HH. Bhaktimarga Swami Maharaja

Hare Krishna!
Can you hear me? This is a very special time of the day when we associate with Krsna. It’s communication time with him. That being said, it’s a very important time of the day. We should try to be attentive. It’s very difficult to be attentive, but we try to be attentive. Prabhupada explained what a Vaisnava is. It is somebody who tries. If we give up trying, then we are in big trouble. We will be in trouble for so many lifetimes. Now we have to chant right here. This chanting is a very sacred, very blessed time. Please enjoy these moments. I will try to. I am so happy to have your association. Seeing your faces and trying to make good of this most sacred aspect of our devotional life – namely sravanam kirtanam. I am happy to be in your association. Thank you very much. That’s how we say in French in Canada – Merci beaucoup. Chant with the upper and lower lips and your tongue, throw your heart out there. Thank you for your company. Haribol! Jay! May you shine. Hare Krishna!

Guru Maharaja

Today we had 365 participants. HH Bhaktimarga Swami Maharaja was also a special participant today. We seem to be excited and enlivened to see Maharaja chanting with us. He kindly addressed you all, but he did this earlier. Some of you were not there as he spoke 40 minutes ago. But his message was basic and foundational. He was encouraging all of you to chant with attention. CHANT WITH ATTENTION. He said it’s not easy to chant attentively and it’s a fact. Then he said to keep trying. If you don’t try you will be in trouble. So all that Maharaja briefly spoke was nothing but the truth. Keep trying. Lord Krsna also said that when Arjun said it’s very difficult to control the mind.

cancalam hi manah krsna
pramathi balavad drdham
tasyaham nigraham manye
vayor iva su-duskaram ( BG. 6.34)

For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind.

The mind is very difficult to control. It’s very obstinate. Children sometimes are very obstinate, so the mind is like that. vayor iva su-duskaram – It’s more difficult to control the mind than controlling the wind. Krsna was sympathetic not only to Arjuna, but he is sympathetic to all of us. It was not just Arjun’s mind which was difficult to control. Isn’t that everyones mind? Because it is the mind! The mind is the mind. It is common in all of us. It is one of the elements of this world or what this body is made up of. It’s a subtle element. This is a dhatu.

bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā (BG 7.4)

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.

So it’s one of the prakritis. bhinna is separated from the Lord. All minds are created by the same creator. There is no such thing as an American mind, Indian mind or Noida mind. The mind is the mind. There may be some difference of flavours, culture according to different countries, but basically it’s a mind, which is cancala in nature. So Krsna’s stronger recommendation was:

asamsayam maha-baho
mano durnigraham calam
abhyasena tu kaunteya
vairagyena ca grhyate ( BG. 6.35)

Lord Sri Krsna said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by suitable practice and by detachment.

That’s what Bhaktimarga Maharaja also said. Krsna said and Maharaja repeated it – keep trying and practicing. Someone asked Prabhupada how to control the mind? He said. ‘Just don’t listen to the mind.’ So don’t listen to the mind , listen to the holy name, hear the holy name. Don’t hear the mind.

yato yato niscalati
manas cancalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad
atmany eva vasam nayet ( BG. 6.26)

From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.

This advice Krsna gave in Bhagavat-Gita. The sixth chapter of Bhagavad-Gita is useful if you wish to be japa yogis or bhakti-yogis. Krsna has shared the knowledge with all of us. In order to control the mind or concentrate the mind on Krsna, the Lord has given the tips. He has also has described the nature of the mind.

uddhared atmanatmanam
natmanam avasadayet
atmaiva hy atmano bandhur
atmaiva ripur atmanaḥ (BG. 6.5)

One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.

Mind could be your friend or could be your enemy. The first thing that Krsna said in this statement is uddhared atmanatmanam You have to lift yourself. Uddhared – liberation. atmanatmanam – here two atmas are mentioned. One atma is mind and another atma is intelligence. With the help of the intelligence which is part of the our selves we lift the mind. Intelligence lifts the mind.

indriyani parany ahur
indriyebhyah param manah
manasas tu para buddhir
yo buddheh paratas tu sah (BG. 3.42)

The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.

Intelligence is superior to the mind. So with the help of intelligence we have to lift the mind, liberate our minds. The mind is thinking, feeling and willing. So with intelligence we have to get rid of nonsense thoughts. Some thoughts are nonsensical. With the help of intelligence we have to throw out those mayavi, illusory, temporary thoughts and plans for purification of the senses. When the mind goes to the objects of the senses, Krsna says uddhared atmanatmanam. You have to lift your mind. atmaiva hy atmano bandhur so the mind, atmaiva – atma eva, atmano bandhur’ means the mind is certainly a friend of the soul. The mind could be friend of the soul or the mind could be also ripu – enemy. We have to change, transform the mind. We have to make an enemical mind friendly. Friend in need is friend indeed. We need Krsna. The mind could help us to think of Krsna then that mind is a friend. So wherever mind goes …

yato yato niscalati
manas cancalam asthiram
tatas tato niyamyaitad
atmany eva vasam nayet ( BG. 6.26)

… from there you drag the mind back. atmani eva vasham nayet. Atmani means the self. Fix it on the supreme self. This is a practice.

abhyasena tu kaunteya
vairagyena ca grhyate ( BG. 6.35)

Developing vairagya,disinterest, detachment or becoming udas Not interested. Arouse that disinterest. Understand this or that is not useful to me.

na ca sreyo ‘nupasyami
hatva sva-janam ahave
na kankṣe vijayam krsna
na ca rajyam sukhani ca (BG. 1.31)

Arjuna said that killing his own people will not give him happiness. There is sreyas and preyas. We have to be fixed on sreyas or long term. What is good for me in the long term. What is just a short term or temporary. With the help of intelligence we have to understand what is sreyas and preyas. Accordingly sort this out.

I was saying earlier, don’t listen to Maya , don’t listen to the mind, listen to Krsna. Hear and think of Krsna. So while chanting

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAM HARE RAM
RAM RAM HARE HARE

Hear and think of Krsna . Just think of one thing that is KRSNA. Don’t mix. Hear attentively. Chant attentively. Attentive chanting is difficult, but we have to practice, so keep trying. That’s why we have the opportunity of chanting. We have a morning meeting. Chant . Some failure today, but don’t give up. Failure is the stepping stone of success. We learn lessons from how and why we failed today. Rectify. Improve in a proactive manner and learn lessons from failures. Try for attentive successful chanting. Krsna wants us to be successful. His Divine Grace wants us to be successful. Our acaryas want us to be successful. Our spiritual master wants us to be successful. They are behind us, with us.They are our well wishers, friends and philosophers. They are our guides. The Lord’s representatives are like that. We have every hope. So don’t give it up. “Stop not till the goal is reached”. Goloka is our goal. Going back home, residing with Krsna in our home. We take one step and Krsna takes 100 steps, 1000 steps towards us. Everyday we are getting closer, but endeavour has to be there, abhyas has to be there. With that message I will stop here.
We have big day in ISKCON Noida today. I have to give Bhagavatam class. Then Bhaktimarga Maharaja’s drama is there entitled “ Queen’s Secret”. In the evening we have Greater Noida relocation. So we stop now.

Hare Krishna!.

Today’s score is 371. Since my last time in Noida some 100 new participants have joined in last 20 days. I am back in Noida and will be here for a few days. I am sorry. We did our best yesterday to chant with you. I was driving from Mayapur to Kolkata and the internet was unstable so the hosts were changing. Some of you were becoming the host and we had to stop. Devotees are writing, ‘ We missed you Maharaja.’ I also missed you. I am also getting used to chant ing with you all. Yesterday it was just a driver and Anadi Gaur on the back seat. I missed the five to six hundred devotees chanting on this conference. So we missed that powerful association yesterday. Somewhere I was praying. We have this opportunity to chant together , chant with me on this conference. So many are thanking Krishna for this opportunity. I have noticed some chats. Today some 60 devotees have chatted. Most of it is Dandavats.

Prahlad Maharaja Prabhu posted yesterday that it is ‘sone pe suhaga’ or the icing on the cake. That was his appreciation. From Mauritius also there is a report that a dozen devotees have not missed a single day. Shyamalangi Mataji wrote a long report and experience. ‘Since I joined japa conference, I haven’t missed even one day.’ That means she has chanted every single day.’This is a time for japa. Guru Maharaja is chanting. Devotees from around the world are chanting. Knowing this how could I sleep and not chant?’ During the chanting hours she is making sure that she wakes up at 4.00am and chants every single day. She is appreciating the devotees from Russia. This is an odd time for them to chant. They have to get up at 2.30am. Same is the case for devotees from South Africa. American devotees chant in the evening with us. From Australia they chant at noon. For Madhav Sevak, Caitanya Bhagvata Prabhujis it is their office hours. So some of them just hear the japa. Gadhar Pandit Prabhuji from Solapur feels japa sessions are like a Gurukul. Guru sits with his disciples and makes sure that they are doing sadhana. Through medium of this Japa conference I am also doing something similar. Japa conference brings us under one roof or under one big Banyan tree. He is happy about it

brahmacārīśrī-nārada uvāca
brahmacārī guru-kule
vasan dānto guror hitam
ācaran dāsavan nīco
gurau sudṛḍha-sauhṛdaḥ. ( SB. 7.12.1)

gurukule. Brahmacaris are in Guru’s ashram and Guru is engaging them in various services. He feels this is that kind of attempt. 99% progress depends on chanting only. Chanting is that important. Progress of our Krsna consciousness depends solely on performance of our chanting. Sundar Vaman Prabhuji is taking a vow, sankalpa.’ From now on I will finish my japa before 7.00 am.’ That’s a wonderful sankalpa. Encourage others also to chant. Try to chant most of your rounds in the morning.

There are some IGF girls from Amaravatiwho have completed a one day padayatra. They were propagating the holy name around. That kind of chanting is even more pleasing to the Lord. We share chanting with others. Japa or chanting is for be ourselves which is also essential and important. The most important thing is to save yourself. This point was also discussed in SGGS. Saving yourself is most important. As we chant for others, that is even more important. That is when you are exhibiting your kindness.I am also Padayatra Minister. Prabhupada asked me to conduct padayatras. He wrote, “ We should have millions of Bullock carts all over the world.” Prabhupada gave directions. So devotees go out on padayatra. Greater Noida devotees also conduct padayatra from Noida to Vrndavana. This is pleasing to me. Prabhupada gave me this service. What is padayatra’s mission? – It is to bring the holy name to every town and village. It is also a GBC statement – ‘To bring the holy name to more and more towns and villages all over the world’. So when devotees conduct padayatra, they bring the holy name to more towns. Goal of padayatra is ‘To make Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s statement come true.’ Those who are listening to me or chanting with me could also take to the roads sometimes. Conduct one day padayatra. There was a report from Bangalore. They are conducting one day Padayatra on 31st in Bangalore.

Today is also special day. Srila Prabhupada wanted an ISKCON project in Nagpur. It has taken a long, long time, but today we are beginning with digging. Today morning from mangal-aarti time the contractor is mobilising all his machinery onto our property in Nagpur. Soon this morning excavation will begin. The actual construction will begin on Gaur Purnima. I am happy that finally we will be fulfilling Prabhupada’s desire and wish. We invite all devotees and chanters to offer prayers that without any further obstacles or delay we continue. and express your joy about the construction of Radha-Gopinatha temple in Nagpur. Say

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

I will stop here. It will be time for greeting the Deities in a few minutes. Radha-Govindji ki Jai! At Ahobilam some devotee will be conducting Padayatra. Thank you. Who else has plans to do Padayatra? Time to speak out. Noida will also be doing a one day Padayatra. Every temple should conduct Padayatra. Every devotee should attend at least one one day Padayatra. Murali-mohan Prabhu has been conducting one day Padayatras. Tomorrow we will be shifting our BACE in Greater Noida, which is a bigger location. That is also Good morning news. So let me share. HH Bhaktimarga Maharaja will be arriving in the afternoon with a big troop. There will be two drama performances – one tomorrow and another one the day after tomorrow in the evening. So ISKCON Noida is getting ready for Maharaja’s world famous dramas here in Noida temple auditorium. So we stop here.

Hare Krishna!

Try to spread the word about this conference. jive daya….. have some daya for others. Have kindness to others by reaching out to them. Get them to chant with us. That is jive daya. Get other devotees to join this japa-sanga, sadhu-sanga. Chant in the association of devotees.

Today I noticed my elder sister Sita Rani on the conference. She is ten years older. Many of you are new to our conference. We start losing our numbers, as I begin speaking in English. We have already lost ten. But they can always read. Transcription program is going on. The japa talk is transcribed in Hindi, English and Russian. That’s another reason, why you should learn English because your Guru Maharaja is talking in English. So get others. name ruci jive daya vaisnav sevan… Your ruci for the holy name will increase. Lord will give you more ruci if you do this jive daya part and specially Vaisnava sevan . So about ruci, that’s the way to get it. Vaisnava sevan- serve Vaisnavas. Serve devotees. Be kind to others, to newcomers or to everybody.

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ
suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām
ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ
sādhavaḥ sādhu-bhūṣaṇāḥ

The symptoms of a sādhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime. (SB 3.25.21)

If you are not kind then you are Mrigari – The Hunter. He was not kind at all. Then he stopped that hunting business and took to chanting. Narada Muni was very kind to Mrigari. Narada Muni was doing the jive daya part. He was very kind to Mrigari. He convinced him to chant for the Lord. As he chanted and chanted… well you know the result. One time Mrigari, the hunter became very kind. He was even kind to the ants. His Guru Maharaja was wondering, “Mrigari!(I don’t know his initiated name). Why you didn’t rush when you saw me? He replied, “How could I come? There were ants on the way.” He was avoiding them, putting them on the side. That’s the transformation. The hunter, the killer, most wicked ,unkind person could be transformed to become the most kind and compassionate. I was feeling that is jive daya is Narada Muni’s mercy. Narada Muni gave him the mantra and Mrigari chanted. He was a new person. This is the proof. This has happened so many, many times and that could happen to us also. It is very possible. We should have that kind of faith in the holy name. Not to have faith in holy name is another offense. We should be having faith in the holy name. So that is name ruci jive daya vaisnavs sevan. ( Caitanya Bhagavata. – Mahaprabhu explains to Sanatan Goswami) )

I offered aarti to Radha-Madhav this morning. Do you think that helps in chanting? We were talking about preparation for chanting. That is the part of the preparation. It was helpful. I was praying to Radha-Madhava for Their mercy. I was praying to Radha-Madhava ‘o be with me wherever I have to go to spread the mission in Their service. Wherever I go.’ yato yato yami tato narasimha bahir narasimha hridaye narasimha like that. Narasimha Dev also Radha-Madhava, You be with me wherever I go or whatever I sit. That was the prayer. Then I have to go. This morning I was also with the Hindi speaking devotee group of Navadvip-mandala Parikrama. We have to go to Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s samadhi and Surabhi kunj. That’s where I have to catch up with the party or sing for them.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

In Navadvip dham each dvip represents one dham. One bhakti , one kind of devotional service. Beginning with sravanam, kirtanam and like that. Nine islands representing nine processes of devotional service. Today I am going to Godrum dvip, which is known for Kirtanam. Sravanam is Simant dvip. Kirtanam is Godrum dvip.

nadiya godrume nityanand mahajan patiyache nama-hata jivera karan. ( Geetavali by Bhaktivinoda Thakur.)

This is the place where Nityanand Prabhu propagated chanting. patiyache nama-hata jivera karan. For jivas like us Nityananda Prabhu started preaching. All over Navadvip including Surabhi kunj and Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s samadhi. You must be knowing that famous song – sraddhavan jan he sraddhavan jan. So it’s a kind of announcement. Bhaktivinoda Thakur is announcing, ‘All you folks, this announcement is for you. Take advantage of this namahat. Namahaats are everywhere. All our ISKCON temples are that Namahat. Our Bhaktivedanta Manor , or ISKCON Thane or ISKCON Ahmedabad are naamhats. What is a Naamhat? It’s a marketplace of the holy name. The world is opening more and more bazaars, super Bazaars. The smallest country in the world – Mauritius has has Hyper Bazaar. The first time I heard of Hyper Bazaar I was surprised. I had heard of super , but not Hyper Bazaars. So why not! Our temples are Hyper Bazaars for the holy name. Marketplace of the holy name. Nityanand Prabhu is a founder of this naamhata. He is the propagator of the holy name. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says , ‘ Oh! This announcement is for faithful people.’ If you hear this announcement and come to the shop , market place or Naamhata, but you don’t have faith or sraddha, then you can’t buy this product. You won’t get this product.’ Holy name will remain wherever it is and you will remain in your own world. There won’t be connection or any exchange.

The price you have to pay for the Holy name is sraddha. The more sraddha you have, the more of the holy name you get. To get more sraddha you will have to chant more and more. That’s the idea and you will get more out of the holy name. The holy name will reveal more unto you. The holy name is the Lord. So if you have only faith then that’s the whole thing that Bhaktivinoda Thakur is explaining.

So Bhaktivinoda Thakur writes in Godrum – Kalpatavi, we are all at different levels. Chanting is at sraddha level, then sadhu – sanga level, then bhajana-kriya level. Then at the level of anartha -nivritti. Then Nistha level. When sraddha becomes fixed, then that sraddha becomes Nistha. And if the chanting is at name – ruci level, that is also topmost. Asakti level, bhava level and prem level. So depending on where you stand or at what level you are on the ladder, how many steps you have gone higher then your buying power becomes greater. You get more out of the holy name. You realize the value of the holy name. You realize more the form, pastimes, qualities and the dham. All these things are one. Then he says , if you have one paisa then you can buy a few things from the shop. But if you have four paisa then you buy more. But if you have a chavanni ie. one fourth of a rupee, or a atthani(half the rupee) In our childhood days we didn’t have the present currency. If you had one full rupee then you could buy everything. Rupee meant lots of money. It was one hundred percent money. He compares these levels according to your evolution, progress you have made and to that degree you are benefitted from the chanting.

sraddhavan jan he sraddhavan jan

But we also have to understand that we can’t be just at the level of sraddha. There are different degrees of sraddha. We have more and more sraddha. Sadhu sanga level you have more sraddha. Then at Bhajana kriya level you are more sraddhavan. And at Anartha-Nivritti level you have more sraddha. Nisthavan means sraddha is so fixed that you won’t take U turn. Then ruci means more sraddha and asakti still more sraddha. With brava there is more sraddha ultimately leading to prema. So sraddhavan jan he sraddhavan jan. We should increase our sraddha more and more. ye yatha mam prapadyante ( BG. 4.11) that principal is also there. To the degree of your surrender to that degree you have faith. More faith means more surrender. And the more we surrender, the more He reveals. Still more faith, still more surrender and the Lord will reveal even more. All the glories of the holy name will be revealed. Glories of Krsna and Radha and Their pastimes and abode will be revealed unto us more and more.

So I am going to that place over there. I wish you also that would have been there. You are just enjoying being in Moscow or Noida and Nagpur. You are not leaving your comfort zone.

Tomorrow I will be travelling to Kolkata in morning hours to catch my flight. We will endeavour time permitting and internet functioning. So let’s see how it works. Otherwise if not tomorrow we will catch up again day after tomorrow.

Hare Krishna!

“ATMAVAT SARVA BHUTESU…..”

Devotees are chanting all over the planet. We have morning time here in India, noon time in Australia, evening time of the day before ours in New Jersey. So the devotees are chanting whether it is morning, noon, evening or night transcending all barriers. That means when there is mangala arati in India and we sing samsar davana, in New York they sing kibo jayo jayo gaurachande . So in some place mangala arati and some place Sandhya-arati. After some time there will be mangala arati in the Middle East. After that it will be in Europe, England, then New York mangala arati, then Hawaii, then Japan, Australia mangala arati then Malaysia, Burma mangala arati. Like that 24 hours a day in some place there is mangala arati and Sandhya-aarti also going on. One time Prabhupada was talking about the ISKCON empire, the world of Hare Krishna as it is spread globally. He said, ‘The sun never sets in the ISKCON empire.’ Wherever there is Sun, there is ISKCON. All the parts – Eastern part , Western part, Middle East, South East , Far East. Wherever there is sun at any given point there is ISKCON, there are devotees chanting or distributing Prabhupada books.

Yesterday the BBT trusties were making a presentation to the GBC’s as they do every year. In that they informed that every second somewhere in the world Srila Prabhupada’s books are being distributed. The British used to make the claim that they had spread their empire far and wide. England is very small, a tiny little country. They had become very powerful by spreading their kingdom. They used to make the claim that, ‘ The sun never sets in the British empire.’ One time Prabhupada had commented , ‘ The sun never sets in the British empire, but the sun never rises in England.’ It is always cloudy. Getting sun there is a very rare occasion. Surya- darsana is difficult.

One of the chanters has remarked that , ‘ I am seeing you and you are seeing me in this conference‘. My thought was that’s not all we want to achieve. We want to see Krsna. In the mundane world, this is where it ends – I see you, you see me , we shake hands and embrace and do this and that, but there is nothing beyond that. But for us chanters, we are seeing each other on this conference, but our aim is to see Krsna. Each other’s presence should act like a catalyst in seeing Krsna ultimately.

premanjana-cchurita-bhakti- vilochanena
santah sadaiva hridayeshu vilokayanti
yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami ( BS. Verse 11)

11) I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Syamasundara, Krishna Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.

So vilokayanti – they see hridayeshu – in their hearts . What do they see? yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam. I was thinking of that and was reminded of a statement in Bhagavatam. It comes at the time of the pastime of kidnapping of Rukmini. Sukadev Goswami describes that when Rukmini was going to the Ambika temple just before her marriage with Sisupal, Rukmini’s feet were walking towards the feet of Ambika. Two sets of feet are there. Rukmini is using her feet for walking and she was remembering the Lotus Feet of Krsna. So that is the third set of Feet. She didn’t care about her feet or Ambika’s feet. But was only remembering the Lotus Feet of Krsna. That is the main party. Like a marriage partner. Krsna is the marriage partner. It’s not just an affair between wife and husband. Partnership doesn’t become complete with just wife and husband in Grihasta ashram till Krsna comes there. He is the third or first or the main partner.

So as you chant Hare Krishna your perspective is expected to change. Your viewpoint changes. It becomes positive, truthful. While chanting I was reminding myself that first of all I am in the middle of worship.

yagnai sankirtnaih hi prayai yajantihi hi sumedhasa. (SB. 11.5.32)

So by performing yajantihi -sacrifice, while doing worship , I am worshipping the holy name. Who is worshipping? The soul is worshipping. We are using the body as paraphernalia. We use dhoop or deep, flowers or naivaidya . We use them with our hands, but worshipper is the soul. We are worshipping the Supreme Soul, worshipping the holy name – Krsna. We are worshipping Nama Prabhu. If the soul is not in the body, is worship possible? Body is there. Patram pushpam, phalam toyam, deepam, dhupam , naivedyam everything is there and the body is also there. But if soul is not there, is worship possible? At least you are not there. Maybe someone else will end up doing it, but not you! Because you are no there. So the worshipper is the soul, i.e. our real self. We are worshipping the holy name. Aradhya means the object of our worship. The worshipper is aradhak or aradhika. One who worships is aradhak and one who is being worshipped is aaradhya.

aradhya bhagwan brajesh tanaya …. (Caitanya-matta-manjusa commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam by Srinath Chakravarti.)

The way we worship is aradhana. So aradhak(we) do aradhana( process) to please aradhya( His deity or Istadev). Aradhana includes mood and feelings , our devotion. That is what also Krsna said –

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ ( BG. 9.26)

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.

You are using patram, puspam, phalam as part of your aradhana process, but it has to be accompanied with ‘bhakty’ or devotion. It becomes like an ‘upakaran’ or instrument. So bhaktya is in tritiya vibhakti. Similarly as in the verse – abhyasen tu kaunteya, here abhyasen is also tritiya. Abhyasen , vairagyen. So many words like that became instrument. So not just that we are saying Hare Krishna, but we are using our lips and tongue which must vibrate . While all this is happening the mind has to be into it. So devotional mind will have devotional thoughts. What is the function of mind? Thinking, feeling and willing – all these functions have to be Krishnised . There has to be devotional thinking, devotional feelings and a strong devotional will means a strong will. –

aka mah sarva-kamo va
moksha-kama udara-dhih
trivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusam param (SB 2.3.10)

A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.

Trivrena means very intense , bhakti means full of feelings, emotions and devotion. So that’s the aradhana part. We are aradhaks and the holy name – Harinama Prabhu is aradhya. Then we sit down and do aradhana or Upasana or worship. Yajantihi sumedhasa. So we are sitting down for the most important business or activity or aradhana. If you stand up, then you may not be doing it. At the place of chanting, sit down and chant. That means you are a serious chanter. Not that if you started walking means you are not chanting! Not that you should not chant while walking, but your 16 rounds , chant as much as possible sitting down, which is proper asana.

I was thinking as I keep doing all the time that. Panditaha samdarshinaha… Pandit means learned. One is full of ‘panditya’ is Pandit, Vidvatta. Pandit only can do samadarshina. Or Vidya

vinaya sampanne brahmana gavi hastini shuni chaiva shwapake Cha panditaha samdarshinaha. ( BG. 5.18)

He is seeing the soul and not the body – ultimately that’s the goal. In the spiritual sky there are no bodies. The soul is a body, a form. Not that this is body and this is the soul. The soul is from top to bottom a form. So my thought was that Hare Krishna Hare Krishna is Harinama Prabhu. The soul is what is within us. We are dirt, dust. The Bible says, ‘For dust you are and to dust you shall return’(Genesis 3:19). So I was thinking there are so many bodies around me. They are just one pile of dirt, another pile of dirt. Settle them down and what remains is a soul which is eternal and indestructible. na hanyate na hanyamane sharire. ( BG. 2.20) So if that happens, then another inch of floor would rise with dirt. Then only Harinam Prabhu and the soul will remain Haribol! Spirit soul! I mean that is what happens ultimately. Don’t want to think that might happen in this room . We are all not bodies in this room, but wherever that happens there will be dirt here, dirt there. What would remain is a soul. So while chanting also realise and understand others as a soul. I am also soul and others are also soul and in the midst of all of us is Harinama Prabhu. As we chant

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

As we Chant, our perspective, our viewpoint should change. What are we thinking, the way we are evaluating, judging, using the power of discrimination, the power of our sharp Krishna conscious intelligence, which separates the soul from the body. Not just your soul from the body, but separates others’ souls also from their bodies with the sword of knowledge. Not literally, but intellectually we cut or separate the souls from the body. We try to treat others as a soul. We try to treat others as

atmavat sarva bhutesu

All other living entities think like yourself. (Buddha)

matrvat para-dareṣu
para-dravyesu lostravat
atmavat sarva-bhutesu
yah pasyati sa panditah (Canakya-sloka 10)

“One who considers another’s wife as his mother, another’s possessions as a lump of dirt and treats all other living beings as he would himself, is considered to be learned.”

One who sees like this is a Pandit. So what does he see? Among those three, one who sees atmavat sarva bhutesu all other living entities are like me , they are mine, they are Krsna’s. So they are my brothers and sisters, is a Pandit . His vision is that they belong to my Krsna.

So we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!

“WHERE ATTENTION GOES ENERGY FLOWS!”

We had 335 participants today. Thank you for your participation. Some of you are very regular chanters on this conference. So keep up the good work .

Today I have to leave early for adhivasa of Navadvipa-mandala Parikrama. The party has already walked to Yogpitha. Normally I also walk till there, but today I had to attend this conference. I didn’t want to miss chanting with you all, but I have to catch up with the Parikrama party.

In some days we will be completing 100 days of our Japa session. I would like to get your feedback on the performance of the conference – how we could improve the system, whether it is helping you to chant better, with more attention. One devotee who is a very regular chanter on the conference wrote to me a few days ago, ‘Maharaja I have taken sankalpa. I will chant all my 16 rounds before 7.00 am.’ So that is one outcome of this conference. Like that I will like to hear from you. Not just ‘Very good!’ or ‘Helping us,’ but narrate why it is good? How it is helping? Whether you are also making plans to improve your chanting as we keep giving you some tips to chant better. Every day during Japa talk I give you some hints which are also transcribed in English, Hindi and Russian. So you are welcome to read. We will have a website dedicated to Japa talks where you can get English and Hindi transcriptions. Madhavi Gauri Mataji is our website developer for many of our websites. You will be notified when this feature will be added to the existing website. Then you will be able to read all the Japa talk transcriptions there. We will also like to hear your comments and questions. Here some communication occurs, but mostly it is dandavats. If you remain in dandavat mood , that will amount to lots of dandavats during the whole day.

tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

So like that some communication goes on here, but not very substantial. Also this is a time for chanting, so you don’t have to spend it typing or writing. You can do that after the chanting. That can also be posted. We want to make this conference more interactive. Now it’s only one way traffic. I speak and your mouth is shut as you all are muted.

I also heard one of my god brothers, Narahari Prabhuji from Hawaii is also using the same Zoom conference, not for japa but something else. He was mentioning during our discussion that he does get different participants to speak, raise questions or comments. Then he responds. So that is also a possibility. We have to work out, whether there can be some on the spot dialogue or one of you could also address the participants like I am speaking. We are also looking forward to the website where all the postings will be made available.

Our goal is always “to try to chant with attention”. Someone is walking while I am talking. He is ‘walking the talk’. Vaibhav is doing some exercises. I get to see all sorts of things. Yesterday we heard one statement from Vaiyasaki Prabhu who is a promoter of book distribution and of reading Srila Prabhupada’s books. He is a great reader and leader. The statement was very profound. He said, “ Leader should be reader!” He is a good or ideal leader because he is a reader. In yesterday’s meeting we heard one statement which says – ‘ Where attention goes, energy flows.’ Chanting is a time to be attentive and it is also the time ‘not to be inattentive’. As soon as our attention goes, for example if there is someone at the door, all our attention as well our energy flows in that direction. You look and there is a whole screening, who is that? Why? etc. So the thinking process starts. We end up seeing that person. Some other senses will go in that direction to gather information. Senses are knowledge acquiring senses. They gather information which reach the mind. Intelligence gets involved and does some processing or discrimination, right or wrong etc. Like that our body, senses , mind and intelligence get directed where our attention goes. Wherever attention goes, energy flows. That’s why we have to choose the right surroundings , right association, right asana. Asana is not just where you sit, but the location of your seat, that is also asana. If that asana is in Mayapur dham , then the dham also becomes asana. Who is around you also becomes part of your asana. Running around is not an asana while doing japa meditation . We have to have our asana where prevention is better than cure. Avoid all distraction during chanting. Taking everything into consideration we take our seat or asana. With no or least distractions so that our attention doesn’t go here and there otherwise energy is going to flow. Of course all these topics are not small topics. But just remember this – Wherever attention goes, energy flows. We don’t want our attention to go anywhere else but to Krsna. To be attentive is the crux of the matter. Foundational guideline for the chanters is “Be attentive”.

We want to say in one word how the chanting should be – ATTENTIVE ( Dhyanpoorvak). All this says a lot. Although we say just one word – ATTENTIVE. As soon as there is inattention, energy flows in that direction. So that’s an exercise, abhyas we have to do during chanting.

BEST USE OF A BAD BARGAIN!

English is the international language and ISKCON’s official language so I will speak in English on this conference. You can also read transcriptions in English, Hindi and Russian. I am seeing some new faces today. Today we have my god brother Shrutadev Prabhuji, all the way from San Diego. We thank him for chanting with us. We have a few devotees from Australia and many of you from India. But all of you are originally from Vaikuntha.

As soon as I see someone chanting, guess what happens? I become happy. Or when you see others chanting and praying , trying to connect with Krsna, they have left aside all the businesses and are doing harer nama eva kevalam. That’s the best thing you are supposed to be doing and when someone sees or I see that , I become very happy. What do you think? Krsna also becomes very, very happy. Does Krsna know that you are chanting? I had a thought. I was talking to Arjuna-pran Prabhu from Kolhapur and next on the screen was Lila Madhuri Mataji all the way from Los Angeles. If we could see and talk like this through this medium or whatever medium , then why can’t God see and communicate with all of us. We can have him simultaneously talking together. As I am talking to you all simultaneously, Krsna could also do that. Krsna could do one after another. It is good to remember this and then we can have Krishna conscious thoughts. While I am chanting, Krsna is taking note of my chanting. Krsna knows I am chanting. If we know that, ‘Krsna knows I am chanting’ that is how we become conscious. ‘I know that Krsna knows I am chanting’. How does it sound? That’s Krsna. Through this chanting we speak our heart to Him. Chanting time is considered the best because it’s an appointment with the Lord.

Arjuna-pran has written that these days he has become quite anxious and keeps waiting for that moment around 6.00am when he will be able to chant with Guru Maharaja and so many other devotees.’ I appreciate that kind of eagerness. By joining this conference many times or every day which is the best the result is a kind of ‘laulayam’ . It is said –

mulayam.kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ
krīyatāṁ yadi kuto ‘pi labhyate
tatra laulyam api mūlyam ekalaṁ
janma-koṭi-sukṛtair na labhyate ( CCM 8.70)

Being greedy is the price you pay. You are very, very eager to chant and hear. You are very anxious and waiting for that moment. If we are developing that state of mind by attending this conference, I think that is perfection. Some inconveniences or whatever we go through to be part of this, day after day after day, I feel it’s worth it when we hear comments like this. We have to wind up our stay in this material existence. This is not your first birth. So many times we have spread our Network, birth after birth. We don’t even know what kind of births we have undergone. We are gone through everything, all the species and finally…

bahunam janmanam ante
jnanavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma su-durlabhah ( BG. 7.19)

… we have this human birth. This durlabh manav janam is a very rare human birth. We have to see how we can make best use of a bad bargain. This human form is a bad bargain. It’s not a good deal. It’s still a body – coughing, getting old and sick. That is why King Kulasekhara said,’ I don’t want to wait till I get old, I will become Krishna conscious now! I don’t want to postpone it.’ He does not want to postpone this becoming Krishna conscious business. He says,

kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-paṅkaja-pañjarāntam
adyaiva me viśatu mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ
prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ
kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te (Mukunda-mālā-stotra – Mantra 33)

O Lord Kṛṣṇa, at this moment let the royal swan of my mind enter the tangled stems of the lotus of Your feet. How will it be possible for me to remember You at the time of death, when my throat will be choked up with mucus, bile, and air?

Adya means today and eva means today only. Let my mind enter Your lotus Feet and that doesn’t end. King Kulashekhara further says which Prabhupad also quote many times. He says, ‘My mind is like a rajhansa or swan and Your feet are like a lotus. Let the swan of my mind hang around Your lotus Feet. There is whirl of lotus and petals. Let my swan like mind remain there. viśatu mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ and let that happen today. Now
prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ
kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te

vāyunotkramatottāraḥ
kapha-saṁruddha-nāḍikaḥ
kāsa-śvāsa-kṛtāyāsaḥ
kaṇṭhe ghura-ghurāyate (SB 3. 30.16)

In that diseased condition, one’s eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and upon exhaling and inhaling he produces a sound like ghura-ghura, a rattling within the throat.

Kanthe ghura ghurayate – as I get older and older what happens – kantha avarodhan my voice, or throat is going to be choked up. Kanthe ghur ghurayate. There is a description of a sound ghur ghur ghur. Have you heard from old people? So he says I don’t want to wait till I become old.

There was one person and he was some kind of sadhaka or follower and he had made this signboard – ‘I am going to do my sadhana from tomorrow’ He had stuck it on the wall in front his bed. So as soon as he got up, he would read – I am going to take my sadhana seriously from tomorrow. Every day he read – from tomorrow. No need to follow today. This is foolishness. Only ignorant fools postpone this business of becoming Krishna conscious. So keep chanting.

I was also thinking as you go higher and higher up in the sky, then you can see more. As the aircraft takes off first you see the entire airport, then the entire New Delhi. As you go higher and you can even see adjoining cities like Faridabad and Muradabad. As you go still higher you see more villages and towns and rivers and mountains. And even higher you see the entire earth. They even take photographs of the Earth. As you go higher, you could see other planets also. Still higher you can see the entire universe and then entire universes. You go higher and you will see all the universes plus Vaikuntha planets. As you go higher further along with this you will even see Saket-dham. Still higher, then you will see Dwaraka, then Mathura and Vrindavan. From there He sees every thing. He stays in the topmost location.It is like a security post. Sometimes the security posts instead of being on ground are placed high up. So that is Krsna’s arrangement. Krsna is in Goloka. At the same time He has placed himself within our hearts

sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham(BG. 15.15)

Is it difficult for Him to see or understand or communicate with us, hear us? I thought that being Krishna conscious is if you could relate to what we just said. This is Brahma’s realisation. He saw Visvarupa. He saw Devi dham, Mahesh dham, Hari dham, Giolok dham at a glance. The Lord gave him darsana. Also nowadays thousands of devotees come for darsana before Radha-Madhava. Is Radha-Madhava dealing with them simultaneously? They are all, praying, speaking their hearts, in their prayers. As soon as they come they see the Deity, they bow down. Stand up with a folded hands. They glorify and praise and offer some prayers. whether those feelings and prayers are heard by the Lord, the Deities? Everybody’s feelings are captured and screened. The Lord doesn’t have to do screening one after another. All of them are done instantaneously.

So chanting Japa, Hare Krishna is what the Lord has arranged. It is the medium to communicate with Him, speak to Him. You are saying Hare Krishna but actually you are saying lots of other things along with it, Krishna conscious things. So keep doing it. Practice daily. It’s not seasonal or occasional, it is daily. If we do that, then we get some responses from participants who are becoming more and more eager to chant everyday and I get to hear so much appreciation all over India for this conference and japa talks.

Today is first day of Navadwip mandala Parikrama. Devotees are leaving Mayapur reaching different islands. There are four – five different groups. Today I will go with the International group to Harihar ksetra. GBC meetings will continue in the temple. So we stop here.

Hare Krishna!

BURN THE CD OF MAYA MEMORIES

We started our japa talk earlier because it has to be ended earlier, as I have to give Bhagavatam class this morning. You are welcome to listen to it on mayapur.tv at 8.00 am. I wish to prepare for my class.

While chanting also I couldn’t control, but keep thinking of Bhagavatam verses which I have to talk about this morning. It is about Parasuram and his father Jamadagni and their pastimes. While chanting I was forced to think about those thoughts. They were not just imposed upon me, but I wanted to think and remember those pastimes so that I can share that with my audience. In fact I was praying to Harinama Prabhu to give me intelligence to reveal those pastimes more vividly, distinctly, clearly. I was kind of preoccupied thinking of that subject matter as I was chanting

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

It is time to chant and remember Krsna and pray to Krsna. Remembering Krsna is remembering His pastimes, His form. In Mangal-aarti we have darsana of Radha-Madhava and Pancatattva. Then while chanting those forms come to our mind. We think and contemplate about those forms of Radha-Madhava. We have to get them settled and etched in the memory so that They get stuck there. In part of our subtle existence there is something like smriti- patal as sastras describe patal as a screen or board. Things gets impressed or etched on that smriti patal. That smriti-patal has many,many, many wrong memories collected from birth after birth. It’s a maha storage unit. Something like an external hard drive. Sometimes the built in hard drive does not have sufficient space, so you add another external hard drive. That smriti-patal has many memories, samskaras, and what not. We keep it and keep visiting them in our day dreaming or night dreaming. So the idea is, as you chant Hare Krishna, it does -ceto darpana marjanam.

That smriti-patal could be also called a darpan or mirror. The memories of our previous lives or non-Krishna conscious activities also cover that mirror. Every time we chant Hare Krishna some cleansing or erasing is done. Wrong memories, Maya memories are being burnt. Like in a computer they burn the CD. So here also lot of burning occurs. As we chant HARE KRISHNA the forest fire of this material existence is extinguished. What we have done earlier is erased, burnt off and new data uploaded as we chant Hare Krishna. It is time to remember the name, form, pastime and devotees of Krishna. If you have heard or read this subject matter then we remember. So during the chanting of Hare Krishna we upload this new data of Krsna’s names, forms, qualities and pastimes. We try to become more and more Krishna conscious as we keep chanting. Simultaneously we erase mayavi or illusory thoughts and memories and we upload fresh ones. As we upload new ones we get rid of the old ones. It happens simultaneously.

We become attached to Krsna and there is detachment from Maya which happens instantaneously and simultaneously. By chanting the Hare Krishna mantra we clean our mindset. We fill up our minds with Krsna. This was just one of the points. This morning I was forced to remember a section of the Bhagavatam which I had to recite and share in Bhagavatam class. I was chanting and remembering, thinking of Lord Parasuram and his father, Jamadagni.

We will have to stop now. You can join again in about an hour’s time for nityam bhagavata sevaya. ( SB. 1.2.18) We chant every day, we recite Bhagavatam every day. This is our life style. We deal with the name , form, pastimes and qualities. Prabhupada also described nityam bhagavata sevaya!. He explained that there are two types of Bhagavat – book Bhagavat and person Bhagavat. We serve both book and person by reading and studying as well as a pure devotee who is a mahabhagavat. We stay busy in assisting Prabhupad’s ISKCON, propagate it. That is also serving Bhagavatam. We recite Bhagavatam in morning, chant Hare Krishna in the morning. Then you serve the holy name and holy Bhagavatam differently all day long, by doing yare dakho tare kaho krsna upadesh. (CC Madhya 7.128) By distributing Srila Prabhupad’s books in various ways we share Krsna with others and try to stay busy 24 hours a day. Prabhupada would say that our goal is to stay busy 24 hours a day and stay away from Maya. All day serve Lord and keep Maya at a distance.

Hare Krishna!

CONCENTRATE ON THE ETERNAL!

We have 347 participants today. I will have to keep my Japa talk short today as I have to give Bhagavatam class again this morning to the Russian devotees. Some devotees were here with us in Mayapur for the festival and now they are back in their respective towns. I can see them on screen now. I was happy to see some Gurukul boys chanting seriously on this conference. Some Parikrama devotees are also chanting with us. I don’t know how are they managing, but some are addicted to this conference and so don’t want to miss chanting with us. I was thinking , these early morning hours is a time for chanting, at least for the devotees in India. They should be chanting with us. This is the most ideal time for chanting and chanting is Yuga dharma. We should be beginning our day with spiritual activities.

Each one of you should get more devotees to chant. They say , ‘Each one teach one’. So each one of you can teach another devotee. Here you just teach them how to join the conference. Try to reach out to neighbours, friends, colleagues, god brothers , god sisters , devotee friends. We should work on doubling our numbers. Then we will be more happy. In a few days we will be celebrating 100th day of our conference. From the 100th day to the 200th day we should double our numbers. That’s some homework for all the participants.

Sril Prabhupada would always remember those who were not present. He would come from overseas and give his arrival talk. While talking to all assembled devotees he used to inquire,” Where is Giriraj?” He would always remember, inquire and recall the absent disciples. Like that I am also wondering. We have over 100 disciples in Vrindavan and only three are chanting on the conference. And also this conference is not just for my disciples, but for everyone. There is so much scope for expansion, yet only a handful are chanting with us.

So keep chanting. Of course in our heart is the Lord. I was thinking while chanting, do not get influenced by the surroundings and the world around you, the forms around you, smells around you. That is all temporary and could be the cause of misery also. By contemplation upon objects of senses, all worldly objects, you become engulfed. They are young now , they will be old tomorrow. It’s an ever-changing world. So why focus on something that is ever changing and also cause of suffering. Why not focus on eternality and that’s the Lord in our heart and that Lord is everywhere. This holy name is the Lord. So why not focus, concentrate upon something that is eternal and the source of pleasure? We should convince ourselves like that. With the use of intelligence we should discriminate. neti !, neti ! , neti ! not this, not this! This is not what I am looking for . This is not good for me. Like King Parikshit, who was also doing Pariksha or examining everyone who was around him. Oh! This is not the Person I had seen while I was in my mother’s womb. Some other person entered there. I saw Him. But that is not Him! Not Him! He was doing this examination. That’s why his name became Parikshit. So we should be also following in the footsteps of Parikshit Maharaja and not get bewildered by things around us, the world of dvandva – duality. We get bewildered and lose our intelligence, but the Lord will give us intelligence. Our Guru Maharaja gave us intelligence. Our acarya’s could give us this intelligence, the right thinking so that we could focus on the right things and that is Krsna! That is the name of Krsna, form of Krsna.

We have been saying that the chanting of Hare Krishna is the intelligent persons job. sumedhasa – Intelligent persons will worship the Lord by performance of sankirtana yajna. Nama yajna. So be intelligent, be sharp and sharpen your intelligence. Tikshna Buddhi. So intelligence has to be in action while chanting. We have to control and govern the mind and all the thoughts arising in the mind. The function of intelligence is to discriminate all the thoughts arising in mind. Intelligence could process, all the thoughts arising in the mind. Intelligence could sort them out and decide that this thought should get out , this thought is useless! This is a right thought, this is a right thing. So like that we have to continue our mantra meditation. By practice we try to attend perfection, which is love of Godhead Or love for the name, love for the form, love for the pastimes and like that – love for the dham, love for devotees also, Krsna’s devotees. we love and we serve those who are devotees of Krsna.

All right! That makes sense. That was some food for thought for the day. I will stop here. You could think and further contemplate on what we just said. If you did forget, or have not heard it or grasped it , or not heard properly, then go back to our transcriptions. This Japa talk is being transcribed in Russian, Hindi and in English. So go back to those and try to understand it.

HARE KRISHNA!

COME TO PANDHARPUR FOR ASADI EKADASI THIS YEAR

Hare Krishna!

What can be done for those who find it difficult to join us due to the time factor, I was thinking. I forgot to mention that the Mauritian devotees are keeping a Japa sadhana card. Depending on the month’s attendance the best score will be announced. 100% attendance or no attendance at all. We also get scores like that. Mauritius is taking a lead in keeping track of the chanters, filling our Sadhana-card. You can circulate that sadhana card to other countries. We can keep some track. We can announce scores from time to time of the best performer. That is also in the pipeline.

There is festival coming up in Pandharpur in July. You must have received some invitation in that regard. It’s my 70th birthday party. We also have a big undertaking of Srila Prabhupada ghat on the banks of Chandrabhaga and there is a Chandrabhaga temple. There will be and inauguration of both. If you come then I was thinking we could also chant together. This is also chanting together or we can say almost chanting together. At the end of this chanting Japa session we have been distributing prasada. Somethings like that you can’t experience in the conference when you are away. There is no substitute for the personal, spiritual presence and face to face communication. Anyway I am just letting you know that the opportunity is there.

Our festival organising committee or reception committee is trying to reach out to all the devotees, specially disciples, so that we can have a family reunion. Again Mauritius is leading. Fifty devotees have already booked their travels. 25 devotees from South Africa have booked their flights. Krishnabhakta Prabhu is already sitting there in Pandharpur and started his preparations. He is on the ground as festival co-ordinator. Then we could all sit together, do our Japa together, chant and dance together and have prasada together. There will be a Kirtana Mela for 3 days in Pandharpur. You can take part in that. We will like to distribute Srila Prabhupad’s books. 7000 Bhagvad-Gitas are to be distributed. We are looking for sponsors for that. We wish to distribute 70,000 plates of prasada to the pilgrims or Varkaris. Ekalavya Prabhu is one of the festival advisors. He will be going there a month in advance. Sundarlal Prabhu and Ram Govinda Maharaja as well. There is a whole team that is going to arrive in Pandharpur 2 – 3 weeks in advance. So come! We will be there. Be part of this happening. It’s going to be mini Kumbha-mela because this is time we are expecting 2 million pilgrims in Pandharpur. Some of them will join us.

This is Pandharpur Dham’s major festival time. It will be Sayana Ekadasi. It’s the time when the Lord prepares to take rest. He will be sleeping for 4 months. Caturmas is a time when the Lord rests. So pilgrims come to take darsana of Panduranga or Vitthal. Vitthal is the presiding Deity of Pandharpur worshiped by Sant Tukaram and so many saints and it is also my family Deity.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu had come and spent eleven days in Pandharpur. He was a busy person and had lots of things to do. If He could spend eleven days in Pandharpur and stay there, then why not you? Nityananda Prabhu had come to Pandharpur and he was initiated there. Visvarupa left Mayapur and travelled all over India and had then come here to Pandharpur. Visvarupa is also Lord. He is a partial expansion of Balaram. Balaram hoile Nitai and Balaram hoile Visvarupa.(Balaram became Nityanand Prabhu, Balaram became Visvarupa) So that Visvarupa wound up his pastimes in Pandharpur. That’s quite a significant pastime which took place in Pandharpur.

We have a major project there – Sri Sri Radha Pandharinath temple. We have started with a ghat project. We have a big temple project, goshala and we have been doing lots of things in Pandharpur for some years now. We also have Pandharpur ISKCON Jagannatha mandir. So this was a japa talk for today. It became an invitation talk so that we can chant together in person.

I am still here in Mayapur and Parikrama is also on. I was with the international party in Jagannatha mandir yesterday. There were 1100 Hindi speaking devotees. We were also remembering how the Parikrama started. We were 70 devotees in 1990. Now this year there are over 8000 devotees on Parikrama. Initially there used to be only one group. Now there is the Hindi speaking, Russian speaking, three Bengali speaking parties each having 1500 to 2000 devotees. We are happy that more and more devotees are joining Navadvipa mandala Parikrama. Numbers are increasing year after year after year because of all your efforts to spread the holy name every year. Those who receive the holy name wherever in whichever part of the world then immediately they come to know about Mayapur and then they make plans to come to Mayapur , go on Navadvipa mandala Parikrama. Holy name goes out, holy name spreads and connects to the soul and brings those souls to Mayapur. Holy name is Nama Prabhu who actually is Mahaprabhu in the form of Nama Prabhu. It goes to Russia, goes to Mauritius, goes to the East coast, goes to South Africa, Australia. Holy name is going and then souls are connected and then Bhakti-yoga happens. Relations are established with the holy name, the name of the Lord and the form of the Lord. Then that holy name brings them to Mayapur, Navadwip and Vrindavan also. We have been saying from Nama to Dham. Nama brings one to Dham. Krsna in the form of the holy name goes and brings you – ‘Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go back home! You don’t belong to this place. You don’t belong to that place, you don’t belong to that place. Get out of here.’ So spreading of the holy name has just started. Sri Ganesha has been done as we say. It’s just the beginning. Lots more is about to happen.

Polish Festival is conducted by Indradyumna Maharaja. Sannyasis were talking about it. If you go back to Krsna that will happen. Then one will enter into the pastimes of the Lord at end of this life! It will be fun! It may happen 100 years from now, 500 years from now, Krishna consciousness is spreading far and wide – devotees everywhere, festivals everywhere, kirtanas everywhere. Maybe we should just stay on , stay on longer. Like-

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi ॥4॥

O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service, birth after birth. (4)

Day after tomorrow I will be travelling to Kolkata during japa time. We will see if we can stop somewhere under the tree and if internet is available then we can conduct a session. So we will let you know tomorrow. See you chanting again tomorrow.
Hare Krishna!

Reading Srila Prabhupada’s Books is the Basis

Today we had 332 participants on our conference, so keep joining. There is a benefit of the association you get while chanting here. The title of this conference is “ LET’S CHANT TOGETHER !” If you are chanting alone you may face challenges, but if you are in the company of others chanting with you , then it becomes a little of a downhill task. You don’t have to fight with Maya so much and you win the battle with Maya. You could concentrate and focus on chanting. So keep taking advantage. You are not chanting only with me , but as you have heard the scores, you are also chanting with so many devotees. Five hundred devotees are chanting. Each participant brings so many chanters with him – from his family, temple , youth groups, Gurukul and BACE devotees . So like that there are lots of devotees chanting with you, which gives you strength. It also gives you faith. Your concentration gets better as you chant.

Yesterday different topics, issues were being discussed in our SGGS. They are putting their heads together to tackle various issues faced by ISKCON. They are also trying to develop a common vision.

One topic yesterday was ‘regular reading of Srila Prabhupada’s books’. We are distributing but we are not reading, which is the major concern. There is an observation that slowly there is a decline, less and less brahmacaris and devotees which also includes congregation devotees, are reading books written by Srila Prabhupada. An observation was made that 10% of our devotees are in a temple and 90% of the initiated devotees and followers are outside the temple, in their homes and their congregation. They are also an integral part of our movement. However reading is happening less and less. During Prabhupad’s days he also once complained that, ’ My disciples are not reading my books enough.’ He was satisfied with the books scores. Lots of books are being distributed, but his claim was as he said, ‘I wrote these books so that my disciples would read them. They are meant for reading and not only for distributing.’

What do you think? Are you all reading Srila Prabhupada’s books regularly? This book reading was the topic of discussion and all the leaders were recommended to encourage and inspire or create a role model in their areas that others could follow. In every temple there should be some encouraging words, inspiring statements, so that devotees could read Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Do you know what is the connection between chanting and reading? If you keep reading Srila Prabhupada’s books or if you don’t read Srila Prabhupada’s books what will happen ?

Devotee 1 – If we don’t read Srila Prabhupada’s books then we won’t know why we are chanting?

Devotee 2 – If you don’t read Prabhupada’s books our chanting may end up just being a sentimental thing, without much knowledge.

Devotee 3 – If we don’t read Srila Prabhupada’s books then we won’t understand philosophy and then we won’t know how to follow in the footsteps of Rupa Goswami and previous acaryas. Prabhupada has led the foundation, the mood of Vaisnava acaryas. In order to follow Rupa Goswami we need to understand scriptures. But if we read Prabhupada’s books we get that information from scriptures in an organized way.

Devotee 4 – Many times in my experience chanting becomes monotonous if we don’t read Srila Prabhupada’s books. When we read Srila Prabhupada’s books regularly in which he writes even if you don’t have taste in chanting you have to continue chanting. So we get encouragement for chanting.

Devotee 5 – Prabhupada said books are the basis. That speaks volumes. If we read, it will positively impact on our chanting. We will have a taste for chanting.

Devotee 6 – Prabhupada has explained in his books about sambandha jnana. If intellectually we are not situated in sambandh-jnana then we will not have the impetus to chant. If we have studied sambandh jnana then even if our mind gets disturbed our intellect will be sharp enough to defeat the mind and continue chanting.

Devotee 7 – HH Sivaram Maharaja says important reading or hearing leads to important chanting. Because unless and until you read we don’t get to know why, what, how and where to chant? These questions will be answered when we read or hear Srila Prabhupada’s books.

Guru Maharaja – Some doubting minds are there. If you read Srila
Prabhupada’s books , you will be free from the doubts.

chidyante sarva-samsayah ( SB. 1.2.21)

nasṭa-prayesu abhadresu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-sloke
bhaktir bhavati naisthiki ( SB. 1.2.18)

If you read and hear Bhagavatam nityam, regularly, then you will become free from doubts. If you have doubts then read Prabhupada’s books for solutions. The point is we have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books more and more regularly. There was a proposal that if you read 40 pages of Bhagavatam each day then you could complete 12 cantos in one year. Vaiyasiki Prabhuji is a very regular reader and he is also promoting this regular reading of Bhagavatam and some other spiritual books. Read a chapter of Bhagavad-Gita every day. If you do not read the whole chapter then at least read the Sanskrit slokas and translations. One day, one chapter! Like that there are different ideas about what you could read every day. Each one of you must make some plan, some strategies about the 24 hours that we have . Everyone has only 24 hours. Anyone has 25 hours? So why don’t we do it? There was a lengthy discussion on this topic in SGGS yesterday. We spent a few hours on this. All the senior most leaders were contemplating. We have also initiated this dialogue here so you can share more and make some plans to read.

Time management is also one of the reasons why we don’t read regularly. Social media and internet distractions are a major cause keeping us away from reading. Some of our temples have taken away the smart phones from temple brahmacaris. They have ‘unsmart’ phones because there are some abuses or wrong uses of the smart phone. Whoever wants to be smart has some ways to be smart. It is not good for Krsna devotees to follow in the footsteps of worldly people. So many reasons were listed for the possible causes of reading less and less. There were lots of suggestions regarding how we can read more. So it so happens that if we don’t read Srila Prabhupada’s books then we stop chanting. Prabhupada’s books – Nectar of Devotion talks about the offences against the holy name. Now we know, remember and try to avoid those offences. One thing which was also said is that we will become a movement of third class devotees without reading. There was a comment – punar mushika bhava. ( story from Hitopadesh) …. Become a mouse again which means become Hindu again. Before coming to Krishna consciousness we were Hindus or Christians. We go back to that kind of origin. Krishna consciousness is something different, something superior. It is the topmost. It is the essence of all religion and the symptom of the soul. The soul’s consciousness is revived and that is Krishna consciousness. That Krishna consciousness will not be revived if we do not read Srila Prabhupada’s books. Prabhupada presented ‘Bhagavad-Gita As It is.’ Reading of the Bhagavad-Gita will be lost and then we will read or hear the commentaries of some speculators, Karmakandis and Jnanakandis . The world is ….

krsna-bhakta — niskama, ataeva ‘santa’
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami — sakali ‘asanta’( CC Madhya 19.149)

“Because a devotee of Lord Krsna is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jnanis desire liberation, and yogis desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.

…. so rise above all this karmakandis, jnanakandis. We have to read Srila Prabhupada’s books which also contains commentaries by the previous acarya – the thoughts and proposals of Rupa Goswami who presented Krsna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu . If we don’t read Prabhupada’s books , would we have come to Mayapur? They would not even get to hear the name Mayapur. We will not end up chanting Hare Krishna, but will end up chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ or that famous aarti ‘Jaya Jagadish Hare ,Swami Jaya Jagadish Hare’. We would not have sung kiba jayo jayo gaurachander aratika sobha’. The world would have missed Gauracanda. It made a difference to understand Caitanya Mahaprabhu and what is being propagated in the world . I made a comment – we will become Caitanya-less, without Caitanya Mahaprabhu and also without Caitanya’ i.e. consciousness which is Krishna consciousness. So it’s very important that we all study Srila Prabhupad’s books regularly.

In SGGS we had our own Bhagavatam class and the purpose is that there should be more interactions and reading more of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Vaiyasiki Prabhuji gave class yesterday and others also were talking. We will have to stop here. See you another day, same time.

Hare Krishna!