SB 2.1.11 – No Fear of Living and No Fear of Dying

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. We welcome you to today’s Sunday feast and festival. I shall read one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter one – “The First Step in God realization.” This verse discusses the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. It is one of the very first verses spoken by Srila Śukadeva Gosvami in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And from the beginning, through the middle and until the end of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is recommended and praised and glorified. In fact, the very last verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; nāma-saṅkīrtanaṁ yasya, it is glorifying Krishna who is worshipped by saṅkīrtana. So, this is the first of the verses, and it is very important for all of us. Please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Giriraj Swami: Oh! Okay. So, then we will follow the whole procedure, and I will repeat each word individually and you can repeat after me. And then we will recite each line of the verse and you can repeat after me.

ŚB 2.1.11

etan nirvidyamānānām
icchatām akuto-bhayam
yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ
harer nāmānukīrtanam

TRANSLATION

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited. There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits. Generally people are materialists who desire to enjoy the fullest extent of material gratification. Next to them are the transcendentalists, who have attained perfect knowledge about the nature of material enjoyment and thus are aloof from such an illusory way of life. More or less, they are satisfied in themselves by self-realization. Above them are the devotees of the Lord, who neither aspire to enjoy the material world nor desire to get out of it. They are after the satisfaction of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation. Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only. In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

So, the verse describes three categories of persons. And every person in this room, and if you think about it, you will realize the truth of what I say, every single person in this room falls in one of these three categories, or some combination of the three. You either desire to enjoy material satisfaction; that in a general sample of the population – and I do not say you are general, but in a general sample of the population, that would be the majority. They are working to earn money, to have material facilities for comfort and enjoyment for themselves and their family members and friends.

The next category is the self-satisfied, who have understood the temporary nature of material enjoyment. Temporary enjoyment means suffering because in the material world, in the world of duality you are either enjoying or suffering. So, if the enjoyment is temporary, what is left? Suffering. When the temporary enjoyment is over, the suffering recommences. So, we want material enjoyment, but its very nature is temporary which means that it is mixed with suffering. And, therefore, sober, learned, intelligent persons do not put their faith in illusory material enjoyment because they have understood it has a beginning and an end, and when it ends the suffering begins again. So, they want to be aloof from this vane pursuit of material happiness and they want to be freed from the bondage of material existence.

But they also have their own desire. There is a verse in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta:

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’

kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’

That the materialists who want enjoyment, and the yogis who want mystic powers, and the transcendentalists who want liberation from material bondage – none of them is peaceful, because all of them have some selfish desire; either bhukti or mukti or siddhi. But they have some selfish desire, and therefore, none of them is peaceful. And as the Bhagavad-gītā says and as practical experience teaches us- “Without peace, where is the question of happiness?” kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma – only a devotee of Krishna has no selfish desire. And therefore, only he is peaceful. So even those in the second category who want to be self-satisfied, who want to be satisfied within themselves but in a selfish way; they also are not peaceful or happy. And then the third category are the devotees who desire the satisfaction of the Lord. And if the Lord is satisfied, they are happy. They have no interest separate from that of the Lord, and they perceive happiness through the Lord’s pleasure.

Our acharyas have given an example that we can all relate to. Of course, it could apply to anyone, anywhere, it is certainly very common in India; that the husband will leave the wife and children at home in the village, safe, and go to the city to try to earn money. And while in the city, he may be living in very austere conditions; he may be lying on the ground, sleeping in the park, for himself he might just be eating some dried chapattis or chickpeas. He is living a very meagre existence, because he wants to save all his money for his family, to send home to his wife. And she in turn will use the money to buy milk for the children. And she will write letters how the children are growing, how they are becoming strong, how they are getting educated. And the man will feel happy. Although personally, he is living in very austere conditions, but he feels happy knowing that his children are happy, they are growing strong and healthy and so on.

So that is a material example but it gives us a sense of how even in the material world, to a limited extent, we can experience happiness even during personal austerities because our loved ones are happy. So, bhakti means the devotee wants Krishna to be happy. And if Krishna is satisfied the devotee is happy. And that means, that the devotee can be happy in any situation, because Krishna is satisfied only by our devotion. He does not need our money; He does not need our achievements; He wants only our love and devotion. And we can offer that to Krishna anywhere, at any time. But that love and devotion is manifested through active service. I have met many people. I lived in India for about thirty years. I met many people who said that, “I love Krishna in my heart, why do I have to go to the temple?” Or, “I worship Krishna at home and I have seen Their worship at home.” They will have a little box in some corner with a picture of Krishna or a murti of Krishna. And they will spend maybe, hardly anything on the worship, a few rupees; but for themselves, for their sense gratification they will spend any amount. And they say, “Krishna is satisfied by my devotion. I love Krishna. I spend my money on my sense gratification and on my family sense gratification.” That is not love. Love means that you want to make the beloved happy by any means. Anyway, we will come back to that.

So, we are all, to one degree or another, in one or some combination, of these three categories. And so, what are we meant to do and why? So, now we will read further in the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord. By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes, and so on. Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. This means that hearing from the authorities is the first essential. The process is recommended not only for the progressive students in different departments of ideological success, but also for those who are already successful in their achievement as fruitive workers, as philosophers or as devotees of the Lord.

COMMENT

So, this word, bhaya – fear. . . the discussion of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam was precipitated by King Parīkṣit being cursed to die within seven days. And so, he went to the banks of the Ganges to sit and fast until the end. And because he was such, not just the emperor of the world but a very saintly devotee; kings and sages from all over the land came to be with him at the end. And out of all of them, Śukadeva Gosvami was the highest. And he became the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and King Parīkṣit was the inquirer.

So, his question is, “What should someone who is preparing for death, do?” Now this word bhaya – fear, we are all afraid of so many things but ultimately, we are afraid of death. Every one of us pretty much is afraid of death. And therefore, we are always in anxiety. We may try to put it out of our mind, that is generally what people do and so they try to amuse themselves or distract themselves by making money or by watching television, going to the movies, going to some game – they try to amuse themselves or distract themselves. But underneath it all, they are afraid of death. We are all afraid of death, and therefore we are always careful. When we drive the car, we must be alert, that there may not be a crash. We lock the house, we have a wall, we have a security system, we take so many precautions, we take Lipitor and watch our cholesterol. We do not want to die. And that is natural because we are by nature eternal souls. The soul does not die. In fact, it is an artificial imposition; death is an artificial imposition on people who identify with the body and want sense enjoyment. Otherwise, there is no reason for us to die, to have a material body and die.

So, we do not want to die, but we are always afraid that something will happen and we will lose our facility to enjoy sense gratification. And the ultimate loss of facility to enjoy sense gratification is death, the loss of the body. So, this is the reality. This is the reality and we all know the truth of it. As His Holiness Jayadvaita Swami said in his own rye way that, “You will stand by and watch as your friends die one by one, until they stand by and watch as you die.” That is what happens. So, we all have that fear but we do not want to be afraid. Fear is a terrible state – fear and doubt. So how to become free from fear? This is the method – offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name; we can be free from fear and anxiety and lamentation just by this chanting. That is why it is important.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purāṇa.

COMMENT

Now what follows is a discussion of ten offenses and the chanting of the holy name. And we should know them because the real benefit of chanting comes when we chant offenselessly and hear offenselessly. But we do not have time to discuss all ten, but we will discuss one – the tenth.

PURPORT (continued)

The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the world to be meant for the enjoyment of one’s self only. The whole materialistic world is moving under such false egoism of “I” and “mine,” but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such misconceptions.

COMMENT

In another place, Srila Prabhupada has translated this offense as. . . it is the same thing, but as not having complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and maintaining material attachments even after understanding so many instructions in the matter. Now this is an offense. We chanted tonight and we will chant some more, but when we leave the temple, when we leave the association of the devotees and temple environment we may not chant, because we are in this conception of “I” and “Mine." We think, I am the enjoyer, I am the controller, I am the proprietor and everything is meant for my pleasure. We want to use everything for our pleasure. So, you could say that it is maintaining material attachments. So, to get the benefit of the chanting, the full benefit, one should give up the false ego of being the enjoyer. It does not mean that you must leave your wife or children or husband or work. But you work in a different spirit, as servant of Krishna. Your activities are done in such a way that Krishna will be pleased, and that too is not a matter of speculation or whimsy.

I met a man in Bombay, one of the wealthiest men in India. His family was reputed to be very pious Vaishnavas. And he showed me his beautiful silver box with tulasi leaves. And he told me, “I do not drink even tea without putting tulasi leaves in it.” Now, that is not acting for Krishna’s pleasure, Krishna does not want you to drink tea. He does not want to be offered tea with tulasi leaves. In fact, I mentioned this to someone else in business circles. He said, “You should have asked him if he puts tulasi leaves in his whiskey also.” So, acting for Krishna’s pleasure does not mean we just do what we want, and add tulasi and then everything is okay. It means we must know what Krishna wants. We know that from sadhu, shastra, and guru, and act for Krishna’s pleasure. And that will really make us happy. There have been many studies on the subject of happiness because in general, we have been given a program that says if you go to school, if you get good marks, if you excel in academics, you will get a good job or you will be able to start your own business, and you will be able to make a lot of money. You will be able to get a good wife or husband and have a nice house, have a nice car, have prestigious society, have material comforts, do so many things. And there are large numbers of people who have followed this program. They did everything right according to the program that they were given. And guess what, they were not happy. So, there have been several studies and books written about what makes someone happy.

In fact, there have been a number of those books, and a lot of experimental data, statistics, about what make people happy. And the conclusion of one researcher, a professor at Harvard University is that, “We are very poor at predicting what will make us happy. Very often we think something will make us happy; we go for it; we get it and it does not make us happy. And sometimes we desperately try to avoid something that we think will make us unhappy. And when it happens, eventually we see it as a blessing, because there were so many benefits to it that we could never anticipate.” So, in our conditioned state, the idea that making Krishna happy will make us happy, might seem odd because it is not what the media tells us. It is not what the teachers in school tell us. And unless we are very fortunate to have devotee parents, it is not what our parents have told us, but it is what Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam tells us; it is what Krishna tells us, it is what Prabhupada tells us. And those who have taken to the process seriously have experienced it. Otherwise, why should we go on chanting? In my case, well, forty-two years now chanting Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, unless I was feeling something why should I continue? No one is paying me to chant. I guess in some of the ashrams in Vrindavan, they pay the widows a few rupees to chant. But no one is paying any of us to chant. But we are getting something from it, tangible. And that is why we keep doing it no matter what. We can give up so many things, but not chanting.

Haridasa Thakura, he was a contemporary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He was born in a Muslim family. And that was at a time when India was ruled by the Muslims. And so, the Nawab, the Muhammadan ruler, called him in and told him, “Haridasa, you are born in a good Muslim family, why are you chanting the name of the Hindu God?” And Haridasa replied, “So many Hindus have become Muslims, what is the problem if one Muslim becomes a Hindu?” He did not want to get into an argument with him. But the Nawab took it very seriously and he was instigated by his Wazir, because Haridasa was becoming very popular. And so many fears they had if Haridasa continued to become more popular. So, the Nawab said, “Haridasa, if you do not give up hari-nāma, we will beat you to death.” And Haridasa Thakura replied, “You can cut my body into tiny pieces but I will never give up chanting hari-nāma.” So that is the determination of the devotee. Not just determination, it is the experience of a devotee that hari-nāma is his life, and in a broader sense preaching, is his life.

Once I came to Srila Prabhupada’s room after meeting people in Bombay all day. And I was very enthusiastic and enlivened. And I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I like this preaching very much.” And he said, “Not I like this preaching – but preaching is my life.” And Srila Prabhupada had a disciple named Jayananda dasa, he is a legendary figure in ISKCON and a very great devotee. And he contracted leukemia. But it is like preaching was his life, and when he came to the stage that he could not preach, he thought what is the use of maintaining this body if I cannot preach? And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, that is a very nice attitude.” So, this is our life, this is real life; this vane pursuit of material enjoyment, this is not a real life. It is like a phantasmagoria – a will of the wisp, an illusory representation. But this is real life and it is eternal. Someone might think well that does not sound right, if I cannot use this body to preach what is the use of staying in this body? You might say, that does not sound right. Well, if all there was to life was the body, it would not be right. But that is not what life is. Life is the soul and real life is the soul engaged in the service of the supreme soul. And that continues regardless of the body.

Prabhupada told a nice story about a sadhu who gave different blessings to different types of people. So, to a prince, a rāja-putra, he gave the blessing, “You should not die because you are a prince, you are enjoying material opulence and sense gratification, which means you are engaging in sinful activities. And in your next life you will have to suffer the reaction. So, Jīvo vā, you should not die.” And to a muni-putra- son of a sage, or a brahmachari, strict brahmachari, he said, “You should not live because you are engaged in very severe austerities under strict regulative principles. And as a result, you will be promoted in your next life. So, you should not live, you should die immediately and enjoy the results of your austerities. “ And to a butcher he gave the blessing, “You should not live and you should not die. You should not live because your present life is horrible. You are slaughtering animals, it is a very ghastly activity and sinful activity. And so, you should not live. And you should not die because in the next life you will have to suffer the reaction for all the animals you killed, all the flesh that you sold and cooked, and ate. So, you should not live and you should not die.” And to a sadhu, or devotee he gave the blessing, “You may live or you may die, it doesn’t make any difference because in your present life you are serving Krishna. You are happy in Krishna Consciousness. And in your next life you will serve Krishna and be happy in Krishna Consciousness. So, Jīvo vā māro vā – you can live or you can die, it doesn’t make any difference.”

So that is real life, eternal life and in that stage, there is no bhaya, there is no fear – no fear of living, no fear of dying. It does not make any difference because the devotee is happy in Krishna consciousness, chanting the holy names:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

And chanting the glories of the holy name, engaging others in chanting the holy names.

Hare Krishna.