English
13 March 2020
I EXIST BECAUSE I THINK!
Hare Krishna !
Today we have 460 participants. Many devotees are sending their pranams.
vancha-kalpatarubhyash cha
kripa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo
vaishnavebhyo namo namaha
They are offering pranams to me and also to other devotees. All of you are welcomed and my blessings are with you all who offer pranam and who don't. Maybe some devotees offer, but don't write. My blessings for joining this conference and chanting together.
Srimati Radhika Mataji from Delhi has sent a report of her Bhakti Vriksha. Rama Lila Mataji from Solapur has also sent a report saying she has read Srimad-Bhagavatam 3 times, Caitanya-caritamrta once, Caitanya Bhagavat and not only she has read it, but is also actively preaching. She has made many devotees in Solapur. All of you can take inspiration from Rama Lila Mataji and keep studying Srila Prabhupada Books. This is the sravan. By reading these scriptures, our destiny will change. There will be revolution in our consciousness.
During Gaura Bhagavat Katha, I was personally encouraging devotees to read these scriptures. 160 Caitanya-caritamrta sets were distributed during this Katha. It is also available in Marathi now. I was thinking something while chanting. In fact I started my Japa with that thought.
There is one philosopher from a foreign country. He said: I EXIST BECAUSE I THINK. I think therefore I am. You all must also think. It can also be said that we exist therefore we can think. We think because we are the soul.
Christians say that animals have no soul, so we can slaughter them. How can they say this! When this philosopher already said, ‘I am because I think.’ Do animals not think? A cat thinks, "I will drink this milk once the mistress leaves from here. If I drink the milk now, I will get a heavy beating from her. I will have it only once she leaves”. This is the proof that animals also think therefore they also have a soul because they can think.
Srila Prabhupada was once asked, "Swamiji, why have you come to the western world?" Srila Prabhupada said, ‘I want to change the way people think.’ Thoughts can't be stopped, but transformed. The soul always thinks, but our thoughts are spoilt because of our false ego. Aham mameti . This is Maya.
balavasta krdasakta, yuvavastha tarunirakta
vriddhavastha chintamagna, parambrahmani kaupinasakta
Translation:
Maya has made such arrangements that if you are a Kid, you must play. When you get Young, you must get attracted to the opposite sex. They think because of their False Ego that they are Male or Female. When we get old, we start worrying because all this Programming is already done and according to that, this universe works.
As the Lord says in Bhagavad-Gita:
mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracaram
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate
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. (BG 9.10)
If we are doing something all the time then we keep thinking all the time. Uninterrupted thoughts are always there. We eat 3 times, drink water 5-10 times, breath 18 times in a minute, but we think every second. All these are intake. Then it is also said that you are what you eat. If we take in polluted water or food, we may get sick. Due to polluted air, our health will get affected, but our uninterrupted activity is thinking. Day and night and even in dreams. Because of all these intakes, we get affected, but we get most affected by our thoughts.
I am because I think, but what we think is also important. You think because you think that you are this body or you are American, women, poor men or bankrupt. But your thinking is based on false ego. In Krishna Consciousness we say,
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hrsīkena hrsīkeśa-
sevanam bhaktir ucyate
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, simply by being employed in the service of the Lord, one's senses are purified."(CC Madhya-Lila 19.170)
A devotee thinks, I am:
ayi nanda-tanuja kinkaram
patitam mam vishame bhavambudhau
kripaya tava pada-pankaja-
sthita-dhuli-sadrisham vichintaya
Translation:
O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krsna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms at Your lotus feet. (Verse 5, Siksastakam)
I am what I think. He thinks, I am a spirit soul and servant of Krsna. Engage me in your devotional service.
In this World, Pravritti and Nivritti goes on. Pravritti is also right up to some limit. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, ‘Varnasrama Dharma acts as per Pravritti.’ Pravritti is under the 3 modes. I am Brāhmana due to the mode of Goodness, I am Ksatriya (warrior) due to mode of Goodness and Passion, I am Vaiśya (businessmen) due to mode of Passion or I am Śūdra due to mode of Ignorance.
pravritti ittimanani
puneh karmani sarvasah
ahankara mudhatma
karta aham itimanyate
Since we all are affected by these three modes. That is why Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:
nāham vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāham varnī na ca grha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmrtābdher
gopī-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsah
Translation:
"I am not a brāhmana, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of the Lord Śrī Krsna, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance."(CC Madhya-Lila 13.80)
When we say we are brāhmana, sannyāsī, etc, it is also considered as false ego. It is not considered as a big false ego, but it has some Dirt. The best or clear thought is that I am the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of the Lord. This is the right thought.
If we understand that we are servants of Krsna, this is also called Self Realisation. As per this science, our thought process is totally different. So I think I have said the basic point.
smartavyah satatam visnur
vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-nisedhāh syur
etayor eva kinkarāh
Translation:
"Krsna is the origin of Lord Visnu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.” (CC Madhya-Lila 22.113)
Gopis always think about the Lord. They do not do anything else, They only think and remember the Lord and never forget Him. This is to be done.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
When we chant, along with chanting we learn the right way of thinking. I am a soul and the soul thinks about the Supersoul. This is Bhakti. To think about the supersoul is Bhakti.
sravanam kirtanam visnu smaranam
Chanting of Hare Krishna is Bhakti because we think about the Lord during chanting. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said:
ramyad upāsanā vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita
Translation:
"Oh, there is no better worship than that which was contemplated by the gopīs."
We must think like the Gopis. Then we are Gaudiya Vaisnavas. When we are fixed up with these thoughts, we will have firm faith.
Srimad-Bhagavatam says,
nasta-prāyesv abhadresu
nityam bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naisthikī
Translation:
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. (SB 1.2.18)
We must read Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, Caitanya Bhagavat and the result will be that our thought process will get revived. There will be revolution in our consciousness. Our consciousness will be purified. We will have spiritual thoughts. So please think.
Think what will go with you!
There is a way to think as per Varnasrama, but there is a thought process even more degraded than Pravritti. Varnasrama thought is not the ultimate. Goloka doesn't have Varnasrama System. Goloka has Nivritti and not Pravritti. Pravritti means 3 modes of material nature and Nivritti means freedom from the 3 modes of material nature. We must have even higher thoughts than Varnasrama.
Please think on this. This is the food for thought. Don't just think and then forget otherwise I have to remind you again. Remember what all has been said today.
Do not stop thinking. Think the right thinking.
Haribol !
