SB 3.15.25 – Initiation Program

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna my dear devotees.

Devotees: Hare Krishna.

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

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

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.

COMMENT 

Please pay attention to this my dear devotees. 

PURPORT (continued)

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. They are stated as follows:

COMMENT

So as I read the list, you can think of yourself and to what extent you have developed these auspicious 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

It’s a very important verse, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.21. 

titikṣavaḥ kāruṇikāḥ suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām

ajāta-śatravaḥ śāntāḥ sādhavaḥ sādhu- bhūṣaṇāḥ

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 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.

COMMENT

yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcana

PURPORT (continued)

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. The first offense is to decry persons who try in their lives to broadcast the glories of the Lord.

COMMENT

This is called sādhu-nindā.

PURPORT (continued)

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

Blaspheming the devotees who have dedicated their lives for propagating the holy name. 

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

There was a popular magazine in India called, “The Illustrated Weekly,” and the editor for many years was one Khushwant Singh who was a demon. In an article which he titled, “Hare Krishna vs. Shiva-Shiva,” and the article was an account by Agehananda Bharati who was an Austrian sannyasi and Mayavada sampradāya. So Dr. Bharati gave his account of his discussion with our Hridayananda dasa Goswami or his debate with our Hridayananda dasa Goswami. So by choosing this title, “Hare Krishna vs. Shiva Shiva,” Khushwant Singh was trying to make us all look silly, make any theist look silly. Oh! how silly, they are arguing over Krishna vs. Shiva. And, I shared my impression with Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada agreed. And he said, “Yes, Bharati is a fool, but Singh is a demon,” and that foolishness is described right here: “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.” 

PURPORT (continued)

The third offense is to think of the spiritual master who spreads the glories of the Lord as an ordinary human being.

COMMENT

The third offense is guror avajñā which means, “to disobey the orders of the spiritual master.” And here, Srila Prabhupada gives the psychology of a person who will disobey the orders of the spiritual master. And, that is that he thinks of the spiritual master as an ordinary human being, and therefore he thinks, Why do I have to follow what he says? So guror avajñā, “to disobey the orders of the spiritual master.” 

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 that’s sort of the negative side. The positive side is that we should read Srila Prabhupada’s books. 

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

Srila Prabhupada has quoted the full Hare Krishna maha-mantra twice in this purport.

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 the effects by chanting, that is a symptom of offense. 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. The ninth offense is to specifically glorify the importance of the holy name before persons who have no interest.

COMMENT

To preach the glory of the holy name 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

So in The Nectar of Devotion, these offenses rendered, to not have complete faith in the holy name and to maintain material attachments even after understanding so many instructions on the matter. And, the two go together because if we did have complete faith in the holy name, we would know that all of our desires could be fulfilled, and we can become completely happy and satisfied by offenseless chanting of the holy names. And therefore, we wouldn’t hold on to any material attachments. It’s not an offense to have material attachments. It’s an anartha but it’s not an offense. But it is an offense to maintain the material attachments even while chanting, even after beginning the process of chanting because the two are contradictory. We are chanting to cleanse the heart ceto-darpaṇa—mārjanam [Cc. Antya 20.12], and become free from material attachments. So to maintain material attachments while chanting is contradictory and offensive. Now, Sanskrit is such a language that it can be divided in different ways. The words can be divided in different ways and with different meanings. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his discussion of the ten offenses has found the ninth offense to be pramāda which means, “inattention.” And, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that if we are inattentive while chanting, all the other offenses can flourish. But if we are attentive while chanting, all the other offenses will be destroyed. So the basic principle in chanting the holy name is to chant with attention. 

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. 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’s what 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 I’ll read that section to which Srila Prabhupada referred in the purport. I’ll read the preceding verses as well.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda
jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

CC Ādi 8.29–30

hena kṛṣṇa-nāma yadi laya bahu-bāra
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe aśrudhāra

tabe jāni, aparādha tāhāte pracura
kṛṣṇa-nāma-bīja tāhe nā kare aṅkura

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 by Giriraj Swami

And we have discussed the ten offenses.

CC Ādi 8.31

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.

COMMENT

So we do this when we chant the Pancha-tattva mantra in kirtan. We always 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, many devotees including myself chant the Pancha-tattva mantra before each round of japa of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. So yeah, we should take shelter of the Pancha-tattva. 

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. 

And then, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.