Venue: ISKCON Juhu
Dated: 16-10-2011
‘Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya’
Sri Sri Radha Rasabihari ki jai!!
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!
Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!
“tam agatam ta utthaya pranipatyabhinandya ca
pujayitva yathadesam sukhasinam athabruvan” (S.B 4.31.4)
Translation and short purport as by Srila Prabhupada, Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!
Translation:
As soon as the Pracetas saw that the great sage Narada had appeared, they immediately got up even from their asanas. As required, they immediately offered obeisances and worshipped him, and when they saw that Narada Muni was properly seated, they began to ask him questions.
Purport:
It is significant that all the Pracetas were engaged in practicing yoga to concentrate their minds on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
pracetasa ucuh
“svagatam te surarse adya distya no darsanam gatah
tava cankramanam brahmann abhayaya yatha raveh” (S.B 4.31.5)
pracetasah ucuh-the Pracetas said; su-agatam-welcome; te-unto you; sura-rse- O sage among the demigods; adya-today; distya-by good fortune; nah-of us; darsanam-audience; gatah-you have come; tava-your; cankramanam-movements; brahman- O great brahmana; abhayaya-for fearlessness; yatha-as; raveh- of the sun.
Translation and purport again by Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!
Translation:
All the Pracetas began to address the great sage Narada: O great sage, O brahmana, we hope you met with no disturbances while coming here. It is due to our great fortune that we are now able to see you. By the travelling of the sun, people are relieved from the fear of the darkness of night-a fear brought about by thieves and rogues. Similarly, your traveling is like the sun’s, for you drive away all kinds of fear.
Purport:
Because of the night’s darkness, everyone is afraid of rogues and thieves, especially in great cities. People are often afraid to go out on the streets, and we understand that even in a great city like New York people do not like to go out at night. More or less, when it is night everyone is afraid, either in the city or in the village. Ok village is also there, I was thinking of my experience of the village, getting scared, not only cities, Prabhupada is writing, in the village also. Jaya Radha Rasabihari ki jai!! However, as soon as the sun rises, everyone is relieved. Similarly, this material world is dark by nature. Everyone is afraid of danger at every moment, but when one sees a devotee like Narada, all fear is relieved. Just as the sun disperses darkness, the appearance of a great sage like Narada disperses ignorance. When one meets Narada or his representative, a spiritual master, one is freed from all anxiety brought about by ignorance.
(Maharaj repeating the verse and translation again)
I remember, one thing came to my mind that we also have travelled to Mathura by train and then to Radha Damodara temple. This was in ’72 and just now we have, we have darshan of deities there. We went into quarters of Srila Prabhupada small and as we were sitting around, about dozen devotees from Mumbai, our leader was Pancadravida prabhu and he was going to be swami during that Kartika. So we had arrived and I was also, I was Raghunath and I was going to become Lokanath that month, anyways a small thing. As we were sitting around Srila Prabhupada, it was Panchadravida prabhu; it is only appropriate as we see here the etiquette. The Pracetas as they are sitting at the feet of Narada Muni and as he has taken his seat, they are questioning, they are also glorifying him.
So in that mood, Panchadravida, he was glorifying Srila Prabhupada and it was morning hours, sun had just risen as we were going from Mathura station to Radha Damodara, sun was rising in the east and as we arrived in Prabhupada’s quarters, he started glorifying Srila Prabhupada.
‘Srila Prabhupada, you are brilliant like sun’ I do not remember more but he has, I don’t know maybe he got this idea from Pracetas, that Narada Muni was compared- ‘abhayaya yatha raveh’ just like, your travelling is like the sun’s travelling and he drives away all kinds of fear. So very similar the mood or expression was there, addressing on our behalf, our leader was addressing Srila Prabhupada and comparing him, ‘you are like a sun, you are brilliant like a sun’, Srila Prabhupada ki jai!!
‘svagatam’ at the time, Srila Prabhupada welcomed us in Vrndavana and he was inquiring. ‘How was your travelling, we hope you made no disturbances while coming here’, that is Pracetas talking to Narada Muni. So in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada was also making inquiries, how was our journey, in fact, another time in Mayapur, we walked from Vrndavana to Mayapur and as we arrived there in Prabhupada’s quarters. Prabhupada inquired from all the padayatris bullock cart Sankirtan Party, ‘how was the journey?’, Prabhupada asked, ‘how was the journey?’ and I remember me replying saying, ‘it was easy journey to Mayapur planet Prabhupada’. The title of the book, Easy Journey to Other Planets, so I put that into, it was easy journey to Mayapur planet Srila Prabhupada. We had travelled in both of these cases, so Srila Prabhupada was very kindly inquiring how was the journey, how was the travels.And here Pracetas were inquiring as we always do; how was the travel, how was the flight.
‘svagatam’ and you are welcome, ‘svagatam te’- we welcome you and who are you, ‘sura rse’ you are sage among the Demigods, the few verses earlier was also described as the ‘sura – asura’ he’s the sage among the suras and asuras. ‘dhiradhira jana priyau priya karau manyau saranyakarau’ like that the six Goswamis, ‘dhiras and adhiras, gentlemen and ruffians, in both the camps, six Goswamis were very popular or honoured, so was Srila Narada Muni. ‘distya no darsanam gatah’- it is our good fortune that we have darshan of yours, we are getting your audience, we have your audience, ‘darsanam’ we’ll come back to this ‘darsanam’. ‘tava cankramanam brahman’, ‘cankramanam’ – going round and round and round, you are ‘cankramanam’, you are going around, ‘yatha raveh’ -it is just like ravi, ravi is sun. Today is Ravivar, today is Sunday, today is sun’s day, so today is called Ravivar and tomorrow is Somavar, someone else’s day and Mangal’s var. We have 7 days each one for attributed to different Personalities. Today is the sun’s day, Ravi’s var, Ravivar today so ‘yatha raveh’ just like sun. Your wandering around is just like sun and not only you are wandering like sun, that is also something else also like sun that you do, what does the sun do? He disperses darkness, disperses darkness, ‘krsna surya sam maya hain andakar, jahan krsna vahan nahin maya andakar‘ -where there is sun, there is no darkness, where there is Krsna, there is no Maya.
So where there is sun, there is no darkness. So as sun disperses the darkness, drives away darkness and as the result ‘abhayaya’ immediately people are relieved, as soon as the sun rise, they get relieved, relief from the darkness and what causes, darkness causes fear, fear from thieves and rogues and what, serpents’ lot of parties. The ghosts, they also appear at night time, terrorists may come take advantage of darkness, the dark activities, activities in mode of ignorance take place at night time. There is ‘tama’ what is that? ‘evanukampartham aham ajnana jam tamah‘ Lord Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita 10th chapter, 11 verse- that when I am kind to somebody, what do I do? ‘anukampartham’ My ‘anukampa’ -My compassion to somebody, in what form? ‘aham ajnana jam tamah’ I- aham, ‘ajnanajam tamah’ ‘tama’ the darkness born from ‘ajnana jam’. Ajnana- the ignorance, ja- the birth, ignorance gives birth to tamah- the darkness, ‘ajnanajam tamah’ ‘aham ajnanajam tamah’ what do I do? ‘nasayamy’ – I destroy that ignorance caused by what? ‘tamah’ ‘aham ajnana jam’ ignorance, darkness caused by ignorance, ‘nasayamy’ I destroy how do I destroy? ‘nasayamy atma bhava stho jnana dipena bhasvata’- I light the lamp within the heart of that person and ‘bhasvata’ immediately there is the light, ‘bhasvata’ . ‘Bha’ is light, ‘bhaskara’ sun is also called Bhaskara, ‘kara’ means doer, he is a doer of what? ‘bha’, the light. He is a doer of the light. He is a spreader of the light; he spreads the light, so sun has another name called Bhaskara. As also Bharata, people of the nation which are those who are ‘rata’ are absorbed in ‘bha’ the light, the light of torch, light of knowledge and they are Bharatiya not just because of their passport, I have Indian Passport, I am Bharatiya, I am Indian, no. By definition, if you are absorbed in light coming from Bhagavata and Bhagavad Gita, then you are Bharatiya, then you should have Bharatiya passport otherwise we should surrender all the passports (Laughter).
So as that sun spreads the light, drives away the fear and that is what you do also, O! brahman, Narad Muni has been addressed as first of all, you are a ‘sura-rse’ – you are sage among the demigods, that is one address and you are also brahman, you are brahman translated as ‘brahmana’. And who is the Brahman ? ‘brahma janati iti brahmanah’ ‘brahma janati’ – when one knows brahman, brahma is a brahmana. And in this case, he not only knows ‘brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan’ he also knows Bhagavan, so you are knower of the Truth, you are knower of the Truth, O! how lucky we are. ‘distya’ we are very fortunate that today we have ‘ady’- today we have ‘darsanam gatah’, we have your darshan, we have your audience, ‘svagatam’- you are welcome. Such Personality as you are, we welcome you, ‘su svagatam, “svagatam krsna …..……svagatam” we welcome you.
When King Pariksit welcomed Sukadeva Goswami to the large audience of sages sitting on the bank of Ganga, sitting around King Pariksit and wondering what to do, what process he should follow and whole deliberation is going on. And while that was on, there Sukadeva Goswami arrives and the children in Hastinapur and other folks they didn’t know. So that time King Pariksit said also; ‘yesam samsmaranat pumsam sadyah sudhyanti vai grhahi’ (S.B 1.19.33) just like this, just like, what happens? This ‘sadyah’ means today, as adya and sadyah. Pracetas are using word ‘adya’ and King Pariksit says sadyah means today, now and here what happens? ‘suddhyanti’ there is a purification, ‘grha’ homes are purified, people in this home are purified instantly ‘yesam samsmaranat’ just by remembering you, just remembrance of you is sufficient for the purification. But ‘kim punah’ but is all good fortune, King Pariksit said, ‘kim punar darsanam’ you are giving us darshan, remembrance was enough but today we have your darshan, ‘kim punar darsanam sparsa‘. We are able to see you, we’ll be able to touch your lotus feet, ‘pada sauca’ we’ll be able to wash your lotus feet, ‘asanadibhih’ and we’ll be able to offer you exalted seat and ‘adibhih’ and that’s not all. ‘adibhih’ lots of many other things we’ll be able to offer to you, a big feast for you and when you lie on the bed, we’ll be able to massage you, do this for you, do that for you. O! how good, its good fortune of all of us assembled sages and of course myself King Pariksit. That is his mood, he has welcomed Sukadeva Goswami and he says ‘tava darsanam’ Your darsanam and not only darshan, sparsa, pada, sauca, asana adibhih, O! how fortunate I am today, King Pariksit said. So ‘darsanam’ Pracetas are talking of darshan, King Pariksit is talking of darshan ‘distya no darsanam gatah’.
So this darshan when, of course we used to have a darshan, is this darshan time? Could we go see Srila Prabhupada, is this darshan time? Yes Yes darshan time. In Bombay we were very fortunate. To be in Bombay was a great good fortune for us, we Bombay brahmacaris, this being Srila Prabhupada’s office. He spent more time in the office right? People spent lots of time in the office. So Srila Prabhupada spent lot of time in his office more than, Mayapur not as much in fact. If you go through biography, he spent little time, only doing festivals in between the festivals, hardly ever was there may be just few times. I wrote a book and did a little research about it but he spent lots of time here and Srila Prabhupada used to come all the time coming from London, coming from Los Angeles, coming from Tokyo, coming from here, coming from there and also coming- going and we used to be here. Srila Prabhupada used to be for months together in Bombay. One time he spent 3 months, 3 months and every morning there was the Bhagavatam class by Srila Prabhupada! Haribol!!. There was no need for announcement, today Bhagavatam class, no announcement (Laughter).
Srila Prabhupada was in town, every morning and classes is one of the items. Every morning, morning walk, every morning he would return from this road, this building was not there. Temple was where this tower, one of these towers, temple was right there and as Srila Prabhupada returned from the beach; one time also I was the pujari, head pujari, Prabhupada always coming on time, before time, waiting and greeting of the deities, ‘govindam adi purusam’ then asana. Srila Prabhupada used to take his asana, we used to offer him Guru Puja, not just some smaranam, not just smarana, not just remembrance, he is to be right there sitting in his asana ‘Vyas asana’. And we offering him Guru Puja and kirtans and offering him flowers and toward the end he is throwing flowers and we used to jumped to catch those flowers. And Prabhupada is signaling us, we were already dancing but he would do like this, ‘jump high, high, jump high’, we were thinner or lighter those days especially I was (laughter). So flying high was easier, now we can’t even lift our 80 or 100kgs or and then ‘jaya radha madhava kunjaihari’ his style of ‘jaya radha madhava’ and drums and then Srila Prabhupada very intensely with his eyes closed and singing ‘jaya radha madhava. And we would see sometimes the tears from his eyes gliding down and then ‘jaya om visnnupada….’ obeisances and ‘om namo bhagavate…..’ class and then during the day we would go do preaching, making life members and again we used to have darshan. Those buildings don’t exist now, now we have, heaven has cropped up or heaven has descended, they were different buildings and Prabhupada stayed in one of those buildings and then around I think 5 o’clock or so after we returned from preaching, again darshan of Srila Prabhupada on the roof top.
We used to bring some life members and friends others also, darshan on the roof and then Bhagavad Gita class everyday he used to give Bhagavad Gita class. So day in and day out, hundred times, hundred morning walks, hundred times he returned for Radha Rasabihari darshan, a hundred Guru Puja, hundred Bhagavatam classes and during the day some other interactions, more darshan and on and on and on such a great good fortune of ours to have Srila Prabhupada amongst us with us and not only we had darshan, but sparsa- the touch and ‘asana adi bhih’ and all that we had able to do. So there used to be darshan hours, O! darshan hour!
So there is a talk of darshan here, so when we go for darshan or when we have darshan of the spiritual master and of great acharyas, we have darshan of maha bhagavata darshan. Why do we call that as a darshan? Is it only we are able to see him and you take some photographs also go away, we have darshan, we captured him. Seeing, well that is one kind of darshan, it’s just limited. Meaning of that “darshan”- darshan is what he speaks, that is darshan. His speech is darshan, ‘tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya’ and then what happens, ‘upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva darsinah’ (B.G 4.34). When we go for darshan we have audience, he speaks and he gives darshan, ‘tattva darshan’ he is ‘tattva darsinah’, he gives darshan of the Tattvas and ‘darsanam tattva’ is not different from darshan of the Lord. He gives darshan, even the ‘sad darshans’ the six schools of thoughts or philosophies, Sad Darshan they are called. Vedanta darshan and Sankya darshan different darshans not just philosophy. They are darshan, they are helping you, they are giving you darshan, ultimate darshan of the Lord. They are so transparent, transparent via medium that you look at them, you look through them and they do not stand between you and the Lord. You look at them, you hear them and you see the Lord. As they give the vision to see the Lord, so that you could have darshan of the Lord. So you are taking darshan of the spiritual master or exalted personality like Narada or Srila Prabhupada is the darshan of the Lord.
One time, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was in Calcutta in his Gaudiya Math talking to a group of disciples. He begin the talk giving some darshan or some philosophical darshan, Tattva darshan and then one disciple, he got up he went away and he returned after some times and when he returned, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvate Thakura Maharaj inquired. ‘Oh! Where did you go?’, ‘ Guru Maharaj I went for darshan, I went for darshan’. He went into the temple room and he had come back and he thought ‘if I give this reason I had gone for darshan, ok ok thank you, good, you had gone for darshan, sit down.’ He was expecting that kind of response, ‘ My Guru Maharaj will be pleased that to know that I had gone for darshan but Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was displeased with the disciple. “Oh! You went for darshan? And as you stood in front of the deities, you opened your eyes, right?’ yes I did, ‘and you closed your eyes’ yes I did ‘ and opened and closed’. So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura he said, ‘ so how was your eyes exercise? (Laughter) how was your eyes exercise, you open your eyes every time, you close your eyes, so how was your eye exercise?’ and he rebuked his disciple.
‘You fool! I was giving you darshan here, right here I was arranging darshan, I was giving you eyes to see the Lord and you prefer to go away and take darshan on your own with your eyes, carma caksu, carma caksu, with eyes made up of leather, the skin. ‘cakshu dan dilo jei janme janme prabhu sei’ ‘cakshu dan’ so when there is darshan given by great personalities, Mahatmas, ‘mahatmanas tu mam partha daivim prakritim asritah’ (B.G 9.13). Those who have taken shelter of ‘daivim prakriti’. When we take darshan , they are giving us ‘drishti’, they are giving us vision to see the Lord, that way they give us darshan. That is why we say, ‘om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri guruve namah’. What does this verse say? ‘om ajnana timirandhasya’, ‘ajnana’ again, ‘ ajnanajam tamah’ what Krsna says in the Bhagavad Gita, ‘ajnanajam tamah’ ignorance is coming from ajnana, the darkness is coming from ajnana, ignorance. So ‘timirandhasya’ – I was in total darkness, what did my spiritual master do? ‘ om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana’, ‘ jnanajana salakaya’ – the doctor those who do operation, ‘salakaya’ take scissors, they take different instruments, ‘salakaya’ he used, ‘ jnananjana salakaya’ and ‘caksur unmilitam’, ‘caksur unmilitam’- he opened my eyes. I was totally blind, covered with ignorance and the darkness and he opened my eyes and he gave me, showed me the light of the day, light coming from Krsna, he has showed me the Lord or showed me the path, showed me the technique, the process how to see the Lord, to meet the Lord.
‘jiv jago jiv jago, gauracanda bole’, so that my jiva, my jiva, its I am jiva I am living entity not my living entity could we say? No..I cannot say my living entity, Krishna could say we are His living entity. ‘mamaivamso’ but when we talk, we cannot say my jiva, I am jiva, I am jivatma not that I have jivatma, you understand the difference? It’s not my jivatma. So ‘jiv jago jiv jago’ that song by Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, ‘jiv jago’ – wake up sleeping soul. What do we say? wake up sleeping soul and not wake up sleeping body. Body wakes up and body hungry finally. After 10 hours of sleep, when you are hungry, body wakes up, time to go to the office, body wakes up or this that or some call, someone knocking at the door. Paper! Paper! Newspaper or raddi paper and then we wake up but even after that kind of waking up, jiva- the soul keeps sleeping all day and all night. Soul never wakes up, completely covered all over.
So who wakes up the soul, we say ‘jiv jago jiv jago gauracanda bole’, now Gaurachanda has come and Gaurachandra is calling, that is why, what you should do?. ‘kota nidra jao maya pisacira kole’, that is how long I am going to sleep in the bed, but you are out of the bed, you are woken up but this call says, how long am I going to sleep in the lap of witch called Maya? . So, one gets up, gets out of the bed, you are out of the bed, you have jumped out of the bed but you continue to be still in the bed, in the lap of Maya. So ‘jiv jago’ hence O! Soul, wake up sleeping soul- wake up sleeping soul. So that waking up is done by Narada Muni, Srila Prabhupada and all the representatives of the Lord are here to wake us up all. And after we have woken up, they give us darshan, ‘ distya no darsanam gatah’ they give us darshan, they give us eyes to see, they give us Tattva Darshan so that we could see things as they are.
Now what time is it? ok…
So that’s Lord arrangement, Lord comes personally also, ‘sambhavami yuge yuge’ and then next yuga again He comes, next age and next in between what happens? He sends His devotees, He sends His representatives. And His people, they act on His behalf, they are empowered, they have Power of Attorney from the Lord and they represent Him. ‘mam ekam saranam vraja’, Lord says “surrender unto Me” and they come and what do they say? Surrender unto Krsna. Is there any difference? Prabhupada used to ask this question, ‘Is there any difference?’ Krishna says ‘mam ekam saranam vraja’- You surrender unto Krsna, surrender unto Me Krsna says and spiritual master says surrender unto Krsna, any difference? There is no difference. So this is also Bhagavad Gita As It Is.
Let Krishna speaks, you shut up, you shut up, let Krishna speaks. So this is request, they let Krsna speaks otherwise everyone is speaking, everyone is speaking, speaking, talking, talking, talk has become cheap now. The bills are much smaller now,telephone bills, the mobiles bills, what they talk is cheap and the bills also, phones are cheaper, bills are cheaper bills and talk is very very cheap talk, cheap talk. Everyone is talking, no one is hearing, everyone is talking. God has given us 2 ears and 1 mouth, should we be hearing more or talking more? 2 ears 1 mouth, hear more, talk less. Sometimes we should stop talking and listen then again of course depends whom do you talk to. Whatever little talk you talk, talk you hear that hearing, so give your ears to the Lord. In fact, this is how we take darshan. Taking darshan is not with the eyes; darshan is with the help of the ears. If you are interested in seeing or interested in darshan, you use the ears to hear, “come near- sit here- do not fear- I am here” Krsna could say. ‘abhayaya’ fearlessness; so as soon as we are with the Lord, then there is no more fear. So we take darshan of these great Personalities and we become fearless because ignorance is destroyed, driven away and Maya is replaced with Krsna. ‘nirvidya mananam akuto bhayam, icchatam akuto bhayam’, those who wish to become fearless, ‘harer namanu kirtanam’ there is some verse like that in the 2nd canto. You want to become fearless, all the sages have come to conclusion, you should chant “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” this was conclusion 5000 years ago.
“etan nirvidyamananam icchatam akuto bhayam
yoginam nrpa nirnitam harer namanukirtanam” (S.B 2.1.11)
Sukadeva Goswami says all the sages after lot of thinking and thinking and churning, they have come to conclusion, ‘nirmitam yoginam nrpa’, O! King all the yogis have concluded, what is the conclusion? ‘harer namanukirtanam’ 5000 years ago Sukadeva Goswami said that and by doing so what happens? ‘akuto bhayam’, one becomes ‘yadi icchati’, if you are expecting, desiring fearlessness, those who wish to be fearless, anyone here wants to become fearless, interested in becoming fearless? Everyone! Everyone wants to be fearless. So the prescription here is in this age of Kali, you take shelter of the holy name. 5000 years ago it was declared by Sukadeva Goswami and he said ‘it’s not me, it’s not me, so many sages have said the same thing, I am just repeating the conclusion of the sages, thinkers’. This is the age of Kali, “harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam”, so chant Hare Krsna and be happy, don’t be afraid anymore. “mam ekam saranam vraja, aham tvam sarva pabebyo moksayisyami ma sucah”, do not fear, do not fear, Lord has guaranteed, so surrender unto Me. So in this age of Kali, Lord also appears, “kali kale nama rupe krsna avatara”. Lord takes His avatara in the form of Harinaam. Harinaam is avatara, Harinaam prabhu, ‘namasraya kori jatane tumi thakaha apana kaje’ and taking shelter of the holy name.
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Krsna said, surrender unto Me and in the age of Kali there is surrendering unto the holy name of the Lord, ‘namasraya kori’ take the ‘asraya’ shelter of the holy name. So is this contradictor or there is some connection between Krsna speaking on the battlefield? And asking of surrender unto Me, surrender unto Me and you are also supposed to be surrendering unto the holy name. So is that Krsna and the holy name, are they two different things, two different Personalities? Same! ‘abhinatva nama namino’ ‘abhina’ not different. That Lord Sri Krsna who appeared 5000 years ago, spoke Bhagavad Gita has now appeared as the holy name.
So we hear we hear we hear the sound ‘sabdh, sabdh brahma’ and from the sound, our philosophy from sound comes the form. From sound comes the form, so from Hare Krsna Hare Krsna sound comes the form or again comes or not comes, sound is the form. It is a little spiritual technology here, sound is the form and this Hare Krsna is the Lord. Or as we chant chant chant but not only chant, what else we have to do? Hear and hear and hear. What happens if it is done properly? ‘sravanam kirtanam smaranam’ and then more things. You could do ‘smarana’ remembrance, remembrance of what? remembrance of the form of the Lord, remembrance of the qualities of the Lord, the pastimes of the Lord, abode of the Lord; all that we are reminded of as we chant the holy name of the Lord. As so the process is supposed to be very easy and very sweet and all that, so we get this darshan.
Narada Muni in fact, he wanted to take darshan of Brahma at the beginning of the age of Kali and after he had darshan. Narada Muni had darshan of Brahma and Narada Muni inquired, ‘now, now this is a new age, what is the process for this age?’ O! Chant the Holy name, chanting the Holy name, Harinaam. ‘could you be more specific? There are so many names, there also Visnu Sahasranaam, thousand names, could you say which name?’ and Brahma gave darshan. He gave Tattva darshan, he made this point; Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
“iti sodasakam namnam kali kalmasa nasanam,
natah parataro payah sarva vedesu drisyate” (2nd verse Kali Santarana Upanisad)
This is Brahma speaking from the sky, ‘you know dear disciple, dear child’ Narada Muni is son of Brahma, Narada Muni is disciple of Brahma so he is addressing, “my dear child, my dear disciple, I want to tell you that in this age of Kali, this Hare Krsna mahamantra, ‘iti sodasakam namnam kali kalmasa nasanam, kali kalmasa nasanam’, all the flaws, all the faults are destroyed, ‘kali kalmasa, natahparataro, sarva vedesu’ I am the knower of the Vedas” Brahma says, You know I am not just any Tom Dick and Harry as they say, I am somebody, who am I? “Tene brahma hrda adi-kavaye” I am the adi kavi, I am the first one to hear the Vedas. There was a time there was just Lord and myself, only two of us in the entire universe. Only two persons and that time. Lord spoke to me, He revealed all the knowledge of the Vedas, essence of the Vedas was revealed unto me and that person is talking to you, you understand? And this is what I have to say, the knower of the Vedas. This is what I have to say that ‘natah parataro’, ‘paratara’ means better, upaya- solution, ‘sarva vedesu’ in all the Vedas, ‘drisyate’ as far as I could see, I could understand, there is nothing but the chanting of the holy name and he specified which name to be chanted, Hare krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
So let us all chant, take the shelter of the holy name and be happy and be fearless. We just have to do this chanting properly, if we just do this chanting properly. The goal is darshan of the Lord, Goal is darshan of the Lord, the goal is to have audience of the Lord, the goal is as once Srila Prabhupada said or wrote that the goal is to join the dancing party of Radha and Krsna. So try to achieve that goal, the means is there to achieve the goal. You have a means and the right means; sadhan and sadhya, sadhya is joining dancing party and sadhan is ‘ harer namaiva kevalam’. So just do the sadhan properly, then don’t worry if you are on the right path, doing the right things, right mantra, right darshan, Tattva darshan, everything just right, right means then we will achieve the goal. If you are sitting on the right train (Laughter) and if you want to go to Chennai but you sitting in train going to Kolkatta, will you go to Chennai? Did you understand? So if you are sitting on the right train, right mudra, right everything is right, the means is right then the goal is achieved.
The chanting of Hare Krishna has to be done attentively. You hear about that? How should the chanting be? Attentive chanting, attentive chanting, attention. Not being attentive, so after 10 offences we say, those who wish to achieve the goal of this human form of life, which is? Krsna prema, goal is Krsna prema. Those who wish to achieve that goal, what do they have to do? Chant attentively; hear the holy name attentively avoiding all the offences against the holy name. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that we continue to commit 10 offences if our hearing is inattentive. If we are not chanting with full attention, then you are bound to commit offences. So this is the most serious offence. Avoiding this, avoiding that but attentive chanting is not done, attentive chanting does not happen then we’ll continue the breeding round, the inattentive chanting becomes the breeding ground for the offences.Well this is not the time for Japa Reform Seminar or Japa Retreat; you should attend around the world, now devotees are going through this Japa Retreats, Japa reforms seminars.
So attentive chanting, ‘ Harinaam Chintamani’ by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, there comes the topic of discussion, Inattentive chanting. I won’t give the whole seminar but there is one thing that I will, I will like to share which I have learnt from one of the seminar or that while we are chanting our japa, “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”. In order to have our chanting with full attention or attentive chanting, something else is on our mind, in our thought has to be got rid of or drive away, stop that so that we could end up hearing. We chant, that happens very very well uttering the name, then it just bounces off our mind. You throw the ball and then the ball does not go in or stick to the wall, what happen, the ball just bounces back, the ball. So lot of times that happens, we chant “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna” but it just bounces back because we are not free to hear, we are busy.
Another thing came as soon as I said busy, This is when I was a new devotee myself and in old temple, this is very small temple now, our President Giriraj dasa brahmacari, that time Maharaj he was brahmacari, he was chanting and some big life member had come to see him and I found out that someone wanted to meet Giriraj prabhu that time our President, so I went. He was chanting in the temple and I mentioned to him that such and such life member want to see you and his response was, ‘tell him that I am busy’. And my thought was what! You are not busy (Laughter), you are just sitting and only chanting, you are not busy!(Laughter). This was my mind talking inside; I didn’t speak out (Laughter). I didn’t dare to speak to my President like that, you are not busy. That I was thinking, you are not busy, what excuse just because you don’t want to see that person, you are coming up with the excuse you are busy.
But much later, I didn’t know when, took quite some time for me to realize that this chanting is supposed to be a business not in a mundane sense business. It is a serious thing, you are preoccupied, you are busy with something, you are busy with chanting and of course we say, chanting is a time when you have appointment with the Lord. Chanting is a time when your appointment is with who? With Krishna, your appointment is with the Lord. So that you meeting Him, having some dialogues with Him, isn’t that a business, a serious thing?
So anyways, we have to realize this chanting of Hare krsna is, is serious thing and we should be only chanting while chanting and we do also. We don’t do lots of things during chanting and we sit and chant and even if we are doing that, we still may not be, we still may be busy inside. We are not talking with others, not on mobile, not doing this that, not busy in that sense but even sitting and chanting but still we are too busy, too busy to hear the holy name. We have no time, we are busy. Japa mala is making rounds, one round, two rounds or mind is making rounds around the world million dollars, go round around the world, around the home or around the man, around the woman, around around the car or mind is making rounds of the car, doing pradakshana of the car that we have just purchased this or that or…And we are just not free.
Let chanting go on, round is going on just outside but it is not entering us. It is not touching our souls or soul is not hearing, ‘jiv jago’ the soul has to wake up, soul has to hear. But there is something else between the chanting which is the holy name, which is the Lord. Hare Krsna is the Lord and the soul is the recipient of that mercy, the target of the chanting is, the chanting should reach the soul but then what happens? In the middle there is the mind like the stumbling block.
‘mana eva manusyanam karanam bandha moksayoh’
Mind could become the cause of bandhan or moksa, this is the verdict of the sastra. The mind could become the cause of bondage or liberation. So what is, where is the mind, what is the mind doing during chanting. This mind is also part of the process of hearing and chanting or mind is having some wanderings and thoughts, some kalpa vikalpa and accepts this and rejects that.
So anyways, here is what I had heard during, Mahanidhi Maharaj in fact in his seminar, he was talking that when we go to shopping mall or some shopping center. Usually, there is music, they play music and it is called ‘mood music’, mood music to get into the mood, mood music. So that is in the background the music is on and lots of people are talking, buying, shopping and they are also hearing that music and getting into the mood of what they, they have to do their shopping there. So he was pointing that two things are happening simultaneously. The mood music is going on and something else is also going on. So while we are chanting, the mind’s mood music is on and it just doesn’t allow you to hear this music of the chanting music “Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare”.
It just doesn’t penetrate, this does not go in there and that music goes on and on and on. So chanting and hearing that chanting and then remembrance and the whole guidelines what thoughts you should have during chanting the holy names. So attentive chanting, attentively hearing the Holy name, each word, each mantra. Our other Japa Reform Party or person says, hear the whole mantra, one mantra at a time. Bhurijana prabhu talks, hear the mantra from beginning to end, the 16 words make sure you are chanting 16 words first of all. Make sure your mantra is not 14 word mantra or 12 word mantra or not just snik snik Hare Hare. Prabhupada says snik nik Hare Hare snik snik Hare Hare. That’s all you hear snik snik Hare Hare snik snik Hare Hare. So then you go to some snik loka (Laughter).
So be fully alert, opening of the mouth and tongue vibrating, ears are hearing, get out all the stumbling blocks, clear the mind, get all the thoughts out, ‘yato yato niscalati, tatah tatah’ (B.G 6.26) wherever the mind goes, from there you drag the mind and fix that on the holy name wherever it goes. Don’t follow the mind, drag it back. When it is going to Krishna, don’t stop, don’t drag it back but elsewhere it is going, bring it back. So chanting is not the time that you are just sitting around, within the time our body, our mind, our intelligence,our soul, everything absorbed everything busy. ‘sumedasah’ this process of chanting will be glorified or the Lord will be glorified in the form of His holy names, which kind of people will glorify or worship the Lord in the form of His holy name? ‘sumedasah’- intelligent. So sharp intelligence being very alert, keeping watch on the movements of the mind.
Ok I’ll stop here. So just some homework for you, all of us.
Grantharaj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jai!!