Chanting, Humility, and Service . . . On the flight from Newark to Denver two days ago, there was a younger lady serving in the cabin, and I noticed that she was treating people very nicely. I heard one of the crew call her by name—Stephanie—and as I was leaving the flight, she was standing near the door with another crew member and I felt I should express my appreciation to her. “Thank you very much, Stephanie,” I said, “you have a very nice service mood.” And the other crew member, a somewhat older man, said, “Don’t worry—give her a few more years and she’ll be just like the rest of us.”
I was thinking that this was the difference between spiritual life and material life—that material life, as we read in the Bhagavad-gita, is in the mode of passion: it is like nectar in the beginning but poison at the end. Often when something is new you get all excited and happy, but then after a while the charm wears off. That could hold true of a job or anything. But in Krsna consciousness you can experience the same thrill after forty-five years as you did when you first joined. And one key to that is maintaining a humble service attitude.
When it comes to devotional service, Rajani-priya here, at the age of ninety-five, is really like a young girl, a new bhaktin. She very easily and quickly makes friends with all sorts of people. She has some homeless friends near the Carpinteria beach, and somehow she’s got them all chanting, and she visits them and sees how they are chanting, and brings them prasada. She also distributes Srila Prabhupada’s books, which is most important. Anyone who comes in touch with her has a very good chance of becoming attracted to devotional service.
The last time I was at Rajani-priya’s house, she pointed out a fellow who lives across the way. He has a disability—he’s in his twenties but is dependent on his mother. Rajani-priya inspired him, and he was starting to chant, but his mother didn’t like it and she enforced a strict rule that he should not chant. But when I was at Rajani-priya’s house on her ninety-fifth birthday, she pointed him out through the window of the kitchen across the way. Whenever he saw her he would mouth, “Hare Krsna” and Rajani-priya would mouth, “Hare Krsna” back to him. Just that eye-to-eye contact and silent exchange of “Hare Krsna” was sustaining, or encouraging, him in his difficult circumstances.
So we should take up that mood, which was certainly Srila Prabhupada’s mood. As Lord Caitanya taught, yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa: “Whomever you meet, just present the message of Krsna.” (Cc Madhya 7.128)
This is how we help people—by giving them spiritual knowledge. Earlier Radha-carana Prabhu mentioned the story of the sadhu and the scorpion. There was once a scorpion that fell in a river and was going to drown, so a saintly person, a devotee, reached into the river to save it, but the scorpion stung him, which caused such a rush of pain into his hand that he dropped the scorpion back in the water. He quickly picked it up again, but again the scorpion stung him, and again he let it go. It was again about to be carried away to its death, but this time the sadhu reached in, picked it up, and knowing that he would be stung again, immediately threw the scorpion onto dry land, to safety.
So, a person who had witnessed the episode approached the sadhu and said, “Why did you do that? You were trying to help the scorpion, and every time you tried to help him, he stung you with a painful, poisonous sting.” And the saintly person replied, “Well, that is just his nature.” Then the person said, “Well, that’s the scorpion’s nature—that’s all right—but why did you keep picking it up, knowing that it would sting you?” And the saintly person replied, “Well, just as it is the nature of the scorpion to sting, it’s my nature to try to help.”
So that is our nature—that is the spiritual nature—that no matter what the circumstances, no matter how people respond, we have to try to help them, and that’s good for us as well as for them.
When I was a relatively new devotee, in 1971, I was chanting on the balcony of the Calcutta temple one night after everyone had gone to take rest, and Tamal Krishna Goswami came out and gave me an important instruction in relation to service. We were leaning on the balcony rail overlooking the pond, and he brought up the point that the secret of success in spiritual life was to serve the spiritual master. And somehow, that night that instruction really entered deep into my heart.
Tamal Krishna Goswami was quite strict with the devotees he was training. One year I went to Bhaktivedanta Manor, and he was being served by a disciple of His Holiness Sivarama Swami. So I asked Goswami Maharaja, “Why are you engaging him in your personal service? You have disciples of your own here.” And he replied, “Sivarama Swami wanted me to train him because he felt I could train him in ways that Sivarama Swami himself couldn’t, or wouldn’t.” So that intensity can be very beneficial. It may be difficult, but it can also be very beneficial.
Goswami Maharaja gave many other instructions about devotional service, some of which are really a matter of style, or priority—not that one is right or one is wrong. During japa period in the Panca-tattva temple in Mayapur, one of the gurus had many disciples around him, with devotees taking turns fanning him. Meanwhile, Tamal Krishna Goswami sat with his godbrothers near Srila Prabhupada’s vyasasana. He explained to Aghabidh Prabhu that his mood was different, that he didn’t want his godbrothers to feel that he was privileged. He said, “I want my servants to be like manjaris: you never see them, but whatever you need is always there.”
Of course, Srila Prabhupada is the perfect example of everything. We’ve been meditating on him beginning with his Vyasa-puja day, then on the anniversaries of his departure from India on the Jaladuta, his arrival in Boston, and then his arrival in New York, and on how much he sacrificed for us. Today is another significant date for Srila Prabhupada—Visvarupa-mahotsava. Visvarupa was the older brother of Lord Caitanya and was actually an incarnation of Lord Nityananda. He took sannyasa on this date, and because his name was Visvarupa, this date is celebrated as Visvarupa-mahotsava. Srila Prabhupada was given sannyasa, by His Holiness Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Goswami Maharaja, on this date. Srila Prabhupada explained that he used to have what he called nightmares in which his guru maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, would be calling him to join him, and as Srila Prabhupada explained it, when he woke up he would have a horrible feeling: “O, my guru maharaja wants me to give up my home and take sannyasa. How can I leave my home and wife and children?”
As we grow older, we may realize that it is not so easy to give up family attachment; the passing of years is no guarantee that one will become detached. But Srila Kesava Maharaja insisted, “You must accept sannyasa.” As Srila Prabhupada explained, “So he insisted me. Not he insisted me; practically my spiritual master insisted me through him, that ‘You accept.’ Because without accepting the renounced order of life, nobody can become a preacher. So my guru maharaja wanted me to become a preacher, and so he forced me through this godbrother: ‘You accept.’ So unwillingly I accepted. And then I remembered that he wanted me to go to the Western countries. So I am feeling now very much obliged to my, this godbrother, that he carried out the wish of my spiritual master and enforced me to accept this sannyasa order.”
This is another instruction for us—that the guru doesn’t speak only through his own mouth; he can speak through the mouths of others as well, even through a godbrother’s. Prabhupada felt that his guru maharaja was speaking through his godbrother. And many of the things I heard today, I felt that Srila Prabhupada was speaking through you, devotees.
So we should maintain the mood to receive instruction and be eager to be instructed. Our material conditioning is such that we don’t want to be the servant; we want to be the master. We don’t want people to give us orders; we want to give them orders. But we should learn the art of receiving Krsna’s instructions or the spiritual master’s instructions through others. Of course, we have to be careful that that instruction is really in harmony with what sadhu, sastra, and guru have taught us; otherwise some mental concoction can enter our mind in the guise of some siksa-guru who is not bona fide, or authorized. Maya is very tricky and can come to delude us in the guise of good instruction. But with sincerity and intelligence we can distinguish among the different things that come to us from different directions, what is actually coming from Krsna, and the primary source of confirmation is sadhu-sastra-guru-vakya, which can guide us without doubt or confusion.
I’m very happy to see so many generations of devotees here today. Rajani-priya’s family is extraordinary: first her daughter became a devotee, then she and her husband became involved, and then her parents became devotees, and then meanwhile her daughter got married and had children, and those children married and had children. So just within her lifetime, her parents, she and her husband, her daughter, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren—five generations—have become devotees. That’s a good parampara!
So I can only beg of you to just stay in the association of devotees. No matter what happens, if you stay in the association of devotees, you’ll be safe. Let that current coming from the parampara carry you along. Of course, we should be willing. His Holiness Indradyumna Swami has given the example that he was a lifeguard for some time and the first thing he was taught about saving a drowning person was to come around behind them and then put your arm around them, grab them by the chin and pull them along. The reason is that if they see you coming they can get excited and start to flail their arms and splash and actually become their own worst enemy. That’s why you have to put your arm around them from behind and pull them along. He is making the point that spiritually the guru will come, the sadhu will come, to save a person, but the person himself may put up such a fight that he becomes his own worst enemy. So we shouldn’t be our own worst enemy. When the spiritual lifeguard comes to save us and pull us in from the ocean of material suffering to safety, we should cooperate; we shouldn’t make a fuss.
Srila Prabhupada has given us everything, and the only thing that stands in the way of our taking full advantage and getting the full benefit of what he’s given us is—guess what? Us, ourselves—our minds and our false egos. We are the main obstacles to that flow of mercy that he has unleashed. But by associating with devotees, we can be pulled along in spite of ourselves.
So, prasada. Cooking and offering prasada is one of the services that one can render. Again I think of Tamal Krishna Goswami, because he was expert at training cooks. Whenever I visited Dallas, we would go to different devotees’ homes for prasada and it would always be good. But once we went to a home, and it wasn’t that well-prepared. When I asked him what had happened, Goswami Maharaja said that he had made a mistake. “The cooks always do better when you deal with them directly,” he told me, “and I didn’t deal with her directly; that’s why it came out like this.”
Once, one of Goswami Maharaja’s disciples, Padadhuli dasi, cooked dahi vada for him. Later the server brought her a pebble found in the dahi vada and relayed the message that Goswami Maharaja had said, in jest, that she was trying to kill him. The next morning, Padadhuli cooked dhokla and green coriander chutney. Shortly after it was served to him, Goswami Maharaja called Padadhuli into his dining room, reached into the chutney with his fork, picked up an entire rubber band, showed it to her, and said, “I told them you are trying to kill your guru.” The next morning, Padadhuli made idli and coconut chutney. While blending the coconut, she heard the shell break. She ran her fingers through the chutney again and again, looking for pieces of broken shell, but she could not find any. After offering the chutney, she poured it into Gurudeva’s bowl and again ran her fingers through it, but again she couldn’t find any pieces. The server brought in the tray to Goswami Maharaja, and he soon summoned Padadhuli to the dining room. He told her to stick her hand out, and then he spat a piece of broken coconut shell into her palm. He shook his head and said, “I told them you are trying to kill your guru.”
“Please forgive me, Srila Gurudeva,” Padadhuli pleaded. “You have so many wonderful cooks here, why do you have to put up with me? Why don’t you quit on me?”
“I never quit on anyone,” he replied. “I will make sure I make you an excellent cook.” And he did.
Sukumari dasi, who is also an excellent cook, said that she will sometimes do something that is right one day and then do the same thing the next day and it won’t be right. That could be the case, because service is dynamic; it is related to time, place, and circumstance. One story that illustrates this point is that there was once a veterinarian who had an apprentice, and the veterinarian was called to treat a horse whose throat was completely swollen. The veterinarian took a hammer and started tapping on the horse’s neck and the swelling went away. Afterwards, the apprentice left the veterinarian and started his own practice. And wherever he went, he was hitting the animals with a hammer and they were all suffering terribly and becoming sick, on the verge of death. The owners of those animals went to the master veterinarian and said, “Your former apprentice is creating havoc. He is going around and hitting animals with a hammer and practically killing them. You have to do something.”
So the veterinarian called for his former apprentice and he said, “What are you doing? You are going around and hitting animals with a hammer and almost killing them.” The apprentice replied, “But I saw you do the same thing. When that horse had an enlarged neck, I saw you hit him with a hammer.” “That was a special case,” the veterinarian said. “The horse had swallowed a watermelon, so I was breaking the watermelon into small pieces so it could go down. You can’t do that with every animal every time.”
So something might be appropriate at one time, under certain circumstances, but not the next time, in other circumstances. We must be conscious. Srila Prabhupada said, “First become conscious, then become Krsna conscious.” This is training. As one devotee quoted, “It is the function of the spiritual master to train his disciples so that they can be fit to serve Krsna, Radha and Krsna.” That means becoming very conscious and attentive to every detail.
I am especially grateful for the instruction and support I receive from my godbrothers and godsisters. During one of his Vyasa-pujas in Dallas His Holiness Rtadhvaja Swami told the story of two young boys who, when they walked together, would lean against each other. Like sometimes we might lean against a wall for support, they would lean on each other. And it was such a sweet example, that by leaning on each other we are able to go forward with greater ease. And that, Maharaja said, was how he moved forward with his loving godbrothers.
Of course, the chanting is crucial—attentive, offenseless chanting. If you can do all your rounds before you do anything else in the day, that is best, because early morning is the best time to chant, and chanting nicely in the morning gives you clarity and inspiration for the rest of the day. Plus, if you don’t finish your rounds early in the morning, you don’t know what might come up later and you might struggle to finish them. Svavasa Prabhu, our temple president in New Dvaraka, gets up every morning at two to finish his rounds before mangala-arati. Because he is the head of a big community, he never knows what might come up. And he also wants to set a good example. So he chants his rounds before even mangala-arati, before he begins the day.
Sometimes you can’t—there may be special circumstances or service—but it is a good policy if you can arrange it. And that was Lord Caitanya’s general instruction—to chant the holy names and serve the Vaisnavas, and show mercy to all living beings. Nama-ruci: One should have taste for the holy name, which comes from careful practice. Vaisnava-seva: One should serve the Vaisnavas. And jiva-daya: One should extend mercy to the fallen souls. If we can imbibe these three principles from Caitanya Mahaprabhu through parampara, through Srila Prabhupada, our lives will be completely successful and we’ll make a wonderful, positive contribution to life on the planet and in the universe
So again, thank you very much. Hare Krsna.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Gaura-bhakta-vrnda ki jaya!
[Vyasa-puja address by Giriraj Swami, September 27, 2015, Carpinteria, California]
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