19800102 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.9.47

The following is a class given by his Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 2nd , 1980 in Sridham Māyāpur, India. The class begins with a reading from Śrīmad the Bhāgavatam Canto 6, Chapter 9, Text 47.

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
prīto’haṁ vaḥ sura-śreṣṭhā
mad-upasthāna-vidyayā
ātmaiśvarya-smṛtiḥ puṁsāṁ
bhaktiś caiva yayā mayi

Translation: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O beloved demigods, you have offered your prayers to Me with great knowledge, and I am certainly most pleased with you. A person is liberated by such knowledge, and thus he remembers My exalted position, which is above the conditions of material life. Such a devotee is fully purified by offering prayers in full knowledge. This is the source of devotional service to Me.

You see how fortunate the demigods were that by offering their prayers to Viṣṇu, they not only got the darśana of Viṣṇu but they also got the blessings of Lord Śrī Viṣṇu. The goal of all religious practices is to satisfy Viṣṇu. And the way to satisfy Viṣṇu is to satisfy one’s spiritual master. Because, you see, Kṛṣṇa says, “I am more satisfied when My devotees are served than when I am served.”

So, you see some devotees who are very advanced and who take up this spiritual life, are interested in their own advancement, so they practice bhajana. As they are naturally... because they are worshipping Viṣṇu, they are very much worshipable by everyone. In various times, these are souls are given sanction to do such worship by their spiritual master. However, since the time of Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, you see, and Bhakti Vinoda Ṭhākura, they have not authorized anyone to take up simply the bhajana-mārga, but they have requested everyone to preach the message of Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, following in the footsteps of Sri Rūpa Gosvāmī. Especially Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, their desire is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness everywhere and make people Kṛṣṇa conscious.

You see just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura... he was told by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “How to deliver all of these yavanas? How to give them the holy name? I am in much anxiety that they are escaping.” This was the statement given by Gaurāṅga Prabhu... Mahāprabhu. And then Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Do not worry.” Śrīla Prabhupāda described this is the mood of the devotee. He wants to relieve the Lord from His anxiety. The devotee always wants to make the Lord’s desire manifest. Just like Śrīmāna Mahāprabhu gave order to the six Gosvāmīs, especially to Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana to go to Vṛndāvana and to excavate the lost tīrtha and to write profuse literatures on Bhakti. And they have written lakhs and lakhs of ślokas of literatures.

So Bhaktisiddhāntha Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he sometimes would say, “What kind of bhakta is this who simply wants to chant and does not want to deliver the fallen souls?” When Mahāprabhu wants that these people be delivered, then what kind of Vaiṣṇavas simply sit and worry about or just try to do his own bhajana without trying to deliver the others? And practically it has been demonstrated that those who take up the order of Mahāprabhu, they make very quick advancement, while others they drag their feet. So, especially, you see, one has to follow the instructions of a spiritual master.

And Mahāprabhu, it has been said in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta that:

kali-kalera dharma--kṛṣṇa-nama-sankirtana,
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nāhe tāra pravartana

That in this Kali-yuga the preaching of Harināma-saṅkīrtana is the yuga-dharma or religious principle of this age. And without Kṛṣṇa’s mercy it cannot be spread. In other words who ever can spread this movement of Mahāprabhu’s saṅkīrtana, he is to be known as empowered.

But any activity should be seen by the result. Many people criticize when the work is going on. But what is the result? That will be the proof for the effect of the activity. You see, when Columbus went from Spain in search of India, he bumped into America and when he came back to Spain, he was very famous for finding a new continent. He had taken a great risk, because no one had ever gone to the western side before to see what would happen. So when he was in the court of the king, there was so many other great princes and adventurers there. And they criticized, “Hey! You have not done anything spectacular! Anybody could have done it.” At that time Columbus took an egg and he told everyone, “You kindly stand this egg on one end.” Everybody starts trying to stand the egg on its end, but it's rolling over. Everybody says, “It is not possible.” Then Columbus took the egg and said, “I can do it.” He took it and smashed it on the table and it stood on one end, on its head. So everyone said “You cheated! You cheated!” “I didn't say that you could not do that!” (was Columbus's response). Anybody can do, but people don’t use their brain. Therefore someone uses his brain by doing it. That is the thing.

In this same way, Mahāprabhu said, “pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma.” But no one was able to spread that around the world before Śrīla Prabhupāda because no one went to that America. So people may criticize, “Anyone could have done.” But the point is that nobody else did it. And neither anyone else would have done it because they do not have that inspiration to take that risk. So, sometimes to do the preaching work is very difficult because to take the conditioned souls who are in Māyā and to lift them up to their pure platform is very difficult work. It requires complete surrender to that service. But by surrendering in this way, one gets the special favour of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that although we are doing bhajana, although we are chanting, although we are attending so many functions but we are not depending on these practices for our ultimate perfection.

We are doing this for our purification and the main reason is that because this has been ordered by Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Kṛṣṇa. Because our spiritual master has ordered us we are doing. We are depending on their mercy that by their mercy we make our advancement, not by our expert sādhanā that we are making advancement. We do bhajana, because we want to satisfy our spiritual master and if he is satisfied, we make advancement. It is not the bhajana that is making us advance, it is his mercy. We are depending on the mercy of Guru and Gaurāṅga. So, otherwise, it may take so many births of chanting harināma to reach perfection, considering our offensive chanting. So, taking this humble attitude, one does not get proud in practicing his bhajana and this is why he can preach the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with full faith.

But some people doubt the words of their spiritual master and they listen to the words of people who are atheists. Therefore, if anyone hears the offensive statements against his spiritual master, then he falls down from his position. Then he thinks that he himself is very advanced and also feel very proud to give up the guru. Those people are known as snake-bitten, poisoned. And they also become snakes. And anyone who listens to their talk, they also will get poisoned. They don't like to come forward directly to discuss, but they go seeking around trying to simply bite people and poison. This is the position of our late Hiranyagarba Swami. Hiranyagarbha in Nadia, they have become snakes. They have been reading unauthorized books. One disciple of Bhakti Siddhānta had stolen money and left Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura and then he wrote books against Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura and these books they are reading and they have become poisoned. So these types of books they are reading. So, they doubted the words of the spiritual master. And now they have left his shelter. So now we cannot look at them as our god brothers, we have to see them as snakes. Until they... and it is very unlikely they will ever repent for their offences. If they repent, will ever repent, then they could be saved. But these people generally have lost their intelligence and they don’t repent.

Because someone goes down to sense gratification, that is not, the punishment is not harsh. But if somebody listens to offences against the guru and he does not immediately defeat those doubts or walks from that place, then he falls down. This is the verdict of all the śastras. Just like Satī accepted Mahādeva Śiva not only as her husband, but as her Guru. She accepted him as the parama Vaiṣṇava. vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ (ŚB. 12.13.16), best of all the Vaiṣṇavas. So when her own father Dakṣa started to criticize Lord Śiva, then she tried to defeat her father with so many arguments. But when she saw that her father would not listen, she became so disgusted that she could not take it. She felt that her body was contaminated by hearing the offences against Lord Śiva; she meditated and burnt her own body up in fire rather than staying in such a contaminated state.

This is recommended; if one hears any offences to Guru or Kṛṣṇa and he if should immediately leave his body and die on the spot. And if one is not capable of giving up his body by feeling the extreme grief of those words, then he should cut off the tongue of the offender. Of course, generally we cut off the tongue by arguments. Then if one cannot do either of those two things, then should he immediately leave that place without hesitation. But if he stays and listens to offensive words then he falls down. So it was found out that the times that Hiranyagarbha was going out supposedly for Sanskrit class, he was going to other gurus to get teachings. So all these things are highly unauthorized. Now he says, “There is no need of preaching. I am just chanting harināma. Two lakhs every day I chant. That is enough. Then I will become a gopī.”

So all these things are exactly what we are preaching every day, to beware of sahajīyas. That same person who is stealing sweet balls in the sweet shop and taking the gurukulas sweets now he going to become a gopī by chanting two lakhs or three lakhs a day imitating Haridāsa Ṭhākura. All these things are highly unauthorized. In the past, we have seen these kinds of devotees; after a few months they go back to their land and they fall down. So, while we see those who keep the shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda do not fall away; they go on making progress unlimitedly. Prabhupāda has said that these things will happen, because it is just like a war we are fighting, a war with māyā... and if some soldier is not careful... So, this is just to train us to become more serious in our sādhanā. They had these doubts, but they not even once came discussed their doubts with me or Bhavānanda Goswami. They always kept their ideas secret.

So, naturally if these things are kept inside they rock one’s spiritual life. They definitely have other motives and other desires. Therefore they could not reveal their mind to their god brothers. So you must all take this example that if you have any doubt that has to be cleared up. So long as the spiritual master is present or so long as there are senior godbrothers, there should never be any doubts in the mind. So nobody should talk to anyone or these people if they come by, because now their only attempt is trying to poison other people by saying envious words. This is the nature of snake; he wants to always bite. So everybody should be very strict, you see.

If one is not strict in his sādhanā, if he is not strict in reading the books given by Śrīla Prabhupāda, so that he has the strength to understand all the different arguments that come up. Other people always try to say that, “Your Guru has not told you everything. I have something new to tell you.” This is like a prostitute (sayin), “Your wife is not giving you happiness. You come here, I will give you something.” The point is that these people cannot deliver the goods. If you want to hear more then you should enquire from the spiritual master. And these people you can see from the results. Other people say so many things, but practically what they are doing? They are not able to make even one person a devotee. So one has to be very careful; there are all kinds of cheaters and cheated in the world. One should test the spiritual master before taking initiation. But once he takes initiation, then he has to be faithful; otherwise Kṛṣṇa will not give him any place. So those people who are not accepting a bona fide spiritual master, then they go other places and they don’t take the shelter of their spiritual master they definitely doomed.

Are there any questions?

Devotee: (Question in Bengali) sādhu saṅga sādhu saṅga sarva śāstra kaya... So if we have 'sādhus' *(like) Hiranyagarbha Mahārāja, then ... who is a real sādhu?

Jayapatākā Mahārāja: You see, sādhu is someone who is completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. You see the difference is that in India people see the sādhu if he has little hair on his chin, if he wears dirty clothes or if he knows Sanskrit, then he is a sādhu. But the real definition of sādhu is that someone who has unflinching faith in guru and Kṛṣṇa. So, we have seen that Hiranyagarbha Mahārāja has been very learned, but he was never spontaneous or enthusiastic in his service. All the time, he was on a mental platform thinking so many things, reading so many books and he would never put his mind in his service in the last two years. So, you see, and then when he heard criticism against his spiritual master, then rather than run from that or defeat that by enquiring from authorities, instead he doubted himself. You see, The definition of uttama-adhikārī, madhyama-adhikārī, kaniṣṭha-adhikārī is given in Caitanya-caritāmṛta very clearly. Uttama-adhikārī is one who never doubts the scriptures, guru and he can defeat any ones argument according to the śāstras and yukti. The Madhyama-adhikārī has got a lot of faith. What is that śloka? You know that?

Devotee: śāstra-yukti nahi jāne dṛḍha, śraddhāvān, 'madhyama-adhikārī' sei mahā-bhāgyavān (Cc. Madhya 22.67)

Jayapatākā Mahārāja: So the Madhyama-adhikārī, he may not know so much śāstra, but if somebody says some opposing argument, but he has got very deep faith that he never doubts the words of his guru or Kṛṣṇa. If he doesn’t know, then he still believes, “I may not know, but my guru knows. My guru is not wrong.” He goes back to his guru and gets the answer.

Even if he doesn't know the answer, he never doubts. But the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī is one who, when he hears any opposing arguments, then he gets defeated in his mind. And although he has some doubt that maybe his guru is right, but actually he is already doubting. The opposite, he already disbelieves, but he doubts his disbelief. What I am saying is that madhyama-adhikārī, he hears something but he doesn't doubt. Kaniṣḥha-adhikarī hears some opposing argument then he doubts, but he doubts his doubt; he still has some respect for his guru. That he has some faith for guru. I just discussed with Viṣṇupāda for the past two years that I thought Hiranyagarba’s consciousness was very down and in māyā and he also agreed with me to some extent. But we could not find out what was the cause. Many times we discussed, but he would not reveal his mind. Because his heart, his mind went somewhere else. The body may be anywhere but where is the mind, that is what counts. Then we could understand his mind was somewhere else, but we could not understand where. Then eventually we found out; but it was already too late to save him. That time Viṣṇupāda sent him to South India to try to save him or something...

So the point is that Prabhupāda was asked, because in the beginning of our movement there was a very senior devotee who fell down. And Śrīla Prabhupāda said such people, they surrender on the mental plane. They surrender in their mind but practically they don't surrender. So they think ‘I am surrendered’ but practically they don’t surrender. So therefore, because they don’t actually surrender, they don’t taste that ecstasy of devotional service. Mahāprabhu warned that one should not read too many books. You should read that message you need for you to advance. But if somebody wants to just become very learned and read so many things, he may not be able assimilate all that knowledge. Just like it is said that one should read the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from the first canto to the tenth canto. Not immediately jump to the rāsa-līlā in the tenth canto. Because it is very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa’s rāsa-lila if he one doesn’t first understand who is Kṛṣṇa. So, in the same way you see that that we find that sometimes Indian devotee, why any devotee, becomes sentimental for different devotees. But they have to see the devotees according to his surrender, not according to the fine learning they have. Who is actually surrendered and dedicated, all the time serving the spiritual master? That is actually the advanced person. Anyway you see, there may be some causality like that. This should not shake up any one. Such a sādhu, what does anybody know about such a sādhu? Who is a sādhu? That is what I am saying; that how the neophyte devotee can know who is a sādhu. That’s why one has to of course take the association. So long he was sādhu, so long he was not spreading the poison, so his association no doubt, there was no restriction. But now he has left the sampradāya. So that is to show us that anybody can fall. Doesn’t matter how big he may be. Mahāprabhu said “trṇād api sunīcena, taror iva sahiṣṇunā amānīna mānadena kirtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (Śikṣāṣṭakaṁ 3).” We all have to stay humble. As soon as someone becomes proud “I know so much”, then he may also think, “I know more than my guru.” Then he is finished. That is the situation of Hiranyagarbha Mahārāja. He thinks he knows more than Prabhupāda.

You know the story about the sādhu and the mouse. One mouse was being chased by the cat and he came to the sādhu and he said “Please save me! A cat is chasing me!” So the sādhu said “All right, I will give you āśirvāda, now you become a cat”. Then he is a cat; a and then he walked out. he was all right. No more cats could bother him. Then the cat was sometimes being chased by the dog and then he came to the sādhu and said “Help me! Help me! I was chased by a dog.” Then he gave him blessings and made him into a dog. So then he was saved. Then he was chased by some other bigger animal. In this way the sage kept giving him blessings. Finally he was being chased by a tiger and sādhu give a blessing, “Alright you become a tiger.” So then later on you see the sādhu is sitting and then you see the tiger is coming and tiger is “Roar, Roar!” (Gurudev roars like a tiger and devotees laugh) And the sādhu said, “What are you making all this noise for? What do you want?” “I want to eat you!”( devotees laugh) “Punar mouse hi punar bhava” (devotees laugh) Punar mūśikā bhava! You become again a mouse” (devotees laugh). Then again he became a mouse!

Some people they forget. Hiranyagarbha what was he, some student? He was nothing. Prabhupāda took him from the worst mleccha life; gave him full spiritual life. Brought him up and was made a sannyāsī by Viṣṇupāda and then he thought, “Now I am so great. Now I know more than everyone.” He thinks that he has read more śāstras than Prabhupāda who can speak fluent Sanskrit, who has read all the śāstras, who has preached this movement all over the world. He thinks that he knows more siddhānta, that he is better than Prabhupāda. What Sanskrit Hiranyagarbha knows? Prabhupāda could speak Sanskrit. What Sanskrit Hiranyagarbha knows? Prabhupāda translated the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What Hiranyagarbha can translate? One śloka? He can only translate a few ślokas. Prabhupāda translated the whole Bhāgavatam and already he thinks he knows more than Prabhupāda, better than Prabhupāda. It is dangerous that someone becomes proud, doesn't matter how far he goes; he may be become a tiger, but he will again become a mouse, if he tries to eat his Guru.

Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī!

Everyone: Jaya!