Seminar on Gaudia Vaishnava Scriptures & Spiritual Practice| HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj | ISKCON Bologna, Italy | August 7, 2025
nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale
śrīmate bhaktivedānta-svāmin iti nāmine
namas te sārasvate deve gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe
nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe
jaya śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda
śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Okay so, we see that Srila Prabhupada wrote many books. And, of course, the books are all Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, they’re all authorized scriptures. And among spiritual movements, especially spiritual movements that come from India, that wealth of scriptures is very rare we don’t see other movements publishing so many books. So, of course, there is a purpose in doing that. Prabhupada did this to show that whatever we’re doing, following Lord Caitanya, is actually following scripture. And, according to scripture, if we don’t follow scripture, whatever we do is useless. Of course, we can say that most religions in the world will also have some basic scripture, and if you don’t follow that, they say you’re a heretic.
So, Lord Caitanya has started the movement based upon scripture. We find that before him, there were many devotees who also established movements. For instance, we have Ramanujacarya, who started over 500 years previous to Lord Caitanya. So, of course, Ramanujacarya also based his movement upon scripture. Up until recent times, that was the system. You base everything on scripture. We see that though there are many Vaisnavas, Lord Caitanya’s movement is relatively new compared to Ramanujacarya or Madhava, but it also has many things in common. So, many of the theological or philosophical points are the same. But we have a few points which are a little different. And one of those points, of course, is that Lord Caitanya has emphasized Harinama Sankirtan as the main process for everyone in Kali Yuga. So, the other spiritual movements who are Vaishnavas, mainly they do deity worship and they study scriptures.
So, because Lord Caitanya introduced Nama Sankirtan, then this gives rise to some other differences. Of all the different methods in Bhakti, Nama Sankirtan is the most powerful. It is available to everyone. So it has no consideration of Varna and Ashrama, anyone in any country, any time, any age they can chant the holy name. And at the same time, they can also achieve the highest goal, which is not available through other methods. So, all of this has a scriptural basis. Lord Caitanya is not making up something and copying anything. It’s there in scripture, but other groups, other acharyas, they emphasize different things in scripture. So, the name, of course, is glorified throughout the Vedic literature. And we see the name of Narayana is glorified in the story of Ajamila. Just by accidentally chanting the name of Vishnu, Ajamila destroyed all of his karmas. So, to destroy karmas is the goal of jnana and yoga, but that takes a long time. But just chanting once even the name of Vishnu, Ajamila destroyed all the karmas. So this is proof from Srimad Bhagavatam and it’s not made up. So here’s the famous verse from Padma Purana:
nāma cintāmaṇiḥ kṛṣṇaś
caitanya-rasa-vigrahaḥ
pūrṇaḥ śuddho nitya-mukto
’bhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ
So what that means is that Krishna and the name of Krishna are non-different. So we know that Krishna has all powers. He has all powers over everything in the material world. He controls all the powers in the spiritual world. And the name is non-different from Krishna. So whatever power is in Krishna is in his name. So because Krishna is supreme, he can award anything. And the name also can award anything [Laughs]. And thus Krishna is called Cintamani and the name of Krishna is called Cintamani.
Okay what is ‘Cintamani’? Literally it means a thought stone [Laughs]. So if you have this stone, whatever you desire manifests. I think the alchemists in ancient times, and the Greeks in the medieval times, they were searching for a philosopher’s stone. They were trying to figure out what that stone was so they could become wealthy. So Krishna and the name can give you any material benediction, it can give you liberation and prema. The material Cintamani stone can only give you material benedictions.
So the second line is ‘Caitanya rasa vigraha’, ‘vigraha’ means form. So Krishna’s form is full of spiritual rasa. So rasa is what gives rise to bliss. So whatever is in Krishna in terms of rasa and bliss is in the name. Krishna is ‘Purna’, which means complete. Of course all the forms of the Lord like Vishnu and Narasimha are complete, but Krishna is the most complete. He manifests a few qualities which the others do not manifest. By chanting the name of Krishna you can realize all those special qualities of Krishna. So Krishna is ‘suddha’, that means pure. It means he is beyond the material world. Though Krishna has form, qualities and activities it is not material, it is beyond the material world. And Krishna’s name similarly is beyond the material world. Now, Krishna appears within the material world as avatar, but still he is ever pure. Similarly, name appears in this material world. It may look material, but actually it isn’t, it is pure. So, the name has a very, very special position.
Now, of course, we chant the name in any condition, it has power. But if we want the highest goal prema, there is a condition. We need some knowledge. That’s why Prabhupada wrote so many books [Laughs]. So, if we have that knowledge, we can chant purely. By chanting purely, we get prema. So, of course, Lord Caitanya is there chanting and chanting and chanting, but actually if we want to get prema, we do need some scripture [Laughs]. So, of course, when people hear that they get a little disappointed. We like Kirtan, so nice but we don’t like philosophy [Laughs]. But, unfortunately [Laughs], we do need a little bit of clear thinking in order to chant properly. Fortunately, our philosophy is not so difficult. If you read Plato or Comte or John Paul Sartre or somebody you may get very confused [Laughs]. But this philosophy is very simple.
Okay so, we just have four points or so you have to understand. So, this philosophy, we’ll call Sambandha-jnana, defines what actually is real. So, any philosophy has to establish that first before they discuss anything [Laughs]. And this philosophy we have is in common with all the different Vaishnava groups.
1. ) So, the first real entity is the Supreme Lord. So, He is a conscious being, who has no cause. There is no one superior to Him. He is a conscious person and He has form, qualities and activities. But He is eternal and not subject to birth and death, karma, etc. So, in other words, we do have to accept this presence, eternal presence of a Supreme Lord. So, this Supreme Lord has three energies or Shaktis.
2.) So, the first is called Antaranga Shakti or Cit Shakti or Swarupa Shakti, what we call internal energy [Laughs]. So, this is the spiritual energy which manifests everything in the spiritual world. It manifests Vaikuntha. It manifests Goloka. It manifests Krishna’s names, forms, qualities and activities. Just as this material world is manifested by certain energies. So, all spiritual world is manifested by this Cit Shakti. So, the Lord is real, the spiritual world is real.
3.) Okay the second energy is called the Tatastha Shakti or marginal energy. This refers to all of the small particles of consciousness called Jivas. They are also real and eternal. So, the Jivas never get destroyed. Like the Lord, they are conscious entities. The difference is they are dependent on the Supreme Lord. And Lord is one, Jivas are infinite in number. But, though they are small, they do have a capacity to choose and they have a capacity for unlimited bliss. So, unlike the Supreme Lord, these Jivas can reside in the material world with material bodies or they can reside in the spiritual world with spiritual bodies. Okay so these jivas are eternal, they are never created, never destroyed, they are real.
4.) And the third energy is called the bahiranga shakti, or the external energy. This refers to Prakriti, matter. And this is also dependent on the Supreme Lord. Unlike the Jivas, Prakriti has no consciousness. It is dead [Laughs]. But it manifests elements, creates worlds, creates bodies, etc. So, the Jivas identify with the bodies [Laughs]. They think, I am a body and they try to enjoy the material world.
Okay so, all of these things are real. So, of course, this is emphasized because some philosophies in India that also claim to base themselves on the Vedas don’t accept these as real [Laughs]. So, that is Shankaracharya’s impersonal philosophy. He does not accept the real material world, he does not accept real Jivas. He doesn’t accept the spiritual world. He doesn’t even accept the Supreme Lord’s form, qualities, activities. What does he accept? A supreme conscious entity with no form, qualities and activities called Brahman [Laughs].
Of course we have Buddhist philosophy, no material world, no Jiva, no supreme lord, no spiritual world, no Brahman, nothing [Laughs]. So, as I said, not too difficult to [Laughs] understand this philosophy [Laughs]. We have the Supreme Lord and we have his spiritual energy, we have the spiritual world, we have the Cit Shakti, the material energy manifesting material world, and we have this Jiva Shakti that can be in the material world or in the spiritual world.
So, we are in the material world. We are Jivas, covered with material bodies. Some human beings are content to stay. Some human beings are a little bit dissatisfied and they think, well, let’s do something else, this is not a very happy place [Laughs]. So, by good fortune, they may find the Vedic literature. So, the Vedic literature gives us the process to get out of the material world and go to the spiritual world. What’s the difference? If we go to the spiritual world, we get eternal happiness.
So, the scriptures, including Bhagavatam, Bhagavad Gita and the Vedas, describe different processes. They are all approved by the Vedas, but they are not identical in their results. So, Karma Yoga gives material happiness. Jnana Yoga and Astanga Yoga can liberate you from the material world. Bhakti Yoga gets you to the spiritual world. So, in other words, Karma Yoga keeps you in the material world, but you get maximum happiness. Jnana Yoga and Astanga Yoga get you out of the material world, but not into the spiritual world. Bhakti Yoga gets you from the material world to the spiritual world. So, these different yogas are more or less stages towards Bhakti Yoga. So, these are the processes for other people who do not have faith in Bhakti. They may be glorified in some scriptures, but they are not the final process.
So, when we come to Bhakti Yoga, the qualification is not being a Brahmana or whatever, it is not knowing all the scriptures, not even purity, the qualification is simply faith. Faith means we have belief in the Supreme Lord. And we have faith in the process of Bhakti to have us realize the Lord. So, with that faith, we begin the process of Bhakti as a method, its called Sadhana. By doing that Sadhana, we get a realization of the Supreme Lord. That is called Bhava. We continue to do Bhakti and we attain perfect realization of the Lord, that is called Prema. When we attain Prema, we are qualified for the spiritual world.
So, there are many processes of Bhakti. In Nectar of Devotion, Rupa Goswami describes 64 types of Bhakti. They all lead us to spiritual world. However, the most powerful means is Nama, the name of the Lord. So, when we are practicing Bhakti, we emphasize chanting the name of the Lord. And because the name is non-different from the Lord, we get realization of the Lord in Bhava. When we attain Bhava and realize the Lord, we do not stop chanting the name, we continue chanting. Then we get to Prema, full realization. But, we continue to chant the name. So, we should not think, when I attain the goal of Prema, I can stop chanting. No [Laughs]. We continue to chant the name, because the name is non-different from Krishna [Laughs]. So, if we chant the name, we have absolute bliss in the spiritual world.
So, I mentioned that the Lord had this internal energy or Antaranga Shakti, Cit Shakti . That Antaranga Shakti has different parts. One is called the Sandhini Shakti. That Sandhini Shakti manifests the Lord’s name, form, qualities and activities. Sandhini Shakti manifests the Lord’s name, form, qualities and activities. But the Lord makes a very nice arrangement, so that in the name is the form, qualities and activities, all … So, we start with chanting the name, but we realize form, qualities and activities. So, in this way, the name is complete. Of course, the Lord has many names. We often see a thousand names of Vishnu, a thousand names of Narasimha, a thousand names of Rama, a thousand names of Gopal. We often see a thousand names of Vishnu, a thousand names of Rama, a thousand names of Gopal.
So, these names are two types. We have the primary names and secondary names. So, the primary names describe the pastimes of the Lord in the spiritual world. And through those names, we get Prema. So, we have names like Gopal, Govinda, Giridhari [Laughs]. So, they all lead to Prema. So, they all lead to Prema. There are other names of the Lord, which give a more general description of the Lord. And they often describe the Lord in relation to the material world. For instance, we call the Lord the Creator, this is a common word among all religions. God is Creator [Laughs]. So, nothing wrong with that, but it’s a limited description of the Lord, because it’s relating the Lord to the material world. It’s actually a function of the Paramatma feature of the Lord. Other words will describe the Lord in his impersonal feature. So, we’ll call him the all-pervading one [Laughs] or the eternal One. So, those names, of course, are also spiritual, but they can only get you to liberation, not to the spiritual world. So, the devotees are not interested in liberation, so they avoid those names, they chant the primary names of the Lord.
So, there are various names of the Lord, and there are various forms of the Lord. But Bhagavatam says that the form of Krishna is the Supreme, Complete Form. If we realize Krishna, we can realize Complete Rasa. So its preferable who want to realize Krishna we chant Krishna’s names [Laughs]. Of course Krishna has many names also [Laughs] but the primary name is Krishna [Laughs]. So, that’s why we chant mainly Krishna, Krishna [Laughs].
Of course, Lord Caitanya is even more merciful. Lord Caitanya is non-different from Krishna but he has the mood of Radha. So, he is very eager to deliver the people of Kali Yuga by giving them Radha and Krishna. So, therefore, he says Hare and Hare refers to Radha. So, not only do we realize Krishna, we also realize Radha.
So, the name is not different from Krishna, but because we are human beings and we are contaminated, we can chant and not get the full effect. So, one type of chanting is called Nama aparadha [Laughs]. We may chant the name, but we have hostility towards the Lord, the devotees and the process of bhakti. So, this is, of course, offensive and very difficult to progress by doing that. So, if we chant the name, we may think Krishna is material, name is material, goal is material, etc. So, better than that is a stage called Nama Abhasa. So, it is chanting the name with no hostility, but we may still be ignorant of the nature of the Lord. We may chant with no faith at all, as in the case of Ajamila, by naming his son Narayana. Or we may chant with faith, with some intention, but still have ignorance. So, we are chanting with faith, but we also have some material desires. So, by doing this, we get some effect, slow progress. And we can get liberation. But we don’t get Prema. So, if we want Prema, we have to have Suddha-nama, pure name. So, we chant with faith, but we also have to have knowledge. So, it was the knowledge, I just gave that knowledge, we know Krishna is supreme, Jivas are real, Maya is other bad Shakti of the Lord [Laughs]. And we chant to attain this Prema, unconditional love, not to get liberation, not to get material benefit. So, we have to get to the Suddha-nama, then we can get to Prema.
So, name is such that any human being can chant the name. Other processes like Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Astanga Yoga, are not like that, they are limited. You have to be in the Varnashrama system then you can perform Karma Yoga. If you want to do Jnana and Astanga Yoga, you have to be a Brahmana [Laughs]. So, chanting the name doesn’t matter.
Any human being can chant. Of course, in Bhagavatam and other scriptures, we have animals also [Laughs], chant the name. So, if we want to chant seriously, of course, then we need faith. And it is this chanting which gets us to Prema. However, even then, there is no restriction on time, place, cleanliness, etc. You can get maximum effect at any time and place in the material world. So, chanting the name is therefore considered to be the process for everybody in Kali Yuga.
So, name is for everyone, but if we want Prema, we have a few conditions [Laughs]. So, we have to chant primary names rather than secondary names. Lord Caitanya made it simpler still, just chant Hare Krishna [Laughs]. So, we have to chant Suddha-nama rather than Namaparadha or Namabhasa [Laughs]. So, to do that, then we need some knowledge of scripture. We get that knowledge through devotees. So, we need Sadhu sangha, association of Devotees. So, with faith we chant, and we should not just chant once, we should constantly chant [Laughs]. There are some favorable actions, like regulative principles to follow, and avoid unfavorable things. And then we attain Prema.
Hare Krsna !
Q&A
1) What does it mean that the chanter of God, of Krishna, we manifest qualities, activities, the form, qualities and activities? What does it mean? What does it mean when you chant?
So, as I said, one of our basic tenets is Supreme Lord is there, we have the Supreme Lord with form, qualities and activities. So, God is there, but God has particular form. So, the scriptures describe these forms like Rama, Krishna, Narasimha deva, Vishnu. And they have particular colour, Krishna is blue. So, as well as form, obviously God should have qualities. But these qualities can only manifest by the Lord’s activities. And what are these activities? Activities in relation to devotees. So, this is what we call ‘lila or pastimes’.
So, the Lord is eternally equipped with form, qualities, activities and name. So, if we want to realize the Lord, we should realize not just His form, we should realize His qualities, His activities, our relationships. So, to do that, it’s a simple process. Chant the name. Everything is in the name. So, we begin by chanting the name. If we get to Bhava stage, then suddenly the name becomes a form of Krishna. So, of course, if we realize that form, it is very blissful. But, more than just the form, we get to realize qualities of the Lord. And we realize activities of the Lord. So, this is more blissful than that we participate in those pastimes and we experience the highest bliss. So, by chanting the name, all of that is realized. It takes some time.
2) And can you explain the method of chanting? I’ve been chanting for many years and I don’t see any prema.
So I explained that we have these three stages, one is called sadhana, we have bhava, and we have prema. So in order to get to bhava, which is the first realization of Krishna, we have to go through sadhana.
So in sadhana there are also different stages. Just as in school we go from first grade to second grade, all the way up to grade 12 and we graduate. So these stages are determined by the amount of bhakti and the amount of maya. So we begin bhakti with faith. Bhakti is very little. And the attachment to material things and material concepts is 99.9%. So it is a little difficult to do bhakti in that state. But if we continue the bhakti, gradually the maya, the material attractions, get destroyed and the bhakti increases. So this stage is called ‘Anartha nivritti’, destroying the Anarthas, the obstacles. So Anarthas refers to lust, anger, greed, material attachment, whatever. So if we remove a considerable amount, then we come to a stage called ‘Nistha or Steadiness’.
And after that stage, the bhakti becomes actually quite strong and the maya becomes much less. So therefore we get a stage called ‘Ruchi’ where we actually have a taste. And then we get to a stage called ‘Asakti’ in which we get very attracted to Krishna and then in Bhava we actually can see Krishna and the Maya is very, very, very low. When we get to Bhava, our material attachments are very minimal, while we can see Krishna. And if we get to Prema, Maya becomes zero, and it’s all bhakti.
So, in the beginning we have to struggle with this maya because we are in this material world for birth after birth after birth. So just to destroy all of those impressions and karmas, etc., very difficult. So therefore, jñānis and yogis may take thousands of years to destroy them. So the process of bhakti and chanting will destroy the karmas and the anarthas much quicker. Still, it may take a few lifetimes. So, if we’ve committed aparadhas, then of course this slows that process. If we’ve committed no aparadhas in previous lifetimes, then relatively quickly we can get through all these stages in real life.
3) It’s personal question. Maybe if you could share some aspects of your personal journey to chanting the mantra and also dealing with struggle that you explained to make us feel more, you know, normal in our struggles. But if it’s not personal.
So as a student in high school and in university, I was inquisitive about spiritual life. But I was very suspicious of Christianity. But I was from Canada. We were normally Christians by birth. But I was thinking that we needed something based on realization, not just religion. So then I thought, ok, Buddhism, very nice. But then I went to Japan and I was looking for some good meditation groups. There weren’t any. There were many temples, but no meditation. Most were just family affairs and that was it [Laughs].
So I kept looking. And then I met some devotees in Ginza in Tokyo. And they were distributing Back to Godhead magazines. So I didn’t know anything about Hare Krishna or even anything Vedic, whatever. So I was a little curious. So I took the magazine. Then I went to their centre. At that time in 1970, there weren’t many books around. Only Back to Godhead magazine. So I couldn’t get too much knowledge. But they were doing Kirtan. And I was attracted to Kirtan. And they gave me some beads and said, OK, you chant Hare Krishna. So I daily started chanting on beads also. So I was looking for something spiritual. Nothing was there. And then this came along, some practical sadhana. So it was not a difficult process. And at the same time, it was something which was very positive. Then I met Srila Prabhupada, our founder. And I was very impressed by his deep maturity as a person. So then I became very serious in practicing.
Devotee: And once you started chanting, how did you deal with the struggle? How did you deal with the struggle? Why did you start chanting? Did you go through any struggle at all?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: There was not much struggle with it. It wasn’t so difficult. Like they gave me some beads and said, OK, you chant. OK, you chant four rounds. And then they said, well, we’re chanting 16 rounds. I said, OK, I’ll chant 16 rounds. We’re starting at 16 rounds. I wasn’t a devotee of that actually. But it wasn’t too difficult to chant.
4) You spoke about knowledge and you spoke about faith which one of the two is the most important? Do I need both or I can do one or the other?
Well, faith ultimately means faith in the bhakti scriptures. So, of course, the scriptures say, ok, Krishna is the Supreme Lord, he’s got all these activities, etc. So we, on faith, accept that. So we’re accepting God on faith, but according to scripture. So we cannot separate the faith from the scriptural statements.
Well, you know, you can’t have faith unless you accept the scriptures. We may say I have faith in God, but then who is God? That’s the difference. So if we have no faith, then they say, well, Krishna blew in place of flute [not clear]. Why? Why is that so? How can it be so?
5) Thank you so much Maharaj for the systematic explanation of philosophy behind the whole thing. And about the scriptures we are now mainly studying about the Bhagavad gita, Srimad Bhagavatham, Caitanya-caritāmṛta and nectar of devotion. So these scriptures are enough for us to cultivate our faith or knowledge or do we need to study more other scriptures?
So what I explain here, actually, is in the Bhagavad Gita, probably the introduction of Bhagavad Gita, you’ll get all of this. And if you read the whole Bhagavad Gita, you’ll get more details to fill out all of this. So therefore, you learn about forms of God, what is the spiritual world, etc.
And if you want to learn about the rasa of the Lord, that’s in the Bhagavatham and in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. So, of course, that doesn’t mean other scriptures are useless. The Goswamis wrote many scriptures. So what they do ? The other scriptures, is there they give explanations of this with more details. So if we want to know more past times of Krishna, then the past times are there in the works of the Goswamis. If we want more details of the philosophy, we go to Jiva Goswami and his Sandarbhas. So it may not be necessary for some devotees, not too attracted to philosophy or whatever. Some devotees are more curious, more philosophical, so they may like to study the Sandarbhas. So it’s up to the individual how deep he wants to go.
Devotee: Some spiritual masters have written books, some of them are some high level of devotion preached [not clear]. I think some devotees are reading those books, I think they have to focus on the basic.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: For that reason, Prabhupada was the first one to give us Bhagavad gita, and the Nectar of Devotion. He did the First canto of Bhagavatham. And then he worked on the rest of the Srimad Bhagavatham. So those are the basic things. We should know those first few books.
Devotee: Just like if I go on a 5th class, 5th canto, 10th canto of the Nectar, I know everything. Now I can read the 5th canto of the Nectar. Or I can know calculus and stuff.
I cannot jump. I need to go for lots of courses to learn. In any method, whether materialistic or not, it’s the same process, all right? All right? All right.
Another devotee: Hare Krishna. I have a similar question to that of a lady, that instead of doing the Japa Nam for a long, long time, you’re not feeling the ras. But the question is, it is about a person who used to do the Nama Japa quite spiritually for a long, long time. You know, had that blissfulness of spirituality for a long, long time.
But all of a sudden, the person does not feel the rasa any longer. If you answer that, it is the presence of maya or illusion. But I would like to give you a condition that the person is in existential crisis. The only requirement of the person is to find a shelter for the night, two times a day. And no bond, no relationship. So, what is the reason? And how do we establish the connection with the deity? Thank you.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, in the case of a person who is struggling materially, then, yes, it is difficult to continue. For a person who has problems at the level of existentialism, even survival, this is very difficult for him to continue. It is also difficult because his faith is not so strong. So, if a person has very strong faith, even if he has the most strongest obstacles he will not give up his practice. Of course, we have examples like in Russia, during the communist periods. Devotees were persecuted, thrown in jail, starved, beaten, tortured, whatever. They never gave up. They were still gentle.
Other persons that meet some obstacle, and then they may think, well, I’m chanting, I’m supposed to be protected by Krishna and Krishna is not protecting me. Why should I do this? That means weak faith. They may have got some good experience in the beginning. But that doesn’t mean their faith was very strong. Krishna is very merciful to people, so even in the beginning, they could get very nice experience. But Krishna gives most mercy to those who persevere, in spite of all difficulties.
Devotee: So your answer is, it’s a lack of faith, right?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: Yes.
Devotee: So, if the question is, the person believes, or finds so much peace in doing the meditation, yoga, yoga sadhana, as you have mentioned, a lot of yogas, but it is hard, to find so much peace yoga sadhana, to believe in the form of God, like as we see, or the form of Lord Narasimha, it is hard to take the name and imagine the form. So what’s, according to you, what things that a person, or someone can do to re-establish what it means? If you’re saying that, do the nama japa again, so it would be a forceful bhakti, what would it be?
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj: So, if the person is more favorable to yoga, that would mean actually he has more faith in yoga than in bhakti. So then, we can’t do too much about that type of faith. Different people have different faith. If it is not so strong in yoga, of course, they may change. Yeah, just like we have people, Christians, whatever, but not so strong, so they may change their faith, and they may start worshiping Krishna. So a person who has an attraction to yoga, by constant association with devotees, he may get attracted and have faith in bhakti, but we can’t force this.
I said that the qualification for bhakti was faith. And that means faith in God, and God with a form, qualities, and activities. Other people do have faith, but they’ll have faith in Brahman – no form, qualities, and activities. So, with that faith, it’s difficult to do bhakti. Of course, Bhagavatham says that by hearing the wonderful qualities of the Lord, even a person attracted to Brahman can switch [Laughs].
6) I think the second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita that I was impressed as I was reading tells us that we have to be detached from the result, because we are in the hands of Krishna.. in Krishna’s hands. Maybe also this is my thought, it’s a humble thought, but maybe we just have to do it and be detached from the result, because also to eat, to want, to go to the spiritual world to go there, to have that, can also transform into an attachment, so maybe to ease our pain of not achieving that, you can also say, maybe we are in Krishna’s hands, so it depends on what person I was before and I have no control on that, right? That’s my thought I don’t know if it’s for you or anything, it’s a very humble thought. Thank you very much.
So, when Krishna is talking about this no desire for results, etc. Nishkama, it refers actually to Karma Yoga. So, Karma Yoga is the lowest yoga and it promises you can maintain your material body, you can get some material enjoyment, but you also have to follow rules. So we have rules and regulations, so that you don’t do sinful activity, you do pious activity, and you can live comfortably in the material world.
So, a little higher than that is follow the Dharma and you’re going to get the results, but don’t really desire those results you want to become less material. In other words, it’s an attempt to lessen our desire for material enjoyment Why? Because material enjoyment leads to more bondage and more Karma in the material world. So, by following that system of rules and regulations and trying to get rid of our desire, we purify ourselves and we get to Sattva Guna. Then you become qualified for jnana or Astanga Yoga to give all your desires completely and get liberation Or, you become qualified for Bhakti Yoga.
So, Bhakti Yoga requires, of course, faith which is mainly acquired not by Sattva Guna, but mercy of devotees. But, lack of material desires, lack of material enjoyment is a good qualification. So, if we want to practice Bhakti Yoga, we cannot have too much desire to enjoy in the material world. Of course, Bhakti Yoga does not insist no material desires you can do it, but not too much. So, this ‘Nishkama Karma Yoga’ is like a good preparation and, what we do is replace desire to enjoy, as desire to give Krishna enjoyment. We must have desire, but our desire is to please Krishna.
Devotees: Srila Prabhupad Ki Jai!!! HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj Ki Jai!!!