19801128 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.23

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on November 28, 1980. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 2, Chapter 9, Text 23.

Purport: The penance by which one can see the Personality of Godhead eye to eye (face to face) is to be understood as devotional service to the Lord and nothing else because only by discharging devotional service in transcendental love can one approach the Lord. Such penance is the internal potency of the Lord and is nondifferent from Him. Such acts of internal potency are exhibited by nonattachment for material enjoyment. The living entities are encaged in the conditions of material bondage because of their propensity for overlordship. But by engagement in the devotional service of the Lord one becomes detached from this enjoying spirit. The devotees automatically become detached from worldly enjoyment, and this detachment is the result of perfect knowledge. Therefore the penance of devotional service includes knowledge and detachment, and that is the manifestation of the transcendental potency.

One cannot enjoy material, illusory prosperity if he desires to return home, back to Godhead. One who has no information of the transcendental bliss in the association of the Lord foolishly desires to enjoy this temporary material happiness. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that if someone sincerely wants to see the Lord and at the same time wants to enjoy this material world, he is considered to be a fool only. One who wants to remain here in the material world for material enjoyment has no business entering into the eternal kingdom of God. The Lord favors such a foolish devotee by snatching all that he may possess in the material world. If such a foolish devotee of the Lord tries to recoup his position, then the merciful Lord again snatches away all that he may have possessed. By such repeated failures in material prosperity he becomes very unpopular with his family members and friends. In the material world the family members and friends honor persons who are very successful in accumulating wealth by any means. The foolish devotee of the Lord is thus put into forcible penance by the grace of the Lord, and at the end the devotee becomes perfectly happy, being engaged in the service of the Lord. Therefore penance in devotional service of the Lord, either by voluntary submission or by being forced by the Lord, is necessary for attaining perfection, and thus such penance is the internal potency of the Lord.

One cannot, however, be engaged in the penance of devotional service without being completely free from all sins. As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, only a person who is completely free from all reactions of sins can engage himself in the worship of the Lord. Brahmājī was sinless, and therefore he faithfully discharged the advice of the Lord, “tapa, tapa,” and the Lord, being satisfied with him, awarded him the desired result. Therefore only love and penance combined can please the Lord, and thus one is able to attain His complete mercy. He directs the sinless, and the sinless devotee attains the highest perfection of life.

Thus, end the purport of text 23 by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Translation: O sinless Brahmā, you may know from Me that it was I who first ordered you to undergo penance when you were perplexed in your duty. Such penance is My heart and soul, and therefore penance and I are nondifferent.

Jayapatākā Swami: Continuation of the discourses between Lord Viṣṇu and Lord Brahmā. That, here we understand that penance in the devotional service of the Lord, penance for attaining the Lord, is not different from the Lord. Devotional service is perfect because the means is the same as the end. The means is devotional service, and the end is more devotional service.

A devotee performs service to Kṛṣṇa. What is the goal, what is his desire, that he can get the opportunity to perform more service to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So, the means and the end is the same. Similarly, the penance of devotional service is also non-different from the Lord. That means that the penance of performing devotional service to obtain the Lord and the Lord is non-different.

When one is perfectly fixed in devotional service, it is to be understood that he has already achieved Kṛṣṇa. That Kṛṣṇa has fixed Himself up in the heart of that devotee and the devotee is already under His shelter. Sometimes people may think that we should perform devotional service, at the same time enjoy material life. In English there is a common saying that you want your cake, and you want to eat it too. That they want to have the shelter and the prestige and the satisfaction of being a devotee, at the same time they want to enjoy material sense gratification, you see (clears throat). But here this is very firmly established, this is not possible. To whatever extent one is still hankering or clinging to material objects as a goal of success or as an object of satisfaction, to that extent one is excluded from devotional service.

The sign of pure devotional service is the complete absence of material sense gratificatory desires or activities. Just like you put on a scale, depending on how much weight is put on the either side of the scale, the one side will go up and the other side will go down. So, our consciousness is hundred percent. So, depending on how much we fill it with Kṛṣṇa, that’s how much empties out from māyā. So, therefore it’s very easy to see how much a person is fixed in devotional service by how much a person is fixed in māyā. Just so we can judge ourselves, how we are detached from material desire, material sense gratification. The more that we are feeling detached, that is success. The more that we are still feeling attached, that means we have to become more determined to fix ourselves in devotional service. We don’t have to negatively try to avoid, you see, material things in a, in an unnatural sense. Actually, by positively engaging all our senses in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that is automatically performed.

Of course, there are some principle things which we must avoid, namely, meat eating, illicit sex, gambling and intoxication. These things we should avoid very strictly. But practically if someone is performing the positive devotional service, automatically, you see, there will be no time or inclination for these activities. We only take kṛṣṇa-prasāda, we don’t take anything that is not offered to Kṛṣṇa. So how can you offer any intoxication to Kṛṣṇa? He will not accept. It is not an authorized offering. In this way, by positively performing devotional service, even then is very difficult to break the regulative principles. Only this can happen when one keeps bad association, and when one loses sight, what is the goal, you see. Therefore, we should take a special instruction from this śloka that devotional service and material enjoyment do not go together.

We have to fix our mind on one or the other. That there is a penance that we must perform. That penance means that we have to avoid material enjoyment. You see. However nice it may appear at the moment, we understand that this is viṣa; this is poison. Jāniyā śuniyā viṣa khāiṅu – knowingly we have taken poison. This was the prayer of our previous ācāryas. Knowingly we have taken poison. What is that poison? That is the material enjoyment. So, the penance of devotional service is there. That means that we can only feast on kṛṣṇa-prasāda, we can only chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, only dance for Kṛṣṇa, only serve Kṛṣṇa. That is the penance.

We have to follow the instructions of our spiritual master. If our spiritual master tells us something which we think is very nice, that’s all right, we still have to follow. If we think it is not very nice, then we have to follow. You see, that is the penance. Maybe that our spiritual master instructs us to go someplace which we think is difficult to remain at, but if whimsically we go somewhere else that we think is more suitable, then that will not be beneficial for our spiritual advancement. You see. Wherever the spiritual master directs us to go, that is our residence, that is our home. Guru-datta-deśa. And wherever we go because of our own concoction, you see, that is dangerous; that is sense gratification. So devotional service means that we avoid sense gratification.

Rūpa, Sanātana Gosvāmī, they wrote one prayer that, “Don’t look (Rūpa Gosvāmī), Don’t look at Govinda. (the Nectar of Devotion you will find) Because Govinda is standing by the side of the Yamunā river with His smiling face, and His head has decorated, and His head, beautiful face, moon-like face decorated with turban, multi-colored turban and the peacock feather and the sweet sound of the flute being blown by His nectar-like lips. Don’t look at this Govinda, if you want to maintain your relationship with friend, family and society, as He will steal away your heart.”

So of course, Rūpa Gosvāmī was giving an instruction in reverse. That if you want to fix yourself in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means you must give up friend, family and society attachment. And you should know that by rendering devotional service, that these things are all going to disappear. The two do not go together. Either you are Kṛṣṇa conscious, or you are māyā conscious.

Māyā means friends, family, society; means gossiping. Even in our society of devotees we should be careful not to simply relate with each other on a material friendship. What is material friendship? I please your senses, you please mine. That is material friendship. That means, we pair, rub each other on the back or we give each other some material sense gratification, you see, sit down, shoot the bull, gossip for a while, encourage the other person in māyā, no, that is not real friend, that is material friend.

Real friendship on spiritual platform means that we discuss Kṛṣṇa, we discuss how to improve our service to Kṛṣṇa. When the other person starts to discuss māyā, then we say, “We don’t want to hear māyā. We want to discuss Kṛṣṇa.” Or by some means or other we bring around again the conversation to Kṛṣṇa. That is the system, you see, of actual friendship. Actual friendship means, friendship to Kṛṣṇa. Material friendship, society, family, they are simply based upon the mutual cooperation of sense gratification.

Big philanthropist, servant of mankind, slaughter all the cows and all the chickens, so that mankind can be fed nicely. What is the result? The whole mankind is thrown into hell. War, pestilence, earthquake, because of the, you see, eating of so many living entities, murdered bodies. Therefore, they have to accept so many reactions. So, all these so-called society, friendship and family attachments are all illusion, because they are all temporary and based upon artificial standards. So, when one fixes his mind in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he shouldn’t be in illusion that this friendship, family and society has any value to him.

There may be some social interchange, there may be some social custom, we may be friendly to people on that basis. But actually, in our heart we are not bewildered. We don’t get into it, with that taste anymore. We understand that these things are actually the manifestations of māyā, illusion. That by becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious, we are actually entering into our real friendship, our real society, our real family – the family of devotees, the society of devotees, the friendship of Kṛṣṇa and His devotees. You see, that is an eternal society, not this temporary society.

We see that there is also the society of the monkeys. Here, near Paśupatinātha temple, we see so many monkeys. They are big family, big bull monkeys, I don’t know you call them bull monkeys or what you call. And so many female monkeys and baby monkeys going around. So, they have a nice society. But their society is based on mutual, if you go and attack one monkey all the monkeys will come and gang up on you, you see. They have mutual cooperation. It’s a natural thing. So, this idea that everything for humankind, why not everything for monkey kind? Monkeys have the same idea. If they, one monkey gets some food, then he will, you see, call all the others, all come and take. You see, everyone, all the food for the monkeys, you see. Of course, first he will take his full and then call everyone else. So big philanthropists, you see, the same thing.

Whether monkey consciousness, or bird consciousness or human consciousness, it is all based on our temporary, artificial understanding. So, what is Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means we see everything in relation to Kṛṣṇa. We are seeing everything in relation to Kṛṣṇa and we are doing what Kṛṣṇa wants. That benefits not only humans, but monkeys, birds, plants, everyone. Because Kṛṣṇa is everyone’s friend, He is the source of everything. He is sadha… paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam [BS 5.1] - the cause of all causes. You see.

Therefore, by satisfying Kṛṣṇa, everyone is satisfied. You know the story how Draupadī, she gave Kṛṣṇa one morsel of vegetable from her pot, and by Kṛṣṇa taking, all the disciples and Durvāsā Muni were fully filled up, they could no longer think about eating, so they went away and in this way the Pāṇḍavas were saved. So Kṛṣṇa, if we satisfy Kṛṣṇa, everyone is satisfied. But all this idea, monkey service or human service without trying to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, that will never satisfy, that will never satisfy. Especially, the more the people become less God conscious, the more ungrateful they become. At least the person is, society is God conscious, should give some prasādam, give something out, people always say, oh, they feel very satisfied over a small thing, you see. But you see that in big countries, without God consciousness, even a government gives out pay toll, relief, social security, whatever, doesn’t matter, you see, they are still dissatisfied, still frustrated because they have artificial perception, artificial standards. So as a result, mankind is becoming lower than animal kind, you see. They are just becoming more and more absorbed in kāma, krodha, lobha, mada, mātsarya, moha - lust, anger, greed, envy, intoxication and illusion.

This is the difficulty with the present day. People, as they become more intoxicated and illusioned, they become more bewildered. In this way, a vicious circle is taking the people faster and faster to a degraded position. So, the only solution to stop all this kaler doṣa-nidhe rājann asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ, the only one, you see, thing in this ocean of faults is revealed by Śukadeva is Kṛṣṇa. you see. asti hy eko mahān guṇaḥ kīrtanād eva kṛṣṇasya mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṁ vrajet. Kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtana. People begin to chant harināma-saṅkīrtana. Take kṛṣṇa-prasādam. Then they get freed from all these contaminations of the modes of nature and they go, return back to the original spiritual abode of the Lord, back to their original spiritual consciousness.

So, the people of India and Nepal of course are very clever and they know that Kṛṣṇa means that, “No māyā.” They know that if you perform Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that means giving up family attachment. They know these things.

They have seen all the great devotees of Rāmacandra, Kṛṣṇa, they give up everything. So, they are already thinking that well, therefore we don’t want to get too much into that because we have to give up everything possibly. They don’t think that, why people are giving up? That maybe they got something better. They are thinking that, “I got something already I am attached to, I like it. That means I have already got my lot here. If I, even if I just chant, you know, and I get attached, then I may, what will be my present situation? I will be very disturbed.”

They don’t think, they don’t have intelligence. They are stolen by māyā like ghostly haunted persons. “That maybe I chant, and I will taste something more relish able. I will experience something nicer.” No, they are already thinking, “I know about dharma, I know about this bhakti. You get into bhakti, you become completely mad after Kṛṣṇa and all your material thing goes haywire. So, I don’t want to get into this. I know what it is all about.” You see, this is their distorted, perverted intelligence. Completely stolen by māyā. They don’t think, that why are all these people chanting? Why they chant, why they get mad after Kṛṣṇa? You see, not because they go crazy. Because they get real intelligence, and they get a real taste. What is the nectar of life?

You see, in this way they are bewildered. See, what is needed is that they need the association of pure devotees, that is the only thing that is lacking. If they get association with pure devotees of Kṛṣṇa, that will change their heart, you see. You see, they have heard Hare Kṛṣṇa chanted by so many impure devotees and that has not changed their heart. Now we need pure devotees.

Pure devotees who follow the guru-paramparā, no illicit sex, no gambling, no meat eating, no intoxication, chanting their rounds prescribed number of times every day, those are pure devotees. You see, they are chanting to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. By doing that, under the instructions of the previous ācāryas, their chanting will have effect. So, this is what is required. We need that each devotee become very determined and very fixed up in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so that by their association, that will change the hearts of other people, you see.

The people have to be won over by friendship, by nice reciprocation, and by gentle persuasion, by any means, they have to be somehow or another, convinced to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. You see. At each time and place there is a different situation. So here the people already have an idea that, you know, “If we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we are going to give up all so many material attachments.” They are not thinking, that giving up, “Why I have to give up? ” You see, they don’t fully use their brain. It doesn’t, you know, quite make any sense of course, you know. But that’s because they do not have the association of devotees.

They are just seeing externally well if I chant – just like my brother, he came and visited me about ten years ago, in Montreal about thirteen, fourteen years ago in Montreal temple and then he was, I was giving him daily kṛṣṇa-prasādam. So, he was taking the kṛṣṇa-prasādam and he is about six seven years younger than I was. And at that time, he was, he was only in high school or something. And he said that, “This prasāda and this living, living in this place with you, that there is something that is affecting my mind. I mean, if I continue to eat this food, I will never be able to eat meat again and I don’t know, how I will be able to stay with my family and I am only a young boy and I am still in high school. So, I better go immediately otherwise if I stay any longer then I’m going to become completely, I’m gonna… I won’t be able to go back home. I can already see some changes happening.” (laughter)

You see, this is the position that due to attachment, they are like ghostly haunted people, their brain is, you see, stolen away, like a person who is addicted by something. “No, no I better…” They don’t see that the thing is killing them. But they are only seeing that, “If I get association with Kṛṣṇa, that is going to change me. In fact, I can already feel some change coming, so I better stay away.” You see.

Of course, that is the time, Prabhupāda said, “When someone comes up to the kīrtana and you chant and they cover their ears, you pull away their hand and Hare Kṛṣṇa (chant loudly) in their ears. You see, that’s the time you have to give them some more, you see, because they are only a little bit away, but by illusion somehow, they are trying to avoid. So somehow or another, you see, at that stage we have to keep them, then you see, a little further, then they will be completely attached to Kṛṣṇa. But this is the situation that the people of India and Nepal... see, they are already attached to Kṛṣṇa, why they keep away, that is due to also their very closeness to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

They know, they feel, just a little bit of association with Kṛṣṇa, already it starts to change something in their heart. So, they get afraid that, “If I go on chanting, if I go on associating, what is going to happen? Then my family, my business?” They don’t think, “Let me go to guru and discuss these things.” Because actually nothing needs to be disturbed, you see. But they get all upset, because as soon as they get a little association with some devotee, then immediately their hearts start to feel something, they all get frightened that, “If I continue to associate, then somehow this is going to disturb my material situation.”

They don’t think that “Oh that, this is awakening a whole spiritual thing.” This is due to their conditioning. So that’s why, you see, what we see as a negative thing is actually the symptom of their proximity to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So somehow or another, they have to be, you see, by hook or by crook, we have to keep them, to take little prasāda, to give nice things, so that they feel at ease and think, “Oh this is very nice, I can come.” then they, once they can get over that obstacle, then they can make very quick advancement.

Western people, they don’t, they chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, immediately they don’t understand, you know, what’s going on, they don’t know all these implications, neither they know exactly what’s happening, you see,little bit slow in that way. By the time that they get, you know, already a taste for devotional service, it is too late. It’s too late. And also, they don’t have so many attachments, you know, family is not so… They have other kind of attachment, gross sense gratification, debauchery, intoxication and all that. But like family attachments, attachment of the material society, nation, these things are not so deeply ingrained as the one might think. Because of so many disturbances in the family due to lack of any kind of discipline, everything is so deceitful.

Family means always fighting and always this and that, so, somehow or another, people have to be given that taste for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The taste if they get it, then everything changes. So, this is our duty, we have to be pure. Then we can give people the taste. If we are not pure we won’t get the taste. If we are pure, we are getting the taste, we can give others the taste. Otherwise, you can have someone who is impure, he can know so much, he can preach and speak so many things, but no one will be convinced by that. It won’t touch their hearts.

In order to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one must be pure. That, if one is pure, what is that? Purity doesn’t mean so much purity, at least following the principles and trying to do what he is doing to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa. You see, then that will penetrate the heart, because Kṛṣṇa dharma will reside in the heart. The truth of what is being spoken will penetrate the covering of Kkali-yuga. So that is the penance. That one tolerates, you see, he tolerates the disturbances of the material energy and sticks to the devotional principles, that much penance is there. It is not very difficult. It is not very difficult at all. But whatever difficulty is there, you see, that is the penance. Also, for some, you may say that very easy, you see. It is not very easy, if one is unintelligent. If one is not very intelligent, then it is not easy. But if one is intelligent, what is the difficulty? You can see, there is no other way. This is the answer.