SB 2.3.17 – If You Have Time, Chant Hare Krishna

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: It is a great privilege and pleasure to be back here again after about thirty years. And coming back after such a long time, I’m seeing what a wonderful place New York City is to share Krishna consciousness with people. In fact, before coming here, I mentioned to a few of my godbrothers that I was coming, and every single one said the same thing, what a wonderful place New York City is to preach. I mentioned it to Vaisesika Prabhu who is based in California, and he just went on and on about the wonderful programs that were going on in New York City in great detail.

And I mentioned it to His Holiness Indradyumna Swami, and he said that although he is a California boy, but if he had to choose a place to preach in America, it would be New York. So, there is a tremendous potential here, and that potential is being realized, to different degrees in different places, but it is being realized.

So, I thought to read one verse. Well, it’s relevant to all of us. It’s relevant to all of us. And especially, thinking about Srila Prabhupada’s dear disciple, Brahmananda dasa and his departure today, the verse and purport may take on added meaning. So, we shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, Pure Devotional Service, Text Seventeen. Please repeat.

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

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.

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?

To speed up. In other words, we are engaged in devotional service to whatever degree, and this verse indicates that we should accelerate, we should move faster, we should speed up.

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.

COMMENT

So, this is a fact, that if we are on the verge of death and we are willing to spend any amount of money to buy some more time, we can’t do it. That means, even one moment of life is so valuable that it cannot be purchased by any amount of gold.

Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay named Brijratan Mohatta. He was a very intelligent man and a very prominent industrialist. And Srila Prabhupada was very expert in speaking in terms that could be appreciated by the particular person. So, he said to Mr. Mohatta, “In your ledger of life, there are two columns: profit and loss. And any time used in Krishna consciousness is profit, and any time used outside of Krishna consciousness is loss.” Any businessman will want to maximize his profit and minimize his loss. So, we should utilize every moment in uttama-śloka-vārtayā, in topics of Krishna. Otherwise, it is loss, irretrievable loss. And sometimes losses can be incurred almost imperceptibly.

For example, in one’s business, one may have an employee who suddenly steals a lot of money. It’s a loss, but you can detect it, and you could even capture that employee and try to recover your money. But there is another kind of thief, who steals a little at a time, so little that you hardly notice it or you don’t notice it. But all those little thieveries add up, and over a year, two years, ten years, twenty years, it can add up to a huge loss. But you don’t detect it because it’s done in such small increments. So, if we analyze our daily activities, we may find that we are losing time every day in small amounts, but those small amounts add up.

Just three days ago in Stuyvesant Falls, I was reading a book by Peter Burwash, who is a follower of Srila Prabhupada. And he was discussing various principles of success. So, one of the principles was to make the most efficient use of one’s time. And many books have been written about how to maximize the productivity of your time when you are trying to be productive.

But he had some statistic about how many hundreds of hours are spent doing things like standing in line. Hundreds of hours. So, he was making the point that we should use that time. Of course, when he wrote the book, he suggested we maybe carry some book that we can read. Of course, as devotees, we always have our japa-mālā, and that can be engaged. And now, of course, there are many devices like iPods that we can use to hear uttama-śloka-vārtayā and make use of every moment.

PURPORT (continued)

Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness.

COMMENT

That’s the only reason we have the human form of life. In fact, once, an interviewer asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is the purpose of life?” And he replied, “The purpose of life is to be happy. But people don’t know the real process to be happy. They don’t know what real happiness is.”

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. 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, we have to come in contact with Krishna. And we can come in contact with Krishna through His name, form, qualities, pastimes, entourage; so many different ways, but that’s what we have to do. And that will enable us to experience real happiness.

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.” As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently. Aural realization 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, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. 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.

COMMENT

So, the idea is that by the rising and setting of the sun, the duration of life of everyone is decreased, except for one who utilizes the time in discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

Now, one may question, “How is that? I mean, the rising and setting of the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone whether they use the time in Krishna consciousness or not.” But actually, there is a difference. Because those who use the time in Krishna consciousness are actually preparing for their eternal life with Krishna. They are not actually approaching death, but really, they are approaching their eternal life with Krishna. And that is what we are meant to do.

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

Now, for those of you who are investment minded, please pay close attention.

PURPORT (continued)

Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it 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,

COMMENT

And I’m sure that there are many people in this room who will be happy to meet you outside the temple after the program.

PURPORT (continued)

If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times, 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

Now, what does veda-pāraga mean? One who has factually realized the path of the Vedas.

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

Now, how can money be returned in unlimited multiplication? Because everything in the material world is limited. In fact, one meaning of the word maya is that, which can be measured. So, unlimited multiplication suggests that the reward is gained by entering the spiritual world.

Once, Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay, Juhu, from Hong Kong. And in Hong Kong, the devotees had met him at the airport with a Rolls Royce. And afterwards, the devotees had arranged a press conference for him in the penthouse of a big hotel in Hong Kong.

So, during the press conference, one of the reporters asked Srila Prabhupada, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person. And why did you accept riding in a Rolls Royce?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The spiritual master is the representative of God, Krishna. And in the spiritual world, everything is made of cintāmaṇi—spiritual gems. So, if my disciples had arranged a solid gold Rolls Royce for me, it would not have been sufficient to honor me as a representative of God. But because this was all that they could manage, so I accepted it.” And then, after Srila Prabhupada told me that story in Juhu, he said, “What else can you say to such envious persons?”

But the fact is that nothing material of this world can compare to the opulence of the spiritual world. And by giving to a veda-pāraga like Srila Prabhupada, one gets returns in unlimited multiplications. In other words, they can’t even be repaid in the material world.

But of course, the devotee doesn’t really care for any material or spiritual opulence. The devotee wants only service, pure devotional service. And today, as we reflect on Brahmananda Prabhu, who gave so much to Srila Prabhupada, gave himself because Srila Prabhupada. So, we also imagine that his greatest desire would be to be reunited with Srila Prabhupada in loving service. And I think we are confident that he would have achieved that goal. So, I’ll continue reading.

PURPORT (continued)

There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion.

COMMENT

In other words, if you give in charity, you will get money returned regardless of the proportion. There are different proportions, but whatever it is, it will be returned to you.

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

So, many devotees just had a brief association with Srila Prabhupada. And that brief association completely changed their lives. And they may have gotten the association by reading one of Srila Prabhupada’s books, even a line. I know many people who became devotees. They just read one line and they were convinced.

There is one young man in San Diego. Somehow, he got a small book somewhere and he opened it up. And he read, “Those who use the human form of life to eat, sleep, mate, and defend, without inquiring into the higher values of life, are simply animals.” One line, he read one line. He thought, That’s true. I’m no better than an animal. I have to inquire into the higher values of life. And there are many examples, probably thousands, if not millions of examples; just one line was enough.

PURPORT (continued)

Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

So, if you give money in charity, you are guaranteed money back in the next life. If you give oral reception to the messages of Krishna from a pure devotee, you are guaranteed eternal life. I mean, how good is that?

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

So, nobody wants misery. I mean, nobody goes to the church or the temple or the mosque to pray, “Please make me miserable.” Everyone prays, “Please make me happy or make my wife happy or my children happy or my cousin happy.” But actually, miseries such as disease and old age can be an impetus in our spiritual life. They can accelerate our spiritual progress. And therefore, pure devotees accept any situation as the Lord’s mercy, as an opportunity to accelerate their devotional service.

I’ve spoken with many devotees who have cared for other devotees at the time of their passing away, and in one account after the other, I find how merciful Krishna is to His devotees. And He helps them to pass their life’s final exam. There is a saying that whatever sadhana and bhajana you have done is very good, but everything will be tested at the time of death, whether you can think of Krishna at the time of death. So, that’s the final exam. And if we pass the final exam, we graduate. We go back home, back to Godhead.

So, in many of these accounts, I’ve heard of devotees who were given something like a pop quiz, and they realized that they actually were not ready. If that was the final exam, they wouldn’t have passed.

But Krishna created such a situation that they were given more time to prepare. And in so many cases, they did pass their life’s final exam. And Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna wants all of His devotees to go back to Godhead in the same lifetime, and that if a devotee is not ready, Krishna will give him more time. Krishna will extend his life beyond when it should have ended an ordinary course, so that the devotee can finish up whatever he needs to do in order to go back to Godhead in the same life. So, we should utilize every moment.

In one talk, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you’ve got time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t waste time, don’t speak nonsense. You’ve got time, chant Hare Krishna.” And even while doing other services, we can chant. So, this was just a little idea.

I left time because I thought some of you might have questions or comments. So, I think I’d like to hear from you now. And yeah, even if you want to hear me speak on a certain subject or if you have questions on what we’ve discussed or comments. Yes, Maharaja?

Devotee: Do you have any personal meditations to prepare yourself for death?

Giriraj Swami: Do I have any personal meditations to prepare myself for death?

Well, I’ll tell one story. Not a story, but give one example. Right now, Madhava Prabhu is in New York, and he is leading kirtan with the hari-nāma party. And he, well, as you know, just closes his eyes and sings the same tune for hours with deep absorption. So, once, someone asked him, “You just chant for hours with your eyes closed with such absorption. What are you thinking? What is your meditation?” And he replied, “I chant each mantra as if it were my last.”

So, if you think about it like this is your last mantra, this is your last chance, you definitely give it everything, you definitely put everything into it. So, that’s a good meditation. In Kṛṣṇa book, Srila Prabhupada said, “One should always be conscious of death. And in the face of death or the prospect of death, we can see what is more important and what’s less important.”

The famous entrepreneur, Steve Jobs, who I guess began Apple or developed Apple, every day, he would ask himself, “If this was my last day, what would I be doing?” And he said that if he found that for too many days what he was actually going to be doing that day was not what he would want to do if it was his last day, he realized he had to make some adjustment in his life. So, we should think, If this was my last day or my last week, how would I use that time?

Another thing I think sometimes is, If death were to come, what regrets would I have? It’s funny, somehow, this thought came to my mind when I was in a doctor’s office with His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami. And at that time, I thought, What regret would I have? And I thought, I would regret not having spent enough time with my godbrothers, my dear godbrothers. So, I think when in the face of death or in the contemplation of death what’s important becomes revealed and what’s less important becomes revealed.

But so much of what we do or can do depends on others. I mean, it’s the saṅkīrtana movement. I mean, alone, we can’t do much, but together, we can do a lot. So, in my case, thinking of the imminence of death also means really getting together with godbrothers and others, and really thinking, What’s the best we can do for ourselves spiritually and what’s the best we can do for the movement, for the world?

But anyway, those are just some thoughts. Do you have any thoughts of your own that you’d like to share with us?

Devotee: Well, I meditate on it [Unintelligible 00:46:00] fifteen minutes from now, I want to be leaving this plane of existence. It’s a strange thought, actually, and I’m not sure how real that thought would be. Perfectly, I can think of it intellectually when it would actually happen. I kind of get this sneaky feeling that I’ve probably been thinking. The other thing I’ve been thinking is when I’m just about to get an airplane from somewhere, [Unintelligible 00:46:42].

Other than that, trying to come to real contact, a sense of death. It’s not an easy thing. Some external situation, you get told you have an incurable disease, then it’s palpable, but otherwise. . .

Giriraj Swami: I recently heard about one of our godbrothers who has since left us. And he was told that he had a terminal illness, and he wasn’t ready for that. He was a prominent devotee. And he sort of went away into seclusion to come to terms with the reality. And for six months, he just worshipped his Deities, chanted, read, whatever he had to do. And because he was a prominent leader, he needed the time for himself, but he also didn’t want people to see him in that state. He wasn’t ready to deal with people. He had to come to terms with the reality of what he had heard.

And somehow, after about six months, he came to terms with it. And he emerged completely fearless of death. Something internal happened during that period, and he came to terms with it. And after that, he was fearless in the face of death, fearless.

So, it’s a big thing. It’s a very big thing. And we may have a lot of theoretical knowledge, but when the time comes, we don’t really know how we are going to take it and what we might have to do to come to terms with it. Hare Krishna. Yes?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:49:57].

Giriraj Swami: Well, if I might give you some free advice, M’am. And this applies not only to you, it applies to all of us. We are not the body and we are not the mind, but we are spiritual sparks of Krishna. And as spiritual sparks of Krishna, we are all good. We are as good as Krishna. So, that’s you; you are as good as Krishna in quality. And so, you just have to sort of leave aside these different conceptions of yourself based on the body and the mind and realize your actual identity as part and parcel of Krishna. And you are perfect. You just have to realize it by this process.

Devotee: What’s the process?

Giriraj Swami: The process is chanting the holy names of Krishna, hearing the transcendental topics of Krishna. There are many elements to the process. But the main factor is to associate with devotees, associate with pure devotees. If you associate with pure devotees, then everything else will follow. So, if you can do that, everything else will follow. Do you think you can do that?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:52:57].

Giriraj Swami: Hard to get it or hard to pull? Are you open to it?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:53:10].

Giriraj Swami: All right. Well, don’t worry about anything. Just leave it all aside and chant and hear and pray. Prayer is very important and very powerful. And do service. Do some humble service, menial service.

Oh, are you raising your hand? Yes, Ramabhadra Prabhu?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:54:22] chant, be happy, serve with humility, associate with superior [Unintelligible 00:57:46].

Giriraj Swami: Thank you for that beautiful and eloquent explanation, really. But I did think of one principle and one example to illustrate the principle; that it has to go deep. Srila Prabhupada said this in relation to chanting, that the chanting really has to come from the heart and go into the heart. Otherwise, he said it’s like a parrot chanting. And when death comes, in the case of a parrot, I don’t know what would be death for a parrot, maybe a cat. So, if the cat pounces on the parrot, then that imitative chanting of Hare Krishna will stop, and it will go, “caw, caw, caw.” So, it has to be deep in us.

And a story to illustrate it is that a godbrother of ours was driving across some railway tracks, and the car stalled on the tracks. So, naturally, he was fiddling with it, trying to get it to start. And in the meantime, he saw the train was coming, but he still thought, Let me see if I can get it going. And then, he looked up again and he saw the train was just about to hit the car. And he thought, This is it, this is the end, and he began to chant. And just as the train hit the car, he thought, What will happen to my wife? And then, the train hit and he became unconscious.

Of course, he lived to tell the story, but we really need to be prepared. The preparation involves a lot of work. But at the same time, not that it’s opposed to what I just said, but it’s maybe a different way of implementing what I just said, and that is to just give yourself fully to the mission.

And I say it because Tamal Krishna Goswami once asked Srila Prabhupada, “I’m so busy in your service. What if death comes when I’m engaged in your service? I won’t be able to think of Krishna or chant the holy name.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “That’s all right because Lord Chaitanya will forcibly enter your mind and make you think of Him at the time of death.”

So, if we are really surrendered like that, then we really don’t have anything to worry about. If that’s our full absorption and we are not holding anything back for ourselves, Srila Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya will take care.

Are there any other questions or comments? There are two. You kept your hand up longer. No, he was the one who put his hand down, I was referring to him.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:02:11] now, my question is that as a person, of course, I would need to simplify things [Unintelligible 01:02:40].

Giriraj Swami: No, if you give to someone who’s a brahman but not really qualified as a brahman, you get it in equal proportion. If you give to a half-educated brahman, you get it back double. If you give to a fully qualified brahman, you get it back hundreds and thousands of times. And if you give it to a veda-pāraga—a pure devotee, you get it back in unlimited multiplications.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:03:38].

Giriraj Swami: The person may or may not be born a brahman. And in fact, the person may or may not be initiated as a brahman, but if they are surrendered to a pure devotee. So, you give charity to them, they engage it in the service of the pure devotee, so you get the benefit.

Hare Krishna. We could be a good investment advisor.

Well, I think we have a minute or two, do you want to ask your question?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:04:55].

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I’ll stay on. That’s a good point, I’ll stay on. All right, thank you very much.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 01:05:10].

Giriraj Swami: Thank you for that gracious invitation. Everyone, please repeat.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare