June 2 1974 Geneva lecture....
We are now entangled. Actually, our position in this material existence is not very good. Everyone sees it practically. Still, they want to adjust, "Let us make it good. Let us make it good." That is called punaḥ punaś carvita-carvaṇānām [SB 7.5.30], again and again chewing the chewed. Just like generally a father, especially here in India, he wants that his son may be well-situated. Therefore we don't get Indian youth very much, because the father and mother settles them. What is that? Get them married and give them some earning capacity, either by service or business. So he becomes satisfied, "This is the end of life." Gṛhamedhi. Just "Now I am married. It is my duty to stick to the gṛha and enjoy senses, that's all." Gṛhamedhi. Sacrifice for Kṛṣṇa, brahmacārī, sannyāsī... Sannyāsīs have become rogues. And there is no brahmacārī nor vānaprastha. Therefore it is very difficult to get Indian workers. They have no... Your qualification is—I told in the beginning—that you have got a renouncing spirit. That is a great qualification. Tyāga. Renunciation is opulence also. Kṛṣṇa, six opulences. One of the opulence is renunciation. Aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47), jñāna-vairāgya. Vairāgya means renunciation. You have enough of this material enjoyment. You have enjoyed. Or you have seen that there is no actually profit. Therefore you are in a spirit... That is natural. That is natural. If one has enjoyed very much, the next stage will be renunciation. This is natural. So because you have got a renouncing spirit, you are understanding or taking Kṛṣṇa consciousness very nicely, at least, very eagerly. Jñāna-vairāgya. That is required. This vairāgya then... I therefore sometimes like these hippies because they have a spirit of renunciation. That is very good position. Simply they require jñāna, or knowledge. Then their life will be successful. To bring one to the platform of renunciation, that is a very difficult job. Especially when one has got nice wife, nice home, nice bank balance, it is very, very difficult.
So there is a version by Kṛṣṇa that one who is anxious to take Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but he is entrapped by this binding-nice wife, nice children, nice home, nice bank balance—so Kṛṣṇa, in order to give them, give such devotee, facility, He takes away. Hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ. Yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁ śanaiḥ [SB 10.88.8]. Just like he did with the Pāṇḍavas. The Pāṇḍavas were devotees, but at the same time, they were king. There was attachment. So therefore Kṛṣṇa took away their everything—their kingdom, their wife, their position, their honor—test him, and still, they did not give up Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they came out victorious. So Kṛṣṇa sometimes tests His..., that how much one devotee is. He forcibly makes him renounced in order. That is Kṛṣṇa's special favor.
So this vairāgya-jñāna, it is required. We were discussing last night also, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodha [Bg. 4.10], these things are required. Unless one becomes completely, what is called? Averse?
Yogeśvara: Detached.
Prabhupāda: Detached: "So what is this nonsense material life?" That's a very good qualification. If one understands this perfectly—"This is all rubbish, this material enjoyment"—it is a great qualification. Akiñcana. Akiñcana. Akiñcana means do not possess anything material. Akiñcana-gocara. Kuntī, Kuntī, Queen Kuntī, when she was receiving Kṛṣṇa, she said, "My dear Kṛṣṇa, You are akiñcana-gocara. You are realized by a person who has no material possession. And You have given us now so much material possession. How we can understand You?" That was... Kuntī was regretting that "When we are in distress, You are always with us. Now You have given us kingdom and everything. Now You are going away to Dvārakā. What is this, Kṛṣṇa? Better let us go again to that distressed condition so that You remain with us." Akiñcana-gocara. Kṛṣṇa is akiñcana-gocara. Anyone who wants to enjoy material life, it is not possible to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is very secret.
Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, niṣkiñcanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya. Bhagavad-bhajana, to become devotee, Kṛṣṇa conscious, is meant for niṣkiñcanasya, one who does not possess anything in the material world. That does not mean he should be poverty-stricken. No. He should know it fully that "Nothing belongs to me; everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa. I am simply His servant, that's all." This is called akiñcana. If I think that "Keeping Kṛṣṇa in front, let me possess some material things," that is another cheating. That is not... Akiñcana. You should be fully conscious, that "Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa and nothing to us." Then Kṛṣṇa becomes your suhṛt. He takes charge, how your benefit will be there, ultimate
Some Conclusions-One time Prabhupada said the only good qualification of his western disciples was that we had no attachment for family life or home. He goes on to explain in this lecture that this spirit of tyaga or renunciation is very good for spiritual life. Those born in India had practically no sense gratification growing up like we did, so now, they want as much as they can get.
I saw a TV ad a few days ago where the Amazon/Microsoft creation- Alexis I think it is called- that little blue glowing tube that goes in your house and controls everything in your life if you let "her". Well the first edition was in english, now the second version is in Hindi. I am not even sure what this thing is, but most Indians now want it and want it so badly that the manufacturers have produced it in Hindi-they have that many customers.
So this mad pursuit for technology driven lives is ruining the pursuit of spiritual life . When one has machines that can do practically everything for oneself, including locking your front door while you are at work, a person will come to the conclusion-who needs God in his life? Bhaktivinode Thakur predicted that when one is too much controlled by machines, he is engulfed completely in kali yuga.
So Prabhupada said we are not against anything nor for anything-we just want to satisfy God-Krsna . Doing that usually means divesting oneself of so many useless things in a complicated life which prevents one to think favorably of God 24/7.
Hare Krsna
Damaghosa das