Stages of Bhakti. Qualities Necessary to Meet Krishna
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Евпатория · 2008
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The following class is the first lecture of the seminar called Laws of Bhakti, given by His Holiness Bhaktivigyan Goswami Maharaj in F. Patorya, Russia, 2009.
Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya. Ohnamo Bagavate, Vasudeva Aya Narayan Namaskritya Naramchaivanarotam devim sarasvat Tatoja Yamudiray Ajaanu Lambi Tabo Joam Kanaka dato, Sankirtanaika Pitaro,
Kirtana Pitaro, Kama Layatch Vishwambarodvi, Yuga Dharmapal Bandeja karo, karunava.
Seminar on spiritual laws and experience
Necke let's nax away
Duchovno seminar called the Laws of Spiritual Experience. And this year I would like to come back to this topic and again together with you, reflect on the principles and laws we should follow so that we attain true, genuine spiritual experience.
I assume this topic is eternal really and always up to date.
this topic I will read and we will be reading verses from the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā which is called Transcendental Knowledge or Divine Knowledge in in Russian translation.
In particular the verse that I will read today emphasizes that devotional service is a science. Stroge and science implies strict laws. Science implies the ability to experimentally verify these laws.
Science implies that if we follow these laws, we will achieve This is in a nutshell the introduction to our seminar. And as I start today, I will read the third verse of the fourth chapter of the Bible.
Yoga, puratana, baktaha, asit Mahsakasyam etatamam, sevayamata, sevaya deya, yoga Puratana. Yoga praktah puradana. Bakto sime sakacheti, Bakto sime sakacheti, siem, rahasjamheta tuttaamam Rasyameta tuttamam, sevayam ya tetya. Yoga praktah puratanaha, bhakto sine sakacheti, prahasyamhe ta dutta mamam Yoga praktak puratana. Bhakto sim sakha cheti, rahasamhe ta duttama, raasameta duttamam, period Translation. That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told
by me to you because you are my devotee as well as my friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of the science purpose. There are two classes of men, namely the devotee and the demon.
The Lord selected Arjuna as the recipient of this great science owing to his being a devotee of the Lord. But for the demons, it is not possible to understand this great mysterious science.
There are a number of editions of this great book of knowledge. Some of them have commentaries by the devotees and some of them have commentaries by the demons. Whereas that of the demons is useless.
Arjuna accepts Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and any commentary on the Gita falling in the footsteps of Arjuna is real devotional service to the cause of this great science.
The demonic, however, do not accept Lord Krishna as he is. Instead, they concoct something about Krishna and mislead general readers from the path of Krishna's instructions.
One should try to follow the disciplic succession from Arjuna and thus be benefited by this great science.
very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by me to you because you're my devotee as well as my friend and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of these signs.
Shaksurun Melitamianatas May Sri Gura Vena, Namaḥ oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktivedānta- svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vānī- प्रचारिणे निर्विशेष-शून्यवाद-पाश्चात्य-देश-तारिणे हे कृष्ण करुणा-सिन्धु दीन-बन्धु जगत्पते गोपेश गोपिकाकान्त राधाकान्त नमोऽस्तु ते तप्त-काञ्चन-गौराङ्गि राधे वृन्दावनेश्वरी वृषभानुसुते देवी प्रणिमामः हरि-प्रिये. Vancha Kalpataru Vescha Kripasinducha Patitanampavaneby, Vaishnava Byona Monama, J Shri Krishna Chaitanya
Prabhunitananda, Shriadvaita Badhara, Shriva Sadivora
Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Ramahare Rama Dama Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Rama
Science of bhakti and universal principles
Hare Hare Yantah Pradesya Mamavachamampra suptam, Sandji vaya taki la shakti darh Swadamna, Anjamarnas Ravanatva Gadim, Pranannam Bhagavat Purusyatubam Śrīla Prabhupāda insisted on this affirmation. Bhakti is a science.
Bhakti is not merely some Satarian teaching nor yet another cult. If we want to follow some sect, this act is entirely reduced to one thing. I must accept the founder of this sect as God or as the sole knower of the truth.
This is how it all begins and how it all ends. But science means a rigorous system that is universal and that always works. Krishna consciousness, Bhagavad-gītā.
Krishna deliberately doesn't begin the Bhagavad-gītā with himself. At some point, yes, he says, you will have to accept me as God. But he doesn't start with it. He gives definite, reasonable, and comprehensible principles.
We too must very well know these principles which determine or guarantee success in studying this science.
Krishna warns us against unscrupulous commentators who will prevent us from eventually encountering him face to face, meeting him face to face. Ultimately, what is the outcome of this science?
What do we want to achieve when we follow the path of bhakti? Ultimately, we want to see Krishna face to face. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad says rasaḥ. Krishna is rasa. And to see Krishna means to taste rasa.
Today I'll be explaining that to just see Krishna is not enough. We see Krishna every day. We approach him every day and say, Govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. And go away. He remains here and we are left in our own.
To see Krishna means to taste rasa. Krishna is rasa or taste, infinite spiritual experience. And to actually see Krishna means to experience the spiritual bliss. It actually means that my heart is ultimately transformed.
And the purpose of the spiritual science is that all this happens to us. Experience of spiritual beliefs comes to us. And science implies several things really.
First of all, science starts with the fact that we have a very clear understanding of who is qualified to understand the science.
If we want to understand some science or study some science, we need to dedicate some time to be a qualified doctor, I need to spend seven or eight years in some countries, ten years in order to study this science.
First of all, one has to understand what qualities I must be It is human nature to take some things very cheaply. Even the most sublime ones.
And sometimes we approach the science of bhakti really cheaply We've been chanting the mantra for two weeks or received initiation a month ago and we say, oh premā, premā has come, premā has come. Then that's gone somewhere.
It's come. But one must understand that ultimately bhakti is something most valuable. And to get bhakti, one must pay the highest price. At least one must be ready to pay this price.
And the first prerequisite when we study science and when we'll be speaking about this today is my own qualification. What qualities should I possess so that the experience of bhakti comes to me.
So, the second thing we should always know when we approach some science is the method, what I must do, how I must ask, what the methodology of the science in order to achieve the result.
And of course I must know the laws of this science. I must understand on the basis of what laws this science works by. Because if I know the laws, I'll be able to ultimately achieve the result.
Today I will speak about us in terms of this verse, about what qualities one must possess so that the miracle of meeting Krishna takes place. Tomorrow I'll speak a little about our method.
And Krishna raises all these topics at the beginning of the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Divine freedom and laws of love
And the day after tomorrow, I will mention one of the laws of Bhakti or the laws of love. Here of course it is quite reasonable to question whether bhakti is a science at all or not.
Because usually we know science is something that deals with non-living things. And non-living things are easy to predict.
There are certain patterns and we act in accordance with these patterns, and then we'll be getting the results accordingly.
But when Śrīla Prabhupāda says that bhakti is a science, he affirms that in our relationship with God, the same thing is possible.
Here he explains that this is the science of the relationship between the living being and God how we can make these relationships work. And
although Krishna is absolutely free and the living being is free, though not absolutely, but to some extent, each of us is free. Free to do anything we like. And Krishna is free, free to do anything.
And we know that God doesn't obey anything, he doesn't obey any laws, and that in a sense you cannot place anyone above him. However, there is one thing that Krishna obeys. What is this thing that God Himself obeys?
Right. Love. Correct. You know well some initial thesis of this science. Although Krishna is God, although he doesn't obey any laws, although he can refute any laws, he still obeys the laws of love.
He himself says in the ninth canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, I obey my devotee. He says he asvatantra eva. In fact, he is always independent. Svatantra. He says I become aswatantra.
I obey my devotee because the love that I feel makes me do that. And in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī pronounces an even more amazing verse. Kṛṣṇa nācāyā premā. He says Kṛṣṇa nācāyā premā.
Whom does prema make dance? Krishna. Prema comes and says, Hey Kṛṣṇa, dance. Bhakti nācāyā. And whom else does prema make dance? The Bhakta, the devotees. And then prema itself starts dancing.
And Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says that all the three of them are dancing in one place. Kṛṣṇa is dancing, the devotees are dancing, and love is dancing. At first I wanted to call my seminar how to make Krishna dance.
Because that's the point. But then I thought that it wouldn't be very modest to call the seminar in that way.
Although ultimately the point is exactly this, how to start a relationship with Krishna, how to make this relationship work.
And since we are all selfish living beings and we need to know something more practical because Krishna is far away and we're here. Therefore, there is also a practical aspect in this seminar.
In fact, the laws of bhakti or the laws of love are universal. They apply to everyone.
And if we want to establish relationships with other people, even if we don't want to establish our relationship with Krishna, because theoretically we want it, but in practice hardly anyone wants it.
We still want to establish our relationship with. And the laws of bhakti equally apply to our relationship with other people as well. If we understand these laws, we will understand very well why my
relationship either would not work or would work in this world. This is the meaning of the small seminar that I will try to give this year yet again.
since I have some ideas from my past life, I tried to be a scientist, so to speak, and the career of a failed scientist is still somewhat attractive to me. I would like to present bhakti to you exactly in this way.
Bhakti as a universal and most powerful science. In fact, all the other sciences are just a particular case of bhakti.
Bhakti is the greatest science that exists and here are gathered the greatest scholars who study this greatest science. confirmation of my words, I will quote Isaac Newton's words, who said that I infer the laws of mechanics from the laws of love of God.
Even Isaac Newton realized that: to understand how mechanical objects in this world interact with each other, one has to understand the laws of God. And for this one needs to have a relationship with God.
Krishna revealing the science of yoga
And before I dive into the topic of our today's lecture, I would like to say just a few words about why Śrīla Prabhupāda translates this verse in this particular way. I'll read the translation once again.
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by me.
Actually, Prokta means already told to you because you're my devotee as well as my friends and can therefore understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
In a sense, if we are to split hairs, one may pick on this translation. And many people do pick on Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation. Because before that in the second or in the third
chapter, Krishna didn't speak of any love of God. He hasn't even once mentioned the word God. Once he said I, but then immediately got scared and stopped talking about it.
He was saying that the soul is eternal, that it can neither be cut into pieces nor into parts, that it can neither be dried nor burned.
You are saying that one must work, one must try hard to not get attached to the fruits of his work. He was walking around the bush, he was speaking about bhakti and wasn't saying anything about God.
And yet, suddenly at the beginning of the fourth chapter, Śrīla Prabhupāda translates that very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by me.
Is Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation correct? Of course it is.
We can say that before that Krishna spoke only about karma-yoga, but no, and it seems that all about it really and actually about karma-yoga: I've told it to the sun-god Vivasvān. actually about Karma Yoga and I've told it to the sun god Vivaswan.
Vivaswan was a great king, he passed it on to Manu. Manu was also king, thus it all started, you are also king. It seems that it's all about karma. But in fact, it's all about bhakti.
And in order to understand this and prove it, it's necessary to resort to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavatam.
There in the Eleventh Canto Krishna tells to Uddhava: I spoke this dharma or this science at the very beginning of creation to Brahma. Brahma spoke it further on and thus it spread.
And this dharma, mad-ātmakaḥ, is related to me. It's directly connected with me.
Actually, we are speaking of yoga, of the science, of the living beings, relationship with Krishna, and here Srila Prabhupada translates the word yoga in this way.
And yoga after all is the connection, the living being's relationship with God. Ultimately it's not merely a technique, not merely But bhakti when it has been misunderstood has turned into karma and jnana.
Krishna paved an awku of bhakti, Brahma. When Krishna spoke the signs of Bhakti to Brahma, when Brahma spoke it to his sons, and Brahma had three times of sons.
The first sons are Pulacha and Pulastya, and they heard what Brahma told them, and what did they hear? Karma. One should follow karma, one must perform Vedic sacrifices, one must do that.
Besides them, they were the Kumarus. And they heard that same sign of what did they think? One must renounce And Brahma had one son only who understood everything. What was his name? Brahman. Nard.
He heard it and said, Brahma speaks of Bhakti. Actually, people will listen to one and the same thing and different people will understand it in a different way.
And Krishna here and everywhere, in every verse of the Bhagavad-gītā speaks only of Bhakti.
People who do not understand this are trying in accordance with the degree of their depravity to interpret his words in some other way.
But actually Krishna speaks of bhakti and there is one very curious proof that This proof is very curious. Let's reflect a little. Krishna wants to continue speaking about karma yoga.
He was speaking of how one must act and how one must act without attachment to the fruits of one's work, how this will gradually lead one to knowledge in the heart.
And it would seem that he's speaking about karma and jnana. He's saying nothing about bhakti.
But at the very beginning, all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, Arjuna he speaks as if without asking Arjuna and without waiting for Arjuna asking him.
Question he says, you know Arjun, I've told the signs to Vaswan, the sun god. Why do you think Krishna is saying that? The chemically Krishna goetter. Why would Krishna say that? Sons of God.
Krishna, what is it, can go to the rescalit naug What is Krishna expecting when he says that I have spoken the signs to him? About him.
That Arjuna will ask him, and who are you, Krishna? You are my age, aren't you? You are my relative. And you have spoken this to Vivaswan? When I was thinking about this, I remembered Bulgakov.
Do you remember how Woland spoke to Berlioz? Woland also wanted to prove to Berlioz that there is God. And as if casually he said, I sat there before Pilate on the balcony and watched what was going on.
In a sense, Krishna, why we're speaking of bhakti here? Because Krishna diverts the topic to himself. What is bhakti? Bhakti is the science of relationships between the living beings and God.
But Krishna didn't say anything about God before that. He will now have to say, I am God. As we know, at the beginning of Bulgakov's immortal novel Master and Margarita, there was this dialogue between Berlioz and Wolland.
And Wolland started saying that there are five proofs of God's existence. And Thomas Aquinas put forward five proofs of God's existence and Kant refuted them. And then there was a sixth proof of God's existence.
And Bolin gave the seventh proof of God's existence. What was the seventh proof? Huh? Yes, that I saw him. Here, Krishna at the beginning of the fourth chapter gives the eighth proof of God's existence.
What is the eighth one? Because that is the eighth proof of God's existence. Krishna goes, Krishna himself says, I exist and I am God. And this is the eighth fruit. And it's absolutely irrefutable. How can you prove that?
Krishna says, well, I spoke to Vivasvat about 100,000 years ago. Anyway, what's actually the point here? All this of course is joke, but in every joke there is a shade of truth.
When we study the Bhagavad-gītā, we must be attentive to every detail. Krishna has ended the topic. He has already answered all Arjuna's questions. And he has to wait for Arjuna's question.
But the fourth chapter doesn't begin with questions. There are several chapters in Bhagavad-gītā which do not begin with Arjuna's question.
There are the chapters in which Krishna wants to say what he wants to say, without waiting for us to ask him some stupid question. He himself starts telling us what he wants to say. He introduces a new topic.
And if we look, the chapters that do not begin with Arjuna's question, are the most important chapters in the Bhagavad-gītā? The fourth chapter, the seventh, the ninth,
the tenth, And the fourteenth to the sixteenth that do not begin with Arjuna's question.
And in the fourth chapter, Krishna begins speaking about himself. In the seventh, he introduces Bhakti. In the ninth, he speaks about Bhakti.
And in the 14th to 16th, he explains the obstacles that prevent us from attaining Bhagavad Gītā, if we need to understand the very essence of the Bhagavad-gītā.
Here are the central chapters of the Gītā where Krishna says what he wants to say.
When he doesn't wait for us, when he interrupts the flow of questions that come naturally and draws our thoughts to the topic that he needs to speak of right now.
And in this case, he wants to start speaking about himself. He starts saying that I am God. I am never in ignorance. I never forget anything. You too have taken many births, but you've forgotten everything.
I will never forget anything because my body never changes. And he starts saying why I come here. And all this is the beginning of the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, which bhakti begins with.
Actually, even though we usually say that in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhakti begins with the seventh chapter, but in fact bhakti begins here, in the fourth chapter, where Krishna
explains why he comes here to this world, and where he explains in what way one can meet him.
Secret mystery of devotional service
In this way he is um revealing this most secret science. And here in this verse he says, I will now reveal rahasya to you. This is another proof that Krishna starts speaking of bhakti or love. Because bhakti is a mystery.
Only bhakti is rahasya or mystery. Karma etihāsa. Is karma a mystery? No. Karma. Everyone knows karma. Everyone knows karma-yoga, everyone knows how to act properly. Everyone knows that one must be righteous, pious.
There is nothing particularly difficult in karma-yoga. Do people know jñāna? They do. When one's fed up with acting, what does one do? One renounces. If I'm fed up with acting, I renounce everything.
So one can easily understand these two. Karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga. Is karma easy to understand? It is. Is Gyan easy to understand? It is. That's why everyone wants to send everything to hell and renounce it.
Then one gets fed up with renunciation and starts practicing karma. Everybody knows that. Love is what no one knows. Krishna starts explaining the most difficult thing. Actually, it's something that no one can understand.
Again and again I've come across people who have been practicing Krishna consciousness for many years and all of them have the same problem. What is bhakti? How is one supposed to act?
People know how to act for their own benefit. Do we know how to act for our own benefit? Are we enthusiastic about it? Yes. Yes, we do, we do know how to act for our own benefit.
We get fed up with doing something and we start renouncing. But what does it mean to act not for our own benefit? Like recently devotees started telling me that I started chanting and I feel good. There is just one problem.
I don't feel like doing anything. Already I feel very good. Why should I do anything? Because actually it's rahasya. Actually it's a secret.
What does it mean to have the same incentive to act, or even greater incentive to act? Have to accept the same problems associated with karma or activity in this world, but
without acting for one's own benefit, without wanting anything for oneself. Without wanting anything for oneself, neither honor, nor glory, no money, nothing. And still act.
But if you don't want any money, then okay, then I don't have to act either. And if you act, then you must want something. Krishna explains rahasya.
Krishna explains the innermost thing and he says here, I will explain this to you because you will be able to understand it. Because you have the ability to understand. And in a sense, he trusts us.
And I will now in a few remaining minutes try to explain what qualities he is speaking about which are necessary for us To understand rahasya. To be able to understand the secret. He says, you can understand rahasya.
Because you are my bhakta, because you are my Sakha. Because you're my devotee and my friend. I will be speaking about three qualities.
Krishna speaks of two qualities, but I will add one more quality that is required to actually understand the science of bhakti. Because we all know the theory. We'll have heard that, yes.
Yeah, you must be a bhakta, you must chant mantra, we're even willing to do that. But how to do this for Krishna? That's rahasya.
Modes of nature hindering spiritual vision
Let's now try for our own benefit to reflect on what it means and identification, what qualities we must possess, and what prevents us from truly understanding this secret.
The first quality that I'm going to speak about is mentioned by Śrīla Prabhupāda in the Bhagavad-gītā. Although Krishna mentions only those two qualities, Śrīla Prabhupāda introduced a third one.
To say that there are demons who are in principle unable to understand this science. And who are these demons? Demons doesn't mean people with pointed ears and protruding fangs and horns,
which they hide under their śikhā. No. Demon or, shall I say, asura. Demons, what does... Who knows, what does the word asura mean?
I'll now give you the literal translation of the word asura, which I think will surprise many of you. Asu means love and ra means to enjoy. Demons are those who love life.
Raise your hands, those of you who are demons, asura literally means one who wants to enjoy life. Asura means I have this life and I want to squeeze the most out of it for my own benefit.
And actually an asura, a demon, is someone who is under the uh influence of the mode of passion. Then there are people who are under the influence of the mode of ignorance as well. What are they called? Tamo-guṇī.
Tamo-guṇī. Rākṣasas. There are suras and there are rākṣasas. And Krishna says, listen carefully, this is very important.
Um, He says that even if I appear before such people, before Surahs or demons, before fools, such people don't see me. They don't understand me.
In the ninth chapter he explains that people have a certain quality of vision which prevents them even seeing God in front of them from actually recognizing Him.
That the two modes of material nature to which we are so attached, the mode of passion, the mode of ignorance, turn us into asuras and rakshasas. And what does Rakshas mean? What is the influence of tamo-guṇa on us?
Rākṣasa is one who causes pain to others and who derives pleasure from it. Tamas. Tamas or its influence on our consciousness is when we deliberately hurt other living beings.
When in one way or another we derive pleasure from that pain. And here we should clearly understand that all these are qualities that ultimately prevent me from truly understanding God.
That it's something that carries me more and more into this maelstrom of material life. And rajas makes us proud. It turns us into arrogant people enjoying this life.
Make us fully obsessed with the spirit of enjoyment, passion, desire and lust. These two modes completely prevent me from... Because rajas will make me enjoy certain things. And tamas will make me hurt others.
And if I start hurting other living beings, those who are near me, my wife or my children, or my husband, all this is the influence of tamas.
And these two modes completely deprive one of the opportunity to have a spiritual... And if one has no spiritual vision or spiritualized, and these two moods do blind one, then ultimately such a person won't be able to see God.
Such a person will remain a rapture demon. And even if such a person meets God, as Krishna himself says, they will start laughing at God who comes in a human form.
Recently I read an interview of a physics scientist. He says, I started to believe in God. And he was asked, who is God? And listen to what he explains.
If we speak of God, the Father, then that's the vast universe. The Creator doesn't have a human form. Although the Creator can incarnate in any form, his possibilities are unlimited. However, cases of such a necessity arising are unknown to us.
Even if, seeing God face to face, such a person won't be able to see him, won't be able to understand God.
Cultivating the mode of goodness
Therefore, the first prerequisite for spiritual experience is that we
must be fully dedicated to sattva. The first and most important condition that we must clearly understand is that the mode of goodness can to some extent reveal God to us.
The mode of goodness or sattva is the scene on which God can appear. This is a prerequisite that helps us see God. This is why we follow up a process where the mode of goodness is a cornerstone.
We must thoroughly understand that the mode of goodness must be first of all established in my mind. I must build my life in such a way that everything from beginning to an end is permeated by the mode of goodness.
Then gradually my passionate mind or my mind affected by the modes of passion and ignorance will be purified and will be able to become that scene on which God will appear. Sometimes devotees don't understand this.
Often people ask strange questions which begin with the word "can we?" Can we eat chocolate or not? Can we eat mushrooms or not? Please permit us that. Please.
Can we drink non-alcoholic beer or not? Can we smoke nicotine free cigarettes or not? For God's sake, you can do whatever you like. You can drink non-alcoholic beer and have some salt dried non-fishy fish with it.
Anything you want, what's the problem? What does it mean whether you can or you cannot? Actually this question is corrupt, so it's very hard. Because people think please allow me, give me a chance to do something.
In fact, if I understand the science of devotional service, I must understand that it starts with the fact that I must be dedicated to sattva-guna. My food must be in sattva-guna. My clothes must be in sattva-guna.
My lifestyle must be in sattva-guna. I must go to bed early, I must wake up early. Everything else comes down from this. If I want to see God,
if I want to really see and start to love God, then what chocolate I was speaking about? Of course, if I eat one chocolate bar, nothing particular will happen.
But if I really want it, I must first of all remove all disturbing elements from my mind. Raja-guna and tamo-guna disturb my mind.
And these disturbing waves in my mind prevent me from truly seeing God. Even if God appears before me, I won't be able to truly see him.
That is the first thing I must clearly understand, that sattva-guna, and sattva-guna means in everything. I see how this is gradually disappearing from our lives, how it's getting blurred.
There must be sattvaguna in our food. Now people think that sattva-guna is going to have a vegetarian sausage on my table. Vegetarianskaya kolbasa. To which mode does the vegetarian sausage belong?
Non-vegetarian sausage, but a sausage is a sausage. Why should I need a sausage? What for? Why should I need non fishy fish or non-alcoholic beer? Why should I need chocolate? Why should I need mushrooms?
Do I want to see God or not? If I want to see God, then I don't need it. Then I must discard all this. I must completely definitely and once and for all discard all this.
If I don't want to, I can eat chocolate and I can drink beer sometimes, sometimes alcoholic, sometimes non alcoholic. What's the problem? What does it matter?
But if I want to see God, then I must be consistent in my desire to see Him. That is, I must do everything very consistently.
Consistently means that my clothes must be in sattva-guṇa. This means that as minimum they must be clean. If I wear pants, though they are not quite in sattva-guṇa, they would rather be in rajo-guṇa.
And if it's jeans with a hole on the knee too, then it's tamo-guṇa. But at least they must be clean and so on. Listen very carefully to what Śrīla Vyāsadeva says in this respect. In the purports to Patañjali-sūtras.
Śaucaṁ svāṅga-jugupsā parair asaṁsargaḥ. If I organize cleanliness around me, then gradually my mind will be purified. Sometimes I visit some āśramas, especially brahmacārī-āśramas.
And the brahmacārī-āśrama is a brahmacārī-āśrama is a small replica of Patala Loka. Sattva-guṇa must be everywhere. It's not clear why brahmacārīs think that they've had already surrendered and now they can live in filth.
Vyāsadeva says, śaucaṁ svāṅga-jugupsā, if everything around me is clean, then sattva will enter my mind. And when my mind is purified it becomes focused. And the focused mind helps me to do what? Indriya-jayaḥ.
Overcome the sense. I can master my senses. And the result is ātma-darśana-yogyatāni. I'm preparing myself to see God, ātma-darśana-yogyatāni to see my soul.
The first thing I wanted to say, but I don't want to speak too long about it because I'm late and our life must be pure. And purity begins with our food, begins with some other things that we take in sounds and smells and touching and communication, all
this must somehow or other be in sattva-guṇa. No.
Adopting the mindset of a servant
But then after that and maybe I'll say two words about that later on because time is short and wanted to say about the most important thing. Krishna says that sattva is not enough. There must also be bhakti.
And Krishna says that the first condition is bhakti. And what does bhakti mean? Bhakti means not just bhakti is not a form. Bhakti means shraddha. Or sharanagati.
Bhakti means that literally I'm willing to do... Bhakti isn't discipline. Bhakti means discipline. Bhakti means spirit of service.
Bhakti is not just a means that in order to see God, I'm ready to somehow or other follow what Krishna says.
Krishna says here, Arjuna, I trust you because you will do everything I'll tell you. You will do it because you are my bhakta. This is the definition of bhakti. Bhakti is not a good thing.
Bhakti means that if someone tells me something, if Krishna or the spiritual teacher tells me something,
I go and do what I'm told with great desire and enthusiasm. I don't wait, I don't postpone what I must do because it's something extremely important to me.
Because if we don't put our knowledge into practice, it will be completely lost. Ultimately bhakti is a certain mood or a certain state. If there is no bhakti in our eyes, if this desire to serve is not there in our
eyes, then at the end of the day, as we've said, even if I see Krishna in front of me, I won't be able to actually see him. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu himself explains this in the Caitanya Bhāgavata.
He says that Kaṁsa had a washerman and previously in his past life this washerman spent many hundreds of years in meditation on me asking, give me a chance to see you. Give me a chance to see you.
And I gave him this chance. I stood before him. He saw me in all my glory. When Krishna was entering Mathura, the women who were looking at him from the rooftops of Mathura were in complete ecstasy.
They saw his beauty and thought, who is this embodiment of beauty? And when he came to this man carrying these precious clothes of King Kaṁsa and asked him, give these clothes to me. The man replied, who are you anyway?
He was a washerman. Go away, get out of here. And Krishna said, well, I had to cut off his head. Actually, and this is the most important thing that I wanted to tell you today that inwardly one must be in a certain mood.
Bhakti bhakti doesn't mean external clothes and bhakti doesn't mean having tilika on the forehead.
Bhakti doesn't mean a beadbag to rattle with. It's like sometimes people are used to since childhood when they had rattles and wrap in true bhakti na stroje. Bhakti means the mood of service in my heart.
Bhakti means that I'm always aware of myself as a servant. And when I approach in this state I will be able to see Krishna. Actually, Bhakti is a special vision of the world.
When I approach Krishna, I have to understand that I approach him so that he sees me. Usually we're used to enjoying this world and all our senses are programmed to enjoy.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda in the Caitanya-bhāgavata, in this story about the worshiper, says that bhakti means an understanding of what it means to serve the object of my service.
Who am I and how am I served? This inner mood of servant must be very clearly manifested inside me. Then only I'll be able to truly see God.
There is a wonderful story in Nizami's poem called Layla and Majnun. Majnun was a great poet and he was in love with Layla. In fact, it's a symbolic description of the soul's love for God.
And he wrote a great deal of poems describing Layla's beauty, so that reading these verses people were imbued with the sublime sense of love.
And in the end, the Shah summoned this Majnun and told him, I'm the Shah and I have a right to see your beloved.
Although she bears a paranja in Muslim countries, no man other than the husband can see her, so you must bring her here. After all, you're describing her beauty in such a way that I cannot resist having a look at Layla.
Your Highness, if you want to see my beloved, I will bring her to you. He brought Layla into the palace. She was all wrapped up in black and there was a paranja on her face.
And full of anticipation to see this divinely beautiful woman, the Shah ordered Majnun, Majnun, take off her paranja. And he took off the paranja.
The Shah gasped, but not with admiration, but with horror. He saw a woman with a camel's nose and elephant's ears. The Shah was terrified. He said, Majnun, Is this Layla?
Is this the beautiful woman that you've dedicated these verses to? The one you fell in love with even before you saw her? Isn't she a freak?
Majnun looked at the Shah and replied with dignity, To see Layla's beauty, you must have the eyes of Majnun. And it's all about us actually. I mean I can understand anything. I can understand the Hare Krishna mantra.
Krishna, how do you figure out? What's so beautiful about them? What's the answer to his own? see Laila's beauty, you must have the eyes of Majnun.
The point is the fall in when Krishna says bhakti, the first condition, a bhakta means a certain mood in our heart. This is a certain mood in the heart which turns into a prism through which I see the world.
And every time in all situations of my life I must remain a bhakta, that is to remain a servant. I must always have this mood of being a servant.
Unfortunately, now I'm too accustomed to enjoying all this world for myself. When I see something that I can enjoy, I can see that. And if I can't enjoy something, I don't see it.
And this is a certain view of the world or a certain vision of the world which eventually deprives me of the opportunity to see God. The opportunity to see God means to look at the world in a different way.
And it means to look at the world in a spirit of service. This is what we must learn to do. This is the first complicated science that we must learn.
When we approach prasāda, we must understand what we are doing in relation to that prasāda. We are rendering service to prasāda. When we approach the deities, what must we do? We must ask the deity, please see me.
When we approach it in such a mood, we will be truly able to see its beauty.
Transforming material vision into devotional vision
When we approach another person, how should we look at that person? This is a particle of God that I must serve. Everything that we see in this world must be the object of my service because it's all connected to Krishna.
Being a bhakta means to see the world in a particular way. Whereas we're used to enjoying this world. And when we come to Krishna in such a mood, we'll never be able to see him.
When our attitude towards prasāda is like that, we will never feel the real taste of prasāda. When we start chanting the mantra in such a mood, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare
Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, we won't be able to chant the mantra because that will not be the mantra but an empty material sound.
And there is a huge difference which we must clearly understand. What does it mean to be a bhakta? To be a bhakta means to always be a bhakta. It means to be a servant from beginning to an end.
It means to serve everything because everything is God. Because God is manifested in everything. And I must try to see the object of my service everywhere and anywhere.
I must try to find service everywhere while we are used to enjoying all the time. Any of you been to the zoo? Those who have been loudly shout Haribol.
Imagine that you've come to the zoo and you're looking at a tiger in a cage. Has anyone seen a tiger or a lion in a cage? And what do people usually say? Oh what a cute baby tiger.
Is it possible to say tiger in a way we're looking at it? Open the cage and then you will see the tiger as it is. That you will see it. That you will see it. That's the difference. Listen carefully. That's the difference.
I come to the cage and I try to enjoy the tiger. Oh what a beauty. Now if that same tiger comes to me outside the kitchen. Then we will see who is going to enjoy whom who is better at enjoying the other one.
Remember once we went on safari with Sivarama Swami and safari is quite an eerie undertaken when you're supposed to enjoy the tigers and the wild or lions in nature, but you're supposed to travel in a closed car.
So you go in a closed car to the nursery where the lions are. And I remember one thing that I will never forget. We were driving past those lions and the majority of lions were pretending not to notice us.
Although it was clear, all their look expressed utter contempt for us. And they seemed to be saying, come on, get out of there and let's see who will be looking at whom. And one day we passed quite close to them.
And there was a lioness. She was going past our car in the same utterly indifferent manner. When suddenly at some point she cast me a penetrating eye. There was unfathomable hatred in that look. She just barked.
I stepped back. I wanted to hide under the seat when I saw that hatred. And I understood why did she display such hatred? Because she felt that she was being enjoyed and she didn't like it.
Another time in the same place in South Africa, we went to the cage of a lion. The lion started roaring at us with anger. Because he saw an idiot Approaching him with a desire to enjoy him.
I said, come on, come on, come here, enjoy me, just try. That's what I'm trying to explain to you, and especially to myself in the first case.
This is the way we look at this world without even being aware of it, without even noticing it. Instinctively, we've become used to seeing the world as the object of my enjoyment. We've become used to seeing others as the object of my enjoyment. People do practically the same thing to nature.
They go to the seaside and enjoy the sea. I'm gonna enjoy the sea now. Today the water is beautiful. People are trying to enjoy nature and this is what material science is meant for.
In essence, they're trying to look up and encourage the entire nature, the entire material world, they have already locked it in a cage. And they're trying to somehow enjoy in this cage.
Being a bhakta means to completely change my attitude towards everything. If I'm bhakti, this doesn't mean that I'm Bhakta only when creating the deities.
When I say Govinda ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, you're the original enjoyer, or Govinda. Does not this mean that I always remain a servant? And I'm not the object of enjoyment. That's the point.
In order to understand the spiritual science and to really obtain Krishna's darśana, in order to truly see Krishna and not just some material semblance or matter, we must cease to be enjoyers.
With the eyes used for enjoyment, I can see only matter. Right from the beginning, change in myself is that with the gross material senses, I cannot see God.
I cannot see God, because these senses are meant only for the purpose of enjoying material objects. But God can be seen if I look at everything and I see through the eyes of bhakti, but through the eyes of service.
If in all situations of my life I am a servant, if I always and everywhere look for this opportunity to serve, And this is the main lesson that I wanted to teach you. And I apologize for my chaotic lecture.
I tried to say a lot of things and I spent too much time on some of them. But the meaning is once again that we can see God. We must see God. We must actually experience God's darshan.
Who is ṛiṣi? But to do that, we must change ourselves. And changing ourselves begins with saturating my environment or my life with sattva, so that ultimately sattvaṁ viśuddhaṁ vāsudeva- vijñaptiḥ.
Then we will see Vāsudeva will appear in pure sattva. And I shouldn't be afraid of sacrificing everything and anything for the sake of it. If I have to give up chocolate, I should give up chocolate.
If I have to give up some bad association, I should give up some bad association. Sattva is the very first step. But the second step is bhakti. And it's the most important step. And bhakti means I'm always a servant.
A servant under any circumstances and I will never cease to be a servant. And this means that I look at the world accordingly. And the third condition which Krishna speaks of here is sakha, you are my friend.
But I'll probably uh talk about it tomorrow. These are the three qualities that a person must possess or that the person who takes up the path of devotional service must learn. Well, this is the first small lecture.
Once again, I apologize if I said something wrong. I was sincerely trying to serve you. Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrī Jagannātha, Baladeva, Subhadrā Mai, Śrī Gaurī-Nitāī, Gaura-premanande!
Please next time when you approach the deities, look at them in that very special way. Thank you very much.