Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya-lila.19.177. Rules and Regulations on Spiritual Path
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2017
Chapters
Reading scriptures on sadhana bhakti
Late at night in Moscow. It's ten thirty. So if I fall asleep, don't mind. But I hope I will not. So I was asked to speak on this topic of rules, regulations.
And uh this is an important topic because we all follow certain rules and it can be very beneficial and it can be very destructive as well.
Rules is a very tricky thing, and if we approach the rules in our life in an improper way, the effect will be destructive. In general, following the rules is very good, but at the same time, we can
see that all this sort of fanatical accepting, blind accepting, acceptance of the rules and so on and so forth is very detrimental for spiritual growth and for human development.
There are so many cases when people were accepting rules blindly. So I will speak a little bit about this important topic, which is quite closely connected with the topic uh started uh by me this morning.
There is a very close connection so I'm grateful to the organizers to give me this topic. So I'll uh read one verse from Chaitanya Cheritamrita. That's from the nineteenth chapter of Chaitanya Cheritamrita
verse 177 Jayaya Sri Chaitana Jayanitananda, Jaya Sri Chaitanya Jaya Maya Nanda, Jayadwai Tachandra Jaya Gorbhakta Vrinda, Jayatvaita Chandraja Gorbhtabrinda, Jaya Sri Chaitana, Jainitananda, Jay Chaitanya Jaitananda, Jayadvaita Chandra Jai Gorbhtaak Vrinda, Jayvaita Chandrajaya, Gorbhtabrinda, Jaja Sri Chaitana, Jainitananda, Jayasri Chaitanya, Jaya, Jaitvaita Chandrajaya.
So again, this is Sri Chaitanya Cheritamita, Madhiya Lila, chapter 19. The Lord instructs Silarupa Gaswami in the text number 177. Sadhana Bhakti Hoyti, Hoi Rati Ra Udaya. Rati Gadha Hailetar Prema Nama Kaya.
And translation of this Bengali verse. By regularly rendering devotional service, one gradually becomes attached to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, when the attachment is intensified, it becomes love of God.
The Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu gives the following information about Sadhana Bhakti. Kriti Sadhya Bhavet Sadhya Bhava Sa Sadhana Bhida. Nityasidhasya Bhavasya Prakatyam Khridi Sadhy The
process of devotional service beginning with chanting and hearing is called sadhana bhakti. This includes the regulative principles that are intended to awaken one to the devotional service.
Devotional service is always dormant in everyone's heart. And by offenseless chanting of the holy names of the Lord, the original dormant Krishna consciousness is awakened.
This awakening of Krishna consciousness is the beginning of sadhana bhakti. This can be divided into many different parts, including faith, association with sadhus, initiation by the spiritual master, engagement in devotional service, under the instructions of spiritual master, steadiness
in devotional service, and awakening the taste for bhakti, devotional service.
In this way, one can become attached to Krishna and his service, and when this attachment is intensified, it results in ecstatic love for Krishna.
The word rati is explained in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu as follows: Vyaktam Mastri Nate Vantar Lakshate Rati Lakshanam mumuksu pratibrimtinam chedbavat esaratirnahi When a tenderness of the heart is manifested, there is rati or attachment.
But those who are interested in being liberated from material bondage will not manifest this tenderness of heart. This attachment is not like material attachment.
When one is free of material contamination, attachment for God or Krishna and His service awakens and it's called rati.
In the material world there is no attachment uh there is attachment for material enjoyment but this is not rati. Transcendental rati, spiritual rati can be awakened only on the spiritual platform.
Ecstatic love for Krishna, prema, is described in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu as follows: Samyan Masrinita Svanto, Mamatva Tishayankitah Bavahsa Eva Sandratma Buddhai Prema Nigadhyate.
When the heart is completely softened and devoid of all material desires, and when one's emotional feelings become very strong, one becomes very much attached to God, to Krishna, and such purified emotion is known as pure love.
Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracārine nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tārine pañcākalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ Jaya Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu Nityānanda Śrī Advaita Gadādhara Śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Syadvaita Gdatara Sivasadigora Bhakta
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare Ram, Hari Ram Ram Ram Hariari.
Understanding sadhana and its ultimate goal
Ajanu Lambita Pujokanakavad Sankirtanaya Kapita Rokamalaya Taksa, Vishwambarod Vijaro Yuga Dharmapal, Vandeja Jagatpriya karu karunavataru yandah pravi mamavati mamamprasub Sandje Vaya ta kila shakti darah swadamna hanyamscha hasta charana shravanatwagati pranamam bhaga So
in this verse and purport, a very important point is being made. Sadhana is a very prominent characteristic of all Eastern tradition and specifically Vedic tradition, Hindu tradition, one can call them.
That's a regulated practice which is supposed to bring us to a certain goal. Sadhya is the goal, sadhana is the process. And when we speak about sadhana, we should always keep in mind sadhya.
Because sadhana without sadhya is meaningless. The process without the goal toward which it is aimed is useless.
We may do something very diligently and very actively, but if it doesn't bring us to the desired goal, it's useless.
So uh and sometimes uh strangely enough, we speak about sadhana, sadhana, sadhana, one should get up early, very early, too much early, the early the better. But what is the goal?
It becomes by natural process, that's how our mind works. By natural process, it becomes the goal in itself.
We somehow rather tend to lose the goal to which it is intended originally, and uh the following the rules becomes uh the goal in itself.
We just should follow the rules by all means and you know look how great I am, I follow everything. For what?
So the very important point which is being made here in this verse and, specifically emphasized in the purpose, is that the goal of sādhana-bhakti, and bhakti is the way of love, as we know, is to soften the heart.
It's to make our hearts soft so that the very pure and elevated feelings of pure love will enter into our heart.
Comparing gross emotions with spiritual feelings
These emotions, purified emotions, spiritual emotions, is the goal ultimately. And we have to be very clear about it because
emotions is the most valuable thing in this world. Everyone is dying for emotions. Everyone wants emotions. But unfortunately, most of the people they are after gross emotions. Emotions of gross sense enjoyments.
It's a it's a fun, right? You know, if you don't have any emotions, you will die out of boredom. You will just be it's it's it's useless if there's no emotions.
Some emotions should be there. And there is only choice which emotions you take, which emotions you really want.
And most of the people are after gross, or we can say substantial emotions, which are really, you know, really gross.
But unfortunately, by the arrangement of God, this sort of emotions which everyone is after are very destructive. You know, lust is very destructive. It's degrading for the human heart. Anger is extremely destructive.
Pride is also an emotion which everyone is experiencing. It's also very destructive. It's destructive on many levels.
It's destructive on physical level because if you experience anger, it basically means that the chain reaction in your mind switches off certain physiological mechanisms switches on, and different hormones are being produced, and basically it's extremely destructive on many, many levels.
On emotional levels it's very destructive. On a mental level, it's destructive. On a physical level, it's very destructive.
So these gross emotions, which we usually call sadhari, six enemies of the soul: kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, mātsarya, lust, greed, anger, moha, illusion or bewilderment when we are completely in euphoria, when we are elated or whatever, and mada, pride, look how and how successful I am.
And ultimately, envy. When we feel that somebody is enjoying more than me. They are not by accident called enemies of the soul.
Because first of all they completely kind of distract our attention from the real goal because one can be
busy experiencing all these things: pride and, you know, lust and greed and anger. It gives you some sort of artificial meaning in life.
If you experience this again and again and again, you feel that something is happening in your life. If you're always angry, you know, it's, uh, there's a lot of things happening in your life.
But ultimately, it's not good. Ultimately, it's not good again, on all the levels of human existence. You know, roughly speaking, on a physical level, on emotional level, on mental level, and on a spiritual level.
On a spiritual level, and this is the most suicidal because it really distracts attention through all these trivial experiences. It really, you know, completely preoccupies your mind. I want this.
And you know, if you don't get what you want, kāma, then you experience what? krodha. Anger. I want my way. If it's not my way, then you know I will just smash and do or if you fulfill your desires, you become proud.
Look how great I am. I'm the best. So these six things which are coming from our false identity. Actually, this is explained by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He says he mentions these six things and then he
says, dambha, saha. Dambha means hypocrisy or false identity actually, false pride. It's different than mada. Mada is just intoxication, pride in the sense of intoxication. But then there is dambha.
Dambha means false identity. So it's all all these emotions which we experience are coming from false identity and uh they're not good.
I recently was in Vrindavan together with Syamasundar and his wife. And they uh in this ashram they call this uh these emotions the same the same sort of thing but they they also list the seven things and the six emotions and the dambha the false pride.
How material attachments harden the heart
Thank you. Anyway,
uh what I want to say is that uh as Prabhupada mentions here in the purport, uh this sort of emotions they harden the heart. We may experience these emotions again and again and again, but the result is that the heart becomes very hard. We become really cruel ultimately.
If somebody and that's perhaps one of the most horrible effects of this so-called sense enjoyment.
People who are after sense enjoyment, they ultimately become cruel and they commit all kinds of sinful activities and even criminal activities to get the sinful uh the the enjoyment. And they want more and more and more and then they're never satisfied.
This is the point. You never can be satisfied by all these experiences. You can only, you know, pour the ghee in the fire, and the fire will become more and more and more. Desires will be more and more and more.
No satisfaction is found in this. And the heart becomes hard because you want it by all means. And the more you entangled in this, the more you want it, and the more cruel you become, and the more hard your heart becomes.
So basically, the path of spiritual development is to purify the heart, but not just purify the heart. Sometimes on a certain spiritual path it is said that you know you have to purify your consciousness.
But even purification of the consciousness is not the ultimate goal. When you have pure consciousness, pure heart, yeah, pure consciousness. Then the real goal is that when you are able to experience
elevated subtle emotions, emotions of love, which starts from compassion, from you know, there are so many things which are much more fulfilling than these gross emotions.
But unfortunately, if one on a certain level of spiritual development he cannot appreciate these more subtle emotions and enjoyments which are coming from these emotions.
And ultimately, according to the scriptures, to the Vedic scriptures and specifically according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the most fulfilling emotion, the completely overwhelming emotion, spiritual emotion, is the emotion of love of God.
And this, and this emotion or this experience is so overwhelming that one is ready to forsake everything else.
There are so many examples in the history of spiritual history of the world in different religious traditions when the people start, in the very beginning, start experiencing these emotions of love of God, they forget everything else.
They completely renounce everything else. Not artificially, not because they just want to renounce, but that is, it's naturally, because it's it's incomparable. You can't compare it.
It's so uh it's so uh fulfilling and so valuable and so uh so enjoyable, one can say, that everything else pales in comparison with this.
So, and when we do our sadhana, we first of all we have to really understand that the sadhya or the goal of sadhana is to have pure heart, tender heart, soft heart. And in this soft heart, the experience of love becomes natural.
If the heart is soft, like for example, mother has a natural love for a little child. And her heart is so soft. And she cries because of love. Today I was I had a very interesting experience.
We had lunch conversation with Jayadvaita Swami, and whoever knows Jayadvaita Swami externally he looks very tough and and you know stiff and you know.
And today he started speaking about some of his services, especially in New York. And he all of a sudden he started crying.
He started crying, saying that, you know, speaking something about the protection of religious organization and something like this.
And from this tears, all of a sudden, you know, I I was I was shocked by seeing, you know, the tears start started gliding in his cheeks. And his voice choked. And the tears is actually a manifestation of the soft heart.
When you're grateful to somebody and you're so grateful then then you're you're crying. It means that you're you have soft heart and you experience something very advanced and elevated in this moment. That's a very, you know, subtle emotion which is fulfilling,
as I said. So ultimately that's what is being explained several times in the purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda, that That uh and
uh actually this is says here, this says in in the very verse itself, Rati Rati Gaḍha, Ḭhoy Lita, Prema Namakai, Sādhana Bhakti Haiṭi Hai Rati uh Rati Raudai.
By doing sadhana bhakti you experience Rati, and Rati means attachment. But one should not mix this attachment with material attachments. Material attachments again makes one heart one's heart hard.
Material attachments turns one into a beast ultimately, if you're too attached.
But the spiritual attachment gives you generosity in heart, gives you purity in heart, gives you all this very elevated experiences which are there. And you know, coming to our topic, the main
topic, that's just the introduction to the topic, we have to really understand if we're doing sādhan-bhakti, you know we're changing Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare Rāma di Rāma Rāma Rāma.
Dangers of fanatical adherence to rules
And we experience that our heart becomes really not very nice. And we always try to find faults in other people. And sometimes it happens. I mean, oftentimes it happens. Something is going wrong. Something we are doing wrong.
You know, if we are doing something properly, the result should come. If we're doing, for example, if we're doing yoga, there's certain lakṣaṇas, certain signs by which we can understand that something is going right.
You know, like for example, doing yoga at, least your body should become soft. That's the goal of yoga, initial goal of yoga. Ultimately, the heart should also become soft, the consciousness becomes soft.
But it starts from the spine. It's good. It's a good practice.
But what I want to say, I just want to say that any sadhana which we do, any regulated practice which we do, any rules which we follow, we should not become fanatical follower which is which is a very likely to happen. When we come to any past or any religious practice or any spiritual practice, this danger is there that we become followers for the sake of being a follower.
And I want to explain a little bit about this phenomenon because it's important for us to understand why it happens so often.
The religion, religions are known all over the world for breeding fanatical people, for breeding people who are just blind and who are just proud?
You know, it's funny because all religions they glorify humility. They glorify softness of the heart. But somehow or other they only breed proud fanatics. How come? Why it is so? Why this mismatch is there?
Why you know that there is a practice which is supposed to make you a humble servant to serve others, to to help others, to to be grateful and so on and so forth.
But result is oftentimes, very oftentimes, too much often, too much more often to think that this is just an accident. You know, if it would happen once or twice, you know, you may say yeah, little mistake is there.
But it seems like there is some some serious mistake in in this whole uh phenomenon. So, and we have to really be very clear about it. And you know, there is no exception to this rule.
I've seen many spiritual organizations, many spiritual organizations. And everywhere you can see very proud people who say only we are right, everyone is wrong. This this very statement is is is really wrong.
Um you know, I have a friend of mine and he was joking once, you know, everyone he said, everyone is saying that everyone is wrong only we are right and we are not saying this therefore only we are right he was just mocking this sort of attitude.
Sometimes we are in this position. We say, yeah, yeah, we're the best because.
External faith and blind following
So what happens actually when we come to any spiritual organization, so spiritual enterprise, so to speak, or spiritual path? I was speaking this morning about these two types of faith, two types of Shraddha.
And if our faith is conventional, if it's coming from social interactions and social pressure, then the faith is really, it's not internalized. It's not something which becomes a part of my existence.
It's still external towards me. It's coming from the society, and I want to be a part of this society.
And because I want to be a part of this society, I follow the rules. And for me, really, the faith is not a free movement av mig hort. It's not really britti av mig konsens.
It's not really something which is natural and spontaneously is existing in my heart and regulating my life. But it's something which is still external in relationship to me.
You know, some people uh usually it it it works like this. You know, uh there are some big people. They have dundas or sometimes they have big crosses or big hats and you know and they know better. They know the truth.
So this attitude, sometimes people they even that's what they think the face is. They think that the face is: I believe that somebody knows this. That somebody knows the truth.
I don't know the truths and uh, but I follow. It's it's sort of blind following attitude. Uh, in Sanskrit there is a uh proverb saying Gadalikanyaya. It basically means the logic of herd of a sheep.
You know, sheep they are just blind followers. They just want to follow it, doesn't matter whether they follow, they can follow the slaughterhouse very happily because they are just sheep. And, you know, congratulations.
Sometimes we behave in the same way. Sometimes we come uh and and we think uh we accept something blindly and uh and we just want to belong to a certain society and we say and they know better and this and that. We don't even, so to speak, set this goal. I want to realize this truth myself. We take it as a dogma.
And this dogma, what happens after that when there is some dogma or some truth which is not internalized, which is not coming from our heart, which is remaining external to ourselves, it becomes a very cruel force in our life.
It really spoils our life. Really spoils. Someone very sincerely trying to follow everything, he doesn't know why he's following, but he's forcing himself, and he doesn't feel any satisfaction inside.
There is no satisfaction uh coming from inside, but still, and you need some satisfaction. How you get satisfaction? You get satisfaction by being proud. I'm the best.
I am the only one who is following, everyone else is fallen. Everyone goes to hell, I'll go to heaven and have my nice life there, you know.
And you know, you I and uh but because I want some satisfaction now, then how I get the satisfaction by by pushing other people down, you know. And by saying or trying to force them to follow uh uh the
You know I'm miserable, everyone else should become as miserable as I You know I'm miserable, everyone else should become as miserable as I am by following these four regulative principles. The hell with them.
I mean I I've seen this attitude again and again and again. People because uh they don't really understand why they follow,
what is the goal, uh they don't have experience and moreover uh neither do they they do have experience uh nor they even really believe that they uh they will have the experience.
It's a very common attitude that, you know, there are some people, they will, they're special, you know, they're there. Four of them. They have this love of God. And who are we? We are just small people, you know.
We'll do our little thing here somewhere in the corner and you know. But no, it's not for them, it's for us. This practice is for us. And it's real. It's only, it really depends on our attitude. If the attitude is right.
If we do whatever we do with a very conscious mind, with extreme consciousness, applying it diligently and sincerely conscientiously now life, then it will happen. The heart will become soft and we will start crying.
And ultimately we will only cry, you know. It will not happen so soon, so don't worry.
Unlocking dormant love in soft hearts
But but but but ultimately all this and it's not again it's not artificial as it is said in the definition of sādhana-bhakti is that nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya prākaṭyam hṛdi sādhyatā.
It's something, it's a hidden treasure which is there in our heart. Nitya-siddhasya bhāvasya. This bhava, this love of God. It's dormant in everyone's heart. It's nitya-siddha.
It's nitya-siddha literally means existing always. It's there. And we all feel that I need love. Sooner or later, everyone feels I need love. I don't need anything else.
You know, if you don't have anyone to love and if nobody loves you uh life is empty, useless.
You know, if people, old people, they uh when there is nobody around them whom they love, then they then they love the, you know, the flowers. And they they water the little flowers in the pots or dogs or whatever.
You know, the w- We need this emotion. Emotional exchange is an essential part of consciousness. We can't avoid it.
But we have to really understand the path, how to unlock this treasure house of real love, which is there in the soft heart.
And again, Sādhanā is for this, and we have to really understand that Sādhanā is for this and uh it can be experienced this premā elevated uh state of consciousness when the consciousness is fully blown.
It's actually very interestingly described in our scriptures that the consciousness is like a bud of a flower. And at the beginning it's kind of closed.
But the path of spiritual development of spiritual practice is for blossoming the heart. And this is literal. Those yogis who see the subtle reality, they can see that the heart starts blooming, it's expanding.
When we experience these gross emotions, the heart becomes really shrunken. Shrunken? Shrunken. It becomes really shrunken, you know, and we experience it in a physical level also.
When we are fearful, you know, we become like this. Why? Because the consciousness is shrunken, it's gone inside. But when we have this elevated emotions, the heart becomes more and more expanded.
And this expansion of consciousness is actually, the goal of spiritual development. And you know, we have to really clearly understand that it's possible within one life.
We shouldn't think that this is next life or in a few lives. That's a very common mistake.
Sometimes we hear some very elevated descriptions like here in Caitanya-caritāmṛta of great saints or Caitanya Mahāprabhu in this case. And we think, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice story.
But there is no use to write these stories if it's not applicable to us directly.
Avoiding extreme fanatical or neglectful practice
We have to really understand. I want to now explain a little bit about this attitude.
So, first of all, one point I made, important point is that this improper uh attitude towards the rules, when we use the rules or religious practices to become proud, is coming from the wrongly formed faith.
When the faith is not really internal, when it's still external in my life, and it's kind of it's a it's a damaging force. But I don't understand why I'm following this. Do I really need this?
Is it really scientific, the whole process? Is it really scientific, or it's just some sort of sentimental fanatical descriptions? So this is one point.
The next point, very important, um which Bhaktivinoda uh explains very clearly that we have to really understand that the path of bhakti uh can be followed by anyone and it's a quick process and anyone can experience it if he does everything properly.
He says one life, one life. Very quickly one can experience these sentiments. very interesting experience once. We had Janmashtimi celebration in our temple in Moscow.
And you know, so many guests came, around not as many as coming here to the manor, but still around probably ten thousand guests were there, and uh it was uh coming to the culmination of the whole event, the midnight.
So by then it was a very intense program. So near midnight we started kīrtana. And really, I mean, it was amazing kīrtana. Amazing kīrtana.
And uh and I was going around, it was not so many people by that time, by 12 o'clock, many people left, but still there were quite a few guests and uh quite a few devotees.
So I was going around uh looking and you know there was very nice feeling in my heart and I was listening to kīrtana taking part, but I was watching people and all of a sudden somebody was patting me on the shoulder.
And I looked back and I saw one young man, for the first time I have seen him, you know, a boy probably of the age of twenty, and he says, uh I I'm sorry, he told me, I'm sorry, you know, I'm I'm for the first time here. And I don't know what's going on. But all of a sudden I I started crying and I'm crying and crying and I don't know why. Can you explain to me why?
Uh something is wrong with me? I looked at him and said, something is wrong with me. Everything is okay with you. There's nothing wrong with you. I'm not crying. You're crying.
You know, and it's not it's not just again artificial. It's uh it's it's a natural process. It's there, it's recorded, it's well recorded. It's a scientific process.
We can achieve this elevated state if we if our attitude towards sudden is right.
And the right attitude is actually described by this very beautiful phrase which Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī who is getting instructions here in this chapter from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, which he described in Upadeśāmṛta The Nectar of Instruction and niyamāgraha, basically. And it's a very simple thing.
Niyamāgraha, as we know, have these two meanings, double meaning. Niyama means rules. Niyama means rules which we should follow. Starting, you know, so many rules are there in any in any past, in any spiritual practice.
And then there is Agraha. And Agraha means graha means to get, graha means to hold from Sanskrit. Agraha means not to hold, not to not to yeah.
So niyamāgraha if it's if it's short A in the word agraha means to neglect the rules. Niyamāgraha, you know, I neglect the rules, I don't follow the rules.
But you can put long A in the beginning, niyamāgraha. And it means a agraha. It's double negation, and double negations emphasize the original meaning of the word according to the rules of Sanskrit. So agraha.
Agraha means neglect. Yeah, I neglect the rules. Agraha means I too much stick to the rules blindly.
I just stick to the rules and I follow the rules for the sake of the rules, and I condemn everyone who doesn't follow the rules. So these two attitudes is a result of improper faiths.
This logic is radar about which or this conventional phase about which I was talking this morning is actually resulting very clearly, manifesting very clearly in our in our attitude towards the rules.
And it goes as a pendulum in the beginning because of this uh improperly because of this social, so to speak, socially induced forced phase. In the beginning one uh one makes a mistake which is called niyama-agraha.
One is very fanatical. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Very kattar bhakta. Tough bhakta. You know, gets up very early. You know, very fixed up and very proud. You know.
If it's an ekādaśī, you know, you know, I I fast completely, not a drop of water will come to my mouth and you know I'm by the end of the day I'm completely angry. Everyone's starting with God.
But I'm so austere, you know. I didn't take even a drop of water. Look how great I am. And I'm, you know, going around and telling, you know, look, I'm fasting. Are you fasting? I'm fasting completely, you know. Look.
So that's the beginning, niyama-agraha, and one, you know, tens- I- it's a tendency everyone was in this situation and you know you try to do everything nicely and then so after some time you become senior devotee and
senior devotee means niyama-āgraha. You neglect the rules, you know. I'm a, you know, I know this. No problem. But both is wrong. Both is wrong. Both is not understanding. I have to follow it, but I have to understand.
Why do I follow it? What is the reason?
And it it has to be natural and I don't have to use, I shouldn't use. My following, my very fact that I'm following as some some preference point, as some you know, as some uh point for arrogance, to be arrogant or so this is uh this is all again this is all uh coming from not really deeply understood or scientifically understood nature of the spiritual path.
And unfortunately these mistakes are... And the pendulum goes like this, you know, from one extreme to another extreme, and we are never in the middle path, in the right path.
Steady spiritual advancement using ladder analogy
When we are neither too too fanatical nor uh too neglectful. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, it's very interesting. Please listen very carefully because he explains, he gives a very beautiful example.
He says: if you want to climb the ladder, then the simple process which we all know is first to be established firmly on one on one step, but then quickly go to another step, higher step.
And then establish yourself very firmly on this step and then go to another step, to another step. And he says the same rule is applied, should be applied to our spiritual practice.
And the two mistakes which people do while they follow the spiritual practice: one mistake is that they want to rush too quickly.
And he says, if you rush too quickly, if you try to, without establishing yourself firmly on each stage, and you try to reach very high thing, what will happen to you?
He says, you will fall down to the point where you started from. And I've seen it many times. People very sincerely, they really force themselves. Yes, yes, I have to do this, you know. Love of God Kija.
Love of God by all means. By hook and by crook. And they really sincerely, and everyone looks at them and says, oh, they're so nice, they're so fixed up. You know, wait. Wait a little bit.
You know, because they're trying, uh because they're approaching, and there is a very strong element of pride in this sort of attitude towards spiritual practice.
By all means, I want to achieve very high goals so that an implied meaning is that everyone will look at me and say, oh, how great he is, look. You know, there is this subtle pride there.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says if you try to do it too quickly, you will fall down to the initial stage.
But then he says that then there is another attitude, you know, just you just very slow, you kind of, you know, you just you say, I want to reach this goal, and then somehow or other you stay on this stage and you know you you look there and you look back and you s and you sit down and eat some prasāda
In the meantime, you know. I I've seen it many times here, there is this steps there, this ladder and so many people eating prasāda.
So, so Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he literally says, you know, if if you just uh and this is another tendency which we have, uh the tendency to be in a comfort zone. To be to make minimum minimum the you know, the minimum which we can uh to remain within a certain society which we like. Just minimum, minimum.
Minimum 16 rounds. And unfortunately this minimum never becomes anything else. You know, hardly 16 rounds, but minimum 16 rounds. You know, sometimes when we give initiations,
people come and say, I promise to you to chant sixteen rounds and I say and if you chant seventeen rounds you will break your promise right You will become unfaithful. Your your vows will not be fulfilled.
You know, people they they they have this tendency, I'll do minimum, minimum, minimum, not more than this, you know. Leave me alone. So that's Niyama Agraha. When one tries, you know, to follow very little.
Balancing personal capacity with daily effort
And of course, when one and uh and the another example which I sometimes give in this regard is the bicycle riding. You know, if you try to ride bicycle too quickly, then what will happen? You will fall.
But if you try to ride a bicycle very slowly, what will happen? You will also fall. You You know, if it's too slowly you you will not be able to to ride the bicycle. So the spiritual practice is like this.
There has to be and the the rhythm, the the speed, so to speak, it's individual. Somebody can do quickly. Somebody can apply it in a in a more gradual procession. But uh we should be sincere in this regard.
It's uh another example which is uh quite uh you know vivid vividly explaining this relationship to the rules which we follow of our sadhana is like is like uh doing some you know uh work workout in a gym.
You know, you can be you can really kill yourself. And you know, doing yoga and you really can break your ligaments and everything else, and damage yourself because of pride.
Or you can do it very lazily, and then again there will there will be no satisfaction. The point, very important point, you You know. know, we will get satisfaction when we get to the higher point of bhāva.
But while we are doing sadhana, then there is a very important way to obtain satisfaction is when we apply ourselves to sadhana in such a way that it's neither too damaging to ourselves, over our head, or over our capacities.
Neither too relaxed. You know, everyone experience this if you go to gym and you really did proper work out, not too much and not too little, then what you feel? You feel happy.
There is some sort of freshness within your heart. And you you very sincerely, and it's it's not artificial, it's not something imposed upon you. You feel very refreshed by this. Why?
Because you did sincerely, what you're supposed to do, what you wanted to do. And again, it's individual, it's not a unified rule. Everyone has different capacities according to the stages of spiritual development.
But the point is that if we apply our capacities or our Shakti properly, like there is a very strange saying now in in India. Yathā-śakti tathā-bhakti. Basically means, you know, I I'll do whatever whatever little I can.
Yathā-śakti tathā-bhakti. You know, but if we really apply the Shakti which we were given, the energy which is there, properly and sincerely, conscientiously towards the spiritual practice.
The spiritual practice will bring you tremendous benefit, tremendous benefit. If we really consciously use or utilize these practices like Shravanam and Kirtanam, chanting mantra or doing other things.
We will be always refreshed and very strong, both spiritually, emotionally, and even physically, if we do it in a balance and a proper way.
So and that's coming when the face is internalized. When you understand why you're doing, what you are doing, for what you are doing, what is the goal, and how it goes, what are the stages which you have to follow, Śrīla Prabhupāda mentions the stages which you have to traverse in your spiritual path gradually one after another, by uh by you know increasing your commitment gradually, gradually to a level when you know when your heart is more and more purified.
Transformative power of genuine devotional service
So, and Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he says that yeah, he says he gives this beautiful description how one should approach the rules: neither niyamāgraha nor niyamāgraha, nor too slack, nor too quick, or too prematurely intense. And then he says, and then he says that one can achieve very elevated state of consciousness.
And I mean, really, the power of the path of bhakti is amazing. Really amazing. I've seen amazing things. So many people from, you know, I have, I have one acquainted.
He told me, he now he chants many, many rounds, he sleeps only two hours a day now. For many years already. He told me his story. It's a very interesting story. He said I was very degraded. I was really degraded.
I was drunk all the time. I was just, you know, I and I was going down and down and down, and there was absolutely no way to save me. And I was just watching what is happening with me and I I couldn't do anything.
I was just I I felt that it's not good but I I I was just totally completely uh going down the path. And nobody could stop me. Even though I knew that it's not good, but it was happening like this.
And then somehow or other he got a book.
He developed some faith from the book and he said, at one point, you know, when I got the book and some faith came to my heart, he said, uh, I made my chanting beats and I started chanting.
And he said, I knew that if anything can save me in this world, this is this.
And he said, with this attitude, I started chanting, and I chanted the whole night, non-stop, for many hours, eight hours or something like this.
And by the morning, I found myself that I am completely refreshed and I wanted to chant more.
You know, and he started and he said very quickly, within a few days basically, I was out of all my bad habits and everything else and you know ever since he chants
two lakhs a day uh you know and sleeps just for two hours and you know it's uh and he says you can't imagine he, said, uh, you know, in my language, there was no normal words, only bad words.
Only foul language I used. You know, you can't even understand uh whom I was. And I'm looking at him. He's he's effulgent. He's really impressive figure.
So what I want to say is that, uh, path of bhakti is is a very powerful path. It's it's it's really powerful path. Uh the only problem is that we don't apply it so sincerely or conscientiously or properly.
But if we do, according to our rules, according to our capacity, which will be increasing gradually, gradually, then then we will see very miraculous things in our life.
And the most miraculous thing is that we become happy. The heart will become full, not empty heart which always begs something, but very nice happy heart expanded heart uh expanded consciousness.
So this is a few things which I uh you know I I I don't think I should say anything else.
Achieving spiritual change before physical death
But if you have a few questions, I mean it's again yeah I I didn't I didn't tell last thing I will say.
Uh I started saying about Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he said that if you follow the rules properly then, very quickly you will attain Krishna Prahma.
Then he says: but if you follow the process of bhakti, the same way as a dead fish is floating in the river, then don't expect that you will very quickly experience anything else.
And you know, when I read this uh you know comparison with the dead fish floating in the river. You know, a very vivid kind of example. There's some dead fish which is somehow rather hopes to get to heaven.
But it is already dead long ago. And I I kind of, you know, it rang the bell. It reminded me something, you know.
Sometimes this we can see that some people they come very sincerely in the beginning to spiritual path, and after some time, because of the misapplication or some mistakes which they do, the whole fire is going off, and one is and one just waits when he will die. As if death will bring some change of consciousness. That's a very common mistake which I have seen again and again and again in many religious traditions.
People think, you know, I follow this from this to this, and then somehow or other when I die, there will be some drastic change. But we know that death doesn't bring change.
It only fixes whatever only sudden can bring change. If you apply suddenly in your life, the change will be there in your consciousness in your heart. Death doesn't do this.
Death only fixes the state of consciousness in which you die, and then you start your next life from the same state of consciousness which you achieved. Death is not a solution.
It's not something although sometimes people think like this, wrongly thinking. Death suddenly is a solution.
And uh but for that we really have to understand how to apply rules in our life uh in a happy way, not to spoil our life with the rules, but to be happy bhaktas. Yes. um too much excessively following the rules.
However, do we see our acharyas, like Haridasa for six gosvamis, you know, or even starting from two rounds every day, whatever the age, when even Krsna himself is asking to reduce chanting to a start that He set on a note, a problem in the meeting or something like how do we reconcile or just how many, well, see, again, the sign of improperly following the rules is that you're following the rules, but you're not happy by this.
Haridasa Thakura, when he says that no, I want to do this, it's not because he's just doing niyamāgraha, but because he's just happy to do this. Sanatana Goswami was happy to go around hill. They were happy.
It's not some artificial thing. They were not forcing themselves to do it. They were just becausecause while doing this they were experiencing something very elevated.
And yes, maybe from the strict point of physical fitness, they were not fit to this sort of activity.
But still, it's not really niyamāgraha, because they were not forcing themselves to do this by some external sort of reason.
It was coming spontaneously from their heart, so it was not niyamāgraha. It cannot be classified in this way.
Understanding faith and freedom from sin
Yes. Yes. Yes, Nanda.
I'm not uh this actually relates to this morning class. I just heard on the mystery about the Jiva Goswami mentions about the sāṁkhyik śraddhā, that is oppositive to sinful reaction, to sinful activity over the way, or the person who is situated in the sāṁkhyik śraddhā is not performing
sin. I've always had this dilemma about looking at the 9.30 verse in Bhagavad-gītā or the 11.18.34 of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where, um, Lord Himself said that somebody who is situated in the Krishna consciousness, affirmed in Krishna consciousness, but performs in one of the activity should still be considered a sādhu.
So on one hand, we are hearing that somebody who's situated very strongly in Krishna consciousness can also perform sinful activity, but on the other hand, you are hearing from Jiva Gosvami that from Bhakti-sandarbha Sandwa that we should not be so how do we uh yeah that that's exactly what the point which she makes. He says that if somebody has still has these sinful propensities,
still he is uh he has some faith in Chris in the process of Krishna consciousness, it means that his faith is not really of the highest level.
See what it means to have really properly formed faith, it means that your buddhi, your intelligence, your conscious mind, so to speak, is very strong and it's connected with your ego.
There is some alliance between your buddhi and your ego. I mean the proper ego.
In other words, see we have these four things: citta, which is subconsciousness, manas, which is uh emotional mind, emotional mind which is, you know, all the desires are there, thinking and willing is there.
Then there is ahaṅkāra, the ego, our conception of who I am, in relationship to others, in relationship to this world, in relationship to God. And there is Buddhi. The conscious mind which makes decision.
The, you know, perceptive mind, you know. So if uh and usually we are subservient to our emotional mind, manas, and we are trying to fulfill all desires which are there in the mind.
But if if our faith, uh uh what is faith? Faith is basically the understanding who I am in relationship to others, right?
I'm this body, I belong to this country, you know, this I'm the husband of this wife, this and that. This is this conception of I am. And it's it's faith, it's conventional.
So if we have very strong understanding, ultimately, in the ultimate issue, I'm spirit-soul, I am the particle of spirit. And I belong to God. And my relationship, my prime relationship is with Him.
Yeah, I have other relationship, I should fulfill my duty, I should be nice. But ultimately, my eternal relationship is with God.
If this ego, this conception of who I am is firmly established within my heart, then it influences my Buddhi, my conscious mind, my intelligence. And then there is no question of being sinful.
Because sinful means I'm fulfilling the base desires of my emotional mind.
And my emotional mind influences my bud uh it can only influence myself or I become subservient or to this emotional mind. Only because I don't have the proper understanding who I am. My understanding who I am is that somehow or other I will become happy by being this body, by being this senses and satisfying these senses.
If I if I understand that I will not become happy. I uh of course I I should and satisfy my senses, but this is not the way to be happy. This is not the way to live.
If I understand this, then there is no question of committing sinful activities. So this specific verse of Bhagavad-gītā, which is problematic for many people, they don't understand the meaning of this verse. It's simple.
Krishna by saying this verse, he doesn't say to give the license to commit sinful activities on the pretext of bhakti.
Apicetudrachura, even though somebody is doing some abominable thing, if he has complete conviction about myself, he should be considered saintly. No. This is the way to glorify Bhakti.
stage, you know, but he has the conviction. And then he says what happens? Kshipram Bhavati Dharmatma. Very quickly he becomes righteous. Ksripram Bhavati Dharmatma. Dharma becomes very quickly established in the heart.
This is not this is not to condone the sinful activities, this is just to glorify the power of bhakti. That's the meaning. This is a special Alankar.
This is a special how to say this decoration or poetic decoration, poetic poetic device so to speak.
If you want to stress certain points, you may say, even though you know you may say some hypothetical situation, which is not even very likely, but you know, you just it's just emphatic construction.
It's not to say that whoever has strong faith in Krishna should commit sinful activities from now on and still consider to be a saint, you know, this is this is total misinterpretation of the whole thing.
This is yeah that's that's the point.
Strengthening intelligence through vows and hearing
Thank you. Yes. Um asked that you said that you know we have to make our Buddhist strong.
How we can make that complete conviction that I am a eternal servant of Krishna, though we hear some we can It's coming from association, it's coming from many things.
You know, if if we deal tackle this particular question, how to make our intelligence strong. There are so many things which can be done. You know, intelligence is the willpower, basically.
It's certain Shakti which we have. And you know if we give certain vow and follow it strictly, then it develops this ability, this capacity of intelligence to take decisions and follow the decisions firmly.
So one simple advice is just to give the one very important point of Vedic culture: is that people in Vedic culture they were very firm. If they would give their word, they would never deviate.
That was the you know Lord Rāma's speciality: he would say one wife, one arrow, and one word. Ekā patni, ekā bāṇa, and ekā whatever so
he doesn't, and uh this is this is a rule for civilized people, and that's that has a tremendous effect on our internal development because the buddhi becomes strong.
You know, if we try, if we cannot do something, we shouldn't say that I will do this. Sometimes we to please other people we say, oh, maybe I will do this.
At the same time, we already know in the heart I will never do this. That's that's that's not good. We have to be very honest and sincere, and if we say something, we will do this by all means.
If we say I will come at certain point, at certain time, I have to come at certain time. You know, we're too lenient.
But if we become little strict to ourselves and uh and honest and transparent, uh then uh gradually, gradually this uh conscious mind, conscious intelligence will develop. This is one thing.
Another thing is to learn verses by heart. It also has very tremendous effect on developing our capacity to take the conscious decisions. And so many other means are there.
But the most powerful means to develop our buddhi is to associate with people who have developed buddhi and to listen to them.
If we listen to these people, very important things are happening within our consciousness which we don't even understand.
We don't understand the magnitude and the scale of what is happening within our heart when we listen. Therefore, the first process of bhakti is śravaṇam, listening, hearing.
So if we listen, uh it's not only what we understand on the intelligent level.
There are much more profound things which is happening while we are listening to them. Because there are some learning process, unconscious learning process, some processes are taking place in our in our mind while we are listening to them. Therefore, listening is very important.
There was this funny story about one thief, the king of a little kingdom, his daughter was very saintly, and she said, My dear father, I will only marry sādhu, a saintly person.
So the king, he called all the sādhus from his kingdom to his palace to try to find a suitable bride to his daughter.
And somehow or other the thief and he wanted to give a lot of wealth and everything and somehow a thief he found out about this and he dressed up as a sādhu.
He put orange clothes and some turban and he grew some beard and whatever it is. And he went together with other sadhus into the assembly.
And the you know the the king entered and he said I you know I have a very nice daughter and uh she wants to marry a sadhu and I I I want to ask you who out of you wants to marry my daughter.
And you know, half of the assembly got up and left immediately without, you know, so those who are wearing orange clothes, you know, they just left.
Other sādhus they stayed, and you know, then the king went and uh you know everyone was saying you know king went approaching one
after another and everyone said, No, but I'm I'm really sorry, but I I I'm not into it, and you know, I I don't really need it. You know, he says I'll give you a lot of money.
I don't need your money, you know, I do think my sadhana, this and that. And they were saying, and this thief is waiting his cue, his his turn. You know, and he was and he was listening.
And then ultimately the king came to the thief and said, maybe my dear sādhu, maybe you marry my daughter. And he looked at him and he told him, who do you think I am? I don't need your daughter. I will do my sādhana.
So he was he listened too much His mind changed in the meantime uh against his will. So that's that's what happened. So you know listening or hearing is a very powerful tool to develop the intelligence.
The gradual nature of spiritual purification
So be careful, Śrīla Prabhupāda said different things in regard to advancement in Krishna consciousness. I do remember there was one quote where he said it could you could become fully Krishna conscious in one sector.
And other times where he suggests a much more perhaps aren't to be realistic for most people, a longer process that could take lifetimes.
And I was wondering what your comments on that were in regards to the bicycle analogy, how fast do we have to go or try to go?
Um, given that it we can potentially be potentially become fully KSD very, very quickly indeed. Yet yet you've got this reality in our own conditions as well, which is slowing us down.
No, the the normal pace is a gradual pace, there is no doubt about it. And it it takes you know it takes time and it's different for different people.
Some people may have reached certain level of advancement in their previous lives, and they're starting from the point where they stopped. So it's it's different case by case uh but uh you know there
are certain things which can happen immediately like in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is the story of Maharaja Katvanga where he he got the news that he only had forty-five minutes uh to leave. And very quickly he surrendered.
But see, uh there are two things which we have to understand in this regard. As far as the surrendering process is concerned, it can be done very quickly. But that's not the ultimate goal.
If it was all about surrendering to God, that can be done very quickly, but our ambition is higher. Our ambition is to get love of God. And that takes time.
So that takes time, that takes association and so many other things which we have to do.
So it again depends, but if we really want to strictly follow the process which is described specifically in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Caitanya-caritāmṛta,
it takes time and therefore ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-saṅgo ’tha bhajana- kriyā tato ’nartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt. And uh and it's interesting.
The language which Rūpa Gosvāmī uses in this verse, he says first is śraddhā phase, then Sadhu Sangha, and I will explain it more tomorrow morning.
Association with devotees, then bhajana-kriyā, regulated practice, and then he says anartha nivṛttiḥ syāt. And Syat means it can m it can be translated as becomes or is, then anartha-nivṛtti.
But it has this little how you say the shade of the meaning is that it may be. Like Hindi word śāyad. May be. So it may be, may not be, anartha-nivṛtti. Because if you commit offenses in the meantime.
And this deliberation of offenses is a specialty of bhakti path. Nowhere else you will see this understanding how offense is detrimental, how it creates obstacles on the on your spiritual development.
So because it's it can be very quickly done, but because we are generally offensive, it takes time. But if we have proper association and proper guidance, it can be done rather quickly.
I was asked this question about, uh, so you mentioned ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, like we have a conditioning, which is, uh, primarily have the citta already conditioned, yes. And we have a, you know, purification process. Yes.
Yes. Yes.
Gradually making it I have the same question as definitely gradual. Even Mahaprabhu says ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, this is the first stage, your cetana, your citta becomes gradually purified from, uh, uh, from excessive unnecessary desires, bhavāmahā-dāvāgni nirvāpaṇaṁ, the fire of suffering which is there becomes reduced, and then so on, so forth. The seven effects, seven stages are there. So it's a gradual process.
Actually, uh, and this will be the last point: any natural process is gradual. Whatever you take happening in the nature, in a natural way, it takes time.
You know, you can't, uh, you can't, you know, deliver your baby within two months. It requires nine months, right? To carry the baby inside.
To, to, you know, and, uh, uh, you know, uh, because it's a it's a it's a natural process. Natural process means something very significant should uh should be formed.
In our consciousness, uh, what, what does it mean? The, this, the changes which take place in our heart or in our consciousness are very significant.
It's actually very deep, uh, processes which are taking place within our heart. And during this process, new formation is taking place. We are not equipped now, unfortunately, to love God. There's no means for this.
Something should be formed and some unnecessary things should be destroyed, should be cleansed away. So that takes time. That takes time. You know, sometimes people say, you know, I will teach you a language in one week.
Is it possible? No, it's not possible. In one month? No, it's not possible. No. It's cheating. So, because it's a natural process. Something significant should be formed within. And spiritual development is like this.
It's a very deep and profound process. Thank you very much. So that's the first.