19850204 The Mood of Kṣetra Sannayāsī

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swāmī Mahārāja on February 4th,1985, in śrīDhāma Māyāpur.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

Paramānanda-mādhavam

 śrī caitnaya Isvaram.

 One, I can’t remember exactly who said it, maybe it was Nitāichand Mahārāja, someone said something about being a Kṣetra sannyāsī, so you know a Kṣetra sannyāsīn means one should never leave the holy Dhāma, and one has to stay within that Kṣetra. So in this regard, Prabhupāda had sometimes sent me out to preach, I was wondering how this word would be accurate, because everything which the sannyāsī say, and the devotee say is always accurate, and then I remember how śrīla Prabhupāda said that if you can’t physically live in a place sometimes, but mentally you should live there, and when I am in Māyāpur those who have been with me when I am overseas or when I am in Māyāpur, they noticed that when I am in Māyāpur, I tell less stories about Lord Caitanya ,than when I am outside of Māyāpur. Because when I am in Māyāpur, then I am not feeling so much separation from Lord Caitanya, so then I tell other instructions. When I am outside of Māyāpur, to try to maintain my connection with the holy Dhāma, then I am more inclined to always tell stories about Lord Caitanya, which for a moment gives me some relief from not being in the holy Dhāma. But there was one other aspect about the Kṣetra sannyās, that I was thinking about, that Prabhupāda has given us the Kṣetra of ISCKON, the International Society For Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. And that certainly we want to remain within ISCKON always, and never go outside ISCKON, and so in this sense certainly there are... we should all take up this mood of Kṣetra sannyās, that we don’t want to leave the family of ISKCON, we want to stay within this Kṣetra, this holy abode created by śrīla Prabhupāda, and I think that everyone will agree that in that aspect we should all be Kṣetra sannyāsīs. The house that śrīla Prabhupāda has constructed, was, is and will be always a very intimate connection, not only with ah... śrīla Prabhupāda and all the devotees, but also with our previous ācāryas, like His Divine Grace śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākur, before...because śrīla Prabhupāda said there is a need created or constructed or formed, the International Society For Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, was to satisfy the specific expressed desires of the previous ācāryas. So therefore, this ISKCON is the embodiment of the fulfilment of the previous ācāryas desires, just as we pray to Rūpa GoSwāmī

śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale,

that Rūpa GoSwāmī is glorified because He has taken śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ, the desire, the dream of Lord Caitanya, sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale, , and He is established that, given it a form, given it a practical implementation in the universe, so in this material world. So, similarly śrīla Prabhupāda, has taken śrīla Rūpa GoSwāmī’s, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura,  Gour Kishore Bābājīs bhakti, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākurs desires. They are expressed aspirations for having Kṛṣṇa conscious spread everywhere, and He has given it a formal shape, He has moulded it, designed it and even troubleshooted and refined it’s ah.... functioning through the years into the, as Bhakti... His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Mahārāja expressed his great spiritual family, the International Society For Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So everyone, whether they are directly in an ISKCON centre or whether connected through one of our nāmahaṭṭa programs, they should feel the pride, we allowed to feel pride for Kṛṣṇa, for the guru, for the vaiṣṇava’s. We shouldn’t feel personal pride, because after all anything we are able to do, is only by the mercy of guru and Kṛṣṇa. So we are allowed to feel pride in ISKCON, in the great vaiṣṇavas, that ah.... reside in ISKCON, and moreover, specially in the greatest founder ācārya, His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedānta śrīla Prabhupāda, the founder ācārya of Kṛṣṇa, and here is incomparable achievements, and of course in our previous ācārya’s, whose desires were the impetus and the moving force to inspire śrīla Prabhupāda to create the ISKCON movement of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So in this movement, our special strength is that we are dedicated to carrying out the instructions of the spiritual master and the previous spiritual masters, and therefore we are always looking to them for help, for blessings, for strength. Actually śrīla Prabhupāda once instructed that a disciple should always feel like a fool before his spiritual master, so then I took advantage of that instruction and I thought myself very proud that I was going before śrīla Prabhupāda, and than I told Him, “śrīla Prabhupāda I am a great fool.” At that time, inside I was quite proud of myself that I remembered His instructions and I was superficially humiliating myself, but seeing through my false ego, He looked at me and said, “Yes.” (laughter) So we have to not only remember the instructions of the spiritual master, not only be proud to be connected with His great disciplic succession, but we also have to guard ourselves from being conceitful or being self proud, when during some rare moment, we happen to remember their instruction and then try to do it. We should rather think that this is the lowest of my...this is the minimum, obligation I have. It’s our eternal duty to carry out the instructions of the spiritual master. It is nothing to be proud of. That is the minimum, rather we should try to carry out the instructions of the spiritual master, we can do that, well our success is guaranteed, but our aspirations should be, to not only carry out the instructions of the spiritual master, which He has directly given, but then to try to fulfil other dreams, other desires of our spiritual master and even the previous ācāryas, and ultimately of śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and of course even if we are able to do that we should still not feel proud of ourselves, but we should feel thankful if anything is able to be achieved by their mercy, has been given to enable that to happen. We should always see how the mercy, is coming down.

Now of course the devotees, they see that this individual is doing this service and of course it’s their duty to glorify the vaiṣṇava’s. That’s how Kṛṣṇa, He has competition. The vaiṣṇava’s are trying to glorify the Lord, but the Lord is trying to see that the vaiṣṇava is glorified. So the vaiṣṇava himself, never thinks that he is doing anything, [11.53-55] and the vaiṣṇavas and Lord Caitanya Kṛṣṇa, but from the external view it appears that that he is doing everything, and so he is getting the credit. This is Kṛṣṇa’s way of winning in the competition. He is giving the mercy, taking the devotee as a instrument in His own hands, doing wonderful things sometimes, but He lets the devotee take the credit, when actually He is doing everything. This is the devotee’s viewpoint, and this is the fact. So our greatest aspiration is to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Some great yogis, they want to achieve yoga siddhis, mystic powers, so that they can have the satisfaction of doing wonderful things, but this is very dangerous because after all the yoga siddhi is also a blessing of the Lord, but those yogīs think that they are doing it themselves, because they have got that technique how to manipulate material nature through yogic siddhi. The devotee doesn’t desire any independent, such independent power, the devotee wants rather that Kṛṣṇa use him as an instrument in His hand, through his spiritual master, that the guru paramparā mercy is coming down, and thus the devotee is an instrument in Kṛṣṇa’s hand to do His will. So that is the greatest desire of the devotee, remember śrīla Prabhupāda in His prayers when He reached America, He said... I don’t remember the exact words, may be  Mahārāja has memorised, that something like, “Nacho se bhave, nachabo, something like that, that you make me dance ah... in your hands just like a puppet. However you want me dance, let me dance in that way. That we want to be guided at every second by the Lord, and actually Kṛṣṇa gives us guidance. The spiritual master gives us constant help. One can realise a constant connection with Kṛṣṇa, by His mercy.

So we should reinforce that connection, by doing those things which are pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. That Kṛṣṇa said that there is nothing which makes devotee more dear to me, nor will there ever be a devotee who is dearer than the one who explains this teachings of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to my devotees. This is one of the last verses in the Bhagavad-gītā . So because all of you are in this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, that means all of you are very very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa. So therefore we have to be very careful. Even a guru should also be careful, not to offend a disciple. Of course the guru is always thinking of the welfare, the spiritual welfare of the disciple, so it somehow, that conscious be lost, that would be very dangerous, because even the disciple is considered as dear.

 In fact you will find in South India, some of our vaiṣṇava Sampradāyas have become very much influenced by the Sankarāchārya ah... method of sannyās. So when the disciple approaches the guru, and offers obeisance’s, the guru normally never responds. At best he may offer some āshirvādam. But we find that in out vaiṣṇava culture that the guru should return the obeisance offered by the disciple. So you find when the disciple is bowing down,our previous ācāryas, Prabhupāda they would always... they would also with folded hands, they would return, because in the heart of the disciple, Kṛṣṇa is there. So we are to respect the presence of Kṛṣṇa, in everyone. We never forget that Kṛṣṇa is there in every person. So the reason why bringing out these points is to just impress that how careful... if a guru has to be careful about the welfare of his disciple, who Kṛṣṇa has ah... placed in his care. What to speak of godbrother to godbrother, or spiritual cousinbrother to cousinbrother, how much more careful they have to be? Although they are equals spiritually, they may be svatirtha, equals in spiritual relationship, both of them are very dear to Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, one should be very careful not to make any offence  to any spiritual equal as well, and then you can understand how important it is to be very cautious, not to be negligent or offensive or demanding to one’s ah... spiritual superior.

 So this is the International Society For Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So that means we have to increase our awareness, our consciousness, of Kṛṣṇa. And Kṛṣṇa is never alone. He is always with the devotees, so we have to increase our consciousness, of the devotees, and all those things which are loved by Kṛṣṇa just as we say

mahā-prasāde govinde nāma-brahmaṇi vaiṣṇave sv-alpa-puṇya-vatāṁ rājan viśvāso naiva jāyate

CC Madhya 11.209

That someone is not of a small faith, if he has faith, she has faith, when we say he, we mean both always, in the Lord’s mahāprasādam, Govindā’s holy names, in the vaiṣṇava’s, in the brāhmaṇa’s, those who know the absolute truth, even they are not vaiṣṇava, they don’t know Kṛṣṇa, but if they know Brahman, the spiritual reality, they are also considered transcendentalists. They are to be respected also to be as dear to Kṛṣṇa, although the vaiṣṇava’s are more dear, because they have accepted Kṛṣṇa as their life and soul. So Kṛṣṇa also accepts them in reciprocation.

So I know that in the... my crude and inefficient ah... way of trying to carry out śrīla Prabhupāda’s orders sometimes I in my crass enthusiasm, I may sometimes step on the toes of different of my godbrothers, and cause them unnecessary inconvenience. I was told by one godbrother, who is not here today, so I won’t mention his name, that when we were just living in the grass hut here and I doing those bananas and papayas and everything, that I was very strict, that all of the fruits should first go to Kṛṣṇa before they are offered. Infact when I still... when I hear today, that sometimes our gurukul students raid the mango trees, before offering to Rādhā-Mādhava, it makes me angry, and they are very lucky I am not around during that ripening of the mango season. So at that time apparently I was a bit insensitive that one of my godbrother’s was very sick and we had that time had no money, no car, all we had was one bicycle and he was very sick, he couldn’t eat the rice Prasād that we were taking at that time. So he had asked, if he could have a papaya. So I said, “Well, let it be offered, then you can have the mahaprasad, but he said that when he went for the mahāprasād, that time because the pujāri’s, although they weren’t sick, but they were wanting their share, they gave him only two small, so he was on a verge of starvation. So he noticed that one of the papaya was ripening on a tree, but the ripened part, you know when papaya turns ripe it turns red, that was on the inside of the tree, so it was not spotted yet by me. So he had confess to me, just for few weeks ago, that in that moment of weekness, he actually stole the papaya and hid it, and at midnight he went out in the field and he devoured the papaya, because that was the only time he could get away with it, but actually I felt bad that although I wanted to of course protect Kṛṣṇa’s property and see it was offered, that I had caused so much anxiety to one of the other devotee, and in this way then I felt maybe I am committing so many offenses. In trying to do my service I may become Niyamāgraha, but that way I have to request everyone that in this way if I have ever committed any kind of offenses where in trying to do my service, that I become a little fanatical or something, and thereby cause someone difficult, that they could kindly give me their ah... forgiveness for that. By my nature I become fixed on a particular thing, have some quality, some... I don’t know if it is a defect or what it is, but I have some concentration that whenever I ah...am thinking about one thing, I become very absorbed in that, and my mother from my previous āśrama, she told me that even when I was a child, if I was reading a book, normally when children, if you call them for lunch, they always like to come. Of course if they are playing sometimes, they don’t like to come, but normally if you are reading a book they will rather go and eat prasādam or food. Apparently when I would read books or be doing something, I would become so absorbed, that they would call, I would actually not hear them, and it was a fact, I wouldn’t hear, they would have to come and touch my body to break me out of that ah... concentration.

So sometimes I become absorbed in a particular objective, and to achieve that I may do so many things, trying to see that it gets done. So in case, by that effort someone is ah... disturbed, that of course is never my intention. So I was sorry to hear how one godbrother had to go to such a length to get a papaya. He could have told me that the pujari didn’t give him much, I would have certainly tried to do something, but another thing that I was thinking of that someone said, how I was like Nārada Muni, well I don’t think that those words are appropriate, because Nārada Muni, wherever He went He was able to do so much preaching, and he would bring people to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, where hardly, I don’t feel that I am adequately able to bring enough people to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But ah... in one sense it may be true that ah... because śrīla Prabhupāda, He said that He just like Nārada Muni, He had been cursed by the parents of all the young children, boys and girls, who had joined his movement, and in vṛndāvan, Prabhupāda told me, that now I cannot travel anymore, now you have to take this curse, and ever since that I have been travelling, even though for nine years I never left Māyāpur, right after that I was by victim of so many responsibilities in circumstances, I am forced now, I can never stay anywhere more than a few days. There is always a reason that I have to go to the next place very quickly.

 So in the.. in this regard, recently just when I was in south India, I just... one of my disciples were taken a verification under the influence of family and his own mind, took shelter of some of his family members. He rejoined to help Lord Caitanya’s movement, and his family members came for that devotee. Then I remember that, just see how sometimes the family members are certainly giving their curses to me, just as they used to curse Prabhupāda. And I remember the story of how Nārada Muni, He saw that there were,10,000 wonderful children, wonderful sons born to Daksha, who were performing austerities in the forest and then he went to them while they were performing their austerities and preached to them, how they should become Kṛṣṇa conscious and fully dedicate their lives to Kṛṣṇa, and how Daksha went and gave them all ah... sannyās. So that time Daksha became very angry at Nārada Muni, and started to curse Him and reprimanded Him that they should all first of all enjoy life, and after enjoyment then they will only achieve tyāga, for... first bhoga and then tyāga, but actually Prabhupāda said this is for the less intelligent people that actually we can learn by other’s mistakes. So like Nārada Muni, we want to say people that why they have to enjoy which means that then they have to suffer. Bhoga brings tyāga, because by sense gratification that brings suffering and suffering brings renunciation. So why should we wish anyone to suffer? If we can inspire them in spiritual ecstasy somehow, and if they can avoid the bhoga, tyāga, suffering syndrome, and if they can directly achieve spiritual consciousness without having to go through that hard suffering, as they say in the West, the school of hard knocks, and directly they can achieve spiritual perfection. Naturally we would prefer that, but of course in so doing, some of the very orthodox parents, who want their, who are conditioned to think that everyone has to enjoy, and then suffer and then after tasting all that bitter medicine, then they will have a natural renunciation. Lord Caitanya had short cutted that and śrīla Prabhupāda has given us that nectar.

We don’t have to suffer. More than we have already suffered in this Kali Yuga, than imediately we can take up spiritual life.” Athātho brahma-jijñāsā”, that now at this moment, athyāhipa, we can start to realize the presence of Lord Caitanya through this International Society of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, through the pastimes of His great devotees, especially śrīla Prabhupāda, and other previous great ācāryas, and through the books, which glorify Lord Caitanya, that actually we should take up very seriously this movement and not look back, not think that we are missing something, in the material world, or that there is something that we won’t get in Kṛṣṇa conscious, that’s there in material life. Anything worth having is available in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and if it is not available in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, just like drugs, illicit sex, gambling, or meat eating, that simply means that it is not worth having. It’s something which is bad for us. Anything which is tolerable even, you can have in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and anything which is intolerable, which is poisonous that is restricted.

So we shouldn’t lament for anything in the material world. Rather we should always be very optimistic with our spiritual life, and we should have a very pessimistic attitude regarding this material world. Actually we see, when someone goes to the material world, they try to enjoy but they suffer so much anxiety. So we don’t want anyone to suffer this anxiety, we don’t want anyone to as a dar...dar, or someone that mentioned today, I think that yesterday someone mentioned this habu dubu, we don’t want anyone to take the dunking of habu dubu in the material world, but we want everyone to stay in the ecstasy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, so our process of course is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, dancing in ecstasy, and then offering a wonderful offering to Kṛṣṇa, and feasting. So since today seems to be dedicated to most of this activities, I don’t want to delay the program any further, but I want to encourage everyone to take up that Kṣetra sannyāsa mood, whether you are a gṛhastha, or brahmacārī, or whether you are a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī, that everyone should remain always in the Kṣetra of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and try to bring others into this transcendental free zone, where they can be free from the reactions of their previous karmas, and where they can be free to serve Kṛṣṇa in transcendental love, and ecstasy. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hari Bol śrīla Prabhupāda Ki.

Jaya

 Sadananda Kṛṣṇaprem Das

Proofread by:Srivani Mtji

15/Oct/2020