THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
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We Have to Obey Somebody
(Srila Prabhupada in Moscow, 1971)

"Dharma means the natural instinct. The natural instinct is to obey the superior person. Every one of us, we are meant for obeying the Supreme. Is anyone... Who can say that 'I haven't got to obey any superior person'? Is there anyone? That cannot be. You have to obey. That was the subject matter of my topics in Moscow, with Professor Kotovsky. I challenged him that 'What is the difference between your philosophy and our philosophy? You have to obey some person, and I have to obey some person. So you are obeying Lenin, and I am obeying Kṛṣṇa. So where is the difference between you and me in philosophy? Now, the things remain to be judged, whether by following Kṛṣṇa I shall be happy or by following Lenin you shall be happy. That is to be judged, not that you, Communist party, you can do without following a superior person. That you cannot do. That is not possible.' That is natural. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). Our real formation, constitutional position, is to obey the orders of Kṛṣṇa. But we have selected disobeying Kṛṣṇa. We are obeying Lenin. That is the difficulty. We have to obey somebody, but you have selected not to obey Kṛṣṇa but to obey Lenin. In India disobedience is very prominent now. But in that way you shall not be happy. Therefore Bhāgavata says, sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaja (SB 1.2.6). If you learn how to obey the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, then you will be happy. Yayātmā suprasīdati. This is fact.

So unless people take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness and understand and learn how to obey Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they cannot..., there cannot be any peace. There cannot be any happiness. And there is no condition... Here it is said, ahaituky apratihatā. That obedience should be without any motive. Just like see here the Europeans and American boys, they are obeying Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's representative without any condition. They have not come here to obey my order for earning livelihood or for some material purpose. They have not come for that. They have got enough money. They have got enough money. They can purchase hundred times India. But why? This is real paro dharmaḥ. This is the supreme religion, to obey the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His representative. Because we have to learn through the representative of Kṛṣṇa. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit, na martya-buddhyāsūyeta (SB 11.17.27). So this is the injunction of the śāstra. Ācārya, the spiritual master, the representative of Kṛṣṇa... Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyāt, Kṛṣṇa says. 'The ācārya is Myself.' Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ: 'By pleasing the ācārya, one can please the Supreme Lord.' This is the... Ācāryavān puruṣo veda: 'One who has got ācārya to guide him, he knows things.' These are the Vedic injunctions.

    tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet
    samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham
    (MU 1.2.12)

So therefore it is said here that ahaituky apratihatā. Do not approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead for some material benefit. That is not pure devotion."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Calcutta, February 26, 1974)

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