HH Candramauli Swami

[Guest guest]

Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

March 18, 2005

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.22

Speaker: HH Candramauli Swami

__

 

andhah puraiva vadhiro manda-prajnas ca sampratam

visirna-danto mandagnih saragah kapham udvahan

 

TRANSLATION: You have been blind from your very birth, and recently you

have become hard of hearing. Your memory is shortened, and your intelligence

is disturbed. Your teeth are loose, your liver is defective, and you are

coughing up mucus.

 

PURPORT: The symptoms of old age, which had already developed in

Dhrtarastra, were all one after another pointed out to him as warning that

death was nearing very quickly, and still he was foolishly carefree about

his future. The signs pointed out by Vidura in the body of Dhrtarastra were

signs of apaksaya, or dwindling of the material body before the last stroke

of death. The body is born, it develops, stays, creates other bodies,

dwindles and then vanishes. But foolish men want to make a permanent

settlement of the perishable body and think that their estate, children,

society, country, etc., will give them protection. With such foolish ideas,

they become overtaken by such temporary engagements and forget altogether

that they must give up this temporary body and take a new one, again to

arrange for another term of society, friendship and love, again to perish

ultimately. They forget their permanent identity and become foolishly active

for impermanent occupations, forgetting altogether their prime duty. Saints

and sages like Vidura approach such foolish men to awaken them to the real

situation, but they take such sadhus and saints as parasites of society, and

almost all of them refuse to hear the words of such sadhus and saints,

although they welcome show-bottle sadhus and so-called saints who can

satisfy their senses. Vidura was not a sadhu to satisfy the ill-gotten

sentiment of Dhrtarastra. He was correctly pointing out the real situation

of life, and how one can save oneself from such catastrophies.

 

 

(invocatory prayers)

 

Here is a continuation of Vidura's concern, compassion, for his brother

Dhrtarastra. He's using whatever means possible to try to awaken him to the

actual goal of life. Dhrtarastra had finished his life, practically maybe a

few months or few years left. But still due to his attachments, material

desires, he is very much unwilling to change his situation. It is a quite

pitiable situation for Dhrtarastra. He is not situated nicely in his

material life. He's in a very pitiable and despicable condition. He's living

at the home of the persons whom he tried to kill. All his family members are

dead, his body is very old, and as mentioned in a previous verse, he was

blind from birth. Dhrtarastra is twice blind. He's blind physically, and

he's also blind to his spiritual life. Vidura's trying to wake him up. He's

trying to say whatever time you have left, use it to pursue the goal. Time

is so valuable.

 

Srila Prabhupada would often quote Canakya Pandit that one moment of time,

even if you have so much wealth, still you cannot buy that moment back. When

it's gone, it's gone. With both the rising and setting of the sun, another

day is lost. One is closer to death, except one who hears the glorification

of the all-good Supreme Personality of Godhead. So time is so important. And

noone knows how much time we have left. To use whatever time is available in

this human form of life to pursue the goal is the real business of life.

Death will come. Wherever there is birth, there is death. But the soul, of

course, "na hanyate hanyamane sarire," the soul doesn't die, the body dies.

That is inevitable. And that is the reality of our situation.

 

I was just reading last night in Hari Sauri's diary in glorification of

Srila Prabhupada's activities, how one young girl, I believe her name was

Manisha, had come to see Srila Prabhupada. She had some terminal illness.

She had very little time left, the doctors could not do anything to save her

body. And when she came into Srila Prabhupada's room she immediately burst

into tears, became overwhelmed with emotion and started to speak about how

she was going to die. Prabhupada was very sober and concerned at the same

time. He said "This death, it comes. Everyone must die. Whether you die now

or later, still you must die, the body must die. This is not the real

concern to try to prolong one's life."

 

It says in the Bhagavatam that the trees they live. . . the redwood and the

sequoia trees in California, even trees here in India, they live for

thousands and thousands and thousands of years. But what is the value of a

long life? And the verse goes on that just one moment of Krsna consciousness

is the most valuable quality of the human form of life. So this human form

of life is very valuable, time is very valuable. Sometimes we do not see how

important and necessary it is to use every bit of time for Krsna

consciousness. As devotees sometimes we take life for granted, yes, I am

young. But who knows how much time you have left?

 

The idea that I have so many plans is nice, but the real plan is to become

Krsna conscious. That is the only plan. When one becomes Krsna conscious,

whatever other activities and other desires that may be there due to one's

association with the material energy will be fulfilled. Desires are

fulfilled in two ways. One way is that you fulfill your desire by getting

what you want. But that is not the Krsna conscious way to fulfill your

desires. The real way is to become Krsna conscious, and then whatever other

desires automatically become supportive to that desire. There's no other

need to fulfill any other desire. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati used to say

there's only one problem in this material world: lack of Krsna

consciousness.

 

We sing every day to the spiritual master the beautiful song Sri Guru

Vandana:

 

sri guru carane rati, ei sei uttama gati,

ye prasade pure sarva asa

 

In that line, Srila Narottama Das Thakur explains that my attachment to the

lotus feet of the spiritual master, by following his instructions carefully,

sincerely, all of one's desires automatically become fulfilled. That means

when you become Krsna conscious there's nothing else to desire. So therefore

every bit of time should be used to serve that one desire. Noone knows how

much time we have left.

 

There's a sad but true story that happened a few years ago to illustrate

just how this idea of youth can intoxicate one into thinking I have a long

life. Youth is a form of intoxication, because when you're young you have so

many plans, so many desires, and so much energy and aspirations. As you get

older, you start to see things a little differently.

 

The devotees under the care of Radha Gopinath in Chowpatty were preaching at

one medical college. They were regularly holding programmes in the college,

and many of the young students were coming. There was one boy regularly

coming who was in his last year in medical school, about three of four

months before graduation. He was chanting and also coming to the temple.

Then at one point he said to his friends that "I really really want to get

the best grades in class. I want to become the top student in the whole

school. So therefore I'm not coming to the temple anymore, I'm not coming to

associate with the devotees, I'm not going to chant, but I'll come after I

graduate."

 

nd he only had about four months left. So his friends said all right, and

they continued. He studied and put all his energy, time, effort into study

and he graduated top in his class. He was the top student in the whole

school, medical college. He got all Honours. So his friends said "OK, you

did it. Now come back. The devotees are here, tonight's there's a programme

in the college; you should attend it." He said, "Yeah, I know, but there's a

graduation party tonight." And he went to the party. While he was at the

party he was dancing and had a heart attack and died. 23 years old, no

history of any medical records. And of course when his friends heard what

had happened, they became very serious.

 

So we see this is an example how one doesn't know when death will come.

Prahlada Maharaja preaches to his schoolmates that now is the time to take

up Krsna consciousness. But they would say, "Prahlada, we are just young

boys, we want to play and do many things." And Prahlada would say very

intelligently "Old simply means before you die, and noone knows when we're

going to die."

 

So time is very important, to use whatever time we have left to pursue the

real goal of life, and that is Krsna consciousness.

 

Here in this purport there's also a very interesting point that I want to

emphasise and that is the compassion of Vidura. Yesterday we heard from

Madhudvisa Prabhu how Srila Prabhupada gave up all his comforts in

Vrindavan. He was fully self-realized. (Jai Sri Sri Radha Madhava,

asta-sakhi ki!) He was a maha-bhagavat, he had no personal concern for his

own spiritual life. He was already situated in the spiritual world. But out

of compassion, he left and came to preach.

 

There's one interesting story, I'm not sure exactly where it happened. It

was either in Boston or Los Angeles. Prabhupada was sitting in his room with

some of his disciples. Some of them had been with Prabhupada in the Radha

Damodara temple back in India. He said "Do you remember what it was like

when I was back in my Radha Damodara temple? How nice it was, living in

Vrindavana. Life was so simple then. I long to go back there." But then he

said, "But for me that would be sense gratification." Because it's something

in terms of one's personal desire. So he was reflecting just how wonderful

it was to be in that mood, but his real mission was to show compassion to

the fallen conditioned souls.

 

So Vidura is concerned. And he's not only concerned, he's preaching. And his

brother is not accepting him, but still he's concerned for the welfare of

his elder brother. He's so concerned he's willing to undergo ridicule and

criticism in order to preach, to give the mercy and be compassionate to the

fallen conditioned souls.

 

The point here in this verse for all of us is that we also are expected to

take up that mood of Vidura and Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada said "Do

what I am doing." Of course we can't do what Prabhupada did. Prabhupada was

unique in his devotion, compassion and spreading Krsna consciousness. But he

wanted us to take up that same mood and show compassion to others. That is

the standard for the operation of this ISKCON society, to come to the

second-class platform. The second-class platform is to come to our loving

relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to make friends with

other Vaisnavas, to show compassion and preach to the fallen conditioned

souls, giving them the chance to take up the goal of life by coming to Krsna

consciousness, and not to give association to atheistic and nondevotee

demoniac classes. These are the qualities of those on the second-class

platform and this is the platform that Srila Prabhupada wanted our movement

to operate on.

 

I'll read one purport from the Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.21.31. This is the

Supreme Personality of Godhead speaking to Kardama Muni. Translation:

 

"Showing compassion to all living entities, you will attain

self-realization. Giving assurance of safety to all, you will perceive your

own self as well as all the universes in Me, and Myself in you."

 

So it's a very long purport, and part-way through the purport Prabhupada

explains:

 

"It is said that a person who goes to the temple of the Lord and worships

with great devotion, but who does not show sympathy to people in general or

show respect to other devotees, is considered to be a third-class devotee.

The second-class devotee is he who is merciful and compassionate to the

fallen soul. The second-class devotee is always cognizant of his position as

an eternal servant of the Lord; he therefore makes friendships with devotees

of the Lord, acts compassionately toward the general public in teaching them

devotional service, and refuses to cooperate or associate with nondevotees."

 

And Prabhupada really puts it very clear here:

 

"As long as one is not compassionate to people in general in his devotional

service to the Lord, he is a third-class devotee."

 

So he wanted us to come to that second-class platform. To somehow or other

be an instrument for spreading Krsna consciousness in whatever way we can.

So one has to understand one's position and how best to be an instrument for

others. That is the mood. It's a mood of cultivating that mood of devotion,

to somehow or other be concerned, to somehow use one's devotional service as

an opportunity to bring others. Prabhupada goes on, it's a very long

purport, and he talks about how one must award fearlessness to the

conditioned soul. Just like we see here in this particular verse,

Dhrtarastra is fearful, he's taking shelter of whatever he can take shelter

of. And Vidura is trying to say just give it all up, there's no fear, take

shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Prabhupada goes on:

 

"The first-class devotee gives assurance to every living being that there is

no fear of this material existence. To award fearlessness to the common man

is the greatest act of charity."

 

And Prabhupada talks about the duties of a sannyasi to preach, to travel to

go from door to door, village to village, and country to country. But then

Prabhupada goes on and speaks about the grhastha-asrama:

 

"A person who is a householder but is initiated by a sannyasi has the duty

to spread Krsna consciousness at home; as far as possible, he should call

his friends and neighbors to his house and hold classes in Krsna

consciousness. Holding a class means chanting the holy name of Krsna and

speaking from Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam."

 

And then Prabhupada goes on to explain how much literature we have, and that

we should use this literature, to learn it and to preach Krsna

consciousness.

 

This is the mood of a devotee of the Lord, to show compassion to others. If

Srila Prabhupada didn't show compassion to us then where would we be? There

is that legacy, the legacy of Srila Prabhupada to become Krsna conscious and

to give Krsna consciousness to others. That is the mood of a devotee of the

Lord because he knows that in this material world there is no happiness.

There is no happiness in the material world. Sometimes we say that, but then

again Prabhupada says that if there is some happiness then society,

friendship and love--in other words, family life. But what is that

happiness? That happiness is compared to one drop of water in the desert.

 

One great poet named Vidyapati, a contemporary of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu,

he explained that this material happiness is like one drop of water in the

desert. In the desert, if you're thirsty, and someone comes along and gives

you one drop of water, actually he's your enemy because he's just increasing

your thirst. So any type of material happiness is at best really only

intoxicates the living entity to think that there is a reservoir. But

there's no reservior. A drop here, a drop there, a drop here, and then what

happens? You drop. And those drops can't make you happy even while you're

receiving them. Therefore devotees understand yes, there's nothing. We

should understand there's no happiness. The only goal in life is to become

Krsna conscious and to give Krsna consciousness. . . therefore we have to

align our priorites in our devotional service, we have to see what is

important in our devotional life. We may have so many things, but what is

the most important thing? Therefore it says:

 

yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat

yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam

 

Krsna explains in Bhagavad Gita that everything we do must somehow be done

as an offering to Him, or take an extension of that principle, everything

should support the goal of life. If it doesn't support the goal of life,

then anything we do is "srama eva hi kevalam," a useless waste of time.

 

So as devotees we have to take an inventory, what is valuable and what is

useless. And the most important thing, of course is time. How to use time in

such a way that we make progress on the path of devotional service. Not

wasting it and leaving one moment. The Visnu Purana, as quoted by Dravida

Prabhu the other day in class, what is the greatest calamity, what is the

greatest anomaly, what is the greatest catastrophe? To forget the Supreme

Personality of Godhead for one moment. For one moment! It's considered to be

the greatest calamity. Just to forget the Lord for one second. I'm always

thinking. . . maybe if I remember the Lord, that's unique. So to somehow

think of Krsna 24 hours a day means to be come fixed in our Krsna

consciousness. Therefore whatever we do should support that, and how do we

facilitate that remembrance? That was also brought out by Dravida in his

class: by hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord.

 

Of course here in Sri Mayapur Dham we're doing that, and the whole energy,

the whole atmosphere here, the whole mood here should be, is, to somehow or

other to absorb one's time in hearing and chanting and serving the glories

of the Lord in the association of devotees. But we have to go back to our

respective places and preach in different parts of the world. So we take

that mood of Sri Mayapur Dham, we take that mood of Sri Vrindavan Dham, back

to our respective places, and then we keep that mood and distribute that

mood. Then that mood is never lost. The devotee has to be in that mood all

the time, to be eager to hear and chant the glories of the Lord, eager to

engage in devotional service:

 

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido

bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah

 

It's explained in the Third Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam that hearing the

nectarine pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it's sweet, it's

nectar to the ears, it charms the heart, it purifies the consciousness, it

brings one to the spiritual platform. By hearing the glories of the Lord

sufficiently, then what happens? We want to chant the glories of the Lord.

And then when we chant the glories of the Lord sufficiently then the process

of remembrance becomes more and more fixed in one's consciousness. That is

Krsna consciousness, that is the process. And the remembrance develops and

one actually has achieved the goal of Krsna consciousness, to always

remember Krsna. So we have to absorb that, hearing, chanting and

remembering, and then, at the end of life "ante narayanah smrtih" we

remember Krsna and go back home, back to Godhead.

 

So that is the process of Krsna consciousness to hear and chant the glories

of the Lord, to be an instrument for others to hear and chant the glories of

the Lord, to use our devotional service in that mood, to preach be an

instrument for Srila Prabhupada. And then when we come before Srila

Prabhupada we can say "This is what I have done in your mission to spread

Krsna consciousness."

 

Prabhupada said there are two types of devotees, those who are concerned

about themselves, and those who are concerned about others. We want to be

concerned about all and that's what it means to be Krsna conscious.

 

Vidura is in that mood, and he's in that mood not only as a service, it's

coming from the heart, it's a mood of compassion. And that mood of

compassion develops as we develop in our mood of devotion to the Supreme

Person. We actually develop concern. It is said that a devotee should feel

happiness when others feel happiness and feel unhappy when others feel

unhappy. The quality of a materialist is when someone's feeling happy they

feel unhappy, and vice versa. That is what is called enviousness.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur says that is envy. Envy means when you're happy, I'm

unhappy; when you're unhappy, I'm happy. So if you feel like that then you

can categorise that. Feel unhappy at others' suffering. And therefore that

moves one to try to do whatever we can.

 

It's not that one has to take up a particular asrama, just adopt that mood

of concern for others in our Krsna consciousness. Anyone can do that. That

is Prabhupada's instructions for everyone. That is the mood of Vidura here

towards his brother. What makes him happy? When he sees that that person is

actually becoming Krsna conscious. This is our happiness, when we see others

become Krsna conscious. A devotee becomes happy, this is love. Love means

when you're becoming Krsna conscious, when you're happy, then I'm happy.

That is real love. Not so much considering our own happiness. That comes by

the mercy of the Lord, that will come and that will go accordingly. But our

real happiness is to take up Krsna consciousness and become happy. That is

what Vidura is trying to do here to save his fallen brother.

 

OK, so we're getting towards 9 o'clock so I'll stop here. We have time for

any questions or comments, are there any questions or comments?

Gokularanjana Prabhu?

 

Question: If I just have to remember Krsna at the time of death, why can't I

just remember Him then? Why do I have to remember Him all the time?

 

Answer: The mind is a conditioned element therefore whatever we hold dear

now, that will carry with us throughout our lives. So remembering Krsna

means making Krsna the dearmost thing. So it will be very difficult and

maybe even impossible to remember Krsna at the time of death if we're not

developing that attraction and attention for Krsna now. The mind is such a

thing that whatever is dear to it, it will remember at the time of death. If

we remember material things, our money, our wealth, or even our bodily

situation, then at the time of death that mood will also be there. So life

is actually a preparation for death. The goal of life is achieved at the

time of death, not during life. During life we are preparing for the goal of

life and that is to somehow or other remember Lord Krsna. So it will be very

difficult to remember Krsna at the time of death if we don't practice.

 

Yes, Mataji?

 

Question: (indistinct)

 

Answer: I'm reading from Prabhupada, I'll read it again. This is from Srila

Prabhupada's purport to Srimad Bhagavatam: "The first-class devotee gives

assurance to every living being that there is no fear of this material

existence: 'Let us live in Krsna consciousness and conquer the nescience of

material existence.'"

 

So he awards that person fearlessness by saying come to Krsna consciousness.

There's no fear. Prabhupada says fear means "two": when you see something

outside of Krsna then the quality of fear is. . . ? Krsna says that before

the creation I existed, during the manifestation it is I who exist, and

during the annihilation it is I who remains. So everything is Krsna and

Krsna's energy. But only a devotee can develop that realization. The

nondevotee sees the material energy as cut off from the source and therefore

he tries to enjoy the material energy and because he can't, there is only

the element of fear. So the devotee awards that person fearlessness by

saying please take to Krsna consciousness and be free from the fear of this

material existence, be free from death, which is the ultimate of all fears.

 

Question: (by Kuvalesaya Das, indistinct)

 

Answer: We should just use our time in the most wise way possible, and that

is we should see that actually is very short and we don't know how much time

we have. So the point is we have to prioritise our life for those things

which will facilitate our Krsna consciousness. We have to have priorities in

our life, not simply go on aimlessly. We should have some directions, some

understanding how we want to practice Krsna consciousness in such a way that

ultimately I'll become Krsna conscious. So many things may happen in between

that, but we should be clear which direction we want to go in.

 

There are so many opportunities. . . Maya is always. . . "Haribol, Prabhu!

Do you remember me, Maya? I'm here. I've got a proposition for you. You're a

devotee, you're OK, don't worry about it, but you can give me a little time.

Don't worry, you can still chant Hare Krsna but you can give me some time.

I'm not so bad. I'm Maya, I'm a pure devotee too. You can give a little time

to Maya." Then she says "Ow, that wasn't so bad, was it? You can give me a

little more time." And then vooop, that's maya.

 

If you're not a devotee, maya is just head-on, she just hits them because

they've taken shelter of maya. But the devotee knows what her idea is so

she's subtle. She uses more subtle means to somehow or other attract our

mind away from our devotion. So we have to able to able to understand that

clearly. That comes by studying the scripture, associating with the

devotees, by hearing. . . and most important by carefully chanting our

rounds every day. That is basically the way to understand how to execute our

devotional service nicely. If we have very attentive, as best as we can,

practice japa. These are things we do every day, but to put quality in them

allows us to see clearly how to execute our devotional service in our other

areas. And of course, we can always get advice from senior devotees and

friends. Again, back to the point, make your priorites, otherwise maya will

give you priorities.

 

Any other questions?

 

Question: Once Gaur Govinda Swami was telling his pupils about

kanistha-adhikari, madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari. One pupil asked

him "Maharaja, are you on uttama-adhikari?No, no, even not kanistha."

Comment, please.

 

Answer: Ah, Vaisnava humility. The more one become advanced in Krsna

consciousness the more one feels himself more and more unqualified, because

they realise how great Krsna is and how insignificant they are. So we read

the prayer of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. He's writing, he sounds like a

gross materialist. What is that song? Sada pape rata? He says I'm so sinful.

.. .

 

Subhag Swami: "Amara jivan sada pape rata. . . .

 

.. . . nahiko punyera lesa". I'm so sinful, I'm the lowest! And then he goes

on that when others are unhappy I'm happy, and when others are happy I'm

unhappy. He's not just making some literary expression for some name and

fame, to sound good. He's actually feeling like that. So that is quality of

those Vaisnavas who are on the highest platform. Their natural humility

allows them to understand just how great Krsna is.

 

Hare Krsna. OK, thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai!