Appropriate Renunciation

Ṛtadhvaja Swami: Let me do my service, whatever comes, comes and whatever doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen, but we do want to serve steadily, day by day by day by day, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. Constantly consistently we chant the holy names of the Lord because the importance of chanting Hare Krishna is revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the middle Chapter Eight, where it is said that one who is not trained or practiced in chanting Hare Krishna will not be able to remember Krishna at the time of death. We have to be practiced. It is just like we have so many children here now, wonderful, bright faces. As [Unintelligible 00:00:51] Prabhu said, “The future looks very bright.” But if they all told you they have a test tomorrow but they are not going to study, what would you say? “You have to study.” But they said, “Well, I will just wing it. I will get the mercy at the last minute, I will remember.” The same thing, for when we have to remember Krishna, yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvam tyajaty ante kalevaram, because wherever our consciousness is at the time of death, that place will go without fail.

So, Prabhupada explains that we have to practice in the very beginning of our life or from when we understand the urgency of the message. And what is that urgency? That anyone, just like that, Hare Krishna. But if we are not practiced, we shouldn’t expect the honorary degree. Do you know what honorary degree is? You get a degree without having to do it, go through all the trials and tribulations. Most people don’t get an honorary degree so we shouldn’t expect that. Even though Ajamila was, what would you call it? Fortunate? That he remembered Narayana at the time of death, we might not do that. And I will give an example but I won’t use the bad word. I had a school, we had thirty boys and we were canoeing down some white water in Florida. It was about thirty yards long because Florida’s flat, there is no white water there, just one spot, just a little bit. And when the canoes came down, mine was the first. And we went through the white water, then we came back up or walked up and came back down. And finally, the last canoe came down, and they didn’t make it, it flipped over. So, fortunately, all the boys had life jackets on, but one of them had a life jacket on and he was stuck under the canoe and he couldn’t go underneath the canoe to come back up because he had a life jacket on. So, what happened was that when I realized that one boy was missing, I jumped in the water, flipped up the canoe and he came up and I won’t say what he said, but it wasn’t Krishna. [laughter] That close to death, but I won’t tell you what it is. . .like a worm. But I won’t say what he said. [laughter]

So, we have to remember that whatever our consciousness is throughout our life, that is where our consciousness is going to go at that final exam. Now, this is a little plug. So, we have to see what is going to happen. Just like Bhakta Vatsal Prabhu with having all these children chant, very, very, very, good and fortunate. Get them to chant more and more; everybody, chant, chant and be happy. So, that is part of the purport for this, and we will turn it over to Giriraj Maharaja who has the complete purport. [applause]

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami:

READING from Kabe Ha’be Bolo

5) When will I give up all thought of the world and society to run like a madman along the banks of the Ganges in Navadvipa, singing and dancing and sincerely calling out the names of Gaura and Nityananda?

6) When will Nityananda Prabhu be merciful to me and deliver me from the enchantment [maya] of the sense objects? When will he give me the shade of his lotus feet and the right to enter the market place [nāma-haṭṭa] of the Holy Name?

COMMENT

In the two verses, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is praying for the mercy of Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda is the original spiritual master and he is exceedingly merciful. And it is specifically by his mercy, that we become free from material desires and attachments. Now, one might think, Well, what is wrong with having material desires and attachments? They are natural. And in a sense, there is nothing wrong with it, but the problem is that we cannot be attached to both Krishna and maya at the same time. So, if we want to be attached to Krishna, we have to give up our attachment to maya. And at the same time, as we become more attached to Krishna, we naturally become more detached from maya. Now, maya does not necessarily mean material things because material things can be used in Krishna’s service.

Srila Rupa Gosvami gives the definition of yukta-vairāgya, anāsaktasya viṣayān, that without attachment to the objects of the senses, nirbandhaḥ kṛṣṇa-sambandhe, seeing their relationship with Krishna one can utilize them in the service of Krishna. Yuktaṁ vairāgyam ucyate, that is known as appropriate renunciation or balanced renunciation. So, most of us here are in grihastha ashram, which means that we have spouses, children, and there is paraphernalia of household life. And we can, as Srila Prabhupada said, make our home into a temple if we have the consciousness of making Krishna the center and doing everything for his pleasure. But that consciousness cannot develop all of a sudden. It develops through sadhana, especially from offenseless chanting, and it comes by the mercy of Lord Nityananda, which can be obtained particularly by serving the mission of Lord Chaitanya. And therefore, preaching, hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, book distribution, these are very important activities to help us get the mercy of Lord Nityananda from material bondage, and this is something everyone can do.

As you know, we just opened the new temple here, beautiful temple, and in one talk that Srila Prabhupada gave about deity worship, and he mentioned it in many of his talks, he spoke about a temple in Kanpur established by a wealthy family in India, called the Singhania or the JK Group, and the elder lady of the house has a rule that all of her sons and grandsons, however busy they might be, they must visit the temple every day. And if they don’t go, they get fined. And in one talk, Srila Prabhupada said we should also have the same rule in this temple. [laughter] [applause] Everyone must attend maṅgala-ārati. [laughter] And if they don’t attend, they have to pay the fine, and the fine is that they have to distribute one Kṛṣṇa book. [applause] He was addressing mainly temple devotees and, because you are grihasthas, so we will use the standard of Mrs. Singhania and it doesn’t have to be maṅgala-ārati but you should come and see the deity here or in your temple at home.

Yes, so yukta-vairāgya is very subtle, and only you and Krishna can say how sincere you are because one can also make a pretense of being engaged in service or doing something for the sake of service or keeping something for the sake of the service, but it is really in your interest to give up these attachments and become attached to Krishna. As Maharaja said, you will be tested at the time of death and all that you have done in this life will be successful or not, depending on whether you pass the final exam. Then he says, “When will he give me the shade of his lotus feet and the right to enter the market place [nāma-haṭṭa] of the holy name?” So, Nityananda Prabhu, he sells [Unintelligible 00:14:22], and Nityananda Prabhu sells the holy name, the treasure of the holy name for that price. And now it is your turn; who can say what is the price? Because we need the holy name. Yes?

Devotee: Faith.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, faith, very good, faith, śraddhā. If you have faith, you can get the holy name. If you don’t have faith, you can’t get it. You can go through the motions of chanting to make a show, but if you don’t have faith, you don’t really have the holy name. And that is one of the offenses, to not have complete faith in the holy name and to maintain material attachments, even after hearing so many instructions. So, the two go together, it is the same thing. Either we have faith in Krishna or in maya. And we should ask ourselves, where do we go for shelter? If there is a crisis, where do we look for shelter?

My godbrother, Bhurijana Prabhu, says this, “Usually, if there is a crisis and someone is in difficulty, the first thing they look for is their wallet.” [laughter] Because they have faith in money, in their credit card. If they have their credit card with them, they feel they can reach any eventuality.” So, we should be conscious, when there is some difficulty, danger, where do we go for shelter? Which means, where do we place our faith? So, we have to develop that habit of taking shelter of Krishna. We have to have faith in Krishna, in other words. And then, we can chant the holy name. Another side to this is that it is an offense to maintain material attachments and it is the same thing, we don’t have faith that by surrendering to Krishna, becoming Krishna conscious, we will be happy, protected, safe and protected and happy. And because we don’t have faith that Krishna consciousness will make us happy, we try to accumulate so many material things that we think will make us happy or hope will make us happy.

So, this last offense, not to have complete faith in the holy name and to maintain material attachments even after hearing so many instructions, the two parts of the offense are related to each other. But faith, saṅgāt sañjāyate kāmaḥ, faith develops through association. By associating with devotees who have faith, you will develop faith. Just like by associating with materialistic people, you will be influenced, but by associating with faithful devotees, you will be influenced. That is the most important factor. Associating with devotees means hearing from them and chanting with them, like you are doing tonight, we are doing tonight. We have to make systematic efforts to associate with devotees who have strong faith.

READING continued

7) When will I buy, borrow or steal the ecstasies of the Holy Name? When will I lose myself in the intoxication of the Holy Name? When will I immerse myself in the nectar of the Holy Name after grasping the feet of a saint who constantly relishes the flavours [rasa] of devotion?

COMMENT

So, this is the aspiration of the devotee as he is making advancement to relish the ecstasy of the holy name, not as a selfish desire, but as a sign that Krishna and the acharyas are pleased, that they have granted him admittance into that nectarean realm of pure chanting. And he mentions specifically, “after grasping the feet of a saint who constantly relishes the flavours [rasa] of devotion.” Grasping the feet, of course, it could be taken literally if we have that opportunity, but grasping the feet also means holding on to the instructions, holding tightly to the instructions.

READING continued

8) When will I feel compassion for all living beings [jivas]? When will I forget my own pleasure in genuine humility? And when will I, Bhaktivinode, meekly go from door to door, preaching your message of love?

COMMENT

So, this is the result of relishing the nectar of the holy name. It is not that one just immerses himself in his own bliss and forgets about others, but he takes that as an impetus to go to others so they can also relish the nectar. Our godbrother, Vaisesika dasa, is writing a book on book distribution. And so, one time, about a year ago or so, I was staying at his house and I went through the morning program with him. And his morning program is ecstatic, I mean, he is ecstatic. He does pretty much the same things most of us do, but he does it with so much intensity. And just being there, even just witnessing it, you feel that intensity. And then afterwards, he was talking with me about his book and he was discussing chapter by chapter, how he plans to develop the topic, and the first part is about sadhana. Because he says that book distribution, the enthusiasm for book distribution comes as the overflow from the ecstasy that one feels in one’s sadhana. And here, after describing these very elevated aspirations for pure devotion, the final conclusion of Bhaktivinoda Thakura is when will he go out to the people and examine them to accept the nectar of the holy name? After begging for the nectar of the holy name for himself, he prays to go out and beg others to accept the nectar of the holy name. And we are blessed by Srila Prabhupada in that line of preaching and getting the mercy of Lord Nityananda by preaching.

One of my favorite statements of his, which I do quote on occasion, is that, “To approach Radha and Krishna, one needs the mercy of Lord Chaitanya. And to get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya, one needs the mercy of Lord Nityananda. And to get the mercy of Lord Nityananda, one must approach people like Jagai and Madhai.” [laughter] So, it all starts like that, on the streets with books, door-to-door with books. Jagais and Madhais, they are wondering into the Hare Krishna dance or the surrounding area, we can approach them and we get tremendous mercy from them; from their activities and their [Unintelligible 00:26:35]

What is the goal? kṛṣṇa-prema.