holy name – Jayasri

In the playground with Krishna

January 9, 2019 0jayasri0

The gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

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no dīkṣāṁ na cha sat-kriyāṁ na cha puraścharyāṁ manāg īkṣate
mantro ’yaṁ rasanā-spṛg eva phalati śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmātmakaḥ
(Padyāvalī: 29)
[“Sri Krishna’s Name does not rely upon (pancharatrik) initiation, pious works, or preparatory practices in the least; Sri Krishna’s Name produces results simply by touching the tongue.”]
With love and affection, and without offence, try to chant this Holy Name of Lord Kṛṣṇa. It will rescue everything—that power is with Kṛṣṇa-nām. The Lord’s Name is always so auspicious and can rescue everyone. But Kṛṣṇa’s Name has some speciality: He is attracting and giving His nectar. That is the speciality of Kṛṣṇa-nām. Other names of God are also so powerful and so beautiful, but Kṛṣṇa-nām is mixing with the hearts of the Kali-yuga people; it is the nearest and most extremely beautiful form of the Lord. That is Kṛṣṇa-nām.
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
There is no other alternative except Kṛṣṇa-nām. It is not necessary to do many things or anything else: only connect with Hari-nām, the transcendental divine form of the Lord. It is not my speculation, but all the scriptures have told this: in the Veda, Vedānta, Upaniṣads, eighteen Purāṇas, Mahābhārata—everywhere, even in the Āyurveda. Where is He not present? Kṛṣṇa is present everywhere.
In the Upaniṣads, that example of two birds is given: one is hearing, one is eating; one is sleeping, and another is watching. Paramātmā, who is watching, has some influence over all, and through that all the jīva-souls are getting some help. That is the special quality of Paramātmā. There is Brahma, Paramātmā, and then supremely Bhagavān.
Bhagavān means the Supreme Personality of Godhead, where we will find everything: love and affection. Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī Prabhu says, all divine forms of God have good qualification for the jīva-souls, but Kṛṣṇa is so special. If you want to embrace Kṛṣṇa, He will be very happy with you, but other Gods are sitting in the chair, and the jīva-souls are fearful of Them. This is not the position of Kṛṣṇa.
sarvādbhuta-chamatkāra-līlā-kallola-vāridhiḥ
atulya-madhura-prema-maṇḍita-priya-maṇḍalaḥ
(Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: Dakṣiṇa-vibhāga, 141–2)
[“Kṛṣṇa is like an ocean filled with waves of pastimes that evoke wonder within everyone in the three worlds. In His activities of conjugal love, He is always surrounded by His dear devotees who possess unequaled love for Him.”]
Everything in connection with Kṛṣṇa is very familiar for the conditioned souls. You can feed Kṛṣṇa, you can play with Kṛṣṇa, you can chastise Kṛṣṇa, and you can give your love, affection, and everything to Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa will always be very happy with you. That is the most palatable and suitable position for the jīva-souls.
We honour everyone and we must give our full daṇḍavat to everyone, but after that we will go to our playground and play with Kṛṣṇa in śānta-rasa, dāsya-rasa, sakhya- rasa, vātsalya-rasa, and madhura-rasa: servitorhood, friendship, parenthood, and even paramour love is possible with God. Who can believe it?
Kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe ko vā pratītim āyātu: to whom shall I tell, and who will believe? This śloka’s meaning is this. Kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe: to whom shall I tell? Ko vā pratītim āyātu: who will believe that Kṛṣṇa is playing with the Vraja-gopīs in the Kuñja-līlā, and playing happily in the courtyard of Nanda Mahārāj? There is no obstacle there.
kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu
go-pati-tanayā-kuñje gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma
(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta: 2.19.98)
The youthful mood of Kṛṣṇa; playing with the girls of Vraja and the Vraja-vāsīns; friendship, fatherhood, motherhood; the trees are giving palatable fruits, the cows are giving so much palatable milk—it is all a very joyful situation there with God, with the Lord. With our Divine Master it is possible, and Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu has given a connection to us through the Holy Name. It will reveal in our heart. We need to chant without offence, and one day we must be qualified, no doubt.
Spoken by His Divine Grace in Italy at Villa Govinda Ashram during his visit in September 2007.

Scientific progress

September 23, 2018 0jayasri0

It is necessary to jump in any way with our full energy and hankering for a connection with the transcendental wave.

Once Guru Mahārāj questioned someone, “Is Īśvar existing or not, is God existing or not?” And that person, a sādhu, maybe a paramahaṁsa sādhu, responded, “You are not seeing God? He is existing everywhere.” We heard this question’s answer from Guru Mahārāj. The transcendental wave is always flowing in this material world. We have a transcendental body, but it is covered by illusion. Moving or non-moving, there is life everywhere. It is proved by the scientists now. We have also heard from some sculptors that they give two kinds of certificate to stone: one certificate is dead stone, one is living stone. When we were making a building in Nabadwīp, we purchased stone for some stonework, and I saw that there were different rates. I asked the man that I purchased from, “You are saying four thousand per lorry, and he is saying three thousand six hundred per lorry.” “Oh, that is dead stone, dead stone!” I know about dead stone and living stone, but how did he know? That was my surprise.
Now science is proceeding to the philosophical world. I heard from Guru Mahārāj that the wife of Einstein asked him, “What are you now trying to discover?” and Einstein answered, “After five hundred years, you and I will be able to talk, just like we are speaking now. I want to make that kind of discovery.” Guru Mahārāj told this.
Then science is proceeding so far, but without the mood of submission it cannot touch the transcendental wave in any way. It is not possible. But it is very good news that so many scientists have joined with our Mission, and every year they are making seminars in different places about this knowledge. ‘Science and Religion’: when Pusta Kṛṣṇa came here last time he joined that meeting in Salt Lake City, Kolkata. So many scientists are with us, and they are researching still about Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the situation.
It is necessary to jump in any way with our full energy and hankering for a connection with the transcendental wave. And it is a very appropriate time, because it is Kali Yuga. We know that there are so many disturbances and so many obstacles in this age. Only Harinām-saṅkīrtan can give us a good result by connecting us with the transcendental divine form of the Lord.
Śabda (sound), sparśāḥ (touch), rūpa (sight), rasa (taste), gandha (smell)—all the qualities in the material world are existing in a refined and positive way in the transcendental world. The transcendental sound vibration form of the Lord is called Harinām. It is very easy to believe, because now ether is connecting the whole world, and beyond this universe also. Now we are doing email, we are doing telephone, we are doing television. We are visiting many things through television. The carrier, the bearer, is ether. If it is possible in this material world, and we are actually a part of the transcendental world, then our spiritual connection must also be activated.
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prapyo varān nibodhata
(Kaṭha Upaniṣad: 1.3.14)
“Awake, arise, and get your property. You are the sons of nectar, of the nectarean ocean. Then why are you sleeping and dreaming that a tiger has attacked you, and crying?”
It is actually a kind of dream. A tiger has not attacked us, but we are dreaming that a tiger has attacked us and crying very loudly in bed. But our friend who is near will not take a stick or a gun, he will go and touch me, and will tell, “Oh, wake up, wake up!”
śṛṇvantu viṣve amṛtasya putrā
(Śvetāṣvatara Upaniṣad: 2.5)
“Awake and arise, oh sons of nectar.” This is the call of the Upaniṣads. “You are the sons of nectar.” This is written on the cover of the book The Search for Sri Krishna. This is the clarion call.
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prapyo varān nibodhata
kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyaya
[durgaṁ pathas tat kavayo vadanti]
(Kaṭha-upaniṣad: 1.3.14)
[“Arise! Awake! Try to understand the boon that you now have in this human form of life. The path of spiritual realization is very difficult; it is sharp like a razor’s edge. That is the opinion of learned transcendental scholars.”]
Srila Gurudev speaking in Italy during his visit in September 2000

Cleaning the mirror of the heart

March 10, 2018 0jayasri01 Comment

Every moment will be joyful in your life. Dedication to the Lord and chanting the Holy Name, the nondifferent form of the Lord, can give us all auspiciousness.

Question: I would really like to hear about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and how we can serve him.
Srila Gurudev: Mahaprabhu first indicated to beginners that you will get all the benefit of your spiritual life if you can chant the mahamantra properly. Your mind is like a mirror covered with dust, and through chanting that dust will be removed and you will see your true form. The suffering that we experience from so many things in this material world will also reduce and finally go out.
cheto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-chandrikā-vitaraṇaṁ
Through your chanting feelings of God will reveal in your heart, you will see your beautiful divine form, and your mood of service will give such happy light in your spiritual environment. You will get very close association with your Lord, like the feelings between a husband and wife.
cheto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-chandrikā-vitaraṇaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ
When that divine form of the Lord as Harinam reveals within your heart then automatically joy will come, and every moment when you are chanting the Holy Name, the feeling of God’s association will come to you.
prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
Every moment will be joyful in your life. Dedication to the Lord and chanting the Holy Name, the nondifferent form of the Lord, can give us all auspiciousness.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu advised the conditioned souls in this way.
prabhu kahe—kahilāṅ ei mahāmantra
Of all mantras this is the best mantram in this age of Kali-yuga. Other practising processes will not be so fruitful. Meditation, chanting, and congregational chanting of this mantram, and service to this mantram, will give all good results to us.
Then if we want to satisfy Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu we will first try to chant the Hare Krishna mahamantra, and if we can do that continuously that is very good.

Be humble, be tolerant and give honour to others

Mahaprabhu gave eight verses as advice for the conditioned souls, and in the third verse He explained how attachment, love, and affection will grow for chanting the Holy Name. He gave this advice: if you can be humble, be tolerant, and give honour to others then you will be worry-free from your circumstances.
You can believe and you can live within the faithful plane. Faith is necessary. That is the first basis of this conception. Not only in the line of Krishna consciousness, but the first advice of all religious conceptions is, “Be faithful”. At first, beginners may not be able to maintain their faith because they are not seeing anything and not getting anything in their hand. They do not have practical knowledge and experience. For that reason strong faith will not come immediately. But through realisation, through association, through hearing, through reading, faith will become more and more strong. In different ways our faith will grow more and more, but the scriptures say that association is the best. If good association is not available then we can practise through reading the books, chanting the Holy Name, hearing from an expert, and so on.
We must try to realise our previous activity, our present spiritual situation, and our future prospect. It is necessary to take advantage of the value of the present time.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu will be happy if we follow His directive to chant the mahamantra without offence. The mahamantra Himself is Radha and Krishna. Both Their Names are present within this mantra with a calling mood. Even within some processes in this material world we can see that sound can take form: now when you are talking to someone by telephone it is also possible to see their form, their mood, and so on. So, if we can chant properly They will reveal in our heart. We cannot say that it will happen immediately but anyone can get it, and if someone is sincere with their practice they will get some feelings from the beginning.

When Mahaprabhu said that there is no alternative other than chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, then it is not necessary to go left or right or anywhere else. Be steady, be faithful, and try, and success must come to you.

We are trying but not properly trying, because we are always mixing with material things, and it is natural. If we can chant without offence then proper purification will come and we must be benefitted through that. Time is a factor: it is in front of me and must give me some disturbance. But if we can see the eternal time that is nothing by comparison.
When Mahaprabhu said that there is no alternative other than chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, then it is not necessary to go left or right or anywhere else. Be steady, be faithful, and try, and success must come to you. And because “Hare Krishna” is Radha–Krishna then if They reveal in your heart you will automatically join with the Pastimes of Krishna-lila. That is the gift of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: Krishna-prema, love for Krishna, affection for Krishna, and service for Krishna. When it will reveal in your heart then Krishna will also reveal with that mood.
In this way, many things in many places have given us the clue of practising life. But at first beginners must try with faith.
Srila Gurudev speaking in Italy, September 2000, during his Sixteenth World Tour.

Reference

The mahamantra:
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

Chanting, chanting, chanting

January 13, 2018 vishakhadasi108

Indra’s illusion

There is a story about Lord Indra: once he was cursed by some rishis and he got a hog’s body. He was enjoying in this material world, and then the curse finished and Lord Brahma came and said, “Oh Indra, come back to your abode.” Because of the illusory environment Indra had forgotten everything and was thinking, “I am a hog father and I have so many of my children and grandchildren here, so why shall I go there? And who is this man with such a big beard who is telling me what to do?” And he wanted to hit Brahma. Then Brahma thought, “Oh, he is completely in illusion” so he threw all his children and grandchildren in the pond and told Indra “You also jump here and you will leave your body.” But Indra would not do that. Finally he and his wife were going to run away, but then Brahma took his wife and threw her. Then Indra thought, “Oh what happened, now I have nothing.” Then he gave some hearing to Brahma, “What you are telling, nonsense man?” Brahma said, “You are Indra, you have an abode in heaven and you are the master of heaven. You come here. Why are you suffering? Now your curse has finished. You jump in the pond and then you will see what you get.” Then Indra thought, “What shall I do with this body? My wife has gone and everything is gone, so I shall jump.” He jumped in the pond and left his body and saw his own form as Indra. Then he thought, “Oh ho I was in such a bad situation” and he paid dandavat to Brahma and said, “Prabhu, you rescued me. Please take my obeisances.” And Brahma said, “If you like you can take some of your children.” Indra said, “Don’t make me shy. I am very shy.”

“Please appear, please give your mercy”

In this way,
rasa-varjaṁ raso ’py asya, paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate
(2.59)
It is stated in Srimad Bhagavad-Gita by Krishna Himself, that when we get some real sense, when we get a connection with the transcendental world, then we will immediately feel that and we can immediately leave everything. Before that, it is necessary to do some sadhana. It will not be possible to chant the Holy Name without offence immediately. We will become habituated with chanting, chanting, chanting, chanting, and we will chant with the mood of calling, “He Hare, he Krishna, please appear, please give your mercy.” This is the calling mood, and we will not ask for anything.
nāmāparādha-yuktānāṁ nāmāny eva haranty agham
(Padma-purāṇa: Svarga-khaṇḍa, 48.49)

Whatever obstacles we have to chant will go through chanting and the Name will reveal in our heart. This is the prescription for the conditioned souls of this material world. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared for this as a yugavatar and bestowed His mercy through giving this mahamantra, and we are trying to follow in His footsteps.
This advice is for everyone, not only for this Vaisnava society. We can see some indication of chanting the Holy Name of the Lord in all religions. The Muslims are chanting their Lord’s name, “Allah, Allah, Allah” and we have seen that they also do japa. The Christians also do japa. Everywhere they are chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. They know at least the transcendental vibration form of the Holy Name and they are chanting that, and it is very properly and efficiently revealed in this Vaisnava society. Vaisnava means, Visnur devata yasya sa Vaisnava: who is feeling that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is Krishna is a Vaisnava. He is not brahman, he is not sudra, he is not Australian, he is not American, he is not Indian, but he is a servitor of the Lord. That is his identity. He will chant the Hare Krishna mahamantra and he will get back his own identity.
Srila Gurudev, speaking in Byron Bay, Australia, 24 April 1999

The ray of joy

January 5, 2018 vishakhadasi108

Mahaprabhu said, “Why will you chant the mahamantra? We will chant because,
cheto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
We want to remove the dust of our mind and we want to see our own divine form, our transcendental form.

Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam: all inauspiciousness and difficulties will go. And, śreyaḥ-kairava-chandrikā: before the sun appears light comes in this world, and like that, before the Lord appears some light of the transcendent will come to us and we will feel what is day and what is night.
Mahaprabhu expressed this, and then vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam: finally Mahaprabhu said you will get service to the Lord in the transcendental world. Without feeling anything you will suddenly see, “I am there.” It is like our death: when death happens that man cannot understand, “I am going to die.” He may feel it is his deathbed but when he leaves the body he cannot feel it. He will see, “Oh ho, this is my body here and I am here.” Sometimes they try to go back inside the body but they cannot enter again. Our transcendental service connection will appear like that. Then we will be happy, and when we see our situation completely change we will see the ray of joy, the ray of sachidananda. Ananda, joy, ecstasy. We will try to go back quickly there and we will not wait.
Srila Gurudev, speaking in Byron Bay, Australia, 24 April 1999

Spiritual bearer

December 28, 2017 vishakhadasi108

We are only chanting the mahamantra with a calling mood.
hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare
hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare
This is called the mahamantra. It is not only the Tarak-brahma-nama [mantra for deliverance from the mundane], but of all mantram it is the best—that is the mahamantram. The Lord Himself is living within this mantram, and we will feel His presence when we chant this mahamantra without offence. There are ten kinds of offences we must avoid, and then it will reveal in our heart. This tongue, this mind, everything is material and it will not appear on a material tongue. Where He will appear will be transcendental, and so first through chanting I want to make myself a transcendental receiver.

You see with the radio, television, etc. there is a receiver, and then the picture comes, sound comes, everything comes. Only some electronic things are inside there, but when they are set right then they can receive everything. I want to make myself as a good receiver. You have seen the power of ether. Here, within five minutes you can get an answer from India. If you push some button and make some question, then the signal will go there and within five minutes it will come back to you. And what is the bearer? The bearer is ether. We cannot see ether and we cannot feel it also, but we see that some action comes through ether, and it has been discovered by the scientists.
Ether is the super-bearer in this material world, and Harinam mahamantra, the nondifferent form of the Lord, is the spiritual bearer and will make me transcendental when He appears fully with me. He will make me transcendental and He Himself will dance in His nondifferent form. He will reveal in the heart and all inauspiciousness will go out.
Srila Gurudev speaking in Byron Bay, Australia, 24 April 1999

The divine legacy of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

December 7, 2017 vishakhadasi108

You are all in the group of Saraswati Thakur’s divine servitors. All over the world, not only our Mission. So many Missions have manifested in this world and all are the divine group of Saraswati Thakur’s servants. Finally all over the world everyone has received the Hare Krishna mahamantra, which was the preaching objective of Saraswati Thakur. Now that transcendental, subjective evolution has spread all over the world. I was recently questioned by someone, “You are seeing the world situation, what do you think it will be like?” I told and I believe the world will get more Krishna consciousness and day by day it will spread; the preaching will not stop. Krishna consciousness will never be stopped and it will grow day by day.
That objective was begun by Saraswati Thakur and his group. He wanted to preach Krishna consciousness out of India and all over the world. He sent, in his lifetime, two or three persons to London for preaching and so much money was spent for that. They were not so successful, no doubt, but Saraswati Thakur wanted that. Whoever would come to see him, seeing their capacity he would say, “You are an English-speaking man, you have that Krishna consciousness, and you can preach it.” Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami took that in his heart and after Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur, he did not forget it. He was always trying to preach and finally, he was successful. Now we are all taking his remnants and going country to country. Guru Maharaj liked him very much and Guru Maharaj gave so much enthusiasm to Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. Others were envious of him but Guru Maharaj was not and always giving the conception of subjective evolution to him and Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami knew that. He was a very simple-hearted Vaisnava and he declared, “I am learning from Sridhar Maharaj.” This kind of declaration is not done by an ordinary man. One who has real substance in his heart, he can declare like that. “If you want to learn anything, go to Sridhar Maharaj and learn from him. He is my siksa-guru.”
I know him very well because at that time I was a child and lived with him. When all over the world they are chanting that Holy Name of the Lord and I am seeing that, then I understand it is coming down from above, it is not a material thing. If it was a material thing, after a few days it would be finished, but I am seeing that day by day this Krishna consciousness is spreading, and it will grow more. It is all the mercy of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He started in Mayapur Vraja Patan and there was not one servant, only one maidservant cleaning, etc., but later, one by one they joined him. Now thousands of servants are trying to preach Krishna consciousness by the grace of Saraswati Thakur. We cannot glorify him properly, but we have tried to the best of our ability
Spoken by Srila Gurudev on the appearance day of Srila Saraswati Thakur, 1 March 2005, at the Soquel Seva Ashram, California, USA.

Tag: holy name