19850416 Bhagavad-gītā Lecture

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on April 16th, 1985 in Penang, Malaysia. The evening program comes with a Tamil translation.

(His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami reading the purport)

Due to the contamination of material association through many, many millions of births, ones heart is always covered with the dust of materialism. But when one engages in devotional service and constantly chants Hare Kṛṣṇa the dust quickly clears, and one is elevated to the platform of pure knowledge.

The ultimate goal of life, Viṣṇu, can be attained only by this chanting and by devotional service. A pure devotee does not have to worry about the necessities of life. He needs not be anxious because when he removes darkness is from his heart, everything is provided automatically by the Lord. This is because the Supreme Lord is pleased by the loving devotional service of the devotee.

(aside:) Do you have hot water? Not very hot. Slightly hot.

This is the essence of the Bhagavad-gītā’s teaching. By studying Bhagavad-gītā, one can become a completely surrendered soul to the Supreme Lord and engage himself in pure devotional service. As the Lord takes change, one becomes completely free from all kinds of materialistic endeavors.

Jayapatākā Swami: Thus, end the purport and translation of text 11, Chapter 10.

So here Kṛṣṇa explains that He is dwelling in everyone’s heart. But Kṛṣṇa explains that according to a person’s desires Kṛṣṇa reciprocates with them. There are many people who are atheistic, who don’t believe in the presence of God. So for them Kṛṣṇa, He remains invisible. He remains neutral according to their desire.

They say there is no Iswara. No Ishwar for them, so He is not there. But then there are also the devotees who are always rendering devotional service to the Lord. So Kṛṣṇa says out of compassion for them He destroys the ignorance with the torch of knowledge. The further we go away from Kṛṣṇa, the more we become controlled by the material nature.

Tiktiki. The lizard confirmed. Oṁ tat sat. That control of material nature is in different modes - satya, rājā, tama; goodness, passion and ignorance. Some people, they are conditioned to be very clean, to be very learned, to be very kind and gentle. This is their conditioning. This is closest to spiritual mode, you see. They are rare.

Then there is the mode of passion. Those people, they are conditioned by doing everything for their personal gain. For their own satisfaction, they can do anything. Then there is the mode of ignorance. Mode of ignorance, they don’t exactly know what is to be done and what is not to be done. They become bewildered.

Practically mad, and very frustrated with no hope. So, this are basically the three modes. But you won’t find any mode purely, you will always find some mixture. Therefore, people act out of ignorance and passion, or passion and ignorance. Sometimes one mode is conquering, and sometimes another mode is conquering.

Just like Kaṁsa. Kaṁsa was driving the chariot for his sister Devakī at the time of her wedding with Vāsudeva. It is the custom that brother should go with the sister when she is married. So, although Kaṁsa was a very cruel man, but he was showing some very good quality. He was driving the chariot himself for his sister and brother-in-law. So, you can say that time he was showing some mode of goodness.

Then daiva-vani came. It said that “Son of yours… the eight son of your sister, Kṛṣṇa is going to kill you.” As soon as he heard that, he pulled out his sword to kill his sister. He grabbed his sister by the hair, and he was ready just to kill her like that. Then you can see how the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance.

At that time, he wasn’t thinking that there are thousands of people around and that this is his own sister. He wasn’t thinking anything. He was in ignorance. So, like this in different personalities, sometimes one or the other mode takes prominence. So, goal of life is to transcend these modes.

 The animals they are totally in the mode of ignorance, right? There is story about one jackal fell into one pot of blue color, and so it became blue color. When he went into the jungle, all the animals thought, “What is this blue animal we have never seen.” They said that “This is a very unusual thing.” Even the lion he never saw a blue animal. So, he thought that… The jackal was very smart. He said, “I am the king of the jungle.”

So then… Even the lion said, “Well, blue animal, he must be king. I have never seen.” So, all of the animals, they were serving this blue jackal, even the lion, you see. But one night a jackal started to howl in a distance. So, although he was the... You know when once one jackal starts to cry out, all of them want to cry. So, although he was seated on the throne as the king of the jungle, he also started to howl. He couldn’t control himself. It was the nature of a jackal.

As soon as the lion saw that he was crying as a jackal, he knew “Ah… This rascal, he is a jackal.” So immediately he jumped and killed him. So, animals, they follow by their dictation of their senses. Even if you put a dog on a throne, you throw a bone he will run. So human being is meant for sense control. To rise above this... above this animal nature. Then human being can have peace, and then human being can achieve perfection.

Normally we are dependent on so many material things, you see. Just to be happy we are depen… To get mental peace we are dependent on so many things. But if we build up our spiritual knowledge, if we build up our spiritual strength, we can transcend this dependence. This is the actual purpose of human life. The more control which one has and the more transcendental knowledge which one has, that puts one in a higher level.

 But this material world is known as māyā. Māyā means that which is not. That means that person who is in more in ignorance, he thinks he is more enlightened. That person who is more in bondage, he thinks he is free. Just like someone who is intoxicated, he thinks that he is totally in control of his situation. But actually, he is totally in illusion. He is not able to see things as they are. But he thinks that he sees everything perfect.

Sometimes people, they become very proud in by having some very big position. This can also bewilder their intelligence. So, in this way the material nature makes us think that even though we are in bondage, it makes us think that we are free. In Bhagavad-gītā, it is said that everyone who is born must die, and everyone who dies must again be born.

You see, there are many things in this world which are not for sure, you see. But that there is one thing that is 100% sure. As sure as everyone is born, so 100% sure that they are going to die. No lottery ticket, 100% sure. And when one dies, one is also sure again he will be born. So, what is going to be the next birth? What was the previous birth? These are interesting discussions.

As a human being we are able to... by our actions, we can create what is our next birth. By our actions, we can be freed from the bad influence of our previous birth, you see. Specifically, by rendering devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, we can transcend this repetition of birth and death. You see, we can transcend these three modes of nature. These are actual fact. But people are in ignorance, they are in Māyā, they are in illusion, you see.

One time, Nārada Muni asked the great king Yudhiṣṭhira Maharaj, “What is the most amazing thing? You are the emperor of the entire world. You have seen so many wonderful things. What is the most amazing thing you have seen?”

Yudhisthir Mahārāja said that “The most amazing thing that I have seen is that every man, he is seeing that his grandfather, his great grandfather is dead. He saw his grandfather also dead. He sees his father die, yet he things that he won’t die. This I find the most amazing.”

So, this is of course can be understood in a philosophical way. That because we are eternal by nature, we actually never die. We put on new body and take off old body.

Just like you put on new clothes and take off old clothes. So, this way it’s unnatural for us to think about death because we are eternal by nature. But māyā keeps us in illusion, so we do not prepare to achieve our real eternal position.

So, all of you are very fortunate. You have all taken human birth. As a human being, you have the potential to achieve complete perfection. You can achieve the highest position that a human being can achieve. You can achieve the complete liberation from this material repetition of birth and death. You can realize your eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. Thus, you can be completely free from all type of mental and physical suffering.

Each one of you has that capacity. But normally in material life, we are preoccupied with serving our senses like the animals. So, in trying to serve the senses, we are dragged to so many places. Sometimes we are brought up, and sometimes we are brought down, you see. So now of course you are here in this rehabilitation center. So here your activities are to some extent restricted. You can’t do everything that you would like to do. So naturally you might feel some inconvenience for that. You are looking forward to when you can again be out in the society. But actually, this is also a very good opportunity for you.

When one is out in the active world, then there are so many distractions. It’s hard for the mind to find any steadiness. Even though there is suffering, but one is always thinking that there is happiness just waiting down the road. So, in this way, one is unable to actually see things as they are. So now while you are here, you could take advantage of this time by building up your spiritual strength.

Jagannath Ballav Das, Mr.Jagannātha, he is the pandit of Bhagavad-gītā, and he can give some spiritual advices to you, and you can chant this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This will help to bring you above the modes of nature, and thus you can actually achieve real independence from these material needs. If you act in the mode of goodness at least, then you will be able to see things more clearly.

So, for this… By chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, one is brought to the platform of pure goodness. So, there is no hard and fast rule for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Actually, when Lord Caitanya would chant, He would sometimes dance in ecstasy. Sometimes He would be showing so many ecstatic symptoms. Sometimes laughing loud, sometimes fainting, sometimes hair standing on end, sometimes eyes filling with tears or voice choking with love.

So, one great Shankacharya, he asked Lord Caitanya that “Why you’re a sanyasi and you are doing all these things - chanting, dancing, acting like a mad man?” So, Lord Caitanya explained that His guru had told Him that in this age we should chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, and so He was chanting, following the order of His guru.

 And so, He said that He also went to His guru and said, “What is this? I am chanting this mantra, but I don’t know what happens? Sometimes I am laughing. Sometimes I am crying. Have I gone mad? What is this?”

His guru said, “No! This is a good sign, the symptom of love for God, Kṛṣṇa prema. So, this is alright. You continue chanting.”

So, Lord Caitanya requested all of His followers to encourage everyone to chant. He also convinced that Śaṅkarācārya to chant and he became His disciple. So, this process, this can be performed by anyone, you see. And by performing, one can come up to the… gradually come up to the pure state of consciousness. How many of you would like to come up to the joyful, transcendental state of consciousness? How many of you would like to transcend the modes of ignorance, passion?

 Lord Caitanya, He would give this chanting to everyone no matter what caste, whether rich or poor. He was liberal. He said that this is spiritual; it’s for everyone. How many of you would like this mercy of Lord Caitanya?

So, Lord Caitanya requested His followers to ask everyone to try practicing this chanting. So, while we are here, I am also… here or everyone, here or anywhere, I ask everyone to try this chanting process.

Last night in the Kṛṣṇa mandir in Penang, I asked and several hundred people agreed that they would chant. Because everyone in this world is confined by birth, by death, by old age, by disease. Real freedom can be achieved by chanting. So similarly, I am requesting all of you that kindly you well... try to follow this process of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, even for a few minutes every day.

We asked that at least 108 times everyone should chant, if not more. How many of you would like to chant? It is totally voluntary. But those of you who are… like to chant…

(aside:) You don’t have in Malayalam. You can read.

We give out these cards to those who like and, in the back, it gives the mantras which you should chant in red. So, anyone who wants... is going to chant, you can have one of these cards free. Who wants the card? You filled it already, before. Anyone is here from before? Anyone already filled in, doesn’t have to fill it.