"Tell me about Krishna!"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Saint Petersburg, Russia
13 August 2009

Today is the adhivas of Sri Krishna Janmastami, it is a very good day and we must tell something about Krishna's pastimes. Tomorrow is Janmastami, and we have gathered here to speak about Krishna consciousness, about Krishna's pastimes.

When I first joined to the temple, Gurudev actually asked me, "What lila do you like more, Krishna lila or Gaura lila?" At that time I did not know about Mahaprabhu, and I did not know much about Krishna—I had heard many things but I was not interested that that time. So, when Gurudev asked me that, I said, "Gaura lila?" and Gurudev said, "Yes, you have given the best answer!"

Gaura lila is meant for Kali-yuga. Our conception is Krishna's pastimes, but you know once a devotee asked Gurudev, "Gurudev, can you say something about Krishna's pastimes, about Radha-Krishna's pastimes?" Do you know what answer Gurudev gave him? He gave a very rough answer, I could not answer like that [His Divine Grace laughs]. He said, "If you hear it, you will get pregnant!" Radha-Krishna's lila is a very high conception, and it is too tough for Kali-yuga.

One day, Pradyumna Misra came to Mahaprabhu. (Pradyumna Misra was a good Oriya brahman, a good devotee.) He came to Mahaprabhu and asked Him, "Prabhu, can You tell me something about Krishna's lila?" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not know so much... I cannot tell much, but Ramananda Ray knows more than me. You can go to him."

Then Pradyumna Misra went to Ramananda Ray. When he came to his house, Ramananda Ray was very busy. What was he busy with? He was training Jagannath's servitors (young girls of thirteen-nineteen years old) at that time. He was teaching them to dance, how to wear saris, he helped them bath, dress, and so on. Pradyumna Misra waited and waited, and somebody told him that Ramananda Ray was busy in the garden teaching young girls. Pradyumna Misra thought to himself, "Mahaprabhu sent me to hear Krishna-katha from him, but what kind of devotee is he? He is always busy with young girls..." He quickly left.

When he came back to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu asked him, "Have you heard Krishna-katha from Ramananda Ray?" Pradyumna Misra said, "No, Prabhu. He was busy with that, that, that." Mahaprabhu understood what had happened and said to him, "I am a sannyasi, but if I see a prakriti (a photo of a lady), even My mind will be disturbed, but even though Ramananda Ray himself teaches girls to dance, he is not disturbed. Do you think he is an ordinary person? When he does these things, he becomes a gopi! Do you know that Ramananda Ray is an incarnation of Visakha? Please go to him again."

Pradyumna Misra went to Ramananda Ray again, and this time Ramananda Ray paid obeisance to him and said, "Prabhu, you came to see me yesterday, but I could not give so much honour to you, I was busy. Please tell me what is your question?" Pradyumna Misra asked him, and the whole day and night(!) there was Krishna-katha between Ramananda Ray and Pradyumna Misra. When the night was over and the sun rose, their prasadam was still waiting for them—they did not even think about prasadam. This is the kind of Krishna-katha that Pradyumna Misra heard from him.

When Pradyumna Misra came to Mahaprabhu, he said, "Yes, he is the original parsad (associate) of Krishna! He is the incarnation of Visakha, now I understand it." Who knows Krishna? Only Krishna's parsad, only Krishna's associate, can understand Krishna's lila. Pradyumna Misra said, "Now I understand it, and now my ego and everything else is gone..." He heard everything from Ramananda Ray.

The original conversation of Mahaprabhu with Ramananda Ray is recorded in Chaitanya-charitamrita. Ramananda Ray spoke about everything beginning with karma-misra bhakti (when you are doing some service and ask something in return), then jnana-misra bhakti, jnana-sunya bhakti, and so on. Mahaprabhu kept saying, "Eho bahya age kaha ara (এহো বাহ্য, অগে কহ আর): go deeper, say more." Then he spoke about "Ye yatha mam prapadyante, tams tathaiva bhajamy aham / mama vartmanuvartante, manusyah partha sarvasah (যে যথা মাং প্রপদ্যন্তে তাংস্তথৈব ভজাম্যহম্ / মম বর্ত্মানুবর্ত্তন্তে মনুষ্যাঃ পার্থ সর্ব্বশঃ): Howsoever people surrender to Me, I accordingly reward them. Being the ultimate goal of all paths, I am the objective to be attained by all. O Partha, all men follow My various paths." (Bg, 4.11) He spoke about santa, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and finally madhura rasa. When Pradyumna Misra heard about this from Ramananda Ray, he said, "Yes, I am getting so much taste from this!"

Mahaprabhu's conception that came from this conversation with Ramananda Ray is very nice...

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