Pancha Samskara
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · 2022
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Opening mantras and invocation
O Mahyanati Mirandasiam, Vyanam Janachalakaya, Chaksurumnam, Tasmai Shri Guravenama, sri Chaitanyama Bisham, stapitame bukal, slyamrupa padamajam, Dadiswa Padantikam, Vandeham, Sri Guru, Sriutapadakamam,
Sri Guru N Vaishnavamucha Sri Rupam Sagrajatam Sahanabunatamikam Sadam, Sadvaitam Sadhutam, Parijana Satam, Krishna Chaitanyade, Sri Rha Krishna Padam Sabanadita, Sri Shakadamsha, E Krishna
Karuna Sindho, De Navandod Jagatpate, Gobisa Gopikatam Radamastute, taktakan gorangi, radne vrindava nishali, Vishamadu studede, Ramami Haripri, Pachakalpataru Vyascham, Kripasinduja Padidalampawami,
Vaisnava Yo Namam, Sri Krishna Chaitana, Prabhupada, Sri Advaita, Shrivassani Bura Bakta Villa Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Ale Ram, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Ajawanulam Vitva Jabokana Gavadata Sankirt Sundžiava, ki shapki, darah, soda, chasta, charna, šrama, dwug, prah, na made, push, ubut, swa sia, stu we shakalah,
pra se dyamdu bhotani silam mitaudya manascha padramba
Addressing the assembled brahmacharis
jatata doksa ja visipu no matihavituki, I'm very happy to be with all of you.
And when I was told that there will be brahmacharya class, I saw there will be five Brahmacharis at best, you totally overthrow my expectations by your numbers.
Sure, Śrīla Prabhupāda is very pleased to see so many Brahmacharis seriously practicing spiritual life. This is of course inspiration and hard work, hard service of Gopal Krishna Maharaj and his team.
I'm pointing down to all of them, to their Lord of Speed and to all of you on this occasion. No need to translate it into Hindi, what's the story? Oh but I see, okay. Okay. Okay, so what shall we do?
Shall I speak or shall you ask questions? Okay. I'll speak a little bit about the topic of pancha samskara, which is the process of Vaishnava initiation
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī quotes in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa a verse from Tattva Sagar, which compares the process of initiation with alchemical process. Yatka Kanchanatam Yati Kamsiam.
He says that Through the certain process of alchemistry, when the base metals or bell metal in this particular example is connected with especially modified and especially purified rasa. Rasa means mercury.
When this contact takes place, then the bell metal is turned into gold. And in the same way, Diksha is supposed to transform the soul
which is due to the contact with the low modes of material nature has become practically like matter. Our consciousness is very much like matter. So, but Diksha is the process of elevating the soul on another status.
It's the process of qualitative transformation or change within the soul, which is totally completely identifying itself with the matter into the pure spiritual living entity.
So So, this process, alchemical process, is a mystery. So many people were trying to find the recipe of how alchemistry works because everyone wants gold. And it's available, it's still available.
Spiritual transformation through diksha
You know, if we really want gold, then we have to go through this alchemical process.
Gold, the specialty of gold is that it's very strong. It does not undergo any deterioration or any corruption. It always remains the same and it's shining.
So, in the same way, when the soul is freed from the connection with this matter, it changes the quality.
Instead of being clippable, instead of being corrupt, instead of undergoing birth, old age, death, disease, it becomes eternal and it's always shining. It literally starts glittering, starts emanating some light.
So that's the process, and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he wrote a very detailed and interesting essay on this subject matter where he explains the alchemistry of pancha samskara.
This pancha samskara is a very common procedure which is mostly adopted or employed by Sri Sampradaya.
However, our Acharya starting with Jiva Goswami and specifically Baladeva Vidyabhusana who explains this pancha-samskara in his Prameya Ratnavali.
And then Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he, they adopted the same methodology, the same procedure, the same vidhi, pancha samskara vidhi in our line.
And Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he says that even though this process externally is being applied, but because uh due to the powerful influence of time the process has been forgotten to a certain extent, the internal meaning of the process has been forgotten, then what only remains is an empty shell.
And the statement of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, even though it's made more than one century ago, more than hundred years back, is still very much applicable to us because as human beings we are very much prone to take the formalities and forget about the essence behind the formalities. Forget about the internal workings of these formalities.
And of course, taking externals is good. It helps you to also to understand what should be taking place within your heart.
But uh if we are complacent and if we think that it's enough for us to take the external Diksha with the pancha samskaras five different purificatory Processes, then we will be cheating ourselves.
We will be cheated of the real gold. The transformation will not take place and
Progression from faith to spiritual taste
the proces of diks is a very prolonged proces. It's not that you know I'm coming one day of my initiation and uh Guru Maharaj smiles at me and says, your name is Paramaham Sadhas Brahmacharya. And that's it. No no.
This is this is and now I'm of course Paramahamsa, not Paramahamsa does, but paramahamsa prabu or sometimes mahaprabhu so it's
a long process actually, this process takes place from Shraddha, which is the beginning of this process, when we get little faith.
And Śrīla Prabhupāda specifically says that in the beginning you get little faith, little tiny speck of faith. And it basically goes till Rucci.
After Rucci, or on the stage of Rucci, you may say that the diksha process is more or less complete.
Of course, your spiritual development is not complete, but by the time of Rucci of achieving this stage of spiritual taste, you will be free enough from the influence of matter to feel yourself as the spirit soul and to shine.
And you know, when you get your pictures on iPhone, everyone will see the halo of light emanating from your head. No, it's literally like this. Maybe not as bright as the electric bulb, but some halo will be there.
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says and he says, say on this topic that if you don't undergo this process, you cheat yourself and
And you think that you're going through this process, but you don't understand what it really means, this pañca-saṁskāras.
And ultimately, the result will be that instead of increasing your spiritual enthusiasm, the spiritual enthusiasm will decrease. There will be an opposite process in working.
And this opposite process will actually not only slow down our spiritual development but will turn it into a different direction, unfortunately. And we may go even to the lower position than we started this process.
So we have to be really careful and really conscientious when it comes to taking these saṁskāras.
And the definition of saṁskāra, Śrīla Prabhupāda of course oftentimes says that it's just a certain ritual or ceremony which is meant to purify your heart.
But the definition, the technical definition of saṁskāra, saṁskāra is a vikāra, is a transformation. It's something, it's the process which supplies you with a new quality. You get new guṇa. That's what saṁskāra is.
You cannot really say that you went through a saṁskāra if new quality did not appear within your psyche or within your consciousness, within your heart.
So that's a very important point to understand that saṁskāra how do we judge whether I am undergoing saṁskāra or not? We can judge it by deciding whether the new quality is being developed or not.
And it's interesting that after saṁskāra you can not really go back to the previous stage because your quality already changed.
Like for example, annaprāśana saṁskāra when a little child is taking some grains for the first time.
You know, this taking grains is a saṁskāra because it really activates certain processes within the body of the child before that saṁskāra, the child could survive only on milk, on mother's milk.
After that, if you try only to feed him with the milk, he will die. He will need on a regular basis supply of grains.
Because the new quality has been developed, and this new quality, the new processes started, new digestion, new fire is there. And he needs something more than mother's milk.
Even though mother's milk is may still be there, but he has to get some other food as well. That's saṁskāra, that's how saṁskāra works. You cannot really go back.
You cannot go through saṁskāra and then go back to the previous stage. Or Vivaha saṁskāra. You know, after vivaha saṁskāra you can never go brahmacharya again because you're not a brahmacharya anymore.
Something changed, the new quality appeared. So of course nowadays you know you can get five marriages and then become premature again. But that's uh Kali Yuga, that's not the real process.
So that's the point which I'm trying to make is that uh uh saṁskāra is a very important procedure and we have to understand how it works and what should be there.
First samskara of repentance and austerity
So Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura he explains or Baladeva Vidyābhaṣaṇa and actually the tantra-shastra the pāñcarātra pāñcarātra explains that the first saṁskāra is tapa saṁskāra. Tapa, Puṇḍra, Nāma, Mantra, and Yāga.
This is the five saṁskāras, the names of five saṁskāras.
And the five the first of the five saṁskāras is tapa, and usually externally it's being done as you know you're being stamped by some, you know, by some hot stamp and guru is supposed to put some symbols of conch and chakra on your shoulders.
In Udupi in Udupi temple the sannyasi who is on paryaya he does it on a certain day of the year. And there is a long queue of people to renew this tapa saṁskāra, to renew the stamps on their shoulders.
And sometimes, of course, in our sampraday we don't do this really cruel method, you know. And you know Sannyasi is sitting there and there is some charcoal burning and he's putting this and tchff Next.
And it's it's still there for a long time. You know, I actually have to admit that once I by mistake I put it on my shoulders too. Because I saw there is a Q, I thought must be some nice Prasadam being distributed.
Anyway so So uh in all Sampradaya instead of this uh you know Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that we m may write some names of God, or you know, the symbols of this by sandal paste or by tilak by clay.
But again, he says that this is just an external symbol of the internal process which has to be in working. And he explains that this tapa, what is tap? Tap is. tap is anutap, tap is paschat, tap is repentance.
We all know that in Sanskrit repentance is called anutap or paschattap. When you burn with this fire of repentance about your previous life, previous lifestyle, previous deeds, previous way of thinking.
And it's a very important saṁskāra, and actually, this saṁskāra has to start immediately as soon as you get little faith. As soon as little śraddhā comes, you have to reconsider your previous life.
What was going on, how you were living, how you were dealing with people. You know basically we have to really re-evaluate how do I deal with myself? What do I do?
How I deal with other people, how I deal with environment, how I deal with my relatives and everything else. You know, so that's the real essence of this tapa saṁskāra. Tapa saṁskāra.
Otherwise, if this repentance is not there, then the very strong impressions of the previous life and previous enjoyments, so-called enjoyments of material life will be always disturbing our spiritual practice.
And we really have to understand that śraddhā, if we have real śraddhā it basically means that there is no there is no way back because it's just you know it's just not possible to to go back to the previous life in one sense you can only go forward.
Otherwise you know, if sometimes of course people do this, sometimes they reconsider, they change something, but still, you know, if they had śraddhā, still they cannot really hundred percent go back.
And tapa saṁskāra basically makes sure that you don't go back. You really have to burn the bridges. You know, like sometimes people to make sure they they only go forward.
Sometimes army, when the army is uh you know attacking some uh enemies then they sometimes burn the bridges behind them. And it basically means that they cannot really turn back and run away. They only have to go forward.
And Tapa is this fire of repentance which has to really deeply work on the previous saṁskāras and at least make them weaker.
The saṁskāras which are there, impressions of our previous life or of our previous enjoyments, previous sinful activities which we did, they're still there.
And in the beginning, when we are very enthusiastic and when everything is new, you know they may be dormant for some time. But sure enough they will wake up.
Exhausting emotional energy of old impressions
You know, at one point there may be some awakening process of this, some saṁskāras. So therefore they have to be weakened.
Patanjali Muni in his Yoga Sutra he explains the four or five different stages or states in which saṁskāra can—saṁskāra means impression of our previous life, memory about our previous activities.
You know, we should discriminate between saṁskāra as a purificatory process and saṁskāra as just a memory about my previous life.
So he says that there maybe four or five different stages of saṁskāra, and he says the most preferable one is uh stage which is called tannu. Tanu means uh how you say this very slim. Tanu basically means slim.
Tanu means exhausted. You know, in our saṁskāras, in the memories of the previous activities, of previous sinful activities. There is a lot of emotional energy.
You know, especially if we remember something, you know, it it basically means that there is some emotional energy stored in this saṁskāra. And this energy when it awakes it may really pull us in different directions.
So we really have to exhaust this energy. Memory may be there, but it will not be strong enough to push us in an unwanted direction. So that's what tapper means.
And tapper means that really we have to really first of all openly admit that this is what I am, this is what I did, this is what is there in my memory.
Because when you speak it out, you already relieved from this burden which is there inside. When you hide it, the more you hide it, the stronger it becomes.
But if you at least you know openly admit it to somebody whom you trust or whatever, you know, then it basically means no, no, I don't like it I don't want it I know that it will not make me happy basically very important understanding that I I tried to be happy.
I tried different uh ways, you know I I went to you know to IIT or whatever or I tried different ways but it didn't work. Who tried to be happy before you became a brahmacārī? Please raise your hands.
Who really tried to be happy? Only one. Nobody else tried.
Re-evaluating past attempts at material happiness
Okay, few more. No, we have to, you know, TAPA means, you know, I have to understand I have to admit openly that I failed. I tried and I failed. I am a failure.
I really tried to be if if you you know hide within your heart this idea that maybe, you know, maybe usually young people they see all this old very sad and frustrated people.
And they look at them and they say, you know, I will not be like them. I am an exceptional case. You know, I'll be very happy, I'll make it. You know. But then you know, forty years later, you join the club.
You're as sad and frustrated as everyone else in here. So it's better to admit uh uh from the very beginning I failed.
And not only, you know, it's very difficult to admit that I failed if I'm alone and everyone else made it, you know, but everyone is a failure in this world so it's it's better to you know be very clear about it.
Uh the material life, you know, once a brahmacārī came to Śrīla Prabhupāda and he practically had tears in his eyes. He said, Śrīla Prabhupāda, spiritual life is so difficult. Spiritual life is so difficult. Śrīla Prabhupāda looked at him and he approved. He said, yes, spiritual life is very difficult, but material life is impossible.
What is better? Difficult or impossible? So So that's a very important point and very important lesson. So that basically means top what Tapa means.
Tappa means I'm burning my bridges and I don't want to lead this life which is which is leading me nowhere, which will not bring me happiness, which will not bring me purity, which will not bring me love within my heart.
And symbolically, you know, you place this, but if this internal fire is not burning within yourself then you know the saṁskāras will be still bothering you for long time.
So it's better to do it by discussing it and by you know reading books of course.
We are also giving a lot of food for this anutapo, this repentance and by you know by doing something which will uh purify myself from this. And of course some austerities should be there. And what is this austerity?
Because tapa also means austerity. And austerity, of course, means that we have to chant the holy name, sitting in one place. That's an austerity. To sit in one place for two hours this is too much austerity.
And, and, and really, you know, the reading of the books should also be an austerity in a sense that we really have to apply what is there in the books to ourselves.
Usually, when we read about pure devotee, you know, when we read in Prabhupāda's books, pure devotee does like this, we always think oh that's me and when we read about demons we think oh that's him no
but it's vice versa when we read about pure devotees it's it's him. And when we read about the demon, it's about me. You know, and that's austerity, that's difficult, that's not easy.
Second samskara of tilak and direction
So that's the first saṁskāra. The second saṁskāra is called Ūrdhva-puṇḍra or puṇḍra, which means tilak of course. And Ūrdhva means going up.
You know, we have this horizontal tilak by Shaiva followers who really wants to improve their material condition. It's interesting, they worship Lord Shiva, who is, you know, austerity personified and you know the liberation personified, but they really want in, majority, they only want to improve their material condition.
And they are very successful in this. Therefore, even Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira asked Krishna, you know, why is it the followers of Lord Shiva are so wealthy and well-to-do, and your followers are usually poor.
You know, I once heard that you know Krishna is very dangerous because he's playing his flute.
And when he starts playing his flute, the air which he puts in the uh the holes of the flute, uh you know uh it completely uh wins the way of how you say this your wealth. You know when you hear when you hear the sound of Krishna's flute, all your wealth goes away by the wind of this sound.
Anyway so we are not about them, we are about us. That's their problem. Our problem is, or our the second saṁskāra is you know you have to clear up the ground which is tapa saṁskāra.
But the second very important step is that which is symbolized by this tilak, ūrdhva-puṇḍra. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains that ūrdhva-puṇḍra means ūrdhva-gati. It basically means that I want to achieve a very high goal.
The goal which is beyond this material world. The goal which is not within this material realm, ūrdhva-gati. And it's the direction which we are taking. And while putting tilak, we have to remember about this.
Why do I put tilak like this? Because I want to go like this. I want to go like this. I don't want to go like this or like this. I want to go like this. Uh it's uh uh daily reminder that about the goal.
You know, putting on tilak means reminding ourselves what is my goal? What do I want to achieve?
Because that's a very important problem which oftentimes people in Brahmacharya Ashram face because they after some time they forget about their goal. What is the ultimate goal?
And when you forget about the goal, the life becomes very stale.
It becomes very, you know uh how you say this stereotype or how you say this the very stagnant yes it becomes a routine, you know, you have your routine, you get up in the morning, you routinely put your tilak, routinely put your dhotī, routinely goes... and then you go to sleep, you know, and during japa.
So only because you forget about the goal. If you remember about the goal you are enthusiastic. Why people who are going to university or who are going to career very enthusiastic?
It's a useless goals, but because they have it very clearly.
You know, and why people get married they get married to have somebody to remind them about their goal to have somebody who will always push you you know you don't sleep, you know you have to work hard to get to the goal.
You know, and that's a very important recipe to be enthusiastic because, you know, if you forget about the goal, you know, the life becomes very boring.
You know, because there's no goal, you know, already, you know, the will be prasādams three times will be there. Why should I work hard? You know, what's the problem?
And then I will die, and at the moment of this I will say Hare Kṛṣṇa. No, you will not say Hare Kṛṣṇa, you will say Mahā-prasāda Govinda something like this. So that's uh that's the meaning of ūrdhva-puṇḍra.
It basically means that reminding ourselves that our body actually is not material. We are trying to purify our body and spiritualize our body.
So the Prabhupāda says that when you put tilak, it becomes that your body becomes the temple of the Lord.
And you're reminding yourselves, you know, you're puri- you're purifying it by doing this, but you're also purifying it by reminding that I'm not a lump of matter. I'm not just this flesh. You know, I am a servant of God.
I am spiritual by nature.
Third samskara of receiving a name
So that's the that's second saṁskāra which is called ūrdhva-puṇḍra saṁskāra. The third saṁskāra is called Nam, Nama Saṁskāra, Namakaraṇa Saṁskāra sometimes. And it of course consists of two parts equally important.
One is you get the spiritual name during the initiation ceremony. So the first actually the first samskara is when you get shradha. Shraddha means you change your value system. Your value system changed.
You had material value system, you were trying to adjust to this material situation.
When you get Shraddha face, you get the spiritual value system and you try to deprecate or try to diminish the influence of this material values.
Sadhu Sangha means literally means Urdva Pundra because when you associate with sadhus, sadhus are there to remind you about the spiritual goal. Urdva pundra, that your Urdvagati, your goal is there.
You know, that's the function of a sadhu. Sadhu has to come and to remind you. You know, you because we always we forgetful living entities, we tend to forget about these basic things on a daily basis, you know.
You know, we may remember that I am not this body during Bhagavatam class. But during prasāda we forget that I'm not this body. Very quickly. It's uh the consciousness changes, you know.
I'm you know what do you mean I'm not this body? I am. So uh and uh so sādhu sanga stage is for this for this ūrdhva-puṇḍra to establish firmly the spiritual goal within our heart. This is what I want.
Because you know initially we want it, but you know we also want so many other things. And it it takes time before we really understand that I can
only be happy if I realize this spiritual philosophy through my own experience. Not just be happy with listening, but change myself. So that's sadhu sanga. Nam means the first initiation. So this is how it is.
Nama saṁskāra, or actually bhajana-kriyā starts with the first initiation when we get the name from Spiritual initiation when we get the name from spiritual master, and when we get the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra nam
And of course, the main Main part of our spiritual name is Das. It doesn't really matter what kind of dāsa I am. Sometimes spiritual masters they give some very exotic names.
And of course, nowadays it's a very sensitive matter, you know, if you if spiritual master gives a name which disciple doesn't like you know he may not see his disciple anymore so
that's the extent of our surrender. Sometimes some thoughtful disciples they come to a spiritual master, can I get this name? Which I like. You know, but uh actually the first part of the name is not that important.
It's just to distinguish one dāsa from another dāsa. Otherwise, it would be difficult to make difference between them if they all just dāsa.
But in reality, the main point is to establish us in this consciousness of a servant. You know, our main problem in the material world is that we we have this bhoga-vṛtti. We are programmed to enjoy in this material world.
We want to avoid all kinds of miseries and sufferings and we want to enjoy, and that's a very strong program which is there. And this Bhagavriti, which is ingrained in our false ego.
You know, this is the meaning of life you just enjoy. You know, has to change into a sevā-vṛtti. And sevā-vṛtti, uh, basically means that I am dāsa.
And the the name has to remind you that you are dāsa. You know, if somebody says to you, you know, my dear Govinda Dasa, my dear Govinda Prabhu, we shouldn't really think that I am Govinda Prabhu. I'm not Govinda Prabhu.
Govinda Prabhu is playing in Vṛndāvana. He is Govinda Prabhu. I am Govinda dāsa. Just politely he calls me Prabhu, but really I am dāsa. So by calling me Prabhu, he is very gently reminding me that I am dāsa.
You know, that's uh you know you know if we always say dāsa, dāsa, dāsa, that doesn't look very good, but you know, we say prabhu.
Cultivating humility to glorify the name
But our self-consciousness has to be I am dāsa, I am servant. Under all circumstances. And you know, that has to be really deeply established within my heart.
I'm always dāsa. You know, I'm I'm serving in this capacity, whether I'm giving a lecture or I'm sweeping the floor, I'm still the dāsa. I'm still servant.
And then if you're dāsa, then you can become the dāsa of the holy name, Harināma dāsa. You can only chant Harināma if you are established in this consciousness of being dāsa.
You know, it's a it's a very interesting point which Caitanya Mahāprabhu does when he says tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. We
know the translation literally translation of this verse which Śrīla Prabhupāda gave, and it's a famous verse, but literally this kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ means that for one who has this consciousness of a dāsa.
And the consciousness of a dāsa is being described in this verse. For one who has the consciousness of dāsa, Hari always becomes kīrtanīyaḥ, always becomes worthy of praise.
From Sanskrit, if we translate it literally from Sanskrit, kīrtanīyam means worthy of being glorified.
Kīrtanīya, bhajanīya or whatever, karaṇīya, kiṁ karaṇīyam, what you are supposed to do, what you should do. Kirtaniam means he should be glorified or worthy of being glorified.
So Kirtaniya Sadahari this phrase means that in our consciousness we always understand that Hari should be glorified because when we have the consciousness of Īśvara, uh Īśvara Bhāva, then you know sometimes we think that I should be glorified. Kirtaniya sada aham. I should always be glorified.
And if somebody does not glorify me, he is in he is in avidyā, he is in uh gross ignorance.
If somebody, you know, we always expect that we should be glorified and therefore uh we don't glorify the holy name we don't feel like glorifying the holy name we don't we don't have this bhāva.
You know, when Caitanya Mahāprabhu explains in this verse, Kirtanya Sadahari, he says that somebody who is in this position, he always feels very enthusiastic to glorify the Holy Name.
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa. Because he understands this is here's Krishna and here's I am. You know.
And sometimes you know we say, yes, here's Krishna, here's I am. And I'm his dās, you know. So this two aspects of this nāma saṁskāra is very important and they go together very closely go together.
And that's basically the essence of bhajana-kriyā and anartha-nivṛtti because if we established in this position or in this consciousness of dās of a servant, you know then we then anarthas will have no power over us.
You know, Anartus may remain lust,
anger, you know, illusion, pride, envy may be there, but they will not have power to command us to actually order us to do something which we don't want. So that's the point. They will be there for some time.
You know, anartha-nivṛtti doesn't mean that you're free from all anarthas. Anartha-nivṛtti means that you're not the slave of your anarthas. The Anartis may be there, but you don't really uh you know fulfill the all the demands of your anarthas. That's what it means.
And then you you basically you know that that's what nāma saṁskāra is. Nāma saṁskāra is about this. Nāma saṁskāra is about purifying anarthas.
Gross anarthas, about kind of you know unplugging the anarthas from the source of energy.
When when we unplug, you know the, fan. The fan for some time may still work, but we already unplugged it, so sooner or later it will stop.
Fourth samskara of sacred mantras
So that's what nāma-saṁskāra is, and that's the initial stage of the chanting of the holy name. And then the fourth saṁskāra is mantra saṁskāra. And mantra saṁskāra, when you get the second initiation,
it basically means ideally if we put it according to the stages of spiritual development from śraddhā to brahma, then it basically means niṣṭhā and you're qualified to get your mantra when you reach the stage of niṣṭhā,
and on this stage by chanting mantra, which is a very specific form of the name of God. It's also a name of God. It's nothing but name of God. But it's specific name of God because the name of God
in mantra is in dative case. Bīja and then name of God in dative case, Kṛṣṇāya, Govindāya, Gopījana-vallabhāya. And then there is this namaḥ svāhā. And it basically means that
you're establishing a more concrete relationship with the Lord. Initially when you just chant the Holy Name, you just call, oh Lord, help me. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare.
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. So you don't have established relationship with the Lord.
Mantra is necessary, chanting of your mantra is necessary to establish you in a very concrete relationship with the world, with the Lord. And it basically means the beginning of your siddha-deha.
You know, your spiritual body, which consists of this bhāva. I am not just a general servant, but a very specific servant who wants to serve the Lord in a very specific way by pleasing Him in a very specific way.
That can only be done on the stage after niṣṭhā and ruci. So therefore on niṣṭhā stage the mantra is being given and mantra is necessary to purify you from subtle anarthas.
From the gross anarthas, you have to purify yourself with the holy name.
You know, by vigorously chanting, by strictly following the uh you know your quota which you promised and uh uh you know overseeding this quota by chanting more and uh doing service some
menial service like you know distributing books or doing harināmas or whatever your service is, your seva is. Well when you establish this then you can get mantra, and mantra is something much more subtle.
Mantra means you're begging the Lord to give you a very concrete seva, a very concrete service. In the beginning, we just need any sevā. Hare Krishna, give me some sevā.
But mantra means please give me sevā which is suitable for me, which is according to my nature and the nature of our relationship with you.
Fifth samskara of deity worship
So that's the fourth saṁskāra.
And then you know when the fourth saṁskāra is there, then the fifth saṁskāra, actually, usually fourth and fifth saṁskāra in the traditional vaiṣṇava lines are being given together because on the fifth saṁskāra guru is supposed to give you a deity.
And explain to you the process of worshiping the deity because in this relationship of worshiping the deity, you develop your specific service attitude towards this deity.
You develop your relationship, which is supposed to be developed while we're chanting mantra given during the second initiation.
And usually guru would give some Shaligram Shila and would say, you know, this is your Lord and you worship this shaligram and develop your relationship with the Lord in this form because you know you cannot really develop your relationship with the Lord and His spiritual form.
You know, you can only rehearse yourself uh in a stone, you know. But when you establish your relationship with this little stone form of the Lord, then you may be admitted to a higher realm of relationship.
So basically, this is the five saṁskāras of initiation which go which take us from śraddhā to रुचि.
And then when you when you get the first glimpse of your specific relationship with the Lord, which is only possible on the stage of Ruchi, which is not possible before that, then you know then everything else is very easy.
It basically means that your saṁskāras are complete, your transformation is complete and you have very strong and pronounced spiritual taste, and you will never you will never go back.
And you will be shining and with all your pundras and all your names and mantras and everything else. And uh you know and then you can practice higher forms of spiritual practice.
But you know that's we have to understand how it works and really go from stage to stage and not to be too far ahead from our real position and not to lag behind it as well.
So that's that's what it is and that's what what we're doing here.
We are going through this saṁskāras and the uh alchemical agent which changes us is the sound vibration of the Holy Name, the sound vibration of the scriptures, and the sound vibrations of our spiritual master.
And when we are in contact with this agent, constant contact with this agent, with the sound vibration of his words, which are aprākṛta. We have to understand that when the spiritual master or sādhu is talks with us.
He doesn't talk himself. It's Krishna who is talking through him to us personally. He is taking us from our consciousness, which is
actually steeped into this duality of this world, to the non-dual realm of consciousness, through the words, through the sound.
The sound has to take us from this duality of this world, duality of good and bad, duality of like and dislike, you know, male and female, cold and you know hot, to the non-dual world of Krishna consciousness.
So that's the agent, and on every stage of our development, whether it's śraddhā or sādhu-saṅga or bhajana-kriyā or anartha-nivṛtti or Nishta, we have to hear.
And then of course on the highest levels of our development we still have to hear sādhus who will explain to us the intricacies of spiritual dealings. Anyway, so that's my introduction. I'm sorry for it to be so long.
What do we do? Thanks.
Questions on developing servant consciousness
Thank you, thanks for the experience How did you say the word non-sunscript? That uh once we are in the mode of dās then uh we are able to channel you can look at it and it's a hand also doesn't have so is that uh
it's a thought process either or is the consciousness adhyātma-cetas again, is that what process we are intellectually we are thinking that I am servant of Krishna?
Ah, is that some kind of consciousness which comes in because that plays? You know, if if you think that you know if the thought process does not affect your consciousness, then it's a very theoretical thought process.
Thought process should affect our consciousness. It has to go deeper than just on the mind level. It's not that, you know, I'm sitting there and you know I'm fantasizing
myself or imagining myself I am a dās and then when somebody says do something you know say you know who you think you are you know I'm you know if you are dās it means that you're doing the service, you know, you are distributing books or doing harinam.
So you you do not what you like to do, you do what somebody else asks you to do.
So if the thought process doesn't go deeper, you know, it's a nice thought process, IMA does, but if it doesn't go deeper to the level of consciousness, then it's uh it's a theoretical concept.
And then there is a good chance that you will get to the theoretical spiritual world. It will not be real spiritual world. It will be just imagining spiritual world.
So at least is it a practice which makes it theoretical to the Yeah, it's practice and it's um yeah it's a practice and it's resolved.
You know, you you have a certain thought process and you understand that this is the correct thought process but then you have to have a resolve to follow this thought process to to really be you know if, if we understand something and we don't follow it, we are hypocrites.
You know, yes, we understand it's true, but still we cannot follow it. So to turn it into practice you need some resolve, some energy of resolve. By intelligence, you know, on the level of the mind you you get the concept.
On the level of intelligence you turn this concept into the reality of your life and then it goes to the level of the heart. You know, that's how it works. The level of your chitta, of your consciousness of heart.
Practical methods for genuine repentance
Thank you, Maharaji, for this wonderful question. Question is as you already said the most required.
So but then we see that they're not how to go specifically how much to go that much deep into repentance. Something happened that then give it back and then after some time again so partially practical we have to see the printer so that there's
some Yeah, as I said, the practical way of doing repentance is to confide something which you may be hiding within yourself to somebody whom you trust.
I recently heard about how they do it in some Christian churches in some you know I have a disciple and she's from this Christian background.
And she has always been saying to me that the families of this Christian Protestant Christians are very strong and they don't have divorces and anything else. So and she recently told me what they do.
You know, sometimes we know people are very unchaste and uh you know the minds are very fickle at this moment of time.
She says, yes, sometimes people of their community, uh, you know, the men of their community, they have some affairs. But they know that if they do it, they will have to come in front of all the community, a couple of thousand of people, and really admit I did it. And when they do it, first of all, they probably will not do it again, because who wants it, you know, to admit something bad in front of so many people and they're looking at you, especially if you have some position or status.
And you know, and uh then they they will not do it again and they they they really in uh and they're quickly forgiven because people say, you know, okay, you know, you you openly admitted it. And because you openly admitted it, it means that you don't want to repeat it again.
If we hide something, it basically means that you know yeah maybe I maybe again I will do something like this. So that's a very that's difficult, you know. I I don't say we should do it, we should practice this way.
But you know, if if if we say to somebody, if at least there is one person from whom we don't have any secrets and we know, then we will be relieved from this. The energy which is there.
Every saṁskāra, especially if we do something forbidden or something which is not nice, it has a lot of negative energy in it. It's a very strong thing. It's actually scar in our consciousness. A very strong impression.
It's interesting there is this, you all know that there is Sanskrit word for sin, agha, you know, we know Agasura was there.
Agha means sin, but what it literally means from Sanskrit it's from the Dhatu Han, which means to kill or to wipe away. And anga literally means something which is not erasable from your memory.
Why some enjoyments are called sinful and some enjoyments are not sinful, they are actually nice and they are permitted.
You know, like you eat fruits. You also enjoy eating fruits, or you eat some nice food. That's okay, that's fine.
It's not forbidden in the scriptures, but certain enjoyments are called sinful just because they have this ability of leaving a very strong impression within our memory. To the level of practically not being erasable.
It's always there. It's sitting there and it's disturbing us. So that's why certain activities are called sinful. These activities which leave this trace in your consciousness they are sinful.
And so you have to deal with it. If if we committed some gross sinful activities we have to somehow rather deal with it.
So one way of at least maybe not erasing them completely but alleviating them and relieving from this some strong memory strong energy from this saṁskāra is to admit and to repent and this fire.
You know we really have to i it works very nicely actually. You know if somebody is smoking, there was this American writer, Mark Twain he said to give up smoking is very easy. I did it many times It
basically means that he cannot give it up. He's giving it up, it's coming back. He's giving it up again. So so So uh and and you may do it many times.
You may you know you may uh be resolute, you you smoke and then you give it up and then you know but s because
some scar is there then at one point the saṁskāra again will demand or you ha you will have some stressful situation. You know sometimes I get these letters, disciples, they devotees
they write that, you know, I I was following regulative principles, but then I had some stressful situation and I just couldn't follow them anymore.
Because when you have a very stressful situation, then your mind becomes weak. And all the saṁskāras which are there, they they become very active and they again push us in this direction.
But if somebody that's about the process of repentance, if somebody, for example, really serious about giving up smoking.
And he takes a special book which describes all the problems connected with smoking, and he thinks deeply about this, and he really you know starts hating this habit uh and really repenting that you know I I spoiled my consciousness, I spoiled my health by doing this.
It's it's so bad. If you really think deeply about this by understanding how bad it was and not being shy about this, being very bold, going deeply that this is this is the consequences I should never repeat it,
then this saṁskāra will not bother you anymore. It will become very weak. And you weakened it by this tapa. You made it weak by the deep thinking about the perils and problems connected with this particular thing.
So that's what it means. That's therefore it's called Paschatap.
Paschatap means behind, you know, you you did something and then you you start thinking about it deeply and then you repent about this, you you you yeah, you repent about this and then it becomes weaker.
Could we see the book post and I think of the uh there it's like the sections are like first you then uh then arguably with the then uh this way it is going on. So you also got say I didn't get it what is going on?
The book of Slava Tuna, D, the section are there. First section is then. Then it is uh Atmana Neve, Atmana Ved and so I see okay. So same similar pattern you are talking in the class that first we have to repent with
this first point and you know, āmāra jīvana, sadā pāpi-rata nāhi kāma puṇyera leśa. So he he starts with this Karpanya, you know with this feeling of repentance. Yes.
He explains Saranagati in this way that this is the first thing which
Role of deity worship in purification
you have to do. To surrender means that you worship Rādhā-Pārthasārathi or you go to the altar also, or either you come for you, you go on the altar because when you do deity service, it's explained,
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta by quoting Bhakti-sandarbha of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. He says that even though for the chanting of the holy name there is no strict rules and regulations and there's no Purascharanavidi and all the purificatory
still, Jīva Gosvāmī says, nobody can achieve perfection in the chanting of the holy name without arcana. Because arcana specifically says, Jīva Gosvāmī explains that Archana helps you to be
because we have this vikṣipta cittānāṁ and kaṭāriyā-śīlānāṁ, because we have bad habits and uh uh distracted, dissipated mind, uh we need deity worship.
Deity worship helps us to concentrate the mind and to purify the body by all the procedures which we do during the deity worship. Therefore, in our case we can go to the altar or we can at least take part in āratis. Yes.
Yes. Thank you for the prasāda, my Prabhu. I have this problem that while I'm chanting, sometimes I'm feeling sleepy. But the moment I complete my 16 rounds, let the sleep goes away. That's one.
And although secondly, Mahārāja, sometimes after I complete my 16 rounds, I have three more time and I can chant more. But I feel this, I have done my—let me put my feedback in this place, I am done.
So this is the submission of Sanskar. If you could guide how this I can improve. Mahārāja, I promise to you to chant sixteen rounds every day.
And I say and if you chant seventeen rounds it means that you break your promise Therefore, the formula is uh at least 16 rounds every day, not 16 rounds every day.
Um yeah, and uh Prabhupada says that 16 rounds is just for the beginners. For people like you. It should be more. We should not be just, you know, satisfied or complacent with the minimum.
Yes, 16 rounds is something, but you know, at least during the ekādaśī days we have to really free some time and chant much more. Not just more, much more.
I remember once I came, you know, Śacīnandana Swami comes to Vraj for Kartik Vrata.
And uh uh uh once I asked him before Kartik Vrata or in the beginning of Kartik Vrata how many rounds he is going to chant, he said I will not say. But he said one thing I can say, I will chant much more.
He said much more than one lakh. I know how many lakhs he was chanting, but much more. Of course, we shouldn't be boastful about it, we should keep it secret, but you know we have to really.
This is the advice of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. He says that when the holy name stops giving us taste, we have to put aside a day which we
don't have any other engagements and just chant or have kīrtana or have some harikatha or same more kīrtana and more just and it really relieves or gives you renews your taste.
I know it myself when I initially came to Sweden it
was very difficult because it changed my, you know the mentality was changed, it was very difficult to live initially in āśrama. I came from my home and it was so everything was difficult and
um I lost enthusiasm completely within a couple of months. And then Janmastami Day came and the devotees came from all over the place and for the whole day we were chanting and chanting and chanting.
And the next day I was okay again. So that was, that's the advice of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. If you start losing this, you just put aside your time and try to concentrate on this and then the taste will come again.
Regarding sleep during japa, you know it's because you know we are passionate people by nature. And japa doesn't give us so much room for expressing our passion.
And as soon as the japa is finished, then we can express our passion as much as we like you
know Prabhupada sometimes advised, you know, if you if you feel sleepy by sitting, you know, you just walk and chant or you know and at least some person will go away while you're walking and you know it you can chant a little bit.
But uh you know also if if You, one simple advice is that you should sleep enough. If you sleep enough, maybe it you will be less sleepy.
Sometimes devotees are too enthusiastic and they sleep three hours a day, and they think
they're on the level of Raghunatha dasa Goswami. You know, but then when they chant, they are not on the level of Raghunatha dasa Goswami. And when they eat prasadam, also not on the level.
So it's it's better not to imitate; sleep nicely, you know. And it's also good, you know, to read a little bit or whatever to kind of uh establish some goal.
As I said, if you have the goal, you know the problem with the chanting is that we sometimes don't have any goal. We just chant and we don't know why do we chant.
The the goal of you know going back to Godhead is too, you know, it's too ethereal and too high and too far away. You know, I'm not on the fourth stage of cancer, therefore I'm not ready to go back to Godhead.
And so chanting becomes pointless in one sense.
If we understand why we chant, what is the science behind it and how we can achieve this by concentrating on the holy name, then you know then it will be a good employment of our passionate nature, passionate energy, you know to remind yourselves about the goal.
Internalizing the core samskara principles
Okay. Thank you. Hare Krishna Maharaj. Thank you Maharaj for wonderful session. Maharaj, I have a question that uh you very nicely explained about the five samskaras and their deep meanings, internal meanings.
My question is that what should be like after listening this, maybe like some samskaras we have undergone externally, but internal meaning has not been fulfilled.
So what should be like my question is what should I do practically now? Like what should be my goal focus and what should be the steps now onwards after these samskaras?
No, it requires some self-analysis if you understand that some things remain external in your practical application, then you try to internalize it and I explained what it means, You know, starting with tapas, saṁskāra, you know you you really try to understand you know am I still hiding something away or keeping something hidden somewhere.
You know, and like this goes go through this. You know, you have you have enough time for this.
And or sometimes it helps also to have somebody near you who will help you in the sense that while discussing uh with him openly, you know, he will tell you something and y it it may help you.
It may be your counselor, your senior with whom you do it, or it may be your you know peer, your friend with whom you have close relationship.
Because see we usually know what to do, but we don't really sometimes even though we know what to do, we don't do it because we we don't know it clearly.
And if we discuss it with somebody, then the inner thought will become more clear. The inner understanding of what is important for us. This is called coaching, right?
The coach is not telling you what to do, he is asking you questions. And while asking you questions, he helps you to understand clearly what is there in your mind. Because usually we know the answers.
We don't need answers from outside. We already have them. But the problem is that we don't know them so clearly. And because we don't know them clearly, we don't do it.
But uh you know, like this particular what should I do? You know it it really needs uh somebody with whom you will discuss and you will clearly understand yourself while speaking with somebody else what you should do.
What what is lacking? What is the holes are there? What what is the something which you didn't do before. Thank you ma'am.
Anati, one more thing, like in addition to this, therefore jñāna-sādhaka what I got from the today's session was you told about the sound vibration is the medium to go through these. So we need to focus on the, like, whatever we are doing, sādhana, reading, and chanting, maṇi-pūrṇa. We need to be like we can more focus on the sound vibration and attentive in practicing. This is what I mean.
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. The sound vibration is the agent which makes which actually turns on all these processes. Yes. Maharaj Krishna from Mah.
So he's asking that the external process is very easy to follow because we just have to go through it. The steps are there, and we can just go through it, and the external process is complete.
But the internal process of knowing the fact that I'm a spirit soul and I'm a servant, so that seems very mechanical in the sense that it doesn't seem very natural. It seems like a theoretical imposition.
And it never becomes natural, no matter how much we theoretically try to be in that position, but it always seems theoretical.
Overcoming material desires through higher taste
So how to make it natural? It's it doesn't feel natural because we have dual nature. We have the nature of somebody who wants to exploit this material nature and to lord it over, as Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say.
And this is a very deeply rooted nature. We have been trained in this nature, you know, from our childhood and from our upbringing and from the previous lives and many, many previous lives. We've been doing this.
And you know it's natural for us to be boss, to you know, to lord over other people and so on and so forth, exploit others. But at the same time we also have this other nature, spiritual nature.
When we you know we like to we like to serve sometimes, you know, when we like recently I had some event with some devotees and yesterday one lady who is who was there in this retreat she was explaining her experience.
And she said it's so amazing.
I was so happy during this retreat, not because I was happy, but because you know other people were happy and I was and they were serving and they were getting happiness and I was getting happiness because they were happy.
And she was explaining it in with such enthusiasm and sincerity, then everyone who was listening to her became happy. Because somebody else became happy.
So what I want to say is that this other nature, one nature the this gross nature of being the lord and master of this matter is desire to be happy oneself. I want to be happy.
And happiness basically means sense gratification.
And when we get this sense gratification, yes, it's very natural and we're naturally happy, but you know if we understood that this is a very meager and uh not really good way to become happy.
It's a very flickering happiness which we get as a result. Flickering experience. We try to get some other way to become happy. What she said yesterday was very interesting.
She said that you know my happiness became unlimited because you know when I'm trying to become happy myself, the vessel, the patra is limited.
But when I'm happy by the happiness of other people, my happiness is increasing unlimitedly. And she got this experience.
It basically means that if we want to be natural in this other thing, we have to get the experience of it. Our problem is that we are lacking this experience.
We know very well how to be happy in this material way, so to speak. But this spiritual happiness is not really so much favorable to us and because it's not yet established within our heart the way to to be happy.
So the way to do it is to be with somebody who already knows this recipe, then his happiness or his nature will be reflected in our heart. And we will get some glimpse of experience.
Therefore, association is so important.
You know, if we only associate with people who don't have this experience of being happy, spiritually happy, then we will never get rid of this habit and we will always feel artificial in our attempts.
But if we are closely associating with somebody who has spiritual happiness then it will come to us.
Initially as a reflection and ultimately this reflection will be more firmly established and this other nature will also be manifesting more and more strongly. It's just now it's a conflict.
Two natures are there, and they are completely conflicting with each other. And we really have to help this other nature by proper Sangha, by proper association. Yes?
So at the time of mediation, what takes a while that we will check this diagram? And how to be consistent in life? We have so many at times at doing festivals especially.
We change our pistol grounds but do not follow like weaning and hearing.
So why do bad did not mention that you should it should be mandatory, no matter what happens, you should listen, you should be completing your hearing and hearing.
It is so many times I technically it happens with me when I am busy, I don't read and hear.
Making time for scriptural study
So how can we read it? You know, it's we have enough time for everything. When somebody says I don't have time for this, it basically means that this thing for which I don't have time is not my priority.
We have time to eat, right? Never have I heard a complaint, you know, I'm so busy I don't have time to eat. It doesn't happen. Why? Because it's a priority. You know time is there.
It's just it's just a question of prioritizing it within our consciousness.
If some— if we really understand that this is important, we will find time for this. So no matter how busy you are, if— if something is very important for you, you will do it.
Uh, you know, you will— you will do some less things to other whatever, you know, uh, but you will find time.
So it's it's not a question of finding time, it's a question of working with the priorities within our mind or heart. If we really understand that's important for me and why it is important for me,
Usually what happens, you know, why people neglect it, because again they don't really see the burning need. There is a burning need of this and this and this and this.
But this is something, you know, which which is not urgent. You know, if something is urgent, we find time to do it.
You know, if— if your house is on fire and you say I'm so busy I cannot put down this fire, you know what will happen with the house?
You know, you— you will never be that busy not to find time to put down the fire, right? So if you understand that reading or you know, hearing is as important as to put down the fire, you will find time for this.
Okay? Yeah. Thank you for an— alright. So while you can eat uh sometimes— sometimes we go outside for the pretty purposes. So our senses pull towards the māyā. So how to look from māyā over?
Our senses always go towards mind, whether we go to preaching purposes or we see the nature of our senses. Our senses like to be in a māyā. So therefore we have to engage our senses.
If— if we become happy, you know, everyone uh— uh n- I'm sure has some, you know, some experience of being happy either by preaching or by distributing books or by doing something. So we should do something which is pleasing to our mind. And then which is really giving us taste, you know. And if nothing gives us taste, it basically means that we are a little lost
and we have to work on it. You know, somebody likes to sing nicely, somebody likes to do something. We have to find something which we like to do. Then there is less chances that senses will go to māyā.
It's not the senses always go to māyā, but if mind is happy then the senses will not go to māyā. The senses will go to māyā only if mind is not happy and not satisfied. And when the mind is not happy, it's very difficult.
So, and how the mind becomes happy? The mind becomes happy if you're engaged in something which you like, something which is suitable to you, which you can express yourself and express your energies.
So you have to find what is this and you sure you can find something. I guess we should finish our talk. We already Yeah, well one more you're not connected to the class. I want to know how do you come to the company?
That was it's a long story. Sometime I'll come to tell this story. Actually I I much more like to hear how you came to Krishna consciousness.
So I'll come sometimes and you will tell me how you came and then I will tell you. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Very great. Yeah, okay. So I have so exciting and uh very uh I feel very Anganda.
So how can I control my XC and Ayandha? Because You can control this ecstasy by giving blessings to others. Ecstasy will go away. Okay. Thank you very much, Harikatha. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya.