Venue: Mayapur
Dated: 4/2/2010
Haribol!!
(Guru Maharaj asking the Bhakti sastri students) You were here yesterday? And what happened? What did we talk about?
Attitude towards living entities ants and elephants and from knowledge comes humility. “kanthasta and hidayasta” don’t keep just to the throat but bring it to the heart and then do not just accumulate that there but assimilate so that there is the transformation ‘yoga sthah kuru karmani’ (B.G 2.48) someone has taken note of, that was one of the concluding statements we made. ‘yogtha sah kuru karmani’ which was Krishna’s advise to Arjuna but is that just for Arjuna? It’s especially for us. Arjuna is already yogi and Bhakta, ‘bhakta si me’ (B.G 4.3) that we want to become devotees, so He is giving us advise, ‘yoga sthah kuru karmani’. So ‘yoga sthah’ that’s being in yoga, established in yoga, established in knowledge, want to talk in the context of ‘what we are doing here’, studying the sastras and acquiring knowledge and we want to become knowledgeable, equipped with knowledge. We could also say ‘yoga sthah kuru karmani’ or ‘ jnana sampanna’ we become ‘jnana sampanna’ like what ‘vidya vinaya sampanna’ (B.G 5.18). Equipped with vidya, vinaya, knowledge and humility, so ‘jnana sampanna’, equipped with the knowledge then you act.
Don’t just walk into the world ignorant but walk into the world on the scene equipped with the knowledge. That’s why the very first stage or phase of life is called ‘vidya vidyarthi dassa’ vidya arjan is the primary focus and function of brahmacari life, ‘brahmacari gurukule vasandato</strong' and then he does acquires knowledge, acquiring knowledge. So you are brahmacaris? Certainly it’s the age to acquire knowledge. In fact, never stop keep acquiring knowledge all lifelong. We should never be wasting one sann-moment, those who wish to acquire knowledge, do not even waste one sann, one moment is the same, ‘avyarthalalatvam’ that’s another technical term. There is a term called sann and kann, kann-dana, so those who wish to become wealthy, they do not afford they should not be wasting not even one kann, one grain, should be only accumulating one grain, two grains, more grains and on. If you waste, how could you be wealthy? How could you be accumulating wealth if you waste one grain, two grains, more grains. So one kann and one sann, kann sann, they are two different word, kann means grain and sann means moment. Do not even waste one moment of your life, acquire knowledge. Your moments, moment after moment, anuksann, sann, anuksann, moment after moment after moment should be invested in acquiring knowledge, realizing knowledge, becoming wise, wisdom. So once we are equipped with the knowledge, then we could act in knowledge and then that action will be proper action then that’s the Bhakti yoga, ‘jnanavan…what does he do? mam prapadyate’.
We do not surrender unto Krishna because lack of knowledge. More knowledge you have, you will surrender more unto Krishna. When we say knowledge, knowledge of what? ‘vedais ca sarvair, aham eva vedyo’ (B.G 15.15) I am to be known. You acquire more knowledge, you know Krishna more and then as you know Krishna more, you feel like, Oh! Such person, I would love to surrender unto Him! I didn’t know He is such a sweet, beautiful, this that kind of person.
So, more we know and from ignoring Krishna comes ignorance; Oh! He is ignorant, ignorant of what? Krishna. Oh! He ignores me, you know, he ignores me, ignores me, I was right there but he just ignored me. You hear sometimes people complaint, he ignores me; he doesn’t acknowledge my presence or doesn’t shake hands, he didn’t even say Hare Krishna to me! (Laughter) just ignores me. From ignoring Krishna one who ignores remains ignorant. So more we hear, more we study, more we discuss Krishna, ‘bodhayantah paras param’ then ‘mat citta mad gata prana’ (B.G 10.9) then that person’s consciousness is stuck to Krishna’s lotus feet. And he is ready to give ‘radha krsna prana mora jugal kishore’ immediately, oh! My life unto such Lord, ‘jivana marane gati arna hi mor’ during my this lifetime or marane or even if after I die, after that, where do I go? ‘gati’, my destination is Radha Krsna.
So, this is the result of knowing Krishna. We don’t care for Krsna and don’t want to surrender unto Him because we don’t know Him. So more we know Him, more we’ll surrender unto Him and ‘sa mahatma sudurlabhah’ such mahatma is rare and then that mahatma will deal with the world appropriately. Actions will be full of knowledge, equipped with knowledge and ‘na mam karmani limpanti na me karma phale sprha’ (B.G 4.14) as is the case with Krishna, I am not attached ‘na karma phale sprha’ no motivation in performing my activities and ‘na mam karmani limphanti’ the activities do not bind me,that’s the case with Krsna. Like father like son; He is father and we are His sons, so the way He acts, we’ll act accordingly. All spiritual activities, no more entanglement, we know all the dealings, we know how to deal with the world, energies, living entities, this kind of devotees, that category of devotees or fallen devotees or faithful devotee, we cannot say demoniac devotee (Laughter) demoniac devotee! kanishta adikari is a combination, two in one (laughter). He plays double role (Laughter) behind the curtain he is someone else and on the stage he does good acting. So that demon is also hidden in us, that’s anarthas, cleansing with the knowledge, ‘ceto darpana marjanam’ and then only devotee, got rid of demon. You read the ‘Krishna killing demons’ and the benefit is that demon like qualities, if those qualities are in us, then just by hearing Krishna killing that demon, the demoniac nature in us is also killed. Anyways demoniac devotee is not the term commonly used but in practice we see sometimes demoniac devotee. It’s not a laughing matter, is this? Oh! I found enemy, I found enemy, where is it? That’s me! (Laughter). I found my enemy, I found my enemy, where is it? Who is it? That’s me. So, enemy is within us.
‘kama esa krodha esa rajo guna samudbhavah
mahasano maha papma viddhy enam iha vairinam’ (B.G 3.37)
Take note, you have a diary? Take note of this viddhi, you should know, you should note this, ‘enam vairinam’, that is your vairi, that is your enemy, ‘kama esa krodha esa’ so Arjuna said that,’ I am forced ‘balad iva niyojitah’, someone compels me, I know it’s not good no no no, I shouldn’t be doing this but something just drags me into it, pushes me.’ Who is it? What is it? ‘atha kena prayukto yam papam carati parusah’ (B.G 3.36) this was inquired by Arjuna. So even practicing devotee may experience this, this is what Arjuna is talking about. He knows this is not right, no no no no but then one ends up doing that. So what is it? Who is it? That’s a demon Arjuna, that’s a demon. That’s enemy and the name given is ‘ kama esa krodha esa’ there are two of them; there are more of them, bunch of them.
So, basically we are talking of those ideas, attitude, proper attitude towards senior devotees and other vaisnavas outside ISKCON fallen down and again return to practices and then an importance of maintaining proper attitude towards vaisnavas regards the future development of ISKCON. So we had made some comments and there was not much discussion, interaction but not much. If there is anything you wish to do, any discussion? But before we do that I did skip one, we had 5 points to discuss but one of them was in reference to Bhagavad Gita 6.44 purport Srila Prabhupada has quoted up.
‘aho bata sva paco to gariyan yaj jihvagre vartate nama tubhyam’ (S.B 3.33.7)
This is Devahuti’s statement from Bhagavatam and so that’s also a party, means a chanter of Holy name.
‘aho bata sva paco to gariyan yaj jihvagre vartate nama tubhyam
tepus tapas te juhuvuh sasnur arya brahmanucur nama grnanti ye te’
Those who chant the Holy name of the Lord, so they are all the vaisnavas like that and proper attitude towards the chanters of the Holy name. So the commentary by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura Maharaj on this verse is quite amazing. A person is a dog eater and recommendation is- he should be worshipped if he is ‘vartate nama tubyam…..nama grnanti ye te’. If they are chanters of the Holy name of the Lord, then ‘gariyan’ they should be worshipped, be honoured, don’t think anything. They are chanting the Holy names of the Lord, dog eaters are mentioned and that’s kind of lowest thing to do. That means anybody, everybody in this world, dog eaters or rat eaters (Laughter) in China they eat rats, ant eaters. In China they produce breads with different kinds of ants, oh! This bread is red ant bread, this kind of label they have. Not that this has cashews and this has pistachios (Laughter) this bread that bread or banana bread forget it, they have as many kind of ants they could find in China. They accumulate, maybe they must be producing ants and then one bread with one kind of ants or maybe some mixed ant bread and you gobble it up. So even them, if they are chanting, if they take to chanting, then immediately they are ‘gariyan’- they are worshippable.
“yasya svapacha sa jihvagre eva natusampurnayam tasyameti samyam” Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, he says that chanting, ‘jihvagre…’ agre means the tip of the tongue, they may not be even using, ‘sampurna’- the complete tongue, the whole tongue, they are just using the tip of the tongue, even then they have to be worshipped. They may be chanting not properly, that’s one meaning of chanting with the tip of the tongue only- ‘jihvagre’. In order for one to chant properly, proper pronunciation, you need to make something called ‘prayatna’, ‘prayas’, even ucharan, ‘prayatna’, whole endeavor, movement of the lips and the mouth and the tongue and the throat, you need to make extra effort. In Bengal they some pronouncing some syllables, they make it easy, Lucky Narayan, what kind of Narayan? Lucky Narayan (Laughter) Lucky. Instead of saying Lakshmi, to say Lakshmi so much effort, lots of air and movement and the tongue to say Lakshmi! Lucky! (Laughter). In Bengal they do not say Lakshmi, they say Lucky. So many words also, ‘khatriya’ not ‘kshatriya’, ‘khatriya’. So there are some short forms where you do not use your whole tongue, you end up using part of the tongue, some of the movements, tip of the tongue only and our devotees from the West also do different things (laughter).
So ‘jihvagre’, this verse says this person he is a dog eater and he is chanting with ‘jihvagre’ meaning tip of the tongue, meant he is not even chanting properly, doesn’t matter, even then he is worshipable. You are chanting the Holy name even improperly; incorrectly you get the credit and is worshippable. And ‘nama eka………..artha” then this verse also says ‘jihvagre vartate nama tubyam’ that this person is chanting one name, not all the times. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, ‘the verse doesn’t say ‘namani’, namani means plural, nama is singular, namani is plural; like pushpani, phalani, pushpa is one but pushpani is many pushpa, many flowers. So he may not be even chanting a lot of chanting, some chanting, some name he is chanting even then he is chanting, he is ‘gariyan’, he is worshippable.
‘vartate’ and then he comments upon the word ‘vartate’, activity ‘vartate’ meaning this person is still in the process of chanting, he is in middle of chanting. He has not even completed his chanting, ‘vartate’ not completed the action of chanting, even then this person is ‘gariyan’. He is in the process, present tense presently chanting, he is in the middle of chanting, he has not completed the chanting; chanting or reciting. Chanting the holy name or chanting mantras recitation, ya! he is in the middle of chanting, he has not completed chanting or he has just now started chanting, just now started, he is not seasoned chanter, doesn’t say that here, he is chanting. He is in the process, just now started chanting, not long time ago and even then that person is to be honored, to be worshipped. And it is to be understood that this person has sometimes in the past within this life or previous, one of the previous lives he has performed all the tapasyas, all the yajyas he has performed. Gone around, taking bath in the holy places, he has given all the charities. He has done all these, as the result now he is chanting the Holy name of the Lord. So this chanting of the Holy name of the Lord is the topmost thing to do. So the 8th offence against the holy name is, chanting Hare Krishna to be considered as one of the most auspicious ritualistic activities. So this one is not a furtive activity, some karma kanda section, some pious activity, punya karma; this is pure devotional service. Which is outcome of doing everything else by the person in the past; hence he has now become eligible to chant the Holy name. Even Chinese, if he is chanting the Holy name now, sometimes in the past he has done everything else.
(Question by devotee being asked)
Answer by Guru Maharaj – He is a beginner, he has started chanting, quantity of chanting, one hour, one month or he has not been even gone through shraddha, bhajan kriya, anartha nivriti, nishta and all those phases, he has shraddha and he has now started chanting. Who can repeat the question? Who understood the question?
Devotee in the audience – as Maharaj explained worshippable, someone who chants is worshipped. Is worshippable means admirable or we should offer him pooja even if he has bad habits?
Guru Maharaj continued….O! Well, you can offer him a flower (Laughter) a garland, offer him obeisance’s, you could do his parikrama (Laughter). He is worship able; you could do ‘sodasupachar’ (laughter). He’ll give it up..Like those chanters in 26 second avenue, New York they were coming with their wine bottles, girlfriends, long hair but they were chanting. Then few months later, Prabhupada said, ‘anyone ready to follow four regulative principles?’ and assembled there, they were ready, it’s like perfection achieved. If they stick to the path, they are on the right path now and if they do some more right things, keep doing even they will be achieving perfection. So in advance, they already have become worshippable. Ok, beside this, anything else from yesterday you want to go back to and otherwise we quit and turn to today’s assignment.
Question – Yesterday you were telling that knowledge, we cultivate knowledge and we already become proud or…how can we properly continue knowledge?
Answer – Like we pray for success to the Lord and Lord fulfills your prayer, we should be remembering, my success is because of the Lord. Lord fulfilled my desire, my prayer. So we should be giving all the credit to the Lord and praising Him or giving Him credit. If we do not do it then we are hypocrites; not grateful or not honest. So again Lord is giving us knowledge and as soon as he has given the knowledge, then, ah! That’s my knowledge, I acquired it; so kind of pride. You have forgotten that you have given. So part of the cultivation is remembering the source of that knowledge or who gave the knowledge and part of the realization is as we become knowledgeable, we realize two things, may be there are some others but want to say two things. God is great, that’s one realization and other realization is, I am just insignificant, infinitesimal…like that, I am just tiny bit, ‘ansa’- just part and parcel. So, God is great, He is isvara, ‘mayadhyaksena’- He is superidentant. He is ‘sarva karana karanam’- cause of all causes….all that full of opulence’s- He is Bhagavan, sarva aisvaryapurna, all the six opulence’s in full but I am just tiny dust.
‘ayi nanda tanuja kinkaram patitam mam visame bhavambudhau
krpaya tava pada pankaja sthita dhuli sadrsam’ (5th verse of Siksastakam)
Please fix me as an atom dust particles at your lotus feet, I don’t even want to be garland around your neck or crown on your head; make me crowned on my head, don’t say this, just make me dust particle and I’ll be more than happy, I mean any connection. So these both things are part of realization, so one is God realization, other one is self realization Lord is Vibhu and I am anu, ‘vibhuatma anuatma’. So this has to be, otherwise again ignorance takes over. This is the knowledge and we have to stay knowledgeable all the time, today, tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow, day after. God exists and I also exist but then He is that size and I am this size. That is knowledge, keep it intact, contemplate and don’t lose the sight of your size and servant, not only servant but servant of the servant of the servant. Tendency here is to become boss but the goal is to become das. Boss, it’s very hard from boss to become das, take the position of das. But that’s the position, constitutional position; eternally we are that, so humility and I am not the only servant.
Krishna is Supreme Personality of Godhead and I am the servant, I am His servant, that’s a big position! Krishna is Supreme Personality of Godhead and I am His servant but we should remember that you are not the only servant. That should make you miserable (laughter) I wish I was the only servant of the Lord, sometimes you are some big person’s servant or spiritual master’s servant and then you don’t like to share that service with another servant. Spiritual master and I am his servant- personal servant. He doesn’t like to share otherwise 50-50 and I am half the servant. If there is another servant also then your position is, kind of lost your position. I am the only servant, so sometimes they become attached and they don’t want to give, share that.
So, if we could be happy, Krishna is Supreme Personality of Godhead and he has many many many many servants and then you are lost! You are just nobody, one of the billions and trillions, countless servants and you are just one! But in fact still is not a small position. You are lucky, lucky you, Lord accepts you also as His servant. So happy to be one amongst many servants or servant of the servant. That’s even higher position, to be servant of the servant, is a superior position. And you want to have even higher then you go servant of the servant of the servant, that’s higher position. Even higher position, then servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. So not only we appreciate Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead but we appreciate other servants of the Lord, other devotees of the Lord. “purusam nrsu” Lord says in the Bhagavad Gita 10th chapter, ability in man “purusam nrsu” . The human beings, if they have the capability, ability, that’s Me, that’s Me! So whenever we see some capability, ability in some other devotee, other servant of the Lord, you should be…Oh! This is Lord, Lord has made him capable. His ability, his capability, responsibility, response ability, how he responds, how responsible, responsibility. When you see someone responsible- see Lord, that’s not Lord but Lord has appeared in form of that ability. Lord wants us to see that “purusam nrusu” I think we stop and proceed….ok.
So, B.G 12.13-19, what do you normally do when you have an assignment like that? Read. So you have read and you have come? Now what do you do? Question and answer, oh! You are not ready to make a presentation? (Laughter) So, it’s all open, anything is possible.
So, first of all it says, identify qualities B.G 12.13-19, which are particularly relevant for preachers of Krishna consciousness. Ok so why don’t we do that? We want to identify. There is board or something? ya, so who is the writer? So verses, you know which verses you have come prepared and now we want to identify. Specially remember preachers for Krishna consciousness, quality relevant to the preachers of Krishna consciousness. So, who want to say? Ok raise your hand. You should be able to explain or give little purport on each of these qualities and how to apply.
“Quality relevant to the preachers of Krishna consciousness- equal in happiness and distress”
Preachers shouldn’t be envious; on the contrary he should be kind.
Tolerant in provocative situation
Free from false ego
Oh! You are looking in the book and reading is that allowed? That’s easy (Laughter)
Pure in practice
Equal in honor, dishonor, he is equal
Expert, could do many things at a time
He is always satisfied
Who is he? We always say- He is always satisfied, he is equal (Laughter), he is not envious, what about us, what about me? (Laughter) You are going to be preacher now. At the end of this Bhakti sastri, you will be entering the field of preaching. This is what is expected of you not that someone is pure, he is pure, he is determined, he is…I am! (Laughter)
Doesn’t care for residence, (any new hand?)
Fixed in knowledge
Silent, you were silent all this time (Laughter) that’s a good point but you have broken your silence (Laughter) I will not preach, I will be silent.
Mind and intelligence fixed on Krishna
Free from mundane association
How many qualities we have? I think we should stop listing the qualities, I am sure there are more, some you have forgotten or if we give you time, I am sure you’ll be able to say more but then we also have some time limitations.
Some discussion on this?
How preaching Krishna consciousness helps to further develop these qualities?
Who could say? Now you have learned this, memorized these verses, these qualities but as now you enter the field of preaching, how does that help you to further cultivate and develop these qualities, this is a little discussion.
Devotee from the audience: When we get into the field of preaching, we get the opportunity to practice all of these and by practicing all of these. We could practice some realization, with realization we have a deeper understanding of these qualities and so we’ll be able to engage more deeply into that and imbibe them more properly with realization.
Guru Maharaj- some trial – error also you’ll make, some mistakes and someone was asking and then next time you improve, someone will point out, ah! No prabhu, you did wrong, you said wrong, so next time you rectify your act. Ok, yes prabhu? The more we preach, the more we learn, that’s very good!
Ya! Also Prabhupada said- you read, you hear, you repeat and you realize. In one purport, Prabhupada makes that order, you hear, you read and then you repeat, you preach, you realize, it helps you. ‘aniketana’. Srila Prabhupada also writes you know those Yamduttas, they were not able to, didn’t represent Yamaraja properly in the field. One time they were challenged, they were defeated you know the history from Ajamila’s episodes. Prabhupada writes there, preachers of Krishna consciousness should enter the field of preaching well equipped, knowledgeable. So that there is no humiliation, no embarrassment, I am not remembering the exact words. Prabhupada says, Ajamila in that pastimes, the Yamduttas, they were not able to represent, their performance was very bad but our preachers should be keeping that in mind that you don’t repeat their performance. So better be prepared and go into the field. Of course, they were defeated that time and they went back to Yamaraja and they received some more lessons and then they again went into the field and they didn’t make more mistakes again.
Our preachers are sent, our preaching go door to door. What happens? Are you welcome at every door? Some places may be there is sign ‘Welcome’ (Laughter) or ‘atithi devo bhava’- the guest are as good as God, open door, open arm policy. But at some other doors, ‘Be aware of dogs’ (Laughter) sign is there, they may be opening door just to get the do out (Laughter),shu..shu…. go go go, we have seen, we experienced this. Chasing the dog or they will call the chaukidar, get rid of this sadhu or as the bell rings, they first check who is (Laughter) you know these little things they do. So you’ll not be welcomed everywhere, some places, yes, other places, other experiences. So what happen? What do you have to learn from this? Tolerance, equal in honor and dishonor, right there you will be tested and tried in the field. Here you have memorized the verse “equal in honor and dishonor” and here comes the experience (Laughter) then what do you do? How you respond?
They speaking like, you are welcomed, you have invitation and you are given microphone and audience and faithful audience but that may not be the situation every time. So, you’ll be learning, you have to learn. You may be making some mistakes that’s fine, that’s expected you will make mistakes ‘ to err is human’ but it said, if you don’t learn from your mistakes you have made, then you remain a fool. But if you learn from your mistake, then you become wise and experienced. So after you have gone through some experience, could do little review yourself or present to others, ‘this is what I did or said, please give your feedback, how could I do this next time I’ll have opportunity. So some learning, improving, ok…so we’ll do gayatri, those who are Brahmins and then we’ll have more points.
So someone has Gita, can I have a bigger copy? Ok, here it is thank you. So we have few more points for today and what’s the time limit? Sky is the limit.
So Krishna has delivered Bhagavad Gita, knowledge of Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. He has already asked him to give all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me and if you do that, what will I do in return? I’ll protect you, He said! I’ll deliver you from all the sinful reactions. Do not fear, ‘ma sucah’ and Krsna will now say ‘idam te natapaskaya nabhaktaya kadacana na casusrusave vacyam na ca mam yo bhyasuyati’ (B.G 18.67) . This confidential knowledge, you know which one is this, which has already been spoken, presented. This idam, previously been spoken, presented, this confidential knowledge may never be explained to those who are not austere or devoted or engaged in devotional service nor to one who is envious of Me. So that’s the end of the preaching. Who do you preach to? You do not preach to those who are not austere. They are not austere, don’t preach, never to be explained this knowledge to those who are not austere “atapskaya”. ‘abhaktaya’- If they are not devotees do not explain this to them and ‘asusru..’ – not engage in devotional service, do not explain this knowledge unto them and ‘na ca mam yo bhyasuyati’ – those who are envious, they are also not to be explained this knowledge.
And now discuss Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada, that’s not in the purport or you have that? ok.
Mahaprabhu’s and Srila Prabhupada’s mood of extending the eligibility for hearing Bhagavad Gita beyond the limits, Krishna establishes in B.G 18.67 with appropriate references from the Bhakti sastras are discuss the relevance for this mood for ISKCON preachers and that’s you, ISKCON preachers.
So, one Krishna said, we just have heard what one Krishna had to say. And then not another Krishna but same Krishna now His name is ‘ krsnaya caitanya namne’, His name is Sri Krishna Caitanya, this is how Rupa Goswami, ‘namo maha vadanyaya krsna prema pradayate krsnaya krsna caitanya namne...krsnaya…’ I offer my obeisance’s unto Krishna, which Krishna? Whose name is Sri Krishna Caitanya, you get that, ‘krsnaya krsna caitanya, namne krsnaya’ I offer my obeisances unto Krishna whose name is now Sri Krsna Caitanya. So that Sri Krsna Caitanya, ‘jare dako tare kaho krsna upadesh’. One Krsna said on the battlefield of Kurukshetra ‘this is not to be shared, explained to this party that party, they are not eligible’. And then the same Krishna becomes very very magnanimous, unconditional, His way of giving Himself to others is unconditional, charitable, He is magnanimous; more fallen you are, more eligible you are. ‘mo sama patita prabhu na paibe ara..’ because you will not find more fallen person like me, so my dear Lord this is it, I am the candidate, ‘doya koro more’ – please be merciful unto me. ‘patita pavan hetu tava avatara’ – my knowledge is, I have gone to Bhakti sastri course when I was in Mayapur, I have become follower of Bhaktivedanta swami Prabhupada’s Hare Krsna movement and I had been singing or hearing some songs of Narottama dasa Thakura and now I know You are ‘patita pavana hetu’. You have appeared to deliver the fallen souls and I am the fallen, very fallen soul, ‘doya koro more’ please be merciful unto, ‘kripa koro, tava avatara’.
So that Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu is saying ‘jare dako tare kaho krsna upadesh’, you just bumped into somebody and then, you don’t ask him, ‘are you austere prabhu?’ (Laughter) because I know Krishna says, this is not to be explained to them, who is not austere, so if you are not austere, am not going to talk to you. Or what else, are you devoted? (Laughter) Haribol spirit soul? Are you devoted? (Laughter), if you are not devoted, I’ll take lunch break, I’ll honor Prasad, I’ll not preach to you and like that. And like that, are you envious of the Lord, are you engaged in devotional services? So, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He is Krishna but now has becomes magnanimous, more kind, kinder than Krishna is Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And ‘patra apatra nahi vicar, sthan asthan nahi vicar’-where to preach, where not to preach is not to be considered, you don’t have to think, who is eligible, who is not eligible, that’s not the consideration. “prati ghare giya” Caitanya Mahaprabhu said that to ‘suno suno haridas, suno nityananda’ they were the leading preachers, Haridasa Thakura is Brahma, the first acarya of our disciplic succession and Nityananda Prabhu is Adi Guru- Balarama. So these two leading preachers, Mahaprabhu says, prati- you go to every home and tell them, ‘bolo krsna bhaja krsna kara krsna siksa’.
You teach siksa, give them instructions of Krishna to them, bolo krsna, ask them to chant Hare Krsna, bhaja krsna, ask them to worship Krsna.And that is what these two Prabhus were busy doing. Nityananda Prabhu would go, knock the door, when they open the doors, Nityananda Prabhu would offer His pranam. That is by example instead of expecting humility from them, instead of expecting humility in the audience, the speaker he is exhibiting his humility and as a result those householders they are stunt to see this preacher’s they are humble, He is very humble, tolerant, respectful. So even if they have plans of not respecting but just seeing how they are respectful towards those householders, towards those persons they want to preach to, right there some revolution in their consciousness and their attitude. Even if they are faithless, immediately they’ll have some faith in those sadhus, in those preachers and on the spot those who are not eligible, they have become eligible just by seeing those preachers, seeing the attitude of the preacher, seeing the humility of the preacher before even they hear the knowledge, how knowledgeable are the preachers.
When we were leaving for Padayatra in ’76, first Padayatra we did was from Vrndavana to Mayapur. It took us five months to get here with the bullock cart Sankirtan Party. The day we were leaving, we had gone to see Srila Prabhupada, get his blessings and we wanted him to do the inauguration of the Padayatra bullock cart Sankirtan Party. And Prabhupada gave us speech and we had some discussion. Prabhupada gave lots of instructions, so one of those things Prabhupada said was that, if people are capable of hearing, understanding philosophy then, ‘jare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesh’ otherwise he said, ‘jare dako tare kaho hare krsna upadesh’ Prabhupada said it differently. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘jare dako tare kaho krsna upadesh’, krsna upadesh refers to, this is Krsna’s upadesh, Bhagavad Gita is Krsna’s upadesh, Krsna’s instructions, that is Bhagavad Gita. So when Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘yare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesh’, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is referring to, He preached Bhagavad Gita, message of Bhagavad Gita to them.
But Prabhupada said, if they are not…because we also we’ll be going through small villages and even some people illiterate, some farmers, simple people may not digest the teachings of Bhagavad Gita, the confidential knowledge. So he said ‘hare krsna upadesh’, so what did Prabhupada meant? Just chant “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. So we could do that, just ‘hare krsna upadeh’, ‘yare dekho tare kaho hare krsna upadesh’. So normally most of the programs, we start with the kirtan, then end up also with the kirtan, we do sandwich and between little philosophy; layer of bread at the bottom and tomatoes and cheese and another bread on the top, sandwich nice package.
So, the chanting of Hare Krsna, people may not be into this ‘krsna upadesh’, but ‘hare krsna upadesh’, people in general, you want to find out what is dharma for this age of Kali. Chanting of Hare Krishna must be dharma because people naturally get attracted to the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Have you seen, and as soon as we stop after chanting and dancing for sometimes and we make some announcement or begin talking, what happens? They all turn away, go away (Laughter) disappear and you end up with 4 or 5 people. There are 500 in the beginning, only few listening to your ‘krsna upadesh’ or…So that’s nice package, so Hare Krishna chanting includes infact the philosophy of Krishna consciousness includes everything. And so people, they like chanting and as they become favorable, become inclined and then little talk could be given, philosophy presented, present Bhagavad Gita books or some people may not be into chanting or hearing your discourse, they may be happy with prasadam. That’s also Krishna, enters their heats through their stomach. They are close inside, right? (Laughter), stomach and heart. So, put Krishna into the stomach, the heart will melt; and make heart little favorable and soft and then little dose of philosophy.
Srila Prabhupada used to say, ‘nacho gao, khao’, Krishna consciousness is so sweet, chanting, dancing, feasting and little philosophy (Laughter). First Srila Prabhupada would say chanting, dancing feasting and little philosophy. Sit down and talk but mostly chanting dancing. Take prasadam and little philosophy. So to go by Krishna’s standard and Bhagavad Gita then lot of people will not be eligible to receive this explanation, this dialogue. So then Caitanya Mahaprabhu mood, Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s formula, the way He has packaged, Srila Prabhupada said people come to our temple, so beautiful temple, ISKCON temple, ‘angraise ka mandir’ very clean. In Vrndavana they say ‘angraise ka mandir’, English temple very clean English temple. ‘saheber matha’ they call it ‘saheber matha’ . So they are not glorifying the deity, they are not glorifying Krsna in His form and but even if they glorify beautiful temple, clean temple or good devotees, nice people, courteous people, this could be starting point also, preparing them.
So you don’t have to start your preaching right away but maybe after next visit, next visit, next visit, let them experience other things, just clean temple, beautiful temple, chanting, dancing, feasting other things. And then they should be getting ready at some point to hear. Srila Prabhupada wanted his books, he said, first class or excellent packaging, excellent contents, best contents, best packaging, colour, cover hardbound, so lots of people in early ’70s, they would buy Krishna book. Krishna book like book in India, people have never seen any printing like this or Back to Godhead front cover, inside…Even when I first time saw glitter, printed in Japan. Printing in India 20-30-40 years ago, was very lousy or so. But people not much into content but the packaging was going for, displayed book printed in Japan, overseas, so even those things are winners.
And of course when we talk of austerity, there is a degree, variation of degrees. Some people may be little austere, atleast little austere, some people are more austere, some people not austere, devoted, it’s very rare to find a zero devotion, atleast 1%, 10%. We were just talking, in Bengal is a topic, even 90% of the CPM, the communists are believers although they are officially supposed to be communists and against God and Godlessness. Officially they don’t like their Ministers should be attending a religious function, one minister just resigned, I can’t, I cannot manage, I’m religious, I have sentiments for God, how could I hide, how could I not participate in religious function. I resign from your Communist party and he was made out of the party. I have resigned but he says most of my colleagues they are 90% of you all believers (Laughter). You may officially saying I don’t believe in God, Godlessness ki jai!! So he was saying 90%. So to that degree could be also explained to them that they are faithful or devoted or engaged in devotional services or they are austere.
ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajam aham‘ (B.G 4.11). So, if you think like that, identify people, atleast I see some faith, I see some devotion, I see some austerity that this person is performing. Then Srila Prabhupada policy also for preacher is do what? ‘Fanning the spark’- you see little spark, just little spark you see and the fire, little spark the coal, kind of now it is dying out, it is getting extinguished. When you see that spark and you could from that spark get a blazing fire by fanning it. It is a little spark and you just blew it. What would happen? It will extinguish, it will die out, finished, if you blow it how much that little spark could handle. If you blow, that will be blown out, finished, so you have to be careful and if it is little less blowing, too much little blowing, then also do not make much difference to the, not get the blazing fire out of that spark. So this is art, ladies in the villages, they know how much to blow. In the beginning they blow a little bit and as there are more fire and they also blow a little more, increase their air, more air. So, this art of preaching, how much this person could handle, how much faith, how much you preach to in first phase, first meeting. So, you don’t have to say everything, no hard rule for chanting, no hard rules and fast rules, that’s how we start right? Caitanya Mahaprabhu doesn’t say that, then gradually ten offences (Laughter) against the holy name. No hard and fast rules then ten offences, you have to study Harinaam Cintamani, Bhajan Rahasya and gradually you come up with some more rules.
So that whole art, art and science of preaching has to be learnt as preachers of Krishna consciousness, all those qualities are going to be coming very handy, very useful in presenting philosophy of Krishna consciousness. You saw how Nityananda Prabhu, it was working out, people were becoming inclined, favorable just by seeing His approach, His attitude. Jagai and Madai, how much tolerant, who saved Jagai and Madai? Not Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Caitanya Mahaprabhu had different strategy, Sudarsana!! Getting His Sudarsana cakra ready. But Nityananda Prabhu, the preacher of Krsna consciousness was more tolerant and by seeing on the spot, on the spot these two prabhus, Jagai and Madai got converted; by seeing the kindness of Nityananda Prabhu, they could not believe how kind was Nityananda Prabhu.
There was change of heart and they, on the spot they surrendered, they were ready to follow the four regulative principles and they would chant “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” and they were saved. So that’s the mood and mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada. We can’t say that contradicts Krishna’s expectation in Bhagavad Gita. It fits in or preparing them so that they become favorable, faithful, devoted, austere. There was a devotee called…Rathayatra…Jayananda. Devotee’s lots of time cite his example. He was very expert in engaging people, just seeing some new bhaktas, new people, he is building rathas and they were just standing around and immediately he would engaged them, do this, do that, paint this, cut this and people would be willing to assist in the services. He was very very expert, very sweet in his dealings and very expert. One of the qualities, expert, so he would engage them. Krishna says, they should be devoted, so Jayananda, he would get them to devote some of their energy, intelligence in works and make them eligible for message of Bhagavad Gita, philosophy of Krsna consciousness.
Narada Muni was little boy where he would just go help his mother, mother washing dishes and cutting in the kitchen. Maha Bhagavatas have come for Caturmasya, Bhagavad katha and little Narada Muni, hey! Bring that little water, get flowers and they’ll give these Bhaktivedantas, they were giving little little task to Narada. Son of this maidservant, so he said how he came to Krsna consciousness. How I came to Krsna consciousness. Narada Muni explains in first canto of Bhagavatam and he had association of these Maha Bhagavatas, little service and with their permission I would take prasad and as the result he became Narada Muni, very thoughtful. So, this little boy, he was given some services to do, some association, some prasad and he became devoted, devotee. So, if you don’t have the eligibility, put into the situation, circumstances where people become eligible to receive Krishna consciousness, appreciate Krsna consciousness. ‘agyat sukriti’ -unknowingly people rendered this service, that service and gradually they become eligible for Krsna consciousness. What do you say? You are finished? Good point.
Whatever works, this is Krishna’s policy, whatever you find eligible, devoted, austere, non envious person, share this explain this knowledge with them. And other places of you are dealing with Jagais and Madais and remember Nityananda Prabhu, remember Srila Prabhupada. ‘yena kena prakarena’ – Think of some ways and means to introduce Krishna consciousness. You have compassion also; you are preacher, full of compassion that’s driving you crazy. You want to give Krishna so you think harder, you’ll find ways and means to introduce Krsna in some form, book form, prasadam form, deity form, chanting dancing form, philosophy form and some culture event form, some kind of membership form get them filled. So, lots of people will fit into, they will like some aspects of Krishna Consciousness or they will like some aspects to some degree, one of the aspect to just little degree, that could be starting then if one is applying that, striving harder to give Krsna, then very few people will be left out, most of the people will somehow fit into one of these categories, one of these aspects of Krsna consciousness and then devotee could also has patience.
One sadhu would go, ‘bhiksamdehi…bhiksamdehi’ bhiksa is not a principle, purpose of visiting homes, but that’s excuse to preach, give us alms, give me alms. So he used to go to one house and that person, whatever he was, communist, atheist or… so he would not, never gave anything, he only drive away this sadhu from his home. One day, this person gave ‘bhiksamdehi’ this person that day he came, he went inside and came out to the door and threw some ashes into his begging bowl or his bag or his kamandalu, so this preacher, sadhu, he became very delighted. Next day, ‘hey! what happen? You are very delighted, so happy, joyful, what happen, did someone gave you some billion dollar in charity?’ and he explained, ‘ this person would never ever give me anything but today! He at least, he thought of giving, what he gave, that don’t ask me! (Laughter); today he gave, he thought of giving and he ended up of giving, he not only thought but he gave it.’ So, he was very happy. So, one of these days he will give the right thing, atleast he thought, he never gave but now he started giving. Maybe he gave wrong thing but one of these days he’ll give the right thing also.
Patience like this, tolerance like that, because Krsna does say after few verse that, ‘na ca tasman manusyesu kascin me priya krttamah’</strong (B.G 18.69) anyone who share this dialogue with others, so that person is very very dear to Me. No one is as dear to Me as that one who shares this dialogue with others. So we want to be dear, preacher wants to be dear to Krsna by giving this, delivering this message to others so that attempt, wanting to become dear to Krsna, then you will do all possible, whatever is possible. The more risk you take for Krsna, Krsna will be more pleased, you'll become more dear, not just easy going and burning desire, house is on fire, the world is on fire, world is the house for so many living entities. So when house is on fire and preacher on war footing, when there is war then everyone takes it very seriously. Even ladies pick up guns, children will begin throwing bombs, that's a war, emergency and the flood, they say Nityananda Prabhu was cutting canal from Mayapur, from the river goes canal into the field, 100 mile distribution of water. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu, preachers they cut the canal flooding. Seeing the flood here, Prabhupada also, Ganga gets flooded, Mayapur flooded, so we should be flooding the whole world with preaching Krsna consciousness or love of Godhead and when the flood or Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu were flooding the world, the faithful people were drowning deeper. The faithless ones were floating at the top. They also had a connection somewhere deeper, somewhat on the surface, so they all affected, influenced to different degrees as the waves come. Seems we have to move on, it’s ok, we move to couples of points more to go and what is this now...
Discuss aspects of Srila Prabhupada's mission reflected Bhagavad Gita 13.26
Verse and purport; discuss relevance of these aspects of Srila Prabhupada mission for ISKCON, 13th chapter text 26. Who has Bhagavad Gita? Read the verse.
“anye tv evam ajanantahh srutvanyebhya upasate
te pi catitaranty eva mrtyum sruti-parayanah”
Translation: Again there are those who, although not conversant in spiritual knowledge, begin to worship the Supreme Person upon hearing about Him from others. Because of their tendency to hear from authorities, they also transcend the path of birth and death.
This is the preaching, to hear someone speaks, preach to them and they are not very much conversant with spiritual knowledge but they begin worshipping Supreme person just by hearing from others. So because of their tendency to hear from authorities, so their tendency is to be exploited or employed in Krsna consciousness because they like to hear, the tendency to hear from authorities is there. So as they hear, they also transcend the path of birth and death. Purport, who will read? (Purport being read by devotee from the audience).
Purport: This verse is particularly applicable to modern society because in modern society there is practically no education in spiritual matters. Some of the people may appear to be atheistic or agnostic or philosophical, but actually there is no knowledge of philosophy. As for the common man, if he is a good soul, then there is a chance for advancement by hearing. This hearing process is very important.
Lord Caitanya, who preached Kr?s?n?a consciousness in the modern world, gave great stress to hearing because if the common man simply hears from authoritative sources he can progress, especially, according to Lord Caitanya, if he hears the transcendental vibration
“HareKrsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”
It is stated, therefore, that all men should take advantage of hearing from realized souls and gradually become able to understand everything. The worship of the Supreme Lord will then undoubtedly take place. Lord Caitanya has said that in this age no one needs to change his position, but one should give up the endeavor to understand the Absolute Truth by speculative reasoning. One should learn to become the servant of those who are in knowledge of the Supreme Lord. If one is fortunate enough to take shelter of a pure devotee, hear from him about self-realization and follow in his footsteps, one will be gradually elevated to the position of a pure devotee. In this verse particularly, the process of hearing is strongly recommended, and this is very appropriate. Although the common man is often not as capable as so-called philosophers, faithful hearing from an authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to Godhead, back to home.
From hearing to back home, you start from hearing- you end up back to home. So, what is the central theme of this verse, what is stressed in this verse? Emphasized hearing, we have tendency to hear. So make sure you don’t hear speculative speculator but you hear from right authority and that right authority mentioned here is what? Pure devotees then you are in business. So all that it takes to attain Krsna, achieve Krsna, develop Krsna consciousness and ultimately, not ultimately but already in the process you transcend the path of birth and death and finally return back to home, back to Godhead “nitya siddhya krishna prema sadhya kabhu nai sravanadi suddha ceete karaha udaya”.
So, does every living entity has potential to love Krsna? Or only selected few? Every single…you close your eyes, you are touching some living entity, you know that one also, is it living entity? yes, yes…i am living entity. And for sure we know he has a potential to love God, serve God, ‘nitya siddha krsna prema, sadya kabhu…’ this prema is not something that its outside some place and then you open some window and put it inside; go to super bazar and buy some kilos of Krsna prema and have it for breakfast. Is that how it works? Or smear it all over the body from outside, like chandan, Krsna prema. So where there is soul, there is Krsna prema, Krsna prema is in the soul, integral part of the soul is Krsna prema, it’s in him. So to revive that, what is recommended here is? ‘sravana adi….’ beginning with sravana, ‘sravana adi’ means sravana and etcetera. Sravana, kirtanam….like that other devotional activities, processes, but the principle one is ‘sravana’ so that is stated and others have been mentioned etcetera…’sravana adi’.
So by hearing from right authorities, pure devotee, from parampara, disciplic succession, hearing then revival, ‘sthito smi gata sandehah’ (B.G 18.73) ready ‘karisye vacanam tava’. This happened to Arjuna, Krsna did whole demonstration, look look Arjuna, in the beginning Krsna is showing the confused Arjuna, bewildered Arjuna, Arjuna shedding tears and Arjuna talking like a pandit. But you are not pandit, look at your face, there is a mirror, you are lamenting, pandit never laments, you are talking like pandit but you cannot be pandit because you are lamenting. So that kind of Arjuna was in the beginning, then He preached, Krsna talked, ‘sishyaste aham’- Now I am your disciple, soul surrendered unto you, instruct me. Krsna instructed and after 45 mins, what happen? One microphone was given to Arjuna (Laughter) what did he said? He said, ‘nasto mohah’- my mohah finished, ‘smrtir labda’- regain my consciousness. And how does this happen? ‘tvat pradan mayacyuta’- You are ‘acyuta’, You are infallible, I was fallen but You lifted me by Your prasada, what is this prasada? not ‘maha prasade govinde’ (Laughter), that’s the only that we think of but he was referring to Bhagavad Gita as the prasada. ‘tvat prasadan’, prasada came right up in Your mouth. As the result, I am situated properly, no more doubts, I had so many doubts in the beginning, I was trembling, ‘gandivam sramsate hastat’ (B.G 1.29)- all limbs were trembling, gandiva was slipping out of my hands, ‘mukham ca parisusyati’- my mouth was drying up, I was not seeing any beneficial coming out of this whole endeavor, ‘na ca sreyo anupayami hatva…(B.G 1.31)
All that he was saying but now, all is finished, now I am settled, situated properly, so what now, ‘karisye vacanam tava’ (B.G 18.73) now I’ll act; now I have knowledge, I will now implement that knowledge. Not that I have knowledge now, let’s take lunch, knowledge I have now, fighting will think afternoon or tomorrow, let’s take lunch, I have understood, was that attitude of Arjuna? What was his attitude, what was his stand? Right now! Now and her I am ready to fight and hare I go and he started and throwing arrows, showering, he didn’t delay, postpone his implementation. He was acting with knowledge he was told. While remembering Me, you fight, not only fight, not only remember, do two things together, while remembering, you fight. Some people only remember, sit down and remember don’t act and some people just act, they don’t remember but Krsna says, ‘mam anusmara yudhyaca tasmat sarvesu kalesu’ (B.G 8.7), while remembering. So Arjuna started doing that, ‘mam anusmara yudhya ca’, so like that.
So Bhagavad Gita was like a demonstration, see what happens. You see now a person in delusion, bewildered, this that now I am going to talk to him and he is going to hear Bhagavad Gita. Ok, he has heard Bhagavad Gita, now Arjuna, what he had to say and he makes the statement and we understand the outcome of hearing, person is transformed, person is properly situated, ready to act in knowledge, equipped with the knowledge, is acting. Hearing has been, Atul Krishna prabhu we were talking yesterday and I was asking him , what do you want to get out of this verse, what is the central theme? He said hearing the knowledge, the truth, the core of heart of ISKCON, that should be central theme going through the body of ISKCON and activities governed by the knowledge, right source, Gita, Bhagavat, parampara of pure devotee.
Srila Prabhupada has given us and never minimizes importance of hearing and chanting, knowledge, activities based on knowledge. So this has to remain a central focus activity; not getting sidetrack sometimes by other charitable kind of nature and he was citing example of salvation army, one of denomination of Christianity. One of the branch or whatever you want to call, in the beginning they were doing some kind of preaching, talking sastras for salvation of people, I think they were getting criticized or what are you doing for the public, doing something practical or philosophical. So, that society, they changed and they got into social welfare activities giving charities, clothes and this and that and there was no more preaching from Bibble and sastras and philosophy, just welfare. ‘manav seva, madhava seva’, ‘daridra narayan’, Narayana has now become daridra, poor Narayana , He is no more Lakshmi Narayana, He is ‘daridhra Narayan, so He needs help, Narayana needs help. Help, help help. Lots of people, lots of organizations, religions and groups are doing that because Christians are doing it. And converting Hindus so to stop that, Hindus are also getting into charitable work, opening hospitals, doing this that. So they are doing, Christians are doing, Hindus are doing charity work, ‘daridhra narayan’.
As a result, the hearing, the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam, the philosophy, whole knowledge is all abandoned, neglected, forgotten, just some sentiments. As a result they could be converted but because they have no knowledge, they don’t want to understand because people don’t have knowledge. Is it possible now, you have become ‘bhakti-sastri’ knowledgeable, some Christians come and want to convert you, is there any possibility? And you will end up tying cross, give up your kanti mala and has a cross around your neck. Rather they will changed because you are convinced that’s ‘nishta’. So people are getting converted because they only ‘ado- shradha’- some shradha, some sentiments, some faith is there but there is no knowledge of the sastras, they are not established, that nishta is not there.
So if you really want to make sure that they are not converted anymore, this hearing and chanting, pure hearing and chanting, not just some ‘karma kanda jnana kanda kevala viseyera bhanda’ -pot of poison is stressed, rituals. So lots of chanting, “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. Lots of book distribution, lots of talking, hearing, more and more people are involved, exposed to this pure hearing and chanting, to other different functions, media, rathayatras, this that festivals and again giving sharing this knowledge, he is hearing and chanting.
This is the topmost welfare program, living entities topmost welfare is in. Well give them Krishna, hearing and chanting, what is exchanged, take Krsna, give Krsna, this is what happens. The living entities are in bliss happy, so emphasize the importance of hearing and chanting. They take it because they have tendency to hear from authorities, otherwise people are claiming to be authority, becoming some kind of authority, they get on the microphone, come on people, you must be authority! Some position, some political leader, some social leader and people have tendency to hear from authority. So that if they could hear from the right authority, faithfully hearing, faithfully hearing from authoritative person will help one transcend this material existence and go back to home, back to Godhead.
Ok, so I think we should be stopping around now. If there is more, well we’ll catch up that tomorrow. Alright?
Haribol!!!