By Hansadutta das
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Text 27
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One should recite the Bhagavad-gita
and the thousand names of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One
should meditate without cessation on the transcendental form of Lord
Krishna, who is the husband of the goddess of fortune. One should
direct the mind towards the association of saintly people. One should
also distribute one's wealth to the devotees of the Lord, who due to
having given up material life, are considered materially impoverished.
In this connection there are several very important
verses in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The basis for advancing
in Krishna consciousness is hearing and chanting (shravanam
kirtanam vishnoh ). No one can go for even a minute without
hearing or talking about something. Therefore hearing and talking are
recommended, but especially hearing and talking about Vishnu. In the
conditional stage, everyone is eager to hear and talk about the things
of this temporary material world. Because a conditioned soul is in the
bodily concept of life, he is therefore interested in anything
pertaining to his bodily maintenance, such as eating, sleeping,
defending and sex. If we study anyone's speech or anyone's writing in
the mundane world, we find that they speak and write only of these four
things: eating, sleeping, defending and sex. This is the whole range of
mundane hearing and chanting. Because the materialist has no
information of anything beyond the temporary material body, he thinks
this body is everything, and all his activities are
concerned with the upkeep and maintenance of this body. However, our
real
interest should be how to get out of the temporary material body, and
regain
our original, eternal life of Krishna consciousness. In
Srimad-Bhagavatam it is said:
shrinvatam sva-kathah krishnah
punya-shravana-kirtanah
hridy anthah stho hy abhadrani
vidhunoti suhrit satam
Sri Krishna, the Personality of Godhead, who
is the Paramatma, or Supersoul in everyone's heart and the benefactor
of
the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the
heart
of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which
are
themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted. (Srimad-Bhagavatam
1.2.17)
Transcendental sound is as good as the transcendental
Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna. That is the nature of the absolute
world.
Anything--whether it be the name, the picture, the pastimes or the
person--anything
connected with the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead is as good
as
He is. Therefore we practice chanting the holy name of the Lord.
In this verse it is also recommended to hear
Bhagavad-gita and to chant the thousand names of Vishnu (vishnu
sahasra-nama ). Desiring to advance in Krishna consciousness,
one hears and chants about Krishna. It is not something to be done in
order to achieve something else, as the materialistic person undertakes
one kind of activity in order to achieve another kind of result. That
is the world of duality, where nothing is harmonious. But chanting and
hearing about
Vishnu is itself the means and the end. As soon as we hear and chant
about
Vishnu, then we are actually liberated. We are actually in touch with
Vishnu,
and this is the perfection of spiritual life--simply to be in the
association of Vishnu and the devotees of Vishnu (sadhu-sanga).
nashta-prayeshu abhadreshu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-shloke
bhaktir bhavati naishthiki
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam
and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome
to the heart of the candidate is almost completely destroyed, and
loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with
transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact. (
Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.18)
Regularly hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam and
associating with and rendering service to pure devotees removes
everything troublesome to the heart. Troublesome and dirty things in
the heart are the upadhis (designations) which we have
accumulated since time immemorial in our association with the material
nature. Everyone is misidentifying himself with the temporary covering
of this body. On the basis of that misconception, we accept so many
false relationships and duties in the material world, such as father,
mother, brothers, sisters, countrymen. Consequently, we are obliged to
the family members, community members, nation and so forth, and in this
way, everyone is bound up in material existence. As soon as we come in
touch with the message of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and
render service to pure devotees, then these upadhis
(designations) are swept out of the heart, and we can see our real
position. The result is we become joyful. That is explained in the next
verse:
As the effects of nature's modes of passion
and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the
heart, the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes
completely happy. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.19)
The same situation is described in
Bhagavad-gita (18.54).
Krishna says:
brahma-bhutah prasannatma
na shochati na kankshati
samah sarveshu bhuteshu
mad-bhaktim labhate param ram
That is the stage of Krishna consciousness which is free
from hankering and lamenting. It is characterized by a continuous
joyful mood (prasannatma). In that mood, one can render pure
devotional service to Krishna (mad-bhaktim labhate param
). The conditioned soul is always hankering. He has many desires to
fulfill. He wants more money.
He wants a bigger position. He wants to enjoy with the opposite sex.
These
hankerings are always disturbing him. On the other hand, he is always
sorrowful
and lamenting because of his failure to achieve the desired objects of
his
senses. Even if the conditioned soul is successful in attaining the
objects
of sense enjoyment, which are wealth and women, he is always in
distress, because someone is trying to plunder his riches or women or
usurp his position. In every stage of material activity, there is this
hankering and lamenting. However, when a person comes in touch with the
message of Krishna through the bona fide representative of the Lord,
the spiritual master, then the first
thing that takes place is he becomes free from this disturbance of
hankering
and lamenting. He becomes peaceful.
Thus established in the mode of unalloyed
goodness, the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with
devotional
service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the
Personality
of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association.
Thus
the knot in the heart is pierced, and all misgivings are cut to pieces.
The
chain of fruitive actions is terminated when one sees the Self as
master. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.20-21)
The whole purpose of executing devotional life (hearing,
chanting, remembering, rendering service, worshipping, making
friendship with the Lord) is to cut away the knot of material
attachment. As long as there is attachment for material enjoyment,
there will always be distress because the eternal soul cannot be
satisfied by possessing temporary material objects. The eternal soul
wants eternal life. He wants full knowledge and eternal bliss. This
eternal bliss is possible only when he is re-established in his eternal
relationship with Krishna.
Every living entity has an eternal relationship with
God. That is what makes every living entity unique. The Lord is a
unique individual, and the living entities are also unique and
individual, but only in their relationship with Krishna. When the
living entity is in ignorance, he tries to establish relationships in
the material world. They all end in frustration because material
relationships are based on the temporary, material body and therefore
cannot satisfy the soul's hankering for eternal bliss and
knowledge.
The only medicine for the frustrated conditioned soul is
krishna-katha, hearing the message of Krishna from Bhagavad-gita,
Srimad-Bhagavatam and other Vedic literatures and rendering
devotional service to Krishna's devotees. These two practices bring
about a complete transformation in the life of a conditioned soul. He
becomes totally purified and free from all doubts, and remains situated
on the platform of joyful life, which is free from lust, anger, greed,
lamentation and illusion. All these disturbances vanish, just as a
sleeping man who is experiencing a nightmare
immediately gets relief when he is awakened. It is very important that
all
the devotees regularly either hear Srimad-Bhagavatam,
read Srimad-Bhagavatam, explain
Srimad-Bhagavatam, or distribute Srimad-Bhagavatam
in the form of books to others. This will always keep the heart pure
and clean, immune from the influence of the modes of material nature,
just as a person who keeps a regular diet and habits cannot be attacked
by disease. According to the Ayurvedic conception, all disease is
already present within the body, but as long as a person keeps a good
diet and regular habits,
i.e. rising early, bathing, and so on, disease cannot manifest itself.
But
as soon as a person becomes negligent in his diet or his hygienic
routine,
then disease can take hold of the body.
Lusty desires, the seeds of sinful reaction, are also
there within all of us, but they cannot take hold if we always keep
ourselves strong and pure by regularly hearing krishna-katha
and
performing devotional service. The material principle of repetition
used
in advertising can also be used by the devotee. He must repeatedly hear
the message of Krishna. Hearing once is not enough. We must hear it
again and again and again. Because we must hear something, if we are
not hearing krishna-katha, then we are hearing maya-katha
(topics of illusion). We
are hearing about politics, economics, sex, intoxication. We must hear
something
at every moment. Therefore the devotees should become practiced in
hearing krishna-katha, to speak krishna-katha, to work
in Krishna consciousness. Krishna says, "No one can stop acting even
for a moment. What good can repression accomplish?" (Bhagavad-gita
3.5) Therefore we should always be careful to act only for Krishna and
Krishna's representative, the spiritual master. We must act, we must
hear, we must speak, we must eat. We cannot
stop anything, but we can change the quality of our hearing, speaking,
working and thinking. We can change our quality of activity by bringing
everything in relation to Krishna. Hare Krishna.
