I am very much grateful to be among all of you this evening.77th festival of Prerana. I am grateful to all of you for coming during this very busy time of the year, on a week night, when there was a change of schedule with such short notice still so many of you have come. Thank you very much. If I had the time and energy to put a garland of affection and appreciation on everyone one of you I would do it. But in my heart I am doing it at this moment.
Why do People Worry?
There are numberless reasons within the world we live. We may be worried about our health, about our wealth, about our loved ones, friends, we may be worried about yesterday or tomorrow, we may be worried about environment, the situation in the world and politics. The nature of this world is birth, disease, old age and death. The nature of this world is everything is always changing and essentially the biggest problem is we want to control our environment and the eternal reality is you and me we are not the controllers. Things are going to go there own way. We can try our best and to some degree we have influence but ultimately things are out of our control. So to the degree we are attached to any thing or anyone on this worldly platform there will be worries. Attachment brings worry. Now in spiritual world there is worry also but cause Krishna is the object that worry brings happiness, it brings ecstasy. It brings us closer. But worry in this world is something very different. The cause we will discuss, a lack of inner spiritual fulfillment. We have often given the example of the foundation of a building, externally it cannot be seen it’s hidden, it is something you may say as internal Externally we see is the building, the architecture, the furniture, the particular building material may be marble, may be plaster. But it is the foundation that holds it up and gives it the strength, without a strong foundation when a storm comes it will fall down. With a strong foundation hurricane, earthquake cannot harm it .So our mind is stable when it has a strong spiritual foundation. Storms may come, reversals, but if we have that foundation of inner fulfillment we deal with it with a very clear and practical mind but it does not disrupt us. Because we are connected to something that is immortal we are connected to the truth that is our home. Our home, our real home is where there is comfort, where there is love, where there affection, where there is happiness, where there is trust. That is the actual meaning of home. But in this world we are like strangers in foreign land. What is foreign is conception. I am thinking that I am someone that I am not. I am thinking I am this body. I am thinking I am this mind. The body and mind are subjected to unlimited reversals and ultimately the body gets old and it dies but the atama is eternal. The atama in it’s nature is “sad cid ananda”, full of knowledge and full of bliss. So going back home to our real origin and uncovering the secretes of our true selves is the way to come above all this needless worry of this world and find real fulfillment. What ever happens cannot disturb that fulfillment.
äpüryamäëam acala-pratiñöhaà
samudram äpaù praviçanti yadvat
tadvat kämä yaà praviçanti sarve
sa çäntim äpnoti na käma-kämé
(Bhagavad-Gita 2.70)
During the monsoon rains a puddle of water gets bigger, bigger, bigger and during the dry season the puddle of water dries to nothing. It is very much affected with rains. But the ocean whether it is the dry season or the monsoon rains it remains the same. What is the difference the puddle has no depth. Therefore it’s completely affected by its environment, by circumstances. But the ocean in its own self has such depth. On the surface, on the surface it is affected by the monsoons but deep down it’s not affected at all. It neither grows bigger or smaller. Yes on the surface we have to deal with the things in this world but if we don’t have much spiritual depth it really can elate us or devastate us with anxiety, misery, and worry. But a person who finds that spiritual depth, who uncovers the truth within, deals with the things on his surface, but nothing can change that fulfillment, nothing can change that meaning that love that is within.
The Story of the Fish
Years ago I was walking along the sea shore and I saw a little fish about this big. Just a three or four inches in size. It was lying on the sand. Whether it was a he or she I can’t tell. As a sanayasi I felt it wasn’t my position to look so carefully. But this little fish was in so much worry, it was flapping, laying on the dry sand. Flapping and flapping and flapping and I looked in it’s eyes I will say his, I looked as his Prerana for giving his sinology and chetana I use her, just to keep you all peacefully, I will say the fish and male. Because I don’t want to say it, that depersonalizes the person. So he was Flapping and flapping and flapping and I looked in his eyes and he just looked with total confusion, frustration and misery. Somehow or other a wave just washed this little fish up and there he was in the sand, couldn’t breathe properly and I was just looking at him Flapping and flapping and flapping and suffering. It was historical. Now I could have, got a female fish and put next to him, would that help any?
I could have got some mango lassi with some nice sanitized straw and put it next to him.
I could have got him a diamond ring or a ruby crown. I could have offered him a BMW. Would anything of that make him happy?
Because he was out of his natural element, nothing could make him happy unless you are not in your natural element. So I tried to pick up that little fish and throw him back into the ocean. But he was so intensely worrying that every time I picked him up he just flapped so hard that he flapped right out of hand back into the sand. And I picked him again and he flapped out of my hand into the sand. At least 5 times I picked him up and he flapped out.
I was his well wisher trying to save his life but he could not recognize me. Because he was just in such a state of trauma. Finally with both my hands, now people if they saw me they must have thought I was crazy but with both my hands, a little fish, I cupped him and trapped him so he couldn’t get out, then I threw him as far as I can in the ocean. And I thought I did a good deed. But then the next wave of ocean came phoooo……. And it resided back into the ocean phrooooooooooooooo….. and left the fish flapping in the sand. With two hands I trapped him, it was flapping, flapping, infect my whole body was vibrating and I as far as I could threw it into the ocean, but I waited. The next wave came phroooooooooo……. And it resided back and left my little fish flapping in the sand and now I was committed to save this fish. I tried to pick up this fish it was flapping, flapping out of my hand and eventually somehow or other tried to escape but I caught him and I went into the ocean carrying him, step by step. Up to my knees, up to my waist, up to my neck and I had the fish over my head and as far as I could threw him. And I came back I was wet. The next wave came phrooooooooooooooo….., phoooo……. No fish.
I watched the next twelve or thirteen waves, no fish. Aahhh… i felt, I felt that the fish would never recognize that I saved his life, it is a selfless task, thankless task. I got all wet, spent so much time, the fish will never thank me, doesn’t even know who I am. But I walked down a little and I felt very nice, because that fish, really when I saw him, when you see somebody suffering it naturally feels something very personal .Yes, people who say, there are vegetarians who eat fish. They say fish don’t have feelings. Fish have feelings, fish worry, fish want to live. That fish was struggling and flapping as much as any human being would in that particular moment. May not have intellectual understanding of what was going on but the emotions were there. I walked down the shore for a few minutes then I saw a boat coming in and with the boat I saw people, that was fishermen. They had stretched the net along the distance, along the shore. They brought the net in and I looked in the net and there were hundreds and hundreds of the same little types of fish flapping and about to be put in frying pans. There was nothing that I could do. I wasn’t going to fight with all the fisherman. But I was thinking that the saintly people, that is a thankless task. They work so hard to make one person, to put one person back into the ocean of their natural position. But Maya with her net, specially her internet and so many other networks and net profits, takes people out of their natural position and puts them in this unnatural situation on the shore and on the sand of material existence. But who actually are we?
Three Planes of Consciousness
That is most important question in life. Essentially there are three planes of consciousness, there is the plane of enjoyment, there is the plane of renunciation and there is the plane of devotion. Now the plane of enjoyment in order to survive the environment is going through exploitation. In S.B there is a beautiful verse that ends, Jiv jivasya jivanam, that those species that have hands their food is for species without hand, those who have four legs their species for who don’t have legs. Like the grass and so forth .So when the animal species even when they look at a beautiful natural scene there is so much competition there. Like I, that fish I am sure was very happy, frolicking in bliss because the fish has natural place is in the ocean, Yes, could swim, could breathe, could be happy, could find friends, have a family. But on the shore because it is unnatural, no matter what you do it can’t find happiness, can find some relief but not real fulfillment. But this scenology is limited because even in that ocean there is bigger fish that want to eat it, yes and it could be eaten at any moment. So we look at the beauty of the ocean but factually fish eating out other fish all the time. And birds are killing insects and cats are killing birds, bigger birds are killing smaller birds, and big animals in the forest are killing little animals. Yes, the fox may kill the rabbit, the leopard kills the fox and the hunter kills the leopard and time kills the hunter. So there is competition. That is the nature of the world, why? Just because of selfishness .Because we put ourselves in the centre and we look around all the conflict as conflict among nations, conflict among religion, conflict among races, conflict among political parties within a nation, conflict among famiy members, conflict among different types of businesses, conflict among different teams of sports and there is conflict within our own mind. There is so much. This is world of conflict. Because everyone has a different centers. Now for those philosophers who promote the path of renunciation it is taught that there can be no peace in this material existence, because everything is temporary, everything is changing, time is going to kill everything and there is so much conflict for survival, for greed and for everything else and we are exploiting so many things. So let’s get out of this existence completely. Renunciationists have nothing to do with it anymore and there goal is like a deep dreamless sleep. A type of Samadhi, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more birth and death, there is just deep sleep. You don’t even have consciousness of your own identity. Now that’s peaceful. In the west when there is engrave it says rest in peace. Now if death was actually the end of everything, you don’t exist anymore that is very peaceful. But the problem is you are going to be reborn according to your Karma. Because in the world of exploitation for every action there is a reaction. That is the laws of Karma. You may hurt somebody to get up. But that same type of pain has to come back to you. It’s the law, you can’t get away with it either in this life or next. You may get it in this life and get smashed or you may take your next birth in terribly horrible situation but you can’t escape, the reactions will come. That’s karma. So we want to get out of this karma, we want to get out of all this frustration. So nirviçeña-çünyaväd go into the dreamless sleep of Samadhi, enlightenment.
But the third path is devotion which recognizes that the highest of all solutions is to understand our origin. Who we are? Who is our origin? What is our origin? And to live in harmony with that. The Vedanta sutra is the summary study of all the Vedas and S.B. is the commentary on that. So the summary study of all the Vedic literatures, the first verse athäto brahma jijïäsä ,that now that you have taken this rare and special human life it is time to enquire about the absolute truth. And the next verse is janmädy asya yato which means the absolute truth is from whom everything emanates. The Isopanishad explains oà pürëam adaù pürëam idam that the absolute truth is the complete whole which is perfect and complete and all emanations and everything about the absolute truth is perfect and complete because the absolute truth is perfect. So here we find if the absolute truth or the complete whole or the God is from whom everything emanates, the source of everything that exists, who everything is coming from, who is within everything and who everything is within, that is the whole that is God. That is what we all have in common. That’s the centre. When we learn to recognize that we could actually have harmony within our selves and create harmony within the world. And what is our relationship with the absolute truth. Lord Chaitanya’s first teaching to Sanatan Goswami, jévera ‘svarüpa’ haya—kåñëera ‘nitya-däsa’ that we are servants of Krishna, we are meant to serve. What is the problem with the environment in these days? The ecology, serious problem. No need to go in details because you are all college students. I am sure you are in touch with the news and you know the four boarding disasters that are illuminating over us unless we make serious changes. I was told by some geologist, not by some swamis but by geologist, that within 50 years if we don’t start changing our policies as far as energy goes there will be no Ganga and no Yamuna it will be totally dried up because of global warming. Now how many hundreds of people are depending on those rivers for survival? In fact geologist say in, some wars are fight over coals, some wars are fight over
Oil, but in future there will be war over water. Very difficult. You can’t live without water. If we exploit the environment we are going to get the reaction. If we serve the environment we are going to create harmony, we are going to create prosperity. It’s all a matter of consciousness. You see this is why the conceptions of evolution of just an evolution of matter is very dangerous conception. Because how does it impel us to improve our character. We understand that ultimately everything is coming from consciousness. It’s the basis of everything that exists. God is the ultimate source of consciousness and we as living entities are basis of our consciousness. Consciousness is the symptom of presence of soul. If we forget our soul and we think we are just matter then ultimately nothing matters. It only matters according to your particular preference. There is no standard of what’s right and what’s wrong and what’s meaningful. But with our consciousness and if we are actually conscious of who am I?, what is my relationship with God?, what is my relationship with environment?, what is my relationship with every living being including humans?, then we can actually start creating real harmony because that is based on the truth. The S.B tells that if you pour water on the roots of the tree, the whole tree is nourished and if you give food to the stomach the whole body is nourished. Every part of a healthy body is serving the whole body. Yes, the eyes are not just selfishly doing something, the eyes are directing the rest of the body, the hands are supplying to the rest of the body, the stomach is bringing nourishment to the rest of the body, the nose is bringing oxygen to the rest of the body. Every healthy cell o f the body is serving the whole body. That is good health. Now what is disease? I am not a doctor but I am speaking about disease form a philosophical perspective. Disease is when germs or cells enter body and they are selfish. They are egoistic and selfish, they are thinking about themselves. They are not thinking about the whole body. Yes, all the cells that are healthy and good cells, they are living for the whole body and supplying for the whole body. But the cancer cell. What is a cancer cell doing? It’s living for itself. It’s eating the other cells. It’s fighting a war against the rest of the body. Then all the healthy cells, the good guys, because they are concerned with the body they all start fighting against that disease. Yes, like if you have a cold, those cold germs are like selfish guys they are just thinking about themselves, eating you up. But you have the whole rest of the body fighting against it, fighting for the nation. Yes, there is a common purpose. You are a nation. There is a lots of national conflict within a nation. But the cancer cells fighting very hard and redoubling, regenerating, multiplying and each one is just about me. And ultimately if those selfish cells become stronger and stronger then the cells that are working together for the whole body they are ultimately killed and the body dies. That’s what si happening in the world. The world is a body. Humanity is a body and a proper body is where everyone is focused on feeding the stomach, everyone is focused on serving the whole for the interest of everyone. But when you have people who are greedy, selfish and egoistic, they are like cancer cells in this body and they are creating havoc. Energy and power, people consider it very important but knowledge is more important. Because if we apply our knowledge in utilizing the energy properly it can serve the whole body, the world. It can be utilized in harmony with the absolute, with god. But if we utilize that same energy, that power without proper knowledge of who we are and what our real purpose in life is, it could create disaster.
And higher than knowledge is love and compassion, because that brings real fulfillment. And real love and real compassion brings real harmony to all living beings because we recognize the spiritual essence in everyone. It’s like the atomic energy it took tremendous amount of knowledge to create it. It can do good or it can be absolutely destructive. Depending upon our knowledge, Depending upon our love, Depending upon our compassion our consciousness. The path of devotion teaches us the simple principle that we are all individual eternal principles who are eternally connected to the supreme absolute truth or Krishna and we are all meant to serve the absolute truth and in doing so we serve each other. We create harmony. Because we have common purpose. The spiritual world the real world is the one where everyone accepts that Krishna’s pleasure is my real goal in life. Ahaituké, Apratihatä that everyone is selfless. Another words everyone loves. Real love is without a tinge of selfishness. Real love is based on truth. The selfless expression to please God. To be compassionate to all living beings, that is real love. In the spiritual world it’s the place of sac-cid-änanda the place of eternal bliss, eternal happiness. It’s a gigantic unlimited family where everyone is there for each other, where every one is loves each other and everyone can do anything and everything for each other. Why? Because we see everyone in relation to the centre to the whole, to Krishna. That is home. The soul is from that place. The soul is of that place. To take the soul out of that land of selfless love and devotion where Krishna is the centre is like throwing a fish on the sand and that’s where we are now, on the sand on the shore of material existence. That spiritual world although it is far beyond the material existence it is present within the heart of every living being today, now. Krishna tells in B.G real happiness is within. Real intelligence is to understand that. To be illumined with in, to rejoice within, that’s where the ocean is. That is so deep in satisfaction in anything that happens on this external superficial world doesn’t really matter so much. We try to deal with it but we cannot change our fulfillment and our integrity. The B.G explains that there is an external world. Higher than the external world is the body. Higher than the body is the senses. Higher than the senses is the mind. Higher than the mind is the intelligence, and higher than the intelligence is the atama, is the conscious force our true identity.
So to find real fulfillment we must uncover that essential nature of who we are. In the 5t chapter of B.G. Krishna concludes,
bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäà
sarva-loka-maheçvaram
suhådaà sarva-bhütänäà
jïätvä mäà çäntim åcchati
(B.G. 5.29)
The Peace Formula
The Peace formula the great acahrya says what is the peace formula? Simply to understand that the absolute truth is the proprietor of everything, the absolute truth is the enjoyer of everything, the absolute truth is the best well wishing friend of everyone. If we simply understand and accept that there is real peace. We find God in ourselves. We find that relationship and we are all related on that level. The greatest problem in this world is the lack of harmony. No we can’t just artificially make harmony just be peace strides. Harmony has to be based on truth real harmony. What we really have in common. What our real connection to each other is. And then worry, worry can be utilized for the highest purpose also. A person who is connected to the soul and is connected to God, who is finding that deep, deep fulfillment and Love within, worries about other souls. That’s compassion. That’s higher than not worrying at all. Mother Yasoda worried for Krishna. When Bakasura ate Krishna all the cowherd boys were worried about him. When Kalia had his coils around Krishna all the gopas and the gopis were worried about Krishna but that worry was an expression of divine love. And similarly great personalities were worried for people in this worlds who are suffering with birth old age disease and death. Someone may be sick and dying and if there is somebody who will love will naturally worry about them, we care for them, we feel for them But the reality is time moves on, we going to die. Everyone is going to die. It’s just the reality of this world. It’s just the matter of sooner or later. And the difference between now or 20, 30, 40 years isn’t that much. Sukhdev Goswami explained better one moment of God conscious than long life wasted. Paradukh Dukhi, the devotees are. They feel pain for others. But that type of worry, that type of pain and compassion is perfectly focused on the centre. It is perfectly focused on being an instrument of the mercy of God. Yes, it’s not illusion it’s not ignorance, it’s based on truth. Therefore it’s beautiful. And acting according to that type of compassion makes your inner fulfillment inner realization deeper and deeper and deeper. Because enriches your relationship with God. Because you are serving without selfishness. We are serving seeing the truth, being compassionate to the souls of others and seeing their relationships to ourselves and to God. So the path of devotion is the path that transforms the material world into spiritual through consciousness. Material world is material world we can’t change it on the external level too much. What ever government. Whatever everything everyone’s going to die. We want to make the best we can. No doubt it’s our duty to make the best possible we can. And the best can be to facilitate people to get out, to realize the world within. The inner personal truth. Socrates was told to drink poison and walk. Was in prison. He said to the person who was giving him the poison, “You can’t kill me unless you find me.” Now for the jail keeper, “Fine we have already found you, you are in the prison, you are going to die.”But for him, “I am not this body, I am the soul.” He had conviction, he wasn’t sacred, he wasn’t worried, because he was actually Brahman realized according to our acharyas. He realized that I am the soul. So he wasn’t worried. But he took all the risks to teach us because he was worried about others. Isn’t that amazing? He wasn’t worried about himself in prison, that you can’t find me, but he was worried about the people who did not have that realization. Knowing that it was within them, he wanted them to find it. Jesus was crucified. He didn’t have to. All he had to do is leave the town. They told him what was being planned and he knew and he just walked right into it. Because he knew if this is what he has to do to establish dharma according to God’s will and his Lila. So he may have suffered in one sense, but that suffering was ecstasy, because he wasn’t suffering for self but was suffering of others. Haridas Thakur. He didn’t mind suffering for others. Selfless Love. And so many blissful saints. Not that all saints were tortured but if we read about so many blissful saints who were just in ecstasy, intoxicated in love of God in giving Krishna to everyone, giving Ram to everyone. They understand that in order for there to be harmony there has to be a common centre. And there is only one possible common centre, and that is the complete whole or God. Otherwise there is no possibility. We may say humanity is the common centre but then what about all these little cows who are getting their throats cut and screaming in agony. That’s not real harmony. What about the environment? Nationalism, it may be good, but we have to go above that too. Because we may harmonize within our own nation. I haven’t ever seen any nation able to do that. But what about nations outside our own. Are they not our brothers and sisters? They are not unless we see the common origin. Krishna says in Gita, ahaà béja-pradaù pita, I am the seed giving father for all the living beings. When we recognize our own relationship with Krishna then we recognize our relationship with every living being. And we can actually create harmony. That’s the greatest need. There is no solution really to worrying except finding the peace for love and the compassion in ourselves and being instruments of that compassion by connecting to that source that harmonize everything.
Making the Right Choices
We have often given example of good dog and bad dog. Krishna tells in B.G that there is a divine and there is a demonic nature in all of us. The good dog is humanity, charity, knowledge of the self, compassion, morality, generosity and the bad dog is greed and lust and envy and anger and arrogance and selfishness. Now we have all those both dogs within us and they are both howling for food. What is the food, the decision we make of which dog we are going to feed. Which voice within the mind we are going to accommodate? And every choice we make is making one stronger and the other weaker. Every time we make an immoral choice we become more addicted to immorality because the bad dog becomes stronger and good dog becomes weaker.Everytime we make a right choice that’s how w become liberated, by making the right choices. And how is that possible in the world when all around us there is so much propaganda for selfishness. It’s very dangerous if the cancer cells are seemed to be the good cells and the good cells are seemed to be the cancer cells. But that’s what Kaliyuga is about. Bhagavad Gita says what’s taken to be irreligion is religion and what’s taken to be religion is irreligion. So there is so much propaganda to be selfish, to be egoistic, to be greedy. This is what success is all about. This is how you get your head in this world. People are so interested in getting the head but we need people who have heads. The head is supposed to lead us in the right direction. Very difficult. So the most important thing is to create, to find the spiritual world within ourselves, to find that oceanic peace, happiness, love and compassion within ourselves and to be instruments of that love. That is what is needed. And if we find people who share the same common centre, purifying our hearts by serving each other, being kind and compassionate and forgiving. And that association with sadhus with saintly persons, with people who have common spiritual interest, that association is like the spiritual world because we have the same centre. But if we become sectarian then it’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not better than someone else. If we are really serving the centre together then we are trying to harmonize in the universal way. God has many names, God has many forms, God has Brahma iti, Parmatama iti bhagavan itit sabyate, has been revealed in different ways. Knowledge is so important and through this knowledge and through this inner purification god reveals himself, gives us light, and gives us hope. Then individually and collectively we can be concerned with the real issues, with the eternal issues and we deal with the temporary situations of this world from that platform of the eternal blissful self. And form the spiritual prospective this is how we come above all this worry and curry and hurry and curry and the mind is in the flurry. In this age of kali the most powerful way of bringing us into that inner connection and uniting us with that centre and with that focus and connection with the God is the congregational chanting of the holy names-HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HAREHARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Is there any questions?
Q: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna maharaj, first of all I would like to offer my humble obeisance at your lotus feet. Maharaj as you explained that according to Srimad Bhagvatam, jévo jévasya jévanam so in this case suppose a fisherman is catching the fish and selling in the market to maintain his family so do you think he is doing some sinful activities?
A: Rather than talking about what’s sinful, we will just speak of the science of how the world works. That what ever suffering is coming to those fish, the reaction of that suffering has to come upon him. That’s the laws of karma. Does that answer your question?
We may feel sympathy that he knows no other way to maintain his family and we may respect him for that but still, you know if our survival is causing pain and death to others then we will bear reaction.
Is there any other question? There are also hunters who maintain their families.
Q: Hare Krishna Dandavat, maharaj, maharaj, as it is said that devotional service dries off or fries the seed of sin that is there in our heart. Pure devotional service only does that, but for sadhkas or neophytes like us what is the solution or any immediate response to sinful activity or any sinful thought we may get?
A: Any form of sincere devotional service has that effect. Pure devotional service has the complete effect. When there is pure devotional service and no such seeds can remain. And then in the sadhaka’s state of devotional service it is having that effect of burning those seeds.
Q:It happens again and again. Once we try to control sins, it again erupts.
vyavasäyätmikä buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-çäkhä hy anantäç ca
buddhayo ‘vyavasäyinäm
(Bhagavad Gita .41)
A:we have, we it is required that we be determine. Considering form endless births we have been conditioning ourselves and addicting ourselves to these things. A few years within our life time of this practicing of devotional service and purifying ourselves and over coming it is a very small price. So tiny, minicicle price for something so great. Which is must, be determined, be sincere. And if we are determined and sincere then Krishna will be there to help us. So it’s not you again smile. Maya is all powerful, you cannot resist her. But if you are simply sincere and determined to do the best you can then you have all Krishna’s help and Krishna will be there for you. He is always here, he is there for everyone. But he reveals himself to help us, according to our sincerity. Krishna’s in your heart. Just try your best, don’t worry about how hard it is. Just keep trying your best with sincerity and Krishna will be there.
Thank You, Hari bol!
Q: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Maharaj, Dandavat Pranam. You told us to stop worrying and throw lots of anxiety and surrender to Krishna by congregational chanting of holy name. But how can we really surrender to Krishna, or how one surrender to Krishna can by congregational chanting How is the process, How can. Please explain it maharaj?
A: Begins by chantting regularly. Medicines should be taken regularly. And then that’s the beginning to chant regularly, and then we try to go deeper into the holy name by living according to the qualities of a vaishnava or a true devotee.
tåëäd api sunécena
taror api sahiñëunä
amäninä mänadena
kértanéyaù sadä hariù
(Çré Çré Çikñäñöaka. 3)
To live our life with humility, with tolerance and forgiveness,offering honor and respect
To others. Not demanding for respect tp ourselves. To live on the principles of morality, with integrity. To live in the mood of servitude to others, one may strive to live our life llike this and we chant regularly then the holy name will bring our conscious deeper and deeper and deeper, to understand our own spiritual essence and our relationship with god who is all beautiful. When you actually experience the beauty of Krishna within your heart that’s paraà dåñövä nivartate, it’s such a higher taste it’s such a higher experience, that what ever happens in this world you deal with it but nothing can take away that unlimited love that unlimited satisfaction of your relationship with Krishna and you just want to share it with everyone. That is ha+the result of chantting properly.
Is there any other questions? Yes.
Q: Hare Krishna Maharaj, whatever activities we are doing as we saw that fishermen is, that we can directly see that he is troubling the fishes, but whatever activities we are doing, like we are working in companies like we are exploiting somebody. So by laws of karma we are going to get reactions of all those things. So like what should we do now, that we don’t have any option now? We know, we understand everything that how we should act?
A: Who is asking the question?
Your company is exploiting others. He says that with a smile. In this world exploitation is inevitable. To survive people are exploiting each other. But from spiritual perspective if we have that mood, and we try as far as possible not to go beyond what’s necessary, killing living beings is one thing you have to get the reaction, killing living beings. In business, our motivation should not be to destroy others. Our motivation should be, to be the best we could be. Yes, we may have to try to defeat competition, but not in a malicious way. Before actually trying to destroy other people’s life we are going to get all the karma of that. 100%.
But if we are trying to do better than others trying to defeat our competitors and we try to do it in as far as possible in an honest way with integrity, there will be some karma, but it will be minimized and if we give some of the profits for spiritual charitable purposes and that can move if you are really doing things in a malicious way, then even if we give it to spiritual, charitable way, the karma was to be on us. But if we are trying to do things with proper integrity proper honor which. And we give some of the results to the charitable spirits to spiritual cause and if the same time we are purifying our own hearts by chanting Gods name and other ways of purifications, then we can rise above those minimal situations and they will not seriously affect on us.
Does that answer your question? One should not, if we are using our business profit to a cause that is helpful to others, if we have a spirit of compassion, rather than the spirit of greed, the karma is nullified. If we are motivated by greed, selfishness and in consideration of how we hurt others, for hurting people beyond the need then serious karma will come upon us. Great accomplishments are not as satisfying or not are important for the welfare of the world is great qualities.
Don’t have the Most, Be the Most
We were giving the example in Calcutta from Srimad Bhagvatam. Indra had the worlds record for the most ashvamedha yajnas, what was it a hundred? And he was very proud of his world record, it was not world record it was universal record. No one had ever achieved what he did. And to perform one on these yajnas, took year’s tremendous amount of effort and tremendous amount of wealth. So massive endeavor, you have to be an undisputed ruler of your planet in order to do it and then even then, so much wealth, so much time, so much precision to do one of such yajnas, was absolutely impossible for 99.99% of the population of the universe. Indra did a hundred. It was the record. And Prthu maharaj was an avatar Shakhty vesh, he had done 99 and he was about to tie the record and then it was inevitably going to break the record. Now Indra was so worried. He was so fearful and he was so envious that he was going to loose his standing and not be number one. That he began to supercharge secretly Pruthu Maharaja’s attempt to perform the Yajnas, and every time he would do so, Pruthu Maharaja’s sons would catch him and Indra would disguise himself as a sadhu, a sanyasi. And Pruthu Maharaj’s sons would say I can’t punish you are a sadhu. This kept happening again and again and Pruthu maharaj was about to punish him. But Brahma came and said to Prthu Mahraj that is Indras nature. He is a very good devotee but he is very proud and attached. Because he is very much attached he is creating havoc, he is creating irreligious principles, and he is creating confusion everything. For the sake of the world, just let him hold the record and don’t do any more yajnas. So Pruthu Maharaj agreed. Now the culmination of every Yajnas is that Vishnu himself comes personally to accept your offerings. Prthu said alright I will not do any more yajnas ever again, because I will honor let him be the record holder for ever. When he did that Vishnu came for him. Vishnu ignored Indra, Indra was standing there and Prthu maharaj was so happy and pleased with, I mean Vishnu was so happy and pleased with Pruthu maharaj and ultimately Indra was so embarrassed that he bowed down and asked apology. But still he would have done the same thing if Prthu tried to do it again. Now, who does the world love? After the story, does the world love Indra more or Prthu Maharaja more? Shall we take a vote? Say hari bol very loudly if you feel, Indra is the better of the two. Now this is so many years later. Say hari bol very loudly if you think, Prthu Maharaja is the better of the two. HARI BOL!
Now Indra is listening. So it is affect that no body cares so much, this world record, in having the biggest, having the most. It may impress peoples minds, but usually when you impress peoples mind either, as soon as you don’t have that you don’t impress them any more and most are envious of you. But actually if you have good character. If you have good character like Prthu, willing to be unselfish, for the cause of the greater good which Prthu maharaj did and people honor you and love you from their hearts. What’s a more fulfilling life? To have the most or to be the most. People are very addicted and passionate to have the most, to do the most but it’s not helping the world. What will help the world when people try to be the most. That means live by the best, but the highest qualities? And the highest quality is to live for the greater good of everyone. And how do we do that. By focusing on the centre of what we all have in common essentially. janmädy asya yato, our relationship with God. That’s what we all have in common. Water the root of that tree and we can do universal good. Prthu Maharaj did that. That’s the example. Accomplishments are great, but the quality the consciousness, the selflessness, the compassion, the devotion in which we do that is all important. That’s what the world will remember and that’s what God will see.
So we would like to thank H.H. Radhanath Maharaj by loudly chantting HARI BOL! HARI BOL! HARI BOL!
