0:01To sit and take shelter of the holy name, so that one can go through the stages, first the ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, the cleansing of the mirror of the heart, and then the forest fire of all the suffering of material existence, which is caused by identification with the material body and mind, this is extinguished,
0:58and then one can go through the internal stages of smaraṇa, remembrance of Sri Krishna's name, dhāraṇā, concentration on Sri Krishna's form, dhyāna, the meditation on Sri Krishna's qualities and associates, dhruvānusmṛti, continuous remembrance of the service and the līlā, the pastimes, and then samādhi, to enter into those pastimes.
1:41In your own spiritual form. So it's very, this is a very high and rare attainment, but it will be attained by the mercy of the holy name for those persons who every day they're serving the holy name with great loyalty, niṣṭhā. Niṣṭhā means steadiness, but also means loyalty, faithfulness to Naam Prabhu. When the holy name sees our faithfulness, loyalty and intense endeavor and dedication every day, then Naam Prabhu himself begins to reveal all these inner treasures. It is not that we can imagine them or enter into that level of consciousness by force.
2:41Param pujyapad Srila Bhaktiraksaka Sridhara Deva used to say, you cannot trespass into Goloka Vrindavan.
2:51Sri Krishna and His Holy Dham, they have all rights reserved. Sri Krishna reserves the right to only be revealed to those to whom He wants to reveal Himself. So by chanting the holy name, we propitiate Sri Krishna. We solicit Sri Krishna again and again. And when we have a strong niṣṭhā, firm faith in the name, and Krishna also has faith in us, then He kindly reveals Himself.
3:25So, in bhajan, we are not kartā, we are not the doers, but nama-prabhu, the holy name Himself, He is kartā, He is the doer, He will do everything, but we have to serve the holy name.
3:42Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau, sevonmukhe means being in a state of attentiveness to service. and that service is the nāmākṣara-abhyāsa, repeating the syllables of the holy name, serving by nāmākṣara-abhyāsa, repeating the syllables, only this, it's not complicated, it's not complicated at all, then svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, svayam, Krishna himself in the form of the holy name, sphuraty adaḥ reveals, gives a vision, a sphūrti, a bursting into the consciousness of his beauty, and the wonders of the spiritual world, which are even wonderful for him, mano me ikit dṛśyam bhavet, Sri Krishna Sadā, if I will remember rāsa-līlā, then I don't know what will happen to my mind, just by remembering it, I cannot say what will happen to me, I become so overwhelmed, so that divine līlā, it is
4:55wonderful, it is amazing, it is new and fresh and unexpected, even for Krishna himself, it's an amazing We cannot imagine, because generally, we have a very sterile and inert conception of God. God is the all-knowing. He knows everything. So, He knows everything already, nothing else to know. Nothing is a surprise for Him. Actually, the spiritual world is not like that. That divine līlā, at every moment, see, Krishna is experiencing some new beauty and new divine feelings, and that is going on eternally.
5:54So you can raise your hand if you have any question. Yes, Sarana Natakwar. The job, you said that the, that prayer is only listened by Krishna if we pass through Guru. But then, and also if you can clarify this point, in which way we pass through Guru, and how is it possible that even by chanting without Guru, so many material desires can be fulfilled.
6:35Nāmābhāsa, the semblance of the holy name, that means the holy name without committing any offense, it gives mukti liberation, it frees one from worldly desires, so the fulfillment of worldly desires, this is not even coming from Nāmābhāsa, it comes from Nāmāparādha.
7:08The fulfillment of worldly desires is not a blessing, it is a suffering, it causes more and more attachment to the body and mind, whereas nāmābhāsa destroys the darkness of ignorance, nāmābhāsa devours the darkness of worldly identification, so actually even nāmābhāsa, they can be chanted by a person without guru, It's possible. So, however, here the important verse to learn, and we will speak about this in the evening, because in the evening we want to speak about Śaraṇāgati, surrender.
8:15Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the introductory song of the collection of songs called Śaraṇāgati, surrender, unconditional surrender, he is saying here, The person who takes shelter of Krishna by the six limbs of surrender, all the six aspects, the six moods of surrender, then when he prays to Krishna, Sri Krishna hears that person's prayer, not Paramātmā in the heart, not Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha, but Sri Nanda Kumara, the son of Nanda Maharaj in Braja, that original Svayam Bhagavān Sri Krishna listens to the prayer of the person who has taken
9:04and shelter by the authentic process of Śaraṇāgati. So Śaraṇāgati is directed to Sri Guru because we don't know how to surrender to Sri Krishna. But sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstraiḥ, all the scriptures say that Sri Guru is the form of Sri Krishna to whom we surrender. So in this way, if someone is taking shelter of Guru by six limbs of Śaraṇāgati, when they pray to Krishna, Krishna in Vrindavan will hear their prayers. Is it clear? Raise your hand if you have a question.
9:52Yes, Arunda.
9:55Sometimes can happen that people use the holy name for physical benefits. Now we can chant and pray for this person that is sick. Can we consider this kind of fancies or where is the subtle line?
10:31It is devoid of even the slightest trace of any worldly desire, any desire for karma, worldly upliftment and worldly benefit facility for ourself and for others. It is ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanaṁ. It is anukul to Krishna. It is favorable to Krishna. If Krishna is hot, then when you chant the holy name, you can fan him. If Krishna is tired, when you chant the holy name, you may massage him that his tiredness will go. It's everything anukul favorable to Krishna, not favorable to your body, your mind, or anyone else's body or mind. All of these things are actually features of the material world.
11:25just as you are a spiritual being, you are not this body, so no one else is their body or mind or any of these things, though they may very strongly identify, the spirit strongly identifies with the physical body and mind due to the dense darkness of ignorance, very, very heavy ignorance, but this ignorance will be dispelled by chanting the holy name, but if you will chant the holy name thinking, In thinking, within the framework of that ignorance, then how will you get the mercy of the holy name?
12:09So for neophytes, they are sometimes told in this way, yeah, you can't chant for this or that, but it's only to somehow encourage them that they should chant. Because everyone, according to their conception of life, has a particular value system. So, if you'll tell someone, oh, bhakti is so wonderful. When we perform bhakti, it is for Krishna's happiness. It is not for any material benefit. And they think, this bhakti is useless. Because the definition of what is useful is only within the value system of ignorance, the material world. Something is useful if it has some utilitarian purpose within the physical realm.
13:00But they don't know that within this physical realm it is like being in an ocean and waves of problems are coming one after another. Can anyone count the waves in the ocean? It's impossible. A person thinks, oh, when I solve this problem in my life, everything will be okay. But they're not thinking that behind the wave of this problem is the wave, a bigger wave of another problem. And behind that is another wave of problems and behind that another one forever.
13:38And there's no way out. So they're thinking, something is useful, it has utilitarian value, if it can counteract one of these waves. But is that actually useful? Because these waves never end, they get bigger and bigger. So what is actually utilitarian? What really has value? That which can take you out of that ocean forever. That is really useful.
14:13That is, when we turn our attention away from the temporary ephemeral things, which are just like a dream, they will all vanish, then be replaced by another dream, by another set context, another environment.
14:40So, that is not useful. What is useful is that which makes us wake up from the identification of the nightmare of material existence and be situated in eternal loving service to see Krishna.
15:36He is sleeping, he is doing nothing. But the devotee is actually counteracting all the problems of material existence and attaining his spiritual perfection, so what he is doing is truly useful. And the materialist, he is just wasting his time, like Sisyphus, trying to roll the rock to the top of the hill, then it rolls down again, and he has to roll it to the top again and just doing this forever, completely useless, futile.
16:09And on the other hand, the devotee, he understands, "Oh, I am becoming awake to the service of the Supreme Lord." And the materialist who is doing so many worldly things, his soul is asleep, his soul is asleep. So Lord Rishabhadeva said, "As long as we don't have love for Vasudeva, for Krishna, we'll have love for the body and mind." We will have love and attachment to the physical body and mind as long as we don't love Krishna. And when we develop love for Krishna, then we'll not have love for the external features of Krishna's external material energy, when our consciousness is connected to the internal spiritual energy.
17:15Understand? Devotees don't have to pray to Krishna for anything other than his service, because Krishna knows what we need better than we know ourselves. So don't chanting, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna." Oh yes, and Krishna, just in case you forgot, here's my list of requirements. What is that? Krishna knows much better than us. And Krishna will make a very good curriculum for our gradual education in spiritual life.
18:04Gaurapremanande, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari, Hari.
