Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.7.2. Renunciation of speaker and listener
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Нью-Йорк · 2019
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Recitation of Srimad Bhagavatam verse
Om namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, nārāyaṇaṁ namaskṛtya, naraṁ caiva narottamaṁ, devīṁ sarasvatīṁ vyāsaṁ, tato jayam udīrayet. Chapter 7. The Son of Drona Punished. Text number two.
Saraswatiam Saraswatiam Ashramahaama, Ash Vashime, Tate, Samyaprasa, Sam, Rukta, Rishinam, Krishna, Satravardhana, Satavardana, Sutub, Sutub, Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam Brahmanadam Saraswatiam Ashramah Pashimitate Brahramma Pashimettate, Ashrama Pashimitate, Ashram Pashimettate, Samyaprasiti Prakta, Shamy Propta, Sammyaprasati proka, Rishinamsatravardanaha, Rishinamsatravardana, Krishnamsatravardanaha, Krishams Sutaha Suda Sri Suta, Sri Suda, Oacha, Slacha, Set, Set, Brahmanadyam Brahmanadiam on the bank of the river intimately intimately related with Vedas, Brahmana, Saints and the Lord. Intimately related to the sort of Saraswatiam Saraswatiam Saraswati Saraswati Ashrama Ashrama Kotich for meditation Vashime on the west bank bankrasa prasa the place named Samyaprasa. It thus of the sages. Satravardanaha. Satravardanaha. That which enlivens that which enlivens activities. Translation.
Sri Sutta said on the western bank of the river Saraswati, which is intimately related to the Vedas, there is a cottage for meditation at Samya Prasa, which enlivens the transcendental activities of the sages.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
spiritual advancement of knowledge, a suitable place and atmosphere are definitely required. The place on the western Bank of the Saraswati is especially suitable for this purpose.
And there is the ashrama of Vyasadeva at Samyaprasa,
Shila Vyasadev was a householder, yet his residential place is called Anashrama. Anashrama is a place where spiritual culture is always foremost. It does not matter whether the place belongs to a householder or a mendicant.
The whole Varnashama system is so designed that each and every status of life is called an ashtrama. This means that spiritual culture is the common factor for all.
The Brahmacharis, the Grihastas, the Vanaprastas, and the Sannyasis all belong to the same mission of life, namely realization of the Supreme.
Therefore, none of them are less important as far as spiritual culture is concerned. The difference is a matter of formality on the strengths of renunciation.
The sannyasis are held in high estimation on the strengths of practical renunciation. Srila Prabhupada Kita. Sutu Vachabrahmanadyam Saraswatyam Ashramakh Paschimeta te Shamyaprasiti Praktari Shinam Satravardana Sri
Suta sat on the western bank of the river Saraswati, which is intimately related with the Vedas, there is a cottage for meditation at Samya Prasa, which enlivens
the transcendental activities of the sages Namam Vishnu Padaya Krishna Prachtaya Bhutale, Srimati Bhaktividanta Swami Nitinamini, Namaste Sraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharini, Nirvisha
Sunyavadi Paschatya De Satari Vanchawatarubesha Kripasinduvicha Pattitanam Pavani Biu Vaisnava Bhyana, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Sri Adwaita Gadat Hara Srivasta de Guru
Bhakta Brinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hari Rama Rama Ramahari Hari Vajanu Lambipujoka Nakavadatu Sankirtanaika Pitaru Kamalaya taksa,
Vishwambaru dvi javaru yuga dharma palu bandi jagat prijakaru karunava tah yandah pravi mamava sumi mamamprasuku sangiva yata kila shakti dara swadama a nyam shahasta charana samatu bagadi
Yamprabrajantamanupetampetakritim dwaipaya na virahakatara juhava, putreititannmayatayotawobinedus tam sarva buta
Importance of proper mood in hearing
hidayam unima tosmi. Harik Krishna. So with your blessings I will try to say something about this particular verse and the chapter of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
The first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam which we are reading is the glorification of Shimad Bhagavatam itself. To understand the book, we have to have a proper mood, the mood of reverence.
If the book is cheap, if it's some you know some cheap sort of fiction, then there is no really reverence, there is nothing serious you have to understand.
And even ordinary books to create some understanding, if it's a serious book, the very appearance of this book instills this mood.
So the author of Shimad Bhagavatam by writing the first canto, the whole first canto is actually devoted to the subject matter for us to understand how serious is the subject matter of Srimad Bhagavatam.
And it's done in a very indirect way.
It's not directly, although there is direct clarification of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, like in at the end of the third chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, where it is said that in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the dharma, the religion, and the knowledge took shelter after the disappearance of the Lord.
But mostly it's being done throughout the whole first canto by glorifying the speaker and the listener of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Because the higher is the position of the speaker, the more elevated is the consciousness of the speaker, and the more elevated is the consciousness of the listener, the more elevated subject matter will be exchanged between them.
And especially the listener is most important ingredient because the speaker may be very elevated. But if he sees the audience which is tamasic.
Like you know when we go out on the streets and there is quite tamasic - you will not start speaking some elevated subject matters to them, you will probably say something which is which they can relate to.
So therefore, both speaker and listener is very important to understand what will transpire between them, what will take place between them and how important it is.
And basically, this first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is divided into three parts according to three pairs of speakers and listeners.
The first three chapters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam more or less describing the first pair of speaker and listener. Sūta Gosvāmī as the speaker and Śaunaka Ṛṣi and the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya as listeners.
The second three chapters, fourth, fifth and sixth describe the second pair of speakers and listeners, which is Nārada Muni, as the speaker, and Vyāsadeva as the listener or sages who attended, who were attended by Nārada Muni in his previous life and little boy Narada Muni as the son of maidservant as the listener.
And the rest of Bhāgavatam, starting with this chapter, the seventh chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is actually describing the glories of Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit. And according to the relative importance of the speaker and listener or relative position of the speaker and listeners, we can see that actually there is a gradation here.
It is said that Sūta Gosvāmī and the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya are kaniṣṭha speaker and kaniṣṭha listeners. Kaniṣṭha doesn't mean Kaniṣṭha means the lowest possible grade.
Actually, in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a paramahaṁsa-saṁhitā. It's the book for paramahaṁsas.
So the Sūta Gosvāmī and the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya are paramahaṁsas. But the lowest grade of paramahaṁsas. And for
us to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, or for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, for the experience of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to happen, we have to understand clearly what should be the qualification of the listener, both of the listener and the speaker.
Basically, the idea behind this first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is to say that the real experience of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is as Śrīla Prabhupāda explains in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is that you can see the Lord on the every page of this book.
To have this experience, not just to theoretically listen and you know get some theoretical understanding, but to have the real experience or real spiritual experience by reading this book, you have to have certain qualifications
as a listener and you have to have certain qualification as the speaker. And the lowest possible grade is, of course, Sūta Gosvāmī and Śaunaka Ṛṣi and the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya.
And the indication there is that it is set in the very beginning of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, they were doing this sacrifice which is somewhat mundane sacrifice.
Rūpa Gosvāmī in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, he places sages of Naimiṣāraṇya even lower than Kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs. He says that they're just inquisitive people. But still they are inquisitive, and they got elevated
by listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the platform of pure devotional service. Before that, as it is said there, they were covered by smoke. What does it mean that they were covered by smoke?
It's a figurative statement that their consciousness was covered.
And why their consciousness was covered and which way their consciousness was covered, because they were doing this sacrifice and usually Vedic sacrifice are for some material purpose.
It may be highly elevated material purpose. Nevertheless, it's a material purpose.
And therefore, while saying that they were totally covered by smoke, means for a long time they were really working hard for some uh for achievement some certain material uh goal.
But they did have qualification, very important qualification which is listed here in this first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam regarding the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya is that they had complete faith in Sūta Gosvāmī.
The faith is very important preliminary qualification.
And the faith, particularly the faith in paramparā system, in Guru Disciple Relationship, the implicit faith in uh in this principle of transmission of spiritual knowledge from the Guru towards the disciple is the minimum qualification for
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to have an effect. If we don't have this faith, there is no use to waste your time by reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I mean of course there is some benefit in any case, but still for
the real experience and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is about experience. It's not about anything else.
From the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva says that dharma Kaita Vapot Project Paramoni R Matsaram Satam Vedjam Vasta Mamatravastu Shivadam
trāyate mūlam, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam mahāmuni-kṛtam, kiṁ vā paraiḥ Ishwara Sadhya Hridya Varudya te kriti bhighsushu bhiks tatshanat. This is actually what's supposed to happen. Sadhya Hridiya Varuddha Teh.
Immediately the Lord should be confined in your heart. Sadhya, immediately.
From the very beginning, when you have the desire to listen Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not even listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but only when you develop the desire to listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Lord enters your heart and becomes the prisoner of your heart.
Avaruddhyate, Sadhya Khridja Varuddhya te kriti bhih. If you are kritti, if and sus If you have the desire to listen
and if your heart is somewhat pure, of course Lord will not become the prisoner of some dirty uh heart like ours with all kinds of strange desires. But again The
description which is there in the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the first three chapters of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is that the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya again and again express their implicit and explicit also faith into Sūta Gosvāmī, glorifying him and saying that you can really enlighten us.
And when we judge relative importance of the listeners and speakers, the two factors are very important.
Being again indirectly described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. One factor is the renunciation of the speaker and the listeners. The more renounced you are, the more pure your consciousness is, the more
chances is there that you will understand the very elevated subject matter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If you are not renounced, your mind will do projection.
You will read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and you will project it into the material sphere.
And the next very important characteristic of the listeners and speakers is how much Lord is personally involved in their life. When we see the first pair of listeners and speakers, there is practically no mention of personal involvement of the Lord besides somehow or other they got together.
But when we see Mahārāja Parīkṣit and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, we can see that there is a lot of personal involvement, especially in the life of Mahārāja Parīkṣit.
It basically means that there is from the very beginning there is a glory, there is a mercy of the Lord which is being played into the whole equation for Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to be spoken.
Anyway, so the next three chapters describe Nārada Muni and the Paramahamsas, the Bhaktivedantas who came to visit him.
And there is definitely a lot more freewill of the Lord involved into the whole event. Somehow or other the sages came to visit little child and the renunciation is also indicated there.
The sages were completely renounced, they were only there for four months, and the little boy was totally renounced. He didn't even want to play his childish games and
uh uh and therefore it is said there it's not indicated for how long the uh sages of Naimiṣāraṇya were listening, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
It is said that you know in in uh in Skanda Purana that the lowest great the the the worst kind of listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and is when you listen and you don't know when it ends and it's just drags and drags and drags.
And uh by the time you listen something you forgot what was there before. So that's the tāmasika listening of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is usually take place in our in our But
anyway, but it is specifically said that Paramahamsa were there for four months and we know that Shukadev Gaswami and Maharaja Pariksit uh only seven days. After seven days the perfection was there.
After four months, in the case of uh Nārada Muni and Bhaktivedāntas. So So we can see that the efficiency of this process is also being described indirectly.
If all the conditions are in place, then very quickly you will realize Lord face to face. And that's basically the perfection of the listening of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam. That's what we're supposed to have.
At the end of listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we should have Lord face to face and you know getting some nice conversation with him. Ideally, if it's war, if it works.
Summary of Canto One Chapter Seven
So what we see now the beginning of the third section of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam where this glorification of Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Mahārāja Parīkṣit. And this seventh chapter has three different parts.
In the beginning, the Vyāsadeva's trance is being described. The samādhi of Śrīla Vyāsadeva.
How Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the whole seventh chapter is actually about how Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam appeared in this world. What are the reasons of the appearance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how it appeared, and what is the significance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam more specifically.
So in the beginning the samādhi of Vyāsadeva is being described, the next part of the seventh chapter is about its glorification of the speaker of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the main speaker.
If Śūta Gosvāmī and Sages of Naimiṣāraṇya were Kaniṣṭha speaker and listener, Narada Muni and the Paramahaṁsa Bhaktivedāntas were Madhyama speakers. Here we have Uttama speaker and listeners.
So Śukadeva Gosvāmī is Uttama Vaktā of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And Mahārāja Parīkṣit is Uttama Śrotā, the Uttama listener, the highest possible listener, highest possible qualification is there.
And therefore, we can see how in this seventh chapter of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam the glorification of renunciation of Śukadeva Gosvāmī will be described.
Why renunciation, why vairāgya is so important because vairāgya is the external manifestation of your devotion. Devotion is a difficult thing to describe.
You know, when we try to describe devotion, devotion is an internal experience. But externally, devotion is manifest as renunciation, as vairāgya.
It is said in Caitanya-caritāmṛta that everyone was completely amazed by the level of renunciation which the direct associates of Caitanya Mahāprabhu manifested. Their renunciation was unheard of. Why?
Not renunciation itself, renunciation from our point of view is useless in itself.
But that's an indication of devotion, because when your consciousness is completely torn out from this world and completely concentrated on the spiritual subject matter, then the renunciation is natural, it's a by-product.
It's not the practice. Sometimes devotees do this, they think that renunciation is a spiritual practice. Srila Rupa Goswami says it's even detrimental for devotional service because it makes your heart hard.
Your heart i if you are too much into renunciation, if you don't take sometimes mahā-prasāda it's not very beneficial for developing your bhakti. Sometimes you need to have some nice prasādam.
And therefore Śrīla Prabhupāda was very lenient in this regard. He said, no problem. You know, renunciation is natural.
There was this story about one boy who was coming to Śrīla Prabhupāda, and he used to have 20 chapatis at once, and Prabhupāda was so happy that he would take you know the big spec of pile of chapatis and then he said you know yeah just it ultimately naturally the renunciation will take place in your heart.
Because bhakti is a natural process and therefore when Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam or Śrīla Vyāsadeva or Śūta Gosvāmī in this particular case, glorifies the renunciation of Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was so renounced that he was so naturally renounced that
when the ladies were, you know, taking bath in the river and he was passing by and he was completely naked, they just couldn't care less. Because he was so transcendental and they could feel it.
And then Vyasadev was falling behind him and they they became completely embarrassed and started dressing themselves up. And he asked them, why are you doing this?
And they said, because you are Vyāsadeva and he's Śukadeva. Because you you distinguish between this and he he's not he he doesn't see any distinction. He's not interested in this.
For him, it doesn't matter who is taking a bath there. He's not really looking at them.
So and basically what is described here in the second part of the seventh chapter, renunciation of Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and of course his attraction to the Lord's qualities. Ittham-bhūta-guṇa-hāriṇaḥ.
The famous Atmarama verse says that he was so much attracted to the qualities of the Lord, that he even though he was completely renounced, again and again, this point is being repeated in the seventh chapter that he was completely renounced. He had nothing to do with this world.
Still, he decided to listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why? Ittham-bhūta-guṇa-hāriṇaḥ. Because this is the attraction of Krishna's qualities which have nothing to do with this material world.
And the third part of this particular chapter is actually about surrender of the devotee.
Because from starting from the third part of the seventh chapter till the very end, the qualification of the listener of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is being described, Uttama listener, Maharaja Pariksit.
And the prominent quality of Maharaja Pariksit which he inherited from his ancestors, from the Pandavas, is complete surrender. And that's exactly what we see here in the seventh chapter.
Why this whole story about Aśvatthāmā and his Brahmāstra, his first Brahmāstra? It's actually in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is explained that Aśvatthāmā two times he released Brahmāstra.
And actually the first Brahmāstra, the release of the first Brahmāstra was not really important as such because it's when Aśvatthāmā released Brahmāstra for the second time, then the Lord had to protect Parīkṣit. So, logically speaking, if we only have the straight line of the narration, we don't need to hear about the first brahmastra.
If it's a question about Lord's protection on Maharaja Pariksha, then he could start from the second brahmastra. But why this first episode is being described in such detail in the seventh chapter?
Because this episode illustrates the complete surrender of the forefathers of Maharaja Pariksha.
So his surrender is inherited in one sense because when you are being born in a certain family, you inherit, you naturally inherit certain qualities of this family.
You adopt and imbibe the qualities which are there prominent in the tradition in the family.
And basically again uh uh what is being said to us, uh why it is relevant to us, uh the relevance for us is that we have to be uh completely surrendered to really Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Surrender to the will of the Lord.
Surrender as awakening of intelligence
Accepting His will as the Supreme in our own lives.
Of course, the uh it's also very interestingly described that uh surrender doesn't mean that you become completely blinded and you become completely dull and completely you know you you have the blind face.
Surrender, which is described here in the seventh chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Arjuna was completely surrendered. By the surrender gave him transcendental intelligence by which he could make a very difficult decision.
He could satisfy two parties which were demanding opposing totally opposing desires they had. Somebody says, kill Ashvatama, another says no, save him.
And Arjuna, you know, and Krishna says, you just do something which would satisfy both. Not an easy task.
So what is being indicated by this particular episode is that real surrender, genuine surrender awakens the intelligence.
Bhakti Charu Swami once told a very beautiful story that in the sankīrtana day they had a sankīrtana leader who was totally completely surrendered.
Surrendered means basically you know he couldn't care less whether there is petrol in the car or not. He was surrendered. Krishna will take care of it.
And if the car would stop somewhere in the middle of the city, he said, okay, Krishna wanted the car to stop. It means that we don't distribute books today, we just sit in the car and read the books, no problem. So all kinds of crazy and completely unusual ways of manifesting.
And his motto his was always, you know, Krishna wants this. Krishna wants, oh, this car is broken. Okay, Krishna wants this, okay, no, no problem. So and then you know some devotees they felt that something is wrong there.
And they asked him to write a letter to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
And he wrote a letter in a particular way, he formulated a letter, because there is a special art to ask a question in such a way that you get the necessary answer. It's a very important art which you you have to know.
Because you already know the answer but you ask the question in such a way that you get it.
So very carefully he formulated the letter, you know, asking, you know, how you know, isn't it we we should be completely surrendered to the will of the Lord and whatever somehow or other he indicated very clearly what he wants to get from Prabhupāda.
And Prabhupada wrote back one line: surrender means awakening of transcendental intelligence. He could see through this bogus sort of mentality.
And that's exactly what is being depicted in this particular chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam while explaining this episode with Arjuna, you know, because this is the surrender.
Surrender means in a very difficult situation you you know the will of the Lord. You know, and you can fulfill the will of the Lord.
Surrender doesn't mean you're just completely, you know, dull and you just uh yeah, right, I'm surrender. Do whatever you like with me. No, surrender means you know what the Lord wants from you.
In this particular situation, how the Lord wants you to act. That's surrender. Because your intelligence is completely dependent on the Lord, on the will of the Lord, directed by the will of the Lord.
And you directly see, you understand, you are under the guidance. The Lord gives you intelligence. You're not independent anymore, and therefore your intelligence is God-given intelligence.
This is how again the listeners of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are being glorified as the most important preliminary qualification for us to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We have to be surrendered.
And we are reading now when should I finish the class? Okay. Okay. So so we're beginning this. This is just to give some little background of the whole um of the verse which we are reading.
Significance of Vyasadeva's place of meditation
And uh we are beginning to read this first section of the seventh chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is describing the trance of Samadhi of Śrīla Vyāsadeva.
And here in this particular verse, which is most important, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī takes these few verses, just three, four verses of the description of Samadhi of Vyāsadeva to explain the very essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Basically, the second section of Tattva Sandarbha, which is the foundation for the whole understanding of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, from the first Canto of seventh chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
from the first Canto of 7th chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which explains in detail what Śrīla Vyāsadeva has seen in his samadhi, in his trance.
Because the whole Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is actually a description of what he has seen or his experience. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not just a book, it's not a fiction. It's not some fictitious story.
It's the transmission of real spiritual experience. And when we reach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we are supposed to get the same experience more or less. We are supposed to, or at least, that's the ideal, that's how it should be.
We should get ultimately into this samadhi and get the same experience as Śrīla Vyāsadeva had in his trance while he was there in Badarīkaśrama.
So, therefore, it's so important for us to understand the circumstances of this samadhi, the circumstances of this experience.
And therefore, Sūta Gosvāmī starts explaining his samadhi by explaining the place where this samadhi took place.
And he says here that it was on the bank of brāhmaṇya-sarasvatīm paścimena taṭe, on the western bank of brāhmaṇyāṁ sarasvatīm, very importantly, it is explained here Saraswati very importantly, it is explained here
that Saraswati, the river Saraswati, is called brahma-nadī. Brahma-nadī means spiritual river. So again, basically, and Saraswati means knowledge. Basically, even though it's a description of Badarikashram,
which is high up in Himalayas and Saraswati is still there. It's a very short distance.
Saraswati is there just a few hundred meters only. It's gushing from the mountain with huge force. It's a very hard place, where Saraswati River. It's very powerful.
But it immediately merges with Alakananda river and so on and so forth, only very short distance of it.
And Vyāsadeva's ashram is still there, it's a cave and Himalayas. And uh what is the most amazing about this cave is that the cave is in the form of the book. Whoa.
You know, it's externally uh shaped like the book where uh so s Vyāsadeva was living that was his ashram. So you know if at one point you will have your own ashram and make it in the form of a book. So that's what it is.
That's high up in uh in this Badarikāśrama. And it's said Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam.
So again, Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam basically means that he is on the bank of the Saraswati River, but he's also on the bank of the river of knowledge, spiritual knowledge.
This spiritual knowledge which is beyond this material world. Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam Ashramah. So he built his ashram or his dwelling place, his place of living on the bank of the river of knowledge, basically.
And what it means, it means for us, it means for us here is ashram. And the ashram should be on the bank of the river of knowledge. The river Saraswati Brahmanadyam Saraswatiam should always flow in this ashram.
The ashram will only remain an ashram, the real place of spiritual experience, if the spiritual knowledge or transmission of spiritual knowledge is constantly being done here, constantly means regularly, it doesn't mean 24 hours a day.
It means that the spiritual knowledge should be one of the main characteristics of this place. Then only it becomes ashrama.
Āśrama-paścima-taṭe. And Prabhupāda, of course explains what ashrama means. Shrama in Sanskrit means useless labor. And ashrama means no useless labor. But ashrama means a lot of labor, but not useless labor.
So ashrama is a place where there is a hard work. Ashramma is a place, as Prabhupada said, Ashram is not a place for lazy and crazy. For lazies and crazies.
You know, and that's Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation of the word āśrama from Sanskrit. It's not a place for lazy people and for crazy people.
It's the place for spiritual development and therefore it's called āśrama. And Prabhupada, of course, explains the spirituality should be forefront, should be the main focus of the whole thing.
You know and then if this atmosphere is surcharged by this spirituality it's it's actually very easy to be engaged. Because it is specifically said here Satra Vardana.
Śrīla Prabhupāda very interestingly translates this that which enlivens activities. But literally what it means, Satra means sacrifice.
Satra is a generic name for sacrifice, and vardhana means the, how you say this, increase or expansion. Expansion.
So rṣīṇāṁ satra-vardhanaṁ basically means it's the place where the expansion of spiritual activities or the sacrificial activities takes place.
Rṣīṇām, those rṣis, those sages, who, ṛṣi means those people who have spiritual, real spiritual experience, satra-vardhanam. So this place is conducive for this for the expansion of spiritual activities.
In other words, uh, uh, Vyasa writes here enlivens activities, it basically means that by being in this place, uh, you feel the enthusiasm to do something good, something spiritual.
You feel the enthusiasm to do some sacrifice basically. Sankirtana-yajña, yoga-dharma-yajña. So that's uh that's what is what is indicated the atmosphere
of the place uh is such that it should basically enli enliven you to do it. It's not that you're forced to do it. If you don't do it you don't get your breakfast and lunch and you will starve.
No, it's just you want to do it. Why do you want to do it? Because this is the atmosphere. This is what it is and this is how it is explained. That's why it is āśrama.
If the atmosphere is like this, brahma-vādīm, if the Sarasvatī, if the knowledge is there, if the river of knowledge is flowing there, that naturally you will have the enthusiasm. It's actually a fact.
If the real knowledge, if you feel that this is something real, you know that this is something which is directly connected with the truth, you get enlivened. When you feel that you are getting in touch with some higher truth, the enthusiasm, the utzaha or mahotzaha comes naturally within the heart.
You get the natural enthusiasm to do it, therefore it is said: ṛṣīṇāṁ satra-vardhanam. And another very important word in this particular verse
And another very important word in this particular verse which we read: śamyāprāśa iti prākaṭyam. This place, it is said here, it's called Śamyāprāśa. The place of Śrīla Vyāsadeva's ashram is called Śamyāprāśa,
which basically means — then it will be set in the next uh no just one second. Okay now. Uh, śamyā means from the word śama, śama means peace.
And it is explained by some of the commentators of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Śamyāprāśa means the place where all the three modes of nature are balanced.
Where there is a certain combination of the modes of nature where they are not where they are balancing each other, it basically means that there is no imbalance in our mind because the atmosphere around us directly influences our mind.
And if in the atmosphere around us the tamo-guṇa is prominent, we will naturally be inclined to some tāmasika activities. If the rajo-guṇa is prominent, we will naturally be inclined to some tāmasika activities.
If sattva-guṇa is very prominent, sāttvika activities will take place. But for transcendental activities, we
should go beyond this and for that, the balance of three guṇas should be there. Because transcendental activities, of course, sattva-guṇa is conducive for transcendental activities, no doubt about it.
It should be prevalent and prominent.
As much as, and the balance, basically the balance of three modes of material nature means the prominence of sattva-guṇa. When sattva-guṇa is prominent and rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa are subdued, but still then in a very balanced condition which creates peaceful situation and on the background of this peace you can really get the spiritual experience while chanting the holy name or reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or associating with devotees and getting into this.
So this is Śamyāprāśa, the meaning or significance of this word, Śamyāprāśa, the name of this. So it's interesting because here we are in this ashram, and we have to try to you know to have this in
place that brahma-nadyām sarasvatyām, the river Sarasvatī or the river of spiritual knowledge should be there.
The satra-vardana, ṛṣīṇāṁ satra-vardhanam, the expansion of the sacrifice, of Yoga Dharma sacrifice should take place here. And Samya Prasa, the whole place should be very peaceful.
The whole situation should be peaceful with the prominence of sattva-guṇa, but not for the sake of sattva-guṇa itself, because sometimes people they just, you know, into the sattva-guṇa for the sake of sattva-guṇa to get some sāttvika happiness.
But for the sake of having some peace in mind which will bring about some real spiritual experience again. Or samadhi. Ultimately we will have to be in this samadhi and completely in this samadhi.
Śrīla Prabhupāda said, you know, work now samadhi later, but basically it means that we have to have this ultimately this goal to see the Lord. But the conditions for this are explained here.
And there is another interpretation of this word Samyaprasa, which is also quite interesting, related to this word Satravardhanaha. Samyaprasa sometimes it's called or
derived from the word shami and shami like shame shami. Sami means means it's the name of the tree.
It's a particular tree, a very holy tree where Arjuna kept his weapons for one year while he was in the kingdom of King Virata.
And Shami is Shami is also used to ignite the fire for sacrifice, Shamitri, Aranyatri and Shamitri also. And Shami was very much prevalent during the sacrifice because it's a very pure tree.
And how they used to define the place for sacrifice,
they would take a wood, the same wood, some klub created from the chamis tree. And they would stroll this club from chamise. And when the club would fall, uh would fall. This is the place suitable for sacrifice.
So basically, what is again indicated by this name of Samya Prasa is that this is the place which is suitable for sacrifice, this is the place which is sanctified for the sacrifice, because you cannot do sacrifice in any place.
You first have to sanctify the place. Only then the sacrifice will have an effect, only then the sacrifice will bring the desired fruit of it.
So that's basically about this particular verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which we are reading today.
And of course, again, Śrīla Prabhupāda, he explains that āśrama means the place of spiritual activities, and basically any position of our life should be ashrama it's not uh no no license. Ashrama should be there.
Gṛhastha ashrama, vānaprastha ashrama, sannyāsa ashram, it's all ashram. All the place where we want to achieve the spiritual goal by the conducive means. Okay, thank you very much, Yakishna.
Accessibility of Harinama Sankirtana for all
Maybe there is some question. Yes. There's um in the fifth canto, tenth chapter where Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa meets Jaḍa Bhrata. He realizes that he's actually a very great advanced devotee and he asks
forgiveness and then Jaḍa Bharata gives his initial statements and instructions. Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa is dumbfounded and he asks them he asks Jaḍa Bharata to explain a little more clearly because I can't understand.
And so Prabhupāda's purport uh he describes that greatly advanced devotees like uh Jaḍa Bharata, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, what they speak is approved spiritual instructions that only very advanced personalities can understand.
And sometimes it is very risky to give highly advanced instructions to ordinary men. It's a very nice perfect word just basically summarizing.
And then Prabhupāda goes on to say our Lord Caitanya has given us the method of harināma sāṅkīrtana, which will elevate the general populace so that they can ultimately understand exalted spiritual instructions such as Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and we the International Society for Krishna Consciousness follow in him right his footsteps by doing the same thing.
So um just got that off with that. Yeah. Thank you very much. And um yeah when when Śrīla Prabhupāda came to Australia, he said here it's only restaurants and harinam, nothing else. So and mostly restaurants.
So yes, it's a fact. It's a fact. For people to understand Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it's not easy. It's not easy to uh to have uh to have the real experience or to have the deep understanding or you know.
But Harināma saṅkīrtana everyone likes.
We were doing saṅkīrtana recently in the in the 2nd Avenue and in Tompkins Square Park, little group of Russian devotees there and everyone was just, oh Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, everyone was happy.
Even drug addicts and all kinds of people. Especially drug addicts. Yes.
Parallel between chanting and Bhagavatam study
Could you maybe go deeper and show the describe the parallel between Bhagavatam and nāma-saṅkīrtana? Lord Chaitanya says vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam. Yeah, when Lord Chaitanya says vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam,
he says, he means that at a certain stage of our cultivation of the holy name, we will get the spiritual experience or the awakening of spiritual knowledge, which means the understanding of our spiritual relationship in detail with God.
That only takes place at a certain stage of spiritual development; therefore, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā- -vitaranaṁ should take place before that.
It's basically the stage which is being indicated by this phrase vidyā- vadhū-jīvanam is āsakti. And śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaranaṁ is ruci,
when the lotus, the white lotus of your fortune is being expanded and flourished, that's when you get the spiritual taste, ruci. And bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ,
that's niṣṭhā, when you are not bothered by the fire of the desires which are there in your heart.
And ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam is the previous stages of spiritual development, which is basically anartha-nivṛtti, or leading to anartha-nivṛtti.
So at a certain stage of cultivation of the holy name, the spiritual knowledge will be awakened within your heart, and that is indicated by this vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam.
And the same thing, you know, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is also supposed to be for the same purpose, because it is specifically said in the 12th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, while Śukadeva Gosvāmī, or it's actually Sūta Gosvāmī, I believe, or maybe still Śukadeva Gosvāmī, I don't remember. But anyway, it is said there that Mahārāja Parīkṣit, just by listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, achieved his svarūpa, his spiritual relationship with the Lord.
So the same result took place within seven days of listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
and the same result is supposed to take place if we properly study and listen Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, and at the same time cultivate the holy name or serve the holy name by chanting the holy name. And serve Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So the same result, but also Śrīla Prabhupāda, he was very emphatic uh when he said uh spoke about the need of uh listening uh nityam bhagavata sevā, regular listening Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because he said that your chanting of the holy name uh will uh become much more meaningful and uh if uh it goes hand by hand with studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam gives the content of your chanting, gives uh your consciousness, tunes in your consciousness for proper chanting. Otherwise your chanting is doomed to be offensive.
Therefore studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and chanting are both most important and actually create a background for this real experience.
Perhaps the most powerful example of having to take shelter of reading Śrīla Prabhupāda's books if your service is to distribute the books. Yes. You must definitely. Yes. And Prabhupada was also in fact.
He said you should distribute, but you should know what is in my books. Distribute.
Function of the four regulative principles
Yes. So Maharaj you were explaining about how renunciation is is a natural uh uh exhibition of of devotion.
So but at the same time, newcomers are recommended, for instance, to renounce meat eating, illicit sex, intoxication. So some renunciation is recommended initially. We're fast on the car issues and other things like this.
So but where how do we know that uh our austerity that we are undertaking is artificial or natural or artificial, yeah. Um, when Prabhupada says, thank you for this question, it's a very good question.
When Prabhupada says about these four regulative principles... It's a very basic thing. Without renouncing this, you will not be able to achieve anything in the spiritual life.
And you know it's it's a very minimum uh thing, uh and, um, why it is? I've been studying the mechanisms, the you know,
physiological mechanism behind these four regulative principles, or breaking the four regulative principles.
Basically, if you are not following the four regulative principles, you are what you are doing, you are over there is a reward system in our brain.
And when we break the four regulative principles, we are hacking into the reward system. We are more or less overloading or you know creating some unnatural rewards which make us addicted.
These four things they're all addictive. They're totally addictive. And they concentrate your consciousness upon your body.
You cannot really withdraw your consciousness from your body for a split second unless you stop these illicit activities. Gross illicit activities. Enjoyment, there is enjoyment and there is enjoyment.
There is enjoyment which produces the result, which is hacking
the reward system, you know, produce inordinate reward which is too much, which is addictive, which makes you actually it actually spoils or insensitizes your reward system.
What happens if you take drugs, for example, or if you take meat, or if you if you gamble or if you have illicit sex relationship, then you will get such a pleasure, then normal pleasure will become meaningless to you, and you will not be able to experience normal happiness or peace in life when you get some other enjoyment.
And you will be addicted to get more and more enjoyment of this sort, which is illegal ultimately because it totally spoils your nervous system.
Any person who misuses this reward system for you know to get enjoyment again and again and again ultimately completely spoils the nervous system. It's total, complete stress.
When you get all this stuff, you get enormous stress on your nervous system, and you cannot be happy just by living normal life. You need some extra doses of all this enjoyment.
So, this sort of renunciation, it's not really renunciation, it's just normal life.
And Prabhupada therefore he said it's just that it's just something to calm you down to make you happy by leading normal life; it's nothing else; it's not renunciation, it's just you know, for you to become a little sane, and then you know, develop further from this point on.
And of course because we are insane, because we are trained in a very insane culture, it's difficult for us to become all of a sudden sane, and therefore some training is required even for this.
But it's not really renunciation. This is something common uh but you know, because um
and therefore we say it from the very beginning, but Prabhupada in the very beginning he didn't say it, you know, when he started speaking. Of course we say it now.
But Prabhupada in the beginning, he said, okay, no problem, just take more prasāda. You will get some relief from it.
Yeah, then he formulated, after some time he formulated this thing. And it's important for us to understand that this is a minimum standard because according to Mahābhārata's story, the one demon mother was cut into four pieces and he four pieces of this mother asura uh was placed into these four activities, hunting or killing the animals and gambling and intoxication and illicit sex.
So everyone who does it becomes mad, literally mad. And if uh you know it it it it's just it's just a straight path to madness, straight path to madness. So don't worry, you are not overdoing it.
Anything extra, you know, to fast one one day in two weeks of you know grains, it's not a big deal. Anything extra is you know renunciation. This is just normal life.
But there's also like a certain intoxication you get from kīrtana. What does that intoxication do to your nervous system? No, that that is healthy for the nervous system.
You get intoxication, yes, but that's another kind of intoxication that makes you happy. It's not addictive intoxication. Uh it's it's it's a different stuff. It's a nice stuff. It's medicine. It's medicinal. Okay.
Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya! Gaura-premanande!