BG 7.1

Giriraj Swami: So, we read from the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Seven, “Knowledge of the Absolute,” Text One.

TEXT 1

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha
yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ
asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ
yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṇu

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Now hear, O son of Pṛthā, how by practicing yoga in full consciousness of Me, with mind attached to Me, you can know Me in full, free from doubt.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In this Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the nature of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is fully described. Kṛṣṇa is full in all opulences, and how He manifests such opulences is described herein. Also, four kinds of fortunate people who become attached to Kṛṣṇa and four kinds of unfortunate people who never take to Kṛṣṇa are described in this chapter.

In the first six chapters of Bhagavad-gītā, the living entity has been described as nonmaterial spirit soul capable of elevating himself to self-realization by different types of yogas. At the end of the Sixth Chapter, it has been clearly stated that the steady concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa, or in other words Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the highest form of all yoga.

COMMENT

So, I’ll read that verse, a very important verse. The last verse in the Sixth Chapter, Text Forty-Seven.

TEXT 47

yoginām api sarveṣāṁ
mad-gatenāntar-ātmanā
śraddhāvān bhajate yo māṁ
sa me yukta-tamo mataḥ

TRANSLATION

And of all yogīs, the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within himself and renders transcendental loving service to Me – he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all. That is My opinion.

COMMENT

So, coming back to the purport here.

PURPORT (continued)

At the end of the Sixth Chapter, it has been clearly stated that the steady concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa, or in other words Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the highest form of all yoga. By concentrating one’s mind upon Kṛṣṇa, one is able to know the Absolute Truth completely, but not otherwise. Impersonal brahma-jyotir or localized Paramātmā realization is not perfect knowledge of the Absolute Truth, because it is partial.

COMMENT

So, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mentions these three features of the Absolute Truth; Brahman, Paramātmā, and Bhagavān. But Bhagavān is the last word in God realization, and it includes realization of Brahman and Paramātmā. (brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate)

PURPORT (continued)

Full and scientific knowledge is Kṛṣṇa, and everything is revealed to the person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In complete Kṛṣṇa consciousness one knows that Kṛṣṇa is ultimate knowledge beyond any doubts. Different types of yoga are only steppingstones on the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who takes directly to Kṛṣṇa consciousness automatically knows about brahma-jyotir and Paramātmā in full. By practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness yoga, one can know everything in full – namely the Absolute Truth, the living entities, the material nature, and their manifestations with paraphernalia.

COMMENT

So, Krishna consciousness is the highest perfection and realization of Krishna. Bhagavān includes realization of Paramātmā and Brahman.

PURPORT (continued)

One should therefore begin yoga practice as directed in the last verse of the Sixth Chapter. Concentration of the mind upon Kṛṣṇa the Supreme is made possible by prescribed devotional service in nine different forms, of which śravaṇam is the first and most important.

COMMENT

So here, Srila Prabhupada is referring to navavidha bhakti as enunciated by Sri Prahlad Maharaja in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, text twenty-three:

śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ
smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam
arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ
sakhyam ātma-nivedanam

And the first is śravaṇam – hearing, and Srila Prabhupada says it is not only the first, but also the most important.

PURPORT (continued)

The Lord therefore says to Arjuna, tac chṛṇu, or “Hear from Me.” No one can be a greater authority than Kṛṣṇa, and therefore by hearing from Him one receives the greatest opportunity to become a perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious person. One has therefore to learn from Kṛṣṇa directly or from a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa – and not from a nondevotee upstart, puffed up with academic education.

In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam this process of understanding Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Absolute Truth, is described in the Second Chapter of the First Canto as follows:

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
vidhunoti suhṛt satām

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ
kāma-lobhādayaś ca ye
ceta etair anāviddhaṁ
sthitaṁ sattve prasīdati

evaṁ prasanna-manaso
bhagavad-bhakti-yogataḥ
bhagavat-tattva-vijñānaṁ
mukta-saṅgasya jāyate

bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiś
chidyante sarva-saṁśayāḥ
kṣīyante cāsya karmāṇi
dṛṣṭa evātmanīśvare

“To hear about Kṛṣṇa from Vedic literatures, or to hear from Him directly through the Bhagavad-gītā, is itself righteous activity. And for one who hears about Kṛṣṇa, Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is dwelling in everyone’s heart, acts as a best-wishing friend and purifies the devotee who constantly engages in hearing of Him.

COMMENT

So, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ—just by hearing and chanting about Krishna, or specifically, hearing about Krishna is puṇya, is a pious activity, it makes one pious. As mentioned here, hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi—the Lord who is the well-wishing friend of the truthful devotee, suhṛt satām, cleanses the desire for material enjoyment from within the heart of the devotee, who gives oral reception to His messages.

And yes, in the Bhāgavatam, Srila Prabhupada translates suhṛt satām—truthful devotee. In other words, we should not be hypocritical, we should be truthful devotees. And if we have Krishna as our well-wishing friend, we’ll cleanse the desire for material enjoyment from within the heart.

PURPORT (continued)

In this way, a devotee naturally develops his dormant transcendental knowledge. As he hears more about Kṛṣṇa from the Bhāgavatam and from the devotees, he becomes fixed in the devotional service of the Lord.

COMMENT

So, that’s naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ – by regular attendance in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class or by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is inauspicious in the heart becomes destroyed almost to nil, and transcendental loving service to the Lord, who is praised by beautiful verses, comes into being an irrevocable fact.

There was a time in India, 1971, when Srila Prabhupada was keeping us so busy in service that I didn’t have time to read, and I was feeling guilty about it. And one day in his room, in the Calcutta temple (which is still there), without my saying anything, Srila Prabhupada himself brought up the point. And he quoted this verse:

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu
nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā
bhagavaty uttama-śloke
bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

And he said that by serving the person Bhagavad or by reading the book Bhagavad, one gets the same result. And he said by serving the person Bhagavad, all the truths of the book Bhagavad will be revealed to you even if you don’t read the book.

Of course, as a rule, Srila Prabhupada did want us to read his books, read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and all of his books, but he was reassuring me that in those circumstances, where Srila Prabhupada was keeping us so busy that we really didn’t have time to read, all the truths of the book Bhagavad will be revealed in the heart even if you don’t read the book.

PURPORT (continued)

As he hears more about Kṛṣṇa from the Bhāgavatam and from the devotees, he becomes fixed in the devotional service of the Lord.

COMMENT

That’s bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī – fixed.

PURPORT (continued)

By development of devotional service one becomes freed from the modes of passion and ignorance, and thus material lusts and avarice are diminished. When these impurities are wiped away, the candidate remains steady in his position of pure goodness, becomes enlivened by devotional service and understands the science of God perfectly. Thus bhakti-yoga severs the hard knot of material affection and enables one to come at once to the stage of asaṁśayaṁ samagram, understanding of the Supreme Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead.” (Bhāg. 1.2.17–21) Therefore only by hearing from Kṛṣṇa or from His devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can one understand the science of Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

So, this phrase—tac chṛṇu—hear from me, really sets the theme for Srila Prabhupada’s discussion here about the importance of hearing, śravaṇam.

When we were in Calcutta in April of 1970, we organized a big pandal program at Cross Maidan in Bombay, which was very successful. And after the success of the Bombay pandal program, Srila Prabhupada sent Tamal Krishna Goswami and me to Calcutta, to arrange a similar program there. And in the end, the Calcutta pandal program was even better attended than the Bombay one. In the Bombay one, we were getting maybe 20,000 people, which was a lot, but in the Calcutta one, we got 30,000 people.

At the time, Calcutta was under the sway of Naxalites and communist ideas, and before the pandal program began, after Srila Prabhupada had arrived, we arranged a press conference at the pandal site.

And one of the reporters, in that sort of communist mood, challenged Srila Prabhupada, “What is the use of spending so much money on this pandal program? You could have used that money to feed hungry people! What’s the purpose of this?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “The purpose is to give people a chance to hear. Just like these young boys and girls—they heard me, and because they heard me, they are doing all these things—engaging in devotional service.”

So, the purpose is just to give people a chance to hear, śravaṇam – hearing. From hearing, everything else follows. And on many occasions in many situations, Srila Prabhupada made the same point, that we just want to give people a chance to hear. And as stated in a verse from this Second Chapter of the First Canto, text seventeen:

śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

Just by hearing about Krishna, one becomes pious. And Krishna, who is the well-wishing friend, the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses the desire for material enjoyment from within the heart.

And coming back to that second verse: naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā – praya means almost—all the inauspicious things in the heart become destroyed almost to nil. And Srila Prabhupada has given an estimate of that figure of 75 percent. At that stage, 75 percent of the abhadrāṇi, the inauspicious things within the heart, are destroyed, and one becomes fixed—bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī.

So, there are different stages in devotional service, as outlined by Srila Rupa Gosvami in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. And ādau śraddhā—first is faith, preliminary is faith. Then tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ—association of devotees. Tatha bhajana-kriyā—then one engages in the practice of devotional service. And Srila Prabhupada says that taking initiation from the spiritual master takes place in the stage of bhajana-kriyā.

So, ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgaḥ atha bhajana-kriyā. Then, anartha-nivṛtti – the eradication of unwanted things within the heart. That is described in that verse we read—naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Then, after anartha-nivṛtti comes niṣṭhā. Niṣṭhā means one is fixed, steady.

So, these different stages enumerated by Srila Rupa Gosvami are derived from these verses in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which describe the progressive course of devotional service. And of course, in Kali-yuga, the chanting of the holy names is highly recommended, both: śravaṇam, kīrtanam. Śravaṇam means hearing, and kīrtanam means repeating what you’ve heard. Kirtan means glorification of the Lord, and often refers to kirtan, singing the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. And as stated in the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa:

harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā

“One should chant the holy names, chant the holy names, chant the holy names of Hari, Krishna, there is no other way, no other way, no other way for success in this present age of Kali.”

So, whenever we have time, we should chant Hare Krishna. In one talk in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you’ve got time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t speak nonsense, chant Hare Krishna.”

In the Upadeśāmṛta, Srila Rupa Gosvami enumerates six items that support devotional service and six items that destroy devotional service. And one of the items that destroy devotional service is prajalpaḥ. Prajalpaḥ means unnecessary talks. Anyway, I don’t need to discuss the different types of unnecessary talks, but those come in the category of prajalpaḥ. And of all kinds of prajalpaḥ—criticizing devotees or blaspheming devotees is the worst.

There is a book called Bhaktyaloka by Bhaktivinoda Thakura, in which he discusses in depth and detail these two verses from the Upadeśāmṛta about the six items favorable to devotional service and the six items unfavorable. And again, one of the unfavorable items is prajalpaḥ.

And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives a very elaborate discussion of prajalpaḥ, specifically speaking about others. And he makes the point very strongly that one should not speak about others. Speaking about others means speaking unfavorably about others. Of course, we can speak favorably about others, but we should not speak unfavorably about others.

Some years ago, when I was in Alachua, I gave a seminar on Bhaktyaloka, and really emphasized the point about not speaking about others. And one devotee in the audience quoted a saying that she heard from her father, just on that point about not speaking about others. And the saying was, “There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, it hardly behooves any of us to speak about the rest of us.” It did seem quite appropriate. So, we should glorify devotees, we should appreciate devotees.

Even as a child growing up, I was given a sort of moral instruction, “If you can’t say anything nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.” So, especially with devotees, you should speak only favorably about them or not at all, and use our time to chant.

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

So, are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: Maharaja, you made the point that Prabhupada said 75 percent of practically all the unfavorable things are expelled by regularly hearing the Bhāgavatam and serving the person Bhagavad. So, it seems there is something more we have to do to expel that 25 percent. What is that 25 percent, Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Well, he was saying with reference to that verse: hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām—at that stage, naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu, you almost completely destroyed the inauspicious things. But the same process continues, and as we become more advanced, the rest is eradicated. We don’t have to do anything different, but we just continue doing the same thing. At this particular stage, 75 percent is eradicated, but then as we go on further, tadā rajas-tamo-bhāvāḥ, we get free from the lower modes and the knot of material existence becomes severed, and then we are liberated.

Devotee: I was reading the introduction to the Ninth Canto, part three, written by Srila Prabhupada, maybe one of the first editions printed, and he speaks about a sort of global communism, where we are coming together more as one nation or one ideal rather than being separated by geographical limits. And I’m very grateful to ISKCON and to Srila Prabhupada for bringing this literature to the West, because I know that the literature reached me, and now I am Krishna conscious thanks to ISKCON.

Giriraj Swami: Wonderful, beautiful!

Devotee: You quoted the verse that mentioned faith, which I suppose is an important element of our spiritual path. At the same time, it’s very important to be inquisitive. What is the balance between faith and stopping to be inquisitive? For example: I can’t understand how Krishna is unborn? Those kinds of thoughts. At the same time, I need to have faith in this. Is it important to balance between having faith and being inquisitive?

Giriraj Swami: Having faith and being inquisitive are not necessarily opposed to each other. In the Bhagavad-gītā 4.34:

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ

Well, you know the verse, but I’ll read it because it’s such an important verse.

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.”

So, paripraśnena is translated as submissive inquiries. We should inquire, not in the mood of challenging, but in the mood of clarifying our understanding. In the Bhagavad-gītā, there are so many inquiries from Arjuna to Krishna. But after he surrendered to Krishna and accepted Krishna as his spiritual master, he still had questions. But the questions were asked in a submissive way, with faith in Krishna. And similarly, we also inquire submissively of the spiritual master with faith in the spiritual master.

So, having faith and inquiring submissively are not opposed to each other, they can go together very well. And in fact, asking questions is one of the items of devotional service. Rupa Gosvami enumerates sixty-four items of devotional service. Among them: One should take shelter of the spiritual master, one should take instruction from him, one should take initiation from him, and one should inquire of him. So, asking questions is part of the process.