Class for Brahmachari

Vandiham Shri Guru Shri Yudhapadakamalam Shri Guru Nvaiṣṇavaṁśca Shri Rūpam Sāgrajātām Sahagana Raghunatham Vitam Tamsajivam Sadvaitam Savadhutam Parijanā Sahitam Krishna Chaitanya Devam Shri Radha Krishna Padam Sahagana Lalita Shri Visakhavitamscha E Krishna Karunam Sindho Dina Bandho Jagat Pate Gopisha Gopika Kanta Radha Kanta Namastute Taptakanchanagurangi Rade Vrindavaneshwari Vrishabhānu suta devī prānamāmi arī priya Vāñca kalpātaru vyaśca kripa sindhūbhya eva ca Patitanām pavanebhyo vaśnavebhyo namo namā Shri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhu Nitananda Shri Advaita Gadathara Shri Vasadigora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Hare Hare. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Yantah praviśya mamavācim imam prasūptam sanjīvayātta kilaśakti dharāh svadhamnā anyam śahasta caranā śravanāt vāgādim pranannamu bhagavate purushāyatubhyam swasyastu visvāsya kalāh prasīdatam dayantu bhutāni śivam mitodiyya manasca vadram vajatatta dokša jaya avishyatam namati rabhyahaituki yam pravrajantam anupetam apetakrityam dvaipayanav virahakatarajuhava putreti tanmaya tayo taravobinidus tam sarva bhuta hridayam munimana tosmi Hare Krishna. Thank you very much for inviting me. I am very enthused to be with all of you. You are all enthused by His Holiness, Srila Gopal Krishnamaraj. And one of his mottoes was, in brahmachari, don't go into Greek house. We all know this. And one requires a lot of enthusiasm and also spiritual realization to remain in in brahmacharya ashram. I'll speak a little bit about this topic and we'll open for discussion. So I'll speak a little bit about the crises which we will have to face in our spiritual path. Sometimes we are very enthused by Śrīla Prabhupāda's assurance that spiritual life is very easy and simple. And Srila Prabhupada, in his desire to inspire everyone to take spiritual life, he would say, let's just eat Prasadam and dance and then we will find ourselves back home, back to Godhead. We will dance our way there. Yes, and we dance, dance, dance and then somehow or other something breaks we find ourselves not dancing anymore. There is no doubt about it. Spiritual life is in bhakti. Bhakti is a relatively easy path. As sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda said, it's a royal path to God. It's very direct. And sometimes Śrīla Prabhupāda compare bhakti with elevator. If you go by staircase, it may be a little difficult. You have to climb over one stair, another stair. And elevator us directly. You're there. But still we have to be aware that there will be difficulties in our spiritual life. Various kinds of difficulties. In the beginning we were very enthusiastic, but then spiritual life becomes a little boring. it's the same, same mangularity, same Hare Krishna mantra, same lectures, same prasadam, everything is the same. Because if you are brahmacharya, you travel here and there and you get some different prasadam that may give you some different taste. But we have to admit that difficulties are there. And actually, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada said that in Kali Yuga, And the path of bhakti has so many obstacles, like all these kantakas, all the thorns are there on the path of bhakti. Let's analyze scientifically what's going on when we're practicing bhakti and why, in one sense the crises or difficulties are inevitable. What is bhakti? The path of bhakti is the path of gradual transformation of our ego. At this moment of time, this is very beautifully described by Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakurin Madhuri Kadambini that the bhakti is different from jnana because on the path of jnana you're supposed to give up your ego. You're supposed to eradicate your ego. No ego anymore. I am nobody. I am Brahman. Aham Brahmasmi. No individuality, no aham, no mama. But Vishwanath Chakravati Thakur explains that path of bhakti is the path of spiritualization of our aham and mama. Our ego has these two aspects. Our conception of who is I, what I am, and then subsequent conception of my relationship with the things of this world which creates mama, my possession, whatever belongs to me, which becomes the extension of my I. So there is I, I am this, I am that, I am Brahmacharya, I am Grihasta, I am Sanyasi, I am Brahmana, I am Kshatriya, I am husband of such and such woman. So many different conceptions of who I am And the extension of this, this is my wife, this is my children, this is my house, this is my temple, this is my little brahmachari tilaka or whatever, whatever brahmachari has. so everyone has these two aspects aham and mamma and on the path of bhakti there is a transition between the material aham and mamma material conception of I and mind and spiritual conception of I and mind ultimately the path of bhakti is the path of spiritualization of aham and mamma and it it's not an immediate process it's very easy to say I am not this body I am the servant of the Lord yes that's very easy to say to feel that I am the servant of the Lord and I am Dasa Dasa Anudasa, Gopi Bhartar Pada Kamalaya, the husband or the lover of all the Gopis. To feel like this, it's not so easy. It's easy to say, it's not easy to feel. We still feel, I am this body. You can say this beautiful mantra, I am not this body, 16 rounds a day. I am not this body, I am not this body, I am not this body. As soon as you find yourself in front of the mirror, you immediately forget all these 16 rounds of I am not this body mantra. You are this body. This is me. This is my nose. This is me. This is I am. So, and the process of changing the consciousness is gradual. that we have to understand very clearly that this is not immediate process and even on the very high stages like there was a story one disciple of Srila Prabhupada he was very enthusiastic and very much convinced by the statements of Srila Prabhupada I am not this body and he imagined himself to be a great yogi so he needed to have some little operation he had some boil in his somewhere, and the boil has to be removed. And he came to a doctor, and the doctor said, okay, so I'll do some little anesthesia to remove the pain, and then I'll do an operation. And he said, no, no, no, I don't need anesthesia. I'm not this body. I'm not this body. Do it like this. I don't care. Doctor said, are you sure? He said, yes, I'm sure. So he took the knife and he put it. So all the philosophy was forgotten at the same moment. Very quickly it was. All the remnants of philosophy were removed from his consciousness. Because the bodily identification is so strong. And realization is not coming immediately. It's coming in installments. it's coming little by little and that's exactly what Vishenachakravartakur is explaining and he's explaining that this spiritualization of ego takes it's a gradual process and only on the level of prema when you have all consuming love of God you completely forget about this body, you don't care Raghunadas Goswami he only took just a little cup of buttermilk every other day and he didn't need more it's not that he was taking a little cup of the buttermilk and he was thinking it would be good to have some pizza or something like this he couldn't care about everything he just was completely happy because he was happy internally he had this deep internal realization but that happens only on the level of prema or level of bhava it's very interesting that Vishwanacca Kravarti Thakur says that on the level of sadhana bhakti when we are practicing bhajana kriya when we are chanting regulated number of rounds when we are doing our sadhana going to mangularity He says that the spiritualization of ego is ekadeshi vartini. It basically means 5% or less. Ekadeshi vartini means it's little bit, tiny, tiny little bit of ego is spiritualized. But the absorption in the matter is purna, complete. We are doing sadhana, we are chanting 16 rounds or whatever number of rounds we are chanting. Still, our consciousness is fully absorbed in the matter. And little, little spiritualization started. and then he says on the level of nista it's little more spiritualized and the absorption is little weakened on the level of fruji it's more complete and then gradually gradually it goes on but in the beginning stages the consciousness is still very much absorbed in the matter. When we have some little pain in the body or some headache or whatever, it's very difficult to chant the holy name. We chant the holy name, but our consciousness is not in the holy name. Even if there is no pain in the body, still our consciousness is not in the holy name. Our consciousness is in the body and what is happening in the body. so and the changes the human beings are designed in such a way that we kind of find the comfort zone in any condition and the change from this comfort zone is always very difficult it's not easy it's like you're moving from this temple to this new place and it's a difficult transition right I saw the garbage which is there in the courtyard all kinds of stuff there it's difficult to move you are nicely situated in one place, you're comfortable there you know everything and now you have to move somewhere else and it's a headache it's a big headache to change the position so and that's exactly why it's so difficult to change the body the body why people are so afraid of dying even those people who know the soul is eternal still it's very difficult for them to die for the most people it's difficult it's a very difficult transition because we already found a comfort zone in this body we already know everything we are more or less familiar with everything which we are supposed to do and transition again is always a very difficult process so any transition in our life implies that we leave behind the comfort zone and we come to a new place which is totally unknown for us and therefore it's very scary and it's it's a little difficult what we are going to do how we are going to be there you know can you imagine you have to be Srila Prabhupada to leave behind as Srila Prabhupada used to say I was very comfortable in Vrindavan. Of course, when we go to Radha Dhammadarmandir and see his little tiny room in Radha Dhammadarmandir without attached bathroom, we ask ourselves how he was comfortable here. But the idea was that he knew everything there. He was very familiar how it works and he was very comfortable because... And, you know, can you imagine how difficult it was for Shiliprova to leave everything behind and to go to America. He didn't know anything what is going to happen in America. Without even money. You know, I wouldn't go to America without money. Nobody, no sane person would go to America without money. It's not like India where there is free food distribution in every corner. You go and there is a lot of garbage, this means free food distribution is going on. In America, it's not a custom. So he left everything behind. He went to America. Why? Because he was not bodily conscious. He was not afraid. He was Abhay Chara Naravinda. And therefore, it was not difficult for him to go through this transition. But for those of us, and I believe that most of us are in this category, who are not in the level of prema. I may be mistaken, maybe I'm talking with a bunch of prema bhaktas. I don't know. But for those who are just practicing bhakti, especially in initial stages of sadhana bhakti, bhajana kriya, the transitions are difficult and it's leaving behind the comfort and going into some unknown place or unknown situation. Not literally, but unknown from the point of view of the soul. so that's why all these crises are taking place and that's exactly what is being described by Vishwanath Chakravarti Takura and by Rupa Goswami too and he says that and we all know we all have experience in the beginning when we become interested in Krishna consciousness we have some initial interest in Krishna consciousness it's a big step from the initial interest to Krishna consciousness to move to the temple to move to ashram it's a big step you have to be bold enough sometimes it's not an easy transition to go I remember when I was living in Russia, as Prabhu, who was introducing me, said. And it was difficult. But it was much more difficult for me when I moved to Sweden. Because I moved from my comfortable situation at home. Yes, I was harassed by KGB, by secret police. I was interrogated, this and that. but still I was quite comfortable there. That's how human consciousness works. Whatever is familiar, he becomes very comfortable in this situation. But then I moved to Sweden. Nobody was harassing me, but my mind was harassing me. Because everything was new, everything was, I had to live in ashram all of a sudden and I had to put my tilak and before that I didn't know how to put my tilak. I still remember how difficult it was to put Tilak for the first time in my life. So, in any case, the point is that when we're transiting from initial Shraddha to commitment to Guru, to Sadhu Sangha, when we are listening to Guru, when we're taking initiation, it basically means we're taking the vows when we start practicing. there are some transition points of it and what I want to say is that if we know that this is going to come that we will make these steps and that what is going to happen it will be easier for us to go through one step into another like just yesterday I was in Prayagraja and one devotee approached me and he said that I'm already practicing Krishna consciousness for 15 years I'm living in Brahmacharya I am a leader here and but I feel like I was more Krishna conscious in the beginning than I am now because in the beginning I was very careful I was not offending anyone I was very afraid to offend anyone I was very afraid of an artist but now I'm not afraid at all I'm and I'm kind of you know used to everything and I feel stuck so this feeling of getting stuck somewhere in the mud of Krishna consciousness I don't know if it's the correct expression mother of Krishna consciousness but it's probably not just mother it's kopichandana but still you feel stuck you feel you're not moving you're not progressing you feel that something is wrong but at the same time you're not bold enough you're not courageous enough to make the next step that's the condition of crisis which we all have to face and sometimes Krishna will have to use some extreme measures to kick us out from the comfortable situation Krishna is very expert in kicking people out from the place where they're stuck in the mud. So Bhaktivinoda Thakur, please listen very carefully, he says a very interesting thing. He says that he explains this dynamic of how we should progress from one stage to another. He says that in each and every stage of spiritual development, there are certain rules and regulations which we have to follow. By rules and regulations, Bhaktivinoda Thakur doesn't mean very general rules, no meat eating. This is for all the stages of spiritual development. but there are more subtle rules which we have to follow and he says that as soon as you feel that the practice of bhakti on this particular stage becomes very easy to you you become very comfortable in this particular situation, it's very easy for you in the beginning it was difficult but then you kind of become very comfortable with the 16 rounds no problem then you have to raise your rules which you follow. You have to raise the level of the, you know, you have to do more. If you don't do more, then you will not progress. And if you don't leave something which was there behind, if you don't leave the level of the rules which were there before and don't go further then you're basically stuck on this level and being on this level without moving further what you will do you will criticize those people who are higher than you to justify that you are on this level he says it's very important to leave behind the standard which you are doing before, increase your standard, and always be in awe and reverence for those people who are higher than you. So it's like if you are going to some gym or whatever. If you are too comfortable in the place which you are doing, then you will never develop further. So this sense that I'm developing, whatever it is, it may be the number of the rounds or some more difficult vows, according to the level of our qualification, we have to gradually, gradually increase our level of sadhana. We have to go deeper and deeper and deeper, Otherwise, inevitably, we will just feel that I'm stuck and we will feel some sort of emptiness inside. Yes, I did this like this devotee who was confessing to me that before he was much more Krishna consciousness. as now. He said, I feel kind of emptiness because nothing new is coming to me and there is no new realizations, new experience which I get. We can take example, of course, very glorious example of Gopal Krishnamaraj. I remember very clearly once I called Gopal Krishnamaraj, it was late, but I knew that he would never go to bed very early. So it was probably nine o'clock at night or half past nine. And I was calling him. There was something urgent. I wanted to ask him something. I don't remember what was it, but there was some urgent question which I wanted to ask from him. And he was driving from Delhi to Chandigarh to be in time for a Thayatra next day. and I called him and I asked something and Gopal Krishnamaya started chuckling and he said, I am semi-retired. You know, at 10 o'clock at night he is driving from Delhi to Chandigarh and he said, I am semi-retired. So, he never retired. He was always, you know, getting more and more and more on his shoulders. He was always increasing his level of devotional service. That's an amazing example how he was dealing with this. His level of devotional service was... He never stopped increasing the level of devotional service, increasing his commitment, increasing his, you know, the things which he is doing. So, and that's because he was personally trained by Srila Prabhupada himself. And Srila Prabhupada was like this. He would never be self-complacent and he would never allow his disciples to be self-complacent. As soon as somebody like... Tamal Krishnamaraj is another good example. Tamal Krishnamaraj was a big book distributor and he was the head of this Radha Damodar party. and Radha Damodar party was extremely successful and they had, you know, many, many, how many dozens of these big buses and they were traveling, distributing thousands, tens of thousands of books. And Srila Prabhupada just calls him and says, go to China. Just leave everything behind. Go to China. Go to completely unknown place. And he had to surrender. and it was difficult for him and it's always difficult and if our life is not difficult something is wrong with our spiritual life if we are not taking new difficulties if we are not going deeper in whatever commitment we have it means that we are stuck in some place and we may be comfortable for some time we may be a little sleepy and it's okay, it's fine it's good yeah I somehow or other I managed to get up at 4.30 in the morning because I have two hours of sleep during the day after lunch so no problem for me or something like this but the point is that as a result we will feel empty we will feel totally dissatisfied with our spiritual life and the main point we will cheat ourselves. Srila Prabhupada said that it's not easy for people it's not easy to cheat people but it's very easy for people to cheat themselves. Self-deception mechanisms are very deep-rooted. We may think that I'm progressing but the goal of Krishna consciousness is still very far away from me. And we have to be remembered, we have to be reminded about this. Actually, every Bhagavatam class, we have to be reminded that we have to go further, we have to go further, we have to go further. Sila Jivaga Swami in Bhakti Sandarbha, he gives a very beautiful example. He says how to recognize Shastriya Shradha. He gives a few characteristics, a few Lakshanas of Shastriya Shradha. When you have deep Shradha, deep face into Shastra, it means that you have deep commitment to the picture of reality depicted in Shastra. you know Krishna is in charge and Krishna is God and you know this Sambandha Gyan. You have deep commitment to the process which is depicted in the Shastra. But first and foremost you're deeply devoted to the goal of Shastra. I want to achieve Krishna Prem. Sometimes I noticed devotees after Mangalarati, before chanting Hare Krishna mantra, they chant or they repeat ten offenses against the Holy Name, not to forget any offenses so that they would commit all of them, all ten of them. And at the end they say, you know, and one have to be very careful and guard against these offenses to achieve the goal. And then all together they have to chant Krishna Prema. It was supposed to be chanted with full of enthusiasm, but I noticed that usually Krishna Prema. it doesn't sound like a real goal whereas we have to be reminded again and again and again this is the goal of what we are doing the goal of what we are doing is nothing material it's just to transform completely our ego to become to become a completely self-oblivious servant of the gopis or of Krishna who is the master of the gopis so this is what I want to say that this crisis is the crisis of the change of our ego and the change of ego what is the sign of the crisis? Actually, this is described in the beginning of Bhagavad Gita. Bhagavad Gita starts from the description of crisis. What is the first chapter of Bhagavad Gita? Arjuna, who was very comfortable in his position before, he was the best bowman, he was the best archer, the best fighter, very successful, this and that. All of a sudden he becomes weak. All of a sudden he becomes depressed. And Srila Prabhupada says, and he starts trembling, he describes all the symptoms, physical symptoms which he experiences. And Srila Prabhupada says, this is the symptoms of fear. And again, as I said in the beginning, to come from one stage to another. One experiences the fear. It's difficult to go from the comfortable place to another place where it's completely unknown. And it is very nicely described in Bhagavad Gita that Arjuna becomes fearful. And what he starts doing? he starts deceiving himself he starts rationalizing I'm okay everything which is going on is good because I don't want to kill these people and this and that he explains through the medium of Shastra he quotes Shastra he says this is you know he explains that about Varna Sankara and Kula Dharma Sanatana, destruction of the family traditions and this and that. He explains. And Krishna just, you know, he just smiles. He smiles. He doesn't say anything. Because he knows that he's cheating himself. He's trying to cheat himself and he's trying to cheat Krishna. But you cannot cheat Krishna. You can cheat yourself, but you cannot cheat Krishna. And therefore Krishna just smiles. yes, very good, very good very nice, you're a very nice devotee, very nice, no problem but then he says, okay, shishyasteham shadimam tvamprapanam, please tell me what to do I am surrendered soul immediately he says, shishyasteham shadimam tvamprapanam, I am the soul surrendered unto you, please teach me and then he says, nayot siyaiti govinda, but I am not going to fight so that's a very interesting statement, you know I'm surrendered soul, but I'm not going to fight. So that's exactly the situation of crisis. I'm going to do, but only within these limits. But then somebody has to come to you and tell you, please, Prabhu, you are stuck in the matter of Krishna consciousness. You have to go further. You have to do something. So, and as I said, it's a difficult transition going through these crises. What I wanted to tell a little bit more about is the transition from Anisthita Bajana Kriya to Nishta. Vishyana Chakravarti Takur says that on the stage of Anisthita Bhajana Kriya, there are six sub-stages. One is Utsaha Mahi, one is overly enthusiastic, too much enthusiastic in the beginning. Then Ghanatarala, then he becomes a little mechanical in his following bhakti. In the beginning, everything is nice, everything is fine, and he really feels, I'm almost there on the level of prema. Prahladanandamarachi very humorously depicts how he wrote his first letter to Srila Prabhupada. At that time, he was in the temple, he was a student in a university in Buffalo, and there was a batch of devotee students, and he started living in the temple. and he said after six months living in the temple I wrote to Srila Prabhupada my first letter to him. And I said Srila Prabhupada thank you very much you gave us this beautiful Krishna consciousness I understand everything about Krishna consciousness. The only one little doubt or misunderstanding which I have how the transition between the stage of bhava to the stage of prema takes place please explain this to me. so everything else is clear to me how to come from Bava to Prema that's not yet clear and the implication is there I'm already on the level of Bava so please help me out achieve Prema I'm almost there the idea is that in the beginning we are very enthusiastic and we feel that yeah yeah it's coming it's coming, it's very close but then it becomes very you know same thing at the same time kind of mechanistic sadhana and then Vyodavikalpa Vishwana Chakravartya Thakur describes that one starts his mind starts wavering from one thing to another thing, should I get married or should I remain brahmacharya should I get married or should I remain brahmacharya and he finds the proper quotes from the shastra for every position which he needs to justify this is good and then he thinks no this is good and then again so Vyudhivikalpa this kind of wavering of the mind when the mind is unstable and basically it's betraying the condition of dissatisfaction inside that there is no deeply rooted satisfaction which is natural because in the beginning stages the spiritual practice does not bring satisfaction or require satisfaction and then he says Vishaya Sangara when one feels very strong urges of the senses and he wants to enjoy the senses and then Vyudhavikalpa then Vishayasangara then Niyama Niyama Niyama Sangara so he he's trying to give to increase his bhakti his level of commitment but it doesn't work and ultimately Tarangarangini that's the last stage of unstable practice of bhakti. When we are already quite stable in bhakti, we chant our rounds, it's easy, it's not difficult, and we have some sort of influence over other people, we preach to other people, we inspire other people by our example. But from this stage to go to Nishta stage it's a very difficult transition. Because Nishta means Trinadapisu Nichina Tarorapisa Hishnuna Amanina Amanadana Kirtani Asadahari. And Tarangarangini means I'm senior devotee. So from senior devotee to Trinadapis stage it's a very painful transition because in doing our sadhana bhakti we create some sort of pseudo spiritual identity I am this or I am that in terms of our you know whatever hierarchy we may have I may be this senior devotee, that senior devotee, counselor, temple president, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. Sannyasi, even guru. And I do this and I enjoy doing this. But this is not yet purely spiritual enjoyment. Purely spiritual enjoyment only comes on the level of when I'm ready to chant the Holy Name 24 hours a day and I don't need anything else. We're still being in some position, in some position of authority, in some position of influence. We're influencing others, we're preaching to others. And that's good. I'm not saying that this is bad. It's very good. It's necessary. but when we become too much, when we too much identify ourselves with this position, when this position becomes another upadhi, when I feel that I am this, I don't feel that I am just little tiny spirit soul which wants to be in love with Krishna, But I again identify oneself with a role, with external role which I am playing, according to my position in the society, in the ashram, in the ISKCON, in whatever it is. And then it's very difficult to go beyond this to the stage of Nista, because in the stage of Nista, you don't have any external identification or external protections. whatever is there you very clearly understand it's my role. So the difference between one stage and another stage in both places you are playing the role. You are playing certain role according to the situation. But in the stage of Anisthita Bajana Kriya you like this role and you think I am this role, I am this. But in the stage of Nishta, you very clearly understand I am not this. This is just my role which I have to do to properly behave, to show the example to others, to perform my duties. But ultimately, I am not this. Ultimately, I am something much deeper. so this is what and this is not this is not easy like today I was introduced as the GBC member I am not GBC member for already 7 years I was on the GBC for 21 years and all the time when I was on GBC I felt that yeah this is my service but then at one point some crisis came to my life and I faced that I have to change something and I decided that I should resign from the GBC and I still very clearly remember this point I wrote a letter of resignation to the GBC and I felt pain I never thought that I'm attached to this position of GBC I thought yes I'm just doing it as a service but when I resigned from it I realized I'm attached to this position I am somehow or other that has become part of my identity that has become part of me which basically means or implies that I still have material identity. So, in the beginning when we just practice Krishna consciousness, it's okay to perform our duties nicely. We have to identify with the roles we are doing this. But to go from the level of unstable bhajan to stable bhajan, where the bhajan becomes the essence of my of my soul of my understanding who I am we have to relinquish all these false identities which we created so carefully through our career and devotional service and sometimes it may be it may be associated with some drastic change in our life it may not be it's not necessarily like this but internally this transition has to take place. I'm not all of this. I'm just servant of the servant of the servant. All these external designations which are there, even if it is designations in regard to devotional service, are not really important and I'm just a servant and I want to serve and I want to chant. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Hare Hare, 24 hours a day. Or at least to be absorbed in Krishna consciousness for all the time. So that's what I wanted to say, that we have to be aware that change of ego is not easy, but it has to take place and to facilitate this change of ego we have to always develop in our Krishna consciousness our sadhana should never be sleepy sadhana it should never be Nidra Bajana Kriya it should never be just comfortable mechanistic sadhana. We have to have all the time challenges and if the challenges are there then we will do more. And if we look very carefully in our scriptures, we will feed the descriptions of these critical situations everywhere. Bhagavad Gita, as I said, starts with this critical situation when Arjuna was going from one condition of consciousness into another condition of consciousness to become the perfect instrument in Krishna's hands. And there are some other instances in our scriptures which describe how the difficulties which we experience, actually the blessings which are sent to the Lord for us to go further. So, sometimes devotees, they don't understand the prayer of Queen Kunti when she says, please send to me the difficulties again and again and again. Let all this Vipad, the difficulties which you are sending to me, become my sampad, my wealth. She's basically saying this, this is what how Viswana Chakravartyakur comments on this verse. He says, she's asking, actually all the difficulties which you sent to me has become my vipad, my sampad, my wealth. Why? Because after undergoing all these difficulties, from following from one stage to another, I became deeper and deeper and deeper in my Krishna consciousness. My love towards you increased with every difficulty which I managed to overcome. So that's my little message to you. Difficulties will come to your life. And don't be afraid of these difficulties. Embrace these difficulties with a lot of joy and enthusiasm. Remember about Gopal Krishnamaraj, how he embraced all the difficulties which he faced. And he faced immense difficulties in his spiritual life. And please have his amazing example always in front of your eyes. Because I remember very, very clearly like in the last stages of his life Gopal Krishna Maharaj has become the experience of being with him, it's very difficult to compare it with anything else. I felt physically the bliss which he experiences himself. We all know how difficult his physical situation was. But despite of all the physical difficulty, he was extremely blissful and he was emanating the bliss he was exuding the bliss why? only because he was taking difficulties and going through all these difficulties and was grateful in every stage of the difficulty grateful for Krishna to Krishna for every difficulty which he sent to him so anyway my little talk was somewhat chaotic from all over the place, but I think I gave the main message to you. Don't be afraid of difficulty. Ask for difficulties. Pray for difficulties. And by the mercy of Guru and Krishna, you will be able to overcome these difficulties and be rewarded by genuine Krishna consciousness. Because without difficulties, it's not possible to overcome all the internal difficulties which we have. Without external difficulties, it's not possible to overcome the internal obstacles which every one of us has. And all the external difficulties are sent to us to help us to overcome the internal obstacles within our heart. Thank you very much Hare Krishna. Yes. Thank you, Maharaj. Very, very deep class. I think I have filled approximately 10 questions. I mean, less than 8. I have 4 questions. Okay? So one I will answer. Maharaj, once in between you told that we have to go deeper in our sadhana level. So, is this statement also includes our seva, physical services? Absolutely, yes. Absolutely, yes. Generally, in our mature stage, we have a conflicting understanding of Seva and Sadhana. Once we are over occupied in our physical external services, our Sadhana is impacted due to that. Balance gets out of shape. Going deeper in Sadhana practically implies many times to get a break from our active Seva. So how can we sustain every engineer? Everyone has to find his own balance. There is no mechanical formula or universal formula of balance because this balance between the active service and sadhana is different on different stages of our development, different for different people with their different swabavas, different initial stages of their development, their natures. Somebody is more active by nature. Somebody is more introverted by nature. Somebody is less introverted, more introverted. Somebody more extrovert. extrovert so it's there is no universal formula and even in our own life this formula will be changing but the balance have to be there the balance which is like very general balance which is recommended in Vedic scriptures can be derived from the understanding that sannyasis in the day of yore they were traveling eight months a year and four months a year they were sitting in one place and they were studying Shastra so that was the custom they usually Chaturmas was the time when the sannyasis would come together in one place and they would do Shastra Seva they would go deeper into Shastra It doesn't mean that we have to follow chaturmas. Srila Prabhupada never instituted chaturmas for us. But it means that for them, for sannyasis, two times of the time they were actively engaged in the service. And traveling, especially in those days, was, you know, very active engagement. and one third so two third of the time they were engaged in active service and one third they were engaged in internal sadhana so this kind of rough ratio could be an indication but again as I said it could be different for different people in different stages and sometimes you know we need we need sometimes when we are completely absorbed in spiritual practice. Otherwise, we will never feel satisfaction from spiritual practice. This is what is explained by Bhaktivinoda Thakur in Harinam Chintamani. He says, when you chant holy name with the offenses, what is the remedy from the offenses? He says that if you chant holy name with the offenses, the remedy is you take the day off like a kadashi or Janmashtami day or whatever of course Janmashtami day is probably not a good day for for sadhana in your case it's probably a very busy day but you take a day and you completely absorb yourself in only enchanting and not do anything else And then in this way you rejuvenate your taste for the Holy Name. You completely renew your taste and your commitment. You forget about everything else and just do kirtan and hear and chant. So every now and then you have to do this. A kaddish is a good day or according to the schedule, according to your particular seva. but my advice is that first of all every now and then such days have to be there when you're completely absorbed in sadhana and try to come in contact with the essence of the spiritual practices and another one is that find your proper balance between the practical service and sadhana either during the day when the first part is completely devoted to spiritual practice and then you try to actively serve, or during the week or during the month, there has to be certain balancing periods when you feel that you're too much passionate and you're doing too much practical service and you're suddenly suffering, then you have to do something. It's incumbent to you. My question was something similar to what you said. Before my question, I have a comment. Since you spoke about Baba Khrushala Goswami Maharaj and the way he conducted his spiritual life and increased his commitments or never retired from expanding his devotional service, So my question at this point is that my impression of like over 28 years of association with Dupal Krishna Maharaj as a disciple is that Maharaj, and first of all I want to thank you for what you said and it made lot of meaning and lot of memories of Maharaj was coming the way Maharaj conducted and what Maharaj did in both ways. So Maharaj used to push I mean really hard for practical services and institutional commitments and my impression again he would also award the excellence you know if some devotees do some wonderful results in Krishna consciousness or in teaching Krishna consciousness. He would really award them. So the point is there is always like this conflict between internal development and at the same the same time you can say external or institutional achievement. Sometimes the devotees who will be achieving may be also internally very strong but sometimes it is not seen like that and as a sadhika sometimes we are confused should I take more of a bhajanandi or sadhika side or so the point is how do I decide for it? Is it by revelation or is it by you know I regularly take siksha from someone, some mentorship some spiritual devotees or I I mean I mean how do I do that finding the balance as you said or what's for me so and even at different stages of my life so that's my precisely a question like what kind of practice first of all the association of those devotees who are more advanced than us is always necessary. We will always be stuck in our condition because it's very difficult for ourselves to know how to move forward. To move forward we have to have a visible example and association and also blessings of those devotees who are more advanced than us. And of course, they can give us some personal counseling and personal advice what to do in our particular situation and how to balance and how to go further. But in general, of course, Srila Prabhupada was not in favor of Bhajananandi or whatever style. and I remember Bhakti Tirta Maraj before his passing away when he became terminally ill and it was clear that he is leaving his body he said that at one point I will do Nirjan Bhajan and that's exactly what Srila Prabhupada also said that in the last stage of life you have to do Nirjan Bhajan, which means that you are completely secluded in a secluded place. You're not associating with anyone. You're just internally absorbed and trying to be absorbed internally. And I remember that Bhakti Tirthamaraj, he said, But still in the previous stages he was very active, meeting with many devotees, giving them counseling. And he said, he declared, so now from now on I'm just in my last stage, I'm in Nirjana Bhajana. But then, you know, I came and he met with me and so many other people came and he met with them and he was trying to give them encouragement and give them some help. And the same with Srila Prabhupada. He never was in the Nirjana stage. And the same was with Gopal Krishna Maharaj. He never went into this Nirjana bhajan stage. So Srila Prabhupada's understanding and advice for us is that our practical service has to become our bhajan. But that's not easy. It's easy to say than to do in reality because, as I said, giving myself as an example, we may think that whatever I'm doing, it's my bhajan, it's my service. And it is service in one sense. It's a service to the institution. We have to be loyal to ISKCON. This is all very important. But at the same time, we become sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly attached to it. We become attached to position, to some privileges which we have, this and that. So to turn our external engagement into our bhajan, in real sense, we have to first of all do some introspection how I am doing it am I doing it as really service or it's just some external thing which I like to do which I am good at and really become very honest and sincere I am doing it as you know I am doing it because this is my service so that's again the question of internal transformation or some introspection I'm looking within my heart and I'm asking myself is it my service or am I doing it because I like it and because it brings me some benefit, gross or subtle so and again and again and again it's a struggle every day we have to remind ourselves I'm doing it because this is the only thing which I can do I cannot, unfortunately I'm not in the position to chant 24 hours a day I'm not in the position to be like Haridastakur I cannot do this, I will go crazy so what I can do I can do what I can do but I do it in a different mood And so to improve this mood or to make the relationship with the activity which I do more internal on a deeper level, that's what we should also do. But besides that, definitely we should have association with more advanced devotees. And we should be nourished by this association. Because sometimes even little short association with advanced devotees can give you a lot. He can just say to you one phrase or one word and this will be enough for one month for you to kind of understand and to practice what he said. So, these two things. To understand this, some internal work has to be there to transform our external services into more internal way, into more internal engagement. and association with most senior devotees. And who knows, maybe at one point we will become completely absorbed in bhajan. Or if not, Krishna will help us anyway. And of course our spiritual master is there. And if we are loyal to our spiritual master, his help will be there. There is no doubt about it. Like Sīla Prabhupāda, he said, he somebody in the train, conductor in the train told him Swamiji why are you writing all these magazines, magazines people read and throw it in the garbage write the books and Srila Prabhupada heard these words and he said this is my spiritual master talking to me so he immediately recognized he didn't discard this advice some you know tamaguni conductor is saying some silly words to me. He said, no, this is directly coming from my spiritual master because he was in sync with spiritual master. And therefore he could recognize when somebody else would approach him and say something, he said, yeah, this is my spiritual master telling me. I have to take his order on my head. Thank you so much, Mother. One, you initially described about Jnana Yoga and Jnana Yoga meditates on Ayam Brahmam and Ayam Brahmam. And secondly, after that, you described what the Vespa Chikur Thakur says that the spiritualization of Aham and Mama. Thank you so much. You have extended all the things in detail and I have taken many lessons from today's class. So my question Another question is that it is very difficult to conceive oneself that in the bhakti yoga it becomes very difficult that a child like surrender. Because in other yogas like Patinda yoga also we see that one person is meditating on the brahma and he has abstained himself from the material world. He does not have any connection to the material world and he is not materially absorbed also also so much. But in my scenario, I see myself that when in the preaching movement, when we are, of course we are engrossed with this commitment that we are doing for Krishna, but while preaching and while doing services, we are myself, materially absorbed so much in the karmist time. So in that sense of course Bhakti Yoga is there, we are doing Bhakti Yoga in one sense externally myself and on other yoga paths we are seeing that there is a considerable results are coming. One is not material so much absorbed while he is practicing yoga system. But in Mukti Yoga I am discriminating these two things. So how can I understand that the The yoga process is so easy than others. Something is... I'm not digesting now. See, the easy part of bhakti yoga is that it's a powerful process. It's independently powerful. That's what exactly Vishwana Chakravarthakur is trying to impress upon us. That bhakti yoga doesn't require anything else, just changing the holy name. The holy name has Vastu Shakti. Vastu Shakti is the inherent Shakti. And the holy name itself is powerful. And that's why all these examples like a Jamil example is there. He didn't know the power of the holy name. He changed the holy name and because the holy name is independently powerful it does not depend whether you know or not. It acts upon your consciousness anyway. So it's easy in this way because the process of the chanting of the Holy Name and reading Srimad Bhagavatam is very powerful. It's difficult exactly in the way which you described because not exactly in the way which you described but along the lines which you described. The difficulties in bhakti yoga is that in other paths you still depend very much on yourself. Like in path of Patanjali yoga. The idea is that I am doing something and therefore I will get result because I am doing this. I am doing this practice. I'm doing Pranayama and it's in one sense it's easy because today I hold Kumbhak for one minute, tomorrow for one minute and 15 seconds in one week for two minutes and three months for three minutes and I feel progress every day my Kumbhak is becoming stronger and stronger and stronger and because we're used to this I am doing this it all depends on me on my endeavors and the result depends on me it's kind of easy because we're used to this approach in our material life also I'm doing this and I'm getting the result according to my endeavors but Bhakti Yoga is difficult in this sense because from the very beginning it is said just surrender to Krishna and he will say and everything and you surrender and you're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and nothing happens. And especially people, they hear this statement of Srila Prabhupada, chant and be happy. And they started chanting and they're waiting. When I will become happy? And they chant, chant. When I am not becoming happy, Srila Prabhupada says, chant and be happy. Srila Prabhupada didn't say chant and you will become happy. Srila Prabhupada said chant and be happy. It's different. Like today I saw one lady, she was in a jacket and the jacket was there. Smile and be happy. So exactly the same formula. Smile and be happy. Chant and be happy. It basically means chant and be happy. It's not that chant and then you will be happy. No, just chant and be happy, be happy about this. So that's easy, that's difficult to understand because it doesn't depend on kind of on myself, on my ego is not engaged in this sense. Other processes are easier in this sense because you are kind of, you feel I'm doing this. so regarding your difficulties which you describe if you are practicing your sadhana very properly especially in the morning and if your meditation on the holy name is proper then it will protect you from being absorbed in matter for the rest of the day you will only be absorbed in matter, engrossed in this material consciousness while interacting with this if your suddenness is not strong enough so it's basically a question of working more on the on the strength or on the power of your suddenness then you will not be you will be immune even though you are among the you know in the material association but at the same time you will not be in the material association Bhaktivinoda Takura actually made a very interesting point and very important point too he said that that the the association does not depend on the physical proximity. Sometimes we say association means I'm associating basically means I'm coming in contact with this in a physical sense. Bhaktivinoda Takuru says, no, no, this is not association. Association is not physical proximity. Association is the level of attachment which you have. You may be associating very closely with some materialistic people, but at the same time, if you're not attached to them, if you're not really dependent on them if you're not really you know putting yourself in the position I'm dependent on their mercy or whatever then you're not associating with them you're giving your association to them you're not taking their association in this way you're not really affected by the close proximity so bhakti yoga is powerful because it is a powerful process because we have association of devotees and because we can be immune from this material association if our suddenness is strong enough. But again, we should not underestimate the power of Maya. Maya is very powerful. And all these ideas of material enjoyment and material happiness, they will always come to our mind. We will see somebody who is driving his big car and we think, oh, he is so happy. He is not happy, he is miserable. We will have this idea that he is happy. So how do we understand that? Can there be some logical explanation for this about the science? Well, Srila Prabhupada, when he was saying, I am not saying, I am just repeating what Srila Prabhupada always said, that this is the science of God. And he contrasted Bhakti Yoga from other religions, because other religions, they emphasize faith. You have to believe. You have to believe. Bhakti Yoga also says that you need faith in the beginning, adoshradha, in the beginning you need little faith. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada even say, in the beginning you need little faith. He made sure that he didn't overemphasize the necessity of faith. Faith is necessary, but only in the beginning, just the faith is only the impetus for you to start practicing and to get the realization. And what is science? Science is basically the cause and effect, right? You know the cause, you try to find the cause, you know the effect, and you try to find the cause, and by knowing the cause and effect relationship, you can manipulate the situation or whatever, do whatever you like. So Srila Prabhupada explained that there is also cause and effect relationship in the spiritual science. And Srila Rupagaswami, he explains spiritual science exactly in the scientific terms. He explaining how we are coming from one stage to another and how the transition takes place and what is the desired result and everything else. The science basically, you understand how the process works. And the process works in a very beautiful way. If you understand this, you understand the science. Basically, what is the science of bhakti? The science of bhakti is that all our problems, because now our consciousness is absorbed into matter. We are bhahir mukha. Bahir Mukha means extrovert, literally. We are looking in the matter. Our consciousness turned in this direction. So the process of Vaktivite is scientific. It helps us to gradually, gradually turn our consciousness 180 degrees. From being absorbed into the matter, into being absorbed in God. and it's a gradual process you cannot really only if Krishna by Krishna's mercy, Krishna can take you little tiny soul and just do like this but usually he doesn't do this he only reciprocates with your desire to do this and then it means that you turn your consciousness a little bit by chanting by initially getting interested in it. This initial interest means Shraddha. Then you turn your consciousness little more. This little more stage means that you start hearing somebody whom you trust, who will become your guru. You really trust, you see his ideal and you want to become like him. That means that you turn your consciousness little bit more. then while taking but first you are just listening as a freelancer you just like to listen this particular person you like how he speaks you like him you like his way of speaking explaining but then you take the commitment ok I'm listening to you and I trust you and my trust is so deep that I will do whatever you require and that's Bhajana Kriya you're taking responsibility upon your shoulders so in this way you turn more your consciousness is more you're more committed now before that you were doing whatever you liked and yes you liked little bit Hare Krishna it's okay but then you're already more committed you're doing regulated devotional service but then if you do it properly then the obstacles which are internally they are gradually being overcome by the power of devotional service and then you feel that you don't need anything else in the stage of Bhajana Kriya you're still very much materially absorbed and you still your flow of thoughts going into this direction but still you kind of pushing yourself because you took commitment upon yourself and on the level of Nishta you don't look in this direction but you don't look in this direction either you look in this direction your consciousness is 90% 90 degrees turned, it turned away from matter but it didn't turn towards the Lord you are not interested in matter but you are not interested in the Lord yet that's why it's called Nishta and it's intermediate stage and then if you turn it little more then the taste comes and you feel more attraction for the Lord, if you turn it little more then attachment comes, asakti comes and then if you turn it more then bhava comes and then if you turn it 180 degrees you're fully Krishna conscious, so that's the scientific process, how the turn of the consciousness gradually from one stage into another take place in the practice of your devotional service. And what you should do, what is the propelling force or force which pushes you together, the changing of the holy name. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare. Reading Srimad Bhagavatam, hearing Srimad Bhagavatam, associating with devotees, being in the holy dham. That's the scientific process of Krishna consciousness. Is it not scientific? It's an experiment. You try it and you see if it works or not. Yes. Yes. So, suppose someone has attained prema, then logically it should be 100% of the spiritualization. So suppose he has attained that, so how will his physical touch with the world be? Will he feel good and etc. like that? How can he be corroborated with the example of Shri Prokma? You don't have to be worried about this. When you come to this stage, you will figure it out. It basically means that, Śrīla Prabhupāda explained, Bhaktivinda Thakur is explaining that Madhyama dikāri, kaniṣṭha dikāri is all the way till the stage of niṣṭha. Before reaching niṣṭha, you are kaniṣṭha. When you reach niṣṭha, you become Madhyama. And then, of course, on the level of Raganuga and the Vidi Sadhana and the different classifications as far as Uttama is concerned. But Śrīla Prabhupāda said that when Uttama Dikāri, somebody who has achieved very high status of spiritual realization, wants to preach, he comes down to the level of Kaniṣṭha. he has to show by his personal example what it means to be a devotee in this world and he have to be in the world. If you want to know what it means to be on a higher level and at the same time somehow rather exist in the material plane, read Chaitanya Charitamrita, it's explained there how Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was struggling being in this material world at the same time experiencing this complete overwhelming bliss of love of God. But a more practical example, Srila Prabhupada, he said, he consciously comes down to the level of Madhyamadikari. It means that he behaves in a normal way, but internally he doesn't show his internal ecstasis. Every now and then it just comes out, bursts out. but normally you reciprocate with the material world according to the material necessities but at the same time you're completely convinced that this material world doesn't bring you happiness doesn't make you happy you're not enamored by it you're not seduced by it did i answer your question that you just want to ask, they can ask you personally. Yeah, sure, because it's late. Yeah, I also have to go. It's late. Thank you very much. Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jāi.