SB 1.2.17 – Cleansing the Heart Back to Godhead

Giriraj Swami: We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto One Chapter Two — “Divinity and Divine Service,”

TEXT 17

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

TRANSLATION

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Messages of the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, are nondifferent from Him. Whenever, therefore, offenseless hearing and glorification of God are undertaken, it is to be understood that Lord Kṛṣṇa is present there in the form of transcendental sound, which is as powerful as the Lord personally. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, declares clearly that the holy name of the Lord has all the potencies of the Lord and that He has endowed His innumerable names with the same potency. There is no rigid fixture of time, and anyone can chant the holy name with attention and reverence at his convenience. The Lord is so kind to us that He can be present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord’s name and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and chanting the holy sound.

COMMENT

And the sentence explains how it is done; how we develop taste for hearing and chanting. That was the subject of last night’s verse. What is the method by which we develop taste for hearing and chanting? Can anyone say?

Devotee: Sublimation to having full Śaraṇāgati … is what we say in Hindi.

Giriraj Swami:

PURPORT (continued)

It is done through the medium of service to the pure devotee of the Lord.

The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa helps in all respects.

COMMENT

So the Upanishads explained that the jīvātmā, the individual soul, and the Paramātmā, the Supreme Soul are situated in the same body, like two birds on a branch of the same tree. One bird, the jīvātmā, is busy trying to enjoy the fruits on the tree. he is pecking at the fruits on the tree and some are sweet and some are bitter, and thus he enjoys and suffers. And the other bird, the Paramātmā, who is actually the best friend of the living entity, is witnessing His friend’s engagement in fruitive work; witnessing His friend’s suffering of pious and sinful reactions, and waiting for the time that His friend will turn his face toward Him.

When the living entity, somehow or other by good fortune, comes into the association of a pure devotee and engages in the service of a pure devotee, he gradually acquires the qualities of the pure devotee. And the foremost quality of the pure devotee is attraction for hearing and chanting the holy name and glorious of the Lord. And when, after selfless service to the pure devotee, the living entity becomes eager to hear about the Lord, then the Lord within the heart helps him. The Lord is more eager to get us back home back to Godhead then we can desire, as Srila Prabhupada says. He is more eager to get us back home back to Godhead then we are to go. In fact, very few really do want to go back to Godhead. They are religious but they want to enjoy in the material world. They want to be happy in the material world. So when someone is really serious about going back home back to Godhead, and is eager to hear the messages of Godhead, then the Lord from within the heart helps him by cleansing the desire for material enjoyment. There are many important words in this verse but one important phrase is suhṛt satām. Satām, in general sense, is translated as devotee but here Srila Prabhupada says truthful devotee; sat also means truth; truthful devotee. Truthful devotee means that he is completely sincere. In other words, he is not duplicitous. A duplicitous person will show himself to be one thing but inside he is something else. He will show that he is interested in doing service but he actually wants to enjoy.

Of course, it may be that someone sincerely wants to serve but is burdened by material desires, the person may actually be sincere but he is just burdened by material desires and, that person, if he continues serving the pure devotee and hearing the messages of Godhead, he will also gradually be purified. But there are also duplicitous people. Rāvaṇa, he dressed as a sannyasi. He came to the hermitage of Lord Rama; when Rama was away he dressed as a sannyasi to take advantage of the culture of respect for sannyasis, but he is not a sannyasi at all. His purpose was to enjoy Sita Devi. So many examples but the idea is suhṛt satām, we should be truthful; we should be completely sincere. And if we are completely sincere, then we will accept whatever mercy the Lord gives us. We won’t place any conditions. Sometimes a devotee may be sincere but he may have some material attachment. And then the Lord, to help the devotee, will take away the attachment and the devotee will accept it as the Lord’s mercy. If someone is not completely sincere then he may try to get back what the Lord took away from him; leave the Lord for the thing that the Lord took away from him. But one who is sincere, he will stay with the Lord no matter what happens. He will stay with the process of Krishna consciousness, the process of chanting and hearing.

Srila Prabhupada has spoken about the function of maya. Maya-devi is also a devotee of Krishna; but Maya -devi’s function, especially in the beginning, is to test a new person. She will test a new person by putting obstacles to see, is this person really coming to serve Krishna; or is this person coming to disturb Krishna with material demands. So she will test the devotee by presenting so many obstacles and if the devotee is sincere, then even in spite of the obstacles he or she will continue with the process of devotional service. But if the person has really come with material desires to disturb Krishna, then when they are obstacles the person may leave. “Krishna didn’t help me; I am going to Shiva, I am going to Hanuman, I am going to Ganesh, I am going to Sathya Sai Baba, I want someone who will help me.” So as Srila Prabhupada said, one who is sincere will get a sincere guru. If one is insincere he will get an insincere guru. If someone wants Krishna, guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja, Krishna will lead him to a person who will give him Krishna; who will teach him the science of how to attain Krishna. And if one is materialistic or duplicitous, if one is insincere, then one will get a guru who is insincere. Because Krishna is in the heart as the Supersoul and He knows the desire of the living entity. So although we preach because we want everyone to take to Krishna consciousness for their own benefits, but we can’t expect that everyone will take but, still we have to do our best.

And Srila Prabhupada gave the example of Jatayu, the bird, a devotee of Lord Ramachandra. When Rāvaṇa came to kidnap Sita, Jatayu saw him carrying her away. Jatayu was quite old at the time but still he saw, “Oh Rāvaṇa is kidnapping Sita, I must try to save her.” So he challenged Rāvaṇa, but because Rāvaṇa was so powerful, Rāvaṇa defeated him, and he carried on his way with Sita. But when Lord Ramachandra was passing through the forest and He came upon Jatayu, He saw that Jatayu had given his life for His service. That was not consequential, whether he was successful or not. What was significant was that he gave his life for the service of Lord Ramachandra, and Lord Ramachandra personally conducted his funeral rites, just like the son does for the father. Srila Prabhupada use this example to make the point that when we preach we may not be successful in the external sense, in all cases. But the fact that we have made our best effort, the fact that we have given our life in the service of the Lord to bring people back to Him, that will please the Lord and that is our success. Bhakti means to please the Lord; to please the master, and the Lord will be pleased.

His Holiness Indradyumna Swami told a story when we were together in San Diego last Sunday. In his youth he liked to surf. I think his class was really very appropriate for the San Diego audience. So, he described that in his youth he liked to surf and he went to one place in Mexico where they there was a one-mile-long wave. What is a riptide? Anyone know what a riptide is from this group? San Diego probably would have had fifty hands going up. But anyway, something like that. And so Maharaja was young, he was a strong swimmer, he had also been trained as a lifeguard, so he swam way out to catch this mile-long wave and ride it in. But as he was coming in towards the shore, he saw a group of people, Mexicans, motioning and screaming and hollering and crying. And he realized that a loved one of theirs had been pulled under the current. So Maharaja looked and he saw there was actually a body of a young girl of about twelve years of age, and so, being a strong swimmer and trained as a lifeguard, he swam to get her and she was blue in color. It looked as if she was dead but actually she wasn’t dead, she was still alive. There were signs that she was still alive so he took hold of her, as he was trained as a lifeguard, and carried her to shore. And then when he got her to the dry land he gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to bring her back to life, but actually she was already dead. Although when he initially reached her she was still alive, there was symptoms of life, but by the time he got her to the shore she was dead. But still, he went through the motions of trying to revive her for the sake of all the family and friends, that would have just been too heart shattering, so he went through the motions. But within his heart he knew that that she was gone. They even called for an ambulance, paramedic, and then they came and pronounced her dead.

So Maharaja told the story that we have to make the effort. We may not be successful every time but we have to make the effort. And when we make the effort, Krishna is pleased. So we shouldn’t be so concerned, yes, we want people to take to Krishna consciousness, but we shouldn’t be so concerned that every effort will be successful. It may be or it may not be, but our success is in the effort to bring people to Krishna and the effort will please Krishna. Of course, when you do that as Prabhupada said, preaching means taking risks, when you do that you put yourself out on the line. You open your heart to people but they may not accept you. They may temporarily, but then after some time being tested by maya, they may turn away. This is the most confidential service to Krishna, because that is what Krishna wants more than anything else. He wants His lost children to come back home.

Srila Prabhupada sometimes told the story, well in India he would give the example of Mr. Birla; he was the richest man in India at the time; he was the richest family. But suppose Mr. Birla’s grandson runs away from home. He has some misunderstanding with his father, he runs away from home. And you see the boy on the street begging, so you could give him a few rupees so he can buy some food, you can do something to give him some temporary relief of his miserable condition, but that is not the best service. The best service is to say, “My dear boy, you are Mr. Birla’s grandson. I know you, I know him; what happened? Tell me what happened. Come with me, I will take you back to your home.” And then when he goes back home and is reconciled with his father or reinstated in his original position, then all of his problems are solved. He doesn’t have to worry about food, he doesn’t have to worry about clothing, he doesn’t have to worry about shelter, he doesn’t have to worry about anything. All of his problems are solved. So in the same way, all of us have run away from our eternal home with Krishna and we are loitering in the material world begging, undergoing the hard struggle for existence, but we don’t have to. If we go back home back to Godhead, everything is provided, we don’t have to struggle. Everything was provided.

So to do welfare work on the material platform may be somewhat beneficial, temporarily at best. But to bring someone back to his Supreme father, to his original home, that is the best service to the father, that is the best service to the son or daughter, that is the permanent solution to all our problems. So Srila Prabhupada said, our work is like that; trying to pick up people who are loitering on the street in the material world, and bring them back to their original home, back to their Supreme father. And that is such an important service and such a confidential service, that Krishna blesses the preacher, regardless of how successful or not he may be in the external sense, but He blesses the preacher, because he made the effort. He gave his life for the mission of reclaiming the fallen souls. And there will be sincere souls who will come forward and will take to the process. And Krishna will help, because He wants them to come back home back to Godhead. But we have to make the effort, and the candidate also has to make that effort. Once one man in Bombay came to meet Srila Prabhupada. At the time Prabhupada was actually staying at Shani Mandir in Chembur, before we had our own place. So the man came and said, “Swamiji, Swamiji, please save me, please save me. Only you come save me. Please save me.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “I cannot save you, you have to save yourself. But I can give you the method by which you can save yourself.” So that is the duty of the preacher, he gives the method but the candidate also has to take up the process. And if he does sincerely, the Lord within the heart will help him.

PURPORT (continued)

One cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless one is perfectly cleared of all sins. The material sins are products of our desires to Lord it over material nature.

If one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind.

COMMENT

So, śṛṇvatāṁ, those who have developed the urge to hear the message of Godhead; sva-kathāḥ, we know kathāḥ means discussions and sva means Krishna—śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ—topics of Krishna, Srila Prabhupada also said sva-kathāḥ also means topics of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And there are two types of kathāḥ; talks by Krishna such as the Bhagavad-gītā and talks about Krishna such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ—just by engaging and chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord, one becomes pious. Chanting and hearing about the glories of the Lord is itself, pious activity. Just sitting and listening, what you are doing is a pious activity; it makes one pious. And then, hy abhadrāṇi, abhadrāṇi means inauspicious things in the heart, dirty things within the heart, which translates as the desire to enjoy matter. That is a very difficult job, to clear the heart of the desire to enjoy matter. We cannot do it on our own. There is no way we can do it on our own. We need help, and the help comes from the Lord within the heart; He helps us. Sometimes it may happen in spite of our most sincere efforts, we are unable to give up some material desire some material attachment. Even then, the devotee continues in a happy mood because he will serve Krishna, no matter what. The devotee thinks I am not capable of freeing myself from material attachment or material desire, only Krishna is capable. I am doing my best but ultimately, I depend on the mercy of the Lord. But even if the Lord doesn’t immediately remove the desire of material attachment, still I will continue to serve Him. I will not give up my service to him. And it is up to Him. Of course, it shouldn’t be taken in a light way, this is really spoken in a mood of deep surrender of depending on the Lord; making one’s best effort by all means but at the same time depending on the mercy of the Lord, and persevering even if the results are not immediate, and continuing in a happy mood. Because he knows he has his Father, his Father is looking after him, his Father knows what is best for him, and he carries on in a happy mood. Then suhṛt satām, suhṛt means well-wisher, benefactor; satām means the truthful devotee.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?  Gaura-nataraja Prabhu.

Devotee: Maharaja, you were talking about piety. Is there a difference between spiritual piety and material piety, going back to the heavenly planets?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, there is. That is a very good point. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that there are three kinds of sukriti. One is bhoga unmukhi sukriti that is sukriti or pious activities that lead to material enjoyment, that you are saying going to a heavenly planet. There is moksha unmukhi sukriti  that is pious activity that leads to liberation impersonal liberation. And there is bhakti unmukhi sukriti pious activities that lead to pure devotional service. And the service of pure devotees is bhakti unmukhi sukriti. So the pious activity of hearing about Krishna; it is bhakti unmukhi sukriti that leads to devotional service. That is correct.

Yes, what is your name?

Devotee: Ram Pandit. A devotee who is in a path of devotional service who is not very advanced, and is not also very material, he is not enjoying material association but he is not confident enough in his devotional life, does he have to suffer more than materially attached? Does he have to suffer more than an advanced devotee.

Giriraj Swami: Well, let me rephrase your question. Srila Prabhupada did describe the position of Indians to be like a person in the ocean, who puts one foot on a raft. Do you know what a raft is? It is like a boat, flat. He puts one foot on a raft of material progress, and he puts the other foot on the raft of spiritual progress, and he can’t make any progress. You have to put both feet on one raft, then you can be saved. And he felt, by and large, Indians weren’t really fit for material progress, so they should put both feet on the raft of spiritual advancement. Now your question is, being neither here nor there, do you suffer more than someone who is more advanced? Well the implication in your question is that the people who are advanced suffer. Where did that come from?

Devotee: A devotee who is very advanced, I am comparing a very advanced deovtee to material people. So a person who is in middle class, he has to suffer more than material people and do not advance, (Unintelligible 00:43:56) as well as advancement but their house people knows the reason for everything material people has no reasoning for anything he just invited the material association but the middle class people like the middle class devotee was not completely advanced he does not like associating with material stuff as well as he has not more knowledge to understand. So I feel the people who are in the middle he has more pain he or she has more suffering so that is why I was trying to understand.

Giriraj Swami: Well, you are speaking from that position, you should know better. Okay now, let us say you are suffering more. So now, what are you going to do? Let us take it for granted you are suffering more; I don’t think you are. I actually think that people who are more materialistic are suffering more. They may not be conscious of it because they are in so much ignorance but actually they are suffering more, they are definitely suffering more. Prabhupada gave the example of a drunk person; he is on the footpath, he is so intoxicated, so much in ignorance, he is cold, he is dirty, he is sick, but if you say, “Come with me, I will clean up and give you clean clothes, and give you good food.” He says, “I am fine the way I am, don’t disturb me.” So the fact that they are complacent, is just an indication of their ignorance. It is not really a fact that they are happy. They are suffering, but they are in so much ignorance they are not aware of their suffering. But someone who is sober, someone whose consciousness is more elevated can see that the person is suffering more. I don’t think you are suffering more than the materialist but you are not enjoying as much as the transcendentalists.

What Prabhupada said is true. To make progress, you have to put both feet on one raft you can’t have one in one raft and one in the other raft. But putting both feet on the raft of spiritual progress will lead to eternal happiness. Putting both feet on the boat of material advancement will just take you to hell faster. You will progress, but you are progressing towards hell and if you have one foot on each you are not making any progress you are just staying where you are. You want get both feet on the raft of Krishna consciousness and you go back to Godhead. But you don’t really need to understand everything; you don’t necessarily have to understand everything. If you have faith you can make progress and as you make progress, you will understand more. It is really a matter of faith but if your faith is weak and you feel you have doubts; you need to understand more before you can go further. It is really not lack of knowledge; it is more lack of faith. Everything depends on faith. Krishna consciousness means the development of faith, that is what Krishna consciousness is. From sraddha to prema, it is just increase in faith. Prema is nothing different from sraddha but just more mature. What we really need is faith and that comes in the association of devotees who have faith. It is good that you are coming. Do you have karmi friends?

Devotee: I work, so there I have a lot of material people around me. And even if the activities they are very happy doing that. I even heard a class about devotees because they have realized they belong to Krishna they want to go back so they spend their lives trying very hard to go back and when they are on the other side only then they enjoy their spiritual life.

Giriraj Swami: Well it is really a matter of consciousness. It is not a pleasant situation but many devotees do work with materialistic people. But it is really a matter of consciousness. Alfred Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford, he became a devotee. He came with Srila Prabhupada to Bombay as a brahmachari, wearing saffron as a brahmachari. He was carrying Srila Prabhupada suitcases from the car. I said, “Who is that new brahmachari I have never seen him before?” “That is Alfred Ford.” So he stayed with us for a few weeks in Juhu and then when he was ready to leave he wanted to go over his life’s program with Srila Prabhupada, and at that time pretty much everyone who joined, who came to Krishna consciousness, engaged in full-time service in the temple. Hardly anyone, almost no one then, was a devotee and had a job. Everyone did full-time service in the temple. He became initiated as Ambarish dasa. So Srila Prabhupada told Ambarish dasa, that when he goes back to Detroit, he should work, because he wanted people in society to know that you can still have a responsible position in the material world and at the same time be a devotee of Krishna. So Ambarish Prabhu asked, “Do I have to work in the family business in the Ford Motor Company?” Prabhupada said, “No, you can do whatever work you like, but you should do some work. And then Ambarish said, “But what about association; what will I do for association when I work? And Srila Prabhupada said, “While you are working, if you think, ‘I am doing this for Krishna,’ that is your association.” But then, that has to be your purpose, and if that is your purpose, then of course. We always prefer the association of devotees, but even in the other association you feel you are there for a purpose. Sometimes I would go to Pakistan to preach, and I would have to wear a safari suit or something that was respectable there. But I was on a mission, I knew I was there for a purpose. So if you have the sense of mission, a sense of purpose, then that takes you beyond everything else. I will pray for you. Yes. Mataji, what is your name?

Devotee: (Unintelligible 00:53:55)

Giriraj Swami: Oh yes, okay.

Devotee: Maharaja, I wanted to know if, as a devotee, you have material desires. Should you abstain from indulging in material sense enjoyment altogether or should you just wait and serve the devotes and in time the desires will subside.

Giriraj Swami: Well yes, you should serve the devotees but as far as whether you should indulge in them, it would depend on what they are. It could depend on how harmless or harmful they are, but you should reduce, gradually reduce. It is like someone who is addicted to smoking cigarettes; okay smoke twenty a day, okay I will reduce one a day. But the real key is to be engaged in spiritual activities, it will keep you occupied and keep you happy.

Devotee: But what confuses me is that at times  you hear from the senior devotees that if you abstain from  desires if you have some reliance, you force yourself not to indulge into that. Maybe at that moment you will be able to suppress it but at some time in the future you will again get that urge. So, I was just wondering  to abstain or not.

Giriraj Swami: Well, it is the same point. It depends what it is, what the cost of it is. If you are talking about ice cream, I would say it is okay. If you are talking about a five hundred thousand dollar house that your husband is going to have to slave for day and night, I would give it a second thought. Yes?

Devotee: Does offensive chanting increase material desires?

Giriraj Swami: I think we need to be clear about what offensive chanting is.

Devotee: Inattentive chanting and harboring, not making an attempt to improve, just going through the motion of chanting and not making an attempt to give up material desires, not making a sincere attempt but holding on, chanting …

Giriraj Swami: But why are you chanting?

Devotee: Peer pressure.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, but why are you submitting yourself to this peer pressure?

Devotee: No, but my question is that… 

Giriraj Swami: No, I understand your question but I am trying to go deeper here. Why are you chanting?

Devotee: Because many years ago I was a brahmachari and I was wearing saffron robe, I had to chant, but I had all these material desires and then I gave up chanting, and then material desires came like storms and I read somewhere that if one chants inattentively. . . I may have misunderstood what I read.

Giriraj Swami: Sometimes it said like that but I think chanting helps. From what you said, your material desires became worse when you stop chanting. Chanting helps. There are different statements like that but Prabhupada’s mood, and I feel most comfortable with his presentation of Krishna consciousness, Prabhupada’s mood is, just keep chanting and eventually everything will come right. Yes Rohit?

Devotee: Maharaja, you said that Krishna likes it when a devotee preaches but how do you deal with obstacles when you are preaching?

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada said that the material world is so constituted that when we preach there will be opposition. It is just the way that the world is, and we have to tolerate it. That is also why the preacher is so dear to Krishna, because he does tolerate. He does face opposition. Prabhupada said big preaching means big enemies.

Devotee: (Unintelligible 00:59:58)  But it makes you dear to Krishna…so why Krishna doesn’t make it easier for us to get more devotees …

Giriraj Swami: Yes, but Prabhupada said that your service is to follow the order of Krishna, to please Krishna. Yes, Krishna was Arjuna’s friend. He was sitting on the same chariot with Arjuna, but Krishna never said, “Okay Arjuna I am your friend, now you relax and sit back and I will kill the enemy, and when it is all over I will wake you up.” Krishna said, “You fight.” So the same applies to preaching. The same applies to any service. We have to fight for Krishna and depend on Him but now that Krishna wants it. Krishna wants the fallen souls to come back home back to Godhead, so let Him bring them back to Godhead. And meanwhile we all eat and sleep. Yes.

Devotee: The harder I try to control the mind during chanting the more out of control it becomes. You were here four- six months ago during the japa workshop when you spoke about chanting with passion, chanting with feeling, things like that. I am sitting in one place, I can chant but my mind is just going all over the world and I try to bring it back, and then it goes again, I bring it back once again. Is that offensive chanting? I am repeating this, how can I control this how can I improve it?

Giriraj Swami: Well, there are two approaches. Of course getting into a battle with your mind is not a good approach. When we say bring the mind back, we mean gently bring it back. So if you come into a confrontation with your mind then it is like Kurukshetra war going on and you won’t win. So you gently bring it back. There is a verse I also thought of it in relation to the other question about indulging, and that says that the expert chariot driver will gradually rein in the horses. If he tries to pull in the horses too quickly, or too abruptly they will rear up and rebel. So he knows how much slack to allow and when to rein them in, so that they don’t rear up and rebel. So it is a delicate process, and the other way is to tolerate and pray. It is like we are just tolerating; keep chanting and praying, pray to the holy name for mercy, pray to Haridasa Thakura, pray to Srila Prabhupada, pray to your spiritual master. Do you have Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?

Devotee: Yes

Giriraj Swami: Eleventh Canto, Chapter Twenty. Okay, here is that verse that I mentioned. This is so relevant; it is actually two verses – Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Eleven Chapter Twenty – “Pure Devotional Service”

TEXTS 27–28.

jāta-śraddho mat-kathāsu
nirviṇṇaḥ sarva-karmasu
veda duḥkhātmakān kāmān
parityāge ‘py anīśvaraḥ

tato bhajeta māṁ prītaḥ
śraddhālur dṛḍha-niścayaḥ
juṣamāṇaś ca tān kāmān
duḥkhodarkāṁś ca garhayan

TRANSLATION

Having awakened faith in the narrations of My glories, being disgusted with all material activities, knowing that all sense gratification leads to misery, but still being unable to renounce all sense enjoyment, My devotee should remain happy and worship Me with great faith and conviction. Even though he is sometimes engaged in sense enjoyment, My devotee knows that all sense gratification leads to a miserable result, and he sincerely repents such activities.

PURPORT

The beginning stage of pure devotional service is described here by the Lord. A sincere devotee has practically seen that all material activities lead only to sense gratification and all sense gratification leads only to misery. Thus a devotee’s sincere desire is to engage twenty-four hours a day in the loving service of Lord Kṛṣṇa without any personal motivation. The devotee sincerely desires to be established in his constitutional position as the Lord’s eternal servitor, and he prays to the Lord to elevate him to this exalted position. The word anīśvara indicates that because of one’s past sinful activities and bad habits one may not immediately be able to completely extinguish the enjoying spirit. The Lord here encourages such a devotee not to be overly depressed or morose but to remain enthusiastic and to go on with his loving service. The word nirviṇṇa indicates that a sincere devotee, although somewhat entangled in the remnants of sense gratification, is completely disgusted with material life and under no circumstances willingly commits sinful activities. In fact, he avoids every kind of materialistic activity. The word kāmān basically refers to sex attraction and its by-products in the form of children, home and so forth. Within the material world, the sex impulse is so strong that even a sincere candidate in the loving service of the Lord may sometimes be disturbed by sex attraction or by lingering sentiments for wife and children. A pure devotee certainly feels spiritual affection for all living entities, including the so-called wife and children, but he knows that material bodily attraction leads to no good, for it simply entangles one and one’s so-called relatives in a miserable chain reaction of fruitive activities.

COMMENT

This is an important point because most of us here are householders and that is that, a devotee feel spiritual affection for all living entities that he wants to help all living entities in Krishna consciousness. So that sense of spiritual affection and spiritual care will extend to one’s family members. But if because of one’s past conditioning, past sinful activities, past bad habits, one engages them in sense gratification then he should sincerely regret his activities, because he knows that ultimately sense gratification will lead to a miserable result both for him and his family members. So that is the point here, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have spiritual affection for our family members, but we don’t engage them in material sense gratification.

PURPORT (continued)

The word dṛḍha-niścaya (“steadfast conviction”) indicates that in any circumstance a devotee is completely determined to go on with his prescribed duties for Kṛṣṇa. Thus he thinks, “By my previous shameful life my heart is polluted with many illusory attachments. Personally I have no power to stop them. Only Lord Kṛṣṇa within my heart can remove such inauspicious contamination. But whether the Lord removes such attachments immediately or lets me go on being afflicted by them, I will never give up my devotional service to Him. Even if the Lord places millions of obstacles in my path, and even if because of my offenses I go to hell, I will never for a moment stop serving Lord Kṛṣṇa. I am not interested in mental speculation and fruitive activities; even if Lord Brahmā personally comes before me offering such engagements, I will not be even slightly interested. Although I am attached to material things I can see very clearly that they lead to no good because they simply give me trouble and disturb my devotional service to the Lord. Therefore, I sincerely repent my foolish attachments to so many material things, and I am patiently awaiting Lord Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.”

COMMENT

You should read this; read it and reread it, because it really gives us the guidance how to deal with the uncontrolled mind and senses, the materially attached mind and senses.

PURPORT (continued)

The word prīta indicates that a devotee feels exactly like the son or subject of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is very attached to his relationship with the Lord.

COMMENT

It is really very touching and intimate and beautiful, even for a devotee who is struggling.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, although sincerely lamenting occasional lapses into sense enjoyment, he never gives up his enthusiasm to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa. If a devotee becomes too morose or discouraged in devotional service, he may drift into an impersonal consciousness or give up his devotional service to the Lord. Therefore, the Lord here advises that although one should sincerely repent, he should not become chronically depressed. One should understand that because of his past sins he must occasionally suffer disturbances from the material mind and senses, but one should not therefore become a devotee of detachment, as do the speculative philosophers. Although one may desire detachment to purify one’s devotional service to the Lord, if one becomes more concerned with renunciation than with acting for the pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he is misunderstanding the position of loving devotional service.

COMMENT

You follow? If one becomes too preoccupied that, “No, I am not going to do this, I am not going to do this, I am not going to do this,” then he is missing the point which is to enthusiastically engage in devotional service to Lord Krishna and becomes more concerned with negation like the impersonal philosophers than with devotional service.

PURPORT (continued)

Faith in Lord Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that in due course of time it will automatically award detachment and perfect knowledge. If one gives up Lord Kṛṣṇa as the central object of one’s worship and concentrates more on knowledge and detachment, one will become deviated from one’s progress in going back home, back to Godhead. A sincere devotee of the Lord must be sincerely convinced that simply by the strength of devotional service and the mercy of Lord Kṛṣṇa he will achieve everything auspicious in life. One must believe that Lord Kṛṣṇa is all-merciful and that He is the only real goal of one’s life. Such determined faith combined with a sincere desire to give up sense enjoyment will carry one past the obstacles of this world.

The words jāta-śraddhaḥ mat-kathāsu are most significant here. By faithful hearing of the mercy and glories of the Lord one will gradually be freed from all material desire and clearly see at every moment the utter frustration of sense gratification. Chanting the glories of the Lord with firm faith and conviction is a tremendously- powerful spiritual process that enables one to give up all material association.

There is actually nothing inauspicious in the devotional service of the Lord. Occasional difficulties experienced by a devotee are due to his previous material activities. On the other hand, the endeavor for sense gratification is completely inauspicious. Thus sense gratification and devotional service are directly opposed to each other. In all circumstances one should therefore remain the Lord’s sincere servant, always believing in His mercy. Then one will certainly go back home, back to Godhead.

Hare Krishna.

Yes? 

Devotee: What is the verse from Srimad Bhagavatam-the text?

Giriraj Swami: SB 11:20:27–28. Yes, Angelica.

Devotee: I have a question… I would like to know, should we arrange our life to take a more active part in arranging our lives to preach or should we allow Krishna to provide this opportunity? And then the other part of my question is, what if we also not qualified to preach.

Giriraj Swami: Well that is a good question. To preach you have to be able to speak in a proper way. So that is the first question. But that should be judged by others, because feeling unqualified even Rupa Gosvami felt that he was unqualified, but in spite of being unqualified or feeling unqualified, he offered himself as an instrument in the hands of the previous acharyas. So one should never feel qualified, but one should have the qualification of regularly chanting the holy name, following the regulative principles, and being able to repeat the message of Krishna. If one has that qualification, then one can preach. As far as making an effort, you should make an effort otherwise it is a little like, “Okay Krishna, you want the souls to go back to Godhead you bring them to me and I will speak to them.” But at the same time, to some extent, how much time and energy one has, does depend on one’s position in life, one’s responsibility, and one cannot neglect one’s duties as a mother, as a provider, so one does have to discharge those duties as well, in the spirit of Krishna consciousness. But beyond that, if one does have time and energy, one should look for an opportunity, like if you are at the temple someone comes, you can approach them. How much of an effort you make, will really depend on how much time and energy you can afford.

I know in San , Vaisesika Prabhu really mobilizes his congregation in book distribution. It is amazing what they do there, how he inspires them in spite of their other duties and responsibilities. It is very powerful. Yes.

Devotee: What if we don’t have the time and energy but the desire to preach is there?

Giriraj Swami: Rohit  can you answer that one? I answered the same question last night when you asked. How much time do you spend eating and sleeping? But it is good you have the desire. That is good that you have the desire and it may actually be that circumstantially you don’t have the time and energy. But you should keep that desire and pray for some mercy that you will be able to serve as you want, preach as you want. It can be like that.

Devotee: This might sound very stupid but when you pray, sometimes when are praying for something regarding about your devotional life …trying to advance in Krishna consciousness or trying to give up some anarthas or get rid of things and sometimes I get so desparate that I start to pray to Prabhupada and other acharyas is that okay?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, if you are desperate. You have to do whatever you can, but it really depends on the depth of sincerity. Vasudeva Datta told Lord Chaitanya that, “I am ready to take the sinful reactions of all the living entities in the whole universe on me. Let them all go back to Godhead and let me stay and suffer.” And when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard that, His body began to tremble, His eyes welled up with tears and He embraced Vasudeva Datta because that was a sincere prayer. I don’t come between husbands and wives but I gave a class once in Surat, and one lady said, “Let me suffer all the sinful reaction, let everyone go back to Godhead.” Her husband said, “How sincere is that prayer?” But I think that if you are really sincere about wanting to preach, Krishna will help. Prabhupada’s spiritual master asked him to preach but he felt, because of his circumstances, he was unable to preach immediately. But he said he always kept that instruction in his heart and he was waiting for the time when he could execute it. That is nice actually.

So, what is next on the program? Prasad? Oh yes, what is your name?

Devotee: Sri Lalita.  I never really understood how to surrender because sometimes human nature, sometimes qualities like anger and frustration are there even though we don’t want it to be and we might do things that we might regret later. And if we surrender to the Lord then we should not allow these things  (Unintelligible 01:29:21) we get so anxious at times that we get tempted to dictate the codes of life. So again, there I get lost, so I am so regretful sometimes that certain duties are prescribed to us by our culture and everything, we might go against it sometimes practically and I get lost because I think I have surrendered to Krishna and I am sincere but then if I was sincere, I wouldn’t have done what I had done. How can we overcome that?

Giriraj Swami: You say that you surrendered to Krishna.

Devotee: That is not true because we haven’t really because we…

Giriraj Swami: No but, I am not convinced that you haven’t surrendered to Krishna. The fact that you become angry in certain circumstances, to me, does not prove that you have not surrendered to Krishna. Surrender means that you, of course there are those six divisions, ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya varjanam, accept whatever is favorable, reject what is unfavorable. goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā, accept Krishna as your maintainer and protector, have no desires independent of Krishna, understanding that your desires can be fulfilled only by Krishna’s mercy, humility, and ātma-nikṣepa, self-surrender.

So those are the divisions but the basic understanding of surrender is that you accept Krishna as your superior and agreed to do whatever He says. There is a war, and one side is overwhelmed by the other side and they surrender, unconditional surrender. Whatever he tells us to do will do. So that is the first point; surrender now. Other questions like, what does Krishna want you to do, how do what Krishna wants you to do? That is the next point, but are we clear on surrender?

Devotee: Yes, thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: So do you accept the principle of surrender? To do whatever Krishna wants you to do.

Devotee: Yes, I want to be able to do whatever Krishna wants.

Giriraj Swami: All right, then how do what Krishna wants you to do? We have sadhu, shastra, and guru. They tell us what Krishna wants. The central point is shastra; sadhu lives according to sastra and he repeats the message of shastra, and guru the same. He lives according to shastra and teaches his disciples the knowledge of shastra, engages them in the service of Krishna according to shastra. So that is how you know. As far as not getting angry, it is not necessarily so that anger is against the mood of surrender. In the beginning, Arjuna refused to fight but Krishna wanted him to fight. And Srila Prabhupada said that in order to fight and kill you have to become angry. So Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā just to make Arjuna angry. So it depends on whether the anger is material or spiritual, whether the anger is based on frustration of sense gratification or whether it is based on some impediment to Krishna’s service. But even if there is some anger due to false ego, you tolerate it. Being surrendered is the beginning, it doesn’t mean you are perfect. But as we have been discussing, you tolerate and you continue and pray to Krishna for His mercy to help you.

The first sentence of this purport is, “This is the beginning stage of true devotional service.” This is pure devotional service. It is pure devotional service because the devotee will not engage in any other activity besides devotional service. He won’t engage in karma, jnana, yoga, tapasya, or anything other than devotional service, even though he is still troubled by occasional lapses into sense gratification. But this is considered the beginning of pure devotional service because he continues in devotional service no matter what. He will not give up his devotional service to Krishna for anything. So an occasional lapse into sense gratification, getting angry when you shouldn’t, you tolerate it, you pray to Krishna, you repent, you may beg for forgiveness from the person that you might have offended, and you go on in your devotional service. You don’t become too preoccupied with your occasional lapses into sense gratification, but you go on. That is surrender; not that you are perfect, but in spite of imperfections, in spite of obstacles, in spite of delays, you go on enthusiastically in a happy mood. Dr. Rishi?

Devotee: I heard an excerpt from class this morning, Radhanath Swami made, he says that to the degree that we are happy in Krishna consciousness, to that degree we make advancement. So I was wondering if following the discussion, we have had tonight, does that mean that we have to somehow find happiness in our unhappiness?

Giriraj Swami: How about finding happiness in Krishna’s happiness? There is some truth to what you said in this sense. I am not sure if that is what you meant, but in this sense the last verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam 

āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām
adarśanān marma-hatām-hatāṁ karotu vā
yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the mood of Radharani is praying, “Even if you handle me roughly by your embrace, or make me broken-hearted by not being present before me, still you are always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally.” The mood of Srimati Radharani is that, if my unhappiness, Bhaktivinoda Thakura says the same thing, if my unhappiness gives Krishna happiness, in other words, if Krishna, of course this isn’t a very high level of mādhurya-rasa, but if Krishna wants the company of some other woman, I will go to that other woman and beg her to go to Krishna. And if my unhappiness, in that sense of not being with Krishna gives Krishna happiness, then I will consider that unhappiness to be my greatest happiness.

This is actually a very high of expression of it, I think maybe in more of human terms, Srila Prabhupada said that he likes it most when he sees his disciples struggling; struggling to make advance and struggling to preach. So yes, in that sense. But although externally there is struggle, internally there is happiness because guru and Krishna are pleased. I found that many times in India, that sometimes when I was the most miserable externally, internally I was the most blissful. Once I had gone very far north in Calcutta and there was a very heavy rainstorm. And at least then, there was no sewage system in Calcutta in a lot of the parts, and in some places there was some system but not very adequate. So what was happening was, the roads were just filling up with water, just getting deeper and deeper and there were no taxis. It is like that; the taxi drivers, rickshaw drivers, they don’t bother too much. If it rains, they just pull down the shades and take rest. So I was way in north Calcutta and I was getting soaked in the rain. The water was getting higher and higher, there is no rickshaws, no taxis, but internally I was very blissful because the only reason I was there was to serve Srila Prabhupada. It was so obvious that I wouldn’t be there for any other reason.

There was another time, I forget where it was, some town somewhere. Late at night I had to send a telegram to Srila Prabhupada, I went to the to the telegraph office. It was really hot and humid. Furthermore, that office was filled with flies and furthermore, this very long line of people standing in queue to get to the window, furthermore it was very hard to figure out which form to use. There were so many different forms and then it was hard to get a pen that wrote. From every point of view, it was just really difficult. It was just so hot and humid and so late, but still hot and humid. But it was the same thing. I was feeling “why am I here?’ I am here to serve Srila Prabhupada, if it wasn’t to serve Srila Prabhupada I wouldn’t be here. It was very obvious that I wasn’t there for my sense gratification and that thought that I was there for Srila Prabhupada, I was on a mission for Srila Prabhupada, that gave me great bliss.

So sometimes it is like that. When these conditions are most uncomfortable externally, internally one can feel very blissful because it is just very clear that one is there for the service of one spiritual master. One is not there for any reason for sense gratification. Sometimes the experience might be miserable in the immediate sense, but then later you feel the reciprocation. I would find that often when I met Mayavadis, real staunch Mayavadis who, they would argue but they would never admit defeat. It would happen and I would not leave. I didn’t want them to think that we couldn’t answer their challenges, I wanted them to know that we had answers. But they were so stubborn they would never admit defeat, they would just keep arguing and in the end I would always feel bad because I had to hear so much nonsense. This arguing wasn’t pleasant for me and then also I spent so much time, I think I could have met some sincere soul or I could have gotten back a little earlier; kept my routine better, kept my schedule better. So I would end up feeling bad when I took rest but in the morning I would feel blissful. I would feel reciprocation from Krishna and Prabhupada that they were pleased that I had fought with the Mayavadis. Even though it was painful at the time, I would get the reciprocation later.

So they say, “No pain, no gain,” but the pain is only external. Internally one is happy because one knows that one is trying to please Krishna. So in that sense, what you said is true. I don’t know how you meant it, but it is true. Surrender, comes back to faith and surrender.