Don't cheat yourself!!

Lecture of Srimad Bhagavatam 1st Song, Chapter 7, verse 4

It is extremely rare to meet in this material world a single person who wants to return to Krsna. In fact people say they want to return to Krsna but this is extremely rare, and that is why most devotees preach fruitive activity action, not pure devotional service, because when we preach pure devotional service there are very few people interested. Many devotees actually dilute themselves because they meet so much opposition because when you want to give high things, automatically if people are not ready it destroys their life, you understand this principle. If you tell someone who wants for example to have sex, children, etc. and you tell them that they are in the delusion, it will simply destroy them. In the same way, the aspiration to be an eternal associate of the Lord, it means to renounce everything, the one who is not ready, it is extremely difficult, that is why the devotees, naturally, if they do not have this qualification, by dint of receiving opposition, if they do not have purity and they simply repeat the words of pure devotees, then they will start to dilute and preach fruitive activity action to be successful, you understand? But never a pure devotee does that, too bad if people leave it does not matter or they stay, he is fixed because he cannot give other things, it is his heart, you give this that you have in your heart.

If you are not a pure devotee, automatically if you encounter opposition you will give what you have in your heart. Then you say to yourself that "in the end, this may not be the right method", but if you are a pure devotee, what do you want to give? You only have that in your heart, so you just keep going, it doesn't matter if there are any that leave, it's not a big deal. The goal is to try to make that one person can return to Krsna, that is our goal, it is not religiosity, our goal, it is not to preach something which has external appearances so that devotees can simply gratify their senses in the name of God, that is not our goal, our goal is to allow some to return to Krsna. Prabhupada did not come to preach fruitive activity action, if you read his books you will understand, in fact devotees do not read the books of Prabhupada or the books of Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Bhaktisiddhanta, they do not read correctly because when they read, they see that they are wrong, Prabhupada never preached fruitive activity action, he preached the highest destination. The proof, if you read his books, he does not encourage people to have family life, to have wealth, to take time for oneself ..., he is extremely given up like a sharp edge. But the devotees, automatically because they don't have a good bhajan, a good song, they cannot understand the words of Prabhupada, and for that there is a lot of interpretation, that's why some devotees have preached strong bhakti to counteract this misunderstanding, it is true, and these devotees naturally had opposition but it was a success because some were able to accept pure bhakti and not self-interested action. The Mahaprabhu movement is not a religious movement. Gour Govinda Maharaja said that the teachings of Prabhupada were like chests with padlocks, and that we needed keys to open them, it is very difficult to understand the teachings of the Vaisnavas, we must ourselves approach a pure devotee to understand what another pure devotee wants, by ourselves, we can't, we'll do an interpretation. For example, if we are attached to eating an orange and if we read “must not eat oranges”, then we will say “oh yes !! You have to eat an orange, '' you understand? It is normal, at the beginning we will not eat oranges, but then naturally with time, we will finally say to ourselves that '' it must be like that '', I even heard elder devotees who said: '' Prabhupada got it wrong, '' now it's actually like that, '' Prabhupada didn't know, Prabhupada this .... ''

Because it is the nature of people to distort when they cannot keep up, they have no spiritual strength, they have no Prabhupada realizations, they have nothing! So automatically, by dint of suffering, they agree to dilute themselves, you understand? I was reading in King Satyavrata's prayers to the Lord in His Matsya, fish form, "although they meditate on how to have more happiness, all they get is more misfortunes." They make plans to be happy in this world but all they have is unhappiness, everyone has had this, it is only this truth in this world. And when they hear that "Ahhh, we say bad things", it's not me, it's the Bhagavatam, read the Bhagavatam! And you will come out of the illusion! Why run after lures, women, children, wealth? It's just the illusion! And that king, he just says, "It brings a new birth." When you meditate on material arrangements, you just get the cycle of deaths and rebirths. On the other hand Satyavrata says that `` if someone engages in Your pure devotional service by singing Your glories purely, then he becomes Your associate, his eternal identity is manifested '', that is our goal, do not get fooled!! Maya serves you trays, if you take them it's over, there will be an illusion, "everything is beautiful, everything is wonderful", but where is the devotional service? Where is your eternity? It's not because it's hard that you have to stop, you have to continue, and one day the result will come, if you are simply focused on your happiness, you will suffer all the time and one day when someone speaks to you as you like, you will say to yourself "there is mercy". But that is not mercy, it is not flowery language which is the truth! The truth is the Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad-Gita, to study seriously and you will see that at that moment, we can make mistakes in life, we make mistakes all the time, all the time. Why? Because the material energy is so powerful, she makes you believe what is false as true and what is true as false, she reverses everything, she is terrible this Maya ''daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya'' (Bhagavad-Gita VII, verse 14) Krsna says that we cannot go beyond it without His mercy. That's why, don't give up, don't be fooled, few will achieve success, that's okay, be part of those who want it and if there are any who stray and fall , it does not matter, you must understand that it is normal, who can fight against his desires, against his frustrations? Very few people. It takes such inner strength! Such a sukrti! Such past activities, such an indestructible faith, that's why Krsna says ''bahunam janmanam ante'', it takes so many lives, people are weak, death is approaching every moment but they don't have scared, they will even get married at 70, 80, have children, this world is madness! Instead of coming true, and after they have a birth again, and what do they do? The same thing! Prahlad Maharaja says "They are vomiting and they are re-eating their own vomit", they have gone through all these stages but they are starting over and over and over again! This is the Bhagavatam, this is Prahlad Maharaja. Read the Bhagavatam! It will get you out of ignorance, without it what is the hope of receiving true knowledge? When this king prays to Matsya, he says that it is simply ignorance that leads sentient beings astray, they are led astray by ignorance, by the knot of desires, and Prabhupada explains what through the Lord in His form of Rsabhadeva?

That this knot represents the attraction for the man and the woman, when they are tied, that they have sex, that they have children, a house etc, it becomes inseparable, it is a powerful knot , it is not an easy knot to untie, and the king says `` You simply can untie this knot by the mercy of Your devotees, '' and if the mercy of the devotees does not act, the Lord is there in the heart, He observes. Bhaktivinoda Thakura says '' it is through the devotees, through the guru that Krsna acts, but those who cannot listen to the guru what do they do? ''I follow the Lord in the heart'', but this Lord cannot speak to you, you are full of desires, it is just the illusion that sometimes makes us believe that it is mercy , how many have gone astray in the form of mercy? Krsna says '' when I bestow My mercy, all reject Me, all, I am all alone '' '' all reject Me '' Do you realize? All! "It's not that all come to Me", you understand? This is called karma-khanda, when we pray to Krsna for material desires, we obtain material desires, when we chant the Holy Name with material desires, it is explained that the Holy Name fulfills these desires. Haridasa Thakura explains this. If you sing while meditating on a pretty young woman, one day she will appear in front of you, you will be able to say '' oh well no, I don't want any '', but you will not have the strength because it is what you wanted, you understand? So how should we meditate? By wanting to become an associate of the Lord and when we want to become one, we sing with attention, not with inattention, we listen to every word, Prabhupada taught us that it is enough to listen, we must sing with attention. When we want to become a pure devotee, we sing carefully, except those who do not have this desire, They sing anyhow, that's why they get nothing, they just get unhappiness. They see the devotees as people who don't like them, the guru as someone who destroys them, etc., that's what, someone who sings purely, everything opens, consciousness opens, it sees that everything is beneficial for him. He doesn't complain, he learns, that's a devotee, he adapts to the environment, he sees mercy. It's not that he hits or punches everyone whenever there is someone who looks a little meanly at him, hello relationships! I lived in a temple, at one point it was a bit like that, there were sometimes punches, head shots, in a temple eh! It was appalling, I was good at boxing, no one came looking for me, with the past that I have, I was quiet, but often it burst. Why? Because the goal was not in the heart, the devotees did not understand what they were doing there and finally one day they leave, because their understanding is not right, because their desire is not high, this is why Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-Gita; a jñani (someone without desires) who meets a karmi (who has material desires) must not say to the karmi: ''Hey! You are wrong there!'' Because at that moment, Visvanath Cakravarti Thakura explains that karmi will say: ''It is true that my way is inferior because I adore God for material goods,

I am the soul, I have nothing to do with this body'', but as he does not have the qualification to understand that he is the soul, he will embark on a path that is not his qualification, he will let go of everything, so it is not easy to teach people, but is it because people do not have the qualification that we are going to preach fruitive activity? I ask you the question? Because people weren't qualified, did Prabhupada preach fruitive activity? No! Without that he would have made a lot more disciples, he had a lot of opposition, even in 1974. I saw English newspapers that said it was ''the sect'', ''the sect of the guru'' Prabhupada had a lot of opposition, that's normal. What is an associate of the Lord going to give apart from the love of God to the world? The only thing missing is the love of God, the sex life you can have, a beautiful meeting, you can have some, someone who says good words to you, you can have some, but this person does not not give the love of God, just that deludes. The proof is when you meet someone who is like that, you are deluded, you think it's the good life, it's gone, it's just an illusion! The material energy is strong, Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja was saying, "Don't think that you cannot fall, Krsna can send you THE person who exactly matches your needs" and off you go. It's powerful! You can't do anything, you just say to yourself, 'It can't be! it's like prince charming '', it's something that fits perfectly, and it has happened to millions of people, billions of people, it fits perfectly we call it soulmate. ''This person is exactly for me, she has everything for me '' and then it's gone, and it's gone for a new birth, you attach yourself and go, from there, there is the illusion between them, a couple is deluded, you have never seen that? You look at a woman or a man... Prabhupada says they're so dumb they can't even talk anymore, ah but it's true, it's no joke! For hours, there is such a unity between the two, they can look at each other for hours without even speaking, they are so good, it's like being half and half, that's why we say that the man and woman are like two halves, what does that give? Samsara, the cycle of deaths and rebirths. Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains "one must be able to see the man as a servant of the Lord and the woman as a servant of the Lord, and the house as the abode of the Supreme Lord", Prabhupada said: "at the time of get married, we give up'', otherwise it's just a material quagmire.

Anyway, all the devotees who get married to be happy, it doesn't last, that's why there are I don't know how many percentages who get divorced, it's huge, it's more than at materialists still, it does not last, it is normal, because it is enough that there is one who advances more and that the other does not want, it ends, a couple so that it can progress must have the same intensity, and if there is none, there is no progress. In fact a couple is like a temple, you live with Krsna, if there is Krsna in the center... you can have a very small altar and then a big one in your house, we made a big altar at the beginning, the first thing we did was a huge altar for Krsna, we lived like beggars, that's what we see bhakti, you go to a grhasta, if you see a very small one temple and a large home, you understood, if you see a large temple and a small one in them, you understood, one can see the devotion of the way one treats the Lord at home, if there is no no Deity, that there is nothing that is for what? Where are you going in a cemetery? Are you going to adorn yourself with ashes? It sounds harsh but it is a reality. One wants a big one for Krsna and a small one for oneself, that is the abode of the Lord, and when one lives like that, what will Krsna do? He will incorporate you into His abode which is large and you will have a large place there, but if you make your life, with Krsna very small, you go into your folly to find happiness in this world, Krsna will not come, do not kid yourself. no, it's not tears that attract the Lord: ''Ooohh!! Lord help me, I am suffering in this world, I want more happiness,'' That's not it! If you pray to be an associate of the Lord and you fall into the first trap that comes along, it is because there is a problem too, when we pray intensely, Krsna protects us, Krsna protects His devotees, His devotees are powerful because they are surrendered, if you are not, and you hold on to your strength then Krsna cannot intervene, Krsna cannot hold you down, Krsna cannot fill your gaps, you are just linked to the reactions of your actions, to your karma, you will not have more or less, your life cannot change without Krsna, it is explained that the 5 subjects of the Bhagavad-Gita, karma is something that can be changed, soul, Lord, time, 3 gunas cannot be changed, but the action that gives the fruits of deeds can be changed, and the way that we surrender ourselves to the Lord, He reciprocates. So those who encounter problems in their devotional service, it is that they are not surrendered, that means that there is only an appearance, as soon as there is a pressure that is exerted. on them, they cannot stand, that means that there is no surrender, you understand, it is a symptom. Someone who does not support anything is not surrendered, someone who supports everything is that he is surrendered. Because he no longer carries his life, it is the Lord who carries his life. Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains that at this level it is the Lord Himself who puts the tests, and His tests are heavy, and the devotee what does he do? He surrenders himself even more, it's a competition, at one point the devotee is completely pure, pure, pure like silver or gold that we purify with fire, that's the beauty of service of devotion is that this service has the power to purify the soul, no other action gives to purify the soul. This is why not all have any understanding of the nature of the soul, simply the pure Vaisnavas can understand its nature. Why? Because the soul has a form, she is personal like the Lord, this is what this purport says. She has a form, the jiva, the soul also has a form, and that is what must be achieved, that is our desire and that will come in due time, do not give up! Never! Without that, we will have to come back again for a lifetime, do the same thing again, those who say in their madness ''I don't care about restarting a birth, it's okay'', it's just crazy they don't not know what they are saying. Do they want to relive everything they have experienced in this life? It's just crazy! When they say that, they're just absorbed into material energy, it's just madness, it's just a madman talking! Only a fool thinks he is going to be happy in this world, there is nothing to be found there.

The Bhāgavatam explains that it is just a reflection of spiritual truth, there is nothing in a reflection, do not be fooled by your false feeling, this prayer of the king (Satyavrata Muni) explains that '' this ignorance, it's the false feeling '', we even go so far as to defy the orders of the Supreme Lord by making our own philosophy of life, but where will that lead us? It's absurd. People need the truth, ignorance can only be driven out by the truth, and ignorance is the source of suffering, lamentation, delusion, that is why one has to become strong through surrender , by ourselves we cannot become it, and this surrender in this age is concretized by the pure song. and it starts with listening. How many names have you listened to this morning with devotion? You can understand how surrendered you are, you can see your faith, don't cheat! How many Holy Names have you listened to this morning? What tastes did you have for singing? You can understand where you are going, there is always time to wake up, there is always time to surrender, raise your arms to the sky and not be beaten down like the weak, flogged by Maya “Go ahead! Come on! '' We should be fed up with being slaves, we would like to be freed from this prison that's what we want, but it is not by starting over the same things, the material attachment, the sex life will not set you free, it is not the arms of a man or a woman that will set you free, this is Maya's cheating, this is wrong! The Bhāgavatam says that `` attachment to a liberated soul is the door to liberation, attachment to a conditioned soul is straying in the material world '', do not be mistaken! What matters is the heart, what does a person have in their heart! This is what you will get. To the person you are most attached to, you will get what they have, no more, no less. Because the principle of association is when you give your heart to someone then you take their qualities and their faults, it's very scientific, really scientific. We know the story of Ajamila, they associated with a prostitute, he lost his qualities, everything. He just developed flaws, he even rejected his own wife for a prostitute, his caste, his birth, all of his qualities, everything, worship to the Lord, but because he had worshiped the Supreme Lord, still at the end of his life, he was able to have mercy, because he had called his son Narayan, so the Lord remains merciful but hey it's a story of the Bhagavatam, Ajamila was not an ordinary person to appear in the scriptures.

This is why, really, we have to be introspective and not just 'yes with your head', it has to go down to the heart and analyze our position, change our way of singing, our only friend in this world are the chanting the Maha-Mantra and the guru, because the guru does not cheat us, he gives us Krsna and chanting is the way to get Krsna. If we reject the guru, the song is withdrawn. You can sing a certain level but not the pure name because in fact the guru and the pure name are inseparable.

Krsna through the guru gives His name, He gives permission to the disciple to enter His home through His name, it is not ordinary. If you reject the guru, Krsna rejects you, it is a principle, be very careful! There are many people who chant the Maha-Mantra but there are few who realize their swarupa, their eternal identity, there are very few, it does not come easily, delirium is easy, that is easy, I remember a mataji who saw Krsna come down from the altar, today she is no longer devotee, in my opinion, if she would have really seen this, she would still be devotee today, I have seen hundreds of like that who heard Krsna, who saw him, who shed tears, so much, I 've seen a lot, I tell you. But today most of them are poorly located. The spiritual life is not a delirium, it is a purification which gradually reveals the Truth ''ceto darpana marjanam '', Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught that, the heart is like a mirror, it must be purified and when it is , the Lord appears and you will be able to see your reality as in a mirror. That's why, we really have to be very sincere in our singing and our listening, keep singing carefully and the results will come, if you sing carelessly you will never get the love of God. I just read a letter from a devotee who left her body and it really broke my heart, she said "I have not developed the love of God", she is sincere, she says so. It's such a shame to do so many services, what is it for? What is the use of this life if we do not develop the love of God? Why do so many things not to develop a drop of love? It's used for? We should think about that, it's dramatic, for example I saw pictures of a young girl who was in the gurukula when she was young, now you see her she is karmi, she is someone who is just in the pleasure of this world, me it breaks my heart, why? Why do devotees not develop love? Why are they just in management or in preaching without understanding what they are doing, what they are giving? It's used for? What is the point of distributing books if we sing badly? We have to sing well first of all. If you sing quickly to distribute books, it's no use, that's not what makes Krsna, Prabhupada or the guru happy, what makes them happy is that we sing carefully, because if we sing carefully, love will appear.

thank you so much

Translated by Rasalila Devi Dasi