#20A How to please Krishna

Translation- One who always remembers your activities and my activities

also and he chants the prayers you have offered becomes free in due course
of time from the reaction of material activities.

Purport- Here it is stated that anyone who chants and hears about the
activities of Prahlad Maharaja and in relationship with Prahlad’s activities
the activities of Nrsimhadev gradually becomes free from all the bondage’s
of fruitive activities. As stated in the Bhagavat Gita,
yam hi na vyathayanty ete
purusam purusarabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram
so ‘mrtatavaya kalpate

O best among men(Arjuna),the person who is not disturbed by happiness

and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation.

Duhkhesv anudvigna-manah
sukhesu vigata-sprhah
vita-raga-bhaya-krodhah
sthita-dhir munir ucyate
One who is not disturbed in spite of the three fold miseries who is not elated
when there is happiness and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is
called a sage of steady mind. A devotee should not be aggrieved in an
awkward position nor should he feel extraordinarily happy in material
opulence. This is the way of expert management of material life. Because a
devotee knows how to manage expertly, he is called jivan-mukta. As Rupa
Gosvami explains in Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu:
iha yasya harer dasye
karmana manasa gira
nikhilasv apy avasthasu
jivan-muktah sa ucyate
A person acting in Krishna Consciousness (or in other words in the service
of Krishna) with his body, mind, intelligence and words is liberated person
even within this material world although he may be engaged in many so
called material activities. Because of constantly engaging in devotional
service, in any condition f life, a devotee is free from all material bondage.

Bhaktih punati mannistha

sva pakan api sambhavat

Even one born in a family of meat eaters is purified is he engaged in

devotional service (Bhagavat Gita 11.14.21) Srila Jiva Gosvami cites this
verse in logically supporting that anyone who chants about the pure life and
activities of Prahlad Maharaja is freed from the reactions of material
activities.

This is the benediction that Lord Nrsimhadev is offering to all those who
hear with a sincere and devoted heart, the beautiful story of the life of
Prahlad Maharaj, the devotee is so dear to the Lord that the Lord,
personality of godhead takes greatest pleasure for the living being finds joy
in hearing the glories of devotees. Devotee’s spiritual advancement only
takes place when the Lord who is within our hearts is pleased by our efforts
on the path of bhakti. The path of bhakti yoga is a path of invoking by our
sincere service attitude the blessings of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. In fact there is no other method of advancing in this pious process
of yoga. The ascending processes of self realization. The participant by his
own efforts by his own tapasya by his own determination, he is trying to
climb higher and higher towards the absolute truth. But in the path of bhakti
a devotee knows that by his tapasya by his determination by his sincere
service attitude he is simply trying to attract the blessings of Krishna and
his devotees. And in fact whatever efforts we make if it is not pleasing to
Krishna and hi devotees, then we make no spiritual advancement on the
path of devotional service. Therefore as said in the Srimad Bhagvatam,
atha prem biretad
that whatever we do in our spiritual life the only goal the only purpose
would please the Lord. If the Lord is not pleased even if we perform the
greatest most wonderful acts in the eyes of men, even if our fasting our
tapasya our sweet kirtana our magnificent lectures, whatever we may offer
to him it is not pleasing to him and his pure devotee it is of no value. We
make no spiritual advancement. Therefore in this mood a devotee feels
himself very humble insignificant and useless because the devotee
understands that with whatever powers and abilities he has he is utterly
helpless to make any advancement in devotional service. It is all exclusively
depending on the mercy of the sadhus and the mercy of the supreme
personality of Godhead. Krishna tells us in the Srimad Bhagvatam it is
spoken by Suta Gosvami.
Srimvitam sukata krishna......
That one who take pleasure in hearing the glories of the Lord and the
devotees, such a person through this process pleases the Lord to such an
extent that the Lord within the heart dispels all the darkness all the
ignorance all the material bondage from within. This means one is non-
envious. An envious person does not like to hear the glories of someone else.
And envious person like to hear the glories of himself. But one who is not
envious who with a sincere hearts genuinely takes pleasure in hearing the
glories of the Lord and his devotees, such a person wins the heart of
Krishna and through this process Krishna from within you he purifies you
of all your bondage to material attachment. Anartha nirviti- the first thing
we have to do in order to take pleasure is on hearing the glories of the Lord
and his devotees. We have to be at least be awake so please try to
understand that there are yogis who living in the Himalayas they are
performing such tapasya. Recently some of our devotees went to Goumukha
the source of mother Ganges far above Gangotri in the highest peaks of the
Himalayas. And we found there that even in the midst of the summer months,
there is snow and ice, all around. And even in the summer the water as it is
coming out of this holy glacier, it is more cold than ice. In fact gigantic
chunks of ice are constantly just rowing by the rapid waves of the Ganges
and we have seen Yogis who live there throughout the year even in the
winter months bathing three times in a day in the Ganges. Performing
severe tapasya. I don’t know what there is to even eat in that place in the
winter. All for the purpose for attaining higher realization of the absolute
truth, bhagvan. And there are others who are in the process of jnana yoga,
who observe complete celibacy complete detachment from any of the objects
of the senses. Tremendous sacrifice. They sometimes spend eighteen hours a
day studying the scriptures just trying to get deeper and deeper insights into
what is the matter and what is spirit. There are other yogis who live in caves
with venomous snakes with leopard lions, tigers, and monkeys all around,
scorpions, no ventilation. Dark in the jungle through the process of fasting
they imitate their bodies, they sit in meditation fixing their mind on one
object in total concentration not moving their body, enduring all the pains
and tribulations of the mind and senses, and the natural elements just to try
to come closer to that state of liberation. Although such processes are very
difficult almost impossible for the common man, factually an innocent house
wife who takes pleasure in hearing the glories of the Lord and the devotees
of the Lord makes more spiritual advancement than all of these sadhus and
yogis because the Lord takes greater pleasure in seeing you taking hearing
his glories and especially hearing the glories of his devotees. Therefore
smaranam kirtanam...... govindadas prays let me always engage my mind in
the nine processes of devotional service of which first and foremost is
hearing the glories of the Lord and chanting those glories. Here
Nrsimhadeva because of his love for Prahlad, due to his great surrender he
was admitting that anyone who love Prahlad I love that person, because
Prahlad Maharaj is so dear, because Prahlad Maharaj you have done so
much to show your loyalty your faith and your devotion to me. Anyone who
loves anyone who takes pleasure ion hearing about you, that person is most
dear to me. And he explains in due course of time that person will be free
from the reactions of all material activities. Lord Narahari specifically is
using kale which Srila Prabhupada translates in due course of time to give
us confidence that it is his assurance, do not expect immediate results, but it
is guaranteed. Just as when a young lady marries a young man, she cannot
expect to have a baby the day after their marriage. It is said every women
generally is very fond of having babies. Why this is so inconceivable to any
man, of sanity, but every women is very fond of having a little baby. First of
all it’s crawling in her womb she is thinking how nice, and then it’s crawling
around all over the house. And she is just running around frantically trying
to keep it from killing itself. But somehow or the other by the great force of
the illusory energy every women is very anxious to have babies and even
after they go through the horrible trauma of giving birth, that is a very very
painful experience, suffering like anything after they give birth and then they
have to care for this infant. That’s just basically for an outlet for stool and
urine and mucus, and saliva, they are just manufacturing these things
constantly. The mother says, I will never have another baby again. This is
the last one. Never again!
But then as soon as the child becomes a little grown up she is thinking on
how much I want another baby. So it is said that every woman wants babies.
But the woman cannot expect to have a baby immediately after marriage.
First she has to serve her husband very nicely, she has to please him in so
many ways, and then after so many months, or so many years the baby will
come. So she has to have this patience. Srila Prabhupada uses this example
that Krishna promises us that in due course of time if you please the lord
and you please the devotees Krishna will take birth within you heart. He
will appear within your heart and when he appears he will dispel all
attachments to material activities, but we cannot expect it to happen
immediately. It is a gradual process. But it is guaranteed, it is the promise of
the Lord. Man mana bhava mad bhakto- always think of me, worship me,
offer your homage unto me, in this way Krishna says you will come to me
without fail. I promise this because you are my dear friend. So this is the
love of Krishna for his devotee. That anyone who loves his devotees is loved
by Krishna. Anyone who takes joy in glorifying his devotees more than
anyone else is loved by Krishna . Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavat Gita,
that you can understand this message because you are nor envious of me.
Because you are non-envious. An envious man cannot tolerate hearing the
glories hearing the glories of others, but the non-envious man takes great
pleasure in hearing the glories of Krishna’s devotees and this is why it is so
important to adopt this mentality that we are the insignificant servant of the
vaisnavas. Because as soon as we consider ourselves to be one of any
importance in spiritual life, then what happens is we cannot tolerate anyone
stepping in front of us. Especially in the eyes and ears of others, to the
degree we give importance to ourselves to that degree we become envious of
others who may compete upon our spiritual position. Therefore the devotee
is aspiring dasa dasa anudas- to be the most insignificant infinitesimal
atomic servant and atomic particle of the dust of the feet of all the other
vaisnavas. That is what is means to be the servant of the servant of the
servant, aspiring for this position and when we are in this position then we
take the greatest pleasure in hearing other devotee’s glorified, in hearing
other devotees praised with words of glorification. Prahlad Maharaja the
most exalted of all vaisnavas because he had accepted this humble position
he was able in every circumstance of his life to cry out for the mercy of
Krishna and his devotees, and therefore he became most dear to the Lord.
And anyone who love the Lord, the Lord’s devotee is loved by Krishna. Even
in English it is said love me love my dog, because in English,
in the English speaking world dog is man’s best friend. You have heard this
saying, in Bhagavat Gita Krishna says, know me to be the best friend of
your heart. But in the English American system it does not say, that God is
your best friend, but it says God is man’s best friend. And of course God
spelt backward in reverse is “DOG”. So the fact that they are thinking that
dog is man’s best friend means that we have the exact reverse mentality of
those who are spiritually inclined and accept God as man’s best friend.
Prabhupada used to say, anyone who considers himself as God is Dog. And
everyone considers himself as God. So everyone is dog. And dog is man’s
best friend. So what does that mean? That means everyone is completely
envious of God but is said love me love my dog. In other words if you love
my best friend that’s the best way you can show your love to me. Of course
Bhaktivinoda Thakur does say that Krishna, Krishna I am like a dog. Just
following behind you. The one quality of a dog that is very much respected is
his loyalty to his master. So a devotee is sometimes considered to be like
Krishna’s dog because he is simply following behind Krishna, chanting
Krishna, Krishna. So one who loves Krishna’s dog is loved by Krishna . one
who loves to hear the glories of those persons who are loyal to the Lord,
that person is most beloved by the Lord, and this is the benediction that Lord
Narahari has given. Prabhupada is describing here how when one
sometimes comes to this platform of making the prominence in his life
seeking happiness and pleasure in hearing the glories of the Lord rather
than in satisfying the senses, then one becomes completely indifferent to the
happiness and distress of this material existence because he is no longer
looking for pleasure in the things of this material existence. Nastha prayesu
bhadresu nityam bhagvati sevaya- it is said one who daily takes pleasure in
hearing the Srimad Bhagvatam, which is the story of the Lord and his
devotees and who daily engaged in the service of the person, Bhagvatam to
such a person Krishna reveals everything form within the heart, so this
must be the standard of our search for happiness. In this world the
propensity for enjoyment is very strongly situated within us. It is impossible
for a neophyte devotee to simply give up looking for pleasure because we
are pleasure seeking by nature. But we do have the power if we are sincere
to seek out pleasure not in our own selfish glorification, not in our own
sensual pleasures but in hearing the glories of the Lord and his devotees.
Therefore when devotees come together it is described in the third canto
yatre gyanite katham mrshtas- which means the devotees when they come
together they do not discuss sense gratification, they do not discuss worldly
topics which are directly or indirectly only meant for sense gratification, but
they come together to give each other the pleasure of hearing the glories of
the Lord and his devotees. Therefore in the process of coming above the
neophyte stage, of devotional service it is most essential that we learn how
to associate with one another. You see the tendency is in the association of
devotees to talk nonsense, to speak about one’s glories or to speak about
just completely irrelevant subject matter which has nothing to do with
Krishna’s glories. This is the tendency of the tongue, the fastidious,
uncontrolled tongue. Therefore the devotees of the Lord must learn how to
associate with on another correctly. That means that when we come together
we come together like this morning to hear the glories of the Lord and his
devotees, to engage in the holy kirtan of the Lord, where we are glorifying
the Lord and his devotees. And if we can simply do this very soon we will
attain pure devotional service. If we can simply keep this sacred principle as
the unifying force amongst us then very soon we will understand the
kingdom of god within our own hears. But if we cannot if we will not agree
to sanctify pure association by keeping the glorification of the Lord and his
devotees between us then we will do so many tapasya. So many great
services but there will always be something gravely lacking within our
hearts. So let us take this benediction of Lord Nrsimhadeva upon our heads
into our hearts, let us take this benediction of Nrsimhadeva as his causeless
mercy and accept this benediction as our life and soul. This benediction is
that anyone who takes pleasure in hearing the glories of such great souls as
Prahlad and the Lord in the course time will become free from all material
reactions and will attain pure devotional service, this is very simple, it is a
very simple process. We can speak of all sorts of very eloquent philosophy
but if we forget this principle our spiritual life is lost because factually all
our philosophy all our logic all our arguments is only meant to bring us to
that point of learning how to hear and chant the glories and names of
Krishna that’s all, let us not miss the point, what we are speaking of this
morning is the essence of spiritual life.