Bhagavad-gita 9.14
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Kochi · 2024
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Shri Chaitanya Manobisham Stavitam Yena Butale Swamropakadamayam Dadatiswapadantikam E Krishna Karuna Sindho Dinabandhu Jagatpate, Gopisha Gopikakanta, Radakantana Mustute, Taptakanchana Gurangi Rade
Vrindavaneshware Vrishabanu Sudade Pranamami Hari Vancha Kaupatarubya Kripasindu bevacha, patitanam pawanebyo, Vaishnava Byo Namonamaha Jai Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabunitananda,
Sri Adwaita Gadhathara, Srivasadigura Bhakta Vrinda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Ramahare Ramma
Hare Hare Yantah Pravishi Mamavacham Prasukam Prasidatam Dayandu Bhutani Shivam Mithudya Manaschabadram Bajatata Doksaj, Avesya Tamatir Abya Hitu Keep Hare Krishna.
Philosophical basis of Hare Krishna movement
Again I would like to express my gratitude for inviting me to speak in front of all of you. And I would like to speak on the verse from Bhagavad-gītā, which explains the The philosophical basis of Hare Krishna movement.
Sometimes not very literate people say that you're chanting all this kīrtana, the name of Krishna, where is it in Bhagavad-gītā? Of course, it's there in Bhagavad-gītā.
Krishna directly speaks about this in the ninth chapter, which is the most important chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. This chapter is called Raja Vidya Raja Guchiya Yoga. And this is the most important jewel among all the
Ashta-daśa-adhyāya of Bhagavad-gītā. In this chapter, Krishna reveals the most important secrets of spiritual life. That's why it's called Rajavidya, Raja Gukhya.
This is the most important knowledge, the king of all knowledge, and this is the most secret knowledge at the same time, Rahasya. And in the middle of this chapter, Krishna speaks this verse.
He says Satatam Kirtayantamam Yatantas Chadri Davrata Namasyantaschamam Bhaktianiti Yukta Upasati. So let's chant this verse together.
Satatam kirtayantomam, yatantascha dridhavataha, dhabrata, namasyantas chamambakam Nidya Yukta Upasate Nity Yukta Upasati.
So I'll read the translation which was given by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda: this verse, always divine grace say bhaktianta svami prahpatu this verse always chanting my glories endeavoring with great determination bowing down before me, these great souls perpetually worship me with devotion.
So I'll speak a few words about the importance and the meaning of this very beautiful verse of Bhagavad-gītā.
Krishna, few verses before, said that he actually began this chapter while explaining I'm God and I am supervising all the material nature. I am the intelligence behind this matter. Everything is being done under my supervision.
Misconceptions about God's personal form
Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sacarācaram. Very clearly he says, I'm a dhyākṣa. I am the main person who is making all the moving entities to move and all the non-moving entities to be stationed.
But then immediately after that he says, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritāḥ. He says that mūḍhas, the not very intelligent people, those people who have muddy intelligence, they despise me.
They will look down at me when I come here in this human-like form.
Sometimes people believe in God, but for them God is something which is very, you know, some energy or some force which is behind this and they don't believe that God Himself can come to this world and be with us.
They cannot understand how God can stand on two bricks in this posture and wait when his devotee will finish his business. And Krishna criticized them severely.
Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm. He says they're mūḍhas, they're not very intelligent, they are fools. And then he says an even heavier verse.
He says, moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ. He says those people who don't believe that I, God, can come and take this human-like form for the sake of people,
for the sake of saving them, by manifesting by grace, those people, Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ, everything which they do is doomed.
He says, moghāśā, all their hopes for the future, all their desires, they are unfulfilled.
Moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ, all their undertakings, ultimately futile and they will be doomed and all their jñāna, all their so-called knowledge, ultimately will bring destruction to them.
These people may believe in God or in some power which is behind this universe, but
they don't believe uh in the mercy of the Lord and the Lord without his mercy is nobody, he is kṛpāmaya, he is made of mercy. So basically, what Krishna
wants to say is that my personal form, my personal appearance, my personal manifestation in which I become like human being is the most important. And this is the very basis, the very foundation of bhakti.
Because you cannot love some energy, you know, I I'm I fell in love with energy, you know. That doesn't make any sense. You cannot love some force which is there or some intelligence.
Sometimes people say he's universal intelligence, but you cannot love intelligence. You can only love God.
Ultimately when Krishna says Rajavidja Raja Guhya Pavitrama Mutamam, when He glorifies the knowledge which He gives in this Navamadhyaya in the ninth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, he ultimately wants to say, now I will tell you the essence of all knowledge which is Bhakti.
Bhakti is the quintessence of all knowledge. Whatever other knowledge we may have, if we don't understand that God is most merciful and He can do anything which He likes for our sake,
for the sake of the souls and for the sake of love, to uh experience love and to give love, uh we don't have any knowledge because everything else is just useless.
Defining a Mahatma in spiritual context
And then after that, after condemning these people who don't believe Mahātmanas tu mām pārtha daivīṃ prakṛtiṃ āśritāḥ, bhajanty ananya-manaso jñātvā bhūtādim avyayam.
So you know he contrasts these two categories of people. He says some people are foolish, but there are mahatmas. And by Mahatma, he doesn't mean Mahatma Gandhi, that's for sure.
By calling these people Mahatma, he means to say that they have big heart. Mahatma means big heart. Yes, viśāla-hṛdayaḥ. Why and how they have this viśāla-hṛdayaḥ, this big heart? Because
they can understand that Lord is a person, God is a person, and that His personal form, which is seemingly like human beings, is the most important and the most loving form of all and the most beautiful form of all.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where Śukadeva Swami describes the festival which Nanda Mahārāja arranged in Gokula on the occasion of birth of Krishna on the occasion of his janmāṣṭamī, he is also called mahatma Nanda Mahārāja is called mahatma also there. Who is mahatma? Mahatma is somebody who can hold God in his heart.
God is greatest, he is the biggest of all. And if somebody can hold the biggest of all in his heart, it means that his heart is the biggest of all and it means that he is Mahatma.
And Krishna very clearly says here, mahātmanas tu mām pārtha. He says tu, which means as opposed to other people who are not Mahatmas, who are Duratmas, uh Mahatmas they take complete shelter of my spiritual energy and by taking shelter of my spiritual energy Devimprakriti they really can remember about me.
And then the natural question arises what these Mahatmas do? How do you recognize Mahatma? It's especially relevant in this day and age where so many people calling themselves Mahatmas.
But Krishna gives a very clear sign or very clear definition who are the Mahatmas. This is Krishna's definition, this is his opinion, and his opinion is supreme. It's the most important.
Sometimes Supreme Court of India may call somebody Mahatma, but that's not that important. So Krishna very clearly says this is the verse where he describes how Mahatma behaves, how he lives in this world.
And the first thing which he says, Satatam Kirtayan Tahamam, the one who always chant my holy name, my glories. It's very, very clear, it's very, very unambiguous.
Satatam kirtayantamam, the one who chants uh abhangas of Tukaram or other great bhaktas, one who chants bhajans, one who chants Mirabai Bhajans, one who chants the holy name, which is most important, he is Mahatma.
That's the first sign of Mahatma. And he specifically says satatam, which means always, nirantara. Obviously, we cannot chant in a loud way all the time.
Sometimes we have to eat, sometimes we have to sleep, sometimes we have to watch YouTube, I don't know. But how is that possible that Krishna says, Satatam Kirtayantama?
The only explanation, the only reasonable explanation of this is that always within his heart he is glorifying the Lord, no matter what he is doing externally.
And to always glorify the Lord within the heart, one has to have a very special condition of the heart.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his beautiful Śikṣāṣṭakam prayers, he says, trṇād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Pisu Nichinatarora Pisa Hishnuna Amanina Amanadhana Kirtaniya Sadahari.
He says that only those people can satatam or sada always glorify the Lord within the heart, kirtaniya sadahari, who are very humble, more humble than the grass, more tolerant than the tree, who are ready to respect everyone and who are not eager to accept respect towards themselves.
That's the secret of this Nirandaram Kirtan, which is going on within the heart of Mahatmas. When we are not humble, when we are proud, then we always want to chant our own glories.
We want to glorify ourselves over waiting that somebody else will glorify us. Chant aur kīrtan. Yes, there is Atma Kirtan and there is Hari Kirtan. There's a big difference between the two.
So So uh and therefore Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says only if you humble, uh you understand that the only one who's kirtanya, kirtanya literally from Sanskrit means, who is worthy of being glorified, who should be glorified.
We are nobody, we are insignificant. But the Lord is only one who is to be glorified, who has to be glorified.
Little conditioned soul jivas who live in this world, they have some sort of envy within the heart and they sometimes think you know why they always glorify God, why they don't glorify me?
They have this irshya, this little jealousy within the heart.
But when people purify the heart by spiritual practices, they become humble, and in a humble heart, satatam kirtayantamam, they always chant the glories of the Lord.
And in this sense, this is the most important practice, when we achieve the success of spiritual practice, we always chant the kirtan of the Holy Name, but to to reach this stage, there is only one mean is to chant the holy name.
So chanting of the holy name is at the same time sadhya and sadhana. It is the means to achieve the end and it is the end itself.
And that means that this is purely a spiritual process because when there is difference between sadhana and sadhya, this process is not 10% spiritual.
Spiritual process there is no difference between the means and the end. Therefore, Shri Krishna says: this is the first and the most important sign of Mahatma, Satatam Kirtayantamam, he always chants my glories.
Sometimes our founder Acharya was asked, you're chanting, and what will you do when you achieve the perfection of your chanting. And Śrīla Prabhupāda would tell, then when we achieve success, we will chant even more.
And then Krishna says some other very important things here, Yatantascha Dridhavrata.
Cultivating determination discipline and humility
When the heart is pure, then the people will become very determined, Dridhavrataha. They will give vow and they follow the vow, they become like dhruva in their determination to please the Lord.
Yatantagh literally means that they become they control their mind. They can completely control their mind and their senses, Yatantaha.
These people who purify the heart they become very disciplined. All the problems which you have in this world because of undisciplined mind and unruly senses which we have.
Because we cannot really control our mind, we do all kinds of crazy things and then regret.
But Krishna says when the heart is pure due to nirantara-kīrtana, due to chanting of the holy name all the time, then people become naturally in a very spontaneous way, disciplined and controlled.
In the modern world, this problem of crime and of all kinds of strange activities of people is becoming more and more problematic and people are trying to solve this problem by making more and more police forces.
Like in America there was this riots. Every now and then there are some riots and people go out on the street and start burning the cars, you know burning or pillaging the shops and everything else.
It's complete chaos, but in Ayodhyā in Rāma's Kośala, in his state, there was no police, there was only one Rāma, because people themselves were naturally disciplined. They didn't need this external force to discipline them. Which again comes only from the purity of the heart.
And then Kṛṣṇa says, namasyantaḥ, samāṁ bhaktyā, and they also bow down to me, they pay obeisances to me, they come to the temple, they prostrate themselves on the floor, and they behave in a very humble way.
So again, he explains that this is external behavior, but the external behavior is a result of their state of heart. They are very humble within the heart. They're not faking all these things.
They're just in a very natural way, humble and very vinīta, very, you know, qualified and very educated people. But then in the last line of this verse, a very important line, Kṛṣṇa says something very amazing.
He says, nityā yuktā upāsate. And you can translate this line: nityā yuktā upāsate, they're always engaged in worship of me. But ācāryas who uh explained Bhagavad-gītā, they explained very beautiful things about this.
They say that past participle, past participle uh yukta, nitya yukta uh means that they have aspiration to become eternal parikaras of the Lord.
So the implication, very important implication, is that within their heart they have a very strong desire to become eternal associates of the Lord.
They have this abhiprāya, this intention that I want to become nitya parikar, nitya associate of the Lord inまる the spiritual world. On the way here, when we were driving in the car, I saw one shop
and it was the shop was called they were you know selling some iron stuff and it was called Ultimate Solution for your roof. And I was thinking there is no ultimate solution for the roof.
Sooner or later the roof will just fall down, no problem. But the ultimate solution is there.
The ultimate solution, ātyantika parikar is -- wait, what is parikhar? Parikhar, yes. Ātyantika parihar is that, this is to become nitya yukta upāsate, become the nitya associate of the Lord.
Because ultimate solution means you become free from death. Until we become free from death, from this saṁsāra, from the circle of birth and death, it's not an ultimate solution. It's just a fake.
But most of the people they don't want the ultimate solution. They don't want to solve the ultimate problems of the world which is birth, death, old age and disease.
Their, their Laghu-cetas, their heart is so small that they cannot even understand that we have to solve this most important problem which is there, the problem of janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi.
So, uh, and therefore Krishna says that those people who are Mahatmas, who are real Mahatmas, they have this aspiration.
I want to come to the eternal spiritual world to eternally serve my Lord in love and a spiritual reality.
And the best means to obtain this ultimate solution according to this verse of Bhagavad-gītā is satataṁ kīrtayanto mām.
Natural expression of devotional singing
It's the easiest and the most natural solution. It's the easiest and the most natural way of spiritual practice. Sometimes spiritual practice has to be something really weird or crazy.
You know, I was once went to Kumbha Mela and I saw all kinds of very strange spiritual practices. Somebody for 40 plus years is raising his hands and not even during the sleep putting it down.
Somebody is laying down in a thorny bush, somebody is piercing his body with all kinds of stuff. And this is called spirituality. If spirituality is something natural to our soul, it cannot be expressed
through through very unnatural means. This kṛtrima māyā-prakriyā don't work, so but the chanting, the singing, is the most natural activity of a human being. Everyone sings. Especially when he's happy.
Those who know how to sing properly, they sing, and those who don't know how to sing properly, they sing even louder. But, uh, everyone sings and it's the most natural expression of our heart.
And therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, you should come to this stage when you always glorify the holy name of the Lord by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra or any other Rāma-kṛṣṇa Hari or whatever it is, Kṛṣṇa has many names.
You can chant Vīṭhala Vīṭhala Vīṭhala, you can chant Pāṇḍuraṅga Pāṇḍuraṅga Pāṇḍuraṅga, you can chant Hari Bala Govinda jaya jaya, no problem.
So that's the as I said, the philosophical basis. This is a very simple and very natural process, but at the same time, very sublime, process to achieve a very elevated goal of the most highest goal of human aspirations to come to the spiritual world and to serve the Lord eternally.
And that's why I'm here today to learn from you how to chant the holy name of the Lord. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna. And the other part of the world,
Swami, rasp we understand that we have to be staying in uh this randam. We understand it.
So we are very much uh after coming to this Vrindavan whether you have any spiritual experiences, we know that this that place is so many things have come there and the children there's a can you please?
You know, I did have some spiritual experience, there's no doubt about it, but it's not proper etiquette to speak about spiritual experiences too openly.
Because we have to maintain the most important spiritual experience which we should all have is this feeling of utmost humility in front of the Lord.
And when we start speaking about our experiences unless it's absolutely necessary it does create negative because it may, you know, make us proud about this, and so many other unwanted things can happen. So I would rather speak about spiritual experiences of some other people than to speak about my spiritual experiences.
How bhakti overcomes past karma
We know the great spiritual experiences of Saint Tukaram, we know Saint Eknath, all these people, they do have spiritual experience, and if Krishna wants, he will reveal this spiritual experience to everyone else. But we ourselves should be very careful about this.
How does the law of karma act on devotion? Because everybody has to go to their prarabdha karma, sanchita karma. How to overcome that?
It is said especially in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this is a very difficult question. And when we take some other spiritual techniques or spiritual
paths, they all say that if prarabdha karma is already there, you have to experience it. There is no other way. The only way to get rid of prarabdha karma is to experience it, to to live through it.
It is said in Padma Purāṇa: aprārabdha-phalaṁ pāpaṁ kūṭaṁ bījaṁ phalonmukhaṁ krameṇaiva pralīyate viṣṇu-bhakti-ratātmanām.
And in this verse, uh every other spiritual past they say that a prarabda karma, the karma which is still Sanchita karma, which is uh accumulated uh from the previous births, if it's not prarabda, if it's not manifested, then it can be easily removed by all the spiritual practices.
But in this verse of Padma Purāṇa it is very clearly said that Vishnu Bhakti Ratatmanam, when you become absorbed in bhakti, in Vishnu Bhakti, then aprarabda palam papam, kutam vija, palonmukam, all stages, even including prarabda karma, can be removed due to absorption in bhakti.
And I will explain this. What is karma? How karma manifests? What is it in reality? Karma is nothing but some scars which are there in our mind, all the accumulated uh impressions which are there in the mind.
And at one point according to our astrological chart, according to the influence of the planets. And you know, karma is symbolically described in our chart.
Maṅgala in this position, guru in this position, buddha in this position. So uh at one point all these samskaras which are sleeping within our mind they become awoke and they start acting upon us.
They start pushing us in different directions.
And ultimately, from these subtle impulses, from these subtle energies which are there in the mind, which is stored in the form of samskaras, the gross manifestation of our karma also starts revealing you know within our body and within the external situations.
So our gross body, which consists of Pancha Mahabud and prana and all other things, it's nothing but the gross manifestation of the subtle uh samskaras which are there in Chitta, in uh Mahatattva, in uh very subtle mental informational, so to speak, sphere of our being.
Even the modern doctors, medical practitioners, they say that all the diseases they have a psychosomatic nature. They they start in the mind and then they manifest in the body.
And we call it karma because it manifests and we say cancer is there or some other deadly disease or some suffering is coming. But ultimately it's all there in a subtle form in our mind.
And when you become attached to bhakti, it's not said Vishnu Bhakti is the means, but Vishnu Bhakti Ratatmanam, the somebody who becomes deeply engrossed in Bhakti, whose bhakti becomes his second nature, he
can completely purify mind from all this saṁskāra and from all this karma which is already prārabdha which already started manifesting.
Bhakti changes your mind in a very radical way in a very revolutionary way, it changes your mind, purifies your mind. Which is also determined by our karma may not be changed. We may still go through some hurdles and difficulties in the external world, but our reaction, our mental reaction on these problems will be completely different, will change.
We have to be very clear that there are two different things: there are suffering and there is pain. You may experience pain but don't experience suffering at the same time.
You may experience some difficulties in your life, but it will not will not really cause anguish or anxiety within your heart because your mind has become pure.
So attachment to bhakti gives this stability in the mind and purity in the mind, which helps one to completely disregard or overcome difficulties of karma from our past life.
And therefore, in this verse, there is a very important Kram, the very important sequence. First, aprarabda karma is removed. Aprarabda-phalam-papam, the unmanifested pāpa, the sins which we committed in the previous life.
Then kūṭam, bīja, and phala-onmukham, these four stages: aprarabda, then kūṭa, then bīja, and then phala-onmukham. So kūṭa, bīja, and phala-onmukham, this is all prarabda karma. Aprarabda karma is removed very quickly.
But then kūṭam is removed, then bījam is removed, then phala-onmukham is removed. Khutam basically means the traits of our character which is the result of our previous karma.
And we can see that people who start practicing bhakti seriously, who chant the holy name, their character changes, their traits of character according to their prarabda karma is becoming different.
Bīja is the next stage of manifestation of these traits or the character, our qualities according to our karma. Then it gives birth to bīja. Bīja basically means desire to express this character.
So then desire is also removed by practicing bhakti. And phala-onmukham, phala-onmukham basically means it's already almost ready to give the phala, the fruit of our karma. Even this is being removed.
The karma in the most ripe way bhakti can completely remove even this sort of prarabda karma. Therefore, great devotees of the Lord, great saints, they don't feel any karma.
Even though their life may be difficult, they're happy anyway. We have to finish now, right? There is pūjā. Okay. Yes, sure.