English
30th July 2019
Chant to your heart’s
Hare Krishna!
We encourage you all to keep chanting day after day after day, every day. Most of you have taken vow to chant prescribed number of rounds daily. So, you could complete those rounds chanting, especially if you could chant as you had been doing on this conference, that will be beneficial to all those who participate in the conference and it is highly appreciated by me and by all. All the participants are also appreciating chanting in this conference. Even appreciation is not because I am also chanting but everyone else is chanting, big numbers of devotees are chanting. That is also cause for appreciation. So, we need you all to keep chanting.
So, I will be leaving on a big long world tour tomorrow evening. Then what happens to this conference? That is the question. But we have been suggested something that we could form groups. Noida group, Bangalore group and Mauritius group and Bhakti vriksha group or you and your counselees if you have counselor, you all could chant together. So that is also one suggestion.
Gauranga is chanting in Alachua, you could also chant in team. So that is one suggestion.
So that was one idea. The response I received was that may or may not work, or that may or may not be very attractive. So, what I am considering is and of course where ever I am I chant my japa. So that chanting could be recorded; record japa and record japa talk. And I will notify when I am chanting in this country, that country, try to join me then and there. So that is another option which is not may be practical or welcomed idea by many of you. Or this time, morning time recording will be played, if this is okay for all of you. That also is possible. Dinanukampa mataji and Padmamali prabhu were thinking something like that. Maybe they have not spoken with you Hari kirtan but they have talked with Akinchan Bhakta prabhu. And of course, wherever I chant and talk, that talk is going to be in English. So that is to be repeated this time. Then English talk could be translated in Hindi, my talk then pause and Hindi translation and more my talk in English and more Hindi translation. So yes, I think that may be most appealing and most effective way.
So, do you all think that this is quite an option? Many are responding to the chat. It will be live; in fact, you will not notice the difference between the sessions we are doing now and the sessions during my tour. That will be live, nothing dead. It will be live and lively.
There is news from Hungary and they are conducting padayatra, outskirts at Krsna valley. That is very famous project. They have goshala, so they are on the road for padayatra and I was very pleased to see 30 devotees on the road going from village to village, town to town and chanting Hare Krishna on the way.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu did 500 years ago and devotees from Hungary right now they are continuing the program spreading the holy name around.
Param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam!
In the cart, the chariot, they have Gaura Nitai deities and Srila Prabhupada murti also and they are chanting nonstop from beginning to finish. They are distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, distributing prasadam and every town, village they are visiting they are planting the trees. I think they have invited some dignitaries, mayor or some others from the town and in their presence, they are planting trees like a memorial tree. And report also said that they are 30 permanent team members of Padayatra but then during the day some more join and number swells up to 50-60 devotees and it is big number for that country. In India you may think ‘50 does not do’. But in the western world like Hungary 50 participants in padayatra on the road are huge number participating and this is very inspirational for us, chanters also.
Padayatra worldwide ki Jai! Harinam sankirtan ki jai!
So, you could see how the prediction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu is coming true. You could see all in front of your eyes. We are witness to see how the prediction is coming true, reaching to more towns, more villages. Prabhupada gave us this padayatra strategy, program, project to spread the holy name all over the world and this is happening, going on. You could also take part in nagar sankirtans in your town. Muralimohan prabhu from Ahmadabad, he has done more than 36 padayatras, one day padayatras and he is inspiring devotees from other cities, towns, from Bangalore, Jamshedpur, Jalgaon, and Solapur. So why not your town, your city, your village, wherever you are from, you could make this Holy name to get the Holy name to people of your region, your fellow brothers, fellow human beings, gift them this Hare Krishna maha mantra. You could also conduct Harinama sankirtana in your town. Or you could have this happening under the banner of one day padayatras, of course longer also. So, make some plans and conduct and participate in one day padayatra all over the India, all over the world.
Gaur premanande Hari Hari bol!
Yesterday I had inspirational experience which I would like to share. This also shows how Krishna consciousness is spreading. Parents are reaching out their children and inspiring them to take to Krsna consciousness. So what happened?
Yesterday I was studying the commentary of Sridhar Swami on Bhagavad Gita. And then soon after, almost in middle of my studies I had to leave and I was visiting Krsna Darsan Prabhu’s home and he had some guests there. And one little girl, Narayani, 4 years old, daughter of one of the guests, she, Narayani said to me, ‘Maharaja I have a surprise gift for you’. And I said, ‘what is it? Give me the gift.’ Then she presented the surprise gift and the gift was she recited the verses of Bhagavad Gita. She went on and on and on. It was quite loud and nice pronunciation; uninterrupted and very spontaneously she was reciting the verses. I remembered; I knew some of those verses. I hadn’t learnt by heart but she had learnt by heart all of the verses. What surprised me was, not only she recited the verses very beautifully but she had recited exact same verses which I had done the study of Sridhar Swami’s commentary. And she stopped where I had stopped my study, exactly same verse. She started chanting ‘dhritarasta uvaca’, it was first verse of first chapter of Bhagavad Gita and she went on and on and she stopped at 21 verse and that’s where she stopped where I had stopped my study of Sridhar Swami’s Bhagavad Gita commentary. So that also was surprise to me. Lord prompted her to recite exact same verses or exactly same number of verses which I had done the study on that day, earlier that day. So, this was very very inspirational.
All glories to Narayani and all glories to the parents, who are training and inspiring the children to recite, memorize verses of Bhagavad Gita and introducing Krishna consciousness to them.
Time is short but I still have another thought, a big thought, but I will make it little, small bites, so we can present that. Yesterday we talked about senses are not being under control and as a result you could even lose your life. And we mentioned those five different animals’ examples and how one of their senses was not under control and as a result how they lost their lives. So, controlling senses is very essential. How to do it is very important. So, sense control is possible ultimately by chanting of the Holy name of the Lord. By tasting the Holy name of the Lord, by developing higher taste which remains higher taste only when we are chanting and chanting and develop liking and love attraction for chanting, then by that time you will have your senses under control. Or to the degree we have developed attraction and attachment and to the degree we taste the holy name to that degree we will have our senses under control.
cetah-prangana-sangini vijayate sarvendriyanam krtim
no jane janito kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi (CC Antya 1.99)
This is the statement or declaration of Rupa Gosvami. It’s a long story. There is a verse compiled by Rupa Gosvami which is part of mangalacharan of his maybe Lalit Madhav scripture and it was in the presence of Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Namacarya Srila Haridas Thakur and Ramananada Rai and like that the associates like those in Jagannath Puri. Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked to recite this verse which Rupa Goswami has compiled and included as mangalacharan into one of his books and explained what I recited, what just one part, one pada of that shloka.
So in that particular mantra of Rupa Goswami, shloka, verse is amazing and the glories of holy name that he has chanted in that particular verse is unparalleled or outstanding and he has gloried the holy name with heart’s content and even Mahaprabhu Himself was so much pleased as He heard this recitation of a particular mantra which glorified the holy name.
tunde tandavini ratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye
karna-kroda-kadambini ghatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham (CC Antya 1.99)
When I chant the holy name of the Lord with my mouth, I feel Rupa Gosvami’s thoughts realizations that what good is one mouth. I wish I had tundavini, I had many many thousands of mouths, then may be something I could chant with those thousands mouths, tunde tundavini ratim vitanute, as I chant and with this glorious names, glories are expanding, ever expanding. One mouth is not enough. I wish to have many many mouths to chant Hare Krishna Maha mantra.
Karna kroda kadambini ghatayate and then he says, that name chanted by the mouth when that enters my ears then I feel, karna arbudebhyah spriham, then I develop desire to have karna, ears, air bud that is big number, bigger than koti and I wish I had a millions of ears to hear this sweet Holy name of the Lord. What good is this one set of ears? I wish I had millions of ears to hear the Holy name.
Rupa Goswami continues that when I chant, I wish I had so many mouths to chant and then as I hear I wish I had millions of ears to hear that Holy name. Then he says, and finally that holy name reaches the courtyard of my heart, cetah prangana sangini vijayate.
And when holy name reaches my heart, enters my consciousness, enters in the courtyard of my heart then vijayate, then I become victorious. Victory over what?
He says, Sarva indriyani kratim, all the activities of my senses they all become stuck. Whatever may be wanting to do or they were busy doing it, they stop doing that all sort of nonsense. Uncontrollably they were busy before, but as soon as the Holy name reaches my heart, enter my consciousness, then sarve indriyani kratim vijayate, I become victorious. I conquer over all the senses and I become vijayi, I become victorious, which is also Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, you become victorious, param vijayate sri krsna sankirtanam
W movement or sankirtan chanting that makes you victorious, supreme victory, victory all over senses also could be, senses controlling, mind taking charge of your life, all becomes possible when you are chanting attentively, offenselessly and you are enjoying your heart or chant to your heart’s content.
And he concludes that statement with the fourth line that is na jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varnadvayi, there is so much nectar in Lord’s krsneti varnadvayi, he says, Krsna, there are two varnas, there are only two aksharas, this is so much nectar. This Holy name has so much nectar that I cannot even realize how much nectar is there in this Holy name, in the name Krishna, krsneti varna dvayi.
And I am overwhelmed. I cannot even understand how much nectar there is in the Holy names of the Lord.
Okay, so contemplate on this verse. In Caitanya Caritamrita, madhya lila you could find this verse. You could read and study and understand it, the glories of the Holy name the way Rupa Goswami has recited.
Hare Krishna