamāmi hari-priye ["I offer my respects to Rādhārāṇī, whose bodily complexion is like molten gold and who is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. You are the daughter of King Vṛṣabhānu, and You are very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa."] vancha-kalpa-tarubhyas ca kripa-sindhubhya eva ca patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namah ["I offer respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who can fulfill the desires of everyone, just like desire trees, and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls."] śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ["I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion."] hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare ["My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service."] Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you very much for your coming to this meeting, saṅkīrtana movement. This saṅkīrtana movement is very authorized, according to Vedic literature. Most of you are well acquainted with the studies of Bhagavad-gītā.
And in the Bhagavad-gītā also you'll find, satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca [Bg. 9.14] [Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.] Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. Those who are mahātmās... Mahātmā means great soul. Mahātmā is not created.
Mahātmā means... That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, who is mahātmā. Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante [Bg. 7.19] [After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.] "After many, many births." Of course, at the present moment they do not believe whether there is birth after death.
But it is not the question of whether you believe or not believe. The truth is truth. So there is birth after death. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre [Bg. 2.20]. [For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.] You do not die after finishing this body. You accept another body. That you can experience daily.
In your childhood... You can remember that you had a body just like this child. Now you are grown up. Where is that body?
That body is gone. Now you have got a new body. But you know that "I had a childhood body like this. I was attending such-and-such meeting," but that body is now no longer existing. So this transmigration of the soul is very simple subject.
Any sensible man can understand. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the very beginning of the instruction, Kṛṣṇa says, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati [Bg. 2.13] [As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.] Dhīra, those who are sober, intelligent, they are not bewildered when a living entity changes his body. So change of body is going on in every moment, in every second, imperceptibly. Medical science also accepts that in every second we are changing our blood corpuscles.