Devotional Endeavors Are Never Wasted

Giriraj Swami: As some friends have come for the first time, we shall welcome them and explain some of the basic principles of Krishna consciousness. The Krishna consciousness movement was brought to the West in 1965 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whose pictures are displayed there. But Srila Prabhupada himself was the representative of a long line of spiritual preceptors, stretching through the past, up to Lord Krishna, who is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When we say Krishna, we do not refer to any sectarian concept of God. God has various names, and various languages, and various scriptures, and various cultures.

So, the name Krishna appears in the Sanskrit language, in the Vedic literatures. And the name Krishna means, literally, all-attractive. God is the Supreme Soul, and we all, living entities, are individual souls, part and parcels of the Supreme Soul. And by nature, we are meant to be attracted to the Supreme Soul, just like little pieces of iron are naturally attracted to a magnet. But if the iron is covered by rust, then the iron will not be attracted to the magnet, although by nature, the iron is attracted to the magnet. So, we, as spirit souls, are naturally attracted to the Supreme Soul, Krishna, or God. But when we are covered by material rust, or contamination, we are not attracted. But rather, we are attracted to maya. Maya means illusion, or the illusory energy of God, which attracts the conditioned souls to try to enjoy in the material world. The illusion is that when we try to enjoy in the material world, we become bound to the material nature, and we are forced to suffer in so many ways in the material world.

Sometimes the material world is compared to a prison house, and maya is the warden that keeps us imprisoned. So, the process of Krishna consciousness is to cleanse the rust that covers the iron, or to cleanse the contamination that covers the soul, so that we are attracted to Krishna, as we are meant to be. And when we are attracted to Krishna, we become freed from the attraction to maya, which means we become liberated from the bondage of material existence. And the process for cleansing the dirt from the heart is hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord.

There are many systems of yoga mentioned in the Vedic literatures, but the easiest method, and at the same time, the highest form of yoga, is called bhakti-yoga, which is the yoga of devotion to God. But again, because God is the Supreme Soul and the living entities are parts and parcels of Him, when we develop love for God, or Krishna, we automatically develop love for all living entities who are parts and parcels of Him. So, Krishna consciousness is actually very scientific. It’s not a sectarian religious belief, but it is a scientific method by which the individual soul can be purified from the material contamination and revive its eternal love, or its original love for God, or Krishna.

So, between hearing and chanting, hearing comes first because we can only chant something that we have heard, we can only repeat something that we have heard. So, the first step in bhakti-yoga is śravaṇam. Śravaṇam means hearing. And hearing about Krishna includes hearing about His name, hearing about His qualities, hearing about His paraphernalia, hearing about His form, hearing about His pastimes, hearing about His associates. All such topics are included in hearing about Krishna. So, what you are doing now is actually the beginning of bhakti-yoga, because you are hearing about Krishna. You don’t have to sit in some posture, close your eyes in meditation. But simply by hearing about Krishna, you are beginning the practice of yoga, and the highest form of yoga. The basic textbook of yoga is Bhagavad-gītā.

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ

mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā

śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ

sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ

“Of all different types of yogis, the one who worships Me. . .” Because the Bhagavad-gītā is spoken by Krishna Himself. “The one who worships Me with love and devotion is the highest.” And the Vedic culture in India was arranged in such a way that people would always engage in hearing and chanting about Krishna. And again, Krishna means not only Krishna, who is the original form of Godhead, but also expansions of Krishna like Rama and Vishnu, or God as He’s known in different languages and cultures.

But Srila Prabhupada says that even in his childhood, which was the beginning of the twentieth century, every social event, every cultural event had God in it, had Krishna. Of course, previously, electricity was not very common, and there was no radio, and there was no television, there were no VCRs. So, how would the people pass their time? In India, in Vedic culture, they would pass their time by coming together, like we have tonight, and hearing some talk about Krishna. There are many books, which describe the pastimes of Krishna and Rama, who appear on earth. We all can understand that God lives in the spiritual kingdom of God, beyond the material world, but sometimes God comes into the material world to show mercy to the fallen souls.

Sometimes people question, “How can God come into the material world? How can we see God?” But Srila Prabhupada gives the answer that just as the king or the governor can visit the prison to show mercy to the prisoners, similarly, God can come into the material world, which is part of His creation, to show mercy to the fallen souls that are in bondage here. And by showing His beautiful form, by exhibiting His transcendental qualities, and by manifesting His transcendental pastimes, the conditioned souls can become attracted to Him. For example, Lord Krishna came to earth 5,000 years ago, and he spoke Bhagavad-gītā. And Bhagavad-gītā is the basic textbook of all types of yoga.

But before Krishna spoke Bhagavad-gītā, He appeared to take birth just like an ordinary child, and He had childhood pastimes in a small village called Vrindavan. But His childhood pastimes were so attractive that not only were the residents of Vrindavan attracted, but all living entities, even up till today and forever can be attracted by hearing about the pastimes of Krishna in Vrindavan. Just to give you some idea of the pastimes, Krishna. . . Well, I have to give you a little background. The main sources of livelihood for the residents of Vrindavan were taking care of cows and producing fruits, and vegetables, and grains, agriculture. And they were actually very opulent just by keeping cows and growing food grains. So, Lord Krishna, when He appeared as a baby and appeared to grow as a child, He used to visit the houses of the gopīs. Gopīs means the wives of the cowherd men. And the gopīs, they used to churn butter and yogurt from the milk.

So, Krishna, in His childhood play, would sneak into the houses of the neighborhood gopīs, and He would find the clay pots where they would store their butter and yogurt, and if He was able to, He would climb up and get the pot. And if He couldn’t, sometimes He would bring a stone and throw it at the clay pot, and the butter and yogurt would come out, and He would eat, He liked to eat it. In fact, if you look at the back wall, you’ll see there’s actually a picture on the calendar where Krishna has gotten hold of a pot, and He is eating makhan. But Krishna was also very jubilant, and He always had friends with Him. And He was friends not only with the boys of His age, but He was friends with the monkeys and other animals of Vrindavan. So, He would share the butter and yogurt with his boyfriends, and even with the monkeys.

So, the neighborhood ladies complained to Krishna’s mother. Of course, no one can really be the mother of God, but God chooses some devotee to render service to Him by playing the role of His mother, while He played the role of her son. And so, they complained to Mother Yasoda, “Your Krishna is coming into our houses, and He is stealing the butter and yogurt. Aren’t you feeding him properly?” So, Mother Yasoda became concerned, “Why is He stealing? Is He not satisfied with our cows’ butter?”

Anyway, I can’t tell all the details. I would like to, but basically, Mother Yasoda would try to offer Krishna the best butter and yogurt, but at the same time, they complained, “You have to control your son because He is becoming naughty, He is becoming bad. So, you have to control Him, you have to discipline Him. Otherwise, when He grows up, He will be trouble.” So, Mother Yasoda began to restrain Him, she wouldn’t let Him wander around the neighborhood. But after some time, the neighborhood ladies came back and complained to Mother Yasoda, “Krishna is not coming to our houses anymore to steal our butter, and we miss Him. We used to enjoy when He used to come and steal our butter.”

So, the idea is that God is absolute, and whatever He does is all-attractive, even stealing, I mean, if someone came into our house and stole something, we wouldn’t feel very happy. But when Krishna comes to someone’s house and steals, they are actually happy, because He is absolute. So, within the material world, there is duality. There is good and bad, there is pleasure and pain. But in the spiritual world, everything is all good, everything is all pleasure.

So, when Krishna descends to Vrindavan, He brings a replica of the spiritual world to give us an idea of what the spiritual world is like, so we can become attracted, “Yes, I don’t want to stay in the miserable material world with all smog, and pollution, disease, and death. I want to go to the spiritual world, where life is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. So, Krishna comes, and He brings His associates with Him, and they show us what life in the spiritual world is like. And in Vedic culture, people would get together just like us tonight, and they would hear about Krishna’s pastimes. Hearing about Krishna’s pastimes, their hearts would become purified, just by hearing, it’s a scientific method. And also, their minds would become attracted, “Yes, I want to hear more and I want to go there.”

Recently, I met a professor of religious studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara. And she has studied all the different religions, and she has come to the conclusion that the conception of God in Krishna consciousness is the most complete and elaborate of any conception of God that she has found anywhere. And I am not quite sure how the subject came up, because she’s studying in her own way, and she had some questions. But somehow, she just mentioned that she would also like to herd the cows with Krishna. [laughter] So, I, of course, was very enlivened to hear her statement. Of course, she was trying to understand scientifically what the Vedic literatures say about the material world, about the spiritual world, and there are so many details.

And in fact, if you look over there on the book shelf, you will see there is practically a complete library just of books translated by Srila Prabhupada with commentary, which describes about the spiritual world, about the individual souls, about the Supreme Soul, about the process of yoga, which means, literally, to connect. The word ‘yoga’ literally means to connect. So, through yoga, we are meant to connect with God. So, when the living entity is ultimately purified by hearing and chanting about Krishna, and we hear the name of Krishna, we’ve heard the name of Krishna here tonight from Dr. Subhash or anywhere, and then after you hear it, you can repeat it, you can sing it, that is chanting.

So, when one’s heart is completely purified by hearing and chanting about Krishna and one is completely attracted to Krishna, to the point that he lives in the world but not to try to enjoy through the body and senses, which are always prone to disease, and death, and to pain in so many ways, then he is actually eligible, he or she is actually eligible to enter the spiritual world upon leaving the body. Because the soul is just living within the body for a certain period of time. And if the soul is not completely purified, then when the soul leaves the body, it will have to enter into another material body, to suffer again in the material world. And there are so many species of life, 8,400,000 species, and the soul can actually enter any species, not necessarily the human form. But if one takes to Krishna consciousness, even if he or she is not completely successful, not completely perfect in the practice, still, one is guaranteed at least to take birth in the human form again, and to be able to continue the process from the point where he left off.

In the material world, whatever you gain materially, you lose at the time of death. For example, a professor may have a PHD and may be fluent in five languages, but when the professor leaves the body and takes birth again, the professor takes birth as a baby and doesn’t know any language, doesn’t know anything, he has to start all over again, “baba, a b c.” [laughter] But spiritually, whatever you gain in the present life stays with you into the next life. So, even if I make 2 percent progress in the present life, then I begin in the next life from 3 percent. So, it’s a gradual process, and it can be completed in one life, and we all hope to complete the process in one life. But even if we don’t by chance, we still get the chance to continue in the next life.

So, eventually in the discussion with the professor, I came to the point of the story of a devotee named Gopa Kumar. And the story of Gopa Kumar is related in one scripture called Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, which is very similar to the books there, the same principle. But the story describes how Gopa Kumar, when he’s completely purified and attracted to Krishna, he actually leaves his body. Oh yes, now I remember how the topic came up, because we were discussing samadhi, or trance, that the devotee can actually enter the spiritual world in meditation, at an advanced stage. And when one is in the spiritual world in meditation, one loses consciousness of the external world. So, she was very intelligent, and she said that one could leave the body in meditation and not even be conscious that he or she had left the body. And I said, “Yes.”

That he was absorbed in thoughts of Krishna, and he was so eager to meet Krishna that he actually arrived in the spiritual Vrindavan in the spiritual world. The one here is a replica of the one there. And he wasn’t even conscious that he left the body. And suddenly, he was in Vrindavan at about four o’clock in the afternoon. And he was expecting to see all the residents of Vrindavan but no one was there. He went house by house, and all the houses were empty, and he wondered, “What’s happening?” And finally, he started to wander to the outskirts of the village, and there he saw all the residents of Vrindavan were waiting, because at about four o’clock in the afternoon, Lord Krishna comes from the pasturing grounds with his cowherd boyfriends and their cows back to the village of Vrindavan. So, all the residents, they just. . . I mean, that’s the qualification for entering the kingdom of God, that one is just overwhelmed with love for God. So, they all just drop everything and go to the outskirts of the village and just gaze at a distance, waiting for the first glimpse of Krishna on His way back to Vrindavan.

So, Gopa Kumar saw them all transfixed, but he didn’t really know what they were looking at, but he started to look in the same direction. And then, way in the distance, there was a cloud, it was actually the dust being raised by the hooves of the calves. And then gradually, he saw the forms of the calves and Krishna and the other cowherd boys. And they were getting closer and closer, and the residents of Vrindavan were transfixed, they were just becoming overwhelmed with ecstatic love, and manifesting different symptoms of transcendental ecstasies.

And I explained to the professor that the soul, and she already had an idea because she was quite well-read so she had an idea of siddha-svarupa, that the soul within the body, when one is liberated, it manifests a spiritual form that is suitable for serving Krishna in the spiritual world, either as a cowherd boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or an elder with a parental affection for Krishna, like an elderly lady in the neighborhood. So, all the relationships we have in the material world are actually reflections of the relationships in the spiritual world. So, just like here, one can be a servant, or be in the position of a subordinate, like a child, or one can be a friend, one can have a parental relationship of an elder, or one can even have a relationship of a girlfriend or a wife. Always there within the heart, in the spiritual form is in the heart like a seed. The seed of the spiritual form is in the heart. And when we water the seed by hearing and chanting about Krishna, the seed sprouts and eventually, manifests itself as a spiritual body that is suitable to living in the spiritual world with God and serving God in the spiritual world, either as a cowherd boy, or any of the other relationships in the spiritual world in Vrindavan.

So, Gopa Kumar happened to have the spiritual form of a cowherd boy. And when Krishna eventually came to the village or the outskirts of the village, He recognized Gopa Kumar. Because actually, He is in the hearts of everyone. Along with the individual soul in the heart is also the Supreme Soul. And the goal of meditation for another type of yogi is to meditate on the Lord in the heart. So, Krishna recognized Gopa Kumar standing there. So, Krishna looked at Gopa Kumar, Gopa Kumar looked at Krishna, and then they embraced. And both Krishna and Gopa Kumar were overwhelmed with transcendental ecstasy, and they both fainted. So then, they got up and they looked at each other full of love, and they embraced again and began to shed tears of joy, and then they fainted again. And it went on and on, embracing and fainting. And then, Krishna said, “We missed you.” And He invited Gopa Kumar to come with Him to His mother’s house to join Him for supper.

So, this is a glimpse of life in the spiritual world that we can actually experience. And so, devotees, they get together and they like to talk about Krishna, they like to hear about Krishna, and sing songs about Krishna. Perhaps you didn’t understand the words, but most of the songs were just composed of names of Krishna that referred to different pastimes of Krishna. Like Makhan Chor, which means butter thief. So, that’s also the name of God. And when devotees hear Makhan Chor, they immediately remember the pastimes how Krishna used to go to the gopīs’ houses and steal butter and feed His friends and feed the monkeys. And then the elderly gopī would come, Krishna would run and hide. He would even do the same thing in His own house. And then, Mother Yasoda would look at the floor and she’d see the footprints, then she would know, “This is Krishna’s job.”

And sometimes, they would have dramatic performances. As I mentioned, at the beginning of the century, there was no radio, or television, or cinema. But even then, when cinema came into India, all the first films were about the pastimes of Krishna and the pastimes of Rama. Some of our devotees actually went into the archives of the old films in India, and they brought back some of them and transferred them to video and made subtitles, and they are actually quite charming and enchanting, and there would be a dramatic performance.

So, Srila Prabhupada remembers, when he was a child, he had some relatives that lived a little outside Calcutta. So, his family would go on a horse-drawn carriage to the suburbs of Calcutta, and they would hear some talk about Rama or Krishna, and then there might be a dramatic performance. Not by professionals to make money, but just by devotees to experience and share the experience of pastimes of Krishna with other devotees. And then, Prabhupada remembers that when he was a little boy, his parents would take him in the carriage. I imagine he might have been lying on his mother’s lap or something, and they would be talking about the stories of Krishna or Rama that they had heard or seen in the dramatic performance, and then he would fall asleep thinking of Krishna and dream about Krishna. So, that is the beauty of Vedic culture, that God is the center of all activities. And that is the way we also try to lead our lives, because God is the center of all activities.

So, whenever there is any occasion, we celebrate it, we come together, we chant Hare Krishna, talk about Krishna, and we have kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Kṛṣṇa-prasāda is another important aspect of bhakti-yoga. And the other aspect, it is deceptively simple but very powerful. Kṛṣṇa-prasāda, the word prasāda literally means mercy, but here, it refers to food, which is prepared with love, to offer to Krishna. And here, one can offer it either to the Deity form of Krishna, or a picture of Krishna. But the idea is that whatever we do, we do for Krishna, for Krishna’s pleasure, that is love. Just like if you love someone and you do something that makes the beloved person happy, then you feel happy. Like they say, it’s better to give than to receive. If you give a gift to someone and you love the person, and the person is pleased, you feel more happiness than if someone had given a gift to you.

So, we prepare the food and offer it to Krishna. We prepare with the idea that Krishna will be pleased, we want Krishna to be pleased, we want Him to accept the offering. And then, after Krishna accepts the offering, the remnants are sanctified, or spiritualized. And that is kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and that’s what we eat. And again, to materialists or atheists, the whole process is just an illusion. We put the plate in front of the Deity or the picture and nothing happens, and we eat it and we think something happened but it is all in our minds. But actually, Krishna does eat the food, He actually eats the food. But He is so perfect and complete, that He leaves the remnants in a spiritualized form for us. Of course, even then, someone could argue that, “Well, you’re saying that, but what’s the proof? You’re saying that.” And of course, in mundane terms, we may not be able to prove it, but in personal terms, we can experience the difference.

And I will tell two stories. Because when we joined, I mean, we weren’t born Indians or Hindus, but Srila Prabhupada presented the process and said, “It’s a scientific process, and you can make an experiment and try it. And if you get some benefit, you can continue. And if you get no benefit, you can leave it.” So, when I joined the temple in Boston, we would take prasāda, the food was prasāda. And say there might be fifty or a hundred people here, so we’ll cook a large quantity of rice. But we don’t offer the whole pot to Krishna, but we make a plate. We put a portion of rice, a portion of vegetables, and other things. So, it’s all considered prasāda. But the portion, which is put on the plate that’s offered to Krishna directly is called mahā-prasāda. It means great prasāda.

So, when I first came to the temple, I was very analytical, and I wanted to test whether what the devotees were saying was actually true or not. So, I started to compare the taste of the mahā-prasāda with the rest of the prasāda, even though they’re both from the same pot, they are completely identical. But I actually found that there was a different taste to the mahā-prasāda. But still, I was thinking, Is this just in my mind? Am I just trying to convince myself about it? And then, one day, as we sat to take prasāda, one of the other devotees commented to one of the other devotees, I was just there, that the mahā-prasāda always tastes like it has a fine layer of sugar sprinkled on it. And I thought, Oh, she also tastes the difference. So, then I thought, Well, it must be true.

And later, I met a friend, I mean, he became a friend. But he had come to India in the Peace Corps. I think that he met devotees in America before he came to India, and he had some prasāda. So, in India, there are many great temples, I mean, huge temples, thousands of years old, beautiful architecture. And they follow the same system. They offer the food to the Deity, and the food becomes prasāda. So, he had prasāda at one of the temples, maybe a few. And when he tasted the prasāda, he recognized, “Oh, this is the same taste as the prasāda I had at the Hare Krishna center.” He wasn’t talking about the style or the spices, he was talking about the spiritual experience of it. The yoga diet, the Indian diet or the yoga diet is very healthy, but it’s not that prasāda has to be performed in a specific style of cooking. Anything, which is prepared with love and devotion, with proper vegetarian ingredients, can be offered to Krishna and become prasāda. So, any type of event; cultural event, social event, family occasion, it would be celebrated just like this, with chanting and hearing about Krishna, and honoring kṛṣṇa-prasāda. And it just so happens that today is an event, it’s Dr. Subhash’s wife’s Anuradha’s birthday.

Devotees: Haribol!

Giriraj Swami: So, they’re celebrating with a festival of Krishna consciousness. But we don’t really need an excuse. We always look for an excuse, but we don’t need an excuse, we can always have a festival for Krishna consciousness. Hare Krishna. So, do you have any questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: You mentioned that we might have some assets or something in this life, but it doesn’t carry over in the next life materially, but that Krishna consciousness does. So, I was wondering about that. Someone might be a great musician in this life, and it is said that in their last life, they had also done that thing, and they are carrying on the desire they had. Someone might be very musically talented on a piano when they’re five years old or something like that and they’re already very skilled beyond what would normally be true.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. In general, whatever [Unintelligible 00:51:51] the time of death. But there can be exceptions where someone was proficient in music in the previous life, and then in the present life, in a way, he continues, like Mozart or someone, who as a child, whole symphonies were in his mind. It was obvious that he had some knowledge and proficiency from his last life. But of course, generally then, musicians wrote music to glorify God. Now, at the present time, someone may be a great musician in one sense, but if there is no God consciousness, even though he is an expert musician, he might take birth as an animal. And then, his musical proficiency would not be manifest. Or he might take birth as a bird and sing nice songs as a bird. [laughter] But he might not be playing the guitar. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: We’re seeing a mission about Gopa Kumar and how he went into samadhi and he went to the spiritual world. So, someone’s really elevated in Krishna consciousness, and they enter into the spiritual world and their consciousness. What happens to what’s called their material body in this world? Does it change also like the body of a pure devotee, a paramahamsa, or someone like that? What is their body? Is it still material?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the body is described in Bhagavad-gītā to be a machine. So, the soul is in the machine and makes the machine work. But as soon as the soul leaves the body, the body can no longer function. Just like as long as the driver is in the car, the car can function. But when the driver leaves the vehicle, then the vehicle cannot function. So, because we identify with the body, we identify with the pains and pleasures of the body. Prabhupada gives the example that someone’s car may be hit by another car, and he will jump out of the car and shout, “You hit me! You hit me!” Why is he saying, “You hit me?” I mean, he hit the car. But because he identifies with the car, he says, “You hit me,” and he is upset. He wasn’t touched, personally, he wasn’t touched. And someone else could be in the car who didn’t identify with the car, who would just be a passenger, he would not be affected. But the owner who identifies with the car, he gets affected. So, when one’s consciousness is purified, he no longer identifies with the body, he identifies as the soul, as part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, and he knows his real home is not here in the prison house of material existence, he knows his real home is in the spiritual world.

And another example, that’s very appropriate, is a fish is at home in water, a fish is not at home on dry land. So, because we are spirit, we’re at home in the spiritual world, and we’re always in an awkward position in the material world. So, when the purified soul leaves the body, he may be absorbed in Krishna consciousness, he may not even be aware that he is leaving the body. But the friends, and the relatives, and the disciples will see, “Oh, Guru Maharaja died, left his body.” Now, at a certain advanced stage of Krishna consciousness, some spiritual energy sort of pervades the whole body. So, we say that even though it’s the physical body, but it becomes spiritualized, because of the spiritual advancement of the practitioner. And that’s why the body of the spiritual master is put in samadhi, which means it’s buried, because it’s considered spiritualized. And of course, going there, devotees can offer respects. I mean, does that answer your question?

Devotee: Yes.

Giriraj Swami: To give a crude example, but I’ve heard that they’ve preserved Elvis Presley’s automobile. So, admirers of Elvis Presley can see, “This is Elvis Presley’s automobile.” So, of course, that’s a pretty different type of example, but still, the body is a machine, so they place the remains of a purified soul into a samadhi. But, I mean, it might not have been a good example in all respects. People come and they offer respects. But because of the spiritual elevation of the purified soul, people who visit his samadhi can get his mercy, or get Krishna’s mercy.