Prabhupāda: Just like a class of men, they see that a person who has committed theft is arrested by police, and he is hearing that "If you commit theft, then you will be sinful or you will be caught by the laws of the state." So seeing and hearing, still he is committing theft. Why? By experience, practical experience, he is seeing that "Here is a man, committed theft. He is punished. He is going to be arrested by the police." And he has heard also that if somebody commits theft, he will be punished. So what do you want? Two things are required. Dekha śroṇa(?), seeing and hearing, for gaining knowledge. So he has got knowledge by seeing and hearing, but still... That means the heart is not clear. So this thing will be helpful for clearing the heart. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). Simply by legal obligation one cannot be purified. You may enact thousands of rules and regulation and laws. You cannot purify the heart of the people. Here is the process to purify the heart of the people. Therefore they should be taken advantage of. Simply by saying that "If you do this, then you'll be punished," nobody cares for that. Just like a child. The parents daily says, "My dear boy, don't do this. This is mischievous." But he does. Just like a dog, animal. Because the heart is not purified. The knowledge is not there. So this is the process for purifying the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). This is the process. So one should take advantage of this process, how to purify the mind, how to purify the heart. Then you will be a perfect personality, perfect man.
Purification of the heart (Conv. and Letters)
Expressions researched:
"heart"
|"hearts"
|"purification"
|"purified"
|"purifies"
|"purify"
|"purifying"
Conversations and Morning Walks
1968 Conversations and Morning Walks
1971 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: In the heart the seed of committing sinful activities is there. So simply by seeing or knowing, it will not be killed. It has to be killed by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. He should be purified from the heart he'll give up everything. So this killing process is paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8). So this pāpa-bīja, the seed of sinful activities, is being killed. Otherwise, how people give up all the sinful activities? Because the pāpa-bīja, the original seed, is being killed away.
1975 Conversations and Morning Walks
Atreya Ṛṣi: Just applicable to myself, it's very easy to think that "Now I am in a position of responsibility. I may be most advanced." But what your instruction is that I always think that this position of responsibility requires that I become pure, so I have to be very, very careful. I am not most advanced. I have to...
Prabhupāda: That purity process is chanting.
Atreya Ṛṣi: I have to chant very carefully...
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Atreya Ṛṣi: ...and very seriously.
Prabhupāda: Offenseless.
Atreya Ṛṣi: Not that I'm already advanced.
Prabhupāda: Offenseless chanting, that will purify. That is the easiest process, given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Ceto-da...(?) He first of all recommends cleansing the heart. And as soon as your heart is cleansed, then you become immediately purified. This is the way. So be always engaged, either in chanting or reading or preaching. Then it will be clarified.
Rūpānuga: It is actually a very easy process.
Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the easiest process. There is no secondary process. Chanting. And it is recommended by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the authority, param vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam. So many things will happen.
Acyutānanda: That was my challenge, that "We are doing them better than all of you, so you... That's..."
Prabhupāda: No, if you keep God or Christ within your heart, then your heart will be purified. That means you are cheating.
Trivikrama: Yeah.
Pañcadraviḍa: Yeah, that's what it boils down to.
Prabhupāda: You are all cheaters, not Christians, but cheaters. You do not keep in the heart Christ's name or God's name, but you keep your own ideas. Therefore you think it is impossible. Otherwise, your heart would have been cleansed.
Lt. Mozee: Well, no, I understand the spiritual leader had some ideas on how to prevent crime, how to do these things. I might inquire after he gives his ideas. I understand you read the...
Prabhupāda: It is not idea, it is fact that one man is very pious and one man is very vicious. What is the difference? The difference is: one is dirty in his heart and one is pure in his heart. So if you keep people dirty, then there will be crimes. This is the sign that the general people, they are dirty. So you have to purify the dirty things, diseased condition. Then things will be all right. So our simplest process is to assemble in congregation and chant the holy name of God. Then dirty things will go away. So if you want to stop crime, then you have to arrange for mass saṅkīrtana. That is our movement. Gather people as large as can be possible and congregationally chant the holy name of God. Then it will be all right.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Everywhere. This is the age of forgetting God. We say it is Kali-yuga. Kali-yuga means the age of misunderstanding. And that is, I said, dirty things within the heart. So God is so powerful that if we chant the holy name of God, then we become purified. So our movement is based on this principle, chant the holy name of God. We give all facilities to everyone without any distinction that "You come with us. Come in our temple, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and take little prasādam, refreshment, and gradually you become purified." So if the government authorities give us facilities for this business, that we hold mass saṅkīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṇa, and give them little prasādam, then we are sure the whole place will change.
Prabhupāda: If we follow the principles of Bhagavad-gītā, we will find answers for all the problems of life, and if we take it seriously, then the whole human society will be happy, peaceful, in this life, and next life they will go back to home, back to Godhead for eternal blissful life of knowledge. So we are giving literary information in fifty books. Some of the books are distributed here. You can see. Otherwise, the process is very simple. If we chant the holy name of the Lord, we become purified, our heart becomes cleansed, and we can understand the aim of life, the goal of life, and in this way everything can be adjusted very nicely.
Prabhupāda: You remain in your place, but you have your ears to hear Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be perfect. What is the difficulty? You remain as a doctor. You remain as a pleader. You remain whatever you like. It doesn't matter. But engage your aural reception to the words of Kṛṣṇa. Then you become perfect. What is the difficulty? Simply sit down and hear what Kṛṣṇa says, Bhagavad-gītā. That's all. And if you say that "I simply hear," and if you do not act, no, you'll act because as you go on hearing, your heart will be purified.
1976 Conversations and Morning Walks
Reporter (1): Swamiji, does this chanting of mantra brings purity or following of your four instructions or regulations which you have told, or both?
Prabhupāda: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. It purifies the heart, yes, the core of the heart. Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). This is the effect of chanting, because everything we are doing on account of dirty heart, so everything is dirty. So if you purify your heart, then everything becomes clear.
Reporter (1): How long does it take to purify ourself?
Prabhupāda: It takes.... Just like if the dirty things are very fixed up, it takes little more time. Otherwise it takes little time.
Prabhupāda: We have got very good response for accepting our books all over the world, Kṛṣṇa books.
Guest: The reason that I was most interested to come is that my responsibilities in Victoria are a lot to do with the growth of our young people, and I think that many of the things that we don't succeed in doing, the problems that we have with drugs and alcohol and all sorts of unhappiness, that what your life indicates has got something that I think we could do well to take parts of it, to be involved in the things, the way in which we live. And I'd be interested to hear from you as to what you would believe might be done to encourage a greater acceptance of your areas of philosophy and religion.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Our philosophy is to purify, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12). Our philosophy is to purify the core of the heart from all dirty things. This is basic principle of our philosophy, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam, cleansing the core of the heart. So just this morning several boys and girls became initiated. So our first promise is, before the Deity, before the fire, before the Vaiṣṇavas, before the spiritual master, that from this day no more illicit sex, no more intoxication, no more meat-eating, no more gambling. This is the first initiation.
1977 Conversations and Morning Walks
Prabhupāda: Offenseless chanting means mukti, and then pure chanting means love of Godhead. There are three stages. In the beginning, when one begins chanting, it is not pure. There are so many offenses. But chanting, chanting, the offenses become purified. Offenseless chanting is not purified completely, but it is offenseless. So offenseless chanting makes one liberated, and then pure chanting makes one lover of God. This is the process. So chanting is definite mystic power. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam: (CC Antya 20.12) "By chanting, your heart becomes purified." Ceto-darpaṇa.
Prabhupāda: This is the shastric, Vedic culture, that we have to purify ourselves from the bodily designation. That is called ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), cleansing the dirty things within the core of the heart, that "I am this"—"I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am sannyāsī," "I am gṛhastha," "I am white," "I am black." These are the dirty things. So these dirty things can be cleansed by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Śṛṇvatāṁ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ (SB 1.2.17). This chanting and hearing is puṇya-śravaṇa. If you do not know anything about, if you simply chant and hear, you become purified, puṇya, because on account of dirty things, impious life, you have become covered by different bodies.
Correspondence
1968 Correspondence
We do not condemn any religion because the Bhagavatam says that the religious process is the best by which one can attain love of God. So we are teaching Love of Godhead, not any particular type of religion. Our Krishna Conscious movement is not a religious movement; it is a movement for purifying the heart. Modern civilization is defying the authority of the Personality of Godhead; the more a man advances in his material adventures, the more he becomes covered by the illusory energy.
1969 Correspondence
You are such a nice soul that you are always thinking of Krishna and becoming more and more purified in Krishna Consciousness. As stated in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, Twenty-Seventh Verse, Krishna is sitting in everyone's heart and He is purifying one who is Krishna Conscious. The symptoms of advancement in Krishna Consciousness is gradually feeling detached to materialistic way of life. Although you are young man, you have got your nice young wife and child, and by Krishna's Grace, everything is all right so far as your family is concerned, still you are feeling detached. That is very nice.
1970 Correspondence
So Narada Muni says that men should be judged by his tendencies, not by his birth, and this is also confirmed in Bhagavad-gita by Lord Krishna that the four divisions of human society should be judged by the qualities in actual work. Therefore with reference to all Vedic Scriptures our members are all Brahmanas and therefore we offer them the sacred thread although they are born, according to Vedic culture, in the families of other than Brahmanas or even than the Sudras. But that does not mean they cannot be purified. Actually they are being trained in such a way, their hearts are being purified by chanting the Mahamantra. And after some days when the Spiritual Master sees that one has followed the regulative principles faithfully and has abstained himself from the restricted items like illicit sex life, etc. and has chanted regularly 16 rounds then say after a year or six months when he appears to be purified in the judgment of the Spiritual Master he is offered the sacred thread, and he is given the chance of Deity worship in the Temple.
We have to receive transcendental sound through the transcendental channel, therefore, Vedas are called Sruti. That means transcendental sound can be received through the ear. And by hearing this transcendental sound through the ear our heart becomes spiritually purified, and we can realize at that stage the transcendental Name, transcendental Qualities, transcendental Form, transcendental Pastimes etc. That is the way of descending process.
1971 Correspondence
Do not be disappointed if sometimes your mind gives some agitation. Such agitation is only temporary and will be driven away by chanting. So chant loudly whenever there is some disturbance and hear the transcendental sound attentively. Study our literatures with the help of other devotees and render some devotional service in the Temple or on Samkirtan Party. As your heart becomes more and more purified by the chanting process you will feel constant happiness in Krsna's service and at that time Krsna takes all the sinful reactions from the devotee thus protecting him from all distresses of life.
1973 Correspondence
Thank you very much for the Tulasi leaves offered to Lord Caitanya's lotus feet. If one is fortunate enough to receive such holy prasadam then all sinful reactions are immediately purified within the heart and pure devotional service is very easily obtained.
1975 Correspondence
Yes, I can help you. But you must want to be helped. Life is not meant for simply eating, sleeping, mating and defending as the animals are doing. It is meant for developing spiritual consciousness or Krishna Consciousness. I think if you could visit one of our temples, it would be very nice for you. We have many temples there on the east coast in Baltimore, Boston, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, etc. I hope you will make the opportunity to go to one of them in the very near future.
I hope this meets you in good health.
Your ever well-wisher,
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
P.S. In the meantime, please chant Hare Krishna as often as possible for purification of the heart.
1976 Correspondence
The most important aspect of our preaching is Kirtana. Induce the people to chant, that is the only thing. Then everything else will follow. The goal is to make devotees and books; both are required. Distributing the books will make devotees. To make a devotee means to make someone purified. Reading the books will purify the intelligence. A purified heart and mind means Krishna Consciousness.
All initiates of mine must strictly follow the four principles of no meat, fish or egg, eating; no gambling; no intoxication of any kind; and no illicit sex. They must chant 16 rounds a day minimum with attention, clearly chanting the mantra, and listening very carefully. This is the recommended process for purifying the heart in this sinful age of Kali. Be serious to push on this sankirtana movement of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and certainly He will bless you and your life will become perfect, na ca tasmad manusyesu kascit me priya-krtama, anyone who preaches this message of the Bhagavad-gita is the most dear servant of the Lord.
| Page Title: | Purification of the heart (Conv. and Letters) |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Visnu Murti, Alakananda |
| Created: | 08 of Oct, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=12, Let=9 |
| No. of Quotes: | 21 |