English
26 May 2024
Preaching Krsna Consciousness
Speaker: HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj
Hare Krsna. How was your japa? From the stage of remembering the Lord, two minutes prior to going to sleep and two minutes after waking up.
tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (Shikshastakam 3)
Translation: One should chant the Holy names of the Lord in a humble state of mind , thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street. One should be more tolerant than a tree devoid of all false prestige and should be ready to offer all respects to others . In such a state of mind , one can chant the Holy names of the Lord constantly.
So in total giving four minutes to the Lord. And remaining 23 hours 56 minutes for our own sense gratification. You understand from where I reached to this calculation. We need to get to a point of remembering the Lord always.
sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati (ŚB 1.2.6)
Translation: The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.
When we worship the Lord, we ask him for boons. We give them homework to complete. Ideal worship should be without any material motivation. We should render devotional service to the lordship, he is Adhokshaja. Devotional service can only be performed for the Lord. Worship to the demigods can't be stated as devotional service.
arjuna uvācha
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān
puruṣhaṁ śhāśhvataṁ divyam ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum (BG 10.12)
Translation: Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala and Vyāsa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.
As soon as there is a desire for sense gratification, the material energy of the Lord maya steals the intelligence of this person. And blinded by the material desires he reaches at the shelter of other demigods leaving Krsna behind.
kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ
prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya
prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā (BG 7.20)
Translation: Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.
Krsna has given a detailed description to everything. But who has time to go through it. After many births a person may develop some intelligence and such an intelligent person once again comes back to the shelter of the Lord.
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ (BG 7.19)
Translation: After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.
Demigods don't incarnate. They remain in this world always. Incarnation is when the Lord comes to this material world from his Vaikuntha planets. There are 33 crore demigods. But the incarnations of the Lord are unlimited. So the number of demigods is very limited.
yānti deva-vratā devān
pitṝn yānti pitṛ-vratāḥ
bhūtāni yānti bhūtejyā
yānti mad-yājino ’pi mām (BG 9.25)
Translation: Those who worship the demigods will take birth among the demigods; those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors; those who worship ghosts and spirits will take birth among such beings; and those who worship Me will live with Me.
ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā
madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ
jaghanya-guṇa-vṛtti-sthā
adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ (BG 14.18)
Translation: Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the abominable mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.
Some demigods may be in the mode of Goodness and others in passion or ignorance. So the demigod worshipers may go to Swargaloka (Heaven), but those who worship Krsna will go back to Krsna loka. By misfortune our intelligence has been stolen that's why people in general have no clue what is the difference between Swargaloka and Vaikuntha. They think it's all one. They are not one, they are infinite. Demigods are like the workers.
They have some positions and tasks to perform. All the gyana Kanda and karma Kanda is part of demigod worship. Hinduism is full of gyana kand and karma kand. It's based on the fulfillment of the material desires. Please bless us with a house by the side of the beach and a colour TV.
yāvat jīvet sukhaṁ jīvet ṛṇaṁ kṛtvā ghṛtaṁ pibet |
bhasmībhūtasya dehasya punrāgamanaṁ kutaḥ bhavet ||
Translation: As long as you live, drink clarified butter (means enjoy a royal life). If you don't have money then take loans and just enjoy. When the body gets destroyed then when does it comes again?
At least he is saying drink Ghee not wine. So we should be worshiping the Lord. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to teach this to us. The latest incarnation of the Lord, who appeared around 538 years back.
paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśhāya cha duṣhkṛitām
dharma-sansthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge (BG 4.8)
Translation: For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for establishing Dharma, I take birth in every age.
And whatever he donated to this world, you are taking benefit of that on this day. I am very happy to see this.
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ (BG 18.66)
Translation: Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
You left your morning sleep and ran towards the temple. This is also like the activities of Vraja Gopis. You all have gathered here and not just you all but there are devotees on Zoom temple. And not just you but there are so many in Nagpur and around the world.
āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikhāya
āpna vañcaka yei sei jirjane bhajāya (Apani Acari Prabhu Jivere 1)
Translation: The Lord sets example Himself to teach the spirit souls. The one who performs nirjana bhajana simply cheats himself.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead himself appeared disguised as the devotee. And he performed different pastimes.
mahaprabhoh kirtana-nritya-gitavaditra-
madyan-manaso rasena
romancha-kampashru-taranga-bhajo
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam (Sri Gurvashtakam 2)
Translation: Chanting the holy name, dancing in ecstasy, singing, and playing musical instruments, the spiritual master is always gladdened by the sankirtana movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because he is relishing the mellows of pure devotion within his mind, sometimes his bodily hairs stand on end, he feels quivering in his body, and tears flow from his eyes like waves. I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of such a spiritual master.
He was born and brought up at Navadip. Then he went to Jagannath Puri. Then for six years he went for a visit to South India. He performed Sankirtan in the forests of Jharkhand. He made the animals like lion, cat, deer etc to dance in Sankirtan. He made them chant the holy name.
The entire Jharkhand state wherever Chaitanya Mahaprabhu passed by, he made the animals dance and perform Sankirtan. They were chanting Hare Krsna Mahamantra. It was like a crash course. Within a very short span of time they crossed over all the nine states from sraddha(strong faith) to prema. It can take up to many years or sometimes many lifetimes but here in the association of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, these animals developed all the different 9 stages in just a few hours. This pastime is very amazing. Though we have many pastimes which prove the lordship of Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They prove that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna himself.
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya
Translation: Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is a combination of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
But this pastime is also a very significant pastime to prove his supremacy. There was a sight when a lion and a deer were walking side by side rubbing the shoulders. The Lion was not looking at the deer with an enemical sight, neither the deer was afraid of the Lion.
All the pairing of animals in this material world having enemical feelings for each other were dancing side by side or on the top. All the enemical feelings had gone. These tendencies are unnatural from the Lord's point of view.
But they are natural in this material world. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu observed that the Lion and the deer were embracing each other. The snakes were dancing. They were offering obeisances to each other.
vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha (Vaishnava Pranam)
Translation: I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees and can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.
They were embracing each other and what to speak of embracing they were kissing each other. And this sight reminded Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of the holy land of Vraja - Vrindavan. There was no lust, greed anger or any of the six anarthas. And he said, "This is Vrindavan".
We continue to render many devotional services. We continue to have Radha Gopinath's darshans, Read Srila Prabhupada's books, honour prasadam, share our hearts with other devotees confidentially etc.
dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam (NOI 4)
Translation: Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.
And in this way our lifestyle becomes completely different. And all our activities center around the chanting of Hare Krsna Mahamantra. Initially when I joined Hare Krsna Movement and there was a time I had to go back home to my village and looking at my lifestyle, the villagers used to comment. "Have you gone Crazy?" He was such a good child and later he joined Hare Krsna movement and now he has become mad.
cheto-darpana-marjanam bhava-maha-davagni-nirvapanam
shreyah-kairava-chandrika-vitaranam vidya-vadhu-jivanam
anandambhdhi-vardhanam prati-padam purnamritasvadanam
sarvatma-snapanam param vijayate shri-Krsna-sankirtanam (Shikshastakam 1)
Translation: Glory to the Shri Krsna sankirtana (congregational chanting of the Lord's holy names), which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. That sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.
You can also experience such comments in your life. All this revolution in consciousness is coming up in our lives because of Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. These activities gradually form our lifestyle. All this chanting of the holy name will reach all the towns and villages of this world.
pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma
sarvatra pracāra hoibe mora nāma (CB Antya-khaṇḍa 4.126)
Translation: As many towns and villages there are on the surface of the globe everywhere people will know My name.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did a lot and then Srila Prabhupada followed and contributed a lot. And our padayatra has travelled 3+ lakh kilometers, till now spreading the holy name. And this is just the beginning. All the different teams of padayatri’s will make sure that the holy name would reach each town and village of this world Param vijayate Sri Krsna sankirtanam (Shikshastakam 1)
yatra yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇo
yatra pārtho dhanur-dharaḥ
tatra śrīr vijayo bhūtir
dhruvā nītir matir mama (BG 18.78)
Translation: Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, the master of all mystics, and wherever there is Arjuna, the supreme archer, there will also certainly be opulence, victory, extraordinary power, and morality. That is my opinion.
This is the Last verse of Bhagavad Gita. This is very important. And wherever we preach Hare Krsna movement all these things appear with time. We can see the transformation. Who used to come to attend Mangla Aarti 10 years back? And now we need a calculator to calculate. It's houseful and flooded. And the transformation which we see here, this transformation is happening everywhere. Because I keep travelling everywhere. I was in Dehradun with HH Gopal Krsna Goswami Maharaj. From there I went to Delhi then we went to Vrindavan and then back to Delhi.
Then Gaziabad, Faridabad, Noida. Then we went to Ujjain, Bhopal and now Nagpur. We at least went to 10 cities in the last 20 days. We as a preacher if we try a little bit, then Krsna awards us with so much. Krsna is the witness and permittor. This flood of devotees is the result of Lord's mercy.
mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate (BG 9.10)
Translation: This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.
And it's not that we have reached Zineth that now we have a sign board out of the temple. It's over no more. Krsna can engage any number of the living entities in his service. He can give employment and services to anyone. And remember Bhagavan is not limited to the people of any particular caste, creed or religion.
Dharma means the laws of the Lord and they are the same for all the living entities. Srila Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada instructed Srila Prabhupada to go and preach in the western countries which Srila Prabhupada executed successfully. Srila Prabhupada used to travel throughout India and the world.
One day Shrila Prabhupada was sitting with a globe. And most of his disciples were foreigners. He was pointing out that we should have a temple at this place and that place. And also he mentioned, we should have one ISKCON temple at Nagpur also. This is like the last will of Srila Prabhupada.
