SB 2.6.29

Giriraj Swami: Because Brahma is the first created being within the material universe, and Narada was his son. Narada knew only Lord Brahma, and he assumed that Lord Brahma was supreme, and original. But later he saw that Lord Brahma was himself engaged in meditation, so he intelligently considered that if Lord Brahma was engaged in meditation, he must be meditating on someone superior to himself. And thus he approached Lord Brahma to clarify the situation, and in due course Lord Brahma exclaimed his own history, which means the history of the creation of the universe, and how he introduced sacrifice. Sacrifice is necessary for every conditioned soul. The Bhagavad-gītā says that in the beginning the Lord sent forth generation of creatures, and gave them sacrifice to perform for the satisfaction of Vishnu. And that by performance of sacrifice, the demigods are pleased, and the performance of the sacrifice will enjoy life in the present, and become eligible to go back home, back to Godhead, after their present life. So sacrifice is the most important, and here Lord Brahma explains that the sacrifice is meant both to satisfy the manifested, and the unmanifested personality. In the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that the manifested personalities are the demigods, who are the controller within the material universe, and the transcendental personalities of Godhead who reside beyond the material universe, or even the [Unintelligible 00:03:26] who has their own spiritual domain, within the confine of the maha-tattva or the manifest matter. 

And Srila Prabhupada mentions that today people want to see everything with their own eyes. Often people say, “Where is God? If there is God, where is He? Show Him to me. I want to see Him.” But of course seeing God, is a matter of qualification. Recently we celebrated Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśī, and the demon Hiraṇyakaśipu was in a similar mood, to the modern demon, to challenge God, or challenge the devotee. If God is, just show Him to me; as if they were giving orders to God. “Okay God, come here. I want to see you.” You cannot force God to appear before you. He is independent, he is free, he is not obliged to appear before you just because you want to summoned him to prove his existence. Kind of like the sun, the sun rises up its own accord. You cannot force the sun to rise. Similarly, you cannot force God to appear before us, but He does appear to His pure devotee, to serve Him with love, and therefore Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura used to say, “Don’t try to see God, but act in such a way that God will want to see you.” Just like if you want to see the king, it may be very difficult to see the king, but if we do some extraordinary service for the sake of the nation, or the kingdom, the king himself will want to see us, he will want to honor us, and present us as an example to other citizens, of how one can serve the nation.

So, the qualification for seeing God is described in Brahma-saṁhitā. Lord Brahma, the same Lord Brahma says, 

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena

santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti

yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ

govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

He says that those whose eyes are speared with the salve of love of God, can see the Lord ‘Shyamasundara’ always within their hearts. So, although in general we say that Lord is situated within the heart as Paramātmā, or as four handed Vishnu. To the devotees, the devotees see the Lord in the heart as Shyamasundara, in His beautiful fourfold handed form. And as Srila Prabhupada says, even today if people have the qualification, they can see God. So how do we please God today, so that God will be pleased to see us?

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam later explains, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair,yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. In Kali-yuga, the Lord appears as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and He is worshipped by various people, by performing of saṅkīrtana-yajña. Saṅkīrtana is the recommended sacrifice of the present age. And by saṅkīrtana, we develop the qualification to see God. In other words, we develop the mood of loving service that attracts God to wanting to see us. And we should do more of it, we should do more kirtan. Of course, we have many activities to spread the saṅkīrtana movement, but the essence of the saṅkīrtana movement is hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. And therefore you should do it as much as possible. 

His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, in his last meets in Mayapur, personally organized meetings of devotees in his own quarters, just chanting, hearing the holy names together, for many hours. And just the performance of saṅkīrtana is so attractive, especially in the association of advanced devotees that more and more devotees wanted to attend. Eventually his quarters were not large enough, and they had to move the kirtan into the temple. So Krishna is all attractive, and His holy name is all attractive. But we may not be so attracted at first, because our hearts are contaminated. But the process of chanting the holy name itself will remove the contamination that interferes with our appreciation of the pure name, so that we do feel attracted. And any offenseless devotee will feel attracted. So, by performance of hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, or performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña—coming together and chanting the holy name will please both the manifest, and unmanifest personalities. They will be pleased, and you will also be pleased. Of course, we are busy, and to sit down for three hours may seem like a long time, but the benefits are very great.

In 1977, Srila Prabhupada’s last years, Mr. Shetty who was a privileged devotee and friend, he is still there, he was part of a bhajana mandala, which happened to be called ‘Radha-Madhava saṅkīrtana bhajana mandala’. They were basically householders, but they had some attachment to Vraja. They were in Bombay, of course, and they would meet every Sunday at one of their member’s home, and they would do a [Unintelligible 00:13:55] saṅkīrtana. They would chant continuously twelve hours, Hare Krishna kirtan from 6:00 in the morning, to 6:00 in the evening. And then from 6:00 to around 7:00, they would sing different songs from Vraja. And the climax would be when they sang, “Jaya Radha, Jaya Radhe Radhe, Jaya Radhe, Jaye Sri radhe.” And the same for Krishna.

So, one day Mr. Shetty had a great idea that the group should perform Hare Krishna kirtan, as [Unintelligible 00:14:44], which at the time was just like a shed; you could call it a semi-permanent temple, and so they all came, and Srila Prabhupada was in Juhu at the time. He was in his new quarter upstairs, but he was ill. And he expected the devotees to join him for kirtan. So we joined in kirtan to some extent, but the devotees from the Radha-Madhava saṅkīrtana satsaṅga mandala, [Unintelligible 00:15:29–34] they just chanted. They took turns, and have lunch but otherwise they were there all the time. And the temple, the Juhu temple is under Srila Prabhupada’s window. Srila Prabhupada was on the fifth floor, in his quarters, and he was very [Unintelligible 00:16:09–13] and although the devotees were chanting to a large extent for the pleasure of the deities, Sri Sri Radha-Rasabihari, they were also chanting for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada, who was upstairs. But he was ill, and the lift, the elevator wasn’t working, and so Srila Prabhupada was upstairs, and the devotees were downstairs. So Mr. Shetty went up, climbed up the five flights of stairs, [Unintelligible 00:16:55–59] 

Meanwhile, the devotees below who were specially the household devotees, they really wanted to have Prabhupada’s darshan. They were chanting with their hearts and souls, and at one stage, they got up and came out of the temple, and they were chanting underneath one of the balconies to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters, not where he usually sits, but under the balcony where he translated. And they were chanting, and chanting. Srila Prabhupada was so sick, he wanted to reciprocate with them, so finally he just [Unintelligible 00:17:56] to set him up, and devotees helped him to walk to the balcony, came out to the balcony. And devotees went wild. [Unintelligible 00:18:14–15]. And so, Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with the performance of saṅkīrtana, and the next day he called for me and he said that, “How wonderful the kirtan was, and that every day you should do the same time.” I said, “Twelve hours, we can’t do kirtan.” [Unintelligible 00:19:00–05] so I said, ‘Srila Prabhupada, we have so many services to do, we have to finish the temple, and there are so many services to do.” So, Srila Prabhupada he was quite intense and he said, ‘Well, at least do it on Sunday.” So I said “Yes, we can do it on Sundays.”

Well, that was a regular practice, chanting twelve hours kirtan on Sundays. And I remember all the problems. I was the temple president and all the problems used to be solve in the twenty-four hour kirtan. I would hear what the problems from Monday to maybe Thursday morning, but like Thursday afternoon I would be like, ‘why bother?’ I know that they will be ultimately solved by kirtan anyway, and they always were. I also had some insights how to deal with the situation and the devotees also [Unintelligible 00:20:44–47] and they also were more enlivened and purified and they were also more enlightened and more cooperative.

So, that is our main process. In Bhakti-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Gosvami says that of all the processes of devotional service, the congregational chanting of the holy name, chanting together out loud, has the greatest potency to evoke spiritual sentiments. So it is the most powerful process and if we engage in that sacrifice, in saṅkīrtana-yajña, that will be the best way to awaken our love of God, which is the only way to see Krishna. And it is the best way to please all the superior personalities, manifest, and unmanifest.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:22:35–00:22:44]

Giriraj Swami: Chaitanya dasa is asking if the kirtan still goes on, on Sundays. Well, not really the way Srila Prabhupada wanted. There is continuous kirtan, but not [Unintelligible 00:23:01–07] Srila Prabhupada wanted. Of course it is true that when the new temple opened there was a lot of a service, and there were more people coming. So then we came to the stage where we would have shifts, where everyone in the temple would have a shift of two hours or three hours. Then gradually we appointed a kirtan team that would be devotee who were into kirtan, that was their service, to do kirtan. And they would have shifts, and then anyone else who wanted to come, and sit and join them, but most of the devotees, kept doing other activities. But I think that the temple did that when there was more participation. And also in the kirtan, everyone is equal. There is no taking management, or little [Unintelligible 00:24:50–56] but in kirtan, everyone is equal.

So that is a very good way for everyone can associate on the spiritual platform, and once, so many years going [Unintelligible 00:25:10–12] ISKCON, one devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “How to improve the relationship amongst the devotees?’’ And Srila Prabhupada replied, “By doing more activities together, well not actually activities but doing small things together. Brahmacharis, those devotees that are participating in the kirtan [Unintelligible 00:25:35–37] such a special experience. They also bonded to each other. In many places of Srila Prabhupada’s book, he mentioned the idea of three hours, coming together for three hours in the evening, and doing saṅkīrtana together. We just need to work on it; to think about it at least. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:26:16–41]

Giriraj Swami: In Srila Prabhupada’s room?

Devotee: No, just in the temple.

Giriraj Swami: In the temple, when I was there once, like you said His Holiness Sivarama Swami led a kirtan; that particular night, it was in Srila Prabhupada’s room, because there were other discussions, and other activities in the temple but yes, it was very powerful.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:27:15–00:28:38]

Giriraj Swami: In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is an example of a boat. That the process of devotional service is like a boat that will carry you across the ocean of birth and death. So you have to stay in the boat, that is the idea. You have to stay in the boat, and follow the process, and then you will cross the ocean of birth and death. It is not quite the same as the Christian idea that if you just accept Jesus as your savior, you will be saved. Yes, we accept Lord Krishna as our savior but Srila Prabhupada is Krishna’s representative, as a savior, if we follow their instructions to chant sixteen rounds, follow the regulative principles, and do our best to expand the saṅkīrtana movement. So that is staying in the boat, or from the other analogy that is flying your own airplane. But flying your own airplane, or staying in the boar aren’t that different. You still have the airplane to carry you or the boat to carry you. And all you have to do it is stay in it, and do what you are supposed to do while you are in it. Of course the idea is that we have to think of Krishna at the time of death and that may not be so easy. You have to practice to become more detached from the body, and the world, so that our attention can be on Krishna. But then again if one really sincerely chants and follow the principles, and serve the mission. 

Tamal Krishna Goswami himself asked Srila Prabhupada that, “I am so busy, busy engaged in service, for you and the mission, what if at the time of death, I am involved in some service, and I cannot think of Krishna.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “Well, Lord Chaitanya will come, he will enter into your mouth at the time of the death.” So it is the same idea that we make our efforts, and Krishna will extend His mercy. It is not like you do nothing, just have faith and then the Lord does everything. We make our efforts, but our efforts alone are not sufficient. We also need Krishna’s mercy. It is really the combination of the two that binds us to Krishna, kṛṣṇa-kathā.

Alright. Thank you very much. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!