SB 1.6.23 – The Purpose of Our Society—with Durban Devotees

Giriraj Swami: I don’t know how much I will say on the subject but I thought I will read a verse and purport. This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto One, Chapter Six: “Conversation between Narada and Vyasadeva.”

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 23

sat-sevayādīrghayāpi

jātā mayi dṛḍhā matiḥ

hitvāvadyam imaṁ lokaṁ

gantā maj-janatām asi

TRANSLATION

By service of the Absolute Truth, even for a few days, a devotee attains firm and fixed intelligence in Me. Consequently he goes on to become My associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable material worlds.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Serving the Absolute Truth means rendering service unto the Absolute Personality of Godhead under the direction of the bona fide spiritual master, who is a transparent medium between the Lord and the neophyte devotee. The neophyte devotee has no ability to approach the Absolute Personality of Godhead by the strength of his present imperfect material senses, and therefore under the direction of the spiritual master he is trained in transcendental service of the Lord. And by such training, even for some days, the neophyte devotee gets intelligence in such transcendental service, which leads him ultimately to get free from perpetual inhabitation in the material worlds and to be promoted to the transcendental world to become one of the liberated associates of the Lord in the kingdom of God.

COMMENT

This verse is very powerful and it calls to mind the sādhu-saṅga retreat that was held near Austin, Texas, about four weeks ago. The retreat lasted only a few days—as mentioned in the verse. It began Friday evening and it ended Monday noon—but during the retreat and specifically in the kirtans one engaged in intense devotional service to the Absolute Truth, the Absolute Personality of Godhead and it was such a deep experience, such a profound experience that one could gain firm and fixed intelligence in Krishna because one was not living in the realm of theoretical knowledge but one was actually entering into the realm of personal experience. And when one has such deep, personal experience of the Absolute Personality of Godhead—in this case especially through the chanting of the holy names of the Lord in kirtan—one can never forget that experience and thus one’s intelligence becomes firm and fixed in Krishna. And one as far as possible will arrange his life or her life in such a way as to continue to serve the Lord with great intensity and with great concentration so that one actually experiences the Lord’s reciprocation.

What is the result? Even if it begins with only a few days, what is the result? The devotee goes on to become Krishna’s associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable material worlds. 

So with that dṛḍhā matiḥ, that firm intelligence, fixed intelligence, we should remain focused on the goal of Krishna and not be distracted by the paltry pleasures and petty perturbances of the deplorable material world. It is deplorable because although we are by nature eternal and full of bliss and full of knowledge, the material worlds are full of ignorance and misery and further more they are temporary. So it is deplorable that we come to the material world and forget Krishna and want to take the place of Krishna. It is actually regrettable but when our intelligence becomes fixed on the goal of Krishna then we can go to Krishna and become a personal associate after giving up the present deplorable material worlds.

Now sometimes there are problems—of course there are always problems in the material world and even in the society of devotees, in the association of devotees there can be problems—but we should not forget our real goal, and in this connection Srila Prabhupada wrote a very nice letter which I shall share with you. He wrote, “Although there may be some difficulties within our society, these things are not very important. What is important is that we should simply fix our mind on Krishna’s lotus feet. This is His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā.” (man-manā bhava mad-bhakto) “So we associate with one another so that we can assist each other in hearing and chanting about Krishna. That is the purpose of our society to assist each other in hearing and chanting about Krishna. This you will not find in the materialistic society where all hearing and chanting is simply concerned with sense gratification. So our desire is Krishna and we want to go back home—back to Godhead where Krishna lives eternally. So you simply follow my instructions as I have given them to you and surely your life will be a success.” (SPL to Nrhari dasa, 22nd November, 1974)

So this is the real purpose of the society to chant and hear about Krishna which is the means of fixing our mind on Krishna. That is our actual purpose to fix our mind on Krishna—Krishna consciousness, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Krishna consciousness means to fix the mind on Krishna, to be conscious of Krishna, and the way we fix our mind on Krishna is mainly through the process of chanting and hearing about Krishna, which is done in the association of devotees.

At the sādhu-saṅga retreat devotees engaged in kirtan. Kirtan is something devotees do all the time but at the sādhu-saṅga retreat the devotees experienced the kirtan on a deeper level because of the association. The retreat was organized by His Holiness Indradyumna Swami and in addition to Maharaja many wonderful kirtan leaders came—His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami Maharaja, His Grace Badahari Prabhu, His Grace Madhava dasa, so many, Ananta Govinda, Acyuta Gopi, the whole Kazakhstan bhajana band. So that was part of it, associating with devotees who have a real taste for the holy name, and another part of it was leaving aside everything else. Going on a retreat is a special facility because one can leave aside everything else, leave behind everything else, go to a new place where all the associations and patterns of thought and behavior from the old place are left behind. That is very healthy. Another reason why the experience is so deep is that one is focused specifically on the experience of chanting and hearing about Krishna. Of course when devotees meet, old friends, they want to talk about what has happened since they last met, and when they meet new people, make friends with new people, they want to tell about their past and their present and their future and that is all well and good but that is not exactly the same as directly chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. 

So in Govinda Maharaja’s introductory talk he appealed to the devotees that, “When you are in the hall that is the Krishna zone. When you are in the hall the only activity is directly chanting and hearing the holy name or directly speaking and hearing about Krishna and the process of devotional service. And if you want to meet people in a more social way you do it outside of the Krishna zone.” Of course that is also not outside of Krishna consciousness—meeting in a more social way—but it is not the same. In a way it is the same but in a way it is not the same as directly chanting and hearing and absorbing oneself fully in the holy name of Krishna. 

“There is also the question of the mind. You could be in the hall, in the Krishna zone, and not talking, not socializing, not texting, but still your mind could be somewhere else and so we have to control the mind.” Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena. We have to practice controlling the mind and when we actually control the mind and fix the mind on Krishna in the form of His holy name or transcendental topics about Him we experience the association of Krishna, we experience a happiness and a love that we cannot experience in the material world and that we may have never experienced in the same way in our entire lives and that will make our intelligence firm and fixed on Krishna. So we will accept whatever is favorable for our development of Krishna consciousness and reject whatever is unfavorable. 

When the sādhu-saṅga retreat ended I was thinking, “What will I do now? After such an experience what will I do now?” I kept wishing that the Kirtan Mela had continued or was finding out when the next Kirtan Melas are and how to attend them. But maybe two days later was Pandava-Nirjala-ekādaśī and so I observed it Nirjala—no eating or drinking or sleeping—and just mainly chanting japa. There was service and that was also favorable in a way but still there was a lot of time for japa. Sixty-four rounds was just the beginning. It was a good beginning but it was just the beginning. It was the same type of experience as at the sādhu-saṅga retreat because it was an intense absorption in Krishna, in the holy name, and even though I didn’t have all the association I had at the retreat, but I had the holy name, I had the beautiful deities of Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, and at different times to different degrees there were devotees in the temple room chanting with me. So in a way I also had good association.

So we don’t necessarily have to have a big retreat, japa retreat or kirtan retreat or japa and kirtan retreat, but we do need to set aside time and focus exclusively or as much as possible on directly chanting and hearing about Krishna. And if others can join us in the same effort without being distracted then that will make the experience even better for us and also for them. 

So we should always keep in mind what is the purpose of our society. As Srila Prabhupada mentioned in the letter and indirectly in the verse and purport and everywhere in his books and that is to fix the mind on the lotus feet of Krishna and assist each other in hearing and chanting about Krishna. With that perspective we can make progress without being distracted, at least unnecessarily distracted by the petty problems or so-called problems of the material world because we are fixed on the goal. And yes, we have to deal with the material world, we have to keep the body and soul together, and we have expand the mission of Krishna consciousness—that was very much Srila Prabhupada’s mood, goṣṭhyānandī—but again as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, the best goṣṭhyānandī is a bhajanānandī who preaches. So when we actually experience that bliss, that ānanda in bhajana, in chanting and hearing about Krishna, we get the conviction and the inspiration and the potency to actually preach, to touch people’s hearts with Krishna consciousness. 

So we should remain fixed on our goal and the process to achieve it and other things are there, they come and go—problems and solutions come and go, praise and blame come and go, heat and cold come and go—like seasonal changes they come and go and we can’t stop them. We are in the material world, we are in the world of duality; there is bound to be duality. Someone blames us; someone praises us; someone tries to lift us up; someone tries to pull us down. These dualities are there. We tolerate them, we deal with them to the extent we have to, but we remain fixed in our goal and organize our lives in a way that is most favorable for our achieving our goal. And as this verse says even after only a few days of being engaged in the service of the Absolute Truth a devotee attains firm and fixed intelligence in Krishna and consequently he goes on to become Krishna’s associate in the transcendental world after giving up the present deplorable, material worlds. Hare Krishna.

Do any of you have any questions or comments?

Sarvakanti dasi: We are looking forward to your Mauritius trip and I have arranged the funds to come. I am very much looking forward to that. [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: There is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada in Vrindavan who has a beautiful farm quite near the Yamuna River and he has so much faith in the cows, in the service of the cows, and it is really like what you read in the Bhāgavatam—the cows are very jolly and happy and they give lots of milk and from the milk they make yogurt and ghee and milk sweets and the whole atmosphere is sublime. They keep bees and have their own honey and the honey is also extraordinary. And they grow flowers and vegetables and you can really see what a beautiful life that was but the real central point is the cows. If devotees get a chance when they go to Vrndavana and they can visit Prema Kisora’s ashram and there are others, the locals, that is the life they are used to living traditionally. So yes, it is really important. Of course any way we protect the cows is good but if we can actually have a situation like Prema Kisora where the cows are living in nature and the human beings are living in nature with the cows and a very peaceful environment for chanting and hearing about Krsna, not having to worry about where you are going to get food and how contaminated the food is, it is really a very beautiful, healthy life.

Sarvakanti dasi: Thank you so much. It is really nice to go back to that village life. Cow protection. Simple living and high thinking.

Giriraj Swami: [dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ]. If you protect dharma, the cows, dharma will protect you.

Sarvakanti dasi: It can happen in Mauritius, Maharaja. We can make it a Krishna conscious country.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, together we can. Hare Krishna.

Sudama dasa: You spoke about something that I was contemplating about the past few months or so because I think it is typical of what devotees experience in everyday life where you tend to forget about Krishna consciousness [?] in your everyday life especially if you are a householder. Maybe it is related to what you spoke about but I was just hearing one of your classes yesterday or during the course of the week and you were mentioning that one should not become a spiritual master or a parent or a husband without being an uttama-adhikārī. You mentioned that and I felt that [?] but then you mentioned how if as a devotee if one follows the spiritual master, that you are following Srila Prabhupada and engaging in Krishna consciousness and [?] hearing and chanting. I think you did mention that, hearing and chanting—śravaṇam kīrtanam—so I think this all leads back to the fact that we have to deal with the material world but we can focus on Krishna consciousness by following Srila Prabhupada and concentrating on our hearing and chanting.

Giriraj Swami: Very nice. Thank you. What Srila Prabhupada’s purport says about gurur na sa syāt, pitā na sa syāj, and so on is that one cannot discharge those duties properly unless one can deliver one’s dependent from the repetition of birth and death. And one can become free from the repetition of birth and death only by become Krishna conscious. So Srila Prabhupada said that one can properly discharge one’s duties as a guru, father, mother, husband only if one is a pure devotee. And pure devotee means like you said one who sincerely follows the instructions of the spiritual master. One may not be a perfect devotee but one can be a pure devotee in the sense that he is trying to serve Krishna not for any material benefit or for any impersonal liberation and is following the process. That is something that we can all do and that is what we are meant to do and we should do. Hare Krishna.