[Transcribed by Sheela Ravishankar Mataji, Singapore.]
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.1.8
Translation: And because you are submissive, your spiritual masters have endowed you with all the favors bestowed upon a gentle disciple. Therefore you can tell us all that you have scientifically learned from them.
PURPORT: The secret of success in spiritual life is in satisfying the spiritual master and thereby getting his sincere blessings. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has sung in his famous eight stanzas on the spiritual master as follows: “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master. Only by his satisfaction can one please the Personality of Godhead, and when he is dissatisfied there is only havoc on the path of spiritual realization.” It is essential, therefore, that a disciple be very much obedient and submissive to the bona fide spiritual master. Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī fulfilled all these qualifications as a disciple, and therefore he was endowed with all favors by his learned and self-realized spiritual masters such as Śrīla Vyāsadeva and others. The sages of Naimiṣāraṇya were confident that Śrīla Sūta Gosvāmī was bona fide. Therefore they were anxious to hear from him. [END]
Vaisesika Das: (mangalacarana, etc.) I was asked to speak about qualities of a leader and I found in this verse a formula. Always good to work from a formula because formula means you can use it over and over again and pass it on to others. Principles and formulas are very handy that way and in this verse we find the secrets to leadership. And here the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya are exalting Sūta Gosvāmī for his qualities and they are saying that snigdhasya you have achieved these qualities because you have been affectionate towards your spiritual masters and they have been affectionate towards you. And this is very sweet because now guhyam they gave their secrets. Bhurijana Prabhu had said one time that if you approach a great personality who holds Krishna in his or her heart and you render service,
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyani te jñānaḿ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
Bhagavad-gītā (4.34)
What happens is the heart melts and the contents of the heart come flowing out to you. Already the śāśtra says the hearts of pure devotees are melted because of their constant contact with Krishna.
evaṁ-vrataḥ sva-priya-nāma-kīrtyā jātānurāgo druta-citta uccaiḥ
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.40)
druta-citta means their hearts are soft and Ācārya Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says they are liquefied like a river of rose apple juice. And you can get that juice if your render service and Tukaram Prabhu just before class was telling me at the Gurukula he found out that this secret is also know there. That if the students serve their teachers without motivation, the teachers become so obligated, they feel so grateful that they don’t have anything else do except teach them everything they know.
And we can all experience this, when someone approaches us with unmotivated love and gives us some service with no expectation of return, what can you do? You toss and turn all night thinking how can I repay this person? Even if it’s the simplest thing, just a gesture, a conscious gesture that the person has given you their heart out of love, you have no choice, you have to give them your heart. guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, and this is how Sūta Gosvāmī became a leader he became self-effulgent because he had served his spiritual masters in this way. tad viddhi praṇipāta praṇipāta means in humility he had bowed his head. The best place to keep your head is on the ground. One time I just did a little bit of daṇḍavat parikramā in Vṛndāvana, after the first half hour I felt this is a befitting place to be flat on the ground. I can’t get any lower than this and I felt open to all the gifts of the universe when I was that low. tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena and then the relevant questions and seva service. These are the three that unlock the hearts of great souls and śāśtra says śuśrūṣoḥ śraddadhānasya vāsudeva-kathā-ruciḥ syān mahat-sevayā viprāḥ puṇya-tīrtha-niṣevaṇāt Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.16) When we serve the great devotees, unmotivated devotees, great service is done and by such service one gains affinity for hearing the messages of Vāsudeva. They infuse the humble and submissive disciples, snigdhasya out of affection, there is shared affection between the teachers. So here we see Sūta Gosvāmī taking a leading role because of his qualities and in the Nectar of Devotion, in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, there is a description of how qualities emerge from one who is chanting Hare Krishna in the association of devotees. Millions of verses but Caitanya Mahāprabhu says ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, the heart is cleansed and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says,
Yasyāsti bhaktir bhagavaty akiñcanā sarvair guṇais tatra samāsate surāḥ
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.18.12)
That when one practices unmotivated devotional service one develops the good qualities of the demigods or the demigods want to live with such a person or the Supreme Personality of Godhead becomes obligated to such a person. All these three things- the meaning of surāḥ. And when those good qualities emerge, there is a list of the auspicious qualities beginning with the eradication of all distress, the awakening of auspiciousness, pure devotional service immediately puts one into transcendental pleasure, it is rarely achieved, those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of liberation, want nothing to do with it and it is the only way to please Krishna. And regarding the quality of auspiciousness it relates to leaders and it relates to our movement. And how we lead in the world and how we lead in our families, and how we lead anywhere that we go. Auspiciousness is defined by the fact that the person who is developing this quality of auspiciousness has affection for all living entities. This is the defining quality of someone advancing in devotional service through serving their spiritual masters, through chanting the holy names of the Lord, through hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in advanced association, auspiciousness awakens within the heart. śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ, white lotus of golden fortune, who wouldn’t want that?
And that auspiciousness means that the devotee has affection for all living entities. yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaḿtato na vijugupsate Śrī Īśopaniṣad 6 yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ Śrī Īśopaniṣad 7 One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks and quality one with the Lord becomes the true knower of things. What then can be illusion or anxiety for him, one who always sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord and sees the Supreme Lord within everything, never hates anything or any being. In other words he has affection for all living entities and everyone has affection for him. dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau, the Goswamis are defined as in not having any enemies and they were appreciated by the ruffians and by the advanced gentle people. And so auspiciousness means that one has the capacity to reach out and assist others. To give others what is in within one’s heart, guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati, and one becomes free from the propensity to envy others,
nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam īpsita-sańga-labdhyā,
Nectar of Instruction 5
mentioned by Rūpa Goswāmī in the fifth verse of the Nectar of Instruction that this is the hallmark of the pure devotee, nindādi-śūnya no more propensity in the heart to criticize others. In other words no more envy. Envy mātsarya is the all-pervading dread disease of the material world. It gets on you and it contaminates the heart and the consciousness, and when one becomes purified of mātsarya which is defined by Jīva Goswami as the inability to tolerate the eminence of another. Ouch, that hurts. Whereas, nindādi-śūnya-hṛdam īpsita-sańga-labdhyā, one who has become advanced in devotional service, the awakening of auspiciousness śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ, the white lotus of good fortune is opening, auspiciousness is opening, has the appreciating capacity to take in all living entities. In fact Prabhupāda mentions this, this is another sutra. We just read this the other night from the Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 4.34 in the purport Prabhupāda says,that “one’s advancement can be measured by one’s appreciating capacity.” How much can you appreciate?
And Queen Kunti says śṛṇvanti gāyanti gṛṇanti sādhavaḥ Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.11) that devotional service is marked by appreciating the service of others. If one can do that then, one can advance in devotional service simply by appreciating capacity because as we appreciate others we assume their qualities. Voltaire said when you appreciate others you are able to imbibe their qualities. It actually opens your heart and you can take them in. Otherwise if you envy them you are completely blocked, you can’t have anything. You don’t get anything, nothing for you. And so an advancing devotee in Krishna consciousness is able to appreciate all living entities and give affection for all living entities, appropriate affection for all living entities, appropriate affection for all living entities. And is able to distinguish who are the innocents. How can I pour in as much mercy as possible? They have an appreciating capacity and they have something to give. They have received the gifts and they know exactly what to give. So leaders have this affectionate capacity and appreciation and also there is an attraction. A leader becomes attractive, according to Rūpa Goswāmī when auspiciousness is born then a person becomes naturally attractive, we call this self-effulgent. And therefore real leadership means that someone is controlling their senses, and because of controlling their senses, no drinking water under water on a fast day, dry fasting for the benefit of my audience, and then when I take a dip in the Ganga I drink hardly underneath the water and I pop my head back up thinking now I have satisfied myself but the effulgence wears off. Effulgence is gone rather Krishna says,
rāga-dveṣa-vimuktais tu viṣayān indriyaiś caran ātma-vaśyair vidheyātmā prasādam adhigacchati
Bhagavad-gītā (2.64)
If one is able to strictly observe the process of devotional service, control one’s senses, then he gets the complete mercy of the Lord.
prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asyopajāyate prasanna-cetaso hy āśu buddhiḥ paryavatiṣṭhate
Bhagavad-gītā (2.65)
Then the misery goes away. The mind becomes joyful and the intelligence becomes fixed. And this spiritual intelligence because we are to guide as leaders, by intelligence and organization. And intelligence means one has controlled one’s sense and therefore has a clear idea of what to do and what not to do. And how to lead others spiritually.
nāsti buddhir ayuktasya na cāyuktasya bhāvanā
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir aśāntasya kutaḥ sukhamBhagavad-gītā (2.66)
And if you don’t have spiritual intelligence by controlling your senses, then what can you do? You are simply lost in the whirlpool of the material life, and in this world, the leaders of this world are the senses. They are the masters of this world. Everyone is controlled. Mucukunda told, he was a great king. But when he came home he was ruled by his wives, and his senses, he had to follow them the bad masters, the senses.
kāmādīnāṁ kati na katidhā pālitā durnideśās
teṣāṁ jātā mayi na karuṇā na trapā nopaśāntiḥ
utsṛjyaitān atha yadu-pate sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhis
tvām āyātaḥ śaraṇam abhayaṁ māṁ niyuṅkṣvātma-dāsyeCaitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā (22.16).
Rūpa Goswāmī says the advancing devotee regains his spiritual intelligence, it’s the greatest victory anywhere in the world otherwise any other victory is business as usual.
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate
Bhagavad-gītā (3.27)
Business as usual, no different than anybody else but somebody who conquers the senses and gains the spiritual intelligence by sincere endeavor to please Krishna, then the devotees says, for how long and how many ways have I obeyed the bad masters of my senses? They never gave me time off, I never questioned them and they never gave me mercy. But I continue to follow them in all cases, in all circumstances but no more, utsṛjyaitān atha yadu-pate sāmprataṁ labdha-buddhis Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā (22.16). I have gained my intelligence by the mercy of my spiritual master and now I want personal service, now I want to serve the Lord.
And it is from this intelligence that one must lead that one knows that every living being must be engaged in Krishna’s service and therefore we live by the “fan the spark” principle that wherever we see a spark of Krishna consciousness, wherever we see the tiniest desire to serve Krishna we must fan it until it becomes a flame and then a conflagration and that is the business of International Society of Krishna Consciousness to fan the spark everywhere we see it. In fact there is a mantra that, “One must encourage the heck out of everyone.” That’s the way to live because if ‘heck’ gets in one, then it’s not good. In fact ‘encourage’ comes from the word ‘cour’ which means heart, and the heart becomes impaired by the weakness, hṛdaya-daurbalyaṁ, weakness of heart means I cant move, I can’t make it in this process of devotional service, therefore we have to encourage the heck out of everyone. That’s the way to live, that’s the way to lead, in fact!
In fact even in the secular world, the way to encourage people catch them doing something right! There was a great book called “One minute manager”, came out in the early 80’s. “One minute manger” tiny little book, tells you about how to manage, how to lead. It says, “Leaders should go around trying to catch somebody doing something right.” And when you do encourage them! Encourage the heck out of them!! and then the leaders also are prone to empowerment, they give empowerment to everyone. Empowerment means that I am willing to give power to others. Harry S Truman, one of the great Presidents of United States said that “It is remarkable how much you can get done when you don’t care who gets the credit.” That is a mantra to meditate on. For leadership, the quality of a leader, “I am willing to give away my credit to others. I don’t care who sees it because I know Krsna sees it.” He is there within the heart, He knows everything and therefore devotees are willing to give away at every second credit to others. That is what ‘moves’ a movement, empowering others. Movement means someone has to move it. It moves on the basis of this empowerment because the heart is pure. One doesn’t have to get the credit. I don’t need the stamp, I want to see it done, one way or the other.
So Sūta Gosvāmī had imbibed these qualities from his spiritual masters. He had become self-effulgent and now he is leading from his heart with true spiritual quality and that’s what we must do also. I am going to make a couple of more comments and then take some questions and reflections.
Prabhupāda gave a very succinct, usable powerful direction for ‘how to lead’ to one of our greatest leaders, Karandhara Prabhu back in 1971 or 72. He wrote him a letter and he said, “You must create an environment in which devotees will do service that is individual, spontaneous and voluntary. And you must also continually create a fresh challenge so that devotees will want to rise up and meet it.” Individual, spontaneous and voluntary!
There was a book written some years ago, it became very popular in the business world called “From good to great”. It was all about the corporate model, what made some companies great, and the others, there are many good companies in the world but what are the qualities of the great companies? Without going into all those qualities, I’ll just say that the author, who is very learned in the science of business and management and so forth, had to write a different book for the social sector. That is his model and his ideas from good to great and what motivates the great corporates doesn’t work in our kind of organization. He said there is a different kind of motivation a different model that moves us in our social sector, that is voluntary movements. We are all volunteers. There has to be a different kind of motivation that has to come from spiritual values, it has to come from encouragement. It has to come from creating an environment that the devotees feel that they can be empowered, that they can now take up the service. Why not? There is so much service to do. When we do saṅkīrtana there is unlimited service to do because it’s a huge world and we haven’t even touched it yet with the saṅkīrtana movement!! So everyone should be empowered. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said
yāre dekho tāre kaho kṛṣṇa-upadeśa amara ajnaya guru haya tara ei desa
Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā (7.128).
You are all deputized, everyone! You are in! Go!! Go, Go Go! He said that. He sent His followers out. Go, Go Go! Go out there, do it, be empowered, take it up, make it happen and this is the mood of the saṅkīrtana movment. There is unlimited service to do, and if there’s not a category that someone fits into, create a new category, give him service, that is mercy, give people service. We are only dying for service.
Śrīla Prabhupāda says in the Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in the purport of the catur sloki Bhāgavatam that “The direct order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a manifestation of his internal potency and it is by that manifestation that one comes to see the Lord face to face.”
It means that working in the saṅkīrtana movement, to serve the lotus feet of Caitanya Mahāprabhu with all one’s heart and one’s soul, and one’s hands. We have, what is immemorialized on the walls of the restaurant in St. Louis, when Sura dasa the great Sura dasa Prabhu who now resides in LA, the irreplaceable great soul Sura dasa, he wrote “You can have a free meal here, if you just engage in śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ ‘scrub’anam, ‘mop’anam… and that’s what we do ‘scrub’anam, ‘mop’anam!
And one more thing because Navina reminded me to say this, that we must take a risk, we must risk we are gamblers spiritual gamblers, that’s what we do. We gave up other kinds of gambling so have to do something. We eat prasadam to make up for meat eating and all kinds of other things. But we have to gamble and Mahatma Prabhu, tells how when the first devotees went out, sold their first big book, they took a risk. Took them out, they said it couldn’t be done but they went out and tried and after they sold their first big book he said, “we felt like gamblers who had won money, big money for the first time and we couldn’t be stopped we were on a roll.” So we gamble. The biggest gamble is surrender to Krsna. I give up my personal vested interest in this world and what will happen if I do that? I don’t know but I am going to gamble it away and I risk my peace of mind to preach Krsna consciousness. And when I do that life is exiting, everything else is predictable and therefore boring.
Hare Krishna!
(Applause.)
Suresvara Das: Thank you for the very empowering class. I want to encourage everyone to read a certain letter. Srila Prabhupada said it better than Harry Truman, When Harry Truman said “It’s amazing how much you can get done when on one cares who gets the credit.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said this in a very wonderful way. In 8 Nov 1965, there is Śrīla Prabhupāda all alone in New Your city and he is writing this long letter to a sanyasi Godbrother of his and he is saying so many things and he is saying what’s done is done, we have wasted so much time, there is so much fighting that happened but here I am in New York city, and I know you have access to resources, just consider me a worker in your mission, and…. just tell the devotees to read this letter to Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj, and you will read this amazing mood of Śrīla Prabhupāda and that’s why we were moved by Prabhupāda to work. Because it comes from him. That is all I had to say. Hare Krishna!
Vaisesika Prabhu: Thank you very much!
Bhakti Caru Swami: I was just wondering about this statement “brūyuḥ snigdhasya śiṣyasya” and you Vaisesika Prabhu have been such a wonderful example of that. You have taken Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instruction to your heart and throughout your life, you have demonstrated an absolute dedication to your spiritual master Śrīla Prabhupāda. When no one noticed and you were working still you went out and distributed Śrīla Prabhupāda’s books, this is such a wonderful demonstration of your loyalty to your spiritual master. And in this way you have demonstrated how to become a true leader and I think you are in the most wonderful position to speak on the topic of leadership and the qualities of a leader. And I thank you very very much for your dedication to Śrīla Prabhupāda. HH Vaisesika Prabhu ki jaya!
(applause)
Vaisesika Prabhu: I will graciously accept your words as a benediction and place them on my head, something to aspire to. Hare Krishna!
Jagannath Das: how can a leader remain detached from wanting followers?
Vaisesika Prabhu: By chanting really good japa and by chanting one chapter of Bhagavad-gītā a day. At least one chapter of Gītā. The power to be detached comes from the holy name.
vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.7)
Concomitant with full concentration on the service of the Lord in the form of His name come knowledge and detachment. Knowledge means that I am not this body and therefore why would I want followers, I am a follower, I am not seeking followers. One has detachment means you get fortified.
tac chraddadhānā munayo jñāna-vairāgya-yuktayā
paśyanty ātmani cātmānaṁ bhaktyā śruta-gṛhītayāŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2,12)
The person who is fortified with the qualities of jñāna and vairāgya can move forward steadily in his or her service without being hampered by the false ego, which is the allurement for thinking that I am the enjoyer, I am the center. One enjoys being outside the center and making Krsna the center, when one realizes ones position through chanting Hare Krishna and experiencing that real relationship. And chanting one chapter of Bhagavad-gītā a day. Prabhupāda gives many benedictions that if someone simply chants one chapter of Bhagavad-gītā a day, Prabhupāda did it all the time. You can hear the recordings of him chanting chapters in succession. The Gītā has so much potency. The Gītā-māhātmya is full of stories about the power of reading one chapter of Gītā. Just those who heard it, birds who were siting in a tree and heard the chapter and then became liberated and exalted and so forth, what to speak of someone who deliberately does it everyday. Many people have the Gītā, I know because we have asked a lot of people in India. Yes Yes I have the Gītā but not many people read the Gītā what to speak of do a chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā a day. You will be fortified, your intelligence becomes fixed, everything becomes clear. Hare Krishna!
Rasikananda Das: I was meditating about what you mentioned about appreciation and how when we are judgmental or critical then we are blocked but when we appreciate then we become open. So I was wanting to know how to handle when you observe yourself being critical of another. What’s the adjustment to be made?
Vaisesika Prabhu: If you find yourself being critical of someone else that, then remember that first of all you can’t do anything about it. What’s the use of being critical when you can’t change other people, it is a useless engagement! We only have a small circle of influence and that is ourselves. We can only affect ourselves, so when I use my energy in being critical of other people it doesn’t change them, so why engage in it? Why waste energy in that way. And also it contaminates the mind and the consciousness. Even when we hear criticism of other devotees, then it shrinks our appreciating capacity. You hear something even some damnation by faint praise, and then it becomes more difficult to appreciate that person. So you have to control the tongue which is the beginning of yoga
ataḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ
sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥPadma Purāṇa
Don’t let it come out and when it comes into the mind you can step back from it and analyze it, and see why am I maintaining this in my mind. Caitanya Mahāprabhu admonished devotees, “Why do you keep in your heart which is the altar for Krishna these kinds of criticisms of others, it simple pollutes the heart.”
Kesava Bharati Maharaja: There is a wonderful quote from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura about this question. He says, “When the faults of others disturb you, look within, find your own faults and always remember no one can hurt you. You can only hurt yourself.”
Vancakalpa.
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