Hari-katha means

Expressions researched:
"Hari-katha means"

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Hari-kathā means Kṛṣṇa's words. They are very purified.

Lecture on SB 1.2.9-10 -- Delhi, November 14, 1973:

So everything is there. If we actually want to make our life perfect, the directions are already there in our... We have got the Vedic knowledge, treasurehouse of spiritual knowledge, and the Bhagavad-gītā is the gist, is the summary. Gītopaniṣad. It is called Upaniṣad. If you simply study Bhagavad-gītā as it is, without foolishly interpreting it... That will spoil. Don't interpret. Just like you are given paramānna, or kṣīra. Everyone knows what is kṣīra, milk and rice cooked together with sugar, very nice foodstuff. But if you add with it several grains of sand, it becomes useless. You can add it, simply a few grains of sand—we spoil Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī has advised how to save yourself from this rascaldom. He says, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. Pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam. Hari-kathā. Kṛṣṇa is speaking Bhagavad-gītā; therefore it is called hari-kathā, kṛṣṇa-kathā. So Sanātana Gosvāmī says, "If it is uttered by avaiṣṇava, who is not a devotee, he is a professional man, so-called scholar and politician, don't hear it. Don't hear it." Avaiṣṇava: "Because he is not a Vaiṣṇava." Avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathā. Hari-kathā means Kṛṣṇa's words. They are very purified. That's all right. But śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. Why? Because sarpocchiṣṭaṁ yathā payaḥ. Just like milk. Milk is very good food, but if it is touched by the tongue of a serpent, it becomes poison. If you eat that kind of milk, your life will be finished. Similarly, our only request is that don't try to read Bhagavad-gītā commented by unauthorized so-called scholars or politicians. Simply read Bhagavad-gītā as it is. Simply accept what Kṛṣṇa says. Then you will be benefited.

Hari-kathā means Bhagavad-gītā, the Purāṇas, out of which the Bhāgavata, Mahāpurāṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.25.25 -- Bombay, November 25, 1974:

So asat-saṅga-tyāga, vaiṣṇava-ācāra. The Vaiṣṇava, he should be always careful not to intermingle, means not to take up their ideas and thoughts. No. That is vaiṣṇava-ācāra. Asat-saṅga-tyāga, ei vaiṣṇava. And why they should be avoided? Asat eka strī-saṅgī, kṛṣṇa-abhakta. Who is asat? Asat means those who are very much attached to sense gratification. Sense... The culmination of sense gratification is sex life. So those who are too much attached to sex life, strī-saṅgī, and kṛṣṇa-abhakta, and not devotee of Kṛṣṇa, they are asat. So those who are actually serious to make advance in spiritual life, they should avoid the asat.

asat-saṅga-tyāga-ei vaiṣṇava-ācāra

'strī-saṅgī'-eka asādhu, 'kṛṣṇābhakta' āra

So if we discriminate like this, then we shall be advancing. Apavarga-vartmani. Taj-joṣaṇād āśu apavarga-vartmani śraddhā bhaktir anukramiṣyati. Just like if we are diseased, there is infectious disease, epidemic, so we should be careful not to be infected by the infectious disease. Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī said in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa... He has written one book, "The Behavior of the Vaiṣṇava," Hari-bhakti-vilāsa. So in that book he has recommended, avaiṣṇava-mukhodgīrṇaṁ pūtaṁ hari-kathāmṛtam, śravaṇaṁ naiva kartavyam. He has said that "One who is not Vaiṣṇava by his behavior, by his action, by his mode of life, if he speaks something from śāstra, especially hari-kathā..." Hari-kathā means Bhagavad-gītā, the Purāṇas, out of which the Bhāgavata, Mahāpurāṇa. So we should not hear from a professional reader, or avaiṣṇava, or Māyāvādī. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has warned, māyāvādi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). If we hear Bhagavad-gītā—that is kṛṣṇa-kathā, hari-kathā—we should not hear from the Māyāvādīs or avaiṣṇava. Then it will not be effective.