English
“ATMAVAT SARVA BHUTESU…..”
Devotees are chanting all over the planet. We have morning time here in India, noon time in Australia, evening time of the day before ours in New Jersey. So the devotees are chanting whether it is morning, noon, evening or night transcending all barriers. That means when there is mangala arati in India and we sing samsar davana, in New York they sing kibo jayo jayo gaurachande . So in some place mangala arati and some place Sandhya-arati. After some time there will be mangala arati in the Middle East. After that it will be in Europe, England, then New York mangala arati, then Hawaii, then Japan, Australia mangala arati then Malaysia, Burma mangala arati. Like that 24 hours a day in some place there is mangala arati and Sandhya-aarti also going on. One time Prabhupada was talking about the ISKCON empire, the world of Hare Krishna as it is spread globally. He said, ‘The sun never sets in the ISKCON empire.’ Wherever there is Sun, there is ISKCON. All the parts - Eastern part , Western part, Middle East, South East , Far East. Wherever there is sun at any given point there is ISKCON, there are devotees chanting or distributing Prabhupada books.
Yesterday the BBT trusties were making a presentation to the GBC's as they do every year. In that they informed that every second somewhere in the world Srila Prabhupada's books are being distributed. The British used to make the claim that they had spread their empire far and wide. England is very small, a tiny little country. They had become very powerful by spreading their kingdom. They used to make the claim that, ‘ The sun never sets in the British empire.’ One time Prabhupada had commented , ‘ The sun never sets in the British empire, but the sun never rises in England.’ It is always cloudy. Getting sun there is a very rare occasion. Surya- darsana is difficult.
One of the chanters has remarked that , ‘ I am seeing you and you are seeing me in this conference‘. My thought was that's not all we want to achieve. We want to see Krsna. In the mundane world, this is where it ends - I see you, you see me , we shake hands and embrace and do this and that, but there is nothing beyond that. But for us chanters, we are seeing each other on this conference, but our aim is to see Krsna. Each other's presence should act like a catalyst in seeing Krsna ultimately.
premanjana-cchurita-bhakti- vilochanena
santah sadaiva hridayeshu vilokayanti
yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami ( BS. Verse 11)
11) I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is Syamasundara, Krishna Himself with inconceivable innumerable attributes, whom the pure devotees see in their heart of hearts with the eye of devotion tinged with the salve of love.
So vilokayanti - they see hridayeshu - in their hearts . What do they see? yam shyama-sundaram achintya-guna-svarupam. I was thinking of that and was reminded of a statement in Bhagavatam. It comes at the time of the pastime of kidnapping of Rukmini. Sukadev Goswami describes that when Rukmini was going to the Ambika temple just before her marriage with Sisupal, Rukmini’s feet were walking towards the feet of Ambika. Two sets of feet are there. Rukmini is using her feet for walking and she was remembering the Lotus Feet of Krsna. So that is the third set of Feet. She didn't care about her feet or Ambika's feet. But was only remembering the Lotus Feet of Krsna. That is the main party. Like a marriage partner. Krsna is the marriage partner. It's not just an affair between wife and husband. Partnership doesn't become complete with just wife and husband in Grihasta ashram till Krsna comes there. He is the third or first or the main partner.
So as you chant Hare Krishna your perspective is expected to change. Your viewpoint changes. It becomes positive, truthful. While chanting I was reminding myself that first of all I am in the middle of worship.
yagnai sankirtnaih hi prayai yajantihi hi sumedhasa. (SB. 11.5.32)
So by performing yajantihi -sacrifice, while doing worship , I am worshipping the holy name. Who is worshipping? The soul is worshipping. We are using the body as paraphernalia. We use dhoop or deep, flowers or naivaidya . We use them with our hands, but worshipper is the soul. We are worshipping the Supreme Soul, worshipping the holy name - Krsna. We are worshipping Nama Prabhu. If the soul is not in the body, is worship possible? Body is there. Patram pushpam, phalam toyam, deepam, dhupam , naivedyam everything is there and the body is also there. But if soul is not there, is worship possible? At least you are not there. Maybe someone else will end up doing it, but not you! Because you are no there. So the worshipper is the soul, i.e. our real self. We are worshipping the holy name. Aradhya means the object of our worship. The worshipper is aradhak or aradhika. One who worships is aradhak and one who is being worshipped is aaradhya.
aradhya bhagwan brajesh tanaya …. (Caitanya-matta-manjusa commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam by Srinath Chakravarti.)
The way we worship is aradhana. So aradhak(we) do aradhana( process) to please aradhya( His deity or Istadev). Aradhana includes mood and feelings , our devotion. That is what also Krsna said -
patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ ( BG. 9.26)
If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it.
You are using patram, puspam, phalam as part of your aradhana process, but it has to be accompanied with 'bhakty’ or devotion. It becomes like an 'upakaran’ or instrument. So bhaktya is in tritiya vibhakti. Similarly as in the verse - abhyasen tu kaunteya, here abhyasen is also tritiya. Abhyasen , vairagyen. So many words like that became instrument. So not just that we are saying Hare Krishna, but we are using our lips and tongue which must vibrate . While all this is happening the mind has to be into it. So devotional mind will have devotional thoughts. What is the function of mind? Thinking, feeling and willing - all these functions have to be Krishnised . There has to be devotional thinking, devotional feelings and a strong devotional will means a strong will. -
aka mah sarva-kamo va
moksha-kama udara-dhih
trivrena bhakti-yogena
yajeta purusam param (SB 2.3.10)
A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead.
Trivrena means very intense , bhakti means full of feelings, emotions and devotion. So that's the aradhana part. We are aradhaks and the holy name - Harinama Prabhu is aradhya. Then we sit down and do aradhana or Upasana or worship. Yajantihi sumedhasa. So we are sitting down for the most important business or activity or aradhana. If you stand up, then you may not be doing it. At the place of chanting, sit down and chant. That means you are a serious chanter. Not that if you started walking means you are not chanting! Not that you should not chant while walking, but your 16 rounds , chant as much as possible sitting down, which is proper asana.
I was thinking as I keep doing all the time that. Panditaha samdarshinaha… Pandit means learned. One is full of ‘panditya’ is Pandit, Vidvatta. Pandit only can do samadarshina. Or Vidya
vinaya sampanne brahmana gavi hastini shuni chaiva shwapake Cha panditaha samdarshinaha. ( BG. 5.18)
He is seeing the soul and not the body - ultimately that's the goal. In the spiritual sky there are no bodies. The soul is a body, a form. Not that this is body and this is the soul. The soul is from top to bottom a form. So my thought was that Hare Krishna Hare Krishna is Harinama Prabhu. The soul is what is within us. We are dirt, dust. The Bible says, ‘For dust you are and to dust you shall return’(Genesis 3:19). So I was thinking there are so many bodies around me. They are just one pile of dirt, another pile of dirt. Settle them down and what remains is a soul which is eternal and indestructible. na hanyate na hanyamane sharire. ( BG. 2.20) So if that happens, then another inch of floor would rise with dirt. Then only Harinam Prabhu and the soul will remain Haribol! Spirit soul! I mean that is what happens ultimately. Don't want to think that might happen in this room . We are all not bodies in this room, but wherever that happens there will be dirt here, dirt there. What would remain is a soul. So while chanting also realise and understand others as a soul. I am also soul and others are also soul and in the midst of all of us is Harinama Prabhu. As we chant
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
As we Chant, our perspective, our viewpoint should change. What are we thinking, the way we are evaluating, judging, using the power of discrimination, the power of our sharp Krishna conscious intelligence, which separates the soul from the body. Not just your soul from the body, but separates others’ souls also from their bodies with the sword of knowledge. Not literally, but intellectually we cut or separate the souls from the body. We try to treat others as a soul. We try to treat others as
atmavat sarva bhutesu
All other living entities think like yourself. (Buddha)
matrvat para-dareṣu
para-dravyesu lostravat
atmavat sarva-bhutesu
yah pasyati sa panditah (Canakya-sloka 10)
“One who considers another’s wife as his mother, another’s possessions as a lump of dirt and treats all other living beings as he would himself, is considered to be learned.”
One who sees like this is a Pandit. So what does he see? Among those three, one who sees atmavat sarva bhutesu all other living entities are like me , they are mine, they are Krsna's. So they are my brothers and sisters, is a Pandit . His vision is that they belong to my Krsna.
So we will stop here.
Hare Krishna!
