English
7th June 2019
Do meditate, but meditate upon Krishna
Hari Bol to you all!
637 participants today! I am very happy and enjoying this conference and chanting with you all. Especially when I see you chanting, I do not hear, but I do see you chanting. Your lips are vibrating or moving, so that seems very pleasing. You all are doing right thing at right time. Right thing is we know, I am sure you also know, that you are and we all are spirit souls and for all living entities our occupation is, our dharma in this kali-yuga is chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, that we are doing.
As I see you practicing dharma, doing the right thing, that gives me great pleasure.
So, you are doing the right thing, that is chanting Hare Krishna. You and we all have to just do it rightly or correctly. You are doing the right thing, but do it in right way, correct way. So we always say, we meditate upon Lord’s Holy name and Lord’s pastimes, Lord form etc. This is mantra meditation, it’s time for dhyana, time for meditation. So do it dhyanapurvak, with attention, in a meditating way. That is the right thing to do, right way to do.
In fact, everyone in this world meditates, get absorbed in, concentrates,contemplates, everyone in this world does that. Every living entity does that, dhyana or contemplation or meditation. So worldly people also do dhyana all the time and they do dhyana of maya and devotees also do dhyana or they are expected to do dhyana, meditate upon Sri Krishna. So we do not say, ‘do not meditate, do not think or contemplate or concentrate, but we only say, devotees of Krishna say, meditate upon Krishna. Do meditate, but meditate upon Krishna.
Lord Sri Krishna talked about this dhyana in Bhagavad Gita, very famous statement.
dhyayato visayan pumsam sangastesupa jayate
sangat sanjayate Kamah, kamat krodhobhi jayate
krodhat bhavati sammoha, sammohat smrti vibhramah,
smrti bhramsat buddhi naso, buddhi nasat pranasyati [BG 2.62]
So Lord has talked how to do meditation, if it is visaya or objects of senses, meditation on the objects of senses, then that leads to attachments, one gets attached to those objects of senses.
sangah tesu upajayate, the attachment is developed.
This principle applies to both kinds of meditation, the mundane meditation and spiritual Krishna consciousness meditation. If your objects of senses are mundane objects and you meditate upon them then you develop attachment to those mundane objects of senses, mundane places, mundane personalities, mundane objects of eating or sleeping or mating or defending. So likewise, if we meditate upon Krishna, the spiritual objects of our senses, the senses of spirit, spirit also has senses, the body also have senses, so the body’s senses contemplate, meditate on the objects of mundane senses, then that kind of attachment. The spiritual senses of the spirit soul, they contemplate on the spiritual objects and that’s Krishna, then we develop attachment to Krishna. So we develop detachment to maya and we develop attachment to Krishna by meditating upon Krishna or meditating upon the spiritual objects of our spiritual senses.
Then Krishna says,
sangastesupa jayate sangat sanjayate kamah, and then if we are attached to the objects of senses, we are contemplating on the objects of senses, then it gives rise to kama, the lust. While you contemplate on the spiritual objects of our senses that is Krishna, even Krishna’s devotees, Krishna’s pastimes, then we develop attachment to those spiritual objects and then we revive our prema for the Lord. In other case kama, sangat sanjayate kamah, but there is also sangat sanjayate premah. Prema also could be revived by the contemplation and attachment to the spiritual objects of the senses.
As another statement from Chaitanya Charitamrita, that clarifies this point,
atmendriya priti vancha tara bale kama (Cc. Ädi 4.165)
atmendriya priti, if we are busy in gratifying mundane senses, contemplating on mundane objects of senses or relishing mundane objects then the outcome is kamah upajayate, kama is developed.
While,Krsnendriya priti tara bale prema, but if our senses are engaged in serving the Lord’s senses or Lord’s form or Lord’s pastimes, then that would result in prema, love of Godhead.
Yeah, so moving forward Krishna has said, we are referring Bhagavad Gita,
dhyayato visayan pumsam, sangastesupa jayate
sangat sanjayate kamah, kamat krodhobhi jayate
And if our lusty desires are not fulfilled, there is some hindrance or some delay, etc. then we become angry, kamat krodhobhi jataye.
If we are frustrated, this is what goes on all over the world, exhibition of kama and that’s why there is quarrel and there are wars and battles and fighting and all that goes on because of kamat krodhobhi jayate. Your desires are not fulfilled and then you exhibit this anger and this whole world is angry, terrorists are angry, everybody is angry here, develops anger.
So kamat krodhobhi jayate, or we could also say, premat krodhobhi jayate, if our spiritual desires are not satisfied, if there is some hindrance, some delay, we may also be feeling frustrated and become angry, but that is spiritual anger and devotees like Hanuman, and like that, so devotees also may take action for fight with those who are against Vishnu and Vaisnavas or their plans, Vishnu’s plans, Vaisnavas plans, if someone is causing hindrance then devotees also become transcendentally angry as Hanuman became angry on Arjuna.
In fact, Krishna was inspiring Arjuna, so that he will become angry for battling, fighting. So this anger, this krodha, this spiritual anger like Lord Narasimha becomes angry, so that’s spiritual anger is there.
So moving forward, what Krishna has said in Bhagavad Gita so kamat krodhobhi jayate, krodhat bhavati sammoha, if you are in angry state then you become bewildered, you cannot think straight and you are illusioned and you end up taking wrong decisions. Then Lord also has said,
sammohat smrti vibhramah
smrti bhramsat buddhi naso
And gradually you forget your real identity and that result in loosing intelligence, there is loss of intelligence. You cannot act any more intelligently. On the contrary the spiritual practitioners, they may become angry also, as Prabhupada said preaching is fighting but that anger, the spiritual anger, the devotees, they do not loose intelligence, however devotees are given intelligence. Lord says that in Bhagavad Gita,
tesam satat yuktanam bhajatam priti purvakam dadami buddhiyogam (BG 10.10)
Those who are always practicing Krishna consciousness, always chanting Hare Krishna, always engage in devotional services, reading Prabhupada books, performing nama sankirtana and like that, distributing prasadam, holding festivals, doing jare dekho tare kaho krsna upadesa, as devotees remain engaged in all these activities then Lord guarantees to such a devotee I give intelligence, dadami buddhiyogam.
So, the materialists, they lose intelligence in this process of contemplation, this that and objects of senses, but devotees they end up getting intelligence, they become intelligent. Lord provides them very sharp intelligence, they become equipped with.
So in these two ways, two kinds of meditations, one is meditating on maya or worldly objects, at every step there is step down, you are coming down, you are declining and you are falling down, one from dhyayato visayan pumsah, sangastesupa jayate, there is fall down, sangat sanjayate kamah, you developed lust, fall down, you become angry you fall down, you are bewildered, you fall down, further fall down and Lord finally says in that statement that buddhinasat pranasyati, when you have lost your intelligence, pranasyati, you are destroyed. You really fall down, go deep down into the hell and lower regions. There is regression at every at every step and total fall down.
So while devotees, new devotees, you are the chanters of the Holy names and contemplates upon the Lord and Lord’s pastimes Lord’s devotees, you are studying their life and teachings, you keep doing this specially, chant,
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA
KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA
RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
And you are doing that right way, and you are contemplating and meditating deeply meditating upon the Lord then the outcome end result is progression. Other side other ladder, there is regression, they are coming down, down, down into the hell. And here you are going up and up and you are going higher and higher and now you are blessed with intelligence. Lord has given you intelligence, dadami buddhiyogam, then what happens, yen mam upayanti te, then those chanters of the Holy name, devotees, practitioners of Krishna consciousness, they are endowed with spiritual intelligence and how do they use that spiritual intelligence?
Mam upayanti te, mam means Myself, upa means near, they come near to Me, near where I am that is where they come. They come back to Me, come back to home. So then they achieve the goal of human form of life, achieve Krishna and attain Krishna.
So what we talked just now about is applicable to each and every one of us, regardless of which country, continent, nation, religion, gender, economic status, regardless of all these considerations and this principle that Krishna has talked about, they are applicable and that is why the whole world is following,
mama vartmanu vartante manusyah partha sarvasah
(BG 4.11)
Krishna has declared that mama vartmanu vartante, I have set this system and there is no way, they can do things independent of Lord, independent of the system of the Lord. Every single person, every single human being on this planet is following this program, this system that Lord has created and so then they are either following the mundane path, mundane contemplation, mundane entertainment, trying to acquire objects, trying to relish those, then we know what the outcome is, end result is, the fall down.
So as Lord has said, surrender unto Me, give up all other varieties of mundane activities or even some kind of mundane religion or mix bhakti or jnanamisra bhakti or karmamisra bhakti, give all that out,
sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraj (BG 18.66)
And that is what we do, we chant Hare Krishna, we take shelter of Krishna. And then He also says do not fear, I will take care of rest, I will make you free from all sins.
Nāmāśraya kori' jatane tumi thākaha āpana kāje [Gītāvalī 6].
So take shelter of Holy name, meditate by chanting and be happy.
Hare Krishna!