SB 2.3.23 – Serving the Dust of the Lotus Feet of the Pure Devotee

Giriraj Swami: Today I will read a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, “Pure Devotional Service,” Text Twenty-three. Please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Text Twenty-three. I will just recite the Sanskrit twice and then we will recite the individual word meanings responsibly.

TEXT 23

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ
na jātu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu
śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ
śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

TRANSLATION

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead, but when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost. Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others. Similarly, the ghostlike nondevotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering from such impure ghosts.

COMMENT

There is more to the purport but I will pause now to discuss the topic of the breathing dead man. Just to give the primary understanding on the basis of the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord has two energies. Well, more than two, but for our discussion two energies: the superior energy, parā-prakṛti, or the spiritual energy, and the material energy, aparā-prakṛti, or inferior energy. And within the category of the material energy there are eight divisions: earth, water, fire, air, ether or space, mind, intelligence, and false ego. So the first five are considered gross material elements and the other three are subtle material elements, and above all of them is the ātmā or the soul. Now, when the ātmā leaves the body he leaves behind the gross body: earth, water, air, or in modern language solids, liquids, and gases. But the subtle body which is made of mind, intelligence, and false ego, remains with the soul, and in fact, that subtle body carries the soul to its next gross body. And one’s body is determined by one’s activities during his life and one’s thoughts at the time of death. And the Lord is so kind that generally, He fulfills the desires of the living entity by awarding them an appropriate body. For example, if someone wants to eat voraciously anything without discrimination and lives his life in that way so in his next life he can get the body of a pig, and in that body, he can eat as much as he can hold without any discrimination as to what is suitable or not suitable.

Now, how does one become a ghost? Because this is a very unusual situation. So, one of the most common ways that one can become a ghost is if he commits suicide because someone who commits suicide in effect is saying, “I don’t want a body. I don’t want to continue living in a body.” But the difficulty is that generally, people commit suicide because their material desires are frustrated. They are so disappointed in life that they just want to end their life. So they end up having a subtle body, but they have gross material desires. But because they are in a subtle body they are unable to fulfill their desires. So therefore, ghosts often try to get possession of someone else’s gross body so they can fulfill their gross material desires through that other person’s body, and so they create a very fearful situation.

Another way a person can take birth as a ghost is if he is very attached. Generally, what one is most attached to is what one will think of at the time of death, and accordingly one will get a body. Now, it might happen that a person is very attached to his house, especially if it is a palace or a castle. So if he dies thinking of his castle he may take birth as a ghost in that very castle. And often we hear of stories of big palaces and castles that are haunted by ghosts because their previous owners were so attached that they didn’t want to leave. They thought of their castle at the time of death. And it so happened in the history of ISKCON that devotees found very good properties that were for sale at a very low price because they were haunted. And the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada what they should do? And Srila Prabhupada said that, “You should get the property and then do hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, chant the holy names, and the kirtan will rid the haunted house of the ghosts.” So we got some good properties for a very less price.

Now, this idea of a ghost can actually have some relationship to us, fortunately or unfortunately. In the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Srila Rupa Gosvami has composed a very beautiful verse bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat, the desires for bhukti that means material enjoyment, and mukti, impersonal liberation, merging and becoming one with the impersonal effulgence from the transcendental form of Krishna, are like ghosts that haunt the conditioned soul, and they may even to some extent haunt a devotee, immature devotee. And how is it that they are compared to ghosts? Well, if a ghost gains possession of our body or mind even for a moment we think things that aren’t really us. Actually many people have this experience that some thought, maybe a terrible thought, will enter our mind that really doesn’t seem like us, our real self. And some devotees mention that phenomenon to Srila Prabhupada and he said, “It could be that a ghost temporarily entered your mind.” So these desires for bhukti and mukti which are so common, I mean practically everyone in the material world other than devotees is filled with these desires for bhukti and mukti, either material enjoyment or impersonal liberation. But they are not really us, as jīvātmā our real nature is to serve Krishna. As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’ - that the constitutional position of the living entity he is the eternal servant of Krishna. So these desires for bhukti and mukti are actually foreign to us, and so it is like being haunted by a ghost.

Some years ago, and I am not suggesting that anyone take any action on what I am going to mention, but about probably thirty years ago there was a movie called Ghost. And the talk amongst the devotees I was friendly with was that the writer of the story must have read Srila Prabhupada’s books because it is so accurately presented the philosophy. And they were saying that I should see it but I wasn’t that type to watch movies, but it did come on an in-flight, and frankly I couldn’t resist. And so there is one scene, just to give an example, there is one scene where the ghost was on the railway platform and there was a vending machine selling cigarettes, and from his previous life he wanted a cigarette but he didn’t have a physical body with which to enjoy it. So in the movies he is in a subtle body like he is just so angry and frustrated just banging against the vending machine trying to get the cigarettes. So it is just to let that it is not a good body to have, it can be very frustrating. But when we, even devotees, aspiring devotees are possessed by these external artificial desires for material enjoyment and impersonal liberation, we can also be frustrated because those types of desires can never be fulfilled. And in any case, they can never satisfy the soul because they are foreign to the soul. That is the negative, so now, what is the positive?

So I continue the purport, I will read the verse again just so that you can more easily understand the connection between the purport and the verse.

TRANSLATION

The person who has not at any time received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT (continued)

There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved.

COMMENT

They are saying love me, love my dog.

PURPORT (continued)

The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or paramparā.

COMMENT

So Srila Rupa Gosvami has enunciated the complete science of bhakti-yoga in his book Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And the very first items of bhakti-yoga are ādau guru-pādāśraya, that one should take shelter of the lotus feet of the guru. But who is a guru? No one can be a guru unless he has similarly taken shelter of the lotus feet of his guru who in turn has taken shelter at the lotus feet of his guru. And that chain goes all the way back to the Godhead Himself, to Krishna who is the original guru. So, this is the way that we can engage in devotional service, begin the process of bhakti-yoga, and ultimately become free from all these extraneous conceptions and desires, and actually achieve the happiness that we all want. And this ‘love me, love my dog,’ the dog this example is like the pure devotee and the person is Krishna, is God. So, before we can approach Krishna, before we can approach the Lord, we first approach the Lord’s puppy, and we pat the puppy, and feed the puppy, and make the puppy happy, and then the master becomes pleased seeing that His puppy has been pleased.

PURPORT (continued)

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa.

COMMENT

He was a king some centuries ago.

PURPORT (continued)

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti

na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā

na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair

vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam

“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

COMMENT

So we can do so many things for our spiritual elevation, and a number of them have been listed here. And if one travels to the Himalayas or attends some great gathering of saintly persons such as Khumba-mela one will see people who have dedicated themselves to engaging in these different types of penance and austerity and duties. But here the great sage Jada Bharat says that one cannot achieve the ultimate spiritual perfection by these means. One can achieve the highest stage of spiritual life only by serving the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee. Now, what does it actually mean to serve the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee? In general, it means to follow his instructions. It can also, if one is fortunate enough, it can also mean to actually serve his lotus feet, but it can mean to serve the devotees who have taken shelter of his lotus feet. So being the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant will please the devotee, the spiritual master, and that, in turn, will please Krishna. Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo, by the mercy of the spiritual master one gets the mercy of Krishna.

Now, in the context of the lives of many of us, the pure devotee that we were able to serve was Srila Prabhupada and before meeting him we were in that ghost-like condition of wanting to get that cigarette or whatever or in frustration wanting to just merge and obliterate everything and just become one with God, become God. But by the grace of his lotus feet we were delivered from our ghost-like existence. And then that has continued through paramparā, meeting others who took shelter of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada or others who have taken shelter of the lotus feet of someone who has taken shelter to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. It is not limited but as far as the world goes Srila Prabhupada is definitely the main figure whose lotus feet dust has given people the opportunity to realize their real life in Krishna consciousness.

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly.

COMMENT

Now, at this stage, I will tell a story that illustrates this point. In fact, it was an arrangement of Srila Prabhupada to illustrate this point. I was the first disciple of Srila Prabhupada to go to Madras, and in Madras, I developed a relationship with the chief justice of the high court and he wanted to become a devotee, he was becoming a devotee, he wanted to become a disciple of Srila Prabhupada. And when Srila Prabhupada came to Madras, the chief justice arranged a program for him in a large open field, and high court judges and high court advocates, many distinguished people came. And then afterwards the chief justice invited Srila Prabhupada and his disciples to his home. And at his home, he gifted Srila Prabhupada a little silver figurine of Lord Krishna, and other things, a sandalwood garland, and different gifts. And so Prabhupada was sitting on his chair and all the devotees were sitting on the floor.

And in that party was a little child named Sarasvati, the daughter of Shyamasundara Prabhu and Malati Mataji. And Srila Prabhupada held that little silver Krishna right in front of Sarasvati; she was just standing right in front of him, and she said, “Who is this? Krishna.” So then he slowly moved the little Deity from her side and hid him behind his back, and said, “Sarasvati, where is Krishna?” And she looked like he is gone so she is looking everywhere, like looking in the room, looking at the faces of the different devotees, and she was in her own child-like way in that mood of transcendental eagerness to find Krishna, feeling separation from Krishna. But being just a few years old she maybe got a little bit distracted, and again Prabhupada said, “Sarasvati, where is Krishna?” And again she became eager, where is Krishna? Where is Krishna? Looking, looking, looking. And then finally, her mother Malati gave her a hint and said, “Sarasvati, who has Krishna?” And immediately Sarasvati’s face lit up with her eyes open and she said, “Prabhupada has Krishna.” And she came running up to Srila Prabhupada and then Srila Prabhupada brought the little Krishna out from behind him and showed Him to Sarasvati.

So when I read this: “Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee.” I think of that incident, but we have to have that eagerness that anxiety.

PURPORT (continued)

Lord Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.” A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet.

COMMENT

So the tulasi plant is that tulasi is herself a great devotee of Krishna and the Lord is served by offering tulasi leaves at His lotus feet.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee.

COMMENT

Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau.

PURPORT (continued)

In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

So on our altar here just to Krishna’s left is Srimati Radharani.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. 

COMMENT

So sometimes people, well they really don’t know who God is, I mean generally they don’t know who God is, and sometimes they imagine that because He is the oldest of all He must have a long beard. There is often pictures of Him sitting on a throne with a long beard and a crown. But according to Vedic literatures such as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Brahma-saṁhitā, he is eternally youthful. Although He is the oldest of the old, ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca, but he also always has the form of a fresh youth. And He is always associated with His pleasure-giving potency hlādinī-śakti, His eternal consort Srimati Radharani. And this is the, you could say, complete conception of Godhead, both male and female. But just as in the material world, and this is not to indulge in stereotypes, but there are differences of nature between males and females, and that is true because in the original, in the spiritual world there is also that difference.

It is said that because Krishna is the Supreme Lord it is difficult to approach Him, but Srimati Radharani represents the compassionate side of Krishna. Krishna is compassionate, but His compassion is especially, you could say, embodied in Srimati Radharani. And so we can approach Krishna by appealing to His compassionate side as Srimati Radharani. And Srimati Radharani’s vision is such that she thinks that everyone is a better devotee than she is, this is mahā-bhāgavata. Everyone is a better devotee than she is, and so if someone comes forward to serve Krishna through paramparā, through the proper channel, Srimati Radharani will think, Oh, that devotee is so nice, that devotee is nicer than I am. And she can recommend that devotee to Krishna, and if Radharani recommends a devotee to Krishna then Krishna is bound to accept that devotee.

I know we have like quite a diverse audience here, but in Radharani’s place in Braj, Varshana, there is a saying that whatever Radha does Krishna likes and whatever Radha likes Krishna does. So the idea is if Srimati Radharani recommends a devotee to Krishna then Krishna will not refuse. But the devotee also does not want to surpass Radharani to serve Krishna. As Srila Prabhupada says that the devotee will place a flower in the hand of Srimati Radharani to offer to Krishna and receiving the flower offered by Srimati Radharani, Krishna will be exceedingly pleased to accept the offering.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.

COMMENT

So yes, that is the mercy of the devotee, that one’s attraction for the service of the Lord is revived. One actually has to have that attraction to do service, otherwise, we may talk about going back home, back to Godhead, but without the desire to serve it is really a desire for liberation. But what we really want is that desire to serve and that is awakened by the mercy, by the good will of the devotee. So, somehow or other everyone here is connected with devotees, otherwise, you couldn’t be here. You couldn’t be here without being connected with devotees, and by that connection one can be dragged, I would say, one can be dragged even if one is a little unwilling, dragged to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha.

So, this is our process to just submit ourselves to the devotees, to be trained by them, to be guided by them, to be engaged in service by them, and to adopt the processes of chanting and hearing about Krishna with them, and remember Krishna with them. And it is all very congenial and palatable. These other processes can be very difficult but as living beings we want association, we don’t want to be alone. But in other processes out of fear of being entangled in material relationships, material activities, they go off to the Himalayas, to the mountains, to the jungles, caves, to avoid association that could entangle them in material activities. But with us it is the opposite, in the right association our spiritual progress is accelerated.

So yes, I congratulate you all for being here, for having received the dust of the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada directly or indirectly. And I also come here for that association, and especially that for His Holiness Radhanath Swami and all of you. And I also look forward to progressing back home, back to Godhead, with all.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? Yes, please state your name before you ask your question.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, my name is Samarpana Gopa dasa. [Unintelligible 00:52:57]. So how to have that same weight in our heart? And second question, what is the meaning of sincerity?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we will start with the second one first because it leads into the first one. Well, Srila Prabhupada has given different definitions of sincerity. Once he said, or he was asked, how to become sincere? So one answer is to follow all of the instructions of the spiritual master however big or small. But another time he gave the answer that you become sincere by associating with devotees who are sincere. How do you become a thief? You associate with thieves, you learn how to become a thief. So by associating with sincere devotees you become sincere, and by following all of the instructions however big or small or trying to follow them, you become sincere or you show your sincerity. Now, this principle of following the instructions of the representatives within ISKCON goes back to Srila Prabhupada. And I am giving an example in which Srila Prabhupada used some very strong language, not that you deserve such strong language, but just to make the point.

Srila Prabhupada had been instructing the devotees in a certain place that they should follow his representative, the GBC. And so a group of them came to meet Srila Prabhupada and they said, “Srila Prabhupada, we are prepared to follow you and we have faith in you, we are prepared to follow your instructions. But we can’t follow your representatives, we don’t have the same faith in your representatives.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “But what if it is my instruction to follow my representative?” And as we say in English, ‘hemmed and hawed,’ they didn’t like that so there was no real conclusion and they left. And after they left, Srila Prabhupada said, “They say they have faith in me and that they are ready to follow my instruction, but when I gave the instruction to follow my representative they didn’t like it. That means they didn’t like my instruction, that means they didn’t have faith in my instruction, that means they don’t have faith in me.” And then he said, “That means guru-aparādha.”

So, it can be difficult and it happened in Srila Prabhupada’s time, and Prabhupada was aware of it, that sometimes his representatives would cause havoc, in his words. I am sure that doesn’t apply anywhere close to us here. But still, that was the principle. And disciples would ask Srila Prabhupada that, “What if your representative gives a wrong instruction?” And Prabhupada would say, “Still you should follow it.” And they would ask, “What if the representative consistently gives wrong instructions?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Well, I will either correct the person or remove the person.” And then the disciple asked, “But then what about my advancement following that person?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Your advancement will be the same.” So these are subtle and intricate points, but then we sort of we have to have faith, it really comes to faith.

You say that you give different weight to the instructions of the spiritual master as opposed to the instructions of the representatives, that was your question. But what about the instruction to follow the representative? Is that an instruction of the spiritual master? I am just asking, is it? The idea of following the representative, where does that come from?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:00:21].

Giriraj Swami: From the spiritual master, yes, so what about giving weight to that instruction? You are good enough to offer yourself as an example for us to discuss, it is really not about you, we all have this tendency. In Sanskrit, it is called ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya, the half-hand philosophy. And in other words, the farmer has a hen and the hen is laying eggs, and so the farmer thinks, well, it is really the hind portion of the hen that is valuable. That is what is giving the eggs, and the neck portion is just consuming food, just gobbling up food, it is just a botheration. So let’s cut that portion, we cut the neck portion which is so troublesome we always have to feed it, and keep the hind portion which is giving the eggs. And of course, then the poor creature dies and there are no more eggs. So Srila Prabhupada said that people have that attitude when it comes to the scripture, it could also apply to the spiritual master.

In the context of India, Srila Prabhupada said that when in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana, you can do your duty, your karma, you can do your work. Oh, this is very valuable, this is like the egg, I can do my work. But when they come to sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja, oh, this is very troublesome, this is very troublesome, but we will cut this and set this aside and just keep the valuable one, I can do my work. So we have to be careful of that tendency to choose instructions that we like and reject the instructions that we consider to be troublesome. Again there are always subtleties but this is a basic principle. And you are so sincere, I know you will follow it, I can see it.

Hare Krishna.

Any other questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. My question is technically related to [Unintelligible 01:03:45] sampradāya. Many sadhakas are innocent but they are seeking love of God. But end up with so call Babas and sadhus [Unintelligible 01:03:50] then what can we do for them? [Unintelligible 01:04:11].

Giriraj Swami: So you are saying people are innocent and they are looking to serve a devotee but the person they find is not really proper. Is that the question? And what can we do for them?

Well, what you described is certainly a problem. When Srila Prabhupada was staying at Sea Face Park, one prominent Hindu man came to see him and he said, “Srila Prabhupada, India is the land of mahatmas yet India has so many problems. How is it possible in the land of mahatmas that there are so many problems?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The reason there are so many problems, is because you cannot distinguish between who is a mahatma and who is not a mahatma.” So, that requires education. Yes, who is God? That is first, who is God? And then who is the mahatma? And it is in the Bhagavad-gītā—mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. So, we need to educate people, give them books, have discourses, give them the association of genuine devotees.

Once His Holiness Niranjana Swami made a very nice point, that if someone is not a devotee, if someone is not acting properly as a devotee, we should think that that person has not received the mercy of a devotee. So, are we going to be that devotee who is going to give mercy to that struggling soul? So that is also one approach, to get to them first, and save them that. But if one is sincere again, if one is sincere one will keep looking, one won’t be satisfied until one gets the real thing. But we can help them by educating them and by offering the association of a real mahatma, real devotees coming in proper paramparā.

That is a very good question, very good question, thank you. Hare Krishna.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.