NoI 4 Text 1 – The exalted level of the “sharira avidya jala” prayer

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, today we should be able to complete the first verse of Updesha Amrit.
So, we have discussed, let’s go over what all we have discussed till now. In this particular purport, Srila Prabhupada’s purports are very well structured. So, this purport has a structure that first he takes the, he takes the background for this, the problem of sense control.
Then he talks about how all the six vegas can be controlled and then after giving his commentary, then he goes back to Bhaktasiddhanta Siddhartha’s commentary and elaborates that. So, let’s look at the last part of the commentary. So, yesterday we discussed from Bhaktasiddhanta Siddhartha’s commentary, Vachavegam, Jivavegam and the Ropastha.
So, let’s look at the remaining vegas now. So, who would like to read? You are here. Yeah.
Similarly, the demands of the body. Yes. So, before we look at the translation, a couple of points.
So, basically what Srila Bhaktasiddhanta Siddhartha has done is, he has clarified, he has classified rather, all these urges into two broad categories. So, the urges of the body and the urges of the mind. So, the urges of the mind, he said is, these two which we discussed, Avirodha Prithi, yeah, Avirodha Prithi and Virodhipna Krodh, and then he talks about the mind’s, the body’s urges are the tongue, the belly and the genitals.
Now, now he will elaborate on these three urges. Now, the most striking part, tongue, belly, genitals, these are three urges. So, the most striking part of the prayer of Bhaktananda Thakur, we recite this every day in the Nithya Prasad.
So, in the Christian tradition, they have offering grease. They say that before you take food, you thank God for the food that he has provided us. And then there is a prayer, O father, thou art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, give us our daily bread.
So, that is asking for bread. And then, when they get bread, they thank God for that. Certainly, it is good to acknowledge God’s grace in our life in the form of the food that preserves our life.
So, at the same time, if that prayer is large at the bodily level, the body needs food for maintenance and God has provided this food. Certainly, we are grateful for that. But if you look at the nature of the prayer that Bhaktananda Thakur is offering over here, it’s not thanking God for offering food at the material level for the maintenance of the body.
We can be grateful to God for that also. But actually speaking, that is something which God offers to all living beings. You know, there are so many living beings in nature and 8.4 million is the count which is given by the Padma Purana to us.
That is one way of looking at the species based on consciousness. Modern science will give us a different number based on morphological, physical features. But whichever way, there are so many species of life and all of them have their own different diet.
It’s not that all species can eat the same food. So, actually, humans are practically the only species in nature that cannot naturally recognise what is edible. If humans are sent into the forest, we can’t make out just by looking, oh, is this fruit edible? Are these inedible? All the other species know it and they can eat the food.
So, in a sense, if we just thank God for food, then that is something which God has provided to all species. So, he provides them food externally and he provides the intelligence by which one can discern what is edible. So, in a sense, are humans less endowed by God? Not exactly.
Human life is meant for a higher purpose. And the whole focus of the Mahaprasad, Sharira Vidyajal prayer is that how Krishna has provided us through the prasad, the means to conquer our senses and to conquer our material existence, actually. So, we thank Krishna not for providing food so that we can live or survive in material existence.
Rather, we thank Krishna for providing us prasad by which we can transcend material existence. So, the level of the prayer is very different. It’s much, much more elevated.
So, prasad and prayer is actually at a lofty level of God consciousness. It’s an important point to understand because this tradition of thanking God for food is there in almost all religions. That’s a good level of God consciousness and not just thanking God for the food that enables us to survive in material existence.
But we are thanking God and not just God specifically, Krishna. Thanking Krishna for the prasad that enables us to control our senses, some call senses are there, conquer material existence. So, this prayer itself reveals the lofty level at which the Gaudiya Vaishnav culture teaches us to approach God.
The whole purpose of the prayer is to recognise that ultimately we have to go out of material existence and material existence is a trap in the Christian tradition and in general in the tradition of the Abrahamic religions, whether that is Islam or Judaism. So, Christianity is the world’s greatest religion. So, let’s focus on Christianity.
The whole idea that this world is like a trap from which we have to get out, that conception is not there itself. We don’t have the conception of samsara chakra because they think one life is all that we have and their whole idea of heaven is also quite superficial. Their whole idea of heaven is as if it is just a continuation of this world’s existence where all the relatives whom we have lost, so their idea of heaven is more like a perpetual family reunion with all lost family members.
So, there is a famous Christian writer, C.S. Lewis, he wrote many books and some of them were like more Christian fiction. So, in one of his books, Travels of Narnia, at the end he described that everybody goes back to heaven and then they go back to heaven, they discover that heaven is just like London. So, their idea of heaven is just otherworldly continuation of this world and the only difference is the problems of this world are not there.
But how the problems are not there, that is not really explained. The problems are there because we want to be God and that whole idea is not so clearly explained. So, here in the Vedic culture, the whole understanding is that this material existence is a place where we are trapped and what traps us is our senses and our mind and to get out of this, we need to control our senses and mind and for that purpose, whatever Krishna does to help us for that purpose, that is Krishna’s greatest work.
So, certainly for people who are starving, for them food is important and we could say food is one way which God’s grace comes along to them. It’s an important way and if we are starving, we’ll also need food. No doubt, but even if we have food, that doesn’t really solve a problem for very long.
You know, we eat and then we pass out the food and then again after a few hours, we feel hungry and this would go on day after day, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, even lifetime after lifetime. So, the real mercy of God is not just to give us food to maintain our mental existence but to give us this mercy by which we can transcend mental existence and actually speaking, if you look at all the prayers of our morning programme, none of the prayers are in a sense thanking God for giving us a happy material life. That is the whole idea, not necessarily material in terms of sensual life but immaterial life.
So, Christianity largely, not just Christianity actually, even Hinduism as it is practised today in most of the country, it is practised largely at a Karmakandi level. Now, what is the Karmakanda level? The category is Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. These names may be the Vedic but the principle is that we do religion so that we can be happy in this world.
So, Dharma is done so that there can be Artha and Kama in this world and Moksha is a distilled prospect which is never the central goal of life in most religions. So, most religions in the world are practised at this level and at that level, people think that God’s blessings come in the form of this worldly prosperity. They may be, this worldly prosperity can definitely be God’s blessings but sometimes what we consider to be God’s blessings can take us away from God.
If we become too enamoured by this worldly things, we start thinking this world is a comfortable place then we’ll go away from God. So, let’s look at this prayer a little bit more in detail. So, the start of the prayer itself is So, avidya is ignorance, jaal is a trap.
So, the body is a trap of ignorance. It is not only something which puts us in ignorance. When we are in bodily consciousness, we forget that I am the soul but not only do we forget but we are also put into a trap because the body creates drives by which we go further into forgetfulness.
We go further and further into forgetfulness. So, sharira vidya jaal and then jadendriya taheka. Senses drag us towards death.
Why? Because the senses engage in the sense gratification. The gratification protects us to bodily consciousness and the more we are averted to bodily consciousness, the more we have to suffer. When death comes, jadendriya taheka among them this world is an ocean of sense objects.
So many sense objects and among them the tongue is the most ferocious. The first jiva is the soul. The soul has fallen in this ocean of sense objects and among them jiva is It is extremely difficult to control.
So, atilobha moya and sudurmati. It is extremely greedy and sudurmati means it is not attracted to the right things at all. It is attracted to the wrong things and because of it the whole material existence It becomes extremely complicated.
So, in general, when we talk about the four elevated principles, for most people their idea of enjoyment is eat a lot of food which involves a lot of meat and then when they eat the food, then you have to digest the food. So, you drink a lot of wine and then after drink a lot of wine you get a lot of passion and have a lot of sex and then for getting money for that do a lot of gyan. So, people’s idea of enjoyment actually involves breaking the four elevated principles.
So, actually drinking is also done with the tongue. Smoking also involves the mouth and the tongue. There is some sort of perverse pleasure that is involved in the tongue and of course, we discussed about obesity.
It’s a big problem. So, eating is also a serious problem. So, these are actually problems not just for sadhakas.
They are also problem for people in general, the uncontrolled senses. Their problem is for everyone but sadhakas feel these problems in a greater severity often because we are trying to control the senses. So, you know sometimes we may feel that our mind troubles us so much and we feel that you know I have to follow so many standards, so many rules, don’t do this, don’t do that and that’s what is causing me so much trouble.
So many desires I have to do. But it’s not that the mind troubles only devotees. The mind troubles even non-devotees.
Devotees have so many desires to give up and non-devotees have so many desires to fulfil. So, actually speaking nobody is free from the trouble of the mind. Both are troubled by the mind.
The only difference is the devotee is, the spiritualist, when they try to keep giving up desire, the desires will decrease over a period of time whereas for non-devotees, when they keep indulging in the desires, they’re going to go on increasing. So, kathinathamsare is there for everyone. For everyone, the uncontrolled senses make life miserable and in that Krishna bada dayamon, kodivarai chivam ajayam.
So, Krishna is so merciful. His mercy is that he enables us to conquer our tongue. How? So, prasad anharilobhai.
So, the prasad is to be taken dilobhai, not manabhai or chubhabhai. As much as the heart longs for. If you start bringing how much the tongue longs for, then even prasad can have it to meet you.
Say, annamrit pao radha krishna gungao. And the whole purpose of taking prasad is not only we will enjoy prasad, but the purpose of prasad is radha krishna gungao. So, we get energy by taking prasad and to glorify radha and krishna.
And premeda ko chetani mitai. And this is of course in the Gaudiya tradition by kathinathamsare. So, he’s saying that while glorifying radha and krishna, we got the opportunity to relish krishnamukti, by the mercy of Shetan Mahaprabhu Nityan.
So, we call out their names and seek their mercy. So, go ahead. Yes.
Yeah, let’s look at a little bit. Let’s look at, Krishna talks about who in three places primarily in the Bhagavad Gita. We will not look at all these places, but let’s analyse what he says in different places and see how that offers in our context.
So, Gita’s references to food. So, the most common reference that we use with respect to prasad is, this is section from 3.13 to 16, where Krishna talks about how food comes by cosmic arrangement. So, that verse comes there, where we should offer our food to Krishna.
So, food comes by cosmic arrangement that is dependent on sacrifice. This is one reference to food. This next reference to food in the Bhagavad Gita is 9.26, where Krishna is satisfied by simple offerings, maybe devotion.
So, the focus of this verse is that the simplicity of the offering. And actually, Prabhupada would use this verse also to talk about how, what all food items we can offer to Krishna. So, if there are items that are, there is no, and all those things mentioned over here in this list.
Krishna says, these are the things that I can offer to you, these are the things I would like to accept. Now, see, some people argue that there are no grains mentioned in this verse. So, there’s no grains mentioned in this list is exhaustive.
Now, you cannot, if you want to have exhaustive list, there can be so many further. And there are so many things which you try to classify, some things are the borderline, you can’t classify them as vegetables or fruits exactly, because some people, some things fall in the borderline. So, this is not exhaustive list, it’s indicative list.
But it’s significant that even in the indication, there is no mention of grains. So, the point of this verse is that the simplicity of the offering is what satisfies the Lord. And then the other reference comes is in the 17th chapter.
It’s food in the three modes, 17.8 to 10. So, we’ll just look at this food in the three modes. Let’s recite this verse and we’ll discuss them briefly.
So, these are the food that appear to those who are in goodness. And significantly, when describing the characteristics of the food, first what are described are the effects of the food, not the physical characteristics. As we look at the food that are described for the passion and endurance, what is first described is the physical characteristics.
Because when people are in goodness, Krishna describes in 14th level that one of the characteristics of goodness is that all the senses are illuminated by knowledge. So, in a person in goodness, the primary criteria for deciding what to eat is not just how it looks or how it tastes, it’s what will be its effect on me. So, Krishna describes over here, what should be the effect of the food that we take? Vivardhana means to increase.
So, food should be such that it increases our longevity, it increases our health, it increases our strength, it purifies our existence. And then, it makes us joyful and it is pleasing. It makes us happy and it makes us quite a list of characteristics are given.
And then he says, what are the characteristics physically? So, juicy, fatty, enduring, pleasing to the heart. So, these are the characteristics of food in the mode of goodness. But the important point is, first the effects are mentioned and then the characteristics are mentioned.
So, most of the prasad that we have, prasad in and of itself is transcendental because it is offered to Krishna. At the same time, like we discussed yesterday, prasad also has a material manifestation in the sense that in Krishna’s mercy is manifested in the material manifestation. So, certain foods are in certain modes, they can have effects accordingly.
So, we have to be careful. Let’s look at the other three. So, in language and literature, there is a literal device, called onomatopoeia.
That means, that the words, the way they are pronounced, they give an idea of the meaning. So, if you hear these words, the words themselves sound so jarring. So, that is an indication of the nature of the food also.
So, katwa is as it is. Katwa is bitter, sour. Lavana is salty, usually very hot.
Tikshna is pungent, ruksha, dried up. So, non-juicy, the opposite of vasya. Vidhahinaha, that which burns.
Sometimes people, they like to take a lot of onions with them. And when they take all the onions, the tears come from their eyes. Then they feel, maza aagaya.
So, they feel that they don’t feel sufficiently stimulated, unless it’s vidhahinaha, it’s burning. And aahara rajasasishta, which is food in the mode of passion. And what is the result? Dukha, shoka, amaya.
Amaya is disease. Dukha is distress and shoka is misery. The difference between dukha and shoka is short term and long term.
And even at a mental level, immediately one feels a little agitated. Over long term, the agitation increases further. And then there is physical result also.
Dukha, shoka, amaya, pradaha. So, many of the food that are marketed today, they lead to diseases. They breed, they are such that actually they are not very suited for the body.
You know, meat eating has always been a part of human culture. But meat eating has never been throughout history, a major part of the human diet. Because humans are not so physically well equipped that they can very easily kill lots of animals.
So, actually, yes, there were progressive civilisations which lived on vegetarian food. But even when people lived in jungles, where often they would hunt at meat, actually human beings were more often the hunted than the hunters, because they’re not so physically strong. So, meat might have been a part of the diet, but it’s always a small part of the diet.
Some people say that because we have canine teeth, you know, the dentists classify our teeths according to molars and other that particular speciality. So, they either they are meant for grinding or they were cutting like that. They say we also have canine teeth.
Granted that we have canine teeth, but actually, for those animals or carnivores, all their teeth are canine teeth. Whereas for us, only two teeth are there which are canine teeth. So, a limited number are there.
So, two here, two, something like four teeth are there which are canine teeth. So, the number of teeth that are canine are very limited. And that also indicates that even if meat is to be a part of the diet, it’s only a small part.
So, it’s only in recent times that there have been the mechanised massive slaughterhouses where millions of animals are killed together. And then they are, food is manufactured, meat is manufactured and then it is sold. So, often the brutality of this is hidden away.
And the word slaughterhouses seems so jarring. So, now they have renamed themselves as the meat packing industry. You know, we are doing nothing harmful, just packing meat.
Well, it’s brutal slaughter. Slaughtering of the animals happens over there. You know, one vegetarian activist has said that if the slaughterhouses had glass walls, the whole world would be dead.
Because if people see how much brutality happens, everybody would vegetate. So, actually it is this kind of food, which is based in the product, it’s brutal. So, it’s not very suited for the human body also.
When people eat too much non-vegetarian food, then it causes a lot of digestive problems. And there are many doctors, even the UNESCO has said that now the world needs, I wrote an article about how four reasons for becoming a vegetarian. And there’s nothing spiritual in that.
It’s been published in Back to God also, it’s there on my website also. So, I talk about help the world with your food. So, H was, help was acronym, H was health, E was environment, L was livestock, and P was poverty.
So, all these four, there are empirical evidences showing that vegetarian food is much, much better for our health, for the environment, for the other livestock who are so many killed, and for the poor. Because so much of the land that is used to make food for animals, if that land is used to make food for human beings, then much more number of human beings could be fed, and then can be fed simply by having the food recycled. So, if this much land, if they, according to statistics, the amount of land that is required to feed one non-vegetarian person can feed anywhere between three to ten vegetarian people.
You know, all of you understand that. I believe all of you know about this. Recycling, that happens.
The animals will eat this much grains, and then they will eat this much flesh. So, the point which I’m making over here is, Dukkha, Shoka, Maya, Pradaha. Food gives out misery, and then he talks about food in the mode of ignorance.
So, food that is, after it has been prepared, it is eaten after a very long time. All the juice has gone in. So, largely, the Prasad that we eat is put in the mode of goodness, that is, actually, spiritualised by offering.
Now, let’s move forward. And one of the things that has happened in ISKCON is that, it’s just observation, it’s not a judgement, that Srila Prabhupada, wherever he went all over the world, he tried to introduce a meaning to this. Like with the devotees in America, in Europe, he taught them how to put the Indian food.
He would call it Indian food. Some people would say that is actually the food of the spiritual world, whichever way you want to look at it. And he was a disciple of Yamuna Mata when he came to India.
He actually trained the devotees to go to the sweet shops in Bengal and Delhi, and learn how to cook this food. So, Srila Prabhupada not only taught about universal spiritual principles, but he also introduced specific cultural practises that some might say are just Indian or Bengali or Vrindavan based or whatever. But Srila Prabhupada tried to have a Vedic cuisine within, as much as he was there, and wherever he taught, he taught devotees that kind of cooking.
As this corn has grown, this corn is actually, its cuisine is diversified a lot. And it’s natural because if devotees are say born in a particular country, devotees are born in China or Russia or America, since their childhood, they have eaten a particular kind of food. And then if they have a shift to Indian food, biologically, they may not find it very suitable for themselves.
So, for the devotees from a particular country to offer that food to Krishna and take that as prasad is perfectly okay. That might be the most healthy thing for them to do. But along with that, Srila Prabhupada, this is Indian culture, this is the western culture.
Srila Prabhupada wanted ISKCON to be an, ISKCON is an international organisation by which the spiritual culture that was there in India should be funnelled and channelled and it should go all over the world. But often the journey has also been the other way. Much of the western culture through ISKCON has come to India.
Before I was introduced to ISKCON, I had never heard of the food item called chowmein. Nor had I heard any, of course, pizzas or something which is a little bit known. So, one thing that has happened is that it’s not, certainly if any such food item is offered to Krishna, the pizzas or chowmein or whatever, if it’s offered to Krishna, it’s prasad, no doubt.
But the purifying potency of prasad is also dependent on our consciousness. Prasad is always transcendental, but how much it will purify us will depend on how much we are remembering Krishna when taking prasad. So, generally speaking, if the prasadam is, say, something like pizza or some other items which we don’t take on a regular basis, then actually, by default, our vision of prasadam, it’s very difficult to keep it transcendental.
It’s difficult, it may be possible for some people if it, but in general, it is not so easy. So, why does that happen? Although, say, for people in the West, it actually, these three ways, you know, when Shri Prabhupada had a conversation with Alan Ginsberg, this was there in the, in Haikaru Prabhu’s book, the Hare Krishna explosion. So, Alan Ginsberg, he was an early he was a famous musician, infamous musician in many ways, but he was a leader among hippies, and when he wanted to popularise, he was appreciative of Prabhupada, and he was giving Prabhupada some suggestions of how Krishna consciousness would become more popular.
And he told Prabhupada that you should give up all the sectarian tactics. Prabhupada said, what is sectarian about us? All the principles that we’re talking about are universal. Is it a Hindu or Indian idea that old age, disease and death are miserable? Is it a Hindu idea that, you know, dead chemicals cannot be the source of consciousness? No, no, but so much of your culture is Hindu, he said.
The food that you take, the dress that you wear, the music that you have, all this, it sounds Hindu and Indian, and that’s why it will not appeal to many people. Prabhupada said that actually, you know, whatever food you, in the local food, you can offer it to Krishna and his prasad, and also it’s not necessary that everybody has to wear the same. They can wear whatever dress they want, and you can, and as far as music is concerned, we are encouraging general glorification of God.
So, whichever names of God you want to chant, you can chant them also. So, although Sri Prabhupada was, in that sense, liberal, but in the practises that he introduced in his school, he did stick to specific standards. There was, in Australia, there were some devotees, there were two groups of devotees.
There was one devotee, one person, he had, before he was introduced to his school, he was himself a guru, and he had his own disciples, and then he read Prabhupada’s book, and he became very impressed by that, and he became a disciple of Prabhupada, and all his disciples also became disciples of Prabhupada, but all his disciples, they were attracted more to him, and threw him to Prabhupada. So, he was, after he became Prabhupada’s disciple, he never said this to Rupananda. So, he, he felt that the traditional way of preaching of this kind of work is too hard, you go and push books.
So, he said, we want to do more non-threatening preaching. We will chant the holy name with friend people. They said, there’s no need to be a Dhruti Guruka.
So, some of his followers came and met Srila Prabhupada, and they said that, so Prabhupada, so this devote, he was a sannyasi, he had become, he had taken, Prabhupada was a sannyasi also. So, he said, and he was wearing, not a sannyasi, not a sannyasi’s dress, a secular dress. So, Prabhupada asked, you know, you’re a sannyasi, why not me? Prabhupada said, the dress is external, he told to Prabhupada, the dress is external, the dress is external, the dress is superficial.
So, Prabhupada replied, if the dress is superficial, then only superficial people will be affected by the dress. His argument was, the dress is superficial, so why bother about it? People will look at the substance. So, even if we, if we are giving them the substance of Krishna consciousness, then why bother about the dress? Prabhupada said, yes, and the dress is superficial, and only superficial people will be, will look at the dress, people who are looking for substance will look beyond the dress, to the heart of the person, to the wisdom that a person is giving.
So, the point is not that everybody has to be a Dhruti Guruka only, but especially those who are directly representing the movement, those who are as possible, Prabhupada wanted to implement the Vedic culture. So, that’s why for us, whenever we’re accepting any culture, like, you know, we can have even rock music, we can have Hare Krishna rock also, but actually, when we are, each of us has to take a moral inventory ourselves, and we have to see, when Hare Krishna rock is going on, are we remembering Hare Krishna, or are we remembering rock? We have to see for ourselves. Some people may not get too excited about it, they may not get too excited by the idea of rock, and they may focus on Hare Krishna.
So, the whole underlying principle, we cannot make any law for all this. So, you know, there was, there is always, in every movement, there is this, there is this conflict between the conservatives and the liberals. So, that is always going to be there, and that keeps a balance.
So, there was this convict, Rajiv Bihari, he wrote a book, not our Rajiv Bihari, Urundaman, that one, he wrote a book called, he wrote a paper called, Pizzas or Pakodas? What is real prasad? So, the conservatives, they say, actually, pakodas are real prasad, or parathas are real prasad. Pizzas are also prasad. So, what is real prasad? Actually, both are prasad.
But the question is, what should we take? We should take that food that actually helps us in our Krishna consciousness. So, the underlying principle for these cultural innovations, or these cultural continuations is, anukulyatya sankalpa prathikulyasya vacha. In general, these two principles are very important to remember for making decisions in our personal spiritual life.
So, whatever is favourable for our devotional service, we accept that. Whatever is unfavourable, we reject that. The question is about this.
What is the difference between them? Okay, so, whose consciousness is more important, the person cooking or the person taking? Both are important. Just like, if we have deity worship, the person who is worshipping the deity, that person’s consciousness is representative of the consciousness of all the people who are serving the deity. So, the pujari who is doing the aarti is actually representing the whole congregation.
So, Krishna accepts the worship from the pujari. And where there is an exalted devotee, or where there are very good standards of deity worship, the deity’s presence will be felt more. But at the same time, we can say this in a simple way, that there are congregation devotees who have their altars and there is a temple altar.
Now, the same deities are there in a sense, but still Krishna’s presence is felt much more in a vibrant way in the temple. Why is that? At one level, we can say it’s because the person who is worshipping the deity is following much higher standards. At the same time, although Krishna is manifesting much more as the deity, not all people who come to the temple and take darshan of the deity experience Krishna’s presence to the same degree.
So, the difference is caused by individual consciousness. So, that means just as the presence of Krishna as the deity, how much it will be felt will depend on multiple factors. So, one factor is the way the deity is being worshipped.
Other factor is the individual consciousness of the devotee. So, same way with prasadam, the consciousness of the person cooking the food is important and the consciousness of the person honouring the food is also important. So, when we are serving prasadam, we try to make sure that at least we keep our consciousness good.
So, that whoever is cooking and whoever is serving, they keep the consciousness devotional and in general, Srila Prabhupada wanted the prasadam distribution should also be with some sort of other direct, other Krishna conscious connection also. That means we try to let people hear some classes, they get some books, they hear some kirtan and then the prasadam that they take is also more spiritually uplifting because then they have got some deeper understanding. So, it’s not this or that, it is both this and that.
It’s both the consciousness of the cook and the consciousness of the person eating, both do matter. Okay, so we say prasad is prasad, it is always transcendental. Yes, you could say that there is transcendence but then the transcendence, the extent to which the transcendence is manifested to us will vary depending on our consciousness.
See, the underlying principle for this is 4.11 in the Bhagavad Gita. So, Krishna is reciprocate. So, Krishna reciprocates as the deity and as the prasadam.
So, Krishna conscious is not mechanical. 50 devotees may take the same prasad and different devotees may be remembering Krishna to different extents while taking that prasadam and in the purification they will experience by taking prasad will be different. So, in that sense Krishna himself is transcendental but he reciprocates and reveals himself depending on the way we approach.
Does it make sense? Yes, naturally. For a very elevated devotee, the cook is not very important. Yes, that’s why generally speaking when devotees go to some outside people’s houses to take prasad, you know, we try to see who is the person who is cooking and then we will take food at a person who is initiated or a very serious devotee and that was not Shrila Prabhupada expected devotees to do but sometimes Shrila Prabhupada would take food at the house of even people who were just favourable life members as long as the food was offered.
So, certainly the more exalted a devotee, the less that devotee will be affected by the consciousness of the people around Shrila Prabhupada. He went to America and he went to not just America because we could say that he went to the most degraded part of America, the happy land in first in New York and then in San Francisco but then when he went there, he did not become contaminated, he elevated them but others who go there may become contaminated themselves. Okay, any other questions? Yes, very good question.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu followed a very strict rule of whom he would take prasad from and in fact actually this is a significant point that if we see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, his strictness was at multiple levels. First was that he was a sanyasi and he was a brahmana. So, normally he would take prasad only from brahmanas.
He would take prasad. So, that is why if we see that was the culture. Sanyasis were expected to follow certain standards and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in general had a mood of reformation, not of revolution.
Reformation means, okay this room, the paint here is not proper. So, just change the paint a little bit, add a little paint over here. This design is not proper.
So, maybe shape the design a little bit. So, make small small changes, that is a reformation. Whereas, revolution is just blow up the room and build a new room over it.
So, revolution is more or less like that. So, Bhakti Siddhanta Thakur’s mood was of a revolution. Bhakti Nath Thakur was more of a reformer.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was also largely a reformer. Now, Haridas Thakur was not allowed in the temple and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not say that I will take Haridas Thakur himself. He did not force the hand of the Jagannath Puri temple management.
Instead, he himself brought prasad out for Haridas Thakur. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, if we see when he was staying in Kashi, in Varanasi, he had two devotees, Chandrasekhar Acharya and there was Tapan Mishra. Now, Tapan Mishra was a brahmana.
Chandrasekhar Acharya was not a brahmana. So, now both of these devotees were there and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to reciprocate with both of them. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, because as a brahmana, he could take prasad, as a sanyasi, he could take prasad only from a brahmana’s house.
So, from a brahmana, cooked by a brahmana. So, what he would do is, he stayed at the house of Tapan Mishra and took prasad from Tapan Mishra. So, that way he satisfied both of them.
They were staying in your house and still he did not ruffle the feathers of the cultural conservatives of his times. And if you see, when he came to Vrindavan, at that time, there was a Sanodia brahmana. So, Sanodia brahmana, now actually he was a brahmana, but even among brahmanas, there are levels of brahmanas.
Generally, what we talk about in our discussion in Krishna consciousness is varna ashram and we talk primarily about varna. The varna can be translated roughly as caste. But if you see in Indian culture today, when people have to perform their marriages and everything, what matters is not just the varna, but also what matters is yajna.
So, it’s not just the caste, the people want not just a brahmana, but they want say a Yajurvedi brahmana, Rigvedi brahmana, this brahmana, that brahmana. So, the jatis also play a significant role in today’s social stratification and that was there at his time also. So, the Sanodia brahmana was a brahmana, but he was considered to be a lower level brahmana.
And that’s why when he wanted to offer food to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he said that, you know, I will provide you the ingredients and let your servant cook it and then you can have that food. So, then when he came to know that Sanodia brahmana’s place, Madhavendra Puri had accepted prasad, then he said, oh, if Madhavendra Puri has accepted, surely I’ll accept prasad also. So, the point of both these discussions is that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was quite strict about where he would take this and that strictness was not just because of material concentrations or social concentrations, it was also spiritual concentrations.
So, we cannot remember Krishna when our mind is contaminated because of eating contaminated food. So, that means, as sadhakas, we should be careful about from whom do we take food also. You know, in the pagan culture, pagan is the culture.
So, just as, you see, every culture has its own way of differentiating its own proponents from those who are not its proponents. Just as in the Vedic culture, those who don’t follow the culture are called as Lekshas or Yamanas. Similarly, in, say, Muslims, those who don’t follow Islam are called as Kafirs.
And among Christians who don’t follow Christianity are called as Pagans. So, in the pagan culture that was there in Europe before Christianity came out, at that time itself, they had a concept called the sin eater. It’s a distorted version of the Vedic culture.
What was the idea of a sin eater? There was a whole class of people. So, their professional duty was that whenever anybody would commit any sins, they would invite those people to come and eat food at their house. And you commit a sin and invite these people to eat food.
And the idea is, when they eat the food, they take the sin through that food. So, it was like a profession, the sin eaters. So, now many people, many times people think that when we invite sadhus to our house, they will eat away our sins.
That is their idea. So, of course, getting rid of sinful reactions is not so easy that you just feed food to somebody. And that’s why sometimes, you know, grahasthas are very eager to give food to brahmacharis and sanyasis.
The more food they eat, the more sins are going away. Now, we shouldn’t think of it as a sceptical way. We should see it more as a, as we discussed, gungate bhojayate jayate.
It’s a reciprocation between devotees. But that conception is also there. So, when we take prasadam, we can get affected if we are not careful.
Yeah, let’s move forward. Yeah, vegetables, grains. So, Shri Prabhupada goes into such practical details, you know, how we may get entangled when we are trying to, say, do outreach and preaching.
So, our goal should not be just to eat, even if we go. Now, this is not happening at the early stages in our spiritual life, but as we grow older, become more advanced, we often get invitations from our devotees’ houses to take food. So, our goal should be to actually give Krishna consciousness to people.
So, generally, especially if you are going to new people’s houses, it’s not at all a good idea to go to their houses just for food. We should go to their houses for a programme. And after the programme, if we can get away, if we can take fruits and grains, or fruits and milk or something like that, which is, ideally speaking, natural, not cooked by them, that’s the best if we can’t.
And if they are really devotionally inclined, we can take food. But then, we should also be making sure that we give them some Krishna consciousness, not going just, Prabhupada says, we are going just for the thought that, you know, okay, they will be cooking very opulent food. Then we are actually making arrangements for pandering to the tongue.
We will become trapped by that. Yeah. It’s a very graphic verse.
Jivhera lalase ye iti uti dhai, Shishnodara parayana Krishna nahi paaye. So, Jivhera lalase ye iti uti dhai. So, iti uti is a very graphic word.
Iti uti is here and there. So, for the sake of satisfying the tongue, one who runs here and there, iti uti dhai, such a person, what will happen? Now, see, the whole Vedic analysis is from a transcendental point of view. It is not saying that you will become obese and you will fall sick.
No. Shishnodara parayana, such a person will become a servant of the belly and the genitals. And then, na udhara parayana, Krishna nahi paaye.
We will be spiritually deprived. We will lose out spiritually. Yes.
As stated below, before. Yeah. Who is reading? Yes.
So, Shri Prabhupada often put the Ayurvedic prescription that if our belly is capacitated, 100%, 50% for food, 25% for water and 21% for air. So, that way, if we keep it proportional, then that is conducive for health. And a large number of diseases actually, they originate from unregulated diet itself.
And what the Ayurvedic tradition says, actually in the allopathic tradition, diet is not considered to be very important. People can eat whatever they want, they just take some medicines and then they will get cured. So, the idea is, now it’s not wrong, but it’s incomplete.
The problem with that is, in allopathy, the body’s innate healing capacity and the body’s own physiological balance are not so much increased. And the focus is, the idea is that whatever is chemically wrong, we put something inside and the body will get cured. But there are many cases where people have actually, by regulating their diet itself, been cured.
Now, like we have japa retreats. One of the things today in the Western world and to some extent in India, but especially in the Western world is fasting retreats. You know, what are these fasting retreats? These are medical places where people go and people just drink water, according to current understanding and largely according to Ayurveda also.
Actually, fasting from water also is not good, because that sort of completely stops the body’s working mechanism. So, once in a while, it’s okay when a lot of the appearance is there, but in general, just taking water, it allows the body’s cleansing system to go on. And there are records of people who have been cured of diseases that were considered incurable by normal means, like chronic arthritis or even cancer, just by fasting.
So, of course, this fasting is very extreme. And there are people who have, on average, when people go fasting retreats, they sometimes fast for 25 days, 30 days, 40 days, 50 days. You may feel like, how can somebody survive just drinking water for 50 days? But actually speaking, the body has a lot of reserve energy within itself.
And of course, in Krishna Goswami, we don’t have to do any of these things. But the point which you’re making over here is that actually modern society is also discovering, modern science is discovering, these are reports of people who were not incurable by modern diagnosis, just by fasting. It’s not simply fasting, there’s medical supervision.
And there are further some supplementary treatments like massages and everything. But no medicine is put inside the body. All the idea is, just put water in and if the body is not burdened with digestion, then the body will be able to utilise its energy to fight the infection, to fight the tumour, to fight the malignant cells.
So, the whole purpose of this sort of approach to treatment is to activate the body’s own fighting and healing capacity. So, though we may not do something like this, but the once in a fortnight fasting that is there in Ekadashi, that if we can do it, that’s very helpful even from a biological point of view. It allows the digestive system to rest for at least once a fortnight and then the body can cope and recover itself.
And we fast not because it’s good for health, we fast because that is the way we can intensify our devotional service. But this is also an additional impetus which can inspire us to do the rest of it. Now, not everybody finds fasting equally easy because fasting is also, the capacity to fast also depends largely on Prakriti.
Now, people who are Kaphaic, they find it much easier to fast. People who have Pitta Pravrtti, they find it much more difficult to fast. But in general, in Kali Yuga, just like the three modes, you can’t divide wholesome, goodness, passion, ignorance, all of them are mixed up.
So, even Kapha, Vata, Pitta, also all of us are mixed up. So, as much as possible if we fast, it is helpful from various perspectives. So, let’s move forward.
Any questions about this? Yeah. Yeah, good. Question, yeah.
Okay. Don’t eat opulently, don’t dress opulently. Is it applicable to Prasad also? When Sri Prabhupada was asked about this, Prabhupada said that the normal food should be nutritious, but not sumptuous.
He said once a week, when sumptuous means it’s very opulent. So, normal food should be nutritious. So, what we have, rice, dal, chapati, that’s nutritious.
And he said that once a week when we have Sunday feast or when we have festivals, we can have opulent food also. But when he’s talking about bhalna khai, bhalna paiva, it is like on a routine basis. On a daily basis, if one is taking opulent food, that is undesirable from the physical as well as spiritual point of view.
So, our festivals, it’s natural that we offer nutritious food to the Lord. And then what we’re taking is remnants. That’s okay.
Yeah. Yes. So, here what he talks about thinking, planning, talking about actually having sex.
This is, Sridhar Swami gives in the sixth canto of his Srimad Bhagavatam commentary, the eight breaks to brahmacharya. And that Prabhupada quotes also in his Bhagavatam, shravanam. So, here it is not shravanam kirtanam vishnu.
It is, it’s a different kind of shravanam. So, to hear about sex life, kirtanam. So, that kirtanam is to talk about sex life.
Shravanam kirtanam keli prekshanam guhyabhashanam. So, keli is to perform pastimes. That means to dally with women.
Prekshanam, it is to glance lustfully at women. So, Prabhupada talks about guhyabhashanam, whispering with women, Prabhupada says. And then, guhyabhashanam and then, sankalpa adhyashascha, kriyan yuruttirevacha.
Sankalpa is to resolve to have sex, to endeavour for having sex and to actually engage in sex. So, all these are breaks in brahmacharya. Now, of course, when you talk about breaking the four aggregate principles, it’s kriyan yuruttirevacha, that’s the most serious break.
But what comes prior, it sets the momentum for what will come later. So, giving it up at the preliminary stages makes things easier. You know the chariot body analogy.
So, the horse, if it’s supposed to go on this track and the horse sees some fruit over here somewhere, then it wants to go off track. Now, if the horse starts running in that direction, then once it has gained momentum, to check it and bring it under control is much more difficult. It just looked in that direction, started thinking of going, started moving that direction, pull the reins, bring it under control.
It’s much easier. Actually, the horse may go completely off the track and the chariot may fall off, everything will collapse upside down. And after that also, the chariot can be picked up and the horse can be brought on track and the chariot can move on the track.
But the trouble there is much, much more. So, in the first case when the horse looks in the wrong direction, just check it at that time, the trouble is much less. So, on the other hand, the more we let the horse go in the wrong direction, then getting it back on track will require much, much more great effort and trouble.
That’s why, actually it is said that a moment of indulgence can lead to a lifetime of repentance. For a moment of pleasure, a person can get into a lifetime of trouble. And that’s why, the earlier we control ourselves, the better it is.
So, although the kriya nivrtti revacha is at the end, but Prabhupada uses this completely. And then of course, when he talks about satisfying the general by artificial means, then he refers to things like masturbation and such things like that. So, then he says this applies to the householders as well as renunciates.
And then he quotes the prema varta of Jagadanda Padit. So, let’s recite this. So, he’s giving an instruction in prema varta that, O Vairagi bhai, O brother renunciate.
With the ears, don’t hear mundane talk. What is the problem with hearing mundane talk? Actually, mundane talk will kindle mundane desires. And then we will get entangled by that.
So, don’t talk about it also. Don’t hear it, don’t talk about it. Even if we meet people in this world, let’s not talk about these things with them.
And then, So, don’t even think about contacting women, even in one’s dreams. Actually, you’ve taken a vow to give up household and to give up women and live in the forest. Because actually, one wants to get the association for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
When he’s termed for that, one should, So, now, we know that this story of Chhota Haridas, that was quite a shocking story. And that is again, whenever the Lord appears and the Lord performs pastimes, often the Lord illustrates things through extremes. Through extremes means that when we see, if we look at the Bhagavatam or if we look at Chaitanya Amrit, the whole idea of say Bharat Maharaj, a person who has renounced the whole kingdom, getting attached to a deer, it seems absurd, isn’t it? A pet is something so trivial and a kingdom is something so glorious.
So, so many thousands of people have their pets and only a handful of people have kingdoms. So, if somebody has so much renunciation to give up a kingdom, how can’t a person become attached to a deer? So, actually, there are various reasons, so whatever we contemplate will get attached. Bharat Maharaj didn’t have association and also the Lord wanted to illustrate the danger of distraction.
But whatever the point is, that it’s an extreme example. Somebody gives us something so glorious and then falls for something so trivial and that indicates the danger of misdirected attention. So, often scriptures give us extreme examples to sort of hammer the point into us.
Similarly, the story of Chhota Haridas is also an extreme example to hammer the point into us. So, in a sense, we could say Chhota Haridas’ offence was not great. You know, he just glanced with an improper motive at somebody, at a Vaishnavi.
So, then why did Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, why was he so strict? So, actually, Radhar Maharaj asked this question that, you know, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was so strict, so when we have some lapses, should we be similarly strict with them, ourselves, or if we are guiding some devotees and those devotees face some problems like this, they do something wrong, should we also be so strict? So, Radhar Maharaj said that, actually, we will look at the full pastime and the full pastime has three aspects to it. The first aspect is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s strictness, but the second aspect to it is also the compassion of all his associates. You know, what all happened, everybody else beseeched, please forgive him and then even Paramanand Puri came.
Now, Paramanand Puri was like the spiritual master of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu because he was the godbrother of Eswarapuri, the direct disciple of Madhavendra Puri. Now, all these associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they are also pure devotees. So, when they are trying to beg to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to relent, to forgive Chhota Haridas, does it indicate that they are going against his will? They are eternal associates, they are very intimate associates.
So, what is happening in this pastime? That means, the same Lord Chaitanya, who through his actions and words is being so strict, that same Lord Chaitanya is also offering encouragement and compassion through his associates. So, we shouldn’t think that it is only Lord Chaitanya acting directly, but the Lord is acting through various ways and the end result of it is also what? With Chhota Haridas, if he himself committed suicide, but if that were a suicide, like an ordinary suicide, a person would become a ghost. But what happened was that he returned and sang for the pleasure of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the devotees discussed and some of them thought, oh he has committed suicide, but then they realised, no, actually if he is coming and singing the holy names, that he has attained a spiritual body.
So, if a person commits a suicide, the person cannot attain a spiritual body by that. That means, the whole pastime is demonstrating something transcendental. So, the whole idea is, this is an extreme example, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu can be so heavy because he can also offer liberation and attainment of a spiritual body to somebody whom he punishes so strongly.
So, when Chaitanya Prabhupada was asked about this, Chaitanya Prabhupada said that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is God. So, he said that he can do such things, he can spread the whole Krishna consciousness movement without the help of anybody. He said, I am God, I need the help of all of you.
So, please continue with trying to practise Krishna consciousness. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave this example to illustrate so strongly that those who are in the renounced order have to be extremely careful. So, we cannot compromise the standards of the renounced order.
At the same time, we cannot be harsh in judging or condemning people. The whole idea that every devotee is precious and people do commit mistakes sometimes. So, when their mistakes happen, it’s like a soldier getting wounded.
If a soldier gets wounded in the war, the soldier should be sent to the hospital, not the prison. Isn’t it? So, what does it mean sending to the hospital? Sending to the hospital means that the person should be given an environment, given a facility by which the person can recover spiritually, regain spiritual health. Sending to a prison means that if a person’s misdeeds are made, the public knowledge for everyone, for scrutiny and condemnation, and the person will become so disheartened by that, that whatever impetus the person may have, that impetus will go away.
So, that’s why, if some devotee did something wrong, Krishna Prabhupada was not at all in favour of discrediting, telling that to everyone. That is, one time some devotee had some problem and he was a sannyasi. So, actually, he sent a letter of apology to Krishna Prabhupada and in a parcel, he sent a sannyasa bandha also back.
He said that Prabhupada, I’m sorry. And then, whatever Prabhupada, normally Prabhupada’s mail would go to his personal servant and his personal servant, his secretary, they would read it out to Prabhupada. So, the personal servant who read it out, he started telling everyone, you know what this person, what he did? You know, he thought he’s such a big… and he started speaking to everybody.
And then, what happens is, this kind of gossip spreads like wildfire. And practically everybody, so this happened in Mayapur and everybody in Mayapur came to know about it. And as soon as they came to know about it, and soon Prabhupada came to know, Prabhupada was so angry.
Actually, Prabhupada was more angry with this devotee who spread the news than that devotee who had actually had the fallout. Because he said, now we have made it nearly impossible for him to come back. So, actually, Prabhupada was very compassionate.
Compassion doesn’t mean that somebody does immoral activities. You can just allow that person to continue on to… as if nothing has gone wrong. But what we have to recognise is that the person has done something wrong.
The person has to be given the facility by which to set it right. Not that the person has to be condemned for that. And public condemnation is certainly not recommended.
It can practically kill the spiritual prospects of a person. So, it’s a very delicate balance. And at the very least, what we should do is, we should avoid gossiping about these things.
If somebody has a problem, sometimes the best way we can serve Krishna is by keeping out of Krishna’s business. So, if some senior devotee is having some problem, actually taking care of that devotee is Krishna’s business. It is between Krishna and that devotee.
What can we do for that person? We can’t do much for that person. The best way we serve Krishna is by keeping out of Krishna’s business. That means don’t talk about it.
And now, nowadays with the internet being available and there are many enemies of ISKCON who try to prove that whatever ISKCON is doing is wrong by looking at the… by pointing out the misdeeds of some of ISKCON’s leaders. Now, it’s sad that there are misdeeds that have happened and they certainly need to be corrected. But actually speaking, you know, publishing things about devotees on the internet and many of these are such terrible lies.
So, it’s very difficult to know what is the truth and what is a lie also. And you see, even if it is true, speaking about it is not good. And if we are not sure if it is truth and we speak something bad about devotees, we are committing a serious violation of that.
So, it’s best if we hear something and some rumours, if we just neglect it and put aside, just forget it. If it’s too disturbing for us, we can’t neglect it, then best to go to some trustworthy senior devotee and ask, okay, I heard this, is this true? And not the senior devotee about whom we are hearing some problems, but some other senior devotee. And ask the devotee and get a proper perspective and put it aside.
So, at least we shouldn’t become a part of the circle that spreads gossip. Because we are not doing anything, we didn’t come to ISKCON for spreading gossip. We came to ISKCON for becoming Krishna conscious.
Some people may have their difficulties, it is between them and Krishna. But the standards are there, the standards have to be preserved. Any questions about this? Yeah.
How to deal with devotees who are spreading the rumours? There are various factors involved again. If the devotee is connected with some other senior devotee who is a counsellor, who is that devotee’s counsellor, it’s best to tell that counsellor. And then generally, if somebody is speaking something not proper and telling that person, Prabhu, you are doing prachal bha, you are doing apra, that’s not a very good idea.
So, it’s best that we can walk away from that situation. And then tell some senior devotee about it. If you are very close to that devotee, you can tell the devotee also, not so bluntly that you are doing prachal bha.
So, what purpose does it serve? Talking about these things. Now, in some cases, if a person, say, was a leader of a particular community and then he had some difficulties, and the people over there may need to be informed, especially if that person’s further conduct is going to create some further disruption or something like that. But then that should be done in a very sensitive and authorised way.
So, it’s best to either we move away from that situation, at least us, so that we don’t become part of it. We report to some senior devotee, and then let that senior devotee correct that particular circulation of rumours or facts, whatever they may be. Or if it is done in an unauthorised way, we should just hear it, and if it’s our part of, say, the temple management has said, okay, this is what has happened, and this is what is announced, then we should not sensationalise it further.
Sensationalise it further and make things worse. This is what has happened, and this is what has been reported. No need to speculate anything further.
So, it’s not easy because our mind always is, we are going to have Brahma Jigyasa, but our mind has Bhayankar Jigyasa. Enquire, okay, what is this? What is wrong with me? What is wrong? What is wrong? But actually, there is nothing special about finding out faults in others because Kali Yuga is an ocean of faults. So, sometimes we feel that if I can find out a fault in somebody, that is my yadra knowledge, you know, or that is my intelligence.
But actually, finding out faults in others in Kali Yuga is as intelligent or requires as much intelligence as finding out water in an ocean. You know, it’s everywhere. It doesn’t require any great intelligence.
If I am trapped in the ocean, lost in the ocean, the intelligent thing is to look where there is land. So, in Kali Yuga, there are faults everywhere. So, the intelligent thing is to look where there is good and focus on that, become inspired by that and move forward in our Krishna Consciousness by that.
Okay, let’s move on. How can we decide with whom we can share our feelings? Generally speaking, if we are having some challenges, some problems, talking to those who are junior to us is not at all a good idea. So, first and foremost, it should be with some trustworthy senior, generally speaking, because that trustworthy senior can guide us.
But sometimes the senior may feel that, you know, that person is senior devotee, how can I talk with that devotee? Then we want to talk with the equal. But then we shouldn’t rush into this because it’s not always easy for people to keep secrets. And it’s not that that person should be blamed.
We may also fall to the same anartha of talking with others carelessly or whatever. So, only when we are close to some devotee, we can speak to that devotee. And we can also tell them what I am telling, please don’t talk with anyone else.
And over a period of time, we will learn who are trustworthy. There might be some mistakes, and we can also decide by degrees. That means all of us have different levels of problems.
So, some small problems which we have, we can talk and see what happens. For example, you know, if a woman is alone at the house, and then some unknown man knocks on the door. And what the woman will do is she first look to the people.
And then maybe she will open the door while the chain is on. And then she will look who is there and will talk. And then if she finds, okay, that’s actually a trustworthy person, then she will open the door.
So, that’s how it works with our opening our heart also. You know, we cannot open our heart to an unknown person. It’s through progressive steps.
So, maybe we talk a few things, general philosophy and see the mood and the response of that person. Then we talk a little bit confidential things. And then afterwards, we open our heart.
So, we shouldn’t rush into opening our heart with anyone, because that can lead to unrest. Is opening the heart favourable? We’ll discuss this in Buhiyan Akhyati, Poochayati more. It’s definitely favourable, but how it is to be done in detail, we’ll discuss it later.
So, let’s complete this. If you have any questions, we’ll discuss tomorrow. When one accepts Arjuna’s order of life, he assumes the title of Swami.
This does not mean that he is the master of his family, community, or society. He must be master of his senses. Unless one is master of his senses, he should not be called Goswami, but Godas, servant of the senses.
Following the footsteps of the Sikh Goswamis of Vrindavan, all Swamis and Goswamis should engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. And, of course, if the Goswamis engage in the service of their family, or in the service of the material world, they have no other engagement. Prahlāda Mahārāja has further described the Goswamis as Adānta Goswami, which refers to one whose senses are not controlled.
An Adānta Goswami cannot become a servant of the Lord. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the 7th chapter of the 5th chapter, Prahlāda Mahārāja said, material knowledge is not controlled by one who is not in control of the material world. Adānta Goswami is not controlled by one who is not in control of the material world.
For those who have decided to control the material world for the gratification of the senses, there is no chance of becoming discomfited, not by personal ideas, by subsets of others, or by joint conferences. They are dragged by the unwritten senses from the tapas region of ignorance and thus they activate in what is called true ignorance. If one holds on to sense enjoyment, then one will not come out of mortal existence by one’s own efforts, by the guidance of others, or by cooperation of others.
So what does it mean? We all know the story of the boatman who kept the anchor. And although the boatman was using the oar to move on and on, but still the person didn’t make much distance because the attachment was there. So, some attachments may go slowly, some attachments may go fast.
But in principle, we have to give up our material attachments. Without that, we cannot become attracted to Krishna and we certainly cannot return to Krishna. So Srila Prabhupada gives that very sobering example that even if you have the desire to eat one gulab jamun, you have to come back to the material world to eat that gulab jamun.
Now of course, we shouldn’t get very scared by this because if you’re practising Krishna lifelong, then surely a desire for something as trivial as gulab jamun will not be there. We will become purified of that desire. But also, at one level, we should also be trying to fight our desires, resist our desires.
So even if we are not pure devotees by the time of death, that pure devotee means we have only the desire to serve Krishna and nothing else. At the very least, our desire to serve Krishna should be greater than the desire for ignorance. At least that much should be there.
But if our other desires are greater than our desire to serve Krishna, then surely we will not be able to go back to Godhead. So that’s why whatever our attachments are, we may not be able to give up immediately, but we should at least have a plan of how I’m going to give them up. And in principle, we accept that I have to give up the attachments and it may take time, but definitely I’m going to fight and I’m going to give them up.
So otherwise, my attachment to Krishna will never become very strong and steep. So here, I’ll just conclude with one point, which we’ll discuss in our next class. You know, it is that study… I write a small article in the Bhagavad Gita every day on my website.
The article of this study makes us sturdy and steady. So study is scriptural study. So we study the philosophy.
We remember there is a higher happiness available, and that higher happiness is what I should aspire for. So sturdy is in terms of our intellectual conviction. Yes, I become strong.
You know, there is a higher happiness. That’s what I want to go for. That’s what I want to go for.
And steady is in terms of our commitment to devotional practises. So when we regularly study the scriptures, then we keep remembering that there is a higher happiness. What I want to aspire for is for that higher happiness.
And the more I aspire for that higher happiness, and the more I will become committed to my worldly business. So by this regular study of scriptures, we will become sturdy in terms of our intellectual convictions. We will become strong, tough.
We will not be shaken by the temptations of this world. Beyond this, there is a higher happiness. That’s what I want to aspire for.
And then after that, our commitments will become very strong to the practise of devotional service. Because commitment, gradually, we’ll start experiencing and relishing that higher state.