SB 2.3.23 – Love Me, Love My Dog

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: So, tonight, we shall read one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, “Pure Devotional Service.” I will read the Sanskrit, and then we can recite the word meanings and verse in English responsibly. Please repeat.

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

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.

COMMENT

So, I’ll stop here just to elaborate on what a ghost is. According to the Bhagavad-gītā, there are eight material elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space are the gross ones, and mind, intelligence, and false ego are the subtle ones. And then, apart from the inferior energy, aparā-prakṛti, there is the superior energy, parā-prakṛti, which is the living entity, or the spirit soul. So, our identity is as spirit souls, but we are covered by this body. Actually, we are covered by a gross body made of those five elements, and a subtle body made of mind, intelligence, and false ego.

Now, at the time of death, the soul leaves the gross body but it is still covered by the subtle body, and the subtle body carries the soul into its next gross body. The Bhagavad-gītā gives the example that just as the air carries an aroma of a flower, similarly, the mind or the subtle body will carry the soul to its next body. And we get our next body according to our activities and our consciousness at the time of death. And God is kind, He gives us bodies to fulfill our desires. Whatever our desires are, the Lord, as the Supersoul within the heart, does not interfere with our desires, but He helps us to fulfill our desires, whatever they are.

Now, how does someone get a ghost body? Generally, if someone commits suicide, he may get a ghost body, because the suicide means that he doesn’t want a gross body. So, Krishna is very kind, and He will fulfill his desire, and he’ll be free from a gross body, but he’ll have his subtle body. Now, most people who commit suicide, not all, but most people who commit suicide do so because of being frustrated. They have material desires but they are frustrated. Their desires are not fulfilled, and so out of frustration or disappointment, they commit suicide.

And that puts them in a very awkward position because they have gross material desires, but they don’t have a gross physical body with which to fulfill them, and therefore, they try to get possession of someone else’s body, so that they can fulfill their desires through someone else’s body.

There was a movie, maybe thirty years ago, called Ghosts, and I didn’t see it, but some devotees saw it, and they believed that the producer or writer must have read Srila Prabhupada’s books. And then later, they showed the movie on an airplane that I took, and I watched it. So, in one scene, the ghost is hovering on the subway platform and there is a vending machine with cigarettes. So, he wants to smoke a cigarette but he doesn’t have a gross body. So, in his subtle body, he is so frustrated, he is banging on the vending machine because he wants to get a cigarette.

So, ghosts are frustrated because they have their gross material desires but they don’t have a gross physical body. And as I mentioned, they will try to gain possession of someone’s body to try to enjoy through the other person’s senses.

The other way in which a person can get a ghost body is, for example, a person lives in a castle or a mansion or a palace, and he is very attached to that palace. So, at the time of death, he may think of his mansion. But you can’t get the body of a mansion because a mansion isn’t the body that the soul can get, but because he was absorbed in thoughts of that mansion, he was so attached to that mansion, he can take birth as a ghost in that castle. And there are many stories of haunted houses likebig mansions, or castles that are haunted.

And it so happens that in the history of ISKCON, some big properties that were haunted were for sale for a very cheap price because they were haunted and they weren’t getting customers. So, the devotees asked Srila Prabhupada what we should do, and he said, “We should buy the houses cheap and then we can do kirtan, and by kirtan, all the ghosts will go away and then we’ll have a beautiful, big property, without paying much for it.”

So, this is what a ghost is. We’ll leave that for later. All right. So now, I’ll continue with the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

So, the 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.

COMMENT

So, just as ghosts create a fearful situation because they are trying to take possession of you, so non-devotees are compared to ghosts, and they create fearful situations for devotees because they have no respect or appreciation for devotees or for the Deity of the Lord in the temple.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts.

COMMENT

In other words, the Lord does not really need anything from anyone. What He really wants is our devotion. Patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati, if one offers Him with love and devotion a leaf, a fruit, a flower, or some water, He will accept it. But the ghosts-like non-devotees have no devotion, and therefore, the Lord never accepts their offerings. But they can become devotees. That’s our mission, to encourage everyone to become devotees, and that process is explained here.

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

Have you heard of that? There is a saying, “Love me, love my dog.” So, if you see someone on the street, you may not even know them, but you want to get to know them, and they are walking their dog. So, if you pet their dog and make friends with their dog, then the master will be pleased, and then you can strike up a conversation with the master.

PURPORT (continued)

The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord.

COMMENT

In other words, the pure devotee is like the Lord’s pet, dog. So, just like you make friends with the dog, and then after establishing a relationship with the dog, you can establish a relationship with the master, so in the same way, by establishing a relationship with a pure devotee, through your relationship with the pure devotee, you can establish your relationship with the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

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 devotional paramparā.

COMMENT

So, I established a relationship with a pure devotee. Of course, in my case, it’s with Srila Prabhupada, who in turn established a relationship with his spiritual master, who in turn established a relationship with his spiritual master, and in that way, there is a whole chain of spiritual masters who are pure devotees and have served other pure devotees. And that line or chain goes all the way back to Krishna, who’s the original spiritual master.

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

And this is in italics. It cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees.

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. 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. 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

Once, Srila Prabhupada illustrated this principle in a very vivid and dramatic way. I had arranged a program for Srila Prabhupada in Madras, and the Chief Justice of the High Court in Madras became very interested in Krishna consciousness and was very inspired by Srila Prabhupada.

So, the Chief Justice organized a program in open grounds and invited many High Court judges and advocates and people from the legal profession, very aristocratic people, and Srila Prabhupada spoke to them. We had kirtan and Srila Prabhupada spoke. And then, after the program, Srila Prabhupada was invited by the Chief Justice to his home. And at his home, the Chief Justice presented Srila Prabhupada different valuable gifts, a nice sandalwood garland and a silver little statue of Krishna.

And while, I guess, his wife and others were getting the prasāda ready, Srila Prabhupada was sitting with the disciples in the living room, and at the end of his talk, Srila Prabhupada had appealed to all of these distinguished people of Madras to join the Krishna consciousness movement. And he quoted the example of the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat. They were very wealthy and aristocratic people, but they kicked off all their association with aristocracy as if it was insignificant, and they joined Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

So, back at the Chief Justice’s residence, Srila Prabhupada sort of took up the theme of the Six Gosvamis. And so, Srila Prabhupada’s secretary, Shyamasundara Prabhu, and Shyamasundara’s wife Malati, had a daughter named Sarasvati, who was maybe three years old. And so, Srila Prabhupada held this little silver figurine of Krishna in front of Sarasvati, and it was Krishna, so it was attractive, and it was silver, so it was also attractive for that reason. And her eyes were fixed on that figurine of Krishna, and then suddenly, Srila Prabhupada hid it behind his back, and she didn’t know where it went.

So, she was looking everywhere but she couldn’t find Krishna. And then, Srila Prabhupada broke the silence and said, “Sarasvati, where is Krishna?” And again, she was filled with anxiety, “Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?” She was looking everywhere, “Where is Krishna? Where is Krishna?” And then, her mother said, “Sarasvati, who has Krishna?” And then, little Sarasvati’s face lit up with recognition and she said, “Prabhupada has Krishna!” And then she went running up to Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada brought the Krishna out from behind his back and held it in front of her.

So, this is a very important principle, that Krishna is in the hand of His pure devotee, and His pure devotee can deliver Him to us, but we have to have that anxiety, that eagerness for Krishna, and then the pure devotee can deliver Krishna to us.

PURPORT (continued)

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, 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. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature.

COMMENT

In The Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada writes that because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, it’s very difficult to approach Him. But one of Krishna’s qualities is compassion, and Krishna’s compassionate nature is represented by, or embodied in Srimati Radharani, and therefore, devotees approach Srimati Radharani, and through Her, they get Krishna’s mercy.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily.

COMMENT

Did you hear that?

PURPORT (continued)

The mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association.

COMMENT

I’ll repeat that.

PURPORT (continued)

Once She recommends such 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

Now, how do we achieve the good will of the devotee? We have to serve the pure devotee. How do we serve the pure devotee? How do we receive the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee? Of course, the dust can be taken literally also, but generally, the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee means the instructions of the pure devotee. We serve the pure devotee by following the instructions of the pure devotee.

And the pure devotees in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu give two basic instructions. There may be many detailed instructions, but they give two general instructions. One is that one should taste Krishna consciousness, one should relish Krishna consciousness, and the other is that one should spread Krishna consciousness, one should distribute Krishna consciousness. And by that method, we will please the pure devotee, and through disciplic succession, Srimati Radharani, and ultimately, Krishna.

So, how do we relish Krishna consciousness? Srila Rupa Gosvami enumerates sixty-four items of devotional service, but out of those sixty-four, five are most potent.

1. sādhu-saṅga—associating with advanced devotees,

2. nāma-kīrtana—chanting the holy names,

3. bhāgavata-śravaṇam—hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

4. mathurā-vāsa – residing in a holy place like Mathura, Vrindavan, or Mayapur, Jagannatha Puri, or a temple where the Deity of Krishna is installed and worshiped,

5. mūrtira śraddhāya sevana – to serve the Deity.

And Rupa Gosvami says that even by a slight association of any of these five items, one can awaken ecstatic love for Krishna. Of course, in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, the purport is that if one does so without committing offenses, then even a slight association with any one of the five can bring one to that point of ecstatic love for Krishna.

And tasting Krishna consciousness, spreading Krishna consciousness, the same thing, making those processes available to others. Sādhu-saṅga means we give the association of devotees to people. Sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, we bring them the holy name, we go out and chant, or we invite them to the temple and they hear the chanting in the temple. Bhāgavata-śravaṇam, the same thing, we go out, we distribute books with the message of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or we invite them to the temple, where they can hear discussions of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Mathurā-vāsa, the same thing, we can invite them to stay in the temple or go on pilgrimage. There are many wonderful retreats and seminars and parikramās and yatras in Vrindavan and Mayapur. And mūrtira śraddhāya sevana, even seeing Deity worship counts as Deity worship. It is said that by seeing the Deity being worshiped, one gets the same benefit as by worshiping the Deity directly, if one is unable to do the worship directly.

So, by these two methods, tasting Krishna consciousness and sharing Krishna consciousness with others, we can please the pure devotee and the whole line of pure devotees, and ultimately, Srimati Radharani, and then finally, Sri Krishna. So, we should take advantage of this opportunity that is supported by this temple and by this movement and make our lives successful.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna. Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: I have one.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, sir?

Devotee: When you talked about the ghosts, they never go to Krishna? They want to stay on the earth forever?

Giriraj Swami: He is asking about the ghosts. He is a compassionate person, so he is concerned about the future of the ghosts. What about the welfare of the ghosts?

Well, the ghosts can also be delivered by Krishna consciousness, because the soul within everybody is part and parcel of Krishna, and it can respond to the processes of devotional service. So, even though a ghost just has a subtle body and doesn’t have a gross body, but still, it’s a living entity just like any of us. And so, by hearing the chanting, by any contact with devotional service, the ghost can be liberated from the ghostly body.

And in fact, in Hindu tradition, there is a ceremony that the son performs for the deceased father in case the father has the body of a ghost, and that ceremony can free the father from the ghost’s body. And the procedure involves chanting of the holy name and offering the father prasāda. In other words, you know what prasāda is, that we offer the food to Krishna with love and devotion, and when Krishna accepts it, then the offering becomes prasāda. It’s sacred of the Lord’s mercy, it’s sanctified.

So, in this ceremony, the son will offer prasāda to the father’s picture, and by that combination of kirtan and offering prasāda to the father’s picture and serving the Vaishnavas, the father can be liberated from a ghost body if by chance he happens to be trapped in a ghost body. So, there are ways to liberate those souls that are caught in ghost bodies. Hare Krishna.

Any other questions or comments? All right, so what comes now?

Devotee: Tulasi ārati.

Giriraj Swami: Tulasi ārati, but we were just talking about tulasi. Tulasi is also a devotee of Krishna, and by worshiping tulasi and serving tulasi, we get her mercy, and by her mercy, we get Krishna’s mercy. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!