Bhajan and Lecture—Jaya Sri Radhe’s Home

Giriraj Swami:

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

So, we are blessed tonight by the presence of the Pancha-tattva.

Devotees: Jaya!

Giriraj Swami: Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda Sri Advaita Gadadhara Srivasa. They have appeared in order to taste love of God, and to distribute love of God. In the Seventh Chapter of the Ādi-līlā of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the author, Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, discusses the Pancha-tattva, or the Lord, in five features. In fact, when Srila Prabhupada first translated this Chapter, he had the devotees publish it as a special volume, he was so eager for it to come out before the actual Caitanya-caritāmṛta was published, and it was called, “The Lord in Five Features.” And he sent some copies to me in Bombay and told me to give it to all the important Mayavadis. [laughter] So, we will come to Text Four. Please repeat.

TEXT 4

pañca-tattva avatīrṇa caitanyera saṅge

pañca-tattva lañā karena saṅkīrtana raṅge

TRANSLATION

These five tattvas incarnate with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and thus the Lord executes His saṅkīrtana movement with great pleasure.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) there is the following statement regarding Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam

yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In the Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of the saṅkīrtana-yajña.” Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is always accompanied by His plenary expansion Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, His incarnation Śrī Advaita Prabhu, His internal potency Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu and His marginal potency Śrīvāsa Prabhu. He is in the midst of them as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One should know that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is always accompanied by these other tattvas. Therefore our obeisances to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu are complete when we say śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. As preachers of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, we first offer our obeisances to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu by chanting this Pañca-tattva mantra; then we say Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

There are ten offenses in the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, but these are not considered in the chanting of the Pañca-tattva mantra, namely, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is known as mahā-vadānyāvatāra, the most magnanimous incarnation, for He does not consider the offenses of the fallen souls. Thus to derive the full benefit of the chanting of the mahā-mantra (Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare), we must first take shelter of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, learn the Pañca-tattva mahā-mantra, and then chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. That will be very effective.

Taking advantage of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, many unscrupulous devotees manufacture a mahā-mantra of their own. Sometimes they sing bhaja nitāi gaura rādhe śyāma hare kṛṣṇa hare rāma or śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda hare kṛṣṇa hare rāma śrī-rādhe govinda. Actually, however, one should chant the full names of the Pañca-tattva (śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda) and then the sixteen words Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. But these unscrupulous, less intelligent men confuse the entire process. Of course, since they are also devotees they can express their feelings in that way, but the method prescribed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s pure devotees is to chant first the full Pañca-tattva mantra and then chant the mahā-mantra — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

COMMENT

Hare Krishna. So, the mercy of the Pancha-tattva is such that they don’t consider offenses. If we do commit offenses while chanting their names, there may be a little reaction to just wake us up, so that we are conscious of the fact that we committed some offense. But otherwise, there is no real reaction like there is when we commit offenses while chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, nāma-aparādha.

And the nature of the Pancha-tattva maha-mantra is that when one chants it, one immediately feels ecstatic. And then, when one feels ecstatic, one doesn’t commit offenses. Generally, people commit offenses because they’re not ecstatic. They’re sort of miserable and they have this cloud in their minds that enables them to commit offenses. But when one is ecstatic, when one is happy, when one is peaceful, when one is satisfied, one doesn’t commit offenses. And then, in that ecstatic mood, one can chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra without offense, and get the full benefit.

The Lord does not appear alone, He comes with His associates. And in particular, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu comes with His first expansion, Nityananda Prabhu. There is another verse:

pañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ

bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam

bhaktāvatāraṁ bhaktākhyaṁ

namāmi bhakta-śaktikam

So, Nityananda Prabhu is the first expansion of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Advaita Prabhu is an incarnation of a devotee, actually, Maha-Vishnu. Srivasa Thakura is a pure devotee, incarnation of Narada muni. And Gadadhara Pandit is the incarnation of the internal potency of the Lord, Srimati Radharani. And these five comprise the Pancha-tattva. [cell phone rings] Oops. [laughter] The kirtan was too good, actually. At the beginning of the kirtan, I thought, I have to remember to turn it off, and then I forgot everything.

So, the Lord comes with His associates, and although They are distinguished, in terms of Their specific categories, They are all on the same level. On the absolute platform, They are all on the same level. So, there is no difference between Them, They are all completely spiritual. But still, from an analytical point of view, we distinguish the different categories. But otherwise, They are on the same platform, and They enjoy performing saṅkīrtana with each other, They take pleasure in executing the saṅkīrtana movement together. And in fact, that is why the Lord expands in the first place. Ekaṁ bahu syām. It’s said that originally, the Lord was one, and then He became many. Why would He expand Himself and become many? In order to enjoy. Just like, why do parents have children? Because they want to enjoy family life.

So, on the spiritual platform, the Lord expands Himself into many, to increase His pleasure and loving reciprocation with His expansions. And we, living entities, are also expansion of the Lord’s taṭasthā-śakti, and we’re also meant to participate in the Lord’s loving pastimes, in the saṅkīrtana movement. But the specific nature of the taṭasthā-śakti, or the marginal potency, is that we are marginal; we can be part of the spiritual energy, or we can be covered by the material energy. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the sea shore, that sometimes when the tide is high, that portion is part of the ocean. And other times, when the tide is low, that portion is part of the land. So, sometimes we can be part of the spiritual energy, and sometimes we can be covered by the material energy. And our goal is to leave the control of the material energy and come under the control of the spiritual energy, who is personified as Srimati Radharani. The material energy is personified as Durga devi.

And Durga is always depicted on Her lion carrier with Her triśūla, Her trident in Her hand. And Srila Prabhupada explains that the trident inflicts the threefold miseries of material existence on the living entities. In other words, She punishes the living entities. Durga also means fortress, or prison. So, we are in prison in the material energy, and Durga is the warden, and She punishes us for rebelling against Krishna. So, our goal is to come out from the control of Durga, or the material energy. But when we come out of Her control, we don’t become independent in an absolute sense. We become free, in the sense that we are free from Her control, but we come under the control of the spiritual energy, who’s personified as Srimati Radharani. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna in the mood of Srimati Radharani, trying to pick up the fallen conditioned souls from the ocean of material existence, and place them in the nectarean ocean of Krishna consciousness, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, the spiritual energy.

Now, we are in Kali-yuga, and in Kali-yuga, people are very fallen.

mandāḥ sumanda-matayo

manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ

And they are so fallen that they want to become God. Of course, every conditioned soul, everyone who comes into the material world, in his own way, wants to become God, take the place of God, act in imitation of God, and that’s why the material world exists. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that as the mother is cooking in the kitchen and the child wants to cook, so the child keeps bothering the mother. But the child’s too small, the child can’t cook. The child would just make a mess or start a fire. And the mother will say, “Be patient, be patient, let me cook.” But the child will keep insisting. So, finally, the mother gets a toy set of cooking pots and utensils and says, “Okay, here, you also cook.” So, when living entities want to be God or take the place of God, eventually, God says, “Okay, you want to be God, alright, here you have your toy world, and you play that you are God.” And that’s the material world. But when we come here, under Durga devi, the superintendent of the material world, the prison house of material existence, we are punished.

So, that’s the tendency of everyone who comes into the material world. We’re envious of Krishna, we want to be in His position. And so, we come here, pretend we’re God, we play at being God. But with most people, it’s more covered. If you analyze their mentality, that’s what it comes to, but they are not open about it. But Kali-yuga is so fallen that there are people who openly declare that they’re God, falsely declare that they’re God.

And because of the fallen condition of people in Kali-yuga, God, Krishna, did not come as Krishna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He came as a devotee. So, if people want to imitate Him, they have to imitate a devotee, which is good for them. And then too, the incarnation of Krishna in the present age of Kali is not mentioned openly. In the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in Prahlada’s prayers to Nṛsiṁhadeva, he refers to the Lord as ‘triyuga,’ He who incarnates in three ages. But actually, the Lord incarnates in Kali-yuga as well. But in Kali-yuga, He is channa-avatāra. Prahlada uses that phrase, channa-avatāra, which means ‘covered incarnation.’ He covers His identity with the appearance of a devotee, specifically with the luster and mood of Srimati Radharani. But in broad terms, He covers His identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and plays the part of a devotee to show us how to be devotees of Krishna, and how to develop love for Krishna.

But even then, people do claim to be God, and people are so foolish that they accept these false incarnations, and it’s very common. And in fact, after the Ratha-yatra last Saturday, His Holiness Gunagrahi Goswami Maharaja asked about one of these false incarnations, “Why is he so popular?” Srila Prabhupada gave the example, it was from his experience in Calcutta. There was a man who could imitate the barking of dogs. Now, he could imitate the barking so expertly that you couldn’t tell it was a human being, he sounded just like a dog. And he used to have performances, he would sell tickets, and he would perform. [laughter] Maybe he could imitate different types of dogs barking. And so, Prabhupada remarked that people would pay money, they would buy tickets to hear the imitation dog barking. The real dog is barking on the street, they don’t care for it. [laughter] So, in the same way, the real God is there, Krishna is there, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is there, but people, they don’t care for the real God, they care for the imitation, pay for the imitation.

But of course, we don’t want the imitation. And in one case in particular, of course, this person claimed to be an incarnation of Rama and Krishna. Otherwise, he was ordinary. I mean, other than the fact that he was claiming to be Rama and Krishna, he was ordinary, he didn’t do anything extraordinary. So, Prabhupada commented that his greatness, if you want to call it that, is his status as Rama and Krishna. But actually, we don’t know if he is Rama and Krishna. But we know the original Rama, and the original Krishna, or the original Rama and Krishna. So, why take a chance? Why not worship the original? We know They’re the real Rama and Krishna, we don’t know about him.

So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came as a devotee, channa-avatāra, with his associates;

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda.

This verse from the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is very significant. “Kṛṣṇa,” we know Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, “varṇam.” Varṇam means category, cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ. This incarnation is in the same category as Krishna. That means He’s Krishna. Who’s in the same category as Krishna other than Krishna? No one. He’s actually avatari, he’s the source of all avataris, or incarnations. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ, but his color is ākṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means black in this context, so ākṛṣṇa means not black, like the original Krishna in the Dvapara-yuga, the original Krishna, Shyamasundara. This Krishna is not blackish, he’s golden. Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam, and He appears with His associates, He’s accompanied by His associates. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. Su-medhasaḥ means ‘those with good intelligence, or fine intelligence.’ They worship this incarnation by saṅkīrtana-yajña, by the sacrifice of the chanting of the holy names.

And again, the word saṅkīrtana is significant. ‘Kirtan’ means to chant, or sing, or glorify the Lord, and ‘san’ means complete. So, complete glorification of the Lord, means glorification of His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes, His paraphernalia, His entourage, His devotees. That’s saṅkīrtana, complete glorification. And complete glorification also means chanting together, not one person alone but everyone together. And that’s how we enjoy. We enjoy more in the company of others. So, that is saṅkīrtana. And especially in Kali-yuga it is said, ‘kalau sanghe shakti,’ that there is strength in association, in the age of Kali. So, we perform saṅkīrtana together.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example of the father who had many sons, and he gave each one a stick to break, and each one could break the stick very easily. But then, when he put all the sticks together in the bundle and asked them to break it, they couldn’t because together, they were so much strength. So, that’s saṅkīrtana, that’s the saṅkīrtana movement, and it’s full of pleasure. Because we’re individuals, sometimes there might be differences. But on the spiritual platform, it’s all bliss.

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent out Haridasa Thakura and Nityananda Prabhu to preach, they approached the two sinners, the two debauchees—Jagai and Madhai. And Jagai and Madhai, they were in a drunken state, and they began to abuse them and chase after them, actually, threatening them. So, Nityananda Prabhu and Haridasa Thakura were fleeing away, running for their lives. And on the way, they were discussing whose fault it was that they got in such deep trouble. And Nityananda Prabhu was telling Haridasa Thakura, “It’s because of your master, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that we’re in this difficult situation. I knew we never should have followed him.” [laughter] So, in this way, they were going back and forth. But it was all full of bliss, it was all full of transcendental ecstasy. So, there may be differences, but on the spiritual platform, even the differences are sources of transcendental pleasure and humor.

And, of course, they escaped. The first day, they escaped, and they found Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, they took shelter in the house where He was with His devotees, and gave Him the report of what happened. But then, the next day, they went back, and that was when the famous incident took place, that Madhai threw a pot and struck Nityananda Prabhu on the head and made blood come. And Jagai, he tried to restrain him a little, “You shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do this.” And then, blood was flowing and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came. He received the news and He was furious because He had so much love for Nitai, He couldn’t tolerate the thought that anyone would cause harm to His Nitai. So, He came with His Sudarsana chakra and He was ready to kill these two offenders. But then, Nityananda Prabhu intervened and He said, “Lord, this is Kali-yuga. In previous ages, Your mission was to kill the demons, but this is Kali-yuga. If You kill people like Jagai and Madhai now, then You’ll have to kill everyone in Kali-yuga because everyone will be more or less like Jagai and Madhai. Now, in Kali-yuga, Your mission is to kill their demoniac mentality and deliver them.”

And He said that Jagai had actually intervened. That’s the critical point, that he had actually intervened and tried to restrain Madhai and protect Nityananda Prabhu. And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard that, He thought, Okay. He has tried to restrain Madhai, so okay, I will deliver him. But Madhai, seeing the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, and also feeling the heat of the Sudarsana chakra, he surrendered. And when he surrendered, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as well. And they became great devotees, Jagai and Madhai, they became great devotees. But before He delivered them, there were two conditions. First was that they should give up their sinful activities, and the other was that they should chant the holy names. And when I think of it, those are our conditions for initiation. You might have done whatever before the time of initiation, but to be initiated means you give up your sinful activities, and you vow never to commit sin again. And you have faith in the holy name, and you take up the process of chanting the holy name.

So, that happened with Jagai and Madhai, as fallen as they were. And after that incident, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu never referred to their past life, He accepted them as His devotees and engaged them in service. But they themselves felt very repentant for their past misbehavior, and they felt they should do very menial service to the other devotees. So, they would sweep, they would clean the bathing ghats on the banks of Ganges where the devotees would take bath, and do that humble service to the Vaishnavas. But still, they became great devotees. And anyone can, it doesn’t matter what one was before. Anyone who surrenders and accepts the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu and the Pancha-tattva, he can be delivered and become the greatest devotee.

So, there’s the Lord and His associates, and then there are the imitation incarnations. But at the end of the purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions another category. There are devotees, but they don’t follow the process recommended in the scripture, and by the pure devotees, coming in the disciplic succession. So, they concoct mantras. One is an imitation incarnation, the other is an imitation mantra. But the concocted mantras contain the holy name of the Lord. That’s the thing, they contain the holy names of the Lord, and therefore, there is benefit to chanting the names of the Lord, even if they’re arranged in a concocted way. But to really get the benefit, one should follow the processes coming through disciplic succession, from the Pancha-tattvas, through the strict line of Their followers. But of course, the problem is that the people who have concocted these mantras and chant them, they think they’re following Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. They just think it’s a different line, a different mantra, they’re not distinguishing. And that takes great spiritual intelligence and sensitivity, to be able to distinguish.

And after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wound up his manifest pastimes, His strict followers, the Six Gosvamis, especially Jiva Gosvami, he clarified everything in the Ṣaṭ-sandarbha, made everything very clear. But after some generations, people lost the link to the true understanding, and people began to concoct things in the name of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and ordinary people couldn't distinguish. And so, things really became very confused and degraded. And it was really Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura who came forward and made it very clear. He enumerated eleven deviant groups that were popular. I mean, they still have followers. It’s amazing, they still have followers.

When I was in Calcutta the last time, in November, I visited Ultadanga, where Srila Prabhupada met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura for the first time. That was actually the first Gaudiya Matha that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura established. It was in a rented place, and then eventually, they moved, but that building is still there. So, I went to visit it, and there was one lady there, and she didn’t want to let us in. She had a whole story, and she was adamant, she just would not let us. She was very upset and would not let us in. So, I said, “Okay.” I did flat daṇḍavats on the sidewalk and was ready to go. And I don’t know, somehow, something happened when she saw me prostrate myself on the road, she thought. . . Of course, this was her mistake, that she thought I’m a real devotee and that she should let me in. [laughter]

Anyway, as part of it, she showed me the picture of her guru, and he looked like a woman, but she kept referring to him as ‘he.’ So, I was with Advaita Prabhu, I said, “Who is this? It looks like a woman.” So, he said, “He’s sakhi-bekhi. They dress as women, that’s their sadhana. They think that they are gopīs, and they dress in sarees, and openly. So, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he isolated and enumerated seventeen deviant groups, including sakhi-bekhi. When we hear those names, we think, They’re deviant groups. But they’re followers, they don’t think they’re deviant, they just think it’s a different line from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and that they have different mantras.

But fortunately, we have very strong paramparā, very scholarly, very shastric. Bhaktivinoda Thakura is a prolific writer, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila Prabhupada. So, they make everything very pure and very clear, there’s no doubt about it. So, if we follow the process they have given us and chant the mantras, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, then we will feel ecstatic. Our dormant love for Krishna will be awaken, and we will join the eternal saṅkīrtana party with śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. And in their association, we will chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

So, any questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: I don’t remember, I forget if it was in 1976, but in some year in Vrindavan, there were people I think next door to the temple, chanting Nitai Gaura Radhe Shyama Hare Krishna Hare Rama, and Srila Prabhupada said that we should chant Nitai Gaura Radhe Shyama Jay Krishna Balram, just to be [Unintelligible 01:08:45] because those were the names of our Deities in Vrindavan.

Giriraj Swami: That’s right. They chant that one, Nitai Gaura Radhe Shyama Hare Krishna Hare Rama. So, our answer to that would be Nitai Gaura Radha Shyama Jay Krishna Balram, correct. We have everything they have, and more. [laughter]

Yes, Nitya Kisori?

Nitya Kisori: Maharaja, sometimes there’s a saying that imitating a good thing is good. But from what you are talking about, sometimes it seems like it’s not appropriate to imitate in the mood of trying to be the person you’re imitating. So, how do we discriminate from when is good to imitate, when imitation in the Vedic culture is good, and when it’s not?

Giriraj Swami: Nitya Kisori Mataji says that sometimes it’s said imitation of a good thing is good. So, how do we know when it’s good to imitate? Well, to imitate Krishna, to try to take the place of Krishna, to be the controller, and possessor, and enjoyer is not good. But to imitate a great devotee in the mood of being a servant of that devotee, or a follower of that devotee, it can be good. I sometimes quote the morning walk conversation on Juhu beach, in which Lokanath Swami asked Srila Prabhupada, “Why have you prescribed sixteen rounds?” And Srila Prabhupada says, “I haven’t prescribed sixteen rounds. Sixteen rounds minimum. If you want, you can chant sixteen thousand. Sixteen rounds minimum.” So then, Lokanath Swami said, “But some devotees are selecting other figures for minimum rounds. Some are doing twenty-five minimum.” Prabhupada said, “That is welcome. You can increase the number, but you can’t decrease it from sixteen.”

And then he said, “Well, how do we know if we’re imitating Haridasa Thakura, or following in his footsteps?” And then, Srila Prabhupada said, “Imitation is not bad. If you want to imitate Haridasa Thakura, that’s not bad. But if there’s service, and you say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t do this service, I’m busy imitating Haridasa Thakura,’ that is very bad. But if you have free time and you want to imitate Haridasa Thakura and you want to chant rounds and rounds and rounds, good! Imitation of a good thing is good.”

There’s a process in an advanced stage of devotional service where the devotee spontaneously, in hearing the pastimes of Krishna, becomes attracted to a particular type of servant of Krishna in Vrindavan and wants to have that mood of service and serve like that. But one never aspires to become one of the eternal associates of Krishna. It’s the same type of misconception, or offense, the same type of offense as wanting to become Krishna, you want to become Mother Yasoda or Nanda Maharaja. So, that’s not recommended, that’s offensive. Of course, you can want to be like the servant of the servant of Yasoda, or the servant of the servant of Nanda Maharaja, or Subala, or Srimati Radharani, or the gopīs.

And in that same line of rāgānugā-bhakti, Srila Rupa Gosvami says in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi, that externally, one acts like a sadhaka, but internally, one can serve in one’s perfected spiritual identity. And the acharyas who have commented on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, especially Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, he says, “That means that externally, we follow the behavior of Rupa Gosvami and others, and internally, we follow the activities of Rupa Manjari and others.” So, these deviant sects, or deviant lines, they take that in the wrong way.

sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa

siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi

So, they try to follow externally, by wearing a saree, for example. But externally, you follow Rupa Gosvami or you follow your spiritual master, who is a servant of Rupa Gosvami in disciplic succession. So, these are all different types of deviations. And again, we are fortunate because our acharyas have been very clear and given us clear instructions in writing, so there should be no confusion. So, imitation of a good thing can be good. I would say that would apply to chanting more. But again, not, “I can’t do any service. I can’t do this service, I’m too busy imitating Haridasa Thakura.” But if you have free time and you want to imitate Haridasa Thakura and chant the holy name of Krishna, that’s good.

When I was a relatively new devotee, I was quite enamored of Raghunatha dasa Goswami. And of course, I didn’t imitate him, but I think Prabhupada detected I had that mood, or that tendency, and he wanted me to take responsibility for the Juhu project. I mean, I was already the temple president, he wanted me to take the responsibility to heart and be fixed in the service. So, one day, he said something like, “First, you manage your father’s estate very expertly like Raghunatha dasa did, and then you go to Vrindavan.” [laughter] He didn’t say, “Imitate Raghunatha dasa Goswami,” but he said, “Then you go to Vrindavan.” So, service to mission is very important.

But, whenever you have extra time, chant the holy name. And whenever you can do it along with your service, chant the holy name. And that is Mahaprabhu’s instruction, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. But Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura coined the phrase bṛhad-mṛdaṅga for the printing press. That’s also kirtan; printing books and distributing books, that’s also kirtan, bṛhad-mṛdaṅga. The regular mṛdaṅga, you can hear for a few blocks, but the bṛhad-mṛdaṅga can be heard all over the world. Books can travel all over the world. So, it’s bṛhad-mṛdaṅga, and so the preaching is bṛhad-kirtan. So, all of our activities that are meant to further the expansion of the Krishna consciousness movement, or the saṅkīrtana movement, that’s kirtan, bṛhad-kirtan. And so, that was Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s phrase, and that was his mood. And Srila Prabhupada had the same mood.

When we first bought the house in Boston and the printing press moved there, Prabhupada really wanted the books to come out. So, he wanted the devotees to organize themselves in the most efficient way. And in those days, a composing machine was a huge thing, and very expensive. And so, there was a schedule; twenty-four hours a day, the devotees would take shifts entering the words into the composing machine. And Prabhupada said, “That’s kirtan. The tapping of the keys of the typewriter, that is kirtan.” And at the end, very close to the end, when Srila Prabhupada came to Juhu from London in October of 1977, just before he went to Vrindavan for the last time, he said he really wanted to see the temple open. So, he was staying upstairs in the tower, but the marble workers, they were all over, chiseling the marble, carving the marble. And so, the devotees said, “Srila Prabhupada, you must be disturbed by the sound of the workers. We can have them stop while you are here.” And Prabhupada said, “No, that is like music to my ears, that is kirtan.” [laughter]

So, we have an expanded view of kirtan, or saṅkīrtana, by the mercy of our acharyas. And so, that instruction, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, as far as possible, yes, we do want to directly chant the holy name of Krishna, but it also is expanded in service to the greater kirtan, bṛhad-kirtan, and that’s very important because that was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, to expand saṅkīrtana movement, deliver the fallen souls.

There is one story. In His earlier life, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu played a scholar, a pandit, He didn’t really manifest Himself as a devotee. And then of course, when He met Isvara Puri, His spiritual master, or Madhavendra Puri, he became ecstatic. He was a different person when He came to Navadvipa. And this was such a great occasion. Because He was so qualified, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so beautiful and so intelligent. He wasn’t really a devotee at the time, He didn’t manifest Himself as a devotee. So, all the Vaishnavas were thinking, Only if He became a devotee. So then, when He came back, He was completely changed. And the first one to find out may have been Advaita Acharya, I’m not exactly sure. And then, he told Srivasa Thakura, “Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a changed person, He has become a devotee.” And Srivasa Thakura said, “Good, our family is increasing. It’s a great occasion, our family is increasing.”

So, that’s our goal, to increase our family. And we don’t want to lose any of our family members. In the name of bringing new people in, we shouldn’t lose the old people. Like Srila Prabhupada said, “That was Alexander the Great’s defect. He would push forward and he would conquer new territories, but he was going so fast that he couldn’t control the territories he had conquered, and then he would lose them. He would go on conquering new territories, but he would lose the territories that he had conquered.” So, he said, “We shouldn’t be like that. Don’t make me Alexander the Great.” So, we want to increase the family, we want to keep the family together, and add new people. Yes, [Unintelligible 01:26:19]?

Devotee: Maharaja, [Unintelligible 01:26:20]. I have two questions about something, I’ll try to make it short. So, at least mentally or theoretically, we understand that we are a preaching movement, we are meant to be preaching, that’s our goal. We’re supposed to take Krishna consciousness and become inspired and then give Krishna consciousness to others, that is our goal, or our purpose, to give Krishna to others. We know this theoretically. So, how can we take this deeper within our heart, this instruction, how can we further deepen that want, to want to give this to others? Is it just by practicing Krishna consciousness more, we would want to give it more and more to others? And the second question kind of goes with it—you saying that all activities we do are kirtan. Spreading the movement is kirtan, and the yuga-dharma is hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, the congregational chanting of the holy names. So, is that by working together, spreading the movement? Say, you’re a writer or an artist, you paint pictures, which go inside the book. Is that all congregational chanting?

Giriraj Swami: His first question is that we know that we’re supposed to taste Krishna consciousness and distribute Krishna consciousness in theory, but how do we do it in practice? How do we take it more deeply into our hearts? Well, the way you do it is you do it. And then when you do it, it goes into your heart. You can’t just wait for it to come into your heart and then you go out. You go out, and then when you go out, you get realization, you get reciprocation.

Of course, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura does say that by offenseless chanting, one develops compassion. And the result of the compassion is that one will go out to preach the divine command of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But Prabhupada gave us the transcendental sandwich. In the morning and evening, we have our spiritual programs in the temple, and during the day, we go out and spread the movement. And for many people, it should mean going out Because if people don’t go out, then. . . You might have the books, the magazines, the invitations, everything. And as far as the second question, what was the second question?

Devotee: Is the yuga-dharma congregational chanting of the holy names?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah. So, these different activities like painting for the books, or doing the other activities related to the books are part of saṅkīrtana because it’s part of the glorification of Krishna. But it’s also saṅkīrtana in another way if it’s done in a co-operative spirit. And you might know that at a certain stage, Srila Prabhupada was way ahead in his translation. He was way ahead of the devotees, and their publication of the books was lagging behind and Prabhupada was very upset. And then, he came to Los Angeles and he said he wanted all the volumes of Caitanya-caritāmṛta to be published within two months. And Rameshwar Prabhu was the head of the press at the time, the BBT in L. A. And someone said, “Seventeen volumes?” maybe there were one or two volumes already out, “In two months is impossible.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Impossible is a word in a fool’s dictionary.” [laughter] And then, Rameshwar asked, “Well, what if we aren’t able to do it?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Disqualification.” In other words, “If you’re not qualified, you’ll be removed.”

So, they took it to heart, and they did it. And in the art department, of course, they did that, they worked round the clock. It wasn’t like in those days in Boston where there were three eight-hour shifts, everyone worked for as many hours a day as they could. And they’d just sleep for a few hours and take a little prasāda here and there. But the other thing they found was that in that mood of surrender to the order and cooperation, they each started to do specialized parts of the paintings, like in an assembly line. Someone would sketch the basic outline, someone would do the faces, someone would do the limbs, someone would do the clothes, someone would do the background. And they were really going fast by that spirit of cooperation. And with that spirit of cooperation, they gave up their sense of proprietorship. No one could say, “This is my painting, I’m going to put my name in the corner of this” because each painting was a group effort. So, they let go of their false proprietorship, false prestige.

So, all of our activities are meant to be like that. And when we cooperate in a selfless way and each one makes his best contribution and doesn’t try to do more than he could do expertly and he will let others do what they can do expertly, then we can expand very quickly and feel very blissful. And those devotees, they look back, they don’t know how they did it. If they had to think of doing it now, they might not know how they could do it. But they look back, and it was the most blissful period of their life. They were hardly eating and sleeping, just absorbed. And that was the other thing, they would constantly hear tapes. While they were painting, they would constantly hear tapes of Srila Prabhupada speaking or singing. So, that was going in their minds, and then their hand was the brush, and in front of them was the form of the Lord; they were completely immersed in Krishna consciousness and just fully surrendered to the service and working in full cooperation. That’s saṅkīrtana.

So, alright. Another important element of the saṅkīrtana movement is the distribution of prasāda. Of course, at this particular moment in this particular context, we’re probably thinking, Prasāda is going to be distributed to us. [laughter] The real idea is to distribute to others. But it’s like that, we’re tasting and distributing, distributing and tasting.

The other day, I went into the prasādam room here, at the Radha-Kalachandji temple, and devotees were like, “Do you want to sit down?” I actually just came to look at the devotees. And I recalled one incident when, John Griesser who later was initiated as Yadubara dasa, he was starting to associate with devotees, he came to Surat. And so, Prabhupada gave him some little prasāda. It was just the two of them, and I also happened to be there. And John was quite a polite person, he didn’t want to eat in front of Srila Prabhupada. But when you give new people prasāda, especially when you don’t really even know whether they’re going to eat it or what’s going to happen to it. But anyway, whatever the reason was, Prabhupada was insisting, “No, no, no, you take, you take.” And then he quoted this verse that we sing every day,

chatur-vidha-sri-bhagavat-prasada-
swadv-anna-triptan hari-bhakta-sanghan

And he said that the spiritual master takes pleasure when he sees the devotees eating bhagavata-prasāda. Not when he eats prasāda, but when he sees the devotees eating bhagavata-prasāda. Of course, devotees also relish it, it’s Krishna. Like Prabhupada said, “There are two kinds of transcendentalists. Those who take pleasure in eating sweet balls, and those who take pleasure in distributing them.” And he said, “Both are good.” Of course, he was giving it as an example, that those who take more pleasure in eating, they’re bhajanānandī, and those who take more pleasure in distributing, they’re goṣṭhyānandī. But both are good. But comparatively, one is better. [laughter] And we will leave it to each of you to decide for yourself which is better. [laughter] Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.