20251026 Sunday Feast Address: Bhagavad-gītā 12.6-7

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: So what is expected? Should I just give the lecture? Bhagavad-gītā chapter 12, verses 6 and 7:

Bhagavad-gītā 12.6

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate

Bhagavad-gītā 12.7

teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

Translation: But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.

Purport: It is explicitly stated here that the devotees are very fortunate to be delivered very soon from material existence by the Lord. In pure devotional service one comes to the realization that God is great and that the individual soul is subordinate to Him. His duty is to render service to the Lord – and if he does not, then he will render service to māyā.

As stated before, the Supreme Lord can be appreciated only by devotional service. Therefore, one should be fully devoted. One should fix his mind fully on Kṛṣṇa in order to achieve Him. One should work only for Kṛṣṇa. It does not matter in what kind of work one engages, but that work should be done only for Kṛṣṇa. That is the standard of devotional service. The devotee does not desire any achievement other than pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His life’s mission is to please Kṛṣṇa, and he can sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction, just as Arjuna did in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. The process is very simple: one can devote himself in his occupation and engage at the same time in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Such transcendental chanting attracts the devotee to the Personality of Godhead.

The Supreme Lord herein promises that without delay He will deliver a pure devotee thus engaged from the ocean of material existence. Those who are advanced in yoga practice can willfully transfer the soul to whatever planet they like by the yoga process, and others take the opportunity in various ways, but as far as the devotee is concerned, it is clearly stated here that the Lord Himself takes him. The devotee does not need to wait to become very experienced in order to transfer himself to the spiritual sky.

In the Varāha Purāṇa this verse appears:

nayāmi paramaṁ sthānam
arcir-ādi-gatiṁ vinā
garuḍa-skandham āropya
yatheccham anivāritaḥ

The purport of this verse is that a devotee does not need to practice aṣṭāṅga-yoga in order to transfer his soul to the spiritual planets. The responsibility is taken by the Supreme Lord Himself. He clearly states here that He Himself becomes the deliverer. A child is completely cared for by his parents, and thus his position is secure. Similarly, a devotee does not need to endeavor to transfer himself by yoga practice to other planets. Rather, the Supreme Lord, by His great mercy, comes at once, riding on His bird carrier Garuḍa, and at once delivers the devotee from material existence. Although a man who has fallen in the ocean may struggle very hard and may be very expert in swimming, he cannot save himself. But if someone comes and picks him up from the water, then he is easily rescued. Similarly, the Lord picks up the devotee from this material existence. One simply has to practice the easy process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and fully engage himself in devotional service. Any intelligent man should always prefer the process of devotional service to all other paths. In the Nārāyaṇīya this is confirmed as follows:

yā vai sādhana-sampattiḥ
puruṣārtha-catuṣṭaye
tayā vinā tad āpnoti
naro nārāyaṇāśrayaḥ

The purport of this verse is that one should not engage in the different processes of fruitive activity or cultivate knowledge by the mental speculative process. One who is devoted to the Supreme Personality can attain all the benefits derived from other yogic processes, speculation, rituals, sacrifices, charities, etc. That is the specific benediction of devotional service.

Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare – a devotee of the Lord can approach the supreme destination easily and happily, but this destination cannot be approached by any other process of religion.

The conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Eighteenth Chapter:

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

One should give up all other processes of self-realization and simply execute devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will enable one to reach the highest perfection of life. There is no need for one to consider the sinful actions of his past life, because the Supreme Lord fully takes charge of him. Therefore one should not futilely try to deliver himself in spiritual realization. Let everyone take shelter of the supreme omnipotent Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: You see whenever we open the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, we  find nectar! Here, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that the process of fruitive activities like jñāna-yoga and aṣṭāṅga-yoga, all these things are achieved by the devotees. Kṛṣṇa personally delivers the devotees. And therefore, the process of bhakti-yoga is considered to be the best process. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a verse:

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’
kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
[Cc. Madhya 19.149]

The people who want material objects, the jñāna-yogīs who desire impersonal realization and the siddhis, aṣṭāṅga-yogīs, who desire siddhis or Paramātmā realization, they are all āsanti, they are all not peaceful. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta have no desire and they depend on Kṛṣṇa. They are peaceful. So, we want all of you to be peaceful. Who wants to be peaceful? Thank you! Nanḍri!

So, Lord Caitanya in His movement said:

gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko

Whether you are a gṛhastha or in the renounced order, everyone should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, according to your āśrama, you can perform your devotional service. So, in the gṛhastha-āśrama there is facility for offering sex life to Kṛṣṇa. In the other āśramas one has to be renounced. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in his Vyāsa-Pūjā address in 1973 in London, he told there must have been many gṛhastha devotees there, he told them that they should all be paramahaṁsas. And he told them that they should also have ācāryas as their children. Because, he said that we need many ācāryas! And my guru was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said. He was an ācārya. He was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha. And he had many children and one of them at least, he was an ācārya. So, this was the principle that was delivered by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

So, many people have asked me what does it mean to be a paramahaṁsa? The thing is that in the Bhagavad-gītā it says that people who are getting happiness from within are transcendental. And we want all the devotees to taste spiritual bliss from within! That is possible through offering service to Kṛṣṇa. So the spiritual master is someone who represents Kṛṣṇa. And so we offer our service to guru and Kṛṣṇa through the process of bhakti-yoga. Whether that is cooking, making garlands, helping in the arcana, or whether it is – Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us different kinds of service – so some are working and donating, that is very helpful. You see, if we are doing it to please Kṛṣṇa, that means it is spiritual. If we do something because we want to get some material benefit then that is material. Material activity makes us to take birth in this material world again and again. But if we are doing it to please Kṛṣṇa, then it is spiritual, we don’t take birth again but go back to the spiritual world. We always try to think of Kṛṣṇa. This is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. That means we are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

In this month of Dāmodara, we remember how Yaśodā tied Kṛṣṇa, every time Yaśodā tried to tie Kṛṣṇa, the rope was two fingers to short! It was amazing, she brought many ropes and tied them together, but however, many times she tried, every time it was two fingers short! Actually, Kṛṣṇa can never be tied! But the two fingers, what does that mean? Kṛṣṇa can be conquered by love. So, Yaśodā tied Kṛṣṇa because of love! And she was working very hard, she was sweating, she was trying her best. So then Kṛṣṇa allowed Himself to be tied, because of the love of Yaśodā and her attempts. So in this Chennai temple we have many activities, and we try to do those to please Kṛṣṇa. Those are considered devotional service. So upstairs is also Yaśodā Kṛṣṇa and we offer lamps to Them. Actually, it is a very amazing pastime! Kṛṣṇa is tied to the mortar stone. So, He crawled and pulled the stone between the twin Arjuna trees. And the two sons of Kuvera, who had been cursed by Nārada Muni were liberated. So, Kṛṣṇa pulled down these twin Arjuna trees and the two sons of Kuvera came out and offered their obeisances. So the returned back to the heavenly planets. So hearing the loud noise, Nanda Mahārāja and others came running, “What is that?!” And he chastised his wife Yaśodā, “Why did you tie Kṛṣṇa in such a dangerous place?” Even in the spiritual world relationship like Nanda and Yaśodā, in gṛhastha life, there can be some disagreements! But the center, the reason, was Kṛṣṇa! So like this, we can remember all the different activities of Kṛṣṇa, He doesn’t have material body, but His body is transcendental – sat-cit-ānanda. But, He can appear like a human being. But like us He does not have veins, His body is sat-cit-ānanda. Now the Māyāvādīs, the impersonalists, they cannot understand the spiritual nature of Kṛṣṇa’s activities and His body. So, this is the amazing aspect of Kṛṣṇa! So, the devotees, they understand that Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, His activities, they are all divine! And in the Bhagavad-gītā it says that someone who understands that Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and activities are divine, they don’t take birth again! So, there are some criticisms of the śūdras and women in the Vedas. But in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa which His Holiness Bhānu Mahārāja has recently translated for all of you, it states that criticism of śūdras and women, that is for non-Vaiṣṇavas. In the 9^th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions that women, men, śūdras, whatever, if they are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are all equal! So, that is why in Tamil Nadu, the aspect of having a casteless society is glorified. That is achieved easily if everyone becomes a devotee of Kṛṣṇa! Now, we see that the gṛhasthas, they have to spend energy, time, to bring up their children. So like this, one is trying, there is no guarantee that someone becomes a Vaiṣṇava, but they are trying. So that is like kṛṣṇa-sevā! So like this, we want that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should go on for at least ten thousand years!

Anyway, you all can think about being conscious of Kṛṣṇa all the time, taste the bliss of the happiness within! Always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and read the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the books of our previous ācāryas, fill our consciousness with Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
Harihi oṁ tat sat

Jayapatākā Swami: What is expected? Should I just give the lecture? Bhagavad-gītā chapter 12, verses 6 and 7:

Bhagavad-gītā 12.6

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māṁ dhyāyanta upāsate

Bhagavad-gītā 12.7

teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saṁsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

Translation: But those who worship Me, giving up all their activities unto Me and being devoted to Me without deviation, engaged in devotional service and always meditating upon Me, having fixed their minds upon Me, O son of Pṛthā – for them I am the swift deliverer from the ocean of birth and death.

Purport: It is explicitly stated here that the devotees are very fortunate to be delivered very soon from material existence by the Lord. In pure devotional service one comes to the realization that God is great and that the individual soul is subordinate to Him. His duty is to render service to the Lord – and if he does not, then he will render service to māyā.

As stated before, the Supreme Lord can be appreciated only by devotional service. Therefore, one should be fully devoted. One should fix his mind fully on Kṛṣṇa in order to achieve Him. One should work only for Kṛṣṇa. It does not matter in what kind of work one engages, but that work should be done only for Kṛṣṇa. That is the standard of devotional service. The devotee does not desire any achievement other than pleasing the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His life’s mission is to please Kṛṣṇa, and he can sacrifice everything for Kṛṣṇa’s satisfaction, just as Arjuna did in the Battle of Kurukṣetra. The process is very simple: one can devote himself in his occupation and engage at the same time in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Such transcendental chanting attracts the devotee to the Personality of Godhead.

The Supreme Lord herein promises that without delay He will deliver a pure devotee thus engaged from the ocean of material existence. Those who are advanced in yoga practice can willfully transfer the soul to whatever planet they like by the yoga process, and others take the opportunity in various ways, but as far as the devotee is concerned, it is clearly stated here that the Lord Himself takes him. The devotee does not need to wait to become very experienced in order to transfer himself to the spiritual sky.

In the Varāha Purāṇa this verse appears:

nayāmi paramaṁ sthānam
arcir-ādi-gatiṁ vinā
garuḍa-skandham āropya
yatheccham anivāritaḥ

The purport of this verse is that a devotee does not need to practice aṣṭāṅga-yoga in order to transfer his soul to the spiritual planets. The responsibility is taken by the Supreme Lord Himself. He clearly states here that He Himself becomes the deliverer. A child is completely cared for by his parents, and thus his position is secure. Similarly, a devotee does not need to endeavor to transfer himself by yoga practice to other planets. Rather, the Supreme Lord, by His great mercy, comes at once, riding on His bird carrier Garuḍa, and at once delivers the devotee from material existence. Although a man who has fallen in the ocean may struggle very hard and may be very expert in swimming, he cannot save himself. But if someone comes and picks him up from the water, then he is easily rescued. Similarly, the Lord picks up the devotee from this material existence. One simply has to practice the easy process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and fully engage himself in devotional service. Any intelligent man should always prefer the process of devotional service to all other paths. In the Nārāyaṇīya this is confirmed as follows:

yā vai sādhana-sampattiḥ
puruṣārtha-catuṣṭaye
tayā vinā tad āpnoti
naro nārāyaṇāśrayaḥ

The purport of this verse is that one should not engage in the different processes of fruitive activity or cultivate knowledge by the mental speculative process. One who is devoted to the Supreme Personality can attain all the benefits derived from other yogic processes, speculation, rituals, sacrifices, charities, etc. That is the specific benediction of devotional service.

Simply by chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa – Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare – a devotee of the Lord can approach the supreme destination easily and happily, but this destination cannot be approached by any other process of religion.

The conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā is stated in the Eighteenth Chapter:

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

One should give up all other processes of self-realization and simply execute devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That will enable one to reach the highest perfection of life. There is no need for one to consider the sinful actions of his past life, because the Supreme Lord fully takes charge of him. Therefore one should not futilely try to deliver himself in spiritual realization. Let everyone take shelter of the supreme omnipotent Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. That is the highest perfection of life.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: You see whenever we open the Bhagavad-gītā As It Is, we can find nectar! Here, Lord Kṛṣṇa says that the process of fruitive activities like jñāna-yoga, speculative knowledge, aṣṭāṅga-yoga, all these things are achieved by the devotees. Kṛṣṇa personally delivers the devotees. And therefore, the process of bhakti-yoga is considered to be the best process. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta there is a verse:

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī—sakali ‘aśānta’
kṛṣṇa-bhakta—niṣkāma, ataeva ‘śānta’
[Cc. Madhya 19.149]

The people who want material objects, the jñāna-yogīs who want impersonal realization and the siddhis, aṣṭāṅga-yogīs, who desire siddhis or Paramātmā realization, they are all āsanti, they are all not peaceful. Kṛṣṇa-bhakta have no desire and they depend on Kṛṣṇa. They are peaceful. So, we want all of you to be peaceful. Who wants to be peaceful? Thank you! Nanḍri!

So, Lord Caitanya in His movement said:

gṛhe thāko vane thāko sadā hari bole ḍāko

Whether you are a gṛhastha or in the renounced order, everyone should chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, according to your āśrama, you can perform your devotional service. So, in the gṛhastha-āśrama there is facility for offering sex life to Kṛṣṇa. In the other āśramas one has to be renounced. So, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in his Vyāsa-Pūjā address in 1973 in London, there must have been many gṛhastha devotees there, he told them that they all should be paramahaṁsas. And he told them that they should also have ācāryas as their children. Because, he said that we need many ācāryas! And my guru was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said. He was an ācārya. He was the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. So, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was a gṛhastha. And he had many children and one of them at least, he was an ācārya. So, this was the principle that was delivered by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

So, many people have asked me what does it mean to be a paramahaṁsa? The thing is that in the Bhagavad-gītā it says that people who are getting happiness from within are transcendental. And we want all the devotees to taste spiritual bliss from within! That is possible through offering service to Kṛṣṇa. So the spiritual master is someone who represents Kṛṣṇa. And so we offer our service to guru and Kṛṣṇa through the process of bhakti-yoga. Whether that is cooking, making garlands, helping in the arcana, or whether it is – Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us different kinds of service – so some are working and donating, that is very helpful. You see, if we are doing it to please Kṛṣṇa, then it is spiritual. If we do something because we want to get some material benefit then that is material. Material activity makes us to take birth in this material world again and again. But if we are doing it to please Kṛṣṇa, then it is spiritual, we don’t take birth again but go back to the spiritual world. We always try to think of Kṛṣṇa. This is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. That means we are always thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

In this month of Dāmodara, we remember how Yaśodā tied Kṛṣṇa, every time Yaśodā tried to tie Kṛṣṇa, the rope was two fingers two small! It was amazing, she brought many ropes and tied them together, but however, many times she tried, every time it was two fingers short! Actually, Kṛṣṇa can never be tied! But the two fingers, what does that mean? Kṛṣṇa can be conquered by love. So, Yaśodā tied Kṛṣṇa because of love! And she was working very hard, she was sweating, she was trying her best. So then Kṛṣṇa allowed Himself to be tied, because of the love of Yaśodā and her attempts. So in this Chennai temple we have many activities, and we try to do those to please Kṛṣṇa. Those are considered devotional service. So upstairs is also Yaśodā Kṛṣṇa and we offer lamps to Them. Actually, it is a very amazing pastime! Kṛṣṇa is tied to the mortar stone. So, He crawled and pulled the stone between the twin Arjuna trees. And the two sons of Kuvera, who had been cursed by Nārada Muni were liberated. So, Kṛṣṇa pulled down these twin Arjuna trees and the two sons of Kuvera came out and offered their obeisances. So the returned back to the heavenly planets. So hearing the loud noise, Nanda Mahārāja and others came running, “What is that?!” And he chastised his wife Yaśodā, “Why did you tie Kṛṣṇa in such a dangerous place?” Even in the spiritual world relationship like Nanda and Yaśodā, in gṛhastha life, there can be some disagreements! But the center, the reason, was Kṛṣṇa! So like this, we can remember all the different activities of Kṛṣṇa, He doesn’t have material body, but His body is transcendental – sat-cit-ānanda. But, He can appear like a human being. But like us He does not have veins, His body is sat-cit-ānanda. Now the Māyāvādīs, the impersonalists, they cannot understand the spiritual nature of Kṛṣṇa’s activities and His body. So, this is the amazing aspect of Kṛṣṇa! So, the devotees, they understand that Kṛṣṇa’s appearance, His activities, they are all divine! And in the Bhagavad-gītā it says that someone who understands that Kṛṣṇa’s appearance and activities are divine, they don’t take birth again! So, there are some criticisms of the śūdras and women in the Vedas. But in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa which His Holiness Bhānu Mahārāja has recently translated for all of you, it states that criticism of śūdras and women, that is for non-Vaiṣṇavas. In the 9^th canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions that women, men, śūdras, whatever, if they are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are all equal! So, that is why in Tamil Nadu, the aspect of having a casteless society is glorified. That is achieved easily if everyone becomes a devotee of Kṛṣṇa! Now, we see that the gṛhasthas, they have to spend energy, time, to bring up their children. So like this, one is trying, there is no guarantee that someone becomes a Vaiṣṇava, but they are trying. So that is like kṛṣṇa-sevā! So like this, we want that the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement should go on for at least ten thousand years!

Anyway, you all can think about being conscious of Kṛṣṇa all the time, taste the bliss of the happiness within! Always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and read the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and our previous ācāryas, fill our consciousness with Kṛṣṇa! Hare Kṛṣṇa!