Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis,
Please accept my humble obeisances! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev.
This is in continuation of the previous mail transcribing the powerful speech by our beloved Guru Maharaj on Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.1.14.
āpannaḥ saṁsṛtiṁ ghorāṁ yan-nāma vivaśo gṛṇan
tataḥ sadyo vimucyeta yad bibheti svayaṁ bhayam
Living beings who are entangled in the complicated meshes of birth and death can be freed immediately by even unconsciously chanting the holy name of Krishna, which is feared by fear personified.
Maharaj was refering to the following verse in Srimad Bhagavatam 1.7.22 where the word "samsrti" is there at the end of the verse.
arjuna uvāca
kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa mahā-bāho bhaktānām abhayaṅkara
tvam eko dahyamānānām apavargo ’si saṁsṛteḥ
Arjuna said: O my Lord Sri Krishna, You are the almighty Personality of Godhead. There is no limit to Your different energies. Therefore only You are competent to instill fearlessness in the hearts of Your devotees. Everyone in the flames of material miseries can find the path of liberation in You only.
This is the verse spoken by Arjuna when he was in difficulty. With all the association of Krishna, Krishna was in the same chariot; even then see Arjuna's complicated meshes. How can it happen? You are with Krishna. You are fully Krishna conscious. But even then, the difficulty was so very acute that devotee like Arjuna was also bewildered. So what to talk of us? We are completely far away from Krishna. tat dure - I do not know how far we are, and that is why our position is, it is very difficult to get out of this hurdle. I remember there is a pilgrimage place. There are 10 to 12 wells small wells but not very deep on the rock of the river and the natural arrangement is there because of the water, that in the rainy season, if you enter one well, then you have to enter into another well and you cannot come out in between even if you wish. It was done like that. This is the meaning of the hurdle. Once you enter in to it, you can only come out at the end. Luckily if you come across pure devotees like Srila Prabhupada we can come out of the hurdle. Otherwise it is completely impossible.
As soon as we come to this realization, then what happens? Then may be somewhere we have heard the holy names. Somewhere again, we may have seen some temple. We may see some nice calendar and fix it in our mind. There are so many ways these have the effect or somewhere we might have seen devotees running around with dhotis. The way you people look all in white dhoti is vaikuntha like. It is beautiful. There is no comparison to this dress. At least in India we should force ourselves to put on these clothes. Every time we were slaves. The Mohammedans came and they were there for 1000 years and they left their pyjamas. They are no more the rulers but the pyjamas are there and we are so very attached to the pyjamas and the kurta which is also so long extending till below the knees. Our pyjama is also not ordinary pyjama. This is muslim domination. Atleast 2 pieces of cloth must be consumed in kurta whereas for dhoti in three meters, the whole thing could be done. So it is complicated again. Complications we like because, we ourselves are entangled into these complicated meshes. This is the main thing to be understood.
As soon as we realize this, then vivaśo gṛṇan. Then helplessly we try to chant something. This is the main thing. Somebody comes to the program, or hears the tape or attends Srimad Bhagavatam class or Bhagavad gita class or chanting. And then our sleeping (dormant) spiritual nature gets triggered. So this is how somebody pulls our trigger by these things. After our grhastha ashrama, nearly half life is still left with us if if we are really serious. Because after retirement, the major part of the life we are thrown out of the house or we had to get out of the house or in the house also we may pass free time, then at that time if we are not really serious about these things and if we do not have this engagement, "yan-nāma vivaśo gṛṇan", that time, we will be tested. Majority of the people, do not have this knowledge. Either they go insane or die immediately. As soon as they retire, they die. There is nothing to do. Nobody welcomes you in the house and outside the house. The situation is more precarious than whatever naturally it is, and naturally we are entangled. Then we have so much time at our disposal and money is also there. Everything is there and we do not know really what to do? May be for the whole of his lifetime, he might have performed dishonest activities and these activities stand on his head at the time he is free and that is burdensome and he again worries what will happen and he forcefully passes away.
If at all you helplessly chant His names, tatah - thereafter, sadyah - immediately; vimucyeta - he gets liberated. Why? Because Krishna's name is very powerful. But we are not chanting in a helpless mood. That is why when we chant 16 rounds, I do not know whether we are chanting 16 rounds or not, it is very difficult to chant. At the end of the 16 rounds, we throw our japa mala that we have finished our rounds today and we want to do whatever we want to do. So we are very scared to come to Him. The fear personified is afraid of the Names, what are we?
Maharaj's explanation on how the asuras are very much afraid of the Holy Nmaes, shall be posted in the ensuing mail, Krishna willing.
Thank you very much.
Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev,
Vaijayantimala devi dasi
Abu Dhabi.
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