English
14th March, 2020
Think Before You Speak
Hare Krishna. Keep Chanting.
Chittahari Prabhu from Gurugram is inaugurating a new Namahatta. We welcome it. Nowadays there are so many shopping malls, Hyper Bazaars, Super Bazaars, but Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had a strategy to open a Market Place of the holy name for the welfare of society. We can open shops/malls, but of the holy name.
(śraddhāvān jan he, śraddhāvān jan he)
prabhura ājñāy, bhāi, māgi ei bhikṣā
bolo `kṛṣṇa,’ bhajo kṛṣṇa, koro kṛṣṇa-śikṣā
Translation:
O people of faith! O people of faith! By the order of Lord Gauranga, O brothers, I beg these three requests of you: Chant "Krsna!", worship Krsna, and teach others about Krsna.[ Nadiya Godrume Nityananda Mahajana verse 2 by Bhaktivinoda Thakura]
Bhaktivinoda Thakura is announcing, " O people of faith, Nityananda Prabhu has established the Namahatta. Come and take the benefit.
Now such Namahattas are opened worldwide. One such Namahatta has opened in Gurugram. You all can open such Bhakti-vrikshas or Namahattas in your society. You can make your home a shop of the holy name. Nowadays many people work from home, do businesses so make your homes a Namahatta. Many people convert their homes into a home theatre, but you should convert the home to a Namahatta or Temple and preach the glories of the holy name from your place. You all can use modern technologies and make conference calls, Skype calls, invite your friends to attend and you should all preach via these technologies. Purnanandi Radha Mataji from Greater Noida is also reporting that she is also preaching in her area. Ramlila Mataji from Solapur is also reporting that she studies Sastras and preaches.
It will be nice if Matajis can change their gossiping from shopping/social talks to Krsna Katha then they will be able to preach very nicely and their life will be successful. Today phones are very cheap and we all use such cheap phones for cheap talks/useless talks. It is a natural tendency for us to speak, so we must use this in the service of the Lord. You can discuss many spiritual topics like Parenting in Krishna consciousness, Krishna Conscious cooking, offering the food to the Lord, or you can discuss Gita and Bhagavatam. Anything related to Krsna should be spoken.
It is not that we keep talking/speaking all the time. It applies to both ladies and gentlemen. We should think before we speak. We generally speak without thinking and many a time we suffer for what we speak without thinking. It should be changed. We should try to become munis who are very thoughtful. I keep on saying to you all many times to do mananam.
When we read Srila Prabhupada’s books, that means Prabhupada is doing kirtana and we do sravanam. He has not written these books with a pen-paper. He has spoken these books. He has done kirtana.This was recorded and sent for printing and then we got them. Basically when we read his books its sravanam. After sravanam comes manan. We should do mananam and in that, we must retain the subject matter in our mind. This is the process. Many times munis/sadhus are maunis( They do not speak). We Hare Krishna devotees can also become maunis. Then you can do mananam. Assimilate the lessons which you have heard. Make them your wealth and become self-realized. Then apply it practically and preach.
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam
Translation:
Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṇu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind, and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service.
After sravanam comes, kirtana and then comes viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ. That is the chronological order, but when we do sravanam, we do smaraṇaṁ. We should meditate on the topics that we have heard and retain them in our minds. We can note them down and then speak. That is kirtana.
Sravanam is a divine word. It is also an action. When we talk about sravanam, we do it only in the relation of Visnu and then we do kirtana and other devotional services of Visnu. [SB 7.5.23]
Like this, we can change the topic of our speech. We also did it like other materialistic people, but now after coming to Krishna consciousness our topics have changed and ultimately our consciousness has been revolutionised and our life is benefited.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
By the mercy of Lord Caitanya, Prabhupada has given us the topic of hearing and reading. He made Krsna our main topic. You all should think what is going on in this material world is Maya. What we were doing was Maya and now we must change our side and come to Krsna. Jiva is a tatasta, which is in the middle of both the worlds. It has a good meaning in English. Part of the shore of an ocean is called a beach. The beach is situated between the ocean and the earth. Sometimes the beach becomes part of the ocean. Or sometimes the beach becomes part of the earth. Tatasta is a very good word which means fixed on the shore. It is a very nice word. Sometimes the shore becomes the part of the ocean or sometimes it becomes land. The same situation is for the jiva. Sometimes the jiva becomes part of Krsna or sometimes of Maya but actually, the eternal real position of the jiva is to be influenced by Krishna consciousness. If the jiva thinks that he is an eternal servant of the Lord, then he will never become sad and will always remain happy.
If the jiva becomes Krishna conscious he is eternally benefitted and then we have a responsibility to bring others to this situation. All this is possible when we talk to others about Krishna consciousness.
yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa
āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa
Translation:
“Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they are given in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.”[CC Madhya 7.128]
Everyone can take this service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and preach. By doing so we will all come together to go back home, back to Godhead. If we want to go then we need to show mercy towards the suffering people of this material world. As it is said, sadhus should be endowed by many qualities like mercy and tolerance. You all should show mercy towards your family, neighbours and talk with all of them about Krishna consciousness.
(‘radha) krishna’ bolo, sange calo,
ei-matra bhikha cai
Translation:
"Simply chant 'Radha-Krishna' and join with us. Those are the only alms we beg. Chant, chant 'Radha-Krishna!' Everyone chant!"
Beg from them, ask to chant the holy names.[Gitavali by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura]
Hari Hari
Gaur Premanande
