BEST USE OF A BAD BARGAIN!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hare Krishna!