The Highest of the Highest

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Singur, noon programme
14 February 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

One day, Mahaprabhu told Srivas Pandit,

"Srivas! Whom have you given place in your house? He does not have anything, do you even know who He is? Why have you taken Him in? You have your wife and other family at home, there are many young girls in your family, and you have taken Him in?"

"Prabhu, You are joking, are You not? You must be playing with me. You know how much I love Nityananda, so You are testing me now!"

Even Mahaprabhu Himself said:

মদিরা যবনী যাদি নিত্যানন্দ ধরে ।
তথাপি ব্রহ্মার বন্দ্য কহিল তোমারে ॥

madira yavani yadi nityananda dhare
tathapi brahmara vandya kahila tomare

"Even if Nityananda Prabhu comes drunk, with a Muslim lady by His side, He is always worshippable even for Lord Brahma."

Such is Nityananda Prabhu's glory! Nityananda Prabhu goes to this house, that house, He eats at different places, sometimes He wears earrings, sometimes He wears bangles, sometimes He wears orange clothes, sometimes white clothes, sometimes yellow clothes, sometimes white clothes. He walks everywhere like this, like a madman. He is avadhut. Who can recognise who He is? Yet Mahaprabhu said, "Even if He comes drunk, with a Muslim girl by His side, even Brahma will offer his obeisance to Him."

Anyhow, much has been said. We shall sing one-two kirtans more. [His Divine Grace is about to start 'Yadi Gaura na haite'.] Why did Vasu Ghosh write this kirtan? Why are Srimati Radharani's glories not mentioned anywhere in Srimad Bhagavatam? Bhagavatam is such a big book, dedicated to bhakti-yoga, composed by Vyasadev. Actually, Vyasadev did not originally write any book—Srimad Bhagavatam is the instruction that came from the lotus mouth of sixteen-year-old Sukadev Goswami.

Sukadev Goswami stayed in his mother's womb for twelve years, and after that he roamed around for four years. At some point before that, Vyasadev came to Badarikashram to meet with his guru, Narad Goswami. We sing in the guru-parampara kirtan also:

কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ,
ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি ।
নারদ হৈতে ব্যাস, মধ্ব কহে ব্যাস-দাস,
পূর্ণপ্রজ্ঞ পদ্মনাভ গতি ॥

krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha,
brahma haite naradera mati
narada haite vyasa, madhva kahe vyasa-dasa,
purnaprajna padmanabha gati

"Through Krishna, Brahma became devoted to Krishna's service. Brahma inspired Narad. Narad inspired Vyasadev. Madhva Acharya is a servant of Vyasa. Thus, the line continued through Purnaprajna (Madhavacharya) and Padmanabha."

So, Vyasadev came to Narad Goswami and said, "Gurudev, I do not feel peaceful inside. I have made so many scriptures—Agni Purana, Garuda Purana, Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Mahabharata, etc.. I have written so many things, but I do not feel content..."

"How will you feel happy?" replied Narada. "You cook five dishes—dal, vegetables, labra, chuntey, sweet rice, but when you distribute it, you mix everything together and distribute it like this, can anyone get the taste? You have written Gita, but you have mixed karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, sankhya-yoga, and last you gave bhakti-yoga. It will not do. Create such a scripture where there will be only bhakti-yoga."

At first, Vyasadev was puzzled, "How will I do it?..." but then he remembered about his son Sukadev Goswami, who was in his mother's womb at that time. He came to his wife and spoke to the child. Just think about it! Nobody believes these things, but these are scriptures' words, you must believe it. When your mother tells you, "This is your father," she knows who the father is, and you do not challenge what your mother says—you do not go to make a DNA test to check if what she is saying is true or not. Your mother says, "This is your father," and you simply believe it. In the same way, it is necessary to believe what scriptures say:

'শ্রদ্ধা' শব্দে—বিস্বাস কহে সুদৃঢ় নিশ্চয় ।
কৃষ্ণে ভক্তি কৈলে সর্ব্বকর্ম্ম কৃত হয় ॥

'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)

So, Vyasadev told his child, "Sukadev, come out! Come out!"

"No, I will not come out of my mother's womb!" answered Sukadev.

"Why not?"

"Because illusory environment is there. If I come out, Maya will catch me."

Then, many great sages, Parasaramuni and others (you have heard about the meeting of 60,000 sages in Naimisaranya, after which Bhagavatam was recorded), spoke to Vyasadev. Among them, Parasaramuni, who was Vyasadev's father and the ultimate judge of scriptures, said, "Vyasadev, you have power, so you can stop illusion for five minutes."

Vyasadev then asked Sukadev, "Will you come out in those five minutes?"

"Yes," replied Sukadev, "five minutes is enough for me."

Then, Vyasadev stopped the activity of Maya (illusion) for five minutes, and Sukadev came out of his mother's womb and dashed into the forest! When our children are born, can they run? I thought to myself how this can be possible that Sukadev ran right after he appeared, but then I remembered calves—when a cows gives birth to a calf, the calf starts running within two hours. So, given Vyasadev is a great sage, why cannot his son run after appearing? He at once ran to the forest, and Vyasadev ran after him, calling out, "Listen, listen! Hold on!" Sukadev did not notice anything—he has no sense of a father, relative, or anyone else. He was as of blind—he only saw the Lord! He did not see any buildings, any objects, or anybody. He ran to the Himalayas. Some girls were bathing naked (it is cold in the mountains, so it is hard to dry clothes) in the river, and when they saw Vyasadev passing by, they quickly covered themselves with clothes, but when they saw Sukadev, they did not even reach for clothes because they knew Sukadev did not even see anyone.

In the meantime, Pariksit Maharaj received a curse from a brahman, according to which he was to die from a snake bite within seven days. Pariksit Maharaj called all sages and acharyas from every sampradaya, and they started giving their advice to him. Pariksit Maharaj listened to their advice but did not feel content. Then, Sukadev, a sixteen-year-old boy, came to that assembly. Seeing him, all the rishis told Pariksit Maharaj, "Whatever Sukadev says, we will follow that." When Sukadev came, he did not even offer his obeisance to anyone, he did not even see anyone. He simply came in front of Pariksit Maharaj, and Maharaj gave him a place to sit on. Sukadev sat and asked him, "What is your question? What do you want to know" and Pariksit Maharaj said, "How can I get real benefit?" "Yes, there is only one question, and there is only one answer."

As Sukadev spoke the answer, he spent seven days speaking Bhagavatam. Suta Goswami heard it, and he had a special gift—once he heard something, he could remember it. So, when he later repeated Bhagavatam at the assembly of 60,000 sages in Naimisaranya, what he said was recorded as Bhagavatam. This is how Bhagavatam was written (recorded).

Srimad Bhagavatam contains the pure line of devotion (bhakti), but Sukadev never mentioned the name of Srimati Radharani in it. Why? Because it is a very high topic. He told about Prahlad Maharaj's devotion, but he did not speak about Radharani's devotion. He said, "It has to be kept secret." Therefore, Her devotion is not openly revealed in the scriptures. So high is Her devotion and the devotion of the Vraja gopis!

মাতল হরিজন কীর্ত্তন-রঙ্গে ।
পূজল রাগপথ গৌরব-ভঙ্গে ॥

matala hari-jana kirtana-range
pujala raga-patha gaurava-bhange

"From afar we shall worship the raga-patha, the path of spontaneous affectionate service, while we ourselves shall live within the Vedic guideline."

Raga-patha (the path of spontaneous love and devotion) must be kept in one's heart. What is the highest meditation? The meditation on the dust from the holy lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Krishna. This must be always kept as the object of your meditation, you must not speak about it. Do not speak about such things. That is why Sukadev Goswami spoke about Prahlad Maharaj's devotion but did not utter anything about the devotion of Srimati Radharani. He kept it secret as the highest of the highest topics. Yet in our country, people always keep Radha Krishna's Deities. They should be scared to do this—do they have the right, the qualification to do this? It is necessary to have the qualification for such service. You cannot serve if you do not have the right for the service.

Vallabha Acharya served Bala Gopal, and when he came to Mahaprabhu, he was proud that he was serving Bala Gopal. He tried to teach Mahaprabhu, but Mahaprabhu said, "My Guru considered Me a fool, so he forbade Me to read Bhagavatam!"

কিবা মন্ত্র দিলা, গোসাঞি, কিবা তার বল ।
জপিতে জপিতে মন্ত্র করিল পাগল ॥

kiba mantra dila, gosani, kiba tara bala
japite japite mantra karila pagala

"My lord, what kind of mantra have you given Me? What kind of power does it possess? Chanting this maha-mantra made me mad!"

(Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 7.81)

This was the Hare Krishna maha-mantra.

হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্ ।
কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা ॥

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

"Only chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name—there is no other way, no other way, no other way."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 7.76)

"My Guru has given Me this mantra, and as I chanted and chanted it, I became crazy!" You must chant this Harinama maha-mantra! Do you understand?

All right, I will chant now one kirtan in glorification of Mahaprabhu and then finish. [His Divine Grace glances at the time.] The time has passed just by chanting kirtans, and we have not even finished yet.

[His Divine Grace then chants 'Emana durmati samsara bhitare', 'Jaya Radha Madhava', and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra before concluding the noon programme.]

On 25 February we will have a festival of Sri Nityananda Prabhu's appearance. Come to Ekachakra Dham. Come on 23-24 February. The festival will be in Ekachakra Dham, Birbhum. You are all invited. Also, everyone must try to come for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama. We have now many rooms, it is not necessary to stay outside, there are extra rooms for everyone. This year, Nabadwip Dham parikrama will be five days—this time, we will go to Rudradwip. We did not go there before—we would offer obeisance from outskirts and come back, that is why I have given one more day to be able to go there. I am giving you invitation cards, please distribute it to everyone. Come to Ekachakra Dham also, the festival is in ten-eleven days, we have room for everyone, there is no problem with accommodation. So, please prepare yourself and come for the parikramas. I am inviting everyone, tell everyone. The dates are written in the calendars also. It is a little hard to travel on Ekadasi, but you can start out in the morning and come and take noon prasad at the temple. On Dvadasi is the adhivas. Take care of yourself.

I see everyone is all right—nobody wears masks. Corona has fled in fear. By the wish of Mahaprabhu, all corona flees away. Do not worry about all this. Those who practise Krishna consciousness do not fear death. One day, death must come. Once born, everyone has to die—everyone has to leave their bodies. For as long as we are alive, we are given time to practise Krishna consciousness. That is why is said:

হরে কৃষ্ণ নাম জপ অবিরাম
যে কই দিন আছে ত প্রাণ

hare krsna nama japa abhiram
ye kai dina dehe achhe ta prana

"Incessantly chant the Holy Name of 'Hare Krishna' for as long as you have life in this body."

You must chant the Holy Name. Keep good association, practise listening (sravan), chanting (kirtan).

হরে কৃষ্ণ নাম জপ অবিরাম
যে কই দিন আছে ত প্রাণ

hare krsna nama japa abhiram
ye kai dina dehe achhe ta prana

"Incessantly chant the Holy Name of 'Hare Krishna' for as long as you have life in this body."

জীবে দয়া, নামে রুচি, বৈষ্ণব সেবা ।
ইহা বহি সনাতন নাহি আর ধর্ম্ম ॥

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva
iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

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

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