Japa Workshop—09 Sharing and Closing

Giriraj Swami: One point that struck me from the workshop was the Importance of intention. The first evening I didn’t have a partner but I overheard someone behind me speaking to his partner, I don’t know who It was. And he said that he is not going to drink one drop of water or eat one morsel or food or turn on his cell phone or his computer until he finishes sixteen rounds. So, I thought well that sounds good, I think I think I should do that. And then, I mean, I did have some time, maybe an hour or so. And then I got a phone call from Puruṣa-sūkta prabhu and that led to another phone call, another phone call. And then this morning, I set my expectation—took rest pretty much on schedule, got up on schedule, but then when I got up, everything started to go different, just completely different. And. . . but the result of the workshop has been that I’ve had a lot of realizations, a lot of transformation. Even though my actual japa during the mornings was Interrupted, you could say, by factors and so that brings me back to Intention—having the Intention and I’m thinking of some quotations from shastra and guru.

One is, there is a famous verse; īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā

that Is generally translated as one who engages fully in the service of the Lord with body, mind, and words jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate—he is a liberated soul even while within the body. But reading the commentary on that verse in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, I found that what It said was that, if you desire to serve the Lord with body, mind, and words, you are liberated. And another statement of Srila Prabhupada, was your qualification, Is that I give you an Instruction and you try to follow It. Not even I give you an Instruction and you follow It, but I give you an Instruction and you try to follow it.

And I thought of my first, my initiation letter by Srila Prabhupada by letter and I went back to the letter, because I knew that he had told me to chant sixteen rounds and avoid the ten offenses and I was thinking,” oh my God, my first letter, on my Initiation, and I can’t even follow It. So I looked it up. I was really ready to punish myself and there it was in black and white. I request you to chance sixteen rounds daily and avoid the ten offenses as far as possible. So Prabhupada was so merciful. It’s the Intention, we try to avoid the ten offenses and chant our sixteen rounds.

The other process and the two overlap, is the Is the group-the support of the group. Many scriptures advise for chanting japa, to do so in the association of advanced devotees, who have taste. And so many of the devotees commented on what they experienced in the japa circle with tulasi and It struck me that. . . Of course, I really was in the circle with advanced devotees because on one side was Yajña Puruṣa and on the other side was Vaisesika prabhu and we were in the association of Tulasi-devi, who is a pure devotee, but the cumulative effect of all the Vaishnavas, all the advancement of the Vaishnavas put together is quite a lot of advancement and Prabhupada did have faith in the group – in the group process. And it’s also in shastra- kalo sanga shakti, but in Kali-yuga there is power in association, power in the group.

As a speaker and all of us are speakers. I think that’s one of the reasons the workshops are so nIce, because everyone speaks. But when I speak, I always pray to Srila Prabhupada to speak—through me to use me as an Instrument to say what he would like. And but there is also, so it’s surrendering to the higher authorities, but there is also a process of surrendering to the group and usually from the beginning I somehow make a conscious decision to surrender to the group, but on FrIday I didn’t do that. I think because I saw so many old friends, Vaisesika prabhu, Amogha Lila prabhu; especially Hamsaduta prabhu and Satya deva prabhu and others. So, I didn’t make a conscious decision to surrender to the group. I felt so happy and comfortable with those friends, but when we did the japa circle with tulasi, I made that conscious decision and It was a wonderful experience. So, we surrender to our authorities above, but we also surrender to the group of which we are a part, and that creates a very wonderful dynamic for japa and for devotional service in general.

Just a few very brief points on what some of the devotees said. I mean I know that that devotee who said that what’s Important is the quality not the quantity, but we also do come to a stage where we make a vow that we’ll chant sixteen rounds and that was Prabhupada’s point, that we must chant our sixteen rounds, that’s our duty. And by chanting our sixteen rounds, by doing our duty, the quality will come. But It’s also true that the quality does come, not by—it’s not an artificial effort. It comes and It comes in relation to our entire life, not just the time we spent doing japa but our entire life—- how much It’s dedicated to guru and Krishna, especially guru—- ādau gurvāśrayam

And then the other thing about controlling the mind. Once, one disciple said to Srila Prabhupada, how can I control my mind? And Srila Prabhupada laughed, ‘you cannot control your mind you think of Lord Chaitanya and He will control your mind.’ And that was also something I thought of that time on the beach, when I was feeling the burden of the pain and anxiety of all the living entities.

Once a disciples said to Srila Prabhupada, ‘when we chant should we think of the welfare of every living entity’? and Srila Prabhupada said, ‘oh, you can think of every living entity? You just think of Krishna, and He will think of every living.’ So again, It’s Krishna. It’s Chaitanya. It’s guru. We just think of Them, do our best to serve Them—in our own way—we give general instructions, shastras give general instructions, but each Is Individual. Srila Prabhupada said every devotee has his own Individual realization of Krishna consciousness, and so while following the general prescriptions, we also have to realize our own Identity as servants of guru and Krishna, not try to imitate and try to follow in the footsteps but not try to imitate and make our own contribution according to who we are.

Srila Prabhupada said as far as japa. Best Is to chant while sitting, second best while standing, and third best while walking, but If you are sitting and you are becoming drowsy, you shouldn’t think well, let me imitate the best and sit and chant, and meanwhile I’m actually just struggling to stay awake. It’s better to stand up or better to walk.

When His Holiness Niranjana Swami stays with me, he always chants pacing back and forth. I’m not sure why, it might be related to his health, but he does It and that’s what he can do and that’s what works for him. It’s not stereotyped. So, it’s really. . . we’ve given general prescription but the real thing Is, what works for you, yena tena prakāreṇa, somehow or other, fix the mind on Krishna, fix the mind on the holy name.

As far as sleeping, we had this discussion in Durban once, why devotees sleep-are so prone to sleep in class? And one devotee gave this answer, that when you hear the class, all of your anxieties go away and If you’ve been deprived of sleep because of too much anxiety, when the anxieties go away you can just fall asleep. Another answer I heard, and I’m not sure where this is from, but I did hear It. Ravana had a brother named Kumbhakarna who would really sleep a lot and very deeply. So, the question was raised that after the disappearance of Kumbhakarna, where would sleep take shelter? And the answer, I’m not sure whether this is. . . it sounds like some puranic story, but I can’t cite the authority. The answer was, that sleep will take shelter wherever there Is hari-kathā. But anyway, It was a wonderful experience, I’ve learned so much from every workshop, from every retreat. I was actually very impressed by a letter that Mahatma prabhu wrote, that it’s not that a workshop or a retreat is something you attend and you complete the course and you get a certificate and you’ve graduated. It’s something that you have to repeat again and again and again. It’s something that you, it’s like anything you do to refresh yourself, to rejuvenate yourself you do It again and again and again and I’ve found every time I’ve done It, I’ve learned more, I’ve realized more, I’ve experienced more.  I do recommend that it’s something we do again and again, and as far as what I’m going to take home with me, well, I’m takIng Yajña Puruṣa prabhu home with me and If that doesn’t fix me up, I don’t know what will? Hare Krishna.

Vaisesika Prabhu: I first offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada who saved me and it’s been the object of my meditation, especially over the last few days, and I offer my respectful obeisances to all my godbrothers here and to all the devotees who have become my life and soul in this room. And I’m just so pleased, to be together with all of you. I’ve felt over the last, well not just the last few days, but my life’s been take over. And it’s because of all of you. Somehow or other, I don’t know how it happened. Sometimes I felt like Bali Maharaja, when he got tied up by the ropes, Vasuki, but you can’t move, but it’s so sweet because Krishna’s putting His foot on your head. I feel like that here, because I’ve been bound up by the love and enthusiasm of all the devotees and it’s propelling me-it’s moving me somehow and that’s what’s  moving my chanting. It’s being drawn out of me by the devotees here, and I can only see that, that all the devotees in ISV have-they are representatives of Srila Prabhupada, who have come and are still saving me in a profound way.

This workshop that’s gone on here-it looks like an organized room and program and it Is. But behind the scenes, there is a lot that goes into It. It’s kind of like putting a man on the moon. And that means there is hundreds of phone calls and emails and arguments and decisions to be made. Is Bali Mardan here today? He put a lot of work into this. He is a selfless soul, and he just took it up with enthusiasm and so did Nilasha Neelam who put work into this also. I know they dropped everything and worked on this. Thank you very much.

Dayanidhi prabhu, as usual, surrendered and did the needful very enthusiastically—offered his home, offered his services, drove all around town and also Jagarini Mataji and Mother Bhumi  cooked everything and I think it was the best prasādam by far that I’ve seen anywhere for a long time, or maybe ever. All glories to them! Hare Kirshna.

Who else are you pointing to? Well, Rama swami, I wonder if he’d be Involved In anything like this? Ramaswami seems to be behind everything. Mother Madri, If there was no other experience besides just seeing you here, It would have been worth coming to see your smile and your welcoming heart for all the devotees and It was one of the highlights of being here, just seeing you and your service attitude towards the devotees. Thank you very much.

Yajña Puruṣa prabhu-the gentle giant, the tower of power. It’s so edifying to see devotees who have taken this process as their life and soul. And I felt it the first day when I came in and I was listening to you, and I knew it was coming from realization. I felt It. There is nothing that can replace that when there is actual realization of chanting the holy names and that enthusiasm transferred to everybody here. So, you have blessed us and I thank you very much.

Another highlight of the workshop for me was the exchange of love between Hamsaduta prabhu and His Holiness Giriraj Swami. There Is nothing higher practically than friendship and love between godbrothers. It Is something that is utterly precious and that we have to hold on to the association that we have. If you have a friend in Krishna consciousness, It’s the most precious thing. There is nothing more valuable than that. In fact, Narottama dasa Thakura sings about how he is attached to his friend Ramachandra. And in fact when he left the planet, so did Narottama dasa Thakura, in his separation. And Giriraj swami and so many devotees have said so many things and they are all true. When you speak, I feel that Prabhupada is speaking through you, and it has weight because you’ve always been there, and the shastra that you put out mixed with your faith in Prabhupada is so powerful, that It’s the glue, super glue. That faith mixed with the shastra, the combination that you have, Prabhupada’s there with you. And you have it all, the shastra given by the Gosvamis, given by Rupa Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami, it just nails it all down, so nobody can take it apart and you’ve increased our faith by coming here. Just by us seeing you, but then by your words it is so powerful and we owe a great debt of gratitude to you and thank you very, very much.

And for all of us I think to remember that we’ve participated in a yajña. It’s done now. It’s coming to the end and nobody can take it back. Whatever you had to do to get here, or if someone made you come here, or if somebody paid your way; It doesn’t matter you were here so you can make a little check mark—like this in the sky. Just try It; It’s done. You’ve done this thing, you have done this yajña, and It cannot be taken back, It’s for your eternal benefit and the fact Is that even If you chanted one mantra in here with attention, it’s so powerful. That can move your spiritual life ahead by millions of lifetimes. It can erase all your past karma, one-one utterance of the name purely with concentration, with this Idea of sincerely trying even If you can’t do It.

As was brought up in this assembly, and we are also backed by the acharyas. The most important point for me that Giriraj Maharaja brought up was, despite everything, all the science behind everything, ultimately we are backed by Srila Prabhupada. As my friend Guru Kripa is fond of saying, because he has a way of putting things in street language sort of—- that under his shelter you have a chip In the big game. You don’t have to have qualification, you are lined up and the power is coming down and if we take shelter underneath and hold onto that current, that no matter what struggle is there, If we just hold on and Krishna will help us. If we want to do that, then they will deliver us. That power is there. They have that prerogative to deliver us, they are free and they can pull us out, even If we don’t deserve It, they can pull us out. That’s mercy—- they can just ask Krishna and He can do It, He is the supreme autocrat.

So, I just in closing, want to thank everybody that came today.  I just want to express how much you all mean to me. That you’ve become my life and soul, and that I want to do everything I can in my life to serve you the best I can, and that will include everyone keeps saying well, we want this, we want that, and so do I. And I want It for you, everything that you want. I want It so intensely, that you get everything you want—beautiful temple for Krishna, pure chanting, pure devotional service. It’s all I think about, and with the power of the holy name and that combination of desire, if you put the two together, this chanting and keep that desire that this Is what we want. All our desires will be fulfilled, because the name Is nāma-cintāmaṇi and It will fulfil all desires.

So thank you very much everybody for coming and taking shelter of the supreme autocrat Lord Krishna and under the shelter of Doyal Nitai Chaitanya and Srila Prabhupada and all the Vaishnavas, we will be victorious. Hare Krishna.