Anavrittih shabdat. Lecture 4
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · Radhadesh · 2004
Chapters
Vedic views on sound and creation
So yesterday I registered some complaints about my seminar and that I didn't give any aids and therefore people are bewildered. And the purpose of this seminar is not to bewilder you.
So I tried to somehow rather correct myself. I made this little chart which you see and which we basically explained yesterday but we can go over it again to get more clear idea what's going on.
So it is explained again and again, not only in the Vedas, but in other scriptures of the world, that sound is the first material element.
And basically, that the sound is the substance from which this whole material world is made. Like in ancient Egypt it was said that word was the original matter original thing from which everything
And also we see in the Bible in the New Testament that first there was a word, and from this word, from Logos, everything was made. Which is of course a Greek philosophy.
And in so many other ways, this very same idea is expressed.
But in the Vedas, we have much more complete and satisfactory information about the creation of the world and about this original world which was there in the beginning. Nowhere you will hear this word.
This word, as we know, this sound vibration, the original primordial sound vibration, which is still there and which is still the original sound of this universe, is this sound oṁ. We can chant it together.
I don't think I will be able to explain more in more details today, but maybe tomorrow we will go into it. But in any case, this aum is the first sound,
and then it is said in the Vedic literature, then later on, this aum, which has these three sounds: A, U and M, and then bindu, this last nasal sound or this dot.
If you saw the description of Aum in Sanskrit, there is this a and this and then moon, and over the moon, crescent moon, over the moon, there is this dot, which is bindu, which is the last sound,
which is very essential and very important.
In fact, Krishna calls himself in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the 12th Kanda of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or 11th Kanda, sorry, in the 11th Kanda of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he calls himself nādātmā.
And nāda means sound, ātmā means the soul, or the end of the sound. He says when the yogi meditates on this sound oṁ, I appear where? At the end of the sound.
When you pronounce the whole thing that at the end, I am waiting for you. I'm ready to shake your hands.
You know, I'm there at the very end of this sound vibration which is even after bindu, after this uh very subtle vibration which vibrates here in this uh in Sahasarar Chakra.
But in any case it is said that first this own to create this world expanded into the three spheres, three spheres of creation which are explained here as Bu, Buwach and Swah.
This is three spheres of creation, is the creation of this original sound Om, and basically, these spheres, the more and more subtle creation this universe is not all consist of uh not consist just of the gross matter it consists of more subtle matter
so bouvag is basically this buvach is the mental plane. And svah is higher plane of existence where Brahma and Higher Bhini Gods are living So accordingly, this
is universe, and on the level of microkores, we have the same kind of creation which also a creation of this primordial sound own.
Gross body, which is called Stula Deha, Subtle Body, Suksmadeha, causal body, Karanadeha, which is the equivalent of intelligence of Buddhi. And finally, spiritual body, Siddhadeha.
And then we have again in the Vedic philosophy this three states of existence, Jagratasvapna and Sushukti, waking state, dreaming state, deep sleep, and finally spiritual reality which is called Turiya.
And in correspondence with this, there are these four levels of sound which I was trying to explain yesterday, this science of sound about Baikharivak, Madhyamavak, Pashyandivak and Paravak.
Gross sound which we pronounce mental sound, the sound of our thoughts and idea or image Pashyanti Vak and finally Paravak Transcendental Sound which is the original sound.
So accordingly there are three different kinds of energies, material energies, which are invested into this sound.
And in the Vaikari Vak or the Gross Sound, the Kree energy or creative energy invested, energy of knowledge is invested into Madhya Vak or mental sound and in the Pasyanti Vak Ichashakti or energy of desire is invested.
And then, of course there, is transcendental energy, which is explained below. And for this explanation, I will dwell a little bit more because everything else we have already explained. And I I will not go into details.
Yeah, and then there is processes of yoga, of course, we know. And it's also interesting that there is a correlation or comparison between the processes of yoga and the levels of existence and levels of development.
Material reflections and transcendental energies
And I will also tell something about it explaining one verse from the 12th canton of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which deals with it.
But uh very interesting point here again coming back to the 15th chapter which is very essential for our discussion here.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that this whole creation of the material world, this tree of material world, is the reflection of the real tree. Because the branches are, you know, it's everything is upside down here, right?
The roots are growing upwards and the branches are growing downwards. So it's a reflection. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that you can see this reflected tree on the surface of the point. So where does this water where is this?
It's a reflection of the reality of the real reality. So what is this water which reflects this tree. How this tree comes about? What is this water? Huh? Yeah. The water of desire. This is a very, very significant point.
The water of selfish, egoistic desire is ultimately the root cause of whatever of this creation of this upwards creation. And therefore, if you go again to this more subtle Vakshakti,
still within the material frame, you see this Ichha Shakti invested in it. Ichha means desire. The energy of desire is there. And from this, the whole realm of material existence is expanding.
So, and then there is, of course, we know that transcendental energy also has three aspects or three divisions. What are these divisions? They're listed below. This is Sandinī-śakti and Saṃvid-śakti and Hlādinī-śakti.
The Sandinī-śakti which corresponds to the aspect of absolute sat, and then cit energy or saṃvid-śakti and then finally Hlādinī-śakti, the energy of bliss or ānanda.
And then there is a very essential verse from Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, which Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes very very often, which is our main pramana for personal God.
Our main proof that God is person, who knows what is the main proof? From Upanishads, from the original Vedic literature. You know? No. No. Parasia tierra na klimatich. So God has energies.
Because personal God means impersonal God, someone who doesn't have energies. He is useless. This is Brahman.
But person God, the main distinction between us, uh, Vaishnavas or personalists and uh impersonalists who do not accept the existence of the person of God is this very point, whether God has energies or he doesn't have energies.
So parasi shakti vidaivasvete Svabiki Balad Jana Kricha. Yesterday Radhikramantrabu he was explaining a little bit, he touched this.
He said that energies of the Lord, when he was reading the definition of God of Bhagavan from Bhagavatam Jivodaswani, there is a mention that the definition of the energies of the Lord, they are Swabadiki, they are natural, they are not external for him, they are something inherent in his nature.
Gaining spiritual strength from Lord Balarama
So and in this particular verse these three energies are being mentioned, Bala, Jnana and Kriya. And they correspond to more familiar for us terminology, Sandhini Sh Shakti, Sandhitakti, and Vadini Shakti.
Bala is this energy and Bala, what it means? Bala? Strength. Bala means which strengths? Spiritual strengths, yes. Bala is this spiritual strength, which is the first energy of spiritual creation.
This is the energy which is the foundation of the spiritual creation? This is the very beginning of the foundation of spiritual creation, which is Vala for spiritual strength.
So, this is a very essential point because yesterday we were talking about this point that uh Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā, Asvathaminam Subirudamubam, Asanghasa strength and 3-hand chit .2 How we can cut off this tree of material existence?
So the key is here in this word Bala. Because Bala is Sandhini Shakti. Who represents Bala Sadini Shakti? Balaram. Lord Balaram. Naturally so. Topas problems. Got the point.
Balaram is this manifestation of spiritual strengths and Balaram is also manifestation of the original original spiritual mask.
So So in Bhagavad Gita in the seventh chapter, Krishna also very beautifully and very cryptically explains this. There is a very esoteric verse which is not often explained.
But Krishna says, Balambalavaam kamaragavi vargitam. Balambalavatam chaham, I am the strength of the strong. What are the strong people? kāmarāga-vivarjitam. Who can do what? Who can relinquish? Who can give up?
Kama and Radha. This is the spiritual strength. Krishna is not saying I am the strength of those who are lifting their heavy weights. I am the muscle strengths and these guys who only have muscles and no brain.
He says bala, balam bala-vatam tat-chaham kama-raga-vivarjitam. Those who are capable of relinquishing, giving up this Kama and Raga, cutting off this Kama and Raga. And this Bala.
This bala is this strength by which we can cut off this tree of material existence. And we see that this ichchha-shakti is the last or the first, the subtle shakti of material existence.
And we can, you know, conquer over this ichchha or material desire with the help of Bala, spiritual strengths. And from whom this Bala is coming? From the spiritual master, yes.
From the spiritual master, this strength is coming.
He is the source of this spiritual energy who can give us the strength to conquer over this entanglement or to will to undo this material entanglement and this material world. And what is Balarama?
What is the main teaching? Where is the source of this Bala spiritual energy? What is the main teaching of Balarama? How, what is his manifestation? What is he doing in the spiritual world?
What is this foundation of the spiritual world? He's famous for what? Servitors. Service. For service, yeah. He is the supreme personality of servitorship God. Servitorship God.
He is he's serving Krishna in all capacities. It's called unreserved service. Balarama is the manifestation of this unreserved, unlimited service. Therefore, he is called Ananta Shesha. Ananta means unlimited.
And it's also very interesting and very significant point. He's called Ananta Śeṣa. And uh I will explain now what Shesha means. Uh uh does anyone know what Shesha means? No, no, it has nothing to do with BCS.
Śeṣa literally means the limit or remnant or leftover. But the spiritual meaning of this word, which is very prominent in Rāmānujācārya Acharya Sampradaya, Ramanuja Acharya at length goes to this quality of jiva.
He says that the original quality of jīva is sheṣatva, which is coming from Śeṣa, from Balarāma. Śeṣatva means the one whose existence is for the sake of others.
If we go deep inside our heart, we very quickly and very easily will be able to recognize this is what is my existence all about. I'm not living, it's boring to live for ourselves, isn't it? Did you try it?
It's useless, it's hopeless, it's there is no juice in it. So the very nature of the living entity which are ultimately the expansions of Balarāma coming down the road, so to speak,
is that the living for the sake of Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa is this self-sufficient identity, self-sufficient person, original person from whom everything is coming.
But this Balarāma, who is ananta-śeṣa, his service or his desire to serve Kṛṣṇa is unlimited. Therefore, he's called Ananta. And this is basically where this bala, spiritual strength is coming from.
The bala, spiritual strength is coming from this very point. If I understand that I have to live for the sake of Kṛṣṇa, I have to live for the sake of service.
This is the essence, the very use of my life, of my existence then only I will get the spiritual strengths which will be enough to cut off this tree of material existence with the sword of knowledge
also Śrīla Prabhupāda explains it in one of the purports in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and he says that the spiritual master gives you the sword of knowledge and he not only gives you the sword or sword, sword but he also gives you the strength to cut it and the strength is coming from this understanding of uh of service uh or and
Purifying internal desires through sacred sound
that's basically what is happening when we serve Kṛṣṇa or try to serve Kṛṣṇa through this chanting of sound vibration. As I explained yesterday, and it's very clear from this little chart,
which I perhaps even explain a little more today, that ultimately the chanting of the holy name changes our desires. It goes that deep that it may change our desires, selfish egoistic desires.
And this is why the sound vibration or the process of chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra or any Vedic mantra in fact is so powerful.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī also explains this and Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this when he says that prāyaścitta or any other method of purification or rectification doesn't go deep enough to change the desires.
It may change, it may purify you from some sinful reactions which you acquired by committing sinful activities, but the desires remain the same. And therefore you will commit the same activity again and again and again.
Jīva Gosvāmī explains this in Bhakti-sandarbha.
He says offenses create the desire to sin. If you create offenses, if you commit offenses, and especially offenses against the Holy Name, or offenses in the spiritual practices, or any offenses, it creates the desire to sin.
And then he says, however, by chanting the holy name, offenses and sinful desires are both destroyed. This is the meaning here, he says.
He stresses this point that by chanting of the holy name, the sinful desires are being totally destroyed.
And I was trying to explain this point yesterday by saying or by explaining this process of reversing the material creation. The material creation goes from subtle to gross and we have to reverse this process.
So I will continue. This was a little introduction to today's lecture. And I will continue now with very interesting material for today. Hopefully I will be able to cover it.
First I will read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport which explains this. It's from the Third Canto, 26th chapter.
When Prabhupāda says the verse first: When egoism and ignorance is agitated by sex energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sex energy here is the kāma-śakti and the energy of desire.
The subtle element sound is manifested, and from sound comes the ethereal sky and the sense of hearing. And Prabhupāda gives a brilliant purport to this verse.
He says: It appears from this verse that all the objects of our sense gratification are products of egoism in ignorance.
It is understood from this verse that by agitation of the element of egoism in ignorance, the first thing produced was sound, which is the subtle form of it.
It is stated also in Vedānta-sūtra that sound is the origin of all objects of material possession, and that by sound one can also dissolve this material existence. Anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt means liberation by sound.
The entire material manifestation began from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement if it has a particular potency. The particular sound capable of doing this is the transcendental vibration. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Our entanglement in material affairs has begun from material sound. Now we must purify that sound in spiritual understanding. This is also very important. Now we must purify that sound in spiritual understanding.
Tomorrow I will explain a little bit about this. There is sound in the spiritual world also. If we approach sound, then our spiritual life begins. And the other requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied.
So again, very essential point: the gradual progression of the spiritual progress or spiritual life, first by approaching the sound, and then other requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied.
And I will speak a little bit about this today. If we approach the sound, then our spiritual life begins and our requirements for spiritual advancement can be supplied. Can be supplied.
We have to understand very clearly that sound is the beginning of creation of all material objects for our sense gratification. Similarly, if sound is purified, our spiritual necessities are also produced from sound.
So it will be a little difficult material today, but I will try to make it a little easier. But it is very very important.
So, in the same chapter which I explained yesterday from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from 11th canto, 12th chapter, the same analogy or the same metaphor is given as in the 15th chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about the tree.
Exactly the same analogy. It is an analogy. It is said that this tree of material existence has two seeds, hundreds of roots, three lower trunks and five upper trunks. So it's a Banyan tree. It's a big tree.
It produces five flavors, has 11 branches and nest made for two birds. This is the nest with two birds. This tree is covered by three types of bark, gives two fruits and extends up to the sun, and so on and so forth.
This whole description is there, this whole analogy, and the same chapter is there. And then it is said with steady intelligence, you should develop an alloyed devotional service.
Again, this point of intelligence is stressed here. By careful worship of the spiritual master. Yes.
The same very idea is expressed in 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The steady intelligence you shall develop an alloyed devotional service by careful worship of spiritual master.
And with the sharpened axe of transcendental knowledge you should cut off the subtle material covering of the soul. Upon realizing the supreme personality of God, you should then give up that axe of analytic knowledge.
So there is gradual progression which is very essential for this process of liberation.
Generating spiritual fire through dedicated endeavor
And I will explain a little bit about this now. So I will take the next verse from the 12th, that was the last verse from this 12th chapter, and the 18th verse. Yesterday we covered the 17th verse.
And the 18th verse, I will not read it, I will just explain it. The 18th verse gives again very interesting analogy.
As I said, this whole story in the 11th chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is explaining how Krishna answered the question of Uddhava. Uddhava said, I'm bewildered, Krishna. You know, you totally completely bewildered me.
You know, you you said do this and do this and do this. Please tell me very clearly what should I do. And then Krishna pronounced this verse which we covered yesterday about the material creation.
And then he says that then he gives another comparison. He says, here you are, this whole material creation is already there. What you should do with this material creation? He says you should burn it down.
This whole material creation is already there. You should burn it. How you burn it? What you should use for burning the material creation? Fire, yes. How you get the fire?
You take the matches so you get the lighter In the Vedic tradition, there is this two Arani woods, right? One Arani wood and then another Arani wood on the top.
And you uh stir the arani wood which on the top you make this you rub them vigorously rub so Krishna says to Arjuna oh sorry to Uddhava you start vigorously rubbing the Araṇi woods.
And by this vigorously rubbing of Araṇi woods, because there is some sound in between them. This is also an essential element of this comparison. What will happen? Spark. You will get the spark.
And then when you get the spark what you do? Yeah, you pour what? You pour ghee. Right. And Krishna says, exactly in the same way I will appear from the Vedic sound. Exactly in the same way.
Exactly like as you rub the spark of the and if you pour the ghee at that moment, then I will appear as the fire, as the fire appears in that time.
So the explanation here is very, very interesting and very very significant for us to understand. What Krishna says here, in fact, he says, when you rap, and rap means, and he says vigorously rap, rap means you do what?
You work, you sweat, you know, you vigorously rub, and it just doesn't really appear immediately. And what is it for? What does it stand for? This hard hard labor.
If you follow the Vedic path, what first thing you should do? What is this hard labor? Sacrifice. Sacrifice, yes. Basically it may mean sacrifice, it may mean you go out on the streets and do saṅkīrtana-yajña.
It means you should work following the directions of the spiritual master, that is you should work. First thing you should work. First thing is karma-yoga. But you do it not for yourself.
You do it because you want some fruits, because you want to do this, you know, you have this selfish motivation. First you walk. First, you have to sweat. This is very essential beginning of the spiritual path.
Unless you sweat, you will not achieve anything. But then by this sweating, the reward of this sweating is what? Spark. What is the spark? What is the spark? Knowledge, yes.
By reward, if you do it properly, if you really, you know, work hard, and if the spark appears, the spark is the knowledge, you know, your karma have to bring you to the level of knowledge.
And at that moment what you have to do? You have to pour ghee. And you have to pour and pour and pour and pour ghee.
It is explained by Śrīdhara Svāmī that havīṁṣi saṁdidhate means putting ghee on the fire indicates the progressive advancement of Vedic sacrifice.
In other words, what is Krishna explaining here that the normal way of the Vedic sacrifice, and actually he's explaining to Uddhava his bewilderment.
Krishna said, I explained to you the whole Vedic path, which you don't necessarily have to traverse within one lifetime.
You know you start from working, you start from varṇāśrama, then you go to jñāna-yoga, you get little spark of spiritual knowledge, little understanding that there is spirit behind this matter.
And then you pour ghee and then you continue the sacrifice, continue the sacrifice. And when the sacrifice reaches the culmination, the pinnacle, what is the sacrifice? What is the highest sacrifice?
Yeah, the highest sacrifice of the highest process is bhakti-yoga. Actually, what Krishna is explaining here that when you pour the ghee, when you continue sacrifice, don't stop the sacrifice, just continue the sacrifice,
ultimately you will come to the point of bhakti, to real bhakti. Not just theoretical bhakti, not just but the bhakti will appear here. This is and in this moment I will appear.
Exactly in the same way from the Vedic sound I will appear. So but I want uh and it's also interesting anyway, I don't tell this. Maybe later tell this about Kāma.
Concentration and overcoming impediments in chanting
But it's we'll come closer to our particular subject matter, and for that I will take another example from Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad. And Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad exactly the same comparison is given.
Again, we are talking with you now how to get Krishna from the fire of sacrifice,
how to understand him and Krishna in Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad he says I am everywhere right as much as the fire is everywhere fire is everywhere right he is in the fire is in this wood, fire is in the floor, fire, fire is everywhere. The element fire is everywhere. And Krishna says, I am everywhere as much as the fire is everywhere.
thing the same comparison is given you should rub what you should rub he thing the same comparison is given you should rub what you should wrap he says more specifically here you should make your body as the lower arani wood as the ara wood which is there and
you should make the oṁkāra as the higher arani wood the ara wood which is which is up there. And you should rub. What it means? You should drop? Chant. You should chant. Not exactly like this. There's love and devotion.
With extreme you should chant so it is explained as the firewood cannot be seen also it's present everywhere. The Supreme Personality of God cannot be seen. Also, he is also present.
The fire is manifest by rubbing sticks together. So the Supreme Personality of God is manifest by chanting the sacred syllable Om.
So this is how it's, and he said, making your own body, your one's body the lower arani stick and the sacred syllable oṁ the upper arani stick, and rubbing them together in a trance of meditation, you may see the Supreme Personality of God.
As by rubbing two sticks, you may see the hidden this the fire hidden in the wood. This is a very interesting comparison because again rubbing means hard labor and rubbing means the impediments.
Why you should do it again and again and again why you should really labor so hard. Because there are some internal impediments which you have to overcome by this process of rubbing.
Krishna, and first, you know, you rub, rub, rub and before the spark what comes? The smoke, yeah. The smoke, it's terrible smoke. You rub and rub and rub and instead of some fire we get the smoke.
So you rub and rub and rub, you chant and chant and chant. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. But instead of Krishna, you get the smoke, you know.
And you have the tears in your eyes, not because of ecstasy, but because of the problems which are there which are coming up and that's what you get basically. So I will today deal with this particular subject matter
of the impediments, of the problems which arise in the process of chanting, why the and how the process works and what we should do for this.
It's also in Mundaka Upanishad, there is another beautiful description about this chanting of this sacred sound. It is said there that om is the bow. The sound om or mantra is the bow. And then your soul is the arrow.
And then you should take this bow, string the bow, put your soul, and release it, and then it will hit what? Brahman. Brahman, yes. It will hit Krishna. So but for that to hit the target.
Krishna or Brahman is lakṣya, it's the goal. But to hit the target, the soul should be sharpened. How you sharpen the soul? How you sharpen this arrow? By concentration, by meditation. You should really concentrate.
This is the hint here. If you want to hit the target, if you want to reach Brahman, if you want to reach this spiritual goal, you really have to meditate and concentrate.
But at the same time, it's interesting, Krishna says, among all the sacrifices I am, which sacrifice? And Prabhupāda Sarasvatī in his commentary to Gopāla Tāpanī Upaniṣad explains why.
He says why japa is the best of the sacrifices. Who knows? Why it is the best? Why it's Krishna?
Prabhupada Saraswati says, it's the best sacrifice because the results are coming easier and more quickly than in any other sacrifice. It's much more easy sacrifice. Did you notice it? It is.
He says that the fruits of this sacrifice will come much easier and much quicker, much faster than any other sacrifice. Therefore, Krishna says, I'm this sacrifice.
Transformative potency of holy mantras
So now we will deal and also Jiva Goswami in Satsandarbha he explains this power of mantra. He says the mantra is so powerful, even if you do it offensively, it will work.
Even if you chant it offensively, it still will work. And he gives an example from one Purana, from Vishnu Dharma Purana. And the story from this Vishnu Dharma Purana is amazing.
There was a brāhmaṇa, and once this brāhmaṇa was walking in the dark, and there was a Brahma Rākṣas, huge demon, and this demon ran to devour this brāhmaṇa. He wanted to devour this brāhmaṇa. And then this very moment the brāhmaṇa chanted mantra. And to protect himself, he chanted mantra.
So what happened with this demon? Then the demon he stopped immediately because the brāhmaṇa was protected by this mantra.
And the demon said to this brāhmaṇa I wanted to eat you but somehow or other you protected yourself with this mantra. Oh brāhmaṇa by touching this mantra I suddenly have become pure and heart.
In other words, what this demon says, you know, I wanted to eat you, I heard this voice of of of mantra and immediately the desire to eat you disappeared from my heart. I had the desire. It's vanished.
And then he said, what mantra did you chant to protect yourself? I do not understand it. I do not understand its power. By touching it, I have become free from all material desires.
Just by touching it, my material desires to eat you, which is a very strong desire, as you all know, disappear from the heart. So Jiva Goswami he quotes this example or this funny story to prove how powerful it is.
And he he also gives some other quotes, he gives the quote about this mouse and as we know, the mouse somehow or other was burnt into the ghee. And this mouse became a very pious queen in the next life.
And this pious queen, somehow or other, she had a habit to offer the lamps to the deity in the temple. You know she remembered what saved her and after being this pious queen she got released.
He quotes so many other stories, uh how powerful the mantra is. But still, at the same time, we know that despite of the power of this mantra, we don't get it immediately.
So, and this is also very beautiful and very importantly for us, there is a very important explanation of this mechanism given by Jiva Goswami in his Bhakti-sandarbha.
So first he explains why we are not purified and our heart is still not pure despite chanting for so long. Who can say whose heart is not pure? Please raise your hands. Right? Why?
You know this demon, Raksasa, he just touched, he just came closer to brāhmaṇa who was chanting and he was purified in heart. Why? There is a very significant reason for this.
Because the desires are coming constantly again within our heart. Through the media of what? Yes, through the media of material sounds.
We hear these material sounds, and these material sounds they carry with them material objects, and when we hear about these material objects the desire comes like you know we all know this process the advertisement what is the basis of advertisement? You know, coca. Coca-Cola.
You know, the heavenly drink, you know, you don't need apsaras. Just drink Coca-Cola and you will be happy. And somebody half-naked kisses somebody who's also half-naked.
And you think, you know, this is far out that by drinking Coca-Cola I can become like him. So the sound, the material names, they carry with them the material objects.
And when we hear and we constantly hear these material sounds again and again and again, coca, Pepsi, you know, this cigarette, that cigarette, this and that, and you know, we are constantly being bombarded by the sounds of material world.
And what is happening when we constantly hear this, and when we hear this the sense objects basically are coming within our consciousness with the sounds constantly and seducing us, trying to seduce us again and again and again.
Uh, Raghunatha dasa Goswami in his Manaḥ-śikṣā, he compares the material sounds, who knows with whom he compares the material sounds. He compares the material sounds with the prostitute. He says, Asadvarta-veśyā.
And it's a very significant explanation to this comparison. Why is the material sound like a prostitute? What does a prostitute give you? Pleasure. Enjoyment, right?
It's illusory pleasure, it's dirty pleasure, but it's enjoyment which she gives you. But what she takes from you? Money. Money, yeah. Money and usually the, you know, it's a usual custom among the prostitutes.
She just, you know, gives the enjoyment to the client and then she robs him. So the explanation for this asat-varta-veshyā is that material sound robs you from the most important dhana, the wealth which you have.
What is the most important wealth which you have? Spiritual what? Intelligence. The spiritual intelligence. The ability to discriminate between good and bad, between spirit and matter, between eternal and non-eternal.
So, sp— this material sound robs you of this wealth which every one of us has. And therefore that is said, you know, that and so on and so forth, that the first problem which we experience is this prajalpa.
And now we have this amazing, beautiful device for prajalpa. Brajbihari yesterday, he explained that you can be in a shack in Montana, somewhere. I don't know where Montana is, but it must be somewhere far away.
And you can be alone there, but you can be engaged in prajalpa in, uh, all day long if you have this beautiful thing which is called computer which is again a very nice creation to entangle
you more and more and more, so this asad-varta-veshyā, this, uh, the material sounds coming again and again and again. And and because of these material sounds, you develop material desires.
The material desires are, you know, first you are trying to cut off these material desires, right? Asaṅga-śāstreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā, very detached, right? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna.
But then the desire comes to your mind. Why don't we look on the internet? What's happening there? And then, you know, the counter-process starts.
What we are doing actually, we want to reverse this process of material creation, but we also don't really want it.
We want to remain here. So these two processes are going together, and you know there is a war, there is a battle, there is a struggle inside our heart when the material sound and the spiritual sound fight with each other.
The material sound which creates the material desires and the spiritual sound which destroys the material desires, they fight. We chant Hare Krishna and we're free from material desires.
But very soon, in half an hour, half an hour later, Haribov, you know, all these weeds of material desires are there, you know? This is what is going on.
And Jīva Gosvāmī says, therefore, when we chant, we don't chant since you chant with duplicity. And this duplicity is the main dirt, the main contamination which is there in our chanting.
He quotes Viṣṇu Dharma Purāṇa and he says, as a swan does not like to stay in the muddy water, so Lord Krishna does not like to stay in a heart dirty with sinful desires.
If the heart is dirty, Krishna is like swan, he will not stay there. And then he gives also a very interesting verse quote.
He says, as a crescent moon covered by clouds cannot destroy the darkness, so a voice polluted with lies and other sins cannot properly offer prayers to Lord Krishna.
In other words, when we pray to Lord Krishna, when we speak something or when we chant Hare Krishna.
If our voice is polluted with lies and other sinful desires. Because again as I said, the voice is coming ultimately from this subtle plane of desire.
And if we chant Hare Krishna, and don't really mean it, if we mean something else while chanting, this is offensive and Krishna doesn't hear this prayer. This is what is happening. The prayer does not become effective.
And we can hear this, we can see this clarity or this purity of the voice is an extremely important thing. It's a subtle thing, but therefore it is stressed again and again, Śrīla Prabhupāda stresses it.
You should hear the sound vibration from the mouth of spiritual master, from the mouth of pure devotee, which is coming from the pure consciousness.
Like once Prabhupāda was in Vṛndāvana and he was sitting there, and there were some Indian gentlemen and some of his English disciples, and he started speaking in Hindi.
And his English disciples stood up and wanted to walk out. And he said, where are you going? They said, Prabhupada, we don't understand Hindi. He said, stay here and listen Hindi.
Because the sound vibration will purify your heart. It doesn't matter that you don't understand anything. Just listen to the sound vibration.
Like sometimes Gorga Dindamara, he was also, you know, he was torturing his white disciples by giving three hours lecture in Orya. And everyone had to stay there and sit there.
Because this is the you know like this year there was a very interesting uh event in Russia. There was this how you call this Easter Easter Eve
service in the main church of Russia, and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, the main spiritual figure was there.
And the president of Russia also came to this service and was during the night, you know, midnight, the time when the Jesus Christ was supposed to be you know resurrected at that time.
The most you know sacred moment in the life of every Christian, you know, this m mystery of resurrection of Jesus Christ takes place.
So this patriarch is doing his service and he's praying and giving some you know chanting some mantras you know Hare Krishna Hare Krishna something some some spiritual practice is going on and he is pronouncing this mantras.
And then all of a sudden he stops. He turns to the president and starts glorifying the president.
You know, you're so good, you're so nice, you're such a wonderful devotee of the Lord, and you give us so much money and you know and you're such a powerful personality.
And after that, there was an article, very interesting article in the newspaper. The man, the journalist who wrote this article, he was disgusted and he said, did you hear this voice? This guy, you know, he is there.
He's supposed to pray to the Lord. And he's saying and he said his voice was, you know, it was greasy. The voice was, you know, full of material greed. And he specifically mentioned this the quality of the voice.
He was speaking these words of flatter to the president, you know, because all the material desires just you know immediately reflected in this voice. So that's exactly what is happening with us.
And therefore, but there is a solution for this. And the solution for this we know. What is the solution for this? Chant again and again and again
and again and again and again and again, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama... There is I will uh and
Consequences of offensive chanting on spiritual life
there is a very important thing. I will only touch it because I'm already late uh so I will explain it tomorrow.
But it said uh Jīva Gosvāmī he quotes Vedānta-sūtra, and in Vedānta-sūtra it specifically said, Avrithira Sakritu Padeshu, you have to repeat spiritual practices again and again and again. Why? Because of the offenses. Because of the offenses, you have to do sravanam and kirtanam and everything again and again and again.
And then Jīva Gosvāmī gives a very interesting analysis. It says what is happening if someone is not careful about chanting mantra and he insists on making offenses.
If he is offensively chanting with this false voice, with the voice which is full of material desires, which is a very offensive kind of chanting.
Jīva Gosvāmī says there are five things which are happening in the human's heart.
If you don't check this tendency, if you don't really, if you really allow to manifest this crookedness within your heart, if you allow it to enter within your prayer, within your chanting, then what happens?
He says the five anarthas, five sins are coming within our heart. He says the first one, our tendency to be a liar, to be crooked, our crookedness becomes strengthened. Because we all crooks, right?
Somebody is a big crook, like me, somebody is a small crook, but we're all crooks. It's a world full of crooks. And the crooks are trying to cheat one another. This is what is going on. The cheaters and the cheated.
So what he said the first is kauṭilya. Kauṭilya means crookedness. Kauṭilya means duplicity. Kauṭilya means dishonesty. This is the first quality which is strengthened within the heart.
And it's actually it's it's very understandable, it's very easy to understand.
If you chant with your vaikharī-vāk, with your gross speech, and at the same time your desire are somewhere else, and your thoughts are somewhere else, if it's not in harmony, if they're not synchronized, if the desire is different and the thoughts are saying māyā, māyā, māyā, māyā.
And uh the desire is saying come. So if you do this, then who you are? You are who? Cheater, you're a crook. You're crooked.
So therefore he says that if you do it then your tendency to be crooked becomes even more strengthened if you're chanting but not changing this tendency then you will uh fortify this tendency of yours.
And then the second things, you lose your face. You become totally atheistic. And we can also see this. You know, if somebody is changing offensively, I will uh second is Ashrada, atheism.
S uh the third is the attachment to the things which destroy our spiritual practices. Bhagavan Nishta Chiavakavast Antara Abhini Vesha. You all understood what it means, right?
The attachment of the things which destroy the faith or spiritual practices. The fourth thing is shaikilya, which means laziness, or slackness in your spiritual practices.
And finally, the most amazing and most paradoxical, Svah Baktia Adi Krita Manitva, pride of your achievements in bhakti. This is what happened.
This is actually the career of a Hare Krishna devotee who is not checking his offensive mentality.
He starts with offensive chanting, he is not trying to stop this offensive chanting, he is not doing what is necessary, and he's uh you know he's becoming more and more duplicitous.
Duplicitous means he's doing it as a just as a matter of because of the social pressure or whatever, he's changing, he doesn't have any taste, you know, he's uh working in computer and you know,
uh doing all kinds of stuff, you know, running here and there, and in the meantime, I can do as if there is any meaning. So So you can as well, you know, just do something like this, you know. And then you lose the face.
You came with the very bright and actually very strong face. Śrīla Prabhupāda imparted this face within your heart, but then you lose it. You become more atheistic. By offensive chanting, you be you can become an atheist.
That's what Jīva Gosvāmī says. Changing may you know may turn you into an atheist. And I've seen this.
I've seen this in examples of devotees, how they you know by doing this for years they would become total complete absolute atheists
and then after that what happens after that uh you develop because you need something to enjoy you develop this the attachment to the things which which are detrimental for devotional service.
All of a sudden the T V set appears in your little apartment. And of course nobody knows about this but you watch all this T V news. And then you become totally lazy and totally slack in your sadhana.
And then as the crown jewel of your offensive chanting, you become very proud of your achievements in fact.
This we have all the also seen, you know, people, because they they need to be proud about something and because they are practicing pure
devotional service in the line of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and because they are not bold enough to admit their defeat or they're not bold enough to say that something is wrong, something went wrong somewhere. They become proud, very proud.
You know, I am such a big devotee. And I did so much, you know, I did this and did that and distributed this and this and you know defeated this and that and you know and I also you know I was
glorious temple commander in Villa Vṛndāvana or something like this I don't know so this is what is happening because of the offenses during the change. Thank you very much and sorry for doing it so long.
But I will continue tomorrow. Śrīla Prabhupāda keeps the