BG 3.10

Host: Guru Maharaja, thank you so much for accepting our request and coming to share Krishna consciousness with all of us. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. It is a great pleasure for us to have everybody here. Just a few words: Maharaja doesn’t need any introduction, but for my purification and our purification, just a few words about Maharaja. Maharaja is His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada’s disciple, and he has been writing for several years. He has written many books. You can see all the books here. I would request all of you to please take five copies each and distribute them to your friends and spread this Krishna consciousness to everybody around you, your friends, family, and everybody. Without taking too much time, I would request Maharaja to please share the Lord’s pastimes with all of us and purify our hearts.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, I will begin by singing the maṅgalācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan, and then I will speak from the Bhagavad-gītā.

[Prayers and kirtan]

We will 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. 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 from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.32 is very significant. It begins with kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ, varṇaṁ has two meanings: one is category, like varna and ashrama, and varṇaṁ also means to describe or glorify. So, kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ means He is in the same category as Krishna, which means He is Krishna, and kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ also means that He is always glorifying Krishna. And tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ, that His complexion is not tviṣa, blackish, sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam, He is accompanied by His associates are like His weapons for defeating the influence of the age of Kali. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair, they perform saṅkīrtana-yajña; yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ, those who do so are highly intelligent. So, if anyone accuses you of being unintelligent, you can say, “No, I am highly intelligent, as stated in the shastra, because I worship Lord Chaitanya by performing saṅkīrtana-yajña.” As opposed to su-medhasaḥ, those who worship the demigods are alpa-medhasaḥ, who are less intelligent, as stated by Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā.

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

Now I will read that.

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

One who is attached to the impersonal feature of the Supreme Lord, the brahma-jyotir, is not described as mahātmā in the Bhagavad-gītā. He is described in a different way in the next verse. The mahātmā is always engaged in different activities of devotional service, as described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing and chanting about Viṣṇu, not a demigod or human being. That is devotion: śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ and smaraṇam, remembering Him. Such a mahātmā has firm determination to achieve at the ultimate end the association of the Supreme Lord in any one of the five transcendental rasas. To achieve that success, he engages all activities – mental, bodily and vocal, everything – in the service of the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. That is called full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

In devotional service there are certain activities which are called determined, such as fasting on certain days, like the eleventh day of the moon, Ekādaśī, and on the appearance day of the Lord. All these rules and regulations are offered by the great ācāryas for those who are actually interested in getting admission into the association of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental world. The mahātmās, great souls, strictly observe all these rules and regulations, and therefore they are sure to achieve the desired result.

As described in the second verse of this chapter, not only is this devotional service easy, but it can be performed in a happy mood. One does not need to undergo any severe penance and austerity. He can live this life in devotional service, guided by an expert spiritual master, and in any position, either as a householder or a sannyāsī or a brahmacārī; in any position and anywhere in the world, he can perform this devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus become actually mahātmā, a great soul.

COMMENT

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. Yes.

Devotee: Thank you so much for your wonderful association, Maharaja. Always this question is still last fifteen years as I have been introduced to ISKCON since then, but till now that that one question is not I have not found the satisfactory answer. Also, spiritually, internally, I know when I speak with the devotees, I get it in that issue, but always I feel like in Bhāgavatam also it is mentioned about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and he is an incarnation of Krishna. Why many, in fact, the majority in Bharat right now, no one knows about that. No one, many of them, even in fact, we have a very devout family right from childhood, but still no one told us that Mahaprabhu is an incarnation of Krishna. Many other states also, whenever I speak to them, now also, we don’t know who he is. So if Krishna is an incarnation of Krishna and everyone knows Krishna, everyone believes in Krishna, but still no one is considering Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as an incarnation of Krishna. Sorry for my ignorance, but can you please explain why this is not known? Is this a līlā of Krishna, no one else knows about this other than Gaudiyas and very few others? No one else knows about that. Why don’t they know?

Giriraj Swami: They don’t know because they are ignorant. Maybe we could say we haven’t done enough preaching so that more people do know that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances at your lotus feet. My question is, I think I am very fallen soul, I don’t understand much, but in this verse, the Lord says that He sent the generations of men to this world and then He said, “Be thou happy by this yajña.” Because we are sent by the Lord to this world, why do we have the propensities to not be devoted to the yajña, for the devotional service of the Lord? We are more attracted by maya or the modern-day behaviors. We are more attracted, and it takes a lot of effort from our side to be able to follow devotional service. So why do we have stronger propensities to fall for maya than to be a devotee?

Giriraj Swami: We are in the kingdom of maya, and maya is very strong. As Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā, daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā. This material energy consisting of the modes of nature is very difficult to overcome; mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te, but if we surrender to Krishna, he will protect us from maya. But we are in the kingdom of maya, so we shouldn’t be surprised if we are being called by maya. As Srila Prabhupada said, maya always calls us: “Come on, enjoy me. Come on.” But if we don’t heed the call of maya, then eventually she will give up and she will stop calling.

Devotee: This is in context of the first question. Thank you so much for your association, for your lessons, guru Maharaja. Does it have anything to do with Lord Chaitanya not being a revealed incarnation versus, I think, he is covered?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says, Channa-avatar. It means covered.

Devotee: That is why most of India doesn’t know. Like, we study about him in history books in middle school, but only as a medieval saint, one amongst many.

Giriraj Swami: Yes, that is how most people in India regard him. They don’t know the actual truth of his incarnation.

Devotee: Maharaja, we understand Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the most merciful incarnation in the age of Kali, and what he gives also is the most powerful way to go back home or to realize love for Krishna. So why is it a hidden incarnation? Why is Mahaprabhu’s incarnation a hidden incarnation? What was the need for this?

Giriraj Swami: He is Krishna, but in the role of a devotee and in the mood of a devotee, specifically Srimati Radharani. And he is hidden, one reason is that if he wasn’t hidden, there would be many imitation false incarnations. Yes, it is better that he is hidden, and only the devotees who are receiving knowledge through paramparā and understanding the actual identity. Srila Prabhupada give the example that there was a man who could imitate the barking of dogs. So he would hold programs, and people would pay money and buy tickets to hear him imitate the barking of dogs. And the real dogs are on the street barking, but nobody cares for the real dogs barking; they only want to hear the human being imitate the barking. So, yes, saying that the real God is there, but some people, they don’t want the real God; they want the imitation.

Devotee: An extension of that question, taking it a little bit further from Mahaprabhu, for example, now let us talk about Krishna. Krishna as we know is God, and now with ISKCON’s mercy, the name and Krishna as a God are being spread. But why in the world and for human beings is there this threat and trend that in the Middle East part they don’t treat Krishna as a God? If you believe in Krishna, they say if you don’t believe in Allah, you should be beheaded. In the European part or the western part, it was said like if you don’t believe in Jesus, you go to hell. So openly they say that, but why are they not considering Krishna then as a God? If Krishna has that power, for example, they will say, “We would have known if Krishna is a God.” How should we look at that?

Giriraj Swami: Well, again, if they are ignorant, they may not know that Krishna is God, but that is not Krishna’s fault; that is their fault. Maybe it is our fault. We haven’t distributed enough books.

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja, I have this question. So somebody who is now getting started in devotional service, how do they know that they are making progress? What are the symptoms that they should be looking for? And just adding to that, when you are chanting, how do we make sure that our chanting does not become mechanical? Because the mind has a tendency to just stray, and sometimes even after fighting with your mind, trying to bring it back, it just doesn’t work. So what should a practicing individual do to make sure that they are on the right path and they can test and see the results?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, there is a nice verse in the Eleventh Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt. It gives the example that if someone is hungry and he is eating, he becomes detached from the desire to eat more, he becomes nourished, and he becomes satisfied. So these are indications that one is getting the benefit of performing devotional service, bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt. Srila Prabhupada says, if you are hungry and you are eating, you don’t need to take a certificate from someone that you are satisfied; you know you are satisfied. And as far as japa, of course, it is good early in the morning during the brāhma-muhūrta period, which begins an hour and thirty-two minutes before sunrise, and chant in front of Tulsi as Haridasa Thakura did. Chant with devotees if you have the opportunity to chant with other devotees or sincere and serious chanters. There are many good books to help with our japa. There is one book called Japa by His Grace Bhurijana dasa. Reading those books can help you. As Bhurijana Prabhu says, the mind will always tell us that there are more important things to do than chant Hare Krishna, but we should listen to the mind when it is time to chant. So yes, those books can help, and there are prayers. Srila Prabhupada writes in one purport that there are prayers that one can offer to the holy name to become free from offenses. Following that purport, and the different prayers that are mentioned in the purport, I compiled all those prayers. That will help you be free from offenses.

Give me your email address, and I can send you those. Any other questions or comments?

Devotee: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja. When we talk about when we are reading through the purport, this yajña is the process of living comfortably in this material world without anxiety and going back to Godhead after this life. But sometimes this saṅkīrtana-yajña that we are performing, not sure why, but it sometimes becomes a cause of anxiety. How do we deal with such a mindset? How do we purify ourselves from such a situation?

Giriraj Swami: Saṅkīrtana-yajña, the cause of anxiety?

Devotee: Probably, there are a lot of rounds, is one of the examples.

Giriraj Swami: Well, it is good if you can get up and chant as many rounds as possible in the early morning. If you are in anxiety about finishing your rounds, that is a good anxiety. You should finish your rounds, but if you finish them early, then you won’t have that anxiety during the day.

Any other questions or comments? Okay, so what is next? Thank you very much again.

Host: Once again, thank you so much for sharing. I think our next is a video. So, as I mentioned in the beginning, several books have been written. We have a wonderful video about guru Maharaja’s books. Let us enjoy that, and I would again highly encourage everybody to buy as many books as possible and spread this message to your entire family, friends, and all your other family members. Thank you.

[Video played]

Host: Hare Krishna everybody, it is grateful that Maharaja is with us today. So whatever copies you are going to buy, Maharaja is going to personally sign all those copies. Just wanted to let everybody know that. So with that, I think we can conclude and have a wonderful prasādam; Ekādaśī prasādam is here. So we can have that. Thank you so much.