BG 3.7.19 – Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasa-puja—Ecstasy Through Service

Giriraj Swami:

[SB 3.7.19]

yat-sevayā bhagavataḥ
kūṭa-sthasya madhu-dviṣaḥ
rati-rāso bhavet tīvraḥ
pādayor vyasanārdanaḥ

TRANSLATION

By serving the feet of the spiritual master, one is enabled to develop transcendental ecstasy in the service of the Personality of Godhead, who is the unchangeable enemy of the Madhu demon and whose service vanquishes one’s material distresses.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The association of a bona fide spiritual master like the sage Maitreya can be of absolute help in achieving transcendental attachment for the direct service of the Lord. The Lord is the enemy of the Madhu demon, or in other words He is the enemy of the suffering of His pure devotee. The word rati-rāsaḥ is significant in this verse. Service to the Lord is rendered in different transcendental mellows (relationships): neutral, active, friendly, parental and conjugal. A living entity in the liberated position of transcendental service to the Lord becomes attracted to one of the above-mentioned mellows, and when one is engaged in transcendental loving service to the Lord, one’s service attachment in the material world is automatically vanquished. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.59), rasa-varjaṁ raso ‘py asya paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate.

COMMENT

We are gathered at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada on his divine appearance day, here in his Western world headquarters. Srila Prabhupada has translated many transcendental literatures for us. He would rise early in the morning and spend as much time as possible translating. At the very least, he would translate from midnight to 6:00 a.m. Although I said “early in the morning,” it would be more precise to say that he rose in the middle of the night. Usually he would take rest at about ten, sleep for about two hours, and then get up at about midnight and translate. He considered his service of translating the Vedic literatures and writing to be most important. And for whom did he write? He himself said that he wrote for his sincere followers. He wrote for everyone, but mainly for his sincere followers. So to read Srila Prabhupada’s books, to study them, to try to understand them and apply them, is an important part of our service to him. As Srila Prabhupada once said, “You should not only distribute my books, but you should read them.”

So today on Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day I thought to discuss some of the philosophy that he has presented in his books, because the philosophy is the basis ("books are the basis") of our activities in devotional service, our activities in ISKCON. One of the first books that Srila Prabhupada translated was The Nectar of Devotion, a summary study of Srila Rupa Gosvami’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. There, Srila Prabhupada, following Srila Rupa Gosvami, explains that there are three divisions of devotional service: sādhana-bhakti, bhava-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. Sādhana-bhakti has been rendered by Srila Prabhupada in English as “devotional service in practice,” bhava-bhakti as “devotional service in ecstasy,” and prema-bhakti as devotional service in “pure love of Godhead.” So, for people interested in spiritual advancement it is a great question: How do we progress? Of course, Srila Prabhupada himself emphasized the chanting of the holy names, and thus we are called the Hare Krishna movement. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as we read in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, has also confirmed that of all the items of devotional service, the chanting of the holy names is the most important. Therefore Srila Prabhupada stressed above all the chanting of the holy names, and for disciples the chanting of sixteen rounds.

Now, where does the service of the spiritual master come into the picture, or where does it fit? Sri Jiva Gosvami explains that disciples tend to have two views of the role of service to the spiritual master in the process of devotional service. In one view the main activities are bhajana, hearing and chanting and remembering Krishna, with serving the spiritual master as a subdivision or subordinate activity. I know from my own experience, from my own association with them, that many senior members of the Gaudiya-sampradāya outside ISKCON have the belief that the main processes are hearing and chanting and remembering, and that one serves the spiritual master to facilitate one’s hearing and chanting, ultimately to get impetus for one’s hearing and chanting.

Sri Jiva Gosvami goes on to say, however, that there is another type of disciple, who considers service to the spiritual master to be a separate process, a distinct aṅga or limb of sādhana-bhakti. They consider it to be on the same level as hearing and chanting and remembering, as an independent item. And Sri Jiva Gosvami says that of these two perspectives, the understanding that service to the spiritual master is a separate item is higher—which might come as a surprise to some people. Yet the way Srila Prabhupada presented himself as a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura in his mood of service, and the way he trained us in our devotional service, he did emphasize and instill in us that mood of service to the spiritual master.

Now, there is another argument, which is that as long as one does not have taste for hearing and chanting, one should serve the spiritual master. Then, when one develops taste, one should become more absorbed in hearing and chanting, and the practical service in the mission of the spiritual master in the material world is not so important. It is not so attractive or important because the real process for entering the higher realms of devotional service is hearing and chanting and remembering.

But the verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that we just read says the opposite. This verse states specifically that by serving the lotus feet of the spiritual master one develops rati. Now, rati is part of that scheme of different levels of devotional service mentioned by Sri Rupa Gosvami. After sādhana-bhakti comes bhava-bhakti, and a synonym for bhava in certain contexts is rati. Rati means “attachment.” As Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport and as Sri Rupa Gosvami elaborates in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, there are different bhavas, or different types of rati. There is dāsya-rati, attachment to Krishna in the mood of being a servant. And there is sakhya-rati, attachment to Krishna in the mood of being a friend. Then there is vātsalya-rati, which is attachment to Krishna in the mood of being a parent. And finally there is madhura-rati, attachment to Krishna in the mood of being a lover of Krishna.

So, as stated in this verse and purport, it is by serving the lotus feet of the spiritual master that one develops these bhavas, these different types of attachment to Krishna. It is by service to the lotus feet of the spiritual master that one develops that desire to serve Krishna in a particular relationship. Thus, contrary to what some suggest, we don’t have to engage in any sort of artificial esoteric practice to develop that desire for service to Krishna in a particular relationship. That desire (lobha) comes by serving the lotus feet of the spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. My conclusion, therefore, based on reading the scriptures and to some extent from coming in touch with different moods of devotional service in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya, is that Srila Prabhupada has given us a very high understanding—very high. It is deceptively simple: just chant sixteen rounds, follow the four regulative principles, spread the saṅkīrtana movement to the best of one’s ability, and develop love—go back to Godhead.

One might think that one has to go deeper, that one must study various books and uncover various esoteric messages and processes, but what Srila Prabhupada gave us from the very beginning is actually the most effective process, not just to spread Krishna consciousness, but even for us to progress through the different stages of devotional service.

So I felt it appropriate on Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day to express our appreciation for this aspect of Srila Prabhupada’s mission—how he was able to present the process by which one can achieve ecstatic love of Godhead in the simplest terms. So, we should serve Srila Prabhupada with full faith and conviction and without reservation. The famous verse in the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā (4.34) says,

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

“One must approach a spiritual master and render service to him, inquire submissively of him, and surrender to him.” And we find in the Thirteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, as one of the items of knowledge, ācāryopāsanaṁ: one must approach the acharya. There Srila Prabhupada comments that one who has approached the spiritual master with all humility and offered him all services can make advancement even if he is unable to strictly follow all the rules and regulations. Or, the regulative principles will be easier for one who has served the spiritual master without reservation. So again, we see the importance of serving the spiritual master without reservation, without any condition that “I will do this but I won’t do that” or “I will do this if I get this in return but I won’t do it if I don’t.” Service to the spiritual master without reservation is the key to Krishna consciousness, and that was Srila Prabhupada’s own mood. He always said that he followed his Guru Maharaja blindly. When he received an instruction from his spiritual master, he did not calculate in terms of personal gain or loss, but he just accepted the instruction and tried his best to execute it.

That was Srila Prabhupada’s mood in his own service, and that was the mood he instilled in us—selfless service. In India Srila Prabhupada kept us so busily engaged, so fully engaged in practical activities to spread Krishna consciousness, that we hardly had time to chant our rounds, what to speak of read his books. At one stage I was actually getting into anxiety because I did not have time to read his books. I was in Srila Prabhupada’s room in Calcutta (we still have the same temple in Calcutta), and he quoted the verse naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā: by rendering service to the person bhāgavata or by listening to the book Bhāgavata one gets the same result. Srila Prabhupada said that if one serves the person bhāgavata without reservation, all of the truths of the book Bhāgavata will be revealed to him, even if he never reads the book. So that was how Srila Prabhupada engaged us and trained us—in the mood of selfless service, or unconditional service.

Now when I think back on how we served then, I think we were protected by Srila Prabhupada’s personal presence, by his personal potency. For his sake we could work day and night and just barely chant our rounds (depending on the circumstances) and hardly have time to read.

But what about now? Some devotees have commented that when Srila Prabhupada was here he had a great sense of urgency because he was not sure how long he would be with us and he wanted to do as much as he could while he was here. Of course the world needs Krishna consciousness today as much as ever—if not more. However, in one sense Srila Prabhupada’s mission is not in such an emergency as it was in while Srila Prabhupada was here, for the society is now well established and all of its main elements are in place.

In addition, when Srila Prabhupada was here, he seemed to empower us to act beyond our capacity and to maintain us by his spiritual potency—even if we were not so regulated in our chanting and reading. But now we have to be more careful to chant and read and be more regulated in general, because without Srila Prabhupada’s personal presence we seem more prone to be carried away by maya. So I would say, “Yes, in general we should be very regulated.” I began this class by stressing how important it is for us to study Srila Prabhupada’s books. So in general we should be regulated. We should get up early, attend maṅgala-ārati, chant our rounds, join the class on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other books, take prasāda, and then have our day’s activities—do our service during the day—and come back. That should be our routine, because it is actually very beneficial to be regulated.

And that was another amazing feature of Srila Prabhupada’s devotional service—how regulated he was. He would always take his meals, his massage, his nap, at the same time every day. He was very regulated. His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami told me the story of when he and a busload of devotees were riding with Srila Prabhupada from Delhi to Vrindavan. It was the first time since Srila Prabhupada had returned to India to begin his mission that he was going to Vrindavan with his disciples. So it was a big thing to go to Vrindavan with Srila Prabhupada. I don’t know how many disciples there were—thirty or fifty—but at about one o’clock, when they were somewhere between Delhi and Vrindavan on the Agra-Delhi highway, Srila Prabhupada said, “It is time for my lunch.” So he stopped, and some disciples arranged a picnic for him by the side of the highway. He took his meal and then got back into the bus and continued on to Vrindavan. He was very regulated.

So, being regulated is good for our spiritual practices. (It is even good for our health.) But for the sake of service to his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada was prepared to do anything—even break his routine. So although we want to be regulated and being regulated is good, when the time comes to go beyond our routine for the sake of service to Srila Prabhupada, we should be prepared. We should be prepared to do anything for Srila Prabhupada. And that was Srila Prabhupada’s spirit: he was ready to do anything to spread Krishna consciousness. And he inspired in us the same spirit so that we were ready to do anything to assist him.

Mother Malati tells a nice story about how when we first got the land in Mayapur Srila Prabhupada invited his godbrothers to meet him there. Srila Prabhupada had a small chātāi hut, which is still there (although renovated). Mother Malati had been cooking for Srila Prabhupada. It was very difficult for her because there was almost no money. She had to struggle to get money from the treasurer, then walk with her young daughter to the boat, fight with the boat people so they would accept the proper fare, take the boat across to Navadvipa, fight with rickshaw drivers so that they too would accept the right amount, ride to the fruit and vegetable markets, fight with the vendors there to get the right price, and then return to cook on the single portable coal burner and the single portable kerosene burner on the floor in the corner of Srila Prabhupada’s hut, separated from him by a plain cloth “curtain.” As the devotees didn’t have a refrigerator then, whatever she needed she had to buy fresh daily—and thus go through the same struggles every day. Every day Mother Malati was on the verge of collapsing, but then so were most of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, dedicated as they were to Srila Prabhupada’s service in spite of all material impediments and inconveniences (living in tents, eating the local food, getting dysentery, etc.).

Mother Malati’s constant meditation was how to make the prasāda come out nice so that Srila Prabhupada would be pleased. And every day Srila Prabhupada would point out the defects in her service, so that she could improve. But she felt that he was criticizing her. And she felt that she could never get it right. Then one day she thought that she had finally managed to cook everything properly and arrange the plate just to Srila Prabhupada’s standard. She brought the plate of prasāda to Srila Prabhupada, but when she came to remove the plate he said, “There is too much salt"—not that there was too much salt in the food, but there was too much salt placed on the plate with the pepper and ginger and lemon slices. So she concluded, “I can never get it right. I should find someone else who can do the service better.” And immediately she felt relieved. So she decided, “I will tell Srila Prabhupada tomorrow.”

The next day, Mother Malati heard that some of Srila Prabhupada’s godbrothers were coming to join him for lunch, so she assumed that she would not cook that day, because Srila Prabhupada had been under criticism from his godbrothers for keeping women in his ashrams and for having a woman cook. But Srila Prabhupada called her to tell her what items he wanted her to cook that day, as usual. And she was dutiful, so she decided, “Well, I will just cook today, and then I will tell him tomorrow.” So she cooked.

When the prasāda was ready, Mother Malati lifted up the cloth that separated the work area from Srila Prabhupada’s room. There she saw Srila Prabhupada sitting on the floor at the end of the room, with two of his godbrothers on either side. Srila Prabhupada appeared to her like a diamond in a gold setting, flanked as he was by his esteemed godbrothers. And she felt intimidated by the presence of such venerable Vaishnavas.

Already on her knees, she pulled her sari over her head and arms, so only her hands showed, and with her knees and elbows on the floor, she carried Srila Prabhupada’s plate of prasāda with her outstretched hands, practically crawling between the godbrothers to approach her spiritual master.

Then Srila Prabhupada addressed his godbrothers: “Yes, she cooks for me. . . and I criticize her. But she would slit her throat for me, and I would do the same for her.” When she heard that, Mother Malati almost collapsed on the floor. That was more than any reciprocation she could have ever hoped for or even imagined.

So, that was the mood then. I know devotees who would say, “If Srila Prabhupada told me to jump off the Empire State Building I would do it.” That was the mood. But the surrender was based on love—not the blind following of brainwashed cult members.

And what Srila Prabhupada had said was true. We were ready to do anything for him—in part because we knew he would do anything for us. He would always give his support to us, and he was prepared to do himself whatever he asked of us.

So Srila Prabhupada’s mood was the same—toward his spiritual master and toward his disciples, in service to his spiritual master and in his reciprocation with his disciples for their sincere efforts to serve. Certainly he would do anything for his spiritual master. He came on a steamship all the way from India to America, to New York. He lived in the Bowery. He was ready to do anything for Krishna consciousness. And he was ready to do anything for us, really. For the devotees who gave everything to him, he was ready to give everything to them. That is real love. And it is the love that we experience in relation to Srila Prabhupada that becomes the basis for developing love for Krishna. Srila Prabhupada used to say that the spiritual master is the transparent via media for Krishna. We get knowledge from Krishna through the spiritual master, and we offer service to Krishna through the spiritual master. But more than just the mechanics of the service, it is the mood of devotion that we want to offer to Krishna. So we develop the mood of devotion for the spiritual master, and that becomes the mood of love and devotion for Lord Krishna—Radha and Krishna.

So the service of the spiritual master is a very deep thing; it is the very basis of the Krishna consciousness movement. And chanting sixteen rounds is part of our service to Srila Prabhupada, an important part. Following the regulative principles is also part of our service. But the general principle is to be ready to do anything for the sake of Srila Prabhupada’s service. That is the basis on which ISKCON was formed, that is the basis on which ISKCON will grow strong, and that is the basis on which, as Srila Prabhupada said, we will have another ISKCON in the spiritual world. We will all go back to Godhead. If we chant sixteen rounds, follow the regulative principles, and really do our best to spread Krishna consciousness, then we will go back to Godhead. Srila Prabhupada has promised us, and Krishna will uphold Srila Prabhupada’s promise. We will go back to Godhead and serve Krishna under Srila Prabhupada’s eternal guidance. Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee (1): [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Are you talking about serving Srila Prabhupada in his physical absence?

Devotee (1): Yes, either Srila Prabhupada or (in our case) grand-disciples serving our spiritual master if he is not present.

Giriraj Swami: That is a good question. I will paraphrase it. I had a lot of personal association with Srila Prabhupada, so he would give me direct instructions and I would try to execute them. But what if the spiritual master is not present, either because he has left the planet or for some other reason is not available? Then how do we serve the spiritual master?

From the beginning of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada emphasized serving his representatives, serving the authorities in the temples. Even when Srila Prabhupada was physically present, few devotees worked directly under him. Most of the devotees were working under the temple presidents and other authorities. We knew that was what Srila Prabhupada wanted, so we did it. Of course, we did have recourse to Srila Prabhupada if we thought that an authority needed to be corrected or educated by Srila Prabhupada. We could write to Srila Prabhupada. But it was not that common to write him, because we all knew that Srila Prabhupada wanted to be free to translate his books. He did not want to be bothered by all sorts of little problems. Therefore he formed the GBC, so that even if there was a difficulty with a temple president, it did not have to come to Srila Prabhupada but could go to the GBC and they would deal with it. But even then, what if the GBC needed some help? So Srila Prabhupada was there, and his presence made it easier for some devotees to follow his representatives, because he was personally there at the top of the pyramid. A word that Srila Prabhupada used often was “cooperation.” “Your love for me will be shown by how you cooperate.” So it is a combined effort. In most cases, serving Srila Prabhupada or any spiritual master in ISKCON does mean cooperating with the relevant authorities and working with the other devotees to spread Krishna consciousness. And of course we have the basic instructions to chant sixteen rounds, follow the regulative principles, attend the programs, and so on.

And then there is the caitya-guru, the spiritual master in the heart. If we are sincere and surrendered and pure enough, we can get direction within the heart from the spiritual master, how to serve him.

Arcita Prabhu: It seems that even when Srila Prabhupada was here he emphasized that his mission was bigger than the individual. In other words, if you cannot render service nicely in a particular locale, then go to a different place, or change your service. But he was saying, “Never give up on the mission itself.” It seemed that he strongly emphasized that.

Giriraj Swami: That is true. There were exceptional cases when Srila Prabhupada said that if you cannot get along with your godbrothers then you can work separately, but that was exceptional. The usual was that if you cannot work here, then work there—but don’t leave Krishna consciousness. Do not leave the service of the mission.

Devotee (2): [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: She asked if I can tell her a personal story about me serving Srila Prabhupada without reservation.

Well, I do not know if I have come to that stage. Maybe if you ask me in a few million lifetimes I can tell you one. But there is a sweet story that comes to mind. It was in Gorakhpur. We had been invited there by Hanuman Prasad Poddar, the founder of the Gītā Press, which is really very big in India. Now there are so many publications, but at that time the Gītā Press publications were extremely popular, as popular as the Reader’s Digest was in America, but spiritual. Anyway, Hanuman Prasad Poddar provided us a large estate, Krishna Niketan. It was a huge mansion with many acres of agricultural fields. And I believe that earlier it had been his personal residence.

At that time Srila Prabhupada had with him his brass Radha-Madhava Deities (now installed in Mayapur), and it was in Gorakhpur that Srila Prabhupada introduced the song Jaya Radha-Madhava that we now sing every day before class. So he wanted the devotees to set up an altar, to make an altar for the Deities. Days passed, however, and nothing was happening. Finally, Srila Prabhupada became so concerned that he took the matter into his own hands and personally organized the construction of the siṁhāsana. Kausalya dasi, who was the Deities’ pujari, got a large table, which she thoroughly cleaned. Then Srila Prabhupada had us get long bamboo poles to tie to the table’s four legs, and string to connect the tops of the bamboo poles. Srila Prabhupada then asked Himavati for her two best saris, one to drape across the top as the roof and one to drape over the front as the curtain. Finally, Srila Prabhupada wanted branches of trees and bushes to tie to the bamboo poles as decorations.

I was relatively new and not that capable of doing other services, so I, along with another man, was sent out to bring back branches. It was already about five o’clock in the afternoon and getting towards, but I did not know when to stop. I was quite new and could not determine how much to bring or when to stop. So I just kept getting more and more and more. And it kept getting darker and darker. (It was like. . . well, there might be a slight resemblance to when Krishna and Sudama went into the forest and it got darker and there was a storm.) Anyway, I was not sure, so I just kept getting more and more. I could hardly walk, I was carrying so many branches. Then I made my way back to Krishna Niketan, climbed up the stairs, and there I saw Srila Prabhupada. The altar was already done. Practically all the devotees had gone to rest, and only Srila Prabhupada and one or two other devotees were still there. I came staggering up the stairs with this huge load of branches. And Srila Prabhupada was in such an ecstatic mood. I think he was just really pleased that we finally had made an altar for the Deities. He saw me coming up, and it was late, and I guess he figured that I was really trying to bring back a good bunch of branches. I dropped them on the floor. He was just smiling and beaming, and he touched me. He did not touch devotees very often. There are some of the early devotees he did touch, but I think it was only really twice in my experience in Krishna consciousness that he actually touched me. He was just very pleased. He said, “Thank you very much.” And he touched my shoulder. So that was a nice experience.

When I look back on that incident I feel, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada was the founder-acharya of ISKCON, but he was also my spiritual master.” And it was sort of like Krishna and Sudama with Sandipani Muni: There was that personal touch of the spiritual master with his disciples.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!