Lord Chaitanya, the Lord Himself quoted from Shrimad Bhagavatam, Svetasvatara Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita, etc. If we somehow have some doubts that the scripture is true then we have to remember this is what Lord Chaitanya accepted as truth. His request was that we, His followers, study Bhagavad Gita and Shrimad Bhagavatam. This is where we can know that the truth is. Lord Chaitanya came and confirmed so many different things.
There is this verse:
Harer Nama Harer Nama
Harer Namaiva Kevelam
Kalau Nastey Eva
Nastey Eva Nastey Eva
Gatir Anyatha
This means in this current age of Kali, Kali yuga, “Harer Nama, Harer Nama, Harer Nama”, the chanting of the names of Hari, is the only way, the only way, the only way; “Kalau Nastey Eva, Nastey Eva, Nastey Eva”- the only way, the only way, the only way to achieve spiritual realization.
So many people including us here, may have in the past, and maybe still are, thinking there are many ways, there are many gurus… Every lecture I give, someone sends up questions about this guru, that guru, this guru. Some gurus are more popular in one country than in another because their followers have been more active popularizing them, Osho or Castaneda, or Sathya Sai Baba, etc. These questions or these names always appear.
But it is very simple, Lord Chaitanya said, “I don’t care what those guys teach, it doesn’t work”. There are innumerable teachers, right now and in the past, I mean there is nothing new, it’s always been like that. This method, that method, this type of meditation, that type of meditation, this yoga practice, that yoga practice, it’s always been like that. Lord Chaitanya wanted to make it very clear to all those who wanted to listen, “Chanting the names of Hari is the only way”.
If a person believes this then he will conclude, and if he is serious, I would say… He believes it. He would say, “I am not going to waste my time doing all this other stuff because we don’t have much time”.
You see we don’t know how much time we have left. It could come at any moment that we don’t have any more time. Nadia’s grandmother didn’t have any more time after last night; she died last night. Every day many, many people run out of time, some – expectedly, some – very unexpectedly. So I can’t think, “Oh, I’ve got a lot of time, I’ll just do this for a while and that for a while.”
Lord Chaitanya says, “Harer Nama is the only way”. Until I do this, I am still in the realm of the dead. I may think I am alive, but really I am not. So all these are things that we have to consider. That is why this philosophy is always pushing us. Not demanding anything, but you know, giving us a little push. Some people think, “Why do you guys just chant all the time? What are you doing? Why don’t you do something? You know, like, why don’t you get a job? Let’s have some barbecue, come on! This is a holiday!”
Because we are following Lord Chaitanya, that’s what we are doing, we are following Lord Chaitanya… and that’s what we do. Lord Chaitanya and His followers were always chanting. And the aristocratic people in the community and the brahmans, those who were supposed to be very educated, elevated etc., they were always criticizing Lord Chaitanya. Some great so-called yogis, great impersonalist yogis always criticized Lord Chaitanya. But they couldn’t understand the value in what He was doing, it looked to them just like a bunch of sentimental things that didn’t really have any value.
But those who could understand, they were immersed in this. Actually at the time Lord Chaitanya was on this planet, sometimes there were a million people chanting at one time, at one place. But most of them were the common men. But many of the great personalities also came to realize this truth and became great devotees of Lord Chaitanya. At that time great kings, high-level personalities in government, scholars and many, many people eventually came and gave their lives to Lord Chaitanya.
So that is what we should know is correct.
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