SB 4.30.35 – The Wonderful Effects of Pure Krsna-katha—With Mumbai Devotees

Giriraj Swami: I would especially like to express my profound appreciation and gratitude to His Grace Radha Gopinatha Prabhu for kindly agreeing to take up this service to the devotees and me; to nourish them in Krishna consciousness.

Just last night, I read a beautiful verse and purport that explains the wonderful effects of kṛṣṇa-kathā, and I thought to read this to you now. It is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Four, Chapter Thirty, The Activities of the Pracetās, Text Thirty-Five. Just to have a little association, we can say the invocation together.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

I will read the Sanskrit first, that will be better.

TEXT 35

yatreḍyante kathā mṛṣṭās

tṛṣṇāyāḥ praśamo yataḥ

nirvairaṁ yatra bhūteṣu

nodvego yatra kaścana

TRANSLATION

Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor do they suffer from anxiety or fear.

COMMENT

So, this verse describes the effects of pure kṛṣṇa-kathā, and reading this verse, I thought of all of you, that by the grace of Radha Gopinatha Prabhu, you have the opportunity to meet and hear such pure topics and be relieved of all of these anomalies—material hankering, enviousness, fear, and anxiety. So, I’ll read the verse again, and then I’ll read Srila Prabhupada’s very beautiful purport.

TRANSLATION (again)

Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor do they suffer from anxiety or fear.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Vaikuṇṭha means “without anxiety,” and the material world means full of anxiety. As stated by Prahlāda Mahārāja, sadā samudvigna-dhiyām asad-grahāt: the living entities who have accepted this material world as a residence are full of anxiety. A place immediately becomes Vaikuṇṭha whenever the holy topics of the Personality of Godhead are discussed by pure devotees. This is the process of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, chanting and hearing about the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu. As the Supreme Lord Himself confirms:

nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe

yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā

tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada

yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ

“My dear Nārada, actually I do not reside in My abode, Vaikuṇṭha, nor do I reside within the hearts of the yogīs, but I reside in that place where My pure devotees chant My holy name and discuss My form, pastimes and qualities.” Because of the presence of the Lord in the form of the transcendental vibration, the Vaikuṇṭha atmosphere is evoked. This atmosphere is without fear and anxiety. One living entity does not fear another. By hearing the holy names and glories of the Lord, a person executes pious activities: śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (Bhāg. 1.2.17). Thus his material hankerings immediately stop. This saṅkīrtana movement started by the Society for Krishna Consciousness is meant for creating Vaikuṇṭha, the transcendental world that is without anxiety, even in this material world. The method is the propagation of the śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam process throughout the world. In the material world everyone is envious of his fellow man. Animalistic envy exists in human society as long as there is no performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, the chanting of the holy names: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. The Pracetās therefore decided to remain always in the society of devotees, and they considered that to be the highest benediction possible in human life.

TRANSLATION (again)

Whenever pure topics of the transcendental world are discussed, the members of the audience forget all kinds of material hankerings, at least for the time being. Not only that, but they are no longer envious of one another, nor do they suffer from anxiety or fear.

COMMENT

So, this is the wonderful effects of kṛṣṇa-kathā, which you all must be experiencing. So many of you have told me that these gatherings to hear kṛṣṇa-kathā from Radha Gopinatha Prabhu are one of the highlights of all of your activities, or our activities. We had a similar experience in Dallas with His Holiness Kesava Bharati dasa Goswami.

As many of you may know, His Grace Vaisesika Prabhu dasa has various programs to engage devotees not only in distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books, but in reading them and getting the benefit from them. So, one of the programs is called “Become a Sage Page by Page.” And he has calculated how many pages you have to read to complete Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in one year, or five years, or whatever the period of time.

So, His Holiness Kesava Bharati dasa Goswami has personally taken up the quota of forty-one pages a day. If we read forty-one pages a day, we complete Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in one year. And Maharaja also has taken up the practice of reading the forty-one pages out loud. So, in Dallas, he would go into the darshan room and just read out loud forty-one pages, which would take about an hour and a half.

And in the beginning, maybe two or three people would come. He didn’t publicize it but he let it be known, and gradually, after several weeks, the number of devotees who were joining had reached seventeen. And after the reading, he would give the devotees a chance to share their reflections. There would be some discussion and then some light prasāda, maybe some milk and a cookie or something like that. He didn’t want the prasāda to be too opulent, otherwise the mood would change. He wanted to keep the focus on kṛṣṇa-kathā. It was such a wonderful experience. I joined myself, and the devotees also, they didn’t want it to stop even when Maharaja was going to leave Dallas.

So, of course, circumstances are different everywhere. In Dallas, there is quite a large community that lives very near the temple. But I’m just making the point about the value of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and associating with Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which means associating with all of the personalities in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—Krishna and His associates. And it also means associating with Srila Prabhupada through his purports and all the previous acharyas whose knowledge is coming to us through Srila Prabhupada’s purports.

So, I am again so pleased with Radha Gopinatha Prabhu for taking up this service, and I’m delighted with all of you that you are coming in such large numbers to experience this blissful association with Krishna and His devotees, and to be relieved, at least for the time being, of the various distresses associated with bodily identification, such as material hankerings, envy, fear, and anxiety.

So, thank you very much. I know it’s a little bit late there, but I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to have your association.

Hare Krishna.