Towards Destination

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, eve of Sri Ratha-yatra
24 June 2017, translated from Bengali

Prabhupad wrote in his commentary to Chaitanya-charitamrita that during the gundicha marjan Mahaprabhu gathered all the dust together and said that dust was dharma, artha, kama, moksa (religion, wealth, material prosperity, liberation), or bhukti-, mukti-, siddhi-kami (desire for enjoyment, liberation and supernatural powers). As long as you have these in your heart, we will not be able to get Krishna-prema. I have told many times that we want Krishna-prema.

In the conversation with Ramananda Ray in Chaitanya-charitamrita, Mahaprabhu rejected everything—He rejected karma-misra-bhakti, jnana-misra-bhakti, and so on. Before that, He said, "Rama Ray, pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya. I will ask you a question and when you give the answer you must quote from the sastras—you must give evidence from the scriptures. It is not necessary to create anything or say what you think, quote from the scriptures. Pada sloka sadhyera nirnaya." What did Ramananda Ray then reply? "Svadharma acharane korle Vishnu-bhakti haya." It means somebody can be a brahmacharya, somebody can be a grihastha, somebody can be a vanaprastha, somebody can be a sannyasi—one can get devotion to Vishnu through practising of any of the varna's religion. Mahaprabhu said, "Eho bahya, age kaha ara. It is external, go further." He rejected it. Then Ramananda Ray spoke about karma-misra-bhakti. It means I will serve the Lord and in lieu of that I want something for my own gain, for my own adoration (puja) and establishment (pratistha). Mahaprabhu said, "Eho bahya, age kaha ara." Then was jnana-misra-bhakti. Mahaprabhu said again, "Eho bahya, age kaha ara." When Ramananda Ray spoke about jnana-sunya-bhakti, Mahaprabhu said, "Eho haya. Yes, this is passable." Jnana-sunya-bhakti means you leave all your accumulated knowledge and keep devotees' association. "I have passed MA," "I have passed MB," "I am a big pandit," "I know this, I know that"—when one leaves all behind and listens to Hari-katha in devotees' association, that is called jnana-sunya-bhakti. Mahaprabhu accepted this, but He asked if there was anything more than that. Gradually, Ramananda Ray spoke up to sakhya-rasa, from there to vatsalya-rasa, and from there to madhura-rasa. The more he spoke the more Mahaprabhu requested him, "Tell Me more! Tell Me more! I want to hear more!"

When you try sugar cane, it tastes sweet; if you taste sugar cane juice it will taste better; when the sugar cane juice is condensed to sugar crystals, it tastes even better and so on until it turns into rock candy. When Mahaprabhu heard Ramananda Ray explaining the path of divine love for Krishna that Radharani has, that very condensed form of love, He became extremely happy.

We must understand what our goal is and what our practising life (the mean to attain that goal) is.

Jagannath Temple is Dvaraka, and the Gundicha Temple, where we went today, is Goloka Vrindavan, Sundarachal. What is the goal of our life? What is our destination? It is Goloka Vrindavan. That is why we sat there in the Gundicha Temple and spoke about the Lord there in a very nice way... Tomorrow, the Vraja gopis are pulling Jagannath to Sundarachal.

Always remember this, always think about this. Which line do you follow in your service and how do you follow it? Our line is Rupanuga-dhara. After that conversation with Ramananda Ray on the banks of the Godavari, Mahaprabhu said, "I am going to Puri, you must come with Me." In this way, Ramananda Ray left his job and started serving Mahaprabhu.

King Prataparudra himself at first was not allowed to meet with Mahaprabhu. When Ramananda Ray came to the king and told him that he was going to leave his job and come to serve Mahaprabhu, the king replied, "If you leave your job, what is the problem? I will personally pay you your salary!" When Mahaprabhu heard about this, He said, "Then he will get mercy one day."

Devotees: Hari bol!

If you serve Vaishnavs, the Lord Himself will come to serve you.

Devotees: Hari bol!

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