Japa Retreat—Level 02 Day 02—Sadhana and Sadhya in Bhakti

Giriraj Swami: Sadhana and sādhya of bhakti. Srila Prabhupada often said that in Krishna consciousness, the means and the end are the same on the absolute platform. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also says bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā, that, in a rough translation, bhakti comes from bhakti. So, what exactly is the distinction between sadhana, bhakti, and sādhya? The distinction is a matter of maturation, stage of maturation.

Now, Rupa Gosvami in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, as you know, he has a list of different items of devotional service, different categories of devotional service, and then he has explained his rationale for making the distinctions he did and the inclusions and exclusions. And he raised the question of bhāva-bhakti and prema-bhakti, which in general are considered sādhya. And he gave the answer that although both are the same and can be considered sādhya, but again, prema is a more condensed form of bhāva, and he felt that the distinction was significant enough to place it in a separate category. Now, having attended level one, or at least a japa weekend, you have probably heard about the central role of japa in bhakti. Of course, the same applies, we chant in sadhana, we chant in sādhya. As Srila Prabhupada said, chanting accomplishes chanting. But still, we should have in mind the goal when we chant. And in fact, the chanting is a touchstone, nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś, it can fulfill all desires. So, we should be clear about what our desire is, what our goal is, so that the chanting will bring us to the goal we want. There is a story that a yogi, or someone, was sitting under a desire tree. Desire trees are similar to touchstones; they can fulfill all desires. And without much consideration, he happened to think of a tiger, and immediately, a tiger came in and ate him. [laughter] So, we have to be careful about what we desire when we chant because the holy name may just fulfill our desire. [laughter] And so, we want to be clear about what our best interest is, what desire, if fulfilled, will bring us the greatest benefit, the greatest happiness, the greatest satisfaction. And, my dear devotees, what would that be?

Devotee: Service.

Giriraj Swami: Service.

Devotee: Eternal service.

Giriraj Swami: Eternal service to? [laughter]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:05:15]

Giriraj Swami: Whoa, Bada Haridas. [laughter]

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:05:24] [laughter]

Giriraj Swami: So, I share that aspiration with you, develop pure love for Radha and Krishna. So, the holy name is such that, depending on your desire, you can chant the holy name and stay in the material world, you can chant the holy name and end up in the brahmajyoti, you can chant the holy name and end up in Vaikuntha or Ayodhya or Dvaraka or Vrindavan. The holy name has that power. I will read Srila Rupa Gosvami’s definition of sādhana-bhakti because it is very significant, as all of his words are.

TEXT 105

kṛti-sādhyā bhavet sādhya-

bhāvā sā sādhanābhidhā

nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya

prākaṭyaṁ hṛdi sādhyatā

TRANSLATION

“‘When transcendental devotional service, by which love for Kṛṣṇa is attained, is executed by the senses, it is called sādhana-bhakti, or the regulative discharge of devotional service. Such devotion eternally exists within the heart of every living entity. The awakening of this eternal devotion is the potentiality of devotional service in practice.’”

COMMENT

So, every definition has two elements. Anyway, that is a bit technical, but part of this definition is that sādhana-bhakti are the practices, by which bhāva-bhakti is attained. In other words, if we are engaged in something that may pass as sādhana-bhakti, but if we don’t actually develop ecstatic love of Godhead, it is not really sādhana-bhakti. Or it may be some sort of attempt at sādhana-bhakti, but it is not being executed properly. And Srila Rupa Gosvami, at the end of the list of sixty-four items of devotional service, he mentions five, and he says that even a slight association with any one of these five can very quickly bring one to bhāva-bhakti. But we associate with them day after day, year after year. So, what is the problem?

So, the acharyas who have commented on Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Jiva Gosvami and Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, they say. . . And again, there is a phrase of Rupa Gosvami’s that they use to explain their conclusion, but their conclusion is that it is true if one engages in these activities without committing offenses. Rupa Gosvami uses some phrase like ‘open-hearted,’ and they say what that really means is that even a slight association with any one of the five processes will very quickly bring one to the stage of bhāva-bhakti, will very quickly awaken ecstatic love of God, if one does so without committing offenses. And that is our focus here, the most important sadhana of chanting the holy name, to do it without committing offenses, or shall we say, to make the effort to avoid committing offenses, which brings us to the clearing stage. And when the offenses are cleared, the anarthas are cleared, then we just progress more and more, and we will come to the goal. And there is another point here, nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya. This principle is also explained in Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

TEXT 107

nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa-prema ‘sādhya’ kabhu naya

śravaṇādi-śuddha-citte karaye udaya

TRANSLATION

“Pure love for Kṛṣṇa is eternally established in the hearts of the living entities. It is not something to be gained from another source. When the heart is purified by hearing and chanting, this love naturally awakens.”

COMMENT

So, becoming a little more specific, we all have an eternal relationship with Krishna in one of His forms, and that love for that particular form of Krishna is already there within the heart, it doesn’t come from any other source, it is already there. And by offenseless chanting, that pure love is awakened, that eternal relationship is revealed. So, we should have that in mind, that we are chanting the holy name of Krishna, the holy name of Krishna is Krishna. Hare is a way of addressing Radharani, we are praying to Radha and Krishna to engage us in Their service. And, I believe, the day after tomorrow will be learning. . . Prabhupada said that when we chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we are praying, “Oh Radharani, Oh Krishna, please engage me in Your service.” And some of the acharyas have elaborated on that basic prayer for each of the sixteen names in the maha-mantra, like of the prayer of Radharani, Krishna. So, yes.

Now, a very important point in this development of attraction for Krishna, or longing for Krishna, is hearing about Krishna from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that is another one of the five most potent items. And because we all have the problem that we don’t. . . Well, to different degrees, but we don’t really have the sense that Krishna is a person because we are so conditioned, and we think of Krishna as a concept, or an idea, or something, but that He is a person, that He has feelings, that He has desires. It is a little hard because we are conditioned and our relationship with Him hasn’t developed so much, but by hearing about Krishna, we get the sense that He is a person, and not just any old person. He is not old at all, He is eternally youthful, but a very beautiful, wonderful, merciful person.

During the kirtan, I just happened to think of something that Srila Prabhupada had said that I heard when I was in Gorakhpur. Srila Prabhupada had said that if you read the Kṛṣṇa book, then whatever you see will remind you of Krishna. So, in Gorakhpur, we were staying at a big estate that belonged to Hanuman Prasad Poddar. It had been his personal residence, Sri Krishna Niketan, the founder of the Gita Press. And for a few days, it really was just like that. I read the Kṛṣṇa book, and everything, of course, it was like a palace, it was easy to think of Nanda Bhavan, and there were agricultural fields, and then there was a lot of trees so it was easy to think of Vrindavan. But in Krishna’s pastimes, within that culture we would use these terms, there are sudra, there are vaishyas, there are kshatriyas, there are brahmans. And everyone around generally would fall in one of those categories. Even in the West, they might have not used that terminology or be conscious of the distinctions, but these are natural distinctions. And so, this person can remind us, someone in kṛṣṇa-līlā.

So, our specific goal here is to think of Krishna when we are chanting. Our focus is on hearing, but if our mind is filled with kṛṣṇa-līlā, which includes the name, the form, the qualities, and the pastimes with the associates, then it is very possible, even likely, that when we chant, these thoughts will come to mind. And thinking of Krishna as beautiful as He is and merciful as He is and wonderful as He is, we may get that sense that, “I wish I could be with Krishna, tending the cows.” And when Prabhupada would talk about Krishna, we would also feel that way. Of course, we wanted to be with Prabhupada, but Prabhupada, we knew, was with Krishna, so we wanted to be with Prabhupada with Krishna. And of course, he put it in such a way that it was easy for us to relate to. He said, “I want to go to Krishna for the kachoris.” Well, I think that is something any of us could appreciate as a pleasing situation, to be eating kachoris with Krishna. So it happens, it happens, by reading the Kṛṣṇa book, or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, or any of those books in pursuance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that one has that sense, “I would like to serve Krishna, I would like to serve Krishna personally.” Always servant of the servant of the servant, not. . . But yes, “I would like to serve Krishna eternally.” And devotees have commented; in New Vrindavan, they commented on the idea that if we read Krishna’s pastimes at night. Srila Prabhupada instituted the program, the devotees would read the Kṛṣṇa book, have hot milk and read the Kṛṣṇa book at night before taking rest. Then, in the morning, when we chant our japa, the thoughts of Krishna’s pastimes from the Kṛṣṇa book will come into our minds, and that will, bring us to that mood of longing to be with Krishna and serve Krishna.

I recently asked someone what he was reading, a very good devotee, and he said, well, he is not so good at reading, but he had gotten a lot out of Sivarama Swami’s book Kṛṣṇa-saṅgati, because in Kṛṣṇa-saṅgati, you really get a sense that Krishna is a person. It is all based on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other Puranas and scriptures, you really get the sense that Krishna is a person. It reads almost like a novel. Krishna has left Vrindavan and He is in Mathura, gopas and gopīs are suffering in separation, but Krishna is also thinking about them, He is also feeling separation from them. The way the book draws out the issues, He also is confronted by the duality between love and duty. His real love is for the residents of Vrindavan, but His duty has brought Him to Mathura. And this dynamic, this tension, this pull between love and duty is a constant theme of the book, and Krishna Himself deals with it.

So, it is one example, but I also felt the same way reading the book, that you really feel Krishna is a person that you can love, and who will reciprocate your love. And so, the two go together, reading Kṛṣṇa book, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or similar books, developing attraction for Krishna as a person, developing the sense that one can have a real relationship with Him, and chanting. And chanting in that mood while trying to give up offenses, will bring us to the sādhya, to bhāva-bhakti. And bhāva-bhakti is beyond sadhana, bhāva-bhakti just takes its own course, once you are in bhāva-bhakti, it just takes its own course and it will naturally mature and ripen and bring one to prema-bhakti.

So, these are the statements of the scripture and our previous acharyas. We have faith in their statements, and the more we try to implement what they have directed properly while making the effort to give up offenses, we will experience the things that they are talking about, and will have confidence, “Yes, if I just continue with the process, then the result is guaranteed I will reach the goal by their grace.”

Hare Krishna.