Crises on the Path of Devotional Service. Lecture 3
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2020
Chapters
Invocation prayers
Om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kada mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sajīvam sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca
kṛṣṇa-karuṇā-sindho dīna-bandho jagat-pate gopeśa gopikā-kānta rādhā-kānta namo 'stu te tapta-kāñcana-gaurāṅgi rādhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sute devī praṇamāmi hari-priye
vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaḥ ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare namāṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedanta-svāmin iti nāmine
namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
Namam Vishnu Paday, Krishna Prastaya Bhutale, Srimate Bhaktividanta, Swamitin, Namastei saraswati, gurava di pracharine, nevisha, ashatyade Yandah praisha mamavacham prasupam sandjiva yadikasakti dara swadamaniam schahastacharamasam Ari Krishna.
So I welcome you all for this uh continuation of this uh seminar on the different crisis on the paths of spiritual development and in general about the spiritual development.
And we talked in the first part of this seminar about the development of a special ego, ego of a servant, and how the parallel process to this is the management of this ego for the enjoyer.
And last uh seminar yesterday we spoke more specifically uh what does it mean uh to have faith what the specific meaning of this term Sradha is, and what are the difficulties on this stage of spiritual development.
And uh of course, we follow uh the metaphor uh comparing the spiritual development with the development of an ego or the ego of the child of a child.
And there are many interesting similarities in these two processes, the process of development of ego of a child and the process of development of ego of servant and the path of devotional service.
So we finished yesterday's seminar
by telling about the crisis of faith, of trust which is more or less basicallyтовый the internal struggle between the face in sadhu based on his real qualities, based on appreciation of his knowledge of Shastra and following Shastra and the concocted faith in the concocted image of a sadhu.
There is a psychological need for a weak person to imagine that somebody he wants to take shelter of, is all powerful. So on and so forth.
And therefore it's very common phenomenon in a path of spiritual development that the preceptors are being ascribed to all kinds of miraculous mystical powers
and some unscrupulous preceptors or gurus they take advantage of it and they try to pretend as being some miracle man or even if they are miracle men, but they're not really spiritual preceptors, it's a different thing.
But the tendency of a spiritual seeker in the beginning is just to equate them and to ascribe more importance to the miraculous sort of you know side of the personality.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda always downplayed this. No doubt about it. He had some mystic powers or whatever. But he didn't want us to develop faith on this foundation because this is the wrong foundation.
The proper foundation is Shastriya Shraddha. Belief in the logic of the Shastra and Prabhupada wants us to really understand what we should appreciate devotees for. So this is what I told
in the beginning that this basically the faith uh on the stage of Shraddha we have to learn how to appreciate the devotees properly. For which qualities we should appreciate them.
And also on this stage we should build up some foundation of Shastric knowledge, some ABC of Shastric knowledge, some very preliminary understanding but the main point is to really distinguish uh between the false appreciation of devotees and uh uh how we should appreciate for what, for which qualities we should appreciate devotees.
As I said also yesterday, and I want to uh say something little about this:
what is what Shraddha means? Shraddha means appreciation of devotees, initial appreciation, which may not necessarily be proper appreciation, but still the appreciation is there that means Shraddha, little appreciation.
And basically we should uh you know develop uh this uh proper appreciation and this appreciation means that I want to become like them.
So, this initial thought: if we see devotees and we see some of their qualities and this desire appears within our heart. Yes, I want to be like them, I don't I want to live like them, I want to dance like them, I want to be happy like them.
This is Shraddha. Not more, but not less. This is a very great quality which appears in the heart of a person after many, many lifetimes of some bhakti-sukṛti.
So that's the first stage of spiritual development, and I described a little bit about the crisis between this internal struggle between the false appreciation and real appreciation.
And there is an interesting story again how Śrīla Prabhupāda was downplaying himself, putting himself on the you know so to speak uh on the earth uh Prabhu who is here selling his book, uh his beautiful book.
He once had to go to jail for illegal drug dealing. So he came to Prabhupada to tell him, Prabhupada I will be absent for some time because I have to go to jail. Prabhupāda said, oh yes, really?
Uh uh uh uh and then he said, Don't worry, Krishna was also b born in jail.
And then he says, For what you're going to jail? He said, Oh, Śrīla Prabhupāda, I did something wrong, I was dealing with the drugs. Śrīla Prabhupāda said, No problem, I also sold drugs in Allah- Khabad. Śrīla Prabhupāda kind
Definition of sadhu and sangha
And if you really appreciate the audience for what they are, not for what you imagine them to be, then the real Shraddha will appear within your heart. Anyway let's go to the next stage which is Sadhu Sangha.
And first I give the definition of who is sadhu and what is sangha. Sadnoti sadhayati iti sādhu. Sadhayati iti sādhu.
Sadhu is somebody who is practicing sadhana himself from the verbal root sadh which means to achieve, to be successful, to straighten also to make it straight.
And that's sadnoti and sadhayati, the one who also practices sadhana himself, he is the sadhu. That's a very important definition because there are different notions about sadhu.
And we have to learn what sadhu means in this particular context because Krishna also says Sadhureva Samantarya Hatichetsu Daracharov,
even if he commits all kinds of horrible activities, still he is a sadhu if he is determined. This is not what it means here.
It's not that it's actually not recommended I will tell about this to associate with people who commit all kinds of sinful activities, especially in the beginning. Sadnoti sadaiti it is sadhu this is uh sadhu
and sangha samyakrupen anugamanam this is one of the definitions of sangha sometimes we usually translate sangha is association but it's modern association it's samyak rupena anugamana means to follow
sadhu completely sameak rupana anugamana means following and samyak means completely, and completely means externally and internally. In your activities, in your mood.
You try to follow sadhu not only externally but, also internally, so that's what sadhu sangha means. You know who is sadhu, and you try to follow him. That's what this stage denotes.
And we can actually rightly ask what is the difference between Shraddha and Sadhusangha? Shraddha implies association with sadhus, right?
We told yesterday that only in the association with devotees the, real faith can develop. And sadhu sanga means association of devotees with devotees. So what is the difference?
There is a significant difference, even though it's the development of the same Shraddha or uh uh deepening of the same Shraddha, but still there is a uh very profound difference.
And we know the definition of sadhu, uh tikshava karunika suhridak Sarvadehi Sadhu Bhushanam Śrīla Prabhupāda often would say that this verse is the definition of sadhu.
So in this context, sadhu sangu means Titikshava Karunika Sukhridah Sarva And the other definition, very common definition, Apicetsu Darachero is not applicable here.
Even if he commits all kinds of mistakes and horrible activities, sinful activities, if he is determined, he is a sadva. So why?
Explains that though he may perform sinful acts, he is still considered proper, sadhu has the same meaning as sattva. Sadhu means proper also from the root sat existence.
Because he upsets only the Lord as the object of worship. This is explained in Bhagavad Gita Pichetsu Rachel, Sadaya Samantha.
However, such a devotee with bad conduct is not mentioned when speaking of association of devotees, even though he is a sadhu, because by that association bhakti does not develop. He's a sadhur, no doubt about it, but we should avoid associating with such sadhus. We should be very careful and keep us at the same distance, respect them from the distance, but don't associate closely because it's not conducive for the development of our bhakti.
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he gives even more beautiful or even more exact and profound definition what's happening when we transit from the stage of śraddhā to the stage of sādhu-saṅga.
It's the same sort of process, but there is a very significant difference. The point is that jīva with sufficient bhakti-sukṛti, upon seeing a sādhu,
develops the inclination to associate with such sādhu śuddha-bhaktas and follow their example. The essential conclusion is that at first stage of contact, the sādhu creates śraddhā in the heart.
This śraddhā then inspires the jīva to see and approach the sādhu in a new light. The aspiring jīva now sees the sādhus as his gurus. This is the second stage of sādhu-saṅga.
Another term for this increased level of śraddhā is śaraṇāpati or Surrender. In other words, uh, the association with sādhus is on both stages.
In the stage of śraddhā you associate with sādhus, you listen to them, you respect them, but you don't necessarily view them as your gurus.
But at one point, due to this listening, some inspiration comes to your heart, and you decide, yeah, he's my guru, I want to surrender to him.
So this basically sādhu-saṅga in this Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu of devotion means śaraṇāpati or surrender to a particular person who embodies in his personality the ideal which we are aspiring for.
In the beginning, we kind of, we may associate this.
Is also Jīva Gosvāmī's statement in Bhakti-sandarbha, he says that in the beginning, uh, devotees they associate with many devotees. On the level of śraddhā they may associate with many devotees, may listen to many, many people, have appreciation to many people, but at one point he decides, no, I want to listen to this particular one devotee and surrender to his instructions.
That means the next level of sādhu-saṅga. And it may happen very quickly, it may, it may take years before you really make this connection within your heart that yeah, this is the person I want to surrender to.
So this is the difference between these two stages. The deepening of śraddhā means the desire to surrender to a particular sādhu, which we like.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he uh continues with this. He says that the in the first stage there is some circumstantial contact with
Sri Hari, sacred place, festival days, paraphernalia, saṅga of bhaktas, and so on and so forth. So Shraddha means circumstantial content, coincidence. You come in touch with the holy place or with sadhu or with anyone
with the festival and you kind of like it. That's Shraddha. But the next stage is Bhagavad-gītā 18.66: Describes
śaraṇāgati: The result of the first stage of sādhu-saṅga or śraddhā in our understanding or in our description.
The following verse: abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me, I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear. So the sadhu sangha basically means that we become uh little bit one-pointed.
On the stage of Shraddha, we are very uh how shall I say this? Cosmopolitan. We are very, you know, we like everyone and he's good and this is good and uh this Māyāvīs are also not bad people, nice people, and you
know, and but you still have some special appreciation to devotees. That means śraddhā. But when one pointedness appears, yeah, this is that's it. That's it.
This is the past, this is the person who embodies or you know manifests this past to me, then this is sadhu sangha. And Prabhupada says the same thing.
Sadhu Sangha means to associate with the bona fide spiritual master and abide by His order. By His order means to surrender to Him.
So, this is what happens, but we also have to be very klar that this initial surrender is conditional surrender.
The example of this is of course in Bhagavad-gītā where Arjuna says, śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam, I am your disciple, I am surrendered soul. Pvanam, I am your disciple, I am surrendered soul.
And in the next verse he says, na yotsya iti Govinda, but I'm not going to fight. That's his surrender. Yes, I'm I'm surrendered soul, I will do whatever you tell, but um don't ask me fighting, please.
So this initial surrender is conditioned surrender, it's not complete surrender, it's not absolute surrender, but still it is a surrender.
Signs of surrender and remorse
And therefore, we say that Bhagavad-gītā really starts from this seventh verse of the second chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, where Arjuna openly expresses this. And Krishna changes his mood and takes the mood of an Acharya.
Before he was just a friend and he was speaking jokingly with Arjuna, but he stopped smiling before he was smiling very happily,
but as soon as he hears this śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam, I surrender unto you, he starts teaching him. And one of very important uh signs of this surrender is the tears of remorse. Because we have to have practical signs.
How do we understand that uh this development takes place because sometimes we are little sentimental, we don't really know what's going on.
This is explained by uh again by Bhaktivinottakur in the same quote, this the constitution of the same quote.
When the heart of jiva is controlled by such Śraddhā, here Śraddhā means Sādhu Saṅgha, the surrender, the second phase of Śraddhā. He sheds tears of remorse and applies himself to following a pure Vaiṣṇava Sādhu.
Thus at this second stage Sādhu Saṅgha brings the jiva to the point of finding the shelter of a guru. It basically means sādhu-saṅga, the next stage or deepening the face basically means I need a shelter. I'm lost myself.
We know so many people they come to ISKCON temple sometimes for ten, fifteen years. Every Sunday feast they're there. They're probably more regular than most of the initiated devotees.
But they never come to this point of surrendering themselves. They like devotees, they like association of devotees, they like Sunday feast the most, perhaps.
They like philosophy, they like to hear, uh, but uh they don't come to this point, they don't really understand I need the guidance, I need the shelter, I am lost without shelter.
Nothing will happen substantial in my life. I will just, you know, continue eating prasādam without any I mean the gradual benefit is there. It's a gradual process, but this is what the second stage means.
And it's interesting in the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is also similar statement. In the Bhagavatam itself, there is a similar remorseful statement, and in the purport it's very beautifully described.
We practically see that many sinful persons enter the International Society of Krishna Consciousness and after preliminary purification become most repentant for their previous illicit activities.
They are shocked when they realize how they gain above the personal association of God to pursue the useless forms created by māyā.
Therefore, they wholeheartedly pray to the spiritual master and Lord Krishna to be engaged eternally in transcendental devotional service.
Such a repentant, eager mentality is most auspicious for spiritual advancement. The Lord certainly answers the prayers of a repentant devotee, desperate to escape the clutches of illusion. So this repentance is a very significant, as I said again, sign of going deeper or stepping on the next stage of spiritual development.
And I also explained yesterday that the word śraddhā has three or four main meanings. One is respect, another is worship, the third one is trust, or we should we say trust is the first one.
But the fourth one, somebody remembers what was the first one very strong desire, so, uh, when śraddhā becomes deeper on the stage of sādhu-saṅga, then as it's said here, the very strong desire appears in the heart.
And this strong desire in the heart creates this sort of mental condition of desiring to surrender, giving up the independence which is the most dear to us, and going further and taking the advantage, taking the shelter.
It's a very interesting Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. He describes how it happened in his life. We all know the story that he came to Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī with a little arrogant attitude.
He himself will say that I appreciated his utmost vairāgya, but I thought that he is somewhat lacking in knowledge. So that's how he describes he appreciates the appreciation, the initial appreciation is there.
He comes to him with little arrogance, which is natural, you know, like we all come to the society of devotees with some arrogance. You know, we see them, we appreciate them, but some arrogance is still there.
And then he says, to my surprise, Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī completely neglected me. I thought I'm such a learned scholar, I'm such a debater, I can prove my points, this and that, but he totally neglected me.
And he said I was completely devastated. So he rejected him. He said, I'm not going to give you initiation. So get get lost. And then he started crying, he says. This is from Bhaktiviكāśa Mahārāja's book.
He stood up, uh, and uttered Karuṇā nā hoilo, kāṅdiyā kāṅdiyā, prāṇa nāre kibāra, kāṅdiyā kāṅdiyā. Crying and crying and crying. Please don't reject me. Otherwise, I will no longer sustain my life.
And Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī resolved that however many times he might be refused, he further would uh no further would he rotate in this world without gaining Babaji Maharaja's grace.
Seeing this young aspiring genuine desire and commitment, Babaji Maharaja relented. He told Sri Siddhanta Saraswati to base in the nearby Saraswati and then return after which he accepted him as a disciple.
That's exactly why uh Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī says that it should be at least one year of testing period when the disciple is testing his when the spiritual master is taking his testing the sincerity of the disciple, how sincere it is, how ready he is to surrender.
And at the same time, the disciple should test the spiritual master, which also should be there. So, this is what is called Sadhu Sangha,
and according to our understanding, uh this is when we are supposed to take pranama mantra and pranama mantra of a guru or guru padashraya. This is the first stage before taking initiation.
Not be in a hurry to take initiation, but really test ourselves and test the spiritual master and our relationship with the spiritual master.
Learning basic concepts and terminology
So Yeah, Śrīla Prabhupāda says that uh this is when uh uh yeah anyway uh I will I will go further.
So and then as I said, this is the stage of development which can be compared with the early childhood when the child is learning how to talk.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda himself says in one lecture: a child is born, and when the child sees his other brothers and sisters calling a gentleman father, he also begins to say, Father.
There is no question of studying, by hearing. How does the child learn to call the father a father? Because he hears. Others are calling father, so he also calls father. There is no evidence. There is no study.
Similarly, the Vedic knowledge was coming by hearing there was no need of book. It's actually very interesting.
So as I said, uh this is the period when we are supposed to learn the language, the language of uh of uh devotional service.
Uh yeah and Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms this sādhu-saṅgha means uh this talking of Krishna and hearing about Krishna. So that's Satsanga. We hear uh sadhu talks about this and we learn how also to talk.
And it's interesting that it's interesting that in the Vedic system the first thing which Brahmacharyas would learn, they would learn Amar Kosh by heart. Amar Kosh is the dictionary which gives all kinds of definitions.
What is most important on this period of our spiritual development is to know very precisely what we mean when we say karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, this and that.
And it's very interesting because Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā he redefines these terms. In one sense, Bhagavad-gītā is a dictionary. And Krishna gives a very special definition of, for example, karma yoga.
Sometimes the confusion comes to us because there are many different definitions of what karma yoga means, but when we follow Krishna, we take his definition and we have to know this definition by heart.
And also, Srila Rupa Gaswami wrote his book of definitions. What is his book of definitions? Paribasha means definition, which is applicable in many many different situations.
So and the billashitashunyam and all kinds of definitions are there and we have to learn. We're supposed to learn it by heart. Otherwise we will speak different languages.
What happens uh with people who don't get systematic education, uh they get some definition from here, some definition from there, and then they started arguing. I am following Bhakti Yoga.
No, you're not following Bhakti Yoga. Because everyone means different things under this.
So the first we have to learn but basically on this stage of spiritual development, on sādhu-saṅgha, what is necessary to learn basic concepts and basic terms and their definitions as much as ancient Brahmacharya's they would learn by heart Amar Kosh and knew the whole Amar Kosh by heart.
And the main books, as I said, Bhagavad-gītā, Nectar of Instruction and of course Paribhāṣā Grantha, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. So that we could speak common language.
One of the biggest problem in our society is that we don't speak common language, unfortunately. So, this is some of the characteristics of this stage of spiritual development, sādhu-saṅgha.
And the main skill which we should develop, as I said, in each and every stage of spiritual development, there is a very important skill which should be mastered during this is how to respect seniors, gurus, teachers, which is again very much lacking in our society.
Sometimes people, especially in this age of Facebook and social media, they say horrible things. And basically that means no progress. They don't pass this stage of sādhu-saṅgha. Sādhu-saṅgha means utter respect to a guru.
It's not without a reason then in Shastras it is said that if you learn just half a shloka from somebody, this person is eternally your guru. You learn something, he is your guru. No matter what happened.
No matter what happened further, you know, this respect, uh, this emphasis on respect uh it cannot be overemphasized.
It's extremely important part of our education uh to learn uh this on this stage of spiritual development. Unless we learn it, there is no further, there is no bhajanakri. There is no question of Bhajanakri.
What to speak about Anartanivriti and of course prema is always there. Easily available for everyone. But this is the minimum requirement. What is other characteristic of this stage of spiritual
development is that when we hear properly we start asking many questions. Like a little child. At one point he drives everyone crazy by asking all kinds of questions.
You know, he always, you know, this is the only thing which he does: just ask questions. Why fly flies? You know? Because it's fly, you know. But why Krishna is blue? Why not pink? I like pink more. But Krishna is blue.
So uh you know and you have to give him reasonable answers.
Uh but uh sometimes people don't ask questions and if the questions don't appear, it probably means that intelligence does not develop properly and there is a blind or sentimental acceptance of a guru.
It may happen by different reasons. Sometimes Guru sends this certain messages or signals, just surrender to me blindly. It happens unfortunately.
You know, and people get these signals and they want to surrender and they do it blindly and therefore they don't ask questions. And that may be. Or maybe they're sentimental.
They just, you know, they they like how he sings.
You know I remember I was uh I was traveling last year to one country and then one lady came to me and she said you know I I have a big crisis and because I was writing this book at that time, I thought, oh very interesting, what the crisis is then.
She said, I accepted one guru and I started chanting pranam, but then the next guru came and he sings so beautifully and I want to take him as it were. What shall I do?
So I well I didn't tell much to her, but the the straightforward answer was: you know, you took prana mantra of the other guru prematurely. You're not really ready. You don't understand what it means to take a guru.
And somebody else will will come and cut some jokes very nicely. And you will say, oh maybe I should surrender to this joking guru. He's a nice joker. It's fun to be his disciple. Or something else.
You know, you you don't really know what it means to surrender. You're confused.
Role of submissive inquiry and doubts
And unfortunately it's a very common common sort of phenomena in our society.
So, these are different characteristics of the second stage of spiritual development, Śrīla Prabhupāda says that uh one should be asking questions uh by two principles.
He should ask questions from a person whom he believes to be a man of knowledge, otherwise it is simply waste of time. And at the same time, service by service, then question is allowed.
Otherwise blind acceptance, no acceptance, one should understand but with service and surrender.
So you know when you ask questions it also means that you should try to surrender, you should try to serve, not just ask all kinds of academical questions. Like somebody recently told me this, somebody asked one guru in
our society, can you please tell us about the mood of Gaura Gadādhara? And she said, why do you need to know? It's too high. It's not your level of advancement. You know, just serve first.
Just try to become proper servant and then you ask questions about Gaura Gadādhara.
Then you maybe understand what it means, you know, when Gadādhara is crying and crying and crying in Jagannātha Purī incessantly, shedding incessant tears. And Prabhupāda also very beautifully describes this stage.
He says, and this stage, therefore, one must be in a chain of discipline succession and learn the spiritual art of submissive hearing. It's a very beautiful description of this stage.
This stage of sādhu-saṅga is when we learn the spiritual art of submissive hearing. How to hear and understand what it means for me, what I should do, what is the uh what is the conclusion of it?
And also Prabhupāda encourages doubting in the beginning. Blind acceptance of something does not give evidence of intelligence. Therefore, the word samshya is very important.
In order to cultivate intelligence, one should be doubtful in the beginning. So doubts are encouraged, but with the proper attitude, respectful attitude, submissive hearing, so on and so forth. That's the essence of this particular stage.
And uh well, the main paradigm which should be learned on this stage is aham brahmāsmi, I'm not this body. Prabhupāda explained this that human form of life is meant for understanding I am not this lump of matter.
I am ahaṁ brahmāsmi, I am spirit soul. That is required. The whole Bhagavad-gītā teaching is based on this principle. First of all, to understand, I am not this body, I am spirit, soul, Brahman, I am brahmāsmi.
So that's why Prabhupāda started this. This is the beginning. This is what should be understood on this stage. But it should not be, you know, the teaching should not be contained by this.
It should go further on the next stages.
Overcoming false pride through guru mercy
So this is the example of successful. Now it's crisis, crisis of surrender, so to speak, on this stage. This is the successful crisis of surrender. I already quoted this quote.
This is the words of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda himself. I had considered my gurudeva to be unequal to somewhat short of learning. But he reduced to powder my audacity born of book learning.
Somebody has some theoretical learning and the duty of a guru to crash this false ego puffed up attitude because of the book learning.
With the melt of his mercy he revealed that whatever I had judged to be the highest ideal was in fact most low and despicable.
When by His grace that instruction first entered my ears, my diminutive brain lacked the capacity to accommodate such transcendental knowledge. But to all fools like me, he gave the chance to hear such lofty topics.
It's very interesting what's happening on this stage, and sometimes disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda also describe this. There is a beautiful story by Malati Dasi.
She said, I came to hear Swamiji, I heard about Swamiji that he is great. And the first thing which Swamiji said, and this is a hippie coming from this, you know, summer of love, free sex and drugs and everything.
You know, and the first thing which Śrīla Prabhupāda said when he in this audience of this hippies and the flowers of life, he said, there is no love in this world.
And please listen, Malati Devi, she says beautifully, she said, I felt such a relief when I heard this. Now I don't have to seek this illusory concept anymore. I don't, you know, run after this chase, this mirage. So I felt relief.
So this is what this is when the surrendering point comes, when we hear such shocking statement from a guru, he shocks us, scatters us our foundation of our life, or our sentimental ideas, or our arrogance by some means, and then we surrender to him.
If we are capable of properly appreciating his straightforwardness and his basic message which he brought to give. This is continuation of this quote by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī.
I have understood that if the people of this world do not receive the same jolt that I received from my guru-deva, he just basically says, I got the jolt, I was scattered, then their consciousness will not awaken.
This is what sādhu means. Sādhu means cutting, cutting, and Śrīla Prabhupāda was doing this to help the sincere people to surrender. Therefore, I'm telling everyone, I am more foolish than anyone else on earth.
Please, all of you, do not be foolish like me. Do not live your life within the limitation of calculating consciousness of māyā.
And there is a beautiful story in this regard, which I didn't put it in the slides, but it's there in the notes. Satsvarūpa Mahārāja tells the story about his surrender.
He says there was the first initiation and he purposefully missed the first initiation. He kind of felt that he is not given proper attention by Śrīla Prabhupāda. That he required more attention and he kind of, you know, he didn't come for the first initiation.
level of really appreciating him, doing some personal service, level of really appreciating him, doing some personal service. He was typing manuscript.
And he thought, you know, I'm anyway doing it. I'm special, I'm doing this service. He came to Śrīla Prabhupāda, brought, uh, the stack of printed pages to him.
Śrīla Prabhupāda looked very carefully and became very happy. And he gave him just a few grapes.
And Satsvarūpa Mahārāja writes, very honestly, he says, I felt so offended. I spent many hours by typing these manuscripts and what I get just few grain, few grapes? What is this? What is this?
But then uh please listen very carefully what happened then. And uh Prabhupada said, uh but Krishna will definitely bless you for this service.
And Śāttvata-rāja felt, yes, I need blessings of Krishna. And he felt relieved, you know. He understood that it's not just grapes, but some blessings of Krishna is attached to these grapes. So he was kind of pacified.
But then this is not what this is not the end of this story.
Then Prabhupada, there was some little talk, and then Prabhupada took him to the door very respectfully and while seeing him off he said if you love me I will love you and
And Satswarupa Maharaja, he the whole, you know, the whole process uh was revealed to him by this one phrase of Śrīla Prabhupāda. He just realized that it's up to me he's like Krishna he will give love which I require.
I require attention, I require love, but I need to love first. I need to surrender first, then the love will come. And he describes it very beautifully in his memories about Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And then Prabhupada also said, please come, the next Sunday will be marriage of one couple, my disciples, please come.
And he felt Satswarupa Maharaja felt so personal, and he said, no, now I know what to do. And he said, next initiation, I was the first one to come. So this is what happened.
This is how it this is how it works on this stage. This is the crisis. As I said, crisis is a turning point.
At one point, we come to this point, we like this particular person, we want to hear from him, we want to surrender, but still the hesitation is there. Perhaps we don't feel some personal attention enough, or we feel you know whether he knows about me or don't know about me or whatever.
So and then if we properly associate with him in respectful mood, then at one point the trust will develop when we really will be able to accept his shelter and surrender unto him.
Dangers of unexpressed doubts
But it's not unfortunately always the case. So this is the main obstacle: the hesitance to surrender and to commit oneself to the guru.
Trusting relationship with guru helps one to overcome this crisis and to commit oneself, and lack of trust is the hindrance.
If the real trust was not developed on the previous stage, it will be very difficult to overcome this crisis.
So in the previous stage, some trust should be there, and the development of this trust on this stage should be there.
But if the trust is not really developed properly irrevocably, then there will be difficulties. And of course, the story with Purusotama is very telling in this regard.
Those of you who read Prabhupada's Lila that know this story, this is from Tamal Krishna Maharaj's servant of the servant that Purushotama liked Śrīla Prabhupāda. Purushotama served Śrīla Prabhupāda. He liked Prabhupada's stories, Prabhupada's explanation of Vedic literature, Vedic teachings.
But when Prabhupada said we never went to the moon, that he couldn't digest. His trust was not deep enough uh to say internally why do I care whether we went to Moon or not?
If Swami Ji says we don't go to moon, we didn't go to moon, it means we didn't go to moon. No, for him, you know, that was the turning point. And this turning point was sometime there, not immediately.
He continued to serve, but he didn't have enough trust to Śrīla Prabhupāda to admit to him. Tamal Krishna Maharaj tells uh later in the same excerpt,
I didn't put it there, and that he didn't come to Prabhupada and he didn't trouble, Prabhupāda, I somehow rather I don't believe what you say. He preferred to keep it hidden within himself.
Even though Prabhupada knew what is happening in his mind. Yeah, rather to reveal his doubts to Śrīla Prabhupāda and have them easily dispelled, he preferred to conceal them, and this ultimately proved to be his undoing.
So we see that Arjuna, he has doubts. Doubts are normal on the stage. Doubts are encouraged on the stage. But you have to be very open. You shouldn't hide the doubts.
You should be humble enough to express your doubts openly and then they will be resolved. And Prabhupada was actually inducing him, pushing him to reveal his doubts, detecting Purushotama's dubious mentality.
Prabhupāda would often joke lightly in Purushotama's presence. Someone would ask questions, where is Janaki? And Prabhupāda would reply, oh, Janaki has gone to moon. Then everyone except Purushotama would laugh.
And then somebody was doing chunks in the kitchen and there was a big explosion and you
know huge explosion somebody and somebody asked, what's happening Prabhupāda says oh they went to moon so or somebody who was cooking went to moon at the time so he was teasing
Purusotama, he was actually more or less encouraging him. Please express your doubts. What is your doubt? But no, he didn't want, and therefore he left.
He for some time he served Prabhupāda and then he came and back to America, and he left Prabhupada's shelter and went to university. So, therefore, I call this crisis of independence. When we hesitate to surrender. And as I said, there are three possible outcomes in this crisis.
If we successfully overcome this crisis, then the development of submissive and humble attitude uh will take place within our heart.
If we fail, then the devotee will leave society of devotees or will constantly criticize the devotees. It's basically Ṛtvik-vāda.
Ṛtvik-vāda is the people who just couldn't surrender and therefore they find all kinds of faults to justify their unmissive attitude,
independent attitude or desire to keep, like Prabhupada beautifully put it in his offering to Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, our irrational unwillingness to surrender.
Well something like this. Irrational unwillingness to surrender. Causeless, causeless, yeah. Causeless unwillingness, causeless unwillingness, causeless unwillingness to surrender.. Thank you Yes, true, causeless.
Yeah, and if there is compromise, the compromise means blind following. One kind of hides the doubts, push them, you know, under the carpet, and they're still there, but uh he
decides anyway I will follow but this is the blind following, and Prabhupada never encouraged blind following. There is a next excerpt which is about this, but I will skip this.
Otherwise, if you don't like anyways, so Prabhupāda does not encourage blind following. We only have five more minutes. What shall I do?
Shall I leave time for questions or shall I go to the next stage of spiritual development. I will not be able to give justice to the next stage. So I don't know what to do, but you tell me. Questions? Okay.
Let's do questions and maybe maybe within next few days we can find some time to to continue with this. It's actually very interesting. Uh very interesting material in the next stage and after that.
Well uh does anyone know uh there is a seminar here uh after after this seminar or not in uh because this is not a usual audience. Uh if there is no then we can maybe No, there is no seminar.
No, there isn't there's if there is no seminar, maybe we can take a little extra time. I will give a very short review because of the very quick and just just five minutes.
Practice of bhajana kriya and discipline
Give me five minutes. I'll try to give review of what bhajana you know this stage of bhajana-kriyā. So there is this famous verse from Garuda Purāna, bhajaty-śhīvayā to sevāyāṁ parikīrtitaḥ. The verbal root bhaj means sevā.
Bhakti-śhabdānu bhāṣhī. The word bhakti comes from this root bhaj, which means sevā, and sevā the wise people, they call bhakti. Sādhana is the best sādhana. Bhakti sādhana is the best sādhana because it's based on sevā.
So, and kriyā means practice. It basically means systematic practice of devotional service starting with śravaṇam and kīrtanam. And basically means we're learning how to act as a devotee.
As I said, on the stage of sādhu-saṅga, we learn how to speak as a devotee, and the stage of bhajana-kriyā we learn how to act as a devotee. Get up early, chant rounds, hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this in the next quote. You know, if you mix with sādhu, then you learn the activities.
Sādhu-mārga-anugamanam, the sādhu's rising early morning, the attending maṅgala-ārati, the reading Bhāgavatam, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā. And that's basically what bhajana-kriyā means. It's imitation.
We see what sādhu does, we imitate him, which is a good imitation. And also of course, śikṣā means it's when we take commitment, we take initiation, śikṣā means discipline.
One important thing about discipline, discipline basically means chastisement. On the stage of sadhu sangha, there is hardly any chastisement. It's more encouragement.
On the stage of śraddhā, there is only encouragement, nothing else, just milk, just sweets. On the stage of sādhu-saṅga, the heavy words are there, but they're like not directly addressed to the disciple.
The stage of bhajana-kriyā, just only chastisement, nothing else. Śrīla Prabhupāda says this. Lālyāt pañca, he, that's one of his favorite verses of Cāṇakya Paṇḍita.
That you know fondled son until five years of age and then use the stick for another ten years. Daśa varṣāṇi tāḍayet. And when he becomes 16 years old, then he becomes a friend. So this is a beautiful quote.
I will read it by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Therefore, in first chastisement, Kṛṣṇa was accepted as spiritual master. The spiritual master has the right to chastise.
So father and teacher are advised by Cāṇakya Paṇḍita: you should always chastise your son and disciple. Chastise. Tadayat. Tadayat means simply chastise.
Always find out mistake. Don't be angry. But it is the business of the teacher and the father simply to find out your mistake. Not to find out your good things.
Tadayat natu lalayat. Na tu lalayat. Don't fondle. Lalayat means petting. Oh my dear son, my dear boy, you're so nice. You have done.
Sometimes it is done, but it is the business of the teacher or father to chastise. So that's what is supposed to take place on this stage of spiritual development.
And we can you know have so many examples of this to say something about this. Anyway. Um yeah, that's the next point. Something else was there, very important. Anyway, just slipped out of my mind.
So Bhajanakri also means preaching, speaking about Krishna. Prabhupāda is very emphatic about this. He says that you should repeat whatever you heard speaking about Krishna.
Because and as I said also bhajana- kriyā implies very close relationship and cooperation with equals. Prabhupāda speaks about this. That we should make friendship with the devotees.
This is called iṣṭagoṣṭhī. This is another characteristic of bhajana-kriyā. This association with equals becomes an impelling force, the force of your advancement on this stage of bhajana-kriyā.
And Prabhupāda specifically says that's very important, that bhajana-kriyā implies close association with preachers because it means preaching.
Those who are actually preaching become enlivened by associating with other preachers. This principle is called Maitri of Friendship Among Equals.
The power to carry out such preaching activities as well as the proper guidance for distributing Krishna's message comes through the principle of prashrayam or humble service to the lotus feet of spiritual master.
If one preaches Krishna consciousness sincerely under the guidance of bona fide spiritual master and in the company of fellow preachers, one is perfectly fulfilling
the statement of this verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So both are there.
Self deception and obstacles in bhajana kriya
This association with equals, cooperation in the field of preaching, together with the respect towards seniors is important. That's a famous quote about Prachetas where Lord Krishna says how I'm pleased because of your close friendly relationship with you.
So this is very short overview of the crisis on this stage. What happens on this stage? Somebody follows the process of a devotional service but does not have real taste.
It's a mechanical following, it's more or less imitation, and therefore, because we are pleasure-seeking living entities, as Prabhupada says beautifully in his record,
we need some pleasure, but we don't really have or derive pleasure from the service.
Therefore, all kinds of crises take place on this stage which are described beautifully by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in Madhurya-kādambinī, utsa-mahātmya, ghana-taralā, vyūḍha-vikalpa, viṣaya-saṅgraha, niṣ-kāmatā and taraṅga-raṅgiṇī.
These are all ways for us to derive some pleasure from devotional service. So what happens in this stage? Please listen very carefully, and that's the last thing which I will say.
There is a contradiction between external desire to serve and internal desire to enjoy, even from the service. On this stage, as Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura said, the absorption in matter is complete.
And spiritualization of ahaṅkāra is eka-deśa-vārtā, is very small and partial. Therefore, we don't have real experience, bliss of experience.
And therefore, we are, you know, trying to mix the desire to enjoy with devotional service. And therefore Prabhupada says, our disease is desire for that which is material.
And therefore, anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam he quotes for this. So, what I do here and the essence of this crisis is self-deception. Please listen what Prabhupada beautifully says.
You cannot cheat others, but you can cheat yourself. This is what self-deception means.
You try to so and uh by analyzing very carefully what Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says I suggest that the different names in our context.
Those who read Madhurya-kādambinī know that first is utsa-mahātmya, next one is ghana-taralā, next one is niṣ-kāmatā or uh vyūḍha-vikalpa.
So I changed the names, gave different English names for the crisis of this stage of spiritual development, which is bhajana-kriyā, fanaticism, mechanical following or mechanical activities, irresponsibility, duplicity, competition, competitive spirit or and the and premature guruship.
This are you renaming uh what Viswana Chakravartit Thakur describes for a completely different sort of people, very brāhmaṇically inclined, very steeped in śāstra people.
This is exactly the same thing is happening with us, but perhaps with little different scenarios, we are not you know quoting śāstras within our mind before we take decision, but the same duplicity is there.
So so I renamed it a little bit, but I don't have time to describe it. I will stop here and uh leave some time for questions. Thank you very much. Uh Vijay Prabhu, you wanted to ask us. No? Okay. Okay.
Uh there is no microphone, right? Okay, okay. Little bit we can continue because there's nothing. Yeah. All right. But obviously you did not finish. Is it any possibility somewhere we can complete?
I'll ask—I'll ask if we can complete. I more or less I gave a review, yeah there is some some other stuff, but more oh yeah.
Managing trust in guru administrative roles
There is somebody who's very eager there and this this joke Maharaj. Determined obstacles. I think is the term you were looking for. Determined obstacles. Very good. Thank you very much.
And uh my question to you is often when we hear of crisis uh counseling devotees, I met countless devotees who have no problem with the philosophy of when they see sadhus or even their own gurus acting in managerial capacities, engaging in the world of names, making management decisions or dealing with money that then their crisis comes up and their faith becomes either compromised or destroyed or they go to taṭastha, they just say guru is on the altar, but I have a neutral relationship now. So can you say something how to deal with that crisis?
Well as I said the duty of a guru is to teach śāstra, if he fulfills this duty and at the same time acts in a managerial capacity, that's fine.
But if this managerial capacity compromises with his ability to teach śāstra or makes him somewhat I don't know kind of not speaking siddhānta properly because sometimes you know we feel obliged taking this relative position. That's very difficult.
Obviously that, you know, managerial position is a relative position. Position of a guru is an absolute position. If you act on a relative position and it make and
then you know sometimes you act in a relative position of management. Sometimes you act in an absolute position as a spiritual guide and guru. It may create confusion. It will create confusion.
Inevitably, it will create confusion. Because it's very difficult to distinguish one from another and this and that and yeah but what I I think it's possible but it should be done as Prabhupāda did it.
Prabhupāda also was playing a managerial role, but he was very clear when he was playing this managerial role as a manager uh uh like i when he created GBC he was sitting uh among other GBCs and he was voting for the decisions.
So he kind of emphasized this is relative. You don't have to follow me. I'm voting together with you. I may have your opinion, you may have your opinion.
And he encouraged Tamal Krishna Maharaj to give his opinion, which oftentimes were contrary to Prabhupāda's opinions. But then when he was sitting on Vyāsāsana, there was no question of voting.
When we speak from Vyāsāsana, it's not a subject matter for majority votes. It's the absolute matters.
So if you are capable of very clearly say that this is relative and let's discuss it, and we are more or less discussing it as equals and I'm ready to hear you and give my feedback and things like this, then it may not create uh such uh confusion uh or crisis of face.
But if uh he takes a decision, it's managerial decision and it happens to be a foolish decision, which is uh oftentimes the case, uh I'm speaking from my own experience.
You know, if you're a manager acting in a managerial role, you make a foolish decision and then your disciples are supposed to take it as an absolute manifestation of the Supreme Personality of God has mercy. It's difficult.
And you should not really subject them to this. By the way, this is the last thing. If you want I will work a little bit more on this presentation.
If you want this presentation on this uh link you may have other you you you now have other presentation which I gave about japa meditation school and this long presentation about the crisis and stages of spiritual development will be there in a couple of days.
So please take note of this code. You can just use this code in your phone and get it. Download it. Or you may call Nitai this is WhatsApp number and he will give it to you. Yeah, any other questions? Okay.
I don't think it works, but you can try. Oh yeah, it works. Thank you, Maharaj. Uh you just mentioned that at some point we should be very careful to cooperate with so-called sadhus on proper uh communication,
spiritual communication but um somehow uh if compassion is there so maybe we can overcome this um um let's say not proper so what is the stage when we come to compassion which uh compassion See uh
when we speak about sadhu sanga we have to be very clear what sadhu sadhu means in this sadhu sanga. Sadhu Sangha means association with sadhus who behave themselves properly, who have ideal character.
At this stage, it's not advisable to associate closely with people of loose character or whatever. We may respect them as sadhus because they're determined, but don't come to close association with them.
And moreover, don't consider them as teachers. If you see some discrepancies in their behavior, don't take them as a guru, don't consider them as teachers, don't take their shelter. That's the problem.
You know, you may associate them, you may take prasāda with them or you know chat a few words with them, but uh be careful about the point of taking instructions because that's what what sadhu sanga is about.
Sadhu Sangha is about taking instructions, taking shelter. It can only be done when the sadhu is titikṣur kāruṇika suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām, etc. If
uh we are in a stage like uh sadhasanga and the faith is still not well formed, uh he is still in the uh maybe he has some access to further stages and the previous states split is not well formed. How does one?
First of all, I said if the previous stage is not properly formed, it will create a problem somewhere higher stages, no doubt about it.
So if you realize that your faith is not properly formed, you have to take care of it and try in the association of the devotees, in
association of knowledgeable devotees to form śāstrīya-śraddhā to really dissipate your doubts, to really make it firm, and as Jīva Gosvāmī or uh yeah, Jīva Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śāstra, Yukti.
Basically, firm face means that you know that everything is harmoniously and logically properly described in Shastra. If you understand the logic which is there in the Shastra, then your face is properly formed.
So you have to go somewhere to somebody who can explain to you systematically the shastra.
Usually what happens, we know some shastric knowledge from here, from there, the Hina Sminyathadah, Sarva Dharman Parityajai and then you know Tava Smi Tavaya Vasmina Jivami Tvai Vina Itivigya Devitvam Nayanam Saranantika or whatever.
You know, we have so many different bits and pieces, they are not in a system. Shastriya Shraddha means even if it's not it may not be complete. But you have the whole system.
It's like the building, you know, in the initial stage the building is not complete, there are so many parts missing, but the whole construction is there, more or less.
The walls are there, the you know the gross construction is there. So the initial Shraddha means this gross construction of your understanding is there and you know, this is the house where I want to live.
And then gradually, gradually I furnish it and I will make it nice. So so just at least if if you feel that you have a roof but no foundation obviously it's not a very good place to live. It's a dangerous place to live.
So go somewhere urgently make a very firm foundation, make a pillar, or you have a roof and one pillar only. So that's what you should do. Yes, please.
And that will be the last question because we already generally we are aware that Sandy Sumba Thank you very much for the beautiful class.
Generally we are aware that Sarathu Sangha has to be category of uh relating according to the s equality, seniority and compassion. Right? Yes, but here sadhu means superior. Guru.
So what's the difference between these and the regular topisasri crosses which may need to change your definition? Change to your definition.
Well, you know, at least uh for bhakti shastri courses you have to accept the teacher as a guru and if if uh if he is proper, he acts in this capacity, he is your śikṣā-guru.
If if you consider him as your equal, uh there will be no teaching really and you won't get it.
I don't mean the relationship, I mean the teaching of the bhakti-sastri where they describe the three kind of uh interaction, right?
But here the universal description that you gave, no, see, the sadhu may mean many different things.
Therefore we have to know which exact usage of the term we are using and therefore I very carefully defined what in this context sadhu means.
Otherwise, those who are junior, they may be sadhus, dot, who are equal they are sadhus no doubt about it they may have impeccable character but here we
mean by sadhu, uh, we don't mean, uh, anything of this, by sadhu we mean taking shelter of a particular person whom we deem as a guru. So there is no contradiction.
It's just in different contexts there will be different definitions. And we have to know and we have to distinguish uh and we have to understand what they mean in each and every case. Okay, thank you very much.
I guess we should finish it. Thank you very, very much.