“Causeless and Irresistible.” Srila B. P. Janardan Maharaj. May 8, 2011. Soquel, California, USA
Srila Janardan Maharaj’s class given on the appearance day of Sankaracharya, coinciding with the Sunday programme at our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Ashram, Soquel, California.
Лекция Шрилы Джанардана Махараджа, прочитанная в день явления Шанкарачарьи. Лекция совпала с воскресной программой в Шри Чайтанья Сарасват Сева Ашраме в Соквеле (Калифорния).
English
Srila Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj
Causeless and Irresistible
(May 8, 2011. Soquel, California, USA)
vande ’haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś
cha
śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam
sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-chaitanya-devaṁ
śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś cha[1]
oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
chakṣur unmilitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ[2]
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś cha kṛpā-sindhubhya eva cha
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ[3]
namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-chaitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ[4]
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Welcome everybody here to our Sunday program of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Ashram here in Soquel, the divine guidance of Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj and successor Srila Acharya Maharaj and all the lustries Vaishnavas.
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Then today, as you may know, it’s Mother’s Day in this calendar. So, we’ll get some honor to all the person’s here who have children or mothers, some special honor for that. We’re very fortunate and we have the divine shelter of Sri Sri Guru-Gauranga Gandharvika-Giridhari will give us some shelter at Their lotus feet. And we can say that in Bengal many people will worship Ma Kali, Ma Durga and worshiping, you know, here in the West they talk about the goddess. But in Bengal their worshipers of what’s called Shakti, Shakti Durga-Kali, they’re superintendent of the material energy. That we are living in this material world. So, they have some say some control over this material energy. In the words of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he talks about there’s two halves that go together. One is called Shakti and the other [is] Shaktiman or we can say the Power and the Powerful, both aspects. And just like the example Govinda Maharaj gives us this light bulb. This light bulb can illuminate when some power is going through its electricity, was going through the light bulb then it has some illumination.
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So, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur talked about. Two what he called moieties or halves. One is Purusha, Krishna, the Lord. And then His energy, His divine energy—Srimati Radharani. We are worshipers of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. And those two combined in the form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu is Krishna and covered with the mood and the luster or effulgence, kanti, the beauty of Srimati Radharani. So internally He’s Krishna, He’s black but He’s covered with golden effulges. And His name [is] Gauranga means who is golden colored, beautiful golden colored. That is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
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So, in Bengal many people that worship Shakti and Durga-puja, that’s a very big holiday in Bengal and in Kali-puja also. And both of them represent this energy but in this case it’s the material energy, the material energy of the creation. And of course, they are the consorts of Lord Shiva. But today has some relationship to that also because today is the appearance day of Srila Shankaracharya. What we see as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. So Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur he said that, in Bengal they may worship Shakti. And we see people. Why are they doing this? Like we sing, “Bhajahu̐ re mana” written by Govinda Das. But originally one time he himself was a devotee of Kali. And he was praying to her for some divine position for some liberations from being, free from the entanglement of the material world. But Kali Ma, she answered him, “That’s not within my jurisdiction. If you want some material benediction that I can give you. But if you want some spiritual acquisition then you have to go to Krishna, you have to go to Govinda for that.”
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So, he [Govinda Das] wrote this song ‘Bhajahu̐ re mana’. After that realization, after some direct communication by Kali she told him (he wants some spiritual acquisition), “Go to Krishna,” then he wrote that. Actually, whatever persons are looking for in this material world. He says,
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e dhana, jauvana, putra, parijana…[5]
E dhana, jauvana means ‘wealth’. E dhana, jauvana, putra: good family, good sons, good daughters. Putra, parijana ithe ki āche paratīti re. Then he says, but what are those things everyone wants him? But he says:
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…kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala…
They’re very fragmentary, they’re very temporary, they’re like a drop of water on the leaf of a lotus flower, which will stay on that lotus flower for only a few seconds and then roll back off into the pond. So, he says:
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…kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala…
He says, “Our life is like that.” That we are always pursuing something that’s coming and going so quickly what is the use of that much endeavor. Then he says:
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bhajahu̐ re…
Then he says… he says:
śravaṇa, kīrttana, smaraṇa, vandana,
pāda-sevana, dāsya
re
pūjana, sakhī-jana, ātma-nivedana
govinda-dāsa-abhilāṣa re[6]
This is a realization after that communication. He says to his own mind, “Therefore what should I do?” He says:
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śravaṇa, kīrttana, smaraṇa, vandana…
Then you engage in some shravan, some hearing about the glories of the Lord: shravana, kirtana—and chanting the Lord’s holy name, shravana, kirtan:
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śravaṇa, kīrttana, smaraṇa, vandana…
After sravana, kirtana then comes smarana. Smarana means remembering or we could say meditating: smarana, vandana—meditating, offering prayers, vandana:
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śravaṇa, kīrttana, smaraṇa, vandana,
pāda-sevana…
Pāda-sevana: to serve the lotus feet of the Lord.
…pāda-sevana, dāsya re…
Become a servant of the Lord.
śravaṇa, kīrttana, smaraṇa, vandana,
pāda-sevana, dāsya
re
pūjana, sakhī-jana…
Then you worship sakhī-jana, you become a friend, a dear associate, a lover of the Lord.
…ātma-nivedana…
And you surrender everything to the Lord. So, this is what he realized after that communication, “Why I should go after some benefits of this material world?”
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So Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati said, “We are actually shuddha-shaktas.” Shuddha-shaktas. Shakta is who’s worshiping the material energy. But shuddha Shakti means the divine energy, spiritual energy. That is, we say Sri Sri Radha-Krishna. So, the internal energy of the Lord, His spiritual energy. And that devotional service—bhakti—is within that internal energy of the Lord. We’re trying to take shelter of that internal energy, and how? By changing our consciousness, by changing our activities from those of mundane consciousness and mundane, you know, activities to devotional service, to engaging in what we say Krishna consciousness. And then someone wants to know how I can begin that. Then you can begin then also by joining with the devotees and chanting. This is Mahaprabhu divine gift. That everyone can engage in chanting the Lord’s holy names, you know, we sing Hare Krishna maha-mantra. But also Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He says:
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nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ[7]
He says, “My dear Lord, You have made chanting Your name and approaching You so easily because You have unlimited numbers of names.” In all kinds of different cultures, they have different names for the Lord. And the Lord has invested all His spiritual potencies in His holy name and there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the holy name. So, you can approach the Lord through the chanting of His holy name. This is not limited to time or place. Here in the temple, we come into the temple where for before the Deities we did this ceremony called arati, where they’re offering some worship of the Lord on the altar. But that’s not the only time we can chant the holy name, you can chant the holy name anywhere and anytime. Softly, loudly, melodiously, not so melodious but there’s no limit. And Mahaprabhu was saying that, “You have made approach to You so easy by the chanting holy name.” And He said, “They’re not even any rules about that, there’s not any limitation.” It’s not like this is subject to time and place.
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I heard one time when… I remember was Srila Sridhar Maharaj, Srila Goswami Maharaj went to see him and he was presenting this book that he had just printed here from San Jose. Goswami Maharaj had this temple in San Jose and he had a printing press there and it was called Guardian of Devotion Press. And he had printed at that time Loving Search for the Lost Servant. And he presented it to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He was still present at that time. Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, “We are always together because we are together on the plane of consciousness, we are conscious of the same things, we are pursuing interest in Krishna consciousness, we’re interested in service to the Lord, we are thinking about the Lord, we’re meditating on that.” Meditating on the Lord, His devotees, His service.
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[It is] said [that] four things are eternal—the Lord’s name, the Lord’s activities, the Lord’s qualities… Nama, rupa—and the Lord’s form. They’re all eternal: nama, rupa, guna, lila. They’re all eternal. So, we’re all trying to remember the Lord’s name, the Lord’s qualities, the Lord’s divine form, the also the Lord’s activities, His pastimes.
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So Srila Sridhar Maharaj said to Goswami Maharaj that, “We are never separated, we… because this is not a question of being together in terms of physical proximity. It doesn’t depend on us being in the same place. Because it’s a divine consciousness, we are together on the platform of consciousness, of Krishna consciousness.” So, I remembered him, Srila Sridhar Maharaj saying that and I was thinking, “How beautiful that conception was that is our consideration, that bhakti is the eternal presence the service of the Lord.” And the Lord’s name is also divine and the Lord is personally present in this name.
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But then Mahaprabhu goes on, He says, “You have unlimited numbers of names,” but He says, “But I am so unfortunate that due to My offenses or due to My wrong consciousness. I have no attraction for any of those names. So, this is My unfortunate position: You’ve given everything in the, in terms of chanting Your holy names and anyone can chant any place, anytime, anywhere, it’s not limited.” As I was saying it’s not limited by time, plays and circumstances, you can be home, you can be walking in the street and, you know, if you say, “Well if I’m in some place where, you know, if I chant it’ll disturb others.” But then there’s no, there’s no rule that you can’t chant in your own mind. You can chant softly, you can chant in your own, in your mind the holy name.
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But Mahaprabhu says, “I’m unfortunate You’ve made access to You, approached to You so easily through Your holy name but,” He says, “due to My offenses I don’t have any, I don’t have any attraction for the chanting of Your holy name.”
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I always remember example, there’s an example given by Srila Rupa Goswami. His example is that of hepatitis. When someone has hepatitis, it’s a condition of the liver and there’s some overflowing of bile into one system. Bile, you know, is very bad tasting and it goes into your blood because your liver is diseased with hepatitis. One form of hepatitis is by drinking some bad water, you can get hepatitis like that contaminated water. So, someone gets hepatitis due to this disease of the liver. If they taste anything that would normally be sweet, it doesn’t taste sweet. If you drink a glass of orange juice, you’ll persons will say have that disease, they’ll spit it out, they say, “What is in this? What is in this? It tastes terrible. What did you put in this?” But no one put anything into it. It’s just your perception of taste, your perception of taste is changed. [It] is made wrong taste, wrong perception by this disease that you have. And that, you know, so what is normally sweet is tasting to you to be bitter.
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So Srila Rupa Goswami says, “That material life and material existence, we’re all suffering from a disease. And in material existence that which would be very sweet to us, which would taste very nice to us, it doesn’t taste nice, it doesn’t taste sweet, it tastes bitter,” you know. So as a result, chanting the holy name which would be normally very attractive to a person who is in spiritual consciousness, to a materialist it’ll appear unattractive. And Mahaprabhu says, “Due to My offenses You’ve given all approach to You through Your holy name but I have no attraction for that.” So, it’s like a disease, our existence is like a disease. And sometimes you could even say, “This material body in one sense is like a disease.” Because it’s going through some, so many transformations and ultimately what will happen to this material body? I was reading about that and some of us were maybe, you know, have some experience on this plane. They, you know, if you lose someone close to you—father, mother, close friend or something like that—then you may reflect at that time, “Where does all this end? Where does it all end?” You know, is this what it comes to, is this where it all it culminates in this?
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And I don’t remember the exact poem, there’s a poem I guess, it’s by Thomas Grey that Srila Sridhar Maharaj used to quote. He’d say, “The boast… the pomp of power, the boast of heraldry, and all that wealth, and all that beauty e’er gave, that lead in the inevitable hour, the path of glory does lead to the grave.”[8] That was Srila Sridhar Maharaj used to quote, that it’s called Elegy in a Country Churchyard. All this, you know, the pomp of power, the great, you know, that’s a great display of power and pride that comes from power. Pomp of power, the boast of heraldry, a great valor and all these things, all these acquisitions in the material world. So, we’re so much proud of and we’re so much eager to get that. But where does it all leave? Ultimately it leaves from the your… this material body. One day or another it will end and when this material body ends, then everything you’ve acquired in this world it’s over just like that. And just flickering, you know, it’s gone. It has no permanence. Therefore Bhagavad-gita is saying that, “Those who actually are awake…” You know, it says, the materialist, he’s awake to enjoyment. But it but sleeping in terms of to his spiritual existence. Those are actually awake, you know, they understand what is that—the nature of existence is spiritual. Then they can take to some activities on, the eternal plane. Activities, their activities on this, on this plane of existence we talked about, that so many activities what you can gain out of this world, there are so many things people are working day and night or like that. Song again:
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bhajahu̐ re…[9]
[Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj] says, “All my life I’m serving kṛpaṇas.”[10] Kṛpaṇas. Bengali. Where kṛpa means ‘mercy’. But who is a kṛpaṇa? [Kṛpaṇa] means ‘a person who has no mercy’, [kṛpaṇas] ‘they have no mercy’. That’s the kind of people that we get employment from. “All my life,” he says, “I’m serving kṛpaṇas people without mercy and I’m working hard in the heat and the cold day and night, I’m working hard and,” he says, “why? For a little bit of flickering happiness.” I’ll get some money, I’ll get some happiness with that money and for that I’m spending all my days, summer and winter, all the time, I’m just working hard for kṛpaṇas, materialist persons. Just so, I can get a little bit of material enjoyment. But that as the poem says, as the song says, that’s temporary. But what we are interested in how we got some interest in this? Actually, we got some interest in this by contact with the devotees of the Lord. We use the word ‘guru’ but also Srila Sridhar Maharaj he would use the word ‘guardian’, ‘divine guardian’. Because in the qualities of surrender, Srila Rupa Goswami mentions qualities of surrender, Bhaktivinod Thakur glorifies him in his poems of Sharanagati. Sharanagati means ‘surrender’. Srila Sridhar Maharaj would talk about the special quality of what is goptṛtve varaṇam.
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Goptṛtve varaṇam means to accept the Lord as one’s guardian or to accept, enter into the family of the Lord. Here may be guardian can have a different meaning. You know, guardian, you know, someone who is giving you entering into the Lord’s family. That is our divine wealth. So goptṛtve varaṇam: accepting qualities of surrender which is doinya, humility, and accepting everything that’s favorable for the service of the Lord rejecting everything that’s unfavorable. If you read somebody can read, “Oh, your books! We don’t, it’s hard to get through your books,” you say so many things that you have to do. So many things that you can’t do, it’s like bewildering, somebody can say, “Oh, it’s bewildering.” No, it’s not really bewildering because everything that’s positive that you’re asked to do to, you know, to do everything favorable to the service of the Lord, that has one purpose that’s so that we can always remember the Lord. And when we are asked not to do this, not to do that, not, you know, not to engage in what we’ll call, you know, wrong activities or, you know, activities which are going to destroy divine consciousness, not to do those we’re avoiding those activities. Why? So, we won’t forget the Lord.
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So that which is positive, you know, come into the temple see the, see the divine form of the Lord, offer some prayers to the Lord. Those are positive things, those are… so you can always remember the Lord. And then things that you’re asked to avoid like keeping bad association, keeping association with people who are very that will lead us on a wrong path, bad association. Why we’re told to avoid that? So, we cannot forget the Lord that bad association will cause us to forget the Lord. You know, instead of someone being interested, in something, you know, which it will benefit us they’ll say, “Oh, why waste your time with this? Let’s go, let’s go to the bar and have a few drinks.”
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So, in that way one is told to avoid activities which will cause one to forget the Lord. So, but then also one will feel oneself always protected by the Lord. So, this will then come goptṛtve varaṇam. Goptṛtve varaṇam: entering in the Lord’s family or accepting the Lord as one’s guardian. And atma-nivedana: giving surrendering everything to the service of the Lord. I mean using all your senses, mind, body, words, everything in a service to the Lord. Those things are beneficial for us but especially I mentioned today is Shankaracharya’s appearance day. Shankaracharya he’s the leader of the impersonalists. But covert leader, we can say, he’s showing himself as the leader of the inpersonalists but he did write one poem where he says:
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bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ
govindaṁ bhaja mūḍha-mate…[11]
Starts up like that you’re saying, “Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda.” Mūḍha-mate: “You, mudhas, or asses,” he says that to his followers. They’re all personless but he’s saying, “Worship Govinda, worship Govinda.” And then he says, another place he describes that, “One who is a liberated soul will actually worship a deity of Govinda, of Krishna.” The startling commentaries, startling mentions by Shankaracharya but it’s not out of character in this sense that we understand—Shankaracharya to debate a divine incarnation of Lord Shiva. Shiva who had the purpose of gradually bringing people back to the Vedas, you know. Because it said, Lord Buddha, Lord Buddha originally there was a lot of violence going on, animal slaughter. So, Lord Buddha said that, you know, that, “You must take up what is called ahimsa, you must take up non-violent activities.” Buddha taught, you know, there’s peace that, you know, non-violent activities. But then some people who misunderstood they said to Lord Buddha, “But it says in the Vedas that we can do animal sacrifices.” But that is misunderstood—[Sanskrit]—can do animal sacrifices but actually the Vedas was, this sacrifice was for another time and it was for rejuvenating the life of an animal that if by sacrifice you could put in an old animal, like a horse or a cow, and then rejuvenate bring that animal to life as a cult, or as a calf. Then you could do that sacrifice but nobody can do that. There are no mantras or no persons who could do that. So, Lord Buddha, he said, “I do not accept the Vedas. I don’t follow the Vedas”, like Buddhists.
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When he taught ahimsa, non-violence, then person said, “But in the Vedas sacrifice of animals is mentioned.” And he said that, “I do not accept the Vedas, I do not accept them.” So, he rejected Vedas. And I have seen when I’m in Thailand for instance talk with the Buddhist sometimes. Srila Govinda Maharaj had very good, he would visit the Buddhist temple. There was ashram is and the monks there very much like Srila Govinda Maharaj, they were very affectionate to him. So, when I talk with one monk, he said that. Although some countries, in some countries Buddhists are vegetarians, [in] Thailand they’re not, you know, they go begging if somebody gives a meat, they’ll eat the meat. But then when I talked to the Buddhist monk, he said, “But if anybody puts a cow or a chicken at the Buddhist monastery nobody will kill that animal.” So there by Nature not wanting to hurt.
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After Lord Buddha appeared in Gaya then he taught something that ahimsa. But he rejected the Vedas. Then Shankaracharya came as I said, he’s an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He talks what is basically impersonalism, he taught with is basically Buddhism but what he instead of speaking of nirvana, he spoke of nirvishesh-Brahman instead of nirvana. But the practice that conclusion is similar to Buddhism. Shankaracharya taught that some differences there because but he didn’t also accept the soul, Buddhism that don’t accept the existence of an individual soul. But Shankaracharya then brought the people back to the Vedas by, by presenting what is also very much like Buddhism, which was very popular in India at that time.
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Lord Buddha appeared in all of India was Buddhist. Shankaracharya presented what is like Buddhism with reference to the Vedas and he presented the Vedas in such a way that was covering the Vedas but bringing people back to Vedas because they were familiar with those teachings. Lord Shiva, he told to his wife Parvati then in Kali-yuga will appear in this way to mislead or misrepresent the Vedas and bring people in this way but it’s what the purpose of bringing people back towards of it then after that came Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu presented what is the correct conclusion of the Vedas which is that both the impersonal and the personal conception are existing because the impersonal idea is the energy of the Lord but it emanates from the divine form of the Lord. So Mahaprabhu taught achintya-bheda-abheda-tattva.
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Their living entity as we may gather from Shankaracharya’s teaching is the same as Lord because qualitatively we are the same as the Lord—the Lord is sat, we are sat, eternal; the Lord is chit, we are also chit, we’re a conscious. Eternal, conscious. And ananda—the Lord is full of unlimited bliss or happiness, and the nature of the soul, the nature of the living entity is to be full of happiness. So simultaneously we are one with the Lord but there is another part. Simultaneously one with the Lord but we are not the Lord because quantitatively we are different. Simultaneously one but different. Different means we can be covered by illusion because we are subject to the Lord’s illusory energy because we are minute souls. So what Mahaprabhu says the nature of the soul, He says:
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jīvera svarūpa haya—kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa…[12]
The living entity us they are eternal servants of Krishna, of the Lord. So that is our position.
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Anyway, we’re happy to welcome everyone here tonight. And we are trying to offer some service to our divine spiritual masters. You know, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupad—they gave their lives. So that others would be able to receive something of divine mercy. Nature of this world, people don’t know what is a real benefit. As Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur used to sign letters, he said, “Your ever well-wisher,” he signed in that way. Srila Prabhupad also signed his letters in that way: “Your ever well-wisher.” And [it] is true—these persons, they are our ever well-wishers, they only will think of our benefit.
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When astrologer told about Srila Sridhar Maharaj, he said, “He can do good for others but he will not do good for himself.” Meaning he is not self-interested, he’s not interested in something that will benefit himself, he’s only interested in what will be a benefit [for] other. No self-interest, no provincial interest, not looking for one’s own benefit, not trying to get some acquisition or some benefit from any situation. And that is what we have found, that is what I found. Always with the divine guardians, our divine spiritual masters, they’re always find that, they’re always interested in what will help us. Feel myself fortunate to be able to have, had and have that kind of association. It goes our best interest is in the heart of a saint. If you can find some place in a saint’s heart, it’s not enough! Just to think, “Oh, who is the true qualified spiritual master?” It’s not enough—just that you will accept the spiritual master. You must be accepted by the spiritual master. One thing is to find who is a sad-guru, who is a true spiritual master; another [thing] is to find a place in the heart of the saint.
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So that were trying for. Anyway, I’m happy that everyone came tonight we want to well again welcome everyone here to our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Ashram. Anyone have a question?
Devotee. [It’s not clear.]
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Janardan Maharaj. Buddhists will believe in the end of all material activities, in the end of material consciousness at ultimately attaining a state of peace being relieved from all mundane consciousness. So, they out some spiritual pursuit, they may not accept the existence of individual spirit, they may not accept the position of God per se of the Divine. But as we always heard in one sense, they are following the Divine because Lord Buddha himself is an incarnation of the Lord. So, he appeared and by worshiping him people are worshiping the Lord. When I go to all these places, they’re worshiping Buddha. They have temples where they’re worshiping that way. But their final conclusion is nirvana. Nirvana means the termination of all that is material. But in one sense we consider that to be a little incomplete because one example is that, you know, if you have a lot of problems in your house one possibility is to just level the house to just tear the whole thing down. But that’s not really the most ideal solution. The real solution is, ideal solution is to correct the problems and they be able to deal with things to get rid of everything, that is wrong to get rid.
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So, we want the mind may be a source of so much entanglement. But in the Gita said, “The mind can be the worst enemy or the best friend.”[13] So, the mind can also function as a best friend, on material consciousness the mind is always rejecting, you know. Anything that is against mundane enjoyment. And promoting whatever will give us some mundane happiness, that’s the mind on the mundane level. On a spiritual level there is spiritual mind, there is spiritual consciousness, there are spiritual activities. So, on spiritual level your mind can work for your benefit, normally we’re not used to that. I’m not used to getting so much great benefit from my friend, from my mind. You know, Srila Govinda Maharaj remark when he first came to the temple of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, the first thing that Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, “Can you follow me and not follow your mind?” That was his first thing.
#00:38:40#
It’s a basic lesson you may think, “Oh, what is that? What’s mind control?” No but no, he’s because your mind is giving you some bad guidance. So often you can say, “Well, sometimes my mind gives me good advice.” Maybe. But your mind will also throw that in your face, “Oh, yeah, I gave you good advice last week. So now you owe me.” It’s like that. Mind is not disinterested. There’s an example given by Srila Sridhar Maharaj that I like, he says, he says, “That the individual soul of this world is a minor.” Minor mean ‘underage’. So, it has a great wealth, we have a great wealth, that’s coming come to us. You know, we have been left such great wealth on a spiritual level but we are, but we are minors. So, we have received an inheritance. You can say, an inheritance from your father we’ve received, an inheritance, but because we’re underage, then some administrators have been appointed to administrate our estate. You know, you’ve got an inheritance, you’re underage, so, there’s some administrators appointed by the court etc. like that who will administrate your estate. And these administrators are your mind and your intelligence. You know, they are the administrators of your estate. But they should be saying, those administrators should be saying that, “Everything is for the service of the Lord.” And we’re doing everything in the service of the Lord. And there may be saying that but actually they are usurping what is divine property and utilizing it for enjoyment. And supposedly they’re appointed administrators for us. But they’re corrupt, they’re usurping what is our inheritance and spending it in a nonsense way.
#00:40:49#
Srila Sridhar Maharaj would talk then miner soul has to make contact with a major soul or someone who will give him proper guidance because, you know, instead of, instead of these administrators that are saying, “Everything is for Him,” but it’s not they’re stealing, they’re robbing. “It’s not for us, it’s not for us,” they are saying, “it’s for us,” but it’s not. Because they’re corrupt, they’re corrupt mind, corrupt intelligence. I’m misusing are inherit but if we make contact with a major soul which means a realize soul. And we can get proper guidance and then we can utilize what is our inheritance. There’s an example given by Srila Sridhar Maharaj.
#00:41:38#
Meaning that right now we are following our mind but our mind is mundane. So, our mind is giving us wrong directions. Buddhism—nirvana. You know, stop the activities of the mundane mind. But they’re also spiritual, spiritual consciousness, the mind can be engaged in spiritual consciousness, right, our idea is not to just tear everything down and reach a state of, you know, non-existence. We want to enter into the plane of spiritual existence. So that is the difference we see—that the soul has activities on the spiritual plane. And that’s a little beyond what is given Buddhism. Have no I remembered? Any other question?
Devotee. Mayavadi—Shankaracharya?
#00:42:42#
Janardan Maharaj. Yeah, today is his appearance day, [he is] leader of the impersonalists. But I may, I talked about him as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He has some purpose and Lord Shiva himself, he told the Parvati, he said:
#00:43:04#
ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ
viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ…[14]
“All the forms of worship,” he told that, “the worship of Lord Vishnu that’s the highest.” That’s what Lord Shiva told to Parvati. But Parvati, she does, she’s a servant of Lord Shiva. So, she might have felt a little depressed by this news of all forms of worship, worship of Lord Vishnu is the highest because she’s thinking, “But I’m serving my Lord, Lord Shiva, then what’s my position.” But then Lord Shiva said, “But of all… but even higher than the service of Lord Vishnu is the service of Lord Vishnu’s devotees.” Then Parvati is thinking, “Yes, Shiva, he is a servant of Vishnu, he’s a servant of Krishna and I’m serving him, I’m serving the Lord’s devotee. So, my position is proper.” So that is our understanding—we’re servants of the spiritual energy and servants of the Lord’s devotees. And Shankaracharya [is] incarnation of Lord Shiva. And he gave that advice. Okay, all right. So, any other question?
Devotee. I was on the way here I was listening lectures of (?) Maharaj, he was explaining about bhakti. That it’s [unclear].
Janardan Maharaj. Well, I always used to hear that verse:
#00:44:36#
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati[15]
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje…
The best activity for everyone is to establish a loving relationship with the Lord. But then the verse says, “That service to the Lord should be ahaituky apratihatā—without any material motivation and without interruption.”
#00:45:07#
…yayātmā suprasīdati
And that will completely satisfy the soul, that will satisfy, it satisfy us completely. And I used to read that verse and I used to think, “But this is very hard to understand because the ahaituky apratihatā—without any material motivation—everything I do is materially motivated. I don’t know what it is to not be materially motivated. Everything I do is materially motivated. Ahaituky. How will I know what is, how can I do what is not materially motivated because that’s my existence?”
#00:45:44#
…ahaituky apratihatā…
And it shouldn’t be without any interruption and I thought, “But I’m always on the mental level.” So, some days I feel very good and I’m very eager to do something and then some days I don’t want to do anything, I don’t want to hear anything, I don’t want to know anything. Some days I’m fine and some days not fine, my mind is like that. So then how will I understand the ahaituky apratihatā—without any material motivation. And that’s not coming from me, that’s not my nature even if I somehow or other had, you know, no material motivation. How long is that going to last? It’s supposed to be without any interruption. So, I was thinking, “How can I understand this verse?” I understand that we should have a loving relationship with the Lord but how can it be free of material motivation without any interruption?
#00:46:37#
But then I read one explanation of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He said, “That divine plane already exists beyond you, it’s already existing, the spiritual plane exists, has an existence.” So, if you say, it has no material motivation, that means that, that plane is already existing. It’s not part of this material world, that divine plane exists, it’s not something that’s produced out of this world to say that it has no material motivation. That means that, that divine spiritual plane exists free of this material world. And that it’s without any interruption. Srila Sridhar Maharaj explained that, means it’s irresistible on that divine plane, its irresistible meaning gives the example of a tsunami. When a tsunami comes in you cannot resist that wave. Somebody maybe able to swim or somebody doesn’t know how to swim but when the tsunami comes in it doesn’t matter whether you swim or not. That wave will carry you.
#00:47:47#
So, it’s irresistible but in this sense it’s irresistible in a good way it will carry you. So, it means when that divine plane will descend to us that, that plane already exists, means that it has no material motivation, means that the spiritual plane is always existing whether we’re aware of it or not, it exists, it has no material motivation. And that it has no interruption, means that when it will come to you it will be irresistible. You will not be able to resist that. So, it will have no interruption, meaning nothing can stop it. It’s irresistible, it’s a spiritual. And that Srila Sridhar Maharaj explained that verse, and then I thought, “Well, that makes a lot more sense to me because if I think about it from my perspective looking up it’s not going to work. I’m not free of material motivations and I can’t do service which is uninterrupted which won’t be impeded by my mind.”
#00:48:51#
But if that plane will descend to us it will be irresistible and of course it will be divine plain coming to you. Can come to you through the mercy of the devotees and [in] Prapanna-jivanamritam Srila Sridhar Maharaj talks about that. He says, “Right now in our heart there are so many unwanted things but there is heart like frozen ice.” So how are you going to break frozen ice? Ice pick. No, it’s not going to work. There’s great amount of ice, you can break that but if the temperature will go up all that ice will just melt away. So, at the proper time if one submissively or—what’s the right word? If one goes on with one service even tolerating so many impediments and so many things which will come from our own heart and from our own senses, wrong things that can tolerate that and depend on the Lord’s mercy. Then at the proper time that mercy may come to one and all those unwanted things will melt and disappear.
#00:50:00#
Anyway, I’ve read these things to me they’re encouraging, they’re encouraging because without it if I’m not going to consider it in that way. What how am I going to think about things? But Srila Sridhar Maharaj gives that kind of hope. Just the Lord will appear in our heart, the temperature will go up and all unwanted things like so much ice, it’ll just melt away.
Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das
1 ↑ Śrīla Krishnadās Kavirāj prays, “First I offer my respects unto the lotus feet of my initiating spiritual masters and the recruiting spiritual masters and advanced Vaiṣṇavas. Next, I offer my obeisances to my śāstra gurus, Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī, his elder brother, Śrīla Sanātan Goswāmī, Śrīla Raghunāth dās Goswāmī, and Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī. On a higher platform I offer my respects unto Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, who came with His paraphernalia and associates, along with those great personalities Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Advaita Āchāryya. And in the highest stage, I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Govinda, and all of the gopīs, headed by Lalitā Devī and Viśākhā Devī.”
2 ↑ “Applying the soothing salve of sambandha-jñāna, a proper acquaintance with the environment, my spiritual master has opened my inner eye and thereby rescued me from the darkness of ignorance, fulfilling my life’s aspirations. I offer my respects unto Śrī Gurudeva.”
3 ↑ “I bow down unto the holy feet of the pure Vaiṣṇavas, who are like desire trees able to fulfil all the devotees’ aspirations. The Lord’s devotees are comparable to a vast ocean of causeless mercy, as they deliver the fallen souls from material existence. I offer all respects unto them.”
4 ↑ “I offer my obeisances unto Lord Gaurāṅga, whose divine complexion is a radiant golden hue and who possesses the qualities of the most benevolent incarnation. His spiritual Pastimes freely grant pure love for Lord Krishna to all. He is none other than Lord Krishna known in the age of Kali as Śrī Krishna Chaitanya.”
5 ↑ E dhana, jauvana, putra, parijana, ithe ki āche paratīti re / kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala, bhajahu̐ hari-pada niti re—“What assurance of real happiness is there in all of one’s wealth, youthfulness, sons, and family members? This life is tottering like a drop of water on a lotus petal; therefore you should always serve and worship the divine feet of Lord Hari” (Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj. “Bhajahu Re Mana”, 3).
6 ↑ “It is the desire and great longing of Govinda Dās to engage himself in the nine processes of bhakti, namely hearing the glories of Lord Hari and chanting those glories, constantly remembering Him and offering prayers to Him, serving the Lord’s lotus feet, serving the Supreme Lord as a servant, worshipping Him with flowers and incense and so forth, serving Him as a friend, and completely offering the Lord one’s very self” (Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj. “Bhajahu Re Mana”, 4).
7 ↑ “O Lord, You have manifested Your many names, placed all of Your power within them, and made no rules regarding the time for remembering them. Such is Your great mercy. My misfortune, however, is that I have no attachment to Your names” (Shikshashtakam, 2).
8 ↑ “The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, / And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, // Awaits alike th’ inevitable hour, / The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”
This quote is taken from the ninth stanza of the Thomas Grey’s poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”.
9 ↑ Bhajahu̐ re mana śrī-nanda-nandana, abhaya-charaṇāravinda re / dūrlabha mānava janama sat-saṅge, taroho e bhava-sindhu re—“O mind, just worship the lotus feet of the son of Nanda, which make one fearless. Having obtained this rare human birth, cross over this ocean of worldly existence through the association of saintly persons” (Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj. “Bhajahu Re Mana”, 1).
10 ↑ Śīta ātapa bāta bariṣaṇa, e dina jāminī jāgi re / biphale sevinu kṛpaṇa durajana, chapala sukha-laba lāgi’ re—“Both in the day and at night I remain sleepless, suffering the pains of the heat and cold, the wind and the rain. For a fraction of flickering happiness, I have uselessly served wicked and miserly men” (Srila Govinda Das Kaviraj. “Bhajahu Re Mana”, 2).
11 ↑ Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ, govindaṁ bhaja mūḍha-mate / saṁprāpte sannihite kale, na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe—“Serve Govinda, serve Govinda, serve Govinda, O fool! When the time of death arrives, rules of grammar do not save you” (Sri Shankaracharya. “Moha-mudgāra-stotram”, 1).
12 ↑ Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya—kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’ / kṛṣṇera ‘taṭasthā-śakti’, ‘bhedābheda-prakāśa’—“The soul is by nature an eternal servant of Krishna. The soul is Krishna’s tatastha-shakti (marginal potency); a manifestation both distinct and non-distinct from Krishna” (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita: Madhya-lila, 20.108).
13 ↑ Bandhur ātmātmanas tasya, yenātmaivātmanā jitaḥ / anātmanas tu śatrutve, vartetātmaiva śatru-vat—“ For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy” (Bhagavad-gita: 6.6).
14 ↑ Ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param / tasmāt parataraṁ devi tadīyānāṁ samarchanam— “Among all kinds of worship, worship of Lord Viṣṇu is the best. But even more than worship of Viṣṇu is worship of the Vaiṣṇava” (Padma Purāṇa).
15 ↑ “The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: 1.2.6).
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