Śikṣāṣṭakam Lectures Radhadesh, Day 6.

Śikṣāṣṭakam Lectures Radhadesh, Day 6.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS

Founder-Ācārya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Śikṣāṣṭakam Lectures Radhadesh Retreat Day 6 – Concluding Session, Given By His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami – Radhadesh, Belgium on 1 June 2013

Hare Kṛṣṇa kīrtana by devotees.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Gaur Premānande

Devotees: Hari Haribol.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Today is the last day and our host Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu, he has to leave for some meeting in Holland today. So, Hṛdaya Caitanya prabhu wants to say something because he is leaving. Otherwise he would have probably addressed us at the end of the program but since he is not going to be here till the end of the program today, Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu wants to make his presentation now.

Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu: Yes, I wanted to speak a few words of gratitude to His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami for choosing to have this..

Devotees: Haribol. [clapping]

Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu: …to have his spiritual retreat for his disciples in Europe here in Radhadesh. And in this way he allows us to have his sweet and transcendental association and also he gave us his insights in ŚikṣāṣṭakamMahābhārata and Prabhupāda kathā. So we are very thankful for this exceptional long association. Usually Mahārāja comes for one day, may be two days and now we have his association for one full week. So we want to show our gratitude for this exceptional occasion and therefore we want to give a token gift to Mahārāja. Manoharaa prabhu is …

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

Hṛdaya Caitanya Prabhu: And we hope that Mahārāja will also organize this retreat next year again in Radhadesh.

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: I will just read out. There is a letter from Hridaya Caitanya Prabhu and…

Some devotee: …Manohara prabhu.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Manohara Prabhu and Mālatī Devī Dāsī.

Same devotee: This is the administrative council.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: This is the administrative council of Radhadesh.

Dear Bhakti Charu Swami,

Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

We like to express our gratitude towards you in the Name of the Radhadesh community for organizing your seminar retreat in Radhadesh. In this way you are allowing us to have your transcendental association for a whole week.

Your servants,

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Who is this?

Same devotee: Bhakta Rik.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Bhakta Rik. Okay the four signatures are Hridaya Caitanya prabhu, Manohara prabhu, Mālatī Mātājī and Bhakta Rik.

Devotee: and Mahāprabhu is absent

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Mahāprabhu absent. Who is Mahāprabhu?

Devotee: He is the person who is organizing all festivals in Radhadesh.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Oh I see…..I know him, I met him.

Same devotee: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: [inaudible]

Same devotee: So..

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Can I open this [referring to the gift presented by the devotees] now?

Devotees: [laughter]

Same Devotee: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay I will just show it to you. [Sound of Mahārāja unwrapping the token gift]. ‘Living Traditions in Indian Art’

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: [inaudible]

Devotee: These are the paintings and art work which is, you know, in the museum of …..

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Ooh… okay, very good. Thank you.

Devotee: This is done by Mahāprabhu.

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: I am extremely curious.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: [sound of unwrapping] beautiful …painting. Look at what I opened to …

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: These are all the paintings in the museum here. Mahāprabhu whose father also was a very renowned artist.

Devotee: Uruguay.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Haan

Devotee: From Uruguay.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: From Uruguay, South America. How much… Is it available for purchase also? Thank you very much, Hṛdaya Caitanya prabhu and the management council of Radhadesh Temple. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: So we would also like to thank Rādhā Vinoda Prabhu for being the general organizer and his good wife Campakalatā Mātājī, who is now in the kitchen doing and seeing the kitchen, which she has been doing the whole week and preparation before. They are not here. So then we would also like to thank Kṛṣṇa Karuṇā prabhu and his good wife … Mātājī for the services they have done in contribution to the seminar especially ……are here please come to take your token present and then we would also like to thank Rāmānanda Rāya prabhu.

Devotee: Please come.

Devotees: [Applause]

Announcer: Thank you prabhu. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: And we would also like to thank Rāmānanda Rāya prabhu and Kamalā Mañjarī Mātājī who both worked hard to make all this possible and many, many details related with. Rāmānanda Rāya prabhu and Kamalā Mañjarī Mātājī ki jaya

Devotees: [Applause].

Devotee: And the Radhadesh community also thanks all the devotees for coming and we also want to say, “Please forgive our shortcomings and our mistakes we have made as host but we tried our best and we will try to do even more our best next time.”

Devotees: [Laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: So we will see you in Māyāpura.

Devotee: Yes.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: In two weeks. Less than two weeks later.

Devotee: Less than two weeks. Yes. Nine days.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. And from this retreat on behalf of this retreat we would like to thank Hṛdaya Caitanya prabhu and the council management, the temple management and all the devotees of Radhadesh. Thank you very much. We had a wonderful time.

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: I didn’t bring any gift. What kind of gift can I give him?

Some devotee: Your association.

Devotees: Haribol [applause and rejoicing]

[Some conversations which are inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Haribol

Devotees: [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa. So the last day of Śikṣāṣṭakam all the eight verses we have already covered. What did we understand from these eight verses? We understood that taking shelter of the Holy Name is the way for making spiritual advancement and achieving our ultimate perfection. And what is the ultimate perfection? Ultimate perfection is to become what we actually are. The process is very simple. We are spirit souls and we have to become spirit souls [laughter]. Is it difficult to become what you are? No, but there is a factor that makes it difficult. What is that factor that makes it difficult to become what we are?

Devotees: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Māyā, illusion also which is affected by false ego. The first effect of that is false ego, forgetting our actual identity and think that we are somebody else. What we are? We are spirit souls? What we are thinking what we are now? We are thinking this is me. Everyone is thinking I am this body. So the word MaYa means that, ‘that is not’. ‘Ma’ means ‘not’ and ya means ‘that’ ‘that which is not’. So that is illusion. I am not this body but I am thinking that I am this body. Now why it happened? It happened because we forgot Kṛṣṇa. Now in order to remind ourselves about Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Himself came. Isn’t that wonderful that Kṛṣṇa Himself came to remind us who we are? And can you imagine how wonderful it can be that Kṛṣṇa is telling us who we are? Kṛṣṇa is reminding us who we are. And not only He is reminding us, He is playing the role as if He is one of us. Kṛṣṇa is behaving as if He is one of us and He is teaching us how to become situated in our spiritual identity. Āpani ācari prabhu jīvere śikhāya. Behaving Himself, acting Himself, the Lord is teaching the living beings how to become situated in the spiritual identity. ‘How to’ which means how to become a devotee. Kṛṣṇa is teaching us how to become a devotee. And what is the process that He gave us for reinstating us in our actual spiritual identity? The Holy Name and He is saying, “Just chant”, I have come in the form of the Holy Name and you can get Me in that form. Because if you receive Me in the form of the Name, then you will get Me. That’s His condition. Now receive the Name. How do you receive the Name? Name is sound. How do you receive sound?

Devotee: Through the ears.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Through the ears. The way to receive sound is through the ears. So hearing and chanting. The Name you can call out to Kṛṣṇa. How do you call out? By chanting Kṛṣṇa and He made it Himself available. Kṛṣṇa made Himself available through the Holy Name. That means Kṛṣṇa has given us the Names saying that you call me out by this Name. You call Kṛṣṇa and this Name is Kṛṣṇa Himself. So when we say Kṛṣṇa, what will be the response from Kṛṣṇa’s side. “Yes I am here”. That’s what is happening. We are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa is saying, “I am here”. We are still chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, “I am here”. But unfortunately we are not able to hear. Kṛṣṇa is saying, “I am here” but we are not hearing Kṛṣṇa saying that He is here. Kṛṣṇa is there but we are not able to see Kṛṣṇa that He is there. Now why is that? Due to the offenses. Due to the offenses our spiritual senses remain dormant and do not respond to Kṛṣṇa’s word. Because Kṛṣṇa’s response is spiritual and we are not able to hear that spiritual sound. We are completely engrossed with our material sense perception and sense gratification. Therefore, although Kṛṣṇa is responding we are not hearing that response because of our offenses. And the offenses are synonymous to our material attachments. Material attachments are the ultimate causes of our offenses. Now how do we get rid of our offenses? By chanting the Holy Name. But Mahāprabhu is saying that, “Don’t worry, keep chanting. Keep chanting and don’t commit any offense.” So if we keep chanting trying not to commit offenses, then someday we will be able to chant pure Name. And the pure chanting is non-different from Kṛṣṇa. Now what happens when one chants purely, has been described by Bhaktivinoda Thakur. That’s why we selected this song to discuss today and then we will sing this song as well.

Rāmānanda, you got the wrong translation. This is Śaraṇāgati translation. No, no I am sorry. No, actually I gave the wrong one. I am sorry. That’s my mistake. Anyway so what to do, I gave the wrong one. So what I will do is. Yes, How long will it take to…Okay you know which song. I gave the sarangati song. I was in a hurry yesterday… Give me the pen. Yes it was my mistake. This is by Bhaktivinoda Thakur. It goes like ‘kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare koto bal’. Okay so I will just discuss the song. In the mean time Rāmānanda is going to bring the song copies and he said in 15 minutes he will bring them.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Rāmānanda, it is 22 past 10.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Last night when he came back, I gave that song, I gave the first line and I gave the wrong song’s first line. Okay this song by Bhaktivinoda Thakur goes like:

Kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare koto bal, ‘I do not know what kind of strength this Holy Name has. What kind of potency the Holy Name has, the Name of Kṛṣṇa’.

viṣaya-vāsanānale, mora citta sadā jwale, ravi-tapta maru-bhūmi-sam, ‘ In the desire for sense gratification my heart was constantly burning as if it was a desert scorched by the midday sun’.

karna-randhra-patha diyā, hṛdi mājhe praveśiyā,variṣoya sudhā anupam, ‘I was suffering in this material nature. My heart was constantly burning as if the desert in the scorching sun, but at that time through the passage of the ears, the Holy Name entered and coming to the region of my heart, it started to shower an inconceivable nectar’.

karna-randhra-patha diyā, karṇa means ‘ears’ randhra means ‘hole’, patha diyā means ‘passage’, ‘Through the passage of the ear holes’

hṛdi mājhe praveśiyā, ‘the Holy Name entered and came into the hṛdi mājhe, in the region of my heart.

variṣoya sudhā anupam, variṣoya means ‘shower’, anupam means ‘unique’, sudhā means ‘nectar’, ‘So the Holy Name entered through the passage of my ears and coming to the region of my heart it showered a unique nectar’.

And then what happened? Then the Holy Name started to rise from the depth of my heart.

hṛdoya hoite bole, ‘The Holy Name is not chanted by the tongue, lips and tongues’.

What is actually the Holy Name? The Holy Name, what happened, it entered into the region of our heart and started to shower the nectar and as a result of that what happened? As a result of that the Holy Name started to rise by itself from the depth of our heart.

hṛdoya hoite bole, jihvāra agrete cale, ‘and comes to the tip of my tongue’ and

śabda-rūpe nāce anukṣan, ‘In the form of sound vibration, sound it started to dance on the tip of my tongue’. So pure chanting is not our endeavour to chant. The pure chanting, the Holy Name rises by Himself. And comes to… it rises from the depth of our heart and comes to the tip of our tongue and there it starts to dance.

śabda-rūpe nāce anukṣan, anukṣan means ‘all the time’. Now we are seeing what is our condition? It’s an endeavour to chant 16 rounds everyday and when we finish our 16 rounds we feel relieved. Ookay

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: For today [laughter] my duty is done. But when the Holy Name will rise, the pure Name sudhā nāma will come, then what will happen? We will constantly, one will constantly keep chanting because the Name will rise from the bottom of the heart. hṛdoya hoite bole, jihvāra agrete cale, śabda-rūpe nāce anukṣan. So now when that happens what happens?

kanṭhe mora bhańge swara, kaṇṭha means ‘throat’, My throat gets.. bhańge swara ‘my sound, speech gets broken in my throat, meaning the voice gets choked.

kanṭhe mora bhańge swara, ańga kāńpe thara thara, ‘my body begins to shiver’.

sthira hoite nā pāre caran, ‘my legs cannot become steady’. My legs begin to wonder.

So these are the ecstatic symptoms. Like, when the pure Name is chanted, when the pure Name rises, again the pure Name is not chanted in that way, the pure Name rises by Himself. And then the result is: when the Name is rising from the depth of our heart to the tip of our tongue coming to the region of my throat it chokes my voice, kanṭhe mora bhańge swara and makes my body begin to tremble, ańga kāńpe thara thara, kāńpe means ‘trembling’ and thara thara means ‘very vehemently’ and sthira hoite nā pāre caraṇ.

Don’t we sing everyday romāñcakampasrutaraṅga-bhajo vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam. These are the ecstatic symptoms, romāñca means ‘hair standing on end’, kampa means ‘trembling’, aśru means ‘tears’. So that is continuing the description.

cakṣe dhārā, dehe gharma, pulakita saba carma, vivarna hoilo kalevara, ‘ tears came streaming down my eyes. The hairs on my body stood on end.  pulakita saba carma and my body became pale, vivarna lost its colour, that is what happens.

mūrchita hoilo man, then my mind swooned, fainted, no more functioning of the mind. What happened at that time? What happens to a devotee at that time? He loses his external consciousness because he is now experiencing his internal Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Internally he is experiencing Kṛṣṇa, cakṣe dhārā, dehe gharma, pulakita saba carma, vivarna hoilo kalevara.

mūrchita hoilo man, pralayera āgaman, ‘As if now the time has come for total annihilation that means death. Death from what? From all material things, material consciousness. Material consciousness now is finished. mūrchita hoilo man, pralayera āgaman bhāve sarva-deha jarā jarā, ‘in the transcendental emotion, my whole body is affected.

Then he is saying loinu āśroya jā’r, heno vyavahāra tā’r, ‘the personality Whose shelter I have taken, look what he is doing to me [laughter]. I took shelter of Him and now see what He has done to me. He is completely ruining me [laughter]; he is completely destroying Me [laughter] and then he is saying

kṛṣṇa-nāma icchā-moy, ‘just as Kṛṣṇa is independent, Kṛṣṇa’s Name is also similarly independent, kṛṣṇa-nāma icchā-moy. So let Him do whatever, since He is completely independent, let him do whatever He wants to do. He is the Lord, I am not the Lord, I am the servant. So let the Lord and master decide what He wants to do and I will accept. If He wants to kill me He can kill me and if He wants to keep me He can keep me.

Then he goes to describe what happens due to the chanting of the Holy Name. Due to the chanting of the Holy Name Kṛṣṇaprema develops.

Then he is describing that premera kalikā nām, ‘the Holy Name is the bud of premaPrema means Kṛṣṇa-prema, love for Kṛṣṇa, unalloyed devotional love for Kṛṣṇa, unalloyed devotion for Kṛṣṇa. So premera kalikā nām, adbhuta rasera dhām, this Holy Name is like the bud of Kṛṣṇaprema. And it is the reservoir of all the transcendental mellows, all the wonderful transcendental mellows. premera kalikā nām, adbhuta rasera dhām and what happens? As we develop our, as we practice, as we chant the Holy Name, the Holy Name, it’s a bud, so eventually what will happen to the bud if it is properly cultivated? It will begin to blossom, begin to bloom.

Then he is saying īṣat vikaśi’ punaḥ̣, dekhāy nija-rūpa-guna, ‘just opening a little, this bud of Kṛṣṇa’s Holy Name reveals the Form and Qualities of Kṛṣṇa. dekhāy nija-rūpa-guna, rūpa means ‘form’ and guṇa means ‘qualities’. So you see by chanting the Holy Name, we will be able to see Kṛṣṇa’s forms. We don’t have to imagine anything; There is no room for imagination. We don’t have to speculate anything. Just we have to chant the Holy Name, pure chanting, sincere chanting. Then due to the chanting, when the bud of Kṛṣṇa-prema, the Holy Name will begin to open, then Kṛṣṇa’s Form will become manifest. Kṛṣṇa’s Qualities will become manifest, dekhāy nija-rūpa-guna,

citta hari’ loya kṛṣṇa-pāś, ‘and stealing my heart, stealing my consciousness, stealing me takes me to Kṛṣṇa. As if it steals me, steals my consciousness, steals my mind and takes my mind to Kṛṣṇa. And at that time Kṛṣṇa’s form we see, we lose interest for everything else as if the mind has been stolen by Kṛṣṇa. Now this, mind you, this is the result of just a little opening of the bud. Can you imagine what happens when the bud is fully bloomed?

pūrna vikaśita hoiyā, braje more jāya loiyā, pūrna vikaśita  means ‘by fully blooming’ this Holy Name takes me to Vraja, to Vṛndāvana. dekhāy more swarūpa-vilās, ‘and there it shows me Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental pastimes, Kṛṣṇa’s Vraja-lila’.

So now tell me: is there anything else to get? Is there anything left to receive? Everything is there in the Holy Name. That is what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu presented through the eight verses and that is what Bhaktivinoda Thakur presented in this one verse. Caitanya Mahāprabhu made a gradual elevation and understanding of the Holy Name and Bhaktivinoda Thakur so wonderfully, actually Bhaktivinoda Thakur also wrote these 8 verses…. See our previous ācāryas have given us such a clear and sublime understanding. Everyhting is there. Now tell me: is there anything to get or can the Holy Name give you everything? Do you want your spiritual perfection?

Devotees: Yes

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: What do you have to do then?

Devotees: Chant the Holy Name.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Very good. Chant the Holy Name purely. Chant the Holy Name purely and everything will be achieved, everything will be achieved. Okay until the printouts come we will take a few question and answers and then when it comes, we will sing that song. Do you think it will be nice to sing it together?

Devotees: Yes

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Yes.

Devotee: Purely chanting. My question is maybe I don’t know. What is the contrary of not pure?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: What is the contrary to not pure? Impure.

Devotee: but how do we avoid it? How can I..

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay I got your point. I got your point. Pure means ‘you are something that is something that it is not, right? Something else is there. Like water, what is pure water?

Devotee: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: which is not… something other than water is there, right? Gold mixed with water, is it pure water? Diamond mixed with water. Mud mixed with water. So these are the impurities, anything other than the substance is called impurity.

Devotee: What attitude am I supposed to take if I want to …..

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender to Kṛṣṇa, surrender to Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Yes Pujarini.

Pujarini Mātājī: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. Thank you for selecting this song. Beautiful song. My question is: it is said that the state of separation is the highest. Why is it so painful that because even when we read in the Bhāgavatam or devotees in the state of separation when Kṛṣṇa leaves Vṛndāvana. It just seems that they are suffering, they are constantly thinking of Kṛṣṇa but they are suffering. So my question is: such a high stage of … then why is it painful?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: They are not suffering, rather they are enjoying more and more. How? They are feeling the intense separation. Then Kṛṣṇa comes to them. Now after the separation when they see Kṛṣṇa, how do they feel? Is that joy multiplied? Due to… see what separation is doing. Separation is multiplying the feeling of joy.

How many copies did you get?

Devotee: It’s not on the internet.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Haan.

Devotee: It’s not on the internet this one.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay. Anyway so I will give it to you. It’s actually I forgot to tell you that’s it’s in the Vedabase [laughter]. Anyway the fault is mine actually. The fault is mine. Yesterday I gave it to Kāñcana abjay, told Kāñcana abjay and I wrote but what I wrote was Śaraṇāgati’s first line. Anyway we will sing Śaraṇāgati song. That’s another … maybe we will briefly discuss that and then we will go. So what we handed out is the Sarangati song. And we will sing that and briefly before that, we will briefly discuss about that.

So this also is relevant to this point. Okay Pujarini your question.

So that this interruption, like say for example, just another example: you are eating. How does the eating taste? How does it feel? After sometime do you relish the taste of the food? Okay then there is a break. For four hours you don’t get any food. Then after four hours when you start eating how do you feel? Okay [laughter] so this interruption enables us to experience the joy of tasting something more, right? So if that union was uninterrupted, the joy of that union wouldn’t have been so intense. Therefore there is a need for interruption and that interruption is magnified when there is a feeling of separation. So that is why this separation is necessary.

Another way to describe it, Rūpa Goswami is describing that this is the way love moves. The movement of love is not in straight line. ahira.. praṇaya, the way a snake moves, right, love movement is also like that and that is feeling of union and separation. Okay as you were saying like they are feeling separation… that’s why separation is there. Kṛṣṇa made that arrangement. Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana. Kṛṣṇa never leaves Vṛndāvana. It’s seems that Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana. You know what happened? Akrūra came to take Kṛṣṇa and when they came to Yāmuna, the border of Vṛndāvana, then what happened? Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma went to take bath and at that time what did Akrūra see? Akrūra saw Kṛṣṇa’s four armed Form. So at that time the Devakinandan Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa came and sat on the chariot and Vrajendranandana Kṛṣṇa, the Son of Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā, Vrajendranandana Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa of Vṛndāvana, He went back to Vṛndāvana. And Kṛṣṇa used to meet them but when the Gopīs would meet with Kṛṣṇa they would think that they are dreaming. So this is how that separation intensifies the feeling of union.

Devotee: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay any other question. Yes.

Devotee:

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Take the mike.

Devotee: You have explained how the Holy Name begins to come from within,…

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: So you can constantly chant. Chant rather… [[Unclear]. The soul can constantly chant when it becomes Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Like the other day I was giving an example, I don’t know whether you were here: one day Caitanya Mahāprabhu came out of the toilet and He was biting on to His tongue. So everyone asked what happened. He said that My tongue is chanting the Holy Name even in the toilet. I can’t stop it. So that means what? The Holy Name is rising by Himself. He couldn’t stop it [laughter]. Won’t it be wonderful? At least we don’t have to make an endeavor to chant our 16 rounds [laughter]. And that is the ultimate perfection of this system. Okay if there is, okay Dina.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. When Sulochana Prabhu said that, when he saw Prabhupāda chant all the time even when he was talking, he was chanting. But how does a pure devotee control the ecstatic symptoms because they are uncontrollable. So how does one maintain this discipline?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: If it is chanting then don’t try to control it.

Devotees: [laughter]:

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Let it go. Rather our mood should be go, go, go. Why should we stop. To do your nonsense [laughter]? No we don’t have to.

Devotee: What I was saying was how did Prabhupāda controll those emotions because he was chanting pure nāma, how did he control…

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Oh I see, when Prabhupāda was there

Devotee: Yes

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Anyway that’s how you see a pure devotee come down to the second class platform. Uttama adhikārī devotee comes down to the second class platform to preach. For the sake of preaching they have to control their emotions or ecstatic symptoms. Prabhupāda is chanting; that he is doing internally but what is that along with the chanting the ecstasies that Prabhupāda is feeling or although he is so, I mean, he wants to continuously chant the Holy Name and chanting, but at the same time he is taking time, you know to do other things for the sake of preaching, for the sake of spreading Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. That is the meaning of how an uttama adhikārī pure devotee comes down, first class devotee comes down to the second class platform. Second class platform is the platform of preaching. In the first class platform you cannot preach. Any other question? Yes Madali.

Madali Mātājī: Hare Kṛṣṇa Guru Mahārāja. There are some devotees who find it difficult to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra daily. After few rounds he gets problem in his throat or problem in… and begins to chant mantras quite different for example Brahma-Saṁhitā, or ŚrīmadBhāgavatam….. and chants them daily whenever he gets spare time. My question is: is it possible by doing this and not chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to attain the same stages of pure love of Kṛṣṇa…

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Well we have to understand that Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave the Holy Name to chant. What is more important? Mahāprabhu gave the Holy Name. Is there anything else more important than chanting? Then why shouldn’t we chant? I mean in simple words I would just say like whoever it is, we all… Do we have enough time to eat? No matter how busy we may be, do we have enough time to eat? Do we have enough time to sleep? Why? Why do we find time to eat? Why do we find time to sleep? Because they are important for the body. Without eating and sleeping we cannot function. So if we have time, if we can make time for eating and sleeping why can’t we make time for chanting? When people say that I don’t have time to chant, we can immediately understand that he is not taking the Holy Name seriously enough. He is not serious about his spiritual life. If one is serious about his spiritual life then he will take care of his spiritual practice. And as I was saying that ultimately it is a matter of surrender. We have to surrender. There is no way out besides surrender. And who do we surrender first? Yes we surrender to Kṛṣṇa but then we recognize the surrender through the surrender to His devotees. Now Kṛṣṇa’s devotees are telling us, Prabhupāda is telling us: chant 16 rounds. Are you going to seriously take that instruction? If we don’t, that means we are not surrendering to Prabhupāda, right? Prabhupāda is making condition just chant 16 rounds. How long does it take to chant 16 rounds? About two hours. Maybe two and a half hours. So out of 24 hours, is it too much of a thing to take out these two hours for Kṛṣṇa, two hours for our spiritual life? So when it comes to chanting, there cannot be any excuse. The only thing is the person is not serious enough. So if they are not serious enough what can be done? Personally I would say chant at least one round because that will keep you in touch with the Holy Name. Just one round you chant because with that on a daily basis you will be in touch with the Holy Name, right? Okay now it’s almost nine clock. So I will briefly discuss. How many of you know this song of Saranagati?

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu jīve doyā kori’
swa-pārṣada swīya dhāma saha avatari’

atyanta durlabha prema koribāre dāna
śikhāya śaraṇāgati bhakatera prāna

dainya, ātma-nivedana, goptṛtve varaṇa
‘avaśya rakṣībe kṛṣṇa’—viśvāsa, pālana

bhaki-anukūla-mātra kāryera svīkara
bhakti-pratikūla-bhāva varjanāńgikāra

ṣaḍ-ańga śaraṇāgati hoibe jāhāra
tāhāra prārthanā śune śrī-nanda-kumāra

rūpa-sanātana-pade dante tṛṇa kori’
bhakativinoda poḍe duhuń pada dhori’

kāńdiyā kāńdiyā bole āmi to’ adhama
śikhāye śaraṇāgati koro he uttama

Translation

Out of compassion for the fallen souls Śrī Krisna Caitanya came to this world with His personal associates and divine abode to teach śaraṇāgati, surrender to the almighty Godhead, and to freely distribute ecstatic love of God, which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain. This śaraṇāgati is the very life of the true devotee

The ways of śaraṇāgati are humility, dedication of the self, acceptance of the Lord as one’s only maintainer, faith that Krishna will surely protect, execution of only those acts favorable to pure devotion, and renunciation of conduct adverse to pure devotion.

The youthful son of Nanda Mahārāja, Śrī Krishna, hears the prayers of anyone who takes refuge in Him by this six-fold practice.

Bhaktivinoda places a straw between his teeth, prostrates himself before the two Goswamis, Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana Goswami, and clasps their lotus feet with his hands. He says “I am certainly the lowest of men.” he tells them weeping, “but please make me the best of men by teaching me the ways of śaraṇāgati”

Who can play seven beat? Anyway.. anyway if the mṛdaṅga is, it’s a little difficult beat so without mṛdaṅga we will sing that. Jiten can you play seven beat? Okay you can

Some devotee: Pālikā can

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Pālikā can. Okay. Give her the mṛdaṅga. Who will play the harmonium? Okay. Very good. We have so many talents here. It’s a beautiful song. Isn’t it? So will you memorize it? So first is ‘śikṣāṣṭakam’, then Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s song ‘sarangati’ and ‘kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare koto bal’

Guru Mahārāja sings the song śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu jīve doyā kori’ and devotees repeat.

Devotees: Haribol.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay so you have the copies. All of you have the copies. So you can take them with you and I will give a copy of the other song in the evening and let us see if we have the time in the evening we will sing that song. That’s also a very beautiful song, a beautiful poetry of Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Okay thank you very much.

Guru Mahārāja chants the prasādam prayers and devotees repeat.

śarīra abidyā-jāl, joḍendriya tāhe kāl,
jīve phele viṣaya-sāgore
tā’ra madhye jihwā ati, lobhamoy sudurmati,
tā’ke jetā kaṭhina saḿsāre

kṛṣṇa baro doyāmoy, koribāre jihwā jay,
swa-prasād-anna dilo bhāi
sei annāmṛta pāo, rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa gāo,
preme ḍāko caitanya-nitāi

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare. Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Hare Kṛṣṇa. Gaura premānande

Devotees: Hari Hari bol.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Why didn’t you get in morning for…

Devotee: [inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Oh he gave it the other day.

Well there are some gifts for different devotees, different Radhadesh devotees. First is Saṅkarṣaṇa das from kitchen.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Did you ask him to come? Then Vijaya Baladeva das Guest house.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Rāmānanda Rāya dāsa

Devotees: Devotees: Haribol [clapping]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: He is also a Radhadesh devotee. Come here.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Kamala Mañjarī Dāsī.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Thank you.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Mandira devī Dāsī.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Mālatī Devī Dāsī.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Gatikari dāsa.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: He is not here but Manohara dāsa. Who can see the …

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Thank you.

Devotees: Haribol [applause]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: So some devotees who are not present. Hṛdaya Caitanya prabhu we already gave and those who are not here, Rādhā Vinoda, you and Rāmānanda can give them. Thank you. Hare Kṛṣṇa. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

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