BG 3.10 – Sankirtana-yajna for This Age

Giriraj Swami: Reading from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Three, Text Ten. Chapter entitled “Karma-yoga.”

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 10

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā
purovāca prajāpatiḥ
anena prasaviṣyadhvam
eṣa vo ‘stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Viṣṇu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home – back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patiṁ viśvasyātmeśvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also (2.4.20) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir
dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ
patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ
prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ

The prajā-pati is Lord Viṣṇu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacrifices) for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after finishing the present material body they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance of yajña, the conditioned souls gradually become Kṛṣṇa conscious and become Godly in all respects.

In the Age of Kali, the saṅkīrtana-yajña (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Saṅkīrtana-yajña and Kṛṣṇa consciousness go well together. Lord Kṛṣṇa in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) as follows, with special reference to the saṅkīrtana-yajña:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.” Other yajñas prescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the saṅkīrtana-yajña is easy and sublime for all purposes, as recommended in Bhagavad-gītā also (9.14).

COMMENT

Sometimes ignorant persons or foolish persons criticize the Lord, asking why did the Lord create a material world which is so full of misery? But here we can understand the purpose of the creation is to give a chance to the conditioned souls to rectify themselves and purify themselves so that they can go back home, back to Godhead. So actually, human form of life here in the material world is a great opportunity, and how we can fulfill the mission of human life is explained in the verse here in Bhagavad-gītā: that we have to perform yajña or sacrifice for the satisfaction of Vishnu or Krishna.

The Lord has recommended the performance of sacrifice so the living entities can live peacefully and happily in the present life, and at the end of the present body, return to the kingdom of God, back home, back to Godhead. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam specifically recommends the performance of the saṅkīrtana-yajña for the present age of Kali-yuga. There are different ages which rotate like the seasons, one after the other. There is Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga, and Kali-yuga, and in each age, a specific method of God realization is recommended. In Satya-yuga, the method of meditation was recommended, and in Treta-yuga, the method of Vedic sacrifice. In Dvapara-yuga, the method of temple worship, and in the present age of Kali-yuga, the recommended method is hari-nāma.

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

One should chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name. There is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in the present age of Kali. The phrase nāsty eva, nāsty eva, nāsty eva is mentioned three times to indicate no other way is possible or practical. In other words, not by karma, not by jnana, and not by yoga, but only by bhakti, or chanting the holy names of Hari. Again, harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam, it is repeated for emphasis that you must chant, you must chant, you must chant. There was once a cartoon in a magazine in America which shows an old lady and an old man on a bench in the park, and the lady was saying to the man, “Chant, chant, chant,” and the man was replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” Srila Prabhupada also saw the cartoon and he also spoke about it. So this is the influence of Kali-yuga. Although it is easier to chant the holy name than anything else, people, for no reason at all, refuse to chant. There is no explanation for it at all. The only explanation is that such persons are extremely unfortunate, and due to extreme misfortune, they’re not able to chant the holy names of Hari.

But if someone can do so, he can merge into the ocean of love of Godhead, which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally came to deliver. Actually, every conditioned soul in the material world is dying. He is dying of thirst, dying of hunger, because he is spirit soul and the soul needs nourishment. The nourishment for the soul is hari-nāma. But poor persons who don’t take the nourishment of hari-nāma, they’re dry, they are almost dead. But by chanting the holy names, they can come to life. Generally, people think that yajñas should be performed in order for the production of grains, and Lord Krishna also says in Bhagavad-gītā that all living entities subsist on food grains. Food grains are produced from rains, and rains are produced from sacrifice. So the heart also is like a field, and the field of the heart is very dry, maybe very dry. In most cases in the material world, it is very dry. But when we get the mercy of guru and Gauranga, we can get the seed of bhakti, and we have to plant the seed of bhakti in the field of the heart.

But simply planting the seed is not enough. We have to water the seed, and by performance of saṅkīrtana, the seed becomes watered by the nectar of hari-nāma. By watering and watering and watering the seed with the nectar of hari-nāma, the seed will sprout. Then gradually, gradually, it will grow up and up, and it will unfurl two leaves, then another two leaves, then a bud, a flower, and a fruit. So, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has come, he is like a cloud of a nectar, cloud of mercy, and he showers down his mercy into the heart of the person, who engages in saṅkīrtana-yajña. By saṅkīrtana-yajña, we get the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it water the plant of bhakti within the heart, so that it can grow and flourish and produce beautiful fragrant flowers and fruits, sweet delicious fruits. So everyone should merge himself in performance of saṅkīrtana. By performance of saṅkīrtana, not only is the plant of bhakti watered, but all dirt and contamination are washed away, so that the heart becomes fresh and clean and a good place for the plant of bhakti to develop. The ultimate fruit of the bhakti plant is kṛṣṇa-prema, and this was the specific purpose of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s appearance. Srila Rupa Gosvami has prayed to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu,

namo mahā-vadānyāya
kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ

You are the most munificent incarnation of Godhead because you are giving freely what no other incarnation has ever given, and that is kṛṣṇa-prema. Certainly, you are Krishna because who else besides Krishna can give love for Krishna? Only Krishna can give. And you have taken the mood and the color of Srimati Radharani, although you are Krishna, but you have the golden color of Srimati Radharani, and you have the internal mood of Srimati Radharani of love for Krishna, and you have come to give the same love for Krishna to the conditioned souls within the material world. Therefore, you are most munificent. How does he give? He gives through the medium of the holy name, by the chanting of the holy names or by the performance of the saṅkīrtana-yajña, we can get kṛṣṇa-prema.

Lord Chaitanya appeared 500 years ago and he predicted,

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma

sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

In every town and village of every country of the world, my name will be sung or Krishna’s name will be sung, and thus people will develop love for Krishna. For many years, the prediction of Lord Chaitanya was not fulfilled. But then, a little more than twenty-five years ago, His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our founder acharya, left India with the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to spread the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, which is Krishna consciousness. As Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport that saṅkīrtana-yajña and Krishna consciousness go well together because by the saṅkīrtana-yajña, one actually develops Krishna consciousness. The holy name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are the same. Nāma-cintāmaṇi kṛṣṇa, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. The holy name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are identical. So when we chant the holy name, we are actually in the association of Krishna. Krishna is not alone; Krishna is always present with His associates like Srimati Radharani, Nanda Maharaja, Yasoda Mayi, the cowherd boys, the cows, the calves, the peacocks, Sri Vrindavan dhāma, the Yamuna River, Govardhana Hill, and the whole spiritual world. Krishna is always present in His dhāma. So wherever Krishna is present, His dhāma is present also, and in His dhāma, He engages in pastimes with His devotees.

The holy name of Krishna is the same as Krishna, and Krishna is not alone. He is present in His dhāma with all of His associates and their pastimes. By chanting the holy names of Krishna, everything about Krishna becomes revealed: His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His associates, His dhāma—everything is revealed. So actually, we have nothing to do except chant the holy name. We have no other business, no other work. Of course, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted the people everywhere to chant, and therefore, besides chanting the holy name, we have some service to the holy name and to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to take the holy name to every town and village, to every person in every town and village. The service of the holy name of preaching is the same as the service of chanting. In fact, kirtan means glorification; saṅkīrtana means complete glorification—glorification of the name, the form, the pastimes, the paraphernalia, and everything, that is saṅkīrtana. So when we chant the holy name or preach about the glories of the name, we are engaged in the same process of kirtan. By such performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, all desirable things will be bestowed upon us.

Different people desire different things. Some people desire bhukti, which means material enjoyment. Some people desire mukti, which means liberation. Some people desire siddhis, which means mystic perfections. Whatever you want, your desire can be fulfilled by saṅkīrtana-yajña. But pure devotees do not want anything except bhakti, the service of the Lord, and they will not accept any other benediction. Even if the Lord Himself offers it, they will not take liberation, so what to speak of mystic powers or sense gratification. They have no interest in anything except the service of the Lord because the ecstasy of the service of the Lord is millions and trillions of times greater than the happiness even of impersonal liberation, so what to speak of material enjoyment, which is very flickering and temporary.

One Vaishnava poet, Govinda dasa says, kamala-dala-jala, jīvana ṭalamala, that our life is just like a drop of water on the leaf of a lotus flower. If the petal of the lotus flower shakes or trembles even slightly in the wind, the drop which is clinging to the leaf or the petal can immediately fall down and be shattered. So our life is so precarious; we are in such a dangerous position. Even a slight disturbance, and our whole life can be shattered into millions of pieces. Material happiness is very tenuous, very temporary, and short-term because material happiness is based on the body, and the body itself will end, and all the happiness connected with the body will also end. We are so attached to the body and things connected with the body. Even if we lose a little money, we become so upset. We are very attached to the body and things related to the body, but when death comes, what to speak of our wife, our children, our relatives, our friends, our house, our car, our money, and even our body, we have to leave, so how painful it will be.

Material existence is painful, and impersonal liberation is just a reaction to material misery. There is not much positive bliss in Brahmananda. The word is there, Brahmananda, the bliss of impersonal brahman, but actually, the bliss of impersonal brahman is not much when compared to the bliss of devotional service or bhakti. If you take the bliss of impersonal liberation and multiply it by millions and trillions of times, still it’s not equal to a fraction of a drop of the happiness derived by the person from devotional service, from prema-bhakti. We should not settle for anything less than prema-bhakti, and we should not accept anything less than prema-bhakti. Therefore, although the chanting of the holy name or the performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña can bestow upon the living entity whatever he desires, he should not desire anything except kṛṣṇa-prema; kṛṣṇa-prema is the very thing that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to give through the performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña. If we perform saṅkīrtana-yajña with the only desire to get kṛṣṇa-prema, then by the mercy of the holy name, by the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, by mercy of disciplic succession, we can get kṛṣṇa-prema, which is the highest perfection of life, premā pum-artho mahān.

Are there any questions or comments?

Now, we have guru-puja for Srila Prabhupada, followed by kirtan.