HH TKG lecture

[Guest guest]

Harinama.

Excerpt from a lecture by HH Tamal Krishna Goswami

Submitted by Manoj

 

This world is called dukhalayam asasvatam. This material world is full of

misery. And what is the misery of this world - The misery of this world is

that everything is coming through our senses and the senses are made up of

matter. Just like if you have an air conditioner and if your filter is not

clean, then all the air that comes through is contaminated.

 

So our senses are contaminated. And all the things that we perceive is

coming through dirty filters. The process of cleansing these filters is

called Kriya. Kriya means a type of purification. So what is that Kriya, the

method of purifying all the senses?

 

It is described, in this age, the easiest way is through Harinam. 3 times we

hear this. harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty

eva nasty eva gatir anyatha Why 3 times? For emphasis. 3 times it is said,

harer nama harer nama. But unfortunately we don't have time for harinama. We

have so much time for other activities. This is not something for once a

week. You go to church or temple once a week and think, I've done my duty to

God. If we want to follow Bhagavad Gita, He says very clearly, you have to

fully surrender. And with fixed determination, constantly chant My glories.

 

It is very practical. If I tell you to do hatha yoga now, we're all going to

land up with bruised bones. We're either too old or we weigh too much. Half

of us are disqualified for hatha yoga. Then what will we do, try Jnana yoga.

Jnana yoga has very strict requirements. To do Jnana yoga properly you have

to be a sannyasi. Karma yoga, ok, we can do Karma yoga. But what is Karma

yoga. What is the real meaning of Karma yoga? Whatever the results of your

work are, you have to offer it to Krishna. That is also going to be

difficult. With this day and age with the amount of taxes and the cost of

living, to offer all the results of our work to Krishna, we're not going to

be able to live well. Very difficult. Therefore, nasty eva nasty eva nasty

eva. Not by Jnana, Not by Karma, Not by Yoga. So what does it mean. By

harinama hari nama hari nama. Because it is practical.

 

While you're driving, cooking, while your kids are getting their bath, you

can do your chanting. Of course there are different qualities of chanting,

including chanting when you solely concentrate on chanting alone. But my

point is this. The holy name of Krishna is so powerful. It is nama avatar.

It is the yuga dharma.

 

Harinama is so easy. But usually we think, something that is very easy is

not very valuable. This is the problem. We think it is too easy to be true.

But there is a reason why it is so easy. Because we are not very qualified.

You think you can do hatha yoga 10-15 minutes or 1 hour a day and be

successful? No. The great yogis, during the sathya yuga, used to do Hatha

yoga for 60,000 years. Valmiki muni did hatha yoga 60,000 years. Not 20-30

minutes once or twice a week. Jnana yoga, how many people can study Sanskrit

so scrutinizingly. How many of you can study and be a Jnani? And what is it

that you're after with the knowledge. Krishna says, after many many births,

a Jnani comes to understand vasudevah sarvam iti, sa mahatma su-durlabhah.

When a Jnani finally becomes a mahatma, at the end of his Jnana, he

understands Vasudev, Krishna. So from the beginning if you chant Hare

Krishna, that is the conclusion of Jnana. But again, when I say it is easy,

you think, it is so easy to be true. In Karma yoga, our work is offered as

yajna. Yajna is described in the Bhagavad Gita, 3rd chapter. 3rd chapter is

all about Karma Yoga. What does it say there yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra,

loko 'yam karma-bandhanah. Krishna says, if you do work, without offering me

the results, it will bind you. But if you offer the results to me, it will

give you mukti, liberation. But how can you offer the results of your work,

if you don't love Krishna. How do you get to love Krishna?

 

The easiest way in the Kali yuga is the holy name. When you love someone,

don't you remember their name. Don't you remember about them. When you love

someone, you think what did they do with me. A year ago we were doing like

this. Like that. And you start to think of all the people that person knows.

This is what it means. Krishna smaranam. It means to remember Krishna's

lila. Krishna's friends. Krishna's words. This is nam. Nam smaranam.

Sravanam, Kirtanam, Krishna Smaranam. When you chant about Krishna, when you

hear about Krishna, you will naturally remember Krishna. This is the purpose

of this society. Krishna consciousness. It is bringing to this world the

conclusion of Krishna's Bhagavad-gita.

 

Krishna is the original teacher of the Bhagavad Gita. Not only the Gita, but

all the Vedas. vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo, vedanta-krd veda-vid eva

caham. Krishna says, I am the source of all the vedic knowledge and I am

it's goal. And yet so many people think, Krishna is just one of many Hindu

Gods. My Guru told me Krishna is param-isvar. The supreme God. Not just for

Indians, but for the whole world. Not for the whole world, for the whole

universe. Not even for the whole universe, but for the whole creation.

Krishna stu bhagavan svayam, Krishna is the original personality of Godhead.

Krishna alone is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and everyone else is His

servant. And I have experienced that.

 

But people say that you're all simple people. You have not studied

carefully. I don't think that Prabhupada is just a simple person. And I

don't think Lord Brahma is a simple person when he says Govindam adi purusam

tam aham bhajami, I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord. And I don't think

Sankaracharya is a simple person when he says, Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam

Bhaja Govindam muda mate, You intellectual fools, just worship Govinda, just

worship Govinda, just worship Govinda. When everyone including Vedavyas,

Sukadeva Goswami, and all other Acaryas say Krishnas tu Bhagavan Svayam,

it's because Krishna alone is the supreme Lord. And everyone is subservient

to Him. And that is the statement of all the Vedic scriptures.