Japa Workshop—02 The Role of Japa in the Practice of Bhakti

Giriraj Swami: In bhakti, but although it is implied in the definition of bhakti, I thought I would discuss the role of bhakti in one’s life. According to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His instructions to Srila Sanatana Gosvami, the Vedic literature comprises three divisions of knowledge—sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana. Sambandha jnana means knowledge of certain entities—one is the individual soul, another is the supreme soul, another is the material world, another the spiritual world, and sambandha means our relationships with them. 

So the first instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā is that I am not this body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Krishna and therefore my duty or my function is to serve Krishna. And when Sanatana Gosvami approached Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he asked, ke āmi—who am I? Why am I always suffering the threefold miseries? And Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’- the constitutional position of the living entity is that he is the eternal servant of Krishna. Just like the hand is part of the body, so the natural function of the hand is to serve the body. If the hand is not serving the body it means that there is something wrong, it is diseased or paralyzed or something. 

So our natural function is to serve Krishna. And when we turn away from Krishna and want to take the place of Krishna, we come under the material nature and we suffer. So the whole process of Krishna consciousness is to come out from the control of the material nature, under the control of the spiritual energy. Or in other words, to reverse that process by which we turned our face away from Krishna and came under maya, we turn our face towards Krishna and revive our relationship with Him. And that whole process sambandha jnana, our relationships, then abhideya means acting in that relationship, that is the process of bhakti. And prayojana is the goal—the necessity that we hope to achieve, and that is prema. Actually prema is also part of bhakti—bhaktyā sañjātayā bhakta. Bhakti comes from bhakti, prema-bhakti comes from sādhana-bhakti whereas Srila Prabhupada said in Krishna consciousness the means and the end are the same. We chant Hare Krishna to develop love for Krishna and after we have developed love for Krishna, we continue to chant Hare Krishna. 

In fact, Krishna consciousness is love. I am reminded of the first time when I met Srila Prabhupada in Boston in 1969 and Hansadutta Prabhu had come down from Montreal. Another devotee also came down named Bharad Raj and I had a similar experience but the way he conceptualized it and articulated it, was beautiful. Because he also had never met Srila Prabhupada before and when he saw Srila Prabhupada together with the disciples he had a realization or a thought. He said Krishna consciousness is love masquerading as a philosophy. It is actually love. The whole essence is love. And I also had a thought when I was chanting this morning. It wasn’t my own thought but it just came to mind but somehow last week when I was speaking with Bhakta Carl Herzig, Tamal Krishna Goswami’s brother. He said that in his household whenever anyone leaves the house, he or she will say to the other family members, “I love you” because we never know if we will come back. We never know how long we will live, and we want our last memory of our loved one to be pleasant—to be favorable. So it is their policy whenever anyone leaves the house they tell the others, I love you and I am sure they say I love you back. But the same principle can also be applied to the holy name. We don’t know for sure that we will be able to chant another mantra. We don’t know for sure. And we should chant it as if this could be the last mantra I ever chant. And today while chanting I just thought well, I will just tell the holy name I love you, tell the holy name, I love you then of course I thought the holy name said, I love you too. And I thought, Well that is nice! Then way later I said the same thing, I love you too and after the third time that is okay, I love you too but get back to your japa.

And Prabhupada said when you love someone you just repeat their name over and over again, out of love. And once, of course the famous explanation on chanting, Prabhupada said that the chanting is a prayer to the Lord and the energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service. But once when a disciple asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is the meaning of the mantra? What is the meaning of the chanting?” He said it is like saying, “My dear friend, my dear friend, my dear friend.” So it is really a way of developing love. It is also a way of expressing one’s love. And so we should always be conscious that the holy name is Krishna. We are the eternal servants of Krishna. And our whole goal in life is to revive our eternal relationship with Krishna—a relation of as the eternal servant of Krishna and in higher stages that manifests in different relationships or rāsas but the principle is the same. 

So still this philosophy is important because it helps us to realize our actual position and act in that position and furthermore, the philosophy, the science of bhakti-yoga, the Bhagavad-gītā, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they are all Krishna. So by reading them, reading those scriptures, hearing those scriptures, discussing those scriptures, repeating the words of the scriptures, we are associating with Krishna and that cleanses the heart. it is just like by chanting we cleanse the heart, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, so similarly, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa kīrtanaḥ—hearing about Krishna’s pious activity and by that activity all the inauspicious things in the heart become destroyed. So on the Absolute platform, we hear about Krishna, we chant about Krishna, we associate with devotees. These are the five most potent forms of devotional service— sādhu-saṅga—associating with devotees, nāma-kīrtana—chanting the Holy name, bhāgavata-śravaṇa—hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, mathurā-vāsa—residing in Mathura Vrindavan, Nabadwip, Mayapur or any temple or community of devotees and worshipping the Deity with faith.

So somehow or other we want to be engaged all the time in some devotional service to always remember Krishna and that is the basic principle of vaidhī sādhana-bhakti—to always remember Krishna and never forget Him. So although it is true that if one was pure enough, if one was on the liberated platform like Haridasa Thakura, one could chant twenty-four hours, one would not need to do anything else. But because we are not on that platform and because we also have the mood or the order to preach given to us by Srila Prabhupada, so we engage in other activities as well but they are all meant to be related to Krishna and throughout all those activities we are meant to remember Krishna and that should be always. 

So in previous retreats and workshops we have had a power point presentation in which some verses were projected on the screen because the verses are very important and to actually see the words and discuss the words makes the meaning more clear and we do have handouts that we will be giving you later. But for now I will read and discuss some of these verses. Because it is a science and there is also another very important verse in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu that Srila Prabhupada said the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu which he translated the summary study, The Nectar of Devotion is the complete science of bhakti-yoga. So there is a verse there that says: śruti-smṛti-purāṇādi-pañcarātra-vidhiṁ vinā, that if one engages in devotional service without reference to revealed scriptures just out of sentiment, let us say, he can cause a disturbance. In fact, he will cause a disturbance.

So these are our authorities. We have to follow our authorities— sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya. Śāstra is the central point and sādhu they follow śāstra and gurus they also follow śāstra and repeat what is stated in śāstra. So we are ruled by śāstra, governed by śāstra or controlled by śāstra. The word śāstra comes from the same Sanskrit word as the word shastra, one means weapon like astra-brahmāstra, so shastra means weapon and śāstra means scripture but they both come from the same root because we are meant to be controlled by śāstra but if we do, if we are not voluntarily controlled by scripture then the astra is there, the weapon is there to bring us under control. 

And although we don’t have righteous kings like Lord Ramachandra or Maharaja Yudhisthira, Maharaja Parīkṣit. Maharaja Parīkṣit saw one low-class man beating a cow, and he immediately took out his astra (his weapon) and he was ready to kill him. We don’t have righteous rulers like that now, but we do have maya devi, durga. She rides her lion carrier and she has her trident that is her astra, her weapon—her trident. And Srila Prabhupada explained that each of the three prongs of her trishul is one of the threefold miseries. Miseries caused by other living entities, miseries caused by our own minds and bodies, and miseries caused by acts of nature. We are always being subjected to these miseries. We are always being afflicted by these miseries. So if we don’t voluntarily accept the control of śāstra then the astra is there. The weapons are there to bring us under control. 

Once Srila Prabhupada gave a talk in Seattle in 1968 and at the end of the talk a young man in the audience told Srila Prabhupada that, “I don’t want. . .”  all the disciples were bowing down to Srila Prabhupada at the end of the talk. The young man said, “I don’t want to bow down. I don’t feel I should have to bow down, I think we are all equal.” And it was a nice exchange but finally Prabhupada came to the point that you have to bow down—your nature is such that you have to bow down. When you go to work, do you not bow to your boss? He said, “Well yes, but that is material but spiritually I don’t think I should have to bow to anyone.” And Prabhupada said, “Well, you don’t like to bow down to anyone spiritually, all right, but what about disease? You have to bow down to disease, don’t you? You have to bow to old age, you have to bow to death. So you are forced to bow down; whether you like it or not, you have to bow down. So the question is where, even bowing down, you can be happy and that is Krishna. If you bow down to Krishna, Krishna’s representative you will be happy but you will be forced to bow down in any case. 

So that is our position. We are meant to bow down. We are meant to be controlled and if we are not controlled by Krishna and the spiritual energy, Radharani, we will be controlled by the material energy Durga and forced to suffer. And the same principle applies to our japa. We have come into the material world because we have turned away from Krishna and therefore we are forced to suffer and it when we turn back to Krishna, when we act in our relationship as the eternal servant of Krishna, then we are released from the material energy and relieved of the threefold miseries. And the same process takes place when we are chanting. We are in Krishna’s association in principle, we are in Krishna’s association but we are always turning away from Him and when we turn away the threefold miseries are there. Maya is there; she is just waiting as soon as we turn away from Krishna, but when we surrender to Krishna then maya can no longer affect us—kṛṣṇa sūrya-sama; māyā haya andhakāra. Krishna is light and maya is darkness. Where there is Krishna, there can be no nescience, no maya. 

So we will come to some of these verses and then we will discuss some specific points that are very important for us and relevant for us as devotees. So first is the basic definition of bhakti given in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 

anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā

“When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by impersonal speculation, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, as Kṛṣṇa desires.”

Our acharyas have discussed this verse in detail. Jiva Gosvami and Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and Srila Prabhupada, the whole introduction to The Nectar of Devotion is really a discussion of this verse in which Prabhupada draws a lot from the commentaries of the previous acharyas and adds his own insights and realizations and elaboration. But I will just comment on one phrase, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-śīlanaṁ; ānukūlyena means favorable; our service should be favorable. In other words, we should know what Krishna wants and we should do it with the desire to please Krishna; that is favorable. 

I met a very big man in Bombay—one of the most famous industrialists in India. He wasn’t very mature spiritually but he considered himself to be very religious and he was boasting to me about how religious he was. And he pulled out of his pocket a beautiful silver box filled with tulasi leaves and he said, “I do not drink even tea without putting tulasi leaves.” Now that is not favorable. Krishna doesn’t accept tea. No that is not according to śāstra, so it should be favorable. We should know what Krishna wants and do what He wants with the intention of pleasing Him. Then Krishna, of course Krishna, means Krishna but Srila Prabhupada explains that Krishna does not mean only Krishna the original Personality of Godhead in Vrindavan. Krishna includes the expansions of Krishna. So serving Rama, serving Narayana, serving Nṛsiṁhadeva, that is not outside of pure devotional service because Krishna’s expansions are included within Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, the Pancha-tattva, but they are all included within Krishna. It includes His name, His form, His qualities, His pastimes; they are all Krishna on the absolute platform. It also includes His pure devotees—serving Krishna’s pure devotees is also included in kṛṣṇa-anuśīlanam. It is included in pure devotional service to Krishna. 

And anuśīlanam; śīlanam means cultivation. As Srila Prabhupada said, Krishna consciousness is not a matter of imaginative speculation or idle meditation, it is activity—cultivation. And ānu has two meanings; ānu means continuous without break. Pure devotional service means that we are continuously engaged in devotional service and ānu also means following. Anuga, is one who follows the rūpānugas. We are followers of Rupa Gosvami. So anuśīlanam, continuous cultivation. It means that our whole life is meant for Krishna’s service—not that we do japa for two hours. We might do japa for two hours, do puja for one hour and read for one hour, that is all pretty good actually and then the rest, maya. 

One devotee told me, actually Brahmananda Prabhu told me that in the early days they had so little idea of what Krishna consciousness was. They thought it was basically sixteen rounds and maya. In San Francisco there was a coffee shop near the temple and Prabhupada walked by. There were all the devotees eating donuts and drinking coffee. Prabhupada gradually introduced the whole system so we don’t have to start at that stage but we can understand from the very beginning that our whole life is meant to be centered in Krishna. Krishna is the center. I am not the center, my family is not the center. My business is not the center. Krishna is the center. Now what about our families? what about our businesses? 

Well, as long as we and especially in grihastha ashram but every ashram has its particular duties and responsibilities but let us say grihastha ashram, we are responsible. We have duties as parents, as spouses, we have duties. So we have to do our duties but the whole purpose should be Krishna consciousness, The purpose of the marriage should be Krishna consciousness. The purpose of having children should be to produce devotees and raise them in Krishna consciousness to be devotees. And as far as the necessities of life, we need to acquire the necessities of life, but we shouldn’t make our life too complicated. As Prabhupada said, we should eat enough to keep the body and soul together. So we need food, we need shelter, we need clothing but that should be to keep the body and soul together to chant Hare Krishna and serve Lord Krishna. Recently someone said he felt his life was just like that; just working to survive without spiritual life and it reminded me of a little joke I heard when I was quite a bit younger. “I dig in the ditch to make up the money to buy the food, to eat the meal, to get the strength to dig in the ditch.” So our life should not be like that. You get the money to buy the food to offer to Krishna to get the strength to chant the holy name, serve Krishna.

All right, now in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu Rupa Gosvami cites evidence from revealed scriptures in support of all of his statements. And in support of his basic definition of bhakti, he quotes a verse from Nārada Pañcarātra—Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam hṛṣīkena hṛṣīkeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucyate. This is a very important verse and it has implications for bhakti; it has implications for japa. Bhakti or devotional service means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the master of the senses. hṛṣīk means senses and eśa means master. So Hṛṣīkeśa , it is the name of Krishna, means the master of the senses, the proprietor of the senses, the controller of the senses. And Hṛṣīkeśa means by the senses. By the senses we engage in the service of the master of the senses. And by doing so one becomes freed from material designations or when one is freed from material designations, one can actually engage in pure devotional service. 

So these designations are based on our bodily identification. I am a man, I am a woman, I am an Indian, I am an American, I am white, black, whatever it is. And on the basis of those false designations we serve. I think I am a man so I have to serve the cause of the men. I think I am a woman, I have to serve the cause of the women or I think I am American, I have to serve the cause of America. I think I am Chinese, I have to serve the cause of China. And because of all these designations we are disunited, always fighting on the basis of bodily designations. And so Srila Prabhupada says in the introduction to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that although there has been so much advancement in knowledge in the modern civilization, there is something wrong somewhere because people are always fighting. And so Prabhupada said we need a common cause that can unite all people. And the common cause is God because, janmādy asya yataḥ, He is the source of everything. He is the origin of all of us, that we are all meant to serve Him. So if we serve Him, we are all united. Otherwise on the basis of the bodily and different designations, we are disunited, fighting. 

Well we will come back to this point because it relates to our japa again. So this goal ultimately is to develop love for Krishna and so what is the definition of sādhana-bhakti? Kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya- bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā. Sādhana-bhakti is the process by which love for Krishna is attained. This devotion exists within the heart. And by the practice of sādhana-bhakti, that eternal love is awakened. Nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu nayaśravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya. Pure love for Krishna is eternally established within the heart, it is not something we have to get from somewhere else. And when the heart is purified by chanting and hearing, that love awakens. So that is the basic framework of bhakti and sādhana-bhakti. And of all the processes of devotional service, the most important is to chant the holy names. Lord Chaitanya says that, tāra madhye sarva-śreṣṭha nāma-saṅkīrtana niraparādhe nāma laile pāya prema-dhana.

Of the nine processes of devotional service, the most important is to always chant the holy name of the Lord. If one does so avoiding the ten kinds of offenses one very easily obtains the most valuable love of Godhead, all we have to do is chant. But the condition is niraparādhe — without offense. If we chant without offense—laile pāya prema-dhana—get the most valuable treasure of love of God. So if we can just do this, chant without offense, we can achieve love of God and that is our goal. And therefore we should know what the offenses are and avoid them. Devotees who have lived in temples or live in temples or attend the morning program in temples will find that we often recite the list of the ten offenses in the morning after maṅgala-ārati and tulasi-puja as preparation for chanting japa to remind ourselves of what the ten offenses are, and just reciting the ten offenses helps us to avoid them. 

So there is a verse in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that says that—‘kṛṣṇa-nāma’ kare aparādhera vicāra kṛṣṇa balile aparādhīra nā haya vikāra. There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Krishna mantra therefore simply by chanting Hare Krishna one does not become ecstatic. This is our experience unfortunately. Although by chanting the holy name one can develop love of Godhead, if one does commit offenses even though one does chant the holy name, one will not feel the ecstasy that one should by chanting. Sometimes devotees experience that when they first come to Krishna consciousness, they are more ecstatic than they are after some years and sometimes they ask why? Of course one answer is that in the beginning Krishna gives you special mercy to encourage you, so that you know what Krishna consciousness actually is; so that you have the inspiration and the conviction to continue. And another reason is that in the beginning we may be more innocent. 

I know when I joined and I spoke to other devotees who also joined at the same period, when they joined they thought that everyone in the temple was a pure devotee. Now that is another discussion; what constitutes a pure devotee. Otherwise you think everyone in the temple is a pure devotee; well that is a joke. What a joke; everyone in the temple is a pure devotee. Now that is a question. What is a pure devotee? But there is a bit of irony and humor in it because as time goes on, from a certain perspective, we see they are not all pure devotees. We think, “Boy, I was really naive to think they are all pure devotees.” But however we see it, as naive or stupid or visionary, it is favorable in the sense that we are not committing offenses against devotees, and committing offenses against devotees is the worst offense. It is the worst offense. And if we could avoid that, we could really chant well. We could really relish Krishna conscious, relish the association of devotees, relish hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, relish all the items of devotional service. 

So let us discuss what is a devotee. Sometimes we hear people say, “Oh he is not a real devotee, he was rude to me. He is not a real devotee. If he was a real devotee he would be humble, he would respect me. He is not a real devotee he whatever whatever.” So what is a real devotee? Now Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam lists many qualities of devotees and Caitanya-caritāmṛta enumerates twenty-six qualities of the devotee. And out of those, one is considered essential and that is—kṛṣṇa eka sharanam, He has taken exclusive shelter of Krishna or of the holy name of Krishna. If one has taken exclusive shelter of Krishna, he is a devotee. Even if the other twenty-five qualities are not fully manifested, you cannot say, “Oh, a devotee is . . . he doesn’t eat more than required but I saw him. How many gulab jamuns can a person eat? But that doesn’t mean he is not a devotee. In fact, that might be a good qualification because it is prasāda. But still the idea is that if he surrendered to Krishna, even if he doesn’t have all the other twenty-five qualities, he is still considered a devotee. And to criticize him, to find fault with him because he lacks in the other qualities is an offense—the first offense, sādhu-nindā.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that one may think that there are different grounds for criticizing a devotee that justify criticizing a devotee, and one of those is that he doesn’t manifest all of the qualities of a devotee. He says, that is not grounds for criticizing. If he surrendered to Krishna, if you surrender to the process of devotional service, if he surrendered to the spiritual master, he is a devotee. And it is an offense to criticize him on the basis of some lack in the other qualities. It is also an offense to criticize him on the basis of what he was before he became a devotee, his birth, he is born and whatever. There is so many, but even if he is born in a family of dog eaters (chandals), that if he chants the holy names he is higher than a brahman. It is also an offense to criticize a devotee for an accidental fall down, where Prabhupada says Krishna consciousness is like a declaration of war against maya.

So sometimes in that war we might be injured, not permanently, but temporarily we might be injured. But still, as long as one is continuing the fight, he is considered saintly. He is sadhu- sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ. And therefore to criticize him as an offense—sādhu-nindā. And to criticize a devotee for traces of past sins from his previous life is also an offense. So really we should of course that is the negative side, we don’t think ill of devotees. We don’t criticize devotees. We don’t attack devotees. But Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura in analyzing the ten offenses, Bhaktivinoda Thakura also in a similar way says that the same tongue that was used to criticize devotees should be used to glorify devotees. The same mind that thought ill of a devotee or devotees should think favorably of devotees. That is positive, like surrender — Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpa prātikūlyam vivarjanam. We accept whatever is favorable and we reject whatever is unfavorable for devotional service for Krishna’s pleasure. And that is our basic definition of bhakti - anukuryas Krishna sevanam. So this is favorable, appreciating devotees, glorifying devotees, serving devotees. So we should accept what is favorable and we should reject what is unfavorable. And thinking ill of devotees, blaspheming devotees, working against devotees, trying to bring a devotee down or whatever, is unfavorable; most unfavorable and it should be rejected. So this is something to work on.

And what it really means is just to see the good. They are Krishna eka sharnam, they are serving Krishna. That is the main thing. They are serving Krishna. That is what we should see. They may have faults. There may be accidental fall downs but those should be seen like spots on the moon. The moon gives so much light and brightness and it is such a cooling effect and such an enlivening effect. People don’t criticize them, “Oh, there are marks on the moon.” The full moon night, a mundane example but the lovers are under the full moon, “Oh look, isn’t that moon beautiful but look at those pock marks there.” People don’t do that, so that beautiful devotees are beautiful. They are serving Krishna. It is so rare to serve Krishna in this world so okay there are little faults. That is not what is important. What is important is that they are serving Krishna. Sometimes when we manage we have to assess a devotee’s ability to perform a certain service and we may assess the devotee’s strengths; material strengths and weaknesses but that should not become an occasion for deriding the devotee because he has a weakness. And another point that Bhaktivinoda Thakura makes is that in those list of twenty-six qualities, other than Krishna eka sharnam, different qualities are more appropriate for people in different positions in varnashrama-dharma. It is obvious but I will tell this little story.

In this struggle with Mr. Nair to get the Juhu land, he was very cunning, very treacherous person. And in the course of the struggle I did something, you could say I don’t even remember exactly what it was but out of innocence I made some mistake with him. So when Srila Prabhupada came to Juhu, we didn’t have any place for him on Hare Krishna land then because the whole land was in dispute so he stayed at a life member’s house nearby. And so Tamal Krishna Goswami went into Prabhupada’s room in the life member’s house and basically started telling him about this blunder I had made. Maybe he thought that Srila Prabhupada would chastise me or something. And Prabhupada said, “Giriraj is simple, what can be done?”

So that was in my mind and then as you might know, Srila Prabhupada had a friend named Dr. Patel, C.P. Patel, who would walk with him every morning on Juhu beach. And one morning Srila Prabhupada and Dr. Patel had a terrible argument, I mean a terrible argument because Srila Prabhupada began to criticize a very popular religious figure of India and Dr. Patel was very attached to that famous spiritual figure. And they were literally shouting at each other and getting red in the face. And Dr. Patel’s friends, they were trying to restrain him. “Swamiji has a heart condition, don’t upset him.” And he just kept blasting Prabhupada. And Prabhupada kept saying, “I am not saying, Krishna is saying; na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥ prapadyante narādhamāḥ” (B.G. 7.15), I am not saying, Krishna is saying. If he is not surrendered to Krishna he is a rascal. He is a fool. He is the lowest of mankind. He is an atheist. He is a demon.” So anyways, it was extremely intense. Both were extremely angry and finally Dr. Patel’s friends told them it is like in the boxing arena. It is like they are punching each other. The bell has rung, the referee is trying to separate them but they keep, it was like that. So then after that Prabhupada made a policy, “Okay no more discussion on the morning walks. We will just read from the Krishna book.”

So he started to read from the Krishna book. We would take turns. Quite often I would be the one to read and I read a statement about Nanda Maharaja that he was simple, whereas Vasudeva, Krishna’s father from Mathura was very clever. He was a kshatriya and therefore he was very intelligent and diplomatic in a political way, and Nanda Maharaja was a vaishya, how he was simple. So I read this and I asked Srila Prabhupada that I thought being simple was a fault and Nanda Maharaja is a pure devotee. His position as a devotee is actually higher than Vasudeva’s and it says he is simple. And Prabhupada said that at that same point that it is depending on your position in varnashrama-dharma, the same quality can be a fault or the same quality can be a virtue. So like for vaishya, one should be simple and brahmans too, they should be simple but a kshatriya, he can’t be simple otherwise people take advantage of him. He has to be clever, be smart. 

So that is one factor that in that list of twenty-six qualities some will be manifest more or some will be more desirable in a particular position than another. The first quality of a brahman is forgiveness. First quality of a brahman is forgiveness but in terms of administration, kshatriya, the ruler, he can’t forgive because if he forgives everyone, if he doesn’t punish anyone, there will be no law and order and the miscreants will create havoc and life will become hell for the innocent people. Therefore Parīkṣit Maharaja, when he found the personality of Kali beating, torturing the cow, he is ready to kill him, that a kshatriya has to do that. Parents also, they have to discipline their children, and gurus, dīkṣā-guru, śikṣā-gurus; they also sometimes have to discipline their students, instruct their students. Otherwise they won’t develop properly. Prabhupada used to quote that chanakya-sloka that fathers and teachers should not just flatter their students, otherwise they will become spoiled. But rather they should discipline them and then they will develop nicely. So everything is a matter of the person; it is a matter of time, place, and circumstance and so one should not judge in an abstract way that, he didn’t forgive, he should have forgiven or the opposite, he was weak, he should have disciplined him. But you have to understand what the consciousness was. Now, sometimes it is better to forgive even if from a certain point of view discipline would be appropriate, and sometimes it is better to discipline even though from a certain point of view one could forgive.

So we shouldn’t find faults like that. We should see the person that is trying to serve Krishna; that is the main thing. And if you are in a position to inquire, you can inquire. Why did you do that? I see you forgave him. I would have thought you would have corrected him or I see you corrected him and I would have thought you could have forgiven him. But it should always be with respect. That is one of our basic principles of association in the japa retreats and workshops. You have to respect the person as a devotee. They have to respect the person’s intention to serve Krishna, to chant the holy name and serve Krishna even if we might see things differently from them. So yes, and it does happen in these retreats and workshops because when we really make an effort to chant with attention and we become very conscious when our mind wanders. And when our mind wanders, what it wanders into—it is humbling. It is humbling because what our mind wanders into usually isn’t very pretty. It is certainly not prettier than Krishna; Radha and Krishna. So it is humbling. Here we are, we have the Nāma-cintāmaṇi kṛṣṇa, caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ. We have Krishna. The holy name of Krishna is like a touchstone and instead of that and you probably know the story of Sanatana Gosvami on the touchstone like the most valuable thing. We have the most valuable thing but instead of being attracted to the beauty of Krishna we are wandering off into these ugly places like the swans and the crows. The swans like the clear lakes filled with lotus flowers and the crows, they like to peck at the garbage. So our mind has that tendency to be like a crow. And when we see that, it should make us humble. 

And we are criticizing the other devotees; basically we are trying to say they are crows but what we are doing is like a crow- finding faults. That is like a crow but anyways I don’t want to labor the point too much but coming back to the positive, we appreciate devotees, we glorify devotees, we serve devotees and if our relationships with devotees are filled with these activities and hearing and chanting about Krishna together then our relationships will be congenial, we will be free from that offense, we are relieved of that offense, and we will be able to chant happily. We will be able to relish. We will be able to make advancement.

Just the other day someone asked me this question because in the stages of advancement in devotional service there is a verse. Each successive stage is described in the first Canto second Chapter. So one of those important verses is; Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā bhagavaty uttama-śloke bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī [SB 1.2.18] that by rendering service to the person Bhagavat or the book Bhagavat, all that is inauspicious in the heart is almost destroyed, and a transcendental loving service to the Lord is established as an irrevocable fact. So prāya means almost; naṣṭa is almost completely destroyed but not completely destroyed. So that verse describes the stage of niṣṭhā—steadiness. So the devotee asks, “What is it that is not destroyed?” And these different stages- ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo and so on are analyzed by Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura and he analyses the different anarthas. Because there is anishtita-bhajana-kriyā—unsteady and then there is nisthita-bhajana-kriya steady. And what separates the two? anartha-nivrtti. 

So he analyses different types of anarthas—according to the cause and one cause is nāma-aparādha, especially vaiṣṇava-aparādha and the anarthas caused by nāma-aparādha or vaiṣṇava-aparādha are so pernicious that they linger. After anartha-nivrtti, there are still lingering effects of vaiṣṇava-aparādha and those are only really eradicated completely when one reaches the stage of prema. So these stay with us. They are really bad, so we should really try to avoid them and again, it is not so much in the negative way. If we find ourselves tempted or inclined to find fault we can check ourselves but more in a positive way. It should be our culture like in Chowpatty, they have developed very nicely the culture of appreciating Vaishnavas, glorifying Vaishnavas, serving Vaishnavas like Vaisesika Prabhu, always appreciating Vaishnavas, glorifying Vaishnavas, serving Vaishnavas. That is why he is always so enthusiastic, so we should follow that example. 

Now I have lost track of the time here. How much time do I have? Ten more minutes. Okay, so maybe we can stop here for now and see if there are any questions. 

Devotee: When you were discussing about noticing so-called faults in other devotees or in your mind criticism comes and that is offensive. Can that be turned around on ourselves? If we keep criticizing ourselves we are striving for devotional service but we keep criticizing ourselves, finding our own shortcomings. Is that offensive?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is a good question. In general the tendency to look for faults should be directed in a positive way to finding our own faults and improving ourselves. But at the same time we shouldn’t become too negative about ourselves. We should be more aware of Krishna’s beauty and mercy as our saving grace, than of our own faults and become hopeless. There is a very nice verse and purport about that and the idea is that even if one knows that sense gratification leads to suffering and even if one is determined to avoid sense gratification, still one may engage in the very thing that one wants to reject. So in that case the Bhāgavatam says one should lament for one’s failure but one should continue to execute devotional service in a happy mood, having faith that Krishna will purify him and take him back home. So I think that from a neutral point of view, one can see that one has surrendered to Krishna. Krishna eka smaraṇam—one has taken exclusive shelter of the spiritual master of Krishna, of the holy name. One can see that and one can also see that due to past conditioning or bad association one may have lapses and one may regret them and try to rectify but one should know that Krishna is there; the holy name is there. It is always ready. 

Devotee: One more question. Is it offense you don’t criticize but in your heart you are not impressed with that devotee? You dont criticize if Krishna is in your heart. Is it an offense?

Giriraj Swami: To think ill of a devotee is an offense but it is milder than speaking ill of the devotee. 

Devotee: Who is a pure devotee? I was just wondering if you ever heard Srila Prabhupada give a definition.

Giriraj Swami: Who is a pure devotee; very good. Well a pure devotee is one who engages in pure devotional service as described in the Paribhāṣāsūtra verse of Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, that verse applies to all stages of bhakti—sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti, and prema-bhakti. So that means that someone, even in the stage of sādhana-bhakti is considered a pure devotee if he engages continually in devotional service and his consciousness is not covered by fruitive work or impersonal speculation or any other process, and he serves Krishna favorably as Krishna would want. So that indicates that even someone in the stage of sādhana-bhakti can be a pure devotee because he is trying. We are trying to chant with attention if we are trying to chant with the attention, that is in the category of pure devotional service. Your mind wanders but you don’t surrender to it and just indulge it you become conscious, Oh my mind is strayed I have to bring it back. I have to hear, I have to pray to the holy name for mercy, pray to the spiritual master for mercy, pray to tulasi-devi, pray to Haridasa Thakura or pray to anyone and everyone who could possibly help us out of desperation. That is within the category of pure devotional service. 

Devotee: As a practical matter, if you don’t like yourself you won’t like others and the way to develop positive self-regard is to realize that it is easy to love God because he is perfect. And if your mind is focused on that eventually you will like yourself because you are engaging in positive experience and then it becomes easy to get along with others.

Giriraj Swami: That is nice. We are all part and parcel of Krishna. So we love Krishna, we love all of his parts and parcels including the part and parcel that is in this wretched body and miserable mind. But on that point of pure devotee and what I said earlier, bhakti-sanjaya-bhakta—that bhakti comes from bhakti; bhāva-bhakti comes from sādhana-bhakti, prema-bhakti comes from bhāva-bhakti.

So Prabhupada gave the example of an unripe mango and a ripe mango. They are both mangoes and a natural course unless something unnatural happens, a natural course the unripe mango will become a ripe mango. So an unripe devotee can still be a pure devotee and in natural course he will become a mature devotee. He might be a little raw and green at first, still he can make a good pickle mango – achar. They are also part of the meal and then that same mango when it matures becomes very sweet and juicy and nectarian and  it is still a mango even in the immature state. 

Devotee: I have a question about somebody that is chanting but just continues on in fruitive activities; if that is an offense? Also it is not to chant and think that it will just erase bad behavior. So if we see that in a devotee and we want to help them is there a way of approaching them or helping them with that without making an offense ourselves?

Giriraj Swami: Bhakta Jonathan has made a very good point. We might see a devotee who has an offensive mentality. It is one of the offenses to consider the holy name as one of the auspicious ritualistic activities mentioned in the Vedas as karma-kāṇḍa or fruitive activity or in simple language, one might chant for material benefit and that is an offense; it is a misuse of the holy name. The holy name is not meant to be our servant but we are meant to be the servant of the holy name. So the question is, should he say something to the devotee for the devotee’s benefit even though doing so we might offend the devotee. Yes, what makes an offense; it is not the correction but it is the attitude and even practically Prabhupada said that if you correct someone with sympathy they are more likely to accept it. So if in a humble mood, with due respect you point out a fault, it is not an offense.

But then again one should also be very careful when dealing with Vaishnavas. You might want to speak to someone who has a better relationship with the person or who is in a position of being the person’s authority and see if they want to take it up or what they advise you. But I think if there is any doubt you should be careful. Like Prabhupada said, you should think three times before you do anything especially when it comes to something that could offend a devotee. And even if it does come to that you want to point something out to the devotee, you can take your time, really think carefully what is it that you want to say, how do you want to say it, when would be an appropriate time to say it, an appropriate place. And if you do it very carefully, purely, with the intention of helping the devotee overcome an obstacle in devotional service, the very good chance that it will be well received. There won’t be any contamination that accrues to you from it and in fact, the devotee may appreciate it. He will make advancement and you will make advancement.  Hare Krishna.

Okay, so next. Oh, we are out of time.