The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Odessa, Ukraine, on September 23, 2002 (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology Volume 90)

First of all, I am offering millions of daṇḍavat praṇāmas unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master, oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and the same unto the lotus feet of my śikṣā-guru, oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja.

I remember one thing: that in the battle of Rāma and Rāvaṇa, Rāvaṇa was going to die. At that time, Rāma sent Lakṣmaṇa to learn some politics from Rāvaṇa, because he was a very high-class politician. Lakṣmaṇa went, and he begged, “I want to know some politics. My brother has sent me to you.”

Then he told Lakṣmaṇa, “If you will do anything good, then without delay, do so at once. Otherwise, you cannot do so. I wanted to build a staircase to heaven so that ordinary people could go there without a permit, without a pass, without an aeroplane or anything. Step by step, they could go there. But now, I cannot do so because I am dying. So, if you want to do anything good, do it now; don’t delay. And you can delay doing bad things until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or the day after that. But for good things, what you want to do this year, do them today. And what good things you will do today, do them this moment. Otherwise, you will lament in the end.”

We know, “To chant and remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead is so good. By this, we can be happy. But I will only take initiation when I am qualified, in a year, two years, three years, four years. Now I am weak. What can I do? I am working; I am a doctor; I am an engineer; I am engaged in my business. What should I do?” But then you will die, and your business will bear no fruit. We should always remember this. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and Vyāsadeva have said:

labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte
mānuṣyam artha-dam anityam apīha dhīraḥ
tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvan
niḥśreyasāya viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.9.29)

[“After many, many births and deaths one achieves the rare human form of life, which, although temporary, affords one the opportunity to attain the highest perfection. Thus a sober human being should quickly endeavour for the ultimate perfection of life as long as his body, which is always subject to death, has not fallen down and died. After all, sense gratification is available even in the most abominable species of life, whereas Kṛṣṇa consciousness is possible only for a human being.”]

Accept without delay the practices that are favourable for chanting and remembering Krsna. Parīkṣit Mahārāja had no time. He was travelling through his kingdom when a young boy cursed him, saying, “Within seven days, you will die.” And what did he do? At once, Śukadeva Gosvāmī told him, “From today, you should hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and you should take initiation.” Then, at once, what did he do? In seven days, he quickly went to Goloka Vṛndāvana. We should think this over.

Tūrṇaṁ yateta — we cannot know, we cannot decide when we will die. We can die in a moment, in a second. And those who are lying down on the bed and are about to die, may not die, but they may live for so many years and years. The controller is Himself, Lord Kṛṣṇa. So don’t delay. We think, “What is the need for initiation? There is no need. I have seen my father, my mother, and so many devotees chanting, so I chant.” This is not the process. There should be a process. If you want to be a general in the Navy, a commander-in-chief in the Navy or military, you will have to go through the proper channels.

If you want to graduate, you will have to go to college and follow the process, and then you can graduate. So, in this line, there is also a process. If you are not going through the process, then whatever name you are chanting may give you wealth and money, but also some problems. It can give you a very good wife and good children, but eventually you will have to give up all these things. But if you are chanting a name that is given by a bona fide guru, then this very powerful name will take you to Goloka Vṛndāvana forever, and then you will be happy.

It is stated like this in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and elsewhere. Where there is a will, there is a way. Understand? Where there is a will, there is a way. If we have a strong will, we can do anything. You know that there are two kinds of rice paddy: one is without rice, without the grain, and the other is with rice. Understand? So, if anyone chants without the proper process, this paddy is without rice or any grain. We can use it to get only some heat from it by burning it, nothing else. But if there is paddy with rice, then we can eat that rice.

Similarly, the holy name is of two kinds: śabda-brahma (transcendental sound) and śabda-sāmānya (ordinary sound). Śabda-brahma is the holy name with potency, originating with Kṛṣṇa, Brahmā, and Nārada, and descending through the guru-paramparā. This name has some value, some potency, some seed of bhakti. But if we are chanting only śabda-sāmānya, not in a proper way, then it will only give some ‘heat,’ like worldly things. We should try to follow all these things.

Now I want to return to our subject. I have explained the first two ślokas of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The third śloka is:

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.3)

[“O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.”]

The essence of all Vedic literature, the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Gītā, Mahābhārata, and Rāmāyaṇa, is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. And what is it? Amṛta (nectar). There are three kinds of nectar. Worldly nectar, the love of a wife, husband, or children, is also a kind of nectar. More than that is heavenly nectar. If you drink it, then you cannot die within thousands of years of the demigods, that is, thousands of millions of years. You cannot die, but eventually you will have to die.

The third kind of nectar is this rasa of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. If anyone takes this nectar of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he will not die. He will go to Goloka Vṛndāvana, and he will always taste the nectar of the service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, which is very rare, very rare. But he will attain that.

Once, about five thousand years ago, eighty-eight thousand high-class ṛṣis, munis, and learned sages, who knew brahma-tattva, assembled in India on the bank of a river. That place is called Naimiṣāraṇya. They wanted to reach the heavenly planets, so they performed fire sacrifices and other things. But a ṛṣi came and told them, “What are you doing? It would be better if we performed kīrtana. Then Kṛṣṇa will send a high-class devotee, and he may tell us how we can be saved from Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga is very dangerous, so we must perform kīrtana.”

Then they began to perform kīrtana. They were very much afraid of Kali-yuga (the Iron Age). In this Iron Age, everyone is very selfish and engages in a lot of politics. All the qualities of the soul are gone. People only want to maintain themselves. They are very foolish and wretched. You know that, really, the whole earth is one. The Supreme Lord has not divided it into so many parts. Yet, we have divided it into so many countries, and now, without a passport, we cannot go here and there. The Supreme Lord created all the air, a single sun, a single moon, and all else. But the people of this Iron Age have made so many borders, and thus, we cannot pass through these borders.

Especially, the people of this age will give up their religious mood. The women will also give up all kinds of religion. They will be like dogs and bitches, all of them. They will apply makeup to the face. They will not be brahmacāriṇī (celibate). Thus, people will trust dogs and bitches more than wives and children. The Iron Age had now arrived, and that is why they were very fearful.

In the meantime, they saw that Sūta Gosvāmī was coming. They honoured him, and with respect, they asked him, “What should we do? You know the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Gītā, everything. You know all literature, and you have heard from your gurudeva (Śukadeva Gosvāmī). We want to know what we should do now.”

prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya
kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ
mandāḥ sumanda-matayo
manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.10)

[“O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.”]

The sages are saying, “In this Iron Age, the lifespan is very short, very short.” It may be only a hundred years, not more than that. And in those one hundred years, you cannot utilise half of that time. Fifty years are spent sleeping. Twenty of those years are also spent in learning and becoming an expert in anything. And, the last twenty years of life, from eighty to one hundred years, we are very old and cannot do anything. Like this, we have only ten years left in our lives. But during that time, we show love and affection, choose wives and husbands, and maintain our families. So, when will one realise the soul? One has no time at all.

“What should we do? Mandāḥ — the people in this Iron Age are not intelligent. They are foolish. But yet they think, ‘We are the most intelligent.’ They cannot differentiate between this body and the soul, never. They want happiness, yet they always experience suffering. They don’t want to grow old, but they will very soon. In their youth, they grow old. Their teeth go away, and then imitation teeth come. Their eyes cannot see. Whatever they do to achieve happiness ends up in suffering. They always have so many problems. From neighbours, from other countries, from their minds, they have so many problems and problems.”

The sages are asking Sūta Gosvāmī, “You are intelligent, you know everything. You are the disciple of Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī, so you can advise us what we should do to be happy eternally.”

Hearing this, Sūta Gosvāmī became very happy. He thanked them and said, “You have asked a very good question for the whole world, for the whole universe. Hear attentively and follow. From today, you should follow, and thus you will be happy. Then the Iron Age cannot touch you, never and never, and you will be free from that.” Then he told them:

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
ahaituky apratihatā
yayātmā suprasīdati

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.2.6)

[“The supreme occupation (dharma) for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.”]

You should not think, “I am not qualified.” All living beings are qualified for bhakti. No one is disqualified or unqualified. All living beings are qualified for this bhakti. A foolish person, even a hog and a pig, is qualified. Even a blade of grass is qualified for bhakti. So why should we not be qualified? You will only have to go through the process.

Bhakti is very, very, very easy. How? The love and affection and attachment you have for your children, wife, and husband — give it to Kṛṣṇa, only this. Kṛṣṇa Himself has come, and He is saying, “Put your hands out, and I will give you bhakti.” You know Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is He? He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He descended from Goloka Vṛndāvana in the form of Śacīnandana Gaurahari. He went door to door everywhere in India and said, “I am giving bhakti, you should take it. It is very easy to take. You should put your hands out, and I will give you bhakti.”

So, what is the difficulty? There is no difficulty at all. We all have some attachment to our children, our husband or wife, our position, our homes, what we have in our house, our dogs, animals, or anything else we have. You have an attachment to these things. Can you give that attachment to Kṛṣṇa? Can you? This is bhakti. It is very easy, but very difficult, very difficult. Can you give that attachment, how you love your children, can you give it to Kṛṣṇa? Kṛṣṇa wants this. It is very easy, but very difficult, very difficult.

Like with babies, if they have something in their hands and you ask them, “Give that to me,” they won’t. They will have a toy or something, and if you ask them, “Give this toy to me,” they will not give it to you. Similarly, we are ignorant children. Kṛṣṇa is Himself coming to us in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu, and He is telling us, “What you have in your hand is poison, a very strong poison. By this, you will be killed. Please give that poison to me.”

What is that poison? This worldly attachment is poison. But Mahāprabhu is telling us, “Give Me that poison, and I will give you nectar.” But we are not willing to give up that poison. That is why we are suffering. But if you give up that poison and accept bhakti, then you will be happy. Bhakti is a natural, natural thing. This worldly attachment is like hell, like a very strong poison. But if you will give that attachment to Kṛṣṇa, then this is like Goloka nectar, and you will be saved forever.

You know Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. What has Nityānanda Prabhu said?

yatheṣṭaṁ re bhrātaḥ! kuru hari-hari-dhvānam aniśaṁ
tato vaḥ saṁsārāmbudhi-taraṇa-dāyo mayi laget
idaṁ bāhu-sphoṭair aṭati raṭayan yaḥ pratigṛhaṁ
bhaje nityānandaṁ bhajana-taru-kandaṁ niravadhi

Śrī Nityānandāṣṭakam (5)

[“ ‘O brothers, simply chant the names of Śrī Hari incessantly, and let the responsibility of delivering you from the ocean of repeated birth and death rest upon Me.’ While travelling constantly, He approached the door of every home, declaring this with outstretched arms. I perpetually worship Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, the root of the kṛṣṇa-bhakti tree.”]

“O jīvas of the whole universe, listen to Me, listen to Me! You should chant loudly, very loudly, ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.’ By doing so, you will be liberated. By doing this, the full mercy of the Supreme Lord will come to you, and you will be happy forever. If you are not happy, I am responsible. You should chant again, and I am responsible for whether or not you are happy. Again chant, ‘Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.’ ”

If you are chanting for Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of a bona fide guru and you are unhappy or suffering, then I am also responsible for you. Whoever I initiate, whoever I tell this to, is my responsibility. Have strong faith in me. To have faith in me means to have faith in the words of Nityānanda Prabhu. From today, you should loudly chant harināma.

Kṛṣṇa is very powerful. He is the Supreme Lord of Lords. He is very powerful. He can even do the impossible. He is very beautiful, handsome, sweet, attractive, and causelessly merciful. He has invested all His potency in His name, in His pastimes, in His hari-kathā. His names, pastimes, and His everything have now become more powerful, more merciful than Kṛṣṇa even.

We can have strong faith by chanting and remembering, and hearing hari-kathā of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and very soon we will be liberated from this miserable world, from the chain of endless birth and death, sorrows and suffering. Then you will see that in a couple of births you will be in Goloka Vṛndāvana, serving Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa Conjugal.

The words of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the words of Nityānanda Prabhu, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu are true to the fullest extent. Don’t disbelieve them. Don’t have any doubt in these words. If you have doubts while chanting, there will be no fruit. It will be like offensive chanting. Don’t have any doubt in your bona fide guru, bona fide hari-kathā, the bona fide pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and the holy name. Go on doing so, and you will realise yourself very soon.

Source(s): Purebhakti.com, Serve Love – Bhakta Bandhav (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology transcribed and edited by the Bhakta Bandhav Team)

Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net

Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)