Blog

So I am begging for the blessings of all my teachers and all of you assembled here. We shall listen, study a verse from the Fourth Canto, 30th Chapter, called the Activities of the Pracetas, this is verse 35, one of my favourite verses. Please repeat. 

yatredyante katha mrstas trsnayah prasamo yatah nirvairam yatra bhutesu nodvego yatra kascana 

Translation: “Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor do they suffer from anxiety or fear.” 

So this is a very beautiful, interesting verse, as are all the verses of Srimad Bhagavatam, meant to turn our consciousness back towards the lotus feet of Sri Krishna, meant to teach us how to see Krishna, how to see Him everywhere. Because this is the solution to all the ills of the material world, the material society. Srila Prabhupada explains in this verse, the characteristic of this world. It is full of envy. It is indeed the characteristic of this world. As soon as we accept a material body, Prahlada Maharaja says dehinam, those who are materially embodied, they are immediately full of anxiety. And one of the anxieties is that somehow we cannot conceive of a world where everyone is a well-wisher of another. There is envy in our heart and there is envy in the heart of others. And when interact with each other we suffer the results of that envy. In Srimad Bhagavatam as been given to us, its our great great good fortune, to remove this awful conditioning, which is completely the opposite of what our original nature is about. Srila Prabhupada explains that Krishna katha, as we hear many times is non-different from Krishna. 

It is completely identical with Him. This statement has been made again and again that there is no difference between the words that describe Krishna and Krishna Himself. It is difficult indeed for us to understand that. Therefore we are requested always to be very submissive, to the instructions of the spiritual master who says, to engage in sravanam, kirtanam, as much as possible. Any services that we perform are certainly meant for our deliverance and are certainly transcendental. At the same time it is the same teachings of Prahlada Maharaja that tell us that, unless the services that we perform are backed up, substantiated by hearing and chanting, they will not actually be able to give us the full satisfaction because service means that which is done for Krishna in a pure consciousness. And the pure consciousness is generated not from us but from Krishna, it is generated from our association with the Supreme Lord. And as soon as we deviate just a little bit from that association, immediately the atmosphere of the material world takes over, contaminates our heart, contaminates our mind. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu says, kirtaniya sada, sada harih, all the time hear and chant about Krishna. Srila Prabhupada says we should organise our life in such a way that we can always hear and chant about Krishna. 

So the material world has an atmosphere that is actually completely against this remembrance of Krishna. It is pulling our mind, especially in this age, towards all kinds of sinful activities. We are pulled from outside, we are pulled from within, suffering the reactions of so many of our previous offences, previous sins and we are left to battle in this world, truly just like a straw that is floating in the current of a river. It is a great benediction to us when one day we can be blessed with this realisation that we are no more than a straw that is floating on a river. A river that flows with a very very strong current. And sometimes the river bashes us on the left side of the river and suddenly our mind and association becomes sinful. And then after some time the river sends us or the water flow sends us on the right side of the river and suddenly we are surrounded by pious activities, our mind is peaceful. And sometimes the river starts going round and round and round and we feel like we are descending,

descending, descending into an abyss full of darkness and it seems that we shall never get out of there. This is a great blessing upon us when we can realise that, that we are being bashed left and right and there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it. The only thing, the only person that can actually help us is Krishna and specifically its Krishna in the form of sound. mantra-murtim, Krishna is called, mantra-murtim-amurtikam. It is difficult to understand for us because we cannot see the sound, we cannot see the sound. We hear, we hear. And it is difficult to actually to get this point that the sound itself is the presence of Lord Krishna in our life around us. The manifestation of Krishna from the sound is described in the scriptures. It is said that the Vedic scriptures of which Srimad Bhagavatam is the king, they are compared like a wind. 

There is a wind that blows naturally in the world. And when it passes over a fragrant flower and then enters our nostrils, although there is some separation between us and the flower we experience the beauty, the quality of the flower, the beauty of the flower and we recognise the flower because we have knowledge that sometime in the past there was that fragrance and it was associated with a rose. We remember and we appreciate and within our mind we see the flower, we experience its qualities, we have its direct association. So Bhagavatam says actually, Lord Brahma explains that the Vedic mantras they are like a wind that is travelling around this world and it enters not the nostrils but the ears. And this sound of the Vedic mantras is just like the wind that carries the aroma of the flower. It carries within it the form, qualities and activities of Krishna. It describes the activities and it carries them encapsulated within that sound. The sound itself comes from Krishna, He is origin of all sound. Caitanya Mahaprabhu told us that this Hare Krishna mahamantra has come from Goloka Vrindavana. So it has come from there. The sound is carrying Krishna’s aroma and when it enters the ears, if we are attentive enough and desirous to be with Krishna and submissive to the order of our spiritual master, that sound will go deep, deep, deep, deep within our heart. The heart is described as a very subtle space wherein the soul resides and within the heart the sound is going to release the fragrance of Krishna’s lotus feet. This is how the very very advanced devotees meet Krishna. It begins all with sound and the sound manifests the fragrance of Krishna’s lotus feet. It manifests the form of Krishna’s lotus feet. This is why we came to this movement, hearing this beautiful descriptions. We came here with a great hope, hope against hope. Srila Rupa Goswami defines the hope of the devotee, it is hope against hope because we realise day after day that we are not qualified. And at the same time we read the descriptions of that Lord of our heart and the main description is His love for us, its His nature as merciful. He is merciful to the most fallen. This is our only good fortune. 

We do not have any other. Pride is great obstruction, obstacle on the path of devotional service. It is the beginning of all fall, when we begin to identity with this body, with this mental capacity, with this material intelligence, with the place where we have taken birth and somehow associate with that ideas of superior- inferior, and we start relating with people in a way that is going to cause a lot of chaos. We have to uproot. And if we don't make an effort to uproot, Krishna will help us, He will help us to remove that dangerous weed of pride. Because as long as that pride is there, the feeling with which the mahamantra has to be chanted will never come. Pride, envy are the diseases that plague this world. And they plague each and every individual. The solution is given in this verse. It is in one sense the essence of the Bhagavatam verses that directly talk of hearing and chanting. So coming together to hear and chant, this is the essence of what Srila Prabhupada taught us. Here the verse explains, yatredyante katha mrstas, the katha of the Lord is pure, never contaminated. It is pure transcendental sound and wherever Prabhupada says the topics are discussed, the word idyante actually means worshipped, the word of the Lord are worshipped. The form of the lord is worshipped through arati, dressing, bhoga offerings and the words of the Lord are worshipped by recitation. They are worshipped by hearing them submissively, attentively, respectfully. This is a form of worship, it is called the Bhagavata marga. We worship the Lord through sound. This is indeed the worship that will keep us going till the end of life. At the last moment it is said when the soul is ready to leave this material tabernacle, what is to be done - remember! What is the best way to remember - chant! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare This kirtana, sravanam is the king of all processes, although we cannot minimise any process because they are all equal. Each and every one of them has the capacity to liberate us but unless we have heard we won’t know what to do and unless we chant it will be very difficult to keep Kali at bay. So the katha is pure and the effect of the katha is that it brings what everyone is searching for, trsnayah prasamo yatah, from this katha there is satisfaction, satisfaction. This is what everyone wants. We are burning in this world due to material hankerings. There are unlimited wants. I want so many things. 

In our discussion on devotee care we learn to make a difference between the needs and the wants. We have needs which are essential for our existence and we have wants which are simply overflowing and which bring in our lives which is not essential. And actually divert us from the path of Krishna consciousness. So this dissatisfaction that we experience is manifest as greed for example. We always want more. Lust. We always want to enjoy. Because within the heart there is no peace. There is no satisfaction. There is no tranquility. The state of satisfaction is searched for by all the great sages, by all the great yogis. We are searching for that place within the heart where there is satisfaction. And the secret is written in a very obvious way on the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam - hear about the Lord, chant about the Lord and it also says in the association of devotees because thats where He manifests! Prabhupada used to make jokes - someone has gone to search for Krishna in the bushes in Vrindavana. Krishna is not in the bushes of Vrindavana - at least not for us who are plagued by all anarthas. We cannot find Krishna in the bushes. We will find Krishna in the loving association of the devotees. So this is the nature of Krishna katha. It gives satisfaction by removing all the material hankerings Srila Prabhupada says because it makes one pious. Indeed pride, envy, these are not the qualities of a pious person. These are the qualities of the demons. So to remove those qualities is the first step on our path towards Krishna. Then this is the quality of Krishna katha. When the heart is at peace, it is also explained in Bhagavatam how the heart can be at peace. Its by learning how to desire spiritual life more than anything else, how to desire to achieve Krishna more than anything else, how to desire to fulfil the orders of the spiritual master more than anything else. I remember once many years ago receiving a hand written note from my own spiritual master saying that ‘If you are not ready to hear, what is the use of me giving you instructions!’ It is in the association of devotees that we get that determination to hear and chant and to focus on our spiritual life. It is not easy indeed. There are many distractions, many distractions from all over but we have to learn, we have to learn to create a bubble around ourselves. We have to go around in a bubble so that we do not get affected by so many interactions of the material modes of material nature. Whatever happens is but that. Usually anything that disturbs us in life it is an interaction of the material modes of nature. Anything spiritual is pleasing, it is pleasing to the soul, in general pleasing to the mind, if we apply it gently, properly. 

So Srila Prabhupada founded this International Society for Krishna Consciousness to create what he called the Vaikuntha atmosphere. A place where there is no envy amongst ourselves, where there is no fear. Many of us have come to this movement because the material world was full of fear. It was bringing us so much fear. There are many reasons for which we join. This is actually the topic of this Fourth Canto, worshipping the Lord simply for material prosperity, or worshipping the Lord in goodness maybe, out of ignorance, coming for various reasons to Him, to take something, to learn something. But this section of the Bhagavatam, Lord Shiva instructing the Pracetas is teaching us the right purpose to come to the Lord. So whatever, we gave up the material world, we were looking for an umbrella, we were looking for protection. We came here to live the real life of a human being. What is the real life of a human being?

It is to simply endeavour, to forget about all the past that we may have gone through, and simply look at the future. The future is Krishna’s lotus feet, the future is to distribute all over the world this process of hearing and chanting, to flood every street, every corner. This is what Srila Prabhupada gave us as the purpose of this movement. To instruct each and every person about the process of devotional service and to make it, to make a society that where the interactions are such that this hearing and chanting can go on uninterruptedly, both as groups and as individuals. We want to hear and chant uninterruptedly. There is no other solution for the miseries of the world. All fears, meaning that within our own society there shouldn’t be any fear, they should not be afraid. We should be afraid only of breaking our vows, we should be afraid of not following the instructions of the spiritual master. Otherwise there is no other fear. So this is a very beautiful instruction that we are receiving this morning. And the conclusion that is given in the purport is that we must decide like the Pracetas to remain within that society, to remain within that society and to play our best role, to play our best part, to contribute to the Vaikuntha atmosphere. This is our duty. We cannot accuse anyone to spoil the atmosphere. We can only from within our little bubble try to influence, so that this Vaikuntha atmosphere will be generated. This is what Srila Prabhupada wanted. This is what the world needs. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Granthraj Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Nitai Gaurapremanande Hari Haribol!