BG 3.10 – Who is a Mahatma

Giriraj Swami: So, we shall read from Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, Chapter Three, “Karma-yoga,” Text Ten.

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

TEXT 10

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā
purovāca prajāpatiḥ
anena prasaviṣyadhvam
eṣa vo ‘stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving liberation.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Viṣṇu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home – back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

Srila Prabhupada said, “We will not say that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in one purport; we will say that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead in every purport.” And he is true to his word here.

PURPORT (continued)

The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ. The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patiṁ viśvasyātmeśvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also (2.4.20) Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir
dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ
patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ
prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ

The prajā-pati is Lord Viṣṇu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world to enable the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajñas (sacrifices) for the satisfaction of Viṣṇu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety, and after finishing the present material body they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance of yajña, the conditioned souls gradually become Kṛṣṇa conscious and become godly in all respects. In the Age of Kali, the saṅkīrtana-yajña (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Saṅkīrtana-yajña and Kṛṣṇa consciousness go well together. Lord Kṛṣṇa in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) as follows, with special reference to the saṅkīrtana-yajña:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.”

COMMENT

This verse, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) is very important. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ: so varna has two meanings. One is category, like varnashrama-dharma. So kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ means He is in the same category as Krishna, or in other words, He is Krishna. And varna also means to describe or glorify, so he engages in describing and glorifying Krishna. And tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ means that His color is not blackish like Krishna, but as we know, His color is golden, the golden avatar. sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam: and He is accompanied by His associates, who are like His weapons for defeating the age of Kali; yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair, performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña, yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ: so those who are intelligent (su-medhasaḥ) will worship the Lord by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña. If anyone accuses you of being unintelligent, you can say, “No, I am highly intelligent because it is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that anyone who performs saṅkīrtana-yajña is highly intelligent (su-medhasaḥ).” And in the Bhagavad-gītā, the opposite word, alpa-medhasaḥ (less intelligent), is used to refer to people who worship demigods.

“So, in this age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña.”

PURPORT (continued)

Other yajñas prescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the saṅkīrtana-yajña is easy and sublime for all purposes, as recommended in Bhagavad-gītā also (9.14).

COMMENT

And I will read that.

Bg 9.14

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ
yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ
namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā
nitya-yuktā upāsate

TRANSLATION

Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The mahātmā cannot be manufactured by rubber-stamping an ordinary man. His symptoms are described here: a mahātmā is always engaged in chanting the glories of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. He has no other business. He is always engaged in the glorification of the Lord. In other words, he is not an impersonalist. When the question of glorification is there, one has to glorify the Supreme Lord, praising His holy name, His eternal form, His transcendental qualities and His uncommon pastimes.

COMMENT

So, nāma, rupa, guna, and līlā; saṅkīrtana means glorifying all of these, beginning with nāma, nāma-saṅkīrtana-yajña, but eventually rupa, guna, and līlā.

PURPORT (continued)

One has to glorify all these things; therefore a mahātmā is attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

Once in Bombay, we were staying with Srila Prabhupada at Seaface Park. Srila Prabhupada had a good friend and supporter named Kartikeya Mahadeviya, and Kartikeya Mahadeviya had a brother named Kumud Chandra Mahadeviya who had a vacant flat in Seaface Park. Every evening, Srila Prabhupada would give a talk there, basically to the devotees, on The Nectar of Devotion. But by chance, if some outsider came, Srila Prabhupada would change the level of discourse from The Nectar of Devotion to the Bhagavad-gītā. One evening, a big Hindu businessman, Sri. B M Kamdar, came and said to Srila Prabhupada that, “India is a land of mahatmas, but India has so many problems. Why is that? The assumption being that in the presence of mahatmas, there should not be so many problems.” Srila Prabhupada replied, “The reason India has so many problems is because you do not know how to distinguish who is a mahatma from who is not a mahatma.” And then he went on to describe the actual qualities of a mahatma.

So, we should take advantage of this special opportunity given to us by Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, through paramparā, by Srila Prabhupada to us and use whatever time we have to chant Hare Krishna. In one talk in Los Angeles, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you have time, chant Hare Krishna. Don’t speak nonsense. Don’t waste time. Chant Hare Krishna.” So, we should always be engaged, sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindayor. We should always engage our mind in the lotus feet of Krishna by chanting His holy names, by reading His transcendental glories, and by serving Him, serving His devotees, and serving His mission. Right now, we are having the Caitanya-caritāmṛta marathon, so I also encourage you to participate. If you don’t have a set of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, I encourage everyone to have a set at home. Otherwise, you can also participate by helping to distribute the sets of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Srila Prabhupada completed the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in Juhu in Bombay. Every morning at about 6:00 o’clock, I would go up to Srila Prabhupada’s quarters in Juhu to accompany him on his morning walk. But one morning, when I went up, his door was locked. One side was Prabhupada’s quarters, and the other side was his staff’s quarters, and that door was also locked. I knocked, and eventually, Srila Prabhupada’s servant opened the door. He said that Srila Prabhupada had completed his translation of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta and that he was in a very blissful mood. He had written a most beautiful glorification of his guru Maharaja, the concluding words to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and he said that we should celebrate by having a feast. The translation of Caitanya-caritāmṛta was a very important project dear to Srila Prabhupada. So at this time, we take the advantage, and again, as I mentioned, you all should have a set of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta at home and also help in the distribution of the sets.

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

Hare Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna. Can you please explain one more time how to know who is a mahatma and who is not a mahatma?

Giriraj Swami: Well, we just read there are two verses, one after the other, that describe a mahatma. So, 9.13:

mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha
daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ
bhajanty ananya-manaso
jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam

TRANSLATION

O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.

TEXT 14

Always chanting my glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before me, those great souls perpetually worship me with devotion.”

COMMENT

So, I first met Srila Prabhupada and joined ISKCON in Boston in 1969. We would go every day to the Boston Commons and perform hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana and distribute literature, which then was mainly Back to Godhead magazines. One day, for some reason, I had to leave the saṅkīrtana party to go about a block away to a major shopping street. Somehow, as I was walking down the street, what appeared to be a middle-aged, ordinary American man saw me and started going like this: “Mahatma, mahatma, mahatma,” which I thought was amusing. But at the same time, I hoped there was some truth to it.

Any other questions or comments? Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, thank you so much for joining us this evening. I was just thinking about this question of how to recognize who a mahatma is. Oftentimes, I think in my life that I feel very fortunate to have the association of such senior and advanced souls. But I think that is the problem. Sometimes, yes, there are many great souls, but I feel there is something stopping me in my own personal life from accepting their instructions. Sometimes I find it can be very difficult to be told to do something and to do it immediately. I was just wondering, in your own experience, did you have that with Srila Prabhupada? Did you find that there were times he may have asked you to do something, and you felt, “I don’t know if I can do this,” and how did you overcome that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, in 1971 in Kolkata, I had what was for me quite a significant discussion with His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami. He said that the secret of success in spiritual life is to follow the orders of the spiritual master and please him. That was my conviction, and whenever Srila Prabhupada asked me to do something, I willingly tried my best. I had also heard that when the spiritual master gives an instruction, he also gives the potency to execute it. So, I didn’t really have any difficulty in accepting any of Srila Prabhupada’s instructions and trying to execute them.

Before coming to Juhu, I was in Kolkata. That year in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada had spoken to me in his hut. He said that, “During the British rule, they had three states: Bombay, Kolkata, and Madras. So, which do you want?” I said, “Srila Prabhupada, I will go wherever you want me to go. I will do whatever you want me to do. Just tell me.” Srila Prabhupada said, “No, I want you to decide.” I understood that Srila Prabhupada was forcing me to come to a higher level because he had said that there are three classes of disciples. The one in the lowest class receives an instruction from the spiritual master and then forgets what the spiritual master told him or begrudgingly accepts it. The second-class disciple receives an instruction from the spiritual master and executes it perfectly. The first-class disciple knows what the spiritual master wants even without being told. Srila Prabhupada wanted me to decide.

From Mayapur, we came to Kolkata, and I was chanting in front of the deities and praying for some direction. I wasn’t getting any answer. One day, I decided to try to trick Srila Prabhupada into revealing where he wanted me to go. I went into his room and said, “Srila Prabhupada, I was thinking I should stay in Kolkata,” and then I gave the reasons. He said, “Yes, you can stay.” Then I said, “But then again, I was thinking I should go back to Madras,” and I gave the reasons. In the exact same tone of voice, with the exact same facial expression, he said, “Yes, you can do.” By then, I understood my plan was not working, but I was invested in it. So, I played it out and said, “But then again, I was thinking of going to Bombay,” and I gave the reasons. Same facial expression, same tone of voice, “Yes, you can do.” Then Srila Prabhupada left Kolkata and went to Bombay. I was still thinking. I considered that our main program in India was life membership. In fact, Srila Prabhupada said, “If you just make all of us combined, if you just make three life members a day, I will do everything else.” I also saw that if we kept our promises to our life members, they would be very supportive of ISKCON, and they themselves would make life members. But if we didn’t keep our promises, then even if we ourselves went to make someone a life member, they might not agree because they had heard bad things about us.

So, I wrote Srila Prabhupada that I feel I should come to Bombay and take over the life membership office. But when I got to Bombay, after a couple of days, Srila Prabhupada had a meeting to discuss who would take charge of the project. In the meeting, Srila Prabhupada said, “So, Giriraj, you will take charge,” which was not at all my idea in coming to Bombay. I winced, but then again, I knew following the order of the spiritual master is the secret of success. So, I said, “Yes, Srila Prabhupada.” Then he said, “Now the whole responsibility is on you.” In my mind, I winced, thinking, “How could Srila Prabhupada say that? Can’t he see how difficult this is for me?” But I accepted it and did my best as the temple president. He was pleased. I could say a lot about that. Tamal Krishna Goswami didn’t particularly appreciate my management, and he complained to Srila Prabhupada. He kept bringing people who he thought would be a good manager to be vice president, but one by one they all left. And then Tamal Krishna Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada, “Now I know why you wanted to keep Giriraj the president, because no matter what happens, he won’t leave.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, you have understood.”

Any other questions? Yes.

Devotee: Hare Krishna, thank you so much, Maharaja, for your class. I just wanted to ask, you mentioned that there are two different meanings of varṇaṁ and you said one is category. Could you say again what was the other one and if you can say something more about that?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, the other meaning is to describe. So kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ. So varṇaṁ, it means that this incarnation of Godhead is in the same category as Krishna, which means He is Krishna and He is also always describing Krishna and glorifying Krishna. So it is a very beautiful description of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Devotee: Thank you so much for the class. You mentioned how Srila Prabhupada gave you that responsible position of managing the life membership program. With any management or responsible position comes many anxieties and stresses, especially when things don’t work out. So I wanted to ask you, how did you manage this? How did you cope with the dilemmas that come with such a responsible position?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, for me, my main solace and strength was japa. I would always chant at least twelve rounds after maṅgala-ārati. And by making the attempt to chant sincere, attentive japa, I got a lot of strength and clarity. That really helped me in performing my duty as the temple president. During the day, if some crisis came up, then I would just chant more rounds, and I would usually get the answer on how to proceed. So, that was my main solace and my main strength.

Devotee: Maharaja, because you had a lot of direct association with Srila Prabhupada, what was your most memorable interaction with him that we should always remember forever?

Giriraj Swami: Well, in a way, it was the first time I spoke with him. I am just afraid that we are running out of time, but I would love to tell that story. So, I was a student at Brandise University, and Srila Prabhupada and the devotees came to Brandise and had a program. But yes, I will have to answer your question after the class because there is only five minutes left, but I would love to answer it.

Devotee: Thank you very much, everyone. Let us say three Haribol for Maharaja for gracing us with his attendance today.

Devotees: Haribol! Haribol! Haribol!

Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!