"We are following Kṛṣṇa, the supreme perfect. I may be imperfect. That's a fact. I am imperfect. Just like a child is imperfect. That's a fact. But so long he follows the father, catching his hand, he is perfect. He is perfect. He has no danger. He has no danger. Similarly, anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious, and following blindly some rascals, he is imperfect and he will suffer. And because we have taken Kṛṣṇa's shelter, Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇam (BG 18.66). He will give guidance. If you follow perfectly, you surrender unto Him, He will guide you. He is within you, everyone.
Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). He is there. He is not far away, although He lives in His own abode, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is Kṛṣṇa. Although He is in His abode, but He is everywhere. Here is Kṛṣṇa. Although He is living in Goloka Vṛndāvana, He is in this temple, He is within our heart. Simply we have to take advantage, how He is present, how He is advising. That is the technique. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. God is everywhere. He is prepared to guide you. He is prepared to help you. Because He is father, He is always prepared. But we do not take His guidance. We do not take His shelter. That is the difficulty.
So why you do not take? Because ahaṁ mameti, we have attachment: 'This country is mine. This family is mine. This wife is mine. The children is mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.' So you have to become nirmama, without 'mine.' And why we are accepting this 'mine,' ahaṅkāra? Ahaṅkāra. Ahaṅkāra means false ahaṅkāra, false identification. So everyone is fighting because the false identification, 'I am this body.' He does not know. In this way we are so much in ignorance. Therefore the word used, mūḍha, is the appropriate word. Mūḍha, 'rascal.' We call everyone rascal. That is a harsh word. But actually that is the fact. They do now know what is what.
So if you actually are serious about stopping this rascaldom and wish to go back to home, back to Godhead, then you have to take this Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, you become fully qualified. Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra... (SB 5.18.12). Because this surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, that is the perfection of intelligence. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā,
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ
(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.)
Because everyone is struggling... Manaḥ ṣaṣṭhāni indriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati. Prakṛti-sthāni, in this material nature, everyone is struggling, prakṛti-sthāni karṣati, with the mind and the senses. That's all. Compact, in the direction of the mind. Mano-dharma. Mano-dharma. So long we are directed by the flickering mind, then we are in danger. We have to go... Above mind there is intelligence. The intelligence is where to consider, 'Whether I am this body or I am something else?' So in this way, from the mental platform, you have to elevate yourself to the intellectual platform, and from the intellectual platform, you have to raise yourself to the spiritual platform. Then you will be able to give up so-called material possession, completely freed, and surrender to Kṛṣṇa and become wise."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Los Angeles, December 18, 1973)
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