Nama Retreat. Session 1

Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Говардхан · 2024

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Mangalacarana prayers and chanting

śrī-caitanya-mano-‘bhīṣṭaṁ sthāpitaṁ yena bhū-tale svayaṁ rūpaḥ kadā mahyaṁ dadāti sva-padāntikam vande ‘haṁ śrī-guroḥ śrī-yuta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurūn vaiṣṇavāṁś ca

śrī-rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitam taṁ sūjīvam sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca

namo 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

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa

Introduction to the seminar topic

So I'm immensely grateful to all of you for coming. And taking part in this event. I have to admit from the very beginning that if it was not for the insistence of Radha Pramod Prabhu, this event would not take place.

He consistently and insistently was pushing me into this direction. Otherwise I'm very happy living in a small village nearby. trying to avoid crowds.

But it's our duty to Srila Prabhupada and to his society to share our experience and little knowledge which we have by His mercy.

And it's a matter of great joy to see how people enthusiastically take part in such uh events. So uh yeah today will be just brief introduction. Let's see how brief it will be uh for our uh little retreat.

And from tomorrow on we will be seriously talking and uh And japa, please take your chanting beads for uh the sessions which we will have. And uh yes so we'll start with the topic of

this retreat the particular topic of this retreat is uh basically I will be talking about the difference between material emotions and spiritual emotions.

How to distinguish between one between material emotions, spiritual emotions. What is the difference? What is the science?

And we will be talking naturally because of this overall topic, we will be talking about the nature of emotions. What is emotion? And the main point which I will try to make during this retreat, during this event.

Is that to achieve real spiritual experience, to achieve real spiritual emotions, not imitations, not just cheap, very, very, you know, quick, instant, so called pseudo spiritual emotions.

The importance of Sharanagati

To achieve them in a real sense we need to practice emotions of Sharanagati.

Emotions of Sharanagati is like a middle ground between the material emotions which we all experience and which we all know, and the real spiritual emotions.

In between, there is this realm of the something which is in between. Śaraṇāgati, according to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, is not the practice of bhakti. It's a doorway to bhakti. It's the entrance into the realm of bhakti.

So it's not the practice of bhakti proper, but it is a very important doorway and before you enter the realm of bhakti, before you enter the kingdom of bhakti.

In other words, before you practice Saranagati, there is no bhakti. If we try to practice bhakti without śaraṇāgati, before that we are cheating ourselves.

We think externally we are practicing something which may look like bhakti. But bhakti only starts after śaraṇāgati.

And unlike spiritual emotions, which we cannot practice, spiritual emotions should be given to us. It's a gift. They should descend upon us.

It's not a matter of rehearsing spiritual emotions. Let's stand in front of the mirror and try to, you know see squeeze out some spiritual emotions uh uh spiritual emotions you cannot practice it's they they have to descend upon us.

But emotions of Sharanagadi you have to practice. In this way they occupy the intermediate place between the material emotions, which we all know, and real spiritual emotions.

And the main point which I am I will be trying to make besides explaining the mechanisms of emotions and everything else is that by the emotions of Saranagati we will be able to conquer over material emotions.

Which is the main obstacle on our path to Krishna?

Anxiety disturbance, all kinds of you know, panic attacks and depressions and all kinds of the wide spectrum of material emotions, stressful emotions, emotions of survival is very detrimental for the practice of bhakti.

So we can gradually conquer over or be completely free, completely free ourselves from the enslavement of material emotions or stressful emotions by practicing in a very consistent way the emotions of Saranagati.

So that's the overall topic which, I will be talking about, how to conquer material emotions and to remove this obstacle on the path of bhakti by practicing Saranagati.

In other words, how to enter the kingdom of bhakti where everything else is given. You know, actually, bhakti is a very special thing. It's a sadhana, but it's a very special sadhana.

So the sadhana which uh the sadhya of bhakti, the goal of bhakti, does not depend on the sadhana. So usually sadhana and sadhya are very closely and intimately connected. We practice certain sadhana to achieve a sadhya.

But you know sadhana of bhakti is not to achieve sadhya. It's not guaranteed that you will achieve sadhya. Anyway, we will talk about this during the seminar, not to complicate you from the very beginning.

But in any case, it's very important to enter the kingdom of Bhakti. Only then will we be able to, with full assurance and conviction, to say that yes, I'm practicing bhakti.

And for that, Saranagati, understanding of Sharanagati is important.

And therefore we will chant uh for the beginning of this seminar and uh probably uh before uh any other lecture which we will have this first introductory song to Saranagati of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, where he specifically says that the purpose of the scent of Lord Chaitanya is to teach us Sharanagati. He doesn't say to teach us bhakti, he doesn't say to teach us prema, he doesn't say to teach us all these elevated things, because they're again they're just causeless.

But he came to teach Saranagati this preliminary thing, which is extremely important, which is the foundation for everything else.

Chanting the Sharanagati song

So that's a little introduction to the introduction of our seminar, and uh we will start by chanting this beautiful song of Bhaktivinoda Thakur.

Srapaswamato Srekreśna pravo. Sah Sri Krishna Chaitania Prabhor, Dibeko Rado, Sapasodaodasi Sadama, Sahabato, Sikrna Chaitana Shahass, sahavat, Anador prema koribarada sikhayasarana Bhakatiradur Aineda kontritve, avasiaraksite krysna, Vishwasapala Gokritve Krishna. Lishapala, Bakti matra, carriera sika bakitraki Jahara Pratana Srinandakum Sadhangasara, hoy bejaha, tah prata, srinanda om, rupa sanatana Pade, Dante Trina, Bapetilino da pore Dante trinacore, bacati vino da cuore, tuan Pada, Kandia, Kandia Bole, Amito Sikh sarnada Candia, candia Sarana Koroheuta Handia candia bode amitoada sikayasharana Corota Ania candia Sri Krishna Caitanya Prabhup, Divedora Codi, sad-pārṣada-sewā-dharma-sākṣāt. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna,

Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare. Hare Krishna Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna

Hare Rāma Hare, Rāma Rāma Hare, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Viṣṇu Krishna Krishna Hare

Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Viṣṇu, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma Rāma Rāma, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna,

Hare, Rāma Rāma, Rāma Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rama Rama Hare,

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Rāma Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Hare, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare, Hare Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu, Viṣṇu. Hare Krishna Krishna, Krishna, Krishna

Hare, Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Viṣṇu Viṣṇu Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, All together again. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna,

Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāma, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Louder, Kṛṣṇa Hari, Hari Rāma Hari Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Krishna, Hari Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma.

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma, Rāma, Rāmāya. Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa. Rāma Rāmāya, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Rāma Rāma.

Surrender required to reach Krishna

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhupāda, Prabho. Yutaḥ praviṣṭaṁ mama vācam imāṁ suptāṁ sañjīvayaty akhila-śakti-dharaḥ svadhāmnā / anyāṁś ca hasta-caraṇa-śravaṇa-tvag-ādīn prāṇān namo bhagavate puruṣāya tubhyam //

Śvāsy astu viśvasya khalaḥ prasīdatāṁ, vayantu bhūtāni śivam ithodyatāḥ / manaś ca bhadraṁ bhajatād adhokṣaje, āveśyatāṁ no matir apy ahaitukī //

bhagavān vraja-jana-yastadāmu vṛndāvānaṁ ramayaka chitupasana vraja-vadha-varghi-nyakalpidam, śrīmad-bhāgavatam pramāṇam amalam, premā pum-artho mahān, śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhur matam idam tatrādaro na paraḥ hare

Kṛṣṇa so in this song, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura explains

that Nanda Mahārāja, the beautiful son of Nanda Mahārāja, Krishna in Vrindavan, only hears the prayer which is imbued by the mode of śaraṇāgati. I don't know about Shri or Vishnu. of Saranagati.

I don't know about Shri or Vishnu. They may hear other prayers. Demigods they don't care too much. Of course, Vishnu is not demigod, he is the supreme personality of Godhead, but still he is kind of Guna Vatar.

They don't demand absolute surrender. It's a very interesting thing. Krishna demands it. Krishna wants us to give ourselves to him wholesale. Retail practice will not work.

We will not be able to give a little bit to Krishna and break a deal with him. Krishna requires complete surrender. And therefore, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura...

Of course, complete surrender, there may be degrees of surrender still. Within the realm of complete surrender, there may be degrees of surrender.

It may sound a little strange, but it is. It's a fact. But Bhaktivinoda Kurhi specifically says this: that Krishna will only hear our prayer when this mood of Saranagati of surrender is there.

And therefore, it's extremely important for us to learn how it is. And this is the topic which we could and should learn.

Other more elevated topics, it's not even a good tone in vaiṣṇava circles to discuss elevated topics publicly. And the reason is very important because this is not a matter of practice.

Elevated topics are there for internal nourishment, for internal development. They may be there. But they're not. This is not a subject matter of practice.

But when we talk, especially in this sort of settings like retreat or seminars, we are talking about something which we should practice.

And Sharanagati is this particular thing which we should very clearly understand how to practice it and uh why should we practice it, and uh what are the obstacles uh in practice, śaraṇa-gati. So that's the essence.

And he says, yes, he says very specifically Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he says that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya came to give prema, atyanta-durlabha prema. Not just ordinary prema.

You know, prema was there, Prema is everywhere, you know. You opened Rāma-carita-mānasa, prema is there, you open nine first cantos of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, prema is there.

Prahlāda Mahārāja has prema, Hanumān has prema, Ambarīṣa Mahārāja has prema, they all have prema. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya came to give atyanta-durlabha prema. A very special kind of prema.

But how he gives this prema, he teaches Sharanagati. Oftentimes we say he just gives, gives, gives. You know, and uh it's a good selling point. You know, he just gives, gives, gives for free, for free, for free.

No, not for free. No, not for free. He gives, but only to those uh who understand what Sharanagati is and how to do Saranagati and how to practice Saranagati. So it gives but Saranagati first. Everything else is after that.

So and therefore Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says that he teaches śaraṇa-gati and then gives atyanta-durlabha prema. And he mentions the six aṅgas of śaraṇa-gati.

And he says that before that, before we know what śaraṇa-gati is, who we are, we are adham. He says about himself. I am Adham. I am the lowest of the men. Because I don't know what Sharanagati is.

Because before Sharanagati, we maintain our false identity and with everything which is attached to the false identity. And there is a lot of things attached to the false identity.

All our habits, all our upbringing, all our karma, all our childhood traumas, it's all inherited with the false ego.

And before we conquer over false ego, we will remain at harm because we will be slaves of this material heritage which we brought from previous lives. And he says, teach me Saranagati, and in this way make me Uttam.

It's very interesting, maybe the best. You know, there is practically no nothing in between. You're either Adham, lowest, or you're Utam, the highest. There is nothing in between.

There only's two possibilities which you can choose from.

Either you prefer to remain Utam, you remain to remain the slave of your karma, to remain the puppet uh of all these impulses which are there inherited by us or you remain utam, you completely transcend it, so that's a very

Chanting with a softened heart

you know, interesting side of bhakti, and we will uh we will speak about this. Again, so this is the topic of our seminar: importance of emotions.

And I will speak about this fundamental role of emotions in human life for this introduction. How it is important, because emotions is not a very popular topic, neither in material society nor in spiritual circles.

But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he is emotions personified. He doesn't teach elevated philosophy. He teaches sometimes. But you know, mostly for 18 years he just experiences emotions.

For some time, for six years, he was preaching and teaching something.

But then 18 years, the best part of his life, the only thing which he was doing day and night, day and night without sleep, sleeplessly. He was just experiencing these emotions. To show us that this is the goal.

To show us that this is ultimately what we should, you know, obtain and achieve. And he gives this definition, this is from Chaitanya Bhagavata, and this definition of what Bhakti Yoga is.

Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Yoga Dhan. You can obtain the wealth of Bhakti or Bhakti Yoga. You can only rightly claim that the wealth of Bhakti is yours if Bhakti is Krishna-nama-smarana-kandan.

If just by remembering one Krishna Nam, you start crying. You can only claim that you belong to this amazing culture of bhakti if this is the condition you are in.

And specifically, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thakura Prabhupāda commenting on this verse, he says, why Vrindavan Das Thakur says Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Yoga Dan. He says three times Bhakti Yoga Dan.

three times because first bhakti-yoga is that you should learn sambandha-jñāna, second bhakti-yoga is abhidheya-jñāna, or understanding of the practice. And the third bhakti-yoga refers to prayojana-jñāna or understanding of our goal.

If these three are there and you clearly understand what it is, sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, then this phenomenon will happen with you, a Kṛṣṇa-nāma, just one Kṛṣṇa-nāma smarana.

You will not be able even to pronounce it properly, you will start crying. I had a very interesting experience.

I once went to one Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava from Gauḍīya Maṭha and he is very famous because he chants five lakṣas, six lakṣas of harinama and he a couple of times he came to Kartika, he stayed in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, and I once went to his village.

And in his village everyone, his village is in Rajasthan, somewhere quite far away from here. In his village everyone, including five-year-old kids, chants sixty- four rounds every day.

He chants, he himself chants five lakṣas or four lakṣas or six lakṣas, something really.

But everyone else in the village chants at least sixty-four rounds. You know, and I saw all this, you know, girls, teenage girls working with chanting beads and everyone, you know, following his example because he's such an influential figure.

And for me, you know, scientifically oriented Western Bhakta.

The most important topic was how he manages to chant six lakhs a day and what is the speed and what is the technique of pronouncing it? So that was the most important question in my mind.

So after talking with him and you know exchanging some pleasantries, I ultimately asked him, you know, can you show me how to

chant this six lakṣas, you know. Let me hear it. I just want to see it. He says, yes, yes, yes, of course. Sure. Sure, no problem. And he took his bits. And he put his fingers in the chanting bag and he said, Hare Krishna.

And then he started crying. And he was crying and crying and crying and crying and he didn't move after first Hare Krishna so I was totally frustrated. You know I said thank you very much I understood.

That was the end of my darśana. Anyway, the point is that bhakti... Krishna nāma-स्मрана-kandan.

You only can claim that you know something about bhakti if this, uh, this, uh, phenomenon takes place when you chant Hare Krishna mantra.

And we see Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he taught us by his own example how he was crying by chanting Krishna.

And this is the purport by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Śrīla Prabhupāda to this verse, where he very interestingly says that ultimately our heart should obtain certain quality of softness.

The tears are a result of this softening of the heart. And if the heart is soft, then the tears come very easily because that's the manifestation of the soft heart.

You know, again, uh, it's not a question of practicing how to cry. It's a questioning, it's a question of practicing how to soften the heart so that the heart would come out in the form of the tears. So that's the point.

And he says, very specifically here, says that if the heart remains hard. Why the heart remains hard? He says there are two reasons why the heart may remain hard. One is you are engaged in mundane argument.

You are trying to establish that you are better. You're trying to establish that you are right and everyone else is wrong. This is one manifestation of the very hard stone-like heart.

And another manifestation is the tendency to control.

He says if these two tendencies are there, then it means that the heart is still made of stone and therefore the tears will not be the common phenomena for such a person. And basically he's talking about ego.

This is the manifestation about ego and we will talk a lot about ego in uh in this seminar. That will be the main uh topic.

Spiritual intelligence and emotion

Uh uh yeah uh This is the quote by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Ecstasy is only available by spiritual intelligence. You know, one thing we say, you know, this is we have to cry,

but Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī says, how we can come to this stage. And he says ecstasy is only available by spiritual intelligence. Material nature can give us everlasting happiness which our heart is searching for.

So he basically says that we have to come to this stage by using our material intelligence, and that's exactly what we're going to do. And that's exactly what also Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu showed.

Here we can see his dance, and this is the dance which he showed in Benares when he came to teach sannyāsī Māyāvādīs. What is the essence of Vedanta? That's the essence of Vedanta in in this slide.

Uh so uh the spiritual emotions.

So it's not uh usually when we talk about emotions uh we try to oppose, we say there is intelligence, rational approach, and there there is emotional approach, but according to the philosophy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, emotions is the highest manifestation of uh the real intelligence, of spiritual intelligence.

So we are not opposed to intelligence, a rational approach, but ultimately we want to achieve this highest manifestation of emotions. And he basically says this to sannyāsī Māyāvādī that his guru told him this.

He says that you know you're muck, you're fool, you cannot really understand anything, therefore just chant and dance and you know, uh do something which you are capable to do.

Uh and then uh he said he gave this verse, beautiful verse from the eleventh canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Where he says that actually this is Iswarapuri, Guru of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who said this, he said that this is the verse, this particular verse, is the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Yeah.

Anyway, this is Bhagavatasari, he says somewhere else. Anyway. Yeah, this is the verse. Sivam Vratah, Svapriya Nama Kirtya, Jatanu Raga Drotachita Uchai, Hasatya Thoroditi roti, Gayatun madhavan, nrityati, loka bakya.

When a person is actually advanced and takes pleasure in chanting the holy name of the Lord, who is very dear to him, he is agitated and loudly chants the holy name.

He also loves Christ, becomes agitated and chants just like a madman, not caring for outsiders.

So, Īśvarapuri told Caitanya Mahāprabhu that this is the verse, is the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is the essential message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That this is the stage which we have to come. It's not optional.

If we want to understand, if we claim that we understand the essence of Srimad Bhagavatam, this is the stage which we should come to when we chant the holy name of the Lord and we do it without caring for the reactions of other people.

And Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he continues preaching to my vadisanya. I firmly believe in these words of my spiritual master, and therefore I always chant the holy name of the Lord alone and in the association of devotees.

That holy name of Lord Krishna sometimes causes me to chant and dance, and therefore I chant and dance. Please do not think that I intentionally do it. I do it automatically.

It's a very important point that what Caitanya Mahāprabhu is doing and teaching, not intentionally, we can do it as a practice, no problem.

But ultimately, when we achieve this stage of spiritual life, this chanting and dancing will just become very natural and spontaneous manifestation of the power of the holy name.

And this is, it's not that you know we have to force ourselves. You know, once Radhanath Swami told a very interesting story. He told that once a very rich American lady came to Vraj.

She was the mother of Shyamsundar from Vallabha-sampradāya, who became first Western disciple of Vallabha-sampradāya and translated books of Vallabha-sampradāya. Wrote books.

He was a very good friend of Radhanath Swami. And then he passed away unexpectedly. And his mother came here to see what her son was doing. And she was a very uh rich person. She was a congresswoman from America.

And she came and there was this Kartik Camp of Bhaktivedanta hospital and they came to the hospital. She came to the hospital.

And in this hospital, they just made cataract operation for very old Brajavasī lady who was 90 plus years old. And before that, because of cataract, she couldn't see and she was crying

and she was saying, please, please, somehow rather help me because I want to do Chapatis for my Rādhārāṇī. That's my only sorrow that I cannot do now, Chapatis for my Rādhārāṇī.

And when they made uh see again, she became very joyful. And this moment, this, you know, this American lady, very important and very, you know, proud American lady, she enters

and this little little short Brajavasī you know old woman 90 plus years old comes in and she comes in

and she's like this and she's dancing and uh and uh you know jumping and completely joyful because she was removed from this cataract.

And she first thing which she does, she comes directly to this American lady and she comes to her and starts shaking her and says, dance, dance, dance.

And this lady she stands there, she doesn't know what to do. And she's bewildered. And this little you know old uh Brajavasī lady she's very insistent and she's just pushing her. Dance, dance, dance, dance.

And this American lady, she looks at Radhanath Maharaj whom she knows he uh knows English and says, what should I do? And he looks at her and says, you should dance. What else should you and

he said ultimately she started dancing and rejoicing and then after that she said that was the most profound experience of my whole Braj visit. When I was dancing instigated by this Brajavasī lady.

But in any case, what I want to say is that when you are in this level, as this Brajavasī lady, you know, no matter how old you are, no matter what you are, you will dance.

And when you have this big false ego, you know you will stand there I don't Try to uh pretend that you're something very important. So that's the uh that's the point.

And uh Caitanya Mahāprabhu he says this is Bhagavata Sar, this is the essence of whole Bhagavata philosophy.

And it is shown here how all the sannyāsīs māyāvādīs initially they were uh criticizing him and saying that he's doing something wrong and ultimately they are paying obeisances to him. You know, you can see all the sannyasis mayavadis who are uh surrendered to him.

And yeah, he said that this is purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Prabhupāda. He says that this is not that holy name is not the material vibration.

And ultimately we have to come to this level when the Holy Name will dance on our tongue. And because the Holy Name dances in our tongue, we dance ourselves, not because we force ourselves. We're just dancing.

We're just doing the same dance which Holy Name does on our tongue. On its own, on his own, Holy Name descends on our tongue and and uh Śrīla Prabhupāda, very funny, he says.

If one chants the holy name of the Lord just to make a show, not knowing the secret of success, he may increase his bile secretion. But he will never attain perfection in chanting of the holy name.

So it may have some medicinal effect on you. It may improve your digestion. If you chant the holy name without understanding the real science. So it's good in any case. No problem. You can you can do it for this sake too.

But ultimately you have to understand that there is a great science of how to do it properly and in this way ultimately achieve the perfection of the changing of the Holy Name.

And what we can see is that actually, even though people often say that, you know, and this is even Latin name for uh human species of life that were Homo sapiens.

And Homo sapiens basically means the rational human being. Actually, it's wrong. We are not Homo sapiens, we are Homo emoticus. We are emotional beings. Because everyone is trying to get some emotional experience.

Rationality you know plays very little role in our life. If we honestly look now, you know, hard and uh we are emotional, we are essentially emotional, and therefore people are doing all kinds of crazy things.

You know, this is uh this is very strange stuff which we see areing here. In America it's called how it's called Russia? Rollercoaster. And in Russia it's called American Mountains, you know, somehow other they are anyway.

So but uh people they just want to experience some emotions. It's it's it's really crazy what they're doing.

But because it gives them some emotional experience, they're ready to do it. They're ready to do it, you know. And we know sometimes in in human culture or in our own experience sometimes the hard trying to fight with the brain.

Rational part of us is trying to fight with the emotional part of us.

And our brain, our rational part is telling, you know, I will teach you, you know, and put the heart into the cage. I only uh want what is best for you.

But that's the heart is saying like this don't be so hard on yourself. So that's that's that's kind of dynamic which is going on uh in uh us.

And ultimately we have to achieve the purity of the heart to experience the real spiritual emotions and you know sometimes this

part of the humanity is very proud being very rational and this part of humanity is very proud of being very emotional. You know you can see it is you know somehow rather in oh yeah it's it's correct. It's correct.

One more. Okay. He is the same and she is different. And he is still the same.

Sometimes you know, people they kind of neglect emotions and try to say that this is something for low class people, for you know, for simple people.

And uh even in spiritual circles it's sometimes like this, you know, this uh you know, yes, women they are sentimental, they should do all this sentimental prayer. And bhakti is for sentimental people.

This is exactly what sannyāsīs, Māyāvādīs told Lord Chaitanya in Vārāṇasī. And if you are a real man, you should be like this, you know.

Vedanta Sutra and emotional goal

Should be dried up Buddhist monk or Hare Krishna monk. But in reality, note as I said, you should be like Lord Chaitanya. So

and uh very specifically and very interestingly, Lord Chaitanya says that uh this verse which we just read, describing the emotional part or emotional achievement of a human being, is the meaning of Vedanta also.

He addresses sannyāsī, Māyāvādī, whose main goal is to study Vedānta-sūtra, and he says this is the meaning of Vedanta, this is what I am doing. this is the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra is only good in this.

And we are, we belong to this school of Bhakti-vedānta, and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, they explain the philosophy of these divine sentiments.

How the emotions can be divine, how the emotions not can be divine, should be divine, how the emotions should ultimately be the highest manifestation of the spiritual development of a human being.

And they created Srila Rūpa Gosvāmī, he created this philosophical school of Bhakti-vedānta.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gave it the ultimate form, ultimate shape, and of course, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, he brought it to the West explaining

vedanta svami he brought it to the West explaining the same essence explaining the same that this is the essence of Vedānta, here's the Vedānta.

And we can ask, you know, this question, it's very legitimate to ask where Vedanta Sutra speaks about emotions. If you open the book Vedanta Sutra, you probably will not find too many emotions there.

Is it a legitimate claim? Is it the proper claim by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, or is it just some sort of preaching technique? Sometimes devotees they say this is preaching technique.

And we may say, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, you know, he used this technique by speaking with sannyāsī Māyāvādīs. No, it's not. Listen very attentively because it's an important point.

So, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says: what is Vedānta-sūtra sarva-sūtri sambandha vidai prayojana nāma 18 art sarva-sūtri paryavasan so in every sūtra of Vedānta-sūtra, there are these three points: Sambandha Abhidheya Prayojana.

So this is the three topics which systematically are being explained in Vedānta-sūtra. And you know if we explain

this in slightly different way, maybe not in a very usual way when we explain these three terms, sambandha, which is relationship or context, abhideya, which can be understood as the meaning.

Abhidheya literally means meaning. We usually translate abhideya as practice, but the literal meaning of the word abhideya is meaning. and prayojana means goals, what we want to achieve.

So it very closely corresponds to this Sat-cit-ānanda, the composition of the soul. Our soul, we know, has three elements. sat means existence, and existence means the context. Existence means relationship.

Existence, if we study existence impartially, we will be able to see that the essence of existence is all kinds of relationships and the context.

And while studying the context, while understanding the context of reality, reality is interconnected. Reality is very intricately interconnected.

If we understand the reality, the intricacies of reality, the interconnections of reality, we can understand the meaning of reality.

And by understanding the meaning of reality, what reality wants to say to us, we come to this aspect of cit. Cit basically means meaning, cit means consciousness.

We see the reality, and we try to understand the bigger picture of reality, that's sambandha. And that's sambandha-jñāna, which is explained in bhakti-śāstras.

Then by seeing the reality, understanding the reality, we make sense of reality. We understand the meaning of reality, and that's abhidheya. And then when we understand the meaning of reality, we can set the proper goals.

And proper goals, they correspond to ānanda. And ānanda means emotional enjoyment. So it's we have to be very clear.

If Vedānta-sūtra speaks about three things, Vedānta-sūtra also speaks about emotions. Because Ananda is there. Ānanda is included into prayojana.

Prayojana means the goal, the proper goal, if we understand the meaning of reality, if we first understand the reality as it is, and then understand the meaning for us into reality, then we will be able to achieve the goal, and the goal of every human endeavor is happiness, and happiness basically means emotions.

So this is how in Vedānta-sūtra the emotions are being explained. That this is the gradual process, and I will speak a little more.

I will uh there's not much to say for today, but I just want to establish a certain foundation for our seminar. So basically, I already explained this. And you know, this is how we enter into relationship with the reality.

We can see it, you know, like this little girl and then we understand the meaning of it and ultimately we enjoy it. So this is sat and then cit and then ānanda. This is uh my little um uh commentary on Vedānta-sūtra.

So basically and this is another very important point which we should also understand that uh emotions are also push on into actions. And therefore, emotions are intricately connected with the goals.

You know, emotions impel us to do some actions and therefore goal is included there. So, and when we achieve our goal, it gets brings about overwhelming emotions. We can see it in this picture.

You know, this is this is the football or soccer team. And what they do in football they they they should achieve what? Goal. And when they ultimately achieve goal, uh they experience an under.

You know, this is how how goal and ananda connected with each other. You know, you can see. Uh uh, you know, goal means ananda.

When they achieve our goal, then we feel uh happiness. And uh this is this prayojana means basically happiness. Achieving happiness, prayojana means ananda.

Perspective and ego shaping experience

But then we will have to ask a very important question. This is initial foundational question for our whole seminar.

Why some people experience great emotion while chanting the Holy Name and other people remain bored or completely indifferent. Does it refer to somebody of you? You know.

To be politically correct I, didn't put pictures of devotees here so that nobody would blame me but very easily you can make secret photos of devotees chanting and uh this is a junior devotee and this is a senior devotee what they experience So

uh you know if the holy name is there, if the emotions are there in the holy name, if it's already there, uh why some people don't some you know why many people don't really experience it?

And the answer is in this verse from the 10th canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, a very interesting

verse and very famous verse Malana Sani Drinam Naravara, Strinams Marow Murtiman, Gopanam Swajano Satam Satam, Satam Sitibujam, Shasta Swapitrosum ritiur bodapater virata vidusantatvamparam yogi nam vrishni nam paradeva te viditu rangam gatah sagrajaha.

So basically, it is said that how different people related to Krishna, this is the verse which describes 10 different relationships to Krishna which were experienced by different people.

When Krishna entered into the arena of Kamsa and started fighting with all these Chanura and Mushtika, all these wrestlers. And different people were looking in the audience and they were seeing Krishna completely differently, according to the nature of their ego.

What this verse very interestingly and very importantly for us describes, this verse describes that our relationship, our emotional relationship with Krishna depends on the form of our ego.

It is said here that yeah, it is the explanation of this. Malana Masanir Nrinam Dharavara Strinam. Strinam ladies they were looking at Krishna and they were saying he is the best of men. Narawarah. And uh for uh

Gopānām svajanoḥ for Gopas who were there in the audience. He was his relative and Satamakṣi-dhi-bhujaṁ and for the Kings. He was very. Yeah. For impious rulers he was a chastiser.

His parents and as their child sva-śiśuḥ and the King of Bhojas as death, personified. Mrtyur bhoja-pater, this is for Kaṁsa. And for some unintelligent people.

In any case, depending on who you are, who you think you are, depending on your ego, you will experience different emotions.

And basically, the purport of this verse is that there are different emotions which were experienced at the same time by different people looking at the same Krishna. The experience was different.

Somebody was experiencing fury, he was very angry. That was wrestlers. Somebody was completely amazed. Wondered. Women were experiencing conjugal attraction.

Somebody was laughing, you know, this, the friends of Krishna, they were laughing at him and at the wrestlers. They were already knowing that Krishna will become victorious. And the kings wanted to fight with him.

So all these different emotions were experienced according to the ego of people. So what I want to say before we end, I only have a couple more slides to explain is

that initially when the prostitute came to Haridas Thakur, she had a particular form of ego, and she was sitting there and listening to the sound of the holy name, and she was not moved.

But then some miracle happened on the third night.

She was still listening, she was still trying to seduce him, and she was still hoping that she will be successful at the end of the day or at the end of the night, actually, that she will achieve her goal and become very victorious.

But then what happened with her? She entered into some spiritual connection with Haridāsa Ṭhākura. Before, when she was viewing herself separate, she was hearing the same sound of the Holy Name and she was not moved.

But a certain process was taking place in her heart. The process of the change of ego. And therefore, in the end, when she ultimately realized who she is, and her ego was purified by the sound coming from the lotus lips of Haridas Thakur.

She realized something and she started chanting the holy name, you know, of many-many lux. She was. she became a sadvi. So that's basically the process.

And perhaps you read I I think many of you read that transcribed uh conversation between Shachinand Maharaj and Vinod Bihari Bhava.

This Kartik, at the end of Kartik, Sachinand Varach went to Vinod Bihari Bhava and said some conversation. And his question was interesting.

He said basically, yast uh speaking about the seventh verse of uh Upadhasamrita, where it is said Sjatnama Rupacharitati Sittapyavindya Pitopatapta So

he said that in this verse Shilarupa Gaswami says, Kintu Adarat Kalu Shaiva Jushta, if uh if every day you chant the holy name with respect, then you will be able to get rid of this disease of Avidia which prevents you from experiencing the taste of the holy name.

So the disease of Avindiya is there. The intermediate stage is changing with other, with respect. So, initial question which Chachinandama Maharaj asked, how to chant with this respect?

Awakening purpose in chanting practice

What does it mean to chant with respect? What does it mean in practical terms? What does it mean for us to chant every day the Holy Name with respect?

The answer which Vinod Bihari Baba gave was very interesting, extremely interesting. He says that to chant with respect with this other you have to very clearly understand what is your goal?

Unless you understand what is your goal, unless you really deeply in the heart understand that I want this, I want to achieve this. This is my goal. This is the goal which I want to achieve.

You will not be able to chant with respect. You will chant mechanically, you will chant neglectfully, you will chant ultimately with apparatus. He said very interesting things.

He said first what has to take place Prayojana Bodha, which means awakening of the goal within your heart. What happened with us? We hear about the goal that the goal is ultimately Krishna Priam. But hearing is one thing.

Awakening the goal within our heart is a completely different thing. Hearing, you may hear. You may accept it theoretically. Yes, I want it. Yes, not bad. But it doesn't mean that this goal has become your goal.

So, and the goal, uh, where it's coming from, the goal is coming from. When it becomes our goal, then we will be able to chant with respect every day without apparatus, and very quickly, we will achieve the taste.

So that's the point which I will be talking. What prevents us to think or to really realize that this is our goal and how to really achieve this state of prayojana-bodha.

When this is your goal and you chant and you chant and you really want to achieve this goal, then the existential anxiety will take over you. Vyakulta. Vyakulta means you will be in this anxiety. Why it's not coming for me?

I want to achieve it. I want to achieve it. And this emotional state, which is actually the emotions of śaraṇāgati, is the bridge between our condition state and the spiritual status which we want to achieve.

So that's that's the logic of the seminar which I want to see. So the awakening of the goal should take place.

And for that the emotions of śaraṇāgati are very necessary and therefore: ānukūlyasya-saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya-varjanam rakṣiṣyatīti-viśvāso goptṛtve-varaṇaṃ tathā ātma-nikṣepa-kārpaṇye ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ. I'm sure you all know this verse which explains six angas of śaraṇāgati.

We will uh repeat this verse again and again and again and ideally and um these emotions of śaraṇāgati they are like fuel, you know, if we want that our consciousness would be like this rocket.

For rocket the most difficult part is to overcome the gravitational force of the earth. And therefore, it needs a lot of fuel to overcome this gravitational force. And that's exactly what we will try to understand: how these emotions of Śaraṇāgati will become the fuel within our heart.

Which will uh, by using this fuel, the energy of this emotion— because emotions means energy. Emotions uh, it's uh, it's a very, you know, emotion energetically surcharged thing in us.

How by experiencing these emotions we will be able to ultimately come out from the attraction of this material world and feel the attraction of Krishna.

To overcome this gravitational force which keeps us being attached to this world.

So, and basically even, you know, starting with today, you can start chanting with these emotions of Śaraṇāgati. Whatever you understand by this.

Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya varjanam rakṣiṣyatīti viśvāso goptṛtve varaṇaṁ tathā, ātmanikṣepa- kārpaṇye, ṣaḍ-vidhā śaraṇāgatiḥ. You know, please try to meditate on these words.

Ānukūlyasya saṅkalpaḥ prātikūlyasya varjanam, this uh solemn vow: I will only do whatever is necessary, whatever is pleasing to Krishna, I will reject everything which is displeasing to him.

I will always remember that he protects me and I will always be grateful to Him and dependent on Him because He is the one who maintains me and I will uh always remain humble and I will always give everything which I have to him.

If we understand the emotional content of this, and uh you know we will have plenty of opportunities during this uh two days, two, three days which we still have, to practice it.

Then but even before that we can have some idea what it means. Then this chanting can be different.

Then we come to this stage which kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ khalu śaiṣya-juṣṭaḥ svādv-ṛkamāt. Gradually, gradually, svādv-ṛkamāt, the taste of the holy name will come and tad-ghaṭā-mūlā-hantrī and the disease of avidyā will be uprooted completely from our heart.

So that's a little introduction. I'm sorry for being so long. Thank you very much, Hare Krishna.