The Bhagavad-gita's true understanding comes through devotion and proper disciplic succession, not scholarly commentary.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Paṇḍāl Lecture — March 31, 1971, Bombay 710331LE-BOMBAY [45:49 Minutes] Lecture_710331LE-BOMBAY Prabhupāda: [Sings Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [prema-dhvani] [devotees offer obeisances] [04:53] Śyāmasundara: Would everyone kindly, at this time, be seated. Please move back and sit down, everyone, please. Thank you. Please, everyone sit down.
Everyone would like to hear the transcendental words of His Divine Grace. Those who are standing are blocking the way of at least five other people. All of those who are sitting, move back, please move back, so everyone can see and hear His Divine Grace. Please. Everyone be seated, all of these people. 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."] [06:42] Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you very much for your participating in this meeting, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. This Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is very much authorized. It is nothing like concocted mental speculation. It is authorized on the basis of Vedic knowledge, specifically, directly from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, five thousand years ago when there was no history of other religion.
In the modern age, any religion you can take into consideration, they are not older than 2,600 years. But so far this Bhagavad-gītā is concerned, it was spoken in the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra five thousand years ago. We should consider what were the religion of the world 2,600 years ago, because modern history cannot place before you any chronological list of religious evolution within 2,600 years. There was human society before 2,600 years. And what was their religion?
We think, from Vedic evidences, the whole world was in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There was one God: Kṛṣṇa; one scripture: Bhagavad-gītā; one consciousness: Kṛṣṇa consciousness; and one work: service of the Lord. From Mahābhārata, the great history of India, we can understand that up to Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the whole world was ruled by one flag, this Vedic culture. Gradually it deteriorated, as we have practical experience. Twenty years ago there was no Pakistan, but now Pakistan is existing.
Similarly, the whole planet was known as Bhārata-varṣa. This Bhārata-varṣa name was after the king Mahārāja Bharata, the son of Ṛṣabhadeva. Before that, this planet was known as Ilāvṛta-varṣa. And after the king Mahārāja Bharata—he was a great king—he also left his kingdom at the age of twenty-four years, very young boy, for searching after spiritual realization, self-realization. That is the way of Vedic culture, or Indian culture.
Not that up to the last point of our death we shall stick to the worldly affairs. The Vedic culture divides the whole society into four social orders and four spiritual orders. The four social orders is division of intelligence. The most intelligent class of men are called the brāhmaṇas.
And next than the brāhmaṇas are the kṣatriyas. It is all calculated on the basis of intelligence. There are different kinds of people all over the world on account of more or less intelligence. So brāhmaṇa means the most intelligent class of men—the scientists, the poets, the philosophers, like that. The religionists, they are called brāhmaṇas.