19970605 Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.11.12

Lecture Code: 19970605

 

Scripture: Srimad Bhagavatam

Verse: 5.11.12

Date: 5-June-1997

Place: Perth, Australia

 

Transcribed By: Medhavini Sakhi DD & Family

Transcribed On: 1-June-2019

 

First Level Proofer: Neetu mj, Reading UK Bhakti Vriksha

First Level Proofed on : 24th Augusth 2020

 

Editorial Changes (non voice): Usha

Date: 20-Jan-2021

 

STATUS: Completed

 

 

Source:

https://archives.jayapatakaswami.com/courses/304945/lectures/5000945

Title:

 

vande 'haḿ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaḿ śrī-gurun vaiṣṇavāḿś ca

śrī-rūpaḿ sāgrajātaḿ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaḿ taḿ sa jīvam

sādvaitaḿ sāvadhūtaḿ parijana-sahitaḿ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaḿ

śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā- śrī-viśākhānvitāḿś ca

 

The following is the class given by HH Jayapataka Swami on June 5th 1997 in Perth, Australia The class begins with the reading from the SB 5th canto 11th chapter verse 12.

kṣetrajña etā manaso vibhūtīr

 jīvasya māyā-racitasya nityāḥ

āvirhitāḥ kvāpi tirohitāś ca

 Śuddho Vicaṣṭe Hy Aviśuddha-Kartuḥ

Translation by his divine grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Prahupada:

Devotees: Jai

Synonyms:

kṣetra-jñaḥ — the individual soul; etāḥ — all these; manasaḥ — of the mind; vibhūtīḥ — different activities; jīvasya — of the living entity; māyā-racitasya — created by the external, material energy; nityāḥ — from time immemorial; āvirhitāḥ — sometimes manifested; kvāpi — somewhere; tirohitāḥ ca — and not manifested; śuddhaḥ — purified; vicaṣṭe — sees this; hi — certainly; aviśuddha — unpurified; kartuḥ — of the doer.

Translation:

The individual soul bereft of Kṛṣṇa consciousness has many ideas and activities created in the mind by the external energy. They have been existing from time immemorial. Sometimes they are manifest in the wakening state and in the dream state, but during deep sleep [unconsciousness] or trance, they disappear. A person who is liberated in this life [jīvan-mukta] can see all these things vividly.

Purport:

As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (13.3), kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata. There are two kinds of kṣetrajña, or living beings. One is the individual living being, and the other is the supreme living being. The ordinary living being knows about his body to some extent, but the Supreme, Paramātmā, knows the condition of all bodies. The individual living being is localized, and the Supreme, Paramātmā, is all-pervading. In this śloka the word kṣetrajña refers to an ordinary living being, not the supreme living being. This ordinary living being is of two kinds — nitya-baddha or nitya-mukta. One is eternally conditioned and the other eternally liberated. The eternally liberated living beings are in the Vaikuṇṭha jagat, the spiritual world, and they never fall into the material world. Those in the material world are conditioned souls, nitya-baddha. The nitya-baddhas can become liberated by controlling the mind because the cause of conditioned life is the mind. When the mind is trained and the soul is not under the mind’s control, the soul can be liberated even in this material world. When it is liberated, one is called jīvan-mukta. A jīvan-mukta knows how he has become conditioned; therefore he tries to purify himself and return home, back to Godhead. The eternally conditioned soul is eternally conditioned because he is controlled by the mind. The conditioned state and liberated state are compared to the sleeping, unconscious state and the awakened state. Those who are sleeping and unconscious are eternally conditioned, but those who are awake understand that they are eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Therefore even in this material world, they engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. As confirmed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī: īhā yasya harer dāsye. If one takes to Kṛṣṇa’s service, he is liberated, even though he appears to be a conditioned soul within the material world. Jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate. In any condition, one is to be considered liberated if his only business is to serve Kṛṣṇa.

.

Hari Om Tat Sat

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation, purport to the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  5th canto, 11th chapter 12th text in the matter of King Jada Bharata instructs King Rahuguna

īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā

nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate

Rupa Goswami explains if somebody is fixed in serving the Lord, gives him devotional service as the servitor of the Lord, karmaṇā manasā girā - with his activities, with his mind and with his words, then even though one his living in this material world that person is considered to be liberated. So here we have jiva mukta being explained so in the context that everyone the material world is jiva is nitya baddha, eternally conditioned and everyone in the spiritual world is nitya mukta, -eternally liberated so then we have now our third category the people in the material world who are completely engaged in Krsna’s service who’s only business is to serve Krsna. They are considered as jiva mukta even while they are in the material world they are considered  liberated. This is very interesting. Recently, there was someone who quoted a verse from Śrīla Prabhupāda He said that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was a liberated soul. I am following him. I don’t say whether I am liberated or not liberated or what. I only say that I am following my spiritual master. He is a liberated soul. Because he is liberated and I am following him, therefore I am liberated. This is the system. lf you are following a liberated soul, following his instructions, so then you are as good as liberated or you are also liberated, simply by his mercy. I was just thinking that we can apply that.

Prabhupāda was a liberated soul and if you follow Śrīla Prabhupāda in the same way then we will be liberated. So this verse is especially taking something that we are all experiencing every day and using that as an analogy. We are experiencing waking state, dreaming state and the deep sleep state to some extent. So that example has been given that the waking state is like the liberated state and the sleeping and deep sleep  is like the conditioned state. While the conditioned souls, even when they are awake, what they are seeing is whatever the material nature is putting in their mind. They are not able to see things as they are. In the material world, people especially in the matter of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, things like that, people really like to tell it like it is, everything should be open. But the reality is if you don’t have the full picture of what the total existence is, then one is always going to present things in a distorted manner. Just like you don’t expect a little child to give you the total picture because they are only seeing things with their partially developed mind in a partial way. They don’t have the whole picture of what is going on, they have to see things through their eyes.

Similarly, although we have here in this world, you know big big leaders, political leaders, we have got scientists and so many different kind of humanitarians, many qualified people with very good intentions, very qualified and intelligent, but because they don’t have the total picture, they don’t have the total understanding of what existence is. Therefore, based on partial information, they make ultimately erroneous and harmful decisions. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to change that, wanted to give the leaders of this planet, the information that is available in Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam so that they could make proper decisions.  He wanted to also give the general people this information so that they could also make proper decisions in their life. We don’t expect somebody who is dreaming to really come up with a factual kind of understanding while in their dream state. So long as someone is dreaming that I am this body, I am a man, I am a woman, I am an Australian, I am an American, I am a Russian, I am a Chinese, I am a human being, I am a dog or a cat, you cannot expect to get very objective, very beneficial decisions or facts in such a person that everything is being produced by the material energy. ahaṅkāra vimudatma kartāham iti manyate, they are bewildered by their false ego, they are thinking they are the doer of everything. Prakṛter kriyā manani, but actually everything is being done by the material nature, through the three guṇas. Everything is done by the body, but the material body is conditioned. Some people have developed a sattvik outlook, someone has developed a passionate outlook , someone has  developed an outlook very much in the mode of ignorance and then according to the conditioning of the body, they are seeing things.

Sometimes, like an example is given that if you put colored glass, you see through it. They always have colored glass, thousands of years ago, people looked through colored glasses, they would see colored glass and would wear them. Now you have sunglasses, also you can have good choice. So, if you use yellow sunglasses, you see everything yellow. If you wear green sunglasses, you see everything green. Or you can have grey sunglasses, you see everything grey, blue, even red. So we get so many different coloured sun glasses. Orange is a very popular colour. So, according to the type of glasses you wear, you adjust and think that this is the way everything looks. Then you  take it off, you see a whole different colour here. So, according to the guṇas that we have acquired, the tendency to see things is that way. We have our prejudices, we have our likes, dislikes , all these things, based on our conditioning. Guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. Controlled by our karmas, , by the qualities of nature, you are forced to react in a particular way. So this is the basic problem that we are facing all over the world. Here comes Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee.

Prabhupāda explained that jīva muktaḥ. Because they are always, they have no other business other than serving Kṛṣṇa even while living in the material world, they are liberated and what is their job, what is their primary task?

To wake everybody else up. To wake people up from the state of ignorance , to bring them also to the liberated platform. We read yesterday that conditioned souls who are in the bodies of plants and animals, it is very hard to wake them up. But by loudly chanting in Harinām, they get elevated and they get benefit. So then who are we talking about? We can wake up the human beings, Śrīla Prabhupāda said.

So, Lord Caitanya, he could wake up the animals. He got the animals to chant in the Jharikanda forest. But human beings, they are more difficult to wake up. I mean,  Śrīla Prabhupāda  said, the human beings, they could be woken up by even us. We get humans to chant, that will be our credit. We don’t expect to get animals to chant. Lord Caitanya can do that. There is an interesting story by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswati Thakur about animals in the jungle. There was one time a young carpenter and he was going into the, he decided to go into the jungle to get wood. He would make furniture, sell it and make some money, he could become rich and he would be able to do all the things he wants to do with his money and so on. So then, he was going to the forest, to the jungle, the Sunderban Jungle in southern Bengal with his saw. One old carpenter saw him heading towards the jungle. Where are you going?

He said, he is going to the jungle. He said yes. But you don’t have any weapon. How are you going to protect yourself? There is a tiger in there. So, don’t go to the jungle without a gun or something because it is very dangerous.  But the young carpenter thought what does this old carpenter know?

If I see a tiger coming, I will just take my saw, saw the branch of a tree, I'll swing the branch on my hand and I will scare away the tiger (Guru Maharaj Laughs Ha ha ha) Nothing to fear. Right?

What do these old people know anyway?

The young people know better right? (GM laughs) That’s what they think.

So then the carpenter, he is there, he's already cut a lot of wood, he has got a full of bundle, if he had to buy wood its expensive, so he go to the forest and he get it for free there, that was the idea , west so many people going to the forest so was no problem  now the forest all cut down so that is a problem. So, then, while he was gathering the wood, a young tiger, not a very old one,3 years old only may be only about 2 and half metres long or 3 metres long, spots him from a distance and starts running up. So he can see the trigger running over the field and he takes the sawed and he starts to saw the rans to do his plan you know but he doesn’t have enough time. Tiger is not that slow. Tiger comes and first he grabs him by his leg and starts chewing on him. (GM laughs) and then he is finished. When all the villagers found out, now they were very sad that the young person sacrificed his life in that way.

So this is an analogy. So in this analogy who was the old carpenter and who was the young carpenter?

Anyone knows?

[Not Clear – 00:19:48] if you take that the young carpenter is someone who is seeking, like a young disciple or someone who is seeking spiritual life, then who is the old carpenter? The Guru. But he didn’t listen to the Guru. Instead, he followed his own dictates. So, having a Guru is absolutely essential for spiritual progress. In fact, of course, there are different types, there is the dīkṣā guru, where one takes initiation and he establishes our relationship with Kṛṣṇa, sambandha. There is only one dīkṣā guru.  And then there is śīkṣā guru and shastra says that one may have more than one guru or one may have many śīkṣā gurus. Śīkṣā guru is anyone who gives us valuable advice in our spiritual life in one sense is a śīkṣā guru. Someone who is totally absorbed in Kṛṣṇa’s service and one who is guiding is considered like a representative or directly representing the supreme personality of God Head Rādhā Govindajī and that is abhidheya, giving us practical advice in day-to-day devotional service.

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in one purport that a devotee who takes advantage of the two types of Gurus, the dīkṣā Guru and the śīkṣā gurus and achieves success in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, going back home, back to GodHead, they are actually successful and fortunate. So we need to listen, especially when we are having this kshetra, where we are under the control of the mind and the mind is not neutral. The mind is being controlled by the three modes of material nature, the mind is seeing things from a material point of view. We have to take advice and take that guidance and shelter from the dīkṣā and śīkṣā guru.

Actually, there is some other, where Śrīla Prabhupāda he wrote, I don’t know the whole context but, he wrote to his some GBC, the disciple was helping in the GBC that I am the dīkṣā guru and I want the GBC should be the śīkṣā guru for my disciples. At that time, there was only Prabhupāda disciples. Also, at that time, Prabhupāda  disciples do not look to their older God Brothers or God Sisters for śīkṣā or for help. For the grand disciples, they might look to their Guru, their dīkṣā guru, they may look to other Gurus or other Prabhupāda disciples as a type of śīkṣā guru to help them. But it is quite natural that even a god brother and god sisters look to a senior god brother or god sister as a śīkṣā guru, as someone who could give spiritual guidance.  And I request especially, the god brothers and god sisters of the Guru is to be respected like that in one sense, but then someone who is really taken as a śīkṣā guru, someone that is you develop a relationship with. That was there at the time of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you read the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja , he offers obeisances to his dīkṣā guru and he offers to his  śīkṣā gurus like Rūpa Goswami, Raghunathdas and so many others. So, this one thing which we see that in ISKCON, this relationship that the devotees have with the dīkṣā guru and śīkṣā guru, they help to unite everyone much more where people feel more sheltered and helped. Some people , they don’t have faith for whatever reason , or they may not be fully qualified to take the form of shelter of guru and being considered as the dīkṣā or sheltered disciple. But they have faith in someone like a guru or faith in someone where they could take shelter, in the sense take that person him or her as śīkṣā guru and then get practical guidance for advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, this is the program of Lord Caitanya.

Now here you see the young carpenter, he went. Some one offered him some good śīkṣā . Don’t go into the jungle unprotected. He didn’t listen. He listened to his mind. His mind had so many ideas. As a result, he became , you know, tiger food or whatever you call it and he unnecessarily sacrificed his valuable life. So then, the villagers, they were very unhappy to hear about that. But it so happened, that there was a Hare Kṛṣṇa preacher who visited that village and he started to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness and he had a programme, a programme that went late, we experienced it last night, a programme that went late into the night and people woke up a little late, when they woke up, they found that the sādhu had already left. So, where did he go?

He went into the jungle. Just recently, the carpenter got killed. There is a tiger in the jungle. Every one was very worried. There is a tiger in the jungle. We have to go and protect him, you know. They got the guns and everything and followed his footprints, traced the way where he was going to protect him. They were very concerned. They were following. Deep inside in the jungle, they start hearing a kīrtan, hear sounds of chanting. So, what's going on? Strange voices, voices that were never heard before. They looked behind the trees and there they see that this devotee is chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and all the tigers, deers are all chanting with him. And they are having a big kīrtan, all the animals. (Guru Maharaj Laughs). He is getting the tigers to chant and we came to protect him. So this chapter of the analogy is an allegorical story then, who are the people with the guns and who is the sādhu and who are the wild animals?

Anyone know?

Sādhu is the fully Kṛṣṇa conscious jīvan mukta devotee who is following Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, some one who is fully engaging senses in Kṛṣṇa’s service and the wild animals who are they?

The wild animals are the senses, normally the senses, they are uncontrolled, very difficult to control the senses. But, this devotee is able to control the senses. Senses or you could also say, the vices. Normally, the vices are kāma, krodha, lobha, madhu, mātsarya – lust, anger, greed, envy, madness, illusion but, they are all controlled because he is able to engage all of them in Kṛṣṇa’s service due to the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now they are not in danger. Who are the people with the guns, the villagers? (GM Laughs) Bhaktisiddhānta gave these analogies. They are all, after the story, what do these mean? ( GM Laughs). It's not so easy. So, in this analogy, he describes that the villagers with the guns are like the people following the karmakanda and the guns that they have , they are the sense gratification which  protects them  from the grossest aspect of sin or bad karma.  But they are not free from material desires, they are within the  material desires, therefore they are fearful. They are afraid. That’s why they have the guns or weapons to protect them. They are fearful. But the devotee, because he is engaging everyone in Kṛṣṇa’s service, he has no fear.

Bhajahū re mana śrī nanda nandana abhaya charanara vindare (Guru Maharaj sings)

By offering everything at the lotus feet of Śrī Nanda Nandana, Lord Kṛṣṇa, then the devotee becomes fearless, abhayacharanara vindare.

Prabhupāda offered everything in the service of Kṛṣṇa and therefore he was being fearless. When we want to enjoy sense gratification and we don’t want to get bad karmas, we have to figure out how to do that.  It becomes a fearful condition. What to speak of people who are not even trying to [Not Clear] very hopeless position to go deeper and deeper into the entanglements. Here these people were well armed, means the people by following some religious system, some protection. But it is not total, it is not that they are without fear. So, more than religion, is to be Kṛṣṇa conscious, to be totally engaged in devotional service. We come back to the beginning.

īhā yasya harer dāsye karmaṇā manasā girā – offering our thoughts, words and deeds to Kṛṣṇa.  Actually that is the vow that the tridaṇḍī sanyasis take. In this age, giving up of work is prohibited. So, we have to engage our thought, word and deed in the service of Kṛṣṇa. But that also that everybody is supposed to do that as much as they can, they are supposed to do 100%. Ofcourse the sanyasis has to do it, else substandard.

So here we have the situation where all are dealing with the mind, with the vices, with the wild animals and we can tame them by just being Kṛṣṇa conscious. That is the ideal method. There is no better method than that. Other methods are either totally ineffective like the young carpenter [ Not clear]. Some people think that they can control their material desires by the yoga system. Whenever I get agitated, I will just sit and meditate. But it doesn’t work. Just like so many yogis, who are meditating, but the senses get out of control. We can’t do something part time and expect that it is going to work or something partial. The yoga system is not completely absorbing or totally protective in this particular day and age. People don’t get that type of total involvement to the yoga system. But through devotional service, everything we do, we can do for Kṛṣṇa. Everything we do, we can do for Guru and Kṛṣṇa. If we organize our thoughts in a proper way and offer our devotional service in this attitude we can always be protected. Kṛṣṇa is known as “Bhāvagrāhi Janardhana” He accepts our mood of devotion. It is essential that we maintain that proper frame of mind.

So, we have to learn from our Gurus. If you don’t have the proper frame of mind, then you have the enjoying attitude or the attitude that is coloured, by one of the three modes or the combination of the three modes, then we are not going to get the same kind of awakening. We would still be in this dreaming state to some extent. It happens to all of us who are not fully awakened yet. So we need to fully wake up and see things as clearly as they are . So gradually as we encounter different illusions in our life, by the help of the spiritual master, then we tend to adjust when things become more and more clear until finally  when everything is clear, then one is considered liberated even when we are alive. So the devotee is also described when we are chanting we are in the clearing stage. We are clearing away the offenses, we are clearing away the illusions. There is the offensive state of chanting and that is also the liberated state. So, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is our caitya guru, He is guiding us from inside. He is so merciful that He also He comes down as Mahāprabhu, the great teacher, to teach us by his example externally how we should engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. Prabhupāda  explains how the teacher has the chalk in hand and shows the students , this is how you write.

Well, one of the saṁskāras you do is Hathyakori , Vidyārambha, sometimes it’s called. The beginning of studies. Before any child goes to school, before he goes to study, nursery school, whatever, the first time, the parents take to the guru, or some senior devotee and they do this ceremony, where… I just did one in-in India within the last month. We take the child’s hand and you take some writing implement, and then you’ll trace out the name of Kṛṣṇa. So, the first, the child’s writing, you just hold the child’s hand and write on the chalkboard, or in this case they had put some sand with a coloured rice on it.

So, we wrote on the sand the name of Kṛṣṇa, or sometimes it may be a chalkboard, or nothing else but a piece of paper. So that’s the first, and then there’s some mantras that are chanted that time to bless. So, then anything we want to do we begin and end with Kṛṣṇa, and hopefully in the middle we also have Kṛṣṇa. So, in the very beginning of the child’s life, they don’t have the intellect to decide things on their own, so that’s when, you know you give the first grains as Kṛṣṇa prasādam. What does the baby know if it is prasādam or not, that’s for the parents to give prasādam grain.  Now people buy bottled food and give them baby food, and things like that. They don’t know that this system that you should give the first solid food or the first grains which is given should be prasādam. Blessed, sanctified food that first riding [Not Clear – 00:37:13] Kṛṣṇa’s name. And like that there are so many different ceremonies when the child’s under the care of the parent. In fact, there’s a ceremony that’s specially performed during the first pregnancy, during the sixth, eighth or ninth month.

A pregnancy called Simantanayana where different prayers are performed for the blessing of the mother and the child in the womb. At that time, in case Garbodhana Saṁskāra or the other first, after three months there is the ceremony that’s supposed to be performed. In case those weren’t performed, then one prays for forgiveness for any negligence in having not perfectly performed those, and those are performed through mantra to ensure that the child is given the best spiritual boost even while in the womb.

So, like this there are so many different saṁskāras that are performed and Prabhupāda explained that for Kṛṣṇa conscious devotees, having children is all very joyous and a matter of celebration. We want householders to have families, to have Kṛṣṇa conscious children. And that’s why there are so many ceremonies. Even Gopal Bhaṭṭa when Goswami he wrote the samskar, satya Saṁskāra Deepika. He wrote down the Vaishnava saṁskāras.

And here is one of the six Goswamis worshipping Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and following the footsteps of the gopīs, running in Vṛndāvan after Kṛṣṇa, and he takes the trouble to write the Saṁskāras. And he writes Garbodhana Saṁskāra. He is a Goswami, he’s telling a householder how to perform Garbodhana Saṁskāra. How to perform the pregnancy saṁskāras, How to perform the birth saṁskāra, How to perform a wedding. Chapter after chapter of the wedding saṁskāra, of the vivāha yajña, the sacrifice of marriage. Seeing that it was so important, for the future generations of devotees, that, within his bhajan, he wrote this valuable book, and then he explains how everything should be done in a Kṛṣṇa conscious way, and we shouldn’t do these ceremonies to the demigods, to the devas, but only to Viṣṇu. He explains all these things. Now this book has been translated into English. Bhakti Vidyā  Pūrṇa Maharaj has, at Bhaktivedanta Academy. They were selling it at the festival this year at Māyāpur. And there’s another thing which is the temples can provide a service for the congregation. It is said they can perform these saṁskāras. [Not Clear – 00:40:12]

 Congregation. They said they can perform these saṁskāras and there is plenty of saṁskāras for all those people having children, there’s plenty of opportunities to be performing all kinds of saṁskāras and it’s a way that  the whole community and  it's a social event also perform anna prasanna. In South India they have a huge feast, feed all the relatives, and children, do the yajñas, you know we tend to just chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. If we feed the grains, we can do it much more elaborately also. But, in that way rather it becomes a way that you know immediately brought together, by, the focus, it’s Kṛṣṇa. Focus is becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious. The point here is, we’re discussing the awakening. We want to see everyone woken up from the conditioning.

So, parents can do something even when the child is in the womb. They can do something when the child’s a  little baby. But after the age of five, then they have to bring the student to the gurukul. They have to now start to train the student, the child is now old enough to begin to, start to, understand things, and now therefore the training has to begin in another mode.

As Prahalad ___ said, _______They have to be taught how to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness even from the age of five. They have to start acting. For most of us, who haven’t been born in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then, we didn’t start chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, at the age of five. We started much later, and we had so many mundane thoughts that are in the consciousness so we have to purify. Of course even a child may have got the thoughts from the previous life. But they won’t be so conscious of the sub-conscious tendencies.

Prabhupāda said that after some generations, like if the parents treat the children very nicely, and give them love and affection and give them Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and they become devotees, then their children they get similarly nicely taken care of, and they become devotees, then this way, after the third generation Prabhupāda said you’ll get children who are born with natural tendencies of brahminical tendencies, of devotional tendencies. In other words, it’s much easier for them that kind of children attracted to their own environment, will have sub-consciousness that are less disturbed, more Kṛṣṇa conscious. So that’s something we need also, we need in our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement to have that the generations of the children that are born should be very qualified We need Prahlads, and such great souls to, like Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswati Thakur was born, Bhaktivinoda Thakur was with his wife [Not clear], a ray of Viṣṇu. To go through the bitter austerity and he prayed to Kṛṣṇa to get a Kṛṣṇa conscious child. He wanted such souls to come into the movement and to help us spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That someone if they’re born, liberated, it’s called jeeva muktya, liberated while you are living. Another category is called janma siddha. Born perfect.

Like Sukadev Goswami, he was liberated right from birth. We could have a few ,one janma siddha,some one who is born perfect and they would be very helpful for the movement when they took Prasad. So, what we need, actually, what many people of the world need even one would be great.

Like Srinivas Ācārya. His parents were devotees. His father was Caitanya Das, and his mother was, her name was Lakṣmīpriyā. So they were, they didn’t have any children, they were serving and they had no children and somehow the wife she told her husband that I really feel that we should have a child. He said no, we’re already old, you know, it was almost time for Vanaprasta, it’s not like, I don’t feel, suddenly now you’re getting this idea?

He said I know what you’re thinking, it’s not like i feel lusty, but I really feel that it’s Kṛṣṇa’s desire that we should have a child. So, this is difficult for me to accept. I want to get this confirmed by someone. So, they decided let’s go and see Lord Caitanya, if he tells us then we’ll have a child. That was the husbands. So actually, they went on a pilgrimage to Jagannath Purī to see Lord Caitanya. So, there they’ll get the answer. It just so happened that when they arrived on the big Rath Yatra Road, in front of the Jagannath Purī temple they were approaching, have you been to Jagannath Purī, anyone has been?

So, you know how it’s like, it’s big road where the Rath goes, and then there’s the, you can see on the road from a long way you can see the temple. So, as you, the road from Bengal may be a kilometer and a half from the temple and you start walking from the road to the temple, it’s quite spectacular. So, they’ve been walking on the road, they maybe doesnt say exactly under the two hundred meters, from the temple you can imagine, they just close to the temple, not too far. And they can see, that Lord Caitanya is coming out with all of his associates, with Svarūp Damodar, with Govinda Das, with Rāmānanda Ray, Māhiti and different devotees are coming out of the main gate, the Siṁha Dvāra of the Jagannath Purī temple. As soon as they see Lord Caitanya’s golden form, immediately, they offer their obeisance’s and the husband’s prostrating and the wife’s next to him offering obeisance’s. They just stayed offering obeisance’s there, overwhelmed with humility and devotion. So even when Lord Caitanya walked by them as soon as he was right next to him, there their faces are down, offering obeisance’s, normally you can’t see when somebody else’s… He stops, and he turns to his secretary and says These are my dear devotees I want you to arrange for a place for them to stay and give them prasādam.

Then he said Jagannath Das, [Not clear] Then he went on, and so then all the devotees said, this is special mercy. I mean, he didn’t even see their faces and Lord Caitanya knew these are my dear devotees. So, they all, with other devotees, wanted to know who are these devotees who got special mercy. Who are they, there must be something? So they asked them, who are you Lord Caitanya said you are dear to him, and if you’re dear to Lord Caitanya, then you should dear to us. Hearing the devotee right, they do not like oh, they got the special mercy, why I didn’t I get the mercy, because there’s no envy in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Oh, you got special mercy, therefore you’re pretty dear to Kṛṣṇa, and therefore you’re dear to us. Who are you, we’d like to know?

So immediately then they arranged, got a place to stay, where they could, they were walking 500 kilometres, from Bengal. So, they freshened up, and then went for darshan of Lord Jagannath, and then they got prasādam, and everything. So, like that then Lord Caitanya also said to them, bring them to see me later. So, they went to see Lord Caitanya, and Govinda Das brought them in to see Lord Caitanya, they offered their obeisances, again sad. They were going to ask they really felt at this point We’re going to ask Lord Caitanya about this. Question was a bit embarrassing.  But before they could say anything, Lord Caitanya said You’re going to have a child. You go back to your village, and try to have a child. And that child is going to be my very great devotee, he’s going to be an important servitor of me, his name, give the name, Shrinivas. Question finished. You know, It’s like ...OK. And gave them blessings,and  okay that was it. So then no more doubt about what should happen. So, then what should happen so then they had this, they had a child, they gave the name Srinivas, they were bringing him up, teaching him everything they could about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, there’s one very beautiful story and in the Bhakti Ratnakar about how when Srinivas was around nine years old, he asked his father, that how did you get the name Caitanya Das because his born name was something different, Gaṅgā Upadhyay or something like that. I forget, so how did you get the name Caitanya Das?

And then, he explained that I was living in this home of Jajigram, which is Srinivas Ācārya’s home. We don’t understand, but actually it was his father's home before that. And Jajigram is to the north west of Katwa. About only a few kilometres, 4-5 kilometres. So that Caitanya Das, he decided he wanted to go to Navadwip and see Lord Caitanya. He had never seen Lord Caitanya. He heard so much about him, He was a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa. He wanted to see Nimāi. He wanted to see Gaurāṅga and get his blessings. So at this pilgrimage, he took off and the route goes via Katwa. It just so happened that Lord Caitanya had come to Katwa with four associates, Nityānanda, Mukunda, Chandrasekhar and Gadādhara inorder to take sanyas. He had decided to take sanyas for the preaching, it was necessary, he was 24 years old and he decided to take this vow of sanyas. So, He was there in Katwa and the huge crowd of people the word goes around Lord Caitanya that you know, Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu is in Katwa and thousands of people were willing around and kīrtan going on and then he asked, what is the big festival happening?

He said I don’t know, Lord Caitanya, you know is here, Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu is here. He has come here to take sanyas from Keshava Bhāratī. Really, I was going to see him. I was just going to Navadvip. I wanted to see the mountain, the mountain came to me. So then there was a kīrtan going on and Lord Caitanya was chanting in the middle. Huge crowd of people, but somehow with his enthusiasm he could walk his way up to the crowd and  got right up to the first row. Make sure your feet sometimes this kīrtan

Lord Caitanya was dancing in kīrtan, he was like spinning. Tears were coming out from his eyes, sprinkling on everyone, spraying out on all people around. So He was drenched in tears of  sprayed with tears of Lord Caitanya’s eyes. It was just so amazing that the kīrtan was overwhelmed with this intense kīrtan of Lord Caitanya and everyone was dancing in ecstasy. Then one more point, Lord Caitanya said stop the kīrtan. Now we have to go on with our business here we have to. So he was , next thing happened and he was looking for a barber and he told the barber that I want him to shave me, shave off my hair. So Lord Caitanya had beautiful hair , transcendental hair and the barber went with his razor to cut the hair and then all the people said, No No Nooooo. They just couldn’t take it you know. Why should he?

Lord Caitanya is so beautiful, why should he cut his hair, specially in the back row, the matajis. The barber said, I cant I cant I cant do this. It would be an offence. Your job as a barber is supposed to cut hair, you know. I take all responsibility. You cut my hair. Otherwise, you are being offensive, like   NOoooooo.. he couldn’t take it. Lord Caitanya’s hair cut off, the devotees save the hair and build a little Samādhi for Lord Caitanya’s hair in Katwa.  If you go there, you can see the Samādhi temple, both Keshav Bharathi and Samādhi of Lord Caitanya’s hair.

You’ve went to Katwa?

How many went to Katwa?

Whoa..so much nectar. When did you go?

The boat party, yes. Then Lord Caitanya went to the Gaṅgā to take his bath. He was given his cloth. He came back, dressed in saffron cloth. Very effulgent, golden. Then He called Keshav Bhāratī and he said you know the vaisnav sannyas mantra to give me and then this is the mantra you are going to give me and he spoke the mantra in the ear of Keshav Bhāratī se Aadi guru. He actually initiated Keshav Bhāratī and that was given back by Keshav Bhāratī to Lord Caitanya.

Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu ki jai!

So, until that time, he was known as Gaurāṅga, Gaur Hari, Nimāi. So, then Keshav Bhāratī just gave him the name that your name would be Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and then for Caitanya Das who was Gaṅgā something, Gangopadhyay or some other name, he was there in the front row, all this thing was going on and he said. Your name is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, they were all shouting, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and it was just all so overwhelming the whole thing for him that Caitanya Das went into a trance Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya - Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, continuously for months and months he was chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, day and night waking and sleeping chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. That’s how he got to be known as Caitanya das. So, he was explaining what happened.  Then as soon as he was explaining to Srinivas, he was remembering everything and he was seeing everything right before his eyes. And then he said Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, it was just like overwhelming for him, he was chanting and went into trance again, he was there, fell off his seat on the ground, and he is just chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Tears were pouring from his eyes, completely overwhelmed in separation of Lord Caitanya. And seeing this transcendental bhava of his father, being also completely overwhelmed in ecstasy, hearing this pastime, the young Srinivas grabbed the feet of his father and put it on his head and he was also crying and chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya.

Meanwhile, the mother had been cooking the bhoga to offer for lunch and then she heard everybody falling down in the next room and what's going on?

She came out, saw the husband lying in a pool of tears chanting Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya with his son holding his feet crying and chanting. Both are on the ground. And then she offers her obeisances, crying in ecstasy and also feeling separation from Lord Caitanya. So this was the transcendental family life of Srinivas Acharya and his parents. So, some people, they are born just to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness you know. Prabhupad said there will be people, there are devotees who are sent just to preach and devotees that would be born in the future, we need a householder also to have the consciousness to bring in such souls into the world.

 So then, we have here nitya baddha and nitya mukta, we have jīvan mukta and then we have janma mukta or janma siddha. So, Srinivas, he was like that, born with that higher purpose. So, for the rest of us, we have to be fixed in our becoming Kṛṣṇa conscious by engaging every thought, word and deed in Kṛṣṇa’s service. And in this way , by following the footsteps of the pure devotee, the previous acharyas, following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya, then even while we are in this life, we can be liberated from the influence of the three modes of material nature.

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Any questions?

Devotee: [Not Clear – 00:59:40]

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami:  Satkriya sanskar Dipika

Did you bring a copy?

I asked for a pack personally 5 times i asked for the pack about 20 or 30 of them so that I can take to the temples to do this, one time as part of congregational preaching ministry, promote temples doing this samskars. In some places, the congregation has grown so much that the temple kind of get sidelined in a sense. They don’t see what the temple does.Actually the temple is the place where you train the congregation, where you do the saṁskāras, where they gather together and the temple becomes very vital the heart of the whole community and that's supposed to be.

Devotee: When they just dropped in this world, it's not necessarily mention as such in Scriptures?

His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami: No. They are not avatars that they need to be predicted. They come along with and after the avatars come. Then, there are so many nitya siddhas that come along to help the Lord in His service.

So, Lord Caitanya’s pastimes are still present, so, He is going to be sending so many devotees to help Him in His pastimes. His pastimes, He predicted, every town and village in the whole world will be flooded with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The whole world will be flooded with love of GodHead. As you see the pastimes are not over yet. A few places haven’t been flooded yet.We just have to be ... We just have got the foot in the door , you know. So, we are here. Lord Caitanya is here.

Now we have to flood and as explained last night that it is possible, people were like, how is it possible. But if you just take this simple calculation that every devotee makes one other devotee in a year, not necessary they have to join the temple but just get them to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one in a year or one in 6 months. Some devotees, they make much more than that. But just aim at just 1 , we did one and if we double every year and double every year, at the end of 12 years, you are going to have a million. So why don’t we have half a million devotee in every temple, we have had ISKCON for 30 years, we should have a million.

Right?

Why, because everybody isn’t preaching, but we should. We think that temple president will preach. 2 or 4 people preach, so the 4 people double every year.  But If everybody does their part, then the movement can explode.  Also, because maybe we didn’t focus to become a pure devotee doesn’t mean we have to move to the temple. We would have half a million people in this temple. We have to shrink everybody. Prabhupad said that we don't expect we don't need 100s and 1000s of people living at our temples. Everyone should be practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness in their home. Some people are living in the temple to do a brahmanical role for the rest of the community but the point is everybody can practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness at their home. So that [Not clear]

We can see that; in the community we can see that that initiated and the dedicated congregational members are very much vibrant and integral part of our whole community. Even though they have different activities sustaining and helping the community well in so many ways also.  So, it’s not something artificial. It is natural.

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s time, there was no such thing as temple or asram. Every home was an ashram. They were all householders, students, and that’s how they were preaching and working together. Only from the time of the 6 Goswamis, that they really start to build temples. Lord Nityānanda did Namahatta, [Not clear], brāhmaṇas and preachers are based out of these temples. But everybody was encouraged to chant and practice from their home. The temples are really the basis for preaching and the centre of the community. People gather together to worship the Deities and get pancaratrik, purification but the deity is [Not clear] Kṛṣṇa incarnates as the Deity form. The temple becomes say a place of pilgrimage, auspicious place where you can perform saṁskāras weddings you can chanting. So, wherever Viṣṇu Deity is established, that area there one yojana is considered to be sanctifie or purified just by the presence of the Vishnu Deity. That’s about 8 miles or 12 kilometres or 13 kilometres. 12. Is it 12? And then it depends. That’s just when one does the installation by Brāhmaṇas. If the Deities are installed by, it depends who it is installed by ythen it has more effect., If it is installed by a devotee, it has much greater effect. It can spread to 100 1000s yojanas deep into the other planets. If Lord Brahmā installs a Deity, it affects the whole universe and if it is a self-manifested Deity, the whole entire creation.

Devotee: Is it necessary to someone to install the Deity if the Deity is already being worshipped [Not Clear – 1:06:42]

Answer: Well, because we follow the Shastra, the scriptures say we should formally invite the Lord. Prabhupad said sometimes that as far he is concerned about putting the Deities in the altar, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, he is happy with that Kṛṣṇa is there. But sometimes the disciples or the pūjārīs who have developed this consciousness where the Deities are formally invited. Therefore, if you are not so strict, it doesn’t matter.  If actually everybdy has faith and everything,something, when you actually formally request the Lord, He will really know that , it's like a vow. [Not clear] Some of the Deity Installation talks about yajaman, you are vowing the mantras say we really invite you to come here, we want you to be forever happy we want you to be always happy, nityās tuṣyanti – happy, bliss here. We want you to be with always with us. Of Course, for someone like Mādhavendra Purī, it doesn’t really matter. Some great vaiṣṇava, they do an an Abhishek, of course that deity he found was already installed deity. It was worshipped by the son or grandson of Kṛṣṇa but not others

 So generally, we perform these ceremonies for various reasons. But I see that practically the consciousness of the pūjārī as they take so much of mercy, the commitment of the devotees is very purifying. Because that is provided by the scripture, we should do. Not that Kṛṣṇa is not there if you don’t do. Infact when you have been worshipping a Deity for some time, you don’t do the same installation as if you haven’t been worshipping the Deity. It's not like you cover the eyes again, you don’t do things like that because we consider the deity is there. It's like you do an Abhishek and formally ask Kṛṣṇa to be there. Just like a confirmation. If it’s a brand-new Deity that has not been worshipped, you need to do all this saupadosi snānam, nayanam, ādivas, dhanyadivas and all these adivasas to purify the bimba, the statue, the form from any contamination that came through the making process and the handling process. Then you do the saṁhāra sristi by mantras destroy all elements and recreate the elements in the material platform with chintamani, and then you request Kṛṣṇa. It is the process of awakening Kṛṣṇa in the form of the Deity. It’s really like a meditation. So that can happen immediately just by the request of a pure devotee. Kṛṣṇa please come and accept our worship.

But if you do according to the rituals, even if someone may have you know not everybody has equal faith of a pure devotee, so you do the ritual and even by the ritual performed by the brāhmaṇas. It is to establish that Kṛṣṇa has been invited here, according to the rituals given in the pāñcarātrika system, also invited by the devotees of the Lord and therefore Kṛṣṇa is here. Everyone should therefore have faith in whatever,its kind of a very neophyte may be prescribed way. have to keep that standard, you cannot reduce that standard. Pancaratrik system, you invited the Lord, then you have to maintain that of Pancratrik standard system.  Brāhmaṇas worshipping the Deities, things like that.

So it’s the consciousness of the devotees that becomes the commitment. What they consider what I have understood is that uninstalled Deities are like worshipping picture in the sense when you are worshipping in a public forum, and in the temple, you have so many devotees praying and taking shelter of Kṛṣṇa, to give shelter somehow Kṛṣṇa, He comes naturally. But in the home, it is picture.

 Any other question?

 I think many devotees have to take their breakfast. I have to chant before i leave. I will stay here and chant. I don’t know if anybody wants to have breakfast, you can have breakfast and come, we can have morning japa workshop. We missed as we were too late last nigh I’m available in the weekend. Yesterday some people worked 10 to [Not clear] I’ll take a walk around and chant.

What’s the next program?

Prasad ( Guru Maharaj & everyone laughs)

Proofreading By: Neetu, Reading, United Kingdom

 

Completed on: 24th August, 2020