Although many persons may come to hear Srimad Bhagavatam, who is actually hearing?

[krsna]

 

WHO REALLY HEARS?

 

by ----- Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja

 

Although many persons may come to hear

Srimad Bhagavatam, who is actually hearing?

To whose ears do these words penetrate

and go deep into the heart?

 

There are

many that are posing to be hearing, but

actually they are not hearing. The words

are entering into one ear and going out the

other. It never penetrates to the heart because

they have no faith. They are crooked

persons. They are not simple. This is the

only reason. They have no faith in the revealed

scripture. They are doubtful persons,

so how can they get the result?

 

There was a village where Bhagavatparaya

was going on, recitation of Srimad

Bhagavatam for seven days, saptaha. Many

people from neighboring villages came to

hear the recitation from seven o’clock to nine

o’clock each evening. There were two

women who were regularly coming. One

was an old woman about seventy years old

with gray hair. The other was a young girl

sixteen years old. She was the daughter-inlaw

of the elderly woman.

One day in his lecture the speaker sang in

Oriya, ananda bolo hari hari, hari karibe upaya

— “Chant the name of Lord Hari with pleasure!

Hari! Hari! Hari! Hari!

That Lord Hari

will enable you to cross over the dreadful

ocean of material existence.”

Both the

mother-in-law and daughter-in-law heard

the speaker, but from that very moment the

daughter-in-law started chanting, “Hari!

Hari! Hari! Hari!” She put complete faith in

those words. Although both of them heard,

the mother-in-law did not sing the song.

Why is it that the daughter-in-law was able

to put full faith in the words of Srimad

Bhagavatam and start chanting, “Hari! Hari!

Hari! Hari!” from that very moment while

the old experienced mother-in-law could not

do so? Because the old lady was not simple,

she was crooked. She had no faith in what

she heard.

This is a question of samsayatma

doubt. She was a doubtful person. The young

girl was very simple. She was not crooked,

so immediately she put faith in what she

heard and started chanting, “Hari! Hari!

Hari! Hari!” When the recitation finished,

 

the ladies had to return to their home. On

the way there was a tidal river that they had

to cross. When they had first come the water

was knee-deep, but when they were returning

it was neck-deep. The daughter-inlaw

was walking ahead and the mother-inlaw

was following her. Chanting, “Hari!

Hari! Hari! Hari!” while she was walking,

the daughter-in-law easily crossed over the

river and stood on the other bank. Meanwhile,

the mother-in-law was drowning in

the middle of the river. She shouted, “Oh!

Oh! Daughter-in-law! You are there on the

other bank! I am drowning here in the river!”

The young girl replied, “You should chant,

‘Hari! Hari! Hari! Hari!’”

The mother-in-law replied, “You rascal! Are

you my master? Are you teaching me? I am

your master! You are my daughter-in-law, I

am the mother-in-law!”

The young girl said, “Didn’t you hear? That

speaker said, ananda bolo hari hari, hari karibe

upaya — ‘Chant the name of Hari with pleasure.

That Hari will enable you to cross over

the dreadful ocean of material existence.’ So

what is this tiny river? Why will Lord Hari

not be able to help you cross this small river?”

The mother-in-law got angry. This is a

practical consideration of faith and simplicity.

The young woman was simple, so

immediately she was able to put faith in

the speaker’s words and by chanting she

easily crossed the river. The old woman

was faithless and doubtful. Although she

was experienced and old, she was a

crooked person. There was no simplicity

in her heart. This is the point. The only

thing required is to be simple. Give up all

of your crookedness and put full faith in

Krishna. Put full faith in His words, put

full faith in the revealed scriptures, and put

full faith in the words of acaryas, sadhus,

and mahajanas. Then you will achieve success.

This is most important. You should

be as simple as a child. By nature a child is

very simple. But when he grows up he becomes

crooked. Why? Because of association

with crooked persons.

Some people will say, “Oh, if we become so

simple then we will be cheated. Therefore we

will not be simple, we will be crooked”. But

Krishna says, nayam loko ’sti na paro na sukham

 

samsayatmana: — “If you have no faith then

you cannot get any happiness, either in this

life or in the next.” [bg. 4.40] Why should you

be crooked? Will it bring you some happiness?

Will it keep you from being cheated? You are

being cheated, and you are not getting happiness,

why? Why not be simple and put faith

in Krishna’s words and achieve success in

life? Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu likes those

who have simplicity. They are natural

vaisnavas. Simplicity is vaisnavism. -

 

— From an evening lecture in Perth, Australia, 22 November 1990.