5 January 2020

Bhakti should be constantly practised with love

Today there is participation from 400 places. We welcome all of you. It is Sunday to-day. It’s said in the Bible that the Lord created for 6 days and on the 7th day He rested. So now people also rest on Sunday. Sunday is vacation day, rest day. But we Hare Krsnas don’t take rest. Hare Krsnas are never on vacation.

Sunday ho ya Monday, we chant every day

tvayi me ‘nanya-visaya
matir madhu-pate ‘sakrt
ratim udvahatad addha
gangevaugham udanvati

Translation:
O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else. [SB 1.8. 42]

So we should also pray that our bhakti should be like this. Lord Krsna has also said in Bhagavad-gita, satatam kirtayanto mam.

satatam kirtayanto mam
yatantas ca drdha-vratah
namasyantas ca mam bhaktya
nitya-yukta upasate

Translation:
Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.{BG 9.14}

Sri Krsna Caitanya said, “kirtaniya sada hari”

Kirtana of Hari always! We are also servants. What type of servants? Nityadasa! We are always a servant, not just a morning or afternoon servant. This is our only dharma. Dharma means that which can’t be separated from us, our nature. Srila Bhakti VinodT-hakur has named it Jaiva dharma – dharma of the jiva. What is the dharma of a servant? Serving his master. We should always be following our dharma, then kirtaniya sada hari is possible.

tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatanm priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te

Translation:
To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.[BG 10.10]

satata yuktanam – One should constantly be devoted and worship the Lord with love. So satata yuktanam bhakti should be constant and with love. That’s the symptom of love

dhyayan stuvams tasya yashas trisandhyam [Sri Sri Gurvastakam, verse 8]

At least three times a day I should offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master- trisandhya.
That’s said in Srimad-Bhagvatam.

sa vai pumsam paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhoksaje [SB 1.2.06]

Pumsam means jivatma, the supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. This is grantha Bhagavat and name of our dharma is Bhagavat dharma and actually that’s the right name. And how should our bhakti be ? ahaituki apratihata. Devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted. There should not be any material desires. De-votional service should be pure.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said

na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagad-isa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

Translation
”O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth.” [Siksastaka 4]

If you don’t want bhukti, take some mukti. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘No I am ready to take birth, but I want your causeless devotional service.’ So bhakti should be akanda.

yayatma suprasidati

If you do all this your atma your soul will be happy.

brahma-bhutah prasannatma
na socati na kanksati [BG 18.54]

One who is thus transcendentally situated, never laments nor desires to have anything; he is equally disposed to every living entity. He lives and does his devotional service. He is not affected by what happened in the past. We say Hare Krishna mantra, but we are not meditating on the Lord. We are worried about our future, and we lament about our past. So we should do bhakti in the present. We should chant with all attention, then there will be happiness all over.

anandi ananda gade jikate tikade sagadikade

Do you like this line? It’s very nice. Once a disciple asked Prabhupada a question relat-ed to chanting. His name was Sivananda Dasa. Prabhupada answered his question, Yes-terday when I was studying, I read it. It was 40 years back and I thought I should share with you all. It is a very common question. After 40 years also the question is the same and keeps coming. It’s a common question and keeps coming around. Prabhupada has already answered it, but still it has not reached everyone in ISKCON.

Prabhupada writes:

Regarding your first question, is it offensive if thoughts of Krsna’s pastime come in your mind during chanting? Many devotees think that while chanting remembering the Lord’s pastime is offensive. So some devotees say, “Oh just chant or just hear. Do not even think.” Let’s first read Prabhupad’s answer and then discuss.

“I think you should know it’s not offensive In fact it’s required. One must try to point when he simply hears Krsna immediately all of Krsna.” What ever is related to Krsna he should remember all His form, all of His qualities, all His rupa should all come to the chanters thought. So to always be immersed in thoughts of Krsna this is our process. When we are full of Krsna then where there can be any chance of Maya being in us.

Jaha krsna taha nahi mayar adhikar

Krsna is all in our hearts there is empty place in our hearts so how can maya enter in our heart. Then where can there be chance for maya being in us. So it’s our duty to re-member Lords pastime always. One who can’t remember the pastime of Krsna let him always hear hare krsna. Then hearing chanting one will become fully Krsna conscious.

We sing in Gurvastakam,
sri-radhika-madhavayor apara-
madhurya-lila-guna-rupa-namnam
prati-kshanaswadana-lolupasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

prati-kshana –every moment one should remember the Lord. What just chanting mean? Only chanting? But if one is just chanting that’s incomplete chanting. If there is kirtana then there is sravanam also. Do we just leave the mantras in the air? No, we hear them. Some say just hear and chant, that’s also incomplete. If one hears and chants then the next stage is remembering. Prabhupada said, ’All of Krsna.” Simply hear Krsna and im-mediately ‘All of Krsna’. The pastimes are all in his thoughts, in his heart.

Smrutipatal is like a screen inside us, as we chant and hear immediately there is smara-nam on our smrutiptal.

santah sadaiva hridayesu vilokayanti
yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami [Brahma-samhita 5.38] So sravan, kirtana and smaran

When we chant smaranam is there and then we hear Srimad-Bhagavatam and read oth-er sastra like Caitanya-caritamrta. One who has chanted and then he reads sastra then immediately everything will sit in his mind and heart. Whatever I read and try to re-member is only the result of sravanam and kirtanam. That’s like a reward for us – what-ever we read after chanting goes deeper. Our faith becomes more determined and strong. Without sravanam and kirtanam reading is not that powerful.

gita bhagavat karti sravan akanda kirtana vithobha che

If one reads Gita-Bhagavat he remembers Lord Viththala, Tukarama Maharaja says. It’s like a circle. Lord reveals to those who do hearing and chanting.

Aksharakruti as I was reading yesterday. Nama has a form, ha re krs na these are letters, akshara. In the maha-mantra there are 32 letters and 16 names. Words are formed from letters. Raghunath Goswami has written in a song, Aksharakruti. From letters the Lord manifests as a Deity form. So from aksharakruti we get aksharamurti. By hearing and chanting you remember the Lord. And whatever you remember after chanting becomes your property. Now your knowledge is becoming science-practical realisations. Now you will read sastra with nistha. Once you were reading with faith, now you have to read with nistha. And then you do bhakti with nistha. We have to become nisthavan then.

nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya

By regular reading of Bhagavatam and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed. And now your faith is ma-ture. So whatever we read after chanting and hearing the Lord reveals Himself to us.

Once while Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was giving a class disciple got up and went for darsana. When he came back Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked, “How was your eye exercise?I was sitting here to give you eyes to see the Lord and you went away.”
We can’t have darsana of the Lord by our own effort and strength.

nayam atma pravacanena labhyo na medhaya, na bahuna srutena [The Mundaka Upanishad]

Only when there will be mercy of Guru and Gauranga then it’s possible. So it’s a cycle.
We chant, we hear and then we understand the Lord more and Lord gets situated in our heart.