English
May 4th 2019
Hare Krsna.
Let’s talk! 225 is the score, 526 okay! 527, 528 increasing! It will go on increasing for little longer. However we are not going to reach the target of 600 today, which is the target by end of this month, remember? So you have to work towards that goal, cross 600 by end of this month.
Jai Pandharpur gurukul boys!
Again we have gurukul boys from Pandharpur. Cute little boys, like four Kumaras! They are not four, they are more than four, they are twenty-four, they are chanting. Welcome them!
From Noida there are 40 chanters.
Ganesh from Bangalore reporting 3 more chanters from Bangalore have joined. Like that Navadvip prabhu, I saw him chanting first time. And 13 from Melbourne are chanting, Haribol! Of course they are one participant, we consider. Like 19 from Bangalore, when you are in group that is considered as one participant. We want 600 individuals as 600 groups to chant with us.
As I saw devotees from Melbourne chanting with us today, and they reported to me that they are chanting in Srila Prabhupada’s quarter in Melbourne. How fortunate you are! I am sure you are getting the vibes of presence of Srila Prabhupada in his quarter. As I am talking of Melbourne, I remembered something; I had some thoughts about Melbourne on my chanting in Melbourne, my chanting on the beach of the Melbourne.
Melbourne beach is not far from ISKCON temple.So, once we had gone, a group of devotees to the beach and we were chanting on the beach. And what I am going to talk has a connection with our relationship with one of the ten offenses. What is the tenth offense? Not having complete faith in chanting the holy names of Lord and maintaining material attachment even after hearing so many instructions on this matter, subject matter.
So, as we were on the beach, now sitting and chanting Hare Krsna Hare Krsna, other people were also there. We noticed one lady took note of our sitting there and approached us and she had a leash of a dog in her hand, but no dog. She had lost her dog and she approached us and made very sincere, emotional inquiry, ‘Have you seen my dog? So of course we thought that we are trying to see God by chanting the holy name of Lord and not trying to see her dog.
She also started describing, ‘You know my dog, oh my dog, oh my beautiful dog, cute little white dog,’ and this and that, she went on describing her pet dog. So like that she was remembering, glorifying and missing and inquiring, ‘Have you seen such dog, this kind of dog, looking like this, looking like that, have you seen?’ Guna, rupa, lila, she was kind of mentioning the name of dog, and the qualities of dog and activities of her dog, pastimes of her dog and again ‘this dog, this kind of dog.’ So of course, we only disappointed her because we had not seen the dog. We couldn’t give any clue to her about her dog. So she moved on.
So then we kept on chanting,
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Then we were trying to remember Krsna again and not her dog. However we were taking note that she continued her journey, or continued her search. Every person she came across she was stopping them and inquiring. I am sure, that same inquiry, ‘Have you seen my dog? Okay you have not seen’, she walked on. Next person, stop, ‘Have you seen my dog?’ ‘No, sorry!’ She walked on! Have you seen my dog?
And so that reminded me that how gopis when they had lost their Krsna somewhere in the forest or they thought He had entered in the forest, and all the gopis were searching and looking for Krsna and they were inquiring, ‘Oh deer have you seen my Krsna? Oh! Tulasi plant, what about you, have you seen my Krsna? But you are so tiny, may be you haven’t seen. But this tree is tall, Oh tall tree, have you seen my Krsna? So, like that gopis were going from one object to another or one person to another and another and inquiring, have you seen my Krsna? Have you seen our Krsna? So that attempt or endeavor of that lady, looking for dog, was just perverted reflection of the mood of the gopis. At the topmost level, the gopis were inquiring have you seen my Krsna. And this lady, she is not the only lady, ‘have you seen my dog, or have you seen my kid, or have you seen this or that on and on. Can you help me find? Help me to get this!’
What is the topmost?
urdhva-mulam adhah shakham [BG 15.1]
What is on the top in the spiritual sky it goes at the bottom most level of the material existence. So instead of God’s search, search of dog! So things are reversed, what is best in spiritual sky is worst in material world. In spiritual world they are seeking association of God. Dog in this world, things are reversed and what you say GOD in reverse fashion DOG and that is a dog. And even kirtana, kirtana, when you reverse that, it becomes nartaki, the dancer. That everyone likes to watch on the television screen, some actress dancing. Hari Hari! And not Nataraj Gauranga dancing! If you want to see Gauranga’s dance and kirtana.
preme dhal dhal sonar anga charane nupur baje
Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to dance in Navadvipa during early morning hours in the midst of so many devotees with His arms raised and the bells tied around His ankles and they jingle as He dance or as He danced, they jingle.
So devotee aspires to see Gauranga dancing while chanting. This world prefers to see the woman dancing or the actress dancing, full of lust.
kama krodha parayanah[BG 16.12]
They are full of lusty desires, Kama vasana is exhibiting through these actors and actresses dance. So that’s the best thing in this world, the thing they are aspired for to see that kind of nonsensical dance, lusty dance, mundane dance, amongst so many other things worldly people aspire for. May be ultimately seeing the woman, beautiful woman, that’s extreme and that’s the lowest and that’s what this world is aspiring for, vice versa to the spiritual sky. The spiritual world is looking for Krsna’s form and Krsna’s dance.
Srila Prabhupada did say; you are sitting in Prabhupada’s quarters, in Melbourne there. Not exactly there but somewhere Prabhupada did say, goal of our life is to join the dancing party of Radha and Krsna. So for better chanting, attentive chanting, offense less chanting we have to develop detachment and this is preparation of our chanting. As we say, you have to prepare, you have to prepare so this is developing detachment. Everyday abhyasa, developing detachment from the worldly things! Lord appears to teach two things, one is detachment and another is attachment to Lord’s devotional service, bhakti yoga.
Try to understand this word vairagya, to renounce, develop detachment. Vairagya comes from word viraga and vi raga means free from raga. Raga means attachment, so free from attachment. So that is called anuraga. We have to develop viraga, by cultivating anuraga. Anu means to follow, following the footsteps of gopis, our Gaudiya vaisnavas, our previous acaryas, Srila Prabhupada ki jai, and our spiritual masters. So the Bhakti that we practice, also the Gaudiya vaishnavism is called as Raganuga bhakti, raga anuga bhakti, following raga anuga, attachment to the Lord, or those who are attached to the Lord we follow them. Practice bhakti like our heros, our previous acaryas, Namacarya Srila Haridas Thakur and our spiritual masters, like that. So we attain perfection. So detachment, practicing detachment is of prime importance. Lot more could be said but you could think more or read more on this subject matter.
Hare Krsna