SB 3.15.25 – Initiations

 Giriraj Swami: We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Three, Chapter Fifteen, “Description of the Kingdom of God,”

TEXT 25

yac ca vrajanty animiṣām ṛṣabhānuvṛttyā

dūre yamā hy upari naḥ spṛhaṇīya-śīlāḥ

bhartur mithaḥ suyaśasaḥ kathanānurāga-

vaiklavya-bāṣpa-kalayā pulakī-kṛtāṅgāḥ

TRANSLATION

Persons whose bodily features change in ecstasy and who breathe heavily and perspire due to hearing the glories of the Lord are promoted to the kingdom of God, even though they do not care for meditation and other austerities. The kingdom of God is above the material universes, and it is desired by Brahmā and other demigods.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

It is clearly stated herein that the kingdom of God is above the material universes. Just as there are many hundreds of thousands of higher planets above this earth, so there are many millions and billions of spiritual planets belonging to the spiritual sky. Brahmājī states herein that the spiritual kingdom is above the kingdom of the demigods. One can enter the kingdom of the Supreme Lord only when one is highly developed in desirable qualities. All good qualities develop in the person of a devotee. It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Eighteenth Chapter, verse 12, that anyone who is Kṛṣṇa conscious is endowed with all the good qualities of the demigods.

COMMENT

Yes, yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā.

PURPORT (continued)

In the material world the qualities of the demigods are highly appreciated, just as, even in our experience, the qualities of a gentleman are more highly appreciated than the qualities of a man in ignorance or in a lower condition of life. The qualities of the demigods in the higher planets are far superior to the qualities of the inhabitants of this earth.

Brahmājī confirms herewith that only persons who have developed the desirable qualities can enter into the kingdom of God. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the devotee’s desirable qualities are described to be twenty-six in number.

COMMENT

So, my dear devotees, as we read through this list, you can think of yourselves. To what extent you are developing or manifesting these twenty-six desirable qualities.

PURPORT (continued)

They are stated as follows: He is very kind; he does not quarrel with anyone; he accepts Kṛṣṇa consciousness as the highest goal of life; he is equal to everyone; no one can find fault in his character; he is magnanimous, mild and always clean, internally and externally; he does not profess to possess anything in this material world; he is a benefactor to all living entities; he is peaceful and is a soul completely surrendered to Kṛṣṇa; he has no material desire to fulfill; he is meek and humble, always steady, and has conquered the sensual activities; he does not eat more than required to maintain body and soul together; he is never mad after material identity; he is respectful to all others and does not demand respect for himself; he is very grave, very compassionate and very friendly; he is poetic; he is expert in all activities; and he is silent in nonsense. Similarly, in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Third Canto, Twenty-fifth Chapter, verse 21, the qualifications of a saintly person are mentioned.

COMMENT

Yes, titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām.

PURPORT (continued)

It is said there that a saintly person eligible to enter into the kingdom of God is very tolerant and very kind to all living entities. He is not partial; he is kind both to human beings and to animals. He is not such a fool that he will kill a goat Nārāyaṇa to feed a human Nārāyaṇa, or daridra-nārāyaṇa. He is very kind to all living entities; therefore he has no enemy. He is very peaceful. These are the qualities of persons who are eligible to enter into the kingdom of God. That such a person gradually becomes liberated and enters the kingdom of God is confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Fifth Canto, Fifth Chapter, verse 2. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Canto, Third Chapter, verse 24, also states that if a person does not cry or exhibit bodily changes after chanting the holy name of God without offense, it is to be understood that he is hardhearted and that therefore his heart does not change even after he chants the holy name of God, Hare Kṛṣṇa. These bodily changes can take place due to ecstasy when we offenselessly chant the holy names of God: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

It may be noted that there are ten offenses we should avoid.

COMMENT

So, my dear devotees, please note these carefully so we can avoid them.

PURPORT (continued)

The first offense is to decry persons who try in their lives to broadcast the glories of the Lord. People must be educated in understanding the glories of the Supreme; therefore the devotees who engage in preaching the glories of the Lord are never to be decried. It is the greatest offense.

COMMENT

It is sādhu-nindā, to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name of the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

Furthermore, the holy name of Viṣṇu is the most auspicious name, and His pastimes are also nondifferent from the holy name of the Lord. There are many foolish persons who say that one can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or chant the name of Kālī or Durgā or Śiva because they are all the same. If one thinks that the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the names and activities of the demigods are on the same level, or if one accepts the holy name of Viṣṇu to be a material sound vibration, that is also an offense.

COMMENT

So, there was a popular magazine in India called The Illustrated Weekly of India.

Jaya Sri Radha-Gokulananda ki jaya!

Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jaya!

Sri Sita-Rama Lakshman Hanuman ki jaya!

And the editor for many years was one Khushwant Singh, who was a demon. And he published an article, which was an account by one Dr. Agehananda Bharati, who was an Austrian. Well, he took sannyasa in a Mayavadi line. So, this article related Dr. Bharati’s account of his discussion with our Hridayananda dasa Gosvami. And the editor, Khushwant Singh, titled the article, Hare Krishna vs. Shiva Shiva. And by choosing that title, I could see that he was trying to make us all look foolish that, “Oh, how silly, arguing over Hare Krishna or Shiva Shiva.” So, I wrote my impression to Srila Prabhupada, and he replied, “Yes, Bharati is a fool, but Singh is a demon.” [laughter]

PURPORT (continued)

There are many foolish persons who say that one can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa or chant the name of Kālī or Durgā or Śiva because they are all the same. The third offense is to think of the spiritual master who spreads the glories of the Lord as an ordinary human being.

COMMENT

So, this offense is guror avajñā, which means to disobey the orders of the spiritual master. And here, Srila Prabhupada gives the underlying psychology of someone who would disobey the orders of the spiritual master, and that is to think of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being.

PURPORT (continued)

The fourth offense is to consider the Vedic literatures, such as the Purāṇas or other transcendentally revealed scriptures, to be ordinary books of knowledge.

COMMENT

So, there are different degrees of offense. This was illustrated in the pastime when Bhrigu Muni tested Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu to see who was the best, who was perfectly situated in goodness. And with Lord Brahma, who was his father, he neglected to offer obeisances, which was considered to be an offense committed within the mind. He didn’t say anything wrong or do anything wrong, but he failed to offer obeisances when he should have. So, that was considered an offense within the mind. Next, he met Lord Shiva, who was his brother, and Lord Shiva came forward to embrace him, and Bhrigu Muni said, “Don’t touch me, stay away from me, you are dirty, you are always associating with ghosts and hobgoblins, stay away from me.” So, that was considered an offense committed with the words. And then finally, he went to Lord Vishnu, who was reclining, his lotus feet were being massaged by Lakshmi, and he kicked, he actually kicked Vishnu, but Lord Vishnu was so Supreme, he said, “My dear Bhrigu Muni, please forgive me for not receiving you properly. I hope that my chest was not too hard, I hope that it didn’t hurt your lotus feet.” So, that was an offense committed with the body.

So, within the mind is serious, with words is more serious, and with the body is most serious. So, now coming back to this fourth offense, which is sometimes said to be blaspheming the Vedic literatures, or the literatures in pursuance of the Vedic version. So, certainly, to blaspheme the Vedic literature is an offense with the words, but not to read them, not to attend classes in the Vedic literatures and participate in discussions, that would also be an offense committed within the mind. Srila Prabhupada translated these books, he hardly slept at night, he was up translating while we were all sleeping to give us these books, and we should value his effort and make it fruitful by reading his books and applying his instructions in our lives.

PURPORT (continued)

The fifth offense is to think that devotees have given artificial importance to the holy name of God. The actual fact is that the Lord is nondifferent from His name. The highest realization of spiritual value is to chant the holy name of God, as prescribed for the age — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

COMMENT

In this one purport, Srila Prabhupada has quoted the entire Hare Krishna maha-mantra twice. So yes, this offense is to consider the glories of the holy name to be imagination. And one will think so if one does not chant properly and realize the glories of the holy name. His Holiness Sacinandana Swami, who conducts japa retreats and workshops, commented that he felt devotees in the Hare Krishna movement, as he said it with his German accent, were schizophrenic. They have split personalities, because our motto is chant and be happy, but still, devotees chant and they are not happy. And that phenomenon inspired him to do these japa retreats and workshops, so devotees would actually experience the benefit of chanting Hare Krishna. And then they wouldn’t think that the glories of the holy name are imagination.

PURPORT (continued)

The sixth offense is to give some interpretation on the holy name of God. The seventh offense is to act sinfully on the strength of chanting the holy name of God. It is understood that one can be freed from all sinful reaction simply by chanting the holy name of God, but if one thinks that he is therefore at liberty to commit all kinds of sinful acts and then neutralize them by chanting, that is a symptom of offense.

COMMENT

So yes, not only is it offensive, but it doesn’t work. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada would give the example of Christians go to church on Sunday and confess, and they do get benefit by confessing, but then they go out and commit the same sinful actions, and then they come back again on Sunday and confess again. So, that is not the idea. We confess, we become purified, but then we should not commit sin again. And similarly with chanting, by chanting we do become freed from sinful reactions, but we shouldn’t think we can take advantage of it and deliberately engage in sin and then neutralize the effects by chanting.

PURPORT (continued)

The eighth offense is to equate the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa with other spiritual activities, such as meditation, austerity, penance or sacrifice. They cannot be equated at any level.

COMMENT

Or, to consider the chanting of Hare Krishna to be one of the auspicious ritualistic activities mentioned in the Vedas as fruitive activity. In 1973, Srimati Leelavati Munshi, who was the widow of Kanaiyalal Munshi, who was the founder of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, organized a conference at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and the theme of the conference was that the Bhagavad-gītā could solve all problems. And before the session began, she invited the special guests to her library to meet and discuss.

So, one of the men there, I don’t recall his name, he had white hair and a long beard, he said to Srila Prabhupada that he would have large gatherings, and in the gatherings, he would tell people to chant the holy names, and that if they chanted the holy names, they would become freed from their physical ailments and diseases. So, he said to Srila Prabhupada, “I am gathering people together and you are gathering people together. I am getting them to chant the holy names and you are getting them the chant the holy names. We should cooperate.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “No. What you are doing is against our principles. Because the holy name is Krishna, we are meant to be servants of Krishna and we are not meant to engage Krishna in our service to cure us of physical diseases.” So, that would be an example of the eighth offense.

PURPORT (continued)

The ninth offense is to specifically glorify the importance of the holy name before persons who have no interest.

COMMENT

Yes, to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless. Srila Prabhupada was meeting with a professor in Stockholm, Sweden, and in the course of that conversation, one of Prabhupada’s disciples began to glorify the holy name, and Srila Prabhupada stopped him, and he said that, “The professor does not have faith yet, and so it is not proper to preach the glories of the holy name to the faithless. First, we have to create faith in him on the basis of logic and reason, then when he has faith, we can speak about the glories of the holy name.”

I had my own experience, not exactly the same. But I was with my father and one of Srila Prabhupada’s first books was Easy Journey to Other Planets, and it was written in sort of scientific terms. So, my father was a rational scientific person, so I thought I would speak to him about Easy Journey to Other Planets. And as I was speaking to him how a yogi could travel to other planets, he looked at me like, Son, I thought you were crazy before, but this has removed any doubt. [laughter] So, it is like preaching to the faithless.

PURPORT (continued)

The tenth offense is to be attached to the misconception of possessing something, or to accept the body as one’s self, while executing the process of spiritual cultivation.

COMMENT

Yes, to not have complete faith in the chanting of the holy name and to maintain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions on the matter, that is offensive. Because we are chanting, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, to become free from material desires and attachments. So, to maintain them while chanting is contradictory and offensive to the holy name. It is not an offense to have material attachments, it is an anartha but it is not an offense, but to maintain them while chanting is an offense. So, Srila Prabhupada instructed that we recite the ten offenses in the morning, after maṅgala-ārati, before we chant japa, as a reminder to help us to chant without offense. And generally, after reading the list from The Nectar of Devotion, a devotee will add, “It is also an offense to be inattentive while chanting.”

So, Sanskrit is such a language that the words can be combined in different ways with different meanings. And in Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s analysis of the ten offenses, which he gives in his book Harināma-cintāmaṇi, he finds the offense of inattention to be the ninth offense, pramāda. And he says that if one chants attentively, all the other offenses will be eradicated. But if one is inattentive while chanting, all the other offenses will flourish. So, it is most important that we are attentive while chanting. Another godbrother who often gives japa retreats and workshops is His Grace Mahatma dasa, and he has commented that devotees have become very expert at using their left hands, because while their right hand is in their bead bag, with their left hand, they are checking their emails or cleaning the house or whatever it is, they get very expert with using their left hand. So yes, we should not do that, we should be attentive.

PURPORT (continued)

When one is free from all ten of these offenses in chanting the holy name of God, he develops the ecstatic bodily features called pulakāśru. Pulaka means “symptoms of happiness,” and aśru means “tears in the eyes.” The symptoms of happiness and tears in the eyes must appear in a person who has chanted the holy name offenselessly. Here in this verse it is stated that those who have actually developed the symptoms of happiness and tears in the eyes by chanting the glories of the Lord are eligible to enter the kingdom of God.

COMMENT

Which is our goal.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that if one does not develop these symptoms while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, it is to be understood that he is still offensive. Caitanya-caritāmṛta suggests a nice remedy in this connection.

COMMENT

That is all we need, a nice remedy.

PURPORT (continued)

There it is said in verse 31, Chapter Eight, of Ādi-līlā, that if anyone takes shelter of Lord Caitanya and just chants the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, he becomes freed from all offenses.

COMMENT

So, this discussion is very important, and therefore, I will read a little from that Ādi-līlā, Chapter Eight. So, I will begin with Text Twenty-nine and Thirty because they give the background, which Srila Prabhupada mentioned in the purport.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda

jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

TEXTS 29–30 TRANSLATION

If one chants the exalted holy name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, the seed of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa does not sprout.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

If one chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra offensively, one does not achieve the desired result. Therefore one should carefully avoid the offenses, which have already been described in connection with verse 24.

COMMENT

And we just discussed those.

TEXT 31

caitanya-nityānande nāhi e-saba vicāra

nāma laite prema dena, vahe aśrudhāra

TRANSLATION

But if one only chants, with some slight faith, the holy names of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, very quickly he is cleansed of all offenses. Thus as soon as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he feels the ecstasy of love for God.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura remarks in this connection that if one takes shelter of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda, follows Their instructions to become more tolerant than the tree and humbler than the grass, and in this way chants the holy name of the Lord, very soon he achieves the platform of transcendental loving service to the Lord, and tears appear in his eyes. There are offenses to be considered in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, but there are no such considerations in chanting the names of Gaura-Nityānanda. But if in spite of being an offender one chants the holy names of Gaura-Nityānanda, he is very quickly freed from the reactions to his offenses.

COMMENT

So we do this in kirtan. We chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before we chant the Hare Krishna mantra, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. And some devotees, including myself, we also chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before each round of japa.