HH Radhanath Swami

Meditation on the month of Damodar

[IDT: 1989-076_Meditation_on_the_month_of_Damodar (Lecture, Mumbai) 22/10/89]

TAGS: 1) SIGNIFICANCE OF DAMODAR MONTH 2) CONCEPTION

ABOUT GOD 3) LOVE OF GOD

Lecture begins…

Om namho Bhagavate Vasudevaya

Om namho Bhagavate Vasudevaya (Devotees repeat it)

Perfection of Happiness
In the first chapter of Bhagvad Gita, Lord Sri Krishna narrates one of
the most important of all verses in all the Vedic literatures. In this
particular verse, the secret of how to attain the perfection of happiness
is revealed.
Janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah
Tyaktva deham punar janma naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna
Krishna says that one who understands the transcendental nature of
my appearance and activities, never has to take birth again in this
material world, but attains to be in the eternal abode, the supreme
abode of the Lord.
This particular month, the month of Karthik, is considered to be the
most auspicious month of the year by many great saints and sages
Sometimes this is also called the month of Damodar. Damodar is that
form, the aspect of Lord Sri Krishna‘s unlimited personality wherein he
appears in the form of a beautiful baby YashodhaNandan, Nandasuta,
the beautiful darling child of Gokul. So one may ask how is it that
you’re worshipping god, he is the supreme father of all living beings,
as a baby.

Conception about God

In the western religions, the Islamic region, the Christian religion, the
Jewish religion, they have a very very great and wrathful concept of
god. In the sixteenth chapel, in Vatican square, in Rome, we have
been there and many of you art lovers have certainly seen pictures,
and the ceiling of this sixteen chapel, the greatest of all western artist
Michael Angelo .He painted a beautiful depiction of the heavens that
has in the earth and in the middle there is a picture of god, god is
reaching his hands to ours, to man and the fingers are just touching
and in this way god is investing life through his mercy to the man. He
looks like the grandfather you all wanted if you are a good grandson.
But if you are not good grandson, he will look like the grandfather
whom you never want. He is very serious and you don’t want to
disobey this grandfather just by looking at him, you never wanted to
disobey him, because we read in the Quran,The Old Testament, the
New Testament, the Quran, we read how if you disobey this very very
great great grandfather of all living beings, He becomes very angry.
In Old Testament, one of the most famous stories, it is a story of two
cities. The cities of sadhan and kamoda.Do you know this story? These
two cities were actually, literally very holy places, but in course of
time, like most places in this world, people became very much
degraded. They became absolutely committed to all simple activities
and beatitude. Later by simple activities, when you commit them, you
become more and more under the influence to Lust and Envy and
Anger and Greed and Pride and it gets worse and worse and worse.
Therefore these people became so absolutely degraded that the only
standard of pleasure was the most horrible obscene sex life with no
consideration of what the opposite sex is, without consideration of
marriage, anything goes to the degree the immorality of sex change
becomes degraded, without discrimination, to that degree we can
understand how religious or irreligious the society is. So God spoke to
one of his devotees of the name lacha, he told him to get out of this
two cities because I am about to teach them a lesson and so they left
and then he asked for god, he heard later fire in Bridgetown and he
just completely demolished the city and burnt into ashes and killed
everybody, he was very angry, so this is the fact of conception about
the almighty god in almost ever religion. And therefore, people are
taught to fear god. If you don’t obey the law of god, then his wrath will
be upon you.
In most of the western religions, young children are taught to fear god
that you are a sinner, you have sinned, from your birth you have
sinned, from your conception you have sinned, therefore we can’t burn
or help forever, god is a wrathful god, god is a jealous god, and hey
man people are like this. And we read in Srimad Bhagwatam about the
same supreme God and he is in the beautiful form of a little blue baby
with lotus eyes, very playful, likes to dance, the gopis, they used to
take little baby gopal and they would say Gopal dance and he is hardly
walking, and they would all clap their hands and they would all chant
beautiful songs and pray Hare Krishna hare Krishna. And he would
dance and everyone also would laugh, like a puppet in the hands of
these young girls, dancing, just to please them, just to make them
happy.So, one may think what is this? Two completely opposite
conceptions of god. Does this mean that one religion is correct and one
religion is incorrect? And that is what most religious people think today
that I have certain conception of god and I call him by certain names,
and if there is any other name or any other conception then you are
going to hell and I am not.
One time I was speaking in an American university campus and one
person came to me and asked what is God’s name? and I said God has
many names. He said what you call god? I said I call him by many
names. He said what are you chanting? I said I am chanting Hare
Krishna, what is this Hare Krishna? It is the name of god. You are
going to hell. I said ok I am going to hell, why will I be going to hell?
Because you call god the names which I am not even going to say, but
you said it, that’s not the name. So I said what is his name? He said
we have Xavier, if you don’t accept his name then you must go to hell
forever. So he said are you going to convert to my religion or you are
going to hell. So I asked him before I make a decision, a serious
decision on the spot, I have to know one thing, my dear sir where are
you going? He said I am going to heaven. That’s all I wanted to know.
Then, I really want to go to hell. He said what you want to go to hell? I
said yes, Because heaven is full of people like you closed minds, such
hateful people, such rascals, then I will be happily going to hell where
people are open minded, religious people.

General Idea about God

so you see sometimes there is this confusion…my god is there,
everything is confusion, if you read the newspapers, the Sikhs and the
Hindus are killing each other, the Buddhists and the Hindus are killing
each other, the Muslims and Hindus are killing each other, please don’t
feel so bad because the Muslims and Muslims are killing each other
and the Muslims and Christians and the Hindus they are killing each
other. The Christians and Jews are killing each other .And the Israels
and the Muslims and the Jews are killing each other. Irelands and
Palestine’s are killing each other. And America the country, the home
of free and the land of brave, America everyone is killing each other.
In one thousand denominations of Christians, everyone considers that
we are the only way going to heaven and everyone others are going to
hell. This is the general idea. So how do you understand that in one
scripture god is very wrathful throwing fire and stones and thunderbolt
and in other, he is stealing butter, MakanaChor and when he sees his
mother coming, he becomes very afraid, he runs away afraid that she
might punish him. You see Krishna says in Gita
Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham
Mama Varthmanuvartante manusyah partha sarvasah
As you approach me, I reward you accordingly, just like a father.
Krishna says in Gita Aham bija-pradah pita, I am the seed giving
father of all living beings. Now if a father has supposed sons. And if
one of the sons is very naughty and disobedient, inconsiderate. He
basically his own son, he knows what is right and wrong, but he is
constantly engaging in activities which the father knows if he continues
his life will be completely destroyed. Now how does the father deal
with such a son.First, he encourages, please my boy, don’t behave like
this, and it is not the right way. Do as I am doing. But, the son goes
out, steals father’s money, he buys drugs. He engages in all worst
activities. Ultimately the father has only one way to deal with his son
by punishing him. If you do this, I will beat you up very badly. I will
not give you any facilities, I will not allow you to use house, I will not
give you any money, I will never dishonor you, but I will punish you
very badly. Now why is he taking such a position? Out of love. Because
he knows that if the child continues like that, the child will ruin his own
life, so out of love, he is punishing, he is threatening. So, for
disobedient people, god appears like that. But for the varile obedient
sons, his only desire is his father. Whether his father punish him,
threaten him, father is the most intimate desires and activities in the
father’s life, he shares with his beloved son. Now this father is equal to
both sons. He is willing to shares his life with both.But, one son willing
to share father‘s love and the another, what you say, we simply say
‘rascal’.So, therefore the love of father appears in two different ways.
God is infinite, god is unlimited, god can appear in most various ways
and in each and every particular way, and he is showing his particular
type of love as benefit to his children.so, to those pure devotees, who
have completely surrendered their life to lord. The lord reciprocates
them in the most intimate and pleasing way.

Significance of Damodar month

So, in this particular month of damodar, it is suggested by the great
sages that those devotees of Lord Sri Krishna remember his beautiful
pastimes as baby everyday, particularly that pastime, damodar.so for
your purification, on this auspicious night, in this auspicious month, I
would like to narrate you this beautiful story from Srimad Bhagwatam
and also try to give you real understanding of the significance of this
divine leela of the lord. Although the pastimes of the lord are facts and
history. In each and every pastime, there is a great depth and wealth
of philosophy, to enlighten our innermost consciousness in pursuance
of the truth.So, it is explained that Mother Yasodha, she was one day
churning the butter. This is taken place in Vrindavan and Bhagvan, the
supreme absolute had taken the form of a beautiful little baby and he
began to grab on to his mother.Mataji, he was indicating, I want milk.
Give me milk.So, mother Yasodha was thinking my beautiful child, he
wants the milk.So, she put her churning rod aside, and she began to
feed Lord Sri Krishna the milk from her body and he was very happy.
This is very significant. Mother Yasodha was thinking if I don’t feed
Krishna milk, he will die. She is so overwhelmed with parental
affection for the lord that she considered him her own helpless
child.Now god is the master of all living beings. He sometimes is called
upon by names; sarveswareswara eswarah eswarah.
There is a song by Bhakti vinod Thakur
Tumi sarveswareswara, brajendra-kumara!
That the supreme controller of all controllers understand that everyone
has some control. Father has the control over his family. The Mother
has the control over the father always, common knowledge.But, the
father don’t like to admit it, usually the women they don’t externally
admit it because they don’t want to give away their secrets, but every
women knows that she has control over her husband, and husband
has control over his spiritual activities, children has they have control
over their little toys and little rooms. Even the significant ant has some
control over the little domain. So, everyone has some power to
control. The demigods, the great devatas, they has control over the
entire universe.But, the supreme controller who has control over all
other controllers who is controller of everything. That is Krishna,
Brajendranandan-kumara.so therefore he is the supreme master of all
the living beings.

Priority in Life
That he is also the supreme enjoyer; philosophically let us try to
understand the nature of god.
Bhoktaram yajna-tapasam sarva-loka-mahesvaram
He is the supreme enjoyer. He is the reservoir of all pleasures. Now
what gives you most enjoyment because after all man has been made
the images of god.We are part of god. Qualitatively one with god. Let
us say one of them is a judge, when he goes into the court, everyone
approaches, your honor, may I know be permitted to speak and the
judge says, guilty, go to jail. Your Honor I am sorry. The judge is in
very very powerful position. Nobody comes in and says I am the
judge, what is going on? Your honor may I be permitted to come to
the stand and the judge says you can go. That is the only way to
approach the judge when he is sitting. When the judge comes home,
his wife do you think she will behave the same way, your honor may I
be permitted to give food, no she says, you are late for dinner, I told
you not to be late for dinner. You always keep me waiting. Now sit
down. He says yes your honor. And as sanyasis we feed by ourselves,
and the children when they come home, they jump on his back and
they say let’s wrestle, you be the horse will ride on you. Our
gurumaharaj tells one story about one of the high court justice, there
was a very very important man, and he was a big politician, he was
waiting for three hours in the waiting lobby to get into this judge’s
chamber. He has some important discussion with the judge. He told
his secretary I am a big politician and I have an important business to
speak with the judge.alright he said, he is busy in his important
meeting you wait. He waited hours and hours and the secretary said
he is in meeting. So what is this important meeting, and he went to
the door of judge’s chamber to peak in. This is a true story, and the
judge’s little child ,his son little boy was on the back of the judge, the
judge being the cart of horse and the son was the rider of the cart,
and he was kicking him, go go go and the father was going. And the
son would pull his neck and would say oo stop stop and the father
would stop and then again he would kick him and say go go and the
father would go. The politician would think what kind of judge is this?
And I am such a big politician he is keeping me three hours waiting for
this? And the judge says yes ofcourse; your relationship with me is
very formal and doesn’t give me much enjoyment. My son, he is my
love, he is intimate. So the relationship of intimate friends, of lovers is
far more pleasing to lord than the relationship with simply obedient
servant. But you must understand that to come to know intimate
relationship, you should become perfect obedient servant. So the
pastimes of Vrindavan, mother Yasodha, she was in such an exalted
position that Krishna was taking the position that mami if you don’t
feed me I will die.so, she began to feed her milk.But, it is described
that her servant was not in, so she has to do all her household work
herself and the milk that is on the stove from the cows, it began to boil
over, so she thinking aha milk is boiling over, so she put little lord
Krishna down and to the ground and she ran to put off the stove. He
didn’t like that; he was thinking what is this? Everyone makes priority
about me. Is this sound familiar? We all have so many priorities that
are more important than god.But, mother Yasodha was thinking that
milk was a priority beyond god, so she put him down.yes, she is the
most unfortunate condition of life for us.

Purpose of Human Life

Human life according to Brahma sutra says Attato brahma jijnasa, now
that you have attained this rare and valuable human birth your
business is self realization.
That this human life is very very rare, now that you have attained this
rare human life, don’t waste it like the cats and dogs, and the hogs
that eats stool, simply trying to enjoy your senses and trying to give
sense gratification to your family members, your loved ones, because
animals are doing that too. There are certain pack of animals where to
protect one of them; the whole pack will come to defend its members.
So just because we are extending ourselves to provide and support
sense gratification to others, that is not good as sangini lover, same as
animal civilization. The animals are eating and sleeping and mating
and defending. Human civilization has created by his modern
technology and scientific advancement, a very very sophisticated life
dedicated to satisfying the senses, eating, sleeping, mating, and
defending. The hog is eating garbage on the street, and he is enjoying
like it anything and we are eating in finest restaurants, what is the
difference, the business is to simply enjoy eating. The monkeys
whoever study the monkeys, they just jump around from branches to
branches, having sex as much as possible, no anxieties, no aids, no
rabies, and no cholera, no siphlus,they don’t have to work,9-5 to
support the family, they don’t have hoarses,they just have sex,they
just enjoy like anything. We are having sophisticated regulated sex,
that the business of enjoyment and pleasure is the same. sleeping,
you work so hard, you have a nice big house. The dogs are sleeping in
the streets. In Bombay, there are more humans sleeping in the streets
more than dogs, because my experience is that humans sleeping in
the streets are more happier than most of the people sleeping in
houses. In my country, America, the upper class, 80% males are
basically billionaires, have to take sleeping pills to sleep at night.Big
and beautiful mansion, security, they have some pretty gardens and
fences and electric goods to keep out burglars, nice marble floors, nice
pillars, beautiful beds, they just lay down and roll down in completed
anxiety and frustration until they take some drugs to put them to
sleep.But, Bombay, such a nice city, its one fifth population leaves on
the streets. I have seen, most of them, when it is time to sleep, lay
down, put around and just snore. No sleeping pills, no anxiety, no
rolling around. So sleep is sleep, whether dog in the streets or whether
president bush in the white house. And as far as defending, the dogs
has its teeth, very proud of its teeth, monkeys have teeth too. Tigers
have claws, for occupying their enemies, cows has very bad smell, all
these animals have unique way of defending themselves and
threatening their potential enemies. So, human beings, big animals,
huge gigantic animals, they have nuclear bombs, missiles. The
Americans, the Russians, did you ever see them building this missiles;
it is just the same as animals showing their claws. Just see my
missiles….the bigger missiles, they try to scare each other, with their
friends, the claws, and they fight. Simply animal life. We say we are
nice people we work hard 9 to 5, we feed our families, we see our
families, and we are nice people. But the animals do that too. Did you
ever seen how a bird takes care, the father is unable citizen, he goes
out every morning, and at the break of dawn, he is going to looking for
worms to bring home, he brings it home, feeds it to wife, feeds it to
children, gives them nice shade, protects them, very nice. Is that
sound familiar? 99.9% of human civilization has no greater integrity
than the animals. The only difference between human life and animal
life in essence is that humans have the power to discriminate and
question who I am and who is god? What is my relationship with god?
Why is there suffering? What is the goal of life?
Until humans take sincerely to the path of god consciousness,
qualitatively his consciousness is animal.Infact the Srimad Bhagwatam
says that human civilization is civilization of two legged animals, now
that you have attained this rare human birth
Take the path to genuine god consciousness and you will achieve that
platform of real happiness, real peace, eternal infinite happiness
beyond that flickering happiness and pleasures of sense gratification,
but in order to do so you have to make god the priority of our life. We
have many responsibilities, don’t neglect any of your responsibilities,
don’t neglect your business or your medical profession or your
household affairs, and don’t neglect your wife or children, but by no
means neglect the needs of your soul.
Jivera svarupa hoya krishnera nityadas
We are eternally the servants of Krishna. Human life, your duty, your
responsibility, your first and foremost obligation, it is to learn to love
god in this life and to show that love to the world and if we neglect for
any other purposes, we are the most unfortunate human beings on
this earth especially we know that and continuously neglect by making
everything else priority. When everything else is taken care, if I have
any time left over then I will do something for god. It should be just
the opposite. Therefore the great sages and saints say you must
regulate your life.
Raga-dvesa-vimuktais tu visyan indriyais caran
Atma-vasyair vidheyatma prasadam adhigacchati
Krishna says you must follow the regulative principles; you must
regulate your life. Everyday we should be chanting the names of god
which is recommended process in self realization .strictly specific
number of times, we should do our puja, and we should read the
sastras and most importantly we should regularly associate with
saintly persons who influences to inspiration to take to spiritual side of
life seriously and by that process god would become the priority of our
life and if you water the root of the tree, and god is the root for all
existence then everything will cherish in our life.

Makanchor
So mother Yasodha, she had another priority, she decided, I have to
take care of the milk, so she put Krishna down. Krishna, of course, her
making another priority is different than ours, but I am using it as
example, because, ultimately she was cooking milk for Krishna. So,
she was perfect, Krishna became very angry, mataji, she thinks
stirring the milk is more important than feeding me, ok, I will teach
her a lesson.
So, he went to a wooden grinding motor which was turned upside
down and he climbed upon it and broke with the rock, the clay pots of
butter, and he began to eat it, he likes to eat butter very much, his
name is makanchor, makanchor means he is butter thief. Another
question arises why god is thief? What type of example is he setting?,
he says us to be honest but he is a thief, actually is god a thief?
Definition of thief is someone who steals another person’s property.
Krishna says in gita
Sarva lokane maheshvar that everything is my property, all the
universes and all the planets within the universes, everything in all the
universes and everything in all the planets is my property alone. I am
the creator, I am the maintainer and I am the destroyer and
everything that exists. Everything is the property of god. Knowledge is
to know the truth, real. Ownership means control. If you own
something you can control completely. My question is what control
really we have. The government can come at any time and take over
everything you have. In many countries, this happens. And god in the
form of time, kalarupa.most certainly taken away everything you have,
your wealth, your health, your family, your educational qualifications
that you are proud of, your power to speak, your power to think,
power to act, Krishna says I am the intelligence of intelligent, I am the
ability of able, I am the strength of strong, and I am also the death
personified that takes everything away, including your very dear body
which means that is all his property, he has control over it. Whatever
happens in this world is temporarily. So, therefore when Krishna steals
butter, it is only a pastime stealing actually that belongs to him. Just
to please his devotees, he appears, he pretends to be a thief, and
actually it is dramatic performance. Because the butter is his, he is not
stealing it, taking his property; he has every right to it, so in this way
makanchor, navanitbhaskar, he began to steal butter, some people are
very afraid of Krishna because of this. It is true. People think he, Hari,
if you worship him, sometimes he will take things away from you, and
my god I don’t want anything to take away from me, Hari means
Krishna will steal away your inauspicious qualities, he will fill your
heart with knowledge, happiness and peace. Actually the goal of life is
to attract this beautiful makanchor to steal our hearts, the great saints
and sages, they don’t say Krishna give me money, give me beautiful
wife, give me opulence, give me power, give me good house, have you
ever seen sadhus praying like this? The great devotees are praying to
lord, makanchor please come and steal my hearts, you know my heart
is the property of so many things causing so much of distress,
unhappiness, my heart is stolen now by lust and greed and envy and
pride and illusion. Please my lord, steal my heart and you enjoy it.
But, you see before Krishna give pleasure will be pleasant in stealing
their hearts. First, your heart has to become soft like butter, Krishna
doesn’t have pleasure in hard hearts, we have hard hearts and
everyone here has hard hearts, that’s the problem. Through the
process of bhakti, our heart becomes soft like butter, when our heart
becomes very soft, then we will see baby Krishna, he will come, he will
steal your heart for his pleasure and then our life is complete. The
supreme goal is to enjoy life with god.

Mother Yasodha’s Selfless Love for Krishna

So Krishna began to steal the butter and mother Yasodha after stirring
the milk, she came back, and she saw where is my gopala? He is gone,
gone; he must be doing some mischief. Krishna saw her and he began
to hide. She saw the broken pot of butter and she said aha aha just
see the mischief he is doing. She picked up a little stick and he is
doing this naughty, mischievious activites, he might hurt himself, I
must teach him a lesson. when little child gopala saw mother Yasodha
with whipping stick in hand, he became very afraid, frightened,
jumbled in tears, his eyes became red and mother Yasodha was
looking all over because she saw him hiding behind the pots and she
came to him, his hiding place and he just ran away ,and she began to
ran after him, as she was chasing him, she had very thin waist, big
hips and various parts of body were huge, so it was difficult for her to
run fast, but she was running very fast, as she was running her
garlands were falling from her hair here and there, and she began to
perspire, and when Krishna saw how much mother Yasodha wants to
protect me, he allowed himself to be captured by his mother
yashodha.please know, the great gyanis they try to capture god in
studying shastras birth after birth after birth, but they never captured.
But mother Yasodha by her sweet and simple love, she was able to
capture Krishna. he was in a very naughty mood and made her angry,
she took the rope and went to tie it around his waist, but the rope was
small, then she took some more rope and she put a knot to the first
rope, and made a bigger rope, and now she tried to put it around his
waist and tie him ,it was again too small, then she took some more
ropes, some more rope, some more rope, but it was too small again,
Krishna small little child, his waist being too small ,how could it be the
rope being small, she began to perspire, how is it possible? Krishna
has so much love on her mother that when Krishna saw his mother’s
intimate love, trying to protect him, trying to save him, he agreed to
be tied around the waist by his mother. Don’t take this cheaply , don’t
take this lightly, the fact is mother Yasodha her love for Krishna, it was
so deep, it was so pure, that she would be willing to end her life within
a second, just to remove one part of perspiration from her poor son if
she thought. At any moment without consideration of her own life, she
protected her son from the slightest tinge of pain. She was absolutely
completely merged into one path, the pleasure of Krishna. And she
had pure unmotivated, uninterrupted selfless love because she was
qualified to hold a whipping stick in front of Krishna and make him
shake. she was qualified to bind that rope around him, that rope is the
personification of bhakti,Krishna is known as bhakti vatsala,that he is
captured, he is bound by the love of his devotees,
Sadhavo hrdayam mahyam sadhunam hrdayam tv aham
Krishna said, my sadhus are my life and soul. pure devotees has given
up everything for my sake, and therefore I give up everything for the
sake of my devotees, because my devotees thinks that nowhere and
nothing I cannot think of anything except my devotees. That is the
nature of love, mother Yasodha had that love, and therefore, she was
able to capture Krishna, and this is the goal of life, by becoming
attracted to Krishna, we attract Krishna.

Attracted to Krishna
Now how do we become attracted to Krishna in life? Krishna says
Janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah
It is very simple, by associating with saintly persons, the only business
is to hear about the lord, glorify the lord, and sacrifice their lives to
serving the lord, by associating with such souls, the inclination to our
own hearts to glorify waken up. Chaitanya mahaprabhu’s yuga avatar,
he has given a simple formula,
Nitya sidha Krishna prema satya kabunai
Sravanadhi chita kare
That pure love of god is within the heart of every living entity, it is
your nature to love god, by associating with lovers of god, and by
chanting the holy names of god. It is awakened. In this age, the
process of chanting the names of lord under the instruction of great
souls, is a simple blind process, by which anyone can become the pure
love of god, whether you are a sanyasis
Griyhe takao vane takao sadha hari bole takao
Whether you are an family man, we have here an architect, a lawyer,
a doctor,another doctor, mr hrishkesh madanlal, a very very great
business man, thirty thousand employees, 18 factories, we have dr md
desai ,he has over 10,000 employees, international business, he has
the stock exchange analysis, we have a technician ,dentist, doctors,
there are many people plenty with us tonight, they have families, they
have children,wives,and they are perfectly responsible to everyone of
them. They neglect not a single one of their responsibilities in this
world. They are very productive and ambitious and creative people in
their field of work.But you are finding their lives of all of them in the
service of god,keeping god in the centre making all of their action, all
of their lives and worship.people talk about how work is worship? But
bhagvad gita explains work is only worship if that worship is done to
lord.and the way we can establish the consciuousness of Krishna.
Chaitanya mahaprabhu has described that simply by regular
association with saintly persons and sincerely chanting the names of
god.
Hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare
Hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
There are many names of god and each name of god,
Namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis
It is empowered by all the glories, by the power of god himself. In the
Vedas, the Hare Krishna mahamantra, a specially recommended in this
age of kali and through the process of chanting the names of god and
the process of associating with saintly persons, and giving up
unwanted simple activities, gradually the natural inclination towards
god, to know god awakens with our heart. and in the process of
awaken, we can experience that eternal, blissful nature of the soul and
when we by the grace of god, when we by grace of god awaken into
happy natural conditions again and we never have to suffer repetition
of birth and death and old age disease again and we realize eternal,
blissful nature of the soul.
Janma karma ca divyam Evam yo vetti tattvatah
Tyaktva dehan punar janma naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna
Through this blind process of harinama kirtan and sadhusanga we
attain the transcendental nature of lord’s activities and its appearance
is understood. It is revealed to us. This beautiful story that we have
narrated tonight, when we may take pleasure in hearing stories, when
you love someone, there is no greater happiness in hearing the glories
of vrindavan.just like a parent if the child does something outstanding,
there is no greater happiness to the parents hearing the glories of
child. If the parent himself is glorified that is not as dearing as when
the child is glorified. That is the nature of love. as we develop the love
of god, the glorification, the pastimes and the names of god becomes
the ultimate source of pleasure. Onetime our gurumaharaj was asked
swamiji what do you get out of this chanting Hare Krishna mantra.
What is the end? What is the goal? And our gurumaharaj replied the
supreme goal of chanting Hare Krishna is chanting Hare Krishna.
Because in love, it is the greatest pleasure, and it is the intimate
ecstasy and through this process we will never come to this material
birth and death process and we will return to the eternal master
Krishna, at the lotus feet of our loving service supreme lord. Thank
you very much hare Krishna.
Question and Answers

1) What is the need and meaning of coming together and praying

together in gatherings?
It is said in bible by Lord Jesus, whoever comes as my devotee
together I am there, and lord Vishnu, Narayan spoke to narada muni,
You will not find me in the caves with the yogis in their meditation,
you will not find me in research institutions where the gyanis are
studying the scriptures, and you will find me in only one place,
Wherever my devotees gather together to chant my names and glories
Mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodhayantah parasparam
Kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca
Krishna says my devotees take great satisfaction and bliss coming
together discussing my glories. We see that the tendencies are there
at home, that we take things for granted very much. Actually
vasudev,narada main came to visit vasudev,and he was a grihastha,he
said we are fortunate that you have come to our home,because the
nature of family man is so much engrossed in their family affair, that
they become so much engrossed in their business affairs, that the
spiritual life becomes second,third, fourth, fifth, sixth
priority,therefore,there is absolute need to associate with saintly
peoples, otherwise our worship at home becomes ritualistic, it
becomes a tradition, it is the association of saints that maintain and
preserve the lives and essence within the spiritual
practices.so,Therefore, it is essential that you continue your prayers
and your worship in the home, but it is as essential that you regularly
come together with saintly people to get new inspiration and new
conditions and also it is your duty to come together in gatherings to
share the realization you have with others. The householder, whatever
god realization he has, he is meant to charity to thers, he is meant to
inspire others, the more you have, the more you should give. And the
more you give, the more you attain, that is the principle, a beautiful
principle. so both are essential. Our puja at home on a very regulated
process with our family members and also association with saintly
persons and gatherings where we come together to glorify the holy
names.

2) What is the difference between mohamaad, Jesus and Krishna?

It is like the difference between sun, soul and surya.it is like the sun is
called in English, soul in Mexico, surya in Hindi, they are different
names, in different languages for the same sun. God has man names,
but god is one. Many Indians are pious and they pray to lord, but they
don’t exhibit their devotion. The question is why do you put tilak,
carrying beads openly and do loud kirtans.what is the need of show? It
is not show, we are not supposed to show, it is charity you see Mr.
desai,mr chaterjee,visvarupa,you wear tilak,some wear tilak all the
time. Now mr natarwalla and mr desai say when we go to work, we
may not wear tilak, we don’t have shaved heads, when they go to
work, they don’t wear clothes like this, you wear what is practical, our
doctor nargarkatti srigovind has nice flowing hair, nice tie, nice
distinguished dress shirt he wears, so he speaks the philosophy of
bhagvad gita, and he answers man people’s questions. So u see it is
not a question of changing clothes, it is changing of hearts. It is just
like uniform for various purposes. So a sadhu, one who is sanyasis or
brahmacharis, is to help and inspire others to become god conscious.
So we shave head, the tilak, and the robes which are a uniform which
will help for a purpose identifying ourselves as persons who are
disturbing in the name of god. As people see us, they will remind you
of god and it will help to find us and question us. It will help them do
service, but it is not necessary, the real necessary ingredient is the
sincere desire in our heart. The chanting of holy names. in today’s
world, the competition is so severe, very severe to maintain and
sustain ourselves how can a man of today’s modern world afforded to
be devotees.arjuna was a very good competitor and he was the best
devotee.correct.it is not possible to become a important, uncreative,
and unproductive and every one in the battle field, but arjuna was
most creative and most productive, why because he was empowered
by god. He had clear and pure mind, why was he empowered by god?
Because he was the devotee of god. This is something you may say,
well, Arjuna, it was a long back and it is all history, what is there to
with today’s life? Dr Desai if you analyze his business, he has a very
competitive business, he has textile industry, and they are excelling
and practically better than all other competitiors, but you see they are
motivated by mercy, compassionate, and not of lust and greed and
therefore they are finding fulfillment.arjuna was a competitor,
duryodhana was a competitor, the fact that arjuna was a devotee of
Krishna does not make him less than duryodhana, but made him
more.but, the difference was duryodhana was motivated to compete
with own selfish greed. And Arjuna was motivated to compete with
love; compassion.duryodhana was exploiting all living beings. If you
become a devotee of lord, will become most expert, we find in
mahabharatha, pandavas even after being virtually religious, they
were suffering a lot. What is the use of devotion? In course of time
when we are going to suffer like them? You see Krishna says in
bhagvad gita, what tastes like poison in the beginning will taste like
nectar in the end and what tastes like nectar in the beginning will taste
like poison in the end, duryodhana by his simple activities, he was
enjoying, he had the control of the world for 14 years, he was enjoying
like anything because he was a simple rascal, that’s the reason. He
cheated the pandavas in gambling match, he also tried to kill them, he
just took everything by illegal means and he was enjoying.but,
pandavas they were honest, they were virtueous, they lost everything,
it appeared they suffered, but they didn’t suffer, why? Because they
were always remembering the lord Krishna. They were experiencing
the love of god within their heart even without anything. But what was
the end result? The end result was the pandavas were given the
kingdom of earth, and duryodhana died horrible miserable death. So
by simple acts, you may immediately have sense of enjoyment for
sometime but you cannot be sure how you will face the horrible
suffering death and in the next life you have pay the hellish
consequences all yourselves. So what is the place of suffering? This
material world is a place of suffering for everyone. If you tolerate that
suffering in the service of god, then the destination is freedom from
suffering forever. If you tolerate the sufferings for your own sense
gratification, the fruit is simply birth after birth after birth of increased
suffering. Krishna says one who is human who enjoys and takes
pleasure in himself; he is a man of intelligence. The pandavas were
constantly remembering Krishna whether they had everything or
nothing, they were at peace. Whereas duryodhana the king of world,
even at last stage, he was frustrated, envious and wanted more.
Correct. So to become a devotee of the lord, be completely freed of all
sufferings, any sufferings and in the end you are guaranteed to be
successful, that the lesson of Mahabharata.

3) How to bring golden meaning to all the religious faith in todays

World?
The only process is to shelter from a self realized soul who
understands the essence of religion.the essence of religion is to love
god.all sectarian differences are those only due to misconceptions
which causes us to forget the essence i.e love of god.when we
become too much attached to the themes,forms,particular styles
And ritual and we forget the purpose and spirit behind it.then we
become sectarian, we become jealous and we become very close
minded. But if we hear from a really self realized soul who is empaired
within his heart the real essence of the scriptures and from the
previous great souls and he is presenting pure love, devotional service,
surrender then we transcend all sectarian differences. Krishna says in
gita
Sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja
Aham tvam sarva-papebhyo mksayisyami ma sucah
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me. I shall
deliver you from all sinful reactions and do not fear.
When we find that great soul by the mercy of Krishna. if we are
sincere ,it is said by the mercy of Krishna one gets guru and by the
mercy of guru one gets Krishna and if we are sincere within our hearts
,the lord will direct us to guru and the real and bonafide guru,he will
teach pure surrender to Krishna.pure love,pure devotion,the goal of
life.he will teach the synthesis of all religious philosophies through the
process of surrender,he willteach us that by the chanting the names of
god,we can realize the ultimate goal of life and all religion.pure
bhakti,pure devotion and then by all mercy of the qualities of soul. We
should be passionately and infinitely humble and ready to serve all
living beings. That is the goal of life. That is what is available for every
one of us. So my humble request is that we take this opportunity that
god is given us in most seriously in our life and become peaceful and
share that peace with the world.