Removing the steel from our hearts by chanting Hare Krsna-SP
720622SB.LA Lectures
Prabhupada: So here is one word, “steel-framed.” Nowadays, the medical
science is changing the heart, steel-framed. So this modern science is
making steel-framed hearts, but we can understand that formerly, also,
there were steel-framed hearts. Otherwise how this word comes? Tad
asma-saram hrdayam batedam. So just like stone or steel does not melt
very easily, similarly, anyone’s heart which does not change after
chanting Hare Krsna mantra regularly, then it is to be understood that
it is steel-framed, made of stone or iron. Actually, harinama… Harer
nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam. It is especially meant for
cleansing the heart. That every… All misconception is within our
heart, beginning from the wrong identification, that “I am this body.”
That is the beginning of all misconception. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu
says, ceto-darpana-marjanam. So as you go on chanting, gradually the
heart will be cleansed, and you’ll be able to understand that you are
not this body.
… So this verse suggests that if a person is chanting Hare Krsna
mantra, but his eyes are not tearful or there is no ecstatic shivering
of the body, then that means he’s not coming to the perfectional
point.
So if we chant this Hare Krsna mantra without offense, according
to, and observing the regulative principles and numerical strength …
Sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-
used to chant keeping in numerical strength. They were all liberated
persons; still, for teaching us an example, they also used to chant
keeping a numerical strength. Haridasa Thakura, he used to chant Hare
Krsna mantra keeping a numerical strength–300,000 times. 300,000
times. So our prescription is only 25,000. Not 100,000. So it is not
very difficult; it takes utmost 2 hours. We can find out, out of 24
hours, 2 hours. We can find out time. So if we actually follow the
rules and regulations and chant Hare Krsna mantra, then these symptoms
will come. Netre jalam gatra-ruhesu harsah. When this comes then you
know that “I am coming to perfection.” And if it is not coming, then
it is to be understood the heart is steel-framed. Steel-framed. So it
is steel only. Stone. Stone, if we keep our heart stone or
steel-framed, then it cannot be melted. This… These symptoms mean
heart is melting or changing…
…disturbance. So such things are happening. Now anyone is manufacturing
his own way of self realization, and there are rascals who are
supporting, that “Everyone, we are independent. We can find out our
own way of worship.” But Rupa Gosvami says, “This is simply creating
disturbance.” That is very natural to understand. Suppose here, in our
temple, we have got some regulative principles. But if everyone says
that “I can manufacture my own way of worshiping the Deity,” then what
will be the condition?
It will be simply pandemonium. You see? So that is going on.
…(not)authorized by the disciplic succession. We reject immediately. There
is example that in India there is a tree, sagu, sagu(?) tree. I do not
know whether it is in your country. That, that tree has a very, I mean
to say, thick trunk. But a little jerking, it will break. A little
jerking. Sagu. And there is another tree which is called tamarind
tree. So even a fingerlike stem, you cannot break. It is so strong. So
our policy should be that when we are falling down, we must take
shelter of this tamarind tree, not that sagu tree. The tamarind tree
is Vedic instruction, infallible, without any mistake. As I have given
you several times the example that Vedas says that stool of animal is
impure, and in another place it says that stool of cow is pure….
Today I desire….
Today I desire
(Dedicated To My Beloved Spiritual Father Srila Prabhupada)
Today I desire to live in Vrindavan, where there is The Lotus Dust of my beloved Lord Shri Krishna,
Today I desire to smear myself with that Dust, with which the most sinful become purified as the milky ocean…
Today I desire to chant and glorify the names of Shri Radha and Krishna, and want to know nothing else more than this…
Today I desire to become mad with ecstasy, when I chant their names…
Today I desire to be in the mad people, who have even forgotten their own names and only remember Madhava’s ..
If being mad is the criteria, I desire to be mad, knowing no obligations, nothing else but remember Keshva’s names…
How long do I need to pretend to be one of these materialistic people, who only want to satisfy their own senses…
Today I desire to forget my own senses forever and satisfy the senses of my most dear Friend Krishna…
Today I desire to abandon everything, today I desire to give up all the opulences I have,
Today I desire to even give up my remaining breaths, if they don’t recite the names of Krishna…
The world has taken the shelter of that Madhusudan, and I am left here alone tied up my unnecessary worldly desires…
Today I desire to break up all unnecessary relations and reestablish my forgotten relationship with my Friend…
Tell me where can I find Him… I am looking everywhere, having no sign of Him –
but when I am in the association of His pure devotees, who simply want nothing else but to hear/chant His names..
I find Him – I find HIM right in the center – enjoying the ecstasies that His devotees relish…
Today I desire to sing His glories out loud – as loud as I can so the everyone can hear and revive their lost relationship with that Govardhan lifter….
Springtime–a time for hope
Prabhupada on importance of SB and reading SB
Srila Prabhupada’s SB classes-summary file–VOLUME 5 P: IV
Hare Krsna to All
Pranams
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Below you will find the final part of Vol 5, SB class nectar summary.
Some points summarized-
*If you love Krsna you can love all humanity
*A naughty child now means very intelligent later
*A photo of Krsna is same as Krsna Himself
*Too lusty to serve Krsna? then serve Indra
*Dont put salt in the caranamrta
*Money given in charity comes back in this way..
*How to defeat the Sun
*Real education means Independence
*General mass of people are animals-why? dog is best friend
*Ravana built a subway from S America to Lanka
The Story of the Syamantaka Jewel
(A Summary Study)
This story from Srimad-Bhagavatam, Tenth Canto, which Srila Prabhupada presents in two chapters in Krsna Book, is very interesting and instructive. (Krsna Book, Chapters 55 and 56.) What follows is a brief summary and explanation from these chapters of Krsna Book, including some of my own comments. (Direct quotes from Srila Prabhupada are in bold.)
The Sun God gave the Syamantaka jewel to King Satrajit, the father of Princess Satyabhama, who later became Lord Krishna’s third wife due to the influence of this jewel. This jewel was so powerful that it produced 170 pounds of gold daily. Although Krishna advised Satrajit to deliver the jewel to Him so He could give the jewel to King Urgasena, the emperor of the Yadu Dynasty, Satrajit did not comply with this request. Instead he installed the jewel in a private temple to be worshipped by brahmins he employed. Although Satrajit was a devotee and later came to his senses, he was bewildered by the material opulence and prestige this jewel provided him and his family.
One day Satrajit’s brother, Prasena, took the jewel and wore it around his neck to show off the wealth of his family. At one point, while riding his horse through a forest, he was attacked by a huge lion that killed him and his horse. When Jambuvan, the gorilla king, heard about this event he immediately went to the scene, killed the lion with his bare hands and took the jewel, which he gave to his son for a toy. Because Jambavan was a liberated pure devotee, he was not much attracted to the material opulence of this jewel.
Later on, when Prasena did not return with the jewel, Satrajit was very upset. He guessed that Krishna had killed Prasena and taken the jewel because Satrajit had previously denied Lord Krishna’s request to deliver the jewel to Him. What started out as a mere speculation on the part of one mentally-disturbed man, Srila Prabhupada explains, turned into a rumor that “was spread like wildfire.”
This story illustrates that even Krishna is sometimes defamed by false rumors originating from mentally disturbed or materially attached devotees. All this happened in Dvaraka Dhama, even before the advent of the internet. In this day and age, any foolish person can spread malicious rumors about devotees via the internet, and by repeating such rumors over and over again, foolish offenders try to establish facts without solid proof, and thus become candidates for severe misfortune.
“Krishna did not like be defamed in this way, therefore He decided that He would go to the forest and find the Syamantaka jewel, taking with Him some of the inhabitants of Dvaraka. Along with important men of Dvaraka, Krishna, went to search out Prasena, the brother of Satrajit, and He found him dead, killed by the lion.”
Why it’s important to meet regularly with devotees for kirtan
