HG Vijaya Prabhu

[Guest guest]

Live from Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!

 

March 5, 2006

Verse: Srimad Bhagavatam 2.2.31

Speaker: HG Vijaya Prabhu

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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.