Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.9-10 Hamsaduta: Sixteen heads arrived at the Kumbha-mela, January 5, 1971. Srila Prabhupada arrived on the morning of January 13, 1971, and the following lectures were recorded beginning January 15, 1971, at the Kumbha-mela, crossing of Kali and Yamuna roads, just across from the Hanuman Mandira, a temple which is said to be at least one million years old. Prabhupada said it was standing since the time of Lord Ramacandra. [break] Prabhupada: (recites prema-dhvani prayers, etc.) We have been discussing Ajamila’s upakhyana after finishing the speeches by the Yamaduta, assistants of Yamaraja, the superintendent of judgment after death. Yamaraja is one of the appointed officers, mahajanas. He’s a Vaisnava, but his thankless task is that he has to punish all the sinful activities. That is his position. Just like superintendent of police, he is also a government officer, responsible officer, respectful servant of the government, but the task is simply to chastise the sinful persons. So if such person is required in ordinary government, why not a similar personality in the government of the Supreme Person? Because from the Vedanta-sutra we understand that everything that we experience within this world, they are emanation from the Absolute Truth. So this intelligence, that one person should be in charge of the criminal department, has come from the Absolute Truth. Otherwise there was no possibility. It is not an human invention. We should always understand, whatever we experience within this world, that is emanation from the Absolute Truth. As Krsna says, aham sarvasya prabhavah: “I am the original source of everything that you experience.” So the assistants of Yamaraja charged that “This man was throughout his whole life a sinful man. Therefore he is punishable and we must take him to the Yamaraja.” And the Visnudutas protested that “Even though he was sinful throughout his whole life, because he once uttered the holy name of Narayana some way or other—it doesn’t matter—therefore he is now free from all reaction of sinful life.” And he has spoken that there are different kinds of sinful life, and he has described some of them. Stenah. Stenah means stealing, thieves, burglars. They are very sinful. Stenah; sura-pah, drunkard, intoxicant, those who are addicted to intoxication. So stealing and drinking, these are the honorable occupations of the moralist. But they are condemned by the Yamaraja…, by the Visnu… Stenah sura-po mitra-dhruk. One who is unfaithful to his friends, mitra-dhruk; brahma-ha, one who has killed a brahmana or a Vaisnava, brahma-ha. And guru-talpa-gah: and one who has dishonored a spiritual master or teacher. Stri-raja-pitr-go-hanta, one who has killed a woman, one who has killed a king, and one who has killed a cow. These are all the severest type of sinful activities. Ye ca patakino ’pare. Some of the sinful activities are mentioned here. And besides these sinful activities, there are other, many. So the Visnudutas say that “Even though one has committed so many sinful activities, if at the…, if once he utters the holy name of Narayana, he becomes free immediately.” That’s a fact. It is not exaggeration. A sinful man, someway or other, if he chants this Hare Krsna mantra, he immediately becomes free from all reaction. But the difficulty is that he commits again. That is namaparadha, offense. There are ten kinds of offenses. This is the severest offense, that after being freed from all sinful reaction by chanting Hare Krsna mantra, if he again commits the same sin, that is a grievous criminal action. For ordinary man it may not be so severe, but one who is chanting Hare Krsna mantra, if he takes advantage of this mantra, that “Because I am chanting Hare Krsna mantra, even though I commit some sin, I’ll be free,” he’ll be free, but because he is offender he will not achieve the ultimate goal of chanting Hare Krsna mantra. Because he’ll be freed, and again he’ll commit—freed, again he’ll commit—in this way there will be no chance of his liberation. But don’t think that by chanting Hare Krsna mantra one’s sinful reactions are counteracted. That is not exaggeration. That’s a fact. The difficulty is that one chants Hare Krsna mantra, again commits sin, that is greatest sin. That is the greatest offense. Sarvesam apy aghavatam idam eva suniskrtam. Suniskrtam. Nama-vyaharanam visnor yatas tad-visaya matih. Now, the Visnuduta says, sarvesam apy aghavatam. Aghavatam means those who are sinful. Agha means sin, and vatam means who are possessors of sinful life. Sarvesam, “Of all kinds of sinful persons,” sarvesam apy aghavatam idam eva suniskrtam, “this is the only process by which he can become immediately freed from the reaction.” Idam eva suniskrtam. What is that? Nama-vyaharanam: “Simply chanting this mantra,” vyaharana. Nama-vyaharanam visnoh. Not that any other name. The foolish persons, they say that “You chant any name, any name,” sometimes demigods’ names, sometimes his beloved’s name. They think that any name, chanting… Because the Mayavadis, they think that everyone is God—“Even the demigods, they are God. I am God. You are God”—therefore they say that any name you chant and you will be free. But that’s not a fact. Here it is said clearly, vyaharanam nama visnoh: “Only the Supreme Personality of Godhead Visnu’s name,” visnu-sahasra-nama. There are list of one thousand names of Visnu. So Krsna and Visnu, the same, and it is stated in the sastras that by chanting one thousand holy names of Visnu you can get the result of chanting…, once chanting the name of Rama. If you, say, only chant Rama, by this chanting, you immediately get the result of chanting thousand times Visnu’s name. And by chanting three times Lord Rama’s name you get the result of chanting once Krsna’s name. Therefore by chanting Krsna’s name you get all the good results. Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore recommends this. He recommends, not that He has manufactured. He recommends the shastric injunction: harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam [Adi 17.21]. So the harer nama or visnu-nama or devotional service to Visnu… Sravanam kirtanam visnoh [SB 7.5.23]. You should always remember this, because sometimes rascals mislead that “Any name.” In Bengal it is very popular. There is a party, they chant kali-kirtana. “Kali, Kali, Kali,” imitation. Or there are so many so-called avataras. There was another rascal, he added his wife’s name. Yes. And the rascal, foolish scholars also accepted. Yes. “Haro kusuma, haro kusuma, kusuma kusuma, haro,” like that. The rascal’s name was Haro, and his wife’s name was Kusuma, so he made a mantra, “haro kusuma, haro kusuma, kusuma kusuma, haro haro.” (laughter) And the rascal followers also accepted that this is… So this is going on. A Mayavadi philosophers, they are so dangerous that they mislead their followers to the hell. Caitanya Mahaprabhu has therefore strongly warned, mayavadi-bhasya sunile haya sarva-nasa: “If you attempt to hear some Mayavadi philosopher, then your life will be spoiled. Your path to devotional service will be blocked, so don’t try to hear a Mayavadi.” This is the recommendation by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. So we should always remember, when there is question of chanting the holy name, that means Visnu, not any other’s name. Vyaharanam visnor yatas tad-visaya matih. So there is advantage, a special advantage. What is that advantage? Immediately you become freed from all sinful reaction by chanting Visnu’s name, Hari’s name, Hari’s name, Krsna’s name. And not, even not immediately, that is the beginning of your spiritual life, because without being freed from sinful reactionary life there is no possibility of becoming a pure Vaisnava. He may be a Vaisnava, performing the devotional service in the routine work, but if his behavior is not sinless he is called kadacara, suduracara. Of course, this suduracara, if it happens accidentally without any consciousness… Sometimes we commit some sinful activity without knowledge or due to my past behavior. That accident, if one repents that “I should not have done this, but I am so sinful that I have again committed this sin,” so this repentance will help him to be excused by the Supreme Lord. But if one commits sinful life intentionally, that is not to be excused. That is to be taken seriously. Just like in this place, confluence of the river of Yamuna and Ganga, one of the associates of Lord Caitanya committed suicide. You know, Chota Haridasa. This Chota Haridasa was associate of Lord Caitanya. He was daily singing kirtana, and he was very nice singer. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu liked him. He was one of the associates in Puri. But somehow or other, he became inclined for sense gratification. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu as Paramatma could understand, and He immediately asked His other associates, “Not to allow this man to come before Me any more.” So even Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya and other big, big, big guns of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s associates, Ramananda Raya, they requested that “This man is Your eternal servant. Somehow or other, he has committed this sin. So You kindly excuse him.” Caitanya Mahaprabhu was so much stern in this respect that He immediately replied that “If you like Chota Haridasa, better you remain with him. Let Me go away.” So from that moment nobody ventured to request again Caitanya Mahaprabhu to excuse him. So when he was hopeless not to be excused by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he came here in this place, Prayaga, and in the confluence of river Yamuna and Ganga he committed suicide. He drowned himself. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu knew also this incident. So after some time, when he died, say after some months, He simply inquired, “Where is Chota Haridasa now?” So his other associates replied, “Sir, You did not accept him, so he has committed suicide.” So Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Yes, this is very good. This is very good.” So vajrad api kathora. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was sometimes harder than the stone, and sometimes He was softer than the flower. So that is the behavior of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sometimes He becomes very strong. Just like Krsna says, tan aham dvisatah kruran ksipamy ajasram andha-yonisu: “Those who are envious, I keep them constantly in the darkest region of hellish life.” So Krsna is very kind, but if He is angry, He is very hard also. Now, one may say, “Why God should be angry?” No, God is angry also; otherwise wherefrom this anger comes if God is not angry? Janmady asya yatah: [Bhag. 1.1.1] everything is coming from the Absolute Truth. If God is not angry, then wherefrom this anger comes? Because He is the original source of everything. So everything is there, but His activity and our activity is different. If Krsna is angry… Just like He becomes angry and He kills so many demons. But all of them got liberation. Therefore His anger and our anger is not the same. If we become angry unnecessarily… But sometimes we may also become angry in the service of the Lord, not for personal interest. Just like Hanumanji. Hanumanji, he became very angry upon Ravana and he devastated his kingdom, which was known as golden kingdom of Ravana. So not for his personal interest. Arjuna also, he was nonviolent naturally because he’s a devotee of Krsna. But when Krsna asked him to fight he became very much angry, because without being angry you cannot fight. You have to agitate your mind even artificially. Then you can fight. Therefore, when there is fight both the parties, they stood very strongly so that agitate themselves to become angry. This is the process. So Narottama dasa Thakura says that we can utilize these enemies, kama, krodha, lobha, lust, anger, greediness. They can be utilized also for Krsna’s service. Kami, lusty. One should be so much lusty to serve Krsna. Just like we become lusty to have our desired object, similarly, we should be lusty to work for Krsna as a madman: “I must do it.” That is the utilization of lustiness. Kama, krodha. Krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane. One should be very much angry upon a person who is envious of the devotees. Yes. A pure devotee, satam ninda, a pure devotee who is trying to spread the holy name of God, if somebody becomes envious upon him, that person is a great offender. So another devotee should be very much angry upon such person. Krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane. Bhakta-dvesi means one who is envious of a pure devotee. And who is a pure devotee? Who is trying to spread the holy name of the Lord all over the world. Satam ninda. This is offense. So a devotee can utilize all these elements— lustiness, anger, kama, krodha, greediness, and moha. Illusion also can be utilized. Just like illusion… Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me: “I see everything vacant, being separated from Govinda.” So when one is bewildered, illusioned, that can be also there. You become bewildered, illusioned, being separated from Govinda. So the… sarvesam apy aghavatam idam eva suniskrtam nama-vyaharanam visnor yatas tad-visaya matih So by chanting Hare Krsna mantra one becomes free from sinful reaction. Not only that, he becomes very soon a devotee. Yatas tad-visaya matih. Yatah means simply by chanting. Here it is clearly stated, nama-vyaharanam, chanting of the holy name. Vyaharanam means chanting. Nama-vyaharanam visnoh, “of Lord Visnu.” So not only he becomes free from all sinful reaction of his life, but yatas tad-visaya matih: his mind becomes fixed up in the lotus feet of Krsna. So try to understand what is the result of chanting, simply by chanting Hare Krsna mantra. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam [Adi 17.21]. So without offense, without committing offense, if we regularly chant this Hare Krsna mantra, then we remain freed from all sinful reaction of life and our attachment for the Supreme Lord in devotional service increases. Yatas tad-visaya matih. Brahma-vadibhih. Brahma-vadi means those who are very much fond of Vedic rituals, performances, yajnas. There was an argument, conversation with Haridasa Thakura and a brahmana. The Haridasa Thakura says that offenseless chanting of the holy name of Lord, one not only becomes free, not only he becomes brahma-bhuta, but his love of Godhead manifests. The dormant love of Godhead manifests and automatically he is liberated. So that brahmana protested that “Don’t exaggerate your chanting in this way. One becomes liberated after performing so much austerities, penances, and you say simply by chanting Hare Krsna? This is too much exaggeration.” So there was argument, and the argument increased, and there was cursing also, and Haridasa Thakura was a little bit agitated, and the brahmana became offender and he suffered. That incidence is described in the Caitanya-caritamrta. So the first stage of chanting Hare Krsna mantra is full of offenses. But if one sticks to the principle… Therefore we have to chant regularly sixteen rounds at least. So even there are offenses, by simply chanting and being repentant that “I have committed this offense unnecessarily or without knowledge,” so simply be repentant and go on chanting. Then the stage will come. It is called namabhasa. That is offenseless, when there is no more offenses. That is called namabhasa. At namabhasa stage one becomes liberated immediately. And when one is liberated, if he goes on chanting—naturally he will go on chanting—then his love of Krsna becomes manifest. These are the three stages of chanting: chanting with offense, chanting as a liberated person and chanting in love of God. There are three stage of chanting. The same thing, the example is just like a mango, unripe mango, going on, changes. It is not that chanting brings another thing as a result. No. The same thing becomes manifest in different feature. Just like unripe mango, you taste in a different way; it is very sour. But when it is ripened and it is fully ripened, the taste is changed. The taste is now sweet. So in the beginning we may be very much reluctant in the matter of chanting, but when you become liberated the chanting will be so sweet that you cannot give up. Just like Rupa Gosvami. He has composed a sloka. He says in that sloka that “If I had millions of tongues and trillions of ears, then the chanting of Hare Krsna mantra would have been relishable. How, what can I do with one tongue and two ears?” So that is liberated stage. That is prema. But that stage is attainable. If you follow regularly the principles, everyone will attain to that stage when he simply likes to chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Thank you very much. Hare Krsna. Syamasundara: All glories to Srila Prabhupada. Prabhupada: [break] …gain commit the sins, then you have to suffer. Guest: We say, “om namah sivaya, om namah sivaya.” What is the difference, om namah sivaya, om namo hare rama? You say Hare Rama moksa. Om namah sivaya is no moksa? Prabhupada: No. Guest: Who is Siva? Prabhupada: Siva is Siva. Guest: No, Karttikeya, who…? Daitya…? Prabhupada: That’s all right, but Siva is Siva. Guest: Siva, is he not a god? Prabhupada: He’s a demigod. Guest: Devi-god. Prabhupada: Demigod, not devi-god. Demigod. Guest: He is also god. Prabhupada: Yes. God, you are also god. Guest: We are also, get the same reward through the Hare Rama Krsna murti. Prabhupada: No, no. Guest: That is, increases, eh? Prabhupada: If you chant Hare Krsna you’ll get the different result. And if you chant Siva’s name you’ll get different result. Guest: Which is the best? Prabhupada: Hare Krsna. Yamuna: Haribol! Prabhupada: If you chant Lord Siva’s name you will get material opulence, but if you chant Lord Visnu’s name, then you’ll be transferred to the spiritual world. So we have to be very cautious. Just like a person, after being freed from the diseased condition, he is in convalescent stage. In convalescent, again if he does something wrong, the disease is relapse. Then, at that time, one has to be very careful, not that “Because I have become liberated, I’ll do anything,” no. That is going on. Just like we Indians, we have become independent, and therefore we are doing anything we like and we are conditioned now again. Guest: (Hindi) [break] Prabhupada: …of Brahman. You are also Brahman. So your manifestation and Lord Siva’s manifestation is not the same. So there are different grades of manifestation. We have to know that. Although the thing is one but there are different manifestation, not that because everything is one, that everyone is the same. No. Hare Krsna. Hamsaduta: Hare Krsna. Prabhupada just gave a wonderful example which I will repeat. He said that everything is one, just like wood. Wood in the primary stage is wood, and then in the smoking stage it’s also wood. And then in the fire stage it is also wood, but fire is required. So in three stages… So similarly, the Supreme Lord is manifest as Brahma, Siva, and Visnu. So it is compared to the wood. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Allahabad, January 15, 1971