19830109 The Man Who Wouldn't Stop Chanting

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on January 9^th, 1983 in Śrī Māyāpur, India.

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes if a devotee is not careful for offending other devotee then even an advanced devotee can fall into difficulty. The other dangers are there, unwanted creepers. The devotee keeps away other desires from the heart, because those desires can grow up and can take away strength from the spiritual tree. Of course, this is just a basic, very brief explanation. So, in this material world we are very fortunate to be human beings. This human body is a good birth because it gives us more intelligence to understand the purpose of life.

Lord Caitanya, He was so dear that when He was in the forest, all the animals would come and lick him. When He would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa even the tigers and the deer would chant together without fear. He is considered to be the most merciful form of Kṛṣṇa because He accepts anyone no matter what they did in their past life. So therefore, we request everyone to take this seed of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and plant in your heart and to water it by daily chanting and hearing the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.

Are there any questions?

Nishi?

Devotee: Step by step of becoming devotee?

Jayapatākā Swami: I was looking for that verse. But I remember I couldn’t find it.

The first point of course is to have ādau śraddhā, and then satsaṅga - to come and to associate with the devotees. That one has faith to come and hear from the devotees and listen to what they are saying, this is the first step. And by associating with the devotees, then one sees that this is a very nice way of life and then one starts to chant and to practice oneself some of the aspects of devotional service. Then one accepts the spiritual master and renders service under his guidance and gets rid of unwanted things from the heart. Sufferings and other kinds of illusions that are in the heart.

Then, from there one becomes very fixed or niṣṭhā, fixed in the spiritual, in the devotional life, in the spiritual, in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then from that stage, one gets a taste for the devotional service which is described to be more sweet than honey. It's completely satisfying to the self. So, being attached to that taste, then one grows and becomes to the stage known as attached. Of course, we’re like a family.

Once, there is a story Prabhupāda used how a person becomes very attached to chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and serving Kṛṣṇa. So, there was once a boy one who had joined the temple in Montreal, Canada and he was chanting there for some time. But his mother and father came and they wanted him that he could come back to home. To leave the temple.

So, they were talking with him by the door. Then suddenly they grabbed him and said, “Come on!” Of course, we don’t like… we like it if whole family is practicing devotional service. That is very good. Then the home is very good for spiritual life, if everyone is devotee there. But these parents were not devotees. They wanted their son to be in material life, and not to be in devotional service. So one was pulling an arm and… the mother was pulling on the arm and the father was pulling on the leg, and he was holding with one hand on the door. So, finally they were pulling on two legs and he is hanging in the air holding on the door, and they’re saying, “You come!”

He said, “No! I won’t go!”

“You come! You come”

“No, no, I want to serve Kṛṣṇa, I don’t want to go.”

And they were pulling. So Prabhupāda said that this shows that he had a great attachment to Kṛṣṇa. (laughter)

There was one devotee called Haridāsa Ṭhākura and he was told by one Muslim King that “You should stop chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa, you should chant the name of Allah.”

So, he said that “I cannot stop chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa”.

So, they said that, “If you don’t stop chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa you will be punished.”

He said that, “You can cut my body into little-little pieces, but so long there is one piece left, that piece will go on chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.” (laughter)

So, then he was whipped in 22 market places, people there tried to kill him by whipping. But he was protected by Kṛṣṇa and although they whipped him there was no mark on his body. So then the people who were assigned to whip him, they were very sad after the 22 market places were finished and they were just lamenting.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Why you are sad?”

“We are sad because you are not dead.” (laughter)

“Why?”

“Because the King will kill us because you are not dead even though we have whipped you.”

He said, “So if I die that will make you happy?”

“Yes, Yes, we will be very happy if you die.”

So, then he said “Alright,” then he laid down and went into samādhi, and then he appeared as if dead. They couldn’t see any breath, couldn’t hear any heartbeat.

“He’s dead! He’s dead! Tell the King! Now we will get a big reward. We have been saved; he is dead!”

They ran and told that Nawab, the Badshah that “He is dead. He is dead. We did our job.” 

So, then the King came down to see, and they tested if He is dead.

“Yes, he is dead.” 

So then, the King said “So, let us then burn him.”

But his priest came and said, “No. He should not be burnt, he should not be buried. His soul should not be allowed to rest in peace. He should just be thrown in the river so that crows and dogs will eat his flesh and his soul will wander completely horrible, just lack of peace. Because he has not followed the right path.”

So then the King said, “Alright, through him in the river.”

So, the two people, they tried to lift him up. But because Haridāsa Ṭhākura was meditating on Kṛṣṇa in the heart, he become very heavy, heavy as the universe. The two, they couldn’t move him even an inch. The King was bewildered, “bring more men, move him! Get him in the river. Move him!”

“Ugh! Pull him! get him in the river.”, didn’t move.

“Bring elephants!”

They tied elephant with ropes to his legs, and they are straining, “Urg!” Screaming, poking. They couldn’t move him. What to do?

Then all of a sudden Haridāsa Ṭhākura became very light like a ball of cotton. One man lifted him up like a cotton ball. They took him, threw him in the river. He was floating on the top of the river. Wind was blowing him to the other side. Then he hit the other side, he came conscious. He jumped out of the water

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

He started dancing and going away. The King and the priest said, “Look!”, they couldn’t believe it! That King, he immediately said, “Give me a boat immediately!” He had them take him across to the other side of the river. He ran after Haridāsa Ṭhākura and fell down and grabbed his feet. “You please forgive me for my offences. I didn’t recognize you, you are a great pīra, you are a great master”

He said, “I can only forgive you only if you promise that no one will obstruct the people from chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa in your kingdom.”

Just then the priest, he came also running and he fell “Please forgive me, I made a big mistake.” So, this way they promised that they won’t obstruct anymore, Haridāsa Ṭhākura forgave them.

Transcribed by Sadānanda Kṛṣṇa Prema dasa
Revised by Jagannātha Dāsa Brahmacārī
Proof read by: Caitanya Pr,  Reading UK Bhakti Vṛkṣa on 17th Oct 2020