Ajāmila Story- Names Of Kṛṣṇa Are All Powerful | Rus-Split | 30.5.91 | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Prasad Raaval. And they also listen to these spiritual discourses because through the spiritual discourses they are able to understand what is the goal of life. Of course, many of us know what is the goal of life. Many of us have heard many times sermons from the Bhagavad Gita. We have heard it from the Guru, we have heard it from his representatives, but still We are unable to embrace spiritual life. What is the reason? Who knows what the reason is? Who knows? No one? Yes? It is impossible to embrace unlimited. We don't take spiritual life because we find material life very sweet. We find it hard to give up material life. Material life appears sweet, but material life is exactly like a bubble gum. Do you have bubble gums in your country? So hopefully you all don't take bubble gums at the moment. But I'm sure at one time all of you did take bubblegums. So what does a bubblegum taste like? Sweet in the beginning, bitter in the end. In the end, you throw it out. Am I right? So that is exactly what Moksha Lai says. It is sweet in the beginning, but in the end it becomes bitter. In the beginning, everything appears sweet. When you are young, when all the senses are active, when the organs are active, you want to exploit the senses and different activities of sense enjoyment. But the various organs in the body will not be active throughout. At a certain point they will become inactive, less active. And then you begin to lament, "I have wasted my whole life." But by that time you are so conditioned in material activities that it's not easy to give it up. So this Krishna consciousness movement is presenting a path for everyone to become happy. It's a very simple path. There's nothing complicated to it. Material life is far more complicated. There's the greatest philosopher, is Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are many philosophers, just like in your country there are so many famous writers like Tolstoy, but there has never been a greater philosopher than Krishna. As I pointed out in the lecture yesterday at the, uh, the cultural hall, this Krishna consciousness philosophy is at least 2 million years old, and still people are reading it, following it. The reason is it is containing an eternal wisdom. It contains an eternal message. So we must take advantage of this message of the Bhagavad Gita. Many times people ask us, why do you tell us to practice Krishna consciousness? What is wrong if we follow Christianity or Islam or Judaism or one of these? Actually, it is a fact that all scriptures are talking about the greatness of God, and all scriptures teach us about loving God, about the importance of loving God and giving up sinful activities. But the problem is You can't find saintly people who are practicing what is in the scriptures. Just by saying that I am a Christian or a Hindu or a Muslim, you will not be able to become free from the cycle of birth and death. Just by saying that I am a Soviet citizen, and if you don't follow the laws of the Soviet government, it's not going to help you. So the important thing is that we must follow the laws of God. If we are going to take the words of God and water down the philosophy, then you cannot get any benefit from the philosophy. So we must accept the philosophy coming from God as it is. The greatest wealth that one can cultivate in the human form of life is the chanting of the holy names of God. In the Vedic scriptures, there's a story given of a poor Brahmin who had pleased demigod Lord Shiva by offering some sacrifices. And he had obtained the benediction that he could get something which would convert everything into gold. So ultimately this Brahman was able to approach this great sage in Vrindavan and obtain from him a touchstone that could convert everything to gold. And the men saw that the touchstone was really converting everything to gold. One man finally approached him and asked him, "Where did he get this touchstone from?" And he informed him of the whole story that he had pleased demigod Lord Shiva who sent him to a great sage called Sanatana Gosvami. And Sanatana Gosvami gave him the most valuable thing that he wanted which was placed under a heap of garbage. And the most valuable— So this learned man told this Brahmana who had become rich that if this was the most valuable thing This man has, then why did he keep it under a heap of garbage? He must be having something more valuable than this. So when this Brahman went back to the saint and said, if this was the most valuable thing you had, why did you keep it under a heap of garbage? You must be having something more valuable. So he said, okay, I'll give you this most valuable thing, but first throw the touchstone away. And when he threw the touchstone away, He gave him the most valuable thing. And what was that most valuable thing? Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra is the most valuable asset that you can possess. And you don't have to pay any currency or rubles for it. I would like to tell you a very nice story from the Bhāgavatam which glorifies the importance of the holy names of the Lord. You want to hear some stories? We are all fond of hearing stories. That's why in your country there are so many magazines and books. But in all these magazines and books, The real stories are missing. So in the Srimad Bhagavatam, there are many, many interesting stories. Now the Srimad Bhagavatam is gradually coming out in the Russian language, and when this Bhagavatam is published in Russian, the whole Bhagavatam said this will create a major spiritual revolution in your country. Everybody is talking of revolution these days, so we are talking of spiritual revolution. But our spiritual revolution is a peaceful revolution, no bloodshed. Which unites people of all communities and all nationalities. Prabhupada used to say we are the real United Nations because we are uniting people from the whole world, not just one nation. So I would like to reveal to you the wonderful story of Arjuna. Once upon a time, there was a Brahmin family and the son was named Arjuna. Arjuna was trained up in Brahminical culture. He had a nice wife and children. He was a Kriyasmiya Brahmachari. So Arjamil was trained up in all Vedic culture and he was doing his puja, everything regularly. One day Arjamil had gone to the forest to bring some flowers for his deities and when he was returning from the forest he saw a prostitute making love to a man and Arjamil got very distracted by this incident. And from that moment onwards, he just started meditating on this incident. And as a result of his meditation on this incident in which, in which the prostitute was embracing her lover, he got distracted from his spiritual life. Therefore, mind control is ochinvasana, very important for spiritual life. There's so many people who talk about spiritual life but don't emphasize mind control. So Let me assure you, doesn't matter which path you follow, but if you don't control your mind, you are spiritually lost. Wherever the mind is, one gradually gets into those activities. So Arjuna, he was meditating on the prostitute, and as his mind got distracted spiritually, he even started getting disinclined towards his family and parents. So Arjuna gradually completely stopped his spiritual practices and he kept this prostitute as a maidservant in his house. And gradually he gave up his wife completely and he married this prostitute. And in order to keep the prostitute happy, he had to engage in all types of criminal activities. He had to rob the rich people to buy his wife new sarees and jewelry. And he became a completely degraded man. A man is known by the company he keeps. So association has a powerful effect on the character one ultimately develops. So slowly, slowly, Artyamil had many children, 10 children. And his youngest child was named Narayan. This is a Vedic tradition of maintaining children after the names of God. I see this tradition to be very strong even in your country also. Much devotee families. I always had mothers and fathers coming and telling me, give my child a spiritual name. So this is very good because the Vedic process in giving your children the names of God is when you call the children by these names, you get the benefit. Because the names of God are so powerful, anybody who chants gets the spiritual benefit. So Arjuna, of all his children, he was most attached to his youngest child whose name was Narayan. It is normal for parents to be attached to the youngest child, isn't it? So Arjuna would always call for Narayan, his youngest son, when he was eating or whatever he was doing. But because Arjuna had become a very sinful man, Yama decided, now it is time to call him back. You and I may think we are independent. Sorry, we are not independent. I may be the boss of this country, I may be the boss of this whole world, but I have many bosses above me. And one of the bosses above us is Yama. Who is Yamaraja? He is superintendent of death. Just like in your country, there is a cabinet with different people responsible for different ministries. Whether the ministers do the work or not, that's another thing. Amongst the world. But, um, so the Supreme Lord also has a ministry in which different demigods are in charge of different portfolios. But the demigods are always doing their work. If they didn't do this work, we would get suffocated. Like every day you see the sun is rising at the right time every day. You see the stars and the moon rise every day at the right time based on the season. So all this is happening not without any reason because the demigods and the Supreme Lord are working and making sure that everything goes on. Have you ever read in your history book that once upon a time, few hundred years ago, the sun did not rise? No, because the sun did rise every day at the right time. So Yāmraj decided this Arjuna has become very sinful, now let's bring him back for punishment. As the superintendent of death, Yāmraj is keeping an account book on every one of us. In that account book, all your account, your full account is being maintained and it's computerized. That computer never makes any mistake. This should not come as any surprise to you. In America, in every city, the police department has the history of every car that is on the street in their computer. Anytime a policeman arrests He just gets the car, stops the car for speeding, he just calls up the police station and in 1 second they give him the whole history of this car's history. How many times the driver was arrested, this, that, everything. And they have many more cars than you have in your country on the road. So if the materialists can create such an apparatus, for Yama to have a more sophisticated device is no surprise. So Yama sent 3 very ugly, fearful-looking militia to bring Arjuna back to him. They are part of Yama Raja's militia. Very ugly looking. Your militia is handsome looking. They were ugly looking. Their teeth were all coming out. They were completely black. They had very sharp nails. Their eyes were coming out. And they look like real tough men. They looked pretty frightening. So Yāmrāṭṭha told his 3 militia, "Now go and bring him to hell for punishment. This man is very sinful." Why did Yāmrāṭṭha send 3 police, 3 militia, and not 4 or 5 or 10? Who knows? Pushima? Niyāt, is nāyu. Because a man commits sinful activities through 3 agencies. One is through the mind, the other is through the tongue, the third is through your body. So there are three agents for sinful activities. You can either perform sinful activities through your mind or your tongue or your body. Do you have any fourth agent for sinful activity in Soviet Union? No. There is no fourth agency because you can only commit sinful activity either through your body or through the mind or through the tongue. Therefore, ummah, control, It's very ochinvasna, very important. You must control the umar, the mind. What happens when you don't control the mind? Suppose in your mind you are contemplating nonstop some anger against somebody. Then when that person comes in front of you, you just begin to shout at him. And after you have shouted at him, then you want to slap him. Am I right? So therefore, in the very first step, you must control the mind. And if the mind is controlled, Then your tongue will be controlled. Or there is another technique. You control the tongue and the mind will be in control. If the tongue is constantly vibrating the glories of Krishna. So when Arjuna saw these three fearful looking people coming towards him to drag him to hell, he got very scared. And when you get scared, what do you do? What do you all do when you get scared? Shout! So when Ajamil saw these 3 fearful-looking men coming, he shouted. And what did he shout? Narayan! He shouted for his youngest son Narayan. But the holy names of God are not different from God. Why do we tell you all to chant the holy name again and again? Because the holy names are not different from God. But an ordinary name is different from the object. Just like these days, everybody is complaining prices have gone up too much. Everybody wants rubles. So if you say ruble, ruble, ruble, the rubles will not manifest in your pocket. Instead of standing in line for Malakou, if you say Malakou, Malakou, Malakou, Malakou is not going to come. Why? Because there is difference between name and substance. However, in the case of God, there is no difference between his name and substance. That is why this is called transcendental sound and the other is called material sound. What is the difference between the two? Material sound is contaminating. Spiritual sound is purifying. These days everybody is talking about the pollution of the air. Why is it that all of a sudden people have got concerned about the pollution of the air? 10 years ago they were not so worried. Because now all of a sudden they have realized polluted air means bad health. And what does bad health mean? No sense enjoyment. So purify the air. If the pollution of the air would not interfere with sense enjoyment, they would never have cared. But because it is interfering with sense enjoyment, Everybody is worried. So as soon as Ajamil chanted the word Narayan, his youngest son did not show up, but the Vishnu Dutas showed up. Who are the Vishnu Dutas? They are the militia of Lord Vishnu. The Yama Dutas are the militia of Yamraj, and they are ugly and frightening, and the Vishnu Dutas are handsome, very attractive. So the Vishnu Dutas showed up on the scene in one second. The Viśṇudūtas told the Yāmadūtas, "What are you doing over here?" Just like in your country, they may have separate militia from one department and another from another department. Happens in many countries. So the Viśṇudūtas told the Yāmadūtas, "What are you doing over here?" But Yāmadūta said, "What are you doing over here?" So Viśṇudūtas said, "We are superior to you. You tell us what are you doing here?" Yāmadūta said, "We have been sent by our master." to bring this man to hell for punishment. And Vishninduta said, "You cannot take this man to hell." The Yamadutas were very bewildered because their master had sent them on this assignment of bringing back criminals to him for punishment millions of times, but nobody had ever stopped them before. This is the first time they were stopped. So they were very, very surprised. So the Yamadutas, they just had to let the Vishnu— they stopped. They were stopped by the Viṣṇudūtas from touching Arjuna. Now, while the Yāmadūtas and the Viṣṇudūtas were talking, Arjuna was unconscious, but he could hear everything that was going on. And he heard the conversation in which the Viṣṇudūtas told the Yāmadūtas that this man was a great devotee of the Lord before. Then he fell down in bad association. But even though he fell in bad association, He was still chanting the names of the Lord unconsciously. So when Arjuna heard this dialogue between the Yama Duttas and the Vishnu Duttas, he came to realize what a mistake he has done. He realized he gave up his wonderful wife, children, parents who were all devotees of Krishna just to serve this prostitute. So Arjuna decided, Now he is going to atone. So we must— it's not that in Krishna consciousness we don't believe in atonement. We do believe in atonement, but we believe in genuine atonement, not false atonement. What is the use if I go to the church or the temple of the Senegal on a Sunday, I apologize, and the priest prays on my behalf, and the moment I come out of the church, I start sinning again? It's of no value. Parikṣit Mahārāja said, an elephant may take a bath in the river and it comes out of the river and sits in the mud, and it gets— its body becomes dirty again. So Parikṣit Mahārāja said, what is the value of this atonement? So Arjuna decided that he was going to now atone for his sins. So then he went to Haridwar where he started chanting the names of Kṛṣṇa nonstop for thousands of years. Now before we come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we've all committed many sinful acts like Arjuna. But after coming to spiritual life, we should not sin. That is the important thing. Due to ignorance, we've done so many things. When you were a small child, you were sucking your thumb in the mouth. When you were a small child, you used to eat and half the food used to be thrown on your clothes or your diapers. But now that you become older, you don't put your thumb in the mouth anymore. If you put your mouth in the— thumb in the mouth, people will laugh at you. But people don't laugh when they see a young child with his hand in the mouth. So as you get older, you learn what's right, what is wrong, and you correct yourself. Similarly, in the absence of spiritual knowledge, you think this body is your real self and you engage in sinful activities. But now when you come in contact with the devotees of ISKCON, read the Bhagavad-gītā, read transcendental literature and discovered what is sin and what is not sin, you should stop sinning. So that is real atonement. So Yāmadūtas went back to Yāmarāja and when they went back to Yāmarāja, they said, we have an important question for you. Yāmarāja said, yes, bādalo sa, what is your question? They said, please 'Tell us, is there anyone more powerful than you?' Yamraj said, 'Of course, Krishna.' Then the Yamaduta said, 'This is the first time that you had sent us on a mission and we were stopped from doing our duty.' 'Why were we stopped by the Viṣṇudūtas from bringing Arjuna to you?' So Lord Yamraj said, 'In future, don't touch anyone who has ever chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra.' Only touch somebody whose lips, whose tongue has never chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Only touch that person whose head has never bowed down before the Deity of Kṛṣṇa. Only touch that person who has never tasted Kṛṣṇa prasāda. Only touch that person who has never served the lotus feet of great sages. So then the yama-dūtas understood why the— why Lord Viṣṇu's militia had stopped them from bringing Arjuna to hell. So this is the power of the Holy Name. Knowingly or unknowingly, anybody who chants the Holy Name gets unlimited spiritual benefits. The Vedas give the example of the hand of fire. Anybody who touches fire, whether it's a young child or an adult, he will get his hand burnt. So anybody who chants the Holy Name will get the spiritual benefits. Now some of you may say, boy, Maharaj, by giving us this story, has made spiritual life so easy for us. I'm going to become like Arjuna now. I've already chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra for 3, 4 years. Now I'm going to go get back into sense enjoyment, and when the Yamadūtas are coming, I will shout, "Kṛṣṇa, aṇcidam nārāyaṇa," and then Kṛṣṇa will protect me. So no problem. However, there's a big problem. If you adopt this approach, then it becomes the 7th of the 10 offenses. And what is the 7th offense? Who knows it? So 7th offense is to commit sins on the strength of chanting. So if you're chanting Hare Krishna, what are you thinking? No, no, by this chanting I've nullified so many sins. I had 1 billion sins, now 1 billion have been nullified because I've been chanting for 3 years, so I can commit fresh sins. Committing sins on the strength of chanting is the most dangerous thing. So we should not commit sins on the strength of chanting, because if you commit sins on the strength of chanting then we will not be able to benefit from the chanting of the Holy Name. So we can't think that we can imitate Arjuna. And above all, Arjuna was a great devotee of the Lord. If he would not have been a great devotee of the Lord, how would his name appear in the Shreemad Bhagavatam? So from this story of Arjuna, there's several important lessons to learn. Of course, the most important lesson is the importance of the Holy Name, because unconsciously, even when Arjuna was engaged in sinful activities, He was still chanting the names of Narayana. So the names of Krishna are all-powerful. By chanting the names of Krishna, you can cleanse the heart of all material desires. Externally, you may be very white or red-faced, very handsome, but internally the heart is black like a coal. So we have to cleanse the heart of these different material desires. So by chanting, the heart gets cleansed. Therefore, all the scriptures recommend the chanting process. The Bible also says, Thou shall always chant the names of the Lord. The Quran also has a similar message, but unfortunately today people don't chant the names of God. Few months ago I was in Baku and I saw many people walking with small mala in their hands. So I was very happy. I said, boy, it's nice that people are chanting the names of Allah at least. I saw many people, they had very small mala, maybe with 20 beads. And they were carrying in their right hand, taking it back and forth. So I asked the local temple president, boy, all these people are doing mala, they are chanting the names of Allah. He said, no, this is just a fashion here. He said, it is just a fashion to carry these prayer beads, but nobody uses them. So many times people carry rosaries with them, but they don't use it. I once asked a Christian priest, how much time in a day does he chant his rosaries? He couldn't give an answer. In India you will find many sadhus with japa malas around their neck, but they never touch the mala. Only for show. So even though all the scriptures talk about glorifying God, very few people are really glorifying God. That is a big problem in society today. So we are trying to create a spiritual revolution by encouraging people to chant. Everything comes from chanting. Just like when you put food in the stomach, all the parts of your body become strong. But if you starve your stomach, then the whole body is starved. Once the different parts of the body were having a discussion complaining that all food goes to the stomach. The hand, the leg, the head, everyone was complaining. They were all complaining, "Why is it that the stomach gets all the food all the time?" Just like even though you had this nice feast just now, all the food only went to your stomach. The hand, the leg, the head, the eyes, they didn't eat anything. So the different parts of the body decided to go on strike. The eyes decided they are not going to look at food anymore. The legs decided they are not going to walk to the kitchen anymore. So, and the hand decided it's not going to put anything in the mouth anymore. But a little later they discovered that they were all becoming weak because they were not feeding the stomach. The hand, leg, egg, eyes, head, all became weak. So they again had a meeting to find out the cause. One of the parts of the body said, "Naturally we all became weak." Because we stopped feeding the stomach. Then they decided to start feeding the stomach again and they all became strong again. So unless you serve the stomach of Him, of creation, God, you cannot be strong. And you must serve God on His tongue. Obviously all of you who have come here have this resolve that you must serve God. Otherwise why would you come here? We don't offer any entertainment. Just like, I don't know in your country, but in America and England and all, In these churches they had bingo games, entertainment games. So people go, they pray for 10 minutes and they play games for 2 hours. And they come back and say, "We've been to the church." But we don't have any such facility here. In fact, when you people come here, there is no place to sit. Compared to the number of people who come, this building is so small. Fortunately, the ceiling of wood is very strong, otherwise you would all fall down. So it's small but strong. So all of you come here because you find some satisfaction. That satisfaction is you find the purity in atmosphere and you find the chanting to be satisfying. Those who criticize us are those who have not chanted themselves. Anybody who chants will find it so satisfying. Of course chanting becomes potent once you also follow the other guidelines like no meat, fish and eggs, no intoxications, no illicit sex life, no gambling. We are just telling you to give up your nonsense activities, not your normal activities. You may be a housewife, a husband, a student, doesn't matter. You can practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness in all situations. What are the basic elements of Kṛṣṇa consciousness? First is acknowledge that there is God in control. God is the creator, the cause of everything. But just to acknowledge God is great is not enough. You must know how great God is and how fallen you are. And once you recognize how fallen you are, then you want to surrender to his teaching. And by following the Lord's teachings, you become happy and joyful. So friends, we are here to make your life happy and prosperous. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Lama Lama Ale Ale.