Bhakti Shastri (037) – The Nectar of Instruction Text 7

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Hare Krishna Welcome back to the Nectar of Instruction as a part of our Bhakti Shastri course. Today we will be discussing one of the most important verses of Nectar of Instruction Now we are entering deep into the heart of sadhana we talked about association in the previous three verses texts and now we are moving forward to discuss about what do we do in association so one of the most important activities that we do is chant the holy names and this verse is fundamental it is the most single most important verse that can sustain us in the process of sadhana bhakti if we just understand its essence and internalise it so let’s look at this text so this is text 7 of Desha Amrit Syat Krishna Nama Charita Di Sita Apya Vidya Pito Patapta Rasana Sina Rochikanu Kintu Aadhara Dhru Dinam Khalo Sai Vajushthva Saat Vikramad Bhavati Dadgad Moolahantri so Syat Krishna Nama Charita Di so Krishna Nama Charita everything connected with Krishna his name, his character, his past times Adi means his past times and other things related with him Sita actually refers to sweetness sugar candy Apya Vidya Vidya Pitta so there is an implied comparison here when there is an explicit comparison he was as powerful as a lion, that is called a simile when there is a direct comparison his roar was leonine, I mean leonine is like a lion, so that means there is an implied there is an implied comparison, not a stated comparison so here there is an implied comparison, that is called a metaphor so Vidya is compared to a Pitta and Pitta when a Tapta, Pito Patapta when the person is afflicted by Pitta Rasana Sina Rochikanu Rasana is tongue Narochikanu, when the tongue is afflicted by Pitta at that time because of that bile infection, here it is being referred to jaundice over here, then the person cannot taste anything sweet Narochikanu, that which is Sita that which is sweet cannot be tasted relished because of Pitta Patapta but the treatment according to Ayurveda for jaundice is Kintva Adharad Anudinam Khusai Vajishta if somehow Anudinam, daily, regularly one keeps taking Adharad respectfully Jishta, one keeps accepting it Swadvikramad Bhavati gradually the sugarcane juice which is sweet it actually acts as a therapy a cure for the sickness and as a person gets cured then the person awakens the natural taste and Tadgata Moolahantri the disease is destroyed from the root so the point is that the same thing which doesn’t taste good if we keep taking it it can cure us and it will start tasting good so the holy name, character pastimes and activities of Krishna are all transcendentally sweet like sugarcane, although the tongue of one afflicted by the jaundice of avidya ignorance cannot taste anything sweet it is wonderful that simply by carefully chanting these sweet names everyday a natural relish awakens within his tongue and his disease is gradually destroyed at the root so the disease is destroyed at the root let us see how this happens, let’s look at Krishna Prabhupada’s purport here so here there is a chart, gives the overview of the purport so the symptoms of the disease are that there is no taste for the name form and the analogy that is given is for sugar candy jaundice so every disease has its particular symptom and from the symptom you have to go back to the cause so somebody can say I don’t find Krishna consciousness relishable I don’t care for it so yes that is a problem definitely but the deeper problem is a misdirection of our heart, it is avidya so avidya is not just ignorance in terms of philosophical ignorance it is ignorance in terms of ignorance about the right object of love now what happens, what is the cause of this disease, that is described in the next section, that is individual that is ignorance avidya, and avidya what it leads to, forgetfulness and what is the forgetfulness that is being talked about here the forgetfulness is that that and these two verses from the chetan charita amrit are very important, let’s look at them first is in this one verse the whole import of all the vedic wisdom is summarised by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in one concise sutra like verse krishner nityadas eternal swaroop of the jiva is to serve the lord and it is with this service attitude that the living entity thrives eternally so this is the eternal relationship which we have, now when we forget it krishna bhulya jeeru bhoga vanchakare, nikatis tamayatare japatiyadare, so how does the soul who is in the eternal position of loving and serving krishna, how does the soul lose that position, that is krishna bhulya the soul forgets krishna we can apply this in our sadhakas we are practising krishna consciousness but if we are not careful we forget krishna krishna bhulya jeeru and then what happens bhoga vanchakare we all have the need for happiness none of us can live without happiness so if we don’t get happiness in remembering and serving krishna naturally our hunger for happiness will need to be fulfilled somewhere else, so therefore bhoga vanchakare, therefore the desire to enjoy comes up and this bhoga vanchakare what does it lead to do nikatis tam mayatare, so now I have the desire to enjoy maya is right next, that means temptations are right there in our heart and outside our heart in our heart means that all the past things that we have done wrong they are, those impressions are there they are pushing us and outside the heart means around the world there are so many temptations and so nikatis tam mayatare that maya is situated very close by chapati yathare just catches the soul and then once the soul gets caught in maya at that time those impressions become stronger because of the indulgence and then the grip of those impressions in future becomes even stronger and then it becomes very difficult to be released, so this is how our disease increases so once the disease is increased soul is distracted by maya nikatis tam mayatare chapati yathare so when maya catches the living entity then false or bad shelter you need to think somehow or the other by doing this particular activity, that particular activity I will become happy but all of these are durashaya, none of these are going to be satisfied they are all false shelters and they let us down all these false shelters we think that wealth will make me happy sex will make me happy, power will make me happy and most of all we think the body will make me happy but all of these they let us down and ultimately the body turns into a source of misery for us and the conditioned soul somehow hope against hope thinks that I will be able to enjoy so actually the history of universal defeat has not dampened the hope of imminent victory for the conditioned soul history of universal defeat whoever has tried in material existence to gain happiness they have all suffered, they have all died so there is a history of universal defeat everybody has been defeated, but it has not dampened the hope of imminent victory the conditioned soul thinks oh I will just gain, I will just gain this, this is a quote from Ranjith Sarovar’s book Endless Love so we all think that now, next day, tomorrow, next week I will become happy now certainly we need hope in life but we don’t need false hopes we need true hopes material world, things are not going to become better in terms of there being a permanent settlement certainly in the material world there are ups and downs and when there are downs we do need hope that things will become better but if we focus all our efforts on just improving things materially then we are under utilising our intelligence and we are actually in many ways misusing our energy because if we just let all our energy and intelligence stay focused only on improving things materially then it’s a lost cause, it’s like trying to find a comfortable situation in the ocean, sometimes the waves may not be so jerky and strong and the wave may seem comfortable also but afterwards when the waves come it’s going to toss and throw a person up and down so this world is like a place with waves so that’s why scriptures tell us that work whatever is required at a level of duty to try to keep things materially stable but focus one’s energy on spiritual advancement because spiritual advancement is ultimately what will make us happy it will take us to eternal shelter and that comes by the chanting of the holy names so now at an individual level the soul forgets Krishna and gets caught and then at a collective level we’ll see that at a collective level there is atheistic leadership, so atheistic leadership what do we mean by that today’s politicians today’s leaders they don’t care for God at all, they may give some nominal lip service to God if that helps them to get votes there was a famous politician was an atheist and in one of his books he writes I just can’t understand how people can bow down to stone images and imagine that that is God when actually there is no God but he says anyway in this country because so many people believe in these these ancient books which talk about these sort of things so it’s useful to have working knowledge of these things and by this working knowledge one can influence these leaders towards doing these people towards doing good things so the approach was I will decide what is good and I will use the scriptures quoting them to make people do good things and actually what the scriptures tell us about God that is all false so this is misappropriation of God’s words for one’s own purposes and it’s very demoniac property just as Ravana wanted to enjoy Sita, Lord Ram’s property for his own pleasure so like that there are people who if they are openly atheistic they will say there is no God but in places where people have religious sentiments and saying I don’t believe in God that will not give them political votes so they will not say that what they will simply say is just actually don’t take this God business seriously and we can quote some God verses but I will tell you my programmes and you act according to my programmes so these people what happens because of them is when people are misled by these blind leaders at that time oh who are these blind people they are there in the Krishna quotes in 7.15 those people don’t surrender to him at all and among them there are Asurambhamashita, Mayayaparitgyana those whose knowledge has been stolen away and those who are openly demoniac so they oppose devotional endeavours and they personally never surrender to Krishna so what are we talking about over here we are talking about why people are unable to have a taste for the chanting of the Holy Names so there is an individual cause for it and there is a collective cause for it so we are looking at the collective cause right now the collective cause is that there is an overall culture of materialism and atheism which bombards people and leaves them no time or energy or inclination to turn wholeheartedly towards spirituality now people may do something religious just because it looks good in a particular culture but that is far from a transformational imbibing or adoption of spirituality so now what is the so once you understand the cause then we look at what is the cure so what is the cure the cure is chanting of the Holy Names so now how do we chant the method is we have to chant attentively swadhvi as I just said that khaludinam anudinam aadarad kintu aadarad anudinam khalusaivyushtha so aadarad is respectfully with care and attention and then actually this is an easy process for us to purify ourselves now how is it easy? Chanting does not require any yogic gymnastics it does not require anything which is very difficult to do and cheto darpanamarjanam as is quoted there so actually these two are different examples one is that the mirror is there, dust is there on the mirror so one cannot see anything over there so the mirror, when the dust is removed then one can see use the mirror for its purpose of seeing similarly, when our mind is clean, then we can have clear perception of reality, otherwise the perception will be unclear and in fire, it refers to how fire is covered by smoke there are many other places where the fire metaphor is used but generally, fire is covered by smoke we remove the smoke, fire also refers to that which burns away dirt so things that are obstructing can be burned to ashes by fire mahadavagni nirvapanam, extinguishes there is another metaphor there that actually fire is the cause of suffering and fire can also be extinguished by the chanting of the holy name so with respect to fire, we can have three different metaphors and there are many actually so one is, just as fire is covered by smoke, similarly the consciousness of soul is covered by the ignorance, this comes in the Bhagavad Gita dhumena avriyate bahaneer 3.38 8 and then, that is one metaphor so then, by the process of purification the smoke can be removed and the fire can blaze forward, so like that one can purify oneself by chanting the other metaphor of fire is so here, fire is the original consciousness and smoke is what is covering and purification is removing the smoke the other metaphor is that fire itself is the purifier and the impurities in our hearts are like the things that we want to burn away so when we practise devotional service, devotional service is like a flame which awakens in our heart and that purifies us, frees us of all sinful reactions and then we move forward in spiritual life by that way so after this the other metaphor which you could understand over here is that of fire itself acting as the object which is burning so there is a blazing fire of metal existence and we are afflicted in that fire so it has to be extinguished that comes in the same Chetudar Pana Marjanam that great flame gets extinguished completely so in this way, the fire metaphor can be used in multiple ways to illustrate spiritual truths so where do we get the cure? we get the cure within the international society of Krishna consciousness so Krishna Prabhupada says that this is like a spiritual hospital to cure all of us and we will discuss the 9 stages of bhakti a little later but the first is Shraddha, so when we have a little Shraddha, we come in the association of devotees little faith and then after that we lead to Sadhu Sangha, we come in the association of devotees and then we hear from the devotees, then the devotees tell us do Vajanakriya, start chanting the holy name start practising spiritual life so chant 60 rounds, follow the principles and when we do this then Anarthanivrtti happens so the impurities in the heart start going away, so there are examples which Prabhupada gives of how one is able to follow the principles which one was not able to follow earlier and then then one gradually with Anarthanivrtti happens, basically the disease goes away and then in every therapy there are two parts the first part is removal of the negative and then third is the second part is the restoration of the positive so for example, there is if a person has got a terrible disease like say TB or something the treatment goes for say 3, 4, 5 months itself, it is acute TB then for say 3 months the person takes acute treatment and the germs come under control and the disease goes away but because the disease was there, so the person is internally weakened the person is internally not having an energy so sickness has gone away but health has not yet come back, then people go to places like sanitarium where they just recover and regain their health, recuperation so recuperation is not the same as being treated, because at that time there is no active treatment there necessarily infection is gone, but the health has not yet come, so health gradually comes back during recuperation so similarly there is a state beyond cure, what is the stage beyond cure? the stage beyond cure is that one comes to bhava so actually when anathana nruthi has gone off, nishtha ruchi has come then by that time one has come to the stage of already one is more or less healed, so bhava means one starts experiencing spiritual emotions primary weakening of dormant love of God and then that is characterised Prabhupada explains by symptoms what is that? one has no bodily concept left anymore and not the body, one must understand this very very clearly, we understand it theoretically now but that time one has no connection one understands that I have eternal swaroopa and I have eternal relationship with Krishna and while operating in this world one should clearly understand this is Krishna, this is maya and if I go into Krishna there is light, if I go into maya there is darkness so krishna surya sama maya hendakar yaha krishna pahar nahi maya radhikar one understands this very clearly so one is undisturbed by maya so overall in this purport Shreya Prabhupada gives a comprehensive overview of the process of devotional service by which one can swadvikrama dabhavati one can gain access to eternal happiness all of us want to be happy and the process of Krishna consciousness ultimately is meant to make us happy but there is a process involved in that so we will focus here in this class on happiness how we need to use our intelligence to persevere in the process of Krishna consciousness all of us have a higher taste and a lower taste the higher taste is the happiness we get in connection with Krishna the lower taste is the happiness we get in connection with worldly things especially if the things are immoral they are sensual and immoral anti devotional these are the two kinds of tastes that we have now among these tastes we have to give up the lower taste and move towards the higher taste so how do we do that for that we have to understand the nature of material happiness and spiritual happiness so let’s look at it so essentially we can look at this graph of happiness versus time so the y axis is happiness, the x axis is time if you see material happiness there is some happiness in youth when our body is young and healthy then yes we can eat, we can do all sort of things, we can enjoy but then that graph keeps going down, down, down because over a period of time the body’s capacity to enjoy decreases diminishes and after sometime the body loses all its capacity to enjoy and then it goes to the negative axis where we have sickness, we have disease and a person is practically every moment is filled with pain so that is how this graph goes to the negative axis significantly even in youth the happiness that we actually enjoy is limited it’s not as in youth a person can enjoy all the time, there is some enjoyment some of the time but after that there is also suffering therefore actually the happiness is finite and then if you compare that with the graph of spiritual happiness so spiritual happiness means that initially it starts from little less so when we come to the temple, we chant Hare Krishna we dance in the kirtus, we feel happy but then after that when we go back to our places then the mind starts tormenting, oh I want to do this I want to do that and so the happiness doesn’t stay always with us but as we keep practising spiritual life as our attraction to Krishna increases our happiness also increases so how does this happen? it happens by the gradual process of purification so then material happiness, the graph will go towards negative negative but spiritual happiness the graph will keep going towards positive positive and ultimately we will get infinite happiness when we connect with Krishna with complete love so now let us look at the nature of happiness further this is based on Bhagavad Gita 18.37 and 38 we will be discussing this again when we come to Bhagavad Gita but that time it will be brief so here we see that here P and N some of you have studied electronics, it’s not P and N P diodes P refers to poison, N refers to nectar so Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita that the nature of happiness and goodness that is similar to the nature of spiritual happiness and the nature of happiness and passion that is overall the nature of most of the material pleasures that people chase after in life so the nature is different because spiritual happiness is characterised by Krishna says so he says which tastes like poison in the beginning which tastes like nectar in the end that is happiness in the mode of goodness and that is the nature of spiritual happiness also so now if you see the poison is initial and the nectar is long after that but still we have to penetrate through the poison before we can reach the nectar so in that sense there is a process which we have to follow and then in contrast with that with respect to material happiness Krishna says so that which tastes like nectar in the beginning but poison in the end that is happiness in the mode of passion and the nature of most material happiness we are attracted to certain things and then we want to enjoy them even if we get to enjoy them there is a real pleasure but after that there is so much complication if people get addicted to things and there is so much suffering because of that even if they don’t get addicted to dangerous things still everything material is temporary and when we lose it there is suffering so there is nectar in the beginning but poison in the end this is the nature of material and spiritual happiness so this is a good visual image for us to keep in mind with respect to chanting also because we are initially diseased so we may feel there is poison in the beginning but if we keep persevering then the poison will end and the nectar will start and that is what we want we want to go beyond the poison to the nectar let’s look at this from another perspective now so how do we say that material happiness is in a sense false or it’s temporary so actually speaking if you look at it there are senses and there are sense objects so the senses are temporary the sense objects are temporary that’s why whatever pleasure will come to them is also temporary this is based on Bhagavad Gita 5.22 यही समस्पर्शिचाप होगा दुख योन येवते आधि अन्तवन्तः कौन तेल तेशुरम तेवुधा the wise person understands that material pleasures have beginning and end that’s why they are sources of misery and a wise person doesn’t delight in them so they have beginning and end, senses are finite senses are limited, senses are temporary sense objects are temporary their chagra is temporary that’s why the pleasure that comes from their contact is also temporary so what gives us pleasure pleasure is the desire to enjoy the eyes want to see beautiful forms, the tongue wants to taste delicious food that gives some pleasure but that pleasure is limited so most people think that I don’t get pleasure because the objects are not good enough I don’t have good enough objects people see movies and they think oh there are such good looking people out there, the person I have with me is not so good looking or people think I am driving a car and oh I want a simple vehicle that person got such a good looking car so most of the times we think that I am not able to enjoy because the objects that I have for enjoyment are not good enough but the fact is even if we had the best objects for enjoyment, our capacity to enjoy is limited senses even if a person had one’s own 5 star hotel where the best food items are served and the person can eat freely whatever is cooked over there but how much can that person eat? 24 hours a day? No so the capacity of the senses to enjoy is limited and because of that a person cannot enjoy. In the past in some places like Egypt there were some kings who tried to pay their physicians to make painless vomiting pills.
There was an idea they would have golden plates huge plates where they would have huge feasts cooked and they would eat it all up. After we eat it the stomach gets full what happens is we want to enjoy more but the body doesn’t have any more capacity to enjoy so what they would get? They would have another golden bowl and the physicians would get some painless vomiting pills and they take the pill, vomit everything out and then get another feast and eat it again and in this way they would try to expand the body’s capacity to enjoy but it is not just the stomach that has the capacity there is a whole digestive system which has to bear the pressure and that has not been tried thereafter because it just harms the body terribly. So the point is it doesn’t work we can’t expand the body’s capacity to enjoy.
That is the nature of material happiness and now as compared to spiritual happiness how do we get it? Krishna says sukhena brahma samsparsham atyantam sukham ashnate. In 6.28 he says brahma samsparsham by contact with the supreme absolute truth which is referred to here by Brahma atyantam sukham ashnate one gets the supreme happiness sukhena brahma samsparsham so what is this brahma samsparsham? That is the contact of the soul ultimately with Krishna because Krishna is param brahma as the Bhagavad Gita says in 10.12 so now when we contact Krishna we experience spiritual happiness but that contact is not physical it’s not just physical it’s not that if I go to the temple and touch the feet of the deities I’ll feel some current of happiness within me. It’s a blessing it’s very purifying to touch the feet of the deities but the happiness comes not just by contact, it is by service so when we chant the holy names also, it is when we chant with the service attitude that we experience the higher happiness of Krishna consciousness so when there is a desire to serve between the soul and Krishna then the soul and Krishna come together and that is how contact happens that contact is at the level of consciousness.
Our consciousness has to experience Krishna and then that gives us happiness now if we see the difference is that the soul is eternal and Krishna is eternal as compared to both material senses and material sense objects being temporary and that’s why when the two come together, the happiness that will result will be eternal that is the happiness that we all aspire for so as compared to the temporary desire temporary happiness that comes from the contact senses and sense objects, the happiness that will come from the contact of the soul with Krishna will be eternal. So when we are chanting the holy names, this is what we are trying to do the soul is trying to contact Krishna yes, there is a sound vibration and there is a tongue and the ear, that is there definitely so you could say it’s all material, no but Krishna is transcendental and ultimately it’s not just the tongue and the ears it is the soul who is contacting Krishna. No, it is not that the soul doesn’t contact Krishna, that means if we are not attentive, our consciousness is not experiencing Krishna, then chanting will just appear like a burden.
Just keep doing it mechanically. But when we contact Krishna, then we become purified so the soul is currently sleeping or we could say, now normally when we use the word sleeping Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has that Bhaktivinoda Thakura in which Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is saying jeeva jago, jeeva jago, gaurachandra bole. So now we often use the soul is sleeping now what does exactly the soul sleeping mean? Is the soul actually physically sleeping? A soul doesn’t have a physical body so we can’t have physical sleep.
But what it means is that just as when we are sleeping, we are disconnected from the world around us, we are disconnected from reality and we go into a dream world which seems like a pseudo reality so like that the soul has become disconnected from reality, that is the reality of its relationship with Krishna and it’s connected with the pseudo reality that is the play of this world and the soul has to come out of this. How will the soul come out of it? By the practise of devotional service so the sound vibration wakes us up. Just as in a dream also a person is active, but it’s in a dream world, so like that the sleeping souls are also active right now but they are active in an illusory sense like in a dream we are doing various things.
So we are awakened by the sound of the holy name so essentially the contact is between, when chanting is happening, it’s not a verbal activity it’s not an oral activity although the tongue and the ears are involved, it’s not just a verbal or oral activity. Ultimately the heart has to be involved so the heart is the place where the soul is residing and when the soul calls out to Krishna and hears the sound vibration of Krishna’s name then the soul awakens then the contact between the soul and Krishna revives the natural attraction between the soul and Krishna and that increases the contact further and the greater the contact, the greater is the happiness so this is how the soul experiences spiritual happiness by the practise of devotional service and it’s this practise that we want to seek for, we want to pursue, we want to cultivate in our spiritual life. Now one of the very important things for us to persevere in our spiritual life is to recognise that my current condition is a disease so how do I understand that my current condition is a disease? Now one of the characteristics of a disease is, if I have jaundice one characteristic is that I am not able to taste sweet things another characteristic is that actually I feel uncomfortable I feel sickly I feel as if I have no strength so the one side is that I don’t get happiness and the other side is that I get misery so we will now look at how to drive this metaphor of disease deeper in we will try to understand how our material existence and material condition material situation is actually a place of misery so we see that we all need to make our intelligence fit so fit means we have to make our intelligence healthy, strong F.I.T. so F.I.T. describes the characteristics of material enjoyment material enjoyment is the characteristics of futility insubstantiality and temporality so futility means that many times we make dreams and fantasies for enjoyment and we don’t get it only that is futility so that happens when say somebody dreams that I will get a big feast to eat, tomorrow there is a feast and there is one gulab jamun in there, I love gulab jamun but then I go there and I come to know that it was all a rumour there was no gulab jamun only over there so we hanker for something and we don’t get it that is futility another time is, another possibility is that we hanker for something, we get it but it doesn’t live up to our expectations the gulab jamun is there but the person who made the gulab jamun made a mess of the recipe and the gulab jamun doesn’t taste good at all so it’s insubstantial we get the object, first is we don’t get the object we get the object but it’s not good enough that’s insubstantial third is temporality temporality means we get the object it gives us enjoyment but after that it gets over so I go there I get the gulab jamuns but they get over or my stomach’s capacity gets over and then I cannot enjoy anymore so when we contemplate on this then we can get rid of the fantasies for happiness through material enjoyment so now let’s contrast this material enjoyment how it is ultimately a doom project because when we seek material enjoyment only one of these three things are going to happen we crave for it and don’t get it we crave for it, get it, but it doesn’t live up to our expectations we crave for it, get it it lives somewhat to our expectations but then it leaves us and then again we lose everything so in this way actually it is a lost cause it is a doom project so what is the way out for us? there is an alternative that is spiritual happiness so let’s look at spiritual happiness this is sing your way to happiness this is an acronym S-I-N-G so what does this refer to? it refers to four characteristics of spiritual happiness so first is S is special how is it special? because if we see all living beings are experiencing material enjoyment all living beings are getting it but it is only human beings who can experience spiritual happiness so in that sense spiritual happiness is a special privilege of human beings and even among all the innumerable living beings that are there human beings that are there large infinite number, not infinite ultimately but so large number out of that the number of people who are actually practising spiritual life and seeking spiritual happiness are so few so those who are practising spiritual life are rare they are special that’s krishna says in 7.3 so actually everybody wants to do something special do something out of the way, something extraordinary something which will make a person stand out now in material life people try to be special by adopting the latest fashions you know I want to have this hairstyle, I want to have this dress I want to have this car, I want to have this watch, this cell phone and that way I try to seem special but ultimately material life is all about the same old thing enjoying the same old thing eating, sleeping, waiting but spiritual life offers the opportunity to do something very special so it’s a special kind of happiness and those who want to break the mould do something, be trailblazers as they say be trendsetters, do something special new, they can choose spiritual happiness so that is the first point so few people are actually seeking it among the millions and billions of people that are there on this planet not to speak of all the other living beings then other characteristics of spiritual happiness is I is increasing spiritual happiness unlike material happiness doesn’t decrease over time on the contrary it increases because the more we learn to love and serve Krishna the more our contact with Krishna becomes stronger and stronger and when our contact with Krishna becomes stronger naturally by that we experience greater happiness so as we love Krishna more and more, we remember him more and more so Krishna is like a reservoir of happiness and if we go connect more and more with that reservoir we will get more happiness so in material life the happiness is like a drop but in Krishna Consciousness the happiness is like an ocean but unfortunately we are at the periphery of the ocean so we get a little water, we have not gone into the ocean but the more we go into the ocean, the more water we will get and this is not just water, it is like nectar it is supremely relishable so the more we connect with Krishna the more our happiness will increase in spiritual life Anandambudhi Vardhanam is Vardhan and then there is constant happiness Pratipadam Purnam Vrata Swadhanam at every moment we will experience the happiness how does this happiness come? we discussed about the soul here, Krishna here and there is a contact and the contact happens to the desire to serve so as the desire to serve will increase the contact will be greater and the happiness will also be greater so in spiritual life our happiness will keep increasing and that is what we always want, isn’t it? so our happiness will never go on a downward curve as it will happen in material life then after that, N is non-dependent so non-dependent means that actually in material life we are always dependent on external things for happiness how are we dependent? because if a person at a very gross level if a person is addicted to alcohol or to drugs and the person is very dependent on the alcohol or drugs for getting happiness whatever that experience is, we can’t call it happiness but even if somebody calls it happiness person is so terribly dependent on that for happiness but even if a person is not if somebody is a sports fan then that person is dependent on the favourite team winning anyone says, I just love the sports I don’t care who wins but still the person is dependent on either going to the stadium to watch the match or is dependent on the television programme that comes and that broadcasting that happens electricity being there and the television set being there for the person to see and enjoy so any material enjoyment that we take, it makes us dependent on external things and because external things are not in our control they may be there today, they may go away tomorrow then our happiness will also go away with that but with respect to spiritual life we become non-dependent on anything external use the word non-dependent, not independent because we don’t become independent in the sense of we become separate from Krishna actually to become dependent on Krishna is the supreme form of independence because when we become dependent on Krishna we become independent of everything else for our happiness we depend only on Krishna for happiness and that gives us supreme happiness because Krishna is always in our heart and he will never leave us so the more we connect with Krishna the more we experience spiritual happiness and the less we need to depend on externals for happiness that’s how we become happy we become non-dependent on anything a devotee can go anywhere chant Hare Krishna, think of Krishna speak about Krishna and be happy Prabhupada went to America but wherever he went he was glorifying Krishna and because he was connected with Krishna he was happy everywhere and then last G is generous generous means what? that actually this is a happiness our happiness will make others happy that is the wonderful thing about spiritual happiness when a devotee relishes Krishna consciousness and the devotee gets taste in Krishna consciousness realisation in Krishna consciousness vigour in Krishna consciousness the devotee shares that with others and by that others also learn, others also feel inspired others also get benefit and move towards that happiness if you contrast that with most forms of material happiness actually if there are 50 rasgullas and there are 25 devotees then everybody will get 2 but if somebody wants more if one person takes 10 instead of 2 then what happens is 4 other people will not get any rasgullas or many other people if they are going to share then they will get less so in material life because the enjoyment is limited so one person’s enjoyment is at the expense of other person’s enjoyment whereas in spiritual life our enjoyment, the more we chant, dance become purified and applaud for Krishna the more not only we relish happiness but we share that happiness with others and that way we become not only ourselves happy but we share that happiness with others, so it’s generous sort of happiness, generous in the sense that we relish happiness and we can share this happiness with others so that’s why the Gopis also say bhuridha janah, those who speak about you O Krishna tabakatham ritam tapta jeevanam kavibhih iritam kalmashapaham shramana mangalam so they describe that those who speak about you they do auspiciousness for all bhurikrananti jai bhuridha janah shramana mangalam shreemadadatam that those who speak about you O Krishna they offer nectar that relieves the burning hearts of the conditioned souls and those sound vibrations about your glories, they are filled with spiritual power and they bring auspiciousness in the life of all those who hear it and this way they are the greatest welfare workers so it is, so though when we experience spiritual happiness actually we help others also to become happy so in this way when we are chanting Hare Krishna we have to actually be convinced it’s not just for our own good sometimes we feel oh there are so many problems in the world, what is my chanting going to do for the problems, I should do something practical actually our chanting is the most practical thing that we can do because by our chanting we become purified and we become purified when we experience spiritual happiness by that we can share that spiritual happiness with others so attentive chanting is not just something we do for our own purification not just for the pleasure of our spiritual master Hare Krishna, but also for the benefit of the world because when we chant we experience spiritual happiness and we don’t ourselves come under the control of lust, anger, greed and when we come under the control of lust, anger, greed, then we are dragged about and we do things which harm others and which trouble others which harm ourselves and harm others also so we want to become free from such troubles and the way we become free from such troubles is by chanting so we minimise the problem and we make a positive contribution towards the solution this is how we need to understand that by chanting what is going to happen is, it’s special how many people are experiencing the happiness of the holy name, it’s going to increase as we develop more and more attraction to the holy name and it’s non-dependent if I just develop a taste for the holy name then it will be like I have a permanent gulab jamun in my tongue whenever I want I chant and I get happiness over that so that is how a devotee will be in fact it’s not just a gulab jamun Rupa Goswami says that this happiness is practically so great that I can’t even conceive of it how much nectar is there in the holy name I don’t know and then it’s generous when we sing in kirtans when we glorify Krishna others are also benefited by that now let’s look at how do we proceed in pursuing this happiness so there is intelligence and there is the mind so I refers to intelligence and M refers to the mind so what happens is that intelligence can understand all this this is all good spiritual happiness is higher, it’s better I want to pursue the mind doesn’t understand the mind just says no, I want to enjoy this so actually to make the intelligence stronger in the mind there is conviction and there is commitment conviction means we philosophically understand clearly now this is a pleasure that will lead me to misery I don’t want to go in this direction and this is a path where there will be poison in the beginning but there will be nectar in the end so I will persevere in that so we need conviction and then after conviction comes commitment we all have to make commitments when we take initiation we make the commitment that come what may, everyday I am going to chant sixteen rounds and this commitment ensures that we keep practising so now we may wonder that we may see sometimes devotee is just chanting inattentively, looking here looking there and chanting what is the use of such chanting better chant in lesser round but chant them attentively, what is the need to chant sixteen rounds like this so inattentively actually the point is it is not that quality will automatically come by its own efforts by its own efforts sometimes you may get taste in the holy name but even if there is no quality, in many ways the commitment to quantity acts as a big impetus for the development of quality the commitment to quantity acts as an impetus for the development of quality how is that actually when we start chanting regularly then we decide to chant sixteen rounds now if we are even using our intelligence a little bit then we will understand that ok now I have made a vow to chant sixteen rounds and if I am going to chant sixteen rounds I am going to spend two hours in it or one and a half hours if somebody is a fast chanter, if I am going to spend that much time then better let me spend it properly, if I am going to be inattentive then I will be bored and if I am going to spend one and a half hours, two hours everyday then if I stay inattentive then I will be having to spend two hours everyday for the rest of my life, for how many years I live, everyday I will have to spend two hours in boredom so why spend two hours like that in boredom let me put in a little effort in this if I put in effort, if I struggle to be attentive, by that I will become purified and then I will get taste by it so actually the commitment to quantity acts as a strong impetus for developing the attentiveness that will bring quality so quality is not something that will just magically drop in our lap one day from the sky quality in chanting is two ways, quality in chanting is one way is that we concentrate, we force ourselves to be attentive and then we get taste, that’s one way quality, another is sometimes it may just come by Krishna’s mercy sometimes we chant and we feel oh this chanting is so good, I just want to do this I want to be seriously attentive I want to be focused on the holy name but the quantity can come both ways, sorry the quality can come both ways but that occasional quality whenever it comes, sometimes we just feel inspired to chant that is fleeting and if we depend on it then our spiritual journey will be erratic and sporadic sometimes we will move forward sometimes we will stop and when material desire has come then we will just make a u-turn and go back away from Krishna towards Sanskritification also but if you want steadiness then we make a commitment and then if I decide I have to spend two hours every day then let me be concentrated let me be attentive and the more we struggle to be attentive then the more we get the taste in the chanting and by that we move forward, that’s the commitment part so there is conviction and there is commitment, when both of these are there then we make rapid spiritual advancement, so again going back to the disease metaphor which is the theme of this verse that actually when we go to a doctor, first is we have to be convinced I am sick and what this doctor is telling me is a treatment so once I get the conviction then after that comes the next part, it is a commitment okay doctor told me to take this medicine morning afternoon, avoid these things so I have to make the commitment the conviction alone is not enough, the commitment to conviction and commitment both combined together lead to the cure so similarly with respect to our spiritual life we study the philosophy and the purpose of studying the philosophy is to understand okay this, this, this is what is wrong, you know I am a soul and I am meant to get happiness and loving Krishna but I am not attracted towards matter and the commitment is I will regulate my attraction to matter and mental enjoyment and I will as a discipline connect myself with Krishna this is the commitment and there is a combination of conviction and commitment then we make steady spiritual advancement now among these two what actually brings transformation is the commitment when the patient takes the medicine the patient gets cured but what is important for the taking of the medicine is that the patient have conviction, yes this treatment will cure me and if the patient doesn’t have the conviction they will not take the treatment so similarly for us it is our remembrance of Krishna it is our connection with Krishna, our service to Krishna that will purify us but we all need philosophical conviction for that that’s why when we regularly hear classes when we study the philosophy diligently then we understand that this is what is going to purify me I must do it so we will see that if we stop studying scripture if we stop hearing classes then we will find our impetus to chant, impetus to connect with Krishna go down so that that aadhar that should be there in chanting that aadhar will come when we have philosophical conviction so I will conclude with one more metaphor to understand how we should practise spiritual life and especially chanting how to make our intelligence stronger in the mind so here there are four aspects, continuing the disease metaphor the intelligence should be like the mind, like a mother, the mind is going to be like a child a child sometimes likes one thing and after sometime doesn’t like the same thing so the child is very restless, child is not very mature to understand the gravity of situations so imagine the child is sick when the child is sick then the mother takes the child to the doctor, the doctor is like the guru so when we are suffering in material existence with our intelligence we go to the spiritual master now the spiritual the doctor, when the mother brings the child, the doctor may speak smile at the child and may give a chocolate and be gentle and kind, the serious discussion will be with the mother the doctor will explain to the mother this is a disease and this is a treatment and then you have to make sure the child takes this treatment morning, afternoon, evening so now the doctor will primarily speak to the mother and then they will leave then actually making sure the child takes the medicine is the responsibility of the responsibility of who? the mother the mother has to take the responsibility by which the child will take the medicine now similarly the spiritual master may speak some kind words may embrace us, touch us, smile at us may be touch on our forehead all this is very nice the spiritual master loves me so much, he is so loving he is so kind, so caring actually that is good but that is like the doctor smiling at the child that is good, but that is not what is going to cure the child and sometimes you think if my spiritual master has touched my forehead oh that means I have got mercy and now I want to make spiritual advancement that is that doesn’t lead to spiritual advancement, yes we get mercy, that’s fortunate, but actually that mercy should encourage us to take shelter of the mercy of the process of devotional service that the spiritual master is giving us so when we take shelter of that mercy then we truly get cured so the spiritual master’s philosophical instructions the practical instructions about how we should mould our life, they are like the doctor speaking to the intelligence spiritual master speaks to our intelligence and by that the spiritual master helps us to become inspired to practise the process of devotional service so then when we take to the process of devotional service and the chanting of the holy names, then that is like the mother giving the medicine to the child and when the mother keeps giving the medicine to the child then the child slowly but surely becomes cured, the child will sometimes say I don’t like this medicine, I don’t want to take the medicine so like that the mind will say when we are chanting, no I don’t want to chant, I don’t want to chant, I don’t want to practise anything then what does the mother have to do? Be gentle but firm gently but firmly the mother makes the child take the medicine, similarly gently but firmly we have to use our intelligence to make sure that the mind takes the medicine and by this we become cured and slowly then we develop natural spiritual taste, so the medicine is being given that is the holy name and when we follow this process and take the medicine then the disease will go away and the natural taste the natural taste for devotional happiness will arouse and then bhakti will become and bhakti will become joyful thank you very much, Hare Krishna.