From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir
Date: February 17, 2017
Speaker: HH Janandana Gosvami
Subject: Srimad Bhagavatam 7.10.8
TEXT
indriyāṇi manaḥ prāṇa
ātmā dharmo dhṛtir matiḥ
hrīḥ śrīs tejaḥ smṛtiḥ satyaṁ
yasya naśyanti janmanā
TRANSLATION
O my Lord, because of lusty desires from the very beginning of one’s birth, the functions of one’s senses, mind, life, body, religion, patience, intelligence, shyness, opulence, strength, memory and truthfulness are vanquished.
PURPORT
As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, kāmaṁ hṛd-rogam. Materialistic life means that one is afflicted by a formidable disease called lusty desire. Liberation means freedom from lusty desires because it is only due to such desires that one must accept repeated birth and death. As long as one’s lusty desires are unfulfilled, one must take birth after birth to fulfill them. Because of material desires, therefore, one performs various types of activities and receives various types of bodies with which to try to fulfill desires that are never satisfied. The only remedy is to take to devotional service, which begins when one is free from all material desires. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. Anya-abhilāṣitā means “material desire,” and śūnyam means “free from.” The spiritual soul has spiritual activities and spiritual desires, as described by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi. Unalloyed devotion to the service of the Lord is the only spiritual desire. To fulfill this spiritual desire, however, one must be free from all material desires. Desirelessness means freedom from material desires. This is described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī as Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam. As soon as one has material desires, one loses his spiritual identity. Then all the paraphernalia of one’s life, including one’s senses, body, religion, patience and intelligence, are deviated from one’s original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As soon as one has material desires, one cannot properly use his senses, intelligence, mind and so on for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Māyāvādī philosophers want to become impersonal, senseless and mindless, but that is not possible. The living entity must be living, always existing with desires, ambitions and so on. These should be purified, however, so that one can desire spiritually and be spiritually ambitious, without material contamination. In every living entity these propensities exist because he is a living entity. When materially contaminated, however, one is put into the hands of material misery (janma-mṛtyu jarā-vyādhi). If one wants to stop repeated birth and death, one must take to the devotional service of the Lord.
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
“Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one’s senses are purified.”
Maharaj:
Dear Devotees, my senior godbrothers and godsisters, all of the vaisnavas and vaisnavis assembled here today, thank you for giving me this privilege to have your association and the chance to glorify Srila Prabhupada and his great mission and to hear Srimad Bhagavatam. By your blessings only are we able to bring pleasure to Srila Prabhupada and maybe speak a few words in relationship to this very relevant and essential subject matter of Srimad Bhagavatam. Particularly in today's verse, the thread is based upon becoming freed from material desires and thus embracing pure devotional service.
Reflecting on Srila Prabhupada's coming to the western world, one of the secrets which is indicated here in this purport by Srila Prabhupada, I'll read the verse. This is from the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, chapter 33. Anyone who faithfully hears or describes the Lord's playful affairs with the young gopis of Vrindavan will attain the Lord's pure devotional service. Thus he will quickly become sober and conquer lust, the disease of the heart.
Srila Prabhupada in reference to this says that if you become lusty by seeing or hearing the pastimes of Krishna with Radharani, that means you are not fit. Stop it. Don't be foolish.
We find that Srila Prabhupada has given us the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam summary as Krishna Book, practically the first big book distributed in San Francisco at the Ratha Yatra. I'm not sure if any of the devotees here were there, maybe Jayadvaita Maharaj? But it is quite amazing that in that arena, I of course was not there, in the 1970's most of the audience was hippies. They were not very practiced at controlling lust.
Many of us, at least in that era, probably came from a similar batch. Myself, certainly, was in this category, full of lust. The objective of our life as teenagers was to enjoy as much sense gratification as possible.
Srila Prabhupada describes lust very simply, as the desire to gratify ones senses. It's not just sex, although Srila Prabhupada mentions that it also means sex life. Sex life is a very broad subject matter. The very idea of seeing ourselves in the center, the very mentality you can say which pervades the entire material world. We may still be affected by it. We may try to look a little bit about how we can move forward.
We read the Krishna book. This indeed is the recommended process given here in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in commenting on this verse describes in this verse we just read, how one attains the Lord's devotional service by hearing. Then one quickly becomes sober and conquers lust.
This is a special mercy of the pure devotee of the Lord. He is giving us this opportunity even though we may not be anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CCMadhya 19.167). We're trying to engage our senses in the service of the pure devotee of the Lord. That is the connection, the key.
Srila Prabhupada has come to the western world. There in San Francisco he stated at the Ratha Yatra festival to intoxicated, sensual hippies, many of them not properly dressed if at all. He stated that all of you young boys and girls here today, (of course you could qualify it maybe, it sounded pretty simple) you will see Lord Jagannath on the Ratha Yatra cart, are going back to Godhead in your next lifetime. Special mercy of the pure devotee.
Srila Prabhupada came to the western world for this pupose, to bring down this material concept of I am the enjoyer. The whole world revolves around this principle from top to bottom: insects, birds, beasts, demigods, demons, everyone is affected by lust. As we known from Bhagavad Gita. What does Krishna say?
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa
rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā
viddhy enam iha vairiṇam (BG3.37)
It's interesting, Arjuna was asking a question of Krishna. What is it that causes a man to act sinfully, almost against your own nature, as if forced. It's not exactly referring directly to sex drive, the whole topic is describing performing ones prescribed duty. This is another subject matter. We have svadharma, materially and spiritually. Because performing ones prescribed duty according to ones condition, gradually one becomes purified.
Just like with the marriage ceremony, the vows that one take at marriage, this is all part of the gradual release from lust. Even more so our spiritual svadharma, when we take vows of initiation or shelter of the pure devotee of the Lord. This is the, you could say, the ultimate taking shelter. Becoming released from the bondage material, release from the three modes of material nature, bound up in this material world, gross and subtle, by serving. This is what Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura emphasizes.
It begins by service to the pure devotee, even if we are full of material desires, somehow or another, if we worship the personality of Godhead. That is made available to us by Srila Prabhupada, even to the lowest.
We heard how many times HH Prahladananda Maharaj had read the Bhagavad Gita the other day. But how many sinful activities, I can only speak for myself, in this lifetime, what to speak of in the past, have I willingly and enthusiastically engaged in? I can't even count them myself, even if I tried. To be honest, it was just a regular factor to have sexual indulgence ever day if possible. That is what Srila Prabhupada came into. This is the real miracle.
I was talking to a devotee yesterday about one devotee who kind of paced himself a little bit, dropped down from a high standard that he had been following. But then this devotee said, if you only knew what he was doing before, you'd be amazed what he is doing now. Just to be a vegetarian is a miracle for this person, what to speak of chanting Hare Krishna. This is a miracle. This is the mission of our movement.
I'd like to read a little bit from Srila Prabhupada's most significant, to me, writing, when he arrived in Boston on September 17, 1965. The next day, on the 18th, he compiled a mission statement for the success formula of our individual progress in spiritual life, as well as for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness which he was to form. Please bear with me.
"My dear Lord Krsna You are so kind upon this useless soul
but I do not know why You have brought me here.
Now You can do with me whatever You like.
But I guess You’ve got some business here
Since You brought me to this terrible place."
With all due respect to those who are from America. Prabhupada is referring to America. Is that right, Gajendra? The United States, USA, unlimited sinful activities. UK, ugra karma. Srila Prabhupada came right in the middle of it, New York. The Big Apple, everyone goes there to have a nibble on it. Right? Srila Prabhupada not just peeled it, but he changed it. This is the first literary thing Srila Prabhupada produced when he came to the western world, the very first thing. He's only just walked on American soil, briefly, and now he's compiling this document which is so significant, so important.
"Most of the population here is covered by the material modes of ignorance and passion. Absorbed in material life, they think themselves very happy and satisfied. Therefore they have no taste for the transcendental taste of Vasudeva. I do not know how they will be able to understand it. Srila Prabhupada said I do not know how they will be able to understand it. But I know Your causeless mercy can make everything possible, because You are the most expert mystic."
Sometimes people ask, can you do miracles, Swamiji? This is the miracle. I don't know how many devotees are here, but around the world we heard maybe a hundred, a hundred and fifty-thousand seriously practicing devotees. I do not know. People say it's a small number, but it's a miracle, considering this age of Kali. And it's just the start. Billions, in fact, of people have received the seed of bhakti, by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. This is the key. The pure devotee gives it freely, no holds bard. Take it! Srila Prabhupada said, my mercy is available to everyone, you just have to take it. There is not some monopoly. It's there for all of us. It's there in his books, these books are Srila Prabhupada. We can get his association by hearing from his books and by rendering service. We'll come on to that in a minute.
"How will they understand the mellows of devotional service? O Lord, I am simply praying for Your mercy so that I will be able to convince them about Your message.All living entities have become under the control of the illusory energy by Your will, and therefore, if You like, by Your will they can also be released from the clutches of illusion."
That may sound like we have nothing to do with it. But Krishna is simply reciprocating. We cannot even come into the material world without Krishna's will, even if we wanted to. And we can't get out without His will either. Everything depends on His mercy. By the mercy of Krishna we get the spiritual master, and by the mercy of the spiritual master we can get Krishna's mercy. This is the only way. If Srila Prabhupada had not come to the western world there would not be nothing to speak of worth speaking of. None of us would be here, there would be no TOVP. There would be no prasad distribution, nothing. All by his mercy.
"I wish that You may deliver them. Therefore if You so desire their deliverance, then only will they be able to understand Your message."
The secret is to understand the message of Krishna, coming thru the parampara which Srila Prabhupada is giving us in his books.
"The words of the Srimad-Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives them," that doesn't just mean someone who has recovered from a hangover the night before. It's one who is not intoxicated by the material energy. We may not be on that platform of no material desire, no material attachment of this world, at least I'm not. But by dedicating ourselves to the pure devotee, one who is free of all material affection so to speak. If we hear those message from them, then devotion, it acts like medicine to the heart, purifies the heart.
Lord Caitanya has come and brought this medicine into the world. Very simple. For the age of Kali. Lord Caitanya did not discuss in general, only with confidential associates, the intimate pastimes of madhurya rasa, the Lord's intimate relations with the gopis. For the majority of the people it was harinam sankirtan. This incessant performance of congregational sankirtan, glorification of the holy name of the Lord, is the only way that we can conquer the six enemies.
What are the six enemies? Who are the six enemies? My next door neighbor, maybe the temple president over there, maybe that devotee or Mr. So and So and USA. People have all kinds of funny ideas. What are our enemies? Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsarya. These are the enemies that have to be conquered. How to conquer them? Only by incessant Kirtan. It means to be firmly fixed in devotional service. Not to fall down. To be fully engaged in devotional service. To be hearing, chanting, remembering, whatever, but fully engaged. Protected from the influence of Maya which is very, very strong.
Srila Prabhupada wrote one letter to Hayagriva, I think it was in '68, correct me if you're wrong, if you want to. He said, in regards to your question about the enemy, Mr. Lust, I have studied your letter. But Krishna, you should know, is much stronger than any demon. Mr. Lust, Mr. Lust father, and Mr. Lust grandfather, he said. No one can touch someone who takes shelter of devotional service. He becomes immune to the effects of these enemies who have basically captured everyone. We may also be affected sometimes. It's described that sometimes we may be affected.
Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura continues to say that we may be affected sometimes. It's just like a soldier, he says, on the battlefield may sometimes get hit by the opponents weapons. We may sometimes get hit by these things. But the soldier carries on, courageously he carries on, fights the battle, and is victorious.
Don't stop. Infallible means non fallible.
Give another example of a person who is sick. Sure there are ups and downs, but if we continue to take the right medicine then gradually we become cured. Srila Prabhupada is giving us the medicine to cure of this disease. Other people may not recognize it as a disease. You could say that it's rooted in the concept that I am the body. Seeing ourselves in the center, seeing our body as objects of sense gratification, and seeing others as objects of sense gratification. This is the disease. If you went to the doctor I'm sure some of you are in the medical field, and said, doctor, I am very, very sick. The doctor says, please tell me, what is your problem? Well, doctor, it's really serious. The doctor says, you look ok, what's wrong with you? You look at him and say, I think I am my body. Really? That is very serious. Hold on a minute and I'll make a quick phone call. He calls up another kind of doctor and you may be taken away. They'll consider you are mad, crazy guy who thinks he is not his body.
Yesterday or the day before we heard about being intoxicated by varieties of material attractions. Everyone is intoxicated. I think it was last night Mahatma prabhu was describing it. You have to become intoxicated in devotional service, dancing, chanting, feasting, that's an easy one. We all like to feast. We get intoxicated sometimes when we feast.
Srila Prabhupada's secret weapon, captures us out of maya. I bet so many of you had your first contact through prasadam. My conviction was through prasadam. My first contact was through Back to Godhead magazine. I found it in, you could say, the middle of an intoxicated apartment. The apartment wasn't, the people in it were. But the next thing was prasadam. The magic of prasadam that Srila Prabhupada has given us. It looks like lust. I couldn't believe it the first time I was ushered into the temple and led down into the little prasadam room in Burry Place. Have any of you been? The older vaisnavas will know it, Malati will know it. She's the one, and her husband, Guru das and Jamuna, Mukunda and Janaki, who gave on behalf of Srila Prabhupada who brought this great miracle to the world. Burry place. Do you remember the little tiny prasadam room downstairs?
I was ushered in there. I was going through a phase of thinking that I was some kind of renunciate, trying to follow some small diet, things like that. False renunciation. When I went there I had the shock of my life. I thought that yogis did not eat at all. I had the shock of my life, when I saw Govardhan Hill. Sunanda Kumar Prabhu was serving prasadam, big round smiling face, so attractive. Drew my attention as I walked in, long hair down to my waist. This plate came drifting towards me with a mountain of rice. I thought that was like what he wanted me to distribute to everybody in the room. I couldn't believe it. They had one liter steel bowl of dhal. And a stack of capatis. It was unreal! And that was the first round.
Those who have had that experience, maybe on Second Ave, you can read about it. Srila Prabhupada would say more, give him more. Ten, eleven capatis. This is how we conquer lust. It doesn't seem like it, does it? My God. I've never seen anyone in my life eat as much as these people eat.
Then, as soon as we somehow finish, I don't know how on earth it all got in there… As soon as we finished one devotee came up to me, from Australia, he said, would you like to come on sankirtan? I'd never been to a temple before. I said what's that? He said, it's nectar! It's bliss! Then we were out the door. Oxfort street. A million people. I was at the back so I could hear everything that people were saying.
Devotees were relishing every minute of it. Srila Prabhupada gave us this out of nowhere, this higher taste. We can't just give up material desires. We get purified by honoring prasadam, dancing, who else can go out on the street without any inhibitions, literally just dance and chant. I was a very shy, nervous person. I still am. Somehow or another Srila Prabhupada brings something out of all of us.
Just connect to Srila Prabhupada and the lights will come on. It may be different wattage or color. It doesn't matter. Every one of us has a connection with Srila Prabhupada. Just have to make that connection and the lights will come on. It's the higher taste. This is how we overcome the all devouring enemy of the world, Krishna says it is lust only, when in contact with the mode of passion in transformed into wrath, anger. This lust is the all devouring sinful enemy of the world. And how does Krishna say this lust is sitting? It's all over the place, all pervasive practically. Even people who look spiritual are often lusty because they are doing it for themselves. That's also lust, trying to attract people to me, that's lust. Trying to get name and fame, that's lust. Anything that is an object of our own pleasure is lust, including our own body. Who is free from this? And who is doing anything to free us from it? Only one who is free from it can help.
Srila Prabhupada has given such a nice way by engaging our senses. That's the quality of devotional service. To engage all our words, or minds, our senses, in service to Krishna. This whole movement is for that purpose. It's to facilitate śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam. It's the purpose of this movement. Srila Prabhupada has given us so many different ways that we can connect. It's such a sublime movement. Nobody is excluded. Our task, our challenge is to find ways, even just a little bit.
We're all from different parts of the world, many of you are from this part of the world. Some are from America, England, France, Germany, Africa, China, Australia, here and there. Anyone from Antarctica? First harinam in Antarctica just took place a few months ago. A few wonderful vaisnavas from Alachua went there and did harinam in Antarctica. Many penguins were liberated! Next lifetime they will be on the street dancing and chanting. It'll be a novelty if they are still in penguin bodies doing it, a harinam party with penguins going down the street. That would really draw the attention.
Frankly, I'm must lower than a penguin. Somehow or another I got a human birth. I used to work in a slaughter house. Born in a town called Pig Hill. It was a pig market. My grandfather was the number one butcher in town where we come from. Not exactly coming from the holy dhama, we're coming from a damn hole. Srila Prabhupada picked us up out of the hole and brought us here. This is a real sadhu, the real miracle. However fallen I may be, maybe a grain of hope is there by the blessings of the vaisnavas. Srila Prabhupada has given us all this chance, just engage in devotional service. And hear and chant simultaneously.
The program is so wonderful. Krishna Consciousness is always wonderful in every aspect. I remember when I first came to the temple there were five classes a day which we all attended. We didn't have any book. None of us had a single book each. There was only one copy of each book. We would sit and hear each book every single day. Nectar of Devotion, Isopanisad, Srimad Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita, Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Krishna Book, and the Song book. We used to have song class every day. It was fantastic. I'm going off the mark.
But this is back on the mark. "The words of the Srimad-Bhagavatam are Your incarnation, and if a sober person repeatedly receives them with submissive aural reception, then he will be able to understand Your message."
And then the verse which was so beautifully spoken the other day by Vaisesika Prabhu, these famous verses from the second chapter of the first canto which Srila Prabhupada quoted so many times: "It is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17-21): "Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramatma [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. By regularly hearing the Bhagavatam and rendering service unto the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is practically destroyed, and loving service unto the glorious Lord, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. At the time loving service is established in the heart, the modes of passion [rajas] and ignorance [tamas], and lust and desire [kama] disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness and he becomes happy. Thus established in the mode of goodness, the man rejuvenated by loving service to the Lord gains liberation from material association [mukti] and comes to know scientifically of the Personality of Godhead. Thus the knots of the heart and all misgivings are cut to pieces. The chain of fruitive actions [karma] is terminated when one sees the self as master.
He will become liberated from the influence of the modes of ignorance and passion and thus all inauspicious things accumulated in the core of the heart will disappear."
Just by taking shelter of the pure devotee of the Lord, dedicating ourselves to his service in whatever way we can, working together, trying to share this with others. Srila Prabhupada said this is the best way to deal with the restless mind, to try to meditate, but also act on how we can be a part of spreading this great mission all over the world and what part we can play to spread this mission. It's a good meditation and you can say this is our key to success, to becoming released from the shackles of this material world.
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya.
Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya.
Comments