A lecture given by HH Kadamba Kadamba Kanana Swami, 1 December 2009, Durban, South Africa
We’re reading from the Srimad Bhagavatam, from the 11th Canto, chapter 7, entitled “Lord Krsna instructs Uddhava,” text 11:
dosa-buddhyobhayatito
nisedhan na nivartate
guna-buddhya ca vihitam
na karoti yatharbhakah
Translation: One who has transcended material good and evil automatically acts in accordance with religious injunctions and avoids forbidden activities. The self-realized person does this spontaneously, like an innocent child, and not because he is thinking in terms of material good and evil.
(Purport)
(Invocatory prayers)
Purified senses
So when we become purified by the process of devotional service, anarthopasaman saksad bhakti-yogam adhoksaje, then one becomes adha aksaja. Adha aksaja means beyond the senses; one is no longer controlled by the senses and the sense impulses that are sent to the mind and there create so many impressions and so many desires. Then our only interest is simply to satisfy the Lord. The senses have become purified, the mind has become purified, the intelligence has become purified because our only desire is Krsna. We want only Krsna, we want only to serve Krsna, we want only to hear about Krsna, we want to taste only Krsna prasadam, we want to only see Krsna...In this way, in purified consciousness, automatically everything begins to fall into place. Naturally when one knows Krsna then one understands that Krsna is not just by Himself but that Krsna is the source of everything that exists,
aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah
(Bg 10.8)
Krsna is the origin of all material and all spiritual worlds. Thus a devotee sees everything in connection with Krsna and therefore he understands the purpose of everything. He understands that everything should be used for Krsna’s purposes, as simple as that, and not for any other purpose. So Krsna is,
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
(Bg 5.29)
For the pleasure of Krsna
Krsna is sarva-loka-mahesvaram; He is the controller of all locations, of all places, of all planetary systems. There is no place where Krsna is not in control or where Krsna is not the enjoyer- bhoktaram. So in every place we have to think, how can this be used for Krsna’s enjoyment? Even our own body, our own physical existence is meant for that purpose- how can we utilise our body for the pleasure of the Lord? How can we fulfil, with our labour, the desires of the Lord? In this way a devotee is naturally avoiding sinful activity because sinful activity is that which is opposing the desire of the Supreme Lord, it is activity that ignores the supremacy of the Supreme Lord, it is activity that ignores that the Lord is the Lord and master and that everything is meant for His enjoyment; rather it is the activity where one thinks that everything is for my enjoyment. And when we think that things are for my enjoyment then sinful activity will come because our selfishness will get in the way. There are competitors; ‘it is me or Him...then? Get Him out of the way! Now it’s me...!’
In this way, as soon as selfish desires come, then sinful activity will also come. It is inevitable because how can we then remember that simply Krsna’s pleasure is the only way. So all the rules and regulations of the scripture are simply meant for that purpose- to satisfy the Supreme Lord; that we may somehow or other act in such a way that is for the satisfaction of Krsna. And that’s all there is and if somehow or other we can act in that way, for the satisfaction of Krsna, then we become purified. In the beginning through following the rules and regulations of the scriptures very carefully and then these rules and regulations of the scriptures will purify our consciousness, it will purify the mind, it will purify the senses, it will purify the intelligence and then it gradually it will automatically start to act for Krsna because we’ll see that we will always remember Krsna. When we always remember Krsna then in every situation automatically we will remember, here is the Lord, He is meant as the Supreme enjoyer, and now how can I use this situation for His pleasure? And in this way a devotee is automatically free from sinful activity- automatically. He doesn’t need to think about it because his thought is the pleasure of the Lord. That is how he rises above sinful activity.
When knowledge becomes covered
But as long as we think ‘my pleasure’ then sin is lurking around the corner. So this is our dilemma and we realise that actually we still keep ourselves too much in the centre. Our own desires are still so much in our mind. Even if we try to be Krsna conscious, then still in the background so much of our own personal desire. And because our intelligence remains covered, sinful desires, they cover the intelligence.
avrtam jnanam etena
jnanino nitya-vairina
kama-rupena kaunteya
duspurenanalena ca
(Bg 3.39)
This kama rupa, or lust, is the cause of knowledge becoming covered- avrtam. So when our knowledge is covered then gradually we forget- we forget Krsna, we forget what is the goal of life and we become confused. So it takes time; in Krsna consciousness it is not all at once that all ignorance is destroyed. It is a gradual process where it may take quite some time before we can finally see how we are conditioned, before we can finally understand that ‘actually, I’m so much influenced by false pride. I’m so much influenced by envy.’ So long we cannot see it.
Demoniac nature in us?
Just like in the Bhagavad-Gita, in the 16th chapter, there’s a description of the divine and the demoniac nature. And the first 7 verses are describing the divine nature- that’s us- and the rest of the chapter is describing the demoniac nature- that’s the neighbours! (Laughter) The tendency is so much there to think that we are devotees, so the divine nature is ours. But with time we become aware that we are influenced so much by the demoniac mentality. Iccha-dvesa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bharata. Iccha and dvesa- material desire and hate or envy; envy of other living beings, finding them a disturbance in our plan because ‘we are the enjoyer.’ And as long as we are the enjoyer then others are simply a disturbance in that- sooner or later- because someone will do something that’s not so enjoying. Then envy awakens immediately! ‘Why is this person disturbing me? This is disturbing me! Get out of my way!’ Immediately we see that parents cannot tolerate children when they cry. Yes sometimes they lose it! They beat the children or put the pillow on top...or something- anything! It’s envy that is awakened. I just recently read that somewhere...envy comes out in many ways.
So gradually, we need to be purified. So at this point we are looking for purification, we are catching ourselves again and again and when we do catch ourselves in being unduly hostile to someone, then we have to correct ourselves. If we are not giving anyone a fair chance, a fair chance to just engage in devotional service then we have to correct ourselves. As soon as we think that one kind of people is better than another, then we need to make so many adjustments. The other day someone said to me that they say that all Indians are racist...well, I’ve got news for you, not only are all Indians racists but all the people of the world are racist! Even animals are racists! Yes they too, because these tendencies will remain until we are pure devotees of the Lord. Only then will we be free from such considerations. That is envy- racism- and envy is there within us. So it’s not so easy; it’s not just a matter of an intellectual adjustment, (dramatic), ‘now I will be different! Now I have understood! Now we will be kind to everyone...’ no, this is when we become an actor- when we start to act out the role of the pure devotee. (Dramatic) ‘Now I will be very merciful, now I will be very kind...’- the pure devotee or the Jesus complex! ‘Now I will benedict the world...’ and sometimes it becomes so strong that we are convinced that we are doing it, not seeing that actually we are upsetting many people.
Surrender means...NOW!
So it’s not simple to become nonviolent; to really become nonviolent takes a real great purification. Somehow or other this is our aim therefore. So purification comes in devotional service, purification comes in looking for blessings, purification comes in following the bona fide process that has been given by the acaryas. One must be strict; it is about being strict, it is about surrender, it is about giving up independence. And surrender, Srila Prabhupada said, means to follow all the rules and regulations- even the small ones! That is surrender. It means to give up our own ideas; surrender means that we stop thinking of what I want for my life. Our whole life we’ve developed the idea, ‘this is what I want, this is what I desire...’ now, forget it! Just now- not tomorrow, no NOW. ‘Now? After the class?’ No, NOW! ‘After 5 minutes?’ No, no, NOW! Now! ‘Right now?’ Right now! This very moment, forget it, forget. This is surrender. Surrender doesn’t mean tomorrow; ‘tomorrow I will surrender.’ No, no surrender is from moment to moment. Surrender means in the now, surrender means in the present, surrender means it has to be done now. When we say, ‘I’ll surrender tomorrow’ it means, ‘I will start meditating on it and I hope maybe tomorrow I’ll be that far,’ No, just do it! Get the T-shirt and just do it! Just don’t think about it...surrender is something one does now. It is about doing the right thing right now. As Prabhupada said, “sit properly!” and then what is it? What does it mean to sit properly? Well, eventually we learn, we read what is proper. Then we must follow it.
Little changes make a big change
So we must readjust our life little by little, many little things we have to change. Purifying our existence means that we are making many changes- little changes. I was reading about sadhana bhakti and it said many things you could do wrong and one of the things it said was putting tilak without chanting the mantras. And I was caught because sometimes when I’m in a rush it happens! I’m inattentively putting tilak and I sort of put it already and I forgot all about the mantras! And then with all my haribol, I got caught! I was reading it two days ago and was thinking, oh boy, I do that sometimes! I catch myself that I forget to chant the mantras.
So it is like that; it is not automatic. We have to try again and again to do it properly. When we catch ourselves, correct it, then go back and try to correct it because it is like that. We have to do all the small things correct- all of them little by little. Then there will be a big change. It is that how you make the big change; not just by a dramatic statement, (dramatic), ‘today I want to make a big announcement dear devotees, today I’m going to surrender...!!!’ Yeah, yeah, yeah...we have heard it; we have heard such statements so many times. But you can’t do it. Others are saying, (dramatic) ‘yes I know, I know, I know...I can’t surrender. I’ve tried but I just can’t do it, it’s hopeless. I want to do it but I just can’t do it...what to do! It’s just miserable. But I’m caught and I really wish I could surrender but I just can’t do it...oh me oh my...’ cry, cry, lament, lament...no, this is again the same excuse. We are looking at surrender as if it’s a mountain, as if it is a huge insurmountable task, something very big...and we don’t take up the small steps- the many small adjustments. We are not making the small adjustments; we’re not taking shelter of all the small prohibitions, of all the small favourable injunctions of the scripture...all these rules and regulations. But if we do so, then we become purified. It is in that way. All for Krsna, because gradually little by little, in that we’re adjusting our life to act in such a way that it is for the pleasure of Krsna instead of, ‘for my pleasure or the way I’m use to doing it, the way I’ve always done it, the way I know it, the way I grew up, the way we do it in my country, the way that I feel comfortable...’ all these things are all the excuses, they are the excuses.
Intelligence brings the knowledge and the mind makes the excuses
We, we live with our mind. The intelligence presents our duty; through the intelligence we are gradually getting knowledge. Like Krsna says at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, “Know that by studying this Bhagavad Gita or by reading this Bhagavad Gita, that you serve Me with the intelligence.” So if we are reading Bhagavad Gita, then gradually we become aware of what to do, what not to do. And then the excuses, ‘oh, ya but this is not practical. This is not possible...it’s too late. I already have bad habits. Now it’s very difficult...’- the excuses. So the intelligence brings the knowledge and the mind makes the excuses. That’s what the mind does; it’s making excuses- endless excuses! Well, ‘I would have surrendered...’ now it’s like, ‘I would have surrendered if I had Krsna consciousness earlier in my life. I would have surrendered if I had been more mature when I met Krsna consciousness...I would have surrendered if culturally I would have had more of a connection. I would have...but you know...’
Just like Sacinandana Maharaja, his father was a prominent man in Germany because he was one of the directors of the German railway, which was obviously a big position. So he met Prabhupada and when he met Prabhupada, he asked Prabhupada a question. And the question was, is it possible for a crocodile to survive in the rime? He said, “This is my question, ‘is it possible for a crocodile to survive in the rime?’” or in other words, ‘is it possible to transplant a culture from India into a foreign environment? Can it survive? In that way he was basically saying, ‘yes, yes I think your Krsna consciousness is very good...for the people of India! It’s their culture; it’s their nature but is it for people who are from another culture?’
Krsna consciousness- not cheap and automatic
So excuses, excuses, excuses! ‘Excuse me please, but I really don’t want to surrender! I really don’t want to take to your Krsna consciousness! So take this excuse, take this excuse...what can I do this is a crucial point in my life! Now I have to invest in my education, this is the time of my life where I have to do it...so I have to study, so how can I practice Krsna consciousness seriously?’ Don’t worry, don’t worry... ‘Yes but I must invest in my future...’ You may never have any future! Why do you think you’re having a future? That’s just an idea; let’s see what Krsna wants. Maybe we won’t have. And so much investment, ‘and now we are sacrificing! Now we are sacrificing! Now we are sacrificing everything for the future! Of course my Krsna consciousness, I want to sacrifice it but I’m first sacrificing for the future! Yes everything for the future!’ ...and the future never came! What to do, missed the boat...too bad!
So endless excuses, endless excuses and this is our business. We can write a book, ‘1008 excuses not to surrender...’! It wouldn’t be so difficult. I think if we’d sit down for it, we’d manage 108 reasons why I can’t be a devotee. It will be easy, it will be quite easy. So like this our mind is creative because we don’t want to, we really don’t want to. And we’re postponing, we’re dragging our feet. And for this reason we’re not advancing very much because we don’t want to sacrifice our material desires. We just hope that one day they’ll automatically go away. We just hope against hope that I’m chanting Hare Krsna and meanwhile I’m maintaining my material desires but I’m hoping that one day I will wake up and that all my material desires will be gone. That’s what I’m hoping. I’m hoping that one day Krsna will just take them all away and that I wake up in the morning and that I feel so inspired about Krsna consciousness. We want it cheap and automatic. But no. We have to sacrifice; we have to sacrifice these material desires. Take them, throw them in the fire...one less! And now the next, throw it in...Sputter, sputter, burn, burn our material desires. This is what is required.
We have to fight
It may sound strong; yad-anudhyasina yuktah karma-granthi-nibandhanam, it is said that one must cut the knot of karma, the knot of material enjoyment with the sword of transcendental knowledge. Is that not strong? So Krsna speaks strong. So if I use the metaphor of the fire, that is not any stronger than a big sword. It means that both have an element of violence in it. It means that surrender will not be without pain. When it says we must cut the knot of material enjoyment with the sword of knowledge, it means it’s going to be a little difficult; it’s going to be a fight. A sword means a fight. It’s going to be a fight; a fight with our material attachments, a fight with our lower nature, a fight with our habits...we have to fight!
Too much service = no time for the mind
So this is really how one comes to this spontaneous platform. One way is to just take up a lot of service. Instead of worrying all the time about controlling our mind and controlling our senses, just be busy with devotional service because in the cause of devotional service everything gets burned up automatically. Too much service, no time for the mind! Too busy now, come back later. ‘Hello this is your mind!’
‘Yes very nice, can you see me after when I’m finished with my service? I really have no time now; I have so much to do.’
In this way, Srila Prabhupada designed this movement where there is no end, no end to what is there to do. And if we just take up something to do in the service of Krsna and we take it very seriously, then there’s never enough time and we’ll just find that there is every day so much service to do for Krsna. And that every day we can write down 50 things to do for Krsna and at the end how many things have we done? Do you also have that problem? My whole life is like that! So many things to do and I never get them done. Some things I get done but so many things I just don’t get done. There’s too much to do. This is the nature of devotional service; that indirectly the mind and senses become controlled. Instead of consciously endeavouring and fighting we are now just simply engaging our mind and senses in the service of Krsna. And then automatically there is no more time, no more energy for Maya, no more energy for our weakness. Then we become purified.
So in this way this movement is designed so that we get purified in the cause of devotional service and then simultaneously we make a conscious endeavour to overcome our lower nature and then we’ll become fixed in nistha. Nistha, Srila Prabhupada says, 70 percent purified. He said, basically more purified than contaminated. At that stage one becomes spontaneous, at that stage one is spontaneously drawn to Krsna. Spontaneous. So if we diligently apply ourselves in devotional service and take up more service then we will become quickly purified. Okay now, any questions, any comments? Ya?
Question: Maharaja, when you are talking about the divine and the demoniac, you said it was talking about us. I thought it was talking about the real demon, demon?
Maharaja: That’s chapter 16 of Bhagavad Gita, “The Divine and Demoniac Nature”. I said we’re talking about us and he thought we were talking about the demon-demon. Yes we’re talking about us. Ya the demoniac nature. We have practiced demoniac life for unlimited births, so many births. And now suddenly we have received the mercy of the vaisnavas and we are being pulled out of our demoniac situation. So is it surprising if there would be some remnants lefts of our previous demoniac situation of so many lives? So this is what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about that we are still engaging grossly in demoniac activity because on the gross, external platform, we are following the regulative principles of devotional service. But I’m talking about a deeper, more subtle, internal level where within the mind and in the heart still so many traces of our previous demoniac past remains. And I say now it’s time to correct it, now it’s time to make a conscious effort to rise above and to really try and be non-envious. That will help, that will help. That’s what I meant.
Any other questions...yes?
Question: Is bodily pain also an excuse?
Maharaja: Bodily pain...yeah it’s very difficult, it’s very difficult to rise above. I also...everybody gets his share...I just recently in Mayapur, I had a tooth ache for two days- extreme! And just in the middle of that, I was teaching Bhismadeva. And Bhismadeva was lying on a bed of arrows and he was not affected by the pain and (holds mouth) I was affected like anything you know! And I was teaching this and I was...aaah...having a hard time to even concentrate. But Bhismadeva, he somehow or other overcame that pain. And I was thinking yes, but Bhismadeva was a powerful ksatriya. He was so powerful, he had incredible determination. But that was not everything, because it is also stated that Bhismadeva was a brahma rsi, a great saintly personality full of transcendental knowledge. So, with transcendental knowledge, he was also able to detach from the pain. But that was not everything; Bhismadeva had love for Krsna and because of his love for Krsna, everything else seemed so insignificant. How could he let his mind go into the small things? So he felt the pain, but he couldn’t pay attention to it because he was thinking too much of Krsna. It is said then that Krsna appeared at the end of his life and then Krsna took away all pain. So it was there, but Bhismadeva’s mind didn’t become absorbed in it.
This is the advanced stage where one rises above...it’s very difficult. So pain from the body, pain from the mind...what do you do? Well pain or no pain, we still can’t give up service, we can’t. There is no alternative. Whether we are getting happiness in this world or whether we are getting distress in this world, we cannot give up the service of Krsna. We must serve Krsna, because that’s our only hope. Whenever we serve Krsna, the eternal benefit is there. I was speaking about this yesterday, that, whatever we do, in devotional service, there is always these two dimensions: one is the material one, and the other is the spiritual one. The spiritual side is always auspicious and always positive; the material side is sometimes positive and sometimes negative. Sometimes in devotional service, we are so happy; other times in devotional service, we are suffering, we’re struggling...everything becomes so hard. It may be, but the spiritual side is always auspicious, so we must go on with this devotional service, and that would gradually absorb us more and more in Krsna and lift us above all pain and take us out of this material world.
This world which is too much...it’s too much this material world. So let us, somehow or the other, go forward and sometimes, some people, they have in their lives a lot of misfortune and everything goes wrong in their life. They are the ones that are blessed because they are the ones that can no longer enjoy this material world. They are the ones that get this special opportunity. Krsna wants those people to become pure devotees. They get the heavy test, but they must pass it, and somehow or the other, take shelter of Krsna. Then they can become pure devotees more than others who sometimes forget and think, ‘I will enjoy’, so this is very strong; Maya is very strong. But sometimes Krsna gives us so much suffering in this life, then we are forced, forced to just stop this enjoying mentality, we are forced to just take shelter of devotional service, and that is the only way to rise above pain and suffering. Then the spiritual world is near, only a short time away, very close. The spiritual world where everything is full of eternal bliss, it’s the only place to be...the spiritual world! Who wants to enjoy in this material world? Only a fool! Two types of people are happy in the material world, it says, those who are self-realized they are happy and those who are childish retarded fools...they are also happy in the material world!
Any other questions...yes?
Question: Maharaja you were saying in the class how when you surrender there is an element of pain....So I was thinking that in that attempt to surrender, sometimes it can also become mental pressure. So we should just like go on against that...or is that just an excuse?
Maharaja: Okay, so if we in the cause of being strict with ourselves that creates so much stress basically and which makes it very difficult to maintain spiritual life. So when we get such stress signals should we just push on or should we just take the foot off the gas? What to do? Yes there is a minimum level and there’s a maximum level in terms of our endeavour. Sometimes we push very hard and other times when we are tired physically or mentally stressed, we push a little less. But we have our minimum and we should not go below our minimum. So we need some range where we say now I’m stressed and now I’m relaxed. And we need both. But the relaxation cannot go beyond a minimum standard. Like you can relax but you cannot say, ‘I’ll relax’ and just sleep till 10 ‘o clock in the morning because ‘I’m so tired.’ No, better then to make another arrangement to sleep. Go to bed at 4 ‘o clock if that is what it takes! If you do a twelve hour sleep, by all means go to bed at 4 ‘o clock- sleep 12 hours- and then still make it for mangal arati! And then it’s not stress. So it’s also a matter of intelligence how to avoid the stress. But a certain minimum standard is required. If you say 16 rounds is too much stress then sorry you’re at the wrong address. When you come to my door and you say 16 rounds is too much stress, then you’ll find a sign, ‘sorry, he’s not home.’ But some days we may chant extra rounds and some days we may just chant the bare minimum, that’s all right, that’s what it takes to deal with the material world. But for the minimum level, whatever stress it takes we got to take it inevitably. And that can be tough. So we got to be tough because we don’t want to stay in the material world. It’s not worth it to stay in the material world in the name of looking for comfort because there is no comfort in the material world. It’s not an option; comfort is only in the spiritual world. So we better take a little stress now to make sure we’re going to the spiritual world.
Anyone else? The end! Thank you very much.
Srila Prabhupada ki, Jaya!