Hare Krishna! My name is Suhotra Swami & I am here to speak to you on the subject of Krishna Consciousness, so as announced & as visible various notices tonight’s topic is overcoming greed .I think it is very useful to preface that specific examination about greed with first a overview of the mind as it is presented in Srimad Bhagvatam & other allied sources including the commentaries of great acharayas .Because greed obviously is a disease of the mind it is described as one of the six enemies of the mind kama, krodha, lobha, lust, anger & greed and madness, illusion, envy so if these are the enemies of the mind then we must consider what is the mind and this is actually an extremely vital examination for those who intend to make progress in spiritual life because the greatest confusion for everyone even general people who are not so inclined to spiritual life and also those who take up to special life, the greatest confusion is that between the real self and the min. This is number one lesson, when we say that the number one lesson, the lesson A in KC is to understand that we are not this body, that actually means we’re not this mind because the major portion of what we call as the body is actually the mind from Bhagavatam point of view this gross Sthool sarira is sort like the outermost fringe of a very very complex process of conditioning of consciousness. Which culminates in what we know as the mind? So body there is Sthool sarira gross physical body but this is like a glove on hand and the actual motive force behind the body although that is subtle in the sukshma or linga sarira te pranas, are these which are causing this body to move? The desires are there which are causing the pranas to move. So really when we are not this body. This is lesson No. 1. It really means that we are not this mind and this is a great stumbling block for those starting out in KC, because the tendency very strong, tendency even after years in KC movement is to slip back into the conception that self and mind are the same or the soul and the mind are the same thing. So it is very important to at least have a glimpse of the difference between the true self and this mental condition. This covering of the consciousness which is known as the mind, so I won’t be able to do this topic justice in tonight’s talk as I said all I can do is give you an overview then try to give you some examples which hopefully will stick in your mind, in your intelligence, in your memory.
One useful example is that of a telescope . So when we look in a clear night into the sky its poornima’s night so we see the full moon. So looking at the moon with our eyes we get a sense that the moon is very far away from us we sense the distance, but when one has a suitable telescope of enough power then looking through the lens one’s in as sense comes very near to the moon one can see details on the surface of the moon one can see details of the craters and the mountains. The moon seems so close that one could reach out and touch the face of Chandraloka , so from the perspective of the spirit soul matter is jad prakrti. This jada prakrti is very far away from us but when we’re spiritually unengaged, when we’re out of KC Krishna bairmukha we turned away from Krishna, bhoga vanchakaru turning away from Krishna means immediately to become very interested in sense gratification and sensual desires need objects. So therefore some how or the other matter which is of an entirely different constitution then us, the spirit soul, it is as Praphupada pointed out exactly opposite spirit soul whish is sac-cid-ananda, the material nature is asat-acit-nirananda, so really what have we got to do it as spirit soul, what spirit soul has got to with matter. Really nothing but the great illusion is what we can satisfy our lusty desires by coming in touch with matter but is actually not possible for the spirit soul to come in touch with matter, yet there is an illusion that we’re in touch with matter and that illusion is facilitated by the mind the mind is acting like a telescope the consciousness is channeled into this subtle lens work of the mental body and the senses the portals of the senses are the gates from he subtle body into the material energy. Gross physical energy so in this way the sensations of matter flood into the mind and become known to consciousness, which is energy of the soul so just like when we look trough telescope at the moon in actual fact the moon is no nearer so similarly when we’re absorbed in this mind and the mind is supplying these low sensations of material existence contact with matter we’re actually no closer to matter what is happening to us is that the mind is thrusting us into a grand illusion and there is another example I often use especially here in this city and that is sitting in a cinema house/theatre.
So one is sitting in one seat but the cinema lights are turned down, film is projected on screen in front and then we so to speak buy into that illusion. It is just an illusion, we’re sitting in a seat in a dark room all alone but we’ve desires isn’t it, we have a desire to be entertained. We want to see our hero Shahrukh khan, we want to see heroine Aishwarya Rai and suddenly there they’re and we are swept away you see the film unfolds with color and sound and we surrender ourselves to it and we’re in the middle of the action you see, we place ourselves we identify, generally the young man identifies with the hero they all become shahrukh and the young ladies in the audience identify with aishwarya rai. They’ll become her and there is this nice word in English language vicarious. Vicarious means in an indirect way to feel to experience emotions which actually are not really there, there is really no cause for feeling experiencing anything but because desires are strong and there is some sort of illusory object in front of us therefore we are getting some sort of experience through the mind. So when the hero and heroine are having some tender love scene we’re feeling some kind of sentimental emotion in our heart. There is no reason why we should be at all but still we are because we want to, the very strong desire and so the mind is supplying us with the appropriate images and we’re reacting to that. So again what is really happening is we’re just sitting in a seat in a dark room but we’re surrendered to an illusion and there are many other examples which could be given to show that it is the mind that is creating this illusion that we call maya and actually when you really go into the subject of what is this maya what is this illusion, you find that it really is focused on the mind and you find that it is even not incorrect to say the mind is that maya. The mind is certainly that principal means by which we’re in maya and that’s why KC is addressed to the mind, that’s why in Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s all important Shiskaasthakam prayer which are eight verses which express the essence of KC the entirety of our philosophy from beginning to end in eight shlokas, eight statements. So the first shloka first line cetodarpanam marjanam… ceto means consciousness or mind, which is like a mirror (You see) reflecting and this is the word we use for the function of the mind, to reflect. When we pause and think we call that reflecting. So the mind which is like a mirror reflecting must be cleansed, must be purified so the whole process of KC is focused on this because it is by the grip of the mind that the spirit soul remains in this material world, birth after birth after birth. We change so many gross bodies but the same mind, life after life is keeping us dragging us from one gross body to the next, the same mind. So as long as we remain here and that may be mahakalpas of the whole life times of Brahma we can go on talking birth talking birth talking birth.
Brahmanda brahmita kon (you see) going round and round and round the brahmanda, in bhramite in illusion, so as long as we are in that state we are under the, power of the mind, so now let us, consider briefly, What is this mind? How it works? So the mind basically speaking, is the product of the influence of the tri-guna, the three modes of material nature upon the consciousness of the spirit soul, this is very elaborately explained, this process step by step in Srimad Bhagavatam, how the spirit soul, is coming under the power of the three modes of nature and how these three modes are giving rise to three states of ahankara , satvika ahankara, rajas ahankara, tamas ahankara and out of these three states of false ego, than the mind and its controlling deity chandradev and the attendant deities of the senses five kinds of jnaneyndriyas, karmendriyas come into being, the intelligence, buddhi, materialistic buddhi, is a product of rajas ahankara and of course that which we call false ego, the local false ego that we are experiencing that is a product of the tamoguna. So this comprises, the subtle body and then this mind divided into two regions. One is the surface mind and we function in the surface mind.
This the mind into which the senses are ,the gyanendriyas are feeding information this is the mind in which we are engaged with the karmendriyas this is the mind in which we are having our thoughts, our contemplations surface mind surface mind means, Prabhupada gives nice analogy, surface of a lake so a pond or lake where the mirror is surface very smooth very beautiful to look at but out of the entire volume of water in the lake what you see on the surface is only a fraction moreover you see disturbance to that surface is coming from deep within. Prabhupada says sometimes one will see bubbles bursting upon the surface. Where this bubbles are coming from there is something at the bottom of that pond or lake which is fermenting which in other words is rotting spoiling and is producing gas and the gas is coming up breaking the surface and creating a disturbance so that unseen part of the mind below the surface that, Srila Prabhupada he used the word subconsciousness AND ALSO THE WORD UNCONSCIOUS is used in modern psychology and in Sanskrit language there is a term karnadeha causal body which means the resevoir of our desires there is a another Sanskrit word aalaya which means storehouse STOREHOUSE OF DESIRES so this subtle region of the mind UNCONSCIOUS OR SUBCONSCIOUS of course the mind is always subtle but there is a part that is even more subtle so subtle that we are not aware of it that’s why its called subconscious its below our ordinary field of awareness so that subconscious is actually the major portion of the mind in western psychology there is a department of study which comes from one of the major founder acharayas in the western psychology “carol boosta dhyum” who was a disciple of Freud until he broke away that’s generally how these mundane sampradayas go the disciple breaks away from the guru and starts his own school so Freud was one of the great founders and his first main disciple was Dhyum.
For few years Dhyum studied under him but then broke away, but actually Prabhupada complementing Dhyum when Shyamsundara Prabhu and Hayagriva Prabhu were presenting the different western philosophies to Srila Prabupada for him to comment on when they came to Dhyum and when they completed their presentation of Dhyum Prabhupada said in summary that of them all he seems to be the most sensible and its also noteworthy that Dyum he incorporated into is scheme of psychology quote a lot of information from the yoga sutras of patanjali so there is a considerable vedic reference in in Dhyum’s ideas so anyway coming out of this background of Dhyum there is one department of psychological study which is called depth Psychology and the conception here is that the subconscious is greater much greater part of the mind than the conscious mind and the comparison is to an iceberg if you know about iceberg they are great mountains of ice that break off from north pole ice shelf or the south pole ice self sometimes they are incredible huge few years ago from Antarctica the Antarctic ice shelf an iceberg broke off that on the surface was as large as the European country Belgium. I suppose that’s somewhat comparable let’s say to the state of Maharashtra so if you can imagine an iceberg of the size of Maharashtra its pretty incredible to think about but what’s more incredible is that which’s on the surface is only one eighth of the total mass of the iceberg .so below the water there is another seven times more then what is on the surface so it becomes mind boggling when you think about an iceberg on which of the surface is of the size of Belgium or Maharashtra so they use this example the depth psychology to give us a picture of the conscious versus the subconscious mind that below our conscious awareness is a mass of subtle energy seven times greater then our conscious mind that also means seven times more powerful and what is down there in that great basement of the mind because that’s what it is just like in a house what do they usually do with the basement sometimes there is even subbasement in big big skyscrapers they may have many floors below up to five six underground floors so what is the basement for it’s for storage and so it is also with the subconscious mind what is stored there is all of the bijas the desire seeds kama bijas are all stored down there they are also called vasanas.
vasanas in sanskrit means that which flows into so these desire flow into our conscious mind from below and now we are coming closer to our topic lobha being an enemy of the mind so there are six enemies of the mind and they are coming up from the basement from the subconscious flowing into the mind and taking root in the conscious mind and growing there and taking over so we need to understand why this happens why is our mind susceptible to such kind of inauspicious vasanas like kama krodh and lobha so the Srimad Bhagvatam says in the fourth or may be fifth canto but anyway it explains very nicely in Bhagvatam fifth canto I believe ,the mind when it is guna pravah this term is used when it is in a state of agitation due to the influence of the modes of nature this means its a constant state of agitation the mind that is agitated by the modes of nature is not agitated sometimes and sometimes free of the modes of nature means its always agitated by the modes of nature sometimes when the predominant mode is sattvaguna then we are not so aware that our mind is agitated in fact then we may think that hain ! I’m liberated we may think I’m advancing my mind seems very pure in this state of mind I could never give any attention to lust ,anger ,greed, madness ,illusion, envy. So but then few seconds past or few minutes or few hours then we find our mind plunging into the stool of these very disturbing states which we thought we had at last risen above forever and we seeing that no control over it so this is the guna pravah mind .so the modes of nature they turn from goodness to passion to ignorance and they mix these mix up and again as I’m telling you as I mentioned before the great obstacle in spiritual life is to differentiate between the pure self and this mind this subtle body ,so yes in the mode of goodness its very very difficult it can be very very hard when one is situated in some rarefied state of material sattva guna to make this discrimination .one is thinking no..no.. I’m in spiritual consciousness now but one is not so the material mode of goodness is impregnated with rajoguna tamoguna impregnated ,there is a joke kind of a off colour joke slightly father learns ,hears a rumor that his unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant and he is hoping its not true but he can only know if he asks her so he says dear I’ve heard this rumor that you are pregnant is it true and she blushes and looks at the father and says only a little bit daddy only a little bit true that I’m pregnant.
So that means at the early stage of pregnancy its not noticeable when a girl is a little bit pregnant so to speak she is slim and thin as before but give some time so some time go by and her condition will become obvious so the same is with the material mode of goodness it seems pure but let some time go by and the lower modes would manifest so this is the guna pravah state .and when the mind is always under this influence of the three modes of material nature then it is subjected to the vasanas to the influx to the in pouring of irrestible urges from the subconscious which pour into the conscious mind and take root there and then they go through these cycles which have been explained by Srila Rupa Goswami in Nectar of Devotion that there is seed of desire that takes root & then as the seed grows yields a fruit &the result of that is suffering ,prarabdha karma we have to take on body after body after body & also another result of this is that one becomes infected permanently infected with the propensity to sinfulness just like a person develops an inclination to steal it shapes his character his inclination &he becomes known as a thief. Someone else develops an inclination to engage in illicit sex & he becomes known as a debauchee ,it becomes part of his character. so these are results of the influx of these vasanas from the subconscious mind .so as I said this is an overview ,I could go into much greater detail but i just want to provide you with some basic useful information so that now when we come to the main point of our talk which is greed lobha we can understand the process by which our mind becomes infected with greed,where this greed is originating from & why we are victimized by it .so this particular enemy of the mind lobha greed ,it’s actually very very formidable ,often in lectures in the Krishna Consciousness movement a lot of stress is given on kama,lust sexual desire and in Bhagvad Gita it is said to be a very formidable enemy .
Kama ash e krodh ash rajo guna samudhbhavah
But just as dangerous an enemy if not more dangerous ,and there is even evidence that it is more dangerous ,is lobha.So lets consider this, in the first chapter of Bhagvad Gita, Arjuna in speaking with Krishna about the battle of Kurukshetra which is unfolding which is just in the process of unfolding armies are assuming their positions war is just about ready to start, so Arjuna at that crucial moment he has a change of heart he no longer wants to fight and he speaks to Krishna in a philosophical manner, of course later on Krishna would knock down Arjuna’s philosophy but its still interesting to note the reason that Arjuna sees for this war & the reason is lobha uphata,that the leaders of the kaurava side they are uphata means overwhelmed by lobha ,by greed & this he points out to be the root cause of the whole battle ,so this is a very very interesting analysis to consider when we want to think about the danger of greed in our own life .in the first canto of Srimad Bhagvatam maharaj Yudhishthira in speaking about the visible influence of the age of kali upon the population,and remember this is 5000 years ago, so he is pointing out the initial symptoms ,the initial trend towards degradation ,the first symptoms of infection and there are two and one of the first things he mentions is lobha greed ,he is noticing that the general mass of population has become more greedy & this is 5000 years ago so how much more greedy people have become since that time .so in the 3rd canto of Srimad Bhagvatam chapter 30 verse 12,there i t is stated that even after a materialistic men has failed in is efforts to obtain success in a life of sense gratification means he has done everything ,he got a family, he pursued wealth by some occupation ,he has amassed positions and land and so on and so forth.
He has done everything that’s expected of a person in material society but he has failed ,he has met with failure and that failure is ,you know when one is faced with failure it tends to knock the life out of our enthusiasm. so he becomes very much exhausted in his industriousness yet this verse declares that one thing doesn’t leave his mind that is lobha greed & this greed takes a very desperate form ,a very ,you see i don’t know if you know this word ignoble its an english word may be you can sense the meaning because noble is there noble means a kind of exalted position but ignoble means opposite of that ,so a very scrabbling desperate kind of greediness where he is begging borrowing stealing from anyone just to make ends meet .he may have no taste for enjoyment anymore because ,as they say ,burned out, he has just been kicked in the face too many times ,too many disappointments he is a no hoper as they say, but still he has got to somehow maintain himself & his family ,so greed remains with him but a very desperate form of greed & so what he is doing is because that greed is pushing him he is making more & more fool of himself he is giving up reputation for being a useless fellow who never pays back his debts but is always there with his hand off for more ,please lend me more ,i’ll make it back to you i’ve got a good deal up ahead ,i just need a little start capital can you give me something people are getting very annoyed with him but he can’t quit ,he can’t stop it because greed is pushing him this section of Bhagvatam says that finally they become disappointed with him they think he is a joke ,his wife his children they know he ‘s become useless they are all laughing at him but still he is desperately trying desperately trying and sinking to newer & newer lows nothing else is there he has no more appetite for nice food he is too frantic too desperate even for sex or anything like that just one thing greed that is the focus of his mind…
By H. H. Suhotra Swami
Then in the 7th canto Shrimad Bhagavatam, chapter 15, verse 20, there it says speaking of these strong urges. So hunger and thirst, very strong urges no doubt, but they can be satisfied. You can satisfy hunger by eating, you can satisfy thirst by drinking and then anger is mentioned. Anger is very very powerful, very powerful emotion, very destructive yet even anger can be satisfied and is explained there, if one is able to vent chastisement against the object of anger. Someone has somehow disturbed us and if we can shout at them, sometimes throw something at their head, of course devotees don’t act like that, sometimes, I hope. But if there is a release, then their anger dissipates but then, this verse goes on to say, but for lobha there is no satiation at all. So therefore we see all those men who have become rich in business, you see they have a lot of money, they have achieved every thing that anyone would consider to be reasonable success. They’ve got and they are very old so they cant enjoy any thing any more any way too old, but still they want to make more money, and you ask them why? … you ask them why because you at your age, you are not going to enjoy anything any more. You see at your age your doc has told you to eat very less and to eat very bland foods any way, if you try to eat rich foods you will have a heart attack and die so you don’t do that, you try to do anything, you have to take 5 – 6 pills to avert heart attack or something else stroke. You can hardly move but you’re still calculating, how to make more money? more money! more money! more money!, and this is the last outlet for that pintup material desire you see material desire is always there right up to end of life but when everything else goes then there is only one last outlet and that is greed and so this gentleman has no need to make money, has got every thing and still he wants to make more money still scheming, wheeling and dealing making plans. So greed is never satisfied and in the purport to this verse 7.15.20 Srila Prabhupada states there that greed is the greatest enemy caused by the Rajoguna and this is very interesting because one may think from Bhagavat Gita chap 3, that the greatest enemy caused by rajoguna is lust, but this is why I said there is even evidence that more dangerous enemy than lust is greed. That means of all 6, greed is extremely formidable enemy. If not the most powerful, then, certainly one of the very most powerful enemies.
I’d like to tell you a little story to illustrate how this greed works upon the minds of men …there was a brahmana who had a wonderful mystic power and that was that on one night of the year when the moon would be in a certain position in a certain constellation and the stars were arranged in a certain way only one night a year then if he would chant a mantra and a very secret mantra that he alone knew the result of chanting this mantra would be that it would rain in the night but it would not be a rain of water but it would be a rain of 7 kinds of most precious jewels. So this brahmana had one disciple who was very intelligent and they were traveling from one city to another going through a lonely forest an d suddenly they found themselves surrounded by dacoits , by robbers who were stepping out from behind trees on all sides and this was a band of robbers who were known by the name THE DISPATCHERS which meant their technique their strategy was they would capture a party, they would always look for a group, 2 or more persons travelling through the forest and they would capture them and they would determine who among this group was the most important and that on e they would keep and a less imp person or persons they would let go but with the instruction that you go and collect big ransom and bring it back here and we will let this person go. So they captured this brahmana and his disciple and they could understand that the important person here is the brahmana and he is the disciple ans os they told the disciple we will let you go but you come back with when i/they name some amount of money that they wanted you come back with that and we will return your teacher to you safe and sound. It so happened that this night this coming night that they were captured was that night that one night of the year that the brahmana if he chanted the mantra would cause a rain of jewels to come down so the disciple asks can i just have a few short words alone with my guru they said alright. So he said guruji please i fear that if you would use that power tonight to free your self that this will bring upon you great misfortune. So please dont let them know that you have any power.
I’ll go back and collect that money i can do it you just have to be patient please. And so the brahmana said alright and his disciple went. But then the thives , they were keeping keeping him tied to a tree and they were sitting around and they wee talking in their rough, u know criminal language using bad words and this brahmana was a very refined person he didn’t like to be tied up he didn’t like to hear this type of speech , he didn’t like to see this ugly people their grouse mannerisms he felt very disgusted and time went on and the sun went down and the moon came up and he began to think if i just chanted this mantra they could have more wealth then they could dream of and they would certtainly let me go. But my discipile he asked me not to do it because he some danger, but who is he is my discipile, iam not his discipile, so iam the one to say if its right or wrong and i think that i should do this. So then he said he began to speak to the man and he said why are u keeping me here like this and he said because we want money. We want ransom, Thats all… thats all you want, Yes and how much do you want may name the amount. And then the brahmana said what if i this very night were to provide you with wealth that is infinitely greater that this amount that you are expecting wealth beyond your wildest dreams would you lewt me go this very night and they said with out a doubt certainly we’d let you go . Can you really give us such wealth. And he said you untie me let me take a bath let me open my travel bag and put on clean cloth, you string some floweras toghether … make a garland , let me weear a garland let me stand up and look up at the moon and chant the mantra and you’ll see what happens.
So they thought its not unreasonable and so all this happened he chanted the mantra clouds suddenly formed in the night sky and the rain of 7 kinds of gems came falling down right at that spot. And thase thieves were going wild they were jumping and shouting and trying to catch the gems in their hats and bags and holding their quitors out and were scrabbling on the ground to pick up and then then was so much and then finally it stopped and the thieves because it was dark they were looking around collecting so much and so happy and then they saw the brahmana standing and you can go you can go we dont need you anymore this is the end of our life as thieves we never have to rob any one again we will live comfortably for the rest of our days no problem so they were so happy, but then just at that moment another band of robbers appeared and these dispatchers you see were a little more refined because of their method , but this new band that appeared they were just cut throats they were just murderers they didnt care to let anyone go and get ransom they would just kill, kill & loot kill & loot that was their policy. So these cut throats stepped out with their drawn weaponsand the dispatchers saw them and they fell on their knees and begging for their lives and pointing to the brahmana you dont need to do anyting to us you just get this brahmana to chant his mantra and you will get the same wealth for yous selves and you will all be happy we can all live together. And so then these cut throats they surrounded the brahmana with their weapons pointing at him you chant that mantra again and the brahmana said dear sirs the one thing about this gift i have is it i can use it only once a year and i just used it. So if you be so patient as to wait one year i’ll come back and i’ll chant it for you and even before he had finished talking they had cuttoff his head and they killed him right on the spot and then they turned on the other group of thieves and killed all of them. And then after they were dead they got a cance to really look at how much was there how many jewels were there and it was such an amount hat they had never seen and being avery murderous lot they began to fight with each other, so this group divided into 2 groups and they were batteling it out killing one another until finally tere were only 2 men left and because thre were so many jewels the 2 men thought, well we cant keep fighting because we wont be able to carry this off so we have to work togrther but still they were scheming each one was thinking this is going to be all mine before the night id through but right now i need this person so we will work togrther.
So they gatherd al the loot ttogether in bags and they went to theior hide out which was near te edge of one villlage and after all this neferious work they were very hungry. So one said to the other you stay here and guard and i’ll go into the village and get some food and the first one said alright you do that. So he went to the village and then he got food buit he was very clever to put poison in the plate for this other fellow. Helaced it with very deadly poison and thenhe came back with a very big smile on his face i brought food for you and he put it in front of him and the other fellow said thankyou very much i dont need you any more and stabbed him in the heart and killed him then he sat down and he ate his food.And he fell over dead too. Now this happened some where in MP those jewels are still there. If you want to go on an expedition you may find them. I am just joking !!! But any way the point of the story is to show how all consuming this greed is. There is simply no stopping it.Reasonable words you see kindness understanding all of this doesnt work. Greed is insatiable. And in the end utterly detructive. So how do we over com e thid greed? So thinking back to my intro to the workings of the mind the answer is that the mind as a whole has to be purifed it has to comeout of this gunapravahahaste, this state being of aggitated by the modes of material nature because as long as it is so aggitated then these unwanted but irrestible urges will continue to pour into the mind from the sub consious and take control and push us into sinfull activities push us into furthur and further karmas and rebirths in this world. So what is the process for purifying the mind, there is a basic process which is the essential sadhana the essential prcatice of this KC, and that is ofcourse the canting of the hare krishna Mahamantra. I already aluded to this when i mentioned lord Chaitanya’s Shikshatakam verses begin with cheto darpanam marjanam that this mind must be cleansed and how is to be cleansed by chanting HK……..HH (18:50)so in the kalisantarna upanishad lord Brahma tells Narada iti shodaskam namnam ……………………..
That the soul the consiousness is covered varanam covered by 16 layers and actually all these layers they all pertain to the subtle body. Because every one of them is to be found with in the subtle body. So 5 of these 16 are Gnanendriyas seeing power , hearing power and then there are the tanamtras what is seeing what is heard thats also five.So that adds upto ten. So these sensual powers and the objects of the senses they are all subtle they exist with in the mind .And then upto 15 we add the karmendriyas the active senses and then the 16th is the mind itself. Te functions of the mind it self. So the mind has different functions they afe called dvities or occupation.The mind is some times engaged with the senses, yes but he mind is also engaged with the own self this is called
(20:20)
One of the features of this riti is kalpana, imagination , so it is the mind workingwith itself and it is this vriti manasavriti whch is most powerful, all the other vritis are serving this mind. Sankalpa vikalpa accepting rejecting is an other function of the mind. So it is the master of the other 15, most formidable. So there are these 16 coverings but there are also 16 words in Hare Krishna maha mantra HK… HR so 16.
qwerewfergbftbhty hthgtfyhng ……………………..(shloka missing)
This verse says that the 16 names of the hare krishna mahamantra cut through and destroy the the 16 coverings of pure consiousness and just as when the clouds in the sky are removed we can see the sun as plain as day, as it is said, so similarly when these layers of contaminated consiousness are eradicated then paraabhrama, tatha prakarsitey paraabhrama one can see paraabhrama and shri krishna the absloute truth, the supreme personality of god head as plain as day, through the purifed pure consiousness of the soul. So of course this explaination that i’ve just given you it is essential but we find it difficult isn’t it. Simply to chant hare krishna. Wouldn’t it be very nice, 24 hours a day, if we could chant hare krishna then certainly our mind would become completely free of greed and lust and anger etc. And we would be seeing krishna 24 hours a day. But our problem is, is that we are not able at this stage to simply chant hare krishna like srila Haridas thakur did, he chanted every day 196 rounds, of japa. So if you try doing this just once in your life, one day in your life chant a 196 rounds you would find that extremely challanging. You see even 64 rounds, even 64 rounds this is a very great challenge. So then what to do. So then we have this mission of KC which is simply a mission of service to the holy name. The holy name has come into this world with a mission and that is to spread to every town and village, this is the yugdharma and this is meant to go evey where. So the KC movement facilitates that spreading of the holy name. So there are so many activities by which we may serve the holy names, entering into every town and village into the life of every person on this planet. And so all these services they together combine to form what we see here this ISKCON this world wide mission that srila prabhupad established. So all of thes e activities being namaseva then they are like wise cleaning the heart. Now when we talk about mission we are talking about movemen, we are talking about movement we are talking about Sangha, association. And this sangha this association is essential it is the foundation of the activities of this movement.
Adhau sadatatha sarau sangha,
the spreading of the hare krishna mahamantra through the world, creates shradha in people, just by having the holy name of hare krishna mahamantra into their ears and going through their heart, shradha faith, attraction is generated and so what must follow.
what must follow is sangha, they seekout devotees they enter into their association so their spiritual life begins here in sangha. So the whole movement is based on sangha. So sangha association with devotees is a great oppoutunity for us, to over come the dirty things that ae stored deep with in our heart, like wise it is a great oppoutunity the same sangha to be overwhelmed by those dirty things. So what determines which direction we move in the association with devotees. What determines it is our embracing of, i mentioned the sikshastakam so one of the verses of chaitanya mahaprabhus sikshastakam
is one that we are suppose to wear like a garland around our neck
trnadpi sunicena tarorpi sahisnuna
Here lord chaitanya is elaborating on humility as being the key, the very key by which one becomes successful in this process of chanting Hare krishna mahamantra. Kirtanye sada hari one who has actually become humble can then chant the hare krishna mahamantra unbrokenly all the time can actually achieve that goal, that we are saying is so difficult to achieve, a little while ago. It CAN be achieved through this KC movement, through specifically the sangha, this association with devotees. If we practise this profound humulity that lord Chaitanya is teaching to be more humble than straw on the street more tolerant than a tree ready to offer all respect to others and expecting no praise no acknowledgement no claps for ourself. If one adopts this attitude of, now what is this attitude, its attitude of a servant , das , in KC movement when one is initiatated one gets name of krishna or shrimati Radharani with das,dasi. So this is the position we aspire for. Absloute humility before the lord and his devotees. This is the position which is secure,yes, and also nourishing to all the positive qualities of a devotee. Safe from the stock of desires, the 6 enemies alll te unauspicious things that are lying in the subconsiousness we are secured from that and we cultivate the transendental qualities of the devotees, simply by maintining this quality of humility which shri chaitanya mahaprabhu as spoken about. And then in that mood that we can derive from the association with devotees, krishnas mercy, because krishnas mercy flows through the devotees, the nectar of KC is made available through devotees
satamprasanga…………………………….
Lord Kapila dev says when satamprasanga when the association of devotees is most strong, in that most strong, powerful association then the nectar of topics of KC, krishna katha, bhagavat katha is experienced hritkarna by the heart and the ears rasanaayana with taste rasa katha in hearing about krishna. On the other side if we are not careful to practise this humility to following the foot steps of lord chaitanya mahaprabhu and his bonafide representitives in the sampradaya and we allow pratishtha spiritual pride, praphupad defines it as pride in being a vaishnava, its spiritual pride, thatform of pride that comes up after one has, so to speak, surendered to krishna or taken up KC. Then this will cause division between ourselves and other devotees and in that division if we act divisively, we commit offenses, aparaadh ,and then these aparaadhs , particularly vaishnava aparaadhs spoils everything. It results in most terrible kind of obsticles in spiritual life very very difficult to overcome. Offences against devotees is even more difficult to overcome than offences against the holy name of the lord, offences against the deity. So its in these areas that we have to work to overcome greediness or any other enemies of the mind. We have th chant concentrate on chanting hare krishna and to penetrate into the lower regions of consious region of the mind, to purify it. And we have to concentrate work keeping very nice relationships with devotees, very sweet relationships nectarean relationships with devotees by practising humility, vaishnava humility. And if we can maintain that then you can see so much much mercy will come on our way, because Krishna will be so pleased with us, lord chaitanya mahaprabhu will be so pleased with us. So in this mercy, we speak of this mercy coming into those who are endeavoring attentive in this way i just described, then there are so many details, just like here in chaupati in noon, where this counselling that you do, so this is very good, in the west this is called Talk Therapy a very good way of addressing peoples mental problems.
Talk therapy, But you see counselling works only when there are very nice relationships between devotees. Because such kind of counselling depends on as prabhupad said on love and trust. You see if you are sitting before someone who is suppose to be a counseler, but you dont love him and you dont trust him, then you are not going to tell him what he should know to counsel you, you ae going to have so many secrets,that you keep the dark place in your heart and these secrets will eat away at the inside of your heart. There is the story of the poacher and the fox. There was a poacher, you know a poacher an illeigal hunter, and he was in the forest of the king. And he was always dressed in a long coat that went down till his ankles. And he had set a trap and caugt a fox. The fox was alive and he was very happy to have a fox, because the pelt of a fox is worth a lot of money. But then just at that moment the king himself came, riding up on his horse and this poacher he put he fox under his coat, and kept it there. And the king was riding on, the king was in very good mood , he saw this man in the forest, and he just didn’t think that he might be a poacher, and just thought he’s just someone out for a walk in the royal forest and its a very nice day. So then the king on his horses stoped to talk to that man . He was in a very good mood. So how are you sir? Oh your majesty i am very fine. Yes i am just going for a ride through my lands and have you seen anything out here today anything unusual anything you would like to tell me about? Oh no, no its really been just nice and good weather and…So this way the king was keeping up the conversation and poacher was standing there and he was looking in his face a little pale and tears were coming out of his eyes and he was still talking and finally the king rode off and the poacher fell into pieces. Why did he fall into pieces? Because the fox under his coat ate through his body. You see ate him into pieces and then he fell into pieces and the fox ran away.
So when we are keeping secrets (you see) its like keeping a fox under your coat it eats away your insides finally you just fall apart. This is psychology this is well known. So the whole point of counselling is that we can open our heart no morbid dark secrets let in fresh air , let in light and this way be relieved get strength and go on. But this is based on love and trust. So this counselling system between devotees is very nice but its one of the aspects of mercy that comes when we are basically trying to chant the hare krishna mahamantra sincerely and trying to keep very nice relationships with devotees. keep a very good standard of sadhu sangha .So this is a as i said i am only able to speak in basic ways, but this is a basic way to overcome greed in the heart. And an other thing of course is that, shrila narotham das thakur says,
kama krishna………………………………………
so he is saying in this verse that for five of the enemies of the mind, their transcendental engagements or outlets, so loabha sadhu sangha harikatha this is very interesting, loabha, we should desire very strongly harikatha to hear about krishna with in sadhu sangha These are two points i am making isn’t it. This is what i was explaining, this is what we should be working on, so narotham da thakur says we should greedy for this, this you are allowed to greedy for, you can be greedy for very nice association with devotees and in that association hear about krishna, chant the hara krishna mahamantra. This is an approved sort of greed. So just like kama krishna seva kamarpane we can be lusty also to serve krishna. We should be very eager and ethusiastic to render service to krishna.
Krodha bhaktir visirjane anyone who is envious of devotees who wants to cause harm to devotees we can be angry upon him. That anger is transcendental, just like hanuman, hanuman was angry at ravana and that is approved in spiritual circles, that anger. No one critisizes hanuman for being an angry fellow , couldn’t control is anger, everyone celebrates his great deeds, in fighting ravana and the rakshasas. So there is one of these 6 enemies, that we dont find an outlet for and thats envoiusness, because thats the…you know some religions talk about original sin, so in KC thats the original sin. Being envious of krishna and envious of krishnas devotees. Of course again in a sense Krodha bhaktir divasijane to be angry to someone is also in a sense to be envious, so one again can be angry towards enemies of lords devotees thats alright. But the mood of envy to be envious of one another, in KC this is totally descructive and should not be entertained in anyway. So yes there is valid outlet for loabha, for greed, to desire the association of devotees and in that association to hear and chant about krishna. And that is the actual cure for the material version of loabha. So it just past 8.30 so i am going to stop here, thankyou very much for your kind attention HARE KRISHNA.
Question & Answer:
Question: Hare krishna maharaj . Thankyou for your wonderful presentation. As you mentioned that of a qwqe’s verse kama krishna…. there it is mentioned different outlets for these anarthas within our mind. So what is the outcome of utilizing the anarthas in that way. You gave the example of Hanumanji who utilizes anger in the service of the lord, so what would be the outcome, like you would be implementing purified of the anger or what is the ultimate aim to be pirified completely of any anger altogether or to …
Maharaj: I understand your question. The goal of KC is to develop purified emotions which we know by the name of rasas so there are 5 main rasas and 7 minor supportive rasas. And one of these minor rasas is actually anger, krodha. So these purified emotional states exist etternally in this spiritual world and they flavour the relationsip between krishna and his devotees. The 5 main rasas are the 5 main flavour and the 7 minor rasas are sort of spices of those main flavours. So emotions are originally spiritual. We have material emotions because our original spiritual state is reflected in the material energy. Thats why we have a material form thats why we have material mind and thats why we have material emotions. And we are in this material state because our consiousness is bent worked away from krisna, this state is called duratma or crooked soul. Our consiousness which is meant for flowing to krishna, has been bent away from krishna and therefore we are in this material condition. KC is process of channeling our consiousness back to him. And that entails again into the development of rasas. So we do not want to become emotionless simply omshanti shanti shanti and all that bland passive strerile nonresponsive impersonal. Thats not the goal of the vaishnava. Vaishnanva seeks loving devotional service, loving that is the state of purified emotions. So thats the goal of the purifying process of KC.
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