(Verse repeated)
So yesterday we started discussing these verses and we went over�since it is a list of 30 qualities or activities that one should try to acquire in the human form of life, we thought that we should just go through them step by step instead of doing them very quick, so that�s what I did yesterday. I think I should just carry on because all these are quite important actually. One can deal with such lengthy verses very quickly but actually, each point is really valuable in life. Yesterday we talked about truthfulness, mercy, austerity, bathing, tolerance, discrimination between right and wrong, control of the mind and senses, non-violence and today we�ll begin with celibacy.
So celibacy is an austerity for the condition soul yet, it is very favourable for spiritual life because whenever the consciousness becomes absorbed in lust, then automatically the living being becomes covered. That is the nature of lust. Avrtam jnanam etana jnanino nitya-vairina kama-rupena kaunteya duspurenanalena ca. avritam jnanam- avritam means covered and jnanam- knowledge. So by the influence of lust, knowledge becomes covered then this lust begins to burn like fire and then it becomes worse. So then the covering also becomes worse. So the more one becomes involved in lusty activities, the more one becomes forgetful of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the more our consciousness becomes minimised. It is said, sudhram hrdya durbalyam, due to the weakness of heart, which includes falling prey to lust, the living entity, he becomes sudhra- he becomes small-minded because his mind begins to rotate around just a few things. In village life in the third world, we find that bullock power is still employed for many household purposes. For example, for grinding grains or for pumping water or such things�and the system is that the bull is tied to a wooden beam and that wooden beam is sitting on a vertical axle and rotates and in this way creates some grinding or pumping facility, slowly. So the bullock is then basically walking in a circle. So it is said the grhamedhi, is a person who is addicted to sex life and such a grhamedhi is just like the bullock on that beam walking in a circle around sex life. And every activity begins to support sex life basically; there is a house for the sake of sex life, there�s money to maintain the relationship and so on. So in this way the grhamedhi is entirely preoccupied with sexual activity actually. Therefore scripture says that this life is metunya agara, it is like a chain of sex life, everything is a chain. And this chain is what binds him. If the material world is compared to a jail, the sex life are the bars in that jail, that keep us locked in the material existence, that sort of make it all worthwhile otherwise what is there in material life?
So in this way celibacy automatically detaches us from material entanglement and therefore gradually frees the mind for focusing on the Supreme Lord. But again, we mentioned similar things yesterday about austerity and now, about celibacy. With all the celibacy of the world, one cannot get love of God. That is not possible. So celibacy in itself, although it may be a big thing in our spiritual life, not easy to follow the four regulative principles and especially that principle�still by following the four regulative principles, one is not getting love of God. The four regulative principles are simply regulating our material life and through it we avoid serious entanglement in the material nature that will block us from applying ourselves in the process of bhakti. But it is devotional service that is really going to give us bhakti. Therefore it is devotional service that is going to nourish us, it is bhakti comes from bhakti and nothing else. So by serving Krsna and by chanting we can actually get the higher taste and not through any such restrictions. Therefore without being absorbed in service, celibacy becomes a great burden, it becomes a very difficult thing to maintain. But for one who is absorbed in devotional service, such a person gets a lot of inspiration and taste from devotional service and then celibacy becomes a feasible thing and it�s on that formula that a devotee can do what is impossible because otherwise Freud warned against this, that this world is the cause of world wars, the cause of great aggression in people when sex life is being repressed. So the encyclopaedia Britannica, which is a debatable authority but still taken as an authority, is stating that maybe Freud had the biggest impact on the intellectual life of modern man. And Freud left us with the �pressure cooker�- the concept of the �pressure cooker.� That�s us, and basically that is the desire- the lusty desire builds up, the pressure is increasing and if you don�t do something about it, you�re going to explode! And therefore, let out the steam! It�s the only option in a pressure cooker.
But the process of devotional service is another means to�it minimises the pressure in the pressure cooker immediately by transcendental taste. It makes the whole material�it takes away the attraction for material sense gratification immediately- maybe not fully- but at least to some extent. In the beginning it at least takes off the sharp edges because one might say that although attraction to sex life may remain, one loses faith in sex life. As we become devotees, we begin to lose faith in sex life. Not that we had no attachment to it, but at least in the all in all. We don�t believe that this is really what is going to make you happy. We may still be influenced by the modes of material nature, therefore one may feel, �Well maybe, I can not give this up� and one might go for the grhastha asrama. But even in the grhastha asrama it�s different because that is not the all in all; one knows it. It�s a secondary point. Krsna consciousness becomes the first point, spiritual life becomes the point. So in this way, immediately, even if one is still affected by material desires, the sharp edges disappear because in the life of a materialist, it is the all in all. I mean that�s ultimately what it all boils down to.
I�m just now; in the flat where I�m staying in the bathroom there are all Garfield stickers on the tiles! And Garfield is in different outfits and he�s got a sports outfit and a motorbike outfit and a study outfit and then sure enough, there is a few of Garfield in love! You know, in love? He fell in lust. That�s not love because love is selfless, love is selfless. So that�s not exactly what Garfield is going through. And yes, Garfield is of course nothing but a mirror to the reader of the newspapers and well; there are plenty of those in this world. So that is what life is all about- Garfield! And from our perspective it�s just garbage, what shall I say! Celibacy then is therefore not the meditation of the vaisnava, rather meditation is the prerequisite, is a support. But a vaisnava is not constantly thinking about celibacy and even if a vaisnava starts to struggle with celibacy, the struggle begins in the mind. At that stage, the solution for the struggle is to become absorbed in Krsna, is to think of Krsna, is to do service for Krsna, is to read about Krsna and to preoccupy our mind in Krsna. Just as it was mentioned earlier that one should bathe twice a day, it is also said one should bathe the mind, sambda pareiya nisthatyam, one should bathe the mind in transcendental sound vibration. And if we regularly bathe the mind in transcendental sound vibration then such thoughts of sex life will be less in the centre of our mind; they may still be there on the horizon of our mind because it�s not that it just goes away like that but not main, centre stage with spot lights and flashing and everything: �Sex life!!!� not that bad, which could easily happen and also does happen.
We are not living in the most supportive environment for bramacarya. When I was a bramacari in Amsterdam, that was on the * and there were so many sankirtana devotees in those days and therefore no one had time to wash his clothes. So it was my service for a while to bring the laundry- all the dhotis- to the Laundromat around the corner and it was a huge pile. And you may have seen in India those donkeys loaded up with washing and all you see is washing- a pile of washing and four legs! Well in this case you saw a pile of washing and two legs! And that was it! So I use to on the way in, I didn�t see anything; I just drop up the bundle at the lady of the Laundromat and then at night we�d have to pick it up, that was the deal. And then as I came out of the Laundromat then on the other side of the Laundromat there was the office of the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform! Well�and there it was, straight in your face! �Are you having it to? Do you also feel attracted? And if you do, then ring this number�� and posters and all kinds of things; it was straight in your face. And basically this is what the Dutch Society, or not just Dutch- everywhere in the world- is doing to us, that even when you are totally peaceful and not disturbed at all then someone puts something in your face and says, �But you know, possibly you are also like this�or attracted to this�� and so on. So therefore we are constantly bombarded and reminded of sex life in so many ways. And the whole society is like that.
Ya, I walked from that flat this morning and then I walked past the beauty parlour on the bridge and it just crossed my mind: in Vedic culture this would probably be considered as being part of a brothel! As I saw that beauty parlour and a chair where the lady can lie and can be decorated, and I was thinking: in Vedic culture people would look at this like, �What�s going on here?� These kind of things also did exist of course; ladies would assist each other in the art of make-up. Make-up is not a new invention but it�s not the different creams made of dead animals that are smeared all over the body were applied in Vedic culture, but it is said they were using fragrant oils and natural colour minerals. So eye shadows and all that stuff, they must have used it then also but with natural colour. A little colour on the cheek, a little mineral here and there was used but of course, not by simple village girls. We see the difference between the gopis and the queens in the ladies of Mathura. And it is described that these ladies of Mathura have a much higher level of sophistication than the simple village girls of Vrndavana, especially in terms of these kinds of things. Although, we see also descriptions how Radharani is being decorated by other gopis and so on. The point is, it did exist in a more Vedic setting- that ladies were paying attention to being beautiful- but it was always done within the circle of ladies. That�s how it was; the ladies would do that privately, not publicly displayed. But now publicly displayed and that is the one thing that is not right.
So our modern culture is not supportive of celibacy�I�ll just stay on this one point until I�m sort of tired of it and I�m not tired of it yet so I�m not moving through this verse very fast I must say! It�s going slow. I haven�t reached the purport yet! I�m about 1/3rd into the verse but whatever it may be�it�s worth it! Yes, Srila Prabhupada raises the point about Ajamila. Ajamila was born a brahmana- that meant from good parents. Of course no one is born a brahmana but born in a Brahman family. Then by samskaras and training one can become qualified as a brahmana after due initiation. So Ajamila went through all that- got the proper training, got the proper samskaras- everything was done right. All the samskaras, all the purifications were there at the right time in his life and that is a big support. First of all, Garbadana samskara helps that the living being that is attracted within the womb is at that stage�well, has some piety and then the next thing is that there are all these purificatory samskaras, which are certain rituals- not just rituals but certain activities which give the person a certain guidance in his life. They are what is called �rights of passage.� A right of passage is a ritual, which at a certain stage of life, prepares a person for new stage of life. So just like in Vedic culture then, the time when a boy would start education especially (a boy was given more education in those days), but when a boy would start his education, there would be a samskara- a ceremony- that was being performed. And at that time he would�okay, he would learn, the teacher would hold his hands and would help him to write the first letter of the alphabet. But that wasn�t everything; he was then also�there was a whole ceremony, a celebration that this is now a very historical moment because here you are going to learn something which is of importance to your future life and so on. So all that was impressed upon that boy. So he got at least with him something, a good message for his motivation. I don�t remember that it was like that when I went to school. I mean, somehow or other you had to go! And then it started with� (Dutch)�I still know! It was a little difficult but I made it. So yes, it started with that and you had to write with a pen that you had to dip it in an inkpot- God, what misery! Ink everywhere! Ah, did I suffer! You had to go to school when it was still dark and you would come home when it was still dark! And you miss the whole day! My God! Okay, there was also a concept that this is for your future- I guess- but especially in our secondary education you sought of�many people totally lose motivation and the only motivation is, �I got to get this paper!� but there�s no more sense to, �I�m learning something here that is meaningful to my life, to my self as an individual, to my personal development��
So Vedic culture would just give people an education which was meaningful to themselves; it was something you could totally relate to. Not that you sit there in your school and you�re thinking�like I was thinking, in Geography, I had to learn that in Russia there is Dnepropetrovsk and I thought to myself, �Why in the world do I have to know where Dnepropetrovsk is? I�m never going to go to Dnepropetrovsk! No way!� I mean, I was quite convinced that I would never do that. So I had great difficulty in motivating myself to learn it. And I drew the whole map on the door, with chalk, and I made different marks, circles, and then I took darts and then I was throwing darts on these places! So in this way I learned it but boy, was it miserable! I tried to make it a little juicy but in itself I thought, Dnepropetrovsk �! Of course, now that I�m a sanyassi, of all places they�ve invited me to go to Dnepropetrovsk! But I�m not going to Dnepropetrovsk! I took a solemn vow that I would never go to Dnepropetrovsk! But you never know�may be one day I�ll go to Dnepropetrovsk and then I�ll tell this story!
Anyway, so celibacy and culture are also related with one another, that we have to understand. Our current culture is not at all supportive but fortunately we have a very powerful element, and that is we have the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, which gives us the strength and power to do it. Therefore we can by taking shelter of the mercy of Mahaprabhu. The mercy of Mahaprabhu is not an automatic thing you know. We have the mercy of Mahaprabhu- there is this mystic ray of light upon us, and everything is going on. There may be a mystic element to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu but beyond the mystic side there is also the practical side- that we have to do it. It�s like, yes, there is the mercy of Mahaprabhu. It�s like water and we have to step in and submerge ourselves in the mercy of Mahaprabhu, we have to submerge ourselves in the chanting and in the hearing. And because the culture is not supportive, it is difficult. The pace of life is demanding, there is so much distraction; to chant your rounds on the tram is just not the same. Some read very well in such situations and others get distracted. So what to say�Some people, as soon as they sit down and read in the tram�there they go� the motion and reading combined will surely put you asleep. So the culture is not exactly supportive.
With that, I�ve also touched a little on �reading of scripture�, which is also there. Reading of scripture�I skipped charity, so we�ll go back there�reading of scripture is obviously part of life. It is considered here to be a serious part of life and we have to develop that habit and that culture to make it something we really do in our life. Again this modern culture is at war with that but we must do it. And even a page here and a page there, if you don�t really find time to really read so much. Just like your little reading in the morning after mangal arati, from Nectar of Devotion, or something like that�you notice that you remember it. It�s just two minutes- a little, little bit, but one remembers something. And sometimes the thought of that comes back during the day. It is like that. Somebody wrote me a letter not so long ago just saying, ��this morning, Nectar of Devotion we read about this and this�and was thinking�� it happens; it enters into our thought pattern, it enters into our system and emerges. And this is what the reading does; the reading is not just an intellectual process where, �What am I reading here? Do I agree, don�t I agree? Ya, I never thought of that. I really learned something today�very nice�� that is sought of maybe a mundane way of reading. But spiritual reading, known as sometimes in the western tradition, it has been referred to as �lectio devina� or �divine reading;� Lectio devina or divine reading is analysed as being much more of a meditative nature and then it relates to our consciousness and that the text in itself is of a spiritual nature and that it acts upon our consciousness, it enters into our consciousness and there it will work on its own. Bhagavatam itself says, srnvatam sva-katha krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah hrdy antah-stho hy abhadrani vidhunoti suhrt satam, it says it enters into the heart if we hear this transcendental sound vibration and there it just destroys all the sinful activities.
In India, before the winter begins, there are people that walk through the streets and they carry with them a big bow- a serious bow, for bow and arrow type of thing- but no arrows, just a bow. So a bow and a string of that bow is sort of thick- a bit like a big base string- and they play on this bow and it makes some sort of sound (imitates sound), very loud- much louder than I�m doing- so it�s very loud and they walk through the streets like that with these bows. If you would be in India you might see such a thing. But you might not know what it�s all about because that you will only know if you live in India longer. So the bow is called a vidunoti. So in this verse, srnvatam sva-katha krsnah punya-sravana-kirtanah, the last line is vidunoti�so what is this vidunoti? The bow is called the vidunoti and a vidunoti is a tool which is used to fluff up cotton. Because what they have, they have all these quilts that are stuffed with cotton for the winter, as a big heavy blanket- just a bag filled with stuffed cotton. But all that cotton from last year has become pressed and therefore the blanket loses its fluffiness and its heat because of that. It needs air; the whole insulation of those kinds of blankets is based on that there�s air between the fibres. So the vidunoti vibrates the fibres and then fluff them back up and then in this way the whole blanket is fresh again. So vidunoti. So it�s interesting; one can hear the transcendental sound and it goes into the whole sinful activity, which are like packed together in our hard heart, we see is there. And it begins to just (imitates string sound), it begins to fluff it up. The transcendental sound vibration acts upon the heart and the sinful activities gradually become eradicated and destroyed in the heart. That is the nature of hearing.
It is said, nasta-prayesv abhadresu nityam bhagavata-sevaya, that almost all that is inauspicious will be destroyed by hearing Bhagavatam. Almost all- why almost? Srila Prabhupada once said, almost because when we are reading a lot we will get learned and when we get learned we become proud. Therefore almost all. It�s interesting. Of course you could say a lot more about reading of the scripture. Anyway, but it is a very important element. I would say that in our movement, one of the great causes why devotees are becoming dry in their spiritual practices is because they don�t get absorbed in reading. Because you see, chanting is something you do because we measure it- 16 rounds- so it is sort of very clear. But we don�t do like one hour of�we don�t vow one hour reading, we just don�t vow it. So we don�t give it the same urgency but it practically has the same urgency. It�s very important- very, very important.If we are not reading, guarantee it that everything will become stale. This reading has the capacity to just sort of change our whole vision back to transcendental. So it�s very important and many devotees will say to you, �I use to read much more before I joined than after�� many devotees would say that, many would agree to that. So we should somehow or other struggle; one has to struggle. I understand that circumstances, the culture in which we live in is not favourable for us but we have to struggle and do it. It�s important, it really is important. And if you have so much service that you never have time to read, then maybe it�s time to speak to the senior vaisnvas and say, �I have so much service, I never have time to read. Please give me the time�� of course I know that when you get that little time then you fall asleep within two minutes. But I knew one devotee then who was really fired up and he had a little bucket with a sponge� and he became very learned! He did! He used to be cleaning with one hand and with the other he was learning slokas! So he was definitely�of course he has glasses now, that�s for sure, that�s what you also get for too much reading but it looks intellectual.
Charity, for a moment; charity is such a thing that�the colloquial saying is �Charity begins at home� so charity begins at home is a fact that, real charity means that we have to give ourselves. If we give ourselves then that is the real meaning of vaisnava charity. A vaisnava must be charitable and generous in giving himself; not holding back but just seeing that, alright, if a situation requires, �Yes, I�ll give myself� even if the situation is like not reasonable. So charity means that you have to stop being reasonable. If you start to calculate and say, �Well, is this reasonable if I give?� then you probably will not give- you give something- but something not much because circumstances don�t actually allow that we can give so much because naturally, most people don�t have that much. We don�t have that much time, we don�t have that much money, we don�t have that much energy�we just don�t have that much. We�re just basically in this age of Kali struggling to survive and exactly with these things: with our energy, with our time, with our money. Most of us are just sort of surviving and there�s a little extra but not like anything extraordinary. Even rich people- very, very rich people- still their whole economy is locked into the business and even they are less rich in terms of liquid cash than they apparently appear to be. So therefore real charity goes beyond reason- we�ll just do it; we�ll just rise to the occasion and provide the need and we don�t calculate anymore- we just give! Now, as I said, we�re not talking money; money- okay, but we�re specifically talking about ourselves. Of course money is also giving a part of yourself because it takes a lot of energy. But a vaisnava especially gives himself in that way.
So my story is that, I was so busy because I was getting involved in management in India, in big projects. And then, okay, I did it and then the big, big leaders said, �Great! Here�s someone who is doing something and seems to be okay�� and okay, and then they come and they give you more�and they give you more�and they give you more, and even if you say, �No, I really don�t think I can do it�� they just give you more! Until you get to the point where you just have to say to yourself, �Stop!!!� until you get very strong and say it like, �No! I can�t take more�� then they leave you alone. But they pile it in you until that point, that�s what happens in ISKCON, just so that you know the tip�! So I was at my max, you know, totally maxed out! I was going to mangal arati, greeting the Deities, chanting my rounds because from six in the morning on there was non-stop service till I hit the pillow and that was it! And went unconscious as soon as I touched the pillow! That�s how it was, and then in the middle of that, Lokanatha Maharaja, sweet as he is, appears and says, �Oh, we have this padayatra coming to Mayapur, can you please help and make all the arrangements for the padayatra?� and padayatra- that was an arrangement, that�s a lot of people and elephant and a camel and tractors and many displays and things�and I got to make all the arrangements! I said, �Maharaja! Maharaja! Maharaja! I really want to help but I�m soooo busy.� And then he comes and he says, �Yes, you know, in our village, they say, if you want to get something done then you go to a busy man. They say because if you go to someone who�s not busy, he will not do anything because he�s lazy. But a busy man is very active. So even if has no time to do anything because he�s very active, he�ll do something!� It was good wasn�t it! It was really good! So how could I say no after that? I had no choice out of like thousands of years of Maharati, traditional village logic. So there I was with an elephant and a samadhi and a camel and all these padayatris etc�and I threw all the labours out of the quarters and I had to put the padayatras in there and what not! It was a whole thing! And it somehow or other worked, it worked. Although�I mean what could I do? So somehow or other it worked out. So actually, Lokanatha Maharaja was right! He was right! Although in my mind I thought I was too busy, it was impossible! Somehow or other it worked out.
So charity works like that, it goes beyond reason- it goes really beyond anything. So sometimes, sometimes, a vaisnava may come to us with a special request. And what can we say, we just surrender. And in this way we give our whole life, we give our life. And we also see�now we are here in Amsterdam, and Hare Krsna das and his family, they�re doing it, they�re giving two million euros plus* so that is�then what can you do! If they�re become charitable then everyone has to also. In this way I got caught again, this time not by village logic but this time by someone else�s charity, that one also has to become charitable. And then reason is no longer the only consideration and just do it and rely on Krsna, because that�s the one factor that goes beyond reason. And that is the wonderful thing when a vaisnava becomes charitable, is that he begins to look at the Krsna factor instead of like mundane calculation. And it is said, the householders are all misers; the grhamedhi�s who walk like a bull in a circle, around their sense gratification, they�re all misers because they�re all calculating like, �I have this and I have that, and this is for that and that maintains this�take, don�t mention, 5 euros for a good cause�we are very happy that we an contribute something, can I please have a receipt?� but that�s the grhamedhi. And vaisnava is just completely different; he�s doing something that is not humanly possible but anyway Krsna is there, the Krsna factor. And it is on that strength that Srila Prabhupada did it, because logically speaking, 70 years old- sit down, slow down, use your intelligence now; you can no longer just be like a young man and just say, �Ag, I don�t care. I�m tired, I�m not feeling well, ag, I don�t care!� At one point, one has to stop this �I don�t care� mentality �I just push on�, and just take care, because if you don�t take care then one day, you know, good chance that you�ll be the next one who has a heart attack and the next one who gets a stroke and the other half of your body�and so on. It�s like the body sends certain signals and one has to obviously take care, like a car, when the temperature of the water begins to go up and up, you�re not going to say, �ag, we�ll just keep on driving�� well, then at one point it gets serious, you know- a geyser shoots out of the front of the car and then comes black smoke! Then the cylinder head cracks and so on and then�I know this because it happened to me! So anyway, that was something about vaisnava charity.
So I think that these things are so nice, these topics here. That�s why I can�t move on! Still stuck on �charity� and tomorrow it will be �simplicity� which is another thing, which is really good. This verse, you could really do a one-week seminar on this verse, it�s almost becoming like one, well a 3-day seminar on this verse! Yes, tomorrow I�ll give class but after that I will go to Sweden. I sort of promised that I would see them in April or May and I can see that in May I�m not going to make it, so I guess now I have a few days, and its peaceful, Sweden, so good for me. So off to Sweden�
Is there any questions or comments?
Question: Maharaja, about the reading�sometimes one is very tired and then it becomes very difficult. Can it at any time be replaced by just listening to lectures and tapes?
Maharaja: Yes, sure, that is also hearing. So the reading is really part of sravanam and it must be hearing. Now we are sort of going to the Bhagavatam classes also- we�re reading, we�re hearing now, we�re going through the Bhagavatam- so it can be replaced through listening to lectures and tapes. Still, it�s very nice to just stay with the text and the purports of Prabhupada because they�re very, very potent and very deep. So I wouldn�t think that just listening to lectures would completely replace it; I think that the Bhagavatam in itself is like a gradual process: it goes up from the lotus feet of Krsna, gradually through the nine Cantos and up and up until one comes to the face of Krsna until the tenth Canto. So there is a certain progression in the Bhagavatam of topics. So it is in that sense also kind of important to just get into the Bhagavatam. So I don�t think it can replace the reading altogether but it will help of course. At least, it is transcendental if we have this hearing and it will work in our consciousness, purify our heart, it will help us to motivate. And then we still have to try to make a little time for the Bhagavatam. And about being tired, yes I understand that, I also have that. I think from the day I joined the Hare Krsna Movement I�ve always been tired! I can�t remember that there was a time when I was never tired! So I just got use to being tired and it�s like, devotees can sleep anywhere, anytime! It doesn�t really matter! I mean, it gets like that. But again, there are limits and as we are getting old then we have to consider that the machine could break and that being tired�like today I�m a little too tired and I�m too tired because yesterday I mean, there was no way around it and the weekend also�I just had to surrender. But it came a bit too soon after all that travel and now today�I still have to do a follow up- I have to call Australia at 11 �o clock and I was thinking, God I wish I wouldn�t have to, I could just take a nap! Sometimes we need the nap- a big one! That�s okay, that�s important also. Sometimes, take your twenty-minute rest and then read. Then you can read. At least on your day off; of course some people never have a day off! But maybe you need a day off.
����������������� Yuktahara-viharasya is the verse that speaks about regulated eating and regulated sleeping. So Prabhupada translated it like that and then Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his commentary on that verse, he gets into the word �bihara� because yes, Krsna is known as �Brajabihari� or �Banbihari�, �Biharilal�, �Bankebihari��so what is this word �bihari�? Bihari means �enjoyer.� So it is said, yuktahara-viharasya: yukta is of course �regulated� or connected to Krsna. So it is said �regulated.� So regulated eating, regulated sleeping and regulated relaxation- not too much not too little relaxation. So I thought it was very interesting when I saw that yukta-vihara. Because I read over that many years but it sort off never registered like, �wait a minute, it says �vihara� here, meaning regulated relaxation is allowed.� My mind goes, �is that allowed? Is that Krsna consciousness? Relaxation? God! Isn�t that sense gratification?� but in more recent years, you know, well in �95 I had this major accident and then after I had to recover. So then suddenly my service was to listen to my body for a change! �Listen to your body? God! Are you in maya or something! C�mon prabhu, just do your duty- surrender!�
�But it was really late last night! We had to get the kitchen cleaned up and finished at a quarter to twelve��
�Yeh, it�s time for mangal arati prabhu��
So I come from that school, right- hell or high water but mangal arati is there! And I�ve been in mangal arati with malaria, with rattling fever- �Brrrrr��- and I�m still there, although sometimes I leave a little early when I�m tired. Nowadays I leave a little early when I�m tired. So we have to find a balance and maybe some �yukta vihara�- some regulated relaxation. We should also reincorporate it into our lives. And of course, well you know, when you�re in your twenties, I recommend the regulated relaxation is going on a harinama! That�s relaxation- �let�s go�� because the main thing when you�re twenty, is to relax the mind- that�s the big thing. Relaxation means a relaxation for mental stress. But when you�re older then relaxation may also just give the body what it needs. Because in your twenties and you�re really tired, one good night sleep and you�re okay again- you�re completely okay. A good night sleep, maybe seven hours- you sleep that extra hour- and the next day, �Okay, let�s go!� Not when you�re 50- no way! It takes days, it takes days to just recover, it�s too much! You sleep those seven hours, you wake up- feel like you could do another seven! But, can�t do that. You build it then back up. Anyway, so therefore �yukta vihara� is also necessary to come to reading- to create a culture of reading. So it�s not just a passionate thing where you say, �okay, I�m gonna do it! I wanna do it�� I also do that; I have this Caitanya Caritamrta, which I�ve been carrying since 1984 wherever I go, and I put it open on the table so that it will invite me, �Read me, read me, read me!� but it doesn�t always work! Sometimes I�m too tired, too busy. And one good thing about reading is�just don�t do your e-mail! Just don�t do it! Just go on strike- to hell with e-mail! Sorry! So in my case, if I don�t answer your letter, then you should think, �Good! At least Kadamba Kanana Swami is reading�� that you should think! Anybody else?
Question: Can you say something about what is the difference with listening to the recording or directly from the speaker?
Maharaja:�� No, no difference but there is some debates on that sometimes. The recording has all the potencies of the speaker. In the Bhagavatam itself, there�s a description how Vyasadeva was going into the forest and calling out the name of Sukadeva but Sukadeva never came. So then it is described- not in the Bhagavatam itself but in Puranas- that actually what happened was that in order to get Sukadeva to come back, after he had left, Vyasadeva arranged that verses were recited. Some verses were recited- the verses of Bhagavatam- and these verses were echoing off the trees and the echo also counted as chanting. So recording is nothing but an echo- it�s an echo of a real sound. So echo is also bona fide, so recordings are bona fide. Sometimes people have an objective that recordings are not bona fide, but they are bona fide. So in that sense, also equally transcendental. The only advantage of being in a live lecture is that you can ask live questions and enter into a live discussion. And also the live lecture may sometimes be slightly more in tune with time, place and circumstance. Just like today we spoke about the charity and then sort of spoke about, for a moment, about the Amsterdam situation. So sometimes Prabhupada also gave some lectures�like there�s the lecture I referred to�was it here that I referred to Gajendra and the crocodile? Yes, it was here. So I mentioned that we should be properly situated in a situation that is according to our level of consciousness in terms of asrama and so on. And then Prabhupada wrote these very deep purports on that; you can look in the Bhagavatam- 8th Canto, story of Gajendra- and read those purports. They�re especially deep and heartfelt, because what happened was that Balimardana was a sanyassi and he had just given up sanyassa when Prabhupada wrote those purports. So Prabhupada�s mind was on the whole thing and was in the mood of saving Balimardana. And Prabhupada married him in front of everybody and he really tried to save Balimardana. So therefore Prabhupada, when he wrote his purports, he was sort of emotionally affected by this whole Balimardana thing and therefore these purports have a special emotional depth there and are really very significant. In that way they are outstanding- of course, all Prabhupada�s purports are outstanding, are completely potent and transcendental.
Question: Who�s Balimardana?
Maharaja: Balimardana? He was a leader of the early days who was dynamic; he went first to Australia- he was the first GBC in Australia- he was also later GBC in America- in New York- and then, somehow or other, he met this Japanese lady�! And she said she was the head of Toyota and then he thought, �well what should I do?� and then he found an excuse for himself to give up sanyassa and she was not an * of Toyota, she was saying that�
So anyway, Prabhupada married them. And the japa tape that we are listening to is actually from that occasion! Jayadvaita Maharaja once told me, �and I don�t see why we always have to listen to the japa tape of Balimardana�s marriage�!� okay! (Laughter) okay! Doesn�t matter; wherever Prabhupada chanted japa is transcendental but I can understand also that Jayadvaita Maharaja who was there at that time also has that remembrance, an interesting little detail.
Okay, that was it for today, thank you very much. We�ll continue with these verses tomorrow and I don�t know if I�ll finish it.
Thank you so much, Srila Prabhupada ki, Jaya!