GUIDANCE

Issue# 13

Lectures of His Divine Grace

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj

published at SCSMathInternational.com during October-December 2017

CONTENT

Wholehearted Engagement

Speaking to the devotees in London

9 October 2011, part 1

I am very happy today because yesterday there was a Vaishnav seva festival—Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu's disappearance festival, Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami Prabhu's disappearance festival, and Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's disappearance festival. It was a good day.

Actually, this day is a day of Vaishnav seva. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu taught us what must be the quality of a Vaishnav and what must be the quality of your practising. Mahaprabhu taught Das Goswami Prabhu, and what Das Goswami Prabhu showed, how he himself practised, is an example for us—it is for our benefit.

It is a day of Vaishnav seva, but we have no quality or qualification—ki rupe paibo seva muni durachar ("I am so wicked, how will I ever get service?")—we have no qualification to serve great Vaishnavs. That is our main problem. But this qualification comes through practising, through good association, through great association, by following Gurudev's order, Guru Maharaj's order, Guru Maharaj's line, conception, following the Rupanuga line (Srila Rupa Goswami's line). We must follow it properly and perfectly. Our problem is that we become blind with material desires (andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite); we cannot see the proper things because we take bad association and also because of poor practice (not practising so much or so well).

It is necessary to practise more. You can understand it by looking at how much Raghunath Das Goswami practised.

Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu wanted to go to Mahaprabhu many times, but Mahaprabhu told him, "Go back to your home! It is not necessary to show phalgu vairagya, markat vairagya (false monkey renunciation). Leave your false renunciation. You can become a householder, it is not a problem. It is not necessary to show false renunciation, you can show internal sincerity (antare nistha), that is good for you. Do not show outer renunciation, it is necessary to have internal renunciation."

antare nistha kara, bahye loka-vyavahara

achirat krsna tomaya karibe uddhara

"Be fixed internally, and behave like everyone else externally. Krishna will rescue you soon."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.239)

Bahye loka-vyavahara (behave like everyone else): you can do everything, you can work, you can live in family life, but your family must be Krishna's family. Then, achirat Krsna tomaya karibe uddhara: Krishna will very soon rescue you from the material environment, from the illusory environment. Do not worry, Krishna will rescue you, go back to your home."

This is what Mahaprabhu told Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, and Das Goswami Prabhu followed it to the point. He followed everything. He went back home and later took shelter of Nityananda Prabhu. When he came to Nityananda Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu told him to arrange some Vaishnav seva, and he did it. Then, Das Goswami Prabhu got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu—Nityananda Prabhu put His lotus feet on his head and said, "Now you can go to Mahaprabhu, He will accept you." And Mahaprabhu accepted him.

The point is, "Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana (Cc, 2.16.238)—you can serve your family but without any attachment."

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'

visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

Serve without any attachment, but with sambandha—there must be relation. Serve with a relationship, keep love and affection and serve seriously, with relation. When you serve a Deity, you should think, "I am serving my children," or, "I am serving my old parents." When you serve your Guru, think, "I am serving my father." When you serve, serve as a son, as a daughter. Sometimes, when Gurudev becomes old, he becomes like a baby, and you must serve the same way as when take care of your baby. When Gurudev becomes old, his servitors serve him like they would serve a baby. You must understand that it is necessary to have a relation.

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You have love and affection for your family, your parents or other blood relatives, and the same connection, the same love and affection must come towards your spiritual master, spiritual leader—towards the Guru and Vaishnavs.

Raghunath Das Goswami showed what Vaishnavs' quality is, he showed it for us. When he joined Mahaprabhu in Puri, how did he eat? How much service did he do? He served for twenty-two and a half hours and used only one and a half hours for sleeping, eating, etc. But we are doing the opposite—we sleep for twenty-two and a half hours and serve for one and a half hours. We do the opposite and we have so many hopes and aspirations—we want this, we want that, we want that. It is material environment. Das Goswami Prabhu used only one and a half hours for his own job. How much he served, how much time he gave for his Guru! But we are giving time for our own enjoyment, that is why we are not getting so much benefit. What is Gurudev's fault? It is our own fault! Why are we not getting benefit? Because we use ourselves for our own enjoyment. We must use ourselves for Gurudev's enjoyment, for the Deities' enjoyment—we must give ourselves for their enjoyment. If you give yourself for your own enjoyment, how will you get relief and benefit? This is what Srila Das Goswami Prabhu teaches us.

* * *

Vaishnav's Quality

Speaking to the devotees in London

9 October 2011, part 2

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu taught us how we must practise, how Vaishnav's quality will come. When he was a young boy, Mahaprabhu taught him, "Gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe: do not talk any nonsense talks, and do not listen to nonsense things. Bhala na khaibe: do not eat so much opulent food—

vairagira krtya—sada nama-sankirtana

saka-patra-phala-mule udara-bharana

"The duty of a renunciate is to always engage in Nama-sankirtan, and maintain your stomach with vegetables, leaves, fruit, and roots."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.226)

A vairagi takes some sak, a little of some subji—not paneer, not anything opulent, not so many sweetmeats or curds. "Vairagira krtya—sada nama-sankirtana." What is the duty of a vairagi (brahmachari)? Only Nama-sankirtan." Mahaprabhu told this to Das Goswami Prabhu, and Das Goswami Prabhu taught this to the devotees.

vairagira krtya—sada nama-sankirtana

saka-patra-phala-mule udara-bharana

"The duty of a renunciate is to always engage in Nama-sankirtan, and maintain your stomach with vegetables, leaves, fruit, and roots."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.226)

It is necessary to take something for your health, for your stomach, then it is OK, take a little of some subji—offer something simple to your guru or your Deity and take that.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told in his written stories—how will a brahmachari live in your temple? You do not give him ghee, you do not give him pulao (pilaf), you do not give him kurma (pumpkin), you do not give him sweet rice or choice rice, paneer—how will a brahmachari then stay in your temple? Prabhupad also said, "Oh, this Maharaj is not good because this Maharaj does not give me shirt, does not give me a mobile phone, does not give me a computer. And this Maharaj is good—he gives me a computer, he gives me a mobile phone, he gives me enjoyment. That Maharaj only gives me service—every time I come to him he engages me always and tells me to go work, work, work. I will not go to him, he is a very bad person!" If you read Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's stories, you can understand it easily.

Prabhupad explains also what bhajan (service, devotional practice) is. "Jiver seva korte korte atma kalyan labha haya": you are chanting the Holy Name, you are doing service, but you must engage others in chanting the Holy name, you must engage others in service. That is called jiver seva (service to the jiva souls), that is jive daya (being kind to other jiva souls). If you do this, then you will see that you will get some fresh energy, you will get relief, and your soul will be very pure through that (atma-kalyan—you will prosper in your spiritual life).

Prabhupad also said that if you follow your mind (maner khela khusimata), if you listen to whatever comes to your mind, then it will be karma, not seva. If Gurudev tells you to do something and you think, "Oh, there is no job there, but Gurudev told me to do it, then I must do it," that is seva. But if Gurudev tells you to do something and you think, "No, that is not a good job, I can do something better," then your work becomes karma. It may be some good karma, you may go to heaven after that, but what is the result of karma? If you engage in karma, you become bound by it—some bondage to the illusory environment comes—and the result of this bondage is narak yantrana (going to hell). This is what the sastras tell, Srila Sanatan Goswami and Srila Rupa Goswami also told so. Everybody does some service, but some service is actually service and some "service" is actually karma, and the result of karma is very bad (bondage with the karma).

So, we must realise these things. Das Goswami Prabhu's mind also told him, "I will go to the Jagannath temple and stand there—people will come with prasadam, and I will take what they give me." But later he thought it was not good: "simha-dvare bhiksa-vrtti—vesyara achara (Cc, 3.6.284). Mahaprabhu also thought so. So, he left that place and went to the Ananda Bazaar (Pleasure Market) at the Jagannath Temple. They sell Jagannath prasadam at this market and there is one place there where the sellers keep discarded prasadam that they cannot sell. Das Goswami Prabhu went there and took some rotten rice that even cows could not eat: he would wash it and take it with salt. One day, Mahaprabhu and Svarup Damodar came to him and forcefully tasted it too. Mahaprabhu said, "You are taking it yourself and not giving to Me!" and He forcefully took some too.

Also, Das Goswami Prabhu's father used to send him money every month. He thought, "Oh, my son has gone there but he is not getting proper food, he is begging!" His father (his name was Govardhan) was a big landlord, so every month he sent Das Goswami Prabhu four hundred rupees. At that time it was very valuable, like four hundred thousand rupees now. Das Goswami Prabhu used that money to make Vaishnav seva—twice a month so many Vaishnavs would come and he would distribute prasadam to them. All Vaishnavs were very happy, but Mahaprabhu was not because He saw that some pratistha (name and fame) were coming through that Vaishnav seva ("Oh, he is distributing prasadam!"). When Das Goswami Prabhu understood it, he rejected that money and stopped this Vaishnav seva. Mahaprabhu approved of it.

This was his lifestyle. Finally, Das Goswami Prabhu lived at the end of his life at Radha Kunda where he left his body also. That was his Vaishnav seva. He is an example for us.

It is necessary to practise properly. If we do not practise, if we do what comes to our mind, this is not service!

* * *

Take Care

Speaking to the devotees in London

9 October 2011, part 3

Where is *** Prabhu?

Devotee: He is not feeling very well, Maharaj, a little sick.

Why is he sick? "Asustha hoya mora mana, asustha nay mora sarira: my mind is sick, my body is not sick." Haridas Thakur told this. One is never sick, only one's mind can be sick. Haridas Thakur said, "Why did I become sick? Because I could not finish my japa (chanting), I could not finish my service, that is why I became sick."

Anyway, today is a good day. Yesterday I also spoke about Das Goswami Prabhu and Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami Prabhu. You know how much austerity Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami got also. He had to leave his family: when he saw that his brother and somebody else were diving dishonour to Nityananda Prabhu, he rejected them and, leaving his house, went to Vrindavan. There, he started to compose Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita. At first he thought, "How shall I write Chaitanya-charitamrita?" But then he felt, "Ei grantha lekhaya more Madana Mohana." Madan Mohan said to him, "What is the problem? You are not writing anything, I am writing it!"

Gurudev does everything. If we think, "I am doing it," or, "I am doing everything, it will not run without me!" it means some ego is coming to us, and that is a big problem for us. Everything will run even without us—Gurudev's service, Deities' service can never be stopped. Never. You can see that your pujari had been doing puja in London for thirty years and left his service, but Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar arranged for some other devotee. Service can never be stopped. I have also seen another example—in the many years since I joined the temple so many people came and went, came and went, but the service also never stopped. No one can stop service, you must understand it. Mahaprabhu's service will never be stopped. The only problem is that we lose our service—we lose our service because of our bad karma...

Does anybody there have any questions?

Question: When somebody is giving us some praise, some pratistha, should we offer it to Gurudev?

Yes. Pratistha is for the Guru. There is kanak (wealth), kamini (women), pratistha (name and fame). Kanak is for Narayan. Kamini is for Krishna. And pratistha is for Gurudev. Vaishnavs never want pratistha, but pratistha always follows them.

* * *

Ego and Faith Do Not Coexist

Speaking online to the devotees in Delhi

16 October 2011, part 3

I am trying to go for Govardhan Puja. If it is the will of the Lord, then Govardhan, Giraraj will bring me... I will try—my mind is always there, I want to go this time to Giriraj Govardhan—there is always some obstacle coming, but I know that in a few days it will be finished... Krishna is testing to see how much tolerance I have, and through that I am getting so much tolerance. If they did not disturb me, how would my tolerance increase then? Also, more patience is coming, and that is necessary...

Question: How did your Vyasa Puja festival go?

That day, on my birthday, the programme started in the morning and continued next day—there was a programme at 10 o'clock at night, at 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning because in some country it was day, in some country it is night. Today also there is a programme at 11 o'clock at night, and this morning there was a programme at 4 o'clock, at 5 o'clock.

Question: We wanted to ask if we could make a programme for Srila Sridhar Maharaj's appearance day?

Yes, you can, no problem. If Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj had not come, how would we have got our Guru? Because he came in this world, we could get our Guru from him. We can do a programme on this way because Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is our founder acharya, he is the main leader of Srila Rupa Goswami's line. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur left him to preach and hold the flag of Sri Sri Rupa-Raghunath. He is our main line, we must understand it and we must follow his instruction, we must follow his line. If we follow this line, it will be good for us. We must believe it, we must have faith in it.

When Srila Sridhar Maharaj made our Gurudev the acharya, many could not respect his decision and they went to another line. Even many of his godbrothers said that Srila Sridhar Maharaj had made a wrong decision, but later they understood that Srila Sridhar Maharaj could not make a wrong decision.

It is necessary to have faith, to believe. Gurudev told me that faith is another question—if you see some rope and Gurudev says, "No, it is not rope, it is a snake," you must believe it. That is called faith. It is very difficult to keep the strongest faith.

Mahaprabhu said (Cc, 2.22.64), "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari." You will get as much devotion as much faith you have. If you can surrender 75%, you will get 75%, if you can surrender fully, 100%, you will get 100%. Krishna Himself said, "If you can come one step to Me, I will come ten steps to you." It is necessary to believe it. He also says, "If you think about Me, I will think about you." If, however, we think about ourselves, then Krishna says, "You are already fulfilled, why will I come to help you?" Do you understand? This is ego.

Some girl is very beautiful, and she thinks, "Oh, I am very beautiful!" Somebody is very qualified and they think, "Oh, I am a very qualified doctor!" Somebody is a good engineer and they think, "I am a very big engineer!" Somebody is a good lecturer and they think, "Oh, I am a very good speaker!" Somebody's tune is very good, and they think, "Oh, I am a great singer!" This kind of ego can come.

You are asking Gurudev for mercy but if you think that you are already full of mercy, then you cannot take his mercy, you will not be able to keep it. Do you understand my point? This is called ego, and it is a big problem in our spiritual life. Everybody wants to be a master, we do not want to be a servant, that is the problem. We do not want to learn, always we want to teach. We always want to give lecture, we do not want to listen, that is our problem. If you go to some religious festival or some programme, everybody wants to speak at the festival, and if you do not give them a chance to speak, they become angry. Even when sannyasis come for a Vaishnav festival, some can get angry if you do not give them a chance to speak…

* * *

Deceptive Looks

Speaking to the devotees in London

9 October 2011, part 4

—Maharaj, there is one devotee from Bangaladesh here...

Where do you stay in Bangladesh?

—Chittagong area

Chattagram?

—Yes.

That is Pundarik Vidyanidhi's house! Mahaprabhu always called him "baba" ("father").

Gadadhar Pandit did not like him at first. Pundarik Vidyanidhi always ate pan, he wore fancy expensive dhoti, good kurta, and looked like a big grihastha, and seeing him Gadadhar Pandit was puzzled, "How can he become a sadhu? How can he become a guru?" At that time Gadadhar Pandit was waiting to take initiation—Mahaprabhu had told him, "Wait, your Guru is coming!" Mahaprabhu arranged Gadadhar Pandit's initiation through Pundarik Vidyanidhi. So, you come from a good place, a devotee's place. Pundarik Vidyanidhi is the incarnation of Raja (King) Vrisabhanu...

...Somebody is asking for mercy but they have no place to keep that mercy. I am giving you one very nice example:

There was once a sadhu who lived in a small house, like the 466 Green Street house. One day, one big pandit, a great knowledgeable scholar, decided to test him. So, he came to that sadhu. As soon as he entered the house, he sat in the sadhu's chair and asking him, "O sadhu, what do you know? I have heard that you are a great scholar, a great pandit—can you teach me something?" He challenged the sadhu in this way. What did the sadhu do? The sadhu brought a glass of water and some fruit juice to the man, and poured the juice into the glass full of water. The water and juice started falling down and the man became angry, "Hey! Sadhu! You are a scholarly man, you are a pandit and know everything, but you are behaving like a fool!" The sadhu explained then, "What can I do? You have come to learn something from me, but you are already full, so how will you learn to me?"

So, I am asking mercy from my Guru, but if I am already full, how will I keep his mercy in my heart?

[The conversation then shifts to another subject.]

—[A famous politician] was fasting recently...

Yes, he fasted for three days, but it is a political mood, not a spiritual mood. You fast on Ekadasi Janmastami, etc. for the Lord—to make the Lord happy, to make your Gurudev happy—but they fast for their own enjoyment, for their own glories. That is the difference. Seva and karma look the same—suppose two people are cooking something, one person is cooking for her husband and children, and the other person is cooking for the Deity; somebody can be marketing for their family, and somebody can be marketing for their Deity, for their Guru.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay

All the assembled devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Jay Sripad Devashish Prabhu ki jay

Jay all the London devotees ki jay

All the worldwide devotees ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Samagata Gaura Bhakta Vrinda ki jay

London Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay

Jay Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundarjiu ki jay

Samagata Gaura Bhakta Vrinda ki jay

Harinam sankirtan ki jay

Samagata Gaura Bhakta Vrinda ki jay

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol

* * *

Delhi: Fulfil Gurudev's Desire

Speaking online to the devotees in Delhi

16 October 2011, part 4

[Addressing one of the devotees:] You are growing a beard now? Do you want to be a yogi and go to Haridwar?

Devotee: He is already a babaji, Maharaj! You can give him sannyas and keep him here in Delhi!

No, no, I do not want to give him sannyas. He can do service without sannyas, it is not necessary for him to wear a sannyasi's dress. He can do service as he is now, that is good.

You know, one time Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave Sripad Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj (at that time his name was Vinod Bihari Brahmachari) charge of all the land in Mayapur—he had to manage the land cultivation, protect the land, etc. He was like a zamindar, or a landlord there. Because he wore saffron clothes at that time, he could not chastise or beat the bad men in that area. So, he came to Prabhupad and asked him, "Prabhupad, you are giving this service to me, but if you keep my saffron colour, I cannot do this service because everybody will say, 'Oh, this sadhu is bad, he swears and beats people with a stick!'" Prabhupad said, "OK, you can leave your saffron colour. You can use only a white dhoti and a kurta." This is how Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj did that service. He was the manager of the Chaitanya Math in Prabhupad's times. He got permission from Prabhupad to take off his saffron clothes because he had to take care of the land (which meant sometimes capturing and dealing with so many gundas and dacoits in the area), so he would not be able to maintain his saffron colour...

So, he is doing so much service here and there, going outside for service, etc. If we give him saffron and make him a sannyasi, he will have to always sit in the house—I do not want that. I want to use him to fulfil Gurudev's desire!

[The devotees who His Divine Grace is talking about:] Yes!

But I want to see this desire fulfilled in my lifetime. I want to make a centre in Delhi, and I am only begging for one small piece of land from him, and I will do the rest of the job. I want to make a preaching centre in Delhi as soon as possible. That is my next service.

Devotee: Definitely, Maharaj, definitely. I am looking for this land now, and maybe very soon it will be possible to arrange a flat or an apartment...

Actually, you know, a flat or an apartment is a problem because we must have place for our car and many of our people come and go... We want to have some permanent solution. If you make a temple at a temporary flat, later many people can come there and see that the address had changed, it is not good. It is difficult with a flat, I know that.

If you rent a house, it is good, but if you rent a house, you must start preaching there, buy a proper land. Somebody must see the construction and has to stay there. This is how I did it in Ekachakra.

In Ekachakra, I also at first rented three rooms for Rs 50 per day. I rented it at three-four o'clock, after that I arranged a lady worker to clean the rooms (two rooms for living and one room for the kitchen). Then I went to the market, bought the bedding, bought the kitchen utensils, vegetables, rice. In the evening we did the kirtan, I cooked and five-six of us took prasadam there. I rented the place in the afternoon and in the evening we already started the temple. This is how the Ekachakra temple started.

My life is like this—if I do something, I do it now. This is how I did the temple in Ekachakra—all houses in Ekachakra were made of mud, but Krishna and Nityananda Prabhu arranged for us a rented house. Within one year I finished the guest house building and we moved everything, all things, there.

So, you can rent a house, but as I told you, find some land and we must immediately start the construction. You can rent a house, you can buy a flat, it is not a problem, but we must start the construction at once, then we can finish it within a year easily. That would be good. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "Start the fire, and wind will come!" If you do not start the fire, how will wind come? So, start the fire!

* * *

Keep Yourself Busy with Nama Sankirtan

Sri Nabadwip Dham, morning class, part 1

7 November 2012, mostly translated from Bengali

Among the sixty-four types of practices there are these main nine practices—"sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, engaging in service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission)." But if you do only one service, and that is sufficient. For example, you can be cooking and by that cooking you can be doing all the sixty-four practices; or if you only chant the Holy Name, all the sixty-four practices are accomplished through that. Through one type of service, all sixty-four practices can be accomplished. That is why we must always use ourselves for service of the Lord.

Days and nights pass. Only yesterday we spoke Hari-katha till 8:30-8:45 p.m. and now it is already morning 6:30. Ten hours are gone—we cannot even realise how the time goes by. We get minute after minute, moment after moment, but we must use ourselves for the Lord, for His service each moment. How?

The Vedic culture says that among millions of karmis (fruitive workers) there is one jnani (pursuers of knowledge), among millions of jnanis there is one liberated soul, and among millions of such liberated souls there is only one devotee of Krishna. It is also said that you cannot get the Lord by doing any kind of work or any kind of sacrifice (what to speak of carrying on with your life within this world)—you can get the Lord only through devotion...

How will you get devotion? How will your devotion increase? The answer is "sraddha-anusari haya bhakti-adhikari (Cc, 2.22.64)." It depends upon faith. Your devotion depends on how deep your faith is. Gurudev always said there is a 10% devotee, a 20% devotee, a 30% devotee, a 40% devotee, etc. He also said that if you give 25%, you will get 25%; if you give 10% (if you surrender to the Lord for 10%), you will get 10% from the Lord, but to get even these 10% you have to give 10%. It all depends upon practice.

If you only do much puja (Deity worship), you will not get the Lord. You cannot get the Lord unless the taste for the Holy Name of the Lord comes to you. What I mean is that you must worship the Lord, you must look after the temple, etc., but the main thing is the Holy Name. You have seen the description of Mahaprabhu's life in Prema-dhama-deva-stotram: Mahaprabhu went to many places, but did He do any puja in any of the places? Not so much. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu always chanted the Holy Name. Later, for the attraction of people, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur made many temples and installed Deities. We must always keep ourselves busy with Nama-sankirtan. Always remember this.

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith and veneration."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

We must always keep ourselves busy with these, we must always engage in Krishna-kirtan. If you do not practise, you will not get anything.

* * *

Srila Narottam Das Thakur: His Mission in Bengal

Srila Narottam Das Thakur's disappearance day

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 4 November 2012, part 4

Narottam Das Thakur started sankirtan movement at every house. At least one day a year everybody must have a kirtan, and I saw that even now in many villages each house has kirtan for one day. But now they are not practising properly, they are following a misconception—they are doing kirtan, but that is actually kirtan business...

Do you know who Narottam Das Thakur studied from? From Jiva Goswami Prabhu, Rupa Goswami Prabhu's nephew. Jiva Goswami wrote many books including Harinam-amrita-vyakaran. After that, Srinivas Acharya was his friend. When Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He took shelter at his house—He stayed there a few hours. Sometimes we go to that house, it is near Katwa.

At first, Narottam Das Thakur thought, "I will stay in Vrindavan full time," but he could not fulfil his desire because his Guru told him to go to Bengal and preach there. And he did that. Later, when he became old and finished his preaching, he again came to Vrindavan. His mind was always in Vrindavan, and last moment he came there, just like Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. He also wanted to die in Vrindavan, but when he was staying in Vrindavan, at Radha-Damodar temple, translating Srimad Bhagavatam, he got some daiva vani (message) from Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and at his old age (about seventy years old), he went out of India by ship. How is it possible at such an old age? But he also wanted to leave his body in Vrindavan, and he did that—when came back, he finally left his body in Vrindavan. The same thing happened with Narottam Das Thakur. He wanted to stay in Vrindavan but how will he go to Vrindavan to stay alone? No, Jiva Goswami told him, "Do you want to eat alone? No, that is not good! Go preaching!"

Jiva Goswami Prabhu sent three of them—Acharya Srinivas, Shyamananda Prabhu and Narottam Das Thakur—to preach and they took with them many books from Vrindavan because at that time the Muslim emperor took all books and burnt them. So, they quickly took some books in Vrindavan and brought them to different place in India otherwise so many books would have been lost. In Mahaprabhu's time also, the Muslim king stopped the kirtan, and Rupa and Sanatan came to that place and met with Mahaprabhu. Anyhow, Narottam Das Thakur thought, "Oh, my hope, my desire was to stay in Vrindavan, but my Guru said I had to go to Bengal for preaching and I came there, but at my last moment I am still leaving my body in Vrindavan." At his last age, he was even happier to leave his body in Vrindavan because he knew he had followed his Guru.

Three persons (Acharya Srinivas, Shyamananda Prabhu and Narottam Das Thakur) had promised they would stay in Vrindavan, but they left their promise and came to Bengal.

One night, king Birhambir stole the books they were taking from Vrindavan. In the morning when they did not see the books they were very surprised and began to search for them everywhere. In the end, Acharya Srinivas collected those books.

Then, Narottam Das Thakur came to the birthplace of Mahaprabhu. Crying, "Ha Gaura! Ha Gaura! (O Gaura! O Gaura!)" he came to the bank of the Ganges under a tree. He was searching, "Where is Mahaprabhu's tree? Where is Mahaprabhu's birthplace? Where is that neem tree?" Then he saw on brahman. He came to him and asked, "Do you know where the birthplace of Mahaprabhu is?" That brahman became so happy, "Oh, I have found one real devotee who is searching for Mahaprabhu's birthplace!" Narottam Das Thakur asked, "What is your name?" and the brahman replied, "My name is Suklambhar Brahmachari. What is your name?" Narottam Das Thakur replied, "My name is Narottam Das..." Suklambhar Pabhu got excited, "Oh, you have come from Vrindavan! I have heard your name, you are a real devotee!" They mixed together.

In this way, Narottam Das Thakur got there so many great devotees. He also went to Kharadaha where Nityananda Prabhu's sakti, Vasuda and Jahnava, were staying. He came there to pay his dandavat to Nityananda's sakti (sakti means power—we think it is like a wife, but actually it is not, it is power). Narottam Das Thakur met with them... His life's description is very long... When he came to Bengal he found so many great devotees there who were not getting good association. In this way, Narottam Das Thakur kept Mahaprabhu's conception properly.

We are praying to that Vaishnav Thakur, "Wherever you are staying, Prabhu, wherever you are living now, we want to serve your servant! We want to serve your servant's servant." We pray we can get some mercy and can serve him, can protect his line and preach about him.

"Vaisnava sangete mana anandita anuksana": "In the association of Vaishnavs, my mind is always joyful." "Chhadiya vaisnava-seva nistara payechhe keba: Without service to the Vaishnav, you cannot get any relief." (Srila Narottam Das Thakur). If you serve Narottam Das Thakur, if you serve great Vaishnavs, as Gurudev said, if you serve Guru, Vaishnavs, then Bhagavan Krishna Himself will come to serve you.

We must understand how we will go to the proper, real place, proper, real way. How will we practise? Without practise nobody can be perfect. Practise makes perfect. We must understand what our main line is—we must understand Narottam Das Thakur's line, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's line, Gurudev's line, who can protect our line, who can protect our sampradaya and give proper, real conception. If we can follow them, we can understand everything properly.

Gurudev always said there are 10% devotees, 20% devotees, etc. I told about it yesterday also. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari: quality of devotion depends faith." (Cc, 2.22.64) You must buy devotion not with money, but with what? With faith—with sraddha, the strongest faith. There are four types of faith—kamala sraddha (soft, fragile faith), taranga sraddha (wavering faith), drdha sraddha (strong faith), and sudrdha sraddha (strongest faith). How will you acquire devotion? With faith, sraddha. That is why Gurudev always said that those who have 10% faith will be a 10% devotee, those who have 50% faith will be a 50% devotee. Why did Gurudev say it? He was saying that sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari (quality of devotion depends faith).

In this way, we can have a proper realisation about Srila Narottam Das Thakur. Those who have a strong desire will get real benefit, real things…

* * *

Srila Narottam Das Thakur's Separation

Srila Narottam Das Thakur's disappearance day

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 4 November 2012, part 3

I am telling about Narottam Das Thakur.

You know, actually, how much desire Narottam Das Thakur had to come to the lotus feet of Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu! Before he went to Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu, he took permission from Ramachandra Kaviraj. You know that both Ramachandra Kaviraj and Narottam Das Thakur came from Bangladesh/Bengal—when they were young boys, they would think, "How will we rescue others? How will they become devotees?"

Narottam Das Thakur was akumar brahmachari—he never got married. His father was a rich king named Krishnananda Datta, his elder brother's name was Purusottama Datta. Narottam Das Thakur was born in the month of Magha (January/February), it was in the winter season. Receiving the order of Jahnavi Mata, he arranged a festival Bangladesh celebrating Mahaprabhu's appearance. He started it there. Mahaprabhu actually went to Bangladesh, and went to the place where he lived, but at that time Narottam had not been born yet.

How did he leave his body? It was unbelievable. It happened on the panchami (fifth) day of the Kartik month, that is today, a very nice day. Thakur Mahasay always sang, "Gaura Nityananda! Nitai Gaura Hari bol! Nitai Gaura hari bol!" Even when he was in Vrindavan, Narottam Das Thakur always practised Gaura Nitai's songs and preached about them exclusively. Then, one day, he was chanting and the devotees could see that he was saying, "I want to go, I want to go. I want to leave my body." He said this in front of everybody. He asked the devotees, "Please bring some Ganges water for me and put it on my whole body. And I want to hear some song..." Then, everybody began to chant and he slowly, slowly lay down and in this way passed away... He said he wanted to go and he left.

In his lifetime, many kings, Narasingha, Sri Rupa Narayan and many others, came to surrender at Narottam Das Thakur's lotus feet. He gave the main conception to us in a very nice way, spreading Nama sankirtan. He wrote in his Prema-bhakti-chandrika,

jaya sanatana rupa prema-bhakti-rasa-kupa

jugala-ujjwala-rasa tanu

yahara prasade loka, pasarila duhkha-soka

prakata kalapataru jana

"Glory to Sanatan and Rupa, two wells of mellows of devotional love, personifying the highest mellows towards the Divine Couple. By their mercy, a wish-fulfilling tree has manifest that relieves the unhappiness and grief of all people."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika)

He also wrote the song, "Ye anila prema dhana karuna prachura..." In that song, he sang, "Where will I will go? Where am I to go to get Rupa Sanatan?" It is a viraha giti (song of separation). He felt so much separation from these Vaishnavs, he sang about it. We also sing it on every disappearance day of Vaishnavs.

ye anila prema-dhana karuna prachura

hena prabhu kotha gela acharya thakura

"Where has Advaita Acharya, the Lord who mercifully brought the wealth of divine love to this world, gone?"

kaha mora svarupa rupa kaha sanatana

kaha dasa raghunatha patita-pavana

"Where are my Svarup, Rupa, and Sanatan? Where is my Raghunath Das? Where are the saviours of the fallen souls?"

"Where is Sanatan Goswami? Where is Raghunath Das Goswami? Where is Rupa Goswami? Where is Ramachandra Kaviraj? I will break my head against a stone, because I do not know where I can get them!" He felt that kind of separation. When Narottam Das Thakur left his body, the devotees sang this song.

jaya rupa sanatana deha more ei dhana

se ratana mora gale hara

"Glory to Rupa and Sanatan! You have given me this treasure [love to the Divine Couple] and I wear these jewels on my neck."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Sri Sri Prema-bhakti-chandrika)

"Where are Rupa and Sanatan? Please give me that kind of property! Where have they gone?!"

ha ha krishna! bali bali vedana ananda kari

mane mora nahe yena duja

jivane marane gati radha-krsna prana-pati

dunhara piriti rasa-sukhe

"Chanting constantly, 'O Krishna! O Krishna!' I roam around in great joy without any other thoughts. Radha and Krishna are the masters of my life, They are my goal of life whether I am dead or alive."

yugala charana-seva, ei dhana more diba

yugalete manera piriti

"Please grant me the wealth of service to the lotus feet of the Divine Couple, may my mind and heart feel love to Them."

sri-sankirtana, visaya rase unamata,

dharma-adharma nahi mana

yoga dana-vrata, adi bhaye bhajata,

royata karama geyana

"Intoxicated by the ecstasy of Sri Sankirtan, he [Narottam Das Thakur] did not distinguish between right and wrong. Yoga, charity, vows, etc. all parched in fear and karma (fruitive works) and jnana (knowledge) wept."

(Sri Govinda Das)

If you practise properly, if you practise Krishna consciousness, then all kinds of bad elements—all kinds of yoga, dana, dhyan (yoga, charity, meditation)—will be removed from you heart. Everything undesirable will be removed from your heart...

dina hina jane, deyala bhakati dhane

vanchita govinda dasa

"He gave the treasure of devotion to all poor and bereft people, and this Govinda Das is utterly deprived."

(Sri Govinda Das)

* * *

Beware of Maya

Srila Narottam Das Thakur's disappearance day

Sri Nabadwip Dham, 4 November 2012, part 5

Today is Narottam Das Thakur's disappearance, and after some days there will come Guru Maharaj's appearance festival. It is on the day of Virachandra Prabhu's appearance. That day is coming. Srila Sridhar Maharaj's appearance day is non-different from Virachandra Prabhu's appearance day.

You know there was some disturbance in Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's mind also. When his Guru Maharaj, his Prabhupad, left, he also left the temple and went to stay in Vrindavan. He thought, "I will leave my body, I will die here." But he also got some daiva-vani (divine message), and Prabhupad sent him, threw him, to Nabadwip.

Here, in Nabadwip, he made one thatched house. Now you can see a big temple, but at first it was just one thatched house, after that this white building (next to the nat-mandir) was made. It is actually a mud house—the walls of the ground floor are made of bricks with mud (later I made some proper plastering, but inside there is still mud). At that time there was no money to buy cement. At first, Srila Sridhar Maharaj slept on some straw covered with a jute sack, and what was the pillow's name? Bricks. [A devotee laughs] No, I am not joking. He would put a brick, cover it with something soft (straw), and slept like that.

In this way Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came here. Through whom did he preach Krishna consciousness all over the world? Through Gurudev! Srila Sridhar Maharaj spread Krishna consciousness all over the world, he gave inspiration to our Guru and sent him all over the world, door to door, corner to corner to give this real food, the proper wealth to others, to us also. We must honour his appearance day properly...

Always, at all times, be alert, be aware of Maya. Maya does not mean some girl or a woman. We always think that Maya is a woman or a girl, but there are different kinds of Maya. Maya can come any time, she can remove you from your practising life. Somebody may have no woman, somebody may have no wife, but they can be removed from practice. It is also Maya. Or somebody thinks, "Oh, I will stay in Vrindavan under a tree..."

One Gujarati boy called me yesterday. I had spoken to him in Vrindavan on Janmastami day. Some time before that, I told him to go to Nabadwip, he went there but could not adjust there. Then I told him, "Go to Bamunpara." He cannot adjust too. Then, he said, "I want to go to Vrindavan." I said, "OK, you can go to Vrindavan, do some service there." He went to Vrindavan, but he stayed in his room all the time and in the end said to me, "I cannot stay here. There is fan, there is light in the room, it is not a bhajan place. I will stay on the bank of the Yamuna!" So, the bank of the Yamuna is the real "bhajan place"... He went there—he sat all day in the temple, ate there, and in the evening went to the Yamuna to sleep there. One day a mosquito bit him and now he is in hospital... That is called "real bhajan." What kind of bhajan is that? It is following your mind! "Na la-inu sat mata asate majila chita!" (I have never accepted the proper conception, my mind has been immersed in illusion). I told him, but he did not follow. "Aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana: my mind wanders like a blind man who cannot tell the right way from the wrong way.” It is true. What that boy did was not bhajan, it is phalgu vairagya (false renunciation), it is not yukta vairagya (proper renunciation)—having material desire in your heart but showing renunciation...

I saw also some sannyasi always sits in his chair and whenever people come to him, he asks them for money. He shows renunciation but asks others for money. It is false renunciation. When I see him, I remember 1992, the first day when I came here to join. I came here as a simple young boy, wearing simple trousers and panjabi, just like an ordinary simple boy. When I came here, he said to me, "Why have you come here? There is no Guru here!" At that time my Guru was preaching out of India. I was searching at that time, "Where is my Guru?" I had got some message from the above and I came here to the real place, but he said to me, "Why have you come here? There is no Guru here!" I told myself, "This is Maya Devi coming in front of me!" It was not a lady, externally it was a sannyasi, but it was Maya Devi. Maya Devi came in front of me and said, "There is no Guru here, go from here." But I did not listen to her! I avoided, I ignored Maya Devi and stayed. Do you understand? This was my position, I am giving you my example now—I am telling you how much I had to struggle in my spiritual life.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Narottam Das Thakur ki jay!

Tadiya tirobhav tithi-bara maha-mahotsav ki jay!

Are there any kartals and mridanga? Oh, only one kartal and one mridanga? Good! Then we can sing properly...

[His Divine Grace then chants "Ye anila prema-dhana" and "Hari haraye nama krsna”...]

* * *

Attend to Kirtan—Attain Kirtan

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 1

7 November 2012, mostly translated from Bengali

[After chanting all evening kirtans, plus all the Siksastakam songs:]

Are you sleepy? These were the Siksastakam kirtans. If you do not understand them, what will you do? These are very high level kirtans, very high conception, we do not have now the power to understand them. Even we start singing them, but do not get strength to finish all of them. But do you get taste for taking plain dal and subji every day? At first good taste is not coming, you want to eat some other things, but that taste eventually comes—if you continuously chant kirtans, every day, you will understand them.

sri-krsna-viraha ara sahite na pari

parana chhadite ara dina dui chari

"I am unable to further tolerate this separation from my Lord Krishna and am ready to give up my life in two days or four."

It says here, "Prabhu, I am unable to see You anymore! Unable to bear it, I will not keep this life any longer!"

sravanera dhara, ankhi barisaya,

sunya bhela dhara-tala

"Showers of tears pour from my eyes like the monsoon rains of August. The whole world is empty."

Tears flow from one's eyes...

dina-dayamaya karuna-nidana

bhava-bindu dei rakhaha parana

"O ocean of mercy, compassionate to the poor, give me a drop of love. Save my life."

Who can understand these songs? We cannot even understand this:

trnad api sunichena taror api sahisnuna

amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

"One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more forbearing than a tree, who gives due honour to others without desiring it for himself, is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna."

...then can we proceed to the other songs?

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji anye karabi palana

"Practise tolerance like a tree. Give up vengeance and nurture others."

dainya, daya, anye mana, pratistha varjana

chari-gune guni ha-i karaha kirtana

"Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name."

sri-krsna-kirtane yadi manasa tohara

parama yatane tanhi labha adhikara

"If you aspire to chant the Name of Krishna, then, with great care, become qualified to do so."

If we want to chant the Name of Krishna, then we must become like this—trnad api sunichena...—as we sing in this kirtan.

* * *

Follow and Protect

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 2

7 November 2012, mostly translated from Bengali

Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj the name "Bhakti Raksak" ("one who can protect devotion"). So many problems and difficulties came and are still coming, but he protects this Mission.

After Prabhupad left, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj had some disturbance in his mind—he left Mayapur and went to Vrindavan to do bhajan there. After that, he came here in Nabadwip on the order of Prabhupad and established this Math for the protection of devotion, the line of Rupanuga sampradaya.

We must all together protect his Mission—it is not only my responsibility, everybody should take some responsibility to protect this Mission, to protect this line. It is not only my duty. Everybody must serve, following the proper line. We have all come to this bona fide line not for our own enjoyment, we have come to this real, bona fide line to serve the Lord. We must engage ourselves in the service to sadhus, Guru, and Vaishnavs, in the service to the Krishna. Scriptures say that when it comes to service of Krishna, there is no distinction based on one's class, caste, etc. Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) served the Lord together with everybody. Bhajan (service) means following Guru, Vaishnavs, engaging in the service to the Guru and Vaishnavs. Lord's Name, qualities, form, associates, features are nondifferent from the Lord...

You all know that today is the adhivas day (eve) of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's appearance. We must all engage in glorification of the Name and qualities of the Lord on this day. We must do service.

Tomorrow is the festival day and so many devotees are coming at noon, so it is necessary to decorate the temple, to cut vegetables, etc. The day after tomorrow we are going to Hapaniya, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's birthplace. There will be no breakfast, we will take prasadam in Hapaniya one time. We will start from here at 6 o'clock in the morning and go to Hapaniya by bus. There, we will start parikrama, do some kirtan, lecture, and at 9-9:30 a.m. take prasadam and come back because after lunch we are going to Vrindavan and many devotees are coming with us—they need to get to Howrah (our train to Vrindavan leaves from Howrah).

So, try to do service. Do not just come, eat and leave. Somebody can sweep, somebody can help cleaning, somebody can cut vegetables, somebody can make garlands—everybody has different quality and capacity, so engage yourself according to your quality in the service of the Lord, in the service to Gurudev.

We must finish now, much time has passed... Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Exclusive Channel

Speaking online to the devotees in New York City

23 October 2011, part 1

I am very happy to see you all. I can see Gurudev through you all. Are you making a festival for Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's festival?

—Yes.

Good. I am very happy to see that, but Gurudev wanted one centre in New York—do you know that?...

Anyhow, I am very happy to see you all. It was a good day yesterday—the festival at Hapaniya, the appearance (birth) place of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, I gave a lecture there.

Actually, you know that Gurudev gave me this position to serve you, and it is my happiness that you have all accepted me as your servant. When Gurudev gave me sannyas, he said to me, "Tridandi sannyas means you will serve my Mission, you will serve my devotees, and you will serve my Deity." And I am trying to do that. There is a little disturbance going on now, but I am thinking that our Chaitanya Saraswat Math is like a hill, and when somebody throws a stone at a hill, the hill has no problem, rather the stone will break. You know that bad people, naughty people, drain inspectors always search the drain, and good people always go to preach, they are always engaged in their movement, in Krishna-katha. That is our life. "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara: as long as you have life in the body, you must preach."

What were we born in this human body for? Not for fighting, not for quarrelling, not for eating and sleeping—if we do not use this body for service to the Guru, for the service to the Lord, then this body is useless. We must use our body for service to the Guru, otherwise this body is useless. We do not know how many days we will live, how much time we have, but time is very short, we must use our time for the service to our Guru.

Actually, we do not know who is our Guru because our consciousness is always surrounded by maya, illusory environment, but Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj is a bona fide Guru and he told us, "Srila Govinda Maharaj is your Guru." Then we can easily understand it. We have no eyes to recognise who is a great Vaishnav, who is a great bona fide Guru, but Srila Guru Maharaj told Srila Govinda Maharaj was the Guru, then we can understand it and we must fulfil the desire of that main Vaishnav, great Vaishnav saint.

Gurudev is a captain of a boat, and we are all passengers of that boat. We can all go where that boat is going, but we must try to stay as passengers of that boat.

In his lifetime Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also showed his desire. He wanted to hear the kirtan ‘Sri Rupa manjari pada' from Srila Sridhar Maharaj and through that Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "I can depend only upon Sridhar Maharaj—only Sridhar Maharaj can continue the Rupanuga line."

You also know about the relationship between Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj said, "Sridhar Maharaj is my siksa Guru, my guardian," and Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad was Nityananda Prabhu's saktya-vesa avatar. He was first who said this about Swami Maharaj—only he gave this title (Nityanada Prabhu's saktya-vesa avatar) to Srila Swami Maharaj…

* * *

Srila Guru Maharaj's Glory and Pastimes

Speaking online to the devotees in New York City

23 October 2011, part 2

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was born on the same day as Nityananda Prabhu's son Virachandra Prabhu—Srila Sridhar Maharaj is non-different from Virachandra Prabhu. As for Hapaniya Dham, you know that Srila Jajavar Maharaj, Srila Madhusudan Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj, everybody, all of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrothers (Prabhupad's associates), went to Hapaniya and they said that it was non-different from Varsana, Radharani's birthplace.

Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrother, would go from Nabadwip to Hapaniya on foot and all the way he would chant the kirtan written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj, Prema-dhama-deva-stotram about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-krsna-nama-kirtanam

rama-rama-gana-ramya-divya chhanda-nartanam

yatra-tatra-krsna-nama-dana-loka-nistaram

prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

“Later, the Supreme Lord travelled to the holy places of pilgrimage in South India with the clever intention of delivering the fallen souls. Appearing as a beautiful young renunciate, He distributed the sweet Names of the Lord, singing: ‘Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna he,’ as He strolled down the different pathways, entered temples, and visited homesteads during the sacred pilgrimage. Infused with an inconceivable type of divine inspiration, the Lord freely chanted "Rama Rama" and joyfully danced with the most charming gestures. Irrespective of time or personal qualification, the assembled bystanders were delivered by the Lord, who inspired them to chant Krishna's Holy Names. I offer my obeisances to that beautiful Golden Lord, Gauranga Sundar, the divine form of Krishna prema.

(Prema-dhama-deva Stotram, 22)

He would sing all of Prema-dhama-deva Stotram and go to Hapaniya—on foot! When he came to Hapaniya, he would search the school where Srila Sridhar Maharaj had studied, the pond where he had bathed, the playground where he had played football in his childhood. He would look for such kinds of places and take dust from there. Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked him, "Maharaj, you go to my birthplace, it is not a problem, but why do you go to the playground where I played, to the pond where I bathed, etc.?" Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj replied, "Maharaj, because I consider that you are non-different from Rupa Goswami. When I see the slokas that you have written, I feel that nobody except Rupa Goswami can write such slokas. That is why I go there and I think it is Rupa Goswami's place, Rupa Goswami's birthplace."

Some of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's godbrothers said he was non-different from Rupa Goswami. This is the kind of honour they all gave to him.

When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was a schoolboy, he started sankirtan in Hapaniya. At that time nobody in Hapaniya did sankirtan—they only did Durga-puja, demigods' puja, Kali-puja, etc., but Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj started sankirtan with his childhood friends when he was only twelve years old...

Later, he went to Kolkata to study in a law college. At that time he met Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad. His name was Ramendra Sundar Prabhu then, he was not a devotee, he came to Prabhupad like a new person, a newcomer. He would come to Prabhupad every day and only listened to his lecture without asking any questions. At that time India was not independent, it was under the British empire, so seeing that Srila Sridhar Maharaj came and just listened without saying anything somebody at the Math became suspicious and started to doubt, "Maybe he is not a devotee, maybe he is a British spy!" So, somebody told him, "Do not come here from tomorrow." Srila Sridhar Maharaj was a little sad at first, but he still came...

In "Cutting No Return Ticket", His Divine Grace tells the continuation of this pastime:

Srila Sridhar Maharaj left. He went to Kali-ghat, the bank of the Ganges and was sitting there sadly, thinking, "What do I go there for? I have no want of money, I have no want of anything. I only come to hear the lecture for my own spiritual benefit. But why did that man tell me not to come?" Then he suddenly thought, "Even if the temple manager beats me with a broom and tells me not to come, I must still come."

Srila Prabhupad noticed that Srila Sridhar Maharaj (his previous name was Ramendra) did not come again and asked the devotees, "Why did that boy Ramendra not come today?" The devotees were afraid of the manager (he was very strict), so they did not tell that the manager had told him not to come. They tried to make some excuse, but Prabhupad had understood it. He told everybody, "That boy will come every day. Do not tell anybody not to come. He must always be allowed to come."

Next day, Ramendra (Srila Sridhar Maharaj) came again, and Prabhupad asked him why he had not come the day before. Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not tell anybody's name, he only said that something had happened and he could not come.

This kind of chastity is necessary for Krishna consciousness.

* * *

Srila Guru Maharaj's Line

Speaking online to the devotees in New York City

23 October 2011, part 3

In Mahaprabhu's time there was a pandit called Sridhar Pandit. Mahaprabhu said, "Those who do not obey Sridhar Swami are like a prostitute." Mahaprabhu said it. And Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave that name to our Guru Maharaj—Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

Prabhupad always sent Srila Sridhar Maharaj everywhere for preaching—he opened the Madras temple, he preached Kashmir and many other places all over India. In this way he fulfilled the desire of Srila Prabhupad. In his last moments, Prabhupad gave all charge, gave the flag of the Rupanuga line, to Srila Sridhar maharaj. He indicated that Sridhar Maharaj was the main preacher of the Rupanuga line. Prabhupad gave that conception and transmitted that power to Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

You know that after Prabhupad left his body, some problems came—Srila Sridhar Maharaj became sad and left Chaitanya Math... He went to Vrindavan to do bhajan. There, he stayed in Nanda-gram and Kadam-khandi. Kadam-khandi was the place where Srimati Radharani Herself came and cooked sweet rice for Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami. Sometimes Srila Sridhar Maharaj stayed there. [It is in Govardhan, Vrindavan and Nanda-gram area, a very good place—if you some time come to Vrindavan, you can go there and see it.] While Srila Sridhar Maharaj was staying there, Prabhupad gave him some akash-dhvani—Srila Sridhar Maharaj heard some sound coming from the sky—Prabhupad said to him, "You are doing bhajan here alone, but how will you rescue the souls all over the world? Do not stay here, you must go to Nabadwip! This is not your place. I have kept you to preaching Rupa Goswami's line—why are you in Vrindavan?!" Then Srila Sridhar Maharaj made Chaitanya Saraswat Math and this temple in 1941—at first it was just a thatched bamboo house, Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to Nabadwip and made a preaching centre on the bank of the Ganges. The building where Srila Sridhar Maharaj's bhajan-kutir is now is where that thatched house was. Because Srila Sridhar Maharaj got some inspiration from Prabhupad he came here and started a centre—for us, to rescue us. Otherwise if he had stayed in Vrindavan doing bhajan, he would not have made any disciples—how would we have come to his shelter then? How would we have got our Guru? He came to Nabadwip and he created Srila Govinda Maharaj, our Gurudev. If he had not been alive, if he had not come, how would we have got our Guru? We have got a real, bona fide Guru from him.

Devotee: And we have also got you from him!

[His Divine Grace chuckles.]

...This is how Srila Sridhar Maharaj started preaching.

He gave sannyas to many of his godbrothers. After Prabhupad left, Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj (he was a brahmachari at that time) went back to his home. Srila Sridhar Maharaj came there and said to him, "Prabhupad kept you for preaching, why did you go back to your home?" Goswami Maharaj replied, "Maharaj, if you give me sannyas, then I will come back again." And Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave him sannyas and the name Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj.

This Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj made a temple in Mayapur—the Gaura Nityananda mandir in Nandan Acharya Bhavan where Nityananda and Gauranga Mahaprabhu met for the first time. Every year, Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj invited Srila Sridhar Maharaj for his birthday and whatever pranami, whatever daksin, whatever presentation he got that day, he would give everything to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He would also say, "My siksa Guru, my sannyas Guru has come and given me mercy, that is why I am getting one more year of life." When, however, Srila Sridhar Maharaj could not come to Mayapur for his birthday one year, Goswami Maharaj said, "My Gurudev, my siksa Guru, could not come, that is why I will not live to the next year, I will have to leave this year." And it happened.

You know also that when our Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, chose a place for Srila Sridhar Maharaj's samadhi (it was in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's lifetime), there was a mango tree in that place and Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, "You want to make the samadhi here but do not cut the mango tree." When Srila Sridhar Maharaj expired on 12 August 1988, that same very day that mango tree died...

You must understand who Srila Sridhar Maharaj is, who Guru Maharaj is, who Gurudev is. We must understand it. We have no eyes to recognise a sadhu, a Guru, a Vaishnav, we cannot see a sadhu, but only a bona fide Guru can recognise a great sadhu.

Devotee: How can we recognise who is a sadhu?

You can easily understand it—you have a good faith, you are keeping Gurudev, Guru Maharaj in your heart, then you can easily understand or recognise it.

* * *

Engage Yourself—and Others

Speaking online to the devotees in New York City

23 October 2011, part ৪

You can preach, practise sravanam, kirtanam, engage in the preaching movement and increase our society there, I hope for that, and I also hope that you will preach in the proper way, following the proper channel. Read Guru Maharaj's books, Gurudev's books—through that you will get association of Gurudev. From time to time you can call me by skype, I can give lectures, you can listen to that. You can do some sankirtan—make some preaching pamphlets, leaflets and can distribute them. You can make a small centre there and preach. You know that in 1941 Srila Sridhar Maharaj made just a small bamboo house, but now the sun never sets on Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math! Make preaching movement there. We want quality, not quantity. Pure things are necessary. If you want to buy some subji (vegetables) at a low price, the subji may be rotten—good things have good price.

Are there any questions from you?

—We are very satisfied!

I also feel happy to see you all. As I said before, I can see Gurudev, Guru Maharaj, when I see you all, and you are giving me a chance to serve you all—that is my happiness.

You only need to preach. You cannot only taste something yourself, you must allow others to taste it too. Do you understand what I mean? Do you not eat alone, allow others to eat too—you are chanting and you must allow others to chant too. Engage others in service. For example, a fruit tree cannot serve by itself, but if you take some fruit from the fruit tree and offer it to your Guru, then you will be engaging the fruit tree in service. Like this.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Sri Govardhan Puja and Pastime

Govardhan temple at Sri Govinda Kunda, Nabadwip

31 October 2016

One day, Mother Yasoda was preparing to offer so much fruit. Gopal came there and wanted to take all the fruit, but His mother chastised Him,

"Hey, why are You taking the fruits of the Deities?"

"Ma, but who is taking so much? Which Deities' fruit is this? Which Deity's worship is this for?" Gopal asked His mother.

"Do You not know that today is Indra puja?!"

"What of it if you do Indra puja?"

"Indra gives rain; when rain comes, grass grows in the fields; and when grass grows, cows can graze there. That is why we worship Indra."

"Do you not know that if you worship Krishna, Govardhan, then all this Indra puja will be fulfilled? Worship Govardhan! I am Govardhan! If you worship Govardhan, everything will be fulfilled and there will be no need to worship anybody else," said Gopal. He thought, "My Mother has prepared all this fruit, My mother has made all these laddus—if Indra's mother makes it, then Indra can go and take from there. But Indra's mother did not make all this—My mother made it, so I will take it!"

Mother Yasoda did not give in, and Krishna went to His father, Nanda Maharaj to complain, "Father, Mother does not give Me fruit, she has beaten Me!" Nanda Maharaj explained, "Son, we must worship Indra today." Krishna argued, "No, it is not necessary to do all this worship. Worship Me instead—worship Govardhan! If you worship Govardhan, all demigods' puja will automatically be performed. Give all puja to Govardhan!" Nanda Maharaj agreed and started Govardhan puja from then. Today is that day.

When the Vraja-basis started worshipping Govardhan instead of Indra, Indradev became angry and sent so much rain to Vrindavan—everything became flooded. All Vraja-basis became afraid—they took all cows and came to Krishna, "What will happen now? You told us to do Govardhan puja, and we started doing Govardhan puja, but Indradev is so angry and sending so much rain—everything is flooded!" Krishna reassured them, "Do not be angry and annoyed, do not be anxious." Then, Krishna picked Govardhan Hill with the little finger of His left hand and everybody could take shelter under the Govardhan Hill. Everybody was surprised. From that day they started doing Govardhan puja.

I am also going to explain today what is Govardhan. We cannot go there this year, but some years we went there for Giriraj parikrama. Govardhan is twenty-eight miles in circumference and has the shape of a peacock stretching from mukhara bindu (mouth) to mayura puchchha (tail). Radha Kunda, Shyama Kunda, Uddhav Kunda—everything is there inside Govardhan...

It is said that if anybody touches Giriraj (no matter whether they have faith or even if they do not have faith), if anybody even simply hears about Giriraj's glories, they will go to Vaikuntha. Sri Narad Muni said [Sri Garga-samhita, 3.10]: There was once a brahman named Vijay who stayed on the bank of the Govardhan River. Once, he came to Mathura, Govardhan, and took a piece of Giriraj sila from there. When he continued his way, he saw a raksas (a man-eating demon). Fearful to see the demon, the brahman sat down, and, when the demon came closer to eat him, he hit the demon with the sila. As soon as the sila touched the body of the demon, the demon became liberated.

Later, Pulatsya Muni wanted to take that Giriraj sila to Kashi, but Giriraj said, "I will not go from here!" Then Pulatsya Muni gave Govardhan a curse, "If you do not go, then every day you will become smaller by one sesame seed!"

This Giriraj here (in Nabadwip, Govinda Kunda) wanted to come here—when I brought this Giriraj from Govardhan, He wanted to come; but Pulatsya Muni's Giriraj did not want to go with him, so Pulatsya Muni gave that curse and it is said also that as long as Ganga stays, as long as Yamuna stays, Giriraj will be there, but when the Yamuna is gone, when the Ganga is gone, then Giriraj will also run away…

* * *

When Will It Hit Home?

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 2

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

Since time immemorial you have been coming and going...

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli

tabu tattva na sikhili

nijer matha nije khaili

e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

"My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me."

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Time is passing—days are going one by one, but we are bound by maya.

mahanta-svabhava ei tarite pamara

nija karya nahi tabu yana tara ghara

"It is the general practice of all saintly people to deliver the fallen. Therefore they go to people's houses, although they have no personal business there."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8.39)

It is said here—what is Gurudev's job? Gurudev is the Lord's own man:

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Gurudev, the Lord's dearmost devotee, comes here on the order of the Lord and when the Lord orders it he leaves. Why does Guru come? To give us the message (katha) of the Lord and to take our message to the Lord—if we tell something to Gurudev, he can send our message to the Lord.

We have got this opportunity today to speak about Gurudev's message. Gurupadpadma is the Lord's own man,

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Guru is the Lord's dearmost associate, he comes when the Lord sends him to do His duty in this world. We are poor and fallen souls, we have fallen into this world, but there is loving search for the lost servant—the Lord is searching for us! "Kabe asi' madhava ama karibe sevan: when will Madhav come and serve Me?" (Cc, 2.4.39). He is searching for us! So low, we have fallen into this material world and been averse to Krishna since time immemorial, but the Lord sends His own man to us to take us all back, "Go, My child is in the bondage of illusion, he has forgotten everything—go and bring him back!"

But we cannot hear anything... You have heard this story. One time, demigod's Guru Brihaspati came to Indraloka. At that time Indra was busy with the apsaras and did not attend to Brihaspati, so Brihaspati cursed him, "Indra, you will be born as a pig!" Indra began to cry, but Brahma came to him and said, "Do not cry, your Guru gave you the curse, so have to be born as a pig, but when you are born as a pig, I will come as your Guru and rescue you."

When the time came, Brahma came to Indra (who was in his pig body) and began to explain to him who he was. He explained to Indra so many things, so many times, but "ami tava nitya dasa bhuliya mayara basa—I live in illusion forgetting that I am Your eternal servant."

krsna bhuli' sei jiva anadi-bahirmukha

ataeva maya tare deya samsaradi-duhkha

“Having forgotten Krishna, the soul wanders throughout the universe. Being thus covered by illusion, the soul goes through all kinds of material suffering.”

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 20.117)

We have forgotten the Lord and as a result we are suffering, burning with the three-fold miseries...

So, Brahma spoke to Indra, saying, "Indra, come! You cannot even imagine it but you are Indra and I am Brahma." Indra was not impressed, "What Indra? I am a pig!" Brahma tried again, "Come, you used to drink nectar!" but Indra said, "Really? I am drinking nectar here too! [the stool]" That is what we, the conditioned souls of this world, say—time and time again... We have become blind!

aichhana amara mana phire yena andha jana

supatha vipatha nahi jane

na la-inu sat mata asate majila chita

tuya paye na karinu asa

"My mind wanders like a blind man who cannot tell the right way from the wrong way. I have never accepted the proper conception. My mind has been immersed in illusion, and I have never aspired for your feet."

(‘Thakura Vaishnava-gana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

We do not accept the real conception! Our mind is blind, it does not know what is the right path and what is the wrong path, it does not know how it can get real benefit, who is its real friend. But Gurupadpadma knows it. That is why sadhus always come in this world—they always come to rescue us, the low and fallen souls.

So, Brahma came to Indra in the form of a Guru and called him, "Let's go!" But Indra did not understand it... Many years had passed, and what did Brahma do in the end? He saw that Indra had so much attachment to his family, so he killed his sons (pigs), one by one. Brahma said, "You do not understand! I am your friend!" but Indra only got angrier, "What benefit you have come to give me?! You have killed all my children!!" Even then Indra did not understand it. Then, his last attachment was his wife (a pig). Brahma killed her too. After that, Indra became miserable without his wife, he cried, "I have lost everything! What am I to do now?" Then he started listening. He listened, listened, and finally Hari-katha entered his ear...

As long as we have material attachment, Hari-katha, Krishna-katha will not enter our ear.

* * *

Check Your Heart

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 3

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

If we have too much material attachment, then Hari-katha, Krishna-katha will not enter our ear. It is also said,

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya

sadhana karile prema utpanna na haya

"If you have material desires, if you want liberation, enjoyment, some mystic powers, and so on, then even if you practise all life, or life after life, prem, divine love, will not come."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175)

If you have desire for enjoyment, for liberation, etc. you will not get divine love even if you practise.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If you come to the Lord and instead of devotion you have desire to enjoy, you want a car, you want a house, etc, the Lord will give you everything, and just like a child who has got toys, you will forget about the Lord—the Lord will not give you the real things. If you get the Lord, you will get everything but instead of wanting the Lord we want to enjoy, that is why we come to this world again and again. Gita says about it, Bhagavatam also says about it...

It is said everywhere that if you do good work, you will go to heaven—there, you will be happy and enjoy, but one day you will again have to come down to this plane. That is why Guru Maharaj felt hopeless about the Bengali devotees. He said, "I explain to them so much, but they still cannot understand it. They all come for Gaura Purnima but when they go back they do not practise..."

One time, a man came to take initiation from Gurudev. It was at Dum Dum Park, Tirtha Maharaj was also there. Tirtha Maharaj asked the man, "You are taking initiation, but why is your wife not taking initiation?" Gurudev said to him, "Maharaj, why will she take initiation now? Now she will cook nice things in mustard oil, eat well, and later, when she is sick, she will take initiation!" Gurudev said this so that we learn something.

Gurudev worried so much about this. He told me that Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj (his Guru Maharaj) became a Guru in 1941, but his own brother took initiation only after more than forty years—his own brother could never believe, could never get devotion, he thought, "How could Ramendra become a Guru?" Those who have material desires always put spiritual matters off. We too do not understand it. How many people think about Mahaprabhu? How many people think about Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj? How many people think about Gurudev? They have accepted this human body to rescue all the jiva souls, they have left everything, they gave up all happiness and unhappiness and stayed at the Math for the sake of the jiva souls (jive daya)!

"Jive daya, Name ruchi, Vaisnava seva"—"jive daya" means bringing the souls averse to Krishna to this path, it is necessary to be kind to the jiva souls; you must have taste for the Holy Name; and it is necessary to use yourself for the service to Vaishnavs.

How many more days will you be here?

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli

tabu tattva na sikhili

nijer matha nije khaili

e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

We all have to leave one day but tell me where will we go? "Kothay chilam hethay elam kothay yabo bhavi nay: I do not know where I was, where I came and where I will go."

In Mahaprabhu's time, Sanatan Goswami's mind also went in such a way that he decided, "I will commit suicide," but Mahaprabhu said, "This body is not yours! It is Mine! And I will do so many things through it!"

We must listen to what Gurudev says, what Prabhupad said—if we listen to their Hari-katha, we will be able to serve the Lord properly, we will be able to peach the message of Chaitanya Saraswat Math. If we can do what our Gurupadpadma has not finished, that will be Guru seva. Why did Guru Maharaj keep us here? Why did Gurupadpadma leave us here? To spread his message—to speak Guru-katha, to speak Govinda-katha. But instead, we are wasting our time... "Dinera madhye abala-tabala kata pachala parite para, tara madhye ki eka-bara govinda bolate nara! How many idle talks we have during the day, how much we talk during the day! We talk all sorts of nonsense and cannot even one time take the Name of Govinda!"

So, this is our message for you. Guru Maharaj said so many things, so many times, Gurupadpadma also said it, but how many people actually come to this line?

* * *

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj: Intimate Friend and More

Speaking online to the devotees in Caracas

22 October 2011

Srila Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj gave much respect to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. You know when Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and our Gurudev were in Kolkata, they lived together with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj for many years. It was before A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj joined Chaitanya Math full time, before he took sannyas, etc.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj were intimate friends like Krishna and Balaram. When A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj was going to preach in the Western countries (America) for the first time, he first he got Srila Sridhar Maharaj's mercy—he came to Chaitanya Saraswat Math, bowed down at the lotus feet of Srila Sridhar Maharaj and after that he started preaching in the West...

Later, when A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj came back from the West, he first met with Srila Sridhar Maharaj and told him how he preached in the West, what he did in the foreign countries—he told everything and hearing that Srila Sridhar Maharaj became very happy.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj recognised Srila Swami Maharaj as Nityananda Prabhu's saktya-vesa avatar. Before, nobody knew this about him, but Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad is not an ordinary person, he is Nityanada Prabhu's saktya-vesa avatar." He was the first to say this, otherwise who would have known that?

* * *

Wake Up! Wake Up!

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 4

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

There are so many beasts, birds, insects In this world, but there are not so many human beings. People say they follow the Vedas but actually do what is prohibited by the Vedas! Among millions of fruitive workers there is one wise man, among millions of wise men there is one liberated man, and among millions of liberated men there is only one devotee of Krishna...

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote so nicely in Sri Guru and His Grace: When a lotus is growing in a pond, the sun gives so much heat but the lotus blossoms so beautifully in the heat of the sun; but if you take that lotus out of the water, it will immediately dry up. So, it is said that the water and the soil are like the Guru, the lotus is like ourselves, and the sun is compared to the Lord—as long as the lotus remains in the shelter of the water and the soil, the sun cannot do anything to the lotus flower. Is it not so? In the same way, as long as we stay in the shelter of our Gurudev, the Lord cannot do anything to us, but once we come out of the shelter of our Gurudev, we will be similarly destroyed. "Guru bade Gauranga bhaje, sei papi raurave padi maje (the sinner who worships Gauranga without the Guru will fall into a terrible hell)"

We always want to get blessings, to get mercy of Gurudev. Mercy means kripa—"kore-pabe", you must do something (kore) to get something (pabe).

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya

sadhu-guru krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by engaging in maya. I see no other way to get relief except for the mercy of sadhus."

('Ki rupe paibe seva', Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Maya can attack us at any time. We have come to serve the Lord but we have not been able to serve—we do not get to take shelter of the Guru, we forget why we have come here. This is not good. Time is very short, we can leave at any moment, that is why we must use ourselves for the service of the Lord.

durlabha manava-janma labhiya samsare

krsna na bhajinu—duhkha kahiba kahare?

'samsara' 'samsara' ka're michhe gela kala

labha na ha-ila kichhu ghatila janjala

kisera samsara ei, chhayabaji praya

ihate mamata kari' vrtha gela yaya

“I have got a very rare human life in this world, but I have not worshipped Lord Krishna. Whom can I tell of my misery? Time has passed in the affairs of material household life, and I have got nothing—only became burdened... As if spellbound, I was attracted to this pointless material life, and being so much engrossed into it I pass my days in vain.”

(Kalyan-kalpataru, 3.2.4)

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

“My days are passed in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.”

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We must do Krishna kirtan (glorify Krishna, serve Krishna)! Now is not Satya-yuga, not Treta-yuga or Dvapar-yuga. It is Kali-yuga now. Mahaprabhu went door to door telling to the souls (we sing about it every morning):

jivana anitya janaha sara

tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

namasraya kari' yatane tumi

thakaha apana kaje

"Understand the essence: life is temporary and filled with all sorts of adversity. Carefully taking shelter of the Name, engage in your work."

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand says, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"

pisachi paile yena mati-chchhanna haya

maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

"When someone is possessed by a ghost, they become bewildered. This condition overtakes souls bound by Maya."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

We are attacked by ghosts and witches, who come and tell us so many things, and as a result we fall into this illusory environment. The scriptures say also,

daivi hy esa gunamayi, mama maya duratyaya

mam eva ye prapadyante, mayam etam taranti te

"My alluring, 'trimodal,' illusory potency is practically insurmountable. However, those who take shelter in Me can overcome this powerful obstacle."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 7.14)

The Lord Himself says, "I have created Maya (illusory environment), you cannot conquer it; but if you just once surrender to Me then you can be released from this illusory environment." There is no other way!

You have got this human life for a reason. If you get this rare human life but do not practise as a human, you will again have to keep coming back, keeping wandering—you will again have to suffer so much.

* * *

Math's Growing Glory

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 5

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

We have heard many things, we have come to this Math to the lotus feet of our Gurupadpadma, our Guru Maharaj, but still we have not been able to serve the Lord, we do not practise! We take initiation and when we go back to our home we keep our mala aside. When you go to a doctor, the doctor prescribes some medicine, but if you do not take the medicine, your disease will not be cured. So, if you take the chanting beads from Gurudev but do not chant, if you do not practise properly and do not follow the rules and regulations, you do not do service, do not worship, do not offer bhog and take prasad, then you will not get any result.

It is necessary to wake up early in the morning. You think, "It is OK, I will wake up later," then, when you wake up, you first go have a cup of tea, do some housework, etc. Some go and give obeisance to the Deity once a day, and their job for the day is finished at that. If you live like this, you will not get any result. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari (Cc, 2.22.64)—you will get as much devotion as much faith you have. Guru Maharaj said: there are 10% devotees, 20% devotees, 30% devotees, 40% devotees, etc. Why do you think he said this?

In his last years, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said, "If Govinda Maharaj does not take charge of this Math, I will break the Math and give the Deity to some of my godbrothers in Mayapur." There were many people staying at that Math, but Gurudev was outside at that time, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj brought Gurudev from his home in a train and forcefully gave him sannyas and sat him on his singhasan—soon after that he left.

I asked Gurudev once, "Maharaj, why did you fight with your Guru Maharaj?" He asked me, "How do you know about this? It happened so long ago!" I replied, "I heard about it..." Then Gurudev said, "Oh, since you heard about it, then I will explain... Guru Maharaj had waited for thirty years when I would take charge of this Math. I had fallen into the illusory environment and could not come out of it, that is why he fought with me so much. At the same time, I thought if he gave me charge at that time, then he would leave. [Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lifetime was supposed to be fifty-five years only, but by the wish of Prabhupad, he got almost ninety-three years.] If Guru Maharaj had given me charge immediately, he would have left, but does any disciple want their Gurudev to leave soon? That is why I had delayed as long as I could. I always said I would take sannyas later, I would take it later and in the end I could not delay any longer—Guru Maharaj said, 'I will commit suicide! If you do not take charge of this Math, I will commit suicide and you will be the murderer!'" That is how Gurudev took sannyas in 1985 and stayed at the Math...

At that time, there were only three temples—in Kolkata, Hapaniya and Nabadwip. This big building [Centenary Museum] was not there, almost everything that you see now was not there, and the few people who lived in the Math all eventually left.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj had so much faith and hope for Gurudev—he kept his Math with him and left, and you can see that now there are not just three temples—there more than 128 centres in Chaitanya Saraswat Math! Gurupadpadma [Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj] has made them, and now seva, puja, preaching, preaching of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's conception are going on all over the world.

This Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's appearance day is coming—tomorrow is the festival and we are starting celebrating it from today. In many different temples, whether small or big, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's conception is preached today all around the world. You know Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj himself never went abroad, but Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj do and after he left Gurudev made twenty-five world tours and brought, through his world-wide loving search, so many Indian and foreign devotees...

Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him the name "bhakti raksak"—guardian of devotion. This Srila Sridhar Maharaj composed so many beautiful verses. He composed the sloka Sri-gauranumatam svarupa-viditam..., he wrote about Bhaktivinod Thakur, "Guru-dam grantha-dam gaura-dhama-dam nama-dam muda..." We also sing his kirtan every day, "Jayare jayare jaya gaura saraswati..." and this kirtan about Mahaprabhu, "Jaya sachi nananda sura muni vandana..." Who wrote all this? All this is written by Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and it is now sung in all temples.

jaya sachi-nandana sura-muni-vandana

bhava-bhaya-khandana jaya he

jaya hari-kirtana- nartanavartana

kali-mala-kartana jaya he

“All glory to Sri Sachi Nandan, who is worshipped by the demigods and sages! All glory to He who destroys all fear of material existence! All glory to the inaugurator of dancing and chanting the Lord's Names! All glory to He who removes the contamination of Kali!”

nayana-purandara visvarupa snehadhara

visvambhara visvera kalyana

jaya laksmi-visnupriya visvambhara priya hiya

jaya priya kinkara isana

“Sri Sachi Nandan is the delight of everyone's eyes and affectionate to His brother Visvarup. He is the maintainer of the world and the embodiment of its good fortune. All glory to Laksmi Priya and Visnu Priya, who are dear to Visvambhar's heart! All glory to His dear servant Isan!”

There was also one writer called Haribol Gosai. One time, he wrote a book and came here to give it to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He was very old at that time. Gurudev came out to meet him, and having offered him obeisances, he asked,

"Prabhu, you have come?"

"I have written a book and have come to give it to Maharaj."

"But why did you have to come yourself? I could have come to you to take the book."

"Here in Nabadwip, and not only in Nabadwip, in the whole world, there is only one person besides the Lord at whose feet I can bow—that is Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. I keep my head at his feet, so as long as I am alive I will come. Do not stop me!"

Many came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj... Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj [Keshav Maharaj took sannyas from Guru Maharaj], and others—all of his godbrothers came here to learn the siddhanta (perfect conception). Srila Madhav Maharaj also came here. One time, Madhav Maharaj came and said, "I want to come here all the time, but if we come here all the time, it will be a problem because there is no bathroom..." Receiving Guru Maharaj's permission, he arranged for a bathroom here—before that there was no money to build any bathroom, so they would go under a tree. Sakhi Charan Ray Bhakti Vijay would give ten rupees to Guru Maharaj and the temple ran with that money.

Actually, when Guru Maharaj came here in 1941, he made one small thatched house and having put up a flag on a long bamboo pole, he wrote a big sloka:

srimach-chaitanya-sarasvata-mathavara-udgita-kirtir jaya-srim

bibhrat sambhati ganga-tata-nikata-nabadwipa-koladri-raje

yatra sri-gaura-sarasvata-mata-nirata-gaura-gatha grnanti

nityam rupanuga sri-krtamati-guru-gauranga-radha-jitasa

"In the Holy Abode of transcendental touchstone Sri Nabadwip Dham—the selfsame Sri Vrindavan, in the land of Koladwip, whose inner identity is the King of mountains Sri Govardhan, near the charming shores of the holy River Bhagirathi who delivers all the fallen souls, stands that grand and glorious King of all Temples—Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.”

All godbrothers laughed, "Sridhar Maharaj has only a small thatched house with a bamboo flag but he writes such a grand sloka!" But Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj could see that one day this temple would become great and that so many branches would spring up one day. And it happened. As Gurudev said, now the sun never sets on Chaitanya Saraswat Math—it is day now here, but somewhere it is night, somewhere it is morning and somewhere it is evening.

This is the temple you have come to, to serve the Lord…

* * *

Visiting Holy Places: Pleasure Hunting?

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 6

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

In a few days many of you are going to Vrindavan, but why are you going to Vrindavan? Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said very strong words in this regard. He said, "Going to Vrindavan is an eye exercise." You know how you walk everywhere to get some exercise for your arms and legs, the same here... It is written here in Gaudiya Gitanjali,

tirtha-yatra parisrama kevala manera bhrama

sarva-siddhi govinda-charana

"The trouble of visiting holy places is simply a mental delusion—all possible perfection is the feet of Govinda."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur, "Anya-abhilasa chhadi...")

You can ask me, "Maharaj, then why are you going there, why are you taking us with you?" Do you know the answer?

When Bhagirath Maharaj wanted to bring Ganga to this earth, Ganga at first did not want to come—she refused, "I will not go there! If I go there I will go to hell!" Why did she say it? Because she thought, "All these sinners will bathe in me and I will become contaminated and enter the hellish planets." Bhagirath Maharaj reassured her, "Why? When pure devotees whose hearts are free from material desires (niskama sadhu), who are simple-hearted (niskapata sadhu), bathe in you, the Lord, who resides within the hearts of His devotees, will remove all sins from you." Then why is it said "tirtha-yatra parisrama..." (the trouble of visiting holy places is simply a mental delusion)? Because when you go to a holy place you get some pious benefit (punya), and what happens after you get that pious benefit (punya)? You go to heaven. But as we were just singing in the kirtan,

nahi magi deha-sukha, vidya, dhana, jana

nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi

na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

"I do not pray for bodily pleasure, learning, wealth, or followers. I do not pray for heaven, I do not pray for liberation, and I do not pray for any supernatural powers."

(Sri Siksastakam, 4.1-2, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

We do not want liberation. When you get liberation you become merged with the Lord. Suppose some straw is floating in the Ganga and there is a drop of dew on it. That drop of water says, "I am so small and the Ganga is so huge, she is an ocean! I too can become an ocean!" What happens then? Then, that drop of dew falls into the water—can you ever find that drop of water in it? Mukti (liberation) is also like this—you become merged with the Lord. There are five kinds of liberation—sayujya, merging with Brahman; sarupya, having the same body as the Lord; salokya, residing at the same planet as the Lord; samipya, being an associate of the Lord; sarsti, having the same opulences as the Lord. But "nahi magi svarga ara moksa nahi magi"—we do not want any heaven or liberation, we keep away from heaven.

* * *

Gurus and Brahmans: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 7

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

gurur na sa syat svajano na sa syat

pita na sa syaj janani na sa syat

daivam na tat syan na patis cha sa syan

na mochayed yah samupeta-mrtyum

"It is not your guru, it is not your family, it is not your father, it is not your mother, it is not your gods, it is not your husband if that person cannot save you from the world of birth and death."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 5.5.18)

It is said here: such guru is not a guru. What kind of guru is that? The one who cannot save you from this material world of birth and death—such guru is not a guru, it is a vitta harankari guru (a guru who will take away your money, steal your property, and so on). Do you know what kind guru it is?

Suppose a patient comes to a doctor:

"Doctor, I have blood sugar," he says.

"You must not eat potato and sweets, and I will prescribe you some medicine, you must take it," the doctor will reply.

"Doctor," argues the patient, "I have money—you can prescribe me some medicine, I will take it, but I cannot give up sweets and potato."

What is the doctor to say then? Some doctors will think, "If this patient comes to me I will get money, but if I reject him he will not come again!" So, such doctors will say, "Yes, you can take potato and sweets, eat whatever you want—just take this medicine only and come to me again in a few days."

You get such gurus in this world. They say: do whatever you want, do whatever your mind fancies. They tell quite the opposite of the truth—they say you are an atma, so you can eat whatever your soul wishes. But the soul does not eat anything!

jihvara lalase yei iti-uti dhaya

sisnodara-parayana se krsna nahi paya

"One who is subservient to the tongue and who thus goes here and there, devoted to the genitals and the belly, cannot attain Krishna."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.227)

The tongue eats (to eat you need a tongue, eyes, nose, ears, skin, mind, intelligence, ego), but the soul does not eat anything! As we were just singing,

na kari prarthana kona vibhutira lagi

"I do not pray for any supernatural powers."

(Sri Siksastakam, 4.2, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

And if it is a good doctor, he will say, "I do not want such a patient. If you want to be cured, then you must take this medicine and give up potato and sweets." Such doctors do not mind even if the patient leaves him.

We must know and understand these things... Then, it says also that demigods who cannot rescue the soul from this material world should not take worship from them. Just now the Kali puja is coming and, when I called somebody to invite to Vrindavan parikrama, they told me, "Maharaj, I cannot go to Vrindavan—the Kali puja is soon!"

Here in this Gaudiya-kantha-hara, it is written about the varna-dharma and the ashrama-dharma. (If you read Gaudiya-kantha-hara, you can preach well.) Do you know who the brahmans in this world are? Those souls who previously made offence to the twice-born, who behave like demons, are born as brahmans in Kali-yuga.

In this Kali-yuga, there are four varnas (castes, or orders of life): brahman, ksatriya, vaisya, and sudra, but:

brahmanah ksatriya vaisah sudrah papa-parayanah

nijachara-vihinas cha bhavisyanti kalau yuge

vipra veda-vihinas cha pratigraha-parayanah

atyanta-kaminah krura bhavisyanti kalau yuge

veda-nindakaras chaiva dyutachaurya karas tatha

vidhava-sanga-lubdhas cha bhavisanti kalau dvijah

vrtty-artham brahmanah kechit mahakapata-dharminah

raktambara bhavisyanti jatilah smasrudharinah

kalau yuge bhavisanti brahmanah sudra-dharmina

"In Kali-yuga, all four varnas are devoid of character and proper behavior and are addicted to sin. The brahmanas are devoid of Vedic knowledge and sacrifice. Giving up the five sacrifices recommended in the Vedas and all brahminical behavior and consciousness, they engage in inferior activities. They collect charity to satisfy their unlimited appetite for sense enjoyment. The brahmanas of Kali-yuga are characterized by the qualities of lust and cruelty. Unholy in deed and thought, they take pleasure in envy and malice. These professional thieves blaspheme the Vedas, drink liquor, and exploit women for sex, taking great pleasure in adultery and fornication. They accept extremely sinful means of maintaining their lives and, posing as swamis, dress in red cloth and wear long hair and beards. In this way the wretched so called brahmanas of Kali-yuga accept the dharma of sudras, that is, they become fourth-class men."

(Padma Purna)

In Kali-yuga, brahmans become sudras:

raksasah kalimasritya jayante brahma-yonisu

utpanna brahmana-kule badhante srotriyan krsan

"Those who were raksasas in previous ages, have taken birth as brahmanas in Kali-yuga to torment the physically weak saintly persons who are engaged in the culture of hearing about the Lord."

(Sri Chaitanya Bhagavata, Adi-khanda, 16.301 & Varaha Purana)

This is what is written in the Puranas.

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje

svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

"Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager, or worker) or asram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life, or monk) you may belong to, if you do not worship Krishna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26)

Always remember this.

* * *

Learn Krishna Consciousness

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 8

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

What are the obstacles, thorns on the path of devotion? Atyahara, prayascha, prajalpa, niyamagraha, jana-sangancha, laulancha—they destroy devotion. Rupa Goswami wrote this. Atyahara: trying to accumulate too much; prayascha: engaging in activities that are averse to devotion and being attached or addicted to such activities; prajalpa: talking idly and gossiping; niyamagraha: being indifferent to devotional rules and regulations and caring for other rules and regulations; jana-sangancha: associating with other people except devotees; and laulancha: fickle-mindedly take interest in different other theories and teachings.

And what is favourable? Dust of the feet of the devotees, water that washed the feet of the devotees, remnants of devotees' food, remnants of Krishna's food—this all means taking prasad. How will you control your tongue?

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

If you serve to (honour) prasadam (prasad-seva), all your senses will be subjugated. That is why we say that when you take Harinam (first initiation), you return to your home and you must offer bhog to the Lord with Tulasi leaves, must do Tulasi parikrama, etc. When you do parikrama around Tulasi Devi, you get the same result as when doing a parikrama of Vrindavan. Plant a Tulasi tree at your home, and you will get that kind of result. But we do not do it...

What I also told you about the other day is written here:

yo yasya mamsam-asnati sa tan mamsada uchyate

matsyadah sarva-mamsadas-tasman-mat-syan vivarjayet

"Whoever eats some meat is called an eater of the meat of that entity, but one who eats fish is considered to have eaten all kinds of meat (cow, pig, etc. even one's own meat). Therefore one must completely give up eating fish."

(Manu-samhita, 5.15)

This body is composed of earth, water, fire, air, and ether. When we die, this body will be burnt, it will turn into ash, and the ash will again turn into earth. When the ash becomes earth, another body is created, and that body can be any body—it can be grass, some animal, etc. In this way, those whose meat I enjoyed will enjoy my meat. This is said in the scriptures—in Manu-samhita. Always remember this. If you do not learn these things, how will you get the result?

When you go to primary school, there are many pupils. After that, when you go to high school, you will find there fewer pupils, and in the end may be only one person will go to university. Is it not so? So, even if you are alone, you must serve, you must practise. Why do we not engage in Krishna-kirtan (in serving Krishna, in chanting Krishna's Name, etc.)? Instead we spend time talking all the time about all sorts of other things...

Gurudev places the Holy Name into your heart—what is the Holy Name? The Holy Name is chetan-vastu, it is conscious and it is non-different from the Lord. That Holy Name must come to your tongue. Why is it not coming to your tongue? Because your tongue is not level.

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha

amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.38)

Krishna says, "I will give these fools knowledge, I will give them material things and they will forget Me..." How many times we pray to the Lord, "Dhanam dehi, vidhyam dehi, rupam dehi, etc." (make me rich, make me clever, make me beautiful, etc.) and what did Mahaprabhu say?

na dhanam na janam na sundarim kavitam va jagadisa kamaye

mama janmani janmanisvare bhavatad bhaktir ahaituki tvayi

"I do not want wealth, I do not want knowledge, I do not want beauty, I do not want to be a poet. I only want causeless devotion to Your lotus feet. Give me that kind of devotion to Your lotus feet so that I could do Your service life after life."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 20.29)

Mahaprabhu says, "May such causeless devotion come to My heart! I want that kind of devotion, Prabhu!" How does devotion come? Not through any karma (pious actions), not through any sacrifices—through these you may only get a better life in future, but you will again have to come back to this world—for example, in a body of a cow, a goat, a cat, etc.) That is why we must understand that "no one can achieve the goal of life without practising, following sadhana" ('sadhya-vastu' 'sadhana' vinu keha nahi paya, Cc, 2.8.197). What does "sadhana" mean? It means accepting what is written in the scriptures. Accepting what? There are sixty-four kinds of devotional practices, among them there are nine practices that are very important and among those nine practices there are five main practices. What are they?

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

You know what sadhu-sanga (good association), Nama-kirtan (chanting the Holy Name) and Bhagavat-sravan (listening to Srimad Bhagavatam, to the scriptures) are. What is Mathura-vasa? Does it mean you have to go to live in Mathura? No, it means living in the place where there is Krishna-katha, where there is Bhagavad-katha:

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

“On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.”

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You can make your house a temple of the Lord—that is called Mathura-vasa. There, you can practise Bhagavat-sravan and sraddhaya sri-murtir sevana—you must worship the Lord with faith. How many kinds of faith are there? Kamala-sraddha (fragile, sensitive faith), taranga-sraddha (fickle faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith), and sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith).

'sraddha'-sabde—visvasa kahe sudrdha nischaya

krsne bhakti kaile sarva-karma krta haya

"Sraddha is firm, determined faith that by service to Krishna all actions are accomplished."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.62)

Faith comes from sukriti (devotional merit). There is jnata sukriti (conscious devotional merit) and ajnata sukriti (unconscious devotional merit). For example, if you use a mango tree's fruit for the service of the Lord, the tree gets some sukriti through that; or if you offer some flowers to the lotus feet of Gurudev, to the lotus feet of the Deity, that flower tree also gets sukriti. Otherwise, a flower tree just dries up, but it can get some sukriti through you, and because the tree does not know about it, it is called ajnata-sukriti (unconscious devotional merit).

You must understand these things and practise these things, otherwise you will not get the result.

You have come here by a great fortune:

alpa-bhagye seva nahi haya

koti janma thakle bhagya

visaya sei haye vairagya

"Service does not come by just a little fortune. Only after ten million births of good fortune, can you leave this material world behind."

You can stay in your family and serve the Lord—"grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako, whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name."

I heard also from Gurudev what Prabhupad had said: What does a "temple" mean? It is a place where the Lord is served under the guidance of the Guru and Vaishnavs. Who lives in a temple? Those who serve the Lord under the guidance of the Guru and Vaishnavs. And what is a "living temple"? If you can bring even one person to the lotus feet of your Gurudev, that is called a living temple (jivanta math). These are Prabhupad's words, and you must remember about this.

If you read books with Prabhupad's instructions, you will find these things there. Guru Maharaj asked me once, "Maharaj, do you read any books?" I said, "I do not get time..." Then, he told me, "Then you can read Gaudiya-kantha-hara. If you read it, you will become a 75% preacher." Then I read this book—I got it the same day and still keep it with me. I read it in the car, in the train, wherever I stay... The whole Bhagavatam is there. Also, have you read Srila Sridhar Maharaj's book Prapanna-jivanamritam? It is very beautiful. If you have not read it yet, you can get it. If we read books, we will learn something...

Now is Niyam-seva month (Kartik month)... I do not know if we will get time to sing the kirtans tomorrow, but we can sing them in the train, what do you say? We must do kirtan in the train, it is not necessary to sleep in the train—we can observe the Niyam-seva month in the train, we can do arati in the train, we can even do Tulasi parikrama in the train. Even if we do not get time, we can still do kirtan. Do not be embarrassed. To fight you need some weapon, somebody uses swords and other weapons but our weapon is kol (mridanga), kartals:

prema vanyaya nadiya bhasaila

ninduka-pasandi-gana dhaiya palaiya

"When the Lord flooded Nadiya with divine love, all offenders and faithless people fled at once!"

We must think and realise what our Gurupadpadma has come to give to us. Gurudev said, "If the Lord wants a singara (samosa), then you must give Him a singara and the matter is over—you will get the Lord." What does it mean? The Lord and Gurudev tell us what they want—it is all written in the scriptures—and we must simply do what they tell us, otherwise imagine you want a singara and I give you a laddu (a sweet)...

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay!

Bhakta-raj Prahlada Maharaj ki jay!

Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay!

Jay Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

* * *

Visa into Service World

Sri Nabadwip Dham, evening class, part 9

7 November 2012, translated from Bengali

"Satisfying the whims of your mind is not bhajan (service)." Srila Guru Maharaj sometimes said, "Are you going to Vrindavan? But do you have the visa to go there?" Visa means anugatya, adherence to the order of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs. Srimati Radharani is the One who issues the visa, and She is present as Gurudev:

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

On the one hand Gurudev is the Lord's dearmost, Srimati Radharani; on the other hand Gurudev is Baladev-Nityananda. "Nitaiyer karuna habe Vraje Radha Krsna pabe—when Nitai bestows His mercy you will reach Radha-Krishna in Vraja." Nityananda Prabhu gives visa, and Nityananda Prabhu means Gurudev.

You cannot get entrance into Vrindavan with money—if you go there just on the strength of money you will go there and only see monkeys passing stool.

When you come to the Math, you can see a big gate, a big building, you can this and you can see that. What do you see? A building? There is also a drain in the Math, and some people come as drain inspectors—they search for dirty things—they do not look at the Lord, they do not chant the Holy Name. You come to the Math to see the sadhus, to see the Vaishnavs, to hear Hari-katha, but others only see the drain. They come and start looking for the drain, "Where is the drain here?" Then, they are drain inspectors.

andhibhuta chaksu yara visaya dhulite

ki rupe se paibe para-tattva dekhite

"Our eyes have become blind by the dust of visaya, the material world—how can we see the transcendental world?"

Our eyes have become blind by the dust of material world. Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said, "Samsara bhitare na bahire? Is family life inside or outside?" Somebody may be sitting in saffron clothes but have lusty desires inside. That is why Prabhupad said that samsar (family life) is inside, not outside. How beautifully Prabhupad put it. Mahaprabhu also told Raghunath Das Goswami, "Leave the tilak and mala:

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana

yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana

"Do not show your false renunciation to people. Serve accepting material things, but without attachment."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.238)

Today somebody came here saying they had come to Srila Sridhar Maharaj—some give respect to Srila Sridhar Maharaj but not to Gurudev... Where does that leave them? Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj himself said, "If somebody does not give respect to Govinda Maharaj, I shall drag them out." This is written in his will. This is so beautiful, but who will understand this? He also said, "I can stay alone, no loss for me…"

* * *

Be Alert and Assiduous

Speaking to the devotees in Australia

14 August, 2011

I am very happy to see you all. It was a good day yesterday—the appearance day of Sri Sri Baladev Prabhu, there was a good festival, and today is also a good day because we get to see you all. I am very happy. Seeing you I am getting energy, I can see Gurudev through you all. It is an important day for me because I am getting some association from you, and it gives me purification.

First I am giving obeisance at my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's lotus feet. I am also giving obeisance to all the sannyasis, all the brahmacharis, all my godbrothers and godsisters, and my love and affection to all the children also. I am very happy to see all of you devotees there today.

Now is a very important time in our life, but we cannot understand it—so much illusory environment comes and attacks our spiritual life. It is a bad problem. By our fortune we have got a bona fide Guru, our Gurudev, but sometimes we lose our faith through our bad karma, that is a big problem. Somebody says something, and we believe that, but we do not believe our Guru. That is a lack of foundation. We do not have the strongest faith, that is why sometimes we lose Krishna consciousness, and maya is always ready to take us, to remove us from our service. That is main, most important thing.

It happens because there is a lack of practising. It is necessary to practise more. Because we do not practise well and properly the illusory environment can sometimes remove us from service. We need good association, we must study, read.

Our mind is always naughty, mind can take you away from service. Gurudev always says, "Do not follow your mind." You must make yourself a good devotee. You are your own friend, and you are also your own enemy—nobody is your enemy. You must think in this way. Nobody is your enemy—you yourself are your own enemy, just as I myself also my own enemy. And you are also your own friend, you can make yourself your friend.

Gurudev gave us so many scriptures, and Gurudev said, "Wherever you live, wherever you say, you must practise, you must continue your spiritual life." That is necessary for us.

* * *

Temple Management Scheme (1)

Speaking to the devotees in Australia

14 August, 2011, part 2

We work eight hours every day for our family—I am not telling everybody must take up brahmachari life or take sannyas. You can stay in family life, but maintain your family life in the proper way—you must practise properly. If you work eight hours a day, you must keep minimum one hour for your Guru, for the Vaishnavs, for the Lord. It is necessary. You get salary for eight hours of work—you can divide that amount into eight and keep at least one hour salary for this Govinda Dham.

I am not asking for any money from you, I am not asking you for anything—I am only praying to everybody, "Please Gurudev, make a temple in Govinda Dham." Gurudev made Govinda Dham with his heart and soul, and you must maintain it properly, you must improve this ashram. How? There are many devotees in Australia, more than two hundred, and if one devotee can keep aside three dollars every day (one hour's worth of their salary), then a hundred dollars can easily come from each devotee every month.

Keep one hour's worth of your salary for the temple. Make an account, organise some small management group. Some management is necessary for the Mission. There should be a temple president, a temple secretary, vice-president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, secretary, joint secretary. You can appoint some of the good members of the Mission. Try to do this otherwise you cannot run the temple properly. There are not many ashrams in Australia, only one (Sri Govinda Dham), and it is not necessary to have so many ashrams also. So, try to improve your ashram.

Keep at least one-hour salary for the Lord, for your future, for your spiritual life. You will get a super benefit. You have got a human body now, and you may not get this opportunity again in your future life. We do not know what body we will get in future, we do not know what is in our future, but what we have now, as much capacity we have, we must serve with that. That is my prayer to everybody, heart and soul.

If somebody wants to break the Mission, if somebody wants illusory environment, they will try to break the Mission—those who are thinking of making something cannot think about destroying anything, and those who are thinking for destroying cannot think about making anything. Now we have to time to make something, not to destroy... We must increase our Mission, we must make our Mission gorgeous. And everybody must practise properly.

* * *

Temple Management Scheme (2)

Speaking to the devotees in Australia

14 August, 2011, part 3

You must think about it: we have 24 hours, how many hours do we work for our own self and how many hours do we work for our Guru, for the Mission and the Lord, Mahaprabhu? It is necessary to practise. You can read about the practising process in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

We have got some sukriti, but we are losing it... Sraddha (faith) comes from sukriti, but if I do not practise properly, I will lose my faith, and if I lose faith in my Guru, it is not my Guru's fault—it is my fault. You must understand this. That is why everybody must continue spiritual life, everybody must practise. That is our life. You are not maintaining yourself. Somebody can say, "Oh, I am weak, I cannot do that," but you do not do anything—Gurudev engages you to serve the Lord. Try to understand it.

Make a small local committee there and serve properly under a guardian. We are not masters, we are all servants of the Guru. If somebody thinks, "I am the master! I am the temple president!" No, you are not! It is not our quality. If somebody thinks, "I am the secretary," "I am a senior devotee," "I am Sridhar Maharaj's disciple," "I am Gurudev's disciple," "I am Prabhupad's disciple"—that is their ego, and that ego eats everything. Somebody thinks they know everything, they understand everything, they know very much, but it is their fault—it means they lack practising and it means their foundation is very poor and weak. It is necessary to understand this.

That is why I am telling to you all—make a small committee, keep proper accounts, proper receipts, then no one can make problems. Maintain everything properly, maintain proper management. I am praying to everybody that you do it. Gather together like now, sit together, chant. Gather all together once a week, and if some householder devotees cannot come, you can tell them what I am saying, you can distribute my lecture.

Make this committee, make receipt books. You can keep aside at least half an hour salary per day for your Mission. I am not asking for any money from Australia, I am not asking for anything, what I tell to everybody is please do in this way, please make Gurudev's Mission.

Gurudev wanted a temple in Govinda Dham, that is why in his last days he sent me (for the first time and for the last time) to Australia. He made me the acharya and then sent to Australia to expand the temple there. I do not want to be a king, I want to make a king—I do not want to be a Guru, I want to make a Guru. I want to make a leader there, but I cannot keep water in a pot that has a hole. Please understand this. I am telling it very clearly, and I know what I am saying is very heavy.

Make a group of senior devotees who will act as an advisory board and make a group of younger devotees who will be the management committee. Some ladies can keep accounts for the committee...

I am praying to everybody: make this Mission and maintain it properly. Do not think, "Oh, it is A's Mission, he will do it", or "It is B's Mission, he will do it" It is not! It is not anybody's Mission—it is Gurudev's Mission, and we must all work together. If somebody is not happy, what can I do? My position is always, "If somebody criticises me, if somebody says bad things about me, I have no objection"—I always pray to Gurudev, "Please give some good mind, good and clean heart to them." If somebody is wearing black spectacles, they will see black, if somebody is wearing white spectacles, they will see white, and if somebody is wearing blue spectacles, they will see blue—they cannot see white.

This is my prayer to everybody, please try to understand it...

* * *

Source of Hope

14 August, 2011, part 1

I am very happy to hear you all today, to meet with you. I am a fallen soul, I have no qualification, but Gurudev engaged me, and you also engage me, to serve you all, that is my great fortune. When I talk with you I can see Gurudev through you all, that is my fortune.

Many difficulties are going on now, but I am still alive, I am still talking with you all... The day when we hear some sound from Vaishnavs is a very good day for us, that is our life. I feel if I hear from great devotees, great Vaishnavs, senior devotees like you, it increases my devotional activities. That is my good luck.

Gurudev told me, "You can stay anywhere, in a house, on the street, or in a forest, but wherever you are you can continue, you can maintain your practising life." I am trying to do that. I am trying to engage devotees in service to the Mission, to all of Chaitanya Saraswat Math all over the world, to all the devotees.

Actually, there are many who want to break our Mission, but Gurudev said to me, "Those who want to break, cannot think about building anything; and those who want to build something, those who want to make something, cannot think about breaking or destroying anything." Srila Sridhar Maharaj's Mission is so glorious, and, as Gurudev said, Guru Maharaj will protect this Mission, he protect his devotees, and he will protect me also. That is my faith, that is my hope.

* * *

Sravan-Kirtan: Heart of Preaching Movement

14 August, 2011, part 2

I always want to have a conference with the devotees, to give some lecture. I spoke through skype to the devotees in Russia and South Africa yesterday, and today I also spoke to the devotees in Singapore, Australia, and also Italy. I am always happy to see devotees' faces.

Sometimes devotees hear so many bad things, so many different things, but I told them what I think—if I wear blue spectacles, I will see blue, and if I wear white spectacles, I can see white. So, there is no problem. if some insect bites me, it is not my duty to bite the insect back—my duty is to protect it, to rescue it from danger. If somebody cannot change their character, why must I change my character? Gurudev told me, "Protect the devotees, always serve the devotees." My words are always hard and I cannot always be humble, that is my bad quality, but I always try to serve the devotees with my heart and soul. I am trying. Also, Gurudev told me, "If your vision is good, if your line is perfect, then you will prosper, you will progress in your spiritual life." Devotees all over the world have love and affection for Gurudev, and when I talk with them, when I see their faces, I think how much love and affection they have for Gurudev and in that way I can remember Gurudev through them.

Actually, I want to make more leaders so that they can preach and, even when I die, they can continue Gurudev's line, Gurudev's property, Gurudev's Mission, they can serve Gurudev's devotees and make the Mission more glorious. I have that hope for them. This is my idea. If they continue their practising life properly, they can do that.

There are very good scientist boys and scholar boys, but they do not believe in the Lord, they do not know about the birth and death, they do not believe in it, so if somebody preaches to them, I am happy with that, it is good. These people always think about science, but in the meantime they must think about the Lord, about their life—they think about science but do not even know anything about themselves. If our sannyasis teach them, it is very nice and it gives me much happiness.

Sometimes they bring some students to me and the students ask me questions. Like, this year in Puri, so many students came from a college and asked me many questions. Recently also, many homeopathic students came to Nabadwip, some of them also asked me questions. I am happy to give answer to their questions. It is a very happy thing.

Actually, they are all educated people, they are all enjoying material life, but they do not know anything about their life, they cannot think what will be in future, what will be after this life. If somebody can wash their brain, that is good. When Gurudev was seventeen years old, he was a doctor's assistant, and at that time some brahmachari came to that area for preaching and Gurudev said, "They washed my brain and I joined Srila Sridhar Maharaj's mission."

Do you know what Mahaprabhu did? Mahaprabhu would go to some house, stay there for one night and the next day say to the housekeeper, "From today, you are the Guru in this village. You can preach and make devotees in this village." Nityananda Prabhu also did like that. But now it is the scientist yuga, Kali yuga, and the facilities are increasing so much through the Internet, through skype, through science, etc. This is even more helpful for our preaching movement—it helps us increase our preaching movement. That is our great fortune.

You know, in India, even here in Bengal, people always 'dance' with Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore—they always talk about them, always think about them, but what did they give us? They do not think about it. They cannot conceive what Mahaprabhu gave to us. Their time has not come yet, but if they understand it, they can easily reverse and change. When their senses start working, when their mind starts working through good association (good association of the devotees like you all), they will get some sukriti, some strong faith, and then they will understand it.

There are four types of faith—kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, sudrdha-sraddha. Through the strongest faith, we can make our foundation good, and through good foundation, our preaching movement will be more beneficial and much stronger.

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati

sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning there is faith, then good association, then practising life. After that, the offences gradually go away, faith becomes stronger, taste comes, then attachment, then there arises affection and love. This is how love to God comes to those who practise Krsna consciousness."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.4.15-16)

This is the practice. I have told before: there are sixty-four types of viddhi-marga practices, if somebody practices at least five of them (beginning with sravanam-kirtanam), then sraddha, faith, will come, good association will come. If somebody can practise sravanam-kirtanam properly, following this line, then just one person is sufficient—they can conquer all fourteen worlds (chaudda-bhuvan). That is sufficient.

That kind of preaching movement is necessary. That is our conception—that is Srila Sridhar Maharaj's conception, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj's conception, Srila Gurudev's conception, and that is what we must spread all over the world. That is our life. Through the good association of the devotees like you all, we get good energy, we get enthusiasm, and if we preach and practise through sravan-kirtan, that will be even more beneficial for our life.

* * *

Best Servitor

14 August, 2011, part 3

Question: Being here in the US, we are so far away from Nabadwip, how can we best serve you and your mission?

By following Gurudev's conception, by chanting the Holy Name and preaching this conception, spreading it. Always tell the devotees, "I do not want anything from you, I only want some good association through the devotees." And you can preach to others, teach others what you have learnt yourself, in this way you can make the Mission there and spread it. You can always preach to the devotees. When you talk to somebody, talk about the Lord, about your Guru, about Krishna consciousness, about your practising life.

Always stay in devotees' association, follow devotees' instruction, Gurudev's instruction—only this. You can stay anywhere, far or near, it is actually not necessary to stay directly with Gurudev. Somebody may be always staying with Gurudev, but they do not follow Gurudev's instruction; and if somebody is far, a few thousand kilometres away, but they follow Gurudev's instruction, they are the best servitors.

My only request to you is: you can stay anywhere, it is not a problem, but you must maintain, you must continue your practising life. "Vaishnava-seva and Nama-sankirtan, achirat tumi pabe Krsna-prema-dhan: serve Vaishnavs and do Nama-sankirtan, then you will get reality, you will get the proper things." My only request to you is preach. When you see somebody, tell them, "Please, chant Hare Krishna," "Please serve the Mission," "Please come." Whoever you meet, you can tell them one-two words about the Lord, about spiritual matter. Sometimes people will be annoyed, they will not listen to you, but tell them again and again, then one day they will hear it. Preach in this way and you can increase the Mission, then you will be the best servitor. You can talk to me sometimes, if you have any question, you can get in touch with me, I have no objection. OK? Also, you have senior devotees there, always take good advice, keep good association—it is necessary. How will you get association of Gurudev? You can say that Gurudev is not alive now, but Gurudev is in his words now. If you read his scriptures, his books, if you read or listen to his lectures, you will get his association. In the same way, how will you get association of Swami Maharaj, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad? If you hear his Hari-katha, you will get his association.

* * *

My Joy and Happiness

Speaking online to devotees in Colombia

14 October 2013, part 1

I am very happy to see you all.

Devotees: Jay!

I can see so many devotees are there, and by the mercy of Gurudev we are also here in Nabadwip. A few days ago we celebrated a big festival: so many people came and so many came from all over the world also, but I am waiting for you—when are you coming to India?

It actually depends upon faith—if somebody has a good faith for their Guru, then they can increase their spiritual life quickly. Gurudev gave me this position to serve you all—I am always with you all, and you are always with me. That is my happiness. It is said, "If you love me, love my dog," and you do that. You have so much love and affection for me, and I have also love and affection for you...

Devotees: Jay Gurudev! Jay Srila Acharya Maharaj ki jay!

That is why I always want to serve you. Does anybody there have any questions?

Question: When are you coming, Maharaj?

I am always with you. When I come out of India and visit South America, I will come there, I will visit Colombia and Peru. Do not doubt it, do not worry—I will definitely come. Devotees from all over the world are inviting me, but in the meantime I can always meet with you and can see you all through skype. I can see how many people are there, I can meet with you all in this way.

If you have any desire, you can tell me. Devotees actually never have any desires—devotees always serve their Guru and make their Guru happy. That is the main thing. I also want to make you happy, I want to serve you. I know that if I can serve you and make you happy, then I will also make my Guru happy.

It is my great happiness that you come to the centre every day, that you make programmes and preach. It gives me joy and happiness to see that so many devotees are there. I cannot say it to you always, but I am telling the truth now.

You are giving your energy for the Mission, I am very happy with that. Also, if some time you can help me and send some devotees here so that they could stay for a longer time (a few months, six months, one year) and serve here, I will be even happier.

* * *

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Speaking online to devotees in Colombia

14 October 2013, part 2

Question: How can we know that our practising life is going in the proper way?

I can see that your line is going in the proper way—I can see the devotees' mood and I can tell you that, otherwise if devotees did not have proper faith, why would they come to you? Devotee have faith, that is why they join the programmes, they practise. That is how I understand that your practising is going on properly. If you serve your Guru with full surrender, practising sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam (hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, rendering service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission), then you have nothing to worry about.

I can tell you one story, it explains what faith is very nicely.

Ever day Narad Muni went to Vaikuntha to see Lord Narayan, and one time, on his way to Narayan, he saw a brahman—a very pure brahman, a pandit scholar. The brahman asked Narad Muni, "When you come to Narayan, can you ask Him when my karma-bandhan (bondage of my karma) will be finished and when I will be able to meet Him?" Narad Muni agreed and continued his way. Soon he came across a cobbler (a shoemaker) who asked him the same question, "When will my karma-bandhan finish and I can meet Narayan? Can you ask the Lord about this?"

So, Narad Muni came to Narayan and said, "I met a brahman on the way, he asked me to ask You when his karma-bandhan would finish and when he would be able to come to Vaikuntha to meet You?" Lord Narayan did not give any answer. Then Narad Muni asked the Lord about the cobbler, a simple worker, and Lord Narayan laughed and replied, "Yes, Narad Muni, that cobbler will come here and meet Me in his next birth!" Narad Muni was surprised, "Why did You not give any answer about the brahman?" Narayan replied, "Even I cannot say when that brahman will come or when his karma-bandhan will be finished. Even I do not know it." Seeing that Narad Muni was puzzled, Lord Narayan said, "When you come to them, both of them will ask you what I was doing when you met Me. Tell them that I was pushing an elephant through the eye of a needle and back. Tell it to the brahman and you will understand everything easily—you will understand why the cobbler will join Me next life, and why the brahman cannot come to Me."

Narad Muni came back to this martya loka (mundane world), and the brahman asked him, "What was Narayan doing when you meet Him?" Narad said, "He was pushing an elephant through the eye of a needle." The brahman said, "It is impossible! I do not believe it, you are telling a lie!" Then Narad came to the cobbler. The cobbler asked him the same question, "What was Narayan doing when you met Him?" and Narad told him the same thing that Lord Narayan had told him, "The Lord was pushing an elephant through the eye of a needle." When the cobbler heard it, he easily believed it. He said, "Yes, this can easily be true! I am sitting here under a banyan tree—the tree has so much fruit, and if such a big tree can grow from just one seed of that fruit, then why cannot that be true too? Narayan can do anything!" Then Narad Muni understood why the cobbler was coming to Vaikuntha next life and why the brahman could not... The brahman can be a scholar, but he has no faith in what the Lord says.

We always follow our mind, and the mind always takes us in a bad direction—we do not know what is the right way, what is the wrong way, that is why our mind controls everything, but if you can control your mind with the help of your sumedha (good intelligence), that is good for you. The mind controls everything on behalf of the atma, jiva soul, like a naughty manager, and the mind is always chanchal (fickle), but if you practise properly and under the guidance of a bona fide Guru, then the mind can be controlled.

That is why Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj says that if you have faith, the strongest, proper faith (sudrdha visvas), then you have devotion, then you can see the dham and everything else. For example, there are many beautiful things in this world but this world of beauty is nothing for a blind man; there are so many sounds in the world, there is a whole sabda-jagat (world of sound) out there, but for the deaf, for those who cannot hear properly, this sabda-jagat is nothing.

We have finally got this human body and we must use it for the service to the Lord—for the service to the Guru, Vaishnavs, Bhagavan. This is the purpose of this human body, this is what we have got it for, and if we use it according to its purpose, then we can be happy. If you have such faith and can use yourself for the service of the Lord, then your human life will be successful and you will be successful in your spiritual life.

Those who do not practise, who do not come to Krishna consciousness, have so many desires and next life they will be posted in another body depending on their own desire—according to their desires they will get another body. We must be careful with this human body and use it wisely otherwise if we do not use our human body properly (for the service of the Lord), then this body is nothing, it is useless.

It is necessary to be a sincere seeker, to have chastity for your spiritual life. Chastity is the main thing. You must be chaste to your spiritual life.

* * *

Entering Exclusive Devotional Mood

Speaking online to devotees in Colombia

14 October 2013, part 3

Question: How can we fail in our chastity to our Guru? How can this happen?

It can happen if you do not practise properly. Without practice you can face failure—a disease will come to you—because you have so much kanak, kamini, pratistha (desire for wealth, companions, name and fame), so many bad desires. Just as your money can be stolen by dacoits—"dacoits" means kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (madness), matsarya (envy), kanak, kamini, pratistha—they can steal your devotion. This is how you can easily fall down.

Do you have any other questions?

Question: How can we use common sense in the service to Guru?

It is easy. You are not independent. You are only an instrument, you depend only on your Guru—when Gurudev gives you an order to do something, that is your service and you must follow only that. When you connect with the centre and practise properly—if you are sincere and have chastity—you can easily understand whether your Guru is happy or not.

Question: We often think that we are doing things properly, but then the result shows that we are actually not. Why does this happen?

You have a senior devotee, you can ask them whether what you are doing is right or not. Sometimes we must remember also that to err is human—there is always something wrong and some correction is necessary.

Sometimes you wonder whether what you are doing is good or whether it is done properly, but the main thing is that you must follow the instruction of your Guru. You get some idea from your Guru, from great Vaishnavs, senior Vaishnavs, and if you follow that instruction, that is sufficient for you. You do not have to think about anything else. What you are thinking is actually not correct. You are thinking about the result, but this is not right. You must only do your service, the result will come on its own and in its own time. Why do you think the result must come immediately? What do you think about the result for? Do not think about the result—just always do the service for your Guru. That is your visa.

I have told it many times that when you get initiation, that is your passport, and when you have service, that is your visa. You have already got the passport, and if you do your service properly, you have your visa. Sometimes in the course of service you may do something wrong, it can happen, but Krishna does not take offence of those who are surrendered souls (saranagata).

Question: Maharaj, do you know that we are not making programmes in the temple here in Paipa? We are making programmes in the houses of different devotees.

Yes, I know it. It is good, very nice. That is devotion. Making programmes in many different houses means nama-hatta—one day one house, another day another house. That is very good.

* * *

Good Association: Root of Devotion

Evening class, part 1

14 October 2013

You are very fortunate because you have got association of the sadhu, Guru, Vaishnavs here, you have been doing some sravan, kirtan.

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

This is the root of Krishna bhakti (devotion to Krishna).

Good association (sadhu-sanga) always brings good activities, always brings good and fresh mind. There is a story about two birds in Srimad Bhagavatam, Gurudev also told it in a simpler way, a story how good association can change one.

There were two brothers who lived together, they had two birds. After some time, the brothers moved to separate houses and the birds were separated—one brother took one bird, and the other brother took the other bird. Once, a sadhu was passing the house of the first brother, the bird saw him and cried, "Get out of here!" The sadhu was surprised and went away. Soon he came to the house of the second brother, there the other bird said, "A sadhu has come to your house! Please sit down! Is anyone at home? Give him some asan (seat)!" The bird showed respect and honour for the sadhu.

What happened? Why did the character of the birds become different? Because the first bird did not get good association—that brother was not good, so the bird also became not good; but the other brother was good, and his bird got good association from him. Association can change one's mind—through good association your mind will become clean, you will become soft-hearted.

You can also look at the rain water—yesterday there was so much rain and all the water flowed into Govinda Kunda, and all the drain water merged with the water of Govinda Kunda and became pure. The same is true when all the water goes into the Ganges. People pollute the Ganges—they throw so many things into her. For example, it was Durga puja recently, and people threw the murtis covered with paint and dye into the Ganges. They throw so many things into the Ganga, but Ganga Devi never becomes impure—she is always pure. We always take the water from the Ganga for the worship of the Lord.

Through sadhu-sanga (good association) one can become a good sadhu. A sadhu, a Guru can do anything—they can even turn a bad person into a good person, into a good devotee.

You heard also that when Sanatan Goswami was going to Vrindavan, some dacoits stopped him on the way to rob him. Sanatan Goswami had a servitor who was carrying some money, gold coins, with him, that is why the dacoits caught them. When Sanatan Goswami understood it, he asked his servitor, "Ishan, how many coins do you have?" He said he had seven coins. Sanatan Goswami immediately went to the dacoits and wanted to give those coins to them, but by that time the dacoits did not want to take it! Under the influence of Sanatan Goswami's association (sadhu-sanga), seeing his activities, the dacoits' minds had become good. At first they refused to take the coins, but then Sanatan Goswami forcefully gave it to them saying, "If you do not take this money, some other dacoits can catch us on the way and kill us for these things. So, take it all, take all these gold coins!"

Visaya (mundane things) is poison, do not be so much attached with such things….

* * *

Honouring Maha-Prasad

Evening class, part 2

14 October 2013

You must understand that one can become good through association. Sometimes I preach in Murshidabad, and I saw a bird in one house there, a parrot. I wanted to give some food to it, but it did not take. It turned out that the bird never took ordinary food—only after offering the bhog, ringing the bell, doing the arati, chanting the kirtans, etc. when everybody took prasad, that bird also took prasad. I saw that parrot. That bird understood that prasad is necessary. Always take prasad—being vegetarian cannot make you a pure devotee, only prasad can make you a good, pure devotee.

Do you have Tulasi or Tulasi leaves? You must always serve Tulasi, and Krishna will be very happy. "Tulasi dekhi' judaya prana madhava-tosani jani': seeing Tulasi Devi soothes my soul, for I know she pleases Madhava." If you serve Tulasi Devi, Krishna will be very happy. Put a Tulasi leaf on the bhog, chant the maha-mantra, offer the bhog to the Deities, the Lord, and Krishna will take that happily.

prasada-seva karite haya,

sakala prapancha-jaya

"By honouring the Lord's prasad I conquer all worldly illusions."

(Saranagati, 31.5, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

What is prapancha? Material creation. Without taking prasadam, prapancha cannot be conquered. Always take prasad, it is good for you.

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe

bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe

"Do not listen to the mundane talks, do not listen to the mundane news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 6.236-237)

Mahaprabhu said to Raghunath Das Goswami, "Always take prasad, I will be very happy." Prasad has so much power... We should try to always take only prasad.

One time, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and his party went to Kashmir (Muslim area) for preaching, and they could not find there any good place to take some food. They had waited for three days looking for a place, but after that they could not tolerate it any more, they were very hungry. Finally they went to a Hindu hotel and got some rice and dal, but there was onion and garlic in the dal. The brahmacharis said to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, "Maharaj, what is this?!" But Srila Sridhar Maharaj said,

mahaprasade govinde nama-brahmani vaisnave

svalpa-punya-vatam rajan visvaso naiva yayate

"O king, one whose fortune is meagre never develops faith in mahaprasad, Govinda, the Holy Name, or the Vaisnavas."

He always said this prayer, and in that hotel too—before taking that rice and dal they said it. That is prasada-guna gan (glorification of maha-prasad). You must always do it—you do not only take prasad, but you must honour maha-prasad. We must give respect, we must honour maha-prasad.

* * *

Hoarding Hazard

Speaking to devotees in Salt Lake City, USA

16 October 2011, part 1

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad ki jay!

Jay Bhagavan Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay!

Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay!

Bhakta-raj Prahlada Maharaj Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay!

Jay Sripad Nyasi Maharaj ki jay!

Samagata Sri Gaura-bhakta vrinda ki jay!

All the assembled devotees ki jay!

Harinam sankirtan ki jay!

Nitai Gaura premanande Hari Hari bol!

Devotees: Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay!

I am very happy to see you all today. I have given so many lectures today since the morning. I started from Canada—there are not many devotees there, a few disciples of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, of Gurudev, and some of my disciples also. I talked with them all very nicely. After that, I spoke to the devotees in Italy, then Delhi, then Ecuador, and now, late in the evening, I am finally speaking to you all in Salt Lake City. I am very happy with this, and I want to continue in this way.

Param Guru Maharaj, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj says (and you must understand and remember this) that if you have some money, if you have some property or wealth and you do not use it for the Lord, for the Guru's service, for the Deity, then it will turn into vitta-dosh. Vitta means wealth, and vitta-dosh means that property, that wealth will disturb you later—it may happen this life, it may also happen in your next life, it may even happen after some generations.

In the same way, if you have some knowledge you must preach as much as possible: you must distribute that knowledge as much as you have capacity. If you do not distribute the knowledge you have, that knowledge will disturb you later. You are chanting the Holy Name and you must engage others in chanting the Holy Name; you are serving your Guru, Vaishnavs, the Deity and you must engage others to serve the Deity and Vaishnavs. Otherwise if you not donate the knowledge that you have, that knowledge will create a problem for you.

If you have some money, you have some property, wealth and you do not use that money for the service to your Guru and Vaishnavs, that money will make problem for you later. For example, if somebody gives you some donation, and you keep it for yourself, for your own benefit, that money will create a problem later. This is what Gurudev teaches us. When money comes to you for the service to the temple, you must use that money for the service to the temple, otherwise that money will make disturbance, will make a problem for you. If you have knowledge, if you have capacity for preaching, you must use that capacity for preaching.

If you think, "I am a great Vaishnav," but you are sitting in some solitary place, this is not our line. You heard that when there were many problems at the temple, Srila Sridhar Maharaj left the temple to sit alone in Vrindavan, but Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur himself chastised him in a dream. He said to him, "I have not made you a sannyasi so that you could sit here in Vrindavan! This is not your job." Even Mahaprabhu chastised Sanatan Goswami. Once, Sanatan Goswami wanted to commit suicide thinking, "What is my body for? It is useless..." but Mahaprabhu chastised him, "This is not your body! You cannot use this body for your own purpose, you cannot do what you mind is telling you. Your body is My body, and I will use that body for preaching, for My purpose—you cannot use this body, it is not yours!"

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

"At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts them as His very own."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

When you surrender to the Lord, Krishna Himself thinks, "This body is My heart, it is My very own property." That is why we cannot follow what comes to our minds—we must follow Gurudev's instruction.

* * *

It Is All About Consciousness

Speaking to devotees in Salt Lake City, USA

16 October 2011, part 2

I have told many times that we must stay all together—unity is strength. We must preach and continue our movement together, and as much as we have capacity we must preach—preach to the devotees and go door to door looking for anyone who wants Krishna consciousness. "'Gaudiya' pathao ghare ghare: you [Srila Prabhupad] send Gaudiya messengers door to door." We must preach door to door.

We do not think about it, but one day we must die; we are born one day, and one day we will have to die—one day this body will be damaged. Time and tide wait for none. Every day we lose one day from our life, our age is not increasing—on the contrary, day by day we are losing one day of our life. That is why we must use ourselves in a proper way.

If you like family life, it is not a problem, but if you stay in a family life, make your family Krishna's family. You are working, but you must work for the Deities, for the devotees. That is life, and that will be my happiness if you can live in this way. Use everything for service. You may be working in an office, but you must think about Mahaprabhu, "When, how will Mahaprabhu come from Nabadwip?" That is our happiness. You should think, "When is Mahaprabhu coming? When will we have move devotees? I am chanting the Holy Name, but I am not satisfied—I will be happier if I can engage somebody else in chanting." This will give you move sukriti.

When somebody falls down, slips up, or sinks in a pond, when somebody does not follow Gurudev's line, that is our sadness. We must pray to Gurudev for them, "Gurudev, please bring them back. We are one family and we want to stay all together. Please bring them back!" Why be matsarya? Why be jealous or envious of others? Your heart must be nirmatsaranam (free of jealousy). There should be no jealousy in your mood. Try to understand this.

I am very happy that you are preaching and that you continue having programmes every weekend. Once, Sivananda Sen asked Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, we are going back to our village after the Ratha-yatra, what is our duty there?" Mahaprabhu said, "Bari giye koro Vaisnava-seva, Nama-sankirtana: go back to your home and do Vaishnav-seva and Nama-sankirtan, then you will get the lotus feet of Lord very soon (achirat tumi pabe Krishna-prema-dhan)."

It is necessary to do Vaishnav-seva (serve the Vaishnavs) and Nama-sankirtan (chant the Holy Name, preach). You may be working somewhere outside, but you are doing Vaishnav-seva, you are doing service. That is the main thing. Somebody becomes sad thinking, "Oh, I am working in an office," or thinking, "Oh, I am busy doing business," but this is not a problem—you are working or doing business for the Lord. That is also service. It is necessary to understand this.

This is how you must maintain your family life, and day by day we must also increase our family. We must follow viddhi-marga (we must practise properly following rules and regulations), then our life style will be very nice. Why did Prabhupad and Sriman Mahaprabhu make mangal-arati? Day time is for working, night is for sleeping, and we should always start the day from mangal-arati—we should start the day from service. After that, you have the whole day to work, you can come back at 10 o'clock in the evening and go to sleep. We must continue our life in this way.

Sometimes devotees work outside—it is not a problem. You may work outside but you are thinking about the Lord. Somebody can be staying with Gurudev—only their body is with Gurudev, but their heart and mind are outside, in another place. That is not service, that is called false renunciation. But if somebody works in an office but thinks about Mahaprabhu, about their Guru, that is service.

* * *

Run After Mahaprabhu

Speaking to devotees in Salt Lake City, USA

16 October 2011, part 3

Question: What can we do to serve you and the Mission in Nabadwip?

Prabhu, it is not a problem. I do not want anything from you, not money, not anything else—only follow Gurudev's instruction. If you preach there, if you make more Gurudev's devotees there, that will give me more happiness. I will be happier if our society grows, if some good devotees come and glorify Gurudev. I want to hear my Gurudev's glorification from the devotees. That is my happiness. If somebody serves in this way, I am very happy.

You can sing kirtans well, so you can go to some houses from time to time, you can sing a kirtan and people will be benefitted through hearing kirtan. You can sing such songs as "Kabe habe bolo se dina amar," "Emona durmati samsara bhitare padiya achhinu ami," "Nitai pada kamala koti chandra susitala," "Gaurangera duti pada yara dhana sampada." Sing these specific kinds of songs. Also, when your mind is bad (when you are in a bad mood), when so much disturbance comes to you, you should sing "Emona durmati samsara bhitare padiya achhinu ami" and "Kabe habe bolo se dina amar."

kabe navadvipe, suradhuni-tate,

'gaura-nityananda' bali' niskapate

nachiya gaiya, bedaiba chhute,

vatulera praya chhadiya vichara

"When will I wander along the banks of the Ganges in Nabadwip, sincerely calling out, 'Gaura-Nityananda!', while dancing, singing, and running about, without any thinking as though mad?"

kabe ha'be bala se dina amara

(amara) aparadha ghuchi', suddha name ruchi,

krpa-bale ha'be hrdaye sanchara

"Please tell me, when will that day be mine when my offences will be dispelled and taste for the pure Name will be infused within my heart by the power of mercy?"

"My mind is always attacked by the illusory environment! Prabhu, when will You give some mercy to me? When will You show compassion towards me, Prabhu? When will that day come when I can chant Your Name, when I can glorify Your Name?"—that kind of feeling must come to your mind. You must feel it devotionally, with your heart and soul, not just showing—it is not necessary to show anything, it is necessary to feel it only in your heart and soul. You can show it through love and affection—keep devotees in your heart and devotees should keep you in their hearts.

Gurudev always said, "Be humble, tolerant, give honour to others." You have that kind of qualification, I have seen your humility and I am very happy with it. I am not as humble as you are and I am learning from your humility. This is your main qualification and if you use that qualification for preaching, if you use that humility to preach to others, it can become an example for others.

I am very happy with your family, you have a good wife, and a good daughter and a good son came. Teach them well. It is not necessary to make them big doctors, big engineers, big computer engineers—if they can become good big devotees, Gurudev's servants, that is sufficient for you. When Gurudev was seventeen years old, he wrote a very beautiful poem. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj praised Gurudev so much for that poem and was so happy with it. There are many poems written by Gurudev, they were published as a book in Bengali...

You can print some small pamphlets, leaflets. Preach. Go once a week outside with sankirtan, your daughter and your son can give the leaflets to people—they (people) will be happy. You know that I use five-six-year-old boys and girls for the Venezuelan people—these five-year-old, six-year-old girls and boys distribute pamphlets during sankirtan. I saw once a sixty-year-old man was asking a six-year-old girl some questions and the six-year-old girl was giving him answers—I watched it and listened to that girl's answers and I was very happy. When I went for preaching with them, I was watching their preaching movement. So, preach to your children, give them some lecture, and you can make them preachers.

It is not necessary to think about money. Prabhu, money will come one day, it is not necessary to run behind money—you must run behind Krishna, behind Mahaprabhu, and Krishna will look after you. If you think about Krishna, Krishna will maintain His family. If Krishna wants a laddu, He will arrange for the money to buy that laddu.

* * *

Practise and Preach—Properly

Speaking to the devotees in Malaysia

19 November 2011, part 1

I am very happy to see you all today. It is a good, auspicious day because we can hear some Hari-katha, Krishna-katha. You are all devotees of Gurudev, all disciples of Gurudev and you are keeping Gurudev in your heart, that is why I can see Gurudev through you all.

"Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara: as long as you have life in the body, you must preach." Your preaching movement is going on properly in four places in Malaysia—seva and puja are going on properly there, but actually what is more necessary than seva and puja is preaching.

Krishna consciousness is more about preaching, it is sankirtan yajna. So, you must give more importance to sankirtan. The more sankirtan movement is there, the more the preaching movement is growing. It is necessary to always engage yourself in sankirtan movement. Our problem is that we do not practise properly.

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151)

We are fortunate souls—we have got initiation from Gurudev, we received that bhakti-lata bij, the seed of devotion, but we are not taking proper care of it. It means that we do not practise sravan and kirtan, that is the problem. First we must understand that sravan and kirtan are necessary. From the nava-vidha bhakti (nine types of devotion), the main practices are sadhu-sanga, sravan, and kirtan.

First we get sukriti, we have that already, and from sukriti we get faith. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari: quality of devotion depends faith." (Cc, 2.22.64)" There are four types of faith: kamala-sraddha, taranga-sraddha, drdha-sraddha, sudrdha-sraddha. Sukriti can also be of two types, ajnata and jnata (conscious and unconscious). You must use everything for the service to the Lord, then you will get benefit—you are chanting yourself and you must let others chant too, you are eating and you must let others eat too—then you will also get benefitted.

You know that when there were problems at Chaitanya Math, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj went to Vrindavan to do bhajan on his own, but Prabhupad gave him some inspiration, "Why are you here? You must go to Nabadwip! Make disciples—give Krishna consciousness to others!" If you have some knowledge and you do not donate that knowledge to others, that is a big problem, an offence will come. If you have knowledge, you must donate that knowledge to others. If you have qualities for preaching and you are not preaching, it is bad for you. You think, "Oh, Gurudev gave me this mala [chanting beads], so I will only chant on the mala!" No. We must preach Krishna consciousness properly, then our Malaysian temple will increase more and more.

* * *

Devotion: It Is About Mood

Speaking to the devotees in Malaysia

19 November 2011, part 2

Gurudev went country to country in his old age—until his death he went village to village, area to area for preaching. That is what is necessary for our life. "Prana achhe yara, sei hetu prachara: as long as you have life in the body, you must preach." Devotion is not easy:

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If you worship Krishna and ask for something instead of devotion (for some material enjoyment, to satisfy your material desire), Krishna will give that to you, He will make you happy, but He will not give you devotion—He will hide devotion from you. That is why it is necessary to have service mood. Service mood, or bhajan, means acting under the guidance of your Gurudev—you must follow what Gurudev says. It is not necessary to think about anything else. "I do not know what will be good for me, I will follow what Gurudev says"—that is called service. If you think, "I know more than everybody," that is ego and that is a problem.

Keep the proper mood. If you think about Krishna, Krishna will think about you-if you think about Jagannath, Jagannath will think about you. You must understand this.

Continue your service in this way, keep your service mood in this way, then one day you will be successful. Do not worry about anything, do not worry whether you are successful or not, it is not necessary to worry about anything—only fulfil Gurudev's desire and you will reach your goal, Krishna will be happy.

Gurudev is doing his job through you, through the devotees. For as long as he wants to preach, we must do that service, together. Gurudev preached all over the world and now we must unitedly preach about his Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Those who cannot do that will go to their own place, to hell, and those who can do that will go to Gurudev's place.

* * *

Preach by Example

Speaking to the devotees in Malaysia

19 November 2011, part 3

Gurudev said, "When one door closes, another three doors will open." It is not a problem. Some devotees do not preach so much, some devotees do not follow Gurudev's conception—they can do their job, it is not a problem, we have no anxiety. Gurudev told not to see bad things with your eyes, not to hear bad things with your ears and not to say bad things with your mouth. That is Gurudev's conception. We must understand it and continue our preaching movement in this way, we must do more and more, make more programmes.

When Sripad Aprakrita Prabhu was there, I told him, "I want to go to Malaysia not to just sit there—I do not want to go to some hill to see the hill area and eat some fruit. I want to go there and use every moment." My body has come into this world and I want to use it for the service to my Guru. If I cannot use my body for the service to my Guru, then this body is useless! If I cannot serve, if I cannot preach, I might as well die today.

I think the day when I cannot preach, when I cannot chant, cannot serve or think about service, that day is very bad for me. Gurudev, Krishna sent me to this body, and I have got this body to use it for service to the Lord and the Guru. If I do not use it in that way, then I must leave this body—it is not necessary to keep this human body, I can easily live in a cow's body, a dog's body or a cat's body then. By our fortune we have got this human body to serve our Guru and we must use it for service—we must use everybody, every jiva soul for the service to the Lord. Even if you plant a mango tree, you must go and give that mango to Baladev and Jagannath first, then you can take Their prasadam. "Nija achari' dharma jivake sikhaya": teach by your own example. Practise properly, then you will be perfect.

When Gurudev was going to leave this world, he said one thing, he gave a message for everybody and I am giving that message to everybody now. Gurudev said: wherever you live, in a jungle, in a forest, in a small house or in a rich house, whether you are poor or rich, it is not a problem—wherever you are, you must maintain your practising life, Krishna consciousness life. That is Gurudev's last message that he told to everybody. Wherever you live, it is not a problem—you must maintain your spiritual life, your practising life. Do not forget your practising life!

Chant the Holy Name, take prasadam, do some sankirtan. You can do that everywhere. That is main practice, there are nava-vidha-bhakti (nine kinds of devotion) and these five are main:

sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana

mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana

"One should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad-Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura and worship the Deity with faith."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.124)

Sadhu-sanga means good association; you know that sravan and kirtan means hearing and chanting; Bhagavat-sravan means hearing Bhagavat-katha, Hari-katha, listening to Gurudev's lectures, reading Gurudev's books; Mathura-vasa means staying in Mathura. It is not necessary to come and stay in Mathura all the time. Mathura is where Krishna's seva, Krishna-katha is going on—such place is non-different from Mathura. Wherever there is Krishna-katha, wherever there is Krishna's service—even if there is Krishna-katha, Krishna's service going on in your house—that is Mathura, that is Vrindavan, and you must stay there. And last is sraddhaya sri-murtira sevana—it means you must serve your Deity with full faith.

...Do you have any questions? I want to hear some question from you, then I can understand whether you are practising or not. If I hear your question, I can understand it. I will be very happy if a good question comes—a question about Srimad Bhagavatam, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Chaitanya-charitamrita, or Prapanna-jivanamrita, or so many other books—Search for Sri Krishna, Golden Volcano of Divine Love, etc. Gurudev gave us so many books not so that we keep them and so that rats eat them! We keep these books for reading. I am saying very heavy words that may make you sad, but you must understand that I have to say it.

* * *

Keep Your Promise—Until Death

Speaking to the devotees in Malaysia

19 November 2011, part 4

Practise properly. You have got a human body, so use your life properly—practise properly. Anywhere. You can go to a workplace and you can preach there, it is not a problem. You can preach Krishna consciousness everywhere. Think about Krishna, remember Krishna, talk about Krishna. That is my request to everybody. When you go to work, you can tell them something about Krishna—you will be benefitted and you will get sukriti through that. If somebody sees you and says, "Hare Krishna!" they will also get sukriti.

One time, when Gurudev went to Russia, I went with him, and I saw some drunkard lady, dressed like naked, dancing and saying, "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna!" I became surprised—a lady with vodka in her hand dancing and saying, "Hare Krishna"! Gurudev said to me, "Do you see? They are getting sukriti."

You can also read the Harinam mahatmya book (the glorification of the Holy Name). There, it is written about "helaya" [one of the four namabhasas, or shadow chanting of the Holy Name]. Helaya means that even if somebody says neglectfully or criticising you, "Hare Krishna!", he or she will be getting sukriti through that. Do you understand? This Name is powerful. Krishna's Name, beauty, pastimes are non-different from Krishna. Krishna Himself comes in this world in the form of the Name, so this Holy Name is non-different from Lord Krishna. If you chant this Holy Name, you must engage others also in chanting. The only problem is that we cannot chant properly...

Chanting is medicine. Gurudev is a doctor, and he prescribed this medicine for our treatment. His prescription is to chant the Holy Name but we are not following his prescription. If the doctor prescribes you some medicine and you do not take it, your disease will never be cured. You are neglecting it thinking, "Oh, maybe the doctor is not good!", "No, that medicine is not necessary!", or, "That medicine is not good!" You take the medicine one day, another day you do not take it, or perhaps you take it for seven days and then stop—this will not do. You must take this medicine until death, then you will be cured. The medicine may be bitter, may not have a good taste, but still you must take this medicine.

I am telling to everybody: Aprakrita Prabhu was the main leader of your centre in Malaysia, and if you want to make him, his soul, happy, then you must preach. That is my request. You must fulfil his desire. One day this centre will be yours and it will not be necessary to pay rent, and it will run smoothly. You can see Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's example—when he just came to Nabadwip in 1941 he stayed in a bamboo house, but now this Chaitanya Saraswat Math is such a big international mission with the headquarters there in Nabadwip. At first he rented only a piece of land, without even a house, but later he bought it and made a big centre.

srimach-chaitanya-sarasvata-mathavara-udgita-kirtir jaya-srim

bibhrat sambhati ganga-tata-nikata-nabadwipa-koladri-raje

yatra sri-gaura-sarasvata-mata-nirata-gaura-gatha grnanti

nityam rupanuga sri-krtamati-guru-gauranga-radha-jitasa

"In the Holy Abode of transcendental touchstone Sri Nabadwip Dham—the selfsame Sri Vrindavan, in the land of Koladwip, whose inner identity is the King of mountains Sri Govardhan, near the charming shores of the holy River Bhagirathi who delivers all the fallen souls, stands that grand and glorious King of all Temples—Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.”

If you read the meaning of this sloka, you can understand what I am saying easily.

If you think about Krishna, Krishna will think about you, but if you think, "I can do everything", "I am doing everything," then Krishna will also think, "He has so much ego, I will not help him." You must be fully surrendered. "Sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari: quality of devotion depends faith." (Cc, 2.22.64)" Those who have a strong faith, will get the strongest devotion. Sraddha (faith) is of four types: kamala-sraddha (soft, fragile faith), taranga-sraddha (flickering faith), drdha-sraddha (strong faith), sudrdha-sraddha (the strongest faith). It is necessary to have strong and the strongest faith. If you make your platform, your foundation properly, then your Krishna consciousness will stand properly. It depends upon faith.

Life is very short, and time is always passing day by day. We must understand that we can die, we can leave this body at any time. We made a promise to the Lord, "I have got this body, and I will serve You," and we must keep that promise—we must serve the Lord…

* * *

Practise and Preach—More

Speaking to the devotees in Singapore

13 November 2011, part 1

Everybody should be together, it is good, and practise—if there is a lack of practice, then you will lose your faith. Practice makes perfect. Otherwise, without proper practice, we cannot proceed in our spiritual life. We must practise, and Gurudev said also, "Wherever you live, you must practise, you must maintain your spiritual life." Practice is necessary for our spiritual life.

Actually, you can see that just as the telephone line gets cut our life too will finish one day. Time is short. If we do not use our time properly, if we do not adjust ourselves properly and do not use our life for service to our Guru, for service to the Lord, that is bad fortune in our life. We must use our life for the service of our Guru.

I know it is difficult to preach with sankirtan outside in Singapore because of the local government rules, but that means we must give more attention to the preaching inside, that will be good. Invite people from outside to your centre. You can invite devotees for Srila Gurudev's appearance day that is coming or for any other holy day, you can arrange a programme, that is good for us.

All other countries preach in the street, they do sankirtan—only sankirtan can spread our conception, and only sankirtan movement is actually necessary. Mahaprabhu conquered the whole world through sankirtan movement. Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad also conquered all countries all over the world through sankirtan, with the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. We too must preach and engage in the preaching movement in this way.

Preaching movement is necessary. I tell you this all the time. We must preach more in Singapore. And when it comes to Gaura Purnima, everybody can come and join the parikrama here, it would be good. Everybody can take four-five or a week holiday to come at the Gaura Purnima time. Also, some devotees can come to Ekachakra also for Nityananda Prabhu's appearance festival, that will be good for everybody.

* * *

Be Small to Be Big

Speaking to the devotees in Singapore

13 November 2011, part 2

You must keep some time for the Lord, for the Guru... Without Their causeless mercy we cannot think about the Guru and Gauranga, but at the same time:

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

Devotion is very rare. We offer something to Krishna, we pray to Krishna, but we do it seeking our own material enjoyment—Krishna will always giving that material enjoyment to us and make us happy, but He will not give devotion to us. This is written in Chaitanya-charitamrita—Mahaprabhu Himself says it.

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

If we ask Krishna for something material, He will give that to us and make us happy, but He will hide devotion from us; but if some devotee asks Krishna for devotion, they will get devotion easily then.

We must understand that some difficulty can always come, and I know that too. You must harmonise with everything. For example, if you make a family, there is bound to be some fighting—just as if you make some association or a club (a football club or a cricket club), there will also be some fighting. Our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math is also like a small association. If somebody has ego, then they have a problem. Ego is nothing—our main goal is to serve our Guru, to serve our Gurudev's Mission. Some small problem can come, but it means that Krishna is testing you—He is testing you to see how much you can tolerate, to see how much patience you have.

A manager must first of all be a servant—a president must be first of all a servant, a secretary must be first of all a servant. Even if we are to fight with some opposition group, we must be always humble to our own people. We must be always humble and tolerant with our own brothers, our own men. Those who want to be the temple commander, the temple manager must be first of all a servant. That is the main point.

Gurudev said that if you want to be a temple manager, you must first be a good person—it is not necessary to be a big devotee, to show big devotional activities. You must just be a good person and must have good qualities—be humble, tolerant and give honour to others.

There is one devotee in charge of a temple who always chastises other. One day, I told them, "If you think you are a manager, if you think you are a Vaishnav, then you cannot serve this Mission. Only if you think you are a servant of the Vaishnavs, can you serve this Mission, otherwise not." Such quality must come to us—we must be a servant. The problem is that everybody wants to be a master, nobody wants to be a servant—everybody wants to be a prabhu, but not everybody wants to be a servant, that is the main problem in our spiritual life...

Somebody knows something and they say, "I know more than you!" That is a problem. We do not want to learn from others, we always want to teach others... We always want to speak, but we do not want to listen, that is our problem in our spiritual life.

Once, a sannyasi from Mayapur came to some gathering. He said, "I want to speak too," and I heard Gurudev say, "You want to speak, but why do you not want to listen?" That is our problem. We must always want to hear, to listen.

* * *

Fortune Favours the Brave

Speaking to the devotees in Singapore

13 November 2011, part 3

It is necessary to increase the preaching movement. I can send you some books from Nabadwip—there are so many books, old and new, many Guru Maharaj's books, Gurudev's books. Somebody can take charge and appoint devotees, "You can distribute five copies," "You can distribute six copies," and so on. Do book distribution, spread our preaching movement in this way.

Somebody must take responsibility—not like, "You will always sing, and I will listen." No. Everybody must sing, everybody must take responsibility. Everybody thinks, "Oh, he is the temple president, he will do everything," or, "He is the secretary, it is his responsibility." It is not so. Everybody must have some responsibility and everybody must take much responsibility—the more one does, the more one gets. Gurudev says that if you can surrender 60%, you will get 60%, if you surrender 20%, you will get 20%, and if you take surrender 1%, you cannot hope to get 100%. You must understand this.

We must keep some time for service, for your Guru, it is necessary for our spiritual life.

You can write to me sometimes. Devotees from all over the world write to me all the time. If you read books, you will have many questions. when you get time, you must read the books. We actually do not know anything about Krishna consciousness... And you can always keep in touch with me through the Internet. Now is the Internet age, and you can contact me very easily. I answer so many questions from all over the world, sometimes 50-60 question per day. Devotees read books and they have question.

Loving search for the lost servant... If you practise, you will be perfect—practice makes perfect. If you read Gurudev's books, you will get Gurudev's association. It is necessary to read his books, and it is also necessary to chant. Chant all the time, any time. For example, now my blood sugar is so much less because every morning I do some walking for one hour and while I walk during that one hour I chant without the chanting beads. You can chant at any time, without the beads too. You can be sitting in a car and chanting. It does not matter where you are, always remember Krishna, do not forget Him. That is my main message to you...

I always feel sad that Singapore devotees never ask questions, but I guess they know everything because they are always with Gurudev, they keep Gurudev in their hearts and they always get inspiration from Gurudev. Because you keep Gurudev in your heart, I can see Gurudev through you all... So, if you have any questions, Gurudev can give answer to you.

Gurudev is always ready to answer your hankering, to fulfil any desire you have, to supply anything you ask for. If you have some desire, mercy will come, and you must remember one thing that Gurudev said: no service—no mercy; no mercy—no service.

* * *

Devotion Comes from Devotion

Speaking to the devotees in Singapore

13 November 2011, part 3

Three-four days ago two Muslim ladies came from Turkey, I gave initiation to them. They are now chanting and they are very happy; and they always like Tulasi.

Always serve Tulasi—Tulasi should be served at every house. Wear Tulasi, pay dandavat to Tulasi, then your devotion will always be increasing. I am telling this to everybody: keep Tulasi in your house. Worship Tulasi—if you have no Deity, if you do not offer bhog at an altar, you can always bhog to Tulasi. I am telling this to everybody, and it is easy to get Tulasi leaves, to plant Tulasi in Singapore, so you must plant, you must serve Tulasi Devi, Tulasi Maharani. "Tulasi dekhi' judaya prana madhava-tosani jani': seeing Tulasi Devi soothes my soul, for I know she pleases Madhava." Those two Muslim ladies who came here always serve Tulasi, and they got inspiration from Tulasi Maharani.

And one more thing I want to tell you is the clothes. You know, pants, shirts, etc. are for the office... When you join the army, you must wear the military uniform; when you join the police force, you must wear the police uniform—you must have a rifle, a gun, a pistol, etc. So, when you do devotional activities, Tulasi beads, a dhoti, the tilaks are necessary, then your mind will be fresh. Do you understand what I am saying? These are basic things. Think about it—why did Prabhupad and Bhaktivinod Thakur use all these things?

If you get a police uniform today and put it on, you will think, "Oh, I am like a policeman now!" So, wear proper clothes during devotional practising time. It is necessary to wear a dhoti, a kurta, etc. then you will become habituated with this, and it will be very good. Next week I want to see all ladies wearing a sari and men wearing a dhoti and a kurta.

* * *

Cultivate Your Heart

23 January 2012, Khammam (Telangana, South India)

Today is a very fortunate day because we have come to this temple here and we are getting the association of you all. "Vaisnava sangete mana anandita anuksana": we always get pleasure through good association.

First one must have sukriti. Sukriti and punya are not the same thing. Sukriti is some merit coming from the previous time. "Tad vastu tadiya sevaya: using His things for Him." We must use everything for the service of the Lord. Everything in this world exists for the service of the Lord, and when something is used for the service of the Lord, that is called sukriti. As for punya, the result of punya is heaven—if you do some good (pious) work, you will go to heaven, but you will have to come back from there; if you do some bad work, you will have to go to hell, but you will have to come back from there too. Actually, you know that we have all come from the same place. You think that you were born here, I was born in another place, and somebody else in some other place, but we have all come from the same place and we must all go back to God, back to home.

That is why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to this world. Krishna Himself appeared in this age of Kali as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—Radha-Krishna's combined form—to take us from this kind of environment. We are suffering so much in this illusory environment, and He comes to take us to our real home. How do we get to our real home? In Satya-yuga the process was dhyan (meditation), in Treta-yuga it was yajna (fire sacrifice), in Dvapara-yuga paricharya (Deity worship), but now, in Kali-yuga, Guru and Vaishnavs come to rescue the whole world from this kind of environment through Harinam sankirtan.

If you get a great bona fide Guru and sincerely chant the Holy Name, you can get the bhakti-lata-bij (seed of the devotional creeper).

brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva

guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija

"Having travelled throughout the universe and got the mercy of Guru, Krishna, a fortunate soul receives a seed of the devotional creeper."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.151)

Those who are fortunate souls—who have sumedha (some good brain)—can receive this Holy Name and through this Holy Name they can get the real benefit in their spiritual life. How can you get it? As I just said, it starts from sukriti.

There is jnata sukriti (conscious devotional merit) and ajnata sukriti (unconscious devotional merit). For example, if a flower blooms somewhere in the field and just dries, it is useless, but if Vaishnavs, sadhus, or devotees can take that flower and give it to the Lord, then that flower tree will get benefit. That is called ajnata sukriti.

Through sukriti comes sraddha (faith), through faith comes sadhu-sanga (good association), through sadhu-sanga comes sravanam-kirtanam (listening and practising), and through sravanam-kirtanam the bad elements that come to your heart become removed. After that, through your devotional activities, you can get the real seed from the bona fide Guru.

So, it is necessary to cultivate your heart, to make it fertile. You have got a good seed, and you must increase, must grow your bhakti-lata-bij through sravanam-kirtanam.

I am telling to everybody present here: not puja, not anything else is effective in this age of Kali except the chanting of the Holy Name. Only by chanting the Holy Name can you get the real benefit and go to your real home... As I said, Mahaprabhu came to this world to take you home—Mahaprabhu cried, "This is not your home! You have lost your address!"

jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale

kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole

Sri Gorachand says, "O souls, awake! O souls, awake! How much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?"

"Please do not sleep! Wake up! How much longer will you sleep? Come, I have come to take you home! This is not your home, you have lost your address!"

If you think about this seriously, you can easily understand this.

jivana anitya janaha sara

tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara

namasraya kari' yatane tumi

thakaha apana kaje

"Know that the main thing is that life is temporary and filled with all sorts of danger. Carefully take shelter of the Name and do your work."

(Gitavali, Arunadaya kirtan, 1.3, by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

This life is anitya (it is not permanent, it is not eternal). We can die at any time. You think, "I will chant tomorrow", "Tomorrow will be another day", "I will live tomorrow", but life is full of so many dangers (tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara), so many problems can come in your life. That is why, you must take shelter of the Holy Name (Namasraya kari') and you can continue your work (thakaha apana kaje)…

* * *

A Shift In Objective

23 January 2012, Khammam (Telangana, South India)

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim

yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

"The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill—all it takes is mercy of Gurudev."

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

“I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge.”

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam

chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam

govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram

vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

“I offer my obeisance unto he who perfectly fulfils his Gurudev's most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his Gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all aspects of Vedic knowledge, both conceivable and inconceivable; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu's line; who is known as 'Govinda'—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj; whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the Guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.”

Actually, a cloudy day is not a bad day in our life. What day is a bad day in our life? The day when we cannot chant the Holy Name, the day when we cannot hear Hari-katha, Krishna-katha, bhakti-katha—that day is a bad day in our life.

"Bhakta-sangete mana anandita anuksana": we always feel happy to be in the association of devotees. Among us today here are devotees of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, devotees of Lord Ramachandra... You know that there are four ages: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapar-yuga, and Kali-yuga. Worshipping Lord Ramachandra was in Treta-yuga, but we live not in Treta-yuga—we live in Kali-yuga and we must know what is the dharma (prescribed religion) of Kali-yuga.

Srimad Bhagavatam says, "Kalau dosa nidhi": in Kali-yuga people are so proud and there is so much difficulty in Kali-yuga, but we are actually fortunate—in this age of Kali we are getting the Holy Name. This Holy Name can rescue us and all souls all over the world from this kind of environment. That is why we worship Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who brought this Holy Name in this abode.

kaler dosa-nidhe rajann asti hy eko mahan gunah

kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-bandhah param vrajet

"My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 12.3.51)

But it is not like the tradition to come to a temple, pay dandavat and go. We must practise properly—practice makes perfect.

How will the Holy Name come to your mind and to your heart? Through association. If you chant the the Holy Name and you keep good association, you will get the benefit through the chanting of the Holy Name.

'sadhu-sanga', 'sadhu-sanga'—sarva sastre kaya

lava-matra sadhu sange sarva siddhi haya

"Good association", "good association," all the scriptures keep saying. Only by good association can you get all perfection.

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.22.54)

If you always keep the association of sadhus, you will get everything—you will get the real benefit.

This is how it comes:

adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango 'tha bhajana-kriya

tato 'nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha ruchis tatah

athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudanchati

sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah

"In the beginning there is faith, then good association, then practising life. After that, the offences gradually go away, faith becomes stronger, taste comes, then attachment, then there arises affection and love. This is how love to God comes to those who practise Krsna consciousness."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.4.15-16)

First you must have sukriti, then you get sraddha, then sadhu-sanga. You know that you can give sukriti to others very easily at any time. For example, if you offer a flower to Lord Ramachandra, Lord Nityananda, Lord Mahaprabhu, Lord Krishna, or Lord Balaram, you can give some real benefit to the tree or plant where that flower had come from. This is how one gets sukriti. Through sukriti you get faith. It is necessary to have a strongest faith because the quality of your devotion depends on the quality of your faith (the more faith you have, the more devotion you have, "sraddha-anusari bhakti-adhikari). Through faith, you get sadhu-sanga, then sravan-kirtan, then anartha-nivritti.

So, first is faith, then sadhu-sanga, sravan-kirtan, anartha-nivritti, then comes nistha, sincerity. It is necessary to be always sincere, then you will have attachment to service. But we worship the Lord anyhow, at any time we fancy—we come to a temple one time, do some puja and go back home. We do puja for our own enjoyment, for our own fulfilment—we do not worship Krishna for Krishna's satisfaction, we worship Him for our own satisfaction. That is the problem.

* * *

Rare Sincere Mood

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 1

You have all come for the festival of Guru Maharaj, it is very good. What did Guru Maharaj keep us here for? To complete the works that he had not completed. Having only taken initiation, you do not become a disciple.

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana

sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

"At the time of initiation, when a devotee fully surrenders unto the service of the Lord, Krishna accepts them as His very own."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Antya-lila, 4.192)

The main thing is atma-samarpan (to give yourself).

Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote:

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,

padechhi tomara ghare

tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,

baliya janaha more

“I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.”

(Saranagati, 19.1)

bandhiya nikate amare palibe

rahiba tomara dvara

pratipa-janere asite na diba

rakhiba gadera pare

"Tie me up nearby and maintain me. I will remain at Your doorstep. I will not allow anyone who is against You to enter, I will keep them outside."

"I will keep those who are unfavourable to devotion (bhakti-pratikul), who are unfavourable to you, far away—I will not let them come close to you." These are Bhaktivinod Thakur's words.

taba nija-jana prasada seviya

uchchhistha rakhibe yaha

amara bhojana parama-anande

pratidina habe taha

"Whatever remnants your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad, I will eat that every day in great ecstasy."

"Your devotees will take prasad and I will take whatever remnants they leave, with great joy every day." And what do we do? We cook, offer the bhog, and then if we see some paneer floating on top, we first pick the paneer out. We think, "I will eat the paneer first!"

Who will understand this? Who will believe it?... Prabhupad said, "Have you become a sadhu or do you only dress as a sadhu?"

I was telling yesterday in the class about this pastime from Chaitanya Bhagavata. When Haridas Thakur was in Phuliya, he would chant and dance all day, and the eight transformations of ecstatic love would appear within him—he would roll on the ground and cry. One time, one dhanga-vipra (a pseudo brahman) saw him and thought, "Everybody is giving so much honour to Haridas Thakur, everybody likes him so much. I also can do like him!" Then, he came near to the crowd around Haridas Thakur and began to roll in the dust. There was a snake charmer there (Anantadev himself). When the snake charmer saw what that brahman was doing, he beat him so much that the brahman ran away crying, "Father! Mother!" People asked him later, "Why did you do this?" and the snake charmer explained that he had beaten the brahman because he was a fake, a hypocrite.

It is necessary to serve Krishna sincerely.

* * *

Keep Afloat

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 2

Among the nine practices of devotion (sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, vandanam, dasyam, sakhyam, atma-nivedanam—hearing, chanting, remembering, offering obeisance, engaging in service as a servitor, as a friend, and self-submission), there are five practices that are the best (sadhu-sanga, nama-kirtana, bhagavata-sravana, mathura-vasa, sri-murtira sraddhaya sevana—one should associate with devotees, chant the Holy Name of the Lord, hear Srimad Bhagavatam, reside at Mathura, worship the Deity with faith).

bhakti-anukula matra karyera svikara

bhakti-pratikula bhava—varjanangikara

"Accepting what is favourable to devotion and rejecting what is not favourable to devotion."

(Saranagati, 1)

We sing this in the morning every day—what is favourable to devotion (bhakti-anukul) and what is not favourable to devotion (bhakti-pratikul)? Guru Maharaj says that if Krishna Nam comes to someone's mouth, then sadhu-ninda, Vaishnav-ninda (offences to and criticism of the devotees and Vaishnavs) can never come from that mouth—the Holy Name of Krishna can never come to the mouth that sadhu-ninda, Vaishnav-ninda come from.

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya

namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

The Holy Name of Krishna never appears in bad association.

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

“I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus. There is no other way to conquer samsara.”

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

The Holy Name appears only in good association (sadhu-sanga).

Atyahara, prayasa, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulya, janasanga (too much eating, doing nonsense, talking nonsense, superficial attachment to rules and regulations, greed, associating with nondevotees)—these six destroy devotion. Atyahara means eating too much food, prayascha means hoarding, prajalpa means talking too much, niyamagraha means being uninterested, apathetic towards devotional activities and excited towards undevotional activities, etc. These are all obstacles to devotional activities,

Guru Maharaj said, "Wherever you are staying, whatever your situation is, in whatever circumstances I may be, I must protect my spiritual life." It does not matter whether you are staying, in a house or in a jungle—even on a train you can wake up early in the morning, do mangal-arati, engage in sravan-kirtan. These are limbs (parts) of devotions, and this is how devotion comes—bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (Brhan-naradiya Purana), if you associate with devotees you will get devotion.

What does association with devotees mean? How will you get association of your Guru? You will get the association of your Guru by serving your Guru. Those who follow Gurudev's words get association of Gurudev, those who follow devotees' words get association of devotees. There is no other way.

There is one quote (vani) of Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. It is written very nicely there—if you do not follow the order of your Guru, then what you are doing is not service, it is service of maya. Serving your Guru means following the Guru, adhering to his instruction, otherwise if you do not follow your Guru, whatever you do, it will be service of maya—even if you visit all holy places, even if you practise all sixty-four types of devotion. Whatever you do you must do it with constant adherence to your Guru. These are Prabhupad's words. If you follow this, you will not fall into bondage, and even when you are in the state of perfection (siddha), you still must constantly adhere to our Guru. If you try to do some service without following your Guru, it will only be some fault, only offence will come. These are Prabhupad's words, I have it printed in English and in Bengali.

In his last days, Guru Maharaj said with much sadness, "You tried so hard to bring people from so many places to serve the Lord, and I have also travelled all over the world trying to bring people to serve the Lord, but finally how many people have come and how many have stayed?" This is what Guru Maharaj said, feeling sad, in his last days.

We must stay afloat till our last day, that is the main thing. Emotion and devotion look the same, but it is not the same. Somebody shows much devotion, sheds tears, rolls on the ground, but after a few moments all is gone. Devotion must be lasting—love for your service must be lasting. That is why we want to be always sincere.

* * *

Through Heart and Mercy

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 3

What danger we are in! You may say, "I do not understand—what danger is he talking about?"

Pariksit Maharaj was a great and absolute ruler on earth, and he got a seven days' notice that he had to leave his body. In our cause, we are not going to get such a notice at the end—if we could, then we would know when we have to leave. When Pariksit Maharaj got that notice, he immediately understood that he had to leave all kingdom, all his subjects, the whole world, etc. and who gave him the solution? Srimad Bhagavatam. Arjuna also wanted solve his problem, and everybody told him different things, but who finally gave him the solution? Srimad Bhagavad-gita.

If we remember and try to understand the scriptures, then we can understand what love really is, what devotion really is. Gopis left everything—honour, disrespect, shame, fear. Who did they leave everything for? For Krishna—people can give them respect, can criticise them, they can put them to shame, make them fearful, they did not care and gave up everything for Krishna.

When Narad Goswami said to the gopis, "Do you know what is going to happen to you if you give your feet dust to Krishna?" They said, "Yes, we know. We will have to stay in hell birth after birth., but if it means something to Him, then it is good. We are not afraid to live in hell, we do not worry about it. As long as our Lord is well, then it is good." Gopis never think about themselves. "If I die, let it be, as long as my Guru is OK, as long as the Lord is OK"—this is what we must think about, and this is what is called love... Such love must come to us.

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

The same kind of love that we now have for material things must come for the Lord, for the lotus feet of our Guru, then you can think that you have devotion, that you have something.

Our Gurudev said, "You can check yourself—do your ears want to hear all kinds of nonsense or do your ears want to hear Krishna-katha?" He also said that a temple is a place for Bhagavat-katha, for Hari-katha, it is not a place for nonsense talks. There is a Deity in a temple, and there is also a drain in a temple (what is a drain for? it is a place where all dirt and stool goes)—which side will your eyes go? When you go to Vrindavan, you can get the darshan of (behold) the intimate pastimes of Radha-Krishna, you can practise constant service in the seva-kunja, or somebody can only see monkeys pass stool everywhere.

You must have the eyes to see proper things—you cannot see it with your material eyes. Even Brahma himself says, "If they know, they can know, but I do not know [the Lord]." At first, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not pay obeisance to Mahaprabhu, but Gopinath Acharya did. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said,

"Gopinath, who did you pay obeisance to?"

"Do you not know who He is?"

"Who? He is just a new sannyasi!"

"You do not know it, but He is the Lord Himself!"

"I do not think so."

"That means you do not know the scriptures."

"I have read many scriptures!"

"Oh, you say you have read so many scriptures, but have you read Bhagavatam? Have you read Mahabharata?"

"So, I say He is not the Lord, so I do not know the scriptures, and you say He is the Lord so you think you know all the scriptures! Go take prasad, then come and we will talk!"

In the end, Gopinath Acharya said to him, "You cannot know the Lord with the help of knowledge, eduction, or intelligence. If you want to know Him, you need to have a heart, and ultimately you need what? You need mercy. You do not have that mercy, and I have it. If you get mercy one day, then you too will be able to understand it."

You can understand Mahaprabhu as long as you have Mahaprabhu's mercy. Who can know the Guru? Who can understand the Guru? We always want Gurudev's mercy because without his mercy we cannot understand, we cannot know Gurudev. You cannot understand the Guru with these material eyes, with your material knowledge, your brain—you need to have a heart, and ultimately you need mercy, then you can understand your Guru. If you want to know who is the Guru, if you want to understand the Guru, you need to have eyes in your heart.

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya

chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

"I offer my obeisance unto Sri Gurudev, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, with the salve of divine knowledge."

You cannot get a Guru through knowledge, through renunciation, through intelligence, education, through this mundane knowledge. That is why Gopinath Acharya said to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, "I have mercy and you do not. If you get mercy one day, then you can know who Mahaprabhu is."

What did Sivji Maharaj say? "Aham vetti, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. I know it, Sukadev Goswami, the son of Vyasadev, knows it, but Vyasadev himself, who composed Srimad Bhagavatam, may not know it." Even Vyasadev who wrote Bhagavatam may not know it, but Sukadev knows it!

It is necessary to know who Gurudev is, to understand Gurudev. We only want to have Gurudev's mercy…

* * *

Do Not Get Drifted

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 4

Conditioned, fallen souls such as ourselves cannot understand who the Guru is...

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Guru is the Lord Himself, but then at the same time He is a dearmost of the Lord. We do not have the eyes to understand, to know such Guru. If we practise and serve properly, if we keep good association properly, then we can get the super benefit in our life, we can get the Lord's service—there is no other way...

Gurudev said once, "Many think that Guru Maharaj is not here any more, but those who have such vision, who think in this way actually do not have any connection with their Guru." Does Guru go anywhere? He does not. He was there, he is always there, and in future too he will always be there. Our vision is material, it is necessary to see through the eyes that we have inside...

Those who want to do some service, they will always follow their Guru, otherwise it will be service of maya. Guru Maharaj also said that we have got time to serve the Lord, but in the meantime Maya Devi comes and takes this time away—she uses it for her own self, and we are losing our time.

dina yaya michha kaje nisa nidra-base

nahi bhavi marana nikate achhe base

“My days pass in useless work and nights are wasted on sleeping. It never occurs to me that there is death sitting next to me.”

('Durlabha manava janma labhiya' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Time is passing but we never think that we can leave at any moment. If we can use our senses (eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue) for the service of the Lord, then we can get great benefit. Guru and Vaishnavs try time and time again to do everything so that we do not turn away from the service of the Lord...

ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi

grhete goloka bhaya

“On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.”

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Goloka Vrindavan is always playing in the house where there is service to the Lord.

trnadhika hina, dina, akinchana chhara

apane manabi sada chhadi' ahankara

vrksa-sama ksama-guna karabi sadhana

pratihimsa tyaji' anye karabi palana

“Give up your false ego, and always consider yourself lower than grass, poor, needy, and mean. Practise tolerance like a tree. Give up vengeance and nurture others.”

jivana-nirvahe ane udvega na dibe

para-upakare nija-sukha pasaribe

"Live without causing anxiety to others; do good unto others without considering your own happiness."

(Sri Siksastakam Giti)

This is written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, and our Guru Maharaj always preached this.

dainya, daya anye mana, pratistha-varjana

chari gune guni hai karaha kirtana

“Humility, compassion, honouring others, and giving up prestige—become qualified with these four qualities and chant the Name.”

(Sri Siksastakam Giti)

Who is able to do kirtan? Those who have humility, who have compassion, who can give honour to others.

We forget the Lord, we forget Krishna, forget our Guru—we are suffering from a disease. Maya is pulling us in one direction, Guru and Vaishnavs are pulling us in the other direction, and our mind is perverted and fickle. If we do not practise all the time, then we will have to come to this position time after time. In his last days, Gurudev said, "Maya can take us away from the service of the Lord at anytime, but we never think about it. Seeing this makes me very sad." If you always practise sravan (hearing) and kirtan (chanting), if you always keep good association (sadhu-sanga), hear Hari-katha, then gradually Maya will run away from you.

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,

sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by illusory environment (by engaging in maya); it is only possible to get relief by the mercy of Guru, Vaishnav."

That is why we always want mercy of the Guru and the sadhus (Vaishnavs). If we do not get their mercy, then we will never be able to get out of this ocean of material existence...

* * *

Source of Our Sustenance

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 5

If you fall into a great ocean, how will you get out of it? What is the way out for us? To rescue us, the Lord gives us some engagement, but we live just to have some money, to have some food and clothes... Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said: if you give some nice dal and vegetables to a pig, the pig will not eat it, but if you give it some stool, it will be very happy. How long have we been living for money, food, clothes? We have got this human birth but only worry about these things! How will we be rescued from this situation?

tava nija-jana kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

daya kari more patita dekhiya

kahila amare giya

"You have sent a great soul, Your associate (to rescue me)! Seeing me so fallen and being merciful, he came to me and said...."

The Lord has sent His very own man, who came to me and said, "Come! I have come for you!"

tomare tarite sri-krsna-chaitanya

navadvipe avatara

"Sri Krishna Chaitanya has appeared in Nabadwip to deliver you."

What did Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu give us?

sri-krsna-chaitanya-daya karaha vichara

vichara karile chitte pabe chamatkara

"If you consider the mercy of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, you will be wonder-struck to realise it."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.15)

Such is the mercy of Chaitanya-chandra. Some can accept this mercy and some cannot... Still, Mahaprabhu said to Sanatan Goswami,

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva

iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

"Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs. Sanatan, besides this, there is no other religion."

"There is no other religion—you must be merciful to the jiva souls." How many people we have brought to the lotus feet of Gurudev, and how many people actually get the taste for the Holy Name (Name ruchi)? You can chant always, all the time, but the result will come only if it is the real Holy Name.

Even though Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj chanted three lakhs of Holy Names, he still went to hear to lila-kirtans. Guru Maharaj (Srila Sridhar Maharaj) kicked him out of the temple for this. Somebody met Babaji Maharaj on the way to Mayapur and asked him,

"What has happened?"

"Sridhar Maharaj has kicked me out," Babaji Maharaj replied.

"Why?"

"Because I went to hear lila-kirtan."

Think about it. A three-lakh babaji does not get taste from chanting the Holy Name and goes to hear some kirtans about boys and girls—even though he chanted three lakhs of Holy Names, he did not get the taste! So, will you get taste for chanting just by keeping the beads in your hand the whole day? You hold the chanting beads in your hand all the time, but in the meantime you talk so much nonsense, how will you get taste in this way? It is not so easy....

Srila Sridhar Maharaj had one servitor—one day he was going to give Srila Sridhar Maharaj his chanting beads, and he asked, "Would you like to chant on your beads?" Guru Maharaj replied, "No, give the beads to him," and he said our Gurudev's name. He said, "Give the beads to him, let him chant," and he only chanted, "Nitai Gaura Haribol, Nitai Gaura Haribol"... This happened in his last days, in 1986-1987... He was only praying for Nityananda Prabhu's mercy.

We too must seek the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu till our last moment—He is the source of our sustenance.

ara kabe nitaichand karuna karibe

samsara-vasana mora kabe tuchha ha'be

"When will Nitaichand give mercy to me? When will all my material desires become insignificant?"

('Prarthana' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

kabe nityananda more kari' daya

chhadaibe mora visayera maya

“When will Nityananda be compassionate to me and relieve me from the mundane illusion?”

("Kabe habe bolo se dina amar" by Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

"When will Nityananda Prabhu let me give up this material world?”...

* * *

God Proposes—God Disposes

6 December 2014, Bengali class, part 6

Everything happens by the wish of Gurudev—by his wish so many centres have opened all over the world. Mahaprabhu's conception is preached everywhere...

Recently, a new centre has opened in London. Gurudev's desire has been fulfilled. There was little place before, it was not sufficient for two-three hundred people, but now there is much place. Also, it was Gurudev's desire to have a centre near the airport, and his desire has been fulfilled.

Everybody was very anxious during the Deity inauguration time. I did not think anything, I was not anxious at all. I told the devotees that everything would happen according to Gurudev's desire and everything would go smoothly. There was some disagreement among the devotees and in the end they said I had to make the decision—it is like they had put a gun to my shoulder and the trigger was in their hands. I understood what was happening and I said to Gurudev, "I have no power and I have no problem—it is your problem, Gurudev, and you will solve it." Everything was resolved and went smooth.

The same thing happened at the inauguration time in Bamunpara also—they did not want to give Radha Gopinath Deities to us. The day before, Gurudev took prasadam in the evening at 8:30 p.m. and called me,

"Have you taken prasadam?" he asked me.

"No, I haven't."

"Take prasadam and then I one service for you, you must go out."

"I am not thinking about prasadam, tell me what I must do," I said to Gurudev.

"You must go Bamunpara now and take the Deities at night. They are waiting for you there. They are very hungry and They are crying. You must go there and take the Deities to the temple, offer Them some bhog and take prasadam."

It was Gurudev's appearance day, and I left as soon as the class in the nat mandir finished at 9:30 p.m. I took a car and went to Bamunpara, Gurudev's birthplace, at night time. There, we took the Deities (I took Radharani in my arms and one more devotee took Gopinath), and we walked to our temple in Bamunpara. Because it was night time and everything happened so suddenly, they could not gather the village people, everybody was sleeping. When we brought the Deities to our temple, we offered some bhog to Them. This is how They came.

The Lord arranges His own service Himself. When I just came here, there were only two temples, the main mandir and Param Guru Maharaj's samadhi, and now everybody says there are no servitors, but the Deity worship is running now in seven temples (Gurudev's samadhi, Land of Nectar, two temples at Govinda Kunda, and also the bus Deities), and all are running properly. How many centres have been opened in recent years? Class, kirtan and Deity worship is going on in each of them.

The Lord's service can never be stopped. If somebody thinks, "The temple cannot run without me!" that is their mistake, that is their ego. If somebody has such ego, it is their own problem and misconception. Deities arrange Their service Themselves. Krishna arranges His service Himself, we have no hand there. Anyhow seva and puja are running, and no one can stop it if it is going on properly (sraddhaya sri-murtira sevan). If somebody is disturbing, if somebody is making offence, that is their own problem—they will suffer for that. Nityananda Prabhu is very merciful, He is tolerating and tolerating, but in the end Mahaprabhu can bring His Sudarshan—by mistake. Then everybody will run away... One time Mahaprabhu has already brought Sudarshan, "by mistake"—for Jagai and Madhai. Who can say that He will not bring it again next time?

* * *

Guru's Mission

Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

8 December 2014, Bengali class, part 1

We are very fortunate today—every year we are always waiting for this day, we think, "When will I observe the holy appearance day of Gurudev?" This day comes one time a year.

Gurudev appeared on the day of Krishna-dvitiya. If he had not appeared today in this world, whose shelter would we take? Krishna Himself comes in the form of Guru to teach fortunate souls such as we all:

saksad-dharitvena samasta-sastrair

uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih

kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

"I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all the scriptures to be the Lord Himself, and considered to be so by the sadhus, yet is also the Lord's beloved devotee."

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, 7)

Guru is the Lord Himself (saksad Hari). Why does Gurudev come to this world? To tell us the message of the Lord. And what must we do? We must always make honest enquiry at Gurudev's lotus feet. Gurudev tells us the message of the Lord, and we tell something to Gurudev, and this is not some gramya-katha, material talks. "Who am I? Why do I suffer? What should I do to get relief?"—this is honest enquiry (pariprasnena).

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

"You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you."

(Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

We come to Gurudev to make some enquiry, and in reply Gurudev tells us the message of the Lord. The Lord sends His own man to spread His own message:

tava nija-jan kona mahajane

pathaiya dile tumi

It is necessary to come to the Guru.

I was just saying recently that you do not become a disciple just by taking initiation. After taking initiation, Gurudev gives you everything and we must always think about Gurudev's work, about spiritual matters. Gurudev does not want you to think about food, about what is good, what is bad, etc.—he wants you to think about the spiritual matters. You may worry, "Where will I go after this birth?" but Guru will take care of this—we must fulfil our duty to our Guru.

It is necessary to have love and affection to your Guru. If you come to your Guru with just some money, some wealth, he does not want that. If a Guru asks you for money, they can never be a Guru. Guru is self-sufficient, he is full in himself because he gets everything from the Lord—the Lord sends him to this world to do His job, so the Lord provides the Guru with everything. The Lord sends the Guru here to rescue the fallen souls such as ourselves, and if we do not understand it, if do not listen to this, then we will have to come to this ocean of material existence again and again, and we will never be able to get out of it.

That is why Gurudev appears in this world. He comes to preach Mahaprabhu's teaching, Krishna's teaching, and his own Guru's teaching.

Who can think about Gurudev? Who can understand Gurudev? Can we recognise the Guru with these material eyes? Can we recognise the Lord with these material eyes? Can you recognise the Lord with your erudition and knowledge? Never. It is necessary to see it and to understand him with your heart…

* * *

Stay Awake

25 December 2010, part 1

sri-radhayah pranaya-mahima kidrso vanayaivasvadyo

yenadbhuta-madhurima kidrso va madiyah

saukhyam chasya mad-anubhavatah kidrsam veti lobhat

tad-bhavadhyah samajani sachigarbha-sindhau harinduh

"'What is that great glory of Sri Radha's love? What is My extraordinary loving sweetness and charm that Sri Radha enjoys? And what is the joy Sri Radha feels by experiencing My sweetness and charm?' Yearning to taste these three sentiments, the moon—Krishna-chandra—was born from the ocean of the womb of mother Sachi."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.6)

"What does Sri Radha feel relishing my extraordinary sweetness? Why is Radharani crying for Me? Why does She chant My Name? I have to taste that Name! What kind of joy does She feel when She serves Me?"—to taste this kind of mood, Bhagavan Sri Krishna appears in this age of Kali.

Srimad Bhagavatam says (3.25.25),

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido

bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah

taj-jonanad asv apavarga-vartmani

sraddha ratir bhaktir anukraminyati

"In devotees' association, the talks about the Lord are like nectar to one's heart and ears, they are endowed with special power. By constantly hearing about the Lord, very quickly the soul becomes liberated and established on the spiritual path—first comes faith, then attachment, and finally love awakens."

(Quoted here in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.59)

What do the intelligent people do? They always avoid bad association. This sloka is from Bhagavatam.

tato duhsangam utsrjya satsu sajjeta buddhi-man

santa evasya chhindanti mano-vyasangam uktibhih

"Therefore, those who are intelligent will avoid bad association and keep good association. When devotees follow devotional guidance, everything that is unfavourable to devotion, all binding desires will cease."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.59)

What do the intelligent people do? They always avoid bad association and they always keep good association. What happens then? Through the association of the sadhus, what is unfavourable to devotion, all desires that bind you, everything will finish.

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido

bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah

taj-jonanad asv apavarga-vartmani

sraddha ratir bhaktir anukraminyati

"In devotees' association, the talks about the Lord are like nectar to one's heart and ears, they are endowed with special power. By constantly hearing about the Lord, very quickly the soul becomes liberated and established on the spiritual path—first comes faith, then attachment, and finally love awakens."

(Quoted in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 1.59)

By continuously hearing what sadhus, Vaishnavs tell, by hearing about the spiritually powerful pastimes of the Lord, all apavarga (what is not good) is removed and one gets faith, attachment, love, and devotion.

At the same time, do you know what Maya Devi says? Maya Devi said, "Where there are sadhus discussing about the Lord, when there is Hari-katha is going on, I will come and disturb at that time." Why? Because Hari-katha can remove all kinds of illusory environment.

You saw the other day when we were chanting kirtans, one lady was fast asleep. You can actually never sleep during a kirtan—kirtan is so loud, there is so much sound, can anybody sleep at that time, tell me? But when Maya comes and attacks, she makes you fall asleep, makes you unconscious. When you are asleep, you can hear the sound of one drop of water fall and your sleep is broken, you wake up; but if somebody is asleep during the kirtan, when the drums are playing, when everybody is singing, that is Maya Devi's work—it means the pisachi has come and attacked them (kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole—"how much longer will you sleep in the lap of the witch Maya?").

[Devotees laugh.] Why are you laughing? It is not a joke! As soon as your mind and heart go to some other place, Maya is near and she seizes you!

krsna-bahirmukha hana bhoga vanchha kare

nikatastha maya tare japatiya dhare

"When souls become averse to Krishna and desire enjoyment, nearby Maya seizes them."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.2)

You feel drowsy and then fall asleep... Three sisters come. Do you know who they are? Ghum-parani, Dol-dolani and Jhim-parani. [His Divine Grace and the devotees burst out laughing.] The first one is Ghum-parani—while so much kirtan, singing is going on, somebody goes, "Z-z-z-z" [fast asleep and snoring]. The next one is Jhim-parani, you start feeling very drowsy. And the last one is Dol-parani—you start rocking, or drooping and jerking while asleep. This youngest sister is very dangerous [His Divine Grace laughs].

The witch Maya seizes immediately. This is actually no news, it is true—the scriptures say it.

pisachi paile yena mati-chchhanna haya

maya-grasta jivera haya se bhava udaya

"When someone is possessed by a ghost, they become bewildered. This condition overtakes souls bound by Maya."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.3)

It is said also that Maya is nine(!) times stronger than a jiva soul. It is necessary to understand this and to know what your position is…

* * *

Chanting or Cheating Yourself?

25 December 2010, part 2

satam prasangan mama virya-samvido

bhavanti hrt-karna-rasayanah kathah

taj-jonanad asv apavarga-vartmani

sraddha ratir bhaktir anukraminyati

"In devotees' association, the talks about the Lord are like nectar to one's heart and ears, they are endowed with special power. By constantly hearing about the Lord, very quickly the soul becomes liberated and established on the spiritual path—first comes faith, then attachment, and finally love awakens."

When you continuously hear about the wonderful activities of the Lord, when you hear and hear, then all unfavourable things and obstacles are destroyed. It is necessary to practise hearing. If you do not listen to Hari-katha, you can never get relief from the bondage of Maya. Why did Guru Maharaj tell us to always recite the kama-gayatri? For this reason. We must always recite it, we must do it...

Why did Gurudev tell us to chant? The problem is that we do not chant—we are all cheating Gurudev. We do four rounds, put the mala down ("OK, I have done my rounds") and start talking, talking, talking, gossiping—how will you get the result in this way, Prabhu? Does attachment to the Holy Name come in this way? Or you are always holding the mala in your hand and at the same time thinking and talking so much. Is this Harinam? We are only showing mala in our hand, but we are saying so much nonsense. Is this Harinam? It is Nama aparadh and Namabhas, and that is also good—something is better than nothing...

sadhu-sange krsna-nama—ei matra chai

samsara jinite ara kona vastu nai

“I desire only to chant the Name of Krishna in the association of the sadhus. There is no other way to conquer samsara.”

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 6.13)

I have seen many times that when I am chanting, someone gets tired and the Holy Name does not come to their mouth... We can chant Hare Krishna ten times, fifteen times, twenty times, then people become tired. You can also see it yourself. Is it correct or not? But it is said that Mahaprabhu chanted and danced all day and night, Nityananda Prabhu chanted the whole day and night! How is it possible? The answer is that we must remove the bad elements, bad environment—until and unless you remove all dirty things from your heart, the real Holy Name will not come to your mouth.

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya

namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

The Holy Name will never come in bad association, only the letters, some Namabhas can come, but the transcendental Name (chinmoy Nama) does not come in this way. If the real transcendental Name comes even once in your life, then you can see the transcendental vibration everywhere. There is also another sloka,

avaisnava-mukhodgirnam putam hari-kathamrtam

sravanam naiva kartavyam sarpocchistam yatha payah

(Padma Purana)

The meaning is that if you take the milk, you get some energy, you get healthy, but if some snake drinks some milk and you drink it after that, then you may die from poison—that milk becomes poison. In the same way, if you chant Krishna's Name, it is OK, but it is necessary to chant the Holy Name with sadhu-sanga (good association). If you chant the Holy Name in bad association (in the association of non-sadhu, of those who are not Vaishnavs), it will also be chanting Hare Krishna, but you will die by that chanting—you will fall into hell as a result. That is the meaning of this sloka.

* * *

Know and Practise

25 December 2010, part 3

It is written in Bhagavatam (9.4.68),

sadhavo hrdayam mahyam sadhunam hrdayam tv aham

mad-anyat te na jananti naham tebhyo manag api

"Vaishnavs and sadhus are My heart, and I am also their heart. Sadhus do not know anything except Me, and I also do not know anything except sadhus." That is the meaning of this sloka from Bhagavatam.

If you read first two-three pages of Chaitanya-charitamrita (first chapter), you will see everything is here...

People keep Srimad Bhagavad-gita in their houses and think that if they worship Gita, then it is sufficient—it is not necessary to read Gita. Do you know what Indian people do? They do not read Gita—they keep Gita and put a Tulasi leaf with water on the book every day, and all Gita becomes rotten.

It is necessary to read the books, to know what is written in them and to practise that—it is necessary to study. Otherwise—if you do not read—you must listen to Hari-katha. It is necessary to surrender, to have surrendered mood. It is not necessary to know much or to study much. Srimati Radharani did not go to Cambridge or Oxford university. Which university did Radharani study at? In Mahaprabhu's time, there was an old lady, Duhkhi, at Srivas Pandit's house. What university did she study at? Nowhere—but she got Mahaprabhu's mercy! How? Through chanting. Even in Jharikhand, even tigers, deer also got mercy. Such mercy comes from the transcendental power, there is no other way to get it. So, it is necessary to read the books, otherwise you will not get anything. If you do not read, you can chant the kirtans...

There is another sloka in Bhagavatam (11.17.27),

acharyam mam vijaniyan, navamanyeta karhichit

na martya buddhyasuyeta, sarva deva-mayo guruh

(Sri Krishna said to Uddhava:) "You should know the bona fide spiritual master as My very Self. Gurudeva is the embodiment of all the gods. Never dishonour him or find fault in him by ascribing any mundane conception of place, time and circumstances to him."

"Know Guru as My own Self." If you underestimate the Guru thinking he is a human, then because of this sin you will be ruined. Guru is sarva-deva-maya (all demigods are present within him). People say, "Do not disrespect the Guru," and in the meantime they hidingly take ganja, pan, do nonsense. Gurudev sees everything! You must understand this.

* * *

Pursue Spiritual Education

25 December 2010, part 4

** came the same year as Gurudev, maybe only eight months or so later. He studied at school and finished perhaps 6-9 grades. When he joined the temple, he saw that many brahmacharis and sannyasis were scholars and educated, so he thought, "What will I do? I am not educated, I must go again to school and study, then come back..."

He told this to his his Guru (Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)—he said, "Guru Maharaj, I want to go to my house again and study."

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj replied, "Who will you study with? You are studying here and your classmates are Sukadev, Vyasadev, Brahma, Maheswar, and others. Who will be your classmates if you go there?"

That knowledge is no knowledge—we want para-vidya (transcendental knowledge). And that kind of vidya (material education) is not real knowledge.

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,

tomara bhajane badha

moha janamiya, anitya samsare,

jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is an exhibition of maya and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation for the temporary world and makes an ass of the soul."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

Do you know the meaning? What is material, mundane education? If you try to get so much mundane education, where there is much education life is going on, it is all mayara vaibhava, illusory environment—it only creates bondage to spiritual benefit and it makes a gadha (a donkey, or an ass) out of the jiva.

I heard that ** was giving some lecture to a professor of an engineer university yesterday. When I heard that man speak (dressed in a suit, with a tie, etc.), I thought, "Bhaktivinod Thakur said they become a gadha, but this man is even more than that—he is a double gadha!"

I also give this example almost every day, it happened a few months ago. There was one very educated man, a bank manager or perhaps even more than a manager, a bank director. His wife was a pilot. The father of the man died, and he was very clever—he said to his mother, "Mother, I have many sisters, and when you die, they will occupy the land. Give that land to my name." The lady had to agree and he registered the family land to his name. After the land had been registered, both the husband and the wife kicked his mother from the house. She went to the High Court, but at the trial her son said, "This is not my mother! She was my father's mistress." That is what knowledge is—that is the result of education.

jada-vidya yata, mayara vaibhava,

tomara bhajane badha

moha janamiya, anitya samsare,

jivake karaye gadha

"All mundane learning is an exhibition of maya and an obstacle to Your service. It brings about infatuation for the temporary world and makes an ass of the soul."

(Saranagati, 3.3)

They are both big scholars, the wife is a big scholar, and he is a big scholar, a bank manager, but he could say that his mother was a bad woman and was not his mother. And what for? Just for a little property, a little money.

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,

chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

For money, women, they forget everything and cannot think about anything else... This is what desire to enjoy does.

tomara kanaka bhogera janaka

kanakera dvare sevaha madhava

"Your money is the source of enjoyment, but you must use money to serve Madhava."

kaminira kama nahe tava dhama

tahara malika kevala yadava

"You hanker for women, but they are not meant for you. Their only proprietor is Yadava, Krishna."

dusta mana ! tumi kisera vaisnava ?

"O naughty mind! What kind of a Vaishnav are you?"

Then you must understand that spiritual knowledge is necessary. Spiritual.

jnana-yoga-karma-chaya mulya tara kichhu naya

bhaktira virodhi yadi haya

"Karma, jnana (fruitive activities, knowledge) are nothing, have no value if it is against devotion."

There is no value in karma (fruitive action) or in jnana (knowledge) if they are against devotion—it is all false, it is nothing.

Jay Srila Gurudev! Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Mercy Is All in All

Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

8 December 2014, Bengali class, part 2

I told about it the other day. When Mahaprabhu came to Puri, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya did not give obeisance to Him and Gopinath Acharya said to him,

"Why are you not paying obeisance to Him? Do you know who He is?"

"Know what? He is a new sannyasi, a young boy..."

"Oh, you do not know..."

"Do not know what?"

"He is the Lord Himself! He is the grandson of Nilambhar Chakravarti, the son of Jagannath Mishra. He took sannyas and His name is now Sri Krishna Chaitanya. He is the Lord Himself!"

"I do not think so."

"Well, you have not read the scriptures, so you do not know the scriptures..."

"I have read many scriptures! I know all the scriptures!"

"Oh, you say you have read all the scriptures? But have you read Mahabharata? Have you read Srimad Bhagavatam?"

"OK, you go take prasadam now. We will talk later."

Later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said,

"Because I do not consider Him the Lord you say I do not know the scriptures!"

"Prabhu, can I say something?"

"OK."

"You cannot know the Lord through your education, through your intelligence, or knowledge. You must feel it with your heart."

Another time, there was a debate between Sankara Acharya's group and Vaishnavs. The group of Sankar Acharya said, "We do not accept the commentary of Sridhar Swami! We will accept it only if Sivji Maharaj says so." So, they took the book with the commentary and kept it inside a temple of Lord Siva. The next day they came and saw that Sivji Maharaj himself had written a commentary—"Aham vetti, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va." "Aham vetti" means "I know," "Suka vetti" means "Sukadev, the son and disciple of Vyasadev knows it," but Vyasadev (who wrote the Bhagavatam) may or may not know it.

The mercy of the Guru is all in all…

* * *

Cherishing Service (1)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

29 November 2010, part 1

tomara sevaya, duhkha haya yata,

seo ta' parama sukha

"All the distress I encounter in Your service is also my greatest happiness."

(Saranagati 16.4)

When you do service, some kind of sorrow, some kind of sadness, some kind of problems will come—that is our happiness. We are very low, like worms in stool, but Gurudev takes us out, cleans us and takes us to the Lord.

So much pleasure also comes through service: when we engage ourselves in chanting, dancing, playing, with sankirtan, that brings even much happiness.

I am thinking how much Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu served his Gurus, Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami, when he came to Vrindavan. He served twenty-two and a half hours a day and he spent only one and a half hours on eating and sleeping. You saw the temple of Radha Damodar near our temple in Vrindavan, he stayed there. Rupa Goswami also served Sanatan Goswami. He would bring water from the Yamuna, massage his Guru with some oil, clean the room, clean the temple, do puja, cook—he did everything, alone. And he also wrote so many books...

Now we think, "You must serve this department, that department"—we are doing departmental service, but Rupa Goswami did everything himself—preaching, Vaishnav seva, writing books, writing slokas, cooking, puja, cleaning the temple, distributing prasadam. And to bring water he had to walk to the Yamuna. Now Yamuna is a little far because it is dry, but that that time they would walk to the bank of the Yamuna and bring water...

anyabhilasita sunyam jnana-karmady anavrtam

anukulyena krsnanusilanam bhaktir uttama

"The highest devotion is that which satisfies Lord Krsna, free from the coverings of any pursuits such as action, knowledge."

(Sri Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhuh, 1.1.11)

It is very nice...

anya abhilasa chhadi, jnana karma parihari

kaya-mane kariba bhajana

sadhu-sange krsna-seva, na pujiba devi-deva

ei bhakti parama karana

"The topmost process of devotional service is to worship the Lord with body and mind, giving up desires for fruitive activities and mental speculation. One should serve Lord Krsna in the association of devotees without worshipping any demigods."

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur's explanation of Srila Rupa Goswami's verse above)

That is our service.

* * *

Cherishing Service (2)

Sri Nabadwip Dham

29 November 2010, part 2

"Anya abhilasa chhadi"—we must leave all other desires. In our line and practising life, it is necessary to have chastity, and it is very difficult to have it. Gurudev also says that you will not get even 1-2% of devotees who have chastity—it is very rare to get a devotee who has much chastity for their Guru.

Did ** go to Govardhan?

—No, did not...

I asked to him, "Can you go to Govardhan?" It is the highest place of service, but he said he would not go there because it was too cold.... But when Mahaprabhu told Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami to go to Govardhan, Vrindavan, they did not say like this. When Mahaprabhu said to them, "This is your place, go there," He did not make a house for them there, but Gurudev made a good house, good heater, etc.—he made everything for us. Still, when I told one servitor, "Can you go to Vrindavan, Govardhan, to serve there?" he said it was too difficult and cold there in January. Do you see?

To serve in Govardhan is very fortunate, it is a great fortunate actually. I have not got that kind of fortune. Service at Govardhan, service of Giriraj is the highest place. Bhaktivinod Thakur and Prabhupad said, "I will not stay in Radha Kunda. I will go to Radha Kunda every day, but I will stay in Govardhan."

The devotee who will stay in Govardhan now is not a simple person. He did service to me, he served Gurudev continuously for one year, he has spent so much time here with me, and when I was not here he was alone here and tolerated so much, so many difficulties during those three months—he took care of my room, etc. That is why he has got this opportunity now. I know why, I can understand it. There were many names on the list and his name was the last one, but all are gone and he has got this chance, he is going to Govardhan and will do puja of Giriraj. It is not a small fortunate (alpa-bhagya), it is a great fortune.

* * *

Healthy Service Mood

Sri Nabadwip Dham

29 November 2010, part 3

*** used to have a good job, but he left it and stayed here. He had some sukriti, he was doing service but instead of doing puja he was earning money which is not good—it is not service; it all went to karma. Three months later he left...

Actually some offence had come. I heard last year and I also saw it when I went there that he did not take a good care of devotees, he treated them very bad—when I sent devotees to the place that he was in charge of, the rooms were dirty, nothing was arranged, etc. He was cheating me. ** believed he was a very good man, but I know what kind of man he is, I have many eyes. ** has two eyes, and I have many—when I was born I got two eyes and Gurudev gave me three more eyes, so now I have five eyes and I can see everything from here.

If the offence's seed is small, it is not a problem—a storm cannot do anything to you (because the plant is small), but when the tree grows very big, then when a storm comes, it will break the tree and the tree will fall down.

Another problem can also come if somebody thinks, "I have got mercy of Gurudev! Gurudev is praising me so much!"—ego can come through that. That is also difficult.

We must go to do service thinking, "I do not have any qualification to stay here. Prabhu, please give me some qualification—I am a fallen soul, please give me some mercy so that I can stay there and serve you, so that I stay in Govardhan." What do you think? "Oh I cannot do this, I cannot stay there during the cold winter season"? Are you doing anything? Your Guru will do it.

When Hiranyakasipu threw Prahlad Maharaj into fire, the fire did not work at that time. Why? Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlad Maharaj, "When I threw you into fire, why did you not suffer from the heat? Why did you not burn? What happened?" Prahlad Maharaj replied, "Oh, I was only chanting the Lord's Name and praying to the Lord at that time, and I saw that the Lord came and told the fire, 'I am removing your heat today!' And suddenly I felt so cold that I began to shake." The fire was there but it did not work. Do you understand? The Lord is powerful, He can do anything.

When Gurudev tells you, "Do this job," you think, "Oh, maybe I cannot do it...", but when Gurudev tells you to do something, he will actually do it because he is giving you the power also to do that job. So, when Gurudev tells you to give a lecture, for example, you must do it.

When Mahaprabhu told Rupa Goswami, "Recite this 'tunde tandavaniratim vitanute' sloka," Rupa Goswami was shy, but Svarup Damodar said, "Mahaprabhu told you to do it, so you must do it. You must explain this sloka!" Then Rupa Goswami folded his palms and started explaining that sloka. And he explained it happily—everybody was astonished, "How does this boys know how to explain such things?" At that time Mahaprabhu admitted that He had given some power to Rupa Goswami, but at the same time He said, "It is not sufficient. You all must give him some mercy." So, when Gurudev tells you, "Do this job," actually the Guru is doing it, we are not doing anything. Such feeling must come.

* * *

Lord's Care for Devotees

Sri Nabadwip Dham

29 November 2010, part 4

Every time I go to Kolkata I remember Nrisinghadev.

You see how Lord Nrisingha came to protect His devotee Prahlad Maharaj... The Lord can never tolerate harassment and chastisement of His devotees (bhakter lanchana, bhakter ganjana). Even Mahaprabhu said it also, "Maryada-langhana Prabhu sahite na pare: if you disrespect a devotee, the Lord Himself cannot tolerate that." Sometimes Jagadananda Prabhu disrespected Sanatan Goswami and Mahaprabhu became very angry and chastising Jagadananda Prabhu so much.

The Lord is always ready for the protection of His devotees. Mahaprabhu also protected His devotee Nityananda Prabhu—He called Sudarshan chakra, "You please protect Him, I will punish Jagai and Madhai!" Krishna always gives protection to His devotees

You can see it even in Kayadhu's (Hiranyakasipu's wife's) case also. When the demigods kidnapped her and wanted to kill her, suddenly Narad came there:

"What you doing here?!"

"Oh, it is Kayadhu!"

"Who is Kayadhu?"

"It is Hiranyakasipu's wife! Hiranyakasipu is a raksas (an asura, demon), and his wife is also a demon. She is pregnant and her son will become even a bigger demon—we must kill him! We must finish him off!"

"No," Narad replied. "It is impossible. You do not know that he who is coming from her womb will be a great devotee and he will protect all of you."

You know how Nrisinghadev protected Prahlad Maharaj, his devotee, later, even though Prahlad Maharaj was just a five-year-old boy.

Sometimes we pass Nrisinghadev's temple and I always stop my car there. I come to the temple and pay obeisance to Him. All my drivers know this—I tell them, "When you pass Nrisingha Palli, even if you have no time to stop, you must stop there for one minute for Lord Nrisinghadev's honour. It is necessary."

ito nrsimha parato nrsimho

yato yato yami tato nrsimhah

bahir nrsimho hrdaye nrsimho

nrsimham adim saranam prapadye

"Nrsimha is here, Nrsimha is there—Nrsimha is wherever I go. Nrsimha is outside, Nrsimha is within my heart. I am surrendered unto that primeval Lord Nrsimha."

The Lord always protect His devotees. We always say, "Suddha-bhaktir vighna vinaskari." It means that in devotional activities there always come some obstacles (Vaughn), and Lord Nrisinghadev is the One who can demolish, or resolve, such obstacles. Nrisinghadev or Gurudev can do it.

One time, somebody went to do some puja to Nrisinghadev and returned to Gurudev with some Nrisinghadev's prasadam. They gave it to Gurudev and Gurudev said, "Oh, I am afraid, that is why I must take it, but my Guru Maharaj will not take it because he is not afraid—Lord Nrisinghadev is afraid of Srila Guru Maharaj!”

* * *

Practise Kirtans

Sri Nabadwip Dham

29 November 2010, part 5

He is a young sixteen-year-old boy, he can learn something here, and he has a good mood. You can teach him how to do puja. Knowing puja is useful everywhere—you know, even if he goes to London, for example, they have two temples there.

Devotee: And every festival, every Sunday programme, he washes the dishes of everybody in the temple, of all the guests and devotees! Every Sunday!

It is a good service.

Usually, Mahaprabhu would not allow anybody to touch His feet, but when one sadhu touched His feet and took some of His footwash water, Mahaprabhu allowed him and told the devotees not to chastise him. His name is Kalidas... Do you see how he got the mercy?... In Bengal, he had taken every Gaudiya Vaishnav's plate and taken the remnants from their plates, that is why he got a great chance to touch Mahaprabhu's feet.

This is an example from Chaitanya-charitamrita, you can find all examples there... You can see that you can get a greater service, a greater opportunity through a smaller service...

Do you have a six-month visa?

—Yes.

Good, stay here and serve here, get some training. You must come to the class, to the sankirtan. Everybody must go for sankirtan every evening, then go to take prasadam—I will be very happy. Learn some sankirtan.

Whether somebody has been here for one month or two months or fifteen days, that is not a question. Everybody can learn two-three songs and chant every day. Follow the songs, that is good. It is not necessary to have a beautiful tune or sing professionally, it is necessary to just sing. Then, even if you go to your own country, you can also do it. If everybody sings and you only read the book, that is not good.

If you only learn a few songs from Gaudiya Gitanjali, you can preach about their meaning. You can give a class by explaining just one song. It is true. Every day you sing such songs as "Jiva jaga, jiva jaga, gorachanda bale, kata nidra yao maya-pisachira kole", "Gaya Gaura madhura svare", "Emana durmati samsara bhitare padiya achhinu ami", "Amara jivana sada pape rata nahika punyera lesa", and also the parikrama songs, "Jivana anitya janaha sara tahe nana-vidha vipada-bhara, namasraya kari' yatane tumi thakaha apana kaje," etc.

Actually, I did not read the song book so much. When I went for the kirtans, devotees sang and I would follow it, that is how I can sing now too. I am not a professional singer, nothing of the kind—I had never sung in my life; but I listened when the devotees sang and sometimes I also did the kirtan. At first, when I just joined the temple, in my brahmachari life, I went to the nat mandir every day for two months or more than that. After that, there was so much service pressure and I could not go, but during that time I had been singing at every arati, mangal arati, parikrama, etc. and all songs are now in my mind—I did not follow it with a book. Also, you know that *** does not even know how to read, but he knows many kirtans. How? Because he listened to the songs and remembered them. If you do kirtans, it is good for you.

Do kirtans every evening. What is our job after the arati? We go for prasadam at 7:30-8 o'clock, then we can do kirtans for one hour—why waste our time? In the morning you can come here, and in the evening those who have some service can do their service, but if everybody sits in the nat mandir after the arati and sings the kirtans, it is good. You can also learn how to play mridanga.

That is our education. In the morning, as soon as the arati and parikrama finish, you can do some kirtans. If you do not like to do it there, you come here also. Bring one mridanga and kartals and I can sing, you can learn here also, I will be happy. I am not a lazy man.

We do not want good tune—we do not want to be a gopi. There are already many "gopis" in this temple, I do not want to have another "gopi" here...

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Different Perspective

23 January 2012, Khammam (Telangana, South India)

You know what is the difference between Laksmi Devi and Radharani? Laksmi Devi serves Narayan, Krishna, but she serves Him for her own enjoyment, and Radharani serves Krishna for Krishna's satisfaction. That is the difference.

You know that Krishna left Vrindavan and went to live in Mathura, Dvaraka. There, Krishna said to Uddhav Maharaj, "Uddhav Maharaj, you are so dear to Me! Even Lord Siva, even I Myself am not as dear to Me as you are!" Hearing this, Uddhav Maharaj got some ego... One time, Krishna sent this Uddhav Maharaj to Vrindavan, saying, "I left Vrindavan so many days ago, go there and see how attached the gopis to Me are. Go and see what they are doing there." Krishna also gave him His clothes to wear.

When Uddhav Maharaj came there, the Vraja gopis came running to meet him thinking that Krishna Himself had come, but then they saw, "Oh, this is not Krishna!" and started walking back... Uddhav Maharaj quickly stopped them, "Wait! Yes, I am not Krishna, but I always stay near Him. He has sent me here to see you all. How are you all doing? How are you continuing your life? Do you sometimes remember Krishna?" The Vraja gopis replied, "Yes, we remember Him..." Then Uddhav Maharaj suggested, "If you want to see Krishna, you can close your eyes, meditate and you will see Him." All the gopis started laughing, "If we want to see Krishna, it is not necessary to close our eyes! We see Krishna wherever we look! We have become crazy—we cannot see anything except Krishna!"

Having seen, having understood what kind of devotion to Krishna the gopis and Radharani had, Uddhav began to cry—a large kunda (pond) appeared from his tears. You can see that Uddhav Kunda in Vrindavan... Then you can understand how much love and affection the Vraja gopis have for Krishna.

Chaitanya-charitamrita says,

krsna yadi chhute bhakte bhukti mukti diya

kabhu prema-bhakti na dena rakhena lukaiya

"If you ask Krishna for anything except devotion, He can give you those things—bhukti, mukti, liberation, and so on—but He will hide devotion from you. You will not get devotion."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 8.18)

You are worshipping Ramachandra, Krishna, but if you want your own enjoyment (if you are asking for something material, some material enjoyment in return), Krishna will give that to you—He will fulfil your desire and make you happy, but He will not give devotion to you. Devotion is a very high position, so Krishna will hide it from you. Do you understand it?

krsna kahe,—ama bhaje, mage visaya-sukha

amrta chhadi' visa mage,—ei bada murkha

"Krishna says, 'They worship Me, desiring material happiness—leaving aside nectar, they ask for poison. They are great fools.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.38)

At the same time, Krishna Himself also says, "If you worship Me but you have some material desires, I will not give it to you. In lieu of that, I will give devotion to My lotus feet, then you will forget everything!"

Gurudev said, "Brihat svartha paite haile, ksudra svartha tyaga korte haya: if you want to get great things, you must give up small things." Krishna Himself says, "If you think about Me, I will think about You," but we always think about our own selves, then what can we hope to get?

kanaka-kamini, pratistha-baghini,

chhadiyachhe yare sei ta vaisnava

"Those who have given up money, women, and fame, are the true Vaishnavs."

(Vaishnav Ke? 11)

We always run behind kanak (money), kamini (companions), and pratistha (name and fame), always worry, "How will I get everything?" But we have only three duties:

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva

iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

"Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs. Sanatan, besides this, there is no other religion."

Jive daya, Name ruchi and Vaishnav seva. Jiva daya means bringing the souls who have turned away from Krishna to this path. Name ruchi means having taste for chanting the Holy Name. You can have some good food in of you, but if you are sick you cannot get its taste—we are sick because we have material desires in our heart, that is why we are not getting taste through chanting. Rupa Goswami said,

tunde tandavaniratim vitanute tundavali-labdhaye

karna-kroda kadambinighatayate karnarbudebhyah sprham

cetah prangana-sanginivijayate sarvendriyanamkrtim

no jane janita kiyadbhir amrtaih krsneti varna-dvayi

“When the holy name of Krishna descends and captures the tongue and lips, it controls them so strongly that it engages them in chanting the holy name as if the lips and tongue have gone mad. In this way, the power of the name descends in them, and one feels that only one tongue and one mouth are not enough; thousands of mouths are necessary to taste the name. Then the holy name of Krishna enters the ear with such a great force and current that the ears are captured, and one thinks that only two ears are insufficient; he wants millions of ears to attend to the sweet current entering the ears. Two ears are nothing to him; he wants millions of ears. The nectar of the holy name is coming like a flood through his ears, pushing its way within the heart.

“It is so sweet that as it goes to capture the heart, the center of all senses, everything is paralyzed. Wherever that sweet aggressor touches, the whole thing is captured with such intensity that everything else is ignored. Rupa Goswami writes, "I don't know, I can't say, I fail to express how much nectar there is in the holy name of Krishna. These two syllables contain so much sweetness, and such a high quality of sweetness. And this sweetness is so aggressive that it captures everything."

(Vidagdha-Madhava, the translation is quoted from 'The Search for Sri Krishna')

"We chant the Holy Name, but one mouth is not sufficient—millions of millions, billions of mouths are necessary! We hear the chanting of the Holy Name, but two ears are not sufficient—billions and billions of ears are necessary!" This how Rupa Goswami describes the glories of the Holy Name (Nama mahatmya) in his sloka.

Through association we can get everything in our heart. For example, you can see that the electric charge is running here and there is light, but once the fuse goes off, the light will also be off. We have everything that we need but the problem is that we have no fuse—the fuse is cut. When some expert comes and puts the fuse in your heart, then you can understand everything clearly...

* * *

The Proof of the Pudding

23 January 2012, Khammam (Telangana, South India)

Do you have any questions?

Question: How can one get taste for the maha-mantra?

The taste will come if you chant the Holy Name with sincerity (nistha), without offences of Vaishnavs, without the ten offences; if you get the seed through a bona fide Guru; and through the service to the Vaishnavs.

Actually, some think, "Oh, I have got a bona fide Guru!" but what is the use getting a good doctor if you do not take the medicine he prescribes? We have got a bona fide Guru, but we are not following this Guru's instruction, then how will we get the taste? Suppose I get a prescription, but I put it away into my almirah or my table and do not take the medicine—how will I get taste without taking the prescribed medicine? You must follow Gurudev's instruction and chant the Holy Name, then you will easily get the taste.

It is like somebody is playing a football match and we are watching them play football—somebody is doing puja and we are watching them do it.

Question: What is the definition of bhakti?

I have already told it. You should come and practise. It is not necessary to think so much—you will not get the taste just by watching a football match, you must come and play football, play and enjoy with us!

Krishna Himself does not come to this world as a Vaikuntha-pati (Lord Narayan with four hands)—He does not want to be a Vaikuntha-pati—He comes here as a devotee, and He chants and dances with devotees. He is teaching us.

krsnera yateka khela, sarvvottama nara-lila,

nara-vapu tahara svarupa

"The highest form of Godhead is Krsna, who plays in His eternal divine pastimes like a human being."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 21.101)

Krishna does not want to be Narayan with four hands, Krishna comes with two hands, He chants, dances, eats, sleeps, plays with boys, He does everything—He is teaching us. We too must join that. If I chant, I will get the benefit—if you do not chant, how will you get the benefit? Just as when I take medicine, I will be cured—you must also take the medicine, then you will be cured too.

* * *

South India: Coconuts and Liberation

23 January 2012, Khammam (Telangana, South India)

We can say many things, many stories, it is not a problem, but you know that we do not so much have and Maharaj has told me that we must go to another programme, that is why I would like to make it short. Do you have any questions, Prabhu?

Devotee: He comes here every year.

Good.

kaya bara eli kaya bara geli

tabu tattva na sikhili

nijer matha nije khaili

e-dosa dibe kare bhai?

"Coming and going, coming and going, and never learnt anything. You have been eating your own brain, who will you blame now, brother?"

We come and go, all the time we come and go, come and go—we have got a body so many times. Who will you blame for always having to change bodies? We are ourselves our enemy, and we ourselves are our friend.

Question: When Sudama Vipra came to Krishna with some flat rice and Krishna took some of that flat rice, why did Rukmini stop Krishna from taking it? And why did Sudama Vipra bring only this flat rice? He could have brought something else...

Oh, that is because

bhakter jinish prabhu lutiputi khay

abhakter jinish prabhu ulti nahi khay

"The Lord eats anything and everything when a devotee offers it, but He does not take anything from a non-devotee."

A devotee can give anything to the Lord, and the Lord takes it; but a non-devotee cannot give anything because they give something to Krishna and inside they ask for something, like, "Prabhu, I giving this to you, but in lieu of it I want something..."

As for Rukmini, she thought, "Why is Krishna taking such bad things? No, no, stop!" Just as when somebody gives something to a little boy, the boy's mother will stop the boy, "No, no, no. It is not good, do not take it." Rukmini also had that kind of affection, that is why she told Krishna not to take it.

Question: Why do they offer coconuts to the Lord? [Note: Breaking coconuts is a widespread tradition in the temples of South India.]

You can offer a coconut, you can offer a banana, you can offer many things. In this area, they give coconut, in some other areas they offer bananas, and if you go to Venezuela you will see that they give arepa there.

Question [continuation]: Does breaking coconuts symbolise breaking the ego?

Ego is removed only through good association. Kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya are all removed through good association. Everybody has some ahankar (ego), I also have an ahankar, but what is my ahankar? I am the servant of the Lord. I am not a brahman, I am not a ksatriya, I am not a vaisya, I am not a sudra, I am not a sannyasi—I am a servant of the Lord.

Sometimes people criticise us, "Oh, why do you wear Tulasi beads?" and we tell them, "Because we are pet dogs of the Lord's servants. These Tulasi beads are our collar, our symbol, but you have no Tulasi beads, so you are a street dog!" [His Divine Grace laughs.]

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

“You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you.”

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

First you should surrender fully, then honest enquiry and service temper are necessary.

Question: If we want to go to heaven, what are the necessary qualifications?

We do not want to go to heaven. Why? It is simple matter—if you go to heaven, you have to come back again. Even Indra, the king of heaven, also has to come back again. There are thirty-three million demigods living in heaven (Kali, Durga, Laksmi, Saraswati, Ganesh, Kartik, and others), but they all spend only a short time there, after that they have to come back. Heaven (svarga) is temporary, and so is hell.

For example, if somebody breaks into a house, they get two years in jail, and if somebody kills another person, they get twenty years in jail—if somebody does something very bad they will go to hell for many years, and if somebody does something a little bad, they go to hell for a shorter time. In the same way, if somebody does some very good work, they may spend many years, a long time in heaven, and if somebody does a little good work, they get to spend a little time in heaven. It is all temporary.

krsna-bhakta—niskama, ataeva 'santa'

bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kami—sakali 'asanta'

"A devotee of Krishna has no desires and is always peaceful. Those who have material desires, desire for liberation or desire for some perfection are always lusty and never know any peace."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.149)

We do not want even liberation. What is mukti (liberation)? I will give an example. Suppose a bunch of straw is floating down a river. At night, a drop of water is formed in the air and falls onto the straw. That drop of water thinks, "Oh I am very small, and this sea has so much of water! I want to be like that too!" Suddenly, the drop of water falls into the river and it no longer can find itself in it. That is called mukti. Devotees never want mukti.

Everybody wants something. But there is a difference. For example, a pujari serves a Deity here and he also wants something—he does not want mukti. What does he want? He is thinking, "Oh, I can go and serve a Deity there." Somebody makes garlands for the Deity here and they want to make garlands in the spiritual world as well. Or somebody is driving their Guru's car and they also want something—they may be thinking, "I want to be the driver of the Lord, of the Lord's devotees in Vaikuntha."

Question: Why is bhakti necessary?

How will you get the Lord without bhakti?? Without devotion, without love and affection, prem, how you will get the Lord?

Question: If we are part of the Lord (if we are like drops of water coming from an ocean), then why not again merge into the ocean? Atma and paramatma are the same in essence...

No. Paramatma is Bhagavan, and the atma is soul. I am not Bhagavan, you are not Bhagavan, is there anybody here who will say that they are Bhagavan? Everybody has an atma, and paramatma is Bhagavan—it is the atma's duty to serve paramatma. You can see this light bulb here—the electricity is coming from a power house, but the power house and a light bulb is not the same! It is anu-chaitanya and brihat-chaitanya (small consciousness and great consciousness). If you divide one hair 10,000 times, that is the size of the atma.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jaga-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

* * *

Maya Devi's Service

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

24 July 2013

Question: How is Maya serving Krishna by creating illusion?

Yes, that is correct—Maya too serves Krishna.

Krishna has three kinds of energies (sakti): maya-sakti, chit-sakti, and jiva-sakti. So, Maya Devi is Krishna's sakti (energy). Also, Krishna Himself said that He had created the illusory environment—Maya too was created by Him.

Everything that exists in this world is coming and going, coming and going—the events all look similar, but it all happens through Maya sakti. Krishna creates the illusory environment and Maya Devi makes Krishna happy. Krishna is waiting when His devotee will come to serve Him voluntarily, and to ensure that Maya Devi comes through Krishna and creates illusion.

Sometimes we also worship Maya Devi. We pray, "O Maya Devi! Please lift this net of illusion!" Without Maya Devi's mercy we cannot see the transcendental abode—we can see it only if Maya Devi gives us her mercy.

Maya Devi gives mercy, and she makes Krishna happy because without her games, without her this world cannot run. Krishna has some desire and He produces everything everywhere through Maya Devi. Everything is going on in this world according to Maya Devi—sometimes it is perfect, sometimes imperfect, but the world is running clearly.

In Srila Sridhar Maharaj's time, Srila Gurudev was going by train and somebody asked him why he did not want to make family life. They argued that if everything is the will of Krishna, then why not get married—if everybody started preaching and became a sannyasi, then how would the next generation, children be produced? Gurudev replied that yes, everything happens by the will of Krishna, and Maya Devi does whatever Krishna desires, so by the will of Krishna everybody does not become a sannyasi. It will not happen, it is not possible.

Everything happens by the will of Krishna, and this is how this world is running smoothly and everything is going on smoothly here. Maya Devi has some duty to Krishna. Maya Devi is Krishna's own and the Guru is Krishna's own, and they both have some duty to Krishna (Maya Devi has her duty and the Guru has his duty). Krishna has gives her service and she is doing her duty. Otherwise everybody would become a sannyasi and go to the Lord—who would take care of this world? That is why Maya Devi has got some service and she follows Krishna's order. This is how she serves and makes Krishna happy.

* * *

Why Is Vaishnav Higher?

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

24 July 2013

Question: How is a Vaishnav higher than demigods and brahmans?

Here Indian people mostly worship Ganesh (they are called Ganapatya), worship Siva (they are called Sivaite), worship the Sun (they are called Saura), worship sakti (Mother Kali, Mother Durga). Those who worship Vishnu are called Vaishnavs—they always worship Krishna.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says among the four varnas (ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, brahman), brahman is the highest caste. However, if a brahman does not follow his conception, then that brahman is lower than a sudra. It is written in Padma Purana that in this age of Kali, all orders of life belong to sudra dharma, lowest caste, because they do much wrong and do not follow Krishna consciousness or the Vedas.

Chaitanya-charitamrita also says that among ten million of karmis (fruitive workers) there is one wise person; among ten million of wise men you will get one liberated soul; and among ten million of liberated souls you will get only one Krishna bhakta (devotee of Krishna). It is very rare to get a perfect Krishna bhakta. That is why a Krishna bhakta holds the highest position.

It is also written in the scriptures if a sudra (low-born person) becomes a Vaishnav, then they are more powerful than even a brahman because the caste brahmans do not follow the Vedas, Vedanta, etc., they have no chastity and they do not follow Krishna consciousness. Anybody who serves Krishna under guidance of a Guru is called a Vaishnav.

Vaishnavs are divided into kanistha-adhikari, madhyam-adhikari, uttam-adhikari. Those who chant the Holy Name of Krishna once are called a Vaishnav; those who constantly chant the Holy Name of Krishna are called a Vaishnav; and if you remember Krishna just by seeing somebody, then that is the highest Vaishnav.

yanhara darsane mukhe aise krsna-nama

tanhare janiha tumi 'vaisnava-pradhana'

"When you see somebody and Krishna comes to your mouth, then you should know such a person as an uttam-adhikari."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.74)

I saw this in Gurudev. One time, Gurudev was in Russia, he was going somewhere in a car. There was some drinking, smoking and completely naked lady on the street—when she saw Gurudev, she said, "Hey, Hare Krishna!" She said something in her language, we did not understand it, but she chanted Hare Krishna when she saw Gurudev. I saw this. Gurudev is an uttam Vaishnav—even naked drunkards chant Hare Krishna when they see Gurudev! That is an example of what the scriptures say—if you see somebody and start to chant Hare Krishna, they are the most senior, the greatest Vaishnav.

That is why Vaishnavs are the greatest.

* * *

Why So Many Paths?

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

24 July 2013

Question: Why do the scriptures explain and give so many different paths?

Yes, they give different paths because if night does not come, you will not be able to understand what is day. Do you understand? If it was always night and everything would be dark, it is not good—but when the day comes, then you can understand what is light. That is why the scriptures arrange different ways for different people, they show different paths.

For example, you can go to Paramatala from here by rikshaw, you can go by car, you can go by bicycle or you can go on foot, but you should take the easier and the more perfect way.

Krishna also does not talk directly about bhakti-yoga at first. First He told about karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, dhyana-yoga, moksa-yoga, etc.—He had spoken about many yogas. He did not say at first directly, "Hey, first is the bhakti-yoga!" When Mahaprabhu also heard about different conceptions from Ramananda Ray, they first discussed karma-misra bhakti, then jnana-misra bhakti, then jnana-sunya bhakti, etc.—only after that they finally came to sadhya-sadhana sara [the very gist of the goal and the means of attaining it], which is prema-bhakti.

There is santa (neutral relationship), dasya (servitude), sakhya (friendship), vatsalya (parental relationship), and the last is madhura-rasa (paramour relationship). There is also first nava-vidha bhakti (nine practices of devotion) that begin from sraddha (faith), then sadhu-sanga, bhajana-kriya, anartha-nirvitti, tato nistha, ruci, asakti, bhava, and prema. First taste (ruchi) comes, then attachment (asakti), then divine love (prema) comes in the last stage.

So, first Mahaprabhu had told many things, and then only He spoke about the final destination and how you would get it. It is a very nice process.

* * *

Vaishnav: Living Scripture And More

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

24 July 2013

Question: It is said that the devotees, Vaishnavs, are the living scriptures. Can you explain this?

Yes, because the sadhu always talks about Krishna consciousness—when you go to him, he will give some advice about some Krishna consciousness. You can read the books, but when you come to a real sadhu, he will always speak about scriptures, give advice, tell how to get to your final destination, how to practise Krishna consciousness, he will also tell about Mahaprabhu's conception (be humble, tolerant, give honour to others; "na dhanam, na janam, na sundarim..." ["I do not want wealth, knowledge or beautiful companions..."], etc.). Whatever you will get in books you will get from a sadhu's association.

Gurudev is like that. When I sat in front of Gurudev, he may not be telling something from the scriptures or speaking directly about Krishna consciousness, but he would give some advice in another other way and we think that such advice is the living scripture. For example, once a devotee was installing a light bulb—he was trying and trying to fit it, but Gurudev wanted light immediately, so he said, "How many Americans are necessary to fit one light bulb?" And I learned something from that—Gurudev wants something quickly but you cannot make him happy, you are giving it later. This is not service mood. Not everybody's mood is like this: not everybody can understand what Gurudev wants and supply that immediately. So, Gurudev did not tell something from the scriptures all the time, sometimes he would tell something in another way, giving some examples. Gurudev taught us by many examples.

That is why I would sit with him. I would just sit there with him and not say anything, and through that I would get some energy, get some association. I felt it coming him—when I was sitting in front of Gurudev, I felt I was getting energy. That is why I did not waste my time—when Gurudev was here and I had no service, I would go to Gurudev at once. I would come to Gurudev and just sit in front of him without saying anything. Sometimes he would say one-two words, somebody would come, do something, etc. and I would learn from that. This is how I got inspiration from Gurudev in many ways.

It is necessary to understand this. When you are Gurudev's association, some attraction comes, some jyoti (light) comes. "Lava-matra sadhu-sanga": "lava" means one muhurta (moment). Some jyoti (light) can come at any moment and within a moment you can be glorious. This is how you can be glorious properly. That is why I always sat with Gurudev. I always thought about what Gurudev wants, what Gurudev likes...

Sadhu-sanga is necessary, but sadhu-sanga does not mean only staying with the sadhu, sleeping with the sadhu, sleeping with the sadhu in the same bed, etc.: sometimes you can be disturbing instead...

* * *

Vaishnav Dharma

Sri Nabadwip Dham, India

24 July 2013

Question: Some people think that Vaishnav dharma is a branch of Hinduism...

No. Vaishnav dharma is jaiva dharma, sanatan dharma—it is your religion. It is your religion and it is everybody's religion and not only religion—it is everything. Even a chair also has some religion, and that religion is Vaishnav dharma, jaiva dharma—somebody makes a chair, a sadhu or a Vaishnav sits on it, gives a lecture, in this way it is used for the service of the Lord and the person who made it, the materials that were used to make it (some tree or whatever), everybody and everything is benefitted.

Vaishnav dharma is not Hindu dharma, Vaishnav dharma (jaiva dharma) is everybody's religion, and this is what we preach about. Jaiva dharma is the religion of everybody—even a tree, a bird, an ant, etc. Even a mosquito's religion is jaiva dharma, not Hindu dharma. Does a mosquito say that it is Hindu? How is its religion Hindu dharma?

When we use a tree, is that tree Hindu, Muslim or Christian? You can tell it to them. What kind of religion does a tree follow? We use it for the service of Lord, we do not think what religion it has. When we buy some things from a shop, we do not thinking if the shopkeeper is a Muslim, a Hindu or a Christian—we take some things from him, buy them, and give them to the Lord. We do not differentiate between Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist. Even if you speak about varnashrama—there are four varnas and four ashrams; if somebody follows the varnashrama system but does not worship the Lord, they will go to hell. It is dangerous.

We do not preach about Hindu religion, we are not dharma-dhvaji (pretenders). If somebody does Hindu dharma, we say, "I will not follow your instruction, I will not go with you." Even when there is some Hindu gathering going on—we will not go there. We can go there for preaching, for book distribution, that is another thing, but we will not go there to hear some katha from them. This is dharma-dhvaji—they show they follow Hindu religion, the flag is there, etc. but it is fake. Swami Vivekananda does that also, but what they preach is mayavadi conception. We do not preach that.

We use everything for the service to the Lord, that is called jaiva dharma, and this is what we mainly preach. It is everybody's religion—a tree's religion, a bird's religion, even a chair's religion, even an airplane's religion! When we go by airplane, somebody gets jealous, "Oh, a sadhu has no money, but he is going by an airplane!" Our reply is, "Yes, we go by an airplane because it is necessary for the service to the Lord, and those who make the airplane will be benefitted, but you are going on holiday for some enjoyment! We are not going anywhere for enjoyment. That is the difference." What a sadhu does is always different...

* * *

Faith Is the Currency

Caracas, June 2010

Question: One of the natural conditions of the soul is to desire many things. How can we know if certain material things are actually beneficial for us?

Through association. If you have good association, you can easily understand everything. Otherwise, before we used to eat everything (meat, fish, etc.)—our mind is naughty, it always asks for everything, but the jiva soul does not ask for anything. The jiva soul (atma) always wants to serve paramatma, but the atma is covered by the illusory environment, so it cannot cannot serve now, it has no freedom. I have told this many times. When you remove the illusory environment, the atma will be able to serve paramatma. You must manage material desires through practice:

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara

sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

Bhaktivinod Thakur says: you must change the kind of desires you have for material things and offer them to the Lord. Sometimes some desire comes to you, for example you think, "Oh, I want a samosa, I am very hungry! This samosa is very nice..." Take the samosa, buy it and give it to Nitai, then take prasadam. Or you want to buy a sari, "Oh, it is a very nice sari! I want to buy it!" Buy and give it for Radharani, and you can wear another sari as prasadam. You must remember that you are not alone. For example, you have four children and you think, "I will buy four apples." No. Do not buy four apples, buy five apples—one for the Lord.

If you can practise in this way, you will succeed, no doubt.

Question: One of the offences is to preach to people who have no faith. Yesterday you said that in order to make somebody a devotee we must shed gallons of blood. So, how these two things can be harmonised?

Yes, it is necessary to try to preach. That offence of the maha-mantra that you are talking about means trying to making somebody a devotee and give initiation to those who have no respect for maha-mantra. That is an offence. Preaching is another thing though. "Come to the temple, join us, take some prasadam"—that is our preaching. If people come, they can gradually begin to chant, but you must not immediately give initiation to them and give them the beads if they have no faith.

When Mahaprabhu went to Kasi, He said,

bhari bojha lana ailana, kemane lana yaba?

alpa-svalpa-mulya paile, ethai vechiba

"I have brought a heavy load to sell in this city. To take it back again is a very difficult job; therefore if I get but a fraction of the price, I shall sell it here in this city of Kasi."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 17.145)

Actually, Mahaprabhu did not go there to preach—He went there to rescue all the people who followed mayavadi conception. Kasi (Benares) is a place full of mayavadi sannyasis. If you go there even now (I have been there many times), you will see that a devotee of Krishna is very rare there—not even 1% are devotees of Krishna there, perhaps only 0.001%. Mahaprabhu would visit Acharya Chandrasekhara's house in Kasi, and we have been to that place also—now there are no devotees of Mahaprabhu in that area...

So, when Mahaprabhu was in that area, He cried and prayed, "I have brought, I have carried so many things from Nabadwip, it is such a heavy load on My head—do I now have to go again back to Nabadwip with all this? I cannot do it. I must distribute it! If somebody has even a little faith, I will give it to them!" "Mulya" means value—sraddha-mulya (the price paid by faith). So, Mahaprabhu says, "If somebody can pay at least a little price, I will distribute it to them!”

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Love for Guru: Love Service, Love Vaishnavs

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 10

Guru Maharaj said, "If you serve Vaishnavs, the Lord will come to serve you." I told your the other day and every time we go to Vrindavan I also tell how Radharani Herself came to cook sweet rice for Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami. She took so much trouble to cook it and left. Later, when Sanatan Goswami tried to find Her, She was no where to be found—He had searched for the girl who had made that sweet rice in all Yavat, but did not find anybody. Then Sanatan Goswami understood that it was Radharani Herself, and he began to cry, "We are here to serve Her, but She has come to serve us!"

We must also accept Mahaprabhu's teaching—not to disrespect others. One time, Jagadananda Pandit spoke to Sanatan Goswami disrespectfully, he said, "Yes, it is time now, you must leave." Jagadananda Pandit had no right to say this. To teach us, Mahaprabhu said to him, "You are just a child! Sanatan is My Guru and you, who were born only yesterday, are teaching him?!" Sanatan Goswami began to cry, "Prabhu, you are chastising him so much, but you do not chastise me! You are giving me bitter and You are giving sweet to him!"

When the Guru chastises you, he is giving you sweet things—but do the disciples understand this? They do not understand anything. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also beat Gurudev—he beat him and "made a man out of him". Gurudev also told me many times, "Get out of here!", but he was testing me. He wanted to see, "Will you too leave me? If he leaves, does he love me then?" If a disciple really loves his Guru, he would never leave. It is necessary to always remember about this.

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Make Lord's Temple In Your Heart

Siliguri, 20 May 2017, Bengali class, part 11

We took initiation but our hopes have not been fulfilled and we become fickle-minded. It is said that atyahara, prayascha, prajalpa, niyamagraha, laulancha, janasangancha must be all given up. "Atyahara" means eating too much. "Prayascha" means accumulating too much (things, money, etc.). "Prajalpa" means talking too much nonsense—it is not necessary to talk about anything except Krishna-katha. "Niyamagraha" means to have no enthusiasm for devotional activities and at the same time to be very enthusiastic to do non-devotional activities. Laulanchya means being fickle-minded, and jana-sanghancha means taking association of non-devotees and not keeping devotees' association. It is necessary to give up all these.

These are called chhaya dosa (six faults). There are also chhaya vega (six urges). These six urges are the urge of the mind (mana-vega), tongue (jihva-vega), belly (udara-vega), genitals (upastha-vega), speech (vakya-vega) and anger (krodha-vega). It is necessary to alway avoid these six urges.

There are ten kinds of offences to the Holy Name, and one of these offences is to sin on the strength of the Holy Name. It means that somebody thinks, "Every day, 364 days a year, I will engage in sins, after that I will just chant the Holy Name and all my sins will be removed in one day!" It is one of the ten offences to the Holy Name. In another way, somebody studies Bhagavatam so that later they can give class and earn money through that. It is also an offence.

Who can conquer your mind? Sadhus can. They can create a temple in your mind. Sadhus do not preach to conquer anybody's mind, they preach to establish a temple in your heart. This is what Prabhupad also did—he made a temple in the hearts of the people. Mahaprabhu said,

prthivite achhe yata nagaradi grama

sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"My Name must be preached in every town and village!" And Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur said that you must preach about the Holy name in every heart: every heart must chant the Holy Name. If you can preach and at least one person comes to this path, then it is auspicious, then you will get the supreme benefit.

Do you all chant the Holy Name? [Silence.] Why are you not replying? Do you all chant the Holy Name properly? [Silence.] Why are you keeping quiet? [A devotee replies.] Yes, we chant with the body and whether the result comes or not we do not know it. We chant the Holy Name, but only the Lord, only the Guru knows whether it is the Name or not...

asadhu-sange bhai krsna-nama nahi haya

namaksara bahiraya bate tabu nama kabhu naya

"Brother, the Name of Krishna never appears in bad association: the letters of the Name may appear, but the Name never does."

(Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, 7.1)

Raghunath Das Goswami Prabhu said "Nija-nikata-nivasam dehi Govardhana tvam: please give me a dwelling near you, O Govardhan! I have no capacity to stay on the bank of the Radha Kunda, please keep me near you, O Govardhan"... But now when you go to Vrindavan they ask you for a blanket, especially in winter... Mahaprabhu said,

vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kala

govardhane uthiya na dekhiya gopala

"When you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time and do not climb the Govardhan Hill to see Gopal."

But some people go there now to earn money…

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Welcome To The Family

Speaking online to devotees in Ukraine

July 2015, part 2

You are very fortunate because you are going to become a member of Lord Krishna's family. When we take initiation we become a member of Krishna's family.

In this age of Kali, the lifetime is very short, so Krishna Himself has become the Holy Name—Krishna Himself has come in the form of His Name. In Satya-yuga, people practised mediation, in Treta-yuga fire sacrifice, in Dvapar-yuga archan, puja, but the scriptures (Srimad Bhagavatam and others) say that Kali-yuga's religion is Harinam sankirtan. People's lifetime is very short now: in Satya-yuga, people's lifespan is 100,000 years, in Treta-yuga 10,000 years, in Dvapar-yuga 1,000 years, and Kali-yuga it is 120 years. That is why Krishna comes in the form of the Name and goes door to door engaging everybody in chanting of this Holy Name. Gauranga Mahaprabhu (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) is Radha-Krishna's combined form—He came to this world and went door to door distributing this Holy Name.

The Holy Name has come through a Guru-parampara: from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narad, from Narad to Vyasadev, from Vyasadev to Madhva Acharya, and so on. In this way, the Name came to Madhavendra Puri, from Madhavendra Puri to Isvar Puri, and from Isvar Puri to Mahaprabhu. The Lord Himself took initiation from Isvar Puri to show all the devotees that it is necessary to accept a Guru—without a Guru we cannot get anything. After that, our line is continues through Rupa Goswami's line—Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami, and others. Then, Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj, Bhaktivinod Thakur, Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, then our Param Gurudev Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gave this Name to Gurudev (Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj) and Gurudev made me his successor. In his life time he told me, "If somebody wants to take initiation, if they have got good association and wants to follow the rules and regulations, then you can give initiation to them." I think that you know all the rules and regulations, you know everything, that is why I am initiating you.

Give beads into his hands now. First beads is this sumeru. Touch it and chant,

sri krishna chaitanya prabhu nityananda

sri advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura bhakta-vrinda

This is Pancha Tattva's name. Chant Their Name and ask Them for mercy—without Their mercy we cannot chant this Holy Name. After that, start chanting from the big beads:

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Chant in this way from the big beads to the small beads, then turn the beads, and chant from the small beads to the big beads. Do not cross the sumeru. Chant sixteen rounds or more, and if any day you are busy with service, not less than four rounds must be chanted. Four rounds must be chanted every day. Do this and Krishna will reveal in your heart, you will be successful in your spiritual life.

There is also this ten offences book. You must read it carefully. Read what the offences are and chant without offences, then you will get the result quickly.

Now you can chant four rounds minimum, only after that you can talk, you can eat, etc. Four rounds must be chanted now.

Question: What service can I do? Can you give me some particular instructions?

Some particular service is that you will chant the Holy Name, you will chant the kirtans (bhajans). When you come to the temple, you can make garlands, or you can bring garlands to the temple, you can bring fruit for the Deities. You can do many kinds of services.

Question: I am not very successful in my material job but I have some experience in preaching...

If you like preaching, it is very nice. Even if you have a material job, what is the problem? Everybody does a material job. At work you have many friends, you can preach Krishna consciousness to them, that is good for you.

You can also write to me by email, no problem. Try to come to Nabadwip.

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Odds and Ends (8)

Compiled on 30 December 2017

Several excerpts that were not included in the main posts:

Control your senses | 11 November 2010

Service is always necessary. Ahara, nidra, bhaya, maithunam cha (eating, sleeping, fearing, mating)—you must always control these four things. There are ten senses indriya: pancha-karmendriya (instruments—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth), pancha-jnanendriya (senses—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), and mind, intelligence, and ego. Imagine you are standing and ten men are pulling you to ten different sides—where will you go? What will be your position then? Ahara, nidra, bhaya, maithunam cha (eating, sleeping, fearing, mating)—the more you increase these things, the stronger they get.

Too much eating, sleeping | 19 July 2013

How many hours do you sleep? Eight hours, yes. Not more than that. Too much eating, too much sleeping is bad for practising life.

Heavy load | 14 November 2010

There are three things—kanaka (money), kamini (women), pratistha (name and fame). Pratistha is for Gurudev. When a garland comes to you, you must give it to Gurudev's lotus feet, then no establishment, no pratistha, will come. Gurudev gave an example also. Once, some Western devotee came to Gurudev and said to him, "From the time I first joined Iskcon, I sold, distributed books, I did this, this, this, this!" Gurudev listen to the man and then said, "Oh, you are doing so much service! Now you have become very heavy and when you get on the boat, your boat will sink..." It happened a long time ago.

Garlanding an acharya | 1 July 2013

Gurudev says that it is very difficult to give a garland to an acharya because sometimes insects can bite. He said it showing another meaning. He said, "It is very difficult to put a garland on an acharya because inside there may be so many insects..."

Goswami title | 27 November 2010

Devotee: Srila Bhakti Nirmal Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

Do not use the "Goswami" title in my name. I am not a goswami, you know that. Many can take the goswami title, but I do not have any qualification of a goswami. Do you know that? My Gurudev is Dev-Goswami, but I have no qualification of a goswami, and I do not want to be a goswami also.

Gurudev's Temple | 9 October 2011

[Speaking about a devotee who does not come to the temple any more:]

I do not know what the problem with his mind is, but I am sad because of it. I am thinking why he is like that. Maybe I am a bad person, maybe you are a bad person, but what is the problem? Gurudev is not bad! Gurudev is the best. I am not qualified, but Gurudev is qualified, and the temple is Gurudev's temple, the Deity is Gurudev's Deity, so what is the problem?

Meaning of names | 22 August 2011

Question: What does the name Pran Krishna das mean?

Pran Krishna is he who is the heart of Krishna. "Pran" means heart. It means he whose heart always beats for Krishna.

Question: What does the name Yadu Gopal das mean?

Yadu Gopal is a Name of Gopal, Krishna. When Krishna was a young boy, a little baby, His Name is Yadu Gopal. Yadu means Ghosh, or Yadav, it is Krishna's family name (Yadav family, or Yadu family). Yadu Gopal is Krishna's another Name.

Question: What does the name Mandakini dasi mean?

Mandakini is a very good name. It is a name of a Vraja gopi. Krishna has many gopis, and the name of one of them is Mandakini.

Salt Laky City's Deity of Mahaprabhu | 16 October 2011

[Speaking about the Deity in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA:]

Gaura Nitai have two hands raised and when there is only Mahaprabhu, then He has only one hand raised. This is Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Maharaj's style. Like Dhameswar Mahaprabhu, Vishnupriya's sevita vigraha. Before, Vishnupriya served Mahaprabhu, and after Mahaprabhu left, she continued serving His Deity. This Deity is coming just like that, the same face and mood.

Where is your dhoti? | 13 November 2011

Where is your dhoti? You are a senior devotee, you must set an example for them—nije achari jivke sikhaya (teach others by your example). If you do not wear a dhoti, how can you tell others to wear a dhoti?

Dress code of Mahaprabhu's group | 29 July 2012

I am telling to the devotees: make a rule that all initiated devotees must come to the class wearing a dhoti and a kurta. If you need, I can send some kurtas and dhotis there. They can keep a set at the temple and change when they come. And all ladies must wear a sari. All devotees must wear a kurta, a dhoti, a sari, tilaks, etc. OK? That is good. Some devotees always come to India, they can buy some kurtas, dhotis and keep there. When devotees come to the temple they can change and keep their own things in a room.

This is temple life. Pants, shirt, tie, coat—not like that. A dhoti and a kurta is good for the temple, it looks good and it sets a good example. You can think when all devotees wear dhotis it looks like Mahaprabhu's group has come—Srivas Pandit, Vishvambhar Chakravarti, Advaita Prabhu, it is as if they are all sitting there together. And if everybody wears pants, a coat, a tie, etc., it looks like one big baba has come, or the Venezuelan president. It is does not look good.

Devotional clothes are also very comfortable. If you sit in a dhoti or in a sari, it is comfortable—you can sit for two hours without a problem. It is good for them.

Jay Gurudev, Jay Gurudev, Jay Gurudev. I am paying dandavat to you all, please forgive my offence. If I said anything wrong, do not take my offence. I am always asking you to please forgive my offence.

Do not leave the saffron clothes | 29 July 2012

Take the saffron clothes now and first touch it to Srila Sridhar Maharaj's lotus feet and Gurudev's lotus feet. Is there a photo of myself there? Put the saffron clothes on my head now. Not my feet, my head! Then give it to the hands of that vanachari Prabhu. He can change his clothes now and come to pay dandavat to all the Guru parampara. Do not leave these clothes any more. Never wear white clothes again—always wear the saffron clothes. OK? Do you promise me? OK. Gracias.

Always chant | 1 July 2012

When you have service, you can chant only four rounds, it is sufficient, but when you are doing service, always chant with your mouth. Always "sevon mukhe Krsna Nama"—always chant with your mouth when you are doing service.

I am telling you—the mouth is for two things only: eating prasadam and chanting the Holy Name, nothing else.

Question: Do we chant the Pancha Tattva on the sumeru bead and then another time again on the sumeru?

No, no. You should chant the Pancha Tattva's Name only one time. When you start chanting, touch the sumeru and say the Pancha Tattva's Name one time. After that, it is not necessary to chant it again. It is not necessary to chant Pancha Tattva's Name many times, only chant the Holy Name.

Question: How can we detect the offence in the chanting?

When you chant the Holy Name, the offences will be removed automatically. There are ten offence and we must avoid those offences, but there are also many Vaishnav aparadh—we are doing thirty-two seva-aparadhs, many Vaishnav aparadhs, etc. We are doing so many aparadhs, but through service—if somebody is a surrendered soul and they make some offence unknowingly—Krishna will always remove their offence.

Hold on | 22 July 2012

*** is a good boy, but he is falling down... I am trying to help him. When somebody falls down, I give them a bamboo stick, "Please hold on to it, do not fall down!" His ego is becoming very tall, he starts bending and is going to fall down, that is why it is necessary to give him a bamboo stick... Many devotees are also trying to help him, they tell him not to go in a wrong way...

Growing and offering | 22 July 2012

...Do you control your mind? You are a good servitor, and we can take your good service. Somebody may have 80% good quality and a little per cent of bad qualities, but we do not "catch" that. You have good qualities for service, and devotees can use your service.

Do you live in Turgua? Do you grow vegetables? Bring what you are cultivating for Gaura Nitai sometimes. OK? If you are cultivating vegetables, fruits, flowers and can bring it directly from your place and give to Gaura Nitai, it is important. Somebody can buy fruits, vegetables, flowers, but if somebody cultivates it themselves and gives it to the Deities, it is more important and more beneficial.

Honouring Vaishnav calendar dates | 4 August 2013

Question: It was the disappearance day of Vamsi Das Babaji yesterday. Could you tell us something about that?

Actually, there are many followers of Mahaprabhu. Not so much is written about many of them, but because they are followers of Mahaprabhu we give their name in the panjika (calendar). We always pay obeisance to them because they serve Mahaprabhu. Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj and others are our line and like many previous Gurus and babajis in our line, they lived and did bhajan in Radha Kunda, but after that they came to Nabadwip. We respect them as our Guru-varga, and that is sufficient for us, it is not so important to know the detailed history of their life. Sometimes, the description of their life is not written anywhere in the scriptures, but we always follow our Srila Sridhar Maharaj's panjika and we give their name in it.

Follow tithi, not the calendar dates | 22 July 2012

When is the inauguration day of Parama Karuna? Has it already passed? Did you observe it following the tithi? Good. We do not follow the calendar dates—we always follow the tithi. Even Muslim people follow tithis...

Service place | 2 May 2015

Prabhu, do you know some Hindi? A Little? Good. I want to send you to some place, it is a Hindi place, to stay there for a few days. Is it OK with you? It is our temple branch... I will send you there for a few days, there is some some painting service. If you like it there, you can stay there, it is a very nice place.

Devotee: Where is that place?

Goloka. [Devotees chuckle.]

Poisoned life | 15 September 2013

gora pahu na bhajiya mainu

prema ratana-dhana helaya harainu

visaya-visama-visa satata khainu

gaura-kirtana rase magana na hainu

keno va achhaye prana ki sukha lagiya

narottama-dasa kena na gela mariya

"I did not worship Gora, I did not care for the jewel treasure of the divine love and have lost the chance. I always took the deathly poison of the material world and have never been attracted to the kirtan of Gaura. Why am I still alive? What joy is there? Oh why didn't Narottam das just die?..."

What Narottam Das Thakur sings is always very nice... "Gaura pahu na bhajiya mainu"—I never worship Gaura. "Gaura-kirtana rase magana na hainu"—our mind does not always go to Gaura kirtan. "Visya-visama-visa"—our mind always goes to the material world, material things. We are taking that kind of poison and now suffering so much because of that. "Kena na gela mariya"—what have I got this life for? Why am I still alive? There is no need to keep such a life!

Save time for the Lord | 18 August 2013

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj says that even some poor people who do not get proper food (who do not even get food two-three times a day), save some money for their medicine or medical treatment. We work and work, but we must save some time for the Lord, for the service to the Lord. Those who are intelligent men (buddhiman jiva) save their time for the service of the Lord.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj gives a very, very nice example. If you hear his lectures or read his books, you will be very happy.

Simple and clear process | 23 April 2013

We must engage ourselves in the service of the Lord, in the service of Krishna. It is necessary to do prasad seva, to take prasad of the Lord, you must do Tulasi parikrama, etc.

The Lord has given us such a nice process, He has given us everything, and it is not so difficult—there are not so many rules and regulation. The Lord has given us simple things, and you can do it whether you are in householder life, brahmachari life, vanaprastha life, or sannyas life.

chari varnasrami yadi krsna nahi bhaje

svakarma karileo se raurave padi maje

"Whatever varna (a priest, fighter, manager, or worker) or asram (a celibate, householder, renouncer of the household life, or monk) you may belong to, if you do not worship Krsna but engage in your prescribed duties, you will have to fall into a terrible hell."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 22.26)

It is said that you can be even a sannyasi but if you do not practise, you will go to hell. Chari varnasrama means brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyas. Four orders of life—whatever order you belong to, if you do not practise properly, it is easy for you to go to hell, to go off this path.

So, when you go to your home, chant the Holy Name. That is the prescription, the rule. Even if you are staying in your house—grihe thako, vane thako sada Hari bole dako—it is necessary to chant the Holy Name, to follow the rules and regulations, to serve the Lord. Always engage yourself in the service of the Lord. Guru Maharaj says that if you have service, you have mercy, and if you have no service, you have no mercy.

Favourite pastime? | 6 October 2013

Question: I am wondering if you have a favourite pastime of Krishna?

I do not know about that.

Tava nija-jana kona mahajane pathaiya dile tumi. Gurudev, the Lord's very own, has sent me and given me this position to serve you all. I know only this. Gurudev gave me this chair to serve you all, and I am always with you. Krishna Himself says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita, "Nobody in this world is My enemy and nobody in this world is My friend, but I become bound to those devotees who serve Me properly, with full faith, and they become bound to Me."

I am always trying my best to serve Gurudev properly and I am praying to all the devotees, I am praying to Gurudev that all the devotees's health will be good and that they will run their practising life properly. These are the main things for you all.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

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