Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.3.22. Kirtana-mela

Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Germany · 2011

Chapters

Invocation and verse recitation

Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Sudevāya. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva nārōttamaṁ, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ.

Tato jayam udīrayet, naṣṭa prāyeṣv abhadrēṣu, nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā bhaktir bhavaty naiṣṭhikī.

Yam pravrajantam anupetam apētakṛtyaṁ dvaipāyana virahātara ajuhāva, putrēti tan mayatayā taronābhedus taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim nato 'smi. Hare Krishna. So today we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto 6 chapter

Yamaraja instructs his messengers text 22. Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ bhakti-yogo bhagavati tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ. Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ. Damama Dhi.

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ. samdharmah para sumsdharma,

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ. Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ. Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

Translation of Srimad Bhagavatam verse

Etāvān eva loke 'smin puṁsāṁ dharmaḥ paraḥ smṛtaḥ, bhakti-yogo bhagavati, tan-nāma-grahaṇādibhiḥ.

This much. Eva: indeed. Loke asmin: in this material world. Puṁsām: of the living entities. Dharmaḥ: the religious principles. Paraḥ: transcendental. Smṛtaḥ: recognized. Bhakti-yogaḥ: bhakti-yoga or devotional service. Bhagavati: to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, not to the demigods.

Tat: his. Nāma: of the holy name.

Grahaṇādibhiḥ: beginning with chanting. Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Devotional service beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society.

As stated in the previous verse, Dharman Bhagavatam.

Real religious principles are bhāgavata-dharma, the principles described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam itself or in Bhagavad-gītā, the preliminary study of the Bhāgavatam. of the Bhagavatam. What are these principles?

The Bhāgavatam says, dharmaḥ projjhait-kaitavo 'tra. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there are no cheating religious systems. Everything in the Bhagavatam is directly connected with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Bhāgavatam further says: sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje. The supreme religion is that which teaches its followers how to love the supreme personality of Godhead who is beyond the reach of experimental knowledge.

Such religious systems begin with tad-nāma-grahaṇa, chanting of the holy name of the Lord—śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam— after chanting the holy name of the Lord and dancing in ecstasy, one gradually sees the form of the Lord, the pastimes of the Lord, and the transcendental qualities of the Lord.

This way one fully understands the situation of the personality of Godhead.

One can come to this understanding of the Lord how he descends into the material world, how he takes his birth, and what activities he performs. But one can know this only by executing devotional service.

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā tv ananyayā śakyaḥ. Simply by devotional service one can understand everything about the Supreme Lord.

If one fortunately understands the Supreme Lord in this way, the The result is tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiaiti. After giving up this material body, he no longer has to take birth in this material world.

Instead, he returns home back to Godhead. That is the ultimate perfection.

Therefore, Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, māṁ upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate. mad-bhāvaṁ yātīti, mām evaiṣyanty punar janma na vidyate. Paramam Gataham.

After attaining me the great souls, whore yogis in devotion never return to this temporary world which is full of miseries because they have attained the highest perfection.

śrīla-prabhupāda-hetāvaḥ. sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā suprasīdati. Devotional service beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society Namam

Vishnupadya Krishna prishthaya srimati bhaktivedanta Swamiin iti nāmine Namaste Sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracharine nirvishesha shunyavadi-pashchatya-desha-tarine vishalaka-tarubhyas cha

kripa-sindhuba eva cha patitanam pavanebhyo vaishnavebhyo namo namah

Jaya Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita Gadadhara, Srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Ajanu-lambita-bhujah kataka-baddha-sankirtanaika- pitarau madalaksyah vishvambhoro dvija-varayuga-dharma-palo vande jagat-priyakarau navatarau yantah pravishyam mamavacham imam prasuptam

Introduction to Yuga Dharma and kirtan

sanjivayaty akhila-shakti-dhamna of all, I would like to beg for blessings from all the senior devotees who are present here.

I feel very awkward mm s sitting in this high seat and addressing all of you but with the blessings of Lokanath Maharaj, Bhaktivai Bao Maharaj and others I will hope to say something worthwhile.

So we are talking about this extremely important subject matter of Harinam Sankirtan, which is, as we all know, Yuga Dharma for this age.

And in this particular verse, Yamaraj, the superintendent of death, is stressing this point. The story behind this is that Yamadutas came after the fiasco with Sajanil to Yamarach.

And they came in a very bewildered state of mind. And the question which they asked Yamaraj is very natural. They said, we always thought that you are the Supreme Lord.

Because you are the one who is awarding punishment and rewards, you are the one who defines the destiny of living entities. You're the one who sends somebody to heaven and somebody to hell. And all of a sudden, you know, somehow or other we were defeated by these people with, you know, some abnormal, you know, four arms in their bodies.

Who they are and who is the Lord? Is there many lords in this world? Who is the Lord? Tell us. And Yamaraj, being pleased with this sincere inquiry, starts answering.

And he says, Yes, there is one Lord, and the Lord is only one. They cannot be two Lords.

There cannot be two gods. The God is only one and nobody understands him, including myself. He says, as much as the form cannot understand the eye, as much as the revealed cannot understand the revealer, the somebody who is revealed cannot understand the one who revealed him.

Like the form, cannot understand how the eye works or understand what the eye is. In the same way, we cannot understand the Lord. No way.

But he has his messengers who are practically on the same level as him, the Viṣṇudūtas, and you encountered them. And then Yamadūtas says, that's fine, but why do they transgress Dharma?

Why do they act against the principles of Dharma. And answering this unspoken question by Yamadutas, Yamarāja starts explaining about the Dharma. And he says, you fools, you do not understand what dharma is.

And then he says that dharma is something which is directly related with the Supreme Lord. Dharmantu Sakshat Bhagavat Pranitam. Dharma is only this which is connected with this Supreme Lord whom nobody understands.

And if somebody happened to understand that this is the Dharma, this is the religious duty, and they are rare people, there are not so many people who understand this.

These people who understand this secret, Yamarāja says, these people will attain immortality. This is the way to attain to become immortal.

And then he speaks this particular verse because Yamadutas by now become sufficiently interested in this dharma.

They basically after hearing this that this is you know the Dharma which is directly connected with the Supreme Lord. But what? What is this Dharma which is directly connected with the Supreme Lord?

They're sufficiently interested in this question and they asked Yamarāja, what is this Dharma? And Yamaraj gives this verse as the answer: Atavane Valokis meen. He says in this world there is only one dharma.

Bhakti Yoga Yoga Bhagavati Tannama Grahanad, Tannama Grahanadibh there is only one dharma by understanding which one can become immortal. By understanding which one can attain a completely different state of existence.

And that is Bhakti Yoga, Bhagavati, in relation to the Supreme Lord, which starts from taking his name, which starts from the chanting of his name.

Overcoming mechanical chanting and inner dullness

And of course, Srila Prabhupada very beautifully explains that just by changing his name, he says you start changing his name and then you dance in ecstasy.

And yesterday, his holiness Lokanath Swami showed us how Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu was teaching this religious principle.

You know, how the kirtan of Gaurāṅga Mahaprabhu inaugurated this Yuga Dharma or the religious principle of the age. And then Prabhupāda, in the purport to this verse, he makes a very amazing statement.

Which sometimes we may have some doubt about it. There is plenty of such statements in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the previous ācāryas. He says that you chant and you dance in ecstasy.

That we can to a certain extent do. Yesterday, you know, we saw how Śacīnandana Swami and Lokanath Swami and Bhakti Vīraraja Maharaj were dancing in ecstasy. But then he says, then directly you see the Lord.

And then you know it's very easy. You just chant, dance in ecstasy, then you see the Lord, then you see his pastimes and you appreciate his transcendental qualities. And that's it, finished. You're done.

Basically, and we can see that this is repeated again and again and again, but at the same time, we have our own experience.

And our own experience shows that even though sometimes we may chant and even dance in ecstasy, we don't see the Lord.

What to speak about his pastimes or appreciating his qualities and sometimes we become completely dull.

Sometimes we sit during the kirtan which is yuga-dharma and we of course know from the day one in Krishna consciousness movement that we are not this body, but we feel like a piece of flesh sitting in the kirtan and nothing really happens.

What to speak about seeing the pastimes of the Lord, really nothing happens, you know. Yeah, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, I heard it so many times. So, uh what I wanted to talk a little bit about

this morning is that why does it happen and what we should do to be engaged in real kirtan. Of course, and that was basically the direct order by His Holiness

Śacīnandana Swami and his sincere servant Gaura Hari Prabhu. They told us that please, in your lectures, give us some hints how

we can be engaged in kirtan and fully absorbed in kirtan. And you know, I started thinking what kind of hints I should give.

It's usually it's a usual kind of mentality, especially in this age of Kali and this age of uh mechanistic approach to everything is that we are looking for some tricks, we are looking for some methodology and we think that methodology will ultimately bring us to God.

I often feel that this is something which is expected from the audience. Please tell us some, you know, some hidden secret. Just few tricks, and by employing these tricks we will solve all our problems.

This is kind of, you know, the demand which is there, you know, give us something practical. We have heard already about this, you know. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, give us something practical.

You know, I sometimes I also see and feel how people and they try to employ different tricks. You know, and it works for some time.

You know, somebody wrote to me a letter, he said, Oh, I read Govinda-lilamrita. And I knew I shouldn't do this. And I knew I shouldn't do this.

But I still, you know, because I knew that I shouldn't do this, I read Govinda-lilamrita. Lamrit. And my chanting has become amazing. Oh, I was there with the LORD and I was chanting his name.

He said, but it lasted for two days. Then it became again Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Rama Hare Rama Hare. Hare.

So you know the point is that sometimes people they they think that you know if I read this book or if I chant this or if I do this or this you know puja or this thing, you know, I will solve all my problems if it was that easy we would probably all be back home back to God long ago.

The point is that ultimately we have to develop loving feelings towards the Lord. And what I want to talk a little bit about is that uh where does it start? Ultimately no trick will work if there is no loving feeling.

And we are in this school of bhakti, which is trying to teach us how to develop these loving feelings towards the Lord. We're to get these loving feelings from, how to chant with real love, with sincere love.

Distinguishing kevala bhakti from sneha samyukta

It's of the supreme importance because Because Lord Krishna Himself speaks about this. On the battlefield on the field of Kurukshetra on the holy place of Kurukshetra during the solar eclipse.

He addresses gopis, and this verse is being used by

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his commentaries of the sixth kanto on the previous chapter, where Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī distinguishes on the basis of this verse of Krishna in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam between the two methods of chanting or two methods of bhakti yoga.

In Kurukṣetra, the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, addressing gopis who came to him who basically were very eager to see him. He says, mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām, mayi bhaktir hi bhūtānām amṛtatvāya kalpate.

He says, by bhakti to me all the living entities will attain Amritatvaya, the status of immortality. They come to the spiritual world. He says, diṣṭyā mad-āśinā… uḥ, diṣṭyāpy adāśinā mat-sneho bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpunaḥ.

He says, but you're different. And that's the interpretation of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, who says that there are two kinds of bhakti.

One kind of bhakti is kevalā bhakti, and when you perform bhakti purely without any inner motive, without any ulterior motives, without any you

know some crooked desires, then amṛtatvāya kalpate. Then you will attain the status of immortality, the spiritual world, the world of Vaikuntha. And that's one thing. That's kevalā bhakti.

But then, in the next part of this verse he says, diṣṭyā. But by your good fortune. mad-āśinā mat-sneho. You have achieved sneha. Sneha means loving feelings. Sneha basically means you have buttery heart.

Your heart sneha means butter. Your heart has become soft as butter. And diṣṭyā, by some good fortune, you have achieved this condition of your heart, mat-sneho bhavatīnāṁ mad-āpunaḥ. And in this case, I am drawn to you.

And Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī makes this very wonderful distinction. He says, just by performing kevalā bhakti, when your mind is keval and you understand that bhakti is all in all, and ultimately you have to perform bhakti, you will attain the spiritual world.

But if you have sneha, the result is different. If you perform the same kind of bhakti by chanting of the holy name with this condition in your mind which is called sneha, love, then I am drawn to you.

Krishna Himself says that this is the power of special bhakti. It's kind of drawing me. I am Krishna myself. We know this. You know, Krishna is Krishna because he is the magnet.

The verb kṛṣ, the root kṛṣ means to draw, to attract; but Kṛṣṇa Himself says I become helpless if somebody has love towards me. I have drowned towards him.

Although it's supposed to be vice versa, he has to be drowned to me. He says, Babatina Madhapanah, I have come to you, and that's a fact.

Even though technically speaking Gopis came to see Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, but in reality, it was Krishna who was totally completely absorbed in his thoughts of gopis, and he came to Kurukshetra to see Gopis.

And when gopis came there, they just sat somewhere. And Krishna, he abandoned everyone. He said, forget about all this, you know, Yadavas and everyone else. And he came to them.

And so Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explaining this verse, he says that there is a second kind of bhakti which he calls sneha-samyukta. Sneha-samyukta means uh the bhakti endowed with this loving feeling.

And this kind of bhakti or this kind of devotional performance has much more strength in it. So much so that Krishna himself says, I am attracted to such bhakti. And it's nice.

And basically, that's what Prabhupada explains. He says when you chant an ecstasy, all of a sudden you see the Lord. Why do you see the Lord? Because He has come to you.

He has been drawn towards you uh by your feelings and he cannot help. He's just there. He is there to to see who who is this strange personality who has love for me. You know, he's just wondering what's going on.

And he's coming, and you see him, and you see his pastimes, you see and appreciate his qualities, and you understand everything about him.

So So, uh, the question again is very important and pertinent question: is that where do you get this? How to get this? Where is the source of it?

And even Krishna he kind of feels baffled because he cannot explain the source of it. He says, "Diṣṭyā." Diṣṭyā means by some good fortune.

And basically when we say by some good fortune, it means we don't know how it came.

Krishna is looking at gopis and he said, You know, I don't know. You know, this is very strange. How did you develop these feelings towards me? By some good fortune. I cannot give any other explanation.

But you know that that's intellectually not very satisfying if there is no explanation that what can we do, you know. But the explanation is there, actually, the explanation is there. Ultimately, the explanation is simple.

Realizing inner emptiness to desire Krishna

Right now while I was coming to this hall,

there was the very interesting quote of Śrīla Prabhupāda which somebody put on the alley, uh, on the road, on the main road of this mela, and it said there, chant and then sincerely.

From the letter to Tamal Krishna Goswami. So I was I started thinking what does it mean, chant sincerely. What does it really mean? Chant sincerely. It's a sounds simple. But how do you chant sincerely? What does it mean?

Where do you get the sincerity or necessary feeling which is so important in this devotional practice. So basically it means that you have to have this at least very ardent desire, desire to serve the Lord.

Bhakti-yoga-bhāvita-samāgra-sad-anugrahādhyam, you have to have this ardent desire to get the name, the real name of the Lord.

And when this real name of the Lord will come, due to your sincerity or to your desire, then everything will be done. And again the question we can ask where to get this desire? Where desire is coming from?

Where is this desire, where can we get can this desire. The beautiful comparison which I heard once is like this. You know, when you're fasting, especially if you're fasting uh Nirjalā-ekādaśī, you know, is there,

you know, is there any need that somebody should come to you and say, you should, Prabhu or Mātājī, you know you're fasting Nirjalā-ekādaśī. You really are supposed to be thirsty now. Do you want water?

Then you think a little bit and say, yeah, maybe I want some water. No, it's not like this. If you're fasting, right?

Uh, there is no one is there, you know, to tell you that you're supposed to desire some water. The desire is there, right? If you are hungry, the desire is there.

So the answer is that if we don't have desire towards the Supreme Lord, if the desire is not there, it means what does it mean? It means we're not hungry, right?

If we were hungry to see the Supreme Lord, if we were hungry or thirsty to have the experience, direct experience of the Supreme Lord, this desire would be there.

The point is that we don't have why do we have hunger? Why do we feel hunger when we don't eat? Because the stomach is what? Empty. Right? Because the stomach is empty, that's why the desire is there.

And in our case, there is no desire towards the Supreme Lord because we don't feel the emptiness. Because this emptiness is not experienced by us. We don't feel the desire to have the Supreme Lord.

If we would feel this emptiness that I'm empty, my life is empty, my life is totally, completely empty, the desire would come automatically. As much as it comes when the stomach is empty.

And this emptiness, why do we don't feel emptiness? Again, the question can be asked. Why we don't feel emptiness? Because we have something else, right?

You know if we uh if we put something constantly in our tongue, you know, then we will never feel the hunger.

So what is happening with us in this material world? We constantly try to feel the need for unlimited and eternal happiness. By some other means which is available to us now.

And that's why we don't feel the emptiness in our life. We are okay. It's fine. You know, I have this little enjoyment here and this little honor here is coming and I'm very happy, you know.

People are clapping to me and it's nice, isn't it? The life is so nice. Why do I need Lord for this? I don't need Him. I am happy. I am not hungry.

The point is that Foolish as we are, we are somehow or other getting satisfaction from all these petty things of this world.

We are not really completely fed up with the pleasures of this world, and by pleasures of this world we mean not only gross pleasures of this world, we mean also all the subtle pleasures of this world as honor, prestige and so many other things.

And because of this, because we are you know yeah I'm okay. I'm fine. You know, you ask anybody, how are you? The standard answer is what? I'm alright. I'm fine.

And because you all are alright, there is no Krishna in your life. Simple, you know I'm okay. You know the the proper answer for the devotees should be if somebody asks you how are you, you should say terrible.

And terrible. Krishna is not there. You know, if you ask His Holiness, Sachinandana Swami, how are you, Maharaj? You say, oh, terrible, this is terrible. I don't feel Krishna. And that's the condition.

That's the point which we have to very clearly understand. Since we don't really feel emptiness because we're trying, we do feel emptiness. Ultimately our heart is totally empty and we know this, we know this.

But because we are trying to get this petty satisfaction or we're trying to somehow rather to forget about this emptiness. By the petty pleasures of this world, the real connection with the Lord doesn't come.

Because the real connection comes only due to desire. And ultimately, if we again ask how to feel how to develop this genuine emptiness of the heart.

Genuine emptiness of the heart which will automatically attract the Lord due to our sincere desire to have Him.

Developing unshakeable faith in devotional service

Then the answer would be simple. Ultimately it's coming from our faith. The ultimate answer to all these questions how to perform bhakti properly.

Again, it doesn't lie in some tricks, in some techniques, in some mental adjustment. It doesn't lie on this superficial level. You know, no tricks is there which will give you the sincere desire in the heart.

But what can give you the sincere desire in the heart is your faith. If you have the complete faith in this process of bhakti, that your faith is totally completely placed in this.

And basically what it means again if you ask us what does it mean the faith, the faith basically means as uh Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself explains Krishna Bhakti Hoy Lasarva

Bhakti Kritahoi Asarva Karma Kritahoi is that the faith means that you have the faith that only bhakti can give you perfection.

As Prabhupada points out in this purport, I'm trying to explain what Prabhupada is saying in the Purport. He says that he quotes this verse from Bhagavad Gita, Saṁsiddhiṁ.

You know, those mahatmas, those great souls uh who have achieved perfection, uh and you can only achieve perfection if you know that this is the perfection.

If you have the faith that this is the perfection which you need, that you don't need anything else. That just by having bhakti you will have everything else. Then you have real genuine faith.

Our problem is that our faith uh may not necessarily be placed in bhakti. We may not understand this ultimately.

We may think yes I believe in bhakti, I'm bhakta, I'm bhakta such and such and I have a beautiful spiritual name. Paramahaṁsa dāsa brahmacārī And uh so many other things we may have, but ultimately

if you have the complete unflinching faith that you only need bhakti and nothing else. You will develop this emptiness or desire to see the Lord and then your practice of bhakti will become complete.

But what really happens is that we use bhakti as the means and we always expect when this when the heck this bhakti will bring me what I want.

You know, I want this and I want this and ultimately I want liberation and you know this Dina Sarana comes and says, go to kitchen. And I want liberation, I don't want kitchen. You know.

But that means that you don't understand something, you know. Because bhakti means, bhajan means, you know, I'm doing my bhajan. What bhajan means?

Srila Prabhupada explains very clearly, bhajan means, bhajan means to serve. And you know if you have faith, it means that you will always be looking for service.

It basically means that by serving Krishna you will achieve everything. And this is what real faith is.

The real faith is that you have complete conviction that in any way I serve the Lord that will bring the perfection in my life, that will bring the fulfillment of all my desires. And it doesn't matter.

And ultimately doesn't matter whether I am here on Kīrtana Mela or I'm in a kitchen. Because this is also service. This is also kīrtana. If I'm doing it properly.

You know, yesterday I spoke with Mataji who is serving in the kitchen and she said, you know, I'm I'm there because they asked me and I'm here because I'm cook, but there is one mataji. She paid 230 Euros to be on a kirtan mela and she spends eight hours a day in the kitchen washing pots. She says, I'm completely amazed, this mother is just washing pots and she came for Kirtan Mela. What is this?

But ultimately it means the understanding.

You know, it's very amazing in Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam. Lord Śiva starts explaining what pure bhakti means. And while explaining, talking to Narada, he says he praises the devotees of this world and the devotees of Vaikuṇṭha, and he gives a very interesting description of these devotees of Vaikuṇṭha and specifically devotees of this work.

He says, Sādhana-sādya-niṣspṛha. He says, the devotees, the real devotees who have the desire to serve, they only have desire to serve, they don't have desire for sādhana and sādhya. Sādhana-sādya-niṣspṛha.

They don't have desire. They are not particularly interested in some sādhana. There is only one thing they are interested in: to serve the Lord, no matter how.

And they know they can always do this. There is no problems with the service. You can always do this.

You may not always be in a blissful kīrtana, but you can always serve the Lord. You can always remember the Lord if your face is placed in the service, in the service as such.

So the only trick which is there is to develop the proper faith.

If the faith is proper, if we understand that our śraddhā is there in the service, in devotional service, not in something to something else. You know, sometimes people, and I can see it, and if I can see it sometimes, you can imagine how much better Lord Krishna can see it.

You know, devotees they perform apparently the service. They're chanting and this and that, but ultimately they want something else. They want liberation.

They want just to be completely free and they don't want to have all these headaches and all these problems and you know this is a nice way to get liberated.

Receiving pure faith through devotee association

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Hare. But that's contamination. Ultimately, uh this uh Namsant Kirtan, which is the most powerful way to achieve prema. The most powerful way to achieve prema. And the same Brihad Bhagavatamrita Sanatana Gaswami says that how he says this, Bhagavat Prema Sampata Sampato Sadaiva Abita Aviabirata. He says that if you do Namsan kirtan, then prema has to come. Avyabi Avyabiharataha Avi Bhyacharataha means that it must come. It's so intimately connected. It's connected completely. There is such an intimate connection. If you start Namsankirtan, the Prahma must come, it will come. There is no doubt about this. Sanatan Gaswami stresses this, he praises this Namsankirtan. He says Namsankirtan is the best way because it immediately brings prema to you. But the only problem is that Adaush Radha. The prema, the fall, the fruit of Sankirtan will definitely come if the seed is proper. As much as you know if you you know watering different seeds, the fruits will come. If you're taking care of the seeds which are there, the fruits will come. But it will come according to the seed. If the seed in your heart, which is Shraddha, the face is in something else. Please don't expect prema. Because it just doesn't work. It's just genetically not possible. I'm a molecular biologist by background, so I know. If you have a specific seed, only this seed will give you the fruit. And it will give you the fruit very quickly by this process of chanting of the holy name. There is no doubt about it. Because this is the most powerful fertilizer. The most powerful process of cultivating the seed. But the point is that the seed has to be proper. The seed has to be in devotional service to the Lord. I I just want to serve and that's my nature, that's my uh real n nature and that's what I want. I don't want anything else. And that's it.

And in this case, as Lord Shiva says, Lord Shiva says in Brihat Bhagavatamritam, he says that this devotees in the the l of Lord, either in this world or in the world of Vaikunda, they are sadhya sadhana nispriha.

They don't care about sadhana. Are old, it's nice news, isn't it? Basically you says they don't care about sadhya even. Sadhya means some other goal besides service.

And sadhana means some specific thing which I should do to achieve this goal. Basically, what they care about is that they can serve. And that's my kirtan. That's what it is. That's what I want. I don't want anything else.

And it doesn't matter for me whether I'm here or there. Whether I'm Kirtan Mela or I'm somewhere in God forbid Hamburg or somewhere else or Moscow. So it it doesn't matter.

It's absolutely doesn't matter where you are because even Lord Shiva says that for devotees it doesn't matter whether they are in heaven or in hell. Does it matter for us?

Does anyone want to perform some devotional service in hell? Plenty of opportunities there. Please raise your hand. Lord Shiva says no, for the real devotee it doesn't matter whatsoever.

It's amazing when when poverty cursed Chitraketu. Chitraketu instead of you know humbly folding his hands and begging forgiveness and asking somehow or other to alleviate this curse, he became very ecstatic.

He says, Jai Haribho, I will become a demon and I will serve the Lord being a demon. Is there anything better than this? And Parvati herself was amazed. She couldn't believe her eyes.

This guy he is so obnoxious, you know. He is not afraid of my curse. And Shiva himself he says because he's a devotee. And devotee is not afraid of anything else.

He's not afraid even of heaven, you know. Forget about hell. Heaven is much more dangerous place than hell. At least in hell you have some impetus to remember about the Lord. In heaven you don't.

So But that's the amazing quality of the devotee. Devotee wants service, and service means you can serve under any circumstances and uh you should serve anywhere and everywhere. And that's the message which is there.

And that's where our faith should be. That's basically the seed which we should water with the chanting of the holy name.

And if the seed is different, please don't don't mind if the fruits and flowers will also be different.

So we have to really examine ourselves and try to get this faith from the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda and from the heart of a pure devotee. That's where the pure faith is. Where the seed of bhakti is. Bhakti-sañcāra bhakti.

You can only get the seed of pure bhakti from the heart of somebody who has the pure bhakti. Otherwise, nobody in this world will have the pure desire to serve the Lord.

Only if you are fortunate enough, as Lord Krishna Himself says, dṛṣṭvā, by some good fortune, if you are fortunate enough to get the seed of pure faith from the heart of a pure devotee, then only the watering process will bring about the very powerful and amazing fruit of love of God.

But again, the seed, the faith should be proper. And that's why kīrtana-mela is so necessary. Kīrtana-mela is there to give us the chance to associate with the pure devotees, devotees who have this pure desire. That's it.

If you get this, then it doesn't matter where you are. You will always find the blissful condition of your heart which is coming from this you know sprouting

seed of the faith in devotional service towards... Thank you very much. That's such a good point, mahārāja. That's the Big Gun, the svāmī mahārāja's kīrtana.