The Need for Internal Cultivation
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Майапур · 2017
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Mangalacarana prayers and opening remarks
Om ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā cakṣunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ śrī-caitanya-mano-'bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kada mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam
vande 'haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca Guru Sriyudabadam Sri Guru Vaishnavam Scha. śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sajīvam
sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ sabadudam, parjanam, Krishnachitania śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca kṛṣṇa karuṇā sindhu dīna bandhu jagat pate
gopīśa gopikākānta rādhākānta namo 'stu te tapta-kāñcan-gauṅgī rāḍhe vṛndāvaneśvari vṛṣabhānu-sutā-devī praṇamāmi hari-priye vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma
rāma rāma hare hare ... Dara, Yantah Pravi shamachamamamprasuptam sangivaya taki ba shakti daraham anyamatva gadim, pranandam bhave porucha. I must admit that I also grew up thinking that all Americans are demons.
There are a lot of them. And then you realize it's true. Probably more than Russia. But anyway, my experience didn't prove it to be true.
And because of his gentleness, Krishna Krishna Kshetra Maharaj invited me to speak, I feel very humbled by this prospect of speaking in front of you.
I definitely not feel that I'm in a position to teach anyone not to speak about the exalted candidates for sannyas, including Mahajuti Prabhu and others.
Still, if I have any qualification to speak in front of all of you, it's the amount of mistakes I have done in my own life. And perhaps I can share some of them with you.
Importance of internal spiritual cultivation
Even if I don't mention them directly, please uh understand that whatever you say I say if it's has some negative connotation is directly related to myself.
Krishna Kshetra Maharaj asked me, uh uh uh suggested different topics, but I myself uh have chosen this particular topic the need for internal cultivation because
I think it's specifically important for sannyāsīs, and I will try to explain in this talk why it is so important, and uh perhaps say a few words of how and what exactly should be done for this.
I remember several years ago I spoke with one sannyasi of our movement who gave me a very amazing formula. He said that in Vedic India the formula for sannyasis
was eight months of preaching and four months of śāstra-sevā. Cāturmāsya or four months of rainy seasons, sannyāsīs would flock in a holy place and
would exclusively have very uh chosen chosen association with exalted sannyāsīs of the same level, and they would study śāstra four months in a row. And eight months they would preach.
So sannyāsī with whom I was speaking who was referring to this custom he said that of course uh naturally we cannot really literally uh reestablish
this system in this context. It would be a little strange if for four months all the sannyāsīs would just disappear. But he also said that the ratio is important. That uh uh it's two to one.
Two parts of the time uh you should and uh allowed to preach to associate with other people to try to elevate others by your association and one part of
and you serve śāstra or you delve deeply in śāstra, in śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanam and spiritual practices. in Shravanam and Kirtanam and spiritual practices. In this way you will always be full because
otherwise if you exhaust yourself exhaust your spiritual energy just by preaching, preaching, preaching, preaching. And as we know preaching involves many things which are not necessarily directly connected
with śravaṇaṁ and kīrtana. Preaching involves dealing with others' problems, with others' māyā. In other words, we're constantly in this close contact with material energy.
So if we don't make sure that at least one third of the time we are very directly
associating with Krishna in form of his holy name, in form of śāstra, and in form of kīrtanam and śravaṇaṁ, then for sure there will be problems, for sure, because we will sooner or later
Mind pollution and daily spiritual recharge
exhaust our energy. And I was thinking when uh uh after speaking with this sannyāsī, I was thinking that uh approximately the same ratio is there in our daily life. For eight hours normal people are supposed to sleep.
We sleep six hours and two hours during Japa it's comes the same. Even if we don't sleep during Japa still it's uh it's the activity which is supposed to be internal, which is not external.
And the need for eight hours of rest or eight hours of some sort of withdrawal from external activities is very important because and
of course we know Baladevia Bushan says that we are uh when we are in a deep sleep in uh this uh uh in uh uh sushupti stage, then when we are more or less in contact with Brahman or whatever.
It's a sort of you know rejuvenation. Period when we kind of recharge our batteries. Because when we are actively interacting with this world by the media of our senses, then it affects our mind.
And the mind, as we know, is a very important instrument for spiritual development.
We know that mind is a central topic and a central theme, and the mind should be clear and clean and pure for us to be able to meditate on Krishna. There is no question of meditating on Krishna when the mind is dirty.
And whether we want it or not, when we are actively interacting with this material world, we contaminate our mind through the senses.
You know we get inside polluted sense impressions sense I mean sense, how you say sense, this feeling, experience of the senses. And they polluted, polluted sounds.
You know, I know I don't know how it is in India. Luckily enough I don't understand Bengali, but uh you know if I go in the street of Russia ah and listen what people are speaking about.
Whether I want it or not, a lot of contamination is entering into my ears. You know, what to speak about other activities, even our food is somewhat contaminated because of the nature of this Kali Yuga.
The food is grown in the in the contaminated atmosphere of Kali Yuga with all this uh fertilizers and everything else.
So the process of uh contamination is always uh going on within our mind and it leaves a lot of impressions.
And we all know as soon as we try to go internal then all these external impressions try to divert us from the meditation.
External and internal mental impressions
It's actually very interestingly described by Patanjali Muni in Yoga Sutra. And the third part of Yoga Sutra, he explains in a minute detail what is happening when one is trying to meditate.
And he says that there are two kinds of samskaras. One is called Vyuthana samskara. And Vyutana, perhaps you have heard the Sanskrit word, Vyutana means going out, external.
Something which disturbs you and forces your consciousness, the flow of your consciousness to go out. And this Vyutana samskara is exactly the samskara which breaks our meditation.
Even in the beginning, when we have very feeble meditation, when we are trying to meditate on Krishna, because all these samskaras which has a lot of energy in it. And we always feed it with new energy.
All these external samskaras, they force us to externalize our consciousness. We are trying to concentrate on Krishna in the form of holy name.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare Rāma. And lo and behold, we all know what happens. You know very soon our mind is. No Krishna. Nothing else is there.
It's just it's just our thoughts. Because why? Because this Vyutana samskaras are very strong. And then he says that there is another sort of samskara, which is called Mirodha samskara.
And niroda samskara is a specific samskara which is being cultivated when we are trying to meditate, when we are concentrating internally.
As much as uh we are cultivating certain external samskars, giving them energy by uh engaging actively our senses uh in the interaction with this world, in the same way we are strengthening our internal samskaras, niroda samskaras.
Samsaras which help us to go deep inside. And uh in this sutra, in this particular sutra, if I remember it correctly, it's 3.9, third part of Yoga Sutra, 9th sutra of this section or of this chapter of Yoga Sutra.
Patanjali Muni says that these two samskaras they uh more or less clash when one is trying to meditate.
And when uh the Niroda samskara takes over, uh then one is able to meditate, but then uh very soon, depending on the strengths of this external samskara, very soon meditation is broken and he is again, his consciousness is again out in the material world chewing the chew, more or less.
Punashpunas charvita, charvananam.
Role of repeated practice in meditation
So and basically that's the means and that's the explanation, the scientific basis of spiritual practice. Why do we need abyas?
Abiyas literally means uh we usually call abhyas sadhana but in yoga uh they give a different term abyas which means repetition.
And that's again what Baladeva Vidyabhusana is explaining in Vedānta-sūtra, while he is explaining why repetition needs to be there. Why do we have to repeat our spiritual practices?
There is a specific sūtra in Vedānta-sūtra which explains this, the need of abhyāsa, and Baladeva Vidyabhusana says that you know, to make our spiritual saṁskāras, or spiritual impressions, subliminal impressions which are there in the mind, strong enough to fight with the external forces.
And therefore the threshold is there; otherwise we will be weakened by these external saṁskāras and external experiences and temptations which are there in this world and because the mind is attached to these external things.
You know, we we say that you know Krishna is all attractive. There's one exception. You know, he's all attractive, but somehow or other I'm not attractive.
You know, at least one exception is definitely there from this rule. So because the mind is not yet attracted to Kṛṣṇa, And why the mind is not yet attracted?
specifically because of this nature, because of this vyutthāna saṁskāras or external saṁskāras or saṁskāras which force us to go outside, to become bahirmukhas, to completely extroverts.
And actually, if we take any spiritual practice, the spiritual practice is the attempt to go inside and to somehow or other cut to a certain extent the connection with the external world.
Of course in bhakti-mārga, we do it in a very unusual way, so to speak, not mechanical way, not secluding ourselves, not isolating from the world, but still the same dynamic should be there. We should be able to go deep.
It's the same, like you know, what's happening while we're trying to meditate on Krishna, meditate on the holy name, it's just, you know, if you take this plastic, very light plastic, and try to push it into the water.
And then, you know, if you if you let it go, what will happen? It comes immediately. It's just because that's the nature.
Now our mind has a specific nature, and we have to be very clear what is happening within our mind and how it happens. And this dynamic should be very clear to us.
So we have to really, and every time when we do this imperceptibly, every time when we try to go inside, when we really apply certain amount of determination and force to force ourselves to be internal and to concentrate on some internal matters, including the transcendental holy name of Krishna. We strengthening the proper samskaras.
And it will take some time before they are strong enough to help us uh meditate constantly, to have this anusmaranam or anusmriti. This specific term druvanusriti is um is very important.
Ultimately it is said that we will have to, and uh this is also implied in Bhagavad-gītā when uh Krishna says, mām anusmara yudhya ca, mayy arpitā-mano-buddhir tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu mām anusmara yudhya ca.
Krishna is very clear and very specific. He says, mām anusmara yudhya ca. You just, yeah, you work, you fight. No problem. Yudhya ca. But mām anusmara.
To be able to do this anusmara, and anusmara means continuous. Non-broken, continuous meditation on Krishna. One has to endeavor for some time.
And we know that we are far away from this non-broken meditation, dhruvānusmṛti. The example which is given for this dhruvānusmṛti, what exactly is it? Dhruvānusmṛti, they say it's like pouring the oil.
When you pour the oil, then the flow of the oil is uninterrupted. It's not just dripping, you know. It's just flows and a very uh but this is a special quality of our mind. The mind should be like oil.
It should not be like beer. It should not be like Pepsi Cola. And now our mind is more like Pepsi Cola than like oil with a lot of bubbles inside. And bubbles are constantly, you know, surfacing in the surface of our mind.
It's very how you say effervescent or how you say Yeah, this sort of effervescent. It's uh this sort of quality of the mind which is bubbling all the time with all sorts of ideas.
So this and this anusmṛti, this mām anusmara, is very important and should be our goal because only if we reach this goal or this stage of mind we will be able to attain dhruvānusmṛti to achieve the goal of human life.
Because if the mind is disturbed and it will be disturbed in the uh at the end of our life, when we have to leave everything then you know until Nārāyaṇa-smṛti how you will be able to think about Nārāyaṇa.
I had a interesting experience some time ago. You know, I I kind of, you know, it was I I was sick and it was a severe disease, and I started imagining something, and I thought, that's it, I'm finished.
And the mind became disturbed, extremely disturbed. Somehow or other it became disturbed, no matter what I tried to do. So in general, you know, we have to really conscientiously apply our force to this.
Spiritual practice and proper motivation
How to do this? This is actually the real topic which I wanted to speak a little bit about this. This internal cultivation. We all know or heard that in some lines of our sampradaya.
This uh internal cultivation uh is supposed to be uh smaranam, lila smaranam, uh which is a uh so to speak the staple practice of Gaudiya Vaishnavas, at least according to some understanding.
Not definitely not uh our understanding, but some people think that you're not a real Gaudiya Vaishnava if you're not doing Lila Smarana. And that's what exactly usually being thought of as an internal cultivation.
And that Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his Bhakti Sandarbha is very specific about this and he says that Smaranam comes naturally if you have proper śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ.
Smaranam is not a forced practice, not something which you have to force upon yourself and who have really, you really work hard.
What's the name of this Greek hero who was you know putting this stone over the hill. Sisyphus. Sisyphus. Perhaps some of you know Sisyphus, the myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was it was his punishment in hell.
He would have a huge stone and he would come almost up to the hill and then the stone would go down and he would have to do it again.
So sometimes our meditation is like this eternal hell, eternal Sisyphus punishment, you know.
No, but Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, this is very important to understand that Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanaṁ, if you have enough, śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanaṁ. But you have to have enough śravaṇaṁ and kīrtanaṁ. Then the smaranam will come automatically in your life.
And then I will divert a little bit from this topic to come back to this topic a little later uh because I do feel that there is something wrong in our normal understanding of
śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ. That we do a lot of sravanam and kirtanam as a way of our daily spiritual practice. We do listen, uh we do speak a lot, and we like to speak. I don't know how you I I like to speak.
Uh so uh but uh somehow or other uh samaranam uh is not coming or coming very little.
And uh I I just wanted to speak a little bit how to say this the the framework or the general attitude from which we are speaking and listening for Shravanam and Kirtanam to be effective.
My observation again speaking now I'm speaking about myself and not speaking about anyone else. But my observation and my introspection about myself is that I listen and I speak. And oftentimes I listen to speak.
I listen uh to repeat it because it's a nice point and I can you know make this nice point and impress somebody and uh and when I speak again uh this sort of external motivation is there.
I what want to say is that this motivation, the proper motivation, why do I listen and why do I speak? The proper motivation is that I I want to be attracted to Krishna ultimately.
That's why I'm listening, that's why I'm hearing, that's why I'm speaking. I have to be in connection with Krishna, and this is the process, this is the only process which can bring me closer to Krishna.
But you know, because of the nature of our activities and uh the culture which is there. You know we have to speak. It almost has become a ritual. You know, somebody sits in the āsana and he speaks. And this is a ritual.
And everyone else is listening, and this is another ritual.
And then, you know, two minutes after the lecture, speaker doesn't remember what he spoke about, and what to speak about the audience. Audience didn't remember what what they heard about.
You know, it just it just doesn't doesn't speak. And it's just it's just it has become it's becoming more or more or less uh an empty ritual we have to come.
Whereas uh you know we know that the motivation the sādhana only becomes sādhana if we very clearly know what is the sādhya.
If we do some sadhana and we forget about the sadhya, about the goal of this process, then it's a mechanical ritual.
We don't understand, we don't really connect what we're doing with that sh with which with the goal which we want to achieve. And therefore ultimately it becomes a useless waste of time, uh more or less.
So uh this this attitude is also coming,
you know, we have to be very clear, and that's directly connected with my topic: is that the external forces are very strong, and these external forces uh force us to to be external more or less.
Um and if we don't have this deep connection with Krishna inside us by the means of prayer, by the means of sincere and conscientious spiritual practice, then the position in the society will be very dangerous thing.
Misidentifying with external spiritual positions
Again, I will come back to the spiritual practice part a little later, but I wanted to speak a little bit about this thing first, which directly is connected to to the specific audience I'm speaking about and again directly connected with my own experience.
What is sannyas? Sannyas is an external position. And we all know a lot of external things is attached to sannyas. At least plate of Mahaprasadam is guaranteed. Even in America. N not always.
Well, America is a very egalitarian place, so to be sannyasī in America is not a big deal. But if you are in a more traditional culture like in India or in Russia there
is a lot of privileges, perks Perks are attached to this position of of you know of some importance. And in this way it may become an upādhi. It is, in one sense, it is an upādhi.
And we know that pure devotional service is sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam We have to give up and to give up all the upādhis. And the problem with upādhis, which I wanted to delineate a little bit, is that upādhi becomes our ego.
What is upādhi?
You know any position in this society may or may not become an upādhi. You know you may be sannyasī, you may be perfectly well situated in a pure devotional service without any upādhis, if you are not really associating with this position if you are not really identifying yourself with this position.
You know if uh if somebody asks you who you are and you say Gopi Bartur Padakamalaya dasa dasa dasa nudasa, then it's fine.
You you can become sannyasī or jagad-guru. But usually you say I am Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya. Everyone should know this. If you're not convinced, I have my Danda to convince you with this topic.
So the problem with upadhis is this, that we tend to identify with it, and the more attractive the upadhi is, the easier this identification process takes place and imperceptibly. We're not really even noticing how it is.
You know, in the beginning I remember very much, you know, when I first took sannyas, you know when people would bow down to me, I would I would really be surprised. I was thoughtful of what they're doing.
You know, but then very soon I thought, you know, if if they don't bow down, I think something is wrong with them. Wha what's going on? You know, don't they know? You know, it it it gets in your head.
It really gets in your head and, uh, because there is a lot of things as I said associated with them. And the problem with that if it becomes your identity, if and when—luckily, if is also there.
It's not necessarily that it will become your identity but if it becomes your identity if you really identify yourself with the position you become very weak. But the weakness is inevitable
because whatever we're identifying with, whatever we are identifying with, if it's not our internal essence, soul,
which is gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. If we are identifying with something external, even if it's sannyas, then this very thing becomes the source of my weakness. Why?
Because I will try to borrow the strengths from this thing. I will try to borrow the strength from my position. It's
very interesting, please listen very carefully, uh, this is what I want to say and this is some sum of thoughts which is kind of important for me myself at least.
External versus internal sources of strength
It is said in uh in Agama tradition uh, where they explain this Caturvyūha and this Sankarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Vāsudeva, Sankarṣaṇa, Aniruddha and Pradyumna, that Sankarṣaṇa is the manifestation of ego.
And the ego or how understanding who I am, my self-identity has two powers. Sankarṣaṇa, according to this catur-vyūha Āgama tradition, or you know, our and the whole you know deity worship is based on this tradition.
It and they say that bala and jñāna, the strength and gyan knowledge is coming from ego. In other words, it's important, please listen uh careful.
If we identify with something external, it becomes our ego, our identity, our understanding of who I am. And I will have to draw bala and jñāna from this position or from this thing which is in reality external to me.
I will draw the spiritual strengths or the strengths to perform my activities from this position. And if I am deprived of this position, I'm powerless. You know, we know very often when somebody uh has some position
of importance in the society, you come to him and you just you just so much Shakti is there. But this shakti is borrowed Shakti. Because the source of this Shakti is external, it's the position.
It's something external towards me. I remember once I I was was near Sonia Gandhi. I was really shocked how much how much Shakti this lady has. Really it's uh you know she has a lot of aura.
She had a lot of aura and I think she's she's not like this anymore. Why? Because because it depends on external position.
And sometimes we also see, you know, a sannyāsī, he has, you know, a lot of power. But the question is, the very important question is, which we have to ask ourselves, where are we drawing this power from?
Is it coming from our internal sense, internal connection with Krishna, from the spiritual sense, or is it coming from some external thing for us?
Therefore, when, uh, Hiranyakasipu uh, asks this question in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where do you get your power from? It's a very important question.
Because Hiranyakasipu is amazed how much power this little boy Prahlāda has. And he's he's just shocked and he's asking, where is the source of your power?
And, and Prahlāda says ultimately it's the same source which you are taking your power from, but you don't understand it. And uh that that's the point.
What I want to say is that if you're drawing your, uh, strength, bala, and your jñāna, what is jñāna? Is your wisdom? Is your understanding how you should act?
Jñāna is something which is directing you, the guiding force in this life. So if we take these two things,
jñāna and bhāva, strength and guiding force, something which is guiding us in our life, in our action, from something external to us, we will ultimately be very weak. We will become ransoms of this thing.
Because if we borrow something, like if we borrow if we borrow money from somebody, what will happen in our relationship with this person? We become dependent. We become dependent on it.
He he he he controls us ultimately. Why? Because we are taking this.
What happens we take anything external uh to us, we try to become powerful in life, and everyone wants to become powerful, everyone wants to influence others, everyone wants to do something.
But if the source is false, then we become ransom of this position or things like this, and ultimately we become weak and we will create weaknesses around us. In my opinion, there are no bad people. There are weak people.
If people are, you know, and by saying powerful I don't mean externally powerful. You know, if somebody is weak, he will create all kinds of mistakes. That's the classical example of this is Dronacharya.
Dronacharya was occupying wrong place, wrong position.
Instead of drawing his strands and his guiding force how he is supposed to act from internal source, he he took some external position and therefore he committed so many mistakes.
Therefore he started using all this divine astras against the, you know people uh you know he he committed severe mistakes and he was punished.
Because because and you know he was condemned because he was wrongly using his power. Why? Again, because of this mistake, because he was not trying to draw the power from inside.
Therefore, Krishna says very clearly: Parādharmo bhayāvahaḥ. If you're doing, if it's svanuṣṭhitaḥ, if you're doing it, anuṣṭhitaḥ, if you're doing it perfectly, it's bhayāvahaḥ. It's a fearful position. It's very dangerous position.
Why? Because you're prone to commit mistakes.
Again, because of these two things, because you're drawing your power and jñāna, balaṁ jñānaṁ, your knowledge and jñāna from the wrong source and ultimately ultimately it will create weaknesses. It will create weaknesses and you will force others to become weak.
You know, it's a it's an amazing thing, it's amazing dynamic which I think we all should be very clear about is that if somebody is weak, uh he more or less consciously creates weaknesses in others because he's not interested for them to become strong.
He's afraid. If somebody is strong, his his only desire is to make others strong. Let you become strong, let you become empowered, no problem.
You know, if if we are weak, we will be very hesitant to empower others. And it will create a lot of headaches for ourselves. We will be we will create a situation where we are overburdened with
all kinds of activities because that gives us artificial sense of how you're trying to overburden yourself with all kinds of services to create this sense of your importance and instead of empowering others.
If somebody is strong, he is not hesitant to empower others, he will be happy to empower others. Because he is strong himself. He's not afraid.
But if if somebody is weak, then it will be very difficult and it it creates a lot of imbalances in our life.
What I want to say is that this is a this is a general law if you are identifying with anything external and in this particular case in our case study, position of sannyāsī, if you are identifying with this and you're trying to draw your power and your knowledge from this position, which is very easy and tempting.
You know, I'm this and that, look who I am, you know, don't you know? Just surrender unto me and I will save you. All kinds of rubbish.
So if this is going on, ultimately we will become weak and instead of helping others to advance spiritually, we will become the hindrance in their spiritual life. And then we will call it preaching.
Very often I see this dynamic. People say I'm preaching.
They're not preaching, they're manipulating. They're trying to make other people to behave the way they want them to behave and they, you know, they make some hints and whatever, you know, they intimidate people in their preaching.
Preaching which is intimidating, you know, just don't don't offend anyone. And offend means you know don't don't try to speak don't don't even think like
this you know no it is it of course we shouldn't be offensive there's no doubt about it but at the same time sometimes it becomes an intimidation uh Manipulation, machination, and uh this is this is not good. Why?
Because we are internally weak. The weakness is there. And at the same time, there is this conflict. We are in a position of strength. But internally we are weak.
To fulfill the duties of this position, we are trying to borrow the strengths from the position itself. And that's a big mistake.
We are not using sannyās for the service. We are we are more or less making sannyās to serve our purposes. We're using sannyās for our purposes and uh it's it's it's really not good.
It's really it really creates a lot of havoc, and ultimately it will create uh fall down and everything else. And therefore, what I want to say is that we have to have a very strong
Consequences of lacking an internal foundation
connection inside and a strong internal, how to say that? foundation. If the internal foundation in the form of our relationship with the holy name is not there, then it will be very difficult.
And therefore it's so important for us to uh have Śrīla Prabhupāda puts emphasis in this uh in these activities. It's not enough, it's not coming enough. It's not coming automatically.
Sometimes people think, you know, he's a sannyāsī. It means he's a pure devotee. It doesn't mean that it does not necessarily mean that.
And we are in this in this very dangerous and precarious situation when we are, you know we are forced to act in a certain way and uh uh people expect from us something and we try to satisfy their expectations and because there is no internal foundation, it will all be artificial and the hypocrisy will build up and dissatisfaction will build up internally and all kinds of problems are there.
I I was told I didn't read Bhakti Ṅānārāyaṇa Mahārāja's book, but I was told that among the ten reasons for fall down, he says this lack of internal life, lack of internal foundation in our uh in our activities.
So now the question is again coming back to initial topic, I I do have a few minutes. You have a whole nother I wanna suggest we take a five four minute break for servicing buttons or whatever you suggest. Okay.
So Krishna Ksetramara says that we have four minutes break to continue. 100%,
You're telling that uh from Sankarshana we derive two uh things that is jnana. But uh jnana is chit, chit is uh we derive from Masudeva. Uh no, Vasudeva has six Shaktis.
All six Shaktis are there, but then three others uh members of the Vyucha they have two of which. Okay, this is and all six are in yeah, it's Pancharata. Janambala what what else is there?
No no jnana bala is sankarsan, then anirudha is Shakti and um I uh I don't remember it now. Uh uh uh Prad Yumna is uh I I can tell you the the exactly. It's just in in reference to this Sankarsan i it's interesting.
Yeah that's Agama. That's Agamic understanding how this Chaturvieuha is you know the Vasudev has all six opulences and you know two two three pairs are distributed among the three other members.
So but specifically it's interesting because Sankarsana is uh Ahankaro understanding. So from this we we definitely draw a lot of bala and
Jyan from Mahamkar there is no doubt about it Vishnu padaraya Krishna prachada butare swiphtividanta sni namaste sara sati devi gurabani prachari, nirvi shunnavadi pachatani sitani.
Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhupada Nanda Sha Dvaita Sivasud Bhakti Bunda, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ram Hare Rama Rama Ram Hare Hare.
So there is a little more I wanted to add to what I have already told.
The main point of my talk is that we have to be really very uh conscientious in our spiritual practices and allocate enough time for this. Otherwise, it will create havoc in our own life and in the life of other people.
That's the problem. And that uh this is a very grave responsibility which we have.
Uh we having this position in the society we influencing other people whether we want it or not, whether we are conscious about this or not uh and therefore we have to really be very bakha in this regard.
So coming back to this subject matter of internal cultivation.
As I said, it comes from Shravanam and Kirtanam, but Shravanam and Kirtanam with a proper mood. That the attitude towards Shravanam and towards Kirtanam should be proper only then it will automatically create smaranam,
the ability to smaranam, the adhikar for smaranam. Adhikar for smaranam is uh the uh it's very clear the uh purity of the mind. He says you can only do smaranam, real smaranam because again,
smaranam does not mean remembering, even though we usually translate it like this, and uh definitely we have to translate it somehow. So and there is no other word how to translate this word.
But the definition which is given is it's it's Krishna sambandi smaranam. Smaranam means uh connection with Krishna. With real Krishna. Smarnam doesn't mean that we're using this prakriti mind.
In the normal way of remembering something as we as we remember, it's it's a direct contact, it's uh it's a direct contact of Krishna with the mind and uh it happens uh uh only in a certain level of purity of the mind.
The mind has to be pure, and that's the qualification for smaranam. If the mind is not pure, uh then uh it's not uh the smaranam is not real. And uh and it uh the the purity of the mind,
this purity of chitta is coming from nam-smaranam from the holy name, from the cultivating of holy name as we all know. And the holy name itself is enough to make our mind sufficiently pure.
Again, if the intention or motivation to chant the holy name is proper.
We have to really practically every day engage in this in this service to the Holy Name as a service, as a service to Nam Prabhu by uh chanting the holy name uh sincerely with our heart and soul uh and in this way uh creating favorable situations within our mind.
Because without that is not possible. And Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, this is an interesting thing, perhaps the last thing which I will say during this little talk.
He gives a very interesting hint of how to do proper nam-smaran. Because again, yeah, anyway, uh let's not touch this Because again yeah anyway, uh let's not touch this one.
We all know that offensive chanting is not really Namsmaran. It's something different.
It's something which is not desirable and something which is not really definitely not recommendable. Therefore, the special efforts, if we really want to cultivate internally, we have to uh uh you know practice it and understand it because um my experience is that we have heard about these offenses and everything so many times that we don't take it seriously anymore.
We already know by heart all the ten offenses and everything, and you know all the all the stuff. But as it's not you know I've been in
many temples when they chant the Ten Offenses after mangala-arati and you know especially pathetic is the last sentence when and then somebody who is really sleepy says, and then you will achieve the real fruit of the holy name, Krishna prayer. And he says it with such an expression.
You want to die in the right there. It's just, you know, it's just again mechanical ritual. Meaningless ritual is just lost its meaning. Meaningless sorry.
Progression of moods in standard chanting
So, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gives a very interesting hint which I wanted to share with you.
He says that that in order to chant the pure name, he explains that the mood is very important. The mood in which you chant the holy name. And he says that in the beginning the mood should be ulassa.
It's an interesting uh point which is very much different from we usually uh have when we chant the holy name. Uh uh the Sanskrit word ulassa and Bengali word for this uh case is coming from the
root las and uh uh Lass means kiddah. The the meaning of this is is to play. Last means to be enthusiastic about something. Ullass means.
Prefix ut means this you you play in a very. you know it's uh it's going up, you know, in a very enthusiastic way uh you play it and we we of course have this word alas yeah alas
and alas means oh the opposite of this so we usually chant the holy name with Alice Alice. And you just really, you know, have a pity over this No,
but Bhaktivinoda says that uh the internal mood in which you uh chant the holy name should be you know it's it's amazing.
Uh you know, over the so many millions of species of life I I got the human body and ultimately I I got the chance to to chant the holy name.
It's so rare and so amazing and so wonderful and therefore but you know that says that what he wants to say that it's it's possible.
If we really. you know it's not just artificial sort of, you know artificial how you say this when we try to anyway imagination. Yeah English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for this.
But anyway, it's not an artificial attitude in the mind, but uh you know this this mm this little uh enthusiastic mood should be there when we chant the holy name.
And uh rather than you know oh again this is this is uh you know you you have to really this heavy burden of of changing these sixteen rounds when it's just when it's finished.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that it's very mean attitude if we just chant and think you know so soon, soon, soon.
Just you know, just try to to do it, uh, that's the internal cultivation. This is where internal cultivation starts. That's the starting point.
If we change the holy name with a proper attitude towards the holy name with this ullāsa. And then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that actually it not it doesn't stop there. After some time if you uh you know I was when
I was reading this, I remember, uh, Bhakti Br̥ṅga Govinda Mahārāja he sometimes talks about his encounter with Krishna dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, disciple of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, god brother of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And he Bhakti Br̥ṅga Govinda Mahārāja he, uh, usually tells the story when uh he uh asked uh, Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja whether he can be with him on Ekādaśī night.
You know, Bābājī Mahārāja would chant the whole night in the holy name. And Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja told him, "Yes, you can come, but, uh, you know I will not tolerate if you just do the you
know if if you want to do it you have to come and then uh usually uh Govinda Mahārāja he he tells that how usually, uh, Kṛṣṇa dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja would, um, chant the holy name.
He said he would chant the holy name with some little laughter in it. Something like this.
There is this with this ullāsa, this this joy, this real joy, it's a festival, you know, encountering with Krishna in the form of the holy name. So and that was his direct order.
He said, yes, you can come and you can stay over the night, but you just no design no yawning japa. Just do it in a proper way because it's also contagious in a sense if everyone is doing this.
But then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says then, uh, after some time, uh, after chanting for a long time, uh, with this. Because why if if you do this in this manner then the purification of your mind will become much more deep,
intense and also the saṁskāras about which I mentioned, this nearda saṁskāras, this special spiritual saṁskāras which are very important, which have to be stronger than our material saṁskāras. Which have ultimately to overpower our material saṁskāras.
Because if it doesn't happen then we're nowhere. We just this uh cloud. How you say broken or not broken? This ribbon cloud. Riven cloud, the cloud which is ribbon, we are nowhere. We are no we're not here, we're not there.
You know, this spiritual saṁskāras have to be strong, and for this the mood is important. How how we perform our practices. It's it's a festival. It's Uzzah.
Festival of Holinay, Festival of Shravanam and Kirtanam, that's how it should be. But then Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says after changing in this mood, you have to add sense of ownership, Mamatha. Krishna is mine.
Should come to your mind that uh this is a connection with with Krishna, direct connection with Krishna. And Krishna is, I am connected with him.
This direct connection is very important, this feeling or perception of direct connection
is important and then ultimately Bhaktivinoda Thakur says then you will have then you have to then you have to chant with third mood. Add to these two moods.
Allah says there, you add the third mood, Mamatha, and then you add the fourth second mood, and then you add the third mood, which is Vishramba, which is intimacy, closeness.
So again, not immediately after some time, but it will more or less come in a natural progression how the mood is developing or evolving when you're changing.
And as we all know, Bhaktivinoda was the first one of our acharyas who said that uh inattentiveness is is also an offense he lumped together the two offenses uh of uh Harinama Kalpana and uh uh Arthavada.
He lumped them together and he m uh he said that Pramada is is the tens offense uh or and and then when he explains this he says that Alassya is one of the uh features of Pramada in Adentiness.
When we are lazy, when we are completely in this in this mood of inertia mental inertia so therefore he gives the remedy and he gives the he explains that this is this is the mood uh and uh by changing in this way the purification will be
very quick whereas if uh kind of gave up on this and simply are satisfied with changing the Nama Parad, then the purification will not take place and anusmaranam will not be possible and the
spiritual saṁskārs will be naturally weak,
and therefore we will have to draw some power from somewhere else, not from our relationship with Krishna in the holy name, from our position in the society, from our influence, from our followers, our cells.
And uh uh uh th this is going on, this this is how we will uh and that will be very bad for us as uh spiritual sincere spiritual beings trying to fight Krishna to come to Krishna.
Therefore it's especially important for those who aspire to become sannyāsīs and as far as my autobiographical uh things is concerned.
As I said, this is all autobiography, I'm telling that that I uh I you know I I've noticed at one point that there is a lot of imbalance in my life that I'm tired, that I don't have time for other people I don't have time for relationship and you know I'm overburdened with this.
I realize that something I'm doing wrong. That there is something wrong in the way I conduct so-called spiritual practices. And uh this whole thing, you know, m uh made an effect on me.
It affected physically, uh on a bodily level, the the health uh went down and you know and the anxiety is there.
And um also it's very simple, you know, y you have to really uh consider yourself if if if your identity is proper, then all the external criticism which is there will not affect you.
But if the external criticism is affecting you very badly, and something is wrong with your identity, with your understanding who you are.
It means that your ego is your ego is still very sensitive and very uh I mean painful. And that means that there is something false, the false element is there.
And therefore we will not be able to play the role in the society. And basically I I want to conclude this little talk by saying that there is a very important verse in the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
Svesvedikariani Sagunah Parikirtita Viparias to doses to anyway, it's a very simple verse. That what is guna? What is virtue in our life?
Acting according to spiritual qualification
Virtue, guṇa, uh, in our life is when we act according to our qualification. Adhikāra. Svadhikāre niṣṭhā. If we're fixed, uh niṣṭhā. What is niṣṭhā? Niṣṭhā means be completely fixed in this position.
If we are completely fixed in the position of our qualification and we strictly act in accordance to our qualification, then this is guṇa. This is guṇa. It will bring good to you, it will bring good to others.
Viparyaya to doṣas too. But uh if you act contrary if you act not according to your adhikāra, and you try to artificially act
uh as something else, not understanding who you are and not acting from this, then this is viparyaya, this is doṣa. This will be defect.
This will create very bad consequences in your own life and in the life of others with whom you associate. So the main thing is to we have to be very conscientious about this because otherwise we will be ruined.
We will be ruined by all these things. External, so-called external achievements and things like this, they will ruin us because it's doṣa.
So and uh sannyāsī is expected to be a spiritual person, is expected to have a lot of spiritual experience and preaching means sharing this spiritual experience. Preaching doesn't mean anything else.
Preaching means that you have some spiritual experience and you share it with others uh while speaking, not just you know distributing some certain uh dogmas which you don't realize uh internally which didn't bring you w didn't m make you happy. So then only it can become real preaching.
Yes, sannyasas for preaching, but to preach you have to have spiritual experience.
To have spiritual experience you have to dedicate enough time for this and you have to be serious about it and conscientious and definitely have a lot of spiritual association, not just association with your followers.
Which is asat-saṅga. I'm speaking on my own experience. Anyway, sorry for this. This is what I had to say. Thank you very much.
Defining spiritual success over external results
This is so illuminated. Um are there any questions or any comments from you anyway? Yes, prank of that.
Thank you, Marach, for your uh uh try to negate such topics which is very difficult because it is uh that if we are not become expert in and this real position in which we are acting in the first position all action that we are doing is And we are not useless in the best in the best case. It can be harmful. And we cannot achieve the final goal to go back to God.
So therefore this uh also my guru Maharaj and
Baptist Guru Ghotamant Sami before in the body sent one message to everybody telling it is not a very important how many temples you have built or how many temples you are, but how much pure you are become.
And this purity it is it is possible only with great sincerity. First we are going to cheat ourselves So therefore uh we are not cheating very much the lesson
and uh uh it is necessary to go deep more and more in this in these topics because it's I think that this is the difference between to be wake and to be sleepy in the mood of sleep.
And sometimes the majority of people, including all cards are like jumping long with not know what they are doing because there is nothing this introspection this knowledge so therefore this This is the cause of all the labor.
Okay, but think you're very much if you ask the question. Okay. Yeah, just perhaps little thing I can add to what uh Prahma Bhakti Prabhupada has said is that sometimes we take spirituality for granted.
I'm in the spiritual society, I'm I have spiritual position, therefore spirituality is kind of automatically attached to this. But it's not. It's not. So uh and uh that's a that's a mistake.
Sometimes we we do you know take it for granted that some time it may pass as your missing can be an obstacle on the attachment to the position. Of course.
Not sometimes, all all the time, if we are attached to the position. There is another type of renunciation — renunciation of the position for achieving the real goal.
Sometime uh devotees we tend to be honest to others but not really honest with ourselves. And interesting sense, but we are thinking we know better what we're doing. And also I heard a a um one uh seminar by Mahaprabhu.
He was also saying that uh sometimes in the past we shouldn't always be getting some yaśas out of enthusiasm, but not really commitment or uh really strong vow. So
my question would be: Maharaj, how how strong can we be committed to our vow and then um not not just by enthusiasm but um committed to our vow?
there is there is material enthusiasm and as we know anything material related to our material mind is changing. Today I'm enthusiastic, tomorrow I'm depressed.
Uh so we really have to see if it's a spiritual enthusiasm, the commitment is also will be there in the spiritual enthusiasm, because spiritual uh things uh they are stable by nature.
And uh uh enthusiasm itself is a good thing uh but uh we have to really clearly analyze the source of this enthusiasm. If the source of this enthusiasm is our desire to please Krishna and desire to
achieve the final goal, like it is said in this verse, which is sometimes called sannyāsa mantra: viditvāsْتāya parātma-niṣṭhām abhyāsyatāṁ pūrvatamair maharṣibhiḥ.
You know, we know that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with great enthusiasm was chanting again and again this verse after taking sannyāsa. So the source of his enthusiasm was definitely spiritual and
therefore attached to this enthusiasm, commitment was there definitely. And this enthusiasm would not be waning over a period of time. But if our enthusiasm is material then you know and and there
is no commitment at the same time or sense of duty, or sense of, you know, this kartavya-buddhi is not there, sense of duty and obligation and commitment to this, then of course material enthusiasm
is not a very good, it's uh it's not a very long-lasting fuel, so to say. So yes, uh if you have spiritual enthusiasm then commitment is there. If you don't have spiritual enthusiasm, then then there should be commitment.
And very strong sense of duty. I have to do it, I did it. This is my, you know, if I'm uh if I have integrity I have to follow what I did. Which is not easy in one sense. So
uh you spoke about like internal uh uh lift map and uh to be introspective uh but we have seen in the organization score? We always measure success.
Number of books distributed, number of devotees made, number of temples done.
We enter sannyas ministry is calculating all these things uh before we enter here and uh for the next uh four years awaiting list this is what the record uh to give.
And of course, you know what is the work we can do practically to change the mood of measuring one's success. When I go back to temple, you know what I'm supposed to do anybody Thank you. Yeah, I can definitely.
Thank you very much for this question. It's a culture. And we and the culture is actually very difficult to change.
And culture is imperceptibly penetrates everything, it's all pervading and it's really uh influences a lot of things.
But ultimately what we can change is the culture is the the very strong foundational elements of any culture is these things. So and uh that has to be translated into the systems of our society.
Because uh when we speak we usually speak right things, we say this is this is valuable.
But then when it comes to really you know reward, uh we are not rewarding the proper things, we're rewarding something which is not really the same thing.
So what we have to really reconsider or reevaluate whether we are rewarding or punishing the right things or all wrong things. What what are we rewarding? What are we punishing in people?
And whether it is establishing or based on spiritual values really? Or it's based on some material calculation and material measurements of whatever.
And of course, you know, the book distribution is a very important thing. It's not external um but it can become external depending on what what is the understanding behind this.
All these things they are actually measurement of internal things but it has to be very clear because in and of itself they may become just external, unfortunately. And we have seen it also. It happens.
You know, if somebody is very dedicated and he achieved something, we have to reward his dedication and his achievements, there is no doubt about it. But ultimately we have to see that we are rewarding his dedication.
Not achievement as such, but his dedication which manifested in a form of achievement. And his loyalty to Śrīla Prabhupāda and his teaching, his, you know, and this sort of thing.
So we have to be very careful, because otherwise it very easily can be substituted, one thing can be substituted for something else which is not,
easily can be substituted, and the whole culture will just be wrong, and people will be driven by some external things. Sometimes devotees share in their experience internal cultivation, about internal cultivation.
cultivation... When they are chanting... Sometimes devotees are sharing their internal cultivation about their experience.
When during their chanting they are not getting the taste, but when they finish the 16 rounds, they are satisfied, they are getting taste, everything, and I also realize this thing.
So my question is: that depends also, our chanting mode, mode of chanting or depends on many things, and, uh, basically depends on the offenses which we commit. If there's no offenses, then the chanting itself is very satisfying.
And therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in Harinama-cintamani, he suggests that sometimes we should dedicate the whole day to just chanting and hearing, and in this way rejuvenate or recommit ourselves to these practices, or reconnect ourselves with the taste.
Because every one of us has taste. It's not that we never had any taste in chanting or in hearing. We all have taste, some experiences there.
But what happens, you know, when it becomes routine and then uh we kind of—and we don't see so many examples around us—and then we kind of forget about this taste and we just continue with these mechanical practices of spiritual life.
But then, you know, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura specifically says there—I remember again, uh, Bhaktiur A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda asked me to speak about my own experiences.
I remember very much, I came from Russia, from Soviet Union, long back, it was 1989 or something like this, or '88, to Sweden. And I started living in a temple before that. I never lived in a temple.
I was on my own and everything was really really strange to me and besides that Sweden is a very special place you know you can live with hundred devotees and you know for I was on my own and everything was really, really strange to me. And besides that, Sweden is a very special place, you know, you can live with hundred devotees and, you know, for months you will not speak with anyone.
And everyone will be perfectly satisfied. Money there is Swedes for like ice skills. Yeah, ice. Money there. So uh of course I found one Swedish devotee who loved to speak and uh I was really drying up.
Anyway, what happened? Then I became so I mean my life became so dry. And uh and of course I committed a lot of offenses because of this, you know. Unwillingly, you know, I didn't like and was mentality was different.
It's it's always different when you come to a place with different mentality. You you you just don't understand how people work.
But I remember till this day I remember the Janmastimi day and I just somehow rather I can completely immerse myself in Kirtan and Shravanam and just hearing and and this that.
And you know, lo and behold, next day I was back, enthusiasm came back, the taste came back because of this, the whole day. It was difficult.
In the beginning it was difficult to force myself to do it, but ultimately it did work. Okay, so the recommendation is this. Harakaswamada. Maharaj evening you explain about many samsakara.
So one of the samsya samsakata srad samsakara. Srad cherimani. If devotee family samon past like mother father so what we should do how to follow satsam zatala I'm not a an expert in this uh in this field.
Uh probably Krishna Kshetra Maharaj can answer better how to do uh samskaras pretty nice uh but we have our Vaishnava version of all samskaras I believe
Shraddha Samskara is also there although it is said that uh generally Vaishnavas don't do Shraddha samskara because Shradha samskara is Arajasic by nature. It's directly connected with heaven and this sort of stuff.
Connecting with spiritual ancestors
But I don't really do I don't really know exactly what is the answer to this uh what Vaishnavas are supposed to do uh according to Satkriya Saradivika or whatever is there for this maybe you can see the Well um this
may or may not directly address your question, but it seems to me the broad the broader point for us specifically in the Sanyas Ashram.
If you think about what is Shrad Shradha, it's making some sort of connection to ancestors. Um and as we just heard this is uh identified with mode passion.
In our tradition, our spiritual tradition, we have spiritual ancestors. I can say a lot about this, but I, you know, we were talking about the guru-paramparā. And of course we observe.
I don't like to use the word celebrate when it comes to tirobhāva-tithi. Do we celebrate the disappearance? We observe the appearance. Sorry, the disappearance of the Vaiṣṇavas.
So of course throughout our calendar year uh we are um it it's um perforated what's the word it's full of uh the observances of, um, and celebrations of, uh, āvirbhāva, observances of tirobhāva of the Vaiṣṇavas and those observances, this is my personal mini realization.
This is our śrāddha. Because we're connecting with, uh, the spiritual ancestors. But this śrāddha is not, you know, just offering some piṇḍa and let's hope they're satisfied.
What we're doing and especially as, uh, sannyāsīs and preachers is we want to help the community of Vaishnavas to feel a connection with these ancestors.
And that connection means we remember their lives, we remember their teachings, we tell others, we remind of their teachings.
The very last time that His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami visited Bhaktivedanta Manor in 2001 was on the occasion of Vasant Panchami, uh which as you know is um there are many acharyas who appear and disappear on that day.
And uh it was also the day uh of his of Tamal Krishna Goswami's sannyāsa, taking sannyāsa some 30 years before. So he spoke um after several of this spoke on various uh acharyas, then he was the final uh speaker.
And I remember specifically he was making the point and he used this phrase.
He said we have a great we have a great connection with these previous ācāryas. He was speaking especially about the six Goswāmīs. He wanted us to be particularly aware that this is also part of our our uh our community of Vaishnavas is the community which is no longer with us visible. And later I wrote an article on a subject about Tamal Krishna Goswami's departure. It was in an academic journal published.
And I called it a great connection that was titled my uh essay. Uh that um as I was reflecting on on him and his life I realized his life was cut short such that he was no longer with us.
Suddenly he has become an ancestor without the stage in between him being a senior vaiṣṇava and an elder this uh this word elder. The elders uh in traditional society there are elders. In ISKCON our elder we have one elder.
She was probably older now. But you're getting older. We're all getting older. And that's my point. Is that as we get older we are we are becoming seniors and eventually elders.
And as seniors and elders, part of our job is to make this connection. uh with the ancestors, with the spiritual ancestors. That's that's I think part of your job description. Sorry for going on Thank you.
Avoiding premature imitation in practice
Yes, yes, it's hard. Hello Krishna Maharaj. Thank you for very living my presentation. My question is regarding these three stages of chanting uh mentioned by Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Mamata Vishwam Bhar, yeah.
Vishrambha is that Vishrambha mamata. Mamatha. Mamatha.
So is there any danger or possibility of sahajiyā if we try to move through these stages, uh is there any danger of of overdose? You know, if we try to cultivate stage two, three potentially prematurely.
Uh it's it's changing these moods like shifting gears as we're moving forward in in our chanting activities. Dangerous there uh as you know in any anything else we do.
And basically, sahajiyā means that we are trying to act not according to our adhikāra and we're trying to artificially pretend that we are higher than we really are.
And the the meaning of sahajiyā, the specific meaning of sahajiyā or practical definition of sahajiyā is that the natural sequence is violated.
There is a natural sequence in our spiritual development and uh the the processes are uh you know so certain processes natural processes they usually take time and there is a specific uh natural sequence in it.
Therefore I think Gorachand Sridhar's Babaji, he was he was uh joking that Sahajia is something like a woman who goes to a maternity room and screams,
you know, and uh you know really uh halts and you know uh uh depicts all kinds of things uh labor. Unfortunately she was not pregnant in the first place. But but very impressive show at the end.
So uh w what I want to say, I think this example is a little deeper than it seems on the surface, because the uh underlying uh idea behind this example is that uh there is certain the natural processes, they have certain sequence so to speak and they take time you know you cannot really uh give birth to a baby within one month, no matter how much you try.
Like in Soviet Union, in the beginning, you know, they would make a plan for five years and then then fulfill this plan for five years within three months.
So it it probably means that something's wrong with their plan or with the execution of their plan, you can't really make you know something which you're supposed to do within five years, within three months, unless so that's what it is.
Sahajiya is this mentality where you uh try to substitute some natural process. And natural process means it takes time.
It means you know, you chant and you practice it and again and again and you repeat it again and again, you create certain uh conditions within your mind and heart.
So, what I want to say is that sahajiya is possible for anything we are doing because we are prone to it because of the you know pride. Sahajiya is nothing but subtle manifestation of pride, you know, I'm already there.
So if you are humble, then you will not hurry with this and you will act. Why it is so difficult to act according to our qualification because it's not spectacular in our own mind, you know.
Whereas when we act, you know, we see somebody is acting this way and we want to imitate it. Imitation is nothing but pride. You know, I'm I I I I want to imitate somebody else.
Whereas if I'm acting according to my qualification, it's it's humble. It's it's humility.
So if you're humble you will not hurry in in this. But uh the beginning starting point is very important. If you uh i if you start with the proper mood, then the natural development will take place.
So I think we can end on that note. Yes. Are we are we happy that these models have been young those from the Ranash have come and spoken to us?