Guided Chanting

Harmonist: February 22, 2016

Srila B.R. Sridhara Deva Goswami explains the importance of having a pure devotee’s association.

Student: Maharaja, I once heard that the chanting of Hare Krishna and Srimad Bhagavatam must be taken together, that the chanting of Hare Krishna alone will have some effect but the knowledge within Srimad Bhagavatam must also be there.

Srila Sridhara Swami: Not only Bhagavatam. That presupposes Bhakta Bhagavatam also. Sadhu-sanga and Nama-kirtana, these are the best. When there is want of sadhu-sanga, want of living scripture, then there is passive scripture (Bhagavatam).

sadhu-sange krsna-nama ei matra chai

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

With the association of the sadhu, we want to chant the Lord’s Name and when the sadhu is not available, then of course with scripture, sastra.

We are to take men to the guidance of the sadhu, the man of higher realization. There may be so many obstacles, oppositions, and difficulties along the way, but with his help, they may be removed. So, the guidance of the sadhu has been advised to be indispensable. But when sadhu is not available, then sastra comes. Mahaprabhu says:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

sakala-sadhana-srestha ei panca anga

“(1) Associating with sadhus. (2) Chanting the Lord’s Name. (3) Hearing the scriptures of pure devotion. (4) Residing in a holy place. (5) Faith­fully serving the Lord’s Deity. These five are the best of all the limbs of devotional practice.” (Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya 22.128)

And if only one is to be accepted, then it is Nama-kirtana. Kirtana means to chant loudly, and that presupposes that with the company of someone or in congregation we will chant. So, sankirtana. Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu has given this interpretation of sankirtana:

bahubhir militva yat kirtanam tad eva sankirtanam

To talk about Krishna not alone but in a group is sankirtana. But Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura also warns:

“Don’t join any type of imitation sankirtana. At least one leading man must be there who is a suddha-bhakta (pure devotee). When there is cholera or the great epidemic, some people want to go on with nama-kirtana but that is aparadha (offensive). They want the Name, the Lord, Hari, to remove all inauspicious things from the world. That is sakam (interested) chanting. That is aparadha. A suddha bhakta, a pure devotee, will not associate when such sankirtan is going on. So, at least one pure devotee must be in the group, then one can join the sankirtana.”

In this way, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has warned that there must be guidance under a pure devotee, who is nirguna, who does not want anything mundane, but only the grace of Hari. That type of vibration must be present there, and that will help me in my subtle-most plane of self, my nirguna aspect, and awaken me.

Navadvipa and the Parikrama of the Vaisnavas

Submitted by Harmonist on March 10, 2016

By Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami

We should try to become more acquainted with the realistic view of Navadvipa. There are so many divisions in this Navadvipa Dhama: mainly nine. It is mentioned that they represent the nine sections of devotion:

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam (Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23)

Simantadvipa represents sravana-bhakti, hearing about Krishna. Chanting about Krishna, kirtana, is in Godrumadvipa; remembering the Lord, smaranam, is in Madhyadvipa; serving the Lord’s feet, pada-sevanam, is here in Koladvipa; worshiping with the ghee lamp, etc., arcanam is in Rtudvipa; offering prayers, vandanam, is in Jahnudvipa; rendering service to the Lord in the relationship of a best friend, sakhyam, is in Rudradvipa; and full self-surrender, atma-nivedanam, is represented in Sri Antardvipa, Mayapur. They have connection with these nine main types of devotional conceptions respectively. When traveling to these places we are reminded by the incidents connected with them how such representation comes from each place. All of them taken together promote our understanding as to what is devotion proper.

Atma-nivedanam, full self-surrender, is the basis of all. After atma-nivedanam the plane of life will be categorically changed. After surrendering to the central direction, whatever will be done by us will come to have recognition as devotion. That is devotion. Atma-nivedanam is selflessness plus self surrendering. Self-surrendering presupposes selflessness. Selfish actions come to an end and selflessness is also crossed, and then self-surrendered life begins—and that is devotion proper.

The life of a devotee has no individual or provincial interest. He works only for the universal interest of the whole Absolute. Devotees are soldiers of that plane. Whatever they may do, the suggestion and inspiration comes from the center, the Absolute good. Though apparently they seem to be members of this plane of quarrel, in their heart their connection is with the Absolute; therefore their color has completely changed. The valuation of the devotees movements has completely changed although apparently they seem to be doing everything almost in a similar way to the mundane persons. Mundane persons eat, and the devotees also appear to eat, but actually they are not eating: they are rendering service to the remnants sent by the Lord. In this way they are going on.

tvayopabhukta-srag-gandha vaso ‘lankara-carcitah ucista-bhojino dasas tava mayam jayema hi

(Srimad-Bhagavatam, 11.6.46)

Uddhava says in Srimad-Bhagavatam, “We shall conquer the whole of the deluding energy by only one thing. And what is that? We shall accept everything with the spirit of service. Whatever you, O Lord, send to us, you have already taken and enjoyed, and we shall serve those remnants and thereby the whole of the deluding energy will be devastated.”

One of my learned professor Godbrothers was challenged by his younger brother who was perhaps a graduate,”What do you do there in the matha? What we do, you also do there.”

The professor replied, “No, no, you do not do what we do in the matha.” “You do not eat?” “No, we do not eat.” “Then what do you do? With my own eyes I have seen you eating.” “No, we do not eat. We do not eat like you; we do not put solid things into our stomachs like you. We render service to maha-prasadam. What we do is beyond your understanding. We do not eat like you. We have no spirit of consumption. We do not consume anything, but we honor the remnants of God.”

Such will be the difference between all the activities of the true Vaisnavas and the worldly men. Apparently the Vaisnavas seem to do the same things as others are doing: walking, sleeping, eating, engaging others in activities, earning money, spending, and so many apparently similar things; but the standpoint is totally different. It is connected with the center. They abide by the direction of the central movement whereas the worldly men are guided by their provincial, local, and the other by the Absolute, and that difference is very, very great. The Vaisnavas are on the other side of selflessness, the other side of renounced life. Between the worldly men and the Vaisnava is the realm of complete renunciation. One is on one side, the other is on the other side.

What proper devotion is, must be realized. Generally, it may not be understood by the apparent movements of the devotees, but it is to be realized by the question of adjusting the angle of vision. The angle of vision is to be changed.

There are so many incidents, stories, and sceneries connected with Sri Navadvipa Dhama parikrama, but all are meaning to help us in our life of absolute adjustment. If one can catch that, then by his parikrama through different holy places and his hearing about local “historical” incidents he will receive eternal instructions in various conceptions of devotion. He will receive encouragement in this way.

It is not like the parikrama of the ordinary people in the general Hindu section of society who also go out on pilgrimage. The general people come in contact with the holy places and they have some holy association, but their main object is to gain some unseen help in their present life. They want their desires of this present life to be satisfied by some invisible help from the demigods. It is punya-karma—to acquire good merit to help success in their present life according to their conception. It is not suddha-bhakti.

The objective of the Gaudiya Matha people is quite different and it cannot be reckoned in any of the different planes the present educational section are hunting for. The present-day scholars cannot even think that purely spiritual life is possible at all. They consider that spiritual life may be only a concoction that others are suffering from. According to the so-called scientific scholars, the spiritual searchers are fighting with their shadow, hunting after impossibility and imaginary things. They consider the devotees to be running after phantasmagoria and superstition.

ya nisa sarva-bhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami yasyam jagrati bhutani sa nisa pasyato muneh

(Bhagavad Gita, 2.69)

But on the other side, we think that in the name of concrete reality they are running after phantasmagoria—just the opposite. They are running after the mortal achievements. They think immortality is not possible, and Socrates had to pay a heavy price for expressing that the soul is immortal. At the cost of his life he announced that the soul is immortal. They objected, “No, nothing is immortal, therefore it is foolish to neglect the mortal pleasures, so let us enjoy whatever there may be.” That was their viewpoint.

The normal viewpoint is that we want to be wakeful in that plane of life which is darkness to them. The basis is that the soul is immortal and there is an immortal world. It is not only immortal but it is nectarean reality, srnvantu visve amrtasya putrah: “O you sons of nectar, be mindful. You are eternal and you have become victims of mortality but really you are not so. You have an inconceivably higher prospect of life. Come back. Come back to your own plane. Come back home.” That is the general call of the Upanishads, the most ancient revealed scripture.

Humble Aspiration

By Harmonist: January 14, 2016

By Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami

Student: We’ll see if we can engage them at least in namabhasa.

Srila Sridhara Maharaja: That is His will. We do not know. We must attempt our best. This is on our side. We look to our faith and leave the rest to Him. He is infinite, and He must engage them. He is benevolent and gracious. He will come to them.

na hi kalyana-krt kaschid durgatim tata gachati

If we are sincere, then backing must come. We don’t know. No vaisnava says, “I am chanting suddha-nama.” They will all say, “This is namaparadha, not namabhas even. What capacity do I have? I am the meanest of the mean.”

avatara nahi kahe “ami avatara”

muni saba jani’ kare laksana vichara

(Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, 24.352)

The Avatara, the incarnation of the Lord, when He comes here, He generally does not say, “I am an Avatar.” But the rishis are there, and according to the calculation of sastra, they see that at this time an Avatara should come. So, they say He is an Avatar; the signs of an Avatar found in Him. It is the duty of the acharyas to say whether one is an Avatara or not from the sastra. It is already given there by the Lord.

A Vaisnava does not say and cannot say, “I am a Vaisnava.” He will say, “I am trying to become the servant of a Vaisnava.” So much he can assert, that practically, “I want to be a servant of a Vaisnava, vaisnava-dasa. My aspiration, my highest end, is to become a servant of a Vaisnava. I want that, nothing else. So many disturbances are in the mind. They are opposing me in reaching my goal that I shall be a servant of a Vaisnava. So many obstacles are there.” That will be the real line of thinking of a true Vaisnava. We are told like that, and we feel also like that. Hare Krsna.

We must always keep in mind that we are going to deal with the Infinite, the Absolute. Whoever asserts, “I have got it,” is very doubtful, we may take it safely to be a bogus thing. Those that assert themselves to be big, we must be suspicious about them because the very nature of things is this:

trnad api sunicena taror iva sahisnuna

amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

“The Name of the Lord should be chanted always by one who is more humble than a blade of grass, tolerant like a tree, respectful to others, and free from desire for respect.”

ayi nanda-tanuja kinkarampatitam mam visame bhavambudhau

krpaya tava pada-pankaja-sthita-dhuli-sadrsam vichintaya

“O son of Nanda, please mercifully consider me, Your servant who has fallen into the terrible ocean of material existence, to be a particle of dust at Your lotus feet.”

“It will be very kind of You to consider me a particle of dust at your feet.” This means that I am a vibhinnamsa (a separated part).

mamaivamso jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah

“The eternal soul is a particle of Myself.”

“I am not direct part of You, but a vibhinnamsa of the tatastha-sakti: I am a particle of Your marginal potency, so I am like the dust at Your feet. It’s not even that I am similar, an atom of the same flesh; it is not that. I am not sajatiya (of the same nature) but vijatiya (of a distinct nature), a vibhinnamsa, a particle of dust of Your feet. Please consider me to be so. My highest ambition is there.” That is the direction we get from our masters: try to think in this way if you want to approach and make real progress towards the Absolute. You must couch your endeavor in such a way. Then, you will be able to hit the point.