bahir antaç ca bhütänäm
acaraà caram eva ca
sükñmatvät tad avijïeyaà
düra-sthaà cäntike ca tat
(Bhagavad Gita 13.16)
The Supreme Truth exists outside and inside of all living beings, the moving and the nonmoving. Because He is subtle, He is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is also near to all.
This verse is from the 13th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. The supreme truth, Krishna explains, that there is no truth superior to Him.
mattaù parataraà nänyat
kiïcid asti dhanaïjaya
mayi sarvam idaà protaà
sütre maëi-gaëä iva
(Bhagavad Gita 7.7)
That the Supreme knowable truth defies all material conception. In the material world, every living being is bound under the laws of nature, which confine one within the dualities of material existence. But Krishna here explains, (break of audio) that He is both internal and external. He is within everything and without everything. He is in the moving and the non-moving. In other words He is beyond the powers of material senses to see or to know. Although far far away He is also near to all. The perception of Krishna is only when He by His sweet will reveals Himself to us. By no power of our own do we have access into the realm of the absolute truth. In fact however much we cultivate knowledge, perform tapasya, even chant the names of God, through these processes, Krishna cannot be attained. Krishna says in Gita that as one approaches me
ye yathä mäà prapadyante
täàs tathaiva bhajämy aham
mama vartmänuvartante
manuñyäù pärtha sarvaçaù
(Bhagavad Gita 4.11)
As one approaches me, as one surrenders to me, I reveal myself accordingly. So according to the extent to which the living being aspires to please the God, the Lord reveals Himself. Originally in our natural condition, we are all the eternal servants of Sri Krishna.
jiver ‘svarupa hay krisnera nitya-das’
(CC Madhya lila, ch. 20, p.840)
But, unfortunately, due to ahankar, due to the false ego, we are all trying to lord it over the material nature. We are all trying to present ourselves according to the illusion of our misconceptions. We want to present ourselves, in a nationalistic way, that I am an Indian, I am American, I am African or I am Chinese or I am Russian. Or we want to present ourselves, according to our particular religion, I am a Hindu or a Muslim or a Jew or a Christian or a Jain. Or we want to present ourselves according to our sex, I am male or female. Or according to our particular caste designation. Or according to our educational qualifications. Or according to the category of our particular income. I am very wealthy, I am poor, I am very powerful, I am very weak. In this way, everyone wants to present themselves in the maya of illusion. But in essence, we only have one designation. That we are the humble servants of the Supreme Lord. As long as we present ourselves to the God in any other way, He will hide Himself just as we are hiding ourselves. Although He is everywhere, He is within us, He is outside of us, He is in between the atoms, we cannot see Him. It is not because He is hiding from us, but it’s because we are hiding from Him. He is only reciprocating according to how are approaching Him. As long as we consider that our essential position is not that we are eternal servants of the Lord, due to identifying ourselves with a false conception, we are not willing to surrender everything to Krishna. We want to hold back, we want to be the enjoyer. Therefore, it is not that Krishna is hiding from us, it is that we are hiding from Him behind our false ego. And He allows us to hide behind this cloud of ahankar and therefore He cannot be seen.
First meeting of Hanumanji and Lord Rama:
In the Ramayan of Sri Valmiki Muni, there is a beautiful narration of the first meeting of Sri Hanumanji and Lord Sri Ramachandra. This took place, just at the foot of the Rsimukha mountain, in the Khiskhinda area. There is a famous place which is called Pampa sarovar. Beautiful beautiful lake. Valmiki muni describes how the waters were crystal clear and there were innumerable beautiful fragrant lotus flowers growing. And there were all nice swans and ducks and auspicious birds. Around the bank were all auspicious trees such as palm trees and fig trees and mango trees and jackfruit trees.
After Lord Ramachandra killed the mighty asura Khabanda, he assumed his original demigod body. This demon was given a very very horrible body, because he had offended one of the great gods. And he was given the benediction that when Lord Ramachandra the Supreme Personality of God Head would come into the forest, he would slay this Rakshasa body and upon burning his body he would assume his original form as one of the devatas. So after Ram and Laxman killed this Khabanda, Khabanda after they put his body on the fire and it was just about to burn, he assumed his original form and he explained to Ram that Sita, you will find her if you make alliance with the great monkey chieftain Sugriva. To find him you should go to this most beautiful beautiful refreshing lake named pampa sarovar.
Arrival of Lord Rama and Laxman :
So when Ramachandra and Laxman arrived carrying their bows and their arrows they looked so beautiful, charming. But at the same time they looked like the most powerful tigers amongst men. So when the spies of Sugriva happened to notice them and Sugriva saw them from distance he became very worried that his great enemy brother Bali had sent them to kill he and his associates. The prime minister of Sugriva was Hanumanji. Hanuman was very wise, he said I do not think that they have come to kill you. Let me go to see who they are. I will disguise myself as a brahmin and in this way I will ask and find out their true identity. So Hanuman was a great devotee but by the mercy of Sri Ramachandra, he was endowed with great great mystic powers. So he changed his entire form into that of a very gentle and learned Brahmin.
Hanuman approaches Ram and Laxman
And he approached Ram and Laxman and very cordially offered his respects. But within this Brahmins heart there filled such a love, he could not understand why is it that I am feeling so much love, so much ecstasy upon seeing these two kshatriyas. And the love was so much that after introducing himself, he could not contain his false identity, so he revealed himself. He said actually I am Hanuman, I am the messenger of Sugriva, can you pls tell me who you are? He said I don’t know who you are, but I am feeling so much love, so much devotion in you, please tell me who you are? And Laxman introduced that this is Lord Sri Ram the son of King Dasaratha and I am His younger brother Laxman and we have entered into this forest of pampa sarovar looking for the great king Sugriva to make alliance to help find goddess Sita. So Hanuman became very much embarrassed, he fell to the ground and offered his prostrated obeisance’s and became to weep. He said my dear Lord after all these years, you who are the worshipable Lord of my life and my heart, I approached you and I did not even recognize you, I did not even offer you proper respects. Why could I not understand? Why did I need an introduction?
Hanuman expresses his love and respect for Lord Rama
I have worshiped you throughout my life, from my birth I have been chanting your Holy name and now the crest jewel of all my desires have been fulfilled, I have your darshan, and I could not even understand who you are, why is this? Sri Ram told him, because you appeared to me disguised as a Brahmin, not revealing your true self, therefore I would not reveal to you my true self. Until you gave up that false conception, that false presentation of yourself, you could not see me as I am. But as soon as you revealed yourself as My eternal servitor Hanumanji I revealed that I am your eternal Lord Sri Ram standing before you. This is the position of all of us. We are all eternal servants of the Lord but we are all presenting to the Lord under some false designation. Therefore we cannot see Him standing before us. Because factually, Krishna as it is explained here, He is within and without everything. He is within our heart, if we try to be dishonest with the Lord within our heart, if we try to cheat Him, Krishna says in the Gita, I am the best cheater. He sees everything we do, He hears everything we say, He knows everything we think, we cannot hide anything from Krishna. But if we try to justify our sense gratification and hide it from the super soul, the result simply is that He hides simply from us. But Krishna is also in the heart of every living being, and He is also in and between every atom. How we present ourselves to His creation is how we present our self to Him. If we present our self to the people of this world by some external superficial designation, then we will not see Krishna anywhere in this world. But if we give up this egoistic dress and simply present I am the insignificant humble servant of the Lord, I have come to serve and we announce this wherever we go whoever we meet. Then we will see Krishna, everywhere and in everyone. Krishna is only known through this process.
One must be like a child to understand Krishna :
Hanumanji, such a great pure soul, but factually the original essence of every living being is the eternal servant of the Lord. Even if we are proud of attached to being a Brahmin or being very learned, even if we want to portray ourselves as being very religious and spiritually advanced person, even this is an ego, which will create a cloud of illusion that blocks our vision of the Supreme Lord. Krishna reveals Himself to those who are of humble heart. who know no one else except him. Who know no other position except His servant. To that person with that consciousness Krishna reveals Himself everywhere and in everything. Krishna says in Gita, for one who sees me everywhere and everything in me, for him I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to me. Krishna, it is described that how He hides Himself by the curtain of the yoga maya.
nähaà prakäçaù sarvasya
yoga-mäyä-samävåtaù
müòho ‘yaà näbhijänäti
loko mäm ajam avyayam
(Bhagavad Gita 7.25)
Krishna says that this curtain of maya covers those that are unintelligent. Who want to lord it over material nature. Prahlad Maharaj was only a child of 5 years old yet he was seeing Krishna everywhere and in everything. Because he was innocent and he was simple. He simply accepted Krishna I am Yours. That is all that is required. Great great great yogis, after years and years and years of practicing and developing even great powers, they cannot understand what is Krishna. Why? Because they think that they are great possessors of powers. They have lost the simplicity and the innocence of the heart. It is said that one must be like a child to understand Krishna. A child is simple and innocent and has natural faith. In every situation of his life a child is remembering his parents. As soon as there is danger, he remembers his parents. As soon as there is something good he wants to give to his parents. This is the nature of a small child. Completely dependent and completely under the control of the thought of his parents. Because he’s at an age where he just doesn’t know anything else or anyone else. We are all Krishna’s children.
sarva-yoniñu kaunteya
mürtayaù sambhavanti yäù
täsäà brahma mahad yonir
ahaà béja-pradaù pita
(Bhagavad Gita 14.4)
He is the father of everyone but due to false pride we have forgotten this. And this simple innocent approach to the Lord has been covered. And we complicate our lives with so many illusions. So really Krishna consciousness, sanathan dharma is really for those who are simple in heart. To re-awaken an innocence in a faith, where we are always in bad times, we are naturally like a child, automatically run to Krishna. And when things are good whatever we get, we automatically just run to show it to Krishna. Have you seen a little child, whenever they get something good, what’s the first thing they want to do? They want to show it to their parents, look what I have. So everything good, we should bring to run to show it to Krishna. And all the difficult times we should run to Krishna for shelter. In this way there is no difference between good and bad. They are both just different wonderful processes of running to Krishna. And this is what it means to transcend the dualities of material nature. It does not mean that we become so hard hearted that we do not understand that these are difficulties and these are easy times or this is pleasurable and this is painful, we experience these things. As long as we are in these bodies we have to experience these things. But according to Gita, the person who has transcended the dualities of nature, in any case he does the same thing. He runs to Krishna with a glad and grateful heart. The good times, the hard times there is no difference, because they all bring us closer to Krishna. Therefore a devotee does not discriminate. He’s thankful in every situation. And because he’s thankful in this child like way, he sees Krishna everywhere. He sees Krishna in everything. This is practical. Anyone can do it, if you want it. God helps them those who helps themselves. If we want something we have to work for that. If we are not willing to make sacrifice that means we do not really want.
Connecting with Krishna :
People make so much sacrifice just for little money. Because they want money, but when it comes to spiritual life, how much sacrifice are people willing to make. So Krishna, He sees, how much sacrifice you are making for everything else, He wants to see how much sacrifice you are making for Him. We work so hard, we are willing to go through so much aggravation and disturbances and problems to build up some empire within our home, within our business, within our profession, to get pride, to get prestige, to get a famous name, to give wealth and dignity to our children on the material platform for some extra money. We are willing to work so hard and make so many sacrifices and endure and undergo all pain and aggravations for that, but when it comes to our spiritual life, when it is convenient we do it nicely. Krishna’s within and without, He is watching. You are making so many sacrifices for these things, how much for Me. If it’s any less than anything else in the world, I will hide. He is hiding behind the cloud of ego that we have created. It’s not that God is running from us, we are running from Him. He’s standing right in front of us, and we are turning our back to Him and saying where is He? And He is saying turn around and all the sages and all scriptures are saying turn around, but you are not willing to turn around, but you blame God, why are you not before me? This is the problem. How do we turn around? We must make Krishna first. We must be willing to show Him that we want to know Him, we want to love Him, by the degree of our sacrifice for Him. So many pravachans, so many lectures describing Krishna’s lila, Ram’s lila, Bhagavad Gita philosophy but you will never understand the real goal until we are willing to make this complete sacrifice.
sarvasya cähaà hådi sanniviñöo
mattaù småtir jïänam apohanaà ca
vedaiç ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedänta-kåd veda-vid eva cäham
(Bhagavad Gita 15.15)
Krishna says, by all the Vedas am I to be known, yet we are hearing the Vedas so many times, why are we not knowing Krishna? Because we are still trying to hold some priorities before Him. The Bhagavad Gita is spoken to Arjuna who is a warrior, Krishna’s telling him to fight. Sacrificing your everything in life to Krishna does not necessarily mean, leaving behind your prescribed duties in this world. What does it mean? It means to work in the spirit of Arjuna.
Do everything for Krishna :
That whatever we do it is directly a sacrifice for Krishna. And we show Him that to associate with His devotees, to chant His Holy name, to read shastra, to live a pure life. This is first and foremost. If we are not willing to do these things, Krishna will not take us seriously. And then with the spirit of devotion that is derived through this process, we do our work in a detached spirit. What does this mean? What does it mean to be detached? It means that from the beginning to the end, we are planning and giving whatever we have to Krishna. From the beginning or the end for any of the work if you are thinking, this is mine, you are attached. And ultimately your work will not bring you freedom or happiness, it will bring you in the end bondage and pain. So how to be detached? To be detached means that whatever we are utilizing the fruits of our work for Krishna, Krishna is directly being served. You are paying rent for your home, it is your home or Krishna’s home? Put the deity of Krishna in your home, then it is Krishna’s home. But then you would have also to treat it like Krishna’s home. All food that is cooked, should be what He wants and offer it to Him. And everyday the family should come together to bow down to Him and chant His glories. There should be no sinful activities in the God’s home. And invite sadhus and other guests to come and be with Krishna. I once knew a very great sädhu in Vrindavan. And he was just a very poor man and he had deities in a little closet in a hallway of somebody else’s house and he never left there. Because he had no one else to take care. And whenever anyone would come he would be so happy, he would just give them everything he had. And people would say no you should not give this, you are a poor man, we do not need, no no you must have everything. He said because you are Krishna’s friend but I am only His servant. Anyone who comes to Krishna’s house must be His friend. I am only His servant. If I make His friends happy, then He will be very happy. So this should be our spirit, that when people come to the house, we should think, these are Krishna’s friends coming to visit Him. But I am His servant. So let me treat them with all respect and dignity and let them be with Krishna, let them enjoy with Krishna. And our family, they are all Krishna’s friends, every family member, let me bring them all closer to Krishna. If your family is like this, if your home is like this, then all the wealth that you put in your home is for Krishna. That is bhakti. That is detachment.
How to see Krishna in everything:
Rupa Goswami has explained to us
präpaïcikatayä buddhyä
hari-sambandhi-vastunaù
mumukñubhiù parityägo
vairägyaà phalgu kathyate
(Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu 1.2.258)
That spiritual vision means to see how everything is the property of Krishna. To see Krishna in everything and to utilize everything for Krishna. One time we asked our Guru Maharaj, our devotees, Srila Prabhupada, you are talking about seeing Krishna in everything. How do we see Krishna in the dead objects of matters of this world? Prabhupada said, you see over there on my desk, what do you see on my desk? Our godbrother said, Srila Prabhupada, I see your glasses. What are you thinking when you see these glasses? Even if I am 10000 miles away, when you see these glasses what do you see? I think these are Srila Prabhupada’s glasses. Guru Maharaj said you see you are seeing me in the glasses. In the same way
bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati
(Bhagavad Gita 5.29)
Everything is Krishna’s property. That is the fact. If we simply see, this is Krishna’s microphone, this is Krishna’s harmonium, this is Krishna’s body, when we see our wife, this is Krishna’s daughter, when we see our husband, this is Krishna’s son, when we see our children, these are Krishna’s children, when we see our home, this is Krishna’s home. When we get a paycheck, we say this is Krishna’s money. In this way we see Krishna everywhere and in everything. Then you use everything for Krishna. And this is an honest life. What does it mean to be honest? It means to live according to the truth. So called honesty in this world is all dishonesty. Honor amongst thieves. What is honor amongst thieves? The example is given that there were so many thieves to rob a bank, and then they take all the money and they go into some secret hiding place. And they say, let us divide this up honestly. There is no such thing as honesty. Amongst them they are honest, but the principle that they are basing their life on is dishonest. And if the police break in their secret hideout and say you are all under arrest, if they say no no no, we are dividing it honestly. That is so called honor in this world. Everything is God’s and we are exploiting what belongs to God and we live and we exploit it in moral terms and we think we are very pious and honest. But you are thieves, we are all thieves. That is the problem. Makhan-chor, Krishna is also a thief. Because we are part of Him, we are also thieves. Makhan-chor, huh. But the difference is when Krishna steals, He owns everything. He actually is the rightful claim. When Krishna steals, He is only stealing our hearts for the purpose of placing them back in their original position of truth. So we must live in such a way that we are honest before God. And when we reveal ourselves before Him in this way, then He reveals Himself before us in His eternal form, which is sachidanand. He reveals Himself from within and without. And this experience is our original natural consciousness, Krishna consciousness. And in order to achieve this realization, the Supreme Lord has appeared to teach us, Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu, that by associating with sincere souls who are devotees of the Lord in an honest and genuine way and by avoiding the association of people who are too much materialistic and greedy then we will gain a taste to chant the Holy names. One time a devotee asked Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, how do I become a pure servant of the Lord? This was His reply
asat-saìga-tyäga,—ei vaiñëava-äcära
Which means associate with saintly people and do not associate with greedy materialistic people. And through this process learn how to always chant the names of the Lord. We must make this the priority of our lives. Orchestrate everything around this principle of associating with saintly people, avoiding the association intimately with materialistic people and learning the process through this way of chanting God’s name. Of course in this world we have to stay in our occupation, in our schools, in our practical services, we have to deal with so many materialistic people, so many unscrupulous people, that cannot be avoided. But that will not affect you if you keep Holy company during your social life. One of our devotees asked a few days ago, that he was a doctor. AdiKeshav – he asked, this question, he’s a skin specialist. Being a skin specialist is a very, actually it’s, the whole society should be going to him, since everyone has what’s called as a skin disease. Skin disease means, we think we are the skin. We forget we are the eternal soul. So actually if this society was in the right direction, AdiKeshav would have hundreds of millions of patients. Trying to become cured of this skin disease. And what is the medicine. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. So he was asking, how in this world, when we have to deal with so many unscrupulous terrible people. Terrible in the sense, that they are very sinful and very forgetful of God and very much making propaganda towards making sense gratification. How to deal with these people and not be affected? So we explained, through the process of inoculation. Through inoculation you become immune to certain diseases. But if the inoculations are not taken regularly then you will be subject to the disease. So if we are associating with saintly people, whenever the social time is there, after the hours at work, how do we enjoy our life? Do we go to the cinema? Do we turn on the television? Do we go to some social club? Or do we go to where the sadhus are chanting the Holy names and where they are discussing Krishna Katha? Through this process we become so spiritually surcharged, that whatever takes place within our life we will not forget Krishna. So do not hide yourself from Krishna. Krishna says that He’s the supreme truth, He exists both internally and externally, in the moving and the non-moving, He is beyond the power of material senses to know, although far far away He’s also near to all, and He’s ready to reveal Himself to everyone and anyone who simply wants to see Him. And Krishna makes Himself, most readily visible through the sound of His name. When we learn to see Krishna within the sound of His name, and experience Him within His name, then we will perceive Him everywhere and in everything. Therefore, the yuga-dharma, the recommended process in this age of Kali-yuga, is to simply come together to glorify the Holy names, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. God has many names, but of course, whatever name is most dear to our hearts in whom God is revealing Himself to our heart, naturally we will be able to inspire people most with that name. We are not speaking of a sectarian process, we accept all religions and all authorized processes of God consciousness which essentially teaches the necessity of chanting the Holy name. By the grace of Gurudev we have all become very crazy for Radha and Krishna. So our goal in life is that everyone becomes crazy for Radha and Krishna and tonight we want to see everyone become crazy for Radha and Krishna. Because after all you have to be crazy for something. So better it’s Krishna. And the Holy name awakes that craziness of the heart for Krishna. It is called prema or love. So let us all chant together. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has taught, that when people, sincerely with honest hearts come together to chant the Holy names, the spiritual world descends.
tatra tistami narada, yatra gayanti mad-bhakta
Krishna told Naradaji that you will not find me Vaikuntha, you will not find me in the heart of a yogi, you will find me wherever my devotees come together to chant my Holy names. So this world is in great need of Krishna. Let us be merciful. Call upon Krishna . Everyone please rise.
