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From Sri Mayapur Candrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 15, 2013
Verse: SB 4.30.8 

atha mayy anapayinya  bhaktya pakva-gunasayah
upayasyatha mad-dhama nirvidya nirayad atah

TRANSLATION: Thereafter you will develop unadulterated devotional service unto Me and be freed from all material contamination. At that time, being completely unattached to material enjoyment in the so-called heavenly planets as well as in hellish planets, you will return home, back to Godhead.

PURPORT: By the grace of the Lord, the Pracetas were given special facilities. Although they could live millions of years to enjoy material facilities, they still would not be deviated from the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Being thus fully engaged, the Pracetas would be completely freed from all material attachment. Material attachment is very strong. During one lifetime, a materialist engages in acquiring land, money, friends, society, friendship, love and so on. He also wants to enjoy the heavenly planets after the annihilation of the body. If one is engaged in devotional service, however, he becomes unattached to all kinds of material enjoyment and suffering. In the material world, those who are elevated to the higher planetary systems are supposed to enjoy all material facilities, whereas those degraded to lower planetary systems are supposed to live in a hellish condition. A devotee, however, is transcendental to both heavenly and hellish conditions. According to Bhagavad-gita (14.26), a devotee's position is described in this way:

mam ca yo 'vyabhicarena bhakti-yogena sevate
sa gunan samatityaitan brahma-bhuyaya kalpate

"One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."

A devotee is always situated on the Brahman platform. He has nothing to do with material happiness or distress. When one is strongly fixed in devotional service and free from all material attachment, uncontaminated by the material modes of nature, he becomes fit to return home, back to Godhead. Although by special blessing the Pracetas would enjoy material facilities for millions of years, they would not be attached to them. Thus at the end of their material enjoyment they would be promoted to the spiritual world and return to Godhead.

The word pakva-gunasayah has special significance, for it means that by devotional service one is able to give up the influence of the three modes of material nature. As long as one is influenced by the modes of material nature, he cannot return to Godhead. It is clearly explained that all planets in the material world -- beginning from Brahmaloka down to the hellish planets -- are unfit places for a devotee. padam padam yad vipadam na tesham. A place where there is danger at every step is certainly not a comfortable place. The Lord therefore says in Bhagavad-gita (8.16):

abrahma-bhuvanal lokah punar avartino 'rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate

"From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again." Thus there is no profit, even if one is promoted to the highest planet in the material universe, Brahmaloka. However, if one is somehow or other promoted to the abode of the Lord, he never returns to the material world. (END)

HH Sacinandana Swami: Please concentrate as I will go very fast and I will not wait for those of you who are slow.

The surprising content of this verse is that Krishna blesses the devotees to enjoy the material world, the Pracetas a special blessing not something which will happen to all of us and at the same time not forget Him.

For us this posts a question before us. How should we deal with our material desires, for material enjoyment and not become diverted by them and forget Krishna consciousness? You know these material desires, I don't know if you have found that out by now, are very, very strong. Material attachment, now you may have left the world by dressing properly, Vaisnava clothes but the world has not left you. It stays in the mind the desires which are directed towards the sense objects for enjoyment. It is very difficult to give this up even for great renunciates.

One friend told me that once near Uttarkashi he went by the banks of Ganga and past the caves of two very well known ascetics. Do you know what he saw? He saw these two old men who were worshiped by all of Himachal Pradesh, you know the Himalayan regions, as the greatest saints. He saw them fighting with each other, pulling each others hair and wrestling. So my friend ran where the bridge was over the bridge and ran to the saints to separate them. He said 'kaisa hai' (Hindi), what's the matter?

One saint said to the other I had taken out the straw from my cave which I used to sleep on in the winter to let rays of the spring sun dry them and make them, dry the straw and make them hygienic. But this rascal he went down to the Ganga and with his wet and dirty feet he walked over my straw. At this the other old man screamed. He said it's not true he is a liar he is a liar, he started to pull the beard.

They were attached to the straw in the cave. Material attachment is very strong and it hides in the heart and you may be looking, you may be able to put on a good good external appearance. Its not very easy (difficult) you just need to know what impresses others. That any one with average intelligence can find out in two and a half minutes. And then put on that face for others and they will worship you.

But what goes on in the heart may be an entirely different story and you may do what is called in Bengal, pretending to fast from water but drinking water on a fast day while taking bath under the Ganga. You know you have your renounced face and then you go down and drink sufficient amount of water while no one can see you doing it. The attachments need to be conquered in the heart. Otherwise we become pretenders.

Krishna won't be so impressed by this. He can see what is in the heart. So the question is for us as devotees how do we deal in the world surrounded by material things which leave an impression on our mind and to which we may be subtly, invisible to the eyes of others, attached. How do we deal in this world with this phenomenon? We can pretend it's not there and we can also face it and look for solutions.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains to us a concept which is, which I will be able to only throw to the crowd because you read our books, you read our philosophy, its yukta vairagya. You take the things which surround you, you take also your own nature and engage that in devotional service.

And that was the secret of the success of the Pracetas. They were great devotees and because they engaged their senses and their royal opulence in the service of Krishna, the poisonous teeth of material attachment was broken and removed. In other words they were not developing attachments.

Now in the Bhagavatam you find many stories for instance of Sudama Vipra, the great brahmana who was given a whole palace by Krishna but who slept on the floor in the palace and engaged everything in devotional service. This is called yukta vairagya, using the things not for sense gratification but for service.

We may experiment with this concept and use some of the things which we like to do, just you know what we like and do that for Krishna's pleasure, give the result for Krishna. There is a lot of I think you need to discuss this with your gurus, how you will need to apply yukta vairagya in your life. It is varying according to your level of advancement, you need to know from . . . that's why we need spiritual guidance from a trusted spiritual guide, how to move with this.

In order to practice yukta vairagya, that is to use things in Krishna's service, you must have a higher taste. You must have not the taste for sense gratification but the taste for Krishna consciousness. This is my favorite subject matter especially on Kirtan Mela. The taste can awaken in our hearts by sankirtana in association with many devotees we can develop, as Jiva Goswami puts it, extraordinary devotional feelings in our heart and when you have these devotional feelings you don't have so much taste any longer for sense gratification, can really work better with this yukta vairagya principle than a neophyte who doesn't have this taste.

So my question to you today in the context of the Kirtan Mela is what can all of us do to become rich with devotional taste in our spiritual life, a spontaneous liking and let me say (speaks German), (laughter) Hare Krishna! That means a very natural and almost spontaneous asakti or attachment to chanting. How can you come to this?

In my humble opinion all of you are perfect living beings because you have somehow by the mercy of a great soul, I am thinking of Prabhupada here, found your entrance into the palace of bhakti. But there is something which most of us still are missing. It's called, it's a concept - it's called aikantyam. Aikantyam means to bring the mind away from all the different attachments and thoughts and selfish concerns and just bring it to the point of Krishna.

This can be practiced, this aikantyam or one pointedness, while doing sankirtana in the association of many devotees. But you have to learn to do this. How many times do you think you have heard the Hare Krishna mantra yesterday? It's a good question, isn't it? How many times have you really stayed with each single name in the Hare Krishna mantra? Ask yourself this question.

Don't say, "Oh no, Maharaj, this is not necessary. Don't bring your concepts here." But think about it. If you are conversing with someone if you enter into a relationship with someone and you don't hear what they say! They will after sometime . . . this person is dysfunctional, I can't talk with him, I can't relate to him.

Krishna is very tolerant and very merciful but you know if you can't even hear, then you call out to Krishna, this is what you do and if you can't even hear when others do this, what is going with you?

No, I am very serious, think about this don't just think this person is too much, he doesn't praise me at this point. You just think about this. There is something that we all need to know. It's called aikantyam, to fix our mind on this or you can call it askati. Askati means abhinivesa citta. Abhinivesa means absorption and citta is your consciousness. The western people talk of sub consciousness but citta is a little more, it's your conscious field inside of you. That means to be absorbed so that we cannot, we don't deviate.

I have been severely challenged on this point. Look at Ajamila. He was not absorbed, he didn't have attachment to the Holy name. Yes, but did he go back to Godhead? When he chanted Narayana, thinking of his son, Narayana was very merciful to him and said, "I must give this person a chance."

And he sent his Visnudutas to save him from death but did they take him home back to Godhead? No! He was given a second chance and he took it, he renounced his family, he went to Haridwar and he engaged in the processes of devotional service, doing it for Krishna.

You know what is devotional service, bhaktir ucyate what we call bhakti? It means there are three things. Please listen, it will make it very clear. If you want to perform unmixed devotional service, if you want to learn this you have to do an activity. The first and foremost is the chanting of the Holy name, you have to do it for yourself. Does this sound right? No it doesn't sound right. You have to do it not for yourself. I was testing and most of you failed the test. (laughter).

Let us start again. What is bhakti? What is devotional chanting? It means you chant and you do it not for yourself you do it for Krishna. In what way? In what mood? Are there further instructions? Anukulyena, you do it with a favourable mood, you want to give pleasure to Krishna and we hear in tales that Krishna has many expansions. You can chant for Nrsimhadeva's pleasure also. And you can do it for the pleasure of the devotees. Like the kirtan leader can think I want the devotees chanting nicely and relish for Krishna.

So devotional service, my dear devotees, you must learn to absorb your consciousness in these three things to make this bhakti, bhakti yoga or devotional service of Krishna consciousness. You do an activity for Krishna not mindless, for Krishna if you do it in a mood to give Him pleasure, favorable mood that is the translation.

anyabhilashita-sunyam jnana-karmady-anavritam
anukulyena krishnanu- silanam bhaktir uttama  (CC Madhya 19.167)

That is called bhakti. That's what we do here. No jnana, it's for our liberation and it's also not for karma for our sense enjoyment. It's for Krishna, activity for Krishna in a favorable mood. That you have to learn. When you do this then your practice becomes very sweet, full of taste and you will be able to give up the material sense enjoyment even though you may be surrounded with cars and mobile phones and a Kirtan Mela T-shirt. You may have all these things.

To do nice nama sankirtana, it is upon to study the word sankirana. It can mean two things, chant with many and it can also mean samyak kirtana according to Rupa Goswami. That is proper kirtana. With visvasa - firm faith, firm faith in Krishna. If you want to make very quick advancement in your chanting you must practice with visvasa firm faith in Krishna. That He hears me, He hears my kirtana, I can please Him by doing this. And when you have faith in this then you are eligible for bhakti with taste.

Many of us are still in the area of bhakti without taste. Especially in the West, we are in the nobody's land. If you want to come out of this nobody's land and come into the land of bhakti with taste you must develop your visvasa and then chant.

Here comes a new point. With a feeling of longing for Krishna: "Oh! Krishna! For so many long years I have forgotten You in this material world. But from today on I am your sincere and serious servant. Please accept me!"

If you bring your mind and being into this mood - "My dear Krishna! I need You! I can't do it alone! My life is useless without love in the heart!" Then something will happen. Although you as a person may still be very troubled with material desires and attachments, if you bring your consciousness to Krishna like this in a prayerful mood which is the sign of favorable bhakti, then my dear devotees listen to this - You will be purified by Krishna!

The example has been given of dirty water in the Himalaya mountains, the village water which comes from the sewage, when it flows and joins Mother Ganga after only 1 meter or only 2 meter of flowing with Ganga, that dirty water is pure Ganga water.

So if you can bring your life which may be a village life even if you come from New York you come from a village huh! If your bring your material, if you bring what you have even if it is still imperfect, and you use that in the spirit of yukta vairagya, you join Krishna with your consciousness at that time you have a chance to be purified. If you don't join with Krishna in your consciousness you may be like the two yogis who have renounced the world but the world had not renounced them. The straw and attachment to straw was still with them. They could not escape that.

So this absorption of your consciousness, this joining of your consciousness, this yoga of your consciousness with Krishna can happen best when you do sankirtana, means singing together with the devotees of Krishna but not like you have maybe done yesterday. You have to learn to absorb your consciousness with all the names of the Mahamantra and you can start with the first 'Hare'.

Having said this I could start now my lecture but there is no time. We have to put the Bhagavatam to rest. Thank you so very much for your kind attention. If you forget everything from this lecture which might happen to you because you are overdosed, remember just one word - absorption. Take this with you from the lecture, simple word. Abhinivesa is the sanskrti word, aikantyam if you like philosophy and askati are words around this. But here we want to just do it simple -absorption with first 'Hare' and stay as long as you can with the Ganga water of the Holy name and you will experience how your heart will become purified and you will really become attached to Krishna. You will think Krishna, like this.

So now we will do something for those of you who would like to come along with your shoes, that's very important. Because there are nails and if you run into the nails you might get an infection and might have to amputate your leg afterwards. So please we don't want even a drop of blood spilled in the new temple. It's very inauspicious.

Go with your shoes and we will do a kirtana just to carry our intention to spread the Holy name so that ten thousand people can join us in the Kirtan Melas here in Mayapur. Just to spread our intention, to also connect with the need to build this temple either by preaching or by whatever programs, 'square foot' programs we want to just go there. It will take ten minutes or longer and we want to be back for the start of the Kirtan Mela. So some of you might like to take their breakfast but others it will be just before the Garuda place. We will start immediately right now to go there.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya! Sri Harinama Mantra ki jaya! Gaurapremanande Hari Hari Bol!

[Maharaja leads a harinama procession into the incomplete temple room of the Temple of Vedic Planetarium]

For video of the lecture, please go to mayapurtvarchives.com

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/index.php?q=f&f=%2F06_-_More%2F01_-_ISKCO N_Mayapur%2F2013