Japa Workshop—Chanting with Genuine Spiritual Feeling Q&A

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Mahatma [Unintelligible 00:00:08]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:00:09]

Giriraj Swami: It is a very nice statement that we can bring everything to the deity, surrender everything to the deity. And that is true. Although we don’t want to dump our problems on Krishna, but it is mentioned in The Nectar if Devotion that one can place one’s problems before the deity. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his songs, he often places his predicaments, his lowly condition, before the Lord.

One devotee at the japa retreat in Ohio, said that she did that; that whatever calamity happened, whatever emotion she felt, she just surrendered it. In her case she said to Srila Prabhupada. And there was a period when she went through a very terrible trauma of divorce, and all that that entails. And she said that just surrendering to Srila Prabhupada, surrendering herself to Srila Prabhupada and all that was coming with her, it gave her tremendous relief and help.

So I think in that mood it is like part of surrender, you are surrendering yourself basically. But surrendering yourself means, this is what you are getting. And when I surrender to you, this is what you are getting. So it is like that prayer, please try to find some way to bring some auspiciousness to this fool. I am not remembering it but basically he expresses his fallen condition, and then he prays. “Please don’t reject me, but please find some way to bring some auspiciousness to me.” And Srila Prabhupada said that, when he was asked if there is any specific form that prayer should take, he said, of course. The main thing is that it should come from the heart but he said in general the prayers include three elements. The devotee presents his fallen condition, he glories the Lord for His wonderful qualifies, and he asks for mercy. Like patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara; You are patita pavana, the deliverer of the most fallen; mosama patita prabhu, I am the most fallen; nā pāibe āra, therefore deliver me first. 

I don’t know if I have answer your question.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:03:55]

Giriraj Swami: That example of Rupa Gosvami and the Vaishnava, the way it is described in Bhakti-ratnākara, that when Rupa Gosvami left, the Vaishnava became very agitated. And he immediately went to Sanatana Gosvami, to tell him what had happened. And when Rupa Gosvami’s meditation broke, he understood that the reason was that someone must have approached him while he was in meditation, and he must have offended the person or the person must have felt offended. And then he felt very agitated that he offended someone. But when he opened his eyes, the Vaishnava was gone. He did not know where to go, so he went to Sanatana Gosvami. And then the two met, and each one felt so bad for having offended the other. The Vaishnava felt that he offended Rupa Gosvami by thinking that he was laughing at him, and then they expressed themselves to each other, and they felt peaceful. And them all three of them had kṛṣṇa-kathā. This is a very good example of not keeping things inside and, and acting on them in a positive way, in a constructive way. It is very good.

Devotee: There is another example. It is a very interesting process, in which you can recognize that it exists, and then you just decided to have anger or have an issue with someone, [Unintelligible 00:06:07]

Giriraj Swami: Offenseless chanting. As we chant, we become more aware of our faults, and more aware of the good in others. It is just the way it works. And so it will come to the stage, you may not know exactly what you did that makes you deserve worse, but your estimation of yourself is that, you turned away from Krishna, what can be worse than that. You turn away for Krishna, you came into the material world, and when you come into the material world, so many things happen. So whatever the details of it are, the basic factor is that you came into the material world. And the other part of that is that as you appreciate Krishna more and come to know that he is merciful, then not knowing specifically what worse you did deserve, but you know that by nature Krishna is merciful and compassionate, especially to his devotees. You know that he has minimized it for your benefit, or allow it to happen for your benefit. But in any case, it is for your benefit, so you don’t resent it.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:08:02]

Giriraj Swami: As Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna uses the karma of the devotee to the best advantage of the devotee. He holds on to it and releases it as and when he thinks it will help the devotee, to the extent that he thinks it will benefit the devotee. And we did not really get to discuss this verse, but that is the purport of this verse, [Unintelligible 00:08:41], that even after one has surrendered to Krishna, one still may harbor some trace of attachment to the material world. And to purify the devotee of the remaining traces of material attachment, Krishna will allow the devotee to suffer what appears to be sinful reactions, but it is not exactly sinful reaction. But it is Krishna’s arrangement to help the devotee. You can say it is a sinful reaction, but because Krishna is in control of it, He releases it to the extent that He thinks it will benefit the devotee, at the particular time. And therefore it is not exactly a sinful reaction in the sense that it is the blind workings of one’s karma action and reaction, but it is krishna’s personal care for the devotee. And the devotee who accepts it in that spirit and continues with his Krishna consciousness, earns the right to go back home, back to Godhead. 

The word diabot, means rightful heir and Srila Sridhara Swami says that we are jivaita, who lives in this way. He says just as a son all that he has to do is remain alive long enough, and he will inherit his legacy from his father. So all the devotee has to do is to remain alive in Krishna consciousness, and that means tolerating these reactions, or accepting these reactions as Krishna’s mercy, and continuing with the process of devotional service—chanting our rounds, following the principles, performing our duties. If we just do that, remain alive in Krishna consciousness, we have the right, in the end, to inherit the kingdom of God, go back home, back to Godhead. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:11:24]

Giriraj Swami: She is saying something similar to what Mahatma Prabhu said. He said that instead of trying to repress it, or deny it, we deal with it. And a good way to deal with it, is to approach a spiritual authority or friend, and express what one is feeling to him or her, and seek guidance. In that case, the both the Vaishnava who felt offended, he went to Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami. He also went to Sanatana Gosvami because they presented their situation to a Vaishnava, a superior Vaishnava, and the situation was dealt with. Sarvabhauma Prabhu

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:12:33]

Giriraj Swami: It is a good example Sarvabhauma Prabhu is giving that when Arjuna asked him to bring his chariot forward so he could see the soldiers who had assembled, he saw Bhīṣma, his grandfather, he saw Drona, his teacher, and he felt affection for them. He did not repress his affection or deny his affection. But in the end, he realized that his real relationship is with Krishna, as individual soul and Supreme soul. And that his affection for Bhīṣma and Drona and others was based on the body. And even though we may have some affection based on the body, because we are embodied, but still we know that our real relationship is with Krishna, on the basis of the soul. 

And I think with that I would just conclude the presentation. There is a pair of verses that I will covered briefly, because it really takes what you said and concludes the discussion. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:14:02]

Giriraj Swami: I think so. The verses of prayers by Lord Brahma to Krishna, so it is praising the mercy of Krishna. This phrase mukti-pade, is translated in the literal way as the position of liberation. But after Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was converted from impersonalism to personalism by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he read that verse to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but he changed the word mukti-pade to bhakti-pade. And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said that mukti-pade really means Krishna. It really means bhakti, so you don’t have to change the verse, because the meaning really is bhakti. So what Lord Brahma is saying here is that if one tolerates the effects of one’s past karma, and expects the mercy of the Lord, and continues in Krishna consciousness, it is his right. Just that attitude makes him liberated. And it is his right to serve Krishna. But he is already serving Krishna. But yes, we should never feel that, but in that intimate relationship, one can feel. But what Tamal Krishna Goswami is true for like devotees in general, they shouldn’t feel that they have any right but when you have that intimate relationship with Krishna, then you have rights. 

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:16:48]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we see the difficulties as test from Krishna. The father wants to give his wealth to his son, but he wants to make sure that his son will use it properly. So he tests him, and when the son passes the test, then the father is very happy, “Oh, he has pass the test. Now I can trust my wealth to him.” And then he gives him the kingdom of God.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:17:29]

Giriraj Swami: Well, that is a good question. He is saying that sometime a devotee will act in such way that it affects his service. So he wants to forgive the devotee, but at the same time he wants to protect his service. The two are not mutually exclusive. Within your heart you can forgive the devotee, but externally you can act in a way to protect your service. The two can go together very easily. Yes, Mahatma Prabhu.

Devotee: Can I ask one more thing? [Unintelligible 00:18:25]

Giriraj Swami: So yes. It is very good to be with Mahatma because he is always, what I have understood is that you are basically providing the purport to what I have been saying, just expanding upon, which is good, because I have a tendency to be maybe too concise. But yes. So coming to this last point, this is a prayer by Queen Kunti to Lord Krishna. 

atha viśveśa viśvātman

viśva-mūrte svakeṣu me

sneha-pāśam imaṁ chindhi

dṛḍhaṁ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu

“O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis.”

Now here, the question may be raised, and Srila Prabhupada does raise the question in the purport, that Kunti was related to two families. She was related to the Vrishnis, she was the sister of Vasudeva, who was the father of Krishna and she was married to Pandu. She was the mother of the Pandavas and they were also devotees. And as we discussed in the basic definition of uttamā-bhakti, Krishna aṇu-shilam, Krishna includes Krishna’s pure devotees. So affection for devotees is not outside of the range of devotional service. So why does Kunti pray for her affection for her kinsmen to be severed And Srila Prabhupada explains that there are two types of relationships; one is the relationship of the soul and the other is the relationship of the body. So when she prays for her affection to be severed, she means the affection that is based on the body.

So all of us, especially with the people that we are close to, usually in our family or maybe the people we work closely with, there is a spiritual dimension to the relationship, which should be primary. But there may also be material aspect to the relationship. So we don’t reject the relationship necessarily and we don’t deny the feeling of affection, but we try to purify the relationship so that the spiritual dimension becomes more and more prominent and the material dimension becomes less important, more insignificance. And especially in grihastha ashram, we don’t want to reject the relationship, we don’t want to deny the affection, we want to purify the relationship. And that of course id one through the medium of Krishna consciousness.

When I first joined in Boston, the movement was new, but one of the lady devotees who had gotten married, she wrote Srila Prabhupada and asked what should be the relationship with her husband, because they just wanted to do whatever Srila Prabhupada said. “Do I have affection for him, what is my relationship with him?” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “You do have a relationship with him, but through Krishna.” So it is just like the right hand has relationship with the left hand, but it is through the body. So in that way, whatever husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, if Krishna is the central point, then the relationship is very beautiful. And to the extent that in the bodily concept, I and mine, I am the center, then we can be disturbed. And it may happen that one may leave the relationship, it is not something that we recommend between husband and wives, and parents and children, but it may happen that, like Mahatma was saying that, sometimes you just decided to let something go, you know it is not worth the effort, you are putting so much into it. And it is basically material, it is not becoming very spiritual. You may just decide to leave it. But with our important relationships with our family members, we don’t have to reject the relationships, or even the affection, but we purify the relationship by making Krishna more central to the relationship, and the bodily aspect less important.

And then, next verse, we come to the conclusion, this is what is meant to lead us to. Kunti prays 

tvayi me ’nanya-viṣayā

matir madhu-pate ’sakṛt

ratim udvahatād addhā

gaṅgevaugham udanvati

“O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else.”

So Krishna is never alone, Krishna is always associated with His devotees. So our attraction flowing freely to Krishna means Krishna, His devotees, the Yamuna river, the Govardhana Hill, the Vrindavan forest, the cowherd boys, the calves, His mother, His father, the gopīs; they are all included. And we hope all of you, and expect all of you will also be included. 

Hare Krishna.