BG 10.9

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So, we shall read one verse from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is. But before we begin, I shall recite one mantra of invocation, and I request you to repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So, we read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Ten, The Opulence of the Absolute, Text Nine.

TEXT 9

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

TRANSLATION

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Pure devotees, whose characteristics are mentioned here, engage themselves fully in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Their minds cannot be diverted from the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa. Their talks are solely on the transcendental subjects. The symptoms of the pure devotees are described in this verse specifically. Devotees of the Supreme Lord are twenty-four hours daily engaged in glorifying the qualities and pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Their hearts and souls are constantly submerged in Kṛṣṇa, and they take pleasure in discussing Him with other devotees.

COMMENT

So, Srila Prabhupada, the Founder Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, has explained that he created this society to give people the chance to associate with devotees, and by associating with devotees, to themselves become devotees.

The characteristics of devotees are also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto, that devotees are always engaged in thinking of Krishna, and as elaborated here, in talking of Krishna, kṛṣṇa-kathā. And by associating with devotees who are engaged in thinking of Krishna and speaking about Krishna, we also become devotees, and we gradually engage in the same activities. Srila Prabhupada has explained the importance of association. When a person is born, he is really not anything. He is just a baby or she is just a baby. But by association, he or she becomes whatever it may be. He gives the example that by birth, no one is a smoker, but by associating with people who smoke, one develops the habit of smoking. No one is born a thief, but by associating with someone who is a thief or some number of thieves, one learns to steal and one becomes a thief.

So, the principle of association operates in every sphere of life and it operates in spiritual life as well. And therefore, if someone is sincere and serious about spiritual life, he or she will associate with devotees, and by associating with devotees, gradually become a devotee.

But the beauty of Krishna consciousness is that the means and the end are the same. In the material world, which is the world of duality, the means and the end are different. There may be exceptions, but most people work for the sake of money. If they were not paid for the work they do, they wouldn’t do it. So, the work is the means, but the end is the money, or to those who step further, the money is the means and the end is the enjoyment they feel they can get by spending the money or the necessities they feel they must procure by spending the money. But in the absolute world or the spiritual world, the means and the end are the same. It’s not that we chant about Krishna so that we become purified, and then when we are purified, we go to sleep. When we become purified, we become more eager to chant.

Great devotees like Srila Rupa Gosvami pray, “With one tongue and two ears, how can I chant the holy name? If I have thousands of tongues and millions of ears, then I could begin to chant the holy name.” He says, “How much nectar is there in the two syllables Krish-na? We can’t even begin to estimate.” So, there is unlimited nectar just in the two syllables Krish-na, and with thousands of tongues and millions of ears, we cannot even begin to relish how much nectar there is.

So, therefore, the devotee is always eager to hear and chant more and more. He feels that twenty-four hours a day is not enough. He considers that the time he has to spend eating and sleeping is a great disturbance because he could be chanting and hearing about Krishna.

So, the same activities that we perform in the material world to become Krishna consciousness, namely hearing and chatting about Krishna and thinking about Krishna and dedicating one’s life to Krishna, are the same activities that we perform in the spiritual world. When we leave the material world, when we are liberated from the repetition of birth and death, when we leave the physical body and go to the spiritual world in a spiritual body, we engage in the same activities. We hear the glories of Krishna, chant the glories of Krishna, think about Krishna, dedicate our hearts and souls to Krishna. So, the devotee’s means and end are the same, there is no duality, and the more they become purified, the more they become advanced, the more they want to do the same activities of hearing and chanting.

But we, conditioned souls in the material world, unfortunately, have no taste for such kṛṣṇa-kathā. We have some, but not so much. And some have, what to speak of taste, they don’t have taste, they resist. There was once a cartoon in the New Yorker magazine. One devotee told Srila Prabhupada about the cartoon, and Srila Prabhupada was amused and he quoted it sometime. There was an old man and an old woman on a park bench, presumably in New York City, and the old woman is saying to the old man, “Chant, chant, chant,” and the old man is saying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” That is our misfortune in Kali-yuga. With the same effort that we take to resist chanting, we could just as well be chanting, but we won’t. We stubbornly refuse to chant.

So, what about such souls? They can also be engaged. They can be engaged in other types of service, and by doing other types of service, even unknowingly, their hearts will gradually become purified, and then they will become open to hearing and chanting about Krishna directly. So, I will continue reading the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

In the preliminary stage of devotional service they relish the transcendental pleasure from the service itself, and in the mature stage they are actually situated in love of God.

COMMENT

So, we have many services, even taking prasāda, prasāda-seva. If you are taking prasāda, that’s a service. And by taking prasāda, one becomes purified. By seeing the Deity, one becomes purified. By giving a donation, one makes spiritual advancement. By even appreciating a devotee, one makes spiritual advancement. So, here too, Srila Prabhupada has given the example that a person may not be ready to take directly to the process of Krishna consciousness, but if he does a little service here and there, even without knowing, like I said, he just comes to the temple, sees the Deity, offers obeisances, gives donation, takes prasāda, takes caraṇāmṛta, each little act of service adds credit to his bank account. One cent, one cent, a little service, one cent, one cent. And gradually, it builds up and eventually, he will have a hundred dollars, and he can actually do something with it.

So, in the beginning, people come, they do little services. Let’s say they meet the devotees in the street or whatever, they get the chance. They do a little service even without knowing that they are doing service and they enjoy it. They come back. They do more. And we want them to enjoy it. And gradually, they become purified. And then they come to the stage where they take to the direct process of hearing and chanting about Krishna, and by that process, purify the heart so that our dormant love for Krishna is awakened and then we do the same activities but with love.

PURPORT (continued)

Once situated in that transcendental position, they can relish the highest perfection which is exhibited by the Lord in His abode. Lord Caitanya likens transcendental devotional service to the sowing of a seed in the heart of the living entity.

COMMENT

Actually, I just saw that we really have a few minutes left. So, maybe we will continue this during the week, and those who wish to hear more can come here during the week. And in the five minutes we have left, maybe I will just see if any of you have any questions or comments.

Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:28:03].

Giriraj Swami: You are saying that sometimes you have a chance to do some service which will benefit you spiritually, but sometimes your mind rebels against it and wants to do something else.

Well, that is quite common, I could see from the response of the others in the audience. I know from my own experience. But we should not be discouraged. Srila Prabhupada said that we are in the kingdom of maya. So, it’s natural that maya will call, but if we don’t heed the call of maya, if we serve Krishna in spite of the call of maya not to serve Krishna, to do something else, then we make spiritual advancement. And eventually, Prabhupada says maya won’t call. It’s like if someone’s bothering you, they keep calling and if you don’t answer, eventually, they will give up. So, the same with maya.

There is one verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that explains how maya calls. She attracts the living entity through different senses. Of course, Srila Prabhupada would often paraphrase the verses from the Bhāgavatam in simple language. In fact, we thought that Srila Prabhupada was just speaking from his own realizations, which he was, but later, we would find the same thing in the verses of the Bhāgavatam.

So, one day, Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room in Hawaii, and there was another devotee with him, maybe a brahmachari then, and the ice cream truck came by, and it was playing sort of a sweet little tune to attract people’s attention so they know the ice cream truck is there.

So, maybe Prabhupada, well, we don’t know why exactly, but I guess the sound of the tune caught the attention of the brahmachari and Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada asked the brahmachari if he would like some ice cream. So, the brahmachari was like, “Oh no, no, no, Srila Prabhupada.” And then, Srila Prabhupada said that the sweet sound of the ice cream man is like the call of maya, that we are gathered for the purpose of serving Krishna, but then the alluring call of maya will come, “Come on and join me, come on and join me.”

So, if we heed the call of maya and leave Krishna’s service to enjoy, then we get kicked by maya herself. But if we ignore the call of maya and remain engaged in the service of Krishna, even though our mind is hearing the call, but if we don’t heed the call and remain engaged in the service of Krishna, eventually, maya will give up, and then our minds won’t have to listen to her song. Our minds will hear Krishna’s song, and we will be in complete bliss.

Alright, thank you very much.

Nitai-Gaura premānande Haribol! gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!

Now, the master of announcements.

Devotee: Haribol. Hare Krishna. I don’t know how to start, but Maharaja is being too kind.

We have been here at the Hare Krishna temple. I guess we have been invaded by Maharajas this week, and we are very fortunate, let me say that. We have four very great sannyasis with us this week, and without any specific order, His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja, who just gave us a nice program, His Holiness Giridhar Maharaja, His Holiness Kesava Bharati Maharaja, and His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Maharaja. I don’t think I have ever said four Maharajas’ names in a row standing here. So, it gives me little goosebumps here. So, we are very fortunate that all of you are here, Maharaja, and we are eagerly anxious and waiting to hear each and every one of you.

Those of you that are interested in hearing Maharajas and on a given day, you’ll be fortunate to hear one. Sometimes you may hear two. So, we have many home programs and many programs here at the temple. All the information will be on our website, hopefully by tonight, and if you are interested in finding out before you leave today, for whatever reason you don’t have access to the website, internet access, let Gaura Nitai Prabhu give you some information. Is Gaura Nitai Prabhu here? Disappeared!

Anyway, I’ll be happy to give you the information. Just let me know what specific day you needed the information for. Maharaja will be spending a few days here with us, I believe this week and by Friday morning. So, if you are interested in the information, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to give you information.

Every morning here, there will be a class at the temple, every morning starting at 7:30, and Maharaja will be speaking on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So, that is for sure, here, every morning. And then in the evening, we have different programs, that’s Gaura Nitai, and he’ll be happy to give you information and the information will be on our website.

Today, we have two sponsors for our Sunday feast program, [Unintelligible 00:36:52]. So, if those families are here, I would like to request them to come in the front and help us perform kirtan. Today’s Sunday feast is cooked by His Grace Gaura Nitai Prabhu and Radha Madhavi Mataji. Bhavna Ben and Daksha Ben came to help, and I’m sure Manjari was here too, right?

Today the kirtan will be led by His Holiness Giridhari Maharaja Swami. Haribol!