Сила киртана и особенности духовной практики в эпоху Кали-юги

0:22If you have a question, you can raise your hand, and I'll see, and then we'll do them in order. I want to get comfortable.

0:42Spanyol.

0:43What's healthy? For example, I'll give you a question.

0:49Yes, mother, yes. As long as we are in a Kundalini place, and you were yesterday with some people of Kundalini, I have heard that Guru Nanak was in the presence of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and they also use the name of Govinda, and there is some cross over there, so if you know something about that, then you can explain.

1:11Guru Nanak met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannath Puri, and he became very impressed with the presence of Mahaprabhu and his emphasis on kirtan, so there are some verses in the Guru Vrindsara, which say that in the age of Kali, then the process for spiritual enlightenment is the chanting of the holy names, they are there, But the process of chanting seems very simple, seems too simple, so people think oh this cannot be, how can it be so easy, because usually if you want to get something which is very valuable, you have to go through many difficulties to get to it, whereas chanting is simple, you can do kirtan just moving your lips and moving your tongue and vibrating the sound, so people cannot develop a trust that this.

2:16That the process is complete. For example, in the Satya Yuga, the method of realization that was practiced was silent meditation and pranayama. So it's a very difficult process that takes a long, long time. So people think that in this Kali Yuga, because people are less qualified, so they have an easier process. but this process is only the best process for Kali Yuga because the people are less qualified but in Bhaktisandarva, Srila Jiva Goswami said, don't think like this actually the chanting of the holy names is the best process in every Yuga it's only that in this Kali Yuga people are so unqualified they cannot do the other processes so they have no choice but even in the Satya Yuga when people lived for a very long time and they had great skill in meditating

3:16pranayama, still, kirtan, chanting the holy names, was better than the process they were doing. So then the question comes, why didn't they do kirtan? And the reason is, they thought, I am very qualified, I should do a difficult process. And they couldn't put their faith in that which was very simple.

3:53I've heard different interpretations of Kali Yoga, but I'd like to understand, what do you think about Kali Yoga? Kali Yuga, oh, just like we see every year the world goes through four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, winter, and in the winter time everything dies, but then when the spring comes it's all reborn again, so these are micro seasons, and in the same way the world goes through macro seasons as well, so the Kali Yuga is the time when generally all the spirituality dies, people's life becomes very short, all the air, the water, becomes polluted, and people become very materialistic, spirituality gradually disappears, and then it began 5,000 years ago, and the total length of Kali Yuga, according to Vedic astrology, Jyotishastra, is 432,000 years, so with 5,000 years in, we have 427,000 years left, so in one day of the demigod name Brahma,

5:06There are a thousand cycles, a thousand Kali-yugas. However, in one of those Kali-yugas is called Danya-kali, the blessed Kali-yuga. And in that age, Sri Krishna appears in the golden avatar of Sri Chaitanya. And he inaugurates the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. And where he did that in Bengal and in South India, from there it begins to spread. And now it is already spread. It's here in Europe.

5:38all over the world. And it becomes more and more, more and more people become involved in it. And it transforms the whole world. And so in this, this is called Dhani Kali, a blessed Kali Yuga, even though it's a very dark age, but in this age, it will become more wonderful than even the Satya Yuga because of the power of Kirtan. So it's just started. We're in the first phases of that. It's only 500 years since the appearance of this mantra in the world.

6:10and slowly, slowly it's going everywhere. So I am spreading this mantra? No, it's happening by itself. I'm only instrument.

6:21Cannot take any credit. By the will of the Lord in this Kali Yuga, the love for God is distributed everywhere. And we can take part in it now or you can take part in it later on.

6:39Oh, there's another interesting thing about Kali Yuga. At the end of the previous age, Dwarpa Yuga, Kali, came to this world, everything has a person, so Kali Yuga is also a person, and there was a king named Pariksit Maharaj, he was travelling to make sure everyone was following religious principles in his empire, and he saw a very dark and aggressive person with a club, and they were beating, he was beating the legs of a cow, and to be cruel to animals is very bad, and especially to cows who are like our mother,

7:26So he drew his sword, and at once was about to kill that person. So then that person fell at his feet, said, I take shelter of you, please, don't kill me. Then he turned to the bull, he said, who are you? And why are you suffering? So then the bull, he said, I cannot ascertain the cause of my suffering. Now the person who was beating him was right there, with the club. But he said, I cannot ascertain the cause of my suffering.

8:06some people say it is due to karma, some people say it is due to astrology, some people say it is due to demigods, some people say it's caused by the mind, but I cannot ascertain the cause of suffering, even though the person who was beating, he was standing right there, so then that king, Krikshet Maharaj, he said, now I understand your identity,

9:01It means, that if you point the blame at someone, for your own suffering, then, whatever sins will come to that person, will also come to you, because, you are acting on the level of ego, yes, this person is giving you suffering, but this suffering is coming from where? It is your own karma. And this karma was caused by an activity. But that activity was caused by another activity and another and another. And it goes through time with no beginning. So everyone, everywhere, the karma is going on. But who is at fault? Where does the fault lie? Where can we put the blame? Nowhere.

9:51We want to blame, we want to complain, due to ego, but our soul is experiencing this karma, this maya, because we turned away from, our consciousness turned away from God, if we turn our consciousness to God, maya disappears like a dream, and when we turn away from God, then we see we are in maya, and now we want to blame everyone for everything, go in conflict and struggle with them, so this history is in the Bhagavad-gita Purana, it's like a story, not a story, it's true higher dimension, but the teaching, is so deep. If you think about it, if you meditate on it, it will completely free your mind from all anxiety, from all hostility, from all mental conflicts, and you will be a liberated person if you understand it deeply. So Dharma is considered to be like a bull because a bull moves on four legs. So the four legs of the bull of Dharma are truthfulness, cleanliness, self-restraint,

11:02and compassion. So in Vedic tradition, what is a religion? A Dharma is a vehicle that imparts to the people the way of life by which they can be truthful, clean, compassionate to others and exercise self-restraint. Because what we are speaking about, Christianity did not exist, Islam did not exist, Sikhism did not exist, Judaism, all these ideas, they did not exist when this literature was Manifest. So there's no question of speaking about religion in a sectarian way. We're speaking in the most poor and universal forms. Now, when the king, he decided not to kill that kali because he surrendered to him. Why did he decide not to kill him? Because he thought, if I kill him, then Satya Yuga will come straight away and there will not be the Danya Kali, the fortunate kali in which everyone has the possibility to develop

12:09develop pure love very easily by chanting Hare Krishna man. So he spared. But he said, you should get out of my kingdom. Then Kali said, but you are ruling the whole world, your majesty, where can I go? So he said, all right, you can go and live in that place where there is meat eating, where there is intoxication and drugs, where there is the illicit sex, not procreational, recreational.

12:43Kali, where there is no chastity, promiscuity, you can go there, and where there is gambling, these four places. So the teaching is that Kali is the personification of materialism, he is the personification of quarrel, conflict. So if you engage in eating meat, taking intoxication, gambling or promiscuity, then the spirit of Kali will enter into you and you live a life of conflict with all the people around you because these four principles they go against the four legs of Dharma Dabur you see if you eat meat then you have broken the leg of compassion by promiscuity you have broken the leg of cleanliness because you will have AIDS you will get AIDS you will get all types of

13:47Sexually transmitted diseases and everything. HPV and so many viruses will come. So then, if you take intoxication, then you cannot have self-restraint and perform austerities. And then, the last one? The game.

14:11Truthfulness. Gambling. Gambling is... What is this gambling? Everyone's going to the casino thinking they will win. if everyone who goes wins, then how does the casino make money, so everyone, the house wins, the house wins, but you are thinking, I will, just without any, without working, without being honest, without doing honest work, I will get something for free, and so you're tempted, but what happens, it becomes an addiction, and you get sucked into that, and you lose everything, So the king told him, you can only live where these four things are.

14:55So then Kali said, but you are so strict, your rule is so powerful that no one is doing these things anywhere in your kingdom. So give me one more place where I can live. So then Parikshit Maharaj said to Kali Yuga personified, you can live where gold is being hoarded. So then Kali went into the banking system.

15:23It's written 5000 years ago that all evil comes from banking and then from there then this wealth is used to promote meat eating, intoxication, gambling, and sexual activities everywhere. So that's how Kali entered into the world and began to take over and destroy everything that was good and you cannot, you cannot overcome it by any political maneuvering, by any policy, it can only, the very vicious atmosphere of Kali Yuga can only be neutralized by the vibration of the holy name of God. So one friend was, he is not here now this morning, he was saying can we do activism, yes, the greatest activism that you can possibly do, which will benefit yourself and bring peace to the whole world,

16:22is to propagate singing the names of God and glorifying God together from the heart because everyone has a very vicious karma and it is stored in the subconscious mind and it is guiding them through their worldly activities but when the power of this kirtan channel enters into the ear then it neutralizes all the samskaras, the impressions Once, I was giving a lecture in Moscow, and one man came there, he was a scientist, a physicist, and an atheist, he was completely against God, and he very much liked to eat meat, so he didn't want to come to this program, but he had some affection for one woman who wanted to go, so just to please her, he went.

17:22So he was sitting there, just kind of tolerating the whole thing, waiting for it to be over, so then they could go out and have a drink or something, so then when it was over, he went, and then he ordered a meal, and the meal came with a steak with meat there, and then he took his fork and went, and he couldn't put it in his mouth, and he looked and saw, it's a dead piece of an animal. He never noticed before. And he just couldn't put it in his mouth. He said, what happened? So then the program the next day, now he wanted to go. He said, those people did something to me. So he came back and he said, what did you do to me? I came to your program yesterday and now I cannot eat meat. I said, don't panic, this is normal.

18:25Because only by your bad karma, by your sins you are doing this and because even though you didn't believe it, even though you did not understand it, but the holy vibration of the name of Krishna went inside your ear, now that karma is finished and you become free from that suffering, that cycle because if you eat meat, then next life, you know the etymology of the word meat, M-E means me, T-A-T, eat me, I am eating you, it's the same in Sanskrit, the Sanskrit word for meat is mam-saha, mam means me, and sa means he, so it's understood in the Sanskrit language when you eat meat, it means I am making a contract with you, my dear hamburger, my dear hamburger, we have made a contract, if I put you in my mouth in next life, then you will put me in your mouth.

19:22Very heavy karma. So, the power of kirtan neutralizes the karmic effects of the people and everyone can experience it for themselves. Just be involved in kirtan and watch how like a miracle your life begins to transform out of your control and come to a higher level, much higher vibration.

19:48And if you chant the mantra for many hours every day, oh, then what will happen?

19:56Your perception of the physical world will dissolve, and you'll see behind that this virtual world is there in the background.

20:07Any other questions? The process is slow, but it's secure. Ah, the plot is the process slow and secure. Yes, in most cases, it's slow and secure, but it doesn't have to be slow. You see, bhakti is like a fire.

20:40A mantra, even if you don't understand the activities of bhakti, if you touch them, it's immediately effective, it's very powerful, but, and in history there are some cases of persons just hearing the holy names, but once they became pure, but in most cases we see, especially now in Kali Yuga, the process is slow, and the reason is because there are some internal obstacles, just like if you take a match and put it on the

21:35a dry wood, it will burn immediately. But if the wood is green, if the wood is wet, then it will not catch. It will take actually quite a long time for the wood to dry out and then begin to burn. So in the same way, because we have some history in this life, in past life, of making some aparats, some offenses, so the process of bhakti seems to be a little slow. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, If a person will just chant the holy name one time, then all their sins are destroyed.

22:20And the second time they chant, they get Krishna prema and they see the lotus feet of Krishna.

22:30So, One name destroys your sins. Second name will give you love. But we're not seeing. We're seeing that there's a gap in between the first experience and the second stages and this is due to the internal obstacles of aparadha, offence. So this is why a guru is necessary. In the Padma Purana there is described 10 obstacles towards experiencing the power of the mantra.

23:09So,

23:3610 offences or 10 obstacles to experiencing the power of mantra being described. So when a person receives initiation from a guru and they receive the mantra, then it's the responsibility of the guru to train them how to overcome each obstacle. Because these are only like 10 hurdles that you have to cross and if you cross them, you will arrive at the spiritual plane.

24:02This spiritual life is very, very simple. And so this is the reason why it's somewhat slow. But if you stay in good association and you don't do the things which spoil bhakti, if you're trying to light a fire, but you give some water, then nothing. So there are six things which make bhakti unsuccessful.

24:38These things are, first of all, overeating. If you are a greedy person and you eat more food than is necessary, you're always stuffing your belly and then sleeping, and become overweight and diabetic.

24:57So this greed is eating more than necessary will make your consciousness very dull and you won't have energy for the spiritual sadhana. Now, atyahara means overeating but it's taken to be not only eating with the mouth but we do ahara with all the senses. That's why in yoga one stage is called pratyahara. Pratyahara means opposite of eating.

25:21Instead of tasting the world with the senses, turning the senses inside. So, atyahara is the opposite of pratyahara. And by any one of the senses, if your mind becomes absorbing that, then it can steal away your power of discrimination.

26:02So you are trying to focus, I am a soul, Krishna is superimposanty of God, I want to serve him and go through the stages to the perfection of bhakti. But then your mind becomes attracted to something and you become absorbed in that and distracted and it steals away your spiritual power of discrimination.

26:24So it is said that there are five different creatures whose life is spoiled by just one sense. For example, when a moth sees a flame, the moth sees a flame, oh how beautiful, the moth flies straight into the flame and is destroyed. So the moth is destroyed by the power of sight. When the deer, in ancient times in India, the deer hunter would go into the forest with a flute and play a very beautiful melody on the flute, and when the deer heard the sound of the flute, the deer puts up his ears like this and closes his eyes and listens, and when the deer is absorbed in the music, then the hunter would come and throw his spear. So the life of the deer is ruined by the deer.

27:22With any attachment to hearing.

27:29トゑ, Hahahiyo, Pharghtaa, Nik Aldhan, Haji, Aparin, Paribhawatya,議, Carl Boostί, Carneta, Ajub Went to her mentor to fish. After all the time the sun on an, ma here is a five guru, the plants

27:38First had lots of years of pr пару cleaning.

27:42The plant wasn't getting that much. When the plant was göz لي and so hurt. He would've gotten it very close to three goals

27:49And there's noись ofpe people for my life.

27:51…he's a whole person goising that this is best for me and all my close The impact on such changes

27:56And so then the ant goes into the jarogami, and gets stuck, and then he sinks into the honey, and instead of eating the honey, the honey eats him, so the ant's life is spoiled by attraction to the sense of smell, the fish is swimming in the water, and thinks, oh look, a very delicious world, is swimming, halfway between In the top and the bottom. He never thinks, how is that possible? But that worm is on a hook. He thinks, I will taste something very delicious, but there's a hook inside, and the fish bites, and then the fisherman pulls him out, and his life is ruined. So the fish, his life is ruined by the sense of taste. Then, the sense of touch.

28:52In India, in the ancient times, if they wanted to capture an elephant, then the hunter would dig a big hole in the ground, and then cover it with straw, then he would take a female elephant, and chain her to a tree, so then the male elephant was wandering through the jungle, sees the female elephant, and then his body feels, I want to touch this female elephant, and when When he runs to her, he falls into the pits. So then the hunter will leave the male elephant in the pit for about eight days because he'll become weak, very weak from hunger. And when he's weak from hunger, then he can come and put the chains on his legs and then put in a wooden ramp and then take the elephant.

29:42So, the elephant, he comes into captivity and his life is ruined by attachment to the sense of touch. So, we have described five different creatures whose lives are ruined by one sense. But human beings, their lives are ruined by all five, usually at the same time. So, the first thing that you should observe is the atyahara, atyahara, don't overeat with any of your senses, don't overeat food, you eat through your eyes also, if you are always looking at some material movies or material books or anything that is attracting you and inflaming the material desire,

30:39Don't look, and you'll be peaceful, but if your eyes are always looking, and you're eating through your eyes, the mature objects, then your bhakti will go down, but if by your eyes, you are looking at the sadhu, by your eyes, you look at the painting, or the deity of Krishna in the temple, then the eyes become purified, and when the eyes become pure, then you'll see the beauty in the sadhu, the eyes are pure, you can see the painting, or the deity of Krishna in the temple, more beautiful,

31:12More than anything of this world. So the ears also. If we hear the Jews, the mind and philosophy

31:36Offered to Krishna and then take prasada, it's like a communion. In Christianity every Sunday They take a little piece of bread for communion with God. But in our path of bhakti, everything We eat is a communion with everyone. We never put anything inside this body, which has not Transubstantiated into a spiritual nature by offering to Krishna. So through fragrance we should offer incense to Krishna and then smell the fragrance, offer flowers to Krishna and smell the flower. In this way all the senses become gradually grew. So atyahara, preas, preas means over endeavoring, over endeavoring. You see, someone may say I want to

32:29Do some spiritual activity for Krishna. I want to build a very big temple. But for this I need millions of dollars. So then you are just trying to collect money everywhere. You have no time to meditate. What was the use? You cannot spread devotion by being a construction worker. There are many buildings everywhere. How can you spread devotion? By having devotion yourself, because it's contagious. If you are full of bhakti, then people you meet, they will also contract that bhakti fever. They'll also become very hot and start to sweat back. I want to love Krishna. They start to shiver and hairstyle. So, if you want to help others attain bhakti, you have to practice yourself. And if there's some time left over to make a temple, then you can do it.

33:04So do it, but don't overdo it, so over endeavor it, when you neglect your sadhana, for the sake of just making some dead structure of the physical world, it will spoil your, what, so atyahara priyasa, prajalpa, prajalpa means speaking, material talks, you see, because when you speak, sound doesn't begin from your tongue, it begins in your mulada chakra, Sound begins with a movement of pran, in the mula-ada-chakra, and then it rises up, and then it becomes a vibration in the mind, because before the sound comes out, the mind has to formulate the words, it happens quickly, but the mind has to formulate the words, that's why if a person is drunk, they can't speak, because the mind, the functions of the mind on that word, so when we speak, it begins as a movement of pran,

34:02It rises up to the level of the mind and intelligence and then comes out from the mouth. So, when you are speaking about material things, you are first creating a chitta vritti, a wave in your mind, which is of a rajasat and tamas, tri gunatma, it is a maya. You are actually causing a wave of maya, the three gunas, to go through your mind each time you speak a mundane material thought, a topic.

34:54But every time you speak about Krishna, every time you vibrate the mantra, you're filling your mind with the spiritual chitta-vritti and purifying your consciousness. So don't in the morning meditate and then in the afternoon speak material things because you're undoing your heart. So atyahara priyasa cha prajapa niya magraha, niya magraha, the fourth thing is rules and regulations of bhakti, very carefully.

35:27Just because you're being lazy. Or it means to follow them very strictly but without thinking why you're doing them. Rules help us in our spiritual life. If we neglect them, we lose something. But if you just follow rules without knowing why you're doing it, it will also not have a good effect. So everything that we do in bhakti, whether it's putting on tilak or bowing down or offering incense and flowers to Krishna, everything has a very deep meaning.

35:43So it should not be done mechanically. If you go to a temple, you'll see there early in the morning, in noon and in evening they have aarti and all the people come and the curtains open and they see the deity of Krishna and there's a pujari, a priest there and the priest rings a bell and then he waves the incense and then he waves the lamp, the flame and then he offers some water and then a cloth and then some flowers and then he takes a So now in some temples they have an aarti machine. It does everything. You just have to go up and put some rupees in it and then one part of the machine rings the bell, one part of the machine waves the incense, another part is fanning. I've seen one of these machines in Vrindavan near the Lala Babu temple and also in Udupi.

36:52So now in some temples they have an arti machine it does everything you just have to go up and and put some rupees in it and then one part of the machine rings the bell one part of the machine waves the incense another party is fanning I've seen one one of these machines in Vrindavan near the Lala Babu temple and also in Udupi in Udupi in the mat, chodi mat. So, what benefit is there? If you think I'm not going to make any offering, I'll just put some money in the machine. You have to do the bhakti yourself. But doing it, don't be like that machine. The heart has to be involved in that offering. So the offering has a very deep meaning. The bell, the bell in Sanskrit is called Saravavadyamai.

38:00It means that if all the instruments in the world play at the same time it will make the sound. It is like the, it is the aggregate of all music sounds together in the ringing of a bell. That's why in all religious traditions the ringing of a bell is prominent. So ringing the bell does not mean I'm ringing a bell. It means all, all the creatures of the universe with all the instruments in the world.

38:32Of the universe, in a great orchestra are making a symphony for my lord, so it's called sarava-vadhyamai, every instrument is included in the sound of the bell, then the devotees offering incense, so some persons say that incense represents the earth, because fragrance is the quality of earth, if the element of earth is not there, then there's no perception of fragrance, but that is a very aishwarya or metaphysical ontological conception full of opulence.

39:12Offering incense can mean that bhakti has a fragrance. So I am trying to attract Krishna with the fragrance of devotion. Or if someone is absorbed in the leela, then one may think that Krishna is very fragrant and Radharani is very fragrant. So I want to please Krishna by offering to the nostrils of Krishna the fragrance of Radha, the goddess of love. But I am not qualified for that.

39:48So I'm offering this fragrance of a token. Oh Krishna, when will that day come? When I will fill your nostril with the fragrance of your beloved Raja. Every offering has some deep meaning. So if you are just doing the RT and counting, because also you have to offer a fixed number of times. So let's say you have to offer seven times, you're just counting. One, two, three. What side over there? How many times is that? Let me start again.

40:28So bhakti should not be done only mechanically, following the rules and regulations, but one's heart should be in it, one should be very attentive, and there should be some bhava, that means offered with feeling. Krishna is called bhava brahi janadana, means actually it's not the thing that you're offering that he takes, but it's the feeling that you offer it with, that's what he's relishing.

40:51If you cook some food for Krishna, maybe you're not the best cook in the world. It doesn't taste that good. But if you're offering with feeling, Krishna will taste your feelings. He's not thinking, oh, great, potatoes today. He's not interested in your potatoes. It's the loving feeling with ritual making the offer. So, niyamagraha means you spoil your bhakti when you do the activities of devotion in a mindless way without your emotional involvement.

41:25So, how are we doing? We're discussing six things that make your bhakti go down. So, atyahara priyasa, cha prajopini magna, jana sangha. Jana sangha means the association of worldly-minded persons. In English it's the same, a man is known by the company he keeps. So, we are like, each individual is the sum total of all the persons they associate with. Because everyone we met in our life, our parents, our teachers, our friends, all have had some influence upon us. And our mind is full of their words, their ideas.

42:10We may mix it together according to our own tastes. But all the ingredients that we have came from the environment we found ourselves. So we are very much affected by association. In fact, it is said in the Vedic literatures, The meaning is that our consciousness is like a crystal. If you place a clear crystal on a blue cushion, then it shines with the color blue and reflects blue everywhere. If you place the crystal on a red cushion, then it's reflecting the shades of red everywhere.

42:59So our consciousness, whichever atmosphere we come into, then we begin to reflect that. Therefore an intelligent person will associate only with those in whose likeness he aspires to become. So if you want to gradually in the future transform into a really angry person who is disturbed about everything, then just hang out with people who are angry and disturbed all the time.

43:31And very soon you'll see that that's you. You'll become like that. It will happen. But the good news is that conversely, if you stay in the company, you associate again and again with spiritually-minded Vrasats, whose hearts are pure, who are always overflowing with love, who have deep transcendental knowledge, who are like an ocean of all the Sanskrit verses of the Vedas, even.

44:03Just be with them, listen to them, yourself, after some time, you see you are slowly transforming, and you become filled with love, become filled with love, and blissfulness, so, nasanga, associating with worldly minding persons who will spoil your gutty, but conversely, if we do sadhu, sandha, the association of saints, the sandha, satsang, then gradually, you will also become like that, it's very, very powerful, I had a good fortune in my life,

44:41from my very young age, of the association, highest level of legendary saints, and I served them, and then my first guru passed away, and in a dream, he sent me to my next guru, so I went to him, and then as soon as he was very old, also he passed away, again, another second, I had good fortune in my life, throughout my life, to be with many high class saints, and I know it is only by being in the atmosphere, what I am today.

45:21Whatever I am today is only by the master. You know there's a sweet, one Indian sweet called rasagula. So the rasagula is made of a curd and it's put in syrup. You have to put it in syrup and leave it choking overnight or for a few days. And after a few days that sweet syrup enters into rasagula, into every small bubble and it's completely full of rasagula.

45:54So then when you take the rasagula out, then or any place you touch, only syrup is coming out, and if you bite it, all syrup will run down your chin like this, and if you squeeze it, syrup will come out, but still there's more syrup inside, so you have to be like that, you have to go in the association of a sadhu, and spend some time there, and soak in all the sweetness, and become like a rasagula.

46:26Full of sweet, Rasa.

46:32So, Jana, then the last one, six, loliyam. Loliyam means greed.

46:41Sometimes a person is on the spiritual path, but they become greedy to develop some skill, which is peripheral. They think, oh, I could serve Krishna better if I could be a very expert player on the sitar.

46:59I can serve Krishna better if I learned 20 different philosophies, and I'll compare them all. Something like this, it happens, these are the, on the past, the obstacles are there, they're there, if you haven't met it yet, don't worry, it's waiting for you down there, so when you come to that obstacle, you have to look and say, no, what is most important, this will take so much time, it will distract me completely, so you have to turn, turn away, and stay focused on your objective of life, stay focused on the goal, don't lose the plot, so, you see,

47:45Rupa Goswami, in Upadesamrita, described these six things, these six dangers that you have to avoid, but you will find that you actually don't personally, independently have the strength to avoid them, because the souls in this world or in Maya are very weak, they cannot resist the pull of these different obstacles, and this is why it's very important to have good association and serve the spiritual master, because by serving guru, the guru who has gone beyond all of these obstacles, because he can bless you that you have the power to cross them one by one and arrive at your destination.

48:30You can test it. I have tested it. Many years of experience. If you forget your guru for a moment, at once maya will come, illusion will come. Take you in another direction. So he said, At the lotus feet of Guru, there is a reservoir. And it's full of love for Krishna. So if you go somewhere else, you will not find the love. Go towards the service of Guru, and the love for Krishna you will discover.

49:10Thank you. Another question? Another question. All doubts have been removed. There are so many we don't know from where start. So we should sing. Maybe one more question and then we'll chat. How can we apply daily?

49:41Delhi, practical life. Yes, yes. Next week in a villa and other places, a villa, Madrid, Rincon, in Italy also after that, in our festivals around the world, which is our residential festivals, only for Bhakti, here many different things are going on, but if we come in our residential festivals, or come to our temple in India, you'll see, that very early in the morning, all devotees wake up, take shower, put on tilak, and then come together to watch the arti, the ceremony of puja, then after that we sit down together and chant japa, we have actually here, if you'd like to begin your japa, you can come and see me, and from me you can get a rosary, it's called mala, mala, garland, and you chant one mantra on each of the beads, there are 108 beads, so then just chant.

51:05And it is characterized, first you put the mantra in your mind, and then you put your mind in the mantra, and you mix the two together, until they become completely indistinguishable. If you are chanting and listening to the mantra and thinking something else, so your mind has, you're running two programs at the same time. One part of your mind is running the mantra, and the other part of your mind is the shopping. So that is not called japa. Japa is the mantra goes into your mind, every part of your mind, and your mind goes into the mantra

51:45mixed together. And now you have no awareness, no other thought. Only this cittavrita, only this vibration is there. And you stay and wait. And then you'll see where this mantra will take you. But the problem is that generally people lose their balance. They try to do japa, but they lose the mental balance. And their mind wanders off into some fantasy. And then, oh, what am I doing? And they bring it down. And then it wanders again. And they bring it down. So it's a little bit like learning to walk.

52:22like a child is falling and get up. So we have to practice every day till you attain the state of mental balance where you can actually do japa. And then when you're really doing japa, the mantra will begin to uplift your consciousness. And at first one will feel the disassociation from the physical body. The ego will dissolve and you'll realize I am not this body or that body or that body. It is as if you're seeing the whole world.

52:53It's just like a movie. Before you were in the movie, but now you've become a shakshi, a witness only. Now you're in the audience, because you've risen above the motions of the material energy. Now nothing can hurt you, because you're not part of that drama anymore. And then the next stage, the form of Krishna will begin to appear. You will see the lotus feet of Krishna, and gradually you'll see his cloth, his waist, his flute, his smiley, the form of Krishna becomes first blurry and slowly, slowly crispy, very crispy, clear, but like a deity, like a statue, statue has no fragrance, statue has no softness, statue has no movement, so first only the vigraha, it's called vigraha, because the sound of the mantra is called shabda archa, shabda vigraha, it's a sound deity, it's a sound vigraha, so the sound of the mantra will cause the appearance of the shabda archa, the shabda vigraha, in the heart, and

54:07and then as your meditation goes murti, then that form, the gun, that means the qualities of Krishna begin to appear in the form, how soft is Krishna, if a leaf will fall from a tree, and float down, and land on the arm of Krishna, when you remove the leaf, you see the shape is there, Krishna is very very soft, and the spiritual fragrance of Krishna, which is like the mixture of camphor, sandu wood, agur, what you say, in English that's called wood, do you know this fragrance?

54:48and a blue lotus flower, this fragrance, this fragrance is mixed together, this is like the fragrance of Krishna and the qualities of Krishna, his compassion, his sweetness, they all begin to manifest and then the light around Krishna will expand and the light around Krishna will begin to reveal his world, Vrindavan and Radha and his associates and then gradually your own spiritual form will appear and you'll see that you yourself are among the loving associates of Krishna, and then everyone will get up and begin to move, and you enter into lila, that's called lila, so the realization goes like this, nam, um, baruka, seva, lila, Krishna's name, his form, his qualities, his associates, your own form and service, and then lila, divine play, these are the stages, so you should practice japa meditation every morning,

55:58and then afterwards we come together and we study Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, Vedic literature and then after that the devotees do their various services, someone has to cook, someone has to clean, someone has to decorate, there are so many services, someone should take care of the garden, the flowers, the vegetables, the cows, so many services are there and then devotees come together, take prasadam together and in the noon there is another arti and the evening another arti and especially we have in the evening kirtan. So this is the day in the life of bhakti, in any temple or ashram of bhakti, or in our residential retreats around the world. And if you're in your home, in your home you can practice in the early morning with japa meditation. You can, nowadays with technology, you can watch a video. I'm giving lectures every day in different countries or in India, and someone is always filming and then live streaming or uploading. So there are thousands, you can watch a class and study,

57:04and make notes as well, every day. So you can practice in your life. Every day you have to cook and eat, so why not cook for Krishna and take prasadha?

57:16So there's some explanation about the daily life of Bhakti Yoga in my book. What is it called? The Droplets of Eternity, a glimpse into the path of Bhakti Yoga. So you can get it, it's very easy to read. Albert Einstein said, if you cannot explain something in such a way that a six-year-old can understand it, you don't understand it yourself.

57:41so this book is very very easy to reach, it's very deep, but very easy to reach, okay so now we'll have some kirtan, let's see, we'll sing one bhajan, it's a meditation on Vrindavan, and then we'll sing Hare Krishna, can I ask the last question, there is a place where you can find the willpower, to make that sadhana with a great attitude instead to lose the path.

58:29The willpower, that is bhakti shakti, the power of bhakti, there is some kind of source where one can bring that willpower.

58:44Bhakti Likra.

58:47That is the association of guru. Guru, when you are in the association of Guru, automatically you see the power is coming, you can feel it, because bhakti enters into your pran, in Bhaktisamrita, Srila Prabhupada, he said,

59:22Where is the thread? Everywhere, going everywhere. So pran is like a thread, it's going everywhere. And in your mind, every movement that you make, every thought that you have, is just waves of prophecy. So bhakti, it is said, avirbhuya mano britto. Avirbhuya means avatar. Just like God, every so many thousands of years, an avatar descends from the spiritual world that appears in this world.

59:51So bhakti is an energy from the spiritual world and it descends, it comes down. But just as Krishna, he appears in Vrindavan, or Lord Ram, Sitaram, Ram appears in Ayodhya, so different incarnations appear in different places. So in the same way, the bhakti-shakti avatar, like an incarnation, and it appears in your pran.

1:00:19and it becomes brajanti tatsurupatam means the aprakata pran, the supernatural pran of bhakti mixes with your physical pran of this world and basically hijacks all your functions. It takes over your senses, it takes over your mind. This is why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, param vijayatei shi kristasankirtanam, all victory to the chanting of the holy name.

1:00:48jai means victory, but vijai means total victory. Like a king, if a king has a battle and he wins, that's victory, but not vijai. If a king has a battle, then he goes to that palace of the other king and sits on his throne and he takes out his ministers and puts his own ministers and now he's ruling everything, that is called vijai.

1:01:11So we say, param-vijayate, Sri Krishna, sankirtanam, may there be total victory for the chanting of the holy name, that the bhakti-shakti will come and take over all of my pran, all of my thoughts, and I'll be completely possessed by prayer, possessed by love. So how does it happen? If you meet a person who is the completely, all their prans are under the control of bhakti, and you listen to them, by their sound vibration, this energy is going in and begins to take over your mind and senses, and especially by serving, guru has a desire, but not a desire for himself.

1:01:54Guru only desires to please Krishna, so you make your desire one with the desire of Guru, so Guru's desire is one with Krishna's desire, and your desire is one with the Guru's desire, that means your desire became one with Krishna's desire, it's just Guru is the connection with Krishna's desire, so bhakti means the energy that pleases Krishna, that fulfills all of his desires, so by serving Guru, and hearing from Guru, and serving according to what you have heard, gradually, gradually, this avi gurya, manobhita, prajanti, tat sarupatam, bhakti-shakti comes, and you have spiritual strength. If we don't serve Guru, or if we disrespect Guru, then what happens? You'll see, I want to do bhakti, but you cannot. You become weak, you fall flat, like a dead fish. Finished. On paper, bhakti is very easy, but in real life, it's impossible, unless we become

1:03:08Then you become full of enthusiasm. You cannot stop. At every moment your mind is feeling some fresh feelings of love. Never the same. We are chanting the same mantra every day. We don't wake up and think, oh, Hare Krishna again. I chanted that yesterday. We think, oh, Hare Krishna, what was that? I never heard it so much.

1:03:32Before, I never heard anything so beautiful in my life, please say it again, Hare Krishna.

1:03:39So transcendental love is like that. When Radharani sees Krishna, Radharani one day was walking through the forest, and in the distance she saw Krishna, and she said to her friend, the gopi, Lalita, Oh, Saki, oh, my dear friend, who is that boy? Lalita said, Oh, Radha, we just spent the whole night with him.

1:04:09Radha said, don't make a joke at my expense. I've never seen him before. He said, no, no, I brought you to meet him secretly in the forest and you danced the whole night in the moonlight. And now you're asking, who is he? Then Radharani said, oh, now I remember something. But I must say, now I'm looking at him and he seems so beautiful that I've never seen him this time.

1:04:37The love is like this. In Brajbhasa, that is the language of Vrindavan, Piddhi said,

1:04:59This praying is so intense, that when Radha Krishna meets, even though together, but they still feel like, I want to be together.

1:05:10Being together, their thirst for each other is so intense, they forget that they're together and they cry, oh Krishna, where are you? And Krishna cries, oh Radha, where are you? And they're embracing. So this love is so intense, there is no material example. I'm saying the word love and you are hearing the word love, but what you are thinking I don't know. But when I say the word love, I am saying this, that Radharani being in the arms of Krishna is weeping, Krishna, where are you?

1:05:46Due to the intensity of the thirst. Love is a thirst that can never be quenched. In this world we're always looking, when will I be satisfied? The brain is a state of complete, eternal dissatisfaction. There's no satiation. Because love is not for you, it's for the other person. How can I please you? Radha is thinking, Krishna, how can I please you? And only thinking of that, and even if he's completely pleased, but she's still thinking, how can I please you?

1:06:27You can say, I love chocolate, but when you eat the chocolate, you never think this is the chocolate, happier love. You think about yourself, I love, this is not love. Love means you don't think of you at all. You're completely only thinking of the other person.

1:06:54You'll sing one song, very short. Jai Radha Madhava, all glories to Radha and Krishna. Kunja Bihar, who meet together in the beautiful flowering forest of Vrindavan. Gopi, janna, vallabhar, oh Krishna, all the gopis, the goddesses of love, are fully dedicated to you, giri varat hari, you protect all the bridge vases, you protect everyone, yashoda, nandana, prajajana, ranjana, in the leela, in the play of Krishna, Krishna has a mother, who loves him very much, and he loves his mother very much, the reason there are mothers and children in this world, is because it's the reflection of the drama of Krishna's love, for His mother Israel. Yamuna tira-vanachari. Then He said, Krishna is wandering on the bank of Yamuna river. Why? He is looking for Radha.