19980215 Bhagavad-gītā 18.61-65

The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on February 15th, 1998. The class begins with a reading from the Bhāgavad Gita 18.61-65.

Hariḥ oṁ !

jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya 108 śrī śrīmad Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda kī! [Jaya!] 

jaya oṁ viṣṇupāda paramahaṁsa parivrājakācārya 108 śrī śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura kī! [Jaya!]

ananta-koṭi Vaiṣṇava vṛnda kī! [Jaya!]

nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura kī! [Jaya!]

Pream Se kaho - śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda Ki Jay!

Śrī Śrī Rādhā Kṛṣṇa Gopa-gopīnātha, Śyāma-kuṇḍa, Rādha-kuṇḍa, Giri-Govardhana kī! [Jaya!] 

Śrī Vṛndāvana dhāma kī! [Jaya!]

Navadvīpa Māyāpur dhāma ki! [Jaya!]

Mathurā dhāma kī! [Jaya!]

Jagannātha Purī kī! [Jaya!]

Gaṅgā-mayī kī! [Jaya!]

Yamunā-mayī kī! [Jaya!]

Tulasī Devī kī! [Jaya!]

Bhakti Devī kī! [Jaya!]

Hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana kī! [Jaya!]

Hanumān kī! [Jaya!]

Ayodhyā dhāma kī! [Jaya!]

Gaṅgā-mayī kī! [Jaya!]

Yamunā-mayī kī! [Jaya!]

Tulasī Devī kī! [Jaya!]

Bhakti Devī kī! [Jaya!]

Harināma saṅkīrtana kī! [Jaya!]

Bhakta Prahlāda Mahārāja kī! [Jaya!]

Dvādaśa Mahājana kī! [Jaya!]

ISKCON Guru-vṛnda kī! [Jaya!]

Sama-vetā Bhakta-vṛnda kī! [Jaya!]

All glories to the assembled devotees!

All glories to the assembled devotees!

All glories to the assembled devotees!

All glories to the assembled devotees!

All glories to Śrī Guru and Śrī Gaurāṅga!

Devotee: Jaya Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī! Jaya! Patita-pāvana Śrīla Ācāryapāda kī! Jaya!

Hariḥ oṁ! tat sat

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya 
jñānāñjana-śalākayā 
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena 
tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale 
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine 
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe 
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe

namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te 
kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ 
he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate 
gopeśa gopīkā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo ’stu te

tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari 
vṛṣabhānu-sute devī praṇamāmi hari-priye 
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

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

Oṁ namo bhāgavata vāsudevāya! 
Oṁ namo bhāgavata vāsudevāya! 
Oṁ namo bhāgavata vāsudevāya!

nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam 
devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam 
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram

Bhagavad-gītā 18.61

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ 
hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati 
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni 
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

Bhagavad-gītā 18.62

tam eva śaraṇaṁ gaccha 
sarva-bhāvena bhārata 
tat-prasādāt parāṁ śāntiṁ 
sthānaṁ prāpsyasi śāśvatam

Bhagavad-gītā 18.63

iti te jñānam ākhyātaṁ 
guhyād guhyataraṁ mayā 
vimṛśyaitad aśeṣeṇa 
yathecchasi tathā kuru

Bhagavad-gītā 18.64

sarva-guhyatamaṁ bhūyaḥ 
śṛṇu me paramaṁ vacaḥ 
iṣṭo 'si me dṛḍham iti 
tato vakṣyāmi te hitam

Bhagavad-gītā 18.65

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto 
mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru 
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te 
pratijāne priyo 'si me

Translations (by His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda): 

Bhagavad-gītā 18.61: The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.

Jayapatākā Swami: Where is your heart? Can you find heart? Where is the heart? Show me where is your heart? Where is the heart? So Kṛṣṇa is situated in everyone’s heart. He is the caitya-guru. He is the one who is guiding us from within. So sometime, we think Kṛṣṇa is very far. We should understand. He is right here, watching every thought we make, everything we do.

Bhagavad-gītā 18.62: O scion of Bharata, surrender unto Him utterly. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode.

Jayapatākā Swami: How many of you here would like to have peace? All right. Then here is the formula, how to get peace. You surrender to the Supreme Lord who is in your heart. You will achieve peace in this life and at the end of this life you can achieve the eternal abode.

Bhagavad-gītā 18.63: Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇa gives us all the free will to do what we want to do. Prabhupāda explains here.

Purport: […] Here the words yathecchasi tathā kuru—"As you like, you may act"— indicate that God does not interfere with the little independence of the living entity. In Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord has explained in all respects how one can elevate his living condition. The best advice imparted to Arjuna is to surrender unto the Supersoul seated within his heart. By right discrimination, one should agree to act according to the order of the Supersoul. That will help one become situated constantly in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the highest perfectional stage of human life. Arjuna is being directly ordered by the Personality of Godhead to fight. Surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is in the best interest of the living entities. It is not for the interest of the Supreme. Before surrendering, one is free to deliberate on this subject as far as the intelligence goes; that is the best way to accept the instruction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such instruction comes also through the spiritual master, the bona fide representative of Kṛṣṇa.

Jayapatākā Swami: Sometimes we invite people, “Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, serve Kṛṣṇa, surrender to Kṛṣṇa.” And sometimes people say, “Swamiji, whenever I am called by the Lord; then I will do it. I haven’t yet been called.” Then we wonder what calling they want? Here, it says the Lord may call or He may send His representative. If you get a wedding invitation and the son of the family who is having the wedding comes to your house with the invitation then you think that you weren’t called to come. Only the father himself has to come to invite everybody. How will it be possible? Hundreds of people they have to invite. And India we don’t like to send by mail. That is like considered lesser. But if personally delivered, then you take it. All right. I have been served a notice, isn’t it? So guru is personally asking, “Please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!” That means that Kṛṣṇa is asking through the guru. Why is Kṛṣṇa giving all of this confidential knowledge to Arjuna? Why is He giving that? He explains in text 64. Bhagavad-gītā 18.64:

Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you My supreme instruction, the most confidential knowledge of all. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.

Jayapatākā Swami: Imagine that you are able to know, what the Supreme Lord is telling His dear friend and devotee, most confidential knowledge. The secret of all secrets, the treasure. Wouldn’t you be interested? Isn’t that something that is very valuable to know? And then Kṛṣṇa spoke text 65 and 66.

Bhagavad-gītā 18.65: Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru 
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo 'si me 

Prabhupāda explains in the purport: The most confidential part of knowledge is that one should become a pure devotee of Kṛṣṇa and always think of Him and act for Him.

Jayapatākā Swami: That is the most confidential part of knowledge.

Purport: […] Life should be so molded that one will always have the chance to think of Kṛṣṇa. One should always act in such a way that all his daily activities are in connection with Kṛṣṇa. He should arrange his life in such a way that throughout the twenty-four hours he cannot but think of Kṛṣṇa. And the Lord’s promise is that anyone who is in such pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness will certainly return to the abode of Kṛṣṇa, where he will be engaged in the association of Kṛṣṇa face to face. This most confidential part of knowledge is spoken to Arjuna because he is the dear friend of Kṛṣṇa. Everyone who follows the path of Arjuna can become a dear friend to Kṛṣṇa and obtain the same perfection as Arjuna.

Jayapatākā Swami: How many of you would like to be dear friend of Kṛṣṇa and get all the perfections? Like the Pāṇḍavas, like Arjuna. [Haribol!]

In conclusion, Prabhupāda said here: […] These words stress that one should concentrate his mind upon Kṛṣṇa— the very form with two hands carrying a flute, the bluish boy with a beautiful face and peacock feathers in His hair. There are descriptions of Kṛṣṇa found in the Brahma-saṁhitā and other literatures. One should fix his mind on this original form of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. One should not even divert his attention to other forms of the Lord. The Lord has multiforms as Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Rāma, Varāha, etc., but a devotee should concentrate his mind on the form that was present before Arjuna. Concentration of the mind on the form of Kṛṣṇa constitutes the most confidential part of knowledge, and this is disclosed to Arjuna because Arjuna is the most dear friend of Kṛṣṇa’s.

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: When Caitanya Mahāprabhu was traveling in South India in Andhra Pradesh by the Tamil, Karnataka border… He met one brāhmaṇa, who was very, very devoted to Lord Rāma. In Andhra Pradesh, there are quite a number of Rāma-bhaktas. This Rāma-bhakta, he would… everything he did, he would say the name of Rāma. When he is offering water to his guests, he would say, “Rāma! Rāma!”; would have a seat, “Rāma! Rāma!” You would take more prasāda? “Rāma! Rāma!” All day long he is chanting “Rāma! Rāma!” Rāma!”, “Rāma! Rāma!”, “Rāma! Rāma!” “Rāma! Rāma!” “Rāma! Rāma!” “Rāma! And then Lord Caitanya told him, it was very nice to see your devotion for Rāma. You seem to be a very great scholar. Why don’t you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa though? And Rāma-bhakta, he said, well, I know in the Śiva Purāṇa, Lord Mahādeva states that the name of Rāma is a thousand times more powerful than the name of Viṣṇu. Sahasra-nāmabhis tulyaṁ eka rāma-nāma varānane (Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 72.335). The Sahasranāma of Viṣṇu. How many of you have ever chanted the Sahasranāma? So one times Sahasranāma – thousand name is equal to one name of Rāma. One raghupati rāghava-rājarāma patita-pāvana-sītā rāma is already so many Sahasranāmas. So the brāhmaṇa told Lord Caitanya that, I know the name of Rāma is more powerful than even the name of Viṣṇu. But also, in the Śiva Purāṇa, it states that if you chant the name of Kṛṣṇa it is equal to 3,000 names of Viṣṇu. So in other words, one name of Kṛṣṇa is equal to three names of Rāma. However, no matter what I want to do, I cannot help but remember Rāma. He is my iṣṭa-devata. He is my worshipable Lord. And all that I can think of is Rāma.

raghupati rāghava rājarāma patita-pāvana sītā-rāma, 
śrī-rāma, jaya-rāma, jaya jaya-rāma, śrī-rāma jaya-rāma, jaya jaya rāma 
śrī-rāma, jaya-rāma, jaya jaya-rāma, śrī-rāma jaya-rāma, jaya jaya rāma 
raghupati rāghava rājarāma patita-pāvana sītā-rāma,

Lord Caitanya said, well that is very nice. But if you can chant name of Kṛṣṇa then it is also even better. But in ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma’ both Kṛṣṇa and Rāma’s name are there. He said, “Well I tried but so far I have not been able. But I appreciate You are telling me and I know this is confirmed by all the śāstra.” So Lord Caitanya took His prasāda with that devotee of the Lord. Then He went to Śrī-śaila. There He met with Lord Śiva and they discussed about bhakti-tattva on the way back from the Śaila-parvata. Then Lord Caitanya again stopped at the house of the Rāma-bhakta. But this time, He was very surprised that the devotee was chanting the name of Kṛṣṇa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

“How is it you are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa? Before you could only chant Rāma. The brāhmaṇa said, “Yes, I knew Kṛṣṇa’s name was more powerful but I could never chant. But somehow by Your association the name of Kṛṣṇa just comes to my heart naturally now. So I think You must be Kṛṣṇa. How else could I change so quickly? Who are You? We have heard in a śāstra about a golden avatāra coming as a bhakta and Kali-yuga; who is really Kṛṣṇa in disguise. Are You that avatāra? I think You must be. Otherwise, how could I get so much attraction for Kṛṣṇa in my whole life? I cannot do it.” So then Lord Caitanya blessed Him and revealed His form to Him. So Lord Caitanya is actually Kṛṣṇa come as bhakta. It mentions in the Vedas there are many gurus, who claim that they are Kṛṣṇa. We don’t want to say like that. Our guru, he never claimed he was Kṛṣṇa. He always said he is a servant of the servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa dāsānudāsa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is accepted by so many great authorities that He is actually the bhakta-avatāra of Kṛṣṇa. In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there it mentions:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ 
sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam 
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair 
yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ 

(ŚB. 11.5.32)

Then the Age of Kali, Kṛṣṇa will come in akṛṣṇa-varṇam in a non-blackish color. He will come in a golden color. He will come with His associates, His energies, His devotees and He will engage in saṅkīrtana-yajñai-prāyair establishing the yajña, the sacrifice of chanting congregationally the names of Kṛṣṇa – saṅkīrtana means to chant together with many devotees. As we are all chanting together the names of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. We find there is so much energy in this kīrtana. It is actually, the greatest sacrifice. In Gītā (10.25) it mentions—yajñānāṁ japa-yajño ’smi— of all the forms of sacrifice, the form of chanting the holy names is considered to be the very greatest.

In the Bṛhan Nāradīya Purāṇa, it describes:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam 
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā 

(Cc. Ādi 17.21) 

In the Age of Kali, one should chant the holy name of Hari. Chant the name of Hari. Chant the name of Hari. There is no guaranteed method. No other way. No other way. No other way there is guaranteed than this process in the Age of Kali.

So even in this Skanda Purāṇa, Lord Murugan’s sacred śāstra, there it is mentioned that in order to get rid of bad qualities there is a secret way. How many of you would like to get rid of the anger, greed, lust, envy, all bad qualities? How many would like to get rid of any tinge of such qualities? So in Skanda Purāṇa, it says that if you chant at two syllables ‘ha’ ‘ri’, then the Lord is a… Hari come from haraṇa to steal. He steals away all your bad qualities simply by chanting ‘ha’ ‘ri’, Hari! Hari! Hari! Hari! We are worrying about thieves stealing our money, stealing our electrical equipment, stealing our near ones and dear ones. But nobody minds if someone steals all our garbage, steals away all our disease, all our lack of peace, steals away all the mental disturbances, physical disturbance. All right, take it. You can steal all you want of that. So that is how kind Hari is. He steals away the bad and leaves the good. So in this way, great devotees throughout time immemorial have been following this secret process of always remembering the Lord. And by doing that, one can achieves all desired results.

In the Padma Purāṇa, Mother Pārvatī asked Lord Śiva, “What is special about 18 chapter Bhagavad-gītā?” Today we read more than a half a dozen verses from the 18th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. She wanted to know what is the Māhātmya of the aṣṭādaśa-adhyāyā 18th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā? Iskā māhātmya khyā hain (Hindi). Mahādeva said, “Yes, I can tell you some of the glories of the 18th chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. Of all the chapters of the Gītā, 18th chapter is the cream. It is the best. All good things can be achieved by someone who even reads only the 18th chapter. All desires can be fulfilled. All success can be had in life. One can easily get back to home, back to Godhead. 18th chapter is so powerful.”

So once there is a story about a brāhmaṇa who became Indra. Do you know that story? That history?

Devotees: No! No!

Jayapatākā Swami: You ready to hear it?

Devotees: Yes! Yes!

Jayapatākā Swami: Who wants to hear it? Alright. Indra was seated on his throne. At that time. Indra’s capital was on Mount Meru in the city of Amarāvatī created by Viśvakarma. Beautiful city, beautiful palace and a beautiful throne. There Indra was seated and there were Gandharva singing his praise. “Jaya Indradeva! Jaya Svargarāja!” Different songs. I am not a Gandharva. But you know they were singing beautiful songs to Indra. And he was (you know) enjoying; Apsarās were dancing Bharata-nāṭyam and various other beautiful dances. So paṇḍitas and ṛṣis, they were there praising, “You have performed a hundred aśvamedha-yajñas. You have performed so many auspicious things in your life. You are Indra, because you are very puṇyavān.” So his day was going on as he was celebrating how to manage the three worlds. Bhūr bhuva svaḥ. Suddenly that day the messengers of Lord Viṣṇu appeared in the rear of his royal court from the Vaikuṇṭha planets. You see, in this material world there are how many bhuvanas? Who knows? 10? 18? How many? 45? How many? How many bhuvanas? How many levels of planetary system?

Devotees: 14!

Jayapatākā Swami: 14 - caudda-bhuvana, right? So this caudda-bhuvana, starting from Brahmaloka that is called Satyaloka. Then from Satyaloka, Tapaloka, Janaloka, Maharloka. Then you have got svarga. Then you got Bhūvarloka, bhu, sva like that Mahar, Jana, Tapa, Satya, that is the upper seven. Then below you got Rasātala, Sutāla, Talātala, Rasātala, Vitala, Atala and finally, Mahātala and then Pātala. The order might be a little mixed up.

So these 14 bhuvana… beyond the 14 bhuvanas is Kailāsa. Kailāsa is on the border of the material and spiritual world beyond Kailāsa, is Haridhāma. The brahma-jyotī is there. And the brahma-jyotī just like sunlight is coming from what? Where does sunlight come from?

Children: Sun! Sun!

Jayapatākā Swami: Very good. These children are very smart. The parents should be proud. Such nice children. So just like the sunlight is coming from the sun, the brahma-jyoti is coming from the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, the spiritual planets of Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa and Rāma. So the Viṣṇudūtas come from the spiritual planet. They come down and they were taking a brāhmaṇa. Very distinguished looking brāhmaṇa. Indra got off his throne to receive the messengers of the Supreme Lord Nārāyaṇa, the Viṣṇudūtas.

And when he got down, then he found that they walked right by him and put the brāhmaṇa right on the seat of Indra, right on his throne. And they performed abhiṣeka and made him the new Indra. And then all the paṇḍitas are singing, “long live Indra!” “Wait a minute. Why? I was Indra. Now how did he get to be Indra? What did he do? I performed 100 aśvamedha-yajñas. I worshiped Mīnākṣī. I climbed up to the Himalayas. I did the śiva-pūjā in Kāśī. I bathed in the holy rivers. I went to the ocean, and I bathed there. I went to the Himalaya. I planted trees alongside the road. I gave kanyādāna. I did so many things. What did this brāhmaṇa do? Why he took my position? Why I am no longer Indra. He didn’t do any of these things. This is not fair.” But what can he do? Viṣṇudūtas came. Put Indra there. He was now changed to Indra. And the old Indra, he is out of a job. Laid off. We thought only happened in Bahrain. Even recession in Svargaloka, even there Indra can get removed from his job. It is not permanent. Sometimes we think you are Indra forever. Not like that. Apart from getting kicked out by Bali Mahārāja and other powerful opponents of Indra seems some time even the Lord may just decide to lay you off and put a new Indra. So Indra went to see Lord Viṣṇu in the Kṣīra-sumudra. There is one planet of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. He is our Paramātmā. And he prayed to Viṣṇu, “My dear Lord, I was your Indra. Now I’m no longer Indra. Why is it that new Indra got put in his position? I did all this tapasyā, bathing in the ocean, climbing the Himalayas, doing all these pūjās, planting trees, aśvameda-yajñas, everything.” And Viṣṇu looked at him, He said, “What is the use of these small sacrifices? Sacrifices that produce small fruits.” “But all my tapasyās!” “What is the use of tapasyā compared to sacrifice? And these sacrifice a small fruit. This brāhmaṇa has pleased Me. Therefore, I made him Indra.” So then the ex-Indra, he thought, “Well, let me find out what he did right. Maybe I do that too. And then I will be pleased the Lord and I can get a good position. So what did that Indra do? What did a brāhmaṇa do that he pleased you so much, My Lord?” Lord said, “Every day he chanted five ślokas from the 18th chapter Bhagavad-gītā. Aṣṭādaśa adhyāya kī [Jaya!]. “That is all 18 verses… Five verses from the 18th chapter! I climbed the Himalayas, I did a hundred aśvamedha-yajñas, and bathing in the ocean; I did all the thousands of trees I planted, all the pūjās I did!” He was amazed. Then he decided, let me find a guru who can teach me the Bhagavad-gītā. I want to learn 18 chapters. He looked around the world, he changed his form into a human being. And he was looking for our guru to teach him. He found there was one Kāla-Cāṅda Mandir of Kṛṣṇa. And there was a very good devotee of Kṛṣṇa, who was teaching Bhagavad-gītā. So from him he learned 18th chapter Bhagavad-gītā from beginning to end. He learned it very carefully. How many of you have read 18th chapter Bhagavad-gītā? Many have not read it yet. I know many devotees are reading Bhagavad-gītā. But they don’t read it cover-to-cover. They read here, there, everywhere. Some people, they open up somewhere and read it. But it’s good to read it from beginning to end, very systematically. And 18th chapter is the best, really the cream. So, finally the brāhmaṇa, the Indra. He was ex-Indra. He completely studied 18th chapter. He knew it by heart. He even knew the most important verse. What is the most important verse to Bhagavad-gītā? 18th chapter.

sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja 
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

(Bg. 18.66) 

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.”

So the Viṣṇudūtas came to see him. The messengers from the spiritual world came to see Him and ask Him that, “Now the Lord is pleased with you. What would you like? Would you like to be an Indra again?” What would you do if the messengers of the spiritual world came and offered you anything you wanted? If you were ex-Indra. Would you take back being an Indra again? How many would like to be Indra like that? Here is one, any other candidates? What is wrong with being Indra?

Devotee: Inaudible.

Jayapatākā Swami: Well, you know what the ex-Indra said to the Viṣṇudūtas - messengers of Lord Kṛṣṇa, Nārāyaṇa, “I don’t want to be Indra again. I mean, I would rather not. I had already been there. Now after reading the 18th chapter, I would like to go back to the planet of Kṛṣṇa. I would like to serve Kṛṣṇa eternally. Nitāi Gaura Sītānātha Premānandī [Hari Hari Haribol!]. So then they have their special airplanes that go at the speed of spirit. Spirit! We have airplane, they go in the wind. Faster than wind is mind. Faster than mind is intelligence. But faster than light. Faster than anything is the speed of the spirit. Within one second you can be back. So he got on the spiritual airplane and he went back to the spiritual world.

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṁsiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ (Bg. 8.15) 

Kṛṣṇa once they achieved my eternal abode, they never come back here again to this world of sufferings—duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam— of temporary suffering and repeated birth and death.

So Lord Caitanya, He said, He wanted to give everybody love for Kṛṣṇa and He wanted to save people from death, from suffering, from disease. Let them after this life go back to the highest spiritual position, where they never have to come back again to suffer in material life. How many would like to take birth again and again and again in a material world suffering? How many would like to go and live eternally in the spiritual world, where there is no birth, death, old age and disease and serve and in transcendental bliss? [Haribol!] Okay, we are in the right place. I am glad that… so that but then we had to put that to practice. One thing is to want it. But then if you really want it, just like if you want to get a house in India, many people here like to build a house in India, who are coming from India or Bangladesh or wherever they are from. But to do that, you had to work. Nobody is giving out dirhams for nothing. You had to work and do something. And then you get save your money up and build your house and invests in unit trust or whatever… you had to do. So in spiritual life you had to do something also. That is why Kṛṣṇa is saying here:

man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru
mām evaiṣyasi satyaṁ te pratijāne priyo 'si me

(Bg. 18.65)

If you bow down to Me, if you be My devotee, if you remember Me, if you worship Me, you will come back to Me. This is satyaṁ te. Absolutely, I promise you. This is no doubt about this.

If you simply do these few things, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, read about Kṛṣṇa and Gītā, Bhāgavata. Worship Him, remember Him. This is the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is meant to fulfill this instruction of Lord Kṛṣṇa. man-manā bhava mad-bhakto – think of Me, be My devotee, bow down to Me, worship Me. That is what Kṛṣṇa consciousness teaches people. How to practically live their life. We are not saying everybody should be sannyāsī and give up their families and give up material life. We don’t say that. We would rather we don’t want in ISKCON, we have a rule. If the wife doesn’t agree, husband can never take sannyāsa. Did you know that? There are not many husbands wanting to take sannyāsa anyway. But, in case, they wanted to, the wife has to agree. We don’t want people to just suddenly go into that side. We want people to do. yukta-vairāgya. They should do spiritual activities, they should do their material activities in a spiritualized way. That is the system. You will see today in this ISKCON interactive, computerized, award winning multimedia presentation. How some devotees have utilized their intelligence and modern technology to present Kṛṣṇa. That is what our whole process is. We are not denying the material world. We are not denying science, we are not denying technology. We are saying use whatever is there to glorify Kṛṣṇa, to serve Kṛṣṇa. Mother, father, children, grandparents, everyone altogether. They can gather, they can chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they can offer some food to Kṛṣṇa. They can take some prasāda. This is a process for the whole family. For us, family is very important. If one member of the family gets back to Kṛṣṇa, the whole family gets a free ticket. Right now, they are calling it the “Mad Fare Disease” in India. All the airlines are giving very cheap tickets to Europe and America. “Buy one, get one free”, things like that. But nobody is offering ticket, if you get one ticket for one family member back to Godhead, whole family gets free. Not only whole family, 14 generation. If a parent can get one son or one daughter to be so Kṛṣṇa conscious that they go back to Kṛṣṇa – parents, grandparents, seven generation before and seven after, they all get free ticket back to Godhead. And if you go back to Godhead, you take your children with you and the other six generations.

Dhruva Mahārāja, his mother told Dhruva, when he was very frustrated with life, “If you want to be happy, look for God.” So he went and looked for Bhagavān. And then Nārada came, gave him dīkṣā, then he chanted the dīkṣā-mantra. Then he realized Nārāyaṇa. Nārāyaṇa told him that, “I want you to be a king and a householder and have children. And then after that you will come back to Me. But the whole life will remember Me even as a householder.” So Dhruva, he led a long life in a previous yuga, which we cannot even begin to calculate how long his life was. A very long life. He had his children, he had his kingdom, everything but, end of life... Throughout life, he always chanted the name of Viṣṇu and he always worshipped Kṛṣṇa and Viṣṇu. And at end of life, the Viṣṇudūtas came and took him and offered to take him also. Being a very strict devotee, he took his shower, put on his tilaka, put on new cloth. How could he go in the plane of the Viṣṇu with (you know) dirty clothes? So he was very conscious not to commit any offense. He got inside the vimāna of the Viṣṇudūtas. He was about to go but then he said, “Just wait! How can I go back to the spiritual world without my mother? I wouldn’t be going back to God now if my mother didn’t tell me, look for Bhagavān. She was the one who showed me the way. She was the one that inspired me to… I didn’t know Bhagavān. She told me there was Bhagavān. If I didn’t learn from her, I wouldn’t be here today being taken by messenger of Viṣṇu back to Viṣṇuloka. So how can I go back without my mother?” How many mothers like that? The attitude of Dhruva. Good attitude? You want your children to be grateful like that to you?

Devotee: Inaudible.

Jayapatākā Swami: Children should remember Dhruva, how he was grateful to his parents for giving Kṛṣṇa to him. Then the Viṣṇudūta said, “Don’t worry, just look it, there is your mother.” And he looked up in the sky, he saw mother was already going on a separate plane waving, (you know) “Come on, don’t delay!” Since she is guru, she is already got separate ticket, separate aircraft going back ahead of him. Guru has to go back first, right? So this is the beauty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is something the whole family can practice, something that everyone can. And it is good for everyone. It is really the most practical way for people in the modern age; who have got family responsibilities, who have got the material world that they are into. They cannot just leave all these things. So this is a way to practically purify the life and make it God conscious by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, remembering Kṛṣṇa and associating with devotees. We have regular sat-saṅgas on Thursday, Friday and also there is individual homes, they have little bhajanas and discussions in their home. So that even while someone is working here making a livelihood, they can remember God.