Should devotee take a holiday? , ‘Bhajahū re mana’ Song | Rus-Split | 15.7.92 |Gopal Krishna Goswami

I'm just going to give a very short class. I'm going to finish by 8:00 or 10— 5 past 8 the latest. 10 past 8. So this morning in the Bhagavatam class, we had heard how Śrīkṛṣṇadeva Gosvāmī said, chanting, hearing, and remembering is a sure way of ending all miseries. And we had discussed how, um, one should chant purely. And the real test of bhāva is giving up material attachment and not, not just falsely manifesting symptoms of advancement. So a key ingredient to spiritual advancement is controlling the mind. So Govinda Dāsa in this prayer is addressing the mind. He says, bhājāho re manaśi nanda-nandana abhaya-carna-rabindare. My dear mind, please take shelter of the son of Maharaj Nanda. And then you will become fearless. Abhaya-charna ravindare. Abhaya-charna means fearless. So what is Prabhupada's first name? Abhaya-charana. So Prabhupada was fearless. He was fearless in all situations. For 20 years he was struggling all alone in India to establish Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but he never got discouraged. He came from India to America in a cargo ship. You devotees may not know this, but Prabhupāda, when he first came to America, he did not come by samalot or a passenger ship. He came in a cargo ship. What is the difference between a cargo ship and a passenger ship? In cargo ship there are no comforts. It is like a third-class train you may have been to in India. So he came in a cargo ship and on the way to America he had heart attacks. He had two heart attacks. And when he came to America, he did not know anybody. He only had a letter of one family, one Mr. Agarwal, that's all. And he didn't even have much money. He only had about ₹40 at that time. So he was fearless because he had Krishna on his side. So similarly, anybody who takes shelter of the son of Maharaj Nanda, he will become fearless. So some of you may say, I'm already fearless, why are you telling me to become fearless? No, you are not fearless. We all are fearful of so many things. One nation is scared that another nation may attack them, so they spend so much money on defense. One businessman is scared that another businessman may steal his business away. People are fearful in old age they will need money, so they save money in the bank. So this— you lock your house in the night. Why? Because you're fearful the thief may come and rob it. So there's so many different types of fear. We are fearful of old age, we are fearful of death, we are fearful of disease. And therefore we are always endeavoring for more and more and more. So what does it mean to take shelter of the Sannamaharaj Nanda? You as devotees may want to know, practically speaking, what does it mean? Should we just take a picture of Lord Kṛṣṇa on our mind? It means that you engage the mind in thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Your mind is working round the clock, overtime. Today is a public holiday, but it's not a holiday for your mind. Your mind is working actively. Even when you physically go to sleep, the mind is working. Don't you have dreams in the night? Because you are sleeping, but the mind is active. So the mind is always working, never gets tired. Even when you're physically tired, the mind is still active. And the mind is active and frustrated because whatever it dwells on doesn't satisfy. So think about Krishna, think of Krishna's desire, think of Krishna's instructions. Durlava manava janmātsatsange. Durlava manava. Why? Why should we think about Kṛṣṇa? Because this mind, this human body is very rare. And it is rare. It is not that every birth is going to be a human birth. As devotees, all of you know that out of the 8,400,000 species, only 400,000 species represent human species. But even as devotees, we lose this concept, the concept the human body is very rare. Even as devotees, you forget that the body is perishable, soul is eternal, and therefore you engage in nonsense activity. If you always remembered that this body is perishable and the soul is eternal, and the soul can be happy only, only in a spiritual activity, then you would never engage in activities of sense enjoyment, and you would never entertain thoughts of sense enjoyment. But the conviction in your heart is not very strong. Actually, the conviction in your heart is very weak. Therefore, you easily get distracted from the spiritual path. Therefore, whenever you have an opportunity for prajāpa or extra sleep or laziness, we manifest it in no time because our conviction is very weak. We are not 100% convinced that Krishna is the enjoyer. We will say, yes, Krishna is the enjoyer, but in our subtle thought, we want to be the enjoyers. You will say everything for Krishna, But suddenly you think something should be for you also. So that is a reality, and we should not simplify the problem by saying, no, no, no, that is for everyone else but not for me. I'm safe, I'm strong. Therefore, the great sages have told us that we have to be attentive all the time. So Govinda Das is saying, this very human body can be correctly utilized if you take advantage of sadhu sangha. So if you are in sadhu sangha, then you will always be reminded who you are. And every day in the Bhāgavatam class and Gītā class, you will hear what? Eklaiśra Kṛṣṇa arṣabhṛtaya. That Kṛṣṇa is the only enjoyer and we are all His servants. So Govinda Dāsa further says, sitātāpābātā parīśana edhina janmī sāthirik. That both in day and night I am suffering, suffering, suffering. Please don't think that Govinda Dāsa was suffering. Because the nature of an advanced devotee is, even though he's very advanced, he still claims he has no love for God. He says, for a fraction of flickering happiness, I have sacrificed everything. The happiness that you get by material arrangement is only flickering, it's only temporary. Even assuming that you live for 100 years, and you live for 100 years as a millionaire, and you have a variety of girlfriends and a variety of material comforts, Still, 100 years as a percentage of eternity is a small, small, small percentage. So you must understand that this material world, at best, it offers you only flickering happiness which is short-term. One great devotee, Vidyapati, has very nicely put this point. He says, when you are thirsty and if somebody only gives you a drop of water, will you be satisfied? Will you be satisfied? No. When you are hungry and the temple managers only give you one small morsel of food, will you be satisfied? From today we'll say, okay, all of you can come back in the evening, only take one small, one chamaat of dal, one chamaat of sabji, and one small piece of chapati. No one will be satisfied. We'll all go on strike. So Vidyapati says this is exactly what material life is. You're looking for gallons of water because you're so thirsty, but somebody comes and gives you only one drop. Govinda Das is saying, I sacrificed everything trying to get happiness, but there is no happiness. He says, I have all these relatives, wife, children, friends. I thought they will all save me, but none of them can save me. And he very beautifully compares this human life to a drop of water on a, on a, on a lotus leaf. So now after the class, when your devotees go out in the garden You will see in the leaves in the garden, there are some drops of water. Now you know that a drop of water may be there on the leaf now, but at any time it can fall off the leaf. Punimāit? You understand? So He says that is exactly the position of the human body. Just like the drop of water can fall off the leaf at any time, this human body can end at any time. Therefore Bhāgavatam says, padam padam yātrī-padam na teśām. There is danger at every step. So therefore He gives a solution. What is the solution? Śrīla Nāmadāya Vaiṣṇava Viṣṇuṣmaṇa Pāda Sevaṇaṁ Ātmānubhedam. He said, Ātmānubhedam. Śrīla Nāmadāya Viṣṇuṣmaṇa Pāda Sevaṇa Ātmānubhedam. That is, he gives the ninefold process of devotional service. Śrīla Nāmadāya Viṣṇuṣmaṇa means to chant and hear. So instead of chanting and hearing mundane topics, chant and hear the glories of the Lord. Mundane topics you will get tired. Spiritual topics you will never get tired. They are always fresh. Nārada Muni says that devotional service is like morning dew. So that's like every morning you get up, you go out of your room and breathe the fresh air. You don't feel, oh, I breathed this air yesterday, so now it must be stale. When you go out, you feel the freshness of the air. So devotional service is always fresh. So you can chant the holy names of the Lord from morning to night and you'll never get tired. Hārīdaṣṭhākura was chanting the holy names How many times a day? 300,000 times a day. He would not even talk or eat prasād till he would chant his rounds. Once when Haridas Thakur was living in his cave, there was a snake living in that cave also. Of course Haridas was undisturbed. He knew that in the whole day there's a snake. People who were coming to see Haridas every day, they were saying, Haridas, please, you should get the snake out of here, or you should move out of this. Hut. So because his devotees were requesting Haridas to move out, he said, "Okay, I'll move to another location." But then before Haridas could move out, the snake automatically crawled out of the hole and left the hut. Kṛṣṇa in the heart of the snake inspired, guided him to move out and leave his pure devotee alone. Haridas, because he was born in a Muslim family, he was not allowed to go inside the temple of Jagannātha. But there was no problem because Lord Himself came to see him. Caitanya Mahāprabhu would come every day to see Haridas. So following in the footsteps of Haridas, you can learn that even if you chant all day, you will never get tired. But we get tired as soon as— we are just anxious to finish our 16 rounds so that you can then hang up your beads. So, but Bhagavad-gītā says, satyā tasaṭham keta yantamām, always chant My glories. śrī-nama-keta means to chant in here. Viśnu-smāna means to remember. You can only remember the Lord if you chant and hear. Therefore, those devotees who chant their rounds in the morning, those who hear the Bhāgavatam class attentively and don't fall asleep in the Bhāgavatam class, then all day then they can remember Kṛṣṇa. And if you fall asleep while chanting, you fall asleep while listening to the Bhāgavatam class, then you'll also fall asleep when it's time to remember Kṛṣṇa. I've never seen anybody fall asleep in front of prasādam plate. Because they are all attracted to prasādam. So, prādaḥ sevnaḥ. Prādaḥ sevnaḥ means Arjuna, Vishnu, worshiping the lotus feet of the Lord. So we don't have to think that I'm not Goddess Lakshmi, so how can I serve the lotus feet of the Lord? You serve the lotus feet of the Lord by meditating on the instructions of the Lord. Arjanam, worshiping, uh, the, the deity of the Lord. Few days ago I gave you the story of Madhvanda Puri and also the story of Sakshi Gopal. So through these two stories you can understand the importance of meditating on the personal form of the Lord. Vandanam, offer prayers to the Lord. So many prayers you can offer, unlimited prayers. The prayers by Lord Brahmā, prayers of Gajendra, prayers of Lord Śiva, prayers by Lord Indra, prayers by Jambavāma. Yesterday I gave you the story of the King Satyajit, how Jambavāma, when he was defeated by Kṛṣṇa, how he offered prayers. So repeat those prayers. And if you can't repeat any of those prayers, just repeat the translation, the Russian translation of the verses of the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Dasyam. Dasyam means to carry out the orders of the Lord. Like Hanumān carried out the orders of Lord Rāma. So we all have to become Hanumān of Lord Caitanya's army. This ISKCON movement is an extension of Lord Caitanya's body. Some may be big powerful Hanumāns and some may be tiny Hanumāns. But we have to carry out the orders of Lord Rāma, or Lord Caitanya. Which is? What's the order? Yes. Even Prasada Rādhā is telling that. Jāre dakotahe kaho Kṛṣṇa upadeś. Whoever you see, tell him about Kṛṣṇa. That's all. Simple. You don't have to be a Vedic scholar, you don't have to be a powerful orator, a powerful singer, or well-educated, or beautiful, or rich. Nothing. Tell everyone. Many times you see, you have new bhaktas, they join, they go and distribute a book, they invite somebody to the temple. And many times the bhakta ends up blooping and the person he has preached to becomes a devotee. So the point is that this process is so powerful that anybody who connects to this process will get love of God. Just like 5,000 years ago, Parīkṣita Mahārāja heard the medicine from Śukadeva Gosvāmī. So that medicine which Parīkṣit Mahāntara received 5,000 years ago, today you and I are receiving it. And that medicine today is as powerful as it was 5,000 years ago. That medicine has not got affected by the passage of Kali Yuga. Understand this point. That medicine today is as powerful in Moscow as it was in Nāmaśvaranya or anywhere, Vṛndāvana, thousands of years ago. So whether you take the medicine in Moscow or London or New York or Bombay or Delhi, doesn't matter. Medicine is as potent as it was 5,000 years ago. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore said, whoever you see, talk to him about Kṛṣṇa. So carry out the orders of the Lord. Or sakyam, become a friend of the Lord. Like whom? Arjuna. All of you should know at least this much. Become a friend like Arjuna. But you may not be so fortunate as Arjuna is at the moment. But if you absorb yourself in thinking of Kṛṣṇa, then you will become as fortunate. Arjuna was very sad after the Lord had departed from this planet. He was missing the Lord's association. But then Arjuna started meditating on Kṛṣṇa's instructions from Bhagavad-gītā. And he once again felt Kṛṣṇa's personal association with him all the time. So sometimes people say, "Oh, Arjuna was so fortunate, he heard it directly from Kṛṣṇa. I'm not so fortunate." But if you meditate on Kṛṣṇa's instructions as explained by the bona fide spiritual master and parampara, then you will have Kṛṣṇa's association just like Arjuna had it. And Ātmanivedam. Ātmanivedam means to surrender everything to the Lord. Everything means mind, body, words, wife, children, house, property, bank balance, hidden money. Not just bank money, also hidden money. Everything is Kṛṣṇa. That is Ātmanivedam. And then you're completely protected by Kṛṣṇa. So meditate on the ninefold process of devotional service, and then you'll become brahma-bhūta-prasannātma. You'll become transcendently happy. So don't go after material happiness, go after transcendental happiness. Then you'll really be happy, not artificially happy. In the material world, everyone's trying to be artificially happy. You know, in the material world, there are schools that teach you how to smile. You will be surprised. If you're getting a job as a hotel manager or the receptionist, as the air hostess, then you have to go through a training program where they teach you how to smile, how to flash your teeth. That's why whenever they advertise the product, whether it's a television or a car or whatever, they show you the smiling man, man or woman. But we are not interested in this artificial smile. We are interested in real happiness. So take to this real process and obtain real happiness. In the material world, you don't want anything imitation, isn't it? If somebody is giving you food stuff to eat and he tells you, oh, there are some chemicals inside, then at once you become careful, you don't want to eat. If somebody gives you a 100 ruble note and say this is a false note, you won't take it. If somebody tells you, if you sit on the plane, the plane's going to crash, you'll never sit on the plane. You want to be safe in the material world and you want the real thing. So if you want to be safe and if you want the real thing, then here's the real thing. That is Krishna consciousness. Have you heard of this soft drink called Coca-Cola? We like the Pepsi-Cola, but Dugya Cola is the Pepsi. Okay, so you may be wondering why have I introduced Coca-Cola in a Bhagavad— in a class in the temple. So all over the world I've seen that sign, even in Moscow, Coca-Cola advertises, this is the real thing. So the foolish people are being made to believe that drinking Coca-Cola is a real thing. But drinking Coca-Cola is not the real thing. We should take the Coca-Cola company to court for misleading the public. The real thing is Krishna consciousness. And this— so we are presenting to the people the real thing, not the false thing. And everybody else is presenting the false thing. So you devotees have the real thing, take it and give it to everybody else. Don't be— don't let it be like the beggar who gave away the watermelon. You know that story, isn't it? There was a beggar, there was a beggar on the street. Lord Shiva, Lord Parvati was— Parvati and Lord Shiva were passing by the street. Parvati told Shiva, give this man some donation. You are rich, this man's suffering. Lord Shiva said, even if I give him, he will not understand, he will not appreciate it. Parvati said, doesn't matter, give it, give him something. So Lord Shiva gave him a watermelon, arbuuj. So that beggar was looking for dengi, not arbuuj. Like I have experienced in India, many times the beggars come, we give them some prasada, they say, "No, no, no." They want dengue. So Lord Śiva gave him the arbuja. But inside that arbuja there were gold and emeralds. But the beggar did not know that. So he got the arbuja, said, "Eh, what am I going to do?" He sold it to somebody else for 1 cent. So Lord Śiva showed it to Parvati. He said, "You remember I told you this man won't know what to do with my donation." So Prabhupāda said, so we are similarly like the beggar. We get Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the form of a nice arbuja and we say, "No, no, no, we don't want it." So we should take this arbuja of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay, so I hope all of you will go out on the marathon today. Yes? Or is today a holiday from devotional service also? You know in the material world why people have so many holidays? Does anybody know that? You want to hear why? We quoted tonight. Because in the material world nobody likes what they are doing. The children don't like studying, so they're always looking for time off from school. Nobody likes to work, so they're always looking for Saturday, Sunday, and holidays. Everywhere, even in America, everywhere it is Thursday and people begin to talk about the weekend in America because nobody likes to work. Therefore, when the boss is away, nobody works. They say when the cat is away, the mice plays. So nobody likes to work, so they have introduced In the material society, the system of holidays. So you have Saturday, Sunday holiday, special day holiday, somebody dies holiday, some Victory Day, lost day, Revolutionary Day, the day the, the day the some revolutionary leader is born holiday. The revolutionary leader is probably suffering in hell because of his sinful activities, but, but in the, in, but in the memory of his name, people are having a holiday. So these holidays are just different ways of expressing, I am dissatisfied with my work, now I need some alternative. But devotee has no need of holiday because he's not dissatisfied with his work. He likes to chant, he likes to read, he likes to serve, he likes to associate with devotee. So there's no question of holiday. The karmis have holidays, but we have no holidays. Just like devotees begin to chant and clap at 4:30 in the morning. They begin to dance and clap at 4:30. Have you ever seen a materialist dance and clap at 4:30 in the morning? Never. You only see the materialist dancing and clapping when they are drunk in a bar or a restaurant. Prabhu na? Yeah, all over the world. So our process is always blissful. So please be actively engaged and you'll always be in the fire. And if you're not actively engaged then your position will be just like the sparks that fall off the fire. What happens to the sparks when they fall off the fire? They lose their brilliance, they lose their effulgence. So you see, the devotees, when they leave Krishna consciousness, they again start growing their hair, their beard, they lose their beauty. And those who are actively engaged, they're always blissful. Okay, so please go and make others blissful also. Don't be selfish. Means you go and explain to others about Krishna consciousness. So are all of you going to go and Give Kṛṣṇa consciousness to people today, or you're going to take it as a holiday? It's Victory Day. We also have our Victory Day. Do you know Chaitanya Mahāprabhu's Sikṣāstaka, first verse? What does Chaitanya Mahāprabhu say? Param vijayate Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁkīrtan. Let there be victory for the sāṁkīrtan process. So the karmīs celebrate Victory Day once a year. We celebrate it 365 days a year. Every day when you are preaching, it is a Victory Day. And every day when you're not preaching, it is a lost day. So make every day a victory day by preaching every day. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So everyone should go out today, okay? Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. So I'll come back on the 14th and hear the scores of the Lord Nrsimhadev marathon to go to Riga. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hale Krishna, Hale Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.