англ. название записи: Q&A: How Fast Can a Devotee Attain Nishtha? - 2025-03-20 - Sri Prem Prayojan
0:01Gopala, prabhu, Krishna, kripa, спасибо. Я прочитал вчера стих, который цитировал Махапрабху, сказанный Рагхунатхе Дасу Госвами:
0:40В этом стихе, в связи как раз с вашей лекцией, вчерашней, возник вопрос по поводу слова acirāt. Насколько я понимаю, оно означает «быстро», и у меня такой вопрос,
0:53...
1:07My question is about the words of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, what he told to Raghunatha Dasa Goswami about niṣṭhā, and in these words Yes, there is a word acirāt, that also it will be quickly attained, and I want to ask how it works for us, for such devotees who can already have dikṣā, who can chant 32 rounds of harināma every day, and how quickly such devotees can attain niṣṭhā.
1:50When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was young, he was living in his home, and his parents, they were very concerned that he may run away to become a sadhu, so actually he tried to run away so many times, and they sent their security on horses to chase him and catch him and bring him back.
2:17So they arranged for him to be married to a very beautiful woman, to try to tie him to the home.
2:30Because there is no bondage and no bewilderment more powerful than the association with women. But still, Raghunath, he wanted to run away. So, after some time, Mahaprabhu, he came to Panihati. Sorry, he came to Shantipur, to the house of Advaita Acharya. And at that time, Raghunath took permission from his father to go and visit.
3:01And have the darshan of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Shantipur. So when he met with Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu knew his heart and knew that he was trying to run away again and again. So Mahaprabhu told him: make your mind steady.
3:25that means don't be a crazy fellow.
3:30Srila Prabhupada said in our movement we should not have any lazies and crazies. so people are lazy, don't want to work hard in Krishna Seva, and people who are cuckoo, because they will drive away the candidates who are serious and sober. So Mahaprabhu said, don't be crazy, don't be a crazy fellow. You can cross over the ocean of material existence, but not all at once.
4:05Krame krami pai, it means step by step, bhava-sāgara, you can cross over this ocean of material existence.
4:20He said, don't be a monkey renunciate. Monkey is like a sannyasi. He has no home, he has no fixed address, he has no wealth, he lives in one tree and another tree and another tree. So Vedic sannyasi is like this.
4:52So, but the monkey is always meditating, or when can I steal from someone, or meditating on a female, so outwardly he seems to be renounced, but he's just waiting for a chance to enjoy the senses, so he said don't be like this, yuktā-vairāgya, you can enjoy the legitimate pleasures of this world, within the context of dharma, but don't be attached, then he said the verse that you are quoting,
5:40Sometimes it happens, someone becomes a devotee and they become completely destabilized. And if they meet any person, they tell them, you are a demon, stop eating meat. And then put cow dung swastikas on their house and everything and they start to go. In a way that no one can relate to them. They alienate everyone. So, Mahaprabhu is saying, just be a normal person on the outside.
6:13Bāhye loka-vyavahāra means outwardly, behave like an ordinary person. That doesn't mean that in Kali-yuga, it is progressed so much, the ordinary persons are always taking intoxication and so on. but in a social sense. Be relatable and perform your duties. But inside cultivate niṣṭhā. Niṣṭhā means ekāgra-citta, one-pointed concentration. It means the virāga, without passion. It means vikṣepa-rahita, without distraction, that you can chant the holy name without the mind wandering here and there. And laya-rahita, without sleepiness also. To chant on the one hand without the distraction coming from passion
7:23and without sleepiness coming from tamas. So then he said, acirāt kṛṣṇa tomāya karibe uddhāra, if you do this, then very quickly, acirāt, in a short time, Krishna will deliver you from the current limitations of your worldly circumstances. You know, Raghunath Dasa Goswami, he wanted to be with Mahaprabhu and all of his associates in Jagannath Puri and just hearing and chanting every day, all day.
7:51in sadhu-saṅga. This is what he wanted. But instead he was in his home with his parents and his wife and he had some association. Of course sometimes Srila Haridasa Thakur used to come and visit because now Haridasa Thakur has also gone to Puri so he's not visiting anymore. But when he was younger he used to visit. And his guru Yadunandana Acharya has association with his guru regularly. But he feels he's missing out on everything. That he's not in Puri and completely detached from this world.
8:27So, Mahaprabhu has made this promise that if you cultivate your niṣṭhā, then acirāt means in a short time you'll be liberated from your worldly circumstances and come in the very high class sadhu-saṅga. So he does not say that achirad, in a short time everyone can attain nishtha. He said those who attain nishtha, in a short time after attaining nishtha, your whole life will change and you'll be always in high class association. Understand? So, now how long it will take you to get from shraddha to nishtha, that depends on you. Mercy is always there. Guru's mercy is there, Mahaprabhu's mercy is there, but from our side we have to do saranagati, unconditional surrender.
9:31The more we try to surrender, the more that mercy of Guru and Gauranga will become available to us and then when our surrender is mature, we'll enter into nishtha
9:48Whatever obstacles are there, they'll go away Why? Because from nishtha, now real sadhana begins Real sadhana bhakti So sadhana bhakti has two symptoms Kleshagni and Shubhada Shubhada, the fire of material sufferings becomes extinguished, kleshagni, and Shubhada, your whole life becomes auspicious, that means, oh, you feel affection for everyone, and everyone has affection for you, and you very easily have a sadhu-sanga, good association, and you feel satisfaction and happiness, so you can easily give up the sense gratification, so these are the symptoms of a shubhada,
10:41So, very beautifully, this is revealed in the life of Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, because having received these instructions from Mahaprabhu, instead of being restless and crazy all the time, Raghunatha Dasa went to his home and he tried to chant more and serve more and in this way, gradually being less preoccupied with external things, being introspective, turning inside and trying to work on his own.
11:18his own internal sanctity. Then, after some time, for him it was very soon. For people generally in Kali-yuga, it may not happen very soon, because the samskaras, the impressions of mature life and one's background, create some obstacles which will take a little more time to overcome. So, it may be that in your childhood, you did not sit in the lap of Haridasa Thakura, And his story is from the Bhagavatam from him.
12:02Oh Raghunath, I'll tell you a story about a little boy just who was like you, only five years old. His name was Prahlad Maharaja. And from his childhood he would sit in the lap of Haridasa Thakura and his stories. Haridasa Thakura is actually the incarnation of Prahlad. If you hear about the life of Prahlad from Prahlad himself, then how powerful it will be.
12:26So it may be that when you were five you don't have this kind of samskara. hearing directly Prahlad Charitra from Prahlad Maharaja. So because in his Sanskrit he is progressing very quickly. But here the very important point is that his father and his uncle were doing some creative accounting, let's say. They were not paying their taxes, they were avoiding taxes. So the Nawab sent one tax collector to their village and Iranian Hiranya and Govardhana, they had good intelligence network, and they knew they were coming, so they left town beforehand.
13:22So then when the tax collector came, seeing that Hiranya and Govardhana Majumdar were not there, then they arrested Govardhana Majumdar's son. Okay, the persons we are looking for tax evasion, they are not here, but we arrest you. So they arrested Raghunath. So then Raghunath, he said to them, look, you have a good relation with my father, you are like really my uncles, and I am your nephew, so it's not appropriate for the uncle to kidnap or imprison his nephew.
14:06In regard to the tax, I'm sure there's been a misunderstanding, it's just a misunderstanding, or a miscalculation, and when my father and uncle, they return from their business soon, them, correct it and the money that is owed it will be given to you. There's no need to do anything extreme. So he spoke in such a nice way to them. Tears came in their eyes and they felt so much love for him. They said, you are right, okay, just go on and you just contact us when your father returns. And they went away. Then shortly after that, Nityananda Prabhu came to Panihati and Raghunatha met with Nityananda Prabhu there and Nityananda Prabhu engaged him in Vaishnava.
14:56Vaishnava-seva, serving all the Vaishnavas, and blessed him that soon he would leave his home position, and he would arrive in Puri and be with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, the point here is this, that someone may say, this is a Chaitanya-Charitamrita, it is the transcendental pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, why is this a strange story about a father tax evasion, what does this have to do with spiritual life?
15:29So the answer is this, Mahaprabhu said cultivate your nishtha. So then the question comes, if someone attained nishtha, then what are the symptoms? So the symptoms are that that devotee becomes affectionate to everyone, even those who are against him, even those who are trying to imprison him. And their presence is so pleasant, sublime and peaceful, that even inimical persons, their hearts melt and they also feel love for that person.
16:04So how Raghunath does solve that situation by melting the heart of the tax collector indicates that what Mahaprabhu told him to do, he had done it.
16:17He had cultivated nishtha, he had attained nishtha, and now the symptoms were coming in his life.
16:30Understand? So this is the meaning, achirāt. After the nishtha has come, very soon, everything will become auspicious in your life. Because the actual sadhana, which has the symptoms of shubhada, begins from nishtha onwards. Before that, it's like the abhasa of sadhana.
16:51So, my Gurudev said that from adau-shraddha up to nishtha, this is the planting of the bhakti-lata-bija.
17:07What is the bhakti-lata-bija? It is Krishna-seva-vasana, the desire to serve Krishna. So, really, that seed has not been planted, really planted. That means that desire, without any other desire, anyabhilasita-sunyam, has not been planted in the heart until nishtha.
17:47So, from adau śraddhā up to niṣṭhā, this is only the planting of the seed.
17:56So, someone asked my Gurudev, I remember, we were in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. And he said, well, how long does it take to plant the seed?
18:09And Gurudev said, with some person, it may be immediately meeting guru and receiving instruction on the seed. With another person, it may take ten years. With another person, it may take a life. Another person, it may take them ten lifetimes. It depends on the individual and this is why it's so important to deliberate on the meaning of Śaraṇāgati.
18:34What does it mean to be surrendered?
18:47Śaraṇāgati has six aṅgas. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has written the collection of songs, Śaraṇāgati. And he's given several songs for each of the moods of Śaraṇāgati. So we should sing those songs and deliberate on those songs. And when those moods are collected together within our heart, now this is the pāramārthika śraddhā, transcendental faith that gives entrance into bhakti. Śaraṇāgati is not bhakti. Śaraṇāgati is the doorway to bhakti. If you want to come into this temple room, you cannot walk through the wall. You have to come to the door first, then you can enter.
19:35So in the same way, we cannot trespass into the realm of bhakti, we have to come to the door of Śaraṇāgati, and then we can enter into the actual experience of śuddha-bhakti.
19:50So sing the songs of Srila Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, deliberate on the moods of Śaraṇāgati, and try to assimilate them, conform your heart to those moods, and then the niṣṭhā will come, and then the actual experience of bhakti, bhajana, real bhajana will come. Before that it's not actual bhajana, it's only the action, the outer action, bhajana-kriyā. You're doing the kriyā, but not actually the bhajana. Is it clear? Yes. If you have another question, anyone? Raise your hand. Yes. Behind. What's your name, Prabhu? My name is Ujjvala Nīla Maṇi Dāsa. Ujjvala Nīla Maṇi Dāsa. Beautiful name. This is mercy of Gurudev. This is mercy of Gurudev. This is mercy of Gurudev, my name. Who is your Guru, Prabhu?
20:57Shila Bhakti Vrindavana Goswami Mahara Jiva, this is my very different. So nice. I want to understand how help meditation for Krishna. Next verse is from Kṛṣṇa-līlā-stava, sarva-śāstra-viplāva, sarva-veda-aika-sat-phala, etc., and padāvanaya-dhiyāva, prathamat-dvitīya, vitya-turya, kathita, kathita, yadru, etc. You know this verse? You tell the meaning? I'm not so familiar. Say what is the meaning? If you say it slowly.
21:41Padavnaya deyal, Prathaman Vitya. This verse about what Krishna, this is, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, two foot, this is... Oh yes, the first two cantos are the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, then his thighs, then his waist, then his chest, then the tenth canto is his face, yes, yes.
22:13And atra sarga-visargaś ca, sthānaṃ poṣaṇam ūtayaḥ. I don't understand how help for meditation for Kṛṣṇa, how relate this verse for meditation for Kṛṣṇa?
22:43So, here it's saying in the end, tamālavarṇaṃ suhitāvatāram. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the suhitāvatār, it's descending to this world for the benefit of everyone.
23:03It is like a bridge to cross over the endless ocean of material existence, tamālavarṇaṃ, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has a complexion like a tamāl tree, you may say but each canto is a different color, so bhajāmahe bhāgavata-svarūpam, the meaning, actual the meaning is that the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa-svarūp. You know that near Vidyānagara, on the bank of the Gaṅgā there was a dam and against that dam there was
23:47the house of Devananda Pandita, and he was giving lectures on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but he did not speak about bhakti, and when Mahāprabhu was doing kīrtana through Vidyānagara, he stopped near the house of Devananda Pandita, he said, oh, that Devananda, he is committing offence, I will tear up his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, then you may think, this is very bad, why is Chaitanya Mahāprabhu saying, I am going to tear up his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is transcendental, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is Kṛṣṇa, how can he tear it?
24:27This is very bad, but Mahāprabhu said it. Mahāprabhu explained his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. His Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because he is explaining about karma and jñāna and so many things and not explaining the essence of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, śuddha-bhakti.
24:54So, we should know that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not ink on a page. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the vāṅmayī-mūrti of Kṛṣṇa. Vāṅmayī-mūrti. that means it's Kṛṣṇa in the form of sound, vāk, vāk, vāk means statements, actual sound, so vāṅmayī-mūrti means vāk, vāk-mayī becomes vāṅmayī, vāṅmayī-mūrti, it is the mūrti of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in sound, and so if someone, for example, when you go to the temple, in the old days there was no electricity, so the temples were dark,
25:49and usually the deity would be quite far away from the people. And maybe also a very small opening to see. If you go to Udupi, the Udipi-ananda Gopāla in Udupi, then there's nine small holes and you have to look through all of that and peep through and it's quite dark inside. They have some dīpa lamplit, but the pujārī, you will go for the āratī darśana and then the pujārī is moving the dīpas around the feet and then rising up to to the waist, and then to the face, like this. So you see, when you come for the darśana of the Supreme Lord, you take into your heart first the form of His feet, because our first relation with the Supreme Lord is as dāsa.
26:53санскрит в речиNamāmīśvaraṃ saccidānandarūpam, first surrender. So the mood of surrender means to approach the feet of the Master. And so you take the feet into the heart first, and then the dīpa goes up, and then his waist, and then his chest, and finally his face.
27:14So just as a person with great honor and very slowly and carefully takes the svarūpa of the Lord into his heart, beginning from the feet and going to the face, so in the same way, one should not be whimsical and out of order, without a proper sequence and just rush to the tenth canto. Start with the first canto and take the first canto and second canto into your heart. First two cantos are adhikāra-līlā. They are the cantos which bestow upon us the adhikāra to enter into a higher realization. So first take into your heart just as you patiently observe the lotus feet of the deity during the āratī.
28:14Not like that. Now there's strip lights and everything, and you walk and they open the curtains, and you can just see everything. But in Vedic times, the temples, they were not like that. Maybe you have to come to a little window and peep in, and it's dark, and it's like this, because it's to help the sequence of your meditation with the proper honor and patience, adoring the beauty of the svarūpa of the Lord.
28:44So, in the same way, these verses should be understood in that way, very patiently, hear the first canto, the second canto, the third canto, like this, and gradually you will realize, one will become qualified to understand that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is not ink on a page, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is, It is actually the svarūpa of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. So that is the move, the movement. And this is very important. If you study the book I published last year, Gaudiya Darshan, have you seen the book? I published Gaudiya Darshan of Bhaktisiddhānta Ṭhākura. So the way in which the general devotees understand shastra is wrong. And it's inevitable because that the first stage in bhakti is a
29:58They are in a rudimentary stage of devotion and they are on the prākṛta, on the material platform.
30:19It's the first stage. Devotee has faith in the deity and in the process, the rituals of arcanā, but they don't know how to associate properly with pure devotees.
30:33So, sabhakta, prakta, they are the prākṛta-bhakta. So, the way that the prākṛta-bhakta understands bhakti, it is according to ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti or sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi-vṛtti. Do you understand? Words have power. So, when you hear a word, how do you understand it? Because the sound of that word makes a citta-vṛtti in you. So, all words have different types of vṛtti. The first type of vṛtti is called abhidhā-vṛtti. It means the dictionary definition, the literal meaning.
31:12But sometimes in language and especially in poetry the literal meaning is not applicable So when the literal meaning fails then you have to go to the Lakṣaṇā-vṛtti associated meaning For example Gangāyāṃ ghoṣaḥ means the village on the Ganges So if I say the village on the Ganges what do you understand?
31:49That someone built a house on the water? no, you automatically understand, I mean, the village on the bank of the Ganges, so that is called Lakṣaṇā-vṛtti, that you take, not the direct meaning, but some meaning associated with that, so here, bank means, sorry, Ganga means the bank of Ganga, because the bank is always associated with the river, but you may say, oh, how can I get to your house, then I say, Gangāyāṃ ghoṣaḥ, my house is on the bank of the Ganges,
32:29So, now you go to the Vyañjanā-vṛtti, that means the implied meaning, because if I say my house is on the bank of the Ganga, that doesn't tell you how to get to my house, so the literal meaning and the associated meaning are not working here, but when I say my house is on the bank of the Ganga, then you understand the answer to the question, how do I go to your house?
33:06It means, you can come by boat, no need to walk, you can get a boat and come to my house, you see. So generally, poetry is full of Vyañjanā-vṛtti. If there's no Vyañjanā-vṛtti in poetry, it's considered to be the niṣprāṇa, without, it's dead poetry, it's lifeless.
33:32So, when a common person uses words, they understand them according to these vṛttis. but there is ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti means you take the meaning of the words the conventional meaning of the words as they understood by ordinary people so if i say the first anger of bhakti is hearing then you think yes it means hearing but you are hearing the word hearing śravaṇa and you relate it to your worldly experience in your worldly experience if you hear a word it's just a
34:28sound. So, ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti means the meaning of the word according to an ordinary person who is in ignorance in this world, especially the meaning may be contracted by rajas and tamas. Then you have sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi-vṛtti. Sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi-vṛtti means the ordinary meaning of the word according to a learned person, an educated person. So they may have a more clear, defined understanding of the meaning of a word, a sattvika person.
35:07but the shastra should be understood in vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti. Vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti means the effect of the word as it is experienced by an enlightened person. So, when an enlightened person hears a sound, it produces in him an experience of advaya-jñāna, non-dual consciousness. The purified person, the pure devotee, is not, does not experience the dualities of this world. As long as one is affected by the dualities of this world, cannot do bhajana, cannot be steady in bhajana.
36:18So when a purified person hears sound, then that sound immediately produces an experience of the advaya-jñāna, non-dual reality. So instead of hearing a vibration of syllables, kṛṣ and ṇaḥ, which are a signifier that signifies something else, namely a bluish-colored boy with peacock feathers in his hair, holding a flute, and standing in a threefold bending form beneath a kadamba tree. So the word is a signifier and it's signifying something else. He does not experience that. When the sound comes, then the sound gives the jyotiḥ pratīti, immediate experience of Kṛṣṇa. Understand? The sound gives immediate experience of Kṛṣṇa. The description of Kṛṣṇa's līlā is Kṛṣṇa's līlā. In Braj, we say paṭute, paṭute.
37:32When the harikathā begins, the curtain rises. So in the temple room, there's a vyāsa-āsana here, there's no curtains. But if you go in a theater, then when the curtain rises, then a whole world comes before your eyes in the form of the drama. So paṭuṭe, parda oṭe, for those whose consciousness is pure, when the kathā begins, it's like the curtain rises and they go into another world. And they see, whatever līlā is being described, they're seeing that līlā through the ear, not only seeing, smelling it as well in third canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, there it is said, when the devotee hears about Śrī Kṛṣṇa, then he can smell
38:41Smell the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa with his ear. Ordinary people smell with the nose, but the devotee smells Kṛṣṇa's feet with his ear, and that fragrance is carried on the air of the harikathā, the sound of the harikathā communicates the experience of the fragrance of Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet to the ear of the devotee. So that is called vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti. Understand? So you are raising this question, how does this verse describing the first
39:17the first two cantos are his feet and the second, the third canto is this, the fourth, tenth canto is his face. How does that practically help us? So the confusion comes by two things. First of all, you are taking the abhidhā-vṛtti, ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti, just like an ordinary person interprets the words, you are taking it like this. Now I should think of the first canto. What happened? Parīkṣit Mahārāja is being cursed. Kuntī Devī is offering prayers. Parīkṣit Mahārāja is being cursed.
39:56Mahārāja is chastising Kali, and that's Kṛṣṇa's right foot. Now the second canto, Lord Brahma is receiving Catuḥ-ślokī, Gītā, Bhāgavatam, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī is telling how the yogīs meditate on the universal form, that's Kṛṣṇa's other foot. So it's all confusing, because you are taking the abhidhā-vṛtti, the direct meaning of the words, in a literal way, and according to ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti, according to just being a conditioned soul.
40:30So, first of all, you should understand, this is poetry. So, it's actually the vyañjanā-vṛtti. It's poetry, it's a metaphor. Just in the same way, as with great respect, you slowly take a darśana of the vigraha of the deity when the pujārī offers the ārati, in the same way, with great respect, slowly go through the cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam.
41:01So this is the first aspect. Then the second aspect is, actually, because the Bhagavatam is the vāṅmayī-mūrti of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, therefore, if a person will be surrendered to their guru and hear from a pure, realized Vaishnava, then the sound of Srimad Bhagavatam will produce the experience of advaya-jñāna,
42:02So, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he gave the definition of the Gaudiya Math. If you're in ISKCON, by extension, the definition of ISKCON also, because it's the same paramparā. He said, in a world filled with the ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti of words, the Gaudiya Math is the divine place of the descent of the vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti of words. So, this was the definition he gave of Gaudiya Math.
42:34What is the temple in our line? But nowadays, mainly people, they don't know what is ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti, sādhāraṇa-rūḍhi-vṛtti, vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti, abhidhā-vṛtti, lakṣaṇā-vṛtti, vyañjanā-vṛtti. The scholars, they understand the abhidhā-vṛtti, lakṣaṇā-vṛtti and vyañjanā-vṛtti and different types of abhidhā-vṛtti also, rūḍhi-vṛtti, yaugika-vṛtti, yoga-rūḍhi-vṛtti. The scholars, they know this, but they don't understand ajñā-rūḍhi-vṛtti and vidvad-rūḍhi-vṛtti. So until we understand these things, how will we know what is Gaudiya Math, or really what is ISKCON, supposed to be?
43:22So it is very important. It is over the years some focus, some vision has been lost in regard to the message of Prabhupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.
43:42Without hearing deeply from a realized person how Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was preaching, how he taught, then you cannot get access to the writings of the higher ācāryas. The ācāryas are not higher. That means their higher explanation. You cannot have access to what Rūpa Gosvāmī has said and Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī has said. First, understand the presentation of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, how he made a course correction, because these things were known, they were common things.
44:20but they had slowly been forgotten and the Gaudiya Sampradāya was deviating and going in the wrong direction. So Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he did a course correction and brought the Sampradāya back onto track and to do that he had to explain these terms of what is the, because we all say the first anger of Bhakti is hearing but this word śravaṇa, when Prahlāda Mahārāja says śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇam and the word hearing that you use in everyday life, They don't mean the same thing. But the prakrita bhakti, the kanistha-adhikari, conflates the two. In fact, the other one he doesn't even know. But he's thinking what Prahlad Maharaj is saying, shravanam, that means that as you are hearing, there is a direct spurti of shabda brahma in the heart. That is what Prahlad Maharaj means. But you take it to mean hearing like hearing the radio, hearing the car driving by,
45:30on, on, outside. You take hearing in the common way that ordinary people, agya-rudhi-vritti. But Prahlad Maharaj said, no. When he says, sravanam, it means, hearing means saksat-dharma, aprakrita-shabda-brahma, the direct, immediate manifestation of spiritual sound. This is the anga of bhakti. What is bhakti? Bhakti is the function of samvit and hladini. Sanvit is the svayamprakasa, the self-manifested spiritual potency, the potency by which Krishna directly reveals himself to the pure, the cognition of the soul, that is bhakti.
46:26So if you are hearing and there is not the experience of Samvit, then how is it bhakti?
46:36So our material senses, they cannot touch Krishna's naam, rupa, guna, lila, you cannot do shravana, kirtana, smarana with material senses.
46:49So after the verse, sravana-kirtana-visnu-smarana, Prahlad Maharaj said,
47:00I consider that that person is the most learned person in the world who first surrendered his atma completely to Visnu in the form of Guru and then he engages in hearing, chanting and remembering, that person's study is perfect, he has understood everything So many people learn the verse, but you have to learn the next verse iti puṁsārpitā viṣṇau. It gives the context of what it means. And this is why it is said,
47:50And in the same way, not less, he has the same devotion to his Gurudev, then all the meaning of the scripture is revealed to that person. Understand? It's not written anywhere that that person who perfectly understands Sanskrit can understand the scripture. You can say, the shastra is written in Sanskrit, so if I perfectly know Sanskrit, I'll perfectly understand the scripture. No, shastra is not only Sanskrit. Shastra is samadhi-bhasa,
48:33trance language, samadhi-bhasa. Vyasadeva did not decide one day, let me write Srimad Bhagavatam, bhakti-yogena manasi samyak pranihite, first he went into trance, and then from his trance, he manifested Srimad Bhagavatam, so if you were Chinese, or you associate with Chinese person, you can speak Chinese, if you are Russian, or you associate with Russian person, you can speak Russian, and only if you are in samadhi, you can understand samadhi-bhasa, and so though the
49:18Bhagavatam is there, no one can understand it. It's not possible. Surrender to guru and serve with para-bhakti and go in samadhi. Then the samadhi-bhasa can be understood by the person in samadhi. There are different levels of samadhi. The first level begins from nistha onwards. That is the savikalpa-samadhi. So from then you can gradually, gradually, one can start to understand the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam.
49:59So, tasyaitai kathitā hy arthāḥ, kathita means what is spoken, and artha, the general meaning of artha just means meaning, but in the language of yoga, the word artha means actual substance, the actual object itself, like we say purusartha, if you say purusartha, the word artha doesn't mean meaning, it means object that you're trying to attain.
50:29So here, tasyaitai kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante means on hearing kathita, what is spoken, the artha, the actual object, prakashante is manifest in mahatmana, in the heart of that person whose heart has become maha, it has become expanded, it is not, the heart is not narrow, narrow-minded and contracted consciousness, sankucita-cetana, contracted consciousness, no, those are vikasita-cetana, Purna, Vikasita, Chaitanya, the expanded, blossoming consciousness. They can understand. They are Mahatma.
51:11Who has Purna, Vikasita, Chaitanya is Mahatma. So, your question should be understood in this way. The misunderstanding comes from the Agya-rudhi-vritti and then a better understanding comes from the, here, the Vyanjana-vritti. But the actual understanding comes from the Vidvat-vritti. So you can, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave a lecture on this in 1929 in the Abbott Hall in Calcutta, and it was never translated into English. I know some persons who tried to translate, but they gave up. But for Prabhupada's 150th anniversary last year, we translated it for the first time, and it's somewhat challenging and complicated, so I've also written a commentary.
52:09The commentary begins on page 119. We recommend read the commentary first and then read Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's lecture and it will be easier to understand than if you read the commentary first. So you can hold it up. This is the book, Gaudiya Darshan by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. If you want to take a copy, you can get it from Corona Made. Is it clear? Do you understand? This verse, this verse is about how Bhagavatam is the svarupa of Krishna. It is in regard first by the Vyanjana-vritti in a poetic sense. It is an analogy for the way we take darshana of the deity. We should approach Bhagavatam in that way. And from Vidvat-vritti, it means that the shabda of Srimad Bhagavatam actually is Krishna. So you are thinking, how can I get my material mind and make the connection between the cantos and Krishna? But it's not saying this. It's saying when you surrender and you hear
53:18Bhagavatam from a pure devotee, the sound of Bhagavatam will produce the svarupa of Krishna in your heart without any effort whatsoever. Krishna himself will manifest without the slightest effort to do meditation, literally. In the second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, Shukadeva Goswami said, It means, for those who are daily hearing Srimad Bhagavatam and taking it very seriously, cultivating this katha, they are sacrificing everything in their life for the sake of hearing from pure devotees.
54:11Now, nowadays people are not, don't understand this mood. Oh, I have a very comfortable place. I'm staying here in Vrindavan, in my comfortable place. I will lead. No, forget your comfortable place. Set it on fire and run and find a pure Vaishnava and be there. Even if it's uncomfortable, even if it's difficult, even if you don't like the place or anything.
55:15Bhagavan, visate hrdi. Bhagavan will enter your heart. So in the commentary on this verse, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur said that smarana-prayatnah sravana-kirtanavato bhaktasya na avasyaka. It means for those devotees who are hearing and chanting, actually, actual hearing and chanting, in the association of a pure Vaishnava, there is no necessity to make any
56:01any effort to do smarana or meditation, understand? Smarana-prayatna, prayatna means effort, na avasyaka, it is not necessary to make any effort to do smarana for those who are actually hearing. Why? Because the hearing and the meditation of a person who is actually hearing, there's no difference. For one who's actually hearing, his meditation is already perfect. Without any effort, the Lord is there and he's looking at the Lord
56:38in his heart. Smarana means, the definition is given by Jiva Goswami, manasa anusandhanam. It means inspecting the name, the form, the qualities and associates and pastimes of Krishna internally in the mind. So you cannot inspect something which is not there. If something is in front of you, you can inspect it, you can investigate it, you can do anusandhana, but you cannot say, oh, I am investigating what is in your pocket, by imagination. You can imagine, but you cannot know. When you take something out from your pocket and say, here it is, then you can investigate.
57:32So, how does one meditate on the form of Krishna related to the cantos of Srimad Bhagavatam?
57:43I'm trying. Like trying, like a woman trying to give birth.
57:54Push, push.
58:00No, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur said, for one who is actually doing proper hearing and chanting, doesn't have to make any effort. Why? It's indicating vidvat-vritti, that the hearing and the darshana is the same thing. There's no different. Shravana is darshana, kirtana is darshana, smarana is darshana, everything, all angas of bhakti are darshana. Therefore, Caitanya Mahāprabhu said,
58:33All the nine aṅgas of bhakti are complete only by chanting nāma. Nāma. Someone can say, 'Oh, how can I do arcana and have darśana of the deity if I'm just chanting nāma?' No. If you're chanting nāma, a deity appears before you and then you serve. So, nava-vidhā bhakti pūrṇa nāma ha-i te hoy. All of these verses, they are actually by vyanjanā vṛtti, indicating vidyā, śraddhā, vṛtti, the sport, dharma, the power of sound to cause an immediate experience. That's called jātīti pratīti.
59:16Immediate experience of sound. So this is the purport of Shastra. If you don't understand, it means there is karṇābhyabādham. The ear is covered by a material covering. Dīkṣā means karṇavedha saṁskāra. In Vedic culture, there are ten saṁskāras in your life. From before you're born, your parents do garbhādhāna saṁskāra for conception. And after you die, antyeṣṭi saṁskāra, that is your funeral ceremony. So one saṁskāra in the Vedic life is called the karṇavedha saṁskāra, the ear-piercing ceremony. So actually this is a metaphor for when the disciple surrenders to Guru and he hears a Śabda Brahma from the lips of Guru and the transcendental sound pierces the material covering of the disciple's ear and reveals to him the advaya-jñāna, non-dual reality.
1:00:24That is actually the karṇavedha saṁskāra, and that is dīkṣā. If this karṇavedha saṁskāra has not taken place, actually, one is not initiated yet.
1:00:37Dīkṣā is not taken place, because dīkṣā means divya-jñāna, you're told that. That by which all your sins are destroyed, and you experience divya-jñāna, the realization of your iṣṭadeva and your viśeṣa-sambandha, special relation with iṣṭadeva. So, by agyā-rūḍhi-vṛtti, dīkṣā means you have a haircut and you sit in a fire sacrifice and you get a new name.
1:01:05But this is anuṣṭhānika dīkṣā, the ceremony, outer ceremony. But actual dīkṣā means karṇa-bheda-saṁskāra. When the guru pierces the material ear of the disciple and Śabda Brahma goes inside and he realizes advaya-jñāna.
1:01:29Without advaya-jñāna, our idea of Kṛṣṇa is not Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa. Because Kṛṣṇa is advaya-jñāna-tattva. So if you are not in the non-dual consciousness, then whatever idea you have of Kṛṣṇa is not Kṛṣṇa. But we mentioned yesterday, the kaniṣṭha-adhikārī, he thinks I know everything. I learned this verse and this verse and I can explain everything. But actually he doesn't know anything. Only things he knows. Then when he's moving into madhyama-adhikāra, then he realized, oh, actually the scriptures are saying something else. And then when he comes to uttama-adhikārī, then he actually understands from ruci.
1:02:49And the kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs are also speaking to all the kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs, and everyone thinks we are so educated, learned it, because they did not hear for a long time. You have to be in the association of high-level Vaiṣṇavas and hear for a long time, and gradually the madhyama-adhikāra will come, well, now I understand, I don't, I don't really understand this, and then go on hearing the uttama-adhikāra comes, then the actual understanding of Śāstra comes.
1:03:21So, the kathā of the madhyama-adhikārīs is not for the general public. They cannot understand. They have to hear the kathā that they can relate to in some way because it gives them enthusiasm. But after some time, that's why we have to be in anugatya under guidance of pure devotees. After some time, then the next installment, Kṛṣṇa will arrange in our life for us to hear the next installment to go to the next level.
1:03:52So then there is a kathā for the madhyamas and then this kathā for uttamams is another type of discussion that is the līlā-kathā and rasa-kathā. Okay, so try to take these things into your heart, go on hearing, gradually everything will become clear.
1:04:37Śacīnandana Jaya, Gaurahari, Jaya, Śacīnandana Jaya, Gaurahari.
