The Power of Mantra—Telephone Lecture to Devotees in Durban

Giriraj Swami: Today is a special day here. Two or three events have coincided. A few days ago, Svarupa Damodara’s sister, Anuradha, came into the temple room with Kunti devi to show Niranjana Swami and me some pictures of Deities of Radha and Krishna that had manifested Themselves in Carpinteria. A friend of hers, Jamuna, a devotee who lives in Los Angeles, had come to Carpinteria for a few days and was staying at an inn on the main street. Across from the inn is an antique shop. Jamuna and her sixteen-year-old daughter had gone into the shop and noticed a Deity of Krishna. Later, Anuradha, not knowing anything about the Deity, went to the inn to meet her friend. During the course of their conversation, Jamuna’s daughter mentioned the Deity in the antique shop. Anuradha immediately went to the shop with the daughter, where they found not only Krishna but a matching Radha as well.

Anuradha took pictures and, with Kunti devi, rushed home to show them to us. Because it was time for my walk, I couldn’t really consider the subject too deeply. But after the walk, Niranjana Swami and I went to Sri Radhika’s new apartment in Carpinteria, and while I was doing Gayatri in front of her Deities of Gaura-Nitai, Nimai-Nitai, I got the clear intuition that I should get the Deities in the antique shop, that They were waiting for me.

The next morning, with Mayapur dasa, who was His Holiness Śrīdhara Swami’s servant and is now with us for a month, I went to the shop and got the Deities.

Now, there is some more background, also related to the Gayatri mantra. You may know, especially if you read His Holiness Sacinandana Swami’s The Gayatri Book, that Gayatri fulfills all desires. I hadn’t consciously desired to have Radha-Krishna Deities for quite some time. In 2001 when we observed Gopala Bhatta Gosvami’s appearance day and told the story of Radha-Ramana, how Radha-Ramana manifested Themselves from the śālagrāma-śilā, I mentioned that at some stage I would like to worship Radha-Krishna Vigraha. But I hadn’t had a conscious desire to have Radha-Krishna Deities for a long time, because I didn’t think we were ready; it just wasn’t an issue for me. But for the last few weeks, whenever I would chant the Gayatri mantras, I would become. . . During the first three lines I would look at the murti of Srila Prabhupada and would feel satisfied, and then during the next two lines I would look at the Deities of Gaura-Nitai and feel satisfied, but then when I came to the next two lines, the Gopala mantra and the Kāma-gāyatrī mantra, I was restless: my eyes would be looking for some object of meditation but were always unsatisfied. I would look at our different Deities, I would look at pictures of Krishna, but somehow I never felt satisfied that I had a proper object of meditation for the lines about Krishna. Then, when the Deities manifested, I thought, “Maybe in an indirect way I was desiring a Deity of Krishna and because Gayatri fulfills all desires, she had fulfilled my desire.”

I had just received a book called What is the Difficulty? Meditations from the Private Journal of Srutakirti dasa, and the next day, as I was about to take a little rest after lunch, I thought, “Let me read one anecdote, just to see what it is like.” I opened the book to number twenty-eight: “Only Krishna Can Know Everything.” It sounded like an interesting topic, but lo and behold, as I read the pastime, although one could say that the theme was about knowing everything, the incident related to the Gayatri mantra. Srutakirti wrote, “In May of 1972, I was given second initiation by Srila Prabhupada at the Los Angeles temple. The process of getting brahman initiation was blissful. I went into Srila Prabhupada’s quarters and offered my obeisances. He held a new brahman thread in his hands and whispered the Gayatri mantras in my ear. It happened very quickly. When I left his room, I was given a sheet of paper with the mantras on it.

“One morning about three o’clock, I was bathing in a muddy pond in New Vrindavan. The area was totally dark. I was rushing because I had to prepare the Deities’ plates for the maṅgala offering. While throwing a bucket of water over my head, I must have washed my sacred thread off my body. When I discovered it was gone, hours later, I was brought to tears. The very thread that Srila Prabhupada had given me was gone forever. It was a very bad omen and I feared my connection was lost.”

That was the first part of the incident. Then the second: “One year later, I became Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant. After his morning massage I always laid fresh clothing on Srila Prabhupada’s bed while he bathed. It was also my service to place a new brahman thread on his desk every month. I did it either on the day of the full moon or on an Ekādaśī. Srila Prabhupada chanted on the new thread while holding his old one. The loss of my brahman initiation thread etched a fault across my heart. I was eager to rectify it. This was my first month in Srila Prabhupada’s personal service. Therefore, I was excited to obtain His Divine Grace’s prasāda thread and resume my transcendental brahman connection.

“After chanting Gayatri, he walked across the veranda where Yamuna-devi was cooking. I walked into his sitting room and picked up his discarded thread only to discover that he had pulled apart each of the threads. I could not believe it. In the two years that followed, he never did that again. I walked out of his room with the thread in my hand and sat on the veranda. I tied a knot in each of the six threads, determined to make my connection again. It did not matter to me that he had broken them. It was still his thread. While I contentedly sat on the veranda, Srila Prabhupada walked by after finishing his lunch. I offered my obeisances and he smiled at me. ‘The brahman thread, you have disposed of it?’ he asked. ‘Not yet, Srila Prabhupada,’ I said. ‘You should bury it beneath the tulasi plant in the temple courtyard,’ he instructed. ‘Put it in the dirt under the roots.’ All I could say was, ‘All right.’

“I could not believe it. On other occasions, I experienced Srila Prabhupada’s mystic powers as well. If I wanted something, he made me ask for it. He seemed to enjoy exposing my desires, and I also enjoyed it. I could have told him about losing my thread, but I was too ashamed. I did not like to ask Srila Prabhupada for anything. I tried not to ask him questions, since so many others were inquiring on a regular basis. I tried to think what Srila Prabhupada wanted, not what I wanted. However, sometimes my desire would overwhelm me.

“Srila Prabhupada, please forgive me for not following your instructions. I never did bury the thread as you asked. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for tolerating me.”

That was the anecdote I happened to read, and it seemed to reinforce the idea that it was the Gayatri mantra, the power of the Gayatri mantra, that had acted to bring the Deities. Still, even after bringing Them from the shop, while the devotees were still preparing Them to be worshiped, when I would do my Gayatri, during the last two lines I would feel restless, looking for some object of meditation. Then one day I thought, “Let me just meditate in my mind on the forms of the new Deities of Radha and Krishna,” and when I did, I felt pacified. So that is the power of the Gayatri mantra, which fulfills all desires.

When the Deities arrived, They were very dark. Because of all the tarnish that had accumulated over the years, it was hard to know what Their forms were made of. The owner of the antique shop had no idea who They were. He didn’t know that the Radha went with the Krishna or that the other Deity was Krishna. When we asked him where he got Them, he replied that he had bought Them at an estate sale in Beverly Hills, that They looked like fun, so he got Them. And They are fun. He can’t imagine how much fun They are. [laughter]

So we brought the Deities back, and we were looking at Them. We showed Them to His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, and he said They were old. He couldn’t say exactly how old, but maybe a hundred years. And They looked like They were made out of some special metal. At first, parts looked like silver and parts like brass, but it was hard to tell. And there was some Sanskrit on the base of each. It was hard to read all the letters, but it looked like the inscription on Krishna’s base said, “Sri Krishnaji.” The other one was not as clear, but it looked something like “Sri Radhikaji.”

The rest of that day, the devotees were polishing, polishing the Deities. His Holiness Indradyumna Swami said he wanted to begin the work, so he started polishing. Then Kunti devi, who is the main pujari here, took over, and she was polishing. And after some time Mayapur dasa took a turn polishing. They polished all day long, and the Deities started to shine. They showed a very special color. Maharaja said that They were made of aṣṭa-dhātu, eight precious metals, but that he had never seen any Deities quite that color. He thought there must be a large proportion of silver in the mixture—silver and gold.

The next day, more polishing. Nama Cintāmaṇi came, and she also did some polishing. The devotees got off all the tarnish they could. Although there were some small bits here and there that they couldn’t reach, the Deities really began to shine. Then Maharaja gave Kunti devi his Deities of Radha-vallabha as samples, so she could paint our new Deities. And last night she basically finished the painting. Although she had never before painted Radha-Krsna vigraha, somehow she was able to bring out Their all-attractive, charming qualities.

In the meantime, a devotee from Ojai named Urvashi dasi—a nice disciple of Srila Prabhupada—had a talk with a friend of hers who had recently taken charge of a boat. We had had boat festivals on Lake Casitas in Ojai in the past, and at that time the boat was managed by the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens, but it really wasn’t their line of business—they just kept the boat running as a service to the community—and in the end they felt they couldn’t continue. It was too different from their real work, and Ojai was too far from Santa Barbara. For more than a year, nobody took responsibility for the boat, and so it was unavailable. Then the same day that Anuradha had gone into the antique shop, Urvashi phoned and said that she had met the man who had taken charge of the boat and that it was now available. And she suggested that we have a boat festival. As it was, we had wanted to have a program on Saturday because several special guests had come and it was Indradyumna Swami’s last weekend before he was to leave for Poland.

Then the next day, the day that Mayapur and I went and got the Deities, I phoned Urvashi and said, “Yes, you may go ahead and arrange the boat for Saturday"—which is today. “We will have kirtan with Indradyumna Swami and Niranjana Swami and Sarvatma Prabhu and the other devotees.” And as it turned out, it would also be the occasion to welcome the Deities of Sri Krsnaji and Sri Radhikaji. So that is going to take place today, in about four hours. We will have our transcendental boat festival and welcome the Deities.

While chanting my rounds the day after the Deities arrived, I got an inspiration for Their name, and on the boat we will unveil the Deities, and thereafter I will announce the name. Unfortunately, you won’t be there to hear it. [laughter] Fortunately, I can tell you the name now—if you promise not to tell anyone. [laughter] You can’t tell anyone here or anyone who might tell someone here. The inspiration I got was. . .

Let me say a few more things as an introduction to the name. In my mind I associated the new Deities with Radha-vallabha, Indradyumna Swami’s Radha-Krishna Deities, because the new Deities came while he was here. Radha-vallabha were in effect our Deities of Radha and Krishna while he was here, although They were in his room, not on our altar. And the new Deities were also antique, like Radha-vallabha. Also, when Svarupa Damodara Prabhu and Sukumari Mataji left for South Africa and Indradyumna Swami was away for a few days in New York, Sukumari handed over the worship of Radha-vallabha to Kunti devi. When two days later Sri Radhikaji and Sri Krsnaji appeared, we thought that there was some connection between Kunti devi’s worship of Radha-vallabha and the arrival of the new Deities. Kunti devi had just begun to worship Radha-Krishna Vigraha, and she was very inspired in her new service.

So, the name that came into my mind, the first part, for Sri Radhikaji, was Radhika, and for Sri Krsnaji, Radhika-ramana. So They will be called Sri Radhika-ramana. And I thought that was nice, because “Radhika-ramana” is similar in construction and meaning to “Radha-vallabha.” “Radhika-Radhika-ramana” is also similar to the name of the Deities in Durban, Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath. And the name also went well with the name of our other Radha-Krishna Deities here, who are actually silas—Sri Sri Gandharvika-Giridhari—because both pairs of names are alliterative. We have “Gandharvika” beginning with “G” and “Giridhari” with “G.” Similarly, we have “Radhika” beginning with “R” and “Ramana” beginning with “R.” All together, it just seemed like a good name.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings,

nārada-muni, bājāya vīṇā,
‘rādhikā-ramaṇa’-nāme
nāma amani, udita haya,
bhakata-gīta-sāme

Narada Muni travels all over the universe chanting the name Radhika-ramana. Srila Prabhupada explains, “The purport of this song is that Narada Muni, the great soul, plays a stringed instrument called a vina, vibrating the sound Radhika-ramana, which is another name for Krishna. As soon as he strokes the strings, all the devotees begin responding, making a very beautiful vibration. Accompanied by the stringed instrument, the singing seems like a shower of nectar, and all the devotees dance in ecstasy to the fullest extent of their satisfaction.” (SB 6.5.22 purport) We too will be vibrating the name Radhika-ramana.

In Vibhāvarī Śeṣa, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura also sings, gopi-priya-jana, radhika-ramana, bhuvana-sundara-bara: Lord Hari is the beloved of the gopīs, the lover of Radhika, and the most beautiful personality in all the worlds.

So we are pleased to welcome Their Lordships on this auspicious day, in this auspicious assembly—the assembly of devotees here and there. On the spiritual plane, the separation of space doesn’t really affect us. You are there and we are here, but I feel like I am with you, that where you are is just an extension of our temple room here, where I am sitting. We are all together on the spiritual platform, as spiritual family members and servants of Srila Prabhupada, Sri Gaura Hari, and Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath, Sri Sri Radhika-Radhika-ramana.

Our separation in terms of geographical space is not very significant on the transcendental platform, but of course, we have to realize our connection, and that is done through satsaṅga, as we are having now.

satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido
bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ
taj-joṣaṇād āśv apavarga-vartmani
śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati

“In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.” (SB 3.25.25)

Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido—-by discussing the heroic pastimes of the Lord in the association of devotees; bhavanti hṛt-karṇa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ—one relishes the talks; and śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati, one progresses in devotional service stage after stage from sraddha, sādhana-bhakti, to rati, bhava-bhakti, and ultimately to prema-bhakti. Of course, you already have bhava-bhakti [dasi] there, but there is another bhava-bhakti that we also want. So śraddhā ratir bhaktir anukramiṣyati: all these different stages follow one after the other when we chant and hear in the association of pure devotees. That is our main process. And Deity worship is also very important, to fix the mind on Krishna, to become regulated, to develop cleanliness and purity. And along with Deity worship we engage in the primary practice of hearing and chanting about Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna and discussing the transcendental topics of Krishna consciousness, supported by uttering the Gayatri mantra.

Srila Prabhupada has really given us everything we need to make advancement. As he said, these two tracks—bhāgavata-marga, hearing and chanting about Krishna and His devotees from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other shastras, and pañcarātrika-marga, Deity worship based on the Narada-Pañcarātra and other scriptures—these two tracks, like those on which a train goes forward, are the way we can go forward in Krishna consciousness.

It is such a wonderful experience, to receive such mercy from Srila Prabhupada and to engage in the process of devotional service in Krishna consciousness. It is a great blessing that by his grace we have been brought together in his service, not only to practice Krishna consciousness, which of course is essential—it is our life, the basis of our life—but also to preach it for the benefit of others. That was Srila Prabhupada’s mood and mission, and that was the mood and mission of the Pancha-tattva: They plundered the storehouse of love of Godhead and ate the contents, but the more you taste, the more you want to taste, and the more you want to taste, the more you taste, and the more the supply increases. And the members of the Pancha-tattva not only relished the contents of the storehouse of love of Godhead, but they also distributed the contents. And in distributing the contents, they relished even more. Now, this mood and mission of the Pancha-tattva, this mood and mission of Srila Prabhupada, has come to us through disciplic succession as our process of appreciating and spreading Krishna consciousness.

We all are most fortunate to have this opportunity, by the grace of the Pancha-tattva and Srila Prabhupada, so we should take full advantage. We shouldn’t waste time. As Srila Prabhupada said in one talk in Los Angeles, “Don’t talk nonsense. Don’t waste time. If you have got time, chant Hare Krishna.” Whenever we have time we should chant Hare Krishna. And of course, we should make time. Even if we are busy, we must make time to chant, at least our sixteen rounds. As Srila Prabhupada wrote in one purport in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya 22.113), “Of all the regulative principles, the spiritual master’s order to chant at least sixteen rounds is most essential.” We have to do that, and we also have to find time to join in kirtan. There should be occasions when we come together and engage in kirtan. Kirtan can produce a very profound experience of Krishna consciousness. In his Bhakti-sandarbha Srila Jiva Gosvami says that kirtan has a special potency to evoke spiritual feelings. So kirtan as well—kirtan and japa. And we must go deeper and deeper and deeper in them.

Srila Prabhupada’s books too are like an ocean. His Holiness Niranjana Swami told me about a talk he had with Srila Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja in which Gour Govinda Maharaja said that Srila Prabhupada’s books are like an ocean. At the bottom of the ocean are so many jewels and gems, but if you just remain on the surface you won’t get them. You have to go deep into the ocean; then you can find all the jewels. Gour Govinda Maharaja said that Srila Prabhupada has given us everything in his books, which are like an ocean, but that we have to go deep to get all the jewels that are hidden under the surface. Of course, the surface itself is wonderful—it is the ocean—but as we go deeper, we find more. So, Srila Prabhupada’s books—we have to study them and teach them. Srila Prabhupada said that giving class for one hour is equal to reading for ten hours. And as Bhurijana Prabhu often said, “The best way to learn something is to teach it.” So preaching, teaching, is the best way to learn, the best way to realize the philosophy of Krishna consciousness.

So many things Srila Prabhupada has given us, and we have to make time for all of them. As Bhurijana Prabhu said, “It takes time to become Krishna conscious,” meaning that we have to spend time to become Krishna conscious—to study, to chant nicely, not to feel rushed, not to be thinking, “Oh, I have to finish my rounds quickly, because I have so many other things to do.” Chanting sixteen rounds takes time. We have to set aside at least two hours or more to chant, so we don’t feel rushed. Time to read, time to attend class, time for kirtan, time to be with the Deities—Krishna consciousness takes time. We have to set our priorities right, and we have to manage our affairs in such a way that we do have time and that when we do take that time to be with the Deities, for example, we are actually with Them—not distracted, thinking of something else—when we do take time for our japa, that is our time to be with Krishna in the form of the holy name—not that we are distracted, thinking, “I have to do this. I have to do that.” Yes, we have to do so many things, but we should be organized. We should have a list of what we need to do and make a plan to do it. Like Srila Prabhupada told me, “To remember means to remember to write it down.” We should write things down, so that when we are chanting our rounds we don’t have to think, “Oh, I forgot to do that. Let me write it down. Let me go and do it.” We have to do it, eventually, but when we are chanting we should be free from all extraneous thoughts and just take that as our time to be with Krishna in the form of the holy name, in the form of transcendental sound. Attentive chanting will purify our hearts (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam), bless us with transcendental knowledge (vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam), and give us the taste of the nectar for which we are always hankering (pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ).

All glories to the saṅkīrtana movement (paraṁ vijāyate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam).

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.