Evening Darshan—Q&A

Giriraj Swami: If any of you have any questions. . .

Devotee: I just wanted to ask questions in relation to the relationship between a spiritual master who is also acting as a GBC. Sometimes a spiritual master will give instructions. For example, he may say to the disciples, “I would like you to do a book,” and then the disciple will accept that and execute that instruction. But at the same time, he may find himself in a situation where he has to accept the order of a temple authority. Authorities may say, “We want you to do his worship because there is a shortage of pūjārīs,” and then he may find himself in between, not knowing which order to follow. In Vedic culture, a spiritual master has the ashrama, and he lives with his disciples, so he is the only authority. How does that apply to it?

Giriraj Swami: I was in a similar position in 1970 in Gorakhpur. Srila Prabhupada got a copy of Back to Godhead from America, which included an article by me. He read the article, and the article was about guru, and he was very pleased. So he asked to see me. Then he said, “I have seen your article?” Srila Prabhupada instructed me to write. He said that you should write, and he said that you can travel with me for some time, and I will also instruct you about writing.

At that time, Hansadutta Prabhu wanted to start the world traveling saṅkīrtana party. So he asked Srila Prabhupada if I should travel with him. Srila Prabhupada said, “All right.” We went to Agra and Aligarh, and then we got a telegram that Srila Prabhupada wanted us to come to Bombay to prepare for the first pandal. So we went to Bombay. Then there was a meeting of all the devotees to discuss what the devotees should do. Shyamasundara was the president, so he said I should go to collect ads for the souvenir. I said that Srila Prabhupada told me to write. Shyamasundara replied that this is a one-time opportunity where we can walk into any man’s office in Bombay and ask for money, ask for an advertisement. So you should do this now, and then afterwards you can write. So I followed what he said. Then some days or weeks later, Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay. When he arrived, all the devotees went into the room, and he was exchanging words with the different devotees. When he came to me, he said, “How is your writing going?” I didn’t know what to say, and he saw that I was confused and wasn’t able to reply. So he said, “All right, you can come and see me later.”

After the devotees left the room, after a little while, I went to see Srila Prabhupada. I told him what happened—that I had come to Bombay and Shyamasundara said that I should collect for the souvenir for the pandal, and that he said it was a very special opportunity we have to collect, and that I can write later. I said that you always taught us that we should cooperate with the authorities, so I thought he is the authority, so I should cooperate. Then I asked Srila Prabhupada if I had done right or not. Srila Prabhupada replied that the order of the spiritual master can be suspended, but it cannot be neglected. He said, “Just like my guru Maharaja told me to write, but now I am so busy traveling all over India and having programs, I have also had to suspend that order.” So, of course, depending on what the order is. But basically, we should do what the authorities say, and under certain circumstances, if we can’t follow the direct order of the spiritual master, we may have to leave it for some time and then come back to it. But one could tell the authority what the spiritual master has said and suggest the authority consult the spiritual master if necessary to settle the matter.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:08:26]

Giriraj Swami: Just like one knows that one should follow the regulative principles, but then one falls down. At first, when he falls down, he feels very bad about it. Then he falls down again, doesn’t feel so bad, falls down again, doesn’t feel so bad, and gradually he becomes covered. He doesn’t even feel it when he falls down so much. So what is the throwing, and what is the covering? The throwing pulls us down, and the covering makes us think that we are all right, we are not down. Next, we look at others, we see how fallen they are, we think, well, we are not so far, and there are so many that are more fallen than us, we are all right.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:10:10] Maharaja, in Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter Fourteen, Text Fourteen, Prabhupada writes that if one’s body is in the mode of goodness, he attains to higher to planetary systems like Janaloka and Maharloka, where he enjoys godly happiness with saintly persons on the higher heavenly planets. But if we read in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it says that the residents of the heavenly planets actually want to take birth on this earth planet. So it sounds a bit contradictory that Prabhupada writes that one enjoys saintly happiness, godly happiness on the heavenly planets if he leaves his body in the mode of goodness, and if in Bhāgavatam it says that the residents of those planets want to take birth as human beings on this planet?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I wouldn’t say it is contradictory, but it shows that if someone wants to go to the heavenly planets, he is not very intelligent because the demigods on the heavenly planets want to come to the earth planet because the earth is more favorable for Krishna consciousness. So in Krishna consciousness, we try to come to the transcendental platform, which is beyond the material mode of goodness. Because even if we are in the material mode of goodness, we have to stay in the material world and suffer. So we don’t want to be in the material world at all in any mode. So we want to practice bhakti-yoga and go back to Godhead. So the demigods also want to go back to Godhead, and they see that birth on earth is better because on the higher planets, there are too many heavenly pleasures, so they can forget about Krishna consciousness. And life is too long, they can think that they will never die, so they don’t remember the importance of Krishna consciousness. So they think that for Krishna consciousness, I should better take birth on earth.

Because there is enough suffering that we realize that we can’t be happy, but there is enough facility that we can practice devotional service. On the higher planets, there is too much enjoyment; on the lower planets, there is too much misery. So the earth is considered more favorable for the cultivation of Krishna consciousness. And Krishna consciousness is transcendental. If one is more advanced in Krishna consciousness, even if he is not perfect, he won’t take birth on a higher planet; he will take birth on earth and have a better chance to continue in Krishna consciousness here. Those who do some devotional service but not much, not as much, they can take birth on the higher planets in the next life. But those who are more advanced but still not perfect, they take birth on earth and they continue where they left off here.

Devotee: Maharaja, during Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes, when Lord Nityananda was struck with the pot by Jagai and Madhai, now we understand that He has a spiritual body, but when He was struck, his body began to bleed. How it possible for a spiritual body to bleed?

Giriraj Swami: Well, when the Lord comes to play the part of an acharya or a human being, He adopts the activities of a human being, and He assumes the appearance of a human being because He is playing the part. And the devotees also serve Him in the same mood that He is human, although they may know that He is God, but they still serve Him in the mood that He is like them. Sometimes Lord Chaitanya would appear to eat too much, and then He would have digestive disorders. So the devotees would give Him no condiments and special preparations for digestion.

We should never think that they are human. Even if there is blood, it is not material. Actually, we cannot judge. We look at the body of the spiritual master, and we cannot judge whether it is spiritual or material. To us, both look the same, by yoga-māyā, we cannot distinguish or mahā-māyā, depending on how we see it.

Question: Maharaja, how does one make spiritual advancement in a place where the atmosphere is so contaminated, like Hillbrow, especially when a devotee is in a neophyte state?

Giriraj Swami: His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami told me that one devotee asked him a similar question, and he replied that you are in the temple but temple is Vaikuntha, but actually, you are not in the temple; your mind is in Hillbrow. Your body may be in temple but mind is in Hillbrow. So, our mind should be at the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Then we won’t be in Hillbrow.

Srila Gaurakishora Babaji instructed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura that you should not go to Calcutta. He was in Mayapur, and he instructed him, you should not go to Calcutta because Calcutta was a horrible place, very materialistic and very sinful compared to Mayapur. But finally, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura went to Calcutta and began to preach. So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Do you think my guru Maharaja disobeyed the order of his spiritual master? “He said, “No, he was never in Calcutta; he was always in Vaikuntha.” So we are in heaven or hell or Vaikuntha by our consciousness, not by the location of our bodies. If we are serving Krishna, then we are with Krishna wherever we may appear to be.

Question: If an aspiring devotee is committing offenses against the holy name, will he or she be able to come to the understanding that he or she is offensive if he or she is not corrected by some senior devotee?

Giriraj Swami:

teṣāṁ satata-yuktānāṁ
bhajatāṁ prīti-pūrvakam
dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ
yena mām upayānti te

That one who is constantly engaged in the service of the Lord with love and devotion is given intelligence by the Lord on how to make advancement in Krishna consciousness. So even if one is not learned in the scriptures, and even if one is not able to get direction from the spiritual master, but if he is sincere, then the Lord Himself will guide the disciple and he can make progress, and gradually he should be able to read and understand the books. He should be able to associate with devotees and get instructions from them. But even if he is not able to, for one reason or another, if he is sincere and always ready to offer services, whatever is required day or night, then he will get help from the Lord personally.

Question: How do I become totally dependent on Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: Well, Krishna is the only one we can really depend on, but sometimes we try to depend on material things, but material things are not dependable. So if we are sincere enough, we pray to Krishna to make us fully dependent on Him, and he may take away the false supports that we are trying to get in the material world. Like Srila Prabhupada said in the lecture today, yasyāham anugṛhṇāmi hariṣye tad-dhanaṁśanaiḥ, that when Krishna wants to give special mercy to some devotee, He takes everything away from the devotee so that the devotee has no one else to depend on, nothing else to depend on except Krishna. Then, being fully dependent on Krishna, having no other refuge or support, he can surrender fully to Krishna and engage fully in Krishna’s service. So if we cannot take exclusive shelter of Krishna by our own efforts, Krishna will help us and take away our material supports, false material supports, and thus bring us closer to Him.

Devotee: Like conditioned soul like me. . .

Giriraj Swami: There is no other conditioned soul like yourself. [laughter]

Devotee: When I act, it is out of a motivation for personal pleasure. So, to transplant that desire for Krishna’s pleasure, can that be done through an intellectual adjustment, or does it take a genuine spiritual attachment before one can actually act for someone else’s pleasure?

Giriraj Swami: Well, there are different platforms of pleasure. There is gross sensual pleasure, subtle mental pleasure, and spiritual pleasure. The pleasure of the soul comes from the pleasure of Krishna. When we give pleasure to Krishna, and Krishna is actually pleased, then the soul feels pleasure. The pleasure of the soul is of a different quality than the pleasure of the mind or the body. The pleasure of the soul is much greater, much better. So, if we give a little pleasure to Krishna and experience a little pleasure in Krishna consciousness, then we lose some of the taste for material enjoyment. Then we try to give more pleasure to Krishna, and if Krishna becomes more pleased, then we will experience more pleasure in Krishna consciousness. Then we’ll again have more taste for Krishna consciousness and less taste for material so-called happiness. Gradually, we will get more and more taste in Krishna consciousness and have less and less taste for material so-called happiness.

But the intelligence is important because, in the beginning, we are so contaminated. Even if we engage in activities that are meant to please Krishna, we don’t like it. So, with our intelligence, we should force ourselves to do it. But then gradually, as the contamination becomes washed, we can actually feel the happiness of Krishna consciousness. Then we take more and more pleasure in Krishna consciousness and less and less in material life. If someone is really dirty and he takes a bath, he will feel pleasure in the sense that he will feel washed of the dirt and feel better.

Rupa Gosvami gives the example that if someone is suffering from jaundice, because his taste is perverted by the disease, he cannot taste the sweetness of sugar candy; sugar candy tastes bitter. But the cure for the disease is to take sugar candy. So, if you take sugar candy under the direction of the physician, gradually, as the disease becomes cured, the sugar candy will taste sweeter and sweeter. Then, when he is completely cured, he will be able to taste the sugar candy as it is, sweet like nectar. The transcendental names, forms, qualities, and pastimes of the Lord are sweet like nectar, but as long as we are diseased, we cannot taste the sweetness. But by chanting and hearing, gradually, we become cured of the disease, and then we can appreciate the sweetness of Krishna consciousness. So, with our intelligence, we know that the holy name is the medicine, and we should take the medicine even if we don’t taste the medicine as sweet because we know that the medicine will cure us, and then we’ll be able to taste the sweetness. So gradually, we have to practice and make progress. Any questions?

Question: Krishnadasa Maharaja made the point that wherever there is chanting of the holy name, there can never be any ghosts. Please explain how Chitteshwar removed so many ghosts from the temples and land and also removed so many ghosts from certain individual devotees?

Giriraj Swami: Well, there are two parts to the question. One is implicit, and the other is explicit. The implicit question is that when there is chanting of the holy name, how could there be ghosts? The explicit question is how did he remove them?

He apparently can see ghosts, which others cannot see. I don’t know if we have to say that where there is chanting of the holy name, there can’t be ghosts, but we can certainly say that one cannot be disturbed by ghosts. I don’t know how he sees them. Maybe someone is sending them. How does he remove them? From what I have heard, he has some connection with the leader of the ghosts, so by some means, he satisfies the leader of the ghosts, and then he tries to get the leader of the ghosts to get the other ghosts to leave. But I don’t think we should indulge in such things. Maybe we should just chant the holy name. I mean, maybe in some very extreme cases, one might need some special remedy. But I think, in general, we should just be absorbed in chanting and hearing and depend on Krishna.

Question: How does one develop and maintain the mood of urgency which is required to take spiritual life seriously and make rapid advancement?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the same thing, If we are complacent, then the things that are giving us the false sense of comfort or security can be taken away by Krishna, and then we will realize that we have to depend fully on Krishna. It is urgent because the sooner we surrender to Krishna, the sooner we will get relief. As long as we don’t surrender to Krishna, we’ll have to suffer all the anxiety and all the misery because the things that made us feel comfortable and complacent have been taken away, or some of them have been taken away. Krishna will help if we are sincere. If we are sincere and we pray to Krishna, then Krishna will help. Otherwise, when we actually begin to relish the nectar of Krishna consciousness, then we won’t feel complacent. We’ll feel very urgently that we want to drink more and more nectar, and we won’t want to waste a moment. Tasting the nectar means pleasing Krishna. Pleasing Krishna means preaching. So there is the urgency to preach, the urgency to please Krishna, the urgency to get Krishna’s reciprocation, and the urgency to drink more.

Just like we feel dependent on the air that we breathe—if we can’t breathe even for a minute or two, we feel that we will die—in the same way, we should feel that without Krishna consciousness, without the association of devotees, without the service of Krishna, we can’t live. Just like even if we don’t breathe for two minutes, it becomes very urgent; we have to breathe. So, in the same way, without Krishna consciousness, we should feel that we can’t live. It is urgent that every moment we should be in Krishna consciousness.

Question: Maharaja, how should one become truthful to the vows he makes to the Lord?

Giriraj Swami: Well, in the description of civilized human beings in the Bhāgavatam, different qualities are especially required in different classes. Like brahman have some specific qualities, kshatriya, vaishya, and sudra. But one quality which is considered essential for all civilized human beings is truthfulness. If someone is not truthful, he is not a human being.

Once, Srila Prabhupada was asked on a morning walk by a devotee that someone had a job but he also wanted to be Krishna conscious. Srila Prabhupada said that, “He can keep his job, maybe a job in a factory, and he can still be Krishna conscious.” Then the devotee asked, “Well, what if he wants to give up his job and join?” Srila Prabhupada said, “Then he can give up his job and join. Either way, he can decide what he wants.” Then the devotee said, “But, Srila Prabhupada, he has to spend so many hours at work. By the time he comes home in the evening, he is so exhausted he can just take some prasāda and take rest. He has no time to chant his sixteen rounds.” Then Srila Prabhupada stopped, put his cane in the ground, and said, “What? He cannot chant his sixteen rounds? Then he is an animal.”

Because the difference between a human being and an animal is that a human being can be Krishna conscious. To be Krishna conscious, Srila Prabhupada has determined that we have to chant sixteen rounds. Another difference is that a human being keeps his word. So if a person takes a vow to chant sixteen rounds and doesn’t keep it, then he is not a human being, not civilized.

So if we take a vow and we are not able to follow it, or we feel we are not able to follow it, then we should keep trying and associate with strong devotees and pray to be able to do it. Gradually, we can do it. We can go to India, go to the holy places, get some strength and inspiration there, get good association, and try to improve.