SB 2.3.23

Giriraj Swami: So, my dear devotees, we shall read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Two, Chapter Three, “Pure Devotional Service,”

TEXT 23

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ
na jātu martyo ‘bhilabheta yas tu
śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ
śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

Translation: The person who has not, at any time, received the dust of the feet of the Lord’s pure devotee upon his head is certainly a dead body. And the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasī leaves from the lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body, although breathing.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

According to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the breathing dead body is a ghost. When a man dies, he is called dead. But when he again appears in a subtle form not visible to our present vision and yet acts, such a dead body is called a ghost.

COMMENT

So, how many of you believe in ghosts? Some years ago, there was a movie called Ghosts, and His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami told me that he thought that the persons who wrote the script for the movie must have read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Srila Prabhupada. And it so happened that on a flight, the in-flight movie was “Ghosts.” So, since it was recommended by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami, Maharaja, I watched it. And now, how does someone become a ghost? Usually, if someone commits suicide, they become ghosts because, in effect, they are saying they don’t want to have a gross body. But generally, someone who commits suicide has material desires, and because they are so frustrated in trying to fulfil their material desires, although they get the body of a ghost, they still have strong material desires. So, in this movie, “The Ghost,” he wanted to smoke a cigarette. And so, there was a vending machine, and he was trying to get a pack of cigarettes from the vending machine. But because he was a ghost, he couldn’t. So, he was very frustrated. So, yes, one way one becomes a ghost is by committing suicide. Another way is if someone is very attached to their mansion or their castle, and they die thinking of their mansion or castle. So, they can’t take birth as a castle, but they can take birth as a ghost and continue to live in the castle. And so, there are many castles that are haunted. But ghosts can be liberated from their ghostly existence by hearing the holy name. And we can also free places of ghosts by chanting. And often, haunted houses are put on the market for a very less price because people don’t want to buy a haunted house. And Srila Prabhupada said we could take advantage and buy these nice properties for a cheap price, and then we can do hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana, and all the ghosts will go away, and we will have a nice property for Krishna.

PURPORT (continued)

Ghosts are always very bad elements, always creating a fearful situation for others.

COMMENT

Now, that is another thing. Ghosts have material desires, but they don’t have a gross body through which to fulfill their desires. So, they will try to get possession of someone else’s body and try to fulfill their desires through that person’s body. And so, someone can be possessed by a ghost. But again, if that happens to you, you can just chant the holy names, and the ghost will go away.

PURPORT (continued)

Similarly, the ghostlike non-devotees who have no respect for the pure devotees, nor for the Viṣṇu Deity in the temples, create a fearful situation for the devotees at all times. The Lord never accepts any offering by such impure ghosts. There is a common saying that one should first love the dog of the beloved before one shows any loving sentiments for the beloved. The stage of pure devotion is attained by sincerely serving a pure devotee of the Lord. The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

COMMENT

So, our process is bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇum, the dust of the feet of a pure devotee. Generally, serving the dust of the feet of the pure devotee refers to following the instructions of the pure devotee. Of course, occasionally, one may get a chance to serve the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee. When Srila Prabhupada was in his last days in Vrindavan, I got a chance to massage his lotus feet, and I have actually felt some dust particles, and they were magnified in my consciousness. “Oh, this is the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee.” But generally, serving the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee means to follow the instructions of the pure devotee, who in turn has served the instructions of his spiritual master. It was a pure devotee who, in turn, had served the instructions of his spiritual master, who was a pure devotee. And that is the process of paramparā.

PURPORT (continued)

The first condition of devotional service to the Lord is therefore to be a servant of a pure devotee, and this condition is fulfilled by the statement “reception of the dust of the lotus feet of a pure devotee who has also served another pure devotee.” That is the way of pure disciplic succession, or devotional paramparā.

Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa inquired from the great saint Jaḍa Bharata as to how he had attained such a liberated stage of a paramahaṁsa, and in answer the great saint replied as follows (Bhāg. 5.12.12):

rahūgaṇaitat tapasā na yāti
na cejyayā nirvapaṇād gṛhād vā
na cchandasā naiva jalāgni-sūryair
vinā mahat-pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekam

“O King Rahūgaṇa, the perfectional stage of devotional service, or the paramahaṁsa stage of life, cannot be attained unless one is blessed by the dust of the feet of great devotees. It is never attained by tapasya [austerity], the Vedic worshiping process, acceptance of the renounced order of life, the discharge of the duties of household life, the chanting of the Vedic hymns, or the performance of penances in the hot sun, within cold water or before the blazing fire.”

COMMENT

So here it says, [Unintelligible 00:42:26] “means that the dust of the lotus feet and Abhishek.” And it is like bathing oneself in the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee. And there is a similar verse in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam when Hiraṇyakaśipu inquired from his son Prahlada how he had become such a great devotee, and Prahlada replied, [Unintelligible 00:43:08] “One cannot attain the stage of devotional service without taking the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee. Upon once had her bathing oneself in the dust of the lotus feet of the pure devotee, or in other words, by serving a pure devotee.”

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the property of His pure, unconditional devotees, and as such only the devotees can deliver Kṛṣṇa to another devotee; Kṛṣṇa is never obtainable directly. Lord Caitanya therefore designated Himself as gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, or “the most obedient servant of the servants of the Lord, who maintains the gopī damsels at Vṛndāvana.”

COMMENT

Shortly after Srila Prabhupada left, I met his disciple Pradyumna dasa in Vrindavan, and Pradyumna dasa is very learned in Sanskrit. Srila Prabhupada affectionately called him Pundit Ji, and he was very knowledgeable in the shastra. So I asked him that everything that exists in the material world exists originally in the spiritual world in its pure form. So what is pride in the spiritual world? And he replied that pride in the spiritual world is to be the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant, to be the last in the line. In other words, his pride is that he has the most masters to serve. Dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ, he is the thousand dollars, the last in the line. That is his pride.

PURPORT (continued)

A pure devotee therefore never approaches the Lord directly, but tries to please the servant of the Lord’s servants, and thus the Lord becomes pleased, and only then can the devotee relish the taste of the tulasī leaves stuck to His lotus feet. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord is never to be found by becoming a great scholar of the Vedic literatures, but He is very easily approachable through His pure devotee. In Vṛndāvana all the pure devotees pray for the mercy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is a tenderhearted feminine counterpart of the supreme whole, resembling the perfectional stage of the worldly feminine nature. Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association.

COMMENT

Yes, in Radharani’s place of Barsana, they have a saying that whatever Radha does, Krishna likes, and whatever Radha likes, Krishna does. So if Radha recommends someone to Krishna, then Krishna will accept that devotee.

PURPORT (continued)

Therefore, the mercy of Rādhārāṇī is available very readily to the sincere devotees, and once She recommends such a devotee to Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord at once accepts the devotee’s admittance into His association. The conclusion is, therefore, that one should be more serious about seeking the mercy of the devotee than that of the Lord directly, and by one’s doing so (by the good will of the devotee) the natural attraction for the service of the Lord will be revived.

COMMENT

And the natural attraction for the service of the Lord is the requirement for going back home, back to Godhead, and serving Radha and Krishna and their associates. So Srila Prabhupada has given us everything. He is given us, well, there are five. Srila Rupa Gosvami enumerates sixty-four items of devotional service in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, and he says that of these sixty-four, five are most potent, and that even a slight performance of any one of the five will awaken dormant love for Krishna. And what are the five? Sādhu-saṅga, in general terms, it means associating with devotees, but there is a very specific definition of sādhu-saṅga that Srila Rupa Gosvami gives. Sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau saṅgaḥ svato vare. sajātīyāśaye. It means in a literal sense, sort of in the same cast or community or family. For us, it would mean followers of Srila Prabhupada. Sajātīyāśaye snigdhe—Srila Prabhupada translates it as having a similar affection for the Lord, which is true, but here snigdhe can also mean that the sadhu should be affectionate to you. So, sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau saṅgaḥ svato vare, and svato vare means you should be more advanced than you are. So that is the actual definition of sādhu-saṅga. So these five most potent items in devotional service are sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana (chanting the holy names of the Lord), Bhagavat śravaṇam (hearing Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam), mathurā-vāsa residing in a holy place such as Mathura, Vrindavan, Mayapur, and serving the deity with faith and veneration.

So these are the five most important items of devotional service, and Srila Prabhupada has made them accessible to all of us in different ways. So we can engage in these practices and make great spiritual advancement. And of course, the main process, which does not require anything other than your tongue and your ears, is to chant the holy names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

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

Devotee: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja, thank you very much for such a nice class. I have a specific question. And you yourself are, in a way, personification of that instruction. When a Guru gives a specific instruction to a disciple, generally, he will give that instruction to a disciple who has the ability and the desire to carry it out. But if the instruction is not an ordinary instruction, an instruction like what Prabhupada got from his Guru Maharaja, or in some sense, some disciples of Prabhupada got some instructions from him, and if that instruction is not an ordinary or an above-average difficult instruction, what should a disciple be thinking when he gets that instruction? Number one, number two, how to in what way he can get that strength to carry it out?

Giriraj Swami: Hmm, but it is said that when the spiritual master gives an instruction, he gives the potency to execute it. Of course, in any activity, we require both our endeavor and Krishna’s mercy, guru’s mercy. We find in the dāmodara-līlā that when Mother Yasoda tried to bind Lord Krishna with ropes, the ropes were always two fingers too short. And then eventually, when Krishna saw her hard labor (and Bhāgavatam uses the word pariśrama), he gave her his mercy, kṛṣṇa-kṛpā.

So, say that to be successful in any activity, we need both our own endeavor, pariśrama, and Krishna’s mercy. kṛṣṇa-kṛpā. Srila Prabhupada said there are three classes of disciples. The lowest class will receive an instruction from the spiritual master. I make sure the problem was paraphrasing from the third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but the way Srila Prabhupada said it, the spiritual master of given instruction to the disciple, and the disciple say yes guru Maharaja and then a few minutes later he will scratch his head what did guru Maharaja asked me to do? The Bhāgavatam says that that third class of disciple will accept the order begrudgingly, reluctantly. The second class will receive an order from the spiritual master and execute it perfectly. In the first class we will know what the spiritual master wants without the spiritual master even saying it and he will do it, so yes, we should at least be second class and aspire to be first class. Yes.

Devotee: I have heard that the movie Ghost was actually it was made with the assistance of somebody who whom saw like these things a psychic and that is why you even see the Yamadutas in there oh I was like oh it corroborates The Vedic version yes the Yamadutas says do exist and they pull people so yes.

Giriraj Swami: Jaya

Devotee: Hari Krishna, I was hoping that you can explain this to me and the person who has never experienced the aroma of the tulasi leaves from the Lotus feet of the Lord is also a dead body how do you go about experiencing the aroma of the tulasi leaves from the Lotus feet of the Lord.

Giriraj Swami: Well, we get the tulasi leaves from the Lotus feet of the Lord as prasāda and we honor that prasāda. Yes, he had tulasi as you know is very dear to Krishna and Krishna doesn’t accept offerings He doesn’t like to accept offerings without tulasi leaves and we also offer tulasi leaves to the Lotus feet of the Lord we do that here of course we do that here so yes then we get that mahā-prasāda and that frees us from material comment material contamination and bondage.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, thank you very much for very clearly explaining this with multiple examples one question I have is does reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Srila Prabhupada books count as associating with Srila Prabhupada?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, it does very much so, as you would have heard there are two ways of associating one is by vāṇī which means words or sound vibration the others by vapuḥ or the body or physical Association and you see the problem it says that vāṇī that vapuḥ may or may not be available but vāṇī is always available and so by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books we are associating with him and by following the instructions we are engaged in vāṇī sevā we are serving the instructions for serving the words and that creates a very strong and beautiful relationship with Srila Prabhupada.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja I have one question on today’s lecture so for the ghosts which existence material world what would be the counterpart in spiritual world.

Giriraj Swami: I don’t think there is a counterpart to the ghosts in the spiritual world. You want to go to the spiritual world and find ghosts there. I don’t think they are ghosts in the spiritual world. I get the point of the question but I just don’t think there are like mosquitoes they don’t have mosquitoes in the spiritual world not everything that we have here is there.

Devotee: I have heard that in the spiritual world there is a rumor that Kaṁsa or some Demon but is not actually there so I was wondering if that would be sort of like similar to a ghost like he is.

Giriraj Swami: Well what use what you said is true that there are no demons in the spiritual world but there are rumors of demons and that creates the mood of um you know dependence on Krishna and also concern for Krishna so you are saying there might be rumors of ghosts. Well it is a bit of a stretch but I appreciate that you are trying to fulfil his desire but address is concerned.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, thank you there was one statement in the purport where Prabhupada said that non-devotees are basically ghosts and I thought that was quite a strong and somewhat heavy statement could you explain how that is so.

Giriraj Swami: Yes so there is a nice verse by Rupa Gosvami in which he says that [Unintelligible 01:05:37] that the desires for bhukti material enjoyment and mukti and personal liberation are foreign to the soul and that one who has these desires is compared to someone who is haunted by a ghost because they are not the Soul’s desire they are foreign so just like if you are haunted by a ghost, the ghost may put things in your mind that aren’t really you in fact once Bhavananda Prabhu asked for the Prabhupada that sometimes thoughts come into his mind that are very different from what he would actually think and he asked she the problem but if that could be the influence of a ghost and Srila Prabhupada said yes it could be yes but so yes those are desires for bhukti and mukti someone who has those desires is like someone who is haunted by a ghost.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Prabhu, I have a question that in Christianity there is a concept of Holy Ghost and then they say you so Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost they always say these three things and my limited understanding is all three are important so is there equivalent of this in our religion.

Giriraj Swami: Well Srila Prabhupada said that the idea of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit is like the Paramātmā, who gives us guidance, yes, it is not exactly the same but that is what he said yes the Paramātmā, Yoga Maya. Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: Thank you for the nice class so Maharaja when we do have a strong attachment to our parents and let us say parents are not living anymore but still having that attachment would that cause any still bondage or the ghostly form taking the ghostly form or is that right to have the that loving attachment to the parents even though parents are not living anymore.

Giriraj Swami: Well, I mean if we want to do good for our parents of course we can pray for them and then the other thing is to engage in devotional service and whatever you got from your parents your body, your education, your experience, your skills they will get credit because you are engage.