Those who are able to catch the ārya-vacasā—the words that are coming down authoritatively through this disciplic line, coming from the authority of Kṛṣṇa, passed down over many generations—by taking that and, in essence, what Bharata did? He put those shoes up, and he said, "Okay, not my will, but Thy will. I'm going to follow this what your words say." And it doesn't matter if it looks like I'm going in the wrong direction, because everyone said, "Rāma, you're going to the forest. You should be king." He said, "That's okay. I'm following the ārya-vacasā." And of course, it all came out properly. And when Prabhupāda followed the order of his spiritual teacher, he was 69 years old when he embarked on a journey on a not well-equipped cargo ship with no connections in America. But he, as he wrote, he's only following the ārya-vacasā. His guru said to do it. So he's doing it. And many people said, "This is foolhardy. You'll die." He almost did, but he followed the ārya-vacasā. And as the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, as we see it now, has spread to every continent—we're working on Antarctica.

Prabhupāda claimed these victories by this principle only. He said, "It's not me, it's the ārya-vacasā. It's the fact that I receive these words and I'm just trying to carry them out. That's what I'm doing, and that's why I'm successful. It's because I'm acting on behalf of the ārya or the authority." So this principle exempts us from the entanglement of the material world. The moment, as a bank teller, I take $1 off the top of the stack and put it in my pocket—it'll be on camera nowadays—you're fired. It's just $1, doesn't matter. It's the principle that's not yours to touch. So this world isn't ours to touch either, only on behalf of the owner of this world, who's mentioned in the Śrī Īśopaniṣad, īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam. I'll give you a verse to solve all your problems. You want all your problems solved? Okay, only half of you said yes, the other half cover your ears.

You want your problems solved? All right, here you go: īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvaṁ, yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat, tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā, mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam. Here it is. "Everything animate or inanimate within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong." You can thank me later. This is the principle through which anyone can live in this world without being—and I hate to say being, and then the next word—besmirched, meaning smeared by the material energy and entangled in the material energy. Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā that just as a lotus flower comes from the mud and it sits in the water, but doesn't become wet. Lotuses are amazing like that. They're in the water and they're in the mud, but they don't become muddy or wet. So similarly, if someone lives in this world with this principle that I've just described, that "I'm doing this on behalf of the authority, not for me, it's for the authority," then you're never entangled in this world, and you can become a conduit for Kṛṣṇa. In fact, that's what the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is. It means to become a representative to the world, to give goodwill, to become an ambassador of goodwill to the world.

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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/

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Add to your wisdom literature collection:

https://iskconsv.com/book-store/

https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/

https://thefourquestionsbook.com/

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