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Date- 10th June 2024 Speaker- Buddhimanta Prabhu Subject- Importance of studying Srila Prabhupada’s books Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I am very fortunate to have received the association of Vaishnavas from all over the world in the most famous Japa Session. Today we will talk about, how our chanting is related to Prabhupada's books and how these two complement each other. Sub-theme: Why should we do good chanting? For good chanting we do so many courses, Japa clubs, Sanga, retreats, etc. And so many things are available. When we listen that we should chant nicely, and we experience chanting with good devotees, but till we get the answer for, why should we chant, till then; we see many devotees come to devotion, stay for some time, and then go away. For some time, they do good chanting and then they leave. Because they have not yet got the answer of ‘why’. Why should I want to chant attentively? Everyone tells that I should chant attentively, but if the answer to why will be found, then automatically the soul will do good chanting. He will fall in love, he will get the reason. But that answer will be found in the books of Prabhupada, in the purports of Prabhupada. We will get the answer to the importance of chanting, but why should we do it, that answer also we will get. So, if we have to succeed in any direction or in any department in life, then it is very necessary to get the answer of ‘why’, and to accept it from the heart is very important. Till we get the answer to that ‘why’, sometimes we compulsively do that work in the words of someone, as per asked by someone, according to the order, but a successful person is successful because he has got the answer to the goal of his life, to that ‘why’, and then he remains completely devoted to his heart. This is the difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person. The successful person knows why he does that work and the unsuccessful person has not yet got the answer. And that’s why Prabhupada's books and his purports, and to study them deeply under the direction of a guru and under the direction of a teacher becomes even more important. Sub-theme: Spiritual Scuba Diving The answer to ‘why’ is given by Prabhupada repeatedly in all his books, in many places, in different purports. When we study the purports of Prabhupada under the direction of a teacher, in the same way as if you ever went to the sea and sometimes got an opportunity to do water sports, then there is Scuba Diving. Just few weeks before, the Prime Minister of our country also did this. Many people do scuba diving. Do you know about it? Shake your head a little, or raise your hand if you have seen scuba diving. By holding the hand of the coach under the sea, the coach is a guru who knows the secret of depth, he takes to the see bed, under the sea, to the bottom of the sea. And we know those who swim on the sea, what do they get? Some plastic bottles, some fishes, but in fact, the treasure, diamonds, pearls, corals, which are precious gems of the sea, they are not found on its shore, but on the bottom. So, the scuba diving coach holding hands and holding the cylinders and masks for both, he takes us down. And in the depths of the sea, there is the beauty, the priceless treasure; then you understand such a beautiful world is there below the sea. So, it is called scuba diving, but for that a coach is needed. Because we are not adept to go under the sea. The coach holds our hand and we also hold his hands tightly, so that the hand does not get slipped from our hand. Similarly, when we study Prabhupada's books under the expert teacher, a guru, then it is like a spiritual scuba diving. There is depth in the purports of Prabhupada, which is really a treasure. Sub-theme: relation between chanting and studying Prabhupada’s books When we ourselves read the books of Prabhupada, we have read it many times; as we do not want to go deep, as we do not have a coach, so we keep floating on the top surface. It feels little good, but we could not do that for long time. But the devotees who hold the teacher's hand and go deep into these books, then they get conviction and assurance that we are on the right path. They get the answer of that ‘why’. Why we should chant? Prabhupada repeats this thousands of times in each of his book, in many of his purports, so that it enters in our minds that we should chant, should do it with concentration, without offense and why should we chant. What will be the benefit? So, we get more assurance. The books of Prabhupada and chanting, when these two, hand in hand, when both works together, then it becomes very beautiful. Chanting helps to understand the purports of Prabhupada in depth. And on the other hand, by understanding the purports of Prabhupada in depth, we get even more comfort in chanting. Because the answers have been received that why we should do good chanting. Sub-theme: Real meaning of education Padmamali Prabhu was talking about education, very right for today's topic. So, education means to know the Lord. This is the correct definition. And any education which does not point to Lord, cannot be education. So, education means to know Krishna, to Know God. And higher education means spiritual knowledge. That education cannot be of a higher level in which spirituality has not been curtailed. And Prabhupada writes very beautifully, in his famous purport of Bhagavad Gita 9.2, I will read few lines by your permission, quickly. It is very beautiful. Prabhupada writes in the second paragraph of the purport, people generally do not get the education of this secret knowledge. As far as general education is concerned, it includes politics, sociology, physics, chemistry, maths. There are many departments of knowledge all over the world and there are many big universities, but unfortunately there is no university or educational institution where self-knowledge is taught. The soul is the most important part of the body. Without the soul, the body is insignificant. Yet people do not worry about the soul and give more importance to the material needs. How beautiful purport Prabhupada is writing. There are many branded, good universities in the world, where all the children have a dream, they have a desire to get a seat in that university. Their parents are also ready to take the biggest loan. They are ready to work hard so that their children get admission in these famous universities, then their lives will improve. But they do not know that even in that branded, most famous or expensive universities, self-science is not talked about. Our Acharyas repeatedly explain that there is no university in the world which claims that you come to our university to get a degree and when you get this degree, we guarantee that it will be written on the degree that ‘you will never take birth again’. So, there is no such college, such a university, such a degree, in any country, which can assure human beings that you come to us and we assure that you will not be born again in the material world. So, Prabhupada was very concerned about the education system and sometimes wrote a very strong purports that this is not really the education system, where knowledge of self is not given. So Prabhupada's vision was that all the temples of our ISKCON should be institutes, educational institutes, universities, and there, knowledge and science of self should be given. Sub-theme: Bhakti Vedanta Academy So, Prabhupada repeatedly wrote that many subjects are being taught in the university, but in our temples science of self-realization will be taught. And in our temples and in the institutes and colleges, there should be no difference. Therefore, the temples of ISKCON are different from other temples. There is always talks of science of soul. Just by bowing down or putting something in the donation box, the work is not completed. This was the dream of Prabhupada and that dream was also carried forward by his dear disciple, our beloved Guru Maharaj Lokanath Swami Maharaj. I still remember that when there was no land in Noida, the temple used to run in a small rented house, 25 years ago. Even that time HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj wanted that there will be a grand temple in Noida, but its name will be ‘Sri Sri Radha Govind Dev and Bhakti Vedanta Academy’. His vision was very clear, there shouldn’t be only temple, as there are already many temples. If one more temple will be built, then what a big deal. But he had vision that there should be Sri Sri Radha Govind temple and along with that Bhakti Vedant Academy. Only under his guidance, with his blessings, with his support, this Bhakti Vedant Academy was formed and it is running successfully with the blessings of all of you. Other courses are given here, Long Term Courses, Short Term Courses, Full Time Degree Courses, Part Time Courses, Different Courses for All. Sub-theme: personalized training for weak students So, it gives us a lot of pleasure to tell that this time admission for Bhakti Vedant Academy courses are open for the 5th Bhakti Sastri batch. It is full time regular study for the fifth Bhakti Shastri batch in Hindi. It is open now. And it is taught systemically by very skilled teachers. We pay more attention to personalized training like by holding your hand like a scuba diving coach. And in the last four years also, students from more than eight countries around the world have done Bhakti Shastri here and we are very proud that the personal touch we give, that I did not experience personally anywhere else. I teach in many other academies and institutes. But such a standard of education is very less, where those who are weak students are given more attention. They are given personal training, which are initially feared that how will I do Bhakti Shastri, we are afraid of exams, we have left studies in schools and colleges from many years. So we again try to give them the same college environment. Classes are held online on zoom but they are live classes. They are not recorded classes and every effort is made to give them live experience like they are sitting in the classroom of the academy. So, in this way time keeping is taken care of. The syllabus, time table of the whole year is given to them. We know they are all busy, they have their families, jobs, some business, services in the temple. They are given calendars in advance. Their class calendar, their homework submission deadlines, their exam date and when they will get holidays to prepare for the exam, etc. So, they can make a good plan, how will they imbibe this knowledge in their life. Sub-theme: Declaration of result within 24 hours And we have become very famous, as in this one matter all our staff and teachers are crazy. They feel good in extracting the result of any exam within 24 hours. And after giving the exam, the next day the students do not even wake up from sleep, their result is found in the message, because our academy never sleeps. No teacher sleeps on that night. We check the exam all night. The reason is, if they will get the result the next day, then where did they get less marks, in this question, they got five out of 10, where they got nine out of 10, they will get to know. Then they can improve in the next module which is about to start. And whichever student gets low marks, they get a personalized call, next day. Next day, they get a personalized call and their paper is fully discussed. It takes one hour. In that call, the teacher answers to each question. Your this question was for six marks, but you got three, because half of your answer was correct, you forgot to write example given by Prabhupada. They are also told that you got this much marks and why this question of yours got this much marks, that is also told. So that in the next module, in the next exam, they can improve. Generally, a lot of Bhakti Sashtri courses are going on, but we know that the teacher takes time out to teach, but the teacher is very busy, he has a lot of services and no one likes to check the exam. Once I was also sitting in the meeting of the Board of Examinations. When the director teachers of our academy from all over the world had come and everyone had asked that no one likes to check the exam, they are not able to take out time. They are so busy people. But when we used to do Bhakti Sashtri, we also used to get results after many months. So since then we used to think that when we will run Bhakti Sashtri, Bhakti Vedanta Academy, the next day, before the students get up, we will declare their results. Not only will we tell their results, but we will also tell them how and why they got this many marks out of 100. Where is the room of improvement? They are not able to remember the verse, not able to write the analogy of Prabhupada carefully or comparatively. They do not understand the answer to any question or how many items have been asked in the question. They are given personalized training for everything and our teachers like to help them. They do this as Vaishnava seva. We tell proudly that this is the only institute in the world which runs on zero expense. If any of our staff, faculty, administrative wing or academic wing devotees, do not take any salary. They serve with devotion and this is why it is even better. It feels very good to serve everyone selflessly, to give personalised training, especially to those students who are afraid of Bhakti Sashtri, or they fear of exams, or have they left studying from many years. They have left studies 20 years ago and 25 years ago. Sub-theme: Students from 14 to 80 years So, the last batch of last year has completed their course and they will get a degree in a few days, in the convocation program. Those students which we have are from 14 years to 80 years. 80 years old woman, a mother also did the course and she used to get 80% marks. 80 years of age and consistently used to get 80% marks. She gave a very good example. And this is the first candidate in the whole universe, which we saw, who has successfully done Bhakti Sashtri course and again she took admission in this year’s batch. We asked her, why did you take admission again? She said, last year I enjoyed it. So many marks I used to get. But that year I was studying to get marks. This year I want to study to study. I want to study only for myself. I will not have any pressure of exams or marks. This time I want to do that scuba diving. I want to go deep and understand the purports again. So, you can understand that those who are sincere devotees, students, they really enjoy these studies. They want to do it again, as this time with a relaxed mind they will again do Bhakti Sashtri. They want to do it for preaching. Sub-theme: ‘not only create good Bhakti Shastris, but we produce good teachers’ And yes, not only we create good students, but Bhakti Vedant Academy also considers it an important duty in making good teachers. Our slogan is ‘not only create good Bhakti Shastris, but we produce good teachers’. We feel our job is complete when those who are graduate students from our batch, as we call them ‘pass out students’, when they become teachers. We not only give them teacher training courses, to those who are interested in teaching or preaching, but they also have courses of our personalized academy. Of course, Teacher Training Course is mandatory to teach Bhakti Shastri, but apart from that, we also have personalized courses for them, which I call ‘triple pp’, how to prepare a lecture, how to present a lecture, how to penetrate the hearts of listeners. We give such courses to good students after Bhakti Shastri, that wherever they go, whichever temple they visit, in whichever country, in whichever city, that temple should be glorified, the name of our HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj should be glorified, that they are students of his Bhakti Vedant Academy. The name of Prabhupada should be glorified; their Guru’s name should be glorified. This is our inclination, who are the good students who can become teachers and preacher in the future. We have that kind of focus on them and the focus on those who are weak students is that how to become a good strong student from a weak student. Every living being is at a different level, by going to that level, our expert teachers, our academy staff help them personally. Sub-theme: ‘On Time Is Late’ And the most lovely thing is that we keep convocation program after year. This degree course is completed in 11 months. You get a degree in a year. There is never a delay, even one day or an hour. Our slogan is ‘on time it late’. If the class starts at 7 o'clock in the evening and you attend at 7:00, then we consider it late. All the students have to come one or two minutes earlier. Because on time is late. Not only the students, but the teachers also, our staff also follows this statement that ‘on time is late’. After graduating from here, all the students keep sending messages of thanks to us, ‘the On Time Is Late philosophy that you have given is very helpful in our life. We are successful in the job too, we are also successful at home as well. We also do a lot of service of the temple. In one day we can do lots of work, because we have come to know how good the principle of On Time Is Late is.’ Not only in the field of devotion but also in other areas of life, if we value time, Krishna says, ‘time I am’. If we misuse time, disrespect time, then we are actually insulting Krishna. When students understand this, they become very fix in life. They become very successful in whatever they do. Sub-theme: Convocation program So, I was telling you that the convocation program is a very lovely program, in which they are made to feel that they are actually taking a degree from a good university. In fact they have become students. They get a degree in a good university, like you have experienced in the university, they have to wear black gowns, black hats and in a big grand program, they are greeted with clapping and they go to the stage and receive degrees from the senior officials. That experience, that feeling, the sacrifices of one year that they make, the Bhakti Shastri Yajna is a very big sacrifice, this is sacrifice. One whole year we have to dedicate to Prabhupada’s books. Then throughout the whole life, they get the benefit of it individually and collectively to ISKCON movement also. Movement gets a good future preacher and teacher and the living entity gets understanding. His faith changes in his loyalty. He falls in love with Prabhupada. By knowing the purports of Prabhupada in depth, when he receives the diamonds and pearls, then the answer to ‘why’ is found. Why do I have to attend a Japa session in the morning daily at 5am? Why do I have to chant with Maharaj every morning? All those reasons are answered. He does not do any work out of burden. He does not do it only with duty, but he does it out of love, because that work is like a diamond and pearl which is found in the depths of purports. In Bhakti Shastri the teachers take him deep into the purports. So the program of convocation where they get a degree, we also invite their families. We thank the family members in the convocation program that without your support, this devotee of your family could never do Bhakti Shastri. Because the support of the whole family is needed. Daily you need two hours to study or attend class. If you take out just two hours daily, then your Bhakti Shastri is completed successfully in a year. And we take guarantee that you don't leave our hand, we don't leave your hand for the whole year. We give you a degree of Bhakti Shastri, where you wear black gown and black hat and it is a very unique experience. This is an online class, but we inspire everyone for convocation, request that they come to Noida with their family after that year, for a day. There are as many international students, as it is our experience that they came from the US, Canada too, came from Pakistan, from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, from Bangladesh, Mauritius. All of them come to Bhakti Vedant Academy in Noida to get their degrees. Because they work hard for a year to live this moment, that moment when with their batch mates, they will toss the hat. After convocation, they will toss their hats up in the air. For that moment they wait and work hard and get attracted and devoted to the purports of Prabhupada. Sub-theme: Join our new batch of Bhakti Sastri So all of you are requested if you have any interest in becoming a preacher in the future, then the admission of this Bhakti Shastri Hindi batch is open. Only a few days are left. This phone number is in front of you on the screen. And after that I will also request Padamamali Prabhu if he can please circulate this poster in your group, so that even later you can easily get the phone number 9319 681504. Later you will get this poster. You can also pay its fees in instalments, so that none will have financial burden. In Bhakti Shastri, for the good students, who gets above 80%, 90%, for them, all the merit students get scholarships. The better the marks they get, the less fees they have to pay. This scholarship scheme motivates them to work hard and pass successfully and they can also save their fees if they are hardworking, honest. You are requested to participate. This is a very world class devotional academy of HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj. Maharaj is its founder. We speak this proudly and loudly everywhere, HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj is the founder. Whatever we are trying to serve in this Bhakti Vedant Academy, we are able to do it only by the grace of Maharaj, by his vision. Otherwise we will not be able to do anything. We want this academy to remain. Sub-theme: Very high standards of our education Initially some devotees said that our rules are very strict, time keeping and all, to submit on time, but in a month the students come to know that it is a matter of their interest or the rule is for their benefit. If they do not follow this, then Bhakti Sashtri will be very difficult. So the first month they feel that it is very rigorous, they have to come on time, they have to keep the camera on, they have to do homework daily, they have to submit, but after a month they feel that by doing all this it becomes very easy for them to take the exam, because if they do homework and submit every week, then the chances of failing in the exam are very less. When they study in this way, they later fall in love. So, once we were discussing with Maharaj that some devotees say that we are having very high standards of our education, but later they praise us. Then Maharaj instructed me, personally. Maharaj said that you do not reduce your standard. Do not lower your standard of education. Do not lose it, let it be IIT of spiritual world. If you run it like IIT, then remain IIT. Then this is the spiritual IIT of this world, if we want to keep the standard of IIM. So, yes, we encourage you, if you have not done Bhakti Shastri and you want to duly study the scriptures of Prabhupada and want to find the answer, why should I chant well, then do Bhakti Sastri. If you want to be a good preacher or good teacher, then definitely do Bhakti Sastri. With this I will not take much time. Time is up now. Thank You very much. You listened to me very patiently. I am very grateful. And especially grateful to HG Padamamali Prabhu; he is a wonderful person, a wonderful devotee. I asked him for 10 minutes and he said, no prabhuji, you give today's japa talk. And by telling about Prabhupada's education system and boooks, you yourself tell about Bhakti Sashtri. I was requesting Prabhu ji that Prabhu ji you just tell something for 10 minutes. But he is so kind. We are fortunate to have such a kind devotee. So, keep on coming daily morning for japa. Thank you. Srila Prabhupada ki Jai! Questions and answers-- by Atul Madhava Prabhu- Hare Krishna Prabhu. When Bhakti Sashtri course is starting in English?
- by Mataji- Hare Krishna Prabhuji Danadavat pranam. Prabhu same question I had. You already answered it. Thank you Prabhuji.
- by Mataji- And Prabhu, when are you starting Bhakti Vaibhava?
- by Natarani Radhika Mata Ji- Hare Krishna Prabhuji, Dandavat Pranam Prabhuji. I did Bhakti Sastri from your institute in 2022. Prabhu ji if there is any service for me then please tell me. I can do some service by the mercy of Prabhupada ji and Guru Maharaj.
- ISKCON Pune centre- Hare Krishna Prabhuji, What is the eligibility for Bhakti Sashtri?
- by Prahlad Maharaj Das from Himachal Pradesh- Hare Krishna Prabhuji, Dandavat pranam. I want to know, even before doing Bhakti Shastri, are there some pre-requisite courses which we will have to do?
- by Antaratma Mataji- Hare Krishna Prabhuji, I have done Bhakti Shastri from Bhakti Vedanta Rajavidyalaya, Pune. I request that we do youth preaching, so are there courses for youth preachers?
- from ISKCON Candigadh- Hare Krishna Prabhuji, My Question is, the books are included in the course fee?
