3rd April 2019

SHARPEN YOUR TOOLS!

We had been having meeting here to plan out the Festival. Inauguration of Prabhupada ghat, Padayatraand 70 Vyasa Puja. We are also starting a new gurukul in Pandharpur. The point is 70 of this and 700 hundred of that and 7000 of that, like that talk is going on.

So I was thinking till Vyasa Puja time we should have 700 participants on the conference. 7000 Bhagavada-Gitas will be distributed and 70000 plates of prasada will be distributed. That’s the target. We should also aim for 700 participants. Because more participants means more association. We have sadhu sanga by chanting together. I am still here in Pandharpur. I said yesterday that dhama works as better asana for the chanter. Remembrance of the Lord becomes natural and easier. While chanting Hare Krishnawe have to end up remembering Krsna. You could remember name, form, pastimes, dhama and even devotees of Krsna because Krsna lila can’t take place without the participation of devotees. They are a big part of Krsna lila. They are part of Krsna consciousness. Specially you could remember , Namacarya Haridas Thakura and devotees like him. Then certainly we will end up remembering Krsna. Remembrance of the beautiful form of the Lord.

Sundar te dhyaan ubhe witewari
Kar kataawari thhewoniya

Tulasi haar gala, kaanse pitaanbar
Awade nirntar techi rup

Makarakundale talapati shrawani
Knthhi kaustubhamani wiraajit

Tuka mhane maajhe hechi sarw sukh
Paahin shrimukh awadine( Bhajan by Tukaram Maharaja)

Form of the Lord here in Pandharpur standing on the brick.

Tuka mhane maajhe hechi sarw sukh
Paahin shrimukh awadine

TRANSLATION:

Beautiful. He is the object of my meditation standing on a brick, hands placed on waist

A garland of Tulasi leaves adorns His neck. Yellow silken cloth wrapped around His waist. I adore this image unceasingly.

Crocodile shaped earrings shine brilliantly by His ears. A precious stone called Kaustubha regally adorns the necklace.

Tuka says this is my only happiness I will visualize His lotus face with all affection or fondness

Tukaram Maharaja says this is my favourite activity. I love to see the Lord, remember the Lord. See His Lotus Face, see His Hands kept on the waist and would also relish watching His Lotus Feet. Paahin shrimukh awadine. With great pleasure, and affection, I would like to relish the beauty of the Lotus face of the Lord.

The other part of the talk was that everybody talks about sharpening the tools. If you want to get the job done efficiently then you have to sharpen the tool. To give an example in seminars they talk of this . Two persons are sitting on either side of the log or piece of wood. They have a saw, and they are holding it on either side of the log and trying to cut the log. But the saw is very blunt, not sharp. They may spend the whole day cutting that log. People are advising stop doing this,why are you taking so long to cut one log?Do something so that you could do the job faster. But they are not doing that. So finally wisdom prevailed and they accepted the advice, to sharpened their saw. Then they started cutting and then very fast in no time they could cut another piece of wood. Something which had taken whole day now they manage it in no time. So what had happened? They sharpened their tool. So while chanting Hare Krishna we should also sharpen our tool , for better results or more efficient chanting. What do we want to achieve by chanting? So if you want to get that Krsnaprema faster, then we have to sharpen the tool. We use many tools, out of that intelligence is one of the tools. I don’t know whether you are using it, but we have to use our intelligence while chanting Hare Krishna. We have to develop, sharpen that tool. I am not going to talk about other tools as time doesn’t permit us. We will focus on intelligence as tool which has big role to play, during our chanting. Our tool must be sharpened if we wish to get the results of chanting, faster, not after many, many lifetimes. Who knows even after that whether we will get it or not. If we don’t sharpen our tools while chanting.

Bhagavatam also says

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the name of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”(CC Ādi 3.52)

Intelligent people will take up chanting. There also it is said that sumedhasa which means sharp intelligence. With the help of this sharp intelligence then we could focus the mind, attentively on chanting. Krsna says

vyavasāyātmikā buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca
buddhayo ’vyavasāyinām

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.( BG. 2.41)

Krishna said vyavasāyātmikā buddhir which means sharpen intelligence. Then ekeha kuru-nandana. Then the intelligent person will focus on one thing, that is Krsna. Focus on hearing

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Mind is another tool. We should control this tool favourably. You control your uncontrolled mind with the help of intelligence only. Think more on this. I am just giving you certain hints. Study about these matters or topics. This is just food for thought. How to help intelligence. Someone said that by reading books one could be ntelligent. There could be a whole seminar on what is intelligence, what is it’s functions etc. Intelligence is one of the element. Mind is yet anotherand like that there could be another. In solitude we can concentrate better.

bhūmir āpo ’nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā

Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – all together these eight constitute My separated material energies.( BG. 7.4)

Lord mentioned eight types of Prakritis . Buddhi is one of the element of that, with which our subtle body is made.

Before we stop today, we will like to extend our invitation to all of you. It was my desire that each one of you should get a personal invitation. We have Ekalavya Prabhu here , who is the part of a team and reception committee. He will extend the invitation to all of you.

Ekalavya Prabhu:

Hare Krishna!

I would like to offer my obeisance to Guru Maharaja and all of you. I would like to extend the invitation to this wonderful Asadhi Ekadasi Festival from July 9 to July 15. This Festival will feature is opening of Prabhupada ghat. This is the beautiful ghat on the banks of ChandrabhagaRiver. The other day when we all and GuruMaharaja arrived on the ghat,and I saw Guru Maharaja with around 50 devotees reviewing the construction of the ghat. One thought came to my mind is ‘This ghat is really big. In Pandharpur there is nothing as big as this. This ghat is called ‘Srila Prabhupada ghat’. So through this Guru Maharaja is spreading the glories of Prabhupada throughout Maharashtra. I was discussing the ghat with temple president Prahalad Prabhuji. I told him ‘ Prahalad this ghat is big!! He said, “It’s not big. It’s huge, gigantic”. This ghat is ‘na bhuto na bhavishyati’. Never before have I seen a ghat like this and may be will never see one like this. So on occasion of 70th Vyasa Puja we will have a grand opening of this with VIPs and devotees. We are expecting around 7000 devotees. There are many more aspects of this, but I feel life is short, and time is going onso we should conclude. So we offer our invitation to all of you. Please come and join us and give us opportunity to serve you and benefit by your association here in Pandharpur.

The most important thing is we will all get association of Guru Maharaja. Thank you very much.

Vyasa Puja maha mahotsav ki Jai! Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!

Hare Krishna!!