Synthetic World
Generally in this age people are not very inclined to understand the essence of anything. They are more concerned with making a show of performing some sort of external rituals. It is an age of synthetics. Computerization is synthetic intelligence. Practically every aspect of life is being computerized. Even the automobiles contain less and less of natural metal more and more plastic…….Everything is becoming plastic. Even wood…I know in my country that at least 85% of which looks like wood is plastic. But they have developed such a design that it looks just like wood. And even jewelry is some sort of synthetic.
The Essence of True Religion
People are becoming more and more diverted from the real treasure of the essence of anything. And this is especially true in regard to religion. People are very inclined to the form of their religion. But they are not concerned with the true spirit, the essence and the purpose behind them. But Bhagavad Gita is very very dominantly overruling these misconceptions. Krsna is explaining to Arjuna “you fight this war, you perform your duties, you do your prescribed business in this world but do not in any way be attached to external actions or the external results”. It is this spirit of devotion within your heart which is 100% all important. Krsna sees nothing but that and therefore no one is qualified or disqualified. If they have a sincere heart that is the only necessary qualification. The lord comes specially to reclaim those who are fallen.
Proud of being a Prisoner?
Anyone who is living outside of Vaikunta has utterly nothing to be proud of. It’s like a prisoner in solitary confinement being proud of his piety. Or someone else is given a little more freedom in the prison, he thinks that he is pious as he is not in solitary confinement. You have nothing to be proud of with regards to your piety. You are a criminal. That’s why you are there. Of course nowadays most criminals are here and most pious people are in the jails. But that is not the principle we are speaking in terms of. This material existence is a prison house. Durgam means prison…maitunya…therefore we are all shackled by the chains of our own independent desire to lord and enjoy over this material energy. So whether you are the president or the prime minister, whether you are a learned scholar or a big big business man or whether you are a sweeper on the streets, you have absolutely nothing to be proud of. You are here because you are fallen. So, therefore, we must humble ourselves and understand that the Lord is so merciful “Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam, dharma sansthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge”. He comes specially to deliver the fallen souls and to attract our hearts back to him.
Surrendering to the Merciful Lord
tesam satata-yuktanam
bhajatam priti-purvakam
dadami buddhi-yogam tam
yena mam upayanti te
One who constantly worships me with love and devotion I will reveal myself.
aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah
Srila Prabhupad translates this…Krsna says that I am the source of all material and spiritual world everything emanates from me. The wise who knows this perfectly engage in my loving service and worship me with all their hearts. Wisdom is the knowledge of the heart not of the brain. Because heart is the seed of our consciousness and surrender means to surrender our consciousness to Krsna.
The Power of the Holy Name
When we chant the holy names Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, we are not simply talking about some vibration. This mechanical chanting will not be very effective because Krsna does not appear through the tongue. Krsna is living within your heart. Eswara sarva bhutanam hriddeserjuna tishtathi. Krsna says I am in the heart of all living beings. And therefore when we chant from our heart Krsna manifests himself from our hearts in to the sound of His name and then that sound vibration is vibrated by our tongue, enters in to the atmosphere and purifies all of creation. Rupa Goswami has explained “I do not know how much nectar the two syllables have produced. When the name of Krsna dances upon my tongue is it so sweet that I desire millions and millions of tongues and when that name enters in to my ears, I desire hundreds and millions and trillions of ears and when that name enters into the courtyard of heart it utterly conquers all attachment, all conceptions of any reality other than my eternal loving desire to serve the Lord”. This is the power of the name if it is chanted properly.
Conscious Chanting of the Holy Name
Our consciousness is the very sustenance of basis of our life. And our consciousness is manifested by our attention. Just like if somebody is not listening properly sometimes we say ‘be conscious’ of what is being said, that means put your very basis of life effort and consciousness to understand and to hear. So when we chant the holy name when we attentively try to put out everything else out of our consciousness and we attend to only Krsna through that sound vibration we are surrendering sacrificing our entire consciousness to Krsna and there is no greatest surrender than that. Therefore this sacrifice of the chanting of the holy name of God is the most powerful and effective of all means of surrendering to the Lord because in hearing that sound vibration you are surrendering the essence of your life your consciousness. Therefore it is very important that we are very attentive and we should know that Sankirtan means the vibration of the Holy name – the glorification of God and anything we do in devotional service is assisting the great souls in glorifying the holy name. Therefore whether we are cleaning the toilets or whether we are giving a lecture to 10000 interested people, whether we are making a business deal with crores of rupees or whether we give a donation of everything we have, even 50 paise, if it is done with this attention with this consciousness that everything I do is a sacrifice for the pleasure of Krsna, then we are always chanting His Holy name.
Putting Krsna First
The essence of Bhagavad Gita man-mana bhava mad–bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru We should always think of Krsna, become His devotee, worship him and offer homage unto Him. To put Krsna first we must put ourselves last. It makes sense? To the degree we put ourselves high you are putting Krsna low. And to the degree you put ourselves last Krsna is first in your life. Some people think it is degrading always thinking I am last. it’s not like that at all. Actually, it is the opposite. Because in keeping ourselves last you are conscious that Krsna is first. And the real driving glory of our life lies in Gods glory. And because we are part and parcel of Him, our eternal nature is to glorify with pleasure his greatness, not our own. Of course unfortunate people are not thinking like this in this day and age. People are very negligent to these spiritual principles of life and therefore people act very selfishly.”Prakrete kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasasah…,” simply trying to nourish and feed their egos…false egos and therefore they engage in so many sinful activities. From the absolute point of view even if you are so called pious but you are doing it for yourself, it is sinful. “Bhoktaram yagna tapasam sarva loka maheshwaram”. because everything is ultimately meant for Krsna’s enjoyment, and then we wonder why these wars are talking place in the world.
War of Egos
Somebody told me today that they read some article and saw some poster explaining about this war in the Gulf which is taking place now which captured the imagination of the whole world. Two men Mr. Bush and Mr. Saddam Hussain – it was because of these two people who had such great false egos and strong motivation, that the whole world had to suffer great destruction on basis of an argument between the two. These personalities have been created by the affilicted karma of this world.
Senseless Sense Gratification
We are opening more and more slaughter houses causing unnecessary sorrowful torture and death to innocent children of God. Simply for a little sense gratification, we are willing to lie and cheat. Illicit sex abortion is becoming more and more prominent even in the so called religious countries of the world. The biggest business in Americais selling drugs & narcotics. People want to find some pleasure totally out of harmony with Gods nature which is so sinful. And the second big business is gambling. Of course if the whole world is following and people are engaging in all these sinful activities. As he sow shall he reap is a saying in English, which means what goes around comes around. God’s plan is perfect, but we are polluting the earth, the waters and the air. For what? Sense gratification. God is giving us all the natural gifts which is life giving purely for our benefit and upliftment. But, we living beings are turning it all in to a ugly pool of sin. Even in the nice city ofBombay, it is becoming like this, what to speak of everywhere else.
Sinful activities & their reactions
Massive sinful activities will create massive sinful reactions and we are all to blame. Don’t think that if you are born in a Brahmin family you have got nothing to do with it. You might think that these hippies inAmericaare committing sinful activities, but I am a very good man. Actually your ego itself is more of a cause of the problem than their sinful activity. Because pride is also a sin my friend, we are all responsible. These people are the monsters that we have created and then the monster becomes so powerful we don’t know what to do with it. We do not have the power to destroy it. Eventually the monster of our own karma will come to destroy us. Srila Prabhupad gives us the example that we should not give milk and bananas to a serpent because that will only increase its venom and due to its envy it will strike you. So this is the great problem in this world. Sometimes the land which is called the enemy’s was built and financed by the people who are attacking it. We are not trying to get in to politics, but it is very symbolic because this is what is going on in our own lives.
We are all eternal parts & parcels of God
We are putting our precious juvenile energy in to selfish egoistic sense gratificatory activities and in the end it turns against us to cause suffering and destruction. And when it happens we think why this is all happening to me? I am a good person. In essence you are a good person and that is what Bhagvad gita is trying to explain. The essence of how we are part and parcel of the Supreme Person – Krsna. “Mamaivamso jiva loke jiva bhutah sanatanah manasastani indriastani prakrutistani karshati”. We are all eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss, we are all part of God. We are all pure. Simply we have to recognize, realize and experience our very essence. Then we can find in every situation in life the unlimited pure ecstasy of Love of God. There is no more powerful force than Love, because love is truth. We are not speaking of sentimental love on the conditioned bodily concept. We are speaking of the true pure love of the soul towards Krsna. Nothing can conquer love. In the end truth always prevails.
Man-made insignificant Bombs
We were speaking the other day that countries in the world today are so afraid that they want to put much of their energy into defense by building better, bigger weapons and bigger bigger bombs, exploiting the earth from its natural resources that are god given gifts and create tools for destruction and suffering. This is what man is doing – stockpiling their bombs. But what is the potency in these bombs? Within this creation, this universe is just a tiny little speck. Is it not? And within this universe this earth planet is a little little insignificant dot. And within this earth planet, India, Pakistan, Russia, America, Iran, Iraq are little spots…and within this spots any city is another little dot. How significant is any city in relationship to the absolute truth? This entire universe is insignificant and when the most powerful bombs the man has ever made cannot destroy the city and the destruction is only on the surface, because the earth remains as it is. So these bombs are from the point of view of truth harmless. They are so insignificant in their potency that why should we be bothered to be afraid of them? You may say that it may harm me because I am little speck living in this city, but according to the Gita, the soul cannot be cut with any weapon, or burnt by any fire. The soul is transcendental…”na hanyate hanyamane sariere”.
Krsna Naam bomb
From dust thou will come and to dust thou will return. This body will die, but the soul cannot be killed by any power. So from the physical point of view these bombs which are created it is not worth talking about as they are so insignificant. But there is another bomb which has great power. It is called the Krsna Naam bomb. Why does it have such power? We will try to explain. This entire material energy in which all creation, all living beings being sustained by this entire material energy, can be instantly conquered, defeated and destroyed slowly by one pure chanting of the name of Krsna. The name of Krsna chanted once conquers the entire illusion of Maya in which all these universes are resting. That is real potency. That is power. Why? Because the sound of Krsna’s name possesses all the powers of the supreme truth God himself. “Namnam akari bahudha nija–sarva–saktis: tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah”. Sri Caitanya Maha Prabhu has explained that “Blessed is your name Sri Krsna. You have many many names and in each and everyone of your names you have put all of your potency, all of your power and all of your glory”. Acintya shakti – inconceivable power.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s most potent weapon – The holy name
So therefore if we really want to do good for the world, talking politics is not going to solve the problem. Because whether it is this political party or that political party – in due course of time it becomes corrupt. If we truly want to do good for the world we have to arm ourselves with that power that can destroy illusion – that illusion of Maya in which greed, pride, lust, anger and illusion are all nourished. When you cut the root of the tree, the entire tree must die. Similarly, when you cut Maya at the roots by always remembering Krsna and chanting His Holy name, all the bad qualities from the fruits of illusion must die. Therefore Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has come, not with Sudarshan chakra to cut the heads of demons, not come with bow and arrow to pierce the hearts of the demons nor with an axe or a club. Krsna had his Sudarshan Chakra, Rama had his bow and arrow and Parasuram has his chopping axe, Narsimha had his sharpened nails, Balaramji had his sharpened plough. That same Supreme Personality has come in his most munificent and most merciful incarnation as Sriman Mahaprabhu – Gaura Sundar. And he came equipped with the most potent and powerful of all weapons – Krsna naam bomb. The Holy Name of Krsna. Because it cuts the illusory energy, it cuts all the demoniac influences at the root. Through chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, pure love awakens within our hearts and there is no power greater on earth than that love.
Loving Krsna means loving his children
So we are here tonight together to gather, to help create this great arsenal, to establish real peace, prosperity and happiness in this world. That is why we are congregationally chanting the holy names. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught chanting the Holy name in the intimate harmonious unity of other devotees. Whether we are chanting Japa or doing Kirtan, it is essential that we are chanting in a spirit of harmony and unity with the vaishnavas. This type of congregational chanting has the greatest curative power to heal the disease of human society and to bring our consciousness back to its essence. We are part and parcel of Krsna. We are eternally his servants and the real purpose of our life is the glorification of the Lord with all humility and devotion and to serve Him with love. We cannot serve Him with love unless we are willing to serve His every part with love. You cannot love God whom you cannot see. You must begin by learning to love parts of Him that you can see which means each other. We can talk big big things of God but if we can’t love each other, it is all superficial and external and has no meaning. Therefore Krsna explains in the Bhagvad Gita “My dear Arjuna, one who is engaged in My pure devotional service, free from the contamination of the previous activities and mental speculations, who is friendly to every living entity, certainly comes to me”. So we must practice very carefully how to love each other and if we don’t love each other, we should learn how to humble ourselves before one another and render service in which we create a climate in which we will learn to love one another. Without humbly becoming the servant of the devotee, without showing genuine concern for helping another in any way you can, it is all theoretical to think that you will love God. That is why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught Sankirtan, congregational chanting of the holy name so that we chant in harmony, in unison, in loving service relationship with one another. Then Krsna will be very very pleased to hear from within the core of your heart when you chant His name. It is not a mechanical process. This is Krsna Consciousness. So let us put aside all superficial differences we have with one and another.
Forgiveness – the greatest virtue
According to Srimad Bhagvatam and I believe it is the 9th Canto, it is described by Jamadagni, the father of Parasuram that the greatest virtue is forgiveness. To forgive is sacred. I will tell you something. If you will not forgive you will not be forgiven. The question – is have you done anything wrong in your life? Raise your hand if you have. Raise your hand if you haven’t. No one dares not to raise your hand, so there are things we require to be forgiven for. Sometimes we come on such a high philosophical level of pure surrender that the very basics are completely ignored. Just like that child, it doesn’t even know how to write his name but is starting to read Shakespeare. Shakespeare is the highest in the literature. Study Shakespeare but along side learn how to write your name. Otherwise you will never really understand what Shakespeare is talking about. Sometimes devotees talk about such high level of surrender that we are not this body, but they completely forget about just basic human decency of being kind and good to one another. Krsna says that one who is friendly to every living being certainly comes to me. We are not talking about materialistic friendliness, we are talking about transcendental friendliness which means we will do anything and everything to help other souls come closer to God. We will feel for the sufferings of others. We will pray for the betterment of even our so called worst enemies. We will forgive them faster than any offense committed to us. And we will pray with a positive spiritual motive for their deliverance. We will not envy, we will not seek revenge, and if these feelings are in your heart then we should understand that these feelings are our enemies not the person. We must conquer this impurity within ourselves not within the other person. That is the truth. And all these things can be accomplished simply by sincerely surrendering our consciousness to the sound vibration of the holy name and being in this spirit of Sankirtan, which means we chant the holy name congregationally in the spirit that I am the servant of each and every devotee and devotee is my first priority in life.
Chanting – the essence of Krishna Consciousness
When people asked Srila Prabhupad, “What do you hope to get out of chanting Hare Krsna”? He replied “chanting”… Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. What do we hope from serving the deity? We do not want to become God by serving the deity. We want to serve the deity for the purpose of serving him forever. What do we hope from serving the guru and vaishnavas and the insignificant creature on earth? More and more service eternal service….”jivera svarupa hoy nityera Krsna das.”.that is our healthy natural position. That is the essence of our very being. With love and devotion to serve Lord Sri Krsna.
Thank you very much Hare Krsna…
I am very honored and privileged to have the opportunity to come back to your association. Once again thank you very much. Thank you for your great kindness for tolerating me and I will try to be more sincere and more honest in my service to all of you and we all very much require help of one another to become more honest and sincere. We all have a very great debt to one another…anyone who simply comes to these programs with a sincere and attentive heart is contributing something invaluable to each and every one of us. So we should be very grateful and thankful to one another, and our gratitude will be expressed to that degree you want to reciprocate to seva or service. So my sincere feelings of my heart is that I want to thank all of you…I offer my humble obeisances..”vanca kalpa tarubhyascha kripa sindhuva evacha, patitanaam pavenyebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo.namah”. Hare Krsna. Is there any question. Or is it too late? What is the time? We should all take prasad. If you have questions please come on sunday, then we can answer them. Ah..I like to tell you some thing else – we have the Harinam bomb …but Srila Prabhupad called it gulabjamum, called it as iskcon bullets….prasadam is our ground warfare. Prasdam distribution and kirtan is our air war fare. You need good attacks from the ground as well as air forces to win a war. So we have everything we need. Our ground forces will conquer all opposition by mass distribution of Krsna prasad and we will use these Harinaam bombs to bomb every town and every village on earth. Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu ki jay. I would like to announce that Monday the 28th of January is a very auspicious holiday for all the devotees of Lord. It is the appearance day of Lord Nityananda. Recently we installed the beautiful murtis of Sri Sri Nitai Gaura chandra. We are celebrating Lord Nityananda’s first birthday in Sri Sri Radhagopinath mandir, Chowpatty…So around 6:30pm we will have a very very wonderful celebration celebrating the advent of Lord Nityananda, who was famous for being most merciful to all. And if you really want Krsna’s mercy then you should attract Lord Nityananda’s mercy by saying that My lord I am the most fallen. Doesn’t mean that you need to be fallen…if you are fallen and you don’t think you are fallen,it means you are so proud to accept the instruction. So with a humble heart pray to Lord Nityananda and we see that in what ever condition of life we are in, we can get the divine mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So please I urgently appeal to each and everyone of you to be present for the event of glorious advent of Lord Nityananda Prabhu at 6:30pm at Radha Gopinath Mandir,.7 KM Munshi Marg Bombay in this great land of Bharat Varsha..Is there any other announcements anyone would like to make?. One more announcement that prasad is being served so please enjoy to your full satisfaction… (End)
