19850428 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.7.40 Vyāsa-pūjā Lecture

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 28, 1985 at New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The class begins with a reading from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7th Canto, Chapter 7, Verse 40.

Translation (by Śrīla Prabhupāda): It is learned from Vedic literature that by performing great sacrifices one may elevate himself to the heavenly planets. However, although life on the heavenly planets is hundreds and thousands of times more comfortable than life on earth, the heavenly planets are not pure [nirmalam], or free from the taint of material existence. The heavenly planets are also temporary, and therefore they are not the goal of life. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, however, has never been seen or heard to possess inebriety. Consequently, for your own benefit and self-realization, you must worship the Lord with great devotion, as described in the revealed scriptures.

Purport: As stated in Bhagavad-gītā, kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti. Even if one is promoted to the higher planetary systems by performing great sacrifices, which are accompanied by the sinful act of sacrificing animals, the standard of happiness in Svargaloka is also not free of disturbances. There is a similar struggle for existence even for the King of heaven, Indra. Thus there is no practical benefit in promoting oneself to the heavenly planets. Indeed, from the heavenly planets one must return to this earth after one has exhausted the results of his pious activities. In the Vedas it is said, tad yatheha karma-jito lokaḥ kṣīyate evam evāmutra puṇya-jito lokaḥ kṣīyata. As the material positions we acquire here by hard work are vanquished in due course of time, one’s residence in the heavenly planets is also eventually vanquished. According to one’s activities of piety in different degrees, one obtains different standards of life, but none of them are permanent, and therefore they are all impure. Consequently, one should not endeavor to be promoted to the higher planetary systems, only to return to this earth or descend still lower to the hellish planets. To stop this cycle of going up and coming down, one must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore said: brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva/ guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (Cc. Madhya 19.151) The living entity is rotating in the cycle of birth and death, going sometimes to the higher planets and sometimes to the lower planets, but that is not the solution to the problems of life. But if by the grace of Kṛṣṇa one is fortunate enough to meet a guru, a representative of Kṛṣṇa, one gets the clue to returning home, back to Godhead, having achieved self-realization. This is what is actually desirable. Bhajatātma-labdhaye: one must take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness for self-realization.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta translation and purport to Text 40 Chapter 7 Canto 7 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the chapter entitled “What Prahlāda learnt in the womb.”

Jayapataka Swami: So today we are celebrating Dvādaśī with initiations here in the morning - first initiations, second. And this verse advises us, the scriptures advise us, we should avoid the desire to go to the heavenly planets. So, most of all this may spoof it and think, “Well, I don’t desire to go to the heavenly planets, I want to go back to Kṛṣṇa.” They don’t realize that it is not so much just the super for the occasional thought that I want to go to Kṛṣṇa that would dictate where we go. We have to think, feel, think, feel, will, think, speak and do accordingly.

Śrīla Prabhupāda mentioned that many of his disciples would not make it back to Kṛṣṇa but go to the heavenly planets instead. This is explained by Sanātana Goswami that, “If one maintains the attachments for the material world, while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, while rendering devotional service, and renders conditional devotional service, desiring particular kind of place, a better place, particular type of situation, the tendency would be that when one is offered residence in the heavenly planets one won’t be able to turn it down, because one has not trained one’s self to simply be unconditional, only want to serve guru and Kṛṣṇa, wherever, whenever, under whatever conditions.”

So, when one is offered the heavenly planets and when one thinks, “Oh, this is a very nice place! I would like to serve Kṛṣṇa in this place, I would like to be in this place”, instead of going back to the spiritual world, which is much better, one takes the lowest denominator, and ends up in the heavenly planets. Unfortunately, from there, there is every opportunity to fall back down again to the lower planets, and not go back up to the spiritual world immediately.

So to stop the cycle of coming up and down, just as Lord Caitanya had said that,

kabhu svarge uṭhāya, kabhu narake ḍubāya
daṇḍya-jane rājā yena nadīte cubāya
(Cc Madhya 20.118) 

(Jai Nitāi-Gaura, Jai Rādhā Rādhākānta ki jai!)

To stop the cycle of sometimes going up, sometimes coming down in the different planetary systems one take shelter of a pure devotee of the Lord, one take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master coming in the disciplic succession and achieve devotional service to the Lord.

The bhakti-latā-bīja which one gets at first initiation, is to be watered very carefully by hearing and chanting, by following the regulative principles, by avoiding offending of the devotees, by avoiding weeds or unwanted creepers of different kinds of material desires. Otherwise these unwanted creepers may end us, may force us to take birth instead of in the spiritual world, possibly in Swargaloka or worse. So, when one takes the bhakti-latā-bīja, and one puts all of one’s attention on that spiritual creeper, waters the spiritual creeper, defends it against other kinds of materialistic desires, so that the spiritual creeper can grow and grow, grows out of the material world, go far beyond the heavenly planets, go beyond the impersonal Brahman,the effulgence, beyond Vaikuṇṭhaloka and finally take shelter in Goloka Vṛndāvana at the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Rādhākānta. This is very important. If we don’t give that absolute attention to our devotional creeper, the other creepers will grow, but the other creepers cannot penetrate the material universe. The other creepers will keep us here in one way or another.

So, it is not an accident that one finds a guru, representative of Kṛṣṇa, it is by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Certainly, by strictly following just as Prabhupāda has come to the western world, come all over the world, and given Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He said that, “His disciples are his spiritual children and his ah... disciples of his disciples would be his spiritual grandchildren.” So that everyone connected to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement through the process of initiation is eternally a grand disciple, or grandson, daughter of Śrīla Prabhupāda. They have a perpetual or eternal relationship with Śrīla Prabhupāda, obligation. In the broader sense, everyone in the West wherever heard the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, basically, it has only to owe their debt to Śrīla Prabhupāda, to the disciplic succession, because it is by his mercy that, such the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra has come over here to the Western world at all.

At the time of initiation, one has to pray to Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-Gītā,

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
(Bg 18.66)

You simply surrender unto Me, abandoning or renouncing or giving up all other religions, all other occupational duties, and simply depend upon Me, I will protect you from all sinful reactions. So, one has to actually take shelter of Kṛṣṇa with that conviction. What is the use if we take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, but we don’t actually depend upon Kṛṣṇa, we don’t actually do whatever would be most pleasing to Kṛṣṇa? That type of conditional surrender is not symptomatic of pure devotion.

So we take advantage of the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, in the form of meeting a guru, and taking initiation, by dedicating ourselves completely to devotional service of the Lord. After putting in a lifetime of self-realization just for a slight bit of negligence if we again have to take birth again, or we don’t reach the spiritual world, and we go to some other planet, then what will be the advantage? In fact, the danger then is that if we go to the heavenly planets then Lord Caitanya’s movement would have already be out of the material universe by the time when one has to take rebirth again, because one lives so long in the heavenly planets. That is why it says in other parts of the Bhāgavatam, where it says, “There are denizens of the heavenly planets who are crying to be able to take birth in this earth planet now when Lord Caitanya’s movement is present. Because in the short 50, 60, 70 years by simply absorbing one’s self in chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and rendering devotional service in Lord Caitanya’s movement, one can get transferred back to the spiritual world.”

The people that are present today in this world actually have the greatest opportunity, and those who take initiation in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, their fortune is unlimited. But due to some carelessness, if we don’t take proper advantage of this special benediction of Lord Caitanya, even if we end up in the heavenly planets, what will be we really gain? It will be a curse in another form. Therefore, better to become very serious, become very serious about our gardening, about gardening our spiritual creeper. Unless we are very serious about this responsibility to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra regularly, and to engage in devotional service very, with great determination, then there are so many pitfalls along the way. But if we are just a little careful to chant, to associate, then our success is assured. Prabhupāda has reassured us about this, has promised us his mercy in this regard.

So when one takes the harināma initiation, this establishes the eternal relationship with the spiritual master and Prabhupāda, previous ācāryas. Then one has to avoid the ten offences to the holy name, which are repeated every morning. After chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa for a period of sometime, if one wants to further increase one’s depth of commitment to serving guru and Kṛṣṇa, then they can take second initiation.

Second initiation - at that time one is accepted as a brāhmaṇa, and is able to serve the Deities, has responsibility to chant the Gāyatrī-mantra. When one is a brāhmaṇa, then one is responsible. The story about the King Kṛṣṇachandra, a historical story how he found a brāhmaṇa who was wearing a śālagrāma-śilā while evacuating. Whatever a brāhmaṇa does, they are more responsible for. Because he was offending the śālagrāma-śilā he was going to be beheaded. Some things that a brāhmaṇa does, minor things they were excused in the Vedic time but if they committed a spiritual offence, something they were supposed to know better about, then they had to take ten times the reaction. So being a brāhmaṇa means that one has to be many times more responsible.

Śrīla Prabhupāda always stressed that, when someone takes brahminical initiation, if they deviate from the path of pure devotion, they engage in karmic activities, they have to take many times the reaction. If they engage in sinful activity, it is much more serious, both for the disciple as well for the spiritual master. The reactions are many times more profound. Which means that one has to be very careful, not to neglect in any way, any of the devotional principles.

Māyā has a way that the more one apparently progresses in devotional life, the more that māyā starts to increase her various means of trying to pull down that living entity. You see that, that doesn’t end even when one takes sanyas, and māyā puts out more kinds of illusions and subtle pratiṣṭhā, pūjā, love and so on, different kinds of material desires that try to... subtle, gross. Therefore, Prabhupāda said that, even great sannyāsīs who gave up the material world to realize the Absolute Truth, they end up falling down and going into mundane politics, welfare work, and they give up the spiritual path. Sometimes yogis, they, become enamored by the mystic power, and then they start to show off to the public giving some cheap fame, and then they declare themselves as avatar.

So, this kind of thing is there, when one tries to advance further in renunciation, further in spiritual life, māyā also tries to attract one by any means possible. If one has crossed over the gross attractions, then māyā attracts with more subtle attractions. And if one crosses over that then māyā starts with even more subtle desires, which are very camouflaged, very much camouflaged as apparently spiritual desires. Therefore, one has to become very expert in knowing what is the siddhānta, or what is the conclusion of our Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy. One has to learn this from the more advanced devotees, from the spiritual master very clearly, what is the verdict of the scripture? What is māyā? What is Kṛṣṇa consciousness? The brāhmaṇa means one who is able to remain on the transcendental platform. Brahman means transcendental. We remain transcendental by

māṁ ca yo ’vyabhicāreṇa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guṇān samatītyaitān
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
(Bg 14.26)

..by constantly engaging in Bhakti yoga.

Brāhmaṇa, Vaiṣṇava is continuously supposed to engage in devotional service. No māyā. Otherwise how will one remain in the transcendental platform? We are not interested in being the brāhmaṇa-paṇḍita of the Vedic Hindu tradition that want to go to svarga for doing animal sacrifice, or other kind of sacrifices like that, to get to the heavenly planets. Similarly, what is the use of a devotee who is engaging in pure devotional service to compromise the principles, and end up with the same result one gets by doing this other type of karma-kāṇḍa sacrifice, simply due to being a little careless, simply due to some careless attachment to the senses and sense objects?

Being a brāhmaṇa, taking this second initiation means that one is dedicated to preaching the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, or to serving in a way which will help for the propagation of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Duty of the brāhmaṇa is to teach, to read, and to teach others. Whatever knowledge we get we don’t want to keep it to ourselves, we want to in turn give it to others. In this way it fructifies in ourselves.

Cāṇakya Paṇḍita was a famous Brahmin pandit. He wasn’t a pure Vaiṣṇava, but he was very strict in his principles. Brāhmaṇa means that they are not trying to artificially increase the amenities of their life or the complexity of their life. For the benefit of the Vedic culture, that time, Cāṇakya was requested to become the prime minister. But as a brāhmaṇa he wasn’t supposed to take any employment, so he refused to take any employment. The King requested that without employment he be the prime minister. So then he said, “Well, I can become the prime minister without any remuneration, I can do that, but I don’t want to stay in your palace. I don’t want to compromise my position as a simple brāhmaṇa. I am going to live outside in my own simple grass hut, and I am not going to stay inside any palatial quarter. I don’t want to increase the comfort of my existence, because I want to achieve self-realization in the end. If I become attached to these types of opulent surroundings, there will be every chance I will again have to take another birth”.

So, although Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, he was inclined possibly more towards the impersonal realization, it is not always exactly clear, he definitely was a brāhmaṇa worshipping Viṣṇu. But he was very fixed in his principles of brahminical culture, living a simple living and high thinking.

Now that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is having more Nāmahaṭṭa preaching, or folk preaching, or congregational preaching, many people living outside the temple are chanting and becoming pre initiated, even taking first initiation. We are seeing that they are chanting and able to progress. I personally gave the second initiation to those who are actually going to live more as brāhmaṇas, who are going to live as a twice born person and take up the mission of preaching the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, that they are not going to compromise the principles. They should be an example for the others, people can recognize, there may be many who are chanting, but they can look to the brāhmaṇas that these are persons who are leading an exemplary spiritual life. What is the use of taking higher spiritual responsibility if you are not going to live up to it?

So it is very important that for the glory of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the previous ācāryas, of the sampradāya that we preserve this integrity of the brahminical initiation. People often they tell to… you know… think this point can be repeated too many times, that if one takes brahminical initiation and then they break the regulative principles, the reactions that come upon them are multiple in effect. I have seen so many people become destroyed, my own god brothers become destroyed in their spiritual life, because they were not conscious of this fact, because they had taken second initiation and then deviated that they were put under much heavier reactions which is harder to get out of.

That is why, personally I have some, Prabhupāda told me that, it is not at all necessary to give second initiation or to take it. And in Māyāpur there are many people who have been there for 12 years, we have never given them second initiation. And my average time for second initiation in many places is four years. Although Prabhupāda was very liberal giving in one year, and today even some people are getting after a period of one year because of the causeless mercy of the local authorities. One has to be very serious, learn that from others’ mistakes and don’t make the mistakes. If one is very careful, if one is very fixed up, doesn’t allow the mind to become strong, remains humble.

Prabhupāda stressed the point when we take second initiation, it’s dvija, it is new birth. New birth means now we are a new infant. So we have to approach it from a very humble point of view, not from a point of view that now I am a brāhmaṇa. Just like Viśvāmitra thought, now I am a brāhmaṇa, now I can fight with Vaśiṣṭha muni, because now I am already a brāhmaṇa. Because he was trying to become a brāhmaṇa from a kṣatriya. We take it in a very humble attitude that now I have got the opportunity to study Vedas in a more profound way, to study the Kṛṣṇa conscious process in a deeper way, and to become more and more serious. Shouldn’t just be a status symbol, take brāhmaṇa initiation, and chant a little better, if someone doesn’t chant then what? You see, then everything is spoilt.

We take brāhmaṇa initiation to become very serious in our commitment, to take another... We already promised to serve Kṛṣṇa eternally, we are already committed. Then what is the need of the second commitment? This is a further recommitment in the sense taking of a greater responsibility, not only are we going to serve, but we are going to become qualified to serve in a completely spiritual way, avoiding every trace, purifying ourselves of every trace of material contact. Brāhmaṇa means someone… In fact I was present when Prabhupāda asked people, “What is Brahman? What is the spirit? What is self-realization?” He would ask them, and if they couldn’t say, he would say, “What type of brāhmaṇa are you, you don’t even know what is spirit? what is Brahman? You don’t know what is the spiritual world?!” He would reject them. I even saw Śrīla Prabhupāda when he was teaching people how to count, and they couldn’t figure out how to count properly with their fingers he would say, “You are not smart enough to be a brāhmaṇa. Go back!”

Prabhupāda personally told me the reason why he was so sick in India was especially because of brāhmaṇas that had fallen down. He had initiated too many unqualified disciples. And Śrīla Prabhupāda took that risk, took that great austerity just to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness in this world. He planted so many seeds in a very short time hoping that some of the seeds would fructify and the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement would continue. So we should see that, how much Prabhupāda has sacrificed for all of us. And we should try to become more and more responsible to actually preserve the great jewel that he has given us, that has been handed down from Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The brāhmaṇa’s duty is not only to preserve it but try to teach it to others, by first their own example and second by their instructions. The more one has spiritual advancement the more one is responsible to be an example to others.

In every state, sometimes you find like in India, some of the caste brāhmaṇas, they may feel that, “well, I am a brāhmaṇa, therefore the others have to serve me.” But we find in the brāhmaṇa-Vaiṣṇava, there is a different attitude. The attitude is that we are the servant of the servant of the Lord. I mentioned yesterday in a private darśana that, even in India the system is there that, generally when they have any big feast… Any of you have been to Māyāpur, when the Manipuri devotees come to feed the senior God brothers? Then at that time these devotees they always have the brāhmaṇas do the distribution. I don’t know if Gurugauranga was there any time when the Manipuris served? And in the brāhmaṇas it is kind of interesting, they put their chaddar around their head and they put it over their mouth, so that their breath won’t go on when they are distributing. That the brāhmaṇas are serving the others, they are giving.

Brāhmaṇa means he gets charity and he gives in charity, doesn’t keep it. He gets the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, he gives it out. He gets a donation, he gives it to Kṛṣṇa, uses it in Kṛṣṇa’s service, and then he gives it out in another form to the people. To brāhmaṇa, nothing sticks. Doesn’t keep anything, like he merely only gives to Kṛṣṇa, takes from Kṛṣṇa, gives it out. He always remains simply attached to Kṛṣṇa, only taking the minimum whatever he needs in that attitude of service. So we find that the brāhmaṇas, they do the main...

I am a little shocked sometimes in the West when I see, the brāhmaṇas sit down and the bhaktas serve. In India no brāhmaṇa would ever accept prasādam from the hand of a bhakta. Because the bhaktas they do not have any standard of cleanliness, they don’t know they may go to the bathroom and not have washed their hands, they may be offending prasāda, they may be giving that to... bhakta means that he doesn’t necessarily have any sense, they are not trained. Sometimes you see people walk off the street and they say they will help us serve. That may be alright for some big feasts to the karmis. But the standard that we have even seen in India, that we have seen in the Kṛṣṇa conscious temples there, is that, more advanced devotees they serve.

Who served at the feast of Paṇihāṭi? Swarūpa Dāmodara, Mukunda, the biggest devotees. To get the opportunity to serve the others… Lord Caitanya started out and He gave such big helpings that the people could never eat it. It was four times the normal helping. So then they said, “Lord Caitanya, please sit down, we will take it once You sit down and take”. It’s actually the mood of the brāhmaṇa-Vaiṣṇava is one of increasing their service to guru and Kṛṣṇa and being an example to others. Because the brāhmaṇa is detached, he sees everybody gets prasāda. He sees that everyone gets the mercy of Kṛṣṇa. Sometimes someone is less advanced when they are serving, they may be thinking there won’t be enough for me and then everyone that he serves to get sick. So any way that is a side issue.

But the point is that, the standard we see from our previous ācāryas is that, when someone took these higher responsibilities that meant that they increased their service. So, if someone is not inclined to increasing their responsibilities, to increasing their service, if they already feel overwhelmed with the amount of responsibilities they have, maybe they should wait before taking the additional responsibility. But if they feel enthusiastic and determined that they want to become more and more attached to the lotus feet of guru and Kṛṣṇa no matter what it takes, then of course brāhmaṇa initiation is one very good opportunity.

If there is anybody now that would like to pass up this time and wait until the next opportunity?

[Aside: Before putting these flowers in the garlands, I think it’s better to take a piece of white cloth and always just test the flower whether it leaves off stain.]

The conclusion of this verse is be fixed in going back to the eternal service of Kṛṣṇa and don’t get waylaid in the heavenly planets. Here in New Tālavana this is an extension of the spiritual world which you are bringing here by your devotion. Tālavana is one of the 12 vanas or the forests of Vṛndāvana . This is the forest where Kṛṣṇa killed the demon – was it not the Keśī demon?

Devotee: Dhenukāsura demon.

Jayapatākā Swami: Which one?

Devotee: Dhenukāsura

Jayapatākā Swami: named, the Dhenukāsura.? I saw the picture of the one flying up in the trees, that is Dhenukāsura?

Devotee: Yes

Jayapatākā Swami: The point is that like that there are so many demons that can come into our consciousness, come into our spiritual life, we have to be very careful, to depend on Kṛṣṇa, because by His mercy, those will be driven out.

Kṛṣṇa used to enjoy in the Tālavana, the Tāla fruits. Tāla fruit is very juicy, has a very fragrant smell. So Kṛṣṇa used to enjoy with his cowherd boys and the calves there after eradicating the demon from the Tālavana forest. So, similarly we have the opportunity here of serving Kṛṣṇa, and enjoying the nectar of Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental association and service. We should keep the transcendental vibration all pervasive, so that people will always be able to think of Kṛṣṇa. People are in need of more spiritual help, and they should take it. Having this association of so many wonderful Vaiṣṇavas, just so that if we have any doubt in our mind, rather than keep it inside and letting it rot, we discuss with other Vaiṣṇavas. If we have any weakness, we take their strength to help us to fight better with māyā.

We all have to fly our own path back to Godhead, but as Prabhupāda said - like a sail boat with favorable winds, if we have the association of the Vaiṣṇavas then they are just like good winds that fill our sails with and drive us back to Kṛṣṇa quicker. We need that type of association. So each person is individually responsible to try to give good association to others and try not to be in bad association. And if someone feels weakened, they should try to take good association in a humble mood, so they can become quickly purified from the influences of ignorance and passion. One should never be attached to their qualities of ignorance or passion. One should only be attached to Kṛṣṇa, one should be very detached from everything that is separate from Kṛṣṇa. This is the special instruction of this verse. One should not even be attached to the heavenly planets which are very good, because that is also temporary. We should simply be attached to what is eternally good - Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Rādhākānta, Śrīla Prabhupāda, the eternal service.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!