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

Giriraj Swami: 

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

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter One, “The First Step in God realization,”

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.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada 

In the previous verse, the great necessity for attaining attachment to Mukunda has been accredited. There are different types of persons who desire to attain success in different varieties of pursuits. 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. 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. Nor are they self-satisfied, because they want the satisfaction of the Lord only.

COMMENT

In this verse, different categories of persons are mentioned and these categories cover everyone, those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. So every one of us in this room comes in one of those categories and maybe accommodation, more than one category, but we are all covered, either free from all material desires, desires of all material enjoyment and self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. 

Now, in this verse one of these significant words—or it is actually a prefix, is ānu. Ānu means “Following” like we are rupānujas, followers of Rupa Gosvami, or ramānujas, followers of Rama. Ānu also means “Continuous” and Srila Prabhupada has included both meanings very beautifully in his translation, “Constant chanting” is ānu, “Of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities” is also ānu, “Is the doubtless and fearless way” akuto-bhayam, “Of success for all.” That means all of us can become successful by constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of great authorities, and we will discuss what does that mean, “After the ways of great authorities.” We continue the purport. 

PURPORT (continued)

In this verse, Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī recommends the transcendental chanting of the holy name of the Lord.

COMMENT

Please turn off your cell phones, at most put them on vibrate, but don’t answer. 

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.

COMMENT

Offenseless chanting is really the stage at which we can really appreciate what the holy name is, and the holy name, it is nāma, rupa, guna, līlā. From offenseless chanting of the name, nāma, we can appreciate the form of the Lord, rupa, the qualities of the Lord, guna, and the pastimes of the Lord, līlā. Everything about the Lord becomes revealed and one realizes that the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are the same. Srila Prabhupada gives the explanation that in the relative world, or in the material world, the name of a thing and the thing are different. For example, if I am in a desert and I am thirsty and I chant “Water, water, water, water” just chanting “Water, water” won’t quench my thirst because the word water and the substance water are different. But in the spiritual realm, or absolute realm, the name and the person are the same, so when we chant “Krishna, Krishna, Hare Krishna” Krishna is personally present, dancing on our tongues, and we can realize that Krishna is actually present when we chant without offense. 

As we will read, and this is the meaning of ānukīrtanam—following the ways of the great authorities. Following the ways of the great authorities means to chant without offense. And the offenses are mentioned in the Padma-Purana as being ten in number. So we will discuss those shortly, but the conclusion is that the holy name of Krishna and Krishna Himself are the same. Now, when we chant, we are calling the names of Radha and Krishna, “Hare” is a way of addressing Radha and of course Krishna is Krishna. So, when we call someone’s name they will respond “Yes, what do you want?” So we are calling on the names of Radha and Krishna, and if they ask us “Yes, what do you want?” What will we say? I could ask you to mentally make a list of what you would ask for if Radha and Krishna asked you what you want, but that may not be a very fruitful exercise, except it would put us in touch with our desires, if we are not already. 

But a pure devotee will ask for only one thing. What will the devotee ask for? Raise your hand if someone knows. Namasuranya Prabhu?

Devotee 1: To engage us in their service. 

Giriraj Swami: Yes, to engage us in their service. Devotee doesn’t ask for anything else, he only wants to be engaged in the Lord’s service. There are many examples in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam of when the Lord has personally appeared and asked His devotee to accept some benediction, and the devotee never asks for anything except devotional service. When I first came to the Boston temple I was hearing Srila Prabhupada speak and he was emphasizing service to the Lord, service to God, and it occurred to me, the question arose in my mind, and I asked the question to him, “You speak so much about service to God, what about service to man?” And in the course of his answer, Srila Prabhupada told the story of Dhruva Maharaja. 

Dhruva Maharaja, as many of you may know, was the son of King Uttanapada. King Uttanapada had two wives, Suniti and Suruci, and one day Dhruva, as a five-year-old child, was playing on the lap of his father. Is anyone here five years old? Please stand up. This is what a five-year-old boy looks like. You should listen to this, this is about a five-year-old boy. So Dhruva Maharaja was five years old, who was playing on the lap of his father, and his stepmother, the King’s co wife Suruci, very arrogantly, told him, “You cannot sit on the throne—” because his father’s lap means on the throne indirectly, “You cannot sit on the throne because you are not born from my womb.” And the father, unfortunately, was so attached to that co wife—although he was naturally affectionate to his son, but because of his attachment to her, he rebuffed the son. 

That boy Dhruva was very upset and he went to his mother, Suniti, and told her what had happened. So she explained that the king had two wives and the other wife was his favorite and she was not. But Dhruva had that kshatriya spirit—who can explain what is kshatriya spirit? Anyone? Sri Gopika?

Devotee 2: Like a fighting spirit, to not give up.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, kshatriya, if there is a challenge they must respond.

Devotee 3: They can’t accept insults. 

Giriraj Swami: Sorry? 

Devotee 3: They can’t accept insults. 

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is all part of it, they can’t accept an insult. Dhruva Maharaja wasn’t ready to let go of the kingdom so he asked his mother what to do, and she said “I am not his favorite, I don’t think I can do anything to help.” Then he said “Well, who can help me?” and she replied “I think only God can help you” and he said, “Where can I find God?” And she replied, “Well, I don’t know, but many sages and saintly persons go to the forest to find God, so maybe you will find Him there.” 

So Dhruva at the age of five left home and went to the forest to find God, and in his own childish way, he was looking for God. He would look in the bushes, he would look behind the logs, he would look under the rocks, but he couldn’t find God. But God was in his heart, and God understood “He is very sincere to find me” so the Lord sent a guru to guide Dhruva in the method by which you could attain God. The Lord sent Narada Muni, the Great Sage Narada. Narada came and the first thing he did was test Dhruva because it is one of the duties of the spiritual master, to test the disciple or the prospective disciple. So he told him “My dear boy, you are only five years old, you shouldn’t take these things so seriously, you should go home, play with the other children and don’t worry about these serious matters.” So Dhruva Maharaja showed his sincerity of purpose and, in a way you could say, his kshatriya determination. The Bhagavad-gītā explains the qualities by which kshatriyas work and one of their qualities is determination. 

Dhruva Maharaja said, “If you can help me find God I will be very happy, but if you want to tell me to go home, then you can go home.” Narada thought, All right, the boy is very serious, and he gave him the holy name to chant, oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. And along with the holy name he gave him some austerities to perform, and by such sincere chanting and performance of austerities, eventually the Lord did appear to Dhruva Maharaja. Dhruva was overwhelmed with love for the Lord and he offered beautiful prayers, and then the Lord asked him to accept some boon or benediction, and Dhruva Maharaja said, “I don’t want anything.” The Lord said, “But what about your kingdom? You came to the forest to find me, you performed so many austerities and chanted my holy name so that you could get your kingdom. What about your kingdom?” And Dhruva replied “svāmin kṛtārtho 'smi varaṁ na yāc” I was seeking pieces of broken glass and now I have got the most precious jewel, so I am millions of times satisfied and I don’t desire any benediction.”

Now you recall, this story was related to me by Srila Prabhupada in connection with my question, “You speak so much about service to God, what about service to man?” And then Srila Prabhupada said, “If you give someone Krishna consciousness, he becomes completely satisfied, he has no more wants. Is that not service to man? To give someone something that will make him so satisfied that he has no more wants or desires?” And somehow in the course of his answer, Srila Prabhupada used the word “Pick pocketing” “No more pickpocketing.” Do you know what pickpocketing is? Who knows what pickpocketing is? You all are so pious; the word hasn’t even entered your vocabulary! [Laughter]. Well, pickpocketing is something that thieves do, in a crowd of people they will bump into you, or sometimes they work in a pair or a team, someone will bump into you and distract you, and then they will put their hand in your pocket and take out your money. Srila Prabhupada said, “Be fully satisfied, no more pickpocketing.” 

Now, as a young man then, I was quite moral and upright, but I did have one weakness, which is akin to pickpocketing, called shoplifting. Does anyone know what shoplifting is? Well, one of my friends—I hadn’t thought of it myself, but one of my friends did, “You can go into a shop and if you find us some small object, when no one is looking you can just take it off the shelf and put it in your pocket, and walk out with it. No one will ever know.” That is shoplifting. Srila Prabhupada said, “No more pickpocketing” but I related that to my shoplifting, and I thought, Wow, I am thinking I am such an upstanding young man, but I do have that bad habit, and Prabhupada was saying that in Krishna consciousness I won’t do that because I will be satisfied. 

There is another story that Srila Prabhupada related at the same time, around the same time, about Alexander the Great. Do you know who Alexander the Great is? Can you tell us who he is? 

Devotee 4: The Greek emperor who conquered the world.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, he was Greek and he was traveling all over and conquering wherever he went. So in the course of his exploits he came to India, and as soon as he came to the precincts of India, he found a sadhu performing austerities in the hot sun. He was very impressed by this sight, so he got down from his horse, his chariot, he approached the sadhu and he said “I am very impressed with you, I am Alexander the Great and the conqueror of the world, I am prepared to give you whatever you want, just ask and I will give you whatever you want.” And the sadhu replied, “Just move to the side, you are blocking the sun.” In other words, his austerity was to sit in the hot sun and that shade or shadow for an ordinary person would be a welcome relief, but for him it was an obstruction to his austerity. Alexander the Great became even more impressed and he sent a message back to his troops “These people here are very special, don’t mess with them.” 

But again, we are on the point of being satisfied. Dhruva Maharaja was offered a benediction from the Lord Himself and he didn’t want anything. This yogi or sadhu was offered a benediction from Alexander the Great and he didn’t want anything, he was satisfied with his spiritual life. Prabhupada was saying that if you give someone something that makes him so satisfied that he doesn’t have any desire for anything else, it is that kind of service, that is the service that devotees perform. Now we come back to the purport. 

PURPORT (continued)

Here it is mentioned that one should constantly chant the holy name of the Lord after hearing it from authorities. 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

First is hearing, śravaṇam, then kīrtanam. We hear and then we chant or repeat what we have heard. And as I mentioned, there is nāma, Rupa Gosvami in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, which Srila Prabhupada has translated as a summary study, as The Nectar of Devotion, as the enumerated sixty-four items of devotional service. Prahlada Maharaja has enumerated nine śravaṇam, kīrtanam, etc., and Rupa Gosvami has analyzed those further. Śravaṇam or kīrtanam can be nāma, (the holy name), rupa (form), guna (qualities), līlā (pastimes) and so on. Those are different categories of hearing and different categories of chanting.

PURPORT (continued)

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. 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

This is verse of the rendering of—decided truth, there is no controversy, no discussion. 

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

We began, in the beginning,  with these different categories and those different categories break down into fruitive workers. If you have material desires, you become a fruitive worker, and want to enjoy the world. If you want to escape the world then you become a philosophical speculator, so-called jnani. And if you want to serve Krishna, then you become a devotee. This process of chanting the holy name, following the ways of the great authorities, is recommended not only for success in these different fields of activity, but it is recommended even for those who are already successful. That means you become more successful, more blessed.

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.

COMMENT

I will read these offenses; they are worth noting. I did speak on them to some extent on Sunday during the initiation ceremony at the temple, but I will read them and I may comment a little here and there.

PURPORT (continued)

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

COMMENT

Complete the sentence without looking on your smartphone. From the Bhagavad-gītā. How do you get free from sins? Most famous verse in the Bhagavad-gītā. That is it! Surrendering, that is it. Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo. All sins, mokṣhayiṣhyāmi, are liberated. 

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.

COMMENT

I mean, what you said was right, but we are aiming at something else. 

PURPORT (continued)

One can deliver himself from all offenses at the feet of the Lord by taking shelter of His holy name. 

COMMENT

It is often said that the holy name of the Lord is more merciful than the Lord Himself, and one great devotee prayed, “My dear Lord, you are so kind, that as your holy name, you are my constant companion.” 

PURPORT (continued)

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

It is very important that we don’t. Did you know that the holy name has feet? It says right here, “The feet of the holy name.” The holy name has feet because it is Krishna. 

PURPORT (continued)

Such offenses are mentioned in the Padma Purāṇa as being ten in number. The first offense is to vilify the great devotees who have preached about the glories of the Lord.

COMMENT

Well, this is worth commenting on because in one place Srila Prabhupada said this is the worst offense, to vilify or blaspheme devotees who have dedicated themselves to preaching the glories of the holy name. We shouldn’t criticize devotees, that is a very big topic, but we should not do it, we just shouldn’t do it. If you feel there are exceptions, you can approach me and we can discuss it separately, but for now just leave it at that, no criticizing devotees. 

PURPORT (continued)

The second offense is to see the holy names of the Lord in terms of worldly distinction. The Lord is the proprietor of all the universes, and therefore He may be known in different places by different names, but that does not in any way qualify the fullness of the Lord. Any nomenclature which is meant for the Supreme Lord is as holy as the others because they are all meant for the Lord. Such holy names are as powerful as the Lord, and there is no bar for anyone in any part of the creation to chant and glorify the Lord by the particular name of the Lord as it is locally understood. They are all auspicious, and one should not distinguish such names of the Lord as material commodities.

COMMENT

This is very important in any case, but especially if one is meeting with or speaking to people who are not part of the Vedic tradition, they will have other names of the Lord in their languages, so Srila Prabhupada is saying that all of the names of the Lord are the Lord Himself, they are all powerful and we should not distinguish between them as if they were material commodities. But we should respect them all as the Lord Himself.

Srila Prabhupada had an Iranian disciple, Mars Atart, to whom he gave the name of Atreya Rici, and he is very brilliant, he was—anyway, so he at a certain stage went back to Iran, and Srila Prabhupada visited Iran. Atreya Rici was, at one point, waxed, eloquent, and speaking about the time and all the Muslims and Iran would be chanting Hare Krishna, and Srila Prabhupada said, “Why should they chant only Hare Krishna? They can also chant Allah, Allah; we are not sectarian.” So that is the idea. 

But I must add that the names of the demigods are not on the same level as the name of the Supreme Lord, that is something else, but any nomenclature—what does nomenclature mean? Yes, sort of an extended term for names. Any nomenclature for the Supreme Lord in whatever language is as good as any other. 

PURPORT (continued)

The third offense is to neglect the orders of the authorized ācāryas or spiritual masters. The fourth offense is to vilify scriptures or Vedic knowledge. 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.

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

COMMENT

What does “A poor fund of knowledge” mean? Sort of a polite way or a fancy way of saying they don’t know much.

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. Such a chanter of the name of the Lord cannot achieve the desired success in the matter of chanting the holy name. The seventh offense is to commit sins intentionally on the strength of the holy name. In the scriptures it is said that one can be liberated from the effects of all sinful actions simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord. 

COMMENT

As Dev Darshan Prabhu said, correctly. 

PURPORT (continued)

One who takes advantage of this transcendental method and continues to commit sins on the expectation of neutralizing the effects of sins by chanting the holy name of the Lord is the greatest offender at the feet of the holy name. Such an offender cannot purify himself by any recommended method of purification. In other words, one may be a sinful man before chanting the holy name of the Lord, but after taking shelter in the holy name of the Lord and becoming immune, one should strictly restrain oneself from committing sinful acts with a hope that his method of chanting the holy name will give him protection.

COMMENT

That is the greatest offense, and it doesn’t work. Yes, that is a very offensive mentality. 

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

There was a meeting at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Bombay which was convened by Srimati Leelavati Munshi, who was the head of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at the time. The theme of the conference was that all the problems of the world could be solved by the Bhagavad-gītā, and before the session began in the evening, she had tea with the different sadhus—not just sadhus, Gulzari Lal Nanda was there. I was sort of esteemed as a saintly person so she invited them all up to her personal quarters, her library to talk. One of the sadhus—I don’t recall his name, he had a very long white beard, but he told Srila Prabhupada that he was having big gatherings, and at the gatherings he was telling people to chant the holy names and if they chanted the holy names they would be cured of their material diseases, their physical diseases. 

He said to Srila Prabhupada, “I am gathering people, you are gathering people. I am getting them to chant the holy name, you are getting them to chant the holy name. We should cooperate.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No. What you are proposing is against our principles” and he made the same point, that the holy name of the Lord is the Lord Himself, He is not our servant, that we engage Him like a doctor to cure us of our diseases. 

PURPORT (continued)

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

We can induce anyone to chant, to hear and chant, but we don’t discuss the glories of the holy name unless people are interested, or in other words, unless they have some faith. There is some preliminary faith. Otherwise they will become more offensive, they will think that you are exaggerating or imagining, they become more offensive and then you are also implicated. 

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. 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