A Polluted Society and The Sankirtana Revolution – 22 Dec 2013
We are very lucky to hear the glories of Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. The associates of the Lord appear in this world by the desire of God, and also return to the spiritual world by the desire of God. They come to make a platform, to give training to the jīvas, and to open a center where they can cultivate their spiritual nature. Sometimes we follow the proper course, and think we are doing well, but we are actually in a polluted state.
Everyone likes fresh air and no one likes pollution. There must be a process of purification. When a great storm comes, with heavy winds, then everything is swept away. Everything is destroyed. Everything is cleaned, and fresh air can come again. So much garbage has collected. People do not want to throw away their garbage. The demigods arrange these cyclones and hurricanes to throw away all this garbage. Māyā-devī wants to help the jīvas, but they are very strange. They make unions, groups, societies, committees, and try to spread and destroy everything. Some special help is necessary; a special guide and guardian is necessary—a revolution is necessary.
God Himself comes. Caitanya Mahāprabhu came with all His associates and they helped all conditioned souls, and opened many private centers. They made hearts into beautiful temples where there is only room for Kṛṣṇa, Rādhārānī, and Their associates.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, and other sādhus all desired that Mahāprabhu’s movement would continue properly. It was as if Mahāprabhu’s movement had stopped, for so many mixtures and impurities had entered. Everyone said, “I am right.” Everyone was fighting about who is right and who was wrong, saying, “I am great. I am the controller.” This doer mood is destructive. People think, “I am the doer,” and do not follow Mahāprabhu. They do not follow Mahāprabhu’s words:
tṛṇād api sunīcenataror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
How will someone be the proper follower of Mahāprabhu? There is only one way: kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ. Without kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ, one is not ācārya, not a guru, and not a sādhu, but a cheater. Such persons are bogus. They only cheat people and create pollution. They are not only crooked hypocrites, but have hearts like rocks. They are followers of Śukrācārya.
The followers of Mahāprabhu follow ‘amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ’. They must have taste for harināma—parama-vijayate śrī kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam.
Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura followed the footsteps of Mahāprabhu, and the result was—parama-vijayate śrī kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. Everyone glorified nāma-saṅkīrtana. He practiced this in his life, like Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He opened centers to teach this. He brought people nearby him, and gave them training. In a similar way, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja went all over the Western world, preaching very powerfully. After maṅgala-ārati, he would bring people near him, and tell them to sit and be with him and to chant. He told them that if they could not stay awake sitting, then they should walk and chant. He told them that they must practice chanting:
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
…and:
śrī kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda
śrī advaita gadādhara śrī vasadi gaura bhakta vrnda
After some time, he would have his special followers chant:
jaya rūpa-sanātana bhaṭṭa raghunāthaśrī jīva gopāla bhaṭṭa dāsa raghunātha
ei chaya gosāir kori caraṇa vandana
jāhā hoite vighna-nāśa abhīṣṭa-pūraṇa
What is the obstacle? One who does not chant harināma is only a disturbance. This is the disturbance in society. This is the disease. Why do we not chant harināma? What problem is there for us? This is our disease. We have so much time, but do not chant. After a diagnosis, our result comes as heart disease, and if we do not chant harināma then we will not be cured.
divasa rajani abola tabola pacala parite parotahara vitare kakhano kena ki govinda bolite naro
Day and night we waste time speaking about useless things, but we have no time to chant Kṛṣṇa’s names. Day and night we talk prajalpa. We say only mundane things, like, “Hello, hello, hello.” What is this ‘hello’? We are calling everyone to follow us to ‘hell’, to Pātāla. We have opened a hellish-planet-calling-center. This ‘Hello, hello,’ will take us to hell. If one chants ‘Gaura-Nitāi’, ‘Haribol’, or ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’, enemies will come and say, “Why are you doing kīrtana?”
Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was strong, and very serious. He protected Mahāprabhu’s line. Haridāsa Ṭhākura said, “Without chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, I will not give any food to my body. I will not drink anything. If my body and tongue will chant then he is my friend, otherwise I will not feed him, and he will starve.”
Who can be a serious follower like this? Who is guru? Everyone is not guru, but goru, or cows. They do not chant harināma. How can they help their disciples? They have no taste for harināma and are not in the proper line. How can one be a guru if day and night he only speaks about rubbish. Facebook is full of all kinds of bogus conceptions, but no one is chanting harināma.
What is this matter? This is called pollution. Everywhere is polluted. Our society is polluted. Who will clean it? Whoever follows Prabhupāda’s line—his instructions and the Bhāgavat Parampara, and who follows kīrtanīyā sadā hariḥ, he is the real follower of Mahāprabhu. He alone can help all jīvas.
Mahāprabhu said, “Who will take this responsibility?”
yare dekha, tare kaha `krsna'-upadesaamara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 7.128
[Instruct everyone to follow the orders of Lord Sri Krsna as they are given in the Bhagavad-gīt:a and Śrimad-Bhāgavatam. In this way become a spiritual master and try to liberate everyone in this land.]
Take this contract to be guru, and only preach about harināma. Do not give any of your own bogus advice. Practice yourself, and tell others to chant—do or die. The mood of the chanter must be, “I will chant, or give up my body.” This is the process that Haridāsa Ṭhākura showed. Mahāprabhu, said that one lakh is enough. Why should we only chant only one lakh? Why not three lakhs? We must worship Gurudeva, Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmatī Rādhārānī, and Mahāprabhu, by chanting harināma. This is our food. The Supreme Soul does not want any other presentation or offering. He only wants us to perform nāma-saṅkīrtana.
nāma-saṅkīrtanaṁ yasyasarva-pāpa praṇāśanam
praṇāmo duḥkha-śamanas
taṁ namāmi hariṁ param
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam 12.13.23
We should only accept this harināma-saṅkīrtanam. Mahāprabhu said, “If you do not chant one lakh of harināma, I will not accept anything from you. God will not accept anything from you unless you chant one lākh of harināma.”
Prabhupāda was an unparalleled ācārya. He chanted three lakhs of harināma daily for more than seven years incessantly. Only then did he powerfully preach this line throughout the world in an unprecedented manner.
āpane nā kaile dharma śikhāna nā jāyaei ta’ siddhānta gītā-bhāgavate gāya
[Unless one practices devotional service himself, he cannot teach it to others. This conclusion is indeed confirmed throughout the Gītā and Bhāgavatam.]
If we do not practice ourselves, how can we preach to others? In brāhma-muhūrta, we sleep, lying embracing a pillow, but we do not chant. We do not wake and chant. What advice can we give to others? Why should anyone follow us? Where will power comes to us from? The power of the Supreme Authority come to us when we chant harināma.
This is not my program. I am not the follower of the Guru-varga. I know I am bogus. But this is their philosophy. I have heard this from Śrīla Gurudeva, and I pray that one day I will be able to follow this harināma seriously when they give me blessings and power. I will be in contact with them, and I will be able to follow the line of bhakti.
Once, when Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was in Jagannātha Purī, it is written in one of Prabhupāda’s biographies, called Sarasvatī Jaya Śrī. It is written that at Cātaka Parvata, where presently Puroṣottama Maṭha is located, on the bank of the ocean in Purī, the king came with his queen. His queen was mad. She had a cotton doll that she kept. She would kiss it, cry, weep, and run here and there, uncontrolled. Doctors and others could not help her. She was completely mad. They said, “Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is here in Jagannātha Purī, he is a great spiritual master. If you bring her to him, all her madness will go.”
The king sent a message to Prabhupāda, requesting him for his darśana. He wrote how his wife was mad, and that she had had a son, but he died. From the day of the prince’s death she had gone crazy. “Please help us, and save our lives,” the king begged.
Prabhupāda appeared to help all jīvas. Hearing this request of the king, he agreed, and the king came with his queen on a palanquin. People gathered around. The queen held her doll. It was like her child, with red cheeks, and a sweet face. She would hold this doll in her arms, smell it and kiss it, like a mad woman.
Prabhupāda said, “You think she is crazy? Bring many gold coins and give it to her.”
The king said, “As you wish, but is this the medicine?”
“Yes.”
They brought a bag of gold coins and on Prabhupāda’s advice threw it on the ground before her. The queen immediately threw aside the doll, and collected all the gold coins that were strewn here and there.
Prabhupāda said, “This is the nature of the jīvas. They are only interested in this. Ladies and gents embrace and kiss mundane things. The queen does not like Kṛṣṇa. She has no relation with Kṛṣṇa’s Deity. How can she forget her mundane attachment and attraction?”
Prabhupāda instructed, “From tomorrow she must serve Gopāla, Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, and chant harināma. Then she will forget all her mundane attachments. She will be related to the eternal world, and with God. God is good; everything else is bad.”
The queen was collecting money from the ground as Prabhupāda spoke. She put it all back in the bag, and then ran off. When the king requested Prabhupāda for further help, Prabhupāda gave him a Deity of Jagannātha and said, “Give this Deity of Jagannātha to her, and have her worship Him. By worshiping Jagannātha for some time, she will forget everything. She will forget this world, and all her mundane relations.”
Prabhupāda opened Vraja-pattana and established daivi-varṇāśrama, that is, our spiritual relationship and identification, not that which is ordinary. He gave everyone an opportunity to serve Kṛṣṇa. He said to everyone, “You are Kṛṣṇa dāsa.” He told them this, and then gave them the power to follow. Then they would change, and be admitted into siddha-praṇālī. After so much sādhana, still, the jīva cannot get this chance that Prabhupāda gave, after millions of lives worth of austerity. It is very difficult to cross māyā and enter Vraja-bhūmi. Prabhupāda gave this great opportunity to everyone.
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene nayayei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei ‘guru’ haya
[Whether one is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī, or a śūdra—regardless of who he is—if he knows kṛṣṇa-tattva, he can become guru.]
Prabhupāda gave everyone strong willpower. He made ācāryas and gurus. He said, “Chant harināma, and serve Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu. Soon you will be closely related to them.
If you do not perform arcana, and have this pāñcarātrika-dīkṣā, then when you chant harināma you will only serve your body and your mind. You will make Kṛṣṇa your slave. You will only perform nāma-aparādha. It is said:
sādhu-saṅga, nāma-kīrtana, bhāgavata-śravaṇamathurā-vāsa, śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana
Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 20.129
[One should associate with devotees, chant the holy name of the Lord, hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, reside at Mathurā and worship the Deity with faith and veneration.]
Śrī-mūrtira śraddhāya sevana—without worshiping the Deity, the jīva cannot change in millions of lives. He can never forget his material life. Prabhupāda therefore opened the center were Gandharvikā Giridhārī and Gaura-vinoda-prāṇa Jiu are present. Those are the names of his Deities. He opened this Gandharvikā-kuñja. And he named his society ‘Śrī Gauḍīya-maṭha’. He did not call it ‘Kṛṣṇa Maṭha’, ‘Rāma Maṭha’, ‘Śyāma Maṭha’, or ‘Yādava Maṭha’. He called it ‘The Gauḍīya-maṭha’. What does this mean? This is Gaurī’s kuñja, Rādhārānī’s kuñja.
We came here, to this place called Śri Rādhe Kuñja, but did not change the name. Prabhupāda opened the Gauḍīya-maṭha, and it is only Rādhārānī’s āśrama. Maṭhanti vāsanti chātrā. Here, the name is Śri Rādhe Kuñja automatically. It is no one else’s kuñja. We did not give it this name. This is Her place, so there is no need to change anything. This is not my center, your center, or anyone else’s center. Prabhupāda opened centers and they were all under this name Śrī Gauḍīya-maṭha, meaning, the place to find the shelter of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī’s lotus feet. Whoever came to Prabhupāda was connected to svarūpa-śakti. When we go to bahiraṅga-śakti, the mundane illusionary potency, we will be unhappy. If we go to brahma-śakti, we will not progress. Paramātmā śakti is also not enough. We must go to svarūpa-śakti, Gauri, Śrīmatī Rādhārānī.
nava-gorocanā-gauridruta-hema-sama-prabhā
kimvā sthirā vidyud iva
rūpāti-paramojjvalā
[Gauri Śrī Rādhā’s supremely radiant fair complexion resembles fresh gorocanā, molten gold or stationary lightning.]
Śrīmatī Rādhārāni is always giving the chance to serve Kṛṣṇa. She teaches this to whoever comes in Her kuñja. The Gauḍīya-maṭha is Rādhārānī’s kuñja, established by Prabhupāda. He brought everyone to svarūpa-śakti. There is only one cost to attain this:
nadīyā-godrume nityānanda mahājanapātiyāche nāma-haṭṭa jīvera kāraṇa
[In the land of Nadīyā, on the island of Godruma, the magnanimous Nityānanda Prabhu has opened a marketplace of the holy name for the deliverance of all fallen souls.]
What is the cost? Nityānanda Prabhu says, "Śraddhāvān jana he, śraddhāvān jana he!” Only faith is the cost. Prabhupāda opened the nāma-haṭṭa and this Gauḍīya-maṭha, where we perform what…?
kṛṣṇa-nāma gāne bhai rādhikā-caraṇa pāirādhā-nāma gāne kṛṣṇacandra
saṅkṣepe kahinu kathā ghucāo manera byathā
duḥkhamaya anya kathā dvandva
When you chant kṛṣṇa-nāma, you achieve Rādhārānī. And by chanting Rādhārānī’s name you will achieve Kṛṣṇa.
Whoever comes to the Gauḍīya-maṭha must chant: [all devotees loudly repeat]
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare harehare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
This will eradicate all tension from one’s life. Without this, you cannot last for a long time. No one will kick you out, but you will feel tension. You will experience burning in your heart. You will feel like your head is exploding, and you will leave of your own accord. You must take shelter of harināma, and incessantly chant. By doing so, your presence in Rādhārānī’s kuñja, in the Gauḍīya-maṭha, will be a permanent situation. You will go back to God, back home.
If anyone from another country wants to go to America, they must get a visa from the American embassy. The American embassy will check one very thoroughly, and after a long time, one can get a visa.
The Gauḍīya-maṭha is a training center where people are invited to enter Vraja-pattan. Prabhupāda sent the Gauḍīya soldiers house to house, preaching his message. Gauḍīya pathaya ghare ghare. The Gauḍīyas bring conditioned souls to the Gauḍīya-maṭha, and give them training. When they are trained, then Varṣbhānavi-devī-dayitā-dāsa gives them their visa and stamp of approval to go to the spiritual world. Nayaṇa-maṇi Mañjarī watches to see who is truly the follower of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī. Who is running on in the tradition? Who is chanting, and who likes this line?
rādhā kṛṣṇa bolo saṅge calo ei mātrā bhikṣa cāirādhā kṛṣṇa bol bol bolo re sabāi
“Come with me,” Prabhupāda says. “Chant ‘Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’. This is all I ask. This is the only fare to go to the spiritual world. Rādhā kṛṣṇa bolo saṅge calo—come with me, while chanting Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, then I will take you to eternal Vraja. If you are only chanting Kṛṣṇa, you cannot come with me. Chant ‘Rādhā Kṛṣṇa’ and come. Without kṛṣṇa-nāma, and rādhā-nāma, do not chant anything else.”
This is our duty. This is our most important service. How can we continuously chant ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’? This is our service. We must chant this incessantly. The Gauḍīya-maṭha is a place to practice this. Prabhupāda said, “I am not a builder who brings together brick and stone and wood. I am not a carpenter who has come to make many buildings. I came only to build the temple of the soul.” How will our hearts be a temple, a playing center for Kṛṣṇa, where we continuously remember Him, like the Vrajavāsīs do? The Vrajavāsīs never forget Kṛṣṇa.
smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇurvismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ
Padma Purāṇa
[One should always remember Kṛṣṇa and never forget Him. All the rules and prohibitions are subservient to these two principles.]
Who are you? What is your identity? Are you māyā-dāsa, or guru-dāsa? Are you brahma-rākṣasa-dāsa? Are you asura-dāsa? Who are you? If you are Kṛṣṇa-dāsa, why do you not chant His names? Why do you not remember Kṛṣṇa? Why are you absorbed in māyā day and night?
“Oh, he is foolish. He is stupid. He is ugly.” Day and night we speak uselessly like this. We have no time to chant ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’.
We are here so that morning, afternoon, and evening we can chant ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’. People say, “I cannot tolerate all this noise. I want a peaceful life,” and they run away and stay outside.
Palayate patha nahi yama ache piche—Wherever we go, Yamarāja is following closely behind us. Wherever you go, Yamarāja is walking behind you. He has sent his soldiers to follow behind you wherever you go. You are looking for a peaceful life, but you will have bedsores, and pus and blood from your rotting body will stain your bed. How much blood will you stock in your body? How much energy? You have so much lust. Yamarāja is following behind you. He will pull you with his hook, and drag you to hell. Why are you not chanting ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa’?
Prabhupāda preached this mission of Mahāprabhu. This is the Gauḍīya mission. This is the Gauḍīya-maṭha. This is Rādhārānī’s kuñja. No one else has proprietorship here. She is the only one who can help the jīvas. She is like a Prime Minister. When She comes, everyone runs here and there in fear. Bahiraṅga-śakti does not come and disturb us? We call her, saying, “O Māyā, Māyā, chāyā (shadow), please come here. I like you. I cannot have a sweet life without you. I am dry. I am dry, and I will go to Hawaii.” This is how we chant constantly. But we do not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
How can we understand Prabhupāda and the Guru-varga? How can we understand our Guru-varga? Why are we fighting now? What is the meaning of this fighting? If everyone were chanting harināma, everyone would be clean and fresh. But people are not chanting harināma. Where is their mālā? It cannot be seen. They say, “It is in my locker. I am a liberated soul. I do not need my mālā. Chant my name. I am the founder. Worship me. Wash my feet. Take my plate and eat my remnants. You will be purified.” They fill up their plates so high, eat a little bit, and then give so many remnants to others.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura teaches us in his prayers:
kṛpā koro vaiṣṇava ṭhākura,sambandha jāniyā, bhajite bhajite, abhimāna hau dūra
[O Vaiṣṇava Ṭhākura! Please give me your mercy—knowledge of my relationship with Bhagavān and the ability to do bhajana, casting arrogance far away.]
‘āmi to vaiṣṇava’, e buddhi hoile, amānī nā ho’bo āmipratiṣthāśā āsi’, hṛdoya dūṣibe, hoibo niraya-gāmī
[If I think “I am a Vaiṣṇava,” then I will never become humble. My heart will become contaminated with the hope of receiving honor from others, and I will surely go to hell.]
tomāra kiṅkara, āpane jānibo, ‘guru’-abhimāna tyaji’tomāra ucchiṣṭha, pada-jala-reṇu, sadā niṣkapaṭe bhaji
[Give me the mercy that I can renounce the false conception of my being guru and can be your servant. Let me sincerely honor your remnants and your foot-dust and foot-bath water.]
‘nije śreṣṭha’ jāni, ucchiṣṭthādi dāne, ho’be abhimāna bhāratāi śiṣya taba, thākiyā sarvadā, nā loibo pūjā kā’r
[By thinking myself very advanced and giving my remnants to others, I will be burdened with the weight of false pride. Let me always identify as your disciple and not accept worship or praise from others.]
amānī mānada, hoile kīrtane, adhikāra dibe tumitomāra caraṇe, niṣkapaṭe āmi, kāṅdiyā luṭibo bhūmi
[If I can renounce the desire for honor for myself and can offer respect to others, you will bless me with the ability to perform kīrtana purely. Weeping and rolling on the ground, I sincerely submit myself at your lotus feet.]
Do we ever remember or sing this kīrtana? Do we ever try to understand this? Why are we so proud? We do not come to the Guru-varga and the Vaiṣṇavas:
ye ’nye ’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninastvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho ’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ
Śrīmād-Bhāgavatam 10.2.32
[O lotus eyed one! Those who are not your devotees may consider themselves to be liberated by their performance of sense-control and severe sādhana, but their intelligence is not pure because they are devoid of the sentiments of unalloyed devotion towards You. As a result of neglecting Your lotus feet, which are the only shelter, they again fall down to a degraded condition.]
Our mind is defeated by māyā, therefore we never come to the Vaiṣṇavas, do not follow bhakti, do not surrender, do not remember the Guru-varga, do not ever offer obeisances to them. How are we sādhus? If you do not offer obeisances to your Guru-varga, what is the definition of a sādhu? You are only a svadu, only an enjoyer. Prabhupāda told this very strong truth so that the conditioned souls can become the followers of Śrīmatī Rādhārānī and the Vraja-devīs. He brought everyone to the Gauḍīya-maṭha, and taught them to follow the rules of the Gauḍīyas. Where is the question of māyā? Kāma krodha ki karite pari yadi haya sadhu janara sanga—what can māyā do, what can lust and anger do, how can they attack us, if we are in the association of the Vaiṣṇavas?
Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura came to this world and started a revolution, following in the line of Rūpa and Raghunātha. If you cannot follow this line, at least respect him. In many places, Prabhupāda is forgotten. They do not remember him, or follow his philosophy and his hari-kathā. They only speak about business. Every Sunday they come together and have a meeting how to make more money, but they do not follow the saṅkīrtana revolution! They do not have a strong desire to follow this line of Prabhupāda.
They are not called Gauḍīya’s. They are uḍiya, flying in the sky of māyā (Uḍna means to fly in Hindi). We are now like ghosts. We must be strong. If you cannot follow, at least offer respect and obeisances to the Guru-varga, and they will surely accept you. They will give you power. When someone chants harināma, Hari is pleased. When you remember Hari, there can be no problems in life. Whoever you are, wherever you are, everything will come to you.
[CC-by-NDNC Bhakta Bandhav]