Today, we’re going to start discussing Manah-siksa by Raghunatha dasa Goswami. I chose this topic because it’s of great importance to all of us. Manah-siksa by Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is instructions to the mind given by Raghunatha dasa Goswami. These are the instructions we have to give our mind on a daily basis. We’ve been singing a bhajana by Narottama dasa Thakura where he says rupa-raghunatha-pade rahu mora asha. He says that his only aspiration – asha means aspiration – is for the shelter of the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunatha - rahu mora asha. What does the shelter of the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunatha mean? Srila Prabhupada explains by translating rupa-raghunatha-pade in this bhajana as the books authored by Rupa and Raghunatha. The books written by Rupa and Raghunatha are meant to protect our bhakti. Because now our bhakti is hardly bhakti – it’s just a shadow of bhakti. A tiny, tender sprout of bhakti. And like everything tender and new, like a nucleus, it’s prone to different diseases; it’s very easy to destroy. When a tree is big it’s hard to destroy; one should cut it down and you can’t even cut down any tree. But if it’s just a tiny sprout, it’s easy to crush. And the bhakti, which, by sheer luck, flew into our heart, is not bhakti itself – it’s a tiny, timid sprout of bhakti. And, like anything new, tender it needs to be protected. So, Narottama dasa Thakura says this is his only plea. This song is called Lalasamayi prarthana, a prayer filled with aspiration coming from the bottom of his heart. He says that the main point of this prayer, which keeps playing in his mind, is for the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunatha to give him protection. From the practical point of view, that means that we should know what Rupa and Raghunatha write about. What they write about to lead us along this hard path of devotion. And not just devotion but spontaneous devotion. At the very beginning of the First Verse we’re going to start reading soon Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says that our sadhana, our aspiration to serve Krishna, shouldn’t initially be based on fear, on the principles we’re following because we fear something. Not on some calculations, even very far-reaching. Bhaktivinoda Thakura gives a very interesting explanation. He says that vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti … What’s vaidhi? Vaidhi is injunctions of the sastras and it’s based on two things. It’s based on the knowledge of the sastras and the intellect - intelligence, understanding of logic. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, “Why do we need logic? Why do we need intelligence? Because it’s, eventually, based on calculations.” After all, calculations underlie our following vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti principles. We want to get something in return. This way or another, we make calculations, we think about how we’re going to benefit. Our calculator turns on and starts calculating: I am doing this, I’m giving Krishna this… And Krishna says, “Give my just one fruit and I’m going to give you lots of them. Render some insignificant service to Me and I’ll give you the rest.” We’re calculating and saying, “This is a good bargain, it’s worth making.” But here, in the first verse we’re going to read soon, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says that our initial aspiration to serve Krishna should be based on attachment. Moreover, not just attachment but strong attachment. And all this small work, all of these instructions to the mind in twelve verses, the instructions Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s giving to his mind, are meant to develop this attachment in the mind. He establishes this principle, he makes this point at the very beginning. Everything we’re doing should be based on our heartfelt aspiration not on some cold heartless planning or gain but on an emotional impulse. He further explains how to form such an attachment. This is why it’s so important. Right at the beginning he’s telling us that our service to Krishna is supposed to be based on spontaneity, raga, attachment. 

 You may know that our tradition, or school, founded by Lord Chaitanya consists of two schools or two trends explaining in a slightly different way the method and principle of this attachment. After all, we need an attachment. Just half an hour ago I was talking to a devotee who’s been practicing Krishna consciousness since the early 1980s. He’s one of those guys who joined at the very beginning and were the so called cannon fodder. They manned the breach and stopped the gap. The people were very inexperienced then, there was no understanding or guidance. We’re still inexperienced. But we’ve at least gained some experience. 

 Anyway, he told me a little of his story that at some point after five or ten years of practicing the KGB stopped persecuting devotees. Actually, it was a very dramatic moment in the history of Krishna consciousness when the KGB stopped persecuting. Because while they were being persecuted it was giving the thing a particular taste. And even if there wasn’t a taste of the inner atman, there was a taste of one having to hide from the KGB, it was secret, special and exclusive. It had its own rasa, which is absent now, which you know nothing of. It was something incomparable. But then all of a sudden, at some point the KGB lost its interest in us. It was absolutely unexpected. Before that we had been persecuted, we’d had to do things in secret, everybody had been a revolutionary, a member of an underground organization. And it suddenly got boring. And he says that at some point when this external pressure was gone there was boredom and the taste had gone. And since the taste had gone he couldn’t understand where it’d gone. He tried to search for it, to bring it back but failed. At last he gave up the practice thinking that this taste mightn’t have existed. But he’d had it for a while. Now he’s back speaking about how he felt then.

 In the beginning when one takes to devotional service he develops this taste. Everything’s new, everything’s unusual, everything’s absolute and this novelty thrills you, makes all of your practice inspirational. But then it turns to be a dreary routine. We’ve already learnt how to put on a dhoti, how to apply tilak. 

 At first everything’s unusual. I remember a group of Russian devotees coming for the first time to India in 1988. One devotee was caught putting on tilak. He spat in his hand, made tilak paste and applied it. We now know everything - we don’t spit any more, we know how to do it. But something is suddenly gone. If one doesn’t understand and doesn’t develop this profound attachment coming from the bottom of one’s heart, everything is bound to turn into a dreary routine, everything gets boring. There’s a very interesting thing this devotee told me about why he had left. He’d left because he’d thought, “I’m the only pretender – everyone around me has such a taste and I don’t. On the other hand, new, young devotees worship me like I am a demigod. I can’t go on pretending anymore.” And now, ten years later, he’s back and says, “I’ve come here now and realized (he’s very enthusiastic) that everyone is faced up with this problem – no one has this taste.” Everyone is talking about it, everyone is discussing it, everyone’s trying to work it out, how to solve this problem. And then I realized that it’s all right, it’s okay, everything’s going according to the plan. After all, it’s not about not having the taste, it’s about having it. 

 So, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is giving these invaluable instructions how to acquire this taste. Now, on what principles our service should be based, what our attitude towards what we’re doing should be, what we should do, what we should keep in mind, what should be happening in our hearts, for us to develop this taste. 

 I started by speaking about two schools because when explaining in Caitanya Caritāmṛta the reasons why He appeared in this world, Lord Chaitanya says that the whole world is following vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti. This is God’s vision; we may fail to see that but He does. All the people, this way or another, follow some principles, fear something. They think “if I do it, I’ll be better off than if I don’t do that.” Everyone is trying to follow something. He wasn’t interested in preaching it. There were four schools, four sampradayas, preaching vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti and teaching how one should follow it. Lord Chaitanya says, “I’ve specially come to teach how to develop attachment. And not just an ordinary attachment but the kind of attachment that eternally resides in the hearts of the residents of Vraja.” From the very start He begins to teach this. And, actually, it wasn’t even Lord Chaitanya who taught it. Lord Chaitanya just set an example. He just cried in Gambhira. He just spent sleepless nights listening to the songs sung to Him by Ramananda Roi and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. It was Svarupa Damodara Gosvami who taught this. Lord instructed him by saying, “Teach others. Give them a chance to satiate themselves.” So, one school originated in the instructions initially transferred by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami to Vrakreshvara Pandita. He was one of Lord Chaitanya’s personal associates in Navadvipa and later in Puri. Vrakreshvara Pandita in turn transferred it to Gopal Guru Gosvami, Gopal Guru Gosvami transferred it to Jnanchanda Gosvami. This is the path called bahiranga-raganuga-sadhana or sadhana to develop raga, attachment, by means of external methods, external tools. In this school Svarupa Damodara explained in what way one can develop attachment by worshipping Deities. 

 Gopal Guru Gosvami and Jnanchanda Gosvami wrote Padati, or a detailed manual how to worship Krishna with attachment, what mantras one should chant, how one should treat Him, how one should imagine Him, how one should meditate while worshipping Deities. In other words, they translated the language of arcana into the language of raga, into the language of attachment. How one should follow arcana, worship Deities, develop one’s attachment. It’s no following some principles.

 But there’s another school going back to Svarupa Damodara Gosvami based on the instructions given by him to Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. When, having finally escaped from the well of household life, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami arrived in Puri, he addressed Lord Chaitanya, “Explain to me, what sadhana I should follow, what’s the process, what’s the method, what should I do? What’s the sadhya, what’s the purpose of what I’m doing? Tell me.” Lord Chaitanya shrugged His shoulders, “I don’t know. What can I say? I’m just thinking about Krishna. There’s no sadhana to speak of, I have no sadhana. I’m just crying for Krishna day and night. How can I explain it to you?” But it’s actually the goal. I’ve overheard Purnachandra Prabhu say that we should ultimately learn to cry. Just like Gour Govinda Maharaja would say that “we’ve opened a crying school here in Bhubaneshwar where we’re teaching people to cry.” But when asked to teach to cry, Lord Chaitanya said, “I don’t know how to cry. I’m always crying. How can I teach you?” It’s hard for the one who has spontaneous love of God in his heart to teach someone something. To be able to teach someone one should go all the way. And when Raghunatha dasa Gosvami asked Lord Chaitanya this question “tell me what sadhana is about, what sadhya is about”, Lord Chaitanya replied, “I won’t tell you, go ask Svarupa Damodara. But if you insist I can tell you in a few words.” And he uttered one verse where he explained the underlying principle, the fundamental principle. He said: amānī mānada hañā kṛṣṇa-nāma sadā la'bevraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevā mānase karibe (C.C., Antya, 6.237). He said that externally one should be more humble than a blade of grass. You shouldn’t have any pride, you should be very humble, you shouldn’t expect honor, you shouldn’t have an ounce of false pride. And, again, externally, krishna-nama sada labe, one should chant the holy name. We know that. We’ve heard that a lot. We’ve often heard that one should be humble, one should behave properly. Sometimes we go around bearing a yoke of humility, which is lying heavily on us. And we walk around harassed and oppressed by this humility. Sometimes I just feel like approaching some bhakta saying, “First become a human - why should you be that humble?” It’s some artificial external form. We know, we’ve been more than once told that externally I should be chanting the mantra and we think that everything will come automatically. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. But this path, this school that originated in this verse is about what should be happening in my heart. Externally we’re doing this but what’s going on in our hearts? Lord Caitanya explains it in the next line of this verse: vraje rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevā mānase karibe – “within your mind you should render service to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” And not just Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, but Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vraja. But what it means and what should be happening in our hearts is not an easy question to answer. 

 Certainly, externally we must be humble. Externally, we should try and offer respect to one and all not expecting it in return. Externally, we should chant the holy name, but what should be happening, what should be occurring in our hearts? Because chanting the holy name isn’t a mechanical process. 

 A young man has approached me recently. He’s joined Krishna consciousness relatively recently. He used to be Christian. So, he said, “I got my first spiritual experience, my first spiritual emotion there. I came, I was given some prayers, and I started to pray. And at some point I felt tears streaming down my face or something. I’d read Krishna consciousness philosophy and seen its pre-eminence. I’d seen that this philosophy is more scientific, giving deeper understanding. But there’s one thing I can’t grasp. I’m chanting the mantra but no one has told me yet what I should chant about. What? What? I’m saying “Hare Krishna” But what’s “Hare Krishna” is about, what should I put into it? What should be happening inside” Because externally it’s Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare but what should be occurring in my heart? What should be developing? And that’s what Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, actually, explains - what processes should be taking palace in my heart, what emotions I should be experiencing, what mood should I developing while chanting the holy name and practicing. That’s what Raghunatha dasa Gosvami explains here, in Manah-siksa. Now, that I’ve said it I guess we can chant the first verse. It’s hard but we’re not going to chant it in unison. gurau gosthe gostalayisu sujane bhusura-gane sva-mantre sri-namni vraja-nava-yuva-dvandva-sarane sada dambham hitva kuru ratim apurvam atitara-maye svantar bhratas catubhir abhiyace dhrita-padah 

 I’m going to read the translation. Of course, we can’t explain this whole verse – there’s too little time left – but we have plenty of time. As one devotee put it – we have all eternity ahead of us, there’s no need to be hasty. 

 This the first prayer or the first instruction. And in this first instruction Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says, “O my brother, bhratas, o my brother, my dear mind, I’m offering my obeisances to you, I’m taking a very humble position. I’m taking hold of your feet.” Like when we want to get something from someone, the best way is to offer obeisances to him, take hold of his feet not letting go of them until he grants our wish. And Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says that “this is the way I’m taking hold of your feet, o my brother, and, when embracing your feet, I humbly pray to you. What do I pray to you for? Please, give up all your pride: sada dambham hitva. Moreover, he further says, “I pray to you after you sada dambham hitva, ratim apurvam atitara. Ratim apurvam, rati means attachment. Apurvam isn’t just attachment – it’s exceptional attachment, it’s strong attachment, the kind of attachment that induces drug addicts. He says - ratim apurvam - develop this attachment. And not just develop but kuru atitara. Kuru means do, develop, try to acquire. But atitara means try hard. He says, “O mind, try your hardest to develop attachment. Why? This is, actually, contained in the following line. Or, to be more exact, the first two lines where he enumerates what we should develop our attachment to. Gurau to Sri Guru, gostha – Vrindavana. Gostalayisu - to the residents of Vrindavana. Sujane means devotees. Bhusura-gane means brahmanas. Sva-mantre means in one’s own diksa-mantras. Sri-namni – the holy name. Vraja-nava-yuva-dvandva-sarane - the shelter of the lotus feet of Kishor-Kishori. 

 This is, actually, the whole verse. Today I’m going to explain the meaning of each word, because each of them coveys a great depth of meaning. Each word carries an important message, which will help us get a clearer idea of how one should chant the holy name, how one should perform devotional service and what Raghunatha dasa Gosvami means to say with this verse. 

 First of all, I’d like to explain the word he uses to describe his mind. He says - svantah bhratas. Svantah. Sva means “my own” and antah means “I”. To cut it short, “my inner self”. He addresses the mind, he’s conversing with himself, with his mind. It’s a very important thing, because we should, first of all, understand what mind is. Sometimes you find it very difficult to explain to people they’re not their mind. To understand that you’re not your body is easy, to understand that we’re not our mind is hard. Who’s: is it me or my mind? It’s me, who else? And we’re told it’s our mind thinking. It’s kind of schizophrenia, double personality. Moreover, we’re told to beat the mind with a stick every day. I remember one lecture by Bhakti Vaibhava Svami where he was explaining about this inner dialogue with one’s mind. He describes the way one interacts with one’s mind. The latter tries to flatter one, it approaches one, kisses, gives a smacking kiss, “You’re the best.” Bu Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is explaining one very important thing, one very important point about svantah. We should understand that in the conditioned state we delegate our mind the functions of our personality. The soul delegates the functions of our personality to the mind. Actually, there’s no soul here - it’s sleeping. Yes, we are a soul, I am a soul. But this all is delegated to the mind. Therefore, we find it so hard to detach ourselves from our mind; therefore Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says – this is my inner self. And he addresses his inner self with much respect. 

 But, as a matter of fact, it presents a huge practical problem. Actually, who does vile things? Who? The mind. I’ve got nothing to do with that. The soul is eternal, it’s full of knowledge and bliss. It’s pure, never contaminated. Who does all these mean things? Where do all the vices lie? Who am I? Everything’s in the mind. We’ve merged with it so tightly that we have delegated it the functions of our self. It has a notarized power of attorney, a general power of attorney. I, this and this, one ten thousandth part of the top of the hair, authorize His Majesty the Mind to represent me in all life situations. It has a letter of credence; he’s always carrying it. From now on, there’s no you, there’s only me. I’m now acting for you. And this is the mind that creates all our material life. Whatever we do – it’s our mind. Why does it do this? Because there are particular samsakaras imprinted in our mind. All of the past life impressions make up our personality. A child is born a ready-made personality. Have a look at a newly born baby. A father’s approached me recently giving me a hundred of photos of his two-week old baby and saying, “Take a look. I started looking – no difference, all the same to me. And the father goes on “Look, how clever he is; how serious and intelligent he looks.” To me it’s just a piece of flesh but his dad’s already seeing a serious face. But, as a matter of fact, it’s all there already. One is born with the mind, which’s already generated one’s body. This mind has plans from the previous lives. And karma is just the process of evolving all these impressions and desires already residing in our mind. We’re born with an endless stream of desires. The seeds of these desires are already in our mind. This is the reason why we should treat our mind with much respect. And Raghunatha dasa Gosvami demonstrates it here by saying, “O my dear brother, my mind. I’m addressing to you catubhir. Catubhir means with sweet words. In other words, I want to flatter you, which is a very important point because the mind is very hard to cope with. It’s like a sponge absorbing all and everything. This is one of the most amazing and awful qualities of the mind; because an avid material mind, attached to material things, absorbs everything. And we absorb all of these material impressions, living the material life, saturating it. And then we don’t know ourselves how we’re going to act.

 Just like after seeing some movies people get into some situations and start quoting monologues from them. They pretend to be the heroes they’ve seen. It’s not just movies. It even takes to read some book. Okay, books, movies. When one’s watching a cartoon and behaving like some Chip or Dale or someone else, one picks up the words of their one’s favourite heroes and starts using them. This is the mind. The mind absorbs things, it’s like a big vacuum-cleaner. It sucks dust. In the same way the mind absorbs material impressions; it accumulates material impressions; it stores them, it classifies them somehow, it sorts them out. And, finally, it starts acting being guided by these impressions. It starts acting as if it’s us, based on what it’s absorbed. And these things are external, yet, it’s hard to deal with them. Arjuna says, “I can’t cope with that.” It’s Arjuna who can’t deal with that. When Krishna addresses Arjuna “Maha-baho, the mighty-armed!”, Arjuna replies, “There’s nothing I can do about that.” Krishna says, “How so? You’re such a remarkable archer. You posses such an ability to concentrate.” Arjuna says, “Pramathi dritham – there’s nothing I can do about that. My mind excites my senses – pramathi. Balavad – there’s so much power in it that there’s nothing I can do about it. Dritham – it’s as stubborn as a donkey. It is stubborn. One’s an idea get’s hold of it. Pramathi balavad dridham (Bhagavad-gita 6.34). Like Nekrasov said when explaining the nature of the Russian man, but like any talented poet he explained the nature of the mind. He says, “The Russian peasant is like a bull: once an idea has taken hold of the brain, it's almost impossible to eradicate.” Arjuna was also speaking about it five thousand years ago. The same nature. The mind is stubborn. The mind is very hard to deal with. If there’s something in it, if some desire gets into it, whatever you preach it, whatever you tell, it only makes things worse. It’s going to be worse, so what? Let it be. Let it be worse. I want it. It has the power and this power is generated by material impressions. 

 We keep to nourish these impressions. All of these things are formed within the mind. Therefore, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says, as Nistya-sastras explain, that an enemy can be treated in different ways. If we’re stronger than the enemy, what should we do? Punish it – danda. We just should give it a good beating. But if we’re not sure whether we’re stronger or not, what should we do? We should flatter it. We should seek approaches, we should win it over. We should say, “O my brother, my inner self (with sweet words), I plead with you. I’ve got hold of your feet and thrown myself on your mercy. Do to me whatever you like. But now listen what you should do.” One should admit that the mind is strong, that it’s hard to cope with but, nonetheless, I should explain it to myself. These are, actually, the principles of modern psychology. Like some people try to defeat their mind with coercion. There are people who take up Krishna consciousness. They try, this way or other, just with effort to rein their mind. Even Krishna says, “Nothing will come out of it.” If one just tries to rein one’s mind, if one just whips it, the mind will kick up like a wild, unbroken horse and throw off its rider. 

 Therefore Raghunatha dasa Gosvami takes a very tactful approach. He says, “O my mind, I love you so much. I love you so much, trust me, I wish you well. Therefore you should develop attachment to what you should have it to.” This is truly a very important method. Like there are people trying to reform themselves by force, by torturing themselves. Others say the opposite that one should just love oneself. This philosophy has recently become very popular with some devotees. They read Walsh, Osho. They’re reading and saying, “Finally, we’ve been told what we’ve wanted to hear. Just love yourself.” And how shall we love ourselves? Causelessly. Because love should be causeless. Do some mean thing and love yourself all the same. And tell yourself, “Fine, good for you. You don’t need these psychological problems. Everything’s all right. Love yourself causelessly. Do a nasty thing and love yourself. And if you do a good thing, love yourself even more. If you do a big, bad thing, love yourself as much as to overlook it.” And people hear that and think, “That’s the real spiritual philosophy - we’ve finally found the true path.” But Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says, “No. I’m addressing you gently, with touching, sweet words – my brother, my mind, you should change yourself. You should make some profound changes in yourself, which are bound to be painful.” 

 This is a very important thing one should understand: the mind should tune to another program, because at the moment we are the victims of a false program installed in our mind, and this program is called karma. This program unfolds itself according to its principals and we fall prey to it. This program causes us to suffer, making other people around us suffer, too due to all of the vices residing in our mind. And here he says, “I have a request to make of you. There’s one thing I beg of you: sada dambham hitva - cast away all pride.” This is the first small request everything is supposed to start with. The word dambha is quite interesting. Sada means “once and for all”. Hitva means cast away – cast away once and for all. And dambha means pride; it also means deception or propensity for deception. And it also means hypocrisy. Bhaktivinoda Thakura goes on to analyze and explain the anatomy of dambha, the anatomy of what one should initially give up. This is the first step, the first instructions to the mind. Sada dambham hitva. To put it simply, dambha is both false ego and propensity for deception, and not just deception but self-deception, self-delusion. And this is, actually, the biggest problem. This is the step, the first step, one should make on any path if one intends to achieve some goal, and a spiritual goal in particular. One has to cast away this tendency towards self-delusion.

 The Christians are talking about the same. But there the mind plays the role of the devil. They call the devil what we call the mind. And the devil appears as the serpent. This serpent comes and says, “Just eat the apple, the juicy one, you won’t regret. Eat the apple and you’ll become God.” And we’re thinking, “It just takes eating an apple to become God. Good bargain! I’ll have it.” And it’s this same wicked mind within us, which says, “No problem. I’m going to explain everything. You close your eyes tight, you open them and – you’re God. It’s going to be all right, I know the ways. I've get you all futzed up so you’ll be 100% sure you’re God.” The mind in explaining this – it’s dambha. This is man’s propensity for deception. It was given to us by His mercy because we initially wanted it. So Krishna said, “Okay, here’s the serpent - the mind – which is going to bring home to you. It’s going to teach you. You’re bound to be sure that the entire world obeys you and your mind is going to explain to you that you’re the best, the most intelligent, the most remarkable, the most amazing, the most unique, the most celebrated, the most renounced, the humblest, after all.” This is what your mind’s going to whisper into your ear. This serpent will be there within.” So, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says, “The first step one should make is sada dambham hitva.” One should cast away this dambha – pride – and not just do it one time, but all the time, every day, because the serpent isn’t sleeping, it’s there. It’s there all the time.” Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains that this dambha or pride has six constituents. He continues, “First it’s maya or illusion, our knack for being illusioned.” And here there’s nothing much to explain. We’re all apt to be illusioned. The great Russian poet Pushkin had very good words to say about it, “Oh, it takes little to assure me!.. I am so willingly deceived!” We’re happy to be deceived. Because we’re easy to deceive. Then he says, “Chala - a tendency to deceive.” When we try to deceive others. Not everyone is a cheater. There are people who live an honest life. Not everyone is a cheater but everyone tends to deceive. Not everyone allows this tendency to manifest itself but everyone should know that we all 100% have this tendency. 

 Then goes kapata, which means hypocrisy, pretence. When we’re trying to pretend to be something or someone. Play some roles. The avidya, ignorance. 

 The fifth is kuti-nati – dishonesty. And the sixth and the last one is depravity or corruptness.These make up dambha. These are what Raghunatha dasa Gosvami implores us to give up. And it’s particularly important in the spiritual life. Because our mind says, “You are the best.” Just like one devotee told me, “I’ve wanted to be the greatest three times in my lifetime. First time when I finished school and said to myself, “I’m going to be the greatest I don’t know what.” Second time when I became a military man and said, “I will be the greatest military man because I’ve chosen this career.” And third time I made up my mind to become the greatest when I became a devotee.” He said, “I’m going to be the greatest devotee, the greatest Vaisnava.” 

 One has this dambha – pride. And one sometimes takes up spiritual practice for the sake of becoming famous. One’s learning scriptures to quote them, to deceive oneself. People have reached perfection in it. Like there’s an English idiom “devil can quote Scripture for his own purpose”. In our case, it’s Bhagavad-gita. Anyway, there’s a wonderful story that illustrates this point. It’s a story of Nasreddin. He was a devotee, a mullah who performed Salat five times a day. He once calls his wife and asks, - Hey wife, bring me some cheese. Cheese is very healthy – it enhances appetite and strengthens the gums. It’s high energy food. - My husband, I know cheese is very healthy but, unfortunately, we don’t have it. - Well, okay, cheese destroys digestive fire, weakens the gums, is hard to digest and contains no vitamins at all. - My husband, could you explain, please, which of your statements is the right one? At first you said that cheese was healthy and then you claimed no less convincingly that cheese was very unhealthy. Nasreddin replied, “Listen, you stupid woman, when we have cheese at home the first statement is correct and when there’s no cheese the other one is correct. Don’t you understand?” That’s what is going on in our mind. So, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is saying here, “If you want to have taste, you should, first of all, dispose of this propensity towards deception. Don’t let your mind deceive you.”

 Srila Prabhupada called his book “Bhagavad-gita as it is” and it has a deep philosophical meaning. It means that we’re not trying to interpret the scriptures the way we want to, to please ourselves, to somehow benefit. We take it as it is. Honesty is the first rule when one has to get rid of this tendency to deceive. Another famous example I often give is about one Moslem living a dissipated life. He was carousing, drinking, eating and indulging himself. A mullah approached him saying, - My son, don’t you know the Quran says that one shouldn’t do this because one is going to destroy one’s eternal soul? You’re carousing, drinking, corrupting people and the like. - How come, mullah, that you don’t know the Quran? It says – eat, drink, have a good time. My son, there’s more to that line – eat, drink, have a good time and you will destroy yourself. - Holy father, no one can follow the scriptures meticulously. I prefer following the first line of this verse. No one follows completely. It says – eat, drink, have fun.

 First thing one should understand is that the enemy is within and it’s always ready to deceive us as well as it’s always ready to justify us. It starts justifying us, it’s telling us we’re the best, it’s finding fault with others, it assures us it’s not our fault. This, actually, is the mind. Srila Prabhupada called the mind a lawyer. The mind is the best lawyer. What’s a lawyer paid for? For lies. The best lawyer is the one who can lie convincingly. He’s going to win. Within us there’s this best of the lawyers working for free. It’s always lying. And what’s his lie? That you’re the best? You’re always right, you can’t be at fault. You noticed it? Right. I remember speaking with one devotee in 1998. There’d been a conflict between him and another devotee. I was trying to pacify, to reconcile them. I said, “I’m sorry, he might be wrong but you might be wrong too. This is always the way when conflicts occur.” And he replied, “I’m not sure about him, but as far as I am concerned, I’m 100% confident I’m always right.” I looked at him thinking to myself, “There, how well he has preserved himself He’s absolutely convinced that he’s always right.” But this is the foundation of pride. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says, “Until one casts away this sada dambham hitva, until he does it on a regular basis.” Until he casts away pride manifesting itself through this deception as well, he’ll never be able to make the next step. He’ll never be able to understand or achieve something on the spiritual path. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to understand what’s going on. 

 One mataji who’d just joined told me, “I’ve read Bhagavad-gita – a stunning book. I loved it. But most of all I liked Chapter 16. Why? Because it says that there are only two types of people – the demons and the devotees, and I realized I was a devotee and the rest are demons.” When it comes to him – he’s a demon, when it comes to me – I’m a devotee, a Vasnava. I become a Vaisnava. Here Raghunatha dasa Gosvami says: sada dambham hitva. All the time, every minute one should catch oneself out, one should be on one’s guard and remember that the mind is always willing to deceive. I guess we should stop here. Raghunatha das Gosvami ki! Jaya!