(H H Kadamba Kanana Swami, Modra, Slovakia, 28th February 2012) Lecture: BG 9.18
When devotees come to your house then your house becomes purified! Whoever chants the holy name once, becomes purified! The living being when he becomes embodied he has two bodies – the gross body and the subtle body. The subtle body is made up of intelligence, mind and false ego. Prabhupada says:
‘By chanting Hare Krishna, the subtle body becomes dissolved!’
What does that mean? It means that the mind disappears. Is that a good thing? Some people say:
‘I don’t know. I get mental when I think about things like that!’
That’s it the mind is always giving us trouble – all the time. So to get rid of the mind is not at all a bad thing. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, the functions of the mind are thinking, feeling and willing. They are the natural functions of the mind. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura explains:
‘That actually these are not the functions of the mind. They are actually functions of the soul, but when the soul enters into the body it goes into a dormant stage. And then the mind takes over the functions of thinking, feeling and willing, and as we become purified, the thinking, feeling and willing comes from the soul! Then one is free from any form of anxiety. On the level of the mind there is always happiness and distress.’
So the mind is always going up and down – sometimes it looks really good and at other times it looks really bad. Whatever it maybe the material energy has its dualities. The soul is naturally connected to Krishna and when we become busy with the material energy, the soul just naturally falls asleep – too boring! But when there is Krishna and service to Krishna then the soul is awakened.
So because we have been on a mental platform for a very long time, we cannot access the soul,
‘mamaivāṁśo jīva-loke
jīva-bhūtaḥ sanātanaḥ
manaḥ-ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi
prakṛti-sthāni karṣati,’(Bg 15.7).
The mind and the senses are busy with the material energy and by chanting Hare Krishna we become free – free from anxiety. So it’s very simple…very simple to understand but not so easy to put into reality. When Prabhupada came to England in one lecture he said:
‘Krishna Consciousness is so simple, you might just miss it!’
We think:
‘No it cannot be so simple. The lecture was just too simple. I wasn’t very impressed. It was really simple.’
Yes, but the truth is very simple. It is very simple. Everything about Krishna is blissful. Krishna is amazing. Therefore whatever is in connection with Krishna is wonderful! Whereas with material things, well it is not always just blissful. If we use the example of getting married – then most people get married because they think that they think:
‘Then I’ll be happy!’
But it’s not always like that! Some people just suffer for years. What can you say, it happens! In the material world you never know – you just don’t know. It looks so good and then after a while it turns out to be a problem. Like that you never know what you are going to get.
But when it comes to Krishna then you can’t go wrong. Whatever we invest in Krishna, it will make it better! That’s how simple it is!
