The Nectar (?) Of Instruction and the Other Regulative Principles
We don’t usually think of instruction as something nectarean or pleasant. While we were in school, generally we spent our time wishing the whole process, or at least the day, would end. Generally, we don’t like others telling us what to do. We feel we should be able to direct our own lives as we see fit. This attitude is part of what keeps us away from taking shelter of a qualified guru.
Similarly, the four regulative principles with which we are familiar, even those of us who are neophytes in Krishna consciousness, do not strike one as positives. They are all don’ts. Don’t do this, don’t do that.
In “The Nectar Of Instruction” Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Prabhupada give us another set of regulative principles, this time having to do with devotion. The principles really derive from ancient times and take the form of a nice poem, which is fun to remember for quizzes, and we all know how teachers love lists !
The poem is as follows;
Sravanam kirtanam visnoh
Smaranam pada-sevanam]
Arcanam vandanam dasyam
Sakhyam atma nivedanam.
These are all positives. It’s amazing how many of them can be fulfilled by the wonderful process of chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Certainly the sravanam, hearing, if one chants audibly, and smaranam as one thinks of Krishna. The chanting is itself a kirtanam visnoh, even if one is alone. If one is using tulsi beads then it is also a form of arcanam. And it will lead us to the other steps of being Krishna’s servant, friend, and ultimately the surrender of our own souls.
The speaker of this nice poem was Prahlad Maharaja, in many ways the ultimate devotee, in Srimad Bhagavatam. Now Prahlad’s father was the polar opposite of Hiranyaksipu. Srila Prabhupada tells us that the name itself is related to gold and soft beds, so it can be assumed that he was a lover of all kinds of luxuries, illicit sex, gambling, meat eating, what have you.
So if we can follow Prahlad Maharaja’s regulative principles of devotion, then we become the opposite of the demon who violates the other regulative principles. And so much of this comes from the chanting. In this way, we truly discover the nectar of instruction which nourishes and revives us to our eternal true state as servants of Krishna.
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