NOD – VIHE Nectar of Devotion—Part 15

Giriraj Swami: “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who are very expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all human beings. Thus, they are honored all over the three worlds, and they are worth taking shelter of because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopīs and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”

So, we were discussing vaidhī-sādhana-bhakti, the items of regulative devotional service and we came to the discussion of karma, jnana, and vairāgya. And Rupa Gosvami has stated that karma, meaning varnashrama-dharma, is not considered a qualification or an item of devotional service and neither are jnana and vairāgya, but if the devotee is not supposed to cultivate renunciation as part of devotional service, then what will be the devotees’ relationship to material objects? Will he try to enjoy them like karmis?

No, of course not. He should not try to enjoy that, enjoy material things like karmis nor should he try to renounce material things like jnanis. So how should he see material things or deal with material things?

Yes, he should see the material energy as Krishna’s energy and Krishna’s property, which is meant for Krishna’s use and Krishna’s pleasure, and he can use them for the service of Krishna as Krishna wants. Just like a servant in the house of a master can use everything in the house, but not for himself—only for the service of the master. He can take one hundred thousand rupees of the master’s money to the bank to deposit in the master’s account and there will be no problem at all, but if he takes even one rupee for his own sense gratification then he becomes implicated in stealing, and he becomes punishable.

So, we can deal with anything, seeing it as the property of Krishna and using it for the satisfaction of Krishna- without attachment. Rupa Gosvami says, anāsaktasya viṣayān that one should have no attachment for material objects but seeing their relationship to Krishna, he can use them in Krishna’s service. This is yukta-vairāgya. And phalgu-vairāgya is the vairāgya of the jnanis, they are afraid to deal with material objects because they fear becoming entangled or becoming attached. So, they renounce them—in the sense that they don’t touch them. But such renunciation is phalgu-vairāgya. Phalgu is one river in Bihar, which looks like dry sand but under the surface of the sand is a river. So Srila Prabhupada says that the Mayavadis appear to be very renounced, but actually they’re not renounced under the surface, they have so many desires because their hearts are not pure, aviśuddha-buddhayā. Because they neglect the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, they have impure intelligence. So, we have to avoid trying to enjoy material objects like karmis and falsely renouncing material objects like jnanis. If some object has some utility in Krishna’s service, we should accept it but if it has no utility in Krishna’s service, we should reject it. This is surrender. We accept whatever is favorable and reject whatever is not favorable.

Lord Krishna gives the example of the tortoise in Bhagavad-gītā. If there is need, he can extend his senses like the tortoise extends his limbs, and if there is no need for service then he can withdraw his senses within and remember his master within. So, it is a fine line between false enjoyment and false renunciation, but yukta-vairāgya is bhakti, the others are not-they cover bhakti. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam, they come in ādy. Phalgu-vairāgya covers bhakti. And as we mentioned the nature of bhakti is soft so when we try to become enjoyers, the heart becomes hard, and when we try to become renouncers the heart becomes hard, but only by bhakti does the heart become soft.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Mayavadis? Well, anyone who’s not a pure devotee. Anyone who’s not a pure devotee will be influenced to some degree either by false enjoyment or false renunciation, usually both. So, it will be some defect in one’s service.

Devotee: In the west there are lots of people that are really renounced on one side but then they enjoy it like anything on the other side. In other words, they’re. . . For instance they don’t drink milk or something like that, then they smoke pot.

Giriraj Swami: It is called here if you’ve read the verse and whole purport quoted from Caitanya-caritāmṛta, markaṭa-vairāgya. Markaṭa is monkey. Monkeys appear very renounced. They live naked in the forest—they have no clothes, no home, nothing they live by eating fruits and berries. So, they appear to be very renounced, but Srila Prabhupada says, “Each monkey keeps two dozen mates at least and enjoys.” So, we should avoid markaṭa-vairāgya or phalgu-vairāgya. There should be genuine renunciation which comes from purification. Here Lord Chaitanya is telling Raghunatha dasa (Cc Madhya 16.238),

markaṭa-vairāgya nā kara loka dekhāñā
yathā-yogya viṣaya bhuñja’ anāsakta hañā

“You should not make yourself a show-bottle devotee and become a false renunciant. For the time being, enjoy the material world in a befitting way, and do not become attached to it.”

And Lord Chaitanya instructed him that externally you can appear like an ordinary householder, but internally you should have no attachment whatsoever, and you should always think of Krishna. Lord Chaitanya used Raghunatha dasa to set the example that out of sentiment or over-enthusiasm, one should not renounce, but one should remain in one’s position and gradually become more attached to Krishna and more detached from maya. We are on page eighty-six in the verse book. And then one’s renunciation will be fixed. Not that one day somebody renounces, and then the next day he laments, and he misses the things or the persons that he left, and he thinks about them, and then the next day after that he goes back to them.

So, Lord Chaitanya advised him that externally act like an ordinary householder but internally don’t have any attachment- antare niṣṭhā kara, bāhye loka-vyavahāra. Antare niṣṭhā means internally you should be fixed. Bāhye loka-vyavahāra externally you act like an ordinary person to satisfy them. Acirāt kṛṣṇa tomāya karibe uddhāra, and very soon Krishna will give His mercy to you. [Cc Madhya 16.239] So we should not be over enthusiastic, but we should remain in our own position and gradually cultivate attachment to Krishna, and through attachment to Krishna become detached from maya.

And here also Rupa Gosvami has stated that one doesn’t have to cultivate renunciation separately, but taste for devotional service will automatically make one detached. And Bhagavad-gītā also says the same thing, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate that by experiencing the higher taste of Krishna consciousness, one gives up the inferior attachments. So, this is the actual process. It doesn’t have to be cultivated. And in the same purport here, Srila Prabhupada quotes the earlier verse from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu under the heading, “Accepting only what is necessary.” So one should accept whatever is necessary for devotional service and not more. You shouldn’t artificially increase or artificially decrease.

Then Rupa Gosvami discusses things like developing good qualities—yam and niyaṁ, which are principles of yoga. They’re like do’s and don’ts – refraining from things that one should refrain from and doing things that one should do. And Rupa Gosvami says that these also are not qualifications or items of devotional service. One doesn’t have to cultivate them separately, but if one becomes Krishna conscious, then automatically he will develop all good qualities. And Rupa Gosvami quotes some verses from the story about Narada and the hunter who became a great devotee and one verse is quoted here:

O hunter, good qualities like nonviolence, which you have developed, are not very astonishing, for those engaged in the Lord’s devotional service are never inclined to give pain to others because of envy. (it’s on the next page eighty-seven in the verse book)

So the conclusion is that karma, varnashrama, jnana, vairāgya, and good qualities—yaṁ, niyaṁ, śaucam, ahimsa—they don’t have to be practiced separately but if one engages in devotional service, one derives all of the benefits all of the results. As Srila Prabhupada says in The Nectar of Devotion, one who becomes vegetarian or non-violent isn’t necessarily a devotee, but one who becomes a devotee automatically becomes vegetarian and non-violent. So, the real thing is Krishna consciousness. By Krishna consciousness all of the good qualities come, and without Krishna consciousness one cannot, one does not really have good qualities anyway because he is on the mental platform, and he can fall down at any time.

So, any questions about vaidhī-sādhana-bhakti?

Devotee: Okay one of the definitions of sādhana-bhakti is that it awakens bhāva-bhakti. So, let’s say one is practicing sādhana-bhakti, but he hasn’t attained his stage of bhava as yet so how does he know he is practicing sādhana-bhakti?

Giriraj Swami: If he is engaged in uttamā-bhakti without any other desire for dharma, artha, kāma, and moksha, and if he is serving Krishna favorably under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and the scriptures, then he should perceive the fact that he is advancing. And if he is advancing from the first step to the second step, from the second step to the third step, then he can expect that by the same process and by the same mercy that he is getting, that’s helping him to advance to whatever extent he has advanced. He will be able to advance to the goal. But if one does not have the desire to serve Krishna purely, then even though he engages (of course then also Krishna’s merciful, He may make some arrangement to remove the desires of the devotee) that verse that bhukti and mukti are like witches that haunt the conditioned soul, and as long as one is haunted by the desires for bhukti and mukti, he can’t relish the sweet taste of devotional service.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura (I am reading from Srila Prabhupada’s purport) mentions that if one maintains within his heart. . .(See, we may have desires due to past conditioning, but we are trying not to maintain them; we are actually trying to lose them) But here he says that if one maintains within his heart the desire to enjoy the result of good work—that means karma—this is on page thirty—or being embarrassed by the material world, the desire to get out of material entanglement, one will never be able to attain the transcendental mellows of devotional service.

In other words, one must not desire material profit when rendering devotional service. If one follows all the sixty-four regulative principles, he cannot attain pure devotional service with a contaminated heart. So, we have to want to become free from other desires, and if we want to become free and follow the process, then we’ll become free by the mercy of Krishna and the Vaishnavas, but if we want to maintain desires for material enjoyment or liberation then even if superficially, we engage in devotional activities, we will not be able to reach the goal unless the heart becomes purified and your efforts.

Devotee: So, when we are applying ourselves to the process of this vaidhī-bhakti is a set of rules, regulations, instructions, and scriptures and so forth. Rāgānugā-bhakti is when spontaneity takes over but. . .

Giriraj Swami: Well, we don’t know what rāgānugā-bhakti is because we haven’t come to that section yet.

Devotee: But then in vaidhī-bhakti, there is so many. . . Like you are saying there are different steps but that one continues there is no point in vaidhī-bhakti where one stops, it says one must follow in the definition. One must follow [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: I think that when we discuss rāgānugā-bhakti it will become more clear. Srila Prabhupada gives the example that in the beginning one has to get up for maṅgala-ārati by force. You may not want to get up early but by force, he has to get up early – force of the order of guru, but later he may spontaneously like to get up early, worship the deity, think of ways of dressing the deity, and decorating the deity—that is not rāgānugā-bhakti; it is partially vaidhī-bhakti because deity worship [is] conducted according to the rules and regulations, but there is some taste, some spontaneous desire to serve which makes it a little more than just plain vaidhī-bhakti, without any taste or any spontaneous desire, but we can’t say that that’s rāgānugā-bhakti. It comes in vaidhī-bhakti. But there is something more than in the beginning when one just struggles to wake up and get to maṅgala-ārati in time. Many devotees have experienced [this]. In the beginning they used to struggle to get up in time, take bath, and be in the temple for maṅgala-ārati; then they get some taste. So, they want to get up early; instead of four o’clock, they want to get up three o’clock, two o’clock, and chant before maṅgala-ārati. Nobody’s forcing them but they want to get up earlier and chant. So, there is something more than in the beginning, but still it’s in the general category of vaidhī-bhakti, and what rāgānugā-bhakti is something specific, which we will discuss.

Devotee: So, I guess I’m just kind of looking for the kind of division?

Giriraj Swami: It is not a division point. You see you are asking a question about a subject that has been discussed in many verses of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. So, I think we are about to discuss the same subject, and then hopefully, you’ll get a more clear idea of what rāgānugā-bhakti is, and what the relationship between rāgānugā-bhakti and vaidhī-bhakti.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: No that means. . . He is saying that one has to follow the rules and regulations of varnashrama until he has some attraction for the messages of Krishna, and there the word is what spontaneous liking or something, but that means shraddha that we discussed in the beginning about eligibility for devotional service. Hearing the talks of Krishna, if one awakens shraddha and is not too attached to material enjoyment or too attached to artificial renunciation, he can take to bhakti. And the other verse says that if one doesn’t have an awakened shraddha in Krishna consciousness, and if one is still too attached, then he has to continue to follow varnashrama-dharma because he is not eligible for pure devotional service. You understand?

Varnashrama-dharma is meant to purify people who have material attachments until they’re detached enough and have enough faith in bhakti to take to bhakti.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Not that he didn’t want them to be above varnashrama.

Devotee: Artificially?

Giriraj Swami: No, it’s not a question of artificially either. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was certainly above varnashrama but he has accepted the sacred thread. He gave the sacred thread to devotees who were not born in brahmin families, for the sake of preaching because he didn’t want people to disrespect them by thinking that they’re not brahmans. So, he accepted the logic that a Vaishnava is more than a brahman. The brahminical qualifications are included within the Vaishnava. But just so that the people in general, who don’t really understand the position of a Vaishnava they only appreciate the position of a brahman, he gave them the sacred thread so that people would see that here is a brahman.

Like many caste-conscious brahmans in India, they used to say that that we can become Vaishnavas but we can’t become brahmans, and sometimes they would they would even say that you are more than a brahman, you are a Vaishnava but still you are not a brahman—in your next life. So that’s why he did it, for the sake of preaching.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: He is asking the difference between daivi-varṇāśrama and varnashrama? Well, daivi-varṇāśrama means for the satisfaction of Krishna according to the principles of Krishna and certainly not by birth.

Devotee: Prabhupada expressed desire to establish. . . [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Well, just like we build a guest house; we make a restaurant; is that within uttamā-bhakti? Yeah, because we are doing it for the sake of preaching. We want to provide a place where people can take a rest. Now providing a place for people to take rest in and of itself is not bhakti, but if the idea is to provide a place for people to take rest in the temple so they can come to the stage of bhakti, then it’s bhakti. So similarly, varnashrama in itself is not bhakti, but it’s like an arrangement for people to help them to come to bhakti. So, for us it’s bhakti to build a guest house. But for them to sleep in the guest house is not bhakti, but in the morning, if they wake up and go to maṅgala-ārati, then they’re making progress in the line of bhakti.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Of what? Ruci comes after niṣṭhā. Niṣṭhā comes after anartha-nivṛttiḥ. So, there may be a wonderful kirtan and the devotee will feel some pleasure in the kirtan, and he may like to sing and dance and go on for one or two or three hours, but then two days later we find that he ran off with some girl, and they were seen heading to the Mathura train station. So, he hasn’t passed anartha-nivṛtti, but still he has experienced some pleasure. If we never experienced any pleasure, we wouldn’t be in devotional service. There has to be some experience.

One of the items is honoring prasāda. I think most devotees have had the experience of honoring prasāda and feeling some ecstasy, but it doesn’t mean that they’re free from anarthas and the stage of ruci is after the stage of anartha-nivṛtti. So, vaidhī-bhakti in the sense of strictly obeying the rules and regulations without any experience of the taste of Krishna consciousness, cannot exist absolutely. There has to be some taste, but it’s a general definition. But unless someone has some experience of some pleasure in Krishna consciousness, he won’t be able to continue.

Devotee: It is said that everyone can hear from the platform of bhāva so what kind of [unintelligible] makes one fall down from bhāva because one has always also passed the stage?

Giriraj Swami: We’ll discuss it when we get to it but the answer is offenses.

Devotee : [unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Full taste. Just like someone begins the process of devotional service, he has some taste for devotional service. But then again ruci can refer to a specific stage. So, one will certainly have some taste for devotional service, but it doesn’t mean that he has come to the stage of ruci, as a stage. There is a definition of the stage of ruci or an explanation of the stage of ruci in Madhurya-kaḍambinī, and when one is in the stage of ruci, he gets more taste from kirtan than from anything else. If he is in kirtan and somebody passes by with some alluring material object, he is not interested. We may have some taste for kirtan but if there is some other opportunity, we may leave the kirtan also. Or our mind may leave the kirtan. But when we we are in the stage of ruci, then the mind doesn’t go here and there looking for pleasure. In vaidhī-sādhana-bhakti, Rupa Gosvami has listed sixty-one principal items of devotional service.

Now do we have to engage in all of them?

No, Rupa Gosvami has explained that if one has niṣṭhā, if one is firmly fixed and engages in one of the nine main processes or two or three or all nine, he can achieve the goal of bhāva-bhakti. So, in one sense, when one comes to the stage of niṣṭhā then he gets firmness in devotional practices. He is not deviated or disturbed by different elements which are mentioned in Madhurya-kaḍambinī, like sleep and other things.

Then when he is at the stage of niṣṭhā and with niṣṭhā, he engages in any of the nine or all of the nine, then he can reach the goal of bhāva-bhakti. And there are examples. Who’s the example of the devotee who attained perfection by śravaṇam? Okay, why don’t you raise your hands for the process and the devotee? I won’t name the process. You have to think of the process and the devotee.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, kīrtanam—Śukadeva Gosvami yes, So śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam. If someone concentrates on one item that is called eka-aṅga, and if someone concentrates equally on several items or all nine items, that is bahu-aṅga or aneka-aṅga. So, one can achieve perfection either by eka-aṅga or aneka-aṅga provided he has niṣṭhā, that he is very fixed in his practice.

All right, so how many have turned in the homework on Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen. That means ‘Devotional qualifications,’ up to ‘Devotional qualifications.’ And how many have turned in the homework on Fifteen and Sixteen. Now the homework, you have homework? What was the homework?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Anyway, no harm, the assignment was to outline Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen. You did it because I told you, or out of spontaneous love because I said to do it. Most of the time it’s like. . . That’s true, once you got the order, you had spontaneous enthusiasm. Okay so please everyone read Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen because we are going to discuss tomorrow. And tomorrow will be the last day that the homework will be accepted, which is the outline for Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen. And now that means you should write down the main points. What is the main point, what is the sub point, and what is the relationship between the points.

Okay, thank you very much. Hare Krishna.