19870524 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.3.20

h The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on May 24^th, 1987. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2^nd canto, chapter three, text twenty.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurum dīna-tāriṇam

Jayapatākā Swami: There are many Vedic literatures which contain information about the Absolute Truth, about this world, about the purpose of human life. And originally the Vedas were one and then they were divided into four Vedas known as Atharva, Ṛg, Yajur and Sāma-veda. Then these were further expanded into Upaniṣads, 108 Upaniṣads, like Īśopaniṣad, which we published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. Then there is the Mahābhārata which has become very famous in the present times. In New York, the Mahābhārata has been shown, depicted through drama. The Mahābhārata contains the Bhagavad-gītā, one of its chapters. Bhagavad-gītā is the most famous book for transcendental realization. There are also Upaniṣads and other Purāṇas, which are histories of this world and of this universe, from different angles of vision. There are 18 of the Purāṇas. Of the 18 Purāṇas, that Purāṇa which is completely dedicated to the Absolute vision, is known as the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. The Gītā is considered to be like the high school graduation and the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is considered to be the college course. Generally, we study both side by side. Bhagavad-gītā more in the evening and Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in the morning. Today we can give you some of the idea about the information given in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. The Purāṇas in general, or the histories, they contain the description about the cosmology of the universe. They contain different histories. There are several things that every Purāṇa hints. They also give specific instructions about self-realization. So there are twelve cantos, or twelve books, in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and in each of those cantos there are many chapters. Each chapter has got so many verses. Total eighteen thousand verses in the entire Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Today is the second canto of the twelve, the third chapter, twentieth verse. I will first read the Sanskrit then the translation in English.

ŚB 2.3.20
bile batorukrama-vikramān ye
na śṛṇvataḥ karṇa-puṭe narasya
jihvāsatī dārdurikeva sūta
na copagāyaty urugāya-gāthāḥ

Translation: One who has not listened to the messages about the prowess and marvellous acts of the Personality of Godhead and has not sung or chanted loudly the worthy songs about the Lord is to be considered to possess earholes like the holes of snakes and a tongue like the tongue of a frog.

Purport (Now His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupāda has given a purport or gist on what is the significance of this verse): Devotional service to the Lord is rendered by all limbs or parts of the body. It is the transcendental dynamic force of the spirit soul; therefore a devotee is engaged one hundred percent in the service of the Lord. One can engage in devotional service when the senses of the body are purified in relation with the Lord, and one can render service to the Lord with the help of all the senses. As such, the senses and the action of the senses are to be considered impure or materialistic as long as they are employed only in sense gratification. The purified senses are engaged not in sense gratification but in the service of the Lord in toto. The Lord is the Supreme with all senses, and the servitor, who is part and parcel of the Lord, also has the same senses. Service to the Lord is the completely purified use of the senses, as described in the Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord imparted instructions with full senses, and Arjuna received them with full senses, and thus there was a perfect exchange of sensible and logical understanding between the master and the disciple. Spiritual understanding is nothing like an electrical charge from the master to the disciple, as foolishly claimed by some propaganda-mongers. Everything is full of sense and logic, and the exchange of views between the master and disciple is possible only when the reception is submissive and real. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that one should receive the teaching of Lord Caitanya with intellect and full senses so that one can logically understand the great mission.

Jayapatākā Swami: There’s more. Here it mentions that just like we have senses, the Supreme Lord also has senses, and that if we render service to the Lord with the help of the senses that is the purified use of the senses. I think that everyone has heard about the law of karma, that for every action we do there is a reaction. The reaction depends on what we do. The Bhagavad-gītā explains that there are activities in goodness, passion and in ignorance, and according to how we act, either in goodness, passion or ignorance, we get a suitable reaction. All reactions to material activities further entangle us in the material world, which means that we have to take again and again repeated birth. The transmigration of the soul, commonly known as reincarnation, until such time as we fully develop our transcendental dynamic force, our transcendental consciousness. So, all processes of self-realization are meant to elevate the consciousness to that transcendental status. So, this process that has been described here is known as devotional service or bhakti-yoga. Bhakt-yoga… yoga many people have heard about. Generally speaking they understand yoga to be the breathing exercises and the āsanas which are performed. Actually the āsanas, or the sitting postures, as they are known, are part of the hatḥa-yoga system. Hatḥa-yoga is the preliminary, or the first step in the eightfold yoga system known as aṣṭāṅga-yoga. By following that eightfold system one can gradually develop until one can realize that there is a Supersoul inside the heart. In the Western world, people are not so interested often in going further to find out what is the actual origin of everything. What is the real purpose of life, where have we come from, where do we go to after we die. So as a result they just go up to the first level of hatḥa-yoga, learn the sitting postures and exercises which are very good for health, often they don’t go further. Those who actually more intelligent, or more aware of a higher reality and have a desire to realize that reality, they progress further and further until they reach the state of samādhi or ecstatic trance in yoga. Now the eightfold yoga system, the final stage is called samādhi. There is also a nine fold yoga system known as bhakti-yoga, and that bhakti-yoga begins from the platform of samādhi, with a very little practice.

So, the basic process of bhakti-yoga is explained here. Where in the eightfold yoga system, one would stop all the activities through various breathing exercises, gradually focus the consciousness and fix the consciousness on the Supersoul in the heart, by the process of devotional service or bhakti-yoga, one instead of withdrawing the senses, rather uses the senses. Just as we dance, we feast on prasādam, we smell the incense or the flowers. There are various sensual activities which are being performed in this meditations that we are performing. The sensual activities are considered purified because they are being offered to Kṛṣṇa, or to the Absolute Lord. When we offer the same activity for a higher purpose, for a transcendental purpose, there is no karma. When we use the same senses for material purposes, there are material reactions. This is one of the secrets of the law of karma. So those who would like to transcend the bondage of the material world, who would like to be liberated from the cycle of birth and death, who would like to achieve the dynamic spiritual force of the self, of the soul, in this lifetime, they can easily achieve that by engaging their senses directly in devotional service or bhakti-yoga. Engaging the senses in the service of the Lord. And every sense can be engaged in His service. Of course, for those who are very proud or those who by nature are atheistic, this process of devotional service is sometimes very unattractive. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa has given these other processes of mechanical yoga which appeal more towards materialistic people who do not want any type of personal relationship with God in the beginning. They only come to that stage after much endeavour. But for those who are not afraid of that type of a spiritual relationship with the Supreme Absolute Truth on a direct and personal level, they can make far more rapid progress by practicing devotional service. I will finish reading Śrīla Prabhupāda’s explanation, then I will go on to give you some histories of how this was practiced in the recent past.

Purport (…continued): In the impure state of a living being, the various senses are fully engaged in mundane affairs. If the ear is not engaged in the service of the Lord by hearing about Him from the Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, certainly the holes of the ear will be filled with some rubbish. Therefore the messages of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam should be preached all over the world very loudly. That is the duty of a pure devotee who has actually heard about them from the perfect sources. Many want to speak something to others, but because they are not trained to speak on the subject matter of Vedic wisdom they are all speaking nonsense, and people are receiving them with no sense. There are hundreds and thousands of sources for distributing mundane news of the world, and people of the world are also receiving it. Similarly, the people of the world should be taught to hear the transcendental topics of the Lord, and the devotee of the Lord must speak loudly so that they can hear. The frogs loudly croak, with the result that they invite the snakes to eat them. The human tongue is especially given for chanting the Vedic hymns and not for croaking like frogs. The word asatī used in this verse is also significant. Asatī means a woman who has become a prostitute. A prostitute has no reputation for good womanly qualities. Similarly, the tongue, which is given to the human being for chanting the Vedic hymns, will be considered a prostitute when engaged in chanting some mundane nonsense.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami purport to the text 20, chapter 3, canto 2 of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. The chapter entitled ‘Pure devotional service.’

Jayapatākā Swami: So these are very heavy statements, very strong statements. Someone might even take exception to some of the language. But as some of us say in New Orleans, ‘tell it like it is’. The point is that if we see the higher purpose for human life, that there is a higher purpose, that with this human body we can actually leave this planet, go to the spiritual world where there’s no birth, there’s no death, there’s no old age, there’s no disease and remain in a transcendental position. Leaving the material body and just going to the platform of pure consciousness, of pure spirit, then in relation to that understanding; simply talking day in day out about how this political leader was exposed to this defect, how that leader was exposed to that defect, and this scam, and that scam. This problem and that. Goes on talking but that there is no real progress in terms of transcendental reality. Certainly, knowing the news of the world has got its relative value. But if that’s the only information that we hear, if that’s the only information that we vibrate from our tongue, then we wasted our valuable human potential. We wasted the ability we have to go the highest level of perfection. So, this is the mission of the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, is to awaken people to their true potential. That we have a higher potential, there is a higher purpose to life. That people can be saved from the suffering of old age, and disease, and death. They can be able to enjoy peace and happiness at every moment in their lives by properly developing their consciousness.

Now before, in previous ages it was very difficult to practice different types of yoga. Like, for instance Buddha, 2500 or some years ago, he went underneath the Bodhi tree in Gayā, India and he meditated for six years nonstop without moving from that place. Simply eating some leaf or something, fully absorbing himself in meditation. Then he was able to achieve nirvāṇa. For some yogīs, they performed extreme austerities in the Himalayas in the middle of the winter. They go under freezing cold rivers which are coming down from melted snow. If they weren’t flowing, the water would freeze immediately. And they go inside that water and they generate heat from their spirit soul by prāṇāyāma and yogic meditation, and keep themselves warm from simply the heat coming from the soul and meditate inside that freezing cold water. Then they go, in the middle of the summer they build four fires around them on each corner, in the middle of the mid-day sun and they meditate, to teach them tolerance from the heat. To transcend the bodily sensations. These are practically impossible type of meditations to expect anyone to perform. Possibly one out of millions could perform such activities, and whether what will be ultimately value at this time is also debatable point. So five hundred years ago Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, whose deity is on the altar on our far left hand side, Nitāi and Gaura, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, They appeared to give the process of yoga especially recommended for this age. For the present iron-modern age that we are in. A process of yoga that can be performed alone, in a group, or in a vast union of people. A process that can be performed in holy places - temples, as well as in one’s own home. This process of yoga, this is especially geared or given for this particular time that we are living in. Doesn’t involve going to the Himalayas and sitting in freezing cold rivers or sitting between the bonfires in the middle of the hot summer sun. But it is simply involves engaging our senses in the devotional service of the Supreme. By engaging our senses in transcendental activity, the activities themselves become a type of active meditation of the Absolute Truth, or the Supreme Lord. So when our consciousness is focused completely that means a complete meditation or trance. Bhakti-yogīs are generally called devotees, those who practice bhakti-yoga. Their meditation begins from morning and continues until night and even in their sleep they continue to meditate. When they rise they chant various mantras like:

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

By chanting and hearing, the tongue and the ear is being properly engaged in transcendental meditation. Then they hear the various classes, discussions about this transcendental science. Thus, they’re also engaging the sense of hearing. You all had some cookie prasādam. Eating and feasting on prasādam engages the sense of taste, smelling the incense - the sense of touch, playing the instruments and dancing – the tactile senses and other senses as well. One can also… you see many children here; one can also engage the senses of procreation in the service of the Lord. Every sense can be used under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master in bhakti-yoga practice. In this age of Kali, it is far more practical to engage the senses in a positive manner than to think of not engaging the senses at all, or trying to deprive the senses completely. Certain activities are basically draining from our spiritual potential. So those activities are recommended to gradually avoid. Other activities which are helpful, or neutral in our advancement, are authorized in a regulated manner. So, in this way by using our senses in a positive manner we can become transcendental from the laws of karma and we can experience, even while being very active, an intense trance of meditation. So if you think, “Well, how much time can I meditate in the day, sitting in my room?”, then you might find maybe there’s a limited amount of time you could spare. But if you know the science of active meditation; one is active all day, going to work, going to school, walking in the park. So, in activity if one knows the secret of meditation, one can meditate twenty four hours a day without any cessation. We need to have continuous contact. Just like if you are able to keep your battery charging longer, then you can go on. Of course, there is a limit of how much the battery can be charged. But our consciousness has no limit how much it can be elevated. One can be awakened from the dormant state of mundane consciousness to the transcendental state of spiritual awareness by hearing the vibration of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and by then engaging the senses in devotional service, we can keep our consciousness above the laws of cause and effect in the material world.

Now, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, our Founder Ācārya, he first brought this message to the Western world in 1965. Before that, the process of bhakti-yoga has been referred to by many great masters but has never been scientifically propagated or practiced in the Western world. Actually, he came with a great mission. To bring this message of Lord Caitanya to the entire world. Because by this process of bhakti-yoga, within one lifetime, within a few years, one can achieve tremendous change of consciousness. Whereby other processes it takes a long time to achieve any kind of real change of consciousness. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He came to India, that time, 500 years ago; this is his 501st anniversary this year. He appeared in the year 1486 in India. In a city of Navadvīpa, Māyāpur, in what is now known as West Bengal. That time there was only one Bengal. Lord Caitanya remained in Navadvīpa-Māyāpur for 24 years, and then He came down to Jagannātha Purī, which is now in the state of Orissa, and He remained there basically for the next 24 years, until He was 48 years old. Then He left the world. Within those 24 years in Jagannātha Purī, for six years He travelled throughout South India, and two years He travelled in Vṛndāvana, the birthplace of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Now Lord Caitanya was in Jagannātha Purī. They have a very big cart festival. Where they take Jagannātha, Subhadrā and Baladeva. The Deities which are on the right-hand side on the altar. Jagannātha has big round eyes with a broad smile and a glowing dark face. His brother Balarāma has a white face and a big smile, and in between two brothers their sister Subhadrā with a golden face and lotus eyes. These deities are very unique form of Kṛṣṇa which are worshiped in Jagannātha Purī, and now all over the world. It was predicted in an ancient scripture that Jagannātha would be taken by one great saint, and Jagannātha temples would be established in different countries all around the world. There are many many predictions which Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has fulfilled. This is just one of them.

So 500 years ago when Lord Caitanya was in Jagannātha Purī, they would celebrate a very big cart festival where they take Lord Jagannātha, Subhadrā and Balarāma to three carts. These carts are about fifty feet high each. Jagannātha’s cart has, I believe has 16 wheels. Baladeva’s has 15 and Subhadra’s 14. They weigh many many tons, and they go about two miles to another temple. Literally hundreds of thousands of people pull these carts in procession. This has been practiced for thousands of thousands of years, it is still practiced till today. This year will be held on June 28^th in Jagannātha Purī. We also practice similar procession here in New Orleans for many years. Last year we integrated with one of the Mardi Gras parades as far as possible. We couldn’t pull the cart, we had to take it by a truck or something because of the restrictions. In Calcutta and other cities around the world, they are also holding the same festival. Lord Caitanya, when He observed this festival, He would take all of His followers, and in front of these big carts of Jagannātha, He would perform the chanting of

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

and He made different groups of devotees chant: two groups in front of the cart, two groups on either side, one group behind. In this way seven different groups were chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and dancing. Lord Caitanya would move from one group to the other, chanting with all of the devotees. And all the hundreds and thousands of people there, they would also join in to the chanting. This process, while Lord Caitanya was chanting, He was also meditating very intensely upon the Deity of Kṛṣṇa, and He was also realizing that Kṛṣṇa, being the Supreme Lord, even can appear in His Deity form. And the Deity, being energy of the Lord, the Lord can be present in the Deity in His original true glory. And so in this way Lord Caitanya, He was starting to communicate with Lord Kṛṣṇa in His form as Jagannātha, and He would sing various songs to Lord Jagannātha. Sometimes Lord Caitanya would dance behind the cart. Then the whole cart would suddenly stop, it wouldn’t go forward, as if Jagannātha was waiting where has Caitanya Mahāprabhu gone. Then Lord Caitanya would come forward, then again Jagannātha would move. He would go back then it would stop. In this way there was a kind of competition going on between Lord Jagannātha and Lord Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So, at one point the Deity of Jagannātha wouldn’t move forward at all and the king tried to move the deities bringing out very strong wrestlers and strong men, they are pulling the cart, they couldn’t move it. They brought forward elephants, and the elephants were pulling, and heaving, and sweating, and screaming, but they couldn’t move the cart. It just wasn’t moving forward. So finally Lord Caitanya was requested if He could do something. So He said, “Untie all the elephants, just have My devotees take the ropes in the front. Then He had the devotees chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and He went in the back of the huge cart, 50 foot cart. And then chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, He just put His head at the back of the cart and gently pushing the cart, the cart went forward making *sound effects* so much sound because the wheels were moving forward very quickly. And everyone started to shout

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

So in this way Lord Caitanya was demonstrating that the Lord is actually unconquerable by any means, but He can be conquered by devotion and by a service attitude. There are so many religions in the world. The point where different yoga, religion, science meet together is known as bhakti-yoga. It is the synthesis, a synthesis of yoga, science, of religion, everything culminating where one has the perspective what is the entire material world, what atomic energy is, what is time, what is birth, what is death, what is the universe, what lies beyond the universe. Simultaneously one can understand what the various cakras in the body are, what the various spiritual forces are and how this can be employed for transcendental realization. And finally, one can know and understand the relationship between the individual and the Supreme soul, which is the perfection of religion. All, even like Lord Jesus Christ, He said that the first and supreme commandment is to love God with all one’s heart and soul and mind.

But in a scientific or a systematic way, how to actually love God? How to develop? What is love for God? That is something which has not been very fully explained before. Lord Caitanya had given a very detailed explanation. What is pure love? What is conditional love? Conditional love is not really love at all. But you can say because some partial scent of love is there, some little part is there, so it is considered as conditional love. But the pure love is actual love. Say someone says, “You serve me, I will give you this much money”, you don’t call that love. It’s a business deal. If somebody voluntarily offers service and he doesn’t ask any exchange for the service, “You give me this back”, then that could be said to be an exchange of love. So, when we relate with the Supreme Lord, with Kṛṣṇa, if we offer our energy to Him without asking for any material mundane reciprocation, even if we have some desire but we don’t make any claim, then Kṛṣṇa immediately becomes indebted to us. He himself thinks, “What can I give My devotee?” If the devotee has material aspiration, He gives material benedictions. If a devotee has aspiration for mystic perfections, He gives that, and if a devotee has aspiration for complete perfection of life, He will give that.

So Lord Caitanya explains that there are eight different levels that one develops one’s consciousness towards pure love. Beginning first from having some preliminary faith, say enough faith to come here and listen to a lecture, that’s also faith. Even just being inquisitive enough to hear with an open mind, that means that at least one has enough faith to give it a hearing. The next stage is to associate with the transcendental devotees. Those devotees who are engaged in bhakti-yoga, to come and talk with them, associate with them, be friendly with them, learn something about their mission, about their way of life. That’s very important to get a deeper insight. Then the next stage is to actually, one starts to practice oneself. One starts to chant

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

Or in the home they set up a meditational room, or they set up like an altar where they have a picture of Kṛṣṇa, or a deity of Kṛṣṇa. There they can start to offer food to Kṛṣṇa as we are offering in the temple. This is actually like a training centre where people and come and learn how to practice these things in the home. If one is more inspired with the missionary spirit to try to propagate this message to others or to be fully absorbed, we also have facilities to stay in our farm, or stay within the city and take a special training course. So, after one is practicing this process either in their home or in the āśrama, one starts to get rid of various subtle mental blocks and various types of unwanted material conditionings. It is called anartha-nivṛtti or a purification. As one becomes more and more purified, one can understand the mysteries about transcendental life in a more profound way, until finally one can have a very deep understanding. At that point one has become fixed in transcendental knowledge and transcendental life. That is known as niṣṭhā. From that very steady stage, very stable stage of spiritual realization, then one goes to a higher level where actually one can taste a spiritual bliss in their devotional service and in their chanting, and that taste is unbelievably more satisfying than any other form of happiness that exists. After relishing that taste for some time then one develops to a higher level of consciousness that known as āsakti or having a deep attachment for the Kṛṣṇa conscious process, a deep attachment and love, which is a very preliminary attachment, which is preliminary of love for Kṛṣṇa, for the Lord. Just as one gradually associates with a person, starts to get to know the person, starts to become very fixed in a relationship with the person, then becomes very attached to the person, then finally becomes, you can say, even in love with the person. In material life you see these things develop. Well, by associating with Kṛṣṇa through chanting and through serving, there is a somewhat similar type of development which I just mentioned the stages upto the point of āsakti or attachment. Beyond attachment, there is a level called bhāva. Bhāva means one has ecstatic love for the Lord, where while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa or while serving, one will feel spontaneous ecstasy in the consciousness. The hairs may stand on end, tears may come to the eyes. Sometimes the voice may choke up or waver, there may be quivering in the body. There may be sometimes some intense laughing coming from the heart which is just beyond the mind. Even the mind is bewildered, ‘Where is this happiness coming from, where are these ecstatic symptoms coming from?’ One is feeling satisfied but it is coming from a level much higher than the mind or the intellect. There are other symptoms also, these are about eight symptoms in total - aṣṭa-sāttvika-bhāva. When one reaches that stage, then one continues to serve Kṛṣṇa in that ecstatic loving state until the point where he actually can realize Kṛṣṇa face to face, at which time, then real love or prema becomes developed.

So, like this Lord Caitanya revealed that there are different stages of development in our relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Starting from basic faith, hearing and associating with devotees, and then practicing of chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and going out to ecstatic love, and pure love. So, He has brought the science of developing love with the Supreme Lover, Supreme Lord to a very systematic art and science, something which a person who practices can verify what level they have reached. Now Lord Caitanya would practice the process. He would chant so ecstatically that tears would just be pouring from His eyes. He would be jumping so high in the air, everyone, just by seeing Him they would also be filled with ecstasy. They would start to jump and dance. With time in India, some unscrupulous people, they saw that Lord Caitanya’s ecstasy became so famous that people started to realize that this was the highest form of spiritual consciousness. So, then some unscrupulous people, they without actually developing their consciousness in a step-by-step manner, they just artificially showed some symptoms of ecstasy, and this way attracted the minds of innocent people and won them over as followers. In fact, recently in India, there was one lecturer who was lecturing on this Bhāgavata Purāṇa, and while he was lecturing there was constant tears pouring from his eyes and they people were saying, “What a great devotion he has for Kṛṣṇa! He is crying in love for Kṛṣṇa!” So after the program got over, one of our monks went there in the back to see him and suddenly walked into his quarters. As he was walking in, he found that the person was pulling out a hot chilli pepper from his nose. (laughter) That by putting a chili in his nose, the tears were coming down (laughter). So because of unscrupulous people like this who put out a show of ecstasy, for the past few generations our masters they have said that if one becomes overwhelmed with crying, or becoming chocked up, one should just try to go to a private place. Not to publicly display these ecstasies, because in doing so it gives more of an impetus to these imposters to stress that as their qualification. The external symptoms could be imitated or could be copied without having the actual ecstasy, but there are other subtle type of symptoms, that if one wants to go into the science deeper, one can actually recognize who has developed their consciousness up to what particular level. Now, Lord Caitanya… at that time there were no imposters or anything and He was very spontaneous in His manifestation of these ecstatic symptoms. As such He would attract all kinds of people to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa spontaneously. So there has always been this competition between presenting the actual science of bhakti-yoga where one develops up to this highest ecstatic level of consciousness, and persons who try to imitate that or present some types of watered-down process without giving the actual truth to the people.

There was a great master of Lord Caitanya known as Haridāsa Ṭḥākura. And Haridāsa Ṭḥākura, he would everyday chant three hundred thousand times the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra names. For us to chant that many names, it would take at least a minimum of, practically speaking it would take us 24 hours to do that. I mean even if we could chant that much, it would take us 24 hours. He was able to chant faster, he would finish the chanting in 12 to 18 hours but his chanting was so potent that he was able to inspire many people, countless people in the Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. One time he was arrested for chanting. He was born in a Muhammadan family, but he became a great master of the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya said anyone from any faith, from any creed, from any color, from any country, from any background can become a perfect master in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness if they simply follow these principles. So Haridāsa Ṭḥākura, he became such a perfect master. But at that time he happened to wander into a kingdom which was controlled by a Muhammadan ruler, and the Mullah, or what you call now the ayatollah of that kingdom was very threatened by the presence of Haridāsa Ṭḥākura, who was previously a Muslim and now preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So he had Haridāsa Ṭḥākura arrested and put in the prison. So, when he was in the prison he started to preach to the prisoners. They are all saying that, “Why are you chanting, why you are so happy. The prisoners were asking him, “You are in the prison! Your freedom is being inhibited. We are all suffering; we are not able to go out.” So then Haridāsa Ṭḥākura was preaching to them that, “All of us are in prison in the material world, we are forced in the body and we are allowed to stay sometime. When we die, then again, we are taken to a new body. We are not freed from the material world even at death. So where is the freedom? There is no freedom at all, we are all prisoners in the material world. The real liberation comes from liberating our consciousness, by elevating it above the mental and physical platform. If you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then even in this prison house, you will liberate your consciousness and you will actually feel free. But even if you get out of this prison house, you will be in the material world, but you will still in the prisoner of your senses, you will be a prisoner of the material laws of karma. So, now that you are fortunate, you can see that you are a prisoner. When you are outside of this prison house, you will think you are free. But you are not actually not free because you are controlled by so many conditionings and influences in the material world. Actually your freedom is in name only. So, now that you are here in this consciousness, you can understand that you are a prisoner, why don’t you chant this mantra and actually liberate your consciousness?” So he got all the prisoners to chant,

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

And the king was totally amazed when he heard that all the prisoners in the prison had become Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees and they were all chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa! Then of course later they decided that they have to take this Haridāsa Ṭḥākura out of the prison. He was ruining everything there. All the people were becoming devoted people. Of course that should not be a matter to lament about but the ayatollah, he was never happy with all these. To this day the ayatollahs are never happy it seems, in some parts of the world. (laughter) So, Haridāsa Ṭḥākura, he was one time walking in a village and there was a snake charmer who was singing a song about Kṛṣṇa defeating, liberating the Kāliyā snake, and at time immediately Haridāsa Ṭḥākura became fixed in trance of Kṛṣṇa. He started to dance. Sometimes this would happen. A devotee one time was riding on an elephant, and he suddenly saw a peacock feather lying on the ground. The peacock feather that symbolizes the feather that Kṛṣṇa wears on His head dress. As soon as he saw that, he remembered Kṛṣṇa and he became filled with ecstatic love and he fell off the elephant. It is very dangerous! But because he was falling off in ecstatic love, nothing happened to him when he hit the ground! So, when devotees achieve that very high consciousness, anything can remind them of Kṛṣṇa, and when they are reminded of Kṛṣṇa, they immediately feel some transcendental bliss.

So this is the proper use of the tongue and the ear. For human being it is to develop a taste for transcendental vibration for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, we may have ears, the frogs have ears, other animals have ears. But what is the use of those ears. They are just hearing some kind of croaking in the night which can attract the snake to come and eat them. Like that we spend our time, in asking and talking and discussing, but if we never find out what is the purpose of life, what is our goal in life, who are we, what is the existence before birth, after death, then what is the value of all the things that we hear and discuss about? If we don’t solve these basic problems? Normally these things are not discussed because people don’t know the answers. So, its embarrassing to discuss. It creates a type of mental pressure. But in the Bhagavad-gītā, in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, these topics are thoroughly discussed and very clearly can be understood. Actually I didn’t mean any offense to any ayatollahs. (laughter) But we actually were preaching in Iran. We got a very good response from the Iranian people there. But just some other religious, so-called fundamentalists, when they saw that so many people were taking to Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Iran, they threatened the leaders of the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement there that we are going to kill you, and they arrested a few people and sent them off to the Iraqi war. So then some of those Iranian devotees had to flee from Iran. Some of them have taken asylum in India, some have taken asylum here in America. But in this way sometime we try to preach the Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, and wherever we go, we see that if people practice this science, they get an immediate response. I personally went to Iran, I saw the temple, and I saw they have a Govinda’s restaurant there. The people that were coming there, they were very interested people, very intellectual people. This was after the revolution but before the American hostages were taken. When I went there, I was almost shot a machine gun by the revolutionary guards for walking in the wrong part of the street or something, and it was a bit dangerous at that time. They were busy with the Shah, they hadn’t realized that the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement was there working. Our devotees were giving out halavā to the revolutionary guards and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but eventually when they got rid of the other enemies, they started focusing that what are these people doing here. This is not part of our fundamental program. So then they threatened the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees, and arrested a few, and sent out a few to the Iraqi front, one of them was killed in the war. It’s a kind of an excuse for getting rid of people. It is very unfortunate because a lot of intelligent people, in Persia, in Iran, they could easily take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Similarly in Russia, during the time of Brezhnev, he allowed our movement to expand. Prabhupāda went there earlier and personally initiated some disciples, and they started to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Russia. And that way it reached very high level of acceptance among intellectuals, even professors, scientists, journalists, to such a point that Andropov, he said the two biggest dangers to their culture undergoing any kind of transformation from the West was Hare Kṛṣṇa and roll n roll. Of course, now Gorbachev has allowed some form of rock-n-roll to come to Russia. We are still hoping that they allow the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees that are inn prison to be released, and to allow Hare Kṛṣṇa to be recognized in Russia, so that the devotees there can practice without any difficulty. But the devotees there are so enthusiastic that they have managed to publish books underground in Russia, Gītā and other books in Russian and distribute those books profusely. So now in present times, we have books not only in Russian but in also many Russian regional languages like Ukrainian, Lavian, Armenian and several other languages. So, in this way actually the American people, they are very fortunate, they can practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness without any such political or governmental restrictions. They are certain constitutional protections. So here in the 200^th anniversary of the American constitution, the actual, real benefit is the person can practice self-realization according to the process of their choice in America, and that’s protected by the constitution. So, take advantage of the opportunity that Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda has given you by bringing this process from India, in its original form, here to America, and practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness and be happy.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

So, I will leave this time open for questions so there can be little more of an exchange. Any one has any question, they can ask.

On the Bible: What does the Bible mean to me? Why? Well, Bible, we also respect the Bible. Any book which in pursuance of the Vedic truth should not be disrespected, and since the Bible has many spiritual advises, we respect it. To understand the Bible, we refer to the Supreme authority of the New Testament which is Jesus. When He spoke to His apostles, they asked Him “Can you tell us about the kingdom of Your Father? The kingdom in heaven or the kingdom of God.”

Lord Jesus said that, “The kingdom of God, I can explain to you, I can certainly explain to you details about that. But even when I am telling you about this world, you are not able to understand. How will you understand about the spiritual world?” So, basically the Bible has not given a lot of information about the spiritual world. It has not given the process of how to develop love for Godhead. But it has mentioned there is a spiritual world, it has mentioned one should develop love for Godhead. So, we see that the Bible is a good preliminary book to focus on what are the priorities and what are the goals of spiritual life. But that for one who really wants to fulfil the objectives that are given there in the Bible, it will be much more beneficial to take shelter of Lord Caiatnya’s teachings which tell one how to develop love for Godhead, who is God, what is His kingdom, what is the spiritual world. Bring everything into a real focus.

So we consider that Bible is a preliminary text which can help one to a certain point. Of course, if one just has faith in Jesus and leaves in that consciousness, then according to the laws of karma and he will go to Jesus and from there he could also be elevated. But directly to go back to the kingdom of Godhead by following the process of the Bible, the process is not clearly delineated. It simply says to depend upon Jesus. So as far as we can understand, by following the Bible one will got to Jesus. Of course that’s not bad. From there he can transfer you back to the kingdom of Godhead. But if one directly wants to go back, then one can follow the instructions of Jesus. He said that we should develop love for Godhead. So what is the real follower of someone? We would consider that the real follower is one who follows his instructions. Since he is saying develop love is the supreme instruction in his commandment, so Lord Caitanya is giving that process, how to develop love. So a person by following Lord Caitanya can be true Christian, true yogī, true transcendentalist, all in one. Certainly not going against any of the principles of Jesus, rather it’s fulfilling what’s he has advised. So those who do believe in the Bible, they can also feel satisfied that the basic priority that Jesus has focused upon are simply further explained in the Vedic literatures, the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and the other teachings of Lord Caitanya.