19970118 Bhagavad-gītā 8.7

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatāka Swami Mahārāja on January 18th, 1997, in Bangalore, India. The class begins with the reading from Bhagavad-gītā 8^th Chapter Verse 7.

tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu
mām anusmara yudhya ca
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
mām evaiṣyasy asaṁśayaḥ

Translation: Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Kṛṣṇa and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.

Purport: This instruction to Arjuna is very important for all men engaged in material activities. The Lord does not say that one should give up his prescribed duties or engagements. One can continue them and at the same time think of Kṛṣṇa by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

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

This will free one from material contamination and engage the mind and intelligence in Kṛṣṇa. By chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names, one will be transferred to the supreme planet, Kṛṣṇaloka, without a doubt.

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā As It Is 8th chapter 7th verse in the matter of Attaining the Supreme

Jayapatākā Swami: You see this verse begins with a word tasmāt, therefore. Usually when we say because there is shortage of water in Tamil Nadu therefore they’re asking Karnataka to give water (laughing). Because Karnataka doesn’t have enough water to spare, therefore they don’t want to, so there is always comes something you know just to be ergonomic of word. So the previous two verses are very important to understand this verse because the tasmāt, therefore is depended on what verses came before. Kṛṣṇa explains

anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ

TRANSLATION: And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

And the next verse which is

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Translation: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.

Tasmāt, then He comes sarveṣu kāleṣu.., therefore. When are we going to die? Who can say when he’s going to die? Parikshit Mahārāja he was cursed to die in seven days, so he knew that he was going to die. The king Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja who fought for the devas, he was a great king of earth. But he was so great, a warrior that he was enlisted in a universal fight between devas and asuras. And as a pious king he was fighting on behalf of the devas. After the devas were victorious they are very pleased with Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja’s power and service, they offered him anything he wanted. Devas can offer so many things right? So he offered whatever he want. Of course the devas can only offer material things. So first thing Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja ask was how long do I have to live? I want to know before, then I will make my request. Right if you say while you have so many millions of years to line then we can start thinking well, then all the things I want. But they show actually you only have one muhurtha which is about 45 minutes. So suddenly Khaṭvāṅga Mahārāja went into a different mood. Thank you very much, but there’s nothing I need from you. You send me right back to my Viṣṇu temple there I want to be with the devotees, I want to hear the glories of the Lord, I want to fix my consciousness on Kṛṣṇa at this moment. But I have only one moment to live, then there’s no more, I don’t need to waste time with all of you because now I have to get back to thinking about Kṛṣṇa. So he was transferred immediately to his temple, he paid his obeisances, he was chanting and because in that one moment he could fix his mind on Kṛṣṇa he went back to Kṛṣṇa.

But we don’t know when our last breath would be. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is telling, therefore sarveṣu kāleṣu, at all times, at all places, every moment we should be remembering Kṛṣṇa. While we’re doing our duties, you know we can’t stop we may have also hundred years, we can’t just stop acting. We have to work, we had to do our duties, we may also only live one more day, we don’t know we don’t have that special facility to ask how long do we have. So therefore our insurance policy is to always think of Kṛṣṇa. This is called eternal insurance, you just keep paying the premiums.

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

Now Arjuna, his duty was to fight, was a kṣatriya. That’s why Kṛṣṇa says, said to him mām anusmara yudhya ca. That doesn’t mean that everybody doesn’t have the duty to fight, but he was a kṣatriya that’s why it was said. But our house wife duty will be different, the brāhmaṇas and the vaiśyas and śūdras and the various types of people in the world, they will each have the students though have different types of duties whatever it might be, you can think of Kṛṣṇa while fighting in a battle field which is a very chaotic, passionate, violent situation. You could think of a worse environment to be in, you know people like to go to holy places where it’s very peaceful and meditate. And here Kṛṣṇa is telling him, fight! Just remember me. Of course, it wasn’t so hard for Arjuna to remember Kṛṣṇa as since Kṛṣṇa was driving his chariot as the Parthasārathi and he could see Kṛṣṇa every moment, that was the special benediction. But even sometimes when one is in the presence of the spiritual master the mind may go off somewhere else. Guru may be speaking and someone may be thinking this class is going too long, I’m gonna miss my prasādam time (laughing). Or someone may be thinking what’s happening back at the house. Did I leave the, did I turn off the water? Did I lock the door? You know something, mind can go anywhere right, it’s not. So sometime we may be present with the guru but our mind may be somewhere else.

So we had to do our activities in such a way that Kṛṣṇa is served by them and that way naturally the thought process is connected to Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna, you fight without thinking of winning or losing but you fight for Me. You do your duty for Me without thinking what’s your gain or what’s your loss. I’m doing this because for Kṛṣṇa. You see Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee there been told by the spiritual master to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness they preaching to everyone, what will happen or won’t happen? Irregardless they just go on telling everyone about Kṛṣṇa. Of course it’s very wonderful to see people taking up Kṛṣṇa consciousness and seeing them benefit and become happy. You see but that’s not if people don’t take up we will stop telling people about Kṛṣṇa. Even in the time of Nabadwip’s pre-Caitanya-Mahāprabhu's situation, they weren’t practicing their Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But Lord Caitanya had made it very favourable by letting people very quickly get a taste for spiritual life, a taste for bhakti for Kṛṣṇa sevā, service of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And in this way it’s easy to practice. If you get a taste, then it’s very easy. It’s not difficult to ask somebody to eat some nice food that hey have a taste for. So if we have a taste for chanting, a taste for serving if we develop that param dṛṣtvā nivartante, a higher taste then it’s very easy.

We recently at, we were had the Calcutta second World Congress for the Synthesis of Science and Religion where Nobel Physics Laureate, Science Laureate and Nobel, daughter of one Nobel Laureate and various very famous and important scientists, the head of the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California, one of the best theological schools, university, connected with the University of California, Berkeley also came and headed up the concluding session. Various holdings they, various very, infact one of the Ayatollahs from Iran, number three in line to be the President king and spoke on Islam and reality in the scientific point of view and his islamic point of view. And like that there was a jewish theologian and various representatives were there. So in the evenings various life members in Calcutta, the industrialists and they were offered to host these distinguished guests for little dinners in the evening. So I went to one such dinner and was held in the backyard like a picnic, it is a very big mansion kind of, you know very big house, very big bungalow and there were so many aristocratic people of Calcutta, I mean the, and though so I was just going seeing how the guests were doing and how they like the program. It was by the Bhaktivedanta Institute, ISKCON was just supporting this whole effort and I was one of the guest speakers also speaking on behalf of Vedic view point.

So, at one point there was one Dr. Wolf and from America, and we sat down, he looked at me, he said actually you’re very interesting because you look like a westerner but your vibration and your accent and everything about you is totally (laughing), I think your inside is Indian. So then he was, we’re just discussing, he mentioned that everybody here is happy, everybody is smiling, everybody is happy you know everyone socializing,     talking. Ayatollah was sitting talking with one of the hostesses everyone was talking with somebody and it was, you know that type of like a social event where everybody is having a good time talking and taking. The unusual thing you see is here there no meat and there’s no alcohol, it’s a pure vegetarian dinner and there they’re only giving you know soft, there’s no alcohol. In America we had such functions, they’ll definitely be meat and the alcohol. But here everybody is happy and there I don't think people be so happy (laughing). So I’m going to go back and I’m going to tell all my scientist friends that we don’t need it, we don’t need meat and we don’t need alcohol to have a good time (laughing, Haribol! Clapping). This I‘ve learnt by coming to your country India (laughing, Haribol!). So that you see little higher taste, he got a little taste somehow in that, I won’t say an overwhelming, it was spiritual experience, but it was little sāttvika kind of an environment there and he got a little sāttvika and rājasika, but he, he got a taste for, for that. And they all came to Māyāpur but I was in the Madras Ratha yātrā, so I don’t know, I heard they liked Māyāpur very much but I don’t have any direct quotes to say how, what their comments were. But this is the point that Prabhupāda wanted to expose people to a more sattvik, a more spiritual environment. So that when they get a higher taste then they can actually, so this is actually better, we don’t need all these things, we don’t need these tāmasika things.

You see, one of our life members in Madras, he came and spoke to me, said how his wife was very religious and she always was coming to the temple and attending the ārati and she was chanting 16 rounds of japa and, but he was not very interested. He would sometimes come in and pay his praṇāma and he sit out in the car and smoke cigarettes (laughing), or he would have some drinks in his house and then come, he just pick up his wife from temple and go. Occasionally he come in and just hello (laughing), wasn’t so much interested. Then he started this bhakti-vṛnda groups in Madras also and so sometime they had a program in his house on rotation. So then he heard and sat into the group session, discussion and he became very interested in the discussion and he got in to it. After a couple of times, he would also occasionally go to the bhakti vṛnda as a guest and one time he asked the preacher who were there, that what is it, that you know is it alright if I take coffee and tea? He said, oh, intoxication is not good, you shouldn’t, better if you can avoid coffee and tea. He said, if I have to avoid coffee and tea what about brandy and whisky I take at night (laughing)? I dare not ask about that (laughing). And so he gave it up and he started to chant. And then he came and confessed all these things, I use to go always, I’m still going to Japan, other, for business I thought this was the, you know all 99% of business exactly they’ll all do like this. You see, now I finding in so much happy, now I’m increased to 8 rounds or 16 I forget what he was, and I’m getting lot of taste for this. But before I couldn’t imagine there was anything you know for me in this.

So little association with a devotee has so much effect. This is actually you can say like a scientific, like a magnet, they get you call the touchstone, sparṣa maṇi. You put in touch and the persons change. That’s why you see how many people will I come in contact? I only come in contact with a few people. In fact some people complain because I’m always busy having interview that I don’t get come in contact with me as much as I would like. But, of course I do come and give classes but we want every devotee you are all touch stones, everyone of you are sparṣa maṇīs. And when you come in contact with people, if you present things in a appropriate way you have to not be too, give people more medicine than they can take. In fact the, even normally we might hesitate to tell someone don’t take coffee and tea because it’s a minor wise. But that preacher anyway he said and it had, somehow Kṛṣṇa controlling the situation that didn’t scare away the person but and he adapted. So we generally have to, very carefully we just try to get people to take up a little bit of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And by doing so gradually they start to realize that the real peace of mind and happiness is within us. We are looking externally for happiness which is already within us. So that association can bring about a better and higher thought. And if we can bring people up that thinking about Kṛṣṇa right, as this verse is saying here

‘tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara,’

Thinking of Kṛṣṇa all the time, every time. Then you’ll see, one is a secure, of course why has Kṛṣṇa said that, whatever we think about it at the time of death, that’s where we go. I explained this story, now Magha masa has begun that is called Mādhava masa, the month of Madhava since the makar sankranti.

There was one tyrannical sinful king who was not fulfilling the vow of a kṣatriya. Kṣatriya means to protect, so previously the monarch would see his prajā, his citizen, his subjects like his children and his duty was to protect the citizens. Protect them from rouges, dacoits, other invaders and from the government (laughing). Yes! Because the ministers who have a temporary role in the government, their tendency is to rob, steal, take as much as they can while they’re in the post if they’re not watched. So the monarch's duty because he was the permanent position kingdom was like his kingdom. So his interest was to see that none of the ministers simply stole from the government. And he got the power to remove any minister or to punish them. You see this was missing in democracy sometime is that they’re no, stop corruption. If there’s any corruption, they have power and independence, they have replacement for the what the Queen of England was previously, that was the Vedic system that they should have the power to stop corruption. If there’s any corruption they have the power and the independence to act and that’s a whole other long discussion. But in this case was just a history. This person he was the king himself was corrupt. So this is very unfortunate circumstance. He was, when things will come up to him to decide and he was suppose to neutral party. He would take bribes and decide in his own way. So that’s there was a, the king is supposed to be pious, he’s supposed to be naradeva but if the king is rotten then everything is hopeless case.

So that situation was there and the people, the citizens became very frustrated. The brāhmaṇas were not powerful enough to remove the king like they did in the case of Veṇa. So even there was a group of rebels, revolutionaries, guerrilla warriors who were trying to overthrow the king. So this king he would have, he had apart from his queen he had girlfriends, he had, he did any, you name the sin you can imagine he was doing it. You know, don’t do too much imagining about these things (laughing), remember ‘sarveṣu kāleṣu mām’ remember Kṛṣṇa. But anyway he was doing so many sinful things (laughing). So then one day in the month of Māgha he had a round table in a garden house with one society girl, you see kind of a prostitute. And he was, she was awaiting for him and he went there you know, of the citizens not, he has to do all these things hidden. So he kind of snuck away from his bodyguards and he went over there and, but somehow it was set up, there was leaked out may be the society girl was a double agent for the revolutionaries. What do you call, like a double agent, spy or something. They found out and they surrounded the house. But then inside the king he didn’t know anything, he’s having a good time with this lady and then after they are sitting there on some sitting place in the courtyard and they’re talking. And in that courtyard there was one campa tree. Now one flower from the campa tree happened to just fall while the king is talking and he is you know in a like mood. So as the flower is falling he just says udai puṣpam nārāyaṇa namo. Of flower who is falling, I offer you to Nārāyaṇa. It’s kind of like a joke you know it’s like when a flower is falling before hits the ground you can offer to Kṛṣṇa, once it hits the ground then it’s not offerable, usually.

There’s a story in Bengali about, just like you have, what’s that? You have some Tenali? Tenali Rama, they have the Gopal Bhar. Gopal Bhar he was carrying one basket of fused rice and suddenly a gust of wind came and blew the rice up in the air. While was this like flying in the air, I mean once it hits the ground who’s gonna pick up all the fused rice, it’s gone. So then he "Oh puffed rice flying in the air I offer to Govinda." (laughing). So generally that’s mean you know I guess somebody is about to lose their (laughing) property or we find you know some encroaches have come and they can’t get them off they’ll say we’d like to donate this to the temple (laughing). They can’t use it, so okay give it to Kṛṣṇa and then, but then later, anyway that’s, maybe it was like in that mood he was offering. But anyway he said udai pushpam Nārāyaṇāya namo. No sooner did he said Narayanaya namo Bhum! (laughing) the door was crushed open, smash open, revolutionaries came in with the arrow, zoom! Ah! The king got right in the heart, the arrow, spot dead (laughing). King is there, the tyrant is there, they’re like having a big rejoicing.

Immediately Yamadūtas come to take away the ātmā of the king to Yamaloka. No need of him waiting a second, he, his next destination was already fixed in their opinion (laughing). He was very sinful person and they had a whole special program ready for him (laughing). So when he reached, they found that the Viṣṇudūtas were there! They said no! You know this one belongs to us, he’s a sinner we should take him to hell, they said sorry but the last thing he said before he died was Nārāyaṇāya namo (laughing). He offered the flower to Nārāyaṇa, Nārāyaṇa wants to see him (laughing). So they took his, that, the ātmā of the dead king to Viṣṇuloka. There Lord Viṣṇu was waiting, Nārāyaṇa was waiting with open arms ‘My dear devotee’ (laughing), dear devotee! (laughing) He fell on the ground offered his obeisances, no! No! I’m not a good devotee. No! You offered Me My favourite flower in the month of Magha. Anyone who offers Me flowers and especially the campaka flower in the month of Māgha they easily come to Me. I’m very pleased by this. And you offered, the last thing you said was My holy name before you left your body. So I promised right, what was the promise? What is the promise the Lord gave? At the moment of death if we remember Him where do we go? We go to Kṛṣṇa

anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ

So then the king realized that the Lord is so merciful. I was such a rascal I should surrendered to the Lord. This is the greatest mercy, I don’t deserve it and he surrendered and the Lord picked him up and embraced him, he was completely purified, his ātmā is completely purified and this way he became one of the associates of the Lord. Just by offering a flower even accidentally kind of unconsciously offering a goloka-caṁpā flower to the Lord in the month of Māgha, the last moment of his life. You see, of course that’s a freak special mercy that he just happened to remember the Lord at that moment. You see, if someone thinks that, don’t worry, I’m not gonna chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, when I die and just at that moment I’ll chant (laughing). But doesn’t work like that right. You tend to think, whatever you're thinking, it you’re thinking all the time about your, about something else, at that moment you’ll think about that thing. What’s gonna happen to my dog? (laughing) My dog! (laughing) right, then what happens next birth? (laughing) ruph ruph! (laughing). You know then America there was one lady 140 million dollars she left to her cat (laughing). So rich, rich cat (laughing). And she put all her wealth as an endowment and said that cat will be the owner and be fed and everything to it but when the cat dies then all the wealth would be divided amongst these different charities. So first she wanted her cat to be very rich cat for a while. But what was she thinking at time of death, maybe she’s thinking of her cat and become a cat. The big tomb for the cat, everything she made, so the cat was my best friend.

So people don’t know how risky it is to think of so many things, not to think of Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti-yoga is a type of science, if you think of Kṛṣṇa, if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then you get a result. I presented to the Congress of Science and religion, Synthesis of science and religion that Prabhupāda presented things in a very rational, in a very systematic and scientific way and how he ask people to experiment in their own lives. And by experimenting they can see how that the, how devotional service does produce what is predicted. So one after in a break, one student from one of the universities there, I think, I might, I don’t know if he was from IIT or from another university but he said I don’t believe in all these things you know about religion and I’m coming, I’m coming to listen but I don’t, I don’t practice anything, I don’t believe, I’ve never had any reason to believe in these things. I said okay but you are a scientist? Yes! I’m a science student and Postgraduate. So why don’t you just try this as an experiment. You don’t have any belief you just do it as an experiment, you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra for a month or two just try a little bit everyday and see whether there’s any change in your consciousness. You are a neutral observer, you just try it as an experiment. I gave him a mantra card and next day he came up to me Mahārāja! Mahārāja! Swamiji! I tried it, it works! (laughing). Haribol! Haribol! Haribol! First day! (laughing) Instant result! So I’m gonna chant everyday now, it’s very good, I felt something very special something very different. So chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s name is something very powerful. Especially by Lord Caitanya’s mercy you see how it changes people’s lives, makes one natural peaceful and happy. The trick is somehow how to get people to take it up and try it. You see of course you can’t force anyone, it’s up to them. People at their own time like to take it up, just to bring them in association and try to build up their good fortune.

This month of Māgha is known as Mādhava month, is one of the very special months in the year. There are three special months, one is Vaiśākha, one is Dāmodara and the third is Māgha. And Vaiśākha is special for worshipping the Lord, we worship Narasiṁha Caturdaśī, Chandana yātrā. And Dāmodara month is special because we worship and we do some vratas. Some dietary restrictions are there, pure vegetarian and various other dietary and other type of restrictions can be there in Dāmodara. One can do various, there’s various options someone wants to do a vrata. And month of Māgha especially of course is to please the Lord through devotional service and offer the Lord flowers and very nice worship and to take Māgha, Maghī snāna, to take bath. Kumbha Melā is held in the month of Māgha in Allahabad as well the Māgha-melā there and throughout the puranas it mentions that the efficacy of early morning bath in the month of Māgha that all devout Hindus will observe. Of course, it’s also mentioned in Nectar of Devotion, and Prabhupāda mentions in a letter to a devotee that, in the Nectar of Devotion and Bhāgavatam this is one of the processes mentioned in the Vedas. So just like the house wife will cook even in the hot summer day and a pious person will take his bath even in the month of Magha which means it’s cold. So sense gratifiers prefer to avoid a cold bath in a cold month. But the devout people they do take their early morning bath even in this cold month.

And verses in the Padma Purāṇa, it’s mentioned that the great, in the Hari Bhakti Vilasa it mentions about the, and in the, in Prabhupāda’s books that Vaśiṣṭha Muni had instructed the great emperor Dileep about the glories of Māgha. Dileep was emperor of the world also at that time and he was very powerful king. So one time he decided to go out on the hunt in order to practice their powers of shooting arrows and riding horses and killing which kṣatriyas had to do, they have to kill criminals and opponents. So this was a way they were allowed to practice, they could hunt a stags or male deer. So he had his fellow kṣatriyas and warriors and they all got dressed up. He was dresses for the hunt, he had his leather thing here so that wouldn’t shoot the arrows, bosting wouldn’t hit his arm and he had dressed up for the occasion wearing a blue turban. And they all went off on their horses and they went into the forest and they were chasing the deers, not the female but the stags, the male one’s and kill him! Chase him! They’re running and shooting with their arrows. Like this day was, morning was passing and then one very big stag came and made a big noise in the bush, looked! so oh oh you saw these hunters and flood in the opposite direction like it, get him! And they were chasing but this stag was very big and very powerful, went deep into the forest. They went chasing after and they were for hours and hours they were chasing in. And the king was getting thirsty, tired, chasing and then finally deep in the middle of the forest there was very big lake. So lake, so big he couldn’t see the borders of it, so it was like ocean almost. And there was a crystal water with lotuses and there were some crocodiles stirring the water underneath, different things, it was a very opulent lake.

So the king was very thirsty went and drank the water from the lake and they were so far in the forest was too late to get back, already became dark. So there they camped out that night, there under the stars they were sleeping there. They slept with the bows on their, it’s all around, the tigers and lions and things. So they're sleeping in the forest with their finger on their bow string (laughing). Middle of the night a whole herd of boars comes to the camp making noise they get up you know and this door with the tusks the boars and their so they’re shooting the boars and scaring them away and kill lot of boars cause they were just started attacking. So and the sun rose and he, let’s get back, started back and so they were heading back and on the way there was a very skinny, very austere old sādhu, brāhmaṇa, forgot his name now, but he was surprised. He said that my dear lord what are you doing? No, I’m going back home you know. No! Now is the time to take bathe, it’s the month of Māgha, you’re not taking the early morning bath! And the king hadn’t taken his bath, he was just. Well what’s the, what’s the significance about the month of Māgha? Why I have to take a bath? Now especially, no no! You ask your guru, your kula guru Vaśiṣṭha he’s protecting you, you ask him he’ll tell you. Now there’s no time to talk, we have to go and bathe, you just take my word, come let’s go. So they all went back and they took their bath and the king returned to his capital. Then later he went to see Vaśiṣṭha to find what is the significance about Māgha.

And actually it’s a very long, so many lessons are told. Somethings Vaśiṣṭha gave Dattātreya told to one devotee, some histories, different accounts were given from different yugas and different places. Said how if you bathe even with hot water bath early in the morning in Māgha it’s worth six times to normal. That actually water is another form of the Lord purifying us and if we take bathe in this month that has a special purifying effect. If you just take cold water bath in the house is twelve times more. If you take in, if you take, what’s it, there’s something was twenty four times, I forget. Then you go and you take in a river, just a little river, twenty four. If you take in a big river or if you take in a natural pond coming from the water, from the earth, a hundred times. If you take in the confluence of two big rivers, two great rivers then it’s four hundred times. And if you take your bath in the ganges it’s a thousand times. And if you take at the saṅgam of the Ganges and Yamunā and Sarasvatī then it’s a hundred thousand times. Like that there’s so many, but then of course we were discussing how the karma-kāṇḍīs they’re really more interest many of these things. If you then afterwards he said that if you worship before bathing if you worship and you say Acyuta, Hari, Mādhava, Govinda, you bathe chanting the holy names and you come out you worship and again chant the names of the Lord, so then you get the transcendental benefit which is unlimited. So the real point is of course not just to accumulate punya but which most people of course are very interested in and you can accumulate so much puṇya, but actually how to get the highest blessing which is Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. So in the Vedas it mentions both the sides.

There was, so like that I don’t know if I wanna get in to all the Karma-kāṇḍī examples but there were many examples given on the effectiveness. One interesting, one there was an interesting, there was, there was a lady. She was in the, she was a courtier in the kingdom of Kalinga. Kalinga is Orissa and she was starly beauty. So she was like the talk of the town, all the young lords and noble people, you know nobles and they’re all after her. And she was a flirt, so she would tease them and get them to come and offer her gifts and things, even have them fight over her. Some people were killed trying to get her favours, they wanted to just come just to bathe her feet. In this way she has, she had so much wealth, she was enjoying everything, she was in a high society. And but as you know time passes and then she became an old lady. And then she looked back on her life and she became very frightened. Then the whole life I didn’t do anything religious, I didn’t do anything pious, I just kept sinning like anything. And at weight of the sins, of the bad karmas were just making her very depressed. So she went to one brāhmaṇa and ask how what can I do to get free from this karma? And then he told her to do the special type of bathe in the month of Magha, he said three days you’ll be free of all the karmas. So she went and did a bath at the Gaṅgā confluence, three days she got free from all the karmas and then she continued twenty one days. So then finally when she passed away she, she was not doing Kṛṣṇa bhakti, of course she became an apsarā and her name was Kanchana Malini, and she one of the great apsarās, she’s one of the friends of Pārvati. Every year she comes in the month of Māgha and does her bath.

So she came down and taking her Gaṅgā bath, confluence and then as she was flying in the air with her wet clothing and there was one rākṣasa, demon. And she passed by, she got in the air, she walked by, some water from her cloth fell on his head and said who are you? He said, you see I’m always in the angry mood, I’m always you know ferocious, this water you put on my head (laughing), for the first time in my life I feel peace of mind (laughing). What happened? How is it that happened to me? And she gave her history how she and said this water is like Gaṅgā. So by Gaṅgā touching you had this effect. And how did you become an asura? Who are you? And then he told his story that I was a brāhmaṇa born and I was living in Kāśī and I was doing, I was taking donations as a brāhmaṇa doing different ceremonies but I was not doing any religion, just taking the money and doing all sinful things. So I didn’t do one atom of pious activity in spite of living in Kāśī. So when I died, because I was born in Kāśī, died in Kāśī therefore anyone who dies at, doesn’t go to hell. But I had to take all bad karma and what you ever sinful activity you do in a holy place especially that holy place if you do a little till it becomes you know a tal, it becomes like a mountain, one little bit of sin becomes like Meru. So I did so many sins so I’ve got so much bad karma. I was born three times as a vulture, I was born three times as a tiger (laughing), I was born as a hog (laughing), and I was like, he said, he gave all these horrible births he had gone through and he said this is my tenth birth. In fact thousand years I’ve been this rākṣasa asura and suffering like anything. You see and now the first time I feel some peace of. So how is it that I can feel, you, you’re so merciful, please have mercy on me, free me from this curse. I’m all this, all the horrible things I did I wasted my life and I’m, get unlimited bad karma I know but I have ever paid all back. So this Kanchana Malini was feeling some mercy and she said alright may all the puṇya from my bathing in the month of Magha be given to you and she took her wet cloth and squeeze it, then the Gaṅgā water fell on him, puff! He is like, just exploded and then came out from the, inside of an asura there became like a deva in the place and he could get promoted and he, so please instruct me and she gave many nice instructions about moral life that he should lead.

So like that there is so many different stories but the real point, then you, the ultimate story of course is like this, just a little chanting, a little service in the month of Māgha we can also get Kṛṣṇa consciousness which is the real point. In Māyāpur you bathe in the Gaṅgā you get love of Kṛṣṇa, you see. And if you take a bucket of water and keep it outside at night, take a bath in the outside in the morning in the month of Māgha then you can also get the same benefit like bathing in the holy place, for three days if you do. Like that different things, somehow Prabhupāda, I once wrote to Prabhupāda what about these different things and like month of Dāmodara so what should we do? And he wrote me said this is actually for the new people, to attract new customers (laughing). Kṛṣṇa is giving some special deals to attract people, so then they get into the habit of, they take it up because it’s like, sometime you see some store offer 50% rebate. So you think how can I turn it down? 50%! I’m saving so much. You buy things you don’t even want. But here Kṛṣṇa is offering rebate on something we all need. But normally people might not be inclined to buy it, the energy. So throughout the year there these special occasions like the month of Dāmodara, month of Māgha where a little service done at just one of these gets special boon, special blessing, multiply, multiple effect.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!