“Holy name of Krishna is extremely powerful and has the power to free us from all the sins and ultimately give us love of Krishna.” HG Gauranga Prabhu during his address to the devotees of Iskcon Newtown, Kolkata on 27th September elaborately discussed on this topic – Power of Holy Name.
In his talk he emphasised on the importance of taking shelter of Krishna’s holy name. His lecture was inspiring, motivating and also had few funny anecdotes.
Below is what HG Gauranga Prabhu said during his lecture:
In Bhagavad Gita Krishna says that there are three gateways to hell – lust, anger and greed.
tri-vidhaṁ narakasyedaṁ
dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobhas
tasmād etat trayaṁ tyajet
“There are three gates leading to this hell – lust, anger and greed. Every sane man should give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul.” Bhagavad Gita 16.21
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s gift
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is an embodiment of ananda (bliss) gave us a simple way to get free from these three gateways to hell and i.e. by chanting the names of Lord Krishna. Lord Chaitanya has golden complexion, and he attracts all the embodied souls.
When he started sankirtan in Alarnath then Nityananda Prabhu, his eternal associate, predicted that this sankirtan will spread in every towns and villages all over the world. So, 500 years ago Nityananda Prabhu had prophesised that a great personality will appear and distribute the mercy of holy names all over the world.
And we all know that Nityananda Prabhu was predicting the appearance of Srila Prabhupada and also the establishment of Iskcon.
People think bhakti is difficult. They think that for bhakti we have to do lots of tapasya (penance) and will have to leave many things. But Lord Krishna says that bhakti does not mean that we have to leave things but actually it is to add Krishna in our life.
For example, if people think this is my house, this is my property and I am controller of my house, my wife (or my husband), my children then this is wrong understanding. If someone neglects Krishna and thinks about his home, family, property then it becomes a bondage. So, Rupa and Sanatana Goswami prays to Lord Chaitanya that we are getting immersed in sense gratification, please save us.
Adding Krishna in our life
Brahmaji says brajvasis are so fortunate that they are able to reciprocate with Lord Krishna and they consider Krishna as part of their family.
We have satsanga every Sunday, so that you can add Radha and Krishna in your house. And if there is space available then add Gaur Nitai in your house. If still space is there then add Lord Jagannath, Lord Baladeva and Subhadra Devi in your house. And then if possible, you can add Lord Rama and Mother Sita in your house. And if possible, also add Pancatattva in your house. So, make the Supreme Lord part of your family.
And once we start adding Krishna in our life then automatically other things which is causing us pain will go away automatically. Meaning of Hare Krishna movement is to change lifestyle. As life changes by practicing devotion to Krishna, automatically our life improves.
But people turn away from Krishna
Once in a train I was chanting in the morning. I was chanting slowly so that my co-passenger who was sleeping is not disturbed. But he was hearing the mahamntra, so he covered himself with blanket. But still he was not able to stop himself getting disturbed. He got up and said, “Let Krishna sleep peacefully in the morning.” In train once I saw an advertisement – Your real friend – gaay
chaap tambako (tobacco). In cigarette pack it is written smoking is injurious to health but still people smoke.
HG Sarbhauma Prabhu says that there are three benefits of smoking cigarette – no thief will enter in the house in the night, dog will not bite you, you will never get old. He explains how this is possible. If you smoke then you will be coughing throughout the night then how the thief will enter your house. Because of coughing you will become weak so you will have to use a stick to walk and if you carry a stick then the dogs won’t bite you. And because you will be diseased you will die young so you will never become old.
When my father first met HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj then Maharaj asked him what you did? My father said that I was serving in steel plant for 40 years. So, Maharaj said, “Now you start serving Tulsi plant.”
Develop desire to serve Krishna
We cannot serve Krishna with our intelligence. Without the shelter and guidance of great devotees we cannot serve Krishna.
Lord Brahma says to Lord Krishna, “My only desire is that just like brajvasis are always focussed in serving you, so I also want to take birth here in Vrindavan so that I can serve you constantly.”
Meaning of kama is icha (desire). If we have wrong desires and do things for our own selfish motives then we get bound in this world. So, what is the way to change this wrong desire? It is through satsanga.
Patit means, one who knows what to do and what not to do but still he does what he is not supposed to do. Once I was doing kirtan, one person was not clapping his hand although I was asking everyone to clap and chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
Later I saw the same person clapping his hand with tobacco in his hand. I asked him, “You were not clapping during kirtan but here you are clapping with tobacco in your hard.” He said do not call it tambako, it is sanjivini buti, the same buti which Hanuman brought. I asked him who told you this.
He said, “My grandfather would read Ramayan and eat tambako and would say that this is sanjivini buti.” We see that how wrong conception people are having in this world, they read scriptures and given their own concocted logic.
Only Bhakti can save us
We see Ajamila had good qualities but seeing a prostitute embracing a man he fell down. He got affected by lusty desire. He tried to control his lusty desire by intelligence but he failed to do so.
He brought that prostitute home, married with her and begot many children but fortunately he named one of his children, Narayan. At the time of death when he saw Yamaduttas, he helplessly called his son’s name which was Narayan and immediately the Visnuduttas came and he was saved from Yamaduttas. So, Ajamila says to Lord that your name is so glorious that it saved me.
Advertisement of hell
One person died, yamadutas came to take him. But they said that you have two choices – either you can go to heaven or to hell. Since you have done little bit of piety so you can go to heaven for some period. So, tell us where you want to go first – heaven or hell. The person was not aware of hell or heaven. So, he asked them to show both the places.
So, he was shown heaven. In heaven he saw beautiful gardens, rivers, palaces and people were happy there. Then he was shown hell. In hell he saw dance bars, beer bars, shops selling non vegetarian foods, men and women indulging in immoral activities.
The person thought it is just like some metropolitan city and this is what I always wanted to do. So, he said, “First I want to go to hell.” So, he was taken to hell. But as he approached hell, his body was torn apart and he was about to be thrown in a burning oil. Shocked to see all these, he said, “But you showed me something else.”
The Yamaduttas told that was advertisement of hell and the reality is this. People today are enjoying by indulging in so many sinful activities but they do not know what future awaits them.
What if there is Krishna?
Once one person asked Srila Prabhupada, “What if you come to know at the end your life that there is no Krishna?” Srila Prabhupada said, “Well, we can think that at least we had a good life here. We were always blissful chanting the names of Krishna, dancing in sankirtan, associating with wonderful devotees and enjoying Krishna prasad.”
“But what if you come to know at the end of your life that there is Krishna?” Srila Prabhupada asked. So, Prabhupada would always ask everyone to give up sinful life and chant the names of Krishna.
It is the best time to become devotees as we can get association of so many devotees. By the time Kalki avatar will come, no devotees will be remaining because all the devotees would have gone home Back to Godhead by that time.
When we do sin then we have to atone also. For small sin there is small atonement and for big sin there is big atonement.
Power of holy name
But Hari Naam (holy name of Krishna) is so powerful that it saves us from all the sins – big or small.
Hari Naam is so powerful that although there may be many difficulties in the world but we are able to transcend it. Just like when we fly in an airplane things on the ground looks too tiny, similarly when we raise our consciousness by practicing Krishna Consciousness all the material problems will look insignificant.
Haridas Thakura did not speak about the glories of holy name to the prostitute. But his chanting was so powerful and pure that the prostitute got transformed. And when the prostitute was transformed, he told her to take shelter of Tulsi and chant the names of Krishna.
By taking shelter of the holy name, she became a great devotee endowed with all good qualities. She regularly started serving tulsi, she reduced her eating, she fasted, controlled her senses and chanted attentively. Since she was following the orders of her guru, Haridas Thakura, and practicing bhakti soon love of Krishna manifested in her heart.
She became so pure that many great personalities would come to take her darshan.
When we walk on the road we come across pebbles. Now we have two options – one is to take hammer and crush the pebbles and the other is to wear strong shoes which can protect us from the pebbles. Now how many pebbles can we break? So, the best option is to wear the shoes. Similarly, with how many problems can we fight?
Our mind gets distracted with so many things, there are so many difficulties. So better to take shelter of holy names and protect ourselves from the onslaught of material miseries. Holy name of Krishna i.e. the Hare Krishna mahamntra is the shield of mind and will protect us against any distractions.
Bind Krishna by chanting his holy name
Even maya devi was not able to disturb Haridas Thakura because he was always absorbed in chanting the names of Krishna. When we chant attentively then we get strength to say no to the mind’s wrong demands.
Instead of desiring to enjoy this world, we should desire Krishna. To change kama (iccha), we have to change our desire. In fact pure devotees are able to even control Krishna. Krishna can be controlled only by love. We see how mother Yashoda was able to bind Krishna.
We can also bind Krishna by chanting his holy name especially the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Krishna sees our efforts and then he gives mercy, just like he gave mercy to mother Yashoda. In the association of devotees we are able to give up kam vasna and we can chant the names of Krishna.
