Sunday Feast

Giriraj Swami: How many of you have come here for the first time today? We are studying the Bhagavad-gītā. The Bhagavad-gītā is the textbook of yoga. Now, the word yoga has become popular throughout the world. But few people know what yoga actually means. The Sanskrit word yoga means to link or connect, and in particular to connect with God. The English word yoke comes from the Sanskrit word yoga, to yoke two animals together, to yoke the animals to the cart. And Bhagavad-gītā is a combination of two words. First, Bhagavad means related to Bhagavān, to God. And Gītā means a song. So Bhagavad-gītā is the song of God. Not that it is a song like a musical performance, but all of God’s speech is song, music, and poetry. So the first instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā is that the living entity is distinct from the physical body. God, who in Sanskrit is known as Krishna, explains that He has two energies, the spiritual energy and material energy. The spiritual energy is the living entities, and the material energy is the physical elements, solids, liquids, gases, and so on. So we, in the conditioned state, are spirit souls, but we are living in a material body, but we are not the body. We are the souls within the body. We can understand that the soul is distinct from the body, because as soon as the soul leaves the body, the body is dead. Actually, the body is always dead. It is just a machine, but it appears to be alive as long as the soul is in it and makes it work. The soul is the operator that makes the machine work. Modern science has yet to discover the soul, if you will.

But if we consider the alternatives, the alternative theories, none of them makes much sense. If we consider that life is produced by a combination of chemicals that combine by chance, then death would be a breakdown in the chemical combination, which means that if we were able to restore the chemical combination, we could bring the person back to life. Just like if a car breaks down, if you keep replacing the different parts of the automobile, you can eventually make it work again, even after you have to replace the engine, the carburetor, the clutch, the steering wheel. If you go on replacing the parts of the automobile, eventually you can make it work again, because it is just a machine. It is just made of material elements. But in the case of the human body, although you can fix the machine, once the soul has left, once the operator has left, you can never bring the body back. Therefore, if, for example, someone dies of heart failure, you can put a new heart in the body, just like you can put a new engine in a car, but once the soul has left the body, you can’t bring the body back to life, because the soul is gone, even if you replace the heart that was defective. So our actual identity is spiritual. We are not actually physical or chemical elements or combinations of elements.

We are actually spiritual beings. But somehow or other, we have come into material bodies, but we can never be happy just by trying to gratify the senses of the body, because the soul is not the body. We, as spirit souls, want happiness, and as long as we misidentify the body, we may try to get happiness by acquiring material objects to give pleasure and comfort to the body, but we are never satisfied, because we, as spirit souls, are spiritual beings. We can’t be satisfied by material beings. And therefore we see so many big CEOs, they have millions of dollars, but they are still not satisfied. They still try to manipulate things to get more millions and billions, and even then they are not satisfied, because they have mistaken their identities. They are thinking they are the body, I am so-and-so CEO of such-and-such, or so-and-so president of such-and-such. But the soul is none of those things. The soul is just a spiritual particle that is part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit or God.

So yoga is the process by which the individual soul becomes linked to the Supreme Soul, and that is the connection that will satisfy us. The Īśopaniṣad says that Pūrṇam idam. Pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate that God is the Supreme Whole, and from Him so many parts emanate. And no matter how many parts come from Him, He still remains the Supreme Whole. He is always perfect and complete. So because we are parts of God, because we come to God, we feel incomplete when we are separated from Him. But because of ignorance or illusion, we try to overcome the sense of incompleteness by completing ourselves with whatever a man thinks he will feel complete with a woman, a woman thinks she will feel complete with a man, or a couple will feel complete with a child, or the family will feel complete if they get a better house, or a better car, or on and on and on. But no matter what we try to do to feel complete, by acquiring material things or adding material things, we will never feel complete until we come to God through the process of yoga. Then we will feel complete and satisfied.

And there are many examples in the history of practitioners of yoga who were so satisfied in their connection with God that they had no other desires. They were completely satisfied. You ask any materialist, is he satisfied? No, he is not satisfied. He wants more money, or depending on what sphere he is in, he wants more land, more territory, more companies. He is not satisfied. There is one story from a long time ago in India. There was one boy of five years named Dhruva. He was playing on the lap of his father, who was the king. But the king had a co-wife who was Dhruva’s stepmother. And she was actually the king’s favorite. So when she saw Dhruva playing on the lap of the king on the throne, she said to him in a very harsh and cruel way, “Get down from there. You have no right to sit on the throne because you were not born from my womb.” So Dhruva, although he was only five years old, he did feel very hurt and angry. So he went to his mother and asked what happened. And she said, “It is true, your stepmother is more dear to the king than I am. Probably her son will occupy the throne.” So then Dhruva said, “Well, can you help me? Can someone help me?” And she said, “I don’t know who can help you. I think only God can help you.” So Dhruva asked, then where can I find God? I want to find God. So his mother said, I am not sure, but I know that many sages and saintly persons go to the forest to find God. So maybe you’ll find him there.

So Dhruva left home as a young child and made his way to the forest. And in the forest he began to look for God as a child would look. So he would look in the bushes, he would look behind the logs, he would look under the rocks and he would be calling for God. So God is everywhere. He is in the heart of every living entity. He knew that Dhruva was sincere to find him, although he was just a young boy. So God sent a guru, or teacher, to instruct Dhruva how to find him. And again, because God is in the heart of every living entity, so God, from within the heart of one saintly teacher, sent the teacher, sort of gave the message to the saintly teacher, that there is one boy who is looking for me in such and such place, so you go to him. So the teacher, who was a great sage named Narada, went to the forest and he saw Dhruva looking for God. So first he tested Dhruva, because sometimes the teacher will test the student to see how sincere the student is, and how serious the student is. So he tested Dhruva. He said my dear boy, what are you doing in the forest? He said I am looking for God. He said, oh, you shouldn’t be looking for God at such a young age. Now is the time to be playing with your friends and enjoying life. You can come back to the forest when you are older.

That is when people come to the forest to find God. So Dhruva was very staunch and determined, and he told Narada that, Narada said, you should go home. You should go home and just play with your friends and be with your mother. So Dhruva said, if you can help me to find God, and then please do so. Otherwise, you can go home. I am staying here. So Narada was satisfied that this boy is very serious. He is very determined to find God. So he gave him some yogic exercises, but the main process he gave him, which is the main process, especially in the present age, he gave him a mantra. There are many mantras, but one of them is called the maha-mantra. Maha means great, mantra, man means mind, and tra means that which delivers. So a mantra delivers the mind from its absorption in matter or in illusion maya, and frees the mind to think of God, to meditate on God. So the maha-mantra has three names in it, three words, Hare, Krishna, and Rama. And they are composed in a combination of sixteen words, as

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

So these sixteen words have great power to clean the mind and to bring the soul in contact with the Supreme Soul. So Narada, he gave different exercises to Dhruva, first physical exercises, then breathing exercises, and then finally, he gave him the mantra to chant. And, you know, with great intensity, Dhruva followed the instructions of his spiritual master with great determination, and he chanted the mantra with great care and attention. And eventually, God was so pleased with his spiritual practices that He came personally. He actually appeared before Dhruva. Now generally, when a yogi achieves perfection in ashtanga-yoga he sees the Lord within His heart. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginam. The yogis who are fixed in meditation see the Lord within the heart. But in this case, God appeared outside of Dhruva and spoke to Him. And he said, “My dear Dhruva, I am pleased with your practices. Now you can ask me whatever you would like”. And Dhruva replied, “My Lord, I do not want anything. By seeing you, I am completely satisfied”. The Lord said, I thought you came here to get your kingdom. And Dhruva said that that kingdom, yes, I was looking for a kingdom. But now I have found you, who are like the most valuable jewel. And compared to you, that kingdom is like a piece of broken glass. It has no significance compared to you. svāmin kṛtārtho’smi varaṁ na yāce said, I have no demand of you. I am completely satisfied.

So that is the great result of Krishna consciousness or God consciousness. That is the great result that is achieved by the practice of yoga, especially bhakti-yoga chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. That one becomes so pleased and satisfied in one’s relationship with God that one doesn’t want anything else. One doesn’t need anything else. One is completely satisfied. There is another story from the more recent history of Alexander the Great. When he was engaged in his military campaigns and conquering new territories, he came to India. And when he came to the precincts of India, he saw a yogi sitting in meditation in the hot sun in the middle of the day. Now, Texas can also get pretty hot, but not as hot as India. And you can imagine, sometimes it gets to be 110 degrees, 120 degrees. So the yogi was just sitting in meditation, right in the sun. And Alexander, he had met many great warriors and generals in his campaigns, but he never met anyone like this yogi. And he was very impressed. So he got down off of his horse and he approached the yogi.

And he said, “I am Alexander the Great. I am the conqueror of the world. I am very impressed by your austerities and your disciplines, your concentration. You can ask of me whatever you want. I will give you whatever you want.” And the yogi replied, “Please move aside. You are blocking the sun. That is all I ask of you.” Again, he was so satisfied in his relationship with God, his meditation on God; he didn’t want anything from Alexander the Great, except not to be disturbed in his spiritual practices, in His meditation. So that is the great benefit of Krishna consciousness, that the soul, becoming connected with the Supreme Soul, becomes so satisfied in that relationship that it doesn’t need anything else, it doesn’t want anything else, it doesn’t care for anything. Still, one might think that, well, this sounds nice on a personal level, this sounds nice, but in a way, it is sort of selfish that you are just concerned about your own satisfaction, your own happiness. Shouldn’t you also be concerned for others? And the answer is yes. Certainly the answer is yes.

When I first met my spiritual teacher, Srila Prabhupada, I was very much in the mood of doing good for others. At the time, I thought that the best way to help others was to become a doctor. But after meeting him, I understood the importance of God consciousness, Krishna consciousness. So after hearing a few of his lectures, I asked him, “I understand now the importance of serving God, but what is the relationship between serving God and serving humanity?” And Srila Prabhupada replied that you are coming to us, so many people are coming to us, and they’re getting some benefit. And then he made the same point that you might give someone some food, you might give a hungry person some food, but after three hours, he will be hungry again, or she will be hungry again. It is not a permanent solution. But if you give someone Krishna consciousness or the means to realize God, bhakti-yoga, then all of the person’s problems will be solved forever. And, the person will be so satisfied that he or she won’t have any more demand, she won’t have any more want.

So, is that not service to humanity? Yes, actually, I was convinced it was the best service to humanity. So, that is another beautiful feature of Krishna consciousness, that it is beneficial both for the individual himself, but it is also beneficial for everyone else. And it is not only beneficial for the human being; it is even beneficial for the plants and animals. When we chant Hare Krishna, now there are different ways of chanting. One can chant softly, just for one’s own self to hear. That is called japa. Even japa can be chanted either silently or very quietly. And there is kirtan, which is the same type of meditation, but instead of reciting the words to the mantra individually, one sings them in a group with musical instruments, often with dancing, spiritual dancing, and dancing in transcendental happiness. Even other living entities, other forms of life, benefit by hearing the maha-mantra. Because again the body is just a machine. Okay, we have bodies of human beings. Someone else might have the body of a dog or a cat or elephant or cow or squirrel or ants or plants. But within all of those different types of bodies, the soul is the same. There is no difference between the soul in the human being and the soul in the body of an animal. Because the vibration established by the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra penetrates the bodily coverings and touches the soul, and therefore doesn’t matter what kind of body the living entity has; the living being will benefit from hearing the mantra.

There have been studies; I think it is quite well known that plants respond to music. Years ago, there was a scientist in Calcutta, Jagadish Chandra Bose. He did experiments with plants and showed that plants grown where beautiful music is played grow better. I’ve heard of more recent experiments in the West where they’ve exposed some plants to beautiful baroque music or classical music and some plants to rock and roll music or heavy metal music. The plants got affected, and the ones that were surrounded by classical music they flourished and flowered, while those exposed to heavy music didn’t do as well. But that is material. The idea is that even plants have consciousness. Wherever there is life, there is the living entity. And again, living entity it is the same, it doesn’t matter what kind of body they exist.

So whatever the living entity, if it gets to hear the Hare Krishna mantra, it makes spiritual progress. And another element in practice of bhakti—yoga is spiritual food, called technically kṛṣṇa-prasādam. By spiritual food, we mean vegetarian food that is prepared with love and devotion for God and offered to God through a transcendental process. After the food is offered to God, it become spiritualized and by eating that food one purifies ones consciousness. That of course is another topic and again there many examples but it is not as important as chanting, but it does play a part. I mention it in particular because even people or even animals who do not appreciate the value of Krishna consciousness, if they get kṛṣṇa-prasādam, they make spiritual advancement.

There is a story. It might sound fantastic, but it has been accepted as true by many. There was once some sort of creature in the forest, a smaller creature, who ate some kṛṣṇa-prasādam. There was a bhakti yogi in the forest who had made an offering to God, and somehow that forest creature had eaten some of it. Then a tiger came and ate the smaller creature that had eaten the kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Then a hunter came and killed the tiger. The narration says that the tiger got liberated from the cycle of birth and death because it had eaten an animal that had eaten the prasādam. That is how powerful kṛṣṇa-prasādam can be. So we distribute that to people, even if they don’t understand the spiritual significance of it. To them, it is just a good meal, a tasty meal, a hot meal. We distribute, over the years, hundreds of millions of such meals. So that is service to humanity, that is service to others. It operates both to nourish the body as well as the soul.

So it is true that there are two categories of yogis. One is called bhajanānandī, and they are satisfied just with their own personal practice. But there is another category called goṣṭhyānandī. They get more pleasure in seeing others become happy than they get even in their own personal happiness. Therefore, they actively endeavor to make others happy by sharing with them the great knowledge of Krishna consciousness. Our teacher, AC Bhaktivedanta swami Prabhupada, was in that mood. He was living in a holy place in India, Vrindavan. He was relishing transcendental bliss, surrounded by beautiful forests, rivers, and hills. He was completely satisfied personally. But, he wanted to do something for others, especially wanted to come to America to help the people here but being a mendicant, he had no money or resources; he was just chanting Hare Krishna and writing books.

He came to Bombay and he approached one pious lady, an esteemed ship company, and he explained his idea to her. And eventually, she agreed to give him free passage. Her secretary was put in charge for making the arrangement for Srila Prabhupada. At one station, because there were a lot of obstacles for Prabhupada to overcome in order to reach America. So the secretary sort of dealt with Srila Prabhupada that I know why you want to go to America, you want to see the sights and enjoy. Srila Prabhupada looked up at him; he was already almost seventy years old. In fact, he had passed his seventy-first birthday at sea. He said, “What have I to enjoy at this age? But, there is a whole generation of young people who are confused and frustrated. I want to do something for them and I want to see them become happy.” That is the mood of the goṣṭhyānandī, and that is how he is trained us. Otherwise, for ourselves personally, we would be happy to retire to Vrindavan, where he was living, which incidentally happens to be the same general area where Dhruva went and performed his austerities and meditation. But we are here, in big cities like Dallas, Houston, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris for the sake of others. But it is also for our sake; because we feel happy when we see others become relieved of their anxieties and actually connect to God, actually feel spiritual happiness of the soul.

So, I thank you all for joining us today. This is just, in one sense, the beginning of the program. After this, we have a ceremony where there is chanting and the distribution of the feast. Please stay for that as well.

Are there any questions or comments? Alright, I think this should be ready.