SB 1.19.36: Learn The Art of Living & Dying | Rus-Split | 3.5.92 | Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja

Om namo bhagavate vasudevaya! Oh my God— oh na mo Bhagwati Vasudevaia? Namaste Vāsudévayam... om nama bahagate vassu devaiahya omo mahakratai vasthu divayah ya. Oṇamo bha-gwa-te-vas-u-de-vah-yaaḥ. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto 1, Chapter 9, Text 36. Chapter 19. Since we have to finish the class by 7 o'clock, I'll just read a Sanskrit shloka once and then go to the translation. Āñātā te vyākta gāte darśanam nāḥ gatām. Nenam Nithara Nriyamananam Samsiddasya Vaniyasha Anyathate Vyaktagater Darshanam Nahakatam Nenam Nitharam Nriyamananam Samsiddhasya vanīyasā. Aniṭṭhāte vyākta gāteḥ. Darṣanam nāḥ kathām nirmāṁ. Nitarām riyām anānāṇāṁ. Samsiddhasya vanīyasā. Aniṭṭhāte vyākta gāteḥ. Śrī Caitanya Manobhavastāṁ sāpitām yena bhūtale, svayam rūpaka-dāmayam dadāti svāpādanti-kam. Bande ham Śrī Guru Śrī uttāpāda-kamman Śrī Guruṇvaiṣṇava-nāśca. Śrī Rūpaṁ sa-grājatāṁ sahagana-laguna-tanvitam tam-sadevam. Sadve tam-sabadhūtam pridhānāsaitam Kṛṣṇa Caitanya-devaṁ. Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-padaṇṣahagana-lalitā Śrī Viśākhāne samṣca. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare, Hare. Hare Rāma. Hare Rāma. Rāma, Rāma. Hare, Hare. Anitā te vyakta-gatay darṣnam nāḥ kathāmner-nām. Nitarām riyā manānā-nām. Sam-siddhasya maniḥ śā. So we see that Parikshit Maharaj in this chapter is preparing to die. Normally, when an ordinary man gets cursed to death, or if he knows that he's going to die, he gets very worried. But Parikshit Maharaj became very happy when he received the notice that he was going to die after 7 days, and he decided to die in a perfect manner. He considered this curse as a blessing of the Lord. Because a devotee of the Lord recognizes that not even a blade of grass can move without God's permission. Another name of Parikshit Maharaj is Vishnu Ratha. Vishnu Ratha means one who is protected by Lord Vishnu. So we've all heard how Parikshit Maharaj was also protected when he was in the womb of his mother Uttara from the Brahmāstra released by Asvatthama. So Parikshit Maharaj decided to leave his body. And he decided he leave his body in the assembly of great sages. He invited all the great sages who were on the planet and he asked them, what should one do who's about to die? So because he wanted to die in a perfect way, Krishna, who's within the heart, inspired Śrīkādeva Gosvāmī to appear on the scene. Eśvarasara-bhūta-nām hṛdaye śrī-rājuna-tṛṣṭhati. In the Bhagavad-gītā, 18th chapter, it is explained that Kṛṣṇa is in everyone's heart. And because He is in everyone's heart, He understands the nature of our desires. So Kṛṣṇa could understand that Parīkṣit Mahārāja wants to die hearing about His glories. So Kṛṣṇa inspired Śukadeva Gosvāmī to go to the assembly where the great sages had assembled and were giving advice to Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So when Parikṣit Mahārāja saw that Śukadeva Gosvāmī has appeared on the scene, he considered himself to be very, very fortunate. And Parikṣit Mahārāja in this verse is recognizing that it is Kṛṣṇa who inspired Śukadeva Gosvāmī to come and save Parikṣit Mahārāja by giving him transcendental knowledge. Now in this verse it is also being explained that Śukadeva Gosvāmī was moving around incognito. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī was not an ordinary personality. Śukadeva Gosvāmī was self-realized from the very moment he appeared on this planet. In fact, it is explained that Śukadeva Gosvāmī was in the womb of his mother for 16 years and he was refusing to come out of his mother's womb. Why? Because he did not want to get affected by Maya. He did not want to come to the material world and get entangled in any material situation. He only agreed to come out of his mother's womb after Lord Kṛṣṇa personally assured him that he was not going to get influenced by māyā. Vyāsadeva had to personally go and plead with Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and then Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa gave the guarantee that Śukadeva would be unaffected by the illusory energy. And as soon as Śukadeva Gosvāmī came out of the mother's womb, he at once left home. In fact, he left home and Vyāsadeva was very unhappy that the son that he has been waiting for for 16 years has left home as soon as he came out of the mother's womb. And then Vyāsadeva went running behind Śukadeva and told him, "Please come home, son. Please come home. Live at home." So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, by his mystic power, created a double and the double came home. But Śukadeva Gosvāmī just went on traveling from one location to another location. And he would stay in a householder's house only as long as it took time to take, give milk, to take milk out of the cow. These days nobody keeps a cow, and even if they keep cow, they only keep a cow for economic reasons. Even in big cities in India, keeping a cow in your house is illegal today. But in the Vedic society, every house would have a cow. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī would go from one house to another and stay in the house for as much time as it took to take milk out of the cow. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī, when he came while Parīkṣit Mahārāja was preparing to die, Parīkṣit Mahārāja, the first question he asked him was, "What should one do who is about to die?" So this Kṛṣṇa conscious movement is teaching people how to live and how to die. The materialists are teaching people neither the art of how to live nor the art of dying. So we must learn the art of dying. Why? Because unless one learns the art of dying, one's next birth is doomed. Therefore, death is a very important activity. You must be thoroughly prepared for that activity. Therefore, in the, in the shastras, it is said, ante naransmriti Smṛti means to remember. Narāṇa means Kṛṣṇa. Ante means at the end. So the translation is the perfection of life is that at the end one be in a position to remember Kṛṣṇa. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja, Parīkṣit Mahārāja's question gave great pleasure to Śukadeva Gosvāmī. And of course Śukadeva Gosvāmī told him that he must hear the glories of Kṛṣṇa. So why did Parikṣit Mahārāja, why did Śukadeva Gosvāmī emphasize the hearing of glories of Kṛṣṇa? śanmataḥ svākataḥ kṛṣṇa pūṇyaśravna-kīrtanā hediyāntaḥ stobhadvāni vidu nōti suraṭ-satām. This is a verse from the first canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And the translation of this verse is that by hearing about the glories of Kṛṣṇa, all that is inauspicious in the heart is destroyed. And loving service is established unto the Lord. Abhadhrani, abhadhrani is a Sanskrit word that means all the impurities. So the impurities can be destroyed by hearing the glories of Krishna. Just like you destroy the dirt in your body and clothes by using soap and water. So similarly, by hearing about Krishna, the impurities in the heart and the mind get cleansed. So therefore, The great sages have emphasized that one should learn the art of hearing about Kṛṣṇa. Today people are hearing about so many subject matters. You have the radio, the television, the newspapers, the billboards. Everybody is talking, but they're talking about topics that are not related to Kṛṣṇa. And when you hear about material mundane subject matters, then the dirt in the heart increases and increases and increases. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has also stated, Caitanya-mārjanam bhāvamāk-dvāgṇinirvāpanam, that the dirt in the heart can be cleansed by hearing about the glories of the Lord, the transcendental names of the Lord. And by hearing about the glories of the Lord, one develops attachment towards the Lord. So Kṛṣṇa is ready to reciprocate Krishna is reciprocating with everyone's desires. Krishna reciprocated with Parikshit Maharaja's desire by sending him Śukadeva Gosvāmī. A devotee considers everything to be a blessing of the Lord. Even when he's in difficulty, he gives— he understands the Lord must be having some transcendental plan. Take for example Parikshit Maharaja being cursed by the Brahmin boy Śrīngī. On the one hand, Śrīngī cursed Parikshit Maharaja to die. But on the other hand, Krishna sent Śukadeva Gosvāmī to save Parīkṣit Mahārāja. So whatever the— whatever happens to the devotee, it is for his ultimate benefit. So in the purport, Prabhupāda explains that the spiritual master is the external manifestation of the Supreme Lord, and he is the manifestation of the Lord. Why? In order to help one achieve success on the devotional path. So the spiritual master has no other business but only one business: how to take the conditioned souls back to Godhead. He is not interested in social and mundane talk because social and mundane talk will not well help one achieve the goal of life. The anxiety of the spiritual master is similar to the anxiety of the Lord. The anxiety of the Lord is how to claim the conditioned souls back to Godhead. We see this anxiety that was exhibited by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was constantly thinking how the conditioned souls can be saved. For example, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He was in Banaras, He had a big confrontation with the Māyāvādī sannyāsis. And the Māyāvādī sannyāsis were very surprised that Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who was a great Sanskrit scholar, instead of reading the Vedānta, was chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra on the streets like a madman. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu was able to convince Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, about his supreme position. And through Sarvabhuva Bhattacharya, all the Mayavadi sannyasis gradually became personalist devotees of the Lord. Then on another occasion, the Buddhists— the Buddhists actually did not believe in the personal form of the Lord. So the Buddhists were making various plans all the time how they would defeat Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So the Buddhists had made a plan by which they would feed some contaminated food to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So they were proceeding to offer Caitanya Mahāprabhu a plate which had contaminated food. But then as soon as the plate was being offered to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a bird came. She picked up the food, picked the plate, and dropped the plate on the head of the guru of the buddhist. And when the plate fell on the head of the buddhist guru, he fainted. So then the disciples, they all got worried. Now what to do? Our guru is about to die. And they realized This was because of their offensive attitude towards Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So they all apologized to Caitanya Mahāprabhu and they begged him for forgiveness and said, "Please save our guru." And Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Just go and whisper the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra in his ears." So they went and whispered the Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra and the guru came back to life and all the Buddhists became Vaiṣṇavas. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when he was with Haridāsa ṭhākura, Caitanya Mahāprabhu again expressed his concern How will people be saved in this Kali-yuga? So Haridas Thakur replied to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He said, Prabhu, chintana-kariya, haraṁ haraṁ balikaḥ nama-bhāse. That my dear Lord, please do not worry. By taking to the chanting of the holy names, people will be saved from the effect of Kali-yuga. So the spiritual masters reflect the anxiety of the Lord, and that is why they instruct. Preach and save people from going to hell. So the mood of Caitanya Mahāprabhu was inherited by Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī ṭhākura and also by Śrīla Prabhupāda. Both emphasized the importance of preaching. Of course, today people are dying without learning the art of how to die. So therefore we see that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu emphasized that for a Vaiṣṇava, There's so many different types of services, but one service that is the dearest is the service of preaching the glories of the Lord. Because Caitanya Mahāprabhu was God, when He was preaching, people from great, great distance would come to see Him. And just by seeing and hearing His glācchātāra, sankirtan party chant, they would all become devotees of the Lord. But we are not so powerful, and the people today are far more conditioned than they were 500 years ago. People these days want to be proved, scientifically proved. They want to get some evidence that there is God. They want to be informed about the science of God before accepting God. So Prabhupada, Prabhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, the spiritual master of Prabhupada, emphasized to Prabhupada the importance of translating and distributing these books. Why did he emphasize that? Because these books contain knowledge about the science of God. They contain knowledge about the supremacy of God. It contains knowledge about how one should give up the illusory energy or the effect of maya. And by presenting the words of Kṛṣṇa and the, and the teachings of the great ācāryas, by reading these powerful writings, one gets inspired to give up the illusory energy and take to the process of bhakti. Because it is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that after the departure of the Lord from this planet, The Lord is on this planet in the teachings of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Just like the sun destroys darkness, similarly the philosophy of the Bhāgavatam and the Vedic text destroy the darkness of the illusory energy. Therefore it is said, Krishna surya sama maya hayandhikāra, yahaṁ kṛṣṇa tahenī mayādhikāra. That is, Krishna is just like the sunshine. Just like when there is sunshine, there's no darkness. Wherever there is Kṛṣṇa, there is no scope for the illusory energy. So that is our business, to present Kṛṣṇa to everyone. Because anybody who comes to Kṛṣṇa, knowingly, unknowingly, is going to get benefit. Just like anybody who places his hand in the fire will get his hand burned. So similarly, anybody who comes in contact with the holy names of the Lord and the Lord and the philosophy of the Lord is going to get benefit. So we have to present Krishna to everyone. And what did Prabhupada say? How do you present Krishna? Who knows? Yes, he said distribute my books. So it's very nice that you have the Lord Nrsimhadev marathon going on these days. Nrsimhadev protects his devotees, and Lord Nrsimhadev protects his devotees even when the devotee is in a difficult position. So Prabhupada described the marathon to be an activity in which one reduces one's eating and sleeping so that one can concentrate more on the service that he's engaged in. So by taking part in this transcendental activity of distributing the Lord's mercy, one makes spiritual advancement. In the 18th chapter, Krishna says, "Yā idaṁ parmaṁ guyaṁ." Of all types of devotees, the dearest devotee of mine is one who is always engaged in spreading My glories. Prabhupada said that these books are so powerful that anybody who reads even one word from these books has the opportunity to change his whole life. In your own country you can see how as book distribution has increased, people have— so many people have come to Krishna consciousness. And if you analyze how they've come to Krishna consciousness, it's essentially due to the reading of these books. So Prabhupada has given us so many nice activities by which we can constantly keep ourselves engaged in transcendental activities. Prabhupada in his own life displayed the importance of preaching. Prabhupada, even when he was sick, even when doctors were telling him to take rest, Prabhupada still did not stop preaching. Prabhupada used to say, a soldier when he dies fighting is recognized, but a soldier who dies at home is not recognized. So he used to say, it is better that I die fighting for Krishna. So we in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement have received all these valuable instructions from Prabhupāda. And if we take advantage of these instructions, not only will we perfect our existence, but also perfect existence of the other conditioned souls who are suffering. The materialists do not have a solution to the problems of life. Just like in your country, at one time they thought communism was a solution to man's problems. Then they thought, no, capitalism is the solution. But capitalism is also not the solution. People are crying, unhappy, complaining everywhere. Even if you go to America, everybody is unhappy. So the root cause, the roots, the real solution is a spiritual solution. And spiritual solution means giving people these transcendental, giving people transcendental knowledge. Obviously, people don't have so much time that they'll sit down with you for 7 days and you can explain the whole Bhagavatam to them. But if you give them a transcendental book They can take a book and hear and get preached to directly by Prabhupada and all the great acharyas and above all Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. And Prabhupada said, "As long as book distribution goes on, I will never die." Because Narottama das ṭhākura says that the Vaiṣṇava deva never dies. He lives through his instruction. So it is very nice to hear that book distribution has again picked up and devotees are very enthusiastically participating in book distribution activities. So this Lord Nrsimhadeva marathon, I understand, is going on till the 14th of this month. So all devotees should actually take part in this marathon. You have facility for all devotees to take part, not just the Moscow sankirtan devotees. And the more we engage in this, the happier we will feel spiritually. We should remember that the opportunity to preach Krishna consciousness is given only to the most confidential devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. So if you want to be dear to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, understand His instruction, which is, "Jāre dakho, tahikaho, Kṛṣṇa upadeś." Wherever you see, tell him about Kṛṣṇa. When you try to tell people about Kṛṣṇa, you may make some mistakes. But when Prabhupāda tells people about Kṛṣṇa, he doesn't make any mistake. So give them Prabhupāda's books, and then Prabhupāda will tell them how to give up māyā. And then they'll all become happy. And you will become happy because you're going to get your commission from Krishna. Now they've introduced capitalism in your country. So in a capitalist society, if a salesman will sell something, then he gets commission. So you get your salesman's commission from Guru and Krishna. When Krishna and the Guru see— when Guru and Krishna see that this person has gone and distributed 50 books, 100 books, 200 books, That means so many people have been exposed to Kṛṣṇa. Then you get plus points. So to succeed on Sankirtan, to succeed in the preaching activity, your mind should be focused on these instructions of Guru, Sadhu, and Shastra. You must always remember that your own mind is your worst enemy. Therefore, don't listen to your own mind. Your own mind will say one minute the weather is good, the next minute it will say the weather is bad. One minute it will say book distribution is easy, the next moment it will say book distribution is difficult. Therefore, you should just ignore what your mind says. We show our love for the spiritual master Prabhupada and the whole parampara and Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa by endeavoring to preach His mission. So we should all enthusiastically take part in this marathon and flood this place with love of God. And when you flood this place with love of God, Automatically sinful tendencies will be smashed. So Prabhupada said these books are like transcendental bombs. So we destroy other people's illusion by distributing these transcendental bombs. So drop these transcendental bombs and that Lord Caitanya's movement be victorious. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna!