Speaker: HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya

[Guest guest]

March 24, 2005

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.28

Speaker: HH Bhaktivaibhava Swami

_transcribed by HG Ananda Tirtha

prabhu_

 

athodicim disam yatu svair ajnata-gatir bhavan

ito 'rvak prayasah kalah pumsam guna-vikarsanah

 

TRANSLATION: Please, therefore, leave for the North

immediately,

without

letting your relatives know, for soon that time will

approach which

will

diminish the good qualities of men.

 

--Can you hear me? Is it not too loud? Shanti,

Shanti!( Large crowds in

the

temple)

 

PURPORT: One can compensate for a life of frustration

by becoming a

dhira,

or leaving home for good without communicating with

relatives, and

Vidura

advised his eldest brother to adopt this way without

delay because very

quickly the age of Kali was approaching. A conditioned

soul is already

degraded by the material association, and still in the

Kali-yuga the

good

qualities of a man will deteriorate to the lowest

standard. He was

advised

to leave home before Kali-yuga approached because the

atmosphere which

was

created by Vidura, his valuable instructions on the

facts of life,

would

fade away due to the influence of the age which was

fast approaching.

To

become narottama, or a first-class human being

depending completely on

the

Supreme Lord Sri Krsna, is not possible for any

ordinary man. It is

stated

in Bhagavad-gita (7.28) that a person who is

completely relieved of all

taints of sinful acts can alone depend on the Supreme

Lord Sri Krsna,

the

Personality of Godhead. Dhrtarastra was advised by

Vidura at least to

become

a dhira in the beginning if it were impossible for him

to become a

sannyasi

or a narottama. Persistently endeavoring on the line

of

self-realization

helps a person to rise to the conditions of a

narottama from the stage

of a

dhira. The dhira stage is attained after prolonged

practice of the yoga

system, but by the grace of Vidura one can attain the

stage immediately

simply by willing to adopt the means of the dhira

stage, which is the

preparatory stage for sannyasa. The sannyasa stage is

the preparatory

stage

of paramahamsa, or the first-grade devotee of the

Lord.

 

(Srila Prabhupada ki jai. Invocatory prayers. Repeats

verse and

translation.)

 

 

So here in the Sanskrit we have the word "vikarsanah",

which means to

diminish, to reduce, something less, deteriorating, it

has many

meanings. We

find a similar verse in the 12th Canto of

Srimad-Bhagavatam:

 

tatas canu-dinam dharmah satyam saucam ksama daya

kalena balina rajan nanksyaty ayur balam smrtih

 

This nankysati, has the same meaning, it means to

deteriorate, to

diminish.

In the beginning, this age of Kali, in that verse it

is described day

after

day, and this we can practically experience how almost

day after day

society

degrades. The remaining few good qualities are also

being diminished.

They

are being mentioned here: dharma, religiosity,

religion, that will

diminish.

In the name of religion, so many questionable

activities are going on

in

society. The true understanding of religion will also

diminish. What is

factually religion? Nowadays even theologians are

holding debates over

the

term religion. No clear understanding at all.

 

Then satyam, truthfulness; cleanliness, saucam; ksama,

tolerance; daya,

mercy. It is described that "kalena balina rajan",

Maharaj Pariksit, by

the

force of time of this age of Kali, all these things

are deteriorating.

"Ayuh" means life span. Life span also diminishes.

Then balam, physical

strength diminishes. And smrtih means memory,

remembrance. That will

also

diminish. In the age of Kali people do not even

remember they are

wearing

spectacles on their noses. "Where are my glasses?On

your nose."

"Oh!" The

age of Kali, even small things we do not remember. The

length of our

memory

will also diminish.

 

Once I read an article that fish supposedly have only

1, 2, 3 seconds

of

memory and then they forget. That's why fishes in the

aquarium,

sometimes

you can see they bump with their nose against the

glass. Then they

notice of

course and move a little bit back, and then they do it

again. And again

they

look something is wrong, move back and again, boom,

boom, boom. The

memory

is short, they can't remember one second ago something

was wrong.

 

Human beings also. At least some time ago society had

the tendency to

learn

from the past. But nowadays things are drastically

deteriorating. So

many

disasters are happening but people do not learn. They

forget. After

some war

has taken place, everybody is lamenting, "No, not

again. No more war."

And

after a few years, again war. They don't learn. Memory

is so weak.

 

Especially nobody remembers the factual goal of human

life. That

everybody

has forgotten. This whole material existence, simply

means

forgetfullness,

ignorance, avidya. Nobody remembers what's the purpose

of human life.

Just

like every other item in this world has a purpose.

Just like this

microphone

has a purpose to amplify sound. I cannot use it to

smash a nail into

the

wall. This would be a misuse. This human form of life

is very very

delicate.

Our intelligence is much more developed than any other

species of life,

our

feelings, our sensitivity are very fine and developed.

And if we use

this

human form of life, so to speak, as a hammer in low

sensual activities,

we

simply spoil our great fortune of this human form of

life. This is the

basic

summary of this section of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

 

Yesterday and before the point of detachment was

discussed. I thought

it was

quite interesting how many different angles are there

on understanding

the

term detachment. I was thinking at one point that we

do not factually

preach

detachment to the people. Sometimes we use examples to

support our

statements, but per se we do not preach to the people

in general about

detachment. They don't understand what it means

because there's no

alternative for them. If you just tell them become

detached--stop,

stop,

stop--then what is left? Materialists tend to think

that devotees are

practically dead. "You're not living any more. You

don't go to discos,

you

don't take drugs, you don't smoke, nothing. What are

you doing?"

 

They are not aware of the alternative, the better

engagement in Krsna

consciousness. There is a great difference between the

terms vairagya,

which

means renunciation, and virakti, which means

detachment. Vairagya means

you

are attached to something and you try to renounce the

object of

attachment.

This is very very difficult. Just like Srila

Prabhupada refers to one

verse

of Bhagavad-gita:

 

yesam tv anta-gatam papam jananam punya-karmanam

te dvandva-moha-nirmukta bhajante mam drdha-vratah

 

If someone has acted piously in his previous lives and

in this life as

well,

and he takes up the process of devotional service,

then he can perform

bhakti with great determination. He will be very

steady in his

determination. Piety refers to the mode of goodness,

sattva. Without

goodness, we cannot be steady. Whereas the very

symptom of passion

means I

have to change, something else, different. I feel this

urge to change

my

position, my situation. Mode of passion. In other

words, I am not

satisfied.

The mode of goodness means basically I am satisfied. I

feel steady, I

can

continue what I am doing.

 

In the verse quoted by Srila Prabhupada here, he

explains the necessity

of

associating with pure devotees of the Lord. By mere

piety in itself, we

cannot come to the platform of pure devotional

service. Piety in itself

is

not the cause of bhakti, pure devotional service. Only

bhakti is the

cause

of bhakti. And Srila Prabhupada makes this very clear

in the purport

that

those pure devotees who carry bhakti in their heart,

they can give

bhakti or

pure devotional service to others. That's why Srila

Prabhupada

emphasized

this point of the necessity of associating with the

pure devotees. That

is

piety of course in itself.

 

Just like Srila Prabhupada. "Punya-karmanam", He

created our punya, our

piety, in all of us. Most of us, we didn't have any

piety whatsoever,

especially in Western countries. Where is the piety?

Everybody was more

or

less engaged in impious, abominable activities. But by

Srila

Prabhupada's

merciful glance on those who were pious and those were

not pious, that

great

fortune had been created by Srila Prabhupada, that we

could somehow

take up

this process of devotional service.

 

This is also explained by Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his

own purport to

the

same verse. He explains, "Do we find ever devotion to

the Lord in any

one?"

He points to the fact that Krsna Himself says in the

Gita that

everybody is

born into delusion. Everybody is born in ignorance,

there cannot be any

piety. So he raises this question, do we find ever

devotion to the Lord

in

any one in this world? Those living beings who have

received the

merciful

glance of topmost pure souls, they have all their

sinful reactions

destroyed, as stated in the srutis. And that verse

which is being

quoted now

by Baladeva Vidyabhusana, that same line Srila

Prabhupada also quotes

in his

own purport to that verse. The quotation is "The

personal servants of

Lord

Visnu wander this world to purify the conditioned

souls. Those who

receive

such mercy become firm in their vows and gain

determination."

 

How magnificent Srila Prabhupada was. He created that

great fortune to

be

engaged in devotional service. So we do not really

preach to people to

become detached, renounced. We just inspire them, we

request them to

take up

this process of devotional service, Krsna

consciousness. Just engage in

Krsna consciousness, and that preaching anyone can do.

You don't have

to be

90 years old to effectively preach that people should

become detached.

Even

a child. . . Srila Prabhupada was proud of Sarasvati,

the daughter of

Malati. He was very proud. She was six years old,

small girl, she was

preaching. She would walk straight up to people and

ask this question:

"Do

you know who Krsna is?" Some of them, "No". She

replied, "The Supreme

Personality of Godhead." And then she walked away.

 

So Prabhupada appreciated, he made the point this is

perfect preaching,

nothing added nothing subtracted, no speculation.

(chuckles) "Who's

Krsna?"

"I don't know.The Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Bas. That's all,

perfect preaching. Even a child can do it. And that

invokes the desire

for

devotional service. Then that person perhaps wants to

know more: "How

come a

child knows something I don't know, it's

embarrassing." And then

secretly

finds out little more about what does it mean Supreme

Personality of

Godhead.

 

Many many times these philosophical terms were quite

unusual for us.

Like I

myself, before Krsna consciousness, I could never

understand the term

"modes

of material nature". What does this mean, the modes

of material

nature. But

now we understand. So just be explaining something

about Krsna

consciousness

it can be very basic but people in general don't know,

and then they

want to

find out what does this mean, what do you mean by

this, by that. And in

this

way they feel encouraged, this is punya, "punya

sravana kirtana," just

by

sitting and hearing. This great fortune Srila

Prabhupada created in

thousands and thousands of people. And still he's

creating because his

teachings are being distributed profusely. Srila

Prabhupada's books are

being distributed, and he creates this punya in

everyone, that piety of

simply listening to the message of Godhead,

Bhagavad-gita, the message

of

Krsna consciousness. That itself is piety. And that

kind of piety in

the

association of devotees will lead one to the process

of pure devotional

service. And then detachment, virakti, automatically,

spontaneously

develops. There is no need to isolate that endeavour

to become

detached. It

is an automatic process. That verse we also find:

 

bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir

anyatra caisa trika eka-kalah

prapadyamanasya yathasnatah syus

tustih pustih ksud-apayo 'nu-ghasam

 

It is explained that even great sages sometimes have

difficulty

controlling

the senses. And their endeavour to control the senses

can never be as

perfect as those who are engaged in the service of the

Supreme

Personality

of Godhead. That translation refers to the verse:

 

yat-pada-pankaja-palasa-vilasa-bhaktya

karmasayam grathitam udgrathayanti santah

tadvan na rikta-matayo yatayo 'pi ruddha-

sroto-ganas tam aranam bhaja vasudevam

 

And then the verse before it is explained that bhakti

or devotional

service,

the direct experience of the Supreme Personality of

Godhead, and then

virakti, detachment from all those things which are

not related to

Krsna

consciousness--these three occur automatically as one

engages in pure

devotional service. And the example of the process of

eating is given.

If we

eat we experience pleasure--of course if we eat

something nice, we feel

pleasure immediately--and nourishment will be there,

and mitigation of

hunger will also be there. . . . We just have to eat

and everything

else

follows, satisfaction, nourishment, everything comes.

 

We just have to request people to engage in devotional

service and for

this

we have to tax our brains how to lead people to

accepting Krsna

consciousness. That requires intelligence. But once

they engage in

devotional service then these three experiences will

spontaneously

occur.

 

Bhakti is directly compared to satisfaction. And that

so many devotees,

I

think everybody who practices Krsna consciousness must

have this

experience

that it is very pleasurable, very satisfying. I think

it's important

that

devotees never lose their appreciation for Krsna

consciousness, for the

association of devotees, for Srila Prabhupada's

movement, for Srila

Prabhupada teachings. We should never lose our

appreciation. Countless

sastric statements confirm how elevated this unique

and elevated this

very

process of Krsna consciousness is that we practice.

And it is not so

easy to

attain either. The proof is that still so many people

don't take to

Krsna

consciousness. Somehow we received that fortune, Srila

Prabhupada

created

that fortune for everyone, but our particular

individual fortune is

that we

took to it somehow. Just by giving a little

concentration, some hearing

to

what is this Krsna consciousness, immediately such

great fortune,

"punya-karmanam".

 

So Srila Prabhupada here has given us this wonderful

process. Age is no

disqualification, very young or very old are not

disqualifications, or

one's

social status is also no disqualification. It doesn't

matter what our

conditional situation might be, we can engage in

devotional service due

Srila Prabhupada's mercy. He created the society in

such a way that

everybody can be somehow engaged in devotional

service.

 

Just the other day I read something really wonderful

in Caitanya

Bhagavat,

our ISKCON translation, in the purport of Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta

Sarasvati

Thakur. This story was related to Suklambara

Brahmacari. He was a very

simple devotee of Lord Caitanya. And Caitanya

Mahaprabhu desired one

day to

eat rice at the house of Suklambara Brahmacari. But he

felt completely

disqualified, he felt so fallen, he said "No I cannot

cook for you, if

I

touch the rice everything becomes contaminated,

impossible!" He

consulted

the other Vaisnavas, and they encouraged him "No, no,

no, no, what a

great

fortune! You should accept. Somehow cook the rice

without touching it,

if

you really feel like this."

 

So he somehow managed to cook the rice without

touching it. Also at

first he

was boiling scented water, then in that scented water

he was boiling

the the

rice, and then he was adding banana stalks--that's how

you pronounce

it?

Yes? Banana stalks and banana flowers and then

supposedly the rice

would

become very tasteful. Caitanya Mahaprabhu of course

accepted that rice

and

glorified the taste, and then all the many other

associates of

Mahaprabhu

all took rest. There was on Vijaya Das. He was also

taking rest and

while

everyone was resting, Caitanya Mahaprabhu laid his

hand on the chest of

Vijaya Das. So as soon as Caitanya Mahaprabhu's arm

touched his body,

he had

this amazing vision. All of a sudden he saw a bright

effulgence, more

bright

than thousands of suns. Then he visualised a gigantic

golden arm

extending

all the way up to Brahmaloka and even extending the

coverings of the

universe. And this golden arm was decorated with

jewels and rings and

so

many things. So when he saw this he just fainted.

 

Meanwhile Caitanya Mahaprabhu woke up and He was

concerned what

happened to

Vijay Das, he's lying there unconscious. And he

mentioned to the other

devotees present that it might be due to his ecstasy

because he is a

great

devotee of Ganga-devi. Perhaps he was meditating on

Ganga-devi and was

overwhelmed with ecstasy. But when he awoke, when he

came back to his

external consciousness, by Caitanya Mahaprabhu's

touch, then he again

remembered that wonderful vision, and he again wanted

to shout. . .

what he

wanted to shout?

 

Devotees: Gauranga.

 

Maharaja: We practiced for some days: Gauranga!

 

Devotees: GAURANGA!

 

Maharaja: He wanted to shout, but Caitanya Mahaprabhu

immediately

covered

his mouth (laughter) so he couldn't speak. So He

indicated, "Be quiet,

don't

say anything." And after that he was so affected by

that wonderful

overwhelming vision, that he just wandered like a

madman. It is

described

that for seven days he was wandering throughout Nadia

just like a

madman.

And then after seven days he gradually returned to his

normal

consciousness.

So in that section there's one very nice verse which

explains the same

point

that a devotee does not require any material

qualifications whatsoever

to

attain the mercy of the Lord. . . in that section the

mercy of Caitanya

Mahaprabhu. And that verse is, I'll try to remember

the Bengali:

 

Dhane jane panditye cetana nahi haya

Bhakti rase bhasa prabhu sarva-sastre gaya ???

 

Is that correct? In all the sastras, it is confirmed

that one cannot

attain

the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by wealth, by having

a lot of

followers,

panditye, by learning not possible, only by pure

devotional service.

Then

one can attain the mercy of the Supreme Lord. There is

another very

nice

verse, similar to that verse which is a quotation

which we find by one

South

Brahmana in the Padyavali. This verse is saying the

same thing, it is a

very

nice verse.

 

yadasya caranam dhruvasya ca vayor api jnanam

gajendrasya ha (?)

kubjaya kim nama rupam kintu dhanam (the same meaning,

this dhanam in

that

verse refers to Sudama brahmana) sudamnam vamsa koh

vidurasya (?)

yadava-pater ? paurusam bhakta tusyati kevala naksa

gunaya bhaktibhir

madhava (?)

 

In that verse it is explained that there was one

hunter killing animals

and

somehow his name was Dharma. So did this hunter Dharma

possess any

piety.

Did age disqualify the five year old Dhruva? Did

Gajendra possess any

learning? Was Kubja very beautiful? Did Sudama

Brahmana possess any

wealth?

Did Vidura have any social status? Did this disqualify

Vidura. Then the

King

of the Yadavas, was he disqualified by his prowess?

The verse says no,

all

these material disqualifications do not disqualify one

from the process

of

pure devotional service. Madhava, Lord Krsna, is not

pleased by

material

qualities. He is only pleased by the attitude of pure

loving devotional

service.

 

So I think we can stop at this point. Srila Prabhupada

ki jai! Are

there any

questions? I can try to answer. You can use the

microphone.

 

Question: You can explain that by ordinary piety we

cannot achieve

bhakti

since piety in itself is not a cause of bhakti but

only by the

association

of pure devotees. Can you please explain what that

association means,

how do

we associate with the pure devotee.

 

Answer: Can you hear the question? What this

association of a pure

devotee

means? That is first of all in many places. . . in

Madhurya-kadambini

Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur makes very clear this

point that bhakti

can

only be the cause of bhakti. There's no other cause

for bhakti,

devotional

service.

 

So that association with the pure devotees. . . there

are different

verses

describing that. The dust of the lotus feet, the water

which washed his

lotus feet, and of course hearing. Srila Prabhupada

used to stress

hearing.

That's the most important association with the pure

devotee, to hear.

Then

again, repeating this point, in most of our cases,

this was our great

fortune that somehow, we were ready to hear, to

receive the message and

the

teachings of Srila Prabhupada. Or even only the

glance. If the pure

devotee

just glances on someone this can also cause devotional

service to

sprout, to

begin. There is no limitation. By seeing, by thinking

of a pure

devotee, by

hearing from a pure devotee, by taking remnants of

their prasadam,

anything.

By remembering him. That all can cause that desire to

engage more and

more

in pure devotional service.

 

That's why the preachers of Krsna consciousness are so

eager to give

Srila

Prabhupada to the masses of people. We don't have any

faith in whatever

qualities we may have. But Srila Prabhupada is that

very person whom

Baladeva Vidyabhusana refers to, a personal associate

of the Lord who

is

wandering throughout the world with only this one

business, and this is

to

benefit, to bring people back to the lotus feet of

Krsna. That's the

only

purpose they have.

 

That's why we are so eager to give Srila Prabhupada to

the people,

associate

with Prabhupada in the form of his teachings, his

books, the songs he

was

singing. Such beautiful songs. I remember in Germany

we used to

distribute

the double album of Srila Prabhupada with the bhajans,

about two

LP's(?) in

one which we distributed very enthusiastically. And

then Srila

Prabhupada

when he heard that we were distributing, he was

amused. He was asking,

"Do

German people like this Bengali tune?" (laughs) He was

little concerned

whether they like it. Amazingly, I asked a lot of

people whom I had

distributed to when I met them another day and

remembered someone, "Did

you

listen to this record?" And they said "It is very far

out." (laughter)

Many

told me it is something, it is not the musical style,

.. . . it is

something

completely from another world, they told me.

 

So anything, Srila Prabhupada's videos. . . now

Yadubara has this

wonderful

project now. I don't know the English word, when

movies are very old

then

there's this special software that it looks nice

again. Anyway, so he

goes

through all the film and video footage of Srila

Prabhupada and he's

cleaning

and editing everything very nicely. He got a very

competent person now

to do

the whole editing work. He has literally thousands of

interviews about

Srila

Prabhupada. persons. So he will bring everything on

DVD's in high class

quality with all the interviews of Srila Prabhupada's

disciples, anyone

who

met Srila Prabhupada. . . so everything will produced

on DVD's in high

class

quality. So we will have this great fortune in the

future to have the

association of Prabhupada in this way.

 

So, the microphone? I am not going overtime? Maybe

last question.

 

Question by Prahlada Nrsimha Das: You were mentioning

how Srila

Prabhupada

left his words, his videos, his personality, etc.

personally I see the

most

powerful point of Srila Prabhupada is that he left in

his followers,

his

disciples. How to find purity in his followers. . . ?

How can someone

be so

blind not to see Prabhupada's qualities in his

followers?

 

Answer: Oh, I see. How can someone be so blind to not

see Prabhupada's

working through his disciples and followers? Yes, I

have the same

question.

We both have the same question. (laughter) We need

someone to answer,

we

have the same question. I don't know the answer. I

don't know someone

cannot

see that how Srila Prabhupada through our society,

through his

followers to

continue to benefit the entire world. Not only world,

the entire

universe.

(sounds of Bengali women ululating in background).

Confirmed.

(laughter) We

cannot see. Srila Prabhupada purifies the entire

universe. And who

knows

where Srila Prabhupada is now? Perhaps still in this

universe

continuing

somewhere, or he might travel to another universe

spreading.

 

Prahlada Nrsimha Prabhu: I know where Srila Prabhupada

is.

 

Maharaja: Where is Srila Prabhupada?

 

Prahlada Nrsimha: In the heart of his disciples.

 

Maharaja: In the heart of his disciples, Srila

Prabhupada ki JAI! Srila

Prabhupada is in the heart of his disciples, in the

heart of all those

who

follow him. He is in his books--that Srila Prabhupada

personally used

to

say, "As long as you distribute my books I will

continue to live. This

is

where Srila Prabhupada is, he's right there in his

books. We just have

to

give them to the people and preach, Srila Prabhupada

will continue

preaching. So I would like to stop here. Srila

Prabhupada ki jai! Hare

Krsna. (applause)

 

 

 

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