SB 4.8.44

Giriraj Swami:

[SB 4.8.44]

After sitting on your seat, practice the three kinds of breathing exercises, and thus gradually control the life air, the mind and the senses. Completely free yourself from all material contamination, and with great patience begin to meditate on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this verse the entire yoga system is described in summary, and special stress is given to the breathing exercises for stopping the disturbing mind. The mind, by nature, is always oscillating, for it is very fickle, but the breathing exercise is meant to control it. This process of controlling the mind might have been very possible in those days, millions of years ago when Dhruva Mahārāja took to it, but at the present moment the mind has to be fixed directly on the lotus feet of the Lord by the chanting process. By chanting the Hare Kṛsna mantra one immediately concentrates on the sound vibration and thinks of the lotus feet of the Lord, and very quickly one is elevated to the position of samādhi, or trance. If one goes on chanting the holy names of the Lord, which are not different from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, naturally his mind becomes absorbed in thought of the Lord.

It is here recommended to Dhruva Mahārāja that he meditate on the Supreme guru, or Supreme spiritual master. The Supreme spiritual master is Kṛṣṇa, who is therefore known as caitya-guru. This refers to the Supersoul, who is sitting in everyone’s heart. He helps from within as stated in Bhagavad-gītā, and He sends the spiritual master, who helps from without. The spiritual master is the external manifestation of the caitya-guru, or the spiritual master sitting in everyone’s heart.

The process by which we give up our thoughts of material things is called pratyāhāra, which entails being freed from all material thoughts and engagements. The word abhidhyāyet, which is used in this verse, indicates that unless one’s mind is fixed, one cannot meditate. The conclusion, therefore, is that meditation means thinking of the Lord within. Whether one comes to that stage by the aṣṭāṅga-yoga system or by the method recommended in the śāstras especially for this present age — to constantly chant the holy name of the Lord — the goal is to meditate on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Sri Sri Radha-Govinda Chandra ki jaya.
Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya.

So the process of meditation on the Lord is explained by Narada Muni to Dhruva Maharaja. The actual object of meditation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā also Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna how to meditate on the Lord within the heart. Lord Krishna instructed Arjuna five thousand years ago, when the times and the conditions were more favorable for such meditation and Arjuna was more advanced or elevated than people today. He was born in a high-grade kshatriya family. He underwent all of the purificatory processes of the twice born and he was a personal friend or associate of Lord Krishna.

But even Arjuna in those days refused to accept the ashtanga-yoga process. He said cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ kṛṣṇa that the mind is very flickering and it appears to me to be more difficult to control the mind than to control the wind. So the mind is very difficult to control and the method of controlling the mind by stopping the breathing and meditating is practically impossible now. But the Lord is very kind and considerate. He knows how difficult it is to control the mind and He knows the position of us in Kali-yuga. So He has given another method for us, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā hari naam 

In the modern age of Kali-yuga one should chant the holy names, chant the holy names, chant the holy names of Lord Krishna. There is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in this age. So the Lord is Absolute and there is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord himself. There is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Lord within the heart. So meditating on the holy name of the Lord is the same as meditating on the Lord within the heart but meditating on the holy names is easier.

Once because in the beginning we didn’t have any automobiles in ISKCON. So sometimes Srila Prabhupada had to go by taxi. So at the time when just maybe a little after Srila Prabhupada began Krishna consciousness in the west, one man named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he also became a little popular in America. So one taxi driver asked Srila Prabhupada that what is the difference between your process and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s process? Srila Prabhupada replied that basically our process is the same except my process is easy and his process is more difficult. Actually that giving Maharishi Mahesh yogi the benefit of the doubt that would be the exact answer. And you see, Narada is instructing Dhruva maharaja to give up all impurities of the mind and become fixed in meditation. There are different stages of practice of ashtanga-yoga- to free the mind from material contamination so it can be fixed in meditation but the chanting of the holy names of the Lord is so sublime so it is both the means and the end. It simultaneously purifies the mind and at the same time engages the mind in the lotus feet of the Lord. Lord Chaitanya has recommended the process of saṅkīrtana to cleanse the dust from the mirror of the mind - ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.

So to become purified we chant the holy name of the Lord and when we are completely purified we continue to chant the holy name of the Lord because the holy name of the Lord is Krishna and Krishna is the ultimate goal. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yogino (SB 12.13.1) He is the one that yogis seek within their minds in their trance of yoga. And here Narada Muni also instructs Dhruva maharaja to meditate on the Supreme Lord, who is the Supreme guru because the Lord is present within the heart but He doesn’t sit silently in the heart, He also speaks to the devotee therefore He is called the guru within the heart. But the Lord within the heart can also be realized by bhakti-yoga as stated in Bhagavad-gītā:

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ

bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam

dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ

yena mām upayānti te

That those who are constantly engaged in devotional service with love and devotion, for them the Lord within the heart, gives directions how they can come back to him- back to Godhead.

So the Lord is very kind to the devotee and when He sees that the devotee is sincere and serious about getting entrance into the service of the Lord or into the kingdom of the Lord He gives the devotee intelligence from within the heart. The Vedic literatures explain that the Supreme soul and the individual soul are sitting like two birds sitting on a tree in the heart. The body is compared to a tree and the individual soul and the super soul are compared to two birds sitting on one branch in the same tree and the individual soul is pecking at the fruit of the tree and in this way he suffers or enjoys because some of the fruits are bitter and some of the fruits are sweet. And the super soul is sitting by the side of the individual soul just witnessing his activities, and waiting for the individual soul to give up the futile attempt to enjoy the material world and turn back towards him because every conditioned soul has the idea of enjoying the material world and they try in so many different ways to enjoy but ultimately they become frustrated. So when they become frustrated, they may inquire as to how they can get out of the miserable condition and when they become a little intelligent, they realize that the only way to get out of the suffering of the material world is to surrender to the Lord but who the Lord is and how to surrender to him is not known to the conditioned soul. But the knowledge is given by the Lord in Bhagavad-gītā although the same Lord is within the heart and He can give the same knowledge within the heart but the conditioned soul, his pure consciousness is covered so he cannot directly hear the voice of the Lord within the heart but he can hear the voice of the Lord when the Lord stands in front of him and speaks Bhagavad-gītā.

So when we hear Bhagavad-gītā we are actually hearing the voice of the Lord speaking. Therefore the Lord is also the Supreme spiritual master because He speaks the Supreme spiritual knowledge of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore, we don’t have to use the speculative method to try to understand how to get out of the material impasse but we employ the devotional method of hearing from the Supreme authority. Therefore, Lord Chaitanya approved the process from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva

jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām

sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhir

ye prāyaśo ‘jita jito ‘py asi tais tri-lokyām SB 10.14.3

That one should give up the bad habit of speculating and he should just become submissive and he should live in the association of devotees who discuss the messages of Godhead. Sthāne sthitāḥ, he can remain in his position- remain in his position means if he is a house holder, he can remain a house holder. If he is brahmachari, he can remain a brahmachari. If he is business man, he can remain a business man. It doesn’t matter what one is, one can remain in whatever position one is. But he should hear the messages of Godhead in the association of devotees and engage in the service of the Lord, with his body, mind, and words. And if one accepts that process then the Supreme Lord who is Ajita or unconquerable within the three worlds, He becomes conquered by the devotional service of that devotee.

So one of the characteristics of pure devotional services is that the Lord becomes purchased by such service. Therefore, pure devotional service is very rare because when the Lord gives someone pure devotional service, the Lord ultimately gives Himself to the devotees. So just imagine how careful the Lord would be. Of course in one sense, He likes to be conquered by the devotees. Therefore, as Srila Prabhupada says that the impersonalists they want to become one with the Lord but the devotees, they can become greater than the Lord that they actually be called greater than the Lord but the Lord voluntarily agrees to come under the control of the devotee. So although meditation by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the same as meditation by the yoga process but the relationship that one realizes with the Lord through bhakti-yoga is much more perfect and much more complete than the relationship that the yogi establishes with the Lord in the heart. Because by realization of the Lord in the heart, the yogi realizes the eternal aspect of the Lord and the knowledge aspect. But bliss that we all want is realized in a personal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So the mind is engaged in the lotus feet of the Lord by the chanting process and by devotional service in general. Srila Prabhupada has said that the best way to control the mind is to always engage the mind in thinking of how to spread Krishna consciousness, how to distribute his books.

He said that one devotee said that he wanted to learn how to control his mind and Srila Prabhupada replied, “You cannot control your mind, you just serve Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will control the mind.” So we should not try to attempt something which is not possible. We should just serve the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada and through him the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya then the mind will be controlled and in the end one will see the lotus feet of the Lord. We should not try to see the Lord but we should serve so nicely that the Lord will personally want to come and see us. Srila Prabhupada said to one devotee that he will be out distributing books and one day he will look up and he will see that Krishna is there. So this is the Lord’s mercy. That we don’t try to elevate ourselves by our own separate endeavor but we just try to serve the Lord. Serve the Lord means follow the instructions of the Lord as we receive them through disciplic succession from Srila Prabhupada and then automatically the Lord will reveal Himself to us and we will attain the lotus feet of Lord Krishna.

I have ended on time at 8:30 because there is some deity schedule. Do we have time for one or two questions? Are there any questions or comments?

Question: Damodara and Mother Yasoda’s bhāva. . .

Giriraj Swami: Well Mother Yasoda was not able to bind Krishna with her ropes but she was so determined to bind Krishna that in the end Krishna allowed Himself to be bound by her. So out of His mercy He allowed her to but He gave His mercy when He saw how sincerely and how seriously she was endeavoring to bind Him. So we have to very sincerely and seriously endeavor to serve the Lord, to spread the saṅkīrtana movement and then the Lord will be moved to show mercy to us. We cannot just sit idly and wait for the Lord’s mercy to come. Just like Krishna asked Arjuna to fight so when Arjuna accepted the order of Krishna then Krishna was merciful and helped him to overcome all obstacles but Krishna didn’t tell Arjuna that, “You are my friend, you are my devotee and my friend so you just lay back in the chariot and take rest and I will do everything for you.” He said you fight and actually Arjuna fought with great endeavor and determination and the Lord reciprocated by giving His mercy. Similarly, Narada Muni he could have fulfilled Dhruva maharaja’s desire directly but that is not the duty of the spiritual. The duty of the spiritual master is to give appropriate instructions to the disciples but when the disciple endeavor with great effort and determination to follow the instructions then he is blessed with the mercy of the spiritual master and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

When Prahladananda Swami Maharaja mentioned about mercy and the rope I thought of something else because one time in Bombay one devotee said to Srila Prabhupada, “Srila Prabhupada please give me your mercy that I may follow your instructions.” Srila Prabhupada replied that “My mercy is that I am giving you my instructions. Now you have to follow them.” He said that it is just like you have fallen in a deep dark well and someone drops a rope down into the well. Now if you say that can you please make my fingers close around the rope? So Srila Prabhupada said, “My mercy is that I have given you my instructions. You have your free will and if you follow my instructions you will get the results.” So that is our endeavor. This our whole practice of Krishna conscious, enthusiasm, patience, determination. All of these are required for success in devotional service. We actually have to be enthusiastic to make advancement in Krishna Consciousness but at the same time we have to be patient. We cannot expect that immediately we will get the result. Dhruva Maharaja was instructed by Narada Muni but he had to follow the process for some time and then the Lord was pleased that He came to see Dhruva Maharaja. So we have to be patient and at the same time we should be confident of success because the Lord is there to help us. So we should be confident that because I’m doing my best to execute devotional service I’m doing my best to follow the spiritual instructions so Krishna will help me and in the end I will be successful. And follow the regulative principles, follow the instructions of the previous Acharyas, associate with the devotees and avoid the association of non-devotees and you will be successful without any doubt.

Question: There are spiritualists who avoid the anxieties of the material world but the devotees don’t try to avoid them so what’s the result of both processes?

Giriraj Swami: Well, what are the anxieties of the material world?

Devotee: Go out and tolerate the mentality of people which is contrary.

Giriraj Swami: Why do the materials go out? Why do the materialists go out?

Devotee: Devotees go out and mix with the materialists knowing that it is a replicatory process they go out and get in touch with materialists but there are spiritualists who just avoid that association completely. So what’s the result of these two different processes?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Well in the beginning he said that some spiritualists avoid the material anxieties and other don’t. So I wanted to make the point that devotees don’t accept the material anxieties because the material anxieties come because they want eating, sleeping, mating and defending-sense gratification. So they go out in the heat and in the cold and they meet opposing elements but why? To get facility to eat, sleep, and defend but the pure devotee has no anxiety about the materials necessities because the material necessities are supplied automatically by the grace of the Lord. So as one makes progress in surrender to the Lord he becomes free from the anxiety for personal bodily necessities. The anxiety of the devotee is actually how to bring others to Krishna consciousness. Prahlada Maharaja says that many spiritualists they don’t care about other people. They just care about personal salvation but Prahlada Maharaja says he is not like they are. He says Personally he could absorb himself in chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord at any time and in any circumstances that he can experience transcendental bliss. So for himself he has no anxiety but his anxiety is that people are suffering without Krishna consciousness. So how can he bring them to Krishna consciousness? That is his anxiety.

Now as far as peace or peace of mind. Peace is not something that can be like artificially attained because the materialists and transcendentalists they all want peace but they can’t achieve it because they don’t accept Lord Krishna as the Supreme Lord, the supreme enjoyer of all their sacrifices and their best friend. So they are not really peaceful. But people who try to attain peace through artificial methods, they may not like the method of the devotees but it is like sometimes people come to ISKCON but they don’t like the pressure. They don’t like the anxiety. One devotee or so called devotee, he was critical of ISKCON. He just wanted to talk about Krishna and the cowherd boys and the gopīs and the Yamuna river. So he said to Srila Prabhupada that “You know that the reason I don’t like to be with your disciples is because they are always so full of anxiety. Srila Prabhupada immediately replied that that is their love. The gopīs were always at anxiety for Krishna.

So now we come to the point that the materialists have anxiety about their sense gratification or their material security and devotees have anxiety for the Lord’s mission for the fallen souls but there are also different types of devotees. There are mixed devotees and there are pure devotees. So mixed devotees will have anxiety for material security and sense gratification and anxiety for Krishna consciousness and pure devotees will only have anxiety for Krishna consciousness and material anxiety does not actually enliven us but spiritual anxiety does enliven us so we being like neophyte devotees, we may experience different types of anxiety but as we make advancement we will become free from the material anxieties then will become you can say free from anxiety. Transcendental anxiety is of a different nature although the two may resemble each other.

If we get full of material anxieties and we think that we have to arrange for security or sense gratification outside of Krishna consciousness so that takes away from Krishna consciousness but if we have transcendental anxiety that is an impetus in devotional service. Just like if the movement is being attacked and if we feel transcendental anxiety for the well-being of the movement that will inspire us to render more service but actually if actually we are worried about eating and sleeping then if the movement is attacked we will think that the movement is being attacked my eating and sleeping may be disturbed let me leave the movement and make some other arrangement for eating and sleeping on. So we should welcome transcendental anxiety.

In India Srila Prabhupada had a lot of anxiety to establish the big project there. We also got transcendental anxiety. So one day Tamal Krishna Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada that, “I have so much anxiety about this Juhu land, I can’t even chant my rounds.” Srila Prabhupada replied that, “I know how you feel. I also have difficulty when I am in anxiety,” but then he said by such anxiety we get impetus to do better service and we can make more advancement. So then Tamal Krishna Maharaja said that he always used to arrange his service or his situation that so he could get the least anxiety. But considering what you said I think I should put myself in the situation where I get more anxiety and Srila Prabhupada said yes. Prabhupada said that advancement in Krishna consciousness means accepting more and more responsibility for Krishna and responsibility means anxiety so we shouldn’t run away from-spiritual anxiety.

Devotee: During the lecture you spoke about two persons Arjuna and who attained the mercy of the Lord in specific situations and after a process and they were to say so in a situation provision situation of ignorance or and then they received the mercy but he was thinking also in people who are so much in ignorance that we could say that their minds don’t even work properly and it is if you can see that it is difficult for them even to follow an instruction or the lack of any kind of determination or anything that can allow them to follow anything because of past activities drugs so many things. And he says that even sometimes he heard that comments like these people besides doing some service and going home they can do so much in this life. So what is the situation with this kind of people?

Giriraj Swami: Give them gulābjāmuns; gulābjāmuns are also called ISKCON bullets because they can shoot maya dead. So just give them gulābjāmuns and all maya will be finished. Actually in the early days in New York city Srila Prabhupada had kept one big jar of gulābjāmuns by the door to the temple. So if anyone wanted to leave ISKCON so on the way to the door they would come to the jar of gulābjāmuns. So naturally they will think, well before I leave at least let me take a few more gulābjāmuns. So then they will sit down and start to eat gulābjāmuns and they will become so happy and so satisfied then they won’t want to leave anymore.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande. Haribol.