Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.8.6. Preaching Despite the Difficulties
Бхакти Вигьяна Госвами · Bangalore · 2021
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Reading Srimad-Bhagavatam Canto Two Chapter Eight
So I'm very happy to be with all of you in this temple. And I was asked by Harikshatra Prabhu to speak on the topic preaching despite the difficulties. Let's see what I will say about this.
But we will read the beautiful verse and purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda to the eighth chapter of the second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled Questions by King Parīkṣit. by King Parikshet Dhota Atma, Purusaha, Krishna,
Krishna, Krishna, Padamulamulam, mukta, mukha, sarva Pariklesha Pantaha, Swashanam Swashanam Yat. Dotatma Purusha Krishna. Purusha Krishna, Dotma Purusha Krishna, Rama U Shad Krishna. Padamna mun chati, paramo chati,
padamulam chati, badamulamna munchati, muktasarva pariklesha, muktasarva pariklesha, muktasarva pariklesha, pariklesha, panta sva sharanamyat Pantahswa sharanata, sva shemata, Dotatma Purushak Krishna, Rutamaburus
Krishna, Padamulamna munchati, badamulamna munchati, muktasarva pariklesha, pariklesha, panh sva sharanamyata, sva sharanamya. Dhotatma whose hearts have been cleansed, whose heart has been cleansed, Purusha,
the living being, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of God, Padamulam, the Sh The shelter of the lotus feet. The shelter of the lotus feet. Na never munchati gives up mukta Liberated Sarva all Pariklesha Pariklesha of all
miseries of life Pantaha the traveller Swasharanam of his own abode Yata as it were. As it were. Translation and purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. Jai!
A pure devotee of the Lord whose heart has once been cleansed by the process of devotional service never relinquishes the lotus feet of the Lord Krishna, for they fully satisfy him as a traveler is satisfied at home after troubled journey. One who is not a pure devotee of the Supreme Lord Krishna is not completely cleansed in the heart.
But a perfectly cleansed person never quits the devotional service of the Lord.
In discharging such devotional service as ordered by Brahmaji, by Narada in the preaching of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, sometimes a representative of the Lord engaged in the preaching work meets various so-called difficulties.
This was exhibited by Lord Nityānanda when he delivered the two fallen souls, Jagai and Madai, and similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified by the non-believers.
But such difficulties are very gladly suffered by the devotees in preaching because in such activities, although apparently very severe, the devotees of the Lord feel transcendental pleasure because the Lord is satisfied.
Prahlāda Mahārāja suffered greatly, but still he never forgot the lotus feet of the Lord.
This is because a pure devotee of the Lord is so purified in his heart that he cannot leave the shelter of Lord Krishna in any circumstances. There is no self-interest in such service.
The progress of culturing knowledge by the jñānīs or the bodily gymnastics by the yogīs are ultimately given up by the respective performance.
But a devotee of the Lord cannot give up the service of the Lord, for he is ordered by his spiritual master.
Pure devotees like Nārada and Nityānanda Prabhu take up the order of the spiritual master as the sustenance of life. They do not mind what becomes of the future of their lives?
They take the matter very seriously as the order comes from the higher authority, from the representative of the Lord and from the Lord Himself. The example set herein is very appropriate.
A traveler leaves home to search for wealth in far distant places, sometimes in the forest, and sometimes in the ocean, and sometimes on the hilltops.
Certainly there are many troubles for the traveller when he is in such unknown places, but all such troubles are at once mitigated as soon as the sense of his family affection is remembered.
And as soon as he returns home, he forgets all such troubles on the way.
A pure devotee of the Lord is exactly in a family tie with the Lord, and therefore he is unfettered in discharging his duty in a full affectionate tie with the Lord. Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya!
Dotat Ma Purushah Krishna Padamulam Namunchati mukta sarva pariklisha, panta swa sharanam yatha, a
pure devote of the Lord whose heart has once been cleansed by the process of devotional service never relinquishes the lotus feet of the of Lord Krishna for they fully satisfy him as a traveller is satisfied at home after a troubled journey.
Namvisnaya Krishna Krista Bhutale Srimate Bhaktividanta Swami Mitinami, Namaste Saraswati Devi, Gauravani Pracharine, Nirvi Sha Sunyabadhi Paschatyadesarine, Vanchakalpatarubesha, Kripa Sindhu Bevacha, Pachitanam Pavaneby Byonamon
Maha, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhunitananda Sri Advaita Gadatara Sivasadigora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama
Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam as powerful sadhana
Wataran Dh pra visi Mammavachima Supdam, Sanji Vaya Te Kila Sakti, Darah Swadamnan Yam, Schahsta, Charna, Shravana Tva Gadi, Pranan Mau, Bhagavat, Puru Shay Dubin, Swasya stuviswasya kalah prasidha dam de yantubudani, sivam mit hodiya manaschabadramba jatata doksach, no mati haiku ki.
So we are very fortunate because we have opportunity to hear from Srimad Bhagavatam. Srimad Bhagavatam is a very special book. Hearing of Srimad Bhagavatam is a very powerful sadhana, very powerful spiritual practice.
What spiritual practice is supposed to do with us, spiritual practice is supposed to purify us from the contaminations of our karma, from our misconceptions, which are acquired because of our long-standing desire to enjoy matter.
This is a very gross mistake which we all have. We are spirit soul, we are spirit by nature. But somehow or other we have this conception, very deeply rooted conception, that I am the spirit soul.
And most of us kind of have this intuitive knowledge that I am spirit soul, that I'm not dying, that there is something beyond this matter.
But nevertheless, despite all this knowledge, we have very deeply rooted desire to enjoy matter or very deeply Embedded in us conception that I may become happy by interaction with the matter.
It's just not possible, just really not possible, because of the nature of the soul and the nature of the matter. They are completely opposite.
The matter can never make the spirit soul happy because that's that's you know it's not possible. They're opposite by nature. The matter is just temporary, it's dull, and you can only become happy if you are in contact with some spiritual happiness because you are spiritual by nature.
So this misconception is there, this gross misconception is there. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, destroys this misconception. And therefore, purifies us. This is the purification which is necessary.
All our sufferings are due to this mistake or due to this contamination that somehow or rather somehow or rather I will become happy. If I get some more money or better flat in Bangalore or Bangalore somewhere.
Or if I go to America, I'll become happy. This is such a strange misconception. So many people are not happy in America. But Indians think that if they go to America, they will become happy.
So all these strange things, you know, all these ideas, all these hopes, all these conceptions of happiness. If you go through Bangalore and see all these big billboards,
advertisement boards, they're all you know different misconceptions of happiness.
You know, you you will be happy like this, or you will be happy like this, or you will be happy if you follow the advice of Amitabh Bhachan. Whatever it is, it may be underwear or it may be some bank lawn or whatever.
He's he has all the secrets of happiness. So why he is there? Because he is the icon, he is the ideal. You know, people think that he's happy. He's not happy.
He is the same conditioned soul, and he will, you know, he's afraid of this and this and that. But you know, people they have this desire. I want to be happy. And the material world offers us different recipes of happiness.
And we are foolish enough to take these recipes seriously. You know, it's all cheating. All this advertisement is cheating, but we want to be cheated. And we're really thinking that this is the way to become happy.
Limitations of bodily yoga for mental purification
So this is what purification means. Purification of our karma is only purification from these misconceptions. And therefore, other methods of spiritual, so-called spiritual purifications, they're not really effective.
Śrīla Prabhupāda very neglectfully calls yoga here gymnastics and in one of the previous purports he calls yoga mystic gymnastics. You know, you do some mystic gymnastics, we just pass by big yoga hole.
So So people they hope that they will be purified just by sitting in I don't know in whatever position just by touching by the right uh leg left ear.
You know this is you know you can only be happy by doing yoga after you finish yoga you know you squeeze yourself up and then you release yourself and you think well this is nice you know this is how you become happy by doing yoga.
You know you're sitting in a very unnatural position, then you release yourself and you are in Shavasan and you think, oh yoga is so nice.
But how it will purify you from these misconceptions? How it will relieve you from all these ideas that I can become happy by being here. It's not possible. It's just it's just not possible.
Therefore, Śrīla Prabhupāda is not very, you0, you know, of high opinion about yoga. I mean it's a good gymnastic, but it's it's it's gymnastic. But the problem is much deeper.
Our problem, we have to understand that we have very a deeply rooted problem that is indifference towards the Lord. We are indifferent. We are not really interested in Him.
We Because we have all these different misconceptions. We are interested in something else. We're really interested in material happiness, in matter.
But you know how many people really interested in the world? You know, even in India, what to speak about the rest of the world. The rest of the world is primarily atheistic, Gnostic. You know, I'm from Russia and I know.
People are, you know, you know, atheist. Of course, somewhere deep down they believe in God, but at least they proclaim to be atheists. But the point is that even if people believe in God, they're not interested in God.
There is a difference in believing God. I believe in God because I know that God can help me. That there is somebody out there, you know, Uparwala, as they say, in Hindi.
Uparwala is there and because he's Uparwala he can help me. But are we really interested in God? Are we really interested in knowing who He is, what He likes and what He doesn't like? How you know what He wants from us.
Are we really interested? We know what we want. You know it's such a strange idea to find out what Lord wants from us. What if He wants something which we don't want? It will be a big blow.
Why do we need the Lord who wants something different that we want? So people believe in God, but their conception of God is that yeah, He's somebody who can help me. That's it. You know, there is no more conception.
Because and it's still the same indifference towards the Lord. Because, you know, we want to exploit the Lord. We don't want to serve the Lord. We want to exploit the Lord.
Sometimes people, you know they say I love you, I love you, I love you. You know, but what they really mean to say, I just want to exploit you. But I want to exploit only you, not anybody else. Therefore I love you.
So the other day I was traveling in a car and you know the driver there was some radio or whatever, some program, and there was first there was some Bollywood songs or whatever, some songs, and then all of a sudden there was some some sort of in between, you know, the ladies started yelling on the top of her lungs I love you I love you it didn't sound like you love me but it really sounded like I need to exploit you. I need somebody to exploit.
I love you! Come here, I love you. So in the same way, people think they love God, but they really want to exploit God.
Cleansing the heart by hearing about Krishna
They don't have interest in God.
So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a powerful sādhanā, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a powerful sādhanā because if we hear Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, just hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam again and again and again from the proper source, as Prabhupada always stresses, especially in this second canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is about the transmission of the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam again and again and again, then amazing things will happen.
As it is said here very directly and clearly in the previous verse, that the Lord Himself will enter our heart.
Just by hearing the sound vibration, which is the representation of the Lord, which is non-different from the Lord, the sound vibration of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is the sound incarnation of the Lord,
which is the Lord Himself. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is non-different from the Lord. You know, the Lord Himself enters our heart, enters our memory, and starts purifying the heart.
Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ hṛdy antaḥ-sthyo hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām In the very beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Sūta Gosvāmī says that within our heart suhṛt is there.
Suhṛt, and he is real suhṛt, suhṛt satām. And when we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ,
one of the names of the Lord in Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma, there is this name of the Lord, beautiful name of the Lord, puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ. That's the name of the Lord.
He is, you know, when we hear about Him it's puṇya, it's the it's something which is very auspicious, some very auspicious activity, and that's the Lord Himself, so when we hear Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, the sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ, the stories about Kṛṣṇa, spoken by His sva, by His devotees, by the greatest devotees who have this keen interest about the Personality of Godhead, then what will happen?
hṛdy antaḥ-sthyo hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām. The suhṛt satām, the true well-wisher, the true friend of ours who is sitting within our heart, hṛdy antaḥ-sthyo, He is sitting within our heart, He starts vidhunoti, He starts cleansing the heart.
He Himself, the Lord Himself, takes a big broom and starts sweeping our heart from all these misconceptions. As it is said here, the same root, the same
dhātu, Sanskrit dhātu is used here when it is said dhunoti. Dhutātmā, the purified soul. Vidhunoti, vidunoti is the same root. The heart becomes cleansed, cleansed of what? Of all these misconceptions.
Because the Lord is happy when we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. That's the powerful sadhana, and it becomes powerful if we properly do
Hearing with pure intent versus empty ritual
it. If we really hear Shrimad Bhagavatam. Why? What is the reason why we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? We hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because the Lord wants me to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Not because of some other ulterior reason.
You know, like Prabhupāda here in this Second Canto, which is again about hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, what is the proper method of hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam?
Śrīla Prabhupāda again and again says that you can hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a matter of ritual. It's auspicious, it's good.
You know, somebody's father died, and you know, he has—he happened to have some few lakhs extra lakhs of money. So he arranges some Bhāgavatam saptāha. He invites some, you know, heavy builded
Bhāgavatam kathākāra, who learned it in a special school. There is a special school in Vrindavan.
There is a special school on how to present Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in a very attractive way, you know, and they learned all kinds of bhajans and this and that. And you know, for seven days people come and you know they're being entertained.
That's good, that maybe not so bad, but ultimately nothing changes. After such hearing, if you hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as a matter of ritual,
because you know, because my grandfather heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Maybe I should also hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And my grandmother liked Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. No, but that's not the point.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit didn't hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because his grandfather heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Of course, his grandfather was a hero of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He didn't even hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
He was the nāyaka of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one of the, you know, one of the—he played a very important role in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But, uh, that was not the reason.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because he wanted to be cleansed at heart.
He's asking here, this is the speech of Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the verse which we read, is the questions of Mahārāja Parīkṣit to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and he says, please, please tell me Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because very soon I will die. And I want to be completely clean in my heart before I die.
It's very important to be clean before we die. Otherwise, you know, the contamination will breed another contamination. That's the way it works. You know, if you have contamination, you have some affinity to the dirt.
If the contamination is still there in the heart, then we are kind of attracted to the same dirty things.
So we will be born again and again and again and again, and Kali Yuga in the meantime progresses more and more and more. There will be more and more IT companies in Bangalore. And you can be happily engaged in other IT companies 24 hours a day or whatever.
But it's just a useless repetition of the same thing.
Transmission of message through pure disciplic succession
So therefore Mahārāja Parīkṣit says, please tell me about the Lord so that my heart could be completely cleansed. His question, it's very interesting.
In the previous chapter, Narada Muni while explaining how he heard Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from Lord Brahmā.
In the previous chapter, he said that Lord Brahmā please describe told him, Nārada Muni, please describe the signs of Godhead with determination and in a manner by which it will be quite possible for the human being to develop transcendental devotional service unto the personality of Godhead Hari, the supreme, the super soul of every living being, and the sumum bonum source of all energies.
The Lord Brahmā tells Nārada, you preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you tell Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, because that's the only way. That's the only way to change to to change the virus in our brain.
We have, you know, hardware which is which is wrongly, you know, wrongly wired. And we all know when the hardware is bad, you know, software doesn't work. You need a good hardware so that the good software works.
So, what Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam does, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it changes the hardware. It goes deeper. You know, when we hear some other things, it may change little problems here and there, but the hardware remains intact.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is an amazing book because if we hear properly, it goes very very deep within our consciousness and changes the connections within our brain.
You know, literally we have the you know different connections between different neurons which is the result of our past activities, all the saṁskāras.
So when we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, this change imperceptibly takes place. Believe it or not, it's just it's happening now within your brain
some new neuron path are being formed within your brain the path which will tell you you know maybe I should listen about the Lord more. So that's uh that's what's happening and uh Narada
Muni uh explains uh nah Nārada Muni Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains that Lord Brahmā told Nārada Muni you preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because that's the only way, because that's the powerful sadhana.
And as soon as Mahārāja Parīkṣit hears this, he tells me. He tells not me, he tells Mahārāja, he tells Śukadeva Gosvāmī luckily for himself. He tells to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, please explain to me
how Nārada Muni preached Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. I want to hear this. Why? Why does he ask this question?
Śrīla Prabhupāda answers in this purport because the preaching of Narada Muni was pure and therefore when we hear how Narada Muni preaches the message of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam.
We may get the full benefit of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Why is pure because Narada Muni preaches Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Why? Because he is spiritual master, Lord Brahma, ordered him to do this. Prabhupada explained this.
And he basically is explaining about himself. Why is he doing this? Why is he preaching Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Why is he writing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Because his spiritual master told him to do this.
He does not have any ulterior motive. He does not want anything from you. He only wants to give the Supreme Lord to you. And that's the first condition why Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam can be successful.
If the speaker who speaks does not have any ulterior motive,
if he just wants to give the Supreme Lord to you, because the Supreme Lord wants to give Himself to the conditioned souls, and therefore He speaks to Lord Brahma, and therefore Brahma speaks to Narada, and therefore Narada speaks to Vyāsadeva, and therefore, Vyāsadeva teaches Shukadev, and therefore Sukadev now speaks to Maharaja Pariksit.
And when Maharaja Parīkṣit hears this, this is the pure line of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, not just you know somebody, a professional person who was trained to speak Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but somebody who speaks from the heart. Who speaks because he has realization of the happiness which is the experience of somebody in whose heart Lord entered.
Finding shelter at the lotus feet of Krishna
As I said, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you know, changes you from within because the Lord enters the heart or because the Lord Himself purifies your heart. And if you experience this happiness, you will start preaching.
What preaching means?
Preaching means, as Prabhupada says, if your heart is purified from the ulterior motives and you understand that the lotus feet of the Lord, Krishna Padamulam, is the most important thing. And you experience how nice it is.
You're at home.
You know, the simile which is here, the metaphor which is here is that when somebody is traveling, he's a traveler, and he goes through very different arduous journey and you know he encounters innumerable difficulties.
Prabhupada says that for such a traveler, and we are all such travelers. We are traveling in this foreign land. And because spiritual world, sorry, material world is not our home.
We are really we are really not at home here. We're trying to, you know, get a cozy home here, but we are really not we don't belong to this world. We are not the inhabitants of this world.
Prabhupada says that when a traveler in a foreign land going through immense difficulties, just remembers home, he becomes happy. When he just remembers how he is loved, his dear and near ones, he becomes happy.
I remember I, at one point, because I, I had to immigrate from Russia, from my homeland, to Sweden, because of my practice of Krishna consciousness. It was a severe persecution, and the
devotees arranged that I go to Sweden to translate Prabhupada's books into Russian. And I went to Sweden and I, you know, I was living in a very comfortable situation in Ashram, but I was so homesick.
I was just missing my dear people, devotees. And at that time, you know, when you could leave Russia, it was very difficult to leave Russia, but you would never return back to Russia.
Russia was behind the closed curtain and the iron curtain. So I left Russia and couldn't go back. And I remember I was just, you know, I was I was practically, I was drying up because I was in a foreign land.
It was something. And just by remembering, you know, my dear friends and relatives and this and that, I would get some relief.
Prabhupada says in the same way, you know, even if you don't realize the Supreme Lord, but you hear about Him, you feel at home. You know, so many people, I know this, you know, so many people told me.
They read Bhagavad-gītā for the first time and they felt, you know, oh, this is something, yeah, I I felt home. Finally, finally something makes sense. Nothing else makes sense.
You know, when we hear that there is the Supreme Lord and we belong to Him, we are His people, and He loves us, and He is waiting for us, and we have eternal occupation and internal relationship with him. And he is our closest relative.
He is our closest. Who is, you know, eternally related to us. It makes sense. It makes complete sense.
And when we hear Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, it feels home, right?
I remember I was told I I didn't know anything about Krishna, I didn't know anything about anything.
But my my friend he tricked me, he said, you just chant this this mantra, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, and you will see aura of people. And I was interested in this seeing aura.
So I started chanting Hare Krishna and I I thought you know there's nothing to lose, you know. I will chant a little bit and if I get bored I will give up chanting. I'm still chanting and I still don't see aura.
Forty years later I don't see aura, but somehow or other I'm changing. Why? Because it feels home. It feels natural. You know, I'm, you know, God is there, this is his name. I'm I'm praying to him and it's nice.
So basically you know coming back to our topic is that you know, coming back to the verse, that was the introduction to the verse. I'm sorry for such a long introduction.
But basically, what is said in the verse, very important thing is said in this verse.
And Maharaja Pariksit heard that Narada Muni was ordered by Lord Brahma to preach Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam immediately, his reaction tell me how he was preaching, what he was preaching.
Srila Prabhupada's conviction in taking Bhagavatam West
This interest is there. And in the same way, you know, when we hear about Śrīla Prabhupāda, How he went penniless to America. You know, please answer honestly. Would you go to America?
Who out of you would go to America if you only had 40 rupees in your pocket. And no friends and acquaintance in America. Just go to America. Who would go? One has to be crazy to do it. And on the top, you are all young.
You are 30, 40 years old, you know. Prabhupada was 70 years old.
And his well-wisher, Sumati Morarji, she told him directly, she told him directly, Swamiji, don't go to America, you will die there. You know, if somebody you will wish you will tell you, don't go to America, you will die there, you're 70 years old, you only have 40 rupees in your pocket.
Would you go to America? I have my doubts. He goes to America. Why he goes to America? Because he has the complete conviction that if he speaks Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, people will get relief from their sufferings.
That's the magic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And he proved that this magic worked. That this magic works. He goes to America and he starts speaking about Kṛṣṇa. Nobody knows about Kṛṣṇa there. Nobody heard about Kṛṣṇa there.
You know, why is he talking about some Kṛṣṇa? You know, what is this Kṛṣṇa? But he speaks and he goes under the tree and he starts chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare
Hare. And people stop and people listen and people feel I arrived home. I am at home. I am where I belong to, where I'm supposed to be. This is the place.
You know, so many people told me, so many devotees in Russia. Who never heard about Kṛṣṇa before reading Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, who never heard about anything, you know, who were at ease. When they hear this, they they feel, you know, something happened with them.
It is said here in this verse that only when you're completely cleansed at heart, when you are dutattma, when your heart is completely cleansed, then uh by hearing about Kṛṣṇa you feel you you you have this feeling, you you feel that you know I finally I arrived to my destination. This is what I need to know, this is what I need to hear, this is what where I need to be.
I need to be where Kṛṣṇa is being glorified. I need to be where the Kṛṣṇa-kīrtana is there, where people are singing Kṛṣṇa's name. I need to be where people are speaking about Kṛṣṇa.
Persistent attachment to devotional service despite obstacles
Because, you know, when people start doing this, they become normal. You know, the people which don't do this, they are with all due respect, they're not normal. I'm quoting just one lady. One lady told me.
Recently I spoke with her. She said, for my whole life I was looking for a society of normal people and I couldn't find. I was going here and there. And finally I came and it's normal people, I'm very surprised.
You know, I came to the temple. They're normal. They have spiritual interests, they're normal, they're normal in their dealings, in their behavior, they're not rough, they're not, you know uh you So when
we uh when we hear here it is said that when somebody who is purified at heart, due to hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he can He will never be able to give up the lotus feet of the Lord because he is parikleśa.
He's mukta from all the parikleśa. Not just kleśa, parikleśa. Parikleśa means all-round kleśa. He is completely cleansed of all the sufferings.
When when this uh magic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam happens, when you hear about the Lord and uh you hear it properly and you hear it from the proper source, you hear it from somebody who realized the beauty and the kindness and the love of the Lord.
You hear about this. Then you become cleansed and then you will never give up the lotus feet of the Lord. You know. Some people tried. There is a funny story about this.
There's there was one devotee, and somehow or other, you know, he had some difficulties and he didn't like somebody and he heard about this.
He liked Prabhupāda's books, but he didn't, you know, he wanted to give up Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He wanted to give up Kṛṣṇa. And but uh you know whenever he wanted to forget about Kṛṣṇa. He was from America.
He got a book and then he, you know, he threw the book and he wanted to cut off his connections with devotees.
But whenever he would be, you know, either Harinam party would come or you know somebody something would happen. Ultimately he decided to go to Alaska. Alaska is the n most northern part state of America.
And he thought, and there in Alaska, you know, there's no devotees for sure. Nobody will find me there. I will forget about Kṛṣṇa. I will watch TV day in and day out, 24 hours a day, and I forget all this about Kṛṣṇa.
I cannot just I I don't want to remember about Him. So he takes the plane.
He goes to the plane and you know and then he boards down from the plane, goes to the airport, and the first uh person whom he meets in the airport is a devotee who offers him Bhagavad-gītā book this together and he becomes so disgusted so disgusted anyway he still has some hope he rented the hotel, he goes to hotel, he locks him himself inside this the hotel room and finally he turns on the TV and the first thing which he watches on TV, Harinam Party goes and TV in the news.
And then he says, okay Krishna, I surrender to you. You don't want me to give you all. But it's like this. When we when we really get connection with Krishna, Krishna enters our heart. And we cannot really give him up.
We really feel that ultimately you know there is no need for me to give up. It doesn't matter whether you know the external circumstances are favorable or not favorable.
You know, Prabhupāda is actually explaining that when you have this realization of the happiness of being with Krishna, hearing about Krishna, speaking about Krishna, preaching about Krishna, then you will never
Preaching Krishna consciousness amid Soviet persecution
give up preaching despite of all this difficulties and uh uh you know all these problems which may be there. You know whoever preaches Krishna consciousness if he is trying to do it there will be some difficulties.
People don't like it.
You know, immediately when the vote started preaching Krishna consciousness in Russia, you know, the whole Russian state, atheistic state of Soviet Union at that time, which was totally completely dead against any religion, start harassing them.
But devotees didn't give it up.
interesting in the first period of time when there was severe persecution of Krishna consciousness, and the devotees were not even so experienced, but somehow or other they felt that this is the right thing to do.
And there was a secret police KGB, it's called in the in the in the Soviet Union and they were practically ruling the country.
The country was very you know authoritarian rule was there and the secret police was watching everyone.
You know, they will put some bugs in your apartment, you know, to find out what you're doing when you're alone and this and that. And all the devotees they experience some problems, one way or another.
And oftentimes the these people from the secret police they would try to seduce devotees. They would tell them, you just you just for the formality's sake say that I give up Krishna. And we will write it down.
And you know, you you go on, you do it quietly there.
For formality's sake you uh you say that you relinquish this Krishna consciousness, your connection with Krishna consciousness. And usually, and we will, you know, we will not harass you anymore.
No, my friend, the friend of mine who was, who's, who actually made me a devotee, he was in prison for three and a half years, four almost four years I think, for practicing Krishna consciousness.
And on a number of occasions he was told you just for formality's sake you give up Krishna and we will release you from the prison. He said no I will not do it. I cannot do this. Even for formality's sake.
And one devotee did it. He was harassed severely by the KGB, and they called
him to his office, to their office, and they said, you just, you write down that you're you're giving up this Krishna consciousness, you sign that you are rejecting this Krishna consciousness, and he did it. Next
morning he couldn't chat Hare Krishna. He just could not chat Hare Krishna. The connection was lost. He was trying, he was crying, he was, you know, it's just somehow or other he couldn't do it. Because he rejected Krishna.
And Krishna, he says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham, if you reject me, I reject you. He underwent severe difficulties because of this.
So the point of this verse is that when you have experience, even if it's a little experience, even if you are not completely cleansed, but still you have some experience, it's there.
Krishna himself says in Bhagavad-gītā, nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, uh, nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti, pratyavāyo na vidyate, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. krama nasasti, pratyavayana vidyat is Vampama Pyasat Dharmasya Tryati Mahatovat.
That even if you have little experience of real Krishna consciousness, it will never leave you. It will always remain with you unless you commit an offense. This is a secret.
If you want to give up Krishna consciousness, you have to commit offenses. Then Krishna may leave you. But if you don't commit offense, then this connection is established, and that's eternal connection.
And you know, whether the difficulties are there or not there, you know, you know, it's something real. And you cannot really reject the reality. And that's the test if you're sincere.
The eternal practice of glorifying Krishna
If you had a sincere intention and if you hear the sincere message of Parampara of these pure souls which are purely preaching Krishna consciousness because they were ordered by higher authorities because they ultimately fulfill the desire of Krishna, then you will never be able to give up Krishna consciousness.
Why? For what? And this process is eternal. You will continue hearing about Krishna here till the end of your life and in the spiritual world you will do the same thing.
In the spiritual world people come together and they say, you know what Krishna did today? There is constant Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam kathā going on. Many, many pastimes are there.
Krishna is so beautiful and you know they come and they see I saw Krishna today. You know how beautiful he is. You know how beautifully he is decorated. You know he looked at me. And his eyes were so kind.
And his eyes went so deep into me. And I felt such a beautiful experience I had while doing this. And when we hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, basically this is the experience which we should have. Krishna is looking at us.
Krishna is speaking with us. Krishna is telling us. Finally, you are here. Finally, you hear about myself. After hearing so many other garbage, you're hearing about myself.
And if we do this, following Prabhupada's footsteps, we will be successful. And we should preach. We should tell others. Like on the way here, I was told how the Sati Sai Baba people preaching.
You know, if you had some miracle in your life. If Satya Sai Baba, one fri one one acquaintant of mine he told me,
you know, he said, Satya Sai Baba is such a great saint. You know, I was I was in my office and all of a sudden I saw this very clearly his his figure and he was saying something to me and at this moment of time I smelled some smoke.
And he said, immediately I ran home and I found out that my iron, which I was ironing, was still on and you know uh little bit and was already smoking. So Satya Sai Baba told me that my iron at my home is smoking.
So, so, so see how he's God. So they say if you experience this miracle you should preach about such to others. You should get others involved. See, this is this works.
So I'm with the same message I'm here speaking with you. If you experience the magic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if you experience the touch of Krishna by hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, you should preach.
If you experience this feeling that ultimately I found something which is which is which is so amazing. And just by remembering about Krishna, I feel already relieved from all the sufferings which are there.
Experiencing relief from material suffering through Bhagavatam
And people know. I recently again I spoke with one disciple of mine, one devotee. He said, I was in such a suffering. I was in such a difficult situation.
And he said, at that time I wanted to speak with you, but somehow rather we couldn't speak. And then he said, I started listening to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And I was relieved completely.
All this intense acute sufferings which was there was relieved because I understood that this is something temporary which will be gone and ultimately it's not so important and there is much more important things in in in the world, my relationship with Krishna.
So if you experience this magic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam relieves you from your karma, from your misconceptions changes your personality changes your heart changes your changes your outlook of the world I tell you one little
story and I'll finish with this little story. It's also very interesting story. Recently, one devotee wrote to me. He's a preacher. He's an old devotee for a long time he preaches. And he told me one little experience.
He said that he preaches to new people. And uh these new people become interested. And then one lady whom he preached is a brahmacārī, and one lady whom he preached, she started complaining to him.
She said, you know, you know, she explained some some happening in her life, and that you know somebody basically cheated her.
And she's a very new, she just started coming to Krishna consciousness and she understood some ideas of Krishna consciousness. And some you know somebody cheated her and you know, betrayed her.
And she came to this brahmacārī, to this person, and she said, you know what, I have a problem. She said, what kind of problem you have? And she explained this whole story.
I will not explain story. It doesn't really matter. You know, it's this whole story, whole drama, little drama of you know of 40 year old women you know and then she said you know uh and she said what's your problem?
Uh he thought that this is the problem which she describes. She said, no, this is not my problem. My problem is that because they did this to me, somehow rather I cannot love them. This is my problem.
I try to love them despite they did this to me, but I cannot do this. It's just something inside me rebels against it. That's my problem. Can you can you help me how I can be relieved from this problem?
And this devotee writes to me, he said, when she wrote this to me, when she explained this to me, he said I was shocked because I realized that she is more Krishna conscious than me because she now realized how she should behave, that she should behave nicely with everyone. And I already forgot it because I'm a senior devotee.
But she said basically what she said to him, I value this little sprout of Krishna consciousness which I have so much and I am afraid that I lose it because of my bad relationship with these people.
This is the proof, this is the magic of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. People they get little connection with Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and they change their relationship to the world.
Before that, she would be habitually, you know, hating them without any problem. Habitually. You know, somebody did something wrong to me, you know, I I have the full right to do something wrong to him.
I have the full right to hate him. I have the full right to say something to him.
What I want to say is that people listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, their heart changes. Something very important happens with us when we listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, if we listen to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam properly.
And if we experience this change of the heart which we're supposed to experience, this is the title of one chapter in the second canto of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam, then we should preach the same message to others and tell that they should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and read the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
I guess that's it, I spoke too long.
Overcoming spiritual pride and understanding Divine reciprocation
Thank you very much, Śrīla Prabhupāda kī jaya! Any questions that you can put forward or if you appreciate any points that also you can share? Yes.
Thank you very much for wonderfully sharing so many beautiful pastimes and realizations and options.
For us at a Sadhaka level, whenever some uh difficulties or obstacles or some uh challenges comes up, like either we get distracted or deviated, uh or really get a lot of anxiety.
And if somehow or other if you really come over it with the grace of the Lord and the Vaishnavas. And then we feel that oh you see like how I am so special I I came over it. Like it means that I am a special devotee now.
So how do you really come up with the first level and then the second level?
The more you think that I am a special devotee, the more chances are there that Krishna will show to you that you're not so special by giving you some difficulties. So better you don't think that you're so special.
Otherwise you're asking for troubles. You know, these difficulties are there in our life, they're in everyone's life, and they basically show to us the level of our devotion, the depth of our devotion.
I remember I had some crisis, I had severe crisis and I spoke with Guru Maharaj about this. And he started chuckling and he said, oh, Krishna shows to you maybe you're not so great as you perhaps.
So these tests are there. Krishna sends this test. It's not for him, he knows the level of our devotion. He doesn't need to test it. It's for us.
Because we tend to have an illusion about ourselves that we tend to overestimate the depths of our emotions. You know, something little happens with our life and we become totally distracted and disturbed
and we you know only think about this and we cannot concentrate on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But it's only a stimulus to do sadhana more intensely. You know, you can do, there's no doubt about it.
But also, perhaps you have to ask yourself whether I'm doing it in a proper frame of mind. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is a powerful sadhana, there is no doubt about it. But whether I'm doing it properly, whether my attitude
when I hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is proper or not, because the efficiency of the sadhana very much depends on our attitude, how with which attitude we do it.
If we do it properly, then it will be very quick. We do not need such a prayeṣu abhadraiś ca nityam bhāgavata-sevayā. Almost all the problems will be cleansed by just nityam bhāgavatam-sevā, regular hearing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and devotee bhāgavatam, those people who have relationship with the Lord.
Yes. Thank you for the two today. And the question I have is like there were two situations. In one situation and the people that person went to other stuff, we wanted to get over the Krishna.
But uh Krishna uh is not uh getting one of us. The other person just for just taking the j said like that okay I would be able to help you. What is the mistake that everything is? Well see uh Well,
Krishna is a person and therefore he is unpredictable. When you're dealing with persons, you cannot really say you know you you always have to do it like this, you know.
When you're dealing with robots, you can say Krishna is a person. Somehow or other he liked this first person because you know we never know exactly the reasons why Krishna behaves this way or that way.
But my speculation is that there was a deeper connection between the first person and his anger towards Krishna was kind of superficial, it was just little superficial, but it was deeply rooted connection.
And because of this deeply rooted connection, you know, like sometimes we feel this that there is some connection. And you know, some people have very deeply rooted connections from past lives.
You know, maybe this particular devotee who wanted to hide from Krishna in Alaska and found out that Krishna is there in Alaska too. You know, maybe he was connected with Krishna for already many lifetimes
and it was little little mistake. And you know he actually reacted nicely, you know, when when When he saw this Harinam party on the TV, he became immediately, he said, okay Krishna, I surrender to you.
So whereas this other person, again, I'm not I'm nobody to judge, I'm just telling the real life story, what happens with him. Maybe there was something some lesson Krishna wanted to teach him.
Ultimately Krishna would not give him up. Krishna never gives up his devotee. But for some time his devotee may temporarily experience difficulties.
So there is ultimately no no loss for even the second devotee I explained about. But Krishna wanted to teach the lesson that we should be we should be true to ourselves.
In certain circles, in I can imagine a condition when a person would do this, when a devotee would do this for the sake of higher purpose, and Krishna would be very happy for him doing this.
But there are also some other circumstances where Krishna is displeased. So therefore, we have to be very sensitive.
When we're dealing with when we why people uh you know s like all the machines because you don't have to be sensitive in dealing with machines.
When you are with your of course you know if if it's a Indian made machine maybe you have to be sensitive Normally
you don't have to be too sensitive, you know, you're dealing with your smartphone and you're doing this and you know the smartphone behaves the way you like him or it to behave with you.
But when you're dealing with the person you have to be very sensitive and therefore people uh they don't like to deal with the persons nowadays because
they are not so sensitive, you know, you're doing something which other person doesn't like, and you don't even understand why he doesn't like this. You know. But that's the glory of dealing with the persons.
When you're dealing with the person, you can learn how to become sensitive. You develop yourself, you develop sensitivity, you develop your personality. So in a similar way, Krishna is a person.
And we have to be very sensitive when we're dealing with him. You know, sometimes we chant and we feel very blissful and we chant that Krishna is near and then other day we we chant and we feel nothing. Why?
Krishna is not happy with us. And we have to ask ourselves question: why is he not happy with us? What did I do wrong? Why all of a sudden such a change in the reciprocation which is going on.
Krishna is not only sensitive, he is super sensitive. He is the super soul and therefore, he's super sensitive. He's very sensitive, and therefore we have to be super careful in dealing with the super sensitive person.
It means basically we have to be very conscientious, very sincere within our heart. You know, Prabhupada writes in Bhagavad-gītā that Krishna is the bigger cheater.
If you want to cheat Krishna, he will definitely cheat you because he is a better cheater than you. So don't try to cheat him. Be very conscientious in dealings with him. Yes.
What is the first quality emotion of devotee to how to start this? Yeah, that's the first quality which devotee must develop sincerity or simplicity. Saralata.
Sharalata means to be simple at heart, to be straightforward, at least in dealings with Krishna. Don't try to cheat or you know in this way we will be free from this tendency of self-deception.
We should be very, very conscientious. I'm doing this because you know I have to do this. And this is the wrong motive. Again, this wrong motive is affecting me.
We have to, you know, do this self-introspection and try to be very straightforward with others.
Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda said, he says, vaiṣṇavatā means saralatā. He equated this quality of saralatā with being a vaiṣṇava, with vaiṣṇavatā. So that's the main most important quality.
And then everything else comes from it. Humility and tolerance and everything else. Saralata is very important. Okay. Thank you very very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jai! Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam ki jai!