Making the best out of a bad bargain

Lecture by Sri Amitasana Dasa

Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.1.14

apannah samsrtim ghoram
yan-nama vivaso grnan
tatah sadyo vimucyeta
yad bibheti svayam 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 Krishna, which is feared by fear personified.

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Once there was a very pious and religious king who used to spend time reading the vedas and was convinced there was a lot of wisdom but this was not available to people in general. Or if it is available, people have no time.  So he called his ministers and said - I want you to condense the wisdom of the vedas. Vedas are voluminous; one lifetime is not enough to study. One of the Puranas, Srimad Bhagavatam is itself eighteen volumes, many of us may not have read it fully, although we may be practicing Krishna consciousness for many years.

It was a daunting task, and a lot of pundits after about two months came back to the king with twelve thick volumes. The king was a little disappointed, he said people will not have time, condense it further. They further condensed it and came back to the king with one volume. The king said it was also too much.  So finally after four months, they came with one page. They said - this is the essence. The king said excellent, but still there could be some people who can’t even read, can you condense it further? And finally they came to the king with one paragraph. The king said, you have done a great job, but can you make it just one line? Many times we study so many things, we have so much knowledge but finally when the time comes, we forget everything. Finally after a year the pundits said that this is one line which is the essence of the vedic literature:

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam 
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir nyatha

This stanza was the outcome of years of tapasya to condense the essence of the vedas. Many of us have started practicing Krishna consciousness, but we don’t realize the potency of chanting the holy name of Krishna. Many of us would have taken up chanting because we were in some difficulty, wanted peace of mind, etc.  But none of us took up chanting by understanding the power of the holy name of Krishna.

In the purport Srila Prabhupada says – the holy name of Krishna and Krishna are non different. Kali kale namarupe avatar: the Lord has descended in the form of the holy name.  So when we are chanting, Krishna is descending on our tongue. In this pastime where Parikshit Maharaj is being instructed by Sukadeva Goswami, Sukadeva Goswami tells - kaler dosa nidhe rajann - O King although Kali yuga is an ocean of faults - asti hy eko mahan gunah – there is one maha guna, one good thing - kirtanad eva krsnasya – just by chanting the names of Krishna one is liberated from this cycle of birth and death.

Krishna in the Bhagavad gita says – janma mrtyu jara vyadhi duhkha dosanudarsanam – one who can understand that birth, death, old age and disease are the real problems, he is in knowledge. In the process of making our lives comfortable, so much of energy and time is being invested. At a moment’s notice – death comes and everything is taken away. Many people say why are you so worried about death, enjoy life, why are you so pessimistic?

The other day there was a gentleman who attended our programme – Secrets of Success. I asked him, what did you like the most? He said he liked the presentation on vegetarianism. I asked him if he watched the video - Meet your Meat. He said, during that video I closed my eyes because if I see that there is lot of cruelty, I would be forced to give up meat. So just by closing the eyes doesn’t mean that the reality is not there.

Whole life we are investing in gaining something and in a moment’s notice it is taken away. And this is happening life after life punar api janma, punar marana and here Bhagavatam is not only telling us what are the real problems, it also tells us what we should be doing in human form of life. We all love freedom and here it is said those living beings who are enmeshed in the cycle of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna.

There is a story of a bridegroom party who had to go to the other side of the river to the bride’s place. They planned that whole night while they are asleep the boatman will keep rowing and the next morning they will reach the bride’s place. And next morning on waking up, one of them noticed they were in the same place. But the boatman said I have been rowing the whole night, how can you say it is in the same place? The boatman had forgotten to remove the anchor. Many a time when we are practicing spiritual life, our anchors are all fixed. If we hear from a bona fide spiritual master nasta prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata sevaya all the dirty desires we have will very soon vanish.

So as Bhagavatam is saying we have to very sincerely practice this process of Krishna consciousness without any fear. Some of us may not complete the journey of getting liberated, going back to kingdom of God. The best part about this spiritual practice is that whatever we have achieved in this life, next life we start from there, unlike even if you are a Ph.D. in this life, next life you have to start from LKG.

A person who is yoga brasta who has not completed this process, next life he will take birth in sucinam srimatam gehe, sucinam means in the family of high culture. Krishna is saying, those who have tread this path, they will get an opportunity to take birth in sucinam srimatam gehe, even if you find that circumstances are very challenging presently to practice spiritual life, do not worry, make the best use of the bad bargain.

Prabhupada says chant 16 rounds; sincerely put efforts, where there is a will there is a way. So if we pray to Krishna, He will change our situation whereby we will be able to more strictly practice Krishna consciousness, which is the ultimate goal of life.

(The above transcripts have been edited for better readability. However they have not been verified and confirmed by the original speaker.)

Sri Amitasana Dasa is a full-time missionary with ISKCON since 1992. He is presently the Governing Body Commissioner - ISKCON Bangalore Group of Temples and Vice President, ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Temple, Bangalore.