Purport :

“O’ how glorious are those whose tongues are chanting the Holy Name even if born in the family of dog eaters, such persons are worship able person who chants the holy name of your lordship must have executed all kind austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved al the god manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of your lord ship they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage studied the Vedas and full filled every thing required.”

This is very important verse from Srimad Bhagavatam which is often quoted by Srila Prabhupada to establish the fact that becoming advanced in spiritual life is not a question of birth right but it is a question of accepting the mercy of supreme personality of Godhead. An often time in Prabhupada’s preaching activities he was criticized. Actually one teaches a pure devotional principle where ever he goes he is criticized by certain class of man. In the `west Prabhupada explains that  he was criticized specially by so many parents of his disciples, because he was liberating them from the clutches of material life so this materialist is worse than death.

Story of the great Prajapati Daksha and Curse to Narad Muni by Daksha Prajapati :

So Prabhupada tells in one purport of the Srimad Bhagavatam that how the great Prajapatih Daksha he had many many children they were all male children and known as the (02:07) Harishyas? and being a very religious man he sent his children to a holy place of Pilgrimage to perform austerities and penances for along long time so that they can purify them self-come back get married live nice material life and procreate many many children through out the world. So they went there to perform their austerities and penances with this purpose in mind but at that time the great sages Narada Muni happen to appear in the scene and he told them that you are performing all this penance and austerities just to have a lot of sex and procreate children and live within this material world that  is not the highest thing, the highest thing is that you chant the holy name of the lord surrender unto lord Krishna and go back to Godhead So he convinced them all to accept the vow of renunciation and when Daksha found out about this he was very upset .So he figured that only thing I can do is beget more children so he begot more children and he was expecting them to carry on his good name and fame in this world. So he sent them to pilgrimage and said don’t be like your stupid brothers come back home like good boys and do the will of your father. So they said yes my dear father whatever you say. They went to perform their austerities and penances and guess who appeared …..Narada Muni.  And he said “O you should follow in the foot steps of your saintly brothers and chant the holy Name and take the vow of renunciation and go back to Godhead.  So they did and Daksha became so angry.

He approached Narada Muni and said “You are not a bonafide devotee, you are a bogus man “and he cursed him. He said “I curse you because you have ruined my family life and you have ruined my children ability to carry on my good name and fame I curse you that you never be able to sit down in one place but you will always be on the move”. So of course Narada Muni took that as a great blessing. Prabhupada explains that when I came in to the western world so many young boys and girls gave up their materialistic ways of life and took to the teachings of Narada Muni and now they are simply engrossed simply in glorifying the Lord and purifying the society. But he said in the process of doing so many parents who are like Daksha have become very angry at me and they have cursed me  to never to be able to sit down in one place therefore I am always forced to move from place to place to preach the glories of the Lord but Prabhupada explains that I am very much anxious to finish the writing of Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic Literature therefore I am humbly requesting my disciples to accept this curse upon their head so that I can settle down and continue my writing.

People consider Male as auspicious:

Prabhupada was criticized by certain classes of materialistic persons wherever he went, materialistic persons are always very anxious to maintain the name his family that’s why in many cultures of the world they consider it very auspicious to have a male child because the male child can carry on the god’s name of the family where as female is very nice but she gets married and she carries the name of someone else’s family, there is this material attachment. Actually even in my own life recently my father said to me that “Of all  my brothers all of their children are girls but in my family there are three boys”,  so when my grand father saw that  there are  three boys who are his grand children he was very happy because he was thinking that now the good name of the family will be carried on, but out of two brothers one is too poor to  ever get married and the other is just not inclined  so he said that you are the only hope to carry on the good name of the family, you are the only one responsible enough. So I explained to him that may be you better work on the others. He said, No you are the only one who can do it. So this material idea of name and fame is very dear to a materialistic person.

So  such persons who are materialistically inclined they can never understand the activities of the devotees who are living simply for Krishna , who are putting aside all the things that give pleasure and wealth and fame to the body, they simply live for the glories of the Lord.

Media thinks Hare Krishna devotees are exploited by working very hard:

Some time we are criticized by the media that the devotees of the Hare Krishna movement they are simply traveling around working long long hours a day give all their money to God and they live simple, sleeping on the floor with no possession. Therefore sometimes they think that the devotee’s have been exploited but actually it is they who are exploited, they are endlessly being exploited by Maya to acquire more and more possessions and every one of those things simply further the entanglement, bondage and the miseries of the material existence and after suffering a long life of entanglement it’s all taken away any way. That is exploitation of Maya. But the devotees of the Lord with every activity in devotional service; they are earning eternal benefit in the spiritual world.

“nehäbhikrama-näço ‘sti

pratyaväyo na vidyate”

Fact of Spiritual Life:

On a spiritual platform anything any one does in Krishna consciousness it is eternally there for our benefit. Prabhupada explains if you become 10% Krishna conscious we begin our next life with 11%, if we become 90% we begin at 91%. So only by sacrificing the fruits of our activities to Krishna, do those fruits become of eternal benefit to the devotee. And of course when Srila Prabhupada was in India there was a certain class of proud and puffed up persons of so called high birth who criticized Prabhupada, “That you are taking the mlechas and yavanas , the  low class Non – Aryans and you are giving them the  sacred threads and you are teaching them our sacred mantras. So, Prabhupada used to use this verse to defeat their useless argument “That spiritual life is not a question of any material qualification. It is simply a question of one who agrees to receive the mercy of Lord within his heart. And in this age of kali, the great means of attaining the mercy of the Lord is through the chanting of the transcendental sound vibration of the Holy names of Krishna. But this is not something new. Even in the times of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Haridas Thakur was persecuted by Brahmanas for chanting, what they called a “HINDI Mantra”. He was chanting “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” and these so called brahmanas had  him arrested ,imprisoned and beat  very severely  with  whips because he wouldn’t  feel  to stop chanting  holy names.

So Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted Haridas Thakur as His most intimate, confidential associate. And Advaita Acharya, who was the leader of a class of most saintly persons of Shantipur in Navadvipa, he recognized Haridas Thakur as foremost of all saints. When he performed the Shraddha ceremony, it is expected that  first remnants is given to most elevated person .But he gave it to Haridas Thakur, who is born in a class of Mohemmedans ,who are considered by self-righteous brahmanas to be outcaste. So a devotee of the Lord is simply concerned with pleasing Krishna and his devotees. He is not concerned with pleasing material desires of materialistic persons. It is explained that you can please some of the people some of the time but not all the people all the time. But if you simply please Krishna, your life is perfect.

Glories of Haridas Thakur:

So Haridas Thakur used to travel from place to place all over Bengal and he would preach the Glories of Chanting of the Holy name to everyone, he would meet. And he was so dear to the Lord that upon leaving his Body Caitanya Mahaprabhu wept and cried for him. This is the story from Caitanya Caritamrita. Haridas Thakur was very old and one day he was lying in his room and because of his seniority in age, Sometimes Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s servant would bring him the prasada. One day Lord Caitanya brought him prasad and Haridas Thakur was lying on ground. He told that today I will not eat, because I have not finished my regulated chanting of three hundred thousand names of Krishna, so I must fast. So Govinda went back to Caitanya Mahaprabhu and told him of the condition of Haridas Thakur. So Lord Caitanya went to the home of Haridas. He lived in a little hut, near Jagannath temple.  And he said –“My dear Haridas, you have already liberated the entire universe by your pure example. You have already perfected your life and attained the highest stage of Love of KRISHNA. There is no need for you to perform such rigorous austerity of chanting so many names in old age. So Haridas Thakur’s reply was –“My dear Lord, I ask for one thing from you, please fulfill my request”.

Lord Caitanya said-“whatever you desire, Krishna must fulfill it.” He said-“I know very soon you will be bringing a final chapter to your earthly pastimes. And it is too painful for me to even conceive of seeing this. Therefore, please take your lotus foot and let me place them upon my heart and my eyes fixed on your moonlike face, my lips uttering the name Sri Krishna Caitanya. Please take the life from this body. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu began to cry. He said-“My dear Haridas, you are everything that is meaningful for me in this world. How will I live without you?”  And Haridas Thakur he said –“My dear Lord, Don’t say these fanciful words please .I am nothing but an insect. One ant dies in this world, what is the significance. Who cares?  Then the lord in simultaneously sad and happy mood left that place. And then the next day, Lord brought all of his devotees to the place of Haridas Thakur.  Ramanand Rai, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Swaroop Damodar Goswami, they were all there. And on the way Lord Caitanya began to praise the glories Of Haridas Thakur with such an enthusiasm that it appeared to everyone that as if he has five mouths. And they got there and Haridas Thakur bowed down before the lord and Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked for the kirtan to begin.

And they began chanting the holy name and the most beautiful dance of Vakreshwar Pandit, he began to dance in great ecstasy. And then Haridas Thakur laid down and he took the feet of the Lord, placed it upon his heart, gazed with his eyes like bumble bees, unblinking at the Golden moon like face of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. And on his lips he recited over and over and over again – Sri Krishna Caitanya, Sri Krishna Caitanya. And it was at that moment that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by his causeless mercy, sent the soul of Haridas Thakur back to the spiritual world. And Mahaprabhu began to weep in ecstasy and lifted the body of Haridas and put it upon his lap and began to dance with great ecstatic emotions. And everyone was dancing around the lord, as he was whirling around the body of his devotee. And then Mahaprabhu `carried in a palanquin to the beach the body of Haridas and with his own hands  and with the hands of his devotees, he dug he grave and he began to decorate his body with flowers  and different remnants of Lord Jagannath. And then the Lord with his own hands filled the grave with the sand. Then they bathed in the ocean and came back to Puri. And Mahaprabhu went from shop to shop, from store to store with his garment and begged people –“please offer me some vegetables and fruits so that we can have a wonderful feast for Srila Haridas Thakur. “And they had Grand celebration. Lord Caitanya would not let anyone stop eating unless they were full to their neck with Prasad. And then at the end he began to call out with transcendental devotion that the Crown jewel of entire universe Srila Haridas Thakur has left us today, to go to Krishna. This is our great misfortune.

He said-“whoever even thinks of Haridas Thakur, whoever remembers this incident, whoever was here to take the Prasad and whoever saw the transcendental ceremony of last rights of Haridas Thakur, is certain to attain love of Krishna. Then Lord Caitanya began to call out from his own mouth and requested devotees to respond –“All Glories to Srila Haridas Thakur! All Glories to Srila Haridas Thakur! All Glories to Srila Haridas Thakur! So although Srila Haridas Thakur was criticized by smarta brahmanas for being a low class, Aryan, mlechha, in the eye of the Supreme personality of Godhead, he was most dear, because he was always chanting the holy name of Krishna.

Glory and power of the holy name of the Lord:

There was another story in Caitanya Caritamrita which indicates the glory and power of the holy name of the Lord. There was a devotee, Actually he was working for the government his name was Subudhi Rai and Subudhi Rai was quite a wealthy man he had much power and he had one servant who was very young and one day actually he would care for his servant just as father care for his son he would give him great fatherly concern, care and affection but one day because his servant was misbehaving out of affection for him to teach him he whipped him. Later on Subudhi Rai retired he gave his high post to his servant it was at that time he was married a nice young girl .One day I don’t know what they were doing but she happen to see these whipped mark scars on his back and she became very upset because she was thinking that your body is my body your body is my source of sense gratification who has scarred it in this way who has interfered in my sense gratification so he told this story and she became very angry so she said you must kill Subudhi Rai ,you must have him punished by death for doing this .How can I do this he is like my father he is so kind to me. She said either you put him to death or I leave you.

So he was ‘thinking he is like my father and she is my beloved wife what to do? He was in dilemma so he thought an idea that to cause a Hindu in those days to be rejected by Hindu society is worse than death. So they had this very ritualistic way of making a Hindu an outcast .What he did he takes some water from the drinking pot of a Muslim and sprinkled on the head of Subudhi Rai and simply because of that he was rejected by the Hindu Society. Of course he did not want to be rejected, so he went place to place asking people how he could be reinstated in his position as a Hindu. He went to one man who was a so called saintly person and said “what am I to do they sprinkled water from Muslim pot on my head”. He said “O’ they put water from Muslim pot on your head there is nothing you can do to become a Hindu again you are finished”. So he went to another and he said “O water from Muslim pot on your head nothing I can do there is nothing any one can do you are an out cast for life”. He went to one man he gave him a way of hope he said contaminated water on your head there is one thing you can do, you take ghee and you burn it to the point of great heat where it is smoking and smoking practically boiling and then you drink it all”. He Said but if I drink it all I will die. He said yes you will die but because the ghee was pure then in your next birth you will get to be a Hindu but there was some more things, but he kept searching just so that he can find something a little nicer. So then in his travels he happened to meet by the Lord’s mercy Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard this ridiculous story. He said “Don’t worry about all these things. You just chant the Holy Names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare” 25:31

You will not only become a Brahmana but you will become the highest, most elevated saintly person. You will become a pure devotee of the Lord which is beyond all these socio religious designations. So naturally Subudhi Rai, he considered that this is the nicest proposal. He began to chant the Holy Names of the Lord and he became the most exalted devotee, so exalted that he went to Vrindavan and simply dedicated his life to serving all the devotees. Whenever the Bengali devotees of Mahaprabhu would come to Vrindavan they would usually have indigestion because they were used to eating rice but in that pat of India all that was there was chapattis. So somehow or other he would go out and collect wood from the forest and sell it and with whatever money he would make he would buy rice and feed it to the Bengali Vaishnavas. And he would also give them nice oil massages and give them a place to stay. He would personally take them by the hand and give them a tour of all the forests of Vrindavan.

So in this verse it is clearly explained that from the point of view of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is speaking here in His incarnation of Lord Kapila “There is nothing more pleasing to Him than one who chants the Holy Name of the Lord in a pure and humble state of mind.”

Instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu:

Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he instructed us that of all the different Vedic ritualistic instructions and of all the great mantras in the Vedas and of all the teachings of the great sadhus there is one verse which is the most important and pertinent to all those who want to aspire for perfection in this life and He explained that every devotee should take this one verse and put it on a golden necklace and wear it around his neck at all times and what is that verse: “trnad api sunicena taror api sahishnuna, amani naa mana dena kirtaniya sada harih. That one should be more humble than grass, one should be more tolerant than tree, and one should offer all respects to others and expect nothing in return. Only in this way can one chant the Holy Name of the Lord constantly. So in our chanting of the Holy Names we should be very attentive as Prabhupada explained many many times we should chant the Holy Names for one purpose only : to please Krishna. Whatever else we do, whatever else we say, It will only have real potency to the extent we are sincerely taking to the chanting of the Holy Names. So this should not be minimized for anything or everything else. This is the basis and essence of all of our advancement. That  while chanting our japa or while chanting and dancing in kirtan we should be chanting in a humble mood that we are worshipping the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His most munificent incarnation in this age of Harinaam. It is explained “Kali kale Naam rupe Krishna Avatar” – that in this age of Kali yuga the Supreme Lord incarnates with all of His powers and all of His opulences in the sound vibration of the Holy Name. So we must approach the Holy Name as Krishna Himself and with great attention and devotion chant. Whatever our qualifications or disqualifications may be in any type of devotional service Krishna recognizes the sincere endeavor to work very hard according to our capacity and to work very hard also on hearing and chanting the Supreme Name of the Lord. Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.