BG 9.14–15

Giriraj Swami: This evening we shall read from a book called the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhagavad refers to God and Gītā means song, so the literal translation of Bhagavad-gītā could be the song of God. When God speaks, He doesn’t speak in ordinary prose like we do, but when He speaks He speaks in poetry and song. And I will read a verse that mentions kirtan; we have some new guests who have been told a little bit about kirtan, and kirtan is really the heart of bhakti. So I will read this verse. So to invoke auspiciousness please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

So, please repeat.

TEXT 14

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ

yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ

namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā

nitya-yuktā upāsate

TRANSLATION

Always chanting My glories.

COMMENT

Well, I’ll just read it straight through, and then we can say it responsivly.

TRANSLATION

Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The mahātmā cannot be manufactured by rubber-stamping an ordinary man.

COMMENT

Rubber stamp, I don’t know technology is changing so fast, I don’t know if we still have rubber stamps, but this it’s, anyway, it’s a stamp that you put it in an ink pad and then you stamp something. And so you can’t just stamp an ordinary person and make him a mahatma, he has to have the qualifications of a mahatma. And the qualifications were discussed in the previous verse which I’ll read now and then the discussion continues in the present verse.

So the previous verse translation is;

TRANSLATION

Those who are not deluded, the great souls.

COMMENT

Mahatmas.

TRANSLATION

Those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know me.

COMMENT

Krishna.

TRANSLATION

As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

COMMENT

And the present verse.

TRANSLATION

Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.

COMMENT

So again the purport.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The mahātmā cannot be manufactured by rubber-stamping an ordinary man. His symptoms are described here: a mahātmā is always engaged in chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. He has no other business. He is always engaged in the glorification of the Lord. In other words, he is not an impersonalist.

COMMENT

Impersonalist means someone who believes that God or the supreme or the absolute is impersonal. In other words, not a person, and generally, their goal is to merge and become one with that impersonal light. But that position is artificial, because we are persons and as stated elsewhere in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ, we the living entities are fragmental parts and parcels of Krishna, the supreme, and we are eternal. That means we are eternally fragmental parts. And this point is made again and again in the Bhagavad-gītā, we are eternally fragmental parts, we never merge and become one with God.

So, I’ll get back to the purport here.

PURPORT (continued)

He is always engaged in the glorification of the Lord.

COMMENT

Who? The mahatma, the great soul.

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, he is not an impersonalist. When the question of glorification is there, one has to glorify the Supreme Lord, praising His holy name, His eternal form, His transcendental qualities and His uncommon pastimes. One has to glorify all these things; therefore a mahātmā is attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

One who is attached to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord, the brahma-jyotir, is not described as mahātmā in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is described in a different way in the next verse.

COMMENT

So, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam explains that the Absolute Truth is realized in three features; Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. Brahman or brahmajyoti is the impersonal light that emanates from the transcendental body of Krishna. So that aspiration of the impersonalists to merge into the impersonal light is not false, but it is misplaced. But it’s a fact, that Krishna’s transcendental form emanates a spiritual light called brahman or brahmajyoti, and the goal of the impersonalists is to merge into that brahman effulgence.

Then the next stage of realization is Paramātmā. Paramātmā is the Lord within the heart, and just as it is the goal of the impersonal jnanis to merge and become one with brahman, it is the goal of the yogis to realize the Lord within the heart. But full realization of the Absolute Truth is realization of Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He can be realized only by the devotees, the practitioners of bhakti-yoga. So the Lord is described as sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, sat means eternal, cit means knowledge or cognizance, and ānanda means bliss. So realization of Brahman is realization of eternity only, sat. Realization of the Paramātmā within the heart, is realization of sat (eternity), and cit (knowledge), there is some knowledge that God is a person. But realization of Bhagavān, Sri Krishna, is sat, cit, and ānanda. Ānanda means bliss. And bliss, ānanda, supreme pleasure, is what we are all seeking, and that can be realized only in a loving relationship with the supreme. You cannot get that ānanda even in, I mean you can get some ānanda by realizing the Lord in the heart as Paramātmā, but not so much, and none in trying to merge and become one with the impersonal light.

PURPORT (continued)

The mahātmā is always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu.

COMMENT

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ. Vishnu, is another name for Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Not a demigod or human being. That is devotion: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ and smaraṇam, remembering Him.

COMMENT

So, there are demigods, in Sanskrit, they are called devas or devatas, who are more powerful than we human beings. But they are not the Supreme Godhead and if we worship them, we will miss the goal of perfect happiness in relationship with the Supreme Person. So, these demigods can be compared to ministers in the cabinet or the court of a King. The king will have different ministers and they are more powerful than ordinary citizens, but they are still citizens and their positions are given to them by the king in consideration of their loyal service to the king and their competence to execute their assigned work. But they can also be dismissed by the king. And anyone in principle can become a minister.

So Krishna or Vishnu is the Supreme Godhead and these devas or demigods like Brahma, he is you could say, he is the minister in charge of creation. Shiva, minister in charge of destruction. Sarasvati, the minister in charge of learning and culture. There is so many. Varuna, in charge of the waters. Indra, in charge of rainfall. There is so many demigods, but they are subordinate to and dependent on Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So a pure devotee, bhakta, or mahatma, he is not diverted from Krishna to any demigod or human being.

His holiness Kesava Bharati Goswami Maharaja, ki jaya. Welcome, welcome.

Maharaja: Thank you Maharaja very much.

Giriraj Swami: Forhow long will you be gracing us with your presence?

Maharaja: I fly out on Tuesday.

Giriraj Swami: You fly out on Tuesday. Okay, so that’s.

Maharaja: [Unintelligible 00:32:46].

Giriraj Swami: Sorry.

Maharaja: [Unintelligible 00:32:49].

Giriraj Swami: Okay, well, thank you for coming and blessing us. Hare Krishna.

So, just to repeat a little to bring us back to where we left off.

PURPORT (continued)

The mahātmā is always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu, not a demigod or human being. That is devotion: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ and smaraṇam, remembering Him. Such a mahātmā has firm determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas.

COMMENT

So, we can actually, and in fact, that’s the mature fruit of the proper execution of bhakti-yoga, is that we realize Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and actually enter into a direct loving relationship with Him. Now, if you look at the paintings on the walls here, you will see different activities of Krishna, but you will notice that Krishna is never alone, because we can experience ānanda or bliss only in the company of others, really only in loving relationships with others. So we, who are now in the conditioned stage of life, we cannot see Krishna, we cannot touch Him, we cannot smell Him, we cannot hear Him. But when we are mature in bhakti-yoga, we can not only realize Him, but we can actually enter into His abode and engage in loving reciprocation with Him.

And here in this purport, Srila Prabhupada mentions five transcendental rasas. Rasa means relationship or maybe more technically it means the transcendental mellow or taste or flavor that one relishes in that relationship. And there are five. You see, the material world, we are in the material world, the material world is an inverted reflection of the spiritual world. That means that everything that exists in the spiritual world also exists here, but it’s just a reflection, it’s not real. Just like if you are thirsty and you want water, or you are hungry and you want food and you see a reflection of the water or the food, it won’t help you because you can’t eat the reflection, you can only eat the real thing or drink the real thing.

So this material world is a reflection of the spiritual world, and we have relationships, we have those five kinds of relationships here. The five are; passive appreciation, then active service, then friendship, then parental love, and then conjugal love. So we have those relationships here but they are reflections, they don’t really satisfy us. But we can get true satisfaction and happiness when we enter into those relationships or one of those relationships, with Krishna.

And I mentioned earlier we are parts and parcels of Krishna, so Krishna is a person, a transcendental person, so we are also persons. Although we may falsely identify with the body and think that our personality is due to the body, but actually our personality is due to the soul, or the ātmā or jīvātmā. Because the body is just a machine and when the soul is in the body the machine works and when the soul leaves the body the machine doesn’t work anymore. So the soul is a person and that person which is spiritual has an eternal relationship with the Supreme Person, Krishna.

By practice of bhakti-yoga we realize our eternal identity and our eternal relationship of loving service with Krishna. And Krishna descended 5000 years ago, He descends periodically to show us who is God and what is life with God, so that we can be attracted to that life and want to enter that world of loving reciprocation with Krishna. So we have these pictures here which depict Krishna’s līlā or pastimes when He came to earth 5000 years ago.

PURPORT (continued)

Such a mahātmā has firm determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas. To achieve that success, he engages all activities – mental, bodily and vocal, everything – in the service of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That is called full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

In devotional service. . .

COMMENT

Or bhakti-yoga.

PURPORT (continued)

There are certain activities which are called determined.

COMMENT

dṛḍha-vratāḥ, that’s determined.

PURPORT (continued)

Such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of the moon, Ekādaśī, and on the appearance day of the Lord.

COMMENT

We might not want to fast, I mean generally people don’t like to fast. But if we are determined to achieve Krishna in the end, then we do whatever it will take to realize that goal and that requires dṛḍha-vratāḥ, determination, and that would apply to fasting on certain days which have been prescribed for us by the sacred texts and the spiritual masters to aid us in realizing ourselves and our relationship with the supreme.

PURPORT (continued)

All these rules and regulations are offered by the great ācāryas for those who are actually interested in getting admission into the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental world. The mahātmās, great souls, strictly observe all these rules and regulations, and therefore they are sure to achieve the desired result.

As described in the second verse of this chapter, not only is this devotional service easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood.

COMMENT

The second verse is very nice, I will read it.

TEXT 2

rāja-vidyā rāja-guhyaṁ

pavitram idam uttamam

pratyakṣāvagamaṁ dharmyaṁ

su-sukhaṁ kartum avyayam

TRANSLATION

This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.

PURPORT (continued)

As described in the second verse of this chapter, not only is this devotional service easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. One does not need to undergo any severe penance and austerity. He can live this life in devotional service, guided by an expert spiritual master, and in any position, either as a householder or a sannyāsī or a brahmacārī; in any position and anywhere in the world, he can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become actually mahātmā, a great soul.

COMMENT

So in any position in life; married or celibate, anywhere in the world, including Dallas, one can become actually mahatma and engage in devotional service to the Supreme Lord.

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Maharaja, would you like to add anything?

Maharaja: Whatcan I add to Maharaja’s reading? I would like to say one thing.

Giriraj Swami: Please.

Maharaja: Devotional service begins by hearing and we are greatly fortunate to have had not just an ordinary mahatma but extraordinary mahatma. Srila Prabhupada was an extraordinary mahatma. Maharaja is a mahatma, I am a durātmā. But anyway, Srila Prabhupada was a mahā-bhāgavata mahatma, he was especially empowered to bring Krishna consciousness purely to the west. And his purports are transcendental, they are non-different from him, and if you simply engage in hearing regularly every day some of Srila Prabhupada’s purports, you will taste this. Guaranteed. That is my contribution to the discussion.

Please, I’m reading every day Srila Prabhupada’s books cover to cover in the evening and I live stream them, if you want to go and find Facebook you can look up “Daily readings of Srila Prabhupada’s books,” and then you will hear Srila Prabhupada’s books read by someone who really loves to read them. Yours truly. And we have generally a group of devotees wherever we are, and they have reflections that we discuss and it’s so nice. So I welcome you, and as Maharaja said; anywhere you can do this, please, hear these books, Prabhupada’s empowered to give you this pure love of God that Maharaja was reading from in Srila Prabhupada’s books. So, please take it up and feel the bliss of Krishna consciousness.

Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: And for the next two evenings while His Holiness Kesava Bharati dasa Goswami Maharaja is here, he will be reading upstairs in the darshan room from 6:30 - 7:45, ish. So you are all invited, you are all welcome to attend.

So,are there any other comments or questions?

[Unintelligible 00:48:59]

Host: So,no question or comment from anybody? Yes, okay.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you for the class. I had a question, you mentioned sac-cid-ānanda.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Andsince we were as spirit souls we are full of knowledge, why did we make a choice to come to this material world? Did we not know the experience that we would have here before we made this decision? Just out of curiosity.

Giriraj Swami: Heis saying that the soul is by nature sac-cid-ānanda, eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss, so if the soul had knowledge, why did it come into the material world to suffer? So although the living entity is sac-cid-ānanda and the Supreme Lord is also sac-cid-ānanda, but as Srila Prabhupada said, “We are one in quality with the Lord but different in quantity, because He is infinite and we are infinitesimal. So, because He is infinite, He can never come under the influence or control of maya or illusion, but because we are infinitesimal, we can. We have knowledge but our knowledge is limited and His knowledge is unlimited.”

Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandji, ki jaya.

But as Srila Prabhupada gave the example, if you are drowning in the ocean and a boat comes to rescue you, you don’t want to spend your time asking, “Well, wait a minute, how did I get here?” You want to get on the boat and be carried to safety, carried to dry land. So that question how we got here is not so important, but what’s really important is to get out of here; to realize this is not our real home, this is not our constitutional position of happiness, and to get on the boat of Krishna consciousness and sail back home, back to Godhead.

Hare Krishna.

Any other questions or comments? That was a good one. Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: You mentioned as you were reading the purport you went to the second verse of this ninth Chapter and you said devotional service is easy.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Isit for mahatmas that it is easy? Or everybody should find it easy? If not, how to make it easy?

Giriraj Swami: Well, it is easy, it doesn’t involve any difficult austerities; it’s basically chanting, dancing, feasting, and philosophy, so it is easy. But you have touched an important point which Srila Prabhupada also made, which is that chanting Hare Krishna is easy but the determination to chant Hare Krishna is not so easy. And that determination is exactly what we were reading about dṛḍha-vratāḥ. And, so yes, it’s part of the qualities of a mahatma that he has that firm determination dṛḍha-vratāḥ. But you can become a mahatma, anyone can become a mahatma by associating with other mahatmas. So, if you associate with other mahatmas you’ll develop the qualities of a mahatma.

And as His Holiness Kesava Bharati Goswami Maharaja said indirectly, there are two ways of associating; one is vāṇī which is by sound, and the other is vapuḥ which is physical association. So, of course, if we get an opportunity to associate with a mahatma physically, we should take the opportunity, because in that association you will also get his vāṇī, his words, but even if the physical association is not available, you can still get the vāṇī or the words. And in the case of Srila Prabhupada, from his books, from his recorded talks. And just by remembering śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam, remembering the instructions and following them, we can associate with the mahatma and become a mahatma.

Yes, Kesava Bharati Maharaja.

Maharaja: Thank you, Maharaja. Now, I heard Srila Prabhupada say this just this morning, so it’s fresh in my mind. He said what’s required in order to become, for it to become easy, is surrender, and surrender begins with us, each one of us as an individual. So to the degree that we are surrendered, eager, to the degree that we want, it becomes easy. And to the degree that there is hesitation, that there is doubt, that there is argument, etc, to that degree it will be difficult.

Krsna dasa Goswami says in some of the last verses of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, that if one can hear the pastimes of Krishna or Lord Chaitanya with faith and with love and without argument, then he can actually experience the company of the Lord, the Supreme Lord, in the sound vibration of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and the Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

So for this reason, Maharaja is emphasizing how easy it is, all you have to do is hear. But the difficulty is we don’t want to hear, we want other things, and when those other things bring us enough grief time and time and time and time and time and time again, then we will become eager, then we’ll be able to hear, and it will become not just easy, it will become ecstatic.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, in one of the first lectures I heard Srila Prabhupada give in Boston he said the same thing just in a little different language, that it’s simple for the simple and difficult for the crooked.

Hare Krishna.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

Devotee: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja, ki jaya. His Holiness Kesava Bharati Goswami Maharaja, ki jaya. Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya. Gaura Pram anandi. So thank you, everybody.