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Srimad Bhagavatam

4

23

10

Austin, TX, USA

8 August 2023

00:00 / 01:04

Sankarshan Das: Ecstatic adventure Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam 4rd Canto, chapter 23, Text 10


Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om Namah Bhagavate Vasudevaya


bhagavad-dharmiṇaḥ sādhoḥ

śraddhayā yatataḥ sadā

bhaktir bhagavati brahmaṇy

ananya-viṣayābhavat


Synonyms

bhagavat-dharmiṇaḥ — one who executes devotional service; sādhoḥ — of the devotee; śraddhayā — with faith; yatataḥ — endeavoring; sadā — always; bhaktiḥ — devotion; bhagavati — unto the Personality of Godhead; brahmaṇi — the origin of impersonal Brahman; ananya-viṣayā — firmly fixed without deviation; abhavat — became.


Translation

Mahārāja Pṛthu thus engaged completely in devotional service, executing the rules and regulations strictly according to principles, twenty-four hours daily. Thus his love and devotion unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, developed and became unflinching and fixed.


Purport

The word bhagavad-dharmiṇaḥ indicates that the religious process practiced by Mahārāja Pṛthu was beyond all pretensions. As stated in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.2), dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra: religious principles which are simply pretentious are actually nothing but cheating. Bhagavad-dharmiṇaḥ is described by Vīrarāghava Ācārya as nivṛtta-dharmeṇa, which indicates that it cannot be contaminated by material aspiration. As described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:


anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ

jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam

ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-

śīlanaṁ bhaktir uttamā


When one who is not inspired by material desires and is not contaminated by the processes of fruitive activity and empiric speculation fully engages in the favorable service of the Lord, his service is called bhagavad-dharma, or pure devotional service. In this verse the word brahmaṇi does not refer to the impersonal Brahman. Impersonal Brahman is a subordinate feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and since impersonal Brahman worshipers desire to merge into the Brahman effulgence, they cannot be considered followers of bhagavad-dharma. After being baffled in his material enjoyment, the impersonalist may desire to merge into the existence of the Lord, but a pure devotee of the Lord has no such desire. Therefore a pure devotee is really bhagavad-dharmī.


It is clear from this verse that Mahārāja Pṛthu was never a worshiper of the impersonal Brahman but was at all times a pure devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhagavati brahmaṇi refers to one who is engaged in devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. A devotee’s knowledge of the impersonal Brahman is automatically revealed, and he is not interested in merging into the impersonal Brahman. Mahārāja Pṛthu’s activities in devotional service enabled him to become fixed and steady in the discharge of devotional activities without having to take recourse to karma, jñāna or yoga.


vande ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaishnavams ca

sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa jivam

sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krishna-caitanya-devam

sri-radha-krishna-padan saha-gana-lalita- sri-visakhanvitams ca

nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale

srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine

namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine

nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine


So this human form of life is not meant for sense gratification. If you want sense gratification there are 8 million other species you can focus on sense gratification. You can become a dog, a cat, a monkey, an orangutan. There's so many other species, an alligator, a lion. There's so many other species. If sense gratification is your thing, Human life is not a best facility for sense enjoyment. The hog can have sex with anybody, his mother, his sister, his daughter, it doesn't matter. He has full facility for sex enjoyment. In human life sex is restricted. So if you want self-realization, the human being is where it's at. If you want sense gratification, the human being is not the right place to be. So, as a human being, This self-realization, spiritual awakening, attaining the supreme nirvana, that supreme peace, that's the real goal. Those who are intelligent, they take to this pathway of spiritual awakening. I've described many times, we learn from Prabhupada, a very nice simile. The senses are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intelligence is the driver and the soul is the passenger. So, how do you successfully drive the chariot? The intelligence, the driver has to have good control of the reins and he can control the senses. But what we have in modern day society, the intelligence throws away the reins. So the, instead of now the intelligence driving the chariot, the senses are driving the chariot. The horses go where they want to go. Wherever they find some sense gratification, they run there. And now the poor soul is being dragged by the senses into all kinds of sinful activities against the laws of nature which force them to go down to the lower species in the next birth. So the point is don't let your senses have control. You have to control, you have to use your intelligence to control your senses. You have to intelligently understand what is the best way to use my senses so that I will be liberated from the cycle of birth and death. So that is Rishikesa Rishikena Sevanam. That's the intelligent way to engage the senses. Rishikesa Rishikena Sevanam. To engage the senses in the service of the master of the senses. If I think I'm the master of the senses, then I'm in trouble. The actual master of the senses is Krishna or God, Rishikesha. The rishikis the senses, so we have to understand Rishikesha, he is the actual master of the senses. I haven't manufactured my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my belly, my genitals. I haven't manufactured them. They're given to me by God. They're given to me by God, all these senses. So He's actually the master of the senses because He's the one who's given me these senses. It's not that they came from Darwin, you see, by chance combination of material elements, it's a bogus philosophy. They actually are the gift of God who gave these senses in His service. So you may say, well, but I want to enjoy, I want to enjoy my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my belly, my genitals. I want to enjoy them. Well you have to understand what is the actual enjoyment. You have to get back to understanding who you really are. As we've said many times, do your eyes see? Are you seeing through your eyes .Are your ears hearing? Are you hearing through your ears? Is your skin feeling? Are you feeling through your skin? You have to understand this body is not you. These senses are not you. These are tools to engage yourself in the service of the master of the senses. So if you understand that the actual self is not the sense of the actual self, it's seated within the body of the atma. So you have to see what is actually beneficial for the atma. The atma serves as paramatma, the supreme atma. That is the actual benefit. I have been many times given the example, when you water the root of the tree, all the leaves and branches are nourished. So Krishna, God, is the root of all existence. And we are little leaves or branches somewhere out there on the humongous tree of the creation. So if we actually engage our, if we actually put our energy towards the root of all creation, Krishna our God. This is called bhakti, devotion. We will actually put our focus on serving that source of all existence, giving our water to the root. And we become satisfied. You cannot enjoy separately. We try to, but that happiness is called maya-sukhaya, your illusory happiness. You may think you're enjoying, the branch may think he's enjoying by watering himself, but actually he doesn't get the benefit unless he waters the root. Just like any other example, the hand in the belly. The hand may think, oh I'm really enjoying this sweet rice, oh yeah, it feels so good squishing it with my fingers. But the hand cannot get any nourishment by squeezing the food in the fingers. The hand gets the nourishment by giving the food to the stomach.


So we have to understand what is our actual happiness. Not by gratifying the mind, words, ears, tongue, belly, and genitals. Not in that way I can become happy. What they're trying to do is they're going crazy. Just like one of my students just wrote me, her father is now running after, giving up the wife, he's running after women, running after women outside of marriage, thinking he's happy to live. But actually this serving the senses in this way doesn't bring happiness. He's torturing his wife, he's torturing his daughter and he thinks he's happy by being able to have free love with so many women. But actually it doesn't bring happiness. Real happiness means that we take the injunctions of the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, see what Krishna actually wants us to do. That's the key to happiness. What does God want me to do? What are his instructions? He says,


sarva-dharmān parityajya

mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja

ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo

mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

BG (18.66)


Give up all their duties and so it is to me, I will deliver you from all your sinful reactions, ma suchah don't fear. That's really a wonderful deal. We've committed so many sinful activities. The animals can't say anything. The animals do anything they want, there's no simple reaction. Because that's just their nature. But in the human form, you're meant to follow the injunctions of the Supreme Lord, so if you don't do that, you get simple reactions. So the beauty is even though we've been through so many human births, there's actually 400,000 different types of humans. That's all throughout the universe. There's 400,000 different types of human species. We see a few here, Chinese, you know, Negro, Caucasian. We see a few here but not so many on this planet. But throughout the whole universe there's 400,000 different types of human beings. So we've been through all these 400,000 different types of human forms, engaging in so many activities against the laws of God. But you don't have to go through all these karmic reactions, onone reaction, another reaction, another reaction, one after another, no, you can finish it all in one stroke. That's the beauty of surrendering to Krishna. In one stroke everything's finished. So this is why this Krishna conscious movement is actually a benediction to the suffering humanity. Right now they're suffering all these reactions like this is about going on that right now. This is a they're getting their karmic reaction the wildfire there and why you wipe that out town and now there's supposed to be a hurricane coming to Southern California causing extensive flooding. Can you imagine? From fire to extensive flooding boom boom boom karmic reaction karmic reactions but if we the human society can become intelligent now to hear from the bona fide spiritual master and the bona fide scriptures to how to become, live in harmony with the desires of the supreme lord. Then we'll see this whole planet in a beautiful paradise, proper rain, everything proper, proper balance in nature. But nature is out of balance because we are out of balance. This is why we are trying to convince these rascals to somehow get the word out to them. Through book distribution, through preaching, through the internet, every possible way we can somehow get our word out to these people, listen to us and try to understand you're not living in harmony with God and therefore you're getting so many karmic reactions. So now my dear people on this planet, please come now to live and learn from the devotees of the Lord and the bountiful spiritual master. Please learn now how to get yourself back in harmony. Just like I used to when I was a kid, I used to play in the Houston, play violin in the Houston All-City Orchestra. And the conductor is there to make sure everything is going properly. If you are out of tune, tune your violin. If you are in harmony then you are part of a beautiful symphony orchestra, a beautiful concert. If you are out of harmony, you are not following the conductor's beat. He sets the rhythm. You have to follow the rhythm. Play your violin in the rhythm that he sets. So Krishna God is the supreme conductor. If you're out of harmony, then the correction will come. The chastisement will come. So you need to tune your violin, you got to get back in the sync of the beat. So we get corrected by the spiritual master, by the senior devotees, we should take it as a blessing. They're helping us to get back in sync. Here we are out of sync with the supreme, and the supreme has given me a spiritual master or an advanced devotee. If you give me back in sync with the supreme, so in this way we become humble, we learn to take corrections and directions very nicely, then we can actually come to that point called shudha-ananda, the holy name becomes fully manifest. Just like Lord Chaitanya said,


tṛṇād api su-nīcena

taror iva sahiṣṇunā

amāninā māna-dena

kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

(Sri Siksastakam 3)


One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, and keeping oneself lower than the straw in the street, being ready to offer all respect to others without expecting even the slightest tinge of respect for ourselves. In such a state of mind we can go on chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, in a state of ever increasing bliss. So if some devotee is disrespectful to me I feel like they're being offensive to me. Should I be disrespectful and offensive back? No. If I feel someone is being offensive towards me, what's the way to be able to enter the holy name? I offer all respect to them. Somebody is rude, disrespectful, offensive to me, I should take them back with all respect. In such a mood of humility, I can actually dive deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into the sweet nectar of Krishna's holy name. So this process works if you work the process. The difficulty is you want to cheat. You want to make a show of being a devotee. It's like we saw here in this purport that the Prabhupada talks about pretensions. What is that thing he said about pretensions? Here. The word Bhagavad-Dharmina indicates that the religious process practiced by Maharaja Prithu was beyond all pretensions. As stated in the beginning of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra, that these principles which are simply pretensions are actually nothing but cheating. This is what is called cheating dharma, rejecting all religious activities that are materially motivated. This Srimad Bhagavatam rebounds the highest truth which is reality is distinguished from illusion and the welfare of all. So it's not to make a show of being religious or being a nice person with a motive. It's like in the past time in the Prabhupad's time in New York City. They wanted to buy, get out of 26th Avenue and get a nicer facility. So there's Mr. Price, he's all fancy with a nice suit, nice cuff links, all dressed really nicely, the finest clothes, everything first class.


He said, "Swamiji, I can get you a building." He wanted to get the down payment from Swamiji without giving any contract Prabha was a little suspicious It's the first way to have a contract. I don't give money without a contract. So Prabhupada didn't do it. It was obvious he was a con man trying to cheat Prabhupada out of money. Give the down payment. No contract yet, but give the down payment. So in the same way, Mr. Price was trying to cheat through the Prabhupada. We should not be cheating in our religious practice, make a show of being a guru or a Brahmin or anything. Make a show of being a fixed up, advanced devotee, but I actually have my motives, my own sense gratification behind the back. So in this way we have to kick out all of our anarthas, anarthas means unwanted dirty things in the heart, our lust, our anger, our greed, our madness illusion, and we're polluted with all these things we're lusty we're angry we're greedy all these things are there in the heart so we should become very humble and understand we're very fallen and so I'm a struggling bumbling neophyte I need direction I need encouragement from those who are more advanced than me so let me take shelter of those who are more advanced than me. Just like Prabhupad told me I was a neophyte devotee here in Austin back in 70's when he said you've been trained up under the expert guidance of his holiness Vishnujana Swami. Prabhupad taught me. So I was sometimes very foolish. One time he called me a rascal. I told him he was a rascal also. So foolish. He said you are a rascal. He was very kind. He tolerated it. I was very offensive. Calling him a rascal. He told me I was a rascal. That's his duty to point out my rascal, my rascal, senior devotee, it's his duty to point out my rascal, but instead of accepting it, I tell him he was a rascal. So we should be very humble and very appreciative of those who are guiding us, who are correcting us, so we can actually learn and advance nicely in this path of Krishna consciousness. So there's so much to be discussed here. Let's see what else we can see. This wonderful, wonderful purport.


When he was not inspired by material desires, he was not contaminated with the process of fruitive activity and empiric speculation. Oh yeah, I mentioned the process of Brahman realization. There's a process of merging into Brahman called Neti-Neti. And as a young spiritual seeker I was actually doing this. Somehow I came about the same idea of the gyanis and trying to merge in my mind by denying everything. Cut, cut, cut, deny everything, deny, deny, deny, deny. So there's nothing left to deny. But in my realization I was cutting away everything. Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. But then I realized, and I even wrote it down it was such a strong realization when I had this realization I really denied I denied and so I can deny no longer than I start accepting. If you're taking the hatchet and cutting down the source of all material desire, cut, cut, cut, cut, finally you got to throw away the hatchet. So after denying everything you have to come to the point of accepting something that is transcendental to the material existence. So then again a whole search of finding out that thing I could fully accept and that brought me eventually to becoming a disciple of the Prabhupad. What can I actually accept? When you deny everything material, you finally have to deny the process itself is material. And you finally have to come to a point of transcendental acceptance. And that's when you come to Krishna consciousness. You accept the shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. And you dedicate your life fully to serve his desires because he is a representative of Krishna. So I think I don't need a guru I'll just serve Krishna my own. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'll just follow what Krishna says I don't need a guru. Wait a minute what does Krishna say? Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4, text 34.


tad viddhi praṇipātena

paripraśnena sevayā

upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ

jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ


He's trying to learn the truth by approaching the spiritual master, inquiring them submissively, render service unto him. Self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth. Well very good my dear spiritual aspirant, you only want to serve Krishna and that's it? All right, well serve him. Follow all of the instructions. Krishna said you have to have a spiritual master. So when you fully surrender to Krishna that includes fully surrendering to the Bhagavad-Gita by spiritual master automatically because Krishna instructs to do that. It also includes offering all your food to Krishna. Because Krishna says on the Gita it also includes chanting Hare Krishna. satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ. So, always chanting my glory. So fully surrendering to Krishna actually includes everything that we're practicing here in the Krishna consciousness movement. Not that we probably didn't concoct some new thing, simply giving you, giving us exactly what Krishna wants us to do. That's the Krishna consciousness movement. It's the movement which teaches you, teaches you how to do exactly what Krishna wants you to do.


So are you tuned in or are you spacing out? Tune in or spacing out. We have to learn how to tune in, turn on, and bliss out. You tune into the message of Krishna, the spiritual master, and then by doing that you turn on your spiritual identity, and then you bliss out, because the spiritual identity is eternal, full of knowledge and bliss. So, let's see if we have any questions yet, or I've been rambling on here for quite a while.


Let's see if we have any questions coming in. Here's one question from Leela Manjari Devi Dasi.


Leela Manjari Devi Dasi : Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudev, please accept my humble obeisances. When the mind is spaced out, how can one immediately come back to Krishna consciousness?


Sankarshan Das: That's a problem that all of us need to find a way to have the mind go on a little escapade, the sense of dragging the mind here and there, thinking about this, sense gratification. We're contemplating sense gratification with our minds, thinking at least we can enjoy it subtly. At least I can have some subtle sense gratification. If I can't do it openly, because I'm taking all these vows, at least I can subtly enjoy sense enjoyment. So that way the mind becomes spaced out. So how can you get it back? Well, we have all these different things, chanting, hearing, remembering, offering prayers, just to see what works for you. It may be picking up a book and reading it. One of the Srila Prabhupada's books is also good. Chanting Hare Krishna, going to the temple, offering obeisances, offering an arati, giving a class, hearing a class. You have to see what works for you. When the mind gets running on its own little inadventive trip, you have to see what works for you. When the mind gets running on its own little independent ship, you have to see what works for you. Taking prasadam, see what works for you, try to experiment and see what works best for you. Everybody, 1 person, 1 thing, reading a kirtan, or joining a kirtan, the mridanga, the harmonium is there. There's so many things we have. See what works best for you. Reading, writing, see what works best for you to help you bring your mind back to Krishna consciousness. Chanting things that are way out but still the mind keeps thinking something is not fixed. All they know is yeah, let's see what works best for you. Maybe chanting, chanting, chanting, trying to get your mind off of sense enjoyment, but it doesn't work. You're chanting Hare Krishna and your mind is still absorbing sense enjoyment. So when you find yourself in that situation, then you have to do the needful, see what works. You could be sitting down and reading Prabhupada's books, reading the Srila Prabhupad's Lilaamrita, it's also a wonderful and very exciting thing. I'm reading it right now. It's so exciting to see how Prabhupada named the gulabjamun, which is a sweet made in sugar water, very nice to eat with powdered milk and sugar water, Prabhupad called them ISKCON bullets. It's so nice to see how Prabhupada started this movement. It's very charming and wonderful to read about Prabhupada, the first kirtan in Tompkins Square Park. From the whole movement took off like a rocket from that point. The whole park was engaged in chanting Hare Krishna. All the hippies came, hundreds of hippies were there, going in and it became the anthem of the Lower East Side, the Hare Krishna Mantra. There are so many things, just see what works for you. Could be Krishna book, see what works best for you. If chanting doesn't bring your mind back, see what brings your mind back. Just experiment with this, experiment with that and see what works best for you. If chanting doesn't bring your mind back see what brings your mind then Just experiment with this experiment that and see what works best for you. You could write an article for the Back To Godhead Magzine. The Back To Godhead magazine here in North America is very happy to accept articles from devotees all over the world. And they might get printed. So see what works best for you. Okay.


Shivani: Are aspiring devotees in a better situation than those who left the movement?


Sankarshan Das: Oh, absolutely. Those who leave the movement, that's actually an offense to disobey the order of the spiritual master. Even though they're initiated, they've fallen in the clutches of maya. So aspiring devotee is much better than those who left the movement. Foolish devotees who left the movement.


Hare Krishna dasa: Kindly enlighten one is meant to give one's time, energy, possession of the Lord but is the first and foremost thing one should first offer is your heart and soul?


Sankarshan Das: Give your heart and soul. Give your heart and soul. I belong to you my beloved Krishna. I belong to you my beloved Guru Maharaj. Now I am yours. You fully engage me in devotional service. Giving yourself, your very self. That's the most important. The other thing is simply symptom giving yourself.


Sahil Zele: Hare Krishna, Srila Gurudev. This is a mindful. Why do people like to go in Impersonal Brahman when one may get <pause…>. When do they get?


Sankarshan Das: Well in Impersonal Brahman you think you're God. Now I'm 1 with, now I'm God. Now I'm, I'm one of the Supreme, I'm God. That's where they get the false idea that they're God. Okay, let's see what else we have here.


Bhakta Sunil: Srila Gurudev please suggest ways to keep my mind constantly undisturbed and humble in any situation my false ego gets hurt.


Sankarshan Das: Like I told Lila Manjari you have to see what works for you. What's the best thing that works for you according to your own nature. We all have different natures. You have your nature, I have my nature, everybody has a certain psychological nature. So experiment and see what works best for you to keep your mind on track. Try this and that, see what works best for you.


Vishnurata Das: When higher taste is experienced and still the mind reverses back to subtle sense gratification then we can say that higher taste is a shadow of real higher taste?


Sankarshan Das: That's an interesting question. No, it's a real, it's not a shadow, it's just not the full higher taste. You got a partial. I wouldn't say it's a shadow, you know, that you've got a partial higher taste Vishnurata. The full higher taste, nothing in this material will attract you. When you partially get the higher taste then you may sometimes be attracted by material sense gratification. So we simply have to deepen our experience of the higher taste by intensifying our chanting, intensifying our hearing, intensifying our—make everything more and more and more intense. Intensify, intensify. Focus, focus. Sharpen your focus on the holy name. Sharpen your focus on hearing the class. Sharper should focus. And that way your taste will increase, increase, increase, increase. And the attraction to Maya will go down, down, down, down, down to the point of zero when you achieve pure devotional service. As I gave the example recently, Bilvamangala Thakur was attracted to a prostitute. He had a prostitute girlfriend. He got totally, totally carried away with Chintamani, his prostitute girlfriend. But it's very striking to know that Prabhupada told us in his previous life he attained the bhava stage, this part of pure love of God, you see. There's all the stages, Shraddha, faith, bhajan kriya, devotional activity, Sadhu-sangha, associating with devotees, bhajan kriya, engaging in devotional service, anartha nivriti, getting free from the bad habits, Nishtha becoming fixed, Bhava, spiritual emotions begin to awaken in the heart. Premayou become an absolute pure devotee. Even at that stage when you have 99% taste. At the Prabhupad stage you have 99% taste now. You have 99%. From that you can fall down and be a. And that's how dangerous this material energy is. The cupid is looking for that chance, boom, boom, boom, it gets you with his arrow in your heart. It gives you that chance to get the arrows in your heart. So until you get to Premawhen you have a hundred percent pure in your taste, the danger of falling down is always there. So we have to be very, very careful. That's why we take shelter of the spiritual master. We have to take shelter of the Vaishnavas. Don't be offensive toward the devotees. Because when you are, you lose the shelter of that association. Don't be offensive toward the spiritual master because you lose the shelter of his association. So we have to always take shelter of Guru, Krishna and Vaishnavas because in that way we can get that, our taste can increase and increase until we get 100% state in the preeminent stage.


Bhaktin Priya: Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev. Does hearing lectures purify our consciousness despite our not realizing it?


Sankarshan Das: Yes. Even if there was a dog hearing this lecture, even if there's a little ant crawling around on the floor, that ant gets purified by the sound vibration. These sound vibrations, explaining the Krishna-consciousness movement, it's like the holy name of Krishna, it's non-different from Krishna. These sound vibrations dancing on my lips right now are actually non-different from Krishna Himself. So even though microbial germs are floating in the air right now, they're getting purified by hearing the sound vibrations. But if you understand it, it goes even deeper. It goes even deeper. Introspection is important also. one should be very introspective. Be very, very introspective. Always examine your psyche. Am I thinking always be analytical? Am I thinking properly right now? To be introspective means to be always observing your own psychiatrist. Am I thinking properly right now? Am I speaking properly? Am I acting properly? Yes or no. You know, it's always good to analyze, am I thinking in such a way that's beneficial to my Krishna consciousness, or am I thinking in such a way that's detrimental to my Krishna consciousness? And if I'm detrimental, I've got to do something, Find something to get back on the track. If I see I'm getting off the track I've got to get something to get back on the track. So being introspective is very important. Yes, very, very important. You'd be always analyzing yourself. Am I speaking, thinking, and acting in ways that are beneficial or detrimental to my spiritual life? Speaking thinking and acting with beneficial detriment over my spiritual life.


Sahil Zele: What is the purpose of surrenderance? Purpose. The inner meaning of surrender is now you're giving yourself fully to Krishna. It means love. Surrender means love. If you actually love just like you're beloved, the lover and beloved. If you truly love your beloved you give yourself fully to your beloved. Now my dear beloved I belong to you. Like that. But in this material world it's never perfect. Everybody has their own motive. What can I get out of this? So the lover and beloved thing is always, you know, there's always some motive in there. That's why there's so many divorces. You know, I give myself to you, my lover, but now I go to some other girl, some other boy. My dear beloved, I give my heart to you. Now, it's some cheating mother who says, it breaks. How many divorces there are going on. Hundreds of thousands, millions of divorces. Even their beloved, I want to marry you and give my whole life to you but not divorce. Because there's always some motive. But when you purely give yourself to the beloved, that is God himself. That's the actual love that we all really hanker for to give our love fully to. Not a man or a woman. Of course that can be engaged in Krishna's service by marriage, that's all right. But The real love, and that's separated from death anyway, but the real love that we give ourselves eternally to, that's the Krishna God. Okay, let's see here.


Gauri: Hare Krishna, Srila. Gurudev, I am stuck in material life and bhakti but I'm able to chant.


Sankarshan Das: It's good. Actually we're all stuck here. Even our acharyas pray that way. I've many times quoted Bhakti Vinod Thakur's verses "kabe ha'be bolo se-dina amar"  When, O when, will that day be mine? When my offenses ceasing, Taste for the name increasing, when my heart will Your mercy shine? " kabe ha'be bolo se-dina amar" When, oh, when will that day be mine? Of course, Bhaktivinoda is a pure devotee but he is teaching us neophytes how we should be thinking. But here's an example he gives in this song. Here we are, we have all these offenses, all this, you know, so many offenses we're committing every day. Thinking about this, thinking about that. So many ways of committing so many offenses. So we should then be very honest and realize we are in a very fallen position right now. I'm carried away by lust, anger, greed, madness, delusion. And we need to be very, very honest about our position and just beg the help of the spiritual master and the Vaishnava and Krishna.


Gauri: Not able to chant.


Sankarshan Das: You are able to write that. You are able to write, sorry Gurudeva not able to chant. You are able to write that. You can say, sorry Gurudeva, not able to chant. See how many syllables? Sorry Gurudeva, I am not able to chant. 11 syllables. Hare Krishna. You can say, I'm sorry Gurudeva I'm not able to chant. You can say Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama. You are able to chant. You are able to chant. So you can ask this question in so many syllables. Hare Krishna. I'm stuck in material life. I'm not able to chant. Kindly help me. You can say all that. You can also say Hare Krishna.


Devotee: Which was the bhajan which you sang of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur?


Sankarshan Das: Its one of the bhajans one of my favorites very very wonderful, Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Very nice let's see how it's titled , find it. I didn't find it. Yes, it's called kabe ha'be bolo se-dina amar. That's how it's titled in the song book.kabe ha'be bolo. Please, please tell me when will that day be mine? That's how it's titled. It's in the song book. My offences will end and I will end in a taste of the pure holy name will be infused within my heart by the power of Divine Grace. Considering myself lower than a bronze, lower than a blade of grass, bringing the quality of forbearance into my heart, showing respect to all myself, being free from all this pride, false pride. When will I taste the essence of the liquid nectar of the Holy Name. [ Phone rings: I'll call him. I know you're going to turn it off during class. It's only 8 in the morning. I'll set the microphone.] Okay. All right. Anything else? Any questions here from Rob? Yes?


Rob: You were talking about in the class that sin is a human...


Sankarshan Das: What?


Rob: Only humans can sin. Is that a uniquely human experience?


Speaker 1: When he's asking about the sin, you mentioned that only humans can sin.


Sankarshan Das: That's right, the animals don't commit sin, that's right.


Rob: Why is it unique to humans?


Sankarshan Das: The animals are just carried by nature they have no free choice . Human being has a free choice to do this or not to do this. The animals have no choice, they're just pulled by the modes. It's all the other modes of nature, like puppets in the modes. Does that make sense?


Rob: Yes.


Sankarshan Das: Because puppets control. The dog has to bark. He's obliged to. I mean, He has no choice. Bark or not, he can't decide should I bark or not. He's pulled by the modes. But human beings have a choice. Should I control my senses or not? So my senses control me or should I control my senses? I have a choice.


Rob : And also you mentioned in previous classes you said Krishna, Allah, Christ, all are the same, right?


Sankarshan Das: They are different names of the Supreme, yeah.


Rob: Do They all carry the same vibrational quality as Krishna?


Sankarshan Das:  Same vibrational qualtiy? Yeah, they're all absolute. You can chant anything, but this Hare Krishna mantra is very special for this age, given by Lord Caitanya. I can say one and difference. If a Christian wants to chant the name of Christ, actually Jesus Christ, Christ is the last name. Jesus is the first name. So the first name, the last name is the name of the father. It's like my father is Mr. Bridge and I'm Stephen Bridge, legally. So Bridge is my father's name. So Jesus Christ, Christ is actually the father name for God. In Greek it's Christos. It's actually derived from Krishna. It's etymologically derived from the name Krishna. Christos. So yeah, you can chant Christ, you can chant Allah, Jehovah. He's like my hearing aid therapist. He's a Jehovah's Witness. So I told him, chant Jehovah's name every day. I don't know if he's doing it but I advised him yes you chant Jehovah's name every day. He gets a great benefit because that's God himself. Every name is every name is God himself. Christ in the name of Christ in the name Jehovah in the name of Allah these are all God himself appearing in sound vibration. But as I said, this particular name also addresses the energy of God, Hare. See, the Hare refers to Radharani. She gives very special blessings to those who approach her. So going Hare Krishna gives you an extra, it's like you want to see a big man, you go to the, you may try on your own, you may get there, if you go to the secretary you're in, you know what I mean? Make an appointment with the secretary, you're sure to get in. You may just say, well I'm going to wait outside, and when he comes out tonight maybe I can go up and talk to him. You make it the same event without an appointment with the secretary. You go to the secretary, then you're in for sure. So Hare Krishna, Hare is the God's secretary Radharani. So by going to the secretary you're surely in. That's why there's a special mercy of chanting Hare Krishna.


Rob: So, when I chant Hare Krishna, I think of Krishna. Should I also think of Radharani too?


Sankarshan Das: You can. You can think of Radharani. My Dear Mother Radharani please tell about me to dear Krishna. I want to be His devotee. Please put in a good word for me. Tell them, tell them, tell them Krishna I want to be a devotee. That will help you connect with Krishna. You can think of Radha and Krishna. It's like everything is Krishna alone. Here we have Radha and Krishna. Everything is Krishna alone is always Radha and Krishna. Everything is Krishna alone is always Radha and Krishna. Lord Chaitanya is a divine form of Radha Krishna. You know that? Krishna saw that Radharani is getting more pleasure. Krishna is the supreme enjoyer. He's saying, what is this? This girl, she's getting more pleasure than Me by serving Me. Krishna has got to be outdone. So Krishna wants the taste of being His own devotee. So He can get more, He can taste more pleasure than he's tasting as the supreme enjoyer. It's a little esoteric, but it's a fact. So he becomes Lord Chaitanya, so he can taste the nectar of being his own devotee. So Lord Caitanya is the combined form of Radha and Krishna. That's why we chant. First of all we chant,


Jaya Sri-Krishna-Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda, Sri-Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi-Gaura-Bhakta-Vrinda.


for the mercy of Lord Caitanya and his associates. Because that enables us to really get stridely connected with the Hare Krishna mantra. So when you chant your japa, first chant the pancha-tattva mantra. You know that mantra? It's in the sound book. Look in your, you have the Vedabase, look up the pancha-tattva mantra. Panca, P-A-N-C-A, P-A-N-C-A, and the second word tattva, T-A-T-T-V-A. Take the first chant of Panchatatva mantra.


Jaya Sri-Krishna-Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda, Sri-Advaita Gadadhara Srivasadi-Gaura-Bhakta-Vrinda.


and then your Hare Krishna chanting. Now you're really tightly connected with Hare Krishna mantra. In our Kirtan you may notice we chant that first before we chant Hare Krishna. First we chant the Panchatattva mantra. Okay, let's see.


Gauri: Srila Gurudev I lack of devotee friends what should I do?


Sankarshan Das: Actually the spiritual master is your best friend so you have a friend right now your spiritual master is your best friend so if you have no friend there take a shot of the spiritual master he's your best friend and if there's not devotee friends then make devotees. Preach. If you start preaching you'll have tons of devotee friends. Make devotee. Start making devotee, you will have tons of devotee friends. Preach and make devotees. That's Lord Caitanya's order.


yāre dekha, tāre kaha ‘kṛṣṇa’-upadeśa

āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra’ ei deśa


Whoever you meet, instruct them in the teachings of Krishna, and this is my order, you become a guru and deliver the people of your country. So if you preach, Gauri, you'll have tons of friends. You'll make so many devotees. You'll have tons and tons of friends. Anything else? What about from the devotees in Lithuania? What about from this Mataji here?


Devotee Mataji: Hare Krishna Srila Gurudev. I want to thank you so much because after my son left the body, I asked you whether I should go back to work and you said I wouldn't go if I can manage my bills and everything. I was able to manage my bills so I didn't go to work. Now Krishna is taking care of me. I'm not going to work now.


Sankarshan Das: Yeah, working is like an ass.


Devotee Mataji: Now last 4 years I didn't go to work. Krishna is taking care of me. Thank you so much, Srila Gurudev.


Sankarshan Das: What is your age now?


Devotee Mataji: 60.


Sankarshan Das: Yeah, and there's no reason, work is only for, basically for fools and rascals. And in Vedic culture, only the Shudras work.


Devotee Mataji: But you must be good there. Everything is aligned to me. I don't have any financial anxiety.


Sankarshan Das: The Brahmins, they simply teach and their students give them donations. The Khshtriyas, they rule and they collect taxes. The Shudras, I mean, the Vaishyas, they do cow protection and they grow food or they do some business. In this way, only the Shudra class, the lowest class, actually work jobs. Of course, in this age, what do you need to do? So if our devotees work jobs, they may have to do that. The sooner you get out of it, the better. It's not just being, acting as a Shudra, a worker class. It's good to get out of it as soon as possible. In that situation, what can you do? I got out of it as soon as I could. I moved to Austin, I worked part-time in telesales, then I started a business selling travel. I became a... I went from... I was a Shudra, doing telesales and the telephone, finding people left for the embassy or long distance. And then I switched to being... Starting my own business. I was selling airline tickets. Started my own business and then I retired full-time for brahminical activities


Devotee Mataji: I got an ashram also.. <not clear..> I can serve at the temple from 4.30 to 9.30 pm.


Sankarshan Das: That's wonderful. Krishna is very kind to you.


Devotee Mataji: Thank you so much.


Sankarshan Das: Any other questions on the internet or here from Rob or Vrijkishore Das Brahmachari? Any other questions?

We've been satisfied now ready to dive deeply in the ocean of Krishna bhakti with all our deeds at all times, places and circumstances and dedicate yourself fully to pulling out the global spiritual revolution as soon as possible. Okay, if nothing else, we'll stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in. 


Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.


Another Devotee: Thank you Gurudev, Please accept me at your lotus feet.


Sankarshan Das: Yes, you're welcome to take shelter and become my sold out disciple. Yes, you're welcome. Okay, that's it. We'll stop here. We thank everybody for tuning in.


Hare Krishna.

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