By Hayagriva das (ACBSP)
I will never forget one lecture in which, as often happened, he was attacking a famous impersonalist commentary to the verse, âOn Me fix thy mind; to Me be devoted; worship Me; revere Me; thus having disciplined thyself, with Me as thy goal, to Me shalt thou come.â (Bg. 9.34)
The impersonalist scholar commented: âIt is not the personal Krsna to whom we have to give ourselves up utterly, but the unborn, beginningless, eternal who speaks through Krsna.â Whenever Srila Prabhupada had Rayarama read this passage at a lecture, he would explode into a furious diatribe. âJust see what a nonsense rascal. Krsna is standing there and says, âTo Me; worship Me.â And he, a very great scholar, says it is not to the personal Krsna but to some void.
Just see what a rascal number one.â After listening to this diatribe for about a month, Kirtanananda finally, at the end of a lecture, said, âI donât see where heâs actually wrong. Krsna is in all of us. So if we surrender to the unborn within all of us, then we attain the ultimate.â
And he went on in this way. Srila Prabhupada didnât say a word. Kirtanananda finally ran down, and Srila Prabhupada asked, âAre you finished now?â When Kirtanananda acknowledged that he was, Srila Prabhupada suddenly began to roar like the lion incarnation. âKrsna is standing right before you and He says, âYou worship Me,â and you mean to say you do not worship Krsna? You mean worship some void, unborn? Krsna is before Arjuna and He says, âOn Me fix thy mind. To Me be devoted. Worship Me!â You do not understand? A nonsense rascal says it is not to Krsna, so you want to worship such a nonsense rascal? âNot to the personal Krsna,â he says, and Krsna says, âWorship Me.ââ We all sat in shocked silence.
Kirtanananda didnât say another word. I remember that I thought this attack very harsh, but Umapati thought it was justified. âHeâs right,â Umapati said afterwards. âNone of the commentators mention worshiping Krsna, but Krsna clearly says, âWorship Me.â Youâve read Bhagavad-gita before. Have you ever thought of worshiping Krsna?â I had to admit that although I had read Gita three or four times before, worshiping Krsna had never entered my mind.
Later I came to understand that most scholars and swamis avoid the clear command of this verse, although they teach from Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, the following year in San Francisco I bluntly asked one celebrated Swami Mayananda, âDo you worship Krsna?â He was sitting in a chair, and I was standing over him when I asked the question, and he jumped to his feet and shouted, âNo! Why should I?â His eyes flashed, and he was furious and he chided me that Krsna is nothing but the Self that is within all of us.
Thus Srila Prabhupadaâs first job was to establish that the supreme aspect of the Absolute Truth is a person and that we are to worship this person. By and large we were mostly impersonalists addicted to inactivity. We were concerned about mukti, nirvana or liberation from all material action, but he deluged us with words and showed us how action for the sake of the Supreme is on the spiritual platform and is superior to inaction.
This essentially is the message of Bhagavad-gita, for Lord Krsna tells Arjuna to fight, âbut do it for Me.â Srila Prabhupada said, âWhen one works for Krsna and chants His name, he is already liberated and living on the spiritual plane. Just as one feels heat as soon as he touches something hot, one is liberated as soon as he enters into the service of Krsna.â
We all felt that we had just touched something very hot. Certainly no one doubted that our long slumber had been disturbed.
By Hayagriva Prabhu, BTG #47
âWhen one works for Krsna and chants His name, he is already liberated and living on the spiritual plane. Just as one feels heat as soon as he touches something hot, one is liberated as soon as he enters into the service of Krsna.â
I’m not sure how to understand this quote. I used to take it at face value, simply that all the devotees are liberated. I remember the first time I went to a temple (I’d bought Bhagavad-gita As It Is in a used bookstore and read it 3 times, but hadn’t met devotees yet), I expected that all the devotees would be personally acquainted with Krishna, would solicit Krishna’s mercy on my behalf, and take me back to Godhead that same day! It seems so naive now, but that’s why I went; and when the Sunday program ended, I didn’t understand how I had missed the boat.
I kept trying and eventually got up to the standard of 4 regs and 16 rounds, but I still didn’t feel liberated. Material enjoyment was always a temptation that I was sometimes too weak to resist. Eventually I got initiated and was following more strictly, but still the same. I did not feel liberated, what to speak of Krishna conscious. After about a decade it started to seem like no one around was liberated either, and it became hard to stay inspired. Even after chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra millions of times, I have practically no attraction. My mind is captivated by material nature in spite of everything, and I remain a fool.
It seems that an aspiring devotee’s inspiration to serve Krishna should produce enough additional inspiration so that one would quickly become dovetailed in devotional service. Instead I look back on my former faith and enthusiasm and wish I had that much now. So am I just a total loser with no way of pleasing Krishna while this body breathes, or could someone explain this quote so that I can understand and feel inspired again?
Hare Krsna
sincerely,
Pandu das
Pandu das, it seems like an increasing problem these days to lose faith in chanting. Can I ask you something: were you initiated after Srila Prabhupad’s departure? If so I would suggest considering what/who’s vani brought you to the movement initially, and reattach yourself to that through the voluminous audio and video documentaries of his instructive love. I am making the assumption that you first got a book. Please forgive my presumption, but I won’t receive a reply till much later so I must be a little forward.
ys
AnantaSesa das bramacari
I came upon this 2006 exchange and want to comment on this. Many have had the experience of “practicing” Krishna consciousness, yet being frustrated or impatient. The question that Pandu das expressed 10 years ago is just as relevant today.
The Holy Name of the Lord is Himself the Lord. He is a Person, but not a person such as we find in the mundane plane. He is Bhagavan. While it seems a reach to “imagine Him as such”, there is no need to imagine Him. He can reveal Himself as He likes, to whomever. And so I share…
In my book, published in 2013, “God is Not Dead, The Testimony of a Fortunate Seeker” by Paul H. Dossick, MD, I faced exactly the situation that Pandu das found himself in. Of course, I had only been chanting less than 3 months, but I had been an avid seeker for about 3 years. I was 20 year old at the time and a premed student at the University of Florida, Gainesville. When I finally engaged in devotional service with Gargamuni Swami in the Fall of 1970, I had felt a great relief, and took the practices seriously. There was no temple there (Amarendra das and Gayatri dd (later initiated with these names) offered their living room as the Krishna House.
Anyway, as related in the 6th. chapter of my book, I described that I felt the Holy Name was real and the chanting congregationally and personally on japa beads was bonafide. However, I came to reflect upon my self that “I did not have the right stuff” to carry on with these spiritual practices. I had been accepted to Medical School, and I did not see my self living the life of a monk. I had chanted 8 rounds early morning before class at UF in early January 1971, and I was tired, and I determined in my mind that I would leave the Krishna House that morning and not return again. Not because I had any fault with the Krishna bhakti process, but because I did not think I had the constitution personally to persevere.
I took rest in the living room temple, while Gargamuni Swami, and bhakta Bill (later Radhaballabha) chanted their rounds. As I rested I was transported and granted darshan of Vaikuntha, both the liberated 4 armed jiva souls, Lord Vishnu, and finally chanting Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, the beautiful all spiritual and all attractive face of Krishna, smiling broadly, appeared before me. The details are in the 6th. chapter of the book. When I returned to my physical body having been introduced as well to the brahmajyoti (that is not a pleasant experience!), I sat up and said, “God really is a Person.” For me, the rest is history.
So, I do empathize with the frustration, albeit of perhaps a different flavor, of Pandu das. But, I relate this, having come upon this old presentation, because it is so important to know. Krishna truly exists, He is his Holy Name, and He is the most beautiful, loving and ecstatic Person.
I genuinely understand this was Causeless Mercy for me who am unqualified. Pusta Krishna das