SB 2.3.17 – Minimizing Losses, Maximizing Gains

Giriraj Swami: I know that somebody asked you this before, but how many of you are here for the first time? Well, today is a special day in your life because you have come to a very special place where pure devotees of the Lord are engaged in chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. Now, what is the significance of that fact? The significance is that we are each allotted a certain duration of life. From the moment we are born, we are allotted a certain number of breaths. And therefore, at least previously, yogis in India could live very long lives, hundreds of years if not more, by controlling their breathing. There is a story of one devotee who would breathe once every six months. So, our duration of life is fixed, and although people take action to prolong their lives and avoid death, which is natural and, in a way, required for ordinary people, but the fact is that we cannot extend the duration of our life by one breath. So, the question is, how do we use our time? Because how we use our time really means how we use our life. Our life is the most precious asset we have.

Generally speaking, a person will spend any amount of money to prolong his life. In fact, there was a gag, or a joke, with a comedian named Jack Benny, who had a persona of being very miserly. So, in this gag, which was broadcast on the radio as part of his program, a hoodlum comes up to him and pulls a gun on him and says, “Your money or your life.” And Jack Benny says, “Come on now, put that thing away.” He said, “No, I am serious. Your money or your life.” And there was silence. And that hoodlum became very angry, and he said, “Sir, I said your money or your life.” And Jack Benny replied, “Just wait a minute, I am thinking about it.” [laughter] Now, the reason we laugh is because money is valuable, but not as valuable as our life. In fact, our money has value only as long as we are alive. So, that is how valuable our life is. And Canakya Pandit, the great intellectual, moral teacher of India, remarked that at the time of death, you cannot prolong your life, or you cannot buy back a moment of time with any amount of money; no amount of money. You can be ready to spend any amount of money, but you cannot buy back any time that you lost, or buy any extra time. So, our life, which is composed of our time, is extremely valuable, it is really all we have. And therefore, we should think very carefully how we shall use our time to get the best advantage.

Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay who was a very big businessman, very shrewd businessman. In fact, he had been the wealthiest man in the province of Sind before partition of India and Pakistan, and his personal residence, which was called Mohatta Palace, at the time of partition was taken by the government of Pakistan and given to the Jinna family. Anyway, I won’t elaborate more, he was a very wealthy person, and R.D. Birla was one of the four Birla brothers, which was the wealthiest family in India then, he gave his daughter in marriage to Mr. Mohatta. So, Srila Prabhupada was very expert at presenting the philosophy of Krishna consciousness in the terms that a person could understand and appreciate, the language, he could appreciate. So, Mr. Mohatta was a businessman, and every businessman has to pay attention to the accounts, otherwise you can’t run the business. And Mr. Mohatta, when I visited him in his office, he had a huge office and so many tables with accountants. And he said that different businessmen have different philosophies of accountants. Some like their accountants to do just what they say without asking questions or making comments, but others want their accountants to actually make suggestions, question them and express their views. And Mr. Mohatta said, he was in the second category.

So, I am sure that Mr. Mohatta never discussed his philosophy of accountants with Srila Prabhupada, but Srila Prabhupada could understand; he is a businessman and he is keeping accounts. And so, he told Mr. Mohatta that, “In the ledger of your life, there are two columns; profit and loss. And every moment that you use in Krishna consciousness is profit, and every moment that you use outside of Krishna consciousness is loss. So, naturally, any businessman wants to maximize his profits and minimize his losses.

Now, this is what Srila Prabhupada has said, what our wise people have said, and what scripture says, but someone might question, “What is the value of chanting and hearing about Krishna?” In fact, there are people who think that this is loss, and who think that enjoying sense gratification is gain. In fact, sometimes it happens that in a couple, one person shows interest in Krishna consciousness more than the other, and the other begins to feel very insecure. Of course, there could be misunderstandings of Krishna consciousness, but one possibility is simply that a person doesn’t want to give up his or her sense gratification. Now, in Krishna consciousness, the first lesson, I mean, I would say the first lesson in life, is who you are. And that is the first instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā, that you are not the body, but you are the ātmā, the jīvātmā, the soul within the body. And this body is just like a dress, it is not you. So, which is more important, the body or the dress? Of course, the body is more important. But the body is itself a dress for the soul, that is the meaning of the verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, that the body is just like dress. And our dress has a shape, it has a form, it has arms, because the body has arms. So, that means the body, which is dressed for the soul, that means the soul also has shape, it has form, but it is spiritual, it is not material. And just as a person discards his old and worn clothes and gets new clothes to wear, similarly, when the body becomes old and useless, the soul discards it and takes on a new body.

So, what is the difference? What is the relative importance between the body and the clothes? The clothes are not very important; it is the body. So, similarly, what is the comparison between the body and the soul? The soul is much more important because bodies come and go, but the soul remains. But as long as we are in ignorance of our actual identity, that we are not the body but we are the soul, which is part and parcel of Krishna, the Supreme Soul, we act for the benefit of the body. This is illusion, or maya. And most people are in ignorance, they identify with the body and they work for the benefit of the body, which is a total waste of time without Krishna consciousness.

Another example that Srila Prabhupada gave is the bird in the cage. The bird lives in a cage like we are living in the body, and you may get a beautiful golden cage and polish it so it is shining, and fill it with diamonds and rubies and emeralds and valuable jewels and gems, and perfume it with fragrant oils and incense and flowers and everything, but if you don’t feed the bird, will the bird be happy? No, you have to feed the bird. What is the use of polishing the cage and neglecting to feed the bird? The bird will just get weaker and weaker, suffer more and more. So, the body is like a cage, and we, the soul, are like the bird in the cage. In fact, we will be more happy when we are free, when we leave the cage and can fly wherever we like.

And, of course, spiritually, when we are liberated, we are completely free. But even in the material world, there are higher planets, Siddhaloka, where the residents naturally have mystic powers. Here, one can develop mystic powers by the practice of yoga, but on Siddhaloka, people all are born with mystic powers, and they can fly anywhere they like; they can fly from planet to planet. And Srila Prabhupada said just like we like to go for a drive in the country and just park the car somewhere in the country and enjoy nature, they fly in outer space, and they just find some nice place in outer space, and they stop, and they enjoy their time in outer space. So, that degree of freedom is possible even within the material world, even within a physical body. The residents of Siddhaloka, they have material bodies, but they have mystic powers, they have realized that potential for freedom even within the material world. So, what to speak of when we are out of the material world then we enjoy complete freedom?

So, the bird in the cage, first of all, needs to be fed. So, the soul needs to be fed. And what is the food for the soul? It is this, chanting and hearing about Krishna, chanting Hare Krishna, discussing Bhagavad-gītā, serving Krishna; that is the food for the soul. And that food will make the bird so strong that upon leaving the cage of the body at the time of death, he will be able to leave the material world all together with all the miseries of material life and the repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease, and he will be able to fly back home, back to Godhead. So, that is a worthy goal, that is a worthy destination. Because again, how we use our time will depend on our goal. But if we become free from that illusion, that ignorance that I am the body and we know that our actual identity is a spirit soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul or Krishna, eternal servant of Krishna, then we will use our time, we will direct our efforts towards realizing our eternal blissful life with Krishna. And then, this association becomes extremely critical because it is in the association of such devotees, that we can chant and hear about Krishna.

Now, Krishna is transcendental, His name is transcendental, we can chant and hear about Him anywhere, we don’t have to come to the temple. But the fact is that unless one is very advanced in Krishna consciousness, he or she needs the association of devotees because the mind is so conditioned to going here and there, taking us here and there in the pursuit of sense gratification or mental speculation, we need the association of devotees to help us focus our mind. And the other day, I gave the example to someone who wanted to chant, who had experience chanting sixteen rounds a day, and who had experienced the happiness of chanting sixteen rounds a day, and who was experiencing the misery of not chanting sixteen rounds a day. And I suggested chanting in the association of devotees because the mind is such that it will always tell us that there are more important things to do than chant Hare Krishna. We sit down to chant Hare Krishna, and in practically no time at all, the mind is saying, “There is this and this and this and that, and they are all more important than chanting Hare Krishna, you can chant Hare Krishna anytime. And what does it matter if you chant or not? But you will, you will chant later, mañana, mañana, mañana.” [laughter] And we follow the mind, and we are off somewhere else.

So, chanting with the devotees is very good because they will help you to focus. And even if you can’t come to the temple, you should have your own group. It could be with your own family members, or other devotees, neighbors, friends. Have your own group that supports you in your chanting. If you call a devotee friend and say, “Okay, let us chant Hare Krishna together for an hour.” And the friend comes over, you go to the friend’s house, and a few minutes later your mind is saying, “Oh, you didn’t do this, you didn’t do that, you have to do this, you have to do that,” you won’t very easily just stop chanting and do what your mind says because it will be very embarrassing. I mean, you will be completely exposed as being a servant of your mental concoctions rather than a servant of the holy name. And of course, chanting with devotees who have faith, who have taste, that also helps us to develop faith and taste. So, this association is very important. First, to overcome the ignorance, the illusion that binds us to the material world. And second, to take up the process that will free us, or liberate us, from this bondage.

So, those of you who have come for the first time, this is a very special occasion. And for those who are here, it should also be a special occasion because at every moment we have to rededicate ourselves to this process because the material atmosphere, the association, the modes of nature that surcharge the atmosphere, are full of ignorance and passion. And therefore, they tend to take us away from our real duty. So, I will just read one verse, which, I wouldn’t say explains what I just said, but I would say what I just said explains what I am about to read. And I will read the purport because it is so good to hear what Srila Prabhupada has to say. 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.”

Okay, now, listen and repeat. This is a good mental exercise because, physically, people do exercises, they lift weights to build up their physical strength, so you can also build up your mental strength, or intellectual strength, by exercising it.

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.

COMMENT

Now, listen attentively because I will ask questions. [laughter]

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.

COMMENT

What does acceleration mean?

Devotee: To increase or to go fast.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it means to go faster. So, “This verse 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.” In other words, you have to put your foot on the gas, you have to go faster, you just can’t keep putzing around.

PURPORT (continued)

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 (jiva) so 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.

COMMENT

How many people in this room want to be happy? Everyone does, everyone does. So, this verse and purport are meant for you because it tells you how you can become permanently happy.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

It is just like a fish out of water. If you take a fish out of water, same example, you put the fish in a golden bowl and fill it with diamonds and rubies and emeralds, the fish will not be happy because the fish is out of its element, the fish will be happy only in water. So, we are spiritual creatures, we are out of our element in the material world, we can be happy only back in our element, in the spiritual realm.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

In other words, the Lord is absolute, and any part of Him is equal to the whole of Him. That means His name is Krishna, His form is Krishna, His qualities are Krishna, His pastimes are Krishna, His paraphernalia is Krishna, His entourage is Krishna, They are all Krishna. So, any way you come in contact with Krishna, whether by chanting His holy names, hearing His topics from the Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, seeing the deity with faith and devotion, serving the deity with faith and devotion, they all connect you with Krishna, the whole of Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

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.”

COMMENT

So, everyone in the material world is afraid because they identify with the body. Whatever we have to fear, pertains to the body. We are afraid of getting sick, we are afraid of getting old, we are afraid of losing our money, or losing our jobs, losing our homes, losing our car. It is all related to the body, all of our fears. And even spiritually, the greatest fear of a living entity, of a human being, would be to fall down into a lower species. So, the more we come out of this ignorance of identifying with the body, and identify ourselves as spiritual, the more we become free from fear. And even the spiritual fear of having to take birth in a lower species, which is a possibility for people who identify with the body and engage in ordinary sinful activities, it is a very real possibility. But if you even make a beginning in devotional service, the Lord is so kind He will give you a chance to continue your advancement in the next life, in a human body. So, even a little beginning protects you from that fear. So, we should begin, and once begun, we should accelerate. But begin, every journey begins with the first step, so just make a beginning, take the first step and take the second and the third; pretty soon you will have progressed quite a distance.

PURPORT (continued)

As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently.

COMMENT

Again, someone has some vitamin deficiency, they can take supplements orally. But if they are really in bad shape, if they really need an infusion, then they get an injection, and then, right away they feel the effects. So, hearing the topics of the Personality of Godhead in the association of pure devotees is highly potent, and it acts just like a drug injected intravenously. And therefore, this association is so important. And having the right mood of reception is important because Prabhupada says, “Through the ear of the pure devotee,” that means you all are expected, to get the full effect, the quickest benefit, to be pure devotees, which means not that you are immediately free from all taints of material contamination, but it means that the goal of your life is to revive your relationship with Krishna, and you are doing whatever you can to revive your eternal relationship with Him.

PURPORT (continued)

Aural reception 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, in as much as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence.

COMMENT

In other words, the rising and setting of the sun decreases the life of everyone except for pure devotees who engage their time in topics of the Personality of Godhead because instead of coming closer to death, they are coming closer to their eternal life, so they are not afraid.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.

COMMENT

Now, this part of the purport, which is the concluding section, is very important because it can be understood on two levels. One is how to gain materially, and the other is how to gain spiritually. So, people who want to gain materially can also get some good instructions from this purport. [laughter] Not that anyone here is in that category.

Jaya Sri Sri Kalachandji ki jaya!

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Jaya Sri Jagannatha Baladeva Subhadra ki jaya!

So, we will just finish up. This is also very potent. Okay, now listen.

PURPORT (continued)

Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life.

COMMENT

I recently heard a talk, in which Srila Prabhupada said that if you give in charity to an ordinary person, that person has to pay you back fourfold in the next life. So, from a certain point of view, giving in charity is a good business. [laughter] Because whatever you give in charity comes back to you, it doesn’t matter who you give it to. But there is a catch, which I will explain in a few sentences.

PURPORT (continued)

If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualifications) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If the money 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.

COMMENT

Can anyone repeat what I just read? [laughter] Who has been paying attention? Yes, sir?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:45:48]

Giriraj Swami: Yes. Okay. [applause]

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So, if you give your money to a fully realized soul or pure devotee, what happens?

Devotees: Unlimited.

Giriraj Swami: It is returned by unlimited multiplications. In other words, you go back home, back to Godhead because there is nothing in the material world that can repay you. Once, when Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay, Juhu, he had just come from Hong Kong, and the devotees had rented, I think, the penthouse of the fanciest hotel in Hong Kong, and they had received Srila Prabhupada with a Rolls-Royce, and they invited the press. And one of the reporters asked Srila Prabhupada, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person, and you are riding in a Rolls-Royce?”

I wasn’t there, but when he got to Bombay, he told me about the exchange he’d had. Srila Prabhupada replied, “The spiritual master is the representative of God, and in the spiritual world, everything is made of spiritual gems, which fulfill everyone’s desires in every respect.” So he said, “Actually, they should have received me in a carriage made of spiritual gems. [laughter] Even a Rolls-Royce made of solid gold wouldn’t have been good enough. [laughter] But this was all they offered, so I had to accept it.” [laughter] And then Srila Prabhupada had said to me, “With envious people, what else can you say?” [laughter]

So, unlimited multiplications means you have your ticket back home, back to Godhead.

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).

COMMENT

That is confirming that veda-pāraga means a realized pure devotee of Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

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. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate.

COMMENT

So, therefore I said this is a very special occasion.

PURPORT (concluded)

A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

o, this is also an important point because janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi—birth, death, old age, and disease are concomitant factors of material life. As soon as we have a material body, it means repeated birth, and death, and disease, and if we are able to live long enough, old age. And we can’t avoid them, but when they come, instead of being a discouragement as they are for ordinary people because it becomes an impediment to their sense gratification, instead of being a discouragement, it becomes an impetus for a devotee to accelerate his or her devotional service, so that he or she can approach the eternal life with Krishna that awaits them as soon as they give up this false identification and illusory vain pursuit of sense enjoyment. So, there is nothing bad in the life of a devotee. Anything that appears to be bad can actually be an impetus to further advancement in Krishna consciousness.

So, just repeat that one sentence with the new people, “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.”

So, I congratulate all of you. [laughter] We have spent more than just a moment, we have spent about an hour in the association of Srila Prabhupada through his writings, the association of a pure devotees, so it is guaranteed, we just have to keep going. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: So, I will be here for a while. There are other senior devotees, and His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami is due tomorrow, Krishna willing. So, we won’t have questions and answers now, but we will be available, and now we will have kirtan and audience of the Lord. Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!