Maui, Hawaii, May 25, 2000
Once there was a wife who mistreated her husband and then rejected him. Because the husband was fully absorbed in that lady, he became so shocked and bewildered that he was about to die. We should always remember these things. When you are chanting and remembering in the association of high-class Vaisnavas, these bad attachments will leave and renunciation is bound to come. If it is not coming, something must be wrong. My request is that you should keep this balance-scale always with you, in your pocket and in your heart. Then you should try to measure, and see whether or not is there any loophole. If there is a hole, please weep and call out to Sri Rupa-Sanatana, Sri Raya Ramananda, and Sri Svarupa Damodara. This is sadhu-sanga. Sometimes higher class of devotees may open your eyes and show you, "Here is your defect." They will tell you, but you will have to go and catch hold of their fingers. They will not walk for you. You will have to walk by your own feet. I am giving my finger, as Srila Svami Maharaja gave his. You should hold it and come. I am holding out my finger, but you will have to walk. And if you do not walk, then where is the fault?
'Bhava mahadavagni nirvapanam bhavati.' All your various flames of worldly fires - everything - will subside. In what proportion will they subside? As much as you are chanting and remembering. In that proportion all kinds of anarthas will subside, but they may come at anytime when you are in bad association. They will again come and attack you. So be careful, because they are not yet burned. They will be burned afterwards.
'Sreyah kairava candrika vitaranam.' This Name is like the moon, because the moon gives its light-rays which are full of nectar and nourishment. In the evening, when the rays are coming, lily flowers begin to gradually blossom. As the night continues so much fragrance comes. From where does it come? Something is coming from the flower and something is coming from the moon. Similarly, Krishna's Name is like that moon, and His rays are compared to the mercy of the Vaisnavas. When this rays touch your heart, it will blossom, and all kinds of good qualities will come. They are bound to come if you chant and remember in this way.
Then, 'trnad api sunicena, taror api sahisnuna, amanina manadena.' All good qualities will come. You will be very humble and tolerant, and you will develop a taste in chanting, remembering and serving Vaisnavas. You will be able to give up all your jobs or duties, and come to the Vaisnavas to hear and question. All these qualities will come. There are 26 qualities, as mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, which describe a Vaisnava. What are they? Krpalu - mercy, vadanya - magnanimity, suci - cleanliness, akincana - without material possessions, mrdhu - mild, and all other very good qualities. From where will they come? They will automatically come by the rays of the Name and the mercy of Krishna.
Next comes 'sreya kairava candrika vitaranam vidyavadhu jivanamam', and then you will have to follow the process of 'namnam akari bahuda nija sarva sakti, tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah, etadrsi tava krpa bhagavan mamapi, durdaivam idrsam ihajani nanuragah.' "O Nama Prabhu, You have all kinds of power and opulence, and You are so full of mercy. There is no fixed time for taking the Holy Name or not taking it." Can you chant only after taking bath? No, there are no such rules. Can you take the Name while bathing? Yes, you can take it. Whether you have taken bath or not, washed your mouth or not, you can chant, 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare, Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' Even if you are passing stool and urine - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna - you can chant in your mind. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu did it.
If anyone takes the Name of Rama, then Hanuman must go there, with thousands and lakhs of bodies. He can go everywhere, at the same time. There was once a person who never had time to chant the Name. Narada went and told him, "Why don't you chant the Name, you silly, bogus person?" He answered, "I have no time, I am always busy." Narada then asked him, "Are you always busy, even at the time of passing stool and urine?" That person said, "Oh, no, not at that time." Narada Muni told him, "Then at that you should chant." He replied, "That I can do."
When he went to pass stool, and he was chanting, "Hare Rama Hare Rama", Hanuman came at once. He was upset and thought, "This bogus person is impure, passing urine and stool." And he gave him a kick. Hanuman is so powerful that even if he would kick Ravana, Ravana would fall over. Even Kumbhakarna and Meghnath would not be able to bear his kick. However, when he kicked this person who was chanting Hare Krishna, it was though nothing had been done. Then Hanuman thought, "This is very wonderful! What happened? I have never seen anything like this. Although he is passing stool and urine and chanting, there is no difficulty or problem." He was in amazement. Then, in the evening, when he returned to Rama and knocked on the door, he heard Rama lamenting. Hanuman entered and asked, "Prabhu, why are you moaning?" Ramacandra told Hanuman that he had done this to Him. Hanuman asked, "O Prabhu, how could I have done this?" Ramacandra said, "You know that nama and nami are both the same. When that person was passing stool and chanting, 'Rama Rama Rama', I went there in his heart. I was in his body. You kicked him, that kick came to My back, and now it has been broken. That is why I am moaning." Hanuman then told Ramacandra, "From today I will not ever do this."
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu once went to pass stool, and Gopala-guru was carrying water. Mahaprabhu caught hold of His tongue very tightly, and Gopal-guru, like a boy, asked, "Prabhu, why are you doing like so?" Mahaprabhu told him that His tongue was out of control. "When I am going to pass stool, this chanting of 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna' will not stop. I want to stop, but it never stops. So I am doing like this." Gopala-guru told Mahaprabhu, "If anyone is going to die, and stool and urine are coming uncontrollably, should he not chant? I think it is better to chant." Mahaprabhu said, "Oh, you are not only Gopala. You are Gopala-guru." He left His tongue and began to chant.
Anyone can do this. Here Mahaprabhu is telling that there are no rules and regulations. It is not that you should only chant in a certain way. It is not that you cannot chant sitting on a bed or walking. You can remember the Name, you can chant it, you can sing it - in any way you can do it. You can pray, "But I am so wretched that I can't chant - even though you have given so much facility. Prabhu, I cannot control my senses. You should be merciful and help me." In this way we should chant.
'Trnad api sunicena taror api sahisnuna.' I have explained this so many times. You can also pray in this way: "O Prabhu, I don't want anything. I don't want any beautiful ladies, nor any high class of learning, nor any worldly things. I don't even want mukti, Laksmi-Narayana seva, or Rukmini-Krishna seva. I don't want any of these." "What do you want?" "Ahaituki bhakti tvayi janmani janmani." What is ahaituki bhakti? In its highest form it is the mood of serving Srimati Radhika. Unnatojjvala parakiya manjari mood is the highest.
And then what will happen? By practicing like this, faith will come. 'Ayi nanda tanuja kinkaram patitam mam visame bhavambudhau, krpaya tava pada-pankaja sthita dhuli sadrsam vicintaya.' What is this? You will realize your relationship to Krishna. You will realize who you are - gopi or friend or whoever you are. In this next stage you can think of yourself as a gopi. Then you may come in the raganuga process; otherwise not. At that time what will you weep for? 'Nayanam galad asru dharaya vadanam gadagada rudhaya gira, pulakair nicitam vapuh kada tava nama grahane bhavisyati.' "O Krishna! O Radhike! O Mahaprabhu! When, while chanting Your Name, will my heart melt, and will tears come automatically. My heart is harder than a stone. It is not melting and there are no hairs standing on end. There are no symptoms of my taking the Name. O Prabhu, please be merciful to me. Take my stone-like heart." When automatic weeping comes, the heart will be melted. This will not be to cheat others, to show others, like so many do without their hearts actually melting. Their hairs may stand on end, they may fall down on the earth, but is their heart melting? This should be done with our hearts melting. How will it manifest?
He will chant, "O Govinda, O Radha-Ramana!" He will be overwhelmed. His hair will be standing, his heart melting, and he will be out of sense. Sometimes he will feel that Krishna is here, and he will run to embrace Him. But Krishna will quickly move backwards in a crooked way. At once Krishna will see that, "He has come to embrace Me." He will quickly disappear, and thus increase your taste and eagerness. If you have that scale which I gave you, then think in this way.
Knowing all siddhanta is not sufficient. Even if you are siddhanta-vit, knowing all established truths and conclusions, this is not sufficient. You should have that mood as your goal, and use that scale to see what is in your heart. Then, 'nayanama galad asru dharaya, vadanam gadagada rudaya.' Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is weeping, "When will that day come that I will be like this?"
Then, "yugayitam nimesena caksusa pravrisayitam, sunyayitam jagat sarvam govinda virahena me.' You will actually this. One moment of separation will be like lakhs and lakhs of yugas. And, when you will be full of separation mood like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, one million years in meeting will be like a second. After that, 'aslisya va pada ratam pinastu mam, adarsanan marma hatam karotu va.' Try to follow all these things. If you are following, then these stages will come. They may not all come in one lifetime, they may take so many lives, but they will come up to mood, up to bhava. Some semblance of prema may come, and that is bhava.
I think that our preaching and classes, and our coming here, is very successful. Very successful. But you should always know all these truths. Don't forget them. In this world at the present time, I think that no one is so much merciful to you that he will give all these things. So you are fortunate. You should pick up all these principles and keep them in your heart. If you are standing up and then falling down, no harm. If anything is going on, no harm. If your wife is quite opposite to you, no harm. If she feels that if you are engaging in bhakti then she will give you up, no harm. She should give you up. Your children also. If your father, mother, or anyone else is against you, go on with this process of bhakti. You will be very lucky if you are taking this.
Devotee: You mentioned that by practicing devotional service, following devotional life, anarthas subside.
Srila Narayana Maharaja: As long as you are not realizing yourself, as long as suddha-sattva has not yet come, anarthas may wake up; and they can attack and control you. But when that mood comes, when suddha-sattva from hladini and samvit-sakti comes, then anarthas can no longer come. At that time they are all burned.
Devotee: So they may be subsided, but in bad association they can come up again?
Srila Narayana Maharaja: Yes, this chance is there. Even mukta-purushas, (impersonal) liberated persons also, may be attacked again by bad association. On the other hand, those who are surrendered souls, those who are always surrendered, have no fear of this.
This is association. This is siksa-guru. Guru gives all these things as a siksa guru. One thing I will request all of you. Whatever I have told, you should try to follow exactly. The second thing is that I want to preach, and so you should also preach - in two ways. First realize all these things, and then preach hari-katha to others. Also, you should try to give out the books which are published by us. In Srila Svamiji Maharaja's time so many young girls used to do this, and all the boys did it. That is why, very quickly, Krishna consciousness spread all over the whole world. So, again I want this. Nowadays these leaders are not doing nagara sankirtana, hari-nama, but I want that all my disciples should do it. Even if there are 2, 3, or 4, no harm. You should go out with a mrdanga and kartalas. If there is no mrdanga, no harm, you can do it with only kartala. Oh, haribol, haribol, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna. And regarding my books, each devotee should take at least 10 sets and distribute them. I have told this so many times. You can also do this - to serve and please Gurudeva and Krishna. And go on doing it. Thank you.
