19920424 Bhagavad-gītā 9.34

(Disclaimer: The following is a machine-generated transcript and may contain errors or inaccuracies. It will be reviewed and verified against the original audio soon.)

The following is a lecture given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on April 24, 1992 – in Muscat, Oman. The lecture begins with a reading from Bhagavad-gītā 9.34.

We welcome all the devotees of Muscat today on the occasion of the visit of Śrīla Jaypathakaswami Acharypad. For the newcomers, a brief life sketch would be useful. His Divine Grace Jayapathaka Swami was born on April 9, 1949, the Ekādaśī after Ram Navami in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. His father had been a trainee priest who left his ministerial training during the Second World War. His Divine Grace was born into opulent surroundings, his maternal grandfather being the founding chairman of a paint factory which was a multi million dollar concern during the time of His Divine Grace’s appearance. During his childhood he displayed extraordinary intelligence and great interest in philosophy and spiritual matters. When he was 11, he cured himself of a skin disease at the suggestion of his grandfather by invoking the Holy Name of God.

At 14 he entered St. John’s Academy, a college preparatory school from where he graduated almost effortlessly at the top of his class and was offered full scholarship including tuition, books, food, lodging plus incidental expenses by several major universities in America. He accepted admission into Brown University there as a fresh enrollee. He was so much moved by a guest lecture on the life of Buddha that he lost all interest in his studies and began searching for a spiritual purpose. Unable to find any bona fide teacher in the west, he concluded that he would have to go to India. As he was preparing to leave for India, he met the disciples of His Divine Grace AC Bhakivedanta Swami Prabhupāda and joined them on Rathiyatra Day in San Francisco. Immediately thereafter he moved to Montreal Temple to meet Śrīla Prabhupāda.

During that time he performed menial services to raise much needed funds for the temple during a time of hardship. At this time he was given spiritual initiation by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedan Swami Prabhupāda, the founder Achary of ISKCON and given the name Jayapatakadas Brahmachari. In addition to personally serving Śrīla Prabhupāda, he served as a Pujari and later as a Temple President of the Montreal Temple. On the orders of Śrīla Prabhupāda, he opened temples in Toronto, Canada and Chicago, USA. In 1970, Śrīla Prabhupāda sent Jaypadaka Das to India to prepare for his return there to establish international centers in Māyāpur, the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya and Vrindavana, the place of childhood pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Jaypadaka Das joined Achutananda Das, the only other ISKCON devotee at that time india.

Together they would do kīrtana india, enroll life members, lecture and have public and private programs in Calcutta on behalf of Śrīla Prabhupāda. In the same year, Jaipatta Kadas accepted the renounced Order of Life Sannyāsa from Śrīla Prabhupāda and was given the name Jaipathaka Swami Maharaj. He was appointed president of ISKCON’s Calcutta temple and he organized two gigantic pandal programs at which over 30,000 people gathered nightly to hear Śrīla Prabhupāda. In 1971, land was obtained in Śrīdhar Māyāpur for constructing the world headquarters of iskcon. Śrīla Prabhupāda assigned Jaypathaka Swami to develop the Śrī Māyāpur project as his life’s work, telling him, Jayapatākā Swami, I have given you the Kingdom of God, now you develop it.

During the initial period of development of Śrī Māyāpur Chandrudaya Mandir, the presiding deity Śrī Rādhām Mādhava were brought to the temple and His Holiness Jaipata Kaswami recognized them from a dream he had years before while preaching in the West. Since that time, His Holiness Jaypataka Swami has worked tirelessly to spread the Kṛṣṇa Conscious movement india and throughout the world. He was appointed as a member of the GPC Governing Body Council of ISKCON and the Trustee of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. He began publication of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books in Eastern Indian languages and started the first Transcendental Sanketana Party. He is All India Coordinator for ISKCON Food Relief, a member of the Māyāpur Vrindavan Trust, member of the West Bengal Council for Child Welfare on behalf of ISKCON and member of ISKCON’s Venkateshwar Krishi Goraksha Trust in Hyderabad.

He organized the ISKCON Food Relief Program india after the Bangladesh war to feed the refugees and hungry people. This program was continued for over a decade, feeding an average of 4 million plates of nourishing food per year to the needy without discrimination. In 1977, he was personally chosen by Śrīla Prabhupāda among a few other senior disciples to continue the Sampradāya. Now he has numerous disciples all over the world. His divine grace is well known and loved by the village people of India. During several floods of 1978 and also several times since, he has risked his life inadequate boats on flood water to bring desperately needed food supplies to stranded villagers.

This and other selfless services to the people of India caused several prominent Indians, as well as tens of thousands of villagers to petition the Indian government to grant His Holiness Jay Pataka Swami’s Indian citizenship. In recent years, His Holiness Jaipataka Swami has traveled extensively around the world to initiate new disciples, enlivening the devotees and disciples and preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness wherever he goes, in the temples, on programs and through the media. Under his guidance, ISKCON Thailand was established in December 1980 in Bangkok. Since then he has also there has been temples in Nepal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, etc. He has visited the Gulf. This is the fourth time in which he’s visited the Gulf. And every time he’s visited, there’s been an expansion in the spiritual power. He particularly visits Muscat and Bahrain where there are a large number of disciples.

There are some disciples and a large number of devotees in these Gulf states. And we are all extremely indebted to Śrīla Charipad for delivering us from the clutches of Māyā. And we sincerely and pray that he will keep continuing to visit us year after year, as often as possible to give hope to all of us who are stuck in the eternal cycle of birth and death.

Is this mark? Which one? The ninth chapter. The 18th chapter. Okay. Kṛṣṇavancha śrīrupam sagra jatam sahaguna. Śrī śrī rādhā kṛṣṇapadam sahaguna lalitā śrī visakanitans. Namaste sadhusati devī. Narang chaivanarotamam narang saraswati. Sahan. Bhagavad Gītā as it is. Chapter 9 Text 34. Atman. Translation by his divine grace rla ac bhaktivedanta swami prabhupāda. Engage your mind always in thinking of me. Become my devotee. Offer obeisances to me and worship me. Being completely absorbed in me, surely you will come to me. Translation with repetition, engage your mind always in thinking of me. Become my devotee, Offer obeisances to me and worship me. Being completely absorbed in me, surely you will come to me. Purport by śrīla prabhupda. In this verse it is clearly indicated that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the only means of being delivered from the clutches of this contaminated material world.

Sometimes unscrupulous commentators distort the meaning of what is clearly stated here that all devotional service should be offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa. Unfortunately, unscrupulous commentators divert the mind of the reader to that which is not at all feasible. Such commentators do not know that there is no difference between Ka’s mind and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is not an ordinary human being. He is absolute Truth. His body, his mind and he himself are one and absolutely. It is stated in the Kurma Purāṇa as it is quoted by Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Goswami in his Anubhashya comments on Caitanya charatam. Read the fifth chapter Ada verses 41, 48 Deha Dehi Vidyate Quacit. This means that there is no difference in Kṛṣṇa, the supreme Lord, between himself and his body.

But because the commentators do not know this science of Kṛṣṇa, they hide Kṛṣṇa and divide his personality from his mind or from his body. Although this is sheer ignorance of the science of Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, some men make profit out of misleading people. There are some who are demonic. They also think of Kṛṣṇa but enviously. Just like King Kaṁsa Kṛṣṇa’s uncle, he also was thinking of Kṛṣṇa always. But he thought of Kṛṣṇa as his enemy. He was always in anxiety, wondering when Kṛṣṇa would come to kill him. That kind of thinking will not help us. One should be thinking of Kṛṣṇa in devotional love, that is Bhakti. One should cultivate the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa continuously. What is that favorable cultivation? It is to learn from a bona fide teacher. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme personality of Godhead.

And we have several times explained that his body is not material but is eternal blissful knowledge. This kind of talk about Kṛṣṇa will help one become a devotee. Understanding Kṛṣṇa otherwise from the wrong source will prove fruitless. One should therefore engage his mind in the eternal form, the primal form of Kṛṣṇa, with conviction in his heart that Kṛṣṇa is the supreme, he should engage himself in worship. There are hundreds of thousands of temples india for the worship of Kṛṣṇa and devotional service is practiced there. When such practice is made, one has to offer obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. One should lower his head before the Deity and engage his mind, his body, his activities, everything that will make one fully absorbed in Kṛṣṇa without deviation. This will help one transfer to the Kṛṣṇa Loka. One should not be deviated by unscrupulous commentators.

One must engage in the nine different processes of devotional service, beginning with hearing and chanting about Kṛṣṇa. Pure devotional service is the highest achievement of human society. The seventh and eighth chapters of Bhagavad Gītā have explained pure devotional service to the Lord that is free from speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and fruitive activities. Those who are not purely sanctified may be attracted by different features of the Lord like the impersonal Brahma, Jyoti and localized Paramātmā. But a pure devotee directly takes to the service of the Supreme Lord. There is a beautiful poem about Lord Kṛṣṇa in which it is clearly stated that any person who is engaged in the worship of Devas is most unintelligent and cannot achieve at any time the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa.

The devotee in the beginning may sometimes fall from the standard, but still he should be considered superior to other philosophers and yogis. One who always engages in Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be understood to be a perfectly saintly person. His accidental non devotional activities will diminish and he will soon be situated without any doubt in complete perfection. The pure devotee has no actual chance to fall down because the Supreme Godhead personally takes care of his devotees. Therefore, the unintelligent person should take directly to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and happily live in this material world. Therefore, the intelligent person should take directly to the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and happily live in this material world. He will eventually receive the supreme award of Kṛṣṇa. Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to the ninth chapter of the Rmad Bhagavad Gītā in the matter of the most confidential knowledge.

Translation, Engage your mind always in thinking of me. Become my devotee, offer obeisances to me and worship me. Being completely absorbed in me. Surely you will come to me. Make heart. Lord Kṛṣṇa is giving very confidential advice to his devotee Arjuna. He’s telling Arjuna the guaranteed way, the sure way that Arjuna can reach him, the way that all of us can also reach Lord Kṛṣṇa. Previously Kṛṣṇa has explained his supreme position also. After this he will further explain his glories. He will show the Vista or Rūpa or the universal form. Kṛṣṇa is the origin, the source of existence, is the supreme absolute truth. In Brahma Saṁhitā it explains that Kṛṣṇa is the Parama Ishvara. He is the supreme Godhead. He Sat Chit Ananda Vigraha, his eternal blissful knowledge. His form is not different from himself.

Human beings have a body, have a mind and soul. The three selves are there. Ātmā Sukha Sara or subtle body and Stola Saorya, gross body. So sometimes people consider that Kṛṣṇa must also have a gross body and Misatma which is different. But the Lord, he is not constructed the way we are. We are actually made as the image of the Lord. We are a reflection. This human body is like a kind of replica, crude replica or reflection imitation of the Lord’s form. But the Lord his form is completely transcendental. There’s no difference in the Lord’s form and the Lord his form. That he is the ātmā. He is the super soul. He is the supreme soul. And that form is not different. He doesn’t have any body that he changes. There’s not a material covering. But this is a very common mistake.

People think that when Kṛṣṇa comes into the world, he takes a human body to do his activities. That even if he is God cannot come in the world except by taking a human form. But if you go deep into the science of Kṛṣṇa, you find that Kṛṣṇa does not accept this. He is saying that this is my original form. I directly descend from the spiritual world in this form. I never take a human form. Human form is like my form, but my form is not human. My form is spiritual. In fact, he clearly says in Gītā that those who think he’s taken a human body, they’re foolish like donkeys. He saidam manushing means manusha or human. Tanu means body. They are thinking that I have taken a human body. Those who think this, they are mudhas. They are foolish like the ass.

They don’t know anything about me. Param bhavam ajananto. They don’t know my supreme nature, Mahisharam that from me all the living entities are coming. I am the Lord of everything, of everyone. So the Lord, he does not have to take a human body. He doesn’t take reincarnation. He comes and he goes as he likes. He chooses who he wants to take as a parent. But to just keep the atheistic people in ignorance, he appears to do the activities like a human being. Although he has no need to do so. Also to teach Dharma. By his example, he follows the rules and regulations of the Vedas, although He has no reason to do so for his own purification. So rig veda also explains, oṁ Kṛṣṇa vai satchida nanda gana, Kṛṣṇa ādi purushah, Kṛṣṇa purushottamaha. The Kṛṣṇa is having the quality of sat chit ananda.

Human beings are the quality of Rajas, tamas, Sattva. But Ka’s quality is according to Rig Veda, Oṁ Kṛṣṇa voice, Sat chit Ananda Gana. He is having Sat chit Ananda, eternal blissful knowledge. So Kṛṣṇa is not affected by Karma. Kṛṣṇa is the originator of the world. He is beyond the Karma. So when we serve Kṛṣṇa, then Kṛṣṇa is taking responsibility for everything we do. So he takes the reactions to our Karma. Just like if someone works in the police or in military. When the commander gives the order and the soldier follows, the commander is responsible, not the soldier. So when we are following Kṛṣṇa he is responsible. But Kṛṣṇa, he can burn off unlimited karma. Karma cannot affect him. Just like if there’s some dirt on the ground, the sunlight will dry that up and gradually purify the dirt.

But the sun will not be affected. We may be affected, but sun will not be affected. So therefore Kṛṣṇa is saying, you simply think of me. You be my devotee. Why is it so important to think about Ka? Because Kṛṣṇa is transcendental. When we think about Kṛṣṇa, that purifies our mind. When we become the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, that purifies our whole existence, Mang Namas Guru Madhya Ji, Mang Namasguru. Where we worship Kṛṣṇa that purifies us. When we offer our obeisances, that purifies us. In America, when His Divine grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda was first preaching in New York City, he told the Americans, you bow down before Kṛṣṇa. So someone said, why should I bow down? That I don’t want to bow down. Why should I bow down? What will I gain by bowing down?

And Prabhupāda told him, you bow down and then you will realize why you should bow down. Because when we bow down before the Lord, that’s more important than all the Siddhi and all the talk. This is a practical expression of surrender. And by doing so, then Kṛṣṇa, he feels grateful. And he is the most grateful person, the most compassionate person. So if someone is bowing down to him, worshipping him, Kṛṣṇa reciprocates. According to good management techniques and principles. If an employee of the company does very good work, the company is supposed to reward the employee. That way they will feel loyal to the company. Saint Kṛṣṇa is a universal corporation. He is the most expert in rewarding his servitors. In fact, more than what they deserve, he gives.

The unfortunate thing is that due to mis propaganda, due to confusion and ignorance, people are not taking employment in Kṛṣṇa Corporation in his universal government. So normally it’s very difficult to get a place in Kṛṣṇa’s government. Everybody likes government job because of job security. But we see that governments are changing. They are also subject to various revolutions and other problems. But Ka’s government never changes. It is the most secure of all occupations. So we take the employment from Kṛṣṇa. Then our you see, eternal life, job security is there. So what is that occupation? That’s what he explains in this verse. You be his devotee, you bow down to him. You surrender to him. You worship him. Offer your obeisances. Think of him. He is our boss, he’s our protector, he’s our father. He’s our mother, he’s our friend. He’s our child, he’s our lover.

He’s everything. That’s what the devotee considers. Kṛṣṇa is Saravasya. He’s everything. So this is a wonderful experience to have Kṛṣṇa, to have everything. People want to have everything. But they may only get 1 crore or 10 crores. Or 1 billion or 10 billion of dollars. Nobody can say that I have everything. The richest man in the world cannot say I have all the money in the world. He may be the richest, but he doesn’t have all the money. There may still be others who are richer. Why? There are so many others who have money. But when you have Kṛṣṇa is everything. And you have Kṛṣṇa, you have everything. So there’s nothing more to obtain. So the great Rishis, the great Munis, they tried to achieve Kṛṣṇa.

So Kṛṣṇa has said that you don’t have to be a great Rishi and Muni or a great King to reach me. Women, merchants, workers, even people with a sinful background. They can all reach me if they surrender to me. Kṛṣṇa is a non sectarian. He will take anyone from any caste, color, creed, nationality, background. All these things are superficial. Designation for Kṛṣṇa doesn’t make any difference. These are all human creations. We have created these designations or these have socially come about. But these are at best superficial. They don’t affect the ātmā and the relationship of the soul with Kṛṣṇa. So anybody can take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, whatever their background. And Kṛṣṇa explains that if you take shelter of him, he protects you from all the reactions. You don’t have to worry about other things. He takes care of everything. It’s a package deal, turnkey operation.

You surrender to Kṛṣṇa, you worship Kṛṣṇa, become a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And he will watch out for you. You watch out for him and he watch out for you. So what can we do for Ka? We have very limited capacity. But Kṛṣṇa has unlimited capacity. But just like a small child serving the parent is very grateful. So the child cannot do anything very significant to help the parent. But out of love, the parent appreciates. If the daughter son says, Can I help you clean, mother, Father, can I help you in any way? Practically you don’t hear this much. But if they would say that, then you will be very happy. Similar Kṛṣṇa, he reciprocates more than what we can expect. There’s a. This morning someone asked me to tell the story of Haridas Thakur. Actually, Hadidas Thakur is a.

His history illustrates how Kṛṣṇa Bhakti is open for anyone. Actually he was born in a non Hindu family. And he took to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He began to chant hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa. Hare hare ram, hare ram, ram hare. But. And he was chanting for many years. And he was very famous. He became very famous because he was very powerful devotee. So at that time india there was other rulers with other religious priorities. So they called the ruler, called Haridas Thakur and asked why being born in another religion, why you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. But he said, you see, there’s only one God for everyone. And he has got different names in different languages. So in all the languages there are some names to call out on God.

But somehow or another, I became very much attracted to the Sanskrit names of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma Govinda. So this form is all attractive. This is supreme sweet form. So I am chanting these particular names. But I have no objection if anybody calls on God in any name they like. Why should anyone object if I, out of my own voluntary desire, I want to chant on the name of God as Kṛṣṇa and Ram. So that ruler, he was quite satisfied. But his religious advisor objected that this is not appropriate. This will encourage people too much liberality. They may also follow his example. We don’t want this. So you should have him arrested because he’s creating a potential problem. So that ruler had the Haridas Thakwa arrested for chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. And he was put in a prison.

So when he was in the prison, he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Ram, Hare Ram Ram Hari Hari. And he was very happy chanting. So the other prisoners, they got quite angry at him. Why you’re so happy, you being a prisoner in prison. What right do you have to be happy? You should be miserable like we are. And then Haridas Thakur said, why you are miserable? You should all be happy. So don’t joke with us. Why we should be happy we’re in prison. He said, my dear friends, just try to understand. You see, you are more fortunate than the people outside. Eh? What? Don’t joke with us. We are more fortunate than people outside. They are free. We are prisoners. Hadida Thakur said, no, actually everyone in the world is a prisoner. Whole world are prisoners.

They are all bound by their karmas. They are bound by their desires. They are in so many ways they are bound by the stringent laws of material world. The difference is they think they are free when actually they are bound by these laws. And you know your.

(Side B of the Cassette)

It. Then you can see how Ātmā can never be bound by anything material. Only the body can be limited. But the Ātmā cannot be limited by material things. So by chanting you come to your original spiritual vision. And thus you will achieve the liberated vision. So. Pretty soon he had the entire prison house chanting. They’re having nice kirtans in the prison. And all the prisoners became very happy. And they had regular Gītā classes, Bhāgavatam classes. The whole prison was people are going next to the prison. The superintendents and wardens are seeing the prisoners. Prisoners are all smiling. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Haribal. So what’s going on here? People are supposed to be suffering in prison. Everybody’s happy. They’re all getting a spiritual bliss. So the report went to that ruler that the whole prison now everybody’s chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. You put Haridas Thakur there.

Now whole prison is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. So all the prisoners are supposed to be punished. But they’re all very happy. They’re happier than we are. They’re having a good time. So the ruler called Harida stalker again, what you are doing, I put you in a prison. You should stop chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Instead you are making everyone else chant. So again Haridas Thakur explained. What’s the problem? What harm am I doing by chanting? I am bringing happiness to everyone. So why should you object if I chant? I am not harming anyone. But again his religious advisor told him that no, you should tell him he cannot chant. Otherwise he’s going to create very bad example. So then Haridaj Thakur. Was told by that ruler that I order you have to stop chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise I will give you the severest punishment.

The Hari Rastakur, he never chanted. Stop chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. He told my dear Lord, even if you cut me into little pieces, so long as one piece is left, it’s going to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kisha, Kishn Ram Hare Hare. So then he was ordered to be whipped in 22 marketplaces by caning. Even today I heard in Singapore they are still doing this caning. There they have a doctor stand by. Usually after three hits with a cane, someone goes unconscious. Very long cane. It develops intense velocity when it hits. It’s heavy shock on the system. Nobody can survive 25 lashes. At one time you die. Say after three, four hits. They’re usually unconscious. The doctor stops, does the treatment, they come back to consciousness. Then again they get new dose. People who overstay their visa in Singapore, they get whipped.

But in those days there Was no doctor. The intention was just kill him, whip him until he dies. 22 Marketplaces means short death. Each market will whip him so many dozen times. So he went to the market and there the people were protesting. They were screaming. They were saying, this unjust, this is not proper. But the soldiers kept the people away. They wanted to make an example of Haridas. The Haridas, as he was being whipped, he was praying. Actually, Kṛṣṇa was coming with his Sudarshan chakra to just finish off these torturers, these executioners. But that time Haridaas Thakur prayed that these executioners don’t know what they’re doing. It’s not their fault. Please forgive them. They know not what they do. I deserve to suffer because I have committed so many sinful activities. So for all my sins, this is just not even enough.

I deserve worse. So because he was praying to forgive the torturers, so Kṛṣṇa, he couldn’t punish them. So what Kṛṣṇa did is he personally came and he took the hits on his back, the whippings on his back. So Haridas Thakur, after the first market, he couldn’t feel anything. They were whipping and whipping, but it was having no effect because Kṛṣṇa was taking everything himself. So normally after 2, 3 marketplaces finished, they will die. But after 22 marketplaces, Harida’s Thakur was still alive. So when someone chants Hare Kṛṣṇa for significant period of time, purely without offense, they get all siddhis. All the perfections of the other yoga systems also come to the bhakti yogis automatically by the grace of Kṛṣṇa, without any separate endeavor. So Haridas Thakur had also achieved the Ashta siddhi.

He had mystic power, but as a bhakta, he didn’t use these mystic powers. He had no need to use them. But in any case, after the 22 market whippings, the executioners looked at Haridas Thakur, who was unscathed, unharmed. And they were sitting with their hands on their head. They are very frustrated. They are very sad. The Hadida Thakwar said, what is the matter? Why you two are so unhappy? They looked at him. We are very unhappy because you are alive. Why does being alive make you unhappy? Because after whipping you 22 marketplaces, you didn’t die. That means now the ruler will kill us. We didn’t do our job. He will say, we didn’t do our job properly. So Haridas Thakur was poor Dukkhaduki. He was very compassionate. He didn’t like to see anyone suffer.

So he said, you mean if I die, you will be happy oh, sir, we will be very happy if you die. Please die. We will appreciate. No problem. For you, I will die. So he laid down and he went into samadhi. He stopped breathing. He stopped his heartbeat. He went into suspended animation using his yogic siddhis. So then they felt no heartbeat, no breath. He’s dead. He’s dead. Wonderful, wonderful. He’s dead. They ran and told the ruler, look at. Okay, he’s dead. Now they went to see. Then they saw that Haridas Thakur was lying down. He was dead apparently. No breathing, no heartbeat. So then our ruler said, well, all right, so bury him. But his religious advisor told him, no, you shouldn’t bury him. You shouldn’t burn him. Because we don’t want his soul to have any peace. He has done such a sinful thing.

Rather you should throw him in the river. Let the dogs and the jackals and the birds, the vultures and the crows tear his body apart and let his soul wander the earth without peace. He’s a great sinner. So the ruler said, alright, okay, do that. So he told the two executioner, you throw him in the river. So they tried to move Hari Das Thakur. But because he was in yogic trance, he had assumed the mass of Kṛṣṇa. He had become unlimitedly heavy. So they couldn’t move him even an inch, even a millimeter. They are struggling. They’re not moving. So they bring more people. Help all you soldiers. Help everyone. Pushing, pushing. Nothing. They brought elephants. They tied elephants in chains. Pulling, goading. The elephants are screaming, but he’s not moving. So they are very frightened. What happened? Then?

All of a sudden, you see Hari Das Thakur, Kṛṣṇa is heavier than the heavier, heaviest. He’s lighter than the lightest. He became so light, he started to blow around in the wind like a balloon. So they quickly picked him up and he’s just floating. And they went and threw him in the water. But there he’s just floating on top of the water. And quickly he gets blown to the other side of the river. When the water touched, Hadidas Thakur, then Haridas Thakur, he became conscious and he looked around and he started to swim. And he swam to the other side of the river. And he got up and he started to chant, hareem. So the soldiers, the general, the ruler, they’re all amazed. What’s going on here? He’s alive. Then the ruler, he went and said, bring me a boat quickly.

And he went to the other side and he ran after Hadidas Thakur. And he fell down at his feet. And he said, my Lord, you forgive me. You are a great master. You are a great saint. I have committed so many offenses, I didn’t recognize you. I was wrongly advised. You please forgive me for my offenses. The Haridas Thaqwa said, I can only forgive you if you give the order that in your kingdom no one will obstruct anyone from chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa. Hari. Hari. Hari. Ram. Hari. Ram Ram. Ram. Hari Hari. So then he gave the order. Meanwhile his religious advisor also had come and he said, no, I don’t want to listen to you anymore. But that religious advice also fell down on Harida’s Thakur’s feet. Said you please forgive me for my offenses. I committed also great offense.

You are a great saint. You forgive me. So in this way everything ended very positively. Everyone could understand the glories of Haridas Thakur. So he was called as Namacharya by Lord Caitanya Mahprabhu. He’s the spiritual master of the Holy name. And he was such a great devotee that simply by hearing him, by seeing him, by hearing about him, one would get purified. He was day and night chanting, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Hare. So he was born in a another culture. But he took to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He fully surrendered to Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa fully reciprocated with him and he could achieve all the perfections. So if we surrender to Kṛṣṇa promises Jejitamaang Prapadyang Te tang Sativa Bajaam Yaham. According to how people surrender to me, I will reciprocate to them. As they worship me, I will worship them.

Those who try to cheat Kṛṣṇa like Kaṁsa Kṛṣṇa would cheat them. Those who dealt fairly with Kṛṣṇa would deal fairly with them. Those who would worship Kṛṣṇa would reciprocate with them. He would offer them respect. Those who would take full shelter of Kṛṣṇa would give them full shelter and protection. In the Bhāgavatam it mentions how Kṛṣṇa went to the kingdom of Maithila which is now Mytilla is partly in Bihar and partly in Nepal. Previously it was its own kingdom and the king of that place was Bahulaswa. And there was also one Brahmin. I believe his name was Sundaroopa. Is that the right name? Sundarpa? As far as I Sundaropa or Sundar Ananda, I am not 100% sure. Both were fully devoted to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

So when Kṛṣṇa, he went from Dwarka to Maithila then he was accompanied by so many ministers and generals and other advisers. So both the Brāhmaṇa Sundaroop and the Brahmin devotee and the Kshatriya devotee, they both received Kṛṣṇa. They both wanted Kṛṣṇa to come to their house. So Kṛṣṇa, he divided himself in two. Kṛṣṇa became two. And one of the forms went with Bahul Aswa and the other one went with a Brahmin devotee. So both thought that Kṛṣṇa has gone with me. They didn’t know that Kṛṣṇa went with the other. So when Kṛṣṇa went with Balaswa, he had the Brahmanas chanting mantras, he had the royal band, he had all the salutes, armed guards, full royal reception. Then offering him silken clothing, giving golden vessels, bathing his feet. Everything was done in a royal way, first class, giving jewels and other valuable gifts.

And when Kṛṣṇa went to his Brahmin devotee’s house, he was very poor. He could only offer Ka1 grass matt to sit. He didn’t have any golden pots. He only had clay pots or brass pots. So with these humble pots he was also bathing Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. He is offering Kṛṣṇa food on a banana leaf, not on a golden plate. So in this way, in his own way he was offering, but with full devotion he was offering. So Kṛṣṇa was accepting the devotion by the king as well as by the Brāhmaṇa. Poor Brahman. So Kṛṣṇa, one of Kṛṣṇa’s names is Bhavagrahi Janardhana. He accepts our Bhav, our devotional mood. There’s a story how husband and wife, they were preparing one offering for Kṛṣṇa. They had a temple of Kṛṣṇa and they were preparing some fruit, offering some nice feast they had made.

All of a sudden, Kṛṣṇa in the temple, in the kitchen, Kṛṣṇa himself, he came, he said, you give me the offering. So the husband, wife, they are so overjoyed. I mean, Kṛṣṇa has come. They are seeing Kṛṣṇa face to face. They immediately they bowed down and paid their obeisances. And they were just excited so much. Kṛṣṇa said, just give me the offering you want to offer me. You give me. So they quickly offered to Kṛṣṇa the offering. And next minute they saw that Kṛṣṇa is eating the banana peel. And the husband saw that in their excitement he had peeled a banana and given Kṛṣṇa the peel. And he is holding the banana and Kṛṣṇa is eating the peel. Then he said, what have I done? No, no, you take back the. Give me back the peel. You take the banana.

And Kṛṣṇa said, I don’t need your banana up here. Doesn’t make any difference to me. It’s your Mood of devotion. Your enthusiasm which has given me pleasure. Sitae Goprimdi Haryaribon So Kṛṣṇa accepts the mood of devotion. You see, according to our capacity we should serve the Lord as much as we can. This is the principle for the poor Brāhmaṇa. If he offers Kṛṣṇa some prasadam on banana leaf with a simple clay pot, it’s all right. But if the king is saying okay, I don’t take a banana leaf and he doesn’t offer, he says I don’t want to spend too much money, that won’t be very appropriate. According to his capacity he gave a royal reception. According to the Brāhmaṇa’s capacity, he gave his Brahminical reception. So according to our capacity we should serve and that will be appreciated by the Lord.

Whatever we give to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa never forgets. Just like Vipra Sudhama. Those who and Gujarat they know this story. Famous story Vipra Sudhava Others know also there’s a famous story from Bhagavat. How Kṛṣṇa’s Godbrother when he was in the ashram in Ujjain or Sandepani Muni at that time Sudama who was the Brahmin, he was also in ashram with Kṛṣṇa who was playing the part as Kshatriya. Although Kṛṣṇa is the supreme Lord so they had many pastimes. They’d go together and get wood in the forest. Sometime Vipra Sudhama became frightened. Kṛṣṇa would protect him. Various intimate pastimes they had. Later Kṛṣṇa graduated from his Gurukul studies. He went to Dwarka and Vipru Sudhama. He got married and he was doing his Brahminical activities. But Viprusuddhama became very poor. So his wife used to needle him, handpick him that you are having Kṛṣṇa as your friend.

He is the richest king in the whole world. He is the Lord himself. He has got all. Lakshmi is just serving his lotus feet. And you being his pure devotee, his intimate friend, you are so poor. Why don’t you go to him and get something from him? We are struggling here hand to mouth. Nothing is in the house. Look at my sari is ripped. I don’t have anything. So she was pushing her husband to get some material blessing from Kṛṣṇa. So finally Vipra Sudhama thought, anyway she’s sending me to Kṛṣṇa. Let me go see Kṛṣṇa. It’s been a long time. I like to see my old friend and said what? I should bring something to Kṛṣṇa. I don’t have anything to give him. So then he went begging and he got from few Neighboring houses. He got some flat rice.

He wrapped it in his dhoti, his chadar. And then he walked to Dwarka. As he’s walking, he’s remembering how when he was a child he was together with Kṛṣṇa. How all the things that they were doing. How wonderful Kṛṣṇa was, how beautiful. And he was practically having tears in his eyes. He was feeling so much devotion, so much love for Kṛṣṇa. Then he thought, when I get to Dwarka, who am I? I am just the poor Brāhmaṇa. He may not recognize me. He may not let me in the door. Even they may think, you know, who is this beggar? Like this. He was having some misgivings. But when he got to Dwarka, he saw this, a fabulous city in the ocean. And there’s big palaces and huge docks. Was there. People are going here and there. And then he came to the palace of Kṛṣṇa.

And there is a very opulent. Even in the palace there are so many jewels and gold everywhere. He was amazed at the opulence and the big guards are there. He was frightened. Maybe they won’t let me in. But as soon as he came, the doors opened. They said, you are Vipra Sudhamma, are you coming? The doors were wide open and he just went one after another. He didn’t tell anybody he’s coming. But somehow everyone knew that he was coming. And he went through the seven different gates. Finally he got right to the inner quarters. There Kṛṣṇa was waiting. He said, I have been waiting for you. What took you so long? How did you know I was coming? He said, I know everything. So then he said, I am blessed. Brāhmaṇa has come to my house.

So then Kṛṣṇa started to play the part as if he was a Kshatriya just to have fun with his devotee. So he said, so your Brāhmaṇa, you sit down. I have to offer you respect. We Kshatriyas had to worship the Brahmanas. So he started to bathe the feet of Vipra Surama. And Rukmiṇī, the Goddess of fortune was fanning him. And then Kṛṣṇa, after finishing the formalities, he sat by the side of Vipra Surama. And they started to talk. How have you been? How is everything? They were remembering all the things that happened with Sandapani, Muni and the Ashram and Bipur Sudhama being with Kṛṣṇa, he was just overwhelmed, in ecstasy. He was so happy he forgot everything. He couldn’t ask Kṛṣṇa anything. He wants to serve Kṛṣṇa. He wants to give everything to Kṛṣṇa.

How he can ask something from Kṛṣṇa, his relationship is not like a business deal. You’re my friend, so give me something. He couldn’t ask. He was shy also. How could he ask Kṛṣṇa something? Kṛṣṇa is so opulent and everyone. He couldn’t ask what’s beneath him to ask anything of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is so pleased, so grateful with his devotee. His devotee was giving him real love. He wasn’t asking anything from Kṛṣṇa. So Kṛṣṇa thought that this devotee is giving me the most valuable thing in the world. You can never find a true friend in this world. You can never find a true devotion or love from anyone. But this Vipra Sudhama is giving me unadulterated affection and love. So this is a priceless gift.

I’d like to give him something, but I have nothing to give that’s equivalent to that pure love and devotion he’s giving me. If I like to at least give him some material things. But if I tell him, I feel very shy. What is it? How can I give him something material for something so wonderful spiritually, he’s giving me his devotion. So Kṛṣṇa was also too shy to tell Vipuram, I want to give you something material. He thought this material thing is too insignificant. So Kṛṣṇa was so grateful. Then Kṛṣṇa, he asked, what you’re having for me, is this for me? And your clothes? Then Vipra Sudama looked around, saw the jewels and the diamonds and the gold and the marble columns and silk and everything. And he thought, I got some flat rice. How can I offer this flat rice to Ka?

This is not at all clean enough. Good enough for him. He’s getting much better things than this. So Vipram said, no, this is not good enough for you, the Kṛṣṇa. No, anything my devotee brings me is good enough for me. And he grabbed a cloth and Vipur Sudham is trying to stop it. No, no, don’t take it. But then Kṛṣṇa grabbed it and opened it. And he took out the Cheera. And he ate once. Mmm, this is so nice. My favorite Cheera. Flat rice. Mmm. And this is. You see, country made. We don’t get in the city. He took another bite. He was going to take the third bite in Lakshmi. She grabbed his hand, said, please, two is enough. So why say my Lord, when you take in one bite? I had to give him all the opulence of the world.

You take two bites. I had to give him everything equal to you. Now you take three bites. I had to give him more than you. Because he didn’t give his own thing. He begged from others. So then he took he gave more than his own capacity. So I had to give more than your opulence to him. And I can’t do that. There’s nothing more than your opulence. So don’t take free time. I will be very much hard pressed to reward him for you accepting his seva. So then when Vipressuddham after wonderful time with Kṛṣṇa, he went back to his village. Whole time he is remembering Kṛṣṇa. How nice Kṛṣṇa was. What a wonderful friend. Then he went back to his place. He said, what happened? Everything’s changed. Used to be kind of like a desert. Now it’s all gardens around here. Where’s my house?

Then he saw that where his house used to be there’s this big palace, all gardens and fountains. What’s going on here? What happened to my house? Then he saw that some beautiful lady is coming with so many. Like some lord’s wife with so many servants. So what’s all this? And then all of a sudden realized, this is my wife. This is my skinny wife. Now she’s all fed, she’s very healthy now she’s become so beautiful. Her full beauty is now manifest. So the wife said, look at Kṛṣṇa has sent all these things. He said that he couldn’t tell you because he was too shy to give Satsi. He just gave all this. So Vipra Sudama never asked Kṛṣṇa to give me anything. He couldn’t ask Kṛṣṇa gave anyway he knew that.

All right, your wife wants so okay, for your wife’s sake, you take it. You have the opulence. So Vipra Sudharma he accepted. But he used in Kṛṣṇa’s service, He used his house as a temple. He worshipped Kṛṣṇa in the house. They’re having kirtanas there. He was feeding all the other people with Kṛṣṇa Prashalam. So like this, if Kṛṣṇa has us in poverty or has us in wealth, we use whatever we have for Kṛṣṇa. And there’s no entanglement. Rather Kṛṣṇa, he will always be grateful. So this principle we see in his great devotees lives. But it all begins from very simple things. Kṛṣṇa said, think of me. It’s very easy to think of Kṛṣṇa. We can think of his pastimes, his qualities, his holy name. Easiest we can think of Kṛṣṇa as his name.

We can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Hare. Then automatically if we are chanting, we are thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Thinking of Kṛṣṇa’s name and thinking of Kṛṣṇa is the same. That’s also worship to Kṛṣṇa. Then we come, we bow down to Kṛṣṇa. We become devotee of the Lord. These are very simple things. You chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read Bhagavad Gītā, associate with the devotees. Take some prasadam. These are not difficult to do. Whether man or woman, whether young or old, anyone can do this. Dhruva Maharaj, Prahlāda Maharaj. They are five years old. They were greatest Bhaktas. Vishma is a great grandfather. He is at the deathbed. He is a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. He wants Kṛṣṇa to be present when he leaves his body. So whether young or old, anyone can be great devotee of the Lord.

Draupadi, Kunti Devī, great devotees of Kṛṣṇa, Ladies, so many men. Whether Kings, Brahmanas, Vaishyas, Nandamaharas, workers, there’s no restriction. Anyone can be devotee of the Lord. Whoever is a devotee, then Kṛṣṇa promises they will come to me. So we have to decide in our life what we want to do. We can lead our life, we can make some money. We can build a house. We grow old. Then we will leave the body. We will leave the house to the family descendants. Then we go on to the next birth. We don’t take the house with us. We don’t take the money with us. We don’t take the family members with us. What only thing we take with us is our devotion to God. Whatever devotion to Kṛṣṇa we have that we take with us to the next life. All the other things are only for this life.

So what we get in this life, if we use that for Ka’s service, that is a permanent asset spiritually. So that’s why human life is meant side by side. We take care of the immediate necessities. Kṛṣṇa never said to neglect that he himself gave the house to Vipra Sudama. At the same time, it’s our duty to be Kṛṣṇa conscious. So that’s a decision we have to make. Whether we want. What do we want to do when we leave our body. Whether we want to become a dog in our next life. Whether we want to become animal in our next life. Whether we want to become human being, want to become a Deva or want to go back to Kṛṣṇa. How many of you want to take birth as animal in your next life?

How many of you want to take birth again in the material world? How many of you want to go back to Godhead, back to Kṛṣṇa? Anybody wants to go back to Ka? How many want moksha of some sort? Okay, so this is the thing. Few people are just abstaining from the vote. It’s alright. But everyone that voted, they all wanted to get some form of Mukti or go back to Kṛṣṇa. So here in the Vedas, you know, there’s different paths. There’s Karma, there’s Jñāna and Yoga and Bhakti. These are the main paths. Everything else is simply a sub category of these four categories. Do good works. Do good works. There’s Karma. So if you do good karmas, you can get a Swarga, you can get a Petri Lok. But nowadays if you do good works in the Shastra, there’s no get. There’s no way.

It says by doing good works you can get Moksha or you go back to Kṛṣṇa. It’s not at all there. But even if somebody wants to do good works, it is very hard to do properly good works. Who can follow all the Vedic rules and regulations, all the agamas, all the Samskaras properly? It’s very difficult in this age. And even if you do, you only get Swarga maximum. And Swarga means you stay there sometime again you come back down as human being. Abrahman Bhubhuvana Lok e Punarvitin Arjuna in Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says even you go to Brahmaloka, you have to come back down again. Poor Navarti and Arjuna, again you fall down. Svarga is not eternal. They also have birth and death. So how many want to achieve the success by following this karma? So then there’s a process of Ghana. Gana is very popular.

Especially in South India, North India, all over India, Ghana is very popular. A lot of people are doing Gana Yajnas, Gana very good for the intellectuals. Of course by Gana we can stimulate our mind. We can understand something about absolute truth. What is the difference between matter and spirit? Ghana has got very good potential for this. But according to Shankaracharya who is a principal exponent of Ghana, if you want to achieve moksha then you have to become a Sannyāsī. Nobody can get moksha by process of Jñāna and be Agrihasti. That’s why all these you see Gyanis, they become sannyasis. Those who want to, you can make some progress. But to get moksha you have to take sannyas. To give up all these Mayas, Jagat, Mithya, Brahma, Satya, this is their slogan. World is false. Absolute truth is the truth.

So how many of you are immediately ready to take up sannyas? Leave aside all these worldly things and completely surrender to the forest, become sannyasis. One person in the back, he’s ready rear soul. But 99.9% nobody raised their hand. It is not practical. How we can give up everything like that and just abruptly take sannyas that will be also artificial. Lord Caitanya, he didn’t recommend. In fact, some grihasta came to him, said, I feel frustrated with my family life. I want to take sannyas. Then Lord Caitanya chastised him, don’t speak all this nonsense. Don’t think about leaving your family. You stay in your family. You practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You preach to others, you preach to your family members. In this way, you make your family your own neighborhood, your own place, your people. You make them God conscious.

Everyone you meet, you tell them about Ka’s glories. There’s a practical don’t think about abruptly artificially giving up things. This is Lord Chaitanya called it Morkat vairagya, monkey renunciation. We look at the monkeys in the forest. You think they are very renounced. They’re living, they have no clothes. But monkeys are not renounced, they’re bogis. They’re always trying to enjoy. So just because someone lives in a forest doesn’t mean he’s a bairagi. That’s called Marcat vairagya, monkey renunciation. If we try to give up and at the same time we want to enjoy. So this is not recommended. Anyway, none of you accepted that it’s not practical also, of course there’s also process of Yoga. You can do Ashtanga Yoga.

You sit day after day in a quiet place on kusa grass, meditating, observing pranayama, concentrating on the tip of your nose, hours and hours, leave off the leaves in the forest or berries and simply meditate. You do that for 10, 20 years or few lifetimes, and you can also achieve liberation. So how many are willing to do this? You give up all other activities and just sit down and meditate without moving. So in Muscat, we don’t have many people who are prepared to do that. So how you are going to achieve moksha, how you are going to achieve perfection in your life? Let’s get off the speculative platform, off all the dreaming and all the sentiment. Get to practical reality. The only way that one can achieve perfection in Age of Kali is by chanting the holy name, by practicing Bhakti Yoga.

All these alternatives were given to Arjuna, who is much better man than any of us. By thousand million times he rejected everything and he accepted Bhakti Yoga. So it’s simply our own, you see, playing that, we thinking, what about Jñāna? What about Karma? What about Yoga? What is not practical? What is practical is what Kṛṣṇa finally presented and what was finally accepted by Arjuna which is exemplified by this verse. Manmana Bhavamat Bhakto Madh Dya Ji Mang namaskuru. You become my devotee. You think of me, bow down to me, worship me. Then you come to me, you be absorbed in me. So therefore the Vedas are saying in aids of Kali you chant the holy name, Chant the holy name of Hari. Hariyanama Haryanamaiva Kevalam Kalova Nastiva Nasteeva Gathir Anyatra. There’s no other way, no other way.

Not by Karma, not by Gana, not by Yoga, Gautiranya tha it’s not practical. They are very good in Satya Yuga Tretā Yuga Darpa Yuga. We are in Kali Yuga. No one has that stamina, that environment, that facility. In any case, this also the easier method. So Chaitanya Mahāprabhu has opened up the Bandar. He’s opened up Prem Bandar, the storehouse.