BG 4.10 – Hankering and Lamenting

Giriraj Swami: So, we shall read one verse from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, translation and purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Chapter Four, “Transcendental Knowledge.”

TEXT 10

vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhā
man-mayā mām upāśritāḥ
bahavo jñāna-tapasā
pūtā mad-bhāvam āgatāḥ

TRANSLATION

Being freed from attachment, fear, and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purified by knowledge of Me – and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand how the Supreme can be a person. Such materialists cannot even imagine that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarrassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision. One has to get rid of all three stages of material consciousness: attachment to material life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that arises from frustration in life. To get free from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhāva, or transcendental love of Godhead.

According to Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.4.15–16), the science of devotional service:

ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-
saṅgo ‘tha bhajana-kriyā
tato ‘nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt
tato niṣṭhā rucis tataḥ

athāsaktis tato bhāvas
tataḥ premābhyudañcati
sādhakānām ayaṁ premṇaḥ
prādurbhāve bhavet kramaḥ

“In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In the next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which is matured in bhāva, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life.” In the prema stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one’s individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations that result in void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord.

COMMENT

So, almost everyone in the material world is in bodily concept of life. Almost everyone, thinks, I am this body. I am American. I am Indian. I am Gujarati. I am Hindu. I am Jain. I am man. I am woman, and so on and so on. But actually, I am not the body. I am the soul within the body, and the body is just dress. Suppose I ask this young man, “Who are you?” And suppose he says, “I am blue shirt.” Is that a very good answer? Suppose I ask this lady, “Who are you?” and she says, “I am pink sari,” is that a good answer? But if we say, “I am American,” or “I am Indian,” or “I am Mr. Gandhi,” or “I am Mr. Patel,” it is the same. Because the soul is not Gandhi or Patel; only the body is Gandhi. But The body is just the dress; the body is not the person. So, who am I actually? I am the soul. But almost nobody thinks like that, that I am the soul. Almost everybody thinks I am the body. But this is illusion or maya, I am this body. And along with the illusion, “I am this body,” comes another illusion: that anything in relation to the body is mine. Because I am this body, so the lady that I am married to is my wife. There are millions and billions of ladies in the world, but I think that this one is my wife. But actually, in relation to the soul, she has no special relationships. Only in relation to the body, we think, She is my wife. These are my children, darling children. Then my house, my car, my bank balance, so many things, and that is all maya.

Bhagavad-gītā says māyā-jāla, like a net, we are caught in a net of maya. So, how to get out of this net? We have to cleanse the mind. Right now, the mind or the heart is full of so many dirty things, and the basis of all the dirty things is the idea that I am with this body. So, how to cleanse the heart of such dirty thoughts? The method is saṅkīrtana, the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the incarnation of Krishna for the modern age of Kali-yuga, has described the effects of chanting. And he has said ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, that the chanting of the holy name of the Lord cleanses the mirror of the mind. Just like if you want to see yourself in a mirror, but if there is dust on the mirror, you cannot see yourself. If you want to see yourself in the mirror, who you are, you have to clean the dust. So, according to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the method for cleansing the dust from the mirror of the mind is to chant Hare Krishna. So everyone repeats:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So, by chanting Hare Krishna, we can actually realize that we are not the body. And when we realize that we are not the body, what will be the result? We will become joyful. That will be the first instalment that we get from chanting Hare Krishna, we will feel joyful. And we will no longer lament over anything in this material world, nor will we hanker for anything in this material world. People in the bodily concept of life are always hankering, “I want this; I want an increase in my salary; I want a better job; if I have more money I can do so much; I could get a new house or new car,” I saw one advertisement in Surat here. Now, even if you don’t have money, they want you to buy a car and the company will finance the car. This is maya. And the company is saying that you should get the car for the sake of those who love you. The idea is your wife loves you, your children love you, so you should make them happy by going into debt and getting a car. So, the whole advertising industry is meant to increase your hankering. Now they are advertising washing machines. It is so easy just to wash the clothes, but they want to sell a machine to wash the clothes.

So, this is hankering, “If I get this, I will be happy.” But this is an illusion. Because even if you get a new car, you won’t be happy, or even if you get washing machine, you won’t be happy. So, hankering is itself a type of suffering. You are not satisfied, you are not happy, so you are hankering, if I get something, then I will be happy. And the other activity is lamenting. That we had something, and we lost it, so we lament. I had such a good business. I had so much money, but my partner cheated, or my customer cheated. And of course, the greatest lamentation comes when we lose some loved ones. My father died, so I lament. My husband died, so I lament. So, when we chant Hare Krishna, and we realize, “I am not the body,” then this hankering and lamenting will stop. We will be joyful. Of course, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have feelings for our friends and family, but the feeling should be on the basis of the soul, not on the basis of the body. Say, the father died or the husband died, and the wife is crying, “My husband is gone. My husband is gone.” But why do you say your husband is gone? The body is lying on the bed. “No, no, my husband is gone. My husband is gone.” That means that your husband is not the body because the body is lying there on the bed, but still, your husband has gone because the soul has gone. So, the person is actually the soul, not the body. But during our life, we are only thinking of the body, but the real person is different—he is the soul within the body.

So, when we realize the soul within the body by chanting Hare Krishna, we will see everyone the same. Right now, we are making distinctions. “I am Hindu. You are Muslim.” But actually, the soul is not Hindu or Muslim; the soul is spiritual. Or if someone thinks, I am Indian, and someone else thinks, I am Pakistani. Similarly, someone may even think, I am a human being. Still, he kills animals and eats the flesh of the animals. The other day, I met a Christian man in Europe, and I said that the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” So why do you kill? You are eating meat; that means you are killing. He said, “No, no, I am not killing. Someone else is killing. I am only eating.” So, I explained that in a murder, when there is a conspiracy, everyone is arrested, and everyone is sentenced, not only the one who pulls the trigger. So, according to shastras, eight persons are responsible for the killing of the animals: the person who raises the animals for slaughter, the person who slaughters the animals, the person who sells the meat, the person who buys the meat, the person who cooks it, the person who serves it, and the person who eats it. All are responsible, and all are punishable.

So, killing animals and eating meat is most sinful, but it comes from the bodily concept of life. If I ask you, “Will you eat your child?” Nobody will eat his child. Why? Because he loves this child. But we don’t love the animals; that means our love is defective. But if we absolutely love God or Krishna, which is the ultimate result of chanting, then we will love all of the other children of God, including the animals. So samaṁ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, we will see everyone equally, that everyone is part and parcel of Krishna. Krishna is the Supreme Father. And we are all His children. So, if one child kills another child, will the father be pleased? No, Therefore, even the Bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” So, all of these are the results of chanting: that I realize I am not the body, and I become joyful. I become free from hankering and lamenting, and I see everyone equally. But the main results or the best results is that I develop pure love for Krishna, or God. Because when one develops pure love for Krishna, he does not have to take birth again in the miserable material world. So, this is the special gift of Krishna Chaitanya. Krishna Chaitanya is glorified by one prayer of Rupa Gosvami.

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

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sri Krishna Chaitanya, who is Krishna Himself, but He is more merciful even than Krishna. Although, He is Krishna but as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu He is more merciful than Krishna because He is giving freely what no other incarnation has ever given. That is kṛṣṇa-prema. And when we have love for Krishna, automatically we will have love for every living entity. No more friends and enemies, but we will see everyone the same as souls, servants of the Lord or Krishna. It may happen that in the present life, I am thinking I am Hindu or I am Indian, but in the next life, I may take birth and I may hate Pakistani, and but in next life, I may take birth in Pakistan, and hate the Indians. So, what is the sense? There is no sense. So, we should stop all nonsense and just chant Hare Krishna. So, please repeat after me,

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Now, are there any questions?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:35:30]

Giriraj Swami: So, the Doctor says that generally religious leaders in India name some institution in their own name. For example, Ramakrishna Mission or Chinmaya Mission. But our founder Srila Prabhupada did not include his name in the name of his institution. He included only the name of Krishna: International Society for Krishna Consciousness. In 1971, we had a big pandal program at Cross Maidan in Bombay, and above twenty thousand persons were attending every evening. So, as we have here, so there also we had a book table, where we were making available books and other literature. Some persons asked us at the book table, “Do you have any photo of Srila Prabhupada?” Because I was very surprised when I came to India. Every taxi driver had some little picture on his dashboard, and almost every taxi driver had a different picture from every other driver. So, I thought if we have a picture of Srila Prabhupada, some will keep Srila Prabhupada’s picture in the car but Srila Prabhupada replied, “No. I don’t want they should have my picture. I want that they should have Krishna’s picture. So, this is a pure devotee. He does not want anything for himself. But he wants everything for Krishna.

So, we will be continuing our programs here every evening for the next week. Personally, I will miss you all for a few days, but I will be back again on Friday. So, Friday evening and Saturday evening, we will be together here, and Sunday afternoon, we will have the Uttara or the return procession of the chariot from here to the temple. So, I hope to see you all then. Now, we will have more chanting and dancing. I am sure that some of you have questions, but you are shy.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:42:18]

Giriraj Swami: He says, “Why are you chanting only Hare Krishna?” There may be Muslims and Christians also. So, why only Hare Krishna?

So, as we try to explain, the soul is part and parcel of God, and the soul is not Hindu or Christian or Muslim, and the Supreme Soul, God or Krishna, also is not Hindu or Christian or Muslim. In Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says, “pitāham sarva-bhūteṣu, I am the father of all living entities.” He doesn’t say that I am the father of Hindus or He is the father of the Indians. He is the father of every living entity. So, God is God. God is one. There are no separate gods for the Hindus, separate God for the Muslims, and separate gods for the Christians. There is only one God, and He is called Krishna. Krishna, because Krishna means all-attractive. No one can be God unless he is all-attractive. Being all-attractive includes having all good qualities. [audio cut] They will be attracted to Him. You may say that God is kind, so if someone is kind, we will be attracted to him. So, any attractive quality or desirable quality will be found in God in full, and therefore He is all-attractive. But still, if someone is a Christian or Muslim, we do not say that he must chant Hare Krishna only. If he is following some other scripture Bible or Quran, he can chant the name of God found in the scripture he follows. So, if he wants to chant Allah Allah or Jesus Jesus, it is also very good. We only say that one should chant the holy names of God. But if one is not chanting any other name of God, then he can chant Hare Krishna which was chanted by Lord Chaitanya and which is mentioned in Vedic scriptures. But we should not chant the name of demigods. If we chant, Shiva Shiva, or Durga Durga, the results will not be the same. But we must chant the name of the Supreme Personality of God, Krishna.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:48:45]

Giriraj Swami: He says that negation of life is the ultimate result of detachment. How far is it true?

If a patient is suffering from a disease, he may think, I wish I could die. Because he is suffering so much, so the impersonalists, jnanis, and yogis have the same idea. That we are suffering as individuals in the world, so we should give up our individuality and merge and become one with God or Brahman. In other words, they want to commit a sort of spiritual suicide. But Vaishnava’s conception is different. We also agree that everyone in the material world is suffering because material existence is a disease condition of life. But we don’t say that to relieve the pain of the patient, that the patient should be killed. We say the patient should be cured. The patient, the diseased person, is thinking that everything is painful. Eating is painful, sleeping is painful, passing urine, passing water is painful, moving is painful, everything is painful. So, better to die. But he does not know that when he is cured of the disease, then he will be able to eat, drink, work, and do everything without pain. So, we don’t want to kill the patient like impersonalists who want to merge and become one with the God. But we want to cure the patient. He comes to the natural, healthy, joyful condition of life, which is Krishna consciousness.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:55:20]

Giriraj Swami: So, he says negation of life is not the ultimate result of detachment.

You see the impersonalists or Mayavadis, they only try to cultivate detachments from the body or detachment from maya. We should be detached from maya, but they think everything is also maya, they think Krishna is also maya. So, they say that we should be detached from everything, which is negative. But our process is positive. We say, become attached to Krishna, then automatically you will be detached from maya. And Krishna also says the same thing: mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha become attached to me; daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā—maya, which is made of the three gunas, is very difficult to overcome. But, mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te; one who surrenders to Krishna, he can easily cross over maya. So, the Mayavadis are negative. Neti Neti, not this not that They only want to reject maya, to become detached. But if we become attached to Krishna, we automatically become detached from maya, plus we get the benefit of enjoying eternal life with Krishna. So, it was a good question.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:58:55]

Giriraj Swami: All mantras are included in Hare Krishna maha-mantra. So, if you chant Hare Krishna, you will get the benefit of Gayatri mantra also. Now, here is one in English: “We Hindus burn our dead body. Muslims and Christians bury their dead bodies. Why do these differences exist?”

According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we should not be attached to the body because the body is temporary, and in the end, it will become either ashes, worms, or stools. If the body is burnt, it will become ashes, and if the body is buried, it will become worms because worms will come and eat it. And the Parsis, they leave their bodies in the openness, so vultures or other animals will come and eat the bodies, and it will become stools. So, either ashes, worms, or stools. We should not be so interested in the body. We should be more interested in the soul and the relation of soul with the Supreme soul.

This is a very good question here.

Question: What is the meaning of attachment to Lord Krishna? Do you want that all persons will always chant the name of Krishna, and leave aside all work and duty? If we don’t leave our work and duty, how will we become attached to Krishna.

Well, the method of becoming attached to Krishna is to follow the instructions of Krishna, specifically the process of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga involves nine processes, called nava-vidhā bhakti; śravaṇam hearing about Krishna, like we are all hearing about Krishna now. Then kīrtanam, chanting about Krishna, smaraṇam remembering Lord Krishna, so altogether nine processes. But in Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna never says that you should give up your duty. He says you should do your duty for Krishna, just like Arjuna was a kshatriya, his duty was to fight. So Krishna never told him to give up his duty as a kshatriya. But Krishna told him to do his work for the benefit of Krishna according to the instructions of Krishna. So, there are four varṇas and four ashramas: brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa, and brahman, kshatriya, vaishya, and sudra. They all have their work, and they all have their duties. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has cited one very important verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which summarizes the whole process of Krishna consciousness. The verse comes from the Tenth Canto from the prayers of Lord Brahma to Lord Krishna. And there, Lord Brahma says, jñāne prayāsam udapāsya namanta eva, jñāne prayāsam, give up the bad habits of mental speculation, namanta eva and just become submissive; jīvanti san-mukharitāṁ bhavadīya-vārtām and live in such a way that you can always hear the glories of the Lord chanted by devotees; sthāne sthitāḥ remain in your position. That means, if you are a grihastha, you remain a grihastha. You don’t have to become a brahmachari or sannyasi. Or if you are kshatriya, you don’t have to become brahman or vaishya; sthāne sthitāḥ you remain in your position. śruti-gatāṁ but engage in the service of the Lord with your body, mind, and words. Then the Supreme Lord Krishna, who is ajita, or unconquerable, will become conquered. And this is the perfection of life.

So, we don’t have time to answer all the questions. If some of you are very anxious, you can come up after the kirtan and ask us. Otherwise, during the rest of the week, we can also try to answer the questions. So, all devotees should come to the stage.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Now that was very good. But there were a few individuals here and there who were not chanting. So everyone should kindly chant. It is a great opportunity. We are not charging any fee. We are giving freely Hare Krishna. It doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t have cholesterol. There is no tax on it. So, you have nothing to lose. So, everyone should please chant with hands upraise.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So now, as some of you may have already experienced from the previous night, we will add music, but the process will be the same. I will chant, and you will hear and then you will chant and I will hear. And we will also add dancing because dancing is also very important. You will see there is a picture on the altar of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates. His hands are upraised, and he, along with his associates in Jagannatha Puri, would chant and dance for three hours every evening. Actually, everything in bhakti-yoga, or I should say everything in ashtanga-yoga, is included in bhakti-yoga. So, in ashtanga-yoga, or kundalini-yoga, they try to raise the kundalini up the spine to the top of the head. So, this is automatically accomplished by dancing in kirtan. Of course we are not interested in kundalini-yoga. We want to develop love for Krishna. But it is a fact that by chanting and dancing, one gets the same results as kundalini-yoga.

So now, we will stand up.