SB 2.3.17

Giriraj Swami: We shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Three, “Pure Devotional Service,” Text Seventeen.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

TEXT 17

āyur harati vai puṁsām
udyann astaṁ ca yann asau
tasyarte yat-kṣaṇo nīta
uttama-śloka-vārtayā

TRANSLATION

Both by rising and by setting, the sun decreases the duration of life of everyone, except one who utilizes the time by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse indirectly confirms the greater importance of utilizing the human form of life to realize our lost relationship with the Supreme Lord by acceleration of devotional service.

COMMENT

So, to accelerate means to go faster. So, the idea is we are engaged in devotional service but we want to accelerate our process, we want to go faster. If you are driving a car, there is a pedal called the accelerator. If you want the car to go faster, you step on it. So, we want to accelerate our devotional service because we don’t know how much time we have, and we want to complete the full course of devotional service while we have time.

PURPORT (continued)

Time and tide wait for no man. So the time indicated by the sunrise and the sunset will be uselessly wasted if such time is not properly utilized for realizing identification of spiritual values. Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold.

COMMENT

At the time of death, even if you are willing to spend any amount of money to extend your duration of life, you will not be able to do so. Therefore, every moment is valuable and precious. In fact, we cannot estimate the value of it. But at the time of death, we can realize the value of the time we have, and before the time of death, we should utilize the time in the best way, uttama-śloka-vārtayā, by discussing topics of the all-good Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT (continued)

Even a fraction of the duration of life wasted cannot be compensated by any amount of gold. Human life is simply awarded to a living entity (jīva) so that he can realize his spiritual identity and his permanent source of happiness. A living being, especially the human being, is seeking happiness because happiness is the natural situation of the living entity.

COMMENT

So, how many of you want to be happy? Everyone wants to be happy.

PURPORT (continued)

But he is vainly seeking happiness in the material atmosphere.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada would give the example of a fish out of water. If you take a fish out of water and put it in a golden bowl and fill the bowl with precious gems and jewels and light incense and spray perfume, will the fish be happy? No, because the fish is a creature of the water, and the fish can be happy only in the water. So, similarly, we are creatures of the spirit, and we can be happy only in the spiritual atmosphere.

PURPORT (continued)

A living being is constitutionally a spiritual spark of the complete whole, and his happiness can be perfectly perceived in spiritual activities. The Lord is the complete spirit whole, and His name, form, quality, pastimes, entourage and personality are all identical with Him. Once a person comes into contact with any one of the above-mentioned energies of the Lord through the proper channel of devotional service, the door to perfection is immediately opened.

COMMENT

So, if we want to be happy, we can be happy only in relationship to Krishna, and Krishna means His names, His forms, His qualities, His pastimes, His entourage, His paraphernalia. And if we come in contact with any of those through the proper channel of devotional service, we can realize our spiritual identities and our real source of happiness.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) the Lord has explained such contact in the following words: “Endeavors in devotional service are never baffled. Nor is there failure. A slight beginning of such activities is sufficient even to deliver a person from the great ocean of material fears.”

COMMENT

So, the verse in the Bhagavad-gītā, as Srila Prabhupada explains, says that even a slight beginning of devotional service can free one from material fears or the fear of being born in a lower species of life. Whatever progress we make in devotional service in this life, continues in the next life. So, if we progress 1 percent in this life, in the next life, we begin from 2 percent. There is no loss or diminution. And as Srila Prabhupada says in the purport in The Nectar of Instruction, devotional service is so pure and perfect, one is forcibly dragged to ultimate success.

PURPORT (continued)

As a highly potent drug injected intravenously acts at once on the whole body, the transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently.

COMMENT

So, it’s said the ear of the pure devotee of the Lord, but I did a little research with the editors of Srila Prabhupada’s books, and they said that it really should read, “The transcendental topics of the Lord injected through the ear by the pure devotee of the Lord can act very efficiently.”

PURPORT (continued)

Aural.

COMMENT

That’s A-U-R-A-L, through the ears.

PURPORT (continued)

Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization, just as fructification of one part of a tree implies fructification of all other parts. This realization for a moment in the association of pure devotees like Śukadeva Gosvāmī prepares one’s complete life for eternity. And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence.

COMMENT

So, the living entity by nature is eternal, but because he has accepted a material body, he suffers birth, death, old age, and disease. And if he purifies his existence, then he doesn’t have to take birth again, he doesn’t have to accept another material body, but he attains his eternal life. And thus, the rising and setting of the sun doesn’t decrease his duration of life because he is approaching his eternal life.

PURPORT (continued)

And thus the sun fails to rob the pure devotee of his duration of life, inasmuch as he is constantly busy in the devotional service of the Lord, purifying his existence. Death is a symptom of the material infection of the eternal living being; only due to material infection is the eternal living entity subjected to the law of birth, death, old age and disease.

The materialistic way of pious activities like charity is recommended in the smṛti-śāstras as quoted by Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura. Money given in charity to a suitable person is guaranteed bank balance in the next life. Such charity is recommended to be given to a brāhmaṇa. If the money is given in charity to a non-brāhmaṇa (without brahminical qualification) the money is returned in the next life in the same proportion. If it is given in charity to a half-educated brāhmaṇa, even then the money is returned double. If the money is given in charity to a learned and fully qualified brāhmaṇa, the money is returned a hundred and a thousand times.

COMMENT

So, if you are looking for a good investment, I don’t think you can find a better one than this.

PURPORT (continued)

And if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication.

COMMENT

So, as Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ, that by the Vedas, He is to be known. So, a veda-pāraga really means one who knows Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

And if the money is given to a veda-pāraga (one who has factually realized the path of the Vedas), it is returned by unlimited multiplication.

COMMENT

So, how can it be returned by unlimited multiplication? Everything in the material world is limited. So, to get the return by unlimited multiplication indicates that one will get it in the spiritual world, because only in the spiritual world are things unlimited.

When Srila Prabhupada was in Hong Kong, the devotees arranged to collect him from the airport in a Rolls Royce limousine, and then they brought him to the Hong Kong Hilton Hotel, the penthouse suite of the Hong Kong Hilton Hotel, for a press conference. And one of the reporters asked Srila Prabhupada, “You are supposed to be a spiritual person. Why were you riding in that Rolls Royce limousine?”

Srila Prabhupada replied, “I am a resident of the spiritual world, and in the spiritual world, everything is made of cintāmaṇi jewels. So, even if they had collected me in a Rolls Royce made of solid gold or solid diamonds, it would not have been good enough. So, you asked why I rode in a Rolls Royce limousine, the answer is that was the best they could offer. So, I had to accept it.”

So, this is on the topic of unlimited return, which can be realized in the spiritual world where there is unlimited opulence.

PURPORT (continued)

The ultimate end of Vedic knowledge is realization of the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ). There is a guarantee of money’s being returned if given in charity, regardless of the proportion. Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate.

COMMENT

This is a line from the Bhagavad-gītā, which Lord Krishna says that those who attain His abode never have to take birth again.

So, coming back to the topic of utilizing one’s time profitably, Srila Prabhupada had a friend in Bombay named Brijratan Mohatta, who had been the richest man in what became Pakistan, and was married to Seth R.D Birla’s daughter. He was a very wealthy man, and Srila Prabhupada was an expert in speaking in the language of his audience. And he said to Mr. Mohatta, “In the ledger of your life, any time spent in Krishna consciousness is profit, and any time spent outside of Krishna consciousness is loss.” So, any businessman or anyone will want to maximize his profit and minimize his loss. So, Srila Prabhupada said, “Any time spent in Krishna consciousness is profit, and any time spent outside of Krishna consciousness is loss.”

PURPORT (continued)

Similarly, a moment passed in the association of a pure devotee by hearing and chanting the transcendental messages of the Lord is a perfect guarantee for eternal life, for returning home, back to Godhead. Mad-dhāma gatvā punar janma na vidyate. In other words, a devotee of the Lord is guaranteed eternal life. A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

Why is that so? Because old age and disease remind us that this material body is not a congenial place for the spirit soul to make its residence. And so, disease and old age remind us that the material world is not a happy place, as Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, it is a place of misery, and it’s temporary. So, a devotee’s old age or disease reminds him of his precarious position in the material world and serves as an impetus for him to make spiritual progress to purify his existence so he can go back home, back to Godhead, so he does not have to suffer in a physical body in the material world. The clock is ticking, time is passing. We have to accelerate our devotional service.

PURPORT (continued)

A devotee’s old age or disease in the present life is but an impetus to such guaranteed eternal life.

COMMENT

So, thank you, my dear devotees, for listening so patiently and attentively. And now, if any of you have any questions or comments, any reflections you would like to share, you can raise your hand.

Yes? Can we get a microphone over there?

Devotee: Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna

Devotee: Coming to Krishna consciousness, we get the realization that birth and death are transcendental.

Giriraj Swami: Birth and death are what?

Devotee: Birth and death are transcendental. We get some realization.

Giriraj Swami: Birth and death are transcendental?

Devotee: In Krishna consciousness.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, I mean, in Krishna consciousness, they don’t exist. But yes, please continue.

Devotee: My asking the question is if bhakti can take you to transcend birth and death, there must not be any suffering. Why do we suffer, despite knowing that birth and death are transcendental in Krishna consciousness?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we suffer because we identify with the body. We may have theoretical knowledge that we are not the body but we may not have realized that we are not the body, and therefore, we become affected by the pains and pleasures of the body, the trials and tribulations of the world.

But if we chant attentively and purify our hearts, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ, then we can become free from our bodily identification and the consequent experience of material miseries. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ, the chanting cleanses the dirt from the mirror of the mind. And Srila Prabhupada says that the first dirty thing is to identify with the body, and so that becomes cleansed by chanting.

Is that alright? Yes? I need the microphone here.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you very much for the nice class.

In the purport, there is a line, “Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization.” So, I wanted to know about the meaning of this. Just by aurally understanding something, is it a complete realization, or is there more to it? Because I was reading yesterday Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, First Canto, First Chapter, Text Six. There, Srila Prabhupada is saying, “To hear and explain them is more important than reading them. One can assimilate the knowledge of the revealed scriptures only by hearing and explaining.”

So, here the emphasis is given on explaining also. So, in that context, I am asking, “Aural realization of the transcendental messages implies total realization.” So, how to understand this?

Giriraj Swami: Well, it is true, when we hear and then repeat what we have heard, we get realization. And therefore, śravaṇam, kīrtanam. We hear and then we repeat what we have heard, and that increases our realization, which every preacher has realized that by preaching, by repeating what you have heard or read, you get realization. And Srila Prabhupada said that preaching is the best way to become Krishna conscious because when you preach, people will ask questions, and to answer their questions, you will have to think of Krishna.

So, yes, “Aural realization implies complete realization.” That’s also true. I don’t really see a contradiction as such. “Aural realization implies total realization.” That’s also true. It’s said Brahman is unlimited, but always expanding. So, we can have unlimited realization, but our realization can also expand when we repeat what we have heard.

Any other questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you, Maharaja. Maharaja, here it is said, āyur harati vai puṁsām, that as the sun is setting and rising, one’s duration of life decreases. But Prabhupada also mentions some yogis, they try to increase the duration of their life. And so, what’s the case of devotees who are engaging their time in the service of the Lord?

Giriraj Swami: Well, once, Srila Prabhupada said that Krishna wants His devotees to come back home, back to Godhead in this very lifetime. And therefore, if, with his ordinary duration of life, a devotee is not qualified to go back to Godhead, Krishna will extend his duration of life beyond what it was meant to be, beyond what it was destined to be, to give the devotee time so that he can finish up his devotional service and go back to Godhead at the end of his lifetime. That’s the special mercy of Krishna.

At the back, there is a question, way at the back. From one of the Vaishnavis.

Devotee: Maharaja, how can we develop sraddha to Vaishnavas, guru, Radhe, and Krishna?

Giriraj Swami: How can we develop. . .?

Devotee: Sraddha.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, sraddha.

Devotee: I hear, but I don’t believe 100 percent. I forget sometimes.

Giriraj Swami: Well, sraddha is the beginning, ādau śraddhā, and one develops sraddha by associating with devotees who have sraddha. Partly by hearing their speeches, which creates sraddha by the content, and also just by being with them and seeing how much faith they have and how happy they are with faith in Krishna and how you also can benefit by having more faith.

And one more at the back, further at the back.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guru Maharaja. Daṇḍavat-praṇāmās. My question is as practicing devotees, we follow the instructions of seniors and guru as a matter of duty. My question is how can I develop, instead as a matter of duty, I can bring spontaneity in my activities, devotional activities, and I can do more not as a duty but with love and with heart and with spontaneous love? How can I develop the mood? And what do we need to do? How do we need to change our activities to develop that spontaneity in our activities, what do we do as a matter of duty in Krishna consciousness? Thank you, Guru Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: We follow the regulative principles of devotional service as a matter of duty. But eventually, we develop more spontaneous attraction for the practices of devotional service. And as Srila Prabhupada gives the example in The Nectar of Devotion, at first, one wakes up early as a matter of force, obligations, but after some time, a devotee will wake up early with a spontaneous desire to engage in devotional service. So, that will come. You might have to be patient.

As Srila Rupa Gosvami says in Upadeśāmṛta, utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt, one should be enthusiastic and confident and patient. And Srila Prabhupada said that enthusiasm without patience can lead to a desire to control, and patience without enthusiasm can lead to lethargy. So, you need both enthusiasm and patience.

So, you might have to be a little patient, but utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt, you should be confident that by discharging your duties in devotional service, eventually, your spontaneous attraction will develop.

Yes? One more towards the back.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Guruji. This is my first time that I have actually attended this. I had a question. You mentioned that by giving to a brahman, you invest for your next life. So, does it only have to be a brahman? Because many religions also say that giving to a needy person, someone who needs it. So, how does that differ? And how do I give to a brahman and why not a person who is in need? Someone who cannot help himself?

Giriraj Swami: Well, brahmans have six duties, and two of them are to accept charity, and to give charity. So, if you give money to a brahman, he won’t just keep it for himself, but he will use it for others. For example, here, just to give a simple example, we feed people. So, if you give money to the brahmans here or the devotees here, they will use it to feed poor people and hungry people. On the anniversary of the grand opening of the temple here, how many people did they feed? They distributed one hundred and eleven thousand meals. So, that will help people, but it’s done through the brahmans, and the brahmans know how to use the money in the best way for the people’s benefit.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances.

Maharaja, I have a question. Prabhupada says that you need to hear and chant. There is no role of mind. But actually, in reality, it is like that, Maharaja, that sometimes we do one sitting japa, sixteen rounds, one sitting only completing sixteen rounds; but at the time, Maharaja, the mind plays a great role in that case. Because there is always a fight between the mind and, “Chant, focus.” So, it is a very difficult task for us to finish our sixteen rounds. So, what to do in this case? Why is the role of mind there? Prabhupada clearly says that there is no role of mind. But actually, these two things didn’t connect. So, can you please guide me?

Giriraj Swami: Well, His Grace Bhurijana dasa has written a book. Well, he has given many workshops and retreats about japa, and he also wrote a book called, Japa. And he says, quite rightly, that the mind will always tell you that there are more important things to do than chant Hare Krishna. And when the mind tells us there are more important things to do than chanting Hare Krishna, at least when it comes to chanting our minimum sixteen rounds, we should not pay attention. In one purport in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, well, the verse says

TEXT 113

smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit

COMMENT

One should always remember Krishna and never forget Him. And all the positive injunctions in the scripture are meant to support the one positive injunction to always remember Krishna, and all the negative, prohibited injunctions are meant to support one negative prohibition to never forget Krishna. And in the purport, Srila Prabhupada says, “Of all the instructions of the spiritual master, the instruction to chant a minimum of sixteen rounds daily is most essential.” And when we chant, we should be attentive. Otherwise, we don’t get the real benefit.

Srila Prabhupada used to quote a cartoon in which an old man and an old lady are sitting on a bench, and the lady is telling her husband, “Chant, chant, chant,” and the husband is replying, “Can’t, can’t, can’t.” And Srila Prabhupada makes the point that with the same effort it took to say, “Can’t, can’t, can’t,” he could have just as well chanted. I always like to quote one statement that Srila Prabhupada made in a talk in Los Angeles, “If you have got time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t speak nonsense, chant Hare Krishna.”

Devotee: Hare Krishna, Maharaja. Thank you very much for the very wonderful class.

So, you were mentioning a very interesting analogy of the fish. And you said that, it was the first time I was hearing that, the fish is a creature of the water. Similarly, we are creatures of the spirit. Maya really convinces me oftentimes that we are creatures of the spirit, but we are put into this body, we have been put into this body in this material world.

So, it’s okay, āyur harati vai puṁsām, the sun is rising and setting, and the time is passing. But oftentimes, I become very pessimistic if I go by this verse and the material world promises, “Be optimistic.” There is unlimited time. There are so many advertisements in the material world, promises to us. Material world is limited, but then, “Be optimistic.” So, how to really get the conviction that time is really passing and I need to really be serious? At the same time, we know that we have to balance also.

Last time, you gave a wonderful class that we need to balance health, then sadhana, then sevā. So, we are creatures of spirit, but how to strike a balance and at the same time get that conviction that time is passing and I need to really perform spiritual life?

Giriraj Swami: Balance between what and what?

Devotee: Between the body and the spirit. We are creatures of the spirit, but we are put into this body. So, real happiness means to strike a balance between the body’s needs, and at the same time, my spiritual activities, as Srila Prabhupada says.

Giriraj Swami: Well, the body has necessities. We should minimize them as far as practical. And one of the necessities is to eat, and we take kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and by taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda, we also purify our existence. It’s a spiritual activity. And sleeping, we need to sleep. Bhagavad-gītā says one should not eat too much or eat too little; sleep too much or sleep too little.

So, yes, in that sense, we need balance. But the ultimate goal should be to become Krishna conscious. And if that’s the goal and if we organize our life in pursuance of that goal, then we’ll find the proper balance. I am not too fond of the word balance in this context, but, yeah, balance is required. But the goal should be Krishna consciousness.

Alright. So, thank you very much. I wish you all the best for the rest of the day and the rest of your life.

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Ananta koṭi vaiṣṇava-vṛnda—kī jaya! Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Grantharaj Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ki jaya! Hare Krishna.