Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.2.23-24
Bhakti Vijnana Goswami · London · 2016
Chapters
Recitation of prayers and scriptural verses
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Nārāyaṇam namaskṛtya, kṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsam, tato jayam udīrayet. Naṣṭa-prāyeṣv
abhadreṣu nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā. Bhakti-bhāva-yamprajanta, manupetama peta kiktyan, dvaipāyana virahakātara juhāva putretitam mayatayota bindedus, taṁ sarva-bhūta-hṛdayaṁ munim ānato ’smi.
So today we are reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Chapter 2, Prayers by the Demigods, Text 23 and 24. So I will read the twenty-third text and then we'll chant together.
āsīnaḥ saṁviśan śayānaḥ tiṣṭhann aśnan paryatan mahīm harer vairānubandha-kṛt. harer vairānubandhakṛt Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Deliberating in this way, Kaṁsa, although determined
to continue his enmity toward the Supreme Personality of Godhead, refrained from the vicious killing of his sister. He decided to wait until the Lord was born and then do what was needed.
āsīnaḥ saṁviśan śayānaḥ tiṣṭhann aśnan paryatan mahīm bhunjānaḥ sarva-karmāṇi paryatan mahīm paryatan mahīm cintayānaḥ hṛṣīkeśaṁ cintayānaḥ hṛṣīkeśaṁ apaśyat tamayaṁ jagat
āsīnaḥ saṁviśan śayānaḥ paryatan mahīm cintayānaḥ hṛṣīkeśam, cintayāno hṛṣīkeśam, apaśyatāmyañja āsīnaḥ saṁviśan sthan, bhuñjānaḥ, paryatan mahīm cintayānaḥ hṛṣīkeśam, apaśyat tām ayaṁ jagat, āsīnaḥ
while sitting comfortably in his sitting room or on the throne. Samvishan or lying in his bed, Tishtan or staying anywhere, or staying anywhere, Bunjanahan while eating paryatan while walking or moving
mahim on the ground chintayanaha, always inimically thinking of Hṛṣīkeśa, the Supreme Personality of God the controller of everything. Apashyat observed tanmayammayam consisting of him Krishna and nothing more.
Purport on Kamsa's unfavorable absorption
Jagat the entire world. Translation. Purpose by his divine grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda.
While sitting on his throne or in his sitting room, while lying on his bed or indeed while situated anywhere, and while eating, sleeping or walking, Kamsa saw only his enemy, the Supreme Lord Harishikesha.
In other words, by thinking of his all pervading enemy, Kamsa became unfavorably Krishna conscious.
Svarūpa Gosvāmī has described the finest pattern of devotional service as ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam or cultivating Krishna consciousness favorably.
Kamsa of course was also Krishna conscious, but because he since he radar But because he regarded Krishna as his enemy.
Even though he was fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness, his Krishna consciousness was not favorable for his existence. Krishna consciousness favorably cultivated makes one completely happy.
So much so that a Krishna conscious person does not consider kaivalya sukhaṁ or merging into the existence of Krishna to be a great gain.
Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate for a Krishna conscious person, even merging into the existence of Krishna or Brahman, as impersonists aspire to do, is uncomfortable. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate.
Karmīs hunger to be promoted to the heavenly planets, but a Krishna conscious person considers such promotion a will of the wisp, good for nothing.
Durda Kala Sarpa Patali Praktata Damsrayate Yogis try to control their senses and thus become happy.
But a Krishna conscious person neglects the methods of yoga. He is unconcerned with the greatest of enemies, the senses, which are compared to snakes.
For a Krishna conscious person who is cultivating Krishna consciousness favorably, the happiness conceived by the karmis, jnanis, and yogis is treated as less than a fig.
Kamsa, however, because of cultivating Krishna consciousness in a different way, that is inimically, was uncomfortable in all the affairs of his life.
Whether sitting, sleeping, walking, or eating, he was always in danger.
This is the difference between a devotee and a non-devotee. A non-devotee or atheist also cultivates God consciousness by trying to avoid God in everything. For example, so-called scientists who want to create life by a combination of chemicals, regard the external material elements as supreme.
Such scientists do not like the idea that life is a part and parcel of the supreme Lord. As clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mamāivāṁśo jīva-loke jīva-bhūtaḥ,
the living entities do not arise from a combination of material elements such as earth, water, air, and fire, but are separated portions of the supreme personality of Godhead.
If one can understand the position of the living entity as a separated portion of the supreme personality of Godhead by studying the nature of the living entity, one can understand the nature of the supreme Godhead, since the living entity is a fragmental sample of the Godhead,
but because atheists are not interested in God consciousness, they try to be happy by cultivating Krishna consciousness in various unfavorable ways.
Although Kaṁsa was always absorbed in thoughts of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was not happy. A devotee however, whether sitting on the throne or beneath a tree, is always happy.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī resigned from office as a governmental minister to sit beneath a tree, yet he was happy. tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucchavat He did not care for his comfortable position as minister.
He was happy even beneath a tree in Vrindavan, favorably serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the difference between a devotee and a non-devotee.
For a non-devotee, the world is full of problems, whereas for a devotee the entire world is full of happiness.
Vishwampurna sukkhaya te vidhi mahendrishā kitaya te Yatkarunya kataksha vai bhava vaibhava taṁ goraṁ evāstumahaṁ caitanya candrāmṛtam. This comfortable position of a devotee can be established by the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. yasmin sthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi viciālyate Bhagavad-gītā 6.22. Even when a devotee is superficially put into great difficulty, he is never disturbed.
Śrīla Prabhupāda āsīnaḥ saṁviśan tiṣṭhan bhuñjānaḥ paryatan mahīm cintayāno hṛṣīkeśam apaśyat tan-mayaṁ jagat. While sitting on his throne or in his sitting room, while lying on his bed or indeed, while situated anywhere, and while eating, sleeping or walking, Kamsa saw only his enemy, the Supreme Lord Rishikesha.
In other words, by thinking of his all-pervading enemy Kamsa became unfavourably Krishna conscious.
Favorable versus unfavorable Krishna consciousness
vandāhaṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuga-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajāṭhَaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sūjīvam sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca he kṛṣṇa karuṇā-sindhu dīna-bandhu jagat-pate gopeśa gopikākānta rādhākānta namo 'stu te tapta-kāñcana-gauṅgī rādhī vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sutē deve praṇamāmi hari-priye vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhā-nityānanda śrī-advaita śrivāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare ājānu-laṁbita-bhujaḥ kanaka-avadātau saṅkīrtanaika-pitārau kamalāyatākṣau viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau vande jagat-priyakarau karuṇāvatārau 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 ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣunmilitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine नमस्ते सरਸвати devе gaura-vāṇī-pracārine nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
So I will try to connect this verse with the initiation ceremony which will uh follow this class. And indeed it's not so difficult to connect one with another
because here Shivasukadev Gaswami is explaining the perfection of Krishna consciousness. He basically said that King Kamsa has attained the perfectional stage of Krishna consciousness.
Nothing less than this, because he specifically says, apaśyat ātman-mayaṁ jagat. He has seen in the world he has only seen Krishna. Whenever he would look, he would only see Krishna. This is the perfection.
Because even Krishna himself, while describing the perfection, says, Manmana, if you want to explain the essence of Bhagavad-gītā is in just two words. That's these two words: man-manāḥ.
The essence, the purpose, the very goal of Bhagavad Gita is only one. Just think about me. That's what Krishna is teaching in so many different ways, and so many different paths of perfections are there for us.
But ultimately, the perfectional stage is very simple. We always think about Krishna and everything reminds us about Krishna. Whenever we look, oh yeah, right.
We see the connection with Krishna, and that's exactly the situation of King Kamsa, he would see somebody.
When somebody's name would start with K because Krishna he would you know he was completely totally Krishna conscious and
Krishna himself says Vāsudēvāḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ. Basically he says, Mahātma as Kaṁsa is very rare in this world. Because Vāsudēvāḥ sarvam iti, he says, you know, this whole world is Vāsudeva.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda beautifully translates this, he has seen this, his all-pervading enemy, he has seen his all-pervading enemy everywhere.
And Tanmaya, Tanmaya means that the whole world, Tanmaya Jagat, his whole world is consisting of Krishna. And of course, it's a very amazing good luck of King Kamsan. However, it's not to be imitated by us.
Because of different reasons, and the main reason which Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport is that it's not a very pleasurable way to cultivate Krishna consciousness.
Somehow or other it's a little perverted because uh
the happiness, the natural happiness which flows to you uh when you are Krishna conscious, uh, whichich actually makes Krishna consciousness to supersede or to be more preferable than any other ways of spiritual advancement.
Like Śrīla Prabhupāda quotes this verse from Caitanya-candrāmṛta, where the three ways of advancement in this world is described. And he basically says that why Krishna consciousness is higher, higher than
karma, because the higher destination of karmises is to be in the heavenly planets, why it is higher than Kaivalya, the highest goal of Gyanis. Why it is higher than the goal of yogis to control the senses?
Because it's happy. It's all these goals are achieved automatically through the happy state of mind of somebody who is Krishna conscious.
So this is not the way to cultivate or to develop Krishna consciousness and because this is not what is being recommended.
ānukūlyēna kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ, we have to do it in a favorable way. And basically, this favorable way is a safe way and very productive way, but there are some difficulties on the disfavorable way of cultivating Krishna consciousness as well.
And that's exactly what I will try to concentrate and describe in my class today.
In ideal case, if the heart of a person is completely pure, if somebody is totally completely pure, then as soon as he hears the name of Krishna, or as soon as he hears something about Krishna, immediately his heart, his consciousness develops the natural condition of being attracted to Krishna.
Because Krishna is all attractive, we are part and parcel of Krishna, and this attraction is natural. There is nothing unnatural in this.
So as soon as we hear Krishna, it is said actually in the first verse, or in the second verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Īśvara what is it? Sadya hrdi avarudhyate, immediately, sadya, hrdi avarudhyate śuśrūṣubhiḥ.
Even if one just desires, not just hears about Krishna, but desires to hear about Krishna, Immediately Krishna is locked in his heart.
But immediately Śrīla Vyāsadeva adds to this. He says, tatkṣaṇāt, in this very moment when the desire to be connected with Krishna appears, Krishna is there for us. But he says kṛtibhiḥ. Kṛtibhiḥ means pure-hearted.
If you are pure-hearted, then in a very natural way you also become Krishna conscious immediately. And before that, he again makes another condition, nirmatsarāṇāṁ satām.
He says: if somebody is sat, if somebody is honest, true person. And at the same time, nirmatsaran, he doesn't have this envy, his heart is not contaminated by this envious sort of feeling.
Then sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhis tatkṣaṇāt. And the very same moment Krishna will be there in the heart for you.
Actually, on this amazing state, there is another sample of this sort of negative cultivation of Krishna consciousness in Rāmāyaṇa.
And indeed in Rāmānujā-sampradāya this particular example is also serving as the example of pure Krishna consciousness or pure Rama consciousness, if you will say, or God consciousness, let's say.
It's the example of Mārīca. Mārīca was a demon, Rākṣasa, who flew once to destroy yajña in the forest and Viśvāmitra Muni took Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa. He was Mārīca was with what? Subāhu? Subāhu.
Subāhu and Marīci, they wanted to destroy yajña, the sages in this forest, and Rāma just, you know, just took little, not even not even arrow, just a little blade of grass, and you know.
Somehow or other, Subāhu was killed immediately, and Marīci, he flew many, many, bhūmi-yojanas, many, many miles, until he just ended up somewhere in an island.
And ever since, he became absolutely, completely God conscious. He would describe to Rāvaṇa himself, you know, whenever I see some tree, I immediately see the image of Rāma.
Whenever I would, you know, hear some sound, I think Rāma is coming. So, and in Rāmānujīya Sampradāya, they always say that this is the pure God consciousness, you know.
Whatever you will look at, you immediately remember about God. No matter what it is, the connection is firmly established in your consciousness.
You are not trying to disconnect anything from God, so you are living in reality, and you are totally God-conscious, and everything is okay with you.
Role of samskaras in identity formation
But now we are talking about the positive way of cultivating God consciousness, which is recommended by our ācāryas, ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam, and this positive way of cultivating God consciousness is a very amazing, amazing achievement and amazing system which ultimately can bring us in a very natural way, in a very organic way, to a very elevated state of consciousness, and we have to really understand what's going on and what is supposed to go on during all these stages of spiritual development.
What I wanted to speak a little bit about are different stages of spiritual development, because the initiation ceremony is nothing but public recognition of somebody achieving a certain stage of spiritual development.
Actually, if we take Vedic culture, in the Vedic culture where all the ceremonies, saṁskāras, would be regularly performed in different stages of life,
all these saṁskāras are nothing but a help, an aid for a person to develop an appropriate kind of ego. Because what is saṁskāra?
Saṁskāra means that you are recognized as somebody and uh uh it is expected that you will behave in a certain way.
Like for example, uh if we take modern uh so- called culture, I I don't know how how to call it, but for the lack of proper word we can call it culture, Although it has nothing to do with culture and reality.
So well now and Prabhupada said, and
in fact, it is said in the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that in Kali-yuga, people will not bother even to have a ceremony to become husband and wife. They will just agree to live together.
One may ask: what is the difference? Because the essence, superficially looking, the essence is the same, you know, the same thing is happening. Why there is why the ceremony is there, why the need is there.
But the very important need of the ceremony is that while undergoing the ceremony you kind of adjust to a new situation, your identity will be different.
Now I'm a married man with appropriate responsibilities, appropriate way of behavior. Whereas if it's not signified, if it's not uh marked by this uh special ceremony, then the tendency is there.
Uh you will always think, you know, it was better before. Why don't I behave as I was behaving before?
And while behaving in this irresponsible way, you basically destroy everything you are not really you are not really formed basically
this the need of the ceremonies is to help you to form proper consciousness to understand your identity more clearly. And if we examine the way the ceremony is being performed, let's
say, vivāha, and this ceremony basically what is being reminded, how you are supposed to behave from now on. What are the duties, what are the responsibilities, what does it mean that you have new identity now as a married man?
Because uh otherwise uh people don't know what it means. And the tendency is to fall back into the previous condition, and to behave in a previous way, which is ridiculous, you know.
Like we can see it in the modern society, people they behave inappropriately, not according to their real position, not according to their identity.
Like also recently I was in one traditional Indian family and they had a small child, not so small, you know, he's probably 10 years old or 9 years old, maybe 8 years old.
So and he was playing like children do. And he was doing some mischief. And I asked Father, why don't you stop him doing this? He said, no, no, let him play.
Next year we will have Upanayana ceremony. After that, he will not be able to do this.
He will just sit near me and see me performing puja, and we will study with him Sanskrit and this and that. So he will have Upanayana ceremony and that's it, finished. No more play. No more falling back into the previous state of consciousness. That's it.
Already the limit, the line is drawn. You are from now on you're supposed to behave as somebody with certain set of responsibilities, certain set of certain mindset, you know, it's different.
And to help people to obtain and to develop this particular mindset, the ceremony is being conducted. And basically that's the meaning of the ceremony to explain to person that's who you are now.
From now on, this is what your identity is.
Comparing spiritual growth to child development
And what I want to briefly talk about is the stages of development, of spiritual development. While comparing the stages of spiritual development with the development of the child,
Because the goal of our spiritual life before we will achieve this perfectional stage of Krishna consciousness where we will be able to think about Krishna all the time, the goal is to form the proper identity.
It's a very important point of our philosophy is that all our problems in this material world is that our identity is improper. We have material identity.
And this material identity means material ego, which we proudly call false ego, because it's really false identification with the lump of matter.
Basically forces us, pushes us to behave in an appropriate way, as Prabhupada used to say, you know, I'm the lord of all I survey. I am the Lord and master. I am the enjoyer.
Basically, this is too, Prabhupada explains this in the introduction to Bhagavad-gītā. Gita. He says there are two aspects of ego.
One aspect of ego: I am the Lord and Master, and another one, I am the Creator, and another one is I'm enjoyer. Enjoyer and creator, doer, whatever you call it.
Well, there is third aspect of ego: bhoktṛtva, kartṛtva, and jñātṛtva. There's three agencies, three aspects of any ego. I am the enjoyer, bhokritva. I am the doer or creator, the Lord of my survey of everything.
This is kartṛtva and jñātṛtva. I am the knower. I know. So the false Sigga means three false things. I am the enjoyer, I am independent enjoyer. Enjoyer of what? Enjoy the fruits of my actions.
I am independent doer, independent creator. I will create, I will be this, I will be that, I will be Steve Jobs, I will be Barack Obama or whatever it is.
And if you cannot make it in this material world, you usually end up in a psychiatric asylum and then say, I'm a Napoleon, I'm Jesus Christ. Only because of this desire. I'm the Lord, I am the master. This is kartritva.
And yatritva basically means the knowledge, I know what I'm supposed to do to achieve this certain position and to enjoy the fruits of my actions. I'm acting, I'm enjoying the fruits of my actions, and I know what I'm supposed to do to enjoy the fruits of my actions in the best possible way.
So, and that's false ego. And in reality, the real ego consists of the same things. The real ego also. I'm enjoyer, but I'm not independent enjoyer. I'm taking part in the enjoyments of Krishna.
And I'm the doer, but I'm not an independent doer. I'm servant of Krishna. I'm serving him. I'm not serving my own will. I'm serving his will and his desires. And I'm the knower, I know who I am.
I know what I'm supposed to do to be with Krishna. So this if we talk about this material life, material life, the essence of material life is to develop this false ego.
Because you can achieve anything in this material world only when your ego is strong. Somebody with weak ego, you know, they're good for nothing.
Therefore, whoever you take in the material world, if they achieved something, they had a very strong material ego.
In the same way, you know, if we want to achieve something in the spiritual life, we have to have very strong spiritual ego.
And material ego means strong ego, you know, I'm the doer and I'm the enjoyer of the fruits of my action. I'm the master and I'm the Lord. And strong spiritual ego, I'm the servant.
And the stronger this ego or this understanding, this concept of who I am is, the easier I will achieve success in my spiritual enterprise and the spiritual endeavors which I undertake.
And therefore, I think it's extremely important and appropriate and useful to see the spiritual development through the light of material development, development of material ego.
Because the same sort of pattern is there. And you can more clearly recognize every stage of spiritual development while looking at the spiritual developments through this lens.
And basically, there is plenty of confirmation of this in Vedic literature,
like in the second chapter of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where the stages of spiritual development are being described starting with śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-sthyo hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. Starting from this verse 17th verse or 16th verse, 16th verse of the second chapter of uh first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The last verse is that, uh, bhidyate hṛdaya-granthiḥ. What is the last stage of development? The knot of the false ego in the heart is being cut off.
And basically it means that the false ego is demolished and the proper ego, ego of a servant, is established, is firmly established and properly formed.
So, and there are some so many other confirmations which you can provide to this concept. So, what I suggest to you now is to look into the stages of
spiritual development explained by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: ādau śraddhā tataḥ sādhu-sanga-thato bhajana-kriyā, anartha-nivṛttiḥ syāt niṣṭhā tata ruciḥ, and so on and so forth.
So look into the stages of spiritual development through this lens of forming spiritual ego.
We know that if we take the development, the physical development, so to speak, then there are certain stages with appropriate development of an ego of a child. First is really babyhood, or how you call it, I don't know.
Sissue when when somebody is really a baby. And usually it's it lasts one year and it ends when the teeth start growing. When somebody is just taking the milk of mother,
then the next stage is comara till the five years of age. Then the next age is childhood, Paganda, till the tenth age, and then from 10th till the 15th year of life it's Kaishora.
So we have four and from Kaiser and Jovan and the next stage with appropriate development of ego. And if we compare the stage of śraddhā phase with babyhood. And if we compare the next stage, which is sādhu-saṅga
with Sishi Radagokulanandaki ja Sitaramlaks Next stage Khomara with Sadhu Sangha. Next stage Bhajana Kriya with Paul Gandha spiritual childhood
and next stage Anarthanivriti with Kaisora spiritual teenage, teenagerhood, how you call it. So I think there will be very interesting understanding of what is supposed to be done?
Cultivating faith through scriptural knowledge
So, with your permission, I will I will say a few words about this. So, the first stage is Shradha when we develop faith and Srarupa Gaswami no sorry Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī he specifically stresses the point. Was it Shiva?
Yeah, it's Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī. He specifically stresses the point. Not just Shraddha face, śāstrīya-śraddhā. It should be the faith in scriptures. And faith in scriptures because you know everyone has faith.
Kṛṣṇa Himself says, śraddhāmayaḥ ayaṁ puruṣaḥ, every living being is made of faith. Śraddhāmayaḥ. Everyone believes in something.
You can believe in Darwin, you can believe in Putin, you can believe in I don't know who else, but everyone believes in somebody or something or is some belief is there.
So Shraddha in itself is not a big achievement. In fact, it's not an achievement at all. What is special is spiritual shraddha and spiritual shraddha means uh the faith in Vedic scriptures.
And if you compare it with the babyhood, with this first development of a little child, then what is most important at this stage? Certain things.
First of all, the complete total unconditional acceptance by the mother. Without this, the baby will not develop.
So if we are uh to if we have this um you know idea that somebody should should have Shraddha, should develop Shradha or be in this stage of spiritual development, then the first thing is that total unconditional acceptance of this particular person. No demand whatsoever.
And that's exactly what Srila Prabhupada was doing with his first disciples. Total, complete, unconditional acceptance.
Whoever you are, no demands, I will wash plates after you, I will cook for you, I will chant kīrtana, I will give you some śāstra śraddhā. Just be here. Nothing else.
And even if you sleep, it's fine, and even if you are a little drunk, no problem, you know. What can you expect from a little baby? You know, you just feed him.
And the most important thing is actually the mother's milk in this stage. And mother's milk in our case is the milk of Veda-mātā, is the milk of Mother Veda, the scriptures.
And what is extremely important is that at this first stage of spiritual development, people they should get more or less general understanding of Vedas of what Vedas are all about, the general understanding of the framework of the Vedas to develop this phase.
Rational, very rational, no demands that surrender to God, otherwise you will burn to hell and God knows what. No, if you want the proper development, then just feed people
with the sweet milk of Vedic scriptures by giving them very rational understanding how Vedas are very logical. In fact, Vedas are extremely logical.
That was my first impression when I first read Bhagavad-gītā, even without purpose of Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was a different edition of some esoteric Bhagavad-gītā, I thought, my goodness, it's so rational. I don't believe in it, but I probably should consider something.
So that's the first thing. And it's very important to give the pure mother's milk and not to mix it with all this, you know, with all this powder milk.
Like you know, I remember in the Soviet Union, in the Soviet days you know there was shortage of uh food products but for babies there was this you know boxes with some you know, powdered milk.
And there was a baby in the on this box. Picture of the baby with really red cheeks, you know, which is which is the sign of allergy. So if you give some other food to the baby,
then very red cheeks will be developed, which is the sign of allergy. And this allergy, this spiritual allergy, is uh Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī calls it laukika-śraddhā. Laukika-śraddhā basically means superstition.
You don't have proper faith in the Vedas. And if you don't have the proper faith in the Vedas, you fill up the holes which are there.
Or you know, you need to grow, so to speak, and uh because you don't get the proper nutrition, you fill up the need for your growth by improper things, and basically you develop certain superstitions.
If we look at the devotees, in the devotee community there are so many superstitions. And basically, superstition is this childish belief in miracles.
You know, oh yeah somebody tells I saw this dream, oh yeah, you saw this dream, right? Krishna must be God. You know, or whatever.
You know, people always talk about miracles and miracles and miracles as if it proves anything. It doesn't prove. It only proves that you're lacking faith. That's that's what it proves.
If you have faith in Vedas, you don't need the crutches of all these different superstitions.
So in the first stage it's very important to develop the general understanding of the Vedic of the you know of the design of Vedas, of the logical development of Vedas. And then and no demand whatsoever.
And another important element which has to be developed at this stage is immune system. Isn't it?
For a baby, it's very important to be fed by the milk of mother and if he is fed by the milk of mother then immune system will develop properly.
So immune system basically means that your basic doubts are dissipated, or you are equipped with certain arguments against the contrary understandings, contrary concepts.
Because otherwise, if your immune system is not there, if you don't have these proper arguments ready in your head to counteract uh certain you know Darwin
ready in your head to counteract certain, you know, Darwin's theory or whatever, you know, you hear something, you know, new discovery, Pithecanthropus, you know, bone discovered, and you think, you're right, Pithecanthropus. Am I coming from Piticanthropas or from Krishna?
Am I coming from Pithecanthropus or from Krishna? Most probably. Yeah. So sort of uh immune system should develop while we are presenting to people.
This initial presentation of the Vedas is very important because we have to really give them pure thing without too much superstitions. I know I'm dealing constantly with all these outreach preachers.
And in Russia there are plenty of outreach preachers. And it's uh it's almost epidemics, you know. And they all develop their own techniques to develop faith in people. And my goodness, what kind of techniques are there?
Somebody is, you know, can give this series of lectures about UFO and then say chant Hare Krishna or something like that.
You know, while adding so many garbage information, God knows where did he took it from and so on so forth. All kinds of techniques are there, but that's not true.
We have to give the milk of the mother with the proper argumentation, proper logic which is there in the Vedas, and equip them with the proper thing.
Then if the śāstra-śraddhā is formed, then the spiritual development will be natural. Otherwise even devotees, even person they develop some faith, but they will be sickly spiritual spiritual beings.
There will always be some sickness because they don't understand what Vedas are all about.
So the next stage, unfortunately, my time is running out, and I have to come to anartha-nivṛtti stage, which we are talking about now, at least.
I very quickly run through other stages and uh it's just a sample how this understanding will help you to uh to design uh the the spiritual development, the proper spiritual development of the person.
Stages of devotional relationships and progress
The next stage is Kaiśora stage. What is the most important? Actually, to develop ego, what is the most important element for developing ego. What do you think? Association, exactly.
Because ego always developed in the association I and non-eye, you know. In this association, only the proper I is is formed.
So Kaiśora stage, which is compared to in this analogy with sādhu-sanga, the most important association what? Sangha, the most important association what? The association with sādhus, with seniors.
It's actually if we take the stages we can see that on the stage of sādhu-sanga, naturally, as the very name of the stage implies, the association Sangha, naturally, as the very name of the stage implies, the association with seniors is the most important.
And basically means you you will have to learn how to associate properly so that you will get protection from the seniors, from their wisdom, from the experience and everything.
The next stage, Pogaṇḍa, when somebody becomes a child he enters into the childhood, what is the most important relationship at this stage? Friendship.
In the, yeah, friendship, with equals, with the peers. Isn't it? In the beginning, uh f in the formative years, the most important is the association with seniors. Then the next on the stage of bhajana kriya, what is most important, and that's
explained again and again by Bhaktivinoda Thakura or by others, that Bhajana Kriya is not, is not the devotional service as such, it's devotional service in the association of devotees.
And first and foremost, in the association with equals when we do something together.
So if Sadhu-sanga the most important thing is to learn how to respect seniors and to take shelter of the seniors, then in Bhajana Kriya, the most important value and the most important skill which you have to learn is how to cooperate with equals, with peers, how to deal with them, how to perform devotional service together, how to interact in a healthy way with the peers.
And then Kaisora, when somebody reaches the age of 10, what is the most important at this stage? To accept the responsibility for juniors.
At this stage, Krishna is given cows to for the pasture to take. Responsibility is the key word.
The responsibility for juniors, we know for proper spiritual development we have to have proper association with seniors, proper association with equals, with peers, and proper association with juniors, taking care of them.
So there are certain stages where it has to be implied and very carefully implemented so to speak. At one point you will have to be with the equals, with the peers, and do devotional service together with them.
At one point, it's very important for you to take responsibility for the spiritual life of juniors, to become the counselor or whatever it is. And this is the stage of anartha-nivrtti.
Because you will never pass this stage properly if you are not helping others.
This is a very important tool for our spiritual development, this counseling system or whatever, Bhaktivriksha system or whatever is there, to take responsibility for the spiritual lives of others is first and foremost help for us to develop properly as a properly formed spiritual adult, so to speak, with a proper spiritual ego.
Developing a mature spiritual identity
And I would say the first stage again my time already passed, so I have to finish now. But what I want to say is that there are certain stages of development of ego, spiritual ego.
And the stage of śraddhā is just general phase in Vedic literature and general understanding of what Vedas are all about, the basics of Vedas.
The next stage of Sadhu-sanga, very clear understanding, aham brahmasmi should be instilled. I am not this body. That's the Aham or the conception of ego which should be formed in the first stage of spiritual development.
And that's exactly what Śrīla Prabhupāda was doing. As I said, first he was just pampering his little spiritual children and feeding them with the milk.
And then he would instill, I'm not this body, I am not this body, I am not this body. The next stage, the spiritual childhood, Paganda stage, the ego should be, I'm the servant of God. I'm Das.
And that's the stage where you get the first initiation with the name Das. That's Bhajana Kriya. You get this name dās, and your identity is I am the servant of God.
But the next stage, which is anartha-nivritti, extremely important stage, I'm not the servant of God. I'm the servant of the servant of God. This is the real Kaisora, this spiritual development.
And this is how it should be. And if somebody is designing some sort of system and ultimately the temple is uh a school, is an educational institution for spiritual development.
How we have to be very carefully taking people and you know taking them through the stages of spiritual development. So this is how ego is formed.
I am not this body, I am the serv, I'm servant of God, and then I'm not even servant of God. I'm servant of the servant of God's servants.
And then after that, if this is completely formed, then you will achieve the stage of Nishta where the beginning of real spiritual emotions can be felt.
Because we all after spiritual emotions, but can a baby have real emotions besides the emotion of fear and you know all other strange emotions? Can he have an emotion of love? No.
The emotion of love only the properly formed adult or youth can develop. Very healthy. And if ego is not formed properly, then you are not capable of experiencing the emotions.
Sometimes I see people go, you know, they're really spiritually, they are they should have this pumpers still, you know, they're they're spiritually nothing and they go to Rādhā-kuṇḍa. And oh disgusting.
Because this is all imitation. This has nothing to do with reality. Krishna is not happy with all that. This is crazy. You have to go through the stages. It's a natural process.
A natural process takes time and it's a gradual process. And you shouldn't jump over. And there are certain certain laws which should be respected.
And if it's proper, then at one point you will fall in love with Krishna, no problem, and Krishna will fall in love with you. Don't worry about this, but not before that.
So, and as I said, to my, uh, I think there is something fundamentally wrong with our system of giving recommendations and
something like this, because we are not trying really to consider whether that person has achieved some real manifest, some real signs of spiritual development, which are actually quite clear.
You know, the first initiation, it's not just formality or you know, so much of this service or that service, uh this service or that service can be pretense.
If you prematurely give him initiation and at the same time not demand the proper thing, the ability to associate productively with equals, you give him the first initiation, it will be disaster in his spiritual life.
And the most important stage which we are dealing with now, second initiation, and second initiation in this, it's basically, uh, the stage where the awareness should grow because only by the means of awareness, inner awareness, doing everything in a very conscious way, with growing awareness, one can get rid of all the anartas which are there in the heart.
So I'm very happy that two devotees are getting second initiation. I hope they're ready for this. I hope they already reached the stage when they're ready to develop.
Of course they are ready because they're already taking care of other people and helping others to develop spiritually, which is very important.
And they've definitely grown up enough spiritually to develop awareness of what is going on in their hearts and to understand where the anarthas are and what the useful part of their understanding. Anyways, I have to finish now.
Thank you very much.