19820901 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.26.10

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on September 1, 1982 – in Tennessee, USA. The lecture begins with a reading from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 4.26.10

Give up. And he also said, I know it would have been better if I had listened to you. But because I saw in the relative way that you’re my God brothers, I didn’t today. Oṁ namo devasude Nārāyaṇa Anglangaya Yatri Padama Śrī Guru Bhāgavatam Canto four chapter 26 text Ten Sasana Varahana Mohisha Prabhupāda in this way, the king in this way, King Puranjana killed many animals including rabbits, boars, buffaloes, bisons, black deer, porcupines and other game animals. After killing and killing, the king became very tired.

Translation of repetition in this way, King Puranjana kills many animals including rabbits, boars, buffaloes including rabbits, boars, bison’s, black deer, porcupine and other game animals, porcupine, alligator after killing and killing, the king became very tired purport by his divine grace shall we a person in the mode of ignorance commits many sinful activities in the Bhakti Yasamita Sindhu Śrīla Lupa Goswami explains that a man becomes sinful out of ignorance. Only the result and effect of sinful life is suffering. Those who are not in knowledge, who commit violations of the standard laws are subject to be punished under criminal laws. Similarly, the laws of nature are very stringent. If a child touches fire without knowing the effect, he must be burned even though he is only a child. If a child violates the law of nature, there is no compassion.

Only through ignorance does a person violate the laws of nature and when he comes to knowledge, he does not commit any more sinful acts. The king became tired after killing so many animals. When a man comes in contact with a saintly person, he becomes aware of the stringent laws of nature and thus becomes a religious person. Irreligious persons are like animals, but in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, such persons can come to a sense of understanding things as they are and abandon the four principles of prohibited activities, namely illicit sex life, meat eating, gambling and intoxication. This is the beginning of religious life. Those who are so called religious and indulge in these four principles of prohibited activities are suddho religionists. Religious life and sinful activity cannot parallel one another.

If one is serious in accepting a religious life or the path of salvation, he must adhere to the four basic rules and regulations. However sinful a man may be, if he receives knowledge from the proper spiritual master and repents his past activities in his sinful life and stops them, he immediately becomes eligible to return home back to Godhead. This is made possible just by following the rules and regulations given by the shastra and following the bona fide spiritual master. At present the whole world is on the verge of retiring from a blind, materialistic civilization which may be likened to hunting animals in the forest. People should take advantage of this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and leave the troublesome life of killing. It is said that the killers of animals should neither live nor die. If they live only to kill animals and enjoy women.

Life is not very prosperous and as soon as a killer dies he enters into the cycle of birth and death in the lower species of life. That is also not desirable. The conclusion is that killers should retire from the killing business and take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to make life perfect. A confused, frustrated man cannot get relief by committing suicide because suicide will simply lead him to take birth in the lower species of life or to remain as a ghost unable to attain a gross material body. Therefore, the perfect course is to retire altogether from sinful activities and take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way one can become completely perfect and go back home, back to Godhead. Thus, in the purport of text ten, chapter 26 canto for seemant bhāgavatam so appears that we are reading here today about King Purangchana.

So we can see here that the king has been wasting his life by hunting and now he has become tired. So Prabhupāda is advising that people in the west, they become tired of. They become frustrated. So what should they do? One thing they shouldn’t do is engage in illicit sex, mediating, gambling or intoxication. That won’t be the solution for their being tired of killing. Rather, we’re seeing that by these activities people are killing more and more. With all the abortions and other things increasing. Also the people, they shouldn’t commit suicide. Recently they published that in France alone, every year 15,000 people are committing suicide and 75,000 people try, but they’re not able to. They cut themselves or jump off a building or something. But they don’t kill themselves. They just get mangled up or something.

So now they published a book, how to commit suicide. And they, many people were found committed suicide with a book just by their head. So they said the author, they challenged that this is very bad. The book you published, he said no. He said that suicide is not bad. It will become an accepted thing just like abortion and other things. And just so that they don’t do a sloppy job, I printed a book. It’s a self mercy killing something. So you see, because they don’t know about the laws of nature. They don’t know what they will. That they have to again come back. They think, all right, there’s no life after death. Kill myself, finished, kaput, no more problem. They don’t realize that their problems have just begun.

You see, as they say here in the west, from the frying pan into the fire, they’re in the frying pan and they’re jumping off into the fire. They are suffering in this life as a human being when they had the chance to get out of the cycle of rebirth. Instead they jump and they become some animal, lower animal, who are always living in fear, or they become a ghost, and they are wandering about, trying to enjoy, but they have no senses. All they can do is take over the bodies of drunks and people who don’t clean themselves before they go to sleep at night, who don’t wash their mouth and their feet and their hands and other parts of their body that need to be cleaned. Instead, they go to sleep dirty.

Then they enter through the hole in the body where it’s dirty, including the genital or including the anus, it’s not properly cleaned. And then they take over the body of the sleeping person, causing them to experience various type of night dreams. This, that so many type of experiences uncomfortable things. So because they have no senses, so they can just look for some hapless person, this is what’s going on. So there’s no solution for this misery. Because the laws of nature are so stringent. If someone tries to take the action in his own hand, he also becomes Ātmā. He becomes a killer of the self, and therefore he has to suffer more. So here Prabhupāda is quoting the stop all this killing. The Niknam stop all the killing.

So today, of course, being bhaktived in Otaku’s appearance day, he has given us the advice how to stop the killing of our spiritual life by advising us to take up the chanting of the holy name. By chanting this holy name, we can overcome all these obstacles. He wrote a song called the glories of the holy name in the Saranagati Kṛṣṇa Naam Dharekoto Baltimore Bishoya Bashanan Kanarandra Potodiya Hidi Maji Praveshiya Bodhisaya Sūta Anupam Hidoya Jivara Agrite chole Sabdarupe Nachayanukan Contemora Banga Kape Torotor Stiro Haiti Napare Charan Chakra Dehigarmo Pulaquito Sabo Charmo Vivarno Hoylo Kolibor Mochito Hailomon Furlayera Komon Bhave Sarabadeh Koriyato Upo Drabo Chiti Barshe Sudhadrabho Monethane Premier Asagore how much power does the name of Kṛṣṇa possess? My heart constantly burns in the fire of worldly desires like a desert scorched by the sun.

The holy name entering within my heart through the holes of my ears showers unparalleled nectar upon my soul. The holy name speaks and within my heart moves on the tip of my tongue and constantly dances on in the form of the transcendental sound. My throat becomes choked up, my body violently trembles, and my feet move uncontrollably. Rivers of tears flow from my eyes. Perspiration pours from my body. My body thrills with rapture, causing my hair to stand on end and my skin to turn pale and discolored. My mind grows faint and I begin to experience devastation. My entire body is shattered in the flood of ecstasies. While causing such an ecstatic disturbance, the holy name showers liquid nectar on my heart and drowns me in the ocean of divine love of Godhead.

He does not allow me to understand anything, for he has made me truly mad and has stolen away my heart and all my wealth. So in this type of. Such is the behavior of him who is now my only shelter. I am not capable of describing all this. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is independent and thus acts at his own sweet will in whatever way he becomes happy. That is also my way of happiness. People are searching for happiness. When they get frustrated, then they want to commit suicide. They want to get drunk, they want to absorb themselves in their work or something or another. Forget everything. Just like recently in Madrid, they had the big soccer, football competition. Everyone, the Brazilians, they were all ready to win because they lost the football match. Hundreds of Brazilians committed suicide. Oh, he lost.

What is the use of living? We lost a football game. How mad they had to take. They gave in a newspaper india that they put police and armed troops all around the coach’s house because they were afraid that people were going to burn him alive for losing the match. This is so. People have become so absorbed in these fantasies. They’re trying to forget their problems that they absorb themselves in some other fantasy, which is another problem here in America. The football, the baseball. Of course, there are not so many riots. Still. It’s all type of intoxication just to make one forget. And then if one gets real frustrated in life, all right, commit suicide. So they criticize. Oh you people, you are all brainwashed. You see, you are chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa. You have given up your intelligence. They don’t realize that who?

Yes, everyone is giving up their intelligence. But we are giving our intelligence to Kṛṣṇa, to the supreme Godhead. Therefore we become more intelligent. And what they are gaining, they are calling that you are brainwashed. And they are sitting in front of the boob tube watching all these garbage movies and they are going and getting completely intoxicated, absorbing themselves in all these sports, all these fantasies. Why? Because they’re mislead. They’re actually killing themselves. They’re killing their spiritual life. So here is the nectar of the holy name Bhaktivino Tako has described to us. We should absorb ourselves rather in that nectar life is of course very exemplary. He didn’t waste any time at all. He was born as K. Darnat, 1838 and that place, Birnagora Ulagram. He tried to get that to build a big temple there. This birthplace Prabhupāda wanted to build.

But one of his sons wasn’t at that time prepared to give it. Now we’re still discussing they may give it in the future and we can build something there for Bhaktivino. But that’s described as an extension of Navadweed Godhumadv. There are so many orchards, jackfruit, mango, Leechu all around. His paternal grandfather also retired in the end of his life and became an aesthetic and he requested that Baghdivi Node should visit all the major temples and ashrams around Orissa. He also wrote a book about his tours of all these temples. And he established that any guest come to any ashram they should be properly received with hospitality. And therefore Prabhupāda said one time he wrote a letter, personally wrote a letter to all the temples that every temple should have a purī dough made and kept so and some sabji just kept ready.

If any guest comes immediately, you just roll a few puris, throw them in their ghee and give them prashant. Anyone comes to temples, please sit down and have some prashanthenne. Actually india this is how respectable people are won over. If someone comes to the temple and if you invite them and treat them very nicely, sit them down in hospitality, give them some prasad, they’re used for the rest of their life. In fact, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that one of the sannyasis and the Gaudi Emma was especially capable during the time of Bhakti siddhant and after receiving these big people, like a governor or someone like that, he would personally sit there and watch the person taking Prashadim and talk to him, joking, laughing. This would be a light mood when you’re taking Prashadim, nothing heavy.

You don’t come in when someone’s eating and tell them that, you know, they just. One of the devotees just got arrested or something, and they said, give indigestion. So what they would do is while the prasad is being served, this particular sannyāsī, he would see that everything was all right and just to give, especially, even he saw that there was water there, everything. But then he would just. He would still say more, purī, purī, come on, quick. You know, water. And just put on such a. You know, so much that the person, you know, he would. He would be that, wow, he’s giving me such an attention. He would become more ingrained to that person. Then afterwards, you know, then the collector would come over and that person would generally give big donation because. Just because he got that special attention.

But apart from all the fruitive considerations, of course, it’s not fruit, because we give everything to Kṛṣṇa. It’s preaching. But actually it wins over the heart. And it’s the duty of any temple to be hospitable. The ultimate issue, of course, apart from all the practical pros and cons of the whole thing. Kṛṣṇa’s house, if someone comes there, he’s the king, he’s the lord of the universe. Someone comes, you think they will go hungry. Just like were discussing yesterday, Prabhupāda said that anyone within 10 miles of a temple shouldn’t go hungry. At least he said that in my upwork, that there, because it’s a major world center, naturally. But as he said, a temple means that everyone will be satisfied, happy, just from having Kṛṣṇa their area. So at least if someone comes to the temple, they should get.

So how many people come in the west? Even india, very few people come. I know when we go to a temple and sometimes the Pujari comes. Have you taken any meal? And you. And would you like to take some Vishnu prasad? Vishnu Prasad. And it just happens to be about two in the afternoon. And you have been walking up mountains and doing pilgrimages and things of that. And all of a sudden, and this happened to us in, Gopī knows he was there. And what’s that place just south of where Ramanuja hid when the Shiva’s chased him away? Something like magical or something like that. We were there and Pujari came out and invited us. Acharya was there, Ramanuja Acharya from Vanamal, Malay. And they invited us for Prashad. And they gave us, you know, it was a big feast with rice, four subjugs.

It was usually in South India, four subjugs and so many types of this special South India papadam and sambar and rasam and all these things. And it was, you know, a real mercy of the lord. And one time also, I was going to a temple. We were researching all the places of Lord Caitanya. So were on a special mission. We wanted to go to Kṛṣṇadas Kabirajas birthplace. And were searching for the Loa samadhi of Udaran Datto Thakur. So we stopped off at Katwa and saw one of my friends, Nandananda Goswami of the Gadadhar Das line at the temple of Gadadhar Das, the younger brother of Gadadhar Pandit. And I requested if he could send someone to guide us the other 30 miles through the jungle and over this river.

There was no bridge or anything that we had to go up to try to find the birthplace. A Kṛṣṇa Kobirajdehe and the lost Samadhi, Udaran Dutta Thakur. So he said, well, yes, I will send someone, but you have to take Prushad. He says, well, no, but we have so many works. We have our duty. We have to go and try to find this place. He said, listen, your duty is to serve and my duty, the duty of Goranga, he has the Gaurāṅga deity. I miss pujarious. The duty of Goranga is to feed his devotees. And your duty is to serve him. So as his pujari, I have to feed you. will you refuse his mercy? So Bhakti Vinod, he was also establishing that the temples, they should have proper hospitality. And he really appreciated, no doubt, it’s a way to win someone’s heart.

And in the west, normally, no one offers you even the time of day, what to speak of a glass of water or something. If you come, someone comes in and they’re offered a little snack or anything, they will become overwhelmed. In the west, they will ask, how much do I have to pay? You see, because they’re not habituated to get any type of hospitality, give a donation. So then he became a civil servant, Bhakti Vino Thakur. And he started to. While working in the government service, he also spread the message of Sichaitanya. And he also established the Nāmahaṭṭa preaching where he established that in each village there should be chanting of the holy name daily. Nagarkirtan street Hari Nam.

And he said that anyone who wanted to become an active member of the Namhata, a salesman, he had to go with a flag in his hand, the flag of the namhat, that’s called the victory flag. He had to go with that to a minimum, five houses per day and request him to take up the order of Lord Caitanya. Then he could do his other work in business or farming. But five people he had to request every day. That’s a perverted reflection. They tell the boy scouts to do a good deed every day. So here, no, you preach to at least five people a day, even no matter what your service was. Whether a full time preacher would preach to so many hundreds, but then minimum everyone would preach to five people. That was a standard that he had set.

So then he was moved to the Jagannath Purī temple. And there he was the district magistrate also. He was managing the affairs of the temple on behalf of the government. And he rectified many malpractices in the temple. This is amazing. He said that all of the deities offering were regulated to extreme punctuality. If you know what’s happening now, you can buy for rs1 or even. I think they give out some issues of the or recent tourist manual on the Jagannath Purī temple. And there they say, the times of the offering, they say mangalati. So this is supposed to be performed at 04:00 a.m. But now it’s being performed at 08:30 a.m. Then it says that morning bhoga, this is supposed to be performed at 08:30 a.m. Now it’s being performed at 1030.

Then it says that noon offering is now being performed at 330 to four. And then it says, Śrīngar, the deity’s rest is supposed to be at 04:00. Now he does, takes no rest. That’s been omitted. Then like this, they go through every offering is completely, you know, off of time. So he had it completely on time. Of course it’s difficult because there’s 6000 pujaris, I think, in Jagan Purī, four to 6000. And to coordinate the whole affair and to get them to discipline is very difficult. As one knows, devotees are the most difficult to discipline. Even when they’re good devotees, it’s hard to discipline and what to speak of when they’re fallen devotees, then it’s very hard.

So then he also, you know how Bhaktavino Thakur cut the hair of that Yogī and who was doing so many mis demeanors, even he was cursed by that Yogī to get sick for one year. And even though he possessed supernatural powers, but ultimately, by the spiritual force and faith of Bhaktived in Thakur, he was able to defeat in this way, Bhaktivi note he was rectifying many of these false incarnations. This is the danger that what happens whenever there is real religion alongside, they are always impostors. Wherever they are bona fide spiritual masters. They are always imposters, spiritual masters. Wherever this bona fide incarnation of God, there’s always imposter incarnations of Godhead. So these are rectified by great souls like Bhaktivinod Thakur. And they establish what is the real standard of surrender, what is that real standard of spiritual knowledge.

So then Bhaktived in Ott, he wrote so many books. He wrote notes on the Vedānta Sutras and which are published with the commentaries of Balade Vidya Bhushana. Maybe sometimes the Charia Dev will be translating those for us. Prolific writing also compose Kalyana Kalpatru and the Sajana Toshini. Kṛṣṇa Sangeeta was published by him, and so many songs this way. He also did the simad Bhagavad Gītā, the Chetanya Sheikh Shamita. Then he created the Vishwa Vaishnava Sabha for the propagation of Hari Bhakti. And many imminent citizens of Calcutta joined the society and several committees were organized. He found, of course, that developed the first temple at the Yoga Pita, or birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, with the help of Jagannathas Babaji. And he published the glories of Navajatima, which was a great result of great research in the scriptures and through unrealized the actual glories of Nawadibdam.

And then when he found the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, that was published in all the newspapers, and it became very active situation. He personally collected the money for that. Then he also made annotations of the Brahma Sankhita and Kṛṣṇa Karnita. He also wrote Śrī Harinam Chintamani Bhajana Rahasya. And he also edited with a commentary, the Seemant Bhāgavata Rahasya, as well as the seemant Bhāgavata Tarka Maritz, Himalayan. Actually, Prabhupda recommended this Bhāgavata Tarka Marichimala. It’s a reading for our bengali devotees, and we didn’t have any bengali books? It’s one of the. Then, of course, he, in the beginning of the 20th century, he chose to live at Purī. And there he built a house on the beachfront just opposite of Haridas Thakur’s house. And he took the Sannyas order of life in 1908. And that way he was always giving them instructions.

So many people were coming to him until 1910. Then he shut himself up and remained just in near Jannah, complete state of Samadhi, and just concentrated for the last few years in his life and meditating on the pastimes of the Lord. And then in 1914, he went back to home, back to Godhead. So we are today celebrating, of course, Bhaktivino Thakur’s appearance by Bhaktivino Takur’s mercy. We, we have been able to get the lease, 99 year lease in a big one year auction tender, legal battle. There are many other institutions trying to get it. We got, for this house, Jagannath Purī, the rs6000 per year rent. Finally, there was a big auction for that. And finally we had, at that price, were able to get it.

Now we’re just trying to take pledges from around the world for people like to be part of that opportunity to serve back to Vinod and have that as a special place where devotees can come and chant and visit. It’s only about $3,000. So that’s a whole separate trust where we just, we will be using that as a memorial for Bhakti Vinod Thakur. So now we’re always accepting anyone’s offer for hoping to pay the rent. So there’s some beautiful pictures here of Bakhtivino taqwa in this book. You can see that, how intense he was. Of course, you have all seen so many pictures of Bhaktivino taqua. So actually, although he was such a very big person, public life magistrate in a british time, but he was always extremely humble. He was extremely merciful and completely fixed in his devotional service.

Special quality of the great devotees is that as were discussing yesterday during Brahman Advarasi, that Vali Maharaj was punished for being proud and he had his pride taken away and was given humility. But Kṛṣṇa said, someone who has all the good qualities, someone who has all the opulence and still is not the slightest bit proud, who is still always humble and dedicated in his service to me, that you can understand that person is the greatest person of my mercy. But this was Bhaktirin Otakar is the perfect example. He had all the good qualities social prestige, influence, power, wealth, spiritual attainments, literary ability, following everything. He didn’t care. He was simply fixed in engaging people in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and spreading the hari naam and in serving Kṛṣṇa for his satisfaction.

So these are the great qualities of bhakti Vinod in his introduction introductory song of the Saranagoti we can say that from the translation, his basic intentions, he prayed that out of compassion for the fallen soul, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya came to this world with his personal associates and divine abode to teach Saranaagoti surrender to the Almighty Godhead and to freely distribute ecstatic love of God which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain. This saranagoti is the very life of the true devotee. The ways of Saranagoti are humility, dedication of the self acceptance of the Lord as one’s only maintainer, faith that Kṛṣṇa will surely protect execution of only those acts favorable to pure devotion and renunciation of conduct adverse to pure devotion. The youthful son of Nanda Mahārāja, Śrī Kṛṣṇa hears the prayers of anyone who takes refuge in him.

By this sixfold practice, Bhaktivi Noda places a straw between his teeth, prostrates himself before the Tugo Swami Sirupa and Sanātana and clasp their lotus feet with his hands. I am certainly the lowest of men, he tells them weeping. But please make me the best of men by teaching me the ways of Saran. Surrender to the Almighty God. Him. So of course, most of you. The songs we sing, most of the reminders to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. Many of them are written by Bhaktivi. Not most of them. We can remember every time we take Prasad, the Prasad song. He also wrote that, o brothers, this material body is a network of ignorance and the senses are once deadly enemies for they throw the soul into this ocean of material sense. Enjoyment among the senses. The tongue is the most voracious and uncontrollable.

It is very difficult to conquer the tongue in this world. O brothers, Lord Kṛṣṇa is very merciful and has given us the remnants of his own food just to control the tongue. Now please eat that nectarine, Kṛṣṇa Prasad and sing the glories of their lordship. Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and in love call out caitanya nitaide. So actually also Bhaktived in ot Thakur. Sometimes he would actually see Navadip dharm. You see, not everyone can see the dam. In fact, very few, only the most fortunate people. We go and see the trees and the land, but we don’t see the Chintamani. Dhaam in its original form. Unless one gets a special vision of mercy of Kṛṣṇa, one can’t see but Bhakti vinod. He could actually see the holy Dham in its original form when he was going around in one.

Sometimes Lord Shiva would pull him over. He would see Lord Shiva while he was touring Nawaddhip and Lord Shiva would guide him. Sometimes he would meet different devotees and take instruction for them very humbly. He would see different pastimes. He became so absorbed in these transcendental pastimes that they were actually revealed before him. So this is a special mercy. We can also by praying unto him that we are so humble that if he would teach us how to surrender to Lord Caitanya, how to surrender to our spiritual master and become fully fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then we can get that special mercy. We see also that he has a very nice appreciation of prasadam. He has many prasadam songs. Glorifying eating of saag, green leafy vegetables, also glorifying khichdi, also glorifying eating puris, various milk, sweets, cakes, pitas. That means rice cakes of course.

And we know that from the song where he talks about the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. There he goes to details of all the various type of prushad which was offered to Kṛṣṇa. So we can understand that he also liked to see Kṛṣṇa offered very nice prasadam. You see.

(Side B of the Cassette)

The pure spiritual master. They like to see when the devotees are serving Kṛṣṇa very enthusiastically. Nicely. Maybe Kṛṣṇamara would like to read something. A selection from Bhaktivi note. Have any selection you’d like to read? See, they gave me this one. It’s got so many. We’re not habituated to see. Actually we can sing one bhajan and close it. What? Any song there? What do you have in that book? Raha Kṛṣṇa Bologna. It’s a little complicated. Ranha Kṛṣṇa Bolo Ranhakṛṣṇa Sabanodiya Shikadiya Samodiya Chego Nitaya Samadhi Kadiya Ashi Kadiri Kayashi Kadia Jose Dacho Base may Allah Bosse Nacho Beshe Oda Saharieh save full of love is not Allah. Rādhā Kṛṣṇa padded all. I don’t think. I don’t know. Everyone chant, chant. Rādhā Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda are dancing all over the land of Nadia, giving this teaching to all. Oh brother.

Needlessly under the control of Māyā, you suffer and are carried away by her waves. Sometimes floating and sometimes sinking in this ocean of illusion. If you have this faith that the soul is the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, then there will be no more misery. And when you chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, your body will shiver in ecstasy and your eyes will shed tears and love of God. This is what I say. Chant Rah Kṛṣṇa and the association of devotees. This is the only request I beg. Bhakti Vinod says, when one chants the holy name of the Lord then all the dangers go away. All the dangers are defeated. So people ask what to do when they’re in danger. Chant the holy name of the Lord. All the dangers will go away. They want to know how to be happy.

Here is the answer, jīva kas. If one has faith that he’s the servant of Kṛṣṇa then he has no more misery. And simply by chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa he will have his hair standing on end. His tears will be filling his eyes and he will be in ecstasy. So what is Bhakti Vinod begging in return for all these wonderful gifts? He’s saying, just chant the name Raha Kṛṣṇa. Come along Sange Cholo, come along with all the devotees. This is my only begging. And if you think what about so many dangers will come if I chant? No. By chanting rah Kṛṣṇa, by chanting hare Kṛṣṇa, all the dangers go away. No dangers come. Any questions? We have schools, we have even factories and so many different things. Why the devotees are working everywhere trying to bring the people.

Take some prasadam, some purified food stuff, read some literature. What is the purpose? The purpose is to stop the people suffering. People are suffering birth, they’re suffering death, they’re suffering old age, they’re suffering disease, they’re suffering anxieties, they’re suffering pain. They’re suffering pain from others. They’re suffering natural calamities. We want to stop all these sufferings. Why? Because our spiritual master has given us such an opportunity that we can stop our sufferings, that we are tasting some happiness we want. Others should also have their suffering stopped. This is the basic purpose of the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement. So all these things, of course, may seem very philosophical or very abstract in many ways. So the system is very practical. However, if you just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare. Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Hari.

Meditating on that vibration, then that has a way of purifying the mind, cleansing away all these superficial conditionings so that one can actually see who one is. One comes to a neutral position or transcendental position, whereby Kṛṣṇa and the self, the absolute truth, everything is visible, the material nature. Thus, one becomes fixed in transcendental happiness. That’s why you see the devotees, why they’re always walking around. You see them cooking, they’re mumbling Hare Kish, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Gesigrist, Hari. They’re out preaching or they’re doing any activity. They’re always chanting. Why that vibration, that service? It’s always keeping them linked with the transcendental nature. Linked with the transcendental nature. What is the nature? That transcendental nature is our own nature. That is, to always be happy. Why? We always want to be happy. That’s our nature, to always be happy.

So when we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, when we achieve our original spiritual consciousness, the first symptom, we can test whether we have that symptom or not. The first symptom will immediately feel happy. We will feel peaceful. It is a sublime happiness. It’s not the type of frivolous happiness that comes in a second and goes. It’s a type of deep, overwhelming feeling where one actually can understand that he has achieved equilibrium and that goes on expanding to the highest extents of ecstasy. According to one’s practice, one has to actually apply oneself to it. Not that distant 1 second. 1 may have feel even ecstasy in 1 second, if that second he fully applies himself. There are examples of that in history. Depending how much one is able to concentrate. Full concentration is a technical term for that. In Sanskrit, it’s called samadhi it means complete trance.

If you can fully concentrate on the absolute truth, you immediately feel the highest ecstasy. And if a little bit you concentrate, you immediately feel also the effect according to the amount of concentration you’re able to give. So the devotees are constantly chanting. They’re always concentrating. Therefore, they don’t like to stop because they’re feeling transcendental happiness. They’re feeling a reciprocation from Kṛṣṇa. So in this particular age that we’re in the particular era or time period, it’s considered that it’s very difficult to perform many of the difficult type of yoga practices. You know, yoga practice in the west has become very popular. Of course it’s good for health. But to do the system of physical yoga practice requires a lot of exercise, a lot of technical ability.

By the time one gets to the point of fixing the mind and purifying the consciousness, it may take one years and years together, while one is still spiritually, mentally on the primary stage, just getting the body toned up to start to meditate. So it’s recommended that in this age where people are very impatient, where their minds are troubled, where they have a lot of problems, that a more powerful medicine is required for the particular type of material disease which is there troubling us. Just like when there’s a big feast, sometimes the children are given the sweets first because they’re a little impatient. If you give them the sweet first, they’re happy like that. In this process of yoga, this is known as bhakti yoga, the yoga of love, that yoga of devotion.

We’re given first the sweetest thing, pure Kṛṣṇa, ecstasy, but chanting his holy name, which are complete personified happiness, the reservoir of all happiness. So by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa hare hare hare Ram Ram Ram hare hare. Gradually understanding what is the philosophy, so that our conception becomes clear, then we can start to identify not as simply a body, not as a mind, not as an intellect, but as eternal personality, eternal spiritual entity. If we identify with the gross body, then we will always be very agītāted with so many gross desires. When we are identifying with the life, with the enthusiasm or the life air in the body, we get very hungry. When we’re identifying with the mind, there’s other problems with the intellect, there’s other anxieties. We are actually spiritual entity. That means we are a permanent factor.

All the mind, intellect and body are changing factors. When we identify with the self, then automatically everything takes its correct perspective. So we’re just inviting people to experiment. If nothing else, try identifying or try to understand what are the different categories, at least of life that were described by the great sages india for thousands of years, which is being practiced today all over the world very effectively. We are not saying that, making any very big tall claims. We are presenting very sincerely whatever is completely authorized. At the same time, we’re sincerely as far as possible. We are practicing. We’re not trying to cheat anyone. That we’re saying one thing and doing another. That you can judge for yourself. You see how all the devotees here, they’re very sincerely practicing the same process.

You can ask each of them today, when you’re taking your meal, how they’re experiencing what they’re achieving by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. What is the meaning of self realization? What is the meaning of God realization? It’s not something abstract. You think that. Well, you might think this is something very abstract. It’s a very basic thing. Everyone is acting according to his identity as an individual. He has an idea of himself. Some people think that their physical needs are most important. Other people think that their mental needs are more important. Some people think their intellectual needs. The terrorists, they’re doing something on some intellectual idea. Some of the sports people may be doing it different reasons. So everyone’s working according to their identity. But these identities are all changing identities. So what is our real identity that we should know first?

So that problem is all over the world. It’s a universal problem. Therefore, our mission is preaching everywhere. We invite you, I personally. Now you have a great opportunity. Our Bhagavad Goswami, the guru, who especially is the acharya for UK and other parts of southern Europe. He is renowned for being a great scholar in vedic science and for having achieved a lot of realization in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And so you should try to associate with these advanced spiritual people, understand what is the purpose of your life. Then you can be happy. Then you can make others happy. Otherwise, just like nowadays, so much aid is being given to developing countries. I live in the developing, so called developing countries. I see tons of tractors lying unused because there’s no spare parts given, because they don’t have the technical know how to use them.

They just people giving million dollar machine and it sits there rotting in rust. The same way we are expending so much energy to be happy. And we’re not happy from it, because we don’t know who we are. We don’t know what is the real need. Then it becomes just a token giving. We are a token trying to be happy. That is described in the Vedas Charvanam chewing the already chewed. We have already tried again and again the similar things. To be happy. It is just like taking a new old wine and putting it in new bottles. You have already tasted it. So many different, so many types of sex, so many types of enjoyment, so many types of recreation. Everyone is trying. It’s chewing the chewt. Somebody spits out a cigar butt, you pick it off the ground and take the same thing.

There’s nothing new there. This is what’s going on. It’s just a sustenance platform of life. It’s not the real goal of life. Those things have to be brought in focus with a real goal of life. Then every activity, raising a family, growing food, having a business. Everything then is happiness. Everything then makes sense. If it’s all tied in with the ultimate purpose, satisfying the supreme personality of Godhead, satisfying Kṛṣṇa in full consciousness of oneself, then everything fits. So thank you very much for coming here and participating, coming to these lunch programs. We hope that you enjoy yourselves and that you take advantage and ask questions and try to understand whether you chant in your homes. So whether you come and chant here or chant in the park, you can chant hare Kṛṣṇa anywhere. Encourage your friends to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.

We like that everyone should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa if someone really wants to go deep into it. Of course, we even have programs that they can come and stay in our ashrams for some period of time. Actually twelve, about 14 years ago. That’s how I decided I will just for two months, come and stay in ashram and I will fully try. I tried everything else and let me fully try. What is this all about? So that two months has never ended. I have been here ever since 14 years. But if someone’s brave, they can also try. If they find that after a period of time that wasn’t what I wanted or something, everyone is free to go. This is not some kind of cult that people, they are not allowed to come and go. Doors always open. You don’t see anybody chained down.

There’s no mental intimidation or anything like that. Everyone’s free to come and go. Take a feast, stay for ten minutes, stay for ten days, stay for ten years. And if even after ten years you want to go, no one is there to stop. Because this whole basis of this is purely voluntary. Purely voluntary. Because the spirit itself, it can’t be shackled down. The nature of the spirit is to be free. That real freedom comes by being complete harmony and subordination to the supreme spirit. Then one is free of all the other bondages which are artificial, which are unnatural because of a natural relationship with the supreme. So maybe there’s just one or two questions and then other programs can go on. Yes, take out the point that you made at the end. The process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a science.

And I have heard on another take.

A.

Person must understand that it’s not voluntary, it’s an absolute. So you have to carry on with the process so that the result is successful. So a person who stayed for some time would have to continue. Well, that’s 100% correct. If you want to achieve the result, then you have to continue. But if you don’t want to achieve the result, you don’t want to continue. That’s also. That’s your. That’s your voluntary right. Is there person can follow the law or you can break the law afterwards, the consequences are his. If you decide that you don’t want to continue, whatever you have done, you advance that far.

That Bhagavad Gītā describes that whatever amount you have advanced, that stays as a credit, that even say you don’t do any more in this life, then when you know there’s no death means that this body is finished again we take birth, again, we reincarnate. So then in our next birth, whatever amount of spiritual life we have been able to achieve that our consciousness is already a little more advanced. Just like Prabhupāda gave a practical example. Ravi Shankar, you know, a lot of you must have heard Ravi Shankar says, said that this is his 9th birth as a sitar player. Each birth he was a little better. But he was so much into being a very perfect sitar player that now this is his 9th birth and now he’s more or less made it in terms of this planet, on other planets, they have better musicians.

Yes, they have a planet of musicians called Gandarval loca that they have such musical ability that most of the musical inspirations that musicians get here are coming only from that planet. So the point is that if we want in this lifetime to achieve success, naturally we will have to give a continuous effort. But if we don’t want to, then who’s going to stop us? No one else can force. You can take the horse to water, it can’t make it drink. But you’re correct that if we want to achieve success, then we should continue. Continuous process should be there. It’s not very difficult. It’s a very simple, it’s nothing artificial. It’s a question of adjusting the. The consciousness to bring us into a gradual, constant awareness of the spiritual aspect of everything in the world, what is matter, what is spirit?

And then engaging everything in such a way that we remain above these laws of karma, of reaction, of the material world that keep us on the spiritual platform, which means that we’re always happy, not in some artificial, you know, so your face up. But happiness means that you’re not troubled by so many desires and you’re feeling internally satisfied that one has to experience. It’s a whole different realm of happiness. You’d say someone’s happy in what he’s doing if he’s not thinking about doing something else. When you start thinking, maybe I should be doing something else, this is not working for me. Kalubita Singh from Manipur, India. Very nice to see you in London. When you have come, small worlds, big industrial Manipur, make stainless steel. But he’s a devotee. Chance. Whole state of Manipur. They all worship Kṛṣṇa. They all do this dancing.

RAstila when Kṛṣṇa, you see, everything that’s in this world is in the spiritual sky. So kṛṣṇa here we see that naturally man wants to enjoy association with a woman wants to enjoy association with a man. This is because originally those desires are in God. These are the secret of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that those desires are actually in God, because we are part of God, because we are just a very small microcosm of God. Therefore they exist in us. But in the material world, they’re perverted in the sense that they’re not perfect, they’re artificially created. But in Kṛṣṇa, in God, they’re perfect. So that way, how they’re perfect. That’s the whole thing. We can’t discuss in five minutes or even in five years, but we can discuss.

And if you’d like to know, that’s the whole science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you can understand from a book called the Kṛṣṇa Book, which is published by the Society, goes more into the details of Kṛṣṇa. So there all the devotees, they worship this aspect that how God is worshiped by friends, by parents and by lovers. And they have big Ras, where the whole city has come out with drums and flutes and card dolls and singing Hare Kṛṣṇa. They dance in Ras Leela and holy celebrations. And this was brought to Manipur by Narutum Das Thakur disciples hundreds of years ago. So they like all these transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa? Very much there. One more question. Yes. How is a devotee motivated to stay in Kṛṣṇa consciousness or to try and increase his Kṛṣṇa consciousness when the goal is so far away?

There’s no certainty that he will actually reach that goal. No, there’s every guarantee that one will reach the goal. If one is trying to reach the goal, it is considered the goal is already reached. Just as there is a law of karma in the material world for every action, then you get the reaction of that. You cause pain to others, you get pain somehow. You give pleasure to others. You are responsible. You also get some reaction for that. This is material in a higher spiritual order. You are trying to become Kṛṣṇa conscious guarantees that you will become Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then it’s simply a question of how quickly once you’re trying sincerely, even once that I want to know and achieve what is the supreme truth.

I want to actually be situated in my real constitutional position, in my ultimate natural position, where I will always be happy once even just. If a person, just one time thinks like that in desires and then does a little bit along that, it puts him in an orbit where the reaction of that would again gradually give him more and more opportunities in the future to make progress. That’s just an ordinary sense. When one is practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa promises that person will never perish. You will never be just deprived of getting Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The only thing is, if you want to achieve it in this life itself, then one should try to more. You can say stick it out or to just remain, keep up the continuity. I just flew from Delhi this morning. So for me it’s about two in the morning or something.

You have to remain, keep the continuity. As many breaks as there are. Then naturally that delays doesn’t stop one, doesn’t mean that precludes that you want. You will achieve. Those who never desire like that, but who never think once, they won’t get it because they’re not at all in that orbit. They’re simply being tossed around by the different currents and by their reactions. But when one already is desiring, a type of link is established which gradually brings one closer and closer to the spiritual reality. That’s why this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, just a person sees the festival, they think, what a wonderful thing. I like it just to be a pleasant thought like that. That also sets him to take further steps towards spiritual perfection. When they get a literature and they start to read. But that may take several births.

It doesn’t mean it may happen in one birth. And the person is actually practicing, chanting and practicing. Unless that person is very careless and has some type of badness, just reverts into bad habits or something. Then if one is just a little careful, it’s very easy to practice. There’s so many men and women, they’re practicing. It’s not that it’s very difficult. What happens is that we become, we make what happens. The only danger is there. You see that devotees, they practice and they make such a rapid advancement in the first few years because they start off, they know that I am completely nowhere spiritually, and a very humble way they approach spiritual master and they practice and they make a big advancement within a few years. You can see that they just become almost effulgent.

And then they get proud of themselves, and then that pride sometimes causes them to become careless and then they get difficulties and they have to readjust. That’s the only thing is that one is advised that one should remain always very cautious until you’re out of the world, until you’re into the spiritual world, until you have completely hundred percent of your spiritual consciousness and realization of Kṛṣṇa. Then the risk is always there. You can fall down just like a man who’s sick and you’re getting cured of pneumonia. Then naturally, until you’re 10% cured, you’re not going to start taking cold showers and allowing yourself to be exposed. Things like that, just some precautions are taken. But once you already have the care of the good doctor, you have the proper diet, everything is there.

It means you’re going to get cured only if you’re very careless. That means you can have a relapse. Otherwise, normally you’re not going to have a relapse, you have the proper care, proper situation, danger is already gone. If you decided to go out, you know, in the snow without a shirt on or something, that’s another thing. It’s just like that. You’re under the care of spiritual master, you have the proper diet, proper treatment, everything is there. No question, guaranteed success. There’s no instance. You can’t find that the person is doing everything correctly and he has any difficulty. Only Islam is still careless, then even that’s temporary. So that way even anyone can come, just even come. It doesn’t have to even be a full time devotee, so you can just come and understand.

But if one really wants to go deep into the matter and very quickly realize things, then even for a short time, you should try to fully practice. It will be an experience which he will be grateful for the rest of eternity. Thank you all very much.

And somehow, dear Kṛṣṇa contacted them and told them, no, he is not qualified. You should get initiated by Śrīdhar Maharaj. Well, I am not qualified, but I am qualified by virtue of my loyalty to RLA Prabhupda and that he appointed me to do this. Whereas R. Maharaj, who knows so much more than I do in terms of Sanskrit and reading the different Vaishnava literatures, is by constitutional nature not surrendered to Prabhupda. He’s God brother, as he says. Swami Maharaj, he doesn’t call Prabhupda, calls him Swami Maharaj, which in itself is minimizing Prabhupāda. But that’s his relationship. He’s different. He said, Swami Maharaj and I are not one. So in this way, it is not a fact that he is more qualified to accept the disciples who want to be in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which must come down in line from Prabhupda.

So this group has made bad propaganda and somehow they have claimed shelter of Tirthapad. So we, God brothers, GBC God brothers, became more and more concerned how this thing was developing. And last December we all had our, as usual, our new north American G. B. C. Meeting of Detroit. He also went. I asked him before he went if he could come and talk with me. I said, I will go to Detroit if you like. He said, no, I will meet you in Philadelphia. So he came and we spoke for about 6 hours about this relationship and the relationship of Tirithapad to the G. B. C and everything. And I said, I think there’s going to be trouble if you don’t clearly disassociate yourself from these persons who are speaking against ISKCON and are trying to take devotees out of ISKCON due to their own.

Out of their own dissatisfaction and misunderstanding, intentional or unintentional, about Prabhupdas supreme position. He said, I certainly I will do that. I will disconnect myself from them. He said, but I will find it difficult to be able to give up my going to see Śrīdhar Maharaj, my relationship with Śrīramahe.