19900210 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.14

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on December 10^th, 1990 in Bangalore, India. the class begins with reading from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.1.14.

āpannaḥ saṁsṛtiṁ ghorāṁ
yan-nāma vivaśo gṛṇan
tataḥ sadyo vimucyeta
yad bibheti svayaṁ bhayam

Translation: Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, which is feared by fear personified.

Jayapatākā Swami: Actually 500 years ago, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was preaching the glories of Kṛṣṇa-nāma, that every everyone should take to the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. But He met with many difficulties. When Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, at that time no one would chant the name of God. The smārta-brāhmaṇas, they said, “If you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will lose His power, no one should chant the names of Kṛṣṇa.” Only they would chant.

Last night was the candra-grahāṇa, the Lunar eclipse. Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared on the day of lunar eclipse when everyone was bathing in the Gaṅgā. At that time they would chant the names of Hari. They would chant Hari, Govinda, Kṛṣṇa, Keśava, while up to their neck in the Ganges River. Because when being in the Holy Ganges they thought now we are pure. We can chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. It was Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He taught the people that in the age of Kali, the yuga-dharma is to chant the name of Hari. Everyone should chant the name of Hari to be delivered.

nāmnām akāri nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
(Śikṣāṣṭakam 2)

That many names are there for the God. These holy names of the Hari are empowered with sarva-śakti, all the śaktīs, all the energies of the Lord. Kṛṣṇa does not become contaminated when you chant His name, you become purified. If someone makes some dirty water and the sun is shining on it, the sun will not become dirty. The sun will purify the dirt. So by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, everyone becomes uplifted and purified. So when Caitanya Mahāprabhu began to preach in this way, let everyone chant the name of Hari, he was opposed by certain very conservative Advaita-vāda brāhmaṇas. They said that, “No! This will destroy the Hindu-dharma, if everyone is chanting the name of Hari.” So they made complaint to get Caitanya Mahāprabhu to stop chanting. But he would not stop.

In fact one time, one of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s great devotees was born in a Mohammedan family. His name was Haridāsa Ṭhākura. But he became a great chanter of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. He would chant 300,000 names of Kṛṣṇa in a day. He became initiated with the name Haridāsa, and because he was chanting tīna-lakkha, 300000 names of Kṛṣṇa a day, Caitanya Mahāprabhu called him as the ‘Nāmācārya’, the ācārya of the chanting of holy names.

So Haridāsa Ṭhākura, one day, he was visiting a priest called Bhāgavata Ācārya. Bhāgavata Acharya, he was the guru for two zamindars – landlords, who would regularly in the evening hear the class on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. So he went to this bhāgavata-sabhā as a guest. They stood up and received him. “Oh! Haridāsa Ṭhākura, you are the Nāmācārya. So you are very kind to bless our assembly tonight. We would like you to tell us about the glories of chanting the Holy names of Kṛṣṇa.”  So one of the paṇḍitas in the assembly, in the sabhā, he said, “Yes we have heard that by chanting the name of Hari, one can be delivered from birth and death. So we would like to hear about the glories of the name.”

Another paṇḍita said, “We have heard by chanting Hari’s name, one can get all puṇya.”

So Haridāsa Ṭhākura… this verse (the one being discussed) actually says:

yan-nāma vivaśo gṛṇan
tataḥ sadyo vimucyeta
yad bibheti….

That actually, even by the accidental chanting of the holy name… not consciously, devotionally chanting. Accidental chanting, one can be delivered from birth and death. This is the side benefit of chanting the name of Hari. By chanting and hearing the bhajanas, the holy name of Hari, ones prema, ones bhakti for the Lord becomes awakened. Bhakti is considered postgraduate to liberation, mokṣa. Even here in this verse, Rāvaṇa, Kaṁsa, many other asuras have been mentioned. When these asuras were killed by Viṣṇu, they achieved mokṣa. When the Lord kills the asura, the asura is freed from birth and death. He merges into the body of the Lord. So even the asuras, they are achieving mokṣa. Then what will the bhakta achieve? Bhakta must achieve something greater than mokṣa. So a bhakta achieves pure bhakti, pure devotion.

Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was praised by Nārada Muni in Bhāgavata. “My dear Yudhiṣṭhira, you are greater than all the yogīs because you have received the blessing of Kṛṣṇa, of pure bhakti. So Kṛṣṇa is coming to your house, He is acting as your messenger, He is driving Arjuna’s chariot, as Pārthasārathi. Why? Because you have bhakti. So this bhakti is more than even mukti. Mukti, the Lord is giving very easily. But bhakti, He is keeping hidden. Because bhakti means, that once a person has got bhakti, then the connection with the Lord is established and the Lord is treating them in the most intimate level.

So, therefore Haridāsa Ṭhākura  explained to that dharma-sabhā that real benefit of chanting the nāma is one gets Kṛṣṇa-prema. And mukti, this is achieved as a by-product. This is easily achieved by even the nāmābhāsa or the accidental chanting of the holy name.

For example, Ajāmila was at the point of death. He has been a good brāhmaṇa, but he left his wife, he left his family, he left his brahminical duties. He went to live with a society woman. He became a dacoit. He became a thief, a murderer. And in this way, he became a very sinful man. But because he was born in a brāhmaṇa family, he named the children of this society girl with names of Viṣṇu. His youngest son he called Nārāyaṇa. When he was dying, as father's do, he was calling his son to come. His youngest son was very dear to him. He was calling his son, “Nārāyaṇa! Nārāyaṇa! Nārāyaṇa!” Saying ‘Nārāyaṇa’, he left his body. Death came upon him. Last word he said was nārāyaṇaḥ antaḥ smṛtiḥ, was remembering the name Nārāyaṇa. Because of this, when the Yamadūtas came to take Ajāmila, the Viṣṇu-dūtas came and obstructed and said, “No! He has chanted Nārāyaṇa, therefore he belongs to us. He is freed from all his sins, he is freed from all the bad karmas. Simply by remembering the name Nārāyaṇa all the impurities have gone. Now he has to go with us. You have no more domain. Yamarāja has only domain over those who never chant the name of Hari, who never wear the tulasī, who never wear the marks of Viṣṇu, who never speak the glories of Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu. Yamarāja has all the domain over those people, not those who are worshiping Viṣṇu or chanting His name.”

So Ajāmila, he had no intention of meditating on Nārāyaṇa. He remembered Nārāyaṇa as an accident. By calling his son, at that moment he remembered Nārāyaṇa whom he had worshipped in youth. Still he was free from birth and death. So Haridāsa Ṭhākura explained this to the dharma-sabhā. The real glory of the Holy Name is to get Kṛṣṇa-prema, to get the pure bhakti. As he was explaining, there was one Advaitavādi, one student of Śaṅkara was there. One brāhmaṇa called Cakravarti. He stood up, he objected, “My dear gentlemen, how are you listening to this ācārya speaking like a sentimentalist. He is speaking bhāvuka, simply his own mental concoction. How come great yogīs, great ṛṣīs, they are taking thousands of births to achieve mokṣa. He is saying you accidentally chant the name of Hari and you will achieve mokṣa? This is impossible. Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he quoted so many ślokas from the Vedas, that “This is not my opinion. This is the version of the Vedas. You chant the name of Hari even accidentally, all the inauspiciousness, all the fear of death will go away. You can achieve mokṣa easily.”

Then that Cakravarti, he said “If you don’t get liberation by chanting the name of Hari accidentally, then your nose, I will cut it off! I curse you, lose your nose.”

Haridāsa Ṭhākura  said, “If this is not the Vedic version, that by chanting the name of Hari you can get liberation, I will cut my own nose off.”

“Haaaaaaaa!” *cry of despair* Everyone jumped up. “What is going on!? This Cakravarti has committed such an offence to our guest Haridāsa Ṭhākura, the nāmācārya. You please leave this place! You no longer have to come to the sabhā. It is very offensive to say such things to a speaker, an ācārya here.” The zamindars fell at the feet of Haridāsa Ṭhākura, “Please forgive us for this aparādha.”

So the history goes, after three days the Cakravarti got leprosy and his nose was attacked and fell off. But Haridāsa Ṭhākura was very sad to hear this. He said, “Unfortunately he doesn’t know the science of bhakti. He has only heard the science of yoga, but not bhakti-yoga. The name of Kṛṣṇa is non-different from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa has got unlimited power. If you remember Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is present in your mind, that is one of the vigrahas. Nāma-rūpa is also one of the forms of the lord. If you can remember the name, Kṛṣṇa is present with us. Kali kāle dharma nāma saṅkīrtana.”

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa states “In this age of Kali,*same śloka repeated*” Why its saying three times? Nāsty eva, nāsty eva, nāsty eva, no other way, no other way, no other way. Why? Three times the Purāṇa’s mentioning. Nāsty eva karma. By karma in Kali-yuga, you cannot achieve highest objective. Nāsty eva jñāna, neither by jñāna will you be able to achieve the goal. Nāsty eva yoga - nor by aṣṭāṅga-yoga system. Simply by hari-nāma, hari-nāma, hari-nāma eva kevalam. This is the way, in this age of Kali, that you can achieve all the perfection. Actually Vedas also explain

kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ
tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ
dvāpare paricaryāyāṁ
kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt
(ŚB. 12.3.52)

In Satya-yuga, the process was dhyāna. In Treta-yuga, the process was homa-yajña. In Dvāpara-yuga, the process was worshipping Kṛṣṇa in the temple, or personally, when He was present. Kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. But in Kali-yuga, the process is Hari-kīrtana. Everyone can chant Hari-kīrtana together, without any restriction. By chanting the name of Hari, Kṛṣṇa is present.

We can feel fearful, “What will happen? No longer is there Ramācandra to protect us. No longer is Kṛṣṇa or all of the avatāras. Where are they now? Before there was only Rāvaṇa, there was only Kaṁsa, there was Hiraṇyakaśipu, few demons were there. But now the demoniac principles have increased in the world, so who is there to protect us? Kṛṣṇa is there in Nāma-rūpa! Nāma-cintāmaṇi. This nāma is actually the transcendental form.

nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
‘bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
(Cc. Madhya 17.133)

The Nāma and Nāmī, the Name and the Named, is abhinna, is non-different! So therefore, this process of chanting should be understood as the most scientific process. It is a process authorized by all the Vedas. It is now the only process which is most powerful enough to help the effects of the age of Kali. It's like nowadays people are taking the medicine in capsule form. So by taking a small capsule, or injection, they are getting some medical treatment. So similarly all the dharma… in the Nārada Pañcarātra it states, all the yajñas, all the arcanās, the pūjās, the mantras, the tantras, all have been combined in the four words “Hare-Kṛṣṇa, Hare-Kṛṣṇa.” In the Kali Santaraṇa Upaniṣad, it explains –

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
iti ṣoḍaśakaṁ nāmnāṁ kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanaṁ
nātaḥ parataropāyaḥ sarva-vedeṣu dṛśyate

This repetition is there in Vedas. Nātaḥ parataropāyaḥ, no other alternative. Kali-kalmaṣa-nāśanaṁ - whatever the difficulties Kali-yuga will present, these all are destroyed and driven away by the chanting of this Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. So this can be chanted by young child, by elderly person, by middle-aged person, by educated person, by any one!

So now we are finding that people all over the world are chanting. In Russia over 10,000 people are chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa. Recently they did Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma-Subhadrā Ratha-yātrā in Moscow, chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. In Poland, in Czechoslovakia, in Hungary, in Eastern Germany, in all the communist countries where religion was banned. Where people had to accept atheism. But they could not be stoppped from chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. So under the ground, there was a current of thousands and thousands of people chanting. Even before this new liberalization has taken shape, the last thing that the old regime did was to legalize the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. After that, all these changes have come. Because where ever there is Kṛṣṇa’s nāma, Kṛṣṇa is present! When Kṛṣṇa name could be chanted in Moscow, naturally all the other difficulties would go away. All the darkness will go away. This is the power of the Holy Name. So now we can find the chanting in all the countries of the world. Whether in communist countries, whether in capitalist, whether in North, whether in South. Why is it ? As soon as someone begins to chant, they start to feel some spiritual inspiration, because we are all the parts of Kṛṣṇa. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.7) Kṛṣṇa explains,

mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati

All the jīvas are my amṣa, they are my parts. Kṛṣṇa did not say “mamaivāṁśo hinduloka.” He did not say that Hindus are my part. It’s not that Kṛṣṇa is only the God for Hindus. Kṛṣṇa is God, He is the Supreme Lord, He is Parameśvara. Ṛg Veda explains:

kṛṣṇa vai saccidānanda-ghanaḥ, kṛṣṇa ādi-puruṣaḥ, kṛṣṇa puruṣottamaḥ

He is original Person, He is the Supreme Absolute Truth, He is the saccidānanda vigrahaḥ. He is everyone's God. He is Puruṣottama. The Hindus know that Kṛṣṇa is our Lord, and those who are in the other parts of the world they don't know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme God. They know only ‘God’, ‘Allah’, some general name. They don't know the personal name.  It’s like we can say in India we have prime minister. Everyone knows we have a prime minister. We have President. But who is the President? Who is the prime minister? They have a name. What is the name? ‘God’, this is a title. ‘Allah’, is a title. ‘Parameśvara’, is a title. But what is the name? Kṛṣṇa is also one of the names. Govinda is a name to address the Lord. So I don't want to speak longer because we are going to hear bhajanas of the Holy Name from very distinguished Swamiji. So I don't want to take too long. We will have a practical demonstration of what I am speaking.

Just in conclusion, I would like to sum up that why this process is bringing the world together is because people have begun to realise this statement by Kṛṣṇa - mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ. That we are the eternal part of Kṛṣṇa, we are the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. How simply by chanting this holy name of:

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare,
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

You know, in purvāśrama, in my previous āśrama, being born in America, my mother and father are from Christian family. So my mother, she believed in Christ only. After taking dīkṣā and taking sannyāsa, I told my mother she should not have sectarian views. She should see that Kṛṣṇa is the Father of Jesus. He said son of God. Who is God? God means Kṛṣṇa. But she was doubting me. So one day she was driving her car in America, she later told me, and suddenly her car, one lorry was coming (and may be in India, even in America sometimes it happens), the lorry pushed her off the road and she was going straight for a tree. And that time she didn’t know what to do! So she remembered that my son told me whenever you are in danger, you just remember the name Kṛṣṇa. So she suddenly screamed out “HARE KṚṢṆA! HARE KṚṢṆA!” and suddenly her car stopped just before the tree! Then she realized that actually Kṛṣṇa is God. He saved me. and from that time, now she is chanting 100s of times Hare Kṛṣṇa every day and now she tells everyone that Kṛṣṇa is the Father of Jesus.

Thank You very much!

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