Just like when a little child wants to walk, first the child has to learn to crawl.Do you remember when you had to learn to crawl? Very difficult, you were just laying there and then you start crawling. Then you see everyone around you walking, you want to be like them and you try to walk. Your father and mother you are holding there finger. You fall down. Every time you try to walk you keep falling down. But through the process of practice you develop the strength and the wisdom to walk. And now, how many of you think about walking when you are walking. Its absolutely natural. But to come to that spontaneous natural state of walking it actually took a lot of failed attempts but you didn't give up. So similarly we chant the Holy Names, we try to live a spiritual devotional life and it maybe difficult at times. But if we just keep trying sincerely and try to associate with people, read books that give us strength and wisdom, then gradually we develop realization and wisdom. Then spiritual life is just like walking, it becomes natural to us.
The reason a child is able to learn to walk is because the ability is inherent within the child. If the ability was not inherent in the child to be able to walk it would have never been able to walk.But through practice we develop our inherent abilities and that is the spiritual life is too. To become peaceful and happy and to take shelter of the Holy Name is inherent within the soul, but it takes practice. Along with that Rupa Goswami said two qualities are very important -perseverance and patience. We must be enthused to persevere but at the same time it may take some time. We must persevere with patience.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Who is Krishna and how can I feel Him?
Krishna is the all-attractive object of your soul's love. Every living being is seeking pleasure. The essence of pleasure is the pleasure of love,we need it.Without loving someone and being loved by someone life is very empty and superficial. The origin of love is the soul's love for God and God's love for that soul. We are attracted to someone who is beautiful, someone who is powerful, learned, famous, renounced and someone who has wealth. These are opulences which attract our heart. The name Krishna means he possesses all opulence in full. He is the source of all beauty, all strength, all knowledge, all wealth ,all fame and all renunciation. His love for the soul is unlimited and unconditional. This is Krishna. He is our eternal Father, our eternal Mother, our eternal Friend, our eternal Lover and we could feel him through the path of bhakti.
Bhakti is the process God has given us in which we could feel Him 24 hours a day. Krishna is within our hearts, Krishna is within the heart of every living being, Krishna is in and between every atom through His various energies. But ultimately the source of everything is that Divine Person, that all powerful, all loving, all attractive Person who we are eternally longing to be reunited with. Bhakti Yoga means to be reunited with our source, with God - through acts of devotion - by remembering Him,by hearing about Him, by chanting His Names and His glories,by praying to Him, by worshipping the deity, by rendering service to Him , to His devotees and all living beings. These are ways by which we could always feel the presence of God.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
Bhakti is the process God has given us in which we could feel Him 24 hours a day. Krishna is within our hearts, Krishna is within the heart of every living being, Krishna is in and between every atom through His various energies. But ultimately the source of everything is that Divine Person, that all powerful, all loving, all attractive Person who we are eternally longing to be reunited with. Bhakti Yoga means to be reunited with our source, with God - through acts of devotion - by remembering Him,by hearing about Him, by chanting His Names and His glories,by praying to Him, by worshipping the deity, by rendering service to Him , to His devotees and all living beings. These are ways by which we could always feel the presence of God.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
There is power in Silence, they say "Silence speaks volumes".Please explain the potent power of silence.
How would you like if I answered your question by being silent? [Laughs].
We may be silent with our mouth, but whats happening in our mind. Its not very silent. Sit in silent meditation and what happens in your mind? So many voices, so many things. Real silence is when the mind is quiet. Now, scriptures describe it in different ways. One is material silence. When we are chanting God's name, when we are speaking about God, when we are speaking for the benefit of others that is also silence. Because we are not speaking things that bind us to material existence, we are not gossiping, we are not fault finding, we are not talking just about political matters. Silence means no material vibration. Spiritual vibration is material silence.
Now sometimes, [this is an example] if a small child is in school and they just keep talking,and they keep screaming and they keep yelling and keep disrupting the class, what does the teacher do? Says "Sit in the corner, don't say anything and don't do anything." I know because that happened to me once. I was very shy, I hardly talked, but one class the teacher was real joking person and I was talking and then she said "Sit in the corner , don't say anything". So that's better.
Is it better to be silent in the corner of the room than to be disrupting the whole class? But is that the perfection to remain in the corner of the room silent. The perfection is to participate in the class in a constructive way.It is better to do nothing than be destructive. But better than doing nothing is to be constructive. Another example is if you are really sick you are told to fast , don't eat anything.
Its better to fast than to make yourself sicker. But when you are healthy the best thing is to eat healthily. So similarly the scriptures talk about silence -not to speak things that agitate our minds and agitate other people's minds. But the perfection of silence is to be absorbed in the remembrance of God and the easiest, most powerful way of being absorbed in the remembrance of God which creates complete material silence is to chant his Holy Name.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
We may be silent with our mouth, but whats happening in our mind. Its not very silent. Sit in silent meditation and what happens in your mind? So many voices, so many things. Real silence is when the mind is quiet. Now, scriptures describe it in different ways. One is material silence. When we are chanting God's name, when we are speaking about God, when we are speaking for the benefit of others that is also silence. Because we are not speaking things that bind us to material existence, we are not gossiping, we are not fault finding, we are not talking just about political matters. Silence means no material vibration. Spiritual vibration is material silence.
Now sometimes, [this is an example] if a small child is in school and they just keep talking,and they keep screaming and they keep yelling and keep disrupting the class, what does the teacher do? Says "Sit in the corner, don't say anything and don't do anything." I know because that happened to me once. I was very shy, I hardly talked, but one class the teacher was real joking person and I was talking and then she said "Sit in the corner , don't say anything". So that's better.
Is it better to be silent in the corner of the room than to be disrupting the whole class? But is that the perfection to remain in the corner of the room silent. The perfection is to participate in the class in a constructive way.It is better to do nothing than be destructive. But better than doing nothing is to be constructive. Another example is if you are really sick you are told to fast , don't eat anything.
Its better to fast than to make yourself sicker. But when you are healthy the best thing is to eat healthily. So similarly the scriptures talk about silence -not to speak things that agitate our minds and agitate other people's minds. But the perfection of silence is to be absorbed in the remembrance of God and the easiest, most powerful way of being absorbed in the remembrance of God which creates complete material silence is to chant his Holy Name.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
What happens to those who chant without understanding the Holy Name?
The Holy Name is like fire. If a little baby who does not know anything about fire touches fire what happens?If the chief fire marshal of Mumbai touches fire, what happens? Same thing, they both get burned, because fire burns.
So even if a person does not know anything about they Holy Name, if they hear the Holy Name and if they chant the Holy Name, there will be a powerful spiritual effect.
Srila Prabhupada our Gurudev tells a story about his Gurudev who was giving a lecture at a particular place and two newspapers publiched articles.One was praising the devotees and the other was seriously criticizing the devotees. When Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur read both artciles he said, "This one is much better" and it was the one that was criticizing the devotees. The devotees asked, "How is this better?". He said ,"The first one is praising but it only says the name of Krishna only once.This one is criticizing has the name of Krishna so many times. So whoever reads it is hearing the name of Krishna." When you read, reading is sound vibration. It is the written word, you read it, but in your mind its a sound. They are hearing Krishna's name so many times , how much they will feel connected and purified.
But as we make some spiritual progress then at that point our attitude, our character, our sincerity -Krishna reciprocates with that. The Holy Name is always pure, but our attitude accesses the grace of the Holy Name very much so.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
So even if a person does not know anything about they Holy Name, if they hear the Holy Name and if they chant the Holy Name, there will be a powerful spiritual effect.
Srila Prabhupada our Gurudev tells a story about his Gurudev who was giving a lecture at a particular place and two newspapers publiched articles.One was praising the devotees and the other was seriously criticizing the devotees. When Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur read both artciles he said, "This one is much better" and it was the one that was criticizing the devotees. The devotees asked, "How is this better?". He said ,"The first one is praising but it only says the name of Krishna only once.This one is criticizing has the name of Krishna so many times. So whoever reads it is hearing the name of Krishna." When you read, reading is sound vibration. It is the written word, you read it, but in your mind its a sound. They are hearing Krishna's name so many times , how much they will feel connected and purified.
But as we make some spiritual progress then at that point our attitude, our character, our sincerity -Krishna reciprocates with that. The Holy Name is always pure, but our attitude accesses the grace of the Holy Name very much so.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
I come to SB class every Saturday and Sunday, I like to hear SB, but I cannot remember what I have heard.
Just by your being attentive in class your heart is being purified and you are enriching your spiritual life. To help you remember you may want to take notes. For studies you take notes and those nice notes help you remember, so similarly if we cannot remember what we have heard in class we can take notes and go over those notes to help us remember, but just by taking your time to come to the class when you could be doing so many things is purifying your heart even if you dont remember all the details. That is a wonderful benediction.
As far as your studies just try your best and Krishna will bless you.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
As far as your studies just try your best and Krishna will bless you.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
How can one increase one's faith in the Holy Name and the whole process of Bhakti Yoga?
Best way is to associate with people who have that faith and to perform those activities and cultivate those thoughts that increase our faith and to avoid those vibrations that distract our mind from that goal. We are living in a society that has so many distractions. But those distractions can acually help us IF we are spiritually strong. When you resist a distraction you become stronger spritually, when you give in you become weaker.
So Bombay is a wonderful place to become strong. That means if we have nice association and in the free time where we have a choice of what to do , if we cultivate spiritual strength then that will empower us when we go out into the world to keep our mind fixed on what is virtuous on what is truth and what will help me to awaken love of God and every test we pass we are being filled with grace and are becoming strong. So tests are good.
How many of you enjoy your exams in school? Please raise your hand. How many do not necessarily enjoy your exam in school? How many of you dont enjoy it and still take your exams in school? Those exams are necessary because when you know that exams are coming you have to prepare yourself. So in this world you know the exams are coming everyday and knowing that actually helps us to take more seriously preparing ourselves through our spiritual practices, through our association and through our goodness, by accessing God's grace.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
So Bombay is a wonderful place to become strong. That means if we have nice association and in the free time where we have a choice of what to do , if we cultivate spiritual strength then that will empower us when we go out into the world to keep our mind fixed on what is virtuous on what is truth and what will help me to awaken love of God and every test we pass we are being filled with grace and are becoming strong. So tests are good.
How many of you enjoy your exams in school? Please raise your hand. How many do not necessarily enjoy your exam in school? How many of you dont enjoy it and still take your exams in school? Those exams are necessary because when you know that exams are coming you have to prepare yourself. So in this world you know the exams are coming everyday and knowing that actually helps us to take more seriously preparing ourselves through our spiritual practices, through our association and through our goodness, by accessing God's grace.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
How does sound become a cause of material entanglement?
Just turn on your radio. :) or turn on your television or go to a restaurent and hear what people are talking about. When people are gossiping it fills our mind with that vibration and it entangles us. When people are thinking of material subject matters, through that association it awakens our propensity for material subject matters. When I say turn on your radios, or look at the hoardings on the street of Bombay, I really dont want you to do that (Laugh). If you do what happens? These hoardings have lusty men and lusty women embracing. What happens to someone who sees that ? The vibration within the mind responds to seeing that, and it awakens our propensities for those things. If you are with people who are talking about the glories of smoking cigarettes, then it awakens in you the inclination- It must be so good they are talking all abput it, it sounds so nice, and we become bound entangled. You see time is so precious, as we are listening listening , hearing ,hearing, mundane material sound vibrations, glorifying things that cause bondage, it is filling our head with those impressions.But if we are talking about Krishna, thinking about Krishna and seeing Krishna and chanting the Holy Names of Krishna we are filling our minds with those vibrations.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
If we are following the process why do we still have difficulties
If you are in the ocean, even if you swim correctly do you still get wet?
If you are in the middle of water the right direction is to swim.
The nature of the world is there will be difficulties. No matter right or wrong there will be difficulties. If we are going in the wrong direction, the difficulties will be perpetuated, complicated and worsened for the future. If we are going in the right direction, by passing through this difficulties we are liberated. If we are going in the wrong direction, by passing through those difficulties we will be put in bondage.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
If you are in the middle of water the right direction is to swim.
The nature of the world is there will be difficulties. No matter right or wrong there will be difficulties. If we are going in the wrong direction, the difficulties will be perpetuated, complicated and worsened for the future. If we are going in the right direction, by passing through this difficulties we are liberated. If we are going in the wrong direction, by passing through those difficulties we will be put in bondage.
Lecture: Chetana-Power of Sound Vibration
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