20050821 Bhagavad-gītā 12.8-9

Following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on August 21^st, 2005 in Singapore. The class begins with the reading from the Bhagavad-gītā chapter Twelve verse eight and nine.

mayy eva mana ādhatsva
mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya
nivasiṣyasi mayy eva
ata ūrdhvaṁ na saṁśayaḥ

atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ
na śaknoṣi mayi sthiram
abhyāsa-yogena tato
mām icchāptuṁ dhanañ-jaya

Translation: Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus, you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

My dear Arjuna, O winner of wealth, if you cannot fix your mind upon Me without deviation, then follow the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga. In this way develop a desire to attain Me.

Purports:

12.8: One who is engaged in Lord Kṛṣṇa’s devotional service lives in a direct relationship with the Supreme Lord, so there is no doubt that his position is transcendental from the very beginning. A devotee does not live on the material plane – he lives in Kṛṣṇa. The holy name of the Lord and the Lord are nondifferent; therefore when a devotee chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa and His internal potency are dancing on the tongue of the devotee. When he offers Kṛṣṇa food, Kṛṣṇa directly accepts these eatables, and the devotee becomes Kṛṣṇa-ized by eating the remnants. One who does not engage in such service cannot understand how this is so, although this is a process recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā and in other Vedic literatures.

12.9: In this verse, two different processes of bhakti-yoga are indicated. The first applies to one who has actually developed an attachment for Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by transcendental love. And the other is for one who has not developed an attachment for the Supreme Person by transcendental love. For this second class there are different prescribed rules and regulations one can follow to be ultimately elevated to the stage of attachment to Kṛṣṇa.

Bhakti-yoga is the purification of the senses. At the present moment in material existence the senses are always impure, being engaged in sense gratification. But by the practice of bhakti-yoga these senses can become purified, and in the purified state they come directly in contact with the Supreme Lord. In this material existence, I may be engaged in some service to some master, but I don’t really lovingly serve my master. I simply serve to get some money. And the master also is not in love; he takes service from me and pays me. So, there is no question of love. But for spiritual life, one must be elevated to the pure stage of love. That stage of love can be achieved by practice of devotional service, performed with the present senses.

This love of God is now in a dormant state in everyone’s heart. And, there, love of God is manifested in different ways, but it is contaminated by material association. Now the heart has to be purified of the material association, and that dormant, natural love for Kṛṣṇa has to be revived. That is the whole process.

To practice the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga one should, under the guidance of an expert spiritual master, follow certain principles: one should rise early in the morning, take bath, enter the temple, and offer prayers and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, then collect flowers to offer to the Deity, cook foodstuffs to offer to the Deity, take prasādam, and so on. There are various rules and regulations which one should follow. And one should constantly hear Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from pure devotees. This practice can help anyone rise to the level of love of God, and then he is sure of his progress into the spiritual kingdom of God. This practice of bhakti-yoga, under the rules and regulations, with the direction of a spiritual master, will surely bring one to the stage of love of God.

Thus, ends the Bhaktivedanta Swami translation and purport to the twelve chapter eight and nine verse in the Bhagavad-gītā as it is in the chapter title bhakti-yoga for devotional service.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here two kinds of consciousness are being talk to… refer to one is where somebody can just fix their mind and intelligence on the transcendental Personality of Godhead. Someone who able to keep their consciousness in the spiritual truth, in the spiritual source of everything, the personality of transcendence that’s already the highest meditation, that’s already the perfectional stage [pause] that’s already the perfectional stage. So, first Kṛṣṇa recommending that. If somebody whose…Lord Caitanya He showed that level of consciousness. Five hundred years ago Lord Caitanya went to perform ceremony for His father. His father as passed away and He wants to perform duty, which is ceremony for deceased forefather to send them a packet of good karma and spiritual blessing. So, He went want to do that ceremony but as He was doing that and the route is going there that Gaya, he happened to meet great spiritual master Īśvara Purī. Īśvara Purī was the son of… disciple of Mādhavendra Purī and he was very powerful spiritual master. So, then Lord Caitanya decided that I need to get initiated. Initiation means when we get the spiritual shelter and guidance of the spiritual master. Some time you trying to find the spiritual way by reading books, by searching here and there, by just trying on our own, we are not sure whether we are doing the right thing or not sometime feel good, sometime…. we are not sure this is to be what I was supposed to be doing. So, we are kind of going searching in the dark. Last night I was staying in the new place and the light was turned off I woke up in the middle of the night and I am searching in the dark for light that something what’s it like when you don’t have a spiritual master just searching around maybe you hit your leg again something in the dark you slip. So, Lord Caitanya He thought if I want to cross over this ocean of material condition, we were born in the material world, we don’t know our full potential, we need to have spiritual guide otherwise you may waste human form of life. He decided I wanted to get initiated. So, He asked Īśvara Purī Mahārāja to give Him initiation, but initially Īśvara Purī was hesitant, he said no - you are very great scholar what can I teach You somehow, he avoided to give Him initiation. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu insisted He fell on his feet He grab his feet He beg him, please give me initiation otherwise I won’t be able to cross over the ocean of birth and death unless I have bona fide spiritual master, he like a ship, sent loose on the ocean in the waves in the wind without a captain just being rock and push and chop and don’t know where it’s going to go, there is no captain to guide it in the path, so you must give me initiation He was begging. So, five hundred years ago finally Īśvara Purī said okay, okay I give You initiation because He to insisted and sincere about it. So, give Him initiation and he spoke the mantras in His ear Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare and other mantras. And then after that Caitanya Mahāprabhu transform, He became… He became totally different person it was His dormant love for Kṛṣṇa completely awaken, He felt so much love, He just started to sing and dance, He felt so joyful so much separation so many… He wanted to see Kṛṣṇa, He desire for knowing Kṛṣṇa, His love for Kṛṣṇa, everything start like erupted like a volcano He was singing and dancing in the Viṣṇupāda temple in Gaya. It is very special temple with the lotus footprint of Viṣṇu is the deity, Viṣṇu the Supreme Lord step are still there left His footprint and His footprint has some particular unique marking it not just like a plain foot it has flag and different kinds of symbol’s that are edged foot so those who are melted into the stone press into just by presser of His lotus footprints so that happened a long time ago for that a temple was constructed over that footprint and people worship that footprint like a deity. So, Viṣṇu pada, pada means foot, foot of Viṣṇu footprints it’s a footprint temple. So, in that temple He was dancing, and He was so ecstatic, and He realized everyone looking at, so He felt subconscious and He went, and He did ceremony for His deceased father. There is ceremony that two parts you offer something so worship to the lotus footprint of Viṣṇu and you also offer some food so offering and those things are like a sacred sacrament and all those are offer for the benefit of the forefather. And if you have any grandparents and great grandparents, parents, or uncles some person that already passed away that you like to send a package of good karma, so their next life they have say they got cancer and obviously got miraculous cure or say they’re financially down and all of a sudden you know everything turns around there is some hellish condition everything becomes good again. Anybody here likes to send the package for some spiritual benefit? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, wow so nice people here. People wanted to their forefathers this kind of spiritual blessing they are called putras or putris you understand that put pu means help and tra means deliver and tri means same thing to deliverer but feminine so some of who can deliver their mother father their forefather ancestor from a hellish condition they are putra or putri that son or daughter grandson granddaughter some who is very helpful for them this is one thing that many people should hope after they die their descendent children someone amongst them would be so kind as do a worship like this and send them boost of spiritual merit, which may save them even from the cycle of birth and death. So, while Lord Caitanya was doing this ceremony and He was bathing the footprint of Viṣṇu with a…with a milk and honey and yogurt, and natural things, He start to feel so much love for Viṣṇu Kṛṣṇa tears are following from His eyes, His body was shivering He was ecstatic. So, that point on Lord Caitanya was very much focus just like you know just somehow His love awakens before that He was professor, He was a great scholar He was a religious person, but He wasn’t apparently always focus on Kṛṣṇa look like He has other preoccupation - academic from that point on everything surrender on Kṛṣṇa, He became the prime example of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So, that’s what the first verse is saying someone who like, completely absorb that’s very difficult to be completely absorb you have to love Kṛṣṇa. Just like someone infatuated by someone like absorb thinking about someone that kind of total absorption I was at the Colón Ratha Yātrā and I meet a young boy there, I mean that’s a may be twenty-five years old not boy young man and he look kind of a… he just kind some attract to me he looks little under the weather I said Hari in the biggening how are you and few general words kind you know. And he told me actually I am doing very bad my girlfriend broke up from me and I am feeling very down, so I just came to Colón and in order to get some like get my heads together and everything. And when I see this festival having chanting and dancing and the cart, the chariot, I don’t know makes me feel very good somehow, I feel very happy seeing that. Here was he was like very absorb in his girlfriend, but girlfriend left him, he was frustrated then somehow the Ratha-yātrā giving him a spiritual relief that person to some extent he was absorbed because of losing his girlfriend. He just thinking about all the time one of the… not thinking about may be because it was over. Now in the material world people slack to hope their husband and wife they would have that kind of relationship. Be the children… look to their parents like that parents should be caring for their children. So, in the material world we have kind of reflection of that so when all we actually have that kind of focus on Kṛṣṇa that’s what we called as a love it’s not expecting something in return, we just want to please the person we love I do something to please Kṛṣṇa, He is so wonderful, He does so much for me whatever mode is, should be in pure mode just to please Him. Sometime people complain Kṛṣṇa conscious appears to be a bit mechanical you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare on your beads so many times so feels mechanical why we have to count, why we have to do repeats things. That what second verse if you don’t have natural love for just naturally all the time doing things for Kṛṣṇa then if we have some kind of guideline, how things we could do that pleasing the Kṛṣṇa by chanting His mantra. Just like we say putra means deliver from hell mantra man means the mind and tra means deliver so mantra means vibration that’s liberates our consciousness. So, this is Sanskrit language this one considers the original mother language of the earth planet and the, so we use literatures written in this mother language very ancient timeless teachings, any way that’s another topic, but if we don’t have natural love Kṛṣṇa, we need to awaken that. Just like Lord Caitanya He was bathing that footprint of Viṣṇu somehow that awaken His love for some people just awaken very fast, for some people may take years to awaken or awaken gradually. So, singing…just like I don’t know the name this prabhu here who is chanting, mātājī was – Madhumati she was singing such nice bhajans so that those songs kind of awaken devotional sentimental feelings very sweet. So, Madhumati also that means very sweet mentality name of Rādhārani. So, if we…we have awakened love for Kṛṣṇa that also awaken love for everybody else. Kṛṣṇa is like a root of existence everything is coming from Kṛṣṇa, if you love the root, if you love the branches, the tree and the leaves, and the fruits and the flowers love everything. So, we want to… some people glorifying we should have universal love, we should have universal brotherhood, if we have love for the father then naturally, we love our brother and sister. It is hard to have a universal brotherhood if there is no universal father, so we believe that there is one spiritual being, Supreme Being, supreme father. We have some very confidential information of Godhead if we hear that information if you get some more news about what He does, what He like because He is such a wonderful person, He has got such wonderful loving qualities. When we hear about Him from devotees, from spiritual master, from in association with spiritual awaken people or awakening people, then our natural love awakens also. We all have this natural nature to love Kṛṣṇa but it’s just lying dormant that’s why we love so many other things. People love their sports, or they love their art, or they love their music, or they love their books, or they love their dogs, their cat we all have this nature we want to love something. Everybody is looking for a friend some people looking for friend in a man or a woman, people are looking for a friend ultimately, we find that Kṛṣṇa is the best friend He never lets us down. So, that’s why it is recommended here that if we have regular practice to hear about Kṛṣṇa to do some service for Kṛṣṇa and this has affectable awakening our spiritual attraction to Kṛṣṇa and spiritual love for Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa means the Sanskrit word for the Supreme Being we believe that there is only one Supreme Being and He is addressed in different languages and different names some people called God or Allah in Sanskrit they say Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, He has thousands of names in Sanskrit. I think in Islam its ninety-nine names. They have different names in the Jewish tradition they have few confidential names only the Rabbis are supposed to chant. So, these names of the Supreme Being have got spiritual potency. So, you regularly sing these names only they kept very secrete only high priest and great mystics know about theses mantras and these names.But Caitanya Mahāprabhu open this box open this treasure house and said let everyone chant these names and by chanting the names you awaken your spirituality very quickly. When somebody by chanting, like there is nice verse I sing at the beach in Italy last night,it’s a simple song and all the Italians they clap their hand and they sang with me 'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi, 'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi Rādhā Kṛṣṇa that’s the Supreme energy the Supreme female aspect of the Lord and Kṛṣṇa the Supreme male aspect muscular aspect of the Lord both aspects are there in the Supreme. So, chant bol means chant Rādhā Kṛṣṇa bol bol bole re sobai everyone sings out their names. So, that’s the song by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura it’s very simple

'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi
 'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi
'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi

So, one verse in the song is:

(kṛṣṇa) bolbe jabe, pulak ha'be jhorbe āńkhi, boli tāi,
(kṛṣṇa) bolbe jabe, pulak ha'be jhorbe āńkhi, boli tāi
'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi,
'rādhā-kṛṣṇa' bol bol bolo re sobāi

(kṛṣṇa) - bolbe jabe, when you chant the name Kṛṣṇa pulak ha'be you are…you feel ecstasy coming in your consciousness so that hairs on your body was stand on end pulak ha'be. Pulak means like hair standing on end. Electrified. pulak ha'be jhorbe āńkhi, your eyes will be filled with tears of love… Gaura-Nitāi. So, in that kind of consciousness one chant. Somebody has the love already awaken, immediately they chant, and they will be feeling these watery eyes and hairs flying and everything but that not everyone was not feel right away because they haven’t awakened that level of love. So, then by repeating and doing then gradually that starts to awaken their heart may be very hard because in the material world everything is business. You do my work I pay you; you don’t work I fire you it’s a hard world. Anybody has get fired? You all work hard (laugh) no there are labor laws but how many thinks that it’s hard world out there (three people) so, lot of mercy out there. So, in India I mean village in India where people they… when they meet each other on the street they say hallo! How are you? You know What you being doing this people like very friendly people, then when I come in the city some time, I just say good morning people looks in a way like what’s wrong with you why good morning? Who are you? Why are you speaking to me? Yes, In the villages that are more personal small place people meet each other when they go by. So, I must finish I think very soon you know and the…So, this… this is the called process of bhakti-yoga. It ultimately twenty-four hours kind of meditation that we do everything for Kṛṣṇa You don’t have to come here live in the temple and work monks robe and shave your hair and wear the kind of dress the things that I do.You can practice from your home you can keep your clothes whatever you like to wear you can keep your house atmosphere for spiritual life you can learn. Like we have this temple here this is got some spiritual atmosphere that you can feel it that how to make little temple in your house. So, then your house become spiritual world an extension of the spiritual world, so you can do the daily things that done in the temple room very simple way you can do somehow that in your house. And by doing that in your house you find that the whole life become very peaceful your natural love starts to awaken your outlook and life of people everything starts to change and become more positive become more dynamic awaken. So, this process of bhakti means a…is the yoga of love you can do that physical yoga that’s why the obstacle that may be for learning good health postures for meditating. We don’t do that silent meditation very much, our whole day is a meditation, everything we do is a meditation, when we eat you can think that this food is blessed by Kṛṣṇa then you can meditate on Kṛṣṇa while you are eating, so eating you can meditate. You can rest by taking rest in order to get some strength for doing more service tomorrow, so even resting can be a meditation of service, when we have dreams about Kṛṣṇa. Once when I join this movement 1968 and I was living in the āśrama that means like a joint dormitory and I woke up in the night the person sleeping next to me he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare this is one in the morning I want to sleep what this guy doing chanting [laughs]. And …and…and then so then I was going to go and tell him go to sleep but he was in sleep [laughs] he was chanting in the sleep then I start Hari Bol if you can meditate in a sleep that’s a perfection. Hardly you can meditate while you are awake, he is sleeping and he is meditating so then I didn’t disturb, okay whatever he is doing something pretty good so through experience. So, we hope that all of you… are trying to… of bhakti-yogīs they look like everybody else some time they can dress ordinary dress, they can do ordinary things, but their consciousness is totally different, they think everything in relation with the Absolute Truth and everything they are doing for a higher purpose. So, if you can do that… I mean that’s just… practice doing that… otherwise just do something for higher purpose some time that will also help you. But if you can do all the time, then you are bhakti-yogī and the bhakti-yogīs. Kṛṣṇa’s they are most intimately united with Him it’s a highest yoga because it’s a twenty-four-hour yoga. You can… many people they are having children for Kṛṣṇa that’s the yoga practise, they can have sexual relationship as a service to God and their family life they do it in a proper way. So, everything can be done as a devotional service under the guidance of proper spiritual master. So, somehow, I just open the book today and this verse open, so I thought… This is usually too advance verse for Sunday feast I would just talk the people you are not the body, you are spirit soul this is a karma, but this is very advance but somehow this verse open, so I thought okay maybe this people heard all the basic things so many Sundays in their home except for the first timers that lets go for it. So, I hope it wasn’t too heavy for you. I take you all are very spiritual.

What is this world? who are we? Who is…what is God? How does…How does this material world function? See, there is a spiritual world beyond this material world where Kṛṣṇa does everything the way He wanted and there…there is no hard struggle for existence. There is no offensive nature. Everybody is loving nature, peaceful. That’s called Vaikuṇṭha. No problem, no anxiety. No birth, no death, so that’s called spiritual kingdom but there are some people that want to know what is life they can do things their way not Gods way. And somehow there is collection of these people and that’s called material world and some of them are more favourable to the Lord some of them are less favourable or not favourable at all and here He gives some direction what should be done favourable things in Holy book called scriptures, but I guess these are up to the people whether they want to follow or not. Just like you can buy a tape recorder there is book comes with the cd something comes with the…with the equipment from the manufacturer and if you follow the manufactures instructions probably the machine will last longer and won’t break. But if you want to just play around with it and use it – you can also do that, but you push a few wrong buttons and break that it’s your own responsibility it’s not the manufacturers' fault.So, like that in this material world He gives us this freedom to do what we want to do. Whatever they do that get a reaction that is called “laws of karma”. So, whatever they are doing freedom that the freedom what they want but also responsible to take the reaction. So, when the world goes through four cycles that’s the cycle where everybody in the world is almost very much in harmony with God that’s called the Golden age and there is very little problems there, mainly its very peaceful hundred percent people are even in the material world they are very God conscious. Then it goes to the Silver Age which is about seventy five percent of golden age. Golden, silver, bronze age fifty percent now we are in iron age twenty five percent seventy five percent there is materialistic and maximum about twenty five percent is Godly. Twenty-five in the upper region. So’ that’s why right now because we are in this final age, we see some really bad environment. Even the people protest religion, they don’t really love God. They become sectarian they say, “My religion is only way everyone else not even worth living.” This kind of they don’t see everybody all the human beings, all the animals, all the creatures are all created by the same Supreme Being they all have sensitivity nobody should slaughter nobody should killed unnecessarily. So, it’s a big question to get the whole overview, if require we can’t put all the blame on Supreme Lord if He wanted to, He could deliver the whole universe just send us back but we don’t want to go.So, what He done given us option if you want to go back chant my names fifty-sixty… how many years you live forty-thirty years more or how much ever it takes. You come back to me. Sure, that you wanted to come back start chanting my names start doing the service I will take you back no problem. So, somebody really wants to go back they should serve God what the people do in the spiritual world everyone serves God, so start serving God here, show that you really want to go back that practice it meditates you like it even if you do it here doesn’t matter here or there if you do here you also start to feel good about it. So, it predicted actually that we had in golden period in this iron age a ten thousand years where people become spiritualized and we are supposed to be now just at the twilight – just at the beginning of that age. We don’t know what’s going to take to bring it on. It will happen gradually just by gradual awakening or there has to be some big catastrophe, that shakes everybody up. What we do there is no road map exactly how it will happen so this is the prediction that will happen and that will happen because people chant the names and the atmosphere of the world change because of the presence of the holy vibration so Prabhupāda trying to bring the change by chanting the holy name. So, if you know how material world given us freedom to accept him or not to accept him then can we blame Him if we make a mess of things? It is just like there is enough food in the world to feed everybody. No shortage of food so why some people are starving because our distribution system is like that, some countries store the grains in the ocean to keep their market price high. Meanwhile, other people are starving that’s not God make enough food, we don’t have proper distribution system. Just you know practically speaking.

Sometime this happens just like Karim said it happens sometime unique way sometimes you really put out everything and almost you need a break you think that I can’t do any more just like I can live it and just keep it little bit extra because it’s a big festival because it some…something that that that wants and need that and then some kind of like a special mercy that I can just flux down and was all like a test you really want to give or it’s justeasy you gave and because it little tough you won’t give. And a few… just like may be here in Switzerland there is lot of mountains and mountain climbing may be experiencing that you are climbing the mountain and then finally after everything you reach the top, I don’t know I never climb mountain so spiritual mountain. I was just imagining that kind of feeling when you finally get to the top you know you got to get down, if you, there the problem is you have to go down again. For here spiritual you don’t have to go down you reach that level and then you can stay there and go further up that is a new mountain top that is new. So, I don’t know someone has a proper guidance of the spiritual master they could feel why they are not feeling that reciprocation. Initially I got I mean always got reciprocation so it’s difficult… that’s why I was really shocked when I… I was thinking… even I thought that I must be getting less reciprocation everybody else but then some people maybe they just getting it they don’t recognize it. In so many ways you get reciprocation doing service, but that just different levels of devotional service so may be the biggening levels, it says when you start chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and then you dozed sleep. In the śāstra it said that it a sings of advancement because first you chanting it’s so tense and tough and when you chanting you actually get relax very peaceful from the chanting then the first affect it means so peaceful [laugh] It’s not a highest level it’s a very low level you will feel advancing you know at least you got peaceful you know you feel relax so like that it is eight levels and we can see which level we are in each level there is some levels kind of road map out how are…how you are advancing. Sometimes we look forward we see well pure devotion look so far away, pure love is so far away, and we get like almost demoralise, I never be able to reach there I was like I way down here and that’s way up there. That sometimes you have to look back where were we how…how much condition we were how much suffering we were how much stress out we were and then we were actually come a long way but it’s a long journey. Sometimes we have to see that where you were, then see how far you come. Short term step by step going up so there is eight level of…eight main levels first is having faith ādau śraddhā … bhajana satsaṅga associate being able to relish association of devotees to appreciate association of spiritual people. Then just start, appreciate the practising, the chanting, the services some people find difficult chanting, but they like to read some people like to come and do-little service in the temple cleaning helping out. There are some people that kind of working on their own mind trying to control what we think about we don’t think going to the different techniques of intelligence over mind how we do that. That’s called bhajana kriyā… that’s called anartha-nivṛtti purifying our heart from the different negative vibrations, negative outlook, then we become fix in devotional service that becomes very easy, from that level already fifty percent there. Then after that we get a test when we are chanting when we are serving, we actually we feel blissful, we feel happy there is constant reciprocation level, so in between you get glimpse of that reciprocation from that level from rucī we can get constant test. For some people they may be straggling level number two they haven’t got up to level number five yet so they not getting constant reciprocation, but they are making progress, there are some symptoms to that progress so they can see that I am making progress. Then when one gets constant test very happy about that very attached to that and that’s is called next test which is called āsaktī you can’t… they are almost unrootable. You can’t get them out of the spiritual path they are very much attach to it. Then from that attachment goes deeper and deeper until then they get ecstasy for, they… for they really want to things like they crying and tears and the hairs stand on the end and the throat choking up many different symptoms of ecstasy almost continually… We try to not reveal those publicly because of various directions from previous acharya’s spiritual master. So, road map is there we can see how we are making progress and what are the obstacles, but I am a just like…I use to like so many things like one day I was catching a flight to Bangkok from Kolkata by Thai airways and I booked a seat in the business class, but I had an okay reservation, everything was… they said “Sorry, your reservation is lost.” I said “How can it be? I mean you are like a… it’s a big airline it’s not like, you know, Bangladesh vimāna or something how can you do that?”. “Sorry, but we will you know make it up for you give you refund whatever something but somehow your seat is lost you have to sit back in a row fifty-five or something.”Then I went row—whatever it is—forty-five or fifty and I am sitting there on the aisle seat, I look over to my right and there was no… everybody was beads but those days not everybody use to wear beads I look, and I saw a young man he was wearing beads – wearing a shirt-pant. So, I was in my monk robe and I said Hare Kṛṣṇa. [break] Mahārāja I was trying this to escape! I wanted to run away, go to Bangkok, go to māyā and you are here.I said what’s wrong? What’s the problem? Why don’t you not you know… I talk to him and then you know some petty thing had a fight with somebody took him over to Malaysian. He was devotee from Scotland or somewhere that was serving in Māyāpur. So, then you know so many like I can give you like…so many things like that you know that Kṛṣṇa you like a puppet you just Kṛṣṇa puts you in right… I give class sometime after class some someone walk up to me; I may become like… I am here in Zurich one after year maybe I don’t I may know some many of the devotees here, but I don’t have any agenda just speaking whatever comes in my consciousness. Sometime like I may go to a place someone after end the class come up and say why are you picking on me in class? Why did you single me out? How… who told you that I have that problem? I didn’t know anything [laugh]. Sometimes in a dream spiritual master he comes, and he tells you something so many different ways I mean we have reciprocation you know that. For me when I see somebody, I try to help they come, and they just say Mahārāja things are going better for after you help me give that counselling and everything. I meet one man he told me that after twenty-six years he was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, but he doesn’t feel any happiness, but I said he is not a member of Hare Kṛṣṇa movement many people in India chant Hare Kṛṣṇa it’s very popular mantra, it’s not we don’t have conclusive monopoly all over the west we have you know propagating it. So, then I just ask the person you chant the name of Caitanya first because Caitanya He gave a special blessing that if you chant His name then chant Hare Kṛṣṇa then you get all these reciprocations and advance very first. He said nobody ever gave me any… told me about that. So, I wrote down the Panca-tattva mantra jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda gave him the mantra and then sir you chant this before you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Three months letter I came back to that place. This man came running at me, you know, what’s going on? he is running “Mahārāja, mahārāja” trying to grab my feet what are you doing? What are you doing?And he said what mantra you gave me now whenever I chant, I feel so much love tears are…he was like so emotional. I was like “Wow!”. Sometime as a propagator you will find so many symptoms of how talking people… as a doctor he gives medicine then you see the medicine works it also reinforce your faith.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!