19930726 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.1.4-5

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on July 26th 1993 in Bangalore, in Karnataka, India. The class begins with a reading from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5th canto, chapter 1, verse 4 and 5.

saṁśayo ’yaṁ mahān brahman
dārāgāra-sutādiṣu
saktasya yat siddhir abhūt
kṛṣṇe ca matir acyutā
(ŚB 5.1.4-5)

saṁśayaḥ — doubt; ayam — this; mahān — great; brahman — O brāhmaṇa; dāra — to the wife; āgāra — home; suta — children; ādiṣu — and so on; saktasya — of a person attached; yat — because; siddhiḥ — perfection; abhūt — became; kṛṣṇe — unto Kṛṣṇa; ca — also; matiḥ — attachment; acyutā — infallible.

Translation by His Divine Grace Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda: The King continued: O great brāhmaṇa, this is my great doubt. How was it possible for a person like King Priyavrata, who was so attached to wife, children and home, to achieve the topmost infallible perfection in Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: King Parīkṣit wondered how a person so attached to wife, children and home could become so perfectly Kṛṣṇa conscious .

matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā 
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām

A gṛhavrata, one who has taken a vow to execute family duties, has no chance to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. This is because most gṛhavratas are guided by sense gratification and therefore gradually glide down to the darkest regions of material existence (adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisram). How can they possibly become perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness? Mahārāja Parīkṣit asked Śukadeva Gosvāmī to resolve this great doubt.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, I’m too anxious to hear what Śukadeva Gosvāmī is going to answer in the next verse, which is not in a, it’s in a prose form. So, we can just go on.

śrī-śuka uvāca

bāḍham uktaṁ bhagavata uttamaślokasya śrīmac-caraṇāravinda- makaranda-rasa āveśita-cetaso bhāgavata-paramahaṁsa-dayita-kathāṁ kiñcid antarāya-vihatāṁ svāṁ śivatamāṁ padavīṁ na prāyeṇa hinvanti.

Translation: Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: What you have said is correct. The glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is praised in eloquent, transcendental verses by such exalted personalities as Brahmā, are very pleasing to great devotees and liberated persons. One who is attached to the nectarean honey of the Lord’s lotus feet, and whose mind is always absorbed in His glories, may sometimes be checked by some impediment, but he still never gives up the exalted position he has acquired.

Purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda: Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī accepted both of the King’s propositions — that a person who is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness cannot embrace materialistic life again and that one who has embraced materialistic life cannot take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness at any stage of his existence. Although accepting both these statements, Śukadeva Gosvāmī qualified them by saying that a person who has once absorbed his mind in the glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead may sometimes be influenced by impediments but he still does not give up his exalted devotional position.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, there are two kinds of impediments to devotional service. The first is an offense at the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava. This is called vaiṣṇava-aparādha. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu warned His devotees not to commit vaiṣṇava-aparādha, which He described as the mad elephant offense. When a mad elephant enters a beautiful garden, it destroys everything, leaving a barren field. Similarly, the power of vaiṣṇava-aparādha is so great that even an advanced devotee becomes almost devoid of his spiritual assets if he commits it. Since Kṛṣṇa consciousness is eternal, it cannot be destroyed altogether, but advancement may be checked for the time being. Thus vaiṣṇava-aparādha is one kind of impediment to devotional service. Sometimes, however, the Supreme Personality of Godhead or His devotee desires to impede one’s devotional service. For example, Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa were formerly Jaya and Vijaya, the gatekeepers in Vaikuṇṭha, but by the desire of the Lord they became His enemies for three lives. Thus, the desire of the Lord is another kind of impediment. But in both cases, the pure devotee, once advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, cannot be lost. Following the orders of his superiors (Svāyambhuva and Lord Brahmā), Priyavrata accepted family life, but this did not mean he lost his position in devotional service. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is perfect and eternal, and therefore it cannot be lost under any circumstances. Because the material world is full of obstructions to advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, there may appear to be many impediments, yet Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, declares in Bhagavad-gītā (9.31), kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: once one has taken shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, he cannot be lost.

In this verse, the word śivatamām is very significant. Śivatamām means “the most auspicious.” The devotional path is so auspicious that a devotee cannot be lost under any circumstances. This is described in the Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā by the Lord Himself. Pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate: “My dear Arjuna, for a devotee there is no question of being lost, either in this life or in the next.” (Bg. 6.40) In Bhagavad-gītā (6.43) the Lord clearly explains how this is so.

tatra taṁ buddhi-saṁyogaṁ 
labhate paurva-dehikam 
yatate ca tato bhūyaḥ 
saṁsiddhau kuru-nandana

By the order of the Lord, a perfect devotee sometimes comes to this material world like an ordinary human being. Because of his previous practice, such a perfect devotee naturally becomes attached to devotional service, apparently without cause. Despite all kinds of impediments due to surrounding circumstances, he automatically perseveres in devotional service and gradually advances until he once again becomes perfect. Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura had been an advanced devotee in his previous life, but in his next life he became greatly fallen and was thus attached to a prostitute. Suddenly, however, his entire behavior was changed by the words of the very prostitute who had so much attracted him, and he became a great devotee. In the lives of exalted devotees, there are many such instances, proving that once one has taken to the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord he cannot be lost (kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati).

The fact is, however, that one becomes a devotee when he is completely freed from all reactions to sinful life. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (7.28):

yeṣāṁ tv anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ 
janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām 
te dvanda-moha-nirmuktā 
bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

“Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of illusion engage themselves in My service with determination.” On the other hand, as Prahlāda Mahārāja said:

matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā 
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām

A person who is too attached to materialistic family life — home, family, wife, children and so on — cannot develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

These apparent contradictions are resolved in the life of a devotee by the grace of the Supreme Lord, and therefore a devotee is never bereft of his position on the path of liberation, which is described in this verse as śivatamāṁ padavīm.

Oṁ tat sat!

Thus, end the Bhaktivedānta Swami translation and purport to Text 4 and 5 of Chapter 1, Canto 5 of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the matter of The Activities of Mahārāja Priyavrata.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Priyavrata was a prince. He got the shelter of Nārada Muni, he achieved perfection in devotional service. But Svāyambhuva Manu and Brahmā requested him to take up the kingdom, of ruling the universe. And to be a king, then you have to also be married. So, this was a big question for Priyavrata also, that if I take all this materialistic activity, isn’t it dangerous for me? These are very important verses because basically speaking, in Kali-yuga, taking the sannyāsa-āśrama is prohibited. There’s some prohibition.

Only under some, strict type of sannyāsa that was followed in previous ages, of going in the forest and living off the berries and roots and so on, the karma-sannyāsa is totally prohibited.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave some exception for tridaṇḍi-sannyāsa, where one is engaging their thought, word and deeds in Kṛṣṇa’s service. This is a type of active sannyāsa. But in any case, five things were prohibited in Kali-yuga and one of them is taking the sannyāsa-āśrama. So then everyone is a gṛhastha, or the vast majority of people.

And Prahlāda Mahārāja said if someone’s too attached to the family life, they cannot become Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then how the people in this age be Kṛṣṇa conscious? How will they get liberation? It’s a very practical problem. The Śaṅkara school or the advaita school, they clearly say unless you take sannyāsa, there’s no hope of mokṣa.

If anybody wants to follow the advaita philosophy and does not intend to take sannyāsa, that means that he’s doomed, to not get mokṣa in this life. Because that school does not know any means of achieving mukti outside of sannyāsa. This is the fact. And that’s the normal understanding by many followers of the Vedas.

But here in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, some very confidential information is being given. How someone even in the household life can achieve perfection. How they can go back to home, back to Kṛṣṇa. If anyone who is a gṛhastha wants to achieve liberation at the end of this life, that means they have to follow this process of bhakti-yoga. No other process gives out any hope for the gṛha-vratās - taking care of money, house, wife, children, possessions, society, friendship, all these things are very absorbing, and one becomes attached to the material world and identifies that I am this body and this body possesses all of these things, these are mine, ‘aham mama’.

So, in this way they become totally entangled in māyā,in the material energy and it’s like., it’s called by Prahlād as “andha-kūpam” as a dark well. You fall into the dark well, and how to get out? Very difficult situation.

So, but Prahlāda Mahārāja himself after realizing Narasiṁhadeva, he entered into gṛhastha life, and he achieved perfection. Because he was ordered by Narasiṁhadeva to take the position of his father. Being the crown prince, his father was dead, he should become the next ruler. And once you are ruler, means you have to take to gṛhastha, cannot be a king without a queen according to the injunction of the śāstra.

Also, to be a rāja-guru you have to be a gṛhastha, because you have to be able to advise the king in all affairs. So, since the king is a gṛhastha, he may need so many advise about gṛhastha life. So rāja-guru should also be a gṛhastha. Also, the rāja-guru has to sit in the rāja-sabhā in which case has to deal with so many things. So, for various reasons, rāja-gurus generally speaking became gṛhasthas. So then how does this work? This was the question Parīkṣit Mahārāja was asking.

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is explaining the principle and later it will be described, described in great detail. The principle he said if somebody is fixed in devotional service, then they don’t get diverted from their devotional service. Sometimes there might be an impediment, they may get slowed down.

Just like you want to go from here to the airport, say, and it happens to be the rush hour. So, there are many impediments, and you can only go slowly in the traffic jam. Then once you clear the traffic jam, you can go again at the full speed.

So, here in this case a certain situation, it might be an impediment but that doesn’t mean that you are not going forward but your velocity has decreased very much. So that’s one circumstance.

If one has committed vaiṣṇava-aparādha practically speaking their advancement is reduced to almost nothing for a long time.

Sometimes the family life may also be an impediment which slows down one’s spiritual advancement. Another scenario of course is that one is very careful and being very attached to Kṛṣṇa. Even in the family life, they utilize everything in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Then in that case, the family life doesn’t become a big impediment.

There’s a famous story about the gṛhastha disciple of Rāmānujācārya which I mentioned here before I believe. How he was tested by Rāmānuja, and his wife had all the gold stolen by two disciples, she was lying on the bed, all the gold was taken off one side. Then she thought these are my guru’s disciples, so my godbrothers, they need money or something, there must be some need in the āśrama.

She thought let me roll over the other side, they can take the other jewels as well. When she rolled over, they got frightened that she was waking up and they ran off. The husband came back, they were listening, what did he say. And the husband saw, wife is having one earring, one bracelet, other side no ornament.

So why this half decorated? She explained that what happened, how she turned over and he said why half? Why they didn’t take everything? Well, I was lying on one side then I turned over to give them the other half. He said oh you made a great mistake; you shouldn’t have moved. Somehow, they would have gotten it all. Because you thought you are the giver, this was your possession, you are giving it to the guru.

Therefore, Kṛṣṇa did not take all of your possession. We are cursed, we could not give everything to guru when he wanted. As you thought this was yours to give, you had that possessive attitude. They were astonished to hear, hear this gṛhastha, how he was so detached from all these possessions. He took everything as property of guru and Kṛṣṇa and was simply using in Their service.

A similar much lesser test was done to the sannyāsīs where some of their kaupīnas were taken and some of their cloth was, a little piece was ripped off the edge.

When the sannyāsīs went, they tried to put on the dhotis, they saw that few inches were missing, they started accusing one another and became a big argument, yelling and shouting and nobody was coming to the class.

So Rāmānujācārya finally had to send someone there and settled out, called all the sannyāsis and settled the whole thing.

So, people before had asked who is more attached? Why do you take so much service from your gṛhastha disciple when there are so many sannyāsīs.

So then Rāmānujācārya, he reminded everyone, remember what happened, what you said? Now you, I have done this thing, now you analyze who is more detached and who is more attached.

The sannyāsīs lost a small piece of cloth and they are fighting with each other, who has taken the cloth and here the gṛhastha, they lost all the… half the gold has been taken and they are complaining why they couldn’t give it all to their guru. Then the sannyāsīs were ashamed, how they had given up the whole world but for a little piece of cloth they were still attached.

So, the actual consciousness one needs to achieve is to be ‘nirmama’, to be actually ‘niṣkiñcana’ - to have nothing. Having nothing can be achieved by a gṛhastha if he accepts everything as Kṛṣṇa’s. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura prayed

mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor 
arpilū tuwā pade, nanda-kiśor!

“My mind, my body, my household, whatever normally one can consider as theirs, whatever it might be, I’m simply offering at Your lotus feet Nanda-kiśora. Everything is Yours”.

If someone takes up their service in that attitude, then it will not be a big impediment. But if one is being very attached and keeping everything and thinking ok this is all mine. I will give little bit to Kṛṣṇa, then it is difficult to them to get a taste for the nectar of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

If one thinks everything is Kṛṣṇa’s and He has given me this service, and from this I should do something to serve Him. That everything is His, when they have the proper attitude, it will not be an impediment. So, it is very important to develop the proper attitude, especially if one is entering into the gṛhastha life. The varṇāśrama system was that people would first be brahmacārī, learn vairāgya-vidyā. Then apply these things practically when they enter the gṛhastha life.

Nowadays not much brahmacārī-āśrama is existing in the world. People are going to the primary school, secondary school, university, the whole time they are gṛhavratas. They may be unmarried but hardly they are practicing brahmacarya.

Girls are supposed to be kumārīs, they are supposed to be chaste. But now you go into the modern homes, you see in the rooms of the girls, so many rock ‘n’ roll stars are there. So instead of keeping the mind pure, they’re already getting attached to so many idols. Not the Deity, not the mūrti, but idol - rock ‘n’ roll idol.

So, no kumārī, no brahmacarya, then they enter into gṛhastha life. Where is the hope? Then if somebody wants to practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness they say, “No! No! Not now! We are too young!” Wait till we are all ready to just follow the death.

Just the Sunday before last, one of my disciples had to leave the body, passed away. Literally she took initiation during the Gaura Pūrṇimā festival. That time she said that I’ve been chanting for some years, the doctors say that I have cancer, I’m going to die. I want to take initiation before I die. I want to fully surrender to Kṛṣṇa.

So, she went back to Italy, went to the hospital to check up and then they said that your situation is bad. May be one month. Then suddenly she got sick, even in the hospital they did double check and they said, “No, you have only two days to live, maximum one or two days.” They have no hope… “we have no cure for you now. Your cancer has gone all over your body and there is no hope. What do you want to do?” “I want to go to the temple right away, I want to leave my body in the temple where I can remember Kṛṣṇa.”

So, the hospital arranged ambulance to take from the hospital to the temple. I think in history this may be the first time an ambulance is going from the hospital to the temple. Everyone is going to the hospital by ambulance.

But here, ambulance was just the reverse, to the spiritual hospital. Material hospital failed, now you go to the spiritual hospital. So she was taken to the temple, and they gave a room and there she was hearing the… she was thinking you know, all the devotees were chanting around her, reading the Bhāgavatam and śāstra. And with all the devotees chanting and she is praying she could leave her body.

Even Madhusevita Prabhu was there at that moment. It’s a very opportune way to leave the body. Reminds how Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja, he asked how long I have to live, they told him one moment, what do you want from us?

The devas asked. Nothing, thank you very much. I want to go back quickly, give me a quick ride, back to my temple, so I can leave my body there. I don’t need anything else from you.

So, he went zoop, right back to his temple and then surrendered to Kṛṣṇa and he got perfection in one moment. She went to hospital, and got the information, one or two days, what do you want? Get me back to the temple right away, quick and then chanting with all the devotees, leaving the body.

So, in this world, nobody can say how long they have to live, what is going to happen. And normally what happens is people are not able to take shelter of Kṛṣṇa at that moment. They are dying, they are thinking where is my son? This thing he has to take care of this money I buried. And this safe, and this secret account, and this thing in the business and he had to get the younger sister married. And then there is this thing and then what about… you know so many, there’s thinking about how to wind up. And so they are leaving with all these thoughts in their mind and they are not able to focus on Kṛṣṇa… went to see the father or brother or one relative and all the relatives are there. He’s dying, doctors say he is dying.

But there they are no nothing to worry about, it will be alright, everything you know, they are all like you know, they don’t know what to say and they are all like kind of freaked out. The husband’s dying, the father’s dying they are all so just there you know, no it will be alright and this that, saying something. They don’t know what to say.

So, this one devotee saw, and he came, so alright, give me 10 minutes with my father. Please mother, everyone, just leave the room, closed the room, and said “Father, you are dying, you are leaving your body.” Then explained him briefly, a crash course, three minutes, what is life, what is death. Now you take shelter, you just repeat after me, you are going to die. Now you have to, just once at least say the names of God. “Okay! Okay! Whatever you say!” And had him repeat

“Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”.

Gave some tulasī, gave some garland, gave something at least okay, one time what more can he do. All the relatives, they don’t know what to say, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know at time of death they are just thinking you know everything will be alright, in a state of shock you know.

Devotee is actually practical. What is life, what is death, don’t play around, take shelter of Kṛṣṇa, this is your last chance. These are science. Whether one is a… may be somewhere wasted their student life, wasted so much of their family life, whatever stage they are in, they should take shelter of Kṛṣṇa.

Even if they are in the family life, they can still take shelter of Kṛṣṇa. Then they have to adjust their outlook of life. That happens with the help of the holy names

“Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare”

So normally this is not possible but sometimes by the mercy of a great devotee like Nārada Muni or some devotee, then someone gets shook in, they are taken out from that illusion. And they are able to take full shelter of Kṛṣṇa, even when they are in this family life or when they are in this illusion.

So, this is why the most important thing in the world is to have many devotees. Because one devotee can not only save himself can save his family, can save so many relatives, can save so many people. One pure devotee can save the whole world, whole universe.

So, this science, now we are giving a practical explanation, how it is working in the life of Priyavrata. Someone who had achieved Kṛṣṇa consciousness, now he is been ordered by his superiors to go into the gṛhastha life.

But they were aware also that the dangers are there and then he would have to protect himself. Priyavrata was so advanced you see. But in this present day and age, people are not so advanced, how they will be able to maintain?

The only hope is every day if they do chanting and Deity worship, make their house into a temple. Have deity or come to the temple regularly, worship the deities, associate with the devotees. Kṛṣṇa has to be their main family, Kṛṣṇa is their mother, Kṛṣṇa is their father, Kṛṣṇa is their life and soul, and other family is subordinate family.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in the Nāmahaṭṭa bhajana, he explains “karo kṛṣṇa-saṁsara, chāḍi’ anācār”, make a Kṛṣṇa conscious family, give up all illicit activities, all forbidden activities. “kṛṣṇa mātā, kṛṣṇa pitā, kṛṣṇa dhana-prāṇa”, Kṛṣṇa is your mother, Kṛṣṇa is your father, Kṛṣṇa is your life, your treasure, your soul everything. With this attitude you can be Kṛṣṇa conscious, by making Kṛṣṇa the center of existence. We can see, one can remain brahmacārī, then obviously you avoid so many risks, you avoid so many dangers. Priyavrata didn’t want to enter gṛha, he was compelled to.

Somehow, he was protected. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he didn’t want to, he was ordered by Narahari Ṭhākura to take gṛha. So he could be the raja guru for the king of Bana Viṣṇupur and he made the whole kingdom Kṛṣṇa conscious. But many devotees like Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, he remained brahmacārī his whole life.

It is advantageous for preaching and giving all of the energy to Kṛṣṇa without diverting. In some cases, it’s not practical or not suitable for a particular person. But if one is able to maintain, there is obvious advantages. If one has to enter gṛhastha-āśrama, then it should be done in this way, Kṛṣṇa consciously if you want to achieve perfection in this life.

Thank you very much!

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Any questions?

Jayapatākā Swami: One of the others mi… one is having children in the brother… by the brother. It used to be if one couldn’t have children, the brother could. Just like the Pāṇḍavas were born. Then that’s prohibited.

Then gomedha, aśvamedha is prohibited. Brāhmaṇas are not powerful enough to bring back the dead horse to life. What are the other two? Uh? Aśvamedha.., offering any kind of meats or bali to the pitṛs. Gomedha, aśvamedha, then offering flesh to the pitṛs, others? And sannyāsa. So, it is karma-sannyāsa. That’s why those sannyāsīs shave their śikhā, throw away their brāhmaṇa thread, they don’t do any work, touch no fire, that type of sannyāsa prohibited. You see, the Vaiṣṇava sannyāsa, their words, thoughts, and deeds everything they are offering.

So, they are always busy. Even you may see they are driving a car, or they are actually sometime Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa Mahārāja, he drove me sometime in his car in Sweden. He’s on radio show and we do so many things for Kṛṣṇa’s service. The idea is they should use their words, their activities, their body, & their mind, “mana, kāya, vākya” in the service of Kṛṣṇa, guided by the intelligence.

So, the tridaṇḍi we are carrying, this three, words, deeds and thoughts all offered to Kṛṣṇa, controlled by the intelligence and the ātma. So therefore, we keep also the śikhā and the brāhmaṇa thread. We don’t give up work. We are not karma-sannyāsa. We don’t renounce sann… karma but we renounce material activity. We shouldn’t do anything material. And of course, one has to be celibate.

Any other question? Yes.

Jayapatākā Swami: Carry over from the previous yuga.

Question: How can you know whether the sentiment you feel while chanting is real or is something material?

Jayapatākā Swami: There are certain symptoms are mentioned in the ‘Nectar of Devotion’ and ‘Caitanya-caritāmṛta’. If those symptoms match up. If the other subsidiary symptoms are also there, the anubhāvas. Then these are confirmations that it’s actually real ecstasy.

But in any case, one can always approach the guru and explain what happened and get confirmed whether it’s a real ecstasy or not, if there is any doubt. Caitanya Mahāprabhu did that, approached His guru and asked whether His ecstasies, they were illusion or something. And then His guru confirmed that no, these are the real ecstasies, you have love of Kṛṣṇa.

Ecstasy may come in a very advanced stage or may come for a moment as a little preview of future things to happen. That’s called like they are seeing the light in the sky before the sun rises, or ābhāsa.

So, there is different degrees of ecstasy. Maybe someone gets a little glimpse of ecstasy but doesn’t stay, that’s the preliminary stage. Then when one is more purified and takes more shelter of Kṛṣṇa, then that ecstasy becomes steady. It’s called sthāyi-bhāva - fixed ecstasy and one is always feeling spiritual bliss in the service of Kṛṣṇa.

So we want… we may by Lord Caitanya’s mercy, He gives a little preview of ecstasy. So many devotees say experience in the kīrtana. In some festival, a little spiritual ecstasy. It’s like an impetus. You want to go on getting purified and then one will be fixed in that ecstasy without any cessation.

Question: Does one become a gṛhastha because of previous karma?

Jayapatākā Swami: What do you say about that, Mahārāja?

If you are not a pure devotee, Mahārāja’s opinion is that you become gṛhastha by previous karma. Some people may have sannyāsa karma. But that doesn’t mean that they will be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. They maybe have a sannyāsī tendency.

But somebody fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, even though their karma may be to get married, they can also be transcendental. They can remain as a sannyāsī. Or someone may have a sannyāsa-yoga, they should be sannyāsī but if they are ordered that you have to get married, they might also take that up. They can do anything for Kṛṣṇa.

So, by karma there is some tendencies. Certainly, that’s what the astrologers, they look so. Like for instance someone mentioned Madhva, they understand that they looked at the chart, who has got the sannyāsa-yoga, they pick those people to be sannyāsīs. So already got that karmic tendency. We don’t have that type of predisposition. We don’t take the astrologer with chart to giving someone sannyāsa. We see whether someone has that… is able to absorb themself in a renounced way for some period of time.

So, the point is that devotional service can change your karma. Devotional service can adjust things by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. He is the Karma-dātā; He is the one who is giving the karma-phala. So, He can change someone’s karma. Sometime astrologer looks at the chart, how did you get there, how did you become a devotee? According to your chart you should be a real bhogī.

One day a devotee said I don’t understand how I became a devotee. My whole life I’m simply into sense gratification. And Prabhupāda said, I made your good fortune for you. So, by some blessing of a great devotee, one can also change their situation.

So, we have certain amount of freewill and we can decide in which way we should perform devotional service after studying so many factors.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Thank you!