Granthraj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya!
Has it ever happened to you that you are requested to give a Bhagavatam
class in Sridhama Mayapur before all the exalted devotees and you are
suggested to choose the verse that you want to speak from. And so you
choose the verse and then you inform what that verse is and they say ok.
You even write it in an email and then you come to sit down to give class,
guess what, its another verse, its another Canto! Hare Krishna! I think
Krishna is having a good laugh at me today. So be it! Well we may get to
say something about what I was thinking to say but alas time is also very
short. The verse on the board is Canto 7, Chapter 2, verse number 8. Its
part of a translation of two verses. We will read together the second of these,
the verse number 8.
mac-chula-bhinna-grivasya
bhurina rudhirena vai
asrk-priyam tarpayisye
bhrataram me gata-vyathah
Verse 7 is as follows
tasya tyakta-svabhavasya
ghrner maya-vanaukasah
bhajantam bhajamanasyabalasyevasthiratmanah
Translation
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead has given up His natural tendency of
equality toward the demons and demigods. Although He is the Supreme
Person, now, influenced by maya, He has assumed the form of a boar to
please His devotees, the demigods, just as a restless child leans toward
someone. “I shall therefore sever Lord Visnu’s head from His trunk by my
trident, and with the profuse blood from His body I shall please my brother
Hiranyaksa, who was so fond of sucking blood. Thus shall I too be peaceful.”
Before speaking something I beg for the blessings of all of you present, such
an august assembly of Vaisnavas and Vaisnavis, that we may say something
illuminating and inspiring. What Hiranyakasipu has to say may not be very
illuminating and inspiring for the devotees because he is plotting to kill the
Lord. But it becomes a kind of inspiration knowing, as we do, that his plot will
be foiled!
Today is the first day of the ISKCON leadership sanga and I am most
honoured to speak, discuss Bhagavatam on this occasion. I have to say that
Mother Laxmimoni would not take no for an answer. So here I am. All glories
to Mother Laxmimoni and her wonderful service of arranging this entire event.
As I said I had another verse in mind and we may get back to something from
today’s verse but let me move on to what I had in mind and we will see where
we go in the very limited time we have.
I chose a verse from Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 8, Chapter 7, verse 39.
pranaih svaih praninah panti
sadhavah ksana-bhanguraih
baddha-vairesu bhutesu
mohitesv atma-mayaya
This is Lord Siva speaking and he is speaking to his wife and he is
expressing his resolve to help the demigods who are in trouble because they
have been churning the ocean, the Cosmic Ocean, together with the demons,
with the intention to create nectar. But they are in trouble because they
haven’t produced nectar. They have produced something else. Here is the
translation:
“People in general, being bewildered by the illusory energy of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, are always engaged in animosity toward one
another. But devotees, even at the risk of their own temporary lives, try to
save them.”
So this is describing or this is in the context of, what SrilaPrabhupada would
call a reversal, a reversal of events. Events are going in some direction and
then something happens by some arrangement. Ultimately we may say the
Lord’s arrangement and this is a reversal, something unexpected. I thought
to raise this subject of poison because, of course we are talking about
leadership and it struck me that Lord Siva is identifying what is spiritual
leadership in his own example and he uses the word sadhu, sadhavah ksana-
bhanguraih pranaih svaih, they who recognise that life will be finished in a
moment, ksana, ksana-bhanguraih, it will be broken in a moment and
recognising that the sadhus are willing, are ready as Prabhupada translates
‘to risk their own temporary lives’ for others. For which others? For those
who are in conflict, which is the tendency in this world. People in general
being bewildered by the illusory energy of the Lord are always engaged in
animosity with each other.
Actually I said that the demigods had approached Lord Siva. In fact its both
parties, the demigods and the demons have approached him to solve this.
But I want to raise the point that in a sense, taking this in an extended sense,
the poison problem can arise in any situation, where there is an endeavour, a
sincere endeavour to create something, to accomplish something. And I
would suggest that if you study, especially in the first three Cantos of
Bhagavatam, very much of the description of the efforts to create the
universe, a feature of this creation is, there is always trouble. You start off
and then there is trouble. You start again and there is more trouble. Okay,
lets try it again! Lord Brahma has to give up his body at one point, his gross
body but again he pursues his mission with determination.
So the question that I think we all have when trouble comes is how to deal
with it. And especially it is a question for leaders. How to deal with
challenges in a Krishna conscious way and I would suggest that Lord Siva is
good to remember in this context because he was so willing to take trouble,
such trouble that he actually takes on a kind of wound which becomes a
permanent mark, which actually is a glorification of Lord Siva. He is known
as Neelkantha because of his blue throat, because he agreed to take this
poison.
Srila Prabhupada once referred to the age of Kali as the age of
misunderstanding. We all have this experience. Misunderstanding may
come despite our best efforts to be understood and often this is the beginning
of the problem. We want to make sure that we are understood, when
perhaps what is needed first of all is to understand what someone is trying to
communicate to others. Now I want to expand on this but time is short.
I am going to first ask those of you who were here two years ago, when I also
spoke Bhagavatam class if you can recall, I know its two years ago ago, what
do you expect. But two years ago I was sharing with you something that I
learnt in the spiritual leadership seminar which took place at that time. And
what I learnt was, one way to understand leadership is in terms of three
principles that a leader should give. Number one vision. Number two
inspiration. And Number three, does anybody remember, (devotee responds:
facility) facility. Give that man a gulabjamun! Hare Krishna! (applause) One
should facilitate.
If we think about Srila Prabhupada, all of his activity and his preaching, who
can think of a better leader than Srila Prabhupada, as one who gave the
complete vision of Krishna consciousness, who gave unlimited inspiration,
who gave facility, who facilitated us. I remember coming here the first time
1978, revealing my age, there were three buildings, there was Srila
Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir, there was the Long building, there was the Lotus
building. I feel nostalgia for those days. Now we have so many structures, all
of course which are expressions of the sincere love of the devotees. So not
to minimise this but I do like to remember that time when there were mainly
fields.
Ok, vision, inspiration and facility. Could it be that sometimes
misunderstanding comes because you and I have different partial perceptions
of the vision and we take our particular vision or understanding of the vision
as the whole vision and we may want to say, this is the whole vision, your’s is
not the vision. That may be one possibility of misunderstanding.
Different inspirations, someone is inspired by, you know, lets keep it simple,
especially by prasadam, someone else especially by kirtana. So someone
says we have to do prasadam distribution, some says we have to do kirtana
everywhere. This can be a kind of cause for misunderstanding.
There may also be differences in understanding about facility. How much do
we appreciate what facility is being given to us. So in terms of quantity but
also other aspects of facility. We may not see where facility is, when its there.
Or we may not understand the best way to use facility that is given.
Well all of these reflections led me to recall that Kapiladeva in speaking to His
dear mother Devahuti itemises three types, actually four types of bhakti. Of
course we want to all practise pure devotional service. But alas sometimes,
because as we heard yesterday the modes of nature are always competing
with each other and we just might some of the time feel some of the influence
of those modes. So I though its good that we review the descriptions of
devotional service predominated by these three modes. Shall we do this? Ok.
It starts from the bottom and goes to the top. Canto 3, Chapter 29, verse 8
we have,
“Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud, violent and
angry, and who is a separatist, is considered to be in the mode of darkness.”
Now before I go on, I want to suggest, on the principle that Srila Prabhupada
suggested that or encouraged that we discuss Bhagavatam from all angles of
vision, I want to suggest, what if, just what if, we heard these verses not in
terms of individuals but in terms of collectivity of devotees, of the society as a
whole or a particular community of devotees in which we may reside, in which
we may be involved.
Could it be the case that sometimes, although I may be engaged in suddha-
sattva devotional service, that the community is a bit tinged. Again with so
much no doubt sincerity but the road to hell is paved with what, good
intentions. Ok, with that in mind let us hear about devotional service in the
mode of passion.
“The worship of Deities in the temple by a separatist, with a motive for
material enjoyment, fame and opulence, is devotion in the mode of passion.”
(SB 3.29.9)
We should notice the word separatist here, bhinna-dṛg is the Sanskrit, one
who is separate, thinking difference, thinking I am different, we are different,
its me and Krishna only. Of course that gets into the definition of the prakrta
bhakta. Moving on.
“When a devotee worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offers
the results of his activities in order to free himself from the inebrieties of
fruitive activities, his devotion is in the mode of goodness.” (SB 3.29.10)
Now here again I want to see if we can stretch ourselves a little to appreciate
these statements with a different angle of vision and for this I need to invoke
the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle spoke of what he called
‘virtue ethics’ and in his notion of ‘virtue ethics’ you have a virtue and then
you have two extremes. One extreme going one way and another extreme
going the other way. Example is courage. Courage is a virtue. To do
something without consideration of dangers, taking unnecessary risks, that’s
one extreme. Cowardice is another extreme.
So lets take this and apply it to the idea of the three modes of nature and
instead of thinking of a hierarchy, mode of ignorance, mode of passion, mode
of goodness at the top, what if we think of a triangle with mode of goodness
at the top and the other two modes down at the bottom. I think this helps us
to appreciate that this Krishna consciousness movement as a collectivity is
not only or maybe I should say is inclusive of, its not only about going
forward, Krishna prema, its about teaching the world virtue and that’s only
possible to that extent we individually and collectively are virtuous.
The word guna happens to mean not only rope, that which binds, it also
means, as we know, quality and it also means virtue. So devotional service in
the mode of goodness can be working us to a position where people of the
world will be more inclined to say ‘Oh yeah, those Hare Krishna’s! They are
really nice people!’ Some people do that but I beg to submit, not enough.
Not enough are saying, ‘Oh yes the Hare Krishna’s! They’re good people!’
Ok, then we have the transcendental, free from the modes, devotional
service.
“The manifestation of unadulterated devotional service is exhibited when
one’s mind is at once attracted to hearing the transcendental name and
qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is residing in
everyone’s heart. Just as the water of the Ganges flows naturally down
towards the ocean, such devotional ecstasy, uninterrupted by any material
condition, flows towards the Supreme Lord.” (SB 3.29.11-12)
What do you think, do we want not just individually but collectively,
uninterrupted by any material conditions, that our movement moves forward
to spread Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission. What do you think? (Haribol!)
Sound like a good idea? I only heard a couple of Haribol! (devotees:
Haribol!)
Again time is short I have so much more to say but back to Lord Siva. Lord
Siva appears in Navadvipa dhama as Hamsa vahana Siva over in I believe its
Madhya dvipa. He is called Hamsa vahana Siva because he is riding not on
Nandi the bull but rather he is riding, he borrowed from Lord Brahma his
hamsa. Why? He was in such a hurry, he was in a total hurry as we would
say in America, he was totally in a hurry, right! Teenagers all say that, he was
totally in a hurry, to come to this place. Why? In order to hear Gaura lila from
Suta Goswami. That anxiety, that anxiousness to hear Gaura lila we know
that is the solution and that is how Lord Siva we could say in this context is
swallowing the poison.
The poison of so much good intention which it leads to unfortunate situations.
In these unfortunate situations we all need to step back and recognise,
despite all our good intentions something has arisen. Now we really need to
take shelter of the devotees of the Lord, the sadhus, to remember that the
business of our society is to be a society of sadhus and sadhavis. That is our
business more that anything else in the public sphere of expanding this
mission.
So I will ust end by saying, I suspect, I haven’t seen the schedule yet, but I
suspect that in the ILS there will be several workshops and so on, on
outreach and this is as it should be. I just want to suggest that along with the
outreach there needs to be inreach. Because without the inreach, which
looks critically at ourselves individually and collectively, our best intentions
are not going to bring the result, the nectar which we are all hankering for.
Granthraj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya!
Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja! So you were speaking about devotional
service in the three modes and this is something that devotees often speak
about. And of course we want to perform devotional service ultimately in a
way that is not influenced by the modes. We spoke of how the, how we are
perceived according to how we perform our devotional service and I a
wondering, its difficult for me to understand what the difference is in the result
of our devotional service when its practiced in the three modes. You can say
maybe its not very pleasing to Krishna in terms of our conciseness and
everything.
Maharaja: I will give one quite graphic example from my own experience in
Germany 1975. Some of the devotees here will remember. One day on a
Sunday morning, where you there Maharaja, at the temple, the temple found
itself surrounded by police cars. I wasn't there. I was in Denmark. You were
there. What was this a result of. The devotees were out doing a lot of as we
say collecting and they were doing it very successfully but they were doing it
for the most part under false pretences. They were telling people we are
collecting for X Y and Z, which we were not collecting for and alas karma, I
think we can say something like collective karma caught up with us. So I
would say this would be an example for devotional service in the mode of
passion.
Again everyone had the best of intentions and we were convinced that we are
beyond the modes of nature and therefore we can do this. I am sure
although I haven't yet had a chance to read that in Vaisesika Prabhu’s book,
we get a thorough schooling in how this is not the way to distribute Srila
Prabhupada’s books. Yes? Thank you. (laughs) So thats one example. I am
sure others could think of others.
But this became, this had huge negative consequences for our movement in
Germany for years! The way we got ? through the coals of the German press
unbelievable. There was no mercy. Well actually there was mercy because
the movement continued. Devotees continued distributing books. They
wrote to Srila Prabhupada and reported that despite all of this we are still
distributing and people are still taking books and Srila Prabhupada said, ‘Yes
let it increase, let it increase!’ And so it did.
Devotee: So the conclusion we can draw from this is that if we are
performing devotional service affected by the modes there is going to be
karmic consequence.
Maharaja: There could, I would say there is, this is my understanding, yes
there can be, if not, thats a big subject but. Certainly something will be there
which is there for us to push us forward to pure devotional service. We may
call it karma, we may call it the Lord’s direct intervention but in any case
something will be there.
All right I think we will stop here. Thank you all for your kind attention and I
wish you all the best for today and for the remaining days of the ILS
conference.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Anantakoti Vaisnava vrnda ki jaya!
Gaurapremande!
