So Kuntī says that, "You have come to teach rascals like this and engage them in this business: śravaṇa, smaraṇa, arhaṇam." Śravaṇa. Because this is bhakti. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). But they are so rascals, as soon as they, the Vaiṣṇavas, begin, śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, the rascal svāmī will say: "No, any name śravaṇa will do. Any name. Why Viṣṇu? Oh, Kālī." You know. In Bengal there is a party, kālī-kīrtana. What is this nonsense, kālī-kīrtana? In the śāstra there is no such thing as kālī-kīrtana. Kīrtana means śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ, viṣṇu-kīrtana. But these rascals have discovered, because they are very fertile brain and they can discover so many things. Yata mata tata patha: "I have discovered this." What is this? Kālī-kīrtana, durgā-kīrtana. So . . . but śāstra does not say. Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not say. Śāstra says, harer nāma: the holy name of Hari, Kṛṣṇa, not any other name. Not any other name.
So śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ (SB 7.5.23). When there is question of śravaṇam, arhaṇam and . . . these things are of Viṣṇu. Where is that verse? Yat śravaṇaṁ yat kīrtanam . . .? So this . . . yes. So this śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam has been described by Śukadeva Gosvāmī in Canto Second, Chapter Four, very nicely. He says:
- yat-kīrtanaṁ yat-smaraṇaṁ yad-īkṣaṇaṁ
- yad-vandanaṁ yac-chravaṇaṁ yad-arhaṇam
- lokasya sadyo vidhunoti kalmaṣaṁ
- tasmai subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ
- (SB 2.4.15)
Very nicely explained. Śukadeva Gosvāmī, before speaking Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he's offering his obeisances to Kṛṣṇa. What is that? "I offer my obeisances," tasmai, "unto Him." Subhadra-śravase: "Simply hearing of Him is subhadra." Not abhadra; subhadra. Subhadra-śravase namo namaḥ. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī—yat-kīrtanaṁ yat-smaraṇam. Either you glorify Kṛṣṇa . . . there are so many glorification. The whole Bhāgavata is glorification. So you have got . . . this is . . . this is the glorification by Śukadeva Gosvāmī: yat-kīrtanaṁ yat-smaraṇam. Either you glorify or simply you meditate upon Him . . . yat-smaraṇam. Yad-īkṣaṇam. Simply if you sit down in front of the Deity and go on seeing, bās, do nothing, simply see: "How nicely dressed is Kṛṣṇa. How nicely dressed is Rādhārāṇī," simply if you see, it is said, yad-īkṣaṇam. Yad-īkṣaṇam. Śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam (SB 7.5.23), if you have no capacity to chant or if you have no such fixed-up mind—your mind is so disturbing that you cannot fix up your mind in Kṛṣṇa—then the chance is given, "Here is Deity. You simply see." Simply see. And if you are engaged in the service, there is good chance of seeing always, twenty-four hours. While you are cleansing the floor of the temple or the room, you are seeing. You are dressing—you are seeing. You are bathing—you are seeing. You are offering food—you are seeing. This is the process.