The Mad Elephant Offense

Giriraj Swami: Thinking of God at the time of death is not so easy unless we practice. A student might say, “I don’t have to go to class, I don’t have to do the homework, I don’t have to study the books, all I have to do is pass the final exam.” But if you don’t go to class, if you don’t read the books, if you don’t do the homework, how will you pass the final exam? You have to prepare. So, death is the final exam for all of us, and if we prepare, if we practice chanting Hare Krishna and following the other principles of yoga now, then at the time of death we will be able to chant the name of God, to remember God and chant the name of God. But if we don’t practice now, how will we remember God at the time of death? Generally, we remember the thing that we are most attached to in life. So, the idea of chanting and following the principles of Krishna consciousness is to become attached to God. And the husbands and wives and children together are meant to mold their lives so that they can remember God at the time of death and then they can live together with God. We might be attached to our husbands and wives now, which is good. It is better than being like animals having sex with anyone and everyone. But still we will be separated at the time of death; until death do us part. But if together they can become Krishna conscious, then they can together go back home, back to Godhead. Otherwise, after whatever it is, thirty years, fifty years, seventy years, death will separate us from whatever we are attached to.

So, we want love, we want lasting relationships, but we cannot have them in the material world, although we can have them by developing God consciousness or Krishna consciousness in the material world. Then not only is our relationship with God, but our relationship with others who are engaged in the service of God, they also become eternal with God as the central point. So, sometimes someone might think To achieve a great result one has to work hard. Well in Krishna consciousness it is arranged in such a way that by chanting, dancing, feasting, and philosophy one can achieve the highest perfection. So, I would like to request you all to please repeat after me. We will together chant the holy names of God.

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

Now we will do four names.

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

Would one of you like to try? The verse was complicated but the mantra is more easy. Very good everyone, please repeat.

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

Anyone else?

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

Yes, anyone else? One more? Excellent.

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

So maybe while they are getting ready to serve the prasāda; maybe first I should ask for questions if any of you have any questions.

Devotee: As you said earlier at the time of death, in this day and age when so many people are dying in hospitals rather than at home, and they are under anesthetic and they are unconscious, how can they?

Giriraj Swami: Very good question. She says that if we chant the holy name of God at the time of death we can enter the kingdom of God, but now people die in hospitals under anesthesia, maybe unconscious. So how can they think of God at the time of death?

Well in Vedic civilization, death is seen as an opportunity to be promoted, because people understand the existence of the soul, “na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre” that when the body dies the soul does not die, but the soul goes on to the next body. So according to our karma, we will get a better material body or a lesser material body. But if we can actually become Krishna conscious and think of God or Krishna at the time of death, then we go to Krishna, to the kingdom of God. So, they don’t try to avoid death at any cost, because death is sure in any case. But they try to prepare for death and make their departure from their body successful.

Just to illustrate the folly of trying to stay within the body forever, you have all heard the name of Walt Disney. Now Walt Disney, his will was that when he was ill and about to die, his body should be frozen and then when medical science discovered the cure from the disease he was suffering from, the body should be taken out of deep freeze and treated. So, he thought he could escape death. Now as you know, Walt Disney was a very wealthy man, and he had heirs. So, his heirs got together and discussed that as long as he is alive, we don’t get our inheritance. So, they decided to pull the plug out from the freezer, and let him defrost and die peacefully, so they could collect their inheritance. I am not sure now, but I know many years ago Manhattan was supposed to have the highest concentration of millionaires in the world. And I am not exactly sure what year, around 1973, there was a power failure, which is very unusual. There was a power failure and ten thousand bodies that were in deep freeze all defrosted.

So, we cannot, I am just repeating the same point, we cannot live forever in the same body; we cannot. So instead of trying to stay on in the body for a few more minutes or a few more days, we should try to leave the body in the best way so that we don’t have to again come into a miserable material body. So, our spiritual master, for example, gave us very strict instructions not to put him in the hospital, no matter what. If someone is suffering from a disease that can be treated and cured, that is another thing. But if the person is going to die, give him the dignity of dying at home surrounded by his loved ones, trying to remember God at the time of death. Why keep the person in the hospital with all sorts of needles and machines, creating a situation where, as the young lady said, one won’t really be able to think of God at the time of death. It was a very good point.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:12:26]

Giriraj Swami: What about babies who die?

Babies who die have some karmic debt to pay. They haven’t really committed any sinful activities in the present life, but they are forced to die because of some sinful activities in the past life. And just by dying, they become free from some sinful reactions, and so just by dying they will get a better birth in the next life. Because in the present life they haven’t committed any sinful activities, they are just babies. So, by nature’s law, they will be promoted.

Devotee: There is a book out now published by The Journey of Soul which deals through hypnotic regression what happens in the kingdom of God, what happens after you lay down your physical body and your soul returns to the Lord. Do you have a recollection of some conservation of that in some way in your teaching?

Giriraj Swami: We have descriptions of the kingdom of God and life with him in the kingdom of God. Yes, the Bhagavad-gītā gives a very brief mention that in the abode of the Lord everything is luminous. There is no need for sunlight or moonlight or electricity. The material world by nature is dark, so unless we create light through electricity or fire or get light from the sun or the moon, the universe is dark by nature. But the spiritual world is light, and not only light in the sense that we can see materially, but we can see spiritually. Everyone in the spiritual world is enlightened, whereas in the material world persons are born in the darkness of ignorance, and therefore we pray to the spiritual master or give homage to the spiritual master that “I was born in the darkness of ignorance, but he opened my eyes with the torchlight of knowledge.” But there are very beautiful descriptions. Everything that we have here, trees, rivers, mountains, houses, people, exist there. But there everything is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. Everything is there but minus pain, minus disease, old age, and death. And everyone there is fully absorbed in love of God and fully engaged in God’s service.

Devotee: The question made earlier about being in a hospital being in a home and all that. The thing is that we never know when that is going to happen to us and all that and that is the reason, we are told to chant God’s name twenty-four hours a day so that at the moment you don’t know when you are going to get that access that coma or whatever so you always have God’s name on your lips.

Giriraj Swami: Excellent. He says that yes someone raised the question that at the time of death we may be in the hospital, we may be in a coma, we may not be in a position to remember the Lord. But he is saying death can come at any moment, we don’t actually know when we are going to die and therefore, we should always be chanting the holy names of God. We should always be chanting Hare Krishna so whenever death comes, we are prepared very good.

Devotee: I have a story for you there was um an Indian gentleman he wanted to be sure he remembered the name of God at the moment of death. So he had his kids named after names of God; one was named Hari, one was named Rama, one was named Krishna. So he figured that they would be around the death bed and he would remember God’s name. He was a businessman and they grew up in the business and everything and he is laying on the death bed there and his devoted sons they came over to the bed and they are standing around and he looks up at them he sees that and he says who is minding the store and he dies.

Giriraj Swami: I will just repeat in case anyone didn’t hear. An Indian gentleman, understanding that he should remember the name of God at the time of death named his children after the names of the Lord. So he named one Hari, one Rama and one Krishna and throughout their lives they were doing business together but he thought at the time of death his children will be near him and even if he calls for his children he will be chanting the names of God. So, he was lying on his death bed and just as he had hoped his children were present. and he looked at all three of his sons and he immediately exclaimed, “Who is minding the store?” And he died. So, it is a good point that we should be sincere in our desire to love God and serve Him and not think by some trick.

Devotee: We can’t wait for the final exam to cram.

Giriraj Swami: The point is; we always have to practice chanting; we can’t just wait for the time of death which is what I meant by being sincere yes

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:19:35]

Giriraj Swami: We are in the iron age which is Kali-yuga and it lasts four hundred and thirty-two thousand years, of which five thousand years have passed and it gets worse. We think it is bad now we can’t imagine how it could be any worse but it gets worse. So don’t stick around, finish up.

So we had chanting; well we didn’t have dancing we will have to do that next time; chanting, dancing, feasting; that is what we are going to have now. And philosophy, we had a little. The dancing we missed so we have to do it next time.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:20:52]

Giriraj Swami: No each age, if we are going back, the preceding age is twice as long as the present age. Yes, eight hundred and sixty-four thousand.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:21:48]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, so we come back to the question of authority, do you accept the authority of the scientists? We don’t want to keep you too late but some of our devotees who are themselves scientists have compiled a book a thousand pages thick called Forbidden Archaeology—The Hidden History of the Human Race, in which they have exposed the fact. First of all, they have presented the evidence that proves that human beings existed millions of years ago, far before the scientists are ready to admit. They have found human fossils in strata, millions of years old. They have found human fossils in the same strata as dinosaur fossils but the scientific establishment has systematically suppressed any information that would contradict their theories, and not just suppress the information but actually harassed the researchers who didn’t agree to keep quiet. Now the co-authors of this book, their initiated names are Sadaputa dasa and Judakarma dasa. otherwise, their legal names are Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson. They were invited to appear on NBC TV., on a television program that basically challenged the prevailing scientific views of evolution and Charlton Heston was the host.