Pure Hearts Run Behind Krishna

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Radhastami, noon class, Siliguri
Translated from Bengali
6 September 2019

জয় দ্বিজপত্নী, জয় নাগকন্যাগণ ।
ভক্তিতে যাঁহারা পাইল গোবিন্দ চরণ ॥

jaya dvija-patni, jaya naga-kanya-gana
bhaktite yanhara paila govinda-charana

"All glory to the brahman's wives and Kaliya's wives! Through their devotion, they attained Govinda's feet."

Dvija-patni-gan, the wives of brahmans, got Krishna. How did they get Him? When Balaram, Sridam, Sudam, Vasudam, Madhumangal, and other boys came to the brahmans first, the brahmans chased them away taking them for mere cowherd boys. Who will you tell that a simple cowherd boy roaming the banks of the Yamuna herding the cows and behind whom all the gopis run is the Supreme Personality of Godhead! Who will you tell about this? Srila Guru Maharaj spoke and explained that sloka:

কম্প্রতি কথয়িতুমীশে সম্প্রতি কো বা প্রতীতিমায়াতু ।
গোপতি-তনয়াকুঞ্জে গোপবধূটী-বিঢং ব্রহ্ম ॥

kam prati kathayitum ise samprati ko va pratitim ayatu
go-pati-tanaya-kunje gopa-vadhuti-vidam brahma

"To whom can I speak? Who will believe me when I say that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is hunting the gopis in the bushes by the banks of the river Yamuna? In this way the Lord demonstrates His pastimes."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.98)

When Iskcon had purchased their land in Mayapur and the temple was being inaugurated, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told our Gurudev to give a lecture at the inauguration programme, and, hearing him recite that sloka, Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj (Srila Prabhupad's disciple, the compiler of our kirtan guide) exclaimed, "Gaura Hari bol! Gaura Hari bol! Gaura Hari bol!"

So, while the brahmans chased the boys away, the wives of the brahmans got Krishna through their devotion. As soon as they heard the boy's request, they said, "Oh, Krishna, our Lord, is there! He has sent His friends—they have no food and they are hungry!" They took whatever they had at home and ran to Krishna. Such was their devotion. One gets the Lord through devotion. Their husbands turned Krishna away, so they could not get the Lord...

The wives of Kaliya-nag also got the Lord. You know this pastime of Kaliya-daman that took place in Vrindavan. What does Kaliya-nag mean? It symbolises ego (ahankar). If you have ego, you will never get any result. You must cleanse your heart of every particle of dust. When Mahaprabhu performed the Gundicha-marjan pastime (cleaning of the Gundicha temple before Sri Radha-yatra), He personally swept and cleaned the temple. You must not just show you are doing service, but it is necessary to do actual service—it is not enough to just do some sweeping showing that you are cleaning, no, you must clean properly. Mahaprabhu taught that you must collect every single particle of dust—He would sweep, wipe the temple carefully, and then wash it again with clean water and His own uttariya cloth. We must drive away all dirt from our hearts. Do you know what dirt there is in the heart? It is like dust on the street—kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya (lust, anger, greed, illusion, madness, envy), rupa, rasa, gandha, sabda, sparsa (desire for eye-pleasure, tongue-please, nose-pleasure, ear-pleasure, touch-pleasure). We must sweep and wipe and clean these things out of our hearts, and this does not happen externally—this dirt is removed by hearing Hari-katha.

You cannot see the Guru with your material illusory eyes (maya-chaksu), you must see your Guru through the aural path—you must take the darshan of your Guru through your ears. Remember this, these are Srila Prabhupad and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's words. How will you see with your ears? You must hear Hari-katha, and you can see for yourself—when someone speaks, does Hari-katha or some bad talks come out of their mouth? If someone poses as a Vaishnav but talks gramya-katha, then they can never be a Vaishnav or a Guru. Genuine Vaishnavs always speak Krishna-katha and they have no wish to hear anything else, they get annoyed to hear any talks other than Hari-katha.

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• These excerpts are taken from Sri Radhastami kirtans' recording:

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