When The Sun Comes Up There Is No Room Anymore For Darkness.

01 Jun When The Sun Comes Up There Is No Room Anymore For Darkness.

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS

Founder-Ācārya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

The Following Evening Lecture By His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Was Given In Iskcon Iskcon Towaco, US, On 1 June 2014.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay, Haribol. Oh! Thank you.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: I was hearing the arati-kirtana and it was so beautiful. So I was wondering who was singing. So when Vṛndāvana Chandra came to me, I asked who was singing and he told me Madan Gopal prabhu was leading.

Devotees: Haribol [clapping and rejoicing].

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Thank you very much. Came right on time. Okay. So this morning, late morning that went on till the afternoon we had a program in Jagadīśvara prabhu’s house. How many of you were there in the program? Yes. And Jagadīśa prabhu’s daughter, Pooja requested me to sing a few bhajans. They have the special puṣpa–abhishek, flower abhishek of the Deities at home, Gaura Nitāi. So naturally the idea was to sing the songs or bhajans in glorification of Gaura Nitāi, but the program went on for so long that I could manage to sing only one song. And the other song that I was supposed to sing, so I told them that I would sing in this program this evening. And Pooja just brought the song copies. It’s a Bengali bhajan written by one Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s very, very intimate associate Vāsudeva Ghosh. And the song goes like

gora-guna ga-o śuni

bahu puṇya phale so pahum milala

prema parasamani

 

akhila jibera e śoka sayara

nayana nimeṣe sose

o-i prema leśa paraśa na pa-ile

parāṇa judabe kise

 

aruṇa nayane baruna ālaya

karuṇayā nirikhane

madhura alape akhare akhare

sudha-dhara barisane

 

preme ḍhala ḍhala pulake purala

apada mastaka tanu

basudeba kahe sata dhara bahe

sumeru sincita tanu

 

I am sure, I am confident that you all understand Bengali.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: So there is no need to translate but still those who don’t understand Bengali.

gora-guna ga-o śuni, We sing the glories of Gorā. who is Gorā? Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Gaurāṅga. So Gaurāṅga has been …addressed as Gorā. We sing the glories of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, gora-guna ga-o śuni. Bahu puṇya phale so pahum milala prema parasamani- Due to heaps of pious activities one has found, or one can find that very rare personality who is the touch stone or parasamani jewel of spiritual love, prema parasamani, Kṛṣṇa prema. This is like a touch stone. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has been compared to a touch stone. By his contact one receives love of Kṛṣṇa.

 Akhila jibera e śoka sayara nayana nimeṣe sese-by His momentary glance, He dries out the ocean of suffering of the conditioned souls of this world. All the suffering of this world becomes immediately dried out just by His nayana nimeṣe śeṣe, nimeṣe means the time it takes to blink your eye. Just a momentary glance causes all the sufferings of this world to dry.

 aruṇa nayane baruna ālaya karuṇayā nirikhane- Aruna is the charioteer of Sun. The horses- the charioteer of the sun is Aruṇa. Aruṇa is the elder brother of Garuḍa. He became the chariot driver of sun’s chariot. His complexion is red. Therefore before the sun rises Aruṇa appears. One sees the chariot driver in the form of redness in the sky. So Aruṇa’s complexion is red. Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s eyes are red in love for Kṛṣṇa. Incessant tears are flowing through His eyes.Therefore His eyes has become red and that redness of His eyes has been compared to the colour of the rising sun, aruṇa nayane. Baruna ālaya baruna is the demigod of water and Baruna’s alay means abode of Baruna is, He is the reservoir of water. So it seems that Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s prabhu’s eyes are the resting place or dwelling place of Baruna the demigod who controls water because the incessant tears that are flowing tears of ecstasy that are flowing from His eyes. karuṇayā nirikhane, mercifully He is glancing at everyone. And madhura alape akhare akhare sudha-dhara barisane- when He speaks every word, every single word is showering nectar.

preme ḍhala ḍhala pulake purala apada mastaka tanu. Preme ḍhala ḍhala His body apada mastaka, from His head to toe is stipped in love and as a result of that His –apada mastaka tanu, His whole body has become stipped with the love of Kṛṣṇa due to the transcendental bliss.

Vāsudeva ghosh is saying basudeba kahe basudeba kahe sata dhara bahe sumeru sincita tanu His body appears to be like the Sumeru mountain. Sumeru mountain is the mountain of gold that is in the middle of the universe and it seems that the golden mountain, Sumeru mountain is being inundated with hundreds of flowing flows of the Ganges.

 So now I can sing this song? Would you like to sing with me?

 Devotees: Yes.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: How many of you got the copies? Okay how many of you didn’t get the copies? How many of you are going to share it with your next door neighbor [laughter]?

Devotees: [laughter]

Devotee: can use smart phone.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Haan?

Devotee: …can look at smart phone

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Or you can look at your smart phone. How to access it?

Devotee: in the search gorā guṇo gāo śuni in Google

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Search gorā guṇo gāo with Google [laughter].

Devotees: [laughter].

Guru Mahārāja and devotees sing Gorā Guṇo Gāo śuni

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Thank you very much. You sang so… beautifully.

Devotees: Haribol [laughter].

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: and thank you for playing the mṛdaṅga so nicely. I can see that you are a table player.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Very good.

Some devotee: Can we make some announcement?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Sure

Announcer: [indistinct]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Looks like he is not from here.

Devotees: [laughter]

Devotee: Lot of people don’t know there..

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: How many of you have….? What’s your number? Then he started pk.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay. He is blocking the way. Okay someone is meant to stay in the program. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṇa.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: So this song is so beautifully describing Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mercy. This is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu prabhu’s causeless mercy. This is the manifestation of His mercy. Just by His glance He is drying out the ocean of suffering of this material world. This material world is full of suffering. Like if you consider the suffering is a substance then material nature is an ocean of that substance and we all are submerged in that suffering condition. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is so merciful that just by His glance, momentary glance He is drying out that ocean of suffering of this material nature. Can we question this, “Can He do that?” He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He can do anything. Now we simply have to receive this mercy that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is distributing. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is abundantly distributing and the means is: just we have to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is another song that we sang this morning that was by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thakur. He is also saying that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to teach us the process of surrender. Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā– what is Kṛṣṇa’s final instruction in Bhagavad-gītā?

Devotees: sarva dharmān parityajya

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. Śaraṇaṁ vraja means ‘surrender’. Kṛṣṇa is telling to surrender unto Him. And what is the result of that surrender? Ahaṁ tvam sarva pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi, I will deliver you from all your sinful reactions; all your sinful reactions. And it is due to our sinful reactions that we suffer. In material nature there is some enjoyment; the enjoyment is the result of our pious activities and sufferings are due to our sinful activities. Now if the sinful activities and the reactions of the sinful activities are totally eradicated, then will there be any suffering? No, that’s what Kṛṣṇa is saying, “You just surrender unto me and your suffering condition will be over.” Like don’t we experience it in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness. Ever since we joined this movement, ever since we joined Kṛṣṇa Consciousness did our suffering condition become eradicated? People may say “Well devotees also suffer from diseases; devotees suffer from suffering condition.” But the thing is that apparently those suffering conditions may be there but a devotee is not affected by that. That is what Kṛṣṇa Consciousness does. And these suffering is there, little bit of suffering condition is there because of our material body and because of our sinful activities that are still there to some extent. But the result of those, the affect of those sinful activities are not really that intense or that effective. In this respect Prabhupāda gave the example that when you switch on the fan is moving. When you switch it off still the fan will be moving but there won’t be any power derived. It is a moment of inertia that it is moving and is in the process of coming to standstill. So that apparent condition a devotee experiences is simply the condition of moment of inertia. It is just moving but there is no- this movement is a process of coming to a standstill position. So that is what Kṛṣṇa Consciousness does. Ahaṁ tvam sarva pāpebhyo moksayisymi- will Kṛṣṇa’s words ever go in vain? Will Kṛṣṇa ever bluff anybody? So when Kṛṣṇa says something He means it as an Absolute Truth. Ahaṁ tvam sarva pāpebhyo from all your sinful reactions I will mokṣayiṣyāmi, I will deliver you, I will deliver you from all your suffering conditions from all your sinful reactions. And then after that Kṛṣṇa is saying ma śucaḥ. Ma śucaḥ means? Don’t even worry about that. What you will get due to your surrender unto Me is beyond anyone’s imagination. Not that only our sinful reactions will be eradicated, not that only we will be delivered from suffering condition but what we will get is even beyond our imagination and what is that? That is endless joy, bliss. Suffering condition is one thing. If the suffering condition is compared to darkness what is bliss? Bliss is broad-day light. Then the consideration is what is happiness? You know what is happiness if we take in this light, darkness. With a lamp you remove the; it is a momentary thing. When the lamp is extinguished, the darkness will prevail once again. So happiness is like that the removal, the temporary removal of the suffering condition. It is only a temporary thing. Happiness is not really desirable. What we are actually hankering for is joy, bliss ānanda and that ānanda is like broad day light. When there is broad-day light is there any room for darkness? No. so that is what Kṛṣṇa Consciousness gives us. That is the ultimate result of Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, ānanda ambudhi vardhanam prati padaṁ pūrṇa amṛta āsvādanam. Ānanda ambudhi ‘an ocean of bliss’. In the material nature what we are hankering for is just for drops of bliss. That also is a perverted reflection of that. Just some drops, tātala saikate bari bindu sama, in the middle of the desert when your throat is perched and you are dying of thirst what will a drop of water do to you? Will it quench your thirst? So hankering for some material happiness in this material nature, joy in material nature to whatever extent it may be, is something like a drop of ocean, like a drop of water in the middle of a desert. Now what Caitanya Mahāprabhu is giving, what Kṛṣṇa is giving is an ocean of that bliss. That will not only quench your thirst, you will become totally submerged in that. You can’t even imagine what’s that like. To become completely submerged ānanda ambudhi and that ocean is completely increasing is getting bigger and bigger, ānanda ambudhi vardhanam vardhana means ‘to increase’. So that bliss that we are submerged in it is continuously increasing. So Kṛṣṇa He gave us the assurance, “You surrender and you will get that; you will experience that bliss” but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is teaching us how to surrender. Kṛṣṇa says surrender but Mahāprabhu is teaching us how to surrender. We do not know how to surrender. Kṛṣṇa says surrender [laughter] but then we are stuck there, we don’t know how to surrender. Therefore Kṛṣṇa came as Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach us. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitaya prabhu jīve doyā kori, Jīve doyā kori means in order to bestow His mercy upon the living entities, He came with His associates and with His dhāma. Sva pārṣada swiyo dhāma saha avatari atyanta durlabha prema koribāre dana, in order to give us, in order to bestow very, very rare Kṛṣṇa-prema, atyanta durlabha prema sikaya śaraṇāgati bhaktero prāṇa He is teaching us the process of surrender which is the life and soul of devotion. So that is the very basis of devotional service. Unless and until we surrender to Kṛṣṇa there cannot be any consideration of devotional service. So in this way we can see why Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came; why Kṛṣṇa came as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu; like He said śaraṇaṁ vraja and śikhāya śaraṇāgati; do you see the link? Kṛṣṇa suggested surrender unto me and Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaching us the process of that surrender and is it difficult? Yes it is very difficult to surrender as long as we have our false ego; As long as we are proud of ourselves; as long as we are arrogant. An arrogant person can never surrender. Even if he is beaten to the pulp he doesn’t surrender.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: That is the condition of an arrogant person. Where does arrogance come from? Arrogance comes from false ego. Therefore one of the first things we have to do is to get free of our false ego and that is the meaning of becoming humble. Get rid of your false ego, become humble. Who are you? We generally tend to think that we are so big, but have we ever considered the size; have we considered the size? One ten thousand part of the tip of hair. That is how big we are. Invisible practically; with the most powerful microscope we can’t see ourselves. That’s how big we are. But one way to look at it is also- the gateway to the spiritual sky is very narrow. Therefore if you want to enter into the spiritual sky you have to become that small. The point is get rid of… we have to get rid of our false ego. And when we get rid of our false ego then only we are able to offer ourselves to Kṛṣṇa, “Kṛṣṇa I am yours.” mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor arpilū tuwā pade, nanda-kiśor!.

That atmanivedana, the surrendering of the self, Bhaktivinoda Thakur is describing through this poetry mānasa, deho, geho, manasā means ‘my mind’; Deho ‘body’, geho ‘my house and everything that belongs to me’; jo kichu mor ‘whatever is mine’; arpilū tuwā pade, nanda-kiśor! ‘I am surrendering all that to Your lotus feet O son of Nanda Mahārāja’. Now what’s the result of that? sampade vipade, jīvane-maraṇe dāy mama gelā, tuwā o-pada baraṇe ‘whether in happiness or in distress, when I am alive or when I am dead, now I do not have responsibility any more now that I have surrendered to Your lotus feet. That is what happens when we surrender to Kṛṣṇa then we don’t have anything to worry about. Day mama gelā I don’t have to worry about anything; okay I surrender unto to You, You figure out what is happening, what’s going to happen to me. Now isn’t it a great relief. Just consider how much people are suffering from anxiety and tension, stress today? We see people are suffering such stress. The stress caused by anxiety, all the stress is caused by anxiety, but when we surrender to Kṛṣṇa there is no more anxiety. You figure out what to do. Now isn’t it a relief? The simplest way to become free from our stressful situation, “I don’t have to worry about anything, You figure it out You take care.” And the question is can He take care? And while answering can he take care, we have to consider, let us consider whether He is taking care, not the question is whether He can take care. Let us consider how He is already taking care of us. Just consider what is our biggest need?

Devotees: Food, shelter.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Very good. I thought someone is going to say a big, lets say Mercedes Benz. Food. Now where the food comes from?

Devotees:[inaudible]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Cosco?

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: The food comes from nature. Yes, okay rain but let us see the natural aspect of it. Just see a seed falls on a ground. It grows into a tree. In the tree there are so many fruits and in each fruit there are so many seeds. In each seed there are trees and in those trees there are fruits and in each fruit there are seeds. In each seed… just tell me who made this arrangement? Can anybody create something like that in a laboratory? So called scientist are claiming that they would create life. I say don’t create life; You don’t have to create life, just create a seed of apple from which a tree would come and in the tree there will be so many fruits, in the fruit there will be seeds, in the seeds there will be trees. So who made this arrangement? Kṛṣṇa. Did you ever say, “Give us our daily bread?” Did you ever say, “Kṛṣṇa give us our daily apple.” Even before you did that, a child is born, the child’s food, the only food that the child can digest- mother’s milk appears there in the mother’s breast. Who made this arrangement? Okay food is important what is even more important than food?

Devotee: Water

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Water, right? And three fourth of planet is full of water. There is no dearth of water but that water is useless. Ocean water we can’t drink or we can’t use it for cultivation. And besides that it is so far away. Can you imagine that if you have to get the water from the ocean?

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: And that we are not far from the ocean actually. But see the arrangement; with the rays of the sun the water from the ocean is evaporating, is forming cloud, the wind is dispersing those clouds at different places; then the cloud is condensing and comes down in the form of rain and that’s how the water is being supplied everywhere. Who made this arrangement?

Devotee: Kṛṣṇa

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay, thank you. What is even more important?

Devotees: Air

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Wonderful. Oxygen, right? And we are taking oxygen and giving out carbondioxide, right? If the process continued then the whole atmosphere will be remained filled with carbondioxide. Did it ever happen?

Devotees: No.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Why not?

Devotees: trees.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Because the trees and plants are taking carbondioxide and giving out oxygen. Who made this arrangement?

Devotees: Kṛṣṇa

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Yeah. Now did we ever ask Kṛṣṇa? We may have asked Kṛṣṇa, “Give us our daily bread; give us our daily apple.” But what about- did we ever ask him give us our daily water? Did we ever ask Him for oxygen?

Devotees: No

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Even without asking He is providing all that for us. So see how He is taking care of us. So when He is there who is taking care of us in such a wonderful way,what is the difficulty in surrendering unto Him. And that’s all He is saying, surrender unto me. When He is saying surrender unto me why shouldn’t we surrender? And then the entire -just we surrender and then the entire spiritual sky opens up. We get an immediate access to the spiritual world. So that is how wonderful Kṛṣṇa’s mercy is and now it is only up to us to receive that mercy. And we can actually go on and on and on about how Kṛṣṇa is taking care of us. Another way to look at it is: what is the shape of the earth?

Devotees: Round.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Round. Where are we situated? Are we inside the earth or on the surface of the earth?

Devotees: Surface

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Surface. Okay now consider: a round object, there is something on top of that. If that object moves what will happen?

Devotee: Fall down

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Now the earth is round we are on the surface of the earth and the earth is moving with a tremendous speed about thousand kilometers an hour. So what should have naturally happened? Shouldn’t we have got thrown out in the space?

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: [Jaya Śrī Śrī Gaur Nitāi ki jaya, Jaya Śrī Śrī Giridhārī Gopal ki jaya. Jaya Śrī Śrī Sītā Rāma Lakṣmaṇa Hanumana ki jaya. Jaya jagāda guru Śrīla Prabhupāda ki jaya]

So that is how now did it ever happen? Did we ever get thrown out? Why not?

Devotees: Gravitational pull.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Wonderful. Gravitational pull. Who created that gravitational pull? We may have given it a name but who actually made that arrangement?

Devotes: Kṛṣṇa

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Very good. Right. Now the other consideration is: like the earth is moving with a tremendous speed, if the earth stopped to move for a moment what will happen?

Devotees: [indistinct]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Can you imagine if the earth stopped to move even for a fraction of a moment? The entire creation will end up. The entire surface would have become completely destroyed, just a momentary stopping of that movement of the earth. Did it ever happen since time immemorial? No, why not? Because Kṛṣṇa is taking care. So all we have to do is just use our intelligence, read the books that Śrīla Prabhupāda has given us and make a very simple arrangement to surrender unto Him. And the rest will automatically take its course. Thank you all very much. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu ki jaya. Create that good fortune for us. Does anybody have any question? Yes.

Devotee: The question stems from.. if you see any animal like elephants dog their surrender is once they surrender they just go with the master and they never worry where the food comes from

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Right. Yes.

Devotee: but for people surrender seems to be a continuous process. It’s like you surrender today but then go back and then your ego is like constantly. It’s never like …Why we see that?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Good. Very good question. Yes. So did everybody hear the question?

Devotees: No.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: we see that animals, when they surrender once to the master, they are totally surrendered but it seems with the human being it’s a continuous process not just one time thing. That is because human being have a terrible thing called false ego and is very much inflated. So a human being has to continuously struggle with his false ego that is why this makes it a continuous process. This continuous struggling with the false ego makes the process continuous. But once we get rid of this false ego and ultimately get a taste of this surrender then it becomes an endless thing. Okay. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yes.

Devotee: Surrender means to keep quite or act as well?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Yeah. Surrender means you surrender to the master and then abide by the orders of the master, right? The surrender doesn’t mean leading to inactivity, right? It is acting on behalf of the master. Now we are acting independently for our own sake but when we surrender then we don’t act according to our own whims but we act according to the command of the master, order of the master. Yes spiritual master because he is the representative of Kṛṣṇa. Yeah.

Devotee: Until one gets a spiritual master how does he surrender?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Haan.

Devotee: Until one gets a spiritual master how does he surrender?

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: Okay find one.

Devotees: [laughter]

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: And it is important actually to find one to whom you can surrender. And then the area actually expands. First you start with one and then you find many, many spiritual masters. As we progress and ultimately it comes to the point when one sees that everyone else is the spiritual master. In that respect there is a very beautiful description in the eleventh canto in Uddhava-Gita that avadhūta had 24 spiritual masters. And he is learning, I mean he is mentioning about 24 but from that we can see that there are many, many. Like he is learning from a bee; he is learning something from a snake; so and he is accepting them as the spiritual master. He is learning something from a prostitute. He is accepting her as spiritual master. So wherever we find an opportunity to become Kṛṣṇa Conscious we find that person to be our spiritual master. Yes.

Devotee: Surrender leads happiness, mental satisfaction and progression also but they are not still part of human life because happiness and not being happy balances each other as a human being.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami: That happens only when you are in darkness. When you come out of the darkness or the suffering condition, come to light; is there any room for darkness in light? No. so similarly there are two things: suffering condition, the material nature is a place of suffering and spiritual world is a place of joy. So once you step into the spiritual world then the suffering condition- there is no room for suffering condition. In the material nature what you are saying is correct. In the material nature it’s happening because it is a place of suffering where we are continuously struggling to remove that suffering condition and when the suffering condition is removed we consider to be happiness. Like but for how long does the happiness lasts? Again suffering comes but if we get transported to another reality, which is a reality of joy which is diametrically opposed to suffering condition then there is no room for suffering. Just like you know from darkness you go to light when the sun comes up in the morning there is no room for darkness. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Okay so thank you very much. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Devotees: [clapping]