BG 4.8 – Activity in Liberation

Giriraj Swami: So, we shall read one verse from the Bhagavad-gītā and discuss it. The Bhagavad-gītā, of course, was spoken by Bhagavān, by Sri Krishna to Arjuna. And in the Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna presents the most important knowledge for human beings about who they are, who God is, and what the purpose of life is, and how to achieve that goal. So, we will read one verse that has special relevance because in two days, on Saturday, we shall be celebrating Gaura-purnima which is the day of the appearance or advent of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna, but He came in a different form. He came in the guise of a devotee of Krishna to show us how to worship Krishna. Of course, Krishna Himself came five thousand years ago and spoke the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna, and at the end of the Gītā, He instructed man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru. man-manā means to always think of Krishna, to engage the mind in thinking of Krishna. mad-bhakto means become My devotee. mad-yājī means to worship Krishna. And namaskuru means to offer homage to Krishna. So, that was the Lord’s instruction, personal instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. But, still people did not understand properly how to think of Krishna, how to become His devotee, how to worship Him, how to offer homage to Him. And so, Krishna came again in the form of a devotee, as Sri Krishna Chaitanya, to show us by His own example how to be devotees, how to always think of Krishna, and worship Him, and serve Him. 

Now, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is mentioned in the revealed scriptures in the Vedic literature. Not openly, like Krishna and Rama and Nṛsiṁha Bhagavān, but He is described as a channa avatar. Channa avatar means an avatar that is hidden or concealed. Because we are in Kali-yuga, and the tendency in Kali-yuga is that people are very materialistic. You can see it—this young boy seems to be nodding his head in agreement. Yes, we can see it. It is everywhere—people are materialistic—they have no interest in spiritual life. And if by chance, a few are a little interested in spiritual life, they usually come into the influence, come under the influence of someone whom we would have to say is a cheater. So, it is very difficult to make spiritual progress in Kali-yuga. Becuase mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā upadrutāḥ—people are in Kali-yuga. In general, people are lazy, they are slow to understand spiritual topics, they are quarrelsome. The word Kali itself means quarrel. People are quarrelling over small things, and not so small things. Kali is everywhere—there is quarrel between husband and wife, between brother and brother, between parents and children, between. . . there is just quarrel everywhere. 

And it is the age of hypocrisy. People show themselves to be one thing, but actually they are something else. People’s memories are short. Previously the disciple would hear the knowledge from the guru once, and he would remember it. Sruti—sruti means that which is heard, and then smriti means that which is remembered, but now people cannot remember. Now, we have to have books, and even with books, people forget. If I asked you what you were doing exactly twenty-four hours ago, you will really have to struggle to remember. So, these are all symptoms of the age of Kali. Things were not always like this. In fact, when the sages heard the description of what would come in Kali-yuga, they were shocked that regularly people will engage in sinful activities and have no interest in spiritual life. So, Kali-yuga is a very difficult age and from the spiritual point of view, a very dark age. And therefore, the Lord Himself came again in a very special form as a devotee to show us how we can worship Him and serve Him and develop our love for Him in Kali-yuga. And that form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in Mayapur, in Bengal on the full moon night of the Falgun month, and that is coming in two days. So I will read one verse. Please repeat after me: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad Bhagavad-Gītā As It Is, Chapter Four,

TEXT 8

paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām
dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya
sambhavāmi yuge yuge

TRANSLATION

To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

PURPORT

According to Bhagavad-gītā, a sādhu (holy man) is a man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A person may appear to be irreligious, but if he has the qualifications of Kṛṣṇa consciousness wholly and fully, he is to be understood to be a sādhu.

COMMENT

So, sadhu means a devotee of Krishna, a bhakta.

PURPORT (continued)

And duṣkṛtām applies to those who do not care for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Such miscreants, or duṣkṛtām, are described as foolish and the lowest of mankind, even though they may be decorated with mundane education, whereas a person who is one hundred percent engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is accepted as a sādhu, even though such a person may be neither learned nor well cultured. As far as the atheistic are concerned, it is not necessary for the Supreme Lord to appear as He is to destroy them, as He did with the demons Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. The Lord has many agents who are quite competent to vanquish demons. But the Lord especially descends to appease His unalloyed devotees, who are always harassed by the demoniac. The demon harasses the devotee, even though the latter may happen to be his kin. Although Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was nonetheless persecuted by his father; although Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, was the sister of Kaṁsa, she and her husband Vasudeva were persecuted only because Kṛṣṇa was to be born of them. So Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared primarily to deliver Devakī rather than kill Kaṁsa, but both were performed simultaneously. Therefore it is said here that to deliver the devotee and vanquish the demon miscreants, the Lord appears in different incarnations.

COMMENT

So is everyone able to follow the English? Do you want Hindi translation? 

Devotee: I think mostly they know English. 

Giriraj Swami: Okay, all right. And what about those who don’t fully follow? Just. . .

Devotee: Then, you can advise us.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, well may be every so often, I will give a summary in English, and Ravi can translate in Hindi. I will be listening. So, in this important verse of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says that He appears for two reasons: to deliver the sadhus or devotees, and to annihilate the duṣkṛtā, the wrongdoers. So, but to kill the demons, Krishna does not have to come personally because Krishna has many agents who can kill them. One such agent is the material nature or personified as Durga devi. I will just speak in English, and the. . . Yes. . . And you can always ask questions later. And we have the recording. Yes okay, all right. So Durga devi is always depicted holding a trident or a trishul, and she pierces the demons with her trishul, and the three prongs of the trishul represent the three types of miseries of material existence. One is called adhyātmika—those are miseries caused by our own mind and bodies. There are always so many pains in the body and in the mind. Then, there is ādibhautika—miseries caused by other living entities. Someone may insult us, someone may cheat us, someone may attack us. They are even bed bugs and insects, mosquitoes, so many living entities—lions, tigers, alligators—they also cause us harm. And then, there is ādidaivika – miseries caused by daiva, by events beyond our control, such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, famines, earthquakes, tsunamis. We are always being afflicted by different types of miseries. And we are being killed by material nature. With one tsunami, so many are killed. With one earthquake, so many are killed. One hurricane, so many are killed. With one bomb, so many are killed. Krishna doesn’t have to come to kill the demons, especially in Kali-yuga. The demons are killing each other. Krishna doesn’t have to come and kill them. They are always making wars and killing each other. 

So, although Krishna says vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, the main reason He comes, or the real reason He comes is paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ to deliver the devotees, to please the devotees. So, the real reason He came was to please Vasudeva and Devaki, but simultaneously He killed Kamsa. The real reason he appeared as Hiranyakasipu was to give pleasure to Prahlada, but at the same time, He also killed Hiranyakasipu. So that is a basic description. 

There was once a Muslim emperor of India named Akbar who was very open to Hinduism. He was quite a well-educated and cultured person, and in his court, he had a minister named Birbal who was very intelligent. So, Emperor Akbar—he was studying the Bhagavad-gītā. And he came to the same verse that we are discussing tonight. And he asked the question, “Why does Krishna have to come personally to deliver His devotees? Why can’t He have people deliver His devotees on His behalf?” So, Birbal said, “Wait some days, and you will get your answer.” So, Akbar had one young son, maybe five years old. Do you have a question? 

Devotee child: Yes, [Unintelligible 00:28:24] puja in the morning and everybody sleeps and puja at night, everybody sleeps. 

Giriraj Swami: Yes, we need some. . . Yes okay, we will discuss, and maybe after tonight’s pravachana, they won’t sleep when he is doing puja. Maybe, they will get up and join him for puja. We will try our best, we will try our best. So how old are you?

Devotee child: Six. 

Giriraj Swami: Six. Ok. 

Devotee: You can keep him for next five years. I am tired of him. 

Giriraj Swami: Okay, maybe, we will take him with us. He has a good spirit—just needs a little discipline. So, anyway, maybe the baby was, say, three years old, and this. . . In those days, they didn’t have showers like we have. So, they would they would keep the. . . they would pour water. And in the case of a baby, so they took the baby on a beautiful pedestal because he was the king’s son, the emperor’s son, and they were bathing him over one of the royal tanks, and Emperor Akbar was there by the pool, and they dropped the baby in the tank of water. And immediately Emperor Akbar jumped down from his throne and rushed to the tank and picked up the baby. Then, Akbar asked him, “Why did you come personally?” To, I mean, Birbal. . . yes. Birbal said, “Why did you come personally to save your son? Why didn’t you send one of your ministers or secretaries?” So he said, “Out of love. I love my son, so I just wanted to make sure he was safe.” So Birbal replied, “Yes, in the same way Krishna loves His devotees, so He personally comes.” So this is paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ. 

Now, we come to sambhavāmi yuge yuge. Sambhavāmi means He manifests Himself; He is not born like an ordinary child, but He manifests Himself. He actually descends. He exists in the spiritual world and the Vaikuntha planets, and He descends into the material world paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya—have to re-establish the principles of religion and that also we will discuss.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, the following verses (Madhya 20.263–264) summarize these principles of incarnation:

sṛṣṭi-hetu yei mūrti prapañce avatare
sei īśvara-mūrti ‘avatāra’ nāma dhare

māyātīta paravyome sabāra avasthāna
viśve avatari’ dhare ‘avatāra’ nāma

“The avatāra, or incarnation of Godhead, descends from the kingdom of God for material manifestation. And the particular form of the Personality of Godhead who so descends is called an incarnation, or avatāra. Such incarnations are situated in the spiritual world, the kingdom of God. When they descend to the material creation, they assume the name avatāra.”

COMMENT

Avatāra literally means one who descends. The Personality of Godhead in different forms exists eternally in the spiritual world, and on occasion, He descends into the material world, so that everyone can see Him, and that is called avatāra. It is not that is. . . It is discussed two verses before this. It is not that God is impersonal, and some impersonal light comes in the form of Krishna or Rama or Nṛsiṁha, but Krishna and Rama and Nṛsiṁha exist eternally. That means They have no beginning and no end. The popular misconception, impersonal misconception is that God ultimately is impersonal. And in this, say, conception, defective conception, the goal of life is not to be reinstated in our constitutional positions as servants of God, but in this conception, the goal of life is to merge and become one with that impersonal spiritual light, and give up our individual personality. And this is a very. . . It is a very great misconception which actually erodes or attacks the basic principle of bhakti, the basic philosophy of the Bhagavad-gītā. And it is also not logical; it is not reasonable. 

According to the impersonal theory, we have individuality as long as we are in a physical body, but when we are liberated from the cycle of birth and death, then we merge and become one with brahman. Now, this is not. . . Let us consider this carefully. The body, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā in the Second Chapter, the body is just a machine; it is a yantra. It is like a car, a motor vehicle, a car. It is a machine. The car works as long as there is a driver. A child might see the car or see an airplane and think that the car is alive, the car is moving on its own, or the airplane is moving on its own. He doesn’t know that inside the machine is a person who is driving the machine. So, this body is a machine, and the person who is driving the machine is the jīvātmā, the individual soul. As soon as the soul leaves the body, we say the body is dead. But actually, in one sense, the body is always dead because it is a machine. It only seemed to have life because the soul, the ātmā. The jīvātmā was in it. 

So, the idea that individuality and activity are caused by the body is not accurate because when the soul leaves the body, there is no personality, there is no individuality, there is no activity, nothing. So, the source of the individuality, personality, activity, thinking, feeling, desiring, everything, it is the soul. So, if the soul is active in conditioned life, why should it not be active in liberated life? It is just like a prisoner. He is in prison; he is in bondage, but he is an individual. He has activities, but his freedom is limited because he is in prison. When he is released from prison, he is still an individual; he is still a person; he still has activities; he still thinks and feels and desires and acts, but he is free. So we are active in the conditioned state. Why should we imagine that we would be inactive in the liberated state? 

The source of the activity is not the body. The body is just a dead lump of matter. It is just a machine. It is just a construction of flesh and blood and bones and different chemicals and structures, but it has no ability to think or feel or desire or to act. It has no consciousness. The consciousness and everything else associated with life is due to the presence of the soul. That means the soul is conscious. It is the soul that thinks and feels and desires and perceives things and acts, not the body. Just like I am looking through these eyeglasses. The eyeglasses are not seeing; I am seeing through the eyeglasses. So, in the conditioned state, we may see through the eyes, smell through the nostrils, hear through the ears, taste through the tongue, feel through the skin. But, the eyes are not seeing, the nose is not smelling, the ears are not hearing, the tongue is not tasting, the skin is not feeling. Because when the soul leaves the body, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the skin, it is all there, but there is no perception—there is no pain or pleasure. If there is a little prick in my finger, I feel so much pain. But, after the soul leaves the body, you can cut off the whole hand. There will be no sensation of pain because the soul is gone. So it is not that the body is sensing. It is the soul through the body, just like I am seeing through the spectacles. So, it is the living entity, the jiva, that is alive, that is a person, that individual that is active, that sees, hears, smells, feels, desires, thinks—it is the soul. 

And those properties of the soul, those inherent characteristics of the soul continue whether one is conditioned or liberated. In fact, the soul realizes its full potential when it is liberated. It is like a person in prison he can do some things, but his freedom is limited. But, when he is released from prison, then he can exhibit a wider range of activities. So, in conditioned life, we are limited; we are very limited by these bodies. But, when we are liberated, there is still thinking, feeling, willing, activity, everything, but without this limitation. So, this is the. . . So therefore, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the definition of mukti. Mukti means liberation—that is our goal. We want mukti from this samsara chakra. So, it says Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. Mukti means giving up anyathā rūpaṁ—that means identifying with these different forms. Just like we have different bodies, so we identify, I am a man, I am a woman, I am an American, I am an Indian, I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim. We identify with the body, and when the soul leaves the body, there is no guarantee that it will get another human body. It can go down or up. We can get the body of the demigod, or we can get the body of a dog or cat or tree. There is no guarantee. It depends on our thoughts at the time of death. And our thoughts at the time of death really depend on what we think of during our lifetime, and to what we are attached during our lifetime.

There is a story in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—story means historical narration—of a great King Bharat who somehow became attached to a deer. He had been the King of India. This Bharat-varsha is named after him, the great king. He renounced everything, his wife, children, kingdom, everything and was living as a devotee in the forest. But, while he was living in the forest, a mother deer that attempted. . . The mother deer was pregnant, and she attempted to jump over a river, just near where Bharat Maharaja had his little ashram. And in the course of that, the baby came out from the womb, and the mother fell and was carried away by the rushing water of the river. So, Bharat saw this new-born infant deer and adopted it and began to feed it and take care of it like a mother. And somehow he became attached to that deer. Even when he was doing his sadhana, his chanting and puja, and his japa, he was thinking of the deer. And at the time of death, he thought of the deer. And so, in his next life, he took birth as a deer. 

Now, he was a great devotee. So, he was given a special facility that although he took birth as a deer, he was given the special facility that he could remember his past life. In every case, generally, we can’t remember our past life. We don’t know what we were in our past life. But, he was given that because he was so advanced, he was actually advanced. It was just by chance, you can say, that he got attached to the deer. So, he remembered that in his past life, he was King Bharat. He gave up everything for God, and then in the forest, he became attached to the deer, and his attachment for the deer overpowered his consciousness, and he thought of the deer at the time of death, and so he took birth as a deer. So, whatever is our main attachment leading up to the time of death, that will probably be what we think of at the time of death, and that will determine our next life. 

I had a Guru Bhai (god-brother) who was driving a car, and the car stalled on the railway tracks. So of course, he was trying to get this car started. And in the meantime, he looked out the window, and he saw that a train was coming. But still he thought, let me just get it going, I will cross and I will be safe. So he is fiddling, trying to get the car to work. And then, he looks again, he sees the train is just about to hit the car. So, he begins to chant very loudly Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. And while he was chanting, the train hit the car, and in a split second as the train hit the car, he thought, What will happen to my wife now? And then that was it. Fortunately, he lived to tell the story. He wasn’t killed, but he was chanting but the mind is such that at that critical moment, he just had that thought, What will happen to my wife? And that was his last thought. 

So, we have to practice thinking of Krishna, God, Krishna. We have to really become more attached to Him than the things of the world. Most people who are God conscious, they are very interested in their material lives, but with God. Most people are religious out of fear. There is that phrase God-fearing; they are afraid that if they engage in sinful activities, they will be punished which is true. But so, they engage in religious activities and avoid sinful activities so that they will not be punished, not because they actually want mukti. Then, the next category thinks if they engage in pious activities and religious activities, they will get some reward, and that is also true. Okay, if one performs a puṇya, if one performs pious activities, the result will be material enjoyment in this life or in the next life, when we will be born in a high family, one may even take birth on a higher planet, on a heavenly planet—that is also there. But the basic idea is still the same—to enjoy in the body, in the world. Very few people are in really interested in mukti or moksha. 

But, if we are intelligent, we will think, How do we get out of the prison of material existence? It is like a prisoner in prison. He might make friends with the warden. Durga, she is like the warden of the prison house. So, they will work, they will make friends with the warden, and then the warden will smuggle in some cigarettes, or some DVD, or something, so they can get a little more happiness in the prison. Now, the real goal should not be how to get some favors to enjoy life in the prison. The real goal should be how to get out of the prison and really enjoy life and freedom. So, in the same way, the Bhagavad-gītā says that those who worship the Devatas, the demigods, are less intelligent because the benefits of that worship, the benefits are limited and temporary. Okay, you get a pack of cigarettes; eventually, it’ll be over. You watch a DVD; eventually, you will get tired of it. So all material benefits are like that. We can’t enjoy it for long, and it doesn’t last for long. One might have a beautiful house, but in fifty years it gets old; it is just not the same, and you have to spend a lot. The older the house gets, the more you have to spend to maintain it, and then finally, it is not even worth it. 

And then, what to speak of the body? The body is like a house. It is like a car, like a house. As it gets older and older, it is harder and harder to maintain. Do you really. . . I have met many old people who have told me, I mean, that growing old is not fun. Now, I am not that old, but I am sixty-three, and I am starting to feel that it is no fun. One of my god-brothers, well, he gave a class in which he spoke about old age that when you are young, anyways. . . This is a nice example he gave. . . When you are young, you are like a tube of toothpaste. You can see you are full of toothpaste. So you just push it a little and so much toothpaste comes out. But as time goes on, more and more of the toothpaste gets used up, and then you get to the end of the tube, you are really squat, squish, squeezing it and twisting it and trying to just get enough out just for one more tooth brush of toothpaste. So, he was saying our life’s energy is like that. When we are young, we have so much energy. We are six years old, we beat our father in soccer and we have so much energy, no one can keep us down. But then, as we get older, that energy is getting used up, it is getting used up, and then just to climb a flight of stairs, Oh boy, it is really going to squeeze the energy out, just to do things that were nothing for us to do when we were younger. 

So, the body is really not a source of enjoyment. There may be some enjoyment, but it is very mixed; the pleasure is mixed with pain, a lot of pain, a lot of pain. And as we get older, there is less to enjoy, less energy to enjoy. But the soul is always full of energy, and our real enjoyment comes when we are released from this prison, the prison of the material world, prison of the physical body. So, that should be the goal, that is moksha. But again, moksha doesn’t mean I get out of the body, and then I merge and become one with the impersonal light and then disappear. That is possible, very difficult, but even if theoretically we accept that it is possible, but it is not permanent. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that those who imagine that they are liberated vimukta-māninaḥ means in their minds, they think they are liberated. But, they neglect the lotus feet of the Lord means they neglect the Personality of Godhead, and neglect His service, patanty adhaḥ, they fall down again. Because just imagine—that spiritual spark within you which is so active and so lively and full of enthusiasm and thoughts and desires and experiences—so that little spark goes into the impersonal brahmajyoti, and it is sort of packed up there with so many other little spiritual particles. There is no real activity, there is no relationships. It is just. . . So, even if one achieves that position, eventually, one becomes restless. One wants some activity. One wants some relationship. And then, patanty adhaḥ—he comes back again to the material world because he has neglected the lotus feet of Krishna, neglected his relationship with Krishna which is spiritual. He has neglected his service to Krishna which is spiritual. 

So, we shouldn’t mistake that just as our activities in the material world cause suffering, so the activities of bhakti-yoga will also cause suffering. Now, these are the activities of liberation. Just like a criminal—his activities cause him to suffer because he is arrested and put in jail. But, when he. . . So, when he is free, when he is released from prison, he still has activities. Freedom means not that he is free to go out and kill people. Otherwise, he will be back in prison. Freedom means that he is free to voluntarily follow the laws of the state. When he is in prison, he is following the laws of the state by force; he has no choice. When he is free, he follows the laws of the state but voluntarily. So, that is what liberation means – mukti. We serve Krishna voluntarily—that is what mukti is, and we are released from the prison. 

So it is about time. So, I will just quickly read the rest of the purport, and then we can conclude.

PURPORT (continued)

There are various kinds of avatāras, such as puruṣāvatāras,

COMMENT

That means Maha-Vishnu, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu—These are the puruṣāvatāras. Then 

PURPORT (continued)

guṇāvatāras, 

COMMENT

That is Brahma—he is in charge of rajo-guṇa, Vishnu—He is in charge of sattva-guṇa, and Shiva—in charge of tamo-guṇa. So,

PURPORT (continued)

puruṣāvatāras, guṇāvatāras, līlāvatāras

COMMENT

They come into the world and display pastimes like Rama and Nṛsiṁha.

PURPORT (continued)

śakty-āveśa avatāras, 

COMMENT

They are empowered.

PURPORT (continued)

manvantara-avatāras and yugāvatāras – all appearing on schedule all over the universe. But Lord Kṛṣṇa is the primeval Lord, the fountainhead of all avatāras.

COMMENT

Bhāgavatam says kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān. There is a list of maybe twenty-six different avatāras, but at the end, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that all of these are portions or portions of portions of Krishna but kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam. Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT (continued)

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descends for the specific purpose of mitigating the anxieties of the pure devotees, who are very anxious to see Him in His original Vṛndāvana pastimes. Therefore, the prime purpose of the Kṛṣṇa avatāra is to satisfy His unalloyed devotees.

COMMENT

And then, this phrase yuge yuge—in every millennium—that indicates that even in this yuga, in Kali-yuga, the Lord will descend. And in Kali-yuga, He descends as Sri Krishna Chaitanya. And that dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya—the dharma that He establishes, specifically for Kali-yuga, is sanātana-dharma or prema-dharma. Saṅkīrtana leads to prema. And He is described, not very openly, but He is described in confidential portions in the Upanishads, in Mahābhārata, and in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it has said that in Kali-yuga, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ—that intelligent persons in Kali-yuga will worship this incarnation of Krishna by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajna, which means together chanting the names of God, glorifying the names, forms, qualities, pastimes, and everything about God. And especially in Kali-yuga, the maha-mantra is the Hare Krishna mantra which is also mentioned in the Upanishads and other scriptures. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. So, by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam—all the dirty things from the heart are cleansed, and we become attached to Krishna. 

That is the whole idea—to become attached to Krishna, and then we will think of Krishna at the time of death and go back home, back to Godhead, back to Krishna. And that is our mukti. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ—means giving up our false identification with so many different bodies, so many species of life, so many different planets. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa – our svarūpā, our constitutional position is eternal servant of Krishna—jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. And then, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ—when we are situated in our svarūpa as eternal servants of Krishna, that is mukti. And eternal means no beginning and no end. Not that I serve Krishna now, and then when I am liberated, I merge and become one with Krishna. That is not our svarūpa—that is not mukti. Our svarūpa means that we are serving Krishna now, we are using this machine of a body to serve Krishna now. And when we are liberated, we don’t need this machine, this faulty machine, we still serve Krishna but in full freedom. And then, we will really be happy, and all of our desires will be fulfilled forever. Hare Krishna. So are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: So, as we think in our mind, or we realize everything by our own sensation organs. . . By eyes, we can see, by eyes we can see, by ears we can hear, and we can smell by. . . this so how we sense our soul—what is the organ by which we can know or we can realize as like other organs—is there any soul?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. 

Devotee: And secondly, why we are always behind the happiness in this material world?

Giriraj Swami: Good question. These are very good questions. Now, we talk of the soul, but the soul is actually a person. The soul has eyes, ears, nose, tongue all the faculties of the body. I gave the example—I have eyes, so I see through the glasses. The glasses are not seeing; I see through the glasses. So, inside of the material body is the soul, but the soul has a spiritual form, and the soul, that spiritual form, has eyes—spiritual eyes, spiritual nose, spiritual ears, spiritual tongue, spiritual skin like Krishna. Krishna has everything—all the senses, but He doesn’t have a physical body like us. To think that Krishna has a physical body made of flesh and bones and stool and urine is wrong. From the material point of view, Krishna was one hundred and twenty years old when He spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, but because Krishna had a spiritual body or always has a spiritual body, that body never aged. What I was talking about—the body gets old and everything becomes difficult, that never happened to Krishna because He came in His original spiritual form. And all of us potentially have a spiritual form like Krishna’s, not that we become equal to Him, but we have the same quality. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha – eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss with form. sac-cid-ānanda. And we are too. The difference is that He is very great and we are very small. He is like a mountain of gold, and we are like a little particle of gold, but we have the same qualities. So, we have that. We have everything in the spiritual body. And because the soul is by nature blissful sac-cid-ānanda, the Vedanta says Ānandamayo ‘bhyāsāt. That the absolute truth is Ānandamaya is full of bliss, made of bliss. So, we are part of that ultimate truth. So we are also by nature blissful. 

But, because we come into the material world, we come in ignorance, and we identify with the body, so we think that by pleasing the senses of the body, we will be happy. It is natural that we want to be happy, but we are trying in the wrong way. And therefore, Prahlada Maharaja says na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ. svārtha means self-interest – sva-artha. So, it is natural that we want our self-interest, but unless we know who we are we, won’t know what our self-interest is. So, if we think we are the body, we will work for the pleasure of the body, but that won’t make us happy. If we think we are the mind, we will try for happiness in art, music, poetry, mental pursuits, but that also won’t make us happy. But, when we know that we are the soul, the ātmā, jīvātmā, and that we are part and parcel of the Supreme soul or Paramātmā, then we can look for happiness in the right place. So, Prahlada says, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ—people don’t know what their real self-interest is. They don’t know that their real self-interest is to serve God; Vishnu or Krishna, and go back home, back to Godhead. So, it is natural that we want to be happy, but because of this ignorance as to our actual identity, we identify with the body, and try to be happy by pampering the body, but we can never be happy that way. Hare Krishna.

Any other questions? All right. Do we have a box of books here? I think we bring it in. 

So, as Mahahari Prabhu mentioned, Srila Prabhupada, our teacher came to the United States at the advanced age of seventy years. Just imagine. He crossed the ocean on a cargo steam ship at the age of seventy and came to New York city during the height of the Hippie movement. And he lived. . . He began on the Bowery street—it is a very notorious place in New York city, famous for bums and drunkards. And then, that whole area, lower part of Manhattan, there is a lot of hippies. But, he went there, and he sat down under a tree and began to chant Hare Krishna, and people gathered around, and he began to speak to them about the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, and about the importance of chanting the holy names. And from there, some young people came forward to join him, to help him, to learn from him, and thus the movement began and spread. 

And Sri Krishna Chaitanya whom we mentioned, the incarnation of Krishna for the age, He predicted and desired pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma—that in every town and village of every country of the world, My name or Krishna’s name will be preached. And that prediction, that was made more than five hundred years ago, that was fulfilled by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is his picture here. He brought the holy name, he translated sixty volumes of books, and established temples all over the world. The temple in Dallas was established by him. He installed the deities, the Radha-Kalachandji – they are still being worshipped very nicely. 

And so, I was fortunate that at the age of about twenty-one, I met him. I was a university student in Boston, and he delivered a lecture at the university. And I was looking for a guru, that is a whole other story. I was looking for a guru and I met many. As soon as I heard there was some swami or yogi or master, I would go and hear from him and inquire, but I was not satisfied by any of them. But then, when I met Srila Prabhupada, I was satisfied. The question I asked him was, “There are so many swamis and yogis, and each one recommends a different method of self-realization for a different process, so how do I know which is best?” And then, he asked, “What is your goal? Do you want to become God? Or do you want to serve God?” Because the method, the method we choose will depend on the goal. So, his question to me was the most fundamental question, what is your goal? Do you want to serve God or do you want to become God? So, the whole story is described in this book called Watering the Seed. And in the end, he convinced me that my real self-interest was to serve God, not to try to become God. And the way to serve God or realize God is to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. 

And he gave the example that if you take the seed of service to God, and sow it, plant it, and you water it by chanting and hearing about Krishna, then God will give all the sunlight and fresh air and everything that the plant needs to grow and flourish. But he said, “If you want to become God, you are only cheating yourself. God is in your heart. You can become Godly, but you cannot become God.” There is a whole discussion, but he said, “If you sow the seed of service to God, and water it by chanting and hearing, God will give you all the ingredients you need to be successful. But, if you want to become God, why should God help the competition?” So then he said, “You are only cheating yourself.” So, that is the title of the book guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja—by the guru, by the mercy of guru and Krishna, one gets the seed of devotion. guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. And then, one has to water it by śravaṇam and kīrtanam. So this book, Watering the Seed, describes how I was fortunate to receive that seed of bhakti by the mercy of guru and Krishna, and then, thereafter, I watered it, or Prabhupada watered it for us by giving us so many books and lectures and conversations. 

And then, we repeat śravaṇam kīrtanam—you hear, and then you repeat what you’ve heard—that is also kīrtanam, śravaṇam kīrtanam. So, the book describes Prabhupada’s, my hearing Prabhupada, his kirtan, and then my repeating what I heard from him. So, this has just come. We released it for the first time in Dallas on Sunday, and now, this is the first time, it is being made available anywhere else.

So, Saṅkarṣaṇa Prabhu, would you like to say anything more about it? It has, I think, three hundred and eighty-four pages. This is a picture of Srila Prabhupada in the Boston temple when I first met him. That was the first week when I first came to the temple. Many, many nice color photos, Boston, Bombay. We travelled all over India with Srila Prabhupada. From Bombay, first stop was Amritsar, we visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir, and then Delhi, Indore, Surat, Bombay again, and Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Calcutta, Delhi. Yes, we travelled to many places, so there is little anecdotes from all of those travels. And then, of course, the struggle in Bombay and establishing the Juhu temple, Radha-Rasabihari temple. 

Saṅkīrtana leads to prema. And He is described, not very openly, but He is described in confidential portions in the Upanishads, in Mahābhārata, and in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is said that in Kali-yuga, yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ—that intelligent persons in Kali-yuga will worship this incarnation of Krishna by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajna, which means together chanting the names of God, glorifying the names, forms, qualities, pastimes, and everything about God. And especially in Kali-yuga, the maha-mantra is the Hare Krishna mantra which is also mentioned in the Upanishads and other scriptures. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. So, by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam—all the dirty things from the heart are cleansed, and we become attached to Krishna. 

That is the whole idea—to become attached to Krishna, and then we will think of Krishna at the time of death and go back home, back to Godhead, back to Krishna. And that is our mukti. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ—means giving up our false identification with so many different bodies, so many species of life, so many different planets. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa – our svarūpā, our constitutional position is eternal servant of Krishna—jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’. And then, svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ—when we are situated in our svarūpa as eternal servants of Krishna, that is mukti. And eternal means no beginning and no end. Not that I serve Krishna now, and then when I am liberated, I merge and become one with Krishna. That is not our svarūpa—that is not mukti. Our svarūpa means that we are serving Krishna now, we are using this machine of a body to serve Krishna now. And when we are liberated, we don’t need this machine, this faulty machine, we still serve Krishna but in full freedom. And then, we will really be happy, and all of our desires will be fulfilled forever. Hare Krishna. So are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: So, as we think in our mind, or we realize everything by our own sensation organs. . . By eyes, we can see, by eyes we can see, by ears we can hear, and we can smell by. . . this so how we sense our soul—what is the organ by which we can know or we can realize as like other organs—is there any soul?

Giriraj Swami: Yes. 

Devotee: And secondly, why we are always behind the happiness in this material world?

Giriraj Swami: Good question. These are very good questions. Now, we talk of the soul, but the soul is actually a person. The soul has eyes, ears, nose, tongue all the faculties of the body. I gave the example—I have eyes, so I see through the glasses. The glasses are not seeing; I see through the glasses. So, inside of the material body is the soul, but the soul has a spiritual form, and the soul, that spiritual form, has eyes—spiritual eyes, spiritual nose, spiritual ears, spiritual tongue, spiritual skin like Krishna. Krishna has everything—all the senses, but He doesn’t have a physical body like us. To think that Krishna has a physical body made of flesh and bones and stool and urine is wrong. From the material point of view, Krishna was a one hundred and twenty years old when he spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, but because Krishna had a spiritual body or always has a spiritual body, that body never aged. What I was talking about—the body gets old and everything becomes difficult, that never happened to Krishna because He came in His original spiritual form. And all of us potentially have a spiritual form like Krishna’s, not that we become equal to Him, but we have the same quality. He is sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha – eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss with form. sac-cid-ānanda. And we are too. The difference is that He is very great and we are very small. He is like a mountain of gold, and we are like a little particle of gold, but we have the same qualities. So, we have that. We have everything in the spiritual body. And because the soul is by nature blissful sac-cid-ānanda, the Vedanta says Ānandamayo ‘bhyāsāt. That the absolute truth is Ānandamaya is full of bliss, made of bliss. So, we are part of that ultimate truth. So we are also by nature blissful. 

But, because we come into the material world, we come in ignorance, and we identify with the body, so we think that by pleasing the senses of the body, we will be happy. It is natural that we want to be happy, but we are trying in the wrong way. And therefore, Prahlada Maharaja says na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ. svārtha means self-interest – sva-artha. So, it is natural that we want our self-interest, but unless we know who we are we, won’t know what our self-interest is. So, if we think we are the body, we will work for the pleasure of the body, but that won’t make us happy. If we think we are the mind, we will try for happiness in art, music, poetry, mental pursuits, but that also won’t make us happy. But, when we know that we are the soul, the ātmā, jīvātmā, and that we are part and parcel of the Supreme soul or Paramātmā, then we can look for happiness in the right place. So, Prahlada says na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ—people don’t know what their real self-interest is. They don’t know that their real self-interest is to serve God, Vishnu or Krishna, and go back home, back to Godhead. So, it is natural that we want to be happy, but because of this ignorance as to our actual identity, we identify with the body, and try to be happy by pampering the body, but we can never be happy that way. Hare Krishna.

Any other questions? All right. Do we have a box of books here? I think we bring it in. 

So, as Mahahari Prabhu mentioned, Srila Prabhupada, our teacher came to the United States at the advanced age of seventy years. Just imagine. He crossed the ocean on a cargo steam ship at the age of seventy and came to New York city during the height of the Hippie movement. And he lived. . . He began on the Bowery street—it is a very notorious place in New York city, famous for bums and drunkards. And then, that whole area, lower part of Manhattan, there is a lot of hippies. But, he went there, and he sat down under a tree and began to chant Hare Krishna, and people gathered around, and he began to speak to them about the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā, and about the importance of chanting the holy names. And from there, some young people came forward to join him, to help him, to learn from him, and thus the movement began and spread. 

And Sri Krishna Chaitanya whom we mentioned, the incarnation of Krishna for the age, He predicted and desired pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma—that in every town and village of every country of the world, My name or Krishna’s name will be preached. And that prediction, that was made more than five hundred years ago, that was fulfilled by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This is his picture here. He brought the holy name, he translated sixty volumes of books, and established temples all over the world. The temple in Dallas was established by him. He installed the deities, the Radha-Kalachandji – they are still being worshipped very nicely. 

And so, I was fortunate that at the age of about twenty-one, I met him. I was a university student in Boston, and he delivered a lecture at the university. And I was looking for a guru, that is a whole other story. I was looking for a guru and I met many. As soon as I heard there was some swami or yogi or master, I would go and hear from him and inquire, but I was not satisfied by any of them. But then, when I met Srila Prabhupada, I was satisfied. The question I asked him was, “There are so many swamis and yogis, and each one recommends a different method of self-realization for a different process, so how do I know which is best?” And then, he asked, “What is your goal? Do you want to become God? Or do you want to serve God?” Because the method, the method we choose will depend on the goal. So, his question to me was the most fundamental question, what is your goal? Do you want to serve God or do you want to become God? So, the whole story is described in this book called Watering the Seed. And in the end, he convinced me that my real self-interest was to serve God, not to try to become God. And the way to serve God or realize God is to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. 

And he gave the example that if you take the seed of service to God, and sow it, plant it, and you water it by chanting and hearing about Krishna, then God will give all the sunlight and fresh air and everything that the plant needs to grow and flourish. But he said, “If you want to become God, you are only cheating yourself. God is in your heart. You can become Godly, but you cannot become God.” There is a whole discussion, but he said, “If you sow the seed of service to God, and water it by chanting and hearing, God will give you all the ingredients you need to be successful. But, if you want to become God, why should God help the competition?” So then, he said, “You are only cheating yourself.” So, that is the title of the book guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja—by the guru, by the mercy of guru and Krishna, one gets the seed of devotion. guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja. And then, one has to water it by śravaṇam and kīrtanam. So this book, Watering the Seed, describes how I was fortunate to receive that seed of bhakti by the mercy of guru and Krishna, and then, thereafter, I watered it, or Prabhupada watered it for us by giving us so many books and lectures and conversations. 

And then, we repeat śravaṇam kīrtanam—you hear, and then you repeat what you’ve heard—that is also kīrtanam, śravaṇam kīrtanam. So, the book describes Prabhupada’s, my hearing Prabhupada, his kirtan, and then my repeating what I heard from him. So, this has just come. We released it for the first time in Dallas on Sunday, and now, this is the first time, it is being made available anywhere else.

So, Saṅkarṣaṇa Prabhu, would you like to say anything more about it? It has, I think, three hundred and eighty-four pages. This is a picture of Srila Prabhupada in the Boston temple when I first met him. That was the first week when I first came to the temple. Many, many nice color photos, Boston, Bombay. We travelled all over India with Srila Prabhupada. From Bombay, first stop was Amritsar, we visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir, and then Delhi, Indore, Surat, Bombay again, and Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Calcutta, Delhi. Yes, we travelled to many places, so there is little anecdotes from all of those travels. And then, of course, the struggle in Bombay and establishing the Juhu temple, Radha-Rasabihari temple.