BG 5.29

Giriraj Swami: 

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Five,

TEXT 29

bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ

sarva-loka-maheśvaram

suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ

jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati

TRANSLATION

A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The conditioned souls within the clutches of the illusory energy are all anxious to attain peace in the material world. But they do not know the formula for peace, which is explained in this part of the Bhagavad-gītā. The greatest peace formula is simply this: Lord Kṛṣṇa is the beneficiary in all human activities. Men should offer everything to the transcendental service of the Lord because He is the proprietor of all planets and the demigods thereon. No one is greater than He. He is greater than the greatest of the demigods, Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. In the Vedas (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.7) the Supreme Lord is described as tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaraṁ. Under the spell of illusion, living entities are trying to be lords of all they survey, but actually they are dominated by the material energy of the Lord. The Lord is the master of material nature, and the conditioned souls are under the stringent rules of material nature. Unless one understands these bare facts, it is not possible to achieve peace in the world either individually or collectively. This is the sense of Kṛṣṇa consciousness: Kṛṣṇa is the supreme predominator, and all living entities, including the great demigods, are His subordinates. One can attain perfect peace only in complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

This Fifth Chapter is a practical explanation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, generally known as karma-yoga. The question of mental speculation as to how karma-yoga can give liberation is answered herewith. To work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is to work with the complete knowledge of the Lord as the predominator. Such work is not different from transcendental knowledge. Direct Kṛṣṇa consciousness is bhakti-yoga, and jñāna-yoga is a path leading to bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa consciousness means to work in full knowledge of one’s relationship with the Supreme Absolute, and the perfection of this consciousness is full knowledge of Kṛṣṇa, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A pure soul is the eternal servant of God as His fragmental part and parcel. He comes into contact with māyā (illusion) due to the desire to lord it over māyā, and that is the cause of his many sufferings. As long as he is in contact with matter, he has to execute work in terms of material necessities. Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, brings one into spiritual life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter, for it is an arousing of spiritual existence by practice in the material world. The more one is advanced, the more he is freed from the clutches of matter. The Lord is not partial toward anyone. Everything depends on one’s practical performance of duties in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, which helps one control the senses in every respect and conquer the influence of desire and anger. And one who stands fast in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, controlling the abovementioned passions, remains factually in the transcendental stage, or brahma-nirvāṇa. The eightfold yoga mysticism is automatically practiced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness because the ultimate purpose is served. There is a gradual process of elevation in the practice of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. But these only preface perfection by devotional service, which alone can award peace to the human being. It is the highest perfection of life.

COMMENT

So, all of us living in the material world are disturbed or harassed by various anxieties and other miseries, and we want peace. Individually, we want peace, and collectively, we want peace. But apparently, people do not know the process for achieving peace because practically no one has peace. We are always disturbed, and disturbing others. And Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā that he who does not disturb others, and who is not disturbed by others, is very dear to Him. How to attain peace is described in this verse. The essence of which is that Krishna, the Supreme Lord, is the Supreme predominator, and we are His subordinate parts and parcels. We have come into the material world because we want to lord it over the material nature, or, in other words, because we want to take the place of Krishna and be the Supreme Lord, the Supreme proprietor, and even the best friend of the living entities.

Srila Prabhupada gives the example of a child who is seeing her mother cook in the kitchen, and also wants to cook. The child is too small to cook, but the child is insisting. And so, the mother arranges a toy kitchen for the child to play at cooking. It is quite common that children like to play house, but it is not a real kitchen, it is just a semblance of a kitchen. So, we want to play at being God, and so, God has created this imitation world where we can pretend that we are God. And in this process, we cause distress to others, and we are also always feeling distressed, we are always competing for supremacy with others.

Just today, a devotee was describing the atmosphere in the workplace. He is paid well, no doubt, but otherwise he felt no one in the workplace was really interested in him, and he also said there is a lot of politics. And it is pretty much the same story everywhere. People are absorbed in themselves, their false egos, and they want to take advantage of everyone else for their own material purposes. Now, because of our bad experience serving people in the material world, we don’t like the idea of serving others because we think they will exploit us like people in the material world do. But serving Krishna is completely different because Krishna doesn’t need anything from us, He is completely satisfied within Himself, but He accepts our service because we need to serve Krishna in order to be peaceful and happy.

The Bhāgavatam gives the example that when you. . . say, we have the form of the deity here, Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, Sri Jagannatha, Baladeva, and Subhadra, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai. Now, by serving the deity, we benefit. By decorating the form of the Lord, our heart becomes decorated. By cleaning the temple of the Lord, our heart becomes cleansed. And then Srila Prabhupada said, “By decorating the deity in gorgeous clothes and ornaments, we give up the desire to dress ourselves in beautiful clothes and ornaments.” In other words, instead of wanting to be the enjoyers, we develop the sense of serving Krishna for His enjoyment, we want Him to enjoy it. The same applies to food. Generally, in the materialistic concept of life, people want to eat, drink, and be merry. But in Krishna consciousness, we prepare food to offer to the deity, and we take the remnants as prasāda. Just like in a wealthy person’s home. Well, in India you don’t even have to be that wealthy to have cooks and servants, but the cooks and servants, they will prepare a nice meal for the man of the house, for the master. And after the master is finished eating, then the cooks and servants can eat the remnants, and they end up eating the same thing that the master ate; the same thing they prepared for the master. But they must offer it to the master first, then they are entitled to eat the remnants.

So, in the mood of being servants of Radha and Krishna, we cook for their pleasure, we offer the food to them for their pleasure, and then, after they have enjoyed, we are allowed to honor their remnants. But if we prepare food for ourselves, even vegetarian, according to Bhagavad-gītā, we are simply eating lumps of sin. Why is it sinful? Because Krishna is the proprietor, we have stolen His property, and we are taking it for ourselves, wanting to enjoy for ourselves. And someone who is a thief is punishable. Naturally, he or she will always be in anxiety, always be disturbed, and eventually, will be punished. So, as explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, those who eat food for their own bodily nourishment or sense enjoyment, are eating only sin. But those who eat the remnants of food offered to Krishna in sacrifice, they are liberated from all sinful reactions, just the opposite. And therefore, prasāda is a very important item in devotional service, honoring the Lord’s remnants. And prasāda is not merely vegetarian food. But there is a qualitative difference because the food has been spiritualized by Krishna, by being offered to Krishna, and accepted by Krishna.

We have a godbrother, gurubhai named Tejas dasa, who was a Peace Corp Worker in India. And in India, he went to some of the great Vaishnava temples and had prasāda, and he could taste the difference. Then, after he returned to America, he visited a Hare Krishna temple and had prasāda, and he recognized that this was the same taste that he experienced in the Vishnu temples in India. He served in India for two years in the Peace Corp, he ate Indian vegetarian food all the time, that wasn’t the taste, but it was something different, it was prasāda, it was the remnants of Krishna’s food.

I had a similar experience when I first came to the temple in Boston. First I had my experience of prasāda, and then, after Srila Prabhupada left Boston, one of the devotees came into the room with a jar of old dal, that was Srila Prabhupada’s remnants, it was already prasāda, it was offered to Krishna, and then Srila Prabhupada ate from it, and I could see that all the devotees in the room became very excited when the one brought in this jar. And they were going one by one around the room to the different devotees and giving them some. And then, they came to me, I was very new, and they explained that, “From the material point of view, this dal has gone off, but it is Srila Prabhupada’s remnants, and it has great spiritual potency, if you wish to try it, you can, but it is up to you.” So, I thought, Let me try it. For me, the whole experience was a big experiment, the whole experience of Krishna consciousness, so I was observing, and I could see the devotees were very enlivened, so I tried it. So, I took one gulp, and the initial effect of the contact of the dal with my tongue, with my taste buds, was. . . well, rather distasteful because the dal had gone off. But after that initial contact, it tasted like nectar, like nectar that I had never experienced before, and it seemed to have nothing to do with the contact of the dal with my tongue, with my taste buds, but I experienced some extraordinary nectar.

So, time passed, I was coming every day. Eventually, I started to spend the nights in the temple. And in the temple, we had prasāda, and then we had what was called mahā-prasāda, which was from the plate that was actually offered to the deity. Although it was a portion from the exact same pot, the exact same preparation, but it always seemed to me that the prasāda from the deities’ plate tasted different, it was sweeter than the regular prasāda, even though it is the same preparation. And then, one morning at breakfast, one of the devotees commented, not to me but to the temple president, “It always seems like the offering on the deities’ plate has been sprinkled with sugar. Did you ever notice that?” And then the other devotees, the president and others, “Yes, I also noticed that.” And I was thinking, “Wow,” because that is what I was thinking, that all of that tastes sweeter. So, prasāda is not ordinary food. People might think it is, and for them it might just be a good meal, or a free meal, but it has spiritual potency.

When I was in the Los Angeles temple, just a week or two before coming here, as I was speaking, a lady came in, typical Los Angeles lady with jeans and a shirt, and looked a little like an artistic type of person, and she was taking photos like anything. She was going all over the temple room, taking photos. By then, the class had ended and I was just meeting with individual devotees, and the temple president came up to me, and said that she has come from a movie production studio, which is making a film about Steve Jobs from Apple Computers. And in his college days, Steve Jobs used to come to the Sunday feast at the Hare Krishna temple. So, she was taking photos to show the producers the location, so they could decide if this was a good place to film that part of the movie. And Steve Jobs gave a very beautiful talk at the commencement ceremonies, graduation ceremonies at Stanford University, in which he spoke about his life, and how as a student he was so poor that he couldn’t really afford a square meal. Somehow, he would just get through the week and the only good meal he would get was the Sunday feast at the Hare Krishna temple. And he would walk a long way across town to get there. So anyway, I cannot prove it, but it may be that the purification of his brain cells by taking prasāda had contributed to his genius at creating computers and iPhones and iPads and iPods, and I don’t know what else.

So, prasāda is very important, and when one is very advanced in Krishna consciousness, one can experience profound ecstasy by honoring prasāda. And Jagannatha prasāda in particular, well, it is famous, it is even in Śrī Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta, the potency of Jagannatha prasāda. So, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, when He was in Puri, He would daily eat the remnants of Jagannatha’s prasāda. And one day, He started to glorify the prasāda by saying that, “This appears to be ordinary food composed of ordinary ingredients; rice, dal, vegetables, spices.” But he said, “It is not ordinary. What is the reason?” And He gave the answer that, “That food is mixed with Krishna’s adar amṛta, that means the nectar from Krishna’s mouth, which is manifested in a reflected form in us as saliva. But with Krishna it is adar amṛta, the nectar of the mouth of Krishna. And that nectar drives people mad.

When the gopīs would hear Krishna play on His flute, they would become mad. And what was causing them to become mad? That was the nectar from Krishna’s mouth going through the flute into their ears. And so, they ran to Krishna because they wanted that adar amṛta. And they asked, “What pious activities has this flute performed that it is getting the nectar from Krishna’s lips, which is meant for us? The flute is just a hollow bamboo stick, and it is getting the nectar from Krishna’s lips, and we are gopīs, that nectar is meant for us, and that flute is a thief stealing that nectar, which is meant for us.” So, that adar amṛta can really make a person mad, and that adar amṛta also comes in the form of Krishna’s speeches. When the gopis feel separation from Krishna, they recall His side long glances, and His intimate exchanges with them, and His words; His joking words, His bewildering words. Because when Krishna speaks, He has so many different meanings. In fact, we could discuss for hours just about Krishna’s speech. But for one whose senses are transcendentally awakened, that speech is a manifestation of the nectar from Krishna’s mouth or lips.

And so, devotees are also eager to drink that nectar through their ears. These are all signs of love for Krishna: One wants to hear what Krishna said; one wants to taste what Krishna has eaten; one wants to smell what Krishna has smelled — everything related to Krishna. And that will satisfy us. Not material dal and rice, but kṛṣṇa-prasāda. Not material talks, but kṛṣṇa-kathā. Not even Bollywood versions of Krishna and Sudama, but Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is spoken directly by Krishna or about Krishna by pure devotees, by liberated souls, devotees. And the nectar of Krishna’s remnants that have been left as remnants by Krishna’s pure devotees are even more potent. Krishna’s remnants are called mahā-prasāda, but when that mahā-prasāda is tasted by a devotee, it is called mahā-mahā-prasādam. So, that is what we were experiencing, Srila Prabhupada’s mahā-mahā-prasādam.

And even the messages of Krishna are considered even sweeter when repeated by a devotee. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is called the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree of knowledge, but it has become even tastier, being touched by the beaks of Suka. Now, Suka refers to Sukadeva Gosvami, but Suka also means parrot. And in fact, it is said that the same Sukadeva Gosvami exists in kṛṣṇa-līlā as Radharani’s parrot. And it is said that a ripe fruit, mango, becomes sweeter when it is pecked by the beak of a parrot. Now, I had heard this, and I accepted it on faith, but I was surprised one day when a person in Mauritius told me that it was understood that the fruits, mangos, actually tasted sweeter if they were touched by the beak of a parrot, it was sort of a known fact. Because Mauritius then, it was mainly agriculture. People lived in villages, and so they were in intimate contact with the land, the trees, the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the birds, with nature. Then, they got a prime minister who was a pretty good businessman, so he had the brilliant idea of making Mauritius like Hong Kong. Anyway, it is a whole story how the country has been affected for the worse, I would say, by that policy, but it was very much a simple agricultural economy by and large. Madhava dasa, the kirtan singer and his wife, Radhika, are from Mauritius. They are saying there are still places very pristine, beauty. So, if possible, we should keep our life simple, not too complicated. Otherwise, we will be disturbed, and we will cause others to be disturbed. And focus on Krishna, seeing the beautiful form of Krishna, tasting the remnants of food offered to Krishna, hearing the words of Krishna and that will satisfy us. Then we won’t be disturbed by anything or anyone. And at least for our sense gratification, we will not cause anyone distress, will not disturb anyone. When we speak the truth, it might happen that people are disturbed.

Devotees recently found a tape of a conversation between George Harrison and Srila Prabhupada, in which George Harrison, he was saying that some people are disturbed because he is presenting Krishna consciousness to them. And Prabhupada said, “Why should they be disturbed? We are not saying anything bad, we are not saying anything wrong.” And they said well, explained a little. This is the basis of the question, George was asking that, some people are disturbed, and he is thinking that he might actually be doing more harm than good by being so open about his philosophy and Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada said, “The thing is that when we preach, we have to speak the truth. And people shouldn’t be disturbed because we are not saying anything wrong or bad.” George said, “Well, they don’t like it because of our regulative principles.” Prabhupada said, “Yes, but the thing is that we have to speak the truth.” And George really reached quite an exalted state of Krishna consciousness at the end, he was completely unafraid of death.

There are people in, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills. So, Ringo Starr, who was the drummer of the Beatles, I think his sister lived in Los Angeles, and she became very interested in Krishna consciousness, and she said the thing that convinced her was George, seeing that he was completely unafraid of death. Everyone is afraid of death, no matter what theoretical knowledge we have, everyone is afraid of death, but he was not, he was ready. It is almost as if he was welcoming it as a transition to go closer to Krishna, and that is what convinced her to take interest in Krishna consciousness. And towards the end, not very close to the end but towards the end, George came to Vrindavan, but he didn’t have the same body that we used to see in the pictures and he was thinner, and his hair was cut somewhat short. And yes, he spent several days, I am not sure, maybe even two weeks, he spent some time in Vrindavan. A devotee, one of Prabhupada’s disciples had an ashram, he stayed there. And one day, he came into the temple, and he picked up some kartals, and he began to sing. And there was no one else there, and Madhava picked up the mridanga, and he was playing the mridanga while George Harrison sang. But he didn’t know it was George Harrison, he found out later. He saw this fellow come in, and he is playing the kartals and singing, so he picked up the mridanga and he played with him. So, so much mercy he got. He might not have been a perfect devotee in every respect, but he had taste for the holy name, he did a lot of service for Srila Prabhupada and the devotees. He produced record, albums with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, he got a lot of mercy.

So, if we also serve Krishna and Prabhupada to whatever our capacity is, we will also get a lot of mercy. And our departure from this world can also be very auspicious, and we can also attain a very notable destination. So, we should take advantage of the facilities that Srila Prabhupada and his devotees have given us and always chant.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Hare Krishna.

So, are there any questions or comments?

So, what is next on the program? Tulasi-puja; how good can it get? Yes, Tulasi is auspicious of all respects. Anyone who comes in touch with Tulasi in any way, lives eternally in the spiritual world.

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna. [applause]