SB 2.3.17 – The Best Use of Time and Money

Giriraj Swami: It is a very good question about one’s occupational duty or work, you mean work. Yes, in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, “One must work; without working one cannot even live.” Now, there are different ways in which we can spiritualize our work. One way, I mean, the basic idea is that we are earning money so that we can maintain our Krishna conscious lifestyle. That is the minimum. If we do not, then another way in which we can spiritualize our work, is if we give some of the fruits of our work for the service of the Lord. And then another way is, if in the course of our work we can influence people in the direction of Krishna consciousness. And in rare circumstances, one can do direct service for Krishna consciousness as one’s work.

Now, the general rule is to save as much time and energy for Krishna consciousness as possible. And that can be achieved by probably a combination. But by being very intelligent in one’s way of earning money, and the other is to simplify one’s life, so one does not need to keep earning more and more and spending more and more. And then when one is not working, say in the morning and the evening, one should use one’s time for chanting and reading and worshiping the deity, or serving the Lord in some way. The more your household is devoted to Krishna consciousness, the more the money that you put into the household is part of the process of devotional service. But if, not that anyone here is like that, but if you are living just for eating and sleeping and sense enjoyment, then the effort you put into your work to earn money and then the money you put into your physical maintenance, is pretty much going to entangle you in the material world, because your activities are activities in bondage. So that was such a good question that it reminded me of a verse and purport from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that I think I will read. I asked about chanting, but reading is also very important. Maybe next time we will go around and ask you how much you are reading, but it would be good for everyone to read at least one verse and purport, or one page every day, at least. Something. So please repeat after me:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three: “Pure Devotional Service,”

TEXT 17

āyur harati vai puṁsām

udyann astaṁ ca yann asau

tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta

uttama-śloka-vārtayā

TRANSLATION

“Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service. Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity. But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere. A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.” As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age, and disease.

COMMENT

So, there is another paragraph in the purport but we will come to that later. So, the verse says that by rising and setting the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone. Except, whose duration of life is not decreased by the rising and setting of the sun. Okay, raise your hand. Yes.

Devotee: Those who have taken to the path of Krishna consciousness.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes. She has heard – hearing is very important. In fact, by her hearing, her duration of life is not being decreased, but rather she is approaching her eternal life. One of the impediments, you might be surprised to hear this, one of the impediments to hearing is reading. People, I mean, this might sound surprising but when I studied with a Vaishnava scholar, he did not want us to take notes, because he wanted us to hear. And he said, “By taking notes you weaken your capacity to remember, because you refer to your notes.”

One of my godbrothers has a very big company and has tremendous responsibilities. And I asked him how he kept track of so many things: appointments, phone calls, letters, meetings. And he said at that time that he used a software program called “Outlook,” I think. But he said that research has shown that people who depend too much on the program lose their ability to remember without the program. And the great philosopher Plato said that reading makes a person stupid. Previously, there was no writing, there was no need for the scriptures to be recorded because people would hear. Their memories were so strong, they would hear from the guru or from some saintly person and they would remember it. So, of course, we need to write things down because we will forget. But doing so, can also decrease our capacity to remember because then, well we know, we just look in our iPhone or wherever we keep our notes, and we will have our information there.

So, I mentioned that because when I asked the question I did not. . . there were a lot of people who answered; but the actual answer based on what was read, was? And I will ask again. “By rising and setting the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone except. . .” Raise your hand. Yes.

Devotee: One who reads and discusses topics of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, yes. That is the answer. So, that is what we are here to do and this is what we are meant to do in general. I mean, of course, the temple is a facility for having discussions of topics of the Lord and satsaṅga like this, are meant for discussing topics of the Lord. And as far as possible, we should absorb ourselves in such topics by reading, hearing, and discussing even at home.

Srila Prabhupada described that when he was growing up, his maternal uncle lived a little outside of Calcutta, and so sometimes he would go there to spend time. And every evening there would be a discussion, in some place, of the topics of the Lord, uttama-śloka-vārtayā. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa. And everyone in the town would gather in that place and hear the topics and then they would go home. On the way they would be discussing what they heard, and then take rest with those topics in their mind – and it is a very nice life. Even when I visited His Holiness Lokanath Swami’s village with him some time ago in Aravade. . . Of course, those were very good days because they had no electricity, so no radio, no television, no CD players or DVD players. So, what did they do? They gathered in the courtyard, in front of the little temple in the village and they did kirtan and had satsaṅga. When we went there, without any notice or planning, practically the whole village would come up to hear. So, it was such a good life, a good life. But we can do the same thing here if we have that determination.

Now, someone might think, this comes up very often. It came up millions of years ago when Prahlada was speaking to his school friends, his classmates. And he said, kaumāra ācaret prājño, that from the very beginning of childhood one should cultivate Krishna consciousness. They said, “Oh Prahlada, we are just little boys. Now we are meant to play and have fun. We can cultivate Krishna consciousness later.” But Prahlada analyzed the situation very intelligently. Suppose a person lives eighty years. So about twelve hours a day, say, is spent sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, just taking care of the basic bodily functions. So, of eighty years forty are already gone. And then with that logic, the first ten years will be spent playing and having fun. Then the next ten years will be spent studying and preparing for one’s livelihood. And then of course, we are saying ten years but it is more because we subtracted the nights. But anyway, so playing and having fun and studying and preparing for one’s later life, then earning money for maintaining the family. And by then one is already getting old and then one must deal with all the problems of old age. And so, one’s whole life is filled up with everything else, but Krishna. If you keep postponing it, there will be no end to the postponement. And whatever time is gone is gone forever, you cannot buy it back.

If you spend two hours in something useless or one hour, or a half an hour or fifteen minutes, you cannot buy that time back for any amount of money. When the time of death comes you cannot extend the duration of your life for any amount of money. So that means that time in our life is our most valuable possession. So, we should manage it very wisely, very carefully. Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay who was a very big businessman. And he told him that in the ledger of your life there is profit and loss. So, any time spent in Krishna consciousness goes in the profit column and any time spent outside of Krishna consciousness goes in the loss column. So, any businessman will want to maximize his profits and minimize his loss. And so, we should keep this in mind. So, we will go on to the next paragraph.

PURPORT (continued)

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life.”

Giriraj Swami: Now I am going to ask a question. Raise your hand. What is guaranteed bank balance in the next life, based on what we just read? Yes?

Devotee: Money given in charity?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: To a suitable person.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, money given in charity to a suitable person, is guaranteed bank balance in the next life.

PURPORT (continued)

Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, and if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication. The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion.

COMMENT

So now, this is a very interesting discussion. If you give money in charity to a non-brahman means someone who may be born a brahman, but is not really qualified as a brahman. The other day someone was telling us how they need someone to do some ritual. They just pick up someone, brahman, of course brahman, but he does not know anything. But they need someone to do the ritual, so they pick up some brahman and they take him. And even then, the money given is returned in equal proportion. If you give charity to a half-educated brahman who knows something but not too much, the money is returned double. Now, if you give money to someone who is realized the path of the Vedas which culminates in knowledge of Krishna, the money is returned in unlimited multiplications. Now, how is that possible?

Well, I will share some thoughts on the subject in relation to Srila Prabhupada. Of course, Srila Prabhupada was a self-realized soul or Krishna realized soul. And he surrendered to his spiritual master who was also a self-realized soul and Krishna realized soul. And well, I will tell the story because that was also part of the request of the audience, but it will be in relation to this topic. So, I met Srila Prabhupada in Boston and moved into the temple in Boston in 1969. And then a year and a half later, Srila Prabhupada wanted to begin his activities in India and so I was in the group that went to India. And after maybe a year in India, I went to Calcutta. And my parents were concerned about me, and so they came to Calcutta to visit me, to get me back as a matter of fact. So, Srila Prabhupada was sitting as he always did behind a low table on an asana like this, a cushion. And he began speaking to them. And during the conversation, he mentioned that, well he did this on other occasions, that it was predicted that he would become the richest man in India. And Srila Prabhupada said that in due course, he gave the example of Jawaharlal Nehru who went to London. And at great expense he had a British servant because it was very prestigious to have a British servant, for an Indian to have a British servant. And, so Srila Prabhupada said that just by giving everything to Krishna he ended up with, say 108, 112 temples, or houses all over the world. Now an ordinary rich man, very low-level rich man, he will have one house and then maybe a vacation house somewhere. A little better, he will have maybe two main residences and a few holiday homes here and there. But Srila Prabhupada had one hundred and twelve homes and thousands of American and European servants, whom he did not have to pay, but rather they gave money to him and wanted to do more and more service without any pay, and wanted to give more and more money to him. So, no ordinary person has such opulence.

Once when Srila Prabhupada went to Hong Kong, the devotees arranged a press conference for him in the penthouse suite of a very fancy hotel. And they arranged a Limousine, a Rolls Royce to bring him from the airport to the hotel. And after that visit to Manila and Hong Kong, Srila Prabhupada came to Juhu. And he told us about the press conference, that one of the reporters had asked him, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person, why are you riding in a Rolls-Royce car?” And Srila Prabhupada replied that, “I am an emissary from the spiritual world. And in the spiritual world everything is made of cintāmaṇi stones, which are billions and trillions of times more precious even then gold and diamonds. So even if they had offered me a Rolls-Royce made of diamonds, it would not have been good enough. So, you asked why did I ride in a Rolls-Royce, well the answer is, that was the best they could do, so I had to accept it.” And then after telling that story to me he added, “When people are envious what else can you say?”

So yes, that is true. The example that I gave of Srila Prabhupada’s wealth, all the homes, all these servants, all the money, that is just on the material platform in the material world. But if we consider his spiritual wealth, or the opulence of the spiritual world vision, absolutely no comparison between anything in the material world and the opulence of the spiritual world. And that is what one gets when one gives to Krishna through His pure devotee. And there was a, I will mention this also, there is a very nice devotee in Los Angeles named Rama dasa, who was the head pujari for twenty years. And he got cancer, I think. And in the end, he went to Vrindavan with his wife. And he had complete faith in Srila Prabhupada. I mean, I cannot even describe, but he had implicit faith in Srila Prabhupada. And he went to Vrindavan and of course he was in pain, his body was being consumed by the cancer. But he was very absorbed in chanting the holy names and reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, and doing whatever service he could. And his wife told me his policy as head pujari was, he did not worry about taking care of the deities, his policy was to take care of the other pujaris. He felt that if he took care of the other pujaris, they would take good care of the deities.

So, he had many mystical experiences towards the end which I will not describe. And eventually. . . he was always focused on Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet, and before he left his body, he made a list and he told his wife that he wanted her to distribute photos of Srila Prabhupada’s lotus feet to these people. Long list, I do not know, maybe two hundred people. So, after he left, maybe the same day or the next day, his wife and several other devotees who were his friends all reported that he had visited them. And he told them that whatever difficulties you may be facing in executing Krishna consciousness, do not worry about them, just tolerate them because when you get to the other side, it is really good. And whatever you must go through on the way is worth it, because it is really good. Of course, done properly the process itself can be and should be quite enjoyable. But especially when we undertake to spread the message to others, there are many challenges. And one of the big challenges is working in cooperation with other devotees, probably the biggest challenge. But if we do not do that, we cannot spread Krishna consciousness. One person alone cannot spread Krishna consciousness – we must cooperate. But that is a big challenge. And in that effort, there not only may be difficulties, there will be difficulties. But still, we should tolerate and just keep going, because the reward at the end is worth more than anything we could even imagine.

PURPORT (continued)

The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. 

COMMENT

So, there are many verses. There is one from the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tulayāma lavenāpi, means even by a fraction of a second, yes, the benefit attained by even a fraction of a second’s association with a pure devotee cannot be compared even to elevation to heavenly planets or liberation, then what to speak of earthly enjoyment which is meant for those who are about to die. And our acharya’s comment is that you can only compare things when there are some points of similarity. But he is saying the benefit you get from associating with the devotee, there is no similarity, because the benefit of enjoying an earthly kingdom or even enjoying life on a higher planet, or even merging into impersonal brahman, it cannot be compared to the bliss of Krishna consciousness. And by a moment’s association one hears about Krishna and begins the process of devotional service, which culminates in realization of Krishna and eternal life in Krishna’s abode. So, you all have come in touch with devotees of Srila Prabhupada. You have the best opportunity; you do not know if you miss this opportunity, when you will get the opportunity again. You should take full advantage of the opportunity now and do not waste a moment. And even if you do forget it, do not waste the next moment, do not spend your life lamenting for all the moments you lost.

Once Srila Prabhupada was sitting in the Brooklyn temple on Henry Street, and yes, well, it is just down the street. And he was again sort of reclining on the bolster on his asana and listening to all the stray sounds from the street. And he quoted a verse from Shankaracharya. And he said: “Children are playing, young men are chasing after girls, old men are wrapped in thought, nobody is thinking of Krishna.” So, that sort of summarizes life without Krishna which is the life that most people live. And man is a social animal, he needs association. And most of the people are ignorant of the spiritual values of life, they are not spending their time discussing topics of Krishna; anything else but Krishna. So, we must stick to the association of devotees and use our time to discuss these topics among devotees and to chant. And we can go out to bring more people in, but not to waste time, because you can never get that time back, so we should all chant:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

So, are there any questions or comments? Yes, [Unintelligible]?

Devotee: What about listening?

Giriraj Swami: Well, listening and hearing are the same.

Devotee: No, like listening records.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is hearing, yes listening. That is very good, very good. You get the quality of the voice. It is very good to hear recordings. Yes, very good.

Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: I appreciate how you address my question about spiritual life. And I understand it a lot better now and how important it is, that is the essence of bhakti. It seems that loving God as much as you can, find a way to love God that is the true intelligence that Krishna mentions that He has given to us, to utilize. And I see how it all comes together. It does not matter how old you are or anything, it just matters how determined you are.

Giriraj Swami: That is true.

Devotee: [Unintelligible]

Giriraj Swami: Kareem, as you might imagine from his name comes from a Muslim family and his parents are not particularly happy with his interest in Krishna consciousness. But he is not going back. That is a very important principle, you just do not go back, just keep going forward and eventually you will reach the goal. All right, so Sri Gaura dasa, what comes next?

Devotee: [Unintelligible] if you want to talk.

Devotee: Importance of chanting.

Giriraj Swami: Importance of chanting. Well, I think that is something that would be good to hear from others about, I have spoken on it and I will speak on it again, I think it is nice to hear realizations from others. How many have attended a japa weekend or a japa retreat?

Okay. Well, let us hear from some of them. The importance of chanting and specifically chanting with attention, without offense. This is like a good microphone, let us pass this around.

Devotee: Yes, the purpose of attending japa retreat is to improve our chanting. And when I attended I was really inspired and I chanted the next two weeks. It was great. And after that, again it slows down. So, mainly I felt like the consistency is the key for chanting, because some days we chant better and some days we do not chant better, and we feel guilty about it. But we were going by feeling guilty most of the days, trying to improve but not able to improve. Some other difficulties, one of those. So, whatever mentioned, you mentioned that in associating with devotees, it is that we cannot value it, we cannot compare with any material things. So, I think associating with devotees we can get their blessings and always be in Krishna consciousness which is the best way to improve chanting. About not chanting in a better way, or not able to finish whatever we need to do. I heard from some other devotees that we do not feel like we are a human being. Also if you do not chant, because some devotees told me it is like we behave like a demon if we do not chant. So that is one of the realizations.

Giriraj Swami: Yes. That is a very important point about chanting in the association of devotees. One reason that the retreats are so powerful is because you are chanting in the association of devotees who are all focused on the same goal, which is to chant attentively. And it is natural that one will not be able to maintain the same level. But that is why we need to do something like that regularly. It is like, people go to get an acupuncture treatment. Well, it is not that they get it once and that is the end. They might have to go again. You go to chiropractor to get an adjustment. It is not enough you just go once; you go again. And it is like a spiritual holiday. It really is, it is like a spiritual holiday. So, if I say to any of you, that you went on holidays last year, are you going to go take a holiday again? Everyone will say, “Yes.” No one will say, “Oh, I had a holiday last year, I have already experienced that. I do not need to experience it again.” No. Everyone will say, “Oh yes, every year, as many times as possible.” So, this is a spiritual holiday and it is enjoyable and it is very beneficial. So, I think that is something to do regularly. Yes. There are retreats in America. Last year for the first time I experienced the Varshana Japa Retreat which is also very nice, if you can make it. So yes, that was good.

Devotee: I attended the Houston japa retreat in Towaco temple, New Jersey, several years ago. It was such an amazing thing for me. And he gave us a lot of tips and we chanted. And I believe in another occasion, we had a time when we all chanted sixty-four rounds together and that was an experience. And I just want some kind of clarification Maharaja, to harmonize the tenth offense for me because in my mind I still do not get it. Because we were chanting for so many years, but we know that every, almost everybody has some kind of material attachment that they harbor in their heart across all social economic statuses, that does not matter. But everybody has something they are attached to that’s material even while chanting. So, can you change that, overcome, and harmonize it?

Giriraj Swami: Well, the offense as rendered in The Nectar of Devotion is to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions in the matter. Everyone comes to Krishna consciousness with material attachments. I mean we have them and it is not an offense to have them. But it is an offense to maintain them. It is an anartha to have them but it is not an offense to have them. And anarthas are eradicated by attentive chanting. So, if you chant attentively, you will experience the reality of Krishna. And the reality of Krishna is so much better than anything material that you will naturally lose interest in the material things, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate—- you have a higher taste.

And it is related to not having complete faith in the holy name because if you had complete faith in the holy name, which is Krishna, that all your desires will be fulfilled by Krishna. Then you would not hold on to material attachments because you would have faith that whatever you want, or could get from material things you can get from Krishna, but better. So, to hold on to material attachments means we do not really have complete faith in Krishna, and the chanting of the holy name. And so, in fact it can be more like we are preoccupied with all our material arrangements and our chanting, it sort of goes on. It is like we have a compartment for our one round a day, two rounds a day, sixteen rounds a day, it could even be sixty-four rounds a day. And then the rest of the time we are the center, Krishna is not the center, we are the center. But when you chant with attention, make the effort to chant with attention, it means you are not the center anymore, it means your consciousness is on Krishna, not on you. And like aham mameti, I and mine. And, yes, then you just sort of let go of those things naturally. And you just, yes. . . I just want to be with Krishna—- it is more important to you than other things. But we should chant in the mood of being purified. We should want to be purified of these attachments, because they are obstacles in our chanting and in our relationship with Krishna. Not the thing, but the material attachment to it. It is not that the thing is a problem but it is the relationship with the thing.

Devotee: I have a side question regarding vaiṣṇava-aparādha, if you commit vaiṣṇava-aparādha and ask for forgiveness, and the person does not want you to make it up to them. Then how would you absolve yourself from vaiṣṇava-aparādha because it is a unique type of aparādha, given the other aparādha?

Giriraj Swami: Well, yes, what you said is true. If you offend a devotee, you should repent. That is the first thing, you should repent. And with a repentant heart, you should very sincerely and earnestly ask the devotee to forgive you. And under ordinary circumstances, if you approach the offended devotee in a genuine mood of repentance and lamentation and humility, the person should forgive you. But if, I am not sure why the person would not, but if not, well you must keep chanting and keep trying to please the person. Do something that will please the person, to soften the person’s attitude towards you.

I had that happen, almost twenty years ago, more than twenty years ago. But I offended someone or he felt offended. I offended someone in Mauritius like I do not. . . Well, more than twenty years ago. And after that he moved to France, moved back to France. And I just felt I must get his forgiveness. So, I went to France and it took a lot of effort. Finally, I got him to agree to meet me. And he did not want to forgive me. He was very hurt, and he felt he had suffered so many consequences, related to management, but he took it badly. And I did not. . . But within my heart I knew he had to forgive me, not just for my sake, also for his sake. And I just did not let it go. So, I do not know after two hours, three hours, and I was really begging him. And then at the end he came out, said, “I forgive you.” So, I mean that was just, yes, it can happen. But yes, the other way, another thing is to try to serve people that are dear to that person, try to please people who are dear to that person. And that might soften his or her heart. But there are many factors to consider. The severity of the reaction depends on the spiritual status of the person. To offend more advanced devotees, a more serious offense than to. . . but they are all serious. I mean they are all serious. And then it also depends what the offense was. But it is serious; whoever it is, whatever it was, it is serious. And it is better not to let it go. Or maybe have some person, third person maybe act as a mediator. And I don’t know what the situation is, but it is not good for these things to linger.