Bhagavad-gita 6.24. Sadhana & Spiritual Discipline
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Непал · 2022
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Mangalacharana and introductory prayers
O Magyanatiniasya, Vyan Jana Salakayao, Shaksulunilitamena, Tasmaishri Buravenamahan, Sri Chaitanyam, Statitame Butale, Swamrupahjam da Tiswa Padantikam Vandeham Sri Guru, Sriudapadam, Srivuru Vaishnavamuch Shreupam Saga Jatam Saganaraguna Sadvaitam savadhutam varijana sahitam krishnachaitanyadeva Sri Radha Krishna Pada, Saganalita, Sri Visakavitauscha
E Krishna Karuna Sindho Dinabandho Jagatpate Bobesha Bobikakanta Takantamu stute taptakanchinamurangi Rade Brindavanishware Vrishamu Sudadevi ranamani haripre mancha kaupata rudishcha pripasindu vevacha, paditanamane
bio, vaaisnava maha, Shrešna Caitana, Prabhunitha, Sri Dvaita, Srivassadivura Bhakta
Brindan, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, Narayanamamaskritya
Naramchaam, Devim Saraswati Yasam, Devi Sarasva Dika So Patri Prabhu asked me to speak a little bit about sadhana spiritual discipline. So I will read uh slogan number 24 from the sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā.
Sanishayena yoktavya, sanisscha, yoga nirvina chetasa, yoga nirvi na cheta, Sankalpa Prabhankam, Sankalpa Prabhupam, Tyaktva Sarva Nashataha, manasa vindriagram.
Samantha, santata, sanissena yoktavya, sanissa, yoga. Sankalpa prabankam saktvasarvan ashesha taha, Mana savindriagram, manasa, vinyamy samantataha.
Translation by Śrīla Prabhupāda. One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with determination and face and not be deviated from the path.
One should abandon without exception all material desires born of mental speculation and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind. The yoga practitioner purport. The yoga practitioners should be determined and should patiently persecute the practice without deviation.
One should be sure of success at the end and pursue this course with great perseverance, not becoming discouraged if there is any delay in the attainment of success. Success is sure for the rigid practitioner.
Regarding the Bhakti-yoga, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says: utsāhān niścayād dhairyāt tat-tat-karma-pravartanāt saṅga-tyāgāt sato vṛtteḥ ṣaḍbhir bhaktir prasidhyati. prasidyati.
One can execute the process of bhakti yoga successfully without with full hearted enthusiasm, perseverance and determination, by following the prescribed duties and the association of the devotees and by engaging completely in activities of goodness pravi
mammachimamam prasuptam sangi bayata kila shakti daras vadam nanyam schahasta charanasravana tu aga gadin pra nandamu bhagavathi bur So
Cultivating determination to conquer material desires
By Śrīla Prabhupāda's mercy, we will be able to speak a little bit about this verse from Bhagavad-gītā and about the relevance of this verse in our life.
The main conclusion of this shloka is that in any endeavour you need to have Drida Sankalpa. It is said here, Sankalpa Prabhavan Kamams. The desires which we have in our mind are born from Sankalpa.
Before we desire something, there is sankalpa to enjoy in this material life. Determination, I want to enjoy, I want to achieve something. So that's goes before anything else.
And because we always have these desires, we always go into this samsaric life. We try to enjoy the senses, become disillusioned, disappointed, die, but still have desires.
Maybe I will be happy next life. Maybe if I achieve this I will be happy. Maybe I if I become like Ambani or somebody like this, I'll become happy.
So this is determination to enjoy in this material life and therefore we are always going round and round and round in this rotation It
It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Eleventh Canto of Śrīmad- Bhagavatam, that if you have some desire, unfulfilled desire, at the moment of death, for sure you will have a chance to fulfill this desire next life.
So if Purna Garbura, you each up, Pur Nagar Nokulagi, Firi Moca Pincha. So the purpose of this human form of life is not to increase the desires but to conquer our desires, to control the desires.
In this human form of life we can have so many desires that for thousands and thousands of life we will be uh doing this fulfilling these desires. But the special significance of this human form of life is that only here in this human form of life we can completely uh conquer over desires, completely get rid of desires.
We have developed intelligence, very strong intelligence, and with this intelligence we can increase our desires or with the same intelligence we can completely conquer our desires.
People think that the purpose of human form of life is to go to America. Australia, Japan, or wherever. No, the purpose of this human form of life is not to go to America. In America people suffer much more than in Nepal.
So America, American people want to come to Nepal and Nepal want to go to America. It doesn't make any sense. You know, everywhere in the material world is the same. Same repetition of birth, death, old age and disease.
Nepalima Charu America, Waha Busdena, Kinaki Yota, Chai Khan, Nepal, Bautic San Sarma Tjan Mamri to Jan Mammit to Jan Mamritu Chakra to the U in human form of life we can break this vicious circle of birth and death.
For that we need to have Dridha Sankalpa. Therefore Krishna says sanishchayana yoktavyaha.
Acquiring enthusiasm and faith through devotee association
Nish Chayana with a lot of determination you have to uh yoga nirvina chaitasa. You have to conquer over your mind and uh engage in yoga. How where do you take this determination to perform yoga with this Drida Sankalpa?
You can only get utsah from somebody who has utsah. Uzzaha this enthusiasm Udsaha is the sign of Sradha faith. Utsaha you vastama shradhakulakshana. If we have faith, then we will have enthusiasm.
Yum Yedi Hamrosangao Shradha, Sahani. Otherwise there is no meaning of this word faith. I believe in something but I don't have enthusiasm. I believe in Krishna but I am Hare Krishna.
So and to get faith we have to have sadhu sangha. That's the only place where we can achieve where we can get faith. Prabhupada had such a strong faith that he went to America and he gave this faith to hippies.
Hippies were very degraded, were very fallen people. But Prabhupada gave them this anubhava, this experience of what it means to have faith in in Krishna.
Prabhupada was alone and he went to to a park and started chanting with a couple of his followers.
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare R Ramaama Rama Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Rama Rama, Hare, Hare Kishna, Hare Kishna, Krishna, Krishna.
And people just by hearing his voice full of emotion, he invested so much emotion in this holy name, in the name of Krishna, that people they became moved, their heart melted.
It is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that Kali Yuga is the ocean of faults. Kalar Doshan Nidhaya Rajan.
Lakin uh eggon uh hair calibna eggon cha Just by taking the name of Krishna and you can conquer over all this duksanga, all this bad uh association which we have, mukta sanga paramrajeat.
And if you have faith in this process, then the enthusiasm will be there. Uh lit tobai sanga pura sradhabhavoni. Stop sanga sampurna itam sakan.
Personal account of beginning Hare Krishna chanting
Like uh and you know for that you need association with the saints with the sadhus. It is interesting how Śrīla Prabhupāda started this movement. He was alone. He was the only one.
And he somehow or other he invested this space in the hearts of so many people and the chain reaction started. I became a devotee when I was twenty-four. Jogmiro uman chogdisparsa chyu mu bhakama. Chogdhisvarsa.
Vivo Vivo I was doing my PhD degree in in the best university in Russia. So Dyala and Mamma PhD Garrigo professor of math I wanted to become big big scientists. And I was doing all kinds of nonsense in my research work.
And my friend told me, why don't you chant Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare? I asked him, uh, why should I chant this mantra? Kifaia.
He said you just try. You will see. I didn't have any face, I didn't have anything. He just said to me, just chant Hare Krishna. And I started chanting Hare Krishna. And at that time I had the determination.
If I kind of get bored of chanting Hare Krishna, I will stop it. What color? What color changes? And I am still chanting forty three years later. Because there is such a power in this Hare Rāma mantra.
But you need to have little determination, little understanding in the beginning, little faith in Shastra Shradhya Shastriya Shraddha Trasuludiki Ture Thure, Kiparina Humanakanamani, Thura Pani Sradasancha Shastra Kulagi, Rao Sanapani Sancha Tura again and again Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says that you should chant the holy name.
From the first chapter of the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam till the last chapter, till the last shloka in the 12th Kanto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
The glory of the holy name of Sankirtana of Holy Name is there in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam throughout
Pahlaskanda Pahla Adhya Diki Rā Antim Adhya Antim Skandasama Sankirtam Yajakum Mahima koani bate pucha sivanthana surul diki and samma Why is it repeated again and again and again? To give us faith.
Overcoming internal obstacles through daily repetition
And if we have faith, we will have determination. And if there is determination we will chant the holy name and ultimately Krishna will give us mukta sanga paramrajat, we will so
why this uh it isn't it is actually explained in Vedānta-sūtra by uh Bādarāyaṇa by Veda Vyāsa in Vedānta-sūtra in the fourth Pāda of Vedānta-sūtra it is explained why do we have to repeat again and again and again, why sadhana implies the repetition.
The reason is that why the sadhana should be there, why we should repeat so many times is that uh we have so many uh so many impediments within our heart. We have so many anarthas within our heart.
To overcome this anarthas, the sadhana needs to be there. We have to repeat it again and again and again. Pratidinama every day. If there was no problem within our heart, we will chant Krishna's name once and
uh we will go uh back to Vaikuṇṭha. But because we have all these problems, because we have to overcome these problems, we have to repeat. And this is called Abhyāsa o sādhanā.
And Krishna says in this uh sixth chapter of Bhagavad-gītā that uh when uh Arjuna says it's very difficult to achieve success in yoga. Krishna says yes, it's difficult, cañcalaṁ hi manaḥ Kṛṣṇa. Krishna says yes.
Your mind, our mind is very cañcala, is very unsteady. But still, abhyāsena. Because again, because we have so many internal problems within our antaḥkaraṇa, karana, within our internal organ of senses.
Indrea Dwara Vitru, Aramku Vitro, Dere Samasya Badahan Anathawchan. So many times we repeated, we had this repeated experience of sense gratification. And we repeatedly did this, we had a bhyās of sense gratific. So
to overcome this abhyās we have to do some other abhyās, yoga bhyās. Yeah. There is bhogābhyāsa and there is yogābhyāsa. People come here to do some bhogābhyāsa. And we come here to do yoga-abhyāsa.
And uh to do yoga-abhyāsa again, to do it with determination,
Three essential conditions for successful practice
we need to hear again and again and again that this is ultimately the success is there. So uh and uh uh um basically where do we go from here? Uh and if you do this regularly,
steady, it is said that when Patañjali Muni in Yoga Sūtra explains what abhyāsa means, he explains the meaning of abhyāsa.
But in abhyāsa uh he says that the definition of abhyāsa is that it's something which is being done steadily for a lot for a long time, dīrgha- kāla. Without any break, sahātyā and uh uh with satkāra with uh proper mood
For yoga practice to be successful, these three conditions have to be in place. Not expect that you will get results very soon, very quickly.
We are very uh influenced by rajas-guṇa and therefore we want results very quickly.
You know, and people, these crooked people who want to sell their products, they use this problem of ours and they always promise to us very quick results.
You want to learn a language, new language, English language or French language or Japanese language, come to me. Within one month you will have language. Korean, Russian, Nepal.
It's not possible to learn language within one month. It's crazy. You cannot learn language within one month.
But because people want to have very quick result, they go for it and they pay money and then you know they know one word or two word like I know in Hindi.
If you want something substantial, if you want to achieve some real success, then it has to be practiced for a long time. Jara uh Sar Tom Chancha Shiknut Girmuchansa
And uh ultimately it's not such a long time because what is long time? Ten years, 20 years, 30 years, 40, 50 years. Only, you know, how many years you have already been in this saṁsāra? Thousands and thousands of years.
Just 50 years of practicing bhakti-yoga, no problem, bhakti-yaku lari. What is the problem?
Just give one life, no problem. Hare Krishna. But again, you know, if you want to achieve success, you have to be determined. Not expect that within two weeks you will already, you know, achieve bhāva
and then within two more weeks prema and then mahābhāva and then Hare Krishna and then you become Mahaprabhu Aṣṭaka ślokal And then the second condition, first condition for a long time, second condition without break.
It's not that one day I chant sixty-four rounds, next day I chant zero rounds, next day I chant one round and next day I become you know I don't know. It's like going to Everest.
If you want to ultimately reach to the top of the Everest to this Nagar Kut, this Kut, then you have to steadily, steadily without break, go slowly, but ultimately you will achieve.
Because if you have a break, uh imperceptibly for you, uh you know you go little down. And uh if you don't practice uh then a little bit your consciousness goes down, goes down, goes down.
So every day you have to make endeavors to achieve the success. And sometimes I study Sanskrit, sometimes I don't study Sanskrit. And therefore I don't achieve anything.
Because every time I have a break, uh it goes down, you know. This is how the brain works. To have some real change in the structure.
And if you want to really change your consciousness, there has to be very fundamental change in your brain structure. It has to be without a break. Every day, every day.
Even one day break it it's already something something bad is happening already. There was a great German composer Beethoven.
German but Iuta um Beth Hollandam Keyuta Ghana Kippi and he was he was very expert he was playing his piano very nicely and it's very difficult to play all this Western music and piano, you have to really be expert in this.
And he said, if one day I don't practice, next day I will notice that something is wrong. If I don't practice two days, my friends will notice. And if one week I will not practice, then everyone will notice.
And everyone will say, ha ha ha ha ha look.
Avoiding mechanical practice by remembering the goal
So this is the second condition. First condition for the practice is long time, second without a break, and third one is the most difficult. You have to do it with proper mood, satkar.
Mm Pahla Yo Lama Sama Dre Driva Kali Dhri Samay Shainsa Aphyas Garnuklay, Dusra, Hamapani Pratti Gdin Garnva Chuti Humpadeha, Igdim Pani, Ratisa Sapanda Garo, Palangarni It basically means that uh you know when we do something every day then inevitably our practice become mechanical.
Yes. It becomes very machine-like, it becomes yantric and you don't really put consciousness into what you are doing. They become like machine with you know machine for chanting mantras.
Like you know, Buddhists they have this yantra for chanting mantras you just you know do like this and it just goes like this omanipad mahum om manipadma yotam yant So you become like this yantrahare krishna krishna krishna.
Hammi Haru Hamar Sanya Pani Hamya Yantri Gwavani? Hammiapani yantri just voy a This is not mechanical, this is very conscious like like so uh but practice uh if you want to
achieve success in practice every day you have to invest your consciousness is what you're doing. You have to really think about what you're doing, what is the purpose of what you're doing.
You have to remember about the goal. Śrīla Prabhupāda says in Bhagavad-gītā that if uh if you have clear goal uh it practically achieved.
But if you forget about the goal and you're doing something in a very mechanical way then it's useless.
So therefore, if we want our practice to be successful before we start chanting our rounds, before we start chanting Gāyatrī mantra or some other practices, we have to really understand why I am doing this, what is the purpose of this.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gave the definition of sadhana sadhana kuparasadhi in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.
And he says that there that you know your practice engaging your senses in serving Krishna only becomes sadhana if there is sadhya bhava.
Sadhana becomes sadhana if there is sadhya bhava, if there is understanding or consciousness of the goal which I want to achieve by this sadhana.
If you don't want if you don't know where you want to come, then you will not come to the place where you want to come.
If you just you know go in this world and you're taking this pass or that pass or this pass and you don't have any aim, you will never get to any aim.
So sadhana becomes sadhana, satkariya means that you do this with this sadhya bhava. I want to come to this particular stage of spiritual development.
I want to uh get rid of all these desires which actually only uh disturbing my mind.
My Bhautiki Chavada Mukti Chansa Mandla Parishang. All this Kamakroda, uh Lobha, Moha, Madha Matsarya, I want to get rid of all these Shadripus, six enemies. And I want to achieve the real success in my life, I want
Manohar Das Babaji's intense spiritual determination
to achieve love of God in my heart. In Vraj, uh there was one saint, was one Manuharda's Bhavaji. He was living in Govindakund near Govardhana, because at one point of his life Radharani herself came to
him and she said to him, Your place of bhajan is Govindakunda. You do bhajan there and you will achieve success in this place. And he started chanting and he was chanting many many rounds every day.
His quota of japa, our quota is sixteen rounds. His quota of japa was five lakh every day. And while chanting his uh antahkaran became so clear that he saw six previous lives.
He could know about his very clearly he ha had the remembrance of six previous lives. In uh Yoga Sutra Patanjali Muni explains that if you achieve the success in aparigraha.
If strictly follow this principle that you don't touch something which doesn't belong to you, then ultimately you will see your previous lives.
And you may see many, many previous lives and remember what was going on in the previous lives. Pakka abhyasa na garnuncha, arko um vas to sparse garnunaj topaiko china, topaiko china, sparse nagara, isipa
pakka niamli palangarnocha topay purva j So this Manohur das Bhabaji, uh he remembered his uh six previous lives and he remembered that in each and every of these six previous lives he was doing sadhana. Somebody.
But every time she didn't really reach to success, he didn't really get to success. So again he had to be born. Again he started his sadhana. And again it was no success. For six consequent lives he was doing this sadhana.
So, here is a very good china. He was eating very little, he hardly slept, he was all the time chanting and chanting and chanting. And next to him was living some other sadakas, some other people So
one night it was winter in Vrindavan. It became very very cold. And Vrindavan during the winter it's it's really cold.
Even Tulasi Maharani, even Tulasi they die, leave their body because it's so cold there. Sometimes you know it it goes to one centigree or even zero centigree it's really really cold. So in one of those nights the other sadakas they were sleeping under many many
chadras and this Manohar das Babaji he was still awake and he was chanting his mantra sadhu Babaji haru chadar lira dheri chadar liera It was chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare.
And the body became he started trembling, he started this he was trembling because of the cold. When it's too cold then you know you can't really know what it means to be too cold.
You you cannot really pronounce anything because you you know your your uh mouth is trembling. So and uh for some time he was trying to chant but you know because it was cold it was very difficult.
And then you know he said, aha. He told to his body, oh my body, you're not cooperating with me, you're not helping me, okay. I know what I will do.
And all of a sudden he just went right into Govinda Kuṇḍa, which is was very cold, and he just jumped into the Govinda Kuṇḍa. He'll timi malai saying.
And then he went and started chanting again, Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna. And Body became afraid, you know. If I don't cooperate he will push me again into this cold water.
So in the morning this his neighbor his sādhu he woke up and he said what happened you know well what you know I when I was sleeping I heard that you are taking snāna at you know at midnight.
Hey sādhu, you have to make it ki ki. And Manohar das Babaji said I was just punishing my body. My body needs to be little punished. So this is this is what determination means.
Determination means no matter what happened, I'm doing this because I want to achieve this goal because I don't want to go round and round and round in this saṁsāra.
Of course by listening to this story you may think so what does it mean? Does it mean that I have to chant five lakhs every day or what does it mean? No, no, you cannot chant five lakhs.
You're lucky if you chant sixteen rounds, no problem.
Power of determination in spiritual efforts
But the mood has to be the same. As Prabhupāda explains in the purport, you know, like little this little tittiṟi, tittiṟi. He is explaining this story about this little sparrow pakshi
chara sparrow chira chira bāṅdarī bāṅdarī. So
she had this determination and because she had determination, then Garuḍa came. Then first Nārada Muni came and found out what, and then Nārada Muni went to Garuḍa and then Garuda came and Garuda helped her. It means that if we have determination, then the higher power will help us. But if we don't have determination, the higher power will not bother to help us.
So I was living in Sweden for some time.
And in Sweden it's also very cold and during December Marathon when all the devotees distribute Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, it's very difficult to distribute books. And people there, you know, the Swedeshi, Swedish people, they really don't like when you sell books and they sometimes spit at you, sometimes they say bad words and so many things happens.
don't respect if you distribute Bhagavad-gītā. They don't have this natural respect. This is a holy book. So I remember one story, one mataji, she went to distribute books. It was very difficult for her.
Because nobody wanted to take books from her. And for the whole month, nobody, even one book, didn't buy from her. But every day she would go out, and every day she would stand on one corner and was crying there.
The only thing which she could do is just crying and crying and crying. Ultimately in the last day of the marathon, uh somebody bought Bhagavad-gītā from her. Just one book.
And then you know at the end of Marathon, you know, somebody distributed 10,000 books, somebody distributed 12,000 books, somebody distributed five hundred books, and she distributed one book.
But all these thousands of books which were distributed by other people, there was no result, people bought these books, they put it on the shelf, they didn't read it.
But the one book she distributed, the man read the book, he became a devotee, he came to the temple, he came to this lady and he bowed down to her feet and said, "Thank you very much.
And she said, "Why are you doing this?" You know, she said she said, "Because you were crying so much and I am bowing down for your tears which were there."
Krishna was in the heart, knew her determination, and therefore he rewarded her like this. Krishna knows what is there within the heart within our heart and if we do something, you know he will reward us for sure.
The only thing which we should do is this determination to do our sadhana and to remember about the goal of our sadhana and ultimately the success will be nischit.
Bahunupata ra gams Hunuparsa chutica Hunudina, rahtim Sapalta Bhagavan Dijon. Because ultimately it's Bhagavan who gives us success, and if he becomes pleased by with our sincerity the success will be there for sure. Therefore we should follow this path with determination.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, and Krishna will be pleased, our whole guru-paramparā will be pleased, Śrīla Prabhupāda will be pleased, and when they're pleased, we will also become pleased. We will also become pleased.
So thank you very much, Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.