SB 2.1.11 – Krishna and Krishna’s Name Are the Same

Giriraj Swami: There are now?

Devotee: 7.4 billion.

Giriraj Swami: 7.4 billion. So, there are 7.4 billion human beings and practically every one of them is walking around with the inner desire which may or may not be expressed openly. But with the inner desire to say, “Excuse me, I have a very important announcement to make. I am the center of the universe and you all are meant to facilitate my enjoyment and do what I want.” Another time he said that most people live life as if it was a drama or television series or a movie in which they are the hero or the heroine and they think everyone else is meant to play supporting roles to support them as the hero or heroine. But everyone is thinking they are the heroes. Everyone is thinking, I am the hero you should support me. So, that leads to a lot of conflict because, one thing, “You are not supporting me but you are supposed to support me, I am the hero.” So, this false egoism is removed by chanting and if one chants and maintains that, that is an offense, because it is like you are competing with God. He really is the center and we really are meant to support Him. If we analyze our thought process during our japa, of course you have to fight against it, but we will find that our distractions are based on a sort of unspoken premise that we are the enjoyers, we are the proprietors, even we are the best friend.

Who can quote the verse from the Bhagavad-gītā that we are not the enjoyers, not the proprietors, not the best friend?

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:03:15]

Giriraj Swami: That is it: bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram, the one who understands that Krishna, bhoktāraṁ, He is the enjoyer, yajña-tapasāṁ, He is the beneficiary of all austerities and sarva-loka-maheśvaram, He is the proprietor and He is the best friend of every living entity, he can attain peace. So, everyone wants peace and in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says without peace where is the question of happiness. Everyone wants peace and this is the formula for peace—that you accept Krishna as the proprietor, as the enjoyer and as the best friend and then we will be peaceful, we can chant peacefully.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The whole materialistic world is moving under such false egoism of “I” and “mine,” but the factual effect of chanting the holy name is to become free from such misconceptions.

COMMENT

It was very liberating, and Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written a book called Harināma-cintāmaṇi, which takes the form of a discussion with Haridasa Thakura, nāmācārya Haridasa Thakura, and in that book he discusses the ten offences and he says that by attentive chanting one can eradicate all the other offenses and that inattentive chanting will allow the other offenses to continue and even flourish. So that is the main thing to hear. And Srila Prabhupada gave a very beautiful instruction. He said, “Just try to hear yourself chanting sincerely.” Say this wonderful sutra: “Just try to hear yourself chanting sincerely.” That should be our meditation while we chant.

Hare Krishna.

So are there any questions or comments? Yes? Naimiṣaraṇya Prabhu.

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:06:00]

Giriraj Swami: Well, we need taste. I mean, we distribute books or meant to distribute books but when people get the books, they don’t always read them. But if they hear the holy name and their hearts become somewhat purified, then they can awaken some interest in the Lord’s qualities and pastimes and so on. That is an interesting point. It also struck me but that is how I understood it.

Any other questions or comments? Yes, Deva Darshan Prabhu?

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:07:57]

Giriraj Swami: Well, the first thing is to get up early, that makes a big difference. Prerequisite for getting up early is take rest early. I heard something similar but otherwise I heard that Kala Kanta Prabhu at the Krishna House in Gainesville says that the best advice he can give a person to enhance his spiritual life is to take rest early. They take rest early and then can get up early and then they can chant and perform their spiritual duties early. And it is, of course Srila Prabhupada arranged the morning program like that. It begins at 4:30. You have to get up at the latest by four and chant during the Brahma-muhūrta. And that is also known in other traditions. When I was based in Juhu I had made friendship with some Muslims. They actually used to come to the Juhu temple early in the morning to pray and they said according to their scripture or tradition, God hears their prayers more if they pray before sunrise. And so, that is in any a mystical tradition even Jewish tradition, I am sure Christian tradition, they get up early in the morning. So that would be the first thing.

Then it is highly recommended to chant in front of Tulasi. Do you have Tulasi at home? Yes, that is highly recommended. Nāmācārya Haridasa Thakura did it and then it is also recommended to chant with other serious chanters. So, no problem right, Rasarani Mataji? No problem on that score. Yes, and before other things. Other things like emails. Yes, I think that is basically it. Your children join you, Radhika? But anyway, you set the example. And yes, when you cannot come to the temple early, in Chowpatty they have that everyone should come on Sunday, for maṅgala-ārati and spend the day at the temple and when you do that, when you get that taste, then it is easier to try to replicate it at home. Yes, sir.

Devotee: [Inaudible 00:12:23]

Giriraj Swami: Oh! there is a real nice one which I did not experience personally. But it was told very vividly by my godbrother Teijas dasa. Srila Prabhupada was in Hyderabad and at the Hyderabad farm, there were three devotees. They were all in charge. They were together, they were in charge and they are very strong willed and opinionated. Teijas told me that Srila Prabhupada actually said that they should all meet together, fight like cats and dogs and then when they all agreed they should go ahead. So, one day there was some differences between them. And I think independently they went to see Srila Prabhupada and then when they got there, they saw, “Oh! you are also here,” but the real point is that when Srila Prabhupada was in such a deep mood of chanting japa. The way Teijas described, it is like he was relishing some nectar. I mean, you just see his relishing and Teijas is describing it like, here is his beads clacking in his bead bag and it is like the whole room was permeated by his chanting. And then, just being in Prabhupada’s presence they all calmed down and they also took out their beads and started to chant. And yes, Prabhupada did not have to say anything about their dispute and then he might have said something, like, “If you just chant the holy name like this, all your problems will be solved,” something like that.

So, of course I had my experiences in Juhu but the one that comes to mind, it would take a while to tell. So, I don’t think we will do that right now. But I see Devadarshan is holding my books and this is pure coincidence—that story is actually told in one of those books. So, this is the first one: Watering the Seed and it has Srila Prabhupada’s teachings and it says a lot of anecdotes of my interactions with him. And that story, there is one piece in here called Srila Prabhupada’s faith in the holy name. So, that story which is a little too long for me to tell now, comes there. But there was one anecdote in here about the importance of chanting sixteen rounds. So, we were traveling with Srila Prabhupada in India. This is before we had any of our centers and somehow, it was very rare in those days, but somehow, I do not know if he is American or English, but a European found us, a European young man, he found us and joined us while we were traveling.

And yes, we would sit down on the floor, on the ground, have prasāda and he kept saying, “Krishna is definitely merciful because, He is giving me this nice prasāda every day.” So, anyway this young man asked Srila Prabhupada that suppose it is late at night and someone comes who could become a life member, but we still have rounds to chant. So, is it more important to make the man a life member and not finish one’s rounds, or should one finish one’s rounds and miss the chance of making the member? So, of course the implication was that, one or the other. He could make the man a life number and stay up and finish his rounds and Srila Prabhupada detected that. So, Srila Prabhupada said. . . Anyway. So, coming to the more philosophical point, the young man was saying, “If all service is absolute, if all service is absolute why do we have to chant sixteen rounds?” And Srila Prabhupada, he did not usually do this but eventually after the discussion he eventually asserted himself. He said, “Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead wants you to chant sixteen rounds.” And he said, “You are very attached to sleeping,” that was me, “you are very attached to sleeping. You can eat and sleep all day long but you must chant sixteen rounds.” And then he said to all the other devotees, “But this is a special prerogative just for him. That is not for you.”

So, yes. All right. So, Watering the Seed, then Many Moons. This is reflections on departed Vaishnavas. So, there is Jayananda Prabhu, His Holiness Gour Govinda Swami, His Holiness Tamal Krishna Gosvami, Shridhar Swami, Bhakti Tirtha Swami, Bhakti Swarupa Damodar Swami and then there are three grand- disciples included Mother Arca Vigraha, Mother Kirtida who left her body here in Dallas and a devotee named Abhiram Thakura who actually became a devotee in Pakistan and he eventually came to India. It really became very bad for Hindus in Pakistan at one stage. So, he came to India and yes, he was very nice, a wonderful devotee. I could say a lot about him and I do in this book. So, if you want to know more about it you can read about him. But it was an ideal grihastha and later, he was an ideal vanaprastha. He joined the Chowpatty temple and he was. . . all the young boys there, young men, he was like a mother to them. He would really take care of them. He was a good cook, a Bengali cook. He would cook for them.

And then: Life’s Final Exam. There is, I think, a Bengali saying: bhajan koro sādhan koro. It basically says whatever sadhana and bhajana you do, it is all very good but it will be tested at the time of death. And so, that is life’s final exam. Whatever we are doing we are preparing for the final exam. His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami gave a talk in Juhu in which he was saying that Krishna keeps testing us. First, he said that there were some educational systems based on the premise of awakening the children’s natural curiosity about the world and their natural interest to learn things and they didn’t believe in giving exams. But he said all those experiments failed. They found that without testing the students they didn’t really learn much. So, he was saying that we are also tested, and the test is always, are we going to remember Krishna or forget Him? And like Srila Prabhupada said of himself, “First Krishna tested me by taking away everything and then he tested me by giving me everything.” And so, Bhakti Charu said that we always have these tests and the ultimate test is, are we going to remember Krishna or not? Which in other words means, are we going to seek shelter in Krishna or seek shelter from elsewhere? And then he said the final test is the time of death.

So, that is Life’s Final Exam and there is a lot in here about death. Everyone faith is examined and before we face it personally, we usually deal with it when loved ones or family members leave their bodies. So, it is very useful. I think of all the books, definitely this one is. . . It is designed to be read by anyone. They don’t have to be devotees. The other two are, I mean, everyone can benefit, but they are more accessible to devotees. But this, the topic, the treatment of the topic, the language is really accessible to anyone. You can give it to anyone who might be facing those challenges related to death and dying. And I have heard for many people, who were not devotees who got the book, that they were helped very much by it and some even said they wish they had it earlier. So, these are the three books and if you buy any of them or all of them, I will sign them for you tonight.

Hare Krishna.