NOI 3 – Success in Devotional Service—with Kesava Bharati—Part 01

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Reading from the Nectar of Instruction, the authorized English presentation of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Sri Upadeśāmṛta by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

TEXT 3

utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt

tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt

saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ

ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati

TRANSLATION

There are six principles favorable to the execution of pure devotional service: (1) being enthusiastic, (2) endeavoring with confidence, (3) being patient, (4) acting according to regulative principles [such as śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam – hearing, chanting, and remembering Kṛṣṇa], (5) abandoning the association of nondevotees, and (6) following in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas. These six principles undoubtedly assure the complete success of pure devotional service.

COMMENT

Have you all read the verse and purport, or you are just expecting to hear? So, in the verse, Srila Rupa Gosvami has advised that we should be enthusiastic. But what should we be enthusiastic about? We should be enthusiastic about devotional service. So first, we should know what is the definition of pure devotional service. And the definition is, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā. The definition is given by Rupa Gosvami in another book called Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

So, every Sanskrit definition has two parts. One part gives the primary characteristics, and the other part gives the secondary characteristics. So, the primary characteristic is ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ; ānu-śīlanaṁ means cultivation. In other words, we have to work at Krishna consciousness. Krishna consciousness does not mean that we just sit idly and do nothing. Krishna consciousness means that we work. But for what purpose? For whom? Krishna. Krishna does not only mean Krishna, but Krishna also includes Krishna’s expansions like Rama, Vishnu. If we are serving Rama or Vishnu, we are also eligible for pure devotional service because they are included in Krishna. And similarly, the pure devotees are also included in Krishna. So, if we serve the pure devotees or the spiritual master, that is also kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ. And ānukūlyena means favorably. We should serve Krishna favorably, as Krishna wants.

I used to give the example of one big man in Bombay who showed me his beautiful silver box filled with tulasi leaves, and he said that, “I don’t even take tea without putting tulasi leaves.” But he did not consider, or he thought we will not consider that Krishna does not accept tea with or without tulasi leaves. So, we cannot offer Krishna something, which Krishna does not want. So, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ means we should serve Krishna favorably, as Krishna wants. So, in Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, that, “If you offer Me with love and devotion a leaf, a fruit, a flower, or some water, I will accept it.” So, we should offer Krishna what He wants. And he never asks for meat, fish, eggs, or any sort of intoxicant like coffee, tea, or cigarettes. So, we do not offer such things to Krishna, we offer Krishna what He wants. Then, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ, when we engage in pure devotional service, we should have no other desire except to please Krishna and serve Krishna. Sometimes people go to the temple and bow down before the deity, make some prayer, or give some money in the hope or expectation that they will get something in return. We often see big politicians go to some deity or some sadhu, not because they want to become pure devotees, but because they want success in the election or whatever. So, even though they may bow down before the deity, they may pray to the deity or even give money to the deity, but if they have other desires, selfish desires, they are not engaged in pure devotional service.

So, Rupa Gosvami says a little later in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat, that the desires for bhukti, that means material enjoyment, or mukti, spiritual emancipation, are like witches. Do you know what is a witch? You are medical students, commerce students. So, do you know what is a witch? Like a demonist, someone who has other desires. Other desires means material desires, selfish desires. They are under the spell of the witch or haunted by a ghost. Just like if someone is under the spell of a witch or haunted by a ghost, his natural consciousness becomes covered, his natural desires become perverted. So, our desire should be to please Krishna and serve Him. But if we have other desires like sense gratification or liberation, we are like persons haunted by a ghost or under the spell of a witch, we think something, which we don’t want to think, we say something we don’t want to say. So, such desires are actually superfluous, they have nothing to do with the soul, and they are actually harmful. So, just like in the heart, Rupa Gosvami says that if one has these desires in the heart, he cannot experience the real sweet taste of devotional service. Just like if you find out that some person’s house is haunted by a ghost or inhabited by a witch, you won’t want to go and stay there. So similarly, if someone’s heart is being inhabited by a ghost or a witch, as evidence by such material desires, then pure bhakti won’t want to stay there. And we can only really experience the nectar of Krishna consciousness when we become free from such desires. So, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. And such devotional service should not be covered by jnana, impersonal speculation, or karma, fruitive work.

So, if we fulfill these conditions; no other desires, no karma, no jnana, also no yoga, no anything outside Krishna consciousness, and we always engage in the cultivation of devotional service as Krishna wants, then we are engaging in pure devotional service. So, in pure devotional service there are nine activities, and the first is śravaṇaṁ. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam. But first is śravaṇaṁ. And śravaṇaṁ means hearing. Hearing from who? Pure devotees, yes. We should hear from devotees, from pure devotees. So therefore, before anything else, we have to hear from pure devotees, from the spiritual master. And therefore, the first step in the preliminary items of devotional service is to hear from the pure devotee, from the spiritual master, and take shelter of his instructions. Then utsāhān niścayād. Niścayāt means. . .? Yes? Yes.

Srila Prabhupada translated it as confidence. We should be confident that, “By engaging in pure devotional service, I will get everything. I don’t have to engage in fruitive work, I don’t have to engage in mental speculation, I don’t have to engage in any other activity except pure devotional service. I should be confident of that.” Someone may think that pure devotional service can definitely bring one to the highest perfection of life, but he might think that, “I am too fallen, I am too weak, I cannot engage in devotional service properly. And therefore, I will not be successful.” But Srila Prabhupada says, “No, niścayāt, you should be confident that once you have begun the process of devotional service, you will be successful in the end.” Srila Prabhupada said that devotional service is so pure and so powerful, that if someone begins the process of devotional service, he will be forcibly dragged to success. Even if we don’t have any strength to go there, we will be dragged to success. Even if we have some reluctance or some resistance, but if we just begin and continue, we will be dragged to success. So, that is niścayāt, we should be confident that by devotional service, we can get everything. And that, “If I begin devotional service, ultimately, I will be successful and I will get everything.”

And we should also be confident on the other side, that, “By engaging in karma or jnana or yoga, I cannot really gain anything.” Because karma, jnana, and yoga are weaker than bhakti, so if we add them to bhakti, the mixture becomes weaker. But if we stick only to bhakti, bhakti alone is stronger. Therefore, Srila Prabhupada used the term ‘unalloyed devotional service.’ You know what is an alloy? Yes. So, when Srila Prabhupada first came to America, to Boston, he saw one sign on the side of a building, and the sign said ‘unalloyed steel.’ So, Srila Prabhupada said, “They are advertising unalloyed steel, and we are advertising unalloyed devotional service.” So, they are advertising unalloyed steel because steel is strong and it is pure. So, unalloyed steel is of a higher quality than alloyed steel. Of course, alloyed steel is cheaper, so people may take it, but if one can afford it, unalloyed steel is pure and strong.

So, unalloyed devotional service is pure and strong. And so, we don’t want to mix any inferior processes like karma, jnana, yoga. Just like if you want unalloyed steel, you don’t want any inferior metals to be mixed with it, that will make it weaker. So, we should be confident in the efficacy or the potency of pure devotional service. And we should also be confident, on the other side, that karma, jnana, yoga, tapasya, without bhakti cannot help us. But actually, they will weaken us in devotional service. And dhairyāt. What is dhairyāt? Patience, yes. One should be patient in executing devotional service. He cannot expect results immediately; he cannot expect perfection immediately. So, he must be patient. And Srila Prabhupada gives the example that when he went to the United States, he struggled alone for some time before any people joined him. He was actually thinking, “Maybe I should go back to India.” And he was sometimes going to the steamship office, that, “When is the next ship returning to Bombay?” And he even wrote Sumati Morarjee, who had sent him on Scindia Steam Ship to America, but she wrote back that, “No, Swamiji, you should stay in America until your mission is completed, you should not come back.”

So, we have to be patient even if results do not come immediately. But if we continue to work with enthusiasm and confidence, we will be successful. And Srila Prabhupada is the example, patience. Even to get Hare Krishna land in Juhu, Srila Prabhupada had to face so many obstacles. And sometimes there also he thought whether we will be able to build the temple or not. But he was determined and he continued. And in the end, he was successful, by the grace of Lord Krishna. So, we should be patient. And tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt, one must follow the regulative principles that are favorable for devotional service. Again, in regulative principles, there are two divisions; yam and niyaṁ. Yam means negative prohibitions, and niyaṁ means positive injunction. So, negative prohibitions are no meat eating, no intoxication, no illicit sex, no gambling. And positive injunction, chant Hare Krishna, associate with devotees. And negative prohibition is, don’t associate with non-devotees. So, especially the basic regulations are no eating meat, fish, eggs, no gambling, no intoxication, no illicit sex. Those are don’ts. And dos? Chant Hare Krishna. These are the basic injunctions.

And there are so many, there are so many given in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, sixty-four different items. And the first ten are dos; to take shelter of a spiritual master, to take initiation from him, to receive instruction from him, and to serve him, to follow the previous acharyas, and so on. Which are also mentioned here, some of them. And there are don’ts, like don’t commit offenses. So, we should do all the dos and the don’ts; yam and niyaṁ. Then saṅga-tyāgāt; saṅga means association with worldly people, and tyāgāt means to give up. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has specifically stated asat-saṅga-tyāga — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra, that the characteristic behavior of a Vaishnava is that he avoids association with ordinary people. Asat-saṅga; sat means devotees, truthful devotees, and asat means either non-devotees or devotees who are not truthful.

Actually, there is a meaning, there is a meaning, that a devotee should be very sincere and he should have only one goal, to serve Krishna and please Krishna. But there are devotees, they are devotees, but they have other desires also. So, we should not associate intimately with them also. We can meet them, preach to them, and engage them, but we should not become very intimate with them. So, asat-saṅga-tyāga, — ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra ‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu; one type of asādhu is someone who is very attached to women and sense gratification, could be a devotee also. Because the other category is ‘strī-saṅgī’ — eka asādhu, ‘kṛṣṇābhakta’ āra, and the other category is non-devotee, one who is not a devotee of Krishna. So, we should not associate intimately with those who are not devotees of Krishna, or those who are attached to material enjoyment. So, that is saṅga-tyāgāt.

And sato vṛtteḥ; sato vṛtteḥ is the opposite. Sat means devotee, truthful devotee. Because sat means truth, and Krishna is the absolute truth. So, sat means truthful devotee. Sato vṛtteḥ, and one should follow them, one should associate with them who are available for us to associate with, and one should follow them. Like the six Gosvamis, we should follow them. All the predecessor acharyas, like Srila Prabhupada first and foremost. And Srila Prabhupada himself was following the previous acharyas. And they knew how to fill every moment with Krishna consciousness. So, following the previous acharyas, Srila Prabhupada has given us a program of Krishna consciousness in which we can always be engaged in Krishna consciousness, day and night, from four in the morning until eleven at night, it is stated elsewhere here. [laughter]

Recently, I read this to someone, and the person said, “Oh, four in the morning to eleven at night? Meaning?” So I said, “Yes, from eleven at night until four in the morning you can do whatever nonsense you like.” [laughter] But that is not the idea. The idea is at night we take some rest to keep the body fit for serving Krishna. And then from four in the morning to ten at night, we engage in favorable devotional service. So, ṣaḍbhir bhaktiḥ prasidhyati, by these six activities, one makes advancement in devotional service or becomes successful. So, in very few words, Srila Rupa Gosvami has given the whole summary of how to be successful in devotional service. So, we should learn these principles and apply them. But sato vṛtteḥ, just by associating with devotees. . . For example, you may not know all the principles, you may not know all the reasons, you may not know all the arguments, you may not know all the details, but if you associate with devotees and take their instructions and follow their examples, you can make advancement and be successful. And therefore, Srila Prabhupada formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, so you can get the association of devotees. And just by associating with the devotees, following the devotees, you will be successful. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:31:32]

Giriraj Swami: Very good question. The same question, that in the beginning, when we come to Krishna consciousness, we are very enthusiastic and everything seems very fresh and new. So, how can we maintain our enthusiasm year after year? Well, the simple answer is, as given by Srila Prabhupada, that enthusiasm comes from Krishna consciousness, and Krishna consciousness comes from following the regulative principles. So, we should not become slack in following the regulative principles. If we are strict in following the regulative principles, then we will be Krishna conscious. And by being Krishna conscious, we will be enthusiastic.

And in the purport here, Srila Prabhupada specifically mentions that if we are slack in following any one of the four principles, then we are violating the recommendation in the verse, and we will have to struggle for some time, because it will not be easy if we violate one of the regulative principles. But if we follow the regulative principle strictly, then we will be in good consciousness, Krishna consciousness, and we will be enthusiastic. So, it means rising early, taking baths, attending maṅgala-ārati, chanting rounds, attending guru-puja, reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, then we will maintain our enthusiasm. But if we become relaxed, “I don’t need to get up early, I am too tired,” then gradually, we become weak. And as we become weak, we lose our enthusiasm. We have to follow strictly, tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt. But to follow strictly, we can get help from the association of other enthusiastic devotees. So, again, sato vṛtteḥ.

Well, you know what the senses are, and gratification means to gratify the senses. Now, there are two categories of sense gratification; material and spiritual. So, when we gratify the senses without Krishna, outside Krishna consciousness, it is material. And if we gratify it in devotional service, it is spiritual. Once, one devotee told Srila Prabhupada that he likes to play kartals in the kirtan, so is it sense gratification? [laughter] And Srila Prabhupada replied that sense gratification is there, that it is either spiritual or material. And when we do it to please Krishna, it is spiritual. So, when we talk about avoiding sense gratification, we mean material sense gratification. When we honor prasādam, it is sense gratification. But if we honor prasādam in the mood of serving Krishna, keeping the body and soul together to serve Krishna, thinking that the prasādam is Krishna, we are taking the remnants of Krishna, it is spiritual. And if we just prepare food to eat, without offering it to Krishna, then it is material sense gratification.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:15:35]

Giriraj Swami: Why are you studying?

Devotee: To get a degree.

Giriraj Swami: To get a degree and. . .?

Devotee: To work and earn some money.

Giriraj Swami: To work and earn some money, and? [laughter]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:16:23]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. So, if the whole process culminates in living as a devotee, then the process is dovetailed in Krishna consciousness. But if the whole process culminates in spending the money on sense gratification, then the process is sense gratification.

Devotee: But what about right now?

Giriraj Swami: The problem in Kashmir is caused by some people thinking, I am Hindu and some people thinking I am Muslim. Some people are thinking that we belong to India, we should belong to Indians, some people are thinking we should belong to Pakistan, we belong to Pakistan. But if they chant Hare Krishna, then all such conceptions will be washed, then everyone will think that I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Krishna, they won’t think I am Hindu or I am Muslim. How to make them chant? You hold the gun and say, “Chant Hare Krishna or I will kill you.” [laughter]