Holy Name is Everything Part 1

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.
Krishna Krishna. Hare Hare. Hare Rama.
Hare Rama. Rama Rama. Hare Hare.
Hare Krishna. So today, I’ll just start by making a confession. The topic of this seminar is the holy name is everything.
I am very far from this realisation that the holy name is everything. But by speaking, I hope to increase my own appreciation for the holy name. So the way we will take this is, I’ll speak for a few minutes.
Then most of you have got the printouts of the Kevalashtakam. We’ll recite one text of the Kevalashtakam. We’ll discuss that.
And then after we conclude the discussion, then we will meditate on that text once again while reciting it. Then we’ll go to the next text. Like that, we’ll try to take four of the passages today and four tomorrow.
Suppose there is an advertisement of a product. And that the first thing the advertisement shows is the price of the product. No advertisement does like that.
First thing that advertisement does is tell us what the product is about. How it will help us or how it will make us feel good. Basically, if an advertiser started right now first with the price, now that would not be very inviting.
Now maybe some people would be impressed by, oh, you’re paying such a big price. Or this costs so much. But if you attract people, we start not with the price, but with the value, with the benefits.
Similarly, when we talk about the holy name, if we start, whether it is for our own practise or for others, if we start by thinking, oh, I have to chant two hours every day. This seems to be like a very big price to pay. So initially many people get alienated when they think I have to chant so much.
And they may not start chanting only. But for most of us, since this is a seminar on the holy name, I’ll assume that most of you are already chanting 16 rounds. How many of you are chanting 16 rounds? Okay, most of you.
Thank you. So then I’ll assume that we’re already committing some time. So for us, what happens is that we don’t become alienated in terms of not chanting.
But we become alienated in terms of not investing our consciousness in chanting. We just do it mechanically. Because it feels that anyway, now that we are committed to chant 16 rounds, one and a half, two hours, that time we have decided to spend.
We will spend that time. But on top of the time, to invest the attention, to invest the concentration appears to be too much of a price. So we just go through the time of our japa, we pull the beads, we move the counter, but we don’t invest our consciousness.
So the price that is involved in chanting, there are two words, there is P-R-I-C-E price, and there is P-R-I-Z-E price. So if we focus too much on the price, and we don’t recognise the price, P-R-I-Z-E, then we become alienated emotionally. Not physically in terms of giving up the chanting, but emotionally in terms of not investing our consciousness.
Not concentrating. And this has a detrimental result, that the less we invest our consciousness in chanting, the less we feel absorbed, the less we feel fulfilled by our chanting. And when we feel less fulfilled by chanting, then chanting becomes more of a burden.
So to give an example of how this works, suppose somebody is going for weight lifting. I decided everyday half an hour I am going to do exercise. That person goes for weight lifting, but then that person decides that lifting weights, it’s too much of a strain for my muscles.
So what I’ll do is, I’ll move my hands without carrying any weight. So now, if I just move my hands without carrying any weight, my muscles don’t grow much. They don’t grow at all.
Maybe just the upward motion of the hands will do some exercise. But that exercise is really not the full result of the weight lifting. Now if I find that I’m just lifting my hands up and down, and I’m not getting any benefit, then I’ll start thinking, why do I have to spend half an hour? After half an hour I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do that.
When will I finish this and get over? So the end result is, that half an hour, not only is it not fruitful in terms of improving our muscles, it actually becomes a burden. Because we feel this half hour is just getting wasted. So when we chant the holy name, actually we bring Krishna into our consciousness.
And Krishna, we have to actually connect our consciousness with Krishna. It’s a process of expanding our consciousness by connecting with Krishna. And when we don’t focus our attention, we don’t invoke Krishna’s presence.
And we don’t invoke Krishna’s presence, we don’t experience any spiritual fulfilment, we don’t experience any spiritual enrichment. And then we start feeling that chanting is just a burden. Then we just want it to get over.
When we chant with that attitude, then the whole two hours becomes just, it starts feeling like a waste of time. Or at least an unnecessary demand on our time. So the price, the price we are anyway going to pay.
But we need to understand or keep our vision on the price. Not in the fruitive sense, that this is what I will get. But we have to be aware.
I’ll talk about the fruity and non-fruity mentality as we move forward in chanting. But remembering the price. Now what is the price that we get? Ultimately it is we become liberated from material existence, we become liberated from the passions of the mind, which agitate and distress us.
This is like the benefits of the holy name are something which we can’t immediately perceive. So the example that can be given is, that Rupa Goswami gives in the Bhakti Samaj Sindhu that, in the Upadesha Amrit, that just as a person with jaundice cannot taste sugarcane, or sugar, sweet, similarly we can’t taste sweet. We can’t taste the sweetness of the holy name.
But there is a deeper implication for this. Even if we are not able to taste sugarcane’s sweetness when we are jaundiced, but still we know this is sweet intellectually. Why? Because we have tasted that sweetness earlier.
But in the case of the holy name, we have not tasted that sweetness ever. So that’s why it is vitally important for us to hear from those great saints who are tasting the sweetness of the holy name. By hearing from them, by hearing how they are relishing the sweetness of the holy name, we get the conviction, yes, there is this spiritually healthy state where I can relish the holy name.
So this verse, the Kevalashtakam begins with such a declaration of the sweetness of the holy name. So we can sing the first verse. All of you have the Kevalashtakam with you? Madhuram Madhurebhyopi Among all sweet things, it is the sweetest.
Mangalebhyopimangalam That among all auspicious things, the most auspicious. Pavanam Pavanebhyopi Among all purifying things, this is the most purifying. What is that? Harer Naam Eva Kevalam This is the holy name of Lord Hari.
Eva and Kevala. There are two intensifiers here. Certainly and only.
That there is nothing like the holy name. Now the sweetness of the holy name is talked about by the great saints in various ways. So Rupa Goswami, we know in a famous verse, he says that Tunde Tandavini He says that when the holy name dances on my tongue and the sound of the holy name enters into my ears, I feel like I want to have thousands of mouths to taste the sweetness of the holy name.
I want to have millions of ears to hear the sweetness of the holy name. This is an To understand how extraordinary an expression this is, now imagine that we are eating a very delicious feast. So if there are some sweet items in it, very delicious items, you feel you know maybe I can have a second helping, third helping, fourth helping.
See whenever something is delicious, the mind wants more and more and more. But our mind’s imagination will work in ways, maybe I can get more, maybe there should be lots of servings so that I can eat a lot more. But you know whose mind will imagine that I want to have a hundred mouths to eat the same item, I want to have a hundred mouths.
So the bhakti is it spiritualises our entire being and when our whole being is spiritualised, our heart, our intelligence, our imagination, all of them become doted on Krishna’s service. So Kula Shekhar Maharaj, in another prayer, he says So he says He says Tattva, Tattva is the truth. Bhruvanani, Bhruvanani means to point towards, to direct towards, to connect with.
He says the holy name connects us with the absolute truth. And not just Param Tattva, Param Parastad. The Param Tattva is often thought of as Brahman.
This material world is material, beyond that is the impersonal Brahman. But the Bhagavatam says that Bhagavan is not just Par Tattva, He is Paratpar Tattva. He is transcendental to transcendence.
So transcendence is, like if you have negative axis, the zero is transcendence. That is the Brahman level. Krishna is the positive axis.
He is transcendental to transcendence. So The holy name connects us with that eternal absolute truth. And the wonderful thing about it is Madhuksharantiva mudhavahani Madhuksharantiva It is like a flow of nectar.
Madhukshara Similarly, Madhuram Madhurebhyapuram We are the sweetest among the sweet objects. Now Here we can see the extent of the desire of Kulasekhar Maharaj to chant the holy name. We may pray to Krishna.
Krishna, please manifest with the holy name. Please bless me so that I can chant properly. So, praying to Krishna is understandable.
But here Kulasekhar Maharaj is praying to his tongue. He says, O tongue, I stand before you with folded hands. Now imagine, how can you stand before your tongue? But that is the imagination used in Krishna’s service.
It is just a way Yes, Krishna is available as the holy name. Krishna is manifesting and I need to chant. But my tongue is reluctant.
Therefore, he says I pray to the tongue. With folded hands in front of your tongue, I beg Please chant the holy names. Such expressions of fervent longing for the holy name they can give us some inkling of how wonderful the sweetness of the holy name will be.
Right now we may or may not have experiences of the sweetness of the holy name. All of us get some experiences occasionally. But these experiences can give us the conviction.
So now, in general when something there is a in the material world there is a contradiction or cross purpose working between that which is pleasurable and that which is beneficial. Normally, if we eat some food quite often the food that is very delicious to eat, that is not particularly healthy. And quite often the food that is healthy that is not particularly delicious.
So as far as the holy name is concerned, first it is said madhuram madhure bhyopi. It is very sweet. At the same time, it is also mangale bhyopi mangalam.
Normally, if somebody is eating a lot, that person will say madhur madhur madhur. But afterwards it will be amangalam. The stomach gets upset and then we feel bloated.
So but the holy name is such that it is madhura and it is mangala. So mangala means auspicious. It refers to not the present but the future.
So it is auspicious in terms of what it will bring to us in future. And that is the holy name is sweet right now and in the future it will bring us the sweetness of liberation. Not just the sweetness of liberation from material existence but the sweetness of liberation to love Krishna.
Liberation, we will talk about this more but the liberation to love Krishna is the highest liberation. Many times people in this world talk about freedom. They say you know bhakti means following so many rules.
You lose, you don’t have freedom. But actually there are two kinds of freedoms. There is freedom for and there is freedom from.
Some people think of freedom only in terms of freedom for. I want to eat whenever I want to eat. I want to eat whatever I want to eat.
I want to do whatever I want to do. That’s what they think of as freedom. Yes, that is one kind of freedom.
But another kind of freedom is freedom from. There is freedom from anger. There is freedom from addiction.
There is freedom from laziness. There are so many negativities which trouble us. And if we could become free from them.
A person who is bound to some form of addiction for that person, freedom from something, freedom from that addiction is actually a great thing. So if we focus only on freedom for in terms of the things that we do in material life, then yes, I may say that I am free to eat whenever I want. I am free to drink whenever I want.
I am free to do whatever I want whenever I want. But eventually, if I keep doing whatever I want whenever I want, I am forced to do it even when I don’t want to do it. That is the nature of addiction.
After some time, when a person becomes addicted to something, the pleasure in that activity goes down. And after that, one does the activity not because doing it is so pleasurable, but because not doing it is so intolerable. When people become addicted to alcohol, say, after some time the result of alcohol becomes so clear that I shouldn’t be doing this.
But when they try to stop it, the withdrawal pains become so much that they can’t avoid it. So material pleasure is actually inauspicious. So the freedom to indulge in material things, that is not auspicious.
That is inauspicious. Whereas, when we chant the holy names, that frees us from such self-defeating desires, from the bondage of such desires. So, Mangal-e-Bhyopi-Mangalam.
And how does this Mangal come about? Pavanam Pavan-e-Bhyopi. It purifies us. So, right now, we do not experience the Madhura, the sweetness of the holy name we don’t experience because we are not yet pure.
So, purification is not just an abstract concept. Purification simply means that our desires focus on the pure instead of the impure. I’ll talk about purification also more later.
But purification, so there is, purity is a state. And purification is a process that leads to the state. Just like if there is unclean water, we put it in a filter, then it is going through the process of purification.
And after it comes out of the filter, what comes out is pure water. So, right now, for us, purification is the process that we need to follow. So, the holy name is itself pure and the holy name also is the means to purification.
So, Pavanam Pavan-e-Bhyopi. So, among all purifying things, the holy name is the most purifying. Why is it the most purifying? Many reasons.
One specific thing we’ll focus on here is that… Can I request people to move a little forward as much as possible? Because there are people waiting outside. Can we move a little? Can you please move a little forward? As much as possible. Some of you can even sit down here.
The suggestion is that if you sit better, it will be better. You want something to put it on? You have to put something under. Please move a little forward.
Pavanam Pavan-e-Bhyopi. Pavanam Pavan-e-Bhyopi. There are many things in this world that are purifying.
they’re all… The deities are manifestations of Krishna. The scripture is a manifestation of Krishna. The dharm is the manifestation of Krishna.
Among all such manifestations, the holy name is the most accessible. Temple, if we have to travel some distance, it is physically not so accessible. Scripture, it is not intellectually so accessible for everyone.
Dharms, they’re also not so immediately accessible. But among all manifestations of the holy name, of Krishna, the holy name is the most accessible. The holy name is a portable form of Krishna, which we can take with us wherever we go.
And in that sense, it is the same Krishna manifesting, but because this manifestation of Krishna is most accessible, it can purify us the most. Pavanam Pavan-e-Bhyopi. Such is the holy name of Krishna.
So you can sing this three times, and then you can sing the next verse three times, and then I can talk about it. Thank you. Yes, same verse three times.
You can meditate on the meaning while you’re singing it. A-Brahma-Stamba-Paryantam From Brahma down to Stamba. Stamba is a blade of grass or a tree stump.
Tree that has been removed, just a stump is there. Very small thing. A-Brahma-Stamba-Paryantam Sarva-Maya-Mayam-Jagat This whole world is full of Maya.
Right from the top most position of Brahma down to the insignificant position of a blade of grass. Everything is Maya. Satyam Satyam Punah Satyam The only truth, the essential truth, the supreme truth is Hare Namaiva Kevalam The holy name.
If we are walking on a road, at that time, if there is a one-story house and there is a 50-story building, the difference between the two is huge. But, if you are flying in a plane overhead, the difference between the two becomes inconsequential. We may not even notice from high up, oh this is a 50-story building and this is a one-story house.
Similarly, in this world, there are dualities. Some people are rich, some are poor. Some are good looking, some are not so good looking.
Some are very intelligent, others are not so intelligent. And these differences not only appear huge for us in the normal course of life, they appear life-defining for us. They appear life-defining.
If I am not wealthy, the whole purpose of my life is to become wealthy. If I am not good looking, the whole purpose of my life is to become good looking. If I am fat, the whole purpose of my life is to become thin.
So, these dualities that are there in this world, they consume our consciousness and they make us think that just rising from the negative side or the level where we are not special, where we are not distinctive, to a level where we become distinctive, that becomes the purpose of our life. What we don’t realise, in this world, nowadays, there is a democracy which is a prominent form of government. And wherever there is any form of autocracy, people want to shift to democracy.
So, actually, what we often don’t realise when we are trying to move from a lower material position to a higher material position is that misery is democratic. That means, misery doesn’t differentiate between the good looking and the less good looking. It doesn’t differentiate between the poor and the wealthy.
Yes, definitely, some forms of misery vary. Yes, the poor may suffer more than the wealthy in some ways. But the wealthy have their own kinds of sufferings.
And, they say, the head that does not have a crown feels, you know, I don’t have anything. I don’t have a crown. That head feels deprived.
But, the head that wears the crown is afraid that somebody who wants the crown will chop off the head only. So, uneasy is the head that wears the crown. So, misery is actually, in this world, universal.
Krishna, he talks about this in the Bhagavad Gita, In 9.33, he says, this world is anityam asukham lokam. It is temporary and it is not a happy place. Therefore, imam prabhya bhajasvaman.
Now that you have come to this world, just worship me. Just practise bhakti for me. Now, this does not mean that we don’t try for any material improvement at all.
Yes, we, our current existence is bi-dimensional. There is a material side and there is a spiritual side. And, it is not that we neglect our material side.
We have certain abilities, we have certain resources, we have certain energy. Certainly, we can strive for material improvement. But, the problem comes when material improvement consumes our consciousness.
It consumes all of our time and energy. When that happens, then we we cheat ourselves. Because, even if we improve materially, even if we achieve whatever we want materially, that cannot provide for us what spiritual advancement can provide for us.
Success in one aspect of life cannot compensate for failure in other aspect. So, for example, there are professionals who work very hard and they rise very rapidly in their company. Their professional charts are big success.
But, in order to do that, they neglect their family and if their family comes on the verge of breaking down, their children are alienated, then all the success that they have achieved in their professional life, that cannot compensate for the failure in their family life. So, these two are distinct aspects. The two are related but they are not replaceable.
It is not that by succeeding in professional life, one can automatically succeed in family life. So, just as success in one aspect of life cannot compensate in failure in other aspect of life. Similarly, success in material life cannot compensate for failure in spiritual life.
If we neglect our spiritual growth for the sake of pursuing material success, then even if we achieve material success, we will not be happy. We will not be satisfied. We will not be joyful.
Nowadays, in the modern times, anxiety is one of the biggest problems. In fact, psychologists talk about something called the anxiety epidemic. It’s like we may have AIDS epidemic or tuberculosis epidemic or whatever.
They talk about anxiety epidemic. And anxiety epidemic has a peculiar characteristic. Normally, we would think that anxiety is caused by uncertainty.
Say for example, if we have to catch a flight and then we are running late. We are not sure whether we will reach in time for flight or not. That uncertainty causes anxiety.
That is a normal situation. And if we look at the world, it is broadly the developing world and the developed world. So, in the developing world, the uncertainty is much more.
Isn’t it? In many parts of India, if you turn on the power switch, not sure whether the power will turn on or not. If you turn on the tap, you are not sure whether water will come or not. So, this is uncertainty.
And that uncertainty causes anxiety. If the water is going to come only for one hour in a day, early morning 6 to 7, you have to wake up at 6 o’clock. People wake up early not because they want to do anything spiritual.
They simply want to fill their water tanks. For that purpose, they wake up. So, now, that anxiety, whether the external things will be provided or not, that uncertainty causes anxiety.
But psychologists have found something peculiar that as compared to the developing countries, where there is greater uncertainty, in the developed world, there is greater certainty. And still, the anxiety in the developed world is more than the developing world. Not only that, they also found one more thing curious.
People from India and China, these are the two prominent countries from where people emigrate to the developed world. Found people when they emigrate from the developing world to the developed world, often their anxiety levels go up. So, why is this? So, actually, anxiety is caused not just by outer uncertainty.
Anxiety is also caused by inner instability. Inner instability means if our world view becomes more and more materialistic, then material things are what predominate our thoughts. And the nature of material things is that they are uncertain.
Even if the level of uncertainty may be less, the level of uncertainty may be more. But still, when our sense of self-identity, our sense of self-worth, our sense of self-security, all of these are based on material things, then no matter how many material things we have, there will be anxiety. Because the nature of material things is that they offer a little pleasure, but they never offer us as much pleasure as we want.
And because of that, we want them more and more and more. So, this we’re talking here about, from the transcendental perspective, said that whether it is the post of Brahma or whether it is the post of, whether it is the insignificant blade of grass, it’s all Maya. Now, what is Maya? We may say Brahma is a pure devotee.
You know, Brahma is the founder of the Brahma Madha Sampradaya. So, what is Maya? It’s not that Brahma is Maya. It is the idea that attaining Brahma’s position will make me happy.
That is Maya. So, it is not that material things themselves are Maya. It is the notion that acquiring material things is what will make me happy.
That is Maya. And we don’t need material things. They are a functional necessity in this world.
But, when we elevate material things from a functional necessity to a source of happiness and not just a source of happiness to the only source of happiness. If I don’t have this, my life will be miserable. Actually speaking, most of the things that we crave for, often they are desires that are induced within us by the media.
There is a famous corporate leader. He said it is not people’s responsibility to determine what they need. It is your responsibility.
What it means is that rather than letting people decide what they need, you should create such propaganda that people feel we need it. We need it. I can’t live without it.
So, therefore, while we are pursuing the path of material improvement, which we will anyway pursue in life. If we let it consume all our energy, then that is Maya. आब्रह्मसंबपर्यंतं सर्वा So, when we are focussing on the holy name, we are chanting the holy names, at that time if our mind starts getting caught in, this is not right in my life.
Only this works out like that. This works out like that. This works out like that.
This is one of the biggest distractors when we try to focus on the holy name. So, at that time, if we can philosophically remember, yes, this will make some difference. But from the ultimate perspective, this is not going to make such a big difference.
And, even if it is going to make a difference, even if it is something which I need to spend time on, yes, I have time later to spend on this. I don’t have to spend the time now. So, if we recognise that misery in this world is democratic, then, we won’t let it, let the pursuit of material things consume all our energy.
Bhakti does not require us to give up everything else for Krishna’s sake. But, that is what the other parts like Jnana require us to do. But Bhakti requires us, don’t give up everything, but let everything else wait.
When we are focussing our consciousness on Krishna, at that time, let everything else wait. Yes, these things can, they need to be done, they can be done later. And remembering that, in the ultimate perspective, these things are not going to matter much.
We can actually push aside other things for the purpose of focussing on Krishna. The mind has a tendency to eternalise the present. To eternalise the present means that whatever problem I am facing at present, the mind makes us think this problem is going to go on forever.
It is going to be there eternally. And, suppose if we are travelling in a train. I don’t know in Australia, in India sometimes trains are very crowded.
And they are crammed in a local. Now, if I know, okay, this local train journey is for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, I can tolerate it. But if I start thinking I have to live in this local, then how can I live like this? It will be impossible.
So, if we look at most of the problems that we face in our life, if we look back at some problem that we had maybe 1 year ago, 6 months ago, then that problem is not such a big problem for us now. It has come and it has gone. But when it is there, the mind tends to eternalise the problem.
This problem is going to be there forever. Oh, when we chant the holy names, at that time, we start coming out of the mind spell. When we focus on that which is truly eternal, then the mind can’t eternalise the temporal.
As long as we don’t have any connection with the eternal, the mind will eternalise the present and make us feel as if the present situation is going to go on forever and ever. So, sometimes we may chant because we have so much problems, we want a solution to those problems. And for that purpose, we chant.
And if we feel that the solution is not coming, then we feel what is the point of chanting? But the point is, often whatever problem is there, if we obsess over the problem, it becomes bigger than what it needs to be. So, if we think of chanting as a means to the solution, then, we miss out on the fact that chanting is the solution. Let me explain what I mean.
If I have some problem in my life, and I think, yes, I chant so that Krishna will solve this problem for me. So, here I am thinking of chanting as a means to the solution. I chant, I show Krishna how sincerely, how attentively I am chanting.
Krishna, see how attentively I am chanting and please solve this problem for me. So, if we think like that, we are seeing chanting as a means to the solution. And yes, Krishna can and Krishna will solve the problems.
But, when we focus on chanting only as a means to the solution, we miss out on the fact that chanting is itself the solution. How? When we chant, when we try to absorb our consciousness in Krishna, we connect with that which is eternal. And then, once the mind gets, once our consciousness experiences that which is truly eternal, then we realise this is not really eternal.
So, a small problem can appear like a huge skyscraper. When the mind dwells on it, dwells on it, dwells on it, and then we feel insignificant. But, when we dwell on Krishna, who is truly the ultimate skyscraper, he goes beyond the sky, not just scrapes the sky.
He transcends the sky also. When we focus on him, then the mind cannot make that problem so big. And that means, I talked about two things here.
First is that there are real dualities at the material level. There is sickness, there is health. There is poverty, there is wealth.
There are real dualities. But, even these real dualities in the ultimate sense don’t make much of a difference. And, it’s not that we have to give up trying to improve things, but we shouldn’t let that consume all our energy.
That’s one thing. We should give time for chanting and let, there is other time for improving our life materially. The other thing is, there is a duality created by the mind.
There is a situation, but the mind makes it bigger than what it needs to be. And that can be countered by chanting. So, when too many thoughts of problems start consuming us, that being consumed by thoughts of the problem is a bigger problem than the problem.
So, when I have a problem, when I think about it constantly, constantly, constantly, then it becomes a bigger and bigger and bigger problem. So, the holy name offers us, chanting offers us something other than the problem to think about. And when we do that, we find relief, gain relief from the problem.
And for doing that, when we feel, no, this is a big problem, I have to solve it. Yes, I have to solve it. But, it is something which is temporary.
It will be there and go away. Sarva maya mayam jagat. So, maya is not that this world is false, rather, the notion that this world will give me happiness.
That doing things in the world will solve my problems. That is not the reality. That is illusion.
So, the real solution is absorption in Krishna. Through absorption in Krishna, not only do we transcend the problem temporarily, but also, we become calm. Our thoughts become clearer.
And then we can think more clearly how to deal with the problem also. So, Harer naame va kevalam. Such is the glory of the holy name of Krishna.
Satyam satyam guna satyam Harer naame va kevalam Satyam satyam guna satyam Harer naame va kevalam Satyam satyam Savita vini Januru Satvita vini Sa manta mangal bhagtha Sa manta mangal bhagtha Shinkshaya Shinkshaya So Guru is the father, that person is a spiritual master, that person is the father, that person is the father, that person is the mother, that person is the friend, one who always teaches. What does that person teach? Harer naam eva kevalam. Who teaches that the holy name is everything, is the only ultimate reality.
Bhakti is a process of relationships. Ultimately bhakti is about a relationship with Krishna. At the same time it is not only about a relationship with Krishna.
It is about relating all our relationships with Krishna. It is about connecting all our relationships with Krishna. It is about spiritualising our relationships.
So we have a vertical relationship with Krishna and we have horizontal relationships with the different people in this world. And whatever love, whatever care, whatever happiness we experience in our relationships with others in this world, that is real. That we do experience in the relationships in this world can and do provide us a sense of belonging, a sense of community, a sense of security.
At the same time, these relationships are temporary. And if you look at life from only a materialistic perspective, then life seems set up for frustration. Isn’t it? We form relationships, we acquire things and it is all going to be taken away.
The movies, the novels, they often talk about H E A, happily ever after. And Krishna says this world is dukkhaalem ashaashvatam, the exact opposite of happily ever after. It is, when he says this is dukkhaalem, it is a place of misery and ashaashvatam, it is temporary.
So why is it that we have such a deep-rooted longing for love and relationships? And this longing is inevitably frustrated in this world. Normally, if you came into this room, if you were the first to come in this room, and you found a gold coin lying over there. Now all around it, you see there is a carpet, there are walls, but there is no gold.
So, if something so out of place is found in a particular place, the natural question would come, where did it come from? So, if we see a gold coin in a place where there is no gold all around, naturally the question will come, where has this gold coin come from? Similarly, we live in a world where everything is temporary, where all relationships ultimately end in frustration at the time of the separation of death. And yet, we have an innate longing for lasting love, for lasting relationships. So, if everything in this world is temporary, where does our longing for lasting relationships come from? Now, why do we have that longing at all? The answer is that this longing comes from our spiritual core.
The world around us is material, the body we have also is material. But in this material world, within the material body, there is a spiritual core. And that spiritual core is of a radically different nature than our material shell.
And this incompatibility between the longing of our spiritual core and the reality of the material world around us, this incompatibility should prompt within us the question, why is this incompatibility there? And that leads to spiritual enquiry. That leads to spiritual realisation. Aishwarya Prabhupada gave a lecture in one of the first Rath Yatra parade that was held in America.
The first was in 1968 in San Francisco. He was sick, so he was not present. He was the inspiration.
Second Rath Yatra festival that was held, he was personally present over there. And mostly there were hippies who were there at that time. So the hippies loved the Rath Yatra.
Not because they loved Jagannath. At that time, they didn’t even know who Jagannath was. But they loved Rath Yatra because they loved to do crazy things.
And what could be crazier than dancing on the streets? In the past, if they had tried to dance on the streets, the police would have come and arrested them. But now they were dancing on the streets and the police were escorting them. So they were delighted.
So a large number of hippies were there in this programme. And Prabhupada, he told them, all of you hippies, Americans don’t appreciate you because they say you are frustrated. But he says, I appreciate you because human life is meant to be frustrated.
He says, only when we are frustrated with material life, will we enquire about spiritual life. He says, to enquire about spirituality is the purpose of life. And yes, there are four categories of people who come to Krishna.
Artho, Jijnasur, Artharthi, Jnani. There are distress, there are the wealth seekers, there are the inquisitive and there are the knowledgeable. But actually the reality in Kali Yuga is that there are four kinds of people who come to Krishna.
The distress, the distress, the distress and the distressed. Why? Because if you want wealth, there seem to be so many other ways in which you can get wealth. If you want to be inquisitive, there are millions of subjects to be inquisitive about.
And people who are truly knowledgeable are truly very few. So most of us, it’s when we get distress, frustration, reversals in our material life, do we turn towards Krishna. So this frustration in material life is not necessarily bad, if it can prompt spiritual enquiry.
And frustration is inevitable. As I said, because of the incompatibility between our core longing and our circumstantial reality, there is going to be frustration. So what Bhakti philosophy tells us is that our horizontal relationships, if we pursue them alone, they will lead to frustration, they will end in frustration.
But if we connect our horizontal relationship with our spiritual relationship, then they become a path for us to rise in our vertical relationship with Krishna. That means, we see in the Dhruva Maharaj pastime, Dhruva’s mother, when Dhruva is insulted, he is crying bitterly. Even Dhruva wants to sit on his father’s lap.
And his stepmother does not allow. In fact, not only she doesn’t allow, he tries to climb on his lap and she pushes him away. Not only pushes him away, she speaks hurtful words to him.
And his father remains silent. And Dhruva is devastated. Small child.
Now for children, their whole sense of self-identity is centred on their parents. And to be so neglected by his father is shattering for him. Even before Dhruva runs to his mother, the maids who are there in the palace, they run and tell Sunidhi what has happened.
At that time, when Dhruva finally reaches, his mother pulls her into tight embrace. She is also in tears. She is helpless.
And Dhruva asks his mother. His mother is not able to, she consoles him with her love. She is not able to offer him anything practical.
And he says that my father is sitting on a throne. No, I want a bigger throne than my father’s. How can I get it? His mother says, Dhruva, don’t worry.
Things will be all right. He says, no, you tell me how I can get a bigger throne. And then his mother says that, actually, now I have heard that sages go to the, that only Hari can give you this.
She says, where can I find Lord Hari? He says that, I can find, you can find, sages go to the forest to get Lord Hari. And actually she gives two precedents. She says, Brahmaji worshipped Lord Hari and then our ancestors, Swaimbu Manu, he also worshipped Lord Hari.
So then Dhruva immediately goes to the forest. Now for a mother, you know, even when a child goes to school in a safely escorted school bus, still there is anxiety. When a child is going to the forest all alone, how much anxiety would be there? And sometimes if not only the child wants to go, here the mother is sending the child.
How could she have done such a thing? So there, there’s a passage where Suniti says to Dhruva that the love that I can offer you, Lord Vishnu can offer you millions of times more love than what any mother can offer you. This is her greatness as not just a mother, but as a mother who is a devotee. So our relationships in this world should not restrict us others from going towards Krishna.
You inspire others to go towards Krishna. It is Dhruva did not reject his mother’s love to go towards Krishna. It was he was actually empowered by his mother’s love.
His mother did not just tell him to go, his mother blessed him to go. So most of us in our relationships, we don’t face such challenges. But in our relationships, those people are our true benefactors who guide us towards Krishna.
Yes, others can also benefit us and the benefit that they can offer, that’s also important. But from the ultimate perspective, those who guide us towards Krishna, they are our true benefactors. And this is a prayer which is focussing on how those who instruct us about Krishna, they are our true father, true mother, true guru, two friends.
This is another famous prayer which talks about the same thing from a slightly different perspective. So, here the devotee is praying to the Lord, you are my mother, you are my father, you are my mother, you are my father, you are my brother, you are my friend. It’s interesting this first four are in terms of relationships.
But the next two are in terms of objects. You are knowledge. You are wealth.
And then conclusion is, you are everything, oh Lord. So what does this mean? Sometimes some people, especially the elders in a traditional family, if a son or a daughter is becoming a devotee and the parents don’t want them to become a devotee, they go, matru deva bhava, pitru deva bhava, you obey your mother, you obey your father. And yes, you can chant a little bit in the morning, a little bit in the morning, but you don’t have to chant two hours.
Yes, you be religious, but you don’t become fanatical. They feel that bhakti practises are too fanatical. But there is in general religious life in the material world, people do practise religion.
But for them, religion is just one part of life. But to be a sadhaka, to be a seeker, means that our bhakti becomes our life. Not that it means we do only bhakti, but all our other activities also we do in a mood of bhakti.
Svakarmana tam abhyarcha, that by your work, worship him. Krishna tells in the Bhagavad Gita. So the point which I am making is, they say that, okay, the mother, your mother is God, father is God.
So just follow them. Now this, there is a Upanishadic saying like this, but if you look at the overall context, what is the context? The context is that the mother and the father are meant to be representatives of God. And they are meant to take a person towards God by their guidance.
If this verse is taken literally, that the father is God or the mother is God, then the question comes up, say the father wants the son to become an engineer, the mother wants the son to become a doctor. Now both are God, which God to follow? So this is not at all to minimise the love that our parents offer us. But at the same time, we shouldn’t absolutise that love and make that into the absolute reality.
So the Tomeva mata cha pita tomeva, what it means is that whatever love I have got from my mother, whatever love I have got from my father, whatever love I have got from my friends, from my brothers and sisters, or whatever security I have got from my knowledge, whatever security I have got from my wealth, whatever I have got from anyone, it is Krishna who has given those things to me through those agents. So it is not that I neglect the agents, but I don’t look only at the agents. I understand it is Krishna who is giving these things to me through these agents.
There is very little love, there is practically no love in this world that is as selfless as a mother’s love for her newborn baby. At the same time, when the mother loves the child, it is actually the same Krishna who has sent the child in the mother’s womb. The mother may say, you know, I fed you my breast milk, I kept you in my stomach, I fed you my breast milk.
Yes, that is true. But it is Krishna who sent the child into the mother’s body, mother’s belly. It is Krishna who provided arrangement by which the child could grow in the mother’s belly.
After the child comes out, it is Krishna who arranges for milk in the mother’s breast. The mother doesn’t do anything magical at the time of pregnancy, suddenly the milk starts coming over there. No, it is the same Krishna who has arranged for that child to be born through the mother.
Krishna has also arranged for the mother to be able to provide milk. Certainly the mother’s love is there. No minimising that.
But at the same time, if we limit our vision only to the love of our loved ones, then we miss out on the eternal fulfilment of love. So whatever love, whatever security we got from anyone, it is ultimately Krishna who is giving that to us through them. So rather than the two extremes, one is to reject all worldly love and all worldly relationships as false.
And the other is to make worldly relationships itself as the ultimate thing. So both are extremes. Both will keep us mistaken.
The balance is whatever relationships we have, we accept gratefully whatever love, security, shelter we get in those relationships. And we see this is a glimpse of what Krishna can offer me. Therefore, let me focus on Krishna.
Now in our situation, our relationships may not always be spiritually congenial. So at that time, rather than seeing those relationships as inimical, it’s not that okay, in this relationship, this person, this relative is not helping me in my bhakti. It’s not that we reject them.
Rather, we see ourselves as an opportunity for giving Krishna to them. They may not be in a position to receive Krishna right now. Then we have to behave in a way that gradually they develop the disposition.
If they see that by practising bhakti, my relative has become a better person. Not better in the, they have the definition of better means that we do all the materialistic activity that they are doing. Not in that sense.
But better in the sense of truly being, truly caring for them, truly valuing them, truly being there for them when they need them. So then people see this and people appreciate this. So there’s one of my brahmachari friends in Radha Gopinath temple in Mumbai.
So when he became a brahmachari, you know, his father was so angry. He said, never again come to this house. If you go out, don’t come ever again.
Today you are dead to me. And then he had three sons. So one of his sons went and became a brahmachari.
And then he had two other sons. Eventually, he became old and he became sick. And when he was in his deathbed, he had a good amount of property.
But even before he was dying, his other two sons, they were already competing and quarrelling for the property. He had kept a good amount of money in his wife’s name. He was going to survive.
And then he told his wife, if you want, his wife was not very literate. She did not know too much of legalities. He told her at that time that, you know, if you have to consult anyone about doing any other property, just consult your brahmacharis.
Because he doesn’t want anything from you. He will truly tell you what is good for you. So in between what happened? At that time, naturally, there is the feeling of rejection and even betrayal that may come when someone becomes a devotee, especially when somebody becomes a brahmachari.
But over a period of time, even when his father was sick, this devotee, he was there with his father on many occasions. He arranged for him to be taken to a devotee hospital there and to be offered treatment. So he saw that actually my son has not rejected me.
When I need him, he is there. And most importantly, he saw that my son is serving me with this mood of selflessness. And so where he said that you are dead for me, eventually what happened? He said he was the only son he could trust at that time.
So actually, if we try to be sensitive, respectful in our relationships, either through those relationships, we go towards Krishna or through those relationships, we help others move towards Krishna. And for this to happen, we need to give due importance to those who are telling us about Krishna. That’s why this verse says that who are our father, who are our mother, who is our guru? The one who tells us about the glory of Krishna, the importance of the holy name.
So many times, after we die, our relatives will say Ram Naam Satya Hai. But when we are alive and we are chanting Ram Naam, they say Ram Naam waste. But that is because they don’t have philosophical education right now.
So we shouldn’t let ourselves be deviated from the practise of bhakti because of them. We keep our bhakti going on firmly and gradually try to spiritualise that relationship. And that way, whatever fulfilment we get in these relationships, sometimes, we are in particular relationships and when we start practising bhakti, there is some distance, some strain, some alienation that is created in those relationships.
We feel, is this too much of a price to pay? No. Actually, whatever we may lose in that relationship, we will gain millions of times more in our relationship with Krishna. And that’s why all our relationships, they are important and we need to do our duties in those relationships.
At the same time, we don’t let them distract us from our relationship with Krishna. We focus on, when we have to focus on Krishna, we have to focus on the holy name, this is my most important relationship. And we can remember at that time, not those who minimise or devalue the holy name, but we remember those who remind us of the importance of the holy name.
Those who remind us of how valuable, how ultimately only valuable it is going to be. It is the only thing that is going to be of value. And by remembering them, by giving due priority to their words, to their association, their guidance, we can get the inspiration to chant attentively with the conviction that we will be able to breathe out.
There is no vishwas, there is no certainty of that. What this means is that death can befall us at any moment. And among all the ways in which death can come, through the stopping of breath is something which we don’t even notice.
We are breathing all the time, we don’t even notice that we are breathing. But if the breathing stops, instantly death can come. Therefore, forcefully chant the holy names right from childhood.
The meditation on the temporary nature of material existence is meant to make us purified, not paranoid. Once I was giving a class on how death can come any time. So, before that another devotee had given a class on a similar topic.
And he had quoted a Shri Vaishnava saint who said that every morning when we wake up, we should think, today I am going to die. And he said today I am going to die. That will make us serious in remembering Krishna.
So, this devotee asked, he did not ask that question, he asked me this question. He says, if I think I am going to die today, I will think why should I go for my job? Why should I do anything? I should just sit and chant. So, how can I think that I will die today? What does it mean practically? Yes, it is true that death can come any time.
And we need to be aware that death can come any time. But there is a purpose of every awareness. Yes, death can come any time.
Sometimes, if there are terrorist attacks, at that time there will be fear, oh maybe there is a terrorist here, maybe terrorist here and there will be bombs put over there. So, now that makes people paranoid, constantly fearful, constantly fearful. Now, that state of fearfulness is not conducive for spiritual life.
When we see the various emotions that we experience, the same emotion can be experienced in goodness, in passion, in ignorance. So, for example, a person, when that person is say travelling in a bus, at that time, person looks out and there is green scenery. If one person is in ignorance, the person is trying to sleep in the bus and the bus is shaking and bumping and the person thinks such greenery, such a comfortable place to go to sleep.
The second person, next window is in passion and that person has just seen a romantic movie and remembering how the hero and heroine are dancing and singing in a lush green forest, he thinks, if only I had someone with me, I would also enjoy romantically in this forest. The third person, the person is goodness and is reading a book and the bus is shaking, so he is not able to read, look in the forest, such a peaceful place, I can absorb myself in reading this book. So, same forest, different responses.
Just as the same thing can induce different responses in us, depending on the mode which we are in, similarly, the awareness of death, the awareness of life’s temporariness can induce different responses. So, when we are in Tamoguna, when there is a thought of death, it makes us paranoid. Paranoid means, you know, constantly think, maybe I will die, maybe I will die, maybe I will die, maybe I will die, maybe I will die.
Sometimes people are, people become paranoid about, maybe I will get some disease. So, in medical literature, there is a story that once a lady, she would go every month to a doctor to check whether I have got cancer. Every month, have I got cancer? Have I got cancer? Have I got cancer? And after 23 years, she got, she got cancer.
See, doctor, I was right. Now, certainly, we should do preventive diagnosis regularly. But it is not necessary to be always be fearful of things.
So, constant fearfulness is a result of the mode of ignorance. And when people are infected by the mode of ignorance, constant fearfulness, that does not make them spiritually. That doesn’t mean, just make them more and more insecure, incapable of doing anything materially or spiritually.
When we are in the mode of passion, the same thought of life’s temporariness, it makes us think, you know, we may say, oh, youth is temporary. Don’t waste your time in enjoying. Now, focus on Krishna.
So, if we are in the mode of passion, the same thing, youth is temporary. Enjoy before youth goes away. So, the idea is, the same fact is there, you are going to grow old, get diseased and die.
Enjoy now. So, in the mode of passion, the thought of death makes us feel, because material enjoyment is the only thing that we know about, we think better do it now before you lose it. On the other hand, when we are in mode of goodness, we understand there is material reality and there is spiritual reality.
And thought of the destructibility of material reality, it makes us give due attention to the spiritual reality. So, when this devotee asks this question, if I think I am going to die today, how can I go for my job or what can I do? The point is, yes, the death can come anytime, but just by thinking about death, we are not going to deal with it. There is a process for raising our consciousness from the material level to the spiritual level.
And that process needs to be followed seriously. And that process is not just about chanting Hare Krishna. In our later part tomorrow, we will discuss about how just chanting without changing our worldview, without changing our frame of reference, that will not lead to much benefit.
Of course, chanting itself leads to a change of worldview and frame of reference. But if it is done ritualistically, it doesn’t happen like that, at least not so quickly. So, the process for spiritualising our consciousness is a comprehensive process, wherein chanting plays a very important role.
But chanting is not the only thing. We want to turn our whole heart and our whole life towards Krishna. Chanting offers us the opportunity to directly connect with Krishna.
And when we directly connect with Krishna, when Krishna is manifesting as the holy name, then Krishna permeates our consciousness. And when he has permeated our consciousness, then when we are doing other activities also, Krishna is there in our consciousness, at least at the background. And then as Krishna permeates our consciousness more and more and more, then whatever we are doing, that doesn’t consume our consciousness.
For whom we are doing it, that becomes the focus. It’s as if we come to a new place. Most of you may come from India to Australia.
So, initially when we come to Australia, like many devotees, many people, when they go to America, they call all their relatives. Now I am in America. They want to inform everyone.
Because they feel I am in a special place now. But that’s fine, because then there is newness, there is glamour. But after some time realise, okay, where am I? That’s not as important as what am I doing there? Isn’t it? Yes, you are living in Australia.
What are you doing over here? We have our job, we have family, we have our various responsibilities. So, similarly, then what am I doing? Okay, what am I doing for my family, for my loved ones? What am I doing for whom? So, what we are doing, the externals of it matter very much for us initially. But as time passes, then the purpose for which we are doing it, that’s what matters more.
So, similarly, initially in the course of our life, the material circumstances matter a lot. But as Krishna permeates our consciousness, then the purpose for which we are doing all these things, that is what becomes prominent. So, Shrila Prabhupada, when he went to America on a ship, he would die anytime.
In fact, when he got heart attacks, he got two heart attacks. To survive two heart attacks, even with medical assistance is difficult. To survive two heart attacks without any medical assistance.
You know, I always used to wonder that normally, how did they allow a whole ship to go without any medical assistance over there? When Prabhupada went on that ship, there was no medical staff at all over there. Actually, the reason was because it was a cargo ship. It was not meant to take passengers per se.
So, there was no medical, not even a doctor, no medical assistance at all in any way. Prabhupada survived that and still he persevered. Now, of course, we could say at one level his consciousness was spiritual.
But Shrila Prabhupada, he could have left his body in Vrindavan. And yet he was going abroad. And he was going on a ship all alone, courting death.
Now, if just the thought of death and the thought of being in Vrindavan at the moment of death had been prominent in his consciousness, he would never have left Vrindavan. His focus was on, what am I doing? Not so much where am I, but what am I doing? So, to external vision, Prabhupada left Vrindavan to go to America. But actually, Prabhupada did not leave Vrindavan.
He carried Vrindavan with him. And wherever he went, he manifested Vrindavan over there. So, similarly, we have to do various activities in our life.
And the process of bhakti is not about giving up those activities, but about bringing Krishna into those activities. And for that purpose, when Krishna is directly in front of us, at that time, we have to focus on Krishna. Suppose there is a husband and a wife and the husband is working somewhere else.
And the husband comes back home and the husband tells the wife, even when I am there, I am always thinking of you. But when the wife is talking with him, the husband is looking on the phone, looking here, looking there. And the wife will say, even when I am there, you are not thinking about me.
You are not paying attention to me. How can I believe you are thinking about me when you are not there with me? So, similarly, you know, some people say, Bhagwan ka naam 24 ghante chalte hi rehta hai andar. You are constantly chanting Krishna’s name all the time.
Well, if you are constantly chanting all the time, why can’t you chant exclusively for some time? So, actually, when Krishna is directly manifest in front of us, if we are not attentive at that time, it is very unlikely that we will be thinking about Krishna at other times. So, when Krishna is available for us, that is the time when we will permeate our consciousness. And then we will be able to think about him at other times also.
And even if we are not able to think about him, that Krishna says, that I will give you the intelligence by which you can come to me. So, Ramanujacharya, at one time, he asks his Guru Vardhacharya, he asks him that, you know, please ask the Lord that I am devoting my life to him. But if suddenly death comes, I am not able to remember him at that time.
Remember you, what will happen? So, the Lord replies to his Guru. His Guru is very exalted saint and the Lord directly talks with him. So, Vardharaj Swami replies that, you know, if my devotee remembers me throughout his life, throughout his or her life, then at the time of death, I will remember that devotee.
And I will manifest in the consciousness of that devotee. And I will ensure that the devotee remembers me. So, Krishna is a very loving God.
And when Krishna and Krishna’s devotees tell us to think about death, that is not to make us fearful or insecure. That is to enable us to take firm shelter of the one person who will offer a shelter when all the shelters of this world go away. At the time of death, no one can help us.
Now, even our spiritual master cannot remember Krishna for us. The spiritual master can bless us, the spiritual master can pray for us. But it is we who have to remember Krishna.
And if we try according to our capacity to remember Krishna, you know, we say that if we take one step towards Krishna, Krishna takes a thousand steps towards us. But it’s not only that. When we take one step towards Krishna, Krishna expands the size of that step.
And Krishna takes us closer to him. So, when we think about death, it is not to become fearful, it is not to become paranoid. We think about death, so that we focus on Krishna.
And whatever is distracting us from Krishna, we remember this is temporary. And this is not going to offer me ultimate shelter. And that’s why thinking about Krishna has to be done in a philosophy, thinking about death has to be done in a philosophical context, in the mode of goodness.
In the mode of goodness, if somebody is already very distressed, somebody is very, you know, I have this problem in life, I have this problem in this life, I have this problem in this life. At that time, if you tell them, yes, this world is filled with problems, these problems are going to go on. You say, you know, that is, we are not actually doing the duty.
See, if you see, this world is dukkhalayam. That is true. This world is a place of misery.
But that doesn’t mean we have to be miserable. What does that mean? This world is a place of misery, but we don’t have to be miserable. Okay, look at the Gita itself.
Gita was spoken when Arjuna was immensely miserable. In 1.30 he says that, everywhere I am seeing adversity, everywhere I am seeing reversals. He says, my bow, the Gandiva is slipping from my hands, hair is standing, sweat is coming all over my body, my limbs are quivering.
He says, his eyes were filled with tears. So, Arjuna was in distress and Krishna gave a message of the Bhagavad Gita. And what was the purpose of the message? What happened by the end of the message? No, Arjuna’s tears went away.
Arjuna became, his distress went away, his doubts went away. He became determined. So, if the Bhagavad Gita’s message is that this world is a place of misery, then how did by hearing that this world is a place of misery, Arjuna become free from misery? The point is, the Bhagavad Gita’s message is not that this world is a place of misery.
If you look at that famous verse also, 8.15, the thrust of that verse is what? It is not that this world is a place of misery. Thrust of this verse is, those who worship me, they don’t come back to this world which is a place of misery and death. They attain my eternal abode.
So, that this world is a place of misery is a passing fact, which Krishna tells so that to glorify his eternal abode. So, that means the Bhagavad Gita’s purpose is not to tell us that we all have to be miserable. Yes, this world is a place of misery, but it is going to offer us a process not just to take us ultimately out of the misery, but immediately also provide us relief from that misery.
How is that? That happens when our consciousness is not situated in this world. When our consciousness is elevated above this world, then we get a shelter that releases us from misery. Just like if we are in a hospital.
The hospital is a place of misery. There are people who are sick, but that does not mean everybody in the hospital is increasing everyone else’s misery. There is a whole system if the patient cooperates with the doctor, the doctor minimises the misery and gradually the doctor cures the patient so that the patient becomes free from misery.
Similarly, there is a process of dharma, ultimately the process of bhakti, which minimises our misery in this world and ultimately freezes from misery. So, just like in a hospital, it is not that the doctor constantly has to tell the patient that this is a hospital, you are going to be miserable, this is a hospital, you are going to be miserable. The whole thrust of the hospital is take the medicine, participate in the treatment, then you will get cured.
So, similarly, our focus is not on death. It is not that devotees have to be constantly worried about death, death, death. We are not meant to be death conscious.
We are meant to be Krishna conscious. And when the thoughts, when the allurement of pleasures of this world starts tempting us away from Krishna, at that time we can think of death. Just like in a hospital, the patient should focus on the treatment.
Similarly, we focus on the practise of bhakti. When we practise bhakti, that offers us relief from misery. The temporariness of this world is meant to give us impetus to focus on the eternality of Krishna’s shelter.
And that way, we experience the security of the eternal, even in this world. I’ll conclude with one incident which Guru Janaprabhu tells in My Glorious Master. There, Guru Janaprabhu asks Prabhupada that, you know, we say bhakti is transcendental.
But then we still experience the modes in this world. We still go up and down with goodness, passion, ignorance. He says, why is that? He said that when we are not practising bhakti, we are in the ocean of material existence.
In the ocean, the waves will toss us up and down, up and down, up and down. We are completely at the mercy of the waves of the ocean. When we start practising bhakti, bhakti acts like a boat.
So, the boat shelters us from the waves, substantially. But still, the boat is in the ocean. The boat is in the ocean and the waves are there in the ocean.
So, the boat is going to shake. Now, usually, the word boat is used for describing either the human body or the purpose of the human body is to practise bhakti. Normally, boats are small, but if you consider a big boat with a captain.
Now, to the extent, the captain is in control of the boat and the captain guides the boat and the captain is experienced at navigating the boat. And whenever some big waves are going to come, the captain will navigate it expertly. So that although the waves will come, the boat will not shake so much.
Similarly, if we, when we start practising bhakti, the shaking because of the material world which will happen, that will decrease considerably. But still, we are in the material world, the shaking will be there. But if we follow the instruction of the spiritual master, then the spiritual master has the expertise to guide us about how to minimise the shaking.
And the essential instruction of the spiritual master is to remember Krishna. Always remember Krishna, never forget Krishna. Of course, how we remember Krishna in every situation, that will vary according to time, place and circumstance.
But to the extent we follow the instruction of the spiritual master, to that extent, the shaking because of the ups and downs of this world, that will become lesser and lesser for us. And in that way, we will experience the eternal even while we are in the material world. So we think about death, not to become paranoid.
In ignorance, we will think about death and become fearful. In passion, we will think about death and we think I must enjoy right now. In goodness, the thought of death means we remember there’s a material side of life, there’s a spiritual side of life.
And I need to focus on the spiritual side. And the process of bhakti is such that we don’t just focus on the spiritual side, but rather through bhakti we spiritualise the material side also. So we follow the process of bhakti, we do our duties.
Whatever duties are, we do our duties responsibly. And we permeate our consciousness with Krishna by giving due attention to Krishna when we are focussing on directly devotional activities. And when our consciousness becomes permeated with Krishna, then even when the material world will shake us up and down, that shaking will be lesser and lesser, the more we are absorbed in Krishna.
Last, same three lines, then we can once sing the whole four lines, then we’ll stop. Satyam Satyam Uma Satyam Satyam Satyam Satyam Satyam