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Speaker- Krishnabhakta Prabhu  Date:01-04-2024 Today we will discuss from Srimad Bhagwatam canto 4 chapter 23  and verse number 17. The title of the chapter is “ Pruthu Maharaj’s journey to Bahgwat dham. “ indriyeṣu manas tāni tan-mātreṣu yathodbhavam bhūtādināmūny utkṛṣya mahaty ātmani sandadhe Translation He amalgamated the mind with the senses and the senses with the sense objects, according to their respective positions, and he also amalgamated the material ego with the total material energy, mahat-tattva.[ ŚB 4.23.17] Reading From purport : When the mind is completely washed of all material contamination, the pure consciousness acts. The sound vibration from the spiritual sky can automatically cleanse all material contaminations, as confirmed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. We need only take the advice of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to cleanse the mind of all material contamination, and this may be considered the summary of this difficult verse. As soon as the whole material contamination is washed away by this process of chanting, all desires and reactions to material activities become immediately vanquished, and real life, peaceful existence, begins. In this Age of Kali it is very difficult to adopt the yogic process mentioned in this verse. Unless one is very expert in such yoga, the best course is to adopt the ways and means of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Thus one can gloriously become freed from all material contamination by the simple process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Just as life in this material world has its beginning in material sound, similarly a spiritual life has its beginning in this spiritual sound vibration. Theme : Chanting of holy names is the easiest way for going to Bhagwat dham. Here we understand that Srila Prabhupada is trying to explain to us that the beginning of spiritual life starts with words or spiritual vibrations. As we see in this materialistic world the so called devotees are honare doing various karma kand , gyan kand , ashtanga yog and ashtanga siddhi to attain salvation and attain God. But the easiest way of this kaliyug is to chant Hare Krishna mahamantra. Because we are not exalted yogis who can attain the Lord by yog.  In satyug 60,000 years were required to complete the yog process. As we hear that Hiranyakashyapu or other munis did austerity for many thousands of years. Because in satyug generally everyone's life was 1,00,000 years. From this 1,00,000 years they used 60,000 thousand years to perform austerity or yog processes to get some sidhi. Now we say that we have a life expectancy of 100 years but no one can guarantee this. We do not know if we have 80 or 50 years of life. At 25 or 40 age we are getting signs of death. Form this half of our life is spent sleeping. Baalastaavat kreedaa-sakta, tarunas taavatt taruni-sakta: Vruddhastaavat chintaah-sakta, Parame Brahmani kopi na sakta.- Translation As a child one is absorbed in play. Youth is lost by attachment to women, As an old man one is lost in worrying thoughts. But there is hardly anyone who wants to be absorbed in supreme brahman lord. [ from Bhaja Govindam] Our childhood is spent in playing and youth is spent in uth women and then in old age one is worrying about what I have achieved in my life ? Life is spent like this so where is the time for Bhakti ? And after doing lots of austerity one achieves sidhi like anima, Lagima, Ishita , sidhi , prapti, varshita all these ashatang yog like walking on water or making oneself lighter than cotton or gaining a lot of weight. What will we get after doing all this ? We may attract everyone towards us. People will start respecting us and other this. But we can not attain the Lord with this. Once a person did austerity for thousands of years and he achieved the sidhi to walk in the water. He spent a major part of his life learning this. But an intelligent boy standing there gave two rupees to the boatman  and he crossed the Ganga river in two minutes. So he asked what is the need for such austerity? Why should we waste our time ? Chanakya pandit has said Ayushah kshana ekopi sarvaratnairna labhyate Nayate tad vruthaa yena pramadah sumahanaho Translation A moment of time that has lapsed cannot be brought back even with all jewels. Why then do people keep on wasting their time? Chanakya pandit If we waste a moment in our life then we can not get it back even by spending millions of rupees. And therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has made  spirituality simple by the chanting of Hare Krishna mantra. In this method you do not have to perform difficult austerity. You don’t need to sit in a fire around you during summer or standing in cold water during winters. namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah  Translation "My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many names, such as Krsna and Govinda, by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. CC Antya 20.16] Theme : reason why do not any affection for chanting the holy names The Lord has instilled His various energies in His holy names. And there are no rules to chant such names of the Lord. Hence Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has made this process very simple by chanting Hare Krishna mahamantra. But we are so unfortunate that even though it is the simplest method still we do not have the orientation to chant the holy names. The biggest reason for this is we are getting it free. Whenever we get something free of cost then we do not  value it. Hence we keep some fee in the temple for any seminars or lectures , why ? So that people will think that this is something important. As he has spent his money for that seminar. It is said that where money goes there the mind goes. Here in this materialistic world we are getting this free of cost but in Golok this mantra is most precious thing. golokera prema-dhana, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, rati nā janmilo kene tāy saṁsāra-biṣānale, dibā-niśi hiyā jwale, jurāite nā koinu upāy Translation The treasure of divine love in Goloka Vṛndāvana has descended as the congregational chanting of Lord Hari’s holy names. Why did my attraction for that chanting never come about? Day and night my heart burns in the fire of the poison of worldliness, and I have not accepted the means for relieving it. [from Hari Hari bifale] It has no value in this materialistic world , why ? Because the people in the materialistic world  are trying to satisfy lust or sense gratification.  And this has no value in Golok or in the spiritual world. Yamunaachraya has said that whenever I  had  a desire to enjoy with any woman then I spit on that lady. Maharaj told us that whenever Prabhupada explained this verse he literally used to spit. yadavadhi mama cetāḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor nava-nava-dhaman rantum āsīt tad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamāṇe bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca Translation "Since I have begun my Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the more I advance I become very much detestful for sex life. As soon as I think of sex life, I spit on it." Theme : Power of chanting So when we develop desire for Krsna and His names , this is the most valuable thing in the spiritual world. But the materialistic world is a replica of the spiritual world so the thing which is valuable in the spiritual world is free here. Therefore the process of self realisation, yoga or meditation on the selfless form of the Lord does not take us to the Lord. People always waste their time in the complex procedure of yoga etc. They think that they will attain the Lord by yoga. But by doing yoga they will become healthy only. And as you become healthy you spend more time in sense gratification. They are doing Patanjali yog and other yoga practices like Dhyan, dharana and many other things. People think that yug means only one thing that is making our body healthy. But the supreme yoga is to establish connection with the Lord. And as one gets connected with the Lord through Yoga it is called bhakti yoga. Many people think that by doing a few exercises they will establish contact with the Lord. Suppose  we are on the railway station and many trains are standing on the platforms. On a big junction many trains alight at a time, like Hawara is a big junction or Mumbai so if we take any train then we will not reach Delhi. For Delhi we have to take a specific Delhi train. All the trains look the same and the compartments look the same, seats  are the same and numbers are also the same. We sit in any train and think that we will reach Vrindavan now. Will we reach Vrindavan? No we will never reach. So in the same way if we are not on the correct path then we will not reach our destination at all. Therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and our acharyas were aware of the situation of the conditioned souls in the kaliyug prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ Translation O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed. [SB 1.1.10] This is described in the beginning of Srimad Bhagwat prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya - the life span will be reduced. Forget 1,00,00 years , 1000 years, even forget 100 years. We can not guarantee 100 years. The people of kaliyug are non gentleman and always disturbed. They do not understand anything. They are non intelligent. They are always ready to trouble others. For such people Krsna has appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in kaliyug. In satyug meditation was prescribed , in treta yagna was prescribed. In Dwapar huge temples were built and deities were worshipped there. In Kaliyug one has to chant holy names. It is so powerful that it destroys your sins of infinite previous lives. Therefore chanting  is the powerful tool for  self realisation. To chant Hare Krishna mahamantra is the only remedy to escape from the cycle of birth and death. Sometimes people ask since you are chanting will you not die ? We are not going to be immortal by chanting. But chanting the holy names of the Lord certainly destroys the fear of death. And the time of death he leaves body while remembering the Lord. anta-kāle ca mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ 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. [Bg. 8.5] That soul is not required to birth again. This is the benefit of chanting hare Krsna mahamantra. As we lovingly chant Hare Krishna mahamantra finally we acquire love for the Lord. The power of offence less chanting can free conditioned souls from the miseries if this materialistic world. One person is capable of taking all the conditioned souls to the Lord’s abode from this materialistic world. Vasudev kodi was an associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He had severe skin disease. His body had developed worms in his wounds. But even if the worms used to fall from his body he immediately picked them up and kept them on his body. Because he believed that his body was the source of food for the worms. Looking at his devotion Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tried to embrace him but he said my body was dirty and chiatanya Mahaprabhu should not touch him. But Chaitanya Mahaprabhu embraced him and then the skin of his entire body was cured immediately and he got a new young body. He prayed to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that please give me miseries of all the conditioned  souls and take all the living entities to the Golok Dham. This was not impossible for the Lord because He is the master of millions of universes. In this way a pure devotee has power to take all the conditioned souls to the golak dham by chanting pure holy names. As we know H.H. Bhaktitirth maharaj has also prayed the same. Once he came to Barsana Vrindavan and he prayed to Radharani to give him all the problems of ISKCON devotees and take the devoteees to Golok Dham. And it is believed that Lord accepted his prayers because he had cancer in his body after this prayer and dut to this his leg was cut. Hence we should carefully pray to the Lord. We should pray to the Lord which is our necessity and not what is our desire. Theme : hurdles in chanting The main hurdle in chanting is the offences done towards devotees , Dham , holy name and lust , , materialistic desires , anger and greed and laziness. Most important is laziness. Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakure has said kabe ha'be bolo se-dina āmār (āmār) aparādha ghuci', śuddha nāme ruci, kṛpā-bale ha'be hṛdoye sañcār Translation When, O when, will that day be mine? When will you give me your blessings, erase all my offences and give my heart a taste [ruci] for chanting the Holy Name in purity? [text 1, Kabe Ha’be Bolo] With this prayer he is inspiring everybody. And he is saying that when will all my expenses vanish and I will develop love for pure chanting. tṛṇādhika hīna, kabe nije māni', sahiṣṇutā-guṇa hṛdoyete āni' sakale mānada, āpani amānī, ho'ye āswādibo nāma-rasa-sār Translation When will I taste the essence of the Holy Name, feeling myself to be lower than the grass, my heart filled with tolerance? When will I give respect to all others and be free from desire for respect from them? [text 2, Kabe Ha’be Bolo] When I become humble like the  the blade of the grass. We do not have humbleness and patience. We should respect all and we should not expect respect from others. Then only we can truly enjoy the holy name. dhana jana āra, kobitā-sundarī, bolibo nā cāhi deho-sukha-karī janme-janme dāo, ohe gaurahari! ahaitukī bhakti caraṇe tomār Translation When will I cry out that I have no longer any desire for wealth and followers, poetry and beautiful women, all of which are meant just for bodily pleasure? O Gaura Hari! Give me causeless devotional service [bhakti] to your lotus feet, birth after birth. [text 3, Kabe Ha’be Bolo] (kabe) korite śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāma uccāraṇa, pulakita deho gadgada bacana baibarṇya-bepathu ha'be sańghaṭana, nirantara netre ba'be aśru-dhār Translation When will my body be covered with goose bumps and my voice broken with emotion as I pronounce Krishna's name? When will my body change color and my eyes flow with endless tears as I chant? [text 4, Kabe Ha’be Bolo] These verses are Bengali translation of verses of Shikshatakam following verses. na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi Translation “ ‘O Lord of the universe, I do not desire material wealth, materialistic followers, a beautiful wife or fruitive activities described in flowery language. All I want, life after life, is unmotivated devotional service to You.’[CC Antya 20.29] nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā vadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā girā pulakair nicitaṁ vapuḥ kadā tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati Translation “ ‘My dear Lord, when will My eyes be beautified by filling with tears that constantly glide down as I chant Your holy name? When will My voice falter and all the hairs on My body stand erect in transcendental happiness as I chant Your holy name?’ [CC Antya 20.36] These bhajan is written by Bhakti Vinod Thakure. Prabhupada used to call him the seventh Goswami. And then Prabhupada’s disciples said you are the eighth Goswami then Prabhupada said you are the ninth Goswami. Prabhupada has simplified the procedure of devotion for us. In spiritual life we should not become unhappy in adverse situations. In adverse situations we start blaming each other and we think that why has this happened to me ? Why do bad things happen with good people? I did so many good things other than why this has happened to me. ? But such events happen for our spiritual progress. We should not cry in adverse situations. Theme : Important thing for chanting Most important thing is to take shelter of a authentic spiritual master. Spiritual master gives services to disciples as per their capabilities and inclination. śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā- śṛńgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau yuktasya bhaktāḿś ca niyuñjato 'pi vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam Translation Only attention engaged in the service of the Lord, especially in dressing and decorating the temple, accompanied by musical kīrtana and spiritual instructions from scriptures, can save the common man from the hellish attractions Then  the spiritual master gives blessings for spiritual progress. And he will not bless us for a good girlfriend or a job. We should not go to a spiritual master for materialistic desires. Therefore we need an authentic spiritual master. In this materialistic world we got this holy name which is a simplest procedure to go to Golok Dham. Still we abandon chanting. All the things that give us pleasure in this materialistic world finally they give us sorrow. Lord has said in Bhagwat Gita nama sankirtana aadha pai sope jalatila pape janmantarichi- Translation Reciting the Holy name of God is the simplest method. Following this method causes the burning of all the sins done in this as well as many previous births [ by Santa Tukaram ] ye hi saṁsparśa-jā bhogā duḥkha-yonaya eva te ādy-antavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ Translation An intelligent person does not take part in the sources of misery, which are due to contact with the material senses. O son of Kuntī, such pleasures have a beginning and an end, and so the wise man does not delight in them. [BG 5.22] The biggest attraction in this materialistic world is the pleasure of touch. But it finally gives us sorrow. Therefore intelligent people do not enjoy such things. We are not saying that we should abandon this materialistic world. We are supposed to remain in this world and do all our activities around Krsna. As we will not survive without food, we will die. So we should offer the food first to Krsna before eating. We do like to hear materialistic music and dance but we should listen to kirtan. Then we will be saved from the maya of materialistic world. We should do service of Krsna through whatever we are earning. We should donate for temple building , for vaishnavas and for bhoga. Then it is spiritual life. Arjun asked to the Lord arjuna uvāca atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ anicchann api vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ Translation Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force? [BG 3.36]  Lord  replied śrī-bhagavān uvāca kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam Translation The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. [BG 3.37] When we try to overcome the mode of passion then we become free from lust , anger and desires. And then we do not commit sins. Then all his miseries are destroyed. Because the spiritual master is an authentic representative of Lord Krsna. Spiritual master is a merciful personification of the Lord. Therefore the spiritual master  situates us in the lotus feet of the Lord. Therefore we should sincerely make efforts to progress in spiritual life. We do not have to do difficult austerities. Whatever service we are doing we should do it with sincerity then we can please Krsna and guru. We should not be deceitful. We should not cheat anyone. We think that we are cheating others but actually we are cheating ourself. We should lie about o anyone. Because then we have to lie again and again to hide our lie. People speak very confidently these days , it is due to kaliyug. No one has fear for doing sins. Therefore authentic behaviour is most important for spiritual progress. One should sincerely progress and transparently behave in spitleithalith. We come here for spiritual progress so we should not  try to cheat others. Therefore we should accept the path given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare.                    

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