SB 2.1.11 – Darshan Room Program

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. So tonight I will read a verse and purport from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In the Vedic literature there is general progression from the Bhagavad-gītā to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but there is a beautiful verse and purport about the chanting of the holy names, which we just experienced, and I thought it would be appropriate to read this verse and purport and discuss it. There is a certain format that our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, introduced for reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so we will follow that.

Will begin by reciting a mantra—oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya—which is more or less same as the Hare Krishna but the words are different, but it is basically calling out to Krishna. So just follow along and the transcendental vibration will have its effect. So please repeat.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Seeing you all seated here reciting this mantra like great sages, I was reminded of the original scene or context for this the speaking of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And that original scene is depicted in the viva cultura program, if any of you have seen it. But the basic idea is that the King who is being addressed, you will see in this verse he was cursed to die within seven days. And so he sat down on the banks of the Ganges and many great sages like you all came and assembled there and among those sages one, a sixteen year old boy actually, named Śukadeva Gosvami was considered the most qualified to answer the King’s questions. And his basic question is, what is the duty of someone who is about to die? And that question is pertinent for all of us because we are all going to die.

Srila Prabhupada said that Maharaja Parīkṣit had seven days to live but we don’t know if we have seven minutes but of course we hope we do. I hope you do; and seven years and seventeen years but still this question is very important for all of us. And in the verse I am about to read Śukadeva Gosvami tells Maharaja Parīkṣit of the importance of chanting the holy names which we just did.

So this is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter One: “The First Step in God Realization.” Text Eleven. I will just read the Sanskrit. If you can listen carefully you can repeat after me.

TEXT 11

etan nirvidyamānānām

icchatām akuto-bhayam

yogināṁ nṛpa nirṇītaṁ

harer nāmānukīrtanam

TRANSLATION

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.

COMMENT

Purport by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Now this word jaya means victory or glory. So when we say jaya, ki jaya, we are actually asking for the personality whom we are addressing to be victorious. We are all struggling with our minds and senses which have a tendency to lead us in different directions which may not be favorable for our overall well-being. spiritual well-being. So when we say Srila Prabhupada ki jaya, we are asking him to be victorious in helping us to conquer over these distracting influences and negative influences. So now I will read the purport by Srila Prabhupada.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited.

COMMENT

Mukunda is another name for Krishna, which means Giver of Liberation.

PURPORT (continued)

There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits.

COMMENT

So if you listen carefully you will find that you fall in one of these categories, or you might even fall in a combination of these categories but you will definitely see that you are covered in this verse. So generally, not necessarily you but,

PURPORT (continued)

Generally the persons are materialists who desire to enjoy the fullest extent of material gratification. Next to them are the transcendentalists, who have attained perfect knowledge about the nature of material enjoyment and thus are aloof from such an illusory way of life. More or less, they are satisfied in themselves by self-realization. 

COMMENT

So generally people are materialists, they want to enjoy the material world, they want to enjoy the mind and the senses. The mind is also material. Sometimes people confuse the mind with the ātmā, with the soul, with the spiritual spark, but the mind is subtle matter and the body is gross matter and the ātmā is spiritual. So most people want to enjoy the material world but some who are more intelligent understand the futility of the effort to enjoy materially. Once I saw, ironically it was a shopping bag but the shopping bag said, “The greatest obstacle to happiness is the pursuit of happiness.” So we are pursuing something that is illusory because we are spiritual and we are the soul and therefore we can be satisfied only spiritually.

Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if you are performing a mathematical calculation and you make a mistake in the first step then even if you perform all the other steps perfectly, you end further and further from the solution because of the error in the first step. So the first step, this chapter is called “The First Step in God Realization,” but the first step is to understand that we are not the body but we are the ātmā or the soul within the body. And then if we do everything based on that we will come to real happiness. But if we make a mistake in the first step and we think that we are the body, then even though we do everything perfectly for the sake of the body we will end up further and further away from the solution from the happiness that we are seeking.

So most people are materialists, they are pursuing happiness materially and then the next category they see the futility of it that, that you never attain it and even if you get it you can’t keep it, you lose it. Everything that we get eventually we will lose. So they are the next category but then there is another category. So the first category, they are trying to enjoy and then the second category they want to renounce and then the third category is completely different, they want to please Krishna; they are devotees. That is what we are doing here trying to please Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Above them are the devotees of the Lord, who neither aspire to enjoy the material world nor desire to get out of it. They are after the satisfaction of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the devotees of the Lord do not want anything on their personal account. If the Lord desires, the devotees can accept all sorts of material facilities, and if the Lord does not desire this, the devotees can leave aside all sorts of facilities, even up to the limit of salvation.

COMMENT

So our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada himself said of himself that at first Krishna tested him by taking everything away from him and then Krishna tested him by giving him everything. And that is exactly what Srila Prabhupada is describing here that if the Lord wants the devotee can accept all sorts of material facilities, can live in a palace. And if the Lord wants the devotee can live under a tree or in a tent as we often did with Srila Prabhupada at Kumbha-melā for example.

So he is not after enjoying the material world or renouncing the material world, he is after pleasing Krishna. And by pleasing Krishna we become happy because we are all parts and parcels of Krishna but our defect is when we try to enjoy independent of Krishna. And Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if you have some nice food and the hand thinks, I will enjoy this food directly it won’t get any satisfaction because the hand is not meant to enjoy the food directly. It is meant to give the food to the stomach, then the hand and every part of the body is satisfied. Or another similar example that Srila Prabhupada gave is, once all the different senses of the body got together and they considered that, we are doing all the work, we are getting the food and it is all going to the stomach so we should go on strike. So they all went on strike and guess what happened? They were starving, so they decided, actually we were better off when we were all cooperating to feed the stomach and then they went back to work.

So Krishna, He is like the stomach of existence and so if we work to please Him then we will automatically be satisfied. And if we neglect our duty to him or our function in relation to him, which most forgetful souls do, then we suffer. So this is really a return to our normal healthy condition of serving Krishna which is natural. And the other condition of not serving Krishna is artificial and it is ultimately miserable.

PURPORT (Continued)

Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only. In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord. By offenseless chanting and hearing

COMMENT

Now this word offenseless is important and we will discuss that soon 

PURPORT (continued)

By offenseless chanting and hearing of the holy name of the Lord, one becomes acquainted with the transcendental form of the Lord, and then with the attributes of the Lord, and then with the transcendental nature of His pastimes, etc. Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. 

COMMENT

We read the word aṇu; aṇu means continuous and it also means to follow and Srila Prabhupada has brilliantly incorporated both meanings in his translation, “constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord, following the ways of the great authorities.” that includes both meanings of aṇu. So what does that mean, following the ways of the great authorities?

PURPORT (continued)

This means that hearing from the authorities is the first essential. Hearing of the holy name gradually promotes one to the stage of hearing about His form, His attributes, His pastimes, and so on, and thus the necessity of the chanting of His glories develops successively.

COMMENT

So in bhakti-yoga the first two processes are śravaṇam which it means hearing, and kīrtanam which basically means repeating what you have heard. So we hear the holy name, that is śravaṇam and we repeat it, that is kīrtanam. And starting with the name we become acquainted with the Lord’s form, qualities, activities, śravaṇam and then we repeat what we have heard about those and thus there is glorification of the form, the qualities, the activities and so on. So as Srila Prabhupada said, “Everything that we do in material life we do in Krishna consciousness but this the focal point is different instead of the central point being our body the central point is Krishna.” So we are not like those yogis who do mauna-vrata, they try to be silent so they don’t speak nonsense, which is good. It is better than speaking nonsense but better than being silent is glorifying Krishna. So we can do everything that anyone else does but the center is Krishna then everything becomes very beautiful and peaceful and harmonious.

PURPORT (continued)

This process is recommended not only for the successful execution of devotional service, but also even for those who are materially attached. According to Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī, this way of attaining success is an established fact, concluded not only by him but also by all other previous ācāryas. Therefore, there is no need of further evidence. 

COMMENT

It is a decided fact.

PURPORT (continued)

The process is recommended not only for the progressive students in different departments of ideological success, but also for those who are already successful in their achievement as fruitive workers, as philosophers or as devotees of the Lord.

COMMENT

So this is so all-encompassing that the chanting of the holy name assures success in any field of endeavor. And even if you are already successful it is still recommended to chant the holy name of the Lord because you get more successful. It sounds odd but it is described that Krishna in Dwarka is perfect, in Mathura He is more perfect, and in Vrindavan He is most perfect. So we usually think that perfection is the limit but actually within perfection there are degrees and so even if you are already successful, by chanting the holy names of the Lord constantly following the ways of the great authorities you become more successful.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done,

COMMENT

We were pretty loud yes we did it we did it congratulations yes high five.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī instructs that chanting of the holy name of the Lord should be loudly done, and it should be performed offenselessly as well, as recommended in the Padma Purāṇa. One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins

COMMENT

Now sin the Sanskrit word is pāpa or vikarma. It really means to transgress the laws of nature, the laws of God, and for that there is a reaction. You have all heard of karma. So karma means action but it also includes the idea of reaction. Sometimes you will do something and then something bad will happen to you and then someone will say “instant karma.” You are getting the reaction immediately.

PURPORT (continued)

One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord.

COMMENT

This is the conclusion of the Bhagavad-gītā,

sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

If you surrender to Krishna, Krishna relieves you of all sinful reactions. So that is what Prabhupada is saying here.

PURPORT (continued)

One can deliver himself from the effects of all sins by surrendering himself unto the Lord. One can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter of His holy name. But one cannot protect himself if one commits an offense at the feet of the holy name of the Lord. 

COMMENT

So it is important that we chant offenselessly and that is what it means to chant following in the ways of the great authorities like Jiva Gosvami who cites the Padma Purana.

PURPORT (continued)

The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about the glories of the Lord.

COMMENT

So I will speak from my own experience but many devotees have had the same experience. When I first joined the temple in Boston I thought that everyone was a pure devotee that they were just perfect, just ideal. I just loved them; I just wanted to be with them; I wanted to emulate them. But then after a while because of my own conditioning I would say, I saw them as having defects and I didn’t really that much but for the sake of the story. They say familiarity breeds contempt, so when you become over familiar with devotees instead of seeing most prominently their service to Krishna you start to see their conditioning, real or imagine you see their faults. And that is a subtle offense but it is not too bad but when you speak ill of devotees, that is an offense. So some of these ten offenses are committed while you are chanting. One of the most important one is inattention. One of our previous authorities Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if you chant without attention then all the other offenses can flourish and if you chant with attention then all the other offenses are destroyed. There is a type of meditation we say mantra meditation it really is a type of meditation so when we chant as we did and as we will again we should try to fix our mind on the sound of the mantra; that is attentive hearing, that is meditation. 

I am going to paraphrase some of this because it is pretty long and that these offenses have been mentioned elsewhere like in The Nectar of Devotion very concisely. So the second offense is to consider the names of demigods like Lord Brahma or Lord Shiva to be equal to or independent of the holy name of Lord Vishnu. So people who come in touch with Vedic philosophy or culture become aware of different superior personalities like Brahma, Shiva, Durga, Ganesh; there are so many. But they are not equal to or independent of Lord Krishna or Vishnu, they are actually his loyal servants. It is just like a king will have his ministers and the ministers are not ordinary people they are very powerful, but their power is derived from the king. Independent of the king, they have no authority. So like that Brahma you could say is the minister of creation, Shiva is the minister of destruction, Sarasvati is the minister of learning and culture, and then some are given charge of certain planets, but they are all subordinate to Lord Krishna. So we chant the holy name of Krishna but we think that actually he is just one of many Gods and there is so many other gods and they are all equal; that is an offense. It happens I think in yoga circles they, chant and they don’t really understand correctly so the value of that chanting is reduced by that offense, by that ignorance.

The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized acharyas or spiritual masters the fourth offense is to blaspheme the Vedic literature or literature in pursuance of the Vedic version.

So now we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is a Vedic text. It is a revealed knowledge and so if you don’t have faith in it and you even criticize it, then that is an offense. And that will affect your chanting. It is not something you do while you are chanting but it will affect your chanting.

PURPORT (continued)

The fifth offense is to define the holy name of the Lord in terms of one’s mundane calculation. The holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord Himself, and one should understand the holy name of the Lord to be nondifferent from Him.

COMMENT

So this is really an essential point. In the material world or the relative world, the name of a thing and the thing are different. For example, if I am thirsty and I chant water, water, water, water; say I am in the desert and I chant water, water, water, water. Well chanting water, water will not quench my thirst because the word water and the substance water are different. But in the spiritual realm or in the absolute world the name of the thing and the thing are the same. So if I chant Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna is actually present, as Srila Prabhupada says, dancing on my tongue. So that is why this chanting is so powerful because we are actually associating with Krishna. So that is the proper understanding and if we miss that point, and we think that it is all imagination that is an offense.

When Srila Prabhupada gave a lecture at Harvard University, after the lecture he asked for questions. So one of the students said, “You say we should keep repeating chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Hare Krishna but couldn’t you get the same effect say by counting one two three, one two three, one two three. And Srila Prabhupada chuckled and said, “Of course that is not possible but you can try counting and when you get tired of counting you can try chanting.” So he had an interpretation. Of course it wasn’t really an offense for him; he was just a new person.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord is not imaginary, nor is His holy name. There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge,

COMMENT

What does that mean a poor fund of knowledge? Yes, a dignified, polite way of saying they don’t know anything.

PURPORT (continued)

There are persons with a poor fund of knowledge who think the Lord to be an imagination of the worshiper and therefore think His holy name to be imaginary.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada said that, “Krishna is more real than your jugular vein.” Do you know what the jugular vein is? Yes it is very important, if that is cut you are finished, you are gone. He said Krishna is more real than your jugular vein. We know that it is real because we wouldn’t be alive without it. He is more real than that. We were more dependent on him even than our jugular vein.

PURPORT (continued)

The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name.

COMMENT

So this means that according to scripture and according to practical experience, if you chant the holy name of the Lord you become free from sinful reactions. That is a fact. But if you are cunning and calculating and duplicitous, and you think, Oh this is very good I can commit sin and then I will just chant and neutralize the effects of it. That is an offense; not only is it an offense but it doesn’t work. So it is like the Christian confession can be, that they go to the church and confess which is good, it is good to confess it is purifying. They go to the church and confess but then after confessing they engage in the same sinful activities, and then they go to church the next Sunday and confess. So you can’t really get relief like that. If you fall into some sinful act and you confess, you can get some relief but then you shouldn’t do it again. That is the whole point. So similarly, if by chanting you can get purified from sinful reactions, freed from sinful reactions, but then you have to stop. You can’t make it a business—get relieved by chanting, I will sin again; get relief by chanting, sin again—you can’t; that is an offense.

PURPORT (continued)

The eighth offense is to consider the holy name of the Lord and His chanting method to be equal to some material auspicious activity. There are various kinds of good works for material benefits, but the holy name and His chanting are not mere auspicious holy services. Undoubtedly the holy name is holy service, but He should never be utilized for such purposes. Since the holy name and the Lord are of one and the same identity, one should not try to bring the holy name into the service of mankind. The idea is that the Supreme Lord is the supreme enjoyer. He is no one’s servant or order supplier. Similarly, since the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord, one should not try to utilize the holy name for one’s personal service.

COMMENT

So I will explain this with a very vivid example. Once there was a big conference about how the Bhagavad-gītā could solve all the problems of the world, convened at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Bombay. And before the conference began the organizer who was the president of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Srimati Lilavati Munshi, she invited the guests, the speakers to her library to meet before hand. So there is one man, I don’t recall his name I remembered a very long big white beard, and he told Srila Prabhupada that he was having big gatherings and getting people to chant the holy name and telling them that if they chanted the holy name they would be cured of their material ailments.

Sometimes I have heard Christians, they have these prayer meetings. They say if you accept Jesus in your heart you will be. . . and then someone on crutches will accept Jesus in his heart and then he will cast aside his crutches. Although I have heard that some of those things are staged but anyway it is the mentality. So this man, he said he was having these large gatherings telling people to chant and that it and that they would be free cured from their material ailments. So the man said to Srila Prabhupada. “I am gathering people together and you are gathering people together; I am getting them to chant the holy name and you are getting them to chant the holy name, so we should cooperate.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No, what you are doing is against our principles, because you are using the holy name as a servant of people’s physical ailments, and the holy name is not meant to be used, Krishna is not meant to be used in our service, we are meant to be engaged in Krishna’s service.” So he refused. So we should always have that mentality.

Of course it is true if you surrender to Krishna, Krishna does take care of His surrendered souls. But it is not like a business deal that, “Okay, I will surrender to you but I want a b c d and e.” You surrendered and you just depend on Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

So since the holy name of the Lord is identical with the Lord one should not try to utilize the holy name for one’s personal service. 

The ninth offense is to instruct those who are not interested in chanting the holy name of the Lord about the transcendental nature of the holy name. If such instruction is imparted to an unwilling audience, the act is considered to be an offense at the feet of the holy name.

COMMENT

So sometimes this is said preaching the glories of the holy name to the faithless. And that is an offense because if someone doesn’t have faith and you preach the glories of the holy name, they will probably commit one of the other offenses, one or more of the other offenses and think this is all imagination and so they will commit offenses. And so it is an offense for you to preach to such faithless persons and thus lead them into more offenses. We want them to hear the holy name, we can give them prasāda and engage them in service but we shouldn’t preach the glories. I had my own example not quite in the context of the holy name but it is a basic principle with my father from my previous ashram. So he and my mother and sister came to visit me in India and so we were taking a flight from New Delhi to Srinagar, Kashmir and Srila Prabhupada had published a book called Easy Journey to Other Planets, in which he used scientific language. And my father was a lawyer but his mentality was rational and scientific, not mystical or spiritual. So the theme of the book is, or the essence of the book is that by practice of yoga you can travel to other planets within the universe but only by bhakti-yoga, by chanting Hare Krishna can you go beyond the material universe and achieve the spiritual kingdom of God, Krishna-loka.

In fact in Boston where I joined we got quite a large house. It was the first property that ISKCON owned. So in that house Srila Prabhupada moved the printing press and he was guiding every detail of the process. So we printed that book Easy Journey to Other Planets, and he said on the cover there should be a painting of the devotee with chanting beads, japa-mālā that we chant on, and he should be traveling beyond the material world to the planet of Krishna. And there would be a representation of the planet of Krishna with Radha and Krishna, and when we showed him the painting he liked it. He said, “Yes buy the beads.” So anyway that was all very good but with my father, when I started to explain this that by yoga you can travel to other planets in this universe he looked at me like. . . and then by chanting, by bhakti-yoga you can go beyond this universe to the planet of Krishna. He looked at me; he didn’t say anything, he just looked at me with this expression like, Son I thought you were crazy but hearing all this you removed any doubts about it. And then I realized I had committed that offense, I was preaching to the faithless; he didn’t have faith in any of it. So by my so-called preaching to him he just became more skeptical and more, in a way could say, offensive.

So we need to think about that, but it is good for people to hear the holy name. That is always good. I had a godbrother in Bombay named Haridasa, he is still there. Somehow he went to Russia and so he was chanting. He was singing, he was doing kirtan by himself and when people asked him what it was he said, “Oh, it is an Indian cinema song,” which was fine. They got to hear the holy name and he didn’t get in trouble. So the tenth offense, the last of the ten the tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord this happens people become uninterested well it can happen.

PURPORT (continued)

The tenth offense is to become uninterested in the holy name of the Lord even after hearing of the transcendental nature of the holy name. The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism. False egoism is exhibited by thinking oneself to be the enjoyer of the world and thinking everything in the world to be meant for the enjoyment of one’s self only.

COMMENT

Our godbrother, Bhurijana Prabhu, has explained this underlying psychology that practically everyone has. It is as if everyone; how many billion people are there now? How many? So it is like there are eight billion people and I am sure this applies to living entities in other species also, there are eight billion people walking around and every one of them wants to say, “Excuse me, I have an important announcement to make. I am the center of the universe and you should do exactly what I want you to do.”

Another example he gave it is like we live our lives as if it is a drama and we are the hero or heroine of that drama. And we want everyone else to be the supporting actors and actresses. So each one of us, we are the hero and the heroine, we want everyone to play their supporting roles in our dramas and they all want us to place supporting roles in their dramas, and it doesn’t harmonize. But if we see Krishna as the hero, Radha and Krishna are the hero and heroine, and we are all the supporting players in their līlā, then our relationships with each other can be very harmonious. So this tenth offense sometimes translated to. . .anyway the idea is to become free from this false egotism.

There was a period when Nitaipada Swami and I, we used to text each other sometimes when we were doing japa. We like to chant japa together but sometimes we are not together so we are chanting, but I am very inspired by how serious he is in his chanting. So one time I sent him a text message saying, “I was thinking of you the whole time I was chanting japa this morning,” and he texted back, “I was also thinking of me the whole time I was chanting.” So that is what we are trying to get out of.

All right so now you know the whole secret of success for people in whatever field of activity, this is the secret of success and if you are already successful this is the secret of becoming more successful. And it is as the Bhagavad-gītā says, it can be experienced and it is joyfully performed; you get direct experience and it is joyfully performed.

So you all, I am too, very fortunate to be here tonight to have participated in this wonderful kirtan and then heard from Srila Prabhupada about the holy name. So thank you and in the few minutes before prasāda will be served, you can make any comments or ask any questions. Okay one, two, three. What is your name by the way?

Devotee: My name is Shakti dasi. It is my belief that Krishna speaks many places on earth so this way it fits into many other ways such as the maha-mudrā which is in China andTibetan, Buddhism. What would prevent you from disembarking the dharma if you were following a different path on your way to Godhead; if you began ISKCON and then you went to Buddhism but you were still wanting to participate in all the activities in ISKCON? What would prevent you from not doing that and then what would be a reason why you shouldn’t and what would be a reason why you should?

Giriraj Swami: Well, Srila Prabhupada often said, “Whatever you are doing you can add this, then you will be better.” Just like the purport said, become a better Hindu, a better Christian, a better Muslim, a better Buddhist. So you can add this and that is beautiful, that is nice.

Devotee: When you encountered people who may say that, “Oh you shouldn’t do that. Let us say if you were a Krishna devotee, one was saying that you should chant Har, Har, Har, because they were sikh. And what would you do when you encountered that kind of defensiveness when it comes to, “No, you should only do it this way.” How should you handle that?

Giriraj Swami: Well it depends who is telling you that and what your relationship with them is.

Devotee: They are just another devotee. You are just practicing Hare Krishna with them but you are also showing them the different forms of yoga you are doing too.

Giriraj Swami: I don’t follow you. You say a Sikh person is saying this?

Devotee: Say there is a Hare Krishna devotee who is taking Sikh meditation and our Kumbha-melā meditation and then they are sharing it with their devotee friend.

Giriraj Swami: Oh I see yes. Well, if they are willing to hear then you can speak to them about the significance of the holy name of Krishna. If they are not willing to hear then you should not speak to them about the glories of the holy name of Krishna, otherwise it will be an offense. So you can just listen and smile. There is a verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is the verse it is not even in the purport, it is right in the verse that says that, if your friends and family members tell you that you shouldn’t practice bhakti-yoga, that outwardly you should agree and say, “Yes, you are giving very good advice.” And internally you continue in your determination not to miss the goal of life. So generally devotees are straightforward but sometimes it is easier and better not to get into an argument and just say something I guess that is a very good advice.

There is a devotee in Bombay named Srinathji dasa. He is a very big industrialist and because of his position he would be invited to a lot of conventions and gatherings at hotels where people would be eating meat and drinking liquor. And so he would go. Of course he wouldn’t participate in those things and they would say “What is wrong with eating meat?” It would become a whole big argument. “What is wrong with imbibing alcohol?” It would become a whole big argument. So then he realized this is not working well. So what he would do is, he would phone ahead and he would say, “I am coming to the event tonight but I am highly allergic to meat, fish, eggs, onions and garlic. And they would say. “Oh you poor thing, I am so sorry to hear that. Well, what can you have? Just tell us what you can have and we will make it for you.” It was just completely reversed. And as far as the alcohol, I guess he would get a glass, a martini glass or whatever you call it, and put Seven-up in it and maybe a maraschino cherry or something to make it look like it was something it wasn’t. He would walk around with his glass and everyone was okay. So yes, we don’t have to argue with everyone all the time. That may not be beneficial for them or us.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, thank you so much. Someone recently told me you mentioned Boston at Harvard University and someone recently mentioned that I believe you were there? 

Giriraj Swami: Oh I was there what I told you is my first-hand experience 

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Thank you so much. Someone recently told me, and mentioned Boston and Harvard University, Prabhupada was there, and someone recently mentioned, I believe you were there.

Giriraj Swami: I was there. What I told you was my first-hand experience.

Devotee: I don’t know if it was you, but I was told that someone was there recently and there was a discourse, correct me if this was not correct, and I guess the professor was equating what Prabhupada had accomplished, what the Hare Krishna movement has accomplished in a short span of time, six years or whatever, comparing it to Christianity and how Lord Jesus had many disciples to establish his tradition and Prabhupada virtually came alone. Is this something that you are familiar with?

Giriraj Swami: I don’t know about that in particular but I have heard it said that not since the time of Jesus Christ has such a revolution taken place.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, does it make sense to compare chanting Hare Krishna which is a form of yoga to Christianity which just started not too long ago, when yoga has been practiced for so long and is much older than that Abrahamic tradition?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I wouldn’t say it was unfair to compare it but there is comparison and contrast. So I think to get a proper understanding we need to both see the points of similarity and the points of difference. But I think these theologians were saying that not since the time of Jesus has there been a grassroots movement where people of a completely different culture were taking up a new philosophy and practice.

Devotee: Yes, the circumstances are completely different. Prabhupada didn’t use violence. A lot of Christians are violent. I just see that it is different.

Giriraj Swami: Yes that is different. So that is a further testimony to Prabhupada’s greatness.

Devotee: [2:10:28.0 Inaudible] so while Christ was, Christianity is different than the entity of Christ, because Christians are following a path in his light, in his footsteps, but he makes it very clear in the bible that they are really not perfect, that they rely solely on his help. So they are really just helpless in their pursuit of him. Does it make sense; because that is why you can’t really compare it to yoga because yoga is about perfecting yourself and Christianity is about relying on forgiveness.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I would put it this way. As far as bhakti-yoga or Krishna consciousness, two elements are required. One is called pariśrama which is one’s own efforts—hard labor, and the other is kṛṣṇa-kṛpā which is Krishna’s mercy. So we need to make our efforts, we don’t just sit and pray for Krishna’s mercy and not make any effort. But we also don’t make efforts and think it all depends on us. It is really a combination of our effort and Krishna’s mercy. Speaking of Krishna’s mercy, the Sanskrit word for mercy is prasāda and we are about to get have some prasāda. Is that correct?