Srila Raghunath Das Goswami:
Internal Transformation

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
25 October 2015

Govardhan had a son called Raghunath Das Goswami—he was the only son in the family. When Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He stayed in Santipur for a few days, and Raghunath Das Goswami—he was only five years old at that time—came there and met Mahaprabhu. From that time, by the mercy of Mahaprabhu, he got very strong attachment to Mahaprabhu, and he had no attachment to his family, visaya-udas (he was indifferent to the material world).

After that, Raghunath Das Goswami tried many times to come and stay with Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu always told him, "Go back to your home!" He taught him many lessons.

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

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)

Mahaprabhu taught him, "Do not show 'monkey' renunciation—wearing tilak, doing mala, showing to people your vairagya, but inside so many desires. Do not show such false renunciation! Do not become a hypocrite. Go back to your home! Serve your parents, serve your family—you can even get married, that is not a problem—and at heart serve Me, love Me, think about Me."

Raghunath Das Goswami asked Mahaprabhu then, "If I do that, how will I ever come to You?"

সে ছল সেকালে কৃষ্ণ স্ফুরাবে তোমারে ।
কৃষ্ণকৃপা যাঁরে, তাঁরে কে রাখিতে পারে ॥

se chhala se-kale krsna sphurabe tomare
krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare

"Krishna will reveal to you how you can come. Who can stop the one who has got mercy of Krishna?"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 16.241)

"If somebody gets mercy from Krishna, no one can tie them by the illusory environment."

দৈবী হ্যেষা গুণময়ী মম মায়া দুরত্যয়া ।
মামেব যে প্রপদ্যন্তে মায়ামেতাং তরন্তি তে ॥

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)

Krishna Himself said, "I created maya, the illusory environment, and it is impossible to conquer it. Only if you surrender to Me, can the illusory environment be removed from you."

You can stay in your house and worship the Lord: "গৃহে থাক, বনে থাক সদা 'হরি' বলে ডাক, grhe thako, vane thako, sada 'Hari' bole dako, whether you stay in a house or in a forest, always call out the Holy Name." If you start a householder life, what is the problem? Your house is Krishna's house; your family is Krishna's family. You go to work, and it is said in the scriptures that you must give up karma. What does it mean? What is karma?

When you do karma (work to get something in return, for your own pleasure), you get karma bandhan, bondage of karma. For example, we are cooking here and in some house people are also cooking today, but they are cooking for themselves, and here we are cooking for Gaura Nitai. There is a cow here, and the cow serves Gaura Nitai, but somebody has a cow and uses it for their own service. That is the difference. When you do karma, you get bondage, and as a result of that bondage you will go to hell—you will always keep on coming and going, coming and going. You heard that even Indra got a pig's body and had to stay in Govardhan by the curse of his Guru, Brihaspati.

In this world, you take nice prasad, but if you bring a pig and give it prasad, will it be be happy? It will not. It will be happy if you give it some stool. If you bring an elephant into an AC room, will the elephant be happy? It would rather stay in the jungle. They are satisfied where they are. Also when you are driving a car, you can see many dogs sleeping soundly in the street—how happy they are with their life! You too have had such lives before, but fortunately now you have got a human body,

দুর্ল্লভ মানব জন্ম লভিয়া সংসারে ।
কৃষ্ণ না ভজিনু দুঃখ কহিব কাহারে ॥

durlabha manava-janma labhiya samsare
krsna na bhajinu—duhkha kahiba kahare?

"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?"

(Kalyan-kalpataru, 3.2.4)

By the mercy of the Guru, by the mercy of the Lord, you have got this human body, but is this human body only for enjoying money and food? How is it then different from a dog's body or a pig's body?

I am not telling you to leave your wife, leave your family, children, or house, and go to the jungle or Haridwar. Stay in your house, but when in your household life, depend on the Lord in everything, serve the Lord with everything.

Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote,

যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি
গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায় ।

ye-dina grhe, bhajana dekhi,
grhete goloka bhaya

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

(Saranagati, 32)

You can serve the Lord in your house. Wake up early, do mangal arati, cook and give some food to the Deities, feed your children, then your children go to school, husband goes to work, and so on. Maintain your family like this as Krishna's family and you will be very happy.

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