Blog

From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir

Date: February 17, 2015 Speaker: HH Sacinandana Swami

VERSE 26 

namany anantasya hata-trapah pathan
guhyani bhadrani krtani ca smaran
gam paryatams tusta-mana gata-sprhah
kalam pratiksan vimado vimatsarah 

TRANSLATION

Thus I began chanting the holy name and fame of the Lord by repeated recitation, ignoring all the formalities of the material world. Such chanting and remembering of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are benedictory. So doing, I traveled all over the earth, fully satisfied, humble and unenvious.

PURPORT

The life of a sincere devotee of the Lord is thus explained in a nutshell by Narada Muni by his personal example. Such a devotee, after his initiation by the Lord or His bona fide representative, takes very seriously chanting of the glories of the Lord and traveling all over the world so that others may also hear the glories of the Lord. Such devotees have no desire for material gain. They are conducted by one single desire: to go back to Godhead. This awaits them in due course on quitting the material body. Because they have the highest aim of life, going back to Godhead, they are never envious of anyone, nor are they proud of being eligible to go back to Godhead. Their only business is to chant and remember the holy name, fame and pastimes of the Lord and, according to personal capacity, to distribute the message for others' welfare without motive of material gain. _________________________________________

HH Sacinandana Swami

(Pranama Mantras)

My dear devotees, it is a great honor to address you all here in Sri Dhama Mayapur. It is a dream come true. But I need your blessings upon me. I am not as good of a person, so deeply advanced, to sit on this elevated seat. So if you kindly shower your blessings so that the subjects which will be discussed today will have a surge of potency to reach our hearts.

This verse appears in the conversation between Narada Muni and Vyasadeva. It comes in a series of verses. I feel it is beneficial for all of us to know the vital contents in order to then understand this verse in this context. As we all know, Narada Muni had left his home and went to the jungle. There, under a banyan tree, he sat down and meditated according to the means of four great saints who had visited his home. While Narada Muni was meditating under the banyan tree, the Lord appeared to him and told him something.

When Narada Muni was overwhelmed by the darshan of the Lord, he became so absolutely moved that he lost the vision of both himself and the Lord. Everything disappeared. Then the Lord said something to him. This verse is the conclusion of what Narada Muni did after the Lord spoke to him words of consolation. We will read the verse now.

(read verse and purport)

Beautiful verse and purport. For those of you who would like to read it again, please take note it is from the first canto, chapter six, verse twenty-six. It is a summary of devotional life in our line of Krishna Consciousness.

When Narada Muni had the darshan of the Lord, and subsequently the Lord disappeared from him, something very important spiritually, happened. Something which the Lord explains. It is a foundational principle of Bhagavata philosophy. As we shall see, Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement embodies this particular principle. In this lecture, we will hear how the pastimes and teachings of Caitanya Mahaprabhu are an exposition of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Thus they are grounded in the amala purana which spreads the light in Kali yuga when Krishna is absent. By understanding this foundational principle, you will also be able to spread light in Kali yuga. I request you to listen carefully, with rapt attention, so that maybe something can be gained from these topics of the Bhagavatam and Mahaprabhu’s illustration of them, for your own Krishna Consciousness.

When the Lord had disappeared, Narada Muni was thrown into an ocean of abject inner pain. Imagine that a poor man receives a touchstone which can fulfill all of his desires, and then all of a sudden looses it. What will this poor man do? For the rest of his life, he will try to again find this jewel.

So the Lord is talking now about this. He says, “I regret that during this lifetime you will not be able to see Me anymore. Those who are incomplete in service and are not completely free from all material things can hardly see Me. Oh Narada Muni, you are virtuous. Only once you have seen Me in person, and I did this to you just to increase your desire for Me because the more you hanker for Me, the more you will be freed from all material desires.” The Lord says here that, “I appeared before you and then I withdrew so that something would happen in you spiritually. You will start to desire, very strongly, My presence again. This strong desire, this fire of spiritual desire, will counter act the fire of material desires so that you will be free from this.”

In other words, the Lord told him, “I’ve done you a very special favor by showing Myself to you just once. I did this to increase your desire to come to Me. For the more you hanker after My association, the more quickly you will become free from all that binds you here, from all material desires." Then, as if to solace him and wipe the tears of separation out of Narada Muni’s eyes, He says, “Rest assured, this is sure. There is no need of any doubt. By My mercy, neither your advancement in Krishna Consciousness nor your remembrance will ever be impeded. Even at the time of creation and annihilation. In other words, come hell or heaven, high tide or low tide, whatever happens, this image that is implanted on your heart, this desire for My association will always be with you and never leave you.” This is the Lord’s dealings.

At the Sravan Utsav Festival we talked a little bit about this. This is so important.

Krishna personally repeated the same message to His dearest devotees. After Krishna had called the gopis for the rasa dance, they had arrived in the middle of the night. But when the Lord said, “You can go home now. I think you came here just to see the beauty of Vrindavan’s forest in the night.” He spoke like He always speaks. “You can go home now, mission completed.” The gopis felt, “My Lord, we have given up everything to be with You.” And then on top of this, Krishna heard their pleas but then He ran away.

Later, when the Lord could not keep Himself separated any longer and appeared, the gopis asked Him a question. “Why did you deal like this with us? First you call us. You make us give up everything, including everything which a woman has, a good reputation in society. You made us come to the jungle. Then you disappeared from us. Do you have a problem? Some character problem? Make yourself understandable. What kind of lover are you?” They gave Him multiple choice, three choices. They thought he had only one choice - He is an ungrateful person. “Is this your character, that you are ungrateful to the devotees?”

Krishna said something very beautiful. Something which we all need to understand in order to understand His mind. In the paraphrased words of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s Sarartha-darshini 10.32.20, He said, “Oh gopis who cannot understand My real intention, listen now very carefully. For those surrendered souls who worship Me through nama kirtan and other means, I do not respond in order to make their worship more perfect.”

Krishna disappears also from those who go to the Kirtan Mela. They will have some feeling of appreciation maybe, but then they will go through the dryness of the desert of no taste. “Ah, when will this ever end. The minutes don’t go by. What’s wrong with the clock?” And so on.

Krishna appears to all of His devotees on all of the levels, not just the highest ones. He appears to the young ones in the beginning of their Krishna Consciousness by giving them some taste which is so strong that they leave the material world. Otherwise we could not do anything. He is present to some degree or another when we read the Bhagavata Purana. It says that by reading this the Lord comes into the heart. To some degree or another, it may be small, but just some understanding that Krishna is wonderful. In this way, He is there.

But then He leaves. Don’t become hopeless at that time. Understand something important which is said here. “Not seeing Me, those who surrender develop deep humility, feeling.” “Alas, alas. Everything I have done has been useless. Because I am such an offender, Krishna has not shown even the slightest favor toward me. Let me be damned.” This is humility actually. Feeling really wretched. “By constantly thinking in this way, those who have not yet developed mature love of Me will become free from lust and anger and awaken pure devotion, full of power and brilliance.”

Srila Prabhupada commented on this. It is known in Christian theology as the “dark night of the soul.” You feel desperate because you don’t feel any love left. But the Lord has His eye on you and His mercy falls on you. He said that at that time, the devotee is desperate. Will he say “Oh, I’ll get another Lord. This is too much for me.” Or will he understand “I need to become purified now. There is a reason why the Lord is like this. He wants to increase my hankering for Him. By this, He wants that the small traces of material attachment.” Let us say it like this. Whatever is in the heart that should not be there, let it go by this mood of separation.

It’s something which appears throughout the Srimad Bhagavatam again and again. This is also the lesson of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The foundation of our movement rests on this principle - developing the mood of humility with a deep yearning and longing for Krishna in the mood of separation.

When Caitanya Mahaprabhu met Isvara Puri in Gaya, He received the Gopal mantra. As a result, He wanted to run to Vrindavan to meet His Lord. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that this mantra makes the soul run after Krishna. But the devatas said, "My Lord, if you wish, please first start your sankirtana movement. Then go to Vrindavan. If you wish. We are just saying, as your service."

The Lord, in this way, did not go to Vrindavan. He went back to Navadvipa to start the sankirtana movement. He met first His relatives and told them about His experience in Gaya. Then He had a meeting with the devotees on the bank of the Ganga. It was during this meeting that the Lord explained His heart. The devotees could not recognize Him.

Before He went to Gaya, He was appearing like an arrogant pandit. In English you would call it a "know it all." He would engage with the different people that He met in debate, which made them look extremely foolish. He would say, "What is the explanation of this part of the sastra?" Pandit said, "This is the explanation according to naya." Then Lord Caitanya would say, "You are wrong. You are so wrong. This is the right explanation." And the pandit would say, "Yes. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Then Lord Caitanya would say, "How can you be so foolish to accept my wrong explanation? This is an entirely wrong explanation! You are doubly foolish! First by making your explanation and second by accepting my wrong explanation." They were totally intimidated. Then Lord Caitanya said, "Again, you are wrong."

In this way He would jump back and forth and give this very intellectual warning. He had a mission in showing this. He wanted to say that material knowledge without bhakti is inconclusive. Apparently, He just pulled the ears of the pandits. So this was the impression. The bhaktas who saw Him were running away from him because they thought He was just going to entangle them again.

Now, He had come back from Gaya and He was crying, "Krishna! Krishna! Where are you?" It didn't make sense for them. The Lord told them, "I will explain what is in my heart. Come to where I am staying." There He explained what had happened to Him. He explained the same thing which we are discussing from the Bhagavatam. He said that on his way back, He came to Kanai Natshala and there, I will read now from Caitanya Bhagavata:

"There I saw a young, beautiful boy, with a glowing, dark complexion, blackish like the bark of a tamal tree. His enchanting curly hair was decorated with fresh flowers." Then he gives an explanation about Krishna. He had a colorful peacock feather, dazzling bright jewels on His arms, the mark of Srivatsa, kaustubha gem. He said, "I cannot describe it to you how He wore His yellow garment, His dhoti." Why is this in this Bhagavata? It looks like a moving flash. Do you have an idea about a garment which moves like an electrical flash? Of course not, it's inexplainable. "Then He disappeared. He embraced Me and then He disappeared."

Lord Caitanya crashed to the ground. The devotees were all very concerned. He had fainted. He was laying there like a dead person. Call in His ear, "Krishna! Krishna!" They pacified Him and brushed the dust off of His lips. The Lord was a little pacified, but then He started crying torrents of tears. He cried and said, "Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?" When the devotees heard this, they became very satisfied. "Nimai Pandit has become a great devotee," they said. And then they said to Him, "For one who associates with You, what is the value of Vaikuntha? A single moment with You gives us the fruit of devotion. We are now all dependent on You. You are our leader now. You lead us in Kirtan."

This is how it all started. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu then started his nocturnal kirtans in the house of Srivasa Pandit and chanted throughout the whole night. He said, "Why should we waste our nights with sleeping?" Imagine at the end of Kirtan Mela, it's ten o'clock and everyone is just very much thinking, "We made it. We made it another day." And then the announcement would come from Yashomati, "What is the use of sleeping?" And Dayal Gauranga would also be there, the organizer of the Kirtan Mela. He would say, "Prabhus and Matajis, why waste our nights with sleeping? We should all continue to chant!" This is what Caitanya Mahaprabhu said to the devotees and they chanted all night.

I once spoke with His Holiness Sivarama Maharaj. He said that, "To join Caitanya Mahaprabhu's movement of chanting, you need a spiritual body." Very well observed. At the least, we need spiritual enthusiasm.

So this is how it all started, my dear devotees. This is the underlying mood, the mood of separation. In the words of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, "Where is Krishna?" If you forget everything else from this lecture, remember this one sentence. "Where is Krishna?" This is serious business. It has to come from the heart. That is the feeling which is required.

Now this feeling of the mood of separation from Krishna is possible for the conditioned soul. There are four moods of separation. Of these four, one is appropriate for the conditioned soul who is in this material world because he has turned away from Krishna. It is called in Sanskrit purvara, the anticipation of "I will meet in the future." How do you come to this mood that, "Krishna, I really need You." It's only by these things. You must hear from the Bhagavatam about Krishna. In this way develop some rucchi for this katha, some taste. Also, you must learn to serve the Bhagavatas, the devotees who talk about this message. You must do menial service for them because this will purify the heart. You will develop a taste for Krishna.

You can also develop this mood by being before your deities. By praying to Them, "Oh, my dear Lord, You are there and I am here. "ayi nanda-tanuja" Take me from this ocean of misery and fix me as one of the specs of dust at your lotus feet. You have feet of lotus. Your lotus feet have pollen."

Pollen is like this dust, you know this little yellow color when the wind comes. This dust waves over the Ganga, or the lakes where the lotus flowers are there. So the pollen belongs to the lotus feet. The devotee says, "I belong to You. This is unnatural that I am separated from You. Like the pollen dust belongs to the lotus, I belong to Your lotus feet. But I am now here and You are there. I cannot come to you on my own. Please give some mercy and pick me up and lift me. I cannot go on my own. This is the ascending path. You come down, You must reach Your hand. Remember that lizard who had fallen in the well? You saved him once. You extend Your hand and pick me up. Very important. You must take the initiative. I am powerless." This is how the devotee prays, ayi nanda-tanuja. My dear Lord, please pick me up.

The conclusion of Narada Muni is to take shelter. It is interesting to note that Narada Muni called the Lord navalinga,personified sound, and alinga, unseen by the eyes. This is a subtle point. He calls the Lord unseen, but His form can be perceived through sound. In another place in the Srimad Bhagavatam, Narada Muni gives another description of the Lord. He says the Lord has no material form. Srila Prabhupada says it's the form representation of transcendental sound. Or to put it in simple words, the Lord can be perceived as His holy name.

Narada Muni, knowing well that the Lord would not appear again to him, made a conclusion. "Thus, I began chanting the holy name form of the Lord by repeated recitation, ignoring all of the formalities of the material world. Such chanting and remembering of the transcendental pastimes of the Lord are blessing one and all. In doing so, I travel all over the world, fully satisfied, humble, and unenvious."

Here, Narada Muni gives a way of how one can kirtaniya sada hari, always chant kirtan. If you go through this sanskrit, you will find that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is talking about the same things. He says, "tusta-mana. I was fully satisfied, I was completely freed from all material desires, I was without pride, and I was not envious." These are picked up by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He says:

trinad api sunicena
taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harihi

He gives these two principles. You must be free from pride like the straw on the street that people trample on. Then you must be non envious. In Mahaprabhu's words, you must respect others, not be envious and disrespect them. Not like a social requirement where I give you respect and now you give me respect. Like, when I go to someone I say, "Oh, Sannyasi Maharaj, you are the best! Now say something to me, please." It's not good. You respect everyone without wanting money or respect in return. It's very important. Now kirtaniya sada hari, one can do chanting, always. This was Narada Muni's conclusion, to go like this through the world without being proud or envious. Srila Prabhupada said in the purport that these devotees who feel like this have no desire for material gain. Why should we have fame or material gain? Why should I be envious of someone? They are conducted by one single desire to go back to Godhead. This awaits them in due course upon leaving the material body.

My dear devotees, the next time you are disrespected, next time someone hurls an insult upon you, understand that it's not worthwhile to fight. You want something higher. Do you want to be right? Or do you want to get blessings? Blessings are better on the spiritual path. Move forward as a humble person.

I would like to now bring this to the conclusion. Caitanya Mahaprabhu elaborates on this point. His elaboration is known as His eight instructions on how to enter the world of the holy name. Do you know the sanskrit name of this composition? The Siksastakam. In Srimad Bhagavatam a seed is given and Mahaprabhu takes this seed of instructions on how to chant and move forward and then meet the Lord again. Meet Him in the holy name.

My dear devotees, there is one work, Harinam Cintamani, which I guess most of you here know. There comes a verse where Haridas Thakur says, "The holy name is the greatest treasure in Lord Krishna's treasure house." Imagine that the Lord has a treasure house with so many treasures inside. The best treasure is not the gold. The best treasure in Lord Krishna's treasure house is the holy name. A little later there comes a very nice sloka which says what we are to do with this treasure. You need to accept this treasure from Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You need to beg Him for this treasure. The Lord has come to give this most precious jewel in His treasure house to all of the conditioned souls. This is Lord Caitanya's special mercy. All you need to learn now is to accept it. How you do it is you need to bind your mind firmly to the holy name. You can learn this during the Kirtan Mela. There is so much chanting going on. You can do it for twelve hours. Just find it.

Haridas Thakura says, "Simply, by ones own endeavor, no one can control the restless mind." The mind will not like to be bound. It's like a child. Try to bind a child with a rope. "Come here! Stay here!" He will run. Or a little dog, also. The mind will not like to be bound. But you try again and again to bring the two together. You and the holy name. This is explained also. In this world of birth and death, the individual soul and Lord Krishna's holy name alone are spiritual. All else is material.

My dear devotees, now I will say something strong because you are well prepared for this. Fasten your seat belts. It will be a little intense. We can be in Krishna Consciousness for a long time and have kalpana, imaginations about ourselves, concepts, theories, philosophies, which are not digested as long as the heart remains impure. These concepts, even of good things, will not be more (or less) than just concepts about good things. They will not transform the heart very easily. The heart gets transformed only by Krishna.

Sukadeva Goswami wants to make this point at the end of the Bhagavatam. It says that mantras, philosophy, and visiting holy places will not work in Kali Yuga to purify the impure heart. Only the Lord's holy name will do it. He's not only making some phonetic statement. He gives a reason for this. The reason is because the Lord is the holy name and He can enter the impure heart and drive the impurities out. It is impossible to do this alone. You need the Lord to do this.

His example is how when gold, which is a pure metal, is mixed with an alloy, an impure metal, you can blow on it a little bit to get the iron out of the gold. You can also pour a little water on it to get the bronze out of the gold. This is like so many spiritual practices, yoga and all of this. You need fire. The fire touches the gold and melts to separate the iron and the dirt from the gold. In the same way, when the holy name is received by a sincere vaisnava, all of that which should not be there in the heart will slowly become separated from the purity which is there constitutionally. We are, for all eternity, Krishna's part and parcel. This separation is not done by some "this or that," it is happening through the holy name, alone.

Therefore this Kirtan Mela is a very serious effort. I would like to just speak a personal observation now. I find that in this Kirtan Mela, there is something which was not there in the first two Kirtan Mela's. I was only there in the first two. Then there was a third Kirtan Mela that I was unable to attend. But in the first two, there was not this atmosphere of focus. Now, have you noted when our Niranjana Maharaj spoke his favorite quote about chanting yesterday, that there was silence in this room. There was a focused atmosphere. This is so important if you want to receive the holy name. You have to be focused because you need to bring the mind into connection with Krishna. You need to actually hear the mantra and be with it all the time. It requires some focus, willingness, and prayer.

You're doing excellent already on the first day. Today is the second day. Please continue your good efforts like this. Do not relax your effort, but pace yourself. Rest enough, do everything that is needed to keep your body and mind working, but then spend maximum time in kirtan for the next few days. You will receive the best of Krishna's treasures from His treasure house. Do you know who will give it? Gauranga Mahaprabhu, in front of whom we are chanting. Gauranga Mahaprabhu with Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara, and Srivas Pandit, are all willing to give this treasure to the conditioned souls. We just must receive it. We just need to be there and try our best.

Thank you very, very much for your attention. Gaura Premanande, Haribol