SB 2.14.18 – Sadhu-sanga Retreat

Giriraj Swami: We shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter Four, Text Eighteen. Please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

To save time I will just recite the Sanskrit verse.

kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśā

ābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥ

ye ‘nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥ

śudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥ

TRANSLATION

Kirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Kirāta: A province of old Bhārata-varṣa mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva of Mahābhārata. Generally the Kirātas are known as the aboriginal tribes of India.

Hūṇa: The area of East Germany and part of Russia is known as the province of the Hūṇas.

Āndhra: A province in southern India still extant under the same name.

Pulinda: This country was conquered by Bhīmasena and Sahadeva. The Greeks are known as Pulindas, and it is mentioned in the Vana-parva of Mahābhārata that the non-Vedic race of this part of the world would rule over the world. This Pulinda province was also one of the provinces of Bhārata, and the inhabitants were classified amongst the kṣatriya kings. But later on, due to their giving up the brahminical culture, they were mentioned as mlecchas

COMMENT

Prabhupada explains the different categories. The Khasa are the Mongolians, the Chinese and others who are so designated.

PURPORT (continued)

The above-mentioned historical names are different nations of the world. Even those who are constantly engaged in sinful acts are all corrigible to the standard of perfect human beings if they take shelter of the devotees of the Lord. Jesus Christ and Muhammad, two powerful devotees of the Lord, have done tremendous service on behalf of the Lord on the surface of the globe. And from the version of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī it appears that instead of running a godless civilization in the present context of the world situation, if the leadership of world affairs is entrusted to the devotees of the Lord, for which a worldwide organization under the name and style of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has already been created, then by the grace of the Almighty Lord there can be a thorough change of heart in human beings all over the world because the devotees of the Lord are able authorities to effect such a change by purifying the dust-worn minds of the people in general. The politicians of the world may remain in their respective positions because the pure devotees of the Lord are not interested in political leadership or diplomatic implications. The devotees are interested only in seeing that the people in general are not misguided by political propaganda and seeing that the valuable life of a human being is not spoiled in following a type of civilization which is ultimately doomed.

If the politicians, therefore, would be guided by the good counsel of the devotees, then certainly there would be a great change in the world situation by the purifying propaganda of the devotees, as shown by Lord Caitanya. As Śukadeva Gosvāmī began his prayer by discussing the word yat-kīrtanam, so also Lord Caitanya recommended that simply by glorifying the Lord’s holy name, a tremendous change of heart can take place by which the complete misunderstanding between the human nations created by politicians can at once be extinguished. And after the extinction of the fire of misunderstanding, other profits will follow. The destination is to go back home, back to Godhead, as we have several times discussed in these pages.

COMMENT

Well, I will stop here. It is a long purport.

Every year, over the Memorial Day weekend, there is a Prabhupada Festival in Los Angeles. The first time His Holiness Indradyumna Swami invited me to the sādhu-saṅga retreat, he wrote me and asked if I had any other commitments over the Memorial Day Weekend. And then he wrote, “And if you do, I hope you can change them.” So I understood that he is very intent and I surrendered. And I am glad I did. But one year when I went to the Prabhupada Festival in Los Angeles, Prabhupada’s Sanskrit editor, Pradyumna was there as a special guest. And afterwards he came and spent a couple of days with me in Santa Barbara. And Pradyumna Prabhu has really studied the Vedic literature and the writings of the previous acharyas. And I found him to be very objective in his appraisal of the different works, the different acharyas. And he said something very striking about Srila Prabhupada in contrast to everyone else he had read. And that is that Srila Prabhupada took the same principles of the Vedic literatures of the previous acharayas that are generally taken to be for one’s personal spiritual advancement and deliverance and applied them on the scale of the whole world.

If you were listening attentively to the purport, you would have perceived that Srila Prabhupada was indirectly referring to the verse, first verse of the Śikṣāṣṭakam—ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam; especially the first two items—bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ. And we recite these verses every morning, in many of our temples and we think, “Yes, by chanting the holy name, the dust from the mirror of my mind will be cleansed, and the blazing fire of material existence that is burning me will be extinguished.” But here Srila Prabhupada, and this purport really, well it is true, all of Prabhupada’s books and purports, it really shows his inner mood. Although it is written in an objective third person voice, Srila Prabhupada is really telling us what is going on inside of him. And he is thinking that the whole world is in this blazing fire of material existence which is manifest as conflict. Of course it is there within families, within societies, within nations, between nations. And he is saying that if the leaders of the world would take guidance from the devotees of the Lord then the whole world’s situation could change. And according to Pradyumna Prabhu, this is revolutionary, to think in terms of changing the whole world from top to bottom, reforming the whole world. And wouldn’t that be nice if that happened? And Srila Prabhupada said that there is already an organization called the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, that has been started for this purpose to give guidance to the world leaders.

Now, coming to us, and I can’t say for sure, but many of us come in the categories mentioned in the verse; either by geographical name or even if our country of birth was not mentioned, we would probably come in the category of others addicted to sinful acts. And what Srila Prabhupada did for us, well he explains it himself and that too is revolutionary.

PURPORT (continued)

According to the cult of devotion, generally known as the Vaiṣṇava cult, there is no bar against anyone’s advancing in the matter of God realization. A Vaiṣṇava is powerful enough to turn into a Vaiṣṇava even the Kirāta, etc., as above mentioned. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.32) it is said by the Lord that there is no bar to becoming a devotee of the Lord (even for those who are lowborn) and by becoming a devotee everyone is eligible to return home, back to Godhead. The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge in the transcendental science of Kṛṣṇa (Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam).

COMMENT

This is a very important point, my dear devotees. The only qualification is that one takes shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord who has thorough knowledge from the transcendental science of Krishna.

One year, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, at the time he was the GBC for India and I was the Temple President in Bombay. And Srila Prabhupada spent a lot of time in India and especially in Bombay. Tamal Krishna Goswami had a hernia. And he arranged to go for an operation in Jaslok Hospital, which was the best hospital in Bombay at the time. And he was already admitted in the hospital when Srila Prabhupada found out and he wanted to stop the operation because he didn’t have faith in the Indian doctors. And in those days, it was very difficult to get a telephone. When we first came to India, Srila Prabhupada told us that to get a telephone you have to know some minister and bribe him, otherwise, it takes years. Later when Srila Prabhupada came to America he found how easy it was to get a telephone. Just place the order and they come and install it. So he had a telephone in New York City. And his disciples, very new to Krishna consciousness as he describes it, they would phone him at midnight and inquire, “Swamiji, how are you feeling?” And as Prabhupada tells it he would reply, “Is this the time to inquire how I am doing?” And after a few days he decided and told the devotees, “Get out this thing.”

So in India, we may not have had a telephone at that stage but even if we did it probably didn’t work. Or even if it worked and we got through to the hospital, we couldn’t get through it to Tamal Krishna Goswami. I think we never got through the hospital. But Srila Prabhupada was so concerned, he decided to drive all the way from Juhu to Central Bombay, to try to stop the surgery. And at that time, we had just gotten our first vehicles and they were jeeps with a canvas type of cover, very primitive. And we rode down to the hospital and it was too late. The operation had already been performed and they were wheeling Tamal Krishna Goswami out of the operation theatre to the recovery room. And he was just coming out of the effects of the anesthesia. And he opened his eyes and there he saw Srila Prabhupada. And he told Srila Prabhupada that, “I just had a dream. And in this dream you were reporting to the previous acharyas about your work on planet Earth. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Gaura Kishore dasa Babaji Maharaja, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, many of the previous acharyas. And you were telling them that the people on planet Earth have no good qualities, they have no spiritual culture, they have no knowledge, they have no background in pious activities, they have no good qualities, no qualification for spiritual life; but they do have one qualification and that is whatever I tell them they do. And that is enough.” And that is what Srila Prabhupada is saying in this purport. And it was proven true in his practical activities. Yes.

PURPORT (continued)

The only qualification is that one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord. Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart.

COMMENT

So what Srila Prabhupada is saying in the next sentence which I just read is that after one takes shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord, he can be trained in the same way to become a pure devotee, and he in turn can deliver people from any part of the world. And that is happening right here. I will read that again.

PURPORT (continued)

Anyone from any part of the world who becomes well conversant in the science of Kṛṣṇa becomes a pure devotee and a spiritual master for the general mass of people and may reclaim them by purification of heart.

COMMENT

Which is affected through primarily saṅkīrtana.

PURPORT (continued)

Though a person be even the most sinful man, he can at once be purified by systematic contact with a pure Vaiṣṇava. A Vaiṣṇava, therefore, can accept a bona fide disciple from any part of the world without any consideration of caste and creed and promote him by regulative principles to the status of a pure Vaiṣṇava, who is transcendental to brahminical culture.

COMMENT

This stance of Srila Prabhupada is also revolutionary. His spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had considered that because a Vaishnava is transcendental, an actual Vaishnava, he surpasses the position of a brahman. But so that people do not misunderstand his position as being less than that of a brahman, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta awarded people who were not born in brahmanical families with the sacred thread, and that was quite rare. But what Srila Prabhupada did went way beyond that. He offered it to people who are not even born in India. And the caste brahmans in India, some of them were very upset. In fact, a group of them in Hyderabad approached Srila Prabhupada and said, “You are doing the greatest disservice to the Vedic culture by giving the sacred thread to these mlechchhas and yavanas.

When we first went to Madras, our host, he was a so-called orthodox. He was actually a nice person, he did take very good care of us but he did have some very orthodox, so-called orthodox ideas. And his idea was that we are Vaishnavas, we are more than brahmans, but we are not brahmans. We have to take birth again in a brahman family to become brahmans. So at that time there were four of us. And one was Achyutananda Swami, who is now in Alachua. And Achyutananda Prabhu asked him, “What is more powerful, sinful reactions or the holy name of Krishna?” And the man had to conceive, the holy name of Krishna. Then Achyutananda Swami said, “Someone is born as a brahman or whatever he is as a result of his past pious and sinful activities, but the holy name of Krishna is so powerful it can change all of that immediately. And the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam confirms that those who are engaged in chanting the holy name of the Lord, they have already engaged in all pious activities and done all performances. And they are immediately eligible to offer sacrifices, that means, they don’t have to wait for another birth to be considered brahman. They are immediately eligible.” And our host had to agree; he had to agree. But still it was a very big effort. And it is because of Srila Prabhupada’s efforts that we are sitting here today, that we have beautiful deity worship, that we have temples with deities and devotees worshiping deities, we have devotees at home who are worshiping deities. This is all by Srila Prabhupada’s mercy. And he worked very hard and faced a lot of opposition, but he was not deterred by anything.

Yesterday His Holiness Sacinandana Swami spoke so beautifully about sraddha and dhairyāt - inner strength. Srila Prabhupada had such inner strength, nothing could deter him. No amount of opposition because he was convinced he had realization. And there is a parallel between what Srila Prabhupada did and the description of what Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Sanatana Gosvami did. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, there is a description of the Chaitanya tree. And in this metaphor Lord Chaitanya is the tree and He is also the gardener. And just as any tree has the trunk, limbs, branches, means the Chaitanya tree does too. And Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, portrays different associates of Lord Chaitanya as branches of the Chaitanya tree. And of course, the principal, limbs, trunk, limbs are Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya. So, Rupa and Sanatana, in Kaviraja Gosvami’s description, they are called sarvottama- the best of all. Although Kaviraj Gosvami says you cannot really distinguish who is higher and who is lower. But when he comes to Rupa and Sanatana, he says sarvottama—they are the best of all. And what does he say about them? He says that they spread Krishna consciousness in the Paschim-desh—in the western countries.

What we know of India today, it is actually a conglomeration of different provinces or states which had different rulers. So Paschim-desh, they are sarvottama, they delivered people from the Paschim-desh. And this of course, calls to mind our praṇāma mantra to Srila Prabhupada, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe, he delivered people from the western countries who are filled with impersonalism and voidism. And how does Kaviraja Gosvami describe the people in the Paschimi-desh? He says that they are not very well educated and that they do not have good behavior, which is pretty much the description of the people of the world that Srila Prabhupada gave to the previous acharyas in the dream. And Rupa and Sanatana trained them in bhakti—devotional service, and sad-ācāra—good behavior. And that is what Srila Prabhupada did all over the world. So he is by analogy, I don’t want to be like a fanatic disciple, but sarvottama; Rupa and Santana were called sarvottama, the best of all because they delivered people in the western countries who are not well behaved or well educated, and trained them in good behavior and bhakti, which is what Srila Prabhupada did.

Some time later, Srila Prabhupada returned to India with some of his disciples. And he was very early. He was invited to a big, Sadhu Sammelan, a gathering of sadhus on the sands of Chowpatty beach, a big program outdoor. And there was a stage. And on the stage were many sadhus, so-called sadhus, and Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada’s disciples were behind him. He was very insistent; if you invite me I come with my disciples, and if you don’t accept my disciples then I am not coming. Otherwise, there are a lot of sadhus in saffron dress. And they gave a number of what to us appear to be long-winded dry talks of impersonal speculation. And Srila Prabhupada, when his turn came. He began with kirtan. And I think it was Mother Malati, she wanted to get off the stage and go down into the crowd, thousands of people. And one of the men devotees, “No! You can’t do that.” But anyway, she did it. And one after the other, everyone followed. And eventually, thousands of people were chanting and dancing. And it was amazing. Then Srila Prabhupada’s turn to speak came, and he said, “I don’t want to speak much.” Meaning, you have already sat through a lot of talks. He said, “I don’t wish to speak much, but these American boys and girls have all come to a very high standard of sad-ācāra,” that same word which means good behavior according to scriptural direction. He said: They do not eat meat, fish or eggs. They do not take intoxicants; even coffee, tea, or cigarettes which I believe is very rare even in India. And how have they come to this standard? By hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana cleanses all the dirt from within; ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.” And what the people saw they had never seen before, they had never seen white sadhus. So that in and of itself was amazing. And then on top of it such enthusiasm for hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and Krishna consciousness.

Some years later, Mrs. Lilavati Munshi, who was the wife of Kanhiyalal Munshi, the Governor and founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. You might recall that Prabhupada was getting a building in Jhansi. And anyway, we won’t get into that but they made some politics. So now, she was organizing a program at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan about how all the world’s problems can be solved through bhakti. And before the program she had tea upstairs for the guests, and the main one was Srila Prabhupada. And she was so astonished. She was saying, “How did you do it? How did you get them to wear dhoti and kurta and saris? It is unimaginable.” And then one of the other sadhus said, “Srila Prabhupada, you are the only one who can lead us.” They wanted him to take charge; “You are the only one who can lead us.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, but are you prepared to follow?” His Holiness Sacinandana Swami has been speaking about the difference between what is in our heart and what comes out of our mouths. And Prabhupada, he knew what was in the heart.

Then another man said: Swamiji, I am also gathering people together and I am getting them to chant the holy name. And I tell them that if they chant the holy name all of their physical diseases will be cured. Like I have heard in Christian Revival Meetings, if you accept Jesus. Someone will be in the audience with crutches and they say, if you accept Jesus you will be saved, all of your problems will be solved. And then someone, “I accept Jesus, I accept Jesus. “Okay, throw down your crutches.” He is trembling, he throws down his crutches and then and he walks. Of course, I have heard a lot of those are staged. But anyway, so this man was saying that, “I am gathering people and getting them to chant Hare Krishna. And you are gathering people and getting them to chant Hare Krishna. We should cooperate.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No. What you are doing is against our principles. The holy name of Krishna is Krishna, and we are servants of Krishna, of the holy name. We do not use the holy name in our service, we don’t use the holy name as our order supplier but rather we take orders from the holy name and we serve the holy name.”

So Srila Prabhupada had a conviction and he was very straightforward, generally he is very straightforward. So it was a miracle. Sometimes, so many examples people would say, “Can you do any miracles?” And Prabhupada, sometimes point to his disciples—"These are my miracles.” But this whole thing is a miracle. But it is up to us to take advantage of Srila Prabhupada’s magic, that Yamuna devi would often talk about the Krishna magic. So it is up to us to take advantage of the magic and we just have to open ourselves. And Prabhupada, the paramparā, Gaura-Nitai, Vaishnavas, the holy name, they do everything. Once His Holiness Indradyumna Swami made a little point that; I think he was a lifeguard, someone at the beach who keeps an eye on the swimmers and if someone is in trouble they go out and bring the swimmer back to safety. And he made the point that when someone is in the ocean drowning and the lifeguard comes to save the person, there is such a panicked state that they often fight the lifeguard. So the lifeguards are taught to swim around behind the person, grab the person from behind, and then drag the person to shore, to safety.

So it is like that. Srila Prabhupada, the paramparā, the holy name, Gaura-Nitai, they are all working to deliver us. And sometimes we are our own worst enemies, we fight it. They are trying to save us, all we have to do is cooperate and they will carry us across to safety out of this ocean. We just have to cooperate, we have to let go of our false egos and all the rest, the stuff. Just let them carry us along. And this sādhu-saṅga retreat is meant for that. So many sincere devotees, pure devotees, so much chanting of the holy name, hearing kṛṣṇa-kathā. We just have to surrender to the process and let the process, and the superior authorities, they are so kind, they are so merciful, they will carry us all the way back home, back to Godhead.

Hare Krishna