English
3rd January 2020
Real Social Service
I welcome you all. Happy New year! We have been telling this to those who are chanting on the conference. We just don't wish for people to be happy, but also tell them how to be happy by saying, 'Chant Hare Krishna and be happy'. Remember the Lord and be happy. We should be wishing all a 'Happy Journey' as the railway people keep wishing us. 'We wish you happy journey.' Some rail journeys are long journeys, but this life is also a long journey. Let this journey of life be auspicious for you. This can happen only when we chant,
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
We have to understand the glories of Harinama. Many were chanting with us since morning.We all were doing nama yagya, sankirtana yagnya. We do the offering of Harinama in this sankirtana yagnya.
We make a bow of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and the soul becomes an arrow. With the help of the bow we ‘shoot’ the arrow(soul) at the lotus feet of the Lord. We don't injure the Lord’s feet with the arrow, but we humbly offer the soul at His lotus.
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
Translation
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.( BG 18.66)
When we chant, this eternal servant (nitya dasa ) takes shelter of the Lord. This becomes the yajnya. ‘Swaha! Swaha!’ When we say yagya we are reminded of swaha which is the offerings in the fire. So this chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra is also a yagya, which we are trying to make you understand. So this sankirtana yagnya is the religion of Kaliyuga which is all auspicious. By doing such yagya our life will become all auspicious and happy. By this we will also reach our desired destination as we mentioned sometime back - let your journey be happy and auspicious. Not that only your this year should be happy but let your entire life become all auspicious and happy. Is it ok? Otherwise this year may be happy and the next year one may turn bankrupt. Let this journey of your whole life be all auspicious for you. When we are talking about the sankirtana yagya, I am reminded of Vinoba Bhave who also used to perform yagya. As I am sitting here with a few devotees.He would travel from village to village with a few followers and used to perform Bhudan yagnya. Bhu mean bhumi, land. So he used to do this Bhudan yagya, around 50 - 60 years back. He would acquire some pieces of land from the big landlords and give them to poor people under the name of Bhudan yagnya. In this way would do some social service or social reformations.
Such social services keep happening and people serve the society, their country in this way. They give things in charity,perform Bhudan yagya,open hospitals etc. We say, 'Chant Hare Krishna be happy.'. A lot can be achieved by this and we can explain that but we don't have that much time. Nowadays people say, 'They don't have time to die'. So this type of charity and social services doesn't include any agenda for upliftment of the soul. Food, clothing and shelter are for the body and in no way is the soul getting affected by providing of all this. What benefit does the soul get from this? The soul doesn't get any benefit. Sankirtana yagya, or chanting or the process of remembering the Lord can't be compared with any of such religious or pious activities punyachi ganana kon Kari. This is supreme divine pious activity. There are different levels of pious activities also. One is at the level of the mode of goodness. There is a supremely divine (alaukik) pious activity which is beyond the three modes of goodness.
punyachi ganana kon kari - Whatever your daily routine is you should chant.
This sravanam, kirtanam, visnuhu smaranam is all supremely divine. Whatever pious activities go on they are in the mode of goodness. Hare Krishna devotees have to understand this, All other general social or pious activities like bhudan yagya or opening of hospitals, are considered as pious activities by the people. By such pious activities one can reach upto heaven. But amhi jato amuchya gava amucha ram ram ghyava. This type of pious activities of Bhudan yagya and hospitals can't take you to Vaikuntha, because in this what benefit is being done for the soul? Is there something for the soul in Heaven. The home for the soul is Vaikuntha or the country of the soul is Goloka, Vrindavan or Pandharpur.This is mahe ka ghar ( mother's place) of devotees. Back to Home.
Jau devachiya gava. Adi-dev. People don't even understand this and consider all 33 crores of demigods as the supreme Lord. We don't have to go to their abode, but have to go to the country of Adi-dev. Srila Prabhupada had explained that Hindus don't understand that there is something called heaven and that is different from Vaikuntha. This is a pious activity and the other is a spiritual activity. This is a demigod and other is the Supreme Lord.
Whom does the soul want? The soul wants the Supreme Lord. Whom does the child want? Yesterday at the airport I saw a small child crying. Possibly her mother was not travelling with her. Her father and younger sister were with her. That small girl was crying, and looking here and there. Then father gave her some toy. She stopped crying for a moment and then again started crying saying, “Mummy!Mummy! Then her father gave her a lollipop. She was trying to taste it, but again started crying “ Mummy! Mummy! The soul wants the Supreme Lord. When we are talking about the child I am reminded of Prabhupada's saying that this chanting which we do who has to be done like the crying of a baby. The way the baby cries in separation of the mother. The mother is like God.
The mother is everything for the child. Similarly one needs the Supreme Lord and so we should be chanting like the crying of a baby. The way the baby just keeps remembering the mother, we should keep remembering the Lord. When the baby cries there is an intensity in it. It is not pretentious. As we grow up we learn to pretend. When people go for someone's funeral they will take out a handkerchief and wipe off the eyes even if there are no tears just to show off their grief. Elder people are too smart, but young children are very straight and innocent. Inside and outside they are same. The remembrance of a mother is focused. They want everything from their mother.
Srila Prabhupadawould sayabout these social services that there are certain religions like Christianity in which they consider this social service only to be supreme, and now Hindu people are also acquiring that. Whatever activities they perform are not beyond the three modes of material nature or they are not divine. They are in the mode of goodness. If a millionaire's son has left his father's house and is wandering here and there. Someone helps him by allowing him to stay in their house for a few days and gives some food, a place to sleep. People keep helping others in this way. But then someone else comes and asks that son of a millionaire who are you? Where do you belong? Why you are here? - I am the son of Ambani. Although this name is not worthy of being remembered in the morning, if that person makes him understand that his real precious residence of 14 floors in Mumbai israther like the 14 bhuvanas in Brahmanda. If that person takes him to his 14 flooredhouse. He has been helped in two ways. One he was kept in own house and given food, shelter, but the other one found out where he belongs and sent him there. So now he is back home. The common person who had kept him in his house was not having much wealth but when he reached his own house the opulence over there cannot be compared to what he was getting in that person's house. So whose help is more beneficial? - The one who sent him to his own house. So you also need help. In this Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara you are getting this help. One day we will go back, Back to Godhead. Say bye to Pune!
When we say, ‘Chant Hare Krishna and be happy’ and when we this message reaches all the people like prati ghare giya karaho mor adnyay prakash
Caitanya Mahaprabhu advised Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Haridas Thakur to go door to door of all the houses and speed His message. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said this.
bolo krsna bhaja krsna karokrsna siksa
krsna stu bhagawanswayam
That the Supreme Lord gave this order to go to all the houses and yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa. Not only Nityananda Prabhuji and Haridas Thakur, but there were many others who did that and in that way this message reached us also. Now it is our turn to let it reach many more. Bolo Krsna means
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
This is the main thing. We tell others to do Hare Krishna Japa, or we give His name to someone means we are giving Krsna to them. In the Harinama diksa ceremony Guru gives Harinama to the disciple. First initiation is also called Harinama diksa, initiation. Gurus give Harinama means Guru gives Krsna. The soul is offered to Krsna. When it is given to Krsna what else remains to be given?
yasmin tuste jagat tustam- If the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied, everyone is satisfied
When we worship Lord Acyuta in this way that means we have done sarva- arhanam. Arhanam means aradhana or worshipping. All are being worshiped this way, no one is remaining. When we water the root of the tree all the parts of the tree - trunk, branches leaves, fruits, flowers everything is served simultaneously. Similarly the Lord is everyone's root or source.
So thank you.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare