NOI – Nectar of Instruction—Part 08

Giriraj Swami: Yesterday we discussed the three types of devotees, and today we will discuss how to deal with them. Kṛṣṇeti yasya giri taṁ manasādriyeta [The Nectar of Instruction 5] - one should mentally honor the devotee who chants the holy name of Krishna.

Dīkṣāsti cet praṇatibhiś ca bhajanatam īśam [The Nectar of Instruction 5]—one should offer humble obeisances to the devotee who has undergone spiritual initiation, dīkṣā, and is engaged in worshiping the deity. So one should mentally honor any devotee who chants the holy name even if they are not following all the regulated principles. But if they have faith in Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and chant the holy name of Krishna, we should respect them within the mind. And in the purport Srila Prabhupada gives the example of sahajiyās, even they should be respected within the mind.

Now what is dīkṣā? On page fifty-one, Srila Prabhupada quotes two verses. The first is from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Antya 4.192:

dīkṣā-kāle bhakta kare ātma-samarpaṇa
sei-kāle kṛṣṇa tāre kare ātma-sama

TRANSLATION

At the time of initiation when a devotee fully surrenders to the service of the Lord Krishna, Krishna accepts him to be good as He Himself.

COMMENT

So dīkṣā is not just a ceremony but dīkṣā is a point of surrender. Without surrender one cannot actually be said to have been initiated by dīkṣā. One surrenders to Krishna through the via-medium of the spiritual master. If one is not prepared to surrender to Krishna, or if he is not prepared to surrender to the spiritual master as representative of Krishna, then he is not qualified for dīkṣā.

Dīkṣā or spiritual initiation is explained in the Bhakti-sandarbha by Srila Jiva Gosvami:

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt

kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam

tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā

deśikais tattva-kovidaiḥ

TRANSLATION

By dīkṣā one gradually becomes disinterested in material enjoyment and gradually becomes interested in spiritual life.

COMMENT

Here we can understand that dīkṣā is a continuous process. It is not a single event. In fact, as we read the purport, we will see that Srila Prabhupada has quoted various verses to the effect that one must already be interested in spiritual life to a great extent and/or he should already have lost interest in material life to a great extent before he can be initiated. So the process begins before the ceremony of initiation, and the ceremony of initiation indicates the point in the devotee’s progress where the devotee is able to surrender fully to Krishna through the spiritual master as Krishna’s representative. And to surrender means that he must be anxious to progress in spiritual life and give up material life. Sometimes after initiation someone seems to again become interested in material life, and he appears to lose interest in spiritual life, and he doesn’t continue to follow the instructions of the spiritual master. Of course, if he wants to follow and maintains the desire to someday follow, but he is just overwhelmed by the influence of material energy, he maintains his connection. But if he consciously decides that he doesn’t want to follow anymore, then he breaks the connection.

Srila Prabhupada once wrote that one who follows my instructions can be called my disciple. And one time Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura initiated some devotee and maybe the next day, the same devotee left the ashram. So someone informed him that, “Your disciple who just got initiated has left.” And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura replied, “He was never my disciple.”

So, the basic point is that initiation is a matter of surrender, to a process by which one becomes free from material life and enters more and more and more deeply into spiritual life. So it is a continuous process.

So, if one has actually surrendered to Krishna through the via-medium of the spiritual master and is becoming more and more interested in spiritual advancement and is more and more losing interest in material life, he is actually in the process of dīkṣā, and he should be offered obeisances.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Someone may be more surrendered without the official ceremony of initiation than someone who is officially initiated. So of course, we should honor the etiquette, but I wouldn’t withhold obeisances from someone who’s really surrendered and who is really sincere and serious about spiritual life just because he is not officially initiated.

Devotee: What’s the symptom of surrender?

Giriraj Swami: How do you know if someone is losing interest in material life, and he is interested in spiritual life? I suppose it’s a subjective decision.

TEXT 5

śuśrūṣayā bhajana-vijñam ananyam anya-
nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam īpsita-saṅga-labdhyā        [The Nectar of Instruction 5]

TRANSLATION

One should associate with and faithfully serve that pure devotee who has advanced in undeviated devotional service and whose heart is completely devoid of the propensity to criticize others.

COMMENT

So bhajana-vijñam—he is advanced in bhajana or expert in bhajana. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura has explained the difference between bhajana and arcanam because the kaniṣṭhā Vaishnava engages in arcanam, and the madhyam Vaishnava engages in bhajana, and the uttamā Vaishnava is advanced or expert in bhajana. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that arcanam is the process of worshiping the deity according to rules and regulations, and bhajana is the process by which one takes shelter of the holy name and is absorbed in chanting the holy names. And he says that the kaniṣṭhā Vaishnava may be more conscious of the rules and regulations of deity worship in terms of rituals and ceremonies than the madhyam Vaishnava or uttamā Vaishnava. Because the kaniṣṭhā Vaishnava is on the material platform more or less, he may think that he is more expert or better situated than someone who’s actually more advanced because he is more particular about the rules and regulations of deity worship, but actually the madhyam Vaishnava or uttamā Vaishnava because he has taken shelter of the process of chanting the holy name and remembering the pastimes of Krishna, is actually more advanced. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments that although he is not so particular about the rules and regulations of deity worship—the details of deity worship, he is always following the basic principles of proper Vaishnava behavior and renunciation of sense gratification.

So bhajana vijñam refers to, especially in relation to the discussion yesterday, it refers to advancement and the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. And the acharyas have explained, Srila Prabhupada has explained that after one realizes the holy name of the Lord, he realizes the transcendental form of the Lord. After the transcendental form of the Lord, he realizes the transcendental qualities of the Lord, and then finally he realizes the sublime pastimes of the Lord, one after the other. So when one is advanced in bhajana or expert in bhajana when he chants, he not only realizes the holy name of the Lord is identical to the Lord Himself – in terms of His identity, but he also realizes the Lord’s form, qualities, associates, and pastimes.

Some devotees suggested that we discuss chanting because chanting is so important, but we will discuss it more in relation to Text Seven. Now we have to understand how to deal with each other. We live in a society of devotees, but we always seem to have so many problems dealing with each other—so many problems—but if we could come to the platform of madhyam Vaishnava, and if we could be able to recognize the position of other Vaishnavas and deal with them appropriately, then the problems would subside.

Now I’m going on to Text Six because Text Six is very closely related to Text Five, and then we’ll discuss Text Five and Six together:

TEXT 6

dṛṣṭaiḥ svabhāva-janitair vapuṣaś ca doṣair
na prākṛtatvam iha bhakta-janasya paśyet
gaṅgāmbhasāṁ na khalu budbuda-phena-paṅkair
brahma-dravatvam apagacchati nīra-dharmaiḥ        [The Nectar of Instruction 6]

TRANSLATION

Being situated in his original Krishna conscious position, a pure devotee does not identify with the body. Such a devotee should not be seen from a materialistic point of view. Indeed, one should overlook a devotee’s having a body born in a low family, a body with a bad complexion, a deformed body, or a diseased or infirm body. According to ordinary vision, such imperfections may seem prominent in the body of a pure devotee, but despite such seeming defects, the body of a pure devotee cannot be polluted. It is exactly like the waters of the Ganges, which sometimes during the rainy season are full of bubbles, foam and mud. The Ganges waters do not become polluted. Those who are advanced in spiritual understanding will bathe in the Ganges without considering the condition of the water.

COMMENT

In the purport, Srila Prabhupada again discusses pure devotional service, and he says that anyone who is fixed in pure devotional service should be considered a pure devotee, and he should not be seen from a materialistic point of view. We discussed yesterday that even a neophyte can be a pure devotee if he has both faith in Krishna and the holy name of Krishna, that Krishna and the holy name are identical, but he is still considered a neophyte because he doesn’t have sufficient experience to know how to deal properly with devotees, with innocent people, and with envious people. And he doesn’t have so much knowledge of the scripture, but he has faith like a madhyam-bhāgavata, but still he is considered a kaniṣṭhā Vaishnava because of lack of experience or lack of knowledge. And the madhyam-bhāgavata is considered a pure devotee because he is fixed in pure devotional service and generally madhyamādhikārī is considered the beginning of a pure devotee. And in the verse which Srila Prabhupada quotes, brahma-bhūyāya kalpate, that one who is fixed an undeviating devotional service is on the spiritual platform. Now confirms the same fact.

And uttamā Vaishnava is certainly a pure devotee in the highest sense of the term, but we should be careful not to blaspheme any devotee. Nindā means not only to blaspheme, but it means to envy or to hate. It’s not just a vocal expression, but it also includes a mental attitude. So in the purport, Srila Prabhupada gives reference from Bhagavad-gītā [9.30] that even if one falls down:

api cet su-durācāro

bhajate mām ananya-bhāk

sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ

samyag vyavasito hi saḥ

If he is situated in devotional service, he should still be considered saintly,

So and then Srila Prabhupada discusses that one should not blaspheme a devotee because of the family that he is born in. So we come back to the facts that we discussed earlier in relation to sādhu-nindā or prajalpaḥ but specifically sādhu-nindā, that one should not criticize a devotee on account of his birth, sins that he committed before he surrendered to Krishna, traces of past sins that still continue, or accidental fall downs. None are grounds for criticizing a devotee, and if one criticizes a devotee for any of the four reasons mentioned, he becomes implicated in sādhu-nindā, and he cannot develop taste for the holy name and whatever taste for the holy name he has can be lost.

Now we are living in a society of devotees. We are with devotees day and night, and we always have to interact with them, and we really want to develop loving relationships with other devotees. And at least we don’t want to be disturbed by our interactions with other devotees. But so often we feel that we lack loving relationships with other devotees, and we are often disturbed by our interactions with other devotees. So how should we actually relate to other devotees? We may not be able to judge exactly where we are, in terms of spiritual advancement, and we may not be able to exactly judge where others are, but we should have some idea where we are in relation to others. For example, a person who’s just come to the madhyam position is very close to kaniṣṭhā, and someone who’s advanced in the madhyam position is very close to uttamā. So there is a big difference between them. So we may not be able to judge exactly where madhyam begins and where it ends. But, we should have a sense where we are in relation to other devotees. 

In the purport to Text Six, Srila Prabhupada gives a simple instruction that lesser devotees should be eager to hear from and render service to more advanced devotees and more advanced devotees should be prepared to take care of lesser devotees in every respect. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives further instructions that what is the proper way to relate and what is the perverted way not to relate. So the Bhāgavatam describes that the lesser devotee should serve the greater devotee submissively, inquire from the greater devotee. That is the proper way, and the perversion is that he becomes envious of the greater devotee and tries to pull him down.

Then sometimes we meet with equals. The proper relationship between equals is they should be very friendly and open with each other. They should discuss their realizations with each other and relate as friends, and the perversion is that when they meet, they feel proud. Each one feels proud of himself, and they feel proud of their association with each other.

And the proper way for a superior Vaishnava to deal with a subordinate Vaishnava as we discussed is to answer his questions and help him and take care of him in every respect. And the perversion is to exploit the subordinate, to take advantage and try to use the subordinate for one’s sense gratification, gross or subtle. So somehow, we have to try to deal in the appropriate way with each other, otherwise we create so many problems for ourselves.

Now although we should respect every devotee, and we should not offend any devotee, there is no mention that one should blaspheme a neophyte, offer obeisances to an intermediate, and serve an advanced. We shouldn’t blaspheme anyone, but we should respect every devotee—we should respect every devotee in the mind—not that outwardly we offer obeisances, but inwardly we actually hate the person. Again, there is a hierarchy that we mentally honor any devotee who chants the holy name, and if someone is actually initiated and fully engaged in devotional service, we should mentally honor him and offer obeisances. Offer obeisances means to offer submission, and Srila Prabhupada has instructed us to act on the platform of madhyam Vaishnavas, and to treat each other as Prabhus. So obeisances doesn’t just mean that I put my head on the ground at your feet for thirty seconds and that’s the end of it. It is really an act of submission and therefore to reinforce the idea of submission, Srila Prabhupada has given the instruction we should address each other as Prabhu, which means master. We should consider every Prabhu as master and be ready to serve him.

When I joined, I was told that Srila Prabhupada said that if any devotee asks you for any service you should agree to do it, but you should not ask any devotee to do any service for you. If some Vaishnava is always chanting the holy name, always engaged in service and is completely free from nindā, then we should serve him. Here the word śuśrūṣayā, it appears also in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I didn’t bring the book but Prahlada Maharaja instructs śuśrūṣayā – that one should serve the guru – śuśrūṣayā. And then in the purport Srila Prabhupada explains that one should assist the guru in various bodily functions like taking bath, getting dressed, taking prasāda, and so on. And of course, service also applies in a more extended sense, which we can discuss but one should be prepared to render all sorts of menial services to the guru.

Now the symptoms mentioned here, bhajana-vijñam ananyam anya-nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam [The Nectar of Instruction 5]—they can also be seen in a madhyam-bhāgavatas. They also, at least the more advanced ones, also don’t blaspheme others, and they’re fully engaged in bhajana, in chanting and remembering and serving. But there is some difference in the inner realization of the madhyam-bhāgavata’s advancement, uttamā-bhāgavata and the intermediate bhāgavata and that we will discuss later on when we come to the later verses, but otherwise at a certain stage the external activities are more or less the same because even an advanced madhyam-bhāgavata doesn’t do nindā, and he is fully engaged in chanting and other things.

Now coming back to Text Six, someone may be a pure devotee, he may even be a mahā-bhāgavata but he may appear to have defects like a bodily defect, or he may have taken birth in a lower family, or he may even seem to become angry sometimes. Sometimes the example is given that when you want to get honey from a beehive, there are so many bees. It’s similar to the example of brushing aside the straw and foam and mud in the Ganges. So you want to have very sweet honey, but there are so many bees, and when you go to get the honey, they may sting you. So in the same way one may approach an advanced devotee, but he may be angry. He might speak harshly, but if you avoid him because of such defects or apparent defects, then you will miss the honey. And not only will you miss the honey, but you will also commit offense.

I remember one day in Bombay—sometimes Srila Prabhupada would also be in such a mood—and one day in Bombay like. . . But of course we also shouldn’t think that it’s material because the mahā-bhāgavata is free from the influence of material nature, but he manifests anger to teach the disciples, but he appears to be in a bad mood. And devotees used to be afraid to approach Srila Prabhupada when he was in a bad mood, which wasn’t very often but it did happen sometimes. And practically no matter who you were or what you approached him for, you might get some response.

One time at Akash Ganga building before we went to Juhu, Srila Prabhupada came in the temple room early in the morning and the devotees were chanting their rounds in the temple, and he found fault with every devotee in the temple. One devotee was doing Gayatri. He [Prabhupada] said, “Why are you doing Gayatri now? You should do Gayatri before you come to the temple.” And one devotee was slouching like me. He said, “Why are you sitting like that? You should sit straight.” And so it could seem that he was in a bad mood, and he was just finding faults with everyone for everything, but there is some purpose and it’s transcendental.

So sometimes when one is especially close to the spiritual master, one can fall into the illusion that he is an ordinary man like some of Prabhupada’s servants fell into the illusion, and many of them left and not only did they leave Srila Prabhupada, but they left Krishna consciousness because they could not see his inner features. They weren’t advanced. So they, some of them fell down, but the ones that didn’t fall down made great advancement. So we come back to the other point that if one serves the dust of the lotus feet of the devotee, he becomes highly elevated. And if one offends the dust of the lotus feet of the devotee, he goes down. So I will read one excerpt from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta how one can serve the devotee. How by serving the devotee favorably one becomes exalted, and how by offending the same devotee one can become degraded.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda        [3 times]

So Ramachandra Puri had come to Puruṣottama-kṣetra, and he was finding faults with all the devotees and even Lord Chaitanya. So in relation to Ramachandra Puri’s visit to Puruṣottama-kṣetra and his criticism to Lord Chaitanya, he related this incident—Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami related this incident [Cc Antya 8.18]:

TEXT 18

pūrve yabe mādhavendra karena antardhāna

rāmacandra-purī tabe āilā tāṅra sthāna

TRANSLATION

Formerly, when Mādhavendra Purī was at the last stage of his life, Rāmacandra Purī came to where he was staying.

TEXT 19

purī-gosāñi kare kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana

‘mathurā nā pāinu’ bali’ karena krandana

TRANSLATION

Mādhavendra Purī was chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes he would cry, “O my Lord, I did not get shelter at Mathurā.”

TEXT 20

rāmacandra-purī tabe upadeśe tāṅre

śiṣya hañā guruke kahe, bhaya nāhi kare

TRANSLATION

Then Rāmacandra Purī was so foolish that he fearlessly dared to instruct his spiritual master.

COMMENT

At the end of the purport [of] Text Six, Srila Prabhupada says that the advanced devotee is beyond, well not beyond taking advice, but we should not presume to give advice to an advanced devotee, and he is not obliged to take the advice of disciples or listen to the advice of those who are not his disciples.

TRANSLATION

Rāmacandra Purī was so foolish that he fearlessly dared to instruct his spiritual master.

TEXT 21

tumi — pūrṇa-brahmānanda, karaha smaraṇa
brahmavit hañā kene karaha rodana?”

TRANSLATION

 “If you are in full transcendental bliss,” he said, “You should now remember only Brahman. Why are you crying?”

COMMENT

Ātmavat manyate jagat—that you see others to be like yourself. So he was on the material platform, and he saw his spiritual master to be on the material platform. He couldn’t understand Madhavendra Puri’s transcendental lamentation. He thought it was material lamentation, so he began to instruct him.

TEXT 22

śuni’ mādhavendra-mane krodha upajila

‘dūra, dūra, pāpiṣṭha’ bali’ bhartsanā karila

TRANSLATION

Hearing this instruction, Mādhavendra Purī became greatly angry and rebuked him by saying, “Get out, you sinful rascal!”

COMMENT

He was such an exalted devotee, in such an exalted state of consciousness, but he said you get out, you rascal.

PURPORT

Rāmacandra Purī could not understand that his spiritual master, Mādhavendra Purī, was feeling transcendental separation. His lamentation was not material. Rather, it proceeded from the highest stage of ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. When he was crying in separation, “I could not achieve Kṛṣṇa! I could not reach Mathurā!” this was not ordinary material lamentation. Rāmacandra Purī was not sufficiently expert to understand the feelings of Mādhavendra Purī, but nevertheless he thought himself very advanced. Therefore, regarding Mādhavendra Purī’s expressions as ordinary material lamentation, he advised him to remember Brahman because he was latently an impersonalist. Mādhavendra Purī understood Rāmacandra Purī’s position as a great fool and therefore immediately rebuked him. Such a reprimand from the spiritual master is certainly for the benefit of the disciple.

TEXT 23

kṛṣṇa nā pāinu, nā pāinu ‘mathurā’
āpana-duḥkhe maroṅ — ei dite āila jvālā

TRANSLATION

“O my Lord Kṛṣṇa, I could not reach You, nor could I reach Your abode, Mathurā. I am dying in my unhappiness, and now this rascal has come to give me more pain.

“Don’t show your face to me! Go anywhere else you like. If I die seeing your face, I shall not achieve the destination of my life.”

“I am dying without achieving the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore I am greatly unhappy. Now this condemned foolish rascal has come to instruct me about Brahman.”

TEXT 26

ei ye śrī-mādhavendra śrīpāda upekṣā karila

sei aparādhe iṅhāra ‘vāsanā’ janmila

TRANSLATION

Rāmacandra Purī was thus denounced by Mādhavendra Purī. Due to his offense, gradually material desire appeared within him.

COMMENT

So this is the result of an offense that material desires appear within the heart of the offender, and thus the offender is punished. And material desire also includes the desire for personal liberation. Now we’ll see the other example of Isvara Puri:

TEXT 28

īśvara-purī gosāñi kare śrīpāda-sevana

svahaste karena mala-mūtrādi mārjana

TRANSLATION

Īśvara Purī, the spiritual master of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, performed service to Mādhavendra Purī, cleaning up his stool and urine with his own hand.

COMMENT

So this is service, this is service—one type of service. And the next verse describes another type of service.

TEXT 29

nirantara kṛṣṇa-nāma karāya smaraṇa

kṛṣṇa-nāma, kṛṣṇa-līlā śunāya anukṣaṇa

TRANSLATION

Īśvara Purī was always chanting the holy name and pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa for Mādhavendra Purī to hear. In this way he helped Mādhavendra Purī remember the holy name and pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa at the time of death.

COMMENT

So we also see such excellent service in the associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Swarupa Damodar Gosvami and Ramananda Raya could understand the inner moods of Lord Chaitanya, and therefore they could reciprocate with the Lord’s moods by singing appropriate songs and reciting appropriate verses. And of course, Govinda was very expert in taking care of all of the Lord’s physical needs. So these are two types of personal services that one can render. And the first type of taking care of the physical necessities of the spiritual master is easier. The second type of understanding the inner moods of the spiritual master and reciprocating is more difficult. It requires more advancement.

TEXT 30

tuṣṭa hañā purī tāṅre kailā āliṅgana
vara dilā — ‘kṛṣṇe tomāra ha-uka prema-dhana’

TRANSLATION

Pleased with Īśvara Purī, Mādhavendra Purī embraced him and gave him the benediction that he would be a great devotee and lover of Kṛṣṇa. Prema dhana, he would get the treasure of love for Krishna.

TEXT 31

sei haite īśvara-purī — ‘premera sāgara’
rāmacandra-purī haila sarva-nindākara

TRANSLATION

Thus Īśvara Purī became like an ocean of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, whereas Rāmacandra Purī became a dry speculator and a critic of everyone else.

TEXT 32

mahad-anugraha-nigrahera ‘sākṣī’ dui-jane

ei dui-dvāre śikhāilā jaga-jane

TRANSLATION

Īśvara Purī received the blessing of Mādhavendra Purī, whereas Rāmacandra Purī received a rebuke from him. Therefore, these two persons, Īśvara Purī and Rāmacandra Purī, are examples of the objects of a great personality’s benediction and punishment. Mādhavendra Purī instructed the entire world by presenting these two examples.

COMMENT

So we only have about five minutes left, and I believe there is going to be an exam administered here tonight. So we have to vacate the place. So since tomorrow is the first day of Kartik, I will just say a few words about Kartik from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. One of the sixty-four items of devotional service is to observe Kartik-vrata. Srila Rupa Gosvami in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu or Srila Prabhupada in The Nectar of Devotion cites two verses from Padma Purāṇa. First Rupa Gosvami says that just as Damodar is bhakta-vatsala, any small thing in relation to a devotee becomes very big.