Mayapur | Prahladananda Swami

Transcription – CC Adi 1.4 Parampara of Happiness

[Kindly transcribed by Swetha Ganeshan Mataji]

From: Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir!
Date: March 14, 2014
Speaker: HH Prahladananda Swami Maharaja
Subject: C.C Adi Lila 1.4

HH Prahladananda Swami: I am going to read from Sri Caitanya Caritamrita, Adi Lila, Chapter 1, Text number 4. I am just going to read it, so you don’t have to respond, otherwise it will take too long.

anarpita-carim ciriat karunayavatirnah kalau samarpayitum unnata ujjvala-rasam sva-bhakti-sriyam harih purata-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandipitah sada hrdaya-kandare sphuratu vah saci-nandana

TRANSLATION: May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Srimati Saci-devi be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the mellow of conjugal love.

HH Prahaladananda Swami: I am happy to have this opportunity to try to say something about Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates. As it says in the Bhagavatam, as the birds fly in the sky according to their ability so I can try to explain about Krishna conscious according to whatever mercy Srila Prabhupada has given to me and in that way I could try to become more, understand Krishna conscious myself.

We have in our societies in terms of our meditation, we have Srila Prabhupada, we have Srila Prabhupada’s movement, we have our previous Acaryas, going back to the Six Goswamis, we have the Panca Tattva and then we have Lord Krishna, Srimati Radharani and their associates in Goloka Vrindavan and somehow or another we have to fit this all together so that Srila Prabhupada becomes part of our daily lives. Not only when we have Guru puja, we have kirtan and chant his name.

I remember Srila Prabhupada once said that wherever I am, my spiritual master is also there. And because Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada is one our acaryas, wherever he was, our previous acaryas were also there. And our previous acaryas means, that because they were serving the instructions of the Six Goswamis, therefore within their hearts, the Six Goswamis were also there and all the mercy that the Six Goswamis were offering was also there. If one is a 100% surrendered with enthusiasm, Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita:

tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te

After hearing from these great devotees about one subject matter-how wonderful Krishna is, How He is the source of everything, how everything is flowing from Him. This is the subject matter for the advanced devotees or for the devotees and as they become advancement then they become satisfied as gradually the awareness of Krishna consciousness develops within one’s heart as gradually the detachment from the things that our agitating us, gradually we become aware not only that we are eternal, but all the things that we are in anxiety about they gradually disappear. And when they disappear as we become more receptive, as we can hear the Holy Name and the glories of Lord Krishna, not only with a peaceful mind but with a receptive mind that we want to feel like we are bathing in the happiness of Krishna’s pastimes when we hear the Holy Name. Then it is not only through sakti that we are making advancement:

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ‘tha bhajana-kriya

We are actually going through the stages of development of faith. We are actually becoming more aware of Krishna, tattvatah, in Truth and that the process of bhakti is having an effect on our heart. Then as we become satisfied, ramanti. The understanding of Krishna’s activities and why he has come here become more clear to us, as Srila Prabhupada writes in the Krishna book.

In the beginning Krishna consciousness is attractive because it is nice: nice prasadam, nice devotees, nice Deities, nice lifestyles-but as we make advancement, that devotional service becomes more clear and more and more encouraging. And finally ramante: we can come to the platform where we are actually in transcendental happiness. The same happiness we can experience that Srimati Radharani and Krishna are experiencing, that Their associates are experiencing, that the residents of the spiritual world are experiencing. The same happiness the Panca Tattva are experiencing, the same happiness that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is experiencing, the same happiness that the Six Goswamis are experiencing, the same happiness that our acaryas are experiencing, the same happiness that Srila Prabhupada is still experiencing. And it’s because of Their happiness and because of Srila Prabhupada’s happiness that we are actually making advancement in Krishna consciousness.

We should not think that Srila Prabhupada has left. He is present here in his murti form. He is present here in his instructions. He is present here in the form of his devotees who are following his instructions. And if we follow those instructions also then that happiness of Srila Prabhupada will be revealed to us through the devotees, through his murti and through following his instructions. And we’ll be able to experience that happiness which is the happiness coming in the disciplic succession, the same happiness that our acharyas are experiencing, that the Six Goswamis and the Panca Tattva are experiencing-the happiness of feeling separation from the transcendental pastimes of Srimati Radharani, Krishna and Their associates in the spiritual world. This is what is raising us and advancing us in devotional service and indeed this is what advances our entire society for Krishna consciousness.

It is said that Lord Krishna had three confidential reasons for assuming the form of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. One of them is He wanted to feel the happiness of Lord Krishna the same way that Srimati Radharani was feeling that happiness. Lord Krishna is the reservoir of unlimited happiness. When we chant Hare Krishna, Lord Krishna is there with all His happiness. But the question is how much are we feeling Lord Krishna’s happiness? That will depend upon how much we are trying to make Krishna happy when we chant Hare Krishna.

If we are like Srimati Radharani when Krishna is there-Her heart is completely a 100% dedicated to Krishna’s happiness. She only wants that Krishna is happy. Then she feels Sri Krishna’s happiness a 100%. So what is Krishna’s happiness? What has Caitanya Mahaprabhu described as Krishna’s happiness for us? Of course Srila Prabhupada has made it very practical: serve Krishna’s instructions, that will make Krishna happy. It will make Srila Prabhupada happy if we serve those instructions.

So what are those instructions? Those instructions of course in the beginning is to chant Hare Krishna and follow the regulative principles of devotional service. That will make Srila Prabhupada happy, that will make Krishna happy. But is that enough? No. Actually Srila Prabhupada did not stop there. He wanted us to act on the second class platform. He wanted us to become liberated, to act on the liberated platform. So that we ourselves can become liberated. So what is that liberated platform? Try to dedicate everything to Krishna. But practically what does that mean? Dedicate everything to service of the Spiritual Master. But what did Prabhupada want us to do. He wanted us to cooperate with the devotees-in a maitri-at least in friendship. And what is that cooperation? That cooperation is:

krsneti yasya giri tam manasadriyeta

diksasti cet pranatibhis ca bhajantam isam

susrusaya bhajana-vijnam ananyam anya-

nindadi-sunya-hrdam ipsita-sanga-labdhya

There are six loving exchanges. This Hare Krishna movement is an opportunity to explore and experience those six loving exchanges between the devotees. By offering prasad, by learning how to actually accept prasadam, by chanting the Holy Name, learning how to actually receive the Holy Name. By offering the gift of pure love of Krishna to others and being willing to accept the gift of pure loving service to Krishna from others. These are the loving exchanges.

So for those who are not very advanced in Krishna consciousness, we can accept when they chant Hare Krishna, we accept that as an offering to Krishna and we respect them that they are giving us a merciful gift of helping us remember Krishna. But we may not associate with them very intimately because they may not follow very strictly. Those who are fortunate enough to understand the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his gift of pure love for Krishna then we cooperate with them to spread the Krishna conscious movement. And what is that Krishna conscious movement?

yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’ upadesa

amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa.

Whoever we meet we try to remember that I am not meeting a man, I am not meeting a woman, I am not meeting my wife or my husband, I am not meeting my Godbrother or Godsister, I am not meeting an American or an Indian or whatever else, I am meeting an eternal servant of Krishna. And because I am meeting an eternal servant of Krishna, and because I am trying to become a servant of my spiritual master, therefore my duty is to pray to my spiritual master, to pray to Lord Krishna, to please give me the intelligence so that I can serve this servant of Krishna by helping them become a better servant of Krishna. I can help them revive their eternal loving relationship with Krishna. Somehow or another that Krishna will give me the intelligence to do this.

Then everyone we meet becomes an opportunity to serve our spiritual master, to serve the disciplic succession, to serve Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, to give people the gift of their eternal service to Krishna. And if we do that then we have a mission and purpose of life at every moment. How to learn, how to fulfill that mission with not only humility but with greater and greater transcendental discrimination and expertise that these are the things necessary to expand the Krishna conscious movement? Therefore

susrusaya bhajana-vijnam ananyam anya- nindadi-sunya-hrdam ipsita-sanga-labdhya

We have to take shelter of all the devotees and especially Srila Prabhupada. Why? We take shelter of all the devotees in as much as understood the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as revealed to us through the unalloyed service instruction and heart coming from Srila Prabhupada, who was actually advanced in undeviated devotional service, who spent every moment of his existence distributing Krishna conscious to others, giving them the gift of Krishna with unparalleled discrimination. So much so he was able to not only by his heart full of love and spiritual potency attract people, but by his expert discrimination and transcendental expertise invite people to take up the process of devotional service and actually make tangible advancement and experience the love for Krishna to some degree and the awakening of transcendental consciousness within their consciousness so that they can understand what the goal of life is and how to achieve it.

Srila Prabhupada had said in his last days that he was visible to us in this planet, when he was asked who would be the next acarya. Because after all that ultimately is the wish of every conditioned soul to become an acarya. Everyone wants everyone to follow them, to surrender to them. That is why we have all come to this material world. We want full surrender from every other soul. And we are disappointed somehow or another we have not been able to achieve it, although the conditioned souls within this universe, they are quite determined to do so-life after life after life. They think they get a hint from that when their wife seemingly surrenders to the husband and the husband surrenders to the wife and the children, but actually they are really surrendering to Krishna to some degree.

But Srila Prabhupada when He was asked who will be the next acarya, He said all my disciples, all my followers, as much as they follow my instruction to that extent they become the next leader. Not that I name anyone as leader. So the next leader will be as much as we have understood and follow Srila Prabhupada’s instruction, to that extent every one of us becomes qualified to be the next leader.

Of course Srila Prabhupada has also given us this society with its leadership of the GBCs, initiating spiritual masters, temple presidents, Godbrothers and Godsisters, so this is also following Prabhupada’s instructions-to follow that leadership also. So that leadership is meant to give us uninterrupted, unalloyed love for Krishna. To teach us how to come to that mood, whoever we meet, not only the GBC, not only the Temple President, not only our initiating Spiritual Master, not only our instructing Spiritual Master but every single devotee, how to become their servants by deeply understanding and accepting the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, the instructions coming from Caitanya Mahaprabhu, deeply understanding, developing this transcendental discrimination expertise, so that we can enter into other’s hearts and give them something about Krishna. Then if we are actually sincere servants of our disciplic succession, if we are actually able to follow our authority structure then we will able to awaken within the hearts of others something about Krishna. Then we will able to feel Krishna’s love. Actually if we try to give Krishna’s love for others then we’ll be able to experience that love for ourselves. We want others to understand how wonderful Krishna is, how wonderful His love is, then He will give us an opportunity to experience it. If we actually serious about experiencing it for ourselves in giving it to others. And to understand what is it like to love Krishna.

That love for Krishna which is most intense in the heart of Srimati Radharani and she is offering that intensity of love for Krishna to everyone through Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission. When we feel how much Srimati Radharani is loving Krishna then we can understand our own natural feelings in loving Krishna too. And that is manifested loving Krishna by expanding this Krishna conscious movement. Because this is what Krishna wants.

He wants everyone to go back to the spiritual world so that they can become happy. Because no one can become happy unless they love Krishna. That is what love means. No one can be happy unless they feel Krishna’s happiness in reciprocation. No one can be happy unless they experience how wonderful Krishna’s qualities are and how wonderful Krishna’s qualities are manifested in innumerable living entities, unlimited living entities and especially they are manifested in the sankirtana movement.

So these are said to be the confidential reasons for Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission of coming here. But that mission is to spread these confidential feelings and understandings to everyone on this planet, to everyone in this universe. He did not want to keep them confidential, He wanted them to become a known secret to everyone who is willing to share that secret with others and engage in the sankirtan movement. So it is not that Srila Prabhupada did not give us everything. He gave us everything and more in one sense. He gave us an opportunity to take part in the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and expand the Hare Krishna movement in everyone’s heart in this universe. Or at least since we are not going to go to Brahma loka right away, and Indra loka, since the demigods are not coming to this planet yet, still we are meeting so many devotees every day. We don’t have to become some powerful incarnation, we don’t have to become a temple president or a GBC, we don’t have to become anything other than who we are:

gopibhartur pada kamlayor dasadasanu dasa

That’s all we have to be: sthane sthitah sruti-gatam tanu-van-manobhir. Remaining in whatever circumstances we are under, in any situation but hear from Srila Prabhupada, hear from Srila Prabhupada’s representatives and at the same time try with our body, with our mind and with our words try to serve the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Srila Prabhupada especially wanted us to distribute books. Why? Because in the words of the acaryas, in the words of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in the words of Krishna, they are especially imbued and saturated with this karunya, with this mercy of trying to freely give love to Krishna to everyone. These books are saturated in an unlimited way with pure love for Krishna in the mood of compassion. And at the same time anyone who goes out and tries to distribute books, this pure love of Krishna, by contact with this pure love, compassion, they also gradually become purified and some compassion and some love for Krishna will awaken within their hearts also, because it is such a wonderful opportunity to intensify one’s desire that whoever we meet, we try to give them Krishna. What a challenge. People who know nothing about Krishna to somehow or the other be able to present them something about Krishna in a way, by the mercy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Srila Prabhupada and His followers to be able to somehow or another be given the intelligence, the transcendental potency, the discrimination, the expertise to actually awaken within their heart the desire to take one of these books and to accept Krishna to some degree.

So this is really dadami buddhi-yogam tam that Krishna is giving us the intelligence by which we and others can come to Him. And what is everyone else’s business? Everyone else in this movement, our business is to reveal what is in these books. This movement is the manifestation of the books of Srila Prabhupada. It is meant to create a cultural revolution so that these transcendental vibrations that are in the books of Srila Prabhupada become manifested in this world. They are not simply words, they are the spiritual world, they are the path to the spiritual world and our basis is to manifest those words within this world so that this world becomes a spiritual world.

[Audience applauses]

So what does that mean? It means whatever talent we have, whatever abilities we have, utilize that in Krishna’s service yukta-vair?gyamucyate. If we are dancers then dance for Krishna, if we are singers then sing for Krishna if we are eager for prasadam then take prasadam for Krishna, if we know how to cook then cook for Krishna, if we know how to do art, theater, whatever we have. If we are managers then manage the sankirtan movement for Krishna, if we have money then utilize the money for the sankirtan movement and if we have knowledge then tell people about Krishna.

In this way just like the iron is put into the fire, we’ll become hotter and hotter and hotter and then one day we will just become like fire. Now we may be trying to walk and may be just like a child who tries to walk and he falls down so his parents they never criticize the small child, “Why is he falling down? When I was your age it took me three times to walk! You, what family are you from anyhow? That’s five times, get with it kid- you are an embarrassment!”

No, the beloved parents they are simply encouraging the child, please walk try one more time. And one day the child will walk-not only walk but dance in the sankirtan movement, dance in pure spiritual bliss.

[Audience applauses]

So acting on the second class platform means this sankirtana movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as given to us by Srila Prabhupada, this will reveal the innermost heart of Caitanya Mahaprabhu because it will actually be in our heart as we are performing this sankirtana movement with devotion that has been revealed to us by Srila Prabhupada, through this Hare Krishna movement and what will be the result? We will try to capture everyone’s talent and abilities, we will see everyone as a precious asset to be utilized in the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission, to bring everyone back to Radha and Krishna’s pastimes in the spiritual world. Then everyone will be appreciated.

One time Ramesvara prabhu wrote to Srila Prabhupada because there was some controversy that Ramesvara Prabhu is saying that the book distribution devotees are in the mood of the gopis trying to bring other people to Krishna’s lotus feet and Prabhupada wrote back, he said, yes he’s understood. This is the mood of the gopis. We are, actually this movement is the mood of the gopis. Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement is imbued with madhurya rasa in the mood of the gopis trying to completely surrendered to do anything and everything to bring all of us back to the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna in the spiritual world.

So every part of this movement, even the varnasrama dharma, the transcendental cultural revolution, it is all part of the same movement to bring people back to the spiritual world, back to the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani, who can bring us to the lotus feet of Krishna. So as this movement becomes more and more imbued with that mission, then we’ll invite everyone; why just the members of the Hare Krishna movement, why should only we understand that our movement has convinced people that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that we should bring people to the lotus feet of Krishna? So many other Vaisnava societies have also understood them. So why not engage them also to the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu as revealed to us through the lotus mouth and example of Srila Prabhupada?

Why only the Vaisnavas, why not all the religious movements, convince them that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that everyone should utilize whatever assets they have in this cultural revolution. So this is the mission that Srila Prabhupada has indicated to us, we have to take a step at a time. But it is a big mission. It is a mission to save, Srila Prabhupada said, to save the human civilization. That this movement will actually go down in the history, as a movement that will save this entire material world.

[Audience applauses]

So let us take shelter of Srila Prabhupada, let us take shelter of His instructions, let us take shelter of the acaryas, and actually become Gopibhartur padakamlayor dasadasanudasa. Thank you very much.

[Audience applauses]

Srila Prabhupada ki jai. Any questions?

Question: Thank you for the encouraging class Maharaja. You mentioned that the books are actually alive and the activities themselves are living. So, could you please explain why Caitanya Mahaprabhu chose public chanting and dancing as a method of propagating this movement.

HH Prahladananda Swami: In every Kali-yuga there is chanting and dancing. There is sankirtan in every Kali-yuga. And this is a special Kali-yuga, because this is a Kali-yuga where the chanting and dancing is imbued with feelings of separation from Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan. And is imbued with the feelings of trying to bring everyone back to Vrindavan, not only to Vaikuntha, but to the spiritual world of Goloka Vrindavan, the same feeling of complete surrender to Radha and Krishna in Vrindavan.

So in every Kali-yuga. . . because in Satya-yuga everyone who had any desire for self-realization was meditating on the Radha and Krishna’s pastimes, or Krishna’s pastimes in the spiritual world. We say Radha and Krishna. We also mean Lakshmi Narayan and Krishna’s expansions, Their pastimes. In Treta-yuga, people became a little lusty and a little greedy because from lust comes greed.

I heard somewhere that they began to eat a little too much prasad. Nice prasad. You can imagine what prasad was like in Satya-yuga. So they ate a little too much so they had to make some offering, some sacrifice to get free from these material attachments. And therefore sacrifice was recommended in Treta-yuga. And when their hearts were purified from sacrifice then naturally their minds could meditate upon Krishna’s pastimes.

And in Dvapara-yuga people became even more attached and therefore some method of regulating their senses had to be there so their activities could be offered to Krishna, and when their activities were offered to Krishna their consciousness would get purified and then they offered their intelligence to Krishna and then they became qualified to meditate in trance upon Krishna’s pastimes.

In this age our minds are everywhere, we have no intelligence, we have no understanding of devotion or attraction to it and so therefore only by the loud chanting of Hare Krishna can we become purified. But in this age not only will the loud chanting of Hare Krishna purify us, but when it is heard by the followers of Caitanya Mahaprabhu through our disciplic succession, and when it actually is coming from our disciplic succession through the Six Goswamis, through the Panca-tattva, and when Radha and Krishna are actually being manifested through the spiritual world, then it is a portal to send so many souls back to Vaikuntha or especially Goloka Vrindavan and join Radha and Krishna’s pastimes there.

Question: You talked about how the mood of separation is happy. You were talking about happiness in Krishna conscious, you mentioned in the mood of separation. So I was wondering if you could speak about how we can understand the mood of separation being happy.

Maharaja: Yes, actually in the pastimes of Lord Krishna, especially as revealed by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the pastimes of Krishna are Hladini Shakti. They are full of transcendental pleasure, unlimitedly. And when we feel separation from those pastimes then they are actually revealed more and more therefore we feel more and more pleasure the more we feel separation. Caitanya Mahaprabhu began his pastimes by showing us how to be a good householder, how to be a dutiful brahmana, how to cultivate knowledge.

And at some time He met Madhavendra Puri’s representative Isvara Puri and He developed some feeling towards the separation from Krishna and therefore He started the sankirtana movement and had others go with Him. They are all acting on the platform of liberated souls by performing the sankirtana movement. And in that sankirtana movement, Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached how Krishna was the Supreme Personality of Godhead and we should offer everything to Him. At the end of His pastimes He showed us love in separation.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu was walking on the beach of Jagannath Puri. And there he saw one hill, the Chataka Parvata and at once He remembered Krishna and His pastimes of Govardhan Hill. He recited the verse, how wonderful Govardhan is, He is greatest of the devotees because He provides the cows with grass and caves for Krishna’s pastimes.

He began to run towards this hill at the speed of the mind and His body erupted, He looked like a kadamaba flower. The pores of His body erupted like kadamba flower, because Caitanya Mahaprabhu was yellow therefore pores of His body looked like flowers erupting, kadamaba flowers which were also yellow. And then blood, perspiration were flowing simultaneously and he became stunned in ecstasy and He fell on the shore of Jagannath Ocean and His followers were running after Him, Brahmananda Bharathi, Paramananda Puri, and Bhagavan Acarya who was lame, they all began to run after Him because they are always in anxiety about Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s welfare.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell on the ground in ecstasy, they came they surrounded him and they were trying to awaken Him. He awakened in half consciousness and He said, “Why have you brought Me back here? I went to Vrindavan and I heard Krishna playing on His flute and then Srimati Radharani and her cowherd girlfriends all came and they were all very wonderfully dressed, beautifully dressed and they were entering into a cave. The gopis invited me to pick flowers for Srimati Radharani and Krishna. So I was in Vrindavan, I was with Radha and Krishna and you made this loud noise and brought me back here.”

Then Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to full external consciousness and Bhagavan Acarya was there and Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Why have you come here?”

Bhagavan Acarya said, “Just to see you dance, my Lord, just to see you dance.”

And then all of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s associates went into the Jagannath Ocean to take their bath. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement, Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions, everything about Caitanya Mahaprabhu is filled with His transcendental separation of love from Radha and Krishna and Their associates in Vrindavan which is the nature of pure transcendental love and bliss. So there can only be happiness in Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement.

Question: You mentioned in your lecture about book distribution specifically. Is there a difference between sankirtana, chanting of the Holy Name, and book distribution, or is there some advantage of one over the other?

HH Prahladananda Swami: Well, they are exactly the same. Prabhupada’s books are written kirtanas. They have the name, form, qualities of Krishna right there before us. And they are revealed to us as much as we are actually surrendered to the books. As much as we engage in this sankirtana movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu to that degree the books become real to us to manifest the spiritual world. Then katha ruchi, then we get the taste of the books, then we get the taste of the Holy Names.

The advantage of book distribution is that it’s a challenge, the challenge is to become a servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna that whoever we meet we try to tell them about Krishna. So people who have no idea about Krishna, people who have no interest about Krishna, sometimes people who are adverse to Krishna, somehow or another we are praying to Krishna, we are hoping to Krishna, we are praying for the intelligence how to give people Krishna in the form of this transcendental literature.

Therefore, Krishna, when He sees our sincere desire, He reciprocates by giving us more and more transcendental potency, by giving us more and more transcendental intelligence how to accomplish that. But anyone in any service, if that is our mood, if that is our attitude, then Krishna will very happily give us more and more intelligence, more and more transcendental potency to perform those services also.

So therefore Prabhupada said that the best service is book distribution. He also said that the most fortunate people are those who are worshipping Deities, He also said the education of these children is the most important service in our movement. So everything is equally important as much as we take it seriously and apply it within our lives.

So there is one more question, [Maharaja’s reads the question] something about Srila Prabhupada said that 50% of His mission is accomplished by establishing ISKCON, the remaining 50% is to re-establish varnasrama dharma and cow protection from farming.

Varnasrama dharma is certainly mentioned through Srila Prabhupada’s books. But in order to establish Varnasrama dharma we have to first establish the sankirtana movement. Otherwise, even if we made a king among ourselves, who will the king rule? Even if we had sudras among ourselves what would they do? They’d do the same thing: go on book distribution, become the Temple President whatever else.

So we have to expand the sankirtan movement to a much greater degree so that we actually establish a class of people in this world who actually appreciate the devotees but cannot understand what is the purpose of this sankirtan movement completely. But they are willing to serve the devotees because they have that much appreciation that the devotees at least know how to eat. They know how to farm, they know how to cooperate with each other. They know they have something special, they know how to rule over others, they have this intelligence coming from Krishna. And although they themselves may not understand the value of chanting Hare Krishna and following all the regulative principles, they appreciate the devotee’s love to surrender to the Varnasrama system which will be conducted by the devotees.

But first we have to become more powerful devotees, we have to become a more powerful movement, we have to become so powerful and so pure, so conscious that people will actually surrender, accept us in that way. Srila Prabhupada said, first they’ll laugh at us, then they’ll attack us, then they’ll love us. So we may be in different stages in different parts of the world but we have to come to this stage when they’ll actually love us and then they’ll love to follow our instructions including varnasrama dharma.

Audience: Haribol!

Thank you very much. Srila Prabhupada ki jai. Samaveta bhakta vrinda ki jai. Sri Sri Radha Madhava ki jai. Gauranga!

Audience: Gauranga!

Transcription – CC Adi 1. 4 Parampara of Happiness 2014-03-14 Mayapur

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SB 6.4.13-14 Help Everyone Remember Krishna – Full Transcription

SB 06.04.13-14 Help Everyone Remember Krishna

Kindly transcribed by Sarasvati Priya DD]

From Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir

Date: February 21, 2015 Speaker: HH Prahladananda Swami
Subject: S.B.6.4.13-14

_________________

VERSE 13 antar dehesu bhutanam atmaste harir isvarah sarvam tad-dhisnyam iksadhvam evam vas tosito hy asau

TRANSLATION: The Supreme Personality of Godhead is situated as the super soul within the cores of the hearts of all living entities, whether moving or nonmoving, including men, birds, animals, trees and, indeed, all living entities. Therefore you should consider every body a residence or temple of the Lord. By such vision you will satisfy the Lord. You should not angrily kill these living entities in the forms of trees.

PURPORT: As stated in Bhagavad-gita and confirmed by all the Vedic scriptures, isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd dese ‘rjuna tisthati the Super soul is situated within everyone’s heart. Therefore, since everyone’s body is the residence of the Supreme Lord, one should not destroy the body because of unnecessary envy. That will dissatisfy the super soul. Soma told the Pracetas that because they had tried to satisfy the super soul, now they should not displease Him.

VERSE 14 yah samutpatitam deha akasan manyum ulbanam atma-jijnasaya yacchet sa gunan ativartate

TRANSLATION: One who inquires into self-realization and thus subdues his powerful anger-which awakens suddenly in the body as if falling from the sky-transcends the influence of the modes of material nature.

PURPORT: When one becomes angry, he forgets himself and his situation, but if one is able to consider his situation by knowledge, one transcends the influence of the modes of material nature. One is always a servant of lusty desires, anger, greed, illusion, envy and so forth, but if one obtains sufficient strength in spiritual advancement, one can control them. One who obtains such control will always be transcendentally situated, untouched by the modes of material nature. This is only possible when one fully engages in the service of the Lord. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gita 14.26

mam ca yo ‘vyabhicarena bhakti yogena sevate sa gunan samatityaitan brahma bhuyayah kalpate

“One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the spiritual platform.” By engaging one in devotional service, the Krsna consciousness movement keeps one always transcendental to anger, greed, lust, envy and so forth. One must perform devotional service because otherwise one will become victimized by the modes of material nature.

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HH Prahladananda Swami:(Pranama Mantras)

I’m happy to have this opportunity to say something about Krishna Consciousness.

In these two verses it mentions that we should see everyone equally. Although externally we see so many different bodies, internally there is a soul. Along with the soul, there is the super soul. The whole world is manifested according to the desires of the soul through the agency of material nature, which is directed by the super soul.

Krishna knows our desires, just like one can understand the flavor of a flower by smelling it. He’s arranging everything accordingly. Specifically, in the human form of life, we have a choice. We have a choice to orientate our desires towards life, towards the spiritual conceptions of life. Or we can remain in the ignorant misconceptions of misidentifying ourselves and others with the gross material body. If one orientates himself towards the light, then gradually one will come to the light.

Krishna tries to convince Arjuna from the very beginning of Bhagavad Gita that we are not the body. Not only are we not our body, but no one is their body. Although we seemingly have a very intimate relationship with this body, it is all due to a kind of imagination. It is a virtual reality that we are observing and experiencing, but actually it has nothing to do with our spiritual personality.

The material world, as we have heard before, is just like a dream for the soul. Not a very pleasant dream, it’s more like a nightmare. We are dreaming that we are going through birth, old age, and disease, and then we are dreaming that we are dying. The dream repeats itself over and over again in 8,400,000 species of life. The soul, more or less, is trying to experience some kind of happiness in this material existence. pumsah striya mithuni-bhavam etam (SB 5.5.8) The whole material happiness is based upon “I am male, you are female. I am Tarzan. You are Jane. I am Mickey Mouse. You are Minnie Mouse. I am Romeo. You are Juliet. I am Krishna. You are Radha.” So everyone is dreaming like that and trying to squeeze some pleasure out of our so called lila in the material world.

One time, Srila Prabhupada was coming back from a doctors appointment in Los Angeles. On the way back, he saw the title of a movie called, “Is there sex after death.” When Srila Prabhupada came back to the Temple, he gave a lecture. In the lecture he mentioned that he had seen the title of the movie, “Is there sex after death.” Srila Prabhupada said to his disciples that they should go and tell everyone that there is sex after death, in 8,400,000 species of life. Srila Prabhupada said that if the materialists understand that, they won’t be afraid of death anymore.

We are trying to create this imaginary world where we are in the center and the rest of the world revolves around us. The sun comes up in the morning to shine on us, and the moon comes up in the evening to shine on us. Everyone else is more or less an actor in our grand play. This is known as illusion. Krishna says that actually:

anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatmayam avyayah sarira-stho ‘pi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate
(BG 13.32)

Those who can see with the eyes of eternality can see that the soul is eternal, transcendental, and beyond the modes of material nature, despite contact with the material body, oh Arjuna. The soul is neither entangled, nor is he doing anything.

Of course we are doing something. We are desiring. The only problem in this world is that we do not know what to desire. According to our circumstances, if we desire to serve Krishna, dadami buddhi-yogam tam (BG 10.10), then Krishna will supply the intelligence by which we will be able to serve Him. What is that service? There are nine processes of devotional service.

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

These are the nine methods or activities that we can perform in order to serve Krishna. Even more important than any of these particular types of service, is the mentality of being Krishna’s servant. It is not only externally doing some activity, but is doing it in the mood of service. Therefore Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said that:

naham vipro na ca nara-patir napi vaisyo na sudro naham varni na ca grha-patir no vanastho yatir va kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramananda-purnamrtabdher gopi-bhartuh pada-kamalayor dasa-dasanudasah
(CC Madhya 13.80)

This is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is God, Himself. His mood is that He is the servant of the servant of the servant of Krishna. Who are the servants of Krishna?

samam sarvesu bhutesu tisthantam paramesvaram vinasyatsv avinasyantam yah pasyati sa pasyati
(Bhagavad Gita 13.28)

One who can see the super soul accompanying all living entities in all bodies and knows that neither the soul nor the super soul in the destructible bodies is ever destroyed, actually sees.

We may see with the vision that, “I am this body. I am male. I am female. I am born in this country. I have these particular qualities.” It is all an imagination. The imagination is not that there doesn’t exist the body, rather the misidentification with the body is an illusion. If I want to utilize my body in order to play the pastime of trying to become Radha or Krishna, then the result is that I simply remain in illusion. If I want to enter into the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, then I, nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin, (BG 11.33) become an instrument for Krishna’s service. What is that service?

yare dekha, tare kaha ‘krsna’-upadesa amara ajnaya guru hana tara’ ei desa
(CC Madhya 7.128)

Whoever we meet, we should try to help them become conscious of Krishna. As soon as we meet anyone, immediately our first thought is, “My dear Lord, please give me the intelligence to help this particular soul advance in their relationship with Krishna.”

It’s not that we don’t see externally what particular body or mentality that someone has. Obviously there are different bodies. There are different mentalities. That does not mean that we are not their servant, the servant of the soul and the super soul. How we serve will depend upon time, place, and audience. That service has to be directed by guru, sadhu, and sastra. Our aim, whatever we do, is to try to help them invoke their awareness of and love for Krishna.

It is not only certain persons within our society who have the role of guru. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu has asked every human being in this universe to become guru. He did not say that guru means sitting on a big chair handing out beads to people. He said that guru means that whoever we meet, we try to help them become conscious of their relationship with Krishna. That is actual guru. We may take different positions or identities, but they are simply to help us help others become conscious of Krishna.

gurur na sa syat sva-jano na sa syat pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat daivam na tat syan na patis ca sa syan na mocayed yah samupeta-mrtyum SB 5.5.18

That anyone, if we are a guru, teacher, if we have some relatives, if we’re a father or a mother, if we’re an important person, we should tell them about Krishna. Somehow or another we should help them make some advancement, give them some prasadam. Give them the holy name. Give them one of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Smile at them and think of Krishna.

Somehow or another, when we meet our wife, we should not think “I am husband. I am controller. Just see my prowess.” When we meet our husband, we should not think, “What can I get from him? How can I trick him? I love you.” We should immediately think, “I am your servant. How can I serve you? How can I help you become Krishna Conscious?”

Then Krishna says dadami buddhi-yogam tam (Bg 10.10). I’ll give you intelligence so that twenty-four hours a day you cannot help but think about me. Then the whole world turns into Krishna’s pastimes because we are actively engaged in Krishna’s pastimes. This is the lila of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It is not some small little lila where there are some unusual people called the Hare Krishnas, or the hairless Krishnas. It is not some unusual group of people with some unusual dress and lifestyle that keep on chanting Hare Krishna Hare Krishna. They can’t stop because they have no brains.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

“Excuse me, sir?” “No, I can’t. I have to keep on chanting. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna.as soon as I stop chanting I start thinking. If I start thinking, who knows what’s going to happen!” No, it is not some unusual group of people murmuring some words because they have no brains. We are actually giving people Krishna directly.

nama cintamanih krsnas caitanya-rasa-vigrahah
(CC Madhya 17.133)

Krishna and His name are non different. We are not simply chanting Hare Krishna. We are asking Krishna to engage us in His loving service. But that’s what it is. It’s loving service. That service is all pervading. We cannot love Krishna without loving all living entities. We cannot love all living entities unless we are actually trying to give them Krishna. If we meet a devotee, especially, if we’re not enlivened and happy then that means that we are in maya.

In other words, especially when we meet the devotees, we immediately have to remember Krishna and Krishna’s service. As we become absorbed in that meditation and that service attitude, then Krishna will be there. As soon as we forget that actually, I own nothing, I’m not this body, this body belongs to Krishna, all the things that I have belong to Krishna, I belong to Krishna. Therefore whenever I meet someone, I offer them my service to help them become Krishna Conscious. Then naturally, I’ll remember Krishna.

If it’s in the mood of devotion, in the mood of service, guided by guru, sadhu, and sastra, then the result is that we will remember the ecstatic acharyas in our disciplic succession. We will remember the ecstatic six goswamis. We will remember the ecstatic Pancha Tattva. We will remember the ecstatic residents of the spiritual world. And in every moment, in that way, we will actually be making progress in going back to the spiritual world. The more consistent and enthusiastic that mediation becomes, then the more Krishna will give us the intelligence of how to perform that service with more enthusiasm and determination. Then all of the anarthas and aparadhas will simply vanish in the ecstasy of devotional service.

When we chant Hare Krishna we will actually mean it. We’ll actually believe that there is a Krishna. There is a Srimati Radharani. And there is something called Their loving service. Gradually, we will develop that desire to obtain their loving service. That’s the whole purpose of what we are doing, to increase our desire to enter into the loving service of Krishna and His associates. That opportunity is at every moment. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow, or for better circumstances. At every moment we have that opportunity. It’s simply a question of taking advantage of the great opportunity that we have in each moment, especially in the sankirtan movement, as given to us by Srila Prabhupada by the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Although we may not be very much enlightened or enlivened, but if we chant Hare Krishna and actually ask Krishna pleadingly, “Please engage me in Your loving service.” We may not have any idea what that means. But because we heard that it’s very nice then we can ask Krishna, “My dear Krishna, I don’t know what Your loving service is or who You are, or Srimati Radharani. I don’t know how to serve Your associates. Please reveal all of this to me. Without Your mercy, I have no opportunity to learn how to understand any of these things. By the mercy of Your representative, I have learned something, at least theoretically. Please make all of this realized so that I can actually do something for my spiritual master and the disciplic succession. So that I actually become enlivened and enlightened in devotional service, and neither pretend that I’m Radha and Krishna, or Tarzan or Jane, or pretend that I’m some great devotee, some realized soul handing out benedictions to the audience.”

Actually, one should think, “I have no devotion. What do I know about Krishna or His loving service? But I’m begging my spiritual master and Krishna to reveal these things to me.” When Krishna sees that we are actually taking the mission of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu seriously, and introducing the chanting of Hare Krishna to others with devotion and determination, then gradually Krishna will reveal Himself through His holy name.

As soon as we forget that, then at once we will say, “Oh, here’s my friend, here’s my enemy. Here’s a good person, here’s a bad person. Here is someone I like, someone I do not like.” At once we are in a whole different world of imagination.

sanaih sanair uparamed buddhya dhrti-grhitaya atma-samstham manah krtva na kincid api cintayet
(BG 6.25)

Gradually, step by step with determination and full conviction, we have to withdraw our minds from these misconceptions and practice this art of devotional service. It is not that when we try, Maya says automatically, “Oh, you are such a nice devotee. Now you can think of Krishna forever.” Wherever the mind wonders to due to its flickering and unsteady nature, bring it back to Krishna’s service and into the service of helping others become Krishna Conscious. It’s guaranteed that Krishna will give us all of His mercy. It will gradually become easier and easier to remember the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

mat-karma-krn mat-paramo mad-bhaktah sanga-varjitah nirvairah sarva-bhutesu yah sa mam eti pandava
(Bg 11.55)

“My dear Arjuna, one who is absorbed in my pure devotional service with devotion, without any material misconceptions, becomes a real friend to every living entity and becomes everyone’s servant by giving them the best service.” They give them the source of all knowledge, all beauty, all fame, all renunciation in the form of the holy name, Srila Prabhupada’s books, prasadam, and by simply being kind to people and helping them make advancement in Krishna Consciousness. This will transform the world.

We can organize the sankirtan movement but the basis of it has to be that service to Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s movement. Srila Prabhupada once wrote to me. He said, “I don’t want buildings, I don’t want money, I don’t want any of these things. I simply want to see that my books are being distributed. Because you are doing this, I am pleased.”

So we should live in Srila Prabhupada’s books. We should distribute them in many different ways. That will please Srila Prabhupada and the previous acharyas. It will please Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His followers. That will please Radha and Krishna and Their associates. That will please everyone. Above everything, it will help us return to our eternal relationship with Krishna.

Srila Prabhupada once wrote to me. He said, “The boys and girls in your country are generally good souls. That’s why they have taken birth in such a nice country. So now let them utilize everything in Krishna’s service. That will make their life perfect. As Krishna sees that you are working seriously to help bring His other children back to the spiritual kingdom, then He will bestow all of His blessings upon you. Krishna is never ungrateful for our efforts to serve Him. Rest assured.”

Let us take that opportunity with whoever we meet today. Let’s have that meditation of how we can help. “Please, Krishna, please Srila Prabhupada, please devotees, please spiritual master and others, give me the intelligence by which I can serve this soul and help them to become Krishna Conscious.” That will transform our society and eventually the whole world.

Hare Krishna. Thank you.

Devotee question:

The devotees, do they want to stay in this world or do they want to go back to Godhead? What is their actual desire?

Prahladananda Maharaj: If one is engaged in preaching the mission of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then one is already in the Spiritual World. Tripurari Maharaj once asked Srila Prabhupada, “If we distribute your books, will we develop love of God?” Srila Prabhupada’s answer was, “Because you love Krishna, therefore you are distributing my books.”

The more we do these activities, one day we will realize that we are already in the Spiritual World. It’s simply a question of unalloyed, uninterrupted service to Krishna. Whether in Goloka Vrindavan, here in Mayapur, or in Brooklyn, NY

narayana-parah sarve na kutascana bibhyati svargapavarga-narakesv api tulyartha-darsinah
(SB 6.17.28)

As Lord Siva told Parvati, “Whether the devotee is in heaven or in hell, it makes no difference to him because he has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Krishna.” For us, it means that we are spreading the sankirtan movement all over the world. If not all over the world, then at least with our family, friends, and whoever we meet. Then we will become perfect.

Devotee question: Maharaj, you mentioned misidentification with the material and subtle bodies. Can you explain how we misidentify with the subtle body? I can understand with the material body.

Prahladananda Maharaj:

We simply like what the mind is telling us. As soon as the super soul sees that we are attached to what the mind is telling us, then He puts us in illusion. Srila Prabhupada writes that, “As soon as the soul decides he wants to enjoy the material energy, then he is supplied with lusty intelligence to make plans of how to enjoy and avoid suffering. Then the lusty intelligence acquires a false ego. Therefore one misidentifies himself with the mind and senses. He thus becomes entangled in the activities of sense gratification.”

Thank you very much. Srimad Bhagavatam ki jaya. Srila Prabhupada ki jaya. Gaura Premanande Haribol.