By Srila Shyam Das Baba
All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru & Gauranga
yad-brahma-sākṣād-kṛti-niṣṭhāyapi
vināśaṁ āyāti vinā na bhogaiḥ
apaiti nāma sphuranena tat te
prārabdha-karmeti virauti vedaḥ (Nāmastakam Vers 4)
(4) O Holy Name, the Vedas declare that although meditation on impersonal Brahman cannot bring freedom from past karma, Your appearance [on the tongue of your chanter] at once makes all karma disappear.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Paramahaṁsa Jagad Guru used to say that – “To do harināma and to meet with Hari is all the same”.
smartavyaḥ satataṁ viṣṇur
vismartavyo na jātucit
sarve vidhi-niṣedhāḥ syur
etayor eva kiṅkarāḥ (C.c. Madhya 22.113)
“‘Kṛṣṇa is the origin of Lord Viṣṇu. He should always be remembered and never forgotten at any time. All the rules and prohibitions mentioned in the śāstras should be the servants of these two principles.’
One should always remember Kṛṣṇa and should never forget Him. All the rules and restrictions are subservient to these two most vital points.
The above śloka from Padma Purāṇa going to establish this most vital siddhānta vichar – that all our bhajan, whatever we do must satisfy the above two most vital conditions, otherwise all useless. Also, our Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given us the most vital advice that –
nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ (C.c. Antya 20.16)
“ ‘My Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Your holy name there is all good fortune for the living entity, and therefore You have many Names, such as “Kṛṣṇa” and “Govinda,” by which You expand Yourself. You have invested all Your potencies in those Names, and there are no hard and fast rules for remembering them. My dear Lord, although You bestow such mercy upon the fallen conditioned souls by liberally teaching Your Holy Names, I am so unfortunate that I commit offenses while chanting the Holy Name, and therefore I do not achieve any attachment for chanting.’
O Bhagavan, your names bestow all auspiciousness upon the jīvas. Therefore, for their benefit, you are eternally manifest as your innumerable names such as Rama, Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, Mādhava, Govinda, Dāmodara etc. You have invested all the power (or potency) in those names. Out of your causeless mercy, you have not even imposed any restrictions on the remembrance of your names, as is the usual system with other mantras like Gāyatrī Mantra etc. In other words, the Holy name of Bhagavan can be chanted and remembered at any time of the day or night and at any condition or situation. This is the arrangement you have made. Oh Prabhu! You have such causeless mercy upon the jīvas; nevertheless, due to my nāmāparādha I am so unfortunate that still I am unable to develop any attachment for your holy name, which is so easily accessible and which bestows all good fortune, this kind of self-regret has awakened within me. What to do? Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that – “To do harināma and to meet with Hari – is all the same.”
Which means that with harināma Śrī Hari Himself present. Those great Paramahaṁsa Vaiṣṇavas for them their harināma chanting is sadya vastu (the absolute object to be attended through hari-bhajan) and surely not sādhana like we are doing. Anyway, the most vital point is to achieve dhruva anusmriti (non-stop or uninterrupted favorable memory of Śrī Hari). Śrīl Prabhupāda used to say that – nāma nāma, rūpa-nāma, guṇa-nāma, parikara nāma, līlā-nāma, dhāma nāma, etc. all are non-different from Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. So nāma sankīrtana can be included in all those above-mentioned objectives.
Like the following kīrtanas—
(1)
śrī-kṛṣṇa–caitanya prabhu jīve doyā kori’
swa-pārṣada swiya dhāma saha avatari’
(2)
atyanta durlabha prema koribare dāna
śikhayā śaraṇāgati bhakatera prāṇa
1-2) Out of compassion for the fallen souls, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya came to this world with His personal associates and divine abode to teach Śaraṇāgati, surrender to the almighty Godhead, and to freely distribute ecstatic love of God, which is ordinarily very difficult to obtain. This Śaraṇāgati is the very life of the true devotee.
Or
(1)
hari haraye nāmah kṛṣṇa yādavaya nāmah
yādavaya mādhavaya keśavaya nāmah
(2)
gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana”
giridhārī gopīnātha madana-mohāna
(1) O Lord Hari, O Lord Kṛṣṇa, I offer my obeisances to You, who are known as Hari, Yādava, Mādhava and Keśava.
(2) O Gopāla, Govinda, Rāma, Śrī Madhusūdana, Giridhārī Gopīnātha, and Madana-mohāna!
Śrī hari-kathā (pure) and śrī harināma both are non-different from each other, because Śrī Kṛṣṇa Bhagavan Himself told to Nārada Muni that—
nāhaṁ tiṣṭhāmi vaikuṇṭhe
yogināṁ hṛdayeṣu vā
tatra tiṣṭhāmi nārada
yatra gāyanti mad-bhaktāḥ
“I am not in Vaikuṇṭha nor in the hearts of the yogis. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities.” It is to be understood that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not leave the company of His devotees.
Where my devotees singing my glories there, I am present. Those who are unable to realize this most vital point, they have no right to do harināma at the time of hari-kathā, because they cannot find out the same significance of both hari-kathā and harināma. They cannot find any link with each other of the above two factors. For those big big exalted Mahājana śrī hari-kathā and harināma both are non-different from each other. If so not the case, then why Śrīla Prabhupāda has shown the most exclusive or rare example of doing harināma japa while speaking hari-kathā throughout the month of the kārtika vrata at Dakha Juhlan Badi in the year of 1921 (kārtika vrata).
Also, how and why it was possible for Śrīla Prabhupāda to give dictation of Gauḍīya article, Nadia Prakash article, Sajjan Toshani article or any particular subject matter of any particular book etc. to four different devotees all at a time simultaneously while doing harināma japa.
So surely there is some mystery regarding this technique of bhajan, which is unknown to us common devotees. Even I have heard from our Sarasvat Gauḍīya Guru Varga that our preaching and bhajan both are of same significance. If it is not so in your life then your preaching can surely make you fall down, no doubt in it. So surely it depends upon the previous saṁskāra of a devotee about whichever process is applicable in his / her bhajan life. Especially when it is the clear declaration of Śrīman Mahāprabhu that for chanting harināma as such there is no restriction regarding any time or situation etc., then what alternative way we can think out- and why? But for those restless bounded souls it is more practical to listen to hari-kathā from a pure source with full attention without doing harināma japa, because otherwise they can commit aparādha both unto the Lotus feet of Śrī Harināma Prabhu and hari-kathā.
Inside Nilachal dhāmā līlā of Śrīman Mahāprabhu at Gambhīra Mandira, one day Śrīman Mahāprabhu wanted to check His tongue to stop chanting harināma at the time of soucha karma by putting some string knot at the tongue, but Gopal the small boy who was present there at that time (the disciple of Śrī Vakreswara Pandit) was just surprised to see what Mahāprabhu was trying to do. On being asked by the small boy about the reason for why He wanted to get control over the tongue, He (prabhu) said that— “Well! My tongue do not obey me, always harināma dancing on my tongue, even at the time of soucha karma I cannot stop my tongue from chanting harināma, so what to do! I just wanted to check my tongue at least at the time of soucha karma.” Then the small boy Gopal replied that—“Prabhu! There cannot be any restriction regarding time and situation about śrī harināma japa, so I wonder why you are trying to do so!
Actually, Śrīman Mahāprabhu purposely wanted to establish this secret siddhānta vichar by Śrī Gopal the small boy, because Śrīman Mahāprabhu wrote “Śrī Śikṣāṣṭaka” much before His sannyāsa līlā, there he clearly wanted to establish this secret siddhānta vichar by the help of the second śloka of Śikṣāṣṭaka. Anyway, by hearing the answer from Śrī Gopal– the small boy, Śrīman Mahāprabhu was extremely happy and started speaking that from today onward everybody can call you as Guru, so now your name is Śrī Gopal Guru. He was the disciple of Śrī Vakresvara Pandit– the personal associate of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Later on he was the ācārya of Śrī Gambhīra Mandira. So now we can see that even if at the time of soucha karma this śrī harināma is not prohibited, then what to speak about while hearing hari-kathā.
But for unstable mind it is really difficult to chant harināma and to pay full attention to hari-kathā. Unmindful harināma can invite more and more nāmāparādha in our life.
mano madhye sthito mantro
mantra-madhye sthitaṁ manaḥ
mano mantraḥ śama-yuktaṁ
etad hi japa-lakṣaṇam Dhyana-candra Paddhati (1.64)
If the mantra is fixed in the mind and the mind is fixed on the mantra [in other words, if the mind and mantra are joined], then the mantra reveals itself to the chanter.
Specially from Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā 8/5-6 śloka we know the teachings of Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa that —
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ
yāti nāsty atra saṁśayaḥ (Bg. 8.5)
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ (Bg. 8.6)
Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.
“Those who are having strong faith in harināma due to their previous pure saṁskāra for them śrī harināma can give complete success in their bhajan life, even for them no need of dīkṣā Purascharan vidhi etc.” Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura has given this most scientific siddhānta vichar in the commentary of the following śloka of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta —
dīkṣā-puraścaryā-vidhi apekṣā nā kare
jihvā-sparśe ā-caṇḍāla sabāre uddhāre (C.c. Madhya 15.108)
“One does not have to undergo initiation or execute the activities required before initiation. One simply has to vibrate the holy name with his lips. Thus, even a man in the lowest class [caṇḍāla] can be delivered.
Special note: We should not take undue advantage of the above siddhānta vichar, because dīkṣā is a must for everybody, no compromise in it.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol