Dayananda: (chants verse, etc.)
"Translation: Prahlada Maharaja thus fixed up in his mind with full attention,
the mind and sight, everything was placed in complete trance. Thus, on account
of love, he began to offer his prayer in faltering voice."
Prabhupada:
astausid dharim ekagra-
manasa susamahitah
prema-gadgadaya vaca
tan-nyasta-hrdayeksanah
[SB 7.9.7]
So, this is gradual progress of spiritual mind, and this state is called prema, prema-gadgadaya. So, we have to make progress as it is exemplified by Prahlada Maharaja. Adau gurv-asrayam sad-dharma-prccha sadhu-marga-anugamanam. (aside:) Stop that. The first business is adau, in the beginning, gurv-asrayam. Gurv-asrayam means to take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, adau gurv-asrayam, and this takes place when there is sraddha. Just like in this meeting, persons who have got little faith, they can sit down and hear. This is called sraddha. And the higher stage of sraddha is to completely accept the instruction of Krsna. In the Caitanya-caritamrta that is highest state of sraddha. In the lower stage, little faith, "So here is something going on about Krsna, let us sit down and hear it." This is kanistha-sraddha, and this sraddha, faith, has to be increased. That ultimately, in the mature stage of sraddha, faith, that is described in the Caitanya-caritamrta,
sraddha-sabde visvasa (kahe) sudrdha niscaya
krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya
[Cc. Madhya 22.62]
This is sraddha. Sraddha-sabde, this sraddha, faith, means sudrdha niscaya, sraddha-sabde visvasa. Krsna says
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami...
[Bg. 18.66]
This is called faith. Yes, Krsna says that simply by surrendering at His lotus feet one becomes immediately a liberated person. Krsna says that.
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami...
[Bg. 18.66]
Just like if I offer you that if you do this work, I shall give you immediately fifty thousand rupees. So, who will believe me? "This man is a beggar, sannyasi, how he'll give fifty thousand rupees?" So there is no sraddha. But we cannot do so with reference to Krsna. When Krsna says, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami [Bg. 18.66], that is a fact. That is not a bogus promise, because Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all-powerful. Whatever He likes, He can do. This is called faith.
So after reading Bhagavad-gita, if one does not get this faith in Krsna, then it is useless waste of time. There are many so-called scholars, politicians, they declare that "I read Bhagavad-gita daily, three times," but the result is no faith in Krsna. This is called useless waste of time. If you do not get the faith which is required by studying Bhagavad... Bhagavad-gita is the ABCD reading for understanding God. That is ABC. So if you do not understand even the ABCD, how he'll advance in higher studies? That is not possible. So, even we cannot understand Bhagavad-gita, the ABCD, Krsna says one thing and they make, I mean to say, interpretation in a different way. Krsna says aham adir hi devanam [Bg 10.2], mattah sarvam pravartate. They do not believe it. Srama eva hi kevalam, to such persons the Bhagavata says,
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
[SB 1.2.8]
You, you are very religious, performing the ritualistic ceremony very nicely, going to the Ganges and taking your bath, and dharmah svanusthitah pumsam. Very rightly you are executing your religious principle and coming at home, you are reading Bhagavad-gita, but you have no faith in Krsna. That is useless time, useless waste of time. The Bhagavata, (says) srama eva hi kevalam. So this, why this happens? Because these people do not approach the right person, guru. Adau gurv-asrayam.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was visited by many learned brahmanas when He was at Puri, Jagannatha Puri. So one learned brahmana, he wrote some poems about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. There were many brahmanas, they were coming, but all such reading matter, first it was to be tested by His secretary, Svarupa Damodara. If Svarupa Damodara would pass, then Caitanya Mahaprabhu will hear. Otherwise why should He waste His time (with) some hodge-podge writing? So one brahmana, he wrote something about Caitanya Mahaprabhu and came to read, recite before Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and Svarupa Damodara found many mistakes in that poem, so he did not allow him, that "You do not know how to present theistic literature. You don't. You cannot see Caitanya Mahaprabhu." He chastised him about the mistake. So to write theistic literature is not to be done by any ordinary man. It is not to, because they, they do not know. So we should not read any literature which is not presented by a bona fide Vaisnava. It has been forbidden by Sanatana Goswami.
avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam naiva kartavyam...
He said. Sanatana Goswami is our guide, acarya. He is warning you that "If a person is not Vaisnava, don't hear anything nonsense from him." That is the injunction. Don't hear. This is very rigidly to be followed.
avaisnava-mukhodgirnam
putam hari-kathamrtam
sravanam na(iva) kartavyam
sarpocchistam payah yatha
One can argue, "No, we can hear hari-katha from any person, he may be Vaisnava or not Vaisnava. What is the matter?" But Sanatana Goswami, "No." So, why it is no? Because it is like sarpocchistam payah yatha. Milk is very good, nice food, everyone knows, but if the milk is touched by the lips of a snake, it is not to be touched. It is not to be touched. It has become poison. Very good example. Similarly, if we do not hear from the right person, any Vedic literature, especially Bhagavad-gita because that is the beginning, the sarpocchistam payah yatha. He may be very big scholar, but because he is avaisnava, not devotee, it has become poison. In our country, we have got so many editions, not only in country, in all, outside the country also. In your country. There are so many hodge-podge interpretation of Bhagavad-gita, and they are being read and being used for the last two hundred years ago, but there was no effective result. It could not act. But as soon as this Bhagavad-gita As It Is, we have presented and you are reading, so many thousands of thousands, they are becoming devotee.
So therefore, this process Prahlada Maharaja is demonstrating by his personal behavior because he is mahajana. He is mahajana. Out of the twelve mahajanas. The sastra says, mahajano yena gatah sa panthah [Cc. Madhya 17.186], one has to follow the mahajana, authorized person. Mahajana means authorized person. Ordinary jana, common man, and mahajana means authorized person. We cannot take lesson, instruction from unauthorized person. This authorization must come through the disciplic succession. If the spiritual master, authorized spiritual master says, "You do this," that we have to do. That we are singing daily,
guru-mukha-padma-vakya cittete koriya-aikya
ara na koriho mane asa **
This is the process. This is the process. And if I think that I am more intelligent than my guru... First of all guru must be bona fide, not a bogus guru. The guru, as specified by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, that is not very difficult, who is guru? Caitanya Mahaprabhu said,
yare dekha, tare kaha 'krsna'-upadesa
amara ajnaya guru hana tara' ei desa
[Cc. Madhya 7.128]
He is guru. One who is strictly following the instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and after following Him, he is just delivering the instruction as Krsna has said, then you become guru. It is not difficult. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has ordered everyone. Therefore our process is to follow Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then try to understand Krsna's instruction. Just like here in our temple. First of all there is Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Through His mercy we are trying to understand Radha-Krsna. You cannot understand Radha-Krsna directly. That is not possible. That will be like that sarpocchistam payah yatha, milk touched by the lips of a snake. There are so many Bhagavata reciters in India. They jump over to the rasa-lila without understanding Krsna through Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Narottama dasa Thakura has sung, you know?
rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti
kabe hama bujhabo se jugala-piriti
Don't try to understand jugala-piriti, Radha-Krsna's love, abruptly. It is foolishness. You will misunderstand. Therefore Narottama dasa Thakura, he said, rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti. Rupa, beginning from Rupa Gosvami up to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, six gosvamis, Sri-Rupa, Sanatana, Bhatta-Raghunatha, Sri-Jiva, Gopala-bhatta, Dasa-Raghunatha, six gosvamis. So, Narottama dasa Thakura, rupa-raghunatha, beginning from Rupa to Raghunatha dasa. Rupa-raghunatha-pade hoibe akuti kabe hama bujhabo, don't try to understand Radha-Krsna love without going through the instruction of Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, (indistinct) Gosvami, like, that is the instruction.
So we see practically how Prahlada Maharaja immediately attained the state of prema. Here it is said, prema-gadgadaya vaca. Prema, that prema is not this prema. The lusty desire, that is not prema. Prema, one has to learn, one has to go through the disciplic or discipline to attain the state of prema. As Prahlada Maharaja, so he first of all followed the instruction of Brahma, then immediately he got the favor of Lord Nrsimhadeva, and after getting that he got the prema state. You cannot go immediately to the prema state. That is also rupa-raghunatha-pade. Rupa-raghunatha, Rupa Goswami has said (indistinct),
adau sraddha tatah sadhu-
sangah atha bhajana-kriya
tato anartha-nivrttih syat
tato nistha tatah rucih
athasaktis tato bhavas
sadhakanam ayam premnah
pradurbhave bhavet kramah
[Cc. Madhya 23.14-15]
These are the kramah. You cannot get prema state artificially, crying, falling down and then smoking bidi, this is not prema. Prema you have to learn by the kramah pantha. That kramah pantha is the same, adau sraddha. Adau sraddha. Sraddha means faith. "Yes, Krsna says that, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam [Bg. 18.66], it is right." This is faith, this is beginning of faith. Now to keep the faith or to increase the faith, you have to live with faithful servants of Krsna.
With our, this institution, the center is meant for giving a chance to the common people to get association of devotee. Adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sangah [Cc. Madhya 23.14-15]. Sadhu means those who are well-behaved in Krsna consciousness, not upstarts. They are called sadhu. So, those who are living in this temple, they must be strictly very well behaved, so that whoever may come out of sraddha, if he sits down for some time and sees your behavior, then he'll be influenced. And if you become third-class, then how sadhu-sangah will be effective? No. You must strictly follow the regulative principles as given to you by your spiritual master, sastra. You must follow. Then people will come in contact with you, they will be benefited. Adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sangah [Cc. Madhya 23.14-15], and if he regularly makes sadhu-sangah, then the effect will be he will try to become a sadhu. That is initiation. Initiation means the beginning of becoming a sadhu, not that after initiation immediately he becomes a sadhu. If he follows, just like we instruct that you chant at least sixteen rounds, you have no illicit sex, you cannot take any meat, fish, eggs, or you cannot have any intoxication up to drinking tea and smoking, and we say no gambling. This is the process of becoming a sadhu. So adau sraddha. This is called bhajana-kriya.
Then anartha-nivrttih. Anartha, these are anartha. There is no need of smoking. It is useless, but we have practiced it. Therefore they are anartha. But if you follow the devotional process, then anartha will be finished very soon. That is the test. Test means, bhakti paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra syat, if you are actually advancing in bhakti, devotional service, then automatically you don't like these nonsense practices. No illicit sex, no meat eating, no gambling, no intoxication, automatically. That is the test how far you are. Anartha-nivrtti syat, these are anartha. Then if he is nistha, firm faith, then ruci, taste then asakti, attraction then bhava, then prema. So Prahlada Maharaja, he is on the stage of prema, prema-gadgadaya vaca tan-nyasta-hrdayeksanah. when you attain the stage of prema, then your core of heart is cleansed for welcoming, He is there, for seeing.
Therefore in the Brahma-samhita it is said, premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-
premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
[Bs. 5.38]
Then you can offer your prayers to Krsna, Govinda, and then your life is successful. This is Krsna consciousness process. So try to follow the path chalked out by Prahlada Maharaja. He is one of the mahajanas. Out of the twelve mahajanas, he is also one of them. He is our guru. So try to follow Prahlada Maharaja's instruction and behavior also. Just see his behavior, how he attained the stage of prema gradually.
So you should be ambitious. Our goal of life. That is the, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mission, prema pum-artho mahan. He doesn't say, dharmartha-kama-moksa [SB 4.8.41]. He never says. To become religious, that is not, but that is the beginning, because without religion, everyone is animal, cats and dog. So religion is the beginning, dharma, artha, but generally... (end)
© 2001 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.
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