Guest guest Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 ___________________________ June 14, 2006 [eve of the Kuli Mela, www.kulimela.com] Verse: Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.12.11 Speaker: HH Kavicandra Swami Location: ISKCON New Vrindaban [www.newvrindaban.com] _ etat sarvam grhasthasya samamnatam yater api guru-vrttir vikalpena grhasthasyartu-gaminah TRANSLATION: All the rules and regulations apply equally to the householder and the sannyasi, the member of the renounced order of life. The grhastha, however, is given permission by the spiritual master to indulge in sex during the period favorable for procreation. PURPORT: It is sometimes misunderstood that a grhastha, a householder, is permitted to indulge in sex at any time. This is a wrong conception of grhastha life. In spiritual life, whether one is a grhastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi or brahmacari, everyone is under the control of the spiritual master. For brahmacaris and sannyasis there are strong restrictions on sexual indulgence. Similarly, there are strong restrictions for grhasthas. Grhasthas should indulge in sex life only in accordance with the order of the guru. Therefore it is mentioned here that one must follow the orders of the spiritual master (guru-vrttir vikalpena). When the spiritual master orders, the grhastha may accept sex life. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (7.11). Dharmaviruddho bhutesu kamo 'smi: indulgence in sex life without disobedience to the religious rules and regulations constitutes a religious principle. The grhastha is allowed to indulge in sex life during the period favorable for procreation and in accordance with the spiritual master's order. If the spiritual master's orders allow a grhastha to engage in sex life at a particular time, then the grhastha may do so; otherwise, if the spiritual master orders against it, the grhastha should abstain. The grhastha must obtain permission from the spiritual master to observe the ritualistic ceremony of garbhadhana-samskara. Then he may approach his wife to beget children, otherwise not. A brahmana generally remains a brahmacari throughout his entire life, but although some brahmanas become grhasthas and indulge in sex life, they do so under the complete control of the spiritual master. The ksatriya is allowed to marry more than one wife, but this also must be in accordance with the instructions of the spiritual master. It is not that because one is a grhastha he may marry as many times as he likes and indulge in sex life as he likes. This is not spiritual life. In spiritual life, one must conduct one's whole life under the guidance of the guru. Only one who executes his spiritual life under the direction of the spiritual master can achieve the mercy of Krsna. Yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasadah **. If one desires to advance in spiritual life but he acts whimsically, not following the orders of the spiritual master, he has no shelter. Yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto 'pi. Without the spiritual master's order, even the grhastha should not indulge in sex life. ___________________ Because there is a higher pleasure this is actually freedom. Our movement is a revolution although all scripture ultimately have the same kind of standards, very few people are aware of it in the world. But this is a revolution. In the '60's we had what was called the sexual revolution. That's when Prabhupada came to America. That meant that everyone should have sex at anytime at any place with anyone as much as possible and it was very good because that was when they invented the birth control pill. So then they thought there is no problem with the risk of sex because we can prevent children. That was the playboy philosophy we studied when I was in high school and we heard from all the great philosophers, Alan Ginsberg, I can't remember all the names. But Prabhupada came with a complete opposite idea and it caught on with many, many people to a great surprise. Prabhupada was thinking, he said when he was on the ship he was thinking that when he introduced these regulative principles, the Americans would just tell him, "Go back, we don't want you here." And of course many people don't because they think this unregulated life promoted by Kali is very good for economy and it is because when people are very lusty, crazy, they buy lots of clothes and haircuts and fake fingernails and all these things to try to enjoy more. So we have a revolution and it works if people take to the chanting of the Holy Name. One cannot artificially restrict sense gratification because the natural urges are very strong and the advertising is very strong that you have to enjoy illicit sex life. When you travel around America, you must be seeing so many advertisements. More and more Kali is working to stop Lord Caitanya's movement. But because of the great pleasure one can derive from chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, the real Ananda, the real pleasure that's not conditional. Material pleasure is always conditional on the external circumstances and it's very frustrating because it's very temporary. We think we've got something but then it's gone. So real freedom, one devotee in England, he was distributing so many books and all he would tell people was these books are about freedom, freedom from birth, death, disease, old age. Everyone wants freedom, but Kali is telling us freedom means you can have any kind of sense gratification and there's no problem. I was standing in the airport in Johannesburg and they had televisions everywhere. There was some kind of commercial. There was a game called Pacman. Remember that one? So it was the little guy going around the maze and there would be a bottle of beer, gulp, bottle of whisky, gulp, bottle of wine, gulp. There was a black cloud following him and then there was a bottle of medicine and he gulped that and it he was fine. They said you can drink all the alcohol you want and take this and you'll be fine. People believe that you can have all the sense gratification you want, you can have safe sex, you won't have a hangover, you can win at gambling, right? The advertisements don't show that anyone loses. At Las Vegas, if somebody wins, they start ringing and everybody comes around to show that somebody won. But they don't show the people will ultimately lose. It seems pleasurable, Bhagavad-gita says at first activities in the mode of passion seem pleasurable but turn into poison and activities in the mode of goodness seem like tapasya but they are like nectar. In Krsna consciousness there is no restriction but the pleasure is so great we forget about other sense gratification, at least we know better. That's why the recommendation is kirtaniya sada harih. We should always be chanting because maya is everywhere trying to lure everyone away, but maya really wants everyone to surrender to Krsna so she does her job so that whatever she lures us to try to enjoy in the material world will never work out. People may think these restrictions sound so horrible, how can you live, but for a devotee who is chanting, tasting the nectar of Krsna consciousness, worshiping the Deity, hearing Krsna katha, it's actually so nectarean that one is easily saved. So Srila Prabhupada managed to come in the middle of all this sense gratification revolution and bring people out because he gave the Holy Name. He came with the ecstasy of chanting the Holy Name and reading Bhagavad-gita, giving real knowledge from Krsna. Krsna philosophy, the philosophy of real enjoyment. The spiritual world is not some void empty place as is mostly advertised, some boring place. I don't know what they advertise now but in Christianity they would show it was sitting alone on a cloud playing the harp. And in Mayavada it's nothing, it's all one. You merge into one and you don't exist anymore. The Buddhist, it's just sunyavada, there's a void. Did you see that card? It's the Dalai Lama's birthday and he opens his present and says, "Nothing! Just what I always wanted!" But everybody wants something. We were just in Bangkok and we went to a Buddhist temple. it's interesting they say the goal is nothing but they make beautiful artwork and art, murtis of Buddha and gardens, but why do they do that? To attract you to nothing. One boy was arguing with me in Africa, in Buddhism they write extensively about nothing. I said how can you write extensively about nothing? It's nothing? I said what do they say? He couldn't tell me. Actually the modern scientists also say that everything came from nothing and they have to mathematically describe nothing and because we don't' have a high enough education in mathematics, we can't understanding that nothing is everything and everything is nothing. But the spiritual world is filled with unlimited variety. Just look around here and see how many different people we have. Whenever I come to America, it's bewildering how many different people. Usually it's all the same, in Africa all Africans, in Japan all Japanese, but in America you stand in the immigration line and it's all kinds and that's just a sample of the 400,000 kinds of humans. What to speak of the different species and in every species there is so much variety, some any colors and we can only see a few colors and hear a few rounds in the range of sound, but in the spiritual world it is unlimited more color and taste and sound and variety and beautiful people and activity. So when one is hearing about that one can become attracted because the nature of the soul is to enjoy, to be active, to see. So we have the beautiful Deity, beautiful altars. We want to hear nice music so we have nice kirtan. We want to smell nice things so we have nice incense and flowers and different things offered to the Lord. Aromatherapy, in Asia you see so much aromatherapy. I think there also you have in every shampoo, right? That's recommended, but you should smell the flowers offered to the Lord and that's nice. Utilize all the senses fully, to full satisfaction in spiritual. We don't have all the harsh smells and bad smells we have in the material world. We can find nice sounds but there are also harsh sounds, so many terrible smells, garbage. In the spiritual world, nothing like that, only nice things, but somehow or other, some souls have rejected that and we have come here. And if we accept a few restrictions on our life like these four regulative principles then we get freedom. These are principles of freedom. People are just working acting helpless under the 3 modes of material nature just to try to enjoy. They have to work so hard just to try to enjoy illicit sex and then so many complications come from that. People are so concerned about abortion and AIDS. The cover of Time magazine said "AIDS. Will it ever stop?" Even in Africa the governments are concerned so they have big signboards telling people don't rush into sex, don't' have whimsical sex. They say the best prevention is abstinence and the second best is to be loyal to your wife and the third best doesn't work. Without the taste, a higher taste for spiritual happiness, people will have a hard time so the devotees feel obliged to spread the Holy Name, to give Krsna consciousness toe everyone. So much ecstasy is there, bliss. When we joined the movement, you can ask Narada Muni, [Temple President] he was my siksa guru at the time, practically every other word was bliss and ecstasy, that's all devotees talked about. So naturally everybody joined and we forgot about everything when just before we thought the goal of life was to enjoy at the end of life and if we could do it freely there were no laws it would be perfection. Then suddenly just chanting the Holy Name we forgot everything. We hope that the youth can get that taste. I met one girl in Radhadesh. She said, "I always took Krsna consciousness for granted because I was born in it but I didn't realize how wonderful it was until I came here and did this intense study of scriptures." I was in Los Angeles. I have one daughter from before. She said, "I never realized how wonderful this was, I grew up here, but now I see we can just go to the temple and chant Hare Krsna." Some of us were rescued from a very dangerous life, madness, others are just coming in, but anyone who can chant, there is great potency. People all over the world are looking for pleasure like anything. You'll see every airport is packed out with people rushing everywhere trying to find some happiness, some pleasure, but they have to work so hard to get it. If they could just chant the Holy Name: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, This special mercy, but it's Lord Nityananda's causeless mercy. He had no discrimination. He is intoxicated with love of God. So like an intoxicated person can't discriminate between anything. Everything looks good or bad depending on the condition. So he couldn't' discriminate good person, bad person, pious person, he just gave the mercy to everyone. So Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami is praying, considering himself very fallen. Of course he was a pure devotee, but he said, "Who but Lord Nityananda, intoxicated madman, could give mercy to me?" That is this movement. Lord Nityananda is leading the way to the sankirtana movement freely giving Krsna consciousness to al kinds of people without any discrimination. We approach everyone and we find the most amazing different kinds of people take books, join the temple, suddenly change by contacting the Holy Name, Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, krsna katha. These things are so sublime but that tendency is there to think, I've heard that before, but that is the goal of life like our Bhakti-tirtha Maharaj showed us last year. He knew that it's finished and gave it all up. We have so many attachments. They may be in the service of Krsna, but at some point, we just want to be absorbed in the Holy Name. So we practice, that's why we have these nice programs, beautiful people. The youthful people are very beautiful, very attractive, so we like it when you get out in the public. Let people see this energy. More and more, especially in America, people are looking for Bhagavad-gita. They come up, ask the devotees, you have Bhagavad-gita, but most people still, they haven't seen the devotees. They don't know what is Hare Krsna even though we have a few festivals, Ratha Yatras, but we need more everywhere. We need to inundate the world with kirtan parties, big, big parties going out. Even small parties, when conditioned souls see kirtan parties, they are bewildered, they are overwhelmed to see such happy, sincere people, Prabhupada said. They've never seen sincere people. We don't have to think so much about the restrictions if you just chant in kirtana. No one is thinking, "Oh I can't eat meat, oh I can't do this or that, what a horrible religion this is." We just want to chant more and more. We don't want to end it. We go all over the world. I've been fortunate to travel all over the world, see so many devotees. Some places, Krsna consciousness is flourishing like anything. Some places it doesn't seem to be, but it is. Lord Caitanya's movement is happening. He leaves it up to us. However we came to Krsna consciousness, we were born in it or we were rescued out of the material cesspool, we have to take it. It's not nothing. It is unlimited something. Sense gratification is actually false because it is temporary. Krsna says intelligent person are not interested in these things once they chant Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Lord Caitanya, Lord Nityananda, Gaura Nitai, they went everywhere, all over Navadvipa, all over Jagannath Puri. Lord Caitanya went all over India, but he left the rest of the world to us. Prabhupada writes that this movement is the continuation of Caitanya lila. Some may wonder how is that we have so many problems, this and that, but we're doing the same thing, chanting the Holy Name, Ratha Yatra, unlimited ecstatic activities, it's a constant festival. Lord Caitanya can take care of everyone. They are thinking that everything depends on these four legs of their society, slaughtering animals and eating their flesh, meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, illicit sex, they think everything depends on that, but actually it depends not on that. That's not needed. What is needed is Krsna. Krsna is maintaining everyone no matter how it appears they are being maintained. Krsna is giving whatever anyone has. So if we just keep with Krsna and absorb ourselves more in the Holy Name: Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare I have to say that a lot of times to give a little value to the class. The Bhagavatam, I was just reading, I was in Japan and found the Fifth Canto was on the table to so I was reading about Maharaj Rsabhadeva and King Bharata, his son. Because Rsabhadeva was an incarnation of Krsna and he gave those very nice instructions to his sons: "Tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam," you should perform tapasya for spiritual advancement. Sense gratification is available for the dogs and hogs, so why do you care about that. He explained everything how the body is suffering, we are thinking by sense gratification I will relive this suffering. The mind thinks like that but actually it is created by sense gratification and it makes it worse. They should be attached to Krsna but they are attached to the senses. So he gave very nice instructions and then his son Bharata took over. He gave those instructions publicly also not just to his sons. Then his son Bharata was king for a long time, then he gave up everything. He was able to give up beautiful wife, he was emperor of the world, he had unlimited wealth, but somehow or other he went to the Gandaki River, he was taking bath everyday in Gandaki and he was doing these practices but he became bewildered. We have to be careful in spiritual life because he became attached to one baby deer and thought, "I know I am missing my spiritual practices, but I have to take care of this deer," and he died thinking like that. But he was in the asrama and took birth again as Jada Bharat. So we have to be careful of that, stay in the association of devotees, think of Krsna. And the more we give Krsna, help this movement spread, it is very beneficial. Like Prabhupada saw that magazine on the airline, "Crime, wine, what to do?" He said tell the police to give us a big hall where we can have kirtana and distribute prasada and we'll stop it. People are crying, suffering, but we can stop it by making an effort to give Krsna. The more we give Krsna, the more we get Krsna and the natural condition is ecstatic. The covered over condition is anxiety and all of the different things. Of course we may have anxiety for Krsna but it's good to have anxiety for Krsna. Sacimata had anxiety for Nimai, but he just inspired everyone to think of him. We have one dog there in Japan, the devotees have this dog. Somehow this dog is always barking, but as soon as there's kirtan, he stops. So Nimai was like that as a baby. He would cry so loud and the only time he would stop is when all the ladies would chant and dance in kirtan, so he was showing us that if we want to please Lord Caitanya, if we are chanting and dancing he is happy. If Krsna is happy, everyone is happy. If we are making more and more arrangements for more people to sing and dance and chant the Holy Name and see the Deities, he will be more happy. Lord Caitanya liked big, big festivals and kirtan parties. And this movement is going on and will go on. We should just take part. I am very fortunate, you are very fortunate to be here. I was thinking how to travel with the bus party. I'm always a little afraid after the last time I traveled, but is a very blissful group of people, very united, and very inspirational for the movement and for all the people who see this Festival of India and the harinam parties and all the different things that go on. It is a great pleasure for Srila Prabhupada. He gave us Ratha Yatra, all these festivals; he just gave us everything and all we have to do is take it. We have Srimad-Bhagavatam, some of these parts, if someone opened up the book and this was the first thing they saw, they would run away, but still it's important. We get grhasthas preaching the opposite of this sometimes and saying it's impossible. It is impossible to give up sense gratification without spiritual happiness, but if we are chanting seriously and praying to Krsna for that taste for the Holy Name then whether we are, Bhaktivinoda Thakur said whether you are grhe thako, vane thako, whether you are householder or sannyasi, chant the Holy Name, whether you are happy or sad, chant the Holy Name. I know some devotees now say, "I chant when I feel like it. I don't want to be forced." I had to chant sixteen rounds. Prabhupada was so heavy. In anything we do, any endeavor anyone does, they have to make an effort and work on it. Of course if we're really pure, we want to chant all the time but the idea is chant no matter how you feel. Understand that this is the nectar. It may sometimes seem bitter but if we just keep chanting, it turns to nectar. Especially japa. Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare the more the better. Prabhupada said it cuts the knot in the heart. The knot it so tight you can't untie it, you have to cut it, but the knife is Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Then when we release that, we can realize who we actually are, eternal servants of Krsna. Krsna is paramananda. The soul is by nature full of bliss. So Bhaktivinoda Thakur says the soul and mind are always at odds with each other. The soul is eternally blissful, unconditionally blissful, only the soul has that quality, but the mind is constantly changing, constantly up and down and there and here and sad and happy and accepting and rejecting. But we have to conquer over that and realize we are the soul. The Kumaras asked the Swan incarnation, "Who are you?" He said, "What do you mean who am I? If you are asking about this body, it is made up of these five elements, but if you are thinking it is all one, also you should not bother to ask." But we are the soul. By associating we realize, by reading Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then these restrictions don't seem like restrictions. It is actually freedom from doing things that cause distress and the clarity of mind to do things that cause ecstasy, chanting the Holy Name and preach. So I want to thank again for the opportunity to be here. I don't know what more to say here but I was very, very happy to see this group and everyone is working so hard. And happily working, I saw last night. [the youth are helping to renovate Prabhupada's Palace] Everyone is very busy. When we are busy for Krsna, then Krsna reciprocates. And the more we preach, the more devotees we'll have and everything will be nice. Take shelter of devotees. If anybody wants to do some tapasya, we invite you to come to Japan. It is a very good place for harinam because there are millions of people on the streets, although you have to be there for some time to perceive that they notice you. Like Umapati Swami came and said they don't even notice, but I said no, no it 's better now, sometimes they even turn their heads. But people even come up sometimes and when you give mantra cards, they grab them. So I'm praying that a nice energetic group will come to chant in Japan. But anywhere, every place needs the Holy Name. We need it constantly and the world needs it everywhere. Lord Caitanya is there, Lord Nityananda's mercy is there and there is nobody that's not qualified. To get the mercy of Lord Nityananda. But we have to represent Lord Nityananda and give it. Srimad-Bhagavatam ki jai! Lord Nrsimhadeva is very kind. Some people think of him as angry and frightening, but I find he is most kind hearted and easily approached of all the Deities. He is the one who removes from the heart the anarthas that are like demons. That is how Prahlad Maharaj prayed: om namo bhagavate sri maha-nrsimhaya damstra karalavadanaya ghora-rupaya vajra-nakhaya jvala maline mama vighnan paca paca mama bhayan bhindi bhindi mama satrun vidravaya vidravaya mama sarva ristan prabha njaya prabha njaya chata chata, hana hana, chindi chindi mama sarva-bhistan puraya puraya mam raksa raksa hum phat svaha That please remove these karma, desires, these lusty desires from the heart. He does that very kindly. Then by his mercy we can approach Radha Krsna and get free from madness. He is very kind to help like that so we are very happy he is here also. Prahlad Maharaj is here, the perfect devotee, we should study his life also. Any questions or comments? Question: [inaudible] Answer: That's what it means that sometimes you can't see. Right? Like something is happening everywhere. Some places of course we've hardly been able to go but other places we have gone and we're working and it seems like there aren't so many devotees now, but something is going on and Lord Caitanya has a plan. Like Japan, we distributed so many books for so many years, and we don't find those books, but we know people have them, they're reading them, they're talking about them, but it doesn't show up anywhere, basically. Or even in America someone was telling me once what's the use, we distributed so many books, but there are no devotees. I said there are so many devotees in Russia and he said what's the use. But it's not lost. At the same time, they're waiting for us to get out there and go everywhere. One brahmacari was telling me that all the American sannyasis, and I'm guilty of that, don't come to America anymore. That's true, but we need more sannyasis because we're all going to be dead any minute. Even if we live long, it's not going to be forever. Whether one is grhastha, sannyasi, everyone should go out and preach. The world is waiting. Many places it is very obvious the movement is growing like anything. Every time we go there, there are more and more devotees, new temples, other places it doesn't look like that so much, but still it is moving. There is one kind of bamboo that you plant a seed and for five years nothing comes out of the ground because the roots are growing but you keep watering it and taking care of it and then all of a sudden its sprouts and grows twenty feet or something in six months, but the roots are very strong. Many people will give up and think nothing is happening. You get those macadamia nuts here, if you have a lot of money or go to Hawaii. You plant that tree, it takes twenty five years or something, but it's very, very nice. Krsna consciousness is also like that, we can't expect it instantly because it is the highest goal to achieve. It takes some work, some endeavor. In Kali-yuga, if even one person becomes a devotee, it's a miracle. So many are devotees. Is that all right? If you want to see it really spread, you can come to Indonesia. When I go Indonesia, I think, why do I leave this place? There are hundreds of devotees, thousands of devotees, and there are more every time I go. And the weather is great. Other places you think why do I ever come here? It's just a struggle, but for years in Indonesia it seemed the government was against us but now they're favoring us like anything. Narada said everybody is working hard at the Palace. Are you having a good time? Are they making you work too hard? No? Who's complaining? Service is a connection to Krsna. That's what makes Krsna happy. When we're young, that's why we're looking for young people, in any sports or business or military, the young people are the ones out working. They have a lot of energy. If that energy is utilized for spreading Krsna consciousness, it'll stay with you all your life. Youthful energy is very great. So if you turn that towards Krsna like so many people are thinking how to increase business or this and that, just think how to increase more devotees and then everything is very nice. Like when I go to Bali now there are so many devotees that you can't keep up with it. There are doctors, people who own hotels. You don't have to go outside the community at all. More and more people want to join. When I was in Singapore, they told me I need a return ticket to go to Indonesia. I said I'll try it. The devotees met me right when I got outside the plane. I asked them how did you get here? They said this new devotee is in charge of the entire airport. She took my passport and said just go. She told someone give him a visa and that was that. So please preach. Please help us. We're old guys. We can't do much more. We're depending on the youth. Anybody, whatever we can do to help you, please ask. Any other questions? Where's prasadam? Thank you very much. Srimad-Bhagavatam ki jai! Kulimela ki jai! New Vrindavan dham ki jai! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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