19950813 Bhagavad-gītā 17.5-6

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Maharāja on August 13^th, 1995 in Bhaktivedanta Manor, London, UK. The class begins from a reading from the Bhagavad-gītā  chapter 17 verse 5-6.

aśāstra-vihitaṁ ghoraṁ
tapyante ye tapo janāḥ
dambhāhaṅkāra-saṁyuktāḥ
kāma-rāga-balānvitāḥ 

karṣayantaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ
bhūta-grāmam acetasaḥ
māṁ caivāntaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ
tān viddhy āsura-niścayān

Translation: Those who undergo severe austerities and penances not recommended in the scriptures, performing them out of pride and egoism, who are impelled by lust and attachment, who are foolish and who torture the material elements of the body as well as the Supersoul dwelling within, are to be known as demons.

Purport: There are persons who manufacture modes of austerity and penance which are not mentioned in the scriptural injunctions. For instance, fasting for some ulterior purpose, such as to promote a purely political end, is not mentioned in the scriptural directions. The scriptures recommend fasting for spiritual advancement, not for some political end or social purpose. Persons who take to such austerities are, according to Bhagavad-gītā, certainly demoniac. Their acts are against the scriptural injunctions and are not beneficial for the people in general. Actually, they act out of pride, false ego, lust and attachment for material enjoyment. By such activities, not only is the combination of material elements of which the body is constructed disturbed, but also the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself living within the body. Such unauthorized fasting or austerities for some political end are certainly very disturbing to others. They are not mentioned in the Vedic literature. A demoniac person may think that he can force his enemy or other parties to comply with his desire by this method, but sometimes one dies by such fasting. These acts are not approved by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He says that those who engage in them are demons. Such demonstrations are insults to the Supreme Personality of Godhead because they are enacted in disobedience to the Vedic scriptural injunctions. The word acetasaḥ is significant in this connection. Persons of normal mental condition must obey the scriptural injunctions. Those who are not in such a position neglect and disobey the scriptures and manufacture their own way of austerities and penances. One should always remember the ultimate end of the demoniac people, as described in the previous chapter. The Lord forces them to take birth in the wombs of demoniac persons. Consequently they will live by demoniac principles life after life without knowing their relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If, however, such persons are fortunate enough to be guided by a spiritual master who can direct them to the path of Vedic wisdom, they can get out of this entanglement and ultimately achieve the supreme goal.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to text 5 and 6 of chapter 17 in the matter of Divisions of Faith.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Lord Kṛṣṇa here describing that every kind of austerity or penance is not the same. We should do austerities and penances for the pleasure of the Supreme Lord. ‘yajño vai viṣṇuḥ, austerities are meant, yajñas or sacrifices are meant for the pleasure of Viṣṇu. ‘yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ,’ any kind of sacrifice we perform which is meant for the pleasure of Viṣṇu, this is going to cause our freedom. Otherwise, if we do it for any other purpose it simply causes our bondage in the material world. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Now this is someone, this is like the example of eating gud of the elbow. You know that example, you know jaggery, molasses, jaggery? So you know the story about eating it off your elbow? There was once in India very poor man and he wanted to get some jaggery, some gud, sugar molasses. And he asked a shopkeeper, may I have some jaggery and shop keeper said yes! Ten rupees a kilo, how much you want? No no I don’t have any money. No money, no jaggery (laughing). So he was feeling very bad, he wanted to eat the molasses and he made a plan. He saw that in front of one shop there was a big barrel full of liquid molasses, jaggery. So he did I’ll go there and make believe as if I think it’s just a, like a hard surface and I’ll lean into it. By leaning then I’ll get the jaggery on my elbow, then I’ll eat it. So he went, ah! Oh! Look at oh what a mess! Oh very sorry too bad (laughing). He went on into the nearby forest, now he’s got all the gud, the molasses on his elbow. So he’s thinking now I can enjoy, now I’ll eat. Then he can’t eat, (laughing) it’s not, can you maybe I minded that you can, you can do? (laughing). So he got the jaggery on his elbow but he couldn’t get it in his mouth. The point is people try to do things by unauthorised means, it doesn’t work in spiritual life, we can’t cheat Kṛṣṇa. So what happens is instead we make a fool all our by self just like man who got the jaggery on his elbow but he couldn’t eat it.

In this material world there are devotees and there are the demons and then there are many innocent people in between who are influenced. So in this verse a talk to especially about a type of so called austerity and penance which was performed out of false ego, pride, anger, egoism which is causing lot of pain to the body. Sometime people fast to death, they say that if this is not given to me, if you don’t stop building a dam in some place or you don’t do this as, then I’ll fast to death. It’s not the reason to fast, fasting you do Janmāṣṭamī, Ekādaśī, Rādhāṣṭamī, you do Rāma Navamī, for Kṛṣṇa you can do fast. But to do as of a political demonstration causing suffering to the body, Kṛṣṇa is here giving His opinion that this is demoniac, this is not the reason to do such things. We may think that this is very good, people may appreciate, but actually what is right and what is wrong, just like a child learns from the parents they may not know what is right and what is wrong, but the parents will teach them, gradually they can come to know. But for us to understand what is right and what is wrong we need to know from Kṛṣṇa. He knows what is actually good and what is not.

Now this is very strong point here, everything we do we should do according to śāstra, according to the scriptural injunction. Scriptures are the orders of God, if we follow the laws of God, follow the laws of Bhagavān then we are free from all kinds of karmas. You know what jackfruit is? Kaṭahala, jackfruit? It’s a Indian fruit, so big like this, you can get even this big. Inside, what is inside the jackfruit, so many little fruits, pieces of fruit, very sticky, very sweet. One man was walking on the road by the side on the country and he was walking by the side of an orchard, a bāgāna and there he saw beautiful jackfruit on the top of the tree, beautiful. Jackfruit was very ripe, good smell was coming and he thought that I love jackfruit, I want to eat the jackfruit. But he was having a very big mustache, so he was afraid that if I eat the jackfruit it’ll get stuck in my mustache. So then he went and got some oil and he put the oil in his mustache, so the mustache was all lubricated. So now the jackfruit won’t get stuck in his mustache.

Then he went back, he looked around, he didn’t find the gardener anyone, so he thought I’m going to just steal the jackfruit. And he climbed up the tree, as he was climbing up higher and higher and higher he was getting right by the jackfruit and then suddenly the branch broke, Ah!... He fell down in the ground, his arm was broken, he was lying on his back, oh! Oh!... So much pain. And his screaming then the gardener came and saw here this person obviously he fell down, he was trying to steal the jackfruit. He start beating him with the stick, Chor! Chor! Kaṭahala ka chor! Beating him. Thief! Thief! Jackfruit thief! So here the poor man he’s lying on his back looking up at the jackfruit getting beaten with the stick, broken bones. The jackfruit, where’s the jackfruit, jackfruit is in the tree, but on his mustache he’s got the oil (laughing). So this is called gāche kaṭhāla gophe taila. You understand the meaning of the story? Very funny story, what’s the meaning. The man he wants to get the jackfruit, what is the jackfruit, it’s a fruit. Just like somebody wants to get the fruit of life, what is the highest fruit of life? That‘s the Bhagavān, bhakti. Someone wants to get pure bhakti, but instead of going to the owner of the orchard, to the representative of the owner who is the gardener and making arrangement, he can buy the jackfruit  for fifteen rupees. I just bought in India fifty rupees I got, for fifty rupees I got four big jackfruits in my village in Māyāpur, we offer to the deities. That’s a one pound four jackfruit. I think it’s more expensive here, twenty pounds like that. So it’s still, next time I come I’ll bring you one (laughing) for the deities.

He could have paid for the jackfruit, instead now he, how much he has to pay broken arm, broken bone, police case, suffering (laughing). But he was so proud, even first he could get the jackfruit then he can worry about putting the oil (laughing). But if without jackfruit already put oil, that means he was so sure he could already taste. Like that sometime people think that I have bhakti, I’m good devotee I can get Bhagavān. But they don’t follow śāstra, they don’t go to the guru. Kṛṣṇa says if you want to come to Me go by guru. If he went to the representative to the owner of the garden he would have got the jackfruit, pay the price you take it. Like that if you want to go to Kṛṣṇa, get the fruit we have to go through the gardener, we’ve to go through the guru. But if we don’t, we want to see at the end what happens we get so much trouble. Not that the guru will beat us māyā will beat us, another representative.

So that’s why śāstra here is very important for us to get this means that if we follow the śāstra we can avoid all kinds of problems. The Caitanya Mahāprabhu He advised all of the followers to not be negligent or lazy when it comes to studying the conclusion of śāstra or scripture. ‘siddhānta baliyā citte nā kara alasa (Cc. Ādi 02.117)’ don’t be lazy when it comes to knowing what the śāstra says. We know what the laws are about driving right, everyone is driving here they know which side to drive on, how to avoid getting the points on their license. They know how to, they know the driving laws. People know so many different laws but we should know the most important laws are the laws of God. Sometimes you can steal also and not get caught, sometimes you may also get caught, that but may not always get caught. But with Kṛṣṇa’s law any time you break it, it is recorded, they have book. And everytime you do something good for Kṛṣṇa that’s also recorded. So we should know what is good to do and what is not good to do, we should do the good things and avoid the bad things. So we should, this can be easily acquired but requires some studying of scripture under the Vaiṣṇavas. It’s important that we recognize our guru, we go to Kṛṣṇa through the proper guru.

Now sometimes, there was one devotee, one in the place called Jnanadas Kandra there was a devotee called some Cakravarti. And he was a big brāhmaṇa family and his param gurudeva, his guru’s guru was a great devotee of Lord Caitanya, great famous Sanskrit scholar, great devotee. But his guru, that means his, he was not so well known, but he was very sincere devotee but he was not so famous. So when people went ask them who’s your guru? He wouldn’t say his own guru’s name but he said his guru guru’s name who is more famous. Because of that Nityānanda prabhu’s son Vīracaandra prabhu he had him excommunicated from the Vaiṣṇava society. He said that this person is a mahā-aparādhi, great offender, doesn’t recognize how the kṛpā, how the mercy is coming down from Kṛṣṇa through the guru-paramparā. He is neglecting his own guru and claiming to be the disciple of his guru’s guru. That’s called guru avajñā, offence to the guru, guru-maryādā-laṅghana. So because of that he had ordered return that this person, the associate, he’s very proud and he is committed a great offence to his guru by not accepting his own guru but claiming to be the disciple of his guru’s guru. That’s how the mercy is coming down through the guru, that mercy of his param guru of his grandfather guru, that’s coming down through his guru. We get the connection through the disciplic succession or this, or guru-paraṁparā because this spiritual there’s no delay, the mercy comes direct. All of the mercy of the previous ācāryas is available through the devotee. We simply had to link up with a bona fide link and then we can get the connection. But there’s certain etiquette we have to follow.

Rāmacandra when he went back to Ayodhya He was invited to go to some function at the Laṅkā again to see Vibhīṣaṇa. So this time He took with Him Bharata, and He and Bharata went together and then He took Bharata first to see Sugrīva, the monkey king. There Aṅgaḍa, Hanumāna there were all there, so the wife of Aṅgaḍa, she came out and said to Rāma that where is your Sītā? Without Sītā your not, we are missing Sītā, we don’t like to see you without Sītā. But that time Sītā was banished and Rāma, He couldn’t speak also. There saw all the devotee, then Rāma went to Laṅkā and got a very big reception, royal reception from Vibhīṣaṇa. Then Vibhīṣaṇa's wife, she saw Rāma and asking where is the beautiful Sītā? You are not looking as wonderful without Sītā, with Sītā by Your side You are incomparable. Kṛṣṇa should be with His śakti, Sītā and Rāma. This is the way we approach the Lord because the śakti or the energy of the Lord is the mercy personified. We go through the Lord to the mercy of the Lord. So the Lord beauty is expanded when He's with His energy like sun without sunlight what is the meaning? Sun and sunlight and sun's heat together that has the meaning. So if we want to approach the Lord we go through the mercy of the Lord. We say Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Sītā-Rāma and guru is representative of that mercy. Guru is the confidential servitor of Radha rani or Sītā. So by guru we get to Sītā and Rāma, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.

Now, because of so many circumstances Rāma was obliged to ban Sītā into the forest. But Sītā was very happy in the forest remembering her pastime with Rāma, with her son Kuśa and Lava. But Rāma was feeling very much separation and He was worshipping a golden form of Sītā, a mūrti. If remember when Sītā and Rāma first went into the Daṇḍakāraṇya, on the way to Daṇḍakāraṇya they went on the side of the Ganges. At that time going following the path of the Ganges they went to Māyāpur Dhāma. And in Māyāpur dhāma they went to a place which is not different from Ayodhya. There, Rāma was smiling and Sītā said why You are smiling? What are you thinking about? And He said I'm thinking how in Kaliyuga I will come as Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu and you will come as Viṣṇupriyā. And in this pastime you'll be banished to the forest and be very happy and I'll be worshipping you. And in that pastime I will go to the forest as a sannyāsī and you'll be worshipping a golden deity of Me. Someone sometime asked why Sītā was banned, this is not, but so many consideration are there very difficult to understand the līlā of the Lord, these are unfathomable. But then the Lord reciprocate, since Sītā was banished once, so next time Rāma He also became banished when He came as Lord Caitanya.

You see here this form of Lord Gaurāṅga, six hands, two are playing the flute, two are carrying the, the dhanu, that bow and arrow and two are with the kamaṇḍalu and the daṇḍa. So Lord Caitanya is the combination, He contains all, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu. So as Rāma has also come in the form of Gaurāṅga. So that since in that previous līlā He was forced to banish Sītā, this time He banished Himself and at the age of twenty four he left the house and took sannyāsa and accepted the life in the forest of a sannyāsī. But He was very happy just like Sītā was happy in the forest, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very happy. But Viṣṇupriyā, she was feeling the separation and she had a golden deity of Lord Caitanya made and was worshipping. This year is the 500th anniversary year of Viṣṇupriyā, the fifth centanium. All over India there is so many celebrations in the eastern India going on for Viṣṇupriyā.

So Lord Caitanya is Rāma and Viṣṇupriyā is Sītā. These are the mysteries how the Lord comes in every yuga 'sambhavāmi yuge yuge'. So when Rāma came He had killed Rāvaṇa and the demons with the bow and arrow. But when He comes as Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu He doesn't use the bow and arrow, what was He using? He doesn't kill the demon but He kills the demoniac nature, asura bhāva vināśa karte haiṅ, kills the demoniac nature without killing the person. By chanting

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

We get rid of all the contamination of this mundane world. The Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is the special means to cleanse our consciousness, 'ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ' like you clean the mirror, you wipe off the mirror and then it becomes clean. So how do you clean your consciousness? You eat some detergent or soap? I don't recommend, it'll be very unhealthy. You can clean the body with soap but how to clean the consciousness? We're so careful everyday, people take their bath. I was talking to one gentleman, I said that do you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa? He said, “I don't have time”. And you don't have time, you take bath in morning? He said, “I take bath”. How do you find the time? “No no but we have to take our bath”. But just like you have to take physical bath you have to also take spiritual bath. We need to chant to cleanse away all that contamination from the consciousness, 'ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaḿ', mārjanaḿ means to cleanse. This is very important, every day we wash our, have our clothes washed, we put on the fresh cloth, at least most civilized people. So why we do that? We don't want to wear dirty cloth. But we are keeping the same consciousness, consciousness is gradually accumulating so many dirts, dusts from bad association, from lust, anger, greed. Just like if you are with someone who's very angry, inside you suddenly you may also feel angry. If you’re with someone very greedy you may also start to feel little greedy. Tendency is there, association comes off on us. So all that is dirt on our consciousness, how de we get clear of it? Sometime we may think in a way we know this is not right. So everyday we need to bath our self in the ocean of nectar of chanting.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

So very nice. Whatever you can do, if you do sixteen rounds in a year it adds up to one crore of harināma, ek koṭi. Sixteen malas or beads, you know sixteen rounds is equal to  ten million plus. So if you do eight rounds a day then that will do to five million times Hare Kṛṣṇa in a year, you become millionaire (laughing). Putting in your spiritual bank account, all of you can become spiritual millionaires if you deposit everyday. Even if you give fifteen minutes a day and do two malas a day and then you're still going to get, is it enough! Eight rounds almost enough, how many one fourth, yes! Over a million. Fifteen minute, two rounds a day and you're still a millionaire (laughing). It's very important to do everyday some chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa.