In2-MeC

Prague, Czech Republic
19 October 2003

sudarsana maha-jvala
koti-surya-sama-prabha
ajnana-timirandhanam
vaikunthabha pradarsaka

O Sri Sudarsana! Your great effulgence is as brilliant as millions of suns! You dispel the darkness of ignorance and thus reveal the path to the eternal world of Vaikuntha.

deva-deva jagannatha
prapannarti vinasana
trahi mam pundarikaksa
patitam bhava-sagare

O God of gods! O Jagannatha, the Lord of the Universe! Please destroy this great distress that has overcome me! O Lotus-eyed One! Please deliver this fallen soul from the ocean of material existence!

Yesterday evening, late, I finished the hard disk backup marathon. This afternoon I give the Prague temple Sunday feast program. It will be held in a rented hall. Tomorrow evening Vidyagati and I board a bus bound for Amsterdam. Dharmaksetra Prabhu and his good wife Pitambara are to pick us up when the bus arrives at 6:30 AM the next morning.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In Bhagavad-gita 2. 58 we find a lesson in obedience:

yada samharate cayam
kurmo 'nganiva sarvasah
indriyanindriyarthebhyas
tasya prajna pratisthita

One who is able to withdraw his senses from sense objects, as the tortoise draws its limbs within the shell, is firmly fixed in perfect consciousness.

A devotee withdraws the senses from their objects out of obedience to superior order. That does not mean that he is left with no activity at all. For the superior order consists of two parts: vidhi (positive engagement) as well as nisedha (negative restriction). The senses are pulled back from material activities so that they may be free for spiritual activities.

A devotee's "work" (karma) is naiskarma.

When one is freed from all contamination and he acts in devotional service under the direction of the spiritual master, one is on the platform of naiskarma. By such transcendental devotional service, the Lord is served. (Bhag. 8. 3. 11p)

Becoming detached from material things does not mean becoming inert altogether, as men with a poor fund of knowledge think. Naiskarma means not undertaking activities that will produce good or bad effects. . . Therefore, with the development of the bhakti cult, with the application of positive service to the positive form, one naturally becomes detached from inferior things, and he becomes attached to superior things. (Bhag. 1. 2. 7p)

Often devotees ask this question:

"How do I know, in the middle of having to respond to so many different situations that come up, that I am actually practicing obedience; that I am actually performing naiskarma; that I am engaged in positive devotional service? I have received general instructions on what to do and what not to do from my spiritual master and from my temple authorities. But so many specifics arise in the execution of these general order. I find it difficult to match the specifics to the general order. Sometimes it even seems there are contradictions in the orders I've gotten from my different authorities. I find myself wondering if I am not deviating without knowing it. "

The question can be simplified thusly:

As I face specific challenges from moment to moment throughout the day, and when there is no authority at hand for me to consult, whom am I to obey?

But in fact every devotee has a Teacher at right at hand. That Teacher is the Nama Prabhu, the holy name of Krsna. This verse says it all:

etan nirvidyamananam
icchatam akuto-bhayam
yoginam nrpa nirnitam
harer namanukirtanam

O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge. (Bhag. 2. 1. 11)

What a great treasure Srila Sukadeva Gosvami gave Maharaja Pariksit when he spoke this verse to the king! It is the ultimate answer to all questions! Oh, you think it is not the ultimate answer? Then why does Sri Sukadeva Gosvami's disciple Suta Gosvami speak thus in the concluding verse (12. 13. 23) of Srimad-Bhagavatam?

nama-sankirtanam yasya
sarva-papa pranasanam
pranamo duhkha-samanas
tam namami harim param

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Hari, the congregational chanting of whose holy names destroys all sinful reactions, and the offering of obeisances unto whom relieves all material suffering.

Here again the chanting of the holy name is glorified as the remover of sinful reactions, which block our path of progress in devotional service. When our mind is troubled with questions about how to progress in Krsna consciousness, the answer is to be found in the chanting of the holy names.

Sukadeva Gosvami speaks of constant chanting of the holy names (harer namanukirtanam; the word anu means "always. ") He says that this chanting is akutah bhayam, "free of all doubts and fear. " That means that it rids the mind and intelligence of all unanswered questions, which are the fodder for mental speculation. And he says that the method of constant chanting is meant for everyone: for those who are nirvidyamananam, free of all material desires, for those who are icchatam, full of material desires, as well as for those who are yoginam, self-satisfied by dint of spiritual advancement.

But how does this verse answer the question of how one is to find the obedient path as he confronts so many specific tasks that present themselves in the course of his duty?

At the time I was initiated, Srila Prabhupada's personal servant was Aravinda dasa Brahmacari. He came to a point of perplexity in his service to His Divine Grace. He was uncertain about how to satisfy Srila Prabhupada in the different activities he had to perform for him. So he expressed his doubt to Prabhupada privately; Aravinda became so emotional that he started to cry in the presence of His Divine Grace. Srila Prabhupada picked up a pair of karatalas and chanted Hare Krsna and danced around the room. Aravinda could not help but join in.

The best thing we can offer to guru and Krsna is the constant chanting of harinama. That does not mean chanting at the expense of other duties. This was not the lesson Srila Prabhupada taught Aravinda Prabhu, e. g. "Never mind any other activities, just chant Hare Krsna. " The real point is that chanting should go on constantly during all other activities. Then there will be no more doubts about "Which activity is best?", "How do I know if this is really pleasing?", "How to improve the quality of my service?", and so on.

The ultimate meaning of obedience to guru and Krsna is to chant the holy name constantly.

If you simply stick to this principle, gopi-bhartur pada-kamalayor DASA-DASA-ANUDASA, that "I am nothing except the eternal servant of Krsna," then you are in the liberated platform. Krsna consciousness is so nice. You keep yourself. And for keeping yourself in that consciousness, the simple method is this chanting, Hare Krsna. You keep yourself chanting as many hours, twenty-four hours. Why as many hours? Twenty-four hours. Kirtaniyah sada harih. Lord Caitanya says, this is to be practiced twenty-four hours. And that you can do. It requires simply practice. Even in sleeping you can chant Hare Krsna. Even in sleeping. And there is no bar. In sleeping, in eating, in going to the toilet room, there is no restriction. You can go on, "Hare Krsna. " You see. That will keep you in your svarupa, in your real identification, and you'll never be attacked by maya. (Initiation lecture, 14 June 1970)

It is said that this human form of life is the only means for crossing over the nescience of maya, or material existence. We have a very efficient boat in this human form of body, and there is a very expert captain, the spiritual master; the scriptural injunctions are like favorable winds. (Bhag. 3. 31. 10p)

The essence of scriptural injunctions is harer-namanukirtanam: "chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. " This constant chanting is the steady, favorable wind. Our other services constitute the proper running of the boat, especially putting the sail up correctly so that it will catch the blowing wind and so push the boat back home, Back to Godhead.

This example shows plainly how to discriminate whether my specific activities are favorable or not. The wind (constant chanting) is favorable; therefore for my activities to be favorable they must not contradict the wind. If I perform works that deaden my enthusiasm for constant chanting of the holy names, something is amiss! I need to re-examine those works with the help of authority to see if they are really favorable: and if authority determines that they are favorable, then I need to re-examine the consciousness in which I perform those works.

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