English
03 August 2024
How to live and leave
Speaker: HG Harikirtan prabhu
HG Padmamali prabhu: After around one month of Guru Maharaj's Vyaspuja, HG Hari Kirtan Prabhu is with us. We remember he had delivered two continuous sessions on Vanaprastha Ashram prior to Guru Maharaj's Vyaspuja. Prabhu ji has left his renowned position as Civil Engineer and now he is working on Guru Maharaj's different projects like ISKCON Nagpur and Bhuvaikuntha in Sri Pandharpur Dham. He is serving in Guru Maharaj's temple projects as a full time devotee. He is the co-president of Iskcon Nagpur.
HG Harikirtan prabhu: When HG Padmamali prabhu was speaking about myself, I remembered HH Guru Prasad Swami Maharaj, who visited Sri Dham Pandharpur recently. When we shared his details, Maharaj commented, please pray that I could get freed from all these designations. Very Similar feeling I had when Padmamali Prabhu gave my introduction.
Today's topic is also in line with the previously discussed topics - How to live and leave nicely. This life is a journey towards death.
āścarya-vat paśyati kaścid enam
āścarya-vad vadati tathaiva cānyaḥ
āścarya-vac cainam anyaḥ śṛṇoti
śrutvāpy enaṁ veda na caiva kaścit (Bg. 2.29)
Translation: Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.
Death is the final examination. Death as a topic has always attracted me. Death is certain. Srila Prabhupada used to say "As sure as death". We may make plans, plans of outing, strategies for growth and profit, that may happen or may not happen. It is not certain, however well planned. We may hear, someone left the world unexpectedly.
But there are no un-expectations about death. Yudhisthira Maharaj was asked what is the most strange in this world? He replied, everybody knows that they need to die one day still they lead their life in such a way, as if they are never going to die.
ahany ahani bhūtāni
gacchantīha yamālayam
śeṣāḥ sthāvaram icchanti
kim āścaryam ataḥ paraṁ (Mahabharata, Vana-parva 313.116)
Translation: Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonderful thing in this world.
During the Autumn season, the tree shades away all it's leaves as if it's completely dead, it shows no symptoms of life. And then as soon as there is a spring season it blooms once again. We have seen in childhood, how a caterpillar who wants to become a butterfly. It enters it's pupa and it struggles.
Then it comes out as a beautiful butterfly. It's a transition phase. We have taken so many births and each life was a failure. We failed the final exam of death in every previous birth. This is proven by our birth itself. Our last memories are bringing us back into this world.
yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (BG 8.6)
Translation: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ (BG 8.5)
Translation: And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
Both verses have smaran in them. Our goal should be to engage our mind in Krsna, to bring it in the shelter of devotees. Any other accomplishment that we have attained, will be snatched from us at the time of death.
yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet (Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu - 1.2.4)
Translation: Somehow or other just engage your mind in loving Shri Radha Krsna every moment. This is the only goal of sadhna!
This morning I was discussing with Guru Maharaj, how I had a dream this morning. In that dream I was struggling to get a cab, as I had a meeting scheduled with Guru Maharaj and he was waiting for me. Later on when I woke up I realized that I was lying on my bed at a Guest house in Pilibhit. When I got up I realized that with this all stress, what I had was illusion.
The life is like a stage. We all are just playing our part. In the end the curtain falls and all the characters are back to original positions. This is a golden opportunity for all of us. Guru Maharaj is so merciful. Daily in the morning, he tells us Jiv Jago.
jīv jāgo, jīv jāgo, gauracānda bole
kota nidrā jāo māyā-piśācīra kole (Jiv Jago Jiv Jago 1)
Tranlation: Lord Gauranga is calling, "Wake up, sleeping souls! Wake up, sleeping souls! How long will you sleep in the lap of the witch called Maya?
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is calling us. But we are replying No, I like to sleep and I want to continue sleeping. We are entrapped in the desires of this material world. How do you prioritize? Do you give highest priority to Krsna? When your garment is worn out, you will have to change it. This body is like a car. We may get it repaired to some extent, but at one point one has to stop using it and replace it with a new one.
sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham (Bg. 15.15)
Translation: I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
Krsna is the controller. Stronger the relationship, more is the chance that Krsna will listen to our prayers. HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj as well as Chanakya Pandit has said, always remember two things: How uncertain is Death and the Holy name. One thing we should always forget, that is the misconduct done to ourselves by other Devotees.
Once a devotee was admitted to the hospital and she was going to be given anesthesia. She tried hard to remember the Lord, but in the end that didn't become possible. Whereas there was another devotee who was a good devotee and was having a regular chanting habit. She had a brain stroke and she had an operation.
She forgot everything but could recall Hare Krsna Mahamantra even after her operation. And as the time passes, she could recall everything. So this depends upon our personal relationship with Krsna. That is the original goal of life.
The mind remembers everything from our past life. Bhagavad Gita is a true manual for us to understand everything. Raghavdas Brahmachari was travelling in a car and while driving the driver went to sleep and the car got smashed. Raghavdas Brahmachari died and Srila Prabhupada said that whatever devotion he performed in his life will be carried to his next life in more advanced way. In his next life, he became a mataji. That mataji remembered everything that she was a Brahmachari in her previous life.
Raghavdas Brahmachari was attached to a girl. When that mataji remembered her previous life, she went to that girl to meet her and she saw that she was having the same features as that of that girl. Because Raghavdas Brahmachari was thinking of that girl and because of that consciousness, he got those features in his next life.
In 1973, Raghavdas Brahmachari died and that mataji was born in 1975. This episode of Raghavdas Brahmachari is available on google. So our mind remembers everything and our consciousness is carried to our next life. The devotees made his astrological chart when he died. When Dhruv Maharaj was going to Bhagavad dham, he saw death personified.
Ugram Viram Maha Vishnum Jvalantam Sarvato Mukham
Nirisimham Bhishanam Bhadram Mrutyur Mrutyum Namamy Aham (Narsimha Mantra)
Translation: May my head be protected by the moon colored one, who is the greatest among humans. My obeisances unto the ferocious and powerful, the great Visnu, the fiery one, who's faces are on all sides, the fearful one, Nrsimha, who causes the death of even death personified, (or who can overcome death).
These attachments will not let us enter Bhagavad dham.
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate (CC Madhya 19.170)
Translation: Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.
If we have intense attachments for material things, then we will not reach our goal. Dissolve your subtle body and surrender to the Lord. After listening, be determined about your intense sadhu sanga and Bhajan. Death can come any day. Ask yourself, what should I do to get attached to Kṛṣṇa. I will remember the Lord's form, activities and pastimes. If the mind gets attached then there will be punarapi jananam (Repeated Birth and Death). Also don't get attached to the service and only obey the instructions of your spiritual master.
Hare Krsna.
