Dearest devotees!
Divine souls!
First, let me say, ‘Radhey Radhey’ to each and everyone. And my pranam, my humblest prostrations to all of you. So should we be having just a short speech, not too long. But first, join me in chanting a little bit, and then we'll hear some little talk.
In the book, Radha Govind Geet, written and composed by Jagadguruttam Shri Kripalu Mahaprabhu, and containing 11,111 doha's, Divine composition, Divine couplets. This one verse is saying,
सोचना ही साधना है गोविन्द राधे । बार बार सोचना ही हरि ते मिला दे ।।
Sochanā hī sādhanā hai Govind Radhey, Bār bār sochanā hī Hari te milā de.
Literally and, of course, I'm gonna be very detailed, so if you listen very carefully, sochana, thinking alone is sadhana, (and is) spiritual activity. By thinking again and again, alone, only by thinking again and again, sochana hi, we will attain God.
The Vedas tell us,
“Man ev manuṣhyāṇāṃ kāraṇaṃ bandha-mokṣhayoḥ” (Brahma Bindu Upanishad, second mantra).
This Ved mantra is saying, “The mind, man, the mind alone, ‘man hi’, ‘ev’ means ‘alone’. The mind alone is the cause of bondage as well as liberation. All the responsibility lies with the mind alone. In other words, God, Bhagwan, Shri Krishna, does not note our physical activities. How much puja you have done, how much havan, how much jap, He does not see. He looks to see where our mind is at that time. When I am doing jap, I am chanting, “Hare Krishna, Hare Ram ‘Radhe Radhe, Radhe Govind.” Am I thinking about Shri Krishna? Am I thinking about Shri Ram, Radha Rani or just chanting like a parrot, mechanically? If I am thinking about God that time when I am doing puja, when I am doing havan, I am doing jap, then I am doing bhakti; I am doing sadhana. Otherwise, (it’s) just a physical drill, no benefit. The mind is most important and we don't pay attention. We do everything. Where the mind is at that time we don't give attention, and this is the most important thing.
I am saying, “Do the puja, no problem, do havan, do jap. Chant the name of the Lord, do jap, do everything, but meditate. Think about whose name I am chanting, whose puja I am doing. Put Him to sit and then do puja, put chandan, put haldi, turmeric, sindoor, etc.” Then we are going to get the benefit. Look, it's important that our mind should be attached to God.
Bhagwan Krishna says in Gita,
यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् । तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावित: ॥
Yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajatyante kalevaram. Taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāvā-bhāvitaḥ.
- Gita 8.6
When life leaves the body, ‘tyajatyante kalevaram.’ ‘Kalevar’ means ‘the body’. The life leaves this body (so) we die. Whatever we are thinking about at that time, ‘yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran’. ‘Smaran’ means ‘think, remember’, whatever we are thinking about that time, remember that time, that's what we are going to attain, and where we are going to go. And what are we going to think at that time when life is leaving the body? Bhagwan. Wherever our mind is attached, that personal object we love, where our mind is attached, that's what we are going to remember at that time. If our mind is attached to Bhagwan, then remember Bhagwan. If our mind is attached to material world, any personal object, we remember that and that's what we are going to attain.
And how do we get attached? How do we know we fall in love? We get addicted, we get attached. How does it happen when you just see someone and fall in love? ‘Pyaar ho gaya, na na na (no no no)’.
Bhagwan Krishna says in Gita,
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते |
Dhyāyato viṣhayān puṁsaḥ saṅgas teṣhūpajāyate
- Gita 2.62
When we think again and again - bar bar. Listen carefully! When we think again and again that I will get happiness, I will find happiness in the attainment of this personal object, we get attached and we fall in love.
Nobody's born a chain smoker. Nobody's born an alcoholic. We see someone smoking a cigarette, and we think, “Ah, style. I should smoke a cigarette also.” So you hide and you take a little smoke, and you cough and almost choke on this, on the smoke. You're not accustomed, but you keep smoking, and then you get attached, addicted. You become a chain smoker.
Same thing with alcohol, with drugs, anything. A boy sees a girl, a girl sees a boy, and the decision comes in the mind, “This is the person who is going to make me happy, a soulmate.” That's what we heard. We hear a lot. People looking for a soulmate; someone who's going to make me happy. We all want happiness. So we're looking for someone who's going to make me happy, and the thought comes in the mind very subtly. You don't even think. You don't know that you're thinking about it. Suddenly, this is a girl, this is a boy who's going to make me happy. And you keep thinking again and again and again, and then you fall in love, as we say. Now food doesn't make you (hungry) sometimes you don't even feel hungry, you can't sleep until you get that person. And suppose you get married, you get the person and you get married, and now, “I'm going to be happy.” Maybe a few days, and then the whole thing changes. Because what happens is that you're looking for that person to make you happy, and that person is looking to you to make them happy, and neither one has happiness to give. If someone has the happiness to give, then it's fine. But no one has it. We try our best to fulfill the wish of that person, but how much can you do? And then you have your own selfish desire also. I cannot do everything for you, and you're not even thinking about me?
So it's thinking… again and again. Whether we love the world or we love God, Radha Krishna, whether we hate the world or we hate God, Radha Krishna, the way of practice is the same. The method is the same, and the result is the same. Our mind gets attached,then the heart melts, the mind melts, and we attain the result of that for which the mind melts. If it melts for Bhagwan, we attain Bhagwan. People have hated Bhagwan and they attain Him like Kans, Ravan. Just as the gopis love Shri Krishna, every moment they're thinking about Shri Krishna, whether they're cleaning the house, taking care of the children, or the cows, taking care of the garden, whatever they were doing, they were lovingly thinking about Shri Krishna every moment.
In the same way, Kans was thinking about Shri Krishna every moment. He asked (his servant) to bring a glass of water, in the water he sees Krishna; he throws it away. Food comes, in the food he sees Krishna; he throws the food away. In his clothes, he sees Krishna; he rips the clothes and throws it. In the whole body, he starts tearing, scraping his body, seeing Krishna. He also attained Krishna, just as the gopis. The level of realization was different. He did not attain what the gopis attained, but he also attained Krishna.So the heart melts. Whether we love or we hate, the mind gets attached.
There's something called wax. If you take some wax and you melt it until it becomes liquid, then you take some color, and you throw it into that melted wax and let it cool down. The color becomes one with the wax. Now the color challenges the wax, “Hey, get rid of me if you can!” And the wax also challenges the color, “Come out of me if you can!” It becomes one. So the thing is thinking again and again. The whole thing is thinking again and again. Why? Why do we make this decision? Why do we think again and again that we can find happiness in any personal object in the world? Why is that? Is there a reason for that? Yes. You see, we're all looking and searching for happiness (sukh, anand). Over and over we hear that this word, anand, sukh, is another name or Shri Krishna.
आनन्दो ब्रह्मेति व्यजानात् ।
Ãnando brahmeti vyajānāt.
- Taittiriya Upanishad: 3.6
The Vedas are saying Shri Krishna is anand, bliss, happiness, sukha. So whether we say happiness or we say Shri Krishna, the two names, (They are) one and the same entity. And because we, the jeevatma, the individual souls, are an eternal part, fraction of Shri Krishna, and it's a natural law that every part, every fraction, has a natural love for the whole and wants to become one with it. All rivers naturally flow to the ocean, being a fraction of the ocean. If you look at the flame of a fire, it naturally rises upwards being a fraction of the sun.
In the same way, we, jeevatma, the individual souls, being an eternal part or fraction of Shri Krishna, naturally love and want only Shri Krishna. And because Shri Krishna is happiness, we are searching for and looking for happiness. And from beginningless time, we have been looking, and we have not found even the tiniest drop, even once, even in our dreams because we've been looking in the wrong place.
To want happiness is not wrong, not bad. This nature of ours to want happiness, no one can destroy, neither Bhagwan, the Lord, no man, nor a Saint, nor a demon, no one. But if you continue searching in the world, as we have been doing from the beginningless time, we'll never be satisfied. However, if we happen to meet a genuine rasik Saint, a true Saint, one who's attained that Divine love for Radha Krishna. We associate with him in the right way, and somehow he's able to convince us and put that knowledge into us that, “Hey, you're not the body, you're the soul, atma. You're an eternal fraction of Shri Krishna. Every relation of the soul is only with Shri Krishna, and that happiness you're searching for, you'll find only in Shri Krishna.” What will happen? We'll start thinking about Shri Krishna.
Bhagwan Krishna says to Udhao,
विषयान् ध्यायतश्चित्तं विषयेषु विषज्जते । मामनुस्मरतश्चित्तं मय्येव प्रविलीयते ॥
Viṣhayān dhyāyataśh chittaṁ viṣhayeṣu viṣhajjate. Mām anusmarataśh chittaṁ may ev pravilīyate.
- Bhagwatam 11.14.27
Shri Krishna says, “Udhao, look, just as people in the world, they keep thinking again and again that they can find happiness in any personal object and they get attached. And because of that, they keep rotating in the endless cycle of birth and death.”
In the same way, if someone can make the decision that the happiness I'm looking for, I'll find only in Shri Krishna. And I keep thinking again and again. This practice, the matter of practice, the way of practice, the matter, same. Just as we think again and again in the world, in the same way, if we start thinking again and again about Krishna, Radharani, what happened? We're going to get attached to Shri Krishna. We're going to fall in love with Shri Krishna, and the result will be, we'll attain Shri Krishna. And that's the ultimate aim.
So, it's thinking about it again and again. The mind is most important in bhakti. Yes, do the chanting, do the puja, all the spiritual exercises. But mind, think about whose puja I'm doing, whose name I am chanting. Meditate. And with the knowledge that the happiness I'm looking for, I will find only in Shri Krishna because Shri Krishna is happiness. If I keep practicing, this is sadhana. I keep practicing regularly.
Sri Krishna says in Gita,
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ||
Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇ cha gṛihyate
- Gita 6.35
Thinking again and again, constant practice, constantly, we fall in love with Shri Krishna and we will ultimately attain Him. There's much more, but I don't want to go over the time, so I'll stop here today.
Radha Rani Ki Jai!
