Class on Srimad Bhagavatam 1.2.19 at New Vrindaban in 1974 by Srila Prabhupada

His Divine Grace Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
https://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_1.2.19_(1962)
https://vaniquotes.org/wiki/SB_01.02.19_tada_rajas-tamo-bhavah..._cited

Transcript:

Srila Prabhupāda: Sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati [SB 1.2.19]. Everyone wants happiness, peace of mind. How it is possible? That is explained here = ceta etair anāviddhaṁ [SB 1.2.19]. Everything is within the heart. So we are being [indistinct] by the rajas, tamas. Rajas means passion, desire for material enjoyment, and tamas means ignorance. Neither enjoyment nor knowledge. Just like animal = animal has no material enjoyment, neither he has knowledge. So similarly, persons who are infected by the tamo-guna, they do not know what is the meaning of life, neither are they interested[?]. People are becoming affected by this tamo-guna. Therefore even in this Western country they are turning to the hippies. No material enjoyment, no spiritual knowledge---simply in darkness.

So if we develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just the process of hearing---śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ [SB 1.2 17]---if we simply practice the process of hearing about Kṛṣṇa, then gradually the darkness of ignorance and passion will disappear. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ [Śikṣāṣṭaka 1]. We are suffering in this material life on account of these three modes of material nature, especially the modes of passion and ignorance. But here is the process how to get out of these modes of passion and ignorance especially. Also material goodness. Sometimes material goodness is also a cause of bondage. A person falsely thinks that "Now I have become a brāhmaṇa," or "I have got a sacred thread; therefore my business is finished. Now I can do anything. It doesn’t matter." That is also another bondage. You have to still advance. Even if you... The brāhmaṇas... Actually, a brāhmaṇa does not think like that, that "Because I have got this sacred thread, my business is finished." We offer the sacred thread, but don’t make your business finished there. There is further progressive life. After becoming brāhmaṇa, one has to become a Vaiṣṇava.

This process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Just as we shall initiate several of our disciples, the first initiation and the second initiation. The first initiation is to give chance of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. The beads are there, and the initiated members we will advise to refrain from sinful activities, and in pure heart chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Not in pure heart---heart is already polluted---but offenseless. There are ten kinds of offenses; that will be explained. The first offense is guror avajñā śruti-śāstra-nindanam [Padma Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa 25.15-18]. There are ten kinds of offenses. Our..., some of our disciples are going to be initiated. They should always remember how to avoid the offenses. Of course, in the beginning, the offenses are there, but if we try to avoid them, then there will be nāmābhāsa. Nāmābhāsa means almost pure chanting of the holy name. That is called nāmābhāsa. And if you attain the state of nāmābhāsa, you’ll become immediately liberated. And then, when you can chant the śuddha holy name, pure, uncontaminated by the material modes of nature, then you will develop your love of Kṛṣṇa.

So here it is stated, rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ: we are afflicted with three kinds of the modes of nature. So, out of the three, two are very dangerous. What are they? Rajas tamas, passion and ignorance. The whole material world is going on on the basis of these two qualities, passion and ignorance. What are the symptoms of passion? Kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye [SB 1.2.19] = too much attraction for sense gratification. This is called passion. And lobha: greediness, not satisfied. Now we are coming from a cottage, very nice cottage, self-sufficient; little land also, growing vegetables. Nice cottage, very warm. There is no need of air conditioning. We can live very simple life anywhere, any part of the world. There are so many jungles = you cut one or two trees, and with the logs you can make into little cottage. And after the trees being cut, the land becomes open, so you can utilize the land for growing food grains, for pasturing ground. Then if you have got cows, food grains, vegetables and a cottage, then where is your economic problem? [laughter] Where is your economic problem? Live peacefully in the open air, take sufficient milk, all vitamins, and vegetables full of vitamins, A, B, C, D. You have to take, vitamins. [laughter] You get nice life and save time for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Jaya!

Prabhupāda: This is life. We are trying to introduce in this New Vrindaban colony this simple life. But the kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. We can live very simple life, but because we are infected by the rajo-guna and tamo-guna, we require the pigeonholes of skyscraper buildings---unnecessarily. Unnecessarily, why? Your time is so valuable that you cannot get back your life, one day of your life or one moment of your life, by paying millions of dollars. What is the day today? Twentieth?

Devotees: Twenty-first.

Prabhupāda: Twenty-first. Now the 20th July, 1974, which is past of our life, it cannot be returned, even if you try to bribe material nature millions of dollars. It is not possible. What is gone is gone. Therefore Cāṇakya Paṇḍita said, very good moral instruction,
āyuṣaḥ kṣaṇa eko 'pi
na labhya svarṇa-koṭibhiḥ

Even the moment of time we cannot get back by payment of millions of golden coins. That is not possible.
na cen nirarthakaṁ nītiḥ
kā ca hānis tato 'dhikā

[Nīti Śāstra, Cāṇakya-śloka 34]

If such valuable time you simply waste, then just estimate it what is your loss, practically, from monetary point. One moment of your life cannot be returned by millions of dollars.

Therefore our Rūpa Gosvāmī also teaches, avyartha-kālatvam [Cc. Madhya 23.18]. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person should see, "Whether my time has become wasted? Whether I am utilizing my time, the short duration of my life, properly?" All Kṛṣṇa conscious persons should be vigilant to see that the time is not wasted. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore advises, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ.
tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

[Cc. Ādi 17.31]

We have therefore introduced chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours. I am glad to see all the devotees, they are carrying the beads, that this is nice practice. It must be. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, for twenty-four hours = while working, even in sleeping. If you practice, in sleep also you will chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. That is possible. It is not impossible; it is fact.

So the human life, if you want actually peace and prosperity, as it is stated,
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ
sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati

[SB 1.2.19]

You have to keep yourself always in the sattva-guna, the modes of goodness, brahminical platform. Satya, śamaḥ, damaḥ, titikṣāḥ, ārjavam, jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam [Bg. 18.42]. So those who are going to be initiated brāhmaṇa, they must observe; otherwise what is the use of taking a sacred thread? Don’t think by simply having a sacred thread, this business is finished. No. They should be practiced how to keep yourself on the platform of sattva-guna. That platform of sattva-guna can be maintained when you are engaged in devotional service. Here it is said, sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati [SB 1.2.19] = simply being situated on the platform of goodness, you will be happy. Prasīdati, you will feel happiness, because you are in the knowledge. But the bhakti process is so transcendental that by discharge of devotional service you will be far above the sattva-guna.

Sattva-guna, that is material good qualities. But these material good qualities can be contaminated sometimes, because the material nature is very powerful.
daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī
mama māyā duratyayā

[Bg. 7.14]

Very, very powerful. Therefore sometimes we see that those who are not sticking to the principles, they fall down---immediately. The material nature will drag, "Please come here." But if you remain fixed up in devotional service, then you go above the sattva-guna. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

[Bg. 14.26]

So we are introducing this process to become directly a pure devotee. A pure devotee. Devotee, pure and impure? Yes. Impure means those who are still contaminated by these three qualities, sattva-guna, raja-guna, tamo-guna. And pure means above; no contamination. So take directly, because in this age it is very difficult to go step by step. Life is very short. You do not know at any moment. Material world is full of danger, especially in this age.
prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya
kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ
mandāḥ sumanda-matayo
manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ

[SB 1.1.10]

This is the position. Almost every one of us, we have got very short life, duration of life. Although in this age the standard of life should be one hundred years, but we may believe it is reducing. On account of sinful activities, the duration of age is reducing, memory is reducing. Therefore, the short-cut policy to make our life successful, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu has introduced, has instructed, that paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam.
ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
...paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

[Śikṣāṣṭaka 1]

So śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam will give you life. So those who are going to be initiated, they must try to avoid---not try; they must---the ten kinds of offenses, then the pure name will be manifest. Then you will try to chant more and more and more. This is the effect.

So actually, we want peace and prosperity, because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is full of prosperity. And why we should be not in prosperity? This is the material contamination. So kāma-lobhādayaś: the material contamination means unnecessarily lusty. Unnecessarily. But if you practice, our this unnecessary desire for sense gratification will be reduced. Bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt [SB 11.2.42]. Bhakti, devotional life, is so nice, and..., and as you advance in devotional life, you will become disinterested---practically no interest in material activities. That is the test. That is the test.

Śrīla Yāmunācārya says,
yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde
nava-nava-rasa-dhāmanudyata rantum āsīt
tadāvadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne
bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca

[Śrīla Yāmunācārya]

Here in the material world, the highest pleasure is sex. Everyone---not only human society; dog society, cat society, bird society---they are all after sex. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45]. The most abominable happiness, that is the first-class happiness in the material world. But if you engage your..., your mind in Kṛṣṇa, yadāvadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde... Yāmunācārya, he was a king. So he says from his practical experience that "Since I have engaged my mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa," nava-nava-rasa-dhāmanudyata rantum āsīt, "and increasing every moment transcendental mellows, newer and new, from that time," tadāvadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāne, "when I think of sex life with woman, immediately I spit on it." This is the test. The more you advance in Kṛṣṇa life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you forget this topmost pleasure of material life, sex life. That is the test.

So the sex life is passion, rajas, kāma. So here it is said, tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ [SB 1.2.19] = the result of passion is sex, kāma; and lobha, no satisfaction. So spiritual life means above all these things. You cannot say that you have all the qualities of rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ---lusty desires, greediness---and still you are advancing. That is debauchery. That is not spiritual life. Spiritual life test is this = kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye. Simply you shall be situated in sattva-guna. Ceta etair anāviddhaṁ. Just like the..., you have seen the Cupid picture, it has got an arrow pierced. Therefore this word is used, ceta etair anāviddhaṁ: without being pierced. Viddhaṁ. Anāviddhaṁ. And they, as, as soon as you are pierced by an arrow, the painful condition begins, immediately. So we are always painful, because the heart is pierced by the arrow of the Cupid. So if you remain on the sattva-guna, the goodness, then your heart will not be pierced by the arrow of Cupid. This is the test. Then you will be happy.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda!
[end]

https://vedabase.io/en/library/transcripts/740721sbnv/