Diary
of a Traveling Sadhaka, Vol. 10, No. 7
By Krishna-kripa das
(April 2014, part one)
By Krishna-kripa das
(April 2014, part one)
Mayapur,
Mumbai, and Istanbul
(Sent from Dover, England, on April 25, 2014)
(Sent from Dover, England, on April 25, 2014)
Where
I Went and What I Did
I
was very happy to attain Sri Mayapur Dham again after a week in
Kolkata. There I did harinama,
the
congregational chanting of the holy name, for nearly three hours
every day for ten days. One day I also chanted in Krishnanagar with
a group of devotees from Mayapur. In Mayapur I celebrated Rama Navami
and attended part of Jayapataka Swami’s Vyasa Puja ceremony. I took
a train to Mumbai, chanting at Bilaspur, Raipur, and Nagpur along
the way. In Mumbai I did harinama
one
day with Juhu devotees and next day with Mira Road devotees. I also
spoke at a program glorifying Aindra Prabhu near Mira Road. On my way
back to Dublin, I chanted both with a violinist and by myself in the
Istanbul airport.
I
share very inspiring quotes from Srila Prabhupada’s books and notes
on his lectures. I share excerpts from the journal of Satsvarupa Dasa
Goswami. I include notes on lectures by Jayapataka Swami, Bhakti
Vidya Purna Swami, Bhakti Purushottama Swami, Bhaktisiddhanta Swami,
Murari Krishna Swami, and Janmastami Prabhu.
I
want to thank my friend Tara Prabhu for very kindly giving me a
liberal donation in Mayapur as well as a couple great lunches
featuring vegetables grown in his own garden. I want to thank Gaura
Dasa Prabhu from South Africa for kindly letting me stay with him for
eleven days in Mayapur and feeding me many healthy and tasty meals. I
want to thank Janmastami Prabhu, Jnanagamya Prabhu, Vaikuntha Prabhu, and Dina Bandhu
Prabhu for inviting me for meals while in Mayapur.
Thanks to Dina Bandhu Prabhu for the pictures of me on harinama in Mayapur. Thanks to Prema Ras Prabhu for the pictures of me on harinama in Mumbai. Thanks to images.google.com and the original photographers for the pictures of the Mayapur deities. Thanks to Saci Gaurasundara Prabhu for the picture of Gaura Das Prabhu.
Thanks to Dina Bandhu Prabhu for the pictures of me on harinama in Mayapur. Thanks to Prema Ras Prabhu for the pictures of me on harinama in Mumbai. Thanks to images.google.com and the original photographers for the pictures of the Mayapur deities. Thanks to Saci Gaurasundara Prabhu for the picture of Gaura Das Prabhu.
Itinerary
April
26: King’s Day, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
April
27–30: The Netherlands
May
1–2: Manchester, England
May
3–5: North UK Retreat
May
6–9: Newcastle
May
10–11: Birmingham 24-hour kirtana
May
12–13: Newcastle
May
14: Sheffield
May
15: Preston
May
16–17: Manchester
May
18: Sheffield Ratha-yatra
rest
of May–July (first two-thirds): The North of England, London
Ratha-yatra, Stonehenge Solstice Festival
July
(last third)–August (first two-thirds): Baltic Summer Festival,
Polish Woodstock, Czech Woodstock
August
(last third)–September (first half): The North of England,
Ireland
September
(rest): New York
Reflections
on Mayapur
Mayapur,
in the Nadia District of West Bengal, is the place where Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu appeared in this world. Bhagavad-gita
reveals
its speaker, Sri Krishna, to be the original form of the Supreme
Lord, and confidential parts of the Vedic literature tell how He
appears again in the role of His own devotee, Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, in the beginning of this age of degradation known as
Kali, to show how to practice devotional service to the Lord by His
own example. He is glorified for giving the highest spiritual
perfection krishna-prema,
love
of Godhead, to people without any spiritual qualifications. Mayapur
is similarly merciful. Sleeping in Mayapur is considered as bowing
down before the Lord. Eating food grown in Mayapur is described to
bless one with love of God. Offenses in Mayapur are not counted
against one. Even great saints who gave up everything to reside in
Krishna’s land of Vrindavan, end up renouncing Vrindavan to live in
Mayapur.
I
found it very easy to execute the vow of chanting 16 times around the
strings of 108 beads in Mayapur. Even if I made no real endeavor to
chant in the morning, if I just chanted as I walked from here to
there or while waiting in lines I would easily complete my vow by the
end of the day.
In
Mayapur I see people I knew when I lived in San Diego, when I lived
in Alachua, who I met on the Polish festival tour, who I met in the
UK, who I met in other parts of Europe, who I met in other parts of
India, and who I met in Mayapur, when I would spent the winter
studying there. Some of my friends live there now. I had meals with
friends on several occasions.
I stayed with Gaura Dasa Prabhu, from South Africa, who I met and visited in the Manchester area the last two summers and who was very hospitable.
I stayed with Gaura Dasa Prabhu, from South Africa, who I met and visited in the Manchester area the last two summers and who was very hospitable.
Some Radhanatha Swami disciples involved with the Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai have created a similar, but small facility in Mayapur, in what used to be called the polyclinic in Gaur Nagar, just before you get to our ISKCON temple.
You
can see the Vedic Temple of the Planetarium construction progressing
as you walk around our Mayapur property. Leaders are asking everyone
to sponsor a square foot of the temple for $150 or 7000 rupees.
It
is a little unusual that on Lord Rama’s appearance day in Mayapur,
they do not have a big feast for all the devotees. I was invited for
lunch that day, so I was not very disturbed. I learned for future
reference that at the Prabhupada Puspa Samadhi there is a feast for
some senior devotees and at Murari Gupta’s Sita-Rama temple there
is a feast at 2:00 p.m. for who ever shows up.
Amazingly, even the monkeys congregated above the medical dispensary near the gate, as if preparing to greet Jayapataka Swami.
The Mayapur devotees were very inspired to decorate the campus for the arrival of Jayapataka Swami with all kinds of artwork made with chalk and flower petals
Amazingly, even the monkeys congregated above the medical dispensary near the gate, as if preparing to greet Jayapataka Swami.
Later they moved above the main gate.
I
love looking at the altar of Radha, Madhava, and their eight female
associates. It is the Gaudiya Vaishnava understanding that service to
the divine couple, Krishna and His beloved consort Radha, is the
highest spiritual ecstasy. Krishna and Radha share the joy of Their transcendental love with those who assist Them in Their pastimes.
This is depicted on the altar where the eight girlfriends of
Radha-Madhava all appear very joyfully engaged in the service of the
divine couple. This time I finally memorized all eight of their names. On
Krishna’s side of the altar, from left to right, are Tungavidya, Citra,
Campakalata, and Lalita, and on Radha’s side of the altar, from left to
right, are Visakha, Indulekha, Rangadevi and Sudevi.
Chanting
the evening arati prayers in front of the Panca-tattva, Lord
Caitanya and His four associates, is also an unforgettable experience
– so many people chanting and dancing in front of the personality
who inaugurated this practice of chanting and dancing and who we hope
to please by that activity.
I
look forward to my next visit to Mayapur, planned for February 2016.
Harinamas
in Mayapur
Kusha
Prabhu, from Africa, playing drum, is in charge of the Mayapur
Harinama Party, while Gitanagari Prabhu, playing the harmonium, is
there every day to sing and arrange for others to sing.
After
leaving Kolkata, I arrived in Mayapur at 3:00 p.m., just in time for
harinama,
which
was from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. Later they shifted from to 4:00 p.m. to 6:30
p.m., desiring to avoid some of the heat of the sun, but that proved
to be too late, and so they settled on 3:30 to 6:00 p.m.
I
was leading the singing near Hulor Ghat, when my friend Dina Bandhu
Prabhu from Gainesville, along with Darlina, his wife, came by,
returning from shopping in Navadvipa with Tulasirani dd. I was given
45 minutes to sing, but I gave half my time to him to encourage him
since I know he plays some lively tunes on the harmonium. The
brahmacari
drummer
from Malayasia liked Dina Bandhu’s singing so much, he encouraged
him to sing for the rest of the harinama.
Darlina
did a great job of singing the response as Dina Bandhu led. Dina
Bandhu fell in love with doing harinama
in
Mayapur in procession with the Gaura-Nitai deities on our cart and
came out every day for the rest of his stay, arriving punctually by
3:00 p.m. each day. I am always encouraging people to go on harinama,
at
the expense of having to endure the pain of hearing their excuses, so
it was a great joy to see Dina Bandhu Prabhu’s spontaneous
enthusiasm, which judging from his timeliness, may exceed my own.
Some
girls in the playground moved to the music of our chanting party.
The
next day we went to the Sita Rama temple at the home of Murari Gupta,
the incarnation of Hanuman in Lord Caitanya’s pastimes. We sang for
the deities there for a little over an hour.
One
the way back, Svarupa Damodar Prabhu, from Ukraine, who I have seen
in previous years on Mayapur Harinama Party, led the singing with
great delight. He stayed a few more weeks before returning to
Ukraine.
The
day after that we went to the Jagannatha temple across the Jalangi
River from Hulor Ghat. I had to leave early as I promised some
devotees I would go on harinama
with
them in Krishnanagar.
One devotee there was doing a program at his house and wanted to precede it with a harinama around that area of Krishnanagar.
A bunch of Western devotees from Mayapur came, many from Brazil, some from Russia, Czech Republic, Croatia, and a few other places. It took so much time waiting to go and getting there that we were only able to do harinama for an hour and fifteen minutes or so.
Still it was good to go, and many people received the party nicely, like the smiling and clapping motorcycle rider above. We also did kirtana
at
the home of our host, and honored prasadam
there
as well.
One devotee there was doing a program at his house and wanted to precede it with a harinama around that area of Krishnanagar.
Deities accompanied us on the procession.
The ladies danced.
Mangalavati Citra dd was especially enthusiastic.
The guys danced.
On
Saturdays and Sundays and near the time of Jayapataka Swami’s Vyasa
Puja we chanted around our Mayapur campus because it was so crowded
there. Often the people are milling around in an unfocused way, and
harinama
increases
their devotional concentration.
Sometimes we go and chant down by the goshala,
the
cow barn. They have very nice lassi
there
for just 20 rupees which is very refreshing, and a tasty way of
supporting the cow program.
Sometimes the people are willing to
sing and dance.
The devotee ladies often danced with the pilgrims.
Sometimes
we chanted where the devotees were distributing free prasadam,
spiritual
food.
After
the feast for Jayapataka Swami’s Vyasa Puja, a mother and daughter
from Bangalore joined our harinama
party.
Our amplifier was so loud it woke them up, and they saw our party
from the window of their room, and they came down to join us, staying
the rest of the afternoon. They considered this harinama
was
just the ideal activity to be doing during their vacation in Mayapur
and were so happy to be a part of it. A shorter girl from Jaipur also
joined us the same day, also happy to be on the party. [In Jaipur
chanting parties in the streets are not unusual, and once on harinama
there
I encountered another harinama
party.]
The three ladies all sang the response, often into the microphone. They all fell in love with the Mayapur Harinama Party and came every day for the rest of their stay. On my last day, I explained to the mother that every two years, I come to join the party for two months, all the way from America, and that in the same way, she could make it a point to come regularly to Mayapur and do harinama, perhaps a week every year. She liked the idea but said, like a typical Indian wife, that it depended on if her husband let her.
The three ladies all sang the response, often into the microphone. They all fell in love with the Mayapur Harinama Party and came every day for the rest of their stay. On my last day, I explained to the mother that every two years, I come to join the party for two months, all the way from America, and that in the same way, she could make it a point to come regularly to Mayapur and do harinama, perhaps a week every year. She liked the idea but said, like a typical Indian wife, that it depended on if her husband let her.
In
the evening at our Mayapur campus they had a four-day program under
the title “Tribal Care”. Apparently one concern is that people
in rural Bengal are becoming converted to Christianity by being given
free rice. They asked different devotees to speak. When I spoke I
told the story of how a zealous Indian Christian was really
pressuring me to accept a Bible on a train in South India. I was
trying to think of a way to respond to him, and it occurred to me to
say, “I come from America which is a predominantly Christian
country and the Christians had twenty years of my life to convince me
to give up sinful acts and take shelter of God, but they failed. The
Hare Krishnas, however, were successful, so I am going to stick with
them.” After telling that story, I glorified the Hare Krishna
mantra and how it gives you a higher spiritual experience and gives
you the strength to give up self-destructive activities. Some
devotees liked what I said. Before the speaking, both the locals and
the Westerners chanted. One day Tulasirani dd, who I know from
Florida, got to sing once but only for five or ten minutes. She sang
a tune which she sang in December at the University of North Florida
green and did a good job with it. I got to sing on the stage each day
I was there, but never to lead. I felt I got to sing on harinama
for
forty-five minutes or an hour every day, so I did not really mind.
The day when the organizer planned to ask me to lead, I did not come
since the Krishnanagar program she also organized went so late it
messed up my schedule, and I was not eager to add another event to my
life. I am happy just going on the regular Mayapur Harinama Party,
keeping up on my reading and blog, and catching up on my promises to
devotees.
Chanting
on the Train to Mumbai
As
usual, I downloaded the list of the stops with their duration for the
Jnaneswari Express I took to Mumbai so I could chant on the platform
at the longer stops. We arrived at Bilaspur about ten minutes early,
a surprise, especially considering we left Howrah eight minutes late.
Thus we stayed there at least twenty-five minutes instead of the
scheduled fifteen. I sang a three-part Hare Krishna tune on the
platform with my harmonium, which sounds a lot better because of the
two repairs I had done on it by Master Pankaj in Mayapur. A group of
varying size listened.
One man (on the right in front) sang along. I decided to reciprocate with him by giving him a book about Krishna as a gift, but he passed in to some young uniformed men (left), who had been cleaning the train while it was stopped. After their cleaning, they had listened to me sing, and took some video of it. They were happy to get the book. I had them take a photo of my last business card, so they would have my email address to send me the video. You never know if the people will, but the last one who took a picture did.
One man (on the right in front) sang along. I decided to reciprocate with him by giving him a book about Krishna as a gift, but he passed in to some young uniformed men (left), who had been cleaning the train while it was stopped. After their cleaning, they had listened to me sing, and took some video of it. They were happy to get the book. I had them take a photo of my last business card, so they would have my email address to send me the video. You never know if the people will, but the last one who took a picture did.
As
I got on the train, someone in my compartment continued singing Hare
Krishna to the same tune, and I offered him a book. I asked him,
“Hindi or Bangla?” He said, “Bangla,” and I gave him my last
Bengali book.
I
saw him reading it on two occasions, once aloud to himself as he lay
in his side upper berth. I chanted again at Raipur. When I chant and
feel awkward about it, I think of how Lord Caitanya predicted and
desired that the holy name of Krishna be chanted in every town and
village, and my attempt must be pleasing to Him. It is also
glorification of the foresight and potency of Caitanya Mahaprabhu
that a Westerner is even singing the holy names at all. And it is a reminder that the chanting of the holy name is the dharma of this
age, as I told the people at Bilaspura just before my train left.
Just
before reaching Nagpur, I met Rohit, a young Indian salesman who
works in the area of software. Because he worked sometime in San
Francisco, he spoke English beautifully. He was originally from
Uttarakhand, literally “the north country” of India, near
Haridwar, and appreciated that area where the Ganges flows as a
spiritual place. He told me of another place in the north called
Nanital, which has many temples which give you a profound spiritual
feeling. He was from Pune, and I showed him the recent Back
to Godhead with
the article on our new temple there, and I promised to send him a
copy. He was leaving the train at Nagpur, and I told him I was going
to sing for the ten minutes we were scheduled to stop there and I
invited him to listen. His train was not for two hours so he agreed.
He listened for most of the time, and advised me to learn Hindi to
explain to people what I was doing, so they would appreciate it more.
Chanting
in Mumbai
My
friend Prema Ras Prabhu who started the Friday night program in
Gainesville, especially for his friends, Indian IT and engineering
students, ended up moving back to Mumbai after graduating and working
briefly in America. He kindly asked his harinama
friends
to arrange some extra harinamas
for
me in Mumbai. When I arrived in Mumbai, just as when I arrived in
Delhi, I got to do some extra harinama
as
I ended up at a different exit from the train station than the
devotee who came to get me anticipated. I always assume the exit near
platform one is the best place to meet people, but in India that is
not always true. Thus I chanted outside Dadar for 40 minutes,
surrounded by leaf sellers, garland sellers, and taxis. The leaf
sellers provided a table for my harmonium and seat to sit on. One
also let me use his phone, as I had no credit on mine.
Later as the afternoon ended, we chanted twenty minutes in a motor rickshaw to a garden ISKCON Juhu owns by the beach.
Later as the afternoon ended, we chanted twenty minutes in a motor rickshaw to a garden ISKCON Juhu owns by the beach.
We
chanted briefly at the entrance to the garden.
Inside
the garden we chanted for over an hour.
We
had 36 people listening to us in the garden at one point! Five
chanted and about ten clapped. Later some young kids chanted and
danced with us.
Prema Ras Prabhu proved himself expert at inspiring
the kids.
We had five devotees for the end of harinama.
Then
after returning to ISKCON Juhu, we chanted near the prasadam
distribution
and book distribution booths.
There
Adbhuta Hari Prabhu, from Croatia, who used to act as personal
service of his guru, Sridhara Swami, joined us, sometimes playing
mrdanga
and
sometimes singing and playing the harmonium.
Some
people happily danced.
Even
some kids danced.
Thus
I completed my quota of three hours of public chanting of the Hare
Krishna maha-mantra
at
four different venues in Mumbai, (1) outside the Dadar train station,
(2) on the rickshaws to and from the ISKCON garden, (3) at the ISKCON
garden, and (4) outside the Juhu temple to the many pilgrims. I felt
happy to connect with Prema Ras Prabhu, who I remember from his
enthusiasm on our late night Friday harinamas
in
Gainesville, and thankful to Abhinav Prabhu, who organized harinamas
and
participated in them in Mumbai.
The
second day was not as successful as the first, perhaps because of the
absence of Prema Ras. Abhinav thought it would be easier to get the
devotees in ISKCON Mira Road to participate, so we caught a ride over
there in the milk truck that delivers milk from the devotee farm to
both Juhu and Mira Road. That meant missing the second half of the
morning program. We planned to do harinama
from
5:00 to 7:00 p.m., before a home program glorifying Aindra Prabhu,
whose appearance day was recently, but it was not such a good plan to
start at 5:00 p.m. because that is when lunch prasadam
is
served, and thus we changed it to 5:30 p.m. I was a little late from
a dentist appointment at Bhaktivedanta Hospital, and Abhinav was even
later, coming from working in another part of Mumbai. I took lunch at
the hospital to save time, but Abhinav had not had lunch, so it was
6:30 p.m. before we were ready, and then we had to round up some more
people. We started around 6:45 p.m. and had five or six people. We
started from the temple ashram, to the temple itself, and then to the
nearby apartment where the home program was to happen.
There
we stopped at another devotee apartment on the way. We had someone
playing the
whompers
and someone dancing, and that was an increase over the previous day.
I was amazed we could chant so vigorously outside, and even inside, the apartment building where our evening home program was to be
without anyone complaining.
I
was to speak to glorify Aindra Prabhu, who is famous for establishing
the 24-hour kirtana
program
in Vrindavan and for having a lot of devotion for Krishna. I like to
read something from Srila Prabhupada’s books, and decided to read
the symptoms of bhava,
ecstatic
love of God, from The
Nectar of Devotion, as
many of them were prominent in the character of Aindra Prabhu. When
the devotee returned from the temple with an English copy of The
Nectar of Devotion to
speak from, I opened it and was surprised and delighted to find that
although the book has 51 chapters, it opened to the chapter called
“The Character of One in Ecstatic Love”! I decided to talk about
the last four of the nine qualities bhava
which
were described on the very page the book opened to, and to tell how Aindra
Prabhu manifested them:
(6)
He is always very eager to serve the Lord faithfully. (7) He is very
much attached to the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. (8) He
is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord.
(9) He is very pleased to live in a place where the Lord's pastimes
are performed, e.g., Mathura, Vrindavana or Dvaraka. I told my usual
stories of Aindra Prabhu (see
http://krishnamonk.blogspot.no/2010/07/aindra-prabhu-words-of-appreciation.html),
and other people told some as well. We sang some of his
popular tunes. People were satisfied with the program. My only
lamentation is that it went so long I only slept four hours before my
over ten hours of flights to Ireland!
Devotional
Experiences from Mumbai to Dublin
As
I went through airport security in Mumbai, the Indian man who scanned
me asked if I had visited Gujarat. I said no and explained I went to
Mayapur, a sacred place of the Hare Krishnas in West Bengal. Later as
I gathered up my X-rayed belongings, I asked the man if he was from
Gujarat himself, and he said no and asked if I had heard of Haridwar
and Rishikesh. I smiled thinking of my pleasant visits to Rishikesh
the last two times to India, and told him I had been there and how
the Ganges flowing through the mountainous region was so beautiful
and how Rishikesh was a sacred place and he was fortunate to have
come from there. He asked if I liked the Hindu religion. That is a
tricky question to answer for me because there are all kinds of
issues involved, so I groped for something simple and truthful to
say. “Krishna is a very loving God,” I said with a smile. He
replied, also smiling, “Yes, Krishna is a loving God.” Seeing the
beat up condition of my harmonium as it emerged from the X-ray
machine, a security lady asked if it was broken. I took the
opportunity to play a couple of mantras on it to show her it was in fact
in working condition. She was pleased, although some of the others
guards were a little apprehensive to have me playing it at security.
I
placed my harmonium in an empty overhead bin on my Turkish Airlines
flight, but mid flight I noticed someone had placed a violin next to
it. When we arrived in Istanbul, I opened the bin, and the girl in
back of me recognized my instrument as a harmonium. She said likes to
jam with her violin and has been getting into more spiritual music
recently, even playing violin at bhajans.
She
expressed it would be wonderful if it were possible to play together
at the airport before her next flight. I told her how my friend had
played his one-headed drum and chanted in Istanbul on his way to
India, so it was a realistic possibility. When we went through
security in Istanbul, the lady checking the bags wondered about my
harmonium, having never seen one, so I got to play and sing a mantra
at security for her, while the violinist waited. The violinist was
named Lisa, and she lived in Leipzig. She started playing violin at
age 7. She also did meditation and kriya-yoga.
She
had attended the Ancient Trance festival near Leipzig which I had
gone to last year for the first time. I explained that the Hare
Krishnas did music and catered vegetarian food there. She had been to
a Hare Krishna Diwali festival in Leipzig and remembered how
wonderful Krishna food is. I told her how for several years we have
had Kirtan Mela, with six days of chanting twelve hours a day, both
times in a area near Leipzig. Her flight was an hour before mine so
we found her gate and walked most of the way there. It was the time
for boarding to begin, but she was adventurous enough to sit down
along the airport corridor and get out her violin.
With
the scarf around her neck, she removed the dust from her violin’s
adventures in India and tuned it up to the “A” key on my
harmonium. I
played harmonium and sang for ten or fifteen minutes, and she
accompanied me on her violin. A few people took pictures.
You
could see she was really good with her violin, both in replicating the original tune and in improvising upon it. After we
finished she commented on how the chanting had reduced the anxiety of
traveling. I thanked her, saying playing music with her was the best
part of my day so far, and I gave her my last business card, saying I
had videos of the German Kirtan Mela on my blog, and perhaps we could
meet and play again in Germany in the summer.
After
finding my own gate, which turned out to be the same as hers, I
returned to that spot we had chanted before, undisturbed by the
authorities, and thinking it a safe place, played and sang by myself
for another 45 or 50 minutes. Some more people took pictures, smiled,
and gave the old thumbs up. Even the airport employees appreciated.
There was no negatively.
To
see pictures I took but did not include in this journal, please click
on the link below, or copy it to your web browser:
Notes
on Vyasa Puja Homages for Jayapataka Swami
Bhakti
Caru Swami from a letter:
You
went to remote Bengal to reach people. You started nama-hatta
programs
now acclaimed throughout the world. You started Bhakti Vriksa. You
are one of the most compassionate leaders in ISKCON, willing to find
those who left and bring them back.
Radha
Jivan Prabhu:
The
saints are more merciful than Hari as they make His teachings
nectarean and accessible.
Srila
Prabhupada mentioned to the father of Sri Nathaji in Mumbai, who had
done a lot of service for him, “Do you see this disciple
Jayapataka? I want you to adopt him so he can remain in India. He is
a direct associate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.”
Developing
Mayapur is his greatest service.
Once
Srila Prabhupada said, “Every acarya
did something to develop Mayapur. Bhaktivinoda Thakura found Lord
Caitanya’s birthplace and built a temple there. Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura made the largest of his 63 temples in Mayapur. I
want to thank you all for helping me establishing a temple in
Mayapur.” As he said that, he was overcome with heartfelt emotions
and could longer speak.
[Radha
Jivan offered Jaypataka Swami a gigantic Gita, a gift of
Ambarisa Prabhu. He urged Jayapakata Swami to encourage his followers
to support the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium on this Vyasa Puja
Day, and Jayapakata Swami did.]
Rajendrananda
Prabhu:
Jayapataka
Swami had to have a stroke for some people to realize his glories.
He
is a desire tree, praying for anyone’s advancement who comes to him.
Bhismadeva
said, “Eternal time is irreversible otherwise how could there be
reverses in the presence of King Yudhisthira, the son of the demigod controlling
religion; Bhima, the great fighter with a club; the great bowman
Arjuna with his mighty weapon Gandiva; and above all, the Lord, the
direct well-wisher of the Pandavas?”
Jayapataka
Swami’s stroke was to reveal that his devotional service is truly
unmotivated and uninterrupted.
His
only wish is we just tell everybody about the maha-mantra.
A
Srila Prabhupada disciple who has helped in Mayapur since the 1970s:
Jayapataka
Swami is always dynamic, unparalleled and original.
Though
traveling around the world, he never stopped looking at Mayapur.
I
was an early Mayapur treasurer, and I was the only one who could get
him to sign a check. I would just barge in. He would change the topic
a few times but then sign it. Recently when I asked when I could meet
him, he said, “Just barge in like you used to do.”
Insights
Srila
Prabhupada:
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.10,
purport:
“Prahlada
Maharaja says that one who has been born in a brahmana
family but is falsely proud of his prestigious position cannot even
purify himself, not to speak of his family, whereas if a candala,
a lowborn person, is a devotee and has fully surrendered unto the
lotus feet of the Lord, he can purify his entire family. We have had
actual experience of how Americans and Europeans, because of their
full Krishna consciousness, have purified their whole families, so
much so that a mother of a devotee, at the time of her death,
inquired about Krishna with her last breath. Therefore it is
theoretically true and has been practically proven that a devotee can
give the best service to his family, his community, his society and
his nation. The foolish accuse a devotee of following the principle
of escapism, but actually the fact is that a devotee is the right
person to elevate his family. A devotee engages everything in the
service of the Lord, and therefore he is always exalted.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.11,
purport:
“By
glorifying the Lord constantly, the living entity becomes purified in
the core of his heart, and thus he can understand that he does not
belong to the material world but is a spirit soul whose actual
activity is to advance in Krishna consciousness so that he may become
free from the material clutches. . . . In conclusion, the more we
engage in Krishna consciousness and render service unto the Lord, the
more we benefit. Krishna does not need service from any of us.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.12,
purport:
“It
is clearly understood that a devotee does not need to be born in a
very high family, to be rich, to be aristocratic or to be very
beautiful. None of these qualifications will engage one in devotional
service. With devotion one should feel, ‘God is great, and I am
very small. Therefore my duty is to offer my prayers to the Lord.’
Only on this basis can one understand and render service to the
Lord.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.17,
purport:
“The
entire world is under the illusion that people will be happy by
advancing in materialistic measures to counteract the miseries of
conditional life, but this attempt will never be successful. Humanity
must be trained to engage in the transcendental loving service of the
Lord. That is the purpose of the Krishna consciousness movement.
There can be no happiness in changing one’s material conditions,
for everywhere there is trouble and misery.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.18,
purport:
“Attempts
to mitigate the miseries of material existence by material methods
will never be successful. One must take to Krishna consciousness to
become really happy; otherwise happiness is impossible. One might say
that becoming advanced in spiritual life also involves tapasya,
voluntary acceptance of some inconvenience. However, such
inconvenience is not as dangerous as material attempts to mitigate
all miseries.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.22,
purport:
“A
criminal is put in prison and punished by the government, but the
same government, if it likes, can release the criminal from
imprisoned life. Similarly, we must know conclusively that our
material condition of suffering has been allotted to us by the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, and if we want to be saved from this
suffering, we must appeal to the same controller. Thus one can be
saved from this material condition.”
from Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.9.25, purport:
“Our
desires cannot be satisfied by illusory thoughts and plans; rather,
we have to follow the instructions of Lord Krishna: sarva-dharman
parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
[Bg. 18.66]. Then we shall be happy. Otherwise, in the name of
happiness, we shall continue to suffer miserable conditions.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
9.11.16,
purport:
“Aspiring
to possess more and more for personal sense gratification is simply
ignorance, and this ignorance is conspicuous by its absence from the
heart of a brahmana
or Vaishnava.”
from
a class on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18 given on September 26,
1974 in Calcutta:
By
worshiping Krishna, all perfection will be achieved. That is sraddha
[faith].
If
a woman says any man is OK that is not very good. She should think
only my husband is good. That is chastity. Similarly we must be
chaste in our relationship with Krishna.
We
must associate with sadhus (saints) with unflinching faith in
Krishna.
Where
is this bhagavata-saptaha
[seven-day recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam
by
professional men] described? I have not seen it in any scripture. . .
. Rather it said nityam-bhagavata-sevaya
[daily
hear the Srimad-Bhagavatam].
from
The
Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
24:
“Any
person who is reliable in all circumstances is called dependable. In
this connection Rupa Gosvami says that even the demons were relying
upon the dependability of Krishna, because they were confident that
Krishna would never attack them without due cause. Therefore, with
faith and confidence, they used to live with their doors wide open.
And the demigods, although afraid of the demons, were confident of
the protection of Krishna. Therefore,even in the midst of danger they
were engaged in sportive activities. Persons who had never undergone
the reformatory ritualistic ceremonies of the Vedas were confident
that Krishna would acceptonly faith and devotion, and so they were
engaged in Krishna consciousness and were freed from all anxieties.
In other words, all kinds of men, from the demigods down to the
uncultured, can rely on the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord.”
“Persons
who can give themselves to anyone are called magnanimous. No one
could be more magnanimous than Krishna, because He is always prepared
to give Himself completely to His devotee. Even to one who is not a
devotee, Krishna in His form of Lord Caitanya is prepared to give
Himself and to grant deliverance.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.29,
purport:
“The
Lord acts only to satisfy the desires of His devotees; otherwise He
has nothing to do. As confirmed in the Vedic language, na
tasya karyam karanam ca vidyate:
the Lord has nothing to do personally, for everything is done through
His different potencies [parasya
shaktir vividhaiva sruyate] [Cc.
Madhya
13.65, purport]. The Lord has multifarious energies, through which
everything is done. Thus when He personally does something, it is
only to satisfy His devotee.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.30,
purport:
“The
energy in which the Lord’s all-pervasiveness is not realized is
called material. Otherwise, everything is spiritual.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.31,
purport:
“When
the devotee is fully Krishna conscious, undisturbed by dualities, he
is sure that he will return home, back to Godhead.”
from
Srimad-Bhagavatam
7.9.34,
purport:
“Modern
scientists have tried to explain the origin of creation by a chunk
theory [Big Bang], but no one can explain how such a chunk might have
burst. The Vedic literature, however, explains clearly that the total
material energy was agitated by the three modes of material nature
because of the glance of the Supreme Lord. In other words, in terms
of the chunk theory, the bursting of the chunk was caused by the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus one must accept the supreme
cause, Lord Vishnu, as the cause of all causes.”
from
The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
25:
“When
a devotee is never tired of executing devotional service and is
always engaged in Krishna conscious activities, constantly relishing
the transcendental mellows in relationship with Krishna, he is called
perfect. This perfectional stage can be achieved in two ways: one may
achieve this stage of perfection by gradual progress in devotional
service, or one may become perfect by the causeless mercy of Krishna,
even though he has not executed all the details of devotional
service.”
“Anyone
who becomes exhilarated by hearing of the pastimes of Lord Krishna
when He was present on this earth with His associates is to be
understood as nitya-siddha,
eternally perfect.”
from a lecture on
Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.2.18 given on October 29, 1972 in Vrndavana:
If
you engage yourself in devotional service of the Lord, then
immediately, directly, the anarthas [which are not required,
unnecessary] will be diminished.
If
you actually want to diminish anarthas
[unwanted
desires] in the heart, you must hear about Krishna as He is speaking
without interpretation. . . . Why don’t you take this opportunity.
. . . Simple process, but the rascals will not take it.
Bhagavatam
is something
you can understand in seven days? The real process is to always or
daily hear from Srimad-Bhagavatam:
nityam bhagavata sevaya.
If
one unconsciously commits some sin that is forgiven, but not if one
intentionally commits sins.
from
The Nectar of Devotion, Chapter
26:
“To
be attracted by the qualities of Krishna means to be attracted by
Krishna Himself, because there is no real distinction between Krishna
and His qualities. Krishna’s name is also Krishna. Krishna’s fame
is also Krishna. Krishna’s entourage is also Krishna. Krishna and
everything related with Krishna which gives stimulation to love of
Krishna are all Krishna, but for our understanding these items may be
considered separately.”
Satsvarupa
Dasa Goswami:
“Today’s
drawing shows three
devotees dancing and chanting
with upraised arms.
Harinama devotees
bring relief to people
with disturbed minds.
They have appeared at
scenes of recent disasters
or riots and spread
a calming influence.
The positive-mindedness
of the chanters offsets
the gloom and depression
present in intense situations.
God’s holy names have
the power to calm
agitated minds. Even in intense scenes
of material enjoyment,
at gatherings before
rock concerts or
sporting events, it
is good to share
harinama to bring
a level of sanity
and spiritual presence.”
devotees dancing and chanting
with upraised arms.
Harinama devotees
bring relief to people
with disturbed minds.
They have appeared at
scenes of recent disasters
or riots and spread
a calming influence.
The positive-mindedness
of the chanters offsets
the gloom and depression
present in intense situations.
God’s holy names have
the power to calm
agitated minds. Even in intense scenes
of material enjoyment,
at gatherings before
rock concerts or
sporting events, it
is good to share
harinama to bring
a level of sanity
and spiritual presence.”
Jayapataka
Swami:
from
a lecture on his Vyasa Puja Day:
Bhaktisiddhanta
Saravati Thakura makes the point that to be guru you have to accept
to be worshiped on the same level as the Supreme Lord. But it is Lord
Caitanya’s order to become guru, and so it must be done.
One
householder devotee felt that he did not accomplish much in
preaching. I asked him, “How many devotees did you make last year?”
He replied, “Only 76.”
Bhaktisiddhanta
Saravati Thakura said even if we can convince one person to become a
devotee, we are successful.
Sometimes
we make very high goals. Just try to make your parents become
devotees.
We
should be very encouraging, and people will do more and more.
We
are fortunate. By Lord Caitanya’s mercy in one life we can go back
to Krishna.
Here
Lord Caitanya worshiped Lord Nityananda in a Vyasa Puja ceremony. The
spiritual master teaches the Vedas of Vyasadeva. He tells the truth
because he hands down what he has obtained in parampara
[the spiritual lineage].
The
guru takes care of all the devotees to please the guru
parampara [his
spiritual predecessors].
I
told Srila Prabhupada I wanted to serve him life after life. Srila
Prabhupada said, “'Why do you want me to come back?”
We
want everyone to go back in one life. I am helping you to do that.
Bhakti
Vidya Purna Swami:
For
the prajapatis
sex
life is performed out of duty to populate the universe.
Because
sex life is the most intense enjoyment for the senses, it is
highlighted as the greatest bondage to the material world where fear
and death will remain our constant companions.
The
couples in Vaikuntha exist because in that capacity they have all
kinds of facilities to serve the Lord. What facilities would a bunch
of babaji
[mendicants]
have
to serve the Lord?
Couples
in the spiritual world do not exist just for sex.
Romance
disappears long ago, but what remains is companionship. If you do not
have companionship, you will not have a lasting marriage. People who
are extremely dutiful will make the marriage last at least until the
kids are grown.
In
Vaikuntha couples as there so you have someone to fly around in your
airplane talking about Vishnu with.
Q by a devotee lady:
How can one be celibate for any length of time since we have such a
strong need companionship?
A:
You always have Supersoul [the Lord in the heart] to hang out with.
For
a couple to have a lasting relationship, they must go from the
physical to the emotional and from the emotional to the spiritual.
In
Vraja, who is not married? In the spiritual world you have a few
unmarried devotees like Hanuman and Narada, but most everyone is
married.
Brahmacari
[renounced student] and grhastha
[married household] stages of life are both meant for ultimate
detachment, although one appears to involve attachment and the other
detachment.
Comment
by one young grhastha:
I
asked one Indian lady who had never seen her husband before her
wedding how her marriage had been so successful. She laughed and said
in the West in your relationships you start at 100% and work your way
down to zero and get divorced, but in India we start at zero and
build it up to 100%.
Once
must attain the level of sannyasa.
One
may formally take sannyasa,
or
live with his wife but with the renounced spirit of a sannyasi,
but
complete renunciation of sense gratification and complete absorption
in devotional service to Krishna must be attained.
There
must be training in celibacy, even if people have difficulty with it,
because then there will be the possibility of ultimate liberation for
them.
Who
is free? The guy who is smoking or the guy who used to smoke and
chose to give it up? The ignorant will see the guy who is smoking is
free as he is using his freedom to smoke but actually he is
conditioned.
In
the spiritual world everything is seen to connected with the Supreme
Lord. In the material world some things are seen in connection with
the Supreme Lord and other things we consider to be ours.
Both
materialists and spiritualists are looking for the same thing,
unending happiness. But the material world is temporary, so how can a
materialist seek unending happiness? Because he is an eternal soul.
The
plants in the field are nothing but a transformation of the field
itself. In the same way, everything we see is a transformation of
Brahman.
We
are accustomed to business deals, thinking “what result will I get
from the activity.” Krishna wants us to give that up and do things
just to please Him.
The
world where people see Krishna’s energy as their own is the
material world.
Which
world you are in does not depend on location but on consciousness.
Devotional
service is pure, but because we are practicing devotional service,
sometimes it manifests as pure and impure.
Bhakti
is attitude not technique. If we have a good technique, but a bad
attitude, we will be frustrated, because Krishna is not satisfied.
Anubhava
is the emotional response, and sattvika-bhava
is the physical response.
Nistha is the beginning of pure devotional service because at that point there is steadiness. It is also the beginning of the madhyama, the intermediate platform. Then you are able to maintain the execution of devotional service despite material attachments.
Environment
is not sufficient, because it is up to us what we do with the
environment. You can bring a materialist to Mayapur, but he will not
automatically chant Hare Krishna.
Q:
How to maintain our Krishna consciousness during work?
A:
Understand we are working to attain the facility to serve Krishna.
Q:
Is it an offensive to chant japa
while
doing other things, like cooking.
A:
No, but it is not ideal. Only if there is no other opportunity to
chant is it acceptable.
The
soul is happy being engaged in devotional service, so do not worry
about the gyrations of your mind.
Through
logic you cannot see Krishna, so if you have a glimpse of Krishna,
you have done some bhakti.
Insecurity
is thinking “I am the doer, and I am not doing a good job.”
Humility is thinking “I am not the doer. I am just an instrument.”
Confidence is knowing what you are doing and doing it well. Pride is
thinking “I am the doer, and I am doing great.” In humility,
whether you do well or not, you continue trying to be the best
instrument you can be.
The
danger of household life is that one’s mind is so absorbed in the
material world that the tendency will be to worry about some material
thing at the time of death and that will keep you in the material
world. It is a risk in household life to engage one’s material
tendencies in the Lord’s service because one could become more
materially absorbed, but it is a recommended risk for those who are
attached. It is not that it is necessarily bad to be a householder,
but
it is bad to be too absorbed in the material world.
Comment
by a devotee: When Gaura Govinda Maharaja was talking with Srila
Prabhupada about sannyasa,
Srila
Prabhupada instructed him, “You are
not even going to think
about women in dreams.”
The
Upanisads
consider
dharma,
artha [economic
development]
and
kama
[sense enjoyment] to be avidya
[ignorance],
and
moksha [liberation]
to be vidya
[knowledge] while the Bhagavatam
considers
dharma,
artha, kama, and
moksha
to be avidya,
and bhakti
[devotional service to the Supreme Lord] to be to vidya.
As
Yamaraj, he has to administrate dharma, but as Vidura he just
discusses dharma.
Q:
Why did Yamuna want to marry Yamaraja?
A:
Yamuna mentioned to Yamaraja that being dharma personified, he would
be a suitable match for her. Yamaraj replied that was true, but
because she was his sister it was not proper. Thus that aspect of
dharma was taught through that conversation. Otherwise, it would have
to be taught in another way.
Pradyumna
and Sankarsana are sambandha,
Vasudeva
is abhidheya,
and
Aniruddha is prayojana.
The
state of your mind is your character, but through intelligence you
can improve it.
Although
we are most limited, Krishna, the unlimited, takes pleasure in
dealing with us.
The
masculine is independent and the feminine is dependent, but when they
come together the masculine is dependent and feminine is independent.
Beyond
the subtle body (linga-sarira)
is the causal body (karana-sarira),
which is the conception of being the controller and enjoyer. Without
giving up the causal body, we cannot attain the spiritual world.
By
identifying ourselves as eternal servants of the Lord, we give up
this causal body.
If
we do not accept the internal energy of the Lord, then we must accept
the external energy of the Lord.
Krishna
is happy playing His flute and interacting with the residents of
Vraja, but we have other ideas, so Krishna has to make so many other
arrangements.
The
scientists are interested in playing with the energy, but not in
inquiring about whose energy it is, for then they will have to abide
by His rules for utilizing it.
The
Vedic Sanskrit has a musical note associated with each character
which must be understood to translate it.
The
sadhyas
are
the heads of the different species.
The
great personalities managing the universes are aware of their
relationship with the Lord.
All
Brahma’s sons but Narada have a role in the universal management.
Narada is just teaching krishna-bhakti.
The
Supersoul reminds us of our desires from the previous life, but we
have the option of improving our relationship with Him.
Anything
we find meaningful or valuable is this world is nothing but Krishna,
but most people do not realize that.
We
have the desire, but the material energy moves by the direction of
Krishna, so we are not the doer.
Because
the soul is eternal he does not like the fact that the material world
is always changing. He likes the variety but not the fact that things
come to an end.
Lord
Shiva is a transformation of an expansion of Maha-Vishnu.
By
convention we generally think Brahman means the brahmajyoti,
but
in reality Bhagavan, paramatma,
and the brahmajyoti
are
all Brahman, and Bhagavan, the original form, is the ultimate
Brahman.
Bhakti
is the razor’s edge with the Mayavadis on one side and the
sahajiyas
on
the other.
You
can do bhava-sadhana
for
many hundreds of births and not attain prema,
if
you think you are doing alright.
When
Prabhupada was asked if God could make a mountain that He could not
lift, and Prabhupada replied, “Yes, and then He could lift it.”
This is possible because Krishna is ever expanding in potency.
We
are looking for bliss, and so we think everything that is not
annoying is blissful.
We
can get bhakti
from
our activities in this world, because the bhakti
is
already there.
Everything
is already connected with Krishna, and when we do not notice this we
are in maya
[illusion].
Devotional
service attracts the Lord’s attention. Spontaneous devotional
service Him even more.
Q:
Of tattva
and
rasa,
many
people are attracted to Krishna consciousness because of rasa.
A:
That is alright. Rasa
is
experience.
Q:
But if that is not always there, then they go away.
A:
That is not always there because they are not always doing the activities of
devotional service or they are doing them with the wrong attitude. If there
are no Vaishnava interactions, then there will be no taste. It is the
individual’s commitment to self-realization that is essential. Then he
associates with those who inspire him, and he endeavors with
enthusiasm and attains success.
If
you are situated in the culture of the mode of goodness, a little
endeavor will produce happiness. But if your culture is in the mode
of passion, so much endeavor is there and then a distressful result.
Goodness is the platform of stability. There is a brief thrill from
passion and then it is over.
If
you do not like goodness, you probably will not like pure goodness.
Devotional
service even done not so nicely is still beneficial.
Truth
which is not connected to the Absolute Truth is untruth.
“A
grain of devotion is worth more than tons of faithlessness.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.6.34, purport).
The
Second and Eleventh Canto deal with technical issues. Everything else
is in between.
Persons
who say there is no Absolute Truth are stating what they experience
because they do not have the devotional relationship with the Lord
necessary to realize the Absolute Truth.
Brahma
argues that since he is the giver of the Vedas and yet he does not
know the Lord perfectly, how can those who speculate on the Vedas
know the Lord?
Vedanta
is
the support for bhakti. Krishna is the sastra
[scripture],
but
He reveals who He is through the sastra.
We
cannot know everything about Krishna because He is unlimited.
We
need knowledge of the Lord as far as we need to act in our
relationship with Him.
Mother
Yasoda does not know that Krishna is dancing with the gopis,
nor
does she want to know.
Even
in the spiritual world, we associate with the those devotees who see
the Lord in the same way we do.
There
has never been a stable non-Vedic society since time immemorial.
Comment
by a devotee: Srila Prabhupada wanted independently thoughtful men
and autonomous centers.
We
must surrender heart and soul, in other words, we must have a
devotional attitude and self-surrender. We may chant nicely and focus
on Krishna in the temple, and that is very good and the most powerful
part of our practice, but we also have to engage the other aspects
life, like our family and occupation, in the Lord’s service.
Krishna
has to reveal Himself through some medium. The medium of our study of
the sastra
is
that medium for His revelation.
Sankirtana
is when everyone cooperates to perform devotional service.
We
need to know about the material energy because we are affected by it.
We need to know about the spiritual energy, because we hope to take
shelter of it. We need to know the marginal energy as it is our self.
And we need to know Krishna, who is beyond all these.
When
you hear from the right source, you benefit, but when you take
shelter of a bona fide spiritual master by initiation, the Lord takes
you seriously because you are committing yourself to applying what
you hear.
That
Krishna is unlimited keeps our relationship with Him fresh.
We
can only know or feel Krishna partially, but because we are small,
that experience fills us up.
Srila
Prabhupada did not like bureaucracy but leadership.
The
joy of personal realization is compared to a unlimited ocean of
pleasure compared to impersonal joy which is compared to a fragment
of a drop.
His
form reveals Himself.
The
actual yoga practice is difficult. First you have to stop doing
things. Then you have to do other things, like assume a sitting
posture for a minimum of 2¾ hours. Then you have to do pranayama,
which
is not just controlling the breathing, but stopping the breathing.
But you have to stop the breathing in such a way that you remain
alive. Then you have to withdraw your senses from their objects, but
the senses are inclined forever to their objects. The actual solution
is to engage the mind and senses in relationship with Krishna.
When
we approach Krishna according to the proper method, He reveals
Himself, otherwise He disappears from our view.
Q:
I think groups begin in the spiritual world for one name of Radharani
is Yutesvari, the leader of her own group.
A:
Yes. That is true. The feminine nature is to work with a group. The
better the group, better it is. The masculine nature is fine being
independent.
Aboriginals
and nuclear physicists are on the same level, because they are both
impressed with the energies of the Lord, and so can be considered
shaktas,
or
worshipers of the energy.
The
ignorant accept ordinary people as God by worshiping them, but when
God comes Himself, they consider Him an ordinary person and say the
Absolute Truth is impersonal.
Brahman
is the potential basis of the virat, the universal form of the
Lord.
When
the devotee thinks about the connection of the virat with the
Lord it is contemplation not speculation.
The
incarnations of the Lord always present the personal form of the Lord
as superior to the impersonal.
Srila
Prabhupada always makes the point that no one can be accepted as an
incarnation of God unless His name, His parents, and His birthplace
are mentioned in the revealed literature.
You
want to save the earth, you want a new world order, whatever you
want, the best program of action is to chant Hare Krishna and spread
the mission. By acting according to God’s laws we automatically
will not create disturbance to the earth, and if we teach people to
act according to God’s laws neither will they.
You
want to save the earth, but even Lord Brahma could not save the
earth. He had to go to Lord Vishnu for help.
Campaigns
like “Save the Yamuna” are good to the extent that they inspire
people to render service to the dhama,
the
holy place, otherwise they can be mundane.
Only
if we are on the platform of prema
is
everything we do devotional service. But if we are not yet on that
level, we should not think “because I am a devotee, everything I do
is devotional service.”
Both
the atheistic and theistic Sankhya philosophies are the same up to
the level pradhana.
Theistic
Sankhya reveals the cause of the pradhana
being
agitated, namely the glance of the Lord.
Comment
by a devotee: My family was reticent to take prasadam
because
they thought that was how I got “snowed under.”
Response
by Bhakti Vidya Purna Swami: That is a lack of piety.
We
are offering that in one lifetime you can be purified and attain
perfection. That is special.
Krishna
is giving Himself, and thus He is expecting us to give ourselves.
That is why we speak in terms of heart and soul.
Nirvisesa-vada,
impersonal philosophy, considers that forms and relationships are
causes of suffering and do not exist in spiritual perfection while
the personalists consider perfect forms and perfect relationships to
exist in spiritual perfection.
Our
disease is that we are trying to control and enjoy. Association of
the opposite sex aggravates that desire and so it must be regulated.
For
a man, attraction to the form of women is a sign that material
attachment is still present in his consciousness.
You
can go from brahmacarya
to
sannyasa,
as
grhastha
life
is not required. Grhastha
life
is dealing with the problem firsthand. You have heard and seen it,
but you have no realization, so you choose to experience it, but that
ashram is also meant for ultimate detachment.
Within
Krishna all kinds of opposing elements are adjusted, and without
Krishna is not possible to adjust all kinds of opposing elements. You
just have the clash of false egos.
You
can purify your conditioned nature but not change it.
The
problem is the man wants the woman to change, but he is unwilling to
change himself. If he would be willing to change, she would be
willing to change.
The
world has unlimited facets, and how you see it can be adjusted.
The
idea of grhastha
life
is to take the problem of attachment to women and bring it down to
attachment to a single woman and then down to attachment to no women,
but not attachment to another woman.
The
different stages of life are fun. Krishna goes through them Himself.
The
Vedic culture focuses on training the man because if the man is
trained everything will go nicely. The women generally act like women
by nature, but men do not always act like men unless they are
trained.
The
woman wants the impossible, but how can the impossible be attained?
Only by the grace of Krishna. So try for the impossible to please
Krishna, and both husband and wife will be satisfied.
There
is nothing that you will be satisfied with which is not connected to
the Lord.
Srila
Prabhupada made the point that one can practice a service before
becoming fully qualified because by Krishna’s mercy one will
develop the qualification where as in the material realm you are
expected to be very well qualified before you begin your service.
Q:
Could you say that you do not need to change your position as long as
you can engage your present position in relation to Krishna?
A:
You will keep the same position but do it in a purified way. Like you
may act as a sudra
but be cleaner and more peaceful than the other sudras.
Bhakti
Purusottama Swami:
Lord
Ramacandra was present for thousands of years but mostly we focus on
just the fourteen years He was in the forest and a little before and
after.
As
fire pervades wood and can appear from any part of the wood, the Lord
as paramatma,
the
Supersoul,
pervades
the entire cosmic manifestation and can appear in any part of it.
Lord
Nrsimha considered, “How much Prahlada is enjoying by sitting on My
lap, but because I have no father, I cannot taste that pleasure.”
Thus in the Lord’s future incarnations He had a father, so He could
experience that relationship.
King
Dasaratha performed a sacrifice to get a son, and the sweet rice from
the sacrifice was given to his three wives, half to Kausalya, a
quarter to Kaikeyi, and an eighth to Sumitra. Kausalya gave birth to
Rama, Kaikeyi to Bharata, and Sumitra to Laksman.
In
Shiva
Purana
it is described that by meditation in the Himalayas, Narada Muni
conquered over lust. He was so happy he told everyone how he became
free from lust. Lord Shiva did not think it good that Narada, a
great devotee of Vishnu, was so proud. Previously
when Shiva burned Kamadeva to ashes, his wife, Rati, complained. Thus
Shiva brought him back to life but said that Kamadeva’s influence
would not stand within as far as Shiva could see from his place of
meditation. The reason Narada became free from lust was he was
meditating in that place. To teach Narada a lesson, Shiva created an
illusory kingdom which Narada entered. A king approached him asking
for blessing that his daughter might find a suitable husband. Narada
was so attracted to the girl he offered to marry the girl himself.
The king said that would be fine, but he had already announced a
svayamvara,
a
ceremony in which the girl selects a husband.
Narada
went to Lord Vishnu desiring to have an attractive body so the girl
would choose him. Vishnu tricked him by giving him a beautiful body
but the face of the monkey, so the girl was repulsed. When Narada
understood what Lord Vishnu had done, he was so angry, he cursed
Vishnu to lose His wife and have to take help from monkeys to get her
back. When his anger dissipated, he apologized to Vishnu. Vishnu said
not to worry, that Narada had spoken in that way to facilitate one of
His pastimes. Thus Lord Ramacandra’s wife, Sita, was kidnapped by
Ravana, and He had to take help from monkeys to get her back.
We
have to understand three things:
- We have two kinds of bodies: male (purusa) and female (prakrti).
- In actually the soul in both the male and female bodies is prakrti (to be enjoyed).
- But in conditional life, both the male and females are acting as purusas (enjoyers).
Krishna
is the receiver of service (purusa), and the living entities render service (prakrti). The
purpose of the living entity is give pleasure to Krishna, and when he
does so, both the living entity and Lord enjoy.
When
the pleasure-giving potency (hladini-shakti)
resides in the heart of the living entity, he has the desire to
please Krishna.
In
our conditioned state we are seeking pleasure, but in our liberated
state we are giving pleasure.
We
say that the materialists (karmis)
are simply interested in enjoying, but we are also interested in
enjoying, just in a different way.
The
materialists are enjoying a perverted reflection of the original
sensual experience (adi-rasa).
Krishna
says that intelligent people do not enjoy pleasure based on the touch
of the senses with their objects for such pleasure has a beginning
and end.
In
Krishna-prema,
we give love to Krishna, and we enjoy the sweetness of Krishna. But
higher than that is the love of the gopis
who
enjoy making and seeing Krishna’s happiness increase.
People
say you will get comfort and peace serving Krishna, but that is not
actually the fact. Even in Lord Caitanya’s family, so many
distresses were there. His father, Jagannatha Misra, died. Lord Caitanya took
sannyasa,
leaving
His mother and wife to lament. What we do get, however, is the bliss
of prema-bhakti.
Don’t
try to get things from God (bhakti),
try to give to God (prema-bhakti).
Our
appreciation of maha-prasadam,
singing
and dancing in kirtana,
and the dressing of the deities are just hints of the bliss of Krishna-prema.
Bhaktisiddhanta
Swami:
Even
during Krishna’s time, in the previous age of Dvarapa, there were
still imitations of God.
You
are all in the Mayapur Dham and chanting Hare Krishna, and are thus
so fortunate. If you can keep this up for the rest of your life, you
can attain spiritual perfection.
Even
our sampradaya
or
spiritual lineage we can see in the materialist spirit of “I” and
“mine.”
Bhaktivinoda
Thakura says that politics disturbs bhakti.
I
like to go to the Vyasa Pujas. You see people of different abilities
offering what they have to their guru. By seeing their devotion you
have a barometer by which to judge your own, and you can become
inspired to improve.
One
devotee proudly told Srila Prabhupada how he/she dressed
Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa. Srila Prabhupada said, “That’s nothing.
Deities have dressed themselves.”
In
1760 the British began plotting to take over India. They considered
that to defeat India, they would have do two things:
(1) to destroy the gurukula educational system based on the guru-disciple relationship and developing a high moral character.
(1) to destroy the gurukula educational system based on the guru-disciple relationship and developing a high moral character.
(2)
to destroy their agriculture by killing cows. At that time, there
were more cows than people in Bengal. One year the British killed
30,000 cows and the next year, 250,000 cows.
Hanuman
proudly declared to Sita if she got on his back that he could take
her to Rama. Because of that pride, later he was flying in the sky,
and Bharata shot him down with a straw arrow.
When
Hanuman was brought into the presence of Ravana, Ravana asked him how
he had obtained the power to defeat his soldiers. Hanuman said that
the source of his own power was also the source of Ravana’s power,
and indeed the source of all the power in the universe, and that the
person who is the source of that power is the husband of the lady you
kidnapped, and so you are in trouble.
There
is a pastime where some people doubted the divinity of Ananta Sesa. A
devotee asked the Lord to reveal Himself to them. The Lord said that
they could not see His form, but He could remain hidden and if a
thousand people asked him questions He could answer them all at once.
He did that and the people were impressed, and then He showed
Himself, with his thousand heads, and the people asked for
forgiveness for doubting His divinity.
The
yogis make a mistake in calculating that they can advance by their
own efforts without considering the mercy of the Lord.
They
say that in Vraja, if you see children playing, one boy might be
Krishna and one girl might be Radha.
Comment
by one devotee lady: It is sad we are approaching Krishna for this or
that thing or this or that person, when actually Krishna Himself will
make us happy.
Response
by Bhaktisiddhanta Swami: The deity is smiling and when we are
advanced, we are smiling with Him, and when we are not surrendered, He smiling at us, wondering when we will get it together.
One
friend of mine, Devaki Pran, would often walk around Govardhan Hill
every day. He would beg from door to door. For two months he was very
busy, and did not go begging. When he began again, the people
mentioned how he had been coming the last two months, although he had
not done so because of being busy. The explanation was that the
residents of Govardhan Hill were so eager to feed the devotee, that
Krishna manifested Himself as Devaki Pran, so they would have the
pleasure of feeding him during his two-month break.
Murari
Krishna Swami:
The
Srimad-Bhagavatam
is
merciful in that it reveals the truth about the materialistic life.
Srila
Prabhupada explains that to become restless in the association of
money or women (or men) is not a surprise because since time
immemorial we have been pursuing such things.
One
who is in human consciousness can appreciate the statements of the
Bhagavatam
are
true. Others, due to ignorance, cannot understand how they are
suffering in this world.
Imagine
someone who is caught in a forest fire. His hair catches fire, but
he escapes from the fire. If someone inquires from that man how he is
and he replies that he is doing very good, although his hair is
burning, he is crazy. That is our material life.
Material
life is compared to an ocean. The grhasta
life is like being in the ocean with a basket on one’s head.
My
guru said to me that grhastha
life
will make you cry. I thought, “I am a grown man, how will I cry?”
Once when my wife and all my children were sick, and after a hard day
of work, I was trying to pacify the screaming kids, I was crying out
to Krishna, “How did I get myself into this?” Do not get mad at
me. I am just telling my experience.
Envy
means that our godbrother appears to be advancing, and we are
disturbed by that and decide to put some impediments in his path.
To
advance we must beg for mercy, and to do that we must become humble.
We
cannot purify ourselves, but if we surrender to guru and Krishna,
they will purify us.
Bhakivinoda
Thakura, in his songs, admits defeat in his attempts to elevate
himself and thus surrenders to Krishna. Similarly Arjuna, after
presenting many arguments, finally admitted defeat in solving his
problem and surrendered to Krishna.
The
impurities in our heart are compared to a layer of dust on a mirror.
Gaura Govinda Maharaja explained that the layer of dust is not of
ordinary thickness but is like the Himalayan Mountains.
Hearing
about Krishna nicely enables us to chant about Him nicely and
remember Him nicely.
Q:
Prabhupada encouraged competition, but isn’t that based on envy?
A:
Prabhupada encouraged transcendental competition but not that based
on envy.
Q:
Sometimes people mispronounce the names like “Ramo” [instead of Rama], but if we do
not chant properly we do not get the result.
A:
Yes, but even if we pronounce nicely but lack faith, we also will not
get the result.
Q:
If we hear from someone who later falls away, can we get Krishna
prema
from
that hearing.
A:
If the person was speaking according to guru, sastra [scripture] and sadhu, and tried to speak with devotion to please the Lord, it
will have a good effect. You can see from yourself if you are
becoming purified by your hearing.
If
guru and Gauranga are pleased with our sincerity to hear, then we can
experience how we are purified.
Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati Thakura said the only shortage in the material world is
sadhu
sanga [association
of the those devoted to the Lord] and hari-katha
[talks
of the Lord].
Our
souls are skinny and are starving.
If
we are eager to please our guru, in a moment our consciousness can
change.
Jananivasa
Prabhu:
Lust
is compared to a gang of plunderers who attack you in the forest.
There
was such a gang in Vrindavan which Bhaktivinoda Thakura eradicated.
Our
uncontrolled senses and mind grab our intelligence so we have no time
for the spiritual.
People
are not promoting sense and mind control today but rather
unrestricted enjoyment.
A
son was discussing with his father all the costly details of his
wedding arrangement. In the course of the discussion the son asked
his father how much his own wedding had cost. His father said that he
did not know. The son asked him why not. His father said, “Because
I am still paying it off.”
Samkaras [purificatory ceremonies or rites marking major events in one’s life] should
be performed, otherwise, we become like cats and dog.
Even
in Mayapur I know a man who is living with a girl but they are not
married. They talk like it is quite natural, but marriage is the
natural program in society for people in that situation. Why not
follow the standard program in society?
The
idea is to make our life simple.
They
understand there is some problem, but they do not know the solution.
If governments arrange society so everyone is engaged in Krishna’s
service the problems will diminish.
In
your first day in ISKCON, you learn you are a spiritual soul and you
are meant to serve the Supreme Soul, and you are practically engaged
in devotional service. Thus you get sambandha
and
abhidheya.
By
situating ourselves in Krishna consciousness, we solve all our
problems.
Srila
Prabhupada would find out what talents the people had and try to
engage them practically. Not that he would give his blessings, and
the people would leave.
Prahlada
Maharaja was only five-years-old, but he detected that everyone is
making a gigantic program for happiness but they are not becoming
happy. Actually when there endeavor for happiness, then their
distress begins.
Mahaprabhu’s
happiness is jiva
daya, giving
mercy to unfortunate souls.
Srila
Prabupada explained that just like on the stage someone may be
playing the part of the king, but he is not a king. Similarly a
Vaishnava may play the part of a sudra,
but
he is not a sudra.
Q:
How do you know you are so advanced that you do not have to follow
all the rules and regulations?
A:
If you are asking that question, you are not that advanced.
comment
by Rajendrananda Prabhu: Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said he
was criticized for not telling more advanced topics, but he explained
it was not required as the holy name reveals everything.
Q:
Do we consider ourselves Vaishnavas or not, as one on the highest
level does not consider himself a Vaishnava?
A:
Prabhupada considered himself a Vaishnava, but also considered
himself and acted as the servant of the Vaishnavas.
Q
by me after class: You have been brahmacari
for
many years. Do you have any secrets?
A:
I just wanted to keep things simple.
Janmastami
Prabhu:
We
can practice uttama-bhakti
although
experiencing the attraction to sense objects as long as we do not
contemplate the objects of the senses.
Prabhupada’s
disciple Sridhara Swami would often quote the Buddha as saying,
“Distress is compulsory. Suffering is optional.”
Srila
Prabhupada’s body was in such a condition at the end of his life
that the doctors were amazed that he was not asking for an injection
of morphine to relieve the pain. When asked why, he quoted
Srimad-Bhagavatam
10.1.4,
“Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the
conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death.”
According
to The
Nectar of Devotion, three
things cause suffering avidya,
kama, and
papam
[ignorance,
material desire, and sinful activities].
Srila
Rupa Goswami says that knowledge and faith in sastra
[revealed
spiritual literature] is the qualification to advance in Krishna
consciousness.
To
advance spiritually means to increase one’s love and attachment for
Krishna.
Book
distribution mantra:
Where
are you coming in from?
No
wonder you look so blissful!
We
are giving these out to the 500 most intelligent businessmen we are
meeting today.
Now
let me ask you a personal question, which do you like better pleasure
or pain?
Pleasure.
Great.
This book will tell you how to attain the highest pleasure that is
possible for a human being. Sound good?
Sure.
We
do not sell them, we just give them to people and ask for a donation.
Sartre
writes, “Hell is other people,” but if we engage in the six kinds
of loving exchanges with devotees we will experience that “heaven
is other people.”
If
you chant super attentive rounds and see with eyes of wisdom you can
change distressful situations into transcendental bliss.
Srila
Prabhupada wrote in a postscript to a letter to Abhirama Prabhu,
“There is no question of spiritual life if one does not get up
early, go to mangala-arati,
and
follow the regulative principles. If one does not do these things he
will fall down.”
Krishna
does not need to give us distress nor like to give us distress. But
if we will not learn in any other way, He must.
Vaiyasaki
Prabhu interviewed 500 devotees who had left the association of
devotees. He found they all had faith in Srila Prabhupada but had
difficulty applying the following verse in their lives: “My dear
Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy
upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past
misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words
and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his
rightful claim.” (Srimad-Bhagvatam 10.14.8)
Comment by me: One verse comes to mind that is relevant to this discussion: “Engaged constantly in chanting and hearing about Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sadhus do not suffer from material miseries because they are always filled with thoughts of My pastimes and activities.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.23)
Comment by me: One verse comes to mind that is relevant to this discussion: “Engaged constantly in chanting and hearing about Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sadhus do not suffer from material miseries because they are always filled with thoughts of My pastimes and activities.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.25.23)
-----
‘sadhu-sanga,’
‘sadhu-sanga’
– sarva-sastre kaya
lava-matra
sadhu-sange sarva-siddhi haya
“The
verdict of all revealed scriptures is that by even a moment’s
association with a pure devotee, one can attain all success.” (Sri
Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila 22.54)