31st July 2019

BECOME SELF SUFFICIENT.

I welcome & congratulate all the chanters. There is a reminder that next two days there will be no chanting session as you know I will be travelling long distance travel. On one morning I will be travelling from Delhi to New York & then from New York to Los Angeles. Then we will notify you hopefully & certainly about continuing our japa session. But you all keep chanting. Some of you are saying, you will miss me but don’t miss chanting, even though I will not be physically or personally chanting with you. As you are taking inspiration from me to chant, similarly you can take inspiration from others around you. May be your family members are good chanters, attentive chanters, regular chanters, offenseless chanters. Such person could be your family members, neighbours. There are so many many possibilities.

You could take inspiration to chant continuously, devotionally, offenselessly. May be your counsellor & like that, take inspiration from your instructing spiritual masters. There are actually so many of them instructing you, giving ‘siksha’. Giving you guidance. They are your friends, philosophers & guides. Turn to them, Help! Help! Help! You could take help from them, take inspiration from them. Make them your heroes. They can give you spiritual as well as general guidance. This is reminding me of Lord Krishna. He explains to Uddhava such thoughts that there can be so many gurus.

That is a big topic from eleventh canto of Bhagavatam, chapter seven. Few days ago, we did quote Lord Krishna, as He was talking to Uddhava. He said,

“Atmaiva guru atmanaha”

Atma remains or guru is atma. We should become our own guru also. Yourself, you become your own guru, train yourself, become independently thoughtful & learn things from different sources & train yourself. Equip yourself. Keep practicing Krishna consciousness, as self-help. Stand on your own feet & help yourself how to take the help of those around you & become self-sufficient. Something like that otherwise you become responsible, take the responsibility. You become able, or capable to respond to different situations or circumstances. What different things can be done so that you become capable to handle all situations or stay Krishna conscious under all circumstances.

So, we should be able to become responsible like that. Your initiating spiritual master may not be available physically, personally. But you take siksha from where you are stationed. Look around & maybe you learn lessons from different objects, different personalities. To get this message across to Uddhava, Lord Krishna has talked about the past history or life of king Yadu. How Yadu had an encounter with one brahmin. Yadu Maharaj & this Avadhut was Lord Dattatreya. He is having dialogue & Lord is making reference to Uddhava about it. Yadu maharaj is very very exalted personality himself. Yadu vansha or Yadu dynasty is named after him. That is why he is called Yadav. Krishna is called Yadav, because he comes from Yadav dynasty. So that Yadu Maharaj is now wondering looking at this Avadhut brahmana. He is improperly dressed, but he is so happy, so jolly. He is blessed out.

Yadu is wondering, how? I mean I am king, I have so much facilities. This is at my disposal, that is at my disposal, whole treasury, ministers, this & that but as I don’t experience joy or happiness as I could see you are in. What has made you happy like this? Share the secrets with me. Kindly let me know the cause of your happiness. There is no stress & strain that I could observe in your personality, but only happiness, joy. Please tell me what has made you happy. Then this Avadhut, you understand what an Avadhut is. He doesn’t follow the normal norms. He is transcendental. So that was this Avadhut brahmana. Then this Avadhut explained, what has made me happy is because I had many gurus in my life. I take instructions from so many personalities, so many sources. They are source of my inspiration. I follow them.

He has mentioned ” I have 24 gurus” He has given list of 24 gurus. Prithvi (earth) is my guru, vayu (air) is my guru. The Surya (sun) is my Guru. Chandrma (moon) is my guru & list goes on & on. The couple of pigeons – he & she pigeon, I have learnt so much from that couple. Prostitute from Videha – I have learnt so much lesson from that prostitute. Like that he has 24 guru’s instructing him & he has learnt so much from them. They are guiding principles & I am following their guidance. Their Instructions which have made me happy & joyful, in this material life of trials & tribulations. So not that I have undergone initiation ceremony & this guru’s get on the mike come to me & they made me sit down & talk to me or instruct me & they are talking, that is also not the case. They are where they are, but I just consider teachings from their life. This lesson from Prithvi, I take another lesson from Samudra the ocean, another from that couple – he & she pigeon, another lesson from that prostitute. They never came to me. I am learning or understanding. I could learn from this party, that party. This is how I am being trained by these 24 gurus of mine. So, from earth I have learned tolerance. As I watch or look around, I could see how much mother earth is tolerant. So, this lesson of being tolerant I have learnt from mother earth.

Few days ago, we talked about those five different animals or creatures & how one of their senses was not under control, as a result the deer lost life as there was no control over sense of hearing. Another animal the moth, lost life as there was no control over the eyesight. So that is also a lesson that Avadhut Brahmin Dattatreya is talking about that ‘I should control my senses.’ I should have control over my sense of hearing & I should control my senses. That makes me aware, be aware. You don’t control your senses like these animals.

So, I become ‘sachet’- cautious. Prevention is better than cure. I prevent those things from happening, I am learning lessons from those different animals. That’s a kind of lesson. Those become my gurus.

There are two kinds of Instructions, two categories, it is explained here. One is called ‘Eya’ & other is called ‘Upadeya’. ‘Eya’ means don’t do this. Reject this, abondoan this. So, he has learned some things like don’t do this & lessons like that of not doing certain things & ‘Upadeya’ is do like this, don’t do this. Do like earth but don’t do things like deer & loose own life. So ‘eya’ & ‘Upadeya’. I learned some lessons to do this & other lessons of don’t do that. There was a person who was making his tool sharp & he is busy doing that sharpening his tools & he was, focused, concentrated, absorbed in that. Then there went a procession with a lot of noise. After some time another person came & inquired whether he has seen the procession going from there. But he told he was doing his work & he don’t know about that procession. So Dattatreya made him his guru & learned from him how work should be done with complete concentration. That person was totally unaware of the surrounding circumstances so I wanted to chant like he was sharpening his tool.

Try to chant, like he was sharpening his tool.

From each of these 24 gurus he has learned different lessons, he has taken different instructions. He observed lifestyle of pigeon couple. They were leading life of griha-medhi. They got married, they lay eggs & soon there were children & they were so busy, busy taking care of the needs of their children & life was going on like that. Even if they were invited by Hare Krishna devotees for Janmastami & they explained no no we are busy, we can’t come. We are doing our duty. Call us later we can’t come now.

So, this used to be their attitude & then the shikari (hunter) comes & he captures the children & then the parents pigeon they are helpless. They are attracted, they wanted to help out their children so they also entered the net of this hunter & they were caught & all lost their life without giving any time for Krishna consciousness. So, this Avadhut Dattatreya says, okay this party is also my guru. This he pigeon, she pigeon, I made them my gurus.

What do you learn? – I don’t want to be like them. I made them my gurus. As saw their lifestyle, being busy busy, no time for Krishna consciousness. So, I made them my guru. I will not follow their example, I will not do the things they did, so they are also my spiritual masters.

Ok time is passing. Then there was a prostitute of Videha or Janakpur. She was one night waiting for customers. O! He looks very rich person. Surely, he will come & then become my customer. I will enjoy him & he will enjoy me. But that night no one booked her or tried her or came in to enjoy her & she was waiting & waiting. She was going in the house again coming back looking for customers, but nothing was working out, but then she was very very fortunate that night as some thought prevail, what? Why should I keep doing this profession? I will stop this. No more of this prostitution business. Did this make me happy? No! This body is just a bag of stool & urine & this & that. I tried to enjoy that & they also tried to enjoy my body which is also similar bag of pus & urine & stool. I will stop this kind of business & she did stop & she came to this conclusion. She took sankalpa, determination. No more!! of this illicit sex or sex all together & from today onwards I am going to serve my Lord. Lord of my heart Narayan, like Laxmi serves Narayan. I will serve like Rama, Laxmi serves Narayan. I will become servant. I will serve Him. I will not serve the worldly bodies. I will serve the eternal form of Lord. She came to that conclusion, that determination & Avadhut said, okay you are my guru. He has observed this whole incidence of prostitute which she has shared & so he accepted her as his spiritual master & she was added in list of 24 gurus.

So, like that, you could study this, eleventh canto chapter 7th, 8th & 9th describing the various gurus of this Avadhut. You could also make them as your gurus. But list is not limited. You could have your own list of gurus. Five, ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred gurus around you & take lessons, inspiration, instructions from them & stay Krishna conscious as this Avadhut Brahmana became Krishna conscious. He became happy, jolly, transcendental to worldly affairs.

Okay. Hare Krishna!

Devotees just informed me that we have crossed 700 participants today. Feel happy & keep chanting. Get others to chant with you. You could become their gurus. Take inspiration from them. You could take inspiration from them. ‘Bodhayantaha parasparam’ could happen. Mutually keep inspiring each other, as we go on chanting, practising Krishna conscious forever. So, keep chanting.

After two days we will continue our conference.

Hare Krishna!

30th July 2019

Chant to your heart’s

Hare Krishna!

We encourage you all to keep chanting day after day after day, every day. Most of you have taken vow to chant prescribed number of rounds daily. So, you could complete those rounds chanting, especially if you could chant as you had been doing on this conference, that will be beneficial to all those who participate in the conference and it is highly appreciated by me and by all. All the participants are also appreciating chanting in this conference. Even appreciation is not because I am also chanting but everyone else is chanting, big numbers of devotees are chanting. That is also cause for appreciation. So, we need you all to keep chanting.

So, I will be leaving on a big long world tour tomorrow evening. Then what happens to this conference? That is the question. But we have been suggested something that we could form groups. Noida group, Bangalore group and Mauritius group and Bhakti vriksha group or you and your counselees if you have counselor, you all could chant together. So that is also one suggestion.

Gauranga is chanting in Alachua, you could also chant in team. So that is one suggestion.

So that was one idea. The response I received was that may or may not work, or that may or may not be very attractive. So, what I am considering is and of course where ever I am I chant my japa. So that chanting could be recorded; record japa and record japa talk. And I will notify when I am chanting in this country, that country, try to join me then and there. So that is another option which is not may be practical or welcomed idea by many of you. Or this time, morning time recording will be played, if this is okay for all of you. That also is possible. Dinanukampa mataji and Padmamali prabhu were thinking something like that. Maybe they have not spoken with you Hari kirtan but they have talked with Akinchan Bhakta prabhu. And of course, wherever I chant and talk, that talk is going to be in English. So that is to be repeated this time. Then English talk could be translated in Hindi, my talk then pause and Hindi translation and more my talk in English and more Hindi translation. So yes, I think that may be most appealing and most effective way.

So, do you all think that this is quite an option? Many are responding to the chat. It will be live; in fact, you will not notice the difference between the sessions we are doing now and the sessions during my tour. That will be live, nothing dead. It will be live and lively.

There is news from Hungary and they are conducting padayatra, outskirts at Krsna valley. That is very famous project. They have goshala, so they are on the road for padayatra and I was very pleased to see 30 devotees on the road going from village to village, town to town and chanting Hare Krishna on the way.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu did 500 years ago and devotees from Hungary right now they are continuing the program spreading the holy name around.

Param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam!

In the cart, the chariot, they have Gaura Nitai deities and Srila Prabhupada murti also and they are chanting nonstop from beginning to finish. They are distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, distributing prasadam and every town, village they are visiting they are planting the trees. I think they have invited some dignitaries, mayor or some others from the town and in their presence, they are planting trees like a memorial tree. And report also said that they are 30 permanent team members of Padayatra but then during the day some more join and number swells up to 50-60 devotees and it is big number for that country. In India you may think ‘50 does not do’. But in the western world like Hungary 50 participants in padayatra on the road are huge number participating and this is very inspirational for us, chanters also.

Padayatra worldwide ki Jai! Harinam sankirtan ki jai!

So, you could see how the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is coming true. You could see all in front of your eyes. We are witness to see how the prediction is coming true, reaching to more towns, more villages. Prabhupada gave us this padayatra strategy, program, project to spread the holy name all over the world and this is happening, going on. You could also take part in nagar sankirtans in your town. Muralimohan prabhu from Ahmadabad, he has done more than 36 padayatras, one day padayatras and he is inspiring devotees from other cities, towns, from Bangalore, Jamshedpur, Jalgaon, and Solapur. So why not your town, your city, your village, wherever you are from, you could make this Holy name to get the Holy name to people of your region, your fellow brothers, fellow human beings, gift them this Hare Krishna maha mantra. You could also conduct Harinama sankirtana in your town. Or you could have this happening under the banner of one day padayatras, of course longer also. So, make some plans and conduct and participate in one day padayatra all over the India, all over the world.

Gaur premanande Hari Hari bol!

Yesterday I had inspirational experience which I would like to share. This also shows how Krishna consciousness is spreading. Parents are reaching out their children and inspiring them to take to Krsna consciousness. So what happened?

Yesterday I was studying the commentary of Sridhar Swami on Bhagavad Gita. And then soon after, almost in middle of my studies I had to leave and I was visiting Krsna Darsan Prabhu’s home and he had some guests there. And one little girl, Narayani, 4 years old, daughter of one of the guests, she, Narayani said to me, ‘Maharaja I have a surprise gift for you’. And I said, ‘what is it? Give me the gift.’ Then she presented the surprise gift and the gift was she recited the verses of Bhagavad Gita. She went on and on and on. It was quite loud and nice pronunciation; uninterrupted and very spontaneously she was reciting the verses. I remembered; I knew some of those verses. I hadn’t learnt by heart but she had learnt by heart all of the verses. What surprised me was, not only she recited the verses very beautifully but she had recited exact same verses which I had done the study of Sridhar Swami’s commentary. And she stopped where I had stopped my study, exactly same verse. She started chanting ‘dhritarasta uvaca’, it was first verse of first chapter of Bhagavad Gita and she went on and on and she stopped at 21 verse and that’s where she stopped where I had stopped my study of Sridhar Swami’s Bhagavad Gita commentary. So that also was surprise to me. Lord prompted her to recite exact same verses or exactly same number of verses which I had done the study on that day, earlier that day. So, this was very very inspirational.

All glories to Narayani and all glories to the parents, who are training and inspiring the children to recite, memorize verses of Bhagavad Gita and introducing Krishna consciousness to them.

Time is short but I still have another thought, a big thought, but I will make it little, small bites, so we can present that. Yesterday we talked about senses are not being under control and as a result you could even lose your life. And we mentioned those five different animals’ examples and how one of their senses was not under control and as a result how they lost their lives. So, controlling senses is very essential. How to do it is very important. So, sense control is possible ultimately by chanting of the Holy name of the Lord. By tasting the Holy name of the Lord, by developing higher taste which remains higher taste only when we are chanting and chanting and develop liking and love attraction for chanting, then by that time you will have your senses under control. Or to the degree we have developed attraction and attachment and to the degree we taste the holy name to that degree we will have our senses under control.

cetah-prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim
no jane janito kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi (CC Antya 1.99)

This is the statement or declaration of Rupa Gosvami. It’s a long story. There is a verse compiled by Rupa Gosvami which is part of mangalacharan of his maybe Lalit Madhav scripture and it was in the presence of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Namacarya Srila Haridas Thakur and Ramananada Rai and like that the associates like those in Jagannath Puri. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked to recite this verse which Rupa Goswami has compiled and included as mangalacharan into one of his books and explained what I recited, what just one part, one pada of that shloka.

So in that particular mantra of Rupa Goswami, shloka, verse is amazing and the glories of holy name that he has chanted in that particular verse is unparalleled or outstanding and he has gloried the holy name with heart’s content and even Mahaprabhu Himself was so much pleased as He heard this recitation of a particular mantra which glorified the holy name.

tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye
karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham (CC Antya 1.99)

When I chant the holy name of the Lord with my mouth, I feel Rupa Gosvami’s thoughts realizations that what good is one mouth. I wish I had tundavini, I had many many thousands of mouths, then may be something I could chant with those thousands mouths, tunde tundavini ratim vitanute, as I chant and with this glorious names, glories are expanding, ever expanding. One mouth is not enough. I wish to have many many mouths to chant Hare Krishna Maha mantra.

Karna kroda kadambini ghatayate and then he says, that name chanted by the mouth when that enters my ears then I feel, karna arbudebhyah spriham, then I develop desire to have karna, ears, air bud that is big number, bigger than koti and I wish I had a millions of ears to hear this sweet Holy name of the Lord. What good is this one set of ears? I wish I had millions of ears to hear the Holy name.

Rupa Goswami continues that when I chant, I wish I had so many mouths to chant and then as I hear I wish I had millions of ears to hear that Holy name. Then he says, and finally that holy name reaches the courtyard of my heart, cetah prangana sangini vijayate.

And when holy name reaches my heart, enters my consciousness, enters in the courtyard of my heart then vijayate, then I become victorious. Victory over what?

He says, Sarva indriyani kratim, all the activities of my senses they all become stuck. Whatever may be wanting to do or they were busy doing it, they stop doing that all sort of nonsense. Uncontrollably they were busy before, but as soon as the Holy name reaches my heart, enter my consciousness, then sarve indriyani kratim vijayate, I become victorious. I conquer over all the senses and I become vijayi, I become victorious, which is also Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, you become victorious, param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam

W movement or sankirtan chanting that makes you victorious, supreme victory, victory all over senses also could be, senses controlling, mind taking charge of your life, all becomes possible when you are chanting attentively, offenselessly and you are enjoying your heart or chant to your heart’s content.

And he concludes that statement with the fourth line that is na jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varnadvayi, there is so much nectar in Lord’s krsneti varnadvayi, he says, Krsna, there are two varnas, there are only two aksharas, this is so much nectar. This Holy name has so much nectar that I cannot even realize how much nectar is there in this Holy name, in the name Krishna, krsneti varna dvayi.

And I am overwhelmed. I cannot even understand how much nectar there is in the Holy names of the Lord.

Okay, so contemplate on this verse. In Caitanya Caritamrita, madhya lila you could find this verse. You could read and study and understand it, the glories of the Holy name the way Rupa Goswami has recited.

Hare Krishna

29th July 2019

When we chant, when you chant,I just said‘blessings’; but those are not just my blessings, but of all the acaryas in ourparamparabless us, bless you when they see youchanting or they give us blessings when we are chanting. Even demigods are pleased.They may be even showering flowers upon the chanters. Chanters become worshipable, honorable and they always shower their blessings from all corners.

So, keep chanting. That is the target, ‘kirtaniyasadahari’.Let us get attached to this chanting. That is calledsomeone have‘ruchi’ then there is ‘asakti’ and then there is ‘bhava’ then achieve the ‘Krsnaprema’ levels. There is attachment, attraction to chanting. By chanting and chanting, we get attached to chanting. Chanting is Lord. So, getting attached to the chanting is getting attached to the Lord. There is so much ‘asakti’, that attachment gives rise to ‘bhava’, emotions, thinking, feeling, willing, feelings for the Lord, thinking about the Lord, feeling about the Lord and will to serve the Lord, to see the Lord. This is part of the ‘bhava’. And when ‘bhava’ becomes more concentrated, condensed that becomes ‘prema’. We achieve ‘Krsnaprema’. So, keep chanting till we achieve ‘Krsnaprema’, love for the Lord or attitude to lovingly serve the Lord that is ‘prema’. This could all be achieved by chanting the holy name of the Lord.

Dhyayatovishayanpumsam, sangasteshupajayate,
sangatsanjayatekamah, kamatkrodhobhijayate (BG 2.62)

You know this is Lord talking and then ‘buddhinasha, buddhinashatpranashyati’, you are finished. So, that is another path. One could be gliding down, sliding down to the hellish condition. So that is also there as one contemplates on objects of senses, ‘dhyayatovishayanpumsamsangahteshupajayate’, one develops attachment to the sense objects and then that attachment leads to the ‘kama’, the lust.

Just few minutes earlier we talked about how ‘asakti’ leads to ‘bhava’ and ‘prema’, that’s when one contemplates, meditates upon Lord, Lord’s holy name, then one develops attachment to the Lord. And then that attachment results in ‘prema’ for the Lord. But if we are contemplating on maya, the objects of senses then also we will lead to ‘asakti’, attachment to maya, attach to the objects of senses and that attachment to maya, attachment to objects of senses will lead to ‘kama, sangasteshupajayatesangatsanjayatekamah’.

So, one kind of contemplation to the Krsna contemplation, contemplating on Krsna and then one develops attachment to Krsna and then there is ‘bhava’ and ‘prema’, love for the Lord. And if contemplation is on objects of senses then one develops attachment to those objects of senses and the outcome is ‘kama’, lust. So, we have to know how one develops ‘prema’ and how one may be ending up developing ‘kama’ or lust. We have to be knowledgeable and wise to choose or select the right object and that is Krsna. No Maya, only Krsna! ‘Asatsangatyaga’, whatever is false,maya, illusory is to be abandoned and we accept Krsna andKrsnarelated objects.

So, as we have already said, contemplation on maya, sense objects lead to attachment and lust develops. One becomes bewildered, loses his intelligence, power of discrimination he loses and ‘pranashyati’, he is destroyed, he is dead, he is gone, he is gone to the hell.

I was listening to katha this morning. RadhaGovind maharaja was giving Katha, this is recorded katha. I can’t give you all the details, but this kathaisin 11th canto of Bhagavatam, the Katha of 24 gurus.This is talk of Lord Dattatreya and He is talking to king Yadu. There He is talking how we could learn different lessons from so many things around us. There He is talking about different animals, how because of one of their senses is weak, and so theyget trapped, as a result they get killed, they lose their life just because they have no control on one of the particular senses in them, some of the animals, some of the creatures.

So he quoted GarudaPurana and there in that quotation in that verse, mantra, shloka mentions why different animals or creatures, and the mantra says, I don’t remember the whole mantra, but the main side I remember, the patinga, matanga, kuranga, bhringa and mina, these are the five animals and each one of them get into trouble and lose their life because one of their senses is not under control. So, you know there are five sense objects and five knowledge acquiring senses. Sabda, sparsha,rupa, rasa, gandha, these are the five sense objects and sense objects are all around us.
The world is filled with sense objects and we, human bodies, all the bodies are equipped with different senses and we get to know about those sense objects with the help of senses which are mounted in the body. The body is also kind of basically the bunch of senses. We have five senses objects and because there are five senses objects, there are also and only five knowledge acquiring senses.

So ‘shabda’, sound, one sense object, the kuranga, the deer, his weak point or his sense of hearing is not under his control and the hunters know this. So, when they go for hunting deer, they also go with some musical instrument or some sound they produce and then the deer is listening to that sound and gets absorbed in enjoying that sound and he even has no bodily concept. He just into that listening to the sound, ‘shabda’ and then hunter takes advantage of that situation and he shoots the deer. So, like that the deer because of his sense of hearing, he is weak or has no control and he loses his life.

‘Sparsh’, the sense of touch, so there is example of matang, matanga is elephant. So, he elephant is attracted by she elephant and he wants to enjoy, intercourse, sex and predominantly the sense of touch, one skin rubbing against the other or touching, so the sense of touch he wants to enjoy. Otherwise elephant is very difficult to capture. So those who wish for hunting or capturing elephant, they know the weakness of the elephant, so what they do is they dig big hole into the ground, big hole and then they cover that with some bamboo or some grass and then they put a replica of she elephant or may be sometime they may have a real she elephant around and then elephant gets attracted by she elephant and wants to rub his body or touch all that he does during the intercourse , then he comes running, rushing and on the way he ends up in that hole, on the top of the hole there is some grass and bamboo and he gets trapped. Because he is so much attracted to his sense of touch, he wants to touch the body of she elephant and enjoy that sense object of touch.

‘Shabda’, ‘sparsha’,’rupa’, the form or objects of senses or eyesight, so the example of patinga, moth is given in this Garuda Purana. So, the moth sees fire in front of him with his eyesight, he looks at fire and he gets attracted to the fire and he just runs and rushes towards the fire. The moth’s wings are very small, not well developed, but his body is bigger in size and heavier. So,as the moth gets attracted to that form of fire, his wings are burned and then his heavy body is consumed by the fire and he is finished as he has no control over his eyesight, ‘rupa’which kills him.
‘Shabda’, ‘sparsha’, ‘rupa’, ‘rasa’, rasa is taste and ‘mina’, the fish is the example. The tongue of the fish is not under the control of the fish. The uncontrolled tongue is the weakness of the fish. So those who go for fishing, you know how they do the fishing. They have fishing rod, and string and at the end there is metal hook and they put some dough, some sweet or something they attach to the hook. So, the fish gets attracted by the ‘rasa’, taste, that object that is attached to the hook of the fishing rod and he goes for it and as he tries to enjoy that ‘rasa’, the taste and he gets stuck to the hook and he is finished. The fisherman gets to know and he drags him out and catches him and gobbles him up, killed because his sense of touch is not under his control.

So ‘shabda’,‘sparsha’,’rupa’,‘rasa’,‘gandha’, the smell and the example arebhringaor the bee, they are always attracted by the fragrance of the flowers and they are going from flower to flower. And they are attracted by the sense of smell and as they are enjoying the smell, they sit on the flower and sometimes the flower are big, like lotus flower and as they are trying to get some honey, madhu from the flowers, the fragrance or the honey, they try to enjoy that and sometimes some flowers get closed in evening time. And that bee gets trapped and finished or maybe there may be some other causes of their death, they were in the middle of enjoying the sense of smell and then they end their life.

So, this GarudaPurana reference or statement then makes the point that one sense is good enough to kill you. One uncontrolled sense as mentioned in five of these creatures or animals, matanga, patanga, kuranga, bhringa and mina. So why if human beings, all their senses are not under control; one is good enough to kill you, anybody, any human being, that is the case with these other animals, these five animals mentioned. So, what if all the senses of the human being are not under control? And then outcome is death. As, ‘buddhinashatpranashyati’, beginning with‘dhyatovishyanpumsam’, contemplating on objects of senses is thebeginning andthe end result is ‘buddhinashatpranashyati’, totally destroyed, you are finished. So, this is why ‘punarapijananampunarapimaranam’ is going on. Birth, death, birth death, this is caused because of not having the senses under control. These uncontrolled senses lead to repeated births and deaths. So, in order to stop birth and death, we have to control our senses. That control is possible only when we employ, engage our senses in the service of the master of our senses that is Sri Krsna.
As a conclusion, it’s another statement,

ātmendriya-prīti-vāñchā — tārebali ‘kāma’
kṛṣṇendriya-prīti-icchādhare ‘prema’ nāma (CC Ādi 4.165)

When our senses are employed, engaged in atmendriyapriti, to gratify the senses, gratify the mind, gratify the body, gratify our all senses, then the outcome is lust. On the contrary, same senses could be also engaged in krishnendriyapriti, Krsnaindriyapriti, for the pleasure of Sri Krsna we engage our senses and the outcome would be the prema, love of Godhead. So this is what going on in the world, most of the people are engaging their senses in the service of mayaand they are enjoying the sense objectsand developinglust and that leads to death and ‘manushyanamsahasreshu’, out of thousand someone, some Hare Krishna, as you are becoming Hare Krishna now and are engaging your senses in the service of the Lord and you develop ‘prema’, love of Godhead and you become free from birth and death,

tyaktvadehampunarjanmanaitimameti(BG 4.9)

So, you are back to Krishna. HariBol! So,we are welcomingthe whole world to join this Hare Krishna movement and remain engaged or employ their senses, their whole existence in the service of the Lord and the services includes chanting of the Holy names of the Lord and resulting in developing love for the Lord and being happy and going back to Lord eventually.
Hare Krishna!

28th July 2019

JAPA-TALK / “LOKANATH LOKER JIVANA..”

Today from 480 places devotees are chanting with us. Today is ekadashi, so I was expecting bigger number. Ekadashi is a day which we call ‘upwas’ right? It is popularly known as ‘upwas’. It’s a day of fasting & feasting also. Fasting from maya & feasting on Krishna. Or feast on ‘Hàrinaam’. It’s a Shravan utsava, by chanting of ‘Hare Krishna’ on this day. We also have mentioned in the past that other meaning of ‘upwas’ is – ‘up’ means near & ‘was’ means to reside more close, closer & closer to Krishna. So, ekadashi day is a day of getting closer to the Lord. So how to get closer to the Lord? By getting away from maya, by fasting from maya, minimising or limiting the bodily demands. There should be fasting from grains & eating should be minimum, just to survive. So that they have more & more time for chanting & spiritual activities on this day.

Last ekadashi we were in Pandharpur. Many of you were also there. Some of you were there, raise hands who were there? – Some hands are going up. Two weeks have already passed. I have, we all are fifteen days older. I am seventy plus fifteen days. Some of you may be forty-five plus fifteen days older. So, we are becoming older day by day. Time is passing. ‘Time & tide waits for none.’ So, as I have mentioned earlier also ekadashi is also day of doing the review of our performance of sadhana & seva in previous fifteen days. I am also thinking, ‘time is passing, we have to catch up with Krishna’ Stay with Krishna. When we do our seva & sadhana attentively & with devotion, then we can stay near Krishna.

To stay near Krishna is the real aim of our life. Our politicians they also have done review of their performances & they are proudly declaring Oh! We did this! We did that! etc. But they are saying only about good they did, & are not talking about the bad part. But we should take a stock of our situation. What good things we did & what were the setbacks or bad or substandard things we did & we should think of some resolutions to improve. In other words, take the stock of strong points & weak points of our previous performance & strong points will come but weak points are a challenge. So, take it as a challenge & try to work on it. Wherever we were weak, try to become stronger, that is what we have to work on. You can do it either yourself or sit with your counsellor, or leader or your spiritual master, (anyway it will be too much for me to handle), or your spiritual superiors, discuss with them.

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam ( NOI verse 4)

We could also see how did we perform in relationship with other Vaishnavas, other devotees. How much you exhibited ‘priti laxanam’

On this ekadashi day, I want to remember & share the glories of Lokanath Goswami. Few days ago, his disappearance day was celebrated but somehow, I did not know, that it was his disappearance day. News did not reach me so I did not remember or talk about him that day, so now I want to do, something I didn’t do. Improving my fault & want to speak about Lokanath Goswami, who is so very dear to me. Srila Prabhupada named me after Lokanath Goswami. So, I would like to say few things about Lokanath Goswami.

His glories are unlimited & our time is limited & not that I have realized all the glories of Lokanath Goswami, but I will say few things.

Vaishnaver kriya mudra ike na buzay

‘Mudra’ or ‘havbhav’ of vaisnava is very difficult to understand or realize. I don’t even consider myself qualified to understand glories of Lokanath Goswami. The fact is – ‘To know vaisanava or acharya is as difficult as understanding Krishna Himself.’ or the day you understand or become ‘acharya-realized’ or ‘spiritual master- realized’, as we always talk of ‘God realization’ , so like that there is something called as ‘acharya- realization’ or Guru-realization. Ideal vaisnavas who are really realizing them, when we will really realize them then that time we will also be realizing Lord.

Lokanath loker jivana.. …

Lokanath Goswami’s one & only disciple Narottam das Thakur has glorified his Guru as Lokanath Goswami as ‘Lokanath loker jivana’ my Guru is jivan of all the loka or people. I had opportunity to visit birthplace of Lokanath Goswami several years ago when I visited Bangladesh. I also had opportunity to meet the descendants of Lokanath Goswami. That is where he was born. He was just a young man when he left his hometown, left his family to meet Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Mayapur. ‘Your home is where your heart is.’ Where he was born he didn’t consider that as his home, because his heart was not in that home, but his heart was in Mayapur. His heart was at the lotus feet of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so that became his home, & Mayapur dhama was also like his home as his heart was there & he went back to home, went to Mayapur.

When he arrived, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was getting ready to take sanyasa & ready to leave his home. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he thought, this young person will not be able to understand & tolerate my acceptance of sanyasa. So, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked him to leave & go to Vrindavan. You better leave & not be around when I take sanyasa. So, he was dispatched & sent to Vrindavan. Then Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also had mentioned, that you go to Vrindavan & after sanyasa I will be coming to Vrindavan & I will meet you there. We will be together in Vrindavan. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s plans were changed by Shachi Mata as she didn’t want Mahaprabhu to go to Vrindavan, but instead told him to be in Jagannath Puri.

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did go to Jagannath Puri. He also started travelling all over India specially in South India. Lokanath Goswami received the news that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has taken sanyasa & is travelling to South India. He wanted to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so he left for South India to find Mahaprabhu & be with Him. When he reached South India, he took long time to find Chaitanya Mahaprabhu & he never found Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Instead of that he received the news Chaitanya Mahaprabhu while traveling & travelling doing his madhya-lila of travelling has reached Vrindavan. So, then Lokanath Goswami ran to Vrindavan to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But by the time he reached Vrindavan, guess what??

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was already on his way back to Jagannath Puri.

So,Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in his way to Jagannath Puri. He was in Varanasi Prayagraj . So Lokanath Goswami was then planning to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Varanasi but Mahaprabhu found out the plans of Lokanath Goswami. He instructed Lokanath Goswami – ‘No! No! Don’t come. You stay. You don’t leave Vrindavan! You stay in Vrindavan.’ so with that instruction Lokanath Goswami lost all the hopes of meeting Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then he just he stayed on & on in Vrindavan only. So that Instruction was the breath ‘the Instruction of not leaving Vrindavan’. He became one of the celebrated Goswami’s. He was on the same status as six Goswamis’, he could have easily be listed as seventh Goswami, although It is not listed like that but he could be easier listed like that.

His contribution to reveal the glories of Vrindavan & past times of Krishna & Krishna consciousness is outstanding. He is specially known for the would do his naam bhajan while hanging his deity of Radha-Vinod at his chest & he would chant & dance all around Vrindavan. Now his Deity of Radha-Vinod is in Jaipur. It’s a small deity. As Rupa Goswami’s Radha -Govinda Deva & Jiva Goswami’s Radha- Damodar is in Jaipur. Radha Gokulananad temple in Vrindavan is established by Lokanath Goswami & credit of that goes to him. So we will stop here..

Lokanath Goswami ki jai!

Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

Sri Sri Radha – Rasbihari ki jai!!!

Hare Krsna

27th JULY 2019

DIAL THE PHONE NUMBER OF THE LORD!

Hare Krishna!

We are 580 so far. We also have devotees from Melbourne Australia chanting with us today. There are many more new faces. Few I noticed. Many more newcomers today or these days are chanting with us. So, they are welcome. We are happy that they are chanting with us on this ‘ let’s chant together’ conference. You are chanting, I am also chanting, this way we are keeping in touch with the Lord. Chanting is, as you know is address to the Lord. You know that, chanting ‘Hare Krishna’ is we are addressing the Lord. O Krishna! O Radhe! like that. We are addressing the Lord. All the sixteen names of maha mantra, each one as we pronounce or utter it is ‘sambodhan’ or address to the Lord. We are talking or addressing the Lord. We are supposed to be saying something to the Lord. So, by doing so, by addressing Lord, we are keeping in touch with the Lord, we are communicating with the Lord.’ Keep in touch’, we always say. We hear, ‘get back to us’ ‘write to us’ how you are doing – our parents say that to us or children. So, Lord also is expecting that we will keep in touch with Him & through chanting, as we chant that’s the exact thing we are doing. We are keeping in touch with the Lord.

Chanting of ‘Hare Krishna’ is compared to like dialling telephone number. Prabhupada used to say that, Lord has sixteen-digit number. Anyone else in this world doesn’t have sixteen-digit number. So, it must be an extraordinary number of an extraordinary person & that is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna’s number, which has the sixteen digits, which we dial as we chant. We are dialling or addressing all these sixteen names all the time, over again & again & again and keep in touch with the Lord. Try to have conversation or dialogue with the Lord.

We should tell, ‘let the Lord know we have received His message’ message in the form of Bhagavad-Gita, especially as it is explained by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!

He did not misinterpret or there is no speculation. Let Krishna speak through His purports. You can say to the Lord, yes, we received Your message. Message that You have left behind, in the form of Bhagavad-Gita. It was for me. By your mercy I have received it in a disciplic succession, in an unbroken chain of spiritual masters. I have received the message. I am very thankful O dear Lord. You made me understand the message. I am surrendering unto You & I am on the way back home. I am coming back.

Then Krishna also again appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu & with the help of Lord’s representatives, Gaudiya Vaishnava parampara, we are also able to understand Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s position as Krishna Himself. We are thankful to Him. Thank you Lord as You came again & again You were here five thousand years ago & You came five hundred years back again & You gave mantra that we are chanting. You personally delivered this mantra. That mantra has reached me. Chanting of the ‘Hare Krishna’ mahamantra is the dharma. He processed the activity, devotional service through this, in this age of Kali. I have received this gift. I have received Bhagavad-Gita as a gift & now I have received this gift in this form as ’Hare Krishna’ mahamantra is a gift.

I have understood, ‘kali kaler dharma Harinaam sankirtan’. Harinama is the dharma for this age. We are letting Lord know our part & we are thanking Him also. We are grateful. My dear Lord, I have this mahamantra.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Ram Hare Ram
Ram Ram Hare Hare

Chanting. I am thinking & saying to the Lord that I have understood the glories of holy name. Siksastakam has seven different glories, of the holy name or mahatmaya of holy name or seven different kinds of benefits we derive from chanting. I am realizing more & more benefits of this chanting. I am confident that I will be victorious as You have said –

Param vijayate Sri Krishna sankirtanam.

Supreme victory to the chanters of the holy name & supreme victory to the entire sankirtan movement. All the members of the sankirtan movement should be supremely glorious & victorious. This is what He has said. By your grace & arrangements I am realizing glories of the holy name, benefits of the holy name, importance of the holy name more & more. You have invested, like that there is whole progression in Siksastakam. There is elevation or evolution as one goes from one Siksastakam verse to next to next & next.

Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He had been also contemplating, relishing His own compilation of Siksastakam in Jagannath Puri. Whole night He would spend in the meaning of Siksastakam. Sometimes He would spent one night on one verse of Siksastakam, get absorbed & get ecstatic & excited by chanting ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna’ & by thinking of various Siksastakam verses that He would spent, as Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has described in Chaitanya Charitamrita. The very last chapter of Chaitanya Charitamrita, in antya-lila in chapter twentieth it is described the Siksastakam , Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s siksha or instructions. Eight instructions. They must be & they are the essence of Chaitanya Charitamrita. That is why Siksastakam has been placed at the very end or as a conclusion of Chaitanya Charitamrita in antya-lila chapter twentieth of Siksastakam. Dear lord, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu how You have been relishing Your own Siksastakam. We could also do the same, that mood, the meaning, the purport of the Siksastakam we also relish as we chant ‘Hare Krishna’.

So, this is a food for thought for today for each one of us. It is also a hint, or suggestion or recommendation while chanting of ‘Hare Krishna’ mahamantra, we should be thinking like this. Or think like like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, this Siksastakam is like a thought process. Thoughts & they are all fully Krishna conscious thoughts at different levels. The evolution that we are talking.

Mahaprabhu would spend whole night at Gambhira. It is called Gambhira, it’s a tiny place. Anant koti Brahmand Nayak was residing in a tiny room or space. He was also sharing that place with Swaroop Damodar & Ramanand Raya. Swaroop Damodar is Lalita & Ramanand Raya is Vishakha. Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in association or proximity with Lalita & Vishakha. They are talking, discussing contemplating on Siksastakam. Meaning of the Siksastakam, purport of the Siksastakam. We know that Siksastakam is one topic which Lord used to think about, contemplate about. They also used to recite Srimad Bhagavatam, Govind Lilamrita, Jaydev Goswami’s ‘Geet-Govind’ & Bilvamangal Thakur’s ‘Krishna-Karnamrut’, Chandidas Thakur’s Bengali verses like this all different compilations & verses same quality, same evolution of Krishna conscious thoughts or the name the form, the abode of the Lord.

This is what the Lord would be thinking about I have to conclude as there will be Deity greeting & I have to give Bhagavatam class so for that reason I have to wind it up. So, think of Me, remember Me as Lord says. Chant ‘Hare Krishna’, then we are reminded of the Lord. So, what do we think, what we should remember? So, this is what Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to think & remember all this topics from Siksastakam, Srimad Bhagvatam, Krishna Karnamrit & Geet-Govind & like that the scriptures which are full of glories of name, fame, past times. While chanting of ‘Hare Krishna’ we should think the way Lord used to think. Simply chanting & highly thinking, thinking like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

So, stay high forever.

Hare Krishna!

26th July 2019

I will only HEAR as I CHANT

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna!

I wish you all well with your endeavor to chant with attention during this japa conference. So, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna’ so, when you begin chanting, you have to ”Now, I am only going to chant’ thought like that. I was also thinking ‘I will only hear chanting, as I am now sitting and chanting during this session’. I want to only hear ” Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna” chanting, nothing else. And, then I also want to only think of Sri Krishna. Of course, you have to think of Sri Krishna’s devotees and like that.

So, I had this thought at the beginning of chanting session this morning. I thought this is a good thought or this could be the thought every time as we begin chanting. ‘Now I am only going to hear ”Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna” and as I hear, I chant and hear, and I am going to only think in relationship with what am I hearing’. What am I hearing? I am hearing ” Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.”

What does that mean, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna? So, there are meanings of ‘Hare’ and meaning of ‘Krishna’. So, these names are meaningful. So, we should begin our session of chanting like that; with a thought like that. Some kind of determination like that. So Gauranga, so we have to endeavor with great determination throughout our chanting session, our chanting time period, to make sure we are thinking. We are hearing Krishna and then we are thinking about Krishna and we have to make sure we are doing this as we say ‘Savadhani purvak japa, dhyana purvak japa’ chanting full of concentration, meditation.

Some of you are sleeping also, I was noticing. So that wasn’t with attention. You are looking like you are ‘concentrating’, or ‘meditating’, ‘focused’, but you are full of darkness, ignorance that you are focusing on. And you are not even aware that you are not hearing; of course, you are also not chanting as you are sleeping and you are not making endeavor also, to wake you up. Or you are making some endeavor from time to time after every one minute. Probably you are realizing that you are sleeping, sitting and sleeping, and chanting, and making some endeavor. But that endeavor has to be at every moment, every second, or fraction of a second. “Am I up? Am I awake? Am I hearing?”

So, if we are sleeping from time to time or dozing off, that means we are not chanting, we are not hearing. But again, even if we are not sleeping, we are chanting. But then again, we may still not be hearing. We are doing “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna” and the chanting is going on and we may not be aware that I am sitting and chanting Hare Krishna. Some chanting is going on automatically as a routine, but we may not be hearing what we are chanting, so that is also another kind of sleeping. Our mind is asleep or our mind is busy thinking something, our mind is going elsewhere. Again, we are not listening, not hearing ‘Hare Krishna’. So, in this case, we are chanting but we are not attentive, our mind is not attentive. Our mind is busy elsewhere thinking of whatever.

So, there are two levels of not hearing, one is; you are sleeping, so you are not chanting and then are not hearing. That is one. The other one is, you are not sleeping, you are awake. You are chanting, but your mind is preoccupied with something else. Some other thoughts and then you are not hearing your chanting. Chanting is going on, but you are not hearing Krishna, you are hearing something else, or you are hearing maya; or thinking or contemplating on some objects of senses, or a million things mind could think of other than Krishna. So many topics.

Sahastrashaha. Take note of this. Two kinds of inattentiveness; while really sleeping and the other one is not sleeping but still not hearing; not being attentive because your mind is elsewhere. So,

jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole
kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole

You have heard this Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s song. Of course, that’s why he wrote this meaningful, thoughtful song. Also, what is Bhaktivinoda Thakur talking here in this song? He is saying,

jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo

Wake up sleeping soul, Wake up sleeping soul.

Gauracānda bole

Gauranga is calling, “Oh soul, wake up”.

So, here Gaurachandra is calling the soul, atma. So, there are two kinds of wake-up call. So first we have to wake our body up. ‘Wake up body, wake up body, oh body wake up’. There is an alarm clock that rings, or someone knocks at the door, “Prabhu, time to get up. Time for japa session. Please get up, please get up”. So, there’s one waking up of the body. That’s nice. But then again, we sit down for chanting, and again we sleep. So, again we have to wake our body up. ‘Wake up body, wake up body’. Okay, so now we are woken up, we are not in bed. We are in sitting posture with japa mala in hand and we have to make sure we are not sleeping again. So that waking up we have to do and so waking up body, waking up mind also.

We have to wake up our mind. Mind maybe sleeping or mind may be just ignoring the call of Gauranga. Our mind may be just ignoring, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna’ is going on, but as they say in English, it is falling on the deaf ear. Deaf person, whatever you say he just doesn’t listen, doesn’t understand, because cannot understand, cannot hear, cannot listen. He is deaf. Our mind could also be deaf like that. Mouth is saying “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna.” But that “Hare Krishna” utterance is falling on the deaf ears of mind. Mind is not hearing. Mind is sleeping or mind is busy or preoccupied. So, we have to wake up the mind also. Make mind aware, “This is the time, chanting is happening, this is chanting session, I am saying ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna’, so you take note of this, oh mind, and think of Krishna, oh mind.” So, this waking up is at least at these two levels. Waking up the body, we have to make sure, body is awake. While we are sitting and chanting, we are not sleeping. And again, our mind is not sleeping, mind is not ignoring chanting, on the contrary, mind is absorbing, mind is absorbed in hearing and chanting. Mind is taking note and it is getting registered, this chanting, in the mind, or on the mind. And if that happens and we are thinking it will happen.

Thinking, Feeling, Willing; these are the functions of the mind. If the mind has heard Hare Krishna, then mind will begin thinking and there will be some feelings and there will be willing. ”Krishna willing”, ”Krishna’s will”, will be executed or you will think of Krishna.

Hare Krishna, Gauranga!

Anyway, we are repeating. Repetition is also sometimes necessary. We have to watch our mind. And who will watch the mind? The intelligence will watch the mind. Intelligence has to keep an eye on the mind. Is my mind hearing now or mind is not hearing? Or mind is gone elsewhere, gone here, gone there. Intelligence has to instruct the mind, drag the mind back and focus again or get mind busy again with hearing. Mouth is chanting, but you may not be hearing. Chanting is happening, but hearing is not happening, because your mind is not into hearing.

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ, and then viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ (SB 7.5.23)

Remembrance is outcome or consequence of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. So, while chanting, maybe our mouthis busy chanting. Maybe it is a routine thing, maybe it is going on. Kirtan is going but shravan is not happening because mind is not hearing, mind is elsewhere. So, intelligence, we will have to sharp intelligence. Divine intelligence, God has given intelligence we need, so that we could analyze the situation and take note that mind is not into listening. Mind is here, mind is in the shopping mall, mind is in the kitchen, mind is here, mind is there, mind is not hearing, and intelligence will have to take note of this and again drag the mind and engage mind in hearing.

Chanting was happening, but hearing was not happening, because, mind was not hearing. Mechanically chanting, the lips were uttering. Mechanically chanting because we are not aware, conscious and then we are not thinking that utterance is happening. But then utterance was going on, kirtan was going on, but we are not hearing because mind was not there.

So, intelligence is another faculty, another part of our being, another God given element. Mind is also one element and mind is controlled, governed, trained, tamed by intelligence factor. So, this is a job of intelligence to make sure chanting is happening, hearing is happening, and mind is also doing the thinking of Krishna. Intelligence has a big role, dominant role to play during the chanting session and throughout our life, day and night; the intelligence has a role play. Especially we have to use our intelligence to keep an eye on the mind that mind is not ignoring chanting but hearing, chanting and remembering Lord. Hari Hari.

So, this is sadhana bhakti, every morning, every day. We chant our prescribed number of rounds on japa chanting. But this has to be done scientifically. The outcome of scientific or proper chanting is remembrance of the Lord or meditative chanting. So, this has to be practiced. Not that we are just sitting around. So, we are not sleeping part of the time, waking up occasionally from time to time or even if we are up, we are chanting but not hearing because you have no intelligence, you are not praying for intelligence, you have not sharpened your tool. Intelligence is also an element, a tool. We have to sharpen our tool. So, we have to have sharp intelligence and of course that sharpening can happen all day, all night. We sharpen our intelligence, develop, cultivate our intelligence, become intelligent, beg for intelligence from the Lord. Hari Hari!

Nourish your intelligence, become intelligent and then use, employ, engage that sharp and divine intelligence during chanting session and during all activities, all other kinds of devotional services also that are to be performed under the supervision of the intelligence. So be intelligent.

jei krishna bhaje
sei bada chatur

One who is serving Krishna, is very chatur, is very smart, very intelligent and you have to be that kind of intelligent person so that you could also chant with attention, with concentration, with devotion, with meditation.

So, we pray, Lord give all of us that kind of intelligence. So, keep chanting with more and more concentration, attention and of course avoiding offences. If you are not intelligent, you will not avoid offences. Less intelligent people always commit offences. So, you also have to be very intelligent person to avoid offences; so that we could chant offencelessly.

Few minutes ago, we had upto 650 participants. I am happy with the bigger number of participants. At least towards the end we had bigger number of participants. It’s nice.

So, we will stop here and will continue talking and chanting in future.

See you tomorrow.

Hare Krishna!

25th July 2019

Give Krsna to others and make your life perfect

We have been chanting for 6 months together, so I hope you must have developed the habit, practice of chanting in the early morning hours.

Next week I will be travelling overseas for 45 days. So I am concerned how we can continue chanting. You can form groups, each country devotees or each city group counselee groups or bhakti vriksha member group. If you are temple president you can chant with temple devotees. Some kind of group formation. Someone can take leadership and lead the group. As we had been continuing, I would not be there, someone else would take that position. And you all can chant together. This was one suggestion, if you have some other suggestion you can share.

So, when Lord was getting ready to leave this planet Uddhava came to know, he said ‘No no you have to take me also, I can’t stay behind.’ But Lord wanted Uddhava to stay behind. Lord said, ‘I will stay behind, I will go and I will not go. How did Lord manage that? I will stay in form of My pastimes, My vigraha, My name, My abode at Dwarka and Vrindavan.

Dwarkadhish made this proposal to Uddhava then Uddhava said ‘Ok I will stay behind and I will take advantage of your presence in form of Your name, in form of Your pastime, in form of Your abode, in form of Your qualities.

Then Uddhava agreed to stay behind only when Lord stayed behind in some form. The other day also we had heard Brahma talking in association of all the demigods, on the behalf of all the demigods. He also thanked Lord for His appearance and performing pastimes of killing the demons, pastimes of protecting devotees and pastime of ‘dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya ‘(BG 4.8). Brahma also said, ‘Lord You may leave now’ because this world has received You in form of Your names, form, quality and abode. Even if You go this world has taken note or Srila Vyasadev will be noting the description of Your form, Your pastime. So, world will be benefiting by presence of Your pastimes, Your name, Your form or Your abode.

So, form presentation of Brahma or Uddhava we can say Lord is assessable, Lord is omnipotent. He is present everywhere. Wherever we are, we can feel His presence. We could access the Lord through His holy name and like Lord is so kind He is so far and He is so near. So, the Lord wanted Uddhava to stay in this world. Just before His departure Lord gave His personal association to Uddhava and recited Uddhava Gita, as Lord wanted Uddhava to continue to represent His presence in this world. Lord wanted Uddhava to go to Badrikashram. Why Badrikashram? Because many saints come there and reside there. So, Lord wanted Uddhava to talk to them, preach to them on behalf of the Lord. So preach and propagate.

Generation after generation people will be reminded of the Lord. Lord further empowered Uddhava and kept him in the world so that he would do, ‘bodhayantaḥ parasparam’ (BG 10.9) with the people, sadhakas, practitioners, pilgrims, the seekers of truth will be benefited by the presence and teachings of Uddhava. So, Lord had given extra association to Uddhava.

anugrahaya bhavayani bhutani.

Bhagavatam says great devotees, mahabhagavats, representatives of the Lord they wander everywhere and travel everywhere for those who are suffering, they are benefited by the travelers and preachers like Uddhava.

I was also benefited. As I arrived here in Juhu Hare Krsna today morning, I was reminded of me coming in contact with Srila Prabhupada. Many memories were arising and reminding my encounter with Srila Prabhupada. I was feeling very emotional and expressing my gratitude to Srila Prabhupada for talking to me on Lord’s behalf. As Lord talked to Uddhava, in my case Prabhupada talked to me, brought me to senses, opened my eyes. For all that Prabhupada did for me, I was thanking Srila Prabhupada for giving me instructions to serve Radha Rasabihari.

Also, I am reminded of Kurma brahman, he was a grihasta and Caitanya Mahaprabhu had become his guest. He took such a nice care extending all hospitality towards Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu also extended & gave him all anga–sanga association. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu was ready to go to next nagar next gram, brahman said, “No Lord I want to come with you.” As Uddhava wanted to go. I want to come, take me along.

āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa
yāre dekha tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘no stay back’. You stay in this country or town village or community and you become guru as Lord Krsna wanted Uddhava to play role of a guru. Lord also wanted Kurma brahman to play role of guru. This was very famous prime instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. This instruction was given to a brahman. But we understand Lord was giving such instructions to each and every host where Caitanya Mahaprabhu was being hosted. Lord did not allow that person to sentimentally get attached and come along. No, you stay behind and propagate or tell everyone about Krsna. Lords name, His pastimes, His abode, His glory has to spread. So, this is instructions to all of us. Lord instructed that to Uddhava, also to Kurma brahman and He was instructing like wise to so many residents or house holders and all the acarya’s coming in the parampara.

evam parampara praptam (BG 4.2)

This instruction is for all of you. Uddhava played that role, acarya’s played that role, Kurma brahman played that role. There is long list to pure devotees, mahabhagavats, they are also expected to play the role of propagating about the Lord to the people around them in their circle. Those who do this Lord is very pleased with them. I am just reminding what is Lord’s instruction for all of us, which Prabhupada also reminded us to propagate the holy name. and practice.

bharat bhumite manusya haila janma yara
janma sarthaka kare karo parupakara (Cc. Ādi 9.41)

Those born in Bharta varsha make their life perfect. Prabhupada used to remind us this statement about Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Prabhupada used to quote this verse again and again so many times. Kare karo paropakar, and what is parupakara? Propagating about Krsna, giving them Krsna in differnt forms, giving them prasadam, give them Srila Prabhupada’s books. Invite them for festival, get them involved in Krsna conscious movement. Give them Krsna in this form or that form and as we do that that’s called parupakara. You also become guru give Krsna to your friend your neighbors and make your life perfect.

Hare Krsna

23rd July 2019

Became your own guru

Blessings to all of you and well wishes to all those who are chanting. By end of this month, we had target of 700 devotees. And we did achieve that target during Pandharpur festival. We had many more, more than 700 chanters with us. Some were chanting on zoom and many were chanting physically with us, so we take that as our count and we have achieved our target. We declare that and we are happy. We achieved that target collectively. We did it, not I did it, so we did it thank you.

You have been told about glories of the holy name and you are asked to chant prescribed number of rounds daily following on the footsteps of six Goswamis of Vrindavan.

sańkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ [Sri Sri Sad-Gosvami-Astakam 6th verse]

They are also chanting their prescribed rounds. They had big prescription for themselves.

Namacarya Haridasa Thakura, he had also set up a big target of 300,000 holy names every day. So, citing those examples I am inspiring you.

Prabhupada also said, you are chanting your prescribed number of rounds daily, you have taken vow. But then you have to remind yourself of the vow that we have taken. In order to do that you have to be your own instructor or you have to be your own Guru. We will be talking more about these citing examples from Bhagavatam.

We had been talking of 11th canto few days back. I am also reminded of one statement of Lord Sri Krsna to Uddhava from 11th canto. Where He is strongly recommending, recommendation or advice to Uddhava is,

ātmano gurur ātmaiva
puruṣasya viśeṣataḥ [SB 11.7.20]

Wherein Lord is talking, atmano gurur atmaiva. Atma’s guru is atma. It’s like a code language. Atma’s guru is atma. Or eventually in practical sense on day to day basis, atma has to become his own spiritual master. Not that he ceases to be disciple, he continues to be a disciple and simultaneously he acts like his own guru, spiritual master. So, he plays two roles simultaneously. He continues to be disciple of his guru and also becomes his own guru, understand.

Guru also is that person who knows hita-ahita, what is beneficial, what is good for me and what is bad for me. One who knows this is spiritual master. So, becoming your own guru means you will have to think also, what is good for me and what is not good for me. Use the power of discrimination and chose to do the right things and follow those rights things.

Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to become independently thoughtful. Not always becoming over dependent on others spiritual master, siksha guru there are various kinds of gurus they keep guiding us, they are our friends. But ultimately the ground reality is we become mature, we grow up, we become responsible. We become independently thoughtful and remind ourselves do this, don’t do this. Like you are becoming your own spiritual master.

So, like here in Bhagavatam part of the verse which talks about ātmano gurur ātmaiva, atma is guru of atma. You are your own guru; you should be playing that role. Similar thing Lord has also said in Bhagavad-Gita. Just for your information, this portion in Bhagavatam which we just read is Uddhava Gita. Lord Krsna gave instructions to Uddhava, that is Uddhava-Gita. There is Bhagavad Gita, where Lord Krsna gave instructions to Arjuna. In there also in 6th chapter Lord instructed or advised to Arjuna,

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam avasādayet
ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ[BG 6.5]

uddhared means to lift yourself up or liberate yourself up. Who will lift you up? You have to become your own lifter. You have lift yourself up, you have to make yourself free from bindings.

nātmānam avasādayet

Make sure you yourself do not become the cause of your fall down or bondage or destruction. In the 6th chapter Lord is advising, that you have to take responsibility take charge of your own life.

uddhared ātmanātmānaṁ nātmānam, you have to lift yourself.

So, second part of the shloka is, ātmaiva hyātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ.

Lord makes the statement, atma is friend of atma. Make sure atma does not become enemy of atma. Make your atma or yourself your friend and do not make yourself your enemy.

What Lord wants to say here? Atma is friend of atma. Here He is referring to mind. Make the mind your friend. Let your mind be your soul’s friend, make sure your mind doesn’t act like your enemy. Of course, the intelligence is also part of yourself, part of your subtle body- mind, intelligence and false ego is subtle body. Here the intelligence could act like a friend. Mind will act as friend if mind listens to intelligence and you have to be intelligent. By intelligence one has power of discrimination. This is good for me and this is not good for you, who tells you? Your intelligence tells you; discrimination is possible with the help of intelligence. Intelligence is also part of yourself, or that is also your atma. Atma intelligence has to tell mind atma- do this and don’t do this.

So, if you are independently thoughtful, intelligent or you have sharp intelligence then the mind will give direction or we could also say mind will become disciple of intelligence. Intelligence becomes guru and instructs the mind, “Do this and don’t do this.” So, like this we become our own guru. Intelligence becomes our guru or mind becomes our guru, subtle part of our self. That way we stay Krsna conscious, that way we keep chanting with attention and we lift ourselves up.

Of course, ultimately Krsna remains our guru, krishnam vande jagatgurum. We are talking about our intelligence becoming our mind’s guru. Our mind becomes our guru, our friend. But then we have to get that intelligence to guide us to become our guru. Where that matured intelligence or thoughtfulness comes from? That comes from our own guru and ultimately from Krsna.

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te [BG 10.10]

Those who endeavor to serve Me, remember Me all the time. They also want to serve Me without motivation all the time. Those who are busy like this, wanting to serve all the time without motivation. To such people I give intelligence so that person can come to Me. You could see the source of intelligence is Lord and guru is between you and Krsna and he is providing us intelligence and guiding us and feeding us and respecting us on behalf of the Lord.

Everyone does remain our guru. Krsna remains our guru our initiating spiritual master remains our guru. Other spiritual masters are our guru. But in the midst of all of them at the ground level that is what Krsna is talking to Uddhava. You have to become your own guru also. So, you have listen to your mind, intelligence and that way listen to Lord in the heart and listen to your guru or remind yourself about the guru’s instruction.

And play role of ātmano gurur ātmaiva, atma is guru of atma. Krsna is that guru, your spiritual master is that guru, you also have to become you own guru. And if you do not endeavor or become you own guru, then you may get disconnected. You may be short-circuited. Krsna is where He is and your guru is where he is but you are doing your own thing.

Your mind is your enemy. You are listening to your mind then you are into, “oh, I think, oh according to me” this is gambling, mental speculation. You are not following one of the regulative principles. Your false ego is in action. That means you have not remained your own guru. You are not reminding yourself. You are not instructing your own self.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur he advices, you should keep your mind in control and you should remember the instructions of the spiritual master and ultimately of Lord. Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, says to control the mind, to tame the mind you should beat the mind with broom. You may have to do that repeatedly. In the morning take the shoe and beat the mind till it becomes obedient and willing to listen to you.

Here, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says use the broom, use the shoe, this should be taken as use your brain, use your intelligence. Let intelligence beat your mind. It’s not just physically or literally lifting the broom or taking the shoe and beating your mind. Here intelligence is acting your own guru if you are listening to intelligence, which you have received from your guru and Gauranga. Intelligence keeps guiding your mind and in that sense, you are acting as your own spiritual master while keeping intact your relation with your spiritual master. You don’t have to abandon your spiritual master, oh now I am my own spiritual master. I don’t care, I don’t need. That is not the case that Lord is talking to Uddhava. You have to become your own guru means you have to remind yourself about your guru’s instruction.

This is thought for the day you could read that verse from a Bhagavatam, Krsna’s instruction to you is become your own guru, grow up, take charge of your life, become responsible. Keep guiding yourself. All your actions should be intelligently taken as per the instruction given by your guru and Gauranga in most responsible manner. You are disciple and you are guru at the same time. You could further discuss this point in temple istagosthi, in bhakti vriksha get-togethers. You could think discuss and share your realizations about this point, how to become your own guru. It’s very beneficial if you take up this role of your own guru.

Hare Krishna

22nd July 2019

World is filled with cheaters be careful and cautious

You all are blessed as you all are chanting the holy name of the Lord during early morning hours that’s a blessing. Blessings of the holy name is equal to the blessing of the Lord. The holy name is the Lord and you are being blessed. You are becoming enriched, you are becoming wealthy in the early morning hours that’s a blessing right. Others start making money at 10 o’clock but you Hare Krsnas, you start becoming wealthy increase your wealth, do the fixed deposit in the morning hours. You become enriched as you chant Hare Krsna. Those riches make you happy, chant Hare Krsna and be happy.

You are very wise people, intelligent people you are chanting and being blessed. If you would not be chanting Hare Krsna in morning hours or worship Krsna, remember Krsna,

man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru [BG 18.65]

Lord has asked us to do these four things. This is towards the end of Bhagavad Gita. Lord is concluding His talk, winding His dialogue with Arjuna and as conclusion He is saying you do these four things Arjuna. Of course it is not only Arjuna who is expected to do but Krsna wanted all of us to do those four things. We are the target of Lord’s direction, Lord’s speech.

Bhagavad gita is spoken for us, for me and you. Arjuna is the middle man, Lord created some kind of excuse or some kind of scene and made Arjuna target but Lord was thinking of all of us as He was talking to Arjuna.
So those four things which Lord mentioned are meant for us. man mana -remember Me, Lord says remember Me, did you take note of that. Lord wants me and you to remember Him. mad bhakta -you become His devotee. Mad-yaji -you worship Me and mam namaskuru- offer Me obeisances. These are the four things Lord wants us all to do. And if you did these 4 things then,

mam evaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyo ‘si me

You will return to Me Lord says you will come back home and by coming back home, you will feel at home and you will be eternally happy. So to come back home, Lord had told us to do those four things. To do these things is serving the Lord and it is also serving ourselves to do good for ourselves. But if we do not talk about these things with others or remind others that they are expected to do these four things-Remember Him, become His devotee, worship Him and offer obeisances to Him and ultimately go back to Him. If we do not talk to others or remind others about these subject matters, remind ourselves to begin with, remind others also. Then we are doing the right thing, fulfilling obligation towards ourselves and towards others also.

If we are not doing these 4 things then we are cheating ourselves and we are cheating others. Yesterday Sunday festival which I attended in Nagpur, during my talk I reminded everybody what Prabhupada said, “This world is full of cheaters and being cheated.” Prabhupada said this again and again and I was just repeating that statement. We are getting cheated by others or we are cheating others. The whole world they are busy, top to bottom, the locals and the westerns, you name it and every single person is in illusion and ignorance not Krsna consciousness. They do not listen to Lord and they do not remind others what Lord has to say. All those are cheating and are getting cheated. Cheating and cheated. Probably you are also cheating someone and getting cheated. Tit for tat is going on in this world. It’s time to wake up, its wakeup call. Help others don’t cheat others.
yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa (CC Madhya 7.128)

Then you are helping others including your family members and children. Or possibly you are cheating them. People are in illusion, in maya, people are in ignorance and we just solidify each other’s ignorance, cultivate that maya in others or appreciate that maya in others. Take maya, give maya in this form that form, so this is cheating.
karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kada chana [BG 2.47]

We do say, “Oh! We are doing our duty.” Lord says, we should do our duty. But do we know what our duty is? Do we know our duty towards our children? We are cheating our school going children by keeping them in ignorance. Oh, I am fulfilling my obligation, I am sending my children to school and high school, college, graduation and post-graduation. You are cheating your children; you are spoiling your near dear children. You are not taking care of them. You do not know what your duty is. You are not giving them Krsna. You are giving them maya and you are cheating them that way.
May be you are devotee and you are giving Krsna to your children and you are giving them krsna prasad. You are getting them to chant Hare Krsna. You are bringing them to ISKCON temple and they are joining Prahalad school. They are joining youth preaching programs or retreats. May be i am not talking to you but I am talking to the rest of the world. As Krsna was talking to Arjuna but His target was rest of the world. I don’t want to hurt you or offend you. If you are doing this for your children, for your neighbors for your friends.

yāre dekha, tāre kaha kṛṣṇa-upadeśa

Everyone you meet tell them remind them of Krsna. Tell them Krsna exists, God exists tell them somehow ‘yena kena prakarena’. Tell them about Krsna, give them Krsna prasad, invite them to temple or bring them to Pandharpur, Vrndavana, Mayapur. Do something that they think about Krsna. We don’t just have obligation towards our children but we have obligation towards our neighbors, towards our friends, our country man everyone in this world we have obligation. And we have to fulfill that obligation. But people don’t know what is their duty, what is their obligation. So they just end up giving maya to the world. And that way you cheat them and you keep them in ignorance.

I am just throwing some thoughts giving you food for thought. You could think over it. This worId is full of cheaters and cheated. But we should make sure that we are not cheated by others or cheat others. The kind of atmosphere that exists in kaliyuga. Lord said to Arjuna, yogi bhava. Arjuna you become yogi. So this is helping others if we say ‘yogi bhava’. This is cultivating Krsna consciousness in others, serving others. But world say ‘bhogi bhava.’

Lord says, yogi bhava and this world is talking, advertising, promoting bhogi bhava business. This is the mantra they may not say in such words but they are translating this bhogi bhava idea. They are inspiring others to enjoy. So that is cheating, person enjoys little bit.

ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga
duhkha-yonaya eva te
ady-antavantah kaunteya
na tesu ramate budhah
[BG 5.22]

If you understand one thing what Lord said and that you remind others that will be great service to others, our children, our family members, our neighbors and our friends. This is what I am trying to do, trying to always serve others. By preaching, by talking, by reminding the truth or what Lord had to say in Bhagavad gita or Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message of Harinama.

So I am just trying to serve you by telling you all those on zoom conference as many person or souls as I can by sharing the truth or reminding the truth.

Develop smart city and you will be happy this is propaganda of the government. You could just think how you could be happy by developing smart city. This is cheating. These fools, Krsna calls them fools as they do not surrender to Krsna they do not realize. You have smart city then you have lot of opportunities for sense gratification. Then Lord is reminding the truth, sharing the truth,

ye hi samsparsa-ja bhoga duhkha-yonaya eva te ( BG 5.22)

As your senses come in contact with sense object there is little enjoyment in the beginning then Lord says, ‘duhkha-yonaya eva te’ that will lead to sufferings. You enjoy and then you suffer its complete package. These worldly people the government they just speak half-truth then take note of what Lord has to say. Something that gave you joy that will give you suffering. You do not get only joy in this world you get suffering. You have to pay for the joy you get. Suffering comes free. You buy two items and you get one item free. Like that you pay for joy and sufferings come free. Sukha and dukha they can’t be separated. You try to enjoy in this material world then you end up suffering.

So we should listen to Lord and give up this bhogi mentality and in fact we should be cultivating yogi mentality and serving the Lord . I just opened up a topic you could think about it. This world is full of cheaters and cheated just be careful cautious. And stay away from cheaters, don’t listen to the cheaters, don’t fall prey to propaganda of politicians, leaders. They are misleading the country, society. Let us not becomes part of that emperor and that propaganda.

In midst of this worldly illusion of society. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu has inspired Srila Prabhupada to create this International Society For Krsna Consciousness, not maya consciousness. So ISKCON is trying to bring Golok on the earth, Vaikuntha on the earth. We are trying to create a different society, society that speaks and practices the truth. Society that reminds each other of truth,
bodhyanta parasparam (BG 10.9)

And we get more and more worldly people to join International Society for Krsna Consciousness and International Society for Krsna consciousness is doing the topmost welfare work, and serving humanity at large. Its Lord’s society it is free from cheaters and cheated mentality. Here we have priti lakshanam Helping each other and serving each other, understanding each other that we are souls and then serving the soul. I will stop here.

hare Krsna

21st July 2019

Chanting, hearing, remembering has to be simultaneously

Today is Sunday, we have less devotees chanting today.

I’m not supposed to be chanting today or I am supposed to be taking rest or giving rest to chanting, it’s not the right thing to do. But who will tell them they’re not there on the conference to listen to me? You could tell them, you could find out who is missing, who doesn’t chant on Sundays. May be they are your neighbours, your friends, your colleagues, your god-brothers, god-sisters are not chanting. Some of them are not chanting on Sundays. Of-course many, many of them are not chanting on this conference. Some of them are not chanting on Sundays on this conference. Anyway, if you could do something. ‘bodhayanta parasparam’ that could be appreciated.

Chanting, hearing, remembering all this has to be done simultaneously. Sravanam of course, you have to utter the holy name of the Lord. You have to hear as you utter the holy name and you have to remember the person that you are calling or you will be reminded of that person who you are calling. So, these activities have to happen instantly and simultaneously. Sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam. These three activities happen instantly, simultaneously in one stroke. So that’s our goal. That’s the homework that we are supposed to be doing during the chanting of the holy names of the Lord.

That is not easy task. You should do like this or like that. So, there are all sorts of obstacles and stumbling blocks and of course, the mind is always meddling. It comes in between you and your chanting, you and your Lord, you and your hearing the holy name.

mana eva manusyanam karanam bandha-moksayoh (BG 6.5)

Manais the one. Mind is the one that does become the cause of either your bandha-moksayoh. The bondage is caused by mind and moksa, theliberation is also caused by mind.

So, samah, damah, tapah, saucam. The Lord has given instructions to the whole world and society that they should work on this samah, damah. These are the qualities of the Brahmana, Brahmin. The Lord is describing that he begins the samahand damah. Control, mind-control and sense-control. Making mind peaceful and making senses also peaceful. Samah, damah. So, unless the mind is peaceful and satisfied we cannot proceed with our life of devotion, life of jnana, concentration, focus or meditation. Those become impossible if samah, damahthis mind-control, sense-control is not there.

So, anyway we don’t want to talk this stuff, this subject this morning. So, I am thinking of talking about some other topics. Just, we have been talking about this every now and then. Preparation for the sense-control, the mind-control is not something that you work on only when chanting the holy name of the Lord. But, all day long or all night long, you have to work on the mind. Controlling the mind, purifying the mind, taming the mind. This is on-going process, and this is the process, this is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ, cleansing the mirror of consciousness and the part of the cleansing is cleansing the mind also. cetanah antah karan includes our subtle body, the mind. So, this ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ we have to work on, meaning we’re talking about the mind, work on the mind, purify the mind. So, this is on-going task, we cannot get serious about cleansing the mind or ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ only while chanting the holy name of the Lord.

In other times, we let the mind just go off or do whatever mind likes to do or go here and there. So, we have to watch our mind all the time, keep an eye on our mind, and then like this we can have our intelligence. That is why we also have been saying that the chanting. Well, Bhagavatam said this, the chanting is done by yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyairyajanti hi su-medhasaḥ the intelligent person in fact, well only intelligent person could perform the sankirtan yajnaor japa yajna. So, with the use of intelligence, we control, we endeavour to control the mind and when the mind is under control, the mind is peaceful then that’s a favourable mind’s condition to chant the holy name or listen to the holy name of the Lord, remember Lord as we chant.

I just wanted to talk more about the episode or the scene that we talked about yesterday that Lord is on the planet for 125 years. The demi-gods have arrived in Dwarka to thank Lord and they are also proposing that You need not continue to be here in this world. Lord, You may return to His, Your own abode now.

Let’s visualise the scene here that Lord is seated in Dwarka as Dwarkadhish, so He must be sitting on very huge, opulent asana, throne in Dwarka but the demi-gods and demi-goddesses they’re up there in the sky, all those millions of demi-gods are up in the sky. There are three-hundred thirty million, 33 crores let’s say, three-hundred thirty million demi-gods and goddesses. Considering that they all have assembled, so you can imagine huge big number of them up there in the sky and from there itself, pranamya, they’re offering their obeisances and they have, they’re offering their prayers and praise also from being up there in the sky. That’s a nice scene to remember or think about. Our Lord is seated in Dwarka on a throne and demi-gods are maintaining their position there, they don’t even touch the ground. They could float in the sky, they could make themselves lighter than the lightest, the different siddhis. So, either they’re still seated on their different vehicles, Hamsa(swan) for Brahma, and Shiva on the back of Nandi, like that each one of them have their vahana. Either they are still seated on the vahana or they’re off their vahana and from there, they are dealing with the Lord, seeing the Lord, talking to the Lord, offering their obeisances to the Lord; Dwarkadhish. Sri Krishna ki jai!

And of course, these kinds of scenes this is not the first time ever they see Him like this but demi-gods have been approaching, coming to the Lord again and again. Beginning with the very first appeal that they made to the Lord for Lord’s appearance, they had appeared. That was while Lord was on Svetadvipa that time they approached. Then when Lord was in the womb of Mother Devaki, they had come up there in the vayumandal above Mathura and they had offered Garbha-stuti, they offered their prayers to the Lord while Lord was in the womb of Devaki. That Garbha-stutiis very famous in the beginning of tenth canto of Bhagavatam and like that throughout the tenth canto of Bhagavatam, we feel the presence of Demi-gods especially whenever some demon was killed. For sure Shukadeva Goswami described how demigods were there showering flowers and other kinds of demigods Gandharvasare singing and Apsaras were dancing and they’re beating different drums, like this and that. So, this was very common scene that they would come to watch the pastimes of the Lord when a demon was killed and they’re expressing their jubilation.

Because of these demon’s presence on the earth, the earth was feeling burdened and that’s why they had approached. “Lord please You appear and do something. kill these demons”. And so, when Lord was complying with their request, appeals for the demons for getting killed left and right and every time that happened, demigods appeared on the scene and expressing their joy; “Jai! Jai!” and they were offering praise and flowers and singing and dancing. So, these scenes were quite common throughout Krishna’s pastimes. For this was not the first time ever they had come to Dwaraka to see the Lord. They were always around and coming and witnessing the Lord’s pastimes.

As they are here now in Dwaraka, or they have not landed there, in the sky and they’ve offered their prayers and praise. One of the items, they’re talking of the Lord’s appearance as Vamanadeva. And later on, He took three steps and Lord was a vaman(dwarf). He increased in size and He became taller and taller and taller and He covered the entire universe with the second step. Of course, the first step was on the earth, the second step He covered the entire universe. And when He did so, took the second step, His Lotus Feet touched the covering of the universe, not only touched but struck and the shell of the universe covering got damaged or punctured and the water of the causal Ocean (Karanodak) which emanates from the body of Maha-Visnhu started leaking into the universe and that made the Ganges appearance into this world.

pada-nakha-nira-janita-jana-pavana
kesava dhrita-vamana-rupa jaya jagadisa hare.( Śrī Daśāvatāra)

That water now that had entered the universe was washing the Lotus Feet of Vamana, who was no more Vamana, He was Trivikrama, three steps. So, the Lotus feet they’re being washed and ‘tuzya carani chya ganga’ now, water was flowing, coming down into the universe again as Lord’s Lotus feet had gone up covering the universe. Now the water that has washed the Lotus feet of the Lord was coming down as Ganga.

Hare Krishna