19850204_The_Mood_of_Ksetra_Sannayasi_Sri_Mayapur_Dham The following is a class given by His Holiness Jayapataka Swami on February 4th,1985, in Sridham Mayapur. mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande paramānanda-mādhavam Sri caitnaya Isvaram. One, I can’t remember exactly who said it, maybe it was Nitaichand Maharaj, someone said something about being a Ksetra Sanyasi, so you know a Ksetra Sanyasin means one should never leave the holy dham, and one has to stay within that ksetra. So in this regard, Prabhupada had sometimes sent me out to preach, I was wondering how this word would be accurate, because everything which the sanyasi say, and the devotee say is always accurate, and then I remember how Srila Prabhupada said that if you can’t physically live in a place sometimes, but mentally you should live there, and when I am in Mayapur those who have been with me when I am overseas or when I am in Mayapur, they noticed that when I am in Mayapur, I tell less stories about Lord Caitanya than when I am outside of Mayapur. Because when I am in Mayapur, then I am not feeling so much separation from Lord Caitanya, so then I tell other instructions. When I am outside of Mayapur, to try to maintain my connection with the holy dham, then I am more inclined to always tell stories about Lord Caitanya, which for a moment gives me some relief from not being in the holy dham. But there was one other aspect about the Ksetra sanyas, that I was thinking about, that Prabhupada has given us the ksetra of ISCKON, the International Society For Krishna Consciousness. And that certainly we want to remain within ISCKON always, and never go outside ISCKON, and so in this sense certainly there are... we should all take up this mood of ksetra sanyas, that we don’t want to leave the family of ISKCON, we want to stay within this ksetra, this holy abode created by Srila Prabhupada, and I think that everyone will agree that in that aspect we should all be ksetra sanyasis. The house that Srila Prabhupada has constructed, was, is and will be always a very intimate connection, not only with ah... Srila Prabhupada and all the devotees, but also with our previous acharyas, like His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakur, before...because Srila Prabhupada said there is a need created or constructed or formed, the International Society For Krishna Consciousness, was to satisfy the specific expressed desires of the previous acharyas. So therefore, this ISKCON is the embodiment of the fulfilment of the previous acharyas desires, just as we pray to Rupa Goswami, Sri Caitanya mano bristam stapitam yena bhutale, that Rupa Goswami is glorified because he has taken Sri Caitanya mano brisatam, the desire, the dream of Lord Caitanya, Stapitam yena bhutale, and he is established that, given it a form, given it a practical implementation in the universe, so in this material world. So, similarly Srila Prabhupada, has taken Srila Rupa Goswami’s, Bhakti Vinod Thakur’s, Gaur Kishore Babaji’s bhakti, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur’s desires. They are expressed aspirations for having Krishna conscious spread everywhere, and he has given it a formal shape, he has moulded it, designed it and even troubleshooted and refined it’s ah.... functioning through the years into the, as Bhakti... His Holiness Bhakti Caru Maharaj expressed his great spiritual family, the International Society For Krishna Consciousness. So everyone, whether they are directly in an ISKCON centre or whether connected through one of our Namhatta programs, they should feel the pride, we allowed to feel pride for Krishna, for the guru, for the Vaisnava’s. We shouldn’t feel personal pride, because after all anything we are able to do, is only by the mercy of guru and Krishna. So we are allowed to feel pride in ISKCON, in the great Vaisnavas, that ah.... reside in ISKCON, and moreover, specially in the greatest founder acharya, His Divine Grace Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Srila Prabhupada, the founder aharya of Krishna, and here is incomparable achievements, and of course in our previous acaharya’s, whose desires were the impetus and the moving force to inspire Srila Prabhupada to create the ISKCON movement of Krishna conscious. So in this movement, our special strength is that we are dedicated to carrying out the instructions of the spiritual master and the previous spiritual master, and therefore we are always looking to them for help, for blessing, for strength. Actually Srila Prabhupada once instructed that a disciple should always feel like a fool before his spiritual master, so then I took advantage of that instruction and I thought myself very proud that I was going before Srila Prabhupada, and than I told him, “Srila Prabhupada I am a great fool.” At that time, inside I was quite proud of myself that I remembered his instructions and I was superficially humiliating myself, but seeing through my false ego, he looked at me and said, “Yes.” (laughter) So we have to not only remember the instructions of the spiritual master, not only be proud to be connected with his great disciplic succession, but we also have to guard ourselves from being conceitful or being self proud, when during some rare moment, we happen to remember their instruction and then try to do it. We should rather think that this is the lowest of my...this is the minimum obligation I have. It’s our eternal duty to carry out the instructions of the spiritual master. It is nothing to be proud of. That is the minimum, rather we should try to carry out the instructions of the spiritual master, we can do that, well our success is guaranteed, but our aspirations should be to not only carry out the instructions of the spiritual master, which he has directly given, but then to try to fulfil other dreams, other desires of our spiritual master and even the previous acharyas, and ultimate of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and of course even if we are able to do that we should still not feel proud of ourselves, but we should feel thankful if anything is able to be achieved by their mercy, has been given to enable that to happen. We should always see how the mercy, is coming down. Now of course the devotees, they see that this individual is doing this service and of course it’s their duty to glorify the Vaisnava’s. That’s how Krishna, he has competition. The Vaisnava’s are trying to glorify the Lord, but the Lord is trying to see that the Vaisnava’s is glorified. So the Vaisnava himself, never thinks that he is doing anything, 1.53-55 and the Vaisnavas and Lord Caitanya Krishna, but from the external view it appears that that he is doing everything, and so he is getting the credit. This is Krishna’s way of winning in the competition. He is giving the mercy, taking the devotee as a instrument in his own hands, doing wonderful things sometimes, but he lets the devotee take the credit, when actually He is doing everything. This is the devotee’s viewpoint, and this is the fact. So our greatest aspiration is to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Some great yogis, they want to achieve yoga siddhis, mystic powers, so that they can have the satisfaction of doing wonderful things, but this is very dangerous because after all the yoga siddhi is also a blessing of the Lord, but those yogis think that they are doing it themselves, because they have got that technique how to manipulate material nature through yogic siddhi. The devotee doesn’t desire any independent, such independent power, the devotee wants rather that Krishna use him as an instrument in His hand, through his spiritual master, that the guru parampara mercy is coming down, and thus the devotee is an instrument in Krishna’s hand to do his will. So that is the greatest desire of the devotee, remember Srila Prabhupada in his prayers when he reached America, he said... I don’t remember the exact words, maybe Bhakti Charu maharaj has memorised, that something like, “Nacho se bhave, nachabo, something like that, that you make me dance ah... in your hands just like a puppet. However you want me dance, let me dance in that way. That we want to be guided at every second by the Lord, and actually Krishna gives us guidance. The spiritual master gives us constant help. One can realise a constant connection with Krishna, by His mercy. So we should reinforce that connection, by doing those things which are pleasing to Krishna. That Krishna said that there is nothing which makes devotee more dear to me, nor will there ever be a devotee who is dearer than the one who explains this teachings of Krishna consciousness to my devotees. This is one of the last verses in the Bhagavat Gita. So because all of you are in this Krishna conscious movement, that means all of you are very very dear to Lord Krishna. So therefore we have to be very careful. Even a guru should also be careful, not to offend a disciple. Of course the guru is always thinking of the welfare, the spiritual welfare of the disciple, so it somehow, that conscious be lost, that would be very dangerous, because even the disciple is considered as dear. In fact you will find in South India, some of our Vaishnava sampradayas have become very much influenced by the Sankaracharya ah... method of sanyas. So when the disciple approaches the guru, and offers obeisance’s, the guru normally never responds. At best he may offer some ashirvadam. But we find that in out Vaisnava culture that the guru should return the obeisance offered by the disciple. So you find when the disciple is bowing down, previous Aharyas, Prabhupada they would always... they would also with folded hands, they would return, because in the heart of the disciple, Krishna is there. So we are to respect the presence of Krishna, in everyone. We never forget that Krishna is there in every person. So the reason why bringing out this point is to just impress that how careful... if a guru has to be careful about the welfare of his disciple, who Krishna has ah... placed in his care. What to speak of godbrother to godbrother, or spiritual cousinbrother to cousinbrother, how much more careful they have to be? Although they are equals spiritually, they may be svatirtha, equals in spiritual relationship, both of them are very dear to Krishna. Therefore, one should be very careful not to make any offence any spiritual equal as well, and then you can understand how important it is to be very cautious, not to be negligent or offensive or demanding to one’s ah... spiritual superior. So this is the International Society For Krishna Consciousness. So that means we have to increase our awareness, our consciousness, of Krishna. And Krishna is never alone. He is always with the devotees, so we have to increase our consciousness, of the devotees, and all those things which are loved by Krishna just as we say Mahaprasade Govide, namo brahmane vaisnave, svalpa punya vatan rajan visvaswane vrajayate. That someone is not of a small faith, if he has faith, she has faith, when we say he, we mean both always, in the Lord’s Mahaprasadam, Govinda’s holy names, in the Vaisnava’s, in the Brahmana’s, those who know the absolute truth, even they are not Vaisnava, they don’t know Krishna, but if they know Brahman, the spiritual reality, they are also considered transcendentalists. They are to be respected also to be as dear to Krishna, although the Vaisnava’s are more dear, because they have accepted Krishna as their life and soul. So Krishna also accepts them in reciprocation. So I know that in the... my crude and inefficient ah... way of trying to carry out Srila Prabhupada’s orders sometimes I in my crass enthusiasm, I may sometimes step on the toes of different of my godbrothers, and cause them unnecessary inconvenience. I was told by one godbrother, who is not here today, so I won’t mention his name, that when we were just living in the grass hut here and I doing those bananas and papayas and everything, that I was very strict, that all of the fruits should first go to Krishna before they are offered. Infact when I still... when I hear today, that sometimes our gurukul students raid the mango trees, before offering to Radha-Madhava, it makes me very angry, and they are very lucky I am not around during that ripening of the mango season. So at that time apparently I was a bit insensitive that one of my godbrother’s was very sick and we had that time had no money, no car, all we had was one bicycle and he was very sick, he couldn’t eat the rice Prasad that we were taking at that time. So he had asked, if he could have a papaya. So I said, “Well, let it be offered, then you can have the mahaprasad, but he said that when he went for the mahaprasad, that time because the pujari’s, although they weren’t sick, but they were wanting their share, they gave him only two small, so he was on a verge of starvation. So he noticed that one of the papaya was ripening on a tree, but the ripened part, you know when papaya turns ripe it turns red, that was on the inside of the tree, so it was not spotted yet by me. So he had confess to me, just for few weeks ago, that in that moment of weekness, he actually stole the papaya and hid it, and at midnight he went out in the field and he devoured the papaya, because that was the only time he could get away with it, but actually I felt bad that although I wanted to of course protect Krishna’s property and see it was offered, that I had caused so much anxiety to one of the other devotee, and in this way then I felt maybe I am committing so many offenses. In trying to do my service I may become niyamagraha, but that way I have to request everyone that in this way if I have ever committed any kind of offenses where in trying to do my service, that I become a little fanatical or something, and thereby cause someone difficult, that they could kindly give me their ah... forgiveness for that. By my nature I become fixed on a particular thing, have some quality, some... I don’t know if it is a defect or what it is, but I have some concentration that whenever I ah...am thinking about one thing, I become very absorbed in that, and my mother from my previous ashram, she told me that even when I was a child, if I was reading a book, normally when children, if you call them for lunch, they always like to come. Of course if they are playing sometimes, they don’t like to come, but normally if you are reading a book they will rather go and eat prasadam or food. Apparently when I would read books or be doing something, I would become so absorbed, that they would call, I would actually not hear them, and it was a fact, I wouldn’t hear, they would have to come and touch my body to break me out of that ah... concentration. So sometimes I become absorbed in a particular objective, and to achieve that I may do so many things, trying to see that it gets done. So in case, by that effort someone is ah... disturbed, that of course is never my intention. So I was sorry to hear how one godbrother had to go to such a length to get a papaya. He could have told me that the pujari didn’t give him much, I would have certainly tried to do something, but another thing that I was thinking of that someone said, how I was like Narada Muni, well I don’t think that those words are appropriate, because Narada Muni, wherever he went he was able to do so much preaching, and he would bring people to Krishna consciousness, where hardly, I don’t feel that I am adequately able to bring enough people to Krishna consciousness. But ah... in one sense it may be true that ah... because Srila Prabhupada, he said that he just like Narada Muni, he had been cursed by the parents of all the young children, boys and girls, who had joined his movement, and in Vrindavan, Prabhupada told me, that now I cannot travel anymore, now you have to take this curse, and ever since that I have been travelling, even though for nine years I never left Mayapur, right after that I was by victim of so many responsibilities in circumstances, I am forced now, I can never stay anywhere more than a few days. There is always a reason that I have to go to the next place very quickly. So in the.. in this regard, recently just when I was in south India, I just... one of my disciples were taken a verification under the influence of family and his own mind, took shelter of some of his family members. He rejoined to help Lord Caitanya’s movement, and his family members came for that devotee. Then I remember that, just see how sometimes the family members are certainly giving their curses to me, just as they used to curse Prabhupada. And I remember the story of how Narada Muni, he saw that there were,10,000 wonderful children, wonderful sons born to Daksha, who were performing austerities in the forest and then he went to them while they were performing their austerities and preached to them, how they should become Krishna conscious and fully dedicate their lives to Krishna, and how Daksha went and gave them all ah... sanyas. So that time Daksha became very angry at Narada Muni, and started to curse him and reprimanded him that they should all first of all enjoy life, and after enjoyment then they will only achieve tyaga, for... first bhoga and then tyaga, but actually Prabhupada said this is for the less intelligent people that actually we can learn by other’s mistakes. So like Narada Muni, we want to say people that why they have to enjoy which means that then they have to suffer. Bhoga brings tyaga, because by sense gratification that brings suffering and suffering brings renunciation. So why should we wish anyone to suffer? If we can inspire them in spiritual ecstasy somehow, and if they can avoid the bhoga, tyaga, suffering syndrome, and if they can directly achieve spiritual consciousness without having to go through that hard suffering, as they say in the West, the school of hard knocks, and directly they can achieve spiritual perfection. Naturally we would prefer that, but of course in so doing, some of the very orthodox parents, who want their, who are conditioned to think that everyone has to enjoy, and then suffer and then after tasting all that bitter medicine, then they will have a natural renunciation. Lord Caitanya had short cutted that and Srila Prabhupada has given us that nectar. We don’t have to suffer. More than we have already suffered in this Kali Yuga, than imediately we can take up spiritual life. Athatho Brahma Jijnasya, that now at this moment, athyahipa, we can start to realize the presence of Lord Caitanya through this International Society of Krishna Consciousness, through the pastimes of His great devotees, especially Srila Prabhupada, and other previous great acharyas, and through the books, which glorify Lord Caitanya, that actually we should take up very seriously this movement and not look back, not think that we are missing something, in the material world, or that there is something that we won’t get in Krishna conscious, that’s there in material life. Anything worth having is available in Krishna consciousness, and if it is not available in Krishna consciousness, just like drugs, illicit sex, gambling, or meat eating, that simply means that it is not worth having. It’s something which is bad for us. Anything which is tolerable even, you can have in Krishna consciousness, and anything which is intolerable, which is poisonous that is restricted. So we shouldn’t lament for anything in the material world. Rather we should always be very optimistic with our spiritual life, and we should have a very pessimistic attitude regarding this material world. Actually we see, when someone goes to the material world, they try to enjoy but they suffer so much anxiety. So we don’t want anyone to suffer this anxiety, we don’t want anyone to as a dar...dar, or someone that mentioned today, I think that yesterday someone mentioned this habu dubu, we don’t want anyone to take the dunking of habu dubu in the material world, but we want everyone to stay in the ecstasy of Krishna consciousness, so our process of course is chanting Hare Krishna, dancing in ecstasy, and then offering a wonderful offering to Krishna, and feasting. So since today seems to be dedicated to most of this activities, I don’t want to delay the program any further, but I want to encourage everyone to take up that ksetera sanyas mood, whether you are a grihasta, or brahmacharee, or whether you are a vanaprastee or a sanyasee, that everyone should remain always in the ksetra of the Krishna consciousness movement, and try to bring others into this transcendental free zone, where they can be free from the reactions of their previous karmas, and where they can be free to serve Krishna in transcendental love, and ecstasy. Hare Krishna. Devotees: Hari Bol Srila Prabhupada Ki. Sadananda Krishnaprem Das