Sri Shikshashtakam Verses 3 and 4 | Rus- split | 24 Dec 1988 | Srila Gopal Krishna Goswami

Yesterday we had finished the first two of the sikṣāstaka verses. So those of you who were not there yesterday can probably get the tapes, somebody is tape recording everything. So just for the benefit of those who were not here yesterday, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the incarnation of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu instructed his followers to write volumes of books. But he himself only wrote 8 verses, and these 8 verses are known as the 6 śāstakas. And in these 8 verses, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has summarized the entire Vedic message. So if you understand the 8 verses properly, then you've understood everything about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So now we will do the third of the 6 śāstakas, ślokas. This is the most famous of all these shāstra-kāṣlokas, verses. Denaḍa-pī-sūne chena taro rāpī śvaishṇūna amānina mana dena-kītenādi-sādhāri. Once Śrīla Prabhupāda, when he was in Allahabad— Allahabad is where the Kumbha Mela is going to be held this year, and Prabhupāda lived in Allahabad for a long time. So in Allahabad, Once, you know, as some of you may know, Prabhupada was running a pharmacy, a pharmacy business, medical drugstore. So Prabhupada had prepared a tonic, a vitamin tonic, and Prabhupada was showing that tonic to one of his godbrothers. So the godbrother said, "Abe babu, I don't want this tonic for health, but do you have a tonic by which I can develop love of God?" So Prabhupāda said, of course Prabhupāda was very humble always. So Prabhupāda said, "I know the formula for developing love of God, but the tonic is not ready as yet." And then the godbrother said, "What is the formula? Please tell me for developing love of God." And Prabhupāda said, "Tinādh api sunnicena tarur api shaishnuna māne nama nādena kirtinādi-sadhāri." Prabhupāda said, This is the formula for developing love of God. So this is what we are discussing at the moment. We're discussing this shloka, chinnādh api sunnicena. Obviously all of you are here because you have a desire to develop love of God. All of you have taken to the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra because you have understood that this is a means by which God can be understood and served. Just like for everything you do in life, there are some rules and regulations. There are some rules and regulations how to use it. So similarly, if you want to chant the holy names of the Lord all the time, there are also some rules and regulations. Yitthinadi sadā hari. This means if you want to be in a position where you can chant the holy names of Krishna all the time, then the following mentality must be cultivated. So Chaitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, jenaḍa-bhīsuni-cena, that is, one should consider oneself to be very humble. In the material world, everybody wants to show that he's smarter than everybody else. I do not think that this is a disease only of the capitalist countries. All over the world, whether you're living in socialism or communism or any other form of ism, In the material world, everybody wants to show that there's nobody smarter than him. Have you ever talked to the taxi driver when you take a taxi? The taxi driver will give an opinion on everything in the world— defense, foreign affairs, economics, everything. So the point that I'm trying to make is basically in material existence, everybody thinks that he is the greatest. Muhammad Ali always used to say, I am the greatest. But in spiritual life, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, one should consider oneself to be the most fallen. Narottama Das ṭhākura was a very great Vaiṣṇava devotee poet. He says in his prayers that, "My dear Lord, there is nobody who is more fallen than me in all the three worlds. Therefore, my claim over Your mercy is first." Śrī Narottama Dāsa ṭhākura has very nicely stated, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Prabhu dayāko 'ro more, tumi mina ke dayālu jagata-samsāre. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, You are the most merciful incarnation. There is nobody who is more merciful than You. He says, patit pavan hitu tava avatāra mo sama patita prabhu na paibhe āra. You are the most fallen who has descended just to reclaim the fallen souls of this world. You can see that our devotees were the most fallen, not only in this Russia, but in America, Europe, Australia, everywhere, all those who have joined the Krishna Consciousness movement. At one time they were smoking, drinking, indulging in illicit sex, eating meat, and so on. But now, due to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy, now they have taken to this blissful auspicious spiritual path. So just like Narottama das ṭhākura says, "I am the most fallen." A Vaiṣṇava is one who really considers himself to be the most fallen. We call each other prabhu. Prabhu means master. So If we address each other as Prabhu, we must really feel within our heart that the other person is my master. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, one should consider oneself in a very humble frame of mind. You must always think that there's no one more fallen than me, but due to the causeless mercy of Guru and Kṛṣṇa, some or the other, I have been blessed with this opportunity to engage in bhakti. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying that one should consider oneself lower than the straw in the street. Of course, these days in Russia it is winter, so you don't see too many straws on the street. You only see snow. But you know that straws are on the street. The straws in the street have been covered by the snow now. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying you must consider yourself more fallen than the straw in the street. So we should consider, be very tolerant and consider ourselves to be lower than the straw in the street. Then Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, more tolerant than a tree. The tree is the most tolerable entity because whether it is snowing or whether it is raining or whether it is hot sun, this tree is always ready to help the other person. The tree is maybe suffering itself, but it is happy to help others even when he is in difficulty. In the rainy season in India, we see that to escape the rain, people go and stand underneath the branches of the tree. And in the hot season also, to escape the sun, they stand underneath the tree. So we have to become more tolerant than the tree. Please do not think that trees don't have a soul. The tree also has life. About a few years ago, two American scientists had done a very extensive study, and the conclusion was the trees also have life, and the trees are also able to talk to each other. When one tree is being attacked by the other, by the insects, then the tree releases a particular type of air which goes and warns the tree next door. That some insects are going to attack you. Of course, the Vedic scriptures had said millions of years ago that the trees have life, but the so-called modern society doesn't believe anything that the Vedas have to say. So we must be more tolerant than the trees. Devoy of all sense of false prestige. Because we are proud, because we are thinking that we are the greatest, we also have false prestige. False prestige is very closely related to pride. So when one is proud, then he has false prestige. False ego means to identify with the body. So one who believes in false prestige is just identifying with this body. Actually, this body that we have is actually meant for the pleasure of others. This is the statement of the Bhagavad Gita. This body should be used in such a way that the others in the human society will derive benefit from it. So the devotees are not attached to this body. They are attached to the body only in terms of using the body to serve the Lord. But they are not attached to the body in terms of trying to get respect or honor necessarily. And then Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "And should be ready to offer all respects to others." The Vaiṣṇava is willing to offer respects to others because He considers himself to be the most fallen. So the Vaiṣṇava thinking himself to be a servant of the servant, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "Dāsa dāsa dāsa dāsa dāsa dāsa dāsa dāsa." I am servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant. So the devotee is not hesitant in offering respects to other Vaiṣṇavas because when you offer respect to the other Vaiṣṇavas, you are actually offering respect to the Lord in the heart. The Lord resides in the heart of every living entity. So when devotee A offers respects to devotee B, he's actually not only offering respects to that devotee, but actually he's offering respect to the Lord in the heart of that devotee. So next time you have to offer respects to someone, don't hesitate in offering respects because actually you're offering respects to the Lord in the heart. So when you have a humble state of mind, keetanya mahaprapo'sesh, Then you can go on chanting the Holy Name of the Lord nonstop. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, "Sataṁ i-kṛṭayantavaṁ"— "Always chant My glories." So you may say, "But Swamiji, Guruji, how can we go on chanting the Names of Kṛṣṇa all the time? Because we have to go to work, we have to do so many other duties. So how is it possible to chant the Names of Kṛṣṇa 24 hours?" That is possible because Prahlada Maharaja said the devotional service can be executed in 9 different ways. Shravanam, kirtanam, vishnu-smarnam, pada-sevanam, achanam, bandhyam, dasyam, sakhyam, atmanivedam. So, shravanam, kirtanam of course means chanting and hearing. So, vishnu-smarnam means you meditate on the Lord in the heart. So, for example, when your devotees go and do book distribution, I understand that many of you support yourself by book distribution. So when you go, when you go on book distribution, of course you cannot stop Mr. Alex on the way and say, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, kṛṣṇa-kṛṣṇa-kṛṣṇa, take, take the book." You know, if you're just standing and when you're talking to Mr. Alex, of course that Alex will think you're crazy. So what you should do at that time is in your mind chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. And just pray to Krishna that somehow or the other you may become an instrument so that this conditioned soul, Mr. Alex, may take your book and benefit spiritually. So, the point is that if you are in a position where you cannot chant the Hare Krishna mantra, then at least you can mentally chant and mentally think. Devotional service is absolute. So, you will get the benefit even if you are mentally chanting in a situation where you cannot chant loudly. So now some of you may say, "Okay, very good. I'm going to do my 16 rounds mentally." Very often when you're preaching to the Hindus, we ask them, "Do you chant?" They say, "Yes." Then we say, "You chant on mala?" "No, I chant mentally." Once, once I was sitting with Prabhupada in Delhi and some visitors had come to see him. So Prabhupada told those guests, "So are you chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa?" They said, "We chant mentally." So Prabhupada said, "Okay, why don't you eat mentally also?" So, if you're not ready to eat mentally, then you should not be ready to chant your 16 rounds mentally. So if anybody tells you, "I chant, but I chant mentally," then you tell him, "Okay, now we will not serve you food anymore. You eat mentally. We will not give you your paycheck anymore. You just think mentally that you have millions of roubles in the bank." So we only chant mentally when we are in a position where you cannot chant loudly with your tongue. So we must chant the holy names of the Lord all the time. In the night when you go to sleep, before you go to sleep, don't see the news, but read some Krishna book stories so that in the night you can dream of Krishna. So we had to train ourselves that we will not live without Kṛṣṇa for one second just like a fish cannot live without water for one second. Okay. Nada-nāma na janaṁ na sundareṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśvara-kamaye mama-janmani janmeśvara-bhāvatar-bhaktir eitati tyāye. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as we told you, though He was God, He was playing the role of a devotee. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is saying, "My dear Lord, I don't want wealth." Everyone in the material world is after wealth. Whether you have a capitalist system or a communist system or a socialist system, everybody wants his bank balance to go up. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "I don't want any wealth." And besides wealth, they also want beautiful women. This is also common to all sections of society. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "I don't want any beautiful woman either." So you don't want woman, you don't want money. What do you want? He says, "I also don't want too many followers, but I only want your devotional service birth after birth." So this should be our desire to want devotional service birth after birth, birth after birth, birth after birth. The so-called spiritualists, they want to go back to— they want mukti. But the devotee does not care for mukti. In hell or heaven, it is all the same for him. Because even if he is in hell, he is just remembering Kṛṣṇa. So the devotee is never alone. The Lord is in the heart. The Lord resides in the heart of the devotee, and the devotee resides in the heart of the Lord. So the devotees of Kṛṣṇa— there is a very nice story. Some of you may have heard this story, but I will repeat it. Once Krishna had a headache. You all know this story? No, no one knows that? So once Krishna had a headache and He told Uddhava, "This headache can only be cured if you can get the dust from the feet of My devotees." So Uddhava, he went to the brahmanas. These are brahmanas who were always chanting the Vedic mantras, reading all the scriptures, and he said, "Krishna has a headache. Can I please take the dust from your feet so he can apply it on his forehead?" When you and I have a headache, we put some balm over here. In Russia also you have balm. But Krishna puts the dust from the feet of his devotees. So when Uddhava requested the brahmanas, "Please give me some dust from your feet," the brahmanas said, "We cannot give you the dust because there's a Vedic injunction." that if the dust from your feet touches the forehead of the Lord, then you have to go to hell. So, the brahmanas, even though they were reading all the scriptures and everything, but still when it came to their test, they said, "No, no, no, we can't give the dust," because they didn't want to go to hell, they wanted to go to God, they wanted to get mukti. Then Uddhava went to some yogis. The yogis were doing great exercises and meditating on the Lord in the heart. So he told them the same thing, Krishna wants the dust from your feet, he's having a severe headache. So the yogis had a meeting and then they said, "No, no, no, I'm sorry, we can't do this because again we'll go to hell." Then Odava finally went to the gopis and when the gopis heard that Krishna had a headache and he wanted the dust from their feet, they said, "Yes, please take this dust, please, please, please take this dust so Krishna's headache can be cured." Uddhava said, "Aren't you worried that you may have to go to hell?" The gopis said, "No! As long as Kṛṣṇa is pleased, we don't mind going to hell also." So you see, the brahmanas and the yogis, they were just worried about their own mukti. But the gopis were worried just about giving Kṛṣṇa pleasure. They did not consider whether they are in heaven or hell. They were just concerned with Kṛṣṇa's welfare. So this is the mentality that we should have. Our goal in life is just to give pleasure to Kṛṣṇa because He is the Supreme Enjoyer. By serving the Supreme Enjoyer, we also become pleased. So the great sages all acted with this understanding, bhoktaram yajñatāpo sām sarva-lokam heṣvanam. That is, that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Enjoyer and we must therefore serve Him. A devotee thinks of three things. One, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Enjoyer. 2. He is the Supreme Proprietor. And 3. He is our eternal well-wisher. Understanding that He is our eternal well-wisher means understanding that whatever Kṛṣṇa is saying in the scriptures and through the guru, He's doing it for our benefit. So this understanding is necessary if we want to make spiritual advancement. So our only desire is that in heaven or hell, Wherever we may be, wherever Krishna may send us, it is all the same, but we don't want to forget Him. The worst pain that a devotee can experience is to forget Krishna. So the two gatekeepers actually had no right to stop the Kumaras, because the Kumaras were very pure devotees of the Lord, from going to the kingdom of God. So the two gatekeepers realized that now they are going to be punished —so because they had committed a great offence. So they were asked what type of punishment do they want. They could take 7 births as devotees of the Lord or 3 births as enemies of the Lord. So the gatekeepers said that whatever punishment You want to give us for our offence, please give us, but please do not put us in a position where we will forget Kṛṣṇa. So for the devotee, he's ready to accept any punishment, but he's always praying to Krishna that, "Please, may I never forget You." So if you're thinking of Krishna all the time, then there's nothing to worry. In the Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, yam yam vapī svānān bahvām. Wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that's where you will go. So our mind should be fixed on Kṛṣṇa or Kṛṣṇa's teachings or on Kṛṣṇa's form. If the mind is thinking of sense enjoyment and you die, then everything is finished. There's a nice story that I will tell you about the importance of controlling the mind. Once in Calcutta, on one side of the road there was the house of a prostitute, and in the other side of the road there was the house of the Brahmana. The Brahmana was on this side of the road and the prostitute was on this side. So the Brahmana was always sitting in his balcony keeping the shastras in front of him. But in his mind he was just thinking, "Oh, now that customer is going to the prostitute's house. That customer, they are engaged in enjoyment." I see. So he was always thinking about the prostitute's activities with her clients. He was keeping the shastras in front of him, but mentally he was just thinking about the clients that were going to meet the prostitute and their activities. And that prostitute was thinking, "I'm engaged in such a sinful profession. I wish I was like that Brahmana in the front who's always reading the scriptures." So one day there was a fire, and in that fire both the prostitute and the Brahmana died. So the Yama Dutas came to take the Brahman to hell, but the Brahman said, "You have come at the wrong address. You should have gone to the prostitute, not the Brahmana." He said, I was engaged in reading the scriptures all my life, but there the prostitute was doing all the sinful work. But then the Yama, Yama Duta said that thou you were making show of reading the scriptures, you were always thinking about the prostitute and her activities with her clients. Whereas the prostitute was engaged in sinful work, but mentally she was just thinking how she can become a Brahmana. So the Brahmana had to go to hell and the prostitute went to heaven. Because Kṛṣṇa says in the Gītā, wherever your mind is at the moment of death, that is where you will go. So the brahmana's mind was on sex life of the prostitute, but the prostitute's mind was on the scriptures of the brahmana. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay, now I'll take questions, answers.

Well, is it possible to also remember about guru?

Yes, yes, sure, sure, sure, sure. When we say Kṛṣṇa, we mean Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotees. Can you believe? I think Russia, everything is instant. I just said Can you give me a minute, I need to bother Prasad in one second. Okay, just keep it here. Okay. Any more questions? I must say Russia is really advanced in technology because I just had finished and there I come with Prasad.

Well, the question is the following. Usually in scriptures it is said that bhakti, conception of bhakti also includes mukti, but being on material platform Can we also strive for mukti, for liberation?

Yes, you can aim for mukti, no harm. As you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and you advance, you'll automatically lose taste for mukti. You will get so much pleasure in just thinking of Kṛṣṇa that it won't matter to you where you are. Because pain for the devotee is when he forgets Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya Mahāprabhu was talking to Rāmānanda Rāya one day, and he asked Rāmānanda Rāya, What is the most painful thing for the living entity? And he said the most painful, balas thing is when he forgets Kṛṣṇa.

He said in the 8th chapter, conversation between Rāmānanda Rāya and Lord Caitanya. Śrīla Prabhupāda interpreted, he gives Gayatri, he puts there, Kaṁ Gayatri Mantra. And why did he put that? What's the reason he put Gayatri Mantra there?

I will have to read that whole section in order to answer this question. But like before I started the samsara prayers, I was doing my Gayatri, so some of you were staring and wondering what am I doing. But the Gayatri mantra was not written by Prabhupada, it's coming down in disciplic succession, and that is awarded after one has chanted Hare Krishna mantra for some period of time.

Well, she asks, is it necessary to chant every day 16 rounds? Or it is possible to achieve spiritual state results without every day 16 rounds?

If you are sick, can you get better without taking the medicine? You cannot get better without the medicine. So 16 rounds is the minimum dosage you need to fight maya in Kali Yuga. So, okay. So now should we— okay, one last question.

Well, she asks, her husband Bharadvaja tells her that Krishna consciousness means following the authority, and that means not only the authority of Guru Amharaj, but also authority of senior devotees. And she asks, sometimes more young devotees come to Krishna consciousness and try to become senior devotees. To become followers. To replace those who came earlier to our movement. Sweep out. Yes, and she asks your opinion.

So it is guru-sādhū-shāstra. You have to go by the scriptures, what the scriptures say, the guru says, and what the sādhūs say. Sādhū means saintly personality. One must respect senior devotees also because one who is a good Vaiṣṇava, he is respectful to everyone. But if somebody is junior, he must not try to act like senior. So what's her question?

She asked about the experience of senior devotee, not about the position.

Ah, so what is the exact question? If you tell me properly, then I'll—

Her husband told her that we should fall in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we should follow follow the authority. And she says that sometimes young devotees come and they— what would you call that? Reject? Reject the experience of senior devotees.

So first of all, you must follow the authority. If in authority, even if there is somebody who is junior to you, You must still follow him because he's in the position of authority. If of course he's telling you something completely different from what Kṛṣṇa says or Prabhupāda says, then you can reject. But if he's not, then you must accept. I just want to complete that. You must follow the authority, and if one is junior, then he must follow the— he must follow and show respect to the senior. But in Vaishnava life, like we said, everyone thinks he's the most fallen. Okay, so we'll stop here now. So the program is in the evening at what time?