720430 - Lecture Initiation Sannyasa - Tokyo

Lectures by Date, 1972

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

720430IN-TOKYO - April 30, 1972 - 43:22 Minutes

Prabhupāda: . . . the regulative principle?

Sudāmā: You know the four principles?

Prabhupāda: What is that?

Japanese devotee (1): (gives in Japanese, with devotee translating) No meat-eating, no gambling, no illicit sex . . .

Prabhupāda: No intoxication.

Japanese devotee (1): (gives in Japanese) . . . no intoxication.

Prabhupāda: All right. Your name is Tukarāma dāsa, a great saintly person.

Sudāmā: Tukarāma.

Prabhupāda: Yes. T-u-k-r-a-m.

Sudāmā: Tukarāma dāsa.

Devotee (2): Take the beads.

Sudāmā: Take in your right hand.

Prabhupāda: Take, the right.

Sudāmā: Now obeisances. (devotee offers obeisances)

Prabhupāda: You know the rules, four prohibitive rules?

Devotee (3): Pardon?

Sudāmā: Four rules.

Prabhupāda: Four prohibitive rules. What is that?

Devotee (3): No intoxication, no gambling, no eating of meat, fish or eggs, no illicit sex outside of marriage.

Prabhupāda: Thank you.

Śyāmasundara: Sañjaya dāsa.

Prabhupāda: So your spiritual name, Sañjaya dāsa. S-a-n-j-a-y-a. Sañjaya. Jaya. Hare Kṛṣṇa.

Sañjaya dāsa: Thank you, Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Then next, Sudāmā you take, change your cloth.

Śyāmasundara: There is one gāyatrī. You want to give a gāyatrī now?

Prabhupāda: I will do there.

Śyāmasundara: Later.

Prabhupāda: Gāyatrī I shall give there.

Śyāmasundara: He'll give later.

Prabhupāda: Touch there. There on the altar first of all. Take this. This mantra.

(leads word-by-word chanting with devotees repeating)

etām sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām

upāsitām pūrva tamaiḥ mahadbhiḥ

aham tariṣyāmi duranta pāram

tamo mukundāṅghri niṣeyevayaiva

(SB 11.23.57)

(repeats several times) Now you read the balance. What is it?

Sudāmā: The meaning?

Prabhupāda: Meaning and everything else.

Sudāmā: Etām—this; sa āsthāya—taking shelter of; parātmā—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; niṣṭhām—firm conviction; upāsitām—worshiped by; pūrvatamaiḥ—by previous ācāryas; mahadbhiḥ—great; aham—myself; tariṣyāmi—shall cross over; duranta-pāram—insurmountable; tamo—the darkness of ignorance; mukundāṅghri—the lotus feet of Mukunda, who gives all liberations; niṣevayaiva . . .

Prabhupāda: niṣevayaiva.

Sudāmā: niṣevayaiva—simply by worshiping.

Śyāmasundara: Translation?

Prabhupāda: Then go on.

Sudāmā: Translation: "I shall cross over the insurmountable ocean of darkness of ignorance simply by taking shelter of the lotus feet of Lord Mukunda, who gives all kinds of liberations and was worshiped by many great previous ācāryas."

Prabhupāda: So? Read on.

Sudāmā: Purport: "There are sixty-four kinds of rendering service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, out of which, to accept the uniform dress of a tridaṇḍī-sannyāsa is also an important item. One who accepts this order of life surely by rendering service unto the Supreme Lord becomes eligible to cross over the insurmountable ocean of ignorance. All previous sages used to accept such order of life, and later ācārya, Viṣṇu Svāmī, adopted this order of life and firm conviction in the matter of devotional service. Those who are unalloyed devotees, they add one more staff along with the original three. This extra one is representation of the living entity."

"There is another sect, who are known as ekadaṇḍī sect. They misunderstand the purpose of tridaṇḍa, and by such deviation, Śrīvāsa Swami sannyāsa, who claimed to belong to the Viṣṇu Svāmī sect, turned to be impersonalists and follow the footsteps of Śaṅkarācārya, accepting only the ekadaṇḍa. Instead of naming themselves out of the 108 names of Vaiṣṇava sannyāsīs, this Śrīvāsa Swami sect accepts ten names of the sannyāsī, following Śaṅkarācārya. Lord Caitanya, although in terms of the then practice accepted ekadaṇḍī sannyāsa order, by His acceptance of tridaṇḍi sannyāsa is understood."

"This mantra was first chanted by a learned brāhmaṇa of Avantipur after being very much disgusted in this materialistic way of life. This happened long, long years ago, because it is mentioned in the Bhāgavatam, which was composed by Vyāsadeva at least five thousand years ago. So it is to be concluded, therefore, that this tridaṇḍī sannyāsīn order is coming down since a time long, long years ago. And within five hundred years of time Lord Caitanya adopted this order of life. And in the latest years His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda adopted it personally and made many of his disciples tridaṇḍī sannyāsīs. We are also following his footsteps, and the purport of this mantra is that the ekadaṇḍī sannyāsī is devoid of paramaṁ niṣṭha, which is explained above. In other words, impersonalists cannot have any faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they prefer to merge into the impersonal Brahman effulgence. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we do not find any mention of ekadaṇḍa sannyāsa."

"This tridaṇḍa sannyāsa is accepted, therefore, as standard. Lord Caitanya accepts Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the supreme authority. Under the circumstances, persons who accept Lord Caitanya as ekadaṇḍī sannyāsī are mistaken. So following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya, still the tridaṇḍī sannyāsīs are in existence, keeping the sacred thread and śikhā intact, distinct from the Māyāvādī ekadaṇḍī sannyāsīs, who give up the sacred thread and śikhā. They have no inclination to render service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Being very much disgusted by the materialistic way of life, they do not understand the purpose of the sannyāsa order."

“But those who are strictly followers of the Vaiṣṇava principles, they do not accept the Māyāvādī way of sannyāsa. In the sect of Lord Caitanya, the most venerable learned scholar known as Gadādhara Paṇḍit Gosvāmī accepted this tridaṇḍī sannyāsa order, and he offered this facility to his disciple known as Śrī Mādhava Upādhyāya. This Mādhava Ācārya is the origin of the Vallabhācārya sect. One of the six Gosvāmīs, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who is the authority of Vaiṣṇava regulations, was initiated by another tridaṇḍī sannyāsī, known as Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. Therefore this sannyāsī order is completely in pursuance of Vaiṣṇava authority. Klīṁ gopījana-bhāvāśrayāya namaḥ."

Prabhupāda: This is the extra mantra for you. Klīṁ gopījana-vallabhāya svāhā. Hmm? No. Klīṁ gopījana-bhāva . . .

Sudāmā: Klīṁ gopījana-bhāva . . .

Prabhupāda: . . . śrayāya namaḥ.

Sudāmā: . . . śrayāya namaḥ.

Prabhupāda: So sannyāsa, sannyāsa, the derivative meaning is sat-nyās. Sat means the Supreme Truth, oṁ tat sat. Here, in this material world, everything is relative truth. Nothing is absolute truth. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Absolute Truth is a person like us, but He is the Supreme Person. That is the Vedic information. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13).

Nitya means eternal. We living entities, we are all eternal. That is very nicely explained in Bhagavad-gītā: na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). Those who under the impression that after finishing annihilation of this body, everything is finished, they are not in perfect knowledge. The living entity continues to exist either in this body or in another body. Just like very simple example we can understand: All of us sitting here, we had a small baby body. I existed, you existed, in that baby body, but that body is not now existing, but I am existing. I know that "I existed in a baby body, I existed in a boyhood body, I existed in a youthhood body. Now I am existing in this old age body. Similarly, when this body is finished, I shall again exist in another body." This is the right conclusion. Therefore, na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20): after the destruction of this body, ātmā, or the spirit soul, is not destroyed or annihilated. He continues.

So ātmā vastu, that ātmā is also part and parcel of the Supreme Truth, sat. Now at the present moment I am given to this misunderstanding that "I am this body." Sannyāsa means to give up this false concept of bodily concept of life and surrender, nyāsa. Nyāsa means renounce—renounce everything for the sake of Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Person. This is called sannyāsa.

Actually this is the beginning of my liberated activities. Sannyāsa means that living entity is acting. Living entity for a second cannot be inactive. You know that even in sleeping we are acting: we dream, we go somewhere, we see something. Although the body is silent, I, the spirit soul, I create another subtle body, and with that subtle body I create so many things and try to enjoy it or suffer it. Therefore a living entity is not inactive even for a second.

So these activities, when they are performed in the bodily concept of life—"I am this body," "I am Indian," "I am Japanese," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian"—in this way, so long we act on this bodily concept of life, it is called material existence. But when we understand that we are not this body—"I am spirit soul"—and on this understanding I understand that I am the part and parcel of the Supreme Absolute Person, that is called brahma-bhūtaḥ situation.

It is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). Now this boy, he is very tender age. He has renounced this material life. He has got young wife, but still, he has given up with mutual consent. The wife also has agreed that, "You take sannyāsa for the service of Kṛṣṇa." So this is actually renouncement. Young boy, young man, everyone wants young wife, enjoy this material life. But he has renounced everything. This is great sacrifice. Instead . . . in spite of presence of young wife and facilities for material enjoyment, one who renounces for the sake of serving Kṛṣṇa, he is sannyāsī. He is called sannyāsa. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate (BG 2.59). For better service he ceases to act materially. Paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. That is sannyāsī.

He is . . . he will be therefore called gosvāmī. His name is, from this day, Sudāmā dāsa Gosvāmī. Because go means the senses, and svāmī means the master. At the present moment, in the materialistic concept of life, everyone is servant of the senses. Everyone acts by the dictation of the senses; therefore they can be called, in other words, as godāsa, servant of the senses. Instead of becoming servant of the senses, one has to become the master of the senses. That is called gosvāmī, master of the senses.

So how to become master of the senses? Senses are very strong. How one can become master? The simple method is when one engages the senses in the service of the Supreme Lord, it is automatically controlled. It is automatically controlled. The senses want . . . just like your mind. If your mind is absorbed in certain subject, you cannot divert your mind to another subject. Sometimes, if your mind is engaged in some serious business, you are thinking, and some friend has come before you, you cannot see him. He asks you, "Mr. Such-and-such, don't you see me?" "Oh, you have come?"

That means the senses, the chief sense is the mind. If you can engage your mind to Kṛṣṇa, in the service of Kṛṣṇa—sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa padāravindayoḥ (SB 9.4.18)—then your senses are automatically controlled, because mind is the chief sense. Under the mind, all other senses, namely the eyes, the ears, the nose, the hands, the legs, they work. If one is absent-minded he cannot work nicely, because mind is absent, or not in order. Therefore our method of controlling the senses is to engage the senses in the service of the Lord.

The first engagement should be that mind should be always absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa. Always engaged. These boys, they are always engaged. Just like in offering arcana to the Deities from early morning up to ten o'clock at night, and then they go to rest, again rise early in the morning. So somebody is engaged in cleansing the temple, somebody is engaged in dressing the Deity, somebody is engaged in cooking for the Deity, somebody is engaged going in Tokyo city for distributing literature, somebody is performing kīrtana here, somebody is reading our various books. In this way we have got twenty-five-hours' engagement instead of twenty-four hours.

So mind cannot go outside Kṛṣṇa. That is called Kṛṣṇa conscious. We don't allow the mind go out of Kṛṣṇa's service. And this is sannyāsa. Practically anyone who is engaged in this Kṛṣṇa consciousness business, he is a sannyāsī, never mind what is his dress. He may be in a dress of a family man, householder, or he may be in the dress of a sannyāsī—everyone is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. Therefore in the essential sense, everyone is sannyāsī.

That is described in the Bhagavad-gītā, anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ, sa sannyāsī (BG 6.1). The Lord Himself is giving the definition of sannyāsī. What is that? Anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ. Karma means action. Whatever you do, there must be some reaction. Whatever you do. You do something very pious or do something which is vicious, there will be some resultant action. But if you don't take shelter of the resultant action, anāśritaḥ karma, karma-phalaṁ . . . karma-phalaṁ means resultant action of your activities. You don't take shelter of that action, good or bad. Kāryam: "It is my duty." Kāryam karma karoti yaḥ: "In this way, one who acts," sa sannyāsī.

Everyone is trying to enjoy the result of his action. Suppose you are doing some business, and you get very huge profit. So you take the profit for enjoyment. But one who does not take the profit, he is sannyāsī. He may be engaged in business. He may make profit, thousand dollars per month or more than that, but he does not take even a paisa or even a cent out of it—he is a sannyāsī. So even a man in ordinary worldly life, a businessman, or in any other occupation, he can also become sannyāsī provided he does not enjoy the profit out of it. Then where the profit will go? It will be thrown away in the street? No. It should be given to Kṛṣṇa.

So the real purpose is that whatever you do, yat karoṣi; whatever you eat, yat aśnāsi; whatever you sacrifice, yad juhoṣi; whatever . . . yad dadāsi, whatever you give in charity . . . because these things are ordinary activities. Kṛṣṇa says, kuruṣva tad mad-arpanam: "You give Me that. If you are eating, the food must be given to Me first. If you are working, the resultant profit should be given to Me. Or even loss, that will also given to Me." Yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi (BG 9.27): "And whatever sacrificing," dadāsi yat, "whatever you give in charity, so give it to Me." This is sannyāsa.

There is no, I mean to say, prohibition to act in any way. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna, he was a warrior, fighter, but he fought for Kṛṣṇa; therefore he is a sannyāsī. Although he appears to be a householder, fighting for his own interest, but he was declining to fight for his own interest. When Kṛṣṇa convinced him that, "This fighting is arranged by Me, Kṛṣṇa, and I want this fighting," then Arjuna fought. He understood that, "It is to be fought for Kṛṣṇa, not for my self interest." And because he fought for Kṛṣṇa, he is a sannyāsī.

So this is the technique of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and anyone who is ready to act for Kṛṣṇa, not for his personal sake, he is a sannyāsī. So actually anyone in this institution, they are all acting for Kṛṣṇa, but this sannyāsa order is accepted in pursuance of the great ācāryas, as we have already explained, great ācāryas. So for preaching work, especially in India, preachers are generally sannyāsī. And I know that even in Buddha philosophy, a Buddhist, a person following Buddhist religion, he has to take sannyāsa at least for some time. Is it not? Any Buddhist here?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: He has to take sannyāsa for some years. Again he may come back to householder life. So sannyāsa order is Vedic order. Lord Buddha also appeared in India, and he inaugurated the Buddha philosophy. That is also sannyāsa. Bhikṣu. They are called bhikṣu, Buddha-bhikṣu. So this is a spiritual order. Otherwise, anyone who is acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is a sannyāsī. That is practical sannyāsa.

So our Sudāmā dāsa Goswami Mahārāja from this day will . . . he is already engaged in preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He will now take special advantage and preach all over the world Kṛṣṇa consciousness and make his life successful. That is the mantra: etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām. Parātma-niṣṭhā means working for the Supreme, niṣṭhām. Adhyāsitāṁ pūrvatamair mahadbhiḥ. Pūrvatamair mahadbhiḥ (CC Madhya 3.6), many great ācāryas. So we are coming through paramparā system. So we, at the present moment, we are Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He took sannyāsa. His spiritual master, Īśvara Purī, was also a sannyāsī. His spiritual master, Mādhavendra Purī, was sannyāsī. My spiritual master was Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja. He was also sannyāsī. I am also sannyāsī.

So in this way, by the disciplic succession, we accept this sannyāsa order. That is a formality. We have to follow the formalities. And this tridaṇḍī sannyāsa, this daṇḍa, rod, is consisting of four rods. Three rods means the body, mind . . . karmaṇā manasā vācā. Karmaṇā means working; manasā, by thinking; vācā, by talking. Everything should be for Kṛṣṇa. And there is another rod that is the living entity. So within this packet there are four rods, symbolizing mind, body and words. Word is very important thing.

Now preaching will be through words, by presenting words. Vaikuṇṭha guṇanuvarṇane. Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. Sa vai manaḥ kṛṣṇa padāravindayor vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18). Vacāṁsi, our talks, should be always engaged in describing the glories of the Lord. That is the proper use of our talking. Otherwise, there are frogs also, they are vibrating "kaka-kaa, kaka-kaa, kaka-kaa, kaka-kaa." That kind of vibration is simply inviting death.

You know in every country there are frogs, especially in rainy season they enjoy. They think, "We are now enjoying life" by "kaka-kaa, kaka-kaa." So the result is that the snake, in the darkness they cannot see where is the frog, but by the sound he can understand, "Here is a frog," and he comes and swallows it. So our this talking, nonsense talking whole day and night—in the assembly, in the conference, in business, in so many ways we are talking, "kaka-kaa, kaka-kaa"—the result is that we are inviting death very soon. But if we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra or engage our talking for glorifying the Lord, then death cannot touch. Death cannot touch means we are making our way to become immune from death.

That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9). Those who are talking nonsense, they will have to accept some sort of body, either human body or animal body or tree body or demigod body. He has to take any body. But those who are talking of Kṛṣṇa always, to understand Kṛṣṇa and to make others to understand Kṛṣṇa, they are not going to do that. For them, janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Who will preach unless one knows Kṛṣṇa, why He appears, janma, why He disappears, janma karma, why He works in the war field of battle, battlefield of Kurukṣetra, karma? Or so many karmas, Kṛṣṇa, when He was present.

So unless one understands why Kṛṣṇa comes and work like that, why He comes . . . janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9). But they are all transcendental. Yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Anyone who knows perfectly well, he can preach. Otherwise, what he will talk? We'll have to talk about Kṛṣṇa. If we do not know about the activities of Kṛṣṇa, then what we shall talk? So this talking of Kṛṣṇa, vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane (SB 9.4.18), will make him immortal. It is not the frog's crowing. The frog's crowing will gradually lead him to death. But this kind of transcendental, glorifying vibration will make him immune from death, will elevate to the eternal life, blissful life.

Therefore this mantra, ahaṁ tariṣyāmi duranta-pāraṁ tamo mukundāṅghri niṣevayaiva (SB 11.23.57). Aham: "By accepting this order of life, I shall cross over this nescience of darkness." Tamo mukundāṅghri. Mukunda. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Mukunda. Muk means liberation; ānanda, He gives liberation and ānanda, eternal bliss. So aṅghri, aṅghri means lotus feet. So "By worshiping, by serving the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, I shall cross over the dark ocean of nescience." Ahaṁ tariṣya. How? By talking about Kṛṣṇa. Vacāṁsi vaikuṇṭha-guṇānuvarṇane. Simply by describing the Vaikuṇṭha world.

In the morning we are now having class, describing about the nature of Vaikuṇṭha world, how it is constituted, what kind of population there are, how they live, how the Supreme Personality of Godhead is living with goddess of fortune. These things we are discussing in the morning from seven to eight. So those who are interested may come. There is a Vaikuṇṭha world. Vaikuṇṭha. Vigata kuṇṭha yasmād. Vigata means gone; kuṇṭha means anxiety. Vigata.

Here everything is full of anxiety. This is not Vaikuṇṭha. This is kuṇṭha, anxiety. Sada samudvigna-dhiyām. Samudvigna. Samudvigna means full of anxiety. Everyone, even a bird, he is also not peaceful. If he has comes to take some food from the ground, the bird sees this way, that way, that way. Kuṇṭha, always anxiety: "Is not one coming to kill me?" Therefore you will find the birds doing like this, danger. No anxiety-less, nobody. Either human being, animal, birds, beasts, everyone. Therefore it is called kuṇṭha jagat, full of anxiety.

But there is another world, where there is no kuṇṭha. Everyone is free. Some of us trying to become free from all kinds of anxieties, but that is not possible here. We can become free from all kinds of anxiety when we take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness; otherwise it is not possible. We are aspiring, every one of us, aspiring how to become free of anxiety. But that can be done only when we take shelter of the Vaikuṇṭha-pati. Vaikuṇṭha-pati, Vaikuṇṭheśvara.

So, so long we are accepting asat, asad-grahāt . . . here in this material world everything is temporary. Suppose this body, your body, my body. This is called asat. Asat means temporary. It will not exist. So because we have accepted everything which will not exist, therefore we are full of anxiety. This is the full definition of anxiety. And if we take the sat, the . . . which will exist, and we sacrifice everything for that, that is called sannyāsī. Sat nyāsī, sannyāsī. If we accept asat, then we will be full of anxiety, and if we accept sat, then we will be free of anxiety. This is the secret of spiritual life.

So we shall invite every one of you. We have opened this temple in this country. So we invite all Japanese boys and girls, young men. Especially we invite them because they can understand. Old men, they are sophisticated. They, whatever they have understood, it will take hundred years to forget. (laughter) But young men, they are inquisitive, they are receptive. They can easily . . . practically all over the world, all our followers, disciples, students, they are all young men or teenagers, some of them, about twenty-five years or thirty years, but no old men. That is the special feature of this movement.

In all countries we have got branches, all over America, all over Europe, all over Canada, Australia, and in your country we are now making progress gradually. We have got center here. We are thinking of opening one center in Quoto. Quoto? What is that?

Sudāmā: Kyoto.

Prabhupāda: Kyoto. So gradually, as you join, we shall enhance our activities, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Try to understand. We have got books, we have got philosophy. It is appreciated all over the world. So thank you for your coming here and joining this ceremony, and we shall continue to invite you more and more, and come here.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda. (end)