Japa Retreat—03 Japa Is the Essence of Bhakti—Level 01—Day 02

Giriraj Swami: When one chants properly, one will naturally feel compassion, one will be relieved of one’s false position in the material world as the enjoyer and proprietor and controller, and even so-called best friend. And when one actually begins to revive his relationship with Krishna and feels that reciprocation, he can appreciate the difference between that life, which is real life, and that love, which is real love, from the artificial endeavor to exist in the material world and enjoy in the material world. And then, one naturally wants to help others, and that can take different forms, according to what your service is or what your mission is meant to be. But a lot of what influences a person to take to Krishna consciousness is what they see in the lives of the devotees. They may appreciate the philosophy, but they will look at the devotees, and they will see what is the result of Krishna consciousness, of the endeavor to become Krishna conscious. And if they see that the devotees are exemplary in their own lives and happy, then they will be more inclined to take up the process.

And most people want to be happy in the material world, catur-vidhā bhajante māṁ, different categories of people come to Krishna, and very few come because they are seeking the absolute truth. Many, they are in distress, they want relief, they are in some material need. So, they want to be happy, they want to be happy in their marriages, they want to be happy in their family lives, they want to be happy. So, if they see devotees are happy, that the marriages are successful, the relationships between the parents and children are congenial, and that everyone can be happy together in Krishna consciousness, the parents, the children, the grandparents, something everyone can do together and be happy, then they will get encouraged. So, making the devotee community strong, helping the devotee community to be better situated in Krishna consciousness is also part of preaching, we teach by example.

It is true, in the old days, we really did have the spirit of going out and preaching to new people, bringing new people to Krishna. Guru dasa Prabhu told the story, that after being in Vrindavan sometime for the Krishna-Balarama temple, some devotee suggested he take a bus out, like a traveling party, and preach and distribute books. But at the same time, he really liked Vrindavan, he also wanted to stay in Vrindavan, and he couldn’t decide between these two. And finally, he approached Srila Prabhupada, and he said, “I am being torn because I want to preach, but at the same time, I also want to stay in Vrindavan, and I don’t know how to reconcile the two, I don’t know which to choose.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “What about staying in Vrindavan and preaching to the devotees? Devotees also need to be nourished.” But we do need to do both. And again, depending on our particular service, our particular mission, someone might preach or minister to existing devotees, or someone might preach or minister to new people more, but we do need to do both. And bringing new people to Krishna pleases Krishna, we get more mercy from Krishna. And when new people come, we also get encouraged to be better examples. We all know when we have a program at home, then we really clean the house very nicely and do things better than we do just for ourselves. So, having new people come does encourage us. It is hard to preach to new people because they are so covered, but if we just make the effort, Krishna is pleased.

Indradyumna Swami told this story in San Diego, we were both there together a few Sundays ago. He used to like to surf, he was a California boy. And one year, he went to Mexico where they have these, I think he said, a mile-long wave, something extraordinary. In San Diego you do get surfers in the audience, so I think he was conscious of that. So, he went way out to catch that wave, and as he was riding the wave in toward the shore, he saw a lot of people on the shore, frantically waving and shouting and crying, and it was a terrible scene. And what had happened is a twelve-year-old girl had been carried away against the current that takes you out. Is that riptide, what is riptide? She was carried away by riptide. And he looked, and he saw there was a body in the water, and he had been trained as a lifeguard, so he went and got the body, and her face was down and she was blue, but you could see she was still alive. And so, he carried her in to shore, and I am sure he gave her artificial resuscitation. But actually, she had left her body between the time he got her, and the time he got to the shore, she left her body. But he didn’t have the heart to tell the friends and the family, he continued going through the motions of giving her the artificial resuscitation. And then they called the medics and the medics came, they pronounced her dead. But he was making the point that he made the effort. Not always successful, but he made the effort. And the people appreciated it.

So, in the same way, we have to make the effort to preach. We may not always be successful in convincing someone, but we have to make the effort. And Srila Prabhupada made the same point in a talk in Mayapur about Jatayu, the bird devotee. That when Rāvaṇa came to kidnap Sita, Jatayu challenged him, but because Rāvaṇa was so powerful materially and also Jatayu was old, Rāvaṇa defeated him, and he still absconded with Sita. But when Lord Ramacandra came and saw Jatayu, he saw that, “This devotee gave his life for my service.” It wasn’t a question, from the external point of view, if he was successful or not. What Ramachandra saw was that, “He gave his life for my service.” And so, he accepted Jatayu as his dear most devotee. But first, he performed the funeral service just like the son performs for the father. And Prabhupada told that story in relation to preaching, that we may not be successful in every case because the materialistic mentality is very powerful now, but if we make the effort, Krishna will be pleased.

So actually, all of these processes are reinforced. Attentive chanting will make us internally, more established in Krishna consciousness, and it will make us more compassionate, more eager to help others. And another thing about humility is that in the humble mood, the devotees feels, “I have this perfect knowledge, I have this perfect process, but I am so unfortunate, I am not taking proper advantage of it. But here is some new person, he is probably more sincere than I am, so if I give him this knowledge and process, he or she may actually prosecute it properly, and that will please Krishna.” So, it is an important one. Anyone else like to add anything?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:14:05]

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we have ten minutes.

Devotee: You were talking about Krishna accepting us devotees as we are.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: In that point, a question came up in relation to the tenth offense of the holy name, when we, despite of hearing so many instructions about [Unintelligible 00:14:46], ignore and we don’t work on it. How is that relating?

Giriraj Swami: Very good question. The tenth offense is translated to not have complete faith in the holy name, to maintain material attachments. To not have complete faith in the holy name and to maintain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions on the matter. So, if we have faith in Krishna, in the holy name, we won’t hold on to material attachments because we will know that our heart’s deepest desires can be fulfilled by Krishna, by the holy name. And if we don’t have complete faith in the holy name, or in Krishna, then we will think, “I need to hold on to these material things in order to be happy.”

Now, it is not an offense to have material attachments, we come with material attachments. It is an offense to maintain them. It is an anartha to have material attachments, but it is not an offense to have them. But it is an offense to maintain them. So, if we don’t hold on to them, and if we chant with the effort to hear and not commit any other offense, then that will clear the anarthas, anartha-nivṛtti. That will clear the material attachments. But that is also a subtle point, because sometimes, from the facial expressions, I can see that devotees might be worried about the idea that they can’t maintain material attachments because they think that they might have to give up something that they are not ready to give up. But we don’t necessarily have to give up the thing, but we just have to change the consciousness in relation to the thing. Say husband and wife. Okay, well, that could be a material attachment. But the relationship between the husband and wife isn’t necessarily material. There might be a material element to it, but it can also be spiritual, and as we progress, it can become more and more spiritual and less and less material. So, it is not a question of giving up the relationship with the husband or wife, but it is a matter of purifying it, same with parents and children, children and parents. If the center of the relationship is Krishna, genuinely, then the relationship is spiritual, and then it is not a material attachment. There might be an element of it, but in essence, it is not a material attachment. The same applies to anything. Our house, we shouldn’t be attached to the house for sense gratification, but if we see the house as Krishna’s, and that it is meant for serving Krishna, then. . . So, everything.

Mānasa deho geho jo kichu mor arpiluṅ tuwā pade nanda-kiśor. Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, mānasa – my mind, deho – my body, geho – my house, household paraphilia, family, jo kichu mor – whatever little I have, I surrender to the lotus feet of Nanda-Kishore. It doesn’t mean that he abandons them, but he surrenders them to Krishna, and engages them in relation to Krishna. Then those attachments aren’t necessarily impediments. There are also different phases of life, brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi. So, different conditions are required in different statuses of life, but the essential point is to focus our energy and our relationship with Krishna, service to Krishna.