BG 7.19 – Kartik

Giriraj Swami:

[Bhagavad-gītā 7.19]

bahūnāṁ janmanām ante
jñānavān māṁ prapadyate
vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti
sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ

TRANSLATION

After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare.

COMMENT

Activities mana śūnyatā, he should be certain that Krishna will bestow His mercy upon him, āśā-bandhaḥ, and He should always be eager to serve the Lord faithfully, samutkaṇṭhā. The wise man is always very eager to glorify the Lord by chanting and hearing, nāma-gāne sadā ruciḥ, and He is always eager to describe the transcendental qualities of the Lord āsaktis tad-guṇākhyāne He should also be attracted to those places where the Lord had His pastimes, prītis tad-vasati-sthale. These are symptoms of an advanced devotee. Actually, the symptoms mentioned here are taken from Srila Rupa Gosvami Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu where he describes the characteristics of one in ecstatic love to Krishna in other words one who has reached the stage of bhava-bhakti. But the same qualities manifest themselves as we advance in devotional service, and at the same time we can also try to develop them, and we’ve seen such qualities in our contemporary, seeing them in others we also become inspired to emulate them.

An advanced devotee, or a perfect human being who is actually wise and learned, cannot give up his service at the lotus feet of the Lord. Although Lord Brahma has a long lifespan, 4,320,000,000 years constitute twelve hours in the day of Brahma, Brahma is afraid of death and consequently engages in the devotional service of the Lord. Śrīla Rupa Gosvami also describes two divisions of sādhana-bhakti vaidhī-sādhana-bhakti and rāgānugā-sadhana-bhakti, and he gives verses from various scriptures, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, to exemplify the mood of the devotee engaged in different moods of practice.

And in vaidhi-bhakti, and everyone begins with vaidhi-bhakti, in vaidhi-bhakti one follows the rules and regulations in the scriptures because of the favorable result one will attain from them. And in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu Rupa Gosvami quotes the verse that one who is afraid of death should constantly hear and chant and remember the glories of the Lord. So even Lord Brahma with such a long span of life, 4,320,000,000 years constitutes twelve hours, twenty-four hours constitutes one day, hundred years, so he lived a very long time. But everything is relative, and from his point of view he lives for a hundred years, and a hundred years is not a long time. So he is also afraid of impending death, as all of us should be, and therefore he engages in devotional service to Lord Krishna with great urgency. Srila Prabhupada writes that we should always be conscious of death, that death can come at any moment, preparing our consciousness for the time of death, focusing our consciousness on Krishna.

Similarly, all the Manus who appear and disappear during the day of Brahma are also engaged in the Lord’s devotional service. In Brahma’s one day, fourteen Manus appear and disappear. The first Manu is Svayambhuva Manu. Each Manu lives for seventy-one yugas, each consisting of some 4,320,000 years. So one yuga cycle is 4,320,000, and each Manu lives for seventy-one such yuga cycles, although the Manus have such a long lifespan, they still prepare for the next life by engaging in the devotional service of the Lord. In this age, human beings only live for sixty or eighty years, and even this small lifespan is gradually decreasing. Therefore, it is even more imperative for human beings to take to the worship of the Lord’s Lotus feet by constantly chanting the Hare Krishna mantra, as recommended by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. [Śikṣāṣṭakam 3]—

tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ 

So, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ, we have to follow in the footsteps of mahājāns, or great souls. So, Brahma and Manu are mahājāns. Svayambhuva, Sambhu, Manu, they are three of the twelve mahājanas. This prayer is coming from Lord Shiva. So all three Svayambhuva, Sambhu, Manu are telling us the same thing.

Now, before the time of death comes, we should perfect our consciousness by the process of bhakti-yoga, so that when we do leave the body, we can be freed from the repeated miseries of birth and death in the material world, and go back home, back to Godhead. So when even Brahmā and Manu, who have such long lifespans, are afraid of death, and therefore engage themselves in devotional service, then what to speak of us, who live generally sixty or eighty years, how seriously we should take the process of Krishna Consciousness and therefore first two qualifications or symptoms of an advanced devotee are śānti.

He is reserved and perseverance, which means even if there are obstacles, even if there are, reverses, he continues in devotional service. And here the example is Maharaja Parīkṣit Himself, although he was cursed to die in seven days, he remained peaceful and persevered. He didn’t make any effort to counteract the curse, but he accepted the curse as Krishna’s mercy to bring him back home back to Godhead. So he stopped everything and engaged himself exclusively in hearing and chanting, mainly hearing the glories of the Lord, until the time of death and we can’t help but, well, Srila Prabhupada set the same example in Vrindavan he has to be surrounded by devotees, always engaged in hearing and chanting. Even His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami spends his last week fully engaged in chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord’s holy name.

When one is engaged in devotional service, he is often surrounded by envious people, and often many enemies come to try to defeat him or stop him. This is not new in the present age, for even in the days of yore, Prahlada Maharaja, who was engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, was harassed by his demoniac father Hiraṇyakaśipu. The atheists are always prepared to harass a devotee. Therefore, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu suggested that one be very tolerant of these people. Nonetheless, one has to continue chanting the Hare Krishna mantra and preaching the chanting of this mantra, because such preaching and chanting constitute the perfection of life. One should chant and preach about the urgency of making this life perfect in all respects. One should thus engage in the devotional service of the Lord and follow in the footsteps of previous acharyas, beginning with Lord Brahma and others.

So Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva, the Manus, Svayambhuva Manu, Lord Shiva and direct sons of Lord Brahma. They are saying that we should chant the holy names and to preach, and they themselves showed the example. And all the acharyas in the line from Brahma and Narada. Narada is also a direct son of Brahma. The four Kumaras are also direct sons of Brahma; they are all mahājanas and acharyas. They have instructed us to chant and preach. They have shown the example. And now we, as their followers, must do the same following in their footsteps. Sometimes when we talk about spiritual advancement, people think that we are selfish, because we just care about our own advancement for our own happiness. And of course, sometimes when people meet us for the first time, especially when they have had some sort of association with other philosophies from the East, almost all of them are impersonal; they may have the idea from them that they are just interested in their own liberation. And so when they hear us talk about spiritual advancement, they may get the same idea about us. We just care about our own advancement or liberation.

But actually, we care about others. And therefore, Prahlada Maharaja prayed to the Lord that there are many saintly persons who only care about their own liberation. And who avoid crowded places like cities, and simply go to the forests or the mountains to try to achieve liberation from the repetition of birth and death. But Prahlada Maharaja says, I am not like them, I don’t want to go back home back to Godhead alone. I want to take as many fallen souls with me as possible. He also prayed that as for myself, I have no lamentation, because wherever I am, I can always hear and chant the glories of your Lordship and merge into the nectarean ocean of transcendental bliss. But I do have one anxiety, or one lamentation. And that is that so many people are suffering without your devotional service, without shelter at your lotus feet. And I am concerned in love for them, how to bring them to the shelter of your lotus feet because without shelter and service of your lotus feet, they cannot be happy.

So Srila Prabhupada was very much in the same mood as Prahlada maharaja on how to reclaim the fallen souls and that will be our success that we can, for ourselves, we have no anxiety or no lamentation. Because, of course, Prahlada Maharaja was greatly advanced, and therefore, when he began to hear and chant, his ecstatic feelings of love of Godhead would immediately awaken. But we can develop it. Then, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami showed the example in his last weeks in Mayapur kirtans out every night.

Purport in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Chapter, “Ideal Household Life,” Srila Prabhupada says, with reference to the verse from the Bhāgavatam, that the householders should arrange their lives in such a way that they have time to hear and chant the glories of the Lord, at least three hours, so we suggest every evening they should come to the temple and hear some talk about the Lord and chant the holy name of the Lord for three hours. So as Bhurijana Prabhu once said to me, becoming Krishna consciousness takes time so I thought he was saying it is a gradual process, it takes time to become Krishna consciousness. Then he said, it takes time to be Krishna conscious. It means you have to invest time in becoming Krishna conscious. If you don’t spare the time to hear and chant about Krishna, you won’t just become Krishna conscious. It takes time. You have to spare the time.

And that is the point of this verse and purport, that death can come and take away all the things that we are so busy working for now. And then what will we be left with? The only thing that we will have left is our Krishna consciousness. That will be our only asset. So, yes, I mean, we do have to keep the body and soul together. And either way, if you have taken responsibility for a wife and children, you have to discharge your duties. And even if you have taken responsibility for the mission of guru and Gauranga, you have to discharge your duties. But we should not forget that the real goal is Krishna consciousness and not become so involved in making plans and trying to accumulate more assets in the material world that we forget the real purpose and goal. Because when death comes, all these other things that we’ve accumulated are going to be taken away. And the only asset that will be left will be Krishna consciousness, whatever we have. So that should be our main focus. And Srila Prabhupada of course, Srila Prabhupada was wonderful because he could take the principles of the scripture and explain them, not only in simple language, but in language that was appropriate to the audience.

 So once he was speaking to a life member who was a big businessman in Bombay, Mr. Brij Ratan Mota. He actually was the richest man in Pakistan before the partition. And he married the daughter of RD Birla the Birla’s were the richest family in India. But he really liked Srila Prabhupada. He became very attached to Srila Prabhupada. Actually how we met him is really amazing. It was way back in 1970, or somewhere back there, let’s see, so anyway, we were living in a life member’s apartment called Heliopolis. There were a couple of them, one of them Heliopolis. So, Tamal Krishna Goswami and I and a few devotees, Harikesa Prabhu were staying there so we could be closer to the center of town and not waste so much time travelling back and forth to meet people. So somehow, while we were staying there, a letter from Mr. Mota came in my hand. We never met him, and he said that he had gotten one of Srila Prabhupada books and he was very interested to have a devotee come speak with him. So I was very excited because nobody wrote us letters asking to meet up. 

We were new and still struggling for the Juhu land. It was a big thing and I didn’t know what to expect, but I went. I met him. And he was an impersonalist turns out to be impersonalist, but very intelligent. So he said that he had read Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, and he felt that the real speaker, if you will, of Bhagavad-gītā was the impersonal. It was like speaking through Krishna and that the real goal was to merge and become one with impersonal. And he said that the all-pervading Godhead was greater than Krishna. So after the meeting I met Srila Prabhupada. It so happened that he is staying in Sea Face Park, which is also in central Bombay some distance away.

In the evening, he would ask me what happened during the day, and I’d give the report and we’d talk a little bit. So I told Srila Prabhupada about Mr. Mota, that he had said that Krishna is not Krishna, Krishna is something else. We shouldn’t take Krishna as Krishna, the person Krishna. So Srila Prabhupada said, well if Krishna is not Krishna, then who is He? Mota. And then I said that Mr. Mota said that the all-pervading Godhead was greater than person Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada said that may be true, but you should ask Mr. Mota which is more valuable, ten dollars in the pocket of ten million people, or one million dollars in your pocket. So the idea is that even if we say that the all-pervading Supersoul is greater than Krishna in Vrindavan, it is like yes, everyone has ten dollars. Well that is great, it all adds up to a huge fortune, but what’s more valuable to you, ten dollars spread out over the entire population, or a million dollars in your pocket? So, Mr. Mota was a businessman and Srila Prabhupada gave examples that were very suitable to him as a businessman, as a practical man. And so one time when Mr. Mota, later when Mr. Mota became, it took a long time, it is very hard for people with misconceptions to change, especially when they have impersonal conceptions, but by the end Mr. Mota was chanting, it is amazing, he was chanting sixteen rounds, following the principles.

He really loved Srila Prabhupada; he loved to come and talk. Mr. Mota was so intelligent that People from all over would come to consult him about business, about affairs, and I am just thinking this now for the first time, but I think Srila Prabhupada was probably the only person he met that was like more intelligent than him, and probably liked to talk to him. And there was of course so many other deeper reasons but So one day, Srila Prabhupada was making the point in the verse about the value of human life that human life should be used for Krishna Consciousness, and he quoted the Canakya sloka that at the time of death, even if a rich man is prepared to spend any amount of gold or money to extend his life, even for one minute, He can’t do it. That means that the value of each minute or each moment cannot be calculated in terms of money, because when death comes, no matter how much money you are ready to spend to prolong your life, you can’t do it. So that means the time that constitutes your span of life is more valuable than anything money can buy, because money can’t buy that time back once it is gone.

So Srila Prabhupada told Mr. Mota that in the ledger of your life, all the time that you spend on anything other than Krishna consciousness is loss and the time you spend on Krishna consciousness is profit. So, Prabhupada made a strong point in the appropriate language for the audience. So, but, such is life and death. When death comes, even to a loved one, we become serious. We think, oh, any of us could die at any moment. We have to become serious now. But we forget. Gradually we forget. And we become more preoccupied with the temporary affairs of the world and we forget that, yes, death could come at any moment. We do have to become more serious. We have to set aside our petty concerns, petty differences and we do have to come Close, be united, and come together to serve guru and Gauranga while we can’t take anything for granted.

Of course, there are many reasons why one could give up the service of the Lord. And in the last paragraph of the purport Srila Prabhupada talks about enemies and of course Srila Prabhupada had enough of them, big preaching means big enemies. Prabhupada attempted to do big preaching in India. He did a big preaching in India. In Juhu he had big enemies. Mr. Nair, Municipal Corporation, Mr. Mhatre, and many of the other wealthy, greedy people, powerful corrupt or at least ignorant politicians, and greedy and corrupt news media people. And so, so many enemies. But Srila Prabhupada said, so many enemies are there. But still we have to persevere. 

In one lecture on verse titikṣava kāruṇika sadhu-bhusana the ornaments of a sadhu, so titikṣava we have to tolerate, like here, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā we have to tolerate and why kāruṇika because we want to give mercy. We have come here to Bombay to give mercy; we can think People of Bombay don’t like us. We have so many other places. We have our centers. We don’t have to stay here. We can go somewhere else. But no kāruṇika we have come here to give mercy, so titikṣava we must stay and tolerate and give mercy.in other words we don’t give up the service of the Lord because of enemies. Of course, there is the famous example of Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura and in western culture Jesus Christ how they have tolerated in order to give mercy to the fallen soul to preach the message of Godhead. As Srila Prabhupada said, there is no excuse for forgetting Krishna. We can think of so many excuses but Srila Prabhupada said there is no excuse for forgetting Krishna so whatever happens in death, happiness or distress, health or sickness we should remain determined to chant Hare Krishna, preach Krishna consciousness so that when the time of death does come, we will be as prepared as possible. Hare Krishna.

So are there any questions or comments?

Devotee 1: Maharaja, watching a video of Bhavananda Prabhu talking about his memories and experience with Srila Prabhupada so Somehow the meaning of his name came up. So the meaning of Bhavananda Prabhu’s name. So one devotee said, Bhavananda means one who takes great pleasure in the bhava of Krishna. And Prabhupada was there. Prabhupada said, no. His name is not Bhavananda, his name is Bhavananda. Bhavananda means one who takes pleasure in the material world. So the devotees were confused, then Prabhupada said, the devotee takes pleasure in the material world because there are unlimited opportunities to preach about the Lord. So he takes great pleasure in the material world. So it is wonderful. So with that mood, if we stay in the material world, it can be so useful in Krishna’s service.

Giriraj Swami: Excellent. Excellent. Perfect conclusion.

Devotee 2: Yes, I have a comment in that same regard, Maharaja. You were reflecting about all the struggles in Bombay and all these things in this verse talking about the enemies. That if there weren’t the enemies, it would be kind of dull. Lord Ramachandra had to overcome Rāvaṇa. Krishna had to kill Kaṁsa. We need these enemies to overcome otherwise things get kind of boring. Prabhupada had a glorious victory in Bombay because he had so many obstacles to overcome. So sometimes these enemies get to see them as friends as well. Oh, I am glad we have something to overcome, otherwise it becomes kind of.

Giriraj Swami: That is true. That is true. As I was, as some of the devotees were reciting Sanskrit, I was paging through the Chapter here and came across some beautiful verses and purports that I hadn’t seen in a long time. And then I thought how, if I am at home with the Bhāgavatam, I may not pick it up, but when I am on the spot, I have to give class then I will have to study. And, I had the same experience in Vrindavan when I was teaching at VIHE. With the challenge of giving the class, I would really study, referred all other scriptures. The challenge makes us rise up. Otherwise if it is too easy, we can just become complacent and sort of do what we want. It is sort of Krishna conscious, but comfortable style. So what Prajapati Prabhu said is true. We need challenges, we need tests, we need obstacles to overcome.it makes us stronger.

Devotee 3: It is very easy and it is for myself. [Unintelligible 00:39:00]

Giriraj Swami: Chaitanya Chandra Prabhu very humbly submits that he works a lot and he knows should preach the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu but he feels he is in so much maya, He can’t really approach people. When you said that much, I thought of an incident where I was in Indore with Srila Prabhupada no sorry that was Gorakhpur, Goswami Maharaja and group of us with him in Gorakhpur with Srila Prabhupada and I was just starting to go out to meet people. I was just a new devotee, I didn’t know I didn’t have in me to go out to meet and I would, yes, in Boston I would go on the street distribute books but I never actually gone out to someone’s home or office to sit down and speak with them. And I was just starting, I was going to newspapers in Gorakhpur and informing about Srila Prabhupada presence and about Krishna consciousness and some new articles appeared and Srila Prabhupada was very pleased. So we were on the morning walk and I guess also I was just starting to like, feel I could speak to Srila Prabhupada directly. Because there are so many more senior devotees with Srila Prabhupada on the walk but I mean I started to talk to him and he was so encouraging, so pleased that made me feel I could say more. I kept saying more and he was encouraging me. And then I Said that I felt unqualified to speak, but I would just pray to him and to Krishna that I may say the right things. And then he said, that is very good, feel humble, that is very good. But then I said sometimes that humility can turn into maya, we won’t speak at all and Prabhupada stopped put down his cane and he said become maya, you are always in maya. He was so encouraging. And I guess he saw I was getting a bit over-inflated. So he deflated me so I would come back in the right proportion. And he also made the point that we are always in maya. We are never; we should never think we are liberated. Even the liberated soul doesn’t think he is liberated. But still we have to speak because that is our duty. And that is the way we get out of maya. Take a risk even if you think someone may not appreciate what we say.

But I can add one point to sort of balance what I just said. And that is that when we were young, we would go out, we would face all obstacles, all opposition and preach. We didn’t think of it. Now we are doing it for Prabhupada. But it is sort of a battle, sort of like waging a war against maya. And on a human level because we are not fully liberated So on a human level it is sort of hard to be on the frontline of the battle like year after year after year after. So we can come to the stage where we are sort of tired of fighting. So I hope I mean I knew I just contradicted everything I just said and everything verse said and everything purport said so but I think it is true it is hard to constantly be fighting year after year for twenty years, thirty years. So I could see that someone would just don’t want to take up the challenge kind to talk to a new person god knows what the result would be and we are already so exhausted from our all of the other activities we really don’t want to get into an argument with someone which we can’t solve with someone, so I can appreciate that. Sort of feel the same way. But then we can speak to the devotees, we can speak to the devotees we have to keep speaking about Krishna. And so, if we are not in the mood to keep facing the karmis on the frontline of the battlefield, then we can speak of the truce. And that is also Krishna consciousness it is like once Gurudasa Prabhu told me, he had the idea that many of us had that preaching means you preach to new people.

And in fact, devotees have experienced that when they are new to us coming, they get a lot of attention. And then after they join, well, everyone is busy preaching to new people they are sort of neglected. Mr. Mota, the same Mr. Mota, made the same point. That, when we go to make people life members, many of you probably had personal experience. When we go to make people life members and we show them the books, they often say that we already have these books. We already have these books in our own language. We don’t need the books. Then we say, well, it is not just the books, it is the association. When you become a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, you get association. And you need the association. So, okay, the man becomes a life member.

Now, after he becomes a life member, generally, I hate to say it, but generally, like at a certain stage, it wasn’t like that in the beginning, but at a certain stage, the devotees, as you know, the preachers, became very result-oriented. And so they would position themselves, especially on Sunday, they’d position themselves at different places on the grounds, so they could catch the new people coming in and make friends with them, give them a tour and sign them up. So, the first question is, are you a life member? When they greet someone, are you a life member? Yes. Okay, well, you can go and have darshan. The deities are there. Are you a life member? No, I am not. What is that? Oh, please come with me. And they get the whole royal treatment and guided tour in the mahā-prasāda. So that is the first thing.

So, if a life member comes and wants to discuss the philosophy, and then the devotee says, oh, well you have the books, just read the books, everything is in the books. So this was Mr. Mota’s point, that when we make them life members and they say, well we already have these books in our own language, it is not the books, it is the association, and you need the association. But then when they come for association, we are too busy with the new people, trying to enroll new members, and we tell them, just go and read the books. Why are you bothering me? Just read the books. So, I am coming to the point about preaching to devotees, that preaching doesn’t just mean preaching to new people. It can mean preaching to devotees.

And it may also be Krishna’s arrangement, that when we get a little older, and we don’t have the same type of youthful energy, that we are meant to share our knowledge and realizations more with the devotees than with the new people. So I come back to Gurudasa Prabhu’s story, that he was in Vrindavan, and he really loved Vrindavan, and at the same time he really liked to preach. And he was in a dilemma, because Prabhupada had put him in Vrindavan to help with the opening of the Krishna-Balarama mandir, but then other devotees were coming and saying, we are taking out buses, or we are traveling and preaching, you should come with us and travel and preach. And he was in a dilemma. He was actually attracted to both. So he approached Srila Prabhupada and explained the dilemma and asked what he should do, that he liked both.

And then Prabhupada said, well, why not stay in Vrindavan and preach to the devotees? Because the devotees also need preaching. And for Gurudasa Prabhu, for whom at the time, that was a revolutionary concept, that devotees need preaching. So I think that for the elders, I mean you are not that old, but for the elders to share their knowledge and experience and realizations with the younger devotees is a very important form of preaching and maybe more suitable to our station in life and our movement. And Srila Prabhupada, actually, although he did preach, he had so many lectures with the devotees, but a range of programs he would go. But still, if you add up all the time he spent preaching to devotees and compared it to the time he spent preaching to the public, much more time he spent with the devotees, giving Bhāgavatam classes and just having conversations with them, answering questions, writing letters. That is something we can do.

Devotee 4: I know, when Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was preaching so much in this circle of devotees, but one person, Srila Prabhupada, being a devotee, took that message to heart and created such wonderful results. So in that same sense, devotees enthuse each other, we can become so enthused to go and spread this message more effectively. Yes.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. When we have good hearing and chanting among ourselves, which will naturally lead to good relationships among ourselves, that gives us the strength to go out and approach people. It also creates the atmosphere that when people do come, they feel, oh, wow, this is really nice, this is different. This isn’t just a material world in a different building or a different garb. But this is really different. It is all about God here. And the relationships are so nice because they are all focused on god together, that is preaching.

Devotee 5: [Unintelligible 00:54:30]

Giriraj Swami: Chaitanya Chandra Prabhu also made a beautiful point here quoting Srila Prabhupada –First we preach, he is referring to the verse, yare dekho tare kaho krishna upadesha, amara ajnaya guru haya tare ei deśa, that whoever you meet, wherever you go, you speak the message of Krishna thus you become a Guru and deliver all the people of this place. So he says that first we preach, and then when Krishna sees our sincere attempt to help others, Krishna will recognize us, and then he will give us His mercy, so that we can do more. We actually can become empowered by Krishna to act as guru, although just by the act of preaching the art of serving as guru in any case. Just hearing so many comments from so many of you, so many nice comments and realizations makes me realize even more what a great wealth of Krishna consciousness association we have right here. And I will be going I don’t know what association I will get we have each other we are in very good position just get together, chant, hear and share realization experiences, and what you read, remembered and I have to come back soon to get more of that association.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Srila Gurudeva ki jaya!