Vaishnavas Live Forever in Sound

Giriraj Swami: On Tuesday, three days from today, is the appearance day celebration for His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, who was the spiritual master of our Srila Prabhupada. I thought to read from the concluding words to Sri Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, in which Srila Prabhupada speaks about his spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and his relationship with him. Srila Prabhupada wrote the concluding words in Juhu, Bombay. As many of you may know, Srila Prabhupada would generally retire at around 10:00 at night and he would sleep for two hours. Then, he would arise again at about 12:00 o’clock midnight and translate his books. Then, at around 6:00 in the morning, we would come to his quarters to accompany him on his morning walk. So, one morning, we came to the door to Prabhupada’s quarters. And Prabhupada’s secretary opened the door and he was in a very excited mood. He said that last night Srila Prabhupada completed Sri Caitanya-caritāmṛta and he dictated the most wonderful glorification of his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja. So we shall read what Srila Prabhupada wrote.

Sri Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, CONCLUDING WORDS

Today, Sunday, November 10, 1974—corresponding to the 10th of Kartik, Caitanya Era 488, the eleventh day of the dark fortnight, the Rama Ekādaśī —we have now finished the English translation of Sri Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami’s Sri Caitanya-Caritāmṛta in accordance with the authorized order of His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja, my beloved eternal spiritual master, guide and friend. Although according to material vision His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada passed away from this material world on the last day of December, 1936, I still consider His Divine Grace to be always present with me by his vāṇī, his words. There are two ways of association—by vāṇī and by vapuḥ. Vāṇī means words, and vapuḥ means physical presence. Physical presence is sometimes appreciable and sometimes not, but vāṇī continues to exist eternally. Therefore, we must take advantage of the vāṇī, not the physical presence. The Bhagavad-gītā, for example, is the vāṇī of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Although Kṛṣṇa was personally present five thousand years ago and is no longer physically present from the materialistic point of view, the Bhagavad-gītā continues.

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada is stating a basic principle of spiritual life. One can associate with the spiritual master or with any higher authority in Krishna consciousness, either by physical presence or by words or transcendental sound. And of the two, association by transcendental sound is more important because one can always associate with the superior authority by his words, whereas one may not be able to associate with him by physical presence. We all are in the same situation as Srila Prabhupada in the sense that we are all followers of Srila Prabhupada now, but he is no longer physically present. But he is present through his words, and we can associate with him through his instructions. Of course, Srila Prabhupada emphasized his instructions in his books, in particular, but we also can hear his words through his lectures and conversations, and we can read his words in the letters he wrote to his disciples and others. And we can have his association. Srila Prabhupada dedicated the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which was his life’s work, to his spiritual master, and the dedication read, “To my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, he lives forever by his divine instructions, and the follower lives with him.”

Similarly, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote a dedication or glorification of Srila Haridasa Thakura, which he inscribed for Srila Haridasa Thakura’s place in Jagannatha Puri. The verse that Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote is, “He reasons ill, who says that Vaishnavas die, Vaishnavas, when thou art living still in sound. Vaishnavas die to live and living spread the holy name around.” So Vaishnavas live forever in sound, and the main sound in which they live is the holy name of Krishna and the instruction to chant the holy name of Krishna. So, by following Srila Prabhupada’s instructions, we live with him. He is alive in transcendental sound, and when we follow his instructions, we are also alive, and we live with him. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that devotional service is the real life of the living entity.

When he engages in devotional service, he is alive, and when he is devoid of devotional service, he is dead, although he may be walking and breathing, but actually, he is as good as dead. In fact, one verse that Srila Prabhupada quoted says that one’s birth in a great nation, one’s beauty, one’s education, one’s wealth, they are all just decorations of the dead body for one who is devoid of devotional service to Krishna. And when Srila Prabhupada first came to the West, he paraphrased the verse in a very natural and beautiful way, and he said, “You Americans have everything, you have education, you have personal beauty, you have wealth, you have a great nation, but they are all just zeros. And zero plus zero plus zero equals zero. But if you put a one in front of the zeros, you get a thousand or a million or a trillion. And the one is Krishna. So we have to add Krishna to our lives, and then everything about our lives will have value. They will take on meaning and beauty. But without Krishna, they are like zeros. They don’t amount to anything, because at the time of death, everything is finished. We are left with zero. The only thing that continues after the time of death, the only asset that stays with us, is our advancement in Krishna consciousness.

Whatever advancement we make materially is completely finished at the time of death. Suppose I amass one hundred thousand dollars, but at the time of death, everything is finished, and in the next life, I start again with zero. Suppose I study and get a PhD in the present life or an MD. At the time of death, everything is finished, and in the next life, I don’t even know how to talk. My parents, perhaps, teach me ABC. So whatever we acquire materially is lost at the time of death. But whatever we accrue spiritually stays with us. So if I advance 1 percent in Krishna consciousness in the present life, then in the next life, I begin from 2 percent. Nothing is lost, and eventually, I will reach 100 percent, and then I will be eligible to go back home, back to Godhead, to the spiritual world. Most people have no idea of the existence of the spiritual world. They think that the temporary world is everything. But according to Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other perfect sources of knowledge, beyond the material universe is the spiritual sky. And just as, we have so many material planets within the material universe, there are so many spiritual planets in the spiritual sky. In fact, the spiritual sky and planets are much greater in number and size than the material world.

The material world is just one quarter of the creation of God. But actually, one quarter is just a figure to give us an idea. Actually, the spiritual world is unlimited, and therefore, we cannot measure any proportion of it. But it is much vaster than the material world, and it is much better. Matter, by nature, is temporary. At least the forms of matter, life within matter is temporary, full of ignorance, and full of misery, whereas life in the spiritual world is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. Now, if we are given a choice, and in fact, we are given a choice, if we are given a choice between a temporary, ignorant, miserable existence and eternal, merciful, spiritual existence, which will we take? Of course, we will, yes.

Devotee: We will take the second one.

Giriraj Swami: We will take the second one, yes. Even the child can figure that out. But because people are ignorant, they don’t even know about the spiritual world. So they think the material world is everything, and they put all of their efforts into trying to enjoy life in the material world, which is impossible. We can enjoy to some extent, but not much because whatever happiness we get is mixed with misery. And of course, the worst misery is death. Well, I guess there are so many miseries, but the most common is death because no one can avoid death. No matter how much we love our father and mother or our wife or her husband, eventually one by one they all will die, and we will also die. So there is happiness, but it is always marred by distress. And the proportion of happiness and distress may vary from time to time or person to person. But we are always in duality of happiness and distress. But by nature, the soul wants pure, unadulterated eternal happiness, and it can never be satisfied with this mixture of happiness and distress which culminates in death.

So when a conditioned soul or an ignorant person comes in contact with a devotee, such a meeting is considered the most auspicious occurrence that could possibly happen. Because when one meets a devotee, the devotee gives him information about the spiritual world, that we don’t have to take birth and struggle and suffer and die, and then take birth again and suffer and struggle and die again and again and again. But we can actually return to our real home, to our original home where life is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss, which suits us because the soul is, by nature, eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. And when we understand the value of Krishna consciousness, that Krishna consciousness can fulfill all of the desires of the soul and take the soul beyond the material world to the spiritual sky and ultimately to the spiritual abode of Krishna, then one loses interest in the petty things of the world.

Devotees do not reject the material world like Mayavadis because we know that the material world is part of the creation of God and the living entities are children of God. And God, as the supreme father, wants them all to come back to Him, to come back home, back to Godhead. And therefore, the material world has value because although the material world is miserable, it does give us the chance to meet a devotee. And through the association of the devotee, to learn about the beautiful life of Krishna consciousness and to actually enter into it. So in the concluding words to Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Srila Prabhupada describes the fortunate occasion when he met his spiritual master.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In this connection we may call to memory the time when I was fortunate enough to meet His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada, sometime in the year 1922. Srila Prabhupada had come to Calcutta from Sridham Mayapur to start the missionary activities of the Gaudiya math. He was sitting in a house at Ulta Danga when through the inducement of an intimate friend, the late Sriman Narendranath Mullik, I had the opportunity to meet His Divine Grace for the first time. I do not remember the actual date of the meeting, but at that time I was one of the managers of Dr. Bose’s laboratory in Calcutta. I was a newly married young man, addicted to Gandhi’s movement and dressed in khadi.

Fortunately, even at our first meeting His Divine Grace advised me to preach the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in English in the Western countries. Because at that time I was a complete nationalist, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s, I submitted to His Divine Grace that unless our country were freed from foreign subjugation, no one would hear the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously. Of course, we had some argument on this subject, but at last I was defeated and convinced that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s message is the only panacea for suffering humanity.

COMMENT

What is a panacea?

Devotee: A cure.

Giriraj Swami: A cure for everything, a cure for all ailments. In other words, birth, death, old age, and disease. All sufferings of humanity can be cured by Krishna consciousness.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

I was also convinced that the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was then in the hands of a very expert devotee and that surely the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would spread all over the world. I could not, however, immediately take up his instructions to preach, but I took his words very seriously and was always thinking of how to execute his order, although I was quite unfit to do so.

COMMENT

So Lord Chaitanya gives us information of our actual identities and our actual home. Lord Chaitanya is the personality of Godhead Himself, He is Krishna Himself come in the form of Krishna’s devotee and He explained the essence of Vedic knowledge. Knowledge of our relationship with Krishna. Our relationship with Krishna means knowing who I am, who Krishna is, and what our relationship is. So the Vedic literatures teach us that ‘I’ the living entity, am spirit soul, and Krishna is the supreme soul or Supreme Personality of Godhead. And I am the eternal servant of Krishna. Then Vedic literature teach abhidheya, which is the means of attaining the goal. And the means of attaining the goal is bhakti-yoga, pure devotional service. And the goal, which is to be achieved is kṛṣṇa-prema or pure love for Krishna. And Lord Chaitanya told a story of a very poor man who was met by an astrologer. And the astrologer told him that actually, you are not a poor man. Actually, you are a rich man. Your father was very rich and he left a treasure for you. But the treasure is buried in the garden. So the poor man wanted to know where to find the treasure. The astrologer explained that if you dig on the south side, you won’t be able to get it. I am summarizing. If you dig on the west side, you won’t be able to get it. If you dig on the north side, you won’t be able to get it. But if you dig on the east side, then very quickly your hands will touch the treasure and you will be able to enjoy all opulences and naturally all miseries will go away.

So the analogy in the example is that the poor man didn’t know that he had a relationship with the treasure or he didn’t know that his father had left the treasure for him. So first he had to understand, the treasure that existed from the relationship with the father. And that is compared to sambandha-jñāna, the knowledge of the relationship. Then he had to know the process by which he could unearth the treasure. And the other three directions are compared to karma, jnana, and yoga. One cannot get the treasure of kṛṣṇa-prema through karma-yoga or jnana-yoga or even ashtanga-yoga. But one can very easily and quickly get the treasure of kṛṣṇa-prema through bhakti-yoga.

So we are all living in a wretched, poor condition. Everyone is poor because everyone is in want. Everyone wants more. At one time, the richest man in the world was John Paul Getty. We have the Getty Center in Los Angeles. So one reporter asked Mr. Getty, ”You are the richest man in the world. Can you tell us in a word what your philosophy of life is?” He said, “Yes, I can tell you in one word: more.” That was his philosophy of life. He wanted more, just like anyone else. And, the reporter, I don’t know if it was the same reporter or someone else, but, one reporter asked him that ”You are the richest man in the world. You can have whatever you want, whenever you want it. What do you think about when you are all alone and there is nobody there? What do you think about when you are alone?” And he said, “How to pay the bills.” Just like anyone else. We might be worried about how to pay a thousand-dollar bill, and maybe he was worried about how to pay a million-dollar bill. But he also had his bills to pay, and that is what he was preoccupied with, just like poor men. So we are actually all poor. That is the point. We are actually all poor because everyone in the material world wants more. He is in want. He wants more, and he is worried. Now, where is the money going to come from to pay for either the new car or the new house or the new company or whatever.

So we are all poor, but we are sons of the richest father, Krishna. And, we can enjoy the greatest treasure which is love for Krishna. And when we have love for Krishna, then all the miseries and anxieties and cares and worries of material existence will go away, and we will live with our father in the spiritual world, and He will take care of our needs in every way. So, this is the great gift of Krishna consciousness, kṛṣṇa-prema. I will just quickly finish reading because we will have to continue with the program.

CONCLUDING WORDS (continued)

In this way I passed my life as a householder until 1950, when I retired from family life as a vanaprastha. With no companion, I loitered here and there until 1958, when I took sannyasa. Then I was completely ready to discharge the order of my spiritual master. Previously, in 1936, just before His Divine Grace passed away at Jagannatha Puri, I wrote him a letter asking what I could do to serve him. In reply, he wrote me a letter, dated 13 December 1936, ordering me, in the same way, to preach in English the cult of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as I had heard it from him.

COMMENT

And the rest of the concluding words explain how Srila Prabhupada attempted to execute the order of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and how he felt His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakura was always with him. In other words, they were always associated by transcendental sound. And then Srila Prabhupada explains how he formed the International Society for Krishna Consciousness to execute the order of his divine grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was very fond of seeing transcendental literature published in various languages, and how Srila Prabhupada wanted his disciples to cooperate with him in his service to his spiritual master by publishing and distributing many books.

So what we are enjoying now in ISKCON is the legacy that Srila Prabhupada received from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and which he has passed on to us. And the legacy is of service, service to guru and Gauranga. In the material conception, people don’t want to be the servant. “Be a servant, I don’t want to be a servant, I want to be the master. If anything, I want to have servants.” In the material world, it is not a very happy situation when one has to serve a materialistic person. But in the spiritual world, it is an ecstatic situation to serve the Supreme Lord or the Lord’s devotees. And that is the legacy that Srila Prabhupada has given us. So, we should understand our relationship with Srila Prabhupada as Krishna’s representative, that we are his eternal servants. And the way to serve him is to follow his instructions, which include general instructions of bhakti-yoga and specific instructions for serving the mission of Guru and Gauranga, and to realize the supreme goal of life, to develop pure love of Godhead through the process of devotional service. Then, we will be the richest people in the universe, and we will look at demigods like Brahma or Indra, who is the king of heaven. We will see them like ants, like insects, so insignificant. And the whole material world, it seems like a phantasmagoria with no real reality, substance because we will have something that is so much greater.

And that is why in Krishna consciousness, we don’t emphasize much artificial renunciation or negation of material things, but rather by engaging anything and everything, even material things in Krishna’s service, we eventually, become Krishna conscious. We develop pure love for Krishna. And then we are experiencing such a high taste, such a superior taste in Krishna consciousness that we lose the taste for dull material things. And we see the only reason to even be in the material world is to serve Srila Prabhupada and preach Krishna consciousness and the association of like-minded devotees.

So, you have not only inherited the legacy, but you know that you have inherited it, which is very good. And I am sure, to different degrees, you are able to experience the value of the treasure that you have inherited. And will get more and more of the benefit as you continue to Krishna consciousness. And will also be generous like Lord Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada, and share the treasure with others, material treasures. Say I have a hundred dollars, and if I give someone ten dollars, and I have ten dollars less, ninety dollars. If I give someone ninety dollars, I have ninety dollars less, I have ten dollars, or zero. But spiritually, the more you give, the more you get. So therefore, as devotees, we would like to give more and more. The more we give, the more Krishna gives us and everyone gains. The quality of mercy is not strained, which is the one who gives it and the one who receives it. So we should as we already are, immerse ourselves in the nectar of Krishna consciousness and try to bring others into the nectar or put the nectar into others and somehow, get everyone in the nectar. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions? Yes.

Devotee: Maharaja, very nice story you told about the man who was looking for the treasure. And he didn’t have a west body, no more ghosts attacking him. So, and if he is searching the wrong way, he would not get his hand on the face, he would not find treasure. So, how to understand in the First Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, it says that Sankhya yoga and Kali-yuga actually, it is the same because it leads to the same goal?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Sankhya yoga is the analysis of the elements of creation, and there are perhaps twenty-four material elements, and then there is the individual soul and the supreme soul. So, when we understand the individual soul and the supreme soul, that is like sambandha, and from there, if one follows the natural conclusion, one will engage in devotional service because it is the natural relationship of the part to serve the whole or the small to serve the great. And then as you say, as Bhagavad-gītā says and Srila Prabhupada says, they come to the same thing. Srila Prabhupada gives the example that you can look at a plant and analyze it and then ultimately come to the conclusion that there is a root to the plant. And that is like the Satya philosopher, whereas the devotee is like the person who pours water on the root. And by pouring water on the root, he sees the plant grow.

So, both realize the root, but one does it by analysis, and the other realizes it by service. So if one remains on the level of just analysis, then one will not get the treasure of kṛṣṇa-prema. But if one comes with a conclusion, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate, that if one comes to the conclusion of the process of knowledge, which is surrender to Krishna, then he can reach the goal. Like Srila Prabhupada says the different types of yogas are like stepping stones on the way to bhakti-yoga, and if they culminate in bhakti-yoga, then ultimately they come to the same point. Yes.

Devotee: So, it is just that, eka-pada Vibhuti and tri-pada Vibhuti, three quarter. It is like an example, to help us understand the actual differences and how the spiritual world is actually so much larger. It was just like an example, because that is always. . .

Giriraj Swami: That is right. The spiritual world is unlimited and inconceivable, but just to give us an idea, we say that it is three quarters and the material world and one quarter. So, of all the processes of devotional service, the most essential or the most important or the best is the chanting of the holy name. That is why we are the Hare Krishna movement, we are the Hare Krishna people. And  that is what it all comes to. And as Srila Prabhupada said, that in the spiritual world, in the absolute world, the means and the end are absolute. There is no difference between the means and the end. Chanting Hare Krishna is the means and chanting Hare Krishna is the end. Or as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā, that bhakti comes from bhakti. Prema-bhakti comes from sādhana-bhakti.

Once, I was at the airport with Srila Prabhupada. I mean, there were so many of us at the airport with Srila Prabhupada. But when one reporter sort of challenged Srila Prabhupada, “What does chanting accomplish?” And Srila Prabhupada smiled very broadly into the reporter’s eyes, said, “Chanting accomplishes chanting.” The more we chant, the more we chant.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!