SB 2.3.17 – Time Passing and the New Year

Giriraj Swami: In honor of the New Year, we are going to read a verse from a sacred text called Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The basic text is the Bhagavad-gītā, and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam continues from where the Bhagavad-gītā leaves off. 

The verse we are going to read discusses the passage of time. We have passed one year, now we are entering a new year. Time is passing, and it is a custom and it is also natural when we enter a new year to make resolutions, to improve in different ways. I made some. So this verse and purport will also give us some instructions, some encouragement, some inspiration in how to use the new year and how to use our time in general.

Before we read, I would like you to repeat after me. It is an invocation of blessings. 

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

We read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, “Pure Devotional Service”

TEXT 17

āyur harati vai puṁsām

udyann astaṁ ca yann asau

tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta

uttama-śloka-vārtayā

COMMENT

For those who can remember the lines or who have other means of accessing the text, I will read one line at a time and you can repeat after me. We will just do that twice. 

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

As I mentioned, the Bhagavad-gītā is the basic textbook, and to properly understand this verse and purport we will just review a few of the principles of the Bhagavad-gītā. The first one is that our identity as living beings is as a spiritual particle, a part and parcel of God, and we are different from the physical body.

As such, there is no such thing as death. What we call death means that the soul or ātmā, in Sanskrit, is leaving the body, and therefore the body does not act, but the body is always dead. The body is compared in the Bhagavad-gītā to a machine or a vehicle, you may have a vehicle, the vehicle is always dead, but it can work if there is a driver. When there is no driver, the vehicle does not work. So this body works as long as there is a driver, as long as we, the living being, are in the body. As soon as we leave the body, we say the body is dead, but it was always dead and it cannot act because the driver has left. 

Now, what happens to the ātmā when it leaves the body? That depends on our activities, karma, and our consciousness at the time of death. In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ, that whatever your thoughts are at the time of death will determine what your next birth will be. Sometimes our spiritual master and teacher, Srila Prabhupada, would say: “If you want to know what your past life was, look at your present life, and if you want to know what your next life will be, look at your present life because we are a continuation of our past life’s activities, and our next life will be a continuation of our present life’s activities.”

How we lead our life is very important, not only for however many years we have in this body, but into the future. But the human form of life is special because in the human form of life we can realize our identities, and we can realize God, we can realize our eternal relationship with God. And under ordinary circumstances, that is not possible for living entities in the bodies of plants or animals. Although they can also benefit spiritually if they hear the chanting of the holy names or a discussion of the topics of Krishna, or if they take Krishna prasāda, the sanctified food that is offered to Krishna, which you will also experience in a little while. They can make spiritual advancement, even in the lower species, but generally, by that advancement, they can get a human body, and then in the human form of life, they can perfectly realize their identity and their eternal relationship with the Divine, with God, Krishna. 

This verse is saying that we should utilize our time, marked by the rising and the setting of the sun, to realize the spiritual value of life, which is possible to do in the human form of life. Now, I will read again. 

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.

COMMENT

We already have a relationship with Him, but we have forgotten it. It is an eternal relationship. Eternal means it has no beginning and no end, but we have forgotten it. It is like we are in a dream state. When you go to sleep and dream, you forget your actual identity and you imagine so many things, who you are and what you are doing, which is not who you are and not what you are doing. And when you wake up you remember everything about who you are, “I am such and such, I have to get up, I have to do duties, I have to get dressed, I have to go to school, I have to go to maṅgala-ārati,” you remember everything. We are in a dream state, we are imagining, “I am whatever American, Croatian, Texan, Californian” but these are not who we are. We have nothing to do with any of these bodily designations. Our real identification is we are eternal servants of God, of Krishna. When we say Krishna, we mean God, Krishna is a name for God, which means the “all-attractive.” 

PURPORT (continued)

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

Even if we are engaged in devotional service, we should accelerate. If you are driving a car, that is good, but you have to push on the accelerator to go faster. Why?

PURPORT (continued)

Time and tide wait for no man.

COMMENT

We don’t know how much time we have, so we better accelerate. 

PURPORT (continued)

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

Āyuḥ, our life is made of time, and when the time of death comes, even if a person is ready to spend any amount of money to purchase even one more minute, you can’t do so. That means every minute, every second, every moment is of incalculable value because you can never buy it; you can never buy it back and you can never buy more than you are allotted. It is very serious, and therefore, one of the qualities of someone who is an advanced devotee, is that he utilizes every moment in Krishna consciousness, he never wastes any time at all, so we should think about that. 

It is so easy to waste time, very easy, and the mind—I must just speak a little about the mind. In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says the mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. When the mind is engaged in Krishna consciousness, it is your best friend, and when it takes you away from Krishna consciousness, it is your worst enemy. One of my God brothers, one of the fellow disciples of Srila Prabhupada, Bhurijana dasa says, “The mind will always tell you that there are more important things to do than chant Hare Krishna.” We may even be chanting, but the mind will tell us You should do this, you should check your email, you should check Facebook, that is more important. It is not, but the mind will tell us that when it is acting as our enemy, so we should not surrender to the enemy. 

And as Bhurijana Prabhu says, when we chant, the mind will try to take us to other topics besides the sound of Krishna’s holy name, but you can’t surrender to the mind, you have to confront it. He said it is a battle, but that battle must be fought, sooner or later, that battle must be fought. 

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

Everyone wants happiness, that is a fact, as His Holiness Niranjana Swami said on Sunday evening. No normal person wants unhappiness, everyone wants happiness. But we do not know where to find that happiness or how to find that happiness. Everyone wants it, but it eludes us, it escapes us. We are trying, we are chasing it, but we don’t get it. I saw a sign that said that “The greatest obstacle in the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of happiness,” and that applies to ordinary people who are pursuing the wrong kind of happiness, making the wrong effort. 

PURPORT (continued)

A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity.

COMMENT

Earlier I mentioned that the living entity is part and parcel of Krishna, and Krishna is full of happiness, ānanda-mayo ‘bhyāsāt. So by nature we are also full of happiness. That is our constitutional position, our original spiritual nature, but because we have come into this material world, and we have accepted this material body as ourselves and we are misidentifying with the material body and the whole dream world, we are not getting that happiness that we want. But we can get it. 

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.

COMMENT

This is another point, that we all feel incomplete until we are reunited with Krishna, then we are complete again. But separated from Krishna we are incomplete, and we try to fill up that sense of incompleteness, vacancy, emptiness, or insufficiency, with material things, which never fill that gap, they don’t. 

At one time, the richest man in the world was John Paul Getty, and a reporter asked him, “You are the richest man in the world, you have everything that money can buy, can you tell us what is your philosophy of life in one word?” He said, “Yes, I can – More.” That was his philosophy of life, that means he was not satisfied, he wanted more. He was feeling insufficient; he was feeling incomplete so he wanted more. The reporter asked him in a similar vein, “You are the richest man in the world, you have everything that money can buy. When you are all alone, when there is no one around and there is nothing you have to do, what do you think about?” And he said, “I think of how to pay the bills.” Because of that feeling of insufficiency, he wants more. Okay, I have a ten billion dollar company so I want to take over another twenty billion dollar company, but then he has to pay the bills; he is just like any ordinary person struggling to pay the rent, pay the mortgage or pay the car insurance. He is thinking of how to pay the bills because he is not satisfied, he is not happy, he doesn’t feel complete. And that phenomenon of feeling incomplete, wanting to acquire more in the material sense and then having to work hard to pay for it is common to everyone. Bigger spot in the material concept of life it is common to everyone. 

On one walk on Juhu beach in Bombay, Srila Prabhupada, in the course of a larger discussion, spoke about money. His Holiness Niranjana Swami also spoke about money on Sunday evening. And Srila Prabhupada said that to get money is a problem, to hold on to the money is a problem, and when you lose it, that is another problem. At every phase it is problematic. We are looking for shelter, looking for happiness, in the wrong place. 

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

We are spiritual, but we are not complete. The Lord is complete, and when we are connected with Him, that is our completeness. 

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. 

COMMENT

If we come in touch with any of those, we are coming in touch with Him, with God Himself, the complete whole. 

PURPORT (continued)

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

That applies to each and every one of you, even if it is your first time. Somehow or other, by some great good fortune, you have come in touch with the Lord who we call Krishna. In His manifestation of His name we chanted His name, His form, there are pictures of Him, sometimes we discuss His form, His qualities. Being complete for example, being blissful. His pastimes, His associates. Anyone who comes in touch with any of those manifestations of the Lord is coming in touch with the Lord, and for one who does so, that is all of you, the door to liberation is immediately open. What good fortune!

PURPORT (continued)

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. 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.”

COMMENT

Someone might hear about the efficacy, the potency, the benefit of devotional service or bhakti-yoga, but they may feel that. . . They might make some effort, they might make a beginning, but they have some doubt whether they will be able to complete the full course. In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says that once you make a beginning, whatever progress you make is never lost. Now, materially that is not the case. For example, suppose someone is a great linguist and knows many languages, when that person leaves his or her body, and takes birth again, even in a human body, that person doesn’t remember French, Spanish, Latin, German, Swahili, or any of those languages. He doesn’t even know the language of his parents, he is just like, “Gagaga.” 

Whatever you learn materially, whatever you gain materially, is lost in the next life. But whatever progress you make spiritually goes with you into your next life, which is extraordinary. Even if you only complete 1 percent in this life, you will do more, but I am just saying, even if you compete only 1 percent in this life, in the next life you begin from 2 percent. It is a constant increment, constant increase, constant development. There is no fear of failure, ultimately there is no fear of failure. 

PURPORT (continued)

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.

COMMENT

If someone is suffering from a disease and then a highly potent drug is injected intravenously, that will act very quickly to counteract the person’s disease. In the same way, these highly potent topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead, when injected into the ear of the soul who is open to such messages, it acts very powerfully. It is very subtle, but it is really powerful. You don’t have to press your nose to do some yoga gymnastics, you just sit and hear, and it is a very powerful, potent injection, transcendental sound.

Aural (that is A-U-R-A-L, that means through the ear.

PURPORT (continued)

Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. 

COMMENT

Whatever we hear about the Lord will bring full realization of the Lord. It may be His name, His qualities, His pastimes, or His associates. Whatever we hear that is connected with Him will bring complete realization of Him. It is just wonderful and beautiful. 

Once I was with Srila Prabhupada and I asked him—well, there were two variations but the same principle. I had the good fortune to be riding with him in the same compartment of a train, so he wanted us to read from one of his books. One of the devotees asked, “Any particular place?” and he said, “No, anywhere you open it is nectar, it is absolute, it is all good.”

PURPORT (continued)

This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī [the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam] 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.

COMMENT

This verse is a very startling statement, that the rising and setting of the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone. That we can all agree on, except one who utilizes the time to discuss topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead. Why? Because when we use the time in that way, we revive our eternal life. Our duration of life is not decreasing, but to the contrary, we are realizing our eternal life beyond death. 

PURPORT (continued)

Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being.

COMMENT

It is not natural for the eternal spiritual spark to die, it is a symptom of our diseased condition that we die. People are so accustomed to it, of course, materially it is true, they say, “As sure as death.” Even the Bhagavad-gītā says, “For one who has taken birth, death is certain, and for one who has died, birth is certain.” That is true materially, but if one becomes Krishna conscious, then after he leaves the body, he realizes his eternal life with God, with Krishna, and his duration of life is no longer decreased.

PURPORT (continued)

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

This is in the Bhagavad-gītā, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi: birth, death, old age, and disease. It is part of knowledge to always be conscious of the miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease; and these cannot be checked by any material means. Birth, there is so much propaganda; birth control and everything, but they are not stopping birth. Birth is increasing, the population is increasing. Death, they are always trying to find some way to avoid death, but they can’t, as sure as death. Old age, nobody wants to become an old man or an old woman, but if you live in the body long enough, you are going to become an old man or another woman, you can’t stop it. You can try to use some cosmetic approach to look younger, at great expense, to some extent, but you are going to be an old man or an older woman. 

And disease, no one wants disease, but they are not able to stop disease. If they were stopping disease, then all the hospitals should close, all the doctors should be out of work, all the nurses should be unemployed, but they are not, it is increasing, disease is also increasing. They may have some success with a particular disease to some extent, but then there is another one and another one. 

These principles, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam, cannot be stopped by any material means; birth, death, old age, and disease. They can only be stopped when we leave the physical body in our conditioned life and realize our eternal life as spiritual beings with God, Krishna. We have come to the last paragraph. 

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 listen very carefully to this because if you have any money—again, His Holiness Niranjana Swami said something, you will be thinking how to invest it. This surprisingly perhaps tells you how to invest your money. Cliff, are you listening? 

Devotee 1: I don’t have to worry. 

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada said that there are only two types of people who are not in anxiety in the material world, the fool and the self-realized soul. You are probably on the path of self-realization [Laughter]. Okay, so coming back to our topic here. 

PURPORT (continued)

Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life.

COMMENT

This is to a suitable person, this is the law of karma, of action and reaction. 

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. 

COMMENT

All brahmans have six activities, but they are like teachers, spiritual teachers. Brahma jānāti iti brāhmaṇaḥ: one who knows brahman, who knows God, who knows spirit, he is a brahman. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brahman. Srila Prabhupada said that he created this society, International Society for Krishna Consciousness to train brahmans, to create brahmans. 

PURPORT (continued)

Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification). . . 

COMMENT

In India they have the caste system, it is not really as it should be, that the Bhagavad-gītā says one is a brahman according to his work and activities, not at birth, but there are people who claim to be brahmans by birth. If you give in charity to a non-brahman, that means without brahminical qualification, it may be brahman by birth, the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion.

PURPORT (continued)

. . . 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, 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).

COMMENT

That means Krishna really because in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ, that “By all the Vedas, He is to be known.” 

PURPORT (continued)

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. 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 is this possible that the money is returned in unlimited multiplications? Well, it can’t be in the material world because nothing in the material world is unlimited, it can only be in the spiritual world. That is the blessing of giving to a veda-pāraga, a pure devotee who has realized Krishna. 

There was once a reception for our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada in Hong Kong I believe, and from the airport he was taken in a Rolls-Royce to the penthouse suite in a fancy hotel for a press conference. From there Srila Prabhupada came to Bombay, and in Bombay he told me about his experience at that press conference. One of the reporters asked him, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person, why are you riding in a Rolls-Royce?” Srila Prabhupada replied, “Actually, I am the representative of God coming from the spiritual world, and even if they offered me a vehicle made of solid diamonds, it would not be good enough. But because this was the best they could offer, I accepted it.” 

Actually, although it was a humorous statement, it is actually true. The vehicles in the spiritual sky are made of cintāmaṇi gems, spiritual gems that are incalculable by material standards, it is way beyond diamonds. 

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

COMMENT

There are different degrees of returns, but if you give money in charity, you will get some return, that is guaranteed. 

PURPORT (continued)

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

Now, this is amazing. Okay, you give charity and there is a guarantee you get some return, but if you listen or if you spend a moment in the association of pure devotee chanting and hearing about Krishna, there is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning back home, back to Godhead.

PURPORT (continued)

Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life. . .

COMMENT

Now, this is the last sentence and it is also very significant because even devotees get disease and they grow old, but it is not an impediment to the devotees in Krishna consciousness. He says that a devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life. I know I am not the body, I am the soul, and I know that my real home is with Krishna, it is in the spiritual kingdom. So if I become sick, and we all become sick, and if I grow old, which we all will, there are disadvantages, there are struggles. When we get disease there are struggles, when we grow old there are struggles, but those struggles are an impetus to the devotee that Oh yes, this material world is not a happy place, this material body is not a pleasant situation, I should get out and I should go back home, back to Godhead. It becomes an impetus for his eternal life, for his or her return. 

This is true, it is beautiful, it is sublime, but to keep this consciousness, association is very important because the whole material world is operating on a totally different principle, that you are the body and the way to be happy is to gratify the senses of the body or to gratify the mind, which is a subtle form of matter. And we will be bombarded with all sorts of promises, the whole advertising industry is just based on the promise that if you get this you will be happy. You are not happy now, we know you are not happy now, but if you get this you will be happy. If you get the latest whatever iPhone, it could be anything, you will be happy. 

What we have heard tonight, what we have realized tonight has to be reinforced by association. Everyone, we have this program, every day we have programs in the temple where these topics are discussed. Reading these books, that is another type of association. There are two ways of associating, and there are two Sanskrit words: vāṇī, which means “Transcendental sound or words” and vapuḥ, which means “Physical presence.” In the absence of vapuḥ, in the absence of physical presence, you can associate through vāṇī, through the words, through transcendental sound, but we should always be connected, that is the whole idea. 

Somehow or other we should always be connected to Krishna’s name, form, qualities, pastimes, associates, and that will bring us to Krishna, that will assure our eternal life with Krishna. We can always and should always chant the holy name of Krishna, and from that name, the form and other aspects are realized. Of course, they are all realized from any aspect, but the chanting is the easiest, so whenever you get a chance, which could be pretty much all the time, you can chant. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. 

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments? Okay, we will do one two three. 

Devotee 2: How do you know if you are wasting time? [Laughter].

Giriraj Swami: Well, our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, was very expert in explaining things according to the mentality of his audience. He had a friend, who was a big industrialist in Bombay, he is like a business genius, so he told that man, “In the ledger of your life, whatever you do that is related to Krishna consciousness is profit, and whatever you do that is not related to Krishna consciousness is loss,” and that was a very perfect example for him. Even ordinary people are always concerned with profit and loss, especially business people. Whatever you do that is related to Krishna consciousness it is profit, and whatever is not related to Krishna consciousness is loss, waste of time. The verse in the Bhāgavatam says śrama eva hi kevalam, that if by performing your occupational duties. . . We are not suggesting that you abandon your duties, but if by performing your occupational duties you do not develop attraction for Krishna, for the message of Krishna, śrama eva hi kevalam, that is simply a waste of time. There should be some connection and then it is valuable. 

There are details for each person, but the principle is that somehow it should all be connected with Krishna, whatever you are doing. Even if you are working, you are earning money to pay for your transportation to the darshan program, so there is a connection. The more we make that connection, the more auspicious our activities are, the more favorable they are for our eternal spiritual life. 

Devotee 3: I have been reading The Nectar of Devotion, and in the first couple of chapters I got the impression that one has to become eligible for pure devotional service. My question was how do you become eligible and how do you know what pure devotional service is for Krishna? 

Giriraj Swami: Well, pure devotional service means that you should not have any ulterior motive. In other words, you shouldn’t chant or engage in any of the elements of devotional service to get something material in return, and that also includes merging and becoming one with the light. That is pure devotional service, and in one sense, anyone is eligible as long as you have the desire. There is no material qualification or disqualification. You are eligible.

Devotee 4: I was just wondering what is the importance of remembering Krishna at the time of death? Is it your consciousness of realizing Krishna through your life, or is it just like a simple person could remember Krishna at the time of death and then be liberated to go back to the spiritual world? 

Giriraj Swami: That is a very good question. It is yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ, that whatever one thinks of at the time of death one will attain in the next life. In one sense, our life is a preparation for the time of death, it is the final exam and what we do in our life is preparation for the final exam. We are preparing ourselves to think of Krishna at the time of death by always thinking of Krishna now. And, generally, at the time of death, one will think of whatever one is most attached to, so we want to become attached to Krishna more than anything else. 

There is an instructive story of one of my godbrothers named Vaikunthanath dasa. Vaikunthanath was driving a car, it stalled on the railway tracks and in the distance he could see that a train was coming, but he was fiddling with the ignition trying to get the car to start again. In that process, the train was coming closer and closer, and then finally he looked up and saw that the train was bearing down on him. There was nothing he could do, there is no way to escape, so he started to chant loudly. At the last moment, when the train hit the car, he thought of his wife and what would happen to her, then the train hit and he became unconscious. Obviously, he lived to tell the story. It is not that easy. 

Well, let’s put it this way: we can’t really be sure what we will think about the time of death unless we are very attached to Krishna. I mean, he was attached to his wife, but she was a devotee, and a very nice devotee, that was all fine. But he was chanting, he wanted to chant at the time of death, and then at the last moment he thought of his wife. We have to prepare by becoming attached. 

Srila Prabhupada gave another very nice example, that a parrot can learn to chant Hare Krishna. I know devotees who have parrots and they chant Hare Krishna, but if a cat comes and pounces on the parrot, there isn’t going to be any Hare Krishna. So he was saying that our chanting shouldn’t be like a parrot, and then when death comes it is like, “Kah…Kah…Kah,” it should be really deep, and when death comes, we are absorbed in the chanting, and we don’t react like a creature, without Krishna consciousness.

But there is also the factor of mercy, by serving in such a way that Krishna is pleased then we also get mercy. Once His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami asked Srila Prabhupada, “I am so busy serving you, what if death comes and I am serving you and I am not able to think of Krishna?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Don’t worry, Lord Chaitanya will come and forcibly enter your mind.” We are so engaged like that, serving a pure devotee, we will get mercy. Everything is always a combination of our efforts and Krishna’s mercy, that is always the combination that works. 

Devotee 5: I had just a simple question, in the purport you were saying that there are different aspects of the Supreme Personality of Godhead that can help you attain liberation.

Giriraj Swami: Well, there is His name, we have been chanting His name. There is His form. Have you been to the temple? There is a Deity of Krishna and Radha, that is a form of Krishna, and then His qualities, that He is joyful, He is merciful, He is blissful. His pastimes, His activities, such as speaking the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna or some other activities. His entourage, that means His associates like Radharani. If you come in touch with any of those, ultimately you come in touch with all of them because when you come in touch with Krishna, you get the whole package - His name, His forms, His qualities, His pastimes, His associates. That is the idea, that if somehow or other you come in touch with any of these, you will come in touch with all of them. That is why Srila Prabhupada said, “A potent drug injected intravenously will act on the whole body,” it is a powerful effect. Similarly, topics of Krishna injected through the ear will act in such a way that you will realize all of those aspects of Krishna. 

Devotee 6: At the mention of the [unintelligible 01:14:32]by the connection of the Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura’s purport, Chapter Nine, Text Twenty-nine and Thirty, where he says that if someone is engaging in pure devotional service or serving Krishna by bhakti-yoga, that connection is like an intravenous drug. That is just like, say, somebody has a headache, they take some aspirin, over time that headache is going to go away. Similarly, he said there might be bad qualities that a devotee may have, but they are doing the thing that actually eradicates it, so it is considered not serious because the drug has been injected and it shall take effect. It says it is similar to a biting of a toothless snake, it is not to be considered too serious. 

Giriraj Swami: Sometimes His Holiness Ṛtadhvaja Swami gives an example that if someone is showering, you can’t blame them for being dirty. They are showering, it is going to come off. 

Devotee 7: I am wondering in the aspects of devotional service, what aspect of it is the most important? Because, in context, I am doing a lot of new things based on the traditions in Hare Krishna, and the learning curve is really steep. I am trying to figure out how to pronounce Sanskrit, it is really hard, and I am reading these prayers, trying to offer food to Krishna, but my focus is so intent on how to pronounce the word so that I get the tradition correct. Is it bad or should I just not put as much effort into the pronunciation and just keep the intent straight? What is the most important side? 

Giriraj Swami: That is a very good question. Well, in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati; “If you offered Me with love and devotion a leaf of fruit, a flower or some water, I will accept it.” The main ingredient is devotion. Out of devotion, you are trying to learn the prayers, but in the process of learning the prayers, we might, sort of, miss the mood of offering the food to Krishna. In some circumstances, Srila Prabhupada said, “You just bow down, chant Hare Krishna, and ask Krishna to accept it.” I think that is more of the essence than learning the prayers. You will learn them, it will come naturally by association and time. That is a very good question. There were other hands. 

Devotee 8: I have a question Maharaja. In the end of the purport it said that even the aspect of death and old age is removed for someone who is a devotee, something to that effect.

Giriraj Swami: It serves as an impetus.

Devotee 8: Maharaja, I want to try and understand that.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, I will read it again. “A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.” It is an impetus because it is reminding us that we can’t be happy in this material world, we can’t be happy in this physical body. As long as I have this physical body and I am in the material world, I am going to suffer disease and I am going to suffer from old age. Let me become more serious about my Krishna consciousness so I don’t have to repeat this suffering another time. 

Devotee 9: But when I think of impetus it is like it is preventing, it is impeding on the internal life. Is it a barrier? 

Giriraj swami: Impetus means it is giving a push. Impediment - it is a similar word, that is an obstacle in the way, but impetus means it is giving it a push. Good, you are listening and you are thinking. All right, there you are. Now what? 

Devotee 10: We are ready for prasāda. 

Giriraj Swami: Okay. We have touched on the subject of prasāda but because there is so many people here for the first time, I will just explain a little more. As Marley asked about offering the food, the idea is to do everything for Krishna, we don’t do anything for ourselves, we do everything for Krishna. Our needs are also met in Krishna consciousness, so devotees prepare food, vegetarian food according to certain regulations, for Krishna with love and devotion. They offer it to Krishna with love and devotion, and then after Krishna enjoys it, what is left is called prasāda, which literally means “Mercy.” The idea is, say, if someone is a servant in someone’s house—I guess here we don’t have it so much, except for very wealthy people, but they will have a cook, they will have a full staff. So they will cook and they will serve the food, but they don’t eat until the master has eaten, and then what is left, they eat it. 

Srila Prabhupada said, “The servant of the king enjoys almost on the same level as the king.” So we are serving the Supreme Lord, we are offering Him or Them, Radha and Krishna, we are offering them prasāda, food prepared with love and devotion. And after they eat it—now, someone might say, “Well, you offered it but I didn’t see it disappear.” It can’t disappear, but if it did, that would be less fortunate for us. The Lord is so merciful that He eats it, but He also leaves it in a transformed state, and that is prasāda, that is spiritual food. 

In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says that those who prepare food just for their bodily nourishment, eat sin. That means something against the laws of God, for which there is a reaction. For those who eat the remnants of food offered in sacrifice to Krishna, they get liberated from all sin. It is a very different experience, and even if you are vegetarian, there is some reaction because you are taking life and you are taking Krishna’s property. But if you offer it to Krishna, then it actually tastes different. Of course, the cooks here are very good, but it is more than that. 

I remember when I was first in the Boston temple, there was the plate that is offered to Krishna. Let’s say we are feeding fifty people, we are not going to put a portion to feed fifty people on the plate, just put a portion for one person. The plate it is called mahā-prasāda, and it had a little different taste. When I was in the Boston temple, it happened to be Vaikunthanath’s wife, and she said to Satsvarupa, I was just a new person and happened to be there, “Did you ever notice how the food that is on Krishna’s plate always tastes like it has a little sugar sprinkled on it?” You should taste the difference, it is different. 

There was a young man, who was later initiated by Srila Prabhupada, named Tejas, but he was in India in the peace corps in the 1970s. He would sometimes visit traditional temples of Krishna and he would eat the prasāda there. I guess he noticed there was some difference in the taste, and after living in India, he came back to America, then he met the devotees and he went to their programs, and he had prasāda. Then he said, “Oh, this is just like what I had in India.” It wasn’t that it was cooked the same way, but that thing that made it prasāda, that spiritual transformation that made it prasāda was the same. That is what we are going to have now, and this is also part of bhakti-yoga.

Just to conclude with one little anecdote. We were with Srila Prabhupada in Amritsar in an impersonal ashram, that is people who didn’t really believe in Krishna. In the ashram they had a lot of impersonal slogans like tat tvam asi. So we were asking Srila Prabhupada what do all those things meant. He was explaining that from the impersonal point of view—impersonal point of view means that ultimately the Supreme is impersonal and the goal is to merge and become one with that, which is like an ātmā for us. You don’t want that. And it is like the happiness of Brahmananda. It is compared to a drop, compared to the ocean of happiness and devotional service to Krishna, we are not interested in that. So at that time Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, Malati dasi, took the Deity’s plate with some fruit, it was mainly fruits in the morning, and she offered that to Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada said referring to these impersonals, “They will speculate for many years or lifetimes and not come to any conclusion.” Then he popped some of that mahā-prasāda in his mouth and said, “But we will realize God simply by eating.” That is our next step here in this evening’s program, to realize God in that form.

Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.