Stages of Bhakti. Three Phases of Heart Purification
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Yevpatoria · 2008
Chapters
Opening prayers and seminar introduction
The following class is the second lecture of the seminar called Laws of Bhakti, given by His Holiness Bhaktivigyan Gosvami Maharaj in F Patoria, Russia, 2009ine Ajanulambita Bujo Kanaka Vada Sankirtanaika Yuga
dharma palo Vandejagatriya Karo, Vandeja, Karuna vata, narayanamstrity, naram chaiva narotam devvi saraswati yam, devi saraswati, tato daiamiraya, pročitag. I will read the seventh verse of the fourth chapter of the Gita,
which explains the reasons of Krishna's appearance. Y da, y da Hharmasia, Glani, Bavati barata abbutanam adharma s tadatman Sridjami ahham, ja dayadahidarma, glanirbava tharata adjutanamadharma sadatmanam sridjam.
Yadaya Hidarma Sadam, Glanir Bava Tharatam, Adyutanamadharmasya Tadatmanam Srijamyaham. Translation. Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice or descendant
of Bharata and the predominant rise of a religion, at that time I descend myself. The word Srimi is significant hearing.
Srijami cannot be used in the sense of creation because according to the previous verse, there is no creation of the Lord's form or body, since all of the forms are eternally existent.
Therefore, Srijama means that the Lord manifests Himself as He is although the Lord appears on schedule, namely at the end of the Dvapara Yuga of the twenty eighth millennium, the seventh manu, in one day of Brahma.
He has no obligation to adhere to such rules and regulations, because he is completely free to act in many ways at his will.
He therefore appears by his own will whenever there is a predominance of irreligious Principles of religion are laid down in the Vedas and any discrepancy in the matter of properly executing the rules of the Vedas makes one irreligious.
In the Bhagavatam it is stated that such principles are the laws of the Lord. Only the Lord can manufacture a system of religion.
The Vedas are also accepted as originally spoken by the Lord Himself to Brahma from within his heart.
Therefore the principles of Dharma or religion are the direct orders of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Dharmam to Sakshat Bhagavat Pranitam. These principles are clearly indicated throughout the Bhagavad-gītā.
The purpose of the Vedas is to establish such principles under the order of the Supreme Lord.
And the Lord directly orders at the end of the Gita that the highest principle of religion is to surrender unto him only and nothing more. The Vedic principles push one towards complete surrender unto him.
And whenever such principles are disturbed by the demonic, the Lord appears. From the Bhagavatam, we understand that the Lord Buddha is the incarnation of Krishna,
who appeared when materialism was rampant, and materialists were using the pretext of the authority of the Vedas.
Although there are certain restrictive rules and regulations regarding animal sacrifice for particular purposes in the Vedas, people of demonic tendencies still look to animal sacrifice without reference to the Vedic principles.
Lord Buddha appeared to stop this nonsense and to establish the Vedic principles of nonviolence.
Therefore, each and every avatar or incarnation of the Lord has a particular mission, and they are all described in the revealed scriptures. No one should be accepted as an avatar unless they
is not a fact that the Lord appears only on Indian soil. He can manifest himself anywhere and everywhere, and whenever he desires to appear.
In each and every incarnation, he speaks as much about religion as can be understood by the particular people under their particular circumstances.
But the mission is the same, to lead people to God consciousness and obedience to the principle of religion.
Sometimes he descends personally, and sometimes he sends his bona fide representative in the form of his son or servant or himself in some disguised form.
The principles of the Bhagavad-gītā were spoken to Arjuna, and for that matter, to other highly elevated persons, because he was highly advanced compared to ordinary persons in the other parts of the world.
2 plus 2 equals 4 is a mathematical principle that is true in the beginners arithmetic class and in the advanced class as well.
Still there are higher and lower mathematics in all incarnations of the Lord, therefore the same principles are taught, but they appear to be higher and lower in variety of circumstances.
The higher principles of religion begin with the acceptance of the four orders and the four statuses of social life, as will be explained later.
The whole purpose of the mission of incarnations is to arouse Krishna consciousness everywhere. Such consciousness is manifest and non-manifest only under different circumstances.
Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice
or descendent in Bharata and the predominant rise of irreligion, at that time I descend myself.
Nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī- प्रचारिणे निर्विशेष-शून्यवाद-पाश्चात्य-देश-ταριне nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe Paschaty Satarin.
Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
Jaya 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 Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
yató dharmas tato jayaḥ tad āśva-medhāvabhṛthāvaguṇṭhadvad agādhi-bodham
Decline of dharma and Krishna's purpose
praṇamya bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam. Today I'll try to speak about a very important and a very profound topic.
Krishna says here that the only purpose of his descent to this world is to reinstate dharma, to somehow help people regain their enthusiasm in following dharma. Dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata.
This is a natural process of gradual decline of dharma. Though in itself, dharma is avyayam, it's important. Dharmāt sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam. Dharma is the laws of God Himself.
This entire world proves in accordance with Dharma. Nothing will move if it's not according to dharma.
Nevertheless, we will have this tendency of violating dharma—glani and this dharmasya glāni or gradual decline of dharma consists in a sense. This is a natural process that constantly takes place in human society.
And Krishna comes to reinstate this dharma and does it in a particular way. Here in this verse, he doesn't describe in detail what dharma is. But ultimately the dharma which he reinstates is the interest for his own self.
Krishna performs amazing activities. He does amazing things so that ultimately people start listening about him. The dharma which Krishna establishes here is the faith in the stories about Krishna himself.
I promise to you that our second lecture will be dedicated to the method,
the real profound and the most profound of all methods of purifying. And today, in this lecture, I would like to speak about how the stories about Krishna, if they are perceived with faith, if a person hears about Krishna with faith, how these stories purify one's heart, what mechanism is that lies behind it.
Preceptors have explained how the stories of Krishna enter our heart and purify. And ultimately, the only thing we have to understand and believe in is what Krishna says here. I can come to you and I do this for your sake.
Not for my own sake. I don't need anything. I do it completely selflessly just for the benefit of That God is not a thinking universe, as we read that statement of one scholar yesterday.
God is a thinking universe, yes, God is a thinking... No,
God is his personality, he is a personality who has infinite mercy and infinite compassion and therefore he feels the need to come to us when he sees that people have forgotten Dharma, when he sees that people are suffering, having turned away from him, having forgotten something highly significant to him.
And although that scholar with the quote we read says that previously no such cases of gods having to come were known to the world of science.
But God Himself says such cases are known in science when people forget about me. When people lose faith and enthusiasm.
Story of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the brahmana
When people stop hearing about me, and then I come to make them hear. Who actually understands Krishna?
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained in his līlās who truly understands Krishna. The one who reads about Krishna and tears begin flowing from his eyes.
During one of his journeys to South India, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to Śrīraṅgam.
And in the temple of Śrīraṅgam he saw a poor, illiterate brāhmaṇa who was sitting and moving 그의 finger along the lines of the Bhagavad-gītā. He couldn't read. He barely put words together.
Sometimes he was wrong, and sometimes he made an excuse. And other brāhmaṇas would laugh at him just the way they would probably laugh at me should they hear me read this verse.
Or hear the Russian devotees enthusiastically read verses from the Bhagavad-gītā. This brāhmaṇa was sitting and making mistakes while reading the Gītā. Nevertheless, he did read the Gītā.
Every day, every day Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to the temple and saw that same brāhmaṇa at that... And he asked him, how do you read the Bhagavad-gītā?
The brāhmaṇa replied, when I read the Gītā, the very moment I start reading the Gītā, as soon as the first words Dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca appear in my mind, at that very moment, a picture appears before my eyes. I see my Lord. Reins and a whip in hand. He stands on the chariot. He whips the horses and behind him is Arjuna who is directing him.
Go there. Put my chariot between the two armies. When I see that scene, tears start flowing from my eyes. And all the while I'm reading the Bhagavad Gita, I see that scene before me.
And Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, You are the only one who knows the Bhagavad-gītā amongst all those brāhmaṇas.
Because the meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā is not just reading the words and not even just speculating over its deep philosophical meaning. Who is Krishna?
Krishna means black, black means unknown, unknown means who knows who, who knows who means I'm God actually. That's not what the Gītā is meant for. And it's not even meant to be learned by heart or to be read correctly.
It's meant for us to understand what's going on in the Bhagavad-gītā at this particular moment.
Developing subtle vision through spiritual hearing
So that by reading the Bhagavad-gītā, we are ultimately imbued with this bhāva,
which will help us to In the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is a wonderful verse explaining what happens when one hears about Krishna. And please listen carefully to this verse.
This is a very important verse from the eleventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which says just as the ātmā or soul is purified, Parimrijjate means is purified. But Punya Gatha, Sralavana, Abhidanaya.
When one tells stories about Krishna or hears them, the meaning of Madgatha or Madgkatatha is one and the same. Shavanam one hears or Abhidanaya which means one tells these stories.
Tadha Tadha Pashy Vastu Sukshmam, Chakshur, Yathaivanjana, Sampa Yuktaam It's said that just like one is greatly purified by hearing of and speaking about Krishna, one's ātmā or heart is greatly purified.
When one does so, and in the same way, one acquires a new quality or a new feature, a new feeling. Tadhata Tatha Pashiti Vastu Sukshma. What does Sukshmam mean? Sukshmam that subtle. Vastu Sukhmam. Vastu Sukshmam.
Means subtle truth. Vastu znači. Vastu means essence. Bastu means God. Strictly speaking, one acquires a special subtle sense. Pashiti means one begins to feel what one hadn't felt before. cross sight. cross sight.
And further on, there is a comparison or a metaphor given. Chakshur, Yathaivanjana, Samprayukam, just like one's sight is gradually cleared, as one again and again applies a special Vedic composition or ointment In
other words, in the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we promised that one's senses will gradually get I hear about God. And as purification takes place, my sensitivity, my soul starts developing
a subtle sixth sense. And I understand that God's here. That God is near. That God is not far away. God's present right here, right now. And ultimately, I actually see him right before me.
Just because I hear of him and repeat those stories.
Spiritual reality behind the material world
This is the amazing result of our hearing about Krishna. Like Vladimir Solovyev, the Russian religious poet, he has written amazing verses about this. He says that spiritual reality exists right here.
We're just not sensitive enough to perceive it. Like sometimes people who've engaged in bhajan for a long time suddenly see the spiritual world open wide before them.
The curtain of material energy is pulled back for a moment and they see the entire spiritual world in all its glory. They see Krishna, they see the herds of cows which he tends.
And sometimes Krishna comes out of that scene to them. And the next moment the curtain is pulled down again. Actually, the material world we see is a roughly painted curtain in the theater.
Those who've been in the theater know what scenery is. Something coarsely daubed. Seen from a distance it looks okay, but if you look closer, then it seems that this material world, when seen from afar, all looks nice.
But actually it's merely a rough drawing on a curtain. What happens to the one who hears about Krishna? At a certain point this curtain moves apart and one sees the reality.
That reality makes one faint, for one perceives that reality directly with one's soul, not through the gross senses, not through the space through which one fills this world, not through processes or controllers or whatever we call them. One sees the spiritual reality with one's soul as it is.
Vladimir Solovyov has written these verses because, if one listens, it's beautiful poetry. Dear friend, don't you see that all the visible world is just a glimpse, is just the shadows of what's unseen with eyes.
Dear friend, don't you hear that all the daily crackling noise is just a distorted echo of trying to... The noise we hear is actually a feigned reverberation of
the divine music that is to be revealed to us. And everything we see is also shadow, a poor semblance of reality.
We've set out on this amazing journey and the reward awaiting us at the end is the direct perception of that reality. And in the 33rd chapter of the tenth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains how this happens.
It's another very important verse that I would like to present to you today. Mānuṣaṁ deham āśritaṁ bhajate tādṛśīṁ krīḍāṁ yaś śrutvā tatparo bhavet. Tatparobhavet.
Anugrahāya bhaktānām, anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ mānuṣaṁ deham āśritaḥ. why does Krishna come here in a human like form? Mānuṣaṁ deham āśritaḥ? Why does he come in the form of an ordinary person? Anugrahāya bhaktānām.
For what reason? Out of mercy to his devotees. Bhajate tādṛśīṁ krīḍām.
And when he comes in a human like form, just as an ordinary boy, an ordinary child, and this he does only in Vrindavan. Only in Vrindavan he is absolutely ordinary. Everywhere else he's a little extraordinary.
When he appeared in Mathura, he appeared with a club. He came out of Devakī's womb with a club, with a disc, with a lotus and with a conch and in a dress. He said Hare Krishna. He was formed.
When he was brought to Vraj, he immediately turned naked and small. Before that, in Mathura, he spoke to Devakī and Vasudeva in Sanskrit verses and when he was brought to Vraj, what did he do? He blew bubbles.
And Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains, anugrahāya bhaktānāṁ mānuṣaṁ deham āśritaḥ. He does that out of love for his bhaktis.
In order to carry out his krīḍā, krīḍā means pastimes of games, yaṁ śrutvā tatparo bhavet. Tva, Tatparobhavet. And what happens to people when they hear about these pastimes? Tatparo bhavet.
They start feeling some inclination towards Krishna or love for him. When we hear about Krishna, we start feeling some affection for him or the desire to surrender to him.
And actually, this is the meaning of Krishna consciousness. We must hear about Krishna over and over again. And as we hear, we will understand him deeper and deeper.
And the more we understand him, the stronger our affection will be. And what are we ultimately to understand about Krishna?
Contrast between selfless divine love and selfishness
One thing. That he does everything absolutely selflessly. Why does he come for his own sake? Because he has to come to the earth and get merit in this existence? No. He does that for our benefit. He himself says.
One who truly understands the nature of my appearance and my deeds, one who understands that I come for no reason, that I don't have any material desires, such a person comes back to me.
And in the material world, we too sometimes fall in love. But actually, who do we fall in love with? We fall in love with Krishna's image.
When we fall in love with someone in the material world, we fall in love with ignorance. And as we get to know that person more and more, what happens to us? The less we love that person.
Because we get more and more convinced of what? Of that person's self interest. At the beginning a young man sees a young woman and thinks, oh, how pure she is.
And if she sometimes chants mantras, well, he thinks, oh, pure devotee, she came to save me. A young lady sees a young man and thinks, oh, Krishna himself has sent him to me. Now, who has been sent by whom and to whom.
And they will say yes, Krishna sent him to me as a punishment for my sins. What happens to us in the material world, the better we know a person, the more we see their selfish nature.
And when we see their selfish nature, we realize I've got cheated again. I've got fooled again.
But spiritual nature or the nature of spiritual love is such that we hear about Krishna, and the more we hear about him, the clearer it becomes to us that Krishna is absolutely selfless, that he's come only out of his mercy, just for our own sake, to make us happy. That's the only reason why he comes and why he does what he does.
He himself explains in the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. I come not because I need something.
And that's the meaning of our spiritual practice and spiritual life, to hear about Krishna and about great devotees and meditate on their purity, their selflessness.
In fact, when we meditate on this, on this absolutely pure pastimes of Krishna or his devotees, our heart also becomes pure. For example, when we think about Jesus Christ, what does the power of Christianity consist in?
The power of Christianity is only in this, in this one thing. That time and time again people are told, look what Jesus Christ has done for your sake. And people think about it and realize well he has done that himself.
He could have quite avoided it. He didn't have to do that. But for our own sake he has made that sacrifice. And thinking about it, people are purified. The same applies to us.
Sacrifice and journey of Srila Prabhupada
If we think about Krishna, about what the nature of his lilas, or if we think about his devotees, then our hearts will be unwittingly purified.
And before our eyes, almost within our reach, we have an example of this amazing purity of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Why has he come to the West? Just for our own sake. At the age of 70, without a penny in his pocket.
He had 20 or forty rupees which couldn't be exchanged in America. And we say that he has seven dollars, but he didn't have seven dollars. He had forty rupees which couldn't be exchanged for anything.
Before he came to America, he went to the deities of Rūpa Gosvāmī in Jaipur and he spent a few days in front of those deities.
He was praying to those deities, imploring them, please give me the opportunity to give something to those people. I'm going to the most terrible city. I have no chance. I don't know anyone there.
I don't even know whether they will understand me or not. I don't even know whether I'll be able to eat there or something or not.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said that when I was going to America, I didn't know whether I'll be able to find any vegetarian food there or not. And he thought, we will have to eat meat.
He was ready to eat meat because Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī used to say to his disciples at that time, if you have to go to England and eat meat there, eat meat.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda thought maybe I'll have to eat meat there. He spent a few days in front of Rādhā Govinda. Then he went to Māyāpur and he spent a day at the samādhi of his Guru Maharaj.
He spent that whole day there from morning till evening. His son, Vṛndāvana-candra, recalls how there was no big kīrtana party. Gauḍīyas didn't go there with flowers and garlands praising Abhay Charanaravinda Dāsa Svāmī.
Now he's going to save the mlecchas. There was no one at the port of Calcutta. No one but his son.
And he says, I was looking at my father, I was looking at the small suitcase he was carrying, and I saw him climb the ladder of the cargo ship. Radhanath Swami asked him, What did you feel at that moment?
He said I was proud of my father. Now imagine this little seventy year old man. Śrīla Prabhupāda was going and thinking, I don't know whether I'll survive this trip or not. Maybe I'll die.
He suffered two heart attacks during that trip. And he was seasick. He writes in his diary over and over again. Seasickness, seasickness, seasickness, the Pacific Ocean. Have any of you been seasick?
That's the most horrible disease. Radhanath Swami says that once he was seasick and he jumped off the yacht despite of the fact that there were sharks swimming.
He thought I would rather be eaten up by the sharks than suffer this CC. And he arrived, he says, I didn't know where to go, to the right, to the left. The entire America was in front of me.
I had forty rupees in my pocket and a suitcase of books. Why has he come for fame? Certainly not. After that, for two years he wandered along Bowry and he wrote in his diary.
Every time I went into the entrance, there was a drunken man looking there, and I had to step over him. That's whom he had come to preach to. He tried hard to do something.
Sometimes when he would start preaching, he would say, bring in that drunken man lying there. Let him hear what I'm telling my disciples.
Yesterday Pūrṇacandra Mahārāja was telling the story of how Śrīla Prabhupāda near the end, and that was from the beginning to end. At 70 years of age, he did that, and a few years later, when he was completely sick,
there was a big program at Delhi Pandal, and Śrīla Prabhupāda couldn't move. He was brought on a stretcher onto the stage. They brought him on a palankin and he didn't know whether he would be able to speak or not.
Bhavānanda Mahārāja was sitting next to him and he asked him to read a purport from his book, from the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Bhavānanda Mahārāja read the purport and each word of it filled Śrīla Prabhupāda with energy.
Then all of a sudden for no apparent reason, he sat up, straightened, sat down in front of everyone and bombarded the audience for the next forty minutes. What was he driven by?
By the desire for fame, for money, for honor, he didn't need anything anymore. Neither at seventy when he was ascending the Jaladuta, nor at eighty a few years later when he could hardly move.
Absolutely didn't need anything at all. What was he driven by? By compassion. If we think about it, our hearts will be purified. Because what is that dirt in our heart? There is only one type of dirt in our heart.
There is no other dirt. When I want something for myself, when I want to enjoy, and when I want to enjoy my own body. And when we hear about Kṛṣṇa, about Śrīla Prabhupāda, we're We get this stock of selflessness.
And ultimately, Kṛṣṇa comes to give this happiness to us, to give it to us.
Understanding dharma and human choice
He says that when dharma is in decline, I come to reinstate dharma. Let's reflect a little on what dharma is. Today we'll continue what we talked about yesterday. It's a very important continuation.
But ultimately dharma, there is a famous Sanskrit saying is a way to act that when we live in accordance with it, it supports us. That ultimately gives us freedom.
Beginning of the Bhagavad-gītā, the dharma is our nature. And people are the only ones who can violate their dharma. Animals cannot violate their dharma.
The lion engages in sexual intercourse once a year. Congratulations to all gṛhasthas on that news. The lion doesn't violate dharma. He's got a lot of rajas, but he enters once and that's all. Because that's his nature.
Man has an amazing ability to violate dharma. Why? Because Krishna has given us a developed mind. With the help of this developed mind we can ultimately come to him.
But we abuse the mind given us in order to do what? To violate all the laws we can. Actually, people are much lower than animals. Because animals don't violate dharma, and man does.
And Krishna comes to re-establish this dharma. Because when one violates dharma, one eventually destroys oneself. Whereas dharma is what sustains my life.
Actually, all of the principles of Dharma are fully consistent with our nature. And help people to be happy here and now. But people don't understand this. They think that my happiness consists in violating everything.
Have any of you ever thought about the origin of the Russian word freedom? Actually, it's a Sanskrit word. What's the meaning of sva in Sanskrit? Svātva means: I am myself, my own. Svā-boda. Svā-boda. Bodha means to be.
Svābhāvayati. The word freedom means svābhāvayati. The word freedom means to be oneself. To be free means to be oneself. And Krishna comes to make us free.
We are all slaves, slaves of our vile habits, of our vile nature which is imposed on us, slaves of all this outrage that's going on outside of this wonderful pandal.
And Krishna comes to free us, he comes to us with the news that I've come to make you free. I've brought you this message of freedom. You must be yourselves. How can we be ourselves? It means to fulfill our dharma.
And this is the essence of what He brings. He brings us freedom. And therefore, how did Śrīla Prabhupāda call the regulative principles that we follow? He called regulative principles of freedom.
And we think that's what freedom is. And one has to be purified a little to understand it.
Three stages of heart purification
And in the end today in the few minutes that I still have, I would like to tell you some more very important things. How this process of gradual purification of the heart takes place when I hear of Krishna.
There are three stages on this path. Let's repeat them together. Satyam Śivam Sundaram, Satvam Shivam Sundaram. Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Please remember these three words.
These three words mean three stages that the purification of our hearts goes through as we come into contact with Kṛṣṇa-kathā, with Kṛṣṇa's holy name, with stories of Kṛṣṇa, as we hear and retell them.
It all starts with sattva, or satya. Satya means truth. Sattva means goodness or another way this first word can be pronounced as Śāntam. Śāntam. Śānta is what comes to one when one follows dharma.
When I start living according to dharma or to my nature, my mind gradually calms down. Actually, at the beginning I have no attachment to Kṛṣṇa whatsoever, no attachment to the stories about Him.
I hear about Him and start yawning. Like I've just seen a man who relished a yawn. People listen about Kṛṣṇa and they have no affection at all. Why? Because there is no response in our mind. Our mind is too agitated.
As long as the modes of passion and ignorance are there, we cannot appreciate Kṛṣṇa. We'll never understand Kṛṣṇa's beauty, never. We'll never understand the Bhagavad-gītā, the books about Kṛṣṇa.
Like people who describe the principles of rasa say that as long as one's mind is contaminated by the modes of passion and ignorance, one cannot understand the beauty. One cannot understand Kṛṣṇa.
One's mind is too agitated.
Therefore, at the beginning, to be able to appreciate Krishna, we need to... When one follows the principles of sattva, one's mind comes down. When I live in accordance with dharma, my mind comes down.
For violated dharma, my mind is restless all the time. For example, if I lie, my mind will be constantly in anxiety. What have I said?
What, who had I've said to whom? I keep thinking about it, getting confused myself. Whereas it's all very simple, tell the truth. The mind will become calm.
Even if that truth isn't beneficial for you. In the long run, the truth is beneficial. Because dharma is most beneficial. Because in the end, when one follows dharma, one's mind gradually comes down.
We used to enjoy the agitation that we derive from non-alcoholic beer and non-fishing. And when it's not there, we start yawning.
At the beginning, as long as the mind is infected by this passion and ignorance, we cannot correlate ourselves to Krishna.
We cannot feel what is said in Bhagavad-gītā, we cannot understand who Krishna is, and we cannot appreciate Krishna's beauty, the beauty of devotion, or the beauty of a devotee, because we look at everything with eyes contaminated by passion and ignorance.
We only see what we can enjoy. And if we cannot enjoy something, we do not see it.
Story of Buddha meeting Angulimala
It's not there, it doesn't exist. I want to tell you a wonderful story about Lord Buddha. And how he formulated this first stage or Buddha's first step. First, one must come down.
To acquire spiritual experience, one must attain this shanti or peace, tranquility, behind which one will be able to feel Krishna. This comes as a result of following sattva, dharma, when my mind becomes calm.
In Lord Buddha's time there lived a robber, whose name was Aṅgulimāla. Aṅguli means finger. And mala means Garland.
There was a terrible, dreadful robber who killed everyone he came across. He robbed them of everything and then killed them. He made a vow: I will have a garland of a thousand fingers of the dead people I kill.
He cut off a finger of everyone he met, stranded to his calling, and counted them. He had a clan of his own and they thought, wow, what a great leader. That was a terrible, scary man.
It's not an exaggeration. History has preserved his story and his name and some details. The king couldn't do anything to him.
He had his own gun and he lived in the forest in the jungle and never mind how hard they tried to catch him, they failed to do that.
And therefore the local Maharaj of that kingdom put a guard at the entrance of the forest who was instructed to burn anyone entering that forest, to put To say, please do not go there, for there lives a terrible cutthroat he'll surely kill you.
When Lord Buddha was traveling, sometimes followed by his disciples, sometimes he walked on his own. He came alone to this kingdom, reached the forest, and decided to go through the forest. And his road lay through that forest.
The guard told him, "Sādhu Swamiji, Please don't go into that forest. A notorious bandit lives here who'll kill you." He said, I'm not scared. He said, "You don't understand, that terrible robber, a dreadful cutthroat."
And he said, Why should you fear? I have absolutely nothing to fear. And he did mean it. He wasn't showing off, he wasn't trying to show how fearless he was. He was actually unafraid.
He went into the forest and walked some distance, deep down into it, and saw the man Aṅgulimāla rejoiced. Oh, one more, I'm closer by one to my goal of getting a thousand finger garland.
He spotted him from a distance and shouted, Hey you! Stop! He didn't even look back. Outrage at that, the man ran after him and shouted, Stop! Who am I talking to? Stop!
The man ran after him out of breath and stopped. hear me? And in the end he ran up to him and said, Stop, stop!
Lord Buddha turned to him, completely peaceful, completely unruffled, looked at him in his eye and said, I have long stopped. When will you stop? He said this one phrase. The man almost fainted.
These two words echoed in his mind, in his brain. When will you stop? When will you stop? What did he tell him? He told him, look at yourself. You have all these storms in your mind.
And when Buddha told him, I have long stopped and looked at him, the man realized, this man has stopped, this man is absolutely totally peaceful without any problems or disturbances.
The man said, I've understood everything, can I become your disciple? Right there on the spot. This is the first thing that should happen with us. We should look into our mind.
What's going on there? Okay, well don't look into it. Nothing good is going on there. Storms and storms and a storm in a glass of water for no reason. Over trifles out of nothing.
All this is the passion and ignorance that reign in our mind. Therefore, the first step that one must make is sattva.
When one stops, when one becomes peaceful, when one just does one's duty, when one doesn't have to rush anywhere, one just carries out one's duty and one's happy about it. And sattva itself already makes one happy.
Have any of you felt when sattva in your life increased that you've become happier? Who's become happier? Please raise your hand. Who has really become happier? Shouting Haribol.
As long as I rush somewhere, as long as I do something, God knows what, I'm in fact truly miserable.
Developing kindness and sensitivity through sattva
But this is the first step. The second step is even more important. Sattvam Satvam is followed by the word Shivam. Shivam. What does Shivam mean? Shivam means... Shivam means goodness. Shivam means... Something beneficial.
Shivam Shivam actually means kindness. This is the next step that uh one makes as one reads about Krishna. Thinks about Krishna as one's heart gets purified. Sattva leads to kindness.
There is a wonderful definition of sattva. Sattva. Pragata Sukadukha Bhavana. Yamana Kula. Pray Chitatvam Sattvam. Sattva. Sattva is the ability to feel the sorrow.
What happens as Sattva is established in my mind, I actually become sensitive. Again a delicacy of feeling, again the ability to feel the other person's grief and happiness as my own.
And it's an amazing thing that must happen after we have attained sattva. In other words, sattva means that I have uh in fact uh become uh a servant. I've lost the desire to exploit others.
In Sattva itself, there might be a subtle desire to exploit. But when I started closely paying attention to others, I realized that if I don't want to hurt anyone, I must not try to get anything from them.
As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself says in the Caitanya-bhāgavata, bhakta-nāmā nilī hoilo mora marmaduḥkha, mora duḥkhi guṇi’ tāra darśana-sukha.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu says an amazing thing: that if a person comes to me and has no sincerity, has no bhakti, what do I feel at heart? Pain. Mora marmaduka. Marma means heart. Deep inside, I feel compassion.
And we feel the same thing. Someone comes up to us and wants to take advantage of us. Has anyone felt the pain when we've been taken advantage of? Who felt? Please say hari bol.
And what does Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu say? Such a person is deprived of the happiness to actually see me. When we approach another person with self-interest, that's the most painful thing.
When we see another person only as long as something can be obtained from him, as long as he is an object of enjoyment, as long as he has something, as long as he has money, as long as he has power, status, or beauty, I will be there by his side. And when one doesn't have all that, I won't be there next to him. This causes terrible pain.
And Krishna says, if one approaches me in that same way, it hurts me in the heart. Therefore, the next step that one must make as one's mind settles down is that once thoughts become pure, we
sometimes don't realize the extent to which our impurity impedes us and causes pain to the other living beings. Our selfishness, our insensitivity causes pain to others.
A person wrote to me: What about the people in the mode of passion? If we're surrounded by people in the mode of passion, then what? We must serve them too? They just exploit us.
We must serve them too, but not to them, but Krishna who is in them. Actually, we must learn to see Krishna in a person, to see Krishna's image, the beauty that is there.
And we'll be able to do that only if we start serving that person. Like a newlywed man once came to Gaura Kisora Dasa Babaji and asked him, I've just married, what should I do? Give me an advice.
And he said, I'll now give you a wonderful, the best advice. Would you like to hear it? No, I'll read it to you, so that I don't lie to you. Listen, this is an advice to men. He said, Do you want to have a happy family life?
What you must do is every day cook for Krishna and having offered all that to Krishna you must first bring that prasadam to your wife. Regarding your wife as a Vaishnava, an image of Krishna, then you must eat her leftovers.
After her, and instead of regarding her as the object of your enjoyment, the one you are to exploit, you must serve her in this way every day, and then your family life will be perfectly happy. Is that a good advice?
It's uh mainly the female part that's applauding. But being the major part, the applause is quite impressive. Actually that's the idea. Shiva means kindness. Shiva means sensitivity.
Shiva means that I accept the will and woe of another person as one's own. And this means that I'm never going to hurt that person.
And this means that I'm never going to approach that person in self-influ This means that I'm going to always see that person as the object of my service, and I'm going to always serve him or her.
And then ultimately I will be able to see the happiness of Krishna's darśana. Krishna will eventually appear in front of me. I will be able to truly see him.
Sometimes we think that we are great saints and that we just give and do it. But we must even learn how to give. Because when we give, there too can be subtle self interest in doing so.
Has anyone noticed in oneself how one gives and when one gives, has anyone paid attention to what one thinks while he's giving? Oh, I'm a benefactor. You felt that I'll now do a great favor for you.
One gives something and is simultaneously filled with a sense of one's own significance. What a nice guy I am, what a wonderful guy I am. And even this should go away.
Overcoming self-interest and false doership
Actually, today I'm going to reveal an amazing secret to you. This secret will make you completely selfless. Does anyone want to hear that secret? Wait a little. Just a few moments. Love can truly give one something.
Only when love forgets itself. I remember when I was a kid, we went to Nizhny Novgorod and there we that museum address was displayed and it somewhat stuck into my young mind and it's still there now.
The tour guide said that some landlady presented that vest to Gorky's grandmother for the sole reason of reapproaching her for it till the end of her life. I thought, well that that's cool, isn't it?
What, what's the trick? Sometimes we give people something in order to do what? So that we are glorified or in order to reproach them just like the wife says, ruin my whole life because of you.
Or the husband says, I've spent with you such a monster my whole life. That's how people are trying to throw the blame on each other. And it's all some kind of self interest that we want to get from each other.
And you mustn't do this with self interest. We have to learn to give in a completely selfless manner. And that's difficult because sometimes we do it with some kind of our own subtle self interest.
Just like an ascetic said something very nice.
Instructing a female disciple of his who was to go and do good and he told her, remember, you will need all the love your heart is capable of so that people can forgive your good deeds.
Very often people take offense at our good deeds. Not only should we learn to give purely, even if we give purely, people are still offended because this humiliates them. True love is a is a really complicated thing.
True love is There is a wonderful story about how one day a man came to a sadhu and began complaining about his neighbor.
Started saying, he's always playing dirty tricks on me, he's constantly trying to do something bad to me, and I cannot understand why. Tell me what to do about it. I guess you've done him some good.
The man said, How do you know? That's right, I helped him in the most difficult time. And the sadhu replied, that's why he's playing dirty tricks on you. You humiliate him by doing him a favor.
Actually, love is a complicated thing because our ego is constantly spinning
around inside us, making us give selfishly and we offend people when we give them something, or even when we give purely, people are still offended. Because love means to learn.
And as Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says, what is love? What does it mean to love? Love is to learn to give and take, give gifts, and accept gifts. Both of these is art.
Accept in such a way so that our hearts are filled with gratitude and give in such a way so that we purely do it without anything for ourselves.
And here I would like to explain this philosophical principle how to get rid of self-interest. We all know we've all tried to enter into some relationships and we will try to show love in one way or another.
And all the time we catch ourselves on some self-interest, don't we? All the while we wait, we look for something, we hope, we expect, we calculate what we'll get back for it. Very rarely the feeling we have is pure.
How can we get rid of this self-interest? What don't you think? By giving, yeah. By giving, yes, but we'll think all the time I give and give and they don't appreciate it. Just giving is not enough. How should we give?
What should we understand? Yes, but with gratitude, that's clear, and that gratitude will also be contaminated by it's me, it's mine, I'm doing it. me, it's mine, I'm doing it. What should we get rid of? Of the "I"?
Because as long as I have the feeling that I'm doing this, the feeling of "I'm the doer" is always mixed with what feeling? feeling of I'm the doer is always mixed with what feeling. What do you think?
With the "I'm the enjoyer". If I think that I'm doing it, I'm always going to think, what will I get for this? How will I enjoy? I've made it up. I've invented it.
And as long as there is this "I'm doing it", nothing will happen. Progress of sattva consists in this that I am gradually disappearing. And what happens? What's left instead of "I"? Who acts in this world? Krishna. Krishna.
Krishna. Everything emanates from me. Everything is done by Krishna. What do I do? Who am I? I am Krishna's instrument. Everything that I have was given to me by Krishna.
Everything I possess, my mind, my intelligence, my speech, my body, everything that I can give someone. Who has given that to me? Krishna.
And if I remember this all the time and remember that I'm just Krishna's instrument, Krishna's selfless tool, at that moment, satyam, shivam, true kindness, complete absolute unselfishness will come to me.
Perceiving divine beauty in the final stage
And what should happen after that? Satyam, shivam, sundaram. Sundaram means beauty. After that, I'll be able to appreciate beauty. Sattve prasidati.
When one is established in sattva, when kāma and lobha, lust and greed, due to which my mind has constantly been agitated, go away and when sattva, complete, absolute, pure sattva comes to me, then
Sundaram, uh, Sundaram, I will be able to see Krishna's actual beauty. I'll see Krishna here, in this world, in every person. I will be able to appreciate each one's beauty because I will feel that Krishna is there.
He's in that person. And then there'll be just one pure love. And just at the end, I've said everything I wanted to say, I'll explain how Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī looks at this world.
How she sees Krishna. And that's the vision which we must eventually acquire.
As our heart has been purified, as we hear about Krishna, and our heart becomes purer and more and more selfless, and the understanding comes to us that this is what I'm here for, and that's what I have to live for.
As all this appears, ultimately my eyes will acquire great power. And Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī explains that one of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī's names is Kṛṣṇa-mayī. She's made of Krishna.
Kṛṣṇa-mayī. Kṛṣṇa is everywhere, Kṛṣṇa-mayī. Krishna Maya means that Krishna is both inside her and outside her.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the purport of this verse, that ultimately all religion, all dharma is reduced to Krishna consciousness. And sometimes Krishna consciousness is there in society, sometimes it is not.
But Krishna consciousness means Krishna is inside me and Krishna is outside me. And then he says, yata yata netra paḍe, wherever your eyes would rest, kaṇhāra darśana haya. Krishna appears out of there.
And the amazing thing, as it's explained here, it's not that she's just hallucinating. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī looks at the microphone and oh, Krishna.
Like sometimes people think that one who is engaged in devotional service must go completely crazy and then he'll have hallucinations and he'll see Krishna everywhere.
No, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says, Krishna himself comes out of there. It's an active action that Krishna does. Wherever your eyes would rest, Krishna says, here I am.
When one acquires this purity of vision, one sees sundaram, the highest beauty, the highest bliss everywhere. Simply because one's look has the incredible power of someone in Krishna. Of making Krishna appear from here.
Krishna is already here. The very moment we look at him with eyes full of love, he will have no choice but just pull away this curtain and say, I'm here, I'm with you, I'm right here.
Yesterday Pūrṇacandra Mahārāja told another story when he said that Śrīla Prabhupāda explained to his disciples why they must read his books. Why do you, Śrīla Prabhupāda once said, I myself read my books every day.
Because when I sit down to write my books, Krishna himself comes and starts dictating to me every word. Krishna himself dictates every word.
And that's Śrīla Prabhupāda's power. That's the power of a pure devotee's vision. That's the power of complete purity and complete selflessness. That's what we must ultimately come to.
And it's that same most amazing feeling that must appear in us.
Summary of hearing as the core practice
Therefore, sattvaṁ, śivaṁ, sundaram. Satyam sundaram. Sattvaṁ śivaṁ sundaram. Sattvaṁ śivaṁ sundaram. First is sattva. Purity in clothes, in food, in our association, then
Śivaṁ, purity, unselfishness, desire to serve, and ultimately Sundaram. An actual understanding that Krishna is God and Krishna loves me.
All this comes when we simply hear about Krishna. Hear about Krishna over and over again so that my mind gets purer and purer and my eyes become capable of seeing the subtle reality that's beyond all this.
This is our method. Nothing special is needed. You must just see it and hear. And sometimes tell yourself and sometimes think about it. Hear over and over again what we've heard many times.
And at one point our heart will be purified and tears will start flowing from our eyes and we will see Krishna is here right in front of me.