20161211 Arrival Address

Jayapatākā Swami: 

Yesterday was the Gītā Jayantī. On the Mokshadā Ekādaśī Kṛṣṇa spoke the Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna didn’t want to fight because he saw that he will not be happy. Killing his grandfather and his cousin brother, he thought this is not good. So, he threw down his gāṇḍīva bow and he gave up fighting. So, he asked Kṛṣṇa to be his guru and tell him what to do. So, then Kṛṣṇa spoke the eighteen chapters of Bhagavad-gītā, and he understood that Kṛṣṇa wanted him to fight. So, for Kṛṣṇa he fought. Like that in this material world we should do everything as a service to Kṛṣṇa. 

The situations sometimes comes which are very difficult to understand. So many people in India commit suicide. In the Mīrā Road Bhaktivedanta Hospital there are many cases of attempted suicide come that come to them. So, in a sense Arjuna wanted to give up fighting. It was like a suicide. Then Kṛṣṇa took away all of his doubts. That’s why we also need a guru to take away all our doubts, and we should do this service which is pleasing to Kṛṣṇa. 

So, in India the Bhagavad-gītā was spoken in Haryana, in Uttar Pradesh, and it is a great classic. The supreme personality of Godhead descended from the spiritual world and he spoke these words. This is a great historical moment for mankind. If you want to know what is life, what is human birth, everything is told there in a nutshell. Who is God, what are the energies of God? What is the consciousness of the devotee or what is the consciousness of the asura, all these things are revealed in the Bhagavad-gītā. In the eighteenth chapter Kṛṣṇa tells, just give up this different types of dharma’s, sarva-dharmān parityajya Then what do we do? Kṛṣṇa says, mām ekaṁ sharanam vraja, just serve me, surrender unto me. People might say, what about our human dharma, our samaj dharma, our national dharma? If you do the one dharma of serving Kṛṣṇa, then all the other dharma’s get served. 

Prahlād was present when his father was killed. So, someone may say, “You coward ! You allowed you father to be killed. You didn’t object.” But Prahlād was devotee and his father was a number one demon. Because Prahlād appeared in the family of HIranyakashipu, Hiranyakashipu was blessed. 

By being killed directly by a Vsnu Avatāra, fourteen generations are liberated. Not only Hiranyakashipu, his father, his grandfather, but seven generations before and seven generations after. Nrsinghadeva offered Prahlāda, “What do you want? Take a boon from me.” But Prahlāda said, “I will not offer you service to  get some facility in return.  I am not a businessman.  I am born in a family where we naturally want material things. Please don’t tempt me. I just want to serve you.” Later on he said, “If I have to ask something; that my father has committed many offences. Please forgive his for all these offences and allow him to get Your mercy.” So, he was thinking about the welfare of his father, although his father wanted to kill him. So, that is the real value of bhakti. Bhakti means in relation to Kṛṣṇa. There are not other kinds of bhakti. Bhakti means devotion to Kṛṣṇa and His expansions. 

They say that Jatayi bhakti, samajik bhakti, these are not bhakti. Real bhakti means service to Kṛṣṇa.  That’s why Prahlāda described the nine processes of bhakti yoga, starting from Śravaṇaṁ, kīrtanaṁ, Viṣṇu. He said Viṣṇu. It’s not just hearing about anybody, it is hearing about Kṛṣṇa. It’s not saying, “You just glorify anybody. Glorify Kṛṣṇa.” So, this is the secret message of the Bhagavad-gītā, and if we follow the Gītā, we can easily get back to Godhead. (applause)

So, Kṛṣṇa came five thousand years ago and spoke the Bhagavad-gītā, but when he came again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu five hundred years ago, Prabhupāda said that it was just to show us how to follow the instructions of Kṛṣṇa. Just like a teacher he picks up the chalk and shows how to write. So, he shows how to write on the board. So, when Kṛṣṇa came He displayed many wonderful pastimes. There was no doubt that He was the supreme person. 

At a seven years of age He lifted the Govardhana hill. He did many wonderful things. Thus gradually the people forgot how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. So, Kṛṣṇa came as His devotee. He came as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to show how to follow the Bhagavad-gītā. So, he was the greatest devotee. Haribol....................[Haribol] Whatever He did whatever He does, He always does it as the greatest. 

When He was Nimāi Paṇḍita, He was the greatest Paṇḍita, when he became Gaura Hari, the devotee, he became the greatest devotee. He took initiation in Gāya. So, there he first manifested his Kṛṣnaprema. That’s the Hindi belt. So, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He wanted to go the Vṛndāvana. They told him that you should go later, now you can go back to Nabadwipa and start the saṅkīrtana movement. . So, he stayed in Nabadwipa till he was twenty four years old. He was a grihastha and he showed how to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa from the home. His wife Viṣṇupriyā was a great devotee. She was Laxmī playing the part as His wife. Then at twenty four He took Sanyasa, and as a sanyasi He was the greatest sanyasi. He was very knowledgeable, peaceful, very renounced. So, he showed the people how to be a sanyasi for Kṛṣṇa. So, in the Māyāvāda school they say, You have to be a sanyasi, but in the Bhakti Yoga process you can be a grihastha or you can be vairāgī., but the thing is that we should engage in Kṛṣṇa’s service. So, we are very glad to hear that many men and many woman are serving Kṛṣṇa.

This material world is a place of suffering. I was visiting Haryana where there was Bhakti Vrksha, and  they introduced me to a man who was a scientist. I asked him, What do you research, what kind of scientist are you? He said, he researchers pain. I said, “Oh that is interesting. So, what have you discovered?” 

“That everybody is in pain. So, people are in physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain. Then all the men raised their hands. Then they said, financial pain. Then I said, “Who pays you for researching pain?  He said, “The big pharmaceutical companies. They want to sell pain killers. That’s a billion dollar business. So, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā that this material world is a dukhalayam. So, the pharmaceutical companies, they cannot really remove the dukha permanently, but by serving Kṛṣṇa we can get rid of the sadness of this world. Haribol........[Haribol] 

So, please chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy. 

Hare Kṛṣṇa. (applause)

Are there any questions? 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa prabu. Daṇḍavat prāṇam

Gurumahārāja: Hare Kṛṣṇa.................[Hare Kṛṣṇa]

Question: To be very well determined in devotion, what we are supposed to do?

Gurumahārāja: Read the nectar of devotion, and that tells us how to practice bhakti, and we follow the thing that are recommended, and we avoid the things not recommended. That’s a very easy way to advance. The whole Śrīmad Bhāgavatam tells us how to practice, tīvreṇa bhakti yogena, and in a short way the basics are taught in the Bhagavad-gītā. So, we recommend that people should read the Bhagavad-gītā, read the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and follow the nectar of devotion. 

Hare Kṛṣṇa. 

Question: Hare Kṛṣṇa Maharajji, Daṇḍavat Prāṇam. When you told that Prahlād Maharaj’s previous seven generations and seven after generations, the Lord had delivered them. I want to know how does he delivers, is it that he gives them bhakti and then he delivers or he gives them liberation?

Gurumahārāja: That depends on what they want. The Lord is realized in three ways. Brhameti, Paramātmeti, Bhagavān Iti samdhyate. 

You realize the Lord as the impersonal brahman, the localized supersoul and as Bhagavān. So, you may have any desire to serve the Lord, but although Pūtanā was a witch she wanted to have a baby like Kṛṣṇa. So, she became a mother of Kṛṣṇa in the spiritual world. So, whatever they want, they get. The devotees can get personal liberation, and the non-devotees may get personal or impersonal, it depends.  

Mātājī: Haribol

Gurumaharaja: Haribol.

Mātājī: Jut now I started chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahāmantra, sixteen rounds, and how can I know that I am progressing in devotion, what kind of realization I should have by which I can perceive that I am progressing?

Gurumahārāja: So, sixteen rounds a day is one crore names of Kṛṣṇa in a year. So, if you keep up you will be a crore-pati. [applause] So, looking back you should see that you should make some progress. Looking forward we always see that there is so much we can get to, and when one has faith in the spiritual master, that is also a symptom of one’s advancement. So, we are very grateful that you have taken this initiative to chant sixteen rounds a day.  

Let’s give her a big hand. [applause]