Kirtan with Madhava and Talks by Giriraj Swami, Devamrita Swami, and Others

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna, we welcome you to this evening’s kirtan with His Grace Madhava dasa and Her Grace Radhika dasi and so many other wonderful devotees. Srila Prabhupada has explained that the chanting of the holy name should be sung just like the genuine cry of a child for its mother. Whenever I heard that, I would always picture the child in a fairground, lost and in a very hysterical state of panic, crying out for its mother.

This material world is like a phantasmagoria, and we are lost here. Our only shelter, our only savior, is Krishna and His representatives. And so, when we chant in kirtan, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, we should be crying out like a child for its mother. Srila Prabhupada has explained that in the material world, which is the relative world, the name of a thing and the thing itself are different. For example, if I am in the desert and I am thirsty, and I chant “water, water, water, water” will not quench my thirst because the word water and the substance water are different. But when I chant “Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna,” Krishna is personally present, dancing on my tongue, because the chanting is enacted on the absolute platform. When we chant, we are calling Krishna’s name and Radharani’s name, “O Radha, O Krishna, O Lord, O energy of the Lord.” So, when someone calls our name, our natural response is to say, “Yes, what do you want?” So, we are calling the name of Krishna, the name of His energies, Srimati Radharani, and if They ask us, “Yes, what do you want?” what will we say?

We should think for a minute. What would we say if Krishna asked us, “What do you want? You called me, what do you want?” A pure devotee will want only one thing. He will ask only one thing, and that is service. And therefore, the meaning of the Hare Krishna mantra is, “O Lord, O energy of the Lord, please engage me in your service,” because only devotional service to Krishna can actually satisfy the soul. Any other thing that we might think of, because that is what we do, what would you want? Any material thing, it won’t satisfy us. And therefore, even people who have great material opulence and success are miserable and frustrated, and so very high rate of suicide. Well, that can be anywhere, any materialistic person, but including the rich and famous.

So, we should take this opportunity of chanting the holy name to re-establish our eternal relationship with Krishna, with Radha and Krishna, and leave this material world. Leave this material world; means leave our material consciousness, wanting to be the enjoyer, the controller, the proprietor. And we are none of those things. Krishna is the enjoyer, He is the proprietor, He is the controller, and when we surrender to Him and let Him take charge of us, then all of our anxieties are over. And when we serve Him, when we chant His holy name, we actually feel spiritual happiness. And even people who are new, who have not really practiced bhakti-yoga, if they just happen to join in the chanting, they can also feel that happiness. So, we are confident that you, who are joining us this evening, will experience that or some of that and it will be a turning point, to go further in Krishna consciousness.

Hare Krishna.