Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.27.25
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Абу-Даби · 2022
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Invocation and verse recitation
Omna mo Bhagavateva Sudevaya, Sudevaya, Omna mo Bhagavate Sudevaya Sudeva, Omnamo Bhagavateva Sudeva, Narayamas kritya, narayamas sritam, naramchaywa narotam, naramcha yva narotamam, devim saraswati, sarasati wyasam, tatojayamudiray, nashta praya Shwabadrishu, nasharicht, Nitam Bhaga, T-Mata seva, Bhagawa tjuta mašlo ke. Bhaktirba, stiki, naši, jampra, janta, ma nopetam te kritam,
dvaypayano Virahatarajuk, Utreit Mayatayota, Buta Hridayamana Tusmi So by reading Shima Bhagavatam Kantasri, chapter twenty-seven Understanding of Material Nature, Text Twenty-Five. Three twenty-seven twenty-five.
Twenty twenty-six. Yadha Yadha He Aprati Aprati Buddhasya. Apratibudd, praswa paha, praswa, bahob, anartha, Brit, Brid Saha, Sha, Pratibudasya, Patibudassa, Na vai mohayama Kalpathate
Yathah pratibdass, pratibdas, ja tahya pratibuddhasya, praswapobanta brit, Praswa Bhana Brit. Praswa Tavit, Saiva Pratbuddh, Saviti Bd, Saiva Pradibudd,
Save Pratdas, Navay Mhaya Kalpath, Navay Mahaya Kalpathi, Navay Mhaya kaupate, yatha pratibudhassa, praswapo bhahvanartak brita, Sareva pratibdassa, nawaj mohaya kaalpate, Yata
Yata S He indeed Aprati Buddha Sya Buddhasya of one who is sleeping. One who is sleeping. Praswapaha Prasapa. The dream. Bahu Anartabri. Bearing many inauspicious things.
Saha Eva. That very dream pratibudasyana of one who is awake. No not why certainly Mohaya for bewildering Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Verse purport on pure consciousness
Ki. In the dreaming state, one's consciousness is almost covered, and one sees many inauspicious things. But when he is awakened and fully conscious, such inauspicious things cannot bewilder him.
In the condition of dreaming, when one's consciousness is almost covered, one may see many unfavourable things which cause disturbance and anxiety.
But upon awakening, although he remembers what happened in the dream, he is not disturbed.
Similarly, the position of self-realization or understanding of one's real relationship with the Supreme Lord makes one completely satisfied, and the three modes of material nature, which are the cause of all disturbances, cannot affect him.
In the contaminated consciousness, one sees everything to be for his own enjoyment.
But in pure consciousness or Krishna consciousness, he sees that everything exists for the enjoyment of the supreme enjoyer. That is the difference between the dream state and wakefulness.
The state of contaminated consciousness is compared to dream consciousness. And Krishna consciousness is compared to the awakened stage of life. Actually, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā, the only absolute enjoyer is Krishna.
One who can understand that Krishna is the proprietor of all the three worlds and that he is the friend of everyone is peaceful and independent.
As long as the conditioned soul does not have this knowledge, He wants to be enjoyer of everything. He wants to become a humanitarian or philanthropist and open hospitals and schools for his fellow human beings.
This is an illusion, for one cannot benefit anyone by such material activities. If one wishes to benefit his fellow brother, he must awaken his dormant Krishna consciousness.
The Krishna conscious position is that of Pratibuddha, which means pure consciousness. Śrīla Prabhupāda Gītā.
Yathā pratibuddha-svapno bhagavān dṛśyate kṛtī, naivā pratibuddhasya na vai mohāya kalpate. Saiva, Patibuddhasya Navay Mohaya Kalpatem. In the dreaming state, one's consciousness is almost covered.
And one sees many inauspicious things, but when he is awakened and fully conscious, such inauspicious things cannot bewilder him.
Namaste oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale, śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine. Namaste sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe. Vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca, patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ. Chakripa Sindhu Bevacha, Patitanam Pavane Bhyu Baisnava Bhywnamon Maha.
Джай Шри Кришна Чайтанья Прабху Нитьянанда Шри Адвайта Гададхара Шривасади Гаура бхакта врнда. Харе Кришна Харе Кришна Кришна Кришна Харе Харе Харе Рама Харе Рама Рама Рама Харе Харе Харе Кришна Харе Кришна Кришна Кришна
Харе Харе Харе Рама Харе Рама Рама Харе Харе Аджану-ламбита-бхуджа-канака-санкиртанайка-питаро-камалая-ятакса Вишвамбаро двиджа-вару йюга-дхарма-палу ванде джагат-приякаро карунаватары
Янтах правиш-йа мамавача мам прасуп сандже вайа те кила шакти-дхаракш вадам анджамхрахна пран-анда мау Бхагава те пурчайа дубам. prananda mau Bhagava te Purchaya dubam.
Swasyastuviswasya Kalah prasidatam dyantu butani sivam mitodiyamanaschavadramvaja
Kapila's explanation of devotional service
ta doksha ja visya tam noumati rapjaitu. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. I'm very happy to be with all of you in this country of Abu Dhabi and Kapiladeva Dhabi and Kapiladev
in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in this particular chapter of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Understanding of Material Nature explains
the process of liberation, which is the mixed process, process mixed bhakti combined with jñāna. We have to be very clear what's exactly being spoken by Kapiladev.
He knows that many people in this material world cannot really trust the simple process of bhakti. This process is too simple.
And because we are complicated, it's sometimes difficult for us to relate to this simple process.
The simple process of bhakti, śravaṇam kīrtanam viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam pāda-sevanam, arcanam vandanam dāsyam sakhyam ātma-nivedanam. And it basically means just by hearing about Krishna, speaking about Krishna.
We concentrate our own mind on Krishna and surrender completely to him. Ātma-nivedanam is coming at the end of this verse. As a result of hearing, thinking about Krishna, speaking about Krishna.
We ultimately understand I have nothing to do with this material world. I have to surrender to Him. I have to submit myself to His supreme will and follow His instructions.
And because of this attitude, Krishna becomes naturally moved and he gives us all the desired things and ultimately gives us liberation. You know, this mudra of surrender is a very significant mudra.
This is the mudra of surrender when we fold our hands in front of our heart and this mudra is called anjali in Sanskrit and the meaning of this Anjali mudra is very significant because it's anjalayati. itali.
The idea behind this mudra is that this mudra, when you really supplicate yourself and you really become humble and you say, you know, I cannot do anything, I can only serve you. Please be merciful unto me.
Anjalayati. Am means water or tears. Anjalayati, when you really humbly approach somebody that invokes in him so much compassion towards you that he starts crying. If you're really sincere in this process, if you
are proud yourself, but you know like you can do this in computer, you know, sometimes they put it like this, you know this emoji or whatever whatever it's called. It has no meaning.
But if you invest your heart into this mudra, and mudra basically is the external process which helps you to bring your consciousness accordingly to this condition.
So when you do this, when you really, you know, really mean it. When you say, yes, I'm yours, I depend on you, I completely depend on you, I'm not independent anymore, then the other person becomes very moved by this.
So moved, so much so that he starts crying. And then naturally he will do whatever we like to do. So that's a simple process of surrender when we are not dependent on our own
Modern rationalism versus spiritual submission
strengths, uh, but, uh, you know, because it's too simple, uh, complicated people don't trust it. They need to understand it rationally and logically, and therefore
for such people, and we are such people, we are very rational people. You know, this whole modern culture, which is coming from the West, is extremely rational culture.
This is the problem of Western culture, which actually infected the whole world. Everyone is now trying to be very scientific.
You know, in the Vedas it is said: just surrender, just do whatever you're supposed to do, and everything will be okay. It is said that Vedas, they teach like a king.
And how the king teaches? Uh, king doesn't explain to you what he wants, he says, just do it.
He doesn't go into, you know, long explanation why you should do it, how it is good for you, just do it. And in ancient India people were trained from their childhood.
If somebody superior tells you to do, you do it without asking why you should do it, what is the reason behind it. But you know, in the modern world it doesn't work like this.
In the modern world we need lengthy and very, you know, elaborate explanation and then after you know uh hearing this explanation we will scratch our head and we'll think a little bit and then maybe we will do it but uh not very likely.
You know, we're really trying to to understand everything rationally and for such people, Kapila Dev explains this mixed process.
There is a pure devotional service which is simple in one sense and difficult in another sense. It's difficult because our ego doesn't like simple processes and our ego doesn't like to surrender. That's the main problem.
Our ego doesn't want to bend too much. You know, we know in yoga people they're trying to bend themselves, you know, they're bending this way and that way. You know, to make themselves flexible.
But the more they're bending the body, the more stiff the ego becomes. You know, I remember I was once with one I came to a home of one yogi, very famous yogi nowadays. I mean I'm full of awe and reverence to what he did.
But in the home, there was before you enter his home, there are bus reliefs of him doing different yoga asanas.
You know, and he's standing in this, you know, in this position and one leg, the other leg is like this and he's like this and you know and you see you know it's he's very let's put it in a nice way he's full of dignity of doing this yoga.
I mean the foundation of this yoga process is that you do it yourself. I am doing it. I'm saving myself. And therefore, this ahaṅkāra is very much involved in this process. I'm doing it.
Ahaṅkāra means this ahaṅkṛti-bhāva means I'm the doer. And the underlying idea is that I can save myself just by doing all these postures, just by just bending myself here and there, you know.
But you know you may bend yourself. It's nice. It's nice for the body, but ultimately, you know, you may be born next time in a very flexible body that's good. But what is the ultimate benefit? You know I know such people.
They're born they're from the previous life, they're yogis, you know, and they're very flexible, but you know, ultimately, you know, there is no use of it.
So therefore, Kapiladev he explains that the heart of the process of yoga is this surrender. And surrender ultimately means I'm thinking about Krishna.
Ego means I'm thinking about myself, how great I am, how capable I am, how skillful I am, how intelligent I am,
how you know shrewd I am, how you know how good I am, you know, like Śrīla Dhanurdhar Mahārāj, he gave a very nice definition of humility. He said humility does not mean to think about oneself as less.
Humility means you think less about yourself. Sometimes people think that humility means you think about yourself, you know, and you try to do you know, humility just means you don't think too much about yourself.
That's what humility means. Whereas uh in our present condition, we are very self-centered. We are very self-conscious. And we always think about ourselves how, you know, how I will enjoy,
Realizing the faults of material life
how I will enjoy now, how I will enjoy when this stupid class will finish, how I will enjoy when when uh when you know I'm again back on the street, how I will enjoy next week, how I will enjoy you know next month, how I will enjoy when the vacation will come.
This is always the plans and therefore in this
particular section of Bhāgavatam of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kapiladev first of all explains if you want this process of liberation, if you want to go this path, then first of all you have to understand as he said in
the previous verse, he said Drista Dosha Cha Nityashaha, Bhukta Bhoga Parityakta, by giving up all these endeavors of Bhukta Bhoga, of trying to enjoy in this material world, you see the faults, always see the faults of these endeavors to enjoy in this material world.
So this is the first understanding. You know you tried it, you tried different things, you you moved from India to Abu Dhabi, you tried uh very conscientiously tried to enjoy it. You know, it doesn't work, you know.
It doesn't work in India, it doesn't work in Abu Dhabi, it doesn't work in America, it doesn't work even in the heavenly planets.
There are so many Dorshas are there. You try, you sincerely try uh to be uh completely happy, it just doesn't work. Because your body is there, your mind is there.
Even if there is no problem uh outside, your mind will create some problem. So mind is amazing creature, you know. You know, there is no there is no cause for anxiety and the mind thinks something is wrong.
There is no cause for anxiety. I should be in anxiety so let's figure it out what is the cause
you know and he invents some cause you know what will happen tomorrow what will happen next year what will happen in you know in in 20 years, you know, in 20 years you may not be here, no problem.
We still think always, you know, this the mind is is is disturbed all the time. And therefore, Kapiladev says, Drishta Dosha,
first condition is that you should see that you know this this attitude of being an enjoyer uh through the false ego the false ego actually is the instrument of enjoyment I'm the doer. I'm the greatest.
I'm the most important person. I'm such a you know such a rich person and skillful person and this and that. You know, this is how we're trying to enjoy. This is a hankriti bhav. I am, I am, I am.
And no matter who I am, it doesn't matter who I am, but I am the enjoyer. And you should see that actually this material nature is designed in such a way that it doesn't allow you to be the enjoyer.
That's the way of this material world. Sometimes people they come to God and they say, God, why you are so cruel? Why why didn't you didn't you make this world nicer place?
You know they they cannot understand or sometimes they say that yeah that God really wanted to make this earth as a nice place but he's just you know he's he didn't work you know he's not perfect enough to do it.
But he's trying. You know, it's like, you know, IT engineers, they they make some better version of a program.
And then, you know, they give it to some users and they use this program and they find the bugs in the program and they, you know, go back to this engineer and says, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, and he corrects it.
You know, you know, some religions like uh Jewish religion, Jewish religion they say that God created this world, it's not so perfect. We are using this world and we're complaining to him, this is wrong, this is wrong.
So he will create the next version of this, which will be better. So you are co-creator, you are so creator, you are trying to create together with him. No, no, no, no. God knows what he is doing, believe me.
If he did this world in this way, he meant it. He really he really did it. And he himself says in Bhagavad-gītā very openly, duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, this world is full of miseries. You know, he doesn't say sukhālayam.
You know. This world is duḥkhālayam. Duḥkhālayam. It's like, you know, there is Vidyālaya, there's Bhojanālaya, and there's duḥkhālaya, you know. This is the place of dukkha.
This is the place which is specifically created for some problems. Why? Because the Lord wants to teach us that it's not our real position to be dangerous.
You know, He gives us the facility to, for the time being, to pretend to be enjoyer. And you know, for some time we may think, you know, it works out. You know, it's not so bad.
You know, like there is this famous joke that once somebody decided to commit suicide, so he went up on the skyscraper
and he jumped from the skyscraper and it's a, you know, high skyscraper hundred you know hundred stories high you know and somebody is sitting on the on the floor number you know uh fifty. And you know he's the guy is falling just in front of
his window and he hears that he is murmuring to himself, so far, so good. Not so bad so far, so yeah, yeah, not so bad you know just wait a little bit. So in a similar way, sometimes we think so far so good. No. Not so bad.
But you know the body becomes old. The body becomes the body will die. So many diseases are waiting for us.
Waking up from material illusion
So ultimately Krishna says, first of all, you have to wake up. Basically, that's what the meaning of this verse. You know, and your wakeful condition starts from understanding
that that uh you start becoming you know woken up or how you say it. You wake up from understanding that this material world is not designed for my enjoyment.
It's not designed for me to be, you know, unlimitedly and completely happy and undisturbed in this world. Every uh this world is designed to disturb us. This is a very disturbing place.
And our mind is designed to be disturbed. So this is a very good combination. The world is disturbing us and the mind is easily disturbed. But we want peacefulness.
Kṛṣṇa Himself says, aśāntasya kutas sukham, how you can be happy without śānta, without peacefulness. So you know if we understand this, if we understand this position, then we'll start seeking for some solution of this.
And the solution is actually easy. The solution is to you know to free the place in the center of our life to Krishna. Instead of us being the center, instead of us trying to usurp the position in the center.
You know, if you are an usurper, I don't know if I rightly pronounce this English word. If you encroach, if you try to be in the center, then
you know like like those people you can read the history of uh you know of Muslim rulers in India or history. You know, when they like this Orang Zepp.
Orang Zepp he imprisoned his father, he killed his brother, you know, his elder brother, just to become the king. You know, yeah, they become the king. You can become some sort of a ruler and control.
But the problem, the price which you will have to pay is that you will always be disturbed. You will always be fearful. You know this position in the center.
Material absorption as the source of fear
When you are in the center of your consciousness, it's the position of fear. Because it's wrong. It's against our nature.
And therefore, it is explained in the 11th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dvitiyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād asya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. When our consciousness is absorbed, abhiniveśa.
When our consciousness is absorbed, abhini Vesha. When it's absorbed in, when our consciousness completely entered,
Abhiniveśa means we all know praveśa. We all know praveśa means entrance, right? You know, Griha Pravesh. When we enter the home. So Abhini Vesh Abhini, these two prefixes in Sanskrit means completely both.
So you know in this verse it's very emphatically states when your consciousness completely enters into the matter. And this is what is what happened with us. Our consciousness is completely absorbed in the matter.
It just entered the matter. It's there. It's, you know, it's we're completely identifying with this body. For us, I'm not this body is a theory. It's not practice. It's a theory. You know, how how is it I'm not this body?
I'm this body, you know. You know, I I pinch myself, I feel it, you know. That means I am the body. You know.
So and in this verse it is said, bhayam dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād śyād īśād apetasya viparyayo 'smṛtiḥ. And then and then you neglect God. Lord is the primary, he is the pratama. He is the first.
But when your consciousness is absorbed in ditiya, in secondary creation, then bhyam, then you become fearful. Bayamdvitiya bhini vesataksyat isavi paryayos mritihi and then and then you neglect God.
In this material condition, in this material consciousness, yeah people sometimes believe in God. But uh you know it's uh y they only remember about God when something goes wrong. When something goes right then to God.
Like it was said that during this crisis when in 9-11 when uh in uh September of uh when was it in September of twenty eleven no two thousand one right? Yeah. But 9 11, when this crisis was there in America, you know,
usually in the internet, the most often asked you know question when people they're searching the internet, uh you know always the place number one uh for searches is the world sex. Because that's the way to enjoy.
But when this happened, you know, for the first time, the number one was God.
Because of this crisis, because people understood that something is wrong, you know, they only remember about God when there is some problem. Otherwise they only remember about sex or about enjoyment.
They're searching for enjoyment in this material world. They're not searching for God. And this is exactly what is being said. Bayamdvitiya Bhini Vesha Taksyat ishat apetasya.
Apetasya means uh, you know, we we neglect God, we forget about God. Ishat apetasya, vi pariya yosmriti. Our memory becomes uh bewildered, our memory becomes distorted. Ishata Peta sya viparya yo smriti.
Our smriti becomes viparya. We only remember about this material world. Even if we try to remember about God, it's very difficult. Extremely difficult to remember about. How do you remember about Him?
You have to remember about so many other things, you know. What I will have in uh the breakfast, what I will have during the lunch, you know. So many things you have to remember, you know.
And God, you know, yes, once a day you may remember about Him. But but it is said that you know when you understand that this is faulty position, that this is a mistake, that this is something which is unnatural.
Why are all these problems and calamities come upon us? Because we are encroaching the position which we are not in, you know. We're not the center of this world.
Establishing Krishna at the center
And you know, then we always will feel anxiety and problems. But you know, Śrīla Prabhupāda says what is the solution? Solution is to put Krishna in the center. He is the enjoyer.
Bhoktaram Yagya Tapasam Sarvalokameshwaram Sukhridam Sarva Bhutanam. Yatvamamam Santir Richati. As soon as you know this, Santirichati. You'll become peaceful.
You know, like Śrīla Prabhupāda, once he was giving a lecture, was a big lecture, and there were some new people and Śrīla Prabhupāda was explaining that one should chant Hare Krishna.
So after the lecture somebody raised a question and said, Swamiji, what do you feel when you chant Hare Krishna? How do you feel when you chant Hare Krishna? And his answer was, I feel no fear.
You know, he thought a little bit about this. And it basically means I feel completely peaceful. I am not in this world. I am not of this world.
Krishna is in the center, so why do I have to worry about it? There's no cause for me to worry about it. He will worry. Let the headache be his. I'm his servant, no problem.
And he is capable of freeing me from all this kind of problems. And that means to be awake. As long as we are trying to imagine that I'm in the center and I'm enjoying, you know, this enjoyment is just a dream.
It's a dream. You know, I know one I have a friend in Vṛndāvana. He's a local Vrajavāsī boy. And for him the highest enjoyment is to go to ISKCON restaurant and to take pizza.
You know, there is this very nice MVT, they have nice pizza, you know. You know, you may have this understanding that pizza is an enjoyment, you know. For how long this enjoyment lasts?
You know, especially if you overeat this pizza, you You take two big pizzas and you know you're suffering after that. that. You're trying to enjoy, but uh well how long it lasts? It's a dream.
As much as uh you know we we have so many dreams and uh you know and uh and these dreams, they sometimes pleasurable, you know, sometimes in a dream you you fulfill your dream. That's why it's called dream.
You may be dreaming while you're awake and you're dreaming about some fut Or you may be dreaming while you're asleep. Dreaming is dreaming. You know, you're just dreaming.
Like recently I was in one city, there was this, you know, it was a big shop. And the name of the shop, the shop was selling sofas and uh uh all kinds of beds and other furniture and the name of the shop was Dream World.
So we're living in a dream world. We're living in a world where everyone is dreaming. Dreaming about future enjoyment, and we are always in this future trying to enjoy this way or that way.
But as it is said, when you are a pratibuddha, for a pratibuddha, a pratibuddhasya prasvapāha, the one who is prasvapā, deeply in sleep. Svapna means somebody who is sleeping. Sleeping. Prasvapāha means deeply in sleep.
The one who is deeply in sleep, bahu-anartha-vṛt, he experienced all kinds of anarthas. All kinds of disturbances are there. Because what is dream?
Subconscious memory in the dream state
Dream is that when you are in contact with your subconscious mind, when your buddhi, your wakeful intelligence is completely shut down. You know, like in this wakeful state, our buddhi is operating.
And our Buddhi is connected with our senses. And we are trying to enjoy this world through our buddhi.
And Buddhi becomes tired, and Buddhi says, I need some vacation, and he goes to sleep, but then the mind says, no, no, I will be awake.
You know, the subconscious mind, while we are sleeping, subconscious mind is taking the supreme position.
In the wakeful state, the buddhi is operating, but in subconscious mind, it is somewhere relegated in the secondary position.
But when we're sleeping, the mind with all kinds of memories and impressions starts, you know, ruling our consciousness, and the mind says, you know, let's do this.
And you know, some, some, some saṁskāras surface and we see it, and we, you know, something which we experienced before, and then another saṁskāra and then another saṁskāra, and because most of the saṁskāras, most of our memory is the negative memory.
You know, we remember it's it's very important to know that most of our subconscious mind is an accumulation of negative experiences. Positive experience, you know, they come and go, they are not really sticking our mind.
But negative experience, because it's so painful, it's recorded very deeply within our mind.
You know, sometimes we are very angry uh uh when we're sleeping, sometimes we're crying when we're sleeping, sometimes because of this storage in our memory. So much negativity is there in our mind.
And therefore it is said that for somebody who is sleeping, you know, like sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda says, you know, you see a tiger in the sleep, you know, or you see a snake in the sleep.
So in the same way, in this material world, most of the experiences are negative. This disturbance, that disturbance, this fear, that fear, this enemy, that enemy. So many unpleasant things. This disease, that disease.
This political leader, that political leader, it's all very unpleasant to remember about this in a sleep. Especially now, you know, we're living in such a turmoil world. The the whole world is in turmoil.
The war is going on, you know, and of course the war is always going on and you know the China is threatening India, and India is saying, no, no, we have nuclear weapons too.
You know, it's a troublesome world. Troublesome world. And it is said, Yathahya pratibuda siya paraswap bahhu an artakreed. Experiencing so many bad things.
But when he awake, you know, there's all these memories cannot really disturb him. The subconsciousness does not disturb us so much during wakeful state, right?
You know, all these negative things, you are there, you are interacting with the world in a productive way.
In the similar way, when we awake to Krishna consciousness, all the memories of the past fears will not disturb us anymore. And you know that problems will be there. Problems will remain in this material world.
You know, that's I often tell one story about Srila Prabhupada, you know. It was a very troublesome moment, you know, there were, you know, he was fighting in uh Juhu
for the temple, you know, the Mr. Nair was there, the court cases were there, in America, the problems were there. You know, he's the leader.
He's 70 plus years old, he's the leader of this new religious movement, you know, which is full of completely wild hippies, you know, and they create so much problems, and he is responsible for everything.
And you know, the problems are in India, problems in America, problems in Europe, problems in Australia, and he is in the middle of this.
You know, and then the huge crisis is going on, and then telegram comes to Śrīla Prabhupāda, and this telegram contains some very disturbing information, and he reads this telegram very calmly.
He closes it down and he goes to his room and his secretary, at that time that was Harikesh Maharaj, he looks in the keyhole what he's going to do.
And Srila Prabhupada lays down on the floor and starts laughing. He just laughs it out. This is a dream. This is a dream. This is nothing but dream. All these things, they will go on. They will be gone. What will remain?
Krishna will remain. Krishna will remain. My relationship with Krishna will remain. My service to Krishna will remain.
Whatever I do in trying to serve Krishna, in trying to chant the holy name, it will stay with me. It will not be gone. It will not disappear, it will not vanish like a dream.
And therefore it is said that as much as the dreams cannot disturb us while we are awake, when we are awake in Krishna consciousness, when we know the reality, God is in the center, God is in control.
He means good, He wants to—He is merciful, He wants us to flourish. When we have this understanding, then we become peaceful. Bhoktāraṁyajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaraṁ suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ. You know.
The formula for internal peace
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this verse in the purport that, you know, when you understand that Krishna is bhokta, you're not the bhokta. This is actually this formula, this peace formula means that you
have three very clear understandings. Krishna is the enjoyer, I am not the enjoyer. Very clearly. Krishna is the controller, I'm not the controller. Krishna is the friend, I'm not the friend.
You know, if you have these three understandings, I'm not the controller, I'm not the enjoyer, and I'm not the best friend of everyone. I am not the benefactor.
I'm not the, you know, as Prabhupada says, you know, because sometimes people, you know, they're disturbed in this way. I am the best friend of every living entity. No, no, no. This position is already occupied.
The best friend is somebody else. You know. You know. You should not, you know, this is the three—this is our three ways to become God. This is our three ways to attempt to become God.
Either you want to become the enjoyer or you want to become the controller, big ruler, prime minister, you know, this and that president. You know, if you cannot come become the president of the country, you become the president of a temple.
If you cannot become the president of the temple, you become the president of some little Namahata, you know. But if you understand, I'm not the enjoyer, I'm not the controller, and I'm not the best friend of everyone.
Ah, yes, I'm trying to be friend to some people, I'm trying to help, you know, but sometimes you know people become very disturbed, you know. I I I was doing so much to this person and he's so ungrateful, you know.
Because you're not the best friend. Because you're not you know you think that you're the best friend of everyone. No, you're not the best friend of everyone.
You know, and if we realize this, you know, I'm not enjoying, I'm not controller, I'm not the best friend of everyone. I'm just, you know, dāsānudāsa. And I should remember about Krishna. Then I become peaceful.
And how to remember about Krishna? Very simple. As I said, it's difficult to remember about Krishna, because we have to remember about so many other things during our wakeful state.
But what is the way to remember about Krishna? Very simple. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma. That's the only way to remember about him.
Otherwise we'll forget about him. So again and again and again we have to remind Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
And because of this remembering, ultimately we will see God, we will see Krishna.
Overcoming fear at time of death
Because of this process of chanting, trying to chant it constantly, even if we cannot do it consciously, we can do it still in the mind all the time, you know, we will never commit mistake. We will be with Krishna.
And as it is said in the first canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Nārada Muni, he explains his experience. He saw Krishna once. And then Krishna told him, you will not see me anymore. But then he says, what happened with him?
He said, then after that, happily I was wandering through this material world without any shame because I was not afraid and I was always singing the glories of Krishna and I was chanting his holy name.
And then when the death came, when the moment of death came, I didn't even notice it. It just was like a flash of lightning. I just, you know, the flash of lightning, you know, I change the body, from one body I obtain spiritual body.
Without even noticing. You know, we all know that this is such a difficult, painful process of dying because we are still attached to the body.
And, you know, the time says, Krishna in the form of Time says, it's time for you to leave the body, and the spirit soul says, No, no, I don't want to be here.
And the time pulls in this direction, and the soul sticks, you know, now I'll be that's it's so painful. You know, but when you remember about God, you know that he is waiting for you there.
Then you just say Hare Kṛṣṇa and you know goodbye everyone. I am going. I am with him. So yeah. But of course, it requires some endeavor.
It requires therefore Kapiladeva in this chapter he says tivreṇa bhakti-yogena. You have to do it in a very intense way. But still the facility is there.
And if you remember about him, then you take easy all the problems. The problems again will remain. But your reaction, your perception of the problems will become completely different if you're Krishna conscious.
The problems will remain, but you still become happy despite of the problems. Now you are unhappy despite that everything is nice, you're still unhappy.
But when you're Krishna conscious, you'll be happy despite of all the problems which are there. That's it.
Managing emotions during material distress
Thank you very much. Any questions? Maharaj is a very nice class. Thank you so much for that.
For uh like work for quite some time in Krishna consciousness and we are hearing that as you said that it is uh power perception and so in this condition many times in the scripture also we used to see that uh
that for example when Arjuna's son they got died, Arjuna apparently looks like and I he was he is also like emotionally
one thing is those kind of emotions what does it is it that Arjuna is not disturbed but just for giving some kind of thank you the emotions will be there, but these emotions, see the problem is not the emotions themselves.
The problem is that the emotions take over us completely. And the emotions become so strong that we forget about Krishna and service of Krishna.
You know the emotions will be there but they will not be able to overpower us. They will not be able to take over our consciousness completely. That's the difference.
You know, you may be emotional, but still you remember, Krishna is there, I'm his servant. You know, I don't understand why it is happening with me, but I'm still his servant and I will continue his service.
And that's exactly what happened with Arjuna. Arjuna, yes, he was emotionally affected by the death of Abhimanyu, but still he continued his service.
For us, you know, if this would happen, we would be in depression for you know for two years. We would take antidepressant, you know, drugs, and then gradually,
gradually, gradually we will we would come back to our senses and we would come to Krishna and say, so Krishna, okay, so the battle is still going on or not? I am ready to fight again.
But Arjuna the next day or the same day, he was still, you know, he was not, he was not swayed by this, he was not overwhelmed by these emotions.
So emotions are there, but you know, we're still in the same position, we're not. That's the difference. And Prabhupada sometimes he was emotional, yes, but still he was continuing doing what he was doing undisturbed.
The problems are still there, but you're not so much affected. In the dream state we are actually affected and our subconscious mind. The mind is overpowering. Yeah.
Uh but these are the two absolute I mean two distinct stage, you know, awakened and dream.
But most of us are in between you we are uh we would say that we are trying to go to awakened but we are most of the time in dream state.
So the faith that everything is alright, you know, with a strong faith in Krishna, these things, whatever is happening, a distressful thing, they don't affect an awakened person.
But because it's we are in a process and the faith gets weakened when we don't get the... No, still there are desires that the things will be alright and they don't become alright and the wave wave goes down.
Uh so how how do we deal with ourselves in that situation when we are not fully awakened? Then thank you very much. It's a very very nice question. You you hit the nail on the head. Yeah, people why why do they remember God?
They they think that God will help them, you know, in this difficult situation. And sometimes God doesn't help. Sometimes He helps. Many times He helps.
Like I have a disciple, he is fighting there, he was fighting there in Ukraine. Just right there. He said that you know all the soldiers with whom he was fighting, they all died.
And you know, many times a day I I could feel that Krishna is protecting me. You know, he said 40 people in my uh you know this little division, military division, they're all dead. I am the only one who survived.
So Krishna was always there, and I could see the miracles were happening. So many times we can see that Krishna is helping us in this distressful condition to strengthen our faith.
But sometimes he wants to test our faith in him and he wants to you know and he says you you you have to undergo some problems yes according to your karma according to the position according to misdeeds which you did you have to learn some lesson in a hard way.
But you're right, because we are in this in-between stage, when this distressful condition comes our face becomes weakened. So the the solution to this is that it basically means that it was not strong on the first place.
You know when somebody has very strong faith that all this stressful circumstances do not really disturb his faith. On the contrary, he becomes more convinced.
So the solution is uh try to uh fortify our faith by studying more deeply and by associating with the devotees while we are in a seemingly auspicious condition. Then we will not be disturbed when it comes.
So therefore we should not be complacent because sometimes people say, you know, I'm okay now, so why should I endeavor too much in this Krishna consciousness? Yes, you're okay now.
So far so good, but you know the time will come when you will be uh not in such a nice situation.
Daily spiritual practices in Vedic culture
So it's a it's a question of strengthening our faith and not only strengthening our faith but also deeply meditating on Krishna and on us as the soul, which is not really connected with the body.
When we remember this, like recently I got a book, an interesting book. It's called Hindu rituals or whatever.
I, I, I don't remember exactly the name, written by one Bengali gentleman who explained elaborately the Vedic process of Sandhyā-vandanā, you know, how complicated it is, how many mantras you have to chant, you know, to do this, to meditate on God.
And in the very beginning of this book, he gives the schedule of a person in Vedic culture.
And there it is this person in the Vedic culture, you know, he has in the morning, he wakes up, he takes a shower, then he meditates on Krishna,
chants his mantras, then he does this yajña, and then that yajña. So you know, for the normal person in Vedic culture, he used to work one and a half hour a day.
The rest he was, he was in the different rituals. This yajña, that yajña, this mantra, that mantra, this chanting, that chanting. Yeah, you know, associating with the members of the family, going to the friends, taking his meal, one and a half hour, that's it. The rest he was meditating on God.
So, you know, this is the intensity of the practice when you are so much absorbed in this, then you know something comes, you're not so much disturbed. Because you're already programming yourself.
But we are programmed in a different way by this material world. You know, this material world doesn't allow us this, you know, luxury, you know.
We cannot come to our boss and say, you know, I only have one and a half hour. You know, the rest I have to think about God. It doesn't work like this.
We have to be actively involved and do so much, you know, business, this and that.
Uh you know, but still the facility is there, Hare Rāma mantra is there. So if you if you try to consciously concentrate your mind, even while doing this, you know, somewhere on the back of your consciousness, you're still chanting Hare Rāma.
Then when the disturbance comes, you, you will be in the safe place when you create in your heart the safe space where you, the soul, are together with Krishna.
Then you know where to take shelter when the disturbances come.
It's like, you know, if there is a big calamity, you know, some some earthquake or whatever. But you know that there is a place which will not be affected by this earthquake. You run to this place.
So in the same way, if you create this little space in your heart, this is me, the soul which is there in the heart, and Krishna is there also in the heart, and I'm looking at him. And he's looking at me, and we're looking at each other, and we're happy with each other. Then when the calamity comes you you still kind of you know, run there and you're there.
This uh in the mind the strongly deep-rooted impressions are there from the long time. So it comes always it comes out uh during any time of the day or during anything like that.
So how how so see yeah these impressions are very strong but uh these impressions when they come and we are awake, we don't have to follow these impressions.
We just say yes, this impression is there, it's gone. You know, you don't pay too much attention.
When you are in a sleeping state, you're completely absorbed in all these impressions of your subconscious mind. And you are there completely.
But when you're wakeful, in a wakeful state, then you can direct your mind from these impressions. Don't pay too much attention to this impression.
Yeah, some bad things may come, some bad thought may come, some bad image may come, you know, either of our experience of something which we saw in the internet or whatever.
Yeah, this is the nature of the mind. We are in this world which is very contaminated, so much bad negative in energy is there. Just don't pay attention. Yeah, it's there, you know, it's gone. Water under the bridge.
That's what they call in America or in England. It's water under the bridge. Don't pay too much attention.
You are in control, you are capable of doing this. You know, by willpower you direct your mind back to Krishna. You know, that's it. You know, but in the dream state you're helpless and you have to be absorbed in this.
In your wakeful state you can direct your consciousness, uh according, Maharaj, uh we have a description of um soul or soul, like one tenth of uh part of tip of air.
And Paramātmā is smaller than that, uh tip of the hair. Resides in the ātmā as a friend, we hear that. I don't know whether technical I want to understand it.
Understanding meditation on Paramatma
And then in some places it is expressed like aṅguṣṭha-pramāṇa. And then some place in Puruṣa-sūkta and Puruṣa-sūkta it is expressed as Paramātmā is uh is uh ten inches like that. So what are these stages and then how to understand?
It's this, all these descriptions which are there in the Vedas are for us i i is the guide to meditate. Paramātmā can take any size. It's not a problem for Paramātmā. It doesn't Yeah, yeah.
Aṇor aṇīyān mahato mahīyān, yeah. But uh you know that's when these uh descriptions are there, that's the meditation guide. That's how we should meditate on Paramātmā.
That Paramātmā is in there in the area of our heart and he has this, you know, this this size. And then lotus yeah and a lotus it's just it's clearly uh the you know guidelines for us to meditate how we should meditate.
You cannot meditate on one tons uh ten thousand it's too too little to meditate. So you have to meditate on somebody who has some you know some seeable size, size which is proper.
And therefore, this is explained how how we should imagine, how we should meditate, how we should concentrate.
And then Paramātmā accordingly, yathā yathā hy upāste tad eva bhavati. It is explained in the third canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that as you meditate on Kṛṣṇa, he takes the same the form. Yatyathyo, what is your meditation?
tad eva vapuḥ. It takes the same vapuḥ, the same form according to your meditation. But it's there's no rule like Tamrul like Amgus Praman, like it's not like Yeah, there is a rule. There is a rule.
This is a rule for your meditation. This is how you should meditate.
it's uh it's the experience of of some sages when they when meditate they they can see that the super soul is is like this. But then of course he is inside the soul that's also true.
But when it is said in Upaniṣads that soul is one ten thousandth part of the tip of the hair, it basically means that it doesn't have material size. That's another way to understand this.
We should understand that soul is not a part of this material world. So from a material point of view, it's just a point. It's not, again, it's not literal that ten thousandths part of the hair.,
you know It's just to understand that it's uh it's it's it's the point. It doesn't have material size. But, uh, at the same time it's, uh, ānantyāya kalpate, it can become uh unlimited as well.
Mahārāja, then, uh, what the pure, uh, purest persons, devotees are, who see, is it the first Paramātmā or is he the... The purest devotee sees Bhagavān. He sees he sees as it is explained in the 11th canto
of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he sees everywhere that everyone is related to Bhagavan and he sees his own love to Bhagavan in other in other people and in other objects.
Like Gopis when, they in Venu-gita see the deers and they explain how the deers look at Krishna and how they're completely in love with Krishna. Deers may not be completely in love with Krishna, they are stupid fellows.
But uh but gopis they have their love for Bhagavan and therefore they see the love of for Bhagavan everywhere.
You know, they see somebody, he's a beginner, you know, if he's a pure devotee, but somebody is just started chanting and he says, oh, he loves Krishna so much. I don't love Krishna at all. He loves Krishna.
So this is the vision of a purest devotee. The purest devotee sees that everyone is loving his Bhagavan with whom he is in love. And sometimes he sees Bhagavan somewhere, you know, and like Lord Caitanya.
He says, Oh Krishna was there, and he runs and Krishna disappeared. But but he sees love everywhere. That the whole world is full of love. That's what he says. Thank you. Okay, I guess that's it. Thank you very much.
Hare Krishna. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya.