Bhajan Kutir Opening | HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | Mappedu Village, Thiruvallur, Chennai | 7th July, 2013
So, all the people in the material world are very busy working. And certainly if we don’t do activities, we cannot live. This has been a rule since the beginning of time. Animals have to do some activity to survive. Human beings also have to do activities. So, human being is also called animal. There are similarities between animals and human beings. As I said, they all have to do ctivities to survive. So, what are the activities? They all have to eat. They all have to sleep. They all have to reproduce and they all have to protect themselves. So, we see that all animals do this. And human beings also do this. We can sleep out of bed. Dogs does not sleep out of bed. I can eat idlies. Dogs does not eat idlies. So, yes, we are eating maybe a little better food. And we are sleeping a little more comfortably. But is that the only difference between animal and human being?
So, you say, well, human being is more intelligent. That is true. But what do we use intelligence for? So, you can eat and sleep better. Dog does not have 20 years college. They can eat and sleep very nicely without all of that. And more or less, after completing collage, you have to work for 50 years, 10 hours a day, just for eating and sleeping. Dog does not have to work for 10 hours a day. You see, all day peacefully sleeping in the field. So, maybe dog is more intelligent. It does not have to study for 20 years. It does not have to work for 20 years. And dog is just as happy as human being. In fact, dog is more happy. Human beings, they do all this and still they are not happy. Everybody is always complaining. Everybody is worried. Everybody is full of stress and people commit suicide. We never see dog committing suicide. We never see dogs going crazy. So, in spite of our more intelligence, we seem to be less advanced than dogs.
So, then what is the special quality of human being? That intelligence that is special is useful. So, the Vedic scriptures tell us that yes, the human being is special, because he is intelligent. But, he has to use his intelligence in a certain way. Then he is different from the animal and superior to the animal. So, as I said, normally we are using the intelligence so we can eat and sleep better. That’s all. But the real use of the intelligence is not for this. It is for something different. So, the human being can ask questions like ‘Who am I?’ ‘Why do I exist?’ The animal cannot do this. So, to ask the question is the quality of the human being.
And the human being can also get the answer. However, the human being cannot get the answer by himself. Just that you cannot get your complete education by yourself. You have to go to books, you have to go to school, you have to go to the library, you have to go to teachers. So, to answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ ‘Why do I exist?’ ‘What should I do besides eating and sleeping?’ We have to go to the scriptures. If we have faith in the scriptures, then we can get the answer. So, there are many scriptures, but we should choose the best scripture.
So, the best scripture is the Vedic scripture. Why is that? There are many scriptures in the material world. Why do we say Vedas are better than anything else? Of course, because it is the oldest. The Vedic scriptures are older, historically speaking, even in modern history. The Vedas are older than all the other scriptures in the world. This means they give complete knowledge of the Self and complete knowledge of the Supreme Lord. The scriptures we can accept because they give us a little knowledge of the Self, a little knowledge of the Supreme Lord. But an intelligent person will try to get complete knowledge rather than partial knowledge. So, we will find that, the Vedas will have that complete knowledge.
So, the next question comes, why are the Vedas more complete? They are more complete, because if we look at other scriptures, they will not completely describe the nature of the Supreme Lord and the nature of the Self. And if you look in the scriptures of other scriptures, you will see, yes, we accept God. God is one. God is powerful. God has all knowledge. But what about his name? What about his form? What about his colour? What about his activities? Nothing. Zero. None of these scriptures say anything about that. So, if we look in the Vedic literature, we will find many, many names of the Supreme Lord, many qualities, many colours of the Supreme Lord, many forms of the Supreme Lord, many activities of the Lord. Therefore, we can say, complete.
So, what is the difference between incomplete knowledge and complete knowledge? Obviously, if you get a third standard education, is that as good as a graduate degree from IIT? Different amounts of knowledge, you are qualified for different things. So, we have complete knowledge of God, we are qualified for something different than if we have very small knowledge of God. Of course, if you get a third standard education, you can do something and then you get, what do you do? You can get a job doing something and what you do, you get some money and you can survive in the material world. If you get an IIT degree, you get a better job, you get more money and you can enjoy much more. So, little knowledge qualifies you for little happiness, greater knowledge qualifies you for greater happiness.
So, similarly in spiritual life, a little knowledge about God will qualify you for some spiritual happiness and complete knowledge of God will give you qualification for complete happiness. So, another point is, of course, if you have that complete knowledge, it includes everything that is in the partial knowledge. But it includes more. If we have a hundred rupees, we have one rupee also. But we also have extra ninety nine. Therefore, if we have complete knowledge of God, it is much better than having five percent knowledge of God. The final result is that, we can get much greater happiness by that complete knowledge. So, that knowledge includes not only understanding that God has many names and many forms and many activities, but also the process to realizing.
So, there is common agreement in all religions. What is the method of realizing God? Worship Him! So, the question comes, how to worship Him? Therefore, we will have many different methods of doing that. So, in the Vedic literatures also, there are many methods. So, we have karma yoga, jnana yoga, ashtanga yoga and bhakti yoga. However, at the same time, it is displaying that most of these methods are not practical in modern day. So, only the process of bhakti yoga is recommended. So, bhakti yoga of course means to worship the Supreme Lord. So, this is direct worship. We choose a particular form of the Lord and we worship Him.
So, which form? So, this scripture will describe many different forms of the Supreme Lord. So, all of them are acceptable to worship. Other forms are not permitted. Sometimes, people make up their own form and say, Oh, I worship this form. This is my bhakti yoga. So, that is not permitted. The scriptures will define who is the Supreme Lord, what are the forms of the Supreme Lord. So, if we look in the Bhagavad Gita and in Srimad Bhagavatam, there, we will find the forms which are authorized. At the same time, we will find in the Bhagavatam and in the Bhagavad Gita, it is explained that in our particular modern days, the recommended form of worship is Krishna. That is the very clear conclusion of the Bhagavad Gita. Therefore, the whole Tenth Skandha is dedicated to our Bhagavan Krishna. And at the end of the Bhagavad Gita, it says, just worship me. Give up all other dharmas. Give up all other religions. Give up karma yoga, jnana yoga, and asthanga yoga. And even give up the forms of the Lord. Just worship Krishna. So, as I said, if we are going to practice spiritual life, we have to follow the scriptures. Therefore, if you look at the scriptures very carefully, this will be the conclusion.
So, who is Krishna? Again, you cannot concoct a form of Krishna. That form is very nice and strong. So, how do we worship the form of Krishna? So, this process of worship is also described. We go to the temple and ask for something. Go to Balaji and give him some money. So, this is worship in general. That’s what people do. Most people in the material world, that’s what they’ll do. Go to the temple, ask Krishna for something. That’s it. But, according to Krishna, no. He said, yes, you can offer me a fruit or a leaf or some water. But, that’s not all. You must have devotion. So, simply going to a temple, offering a banana and praying for something, that is not devotion. So, therefore, the Lord does not accept that.
So, what is the devotion? Why should we please the Lord, for no reason? I will please the Lord in order to get something from the Lord. That’s not devotion. That is like going to the store and offering 10 rupees and getting something. So, that is simply buying and selling. So, we offer banana and expect something from the Lord. That’s the same thing. So, we keep asking the Lord for things. That is not devotion. So, when we don’t ask for things, we are good. But, we just don’t ask for anything and don’t feel anything. That’s also not devotion. So, devotion means with great affection, we offer to the Lord.
So, why are we offering? Simply because we like Him so very much. Just as, if you like somebody, you may give them a gift. So, everybody celebrates their birthday party, right? So, when you celebrate a birthday party with someone, then you give them a gift. Why do we give a gift? We are expecting them to do something for you? No, we are just giving it because we like it. So, giving a banana to the Supreme Lord is also an offering, a sign of affection. Of course, the Supreme Lord doesn’t need your banana. Because it is just a piece of material energy. And the billionaire can offer a million bananas. Even if you don’t offer but he is satisfied with your affection. You can offer a mental banana to the Lord. And He is very pleased if you have affection for the Lord or if you offer yourself to the Lord, the Lord is very pleased. So, therefore, devotion means that we express our affection for the Supreme Lord. And we can emphasize that by offering an item like a flower or food or water. So, this is a very simple process of attaining perfection. Krishna promises this in the Bhagavad Gita. Just follow this process and you get eternal happiness, eternal life.
So, the principle is very simple. So, the only difficulty lies in how to apply the principle. Each individual has to be determined to develop that affection for the Supreme Lord. However, this process remains very easy, because the Supreme Lord….. with bhakti we can do many ways and we can please the Supreme Lord. These are parts that are also mentioned in the scripture. We do not concoct our own methods. So, we have some very important processes. One is, hearing about the activities of the Supreme Lord. This means listening to the scriptures. So, this is a good engagement for our intelligence, our mind, our ears. The name is non-different from the Supreme Lord. So, by chanting the name of the Lord, we can realize the Lord fully and develop the highest bliss. So, this is a form of chanting the Lord, simply chanting His name. It does not even require a flower or a fruit. And a very, very powerful process. Another process, of course, is worshipping the deity of the Lord. So, we have a temple and there we can offer things to the Lord. Another process of pleasing the Lord is, to associate with other devotees. This means, association means, that we hear from each other about the Supreme Lord. So, these are very powerful processes to help us develop spiritually.
So, in developing spiritually, we become different from animals. We don’t see dogs and cats living spiritual life. Certainly, they are eating and sleeping, like human beings also do. But a human being should do more than sleeping, he should develop spiritually. So, spiritual life is not simply meaning following some customs that your mother and father and grandfather did. It means to ultimately understand that you are not the body. Spirit means atma, jiva, different from body. Body dies, atma does not die. So, spiritual means atma, but spiritual also means Supreme atma, Supreme Lord. So, spiritual life means two – to accept that we are spiritual atma, and there is Supreme Lord. And then, once we accept these two, to develop our relationship and realization of the Supreme Lord. So, the final result of that is that we get complete eternal bliss. So, this is possible in the human form of life, it is not possible in dog life.
So, this is an activity that we should all do as human beings – practice spiritual life. So, we can start doing that by chanting His name. It is a simple process, but as I said, it is the most powerful process. It brings about the highest result. So, everyone should take to the Sankirtan movement. So, we have opened here a small temple dedicated to chanting the name of Krishna. So, everyone in this village should take part in the chanting of Krishna’s name. For one could say, well, I am worshipping some other deity. But as I said, we should very carefully look at the scriptures and follow the advice of the scriptures. If you accept Bhagavad Gita, accept the conclusion of Bhagavad Gita. So, take to the worship of Krishna.
So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared 500 years ago to reveal Krishna through chanting His name. So, of course, there are many names of Krishna. He is called Govinda, Shyamasundar, Gopal. So, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu made things a little simpler for us. He simply selected three names. And He said, you chant ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare’. So, following after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we are propagating this very simple method of attaining the highest perfection in life. So, we encourage everyone to take part in the Sankirtana movement.
Hare Krsna !
Devotees: HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki.. Jai !!