The Nectar of Devotion

Pradyumna: [reading:] "...committed criminal acts but is not yet arrested for them. Now, as soon as he is detected, arrest is awaiting for him..., is awaiting him. Similarly, for some of our sinful activities we are awaiting distresses in the future, and for others, which are mature, we are suffering at the present moment. In this way..."

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the chain of accepting different types of bodies, one after another, according to the sinful activity. On the total, without being sinful, nobody accepts this material body. Because in the Bhagavad-gītā we understand, yeṣām anta-gataṁ pāpam: "One who has finished the reaction of his sinful activities," te dvandva-moha-nirmukta... [Bg 7.28].

[Persons who have acted piously in previous lives and in this life, whose sinful actions are completely eradicated and who are freed from the duality of delusion, engage themselves in My service with determination.]

Yeṣāṁ anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṅya-karmaṅām... Puṅya-karma. Puṅya-karma means..., the sublime puṅya-karma is devotional service. Śravaṅaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṅoḥ smaraṅaṁ pāda-sevanam [SB 7.5.23].

[Prahlāda Mahārāja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Viṣṅu, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words)—these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to the service of Kṛṣṅa through these nine methods should be understood to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.]

This is the topmost puṅya-karma. Because, as it is stated in the Bhāgavata, śṛṅvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṅaḥ puṅya-śravaṅa-kīrtanaḥ [SB 1.2.17]. Simply if we hear about Kṛṣṅa, that is puṅya. Even you do not understand, do not take it very seriously, if we simply give aural reception to the words of Kṛṣṅa, that activity itself is puṅya. Puṅya-śravaṅa kīrtanaḥ.

So one who has got, I mean, advanced in hearing about Kṛṣṅa, that is the result of multiforms of multivarieties of pious activities. Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ [SB 1.2.16]. Vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ is the resultant action... Kṛta-puṅya-puñjāḥ [SB 10.12.11].

[All the boys would be differently engaged. Some boys blew their flutes, and others blew bugles made of horn. Some imitated the buzzing of the bumblebees, and others imitated the voice of the cuckoo. Some boys imitated flying birds by running after the birds' shadows on the ground, some imitated the beautiful movements and attractive postures of the swans, some sat down with the ducks, sitting silently, and others imitated the dancing of the peacocks.

Some boys attracted young monkeys in the trees, some jumped into the trees, imitating the monkeys, some made faces as the monkeys were accustomed to do, and others jumped from one branch to another. Some boys went to the waterfalls and crossed over the river, jumping with the frogs, and when they saw their own reflections on the water they would laugh. They would also condemn the sounds of their own echoes.

In this way, all the cowherd boys used to play with Kṛṣṅa, who is the source of the Brahman effulgence for jñānīs desiring to merge into that effulgence, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead for devotees who have accepted eternal servitorship, and who for ordinary persons is but another ordinary child. The cowherd boys, having accumulated the results of pious activities for many lives, were able to associate in this way with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. How can one explain their great fortune?]

These words are used. Just like when the cowherds boys were playing with Kṛṣṅa, Śukadeva Gosvāmī said that "These boys are kṛta-puṅya-puñjāḥ. Heaps of pious activities they have performed; therefore they have got this chance of playing personally with the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

So, so long we are tinged with sinful activities, we have to accept different varieties of body, either the body of Lord Brahmā or the body of an ant, indragopa, a small microbic insect, yas tv indragopam athavendram aho sva-karma [Bs 5.54].

[I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, who burns up to their roots all fruitive activities of those who are imbued with devotion and impartially ordains for each the due enjoyment of the fruits of one's activities, of all those who walk in the path of work, in accordance with the chain of their previously performed works, no less in the case of the tiny insect that bears the name of indragopa than in that of Indra, king of the devas.]

From this indragopa, the microscopic insect which is called indragopa insect, from this indragopa insect to the real Indra, the king of heaven, everyone is suffering or enjoying—actually it is suffering—the resultant action of his karma. It doesn't matter what kind of body a living entity has got, but the body itself is the symptom, is the sign that one is sinful. This is the conclusion of the śāstra. Because as soon as one is free from sinful activities, at that time he goes back to home, back to Godhead. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

So our this material body is achieved due to sinful activities. And sinful activities are performed due to ignorance. Therefore knowledge is essential. Jñāna-vairāgya. These two things are essential in human life: knowledge and renunciation. Renunciation means sinful activities.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "In this way there is a chain of sinful activities and their concomitant distresses, and the conditioned soul is suffering life after life due to these sins. He is suffering in the present life the results of sinful activities from his past life, and he is meanwhile creating further sufferings for his future life. Mature sinful activities are exhibited if one is suffering from some chronic disease, if one is suffering from some legal implication, or if one is born in a low and degraded family or if one is uneducated or very ugly."

Prabhupāda: Hmm. So the soul is within this body, encaged. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

Due to ignorance, he is committing... Say, for in our eating process, we are eating so many things out of ignorance which we should not eat, and creating the sinful reaction. Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṅa kare. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says things which are not eatables, we eat, and we circumambulate various types of body.

Nānā yoni bhraman kare, kadarya bhakṣaṅa kare. Just like the hog is eating stool, kadarya, a very abominable thing, but it is eating. Similarly, many other forms of body. You are eating very abominable things on account of your particular type of body, and this is due to ignorance. And this ignorance is our greatest enemy.

The human form of life is meant for acquiring knowledge, not to keep one in ignorance. Tamasi mā jyotir gamaḥ. That is the Vedic injunction. "Don't keep yourself in darkness, darkness of ignorance," but jyotir gamaḥ: "go to the light." That is the Vedic injunction.

So the best knowledge He's giving, Kṛṣṅa Himself: Bhagavad-gītā. He's coming personally to give knowledge. But we are so unfortunate, we are not accepting the knowledge given by Kṛṣṅa. We are hankering after some other knowledge given by some defective human being. A human being cannot give us any perfect knowledge. Therefore all the scientists' statements, all the philosophers' statements, they are simply theories; they are not fact. Because the knowledge is not perfect.

Perfect knowledge can be had from one who is not defective. Defective means generally a conditioned soul has four defects: he commits mistake, he is illusioned, he has got a cheating propensity and his senses are imperfect. The senses..., we are acquiring knowledge through our senses, and if our senses are imperfect, how we can acquire perfect knowledge? Just like we are trying to see the planetary system through microscope or binocular, telescope, but the telescope machine is manufactured by a person who is..., whose senses are defective. So through the telescope, how you can have perfect knowledge?

Therefore one astronomer is placing some theory. After some years, that is made null and void; another theory is presented. Because everyone's knowledge is imperfect. So we cannot expect perfect knowledge from the imperfect person. So our process of knowledge is different. Our pro..., Vedic process of knowledge is,

tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet samit-pāṅiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12]

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

One has to accept a guru, a spiritual master, who has received knowledge from another perfect spiritual master. Just like Kṛṣṅa is the origin, perfect spiritual master, guru. So Kṛṣṅa, what Kṛṣṅa said, was realized by Arjuna directly. Therefore if we receive knowledge from Arjuna or his disciplic succession, then our knowledge is perfect.

Kṛṣṅa..., Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṅa as the Supreme Brahman: paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

So if we accept the version of Arjuna, that Kṛṣṅa is Paraṁ Brahman, He's the Supreme Person, He's the origin of everything, then our knowledge is perfect. I may be imperfect, but because I receive the knowledge from a perfect person, my knowledge is perfect. This is called paramparā system.

So in order to dissipate our ignorance, we should receive perfect knowledge. Then we can stop our sinful activities. Therefore Bhagavad-gītā, Bhagavān says, Kṛṣṅa says, janma karma me divyam. Kṛṣṅa appears, Kṛṣṅa lives here, He teaches, He acts. If we simply try to understand Kṛṣṅa from the devotee of Kṛṣṅa, then we become perfect, so much so that after giving up this body...

Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti... [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Without being perfect, without being free from all sinful reaction, we have to undergo the tribulation of accepting different types of body. But as soon as we become perfect through the perfect knowledge, then automatically we become uncontaminated from this material world and we become liberated.

Liberated means, as I have several times explained, to be situated in his original position. Just like a, a person gets fever. When his fever is subsided, he's liberated; he's called liberated from the fever. Similarly, when we have perfect knowledge... What is that perfect knowledge? The perfect knowledge: to understand that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa." This is perfect knowledge. This is perfect knowledge. Jīvera svarūpa haya nityera kṛṣṅera dāsa [Cc Madhya 20.108].

[It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṅa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṅa has three varieties of energy.]

One has to understand this fact, that "I am not Kṛṣṅa. I am not like Kṛṣṅa. I am not equal to Kṛṣṅa. I cannot become Kṛṣṅa. I am Kṛṣṅa's eternal servant." This is taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayoḥ dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ [Cc Madhya 13.80].

[I am not a brāhmaṅa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’]

He, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, says, "I am not a brāhmaṅa. I am not a śūdra. I am not a brahmacārī. I am not a sannyāsī." In this way... Because we identify with the varṅāśrama-dharma: "I am brāhmaṅa," "I am sannyāsī," "I am brahmacārī," "I am gṛhastha," "I am kṣatriya." These are our designations. But when we become designation-free, then "I am not brāhmaṅa, I am not brahmacārī, I am not this, I am not that. I am simply pure servant of Kṛṣṅa," this is knowledge. Our otherwise, anything we identify, that is ignorance. This is knowledge.

So... And when we come to this knowledge, that "I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa," then I am liberated. Muktir hitvā anyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṅa vyavasthitiḥ [SB 2.10.6].

[The merging of the living entity, along with his conditional living tendency, with the mystic lying down of the Mahā-Viṣṅu is called the winding up of the cosmic manifestation. Liberation is the permanent situation of the form of the living entity after he gives up the changeable gross and subtle material bodies.]

Hitvā anyathā rūpam. I am accepting a different type of body and different type of position, and I am identifying myself with that particular position. That is my ignorance. Although I am acting just like a perfect brāhmaṅa or perfect kṣatriya or perfect vaiśya, still, I am imperfect, because my perfection is not to act as a vaiśya, brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya, American, Indian, but to act as servant of Kṛṣṅa. That is liberation. That is liberation.

Sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam [Cc Madhya 19.170].

[Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.]

Nirmalam means liberation. That nirmalam means sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam. The Vaiṣṅava process is to become nirmalam, tat-paratvena. A real, pure Vaiṣṅava simply identifies himself as a servant of Kṛṣṅa; therefore he's nirmalam, he's liberated.

He does not identify himself as a kṣatriya, brāhmaṅa, American, Indian. No. That is not his position. But so long I stick to this designation, I am not nirmala; I am samala: "with dirty things." So we have to be relieved from these dirty things and come to the original position of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Then our sinful activities and its reaction will be counteracted.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "There are many results of past sinful activities for which we are suffering at the present moment, and we may be suffering in the future due to our present sinful activities. But all of these reactions to sinful deeds can immediately be stopped if we take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness."

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Pradyumna: "As evidence for this..."

Prabhupāda: Kṛṣṅa consciousness, if we take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, automatically we become immune from sinful activities. The devotional service... The mind, being engaged on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, as Ambarīṣa Mahārāja did: sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṅa-padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṅṭha-guṅānuvarṅane... [SB 9.4.18].

[Mahārāja Ambarīṣa always engaged his mind in meditating upon the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa, his words in describing the glories of the Lord, his hands in cleansing the Lord's temple, and his ears in hearing the words spoken by Kṛṣṅa or about Kṛṣṅa. He engaged his eyes in seeing the Deity of Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa's temples and Kṛṣṅa's places like Mathurā and Vṛndāvana, he engaged his sense of touch in touching the bodies of the Lord's devotees, he engaged his sense of smell in smelling the fragrance of tulasī offered to the Lord, and he engaged his tongue in tasting the Lord's prasāda. He engaged his legs in walking to the holy places and temples of the Lord, his head in bowing down before the Lord, and all his desires in serving the Lord, twenty-four hours a day. Indeed, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa never desired anything for his own sense gratification. He engaged all his senses in devotional service, in various engagements related to the Lord. This is the way to increase attachment for the Lord and be completely free from all material desires.]

Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was very responsible emperor of the world, but he fixed up his mind on the lotus feet of Kṛṣṅa and he engaged his words simply: vaikuṅṭha-guṅānuvarṅane, simply describing the qualities, the transcendental qualities of Kṛṣṅa.

He used his eyes to see the Deity; he used his legs to go to the temple; he used his hands for cleansing the temple; he used his nose for smelling the flower and tulasī offered to Kṛṣṅa; he used his tongue for tasting kṛṣṅa-prasādam. In this way, he engaged all his senses in the service of the Lord.

So there was no chance of committing sinful activities by his body. It is..., it can be done by everyone. Everyone can install Deity at his home and regularly worship the Deity according to the injunction of the śāstras and spiritual master and eat prasādam and hear Vaik..., Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, chant and speak Hare Kṛṣṅa. This is simple life. And one can become immune from all sinful reaction. The simple thing.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "As evidence for this, Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, 18th verse [SB 11.14.18]. This verse is in connection with Lord Kṛṣṅa's instruction to Uddhava, where He says, 'My dear Uddhava, devotional service unto Me is just like a blazing fire, which can burn into ashes unlimited fuel supplied to it.'

"The purport is that as the blazing fire can burn any amount of fuel to ashes, so devotional service to the Lord in Kṛṣṅa consciousness can burn up all the fuel of sinful activities. For example, in the Gītā, Arjuna thought that fighting was a sinful activity, but Kṛṣṅa engaged him on the battlefield under His order, and so the fighting became devotional service. Therefore, Arjuna was not subjected to any sinful reaction."

Prabhupāda: Yes. So, the example is that the..., in the fire, you go on giving fuel perpetually, it will burn into ashes. Similarly, it doesn't matter. To become sinful... Without Kṛṣṅa consciousness, everyone is sinful. So to become sinful is not disqualification, because everyone is sinful. But if one takes to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, Kṛṣṅa consciousness is just like the fire, and the sinful activities are just like wood. But when the wood is in touch with the fire, so the fire would burn all the woods, fuel, into ashes.

But we should not... Once we take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, we should stop the pillars of sinful activities. Whatever we did in our past life, that is excused, but if we take to Kṛṣṅa consciousness, and if we go on with our sinful activities, that will not help us. Just like the same fire: you take the fuel and add to the fire, it will burn into ashes. But at the same time if you pour some water also, then it will be useless. Similarly, our past sinful activities, that can be burned into ashes provided we don't add any more. Don't take it, "Now it will burn into ashes. So go on, this business and that business." No. That business means pouring water into the fire. It will not burn.

Go on.

Pradyumna: "Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī quotes another verse from the Third Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Thirty-third Chapter, 6th verse [SB 3.33.6], in which Devahūti addresses her son, Kapiladeva, and says, 'My dear Lord, there are nine different kinds of devotional service, beginning from hearing and chanting. Anyone who hears about Your pastimes, who chants about Your glories, who offers You obeisances, who thinks of You, and in this way executes any of the nine kinds of devotional service—even if he is born in a family of dog-eaters [the lowest grade of mankind]—becomes immediately qualified to perform sacrifices.' "

Prabhupāda: Yes. Śvādo 'pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate. This is the word. Actually we have seen it. Last time, when I was coming via Philippines, so we have got a center there, and it is very nicely organized within six months by one of our devotees, Siddha-svarūpa, Siddha-svarūpānanda Mahārāja, and his colleague. So it is very nicely organized. And they are actually dog-eaters.

These Philippines, they're dog-eaters. In those parts of the world, the Koreans, the Philippines, even the Chinese, some of the Japanese, they're dog-eaters. But even though they are dog-eaters, they attended the meeting and chanted with us so nicely, better than a so-called Vaiṣṅava in India. Yes. They were so nice. It is practically seen.

So that is also stated in the..., confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: śvādo 'pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate

yan-nāmadheya-śravaṅānukīrtanād yat-prahvaṅād yat-smaraṅād api kvacit śvādo 'pi sadyaḥ savanāya kalpate kutaḥ punas te bhagavan nu darśanāt [SB 3.33.6]

If one dog-eater, a person born in the family of dog-eaters... Because the dog-eaters are considered lowest of the humankind, caṅḍāla, śva-paca. In many places it is said. Aho bata śvapaco 'pi garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyam [SB 3.33.7].

[Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Āryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required.]

Śva-paca. Śvapaca means dog-eaters. They also become glorious provided they chant offenselessly the Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. Aho bato śvapaco 'to garīyān yaj-jihvāgre nāma tubhyāṁ.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us... It is in the śāstra. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has pointed out the ācārya's business... Everything is there in the śāstra. Ācārya does not invent anything. That is not ācārya. Ācārya simply points out, "Here is the thing." Just like in the darkness of night we cannot see anything perfectly or cannot see anything, but the..., when there is sunrise, the sunrise, effect of sunrise is that we can see things as they are.

The things are not manufactured. There is already. The things are al... The houses, the town and the everything is there, but when there is sunrise we can see everything nicely. Similarly, ācārya, or incarnation, they do not create anything. They simply give the light to see things as they are. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu pointed out this verse from Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṅa. The, the verse was already in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṅa.

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma iva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

This verse was already there in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṅa, the indication of our activities in the Age of Kali. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He pointed out. Although He is Kṛṣṅa Himself—He could manufacture so many things—but He did not do so. That is ācārya. Ācārya will not manufacture any new type of religion, a new type of phrase of Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. That is not potent. The...

Just like Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, this is in the śāstra. So that is potential. Now if we add and subtract something from these sixteen words, that is my manufacture. That will have not the potency. They do not understand it. They are thinking if they can manufacture some new line, adding with Hare Kṛṣṅa, then he becomes particularly noted. But he spoils the whole thing. That is the... He does not make any new thing. The new thing he does, he spoils the whole thing.

So Caitanya Mahāprabhu never did so, although He's Kṛṣṅa Himself. He stuck to the point of śāstra. Kṛṣṅa, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He also indicates, yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na siddhiṁ sāvāpnoti [Bg 16.23].

[But he who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.]

He indicates that nobody can give up the injunction of the śāstra. Brahmā-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir viniścitaiḥ [Bg 13.5]. Kṛṣṅa says. He can give. Whatever He says, that is śāstra, that is Veda. But still, He gives reference to the śāstra.

So ācārya's duty is to point out the śāstric injunction. They're already there in the Vedas. His duty is... Just like there are so many medicines. If you go to a drug shop, all of them are medicines, but the experienced physician, he gives you a medicine which is particularly suitable for you. You cannot say, "Sir, why you are selecting medicine? You can give any one bottle." That is nonsense. Not any one. The particular body, a particular bottle, and a particular medicine which is suitable for you, the experienced physician gives you. He's ācārya.

So you cannot say that "Everything is medicine; whichever bottle I take, that's all right." No. That's not. This is going on. Yata mata tata patha. Why yata mata tata patha? The particular mata which is suitable for you at a particular time, that should be accepted, not any other mata. So similarly, in this age, in this Kali-yuga, where people are very short-living, duration of life is very short, they are unfortunate, they're very slow, and they take to unauthorized means of religious principles; they're prone to so many disturbances of life... Therefore this particular medicine for this age, as given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu:

harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalaṁ kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā [Cc Ādi 17.21]

[In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.]

Prabhu kahe, ihā haite sarva-siddhi haibe tomāra.

[By doing so, everyone will attain all perfection. Always chant, there is no other prescription.]

So we should take the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who has especially incarnated Himself in this age, Kali-yuga. Kalau saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ. This is the śāstric injunction.

kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣākṛṣṅaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

[In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṅa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṅa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.]

This is the injunction in the śāstra, that this form of the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates... Sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu is always associated with Śrī Advaita Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu, Śrī Śrīvāsa Prabhu. Therefore the process of worship is,

śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

That is perfect process. Not to cut short. No. As it is indicated. This is indication in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tvisakṛṣṅaṁ sangopangastra... [SB 11.5.32]. So when we have to worship Lord Caitanya, we worship with His associates. Śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. No cut-short method. So that is śāstric injunction.

So in order to get rid of the sinful activities of this age, it is already prescribed in the śāstras and confirmed by the greatest authority, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṅam [Cc Antya 20.12].

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

So we should all take to this maha-mantra, chant,

Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare

Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotee: Haribol. [end]