Vedic Culture
Culture means dharma. Vedic culture means sanatana dharma - elevation, self-realization, avoiding death, realizing and satisfying the Lord, and spreading His message.
SB 4.25.13 p.:
"Thus whoever takes birth in the land of Bharata-varsa attains all the facilities of life. He may take advantage of all these facilities for both material and spiritual advancement and thus make his life successful. After attaining the goal of life, one may distribute his knowledge and experience all over the world for humanitarian purposes. In other words, one who takes birth in the land of Bharata-varsa by virtue of his past pious activities gets full facility to develop the human form of life. In India, the climatic condition is such that one can live very peacefully without being disturbed by material conditions. Indeed, during the time of Maharaja Yudhisthira or Lord Ramacandra, people were free from all anxieties. There was not even extreme cold or extreme heat. The three kinds of miserable conditions - adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika (miseries inflicted by the body and mind itself, those inflicted by other living entities, and natural disturbances) - were all absent during the reign of Lord Ramacandra or Maharaja Yudhisthira. But at present, compared to other countries on earth, India is artificially disturbed. Despite these material disturbances, however, the country's culture is such that one can easily attain the goal of life - namely salvation, or liberation from material bondage. Thus in order to take birth in India one must have performed many pious activities in a past life.
"In this verse the word laksita-laksanam indicates that the human body attained in Bharata-varsa is very auspicious. Vedic culture is full of knowledge, and a person born in India can fully take advantage of Vedic cultural knowledge and the cultural system known as varnasrama-dharma.
"Even at the present time, as we travel all over the world, we see that in some countries human beings have many material facilities but no facilities for spiritual advancement. We find everywhere the defects of one-sided facilities and a lack of full facilities. A blind man can walk but not see, and a lame man cannot walk but can see. Andha-pangu-nyaya.
"The blind man may take the lame man over his shoulder, and as he walks the lame man may give him directions. Thus combined they may work, but individually neither the blind man nor the lame man can walk successfully. Similarly, this human form of life is meant for the advancement of spiritual life and for keeping the material necessities in order. Especially in the Western countries there are ample facilities for material comforts, but no one has any idea of spiritual advancement. Many are hankering after spiritual advancement, but many cheaters come, take advantage of their money, bluff them and go away. Fortunately the Krsna consciousness movement is there to give all facilities for both material and spiritual advancement. In this way people in the Western countries may take advantage of this movement. In India any man in the villages, unaffected by the industrial cities of India, can still live in any condition and make spiritual advancement. The body has been called the city of nine gates, and these nine gates include two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, a genital and a rectum. When the nine gates are clean and working properly, it is to be understood that the body is healthy. In India these nine gates are kept clean by the villagers who rise early in the morning, bathe in the well or rivers, go to the temples to attend mangala-arati, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and take prasada. In this way one can take advantage of all the facilities of human life. We are gradually introducing this system in different centers in our Society in the Western countries. One who takes advantage of it becomes more and more enlightened in spiritual life. At the present moment, India may be compared to the lame man and the Western countries to the blind man. For the past two thousand years India has been subjugated by the rule of foreigners, and the legs of progress have been broken. In the Western countries the eyes of the people have become blind due to the dazzling glitter of material opulence. The blind man of the Western countries and the lame man of India should combine together in this Krsna consciousness movement. Then the lame man of India can walk with the help of the Westerner, and the blind Westerner can see with the help of the lame man. In short, the material advancement of the Western countries and the spiritual assets of India should combine for the elevation of all human society."
SB 7.2.11:
The basic principle of brahminical culture is to satisfy Lord Visnu, the personification of sacrificial and ritualistic ceremonies. Lord Visnu is the personified reservoir of all religious principles, and He is the shelter of all the demigods, the great pitas, and the people in general. When the brahmanas are killed, no one will exist to encourage the ksatriyas to perform yajnas, and thus the demigods, not being appeased by yajna, will automatically die.
PURPORT
Since Visnu is the central point of brahminical culture, Hiranyakasipu's plan was to kill Visnu, for if Visnu were killed, naturally the brahminical culture would also be lost. With brahminical culture lost, yajna would no longer be performed, and for want of yajna the regular distribution of rainfall would cease (yajnad bhavati parjanyah (BG 3.14). Thus there would be disturbances all over the world, and naturally the demigods would be defeated. From this verse we get a clear indication of how human society is disturbed when the Vedic aryan civilization is killed and the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies performed by the brahmanas are stopped. Kalau sudra-sambhavah: because the population of the modern world consists mostly of sudras, the brahminical culture is now lost and is extremely difficult to reestablish in a proper way. Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, which will revive brahminical culture very easily.
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
(CC Adi 17.21)
Because of the increment in demoniac population, people have lost brahminical culture. Nor is there a ksatriya government. Instead, the government is a democracy in which any sudra can be voted into taking up the governmental reigns and capture the power to rule. Because of the poisonous effects of Kali-yuga, the sastra (Bhag. 12.2.13) says, dasyu-prayesu rajasu: the government will adopt the policies of dasyus, or plunderers. Thus there will be no instructions from the brahmanas, and even if there are brahminical instructions, there will be no ksatriya rulers who can follow them. Aside from Satya-yuga, even formerly, in the days when demons were flourishing, Hiranyakasipu planned to destroy the brahminical culture and the ksatriya government and thus create chaos all over the world. Although in Satya-yuga this plan was very difficult to execute, in Kali-yuga, which is full of sudras and demons, the brahminical culture is lost and can be revived only by the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Therefore the Krsna consciousness movement, or the Hare Krsna movement, has been inaugurated to revive brahminical culture very easily so that people may become happy and peaceful in this life and prepare for elevation in the next. In this regard, Srila Madhvacarya quotes this verse from the Brahmanda Purana:
vipra-yajnadi-mulam tu
harir ity asuram matam
harir eva hi sarvasya
mulam samyan mato nrpa
"O King, the demons think that Hari, Lord Visnu, exists because of the brahmanas and yajna, but factually Hari is the cause of everything including the brahmanas and yajna." Therefore, through the popularizing of hari-kirtana, or the sankirtana movement, the brahminical culture and ksatriya government will automatically come back, and people will be extremely happy.
SB 10.1.48:
As long as he has intelligence and bodily strength, an intelligent person must try to avoid death. This is the duty of every embodied person. But if death cannot be avoided in spite of one's endeavors, a person facing death commits no offense.
PURPORT
It is natural for a person facing untimely death to try his best to save himself. This is one's duty. Although death is sure, everyone should try to avoid it and not meet death without opposition because every living soul is by nature eternal. Because death is a punishment imposed in the condemned life of material existence, the Vedic culture is based on avoiding death (tyaktva deham punar janma naiti, BG 4.9). Everyone should try to avoid death and rebirth by cultivating spiritual life and should not submit to death without struggling to survive. One who is not trying to stop death is not an intelligent human being.
SB 11.7.8 p.:
Vedic culture is arranged in such a way that everyone can become perfect in self-realization simply by performing his occupational duty for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sve sve karmany abhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah. Some conditioned souls, however, believe that complete perfection in life may be achieved by performing ordinary, nonspiritual duties on behalf of family, nation, humanity, and so on. Others are interested in neither service to God nor noble mundane activities, and there are others who actively pursue sinful life. Such sinful persons generally rise from bed late in the afternoon and stay awake all night, taking intoxicants and engaging in illicit sex. Such a dark, hellish existence is caused by attraction to tamo-guna, the mode of ignorance. Actions in the mode of ignorance are called vikarma, as mentioned in this verse. Unfortunately, neither the materially responsible person nor the materially irresponsible person nor the sinful person can achieve the real perfection of life, Krsna consciousness. Although different societies and different individuals maintain different concepts of good and evil, all material things are ultimately useless in terms of our eternal self-interest, which is Krsna consciousness.
SB 11.25.21:
Learned persons dedicated to Vedic culture are elevated by the mode of goodness to higher and higher positions. The mode of ignorance, on the other hand, forces one to fall headfirst into lower and lower births. And by the mode of passion one continues transmigrating through human bodies.
PURPORT
Sudras, persons in the mode of ignorance, are generally in deep illusion about the purpose of life, accepting the gross material body as the self. Those in passion and ignorance are called vaisyas and hanker intensely for wealth, whereas ksatriyas, who are in the mode of passion, are eager for prestige and power. Those in the mode of goodness, however, hanker after perfect knowledge; they are therefore called brahmanas. Such a person is promoted up to the supreme material position of Brahmaloka, the planet of Lord Brahma. One who is in the mode of ignorance gradually falls to the level of unmoving species, such as trees and stones, while one in the mode of passion, filled with material desire but satisfying it within Vedic culture, is allowed to remain in human society.
CC Adi 12.73 p.:
The essence of the Vedic culture is the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Caitanya instructed:
yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna' upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
(CC Madhya 7.128)
One should simply instruct everyone he meets regarding the principles of krsna-katha, as expressed in Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Nectar of Devotion 35 (Neutral Love of God):
Actually, all Vedic culture is aiming at understanding Lord Visnu. In the Rg Veda one mantra says that any advanced saintly person is always aspiring to be fixed in meditation upon the lotus feet of Visnu.
Krsna Consciousness: Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?:
India's actual culture is described in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is stated that according to the different qualities or modes of nature there are different types of men, who are generally classified into four social orders and four spiritual orders. This system of social and spiritual division is known as varnasrama-dharma. The four varnas, or social orders, are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya. and sudra. The four asramas, or spiritual orders, are brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. The varnasrama system is described in the Vedic scriptures known as the Puranas. The goal of this institution of Vedic culture is to educate every man for advancement in knowledge of Krsna, or God. That is the entire Vedic program.
Human Society or Animal Society?:
Interviewer: Here's the second question: "The traditional charge against Vedic culture is that it is fatalistic, that it makes people slaves to the belief in predestination, and that it therefore inhibits progress. How far is this charge true?"
Srila Prabhupada: What is that progress? Is a dog's jumping progress? Is that progress? A dog is running here and there on four legs, and you are running here and there on the four wheels of the automobile. Is that progress? That is not the Vedic system. According to the Vedic system, the human being has a certain amount of energy, and since the human being has better consciousness than the animals, the energy of the human beings is more valuable than the energy of the animals.
Interviewer: Probably no one would dispute that the human being has more freedom or, I suppose, responsibility than the animals.
Srila Prabhupada: So human energy should be utilized for spiritual advancement, not that the energy should be employed to compete with the dog. The saintly person is not busy like the dog. Today people think that "dog-ness" is life, but actual life is spiritual progress. Therefore, the Vedic literature says,
tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkha vad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa
"Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Patala]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in the course of time, just as in the course of time we obtain miseries, even though we do not desire them." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.18)
Spiritual Communism:
But you cannot trace out the beginning of this Vedic scripture. It is therefore called sanatana, eternal. This culture is for this whole human society. It is not a religious faith. Religious faith you can change, but real dharma you cannot change. Try to understand Krsna.
Narada-bhakti-sutra 1:
The Vedic culture is respected all over the world, and there are people everywhere eager to understand it. The highest perfectional stage of understanding Vedic culture is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, in the Fifteenth Chapter (15.15), where the Lord says that the purpose of all the Vedas is to understand Him (Lord Krsna). Fortunate are those who are attracted to the Vedic cultural life.
Spiritual Advice to Businessmen:
The brahmanas, the head of the social body, are meant to guide society in culture. Culture means knowing the aim of life. Without understanding the aim of life, a man is a ship without a rudder. But at the present moment we are missing the goal of life because there is no head department in society. The whole human society is now lacking real brahmanas to give advice to the other departments.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.46-47 - New York, March 28, 1966:
We have already discussed this matter, that brahmana does not mean a particular class or born in a particular country. A brahmana means who knows the position of the soul, or the constitution of the soul. He is brahmana. Just like a person who is conversant with medical science. He is called medical man or a doctor. It doesn't matter whether he is born in India or born in America or whether he is black or white. It doesn't matter. One must have the qualification of a medical man, and he is called a doctor. Similarly, Bhagavad-gita also accepts the brahminical culture, the brahminical culture. Brahminical culture means the social position in which everyone is assisted to elevate himself to the highest position of understanding the position and the constitution of the soul. That should be the aim of human society.
Room Conversation - June 29, 1972, San Diego:
To do good to others, para-upakara. So those Indians who are here, it is all right you are earning for some economic development, but at the same time, you try to make your life perfect by Krsna consciousness and spread it to the foreigners as far as possible. That's your duty, not that, that you are getting decent salary than India, and enjoy life and forget your culture. That is suicidal. You have got a culture... So this culture is Vedic culture and Vedic culture means Krsna conscious. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah (BG 15.15). Vedic culture means to understand Krsna. One who has not understood Krsna, he has no Vedic culture. But every Indian is supposed to have Vedic culture. And to have Vedic culture means to understand Krsna. Therefore all Indians, they should cultivate this Krsna consciousness personally, make their life successful, and distribute it to the, our neighbors.
Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.20 - Los Angeles, September 25, 1972:
Brahminical culture means the aim of advancement of civilization is spiritual realization, self-realization, Visnu. Ultimately, Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the prerogative. That is a special chance for the human being. This chance is not for any other living being. So for this purpose, there are so many rules and regulation: Manu-samhita, the social system, the political system, the spiritual system, so many things. Everything chalked with an aim: how to understand Brahman. Brahma janati iti brahmanah. As soon as one understands what is Brahman, Parabrahman, Krsna - Krsna is Parabrahman - then his life is perfect. That was the aim.
Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam (Preface) - Bombay, January 11, 1973:
So my request, especially to the Indians, that do not neglect your culture, the Vedic culture. Vedic culture means Krsna consciousness. There is no other, different meaning of Vedic culture. In the Bhagavad-gita you have seen:
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca vedais ca
sarvair aham eva vedyah... (BG 15.15)
That Krsna is to be understood. Vedic culture means to understand Krsna, what is Krsna. Vedic culture... All the Vedas, they're meaning how to understand Krsna.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce "Culture and Business" - Calcutta, January 30, 1973:
So culture means that one should know what is the aim of life. Without understanding the aim of life, a man without aim is ship without, a ship without rudder. That is an English proverb. So at the present moment, we are missing the goal of life because there is no head department. The whole human society is lacking now real brahmanas who can give advice to the other departments.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.13 - Bombay, April 2, 1974:
Similarly, when the society is divided nicely in these four divisions, the brahminical culture, the ksatriya culture, the vaisya culture, and the sudra culture... Brahminical culture means people should learn how to speak truth, satya, sama, how to control the mind, how to control the senses. Satya, sama, damah, titiksa, how to become tolerant, arjavam, how to become simple in life, how to become cleansed, how to acquire knowledge and how to practically apply the knowledge in daily life.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 7.1 - Bombay, December 20, 1975:
So our Vedic culture, Vedic culture means that human culture, not animal culture. Animal culture means to satisfy the needs of the body, and Vedic culture or human culture means to satisfy the needs of the soul. That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gita.
Evening Lecture - Bhubaneswar, January 23, 1977:
As yesterday we were talking of varnasrama-dharma, four varnas and four asrama - brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra - so the Vedic culture means to execute the varnasrama-dharma.
SB 4.25.13 p.:
"Thus whoever takes birth in the land of Bharata-varsa attains all the facilities of life. He may take advantage of all these facilities for both material and spiritual advancement and thus make his life successful. After attaining the goal of life, one may distribute his knowledge and experience all over the world for humanitarian purposes. In other words, one who takes birth in the land of Bharata-varsa by virtue of his past pious activities gets full facility to develop the human form of life. In India, the climatic condition is such that one can live very peacefully without being disturbed by material conditions. Indeed, during the time of Maharaja Yudhisthira or Lord Ramacandra, people were free from all anxieties. There was not even extreme cold or extreme heat. The three kinds of miserable conditions - adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika (miseries inflicted by the body and mind itself, those inflicted by other living entities, and natural disturbances) - were all absent during the reign of Lord Ramacandra or Maharaja Yudhisthira. But at present, compared to other countries on earth, India is artificially disturbed. Despite these material disturbances, however, the country's culture is such that one can easily attain the goal of life - namely salvation, or liberation from material bondage. Thus in order to take birth in India one must have performed many pious activities in a past life.
"In this verse the word laksita-laksanam indicates that the human body attained in Bharata-varsa is very auspicious. Vedic culture is full of knowledge, and a person born in India can fully take advantage of Vedic cultural knowledge and the cultural system known as varnasrama-dharma.
"Even at the present time, as we travel all over the world, we see that in some countries human beings have many material facilities but no facilities for spiritual advancement. We find everywhere the defects of one-sided facilities and a lack of full facilities. A blind man can walk but not see, and a lame man cannot walk but can see. Andha-pangu-nyaya.
"The blind man may take the lame man over his shoulder, and as he walks the lame man may give him directions. Thus combined they may work, but individually neither the blind man nor the lame man can walk successfully. Similarly, this human form of life is meant for the advancement of spiritual life and for keeping the material necessities in order. Especially in the Western countries there are ample facilities for material comforts, but no one has any idea of spiritual advancement. Many are hankering after spiritual advancement, but many cheaters come, take advantage of their money, bluff them and go away. Fortunately the Krsna consciousness movement is there to give all facilities for both material and spiritual advancement. In this way people in the Western countries may take advantage of this movement. In India any man in the villages, unaffected by the industrial cities of India, can still live in any condition and make spiritual advancement. The body has been called the city of nine gates, and these nine gates include two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, one mouth, a genital and a rectum. When the nine gates are clean and working properly, it is to be understood that the body is healthy. In India these nine gates are kept clean by the villagers who rise early in the morning, bathe in the well or rivers, go to the temples to attend mangala-arati, chant the Hare Krsna maha-mantra and take prasada. In this way one can take advantage of all the facilities of human life. We are gradually introducing this system in different centers in our Society in the Western countries. One who takes advantage of it becomes more and more enlightened in spiritual life. At the present moment, India may be compared to the lame man and the Western countries to the blind man. For the past two thousand years India has been subjugated by the rule of foreigners, and the legs of progress have been broken. In the Western countries the eyes of the people have become blind due to the dazzling glitter of material opulence. The blind man of the Western countries and the lame man of India should combine together in this Krsna consciousness movement. Then the lame man of India can walk with the help of the Westerner, and the blind Westerner can see with the help of the lame man. In short, the material advancement of the Western countries and the spiritual assets of India should combine for the elevation of all human society."
SB 7.2.11:
The basic principle of brahminical culture is to satisfy Lord Visnu, the personification of sacrificial and ritualistic ceremonies. Lord Visnu is the personified reservoir of all religious principles, and He is the shelter of all the demigods, the great pitas, and the people in general. When the brahmanas are killed, no one will exist to encourage the ksatriyas to perform yajnas, and thus the demigods, not being appeased by yajna, will automatically die.
PURPORT
Since Visnu is the central point of brahminical culture, Hiranyakasipu's plan was to kill Visnu, for if Visnu were killed, naturally the brahminical culture would also be lost. With brahminical culture lost, yajna would no longer be performed, and for want of yajna the regular distribution of rainfall would cease (yajnad bhavati parjanyah (BG 3.14). Thus there would be disturbances all over the world, and naturally the demigods would be defeated. From this verse we get a clear indication of how human society is disturbed when the Vedic aryan civilization is killed and the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies performed by the brahmanas are stopped. Kalau sudra-sambhavah: because the population of the modern world consists mostly of sudras, the brahminical culture is now lost and is extremely difficult to reestablish in a proper way. Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, which will revive brahminical culture very easily.
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
(CC Adi 17.21)
Because of the increment in demoniac population, people have lost brahminical culture. Nor is there a ksatriya government. Instead, the government is a democracy in which any sudra can be voted into taking up the governmental reigns and capture the power to rule. Because of the poisonous effects of Kali-yuga, the sastra (Bhag. 12.2.13) says, dasyu-prayesu rajasu: the government will adopt the policies of dasyus, or plunderers. Thus there will be no instructions from the brahmanas, and even if there are brahminical instructions, there will be no ksatriya rulers who can follow them. Aside from Satya-yuga, even formerly, in the days when demons were flourishing, Hiranyakasipu planned to destroy the brahminical culture and the ksatriya government and thus create chaos all over the world. Although in Satya-yuga this plan was very difficult to execute, in Kali-yuga, which is full of sudras and demons, the brahminical culture is lost and can be revived only by the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Therefore the Krsna consciousness movement, or the Hare Krsna movement, has been inaugurated to revive brahminical culture very easily so that people may become happy and peaceful in this life and prepare for elevation in the next. In this regard, Srila Madhvacarya quotes this verse from the Brahmanda Purana:
vipra-yajnadi-mulam tu
harir ity asuram matam
harir eva hi sarvasya
mulam samyan mato nrpa
"O King, the demons think that Hari, Lord Visnu, exists because of the brahmanas and yajna, but factually Hari is the cause of everything including the brahmanas and yajna." Therefore, through the popularizing of hari-kirtana, or the sankirtana movement, the brahminical culture and ksatriya government will automatically come back, and people will be extremely happy.
SB 10.1.48:
As long as he has intelligence and bodily strength, an intelligent person must try to avoid death. This is the duty of every embodied person. But if death cannot be avoided in spite of one's endeavors, a person facing death commits no offense.
PURPORT
It is natural for a person facing untimely death to try his best to save himself. This is one's duty. Although death is sure, everyone should try to avoid it and not meet death without opposition because every living soul is by nature eternal. Because death is a punishment imposed in the condemned life of material existence, the Vedic culture is based on avoiding death (tyaktva deham punar janma naiti, BG 4.9). Everyone should try to avoid death and rebirth by cultivating spiritual life and should not submit to death without struggling to survive. One who is not trying to stop death is not an intelligent human being.
SB 11.7.8 p.:
Vedic culture is arranged in such a way that everyone can become perfect in self-realization simply by performing his occupational duty for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sve sve karmany abhiratah samsiddhim labhate narah. Some conditioned souls, however, believe that complete perfection in life may be achieved by performing ordinary, nonspiritual duties on behalf of family, nation, humanity, and so on. Others are interested in neither service to God nor noble mundane activities, and there are others who actively pursue sinful life. Such sinful persons generally rise from bed late in the afternoon and stay awake all night, taking intoxicants and engaging in illicit sex. Such a dark, hellish existence is caused by attraction to tamo-guna, the mode of ignorance. Actions in the mode of ignorance are called vikarma, as mentioned in this verse. Unfortunately, neither the materially responsible person nor the materially irresponsible person nor the sinful person can achieve the real perfection of life, Krsna consciousness. Although different societies and different individuals maintain different concepts of good and evil, all material things are ultimately useless in terms of our eternal self-interest, which is Krsna consciousness.
SB 11.25.21:
Learned persons dedicated to Vedic culture are elevated by the mode of goodness to higher and higher positions. The mode of ignorance, on the other hand, forces one to fall headfirst into lower and lower births. And by the mode of passion one continues transmigrating through human bodies.
PURPORT
Sudras, persons in the mode of ignorance, are generally in deep illusion about the purpose of life, accepting the gross material body as the self. Those in passion and ignorance are called vaisyas and hanker intensely for wealth, whereas ksatriyas, who are in the mode of passion, are eager for prestige and power. Those in the mode of goodness, however, hanker after perfect knowledge; they are therefore called brahmanas. Such a person is promoted up to the supreme material position of Brahmaloka, the planet of Lord Brahma. One who is in the mode of ignorance gradually falls to the level of unmoving species, such as trees and stones, while one in the mode of passion, filled with material desire but satisfying it within Vedic culture, is allowed to remain in human society.
CC Adi 12.73 p.:
The essence of the Vedic culture is the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Caitanya instructed:
yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna' upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
(CC Madhya 7.128)
One should simply instruct everyone he meets regarding the principles of krsna-katha, as expressed in Bhagavad-gita As It Is and Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Nectar of Devotion 35 (Neutral Love of God):
Actually, all Vedic culture is aiming at understanding Lord Visnu. In the Rg Veda one mantra says that any advanced saintly person is always aspiring to be fixed in meditation upon the lotus feet of Visnu.
Krsna Consciousness: Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?:
India's actual culture is described in the Bhagavad-gita, where it is stated that according to the different qualities or modes of nature there are different types of men, who are generally classified into four social orders and four spiritual orders. This system of social and spiritual division is known as varnasrama-dharma. The four varnas, or social orders, are brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya. and sudra. The four asramas, or spiritual orders, are brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa. The varnasrama system is described in the Vedic scriptures known as the Puranas. The goal of this institution of Vedic culture is to educate every man for advancement in knowledge of Krsna, or God. That is the entire Vedic program.
Human Society or Animal Society?:
Interviewer: Here's the second question: "The traditional charge against Vedic culture is that it is fatalistic, that it makes people slaves to the belief in predestination, and that it therefore inhibits progress. How far is this charge true?"
Srila Prabhupada: What is that progress? Is a dog's jumping progress? Is that progress? A dog is running here and there on four legs, and you are running here and there on the four wheels of the automobile. Is that progress? That is not the Vedic system. According to the Vedic system, the human being has a certain amount of energy, and since the human being has better consciousness than the animals, the energy of the human beings is more valuable than the energy of the animals.
Interviewer: Probably no one would dispute that the human being has more freedom or, I suppose, responsibility than the animals.
Srila Prabhupada: So human energy should be utilized for spiritual advancement, not that the energy should be employed to compete with the dog. The saintly person is not busy like the dog. Today people think that "dog-ness" is life, but actual life is spiritual progress. Therefore, the Vedic literature says,
tasyaiva hetoh prayateta kovido
na labhyate yad bhramatam upary adhah
tal labhyate duhkha vad anyatah sukham
kalena sarvatra gabhira-ramhasa
"Persons who are actually intelligent and philosophically inclined should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is not obtainable even by wandering from the topmost planet [Brahmaloka] down to the lowest planet [Patala]. As far as happiness derived from sense enjoyment is concerned, it can be obtained automatically in the course of time, just as in the course of time we obtain miseries, even though we do not desire them." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.18)
Spiritual Communism:
But you cannot trace out the beginning of this Vedic scripture. It is therefore called sanatana, eternal. This culture is for this whole human society. It is not a religious faith. Religious faith you can change, but real dharma you cannot change. Try to understand Krsna.
Narada-bhakti-sutra 1:
The Vedic culture is respected all over the world, and there are people everywhere eager to understand it. The highest perfectional stage of understanding Vedic culture is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, in the Fifteenth Chapter (15.15), where the Lord says that the purpose of all the Vedas is to understand Him (Lord Krsna). Fortunate are those who are attracted to the Vedic cultural life.
Spiritual Advice to Businessmen:
The brahmanas, the head of the social body, are meant to guide society in culture. Culture means knowing the aim of life. Without understanding the aim of life, a man is a ship without a rudder. But at the present moment we are missing the goal of life because there is no head department in society. The whole human society is now lacking real brahmanas to give advice to the other departments.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 2.46-47 - New York, March 28, 1966:
We have already discussed this matter, that brahmana does not mean a particular class or born in a particular country. A brahmana means who knows the position of the soul, or the constitution of the soul. He is brahmana. Just like a person who is conversant with medical science. He is called medical man or a doctor. It doesn't matter whether he is born in India or born in America or whether he is black or white. It doesn't matter. One must have the qualification of a medical man, and he is called a doctor. Similarly, Bhagavad-gita also accepts the brahminical culture, the brahminical culture. Brahminical culture means the social position in which everyone is assisted to elevate himself to the highest position of understanding the position and the constitution of the soul. That should be the aim of human society.
Room Conversation - June 29, 1972, San Diego:
To do good to others, para-upakara. So those Indians who are here, it is all right you are earning for some economic development, but at the same time, you try to make your life perfect by Krsna consciousness and spread it to the foreigners as far as possible. That's your duty, not that, that you are getting decent salary than India, and enjoy life and forget your culture. That is suicidal. You have got a culture... So this culture is Vedic culture and Vedic culture means Krsna conscious. As it is said in the Bhagavad-gita, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah (BG 15.15). Vedic culture means to understand Krsna. One who has not understood Krsna, he has no Vedic culture. But every Indian is supposed to have Vedic culture. And to have Vedic culture means to understand Krsna. Therefore all Indians, they should cultivate this Krsna consciousness personally, make their life successful, and distribute it to the, our neighbors.
Lecture on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.20 - Los Angeles, September 25, 1972:
Brahminical culture means the aim of advancement of civilization is spiritual realization, self-realization, Visnu. Ultimately, Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the prerogative. That is a special chance for the human being. This chance is not for any other living being. So for this purpose, there are so many rules and regulation: Manu-samhita, the social system, the political system, the spiritual system, so many things. Everything chalked with an aim: how to understand Brahman. Brahma janati iti brahmanah. As soon as one understands what is Brahman, Parabrahman, Krsna - Krsna is Parabrahman - then his life is perfect. That was the aim.
Lecture on Srimad Bhagavatam (Preface) - Bombay, January 11, 1973:
So my request, especially to the Indians, that do not neglect your culture, the Vedic culture. Vedic culture means Krsna consciousness. There is no other, different meaning of Vedic culture. In the Bhagavad-gita you have seen:
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca vedais ca
sarvair aham eva vedyah... (BG 15.15)
That Krsna is to be understood. Vedic culture means to understand Krsna, what is Krsna. Vedic culture... All the Vedas, they're meaning how to understand Krsna.
Lecture at Bharata Chamber of Commerce "Culture and Business" - Calcutta, January 30, 1973:
So culture means that one should know what is the aim of life. Without understanding the aim of life, a man without aim is ship without, a ship without rudder. That is an English proverb. So at the present moment, we are missing the goal of life because there is no head department. The whole human society is lacking now real brahmanas who can give advice to the other departments.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.13 - Bombay, April 2, 1974:
Similarly, when the society is divided nicely in these four divisions, the brahminical culture, the ksatriya culture, the vaisya culture, and the sudra culture... Brahminical culture means people should learn how to speak truth, satya, sama, how to control the mind, how to control the senses. Satya, sama, damah, titiksa, how to become tolerant, arjavam, how to become simple in life, how to become cleansed, how to acquire knowledge and how to practically apply the knowledge in daily life.
Lecture on Bhagavad-gita 7.1 - Bombay, December 20, 1975:
So our Vedic culture, Vedic culture means that human culture, not animal culture. Animal culture means to satisfy the needs of the body, and Vedic culture or human culture means to satisfy the needs of the soul. That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gita.
Evening Lecture - Bhubaneswar, January 23, 1977:
As yesterday we were talking of varnasrama-dharma, four varnas and four asrama - brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra - so the Vedic culture means to execute the varnasrama-dharma.
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