19810623 A Good Image is Essential in Preaching

The following class is given by His.Holiness.Jayapatākā svāmī Guru Mahārāja, on 23rd June 1981, in Bangkok , Thailand. The class is Part-1.

Guru Mahārāja:

nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāyabhūtale

śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine

namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe

nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
 Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam

paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ

śrī caitanya iśvaram

Mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu comes down just like a rain cloud throwing water everywhere without discrimination. The water of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu mercy is there for everyone. Just like the rain may rain on the road, on the street, side and the forest, on the paddy field,on the house...all different places; even it may rain on the ocean. Chaitanya Mahāprabhu mercy is, been given freely, you see....to anyone who wants it.

The qualification for receiving that mercy is simply that one should want it very deeply ; but of course there are many who are unfortunate that even though that mercy is been offered, they don't take it. Such an opportunity, such a mercy, such a facility is so rare-- it only comes once in millions and millions of years. Like anything else normally one has to work very hard to get also liberation but by the mercy of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu there is no hard work at all practically speaking in becoming  KṛṣṇaConscious. It is simply a festival. It is a daily festival: singing, dancing, feasting....you see; life filled with color, festivities... Where is the difficulty? Here people have become so selfish, so bodily attached that they neglect this opportunity. Practically one can dance his way back to Godhead. And if they miss this chance, again coming back in the cycle of reincarnation, it'll take millions of births . Once Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s movement is finished from this world, it's not so easy to get liberation. It's very difficult.

There was a devotee who was worshiping Varaha from long time, ordinarily its very difficult to see Varaha, but because he was worshiping Varaha in Navadvīpa, Varaha the boar avatar appeared to him and revealed that in Navadvīpa ,His foot was placed when He killed Hiranyaksha, the demon, and that the place where he was worshiping was the eternal place of Varaha in Navadvīpa dham. That Lord Chaitanya,Kṛṣṇa, Their places of pastimes are not in this world although they are on the map. Actually they are part of the spiritual sky manifest here just to deliver the fallen souls. The devotees can go there and take shelter of the dham even for a few days or even for a moment and that can help one unlimitedly in advancing in spiritual life, in giving spontaneous devotion. But for those who are not able to live in the dham all the time, one can always be in the association of Chaitanya Mahāprabhu by trying to carry out His orders by spreading His vani, His message.

Haridas Thakur was asked, "What type of chanting is more effective, the silent chanting to oneself or the loud chanting?" He said, “Definitely, the loud chanting is hundred times more beneficial.” The devotee asked: "Could you explain?" And he said “Yes, because by loud chanting, so many creepers,so many animals,birds and others..they are hearing that sound, therefore they are also getting the spiritual benefit; for that  Kṛṣṇais gratified , He is grateful and His being pleased on the devotee destroys so many offenses.

Someone may be chanting, but there are so many offenses thinking that the Holy Name is imagination or thinking that it is an exaggeration or not respecting the guru or the shastras properly, not surrendering to guru,not being attentive... just like this, so many offenses are there. So therefore the chanting, although it has the effect even one Holy Name can destroy all types of impediments due to our not fully throwing ourselves into the chanting, due to some offenses, the full Name is not rising like the full sun in our heart, but just a little light is coming; you see. So by loudly chanting that destroys so many offenses, that chanting is hundred times more powerful.

Similarly we can easily understand that when we are preaching the vani of Lord Chaitanya which is the reason why loud chanting is going into other living entities. So when we are giving other living entities this message, when we are somehow or another encouraging them to come and take some prasādam, to chant, then that is very pleasing to Lord Chaitanya and Kṛṣṇa. Therefore that service is destroying so many offenses, making our chanting more effective, making us advanced more in  Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, you see....Srila Prabhupada said, “That is a wonderful thing about being a householder is that very informally you can invite friends and people to come into the house and then in an informal basis, you can say well let's chant Hare  Kṛṣṇa and take some prasādam ah...and prepare nice prasādam, offer to the deity, to the spiritual master and to the deity and then give the prasādam to the guest and in this way in a very nice setting one can try to convince that person to personally that we are having such a nice time in  Kṛṣṇa Consciousness here in our house , you should also make your house  Kṛṣṇa Conscious ashrama. Make your house a gṛhastha ashrama.

In this way it is a very nice form of preaching,you see. Just like in the business world if you want to get a sale what do you do? You take the person out to lunch, you take him home and you give him a nice reception and meal and informal talk, and then after the mood is set, then you hit him up for the deal, "All right we need 5000 tractors for..." whatever you know. Isn’t that the way it works? Of course nowadays, they go into immoral acts. But we are not interested in that type of thing.

We give our hospitality , this is a good opportunity to give hospitality, make a person feel nice , then also we have our contract. We want them to become contracted at the feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa through His devotees. We want that these ah...people should take up serving Kṛṣṇa and make their life perfect. And we know by that Kṛṣṇa is especially pleased ; even more so than if we were to just chant ourselves no doubt He is also pleased but if we can get anyone also take up this devotional service, then we also get credit for their devotional service,you see. That is the difference, you see. Instructing and preaching as much as one can encourage others to take part in  Kṛṣṇa Consciousness so the person who is preaching also gets the benefit for that. Only if he misrepresents  Kṛṣṇa is he guilty of some offense. Afterward after preaching to the person on his account commits some offense or falls down that original preacher is not at all responsible. He is not responsible that the person did not follow later on. He did his best , he gave the message purely. It's upto that person to follow or not , you see. While on the initiating spiritual master he has got ah....very difficult; we can see that how their situation is much different because when they give initiation, then they are responsible , you see.

Later on if the person decides that “Well, no, I don't want to continue chanting or falls down, the reaction and responsibility also comes back on the initiating guru, you see. Therefore they may get sick or they may have to suffer in so many ways, take another birth so many problems are there, you see. That's why it's not recommended in this age to take too many disciples, you see. The reason I am bringing up is only because we can see that’s how by the preachers they should feel very encouraged. As many people they can bring closer to  Kṛṣṇa by simply giving their pure message they are getting the...without any obligation, they are getting pure mercy , because to whatever extent that person is also serving Kṛṣṇa, He is keeping track that "O ,because this devotee has distributed the book or he preached for he encouraged that person,that person is also chanting. " so that devotee gets credit for all that devotional service and if later on the person stops there is also no responsibility, you see. Unless it's due to his giving some type of false instruction. So, this is a very good opportunity . Here you have all facilities: nice cars , nice houses, everything is there, nice family.

In Malaysia there is not too much trouble for economics. In India, a lot of the people are struggling to make the ends meet. Of course, the world must always struggle to make ends meet but materially speaking, the standard is definitely more advanced by the modern analysis, as far as having houses,cars and ready cash, and all these things. So there is no real problem.

People especially those who know about this culture why they should be so foolish? They can see the whole world just like last night the man was asking that we are very attached to money nowadays. They can see the whole world is running after money but who is satisfied? They can see that the country is... Just like in Atlanta... I was there and they were saying that the police were underpaid and were getting on 20,000 dollars a year, American dollars which are about 45,000 Malaysian dollars a year which is not like it's nothing. I mean it's not a bad salary ; but they are saying that they are underpaid and that is one city which has the highest crime rate and there was a board so many 100,000 breaking and entering, so many tens of thousands of murders, so many... 16,000 murders,50,000 rapes, so just a one whole list and you saw just everything was either over 10,000 and some were 100,000 crimes for a population of only 4-5 million. That means that per capita there was a 1 crime for every 5 people. So the police is saying, "we can't do anything", so the people now they are installing in their houses like in India those bars on the window (Guru  Mahārāja laughs). But what can they do?. So this is what's happening is that because of lack of  Kṛṣṇa Consciousness lack of God consciousness, in spite of having so much money, so much material facility its becoming more and more like a jungle because the people are becoming more animalistic. Just like when one is in the jungle one always has to have one weapon, because anytime some wild boar, some tiger, some bear, wild jackal something...snake may attack. Jungle means danger at every step. So practically, it's safer to be in the jungle than to be in these big cities .

I was in St. Louis and I asked, “Why, the streets are empty at 6'oclock at night? There's no people."

They said, "No one goes out at 6 o'clock at night."

I said, "But it's still light, it's not even dark."

They said "No, as soon as the office is closed, everybody goes home. Because after the office hours if you are downtown then you can be attacked by gangs of arms ah...these hooligans, robbers ; and if you are not attacked by the robbers who are wandering around, drunken and taking intoxication, then you will be picked up by police that, “Why you are around at this time, you must yourself be an armed robber'(Guru Mahārāja laughs).Sorry... Therefore nobody, they don't stay out; as soon work is over, they all go home and they stay in their house, watch T.V. and lock the door." So where is the question of modern society? They are having money, they are having everything; but they are living in complete fear. That means jungle. So money is not the solution. We should tell the people. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we don't throw away your money. No, but don't think that money is your solution. You have money, that's your mercy.  Kṛṣṇa has given that mercy to you. Now make your life  Kṛṣṇa conscious. This life you may have some(money). What about your next life? Don't think that in this life that simply you have money, you'll forget about the next life. Next life, you can be in big trouble, and this life is also going from bad to worse. Make the house, build it on the strong foundation, build it on the basis of  Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, make other people Kṛṣṇa Conscious,be happy, make others happy. This is the secret of success.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
 Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

 Take the good from the filthy place. Why take a good-bad, everything mixed up. Here in these developing nations, they can pick the good things, and leave all the bad things. Take whatever is good from the technology or such anything good exists and also keep the good of the culture. The good of the vedic culture, the good of our ah... Kṛṣṇa Conscious culture. Take the best of everything and make one's life perfect. This is our humble request. We are simply traveling beggars, requesting the people to make themselves perfect and make others perfect. Thank you very much.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa!

One Devotee :Jaya Om Vishnupada Paramahamsa Parivrajkacarya Astottara-sata Sri Srimad Jayapataka Swami Maharaj Srila Acaryapada ki Jaya! Srila Acaryapada ki Jaya! Srila Acaryapada ki Jaya!

Devotees : Jai!

Proofread by: Revathi Mtji on 01/10/2020.