Vaishnava Sadachara 1 – Importance of Sadachara

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome to the Vaishnava Sadhacharya course.
I seek the blessings of all the exalted and senior Vaishnavas who are participating in this course. I don’t feel myself qualified to speak to Srila Agastya’s family and all the more so to speak on a topic of Vaishnava Sadhacharya which requires an exalted standard of behaviour. At the same time, as a service on the instruction of my seniors, I will try to speak something on this topic.
And therefore, I fervently seek the blessings of all of you so that I can render this in the mode of service for the purification of my heart and for the glorification of the Lord. So, we will be discussing this topic in eight sessions. And the first session is entitled The Importance of Vaishnava Sadhacharya especially for a leader.
Now, Anshula Prabhupada was asked, how can we identify your devotees? At different times, he gave different answers. One of the answers he gave was that they are perfect gentlemen. That they are perfect gentlemen.
And by extension, we could say perfect gentlemen and ladies. So, now, this is a very significant definition because we could say that Prabhupada wanted his followers to be pure devotees of Krishna. And devotees of Krishna are characterised by constant chanting of the holy names, constant remembrance of Krishna, immersion in Krishna’s service.
Prabhupada could have given, could have described any of the devotional symptoms of an advanced devotee. And Prabhupada does describe them at times. But, there are times when he also describes the characteristics in terms of what people in general can appreciate.
So, generally, a gentleman refers to a person who is well behaved. And well behaved in terms not which are directly devotional, but in terms that are appreciable by people who are not even seeing from a devotional perspective. So, humility, gentleness, sensitivity, courtesy.
These are all qualities which are associated with gentlemanly behaviour. And Prabhupada emphasised them too. And we will see a large part of Vaishnava etiquette centres on cultured gentlemanly behaviour as the foundation of the setting in which devotional exchanges can take place.
Those devotional exchanges can be between devotees or they can be between general people. But either way, the exchange between the people is framed in a very appropriate behaviour. So, that behaviour which frames the exchanges is the purview of Vaishnava sadhacharya.
The exchanges themselves of course come in. And the setting of those exchanges also comes in. So, now the Chaitanya Charita Amrit talks about how Maryada Rakshana, the protection of Maryada, the word Maryada which is used in vernaculars often used to limit Maryada Aulangan, Maryada Vethikraman we say.
That is in Sanskrit to transgress etiquette, to disrespect others. So, etiquette essentially when we use the word, CC uses the word Maryada to refer to it, it essentially means that there are certain boundaries that frame one’s behaviour. So, when the behaviour is according to certain boundaries then Sadhura Bhushana.
So, they are the ornaments of a devotee. Ornaments means that these are the, just as ornaments are what make a person seem attractive. Now, there can be a person who wears ornaments and there may be no core substance.
But, at first glance, it’s the ornaments that attract. And similarly, good qualities in the behaviour is what attracts people. So, people in the initial stages, at least when we are talking about people in general, they are not going to be appreciative of devotional standards.
So, by no means are we saying that devotional standards are not important, they will also be discussed in our session. But, behaviour itself is an important criteria by which people will judge our devotion also. So, people will not see the devotion as evaluated by devotional standards.
People who do not value the importance of chanting will not appreciate how attentively we chant. But, what people will see is okay, if you are doing this meditation, if you are doing this chanting, how is it translating into behaviour? So, the Maryada Rakshan, Sadhura Bhushan, Chetan Charita Amrit says that acting according to proper etiquette is the Bhushan, is the ornament of a sadhu. It’s what makes the saintly person, a devotee, attractive in Krishna’s eyes and to a large extent, attractive even in the world’s eyes.
So, we will look at three distinct purposes for proper behaviour. And, by looking at these, we will focus on how it relates especially to leaders. So, everybody needs to behave properly, but it’s all the more important for leaders.
In general, whenever the question of exemplary behaviour would come up, Srila Prabhupada would often quote Bhagavad Gita 3.21 yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas tat tadeveta rojanah sa yad pramāṇam gurute lokas tad anuvartate that as a śreṣṭha, as a leader’s act tat tadeveta rojanah similarly, others act sa yad pramāṇam gurute whatever standards they set, lokas tad anuvartate people emulate those standards. Now, this verse comes as a part of the chapter 3 of the Gita, which is called as Karma Yoga. And, therein, Krishna gives multiple reasons for Arjuna why he should stick to his prescribed duty.
So, initially, from 3.2 to 9, he talks about how premature renunciation is destructive for one’s spiritual growth. Then, he talks from 3.10 to 3.16 about how participation in doing one’s prescribed duty ensures one’s participation in the cosmic exchange of sacrifice. So, that helps in maintaining cosmic order.
And then, from 3.17 to 3.24, Krishna talks about how by doing one’s duty, a person sets an example. so, Krishna gives talks about lokasangraha. So, he talks about the principle of setting an example, and prior to this and after this, he will give examples.
So, in the verse prior to this, he states in the 21st verse, कर्मणईवहि संसिद्यं आस्तिताजन कादयः लोकसंग्रहमेवापि संपश्यन कर्तुमर्हसे the normal translation that he uses for setting an example. But, संग्रह actually also means to keep together, to maintain together, to keep in place. So, the society and the people in general are kept in their proper place.
The world order is maintained by the proper example set by the leaders. So, Krishna says over here that कर्मणईवहि संसिद्यं By karma itself, Janaka and others आस्तिताजन कादयः Janaka and others attain perfection and therefore, आजन लोकसंग्रहमेवापि for the sake of लोकसंग्रह for the sake of setting an example for others, सम्पश्यन करतु मरसी. So, it behoves you to act properly.
And then, after this verse, 20th verse gives the example of Janaka. The 21st verse gives the principle of how leaders need to act exemplarily. And then 22nd, 23rd, 24th verses give the example of Krishna himself.
How he says that although I have no duty to perform, and still, I do my duty. So, नमेपार्थास्ति कर्तव्यम् तृशुलोकेशु किञ्चन नाना वाप्तमवाप्तव्यम् वर्तयेव च कर्मनी So, यदियहं नवर्तेयं जातु कर्मन्य तन्रतः ममवर्तमानु वर्तन्ते मनुष्या पार्थ सर्वशः उच्चिदे यूरिमे लोका नखूर्या कर्मचेदहम् संकरस्ति च कर्तास्या मुपहन्या मिमाप्रजाम् So, Krishna uses three words, where first verse he talks about how I have no duty, yet I am engaged in duty and तन्रता, I am absorbed in doing my duty, very meticulously, very attentively I do my duty and then he says because people will follow in my footsteps and if I don’t act properly then the social order will be disrupted So, he is, that means, it’s so important to perform duty. So, Krishna is giving two examples Janaka’s example is one who attained perfection, one who is a sadhaka who attained perfection by doing karma.
Now Krishna is giving himself the example, he is the paramasiddha he is the person who gives siddhi to everyone else. He is also getting an example. So, through these two examples Krishna says that whether one points out that whether one is a sadhaka or whether one is a siddha, what to speak of siddha, whether one is Bhagawan himself, then one should act to set an example.
Srila Prabhupada mentions in the paraphora about how people in general emulate the example of their leaders. So, in general, we are shaped by things around us. So, when a child is born in the formative years of learning, the primary learning takes place by observing and imitating the behaviour of people around themselves.
So, to the extent the parents are exemplary, the child’s behaviour is good. The child’s, Prabhupada says, the next teacher will be, a child learns from the parent, then the child learns from the teacher in school. So, the teacher’s behaviour also matters.
And then after that, Prabhupada also says, the third natural leader is the king. Now, in the growth stages from infancy, the primary learning happens by observing example of people around and imitating that example. And even when a person goes to school, at that time, there is some didactic learning which happens through the teaching method.
But much more than what the student learns by the didactic method from the teacher, is what the student learns from the culture in the campus. And that is why we see today in colleges and universities, often the campus culture is a culture of licentiousness and degradation. And even if the structures and methods for education, which the teachers follow, which the university endorses, even if they are good, often the students don’t turn out to be good, because they are not influenced so much by the direct didactic teaching, by the words as they are influenced by the example of what is happening around in the campus.
So now with respect to devotees, actually Prabhupada wanted ISKCON, he said that I have come to provide Brahmanas for the society, social body, who will act as the head, guiding the others. That means Prabhupada wanted our movement to produce leaders who will be leaders not only for our society, but for the broader society at large. And naturally people will observe the behaviour.
So if we are to shape society substantially, then it’s vital that we have both the proper behaviour, we set an example and people in general will see that. Now different leaders will have different circles of influence, but everyone has some level of influence. So leadership consultants have found out that every person influences others.
They talk about even introvert people who may not seem to be very expressive or who may not be very outgoing, even such people influence others. And leadership surveys say that John Maxwell of course is inspiring the leaders and others that even the introvert person influences over a lifetime around 10,000 people. What to speak of those who are visibly in leadership positions.
So that’s why when people, the point which I’m making is people need an example and they are going to see who are the sources from whom we can get examples. And when they come in touch with devotees, they’ll see with the devotees and in the devotee community also they’ll see ordinary devotees and they’ll see the leaders also. Primarily they’ll see the leaders.
So the leaders being exemplary, that is going to have a positive catalysing influence on the devotee community and on the broader society at large also. So people need example and therefore it’s the duty of leaders to set an example. That is the first point.
Second point is that leaders who are preachers are all the more duty bound to set an example. There are leaders of different kinds and there can be intellectual leaders, there can be political leaders, there can be financial leaders and they all play the role of leadership in different ways. But when we talk about leaders who are teachers, teachers of say as devotees, we are teaching philosophy as a means of transforming behaviour.
The philosophy about the glorification of Krishna is at one level in ending itself we simply satisfy glorifying Krishna but at another level the glories of Krishna are meant to inspire people to fall in love with Krishna and then to express that love through service. So the Bhagavad Gita is not just a theoretical book of Krishna’s glory. It is a transformation book that inspires devotion to Krishna.
So at the end of the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna says I will do your will. So now what this means is that Krishna will actually Krishna wants that message to transform. Arjuna does get transformed.
So similarly we are talking about philosophy but the primary purpose of talking about philosophy in this world is to let people understand Krishna’s glory and to transform their behaviour. So those who want us to transform those we who want people to transform their behaviour they need to see they will naturally see what our behaviour is. This is a doctor who is sick will not inspire a sick person to take treatment from.
The patient will naturally think that if this doctor himself or herself is sick if this doctor can’t cure himself or herself then why should I take treatment. So as it is said traditionally coming from Biblical wisdom physician heal thyself. So if we when we want to preach and we want to share Krishna’s message with others then naturally it becomes all the more important for us to have proper behaviour because this proper behaviour will demonstrate to people the living example of Krishna’s teachings.
So as it is as leaders we need to set example and people are looking for exemplary leaders but when we are going to speak that this is how we should behave that is what our message eventually boils down to then it’s all the more important for us to model proper behaviour and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appreciates Haridas Thakur Advait Acharya in the Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appreciates Haridas Thakur for this purpose he says there is achar and there is prachar and some people do achar but not prachar others do prachar but not achar but you do both and therefore Jagatera Arya you are the Arya you are the foremost leader in the whole world so what what is being told in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here is that this is the second point that the blend of achar and prachar the blend of behaviour and words is the most efficacious means of transforming people it most efficaciously transforms people because when people this makes sense so when people hear the philosophy the reaction is it makes sense and when people see action that is harmonious with the philosophy then say oh this works this person is actually living like this this works so in general what inspires people to transform themselves is when these two aspects are taken care of that what they hear and what they see when both of them appeal then that attracts their faith faith in order to be reasonable has two components it has to be sensible and it has to be verifiable sensible means that intellectually it appeals to us it makes sense and verifiable means it works so demonstrable verifiable will happen when people apply it on themselves and see whether it works or not so but before the verifiable our example will make it demonstrable and when it is demonstrable people see oh this person’s behaviour is so good I want to become like this person or at least I want to know what enables the person to behave so well so we help people in putting faith in Krishna when we present the philosophy attractive properly and then we behave properly also the proper philosophical presentation helps people to see that faith in Krishna is sensible and the proper behaviour helps people to see that faith in Krishna is demonstrable that oh we can see it happening and one of the things that attracted people to Shri Prabhupada and why Shri Prabhupada was so astonishingly successful was that he employed both Prabhupada was even when he was in America or any other part of the world he was focused on Krishna always and he would cook for Krishna, speak about Krishna glorify Krishna so he was as far as his personal devotion to Krishna was concerned there was no doubt about that but along with that if he had just practised his own devotion to Krishna people would not have comprehended what is happening why is this person moving some beads why is this person wearing this weird dress so if there had been only achar without prachar Prabhupada would not have been so would not have been effective from the point of view of this world devotion from the point of view of pleasing Krishna is always effective but from the point of view of this world there was achar and there was prachar Prabhupada was not just absorbed in Krishna but he was absorbed in Krishna and speaking about Krishna in a way that people could relate with so there was prachar and then people saw that oh the swami is telling about to think about Krishna constantly and the swami is actually thinking about Krishna constantly they are attractive people so the blend of behaviour and words when they are in harmony that transforms people the most effectively so that is the positive side so now we go to the third point about how improper behaviour alienates alienates people now one of the biggest causes of atheism of people going away from god whether it is explicitly by becoming atheist or whether it is covertly whether it is not so explicitly by just becoming what is nowadays called as apathists apathism is the is this idea school of thought whether god exists or not doesn’t matter I don’t care about it in the here and now how can we make things better there is so much suffering we want to deal with that we don’t have to bother about what happens in some other world now apathism is different from agnosticism agnosticism because agnosticism is intellectual position that god is unknowable that we can’t know god whereas apathism is we don’t care to know about god so when people become atheists or they become apathists or sometimes they become antithists our movement also has many enemies people who are disgruntled for various reasons and then they are campaigning against us so most of these people who go away from god they one of the biggest reasons they go away is because of improper behaviour among those who are supposed to represent god so now what happens is that people can’t see god and when they see the those who are supposed to represent god behaving in inappropriate ways now inappropriate ways can range over a wide spectrum it can be simply insensitive harsh behaviour excessive disproportionate chastisement of others or it can even go to the extent of immoral behaviour Prabhupada in letter states that actually devotee says devotee is asking about a particular question how a devotee should behave one should not engage in stealing or any other unethical activity because that will alienate people so whether it is mishandling money or having some inappropriate sexual dealings the point is that when people observe this people come to know this then that alienates them it gives them in fact one more reason to blaspheme Krishna so if we consider three levels of people there are those people who are already away from Krishna there are people who are fence sitters who are thinking maybe I should go towards Krishna and there are those who are just slightly inside the fence those who are devotees who just come in now if there is a leader devotee in leadership position the devotee behaves inappropriately then the result is those who are against Krishna they get one more reason to blaspheme Krishna these religious people are all hypocrites and already actually there are many people who are hypocritical in the religious garb and doing business in the name of religion and there are in the public media there are many caricatures and criticisms of such leaders which feature as movies as books and this improper behaviour of leaders leads to aggressive what we call antitheists who make it a mission to campaign against God to blaspheme religion now beyond that there are those who are the fence sitters there are the borderline people now they are thinking should I do this should I commit myself to God or should I avoid committing and they get one more reason to hesitate they will get one more reason to stay away and then there are those who are inside those who are devotees those devotees have to whenever they see any inappropriate behaviour then they have to combat and overcome one more attack of doubt and discouragement if this devotee is not convinced then improper behaviour can cause doubts does this work actually and if they are convinced intellectually so there may not be an intellectual doubt but still there is emotional discouragement these devotees this devotee whom I was inspired why is this devotee acting like this so in that way apart from the damage that we cause to our own spiritual life by improper behaviour we we give fodder for atheists to burn us with we give reasons for those who are fence sitters to stay away and we force devotees to overcome one more discouragement and doubt attack if they are to persevere in their devotion so that’s why it’s vital for devotees to actually maintain proper behaviour so what proper behaviour is how that is to be maintained is an elaborate subject which will be covered only in major principles in this course but suffice it to say that we are focussing here on three points in this session what is the we discussed, what is the importance of vishnu sadhacharya, we discussed how it is the Prabhupada said devotees are like gentlemen, so gentlemen means that there is behaviour which is appreciable not only by devotional standards but also by those who are non-devotional overall sattvic behaviour and how the etiquette that we follow it is like the bhushan, it is the ornament which when it is on a setting of inner beauty, makes the inner beauty accessible because people see externals, so even if behaviour is external, behaviour is what is important and that’s what attracts people to internals so that was the broad importance of vishnu sadhacharya and with respect to specific points we discussed three points, first is that leaders need examples so people in general need examples and as leaders we can serve them by setting proper example of how to live, how to behave and they are going to choose some example or the other so if we don’t set a good example then they will choose some other example which usually would be a far lesser good or a negatively bad example also and secondly we are preaching and people need to see harmony between what we preach and what we speak because only that will convince them to take up this process, then that will make the faith for them reasonable and sensible, yes what we speak, what we are speaking makes sense, it is demonstrable it works for them, I can see it in their life, the way they behave and it will work for me also, then it will make it verifiable and then we discussed that otherwise improper behaviour alienates people it gives atheists further weapons to attack us with, it gives the fancitors reasons to stay away and it forces devotees to fight with discouragement and doubt in order to survive in bhakti so thank you very much Hare Krishna