Bhakti Shastri (029) – The Nectar of Instruction Text 3, Part 1

Podcast

Hare Krishna. Welcome to our Nectar of Instruction Bhakti Shastra course.
We completed mantra 2 last time. Now we’ll start with the verse 3. Now, in the verse 3, Srila Prabhupada Swami talks about the six principles that are favourable for the execution of devotional service. Earlier, we looked at the six principles that are unfavourable.
So, there’s a linear flow of thought by which he… Now, from this verse onwards, the focus will be on these six favourable principles and later on, he will take one of them, association, and he will elaborate on them further in subsequent verses also. So, let’s look at these. This is verse… text 3. utsaha, nishchaya, dhairya tat tat karma pravartanat sanga tyagat sato vritte sadbhir bhakti prasidhyati prasidhyati The earlier word was vinashyati.
These are things which cause the bhakti to flourish, to grow. So, what are these? Utsaha, enthusiasm, nishchaya is confidence. Dhairya is patience.
tat tat karma pravartanat Other activities favourable to devotion service sanga tyagat, sato vritte and then the actions of the past great acharyas when you do this, by this, bhakti flourishes. There are six principles favourable to the execution of pure devotion service. Being enthusiastic, endeavouring with confidence, being patient, acting according to the principles of Shravanam, Kirtanam, Vishnu, hearing, chanting and remembering Krishna, abandoning the association of non-devotees and following in the footsteps of the previous acharyas.
These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotion service. So, Prabhupada gives a very categorical declaration. They completely assure the complete success of pure devotional service.
So, let’s look at this. Now, Aishwarya Prabhupada’s first sentence itself is a sutra which we’ll be elaborating on. Devotional service is not a matter of sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy.
Its substance is practical activity. Its substance is practical activity. So, what does it mean? Aishwarya Prabhupada immediately quotes the definition of bhakti as anyabhilashitasunyam jnanakarmadhyanavritam anukulyenashik krishnanusheelanam bhaktiruttama Aishwarya Prabhupada’s focus in this purport is on sheelanam.
Sheelanam means cultivation. What kind of cultivation? Anusheelanam. Krishnanusheelanam.
Cultivation that is favourable to Krishna. And that, he says, is bhakti. So, many times people feel that devotion is just a matter of the heart.
Oh! You should feel love for Krishna. Why do you have to exhibit devotion to the world? Aishwarya Prabhupada is saying that it’s not sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. So, what are these two? Sentimental speculation.
There can be speculation. Oh! For example, somebody may say, I closed my eyes and chanted and I saw Radha Krishna dancing with Raas Leela. Oh! Krishna gave me his darshan.
I’m so happy. I’m so blessed. I’m so fortunate.
Actually, what I’m saying is, I’m so exalted. Do you understand how exalted I am? That’s what I’m saying. Sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy.
So, Aishwarya Prabhupada is very cautiously protecting us from mistaking just our pseudo visions for actual spiritual visions and mistaking pseudo advancement for real advancement. The essence of bhakti is not just some visions or some feelings. The essence of bhakti is a relationship.
We want to develop a relationship with Krishna. And relationship is developed feelings are no doubt very important, but relationship essentially is centred on commitments. Two people can say we love each other, but then the strength of their relationship will not just depend on how often they say to each other we love each other.
It will depend on how committed they are to each other. Through thick and thin. Similarly, our bhakti is a feeling but that feeling has to be expressed through commitments.
Now, the gopis are exalted devotees. Why? Because they are so committed to Krishna. And how do we know that they are committed to Krishna? One way is people say they left everything when Krishna called in the flute and they went at night to meet him.
Leaving everything. Yes. Leaving everything when one is going to get some privilege and pleasure Krishna has called all of us and we are going to perform rasta there is pleasure over there.
So giving up something when we are going to get something pleasant is easy. But we see the commitment of the gopis also, of course it is not easy even when we are getting something to give up something, but it is relatively speaking it may be possible for some people. But the gopis’ commitment we see at a much deeper level when we see what they did for Krishna, when they came to know through Narada that Krishna has got a headache.
So just to relieve Krishna’s headache for one moment they were ready to go to hell for all of eternity. They knew that if we put dust of Krishna’s feet dust of our feet is put on Krishna’s head that will cause us to go to hell. But they were ready for that.
They said we will go to hell for all of eternity if that frees Krishna from his headache for just one moment. That is their love. That is their commitment.
So the essence of bhakti is not just feelings. Feelings are important, but feelings that are expressed through commitment. That’s why Prabhupada says its substance is practical activity.
Its substance is how we are serving Krishna. The closest that we come to deep selfless love in this world which is something similar to the spiritual love the depth and the selflessness of the spiritual love that is there between Krishna and the devotees the closest we come to that in this world is in the relationship between the mother and the child. And what is the essence of that relationship? The way a mother loves a child the essence is practical activity.
The mother may sit in her comfortable bed to dream oh my baby will become big and my baby will do this and my baby will do that. Yes, that’s natural. When we love there are feelings and there are dreams.
But the essence is if the baby starts crying in the middle of the night, what does the mother do? She immediately wakes up and then caresses the baby fondles if the baby needs breast milk the mother will give breast milk and nourish the baby that way. Sometimes when we sleep at night we put an alarm clock. Now the alarm clock rings at the right time when it is meant to ring.
And still we sometimes shut it down put a snooze or put it off and again we want to sleep. But comparatively speaking a baby is like an alarm clock that goes off at any time. But if a baby starts crying in the middle of the night, which mother? Shut up! Which mother will ever do that? Never? Why? Because that is love.
The substance of love is practical activity. Anytime the baby starts crying the mother wakes up immediately and fondles caresses, comforts the baby and does whatever is required to silence it. So the love of the mother is seen through the service that the mother does to the baby.
So if a mother just starts dreaming about the baby while the baby is crying then those dreams are not really signs of love because the baby is crying over there. If somebody is dreaming like that we would be forgiven if we doubted that this is actually the mother of the baby. Real love is seen through selfless service.
Selfless service is the way in which the authenticity of the love is shown. There can be real love and there can be shallow love. There can be pseudo love.
How is that tested? That is tested by one’s willingness to sacrifice. In the Bible there is a story of King Solomon. There were two women who came and both of them were claiming that this is my baby.
And both of them said, this is my child, my child, my child. Now how do you determine? So King Solomon was considered a wise king in the biblical tradition. So he said, both of you are claiming the baby to be yours.
We don’t have any witnesses to resolve it. So we’ll do one thing, we’ll cut the baby into two. Both of you can take half.
And one of the women agreed. And the other woman horrified. No, no, let her keep the baby.
Don’t cut the baby. And then the king said, the baby belongs to her. Give it to her.
A real mother would rather sacrifice the baby than just to possess, let the baby be cut. So the point here is that love is suggested to what we are ready to do for the sake of love. So it’s not just a feeling.
That’s why Prabhupada says, it’s not sentimental speculation or imaginative ecstasy. It is its substance is practical activity, practical activity. And we see that Shila Prabhupada exemplified this most extraordinarily, most unforgettably, most vividly.
Shila Prabhupada wanted to absorb himself in thinking of the past tense of Radha and Krishna. Vrindavan was the best place for him. And he had already done his family responsibility.
He was in his advanced age, 69, and he had every reason and right to stay on Vrindavan and be absorbed in the past tense of Radha and Krishna. That’s what a normal Vaishnava would do. In fact, doing that itself is considered glorious.
Because many people stay in their own homes till the end of their lives. But here he had already left his home, gone to Vrindavan, was living in Vrindavan, and he had already taken sannyas also. So he had every reason and right to stay in Vrindavan, but he did not do that.
Substance is practical activity. He wanted to spread the mission of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And spreading the mission of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu meant that he wanted to personally go.
Because that’s how the mission would spread. So he went to America and from there all over the world he went almost 14 times. Circumnavigating the world and preaching to so that Krishna consciousness would spread.
So substance is practical activity. And we see the kind of practical activity that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did. When he went to America, he would cook for the hippies.
One time we devotees had gone for a yatra. We were staying in one of the Gaudiya Mata ashrams at that time. some Gaudiya Mata sannyasi came over there.
As we are devotees, all of us are reading Vasadams, some Gaudiya Mata sannyasi also came there. And one of the youth forum boys from Pune, he thought that, let me get a voice from Sarva Sannyasi. So he said, can I serve Sarva Sannyasi? The devotees over there asked him, are you initiated? He said, no, I am not initiated.
If you are not initiated, you cannot serve Sarva Sannyasi. You have to be initiated to do that. So, that was the standard over there.
Now, this is the traditional standard that a non-initiated person cannot even serve Sarva Sannyasi. Of course, in some traditional places this may be followed. But what was Shila Prabhupada’s standard, it was far beyond tradition.
This kind of traditional standard. It was the standard of selfless compassion. Leave alone taking prasad from uninitiated devotees, Prabhupada was cooking prasad for people who leave alone not being initiated, they are not even practising devotees.
Prabhupada was not only serving them prasadam, Prabhupada was washing their plates. He was happily doing it. Why was he doing it? The substance is practical activity.
That was what was required to bring people closer to Krishna. Prabhupada was ready to do that. So, whatever it takes.
So, ecstasy, devotional ecstasy, we sometimes have a very fanciful idea. Devotional ecstasy means, oh, I think of Krishna, I think of such intimate pastime that I had. I start getting some feelings in my heart.
That is devotional ecstasy. Yes, that may be, that may not be, we don’t know. It is safe to assume that we are not so advanced right now.
But actually, even if it is some devotional feelings, the real essence of devotional ecstasy is not that which gives us ecstasy, but that which gives Krishna ecstasy. And because we are parts of Krishna, just as the stomach is nourished, the hand gets nourished automatically. Similarly, if we give ecstasy to Krishna, then automatically we get ecstasy in return.
So, Srila Prabhupada said that his purports are his devotional ecstasies. So, what does it mean? Now, sometimes we start reading his purports, we feel that he is giving such basic points. And, for example, the first canto of Srila Prabhupada, Krishna is very devotional scene, Krishna is living in Dwarka, and at that time Arjuna is coming, and Arjuna is holding an umbrella over Krishna’s head, and all the people are there outside.
Just seeing him off, and everybody is in tears because Krishna is leaving. And Prabhupada, in those purports, is condemning modern civilisation. And he is saying that the civilisation is filled with factories and this and that.
And you wonder, such a devotional thing is happening in the transfiguration, why is Prabhupada condemning modern civilisation in the purport? You wonder, what devotional ecstasy is there? See, devotional ecstasy is that which gives Krishna ecstasy. What gives Krishna ecstasy? When Krishna loves all his children, and the children who have gone away from him, they come back to him, that will give him ecstasy. And what is the duty of a spiritual master or a spiritual teacher? The duty is to remove the obstacles between the conditioned souls and Krishna.
So what is Srila Prabhupada doing in his purports? He is removing those obstacles. So every purport is like a hammer. And the hammer hits on the head.
The misconceptions that have built thick walls closing our head to perceiving Krishna’s beauty and glory, those walls, they break. So Srila Prabhupada’s purports, they smash the misconceptions that stop us from understanding Krishna and loving Krishna in a genuine sense, not in a superficial sense. So what is the devotional ecstasy of Srila Prabhupada’s purports? That his purports are actually removing the misconceptions that keep people from going to Krishna and are bringing those people to Krishna.
And we see that his purports have brought thousands of people from all over the world to Krishna and brought us freedom. So its substance is practical activity. Devotional service is cultivation, and the cultivation is through practical activity.
So even chanting which we do, the importance of chanting is that it’s also activity. Prabhupada did not recommend just silent meditation. Although even in our tradition there are acharyas who have chanted Hare Krishna silently, but in the modern times our acharyas have not recommended that.
And Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself told Haridas Thakur, as is described in Harinam Chintamani by Bhaktivinoda Thakur, that actually one who chants loudly, that person benefits not only oneself but others also, because others who hear they get benefited. So therefore the important point is that everybody should be engaged in Krishna’s service. That’s the mood of a devotee.
And for that a devotee is ready to do whatever activity is required. So actually Prabhupada, when he was in Mayapur, the devotees were all engaged in construction of temples. And Prabhupada said, why do we need such big temples? He said, for ourselves we can chant Hare Krishna in this place, even if to the materialism it looks barren, it’s filled with, it’s rich with fruits of love for Krishna, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is distributing them even today.
He says, we can get those fruits and relish them, but we want the whole world to relish them. And we may be able to live simply, but people from all over the world can’t live simply. For them we need to have comfortable accommodations, we need to have bustling activity over here.
They will need the facilities, we provide them the facilities and they will come here. In the big temples we are building, they have to attract the people and thereby we glorify the Lord. So, substance is practical activity.
Gurudas Prabhu describes in one of his Vyasa Puja offerings that he was the temple president of Vrindavan temple. The temple was still coming up, he was in charge of the Vrindavan project. Once Prabhupada came from abroad to Delhi and he was on his way to Vrindavan.
And at that time the devotees had just come to Vrindavan, the Vrindavan project had just started. And he had just come to Vrindavan for the first time. And he was, that means Prabhupada had come to Vrindavan for the first time after Gurudas Prabhu had come there.
And based on reading Krishna book and other such literatures, the devotees had a very, very sweet picture of Vrindavan. Peacocks are chirping. Peacocks are spreading their birds and spreading their beautiful feathers high up in the sky.
The birds are chirping and then here the trees are having roots with jewels in them. And thinking, oh, now if Prabhupada comes here and Prabhupada will tell some very sweet esoteric advance pastime about Radha Krishna. And then I will relish those pastimes.
That was their mood. That was what he was thinking. But when Prabhupada came down from the aeroplane and he saw him he said, Prabhupada is looking very grave.
He thought, maybe the pure devotee is thinking of some intimate pastime about Radha Krishna. I should not disturb. And then they got into the car and they were coming along.
And all along Prabhupada’s hand was in the veedavan and Prabhupada seemed to be lost in thought. Chanting Hare Krishna occasionally, but deep in thought. And then throughout the car ride from Delhi to Vrindavan Prabhupada did not speak one word practically.
And he was thinking he was eager. I wanted to hear some words of nectar coming from Prabhupada’s lips. Something about the glory of Krishna, the glory of Vrindavan.
But I was thinking I should not disturb the ecstasy of a pure devotee also. And finally as we just came near Vrindavan Prabhupada spoke one word and that one word shattered my illusory conceptions of devotional advancement, he says. What was that one word? Cement.
How are you planning to get cement? He said, Prabhupada he could very easily have been thinking of the intimate pastime of Radha and Krishna. Although he was conscious of the high up there he was down here with us because he wanted us to be engaged in devotional service and he wanted us to engage others in devotional service, to help others to come to Krishna. So he says, that time I understood that what Prabhupada would want me to do is not just imaginative ecstasy or sentimental speculation what Prabhupada would want is engage in practical devotional service.
So Prabhupada was concerned that you want to construct the temple quickly but cement is not available. How should we get cement? That was Prabhupada’s concern. And eventually when they got cement Prabhupada got one devotee to count all the bags and told to keep them and lock them very carefully.
Prabhupada told how you should lock them, how you should make sure that nobody steals it and what all you should do. So Prabhupada talked about the cement bags as if they were like bags of gold. So in the Bhagavad Gita in the 6th chapter there is a verse about the advanced devotee which describes how this advanced spiritualist sees everything equally.
So in 6.8 Krishna is telling that that a pure devotee or an advanced spiritualist, advanced spiritualist may be also an impersonalist or may be a seeker of transcendence without having any clear conception of transcendence whatever, but such a person sama loshra asma kanchana. Such a person sees stone pebbles and gold equally. So now the focus of this context of the Gita is that a person is not attached to anything material.
But here we see the application of that verse in a far more deeper and richer context. That is, for a pure devotee stone cement is ultimately a stone powder you could say in one sense. But a pure devotee if cement can be used in Krishna’s service, then a pure devotee values cement as much as one values gold also.
So a devotee doesn’t think of things in terms of passive equality, that they don’t give me any pleasure, so they are of no use to me. The devotee thinks of everything in terms of the potentiality of those things to be engaged in Krishna’s service. So if cement is so vital for the service of Krishna then I will treasure cement.
That’s a pure devotee’s mood. So Anushilanam Anushilanam is cultivation. The essence of bhakti is cultivation.
So Nrsila Prabhupada used this word devotional service. There is devotion and there is service. Both are combined together as devotional service.
That was Prabhupada’s rendition of bhakti. Quite often many translators translate it as devotion or divine love. Prabhupada translates it as devotional service.
This is an adjective and a noun. So service is there, that’s practical activity. And what kind of service? Devotional service.
So what do these two words combine together say? In a sense we could broadly classify that service refers to the external component and devotion refers to the internal component. We are engaged in service externally and we are cultivating devotional remembrance internally. So both are there.
At the same time its substance is practical activity. So we keep ourselves engaged in service and we try to remember Krishna as much as possible. At our level if we try to remember Krishna constantly and for the sake of remembering Krishna we don’t do anything.
Things won’t work. We have to remember Krishna internally and more importantly serve Krishna externally. Just keep ourselves busy in serving Krishna and then we use the classes, we use the morning programmes, sadhana time, we use our study time to cultivate conscious remembrance of Krishna.
And by both of these things we advance in spiritual life. As Prabhupada says, substance is practical activity. Now when we talk about substance is practical activity how do these two aspects relate with each other? Devotion and service.
There are many ways we could talk about this. Here I will focus on one aspect of their relationship. Service is the vehicle of devotion and service is the engine of devotion.
So this is based on an article that I have written based on Prabhupada’s teachings. The article is there on my website. Why does devotion need to be exhibited publicly? That’s the title of the article.
So devotion is you could call the substance, fine. But that substance is not really real unless it is expressed through service. So service is the vehicle of devotion and service is the engine of devotion.
Let’s understand these two concepts carefully. Some people say okay you want to practise bhakti, practise it. Why do you have to raise your hands and dance publicly? Bhakti is private to bhakti in your heart.
Why do you have to do an exhibition? Actually kirtan is not an exhibition of bhakti. It is an expression of bhakti. And there is a world of difference between exhibition and expression.
Exhibition is for public consumption, for public show. But expression is for the object of devotion. As we discussed earlier with the example of the mother.
The mother expresses the love not just to reassure the child that I love you. That is there definitely. But along with that it is also to do practical service to the child.
Both are important. Similarly when we do service, service is the way we practically express our devotion to the lord. So otherwise anybody can claim I am an advanced devotee.
How will anyone else know about it? The way we know whether somebody is an advanced devotee or not is by the commitment. So when a person loves somebody, that person does various things for that person. So love is not just a feeling.
Love is also a doing. Love is not just a verb. Love is also a noun.
So love is not just a noun, it is also a verb. That means love is not just a feeling that is there in the heart, up there, somewhere. But love is also expressed through our actions.
So therefore service is the way we express our devotion to Krishna. Now somebody may say a baby needs service but God doesn’t need any service. God is self satisfied.
Yes, God is not helpless like a baby and God is self satisfied. God doesn’t need anything. That is true.
Definitely. But God reciprocates love and for the sake of reciprocating love in His highest abode what does the Lord do? The Lord acts. The Lord acts and responds to those who act with Him.
So we see that actually speaking although the Lord is present in our heart and the Lord can see our devotion, the Lord is present even in the spiritual world and He sees everybody. But still people engage in devotional service. Imagine if the spiritual world were a place where everybody was just passively meditating on the Lord and nobody was doing anything for all of eternity.
So the Lord is meditating on His devotee and the devotee is meditating on the Lord. Yes, they will be happy, no doubt. But it would not be a very exciting place.
The reciprocations get deeper and richer when one does various activities. So if we were to go to such a place where everybody is just lost in thought and nobody is doing anything, we would not find that place particularly attractive. And imagine if that place was supposed to be a place where you are meant to stay for all of eternity.
We would feel that we are in a nightmare or something like that. So actually speaking, Krishna and the devotees engage in constant activity in the spiritual world. And that’s how they express their love for each other.
Krishna goes and herds the cows. He knows that I am playing the role of the son of a cowherd couple and therefore he acts responsibly as their son. And another Vishuddha sees that Krishna is my child and she serves.
She churns butter for him and she feeds him butter and she cooks wonderful meals for him. And she serves him that way also. So in this way, Vishuddha, Maya and Krishna, they reciprocate love.
So even at the highest level in the spiritual world, love is expressed. And through that expression, the love is reciprocated in a very deep and rich way. So service is the vehicle of devotion.
Service is what? The vehicle. Vehicle means what? Something which carries. So for example, if I have to go from here to Calcutta, I need a vehicle.
I may go by train, I may go by plane, but I need a vehicle. Similarly, service is the vehicle by which we express our devotion to Krishna. Prabhupada would say that whenever we come in front of the deities, we ask asat.
We should feel as if Krishna is asking us, what are you doing for me? What are you doing for me? That is Krishna consciousness. What does that mean? We have a relationship with Krishna and Krishna expects us to offer our devotion to him through service. Service is our vehicle of devotion.
Now, along with that, service is not just a vehicle of devotion. Service is also the engine of devotion. What do you mean by engine? Engine is that which causes the vehicle to move.
Actually, when we do service, then our devotional feelings get stimulated. Service is the vehicle of devotion. Devotion may be there in the heart, but that has to be expressed and conveyed to Krishna through service.
But what about all of us? We sometimes don’t feel any devotion at all. Whatever devotion that we have is meagre right now. So actually, service is also the engine of devotion.
That means that by rendering service, our devotional feelings get stimulated. How is that? That’s because we are not our bodies. We are souls and as souls we have original eternal relationship with Krishna which we have right now forgotten.
Nitya Siddha Krishna Prem Sadhya Kabuna Shravanadi Shuddha Chitte Karaye Uday Karaye Uday The sun rises on its own course. Similarly, the Nitya Siddha Krishna Prem, the Krishna Prem that is there in the heart, it rises. When does it rise? When we do Shravan Kirtan, when we engage in devotional service, in due course of time our love for Krishna will awaken in our heart.
So what is our goal? Our goal is for that love for Krishna to awaken as quickly as possible. How does hearing and chanting make that love for Krishna awaken? Because hearing and chanting stimulates and activates our covered memory. Our covered memory.
We are all suffering from amnesia. Amnesia means forgetfulness. You may have seen in movies that sometimes a hero is travelling in a car in a movie and the car falls off a big cliff and somehow the hero survives and falls into a tribal community at the bottom of a mountain, a valley and there he is hit in the head and because of that he is forgotten.
Who am I? So then people around that person give him a name, give him a role, give him a goal. Tell him ok you are a woodcutter, cut wood. And he starts cutting.
And then the father, this hero is like a millionaire, son and the father is a millionaire and the father comes up to him, where is my son? Oh son, what are you doing here? Whose son? Who are you? He doesn’t recognise anyone. What does the father do then? The father starts providing stimulus. You don’t remember? See this watch.
Do you remember this watch? And he says ok. Do you see this pen? Do you see this shirt? Do you see this car? So whatever was dear to this child, he starts showing that thing. And then slowly this is the way Amnesia is treated that when a person has difficulties in remembering, when the stimuli of the past life, when they are provided through things connected to the past life, then they gradually revive the memory.
Similarly, the whole process of devotional service is that we have forgotten Krishna. But that attraction to Krishna is there within our hearts. However, it is buried under layers and layers and layers of forgetfulness.
So when we are exposed to devotional stimuli now, that exposure to devotional stimuli slowly awakens us. Slowly, step by step by step it awakens us. And thus we learn to love Krishna.
Therefore, the important point is that when we say we learn to love Krishna, learning is not about acquiring. It is about reviving. Love for Krishna is not something which we have to acquire.
In movies, they show a boy and a girl see each other and they touch each other and they feel electric current going between their bodies and then they fall in love. Actually, they had no relationship but they fell in love. After they met and whatever they did together.
So, that is where love is external. Two souls basically are trying to connect with each other. But our relationship with Krishna is not like that.
We already have a relationship. We just want to revive that relationship. So how do we revive that? Just like the son of a millionaire doesn’t have to learn to love the father in the sense that he has to develop a new relationship.
He simply has to revive the memory of the earlier relationship. That is the same thing that we too have to do. We too have to learn to love Krishna in the sense that we simply have to revive our memory of our relationship with him.
So, when we expose ourselves to devotional stimuli, when we chant the holy name, when we take the action of deities, when we associate with devotees, when we do hearing and chanting and serving Krishna, which is what we do in the spiritual world also, eternally, then gradually by that we become spiritually healed and our spiritual memory comes back. So, in that sense, what does devotion do? Devotion acts as the engine, sorry, service acts as the engine of devotion. By engaging in service, our devotion gets stimulated.
So, when I chant Hare Krishna, when I take darshan of the deities, my forgotten memory is revived. And when that forgotten memory is revived, then by that automatically my love for Krishna also becomes revived. And then I start loving Krishna.
So, this is how service is both the vehicle of devotion and the engine of devotion. And in this way, service enables us to advance in spiritual life. So, let’s look at what Sri Prabhupada is saying further.
Prabhupada again comes back to the same point. Bhakti is a sort of cultivation. As soon as we say cultivation, we must refer to activity.
And as activity, Prabhupada says over here, meditation means stopping all nonsensical activities, at least for the time being. Devotional service puts, not only puts an end to all nonsensical mundane activities, but also engages one in meaningful devotional activities. So, we discussed earlier in our Isha Upanishad class, how if we imagine x-axis and y-axis, material activities are negative, spiritual activities are on the positive axis.
So, passive meditation would mean moving from the negative axis to zero. But bhakti means we not only move to zero by giving up negative activities, but we also engage in positive activities. That means we start doing positive activities in the service of Krishna, and because our mind is filled with positive stimuli, the negative stimuli automatically go away.
Sri Prabhupada gives the example of what Prahlad Maharaj teaches. What is bhakti? Even Prahlad Maharaj doesn’t say that bhakti just means contemplation internally. He says nine limbs.
shravanam kirtanam vishnam smaranam pada sevanam archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atmanivedanam iti pumsar pitha vishnu bhaktis chenanavalakshana kriyeta bhagavatyatha tanmanye dhita uttamam This is the best education, he says. That by which one learns to offer these nine activities to Krishna. Now, if we look among these, smaranam alone is passive, remembrance.
But apart from that, practically all the other activities involve action. All the other limbs of devotional service, shravanam, kirtanam, vandanam, dasyam, all these involve action. So, the same point is that you have to cultivate.
Cultivation involves action. So now, why is this important? We were discussing about shadbhi bhakti pasuddhati. That’s six activities that enable bhakti to flourish.
That’s what we have been discussing. But, we have not even started, half the class is over, we have not even started which are the six activities that flourish. So, why are we spending so much? Because, a time before coming to the six activities.
Because when we say these six things, enthusiasm, patience, faith, these will let bhakti advance or cause bhakti to advance. When we say that, what do we mean by that? To understand how these six activities will lead to spiritual advancement, devotional advancement more specifically, we have to clearly understand what is devotion. And, that’s why Srila Prabhupada spent so much effort on first explaining what is devotion, on removing whatever misconceptions, preconceptions we might have had about devotion.
And then, with a clear understanding of devotion and cultivation, then we will be able to make sense about how devotion, our enthusiasm, patience, faith, how all of these will enable us to make spiritual advancement. So, all this discussion is setting up the background for explaining how bhakti, how utsaha, nishchaya, dhairya, leads to spiritual advancement. So, let’s look at this further.
So, these are six elements. Utsaha, nishchaya, dhairya, dhakti, karma, sangh tyagat, and sattva uttahe. So, utsaha is enthusiasm.
Srila Prabhupada explains what is the importance of enthusiasm. So, Prabhupada explains that nothing great can ever be achieved in any field without enthusiasm. So, if a student wants to come first in the class, if a student sleeps during the classes, sleeps at home, has fools around, lasers around, a student cannot come first.
If a student wants to come first, he has to be enthusiastic, hear the classes attentively, ask questions, go home and study the books, and be energetically enthusiastic while writing the paper also. So, when a student is enthusiastic throughout, he gets good marks. Similarly, we have to be enthusiastic.
Only when we are enthusiastic will we get results in devotional life also. So, what is enthusiasm? Prabhupada explains that endeavour with intelligence in Krishna consciousness. That is enthusiasm.
So, enthusiasm is endeavour. But what kind of endeavour with intelligence? See, if I endeavour unintelligently, somebody is going to come and say, Oh, Krishna! I want to cook for Krishna. So, I am very enthusiastic.
So, I go into the kitchen and cut sabji, and put grains, and take masala. I don’t know how to cook. I am very enthusiastic.
Well, enthusiasm is good, but enthusiasm is not a replacement for competence. We need to have the right intelligence to know how to cook. And if we don’t know how to cook, we have to at least have enough intelligence to ask somebody who knows how to cook.
Then we will learn, and then we will be able to do the service well. Or maybe we can do a part of the service, which is not required so much. Then we ask somebody else to do a part of the service, which requires more skills.
But either way, endeavour with intelligence in Krishna consciousness. There are many people who may endeavour with intelligence. Or there are materialistic people who work on their projects in companies.
So, they are doing endeavour. They may have a plan also. They work very hard.
They have intelligence to evaluate. This is what we are trying to do. This is what we have achieved.
So, endeavour with intelligence is there, but it is not in Krishna consciousness. In Krishna consciousness, it is for the pleasure of Krishna. It is by those who want to do seva for Krishna.
So, endeavour with intelligence in this way. That is actually enthusiasm. So, how do we know if a devotee is enthusiastic? One visible parameter might be that the devotee jumps high up in kirtans and swings around exuberantly.
This devotee is so enthusiastic. Yes, that is possible. That is one parameter of enthusiasm.
But that is not the most important parameter. Dancing in kirtans is wonderful. But whether dancing in kirtan, we are getting devotional happiness or bodily kinaesthetic happiness.
We really don’t know. We have a good feeling swinging around and raising hands and moving around. Of course, we are doing it with the sound vibration of the holy name.
We are doing it in front of the deity or picture of Krishna. And we are surrounded by a devotional atmosphere overall. So, naturally, it will not be that we will be not at all remembering Krishna.
But we may not be doing it entirely for the pleasure of Krishna. Whatever it is, our motive is to always dance enthusiastically in kirtans. But the point is, if we want to measure our enthusiasm, just the energy with which a person is dancing is not enough to measure the enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm is expressed through sustained commitment. To study commitment. How do we know that? That brings us to the next aspect of faith.
We will discuss a little later about that. But here, a simple example is if I am going to Mumbai, and I know which is the way to Mumbai, then I will go enthusiastically. I will go fast.
If I am not sure if this leads to Mumbai, then what happens? I will say that I am going along this road, but should I keep going or should I stop? Maybe I should turn back. So, because I am not sure, because my faith is not strong, actually enthusiasm can also not be strong. Therefore, endeavour with intelligence.
So, we have to know that the right path is. Then we endeavour along with that path. So, enthusiasm is endeavour with intelligence.
And enthusiasm is expressed through commitment. And to express it through commitment, we have to see how much actively a person is trying to serve Krishna. And then Srila Prabhupada includes in enthusiasm one more interesting point.
He talks about yukta-vairagya. Srila Prabhupada says in the purport that we don’t have to confine the scope of our activities because we are practising devotional services. Rather, we expand our conception of devotion to include as many things as are possible to be potentially engaged in Krishna’s service.
So, many people think that devotion is just one specific cultural activity within the devotional culture or within the spiritual culture of India. So, you may say chanting or maybe reading some Bhagwat or worshipping some Marathi in front of the deity. These are devotional activities.
This is based on a very narrow conception of devotion. That narrow, confined conception is that activities that are explicitly connected with Krishna, with God, with religion, those constitute devotional activities. However, this is a very narrow conception.
In fact, everything and everyone is connected with Krishna. No one beyond Krishna. I am the source of everything.
So, because I am the source of everything, everything is connected with me. And therefore, everything can be used in Krishna’s service. So, enthusiasm means to also find out newer and newer ways in which you can engage in Krishna’s service.
Vishwa Prabhupada would often give the example of a microphone. At that time, for a sadhu to use a microphone was unusual. But Vishwa Prabhupada used it because he wanted to attract people to Krishna.
His microphone, its components, belong to material nature, which comes from Krishna. And actually, it can be used in Krishna’s service. So, use it.
So, now, for doing this course, we are using the internet, we are using modern technology. So, what are we doing? We are actually expanding our conceptions of devotion so as to include various activities which you would normally not consider devotional. For example, just turning on a computer or turning on a mobile device, an internet card, or something like that, and turning on to some channels, some programmes, that itself you may not consider devotional.
But when we expand our conception of devotion, we understand that whatever can be engaged in Krishna’s service, that should be engaged. So, that is also enthusiasm. So, enthusiasm is illustrated not just in the energy with which we do devotional activities, but it is also exhibited in the creativity, in the intelligence by which we are able to expand the scope of our thinking and include more and more activities in the service of Krishna.
That is also a very important parameter of enthusiasm. Now, Utsaha. And Utsaha, Nishchaya, Dhairyat.
Nishchaya, sometimes it means determination. In this context, Nishchaya means confidence. So, what do you mean by confidence over here? Prabhupada explains that, Krishna will always protect me.
That is the confidence of a devotee. So, you will see here Nishchaya over here. So, what is, Prabhupada explains Nishchaya from a very spiritual perspective.
He says, no confidence in other paths and confidence only in Bhakti. This is the meaning of Nishchaya. So, for us as sadhakas, we don’t have to at this stage have any requirement of very lot of intellectual exercise or a lot of systematic study and things like that just to understand the existence of God.
The existence of God is very primary and what Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition gives us is far, far, far lofty. That’s why, in a sense, the lofty teachings, the latch is tight. So, only those who are qualified, they can understand lofty teachings.
Others cannot. But that doesn’t mean that other practitioners of other paths are excluded. A devotee understands that everybody can practise devotional service and devotional service can give better results than anything and anyone else.
Therefore, I will fix myself in devotional service to Krishna. So, Prabhupada talks in this that no confidence in other paths is a sign of Bhakti. So, if I take a treatment and if I get cured and if in the past I have taken some treatment and I was not cured by that treatment, naturally what I will do? Whichever treatment works, I will take it again.
So, similarly, whichever treatment works, I will take it again. So, if it happens that a devotee has experienced for himself or herself that other treatments don’t work, Bhakti works. Bhakti purifies my heart like nothing else.
And Bhakti enables me to develop love for Krishna in a wonderful way also. Then let me practise Bhakti enthusiastically. And devotee’s faith is based not just on one’s own experience but is also based on the scriptural testimony.
So, when scriptural testimony and one’s own experience both gel with each other in the sense that both are in the same tracks, broadly speaking, both draw one closer to Krishna and one can be grateful for both. At the same time, one has to be aware that actually speaking, my essence is to practise Bhakti. And when I practise Bhakti, then I make spiritual advancement.
So, materialistic people have opposite lifestyle. Devotees have opposite lifestyle. Why? Anisha Saruputra says, that materialistic people and devotees, they are different.
So, their values are different. Their goals are different. One has to identify oneself.
I am not a materialistic person. I am a devotee. I may not have devotion but I am trying to develop devotion.
I am trying to love and serve Krishna. So, karmis, gyanis, yogis, they all have to fall back to material existence. Prabhupada writes that impermanence causes restlessness and needs to fall down.
So, what are the alternatives? There can be karmis, yogis and gyanis who are other transcendentalists. But because they do not get a higher taste, so, they become restless. And because they become restless, eventually, they fall down.
On the other hand, when a devotee has confidence only in bhakti, Prabhupada quotes often Krishna’s definition that that if I just serve Krishna, all other obligations will be performed and I will attain perfection. This is the same point written over here. Further, it is said that bhakti is life, soul, desire and desire perfection.
Bhakti is the life, soul, desire and perfection of the soul, of the sadhaka. So, in this way, we learn about enthusiasm and patience and their importance on the path of bhakti. So, we discussed about their many elements.
Thank you very much.