Constant Touch with the Supreme Spirit Date: 2008-02-19 Author: Sajjana Priya Krishna das Dear Prabhujis and Matajis, Hare Krishna! Please accept my humble pranams! All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev! When I was leaving Rajkot after a wonderful Rath Yatra and most memorable association of our beloved Guru Maharaj, I just prayed to Maharaj and requested him to forgive all the inebrieties in me and requested him to grant his mercy for purifying my existence. Maharaj said that not to worry about the defects because these will be cleared as long as you take the shelter of the holy names constantly and sincerely. Most of us are chanting 16 rounds and some of us are chanting some rounds and therefore the holy names are so pure in itself and has the potency to remove all the defects of the conditioned soul. This chanting is nothing but a soul wash (presently the conditioned soul is contaminated on association with matter from time immemorial). It is called jagat pavitram ( purifying the entire universe). Even though some people may be appearing to be materially super intelligent, they have to eventually surrender their intelligence at the time of death. Whereas service to the Lord is eternal as long as we keep in touch with the Supreme Lord through the holy names at least, if not other devotional service. I came across a powerful verse in Srimad Bhagavatam 3.19.27 in this regard: kṣitau śayānaṁ tam akuṇṭha-varcasaṁ karāla-daṁṣṭraṁ paridaṣṭa-dacchadam ajādayo vīkṣya śaśaṁsur āgatā aho imaṁ ko nu labheta saṁsthitim Aja [Brahmaa] and others arrived on the spot to see the fearfully tusked demon lyingon the ground, biting his lip. The glow of his face was yet unfaded, and Brahmaadmiringly said: Oh, who could meet such blessed death? In this verse the word akuṇṭha-varcasaṁ is very important which means"unfaded glow" and is very nice to meditate upon. This verse spoken by Lord Brahma himself is really nice. Even though Hiranyaksha demon was killed by Lord Varaha, the bodily luster did not fade away. Prabhupada writes in his wonderful purport to this verse: "But here, although Hiranyakashipu lay dead, his bodily luster was unfaded because the Lord, the Supreme Spirit, was touching his body. Although the demon's soul had departed his body, the Supreme Spirit touched the body, and therefore his bodily luster did not fade." In the same way we can understand that His Holy names are non different from the Lord Himself and therefore constant touch with the holy names means constant touch with the Lord which will make our face glow. Maharaj use to say, by sincere chanting of few holy names your face will glow like anything and I have to wear goggles to see you. Maharaj just by seeing the face of his disciple, he can find out whether we are chanting properly or not.Therefore it is very essential as devotees of the Lord to strive for this constant touch of the Holy names and specifically to chant very sincerely. However we are on the path of urdhav pantha - "path upwards towards the Lord" and we should not get unnecessarily worried about the material things happening in front of us. They are bound to happen and that will bewilder us all the time and we should not be carried away by such whirlpool of material nature and get sucked into it. Recently I was very much disturbed by some happenings in our office, but this verse gave me the right answer for clearing my mental disturbance. We are in this transcendental path of perfection and accidental slippage is not a major concern for us because at least we are endeavoring to understand the nature of the Absolute truth and there is no loss in this process. Also there is a probability that we may have a blessed death by chanting the holy names (with the mercy of the Lord and our spiritual master) but in case of others it is not the case as enunciated by Srila Prabhupada in a strong statement in "Introduction to Bhagavad Gita": "Every activity of the human being is considered to be failure (Paraa bhavah) unless he inquires about the nature of the Absolute." Also by the process of purification of existence, one day by the mercy of the Supreme Lord Varaha our faces will also glow at the time of death and be transferred to His eternal abode with complete assurances of unlimited and uninterrupted touch with the Supreme Spirit. I therefore pray to the Supreme Lord Varaha, My beloved Spiritual master, and Srila Prabhupada to shower their causeless mercy upon me so that I may not be deviated from the chanting of the holy names under any circumstances. Lord Varaha Jayanthi Maha Utsav ki Jay !! Thank you very much. Your humble servant in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Sajjana Priya Krishna das Abu Dhabi..