Guest guest Posted March 5, 2006 Report Share Posted March 5, 2006 Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir! March 5, 2006 Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.31 Speaker: HG Vijaya Prabhu __ tenatmanatmanam upaiti santam anandam anandamayo 'vasane etam gatim bhagavatim gato yah sa vai punar neha visajjate 'nga TRANSLATION: Only the purified soul can attain the perfection of associating with the Personality of Godhead in complete bliss and satisfaction in his constitutional state. Whoever is able to renovate such devotional perfection is never again attracted by this material world, and he never returns. PURPORT: We should specially note in this verse the description of gatim bhagavatim. To become merged in the rays of the Parabrahman, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as desired by the brahmavadi impersonalist, is not bhagavatim perfection. The bhagavatas never accept merging in the impersonal rays of the Lord, but always aspire after personal association with the Supreme Lord in one of the Vaikuntha spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. The whole of the spiritual sky, of which the total number of the material skies is only an insignificant part, is full of unlimited numbers of Vaikuntha planets. The destination of the devotee (the bhagavata) is to enter into one of the Vaikuntha planets, in each of which the Personality of Godhead, in His unlimited personal expansions, enjoys Himself in the association of unlimited numbers of pure devotee associates. The conditioned souls in the material world, after gaining emancipation by devotional service, are promoted to these planets. But the number of ever-liberated souls is far, far greater than the number of conditioned souls in the material world, and the ever-liberated souls in the Vaikuntha planets never care to visit this miserable material world. The impersonalists, who aspire to merge in the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence of the Supreme Lord but have no conception of loving devotional service to Him in His personal form in the spiritual manifestation, may be compared to certain species of fish, who, being born in the rivers and rivulets, migrate to the great ocean. They cannot stay in the ocean indefinitely, for their urge for sense gratification brings them back to the rivers and streams to spawn. Similarly, when the materialist becomes frustrated in his attempts to enjoy himself in the limited material world, he may seek impersonal liberation by merging either with the Causal Ocean or with the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence. However, as neither the Causal Ocean nor the impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence affords any superior substitute for association and engagement of the senses, the impersonalist will fall again into the limited material world to become entangled once more in the wheel of births and deaths, drawn on by the inextinguishable desire for sensual engagement. But any devotee who enters the kingdom of God by transcendental engagement of his senses in devotional service, and who associates with the liberated souls and the Personality of Godhead there, will never be attracted to the limited surroundings of the material world. In the Bhagavad-gita (8.15) also the same is confirmed, as the Lord says, "The great mahatmas, or the bhakti-yogis, after attaining My association, never come back to this material world, which is full of miseries and is nonpermanent." The highest perfection of life, therefore, is to attain His association, and nothing else. The bhakti-yogi, being completely engaged in the Lord's service, has no attraction for any other process of liberation like jnana or yoga. A pure devotee is a one hundred percent devotee of the Lord and nothing more. We should further note in this verse the two words santam and anandam, which denote that devotional service of the Lord can really bestow upon the devotee two important benedictions, namely peace and satisfaction. The impersonalist is desirous of becoming one with the Supreme, or in other words, he wants to become the Supreme. This is a myth only. The mystic yogis become encumbered by various mystic powers and so have neither peace nor satisfaction. So neither the impersonalists nor the yogi can have real peace and satisfaction, but the devotee can become fully peaceful and satisfied because of his association with the complete whole. Therefore, merging in the Absolute or attaining some mystic powers has no attraction for the devotee. Attainment of love of Godhead means complete freedom from all other attractions. The conditioned soul has many aspirations such as becoming a religious man, a rich man, or a first-class enjoyer or becoming God himself, or becoming powerful like the mystics and acting wonderfully by getting anything or doing anything, but all these aspirations should be rejected by the prospective devotee who actually wants to revive his dormant love of God. The impure devotee aspires after all of the abovementioned material things by perfection of devotion. But a pure devotee has none of the tinges of the above contaminations, which are the influence of material desires, impersonal speculations and attainment of mystic powers. One can attain the stage of love of God by pure devotional service, or by "a learned labor of love," for the sake of the devotee's lovable object, the Personality of Godhead. To be more clear, if one wants to attain the stage of love of Godhead, he must give up all desires for material enjoyment, he should refrain from worshiping any of the demigods, and he should devote himself only to the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He must give up the foolish idea of becoming one with the Lord and the desire to have some wonderful powers just to get the ephemeral adoration of the world. The pure devotee is only favorably engaged in the service of the Lord, without any hope of emolument. This will bring about love of Godhead, or the stage of santam and anandam, as stated in this verse. [end of purport] ______________________ [invocatory prayers] In this verse we're hearing how it's very important for us to renovate our desires. We've come into this material world with many material desires so this process of devotional service means renovating the heart. There are so many impure desires which are obstacles to our actual happiness. And they are obstacles to our freedom from distress. Duhkhalayam asasvatam, Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport that this material world is a place of suffering. One time here in Mayapur a yogini came to visit Srila Prabhupada with some of her disciples to invite Srila Prabhupada to a gathering of saintly persons who were gathering to promote happiness, health, and harmony. So Prabhupada looked at her and said, "Actually you're wasting your time, it's not possible because Krsna has already stamped this material world as duhkhalayam asasvatam, it's a place of suffering." He said, "Just like if you take some perfume and throw it in the toilet, does that make the toilet a nice place?" They didn't like that example. [mild laughter] They got very upset with that example and they all got up and left. So Prabhupada said this is all nonsense, trying to bring this material world to a platform where one can actually be satisfied. Because there's death, there's old age, there's disease, there's birth. These things can never be ?? When Sanatana Goswami approached Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu he said "People think that I'm a very learned person but actually I don't even know who I am, I don't know how to be free from the miseries of this material world, although people think I'm a learned person, I know so many languages. . . ." So Lord Caitanya started preaching to Sanatana Goswami. Imagine how fortunate, imagine being preached to by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So he gave the example of one astrologer who was traveling around different villages, and he went to one poor man's home and this poor man was very distraught, he was very disturbed, very unhappy. So this astrologer, Sarvajna, said "Why are you so unhappy; your father has left you a great treasure!" So this poor man thought, "Oh, really?" He said "Yes, but you have to be very careful where you dig to try to get this treasure. If you dig on the southern side of where this treasure is then you'll be disturbed, harassed by bees, wasps, drones, and you'll be so harassed that it will not be possible for you to get this treasure. And if you dig on the western side you're going to be disturbed by ghosts who will create such a fearful condition for you that it will not be possible for you to attain the treasure. And if you dig on the northern side you will be devoured by a big black snake." So Lord Caitanya compared these drones, these bees to fruitive activities. Trying to enjoy material sense gratification one becomes harassed by so many anomalies, hlada-tapa-kari. The nature of the soul is to be connected with the pleasure potency of the Lord. This is our constitutional position to be with Krsna, experiencing this spiritual pleasure with Krsna, but when we come to the material world we become bewildered by this hlada-tapa-kari, which means whatever we try to enjoy in the material world, that very thing that we try to enjoy so much becomes the cause of suffering. This is the nature of material enjoyment that we try to be happy in a certain way through some material circumstance, but then we become disturbed by that very thing we try to enjoy. And if you dig on the western side where the ghosts are, this is compared to jnana. People attain so much jnana that they become bewildered by so much knowledge. They speculate this way and they speculate that way and they just become so bewildered. I remember one time I was distributing books in the Miami airport and I approached one person who had just come from India. I presented to him one of Prabhupada's books and asked him for a donation. And I could sense that this person was very disturbed. So after asking for a donation, he started saying, "Neti, neti, neti, neti, neti, neti, neti, neti, neti, not mine, not mine, nothing is mine! Here, take, take whatever I have, it's yours!" So he gave me all his laksmi. Auspicious. [mild laughter] Actually "neti neti" means not this. not that, but he was thinking "not mine, not mine". So actually he had a good understanding and gave all his laksmi to Krsna. But he seemed like he was just ghostly haunted because there's so much speculation that people are promoting here in India. I remember hearing when Prabhupada was here there was one yogi who had taken a vow of silence and he hadn't spoken for 25 years. And the devotees happened to be in the area where the yogi was and they told Prabhupada this person he hasn't spoken for 25 years. And Prabhupada said "This is very auspicious. All these yogis they should not speak." [laughter] because when they speak they speak all nonsense." So many different yogis and practitioners of so-called spiritual life had gone to the West but noone taught bhakti. Everyone was just teaching Mayavada speculations confusing the Westerners more than they already were. No contribution at all. Even many of the yogis who went to the West praised Srila Prabhupada that he simply taught bhakti, that he just gave the teachings as it is. I think there's over 600 translations of the Bhagavad-gita, so all these Bhagavad-gita can be called Bhagavad-gita as it isn't. And Prabhupada gave Bhagavad-gita As It Is. So many people came to Krsna consciousness because Prabhupada gave the pure message. Then he said if you dig in the northern section where this treasure is, then you'll be devoured by the big black snake, which is compared to mystic yoga. People get these mystic siddhis and they bewilder people and they become devoured by pride. People become very enamoured, these people create some gold or some ashes, and people are so enamoured, "Oh, he's God!" Creating some ashes or little pebbles of gold. But this cheating. There is so much cheating going on in the name of yoga. Another time I was distributing books at the university. I was explaining this to a student, how this the material world consists of the cheaters and the cheated, so many people want to cheat and so many people want to be cheated. So he told me of an article that he had just read that morning in the newspaper of a psychiatrist who was treating one patient who had about 20 different split personalities. This psychiatrist had the brilliant idea of charging each of the different split personalities, more money. So one of these split personalities had enough intelligence to take this psychiatrist to court and of course his license was taken away from him and I believe he even had to spend some time in jail. So there's so much cheating going on. One devotee told me once that when he met Srila Prabhupada he could understand that here's a person who won't cheat me, who was just giving the truth. We're all very fortunate to receive this truth, to receive the kindness of Srila Prabhupada who went through great austerity to bring this transcendental knowledge throughout the world. There's an amazing pastime with Srila Prabhupada that I'm very fond of. This is with Giriraja Swami. Giriraja joined the movement and his parents were very upset because he was the only son and now he has given up all his material life and become a monk. They were very upset. Then Srila Prabhupada sent out a letter to all the temples asking for the best devotees in all the temples, one or two devotees to send to India for some very big programmes. So they sent Giriraja Swami, Giriraja Prabhu at the time. Now you can imagine the parents were so distraught: not only has he become a monk but now he's gone to India on the other side of the planet. They couldn't handle this, it was just too much. So they flew to India and they told Giriraja, "You give up this Krsna consciousness," his father told him, "And I'll give you a million dollars." And Giriraja Prabhu, brahmacari at that time, he said, "No thank you, I don't want your money; I'm happy in Krsna consciousness." The father couldn't believe it. A million dollars back then would be six million, seven million dollars now, something like that. A lot of money, not interested. So then they thought, "Well, maybe if we talk to his guru maybe he'll have some sympathy." So the father and mother went to speak to Srila Prabhupada, Giriraja Swami was there. They said, "You know this disciple of yours, he's our only son. Please can you just send him back to America. We don't mind that he stays in your movement but please just send him back to America." So Prabhupada asked Giriraja, "Do you want to go back to America?" "No Srila Prabhupada, I want to stay with you." Prabhupada said "What can I do? You don't want me to force him against his will, do you? You want him to be happy, you don't want me to force him." So they said, "What to do?" Then Prabhupada said, "Why don't you take your parents to the foothills of the Himalayas, spend three of four days with them, give some association." The parents were very happy, "At least we get to spend some time with him alone." So they were very happy with that. So they went to some resort place there in the foothills of the Himalayas, spent some time there and then they came back. And before they left, Giriraja Swami wanted them to see Prabhupada first. So they had a nice talk and when they left Srila Prabhupada they were so happy and so pleased that at least Giriraja had taken shelter of a very wonderful person. There was a very nice exchange. After they left, the servant of Srila Prabhupada said, "Srila Prabhupada, I'm amazed, everybody loves you! Everybody loves you, it's just amazing. They were so disturbed but when they left, they were so happy." And Prabhupada looked at his disciple and said, "That's because I love everyone." This is Srila Prabhupada, this is a pure devotee. This is the result of practicing Krsna consciousness, that one develops all good qualities, one becomes very, very pure. This is some of the characteristics of devotional service. In the Nectar of Devotion it's stated that there are six different characteristics of devotional service. One is that one immediately experiences transcendental pleasure. Srila Prabhupada once said that "If one is not experiencing pleasure in Krsna consciousness, then one should understand that he is doing something wrong." It's automatic. This is a side thing of devotional service that one experiences pleasure. In other words, we're satisfied in devotional service. Some hindrance may come before us but because we're experiencing pleasure in Krsna consciousness we're not bewildered by this obstacle. Now these obstacles can be very big obstacles and therefore we have to be prepared when these obstacles come. Krsna says: daivi hy esa guna-mayi, mama maya duratyaya "This divine energy of mind consisting of the three modes of material nature is very difficult to overcome but one who surrenders unto me can very easily cross beyond it." Just to show how amazing this material energy is, there are a couple of pastimes of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He was traveling one time with a servant, Krsnadasa. This Krsnadasa was chosen by the senior Vaisnavas, "This is a very pure brahmana, he won't be a disturbance to you, he'll simply be your menial servant. So please take this Krsnadasa with you." After some time they were traveling and they came to one area where there were some so-called sannyasis, Bhattatharis and they had women who lured people to their camp. So they happened to come in contact with this Krsnadasa and they gave him some of their bad association. The next morning they came and they took him away from Lord Caitanya. So Lord Caitanya could understand this so he went, he went to them and said, "What is this? You are a sannyasi, I am a sannyasi. You are taking my servant away. Why is this?" They became so angry. And meanwhile it's stated that Lord Caitanya grabbed Krsnadasa by the hair and pulled him away. Then theyy attacked Lord Caitanya with weapons. They came from many different directions to attack Lord Caitanya. While they were chasing him, these weapons, it's described they fell out of their hands and started attacking them. Amazing. But the point is that here is a servant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who was so qualified to travel with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the direct association with God himself, and he became bewildered by maya. Prabhupada once said that "My disciples have two diseases, one is that they are not enough afraid of maya." So we have to have a very firm fear of the illusory energy of Krsna. Otherwise, there's no hope. Even Srila Prabhupada, he said, "I am always praying to Krsna for protection from maya." Of course this is simply his humility; there's no question of Srila Prabhupada being lured by maya. But he gave this example. And he said the other disease is that we like to change things. He said, "Don't change. I've given you everything you need to take you back to Godhead, don't change things." But so many times he would see his disciples changing things, thinking they knew better. Another characteristic of devotional service is that it is very rarely achieved, it's very rare to engage in pure devotional service. Why? Because this is Kali-yuga, it's a very degraded age, our consciousness is so disturbed by the external energy. So the only hope is that we have to, with great sincerity, pray to Krsna. Just like when Krsna was speaking to Uddhava, the Uddhava-gita, he said: prapannam pahi mam isa bhitam mrtyu-graharnavat He's telling Uddhava how to pray to me in the form of the Deity. Prapannam pahi mam isa: "My dear Lord Krsna, please protect me who am trying to surrender unto you. I am very fearful of the material existence standing as I am in the mouth of death." It's interesting that Krsna is explaining how we should to pray to him in the form of the Deity. We should pray for his protection because we can fall away at any time, practically in the mouth of death, at any time we could leave our body. Like we just got an email, an unfortunate incident that happened in Mangalore. Some devotees had gone to some holy place recently and there was just a small swimming hole fifteen feet by fifteen feet, it was so deep you couldn't stand in it so one devotee drowned, just recently, a few days ago. And every year practically we hear about somebody that's left his body in the Ganges. Tamal Krsna Maharaja, that horrific accident not so long ago. So we never know when we're going to leave our body. We have to pray, chant the holy name very sincerely, Prabhupada said just like a child calling out to the mother. We should pray like that. The other example, Lord Caitanya went on another tour, and this time he took Balabhadra Bhattacarya with him, a learned scholar. And they went to one place and as soon as they went to this village all the people came to Lord Caitanya, "Oh, did you know, Krsna has come! He's appeared again, he's appeared, he's dancing on the hood of Kaliya in a lake nearby!" And Lord Caitanya said, "Yes, this is correct." In other words he's thinking, "Kali-yuga, full-on." Eventually Balabhadra Bhattacarya went to get permission from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to also see go and see Krsna dancing on the hoods of Kaliya, and this time Lord Caitanya slapped him. The other one he pulled his hair, this time he gave him a good slap. He said, "You are a learned scholar but now because of your association with these fools you have also become a fool." Then that night some gentlemen came and they said that this is just. . . "There's a boatman out there and he's got a light. They think the boatman is Krsna and the boat is Kaliya and the light is the jewels emanating from the heads of Kaliya." So here again, directly associating with God, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and he's thinking that God is somewhere else. He's traveling with God and he's thinking God is somewhere else. So this illusory energy is very thick, very difficult to overcome. Maybe I should stop there, it's a little late. Maybe I'll take one question if there is one. Questioner: Hare Krsna. In the 11th Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada mentions in one purport that for renunciates jnana-marga is recommended and for those who are willing to enjoy sense gratification, for them the karmic activities are recommended, and only for one who is full of material desires(?) and along with that is willing to serve the Lord also, for him only devotional service recommended. What is the element in this process which works for the well-being of the spirit soul? Prabhu: That one has a desire to serve Krsna. Questioner: What about the material desires? Prabhu: Well, there's the statement: akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udara-dhih tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param That whether one is full of material desires, has no material desires, desires liberation, then one should worship Lord Sri Krsna. And by this worship, by this service to Krsna, then one becomes purified of these material desires and eventually engages in pure devotional service if one is sincere and strong enough. This is the main element to our advancement in Krsna consciousness that we have to be sincere. And that sincerity means simply following as Srila Prabhupada has given us. OK? Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai! END. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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