Bhagavad-gita 2.66
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Москва · 2006
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Recitation of Bhagavad-gita verse
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, oṁ namo bhagavate. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya naraṁ caiva narottamam devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ tato jayam udīrayet.
So I've written that sixty-sixth verse from the second chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, which is called The Gītā Summarized. nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā / na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham.
Translation: one who is not connected with the Supreme in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can have neither transcendental intelligence nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace and how can there be any happiness without peace?
Purport. Unless one is in Krishna consciousness, there is no possibility of peace. So it is confirmed in the fifth chapter that when one understands that
Krishna is the only enjoyer of all the good results of sacrifice and penance, that He is the proprietor of all universal manifestations, and that He is the real friend of all living entities. Then only one can have real peace.
Therefore, if one is not in Krishna consciousness, there cannot be a final goal for the mind. Disturbance is due to want of an ultimate goal.
And when one is certain that Krishna is the enjoyer, proprietor, and friend of everyone and everything, then one can with a steady mind bring about peace.
Therefore, one who is engaged without a relationship with Krishna is certainly always in distress and is without peace. However much he may make a show of peace and spiritual advancement in life.
Krishna consciousness is a self-manifested peaceful condition which can be achieved only in relationship with Krishna.
Nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā. One who is not connected with the Supreme and Krishna consciousness can have neither transcendental intelligence, nor a steady mind, without which there is no possibility of peace.
And how can there be any happiness without peace? namo viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda Śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. Bhakta Vinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Krishna's desire for living entities' happiness
Hare rāma hare rāma. So I'm very much honored to be able to address you tonight. Thank you very much for inviting me and for engaging me in this way.
Because as Krishna says here in this verse, without this kind of engagement, there is no possibility of happiness.
It's actually very interesting because explicitly Krishna here reveals the purpose why he speaks Bhagavad-gītā. And his purpose is simple. He wants us to be happy. Because he is happy himself.
Somebody who is happy, who is always happy. He naturally wants to make everyone else happy. And this is his inherent quality.
He wants to make everyone happy and peaceful, and here he explains that the only possibility of being happy, preliminary condition of being happy, is to be peaceful.
Ashantasya Kudasukam without Shanti, without peace, how you can be happy? Of course this kind of concept is becoming more and more foreign in the modern world. Nowadays people they don't understand what peace means.
They think that happiness is to run around. And the more you run, the happier you are. People are so conditioned to this uh state of being in rajas and passion that they cannot imagine that.
They think that peace means you know you just become dull and sleep. So the rajasic people they cannot understand what peace means. But Krishna he states very strongly that the peace comes from sattva guna.
And happiness comes from sattva-guna. When you reach sattva-guna, then there is a kind of happiness which is naturally coming.
But then he says that to achieve peace, here he is very clearly stating this, that to achieve peace your intelligence has to be connected with Krishna. Buddhera Yuktasya.
He says, if the intelligence is not connected with Krishna, if the intelligence is on its own, there is no peace. There is no chance of peace. And Prabhupada he gives a genius explanation of this verse.
He says that disturbance is due to want of an ultimate goal. It's a very profound statement. He says that unless you have the ultimate goal, you will be disturbed. Why? Because you will have so many other goals.
And because you will have so many other goals, you will more or less uh lose your intelligence in trying to pursue these different goals.
And by losing your intelligence in trying to pursue this goal and that goal and this goal and that goal, you ultimately will lose peace because you will not know where to go, what is the way to go.
Krishna Himself speaks about this a few verses before when He says, uh, bhoga-aiśvarya prasaktānām tayāpahṛta-cetasām, uh, uh, that, uh, when people are after bhoga and aiśvarya and they want enjoyment and power.
Aiśvarya may mean opulence and aiśvarya, of course, means power.
He says, tayāpahṛta-cetasām, they lose their intelligence. And then He says, bahu-śākhā hy anantāś ca, He says that the people who are after this bhoga and aiśvarya, they become their intelligence becomes many branched.
It means that they have so many goals. And in this so many goals, they lose their identity. What happens with such people uh uh and it's very tragic and Krishna knows this, Krishna knows this better than anyone else.
Split identity caused by material desires
He says that their identity becomes split. You know that there is this disease which is called schizophrenia. And schizophrenia means that you don't really know who you are. You know, you just you have split personality.
So when people have goals, they invest their personality into these goals. And when they have so many goals, and when all these goals are not united
with the ultimate goal, when all these goals are kind of you know this goal and that goal and this goal and that they don't know who they are.
Because ultimately, if you're pursuing some goal, you more or less identify with this past and this becomes your identity. And if you have so many goals, you become multiple identity.
You are this and you are that and you you you go somewhere in this environment you are playing one role in another environment you are playing another role. So you have this condition of being split.
And when your identity or personality is split, you become weak. And that's exactly what happened with Arjuna. Arjuna is such a powerful fighter. Before the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā.
And this powerful fighter, he couldn't do anything. He says, no, no, I should just—my mind is reeling, the Gāṇḍīva bow is falling out from my hands, and I cannot do anything. I want to run.
So that's exactly what happened with people who have so many goals and who are ultimately bewildered.
And Krishna explains this before that he says that he says he speaks about this degradation of the soul when when you have come, when you have the desire, material desire, and you want to fulfill this material desire, and you identify yourself as material desire. It becomes such a strong force that ultimately you lose your intelligence.
And he says buddhi-śākhā hy anantāś ca buddhayo 'vyavasāyinām when the people lose their intelligence. When they lose this intelligence in the pursuit of so many goals, they become useless.
Pranashati. They become lost in this material world. So here he says what we should do, as in every verse of Bhagavad-gītā. He says that the only way to become happy is to have your personality again together.
You have to have your identity very firmly established. And your identity is established only in one condition if you have connection with Krishna, if you have this ultimate goal.
Basically, your intelligence has to be connected with this ultimate goal. Because the intelligence is a faculty which can set the goal and which can reach the goal. This is a special ability which we have.
When we set a goal and when we reach the goal, pursue the goal, this is being done through the intelligence. So he says if you have one goal, only one goal, which is the highest goal, highest possible goal.
Everything else is included. And you have this one goal, it means you have only one intelligence. The intelligence is not split. And he says, it in itself is a peaceful condition.
Prabhupāda finishes this purpurt by saying that Krishna consciousness is a self-manifest peaceful condition which can be achieved only in relationship with Krishna.
He says that when you have this highest goal, and when all other goals are subsidiary, not so important in your life, then only you can have peace because you're connected with this immovable goal.
What happens if you have so many different goals? Then you know these goals they are mm they're fickle, they're flickering. And you're running and this goal and this goal disappears.
Or you uh you know you achieve this goal and you feel something is still lacking. And you think probably something is wrong with this goal. I have to have another goal. And another goal and another goal.
So people they're running to fulfill their desires and they're losing themselves in this uh useless pursuit of trying to be happy uh by fulfilling their desires.
But Krishna says it's very easy to be happy. Everyone can be happy. Immediately can be happy. If you achieve if you if you set this goal, see this goal and understand that everything else is included within this goal and this goal is inside you.
If your intelligence is connected with Krishna, then immediately you become happy. Immediately you become peaceful. And this is real. This is not something unreal.
When we chant When we chant Hare Krishna Mantra, it's basically to remind us that there is only one goal. But what happens when we chant Hare Krishna mantra? We still think about so many other things.
We are supposed to think Krishna is the goal. Because he is everything. He is the best friend. He is the proprietor of everything. He is everything. You know, if you get Krishna, you get everything with him.
Everything is included. You don't need anything else. This is the full package. With Krishna you have everything. But if you try to get this and this and that, you will always be frustrated.
So Krishna says, set this one goal, uh be fixed on this goal, and then you will be happy. But if you are not doing this, then you will not be happy. So that's exactly what happened when we chant.
Moscow experiment on mindful chanting
If we chant and we understand that Krishna is the goal and He's already there because He is in His holy name, then you immediately become happy. Recently I had an interesting experience with brahmacharis.
We live in Moscow with some 40 Brahmacharis in a little house in Ashram. So I was supposed to give a brahmachari class there.
And I was wanted to give them some experience because we we are good at talking, but sometimes you know it becomes kind of useless exercise. We're just talking and talking and talking and nothing happens really.
So I I thought let's do something, let's experience something.
And I was thinking about some verses in Bhagavad Gita where Krishna is explaining how one should be engaged. What it really means to be engaged in Krishna consciousness. Because here it is Nastibudhira Yuktasya.
When your mind or intelligence is engaged in Krishna consciousness, it means you have only one goal.
It means you're not interested in all this temporary kind of results and fruits of your actions. You're not really into it. You know that you're doing, you have to do something, but your real goal is Krishna. But it's it's easy to say. Krishna speaks it again and again and again and we know this and we we give lectures about this.
But when it comes to doing this it's difficult. Because we still think, you know, Krishna is so far away and I need this and this and that. It's it's not becoming the reality of our life.
So what really happens when we become attached to the fruits of our actions, and the fruits are always in the future, then when we act, we don't really concentrate on on the action itself. We always dream about the future.
And the natural condition of human mind, somehow or other, the mind is very averse to be at present. We always want to be somewhere else. You know, we're dreaming what I will get, how I will be happy.
We're sitting now here and I'm no I have been sitting in many lectures. And I know how it how it feels. You know.
You listen a little bit and then your mind goes somewhere in the future. How you will enjoy it here and there and then you will get this or that.
So usually what happens with the mind in this condition when the mind is not really connected with Krishna, when it's only theoretically for pro forma sake, connected with Krishna?
But if if it's not really connected with Krishna, then the mind is always in the fruits. It means that the mind is always in the future, you know.
I something nice will happen with me. I will get something nice. I will experience something nice. And sometimes it goes back in the past. And you think, oh that was nice. Oh that was bad.
So we only at present when the mind is passing from future to the past, you know, when he's quickly. So this little split second wear and present. And that means we're not happy.
Because you can only be happy when you are here and now. And basically Krishna consciousness and Krishna is teaching this is to be here, not to be somewhere else, not to be in your mind.
Because when you are in the future you cannot concentrate on what we are doing. And because you cannot concentrate on what you are doing, it becomes tedious and it becomes boring.
If you have this little ability to concentrate on what you are doing, then your mind is totally absorbed, you immediately become happy.
So I was explaining this to Brahmacharya's how we always not hear. Even then they chant. We think that something more important will happen in the future. What can be more important?
You're basically associating with Krishna, who is the supreme friend, who is the supreme proprietor, who is everything. You're supposed to speak with him and your mind is somewhere else, you know.
Who cares about this Krishna? Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna. Let me think about something nice. So that's exactly what happened. So we made a little experien experiment with the brahmacārīs how to be here now.
It's a little, you know, exercise which we did. I asked the brahmacārīs to make some round, to take each other with the hands. And somebody should be inside this circle.
And as this person, you have to come to somebody from this circle. And you have to tell him something, but from the bottom of your heart, so that his heart would be melted.
And only if you will be able to melt the heart of this person, he will let you out from this circle. If his heart will not melt, he will just keep hold of hands. And it was such a traumatic experience for everyone.
You know, they were trying and they were. But you know, it's it's difficult to be yourself.
Because we're used to play so many roles, and we have all these different roles, and you know, and playing and to say something, to come, it's such a difficult job to come to somebody and to invest all your consciousness in this conversation.
Basically, what Krishna is teaching us when you're doing something, this is the most important thing in your life. Now, and what you're doing is the most important.
That person with whom you're associating is the most important. Put all your consciousness there, not be somewhere else. Be here.
So they were trying and it was difficult and you know there was struggle there, and you know, but somebody managed this and it was an interesting experience. So that was preliminary exercise.
And then I told them, sit in this circle and chant chant just one round but chant this round not for the sake of yourself not for the sake of some fruits but try to, you know really, chant this round for the sake of those people who are around you.
Just invest all your consciousness and pray for them. Pray for them. And they were praying and I saw I was watching. It was amazing, you know, the whole atmosphere transformed. It was a kuṇḍa. There was no anxiety.
Everyone was and then the last exercise was, and then they were sharing their experience, and the last exercise was just to chant again one round. But for the sake of Krishna, so that Krishna's heart would melt.
Do it with all your sincerity, with all your intelligence connected with him, with all your you know consciousness invested into this process. And they were chanting this one round.
And then there are many people who were chanting 10 years. They came to me after this exercise and said that this was the most amazing experience in my life. I never experienced anything like that. They were so happy.
And that was real. Because for the split second, through this psychological trick, we made them to be present here and now and chant with full concentration.
And immediately when your consciousness is connected through this chanting process with Krishna, you experience Krishna and some somebody said, oh I just felt that you know it's not only Krishna, it's also Rādhā and they're looking at me, you know, and they had all this kind of funny kind of feelings.
Usually they don't feel anything. That's it. Sixteen rounds done. But but when you do it, as Krishna says, Krishna says, connect your intelligence with me through this goal, because this goal is the goal.
Futility of fulfilling material desires
Everything else is not the goal. You just imagine that you have all your desires fulfilled. You know you have the complete list of all your desires, which will probably take few volumes.
And just imagine that they are all fulfilled. You know you have everything possible you need. What you will feel? You will feel po probably totally bored. And the new desires will fill up the gap.
But Krishna says this is the way. The way to be happy is to have the ultimate goal, which is the real goal. Because all other goals are not real.
Because when you achieve any other goal, let's say you have, I don't know, on the way here we saw some funny car which has the color of my cloth. And Shruti being an experienced Englishman told me that this car cost 350,000 pounds.
So just imagine that you're you're driving this car which is sannyāsī colored cloth. Three hundred fifty thousand pounds. So what? Well it make you hate it?
No. No. It will make it may give you some little temporary kind of you know pride or whatever. But ultimately it will not solve any of your problems. It it's useless. It's futile. It's totally useless.
It has no relationship with your heart, with your consciousness, with your mind. It doesn't give you peace. On the contrary, it will give you so much anxieties. You will always be in anxiety.
Somebody will smash my car, somebody will stole my car, somebody will display my car. It will not bring you peace. It will just make you miserable to want to. Even though it's a very renowned scar.
Not my boxer, this is your weekend rush and number. So Krishna says Prabhupada explains here, you can only have peace if you have the ultimate goal. Because this is the condition in which in which your mind is fixed.
Your mind is fixed on this ultimate goal and you don't care about anything else. You are just happy having this ultimate goal and uh and you become immediately you become happy. Immediately, it's a real experience.
It's not just imagination. It's something. The intensity of this happiness is so great that it cannot be imagined. It's not just you, you just imagined you are happy.
You're just chanting concentratedly and the happiness comes. You know. It's it's you know people were crying. For the first time I saw what it means to chant the holy name.
Because everyone says, nayanam galad-aśru-dhārayā, vadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā girā, pulakair niśitaṁ vapuḥ kadā tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati or Caitanya says, when when this chitai wa buh kadata vanamagrahane bhishati or Chaitanya says, when when this moment comes when I chant your holy name and I will cry.
So what I saw, I saw few brahmacārīs already in a state of bhāva. They were crying while chanting this holy name. Only because they were connected with the holy name. Only because they were connected with Krishna.
And that's exactly what Krishna is saying here. If your mind, if your intelligence is connected with Krishna, you become happy. You become first you become peaceful. And then you transcend even the peaceful condition.
You become much more happy than just simple peace. Because this is something, some amazing experience which which everyone can do.
Purpose of chanting multiple rounds
And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains this. He explains what it means and how it works. In Jaiva Dharma, he asks a very interesting question which we have to know and answer for.
In all the scriptures, it is said that you have just to chant Hare Krishna mantra once to be completely happy, if you do it properly then all your sings all your sins, all your dirt is washed away, why do we have to chant 16 rounds or why do we have to chant sixty four rounds or why do we have to chant so many rounds? Just chant it once.
Just sit down and chant Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. That's it. Your job is done. To the rest of eternity. All your sins are going away.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is asking, why? Because, see, in all the Vedas, uh there is a lot of eulogy, a lot of glorification of the holy name.
And he said that there's five topics or five types of statements in the Vedas. It's Vidhi, Niṣedha, Mantra, Arthavāda and Nāmadheya. Vidhi means the statement which tells you what to do. something and then mantra, the special mantras and then arthavāda, which is glorification, which is somewhat exaggerated and nāmadheya is a certain statement which consists only of the names, names of the specific category in the Vedas, names of God.
And everywhere, throughout all the scriptures, it is said again and again and again, that the ultimate goal of human life is to chant the holy name. And it's also so much stress that it is said you have to chant it once.
There was a nice story, I think I maybe told it, but I can tell it again. It's a nice story from Rāmāyaṇa. About Guhaka. About the previous life of Guhaka. Was one king. And this king was somehow or other he
killed a brāhmaṇa. And he was so morose and he didn't know what to do. So he went to different brāhmaṇas asking for some forgiveness or for some remedy for some prāyaścitta. What he should do to purify, and nobody gave him any prāyaścitta. He said, you just commit suicide, drink ghee or whatever, no way. You cannot be forgiven, you will go to hell for this.
So ultimately he came to an ashram, little ashram in a forest and he saw a little boy playing around and he asked, where's your father? And he said, My father is gone. But maybe I can help you.
And the king was so desperate, he said, maybe you can help me so I'm see I, I killed the brāhmaṇa. And I'm looking for some remedial measure for prāyaścitta. You must have been hearing your father giving so many advices. Maybe you can give me advice. He said, yeah, of course I'll give you advice.
He said, you just chant the holy name of Rāma three times. And all your sins will be gone. Because my father says this, you know, this holy name is so powerful.
Just chant three times holy name of Rāma. So a king became very enlightened. So he chanted Rāma, Rāma, Rāma. Then he thought a little bit and he chanted one more time just in case. And he felt he felt the relief.
He immediately felt that something good is happening with his heart, the heart is becoming purified. So he was on his way out from the āśrama and he saw the father coming back, ṛṣi, muni.
And the father saw the king, they bowed down, the king bowed down to the ṛṣi, and the ṛṣi said, why are you so happy? He said, your son is so good. Your son gave me such a nice advice. What is the advice to him?
I asked him, what should I do to be relieved from the sin of killing brāhmaṇa? And he quoted so many scriptures and he said, you chant three times the holy name of Rāma. And when father heard this, he became so angry.
He said, My son is an atheist. He should be out immediately. He said, how is your son atheist? He said, because he said that you should that you will be relieved from this sin by chanting the holy name of Rāma three times.
Whereas you will be relieved from this sin by chanting the holy name of Rāma just once. It means he doesn't believe in the power of the Holy Name, therefore he should be out.
He drove away, he said, I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore. You are an atheist. You don't believe in the holy name.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he, he asked this question. He says, if, if all the śāstras, if all the scriptures say that this is such a powerful method that you should just chant the holy name of God just once to accomplish all the results. Why do we have to chant so many times?
Why do we have to chant sixteen rounds? Because it's it's it's an important question. Sometimes we we have to know the answer to this.
Mind's attraction to material contamination
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains a very interesting thing. He says, yes, when you chant the holy name once, all your sins are washed away.
All the consequences, all the reactions of your sinful activities are not there anymore. But the problem is that you still have your material mind. The reactions are gone, but the mind is there.
And our material mind has a very peculiar quality. It likes dirty things somehow or other.
So even though the mind becomes totally purified by chanting the holy name, it will immediately find another dirt and will get dirty again. So this is how it works.
He says that the mind will find lowest possible position and will find lowest possible people, lowest possible places, dirtiest kind of situations.
And therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura said, therefore he said that you know it is said in the Shastras that you have to chant as much as possible because when you are chanting you are more or less relieved from this tendency.
But as soon as you stop chanting you will be again engaged in some kind of dirty things. So this is what happens, this is what happens with our mind. While we are here, we are still in a very dangerous position.
There was one interesting story in this regard. Our mind is programmed to find some dirty things and somehow or rather find some pleasure in these dirty things. It's amazing, you know.
You know it's dirty, you know it's bad. Still, somehow rather the mind is trying to squeeze out the pleasure from these things. Even though we chant. We chant Hare Krishna and still the tendency is still there.
There was this nice little story. There was one garbage man. And this garbage man, he was, you know, his whole life he was collecting garbage.
And once he was passing by in the market, he wasn't going through the market and he wasn't a place in the market when they sell incenses and perfumes and everything so he was going there and all of a sudden he just fainted
and the people ran to him and they started you know fanning him and giving him some perfumes and trying to relieve him.
But the more they were trying to do this, the more he was he was he was just in a swoon, you know, they couldn't do anything.
So another garbage man was passing by and he saw this dirty man lying down and all these people were putting some perfumes to him and he immediately understood what is the problem.
So he went to some garbage place and he brought some stinking piece of this and put it in his nose and yeah he immediately was relieved and he said oh finally finally something nice is coming now my mind is again enlivened and relieved so this is what the mind is the mind is is is looking for dirty place and even though we're trying to engage the mind with Krishna, even though we're experiencing the higher taste and higher happiness in this engagement with Krishna, still, you know, the mind is is trying to drag us down.
So therefore this program of Krishna consciousness is so powerful. We have to understand first of all this statement of Prabhupada, genius statement of Prabhupada, that you can only be happy if you have this highest goal, ultimate goal fixed in your consciousness.
But you can only have this highest ultimate goal fixed in your consciousness if you're constantly engaged.
Krishna is is saying here, Nasti Bhutti Buddhir Ayuktasya, if your mind, if your intelligence is not engaged, is not connected with Krishna constantly, through different activities which you are doing, then you will be lost, then you will not have peace, and ultimately you will not have happiness.
So, therefore, the program of Krishna consciousness is such a powerful thing because it allows you to basically be engaged or be connected with Krishna 24 hours a day. And that's exactly what we have to strive for.
That's exactly the program which Prabhupada gave. He very often repeats this thing. He says we have to mold our own life in such a way that we remember about Krishna 24 hours a day.
Whatever we are doing, if we are doing something, we have to do it for Krishna and if we are free we have to do some sevā.
And especially this most powerful activity which is the essential part of our sādhana the chanting has to be there very strongly established.
If it's there, if early in the morning we get up and we chant, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma It's like it's like to get an injection.
You know, if you go to some somewhere to Africa. You know, in Africa, in some countries, you are not allowed in the country if you don't have an injection. Against the yellow fever or something like this.
You have to have all kinds of injections to be immune because it's so infested with different germs and different, you know, diseases there. So as soon as you go there the germs will come and beat you or whatever whatever they do, I don't know what they do but you will get this disease.
So in the same way, where you know England is not much better than Africa in this sense. Maybe no yellow fever here.
But still this germs of sense gratification, of sinful kind of activities, of sinful vibrations, it's there. Right now we are probably in some some kind of wireless network is here and we are in the internet.
And the internet is a big net with all dirty things. We are right there in the net. We are already in this big net. There's so many big fishes in this internet and all these people and this so much dirt is there.
That's the point. When we're here in this material world there's so much dirt and our mind has the specific affinity, specific kind of liking to this dirt.
And therefore, it's so important to have this injection which will protect us. If early in the morning we chant, it's the same as to have a good nice shot of injection within our system and then during
the day we've it will be gradually used and gradually it will be gone. But then next morning we have to do it again.
So therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda gave us this program and he said you have to try to mold your life in such a way as to always remember Krishna. And when you remember Krishna you are peaceful.
Because Krishna is the best friend, Krishna is the proprietor of all. And you don't have to worry. He has to worry. That's his job. And because he's so powerful, he doesn't worry either.
So when you are when you become a devotee, you stop worrying. You stop being disturbed. Because again, disturbance, the only reason for disturbance is the lack of ultimate ultimate goal of life, as Śrīla Prabhupāda says.
And this program of Krishna consciousness helps you to keep fixed in this ultimate goal of life. You chant your rounds, you try to do as much as possible. Because sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda said, yes, sixteen rounds.
And sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda said, no, you have to chant twenty-four hours a day, sixteen rounds is not enough. So it's just sixteen rounds is just a concession for the beginners. But but if you do it you immediately
feel. You don't have to be scared. He also said if you chant sixteen rounds that's enough. He said it's enough to go back home back to God. It's enough to keep your consciousness on a certain level.
It's really enough to make a very lasting and strong impression upon your consciousness so that it will always be connected with Krishna.
So during the morning you do this and during the day you do your work and then you try to do some sevā which is also very important because sevā is the way to be connected directly with Krishna through our energy.
We are doing so many things, but if it's not connected with Krishna, directly or indirectly, it's useless.
Because again it will become the same useless pursuit of different goals and different things which only dissipate our energy.
If so many goals are there it only dissipates and and and and and really dries up our consciousness. But when Krishna is there, then you're engaged in this work and you're not even tired.
Śrīla Prabhupāda is the best example. He was the oldest one in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and he was the hardest working in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.
He was sleeping for three hours a day and he was getting so much energy that everyone was amazed. Why? Because when you're wasting your energy in pursuing these little tiny useless goals, then you're dried up.
But when you're pursuing this highest goal, you get so much energy from Krishna. So this is the way to go, this is the way to live, this is the way to be happy in this world.
And Kṛṣṇa, He speaks Bhagavad-gītā only for this reason. He says Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa explains in the beginning that Kṛṣṇa, He put Arjuna in illusion. His best friend, He put in illusion for what? Just to give us chance.
Actually interesting. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa explains in the preface to Bhagavad-gītā that when Kṛṣṇa was there, it was very easy for people to have the goal set. They need just to have the glimpse of Krishna's beauty.
Whoever would just see Krishna all their doubts would dissipate. You know here he is. To be with this person is the highest goal of my life, the highest aspiration. I don't need anything else.
He is so powerful, so benevolent, so beautiful, so kind, so compassionate, so renounced, so intelligent, so famous. You know, people would see him and that's it. They would lose their heart.
But then Krishna knew that when he will be gone, so many people will come and they will not see him directly. So Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa said for these people, it means for us, for us who are lost in this material world.
Kṛṣṇa spoke Bhagavad-gītā. Because he wants us to be happy. He wants us to be ultimately happy. And he again and again says how to become happy.
And specifically in this verse he says the only way to be happy is to be always connected through your intelligence with Kṛṣṇa.
And to be connected through intelligence means to be connected through your activity, because intelligence is the guiding force for our activity.
And if we are connected with Kṛṣṇa in this way, then we are peaceful in the beginning. And we notice when we listen something about Kṛṣṇa we become so peaceful, then we fall asleep. That also happens.
This peace comes in, and somebody, because of the excess of peace starts snoring. But at least this is something. Because he says Ashantasya could have so come. How you can be happy without peace.
But then on the highest stages it's not just peace. It's a very ecstatic uh state of consciousness when you only you know when you fall in love with the supreme personality of Godhead who is
the most beautiful the most famous the most renounced the most intelligent person so this is what we should do and this is the best for us believe
me Krishna doesn't need it he is self-satisfied he is He is not saying this to exploit us. He is not saying this to get something from us, you know. There's a greedy God somewhere there and he's trying to exploit us. No.
He only cares about our happiness. And he says, just connect your intelligence with me with the highest goal. And in this way you will get your life fixed.
Otherwise you will always be on this flickering, tottering platform when there is no possibility of peace in this ever changing world. So thank you very much.
Living in the present moment
Questions? Yes. Right, you mentioned that are we always living in the past and also trying to resolve for the future. So what is the key of actually living in the present for the moment that's here now?
The key is not to be the key is actually to be absorbed in what we are doing and not to be attached to our fruits. We are living in the past or in the future. There are two reasons.
There are many reasons for this, but the two main reasons. One is that because we're usually suffering in the present and we want to get rid of suffering just by driving our minds somewhere in the future or in the past.
Because it's kind of you know if you really try to see what's going on in your body you will feel this pain is there, this is there, and you're
bored, you know, you need usually th there's only two p condition at present. Either you're bored or you are suffering. So therefore people they're always dreaming, you know.
Oh it's it will be nice after some time when I become eighty years old and probably everything will be very fine.
And then when they become eighty years old they say oh when I was twenty years old it was so nice but it was not nice. It was the same.
So uh uh that's one reason why we're always there and of course another reason is because we are this in this have this passionate or tamasic intelligence.
When we are passionate, passionate means we are attached to the future. Because passion means I want the fruits and fruits are always in the future. So the future, which doesn't really exist in reality.
Only present is existing. So the future is uh is uh passion and where we when we attach to the past it's tamastic.
You know when people they always you know oh it was so nice it's so bad now but it It was so nice before it's all tamasic. So when when they're young, they dream about the future, they are rajasic.
When they become old and they become tamasik, they they dream about the past. But sattva means present. And basically, when you are at present, uh the time loses power over you.
Actually when you are at present, it is called samadhi. Because in samadhi, in trance, people are there, you know, they are there. They're concentrated on this particular moment.
And there is no past and there is no future. There is only present. And that's exactly the state in which Krishna is always. Krishna is always it is said that there is no past and there is no future in the spiritual world.
There is everlasting present. It basically means a certain state of consciousness, the state of consciousness in samadhi. All the living beings which are there in the spiritual world, they're in samadhi.
They're so happy doing what they're doing that they're not dreaming about future or past. So this is not easy, what I mean to say. But the preliminary step to this is to be sattvik.
When you're sattvik, the sattva-guṇa means that you're more or less here. You're more or less happy, you're more or less here. But transcendental sattva means you're always in trance.
So Rajas will bring you to the future, Tamas will take you to the past, but sattva will keep you here and it will give you some satisfaction. But transcendental thing when you really invest your consciousness now.
Because what why our practice is called Krishna consciousness? It means that we have to be conscious. See, as soon as the soul gets the body, the body is unconscious. The body is dull matter.
And therefore we struggle, you know. There is this we have this dual nature. This dull, dull body, you know, which is which is unconscious. And the soul which wants to just laugh and sing and dance.
And the body says, no, cool down. Just sleep here. So so when when the body takes over, it's always you know we become less and less conscious.
So Krishna consciousness means to become conscious again. To become really conscious of everything which we are doing. To invest consciousness.
And in the beginning it it seems to be little, you know, because we have to overcome the resistance of the dull unconscious nature. Which is really bringing us down.
And therefore we we try to do it and then you know few what it is fall asleep so uh therefore
some struggle will be there in the beginning but when we experience this, when we experience what it means to be in trance in Somadhi, then we will not we will not really we will not really exchange it with this Tao consciousness.
What happens when somebody is practicing Krishna consciousness can be compared with the state between the wakeful state and the sleep.
Anyone experience this when you when you you're dreaming, sleeping, and then you have to wake up. The alarm clock very cruelly,
you know, making this horrible most horrible sound in the universe you have to get up so it's it's it's a very uncomfortable state right
because you know you you you woke up little bit but then you say oh it was on a dah da. So there is a struggle. You know some part of you wants to be awake and some part of you wants to go back to sleep.
And sometimes you know you go back to sleep and the alarm clock will go again and but then when you're awake it's nice. It's much nicer than to sleep, you know.
Actually w what is what is the fun to be sleeping in my There's nothing good about it. So the Krishna consciousness when we practice it is like this, it's it's something in between. Therefore it's a struggle.
Sometimes we think it was so nice when I was when I was a doll and when I didn't know about anything and I didn't have to change. It was so nice there. Why don't I sleep again?
But then we have to know that it's much nicer when we're awake. When we set our direction very strongly. And when we're awake, we really appreciate it. We don't want to go to get s again back to sleep.
So there is there is some struggle there and it means that we have to really be here. Be here now, especially when we tend. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Practical methods for focused japa
Any questions anyway?
It's uh practically like for someone like myself and many others, um it's very hard to kind of engage in present moment when you chanting because you're right uh you go in the present or uh sorry you go in the future or past.
Now what are the practical ways you you can give us uh in today's life that we can get our intelligence engaged with the God. See, there is no other way. There is no trick.
There is holy name, and you have to concentrate on the holy name. And it will be a struggle for some time, but Krishna says your mind will always you know, travel somewhere. Phew, phew, phew. And Krishna says this.
Krishna admits this. He knows this. There's nothing wrong with it. It's normal state. But he says when it goes somewhere you bring it back. And it will go again. But you bring it back.
And what you will notice that ultimately the mind will go on a shorter distance. So it will be easier to bring him back again and again and again. Yeah. So more or less it's a practice.
Krishna says when Krishna answers the same question which you ask. Because Arjuna said it's not possible, it's not it's not practical. You ask me, give us some practical thing. Arjuna says it's not practical.
Can you give me something practical? So Krishna says there is yeah I know it's not practical, but still you have to do two things. He says Abyasa Yoga. Abyasa and Vairagya. He says you can do it.
If you do abhyasa, abhyas means means repetition practice. You know, you bring back, you try to concentrate. And then byana means you renounce, renounce the fruits.
Again, if you are too much attached to different goals and to different desires, especially during the chanting. That's not good. And this at least in this, you know, for one hour or two hours a day.
You may s put aside all your different things. It's not a big deal. You will not lose anything. Just put everything aside. Now something very important is happening. You're speaking with God.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare.
So, uh, and then just by, by this practice of vairāgya, of this, uh, uh, detachment and by the practice or repetition of this thing, you gradually will feel something. And you will feel how your mind is absorbed.
When I explained this little experiment which we did in the brahmacārya-āśrama, the whole experiment was designed in such a way that people would be concentrated.
And at the end, when they were chanting for Krishna, you know, they were chanting from the soul.
When we chant, uh, chanting is usually by the lips, you know. The lips are chanting, the mind is somewhere else, and the soul is sleeping. So that's what's happening.
So, so at best what we can do that the m, you know, the mind start chanting for, for a short while with the lips. Lips are chanting and the mind is chanting.
But then the mind says, I'm not, I will change something else and start doing something else. But, uh, through this experiment which we did, through this little experience which they had, we kind of try to find who I am.
I am this little particle of consciousness. I am this conscious I. And all these roles and goals are not, you know, it's all artificial, it's all superficial. So through these different exercises they, they felt it.
And when I asked them, just try to melt the heart of Krishna. And you can try to practice it tomorrow. Just put Krishna in front of you. Govinda is there. And he's everywhere.
He's Vāsudeva, he's Vishnu. Vishnu means all pervading. So he's just in front of you. And you're really addressing him. He's a person. And you're calling him, you're saying something to him.
And you're saying something, you know, in such a way that you want to melt his heart. You want ultimately what we want, we want to attract the mercy of God, right? So there is a way to do it.
You know, we have to be very sincere for this. So when you chant in this mood, just for one round, because, you know, sixteen rounds it's too, too long. You know, we cannot be ourselves, you know, so long.
Maybe for five minutes we can try to do it. So just try to speak from the bottom of your heart and to chant. You will get an amazing experience. I guarantee you, I swear to you. Just try it.
Does that mean one round is enough? No, one round is enough. One one time is enough. But then you have to chant sixteen rounds still. This is this is the way of Krishna consciousness.
In Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says, patrāṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam. You give me one fruit, one flower, and little water, and little leaf, and then everything will be done.
And then he says uh whatever you do do it for me so it's it starts with give me one fruit and one flower and then he says whatever you do do it for me that's how he tricks us.
He says just I didn't need anything, just one flower and then yeah, give me everything. So now you can because if you don't do it, you know, a prescribed in a prescribed manner you will not achieve much.
Prescribed manner means you try to be engaged constantly. But you know this experience of one good round is is very powerful. It will give you a lot of inspiration and a lot of encouragement.
You know when you chant uh mantra it is necessary to use your lips and your tongue. Can you chant in your mind? Well, Lord Chaitanya said that when you chant, for us it's easier to concentrate when we chant with the lips.
But the proper way of chanting is that it's not that you have to do it loud. You do it a little bit.
Actually, japa means that only you can hear. Japa means you murmur in such a way that only you can hear. Nobody else can hear. That's the proper way of chanting.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This is the best way to concentrate. When you're only doing it in the mind, it's more difficult.
When you're doing it in a very intense way, uh loudly then it's also after some time it becomes difficult.
But when you do the—this is the proper, proper japa, basically the definition of japa is when you chant when only you can hear how you chant. So this is this is the best recommended way.
But you can do it in the mind also if you want. But the best recommended is like this.
Balancing work and devotional practice
Because you know when we chant in a train, or we are walking. Oh, if you chant on a train, you don't have to do it loud then. You don't have—you don't have to announce it to everyone that I'm chanting, listen to me.
But can I ask a question? Yes. You you mentioned um that one should be engaged in Krishna all the time. Now how can one divide the time? Like, you know, we chant, we listen. Well,
Prabhupada he gave this program he said that you chant sixteen rounds and you do some seven the rest of the day you do some practical work because he knew that we're a little restless and it's difficult for us to chant all the time.
So this is the good balance which he gave. Two hours you chant and you still have twenty-two hours which is a lot of time and you can do so many other things during that time.
And sometimes I heard this explanation that there is these two main rules which we have to follow. Smārtavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit, sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ. What, what is this?
Smārtavyaḥ? Satataṁ viṣṇur vismartavyo na jātucit. There are two main rules that we should remember about Vishnu all the time and we should not forget about him.
So basically when we chant it's the time for active remembering about Krishna. Then we have to really you know see Krishna and really remember about Krishna.
And when we do some practical work, it's the means, when we do it for Krishna, it's the means not to forget about him. So in this way we fulfill all these most important instructions.
When we do something and we you know we mentally renounce the fruits of it we we devote it to Krishna and we try to do something for the devotees, we try to solve devotees, try to solve the mission, try to do something practical.
It helps us not to forget about Krishna. He will always be there in our work, in our activities. And the balance is like this sixteen rounds and then you know.
Because otherwise we become a little restless if if we have to do more. Because of our passionate nature we have to be more passionately engaged in some spiritual or pseudo spiritual activities.
Understanding time and transcendent samadhi
We should engage our energy and that's the balance which Prabhupada gave. One place in Bhagavad-gītā, Krishna says, I'm time. Yeah. You say, in samādhi, we go to timeless? Yeah.
Because see time factor is representative of Krishna of uh will of Krishna in this material world. And when he says, I am time, he says, mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham, I am death, which comes and which snatches away everything.
Mṛtyuḥ sarva-haraś cāham, which really deprives everyone of everything. So this time factor is not it's Krishna but not in a very benevolent feature. It's a specific manifestation of Krishna in this material world.
For those people who don't want to surrender to Krishna, everyone has to surrender to God, everyone has to bow down to God. And some intelligent people, they do it willingly. They bow down to him.
And those who don't want to do it, they will still bow down to him. But at the moment of death, they will just full dandavat. He comes in this feature of time.
So when we reach Krishna proper in his personal feature, then there is no time. There is everlasting present. Samadhi. Samadhi means you're always in present. But when we are here, we are slaves of time.
We are more or less bound by time and time is more or less kind of pushing us around and depriving us everything, depriving us. We are trying to establish ourselves, but the time comes.
That's powerful because it's God Himself, it's His representative, His agent, but not His ultimate feature. His ultimate feature is timeless. And the ultimate state of consciousness is timeless.
Obviously w we've heard this lecture and um we want to live in the present. Um but uh by the time you've got to the man then we've probably forgotten uh what to speak of tomorrow morning when the alarm goes up. Even more.
So what's the uh and uh we forget and every now and then they'll jolt on but how how to become a serious practitioner um because we can just ride along the wave and be c a casual follower or a Sunday worshipper or whichever way it is.
And and miss the principle of being serious in the name of perhaps it's it's too difficult. Yeah there are so many excuses and the excuses will be there unless and until somebody has the real experience.
Actually the key in my opinion is to have the experience. And Krishna himself says this, Paramdrish Twani Vartatev. You see, and see means experience. Paramdrish, when you see the param. Paramristwa new art.
Then then then the excuses will not bother you anymore. You will not try to invent newer and newer excuses because you will like it. So the basically the process works like this.
You see somebody who is happy in Krishna consciousness and you really see that he's he's some special in this sense. And you want to become like this.
And then you know, and he says this is the way to become, this is the only way.
If you're casual, if you're distracted, if you always, you know, whatever activity if you do, if you do it halfheartedly, it will not bring any result. So what to speak about spiritual activity, spiritual practice.
So even if you don't experience them immediately yourself, but at least you see somebody
who is so happy despite of all these disturbances, uh, then you really want to become the same or experience the same, at least to have little taste. Then you and he says for this you have to be serious.
Because you know what is the use of doing something half-heartedly? There's no use. There is no result. Just in case it will save me at the moment of death. It will not save you at the moment of death.
Because you have so many desires. If you do something, do it with full heart and full consciousness. Because and the reward is great. That's what Krishna says. Reward is so great. Why not do it? Why not do it wholeheartedly?
What's the use? So, but of course to be convinced, to have the faith, uh, you have to see somebody who is totally completely blissful, and in this condition you want to really follow. Śrīla Prabhupāda was like this.
There was this little story, which is one of my favorite stories about Śrīla Prabhupāda. There was a huge crisis in this corner. It was you know but of course in this corner is always crisis. It was huge, you know.
It was everywhere, all pervading, you know, sometime during the Bombay story when Śrīla Prabhupāda was there in Bombay and it was a heavy thing, court case, Mr.
Nair, you know, police coming, fight here, the programs in America, something there, you know, uh from all the sides. And Prabhupada is an old man. Old man.
You know, in his 70s, 70 years old, when people go to retire, he went to the best to take so much headache, you know, of having all these hippies you know becoming uh you know devotees.
Anyway, so this was heavy, heavy, heavy, and it was becoming heavier and heavier every day. And finally one telegram came to Śrīla Prabhupāda. It was the heaviest telegram, something really mind-blowing.
You know, Prabhupāda read this telegram and his face becomes stone-like. And he just—he didn't say anything, he put this telegram and he went to his room and he closed the door and he watched the really intrigued
what he's doing and somebody started looking in the in the hole from the key. And he's so proud. He lay down on the floor and he started laughing. Very happily, you know. Started laughing. And oh so he's laughing.
Anyone else under such a pressure would be all already dead and Prabhupāda is just laughing.
You know, and uh when you see somebody like this, somebody who really experiences this, what it means that the consciousness of buddhi intelligence is connected with Krishna and how it gives the happiness.
And then you want also to do this. And for that you really realize that you you have to be serious practitioner. Because you know how else you can do it?
There is no use when you do it, you know, little bit you know, it's just ritual. Ritual means you do something mechanically and you expect some good results. But Krishna consciousness means no mechanical things is allowed.
Krishna consciousness means you you invest your consciousness in whatever you're doing. And it's nice. It's it's it's good. You you try it. It works. It does work.