Sri Upadesamrta: Text One, Part One
The following is the first installment of our latest classroom series: Sri Upadesamrta, with Illuminations by Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami, published by Gosai Publishers, 2009.
Text One
vaco vegam manasah krodha-vegam
jihva-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah
sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat
A self-controlled person who can overcome the impulses of speech, the mind, anger, the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to instruct the whole world.
Illumination by B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami
One time our Guru Maharaja (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura) arranged to preach in Vrindavana for the full month of Kartika. He chose to speak from the basic teachings of the Upadesamrta of Srila Rupa Goswami. His attention was always focused on the basics, because he felt that the fruits of devotion will come naturally. Pour water onto the root and the fruit will come by itself. Upadesamrta contains the substance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teachings in the language of Srila Rupa Goswami. These eleven verses of Upadesamrta were inspired by the advice of Mahaprabhu and Rupa Goswami put that advice into poetic language.
Guru Maharaja himself spoke for several days on the boundary line between Radha kunda and Shyama kunda. He read and explained the Upadesamrta. Srila Prabhupada explained Upadesamrta and nothing of Govinda-lilamrta or Visvanatha Cakravarti’s Sri Krishna Bhavanamrta. The higher topics of madhurya lila, Radha-Krishna’s amorous pastimes, were left aside. His attitude was, “People are ripe in sahajiya, imitation of devotion. Just try to make them understand, to enter the plane of bhakti. That is so great; what to speak of Krishna lila – that is far, far above.” These were his words.
Pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange – the whole sphere is taken at a respectable distance on the head. Go on working in the lower level, to show proper respect to the highest thing, don’t venture to enter – fools rush in where angel’s fear to tread. With this idea, he dealt everywhere.
The Impulse of Speech and the Mind
Vaco-vegam means the urge to speak. One is habituated to speak too much. That tendency to speak is always there, whether it is good or bad. There is no time to discriminate—always talking and talking. I may speak anything and everything and then later repent, “Why did I say like this? I should not have said such a thing only to pain the hearts of others.” When the force comes from within to say something we cannot control it. “I am straightforward—I can say anything and everything to anyone and everyone! I may even abuse a sadhu.” This should not be. We must try to control that force coming from within in the form of speech.
Manasa means mental waves. Sometimes the rush of some idea may overtake me and manipulate me. It is very difficult to control the mind. The mind may be absent. We may engage our body but I may think something bad. To control the mind some responsibility is necessary. We must accept responsible actions and service—then we can control the mind. Otherwise the mind is independent. It may run hither and thither. We must take some responsibility to control the mind by engaging it in the service of Krishna and his servants.
It is difficult to control the inner mind, but when we preach to others, we cannot but be all-conscious. We cannot talk irrelevantly. We can easily have concentration when we talk about Krishna—that is kirtana. I may begin with some japa but my mind wanders here, there and everywhere. But when I am engaged in kirtana, I must be fully attentive. In that way we can control the mind, which is very difficult to capture and to utilize.
ostha-spandana matrena
kirtanam tu tato varam
Simply by moving the lips to chant the Lord’s holy name one can attain the greatest benefit.1
Special stress has been put on kirtana by Mahaprabhu. Kirtana means to preach. The environment is prepared to attack me, I should rather take up the offensive than the defensive—I shall attack the environment! Kirtana means to take the offensive. The whole environment is surcharged with the offensive spirit. They are coming and attacking me from different directions, through different ideas that are like spies that are already within us: their agents. I shall take the offensive and attack the environment with the power that I have received from my Guru Maharaja. That means kirtana. That means preaching. This is what we are told by our Guru Maharaja, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. Preaching means to attack the environment, not to lie down passively and allow others to take the position. Japa is very feeble, a weak thing. You will begin your japa and when you are aware you will find that your mind is marketing in some other place. But when you are talking about Krishna to others, you will be fully attentive. That is automatic attention. Therefore you can control the mind by preaching.
The Impulse of Anger
Then there is krodha-vegam. Krodha means anger. When anger comes, it creates a disaster and a reaction is inevitable. We must try to check that sort of flow of the mind towards anger. We shall not try for anger, but what we have we shall try to utilize it for the service of Krishna.
yad karosi yad asnasi
yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat taspasyasi kaunteya
tat kurusva mad-arpanam
O Kaunteya, whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, whatever penances you may undertake—do that as an offering unto Me. (Gita 9.27)
Good or bad, whatever is within you, that must be thrown away for the object of Krishna’s service. It may be adjusted in this way: I have got anger and that anger should be utilized in favor of the service of the Lord. Krodha bhakta-dvesi-jane, whoever comes to attack the devotees, I will use my anger against him. We make the best of a bad bargain. So many tendencies are in my mind and when I want to transform them wholesale within my mental system, I shall try to adjust them in connection with divine service. I shall try to utilize them in that stage.
In some stages it may seem that a devotee becomes angry by even a little cause, but that anger should not be classified as ordinary anger. His anger will do good to the person with whom he is angry, it is for the well being of the man with whom he is angry. They cannot be judged independently. Mahaprabhu was angry sometimes. When Mahaprabhu was going on with kirtana, they closed the door and one brahmacari who was only drinking milk and nothing else wanted to enter. He thought that, “I must be considered to be purest because I drink only milk, nothing else. Why have they closed the door to me?” Then at last when the door was opened, and he asked why the door was closed to him, Mahaprabhu replied, “Simply drinking milk is no qualification. The real qualification is Krishna consciousness.”
This has been seen many times. There was some misbehavior done against Srivasa Pandita. A tantrika placed some wine and other things at the door of Srivasa’s house at night in order to ridicule him. Srivasa Pandita opened the door and saw wine, meat and other nasty things. Then he went to his neighbors and said, “Please see how I am a tantrika. Every night with the help of this meat and wine I worship Goddess Kali.” Then those gentlemen felt very disturbed, “Who is the rogue who has done this thing?” When Mahaprabhu was informed he was very much enraged and said, “That man will have to suffer!” Later, that man whose name was Capala Gopala got leprosy. Sometimes in this world some anger is shown by the incarnation of God himself, and some devotees also. But that is not harmful. It is for the good of the person. The excitement found in a devotee should not be taken as ordinary.
We have to quarrel. Sometimes we may have to engage in litigation; sometimes there are differences in our realizations concerning the proper meaning of the particular mantras of the scriptures, or a particular point. There may be differences and discussions. It is not undesirable. Sometimes it is necessary. Generally we are to think that we are not in a perfect condition, our differences will be due to our realization, our degree of realization. Everything varies, but differences amongst the main principles is deplorable and will cause disturbance to the newcomers. It is a great catastrophe for the newcomers. They have come with open faith of a very mild standard; their faith is not so high, not so intense that they will be able to tolerate many things which seem to be like discord. The difficulty is with them. Whenever such things are happening, generally the madhyama-adhikari Vaisnava should try to keep the beginners outside. They should not be allowed to enter into these discussions and differences; the quarrel, litigation and all these things. This is only reserved for madhyama-adhikaris. It is undesirable for the beginners to see the differences between the higher personalities whom we consider to be upper rank. When they observe such quarrelling the lower class cannot but be disturbed. Try to avoid this as much as possible. At that time they may give their attention towards the scriptures. There is less quarrelling, but in scriptures there is also quarrelling, because their recommended advice is for different stages. Progress means quarrel. Elimination and acceptance, that means quarrel. One condemns another, progress means such. We can’t avoid it altogether, but still progress is there. We must not be afraid.
- Hari-bhakti-vilasa 11.453 [↩]
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Sri Upadesamrta: Text One, Part Two
The Impulse of the Tongue
Jihva-vegam – this means the urge for that which is very tasteful. I am a servant to that, a slave to tastefulness. Jihva-vegam means our attraction to a particular taste. One may have attraction for pungent, bitter, sweet or sour. That is jihva-vegam. The tongue always wants to taste that sort of thing. Whatever is tasteful may be detrimental to my health, yet I cannot control my tongue. Out of greed I may take something that may not be the proper diet for me. I take something, and then I take more but it is not necessary for my health. I should try not to fall prey to my tongue and become its slave. How to avoid jihva-vegam? The process is that whatever I am taking, I should think, “How has the sadhu, the guru, or God tasted it?” The material thing should be subservient and our attention should be directed towards the subjective feeling of the higher personalities, how they have tasted it. That is the key to escape from material taste.
Mahaprabhu tried to avoid sweet things, “I am a sannyasi so I must keep a standard. If I take sweet things, then everyone will do like that. It is not proper.” Then Svarupa-damodara said, “That is the negative side, but You will take prasada. That is the positive side. Jagannatha kaichi karyachena bhojana. You must
have direct experience of how Jagannatha tasted it.” From the objective world, to take it to the subjective, all feelings should be collected and applied towards the higher plane, and it must be drawn from the lower plane.
The Impulses of the Belly and Genitals
Jihva-vegam means the urge for that which is palatable to the tongue, and udara-vegam means the urge to fill one’s belly. We think, “No, I have not eaten. I have not taken much food. The belly seems to be very vacant to me. I shall take more.” That is udara-vegam. More and more – then it will swell. We should only take that amount of food that is necessary to keep up the health.
Upastha-vegam is the urge to get a pleasing sensation from the ladies and the desire for the company of women – for the men, the women and for the women, the men. We should try to check that tendency within us. That is mental; it is not even in the soul. That is only in the mind and that is the worst cause of our wandering in this world. Even from the tree to the demigods this sort of tendency is flowing and we must be very cautious not to fall prey to such a flow. It is a universal and very powerful flow and we must try our best to keep aloof from the flow of that plane as much as possible.
tomara kanaka bhogera janaka
kanakera dvare sevaha madhava
kaminira kama nahe tava dhama
tahara malika kevala yadava
Your wealth is simply used for mundane pleasure but you should use it in the service of Madhava. The desire for women is not your business because Krishna is their only true master.1
The enjoying aspect of women is not for you, it is only reserved for Krishna – tahara malika kevala yadava. Krishna is the only enjoyer of the beauty of anything to be enjoyed from the women section. It is mentioned there, literally in this verse.
One gentleman came to our Guru Maharaja in Calcutta and said, “What do you mean by this? Then who are we? Have you written this in the literal sense? That all the women are meant only for the enjoyment of Krishna, only and none else?” Prabhupada answered, “Yes, yes! That is the true naked meaning of this. Such a type of enjoyment is meant only for Krishna, and all others are trespassers.” Kanaka – money. The master of money is Narayana, Laksmipati, and we are all his servants more or less in different ways. And Baladeva, the guru, is the master of name and fame. Kanaka, kamini, pratistha. Kamini is to be adjusted for the Krishna conception, otherwise we are lost. It must be adjusted with him. Any lady consciousness must have connection with Krishna.
Intelligent Adjustment
We are told that this jihva-vegam, udara-vegam, and upasthavegam are in a line. They all help each other. We must be very careful to be rid of them. They cause so much disaster in one’s life and have spoiled so many lives. We should be careful in our dealings with them. We must be very cautious about all these animal tendencies within us. Rather we are slaves to them. These different types of mentalities are masters and I am their slave. We must be independent of all these ‘masters’.
kamadinam kati na katidha palita durnidesas
tesam jata mayi na karuna na trapa nopasantih
utsrjyaitan atha yadu-pate sampratam labdha-buddhis
tvam ayatah saranam abhayam mam niyunksvatma-dasye
For so long I have obeyed the wicked dictates of lust, anger, greed, madness, delusion, and hatred, yet they never took pity on me, and I have felt neither shame nor the desire to give them up. O Lord of the Yadu Dynasty, now that my intelligence has been awakened, I am leaving them behind. I surrender myself unto You who grants fearlessness. Please now engage me in Your service.2
These desires are my lords and they are using me as their slave, and such a helpless life I am leading here. In the name of a human being I have got so many shameful tendencies within me that even an animal cannot come to such a low standard. This is our self-analysis; our real nature will be like this – a shameful nature within. Our real enemies are within, not without. And within, the Lord is there in the heart and the kingdom of the Lord is much higher. We have that consolation, hope and prospect. We must give a bond and try to keep that promise, then help will come from that higher plane and it will drive away all these superficial enemies that are dancing like demons on the surface of our mind. They must be driven away. And help will come from within, if we seek it and if we cooperate.
The agents of the Lord are more powerful. If we really invite them, then the sadhus, the agents of the Supreme Lord, will come and drive away all these things. These demonic demonstrations on the surface of the mind will be driven away forever and we will have happy engagement in the service of the Lord. We will be free from all these demonic masters. That is not a cheap achievement. Gradually it will be controlled. If you want to hunt an animal, it takes some time to kill it. These anarthas are there and to dispense with them, some time is necessary. But the energy to kill them, to remove them, should be gathered by us from higher sources. Then with less energy we can do away with them.
kiba se karite para, kama krodha sadhakare
yadi haya sadhu-janara sanga
What can lust and anger do to the practitioner who takes shelter of saintly association?3
What harm can lust, greed and anger do to a seeker of the truth who is on the path of divine realization, if he can have the intimate association of a sadhu? In other words, they cannot do anything because something is being spent but it is a sideincome. If help is coming from the higher then that supersedes the expenditure to the lower and the lower thing cannot do any harm – kama krodha sadhakare. And there is also kausala. Kausala means intelligent adjustment – we can get relief. In this regard Narottama Thakura says,
kama krsna karmarpane, krodha bhakta-dvesi jane
lobha sadhu-sanga hari katha
moha ista-labdha-bine, mada krsna-guna-gane
niyukta kariba yatha tatha
I will use lust in the service of Krishna, anger against those who are inimical towards the devotees and greed for associating with sadhus and hearing krsna-katha. I will become bewildered only when I cannot attain my worshipable Lord. Madness will manifest when I intensely glorify the divine qualities of Krishna. In this way I will utilize all of these.4
Kama krsna karmarpane – some impulse we feel within. Try to utilize that force and regulate it in the service of Krishna. Krodha bhakta-dvesi jane – try to use anger towards those who are antagonistic to the sadhus, the krsna-bhaktas. Lobha sadhu-sanga– you may try to engage greed by hearing from the lips of the sadhu. Moha ista-labha bine – sometimes depression comes. Try to utilize it when you are separated from the sadhu. Mada krsna guna-gane – sometimes overflowing energy appears within us. Engage that overflowing energy in dancing and chanting the name of Krishna. Niryukta kariba yatha tatha – try to regulate all these things in the service of Krishna. If you do this you will be free from them in no time.
asankalpaj jayet kamam
krodham kama-vivarjanat
arthanartheksaya lobham
bhayam tattvavamarsanat
With strong determination, one should give up lusty desires and anger by rejecting the objective for sense gratification. On should give up greed by evaluation of the obstacles of accumulating wealth and by analyzing reality one should abandon fear.5
In the Bhagavatam it is mentioned by Devarsi Narada, asankalpaj jayet kamam – you have so many designs and plans to carry out. Asankalpa – don’t enter! Don’t allow yourself to enter such ambitious speculations. Don’t allow yourself to be busy with such big ambitious engagements in life. Krodham kama-vivarjanat – bad temper sometimes comes within you, so withdraw from the beginning. Don’t identify yourself fully with a particular plan – if any hindrance comes to you, you will be fully entangled. If you are not addicted to a particular plan then there is no chance of being excited. Arthanartheksaya lobham – you have so much greed for money. You have to discriminate, “What is the charm of money?” Whatever you can construct, that automatically vanishes in course of time, so what is the charm of money? Bhayam tattvavamarsanat – and if you have any fear or apprehension then you have to discriminate – tattvavamarsanat. So many things are combined – matter, water, ether, which come and stay for sometime and then disappears. Birth and death, in the course of nature, is coming and going everywhere. Every second something is born and every second something is dying. Calculating in this way you should leave your fear. A long list is given there in Bhagavatam and in the conclusion it is said:
rajas tamas ca sattvena
sattvam copasamena ca
etat sarvam gurau bhaktya
puruso hy anjasa jayet
Through devotion to the spiritual master one can easily conquer the modes of passion and ignorance by cultivation of the mode of goodness and giving up attachment to those modes.6
Master of the World
Etat sarvam gurau bhaktya puruso hy anjasa jayet – all these undesirable things can be checked only by concentrating one’s attention to the service of guru. “My guru has ordered? Then no fear, because my absolute guide has ordered it.” We may take this advantage and everything will disappear in no time. Very easily you will be able to cross over all these difficulties if you concentrate only on the divine feet of your guru. “He is my guide, I am not my own. I belong to him. Whatever he will instruct I must do without caring for my individual loss and gain.” In this way, whatever we have got, we may try to utilize that as much as possible in the service of the Lord and in that way He may be able to purge these anarthas from our heart very soon and very easily.
Etan vegan yo visaheta dhirah sarvam apimam prthivim sa sisyat – one who can control all these animal tendencies, who is master of his own self and his own mind, can be master of the world. He is a Goswami proper. He is eligible to give instruction and make disciples all over the world and the number of disciples cannot make him deviate from his standpoint. These are the sadhus who come under the flag of Sri Caitanyadeva. All these things are recorded for our benefit and caution in the Upadesamrta which was given by Mahaprabhu through Rupa Goswami to us in detail.
Yay, I’m so excited to see this book on the Harmonist. I just finished reading it and looking forward to the discussion.
Dandavat Pranams, Maharaja Thank you for giving this class only for me through Harmonist staff. You are very merciful. My tongue has been my biggest enemy and my lord and master for many years, and now I am hearing this 411 over again for the very first time.