Live Lecture | 30 July 2021 | Toronto | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

You want to focus on the feet?

Yeah. Quick, quick, quick, please, quick!

Samsara da ba.

Sanzara dawa na lali da lo ka.

How to find the link for this?

Sorry, how to find the link for this?

No idea.

Hare Krishna. First of all, welcome all of you to the auspicious occasion of Guru Puja, and I want to, on behalf of everyone present here, thank you, Guru Maharaj, for allowing us to perform this beautiful Thank you for all you. Of course, we are extremely grateful that with all the issues, the war going on and everything, you still decided to show us your mercy to come here. We are extremely grateful. I want to really thank you for being here today and for this week. I do want to tell you about the program today. So Maharaj will give a short class and we will have prasadam. And I want to tell you about tomorrow, the initiation ceremony starts at 9:30, not 10:30 or 11:00. 9:30. Sharp. Sharp Indian time, I guess, but 9:35. And the prasadam will be served, except takeout prasadam. Then there's a program in the evening also at the temple, 6:30 class. Maharaj will speak on Chaitanya Charitamrita. And then we have the Feast class on Sunday. And I have some good news. Good news is that Maharaj is going to stay until 2nd of August.

Haribol!

So we have another opportunity to hear Maharaj for the Sunday— sorry, Monday evening, 6:30 PM class. Pranam Maharaj.

Just said this morning.

Okay, so on Monday, Maharaj will also give Bhagavatam class. So, and Sunday, Hari Mohan!

Hari Mohan!

Yeah, so just, just, yeah, it is a holiday, so I think it's easy for everyone to come. And, uh, yeah, so wonderful, wonderful news. And so with that, I will give the microphone to Maharaj for his class.

Yeah, it's okay to come on Monday.

Don't be shy.

Do we have more kirtans?

Hare Krishna.

Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! You hear me in the back?

Prasad Raaval.

I want to thank the devotees for this nice program. In the scriptures it is said that in order to advance spiritually one should take shelter of bona fide spiritual master, spiritual teacher. In every area of life you have a teacher as a guide. wake up. I must have control of the mind. This person teaches, teaches by example. So the first instruction is, when you get initiated by one of my to one get initiated. It means one takes on a firm commitment. I will chant, I will read, and so on. In the fourth canto of the Bhāgavatam, Narada Muni said, the civilized human being has three births. The first birth is from the womb of the mother. This is what is common to human beings and to animals. And this is called śukra-jñāna. The second what is realized when one gets initiated by Paramahamsa Praśād Rāma. This is called śukra-jñāna, śukṛta-jñāna. Then next, when one gets initiated the chanting on the Gīyāṣṭhri mantra. So in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, the Hare Rāma dikṣāna is awarded after one has chanted 16 rounds for a period of time. The brahmakalini initiation is awarded when one has done the bhaktisādhi course, etc. The purpose is they want to be enlightened by spiritual knowledge. Then, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, accept initiation. Then you, then next step, inquire, what do you have to give up in order to make spiritual progress? Just like, suppose you catch a disease, suppose you catch diabetes, When the doctor tells you to give up all sweets, suppose you get some liver trouble, the doctor tells you stop all fried stuff. So similarly, when it comes to spiritual life, you also identify activities that are detrimental. Sri Prabhupāda saw many in his book. Śrīla Prajañāsa Mahāprabhu explained, "Dhyānaprajñāśa yapa-niyamangrāha." Yānsaṅgāśa loṇyam ca abhibhaktiṇyāśṭhī. Once spiritual life gets checked, when it never was too much, it gets imprisoned by etc. So we should be inquiring, "What can I do to make spiritual growth?" What is the weakness that I should give up? We have material attachments, and if you sincerely follow the process, then you can make progress. But sometimes we are too attached to our bad habits. Sometimes people are fond of sports. Even after becoming a devotee, still maintain their loyalty is false. For body detriment, we should be given up. So in our Kṛṣṇa conscious movement, we are grateful that Prabhupāda gave us pure path of devotional service. And if we accept this pure path, then we can make spiritual advancement. So the disciples should be inquiring, "What can I do?" made a special announcement. Prabhupāda said, he said in the commentary on the Bhāgavatam, that you can have 3 categories of disciples. How many?

3.

One is, he understands the desire of the guru and he works to fulfill that without even being told. He knows that the guru wants him to chant the Holy Name. Guru wants me to study book. I do it. And without being told. The second category of disciple is, he is told, "This is what you should be doing." And he rectifies his life. And he does what the guru has told him to do. It may be difficult. He is determined to carry out the guru's order. So that is the second class devotee. And third class disciple is, doesn't matter what the guru says or anyone says, he will do his own thing. So it's for us to decide whether we want to be a first class devotee, second class devotee, third class devotee. Why am I a spiritual teacher? Equal to everyone. I say the Lord is equal to everyone. All of you are fortunate. You have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I was reading a letter Prasada RAVAL. Prasada said, "Those who come to this path of devotional service are very fortunate." They are very, very fortunate because they received the path of the Vaiṣṇava spirit. All of you are very fortunate. Most of you came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. I think in Canada very few were practicing Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So you are very fortunate. You came here with the intention of studying or doing good. But he came in contact with devotees and took to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Now we should make it a point. I make special advices. Just like when you have a fever, you want to know whether your fever is coming down or going up. Isn't it?

Yes.

Similarly, we should be keen to know. Is my spiritual fever going up or down? And if it is, if you feel that it is not going, if you feel that it is not going down, you should get worried. Just like if you have temperature for a period of time, then you feel nervous, and my fever is not going down. Down. So one endeavor should be to get rid of our material desires. The Bhagavad-gītā may say, adho śraddhāt alasādu. One is very fortunate if he has shraddha, desire to serve the Lord. Then what does the Lord do? What?

Sends the guru.

He sends some qualified representative to that candidate. Qualified representative may be in the form of a sadhu or in the form of a book. There are countless devotees all over the world who came to Kṛṣṇa consciousness reading a book. Recently I met a devotee in North India. I asked him, "How did you become a devotee?" This devotee does the business of fixing up broken trunks. In India they have metal trunks. So somebody gave him a trunk for repair. But he forgot to take— he took everything out, but he forgot two small books in the trunk. So this man opened the trunk to fix it up. He saw two books were out. He had never heard of ISKCON. He started reading it. He got so attracted, he searched for a temple. And then he got initiated. Anyway, here he is looking. Advise somebody, a book, for getting a book and a call. So there are many examples. There was a devotee in America. I asked him, "How did you become a devotee?" He said, "One of my friends—" He's a modern American devotee. "One of my friends was giving me a lift, and I saw that in the back of the car The Bhagavad Gītā. He had never read the Gītā before, but he knew the Bhagavad Gītā, the book of knowledge. He asked his friend, "Can I borrow this book from you?" The friend said, "Why do you want to borrow? Take it. I have no interest in it." He inquired, "Why did you buy it then if you have no interest?" He said, "I met a very nice Hare Kṛṣṇa monk on the road. He was so sweet and determined, I could not say no." He bought the book. So these books have changed the lives of countless people. So we should, when you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, are indeed very fortunate. We don't realize that fortune. And in order to advance spiritually, we should stay in devotee association. In Third Canto of Bhāgavatam— Can you hear me clearly? Yes, Mahārāja. In Third Canto of Bhāgavatam, you read about Lord Kṛṣṇa and Devāḍhuti. Devāḍhuti was the mother of the Lord. She knew, "My son is an outsider." So she said, "My dear son," Please tell me, how can I free myself from the cycle of birth and death? The sun said, this is a very nice question. Just like Parikṣit Mahārāja, when he was cursed to die, Parikṣit Mahārāja, what did he do? Invited all the great sages of the planet. At that time, It appears they had a system of communication that was better than the modern-day world. Within minutes of Parikṣma Rāja's inquiry, 64,000 sages manifested their presence. And what did Parikṣma Rāja say? "Please tell me what should one do who is about to die." So the devotee, very pleased, And somebody comes up with a spiritual inquiry, just like any of you, you go at home or office, somebody comes and say, "Prabhu, tell me something about Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Sounds fantastic. You are happy then, isn't it? So Kṛṣṇa Deva said, "My dear mother, you should associate with devotees, executing devotional service and association of devotees is very beneficial. That should be our mood. Because we have devotee association, our goal should be to have a harmonious relationship with all the Vaiṣṇavas. In spiritual life, humanity is a great asset. Sri Ramana Maharshi instructed his followers to write volumes of books. He left behind only 8 words. One is this, "Ātma." So the Lord said, "Tilāsa-bhīsemitheṇa bhūraprīṣasya āmaṇināmānadena." If you want to be in a position to chant the Holy Name all the time, What should we do? We should be humble, watch on in activity.

Keep the food alive. Can't, can't—

So our goal in life should be to be a humble devotee of the Lord. Goal in life should be to become a humble devotee of the Lord. I hope that All of you.

This is better.

So I hope that all of you— Hare Krishna. I hope that all of you are serious about making spiritual advancement. That is what pleases the guru. The guru is not pleased when a disciple gives him a nice garland of flowers. When the guru sees, here is a disciple chanting the Holy Name attentively, reading, developing humility, that is what pleases the guru. It's not who with me, in our humility, execute devotional service. So we hope that all of you sitting here take your responsibility seriously. And Prabhupāda said, "You take one step towards Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will take ten steps towards you." Lord is anxious to help us, but we should have sincerity. So if we have a desire to pursue spiritual life, then what should we do? Kṛṣṇa will understand. Īśvara-sarva-bhūtanā veda-jñāna-jñāna-vijñāṇa. "I am seated in everyone's heart." Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart. You can identify what it is as that. When you pass through a park, you can smell the fragrance. Can identify which flower it is. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa can identify what our desire is. If our desire is to serve the Lord, He will guide you to an appropriate sadhu. If your desire is to forget the Lord, that will also be arranged. And then if you come across a sadhu, what does he do? He gives you the process of bhajana-kriyā. Bhajana-kriyā is a process and describes in detail what to do, what not to do. And if you execute that, then what happens? Then what happens? The anātma began to gain. So also we should make it a point to read Prabhupāda's books. All of you are educated. You need the English. If you read it, that will make you intelligent. So we'll keep the talk short, and we hope that all of you will be serious about spiritual advancement. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. If you want, I can take on a few questions for answer, 2 or 3 questions. No questions? The airport is nearby.

Air conditioning?

Can we turn it off? Yeah, yeah. They got one or two questions, if you allow. Yes, Prasad Raaval. Thank you, Prasad. Speak louder.

Yes, you mentioned we might be— someone may be worried if they have a high fever. So what are the steps we have to we should take if our fever is not coming down?

Very good question. Did you all understand the question? Say it louder.

So, we ask Guru Mahārāja, what if our fever is not coming down? What are the steps we should take?

What do you do when you have severe pain in the heart, bring that one. You don't rush. You rush to the doctor. You rush to the hospital. So you rush to, especially elevated soul, maybe a spiritual master, maybe an advanced devotee, and tell him frankly, "This attraction of mine is not going away. Please guide and help." Prabhupāda Swāmi says there should be Six types of rāsāda among the devotees. What are they?

What are they? The offering gifts.

Reading your mind. Those are more advanced. And then taking instruction from them. Serving prasāda. Yes, that's serving prasāda. Giving gifts, receiving gifts. What gift do we have to give? Knowledge. And those are more advanced, we take guidance. We should never be hesitant in taking guidance. Humility doesn't mean you just bow 10 times at the bus and say, "Prabhu, I'm ready for that." Humility means I'm ready to be directed, I'm ready to be corrected, I'm ready to be guided. If you have that mentality, that is equal to me. Normally what happens, if somebody corrects you, you feel offended. Then you can put, "He is jealous of me. Envious. That's why he is saying that. He doesn't understand my purity." Everyone thinks he is pure. But actually, the special part we all thought, everything. And the most important of all. So take help of a teacher to correct your I feeler.

Okay. Any more? Prasad Raaval.

How to transcend the stage of anathenabriti?

You can translate by bhajana-kriya. Bhajana-kriya means I chant my rounds, I read, I have sādhana and bhakti as a guide. Sādhana and bhakti means rules and regulations. In every sphere of life, there are rules and regulations that we have to follow. Sometimes people say, "In ISKCON there are too many rules and regulations. See, our guru is so liberal. He's given us a free hand." You get what you pay for. In ISKCON, yes, there are many rules and regulations. These are given by our Parampara. They came down through Parampara. And if we follow these, then the desired results will be there. So, bhajana-kriya is very important, and sadhana-bhakti. The rules and regulations are there so that we get disciplined. We should understand, "I am undisciplined. I need help." Then you will go on. Okay. Any more?

Gurumahajji, you were speaking about initiation and brahminical initiation. How can we get taste for chanting the Gayatri Mantra? What does that mean? How can we get taste for chanting the Gayatri Mantra once we have second initiation? Because I don't have any taste for chanting.

Mām chaṇa gayātrī māṇsyaḥ govindḥ. We glorify the Lord. Your real taste should be for the Holy Name. Holy Name you can chant as much as you want. Yātmānta vijñāśyānti tamasaya. So you should have a taste, but the real taste is for the Holy Name. You should desire to chant the Holy Name all the time. The Holy Name is, the mercy incarnation of the Lord. And we are so fond of the Lord. We chant the holy name. And when it is chanted, it is less than what it should be chanted. Prabhupāda, when he opened the first temple in New York, those are the disciples, there were only American disciples at that time, chanted 64 rounds a day. But Prabhupāda's spiritual master, would give a quota of 64 rounds to everyone. So these disciples tried it, but they couldn't do 64 rounds. They went to Prabhupāda and said, "Swāmi, we can't do 64 rounds." Swāmi said, "Okay, 32 rounds." They tried 32, and that too was difficult. So they went to Prabhupāda again and said, "32 is a lot." Brother was at 16 and know that. So if you have attachment, you can chant more. I'm going to take one more question, then it's cold here. I don't want to catch a cold.

Yes. Sometimes, uh, spiritual life—

A little louder.

Sometimes I chant 3 involved in more and more seva. And when you get involved in seva, sometimes there are unwanted things that are there in the environment. Like you get to know a lot of different things that you don't want to get involved in. So that affects your spiritual life. How do you make sure that, you know, you're not affected by it and you're not distracted by all those things?

As you advance spiritually, And as you manifest your sincerity, yes, you take on more and more responsibility. The sign of an advanced devotee is, "I'm ready to take on headaches for Kṛṣṇa. I'm ready to take challenges for Kṛṣṇa." And if you discover there's some scandals at the top, or some behavior is not appropriate, then you can do two things. "I think you can help me tell the authorities, Prabhupāda, I see this, this is not good." And you would present in a humble way. And any spiritual leader would be willing to listen to any suggestions to improve Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And then people are still talking, doing prajāpati, You just ignore it. You keep doing what is right and don't worry about the others. If your behavior is right, then everyone will follow. Okay, yeah. Guru Mahārāja, how to know that we are making progress in spiritual life? Good question. How do you know whether you're making progress? You know, they say, "With temperature." How do you know whether your temperature is going down or not? You use a thermometer. So we also have a thermometer. Our principal thermometer is the Holy Name. Am I getting attached to the Holy Name? If we like chanting and I worship my Rādhā every day, How you measure your attachment. And if you feel that you're doing a round, you're doing, flying up in the world, and these are good signs. So you can measure your success. Like see, how attached am I getting to the Holy Name? How attached am I getting to other things? So I'll stop over here. I don't want to catch a cold. This is a long way. Okay. All right, good.

Thank you.

I think it was a good idea you did the program here. Yes, Maharaj.

Thank you. Thank you for suggesting it.