SB 1.2.15 – The Solution to All Problems

Giriraj Swami: So, for those of you who don’t know that this is H.H. Dhanudhara Swami, and he has taught classes of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and he spends many months every year in Vrindavan. And so, he has accompanied me today. I thought it would be very beneficial for us all to hear from him. But he has to leave early tomorrow morning for Mayapur, and so he might have to leave us also. So, I have requested him to speak first. So, please listen with rapt attention because I’m sure what he will say will be full of deep meaning and very beneficial. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Dhanudhara Swami: So, how do we do this? Is it like a regular class?

Giriraj Swami:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Two, “Divinity and Divine Service,” Text Fifteen.

TEXT 15

yad-anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ
karma-granthi-nibandhanam
chindanti kovidās tasya
ko na kuryāt kathā-ratim

TRANSLATION

With sword in hand, intelligent men cut through the binding knots of reactionary work [karma] by remembering the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, who will not pay attention to His message?

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The contact of the spiritual spark with material elements creates a knot which must be cut if one wants to be liberated from the actions and reactions of fruitive work. Liberation means freedom from the cycle of reactionary work. This liberation automatically follows for one who constantly remembers the transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead. This is because all the activities of the Supreme Lord (His līlā) are transcendental to the modes of the material energy. They are all-attractive spiritual activities, and therefore constant association with the spiritual activities of the Supreme Lord gradually spiritualizes the conditioned soul and ultimately severs the knot of material bondage.

Liberation from material bondage is, therefore, a by-product of devotional service. Attainment of spiritual knowledge is not sufficient to insure liberation. Such knowledge must be overcoated with devotional service so that ultimately the devotional service alone predominates. Then liberation is made possible. Even the reactionary work of the fruitive workers can lead one to liberation when it is overcoated with devotional service. Karma overcoated with devotional service is called karma-yoga. Similarly, empirical knowledge overcoated with devotional service is called jñāna-yoga. But pure bhakti-yoga is independent of such karma and jñāna because it alone can not only endow one with liberation from conditional life but also award one the transcendental loving service of the Lord.

Therefore, any sensible man who is above the average man with a poor fund of knowledge must constantly remember the Personality of Godhead by hearing about Him, by glorifying Him, by remembering Him and by worshiping Him always, without cessation. That is the perfect way of devotional service. The Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, who were authorized by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to preach the bhakti cult, rigidly followed this rule and made immense literatures of transcendental science for our benefit. They have chalked out ways for all classes of men in terms of the different castes and orders of life in pursuance of the teachings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and similar other authoritative scriptures.

Dhanudhara Swami: So, it is a violation of etiquette to speak before a superior Vaishnava, just like Uddhava would not speak to Vidura before Maitreya Muni, because Maitreya Muni was senior. But when the senior asks the junior to speak, then as a service, he speaks. Giriraj Maharaja is senior to me in every way, but he asked me to speak. I remember being here in Vrindavan in Kartik in 1976, and Prabhupada would sit there every day and would have different people speak.

So, this is a spiritual history, and spiritual histories tell the story of how you can become free from suffering. Just like it’s called the Purana. Purana is history, but not an ordinary history, but the real message of history. This temporary material world is full of suffering, one should take to the holy name of Krishna as his only business.

And one thing about spiritual history, it has certain criteria. One is that it must tell about the lineage of kings. Why should a spiritual history be concerned with telling about the lineage of kings? Because the king, he is at the top of material society. He has achieved the greatest wealth, the most beautiful women, the greatest power, and everything we desire materially. So, what’s the history of such kings? They suffer just as much as anybody else. And if you study history, you should understand that that shouldn’t be your goal, if your goal is happiness.

Anyway, this particular history begins at the beginning of this age of Kali. Just like during the year, we have four seasons; we have winter, spring, summer, and what?

Devotees: Fall.

Dhanudhara Swami: So, they each have different qualities. So, similarly, there are cosmic seasons, and we are in the worst one, most problems. In fact, in the Bhāgavatam, it’s described what this will be like.

TEXT 10

prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya
kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ
mandāḥ sumanda-matayo
manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ

COMMENT

Everyone will be unfortunate. People will be lazy for spiritual life and they’ll always be disturbed and everything will be against the soul. And it increasingly will become that way.

There is a college across from the Krishna-Balarama temple, Bon Maharaja College, engineering is one of the divisions. It was started by Prabhupada’s godbrother. And now when you see the young girls come from that school, they wear pants and a jacket and a tie. So, even the schools are training people against dharma. So, the whole atmosphere is to bring our minds away from God. Even sometimes I’m giving class, trying to read the Bhāgavatam, and people are on cell phones. Sometimes they are taking notes, but a lot of times, they are doing other things, just distracting one from spiritual life.

So, this book is about the very beginning of the age where the sages were seeing the future. They are called trikāla-jña. They can see the past, they can see the present, they can see the future. And they saw everything that’s happening now that would bring people away from the truth that we are part of God and we are made for God’s service and that will make us happy. Just like the hand. The hand is made for the body, therefore its dharma is to serve the body. And when it follows its dharma, the hand is also satisfied. So, our dharma, our very essence and the only way to be happy, is to love and serve God, Krishna.

So, the sages were looking in the future, and they saw everything that’s happening today. Today, I took a group of ten young girls, some young ladies and their teacher, from college in America. And I took them out on the first day here. One lady never even flew in a plane before. And they came from a part of America that still was a little pious. And we went to one of my friend’s farm, a friend has a farm here. So, he looked at the ten girls/ladies, and he said, “How many of you know how to cook?” He was shocked by the answer. They all raised their hands. And he said, “How did you learn to cook?” “Our mothers taught us.” But his point was, why he was surprised, because most ladies now don’t know how to cook and their mothers are not training. Everything in Kali-yuga is being destroyed.

So, they were trying to find a solution. So, they saw who among them could give the answers. To make a long story a short story, they recognized one great saint named Suta Gosvami, and they began to ask him questions about what to do to counteract this influence of materialism? So, the first question that they asked was, “What is the ultimate good?” Bhūrīṇi bhūri-karmāṇi.

In the shastras, there are so many things that are recommended, but what is the best thing? Because in this age, people do not have the qualities or the time to go through all the shastras and practice so many things. And now we are in the section where he gives the answer. So, what is the ultimate and absolute good for everyone? What should we be doing? What is our dharma? What is absolute dharma?

So, he said

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

“If you want to become satisfied in heart, yato bhaktir, you have to perform devotion to God. And you have to do it without any motive for yourself and without any stop. Yayātmā suprasīdati, and you become very satisfied in heart.”

So, he has explained this in several verses now, and then came to a conclusion. He said tasmād ekena manasā. He said, “Therefore, because devotion is the best thing, you should chant, hear, you should glorify, and remember Krishna.” And now in this verse, he is saying, “What will happen if you do that?” And he is saying, “It’s so good that who will not do this? Who will not chant and hear about Krishna when it will solve all your problems?”

Actually, we have no problems. All our problems are in the mind. Just like if I went to sleep here, and then I had a dream that I’m having a terrible disease, do I have a problem or not? I have a problem but it’s not the disease, the problem is I’m thinking I have a disease. The problem is I’m sleeping and if I wake up, all problems are gone. So, the solution to all problems is to realize who you are, and on that platform, there is no suffering.

Just like a child. The child tells his mother, “I want the moon. It’s so beautiful. Mommy, give me the moon. I want the moon.” Now, how can a child get the moon? It’s not possible. So, what the mother does is she gives the child a pot of water and the moon is reflected in the water, and the child thinks he has the moon. But the pot is very heavy, it starts to shake, and then the child has a problem because the moon is moving. But the moon is not moving, but because the child thinks that’s the moon, then he becomes fearful.

So, in the same way, we are the pure soul. We are a servant of God. It’s a very beautiful thing. We have absolutely no problem. But when we want to be the enjoyer and controller, God can only fulfill our desire by reflecting our consciousness on the mind and body.

Anyway, here is the mind and body. Okay, right. And it’s transforming. Not okay to me. It’s called [Unintelligible]. And what is that? It’s born, it grows, it maintains, it reproduces, it gets old, and it dies. So, we are feeling that one day, we will not exist, and we are fearful, but it’s not happening to us, it’s only happening because we are thinking with a mind and body. But why are we thinking with a mind and body? Because we don’t want to be a devotee. And therefore, our mind thinks we are the enjoyer and controller.

So, what is the solution? The solution is to remember we are devotees of God. And this is the last thing I will say, because I took too much time. The Bhāgavatam describes what the problem is. It says, īśād apetasya viparyayo ’smṛtiḥ. Īśād, God, Bhagavān, we turned away from God. And when we turned away from God, we turned away from ourselves, because what we are is a relationship to God. So, when you turn away from God, you forget yourself and you think you are the mind and body. And then you think you have all these problems. So, what’s the solution? The solution is to turn back towards God. And when you turn back towards God and you remember God, a very wonderful thing happens, you remember yourself and you have no problem.

This is a hospice. People are coming to die. I’ve been here for thirty-six years, I’ve seen so many people come here to die. But I’ve seen the people who are God conscious and remember God, I saw that they don’t die and they understand it and they don’t have fear.

One time, one of my godsisters, she was always remembering God, she was such a great devotee, she had cancer and she came here to die. And she was so saintly, born in America, she wanted to die on the floor of Vrindavan. She wouldn’t even die on a bed. And she was on the floor chanting and hearing, remembering Krishna. An Ayurvedic doctor came in and he felt her pulse and he looked at her and he said a very amazing thing. He said, “Disease is finished. You have one hour left to live.” So, what did he mean? He meant that the real disease is identifying with the mind and body, because we don’t want to be a devotee of God. So, he understood that she had no more attachment to the body and life, so she was not going to experience that.

And sure enough, she left in one hour, but she was fully conscious. Even fifteen minutes before she left, she had her friends take pictures of her smiling. And she said to them, “I want all my godsisters who are serving Krishna to know that if you fully dedicate yourself to Krishna, you’ll be successful in life, and you’ll cut that knot that attaches you to the mind and body. So, who will not hear this message?”

I’ve taken too much time. I will have to go in ten minutes, but I wanted to hear more. So, you’ll have to excuse me. But thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I think it’s so valuable to have you here. I think we could just have questions and answers, and we could start while you are here.

Dhanudhara Swami: Okay. Okay, well.

Giriraj Swami: So, [Unintelligible 00:24:56].

Devotee: Sometimes when we hear in lectures, we are inspired and we think that we are not the body, we are not the mind. And we follow the spiritual process very seriously. But after some time, again, because this thing is so deep and it is continuing from so many births. So, again, slowly and gradually, we start to think that we are the mind and body and our enthusiasm for spiritual life goes down. So, what should we do to have that permanently in mind?

Dhanudhara Swami: You are so smart. You have to translate that. You have to also translate that I said, “You are so smart.” You have to translate it, it’s part of the [Unintelligible].

Devotee: I don’t know what it is. . .

Dhanudhara Swami: What?

Devotee: What do we call smart in England that I [Unintelligible]?

Dhanudhara Swami: Say smart, intelligent.

[Indistinctive talk]

Can someone else translate? Say that I said [Unintelligible].

But why did I say that? Because it’s exactly the question that is asked, so that the next verse is spoken exactly. In other words, the next verse is an answer to that question, because it says who can do this? Because it says, tasmād ekena manasā always remember, always chant, that’s the process. Who can do this? Who has such an attraction to chanting here all day? So, the next verse answers.

TEXT 16

śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya
vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ
syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ
puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt

COMMENT

It said, “Oh sages, by serving those devotees who are completely free from sin, that is such a great thing. And by such service, one gets attraction for hearing the messages of Krishna.” Mahat-sevayā viprāḥ vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ. So, you serve the great devotees, and that’ll develop your attraction for chanting here. I’m just lucky. I just somehow remembered that. Okay.

Devotee: Maharaja, but I’m trying to serve the devotees but sometimes I get the taste for hearing and sometimes I don’t get it. So, what should I do? I should try to serve more or what? I’m trying to serve the devotees, but still, I don’t get a constant taste for hearing. There are times when I get constantly tasteful hearing, and there are times when I don’t like to hear at all.

Dhanudhara Swami: That’s like a young lady who says, “I’ve already been married for two months and I have no child.” It takes time, but we have faith. But you are not doing so bad. Someone else translate that. He is in Vrindavan and he is smiling, so it’s working.

Devotee: That means we should just continue with faith and not get worried and someday, we’ll get a taste of constant hearing?

Dhanudhara Swami: But there is faith. Otherwise, how are you practicing? There is faith. It’s just that faith has to increase.

Giriraj Swami: Rupa Gosvami also gives an answer to your question in The Nectar of Instruction (Upadeśāmṛta). And he says that the holy name, form, qualities, pastimes, and so on of Krishna are very sweet. But for one who is afflicted by the disease of avidya, he cannot taste the sweetness. He is like a diseased person with jaundice.

Since someone has jaundice, he cannot taste the sweetness of rock candy. But the Ayurvedic cure for that condition is to take rock candy, even though it tastes bitter. And gradually, by taking that rock candy, one’s disease is cured. And as one’s health is recovered, gradually, the disease is cured and the bitter taste goes away and the rock candy tastes sweeter and sweeter and sweeter. And then when one is completely cured, one can taste the rock candy as it is, which is sweet like nectar.

So, in the beginning, we are diseased, and that avidya, that ignorance, is what Maharaja mentioned in the beginning, that we falsely identify with the body. Actually, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also prayed in the Śikṣāṣṭakam, “My Lord, You are so merciful that You have made Yourself available as Your holy name, but I am so unfortunate, I have no attraction.” So, what is that durdaivam? What is that misfortune or what is the cause of that misfortune?’

So, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “The first cause is ignorance or confusion, “Who am I? What is my duty? What is my purpose in life?” So, there is that confusion. “But by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, Vedic literatures from saintly persons, that confusion is dispelled, that ignorance goes away.” So, chanting the holy names and hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā go together. We need to do both.

And Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, in his commentary on the first verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, said that the hari-kathā is the svarūpa-śakti of hari-nāma. Just like Radharani is the svarūpa-śakti of Krishna. So, Krishna is never alone. Wherever there is Krishna, there is also Radha. So, similarly, wherever there is the chanting of the holy name, there should also be the discussions of Krishna. And that combination will help to cure us. And as Maharaja has said, you have to be patient. Also, in the Upadeśāmṛta, utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt, one should be enthusiastic, but at the same time, one should be patient.

You are a doctor; you deal with patients. So, sometimes the patients have to be patient. But if they take the medicine and follow the regimen and stick to the diet, gradually, they will be cured, and they should have confidence, “Yes, I’m following the doctor’s orders, I will be cured.” So, Rupa Gosvami says, “We need those three items; enthusiasm, patience, and confidence.” Hare Krishna.