Japa-session with Bangalore Devotees
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · 2021
Chapters
Nature of pure consciousness in Srimad-Bhagavatam
Hare Krishna. So we started to speak about a very interesting and important verse from the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Svachatvam avikari tvam Santatvamiti Cheta Sha Vritti bir laksanam prauktam yatha apam prakriti
So, this verse is describing the nature of our consciousness when it's in its pure state. And that's exactly what we are striving to achieve by chanting Hare Krishna mantra.
Or Suttamana Nilaki Namalakonto Part of the Pathi Pesadhi. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said that this is the first result which we should experience uh while we are chanting uh Hare Krishna, holy names of God.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Rangana in the So by understanding very carefully what this verse means, we will be able to measure our progress in chanting Hare Krishna mantra.
It is said that by nature our consciousness is clear, is very clean. Like clean water. Clean water has three very important main qualities. Suttamana Tani Mari, Tanikonde Mune Nala, Suttamana Tanik, Munugonale.
It is clearly said here, Yatha Apam Prakritih para the the consciousness is like very clean and pure water. Gonagapati Namorovaru and then the Tani Mary Munavishing learn. We know that uh clean water ah has sweet taste.
Clean water is very still and calm and clean water can reflect the environment. Munugon Lord of the Arake, Ramatumiakum, Inimiyahum, Karangamalum, Irakade. If we come to sweet and rough. Yeah.
Uh if we come to a very clean lake, then we can drink this water. It will be very set.
The clean lake will be very calm and peaceful and it will actually pacify our consciousness and we will see the reflection of the environment around uh this lake. so we have a teliwarkum talibar
whereas if the water is not clean uh the qualities are opposite the water can be salty or have some other taste or even be poisonous.
Achieving peacefulness by overcoming distraction
The water will be disturbed and it will have all kinds of pollution inside and it will not reflect the reality or the environment very properly.
In the same way, our consciousness uh when it's clean, first of all uh it's uh uh let's start from the end. First of all, it's very peaceful, śānta-tvam.
Śrīla Prabhupāda and Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, they explained what does it mean, peaceful consciousness. Prabhupada, Amaidiana Manapan may Abringrade and Nangra de Solid Granya.
They glose this Shantatvam as uh uh Laya Viksepa Rahitam that our consciousness is devoid of Laya and Vikshepa. Amruda Amidia Amidiana Unarunel Laya no Viksheta and the consciousness
where we become completely sleepy and nothing really you know going on. We just want to sleep and we go to sleep. That's what that's why it's called liar. Lye means destruction uh the consciousness is destroyed
we are not conscious anymore so laya abrina tukane lay mari nam the govana satragal nala yadu me Sometimes people think that this means peacefulness if you are sleepy. But this is not peacefulness. It is just dullness.
You're very very dull and practically not conscio Kilana and Nelaki Poumbo and the Mario Unaruki Ericor, and then Sindike Muriador and Lake. So that's the result of the influence of Tamagun upon our consciousness.
And uh Vikshepa means uh destruction when you're distracted, when your mind is agitated and you constantly think about different subject matters.
We know all we all experience this uh you know condition of our consciousness where uh we are not really consistent in our uh thought process we're just jumping from one subject to another.
We sit down to chant and the mind is just g going crazy. It wants to think about everything in the universe, but doesn't want to think So
we're basically distracted, our attention is distracted, and especially nowadays it's a very big problem. There is this disease which is called attention-deficit syndrome, where people just cannot concentrate on anything.
So that's the result of the influence of uh Rajaguna upon our consciousness, the mode passion.
So Shantatvam means that predominantly we are in the mode of goodness which means that our consciousness is very light and very lucid, very peaceful, but at the same time we are very conscious of what is going on inside and outside.
Nama Kunmiyan and Lai Apade na Rumba Amidiya Gram in the Ahmadiyya Vande Anna Gunarupuramana Namayan
We all know that when we are very uh sober, very concentrated, you know then we feel very good. That's the result of this Satvagun influence. When we are very composed and concentrated.
Namaunde Ur Sandaman and Elaila Rikambo the Namay Aleticama from the Arakrum.
Freedom from negative emotions and attachments
Again, remember this metaphor of the lake. When the lake is very peaceful, when there is no wind, the lake is just very still and calm.
The next quality of uh the natural quality of the consciousness uh chitta is avikaritvam.
the number uh we or a adatta gunaman de a bikari from anything governance of the land so then in uh uh in hindi there is this word bikar.
It's coming from Sanskrit word vikar. Hindi la varta bekar. I don't know samaskita vate vikar lakuria varta. So bikar in Hindi means bad, corrupted, very bad, not not very nice.
So the natural quality of water is it has sweet taste.
But when there is some uh change in the nature. When the nature of the water is polluted, then this sweet taste disappears and instead of sweet taste there is a very obnoxious, not very pleasant taste is there.
So basically, if we go to our consciousness, avikaritvam, this quality of avikaritvam means that by nature we are very happy. Because yeah, we are very satisfied. Santos.
We are very satisfied and happy. That's the natural state of our consciousness. As much as the sweet taste is the natural state of water.
But we all know that there are so many negative emotions which we experience, and these negative emotions they actually are not natural for the consciousness.
They are result of this vikar of the transformation or change in quality of consciousness.
Devila the Ur Either Mariana in Angle Nariya Eric Namakatarium, Either Mariana in Angle Kurka, Nama Yerke Kare, Everything Yerke Inime, Adimar Namloda Yerke on the Vikaritan ma vi karamari kanavan
the marjorie therefore this avikaritvam this quality of avikaritvam not uh not changing uh changelessness avikaritvam is glossed as uh raga rachitam, raga dirahitam, raga adhirahitam in the Abhikarish Pumps.
It means that our na i in natural state consciousness is devoid of all these negative things, starting with raga, which is attachment. Yeah, starting with Raga. Raga Pineda Aramikira in the Yadrimariana in Anglica Parpauna. In the it is said that all the diseases are coming from negative emotions.
It's also confirmed by the modern sciences, the modern science also says that all the disease which we have, have psychosomatic nature. Ida Waturkade Yella Vyadi Elakumara Mamande Nama Idhrimarayana Una Una Ruhad.
In uh in one of Ayurvedic scriptures it is said Ragadi Roga. All the Rogas, all the diseases are coming from Raga, etc.
Ragadi Roga. So raga means attachment that's the primordial negative emotions which we may experience when our consciousness is polluted.
So basically it means that uh you know we don't experience grief, lamentation, desperation, attachments when we are in our natural state of consciousness.
If all these emotions are coming to us, it's a sign that there is some impurity still there in our consciousness, in our mind.
Purity and reflecting the divine image
In the Mari Namaki and Nagaledri Mariana, Enangal Vanduna, Yer Kale Namateranika, Namurai, Gunaruan the Suttamaila, and then the
first quality which is mentioned here, the most important quality of our consciousness, is Svachatvam, which means purity.
But svachatvam basically means this uh the ability to reflect uh properly the environment deliver predically greatly great as much as clean water reflects very nicely uh everything which is around it.
So So there is very important um uh uh concept behind this. Uh Vishwanachikravati Thakur says that uh this quality svachatvam means that your consciousness in natural state will reflect the image of God.
Bhagavan uh bimba that uh bhagavat bimba the image of God uh will be reflected in our consciousness.
Bhagavat bimbam bhavanara guru mandate hammarulak prati vada So it means uh basically then when our consciousness is clean then we always remember about God because His form or His image is always there, it's reflected.
When our consciousness is not clean, then there is no there is no notion of God. But when consciousness comes back to uh n normal condition, then we always remember about God and we see Him everywhere.
Nama Una ruanda tremi wand, Bahana Pakamuran China, Yapu me Bhana and Gimme Pakamudinam Lala. As Prahlāda Mahārāja, Hiraṇyakaśipu asks, where is your God? And he says, He's everywhere.
Prahlada Maharaj then kicks, he'll let you get so that she poas if if he is in this column and uh, Prahlada Maharaj looks at this column and he sees God there.
And some commentator says that you know when Prahlada Maharaj looked at this column and saw God, Krishna, Krishna kind of uh you know twitched his eye. You know, I see you, you see me, but this fool doesn't see me.
Maharaj and Hiranyakashipu... and there, Pragalas Marajanala Park commodity, upon the Angatun Larger Bahan and the Conservative Pragalas Maraj to Soldare.
So uh that's uh another very important quality of pure clean consciousness.
So when we are chanting the holy name of God, these qualities gradually gradually will have to manifest within our heart uh otherwise we are doing something wrong if they don't manifest.
We should feel that we have become more peaceful uh because we are chanting the holy name.
We should feel that we become more happy and there is less negative emotions, even though maybe there are some external causes for negative emotions, but still we don't uh react uh in a negative way uh to the environment.
In this sense that God is there, I may not see Him very clearly, but still He is there, He is watching me, He is with me, should also gradually gradually become stronger and stronger and more pronounced within our heart.
Please Urunaru Madhvaram Pafani Kra in a pathara or in a Gavana Mayupani to Karan Surto Runaru Kurumad Sukhirikred.
So this is exactly what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu means when he says that the first result of chanting of the holy name is ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam.
So now we know what is uh clean consciousness and we know to a certain extent uh the uh we know very well actually uh what does it mean to have uh not pure not clean consciousness.
It means to have all kinds of negative emotions, negative or even positive material emotions, you know, like this agitation.
It means to not remember about God and not to feel that He is there, feel that He's not there, that He doesn't care.
How material contact pollutes human consciousness
And it also means that we always agitate or not peaceful though the Namaki Pondariane Nangal Illa Jaralala Morayana in Angel, Ila Bahwana and Gavana Chla Di Humana in Nangle in the Marila in the China.
And we should also understand that the reason why consciousness becomes unclean is because it is in contact with the material nature.
Specifically with the lower modes of material nature, with the lower guṇas, tamogaṇa and sattva and rajogaṇa in the marīghaṇa rādhanam.
Like the rain water, when the rain water comes from the sky, it's clean, but uh as soon as it uh touches the earth it becomes muddy and not clean. det är du synde. Kan jag på är gildet.
So basically that's why we should chant hare nāma. Which will rectify our consciousness. Purify our consciousness, but at the same time we should try to avoid as much as possible contacting with this lower elements,
lower energies in the material nature. We should be very careful because otherwise, what is the use?
We are chanting in the morning Hare Kṛṣṇa and then the whole day, the whole rest of the day we are getting dirty again by associating with this lower modes, watching TV, drinking coffee and you know going to internet and all kinds of nonsense.
Keelarukotona, the Marat TV parker, the internet parker, the body, the sample of the Māyā's līlā.
to but if we do it consistently, avoid this contacts with the lower modes of nature and at the same time chanting the holy name.
Very soon we will experience this peacefulness, happiness, and the sense that God is there with me, that He is He is you know pushing me towards Himself.
The problem is that we are not used to be in this state of consciousness. And therefore there is a habit. You know we become peaceful, and then we think something is wrong, let me be agitated again.
You in the Mari Rico, I've been solete paramore in the Mariamid And that's why and how we break our meditation.
We are w we achieved this state and then all of a sudden we think no something is wrong let me go back to my normal state quote unquote.
But we should understand very clearly that all these states of consciousness which we are very familiar and used to are not really our normal state of consciousness.
It's all bikar, it's all polluted state of consciousness. Nama Namari Mana Sidrahala Guna Sidrahala Irikara or Sulan, Namoda Yerk Sulli, Namoda Yer K and Ameidiana the Pelam Vikara Manan Jade.
I remember once I was giving a lecture to a very new group of people and I was and I started saying that you know desires which we so uh familiar with, they're not really good.
Then they don't make us happy if we have so many desires. And one lady in the audience she became very angry at me and she started yelling at me. What are you saying? This is nonsense.
This is the way to become happy, is to have des— I I almost ran away. And the penman, you remember the Nala and the Solanhew on the, I think. Because that's a very modern concept.
You can only be happy if you have unlimited desires and uh people they always try to generate desires within their heart. They don't really appreciate peacefulness so much. Therefore,
we should very much understand that this is the normal state of our consciousness.
When we are peaceful, when there is no desire, at the same time we are very lucid and we feel the presence of God and we are approaching God by changing the Holy Name.
And when we chant uh when we notice that uh again we kind of the the habit is pulling us into this abnormal state of mind. We should say, no, no, I don't want to be there. I want to be peaceful and happy and with God.
I don't want to be agitated and unhappy and on my own.
In this way we should help the holy name, we should kind of uh speed up this process but by appreciating this state of consciousness which is naturally coming while we are chanting the holy name and then the progress will be uh faster.
Nama in the Mari or Isila on the Nama Java Mana Bodan, I may reculma Sandosa my ticket, other one the Sando and the Mari Amaidi on the Sandosa potate.
We should not allow our consciousness to be in this abnormal state if we notice that it's becoming again agitated, we should come back and uh say, sit peacefully, there is nothing urgent now, just chant and be happy.
Upon a governance of the poumod, either a mayere canasulate, either Venda Abdinsolete Amanasa Santa Purti, Amay the Perthi Lela e the Podo, either than Jabamanavoro, tripy ward in Soleta Tripicundaro.
So this is my little message today from this beautiful verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. What is normal state of consciousness and what is abnormal state of consciousness? Normal state of course.
Our mind in normal state of consciousness is Svatchatvam, Avikari Tvam and Shantatvam. It's very clean, reflecting the reality properly.
It doesn't have negative emotions, it's happy, and it uh does not experience this lion vixepa, this uh uh influences of the lower modes of nature.
Overcoming lamentation about past material experiences
Namura Yerkian and Lion, this um Avikarit Pum and Sandatum. Swat Chetum Naban on the Namasti Pakumedi, Avikarit Pumna, and with the governor chat in Larry, Sandat Pum and Laya, Matravicsia by Lama, A media s my decrease. And this is what we will achieve if we uh chant the holy name very nicely.
Okay, so maybe there are couple of questions. Yes ma'am. Help us switch on the chat so that people can come in. Mm-hmm. Shantiraman Matany, Shay Shatri. Ramaud. State of consciousness And
number one time Narumba Kashapatruna at the other one rumba later on and chipaka both in a katrupia, okay, number some on the some under In England, English, social English, English Satan.
Mataji is saying, sometimes when we think of old times when we were so happy, but at present stage when we think about it, we are little disturbed and we cry about it.
Similarly, then we think about sometimes when we were very, very distressed, but now we are peaceful thinking that okay that problem has solved. So how to handle it. See you know we are more or less we can be happy now.
We don't have to wait when the environment changes. You know you just realize that we are already happy. I'm happy. Just tell yourself I'm happy and you will become happy. If Perikras will line us on those to make that
there is always some cause for lamentation in this material world. There is a very nice uh little story which I will tell in this regard. There was one old woman and she had two daughters. What am I?
One daughter was married to a uh uh to uh the agricultural man, the somebody who was growing uh some crops. And another water and another daughter was married to somebody who was making umbrellas.
So uh you know and this woman old woman uh when there was son she was crying because the daughter who was married to somebody who was doing umbrellas will become penniless because if the weather is always nice then there will be no customers for umbrellas. Or something like this.
Arthur Penny and Iran Namari Kodai said about climate rumba Nala and the China. And the weather when the weather was not nice, she was crying about other daughter because then the other daughter will become unhappy.
The idea of this story is very clear is that if you want to find some cause for lamentation, you will always find it. That's how our that's how our mind works, you know. Oh I don't have this or I don't have that.
You know, but we have so many things and it's uh just tell um uh God it's fine everything is fine. So this uh this quality of Santosha is is very very important and we have to be satisfied. That's it.
There is nothing there is no cause for lamentation. It's fine. if this things comes we should understand that this is some impurity which is there in our heart. Okay. Thank you. I'm not sure if you're the one thing I
Addressing bodily suffering in spiritual practice
and sister banger involvement on that uh in the nigga either mariananganala and mari badik uh badikada manam painter mari pakumbode if aung sister on the Patina Avango
and the Bodunda Udan family was the wooden letter study lama de canga. Abdukumbo Badiuk Patrickanala Vedila Varono Abdandra inunda and the ask you He was introduced to this classes by our sister.
But the problem is the sister's family is suffering bodily ailments, a lot of bodily ailments, and she's not able to attend the classes now. And she's so much dis it is a very disturbing environment for them.
So in that stage how it happened and if we can bless them, it will be nice. Yeah, so definitely we should pray for such people because we're all connected and the prayers are very powerful.
Of course, ultimately everything b depends on God, but we should you know try to help these people in in their sufferings as much as
possible, and I'll definitely pray myself for you know for the well being of these people. Disease is a very uh Big obstacle in our spiritual life.
Because when we have this gross painful condition, it's very difficult to think about God and it's very difficult to concentrate on anything spiritual.
In Yoga Sutras, it is said that this is the first and most important obstacle, then most gross and most strong obstacle on spiritual path. Thou should try to free from this. And definitely,
for that we should remember what I said today we should try to get rid of this negative emotions because ultimately all diseases are coming from negative emotions. Hello Gurji? Ah, Namskaram Gurji. Kalingman.
Gurji the chanting upana ship paper canal panabodha She is telling when she is doing all our household activities like cooking or whatever it is, always this harinam is going in the background.
And that too, when she is waiting chapels and in a uh disrespectful position, still she is chanting Harinam. Is it proper? No problem. No problem. You can do it. No problem. Okay, good. Okay, thank you, thank you. Thank you.
See, there are two two ways of chanting Harinam. One way when we sit down and we do pasana. That's our concentrated meditation.
And there is another way when we're just doing something and at the same time we chant Harinam, that's for remembering, for reminding ourselves.
Krishna says, or it is said in Padma Purāṇa, we should always remember about God and never forget. So when we are sitting and doing our meditation then we should think about God in a very proper way.
But then we can do this by doing some other things. It's just the means to remind us about God. process. It is coming often too often. Set the uh negative Well
you know it's we should understand that this is the influence of the negative energies which we are in contact with. And that this is not actually natural. It's it's a result of external influence.
And the holy name will drive all these negative influences. My connection is very bad so I don't know if I will be able to continue with this session. So there are so many people waiting with questions.
Maybe one day we can just take questions, Maharaj. Okay, we can do it. Yes. One day only questions. Instead of next time when you come, it can be only questions. Okay. The same topic and the same consciousness. Okay.
Natural and unnatural consciousness. Okay. So yeah. So thank you very much. So we'll do it. We can take from Shivadvik. Okay. One last question. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Mahārāja.
We are on we are on the very initial stage of chanting, and we are really blessed to hear all the stages of the chanting and to how to avoid the negative thoughts.
So we should go near him that we all understand what application we are slowly practicing Maharaj and we all need your blessings also. Thank you Maharaj. Thank you.
We need to open your speeches to hear so that we can refine and stuff. Thank you very much. Thank you. So thank you. And the Marie Maharaj on the three three pinamagon the put I recognise a Tel R Kate. Okay. Thank you.