Arrival Lecture and Kirtan

Giriraj Swami: So, the congregational chanting of the holy name can bring all devotees together, both the devotees practicing Krishna consciousness in the material world and the devotees enjoying Krishna consciousness in the spiritual world. Because the entire spiritual world is contained within the maha-mantra, and if we chant the maha-mantra purely, without offense, we can enter the spiritual world through the names of the maha-mantra. So, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu especially descended in the age of Kali to give the people this hari-nāma mantra, which is especially effective when chanted together. At the end of the Dvapara, Krishna winds up His manifest past times. But after winding up his manifest past times, he considers that I have come to the material world to deliver transcendental knowledge in the Bhagavad-gītā and to protect the devotees, to annihilate the miscreants, and to establish or reestablish the principles of dharma, or religion. But the main thing which I have to give to the world, I did not give, and that is the special quality of love that the residents of Vrindavan have for me, for Krishna. Then, Lord Krishna thinks that I did so many things, but the real thing I didn’t give so much. So, then he decides, I must come again. I cannot leave without giving this most valuable treasure. So, he appears again as Sri Krishna Chaitanya, to make available the most confidential love of Krishna, the love of the residents of Vrindavan have for the Lord.

Of course, the special quality of the love of the residents of Vrindavan for Krishna is that they are not very conscious of the fact that Krishna is the Lord. But in the intensity of their love, they forget that Krishna is the Lord. But they accept him rather as their friend, as their son, as their beloved, just as if he were a human being. And because they forget the supremacy of the Lord because they are not overwhelmed by the opulences of the Lord, they can enter much more intimate relationships and have much more intimate past times with Lord Krishna. Those are the ones who worship the Lord in the mood of awe and reverence, the mood which prevails in Vaikuntha, where the Lord is worshiped with awe and reverence, full consciousness of the Lord’s opulence and the Lord’s majesty.

So such feelings are not prominent in Vrindavan and because in the absence of such feelings one can relate to Krishna in the most intimate way. The Lord of Vrindavan is more pleased with the devotees of Vrindavan than with any other devotees. And therefore, the devotees of Vrindavan can enjoy more spiritual pleasure than any other devotees because they can give the most pleasure to Krishna. Higher than Vaikuntha is Dvaraka, but even in Dvaraka, the Lord’s most confidential associates, like Uddhava, cannot comprehend the love from Krishna that the residents of Vrindavan experience. And after Krishna left Vrindavan, he sent Uddhava to try to pacify the residents of Vrindavan in their feelings of separation. And when Uddhava entered Vrindavan, he saw the ecstatic love of the vrajavāsīs. He was struck with wonder; he thought that I cannot have such an intense love for Krishna as these simple people of Vrindavan have. And he stayed for several months in Vrindavan just to study the exalted quality of the vrajavāsīs love for Krishna.

And in the end, he prays that he would like to take birth just as a clump of grass in Vrindavan. And if he is not qualified to take birth in Vrindavan then he would like to take birth as a clump of grass outside Vrindavan, so at least the particles of dust from the feet of the vrajavāsīs would come and blow upon him and touch him. So that was the conclusion of Uddhava, who is the only member of the Yadu dynasty chosen by Lord Krishna to remain after the destruction of the Yadu, to receive more confidential knowledge from the Lord than he imparted even to Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra.

So, the whole spiritual world, Krishna, Radharani, the cowherd boys, the gopīs, the cows, Nanda Maharaja, Mother Yasoda, Giri-Govardhana, Radha-kunda, Shyam-kuṇḍa, Yamuna River, they are within the sixteen words of the maha-mantra. Simply, we have to be able to realize it, and the way to realize it is to chant the maha-mantra, to chant the holy names without offense. So, every conditioned soul comes into the material world with envy of Krishna, with the desire to lord over material nature, with the desire to enjoy and control. And even when we come to Krishna consciousness, we are not free from such desires. Rather, by the process of Krishna consciousness, we aspire to become free from such desires and envy. But when we, in spite of coming in contact with Krishna consciousness and in spite of coming in contact with the devotees of the Lord, when we exhibit the same perverted mentality of wanting to enjoy and wanting to control, especially in relation to the devotees of the Lord, we commit offenses. Everything is meant for the service of the Lord, and especially the devotees are meant for the pleasure of the Lord. So, to want to exploit the devotees of the Lord means to want to enjoy the devotees of the Lord or to control the devotees of the Lord for one’s own gratification is offense. We must always remember that the devotees of the Lord are here to serve Krishna, to give pleasure to Radha and Krishna, and that we are here to learn from them and to help them in their service.

We should never become polluted with the idea of trying to enjoy the devotees of the Lord, be honored by the devotees, or praised by the devotees. We should never think that we are here to lord over the devotees or control them, but we should always think that we are here to learn from them and to serve them, or to help them in their service. Then we will be able to chant the holy names without offense, with pure hearts. And then, when we chant the holy names, we will be able to at least begin to have some recollection of life in the spiritual world with Radha and Krishna and all of the residents of Vrindavan. And then, by the mercy of the holy name, the mercy of the spiritual masters, the mercy of the Vaishnavas, we can enter more and more deeply into the recollection of the pastimes of the Lord and become so attracted to the Lord that we lose our interest in wanting to control and enjoy within the material world.

So, there are three stages in chanting the holy names, and in the first stage, one chants with many offenses. In the next stage, the offenses begin to clear away. This is called the clearing stage, and as the offenses are cleared away, one can glimpse the final stage, in which one chants without offense, purely. And when one is actually able to chant purely, with love for Krishna, then one can actually realize that the holy name of the Lord is not different from the Lord. And the Lord will actually be manifest fully to the devotee when he chants the holy name purely. And then, one will actually be able to enter into the pastimes of the Lord. So, Lord Chaitanya descended to give this most exalted life of Krishna in the mood of the residents of Vrindavan, and He always performed saṅkīrtana with His most intimate devotees, and they would enter into, or they would manifest the state of love of Krishna was so profound when they chanted, so much so that the whole universe became inundated with the love of the flood of Krishna from the kirtans of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his intimate associates. And great personalities like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who resided in Jagannatha Puri, had the opportunity to experience the kirtan performed by devotees from throughout the world who came to Jagannatha Puri. But he never experienced anything like the kirtans performed by the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu because they chanted on the platform of ecstatic love of Godhead. Therefore, the effect of the chanting was so powerful on the hearts of everyone who heard it or joined it.

So, Srila Prabhupada commented that even the devotees of ISKCON, when they chant in spiritual purity, they are able to astonish people all over the world, even the people of India. He said that even the devotees of ISKCON, who strictly follow the instructions of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, can also chant in such a nice way that people become astonished by their kirtan. Actually, all over the world, people are astonished by the ecstatic kirtan of the ISKCON devotees. Even in India, where people have so much culture and so much experience, they also are astonished.

When we first came to India, Srila Prabhupada advised us that we would not be able to convince or convert the people of India by shastric debates because they know the shastras well. They know Sanskrit and they know so many verses and have read so many books. But he said we would be able to conquer them by our kirtan and by our gentle behavior. So, as devotees of Srila Prabhupada, we should always be merged in the ecstasy of hari-kirtan, and we should always behave very gently. Behave very gently means we should always be thinking of the welfare of others, not of controlling them or trying to enjoy them. Then we will be able to conquer the whole world. But more than that, we will be able to conquer Krishna because Krishna Himself is conquered by the pure devotee who has completely given up the desire for anything other than pleasing Krishna.

So Krishna Himself becomes conquered by such devotees, and that is the position of the residents of Vrindavan. They have conquered Krishna. Srila Prabhupada says that the Mayavadis want to become one with Krishna, but we can become more than Krishna. Another time, he said, “You want to control, but the perfection of controlling comes when you can control Krishna.” But the residents of Vrindavan control Krishna out of their pure love for Him, precisely because they’ve given up the desire to control the material world and enjoy the material world. They are able to enjoy with Krishna, and Krishna actually comes under their loving control.

So this is the line given to us by Krishna, who came specifically as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to give us this. And the philosophy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has been elaborated for us by the six Gosvamis and the other acharyas in the line. And finally, all of these teachings have been made available to us and comprehensible to us by the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. So therefore, it is our duty to carefully study Srila Prabhupada’s books, understand the real mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu’s other followers, and to dedicate ourselves fully to their mission. And that will bring us the highest perfection in life. Perfection which cannot be comprehended even by the residents of Vaikuntha-loka. What to speak of the demigods on the higher planets or the poor human beings on this planet. They cannot even dream of such happiness.

So considering the value of what we are after and what we are meant to achieve, we should certainly set aside all other considerations, all pity little diversions from our real mission, and dedicate ourselves fully to the mission of Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya and Radha and Krishna. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions? Yes Murari Prabhu

Devotee 1: Maharaja as we see though we know very well what nāma-aparādha is. forgetfully we are committing that aparādha and after making this offense we think in the morning we have made this very very bug aparādha. So every day if we do that and every day we do nāma again, so how to avoid that forgetfulness. All the time we are forgetting aparādha while committing. What is the way to avoid nāma-aparādha?

Giriraj Swami: Very good question. The question is that, in spite of knowing that we should avoid nāma-aparādha and probably resolving not to commit offenses, still we find we commit offenses. Then we regret, offer obeisances, try to cleanse ourselves of the offense, but then again we do find ourselves committing the same type of offenses again and again. So what is the question?

Devotee1: How to avoid this forgetfulness, myself also I know I am doing aparādha but forcefully I am doing after doing I come to remember “Oh that is offense nāma-aparādha.” So, how to avoid this forgetfulness?

Giriraj Swami: The real process is to always be absorbed in the pastimes of Krishna. If we are absorbed in the pastimes of Krishna by hearing and chanting and remembering, then we will not be inclined to commit such offenses. That is the real process. Of course, there are different stages of spiritual advancement. When we come to the temple, surrender to Krishna, surrender to the spiritual master, and begin the process of devotional service, we come to this stage called bhajana-kriyā full engagement in devotional activities. But still, there are anarthas, unwanted desires within the heart.

So after engaging in devotional service for some time, one begins to perceive these anarthas and one begins to realize that these anarthas are causing havoc in one’s spiritual life. And then one resolves to become free from such anarthas. So then he comes to the stage of anartha-nivritti, which is the stage in which one endeavors to vanquish one’s anarthas. And that is a big struggle, very difficult because the anarthas are very strong. And when the anarthas become prominent, we have to face them and not surrender to them. Surrendering to them means to give in to the temptation to try to use the devotees of the Lord for one’s own personal advantage, trying to control them, getting angry with them, so many things. So when we perceive the anarthas, then we have to surrender more to Krishna. We have to pray to Krishna to save us, and we have to intensify our chanting and hearing. We have to take more shelter of the process of chanting and hearing so we can be saved from these anarthas, just like the residents of Vrindavan. They were also attacked by terrible demons.

Krishna’s demons when he entered Vrindavan, was pounding the ground with his hoofs, and the whole earth trembled. The whole atmosphere was filled with the sound of his hooves, not like an ordinary horse, but a tremendous demon whose form was like a horse. So the earth was shaking, the dust raised by his hooves was covering the whole atmosphere. Nobody could even see what was happening; there was so much turmoil and this terrible sound of his hooves spreading throughout the whole universe. But when one is attacked by such horrible demons, such tremendous demons, the residents of Vrindavan only knew one recourse: they took shelter of Krishna.

So when the terrible demons of doubt or desire or envy, whatever the anarthas are, whenever they become manifest, whenever they manifest their horrible forms, we should take shelter of Krishna by surrendering more fully, by chanting with more intense desire, by studying with more sincere desire to learn and become free from the anarthas. So on the one hand, we are frightened by the anarthas, we are horrified by the anarthas, and on the other hand, as we enter more deeply into the process of chanting and hearing, we become more and more attracted by the transcendental qualities of Radha and Krishna, by the transcendental pastimes. And then, simultaneously, we have the desire to get out of the material world to become free from the terrible anarthas, and we also have the positive desire to actually enter into the spiritual realm.

And then, as we really become absorbed in Krishna’s pastimes, then we automatically become free from the tendency to commit offense. So it is true that just by deciding, “Okay, from today on I’m not going to commit any more offenses. I’m not going to be envious of any Vaishnava. I’m not going to become angry with any person,” although we have the desire to make the resolution, but it is not so easy. We actually have to undergo a very intensive process of purification to become free from the tendency to commit offenses. To really become free from offenses. Are you raising your hand? Yes?

Devotee 2: [Unintelligible 01:05:29]

Giriraj Swami: The Question is “Why does Lord Kapila sit on an animal skin?”

Well, in previous ages, the yogis used to sit on deer skin. So, Lord Kapila showed a process of yoga called Sankhya—yoga. So, he may have sat on the deer skin, but in Kali-yuga, in the present age, we cannot follow such processes of yoga. But we follow the method given by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of chanting hari-nāma. And Lord Chaitanya had one contemporary who also used to sit on a deerskin or use a deer skin. Lord Chaitanya did not approve, and then he gave it up. But things which are not appropriate in the present age, that might have been appropriate in some previous age. So, for them, it was not wrong if they did it. But if we do it now, for us, it is wrong. So, we shouldn’t try to imitate them. We should follow Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada gave us, the process that we can practice in this age.