Cleaning our hearts is like cleaning Lord Krsna’s Temple
Madhya 12.135-Translation–
Outside the gateway of the temple, all the roads were also cleansed, and no one could tell exactly how this was done.
PURPORT
In commenting on the cleansing of the Guṇḍicā temple, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says thatŚrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as the world leader, was personally giving instructions on how one should receive Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, within one’s cleansed and pacified heart. If one wants to see Kṛṣṇa seated in his heart, he must first cleanse the heart, as prescribed by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Śikṣāṣṭaka: ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam. In this age, everyone’s heart is especially unclean, as confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi. To wash away all dirty things accumulated within the heart, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advised everyone to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. The first result will be that the heart is cleansed (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam).
Comment–To chant Hare Krsna mantra, especially for us neophytes, is something that is done mostly out of duty or understanding that it should be done, not because of some immense ruci,(taste) or asakti (detachment) or nistha (firm unbroken faith) Later, maybe years later,for those who stick with it, we do get all these things, and are pulled naturally towards the Supreme Lord due to our natural attraction for Him, and due to our detachment from matter. Below Srila Prabhupada very clearly gives us some pitfalls or warnings to expect along that way. These are very real and we should take notice because we see today devotees doing exactly what Srila Prabhupada tells us not to do….
…Similarly, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.17) confirms this statement:
śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ-stho hy abhadrāṇi
vidhunoti suhṛt satām
“Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who relishes His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.”
If a devotee at all wants to cleanse his heart, he must chant and hear the glories of the Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa (śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ). This is a simple process. Kṛṣṇa Himself will help cleanse the heart because He is already seated there. Kṛṣṇa wants to continue living within the heart, and the Lord wants to give directions, but one has to keep his heart as clean as Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu kept the Guṇḍicā temple. The devotee therefore has to cleanse his heart just as the Lord cleansed the Guṇḍicā temple.
Comment-So what is this process to continually cleanse the heart? It is constant and regular hearing and chanting Hare Krsna mantra and reading Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavag Gita, or both. If we are actually serious about seeing the Lord in the heart, then we have to take the exact medicine given by the physician Srila Prabhupada.
….In this way one can be pacified and enriched in devotional service. If the heart is filled with straw, grains of sand, weeds or dust (in other words, anyābhilāṣa-pūrṇa), one cannot enthrone the Supreme Personality of Godhead there. The heart must be cleansed of all material motives brought about through fruitive work, speculative knowledge, the mystic yoga system and so many other forms of so-called meditation. The heart must be cleansed without ulterior motive. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says: anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam. In other words, there should not be any external motive. One should not attempt material upliftment, understanding the Supreme by speculative knowledge, fruitive activity, severe austerity and penance, and so on. All these activities are against the natural growth of spontaneous love of Godhead. As soon as these are present within the heart, the heart should be understood to be unclean and therefore unfit to serve as Kṛṣṇa’s sitting place. We cannot perceive the Lord’s presence in our hearts unless our hearts are cleansed.
A material desire is explained as a desire to enjoy the material world to its fullest extent. In modern language, this is called economic development. An inordinate desire for economic development is considered to be like straws and grains of sand within the heart. If one is overly engaged in material activity, the heart will always remain disturbed. As stated by Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura:
saṁsāra viṣānale, divā-niśi hiyā jvale,juḍāite nā kainu upāya
In other words, endeavor for material opulence is against the principle of devotional service.Material enjoyment includes activities such as great sacrifices for auspicious activity, charity, austerity, elevation to the higher planetary system, and even living happily within the material world.
Comment-First Prabhupada tells us that we should not attempt material upliftment , or trying to make our karmic situation better than we deserve (following this path takes us away from our actual spiritual activity because we have to spend so much time- to make money), speculation about the guru’s orders, which means not being able to see what is clearly written right in front of us, and concocting different forms of tapasya or austerity for spiritual advancement. One time a devotee told Srila Prabhupada that if they could get another building nearby their temple, to increase their numbers, how should they teach/instruct these new people? He told them our formula for success is always the same. These new people should just follow the same program at the new building as the devotees do in their temple. Rising early for mongal Arotik, kirtan, deity worship, class / hearing SB, worship Tulsi puja, etc. That formula he said works and it will cleanse anybody’s heart, if they follow it. It is the authorized program given by all our Acaryas. And the proof it works , he said, is now all the hundreds and thousands of former hippies that gave up their former “ways”.
We see on TV sometimes those shows that attempts to get people to pay money for a collection of their old time favorite tunes by their favorite old rock groups. The musicians who played back in the 1960-70’s are now old, but still playing the same stuff, but their fans still like to hear that rock and roll music, some 40 years later. For them, nothing has changed-same old same old….chewing the chewed.
But for a devotee who went thru that same period of time, if he or she follows this process of heart cleansing will now no longer be attracted to that form of music, considering it degraded in the mode of ignorance or passion. And certainly not transcendental ! So this is the proof-if we have been following this process,we should no longer hanker for those things we once gave up, thinking them to be of some value for our lives. It was all maya (illusory) and nothing else.
In another place, and this is very important, Srila Prabhupada tells us that after initiation if one does not become purified, by that samskara, then he remains a sudra or unpurified mleccha or yavana.
Antya 3.124 purport-“In the age of Kali, mlecchas, or lowborn people who have not undergone the purifying process of saṁskāra, who do not know how to apply that process in actual life and who are covered by the modes of passion and ignorance, will take the posts of administrators. They will devour the citizens with their atheistic activities.” A person who is not purified by the prescribed process of saṁskāra is called asaṁskṛta, but if one remains kriyā-hīna even after being purified by initiation-in other words, if one fails to actually apply the principles of purity in his life-he remains an unpurified mleccha or yavana.On the other hand, we find that Haridāsa Ṭhākura, although born in a mleccha or yavana family, became Nāmācārya Haridāsa Ṭhākura because he performed the nāma-yajña a minimum of 300,000 times every day.
…Modernized material benefits are like the dust of material contamination. When this dust is agitated by the whirlwind of fruitive activity, it overcomes the heart. Thus the mirror of the heart is covered with dust.There are many desires for performing auspicious and inauspicious activities, but people do not know how life after life they are keeping their hearts unclean.
Comment-“modernized material benefits are the dust of material contamination” I like that. Why? Because when we “modernize” our lives we are not actually making them any easier, but are being charmed by the illusory energy of God into thinking we are going forward by all this material progress. One simple example comes to mind. Srila Prabhupada once said that airplanes are considered wonderful by everybody because they can take us places so far away so quickly. But everybody knows when they get on that plane, that they don’t know if they will take off and land safely. It is a constant source of anxiety, for those who are not brain dead. So where is the comfort when you are in anxiety? He told us that real comfort means happiness without anxiety. And that just doesn’t exist anywhere here in this material world. But then only the sane person would understand that. So in exchange for so many illusory “comforts” we are piling up the dust of contamination in our hearts and blocking Krsna from appearing in our minds. Therefore simple living-highthinking is and should be every aspiring transcendentalist’s mode of living.
…One who cannot give up the desire for fruitive activity is understood to be covered by the dust of material contamination. Karmīs generally think that the interaction of fruitive activities can be counteracted by another karma, or fruitive activity. This is certainly a mistaken conception. If one is deluded by such a conception, he is cheated by his own activity. Such activities have been compared to an elephant’s bathing. An elephant may bathe very thoroughly, but as soon as it comes out of the river, it immediately takes some sand from the land and throws it all over its body. If one suffers due to his past fruitive activities, he cannot counteract his suffering by performing auspicious activities. The sufferings of human society cannot be counteracted by material plans. The only way suffering can be mitigated is by Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and engages himself in the devotional service of the Lord-beginning with chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord-the cleansing of the heart begins. When the heart is actually cleansed, one can clearly see the Lord sitting there without any disturbance. In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.4.68) the Lord confirms that He sits within the heart of the pure devotee: sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham.Impersonal speculation, monism (merging into the existence of the Supreme), speculative knowledge, mystic yoga and meditation are all compared to grains of sand. They simply cause irritation to the heart. No one can satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead by such activities, nor do we give the Lord a chance to sit in our hearts peacefully. Rather, the Lord is simply disturbed by them.Sometimes yogīs and jñānīs in the beginning take to the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra as a way to begin their various practices. But when they falsely think that they have attained release from the bondage of material existence, they give up chanting. They do not consider that the ultimate goal is the form of the Lord or the name of the Lord. Such unfortunate creatures are never favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for they do not know what devotional service is. Lord Kṛṣṇa describes them in the Bhagavad-gītā in this way: tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.” (Bg. 16.19)
Comment-In His Bhagavad Gita the Lord tells us that the demoniac never will consider going to God for relief of their problems, but the pious man will. And even when that pious man goes to God for relief, if he takes to yoga, jnana, penances, sacrifices, giving in charity etc, all of which is pious, but none of it will give him permanent relief from karmic reactions. All these types of work are only temporary relief, like moving a load of rocks from our right to our left shoulder. The only thing that will give us permanent freedom from all misery is to devote ourselves completely to the one who controls everything-Krsna. And that is what Krsna tells us at the conclusion of His Bhagavad Gita-just surrender to Him and He will take care of all our sinful reactions, make them zero. There is not other activity that can promise this return on our investment of basic bhakti or devotional service. And more importantly, any of these temporary Karma khanda fruitive activities only add to the dirt already in our hearts.
…By His practical example, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has shown us that all the grains of sand must be picked up thoroughly and thrown outside. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also cleansed the outside of the temple, fearing that the grains of sand would again come within. In this connection Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains that even though one may become free from the desire for fruitive activity, sometimes the subtle desire for fruitive activity again comes into being within the heart. One often thinks of conducting business to improve devotional activity. But the contamination is so strong that it may later develop into misunderstanding, described as kuṭi-nāṭi (faultfinding) and pratiṣṭhāśā (the desire for name and fame and for high position), jīva-hiṁsā (envy of other living entities), niṣiddhācāra (accepting things forbidden in the śāstra), kāma (desire for material gain) and pūjā (hankering for popularity). The word kuṭi-nāṭi means “duplicity.”
Comment-I remember when “sankirtan” changed from dhotis and drums into only selling flowers, candles, karmi stickers and paintings and it was still called “sankirtan” ! So at this point, which was not really approved by Srila Prabhupada, but due to what he called the “American disease” of always wanting to change things, we did it. He mentions above that when one “ thinks “ he can improve his devotional service by conducting some business then the result is contamination so strong it results in misunderstanding , fault finding, desire for name and fame, envy of others, and accepting forbidden things. Wow ! That is quite a load of garbage to bring into our sadhana bhakti program. And all in the name of “improvement” !
Personally I have seen these things manifest in some devotees who become rich by various businesses. They become callous to their Godbrother’s, and when you try to give them some good instructions based upon our guru maharaj’s books, they get angry with you. They do not even care ultimately what their own spiritual master says, but only think they know best of what to do. And in this way Prabhupada tells us above the contamination becomes very strong.
…an example of pratiṣṭhāśā, one may attempt to imitate Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura by living in a solitary place. One’s real desire may be for name and fame-in other words, one thinks that fools will accept one to be as good as Haridāsa Ṭhākura just because one lives in a solitary place. These are all material desires. A neophyte devotee is certain to be attacked by other material desires as well, namely desires for women and money. In this way the heart is again filled with dirty things and becomes harder and harder, like that of a materialist. Gradually one desires to become a reputed devotee or an avatāra (incarnation).
Comment- When devotees prematurely go and live in Vrndavana, this is what happens. They sit down and think they can just chant Hare Krsna and everything will be just fine. This is not the recommendation by Srila Prabhupada as he often times said-”work now samadhi later.” Or,he also said, if we give up the preaching work, then we are only engaged in material activities.
…..The word jīva-hiṁsā (envy of other living entities) actually means stopping the preaching of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Preaching work is described as paropakāra, welfare activity for others. Those who are ignorant of the benefits of devotional service must be educated by preaching. If one stops preaching and simply sits down in a solitary place, he is engaging in material activity. If one desires to make a compromise with the Māyāvādīs, he is also engaged in material activity. A devotee should never make compromises with nondevotees.
Comment –How many times do we hear of leaders compromising with mayavadis, impersonalists, bogi yogis, etc, just for some temporary gain of name and fame?
….By acting as a professional guru, mystic yogī or miracle man, one may cheat and bluff the general public and gain fame as a wonderful mystic, but all this is considered to be dust, straw and grains of sand within the heart. In addition, one should follow the regulative principles and not desire illicit sex, gambling, intoxicants or meat.
Comment-How many iskcon gurus /leaders have been caught doing illicit or illegal activity? Countless at this point. Or so many other gurus ? It is not called the age of hypocrisy and quarrel for nothing. As Srila Prabhupada said, -”better to be a sincere street sweeper than a charlatan meditator”.
...To give us practical instructions, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cleansed the temple twice. His second cleansing was more thorough. The idea was to throw away all the stumbling blocks on the path of devotional service. He cleansed the temple with firm conviction, as is evident from His using His own personal garments for cleaning. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to see personally that the temple was thoroughly cleansed to the standard of clean marble. Clean marble gives a cooling effect. Devotional service means attaining peace from all disturbances caused by material contamination. In other words, it is the process by which the mind is cooled. The mind can be peaceful and thoroughly cleansed when one no longer desires anything but devotional service.
Even though all dirty things may be cleansed away, sometimes subtle desires remain in the mind for impersonalism, monism, success and the four principles of religious activity (dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa). All these are like spots on clean cloth. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also wanted to cleanse all these away.
By His practical activity, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu informed us how to cleanse our hearts. Once the heart is cleansed, we should invite Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa to sit down, and we should observe the festival by distributing prasāda and chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to teach every devotee by His personal behavior. Everyone who spreads the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepts a similar responsibility. The Lord was personally chastising and praising individuals in the course of the cleaning, and those who are engaged as ācāryas must learn from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu how to train devotees by personal example. The Lord was very much pleased with those who could cleanse the temple by taking out undesirable things accumulated within. This is called anartha-nivṛtti, cleansing the heart of all unwanted things. Thus the cleansing of the Guṇḍicā-mandira was conducted by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to let us know how the heart should be cleansed and soothed to receive Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and enable Him to sit within the heart without disturbance.
Conclusion-The process to clean our hearts has been given, and the results as well- a pacified cool headed devotee who knows what to do and what not to do, which is only possible if one continually hears the instructions of Srila Prabhupada, the predicted pure devotee who was sent by Krsna Himself for us fallen souls in this age of Kali.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das